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  ...pantaloon tumble on joppling and grimacing, seen very faintly in that indecisive twilight. The social condition of 1880 fascinates me in the same way. Its contrasts fascinate me.
Perhaps, in my study of the period, I may have fallen so deeply beneath its spell that I have tended, now and again, to overrate its real import. I lay no claim to the true historical spirit. I fancy it was a chalk drawing of a girl in a mob-cap, signed `Frank Miles, 1880,' that first impelled me to research. To give an accurate and exhaustive account of that period would need a far less brilliant pen than mine.   But I hope that, by dealing, even so briefly as I have dealt, with its more strictly sentimental aspects, I may have lightened the task of the scientific historian. And I look to Professor Gardiner and to the Bishop of Oxford.
`Cromwell House.' The residence of Lady Freake, a famous hostess of the day and founder of a brilliant salon, `where even Royalty was sure of a welcome. The writer of a recent monograph declares that, `many a modern hostess would do well to emulate Lady Freake,...   Beerbohm, Sir Max

Excerpt from The Works of Max Beerbohm · This quote is tagged History and Historians · Search on Google Books to find all references and sources for this quotation.

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