The public, represented by the First Commissioner of Works in the
Liberal Government, testified towards "Priory Lane" (if we remember
aright, a provokingly private road, leading, as a short cut, from
Wandsworth Common up to "Roehampton Gate," which is a closed entrance to
Richmond Park) what _Sam Weller_ might have correctly described as a
"Priory attachment"; but though its opening to the public would have
been granted freely by its owner, on condition that the London County
Council and Wandsworth authorities should make, repair, and keep in
order the road, the London County Council refused to take any part in
the matter, and so Priory Lane, "with bars at each end," remains a "spot
barred" to the Richmond Park-loving Londoner. The cost of making this
mile and a quarter is over-estimated at £2000. But as there are, as the
_Daily Chronicle_ describes it, "_bars at each end_," surely these
"bars," if properly licensed, would bring in a splendid revenue from
thirsty pedestrians, equestrians, and wheelers of all sorts and
conditions.
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[Illustration: POOR SMIKE!
MRS. NICKLEBY BALFOUR (_aside to_ JOHN BULL). "I AM VERY SORRY INDEED
FOR ALL THIS.... THE RATEPAYERS OUGHT TO BE THE BEST JUDGES--AND I HOPE
THEY ARE. OF COURSE IT IS A HARD THING TO HAVE TO KEEP OTHER PEOPLE'S
CHILDREN ... BUT IF IT COULD BE SETTLED IN A FRIENDLY MANNER, AND SOME
FAIR ARRANGEMENT WAS COME TO ... I DO THINK IT MIGHT BE VERY
SATISFACTORY AND PLEASANT TO ALL PARTIES."--_Nicholas Nickleby_, Vol.
II., p. 183.
"I am extremely anxious that something effectual should be done."--_Mr.
Balfour's reply to Lord Cranborne as to Government and Voluntary
Schools._ "The schemes, however, as they stand, are, for the purposes of
practical politics, incompatible."--_Times, September 20._]
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[Illustration: "NICE FOR THE VISITORS."
(_Sketch outside a Fashionable Hotel._)]
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