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CHAPTER XXVIII
Circa 1885—1906
TO-DAY
"And in to-day already walks to-morrow."—Coleridge.
A VERY slight and necessarily inadequate sketch must cover the period which brings the story of Social Life in England up to the present time. Pre-eminently among all others, this has been an age of transition, and it is well-nigh impossible to attempt a description of it, so rapidly, so breathlessly is it changing from day to day. "It changes, it must change, it ought to change with the broadening wants and requirements of a growing country, and with the gradual illumination of the public conscience."[1] Indeed, the words of Macaulay never rang more true than they do to-day when he affirms: "A point which
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