“
Claret for Boys” (methinks I hear the Great Doctor with superb finality), “Port for Men, and Brandy for Heroes.” Probably he was right—he so often was right. But a change has come: at this present he would scarce endorse his judgment. Not with unquenchable thirst, and head and nerves immovable, do we drain off those brandies and waters on which our Benbows suffered and were strong. Men have been since Agamemnon, and men will be. The heroic is still attainable; but it has changed its environment, and to seek it in the
petit verre, sipped as a digestive after the banquet’s close, were a vain and
