IMPRESSIONS OF LONDON.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXIII, Issue 970, 23 March 1911, Page 4

IMPRESSIONS OF LONDON.

Princess Bariatinsky (Mme. Lydia Yavcrska), the famous Russian actress, was recently credited with the statement, that London is the calmest and most restful city in the world.

The delightful vision thus conjured up of London as a rest-cure resort, the pretty picture of the distracted neurasthenic reclining on the steps of the Royal Exchange drinking in the aromatic pea-soup fog, his tired nerves lulled to rest by the soothing throb of the motor-omnibus, the peaceful pulsations of a thousand taxicabs, and the caressing cries of itinerant vendors, was dispelled when an Express representative saw the Princess.

“ I only meant,” she explained laughingly, “that London was relatively quiet —alter Paris. It is certainly less uoisy. But the pressure of life is higher in Loudon, only here everything is well ordered, systematic, whereas Paris is all nerves.

“ My ffrst and most lasting impression I received on my first visit to a London restaurant, when all the lights were turned out at half-past twelve. That is justice ; it is a reminder that all are equal —that you have the same law tor rich and poor, mighty and humble alike.

“ It was in London, too that for the first time I saw streets washed Your streets are like your life so well organised. It is always possible to cross the road, to get where you wish to go. I sing hymns to your English police. “ Your London fog is solemn and beautiful, like the black buildings in your streets. I had never seen black buildings before I came to Loudon, but I would not have them clean ; they would no longer be characteristic. It is not fair to compare London architecture with that of other cities, for London architecture expresses the spirit of the people —it is individual.

“ J3y the way, I even love your English Sunday. It it were not for that great rest I do not think you could go on living. Life is stopped ; it is as though some fairy hand look one day out of life ; and on the Monday you go back to the high tension 01 your work reinvigoraled—new men.”