London at the End of the Century:A Book of Gossip

a Beckett, Arthur William

1900

SHORT CUTS TO HEALTH.

 

Now and again you come upon stories of the marvellous effects of specialities. For instance, there is one very well known in service circles as a certain

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cure for gout. Several of my soldier and sailor friends have tried it, and with great success. The story goes that the members of a certain very distinguished club had very many years ago a reputation for speaking on occasion harshly to the waiters, and when much irritated making use of such improper expressions as and even (but this, of course, only on the rarest of rare occasions) The lamentable exhibitions of anger were entirely attributable to the prevalence of gout.

According to the legend, by a sort of miracle it became known to the members of the club that the good sisters of a certain convent in foreign parts supplied for twenty-five francs, a box of powders that contained 365 packets. By taking one of the nuns' prescriptions daily for a year a cure was performed, and the patient, from the most irritable became one of the most amiable of men.

Such is the story. It is said (and I believe with truth) that nowadays the members of the service club in question are so gentle in their manners, that they serve as a contrast to the comparatively blustering bishops in a well known literary located in the near neighbourhood.

However, lest it may be thought that this specific for gout amongst the military is invariably infallible, it is only right to say that I found it not entirely satisfactory

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in one instance. A very old and valued friend of mine tried it.

said he,

But to be entirely just I must admit that my friend, although one of the best and smartest soldiers I have ever met, had only held a commission in the Auxiliary Forces. To take proper effect the cure for gout should be tried upon a Major-General at the least -indeed, the nuns (so I have been told) prefer a Field-Marshal.

 
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 Title Page
 Dedication
 PREFACE
CHAPTER I: LONDON AT THE END OF THE CENTURY
CHAPTER II: STRANGERS IN LONDON
CHAPTER III: RELIGION IN LONDON
CHAPTER IV: A PEEP INTO STAGELAND
CHAPTER V: PARLIAMENT UP TO DATE
CHAPTER VI: A NIGHT IN THE HOUSE
CHAPTER VII: THE PREMIER CLUB OF ENGLAND
CHAPTER VIII: LONDONERS HOLDING HOLIDAY
CHAPTER IX: THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE CLUB
CHAPTER X: IN RATHER MIXED CLUBLAND
CHAPTER XI: IN AUXILIARY CLUBLAND
CHAPTER XII: A PANTOMIME AT DRURY LANE
CHAPTER XIII: LONDON EXHIBITIONS
CHAPTER XIV: COACHING THE UNIVERSITY CREW
CHAPTER XV: THE SEQUEL TO THE DERBY
CHAPTER XVI: THE LONDON GONDOLA
CHAPTER XVII: LONDON ON STRIKE
CHAPTER XVIII: LONDON FIRES
CHAPTER XIX: PALL MALL AND PRIVATE THOMAS ATKINS
CHAPTER XX: CONCERNING THE LONDON VOLUNTEERS
CHAPTER XXI: SERVING WITH THE LONDON MILITIA
CHAPTER XXII: LONDON GUNNERS AT SHOEBURYNESS
CHAPTER XXIII: BECOMING A SOCIETY LION
CHAPTER XXIV: ENTERTAINING THE WORKING MAN
CHAPTER XXV: CHOOSING A FANCY DRESS
CHAPTER XXVI: PARLIAMENTARY SPEAKING
CHAPTER XXVII: ART IN LONDON
CHAPTER XXVIII: SPENDING BANK HOLIDAY IN LONDON
CHAPTER XXIX: A BANK HOLIDAY WITHOUT 'ARRY
CHAPTER XXX: LONDON OUT OF TOWN
CHAPTER XXXI: LONDONERS AND THEIR SUMMER HOLIDAYS
CHAPTER XXXII: LONDONERS AND THE CHANNEL
CHAPTER XXXIII: LONDON UNDER DOCTOR'S ORDERS
CHAPTER XXXIV: TWO CITIES IN FORTY-EIGHT HOURS
CHAPTER XXXV: THE LONDONER'S SEARCH FOR HEALTH
CHAPTER XXXVI: THE PARISIAN PART OF THE LONDON DISTRICT
CHAPTER XXXVII: A NOVELTY IN LONDON RECREATIONS
CHAPTER XXXVIII: LONDON SCHOOLBOYS AT THE END OF THE CENTURY