. . . On Monday morning came the dear Miss Berrys, to
beg me to come that evening to join their circle. They have always
the best people in London about them, young as well as old.
The old and the middle-aged are more attended to here than with us,
where the young are all in all. As Hayward said to me the other
evening, "it takes time to make PEOPLE, like cathedrals," and Mr.
Rogers and Miss Berry could not have been what they are now, forty
years ago. A long life of experience in the midst constantly of the
highest and most cultivated circles, and with several generations of
distinguished men gives what can be acquired in no other way. Mr.
Rogers said to me one day: "I have learnt more from men that from
BOOKS, and when I used to be in the society of Fox and other great
men of that period, and they would sometimes say 'I have always
thought so and so,' then I have opened my ears and listened, for I
said to myself, now I shall get at the treasured results of the
experience of these great men." This little saying of Mr. Rogers
expresses precisely my own feelings in the society of the venerable
and distinguished here. With us society is left more to the
crudities of the young than in England. The young may be
interesting and promise much, but they are still CRUDE.
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