Windsor Magazine/Volume 15/A Matter of Motives

A MATTER OF MOTIVES.
By ROBERT BARR.
WHEN one comes to think of it, I don't quite see how we of the upper classes can consistently look down on trade, while the Marquis of Morton has a personally conducted stall in Covent Garden, Lord Latimer a carriage-shop in Long Acre, the Countess of Sunderland a millinery establishment in Bond Street, and the Duke of Surrey an outfitter's warehouse off the Strand. Nevertheless, we young fellows in Oriel College thought ourselves vastly superior to the tradesmen with whom we dealt and from whom we accepted credit.
However, in one instance, pride was to have a fall; and I must confess that the bitterest day of my life was that on which I received my father's letter, saying I must leave Oxford and come at once to London, to face the stern realities of life, as he picturesquely put it, because his money had given out. This not unexpected announcement was all the more unwelcome because I was getting on so well at my college. I had a good place in the boat, and—if I do say it myself (it is not boasting, but merely stating an admitted fact)—I was the best cricketer the college possessed. I believe I should have done honour to my school had fate perm

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