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235
The Private Papers of Henry Ryecroft
·
George Gissing
201
XI.
It
angers
me
to
pass
a
grocer's
shop,
and
see
in
the
window
a
display
of
foreign
butter.
This
is
the
kind
of
thing
that
makes
one
gloom
over
the
prospects
of
England.
The
deterioration
of
English
butter
is
one
of
the
worst
signs
of
the
moral
state
of
our
people.
Naturally,
this
article
of
food
would
at
once
betray
a
decline
in
the
virtues
of
its
maker;
butter
must
be
a
subject
of
the
dairyman's
honest
pride,
or
there
is
no
hope
of
its
goodness.
Begin
to
save
your
labour,
to
aim
at
dishonest
profits,
to
feel
disgust
or
contempt
for
your
work--and
the
churn
declares
every
one
of
these
vices.
They
must
be
very
prevalent,
for
it
is
getting
to
be
a
rare
thing
to
eat
English
butter
which
is
even
tolerable.
What!
England
dependent
for
dairy-produce
upon
France,
Denmark,
America?
Had
we
but
one
true
statesman--but
one
genuine
leader
of
the
people--the
ears
of
English
landowners
and
farmers
would
ring
and
tingle
with
this
proof
of
their
imbecility.
Nobody
cares.
Who
cares
for
anything
but
the
show
and
bluster
which
are
threatening
our
ruin?
English
food,
not
long
ago
the
best
in
the
world,
is
falling
off
in
quality,
and
even
our
national
genius
for
cooking
shows
a
decline;
to
anyone
who
knows
England,
these
are
facts
significant
enough.
Foolish
persons
have
prated
about
"our
insular
cuisine,"
demanding
its
reform
on
Continental
models,
and
they
have
found
too
many
like
unto
themselves
who
were
ready
to
listen;
the
result
will
be,
before
long,
that
our
excellence
will
be
forgotten,
and
paltry
methods
be
universally
introduced,
together
with
the
indifferent
viands
to
which
they
are
suited.
Yet,
if
any
generality
at
all
be
true,
it
is
a
plain
fact
that
English
diet
and
English
virtue--in
the
largest
sense
of
the
word--are
inseparably
bound
together.
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