Demos, sweltering on the passing steamboat--able to see, and, at the
same time, free from interference on his watery kingdom--jeered aloud as
he passed close to the Terrace, and mocked with loud laughter that
betokened not only the vacant but the insulting mind. The skippers of
the steamboats--hardened Cockneys with an eye to business--knew what a
delight this baiting of the august assembly would be to the most
democratic and most sarcastic crowd in Europe; and accordingly it became
the "mot d'ordre" with the steamboat skipper, when the tide was full, to
bring his vessel almost to the very walls of the Terrace, and thus to
give the tripper the opportunity of gazing from very near at the lions
at food and play. If Demos could have come and seen as plainly at night
in those days as during the afternoon, his shocked feelings would have
been even more poignant and his language more irreverent. Tea is, after
all, a simple drink that makes the whole world akin; and even
strawberries in this great year were within reach of the most modest
purse. But at night, entertainment is more costly. Along the Terrace
there is now, as everybody knows, a series of small dining-rooms; and
here every night you might have listened to the pleasant music of
woman's laughter, punctuated by the pop of the champagne bottle.
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