We will print you a perfectly bound paperback of your selected title and send it to you at your nominated address

Transcribed from the 1887 William Blackwood and Sons edition by DavidPrice, email ccx074@coventry.ac.uk

FASHIONABLE PHILOSOPHY AND OTHER SKETCHES

BY LAURENCE OLIPHANT

AUTHOR OF
’PICCADILLY,’ ‘ALTIORA PETO,’ ‘MASOLLAM,’ETC.

WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS
EDINBURGH AND LONDON
MDCCCLXXXVII

PRICE ONE SHILLING

p. vPREFACE.

That railway travel is not, as a rule, conducive to serious thought,may fairly be inferred from the class of literature displayed on thebookstalls at the stations.  I have therefore refrained from anyattempt to excite the reflective faculties of the reader, exceptingin the first and third of the accompanying sketches, and even in thesehave only ventured to suggest ideas, the full scope and pregnancy ofwhich it must be left to his own idiosyncrasy to appreciate and develop,the more especially as they bear upon a certain current of investigationwhich has recently become popular.

I have to express my thanks to the Editor of the ‘NineteenthCentury Review’ for the p. vikindpermission he has granted me to reproduce “The Sisters of Thibet”;and I avail myself of the opportunity thus afforded of removing theimpression which, to my surprise, was conveyed to me by letters fromnumerous correspondents, that the article contained any record of myown personal experiences.  The satire was suggested by the workof an author whose sincerity I do not doubt, and for whose motives Ihave the highest respect, in order to point out what appears to me thedefective morality, from an altruistic and practical point of view,of a system of which he is the principal exponent in this country, andwhich, under the name of Esoteric Buddhism, still seems to possess somefascination for a certain class of minds.

The other articles originally appeared in ‘Blackwood’sMagazine,’ and I wish to express my acknowledgments to my publishersfor their usual courtesy in allowing me to republish them in this form.

Athenæum Club,
January 1887.

p. viiCONTENTS.

Fashionable Philosophy
The Brigand’s Bride: a tale of Southern Italy
The Sisters of Thibet
Adolphus: a comedy of affinities

p. 1FASHIONABLE PHILOSOPHY.

Scene—A London Drawing-room.Time—5 o’clock p.m.

The afternoon tea apparatus in one corner of the room, andLady Fritterly on a couch in another.  The Hon. Mrs Allmashis announced.

Lady Fritterly.  How too kind, dear, of you to come,and so early, too!  I’ve got such a lot of interesting peoplecoming, and we are going to discuss the religion of the future.

Mrs Allmash.  How quite delightful!  I do so longfor something more substantial than the theologies of the past! It is becoming quite puzzling to know what to teach one’s children:mine are getting old enough now to understand about things, and oneought to teach them something.  I was talking p. 2aboutit to that charming Professor Germsell last night.

Lady Fritterly.  Well, I hope he is coming presently,so you will be able to continue your conversation.  Then thereis Mr Coldwaite, the celebrated Comtist; and Mr Fussle, who writes thosedelightful articles on prehistoric æsthetic evolution; and MrDrygull, the eminent theosophist, whose stories about esoteric Buddhismare quite too extraordinary, and who has promised to bring a Khoja—amost interesting moral specimen, my dear—who has just arrivedfrom Bombay; and Lord Fondleton.

Mrs Allmash.  Lord Fondleton!  I did not know thathe was interested in such subjects.

Lady Fritterly.  He says he is, dear; between ourselves—butthis, of course, is strictly entre nous—I rather thinkthat it is I who interest him: but I encourage him, poor fellow; itmay wean him from the unprofitable life he is leading, and turn hismind to higher things.  Oh! I almost forgot,—-then thereis my new beauty!

Mrs Allmash.  Your new beauty!

Lady Fritterly.  Yes; if you could only have dined withme the other night, you p. 3wouldhave met her.  I had such a perfect little dinner.  Just think! A poet, an actor, a journalist, a painter, a wit, and a new beauty. I’ll tell you how I found her.  She really belongs at presentto Lady Islington and myself; but of course, now we have started her,all the other people will snap her up.  We found that we both owedthat vulgar upstart, Mrs Houndsley, a visit, and went there together—becauseI always think two people are less easily bored than one—whensuddenly the most perfect apparition you ever beheld stood before us;—anold master dress, an immense pattern, a large hat rim encircling a face,some rich auburn hair inside, and the face a perfect one.  Well,you know, it turned out that she was not born in the purple—herhusband is just a clerk in Burley’s Bank; but we both insistedon being introduced to her—for, you see, my dear, there is no