The Ghosts of Piccadilly

by George Slythe Street

History

Genres: History

First published January 1, 1907

Reviews

[Alex Sarll]

A cheerfully partial history of a street by a Street, who seems to have been part of the background hum of literary London in the time of Chesterton, Beerbohm, and Wilde. True, mainly he seems to have been at loggerheads with them, and nobody would call him their equal, but he’s still eminently affable company as he sets down his own rules for inclusion (as the title suggests, it comes down to whether an individual’s ghost would haunt Piccadilly, or somewhere else) and then cheerfully excuses himself for breaking them whenever he fancies talking about an occasional visitor, or finds a long-term resident uninspiring. He has, in short, much the same "ironical, tolerant, life-loving tone” which he applauds in the eighteenth century. Despite describing himself as a socialist, he’s awed by great men, making excuses for Wellington’s snobbery, fascinated by John, Lord Hervey (though who can blame him there?) and clearly besotted with ‘Old Q’, aka the 4th Duke of Queensberry. His enthusiasms are curious; in many respects he’s very conventional in his morality, tutting at bastard children and pulling a genteel cloak over sauciness, and suggesting that if Byron had only made a better marriage he’d probably have had no bother. Yet he nonetheless paints Monk Lewis (here ‘Mat’) as a lovely lad really, more to be pitied than condemned – though it may be a factor that a hundred years ago, Lewis’ reputation was in eclipse, and The Monk quite forgotten. Even the sinister George Selwyn gets a much kinder notice than usual; the first few mentions of him concentrate on placing the best construction on his not-remotely-creepy fascination with children, with his famous morbidity* only mentioned once we’ve got to know him. There is, too, just enough anti-semitism to remind the reader that the morals of 1905 had some rather more glaring deficiencies. Still, that aside Street is amiable company; even when it's retreading old ground in both senses, the book mostly feels like a pleasingly eccentric companion.

*Henry Fox, on his deathbed, in the famous anecdote Street can’t quite resist including: "If Mr. Selwyn calls again, show him up. If I am alive, I shall be glad to see him, and if I am dead, I am sure he will be delighted to see me."

[Ashley · Rating 3 out of 5]

I guiltily admit that I only absorbed the preface and the last chapter of this book. I read this because I liked the way the author talked, like he was writing to a friend. The stories were just fillers to the end caps that actually held my attention.

[Taylor Stoermer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Street was a trenchant observer, a clever writer, and a critical historian. His exploration of Piccadilly is as valuable for what it informs us of its denizens of the past as for what it reveals about what we lost when their world disappeared. One can clearly see why Chesterton found Street such a formidable and worthy literary foe.

[Timothy Ferguson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beautifully narrated by Peter Yearsley, as part of Librivox. Not quite so interesting as some of his other recordings, but that's not his fault in the slightest.