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Miscellanies by Oscar Wilde
page 69 of 312 (22%)

of the sonnet to George Keats.




THE AMERICAN INVASION


(Court and Society Review, March 23, 1887.)

A terrible danger is hanging over the Americans in London. Their future
and their reputation this season depend entirely on the success of
Buffalo Bill and Mrs. Brown-Potter. The former is certain to draw; for
English people are far more interested in American barbarism than they
are in American civilisation. When they sight Sandy Hook they look to
their rifles and ammunition; and, after dining once at Delmonico's, start
off for Colorado or California, for Montana or the Yellow Stone Park.
Rocky Mountains charm them more than riotous millionaires; they have been
known to prefer buffaloes to Boston. Why should they not? The cities of
America are inexpressibly tedious. The Bostonians take their learning
too sadly; culture with them is an accomplishment rather than an
atmosphere; their 'Hub,' as they call it, is the paradise of prigs.
Chicago is a sort of monster-shop, full of bustle and bores. Political
life at Washington is like political life in a suburban vestry. Baltimore
is amusing for a week, but Philadelphia is dreadfully provincial; and
though one can dine in New York one could not dwell there. Better the
Far West with its grizzly bears and its untamed cow-boys, its free open-
air life and its free open-air manners, its boundless prairie and its
boundless mendacity! This is what Buffalo Bill is going to bring to
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