Modus Bibendi

Modus Bibendi"Will Someone Take me to a Pub?" So ran the refrain of one of G. K. Chesterton's happiest ballades. I have often quoted it to myself when the Madame Secretary of a lecture club has displayed for my admiration the cultural and civic ornaments of the community whose elite I am to address that afternoon. The library, the swimming pool, the oratorium, the cathedral, the park are potent proofs, no doubt, of a high standard of industry and social consciousness, but I should get...