f LINCOLN and Mr. ARNOLD
BENNETT, and among the company were the SPEAKER, Lord RIBBLESDALE, Sir
SQUIRE BANCROFT, Mr. WINSTON CHURCHILL and Mr. EUGENE CORRI.

The two Chairmen, speaking almost in unison, stated that the meeting
had been convened in order that the views of the enlightened might be
gathered regarding the proposed revival of the tall hat or topper. A
recrudescence of this form of covering for the hair (or otherwise) was
threatened under the name of the Victory Derby, and a paragraph in
_The Times_ announced that "so remarkable has been the revival in the
silk-hat trade that old men who had gone into retirement in the Denton
and Stockport districts are being asked to come back and give what
productive energy they possess." What the meeting desired to ascertain
was the views as to this revival that were held by those empowered to
offer opinions.

Lord RIBBLESDALE said that there was no doubt that a tall hat was
the most becoming headgear for a gentleman. But a certain regard for
idiosyncracies was important. No gentleman should take without scrutiny
what the hatter offered. Hats were individual things, and as the
character changed and developed so should the hat. The hat that suited
one at forty might be a sad anachronism at fifty. He himself had
endeavoured not only to make his life correspond to his hats, but his
hats correspond to his life. (Loud applause.) As the Master of the
Buck-hounds he wore, as any visitor to the National Gallery at the
present moment might see, at the head of the staircase on the left, a
tall hat that was slightly lower than that which he wore to-day, now
that he had relinquished that responsible and romantic post. He urged
his hearers to encourage the silk hat revival.

Sir SQUIRE BANCROFT concurred with the illustrious nobleman who had just
spoken. The choice of a hat should be the subject of the most earnest
thought, even of prayer. (Cheers.) Not only the shape but the colour.
There were hats that were black and hats that were white. (Shouts of
"Hurrah!") There were even white hats with black trimming. (Sensation.)
The older he grew the more convinced he was that an Englishman's hat was
his castle.

Miss DAISY ASHFORD, author of _The Young Visiters_, said that she was
all in favour of the top hat. No one who had read her famous novel could
doubt that. In the society of _Mr. Salteena_ and his friends to wear a
tall hat was always the idear.

Mr. WINSTON CHURCHILL said that