But, before he could do so, Dr. Milton found himself served with a writ for libel. As a result, nothing more was heard of the matter.
In addition to its Mawworms, of which it was afflicted with an appreciable number of specimens, the city of Melbourne would appear to have had other drawbacks at this period. According to R. H. Horne, local society was somewhat curiously constituted. "There is an attempt," he says, "at the nucleus of a 'court circle'; and if the Home Government think fit to make a few more Australian knights and baronets there may be good hopes for the enlargement of the enchanted hoop. The Melbourne 'Almack's' is to be complimented on the moral courage with which its directors have resisted the claims for admission of some of the wealthy unwashed and other unsuitables. Money is not quite everything, even in Melbourne."
There were further strictures on the morals of Victoria, as compared with those of New South Wales: "The haunts of villainy in Sydney are not surpassed by those in Melbourne; but, with regard to drunkenness and prostitution, the latter place is far worse than Sydney. The Theatre Royal contains within itself four separate drinking-bars. The Café de Paris, in the same building, has two bars. In the theatre itself there is a drinking public every night, especially when the house is crowded. Between every act it is the custom of the audience to rush out for a nobbler of brandy. The only exceptions are the occupants of the dress-circle, more especially when the Governor is present."
By the way, the "List of Beverages" shows that, in proof of her popularity, a "Lola Montez Appetiser," consisting of "Old Tom, ginger, lemon and hot water," was offered to patrons.
Alcohol was not alone among the objects at which "Orion" Horne tilted. He also disapproved of cricket. "The mania," he says, "for bats and balls in the boiling sun during last summer exceeded all rational excitement. The newspapers caught the epidemic, and, while scarcely noticing other far more useful games, they devoted columns upon columns to minute accounts of the matches of a hundred different clubs. The very walls of Melbourne became infected. On the return of the Victorians from Sydney, a reporter for the Herald designated them 'the laurelled warriors.' If there is no great harm in this, the thing has been carried too far."
It is just as well, perhaps, for Horne's peace of mind that the present day value attached to "Ashes" had not arisen, and that an Australian XI did not visit England until another twenty years had passed.