Sometimes in this day and age, we need, crave, want, desire, and deserve - silence. We close ourselves off from the rest of our community using our iPods, or cell phones; replacing unwanted noise, with noise of our own choosing.
Back when I was commuting on Chicago’s “el” trains, I used to love the musicians and buskers in the subway stations.  Babbage disagreed.

The music, “not infrequently gives rise to a dance by little ragged urchins, and sometimes half-intoxicated men, who occasionally accompany the noise with their own discordant voices. Another class who are great supporters of street music consists of ladies of elastic virtue and cosmopolitan tendencies, to whom it affords a decent excuse for displaying their fascinations at their open windows.”

Babbage and I may disagree on the street musicians - but I love his phrasing!