The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1876-06-24 00:00:00

eur In* Corrtsponbott.


-

ENVe deem it right to state that we do not at all times
klentify ourselves with our Correspondent's opinions.]

King George of Hanover has taken his departure
from us, just exactly ten years after the events which
In 1866 lost him his kingdom. On the 13th of June in
that year, after war had been declared between
Prussia and Austria, the Hanoverian sovereign took
the side of the latter, and the Prussians poured into
his territories like an overwhelming flood. We all
know how that brief contest ended; Austria was com-
pletely beaten down at Sadowa ; and although by the
21st of June the Hanoverians had taken up arms in
all directions, the all-conquering power of Prussia
prevailed, the crown of Hanover was seized, the
property of the King was stquestrated, and his
dominions were made to form part of the North Ger-
man Confederation, under the rule of Prussia. It was
the ill-feeling engendered in Hanover, Saxony, Hesse
Cassel, Bavaria, and Wurtemburg, of the high-handed
conduct of Prussia, which gave the French Emperor
such confidence that when he declared war in 1870 he
would have a divided Germany to contend with, and,
consequently, an easy prey. Never was there a
greater mistake. Throughout the *hole of the vast
Fatherland, from the Danube to the Baltic, the people
rose to repel the invader.

"Who'll guard the Rhine—the German Rhine,
To whom shall we the task assign ?"
And then came back the refrain, from north and
south, and east and west—
" Dear Fatherland, no care be thine,
Firm stand thy sons to guard the Rhine."

Yet the Imperial authorities in Berlin never eleep in
peace. They declare that they can hear the muttered
sound of the word "Revanche !" upon the wings of
the midnight breeze, and their slumbers are dieturbed
by the sound of drill and drum—now Austrian, now
Russian—borne upon the wind.

Although meteoreloeical forecasts are not always to
be depended upon, the predictions of rain and tempest
this summer, following so closely upon the floods in the
valleys of the I.dour and the Garcnne, have commanded
considerable attention and created some uneasiness.
It is, however, impossible to lay down any guiding

principle by which one can act in dealing with such an

uncertain subject as the weather. Storms have come,
and tides have risen, without any warning at all; and
at other times, when such visitations have been con-
fidently foretold, and elaborate preparations made to
guard against their effects, nothing of the kind has
happened. It is a long time now since Sir 'mac
Newton discovered the law of gravitation; but with
all the enlightenment which we at present possess, no
one can deny that the science of meteorology is in its
infancy. Man can girdle the globe with electricity—
run the locomotive through the mountains—and sees
no difficulty in making a tunnel under the English
Channel; he can calculate the phases of the moon;
tell us what hour the sun will rise and set on every
day in the year; antiolpate to the second a solar or
a lunar eclipse; give us any quantity of informa-
tion about the height of the tides all over
the globe; but he would and it totally out of his power

to say from which cardinal point_ the wind will blow

to-morrow. He can estimate with certainty for years
in advance the time of a transit of Venus across the
face of the sun, the latter orb being ninety five millions
of miles from the spot where he stands; but with the
south wind fanning his cheeks, and geutly moving the
foliage of the trees right before him, he is completely
in the dark, whether that south wind will continue for
a week or change to the east the xery next hour. Con-
sidering how much the weather is a topic of national
conversation in Englan:l, our absence of information
respecting the laws which regulate it, is really remark-
able. An astronomer could tell you how many total
eclipses of the sun will be visible in this country be-
tween the present date and the year 2,000, with the
precise time at which they will begin, culminate, and
end; but it is impossible for him to say that his next
garden party may not be utterly spoilt by a downpour
of rain. In our universities we have professors of all
conceivable subjects; and the time may come when
meteorology will be deemed as important a branch of
study as Hebrew, Greek, or Sanscrit.
To many readers of a newspaper that part relating
to the fashions is about the most interesting. It is not
generally keown that the English sumptuary laws,
chiefly of the reigns of. Edward HI. and Henry
restrainirg excess in'drass, furniture, and diet stood
upon our Statute Bock until just exactly twenty years
ago, for they were repealed in 1856. Those who are
acquainted with the Old Testament writings will re-
member that Isaiah in his third chapter, censures the
attire of the Hebrew women; but Lycurgus had taken
a similar line in Sparta more than a hundred years
before. There was a statute of Queen Elizabeth
directed against luxury and extravagance in dress; yet
we find Sir Walter Raleigh wearing a white satin
pinked vest, elose•sleeved to the wrist, and over the
body a brown doublet finely flowered and embroidered
with pearle. The feather in his hat had a large ruby
and pearl drop at the bottom of the sprig in place of a
button. His breeches, with his stockings and ribbon

garters, fringed at the end, were all white; he wore
buff shoes, which on great Court days were BO gor-
geously decorated with precious stones as to have
exceeded the value of £6,600; and he had a
suit of armour of solid silver, with sword
and belt blazing with diamonds, rubies and

pearls. Ring James's favourite, the Duke of Bucking.
barn, could afford to have his diamonds tacked so
loesely on, that when he chose to shake a few off on
the ground, be obtained all the fame he desired from
dose who p!cked them up. In our own time, however,
persons of high rank do not go about clothed in this
way, and a duke is often more simple in his attire than
a tradesman.

The Ascot Race Meeting is the most aristocratic of
all the gatherings of that kind which take place in the
neighbourhood of London, or within an easy diAance
ail It is attended by several members of the Royal
family in what is called semi-state, a distinction ac-
corded to no other meeting of this sort; for although
Royalty is frequently present at the Derby, the Oaks,
and Goodwood, anything like State is always avoided.
After Ascot, with a little interval, comes " glorious
Goodwood," and the praises of the Duke of Richmond's
park, in one of ;the most favourite situations in
Sussex, have been described: times without number by
the graphic pens of ready writers._ Races were one of
the exercises amongst the ancient games of Greece,
and horse races were known in England in very early
times. Fitz-Stephen, who wrote in the days of Henry
11. mentions the delight taken by the citizens of Lor don
in the diversion. Camden tells us that in 1607 there
were races near York, and the prize was a little golden
bell. Races were run in Hyde-park towards the close
of the reign of Charles 1., and these were patronised
by his succeEsor, who instead of offering bells as prizes,
gave a silver bowl or cup value 100 guineas. William
111, added to the plates, as did Queen Anne, and
founded an academy for riding. In our own times the
Cups, as they are called, are magnificent specimens of
the goldsmith's art—the Ascot Gold Cup, for instance,
which fell last week to the owner of Apology, being
quite a study in artistic work.

A celebratt d hostelry, which is perhaps more identi-
fied with banquets and entertainments of a public
character than any similar establishment in the
mbtropolis, is about to disappear from view. I
refer to the "London Tavern," in Bishopsgata-street,

which has been finally closed for hotel purposes, and
the furniture, fittings, and stock have been publicly
sold by auctiort, preparatory to the building being
' taken down. The total number of lots, as shown by
the catalogue, amounted to between two or three thou-
sand. Amongst these were some sets of ornamental
candelabra, formerly the property of Prince Polignac,
and a valuable tapestry carpet which until a few years
ago was in the possession of the Duke of Buckingham.
The wines included a large quantity of old port of the
vintages of 1812 and 1815. The tavern has been pur
chased by the Royal Bank of Scotland for £BO,OOO, and
as the site covers little more than an area of 6,000 feet,
the sum which the Bank has paid for the property rei
pre seats about £l3 per superficial foot. The Bank,
which immediately adjoins the Tavern, is to be en-
larged by the erection of a handsome architectural
structure.

The number of Waterloo veterans who survive to
commemorate the victory of the 18th ;Tune. 1815, is
diminishing every year, for the Young man of 20 then
is Si to-day; and in the nature of things comparatively
few of the vast host which then decided the fate of
Europe for half a century now remain to tell the tale.
Of the two great captains who then met upon the field
of battlo, lorg enough ago was Napoleon gathered to
his fathers, for he has been dead 55 years; Wellington,
to whom a longer lease pf life was granted, hasbeendead
24 years. Both sleep calmly now beneath the massive
domes of colossal buildings, and in the busy capitals of
the nations which then contended for the mastery of the
continent—one upon the banks of the Thames, and the
other upon those of the Seine. The French army, on
the day of Waterloo, numbered 71,947 men with 246
guns; the allies were 67,661 men
,with 156 guns. It
was cu a Sunday then, just as the date has fallen this
year, and from ten in the morning until seven in the
evening, while the bells of a thousand steeples were
filling the air at home with the sounds of sabbath
melody, the attack of the French was successfully
resisted by the allied army. At seven, when the con-
tending forces had been engaged nine hours, Marshal
Blucher, at the head of 50,00) Prussians with 104
guns, made his appearance upon the field, and thence-
for ward the battle became a rout. The total loss of
the army under Wellington, on that awful day, was
4,2 C G killed, 14,539 wounded, and 4,251
trio' 3ing. it may
not be generally known that the British forces have
teen twice signally euccereful over those of France on

that same field of Waterloo, for it was
borough cut off a large division of the
to him, on the 17th August, 1705. The
the same field are the only commanders in .
service whose military careers brought them to
doms.

Northumberland Avenue, which, having been con-
structed at a cost of £650,000, was opened about three
months ago, seems gradually to be accomplishing ,its
object, viz., relieving the traffic of the crowded Strand

and Fleet-street, by drawing it off at Charing Cross on
to the Thames Embankment. Outside the
there is not a more pleasant lounge in Lend(
this roadway by the river-side between Blac,
and Westminster. Especially is this the case no
the foliage of the trees in the Embankment Gr
at itabest, and you may sit there on a summer evening,
and watch the traffic upon the silent highway of the
Thames, with the roar of the great city behind you as
one everlasting reminder of the presence of an immense
prpulation. The quarters and the hours from the
Westminster clock tower are flung out upon the breeze
with unerring Degularity, telling the listener of the
fight of time and of the evanescence of all earthly
thinge. On a fine evening you may hear the distant
voices of hundreds of children, turned loose into the
Temple Gardens—and how they appreciate the boon
can be estimated only by thoie who have witnessed
the • delight with which the rising generation pour
into the place at the opening of the gates at
six o'clock. As they are admitted only through the
favour of the Templars, and not as a matter of right,
the juveniles pretty well understand that any miscon-
duct on their parts will lead to their exclusion in
future; so that, while the enjoyment is complete, the
behaviour is at the same time excellent. This mingling
of merry voices with the busy hum of London life,
occasionally united with the chimes from the steeple
of St. Dunatan'e, Fleet-street, has a singular effect.
The voices and the hum speak of that which is today:
but the church bells seems to tell you of another world,
and to be for ever repeating the dictum of Edmund
Burke: "What shadows we are, and what shadows
we pursue !"

parks
on than
:kfriars
'vs, for
ardets is
ig

a .geni

1" Was

:
-1111'1.
-11110111 r:

,
here
*Poseet. friend 6
colinetirs eit. lame ds
the British
duh.e