The Express.
London, England, 1863-03-07 00:00:00

THE LONDON STREETS.

When a new theatre or a new show is opened for
the first time, the earliest visitor—the man in the
vanguard of the audience—always treads on
the retiring skirts of the last carpenter.
Such has been the case with the vast
and general preparations for the reception of
the Princess Alexandra. Although every gasman,
carpenter, decorator, and labourer worked all last
night by flaming lamps to get the miles of
balcony finished along the line of route, the
clink of hammers closing rivets up met the
takers of the first seats this morning. The
streets were alive with company at an
early hour—Ladies going to their seats, roughs
(who had evidently been np all night) parading
the footways, Punch and Judy men, Ethiopian
serenaders, jugglers, and tumblers going to
business in the side alleys, stray bands
of music, sellers of the only correct
programmes, fruit vendors, builders of frail plat-
forms, and all the motley assemblage which is
generally seen on the morning of a holiday like
the present. Hyde-park was in the hands
of the oostermougers all night, and day-
break showed the erection of two miles of
stands, in which egg-chests, sugar casks, old
kitchen chairs, cracked planks, flower shelves, and
a variety of third or fourth hand lumber, was
pressed into the service of sight-seers. These
structures, more or less valuable according to their
position, were guarded by fourth-rate prize•
fighters, fish sellers, and general costermongers,
whose wives and children in very muddy garments
were keeping them company on the damp grass.
Faithful dogs were not wanting who watched over
their master's property, and we hope that so much
energy was rewarded by many honest pennies in
the course of the day.

The Surrey side of the water was astir equally
early, and workmen were putting the finishing
touches to triumphal arches and crimson erections
long before hot-roll time. The roads had had
just enough of rain to lay the dust—the wind was
just high enough to put life into the thousands of
flags, and when the sun came out about nine o'clock
everyone felt that a fine day was certain. Those
who remembered the glories of old Bartlemy Fair
(and Bartlemy Fair had glories, though we have
now learned to despise them) were reminded of the
aspect of that once cheerful arena by the appear*
anew of the streets. The temporary balconies
at private houses and shops ; the covered
mats round churches and in churchyards ; the
eloping mate in front of clubs, bruits,
and insurance offices, were all more or less sugges-
tive of old Richardson's show. The flags that flut-
tered from a thousand housetops all flapped &
hearty welcome, but many of them were raised re-
pram of their meaning in the language of ban-
Hera. The quarantine flag seemed to be as popular
as any, and an old sailor might hare

fancied the City was stricken with the plague. The
streamers dipped down from housetops before the
noses of the more lofty spectators, and hundreds of
flag-lines were strung across the streets, giving !
them the appearance of a variegated laundry
drying-ground. The ladies were very generally
decked-out in the Danish colours—scarlet and
white--Opera cloaks, bonnet ribbons, and even
dresses being made in the fashion. Some of the
gentlemen wore rosettes—though these ornaments
were not common—and the scarlet necktie with
white stripes seemed to be the favourite sign of
loyalty.
The thousands who left their beds early, wished
to see the preparations along the line of route, and
cabs, carts, omnibuses, and carriages began a sight-
seeing procession as early as 8 o'clock. By 10 the
footways had become almost impassable for anyone
except the most patient or athletic travellers ; and
thousands darted down the side streets to reach the
most interesting points more quickly. The river and
steam boats were crowded with passengers, and that
neglected interest, the City waterman, also reaped
a little harvest for doing ferry work. The banks of
our dingy old river were decorated here and there—
but the great objects of attraction were London-
bridge and the lime-light apparatus erected on the
ball of St. Paul's. London-bridge, seen from
the river, was a sight worth a journey—
the statues, streamers, and triumphal arches
being the grandest show in the whole line
of procession. The churches came out nobly with
seats and decorations. St George's and St. Saviour's
in the Borough, St. Mary Woolnoth, Bow Church,
St. Paul's, St. Bride's, and St. Dunstan's, in the
City ; and St. Clement's, St. Mary-le-Strand, St.
3fartin's, and St. James's, at the west-end,
never looked so gay within the memory
of the oldest inhabitant. The Gresham Club,
the Globe Fire-office, the Bank of England,
were filled with ladies—the roof of the latter
building being alive with visitors. The Maneion-
house—to use an advertising phrase—was a galaxy
of splendour, the old smoke-coloured columns being
covered with crimson cloth, and the balcony being
faoed with a white and gold cornice. St,
Paul's-churchyard, though loaded with visitors,
contributed very little to the show, the
churchyard seats being the only gay structures
la that enclosure. The splendid fronts of
the large Manchester warehouses here were made
nothing of, and we hope their proprietors will
atone for this on the night of the wedding. Temple-
bar was completely built over with white and
gold cornices, which follow the lines of the build-
ing, and crimson cloth. Somerset-house bad no
decorations worth speaking of, though great pre-
parations are being made for the illumina-
tions. Several huge stands—particularly one at
Hun,gerford-market--attracted much attention ;
and all the club-houses along Pall-mall and St.
James's-street were covered with coloured dra-
pery. By a singular chance, the Danish
colours are the colour of a barber's pole,
and several balcony decorators contrived to re-
produce this familiar sign in the columns of their
woodwork. The Reform Club—though it departed
from these colours—clung to the design, and
several other buildings followed its example.
The Duke of Devonshire had erected • large
covered balcony over the front wall of hismansionin
Piccadilly, and this was faced by another huge similar
structure at the entrance to the Green-park. The
mansions along the north side of Piccadilly were,
in many cases, very tastefully decorated, and their
windows were filled with the upper ten thousand,
who looked across the procession at the million in
the park beyond.

Further on—at the entrance to Hyde-park--the
glistening sea of mud bad been covered with gravel
—aud the selected pathway—taking a wide curve
nearly across the centre of the Park—had
been freshly gravelled. The houses in Park-
lane were half a mile from the show, and some
of the poor costermongers with their frail platforms
were also a long way from the pros ion. The
marble arch, with very good taste, was left in its
natural state, and the flap and colours began again
in right earnest in the Edgware-road. A triumphal
arch here, decorated with evergreens, amongst other
things, and another arch across the Grand Junction-
road were points of attraction. Covered
seats were erected in the gardens of the last-
named thoroughfare, and the road along Lon-
don-street, and the station itself, including
the Great Western Hotel, was made as gay
as possible. The whole decorations along the
line of route from the Bricklayers' Anna
to Paddington were a great success, and even
where they failed a little, if judged by the severest
taste, the will atoned for the deed. The thorough-
fares off the line of procession were equally loyal,
and hundreds of little back streets and alleys in
the suburbs burst out in holiday blossoms.
Of course London Bridge was the great centre
of attraction, because the City Corporation had
spared neither labour nor expense in fitting it up
as became the occasion. The massive
triumphal arches, with their white alle-
gorical statuettes anal profusion of gild-
ing and wreaths of flowers, the national
statues of England and Denmark standing on tall
pedestals on each side of the footway, all form a
show which we trust to see standing for many days.
The belle pealed their joyous welcome all through
the route, and the military and volunteer bands
added to the harmony and effect of this truly
splendid reception.
_ _

In Pall-mail some alarm was created among the
crowd by a cab-horse taking fright, and dashing &thin
speed amongst the people. Two men, John Roakes, a
picture-frame maker, and Isaac Tucker, a carpenter,
were knocked down and run over. They received
severe injuries, and were removed to Charing-crop
Hospital.
A number of accidents, of a more or less serious
nature, have occurred from the dangerous practice of
rushing between the horses and vehicles in the
streets. A boy named Smith was so badly injured
by a kick from a horse, received near Loudon-
bridge, that he was removed to Guy's Hospital,
where the operation of amputation was performed,
and his life is despaired of. Several females and
children have been iujured from a similar cause.
At half-peat 12 the scaffolding of the grand
triumphal arch near the King William
statue was lowered, a large body of men
having been up to that hour engaged in
putting a finishing touch to the work. The arch
excited the greatest admiration amongst the my-
riads of spectators.

About one hundred yards from Bt. George's
Church, in the widest part of High-street,
Borough, rose a magnificent triumphal arch,
entirely spanning the road and lifting its
grand form some fifty feet into the air. It is
constructed so as to give the appearance of three
arches surmounted by an enriched cornice. The
middle one, through which the cortege passes, was
of an elliptical form quite thirty feet high by about
twenty-two wide.

Shortly after 2 o'clock, rain began to fall, to the
annoyance of the expectant crowds.