The Sun.
London, England, 1862-07-03 00:00:00

ANON YMA.

A writer in a contemporary says—Early in the
season of 1861 a young lady, whom I must call
Anonyma, for I have never been able to learn her
name, made her appearance in Hyde-park. She
was a charming creature, beautifully dressed, and
she drove with ease and spirit two of the hand-
somest brown ponies eye ever beheld.
Nobody in society had seen her before; nobody
in society knew her name, or to whom she be-
longed ; but there she was, prettier, better dressed,
and sitting more gracefully in her carriage than
any of the fine ladies who envied her her looks, her
skill, or her equipage.
A good many young gentlemen seemed to be
acquainted with her; but their recognition was
generally limited to a respectful bow as she passed
by, or to a few friendly words slily interchanged on
the step of her pony-carriage when she drew up in
some remote corner of the Park.
Anonyma seemed at first to be rather a shy dam-
sel. She is somewhat bolder now. Last year she
avoided crowds, and affected unfrequented roads,
where she could more freely exhibit her ponies'
marvellous action, and talk to her male acquain-
tances with becoming privacy. When all the
fashionable world were sauntering on foot, on horse-
back, and in carriages along the Ladies' Mile by the
side of the Serpentine, Anonyma used to betake
herself to the deserted thoroughfare leading from
Apsley House to Kensington.
But, as the fame of her beauty and her equipage
spread, this privacy became impossible to her. The
fashionable world eagerly migrated in search of her
from the Ladies' Mile to the Kensington-road. The
highest ladies in the land enlisted themselves as her
disciples. Driving became the rage. Three, four,
five, six hundred guineas were freely given for
pairs of ponies, on the simple condition that they
should show as much breeding as Anonyma's. If
she wore a pork-pie hat, they wore pork-pie hats;
if her paletot was made by Poole, their paletots
were made by Poole ; if she reverted to more femi-
nine attire, they reverted to it also. Where she
drove, they followed ; and I must confess that, as
yet, Anonyma has fairly distanced her fair compe-
titors. They can none of them sit, dress, drive,
or look as well as she does ; nor can any of them
procure for money such ponies as Anonyma con-
trives to get—for love.
But the result of all this pretty play causes a
great public nuisance, and it is on that account,
and not at all on account of my admiration for
Anonyma and her stepping ponies, that I now ad-
dress you.
I have said that up to the beginning of last year
the fasbionable world chiefly affected the Ladies'
Mile in the Park, and that the thoroughfare from
Apsley-house to Kensington was comparatively un-
frequented, save by Anonyma. But this year, when
that road is more especially required to be kept open
for the convenience of visitors to the Exhibition, it
is daily choked with fashionable carriages—from
seven—all on account of An
placedto along it on either side;
"Yina. Chairs
arefivethe best partis
that England knows, the toadies who cling to them,
the snobs who copy
them--all sit there, watohing
for Anonyma. About 6
p.m. a rumour arises that
Anonyma is coming. Expectation
is raised to its
ihighestcarriage
pitch; a
handsome
woman drives rapidly by
drawn by thoroughbred ponies of sur-
Parting shape and action ; the driver is attired in the