The Sun.
London, England, 1853-07-15 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, FRIDAY EVENING, JULY 15, 1853.

" DASHING" -WEDDING,

BY ELIZA COOK.
(From Elizx Cook's Journal.)
" Well, if ever we sh3u/cl get manied, we shall cer-
tainly adopt the sensible advice of Prneh,, and make the
affair runaway match with the consent of our friends.' "
This was our fervent mental declaration some fourteen
months since, when, much against our inclination, we
were staying at the house of a young neighbour during
the preparations for her marriage with a good-looking
clerk in the Bank.
This young neighbour was Emily Mason, the eldest
daughter of a retired commercial traveller, who managed
to keep up a very respectable appearance, with a wife and
five children, on three hundred a year. We had always
given the Masons credit for being people of good common
sense, and used to quote them as an example of prudence ;
but, alas! the folly they exhibited at the union of Emily'
with George Burleigh quite sawed our veneration for '
their mental superiority, and caused us to imagine that
weddings, like cards, were invented to amuse mad people.
We knew that George Burleigh had scarcely two hundred
a-year, and that "comfortable aim]: •6ments" near Islington,
with a "small domestic," would form the extent of his
establishment ; we knew that Mr. Mason had nothing to
spare for extraneous luxuries ; and of course were con-
siderably startled when we heard of six bridesmaids,
a grand breakfast for forty people, four dashing carriages,
with grey horses and white favours ; that Emily was to
wear a splendid lace veil instead of a bonnet, and that
the whole paraphernalia was to be in imitation of the
style in which the daughter of a duke is married.
Every member of the family seemed bewildered by the
approaching event, and the simple legal contract of mar-
riage was evidently about to be performed in much such
a temporary galaxy of spangles, foil, white tulle, and
blue fire, as one expects to witness in the last scene of a
Lyceum Christmas-piece. The confusion and profusion
of dressmakers, tailors, white gloves, orange-blossoms,
milliners' boxes, confectioners' trays, wine-baskets, and
silver-decked cards, completely destroyed the natural state
of household propriety, and every room and every person
seemed bitten by a matrimonial tarantula. The staid
and stout mamma grew so "puce" in the face amid the
perplexing anxieties and duties crowding on her, that she
rushed about l'ke an animated pickling-cabbage. No
sooner bad she tried on a very tight-fitting dove-satin
dress, under the scrutiny of Miss Flouncem, which added
a deeper suffusion to her cheeks, than the cook, hired for
the occasion, begged her most earnestly to look out the
jelly-glasses : no sooner were the jelly-glasses produced,
than her presence was demanded in the passage touching
the arrival of " the cake" from Purssell's ; then, where
was the blonde lace she had promised Julia in her
private drawer upstairs ; then, where was the parcel of
almonds for blanching ? in the store-closet down-stairs :
Emily begged her to go directly to Regent-street to
match some pink silk, and Maria requested her to be
sure to call in Covent-garden to insure the bouquets.
Poor Mrs. Mason (she might with justice have been
taken for the long-sought realisation of " perpetual
motion") ! but she wanted to "do the thing hand-
somely," and to show her friends that she knew " what
is proper on such occasions," so she endured bravely,
like a maternal heroine as she was, and felt as
im-
portant amid her embarrassing duties as a parish beadle
at the head of a charity-school.
It so happened that we wished to indite some business
correspondence, and few would believe how vainly we
tried to get a quiet hour and a foot or two of covenient
space to ourselves. We sought the front parlour—there
was a white silk skirt with seven flounces, three gauze
scarfs, and "a love of a cap" on the large table, and a
pink jacket, with numerous pairs of ethereal sleeves, on
the "Pembroke." We retreated immediately, and tried
the back parlour—there we encountered Mrs. Lovelace,
in close conjunction with Julia and Maria, amid heaps of
delicate materials, sprinkled with ribbons, flowers, and
marabouts, to such a dazzling extent, that one might have
fancied Oberon and Titania, with their elfin crew, had left
their clothes behind while they went to take a bath. Not
an inch -of mahogany, not a glimpse of a chair-seat was
visible, and we felt that our epistolary intentions in that
quarter were completely "bonneted." We sought our
own bedroom—there was Emily packing up for her
" tour" to Brighton, and everything was everywhere ;
we peeped into the brother's dormitory—surely a chance
existed there—but, lo and behold ! the toilet-table was
covered with glass and tumblers,, and the very floor oc-
cupied by plates and dishes. W e cast a sort of longing
look on the landing-place, and when we found that in-
vaded by four bandboxes. Mr. Mason's new blue coat,
and three palrs of dress boots, we gave up our purpose
in despair, and resigned ourselves to helping Mrs. Mason
to cut out some paper ornaments for the breakfast.
Where George Burle;gh was during his visits on the
two last evenings o 7 preparation we could not quite
make out. We fancied we caught a fading shadow of
him at the str-et-door once or twice as Emily gave rather
an abrupt sTlin to the said door, but certain it is that he
was not admiaed into either of the receiving-rooms, and
it is our be';ef that he was positively ordered out of the

house.
The night before the eventful miming the excitement
and confusion ;ncreased to an alarming extent ; some of
the most important essentials were found defec ,ive at the
last moment. Mr. Mason had discovered that the sherry
was not drinkable, and then doubted if there were cham-
pagne enough. A journey from Bayswater to Fenchurch-
street after 8 p.m. was indispensable, and off he went,
poor man, looking very like an escaped lunatic. Frank,
the youngest son, declared his vest was too short for the
fashion, and flung himself into a severe hysteric of bad
words about the tailor's masculine want of attention.
Tom, the eldest, had not been able to get grey horses to
ail the carriages, without extra charge. Maria was in an
agony to find that one of the bridesmaids intended to wear
a far more splendid dress than her own. Julia was
loquaciously bitter against a pair of tight shoes just come
from the makers's ; and Emily, the bride, was on the very
precipice of fainting, from the effect of general flurry.
M. Mason, long after midnight, was busied among the
" things for breakfast," and was so lost to reason that
when Mr. Mason asked where his new black trowsers
were, she replied, " They
.will be brought up with the
custards, my dear." Dresses had to be altered, trades-
men had to be sent to, servants had to be schooled, and
everything had to be looked for that should have been
found a week before. We suspect that not a member
of the family got one hour's sleep, and for our part we
own to having entertained desperate notions that the
mere " broomstick" system of marrying was preferable
to such a dreadful disturbance in a quiet family.
We can never describe the wedding morning. We
seemed in a sort of mist, and can only distinctly recol-
lect that Emily was dosed with neat brandy, and that
George Burleigh had to go back for the ring ; that the
guests made long speeches while the bride was gasping ;
that the bridegroom looked as happy as a duckling in a
furze-bush ; and that Mr. Mason, between French
champagne, Italian cream, and English sentiment, was
compelled to retire from the public breakfast-table to
the private bed-room.
We were never more glad than when, after an un-
limited amount of tears, and hugs, and distresses, Emily
and her husband left for the London Bridge station ;
and so sickened were we by the foolish wedding display
of the Masons, that we resolutely made up our minds to
abjure any chance of a like infliction in future.
About a month since we paid a visit to Mrs. George
Burleigh under very different, and what most ladies con-
sider very interesting, circumstances ; that is, she was
sitting up in a close bedroom in a dingy-white dressing-
robe, with two dirty basins and ditto wine-glasses on the
mantlepiece, a mysterious looking small panikin on the
hob, a vast amount of untidy all-sorts scattered about,
and something in her lap which might have been mistaken
for a large wax doll, had it not exhibited a degree of
crimson in the face which no wax doll of the slightest
lady-like pretensions ever displayed. A rather subdued
but very expressive vocal sound issuing from this small
pipe in the grand Haarlem orgy n of life brought us to a
full conviction of its being a real identity ; and after
congratulating its mamma on her new possession, we
instantly discovered an intense general likeness to its
papa ; within a few minutes we saw a strong trace of
both grandpapas in the nose, with a dash of a maternal
uncle about the chin ; while in the hands we detected
the thumb of the whole Mason family. We nursed the
cabbage-rosebud for some five minutes with such ner-
vous care and practical dexterity that its dear little head
came in contact with the powder-box, and its robe of
innumerable tucks got intimately acquainted with the
cinders. We resigned it to an elderly woman, who smelt
so strongly of "something," that our vivid imagination
immediately saw written under her mouth the inscrip-
tion often observed on the doors of various taverns,
"Bottle and jug department." At last "the lovely in-
fant fell into an Elysian slumber of beatific serenity," as
we read in a new novel the other day, and the lady of
the immortal " Gamp" fraternity left us, no doubt, to
fall into the Elysium of "Barclay's best."
" Well, Emily," said we, "isn't George delighted with
his daughter I" "Oh dear, yes," she replied ; "but do
you know it has been a dreadfully expensive time, and do
you know, he says, that as soon as ever we can get rid
of the nurse, we must go into smaller apartments. I
wish we had now what was spent on our wedding. Do
you know," continued she with a confidential, long-
faced whisper, "that what with the carriages and break-
fast, and all those fine dresses which you said I didn't
want, the presents to the bridesmaids, the three weeks
at those uncomfortable lodgings at Brighton, and one
thing and another, that upwards of one hundred and
twenty pounds went ; and where was the good of it ?
but Ma and Pa would have a "dashing" wedding, and
I was very foolish myself in the matter. I only wish
we had the money now. George often gets cross about
it when he thinks of it.
Ibis outpouring of Emily's did not at all astonish us,
for we knew that she possessed some common sense,
although the matrimonial eai thquake had shaken it for a
time. She then paid us the compliment of wishing that
she had taken our advice, and got married more quietly.
" Do you know," continued she, "that I think people in
our station of life are very foolish to waste so much
money on their weddings; and when Julia and Maria get
married, I shall do all in my power to prevent such a
stupid set out. Not a soul cares for you a bit the more,
after all the bother and expense, and I'm sure it's no
pleasure to the parties. What do you think ? Mrs.
Harley told Mrs. Mitfield the other day, that she thought
Mr. Mason had much better have put by the money for
WeCaineemi
his girls than have cut such a dash for a few hours • and
Mr. Harris, I hear, has made some rude remarks ;bout
l et
do
at the
Emily'sbrak a st "
the champagne not being paid for yet,—and yet they
botli
honesty, and a long expatiation
ensued on the conven it' onal absurdity of "grand weddings"
in the middling ranks of society. We summed up, that the
general results are embarrassment, discomfort, and undue
expense. That most brides in such a position are pain-
fully distressed ; that most
bridegrooms
are either ridicu-
lously " spooney," or unbecomingly excited ; that the
immediate connections are awkwardly anxious ; that the
guests are seldom perfectly comfortable, and often censo-
rious and ungrateful ; and that the whole affair, instead
of Wog a rational, solemn, and quiet ceremony, becomes

a sort.pf,Bedlamite holiday,, in which flurry and fainting
carriage and confusion, fine drdises .and-fooliih speeches,
a gold ring and silver, card, are the prominent features ;
and that they are by far the wisest who practise the ad-
vice quoted at the commencement of these pages.
At this moment the She Dr2gon appointed by pre-
cedent to guard the golden nonpareil in the connubial
gardens of Hesperides re-entered, and we left our
young friend with the highest appreciation of her sensi-
ble repentance, and fancying, as we closed the door, that
we still heard her saying something to this effect, and
which, we believe has been echoed by many a thought-
less young couple—" I wish we had the money now that
was thrown away at our wedding."

IMPERIAL VARLIAII24NT.

HOUSE OF LORDS--(YESTERDAY.)
The LORD CHANCELLOR took his seat on the woolsack
at five o'clock.

COLONIAL CHURCH.
The Archbishop of CANTERBURY laid upon the
table a bill providing for the better regulation of the
Church in the colonies, which was read a first time.
The Duke of ARGYLL presented a petition from
the Chamber of Commerce at Leith, in favour of the
bill for the amendment of the law of bankruptcy in
Scotland.

Lord CAMPBELL presented a petition from mer-
chants and others on the same subject.
Lord BROUGHAM presented a petition from the
Corporation of Glasgow, praying for an amendment of
the law affecting the arrestmeneof wages in Scotland.
Lord KINNAIRD presented a petition from mer-
chants and traders of Ed'nburgh against any alteration
in the law.

Lord STANLEY (of Alderley) presented a petition
from a place in Worcestershre, praying for the repeal
of the duty imposed on the importation of salt into India.

THE CRIMINAL CODE.
A conversation took place between Lord ST. LEON-
ARD'S and the LORD CHANCELLOR, on the subject of the
codification of the criminal law.
The LORD CHANCELLOR was understood to say
that he was giving his best attention to the subject, and
he hoped, before next session, matters would have been
put in such a train as to enable Parliament to pass a
measure for effecting a simple and comprehensive digest
if the law.
Lord CAMPBELL and Lord BROUGHAM said the house
and the country ought to be much indebted to the noble
and learned lord for the pains and trouble he had devoted
to this important subject, and hoped the learned judges
would render him every assistance in the preparation of
this measure.

The subject then dropped.
SOUTH-EASTERN RAILWAY (CANTERBURY
AND WHITSTABLE, &c.) BILL.
The Earl of VERULADI moved the third reading of
this bill.

Lord MONTEAGLE said the petitions against the
bill presented an enormous amount of national inte-
rests—one being from persons interested in 100,000 tons
of shipping, and working with 4,000,0001. of capital, and
the others being from large steam navigation companies,
and they were, therefore, entitled to their lordships' at-
tention. The first ground of opposition taken by the
petitioners was, that if they gave this railway company
possession of the port at which the terminus was for
steam-boat purposes, they gave them in effect the com-
mand of the steam navigation of the place ; next, that
Parliament proposed to give this particular company
limited liability, which they had for many years invari-
ably refused to other steam-boat companies. There was
at this moment pending a commission of inquiry into the
law of partnership, expressly including the principle of
limited liability which they were thus going to anticipate
—in a case, too, which was full of danger. They had
often objected to the grasping monopoly of railway com-
panies, but they were now going not only to confer on
one of them the control of the steam-boats at the termi-
nus, but the possession of the harbour of Folkestone. In
the case of the Brighton Company the house refused the
powers which they now were asked to give, and the Duke
of Wellington, whose interest in the Channel communi-
cation they all knew, in 1848 drew a distinction between
a railway bill to enable a company to make a railway
and a bill to enable them to build steamers, with the
construction of which he conceived a railway company
had nothing to do. But if it ever could be desirable to
grant such powers at any time, it must be to a company
which came before them with clean hands. Now, in the
present case the company admitted they had been guilty
for years past of a violation of the law, and of mis-
applying the funds of the railway shareholders to the
establishment of steam-boats. Let their lordships not be
led away by the argument that by giving those powers
they enabled the company to give them good boats across
the Channel. The case of the petitioners was, that they
had provided those good steamboats already. He did not
propose to reject the bill, but he certainly would propose
amendments of the clauses conferring those powers.
Lord BROUGHAM said, this case went before a select
committee as an opposed bill. Different opposing com-
panies were heard against it by counsel, agents, and wit-
nesses, and the committee after all came to a resolution
in favour of the bill ; and it now appeared before their
lordships for a third reading. He strongly recommended
their lordships to pause long before they departed from
the principle of giving their confidence to the reports of
their committees acting impartially, and he would say
judicially, on the questions referred to them.,
After a few words from the Earl of BANDON and Lord
COLCHESTER,

The Earl of HARROWBY said, that the principle
was not to give persons the advantages of limited liabi-
lity except in cases of such magnitude as should make
the risk too great to be undertaken on individual respon-
sibility. In the present case no such amount of re-
sponsibility had been shown ; he therefore hoped their
lordships would not pass the bill. The present was
merely an attempt on the part of a steamboat company to
obtain an advantage over a competitor by acquiring cer-
tain privileges under the cover of being connected with
and forming part of a railway company. He saw no
reason why their lordships should depart from the prin-
ciple which they had usually followed in reference to such
cases, which was, not to give an advantage over their
competitors, which advantage was not at all requisite to
the carrying out of their undertaking.
Lord STANLEY (of Alderley) did not think it was
quite fair to apply the same principles which regulated
the steam navigation of this country with foreign
nations to such a description of steam navigation as that
which was contemplated by this bill. There was a great
difference between the steam navigation which carried
on the trade between all parts of the world and that
which conducted trade between local ports. So far from
its being the fact that there was no instance of Parlia-
ment having given its consent to a similar undertaking,
he believed there was hardly any case in which a similar
application was refused. The principle laid down in the
report of the committee of 1848 was, that it was not
politic to grant a charter of limited liability to any
persons undertaking a private enterprise, and that such
charter should only be granted when the undertaking
was of sufficient magnitude to make it of national im-
portance. But the report drew a distinction which
appeared to be applicable to this case. They thought
that under circumstances similar to those which here
. .

existed a limited power might be granted. If a mini
mum of fares were established, and if certain regulations
were adopted, it was their opinion that the powers now
asked for might be granted. He did think that, such
having been the recommendation of the committee under
the peculiar circumstances of the case, their lordships
ought to grant the powers now asked for. The course
pursued by their lordships' house, and by the other house
of Parliament, was, when such matters were referred to
a committee, and that committee reported that it was
desirable that the power asked for should be granted, to
concur with the recommendation of the committee, and
he thought that much stronger reasons should be adduced
than had been advanced by the noble lord (Monteagle)
before their lordships should depart from that principle
by refusing to pass the third reading of this bill.
The Earl of WICKLOW thought their lordships
ought to have better evidence before them previously to
their coming to a decision upon the bill. He would,
therefore, recommend that the third reading should be
I postponed until the report of the committee was printed
and laid before their lordships.
The Earl of GALLOWAY opposed the bill. The
object of it could not be carried out without a great
outlay, which outlay could not be met without granting
preferential shares ; and he knew that many of those
who were now interested in the company were opposed
to granting any preferential shares.
After a few words from Lord KINNAIRD,
The Earl of POWIS expressed a fear, if this power
were given to the South-Eastern Company, that Parlia-
ment would be called upon by other railway comparies
for timilar privileges, and he instanced the case of a
railway company at Great Grimsby, which was partly
projected for the purpose of engrossing the trade with
the north of Europe.
Lord MONTEAGLE explained that all he wished
was, that their lordships, when discussing the bill,
should have the evidence taken before the select com-
mittee on the table, and he was quite ready to withdraw
his amendment.
The Earl of WICKLOW then moved, as an amend-
ment, that the third reading should be postponed for the
production of the evidence.
The house divided—
For the third reading ' 34
For the amendment . 10
Majority —24
The bill was then read a third time and passed.
The Taxing Officer, Common Law Business (Ireland),
Bill passed through committee, and was ordered to be
reported to-morrow (this day).
The Battersea-park and Westminster-bi:dge Bills
were read a second time.
CHURCH BUILDING ACTS AMENDMENTBILL.
On the motion for bringing up the report of the
amendment made in this bill in committee,
The Earl of HARROWBY asked leave to withdraw
the bill for the present session for the purpose of pro-
curing further information on the subject.
The bill was accordingly withdrawn.
The Metropolitan Building Acts Further Amend-
ment Bill passed through committee.
JUVENILE MENDICANCY (No. 2) BILL.
On the order of the day for considering the report of
amendments on this bill being read,
The Earl of SHAFTESBURY was understood to
say that he proposed to limit the operation of the bill
to children under the age of
10 years. He regretted to
find that some remarks he had made on a former occa-
sion with reference to the President of the Poor Law
Board had been misunderstood. He was most anxious
that no misconception should exist as to his intentions,
for he would be sorry to say a word that could be con-
sidered disparaging of a gentleman of such amiable dis-
position, and who had so satisfactorily discharged the
duties of a most important office.
Lord CAMPBELL observed, that there were in this
metropolis a number of children, both boys and girls,
most of them under the age of 10 years, who were em-
ployed ostensibly in sweeping the street-crossings, and
who then asked remuneration for what they had done,
but who were, in fact, beggars. Some of the female
children employed in this manner were certainly not
more than seven or eight years of age, and there could
be no doubt that if they continued such a course of
life they would become prostitutes, and that the boys
who followed a similar calling would become thieves.
IHe would suggest to the noble earl whether a clause
might not be introduced into this bill to meet the case
of children placed in such a position.
The Earl of SHAFTES.BURY was understood to say

that he would endeavour to carry out the ti :ews of his
noble and learned friend.

The report was then agreed to.
The Convicted Prisoners Removal and Confinement
Bill and the Chancery Suitors Further Relief Bill were
read a third time and passed.
MANNING THE NAVY.
Lord COLCHESTER begged to ask, in consequence
of measures which had been brought forward in the
other house by the First Lord of the Admiralty with
reference to the manning of the navy and the formation
of a =body of naval volunteers, whether her Majesty's
Government would object to lay upon the table of the
house such portions of the evidence taken by the com-
mittee of naval officers appointed by the Board of Ad-
miralty on the 6th of July, 1852, to inquire into the
present system of manning the navy, or of their repoi
as related to a system for the establishment of a coast
militia, and to the training and subsequent employment
of the boys educated in the schools of Greenwich Hos-
pital ? He thought it was very desirable that these por-
tions of the evidence should be laid before the house, but
if it would be inconvenient to the Government to pro-
duce them, he would not press the matter.
The Earl of ABERDEEN believed that the report of

the ;mnaittee to which the noble lord referred was con-
sidered to be of a confidential na'Are, but he would com-
municate on the subject with the First Lord of Admiralty,
and, i: there should be no objection, the doconents
asked for by the noble lord should be laid on the table.
He must say, however, that he inclined to the opinion
that the papers ought not to be produced.
The house adjourned at a quarter to 8 o'clock.