The Sun.
London, England, 1856-05-10 00:00:00

A DAY OF PLEASURE.

(From the Times.)

It is possible to have too much pleamre in one day,

_
especially when pleasure assumes th 3 form of hurrying
to an I fro with the impetuosity which characterises
ladies and gentlemen too late for a railroad train. Were
the human frame entirely unassailable by fatigue, were
muscles and nerves but as the cogs and v heels of some
iron engine, it might, indeed, be possible to spend six-
teen or seventeen consecutive hours without discomforts
somewhat in the following wanner :—At 5 a.m. rise,
dress, and breakfast, as a man rises, dresses, and break-
fasts about four or five hours before his usual time, when
he has only contrived to doze off for thirty-seven
minutes before the dreadful alaruin at his door. At
6.45 a.m., Waterloo station, gymnastics, and disap-
pointment, logical exercitations with the police. At
7.30, off to Windsor, if fortunate, awl arrive at that
abode of Royalty at 9.ls—again, if fortunate. At 19,
Long-walk and Park, with review of Crimean soldiers.
If wife, sister, mother, or daughter of any of the red-coated
heroes, emotions must be undergone, the intensity of
which may be taken as relieved by minatory prancings of
the sable chargers of the Horse Guards Blue, and the
flourishing of the truncheons of the police. It is not in
our power to state with official precision the hour at
which the review will terminate—let us at a venture
say at noon, because there is much to be done ere
night. We will also assume that the ladies and gentle-
men who may have attended the review, and who are
desirous of attending the Drawing room, by desperate
exertions contrive to reach London by 2 p.m. and St.
James's Palace at 3. • Now, attendance at a drawing.
room is not the lightest of all human labours, as those
persons who are in the habit of paying their respects
to the Queen on such occasions are well aware. The
amount of labour, howeier, which a delicate woman
will, without wincing, undergo upon such occasions
would startle a gentleman trained to wild-duck shooting
on the Dorsetshire coast. We will presume the draw-
nag-room to be over, and the costumed crowd to be deli-
vered a,. their own abodes somewhere between 5 and 6
pm. Then, to be sure, there are a few hours of relache
for dinner and repose ; but soon the jaded pleasure-
seekers must gird up their loins for yet severer struggles.
To them 'Agra does .not bring darkness and friendly
quiet, but rather an aggravation of the gaieties of the
day. The illuminations and the fireworks with awful
glare and hiss await them. They must and will see all ;
some from a noble determination of spirit, others because
they are like the old yellow post-chaises which are
whirled from stage to stage by relays of fresh i ost-
horses. The Crimean brother must be seen by one fair
member of the family—hence Windsor ; another must
be taken to the Drawing-room—who that had been pre-
sented would be so disloyal as not to do personal
homage to her Sovereign on such a? day ?—hence St.
James's ; the younger representatives of the name and
honours of Dowbiggin have for many weeks past been
speaking and dreaming but of rockets, Catherine wheels,
Roman candles, &c., and so the Parks and the illumina-
tions follow as a matter of course. Will any one say
that the condition of the heads of such a family as this
one about 1 a.m. on the day following the great day of
pleasure would not be calculated to inspire the most
painful feelings into any person of benevolent mind ?
Such, however, is a programme of the day's proceed-
ings as we have them announced for the 29th proximo.
We venture, with all due deference to the persons who
are charged with the arrangements of such solemnities,
t suggest that by endeavouring to crowd too many acts
into Gne play they will spoil all. Of course, it wilt be
replied that the same persons who attend the review at
Windsor will not, in all probability, make their appear-
ance at the Drawing-room, nor, perhaps, even trouble
themselves with the pyrotechnic display at night. As
involving a question of fact, we doubt the value of the
denial. On the contrary, we very strongly believe that
the very ladies who will be moat anxious to get a peep
at Crimean relatives and friends in their military splen-
dour will be just the very persons who would be most
likely to attend the Drawing-room, and who would not
unnaturally make an effort to see the illuminations and
fireworks at night as well. Take another class of persons.
There are many thousands of the Queen's subjects in
this metropolis who would be most anxious to see the
review of the Crimean troops at Windsor, but who never
think of attending a Drawing-room. Want of position
or want of inclination keeps them away. The illumina-
tions and fireworks constitute a spectacle, however, on
which they may be well inclined to gaze, for it is to be
hoped no similar show will recur in our time. In their
case we eliminate the Drawing-room, but even the
Windsor review and the London fireworks are more
than ordinary people can accomplish in a day, even if
they can accomplish it at all. It seems a pity that the
people who have made such desperate sacrifices to carry
on the war should not have the gratification of witness-
ing the first parade of the first returned Crimeans.
Thera cannot be any object in running all these various
spectacles together, save that of showing what can be ac-
complished as a tour de-force by the Sovereign who has,
as is perfectly right, at her command every means for pass-
ing with the utmost celerity from one spot to another, and
by whose movements the whole proceedings of the day are
regulated. It is, of course, intelligible enough that the
Queen should review the troops at Windsor betimes in
the forenoon ; step into a railway carriage, which will
convey her to London in time to hold the Drawing-room;
receive at a State dinner afterwards those persons who
have been honoured by the Royal command ; and later
in the evening walk to a window in the palace and wit-
. netts the display, of fireworks which will take place in
St.. James's-park. The fatigue of such a day must be
severe enough even under such circumstances, but what
will it be those who are obliged to hurry about from
spot to spot, subject to all the dangers and delays of the
rail and road, the crowded thoroughfares, and the strug-
gling mob ?
The consequences of such unwise haste were sadly dis-
cernible in the history of the days'a adventures at Ports-
mouth on the occasion of the naval review. The fact
is that the Queen, with an express-train, to which
everything must give way, and a steam yacht of first-
rate power at her disposal, can at any time leave her
poor subjects, like laggards, far behind. The opera-
tions of a public day, however, should not be calcu-
lated on the speed which may be attained under such
exceptionable circumstances, but rather on what can be
accomplished by persons of a moderate degree of energy
and activity, and with reasonable means at their com-
mand. It is, of course, no secret that in nine cases out
of ten it is not for her own pleasure or satisfaction
that the Queen performs the part, which she always
does so gracefully and so well in these pageants and
public displays. Surely that Royal Lady must have been
sickened and wearied of such solemnities now many
years ago. We all understand that she most frequently
makes a sacrifice of her own comfort in order to give
pleasure to her subjects. It is the persons who are
about the CourMand who are charged with the duty of
timing and regulating such proceedings, who are answer-
able for the confusion and disappointment which too
frequently ensue. At Portsmouth, the other day, how
extremely short was the period during which the pro-
gress of the Royal yacht lasted, and yet when this was
at an end the show was over. From all corners of the
kingdom people had come to see the great eight. Rail-
way trains, however, gave way; steamers—aye, even
Admiralty steamers, with living Peers on board—refused
to proceed. So short was the period during which the
naval review lasted that there was no time for repairing
blunders, and hence so much disappointment. Lest
another such scene of confusion should occur, we ven•
turn with all deference to ask that the proposed day for
the military review at Windsor may be either postponed
or anticipated.