The Sun.
London, England, 1868-04-24 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, FRIDAY EVENING, APRIL 24, 1868.

instances had the artists done them justice. Some
had sought to flatter, and not always succeeded—
at least, in the case of the Princess ; others had
missed the likeness or stumbled into the grotesque.
Stern photograghy alone kept its inexorable middle
way. If it is pleasant to be a Prince, and to have
such a bride as Princess Margaret, it must be ad-
mitted that it is something of a drawback to be made
to look like a ruffian, and a cutthroat in hundreds of
thousands of rude prints, which are sold at street
corners for a penny. Another article for which
there is just now a prodigious demand is the daisy.
The modest margue'rite is selling by the million. I
know not whether the flower was equally in request
on the occasion of the nuptials of the " belle Royne
de Navarre," or of some other royal Margaret of
times past, but it is hardly possible that at any
period it should have been more extensively repro-
duced and employed. One meets whole planta-
tions of those unpretending blossoms upon the
ladies' heads about the streets ; the hatters' win-
dows are full of them, stuck in the bands of
wideawakes and bilycocks ; the jewellers exhibit
them in the form of earrings, brooches, studs,
necklaces, and hair ornaments. The confectioners
perpetrate daisy bonbons, of which the design is
superior to the execution. Very noisy boys last
night stunned the saunterers under the arcades by
their shrill recommendations of their daisy shirt-
pins at two sous apiece ; in short, Turin at this mo-
ment is the capital of daisyland, and there seems
some danger that the humblest of flowers will have
a bit of vainglory in consequence of such unusual
popularity. Some here, who know what the Prin-
cess's recent life has been, find a peculiarly appro-
priate emblem for her in the flower that revives and
rises again fresh and elastic after the passing pres-
sure of a clownish foot. All must desire that her
married life may pass more happily than her girl-
hood is believed to have done. Whatever warmth
of feeling and genuine enthusiasm the coming
marriage here excites are attributable almost
exclusively to the interest she inspires ; and such
sentiments would have been none the weaker
bad the wedding been less an occasion for pa-
geantry and lavish expenditure. In Turin,
at any rate, the feeling evidently is that the cir-
cumstances of the time do not warrant such
costly festivities. The municipality and the higher
classes have thought it necessary to maintain the
city's old reputation and to re-assert the feeling of
loyal attachment to the House of Savoy which some
have thought impaired ; but one hears it freely
admitted that what is being done can be but ill
afforded. It may be doubted, too, whether the
lower classes of Italians care much for the games
and shows of which this city and Florence are about
to be the scene. The north Italians, assuredly, al-
though so close to France, do not share the French
passion for parades and spectacles, fireworks and
illuminations. The most that can be hoped and
reasonably expected upon the present occasion is
that no unpleasant mauifestatious will be provoked
by the contrast of pomp, splendour, and festivity
with the depressed state,
heavy taxation, and really
hard lot of the Pieduaontese population. The Prince
of Piedmont was but coldly received when he arrived
the other day in Turin and proceeded to the Palace
in company with his brother, who went to meet
him at the railway station.
Turin may find some compensation for her
present outlay in the money that will be left here
by the numerous strangers who flock to the wed-
ding. Certain classes are jubilant over the in-
flux. The hotelkeepers have bad' their houses
booked full for weeks past, and one hears of fur-
nished apartments in private houses let at enor-
mous prices. Carriage hire seems less exorbitant
than in Florence, where the coachmasters lately held
out for 800 f. for a carriage and pair for the eight
days of the fetes. On such occasions it seems con-
sidered fair to take the utmost advantage of the cir-
cumstances, and to deem nothing extortionate that
can possibly be obtained. At Konigsberg corona-
tion people paid 20f. a night fer a cupboard with a
bed in it. Nothing so strong as that has yet come
to my knowledge in Turin, but I would not trust
much to the moderation of the Florence innkeepers
when their day of glory arrives. Last night's train
from that capital brought a large numb3r of wed-
ding guests, including many of the diplomatic
body. That body divides itself chiefly between the
two principal hotels here—Trombetta's (which was
lately Feder's) and the Europe. In the former the
representatives of the United States, Prussia, Tur-
key, Russia, and the Netherlands have taken up
their quarters ; also three members of the Cabinet
—Count Cambray Di,gnY, General Bertole-Viale,
and Admiral Itibotty. It is fitting that Finance
should go with War and Marine to supply their
wants, and especially to try to check their expen-
diture. Count Usedom has not yet arrived, hav-
ing gone to meet the Crown Prince of Prussia, who
was to have bean here to-night, but who has been
delayed by something out of order on the Brenner
Railway. At the Hotel de l'Europe are the Minis-
tersS of England, France, Spain, Belgium, Austria,
Bavaria, Ste. This being Sunday the shops are
shut, but before noon the porticoes and many of
the streets were crowded as they usually only
were late on holiday afternoons when Turin was
the capital. Half Florence seems transported here.
One cannot go out of the house without running
against a Minister, native or foreign, and as for ex-
Ministers, senators, and deputies, they may be
reckoned by the score. Two trains came in at one
o'clock in the morning, and another at noon. The
Queen of Portugal is at the Palace, not
yet
re-
covered from the fatigue of her journey, which she
performed quicker than the post in four days from
Lisbon to Genoa, via Madrid, stopping nowhere,
and arriving, as may be imagined, much exhausted.
She took a short drive yesterday with Prince Hum-
bert, but is still far from well.

The weather in Turin was fine and bright yes-
terdayrain-
ing hard. It will be unfortunate for two of the
but to-night it is and the day before,
great features of the festival, the illuminations and
the tournament, if the bad weather continues.