The Sun.
London, England, 1845-08-27 00:00:00

HER MAJESTY'S VISIT TO THE

CONTINENT.

COBUIZG, AUG. 22.—tier Majesty and the rest of the royal
party assembled here are living in comparative retirement.
The Queen and Prince Albert continue with their suite to
occupy Rosenau. The King and Queen of the Belgians
Occupy the palace belonging to the King as one of the Princes
of Saxe Coburg, situated within the town, at the back of the
theatre, and the Duchess of Kent and the other visitors live
at the town palace of the reigning Duke.
There is also a complete change in the habits of the Court
from those to which they are accustomed at home. This
morning they all breakfasted in the open air, on a terrace
before one of the fronts of Rosenau, a spot which the late
Duke always selected fur his evening meal, as it commands
one of the most beautiful views in this beautiful valley. The
dinner hour is much earlier than in England, four o'clock
being contidered rather a late hour to dine.
Yesterday, after dinner, the ruyal party drove over from
Rosenau to the town palace here, where her Majesty and the
Prince held a sort oflevee or reception, called here a ";circle."
Among those presented were the Grand Duke of Baden and
his SOD, the Dowager Duchess of Coburg, the Princess
Reuss, Count Mensdorff and his three sous, Prince Ferdinand
of Coburg, and Prince Leopold of Coburg.
In the morning, after breakfast, the Queen drove over to
Callenborg, a castle of the Duke of Saxe Coburg, which is
his more usual residence than the town palace, when he is
nut at Rosenau.
It was stated that the Queen drove over the other evening
to the fortress. The drive from Rosenau there, along a road
which winds round a thickly-wooded mountain (called the
Bausenberg), is remarkably beautiful. It commands, at
different points, views of the scenery about Saxe Coburg,
which is of a very high order of the picturesque, and,
above all, abounding in every possible variety. From
the fortress itself a views is obtained of an immense
expanse f country on all sides. It is not sur-
passed by any similar view, either for beauty
or for the extent of ceuntry it embraces. Imme-
diately at the foot of the hill on which the fortress
stands lies the city of,Coburg, embosomed in hill and wood-
land. In other parts of the landscape there are rich fertile
plains stretching for miles towards the horizon, and these
again are varied by well wooded hills, and valleys of pictu-
resque beauty. The prospect is bounded on all sides in the
far distance by mountains. On the one hand are the
mountains of Thuringia ; on the other, the Fichtelgebirge,
in Bavaria ; and the hi.is which inclose the valley of the
Maine complete the picture. Parts of Hesse Cassel and
Saxe Bleiningen are also visible.
The interior of the fortress amply repays the time be-
stowed on a visit. Many parts of it are as they were two
or three hundred years ago. There are some good old
portraits, among a great many inferior ones, of the differ:sit
Princes an Princesses of the house of Coburg. A room
called the Horn Room is quite unique in its way. It is
lined, walls and ceiling, with oak, inlaid in the must admir-
able way with different sorts of wood. All along the walls
at intervals are panels formed of a sort of mosaic of wood,
each representing in the most quaint style imaginable the
incidents of the chase. They were executed fur Duke John
Casimir. In another room are some very fine portraits of the
heroes of the thirty years' war—of Tilly, Wallenstein, Duke
Bernard of Saxe Weimar Gustavus Adolphus, &c. They are
mostly by Schneider, a living artist, and reflect the highest
credit on his talents. There is also the room where Luther
was concealed ; and his bedstead and table, and some other
veritable relics, are preserved. A magnificent collection of
old armour fills a large room, and provides inexhaustible in-
terest for the spectator. It is a most complete thing of its
kind. There are, also, some old carriages that belonged to
Duke John Casimir—the most grotesquely built and orna-
mented vehicles that were ever seen out of the Burmese em-
pire. A large collection of sledges, of similar make, is also
very interesting. There are some frescoes in different parts
of the building, from which our English artists might take a
lesson. The rest of the fortress is occupied as a surt of house
of correction, in which the prisoners work at different trades
—the only persons in Coburg who seem at this festive season
to be doing anything at all.
This afternoon a spectacle was presented to the Queen quite
novel in its character, and at the same time perfectly Ger.
man. It appears that there is at Coburg an annual festival
called the " Feast of Gregorius." It has lasted for several
hundred years, and is kept up with funds long since be-
queathed for the purpose. It fell to-day ; and in that
spirit of simple enjoyment and relaxation from courtly cere-
mony which has characterised the visit of the Queen here,
because it seems to be the custom of the country, her Ma-
jesty and the whole royal party came down from the palace
to be present at the gay scene.
In a spacious meadow in one of the suburbs of Coburg
p xvilions were erected, and a portion of the ground opposite
these pavilions was fenced in with festoons and garlands. In
the pavilions tables were laid for dinner, of which the royal
visitors were to be the partakers. Besides the pavilions
there were alas many other booths, a travelling theatre, and
a most grotesque roundabout, with hobby horses
and sledges, mounted on which were musicians
playing a most musical polka, and girls and boys
in fantastic dresses. This was the preparation on the
ground. The festival was of a different kind. All the chit
dren of the town schools, girls and boys, formed, according
to custom, in procession, to the number of 600 or 700. The
girls were all dressed in white, their heads adorned with ivy-
wreaths, and their dresses festooned in like manner. Some
wore fancy costumes—the Highland dress, the Greek dress ;
and there were flocks:of the prettiest little shepherdesses in
the world. The greater number of the boys also wore fancy
costumes—they were dressed as jagers, as llighlanders,
Greeks, Turks, Albanians, to say nothing of one or two first-
rate little Napoleon Bonapartes, and an unexceptionable
Captain Macheath.
This pretty troop of mummers preceded the royal party
to the festival ground, and formed themselves in lines within
the precincts of the festoons opposite the pavilions, marching
to bands of music. Of course there were multitudes of look-
ers-on—they formed a dense mass around the gay throng,
but conducting themselves with the utmost propriety.
There was no crushing or crowding; each respected the con-
venience of the rest ; yet all enjoyed the scene to the ut-
most, laughing, chatting, and uttering the liveliest expressions
of admiration.

The arrival of a long string of royal carriages with out-
riders in liveries, all blazing with gold, was the signal for a
general stir of expectation, and as her Majesty alighted from
her carriage and entered the open pavilion, there was a ge-
neral shout of hearty welcome. In a few minutes the whole
party were on the ground. All the distingaished persons
whose names we have already mentioned as being here at-
tended the rustic feast, and her Majesty, leaning on the arm
of the Duke of Saxe Coburg, followed by the King and
Queen of the Belgians and Prince Albert and the Duchess of
lient, walked slowly between the long lines of children,
stopping occasionally to speak to the prettiest or the most
gaily dressed. A succession of sharp shrill cheers in childish
treble expressed their pleasure in a manner not to be mis-
taken, and it was delightful to see their enthusiasm, the girls
waving their white handkerchiefs and the boys their caps.
As soon as this promenade was over, and the promenaders
had returned to the pavilions, the children's turn came.
They formed once more in procession, and walked slowly
round the inclosure to the music of the bands, passing seve-
rally by the Queen. It was a pretty sight. The little fair-
haired girls in their chaste costume of white and ivy
wreaths, the strange, often grotesque, mixture of the fancy
dresses of the boys, the uniforms of the gendarmerie, and of
the officers who attended the party, the music, flags, and the
general stir and excitement among such a multitude of peo-
ple, rendered the whole thing one of the gayest and most
animated scenes we ever remember to have witnessed. The
procession was a sort of Eton Montem show in miniature,
but with the graceful addition of the girls ; and the whole
ground on which the festival took place, with the shows and
booths, the music, and the gay crowds of people sauntering
alma and enjoying themselves, looked like a fair, but with-
out its rude license.

The part of the whole affair which will most surprise an
English reader is, that in a very few minutes after the pro-
cession was over, the whole royal party sat down to dinner
in the pavilion, amidst all the noise of the jarring bands, and
the clashing of the cymbals, and under the gaze of thou-
sands of people. To our own Queen it must have been a
scene of peculiar novelty, and the people in England will
no doubt be not a little surprised to find that so many
crowned heads and royal personages as were here
assembled could, without any loss of their supposed
dignity, dine in this a/ fresco style, in a meadow, sur-
rounded by so many of what we should in England deem the
ruder elements of rustic gaiety. But this is one of the most
agreeable characteristics of royalty in these continental
countries—the free and unreserved manner in which they
mix with the people; nor is it less remarkable that the
people never abuse this privilege of partaking in the amuse-
ments of their rulers by those exhibitions of rudeness and
vulgar curiosity which are too often seen iu England on pub-
lic occasions.

The dinner lasted upwards of an hour. In the meanwhile
the children were allowed to drink beer at a neighbouring
Gasthaus, and after dinner there was a dance, the Queen and
the rest of the royal party looking on. The charm of the
whole affair was the utter absence of all ceremony. The
same scene takes place every year, so that what appears so
strange and striking to an English eye is hero looked on as a
matter of course. The Queen took a most lively interest in
the festival, particularly in the dancing of the children and
their merry games at romp and play. The whole wound up
with " God save the Queen," sung admirably by the chil-
dren ; and after a final cheer the royal party left at a few
minutes before six o'clock.