Cincinnati daily press. [volume] (Cincinnati [Ohio]) 1860-1862, 1860-10-16

Of the TOileHes-Appedrdnce of his Royal
Highnsss-The Magnificent Supper.
Saturdays New York papers contain
lengthy and elaborate accounts of the grand
ball given on Friday evening to the Prince
of Wales at the Academy of Music; the
Herald, with its usual verbosity, containing
sixteen mortal columns of the affair, which
was, perhaps the most brilliant ever given
in the country, and, no doubt, fully equal to
any thing of the kind the Prince and his
suite had ever witnessed.
OUTSIDE OF THE ACADEMY.
The Tribune observes
The Questionable masses betrayed their
interest in the ball by as close an approach
to the scene OF its motion as the numerous
police would permit them to make. They
stood thickly--they, and their wives with
them-on the sidewalk of Fourteenth street
and Irving-place, opposite the Academy, and
looked at the disgorging of divinity from the
carriages with that good-natured philosophy
which is the conservative power Of the peo-
pie. The vehicles were collected into q
thicket on Fourteenth street, the skirts of
which trailed around Union-square, and the
prospect of ever reaching the ultimatum of
hope was, for those who came late, emil
nently gloomy. -
The police, however, and the roll of wheels
to the doors on Irving-place, and the hutter
of light fabrics and twinkle of little feet over
the carpets, which were laid to the curb,
were constant between nine and ten o'clock.
A calcium light threw the whole picture into
vivid relief-the great building ablaze from
top to bottom the colors draped about the
entrances of both the Prince and the people,
the dim solidity of spectators thronging the
/ neighborhood, the stern lines of police, the
chatting horses provoked at the glare, like
sensitive and sensible creatures. AS each
/ carriage was eXtricated from the mass and
turned into Irving-place, cheers arose from
the funny populace that probably never will
learn to regard fashionable festivity with that
serious respect to which it is entitled.
DECORATIONS OF THE oPERA-HoUsE.
The decorations of the auditorium were not
| profuse. Light was the grand controlling
! Influence. 1t flashed from special rows OF
Jets that encircled each tier and the dome it.
self, from q constellation of chandeliers over
the stage, from all the hosts of burners be-
longing to the house. 1t brought out in q
lurid glow the white, and gold and crimson
of the theater and went into haze of excite
ment over the rich costumes of the ladies.
( The stage was draped with cotton can
opy, not well washed, and beside brackets of
hanging displayed the union of the tutelar
spirits Of England and the States, and the
sympathetic foldings of their respective
flags. At the rear of the tent a small daiS
] was raised, and the view was extended be-
hind it by picture of leafy place some
where. Seats were arranged around this
portion of the Terpsichorean area. The
flooring was bright with a scraping very re-
Gently administered. The familiar glories
of the Academy, and the infusions of ele-
giant dress, did the rest of the adornment
Two bands of music-one for dancing, the
other for promenading-had their place at
opposite extremities, stageward of the second
circle. Upon the supper-room and circum-
adjacent-hall were lavished the resources Of
taste and finance. Although hastily con-
structed of plank-the banqueting saloon,
covering the space between the Academy OF
Music and that of Medicine, the stone walls
of which were hidden by drapery of light
yellow silk, and the ertempoTe dome trans
ported into architectural dignity by the
same medium-these apartments challenged
the severest attention, if at any time the
crowd so far diminished that it was practi.
cable to look at the sparkling feather of th'
Prince, relic of Canadian loyalty, the mir
rors, flags, and other brilliant fixtures.
From these places of luxurious indulgence
a quiet passage led to the suite of dressing
rooms of His Royal Highness AS the par
ticular star of the occasion, the mysteries o
his toiletwere consummated in the cherished
retirement of many luminary in the lyrica
art. Paintings of his mother met his glad
dened eye, and the general furniture of hi
apartments, and those of his suite, was sump
tuous in the extreme.
THE CRUSH AND CONFUSION.
At last, safely landed upon the thresholl
of the Academy, the heart of the visitor
after one grateful bound sunk into charm
? ing repose. Confidence of elegant ease an
cool deliberation within the halls of light
quickened the pace of each huttering bea
and belle, and even sober age and oficis
dignity gave way beneath the delicious pros
pect. But the first view of the strugglin
throng on the stairs leading to the dressing
rooms dispelled the illusions Of comfort
Ladies in the extremity of toilet and gentle
men of perfect stiffness formed firm wedg'
5 which but slowly worked its way againi
D opposing volumes of descending fashion an
, beauty, bearing the tokens of conflicts dir
and ealamities sore. All exclaimed at tn
discomforts of this passage, which were eI
pecially severe on the Fourteenth-street sid
of the house. u.atLe.
But upstairs the crush and confusio
were, if possible, still greater, and the cloal
' rooms were beset with sorrowing hosts
Y fair ones. The narrow corridors, too, wei
7 almost impossible; those persons who SUI
, ceeded in establishing a relation with I'll
Master of the Robes went into promiseuol
: promenade, pressing hard against eac
! others ineries, crushing fresh flower
brandished by dainty fingers, distracting Il
general toilet, and catching, through I'll
e shrubbery which lined the lower circle, an
r through the barricade of crinoline again
!, the doors of the boxes above, glimpses of
fashionable prairie on fire-a jelly of Il
costliest silks and laces, the whitest shou
ders, and the most stunning heads of hair
: bed of warm-faced fairies, with stational
. streaks of resolute broadcloth -r. /.
A heavy odor of flowers pervaded Il
r house. Vases of these natural delight
f which fade so when they are led into an u
s real life, were placed at convenient points
: all the lobbies A sort OF hedge of gree
and blooms ranged around the dress eirc
and although their charm was stolen from &
T sight by the mass of people, their presen
e was clearly betrayed by a perpetual incense
e. the last generous yield Of their brief exi:
ence.
y THE BANQUET AND THE BANoUET-RooN,
y The Times remarks rt
! As for the supper-room, it is a special co
y struction of wood, connected with Z
: Princes private entrance on Fourteent
street. andrrunning back about l40 feet,
y thirty-seVen, on the vacant lot between I
If Academy of Music and the Medical Univt
/ sity. Inside this wooden water-proof stru
; tnre, long tent-ceiling OF red, white a.