The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-07-19

able rates. Now, Howard, If you have y ~ iuaau nv
to stick knife into anything have naine'' '''
solp lido
Jolly set must they have been, those ipa,1s ho,is
of honor Pope introduces Us 20 VIZ, w%o aovs
of them in apieaSant letter; rconrt and and met the
prince, with all his ladies' on Jan ~ ora Mrs
ing from hunting. Mrs bellenuon, ,roYv to tbe
Lepel took me into protsoHiVte end gaye me
laws against harborlng paplsis, anu kaVo ue d
dinner with something liked better an oppor-
tnn1tv of conversation with MIS- Howard we
oil AGREED that the life OF maid OF nonOr was
F ii tfine,s the most miserable and wished that
OH women who enyied 1t had specimen of it.
no eat Westphalia ham OF morning, ride over
bedges and bitches on borrowed hacks. come
home in the heat OF the day with fever, and
(wbat is worse hundred times) with red
mark on the forehead from an uneasy hat-al
this may qualify them to make excellent wives
for hunters. As soon as they wipe off the heat
of the day, they must simper and catch cold an
hour In the princess apartment from thence to
dinner with what appetite they may: and after
that till midnight, work, walk, or think which
way they please. No lone house in Wales, with
mountain and roOkery, is more contemplative
than this court. Miss Lepell walked with me
three or four hours by moonlight, and we met
no creature of any quality but the king who
gave audience to the vlce-chamberlan all alone
under the garden wall"
fancy il was merIier England, that OF our
ancestors, than the island which we iuhabit.
People high and low amused themselves very
much more. l have calculated the manner in
their time, and, what with drinking, and din
ing, and sUpping, and cards, wonder how they
got through their business at all. They played
all sorts OF games, which, with the exception OF
cricket al d tennis, have quite gone out of our
manners now. In the old prints of st. James
Park, you still see the marks along the walk, to
note the balls when the court played at Mall.
Fancy Birdcage Walk, now so laid out, and
Lord John and Palmerston knocking balls up
and down the avenue! Most of those jolly
sports belong. to the past, and the good old
games OF England are only to be found IN old
novels, in old ballads or the columns OF dingy
old newspapers, which say how main of cocks
is to be fought at Winchester between the Win
chester men and the Hampton men; or how the
Cornwall men and the Devon men are going to
h old great wrestling-match at Totness, and SO
on.
A hundred and twenty years ago there were
not only country towns in England, but people
who Inhabited them. We were very much more
gregarlous; we were amused by very simple
pleasures. Every town had its fair, every vii
lage its wake. The old poets have sung hun.
dred jolly ditties about great cudgel-payiugs,
famous grinning through horse collars great
May-pole meetings, and morris-dances. The
girls used TO run races clad in very light attire,
and the kind gentry and good parsons thought
no shame in looking on. Danclng-bears went
about the country with pipe and tabor, Certain
we'll known tunes were sung all over the land
for hundreds of years, and hign and low rejoiced
in that simple music. Gentlemen who wished
10 entertain their female friends constantly sent
gentleman, was courting the lady whom he
married, he treated her and her companion at
his lodgings to supper from the tavern, and
after supper they sent out for tiddler-three
of them. Fancy the three in great wainscoted
room, in Covent Garden or Soho, lighted by two
or three candles in silver sconces, some grapes
and bottle of Florence wine on the table, and
the honest fiddler playing old tunes in quaint
old minor keys, as the beau takes out one lady
after the other, and solemnly dances with her
The very great folks-young noblemen, with
their governors, and the like-went abroad and
made the grand tour; the home satiriss jeered
at the Frenchi6ed and Italian ways which they
brought back; but the greater number of people
never left the country. The jolly squire often
had never been twenty miles from home. Those
who did go went to the baths, to Harrowgate, OF
| Scarborough, or Bath, or EPSON. Old letters
! are full ofthese places OF pleasure. Gay writes
to us about the tddlers at Tunbrldge; of the Ia
dies having merry little private balls among
themselves, and the gentlemen entertaining
them by turns with tea and music. One of the
young beauties whom he met did not care for
tea: "We have young lady here" he says,
that is very particular in her desires. have
known some young ladies who, if ever they
prayed, would ask Tor some equipage or title, a
husband, or matadores; but this lady, who is
but seventeen, and has ESQ, 900 to her fortune,
places all her wishes on a pot of good ale.
When her friends, for the sake of her shape and
complexion, would dissuade her from it, she an
swers with the truest sincerity, that by the loss
of shape and complexion she could only lose a
husband, whereas ale is her passion"
Every country town had It's assembly
moUldy old tenements, which we may still see
in deserted inn-yards, IN decayed provincial
cities, out Of which the great wen Of London
has sucked all the life. York, at assize times
and throughout the winter, harbored large
society of northern gentry. Shrewsbury was
| celebrated for its festivities. At Newmarket
read OF "a vast deal of good company, besides
rogues and blacklegs;" at Norwich of two as
semblies, with prodigious crowd in the hall
the. rooms, and the gallery: In Cheshire (itis a
| maid of honor of Queen Caroline who writes
! and who is longing to be back at Hampton
| Court and the fun there) peep into q country
| house and see very merry party 1--WE meet
| in the work.room before nine, eat and break q
| Joke or two till twelve, then we repair to our
| own chambers and make ourselves ready, for il
| cannot be called dressing. AT noon the great
bell fetches us into parlor adorned with all
sorts OF fine arms, poisoned darts, several pair
! OF old boots and shoes worn by men of might,
! with the stirrups of King Charles /, taken from
HIM at Edgehllln-and there they have their
! dinner, after which come dancing and supper.
| As for Bath, all history went and bathed and
drank there. George III and his queen, Prince
! Frederick and his court, scarce character one
| can mention of the early last century but was
seen in that famous Pump-room where Beau
Nash presided and his picture hung between
! the busts of Newton and Pope:
"This picture, placed these busts between,
| Gives satire all its strength;
| Wisdom and Wit are little seen,
But Folly at full length"
| / should like to have seen the Folly. It was
| splendid, embroidered, berufied, snuh-boxed
| red-heeled, impertinent Folly, and knew how tC
| make itself respected. / should like to have
seen that noble old madcap Peterborough in hil
| boots (he actually had the audacity to wall
| about Bath in boots D, with his blue ribbon anC
stars, and a cabbage under each arm, and
chicken in his hand, which he had been cheap
| lfalA NlaaV