The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-07-25


He was a prince most lovely to look on, aud
christeDed Prince Florizel on his hrst appear.
ance in the world. That he was the handsomest
| prince in the whole world was agreed Oy men,
and alas by many women.l -,
! l suppose he must have been very gtaceIul g H.
There are so many testimonies 70 the t Cue. IL O
his manner, that we must allow hlm greHC, ete- et
gance and powers of fascination. ne huu the
| King of Frances brother. the Coupt q hltole'
charming young prince who dancea niiod
! on the tightrope-a poor old t0tterng eAueu
| king who asked hospitality OF KING georges
successor and lived a while IN the palace OF
Mary Stuart-divlded in their youth the title of
first gentlemen of Europe. We in England, Of
course, gave the prize TO our gentleman. Until
Georges death, the propriety of that award was
scarce questioned, or the dOubters voted rebels
and traitors. Only the other day was reading
in the reprint of the delightful NoCtes of Chris
topber North. The health of THE KING is
drunk in large capitals by the loyal Scotsman.
You would fancy him a hero, a sage, a states
man, pattern for kings and men. 1t was Wal
ter Scott who had that accident with the broken
glass spoke of anon. He was the kings Scot
tish champion, rallied all Scotland to him. made
loyalty the fashion, and laid about him fiercely
with his claymore upon all the princes enemies
The Brunswick had no such defenders as those
two Jacoblte commoners, old Sam johnson, the
Lichfed chapman's son, and Walter Scott the
Edinburgh lawyers.
Nature and circumstance had done their
utmost to prepare the prince for being spoiled;
the dreadful dullness of papa's court, its stupid
amusements, its dreary occupations, the mad
dening humdrum, the sitting sobriety of its
routine, would have made q scapegraCe of o
much less lively prince. All the big princes
bolted from that castle of ennui where old King
George sat, posting up his books and dIoniug
over his Handel; and old Queen Charlotte over
her snuff and tambOur frame. Most OF the
sturdy, gallant sons settled down after sowing
their wild oats, and became sober subjects OF
their father and brother-not i'll liked by the
nation, which pardons youthful Irregularities
readily enough for the sake of pluck, and un-
atfectedness, and good humor.
The boY is father of the man, Our prince sig.
nalized his entrance into the world by feat
worthy of his future life. He invented a new
shoe-buckle. 1t was an inch long and five
inches broad. 1T covered almost the whole
instep, reaching down to the ground on either
side OF the footn A sweet invention! lovely
and useful as the prince on whose foot it
sparkled. At his first appearance at a court
ball, we read that 'hls coat was pink silk, with
white cuffs; his waistcoat white silk, embroi-
dered with various cOlored foil, and adorned
with prolusion of French paste. And his hat
was ornamented with two rows of steel beads,
five thousand in number, with button and
loop Of the same metal, and cooked in new mill
tary Style" What Florizel! Do these details
seem trivial They are the grave incidents of
his life. His biographers say that when he COM
menCed housekeeping in that splendid new
palace OF his, the Prince of Wales had some
windy projects of encouraging literature science,
and the arts; Of having assemblies of literary
characters, and societies for the encouragement
Of geography. astronomy and botany. Astro-
nomy, geography, and botany Fiddlestcks
Jockeys, ouhoons, procurers, tailors, boxers,
fencing-masters, china, jewel, and gimcrack
merchants, these were his real companions.
At first he made pretense OF having Burke,
and Pitt, and Sheridan ior his friends. But
how could such men be serious before such an
empty scapegrace as this lad Fox might talk
dice with him, and Sheridan wine; but what
else had these men of genius in common with
their tawdry young host of Carlton House?
That fribble the leader OF such men as Fox and
Burke! That mans opinions about the Constr
anti fbn InAio hill f,,lft 20 AlNn
about any question graver than the button for
u Waistcoat or the sauce for partridge-worth
anything! The friendship between the prince
and the Wing chiefs was impossible. They were
hypocrites in pretending to respect him, and if
he broke the hollow compact between them,
who shall blame him? His natural companions
were dandies and parasites. He could talk to
tailor or cook; but AS the equal of great
statesman, TO set up creature lazy, weak, in
dolent besotted, OF monstrous vanity, and
levity incurable-it is absurd. They thought to
use him, and did for while; bus they must
have known how timid he was; how entirely
heartless and treacheTous, and have expected
his desertion. His next set of friends were
mere table companions, of whom he grew tired
too, then we hear OF him with very few select
toadies, mere boys from the school or the
Gnards whose sprig ghtliness tickled the fancy of
the worn-out voluptuary. What matter what
friends he bad He dropped all his friends; he
never could have real friends. An heir to the
throne has hatterers, adventures who hang
about him, ambitious men who use him; but
1rlenuSnlp is uenleQ MIN.
AND women, suppose, are as false and selfish
in their dealings with such a character as men.
Shall we take the Loporello part, flourish a
catalogue OF the conquests of this royal Don
Juan, and tell the names of the tavorites to
whom, one after the other, Prince George flung
his pocket handkerchief? What purpose would
it answer 10 say how Perdita was pursued, won,
deserted, and by whom succeeded? What good
in knowing that he did actually marry Mrs.
FitZherbert according to the rites of the Roman
Catholic Church that her marriage settlements
have been seen in London; that the names of
the witnesses to her marriage are known.
This sort of vice that we are now come to pre-
sents no new or fleeting trait of manners. De-
have been ever since the world began. This one
had more temptations than most, and so much
may be said in eXtenuation for him.
1t was an unlucky thing for this doomed one,
and tending to lead him yet farther on the road
to the deuce that, besides being lovely, so that
women were fascinated by him, and heir appa-
rent so that all the world fattered him. he
should have q beautiful voice, which led him
directly in the way OF drink; and thus all the
pleasant devils were coaXing on poor Florize:
desire, and idleness, and vanity, and drunken
ness ali clashing their merry cymbals and bid.
ding him come on.
We first hear of him warbling sentimental
dittes under the walls OF Kew Palace, by the
moonlight banks of Thames, with Lord Viscount
Leporello keeping watch lest the music should
be disturbed,
Singing after dinner and supper was the uni
Versal fashion of the day. You may fancy all
Mngland sounding with chorusses some riOald,
some harmless, all occasioning the consumption
of q prodigious deal of iermented liquor.
iollv rnusa N try frOlic flights