New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1874-03-28
A FESTIVAL IN LONDON.
ENTRY OF TIE DUKE AND DUCHESS OF
EDINBURGH.

;aoes with con,nanv going TO houses along the route
Of the procession to-day might pass to OXFORD Crcus
till H. and TO the Horse Guards till ll;SO seeheu
reasonable 70 expect that this promise sbouid ho' INC
broken an hour in advance. But my attempt 10
drive along the route at 10 has resulted IN CON-
xete failure and reached Pal Mall IN the emu py
long c,renit The truth is, ! suppose that the
,b,ono ~ carriages grew manageable. and the
l;oe in desnair resorted 10 the simple but rough
,xpediept Of keeping out all that had not already
entered.
Now as il has been showing hard all the morning
and ali the splendor of the Russian Prncesss recep
tjon was soaked out of il by the melting Storm thus
still surviving eagerness of the people Is good
measure and proof of their enthusiasm What they
are enthusiastic about may be question, hut thai
ROYALTY has good deal do with IT is certain The
marriage of the Duke of Edinburgh seems to have
been none the less liked because of the somewhat
singing afront winch Russia lately thought tit to
nut upon her old enemy and which passed unre-
,ented except by certain energetic newspaper arti-
eles The ceremonies at ST Petersburg were watched
in London with great interest. The arrival of the
DIXIE and Duchess last Saturday, in England was
made a festival. though festival in which London
had no share To-days celebration was eagerly an
hcipated, aud the eagerness seems equally general
with all classes of people The English Repubh-
cans are perhaps 10 be excepted, could anybody u.s.
OF tnCln 10 WnuHl tHc uueSN'oh h'S"' w
mt. OF outward dissatisfaction or grumble there
If no sign and the FIRST thing that strikes one on
seeing the great crowds of to-day is the amount
of what is called loyalty that presents
itself TO the spectator. The Royal Family
certainly understands its trade or has people about
who understand it. The Thanksgiving for the re-
coyery of the Prince of Wales was one OF the best
pieces ever put on the stage Not less praise is to be
given to the affair of to-day OF the persons whom
one meets in business or society there are lew VINO
have not during the last week, talked To you ABOUT
the Duchess of Edinburgh with sort of personal
concern in her present happiness Most of them saw
her for the first time to-day and will seldom get n
Vlimpse of her again. But no matter. They discuss
her with positive tenderness. And to-day, the snow
storm itself is POLITICALLY alluded to delicate at
tention on the part of the weather, some
thing contrived to suggest to the young
Russian n remniscence Of her native climate.
You don't know how much this way of treat
ing the snow storm means. snow storm with
YOU III New-York and Boston is too common to
trouble anybody. In London, "a few dancing flakes
are regarded with CONSERVATION. as convulson of
nature If becomes few inches deepen the ground.
London sinks into mOtionless despair. The Onni-
buses stop running. and your coaehman would look
upon YOU as a lunatc ii you spoke of ordering ont
the carnage The determination to see the bride 4
has filed some miles of London streets this morning
with people on foot and with thousands of carriages
Ii is a demonstration in part, of curiosity, OF mere
sightseeing but also of real devotion TO the Queen,
who is seldom seen, and to the young couple who
are son and daughter to her.
Weld to nobody in my liking for London, but |
fear must admit that London streets, even the best
of them are l-adapted to impress young girl from
ST. Petersburg with notion of statelinesS or splen
dor OF their architecture the less said the better OF
the attempts made to-day to hide architectural
defects or construct features what must be said
is little dreary The royal party arrived in London
at the PaddiDgtOn Station of the Great Western
Railway Thence the route chosen for them was
through London-st., Oxford and Cambridge Ter
races Edgware-TOad OxfOrd-st. Regentst. Pail
Mall Cockspur-st. Whitehall, and finally through
81. James Park to Buckingham Palace. LOndOn-st
n a poor little thorouehfare of thild-rate shops
oxford and Cambridge Terraces are two sides of
what would be a magnificent avenue if the houses
were not hopelessly mean. Edgware-road is sort
Of Bowery. The first point which the Duchess
can have thought fine was where, out Of EdgwaTe-
road she came upon Hyde Park and drove
by the Marble A.ch-the latter structure
of some pretensiOns, while as for Hyde Park no
euogy on it can be ovcrstrained. With kensIngton
Gardens it is simply the noblest park in any city in
the world. The Duchess it to-day as 1t can sell
dom be seen, white robed and dim with the falling
snow. After all she saw but a corner of it; then
her way lay along Oxford-st, which again may in
another three hundred years or be grand street.
IL possesses at present two essential conditions of
street grandeur length and breadth. As III EdgwaTe
road some effort had been made to decorate the
houses and shops but neither public committees nor
private zeal had produced any really striking effect.
Venetian masts so called striped black and yellow,
and Carrying little flags at top, lined either side.
They are called Venetian for some reason best
known TO those who have not seen Venice. Notices
of welcome faTed along the fronts Of numerous
shops: flags carpets festOons of artificial flowers,
and draperies of red cloth over impTOyIsed
galleries and balconies were to be seen all
along In few instances really costly and elaborate
decorations had been attempted of which the most
notable was that of Messrs. Gillow, whom Thack-
eray long since immortalized IS the chef uphol-
sterers and cabinetmakers of London. The whole
front of their lofty and sober building was covered
NV false facade with balconies statues and devices
Of much good taste and excellent effect There were
little groves and temples also at the street crossings
some of them looking rather too rural and Summer
bouselke for the day. AT the Circus, where oxford
and Regent-sts join the most ambitious of all these
designs had been carried out and with the help of
few busts and masses of real flowers the success of
N was very fair. Down Regent-st. the shops are, as
a rule richer and larger than in Oxford-st. and
there was rather more display and something that
approached nearer to a vista OF decorated
sides. Such large establishments as those
Of Lewes d Allenly, Howell d James,
and few others were handsomely adorned. But
the genius of the English not for color nor i'll this
climate have they much encouragement to study the
art of outdoor artificial loveliness. No amount OF
sunlight could have helped them much, and perhaps
after all the general view was less tawdry than II