New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1882-12-22
A ROYAL PAGEANT.
TIE OPENING OF THE ROYAL COURTS OF
JUSTICE.

,yxoMraE REGULAR coRREsroSDENr OF THr rfIBuSE'l
LONDON, December D.
The Londoner deems himself fortunate in that he
Mas beep permitted to gaze on two ROYAL pageants
within little more than two weeks Dear to his
heart is the Queen, and any ceremony which
tempts the Queen to quit her seclusion and show
herself to her lieges of London delights him. And
vet 1t has TO be said that he is not himself worry
skful perron In the decorative part Of these cere-
monies. The Royal review OF last Saturday foit-
v,eht was but little enivened by any popular deck,
ing of houses; a single street only. st. Jamess
showing mass of color, and that not very bar
monious. Yesterday the opening OF the hcyai
Courts OF Justice drew people into tho streets py
scores OF thousands Her Majesty WIS to DIVE all
the way from Paddington TO Temple Bar "a dis
lance of full three miles For the last mile her
course lay through the most thIopged ana centrai
norton of London through Pail Mall and Iraiai-
car Square aud the Strand There was every op-
nortuuity for adornng houses. The French on
,ucb an occasion manage 10 make Paris r marvel of
varied beauty IN color and IN design. ferhaps luo
Enu,,shman il TOO serious; certainly he lacks inc
Gift OF taste and tact IN such matters
All Won conld sec in Pail Mall we're few bacoh-
,cs aud wiudow-sills dIaped III red ciotn. INC p"o
lie buildings " ere bare Neither tho war oince IA
Pail Mall nor the National Gallery IN iTa'as",
Sonare had O single touch OF color nor var" "
cloth Somerset House. in the Strand Where ne'i''
every private building garnished with some
patern of dry goods, stood out stern ana gray anu
,,d in tho hard light. OF the Strand itsei' "he'o
,ovoltv and au eve 10 business combined to cover
,a anon fronts with gay trappiugs. 1T is TO be SAID
tha. tho object was tawdry. The highest ideal and
,Dodel of tho Strand shopkeeper in the matter Oh
embellishments is the pink and vhte bride'cake oil
the local confeCuoner. The greatest effort bad
heea made where money was to be made mo
tables of the money. changers and the seats OF hosc
who came oul to see strange sights rose niID ABOUT
,he doors OF the temples of St. Martin and ST. MARY
nd 81 Clement Dane gorgeous with red cloth and
Incoming with bright faces and gay dresses The
Malice were everywhere IN masses. but the London
noic.man. though big. fne fellow, is not a Thing
III beauty. nor his Uniform conceived with an eye
IN lighting up landscape. The scarlet or the
Grcnudrr Guards IN squads at intervals came ont
in bright bands. and the llfe Guards Blue at some
of the chief street crossings were, as they always
aye magnificent. but fow.
Her Majesty has herself TO thank if people will
ROT take some trouble She drives on sue. occa-
sous between the double lines of her adoring SUI
ieets at a smart trot. They have come from far and
neal. by train and omnibus ard on foot They
have stood waiting for hours. The Qneen flashes
by. with kindly nod to the multItudes on either
hand and it is all over. The escort is but couple
Of souadrons of Life Guards, and there is nobody
,lse IN The carriages whom any body would turn
corner to look at In Pail Mall her Majesty was
received with something That came very near to That
aoueerly complimentary hush which g,ceed Lord
Wolseley a. he rode past the stands oil select
spectators on the Horse Guards parade last Satur-
day fortnight In the Strand, where The populace
has given itself rendezvous, the cheering, 1 am
told, was hearty.
Hut the interest of the day centres in the great
.nf in fha Off .pfA
There il ia tt at the opening ceremonial is to take
plaeo and there it that everybody to whom fate,
In the person of the First Commissioner Of Works,
had allotted ticket. makes his way at an early
hour of Monday morning For days We had all
been reading long accounts of the new buildings
almost as long the delay in completing them.
have not space Tor single word about anything
savo what / saw Of the ceremony itself. and save
this also; that occasion when the Judges ana
the Bar of England say farewell to the couIts
WHARF, for six hundred years and moro justice has
besn administered, is really memorable moment.
In these new buildings. of vast extent and gloom.
and intricate structure and inconvenience, and pro-
dipa costlness all the courts with all their array
of iudicial and forensic spendOr arc henceforward
TO be- held. Sanguine persons say law is to De
cheaper and quicker; but in these hazardous fore
casts of halcyon future only the boldest Ill VEN
ture to follow them
Moon was the hour appointed for the Queens
arrival: at II every guest warned to be III his
or her seat Certainly mOrc than half the company
were there at half.r ast TO- The hall where they
are assembling-the great hall of which one has
been hearing as the glory of nineteenth century
Gothic-wil certainly dIsappoinl you at the first
glance IL has the proportions of a hugo cathedral
nave but nave is only the central aisle OF three
or FIVE opening moreover, laterally between its
piers with transepts and PERHAPS lantern and
the choir reaching beyond, its height broken by
clcrestory and trifvrum above the columns.
But this hail is one solid stretch of stone from end
10 end nearly 800 feet length, so feet high and
less than 90 in width. To snch proportions, in such
circumstances the eye cannot accustom itself.
This morning it seems narrower, perhaps than it
really is. Ranges of seats have been put ~ along
both walls rising in six or seven tiers; leaving be-
tween them central avenue some fifteen feet
wide At intervals stand tho Yeomen of the Guard
In quaint Elizabethan uniform. and there are ban
neIets corresponding each one in color to one of
the tickets which have been issued. You see at
once in which block your seat is. and the 800
guests find their way to their places without con-
fusion.
Discipline, however, 10 not so strict but that you
are allowed to stroll up aud down the aisle and
have look at the celebrities Tho dais at the up
per cpd is still unpeoped, but elsewhere there
plenty of bravo men and fair women worth regard
ing Mr. Shaw Lefovre, the First Commissioner of
Works, has distributed cards in a catholic and
iud cial and sensible spirit. Time was when, except
q ploInaCsts and IN this case the Bar nobody would
have been asked but persons of rank and fashion ;
oil perhaps of great political emincnce Rank and
fashion are here to-day, but not ir overpowering
Numbers. Men Of science and of letters. artists
warriors. journalists, visible in number
Almost tho first face recognize is the strong of
Professor Huxley looking out from beneath a
cooked and plumed hat. He is clad in uuiform
While Professor Tyndall. who sits him, is in