The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1891-12-26
Comfortable Position Recently Made
Vacant BY the Death Of
Capt. LOTUS.
The Tower or London. Where the
Regal Diadem Is Carefully
Guarded.
Lsndon as gcsn From tho Window OF tho
C~ustodian'a Room-Liko
Distant Lands.

airy. Capt. LOTUS, brothsr-in-law of the
marchioness Of Ely, n Of the queens
dearest friends. father Of II Of her
ma;esty's maids OF honor, died and left the
post Of custodian OF the crown jewels
vacant, The Office is absolutely in the Gift
of the queen, and with it goes, besides a
handsome emolument, a set of rooms in the
Tower Of London, opposite the Traitors
gate--a quaint abode within the massive
wallis, with a narrow passage leading from
the sitting rooms past the domestic Offices.
to the vsulted chamber where the we'll
guarded treasures repose behind tall iron
ratings, not unlike those that encompass
the tombs of the Scaligers ut Verona. From
the windows OF the custodian's parlor
rlimpses are caught Of the Thames, and in
the slanting rays Of an autumn sun through
the golden haze of low-lying mists the
scene snvokes = faint "reminiscences OF the
Venetian laRoons.
1t ia strange how often huge. prosaic Lon
don, when it hides it's grimy monotony I'M
der the softsning mantle OF its fogs, as
sumes a likencss to distant and picturesque
lands. At Hyde park the ~hackneyed Ser
pentine will, in November, with it, blurred
and changed outline, take an air Of Venice.
The river under the bridges might at times
stand for the yellow Tiber or the swift
Arno. Southern lands should DO visited in
summer and northern ones in winter in order
to Judge them at their best. In the same
way London, the city OF fogs, should be
seen during the season whom they prevail.
Hateful. i'll the season, the big city, in spite
Of tho curses deep and loud hurled at its
climate, has its characteristic charm at the
close Of tho year, a charm not felt perhaps
by the inhabitants or the passing tourist.
but which surely inspired Turner. The
monuments of tho metropolis are never
seen to such advantage as through the
feecy curtain dropped over them by the
around them. The dome Of 81. Paul loo ms
as large as st. Peter's in Rome;
the Monument rises to greater
heights when It's btistling head is merci-
fully hidden in the clouds; the dreary, stuc-
coed thoroughfnres OF South K~ensinRton,
partly obli.erated. reveal only the rosy
facades of some newly constructed gabled
house of red brick; the broad squares might
be solemn. trsa-girt ponds, and the level
swards of the parks, III longer fringed
with tall houses, q wild, open moorland.
Westminster, SO we'll able to confront the
glare OF day, loses nothing by being set in a
Vic IaLlC olN ~ VII =
with the more recent houses OF parliament,
while the screaming little Thames omnibus
steamboats,, hushed and shadowy, might be
silent ~eondolas gliding by ducal palaces.
The busy hives of Somerset rouse and
Charing Cross cease to be tho only centers
stantly streaming toward the Mansion
house; the Royal Exchange and the Bank OF
England, bshind their Grecian p~orticos.
are the temples Of industry, while further
eastward the Guidhall, magnificent and
severe. 10 at once q palace. a tribunal. and a
church.
The sovereigns entombed in the necrop-
oils of Westminster could, perchance, on
such a day recognize their ancient capital
far better in its busy centres, may be than
in Buckingham Palace, which is 50 difficult
to invest with any grace, and, of all the
Very few. except those who are invited to
the three or four balls and concerts each
year, are permitted to visit it, and then
only by the special favor of Sir Henry
Sponsonby. or Lord Latham, the lord
chamberlain. Buckingham has neither the
imposing feudal grandeur Of Windsor nor
the old world character of Hampton Court, !!
still redolent with the memories of Henry
VIII, and Anna Boleyn. Although it cost
41,OO0, 900, although it islargs and spacious,
1t can boast Of no architectural beauty, pre-
senting only the massive style of archites-
ture Of the unartistic.epoch OF 1880.
In 1908 John Sheffield, duke of Bucking-
ham. built a modest dwelling house among
the mulberry gardens of the locality. Il
passed into the hands of George III, who
settled it on Queen Charlotte. It was de-
stroyed in 1923'by George w., who on the
same site laid the foundations of tho pres !
emit structure. His death interrupted the !
construction, which was resumed later on
and finished twelve years later, when VIC
toria was queen. She inhabited the palace
for tho first time in 1887. The interior ia
as clmbrous and heavy as the facaaos, but
it is furnished and decorated with great
msgnifcence and luxury. The prince con-
sort took an immense interest in Bucking-
ham palace. He made the apartments not
only rich but comfortable, and if in his
lifetime he was not credited With all tho
good work he did, since his death it has
been gradually borne upon the public that
he had as much taste as ability. Flo was
instrumental in bringing together a great
deal of the authentic and superb futni-
ture OF the Louis XIV. and XIV. periods;
the rich silken fabrics of the Lyons
looms; the four magnificent s%ideboards Of
the dining room in which M. Boule SO cum
ningly wrought a delicate tracery of bronze
scrolls on a background of lapis lazuli; the !,
carved mantelpleces supporting clocks, by
pianos decorated by Gillot. and mountings
by Cafierie. 1t is to be regretted that the
native taste for cleanliness has led to an
undue polishing of brasses and gilt
bronzes. robbing them of the tempered
mellowness so dear to connoisseurs.
Iht best painters of the Dutch school
are represented not singly, but in numbers,
but, again, the Rembrandts. Gerard Bows
Cuyps, Metzus, Mieris. and Ieniers have
been submitted to the same ultt q purify
ing process, and are as resplendent in var
nlsh as any modern picture. Tn Rey-