The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-09-19

NJ.
We are assured by Mr.. Escott, however. that
neither tho intellectual workers nor the social
butterflies attracted more attention In the Hyde
Park Of the forties than did a middle-aRed,
rather overdressed lady In a very gorgeous car
rage which might have suited a Lord Mayor,
and a big, heavy man with drab-colored, wiry
hair, who sometimes sat beside her. The chariot
and it's occupants seemed to interest the coun-
try visitors in tho park moro ,hnn did the dis
tinguished persons already mentioned. Tho
gentleman was George Hudson. the railway
king" who had not only made a fortune him
self, but had been tho cause OF many others
gaining wealth scarcely less than his own. A
few years later he was still visible In tho same
inclosure, not, however, in the gaudy equipagc.
but as n pedestrian. King Hudson mad fallen
upon evil days, but having dragged down no.
body In his descent nor disclosed any secrets Of
the prison house, he kept friends who helped him
In his ad diversity. or course the spacious house at
Knightsbridgo, which is now the French embassy,
know Hudson no more, yet, according to our
author, the fashionable assemblages which It
has witnessed since II became a diplomatic resi-.
dence cannot have been more brilliant than
those v hich took place there when Hudson was
it's master. Nor, indeed. has its social splcndor
been since eclipsed by any Of those moro recent
hosts whom commercial success has placed
among the sons and daughters of fashion. Hud.
sons dinner table or Mrs. Hudson's reception
room was graced habitually by the great Duke
OF wellington. by the Duke OF Cambridge, aud
occasionally by othor princes Of the blood
royal. Not even in tho hour OF his decline
did Hudson tail to carry himself with good
humor and oven dignity. A simple, harm.
less. almost pathetic vanity had, perhaps.
combined with his shrewd. Yorkshire COM
mon sense to support him under his adversely.
A sum which realized 5000 a year was sub
scribed for him. and enabled him to live In n soil
tary lodging In London. He protested that his
freedom from anxiety made this season Of eclipse
the happiest period OF his life. A courteous
recognition from the great Lord Grey In the park
or the kindly concession to him OF tho chair
which no had formerly occupied In the smoking
room OF the Carleton shed something moro than
a transitory dream Of comfort upon his darkened
fortunes, and were recounted by the old man.
with his north country burr. to the friends with
whom, to the last. he used to dine. Like another
fallen star of n different system in an earlier
age, Beau Brummel, the + ilway king passed
several years OF his occultation at q hotel in
Calais, whore he was visited. we are told. by
more friends than had ever looked In upon tho
great dandy Of the Georgian epoch during the
twilight hours of his life.
Mr.. Escott thinks that a confused view Of
English social principles is indicated by the re-
mark attributed to the great Sir Robert Peel:
II respect the aristocracy o. birth and OF in
tellcct. but I do not respect the ar!stocracy OF
wealth." Undoubtedly this expression OF opin-
ion came appropriately from the political sue
cessor OF the second FIT. who bestowed more
peerages upon the possessors OF mere wealth
than any preceding Minister had done. The
distinction drawn by Sir Robert Peel between
England's different aristocracies involved a
misconception of his country's social history.
In Austria It is true enough that there cI-
listed during the last century, and survives
in SOM measure to this day, an antagon-
ism between the principles OF birth and Of
wealth. England, on the other hand, has
never known a sharp antagonism between those
| principles since the ruin OF the old nobility by
the Wars OF the Roses. 1t Is pointed out that
there is more than conventional fitness in the
fact that the Premier Of the day. whether peer
or commoner. is the guest on each 9th of No
vember OF the Chief Magistrate Of London City.
Within four and a half centuries at least four
teen noble houses have been founded by ten
Lord Mayors. Some interesting data relating
to this subject are presented in this volume. In
1882 cir Godfrey Fielding. mercer. was the
Lord Mayor from whom the Earls of Denbigh
descend. Five years later another trader. Sir
Godfrey Boleine. sat In the chair OF Wilmington.
One OF his lineage. a generation or two later. as
Earl of Wiltshire. gave Henry VIII. his second
wife and England her first Protestant Queen.
Lord Mayor Sir John Gresham, grocer. supplied
from his numerous family a Duke OF Bucking.
ham and a Lord Braybrooke. In 1857 Sir
Thomas Cooke. draper. was installed in the
Mansion House; to his descendants at least two
patents of nobility were granted, the peerages
OF Salisbury and of Fitswilliam. In 1870 n
| ,1oth r-Arbar CT ,-lnr nr.y~ l.ou.~
Chief Of the City Corporation. He was the an
cestor OF the Marquises Of Bath. Fifteen years
s~ubseque tly to his day Sir Wols,on Dixie OF
the SINNERS Company was Mt once the Chief
Magistrate Of the city and tho forerunner OF the
peers bearing the titles OF Compton and of North
ampton During the earliest years OF the sew
enteenth century there reigned to the east Of
Temple Bar Sir John Houblon. n grocer. His
descendants were to number among them the
Irish viscounts who, in the fulness OF time. gave
to Queen Victoria In Lord Palmerston the most
popular and powerful Premier during the first
haf OF her reign. Within another hun.
dred years Lord Mayor Sir Samuel Dash.
wood. %vintner. became Il progenitor of
future mobiles only less prolific than his
sixteenth century predecessor. Sir Thomas
Cooke. Those who sprang from Eastwood OBJ
tanned in due course the peerages Of Warwick
and Brooke. When. in III, the Tory Minis.
tiers. Harley and Bolingbroke. dined at the
Guildhall. they were entertained by Sir Gilbert
Heathcote. whose ~posterity was cnnobled by the
styles of Avelnnd and Dome. We observe,
finally, that one Of Lord Salisbury's Christian
names and his second title. that of Viscount
Cranborne. perpetuate the memory of the Sir
Christopher Gascoigne who was Lord Mayor of
London during the first Ministry Of Henry Pei.
ham in 1888. These instances scr, G to remind
us that the titled, like the untitled. nristocracy
OF England has for centuries represented. as it
renresents to-day. business success and long
descent In nearly equal proportions.
Ono OF the most interesting chapters in Mr..
Escott's book deals with royalty considered as
a social force. The author undertakes TO prove
that. whatever OF power may have been re.
signed by the Crown In tho way OF political