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

Tho author OF this book takes Hyde Park as
the FOCUS or social parade ground not only Of
the English metropolis. but Of the British EN-.
pire. and invites us to contrast tho aspect which
it presented in the carly years Of Victoria's
reien with that which 1t exhibits to-day. Be.
fore the great exhibition OF 1851 tho panorama
observable in Hyde Park was, as It is now. re-,
Elective of the social conditions. not less than OF
the typical personages, OF the era. 1t Is pointed
out In tho first place that the scale OF the Lon
don season half q century ago was so small as
70 resemble but family the scale familiar to tho
present generation. London society scarcely
exceeded the dimensions of q family party.
Hyde Park itself was. at first. merely a royal
pleasure ground, and only gradually became a
popular resort to which strangers were admit
ted. as they were to the park at Windsor, by
favor OF the first constitutional sovereign. to
behold the pastimes OF the rising genera
tions of royalty. The little boy and girl.
who were seen In the forties steering their
ponies through the maze of carriages. horses, or
pedestrians, were the present Prince Of Wales
and Empress Frederick OF Germany. The COM
pany %crowding the park differed from the
throngs OF succeeding decades, first. in the mo-
notony Of its composition. and, secondly. owing
10 the commanding ascendancy OF certain indi-
viduals. During the first quarter century of the
Queens reign two noblcmen. one Scotch. the
other English, seemed to eclipse the rest of the
peerage. Tho Earl Of Eglinton had been rem
dered famous by the tournament held in 1889
at Eglinton Castle, and described by Lord Bea-
oonsheld in his last novel. "Endymion." The
lady who had been the Queen OF Beauty upon
the occasion. the Duchess OF Somerset, was then
O synonym for everything which women envied
or men admired. When she appeared in Hyde
Park the crowd would gaze at her carriage with
the awe and admiration that they bestowed on
those born to thrones. What Lord Eglinton was
to the natives of Scotland in London, Lord
Lansdowne had long been to all classes of her
Majesty's subjects. We are told that in
London, during the earlier Victorian seasons.
he was conspicuous in HYDE Park not only for
his high-brcd demeanor, but also for his flue
coat ard voluminous white neck investm mt
After him, slowly riding on a horse. familiar to
the onlookers of the day rs was afterward Mr..
Lows white cob. appeared in the blue coat and
white trousers of the old regime. a figure before
which all heads uncovered, the great Duke OF
Wellington. On horseback. also. were two other
men, second only to the Duke in eminence. Lord
Palmerston and Sir Robert Peel. The former
still wore his years lightly. and was as much at
home In the saddle as in the House of
Sir Robert Peel. still a remarkably handsome
man, was an enthusiastic equestrian. but there
was, 1t seems. only a loose connection between
the rider and the steed which he bestrode. Next
~ seo S' vi ~ NAt HihH III
and to the statesmen who were the props Of the
throne, the attention OF the Hyde Park crowd
was fixed, 1t appears, upon q little group OF gen.
elemen remarkable for the perfection OF their
toilets and for the special attention manifestly
bestowed upon their hair, which was not cut
down close to the scalp, as it is to-day. but fell
gracefully over a white collar. Those were
tho handles. the last Of whom only re gently
passed away. The late Mr.. Alfred MONTGOMERY
had nrnnnD hfo oCanp{ataa Tonnt AtFrnl Abnraa-
whose Christian name was perpetuated ~ a
handles club. THE Alfred" fiourished in Abe
marie street up to n decade or two ago. Not
until the nineties did We hear of the death of
its founder, Alexis Soyer. High Priest of the
Mysteries of the Fine Art of Cookery. as we'll as
the original of Thackeray's Mirobolant in
"Pendennis." Others who sat for their por.
traits to the novelist were we'll known in the
fashionable section of the Hyde Park crowd.
Morgan John O'Connell. a leader Of dandies.
was there. and there, too, was the other O'Con-
nell. known by his friends as Lord Kilmarlcock.
from whom Thackeray never denied that he had
taken the traits of The O'Mulligan. There. too,
may, perhaps, have been seen Mr.. Arcedeckne.
whom the same novelist has perpetuated In
"Harry Foker," and who prefgured the so.
cial friendship since grown more common be-
tween the gentlemen who lived to labor and
their comrades who lived to enjoy. Not far
Arum oTSuS anu montgomery WOulu DC seen
the two inseparablcs. Sir George Wombwell and
Lord Adolphus. better known rs Dolly +" Fitz-
clarence. tho latter curiously like Lawrence's
picture of George ". We are told that the
editor Of tie Times. J. T. Delane. a scarcely less
powerful parsonage in the social and political
system than in his own Office. would have
been mistaken by those who saw him In
the park but did not know him person
ally, for the plRin country gentleman whose
NNA he 1irnI IN Aal
pacted figure. with cleanly shaver upper lip,
and penetrating but pleasant expression of
eyes, was among the last to enter and to leave
the park. Tho English editor of the stamp Of
John Thaddeus Delane no longer exists. In
Great Britain the responsible head of a great
newspaper Office Inns become less a creator, or
even an interpreter. OF public opinion, which
Oelano certainly was, so far as middle-clas So
English thought was concerned. than the Gus
todian of q commercial interest. the vice
eerent OF a proprietor who regards the jour
nal, first as an organ of public opinion, but sec
ondly. as the instrument for achieving his own
patriotic purposes In his own way. While
xpoiAno was yet living, the able conductor of
another great daily newspaper was ambitious to
MI Q place like Delane's in the social and polit-
loAl system. The consequence was that, after
some years of patient forbearance on the
owners part. his solicitor waited on the editor
OuO mOEuiuk ~ II lhlltT y country mouse ana
handed tho gentleman who thought himself In.
oisponSable a formal note of dismissal. Tho
sumors Of occasional collision even between Mr..
DelAne and tho proprietor OF the 7 mes may
have been spocryphal. but Mr.. Escott vouches
for the fact that, when the commercial master
Of the newspaper appeared during the evening
IN the room of the literary controller, MIR.
Delane generally found that ho had an engage.
mont elsewhere.
Scarcely less known than tho editor of tho
Times to most Londoners and to many provin.
oials were two Of Mr.. Delano's literary friends.
One Of these was Thackeray. towering above all
NE smaller men. The other was tall Thackeray's
taller friend. known TO his contemporaries as
Bis" Higgins. still better known to tho public
atlarEe as Jacob omnium. The two were gen.
orally to DO found together. Somewhat later
would be observed on horseback A. w. KinRlake.
She historian OF the Orimean War. When he
passed away, there was still left Stouthearted,
short-teinpered Anthony Trollope. who, up %
Al