The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-07-11

shall be nameleSs, and VINO formerly oc-
cupied an important post in the queens
household. Providence had been so boun-
tiful to him in the matter of talent and
intellect that presumably. with the OBJ
1ect of evening up things, it had been
less liberal in physical matters, and while
his body was unnaturally long, his legs
were both abnormally short, and, TO say
the least, detected. Imagine the figure
of this stunted nobleman-for he was very
short-arrayed in the hideous Windsor
uniform, with knee breeches and silk
stockings. walking backward, and you
have something very much in the nature
of human crab.
Nothing, however, can be more stately
and dgniied than the present lord
chamberlain and lord steward, the
EarlS of Pembroke and Lathom,
who are adopts in the art of walking
backward. Lord Lathom is a handsome
man, with a long white beard reaching
almost to his waist, whose figure yet re-
tains all the elasticity and elegance of
man of thirty. He is very tall-not quite
so tall, however, as the lord steward the
Earl of Pembroke, whose good looks,
stature and noble bearing are unrvalled
in the House OF Lords, as they were until
three years ago in the House of Commons.
This Is not astonishing, since he is the
head of the house of Herbert, which for
centuries has been renowned for its good
looks, and is, moreover, the grandson of
the famous Russian beauty Catherine,
Countess Woronzow, while his fathers
charm of person and manner has been
portrayed by Lord Beaconsfeld in his
novel "Endymion," in which he figures
under the name of Sydney Wilton 1t
may be of interest to add that the present
Lord Pembroke is not without American
connections, his younger brother, Michael
Herbert, popularity known In the diplo-
matte service by the nickname of Min
ga" being married to daughter OF Rich
ard II. Wilson of New York whose hand
he secured while British charge d affaires
at Washington.
There was a considerable amount of
walking backward at the English court
previous to the accession to the throne
of Queen Victoria, but nothing like so
much as there is at present. Indeed, roy
atty nowadays IN England, at any rate,
is environed by a vast degree more of ETH
quette and homage than in days of yore.
This is entirely the doing of the late
Prince Consort. When he married he was
not slow to observe that not only was
there an enormous amount of corruption,
extravaganza and maladministration at
the court of his royal bride, but likewise
that there was, particularly on the part
of the great mobiles and principal digni-
taries, an absence of Difference and re-
spect for the occupant Of the throne
which grated strongly upon his ideas of
a young prince who owed, il not his poll
tcal principles, at any rate his views
with regard to manner, etiquette and
breeding, to Austria's great chancellor,
Prince Metternich The middle-class far
mer-like habits of George III, the shame
less immortality of King George VI ana
of his profigate brothers, the Dukes Of
York and Cumberland as well as of his
successor, King William ~, who added
thereto an eccentricity vorglng on imbe-
cility, had impaired to such degree the
prestige of the sovereign and of royalty
in the eyes Of the aristOcracy that 1t had
lost almost every vestige of reverence for
the anointed of the Lord Indeed, this
was carried to such a point that the
Jockey Club, composed of the greatest
mobiles and principal society personages
of the United Kingdom, did not hesitate
to warn off the turf the trainer aud the
Jockey of King George " (Which was
equivalent to infiicting the same pubic
slight upon the monarch himselD on the
alleged ground that one of his majesty's
horses had been run unfairly. Moreover,
when Queen Victoria made up her mind
to wed young Prince Albert, who was
not even a member of a royal family, but
a mere Serene Highness," number OF
the great English peers and dignitarles
actually forgot themselves so far as to
grumble openly at the idea Of their being
compelled to accord the pas 20 the nus
band of their queen.
The manner in which Prince Albert set
all this to rights was as efficacious as 1t
was radical and characteristic. A liberal
in politics. and that, too, of the most ad-
vanced description, he revived at the Eng
Hsh court all those medieval ideas ac-
cording to which no one was entitled to
wait upon the sovereign or upon the mem
bers of the reigning family unless pos
sessed of noble lineage and rank He
transformed those peers and peeresses
who had objected to his precedence into
something much akin to fiunkeys, com
pelling them to perform services when
many would describe as menial When
he went with her majesty in state Of semi
state to the opera or to the theater OUCH
esses, marquises and earls would be COM
PEELED not to sit in the royal box, but
stand behind the chairs of the queen and
Of the prince throughout the entire per-
Torrance, and IT IS hardly necessary to re-
call here the well known story OF the ac-
ton Of the queen while on visit to King
Louis Philippe at the Chateau d Eu, when,
although thirsty, she refused a glass OF
water handed to her by servant at the
kings orders, and declined to receive II
until rendered to her by one of the kings
own sons, the late Duke OF Nemours
Prince 'Aiberts plan, although II would
not commend itself 10 democratic ideas,
results. For in spite OF fits being subject
10 a constitutional form OF government,
there IS no country In the world where
royalty is treated with more profound re-
gard and receives more unstinted homage
than Great Brltain-a land where the
greatest mobiles now vie with one another
in their eagerness TO obtain at court Of
fees entailing discomfort and fatigue as
well as the performance OF services that
in establishments of lesser rank would
be performed by a mental. There Is no
longer any Of that "laisser aller' which
formerly prevailed, and which Is now so
conspicuous "A feature at many Of the con-
tinental courts. Nor are there 20 be Wit
messed at Buckingham palace such extra
ordinary scenes as those which character
lie state balls az Madrid, and at the quir-
inal, where. as soon as the supper-room
Is open, the buffet is taken by storm,
ftst as II A. were the refreshment bar Of
some railroad restaurant, and the royal
guests horde Of famished travellers
Indeed, the etiquette to-day at the Eng
fish court rivals, II IL does not surpass,
that of the courts OF Vienna and %. Pc
tersburg, and Il Is 10 be regretted under
the circumstances that when the Emperor
OF Japan resolved 10 organize the court OF
Toxic on q European basis he should have
applied 90 Emperor william for Baron Won