The Savannah morning news., 1901-12-08
Beechcs and Brooches.
From the London News.


From the London News.
George II, one imagines, would have
been rather gratified to know that.
nearly a century and a half after his
death, the breeches which he wore at
the battle of Dettingen would be worth
fifteen guineas to a collector Thacke-
ray reminds us, in the -Four Georges,
that on public. festivals King George
always appeared in the hat and coat
he wore on the famous day of Ouden-
arde; and the people laughed, but kind
~, at the odd old garment. for bravery
never goes out of fashion" George H. 5
personal courage endeared him, most
of all his traits. to the English whom
he had to rule. His behavior at Dettin-
gen did his dynasty a great deal of
good at an opportunne moment. I'm all
public views wrote Horace Walpole
of the battle, cit is all that could be
wished-the King in the action, and his
son wounded-the Hanoverians behav-
ing well-the French beaten: what
obloquy will not all this wipe off?
Well; how happy it is that the
King has had such an opportunity of
distinguishing himself! What a figure
he will make!" The Kings behavior
was. indeed. such as all his subjects
might be proud Of. To quote Thackeray
again: ''At Dettingen his horse ran
away with him, and with difficulty was
stopped from carrying him into the en-
emys lines. The King, dismounting
from the fiery quadruped. said brave
ly. Now I know l shall not run away,
and placed himself at the head of the
foot, drew his sword. brandishing it at
the whole of the French array and call
ing cut to his own men to come on,
In bad English, but with the most IA
NOUS spirit and pluck Z hat fllaist rlca,ss
man of letters, Freddpietx the Isrea I'll
gave a somewhat droiIeT picture Of his
royal brother, but equally creditable to
his courage: with his sword drawn
his body placed in the attitude of a
fencing master who is about to make
a lunge in carte, he continued to eX-
pose himself, without flinching, to the
enemys fire
The auctioneer, one notices, describ-
ed the royal breeehes as having "no
intrinsic value" Possibly that may be
doubted, if there is anything in the old
superstition that this particular arti-
Gle of a. mans wardrobe is able 10
transmit the original owners valor or
cowardice to his successors. Familiar
instances of this belief which has been
somewhat neglected by anthropologists,
are 10 De IOuIlQ III ,F6leT simple,
where the tyrannical Capt Hawkins
chaffs his crew for being afraid to buy
the trousers of the hero-erroneously
supposed to be drowned. One would.
think that pulling on his trousers
would make you as afraid as he was,'
and in 1.-The Wrecker," where the ire
pressible Pinkerton expresses his high
opinion of Capt. Mares by saying. Il
would jump at the chance of man
i
Fortunately, it is the rarest of things
in our army for an officer to require
any artificial aid to his valor; other
wise he might do worse than purchase
George lis Dettingen breeches as a
reservoir of Dutch courage. To wear
the armor of Achilles was once consid-
cred great addition to a warriors
force, and anthropologists tell us that
in most savage races there still is found
the potion that something of a mans
VIRTUES" or manly qualities, hangs
about his scanty garments or his weap-
ons, and can be handed on to another
like an infection. 1t is just the reverse
feeling to that which made old Tor
quill, in 1.-The Fair Maid of Perth
strip off the armor which had been
made by his sons enemy in the hope
that with it he would cast away the
spell that seemed to be unmanning the
young chief. We still see a survival
of the former, perhaps. in the practice
of a Scottish university in Gaping"
it's graduates with an old hat that is
supposed to have belonged to John
Knox, and may still retain some of his
animal power.
The Dettingen breaches remind one
of an excellent story that is told of the
Iron Duke and a correspondent who
did not write very -ligbly we'll
-. H..
dius Loudon, was anxious to see a
famous beechwood that had been
planted at Strathfieldsaye as a memoir
ial of its owners browning victory
Accordingly he wrote to the Duke of
Wellington as follows:
my Lord Duke-It would crafty me
exceedingly if you would permit me to
visit Strathfieldsaye at any time con-
venient to your grace, and inspect the
Waterloo beeches. Your grace's faith
full servant. J. c.. Loudon"
The Duke read the letter twice with
growing surprise. The handwriting
was not very clear, and, In particular,
he metamorphosed the signature into
one more familiar to him-"C. j. Lon
din" Accordingly he replied at once
TO the supposed author of the letter:
my Dear Biship of London-It will
always give me great pleasure to see
IA
here whenever it suits your convent
ence. whether l am at home or not.
NV servant will receive orders to show
YOU as many pairs of breeches of mine
as you WISH but why you should wish
to inspect those that ] wore at the
battle of Waterloo Is quite beyond the
comprehension of-Yours, most truly,
wellington"
When Bishop Bloomfield received this
unexpected communication he came to
the not unnatural conclusion that the
great Duke had suddenly lost his rea-
son. The Archbishop Of Canterbury,
to whom he showed the letter, with
the assurance that he had not written
10 the Duke for two years, and had
never asked to see any Of his old
clothes. was of the same opinion. For
tunately. Bloomfield applied to the Duke
for an explanation, and the matter was
cleared up. We hope that Mr.. Loudon