The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1908-04-19
IN LONDONS FINEST PARK
REFRESHMENT PLACE MpADES
4 RESORT or FASHION.
One Relng Built In Hyde Park In the RlnE
Where the Lords and Ladies Of Many
Courts Fave Made Merp-On the site
WhNFe llnce prleaia LbdsA stool.

NNuFNa ANN MNuN WtFNN- Ou wv HANN
Nhere Once Prices Lbd:e stool.
LONDON, April AN through the gloom
and fog Of winter Londohers take small
account Of their PARIS and squares and
have only a deadened appreciation Of their
charms. Few persons walk or drive In
them except as short cuts TO various desti-
nations. But with the t1rst warm hint Of
spring those once deserted places are
crowded with Londoners b & and little. who
SEEK tlere the practical demonstration that
springtime has come,
Never has the spring flower show in tho
parks been better worth seeing than this
year. Flowers in England need only small
encouragement 10 grow and the first mild
weather brings Out myrlads Of dafodiS,
prlmroses, orocuses and tulips,
This year the Green Park abounds in
golden daffodils. In 81. James's Park and
along Constitution Hill the grass iS starred
with white, purple and gold crocuses.
Regents Park has made a speciality OF
~primroses, and Kensington Park has united
all these In a multicolored carpet.
Hyde Park has its usual display Of
blossoms In which Haunting red and yellow
tulips predominant, but 10 the horror OF
lovers Of this largest and most fashionable
Of London's parks amid the flowers and
grassy lawns IL rapidly rising a 'refresh-
ment retreat which Is being built on
one OF the most popular and i%requented
Wake As a matter Of fact history is only
repeating itself and this new little tea place
is to be on the very site Of the famous
Ring OF bygone days. where for many
generations fashionable ladies' and gentle
men came to walk, drive and regale them
selves on the dainties Of their times.
1t was Henry VIII that royal property
grabber. who acquired the church lands
Of the Manor Of Hyde in i63e and converted
them into a deer park, where he and his
successors could hunt TO their hearts con-
tent. Charles |, Admitted the public 10
the park In 1898 and then gave II to his
people as a place for races and athletic
sports.
Stern old Cromwell seems 10 have loved
to walk about the park, and II was he who
conceived the idea Of enclosing a great
stretch Of grass with a driveway about II
inside iron ratings. as a sort Of recreation
ground. After the Restoration the real
popularity Of this grassy lawn was estab-
lished and II became a regular resort for
fashionable men and women every after
noon through the spring and summer.
Even the King and Queen visited the Ring
as It was called, and sometimes fingered
there to watch the games and sports.
In the very middle Of the enclosure were
nine pools or springs Of sparkling water,
where people congregated to drink cooling
drauEhts and where careful mothers dipped
their newly weaned babies for luck and
health.
A wooden house was erected In the Rin1
called Prices Lodge, where light r~efresn-
ments were served and which Pepys and
his amiable spouse often i%requented. lie
a v after going to see a fine foot race
three times around the Ring we retired 70
the lodge TO partake Of cheesecakes and
tankards Of warm milk
In Queen Anne's time the gayeties IN
Hyde PARK hourished well. May day was
high festival for the lords and ladies OF the
court. May poles were set UP and dancers
stepped 10 the rasp and soreech OF the
fiddle strings and bows. Upon the new
grown grass oollations we're served from
Prices Lodge. With william and Mary's
reign came a diminution OF royal prestige
for the Ring, but the fun and irolio evidently
continued. as one chronioler, Tom Browne.
describes II thus in 100:
Scores 81 gallant Ladies' Ii coaches.
some singing, some laughing and others
tickling one another, toy In the Ring and
devour 6heesecakes. marchepane and China
oranges
Then came a time when the troops were
enoamped In Hyde Park and the officers
we're msssed within the Ring. This does
not seem TO have Disconnected In the least
the gallant ladies, az they still continued to
visit their favorite recreation ground In the
afternoons, peep into the tents, joke with
their occupants, and 6niSh up With hot
dishes Of Ia aa3 svcc. drains Of ratihAs.'
The. Arst King George thought beet to
regulate the gayety Of his court, and since
some Of the staider element we're shocked
at the revelries Of the Ring restrictions
we're imposed upon those who. visited the
park daily. Hired coaches could not enter
the park gates at all. Only persons OF
quality we're admitted to the Ring. Children
and servants In livery we're relegated to
outside the iron ratings, where they had to
walt while their august parents and masters
took their walks around the Ring. How
ever, the popularity ofthe recreation ground
soon waned and the gallant ladies turned
their attention elsewhere b..
Early In the last century Prices Lodge
was pulled down and the iron ratings enclos-
ing the Ring soon followed. Refreshment
and msrrymaking we're banished and the
Ring became like any other stretch Of grass
in the park with the promenade around II.
In the gloom Of the later Georgian period
and the early Victorian era. Hyde Park be-
came the solemn resort Of fashion and wealth
that Il IL now. Hired cabs are Stlll tabooed
and dignity aud repose mark the daily
progress Of smart victorias In Rotten Row
and the morning church parade which is 10
be seen on bright Sundays in the season.
That a r~eireshment place should rise on
the old site Of Prices Lodge is but fitting,
and IL 10 fitting too perhaps that tea and
thin bread and butter should replace The
m~archepan, China oranges and syllabus Of
bygone days, But II Ia doubtful II the
stately ladies Of to-day will resale them
selves in the Ring as did the gallant ladies'
Of past years, for John Bull and his wife take
their pleasures sadly now, and the dignity OF
a drive in the park 10 not likely 10 bs marred
by taking tea within it's precincts.
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