The sun., 1908-12-06
THE RING IN HYDE PARK.
Open Air Eating to Re Revived There
Its Gay History.

THE RING IN HYDE PARK.
Open Air Eating to Re Revived Their
Its Gay History.
The Ring in Hyde Park was the resor
OF fashion. fun and frivolity all througl
the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries
and The Ring is the name by which tn
new refreshment retreat in Hyde Park
TO be known.
The site is almost identical with tn
Ring Of the Stuarts. Some Of the old tree
still remain and they have been spared T.
give shade to the installation once NOR
OF refreshments in the open air.
The history Of Hyde Park ia, in rea
sense, history Of London and Londoners
Henry VIII. first acquired the churcl
Manor OF Hide in 1886, and turned it int
deer park. All the Tudors and theil
guests of honor hunted there.
Satisfaction in the pleasures OF the pal
ate was added by James l.. who built I
royal banqueting hall where now stanol
the Hoyal Rumane Society's house. anc
there right merrily the crystal glasses
olinkei, filled to overfowing, with bump
ers OF sound sack and CHEEKY canary
Charles !. opened the park to the public
and instituted horse races and othel
sports.
The Stuart Tour, or Course. Cromw el
surrounded with iron railings made out
Of his Primrose Hill cannon. and called i
The Ring. driving himself and his friends
around in coach and four. The Stuart
sports the grim Protector in no way him
dere1, but offered prizes for fat racing
pugilistic encounters-quite his own me-
tier-and the batting of beasts-wild ano
tame
In the days of the Stuart merrymakings
saws the Lddy's Pictorial. The Ring was
the rendezvous OF all that was lovely and
frail, gallant and debonnair. People first
dinej, then to the play. at 4 o'clock-either
at Sadler's " ellis or The Globe-and after
ward drove round The Ring to supper
and 10 bel.
"Bevies of gallant ladies in coaches,
some singing. some laughing, others
tickling one another, aud all of them
toying with jam tarts and devouring
cheesecakes. marchpane and china
oranges congregated daily in watch
ing the beaux Of society playing with
silver balls in the Ring--thus writes hon.
est old Tom Brown in his "Amusements
for the Meridian"
The King and Queen patronized the
Ring, or The Tour daily in their great
eaieche with six piebald Flemish horses.
In the middle Of the circle was wooden
house called Prices Lodge. after its first
Ranger occupant, where were regaled
A~1tk.an,a ynnrsala and taatv nina.
Cheesecakes and custardsand pigeon pie purs.
With bottle ale. cider and such sort OF stufis!
William and Mary were not fashionable
sovereigns; they never drove in the Ring,
but dwelt in mock retirement at Hampton
Court. Notwithstanding, fun and frolic
went on in Hyde Park. Maypoles were
erected and old fashioned dances stepped
to the accompaniment OF bagpipes and
hddles. Kissing Of course was quite en-
regls in the Ring. but staider Ringites were
moved aud shocked by the spectacles OF
women, painted. spotted and masked, In
hackney coaches and out junketing with
daudies.'
Thereafter no hired conveyances we're
allowed to ply in Hyde Park, and the by
law OF 1899 is still in force.
Queen Anne was a merry soul She
drank her orassge favored tea in Kensing-
ton Gardens. which she laid out. with her
favorite, Duchess Sarah. but she showed
her handsome figure and her lustrous hair
to admiring subjects in the Ring. She
too loved cheesecakes and syilabubs and
cooling draughts of clear spring water
from the ninepoels, where now is the reser-
voir.
When she was really dead and gone
soldiers made their appearance in the
park; their canteen was in the ring and
there the officers messed. Every after
noon say in the year 1T23. society ladies
and others in most elegant toilettes or
thinly veiled. were wont TO visit the camp;
after inspecting the tents and their ooou-
pants they were entertained with dishes
Of hot tea or cool drains Of ratafias."
Society greatly resented the intrusion
OF the middle mercantile classes. James
Meadows. writing in 1744, says: Every
illiterate coxoomb who has made a for
tune by sharping or shopkeeping en-
deavors to mimic the great ones: but
the Ludgate Hill hobble and the Cheap
side swing, with the general city Jolt
spite of the artifices the swaTts put on!'
Two new departures marked the opcl>-
ing Of the ninete> nth century so far as
The Ring was concerned. Driving was
still quite a la mode. Crossed rapiers
and pointed pistols became significant
Instruments beneath the, spreading wal
nut trees OF The Ring. In some OF these
sanguinary encounters both principals
were killed, as in the case OF Lord Mohun
and the Duke of Hamilton. But light
hearted beauties danced bewitchingiy to
exercise the ghosts Of gallants done to
death and field flowers sprang up where
noble blood had soaked the grass.
A craze for drinking spring water set
in at the end Of the eighteenth century
and the springs within The Ring became
empiric for stomachic troubles and for
ophthalmia. New weaned babes were
dipped in those pellucid pools by anxious
and busy nurses. and held out
TO dry in the warm SUM- their wee bodies
blown upon by favoring breezes.
Such and such we're the varied doinps
in the good old days. Seventy years
have como and gone since men and maids
made merry and pledged each other in
pleasant beverages. The Georgian regime
and the early Victorian era drove away
all joy and gladness from mems and
women''s lives. Cant. chicanery and
hypocrisy we're the spirits OF the times.
These dark ages have gone and HYDE
Park is still the resort of all the Kings
lieges. The First Commissioner OF Works
last week had affixed to the new refresh
ment retreat the name THE Ring Tea
House,
He Was born Too Soon.