The daily Alaskan., 1916-12-29

&he Beau Won a sartoriaI Triumph
 That Almost choked His Royal Mas
 ter With Envy and Dlsmay,
 It was Beau Brummel who was de- scribed as "the glass of fashion and the mold of form" and today there are ordinarily only two things which the name of the famous dandy of the Eng fish court suggests. One is an arbiter of fashion, the other the incident in which Brummel asked of companion of the Prince of Wales, "Who Is your fat friend?'
 In 1886 Beau Brummel still was lV- ing, and the New York Mirror, week ly publication devoted to literature and the fine arts," printed a biograph- ical sketch of him as figure in con- temporary history. Reading 1t today makes very real character now little more than tradition.
 "For an obscure individual without fortune or rank to have conceived the idea of placing himself at the head of society in a country the most thor oughly ar1stocratic in Europe, relying, too, upon no other weapon than well directed insolence; for the same indi- vidual to have triumphed splendidly over the highest and the mightiest-to have maintained contest with royalty itself and to have come off victorious even in that struggle-for such one no ordinary faculties must have been demanded" the Mirror said in Its issue of June 4, 1886.
 It will be well to recall here that George Bryan, Brummers father, was Lord North's secretary; that the son at Eton and later at Baliol college ac- quired a reputation for being a swell dresser" and that still later he was fayorite of the Prince of Wales, who was to become George ". of Great Britain. The Mirror related the fa- 1 miliar story of the fiat friend" immor- tallzed in a Punch cartoon, explaining the circumstances which led up to 1t.
 A mutual friend had dared Brummel to give an order to Wales, who was then prince regent, and at dinner the dandy said to him, Wales, ring the bellv' The prince did so and when servant appeared said, "Show Mir. Brummel to his carriage" It was to repay the regent for this public humil- iation that Beau Brummel uttered his l famous question the next day in the street The prince was growing cor pulent and sensitive of the fact, so a feud between the two was launched with the remark.
 It Is an old story up to this point, but the Mirror proceeded with some facts which probably have never been pub lished since. Brummel boasted that The would put the prince regent out of fashion, made his plans at once and sprang his coup at a brilliant ball given by the Duchess of Devonshire. In the Mirrors own words:
 When the whole assembly were con yerSing upon his supposed disgrace, BrummeI suddenly stood in the midst of them. Could 1t be indeed Brum- mel2 Could it be mortal who thus ap- peared with such an encincture of ra- diant glory about his neck? Every eye was upon him, fixed in stupid admira- ton; every tongue, as 1t slowly recov- cred from Its speeches. paralysis, fal- tered forth, What a cravat!
 And then the description of the era vat which confounded the guests at the Duchess of Devonshire's ball:
 There 1t stood, smooth and stiff, yet light and almost transparent; delicate as the music of Ariel, yet firm as the spirit of Regulus; bending with the grace of Apollos locks, yet erect with the majesty of the Olympian love; without wrinkle, without an indenta- tion. What crayat! The prince re- gent saw and shook, and, uttering a faint gurgle from beneath the wadded bag which surrounded his royal thorax, he was heard to whisper with dismay: - him! What a crayat' The tri- umph was complete"
 The Mirror added that the Prince of Wales sent an emissary to Beau Brum- mel to learn the secret of the wonder ful creation in neckwear and that Brummel sent back word, Tell your master that you have seen his master"
 It vas not until his debts forced him to fee from England and to take the obscure position of British consul at Caen, in France, where he contracted more debts and finally died insane in l.1S4O, that the secret of the cravat be- came known. The. Mirror said:
 There was found after his depar- ture written upon a sheet of paper upon his table the following epigram of scorn: Starch Is the man.
 ''The cravat of Brummel was merely starched. Henceforth starch was intro duced into every cravat in Europe."- Kansas City Times.