The Butler County press. [volume] (Hamilton, Ohio) 1900-1946, 1916-10-27
ECLIPSED A PRINCE
Beau BrummeI 0utShone and
Then Snubbed the Regent.
STORY OF A FAMOUS CRAVAT.
After His Historic Quarrel With Wales
the Beau Won a Sartoria Triumph
That Almost Choked His Royal Mas
ter With Envy and Dismay.

A'S DSa1 "oh q 0dFtoFisl iflunPn
That Almost Choked His Royal Mas
ter With Envy and Dismay.
1t 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.
lish 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 friendp
In 1886 Beau Brummel sdll was liv
tng, and the New York Mirror, a week
4 publication devoted to literature
and the fine arts, printed a biograph-
ical sketch OF him as a figure in con
temporary history Reading it today
makes very real a character now little
more than a 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 aristocratic in Europe. relying
too, upon no other weapon than well
directed insolence; for the same indi-
yidual to have triumphcd splendidly
over the highest and the mightiest-to
have maintained a 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.
1t win be well to recall here that
George Bryan, Brumma- father. was
Lord North's secretary that the son
at Elton and later at Bafiol college ac-
quired a reputation for being a "swel
dresser" ana that still later he was
favorite of the Prince Of Wales. who
was to become George IL. of Great
Britain The Mirror related the fa
miliar story of the fat friend, immor
talized in a Punch cartoon explaining
the circumstances which led up to it.
a mutual friend had dared Brummel
to give an order to Wales, who was
then prince regent, and at a dinner the
dandy said to him, Wales. ring the
bell.' The prince did so ana when i
servant appeared said, SHOW Mr.
Brummel to his carriage" 1t was TO
repay the regent FOR this public humu
iation that Beau Brummel uttered his
famous question the next day in lh
street The prince was growing cor
pulent and sensitive Of the fact, SO
feud between the two was launched
with the remark.
1t 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
he would put the prince regent out Of
fashion, made his plans at once ana
sprang his coup at 4 brilliant BAN
given by the Duchess of Devonshire
In the Mirrors own words:
"When the whole assembly were con
versing upon his supposed disgrace,
Brummel suddenly stood in the midst
of them Could ii be indeed Brum
mel? 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 it slowly recov-
cred from its speechless paralysis. fal
tered forth, What a cravat"
And then the description Of the era
vat which confounded the guests at
the Duchess Of Deyonshire's ball
There it stood, smooth and stiff, yet
light and almost transparent delicate
as the music of Ariel yet firm as the
spirit of Regulus; bonding with the
grace Of Apollos locks yet erect with
the majesty Of the Olympian Ioye
without wrinkle without an indenta
ton. What a cravat, The prince re
gent saw and shook, and, uttering
faint gurgle from beneath the wadded
bag which surrounded his royal thorax
he was heard to whisper with dismay.
So him, What a crayatn The tri
umph was complete
The Mirror added that the Prince of
Wales sent an en4isSary to Beau Brum-
mel to learn the secret of the wonder
full creation in neckwear and that
Brummel sent back word Tel your
master that YOU have seen his master
1t was not until his debts forced him
to flee 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
1910, that the secret OF the crayat be
came known The Mirror said
'There was fouSd after his depar-
ture written upon a sheet Of paper
upon his table the following epigram
of scorn: Starch is the man
'"Ihe cravat of Blo}mme was merely
starched Henceforth starch was intro
duced into every cravat in Europe "