The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-12-11
BEAU BRUMMEL
HUMbLEO PRINCE.
WITH A CRAvAT

IL was Beau Drummer VINO was Oe-
scribed as 1.-The glass Of fashion and
the mold of FORM" and to-day there
are ordinarily only two things which
the name of the famous dandy of the
English court suggests One is an
arbiter Of fashion, the other the in
cident in which Brummel asked of a
companion of the Prince Of Wales,
who is your fat friend"
In 1886 Beau Brummel still was
living, and the New York Mirror, a
weekly publication devoted to liter
allure and the fine arts" printed a bio
graphical sketch of him as a figure
In contemporary history. Reading 1t
to-day makes very real a character
now little more than a tradition.
For an obscure individual with
out fortune or rank to have conceiv-
ed the idea Of placing himself at the
head of society in a country the most
thoroughly aristocratic in Europe. re-
lying, too, upon no other weapon
than we'll directed insolence; for the
same individual to have triumphed
splendidly over the highest and the
nightiest-to have maintained con-
test 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 it's issue of June
4, 1886.
It will be we'll to recall here that
George Bryan, BrummePs father,
was Lord North's secretary; that the
son at Elton and later at Ballot col
lege acquired a reputation for being
a "swell dresser" and that still later
he was a favorite of the Prince of
Wales, who was to become George
~. of Great Britain. The Mirror re-
lated the familiar story Of the "fat
friend" immortalized in Punch
cartoon, explaining the circumstances
which led up, to it.
A mutual friend had dared Brum-
mel 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 said SO and
when a servant appeared said, "Show
Mr.. Brummel to his carriage" 1t
was to repay the regent for this pub
lie humiliation that Beau Brummel
day in the street. The prince was
growing corpulent and sensitive of
the fact, so a feud between the two
It is an old story up to this point,
but the Mirror proceeded with some
facts which probably have never
been published since. Brummel
boosted that he, 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
conversing upon his supposed dis
grace, Brummel suddenly stood in
the midst of them. Could it be in
deed Brummel? Could it be mortal
who thus appeared with such an en-
cincture of radiant glory about his
neck? Every eye was upon him, fix
ed in stupid admiration; every ton
que, as it slowly recovered from its
speechless paralysis, faltered forth,
What a cravat 10
And then the description or the
vravat which COMPOUNDED the guests
at the Duchess Of Devonshire'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; bend
ing with the~grace of Apollo's locks
yet erect with the majesty of the
Olympian Jove; without wrinkle
without an indentation. What era
vail The prince regent saw and
shook, and, uttering faint gurgle
from beneath the wadded bag which
surrounded his royal thorax, he was
heard to whisper with disnay: -
him! What cravat!' The triumph
| was complete
The Mirror added that the Prince
of Wales sent an emissary, to Beau
Brummel to learn the secret of the
| wonderful creation in neckwear and
/ that Brummel sent back word, "Tell
your master that you have seen his
master"
1t was 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 con-
tracted more debts and nally died in
sane in 184O, that the secret of the
| cravat became 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 introduced into every cravat in
Europe kansas City Times.