Transcribed from the 1913 Hodder and Stoughton edition by DavidPrice email ccx074coventryacukTHE REVOLUTION IN TANNERS LANEPer various casus per tot discrimina rerumTendimus in Latium sedes ubi fata quietasOstendunt  Illic fas regna resurgere TrojaeDurate et vosmet rebus servate secundis VirgilBy diuers casis sere parrellis and sufferanceUnto Itaill we ettill aim quhare destanyeHas schap shaped for vs ane rest and quiet harbryePredestinatis thare Troye sall ryse aganeBe stout on prosper fortoun to remane Gwain Douglass translationCHAPTER ITHE WORLD OUTSIDEThe 20th April 1814 an almost cloudless perfectly sunny day sawall London astir  On that day Lewis the Eighteenth was to come fromHartwell in triumph summoned by France to the throne of hisancestors  London had not enjoyed too much gaiety that year  It wasthe year of the great frost  Nothing like it had been known in thememory of man  In the West of England where snow is rare roadswere impassable and mails could not be delivered  Four dead men weredug out of a deep drift about ten miles west of Exeter  Even atPlymouth close to the soft southwestern ocean the average depth ofthe fall was twenty inches and there was no other way of gettingeastwards than by packhorses  The Great North Road was completelyblocked and there was a barricade over it near Godmanchester of fromsix to ten feet high  The Oxford coach was buried  Some passengersinside were rescued with great difficulty and their lives werebarely saved  The Solway Firth at Workington resembled the ArcticSea and the Thames was so completely frozen over between Blackfriarsand London Bridges that people were able not only to walk acrossbut to erect booths on the ice  Coals of course rose to famineprices in London as it was then dependent solely upon watercarriagefor its supply  The Father of his people the Prince Regent wasmuch moved by the general distress of a large and meritorious classof industrious persons as he called them and issued a circular toall Lords Lieutenant ordering them to provide all practicable meansof removing obstructions from the highwaysHowever on this 20th April the London mob forgot the frost forgotthe quartern loaf and the national debt and prepared for a holidayinspired thereto not so much by Lewis the Eighteenth as by thewarmth and brilliant sky  There are two factors in all human blissan object and the subject  The object may be a trifle but thecondition of the subject is most important  Turn a man out with hisdigestion in perfect order with the spring in the air and in hisveins and he will cheer anything any Lewis Lord Liverpool dogcat or rat who may cross his path  Not that this is intended as asufficient explanation of the Bourbon reception  Far from it but itdoes mitigate it a trifle  At eleven oclock in the forenoon twotroops of the Oxford Blues drew up at Kilburn turnpike to await thesacred arrival  The Prince Regent himself went as far as Stanmore tomeet his August Brother  When the August Brother reached thevillage the excited inhabitants thereof took the horses out of thecarriage and drew him through the street  The Prince standing atthe door of the principal inn was in readiness to salute him andthis he did by embracing him  There have been some remarkableembraces in history  Joseph fell on Israels neck and Israel saidunto Joseph Now let me die since I have seen thy face Paulafter preaching at Ephesus calling the elders of the Church towitness that for the space of three years he ceased not to warnevery one night and day with tears kneeled down and prayed so thatthey all wept sore and fell on his neck  Romeo took a last embraceof Juliet in the vault and sealed the doors of breath with arighteous kiss  Penelope embraced Ulysses who was welcome to her asland is welcome to shipwrecked swimmers escaping from the greyseawaterthere have we say been some remarkable embraces on thisearth since time began but none more remarkable than that on thesteps of the Abercorn Arms  The Divine couple then drove in solemnprocession to town  From the park corner for threequarters of amile or so was a line of private carriages filled with mostfashionable people the ladies all standing on the seats  The FrenchRoyalist flag waved everywhere  All along the Kilburn Road thenthinly lined with houses it was triumphant and even the trees weredecorated with it  Arriving by way of Cumberland Gate at PiccadillyLewis was escorted amidst uproarious rejoicing to Grillons Hotelin Albemarle Street  There in reply to an address from the Princehe ascribed under Providence to his Royal Highness and theBritish people his present blissful condition and soon afterwardsbeing extremely tired went to bed  This was on a Wednesday  Thenext day Thursday His Sacred Majesty or Most Christian Majesty ashe was then called was solemnly made a Knight of the Garter theBishops of Salisbury and Winchester assisting  On Friday he receivedthe corporation of London and on Saturday the 23rd he prepared totake his departure  There was a great crowd in the street when hecame out of the hotel and immense applause the mob crying out Godbless your Majesty as if they owed him all they had and even theirlives  It was very touching people thought at the time and so itwas  Is there anything more touching than the waste of human loyaltyand love  As we read the history of the Highlands or a story ofJacobite loyalty such as that of Coopers Admiral Bluewater dear toboys we sadden that destiny should decree that in a world in whichpiety is not too plentiful it should run so pitifully to waste andthat men and women should weep hot tears and break their hearts overbranstuffing and waxAmidst the hooraying multitude that Saturday April morning was oneman at least Zachariah Coleman by name who did not hooray and didnot lift his hat even when the Sacred Majesty