Anecdotes of the Manners and Customs of London during the Eighteenth Century; Vol. 1 (of 2): Including the Charities, Depravities, Dresses, and Amusements etc.Malcolm, James Peller
History
Anecdotes of the Manners and Customs of London during the Eighteenth Century; Vol. 1 (of 2): Including the Charities, Depravities, Dresses, and Amusements etc.
Malcolm, James Peller
London (England) -- Social life and customs -- 18th century
The St. James's Evening Post of August 21, 1735, contains the
following paragraph: "Yesterday the antient company of Archers of this
City met at the Pied Horse, at the Artillery-ground, where a grand
entertainment was provided for them, after which they performed their
exercise with bows and arrows. This company is of several hundred years
standing, and used formerly to muster at this time of the year in the
Artillery-ground, as our Trained Bands do now. Some time after the
invention of fire-arms the City voted them useless; but they have ever
since kept up the company and their annual meeting, having a Marshal
handsomely equipped in a green livery with a large silver badge."
Michaelmas or Mile-end fair was presented as a nuisance by the Grand
Jury of Middlesex in 1735, which had been extended to seven days
continuance beyond the original grant.
Another Royal marriage was celebrated in 1736, which is so amply
described by Read in his Weekly Journal of May 1, that I cannot do
better than give it in his own words:
"Monday between one and two in the afternoon his Royal Highness the
Prince of Wales set out from St. James's, and crossing the water at
Whitehall, went on horseback to Greenwich, where he dined with the
Princess, and returned in the evening to St. James's in his barge.
"The crowd of people at Greenwich was the greatest that had ever been
seen; it is thought there was not less than 10,000 persons at one time
in the Park: and her Highness had the goodness to shew herself for
upwards of half an hour from the gallery of the Palace, which drew the
loudest acclamations.
"On Tuesday the King's leading coach, followed by his Majesty's body
coach, drawn by his cream-coloured horses, brought her Highness and her
retinue to Lambeth, where the King's barge waited, and carried her
over to Whitehall, and from thence in the King's own chair through the
Park to St. James's house, where the Court was in the Drawing-rooms,
and appeared in their new clothes to receive her with all imaginable
splendor.
"When her Royal Highness the Princess came to St. James's, she was
dressed in a suit of rich silk; deep ground, trimmed with gold; and
embroidered with green, scarlet, and purple flowers: in which manner
her Highness was so condescending, that she shewed herself in several
of the windows of the Prince of Wales's apartments, to gratify the
curiosity of the people, who expressed their joy and satisfaction with
the loudest acclamations.
"About four o'clock her Highness dined with the Prince of Wales and the
Princess Amelia and Caroline, in his Royal Highness's apartment.
"Between six and seven o'clock her Highness, dressed in her
wedding-clothes, which were of silver tissue, and all over white,
with her hair curled and stuck with jewels, after the German fashion,
was presented to her Majesty, who presented her to the Prince; whose
clothes were of silver tissue, with white shoes and stockings.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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