Gossip in the First Decade of Victoria's ReignAshton, John
History
Gossip in the First Decade of Victoria's Reign
Ashton, John
Great Britain -- Social life and customs -- 19th century
“The ovation commenced at two o’clock. First came the trades of
Dublin, each preceded by the banner of its body, and a band playing
such music as only temperance bands can play, and, generally, with
much discrimination, selecting rather difficult pieces for their
performance, and eschewing all national airs. The banners were
usually displayed from coaches, intended to hold four, but contriving
to allow from sixteen to eighteen to fit into, and hang on by them.
Thus they came on: Bricklayers (with a painting of the Bank of
Ireland, and the superscription of ‘Our Old House at Home’); slaters,
woollen operatives (in a small open car); nailors (with a picture of
Brian Boroihme ‘nailing’ the Danes at Clontarf); coach makers,
tailors (with a very gorgeous equipage, six horses, postillions and
outriders); tinplate workers, displaying as their sign, a man with a
tin helmet on his head, and a dish cover of the same metal on his
arm—otherwise unassumingly attired in a blue coat and white trousers;
and other bodies of tradesmen too numerous to mention, with their
appropriate emblems and banners.
[Picture: O’Connell’s Cap]
“Next came a number of Repeal wardens, bearing wands, and occupying
respectable-looking coaches and carriages. After them drove the
committee of the political trades’ unions; the members of it attired
in green sashes and scarves, and bearing wands with green flags in
their hands. Next in order were the various members of the
Corporation, aldermen, town councillors, and officers, dressed in
their robes of office and cocked hats, glittering with chains, and
furred from head to foot. The majority of these gentlemen were in
their own carriages, into each of which were packed as many of the
owner’s friends as could find standing room, several private vehicles
being mixed up through the order of procession. Then came the
private carriages of the Lord Mayor, who was in full dress; and then,
preceded by a confused mass of wand bearers, the triumphal chariot
itself, surrounded by a mob so dense that it was with great
difficulty that the six splendid dappled greys could force the
cumbrous vehicle along, which, every instant, seemed to become a
second Car of Juggernaut, and crush some of its adorers. More
vehicles, a few horsemen, multitudes of hack cars and pedestrians, a
tail of old women and little boys, followed; and so the monster
procession, after winding its slow length along through the greater
part of Dublin, and causing a total cessation of business in the line
of its progress, terminated.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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