“The galloping about of the Staff was equal to a series of races, the
object of the running being an utter mystery to the uninitiated.
Something dreadful always appears to be happening at the end of the line
where the Staff is not, and away the group of uniforms tear to rectify
it; it is important perhaps, but to the public inexplicable. Everybody
felt grateful for the amusement furnished by a trumpeter of the Life
Guards, in the heavily laced coat and jockey cap, which favoured the
racing theory. He was attached to the Duke of Cambridge, and
occasionally blew a screech on his trumpet--a most wretched and
unwarlike sound, though it was, we believe, a signal of some kind;
certainly, it was a signal for laughter whenever it was heard. Another
source of amusement was the rather Lucretian and selfish enjoyment of
the perplexities of the dense crowd of officers and military personages
of various grades, in the railed space below the galleries. Ten feet
more of ground might have been given, and the want of it caused
confusion. The pressure at last was too great, and there was a rush
under the rail into the open. The police could then do nothing against
the plumes and epaulets. The disorder gave the Staff two or three
gallops to the spot. The Commander-in-Chief himself remonstrated, but
the disorder, which was not very serious after all, could not be
retrieved. The ground gained was kept; but, as a compromise, the front
ranks were directed to sit down, which they did, and Policeman 209 was
released from his responsibility. There was much speculation as to some
of the most gorgeous uniforms in this military miscellany which were
quite new to English eyes. Very wild guesses were made, but opinion
settled down on East Indian Horse Artillery and Cavalry, regular and
irregular. A magnificent Lord Lieutenant, whose place was near the
Queen, but who had lost his pass ticket, was sternly refused ingress,
and remained in the crowd undistinguished.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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