In and About Drury Lane, and Other Papers, Vol. 2 (of 2): Reprinted from the pages of the 'Temple Bar' MagazineDoran, Dr. (John)
History
In and About Drury Lane, and Other Papers, Vol. 2 (of 2): Reprinted from the pages of the 'Temple Bar' Magazine
Doran, Dr. (John)
London (England) -- Social life and customs -- 19th century; Theater -- England -- London -- Anecdotes
Haymarket stage without Compton.
All sorts of oddities were to be seen there, on the old-fashioned
Sundays. A Polish countess proved to be a Drury Lane ballet-girl;
a magnificent lady turned out to be a lady’s maid; and real ladies
stooped to copy the fashions set by the counterfeits. But space fails
to permit us to do more than refer to the dainty Petersham, the curled
Geramb, the Four-in-hand and the Tandem clubs, the dandies who ruled
when the _men_ were at the wars, and the men who came back with the
Don Cossacks and the allied sovereigns, and showed themselves in Hyde
Park, as a proof that heroes were again upon the throne of fashion.
The throne still exists and a full and splendid gathering is around
it, on court days. In its way, Hyde Park is one of the most attractive
of sights, when the season is at its brightest, and the Somebodies
are there, with their kinsfolk eager to admire and imitate them. From
royalty downwards, indeed, every class is to be seen in that moving
panorama. Princes and mechanics, princesses and flower-girls, every
grade is there, and not the least remarkable are those Anonymas, who
dress with such exquisite propriety lest they should be mistaken for
modest women.
_SOME SCOTSWOMEN._
In the poetry of no nation are the ‘lasses’ more exquisitely courted
than in that of Scotland. But old women, with one or two exceptions
only, come off with ungallant treatment. This incivility may perhaps
have been born of the suspicion that old women had a strong tendency
towards growing into witches. On the other hand, witchery was common
enough with the younger wenches. There are few things more remarkable
in social history than the existence of women in Scotland who professed
to be witches, and the cruel punishments inflicted, not only on women
who were professed, but on those also who were suspected witches.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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