War. HIGHWAYMEN IN HYDE PARK 41 Lord Chesterfield (the man of the graces, as he has been called) used to be one of the most constant frequenters of Hyde Park. A few days before his death a friend expressed astonishment at seeing him there again. "O," said Lord Chesterfield, "I am rehearsing my funeral,” alluding to his own dark chariot and the string of fashionable carriages behind it. Poor Chesterfield -how he to the last endeavoured to remain the young and witty man of fashion:! Horace Walpole tells us that he was robbed here. He writes: “One night, in the beginning of November, as I was returning from Holland House by moonlight, about ten o'clock, I was attacked by two highwaymen in Hyde Park, and the pistol of one of them, going off accidentally, razed the skin under my eye, left some marks of shot on my face, and stunned me. The ball went through the top of the chariot, and if I had sat an inch nearer the left side, must have gone through my head." Hyde Park has been for centuries the great place in London for the exhibition of the latest fashions in the "smart set. And how these fashions change! In a newspaper published in 1796 under the title of The Height of Fashion, 42 FAMILIAR LONDON we read that "Lady Caroline Campbell displayed in Hyde Park the other day a feather four feet higher than her bonnet"! Only about fifteen years ago a certain very beautiful woman, wife of an English nobleman, used to display herself in a hat with feathers trailing to the ground. Some verses printed in 1808 tell us that on Sunday the beaux and belles of the middle classes were wont to walk in the Park as they do to this day. I have almost forgotten the lines, I fear; but they are somewhat as follows: Horsed in Cheapside, here still the gayer spark For then you see him, dreading to be late, Scour the New Road and dash through Grosvenor Gate, The bold Bucephalus of Rotten Row. Careless he seems; yet, vigilantly shy, Woos the stray glance of ladies passing by, While his off heel, insidiously aside, Provokes the caper which he seems to chide." Captain Gronow tells us that in 1815 the Park looked like the country. Under the trees were cows and deer; no rows of monotonous houses told you that you were near a great city, and the atmosphere was much more like what God made it than the hazy, grey, coal-darkened half-twilight of the London of to-day. The company which then DANDIES IN THE PARK 43 congregated daily about five o'clock was composed of dandies and women in the best society. The dandy's dress consisted of a blue coat with brass buttons, leather breeches, and top-boots; and it was the fashion to wear a deep stiff white cravat, which prevented him from seeing his boots while standing. All the world watched Brummell, to imitate him, and order clothes of the tradesmen who dressed that sublime dandy. One day a youth approached Brummell, and said, "Permit me to ask you where you get your blacking." 'Ah," answered Brummell, gazing complacently at his boots, "my blacking positively ruins me. I will tell you in confidence: it is made with the finest champagne!" 66 In 1730, Queen Caroline, the consort of George II., conceived the idea of beautifying the Park by forming the various ponds into a large sheet of water, and, after consultation with the Surveyor of Woods and Forests, the Serpentine was made. A small temple was built, "revolving on a pivot, so as to afford shelter from the winds." On these and various other works the Queen spent a considerable sum of money. The King seems to have believed that it was all paid out of the Queen's own income, and good-humouredly declined to look at the plans, 44 FAMILIAR LONDON saying he didn't care how much money she flung away of her own revenue. He little suspected that on the Queen's death it would be seen that Walpole had made disbursements to the amount of about £20,000 of the King's money for these various improvements. One entrance into Hyde Park is called Albert Gate, after the late Prince Consort. The large houses now standing there are very nearly on the site of the old bridge which crossed the "Westbourne." In Davis's Memorials of Knightsbridge it is mentioned that there was another bridge across this stream inside the Park. There was, near the former bridge, an old inn, the "Fox and Bull," which seems to have been much frequented by persons of interest-notably George Morland, and also by Sir Joshua Reynolds, who painted its sign. It was used as the receiving-house of the Royal Humane Society, and here was laid the body of the wife of Shelley after she had drowned herself in the Serpentine. The two large houses on either side of the Albert Gate were built by Cubitt. They used to be called "the two Gibraltars," as it was thought they would never be "taken." Like many another, this prophecy has been amply falsified. In the eastern of the two houses |