London at the End of the Century:A Book of Gossip

a Beckett, Arthur William

1900

RACING UNDER THE EMPIRE.

 

I suppose that, although the Duc d'Aumale was always fond of horse training, the great revival of French sport became an accomplished fact under the patronage of Napoleon III. The Emperor had a great love for and did his level best to bring Epsom to Longchamps. During his long sojourn in England-when he was occupying that now-betableted house in , St. James's-the coming ruler of France was con tinually at the more frequented of the meetings. If he never took part in an actual race himself he at least entered in the lists of Eglinton Castle when the glories of Ashby-de-la-Zouch were revived, and some think

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surpassed. The Emperor Louis Napoleon was the first to render the June meeting at Longchamps thoroughly popular. That popularity has now lasted for something more than forty years. It has survived the dark days of the Siege and the Commune, and promises to be one of the features of the coming twentieth century. The Grand Prix of the Republic is not so very unlike the Grand Prix of the fifties and the sixties. The State tribune is filled by the President, his wife, and the more illustrious of their guests, and the classes and the masses are there-the first in their hundreds and the last in their thousands. The only absentee of to-day is the flower-girl of the Jockey Club. some quarter of a century ago, was an institution. It was her duty to appear in the colours of the favourite, and to supply the swells of the Jockey Club with button-holes. I believe during the rest of the year she was the presiding genius of a newspaper kiosk on the Boulevards opposite the Grand Hotel. But during the Sunday devoted to the Grand Prix she was the heroine of Longchamps. Poor Napoleon III. The last time I saw him was lying in state at Chislehurst. As I write, his pale, calm face comes back to me, his iron-grey moustache and his scanty locks, his apparently well-formed cranium. Only the other day I saw a cast of his head taken by an eminent surgeon immediately after death. The cast showed

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a fine forehead, but my friend the eminent surgeon suggested that, taken as a whole, the head was a poor one. said my friend. Well, Napoleon has long since passed away, and so have Cora Pearl, and Schneider, and the other glories of the Empire.

 
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 Title Page
 Dedication
 PREFACE
CHAPTER I: LONDON AT THE END OF THE CENTURY
CHAPTER II: STRANGERS IN LONDON
CHAPTER III: RELIGION IN LONDON
CHAPTER IV: A PEEP INTO STAGELAND
CHAPTER V: PARLIAMENT UP TO DATE
CHAPTER VI: A NIGHT IN THE HOUSE
CHAPTER VII: THE PREMIER CLUB OF ENGLAND
CHAPTER VIII: LONDONERS HOLDING HOLIDAY
CHAPTER IX: THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE CLUB
CHAPTER X: IN RATHER MIXED CLUBLAND
CHAPTER XI: IN AUXILIARY CLUBLAND
CHAPTER XII: A PANTOMIME AT DRURY LANE
CHAPTER XIII: LONDON EXHIBITIONS
CHAPTER XIV: COACHING THE UNIVERSITY CREW
CHAPTER XV: THE SEQUEL TO THE DERBY
CHAPTER XVI: THE LONDON GONDOLA
CHAPTER XVII: LONDON ON STRIKE
CHAPTER XVIII: LONDON FIRES
CHAPTER XIX: PALL MALL AND PRIVATE THOMAS ATKINS
CHAPTER XX: CONCERNING THE LONDON VOLUNTEERS
CHAPTER XXI: SERVING WITH THE LONDON MILITIA
CHAPTER XXII: LONDON GUNNERS AT SHOEBURYNESS
CHAPTER XXIII: BECOMING A SOCIETY LION
CHAPTER XXIV: ENTERTAINING THE WORKING MAN
CHAPTER XXV: CHOOSING A FANCY DRESS
CHAPTER XXVI: PARLIAMENTARY SPEAKING
CHAPTER XXVII: ART IN LONDON
CHAPTER XXVIII: SPENDING BANK HOLIDAY IN LONDON
CHAPTER XXIX: A BANK HOLIDAY WITHOUT 'ARRY
CHAPTER XXX: LONDON OUT OF TOWN
CHAPTER XXXI: LONDONERS AND THEIR SUMMER HOLIDAYS
CHAPTER XXXII: LONDONERS AND THE CHANNEL
CHAPTER XXXIII: LONDON UNDER DOCTOR'S ORDERS
CHAPTER XXXIV: TWO CITIES IN FORTY-EIGHT HOURS
CHAPTER XXXV: THE LONDONER'S SEARCH FOR HEALTH
CHAPTER XXXVI: THE PARISIAN PART OF THE LONDON DISTRICT
CHAPTER XXXVII: A NOVELTY IN LONDON RECREATIONS
CHAPTER XXXVIII: LONDON SCHOOLBOYS AT THE END OF THE CENTURY