London at the End of the Century:A Book of Gossip
a Beckett, Arthur William
1900
FROM PARIS TO ISLINGTON.
But, if the Parisians have got as far as following the Fifth Lancers, they have yet to learn the benefits of the Military Tournament at the Agricultural Hall. And yet, strange to say, although there is nothing like our Assault-at-Arms to be seen in , one of the features at Islington has evidently been suggested by a well-known item in the old-time programme at the Hippodrome. In the days of the Crimean War the entertainment invariably concluded with a military sketch. The was extremely popular in the fifties, and this (which I witnessed as a very small boy) was brought back to my mind at the end of the century, as I | |
137 | watched the incidents of the Display of Combined Arms. In the Hippodrome there was a sort of plot; at Islington there is nothing of the kind. The I remember, used to conclude with the entrance of the British Army (about twenty all told), containing detachments of "veritable Lif Gars" and the whole under the command of The wore a miscellaneous lot of assorted helmets, and the appeared in baggy fleshings. However, the British army was received with effusion, which grew in volume as was played by the orchestra, and culminated in the wildest enthusiasm when the tune changed to |
And now, like the horses at the end of a race, I must pull up. However, before quitting the subject of this chapter, I cannot help recording the opinion of a noted English athlete, who, speaking of the love of sport in France, said to me the other day, | |
I replied, | |
