— 438 — 



Kegent street, and May fair, had just been emptied, 

 carriages, horses, servants, and all, into the King's 

 Eoad • cabinet ministers and their wives, peers and 

 peeresses, journalists, artists, members of Parliament, 

 actors, ambassadors from foreign courts, operatic singers ; 

 a motley crowd, moving along as if engaged in a formal 

 procession en route for some stately rendez-vous." 



I find in my diary the following foot note, which 

 may interest the ladies. . " One does occasionally meet 

 with what one might be inclined to style, over-powering 

 toilettes, in these thronged sea-side resorts. On our way 

 from Brighton to Antwerp, in the crowd of English 

 travellers who besieged with us the table d'hote, in the 

 sumptuous hotel du Grand Laboureur, at Antwerp, I 

 shall not easily forget the sensation created by the 

 appearance of an aesthetic Damozel, apparelled in the 

 most advanced style. 



In order to stand revealed as a blooming Hebe, or a 

 full-blown Helen, 'tis not sufficient for a plain girl to 

 don cathedral-grey colors and shades dear to the great 

 Oscar, with a string of blue beads round her neck, and 

 a sunflower, lily, or chrysanthemum in her belt, tight- 

 fitting sleeves and big puffs at the elbows and shoul- 

 ders ; hair, cut short and frizzled to look like the grilled 

 quills of a porcupine ! The sunflower did indeed cause 

 a sensation, but, assuredly, she did not seem what men 

 like to call 'a pretty creature.' 



My next neighbor at table, a polite Parisian with 

 whom I happened to be conversing, evidently startled 

 by the strange apparition of this aesthetic Venus, turned 

 up in horror the white of his eyes, and leaning over to 

 me, close to my ear, his agonized feelings found vent 

 in one expression — one only " Mais, c'est affreux ! /' " 



Brighton, the " Queen of the Southern watering 

 place — as she is styled — has indeed, many attractive 

 sights, none more so than her spacious beach, her 

 grand aquarium — " the largest fresh and salt water 

 aquarium in the world ", you are told, and the gor- 



