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Victoria's Day One in London, Part Four

Poor Ed, his foot unbelievably painful, decided to spend the afternoon at the hotel, nursing his wounds.  I set off down Piccadilly just happy to be in London, listening to the noise of the traffic, the snatches of conversation in multiple languages from passers-by, and breathing the air, diesel fumes and all. I noted, however, that most of the buses are running on green fuels now, which should help.  Just add the lorries, if you please.

Piccadilly, celebrating the Diamond Jubilee of the Queen’s 1953 Coronation
 
I wandered along the street, stopping at a few favorite spots.  Fortnum and Mason always is worth a visit, if only for the amusing displays, not to mention the delicious aromas.
 
  
 
F and M Teacup
 
  
The Elegant Doorway of F and M
 
Displays in Fortnum and Mason
 
I browsed around and tempted myself with possible purchases, but passed in favor of having manageable weights for my suitcase.  Click here to order from home.
 
 
Hatchards, Piccadilly, Est. 1797
 
I admit I spent at least an hour or two in Hatchards, a place I adore.  Visit by clicking here.
 
 
Capital Ideas Table, with Louise Allen’s Walking Jane Austen’s London
 
I was very happy to find Regency author Louise Allen’s new book Walking Jane Austen’s London on sale.  I bought it, but bypassed a few others…again considering the weight of my luggage.  But browsing in a wonderful bookshop is always rewarding in itself.
 

 
St. James and its marketplace
 
More browsing here, a blend of small dealers in antiques and collectibles, books, and — sorry to say — junk.  Or make that junque, since it comes from such a lovely spot.  This little market is in the church courtyard almost every day…and there is a nice coffee shop as well.  And seats.  But then Ed and his sore foot were resting up at the hotel, I hoped.  And my feet were itching for more adventures.
 
 
Ready and Willing; thank you, Mephisto!
 
 
So I consulted a little list I’d made of places I wanted to see in London that had previously escaped my attention.  Aha!  The Foundling Museum. Why not?  Ed would never want to see all those little treasures the mother’s made to identify their babes if they could return someday.  But it was something I’d always meant to see.
 
 
Foundling Museum
 
A short tube ride brought me close to the Museum, which you can read about here.  Below is the medallion showing three little angels, a symbol of the Foundling Hospital.
 
 
 
 
The Foundling Hospital was established by Thomas Coram (c.1688-1751), a wealthy merchant who spent a great deal of time in the American colonies where he had many business and governmental interests.  In 1739, Coram secured a royal charter to build a home for the many abandoned children in the London streets.
 
 
The Girl’s Dining Room, 1773
 
 
Mothers often brought children they were unable to care for to the hospital and left tokens with them in the hope that someday they could be reunited. The tokens are often heart-breakingly simple, made from inexpensive materials but with a lot of love and hope.
 

 
 
Many prominent artists and musicians were benefactors of the Foundling hospital, including William Hogarth (1697-1764)..
 
 
Thomas Coram, by William Hogarth, ©The Foundling Museum 
 
 
Painting above fireplace by George Lambert (1700-1765)
 
 The Foundling Museum is located in one of the original Hospital

buildings and houses rooms used by the board members and other philanthropists. Opened in 2004, it cares for and exhibits the collection of the Foundling Hospital..

 
 
George Frideric Handel (1685-1759)
school of Thomas Hudson

The Gerald Coke Handel Collection of Handel memorabilia can be seen and studied at the Foundling Museum as well.  Handel’s benefit concert of The Messiah in 1750 was the first of a series which brought the sum of £7,000 (equivalent today to about £500,000) to the Hospital. Handel left a score of the work to the Hospital. On the top floor of the museum,  visitors can settle into comfortable chairs and listen to Handel’s works — and other musical selections — on earphones.
 
 
Rococo Court Room
 
I felt a little guilty sitting in total comfort listening to magnificent music while Ed nursed his sore foot. Eventually, I walked back to the hotel and found him happily ensconced on the bed watching the BBC News Channel, his favorite if CNN is not available. He was almost ready for dinner.
 
Next, a train trip to Cambridge
 
 
 

 
 

Fashions from 1813

If you’d been living two hundred years ago, you might be spending part of the days of early autumn reading Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. And you might be wearing one of these ensembles, from Victoria’s collection of Fashion Plates.

 
 
 
Ackermann’s Repository, Jan. 1813
 
Morning Walking Dress:
A round robe of Cambric muslin, with long full sleeves and simple short collar confined in the center of the throat with a stud or broach; the same fastening the dress at the wrist. A robe pelisse of bright morone velvet formed quite plain, simply meeting in the front, with rounded collar; trimmed entirely round with spotted ermine, and confined at the bottom of the waist with a ribband of corresponding shades tied in front.
A Flora cap, ornamented with ribband and mall flower on the left  side. A village hat of morone velvet, with open edge of black chenille; a flower similar to that which ornaments the cap, placed on the opposite side, and tied under the chin with the same ribband.
Half- boots of morone velvet, or kid. Gloves of pale tan or amber kid. Ridicule of morone velvet, embroidered with gold.
 
 
 
Ackermann’s Repository, March 1813
 
Half-Dress:
 
A round robe of coloured sarsnet, or muslin, spotted with amber; drawn frock bosom; and long, full sleeves tied twice at the wrist at regular distances. A tucker or lace, or plaited net.
A cap a la Russe, composed of white satin and lace, confined with a ribband round the head, terminating in bows and ends on one side. Hair in dishevelled curls. Necklace and cross of amber beads. Gloves and shoes of lemon-coloured kid. Spanish capuchin, or lappelled cloak of white or stone-coloured kerseymere, embroidered with a rich border, in chenille and silk.

 
Ackermann’s Repository, April 1813
 
Morning Dress:
A Polonese robe and petticoat of fine cambric or jaconot muslin, ornamented at its several terminations with a border of net-work, furnished with an edging of muslin, gathered very full, and a vandyke cuff, en suite.
A bonnet-cap, composed of jonquille satin, and treble borders of scollopped lace, confined on one side with ribband of the same colour. Gloves and slippers of yellow kid.
This robe, so attractive, novel, and elegant, is more particularly adapted to the slender or tall figure; and is furnished us from the house of Mrs. Gill of Cork-street, Burlington Gardens, to whose unrivalled taste, unique elegance, and novelty of design, we have for some time past been indebted for the superior order of female fashions by which, we flatter ourselves, this publication is ever distinguished.
Ackermann’s Repository April 1813
 
Carriage Dress
 
A high round robe of jaconet or cambric muslin, with plaited bodice, long sleeve, and deep falling frill, terminated with a vandyke of needle work. A Russian mantle, of Pomona, or spring green sarsnet, lined with white satin,  and trimmed with rich frog fringe and binding, confined with a cord and tassel, as taste or convenience may direct.
 A cottage slouch bonnet, of corresponding materials, edged with antique scolloped lace, confined under the chin with ribbon, tied on the left side; and appositely ornamented with a small cluster o spring flowers  Slippers of green kid, or jean, and gloves of primrose kid.
   
LaBelle Assemblee, June 1813
 
Afternoon Promenade Dress:
Short dress of jaconet muslin, made rather scantier in the skirt than they have been worn, and cut down as much as possible all around the bosom and back of the neck.  The body is full, but drawn in at the top of the back, which is ornamented with a while silk button, and confined to the waist by a girdle of rich white figured ribband; a jacket of the same materials as the gown, fastened to the waist by a white silk button, complete this truly elegant dress which is unequalled for tasteful simplicity. Over this our fair pedestrians throw a sky-blue scarf.
Bonnet of white-willow shavings, ornamented with a flower and wreath of sky-blue, and tied under the chin with a ribband to correspond. Hair dressed in very loose curls on each side of the temple and divided very much in front. Gloves and sandals of sky-blue kid. Necklace and earrings of white cornelian. Johnston parasol. This elegant appendage to the walking costume, is also of sky-blue silk, and finished with a rich and deep fringe; it has very recently made its appearance, and is already a general favorite.
 
 
  Ackermann’s Repository, August, 1813
 
Morning Dress
 
 A petticoat of jaconet or cambric muslin; with a Cossack coat, or three-quartered pelisse of lemon-coloured sarsnet, with vandyke Spanish border of a deeper shade.   Full sleeves, confined at the wrist with a broad elastic gold bracelet; confined also, at the bottom of the waist, with a ribband en suite.
Foundling cap of lace, with full double border in front, confined under the chin with a ribband the color of the pelisse, and tied on one side; a bunch of variegated carnations placed on the left side. Gloves and Roman slippers of lemon-coloured kid.
 
Some descriptions courtesy of Susan Forgue’s website:
 
 
user name: JAScholar
 password:  Academia
 
and Author Candice Hern’s website:
 
 
 

. 

Kristine and Victoria Plan A Trip To England

 
  

  
 
“We need to start planning our next trip to England together.”
“Yeah, but we’d need an excuse for the husbands. I mean I just went, and you just went. How could we justify another trip? Without them?” Victoria asked.
“Well, I think I’m fine on that point. Hubby’s had enough of England for the time being, my good man.”
Victoria and I were together, seated on the patio at Panera Bread in Ft. Myers, Florida. We stared at one another across the table for a bit, our minds getting a Lucy and Ethel type workout.
“Think!” I urged as I lit a cigarette.
“I am thinking,” Victoria assured me.
“Maybe we need alcohol.”
Victoria checked her watch. “It’s only 10: 30 a.m. Too early even for us.”
Sigh. Think, think, think, think I admonished myself . . . . . . an idea suddenly occurred to me. I grinned. “By Jove, I think I’ve got it!”
“What? What!?“
“The blog.”
“The blog?”
“Our blog. Number One London.”
“Yeah, I know what our blog is called. What about it?” Victoria asked.
“A Number One London tour to England.”
“A tour? With other people? Besides us?”
“Yes, Ethel, other people besides us. You know I worked as a tour guide for Patty Suchy and her Novel Explorations. You were on some of the tours I did.”
“I know, but . . . I’ve never been a tour guide.”
“But you’ve been to England hundreds of times. You’re qualified. I’ll get you a Blue Badge for Christmas. With your name on it and everything. Now come on, we have to come up with a theme for the tour. What would be a good theme?”
 
Victoria and I threw out a couple of (lame) ideas for a tour theme. The best of the lot was Victoria’s suggestion – Great Ladies of British History.
We kicked the idea around for a while.
“I’m not thrilled,” I finally said.
“You’d think that you and I could come up with something better than that.”
“You’d think.”
Some minutes went by and we wracked our brains for inspiration. “This is becoming painful,” Victoria said after a time.
“Are we stupid?” I asked Victoria.
“Apparently so.”
“I mean you and I are really bloody stupid.”
“I’ve already agreed with you. You don’t have to rub it in.”
“No, listen, I mean the theme of the first ever Number One London tour to England is so obvious.”
“It is?”
“You ready?”
“For God’s sake . . . . . “
“Wellington. As in the Duke of. As in the guy at the top of our blog. That Wellington.”

 

 
Victoria let out a whoop and clapped her hands. “Yes! It has to be Wellington. Obviously.”
 
Excitement gripped us both as we hurriedly drew paper and pens to ourselves.
 
“Now we have to come up with an itinerary,” I said.
 
“We could do Spain and Portugal and then finish up in England.”
 
I blinked. “You forgot India. Look, we have to think about this realistically. We can’t make the tour so inclusive that it becomes cost prohibitive.”
 
“You’re right,” Victoria conceded. “And we have to bear in mind that most people can’t get away for a month at a time.”
 
“There is that,” I agreed. “So we stick with England, agreed?”
 
For the next hour, Victoria and I were like kids in a candy store. Once we had a theme we could sink our teeth into, we had no difficulty in fashioning a rough itinerary that included all the locations relevant to Wellington’s life – London, Walmer, Brighton, Reading . . . . . .
 
“What about that guy the Duke and his friends were always visiting?” I asked Victoria.
 
“What guy?”
 
“You know, the Duke of something. He had that stately home where they all went shooting and spent the holidays every year.” I began running down dukes in my mind. Atholl? No. Bedford? Nyet. Norfolk? Sigh. 
“Rutland!” I cried at last. “The Duke of Rutland! What’s the name of his house?”
 
“Belvoir Castle,” Victoria said without hesitation.
 
“Where is it, exactly?” I asked her.
 
“It’s in Grantham, in Leicestershire, but I don’t want to go back there.”
 
“You’ve already been there?” I asked, disappointed.
 
Victoria gave me a pitying look. “You’ve been there, too. On the Great North Road tour you did with Patty. We were together. Your daughter Brooke was also there. It’s where we were held up by the highwaymen.”  (Read about it here)

 

 
“Oh, yeah.” Often the tours run together in my mind and I’m not sure where I’ve been. Or what I’ve seen. Or who I was with.
 
“It’s too far for a side trip, anyway. But speaking of Grantham . . . . ” Victoria said slyly.
 
“What about Grantham?” I asked.
 
“Where does Lord Grantham live?”
 
“At Downton Abbey?”
 
“And what’s Downton Abbey when it’s at home?” Victoria encouraged.
 
“Highclere Castle?”
 
“Bingo! And where’s Highclere Castle?”

 

 
“I have no idea, but if you tell me I’ve already been there and don’t remember it, I’ll cry.”
 
“As far as I know, you haven’t been there. And it’s only down the road from Stratfield Saye.”
 
“Really?”
 
“Well, I don’t know if it’s literally down the road, but it’s close enough that we’d be foolish to pass it by. What do you know about Lord Carnarvon and the Duke of Wellington?”
 
I was silent for a few minutes, mulling over Lord Carnarvon in my mind. “I got nothing,” I said in the end. “Come to think of it, I don’t think Lord Carnarvon’s name has ever come up in relation to Artie. In fact, I’d say there is no connection.”
 
“We need a connection in order to justify it as a stop on the Wellington Tour,” Victoria said.
 
“No we don’t.”
 
“We don’t?”
 
“No! It’s our tour. We’re planning the itinerary, right? We can put whatever we want on the schedule.”
 
Victoria looked skeptical.
 
“If anyone questions it,” I told her, “we’ll just tell them we’re going because we both want to see the room where Mr. Pamuk died. And because it’s just down the road from Stratfield Saye. And Windsor.”
 
“Windsor’s not down the road from Stratfield Saye.”
 
“No, I meant we need to add Windsor to the itinerary.” And so we did.
 
Finally, wrung out and exhausted, Victoria and I sat back and grinned at one another.
 
“The itinerary isn’t half bad,” I said.

“Not half bad?” Victoria sneered. “Listen, if this wasn’t our tour, I’d be signing up for it.”

“How much fun is this going to be? This is going to be even better than our trip to Belgium for the re-enactment of the Battle of Waterloo.”

Victoria grinned at me and offered up a phrase of the Duke of Wellington’s that we often re-use, “You  may depend upon it, Madam!”

 

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SEPTEMBER 4, 2014 AND
TRAVEL WITH US ON AN EXCITING ITINERARY THROUGH ENGLAND.
 
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Victoria's Day One in London, Part Three

After our visit to Horse Guards and watching its ceremonies, I was eager to visit the antique dealer  Mallett in Ely House in Mayfair. This is the location of their London showrooms, featuring an exhibition “The Age of Elegance“.  My every expectation was exceeded by this outstanding collection of objects  from an 18th c. townhouse, displayed in the magnificence of Ely House, built for the Bishop of Ely in 1770, and now the site of the Mallett London showrooms.

Mallett, 37 Dover Street, Mayfair

Ed enjoyed it too — at least he said he did, though I could see him calculating if he dared to sit on one of the delicate antique chairs.  He didn’t, though we did find him a seat after a while.  We were escorted by Ms Gina Hamilton, who was gracious enough to show us around.  We had tried to clean off our dusty shoes at the doorstep, but I suspect she did not view us as prospective clients.

The Saloon
 
Everything was for sale, and again, I so wished I had won the lottery.  And pledged to buy a ticket the next time it got up to hundreds of millions.  (Note: I haven’t yet!)
 
 
The interior is beautifully lit by large windows on the staircase.
 
 
Two views of the graceful staircase.
 

The Venetian Room
 
William And Mary Cabinet 
Above is a Cabinet of Oyster Veneer and Floral Marquetry on a stand, English, ca. 1690. 
 

 
Japanned Bureau-Cabinet
 Early 18th c., black and gilt, from Germany
 
The Grey Room
 
 
A feast for the eye, indeed.  You can have hours of enjoyment by surfing the website of Mallett both in London and New York.
 
Saying a heartfelt thank-you and a reluctant good-bye to Ms. Hamilton, we departed. 
 
“Time for lunch,” Ed noted
 
“I have just the place,” I said quickly. “And it’s only a short walk.” At least, I hoped it would be a short walk — and it was, to the restaurant Kristine and Greg enjoyed a few months before, Burger and Lobster.
 
The Lansdowne Club
 
On the way, we passed the Lansdowne Club, in the part of Lansdowne House that remained after the building was partially demolished in the early 1930’s to put through Fitzmaurice Street, connecting Curzon Street with Berkeley Square.  Read more about the club and the history of the building here.
 
 
Agreements which ended the  American Revolution were made on the premises.
 

Gordon Selfridge lived here in the 1920’s.
 
 
If you are a watcher of Mr. Selfridge on PBS, in future episodes I suspect he will move to Lansdowne House where he held famous (infamous?) parties.  Ever heard of the Dolly Sisters?
 
 
 
Burger and Lobster, 29 Clarges Street, Mayfair
 
 
Our table awaits
 
The restaurant was crowded and the food delicious.  Ed was again delighted to be off his feet and able to take refreshment.  Gin, as I recall.  The décor is very avant, and reminded me of the latest trendy restaurant at home — skylights, lots of clear lightbulbs on long cords, draped into groups, solid, simple furniture. The burgers were thick and juicy, the lobster delicate and tasty.  We both loved it, but eventually we had to surrender our comfy spot to the waiting hordes..
 
As always, when wandering Mayfair, many of the buildings had blue plaques noting former residents. 
 
 
46 Clarges Street was  once the home of Charles James Fox, the ultimate Whig and the bane of many a Tory.  Appropriately, it is now the home of The Fox Club.
 
 
 
The Fox Club
 
After another visit to Boots Pharmacy, Ed headed to Green Park Station to catch a Victoria tube back to St. Pancras.  He could spend the remainder of the afternoon in the hotel soaking his foot and napping.  As for me, I had an Agenda!!! After all, I was in LONDON!!! Details coming soon.