Rumours that certain members of the Labour Party had expressed 'a firm refusal to array themselves in purple and fine linen at the Coronation were hastily seized upon by eager commentators as proof of the growing redness of Great} Britain. It-is a pity to disappoint ecstatic pessimism but the Earl Marshal of England himself has prosaically pricked the bubble by announcing that the evening dress of the uncomfortable but' decorous citizen may be worn by those who do not propose to reveal their calves tothe public gaze but yield in their loyalty to none. This recognition of the pressure of modern ideas will be doubly welcome for it fits not merely the stubborn salients of middle-aged figures but—and this {is Important—the shrunken purses of many of their owners. The velvet of Court Dress with its obligation to add knee-breeches and a sword to the adornment of the wearer "costs money. - Expedients have been devised to mitigate this hardship. Where the rolling stone can acquire sufficient moss, the hire of the prescribed garb ' may be obtained, but to the stickler for propriety an appearance at Court in borrowed: plumes is always Irksome. Some there are.who will argue' that the strength of mind which can brave the sunlight midday fog of London in the owlish raiment of white Unen, starched chest-plaster and black tails is even more dificult to muster, Still in these air-minded days, the Briton is not as insular as he was;, he knows that many amiable personages of repute in other countries manage to wear the sober suit of the swift swallow without loss of morale or damage to the photographer's equipment, so the sartorial concession now made by the Earl Marshal will not surprise or vex him.
Indeed for this Coronation cere= many where the dazzle and glitter of gold cloth, gold lace and ermine will be so lavishly displayed, the opportunity of providing habiliments which will act as effective foils to gorgeous magnificence is not to be despised. The Eat! Marshal may have that thought in mind for what picture is not the better for attention to the requirements of chiaroscuro? The tyranny breeches has long chafed the souls of men whose eminence has brought them within the peril of levee, court or other place where pomp and circumstance dwell. The late Lord Curzon, ever a martinet of decorum to himself and all around him, once put his foot down firmly on an attempt to compromise at a Coronation ceremony over which he was to preside, He refused to take into account the fact that to political uniforms trousers aswell as. breeches were attached. The world was staggered by the result: the fiat went forth ins the stark terse-not be worn at Delhi." His shade will shudder at the Duke of Nor folk's clemency. It will recall that old-time bravery and the sternness with which a high official garbed at a garden party in brown boots, red tie and bowler was incontinent ly sent about his business far from Olympian ken—only, by the weak~ Keneed grace of a softer age to be raised to even higher office and Truly this Is a topsy-tury world, J'rhe uniform-wearing habit has spread to unexpected coteries, The British Parliament has lately had to place a ban on shirts which, assuming a certain hue, have In massed array carried political em~ barrassment into the streets of a free democracy. "The Coronation will embody. some of the most picturesque customs of historic ceremonial, duly armed by wise saws and modern instances. Pre~ cedent and tradition, nicely marshalled will control its ritual, but the whole texture of the tapestry receives in appropriate places the addition of this or that new thread or ornament so. that to-day's practice may accord with its ancient theme. Carlyle's Teufelsdréckh, in his atrabiliar moods, found scope for agile imagination in such casions:
I strive fi nly remote privacy to form a clear picture of that solemnity—on a sudden, as by some enchanter's wand, them shall 1 speak {t?—the Clothes Ay-off the Whole dramatic corps; and Duke Grandeec, Bishops,' Gener Anointed' Presence itself, every mother's son of them, stand straddling there, not a shirt on them; and T know not whether to Miugh or sotho tables according to Horace) and with them the whole fabric of Government, Legislation, Property, Police and Civilised Sociaty ore. dissolved walls and howls The ingenuity which can compromise by making trousers breeches in demo loyalty scatters these fea winds. Thus the Earl Marshal takes a loaf from China's book. The glory of the Imperial mandarin may have departed, No longer does the oficial have fo refer to the "Red Book" in order to ascertain whether the button on his cap should be plain red, flowered, transparent blue,, opaque, "uncoloured glass, white, plain gilt with flowers in. relief, or gilt with engraved flowers, Simplicity in a Republican era has ordained a blue gown with the ma kua to mark the presence of off ial rank, So even when monarcchical institutions are replaced it is. still impossible to dispense with the spirit which prescribes formality in attire for august occasions. It may be that feminine inconsequence thus puts the male on the defensive. Yet women at the Coronation. have to conform to masculine decree in the choice of robes, the manner of wearing their coronets and other mystic devices, just as they obediently take their normal change of fashion from some esoteric wizard enthroned in the Rue de la Paix.
Whether Eve instigated Adam to adorn himself with breeches as one version of the Bible has put it, cannot be dogmatically averred. In this 20th Century Adam's descend~ ants have asserted their masculine Independence. They have the laugh of Eve's daughters for they will not be tied to breeches, oven if the apronestrings still exert a potent influence over them. Let them, however, not press the Earl Marshal too far; it would be all too terrible if, in their economical modesty, they insisted that Court functions should carry the fearsome licence "Dress Optional." Carlyle's fantasy might then be in danger of assuming pro-photic guise.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.