Ceremony at the Tower of London.

Evening Post, Issue 164, 17 August 1865, Page 2

Ceremony at the Tower of London.

General Sir John Fox Burgoyne, G-.0.8., upon whom the Queen recently conferred the ancient military dignity of Constable and Governor of the Tower of Londou, which had become vacant by the death of the veteran Lord Combermere, was publicly invested with the office with nm h military pomp and circumstance. The office is one which is always held atl a reward for distinguished services, and the salary attached to it is a little under £950, with an official residence. The new holder, Sir John Burgoyne, a veteran in years and in military service, had previously enjoyed, as he does still, a modest pension of £365 a year. The ceremony took place within the walls of the fortress, in the presence of Viscount Sydney, the Lord Chamberlain, the officers of the garrison, and a battalion of the Grenadier Guards, now stationed there. Among the more notable persons who witnessed, or took part in it, were the Duke of Richmond, his son, the Earl of March, Lord Frederick Paulet, General Windham, the Hon. Spencer Ponsonby, Lord de Rous, Colonel Michael Bruce, Colonel Whimper, Lord Hinchingbrook, and LieutenantColonel Napier H;urt, M.P. The Guards, attended by their band, were drawn up within the garrison and formed three sides of a square. The Yeomen Warders of the Tower, forty in number, also took part in the pageant, dressed in their bright scarlet costume, and bearing halberds. At one o'clock Gen. Sir John Burgoyne, attended by his aide-de-camp, Capt. the Hon. George Wrottesley, entered the garrison, and the troops presented arms to receive him. He wore the uniform of a general officer, and all his many military decorations. Having taken his place within the hollow square formed by the troops, Mr. John Humphreys, by virtue of his office of coroner for the eastern division of Middlesex, and who wore the uniform of a deputy lieutenant on the occasion, proceeded to read her Majesty's letters patent appointing Sir John Lord Lieutenant of the Tower Hamlets and Custos Rotulorum ; and Mr. T. W. Ratcliff, steward and coroner of the Liberty of the Tower, read the patent of the appointment as Constable and Governor of the Tj^er of London. That done, Lord SydHy, the Lord Chamberlain, turning to Sir John, presented him with the keys of the fortress, in the name aad on behalf of her Majesty the Queen'; Ife Yeomen Warders, following an ancient

uustcym on such occasions, responded "Aty ea » i n c horus, the troops gave a salute and presented arms, and the bind played the National Anthem. Sir John was then formally presented to the officers of the garrison. With that the ceremony of installation ended, and the new constable and governor was conducted ¦over the armoury, and afterwards took luncheon with the officers at their headquarters. Mr. Harvey Lewis, M.P., took part in the pageant as a deputy lieutenant. The immediate predecessor of Lord Combermere, who last held the office of €onstable and Governor of the Tower, it will be recollected, was the late Duke of Wellington.— Star.

Amongst the company that frequented Carlton House was a certain old Admiral P , whom the Prince of Wales was fond of inviting, though he did not possess a single agree ible quality, or any one convivial gift, except a great power of drinking the very strongest port without its producing the slightest effect upon him. One night Brummel, evidently bent on testing the old sailor's head, seated himself next to him, making it his business to pass the decanter as briskly as he could. The admiral asked nothing better ; filled and drank bumpers. Not conent with this legitimate test, Brummel watched his opportunity when the admiral's head was turned, and filled his glass up to the brim. Four or five times was the trick repeated, and with success, when at last the admiral, turning quickly round, caught him in the very act, with the decanter still in his hand. Fixing his eyes upon him with the fierceness of a tiger, the old man said, " Drink it, sir ! drink it 1" and so terrified was Brummel by the manner and the look, that he raised the glass to his lips and drained it, while all the table were convulsed with laughter. Antmbopophagi.—" Wanted, a young lad for a pie shop 1" — (See Argus.) Horrible ! " Apply early," goes on the advertisement to say 1 Of course, early ; before it is light, when nobody is stirring but the pie-shop people. Mark the particular stress laid upon a " young" lad 1 Stout of course, and tender 1 Dog sausage is nothing to this I No wonder one reads a little further on, " Lost, a little boy, aged six 1" Do the police ever read the newspapers ? Do the magistrates ? Do the philanthropists P Above all, do the consumers of pies ? — Melbourne Punch. Josh Billings gives some advice to a young lady as to how she shall receive a proposal :—: — 41 You ought to take it kind, looking down hill with an expreshun about half-tickled and liaif scart. After the pop is over, if yure lurer wants tew kiss you, I don't think I would say yea or no, but let the thing kind ov take its own course."