ENGLAND FIFTY YEARS AGO.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIV, Issue 5760, 15 September 1879, Page 3

ENGLAND FIFTY YEARS AGO.

(From “All the Year Round.”) In those days there were no envelopes for letters, and postage was calculated by dis. tauoe; twopence in the metropolitan district, tenpence to York, one shilling and twopence to Edinburgh, two shillings to John o’ Groat’s House, and something almost prohibitive to the Continent of Europe. “ Franks ” were in great request, and members of both Houses of Parliament were daily, if not hourly, besieged by letter-writers, to obtain the privilege of their names on the corner of epistles, which would not have been sent through the post at all unless they could have been sent gratis. When Sir Rowland Hill proposed his scheme of a uniform rate of postage, he was considered a daring revolutionist, destined to ruin the country, even when he fixed the rate at fourpence. When, after a quiet interval, to accustom the panic-stricken public to the great change originally contemplated, the rate was reduced to a penny, elderly people held up their hands in dismay and predicted the collapse, not only of the post office, but of the empire of Great Britain. When I was a youth, women wore pattens. Are such articles ever seen in our day ? At that time it was considered vulgar for a gentleman to wear a cotton shirt or a silk hat. The shirt of fine linen and the hat of beaver were dc rigeur, Watches had double cases, between the outer and inner of which it was the custom to insert what were called watch papers, on which were printed or written texts from Scripture, moral maxims, passages from the poets, or tender love effusions purporting to be original. Still more recently, aud when in my prime, I remember that it was considered contra bonos mores and all the proprieties for a lady to ride in a hansom cab, or for a gentleman to smoke in a lady’s presence; aud worse still, if possible, for a lady to be seen in the streets with a gentleman who had a pipe or a cigar in his mouth. I remember—and it is scarcely a memory of older date than thirty years ago—when a gentleman in full dress was not by fashion compelled to attire himself like a clergyman or a tavern waiter ; when the fashionable evening dress was a blue coat and gilt buttons and a colored or embroidered vest, and when bright colors in the waistcoat were not considered the exclusive right of the footman or the costermonger. I remember, when ladies were not ashamed to be economical in their attire, and did not allow their silks or satins to trail on the ground, but wore their “ gowns,” as they were called, of a length that just reached the ankle, and allowed the dainty little feet and a portion of the leg to be seen. This fashion pleased tho gentlemen, aud did no harm to the ladies, conducing greatly to comfort in walking, besides saving a considerable sum in the dressmaker’s account,