LEGAL STREET-SHOWS.
Sentimentalists who sigh for the departed “good old times,” and grieve that England is not now the “merry England” that it used to be, may derive some consolation from perusal of the following, which describes a scene at Appleby on the morning of Shrove Tuesday:-
“The ordinary routine and parade which accompany the judges as part of the high sheriff’s office and duty in providing javelin men as escort and to keep order in Court, and trumpeters to announce the coming of the judges, were here enlivened by the high sheriff, Mr. Matthew Benson Harrison, having dressed his javelin men and trumpeters in the costume of Charles the First. The men appeared dressed in leathern doublets with blue velvet sleeves slashed with white silk, blue velvet breeches, high huff buckskin turnover boots, sombrero hats buttoned up at one side, and ornamented each with a long blue and white feather, and crossbelts with large buckles suspending old-fashioned large-handled swords; a red sash round the waist completed their costume. The trumpetors were grey hats looped up; in other respects the same dress. The javelins also were very formidable, antique-looking weapons. Most of the men were handsome, toll young fellows; and so decked out, as they marched before the judges down the old-fashioned street of the town on a bright frosty morning, the tops of their javelins glittering in the sunshine, and the gay long feathers in their hats waving in the wind, they carried back the ming to the days of the cavaliers, and certainly formed a very picturesque and, in these days of unadorned utility in dress, a very unusual sight.”
The inhabitants of Appleby (and and those in petticoats especially) ought certainly to pass a vote of thanks to their high sheriff for giving them this glimpse into the ancient books of fashion, and allowing them the privilege of seeing, gratis, such a show. Decked out as they were, the “handsome tall young fellows” must have found especial favour in the female eyes which gazed on them, and their quaint and antique dresses must have formed a pleasing contrast to the “unadorned utility” of modern masculine apparel. The turnover buff boots doubtless quite took the shine out of the blacked highlow called “Balmoral;” and the sombrero hats with feathers must have made all the bystanders who wore the chimney-pot chapeau groan with mingled agonies of jealousy and grief.
Judging from the taste which Mr. Matthew Benson Harrison displayed in the selection of the costumes of his corps, we can’t help thinking him related to his operatic namesake, from whose wardrobe the dresses may have come. But be this so or not, we think that his costumerie reflects the greatest credit on him, and we very much applaud him for that which he has done. Street-shows are in general most melancholy failure, but that at Appleby was certainly a very marked success; and the High Sheriff is deserving of the highest commendation for the way in which he catered to entertain the public. Any one who anyhow does anything to dissipate the dulness of a country town has a claim to be esteemed a benefactor to his species, and if the town of Appleby do not erect a statue to him, we shall consider Mr. Harrison has been bilked of his deserts.
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