BYGONE ENGLAND.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1408, 8 April 1912, Page 9

BYGONE ENGLAND.

.STR7KINCI LONDOX PAGEANTS. Among (he exhibitions-.of the year at 1 oine „,11 |~, ~„ Angln-Latiii Exhibition at Ihc Hliile City. Karl,' Court will be devnled lo a repriM'iil.iliou of "Shakespeare s England." This is being organised if n V'.' 01 " I ', .''"'•""■allis-West (Ladv Randolph Churchill i !,„■ the benefit of the Miiikpsp*,,.,, Memorial Fund. 1.',, ii•.'''"•'„ f i'" l " ro "»' "^'inkespeare's dighind will be a revival of (he Eglinon louriianuMit, which created a sensation in early Victorian limes. Some .1000 «el -known ,„cial figures will take pari ni the tournament. The ladies will be in loth century costume; the menfolk will appear ,„ armour, and will joust in proper mediaeval fashion. At (he end the. laurel wreath ot victory will be awarded by tho Queen ot Beauty. Viscountess C'urzon Has been chosen for this honourable duly Akin to the revival of the Kglinton Tournament are the great fancy-dress balls, which have become a feature of the London season in recent -wars. A "One Hundred tears Ago" ball -will be given ; ,t the Albert Hall early in June, I? costume ball following soon after, 'lhe Chelsea Arts Club ball, which always includes a large number of AngloAustralians, is fixed for March G; 3000 dancers will throng the Albert Hall on that night. Tho Handel Festival in June, the levees and Courts early in March, the horse show at Olympia, and tho Horticultural Exhibition at Chelsea, aro other important fixtures. The last is under tho direct patronage of King George, who is presenting a 100guinea cup. Every member of the Royal family in England is expected to bo present on the opening dav, when the en-trance-fee will be two guineas. Society is always very loyal. In this case it will prove its loyalty by paving a reallv extravagant fee for so tamo an entertainment as a flower show. The manners and habits of bvgone England arc recalled by another item of current goisip. lieference has already been made to Mrs. Cornwallis West's "Shakespeare's England" and the Eglinton Tournament. The art of tapestry recalls an even earlier date. It suggests the age c.f Edith of the Swan's jXeek and the victor at Hastings. Nevertheless, it is not quite a lost craft. Two well-known English aristocrats have attained to great skill in tho work. J hey aro Lady Carew and Ladv.Corv, members of a well-known Irish " famil'v. Ths two ladies devote an hour and 'a half to tapestry-making every day. The results are surprising. Copies of pictures by such artists as Rcivrv Holiday and Burne Jones decora!e their halls and staircases. Most of the work is in crewels on linen, the stitch being the "long and short." Cross-stitch is never used. As a rule, Lady Cory works the figures, while Lady Carew does the decorative parts of the design. The two gifted ladies speak highly of lapestry-working as a relief from ' the hurry and stress of modern life. "If (here were more needlework there would be fewer breakdowns," is Lady Carew's dictum. Lady Carew has yet'another claim upon public interejt. She is the owner of one of the famous jewels of the world— a, ruby weighing ai\ carats, which is engraved with (he names of Akbar and ■three other Mogul Emperors. The "Carew ruby" tamo into the possession of (he family through a former British Minister at Teheran.