FIFTY YEARS AGO IN ENGLAND.

Tuapeka Times, Volume XX, Issue 1414, 21 December 1887, Page 6

FIFTY YEARS AGO IN ENGLAND.

The first twelvemonth of the Queen's reign was a notable one— it was the year in which the steamships Sirfus and Great "Western made the first voyage across the Atlantic, the one taking nineteen days, and the other fifteen and a half. It was the year in which railway enterprise made its first great advances — in which Londoners first went to the Derby by rail; in which the electric telegraph was first practically worked ; in which the postal service made its first important improvements. It was the year of the great frost, when the Thames was frozen over; of the establishment of the Thames Steamboat Company. Men went about in stocks and figured waistcoats, and coats with gilt buttons, and tight trousers ; acd women in poke bonnets and full skirts, and with corkscrew curls. Almack's was the rage, the King flourished, and duels still occurred. At Holland House, Brougham, Lyndhurst, Russell, Macaulay, Rogers, Milnes, Sir Henry Taylor, Luttrell, Sydney Smith, and Louis Napoleon were habitues; at Gore House Lady Blessington held sway. Madame Tussaud's was in its fourth year, and Vauxball Gardens still " drew." Lillywbite, Box, and Pilch were among the great gods of cricket. Wilkie, Maclise, Etty, Turner, Leslie, and Mulready were the leading painters ; Balfe, Bishop, and Barnett were our chief musicians.