Frances H. Low

“ Not less interesting than the veterans who have gained their laurels and laid down their arms, are the little bright-faced, red-coated lads standing on the threshold of the fight, who belong to the Royal Military Asylum; and whose decorum and excellent behaviour in the street are not the least result of their training and discipline within the walls of the big brick building, founded by the Duke of York during the long Napoleonic wars for the numerous orphaned children of soldiers. ”

“ And if the picture of any little girl amongst her dolls is one that attracts us, if we delight to discover premonitions of unfolded individuality and winged fancies that will presently bear fruit, how much more absorbing and interesting does this study become when that little player is a child-princess who is at once a child like any other, and yet at the same time how unlike. ”

“ An hour spent among the dolls that Queen Victoria played with as a child is not only a liberal education in the evanescent influences and fashions of the early part of this century, but an abiding study of her imaginative infancy. ”

“ The advantage of being an acting lance-corporal consists in being entitled to one penny a week pocket-money, which comes in conveniently for one of the most important institutions of the Asylum in the eyes of the boys, viz., the tuck-shop. The acting lance-corporals wear a gold stripe on the right arm. Above them are lance-corporals, who get twopence a week, and also wear a gold stripe, and still higher are full corporals, or colour corporals, who get threepence a week, and wear two stripes and a crown. There is only one corporal to each company, so that it is a highly coveted post. ”

“ The little tuck-shop, bearing upon its front the fascinating words, is in a recess of one of the corridors, and is presided over by a capable dame, the wife of the gymnasium master, who takes a great interest in the lads. She and the sewing-mistress and a sick-attendant are the only feminine elements of the Asylum, which is manned from Commandant to cook by the stronger sex. ”

“ There is one feature that strikes and impresses the stranger the instant he enters the Asylum, and remains with him throughout—more especially if he has had experience of other institutions—the freedom and absolute lack of repression that characterise its inmates. There is, of course, during work hours the severest military discipline, but the boys evince no timidity in saying what they think ”

“ But if the pleasures of imagination mean anything; if planning and creating and achieving are in themselves delightful to a child, and the cutting out and making of "dolly's clothes" especially, a charm to a little girl only second to nursing a live baby, then there is no doubt that the Princess obtained many more hours of pure happiness from her extensive wooden family than if it had been launched upon her ready dressed by the most expensive of Parisian modistes. ”

“ There is a surprising variety of hats and bonnets and caps. A prince of caps is worn by "Mrs. Martha, Housekeeper" (82) . She is a bigger and more substantial doll than the rest, with a fat, round, good-humoured face, a broad nose, and an air of prosperous complacency which send your thoughts back oak to chests, lavender pressed sheets, and the attractive "family housekeeper" of a certain type of domestic novel. ”

“ Here, Sunday after Sunday, at the most impressionable moment of their lives, come five hundred boys—solemn, silent, and reverent, and precisely in the mood to be impressed and influenced—who, a few years hence, will be taking part in that struggle for which the strongest and best cannot be too well equipped. ”

“ Unlike a AF the other dolls, it is made of white leather, is about four inches in height, and the same in breadth. She is a little squat, dumpy woman, with a huge waist and a squareness of countenance and figure and frock that is irresistibly humorous. Her short, full black skirt, edged with red, her green-striped silk apron, muslin chemisette, frilled cape, black velvet stomacher and braces give the buxom little woman an absurd air of reality and familiarity, sending your mind instantly to Swiss figures and scenes. ”

“ The front of her bodice is low and resembles a stomacher, with trimmings of gold embroidery to match the petticoat. The sleeves are very striking, and, so far as I know, are not in Elizabethan style. There are tight, very much puffed under sleeves of white satin, over which are large open wings of pink satin embroidered in green satin thread. The accessories of this beautifully dressed lady include a crown of gold paper ornamented with gold and green beads, a high lace ruffle, several rows of tiny pearls to which a cross of gold beads is attached, and white leather shoes with gold rosettes. ”

“ Poor little chaps, one can well understand that after a time ship's biscuits, which may be very wholesome, though somewhat lacking in flavour and succulency, are likely to pall, and be much more grateful to a boy's palate when accompanied by the more insidious dripping. ”

“ The mothers and friends are very rightly thankful for their good fortune, and indeed, if companionship, habits of order, decency, and industry, and healthy surroundings mean anything good, then the little lads of the Duke of York's School are to be congratulated. ”

“ Their energy rather surprises you, till you are told that prizes are given for the smartest mess-table, and when you are further told that the prizes are tarts and pies, you understand the strength of the incentive.
"The sewing room."
What, perhaps, strikes the observer as much as anything else is the curious and interesting two-sidedness presented by the lads. During parade, gun drill, and duty generally, they are little automatons. ”

“ As we walk up to the school, a little group of boys in front of us gives us an opportunity of examining and admiring their smart turn-out. In the summer the lads wear blue uniforms, whilst in winter with the same blue trousers piped with scarlet, they have scarlet tunics, faced with dark blue, Glengarry caps piped with red, and stout well-shined Blucher shoes with straps. ”

“ Lastly, but not the least pleasant sight, is the monthly red-letter day, when the boys receive their friends, and pleased and proud mothers stride about the grounds with little fellows' arms stowed away in theirs, whilst tongues—generally recounting the owners' heroic deeds in athletics—wag fast and furious. ”

“ All the boys have rank of some kind, with definite military duties. On first arriving, the little fellow is a "private," and I fancy he is quite proud of this grade, until he learns how much better off corporals are, with pocket money for sweets and tarts. Privates are made up into companies of eighty boys, over which there are four acting lance-corporals.
"The tuck shop." ”

“ What is being done for our future army at Chelsea is also being carried out for the navy on a smaller scale aboard the training-ship Warspite, with, however, one essential difference. At the State-supported institution in Chelsea there is no lack of funds, whilst the Warspite, which relies entirely on voluntary subscriptions, is, in common with so many other philanthropic undertakings, suffering from the loss of subscriptions and donations, which during the last year have been diverted in favour of untried and doubtful experiments. ”

“ The Princess must at an early age have been expert with her knitting needles, [6] for the ballerina, as a Tyrolean peasant in "William Tell" (14) , wears neat little pink and blue stockings and nicely fitting white shoes. She has a short crimson silk skirt edged with bands of green and gold braid, a bodice of crimson and gold brocade with short sleeves of white muslin, and the most coquettish of muslin and lace aprons. ”

“ All the Court ladies, in contradistinction to the ladies of the ballet, have moderately long full skirts, and, as a rule, low pointed bodices and gigot sleeves—and there is not a sign of the flounces and crinolines so much worn immediately before Queen Victoria's accession, and again later. ”

“ Fatima is the material-minded elder sister who asked her father to bring back rich silks, and whose love of gorgeous apparel is shown in her dress of brilliant yellow silk, the petticoat and corsage of which are edged with a silky, fluffy white fur. At the back there is a big scarlet satin panier, and there are puffed sleeves of the same silk. (See page 223.) Minetta, Mlle. Brocard (105) , in the "Maid of Palaseau," is in rose-coloured silk and jewels, and there are a whole host of sprightly nymphs in white satin and muslin, and ribbons and rosettes and roses. ”

“ The dolls are of the most unpromising material, and would be regarded with scorn by the average Board school child of to-day, whose toys, thanks to modern philanthropists, are of the most extravagant and expensive description. ”

“ Amy Robsart (51) , who was played in the ballet by Mlle. Brocard, a very popular dancer of the period, has a long, narrow riding habit of green satin, with a short habit bodice of the same material trimmed with a narrow gold line down the front, and coming to a point at the waist. Her sleeves are tight, and she wears a large broad-brimmed black velvet hat of the "Di Vernon" shape, with white curling feathers falling on to her forehead. This is one of the most realistic of all the dolls, and the dress was no doubt an exact reproduction of the one worn by the actress. ”

“ In school, too, the boys give special attention to the subjects which will be afterwards useful to them, notably to the mastery of the compass, which involves three months' study, and appears painfully complex to the uninitiated landsman. ”

“ The Institution is now supported by Government, and feeds, clothes, and educates every year 550 boys between the ages of nine and fourteen, the sons or orphans of non-commissioned officers of good character. At fourteen the majority of the boys go into the regular army, chiefly into the Artillery and Engineers, either as collar-makers, smiths, clerks, or drummers. ”

“ A record is kept of every lad who has passed through the school, and at the beginning of this year there were serving in the army 10 commissioned officers, 31 schoolmasters, 12 bandmasters, and 47 band sergeants, besides many others holding the grade of sergeant-major, master gunners, and so forth. ”

“ He looks a very dashing Count indeed in baggy white silk breeches, a long sky-blue satin frock coat finished off with a lace ruffle, and on his head a circular broad-brimmed hat of blue satin, adorned with blue and silver striped ribbon and a crown of frilled white muslin.
Monsieur Musard (54) , "dressed by Princess Victoria," is, I think, the only doll with an unmistakable man's face. He is evidently a clown, and has the brightest of yellow silk pantaloons, baggy sleeves, a short blue silk jacket, and a fascinating little lace frill. ”

“ The Princess has arrayed her in a short silver gauze petticoat and tight white satin bodice with silver spangles; a gay green garland is on her head, and a gold chain, to which hangs a beautifully-made pocket of white and gold beads, encircles her slender waist. There is an apron worn by one of the dolls dressed by the Queen—as Mlle. ”

“ But to return to the dolls clothed by Her Majesty, naturally the chief interest to most of us. Male characters seem to have been especial favourites, though they are by no means so elaborately cared for as the ladies. ”

“ The dolls dressed by Her Majesty are for the most part theatrical personages and Court ladies, and include also three males (of whom there are only some seven or eight in the whole collection) and a few little babies, tiny creatures made of rag, with painted muslin faces. The workmanship in the frocks is simply exquisite ”

“ Mlle. Euphrosine Ancilin (41) is in white satin and muslin, and a muslin apron with the tiniest of pockets worked in silver thread; Mlle. Melanié Ancilin, in white tarlatan and mauve shaded ribbons (42) , and Mlle. Celestine, who afterwards became Lady Lenox, in white silk and net and pale blue ribbons (76) . ”