Rotten Row, the King’s Old Road--The New King’s Road made and
lighted--The Allied Sovereigns in the Park--The Park after the
Peninsular War--The Duke of Wellington in the Park--The Queen and
Royal Family in the Park.
If we look at the old map of Hyde Park, we shall find that what is now
called _Rotten Row_ was then termed _The King’s Old Road_ and _The
King’s New Road_, whence the generally accepted derivation of _Rotten
Row_, from _Route du Roi_. Soon after the accession of William III., and
his purchase of Kensington Palace, his route from St. James’s Palace to
his residence lay through the Green Park and the King’s Road in Hyde
Park, and, finding it dark at night, he had it lit by three hundred
lamps, which, for the time, rendered it a fairyland of brilliancy; so
much so, that Thoresby, in his diary (June 15, 1712), “could not but
observe that all the way, quite through Hyde Park to the Queen’s Palace
at Kensington, has lanterns for illuminating the road in the dark
nights, for the Coaches.”
As we see, the New King’s Road was a trifle more direct than the old
one, and skirted the Park. It was finished in 1737, as we find in _The
London Spy Revived_ (No. 183, September 23, 1737). “The King’s Road in
Hyde Park is almost gravell’d and finished, and the Lamp Posts are fixed
up; it will soon be open’d, and the old Road level’d with the Park.”
The original intention was to do so, returf it, and once again make it a
portion of the Park, but it was never carried out.
It would be absurd to chronicle even a portion of the people who have
appeared in the Row and Ring: the list would simply consist of every
person of note that lived in or visited London. It was used as a place
for exercise and social intercourse, as we see in the two accompanying
illustrations of the Row in 1793.
Another social group, date 1834, may also be given, but although they
were well-known dandies of their day, they are unknown now, and their
names are not worth recapitulating.
But never-to-be-forgotten visitors were the Allied Sovereigns, the
Emperor of Russia and the King of Prussia, who were present at a grand
review of all the regular troops, and most of the volunteers who resided
in or near the metropolis, in Hyde Park on 20th June, 1814. With them
were their brilliant staffs, while the Prince Regent, attended by the
Duke of York, etc., acted as host to his Royal and Imperial guests.
Captain Gronow, in his _Anecdotes and Reminiscences_,[31] gives the
following description of “Hyde Park after the Peninsular War. That
extensive district of park land, the entrances of which are in
Piccadilly and Oxford Street, was far more rural in appearance in 1815
than at the present day. Under the trees cows and deer were grazing; the
paths were fewer, and none told of that perpetual tread of human feet
which now destroys all idea of
[Illustration: THE ROW, 1793.
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[Illustration: THE ROW, 1793.
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[Illustration: THE ROW, 1814. THE ALLIED SOVEREIGNS.
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[Illustration: THE ROW, 1834.
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country charms and illusions. As you gazed from an eminence, no rows of
monotonous houses reminded you of the vicinity of a large city, and the
atmosphere of Hyde Park was then much more like what God has made it,
than the hazy, gray, coal-darkened half twilight of the London of
to-day. The company, which then congregated daily about five, was
composed of dandies and women in the best society, the men mounted on
such horses as England alone then could produce. The dandy’s dress
consisted of a blue coat with brass buttons, leather breeches, and top
boots; and it was the fashion to wear a deep, stiff, white cravat, which
prevented you from seeing your boots while standing. All the world
watched Brummell to imitate him, and order their clothes of the
tradesman who dressed that sublime dandy. One day, a youthful beau
approached Brummell, and said, ‘Permit me to ask you where you get your
blacking?’ ‘Ah!’ replied Brummell, gazing complacently at his boots, ‘my
blacking positively ruins me. I will tell you in confidence; it is made
with the finest champagne!’
“Many of the ladies used to drive into the Park in a carriage called a
_vis-à-vis_, which held only two people. The hammer-cloth, rich in
heraldic designs, the powdered footmen in smart liveries, and a coachman
who assumed all the gravity and appearance of a wigged archbishop, were
indispensable. The equipages were, generally, much more gorgeous than at
a later period, when democracy invaded the parks, and introduced what
may be termed a ‘Brummagem society,’ with shabby-genteel carriages and
servants. The carriage company consisted of the most celebrated
beauties, amongst whom were remarked the Duchesses of Rutland, Argyle,
Gordon, and Bedford, Ladies Cowper, Foley, Heathcote, Louisa Lambton,
Hertford and Mountjoy. The most conspicuous horsemen were the Prince
Regent (accompanied by Sir Benjamin Bloomfield); the Duke of York, and
his old friend Warwick Lake; the Duke of Dorset, on his white horse; the
Marquis of Anglesea and his lovely daughters; Lord Harrowby and the
Ladies Ryder; the Earl of Sefton and the Ladies Molyneux; and the
eccentric Earl of Morton on his long-tailed grey. In those days, ‘pretty
horsebreakers’ would not have dared to show themselves in Hyde Park; nor
did you see any of the lower, or middle classes of London intruding
themselves in regions which, with a sort of tacit understanding, were
then given up, exclusively, to persons of rank and fashion.”
But there was one constant visitor well within the memory of man,
belonging both to 1814 and the Park, which he used almost daily until
his death. I mean the first Duke of Wellington, with whose
sharply-defined features, blue frock coat, and white trousers, every
Londoner was familiar.
The Queen, too, until the great grief of her life fell upon her, was a
pretty constant visitor to the Park--in her younger days on horseback;
and who has not seen the Princess of Wales and her children there?
Although, as Captain Gronow justly observes, the frequenters of the Park
are not so aristocratic as they used to be, and society generally is
much more mixed.
[Illustration: THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON.
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[Illustration: A SPRING IN THE PARK, 1794.
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[Illustration: decorative bar]