THE POPULAR CHARM OF POMP.
[TO THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR.") SIR,—Your interesting article upon " The Royal Wedding" hardly seems to me quite to solve the problem. There are a great many people who read every line of " The Court Circular," and of the long accounts of Royal weddings, without any wish to acquaint themselves with the perfect pattern of the Be- coming. And they do so because these accounts flatter their pride. They cannot afford magnificent dresses, and have not the Koh-i-noor, but they feel all the pride of possession in finding their Queen the centre of stately ceremonial and the wearer of a priceless stone. They feel that in a particular sense the Queen and all her State belong to them, and they delight in finding their Queen surrounded with the utmost magnificence and pomp. In fact, the greater the pomp, the more august the ceremonial, the more credit they take to themselves, just as a verger takes credit to himself for a beautiful cathedral, and feels that his own merits have their reward, if the cathedral appears beautiful in the eyes of the world. The secret of the interest felt in the Royal Family is the feeling of possession,—which prompts the farmer to believe all his geese to be swans, and makes him glad to find they appear as swans to the world.-1 am, Sir, &c.,
G. J. F.
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