The Shadow of Great Britain

472: Chapter 257: At Your Command, Your Majesty (4K6) 472: Chapter 257: At Your Command, Your Majesty (4K6) Heine leaned against the window of the second-floor box, overlooking the bustling Astley Theatre below, which was already packed with spectators from all over London.

Those seated in the back rows and those who had purchased standing tickets for the upper tiers were mostly ordinary citizens and workers’ families with slightly better means.

Although not wealthy, the inherent vanity of Londoners and the emphasis on decent apparel on such grand social occasions drove them to spend from their limited family budgets to procure a fitting second-hand dress suit from the Covent Garden markets.

Trilby hats and corsets, tailored riding breeches and Hessian boots, linen neckties and top hats combined with frock coats or tailcoats, these once upper-class options had made their way into the wardrobes of ordinary families.

Although most of them owned only one formal suit just for appearances, as long as one didn’t scrutinize the details and stitching of these garments, they appeared no different from those sitting in the middle-class front rows.

Those envied middle-class families, who they desperately hoped their children would someday catch up to, were now sitting in the front rows on comfortable flannel seats, enjoying bar catered refreshments.

In these families, the main earners were typically professionals employed in industries like steel, coal mining, shipping, construction, banking, or international trade, or they owned retail shops, private workshops, or small-scale foundries and leather shops.

Benefiting from the successful launch of the first Industrial Revolution in Britain, this middle-class population was now in a rapid expansion phase,

Though not as lavish as truly upper-class families and unable to compare with the 154 wealthiest magnates of Britain owning over 500,000 British Pounds, it was undeniable that they had become the main consumer group for London’s various entertainment venues.As the “British” magazine “Monthly Review,” which still avidly pursued Disraeli’s early dark history, described, “Our nation seems to be undergoing a transformation in taste.

This transformation is not limited to just literature; it spans the entire cultural scene.”

And one of the middle-class women’s favorite novelists, Mr.

Benjamin Disraeli, also mocked the matter in his serial novel “Young Duke,” “Take a pair of pistols, a deck of cards, a cookbook, and a set of new dance moves from a quadrille, mix them with half a motive and one perfect marriage and then divide them into three parts.

Thus, a highly sought-after three-volume fashionable novel is born.”

And in today’s Astley Theatre, the middle-class gents and ladies had almost fully realized their fantasies of upper-class society.

As seen in their fashionable novels: fine coats, silk stockings, flowers, opera house boxes, duels, elopements, gifts wrapped in silver ribbons, eight manservants, four coachmen, horses to match the number of coachmen, subtle smiles, every gesture hinting at an unspeakable conspiration, alongside a noble lady tearfully mourning her husband’s chaotic private life, and the black veil cap she must wear in mourning for her recently deceased uncle.

The Astley Circular Theatre, leading to the second and third-floor boxes, and laid with a red carpet, greatly satisfied their curiosity for the VIPs.

They excitedly asked friends about the VIPs, such as the straight-laced old gentleman, who had just passed by on the stairs, resembling a knife, and the lady assisted by two manservants, helping with her long gown.

In just half an hour, they had heard more prominent names than they usually did in an entire year.

The French Ambassador to Britain, former Prime Minister Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Perigord.

Former Prime Minister, Commander-in-Chief of the British Army, Duke Wellington, Arthur Wellesley.

Foreign Secretary Viscount Henry John Temple Palmerston, and a mysterious lady whose face they couldn’t see, accompanying him.

Following them were numerous other socialites, including many members of Parliament from both the Tory and Whig parties.

Beyond these political figures, there were also plenty of celebrated names from the cultural sphere.

Gentlemen of wider social circles and diverse interests might recognize the recently prominent Professor of Perspective at the Royal Academy of Arts, acclaimed landscape painter Mr.

William Turner, and Sir Walter Scott, who had once refused the highest honor of ‘Poet Laureate’ and wished to have him illustrate his novels.

Unfortunately, the great poet Robert Southey, who had fortuitously stepped in to claim the title of ‘Poet Laureate’ after Sir Walter Scott had turned it down, had also arrived at the Astley Circular Theatre.

Accompanying him were two distinguished poets, who were often seen in London and his friends, the other two representatives of the British Lake Poets—Mr.

William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge.

Of course, at such an event, all of Arthur’s friends were also present.

Only, their arrivals were slightly different; Dickens and Tennyson had arrived early via carriage, while the typically antisocial Wheatstone had also come to the theatre early under coercion to provide scientific direction for the stage settings.