2-798-730 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The Festival of St Gregory, 1845. Children's dance at Coburg in Germany. 'They formed once more in procession, and walked slowly round the inclosure to the music of the bands, passing severally by the Queen [Victoria]. It was a pretty sight. The little fair-haired girls in their chaste costume of white and ivy wreaths; the strange, often grotesque, mixture of the fancy dresses of the boys; the uniforms of the gendarmerie, and of the officers who attended the party; the music, flags, and the general stir and excitement among such a multitude of people - rendered the whole thing one of the gayest and most animated scenes we ever remember to have witnessed...the whole ground on which the festival took place, with the shows and booths, the music, and the gay crowds of people sauntering about and enjoying themselves, looked like a fair, but without its rude license'. From "Illustrated London News", 1845, Vol VII.