19th century

The 19th century appears in the diary as a vanished world of beauty and makers, remembered in a moment of grief at the Turf Club Ball. Fred Hughes’s lament gives the period an emotional presence: its passing is felt not simply as a change of date, but as the loss of beautiful things and the people who made them.

A Lost Age at the Ball

At the Turf Club Ball, Fred Hughes began crying over the passing of the 19th century. He dwelt on how many beautiful things had been made in it and on the fact that the people responsible for them were now gone. His response turns a historical period into an occasion for mourning, linking artistic achievement to the mortality of its makers. A girl took him into a room alone; the diary’s narrator was upstairs with Bianca Jagger.

The Elegy and Its Aftermath

The account does not expand on which works or makers Fred Hughes had in mind. Instead, it preserves the force of his grief and then shifts to an incongruous episode learned later: on his way home, he stopped at a bar, met five Scots, and ended up with his shoes stolen from outside his door. The sudden change from elegy to mishap leaves the 19th century’s solemn passing beside the disorderly comedy of the night.