“Royal Oak Day” — May 29
is wonderfully shorn of its honours since people have generally taken to read history, and have learned how little reason they have to bless the memory of the Stuarts. The marvellous escape of Charles II, when his pursuers passed under the oak tree in which he was secreted after the battle of Worcester, is now only commemorated in the city which boasts of being “faithful” to its kings whether their memory be odorous or not, by some half-dozen boughs of oak being affixed over as many doorways in different streets.