GR P1 S1: "The Evacuation still proceeds..."

[jbor at bigpond.com]

On 26/10/2005 jporter wrote:

> (What's an "iron queen", for example, a bed? a boat? and, what's
> so old about it? My immediate reflex is to connect it, somehow,
> with the "cockades the color of lead", p.4- for certain reasons, but?)

I'm leaning towards the "iron queen" as a reference to Queen Victoria, 
and/or to a statue of her, of which there are many around the place 
(and not just in England). It seems to tie in quite nicely to the 
reference to the "fall of a crystal palace" which follows. The Crystal 
Palace was also made of iron and glass, and it was one of the great 
monuments and symbols of Victoria's reign.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Crystal_Palace

When it burnt down in 1936 Winston Churchill on his way home from the 
House of Commons said: "This is the end of an age".

best