CLIPTOMANIA.

(SPECIALLY SELECTED BY OUB LONDON CORRESPONDENT.)

In tho course of a trial at New York between Mdlle. Ida Ricotti and Mr Mapleson, the latter has filed an affidavit in which he Bays that ho considers himsoli a■ perma-nently-domiciled American, and that be intends to becomo a citizen of tho United States "Truth." "How arc you, old fellow?" called one friend to another he met in the street, "w._aroyou doing now?" " Filling along-felt-wa..." " Thunderation, _inn,_ you don't mca_ to say you are conducting a newspaper?" "Not hardly." '.'J™" what is it ?" " Why, I married . rich old maid who has been wanting to get a husband for the last thirty yea.a." . Oscar Wilde said t&O other day, in hia lecture at Glasgow, that nothing distressed him more than to see in a Mp«>W such and such a colour waa to f™ 1: able next season, and he held that jt would not bo more ridiculous to read in t» muaicai magazine that "B flat" was going to be a fashionable note. I certainly thmk Wm. v "B flat" cannot possibly make vtaeu fashionable, "A flat" can, and very o.ten does.—"Truth." The rumours about Fred Archer s retirement from the turf appear to bo devoid of foundation, aa the great jockey is reported to have declared to a St. Louia interviewer that ho meana to rido Melton in next year a Dorby. Archer seems to bo comporting himself in America with praiseworthy modeaty, for he attributed his succeaa " to tho facts that ho can chooso hia own horaea to ride, and olwaya takes those that havo tho beat chance of winning."—"Truth." The Brunswickors are fuming like a neat. of hornets over the testamentary disposition of their late Duke, and are tearing down all badgea of mourning for him. He left small personal legacies to a few body-Bor-vants, and large ones to several favourite ballet-dancerß, but nothing more to any of hia Bubjectß, who evon lose tbo park, museum, and theatre that they enjoyed during hia life, and for which, indeed, thoy then_Bolves contributed largely. " General " Booth, in hia annual report, demanda £30,000 for next year'b work, and overflows with hectoring language about the purity of hia motivea ; but it would be a more conclusive answer to the criticisms on his proceedings if he were to publiah a really full and bosinesa-like account of hiß financial operations. I wonder that he doea not take this course in his own interests. Tho "General" advertises for a clerk who, it is stipulated, " must write shorthand, and bo fully saved."—" Truth." Will Mr Ernest Hart's pleasant dream be roalisod, ond Hydo Park be lighted by tho electric light? The oost, it must be admitted, would not be enormou3 if it did not exceed the estimate of Mr Hart—£s,ooo » year. Mr Hart contends that such a sum is trifling compared to the happiness, enjoyment, and health it would confer. This is a statement of great importance, considering that it is made by one of our most eminent medical authoritiea, and no doubt it will receive the attention it deaerves.

It appeara that powder and patchea are much worn at the theatre in Paris, as well aa at dinner parties. . It ia bo becoming a style to some faces that one can scarcely find fault with tho revival of the fashion, especially as the costume is invariably copied from the Louis Seize period. Atthe Italians somo eveninga ago there were aoveral ladiea dreased In thia atyle. The Duchesae della Torres white satin trimmed with Bable created some varied seneationa among the women in her vicinity ; and bo did the Marquise do Serra'a Nile-green satin and silver fox.

A Baroness de B—— was arrested at tho Post-office in the Rue Taitbout, Paris, last week, at the moment sho had claimed a letter sent "Poste-restante." Under the pseudonym of Baroness de B , Mmc, F , a' widow, kept a matrimonial agency in one. of tho small streets neor tho Northern Railway terminus. Her arrest was effected consequent upon a complaint lodged against hor by a gentleman at Rouen, for obtaining several largo sums of money from him under the pretense of arranging for his marrioge with on unknown heiress living in Bruasela. Her laat demand upon him had been for l,ooofr. to cover her oxpeneea to Brussels, where sho Was to see the heirosa and bring the matrimonial affair to a satisfactory concluaion.—

" Modern Society." An Hungarian lady, who posaosses the very uneuphonious name of Radivojevic, haa lately accomplished the feat of walking froSi Buda-Pesth to Paria in twenty-eight days. It looka a frightful distance on the map, and Borne one has reckoned up the leagues, and eaya she must have walked an average of thirty-threo a day. They must surely moan miles, not real leagues. I wonder what kind of boota she wore on this extensive walking tour. There waa much batting on tho event, and it is aaid that Madame Radivojevic intends walking back again to Buda-Pesth. She ia expected to vieit England before long. She waa a govornosa before she entered upon her new profession, which, she remarks, ia much less fatiguing than her previous one, I can quite imagine it. I fancy that the drudgery of teaching must bo, of all occupations, the most trying, as well as the least remunerative.

One of tho mysteries of Paris ia an individual attired in tho shabbiest of garb, but wearing at hie button hole a magnificent white camellia, a flower that might graco tho bust of a duchess. Ho is not a millionaire, nor a florist's walking advertisement. He is a living monument of the gaming table. Once upon a time he had a tremendous run of luck, and he then determined to ensure that, whatever luck befell him, he should never be without his favourite flower. He contracted with a florist that on payment of a lump sum down he should have a fresh white camellia every day of his life as long ns he lived. Reduced te the dreg* of eoedinesa, he clings to his contract, and struts about with a flower which is worth more than he is worth. There 1b a fine Bontiment of delicate affection under the ruined gamester's ragged waistcoat. If he were a practical man he would come to a composition with his contractor, and take it out in vegetables, Princess Beatrice derived great benefit from her visit last year to Aix-les-Bains ; but of late she has again been suffering from rheumatism ; and it is probable that early in the spring ahe will try another " euro." Nothing ia settled as yet, but tho choice reats between (1) Bath, the waters of which place have recently proved most efficacious in similar cases; (2) Dr. Metzger's I treatment at Amsterdam; and (3) the cold-water cure at Wiesbaden, which proved at least temporarily successful In the case of the late Princess Alice, who waa a martyr to rheumatiem and neuralgia. Were 1 her, I would try a pill of plain rhubarb, and a glaas of weak whisky and water every evening. This is an old remedy, and probably would be Booffed at by modern doctors, but it is a'ike a royal and a radical road to a cure of rheumatism. For neuralgia there is only one recipe—a dry climate.—" Truth."

Those who receive an office which ia granted by "Letters of Patent passed under the Great Seal," to use the official

term, receive a very tangible proof of the honour to which they have attained in the shape of a copy of the document appointing them, and an impression of the Great Seal about the size of a dessert plate and as thick as a ship biscuit. This impression, which is of both the obverae and reverse of the Seal, and is made in a peculiar kind of i waxy composition prepared for the purpose, is placed for safety in a round tin I case, a kind of cross between a collar-box and a cocked-hat eaße, and is doubtless

much treaeured by ita owners, especially those who posaeea audi a sign of groatneas for the first time. Similar impressions of the Great Seal are, by the way, attached to the Letters Patent granted to a patentee on the final stages of tho patenting an invention being reached. And this, after all, iß,perhaps, the cheapest wayof obtainingono. The patron saint of all wig-makera is St. Louis of France, who, says a recent Qerman writer, through tho ingenuity of Mb mother, Queen Bianco of Castiile, wore the first wig that ever graced the head of mortal man or woman. The story goes that when King Louis returned from a crusade to tho Holy Land his mother was shocked at seeing that the hardships of the journoy, together with tho hot climate of Palestine, had robbed her son of all hia hair. But besides being a dovoted mother, Queen Bianco was an ingenious woman, who soon found a way out of her difficulty. Each knight at Court); the colour of whose hair had even the1: slightest resemblance to her eon's wasj bereft of one lock, which, deftly joined,? became an ornamental covering for her son's bald head. The honour of being made the patron eaint of wigmakers ought, therefore, by rights have been conferred) on the mother instead of the son; but. there is some conaolation in the fact that after a lapse of Bix centuriea Queen Bianca'a ghost arises pointing out that, in spite of all sayings to the contrary, not only in the nineteenth century women may be inventors, but that even at the dawn of the Middle Ages a woman founded an industry by which thousands at present earn their daily bread,—" Pall Mall Gazette."