A LADY'S LETTER FROM LONDON.

Auckland Star, Volume XXI, Issue 4124, 22 September 1883, Page 3 (Supplement)

A LADY'S LETTER FROM LONDON.

FoirJiiine Fancies, Foiblos, and Frivolities.

London, August 9,

Dear Mr Editor, —It seems rather a facon clc purler to call this a London letter, for wo left town some days ago and are now

staying at Lady F 's charming place in Sussex for the Goodwood and Brighton race weeks. The end of the season dragged terribly. When Easter fulls in March, the term of "society's" round of pleasures oxtends over four months, and this the majority of people are of opinion is just five •weeks too long. There was a garden party at Marlborough House on 23rd July. At first we felt immensely flattered at receiving cards, but later on Tom saw in the " Court Journal" that over 2,ooopeople had been in invited. It did not turn out a very lively affair. The day was gloomy and overcast, and some of the dresses worn were rather sombre. The Prince took care to say a few pleasant words to everyone. He really must have a wonderful memory. Tom had only met H.R.K. once before at a large dinner party, but he recollected him perfectly, and even recalled the occasion. No wonder such a Prince is popular. The dresses at the Marlborough House party, although dark, were as elegant as the most exacting could wish. Most of those present were in short dresses, and there was every variety in both material and fashion. Velvets were predominant, bub some of the young ladies were in white, with coloured trimmings. The Princess of Wales looked charming in a costume of very fine white Indian muslin, the skirt and draperies being edged with coifoa-coloured lace, and the bodice was trimmed with the same, so as to form a (iehu. She also wove a white bonnet with an aigrette and strings of pale blue. Her daughters, the Princesses Victoria, Louise, and Maud, wore dresses of line, dark crimson cashmere, Jersey bodices and skirts, white straw hats, bound with crimson and trimmed with ecru lace, black stockings and high boots. The Duchess of Connaught wore a bodice and skirt of stone-col-oured silk draperies and trimmings of a darker shade ; a simple straw bonnet with small wreath of Dowers. The Grand Duchess of Saxe-Moimngon's dress was of the palest shade of mauve, shot with white, very simply made, and a white bonnet. The Princess Christian of Scheswig ilolstein wore a crimson satin skirt covered with black lane, and v bodice and tunic of rich crimson satin and velvet brocrde, bonnet trimmed with cherries. The Grand Duchess of Mecklenburg-Strelitz wore a mauve silk striped with a darker shade and trimmed with white Maltese lace, and a lilac bonnet. The Duchess .if Albany wore a dress of soft white Llama trimmed with gold embroidery, the skirt looped high, with crimson satin bows and ends ; a bonnet with red ribbon and lace. Princess Elizabeth of Hesse wore pale terra-cottn satin and white bonnet; Princess Mary wore black and crimson ; the two daughters of the Princess Christian wore dresses of crushed strawberry coloured fine nun's veiling ; straw hats, trimmed with black velvet and white lace. Princess Mary's daughter was in ecru muslin over pink, and her son wore a sailor's dress. There were some ladies present who seemed to have scarcely taken any trouble to make themselves look smart, and there were remarks made that some of them were decidedly dowdy. But there were many that wore quite up to the mark. There was a dress of amethyst plush that was very handsome. One or two costumes might almost have walked out of an eighteenth century picture frame. One especially of some largely flowered and soft material was so draped as to render the folds picturesque in a high degree. The straight-brimmed French hat worn with it was wreathed with roses, and might have been worn by a fashionable shepherdess of the Georgian period. The parasol was lined with the same tlowered fabric of which the dress was composed.

I am indebted for the above details to " lima," who, unlike myself, possesses the valuable faculty of being able to describe costume. We drove over from hero to Goodwood each of the four days last week, and enjoyed ourselves immensely. It is emphatically a ladies' meeting, and when the weather is fine nothing can be more delightful. Tom says " fellows who bet " had a good time. I should think this is probably true, for the men of our party were unusually generous in the matter of gloves. I won a dozen pairs of six-button jouvins.

What a terrible thing it is to see women betting in earnest ; I mean, of course, for money. We noticed several at Goodwood, and they didn't appear to care for anything but the babe! of sounds coming from Tattersail's enclosure.

I see by the papers that terrible woman, the Dowager Duchess of Montrose, has been spending thousands of her 1-iic husband's (Mr Crawfurd'a) money in thoroughbred stock, and means t:i begin racing again under the assumed name of Mr "Manton" next spring. ■ Poor Mr Crawf urd only died in February last, and his widow said then she never meant to meddle with racehorses again. The Duchess is one of the conrsestlooking women I ever saw. Hor servants declare she rates them like a Billingsgate fishwife, and by all the jockeys and stable boys about Newmarket she is known as "Tom."

Society is much disturbed at the publiosale of the household furniture and effects of the Duke and Duchess of Teck. People don't hesitatetc say thatthcQueen (whosehoarded wealth now amounts to an almost fabulous sum) should, at any rate, lmvo helped her poor relations to avoid a common auction. There seems something positively indecent in the idea of a spittoon, which has held the saliva of a "Serene Highness," being knocked down to the bid of a Hebrew " tallyman " for " arf a soy." At any rate, the loan of £10,000 would have saved the Tocks much degradation, and even Her Majesty some discomfort. It can't be very pleasant for the Court to read in "Punch " that the Duke of Teck will henceforth be known as the Duke of "Tick,"nor is it likely that many other small jokes with similar tondences prove palatable. I fear, however, the Queen grows grasping in her old age. Amongst other petty economies, the yonnger members of the Royal Family are in futuro to take their own servants and food with them whenever they stay at Buckingham Palace. What, I wonder, should wo think of an ordinary middle-class matron who acted thus ?

Another event that gre.atly exercises society is the forthcoming marriage of Lord Garmoyle, eldest son o: Lord Cairns, to Miss Fortescue, the much-photographed actress of the Savoy Theatre. The ladies belonging to theSavoyare all sans rcproche, but Miss Fortescue (whose real name is Finney), has always been exceptionally exclusive. In a friendly semi-parental sort of manner Mr Gilbert occasionally ' indulges in a little harmless gallantry towards the feminine members of the Company. Miss Fortescue is by far the prettiest, but I feel confident ho never even kissed her hand, let alone her face. Lord Garmoyle marries a beautiful, talented, virtuous girl, and many a Jovesick " masher " will envy him his bride.

My husband wont up to London to "settle" over Goodwood on Monday, and stayed to see Augustus Harris's new spectacular drama, "Freedom," at Drury Lane. The piece, like its predecessors, "Youth" and "Pluck," is a farrago of nonsensical impossibilities gorgeously illustrated. Harris lias taken advantage of the public interest in everything Egyptian to lay tho scene of tho story in that country. He also appeals to the tastes of pit and gallery by getting up his hero to strikingly resemble the always popular Lord Charles Beresford. Those two things in themselves went some way towards making " Freedom " a success on the first night, but the superb scenery of Emden and Bevorley was the real cause of the play's brightness. Nothing to equal the stago pictures of the Nile, the grand Temple of Rameseß, and the Rock Tomb, have over been seen even at Drury Lane before. Tom assures me the scene painters were called again and again. He describes the plot of the piece thus : — " Thecurtain rises upon a splendid pictureof ft bazaar in an Egyptian city, not a detail being wanting to mar the fidelity of the scene. Among the earliest characters to appear are Araf Boy, who speaks of a mysterious cargo shortly to arrive under one Sadyk, a desperate character, and his wife, Suleima, a beautiful Arab who suspects her lord's constancy, and not without cause. He is fascinated by an English beauty, Constance Loring, the daughter of a banker. She is betrothed to Captain Gascoigne, otherwise Lord Charles Beresford, otherwise Mr Augustus Harris. The magnificent young fellow makes an imposing entry, followed by a crowd of white slaves, whom he had rescued from Sadyk'p dhow. In stentorian tones he demands tho execution of the slave dealer, and when the British consul confesses the difficulty of the situation, and Araf gives orders for the prisoner to be reIcasod, rises to the situation and impersonates the British lion rampant. In the second act we overhear a plot to cany off Constance, and this is afterwards executedon her wedding day. Thereare vague statements as to disturbance, and there is a fight between natives and blue-jackets, but what it is all about we haven't the ghost of a notion. However, it is remarkably well arranged, as also is a previous dance of Egyptian girls ; and, indeed, everything from a stagemanager's ]K>int of view. The opening scen>: of the third act is made up of business intended to be comic, in which a ridiculousold English woman, an eccentric Yankee, and an impossible Dutchman are assailed by natives. Afterwards the plot thickens rapidly. fc'onstanee is discovered in the harem of Araf, who makes improper advances to her. She resists, and Gascoigne jumps in at the window. The wily Eastern is not at all impressed by the flowery patriotism in which the gallant officer indulges now, as at all times, and has him bound. Mrs Araf, however, releases him, and sends him away with his bride. There is a chase, a beautiful scene on tho Nile, in which the stars change colour like fire-works, more tiring, drowning, and excitement generally. It appears that Constance is rescued from a watery grave by the eccentric Yankee before mentioned, while < iascoigne is again a prisoner. The opening scene of the last act makes this plain, and there is a general departure to rescue. This leads to the final scene, another superb picture of the Nile from the brush of Mr Beverley. After a most picturesque representation of an Egyptian caravan, Augustus Beresford Gascoigne is dragged on in a piteous plight and begs for water, which no one dare give him except a child whose mother he rescued from the slave dhow. This is one of the best dramatic touches in the play. Eventually an English steamer arrives with everybody on board, and Great Britain triumphs all round." I had almost forgotten to tell you that before wo left town an American friend persuaded us into accompanying him to the Avenue Theatre to "interview" AYillie Edwin's Yankee " Sparks." They are just aboutas good as "Salsbury's Troubadours," whom, I daresay, the majority of your readers saw when they visited New Zealand some years ago. The American pronounced " Binks's Photograph Gallery" a "real fine show," but the emptiness of tho house and the languid melancholy of those present evidenced only too clearly that Britishers couldn't appreciate it. I felt really *orry for some of the performers. They worked with an energy worthy of a better cause. Indeed, one couldn't help wondering how clever artistes came to consent to act in such buffoonery. Our American acquaintance raged all the way home at the reception of his countrymen. " English folks," he declared, " have no sense of humour. A clown in a pantomime or an imbecile face-jerker like Toole, you scream at ; but fun that is at all sensible seems beyond you." Tom rudely replied that the fun in " Binks's Photo Gallery " was so sensible nobody in the theatre appeared able to see it. And then an argument between the two gentlemen set in, which lasted till we reached home.

Irving's farewell performance at the Lyceum Theatre attracted an overflowing audience, and culminated in an extraordinary demonstration, the whole house, from royalty downwards, rising to bid him "God-speed." The actor liim.-elf was so affected as to bo well-nigh unable to utter a word, but lie managed to bespeak a, welcome for Mary Anderson, who will open next month as " Parthenia."

Mrs Langtry has returned from New York, and means to play one or two nights in London prior to studying for some weeks in Paris under Regnier. Several ladies and gentlemen are mentioned as likely to accompany her on her Australian tour. Nothing, however, is really settled. lam going to Scotland next month, and intend to take a big box of books from Mudie's with me, as it invariably rains four days out of five in the Highlands, and with the gentlemen out "hooting all day one cannot do better than read a great deal. I snppose you have seen the little shilling edition of Howell's American stories long ago. They—l mean Howell's Tales—don't go down in England, but you may safely expend ninepence on Blanch Willis Howard's " One Summer," or Sherburne Hardy'a " But Yet a Woman." The former made a great hit in the States. I am now about half way through the Countess Yon Bathmer's novel, "Ant Caosar ant Nihil." It is a story with an object, the object being to show that the Nihilists are not so black as painted. Some of our reviewers severely criticise the author's perversion of history, but everyone admits her romancing makes up a most fascinating book. Tom got Percy Fitzgerald's "Kings and Queens of an Hour" directly it came out, feeling sure the work would contain a number of new biographies. Strange to say, the title is the best part of the book, for Mr Fitzgerald has merely ramped up a lot of stale anecdotes about celebrities whoso life stories were better told long ago. Readers fond of diluted history may wade through the two volumes, but they would find Mr Ewald's " Storic3 from the State Papers " (which is not, however, new) far more interesting. I remember recommending James Payirs " Kit, a Memory," to you when jit "came out in three volumes. Upcountry folks will be glad to hear the story can now be purchased for 3s Cd, and so can Christie Murray's " Val Strange," and Leith Derwent's "Our Lady of Tears." The latter is a stupid tale. Don't, whatever you

do, buy George Augustus Sala's "Living London." It is not a new book at all, but simply a collection of the echoes which a popular journalL-t- contributes weekly to the "Illustrated News." Fancy giving twelve shillings for a rechauffe of State newspaper paragraphs. I am rather glad to hear the '' Pictorial World" is not, after all, going to wind-up, though it seems a pity no one save Albert Grant could be found to buy the property. The "Pictoral" has done a g-eat deal of good in stirring up the "Illustrated " and the "Graphic," which were verypoor about IS months ago.