JOTTINGS FROM HOME.

Press, Volume XLV, Issue 7157, 19 September 1888, Page 5

JOTTINGS FROM HOME.

SOCIETY, ART AND LITEBATXJEK

|>JBQK AN OCCASIONAL COQRBSPONBEHT.] LONDON, August U.

At' last the terrible weather we have been experiencing for now fully two months has changed, and we haveenteted on our summer. It ie beyond the possibility of conception to fortunate (residents in your favored climate what an awful summer we have had. Punch's picture this week of omnibuses converted into steam launches, and policemen ferrying themselves in' Canadian canoes through streets half-house high with floods of water gives hut one side of the unattractive picture. Add thereto cold winds, fires in July, overcoats, umbrellas, gaitera, and eoo- ,- westers galore, and you even then fail of an adequate realisation of oar past miseries. Assuredly M. Tame was right when he said that the Angles on their first landing in Kent, M it were winter, must have thought themselves et% Fenfers.

. To-day ie Saturday, however, and a change came on Tuesday. Warm weather, very warm weather, is now the order of the day. Sunstrokes are fast and furious, for Sol is awakening to a sense of hie delinquencies, and is concentrating upon the rest of the summer. Summer I Alas, summer is over and autumn alone remains now, .the autamn of departures, the autumn of grouse shooting, of partridges and pheasant shooting, tbe autumn of excursions, of seaside resorts, of continental tours, of Scottish .moors, the autumn finally of hot stuffy monotony for each as are doomed to remain in this overgrown metropolis. To-morrow is the Twelfth," the glorious twelfth," and ere this troops of people have frone to the North on pleasure benfc. For this end the companies have pat on quicker trains, and bow the 400 miles to Edinburgh can be accomplished in precisely eight hours!—a rate of SO miles an hour including stoppages, from Loudon to York the Great .Northern ran. an express without stopping—-» distance of 150 miles. It i» a. very curious thing that on the 12th. there ia always to be found numerous grouse for sale in the shops of the metropolis, which considering that shooting begins only in the morning, is certainly very quick work, and suggests poaching to an unbiassed observer.. .

In society the f great sensation (now, however, talked out) has been the marriage of the uo-wjager Ducheee of Montrose to Mr Mlloer. ISvery one In London knows of " Mr Manton," as the Duchess desires to be known in her racing capacity, bat hardly any one was prepared for the startling announcement that an old lady of 70, however eccentric, hod toarried a young man of 24, however foolish. Young Milner is of good fauufy*in>«elf, his grandfather being a baronet of the name, and he is connected -with a city firm, the bead of which, in fact, "gave away " the bride. He is said to be fairly w«U off (being known aa " Millions " by nis affable fellow-clerks), so that it is not probable that the marriage has been the result of careful financial discretions. It is presumed that not even the most captions will Quarrel with mc for assuming that it i* not a love-match; and e>o the solution seems to be that a craving for distinction has actuated the foolish youth, while her well known eccentricity has, as usual, guided the lady. The Duchess of Montrose is the mother of the present Duke, who is some twelve years older than his stepfather), and was a daughter of the second Lord Decies. For many years she has kept & large training stable, under the name of Mr Manton," and only last year one of her horses won the Derby. On the turf she Iβ familiarly known as Bob," and though possibly feared in some quartern, is certainly not respected. She w«8 married after the death of the Duke to Sir Stirling Crawford, who died a few years ago. Her present and third marriage would not nave been known, had it not been for the accidental presence of an amateur organist in the church, who saw from the organ-loft, and went away teeming with the excitement. The JDuqbeas has settled £3000 a Tear on her hnwhand.

and in case of her death allows him £6000: ib possibly after ail there is a financial aspect to the matter. SpMwtnge teingUo* of classes end masses wae to be seen a short tune bade at the Irish Exhibftion*t Olympia. The Irish Exhibition was certainly not paying, for the people went to it out of pure philanthropy more than from any other motive, and philanthropy alone wtwve make a "concern" pay. So it was re* solved to direct the stream of fasbioa towards Oiytnpia by holding a fancy lair in a part of [it known as the Old Irian Marketplace. There were thirteen stoWa at tho fair, and on an average aixoreigh* ladies, all belonging to the " upper circles, and the majority of them titled, at each stalL Mrs Gladstone and the Countess of, Aberdeen chatted amiably together; the Marchioness of Salisbury and the Marchioness of Londonderry, and countless others of fair nauio and fame, were practically "on view" for the space of a week. And what U more, in order that there might be no mistake, the stalls had placards announcing the names of the possessors, who made no scruple to vend tans, books, laces, curios, photographs, and whatnot, to a never-ceasing crowd ot visitors, The only thing wanting was, that occupants of each stall were BOt discriminated inter sc. The process of. specialisation should have been carried further, or rather I might say that tho i classification should have gone beyond the distinction into genera to a dietiucUoa into species. In other words, • the fate ladies should have been labelled; for as it was, one ran a risk of confusing Mrs A, with Lady B, and Lady Charlotte C or the Hon. Miss D with both, provided those four ladies were in joint possession of a single stall. Nevertheless all seemed to please, and the financial issue Is, I believe, very good. Lord Arthur Hill has reason to congratulate his happy idea. It may interest some ox your readers to i leara that the Master of Trinity, Dr. 1 Butler, late Headmaster of Harrow and Dean of Gloucester, was yesterday united in marriage to Miss Agueta Hamaay, who furnished so much talk last year .as the "Senior classic" at Cambridge. The discrepancy in age is of course considerable, but the young lady is doubtless of mature intellect from her performances* She does not carry her accomplishments Iα her face, which is that of a bright uoUoverserlous and ingenuous: girl of two»aud>twenty. Captain Jervoia, R.E., has arrived from New Zealand, having, as you are doubtless aware, resigned his appointment as Secretary to hie father\ Iα order to rejoin hia regiment. The extraordinary success of "King Solomon's Mines " aud " She " attends Mr Haggard still. His latest story, a ehcert tale which appeared Ln " Harper's," has just been published by Messrs Longman* under the title of "Malna's Revenge," oi which 30,000 copies were subscribed for era the day of publication. Mr Stevenson's " Black Arrow," another of tho " kidnapped" series,, just published by Casselltt, is already in its second edition., The most successful book of the Beouoß* "Robert Elsmere, is now in its tenth edition. Apropos of Mr Rider Hag* gard, there is a probability of tho adaptation of " She , being performed at the Gaiety in September by Mia* Sophie Eyre. Adaptations of novele ace all the rage just now, hut it is more than questionable whether " She" would bo successful as a drama. Mies Eyre meditates a trip to Australia when her seaaoa ends here, under the management of Mr Eugene Stafford, ao it is quite possible that "She" may be seen in your part as the world. .: ■ -.. Whilst on the subject of adaptations, X can't forbear mentioning the latowt ior stance we have evidence of, namely, ' D& Jekyli and Mr Hyde," which is being played at two London theatres now. The first version is that of Mr Mansfield, .vtd, !is said to bei distinctly the better, besides 1 having the sanction of Mr Stevenson aiad Messrs Longmans; the other is by M* Bandmaun, who will be remembered bjr you as touring Iα New Zealand a few years ago. The critics have no mercy on him, however, and It is likely fee will autonmb to the other more potent vereioo. . Both ace objectionable apparently, and it is pretty clear, that the story had been better left alone.

Is it news to you, that the Punch literary staff comprises in all fire persons, who write it from cover to cover, of whom WM» moat reccenisable are Mr Human el, Mr Lucy, and Mr MillikenJ: The artistic staff is composed of alx, so that in all the work of Mi Punch is done by eleven souls complete. Mr Buraand's hand nuvy be always detected, ■ and any " diary form of entertainment safely attributed faff him. Mr Miiilken versifies, and is the invariable " 'Arry" of- the Cockney rhymes. Mr Lucy Is Toby, b£ "Essence of Parliament." Mx Anefcey' has JateJy been taken upon the permanent staff, and ho too is generally recognizable in parodies, tnweetiea, end bvsarre effects* Tho arttstao pextette are, as everybody knowe c Messes- Tenniel, Sambourne, Fornias, DuMaurier, Keeno, and Atkinson. Occur sionally Mr Corbould contributes « " horsey " sketch. I came across a complimentary reference to the Weekly Preee in the Illustrated Sporting; ana Dramatic News of thta week. It is described en passant as " a big paper, full of all kinds of news." The death of poor Frank Holl remtwee our-very foremost portrait painter from hie busy studio. A sketch of hie life you have doubtless seen in " Men of the TimeV* Latterly he bought a few acres down i A the moat picturesque part of Surrey, »nd there bnilfc himself a house, in which he lived from time to time. Usually lie lived in bis house iv Fitz-John'a Avenue,' Hampstead; but it was manifestly his intention eventually to retire to his* countryboose at Shore, in the' heart of - beautiful scenery. L'homme I .. His audden death, though a shock even to hfcs nearest friends, was not altogether a euiv prise. A few months ago i heard of hist troxa a friend of his, as ordered to abandoa all work because of bis and such a fact is usually a prepar!ir tion for serious results. On toe stocks he had an enormous amount of works, something like £14,000 worth, and all thfe» is cast on the market by Mβ death. Mr Onless will probably And his hands taSK therefore. MrHarkomerisas busy as hst can be already, and they are the two wijsp approach nearest the fate artist owner of portraiture. Mr Kichmood of ; course taking a. 9ery differdnfc line in pov» The agttauon for the use of Biehwonft Park (or a part of it, to be aceorate) by tfoe volunteers ■at their annual cotjipotittoia has somewhat subsided. The peMto voice is so dead against it tha& It is seemingly hopeless for the NatloaaS Bifle Association to proceed further wlttt the effort. At least Londoners are to ba congratulated if they have saved this very lovely Park from annual deaecrafcton. Richmond Hill Is certainly the fairest rawsfe within range of London, and its spoUatrou would be*, national loss. Thdw-ie of space elsewhere, if the weS^oseaaUiS' but ! wrong'h«aded Lord Wantage &uSk' only be got to realise thia. ■ '