SOCIAL GOSSIP FROM HOME.

Press, Volume XLVIII, Issue 7830, 7 April 1891, Page 6

SOCIAL GOSSIP FROM HOME.

Argus. LONDON, January 30. The death of Baron Huddlestone and the elevation of Sir James Hannen toa legal life peerage with a dotation of £6000 h£t -given the*Lrd Chancellor an opportunity of belying the nickname of the ««Lord High Jobber," which was fastened on him sfme years ago with but very small justification. The man he setooted for the first vacancy was Mr 14. S. Wright, the junior counsel or ''devil to the Sol Utor at the Treasury, the holder of which nosthasa sort of prescriptive right to a &c judgeship, which apparently neither political eccentricity nor want ot courtly graces can bar. Mr Wright is a Balliol man, who thirty years ago was the most successful coach at the famous seat of learning. The christened him Satan Wright* either imagining that bis second initial stood for that awe-inspiriog name, or thinking that it fitly indicated the mental attitude of its supposed owner. He .was fortunate enougb to attract the notice of the late Sir Henry Taylor, whose son he had coached, and was induced by the poet to qui'' Oxford and put himself to the London; bar, where his patron procured for faiui a fair share of Government work; and in time the solicitors discovered his merits—so much so that for some years past his Income has beep one of the largest at the bar. Besides this professional income, he inherited a short time ago (greatly against his principles) a large landed estate. But no amount of worldly distinction or wealth could influence him to alter his way of hfe or principles. He is a red-haired, clean-shaved, weazel-faced little man, rapid of speech, sarcastic of j mind, blunt in manner, with a hurriedj Btride and a stoop, having no taste fbr the! pleasures of life, and hitherto occupying; the grimiest set of chambers in ali the : emple. On his country estate he; has established a large socialistic colony, of one of the more antiquated, types, where he himself in his; brief vacations took his turn at the spade and the plough, receiving his share of wages and living on the same fare as his own proteges. Until recent inroads of the University Reformer he held a fellowship at one of the Oxford colleges, not one penny of which he ever touched himself, making over the whole proceeds to Girton College through the Dowager Lady Stanley of Alderley, one of the few women of the world who knew and appreciated the fine qualities of this somewhat rough diamond. In politics he has stood as a Radical candidate two or three times, and would have so stood again but for his elevation to the Bench—but, as a matter of fact, his opinions went far deeper than anything we call radicalism. Although over fifty, he looks extremely youthful. Sitting in the Privy Council or the House of Lords with a huge Government brief before him, aud his feet not touching the ground, be conveyed the idea of a naughty little boy who has put on his father's wig and gown for a joke. I It is impossible to conceive anyone more completely the reverse of the being above described than his fellow novice on the bench, Mr Francis Jeune. One is red, the other is black; one Is short, the other is a giant; oue is ugly, the other is handsome; one is a recluse bachelor, the other is the husband of the most popular woman in England; one is a rebel in spirit, the other| is the quintessence of all the orthodoxiesH and respectabilities. Mr Francis Jeunel is the eldest son of a former Bishop ofg Peterborough, whose fierce evangelicismffl won many friends in life for his son& amongst them being the firm of Baxters Rose, and Norton, who testified in an odd! way to the father's Sanctity by giving th£ son a brief for the impostor Arthur Ortonß when claiming the Tichborne estates. Thfl episcopal brethren of his late father alsif showed their regard for him by employing him in ecclesiastical cases, and one ol them made him his diocesan chancelloiS Then he accumulated a large practice a* the Parliamentary bar, and in all the mora recondite fields of litigation, such as thosf which effect cases of commonage ana rights-of-way. Iv 1881 the brilliant anl beautiful Mrs John Stanley fell in lov* with him and he with her, and they werf married in the Savoy Chapel by thi Reverend Henry White, which was theg the most chic mode of entering the how estate. Jeune was an immensely rlca man, both frony inheritance and prog fessional galus, which he used to r*J turn' to the Inland Revenue at • ov# £6,000 a year; and his wife was also wealthy. Since their marriage Mrs Jeuttt has entertained in a style unexampled ncg. only for its dimensions and frequency, baf for its extraordinary catholicity, but if relation to social gradations aud to politics. At her evening parties might be mfb princesses, cardinals, archbishops, anal Tory Ministers rubblug shoulders with tn wildest Parnellites just out of g?ol, petar actresses from the lighter theatres, ads. vegetarian FabUns with long hair, andgi general air of only having discarded theft' " all-wool clothing " in favour of evening dress under protest. There is verylltip doubt that but for tbe expanses popularity and Intense personality of Ml* Jeune, her husband would never base reached the Bench—a conclusion whim leads to many edifying reflections touching the small part which the " artsijaf gecting on " play in the careers of reaJßy clever men. Jeuue* starting life wffi everything in his favour, only attains (aftid that not by prayer and fasting, only feaWbing) to the same goal as does Wright, wgo starts unknown and Un-trumpeted, wfih every man's hand against him, aud Mis band agaist every man and an appearawe and manner of address | which were calculated to choke off the most dlllgffit searcher-out of humble .merit. And rat the bar are unanimous that Wright's lsjpy far the better appointment of tbe two. world may do a man injustice—his profession never. J It is curious to note that one of mc developements cf democracy is to bring into favour as politicians sportigg baronets and half-pay colonels. At Harjfepool the Unionists put up a man who h»d created the town, and still emplotigd 4,000 hands io his works, and thought hon a trump card, But he was beaten »y another employer of labour, who, like himself, was also a member of the Asfi-trades-unionist Shipping Federation, MA man high in the councils of the Tories ms told mc that the managers of the pa»y now perceive that chey might h»e won the election if their man Md been one who was totally aiscttinected with industrialism, and had nejbr done anything to earn a fortune, for tmn they could have afforded to abuse mo Giatfstonian as a capitalists. The day |s passed, they feel, when an elector canjbe affected by gratitude towards the man Wfco pays him his wages, which after all are only the current rate of wages in his trane. If one side discards employers and capisllists then the other side will do so Hiewise and thus the sporting baronet aid the half-pay colonel will haye the field all to themselves-which will iv turnprodlfce the result of a definite cry for the paymSit bf members. jf The "Amphytrion'Olub," of wbicl- 1 made mention a fortnight ago, is rapffily growing empty—lts prices being too mn even tor our thoughtless youth. Ma dinner party the other night someone nfintioned the instance of Lord Dudley sdirijger of five, which cost ninty-eight pounjp, when a lady capped it by saying thagifc was nothing to a dinner given by a frifhd of hers, when the bill was one .hundred and seventy for six persaas. The company received the statement with a polite smile of Incredulity, which |foe ' lady perceiving, she went on to askjpe sponsor of the Lord Dudley story Shis question—"But how much of Dudley's bill was for furniture T replied the other, " why the bill was fee a dinner, not for furniture. " Yes," afmpered the fair One, " but mj friend's Jill included £110 for breaking all the furniture in one of the upstairs rooms, wh*re they adjourned for steeplechasing." &