LONDON CHAT.

Press, Volume LI, Issue 8717, 13 February 1894, Page 5

LONDON CHAT.

[FROM OUB SPECIAL CORESPONDENT.]

. . LONDON, December 30. Mrs Mackay, the wife of the Silver King, is in domestic trouble, " Her daughter by j her first marriage "became a Roman Princess, having, married into the great house of Colonna. She now seeks relief in the Divorce Court. Her husband is a gambler ij seems. Her dot from, her stepfather was large, but a gambler's power of spending is expansive. A friend of mine met the young lady two summers ago in a London drawing 4 room, and not knowing who she was thought, she was some poor friend of the plump little Silver Queen, bat someone came up and addressed her as '* Your Highness I" Her Highness was low of stature and decidedly common looking. We have no order of merit for distinguished women—we cannot knight them or make*tbem CB.'s,- but in France they do things 'better—such women have a special permit - to wear tronsers, but for this privi.lege they must pay a yearly tax of from 40s to 50$.' Only six ladies have been so en-titled—-Rosa ; Bonhenr, Georges Sand, Madame Dienlafoy, Madame Foucault, the archaeologist, and two sculptors, Mesdames Fonrreau and Jeanhette. ? Sir Edward Levy-Lawson, the eminent Jew proprietor of the "Largest Circulation in the World," has attained one object of his ambition. He "has received the Prince of Wales as his guest in his own house. Another ambition is said to be a peerage, and j if the Prince comes to the throne during Sir Levy-LawsonV lifetime, he will get it, and then may not Sir Augustus Harris, tOO??; ' ;' j Sir Andrew Clarke has left of personalty ! £200,000. Shortly before bis death he lost £60,000 in the failure ef an Australian Bank, and this affected him so keenly that insomnia j set in, only to be relieved by the sleep of j death. Princess Henry of Pleiss, the lovely daughter of a lovely mother, Mrs Cornwallis West, dresses in a startling and effective style. At Miss Grant's marriage to Lord Essex the other day ahe - wore a j gorgeous gown of black satin to her knees, from whence 'descended a flounced blue ! velvet, draped in costly point d'Alengon. She also wore a picture hat of blue velvet, with plumes and aigrette. The men at tbe Essex-Grant- wedding were of a bold society mixture-—very aristocrat of aristocrat and very Yank of Yank. This wonld account for some of the vivid ] ties worn. One fair youngster wore a glowing pink aatin tie with a bine shirt, another a vivid green silk tie shot' with red gold* and one gentleman came in a blazing scaJrlet waistcoat and blue scarf, with a diamond

pin. There ia no doubt of it; men are breaking ont in colours. Tho epidomto is T-T wefi-known M.F.H. was recently married ux one of the Homo counties, and m honour of bJa calling the wedding was emblazoned in the colours of the hunt. The bride was dressed in a riding habit, with v*stin the hunt colours—a "crop' in her hand, a smart riding hat on her head. The bridesmaids were in conventional silk and muslin, with hunt accessories and colours. The going-away dress was a covert skirt and coat and a plumed hat. This sorb ot thing is becoming fashionable. A cricket hero, a lawn tennis champion, a golf expert, a successful yachtsman and rower all are emphasised ou their wedding day iv suitable emblems and colours. Tho great feature of winter fashion ia the pelisse—not the true Polish original, severe in form and unadorned aave by fur, but a highly ornate garment with the Polish garment as a base in form ouly. At the wedding named ono grande dame wore a pelisse of pink satin lined with pale green moire, trimmed with sable and old lace, a high collar at the back, with an over ouo of fur. Lady Randolph Churchill wore one ot blue velvet and sables with diamonds galore. "The Black Catastrophe," by Dr. Todhunter, brought out at the ludependent Theatre recently, after all the laudations of the press, turns out to he ouly a <mceM d'esttme. A member of the theatrical profession read the play, or rather Dr. Todhunter read it to him, and he thought it a little smart at times, a little intere.uiug in Sarts, and wholly impossible. Wa shfcll ear no more of the out day's wonder. Begging is a recognised industry ; it has rights of way, buys and sells good positions, and rises often to the dignity of an art. In Paris it has its organ—a periodical which deals exclusively with mendicants, their aims and interests. Its name is Le Journal dcs Mendicants. It ia well managed, but does not touch on either polities or literature. Its advertisements are unique. " To-morrow at uoon the funeral services cf a very' wealthy man will be held at tlio Madeleine. "Atone o'clock a.fashionable wedding at the Trinito Cliurcb." "' Wanted, a blind man to play the flute.'' "Wanted, to encage a cripple for a senside rotreat; good references and a small deposit required." At the seaside hotel-propiietors and lodging-house-keepers hire professional beggars,.who have to give their employers half what they take. It is constantly stated that the Qufien so disapproves of ladies smoking, that she will not allow a woman to smoke a cigarette in her presence. I doubt it. I happened to see two handsome cigarette cases iv silver, the one with the Royal V.R. wo are all so familiar with, ready for despatch. I admired tho fiuish aud was told that they were to the order of the Princess Louise, tlio one for herself, tho other she intended as a Christmas gift for her august mptlior ! Her Majesty presented Mr Bancroft with a gold cigar-case, and a ruby and diamond brooch to hia charming wife, iv recoguibtou of the enjoyment she derived from " Diplomacy," which was acted at Balmoral this autumn. Authors are often the very opposite to their books, or at any rate the very opposite to their readers' conception of them. Mrs Alexander—whose real namo is Hilton—ia stout aud a little more than eldorly, with a hue, open countenance, well-marked aristocratic features, and a manner suggestive of kindness aud humour. She is Irish, mid haa all her country's wit and good humour —but she can be sarcastic, and she hates a sham. She writes her novels in the bosom of her • family, their conversation not disturbing her at all. Mrs Campbell Prftod, who, as Miss Murray Prior, claims Queensland as her native landj composes all her novels on her type-writing machine. She demands utter quiet and seclusion for her work, being of a highly nervous temperament. She also writes with wonderful facility. Mrs Praed spends the severe English winters in the Riviera, and Society in the ?season" sect very little of her. She is about forty 1 years of age, i 3. tall and very gracefully distinguished looking. Unlike Mrs Alexander, she has little or no sense of humour. Mrs Lynn Linton, so successful as a social essay writer of a pungent and remorseless character, has only achieved a moderate Eositionin the "realms of fiction." Mrs linton lives in high latitudes, in the top flat of Queen Anne's Mansions, to reach which two lifts are required. From bar pleasant drawing-room the whole of London can be viewed, with its misty horizon. And not a sound of jarring quality reaches the ear, only the sonorous palpitating hum of mighty London. Kider. Haggard dictatei bis novels fit white heat to hi 3 friend and amanuensis, Miss Hlrton, a daughter of Mrs Alexander. He walks up and down the room while composing, and it taxes his typist to then uttermost to keep up with him. -Tram hrs copyrights his income is now considerable. Alra Watford writes ia a charming studio contrived and partly built for her by hor husband, Mr A. S. Walford, who represent a the large paper-makers, Messrs Wrigley and Co., of Lancashire. Mrs Walford re~ quires quiet and absorption to write. She has more than once gone to a quiet seaaid c place by herself for a week to start a new book. -She has seven children, and, lives in a beautiful old country mansion w Essex. Mr Hardy cannot write original matter within even a suspicion of the roar of London. But he is a frequent visitor to th* British Museum, whore he makes extensive, notes for work in his native Dorsetshire. In that quiet county the country folks are more than ordinarily narrow and conventional—likewise bucolic. They did not relieh their compatriot settling in their sacred precincts, and using them as types. It was a liberty a man not born in the purple had no right to take, so they tabooed the brilliant writer, and from their mundane height looked down on him. Hardy was the son of an architect iin the county, and in the old days, traditions of which still linger in certain country districts, no profession outside the Church and the Army was held to be fit for '.' gentlemen 1" The sister of Helen Mathers, author of "Comin* through the Rye," is the Mrs Hamborough, mother of the unfortunate' youth for whose murder Mr Monson has been on his trial. The Queen wears two bracelets in which are set the miniatures of all her grand* children. These are seldom off her wrists. Mrs Langtry's beauty ia still a highly esteemed and marketable commodity.. She was offered a very large sum to appear in tableaux vivants at one of the London theatres, but refused it on the ground that the offer was not nearly " good enough." It is well to be a famous beauty if you know how. to make profitable use of the endowment—and do not object to do so 1 One rather amusing illustration of the use other people can make of it came under the notice of a feminine correspondent of mine yesterday. " I believe," she writes " that the only articles of ladies' attire upon which the Jersey Lily has permanently imprinted her name are the shoes which so long have borne it and which have been so extra* ordinarily fashionable this season. They were first introduced and worn by her as Miss Hardcastlo in VShe Stoops to Conquer." Most people know them—they are of patent-leather, and tie with a plain ribbon bow through a Bingle pair of eyelets over a flap on tbe instep. In one of the large bootshops a huge sort of ' trophy' or pile of these shoes has been built up, and tastefully arranged, and this is surmounted by several attractive photos of Mrs Langtry, with, her name in conspicuous prominenceIt hue proved a capital advertisement/