GOSSIP AND NOTES.

Press, Volume LVI, Issue 10269, 11 February 1899, Page 8

GOSSIP AND NOTES.

In liis youth, Sir William Harcourt was tUsjlflL"] shm as he is bulky to-day. What a pathetic j *"ii and curious thing it would be (says _ * "M.A.P."), to produce, side by side, the c faces and figures of political men at different . I epoclis of their career. It would be some- ± tiling like a Psalm of Life. For instance, -.( who would imagine, on reading this deecrip- v % tion which occurred in the interesting lecture " a of Lord Rosebery the other day, on the ". bookishness of statesmen, that the speaker - j referred to Lord Salisbury: —"Once, when I was a child, I was taken to see Hatfield. ' ] In the library we saw a tall, thin figure, t carrying a huge volume. The housekeeper .■' 1 paused in awe, saying, 'That is Lord Robert "'_, Cecil.'" Lord Robert Cecil is known es >j Lord Salisbury, and is one of tho stoutest >„| men, if not the stoutest, in Parliament, and '_ £l a good deal of his ill-health is probably- due' ■§>$ to this transformation in his figure. I am.' <n told that when he was in the House of Collimons he looked for all the world like Mr £j Arthur Balfour, who is one of tlie thinnest men in the Housa It is a pity that tl» /« uncle did not learn tlie nephew's passion for golf at the epoch when he was turning from " |, youth into middle-age. ' • ' <\ When Mrs Langtry is staying at her prettj. fj little radng-box, Legal-lodge, j_entford, near |.J Newmarket, she frequently pays visits to "^ her horses in training at Webb s stables, E* v »■. ning. Here she has about six and-twenty -;;• horses, including hor latest purchases,- i_ Aurum and Uniform, both of which she, -,t bought in Australia. For one of these she ** gave £5000. Great things are expected ot \t both •*,T>JTn«.I« next year, and t„ey certainly are -I very fine horses indeed. When krs Langtry , | makes her tour of inspection eacn of the lads A is dressed in a clean white jacket, afld standi . I at the. head of the horse of which he has :£ particular charge.-—"M. A. P.' *.;; " '/} The last act of the Langworthy mysterf *\ (says the London correspondent of the "Ax- j gus") has been the "proving of Mr Lsfig- . _*=•* worthy's will for £146 19s all tord. Th* newspapers seem to think this very my** s'* terious, but it is easier to lose a fortune tWO |j make one. Every mention of the Lang* *"_] worthy case gives some paragraphist an op- « portunity of retelling the old story ofinno- ._] cence, trustfulness, deception, and betrayal which nobody believes, it; is noticeable that |j a great whisky firm in Scotland has failed p since Mr Langworthy died. Supply and j-' demand again. . |? Lokd Kitcheneb made good his retreat £ without being provided with a wife by | society. The latest fashionable engage- |j ment (the "Argus" correspondent tells &. us) is that of Mr Lulu Harcourt | William's son) to Miss Brevas, daughter of 1| an American banker, partner in London of 3 i a great New York firm. Of course, w'■ | young lady has money. Lulu HarcoOf* * g made himself rather unpopular for a while/ , | in the old angry days of the Home Rum '[ | controversy, and was blackballed, or .s| threatened with that fate at Brooks's.-_ He 1 is immensely tall and thin, as Sir William « himself was until fattened up on a diet of * w his own principles. His mother, Sir Wil* |_ Ham's first wife, was sister of the late Lady E|| Borthwick—Lady Glenesk. The present «§ Lady Harcourt, nee Motley, also an Ameri- M I can,"is short and shght, and it is a strange i-|| sight to see her walking between her gigan- Ljl tic husband and stepson. \m