CURRENT GOSSIP.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XX, Issue 6823, 29 September 1883, Page 3 (Supplement)

CURRENT GOSSIP.

Gentlemen in England are threatened with a return to knee-breeches, f Carlyle's house, at Chelsea has the gloomy sign " To let" on its closed shutters. > Mr. George du Maurier, the artist of Punch, has several children and is blipd of one uye. i The Queen of Portugal's eldest sou, Prince of Bragatizi, ia a vrater-coloui- paint; r of * promise and member of t'ae club in Rome. The Empress of Germany is still unable to l walk, but drives out every day in the parks near Cobleiitz. ■ Queen Victoria does not indulge in the affectation of not to read the newspapers. She t dies a morning aud an evening ■ daily and several weeklies. She is fond of novels, too. There, are no'. T only three men in the British House of Commons who v.ere there wren Vic- i toria ascended i.he throne. 45 years ago. I They are Mr. Gla Jstone, Mr. Talboc, member for Glamorganshire, and Mr. Villiers, member for Wolveriiampton. Earl Grey is the only living member of toe Cabinet who Was in office as that time. The new palace-car of the Prince of Wales can be lighted by electricity or candles, nontains a d esiing-room sud bath, a saloon and, two bed-rp'iins, the Prince's being hung with old-gold silk, with fumituie to match. Mr. Uhapliu, who ius »ac into notice as projector o; the scheme by the British House of Commons to exclude American cattle from that country, is a son-in-law of the Duke of Sutherland, and one of the richest men in the kingdom. The sons of the Earl of Ess?x have been upon a holiday camping tour through JNorth Wales. They proceed with two large-show caravans drawu by iio.-es, and live in rough gipsy fashion, oampiug out at night, and cooking their meals iu the open, which, however, were served up on salver plates. Ex-Empress hugenie is thus pictured by a writer who saw h.-r a short time ago:—A rather ut-Uely-'ooUing woman, iu deep black, not a bit of colour anywhere, about l:er eyes the twinkling ripples that the years make, around her mouth the deep r-drawn lines of sorrow, a sallow face, hair with grey in it. Queen Victoria does not go abroad this year, but will follow her usual routine of Osborne, then Balmoral till the end of November. The London journals grumble because the special traiu between Aberdeen and Bullater, when the Queen is at Balm ral, are not paid for by her, as is generally supposed, but by the Government. The Duchess of Edinburgh is not a good dresser according to our English notions of t.ste, though she does not err Oα the side of frugality. She mixes her colours badly, and though tbe fabrics are so gorgfous as sometimes to be almost barbaric, there is always a want of harmony, or rather a discord in the general details. Of the " heirs ..f France" sinca the beginning of the century the Duke of Berri was assassinated in IS3O by Louvel, the Duke of Reichsti'lt died of poison at Shonbrunn in 1832, the Duke of Orleans was killed by an accident in 1842, and the Prince Imperial met his death in Zululand ia IS7O : and all these failed to attain the age of forty-eight. The late Prince Battnyany divided his time equally between his stables and his study. Few have left behind them a finer collection of rare old books, but most of them will come to the inexorable hammev. There are some excolieut editions of Shakespeare, Jonson, Bolingbrnke and Bailey's Magazines, woll thumbed, with many annotations in the Prince's handwriting. A curious relic of President Lincoln was found in the Capitol at Washington not long ago. An employe was moving a box of books which had not beeu disturbed for many years, and took from it a volume of Presscot's "Conquest of Mexico" to glancD through it. On _ opening it he found a business-card reading as follows :—" A. Lincoln, attorney-at-law, Springfield, Illinois. lam still practising . my profession on this side of the river, and . shall be ready at all times to crack a joke, swap horses, or split rails until the 4th of March." Those who saw the card were unable to determine whether it was a burlesque j or ag<s'.min.« professional card. Iβ had evidently lain where it was found for more than , 20 years. If genuine, it was probably pub- r lished by Lincoln as a joke, between tlie date of his election and his entrance into the . White House. /