ITEMS OF SOCIAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 13491, 18 May 1907, Page 5 (Supplement)

ITEMS OF SOCIAL NEWS.

[FBOir THK SOCIETY rAPEHS.]

[LoKD Morton*, who is petitioning the jScottish Courts for leave to disentail his [extensive estates" which lie in four sepairate counties, is a cadet of the great house of Douglas, and twenty-first holder of his ancient earldom. Conaglen, bis beautiful [place in Argyllshire, is ; one 'of the finest sporting properties in the north. By his marriage to Lord de Mauley'.'? younger sisiter, Lord Morton has five sons, who have been brought up in somewhat unconventional fashion. The eldest, Lord Aberdour, who was at one time engaged to the daughter of a millionaire Scottish thread manufacturer, has since married prettv Miss Bfenda Hay, a. niece of Lord Iweeadala. ' ' ■ ! ■ . ■ i The other day when the Emperor WiJU lliahi dined at the American Embassy in Berlin, he. took with him a bouquet and" two [photographs of himself in the costume of the time of Frederick the Great for Mrs. Power, and also some toys for the Ambassador's children. The Kaiser is the most [charming and genial of friends, and his liking for Americans is well known. In reply to an American guest at the Embassy, he is reported to have said: "Yes, I should very much like to visit the United States | —not as an emperor, but as a private gentleman : and not for a fortnight, as is the [fashion with globe-trotters, but tor at least three months.'' j _____——__ | The amiable and accomplished, but lather delicate Grand Duke Michael of Klssia, brother of the Tsar, and next in tracers'* sion to the Throne of Russia, after the Tsar's son, is on the look-out for a bride. Bather, it would be more correct to say, his mother, the Dowager-Empress, is on the look-out for a bride for him, and it is understood that her visit to her sister, Queen Alexandra, was not unconnected with a little matrimonial scheme, which had the j Grand Duke Michael for its hero. The name of the Princess whose hand the Empress hopes to gain for the Grand Duke Michael is no secret, but meantime it is considered that it would be indiscreet to disclose it [publicly. ■ ,-'..'.'■ Lord Ellesmere, who is sixty years old, inherited Bridgewater House, "and his in* mensely valuable estates in the North of England, as eventual heir of his great-grand - mother, daughter of the ■ first Duke of Bridgewater. This lady married the Duko of Sutherland's second son, who was created Earl of Ellesinere in 1846. Lord Ellesmere has been all his life interested in the turf, and is one of the most important figuits in the- racing world of to-day'. He is not only a sportsman, but a sporting novelist, and has published some capital hooks, some anonymous, and some under his own name. It is nearly forty years since Lord EiJee* mere married Lady Katherine l'hipps (of the Normanby family), and they have -a large family of sons and daughters. " Mmme. Emma Eames, the famous winger, whose name ' has recently .come somewhat romantically into notice, is an American, , and was born in Shanghai, where her father practised as a lawyer. When she was quite a girl her parents took her to Boston and had her voice carefully trained. Later on, , she went to Paris, in which city she first appeared in grand opera in 1889. ' Her debut was so successful that she earned the' enthusiastic admiration of no less an authority than Charles Gounod. She came to Covent Garden in 1891, and quickly became a general favourite. Mme. Lames is a believer in a healthy open-air life, and makes a hobby of her pet dogs, of which she has a large number. The singer was in San Francisco during the recent terrible earth- ; quake, and experienced some exciting adventures, including a night spent' on the open beach. . ''■■■• < . The} marriage of Miss Eugenie Dudley ; Ward reminds one of her grandparents, the late Lord and Lady Esher. She, a wonderful old lady well on in the eighties at the time of her widowhood, had no need to provide a tomb for her departed husband, . for Lord Esher had attended to the matter himself. Years before his death he had a stately tomb, with life-size marble statues, . prepared for himself and his wife in the churchyard near Heath Farm, their place . in Hertfordshire. Lord Esher was a baron at the time he erected this tomb, and the recumbent figures representing himself and his wife in their robes were altered when he became a viscount in 1897, for the coronet.I*,1*, of the two orders are different, so that a change in the coronets was necessary , to meet the requirements of a step in the peerage. t The bringing out of some sumptuously*' produced books has long been a. fad of out' aristocracy. The late Duchess of Clevei land, Lord Rosebery's ■ mother, published i two such volumesthe" one when, she was , quite "a youthful matron, and the other as ; an old lady. The first of these books was , more or less imaginative and splendidly . illustrated; the second dealt with the Roll Call of Battle Abbey, and took the duche?R many years to compile. A more youthful wearer of the strawberry leaves, the gentle and intellectual Evelyn Duchess of Wellington, published recently a most interesting; and superbly illustrated work on, the. art and historical collections now at Apsley House. Perhaps the most noteworthy contribution to biological literature written in the last fifty years was the strangely-named "Astarte," published last year by the lata Earl Lovelace. This splendidly produced-; volume was privately printed, but it created much talk in the literary world, and it was said that toe most illustrious personage in the land sat up all night reading it. • .;'. ■ ' - ■ — ■ .'. •., ';;;■;. > King Edward has been a Bencher for forty-six years. He was called to the Bar and made a Bencher on October 31, 1861, and he opened the Middle Temple Library on the same day. As a barrister, and a Bencher of the Inn, His Majesty has » right to dine in hall on any or every night during "term. While Prince of Wales, lie dined in hall five times, and there was a very splendid ceremony when he attended the Grand . Night" celebrations in the Middle Temple Hall in November, 1903. King Elward did a notable' thing during his days as Treasurer, for which barristers have ever since held him in grateful remembrance. From time immemorial there had been an established rule against smoking in the historic hall, and Benchers still recall the horror which spread through the assembly when, after dinner, the King handed his" box of cigarettes round the tables. An earthquake could hardly*have amazed the Benchers more. The King's last function in connection with the Law, apart from the New Bailey ceremony, was in 1904, when he opened the buildings of the Incorporated Law Society in Chancery Lane. On that occasion His Majesty had an enthusiastic audience of five hundred solicitors from every corner of the kingdom.

It seems but a little while ago since the ' Duke of Albany was a schoolboy at Eton. 1 Yet now he is the reigning Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, and a husband and father as ' well. The good folk of Coburg, whose loyalty is proverbial, have a real affection, for their young duke and his consort, and ' many are the talcs they tell about them. '■ That the duke should go out shopping with the duchess and carry her parcels, just as any non-Royal husband might do. delights ' the gossips. According to them. the duch- ; ess takes her domestic duties very seriously. : Recently, so the tale goes, Her Royal Highness, accompanied by a lady of the Court, 1 went into the market, bought a number of '■ pots and pans, and then inquired the cost •of sausages. The present prices' astonished her. "How is it possible for the wife of a • workman to manage?" she exclaimed. "I must tell the duke." The Duke and Duch--1 ess of Saxe-Coburg are both devoted to " then baby son. Prince Joliann Leopold, and . in the duchv it will not easilv be forgotten ■ that at the" little Prince's christening, on i (September 26 last, though the German Em- • per or and Empress and a large number of other Royal personages and their representatives were present, room was found in the" i Palace Chapel for representatives of every rank of the duke's subjects. It is by such acts of courtesy and kindness that this young ruler endears himself ;to his people. ■