ITEMS OF SOCIAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 14984, 4 May 1912, Page 6 (Supplement)

ITEMS OF SOCIAL NEWS.

[PIIOM Tins;. SOCIETY PAPERS. J

When' "the Duke of Argyle, then Marquis of I/orne, married Princess Louise, third daughter of the late Queen Victoria. .in *1871, at. St. George's Chapel, Windsor, Punch, had a quaint, drawins: of a. Highlander who had just heard the new* of the wedding.- His. comment was simple and terse: "It's a prood woman the Queen must be the day!" for north of the Tweed the opinion holds that there is no family like the Argvlls. lie that as it may, it is curious to remember that when the marriage was arranged it was foi'Jid to be the first occasion when Royal sanction for a wedding of an English Princess to one not of Royal nlood had been necessary since Mary Tudor, daughter of Henry VII., and widow of Louis XI. of trance, married Charles, Duke of Suffolk. Her Royal Highness, who was 23 years of age at the. time of the marriage, is one of the most unconventional of Royalties. She has been devoted to art all her life, and as a sculptor she has acquired a distinct, reputation, and her statue of Queen Victoria, to lxi seen in Kensington Gardens, was the first- by a woman to be erected in Ixrndon. Another statue of her mother which she executed stands in the Royal borough, and the colonial memorial in St. Paul's Cathedral provides further evidence of her skill as a sculptor. Princess Louise is very proud of the fact that she has often had her work exhibited in foreign galleries, where her identity was not suspected. She is fond of travelling with the dukei

'l"he Earl of Jersey, the seventh to enjoy that title, is now 67. It was on March 20, 169 C, that Sir Edward Yilliers was raised to the peerage as Baron and Viscount V ill'tern. Seven years later, having been appointed Ambassador to the States-General, he was advanced to the earldom. : Lord Jersey claims Norman ancestry, and traces direct descent trom Sir George Villiers, the Elizabethan statesman. this Sir George was twice married, his mend wife, who survived him, being created Countess of Buckingham for life.; The three sons of this second marriage were created Viscount Par beck, Duke of Buckingham, and Earl of Anglesey,' honours which are now numbered among the extinct peerages.

The wave of extravagance which has swept over the United States during the past year has -begun to bear fruit in many bizarre, not to say freakish notions • among the ultra-fashionable women. One of the most pcpolar rendezvous of i New York's fashionable womanhood today is the gorgwue new smoking-room of a certain hotel devoted exclusively to women. He» they gather, daily, and exchange idea*, on the emancipation or the sex, or write notes on the hotel sta- . tionery to \tfietr masculine friends, commanding them to como around and escort ■*: them to the theatre. The men laugh I and .obey, tending their hard-earned j money freely; -on taxi-cabs, dinners, and flowers- to say- nothing of theatre tickets " p u veTi speculators at fancy 1 V'fe'i prices. / ' : "'vX; > " Miss Agnes/jStrickland, in a rare book, long out of priit, called "Queen Victoria, • from her Birt& to her Bridal," writes "In the summer of 1839 the Queen did the Marchioness of Westminster the distinguished honour of being present at a bail given at her house in town. The dancing yna kept up with increasing cheerfulness from beginning to end, Her Majesty appearing to take great delight in the hilarity of the evening, and charming everyono by her affability." On the morning of the wane day Her Majesty had held her! last Drawing-room for;, the, season. The appearance of Queen Victoria at this time, is thus described by,. an American visitor "I have driven in the park several days admiring the Queen on horseback. Her Majesty seems to me to ride very securely and fearlessly. On came the Queen upon a dun-coloured, highly-groomed' 3 horse, with her Prime Minister on one side and Lord Byron ,on the other. The Queen's figure looks extremely well -in her dark-green riding habit."

Sir Bryan Leighton, who gave his'an-. . nual tea to the Drury Lane pantomime children lately, represents a family that took its name from the Shropshire manor of Leighton, which was held by its members as a knight's fee from a very early period. The direct line, traced to the twelfth century? included many knights, among them hiring Sir Richard de Leigh - ton, who entered Parliament just 600 years ago as M.P. for Shropshire. To him is assigned a monument in Leighton Church of a knight in link armour, bearing the family arms upon his shield. The first baronet, so created in 1692, was in Parliament for maty years, and a brother of Captain Baldwyn Leighton, whom the Whigs entrusted with an important mission to The Hague during their overtures (to the Prince of Orange. By the death of the- Duehess'of Buccleuch many great houses' will be thrown jnto nwKirning. - She was on© of that - of Hamilton sisters, daughter*, of t the second -Marquess of Abercorn, bvs^-iiaajriago'ltith Lady Louisa Russell, (faugh the sixth Duke ok Bedford. jJSrfiind Lady Abercorn and their family fiffum ft 'Israeli's ;"Lothsir/' and many veaw 'afterwards 7ho wad promoted by Disraeli to a dukedom. The Duke and Duchess of Abercorn had seven sons and xeUn: daughters. ' The Duke died in his setffttty-fiftn year,, and the* Duchess lived to.'s b<i ninety-two. ' The seven daughters beciune Counters : of Lichfield, Countess of ■ Durham, Duchess of Buccleuch, Countess of- Mount-Edgecumbe, Countess WinterMarchioness of Blandford, and Mar-., chioness of Lanedowne, of whom the last three survive., . Lord Dynevor, who presided at a physical Competition Jin connection - with the Children's Happy Evenings Association,- is < a son-in-law :of the Countess of Jersey, the kindly, president of that admirable institution. Lady Dynevor, whom he nSarried in 1898, is the eldest daughter of Lord and Lady Jersey and sister- of the'* Countess of Longford and Lady Dunsany..: They have four children, whose namesLrjjaai, Elwyn, David, and Imogenreflect their; father s Celtic lineage. i ' ■7" " !#>"' •*P^ ted that ; Great Deer Forest of Mar, on the borders of' Aberdeenshire and Inverness-shire, will be let next season in consequence of the death of the Duke of Fife. It extends over nearly 100,000 acres, and was formerly a favourite hunting ground of the Kings of Scotland. Part of the domain was purchased by the first Earl of Fife during the; feign of George 11. from the Earl of ' Mar. and part from the Mackenzics of jjjntail. , The fore6t is heavily stocked /withered dear, and for 'many years past §mPhas. .been very lightly shot over. Of wCtiMfer Mar Lodge would not bo let, as it ''7'iS: understood". that' the Princess Royal in- '• 7; tends to residc there, but there are two