ENGLISH NOTES.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1425, 22 June 1899, Page 20

ENGLISH NOTES.

Ireland has been rejoicing the visit of the Duke and Duchess of York, who ivere in Dublin in April as the guests of tlie Lord Lieutenant and Countess Cadogan. The vice-regal party naturally visited PunchestoAvn races, the Ascot of Ireland, the Duchess wearing blue cloth slashed Avith Avhite, and a blue toque of cornfioAvers. Countess Cadogau’s dress was a mixture of pale blue and grey, and she carried a cape trimmed with cliinchila. The King of Denmark completed his 81st year on Bill April amidst much display of loyalty and affection. Copenhagen Avas profusely decorated Avith flags, military bands payed selections of music at the various barracks, and at noon salutes Avere fired from the fortifications. The king, aa ho is in excellent health, Avas the recipient of innumerable congratulatory messages and presents, amongst the latter being a Avealth of lo\ T ely flowers. At

half-pas 1 ’ 10 o’clock the King received all hi - children, assembled in Copenhagen, with liis children-in-iaw and his brothers, an^l, subsequently HbvMajesty received the Ministers of-State, the presidents of the two , Chambers,; and 'a few high officials. These-receptions took place in the Garden Apartment, and. the Court mourning was dispensed with, The governors, of the Bradford School on the Harpur foundation have appointed Mias Collie aa head mistress at a salary of £IOOO a year. This i 3 one of the plums of the teaching profession, ami one of the best posts open to women in the wor’d.

It is said that the German Emperor lias hitherto been on tenterhooks when his youthful and lively cousin, the Grand Duchess of Hesse, has been paying a visit to his capital, as he has never known what new plans she may have, had for startling the sober people of Berlin. Last year Her Royal Highness surprised everyone by dancing at a Court ball without her gloves, as she said she felt more comfortable without them; but this departure by no means pleased the Emperor and Empress, who are- very particular about the rules of etiquette being observed. The. Grand Duchess, who is now growing more sedate, enjoys herself greatly when she is with the Princess Fribert of Anhalt, who is her favourite cousin, and who, as her husband is only a younger son, is able to lead a much freer Hie than the Grand Duchess. . Physical bravery of the active kind is not often possible for women, but there were heroines as well as heroes when the Windsor Hotel burned. Even tlie firemen cheered Miss Troup, the brave trained nurse who carried a. helpless girl through two long smoke-filled corridors and down the fire-escape from the fifth floor to the ground. And there were two other women, Mrs J. D. Lindsay and Mrs McSloy, who carried an old man to safety, though they lost; their way in the smoke and wandered blindly around for some time. And there was Miss Wells, who, when the firemen attempted to rescue her, drew back with the plea that they save her father and mother first. These acts of devotion and selfsacrifice are almost'the only bright side to one of the darkest New York has known. Miss Helen Gould showed herself to be one of the most sympathetic of women. Her house was opened to the sufferers and to the rescuers as well, and she herself personally attended the wounded.

'■•She'ex-Queen of Madagascar, Ranavalona, is described by the correspondent of a .Loudon paper as a young woman of thirty years, intelligent and sympathetic. “ Her complexion i 3 copper-coloured, her lips are thin, while her nose is slightly flattened. Her eyes are gray, and she is of medium height, her waist being reduced to the smallest proportions. She evidently follows European fashions, and dresses in most luxurious style. She wore a hat with large feathers, and a costume of green silk ornamented with roses and violets/’

The Hon Mrs Anstruther, in her enter- } taming article on ** Ladies’ Clubs” in tlie I " Nineteenth Century," appeai’3 not to be quite satisfied with these clubs as they are. The giving of tea parties in these resorts she looks on as a symptom of youthfiihvess. The experienced clubwoman of the future will cease from tea-partying, and gradually, if she has the true instinct oi the club-woman, and a real appreciation of the joys of club life, she wifi migrate to the peaceful sanctum of the reading-room, where households cease from troubling and the weary are at rest from the intruding bore.” We are not at all sure about this (remarks the " Queen ”). Nor are we sure either that women are ever going to be clubable in the sense that men are clubable. .Mrs Anstruther seems to think that one day the sexes may possess the quality in equal measure, but the explanation she offers of the difference that exists a,t present seem 3 likely to hold good lor some time.

The beautiful reredos in Winchester Cathedral, which has undergone many mutilations and vicissitudes, and has now been restored by Canon Valpy, in remembrance of liis wife, was dedicated a few weeks ago in the .presence of a large congregation. It now harmonises with the tombs and shrines of Kings and Bishops which are such striking features at Winchester. Miss Neilson (who is sister-in-law to Ellen and Marion Terry, and is a cousin of the Hanbury sisters) is devoted to her home and to her children. She usually spends her holidays at her little cottage •at Herne Bay, where last summer she was to be seen day after day dressed in a simple straw hat and cycling skirt, sitting in her front garden plying her needle or playing with her children. Occasionally in the early morning she was to be met driving with her husband to the station, en route to an Adelphi rehearsal. Queen Wilhelmina goes to bed at 11, and is up very early, She makes a rapid toilet, and at once rushes out for exercise in the park. She wears for these morning excursions a rough Dutch " mante ” in wool, cut like those of her peasants in Friesland. She has a cup of chocolate brought to her room, and then proceeds to a very elaborate tiolet, helped by two maids. Women suffragists assembled in gnat force on Monday afternoon, the 27tli of March (says "The Lady”) in the Grosvenor Crescent Club, when Mrs Fawcett occupied the chair, and spoke on the subject of " Women’s Suffrage.” She moved a resolution which related to the total exclusion from Parliamentary representation of the women of this country, and expressed a hope that Parliament would place women, in respect of Parliamentary representation, in a position similar to that which they already occupy with reference to local franchise. Sir William Wedderburn, in seconding the resolution, said that in a free and represented country those who had no votes were really worse off than under a despotism. Lady Grove made a brief speech, and Mrs Wynford Phillips welcomed the large number of women present who had already dona much useful public work. Mrs Russell Cooke spoke of the encouragement which meetings like this were to the workers, and Miss Davies, who was received with great enthusiasm, related the story of the petition to John Stitart Mills, which she and Mrs Garrett Anderson (then Miss Garrett) resented in 1867, when he made his famous speech on the subject of the "Franchise to

Women.” As a contrast to this spec h by the oldest worker in the cause, came one full of hope and enthusiasm from one of the youngest workers. Miss Sterling, n artistic-looking young girl, who is a niece of Mr Marcus Stone.

A curious case of a woman of independent means dying m poverty lias just occurred. Mrs Parke 3, the wife of a surgical-instru-ment maker, although having had an income of over ,£'2oo,died literally in rags in a small room in Islington. In her will she left £SOO to her sister, and the balance of her property, which it is believed, amounts altogether to £2OOO, to the British and Foreign Bible Society. Rosa Bouheur, who has just died at the age of 77, rc-taiuod a wonderful amount ot energy, and is said to have been as active as a girl, in spite of her years. At the time of her death she had a stupendous canvas in hand, at winch she worked for several hours each day. Born at Bordeaux, the daughter of a French artist, she gave signs at a very early age of the possession of unusual powers, and before she was twenty had exhibited a couple oi pictures which had established her reputation. The late Mrs Neeley used to tell an interesting anecdote of the Queen on the occasion when she. had the honour of being received by Her Majesty. On being presented sue excused herself from making a low curtsey by saying, “ Your Majesty, I have rheumatism in my knees, and 1 cannot curtsey.” " Mrs Lveeley,” replied the ..Queen, “ I can’t either,” and the ic-teran actress was put at her ease by the homeliness of the remark, and its "common touch of nature winch made the two women kin. It is frequently stated that no coal fires are permitted in the private apartments of the Queen’s palaces. This is not the ease, end in recent years coal has been used even in the personal rooms of Her Majesty. A great deal of beech wood, however, is also burn \l, especially in the assured the father that in less than two Grand Corridor at Windsor, while at Balmoral pine legs are by no means unusual, although peat is never used, except by some of the cottagers on the royal dcsmesnes. The care of the temperature of the palaces has been raised to an art. For many years the Queen herself preferred a temperature of GOdeg, but of late she has indulged in the coolness of 58deg, although in the dining-room and other apartments used also by the Court the temperature is scleg higher. Many of the rooms may be raised to firs temperature in winter without the aid or open fires at all, which are, however, occasionally used for the coolness they offer. There irnothing in the royal palaces in the nature of rai ingle nook, and lhe habit of drawing up to the fires’tie is one to which for a very long time the Queen has been a stranger.

Lecly Frederick Cavendish and Miss Lyttelton hove decided to take their residence at Ha warden House, formerly the home of the Hon Mrs W. H. Gladstone. Miss Helen Gladstone has left Ha warden CV.slle for Italy.

An engagement is announced between the Ear! of Shaftesbury and Lady Constance Sibell Grosvenor, elder daughter of Coun'ess Grosvenor, and granddaughter of the Duke of Westminster. The Duke and Duchess of Devonshire, the Earl of Rosebery, ami Viscount and Viscountess Hamnden have returned to tcivcn from abroad.