LONDON GOSSIP.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1509, 31 January 1901, Page 17

LONDON GOSSIP.

• (From “M.A.P.”)

A PRINCE AS ACTOR:

. The rumours that political worries are responsible for the breakdown of the Czar’s health (now, luckily, mending), makes one remember that the autocrat Father of his people is doubly father of his numerous relatives, and that no regards his paternal duties towards them so seriously that he insists in having a fipger in every, domestic pie, whether the ingredients be bitter or sweier. The clashi for instance, between himself and his. uncle, the Grank Duke Constantine Constantin ovitch, is still the amusement df ; St. Petersburg.

The Grand Duke’, who is already an itmateuf actor, a translator of plays, -a poet , student of science, nd soldier in fcfor Russian army, was reported as being on the point >of - accepting an offer to appear professionally on the \ iennese stage. Furious that a Romanoff could be willing to so demean himself, the Czar not only placed 1 an absolute veto on the.plan, hut practically exiled the Grand Duke to his great estates in Siberia.

A. BRILLIANT' AMATEUR. But even though debarred by his despotic nephew from winning glory on the public , stage, there is no reason why the Grand Dude Constantine should not oontinue the triumphs which have already won him a very pretty reputation in the intimacy of the Imperial Comb. Last year a positive sensation was created by the Gran Duke’s appearance! in “Hamlet,’’ a play which lie has already translated into Russian, and the scenic representation of which he entirely planned. Previously Constantine had translated into Russian many of the German classio dramas, among them Schiller’s “Nathan the Wise” and “The Bride of Messina.” At present he has nearly finished translating “Quo Vadis” from the Polish.. POET AND SCIENTIST. Hardly leias strong is the Grand Duke’s leaning towards poetry, of which he has published several volumes. These are mostly lyrics and love poems, hut he hjas’ also written a piece of dramatic mysticism in the form of a continuation of Byron’s “Manfred ’ —undertaking to depict the spiritual life of Manfred beyond the grave. His election as President of the Russian Royal Academy of Science was in recognition of the Grand Duke’s activity in still another line. Constantine is -forty-two years old. /n 1884 he followed the custom of Russian princes in marrying the Saxon Princess Elizabeth cf Altenburg, a charming woman of unusual cultivation and originality of thought. THE SANDRING HAM STABLES. My readers will bet interested in the following, account of the Sandringham stables, taken from the article on “The Ptince of Wales's Horses” : “The Seventeen brood mares, with their foals and yearlings,' which belong to the Prince, are at. Sandringham, under the eye of Mr Walker, to 'whose brilliant judgment and sound, careful management, supervised by Lord Marcus Beresford and the Prince himself, the Royal stable owes Very much of its recent success. I do not know of many men, living or dead; whose opinion about the management of a, racehorse I should- care to defend against the combined -judgment of the Prince of Wales,. Lord Marcus Beiresford, and Mr Walker.

. “The %tiid farm, is, naturally, an abject; of groat interest to guests,,at . . au;and aday rarely passes wbhoiit the jtoslj. bringing a party of guests; across the big gardens to those roomy,, plain-fitted boxes, f > where prospect iv «v winners o "fthe Derby, Oaks and St. Leger arei now playing by the side of their dams.. jTb© Princess of: Wales bc'caiidually comes, too, with other guests, and to have ,tea in a big, square-win... dowed room in her beautiful dairy, wn <*h adjoins the stud farm;- y Opposite, the eintrance fo this -dairy is the; grave of Perdita 11.,-who died fast summer, shor«I y after" giving'birth to a filly .foal. - ; .AV she had ten foals in twelve years B,er life work was doubtless done ; an J * tablet is shortly to be placed fhelire, Tectfltntmg the'deeds of her famous;-sons. SOME O. FTJH&T'YOUNGSTERS - “A mere catalogue of the mares and youngsters at Sandringham would be as dull as the oatalogue of ships in Homer 7 But some* especially noticeable: creatures, beside the little sister to Diamcmd ‘ JJa - bilee,' who has befen named Nadeja, are a yearling - 'col t by Persimmon out "hf Meadow Oh at, and a colt foal by Persimmon out of Laodamia. The last-men-tioned foal (whose-dam-was an unpleasantly notorious mare belonging to the late Mr Pulton, and was bought by the Prince of Wales as a brood mare for 35,Q(X ; gqineas) is i n comparUb 1 y the . b'estlooking foal I have ever seen, and worth considerably more than the filly by Persimmon, put of Ornament. V- v

AN INCIDENT AT THE DERBY. v “The ordinary spectator belietves that when Diamond Jubilee wins the Eclipse Stakes, Diamon Jubilee’s owner is quite as pleased to receive £1.0,000 as he—the spectator—wouldi be.. This , produces

some very human sympathy and congratulations, so that the man who would no more have congratulated the Duk<of Westminster on winning the* Derby, than he would chaff the Czar of Russia about the appearance cf a new baby, throws up his hat and cheers with warm persona ldelight when the Prince wins a race. I remember a certain person who was in a box at Epsom last May, having come, rather against his will and while deploring the Prince’s bad example in patronising the turf at all, to see a famous national spectacle. As someoneppinte'd out the crowd which overran the course after the Derby, cheering Diamond Jubilee, and. his owner, the young critic said contemptuously: “Na - urally these people che’er him; they’re his friends.’ To which a quiet stranger in an adjoining box answered 'And so are we, all o fus,’ and fell to cheering, top.

COLONEL NORTH AND FLORIZEL

: “English turf folks are no sycophants, and they judge, condemn ,and approve all new-comers into their world, whether princes, financiers, or stable lads. At the Epsom spring meeting of 189-5, when Florizel 11., then a barely-known atom iii a barely-considered racing stud, wen a small race, beatin ga horse called Wherwell belonging to the late Colonel North, I remember quite a small demonstration taking place. Scmei eighty or hundred people collected in front of North’s box shouting: ‘You’ve been robbed, Colonel! They’ve robbed -you to pldase the Prince of Wales! Wherwell could have won easily !’ Cotonet North rose up in his box and his face became, if possible, a shade more purple than usual. 'Nonseiise, gentlemen, nonsense!’ he shouted back; ‘no treason* Three cheers for the Prince of Wales: and the crowd responded with goodhumoured laughter.”

THE GIANT AND THE DWARF. “One of the most curious sights I know of,” writes a journalist, living in the Premier’s part ;of the world, “is that of Lord Salisbury and his page boy together. Whenever Lord Salisbury goes up to town or returns to Hatfield, he is escorted and met by a diminutive hoy in buttons ,an exceedingly - smart little person. He looks after his distinguished- master’s things, conveys them to the carriage, and generally attends to his comfort. As the world knows, Lord Salisbury is a man of ample proportions in figure, and to see this pair together is certainly amusing. It reminds one of a giant and a dwarf. ’

LUCKY FOR THE BEAR. . Lord Ourzon’s decision to forego has “sporting” trip to the forest of Gir,.-and so spare the lives of some of the more or less tame, maneless lions still to be found there, is creditable’ to him. India has too marly stories already of the class of sport that is provided to order for touring personages. It is even said that, oned when a Royalty visited the Punjab, and expressed a desire to shoor. a bear in a part of the province where those animals are not, it was noticed that the bear-pit in the local zoological gardens suddenly became vacant. Royalty, however, made a shocking bad shot, and the bear* pit was re-tenanted a day or two later. LORD LEICESTER’S ANCESTOR, A Brighton correspondent writes: “In your paper of to-day you have something to say of Lord Leicester. Perhaps' you' do not know the story of his ancestor,' Mr Coke, of Norfolk, the well-known agriculturist. He had attained a goodly age—seventy, I believe—-and was still a bachelor. '.His hdir-presumptive, anephew, was also: unmarried, and his uncle was ; anxious; that he should tatce unto himself a .wife- So he looked!-out' for a young lady of b.eauty and intelligence, and directed his nephew to pay. his. addresses to her. - This: the youngman did in so.reluctant and half-hearted a manner that, when he did, at last propose, he was promptly rejected. Thereupon Mr. Coke .waited upon the lady-on P, 6 E ler to reconsider her decision. -No, ' said she, T will not marry your nephew, hut I will, mayry you, if .you like/' And; marrj' t-noy and. tixe diildL of" the marnage cut the nephew, cut of an immense fortune.” ; LORD CODYILLiB OF, CULROSS.; ... Colville pf Ocilross etnterecl upon, his eighty-third year the other day, and: is still wonderfully hale and hearty for’, his age. Although one of the numerous. Scottish, peers who have how ?,° territorial interest in Scotlan4 j: fie" has always kept up a connection with his native country. Lord Colville’s mother was a daughter of the ancient house) of Mure’ of Caldwell', in Ayrshire; and he,:’ himself, was formerly much in Scotland/ although lie has for' many years pastlived chiefly in the Isle* of Wight, Lady' Colville is.a daughter of the second Lord Carrington; and' halfi-sistep 'to Lady Blythswood and the Countess of Harrington, v- : - -Y

A VETERAN COURTIER. . Lord Colville’s connection with the Court dates back for nearly half a century, as he was appointed an Equerry to the Queen as long ago, as 1852, and has held the office of Chamberlain to the Princess of Wales for nearly thirty years. has always been a persona

grata in Royal circles, an din the early days of the Queen’s great bereavement was of frequent and special attendance on her majesty. To the outer world Lord Colvilie has been, perhaps, best known as the chairman, for a period of almost five-and-thirty years' of the London and North-Wehtern Railway. He is a Justice of the Peace for Hampshire and Middlesex.

A LONG-LIVED RAC7. One of Lord Colville’s sisters married Viscount New.ry, father of the.- present Lord Kilmorey, whose son and heir, Lord Newry and Morne, lias been keeping ais seventeenth birthday in tile same week as his great uncle is celebrating his eighty-second. This young man comes of a long-lived family cn both sides, for the last Earl of Kilmorey died in his ninetyfourth year, and his father and grandfather both lived well into the eighties. Beore His accession to the title the present earl was noted for his interest in things theatrical. He ran the! St. James’s Theatre for a season or two, and an English version of “Les Danicheff” was successfully produced there under his management.

LAD CARBERY’S FATHER. On thd long list of Mayors of St. Albans—a list which covers hundreds of years—the name of Mr Henry J. Toulmin now appears for the fourth time. Mr Toulmin is -Lady Carbery’s fatner and is one of the foremost of Herefordshire men. There is scarcely a public body on which he has not served. He is an old Lancer, and talks interestingly of his experiences in the Tipperary election; he has served in the Herts Militia; he was honorary secretary to. the St. Albans Abbey Restoration Fund before Lord Grimthorpe undertook the work, and is now busily elngaged in engineering the St. Albans Deanery EndowmentFund, towards which he has already collected about £12,000.

Mr Toulmin is a member of the local Board of Guardians. . One day he was on his way to a committee meeting at the workhouse, when a tramp accosted him, and asked for alms. “Now, my good fellow,” he replied, “don’t you think that oa a cold day like, this, it would be better if you we'ht to the Union Workhouse ? You would have plenty to eat there!” The tramp looked disgusted." “Ugh!” cried he ; “it ? s just like yer! X ’opd as ’cw you'll be in the work’us yourself one' o' these yer days!” “Thank you, my friend,” replied Mr Toulmin; “I’m just going there.” Later in the day they met in the casual ward.

LORD GRIMTHORPE THE TIRELESS'.

“It is ngt generally known,” writes a Hertfordshire correspondent, “that Lord Grimthorpe is busily engaged in drawing up another Church Discipline Bill. But such is the fact. Notwithstanding his paralytic stroke of some twelve months ago and his great age—he is eighty-four —he works as unceasingly and untiringly as he did thirty years ago. The last time I saw him in his library at Batch Wood he was poring over some books on architecture. He rings the changes on his hobbies. First it is clock-making, then ecclesiastical law, and then architecture., Continuous writing, he says, makes his fingers ache; yet, to the surprise of all who know it, he is always scribbling. So habitual has been his application to work that it has become part of his second nature.”- ; • • • - : ■ THE BISHOP OF OSSORY. -The Bishop of Ossory,' whose action lor libel against Mr Standish O'Grady, novelist and historian, has brought him somewhat prominently before the public, is ond of the-youngest bishops in the. kingdom. Clever and ambitious, losing no. opportunity of coining to the front, th Bishop has the good word of all sorts and conditions of men. Lord SaHsbury invites him to dinner, the Catholics of his diocese respect him> and his own clergy find him a tactful, pleasant chief. -Of; middle height, with keen, bright eyes; and a ; genial manner; ‘the Bishop is a first-rate whip, excelled at football, drives a smart mail-phseton, and is a noted Gaelic scholar.

HYMN AND COLD CHICKEN. A cprrosp ondent writes‘‘Your clerical 'cbfitHbu’t or wKo/trrites Of thh episcopal plaint of the ineyTca.bleness of. the hymn, ‘The Church’s One Foundation,’ has put the saddle: on the wrong horse. It ,3vaa the late Archbishoip Magee who, when Bishop of Peterborough, pn'cehiimorously } observed to an uncle "pf mine,, that if hoi were asked what two things lie was moat tired of m his official capacity, fie would; unhesitatingly - reply,' ‘The Hymn, “The Church’s One Foundation/’ and cold chicken for lunch—the two inevitable accompaniments of church consecrations!’ ; Compare with this the eftquoted saying of Lord Tclnnyson that' the only material advantage his laureateship gave him, was that he was invariably offered the liver-wing - of chicken at luncheon!”

’ , SIR ANDREW LUSK. .' “Here/' writeJs an Edinburgh correspondent, “is a little incident to supplement your recent account of the Parliamentary career of the monagenarian exLord Mayor of London, and eix-M.P. for Finsbury. It is worth recalling, as it is

highly characteristic of him. When Lord Beaconsfield brought forward his Bill to confer upon the Queen the additional title of ‘Empress of India,’ it was opposed on various grounds by the Lib- .. era! party in general, then in opposition. ” A few Liberals, however, supported the” Bill, and amongst them was sir Andrew Lusk. When taken to task by a colleague on the Liberal benches for thus deserting his party, Sir Andrew’s reply ' was : ‘The Queen conferred a title upon r me, and if she wishete an additional title for herself, I don’t se© why I should not return the comphment.’ ” . ;

TWO STUDENT STORIES. OF LO D KELVIN, jy y'y-yy : : .yy Lord Kelvin, Vho retired last year from his professorship of Natural philo-' sophy at the University of Glasgow, was* too brilliant a. mathelmatician to. be. the; best of teachers, being often unable;:; to * ee that the perfect mid rapid . workings of his own mind were far beyond those of most of his students- At thef time when he received his knighthood, his r senior assistant, Mr Day, was a very; good teacher, who excelled) in proceeding steadily and’ in carefully examining his steps. During the ‘Professor’s ah-; sence Mr Day, of course, took his place, and on the morning when the Professor was to meet his class' for the first time its Sir William Thompson, one. of the students went up to the blackboard and wrote on it, “Work while it i 3 Day; the Knight cometh when no man can work !” •

Lord Kelvin once surprised his class by the quick and amusing manner in which he solved a problem on “sound.” In the midst of an experiment Lord Kelvin had ceased lecturing, and was si-' lently watching, along with most of the students, the progress of the experiment. There was a dead silence, which was suddenly and rudely broken by toe sound of a marble, which an> inattentive student had purposely dropped, and which continued- to roll and drop, drop, drop down all the tiers of benches till itreached the ground floor. Meanwhile: Lord Kelvin had quickly turned round and observed where the marble emerged on to the floor. He counted back' the number of times he had heard it drop, and requested Mr X- of the seventh tier to see him after the lecture. The Professor had “spotted” the) culprit; "

WORTHY OF LORD BRAMPTON. > Lord Brampton has a deserved reputation for the biting truth of his caustic, remarks from the Bench. Here, however, is a comment made by Sir Gainsford Bruce at an assize where he was presiding last week, which is worthy of Sir Henry Hawkins at his best. Two prisoners charged with fowl-stealing were brought before him, but were found not guilty by the jury. . “You are discharged,” said the Judge to the acquitted; pair, “and I quite agree with the jury iti giving you the benefit of the doubt.But X think you know more about those fowls than either I or the jury!’’ ; ;

SIR THOMAS ROE’S FATHER

Sir Thomas Roe, M.P., the re-elected.; M.P. for Derby, is the! eldest son of the late Mr Thomas Roe, J.P. who (writes a Derby correspondent) was our Mayor iii. 1863-5. Mr Roe was a successful timber merchant, and a host of friends; by- his hearty, -bluff manners. If he had. a fault, it was in the too frequent remark, that he was proud of being a-self-made man. But the time cam© when he ceased, to use that phrase. On one occasion, 1 when there was a hotly-eontefeted muni-, cipal ward meeting, Mr Roe, who was, a candidate, made somewhat voceriferf-v ously his stock allusion- to his, being;a.a; self-made man. A clever Conservative opponent took the-wind-out of his sails, by subsequently stating, at . the same; meeting/ that for his part he had always melieved that' his parents,- under thee blessing of Providence, bad brought- himu into the world, and he expected-/that; it must be the case with the audience at large.; But now that they had it at first hand that had made himself he could quite forgive the poor man the extravagance, of his opinions) . ...

-••- -A- • FAMOUS-. QUARREL/ • 0,- \ Mr Nicholls a message froman old acquaintance-who was going to see - the “show” (at Drury Dane.-* He hack been at. several - timet3,: but; on the ocea- 7 sion' referred —to, intended- - taking-hi&i: mother With Him 7; an'did lady"'who hadliot • been inside a theatre for- 7 twentyyears. “Puss in Boots 'contained quarreil scene between,'"'the King and Queen which: is -£amous: in; k tag The old: lady had been told about thja, i and her son looked—forward tej seeing her - enjoy a £ ,hearty laugh. .- Some time after, tho Mr Nieholls Vmet bis; frlend, apd inquired, “Well, and. <Ld.ryour. mother .think oL the qaanttb.-. mine that night ?” ' “It was- oh© of - the - most extraordinary . -experiences.. I eyer> had,”; replied his friend.- !“My , mother, • enjoy ed dierself for a < conffidera-bier ; in; fact,; till your quarrel scene occurred/ And then when the rebt of-the audience > convulsed with laughter, I was astounded to hud her dissolved in tears, sfmMngJ with sobs ; I tried to find out* what was" wrong, but she was so upset that I ac- ; tiially had to take her out of the tre, and then she' told me what was the matter. ‘Oh/ she said, ‘to* hear that man and woman quarrelling like that! I- couldn t help it, but it did so, remind, me of the dys when your poor father was alive!” ••

WANTED—LABELS FOR CELEBRITIES. At the box office of one of the principal theatres, I overheard (writes a playgoer) the following conversation between a fine soldierly-looking man who stood before. me and the- box-cjßce-keeperl •want stalls for this evenings P^ 01 ” ance.” ' “Very .sorry,-sir, Jiot to bad ” “Oh, come! was the reply* “you surely have something left— depend upon it, you have some up your sleeve somewhere. But the man was quite inexorable, and iT-peatcd wyh emphas l ;; ■■ y«Verv sorry, sir, but quite impossiDie. Nothing daunted the soldieirly-lookmg 1 - dividuai; insisted, stating he was a pe - fonal fnoud of the manager and felt nprtain it could be arranged, finally, however, he turned away, evidently mncn Spoittad, saying he would retumUrter to see if any tickets had been returned. As left he handed his card to the man. He was scarcely out of sight before the 'box-officcJ keeper, who was standing gaaing at the card with a look of bewildered and .mortified astonishment m 1 his face, exclaimed: Well, I m Mowed, if that wasn’t ‘Sir• Itedvers Buller; home, from the front, and I didnt let him in! If I had only known! In the next morning’s paper, however, an 'announcement appeared: Sir Red vers Buller was present at the performance of • atthe —— theatre last night, ’ So the box-office keeper was able to find a seat after all! CONCERNING ANECDOTES. - The rich vein of good and first-hand 1 theatrical, stories which my Green Room” correspondent has been working for some months past, has kindled the sacred fire of emulation in the breasts of many of my readers. But, alas, many of them do not know how essential it iSj • 'in anecdotes of this description, that they should! be got at first hand from, thp principals themselves, as is the case with the two stories which fellow :

R-G.’S STORY OF AN ASS. “R. G. Knowles tells a story,” writes a well-knawn songwriter, “of playing to a mining audience in a very rough quar- ; , ter of Pennsylvania, where he verily be.lieves his life was in ranger for a second or two. He was travelling with “Muldoon s Picnic,” and the Irish miners first objected to the posters, where red-whiskered and disreputable lrisUmen were displayed in all sorts of unci , heroic positions. So, m deference to the wishes of a stalwart deputation, “WuldoonV Picnic” was staged with tne actors and actresses in faultless evening ' dress. Even then, the audience was but half convinced. They had a suspicion that they were geing ‘got at, and finally * .they noticed the absence of a donkey . which figured on the bills grammes as a trick performer. Unfortunately, this donkey had been delayed on the road, so when ominous murmurs in front broke into loud demands .or !. V'the animal’s appearance Knowles was • deputed to explain matters. Directly he that the ass had been delayed on the road there was a roar of It s a lie!’ and every head in the gallery most mysteriously disappeared from, sight. '“Then,, somebody- cried : Give him a chance!’ and the heads appeared again. Knowles told them a few stories, worked like a nigger, he says, listening ail the while for news that the belated ctonkey had arrived. Suddenly, just when he felt like giving in, he heard the patter of feet on the rocky road of the defile leading to the opera houses (it was a , i,. chapel, by the way!) .and he knew the position was saved. The patient moke was quickly pushed upon the! stage, ana sdl went merry as a marriage! bell, iNextmorning Knowles exmined the ga-lery to see what the men had been reaching for when their heads disappeared from sight. He says there was a ton of pig-iron under the seats !”

MR HARRY NICHOLAS. Once upon a time a Drury Dane pantomine was never reckoned complete without the assistance of Mr Harry Nicholls, a comedian of the old school, who seems to have settled down to ,a quiet life at Bedford Park. He usdd to figure as fellow laughter-maker with Herbert Gawapbelh and one' of their many triumphal was scored when they played! the King and Queen in ‘‘Puss in Boots. Regarding thia pantomine, a story is told by Harry Nicholls which is seasonable jvst now.

CONCERNING MISS ELEANOR CALHOUN.

Miss Calhoun was born in California. It is rather strange that the three principal actresses now at Her Majesty s are all Americans- - Miss Bateman- (Mrs Crowe) is from Maryland, and Miss Jeffries from Tennessee. Miss Calhouns most interesting work and study have been in France. She played Cathanna, in “The Taming of The Shrew, to M. Coquelin s Petruccio. Her first appearance in Paris was in comedy as light as thistledown, and after this her performance of Hermione, in Racine s tragedy “Andromaque,” was as great a surprise as it was a success.