A Busy Prince.

Otago Witness, Issue 1813, 20 August 1886, Page 33

A Busy Prince.

No man in England pursues ' pleasure more persistently than the heir apparent to to the throne of great Britain. The restless activity of the Prince of Wales is simply amazing. A peep at his monthly diary of engagements^would appall most men. What with levees, drawing rooms, public dinners, "\ balls, presiding as music exhibitions and ■Masonic meetings, laying corner-stones, visiting hospitals, shooting off into remote shires to open docks, tunnels, and bridges, assisting at the erection of statues of statesmen, warriors, and poets — what with these functions, to say nothing of looking in at horse, cattle, and flower shows, steaming down to Windsor or Osborne to confer with I his Queen mother and turning up promptly at most of the premieres at the dozen or so London theatres he invariably attends, one would reasonably infer that the Prince of Wales is not only as busy as the proverbial bee, but never has a minute to himself. Doubtless the partial retirement of the Queen throws a great deal of social routine work upon him, but he is equal to the demand. He has been known to leave a ball at 3 a.m., and be in the train equipped for a shooting expedition a hundred miles or more away from town the same morning at 9.30. But there is one evening of the week that the Prince reserves to himself, and no amount of influence or intriguing will induce him to engage himself to any formal function, no matter how important it may be on that night. It is his " night off," and on that occasion it is quite understood among his " set," as his little knot of intimates is tetfmed, that he is to enjoy himself sans f aeon. He dines early with his family, and then the night is his own, and he usually visits his personal friends. Alfred de Eothschild is the Prince's most successful host. He is generous, cultivated, possesses great wealth, and his fine house is a museum of the loveliest and costliest art treasures. He has the advantage of knowing most of the amusing people of London. He knows most of the pretty actresses and the reigning beauties of society, and all in good time he is made aware of the coming of his royal guest. Now and again M. de Rothschild will engage a great violinist like Joachim, a pianist of the Rubinstein genre, or singer such as Faure or Capoul, to take part in the festivities. But in a general way the performers are the honoured guests of the host and expect neither fee nor reward. — Brooklyn Eagle. GOSSIPY PARAGRAPHS. — Anent the crusade against the wearing of stuffed skins and plumage of birds, it has been decided that the wearing of ostrich plumes is admissible, inasmuch as it doesn't hurt the ostrich to be deprived of its feathers. — "Stripes or not stripes," that is the question of the moment in Paris, and though the manufacturers have prepared them \>y thousands in all kinds of stuff, cheap and dear, the best-dressed people appear somehow to have decided against them. Notwithstanding this, however, there are many beautiful strided gowns, and a happy combination is yellow and pearl-grey. Any shade of grey is well worn in Paris, favourites being the delicate looking-glass, the lead, and the still darker tones. — Young girls have taken a sudden craze for donkey carts this season, the donkey for some reason having awakened to find himself fashionable, no doubt greatly to his own astonishment, says the Chicago Tribune. The small ponies are no longer in demand, but in their stead the donkey is sought after with a persistency that bespeaks him a greater popularity than he will perhaps possess when the fair purchasers become more familiar with his tricks and manners. The finest breeds are being brought to New York, and are sold as fast as they arrive. Every girl must have one of these sleek creatures among her possessions, or be very unhappy. The fancy is for the large white donkey, which is not only difficult to get, but looks very handsome in fine trappings, and is supposed to be more amiably j disposad toward mankind than his common 1 grey-coated brother. The fashion has been brought over from France, where donkey carts are seen always at the summer resorts and on the Bois. — The status of women physicians in Massachusetts is steadily improving. They are now admitted to the Medical Association of the State, and employed in increasing numbers in women's prisons, reformatories, insane asylums, and children's hospitals. — A little fashion which pretty women will appreciate has found a great deal of favour here (writes a Paris correspondent), viz., the wearing of a piece of ribbon tied round the throat, the bow on the left side, which just peeps over the collar or tucker. With black and greys, and the neutral tints which are very certainly worn, this gives just the coquettish touch of colour needed, Brunettes affect yellow; blondes and medium complexions, blues and cardinals, of the tone that suits them. Like all these additions, they require care, taste, and nattiness ; for badly or unbecomingly put on they would be disfiguring-. Among our best milliners, there is a modification in the very high hats and bonnets worn : but they nearly all describe a point above the forehead, and are narrow. You may destroguisQ an English bonnet from a French

at a glance by the breadth. Some of the prettiest simple dresses I have seen of late, have been made of soft woollen Vigogne intermixed with Surah — both, if carefully [ selected, good-wearing. The Surah is used as a plaited plastron or vest, and panels on the skirt. Large bows of either material often appear on the back of the skirt ; and the tunics, generally long, and but little draped, arc fastened with large buttons. — A French woman confesses to having attended 722 balls in the effort to catch a husband, and only to have caught instead bronchitis fourteen times, pleurisy thrice, and 120 colds in the head. The inference is plain that she wears her dresses too low, and dances very badly. — The old forms of porcelain have been revived for afternoon tea services, and some of them are very quaint. The favourite colours are black and gold, pink and gold, brown and coral red. The service consists of teapot, cream and milk jugs, water- kettle, sugar and slop basin, a covered muffin dish, and six cups and saucers on a circular tray. — The Queen has sent, through her commisioner at Balmoral, a letter to the editor of Bon, Accord, a weekly illustrated paper published in Aberdeen, expressing her Majesty's pleasure upon reading a homely little poem published in that paper entitled " She Nodded to Me," and desiring to know the name of the author. The poem, which appears in another column, describes a wayside incident during the Queen's journey to Balmoral. — An English magazine writer makes bold to say that table manners are best " disclosed" by observing how one eats asparagus, oranges, artichokes, and grapes. ' — The peristent and determined bachelor has much to answer for. Statistics prove that married women average two years longer of life than spinsters. — The greatest social event since my last letter (writes the Rome correspondent of the Queen) has been the marriage of our Syndic Duke Leopold Torlonia with Donna Eleonora Monroy, daughter of the Prince and Princess di Bclmonte. All classes of Roman citizens took a warm interest in -the event, and so many were the addresses of congratulation, gifts, tokens of goodwill, that the bride and bridegroom were constrained to make a public acknowledgement of them in the newspapers, being unable to answer each separately. The bride's trousseau — with the exception of one or two dresses from Paris — was ordered entirely from Roman tradesmen. The lingerie provided by Salvi, in the Corso, was especially rich and elaborate, and was on view for the friends of the princess during several days. Some of the chemises were cut very low en cccur, and the space thus left was filled in by a mass of the finest hand embroidery, or in some cases of Valenciennes lace. The night dresses were trimmed with insertion of lace and embroidery over bands of coloured silk. One was very elegant, with a falling jabot of Torchon lace, and elbow sleeves with long ruffles of the same. There was an immense variety of handkerchiefs, some of rose-coloured or blue batiste embroidered in white, and some white with coloured embroidery ; besides many richly trimmed with costly lace. Every article was marked with the cipher E.M. (Eleonora Monroy), surmounted by the ducal crown. Among the innumerable gifts of jewellery was a bracelet given by the King of Italy, containing a superb emerald of unusual size. The bridal pair left Rome after the ceremony for Frascati. I hear that the Duke and Duchess Torlonia purpose visiting Scotland in the course of the present season.