LONDON GOSSIP.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 4572, 17 February 1893, Page 2

LONDON GOSSIP.

[FROM OUB LONDON COBBESPONDBNT. I London, Jan. 6. "HAPPY NEW YEAR." A soured old bachelor whom convivial friendß persisted in bombarding with " Happy New Tears," last Saturday evening thus relieved his mind whilst the joy bells were ringing— • Call thee " New Tear "thou ancient shrew, Why c'en thy- nickname is not " new," ' The timeworn. features of thy race Show on thy wrinkled cunning face. "Tis just the same old joy and pain In other guise renewed again, We've ever had to take or leave ' Humbly, or proudly. And believe ' I 'Tis but the hammer of the strife That shapes at last each human life * * * Hast thon, old .'93, in store Nothing we have not known before ? Then, year, at least in speech be true ; "Happy " tliou inay'st be — but not " new." The Chronicle of Monday published a New Year's prayer by the so-called mad poet, William Watson, which contains some fine line 3, and shows the young man is getting better. Here are five of them :— Oh 1 Thou, whose homestead is eternity, Who see'st the hunger and the toil of men, And how the love of life, and wife, and babe Is brother of hate and Bire of deeds of death, Give peace, give peace— peace in our time, O Lord ! ÜBS MAYBRICK SWALLOWS NEEDLES. Mrs Maybrick's mother having vehemently contradicted the rumour that her daughter had attempted to commit suicide, and assailed in violent terms the paper which circulated the rumour, the prison authorities have thought it well to permit the real facts to . transpire. It seems either the Baroness von Eoques, er some equally indiscreet person, told the poor prisoner tha>t women afflicted with a mortal disease, such as consumption, had in certain instances been released. The idea of feigning a complaint of the sort in consequence suggested itself to Mrs Maybrick, and, after consultation with other women like herself in hospital, she obtained somehow, and with characteristic pluck swallowed, several needles. The effect was to produce blood-Bpit-ting and a serious illness. At first the prison doctor did nob suspect any hocus pocus, though needle-swallowing is a common enough expedient amongst convicts anxious to be placed on the sick list. In consequence Mrs Maybrick grew pretty bad. Then another prisoner fearful of what would happen to herself (the donbr of the needles) if Mrs Maybrick died, owned up to the doctors and proper treatI tnent was administered. Mrs Maybrick has for some time now been out of danger, but is in very low spirits at the failure of her scheme. The desperation with which — at great risk, and the cost; of agonising > physical suffering— she carried it through, j shows her to possess (as the prosecution at this trial maintained) great force of J character. MISSING WORDS. Mr C. Arthur Pearson, who, but four ; short weeks ago, was pluming himself on ; the phenomenal success of the missing ! word competitions* now wishes he had never hit upon that much too happy

thought. What it will coßt him before alt jis done no one can even approximately guess. At present Mr Pearson knows that " the heavy expenses he w<us suddenly put I to in order to conduct the competitions | carefully, without charging the competitors a farthing, have far more than swamped '• the profits of his papers' extra circulation. Furthermore, the Anti-Gambling League has— now all ib well over — aroused itself tn action, and assisted three "victims" (what unutterably mean skunks they must be I) to bring actions against Pearson to recover their embargoed shillings. Of conrae, too, a large proportion of the successful "unaccountable" gueseers blame the poor man for all that has happened ; in fact, as he cays, " I've brought a hornets' nest about my ears." The case of the fortunate person who (I told you three mails ago) guessed the correct word a large number of times, and won between .£6OO and J6700, makes me smile whenever I think of it. Thiß iodividual was co proud of his achievement that he didn't pass bis cheque through the bank at once, but kept it to wave io the faces of les3 lucky beings, Alas ! when the cheque did at length reach the bank PearBon's money had all been seized, and payment was refused. Nor did threats and profane objurgations in the smallest degree alter the situation. Even when the poor man woefully confesaed he'd previously waete'd nearly £200 on the competitions the authorities were unmoved. THE TWO WIIiLIAHSKS. Afc the National Liberal the other evening a friend of Lord Itosebery's was narrating a yarn the latter had told him the previoußday concerning his erstwhile tutor, Bobert Williams, who was practising at the Old Bailey bar about the same time as poor Montagu Williams was making a great reputation there. "Bob" Williams, like Monty, tried several vocations, bat, unlike the latter, he somehow succeeded in nope of them. Prom a fellowship at Oxford " Bob" Williams drifted into nice tutorBhips, " bear loading " first Lord Boaebery and then Lord Lansdowne. Afterwards he tried the bar, but olients declined to put their trust in a hare-brained genius. 8O " Bob " devoted hie talents to old nort and sporting journalism, and finally sank into a pauper's grave. "Bob" Williams, genial soul, could always laugh at himself " and used to tell with great gusto one of his few experiences at the Old Bailey. It was when prosecuting a notorious thief. "Guilty or not guilty P" said the uaher to the prisoner, who responded, "Oa's a proaecutin'?" "Mr Williams," was the reply. " Then I pleads 'guilty.' " tip rose Mr Bobert Williams to open the case, but before he could speak the man in the dock growled to the warder, " What the blank bloomin' blank did yer say Williams were agin me for P" "So he is." " Gam, that ain't Monty." "No, certainly not ; ifca Mr Bobert Williamß." "Then I don'fc plead guilty," bawled the acoused. " The little fat bloke 'ull *aye to earn 'h quids •not guilty,' my lord." Moreover, poor " Bob *[ didn't find the earning at all easy. The thief knew far more about the facts and the witnesses than he did ; in tact, but • for his initial slip, ,the accused would have got off. THE RENAISSANCE OF THH CRINOLINE. The fiat has gone forth. M. Worth and • his myrmidons have spoken, - and a third renaissance of the crinoline is all but an accomplished fact. At the New Gallery private view on Saturday the great Oscar, green as his own carnation with subdued suffering, indicated that more than one smart dame obviously wore what Mr Mantalini called " a dear little demnition hoop.'^ So far the fashion' is rather be» coming. .It has, I am authoritatively assured, effectually done away with that hideous invention, the bus——, I beg pardon, the dress improver, and if it does not swell into any gros3 excesses, as it did.'; before, the masculine mind will do well to - ignore its existence. The year 1864 or '65 saw the apogee of the crinoline. I can just remember in a - burlesque of the period these lines : Upon thy broad foundation crinoline The first great spread of women's rights was seen, And when the fashion took the Town by storm The belles in beauty became bells in form. A little pun went a long way in those dark agee. We are wiser now. Hayden, . by-the-way, gives the date of the^ second coming of the crinoline as 1855, but judging by Leech's sketches the. fashion did' not begin to catch-on badly here till just thirty years ago. Beyond an occasional" soupgon of crinoline the dresses at Saturday's private views were, conventional,, heavy fur mantles, fur-trimmed costumes and boaß, pre-dominatiag. A lady in a long ; cloak of exquisitely matched Russian sables was. much admired owing to a complexion recalling the Jersey Lily of '76. AN UNPRINCIPLED SCOUNDREL. Here is a theme for a strong article on the "Decadence of Human Feeling." Allswindling is cruel, but there ia in the following swindle a particular degree of cruelty which will be appreciated by most people. As you know, it is a custom with our largely circulated weeklies to devote, free of any charge, a certain amount of space each issue to the services of tLo3e desirous to discover lost friends and missing relations. Some unprincipled scoundrel Baw in this most excellent feature of our Press the base of operations for a heartless fraud. His modus operandi waa simplicity itself. Someone, let us say, was anxious, to near news of "'John Brown/ who' left England in. 1879 for Australia," &o. To the person making the enquiry the swindler would write as fol-lows:—-"Dear Sir,— -Me and my brother as just come from Brisbane, Australia, and can give you full particulars of John Brown, who is doing well iv the above city. My brother, at Brighton, as photo and address ; but I will wire to him for them, and Bend them on to , yon if you care to forward me twenty stamps for postage and telegram." This note, with the sole alteration of names and place would, of couree, serve to send to every enquirer. For a brief space the fraud worked admirably,, and its originator lived in luxury. But ofr its very nature the swindle could not live long. One of the victims wrote to the papers and then came the end. The perpetrator evaded capture, but 'his ingenious method of money-making waa rendered abortive, each newspaper heading its " Missing Friends' " column, with acaution, to ' enquirers not to send stamps to anyone.