LONDON GOSSIP.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 4766, 5 October 1893, Page 2

LONDON GOSSIP.

[FBOM OUB LONDON CORRESPONDENT.! London, August 11. ™ Readers of my introductory paragraphs to fcbese letters have no doubt often i wished I would abbreviate the flowery I preparatory periods arid proceed promptly ,to unfold my u«wa budget. They will, i therefore, sympathise with the burglar j who, when Judge Bramwell was reading j him' in HonorouH tones the usual "prisoner - at the bar" exbortation prior to sentence, j interjected "Oh ! stow that. 'Ow much ?" . "Bight yosro/' snapped the Judge j instantly. [ Mr Shell, at Weetininater Police Courfc last Saturday retorted equally pointedly— . " So *elp n:e Gord/' exclaimed a brute who had been living on hia wife and assaulting her, "So 'f)p,uie Gord. I won't never lay an 'and on hep no more." "No," responded the Magistrate with quiet cordiality, " I don't think you will ; indeed I I may hay I'm certain you won't for — six j months." I EEADT BETOHT3. ! The reading of resource and retort required by the magisterial and judicial bench is, however, a trifle compared to what the man must possess who teaches in I a Sunday School. Mr Monro, of St John's, | Leeds, telis me, 'tis true (though the stoiy • is not new), that he was once taking a class . on the subject of Jacob's Ladder, when a 1 email boy asked, "Pleaße, sir, angela 'as wings, 'aen't they?"" "Certainly, my | boy, certainly," the teacher replied. j "Then why," rejoined the young rationi aliat, " should they want a ladder ? " j The Vicar, to gain time, a&ked whether auy child conld suggest an j answer. He wae amply rewarded. " Please, i sir," sad a little bright-faced girl, whose ! father was a bird fancier, " I expec's the angels was all a-moulting! " WANDBIIING JBWfl. One of the physicians at that abode of uncanny experiments, the Salpetriere Hospital, in Paris, professes to have discovered the course of the Wandering Jew legend, &nd pronounces that fictional hero a "nervopathe voyageur." From the middle of the thirteenth century to the close of the seventeenth, aonie rogue, fanatic or crazy Hebrew, eager, to pick up the shekels of the pious or to escape persecution, was ever and anon appearing in the di3guise of a Jew, who, aa a ' punishment for*having reviled Christ on Calvaty, was condemned to roam the world till His second coming. He bore various j names, spoke many tongues, and waa a trifle mixed up in hia version of the incident which gave him bo undesirable a longevity. Now, however, Dr Meigo, the eminent .specialist on brain disease, recognises him 10 the "nervopatb.es voyageurs " who are constantly applying to the hospital for means of curing their sore 9 complaint-.. They know nothing about the Wandering Jew nor hia literature. The poor wretches are simply plagued with a perpetual itch for moving on. Thoy are invariably Oriental Jewa, haggard, weather-beaten wretcbe3, and bearing' a strong likeness to the traditional Cartophilus and his copiere. Like them, they speak many languages, and have tried both medicine and magic in the hope of lifting the spell under which they believe themselves to be. They can never settle anywhere for long, but always manage to keep a few coma to pay their way when the next wandering fit seized them. Their disease has usually been produced by some serious nervous shock, and is incurable. THE DAFT DOUGLASES. Nothing that any member of Lard Queensberry's crack-brained family could do would cause Society much surprise. Still the announcement that the Marchioness, who used to be a disciple of Plato and talk loftily of the possibilities of a New Republic iv England, 'should have joined the Salvation Army and become a convert to" ham, jam and glory teas," is a bib startling. The Douglas family have now pretty well boxed the religious compass. The Marquis everybody knows to be h militant agnostic, his eldest son (Lord Drumlanri^ia a strict Episcopalian, his younger son (Lord Alfred) an esoteric Buddhist, and his brother (Lord Archibald) a Roman Catholic. The'' Douglases have also other interesting peculiarities. All the world, knows of Lady Florence Dixie's vagaries, and till the late Lord James Douglas committed suicide, he was several times before the public, and twice before a Magistrate on odd charges. Lady Gertrude Stock, another siafcer, married a baker, and the pair trade together as Mr and Lady Gertrude Stock. Lord Drumlanrig, the boir whom Mr Gladstone recently made a peer in his own right, tj hie pareuts' fioreohngriu, is a very able promising young man', lie views his "awful dad" with sorrowing disapproval, and has done all he can to straighten up the family generally. Lord Alfred, the younger brother, aUo shapes well. He 1 goes in for being literary, edited a smart little monthly called" the. Spirit Lamp whilst at Cambridge, and worship's at the shrine of Oscar Wilde. ' The Marchioness divorced her husband in 1887, the grounds baing desertion and adultery, if I remember aright. Anyhow, the trial of the case lasted barely half an hour in the Scotch Courts. No soaner was it over than the erstwhile married couple became excellent friends, and nowadays Lord Queeasberry m»y often bo met calling on his ex- wife at her house in Cadogan place. j All the Douglases have facile pens. Lord James wrote some capital sporting novels (" Royal Angus'" is the best), and most of us have laughed over Lady Florence Dixie's women's rights romances. The cleverest Douglas of th^t generation however, Lord Francis, who was. killed on the Matterhorn after the first ascent in 1865. A GBAND OLD MAN INDEED. Even the bitterest enemies of our octogenarian Prime Minister must have gaped with astonishment and admiration had they been present at the Agricultural Hall last Saturday and witnessed Mr Gladstone (riving away the prizes at the National Workmen's Exhibition. In the first place : he was fresh and alert as a two-year-old, and as usual absolutely absorbed in the business in hand. Tired legislators there j were on the platform, men with pallid cheeks and weary eyes groaning at being j kept in London in August, but the Premier wasn't one of them. Hia eyes were bright and hie step springy. He looked well pleased with himself! and the world as he found it. The huge.building(the largest in London) was crammed to excess, and, of course, this Grand Old Man met with a j wonderful reception. Even Mrs Gladstone waa satisfied, and smiled approval. When i the cheering subsided (which it took ten i minutes to do) the meeting settled down, and the prize-winners were called up one by one and awarded their trophies. This waa the part of the proceedinga which struck those on the platform most. To ; each individual, whether man or woman, Mr Gladstone had something at once kindly and appropriate (never trivial) to say. To each he said it as if that were to him the most interesting incident of the afternoon. Every prize- taker aa he stepped back, fceaining, bowing, blushing, felt, one could see, that "fte was the supremely honoured hero of the occasion. To others, no doubt, the Prime Minister had made civil remarks, but it was reserved for his exhibit to specially interest the great man.