LONDON.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume IX, Issue 9, 27 February 1892, Page 208

LONDON.

Dear Bee, January 3. Still paramount amongst the New Year questions is the important one of our Royal wedding. According to one statement Society is greatly exercised by the rumour that the Princess Victoria Mary is desirous of being married on the last day of February, ‘Leap Year Day.’ This is not an original idea. More than one cynic has selected that day because it only involves the celebration of a silver wedding day a century afterwards, and the usual anniversary weuding-day party only once every four years. Even if the cynical husband is not a * literalist,’ the choice of February 29th as one's wedding day raises the embarrassing question whether its anniversary in ordinary years should be celebrated on February 28th or on March Ist. I learn on good authority that the eight bridesmaids selected are all daughters of dukes or earls, with the exception of one (the daughter of the Marquis of Bath). They are Lady Margaret Grosvenor, Lady Dorothea Murray, Lady Alexandra Hamilton, Lady Katherine Glynne, Lady Evelyn Lindsay, Lady Victoria Leveson-Gower, Lady Eva i IreviUe, and Lady < lertrude Molyneux. The eldest of the fair group is Lady Eva < Ireville, whose brother, the Hon. Alwyne Greville, was Equerry to the DuKe of Clarence from 1885 until his marriage in 1888, when he was made extra Equerry to the Prince of Wales. The youngest of the bridesmaids is Lady Alexandra Hamilton, who is only fifteen years of age, and the next youngest is Lady Margaret Grosvenor, who is eighteen. The bridesmaidswill weai white and silver, trimmed with May-blossom in compliment to the bride. They will also wear wreaths and veils. The bride’s dress will be trimmed with Honiton lace and orange blossoms. The looms at Spitalfields are, it is said, busier than they have been for over 100 years, weaving the silk for the dresses of the bride and her attendant maids, and also for the trousseau. We are none of us surprised that the Duchess of Teck is very much depressed at the prospect of losing her companion. Princess May lias always been of the greatest assistance to her mother in all her many charitable undertakings. The dress that is already prepared for the young bride s going away is of fine faced white cloth, embroidered with gold and trimmed with sable, and a small white bonnet, with an edging of sable, to rest on her lightbrown hair, is exceedingly pretty, and will suit her to perfection. There is something about Princess May’s figure and manner of doing her hair that gives her at times a great look of the Princess of Wales.

Hunting just now is at a standstill, owing to the weather. Have I ever told you, Bee, how much Miss Tennant has been admired in the field ’ She has been lately staying with Lord Spencer at Althorpe, and wears a real pink coat, being very particular about the proper manly cut of it ; her skirt is a new safety one.

A little German girl is greatly disappointed that the Empress has had another little boy. One of the correspondents of a society paper gives the following translation of the little maiden's letter to a Berlin newspaper. ‘The Kaiser,’ she writes, * has taken the boys’ part in demanding that they should be relieved from too much study at home, and that time for their bodily exercise should l>e freely allowed. Now, my brother has had three afternoons lately for skating, while we girls sat in school over our geometry, geography, and Nibelungenlied. This is not right. My brother says the Emperor s children are all boys, and that is the reason why he looks after boys especially. The girls pray to God every day that the stork will bring him a little girl, so that his Majesty may be led to take mercy upon us girls also.’ A dainty wedding present for the Princess Mary of Teck that I saw recently was a little tortoiseshell eight-day clock mounted in silver. Tortoiseshell ornaments —candlesticks, letter cases, jewel caskets, card trays, and so forth —are fashionable gifts this season. Silver flower vases, too, are largely sold for the same purpose. They are chased or fluted, and sometimes take the form of flowers. The Queen has just bought several, with other things, for gifts. I have been touring the shops lately for novelties, and send yon one or two ideas on the subject of clothes. They are not altogether mine, but they are just what I think. I noticed that this season’s coats are trimmed with very handsome buttons. One of the new models is trimmed with real tot toise-shell buttons as large as a five shilling piece. A beautiful coat for an Italian duchess with a long name that I have forgotten how to spell was of pearl grey and black broche silk and velvet, lined with pale pink brocade. It was made like a covert coat, and fastened down the side with three carved ivory buttons. The rolled-over collar and deep cuff's were of skunk. Another model not so ornate as the one described was dark blue cloth, with braided collar and cuffs of tan cloth fastened with porcelain buttons hand-painted and mounted in steel, faceted to sparkle like diamonds. A beautifully warm-looking coat, made of fawn-coloured frieze cloth, with a brown velvet collar, was adorned with mother-of pearl buttons. If you wear a fashionable sheath gown, my dear Bee, mind you get a petticoat and bodice in one. It is so comfortable and so slimlooking ! It is made of fine stockingette edged with lace, and fits the figure like a glove. The texture of the material is so soft that it can be worn next the most sensitive skin without causing irritation. Some new silk underskirts that I saw elsewhere were lined with flannel. A very pretty one of shot pink and grey silk for evening wear was wadded and quilted inside. It would be warmer and lighter than two ordinary petticoats. I suppose you have had full reports of the great Pearl Mystery ! No one feels any sympathy for the woman who could act so base a part towards her friend. Had not proofs of Mrs Osborne’s guilt been forthcoming, the Hargreaves might have long rested under the imputation of having, for their own ends, slandered an innocent woman. On Christmas Eve I was at Loughborough, where the thermometer registered 17° The highest inland temperature was 35° with the exception of one place, Cambridge, where it rose to 38°. But oh, Bee, /tow’ we did enjoy the skating ? It proved to us that the foundationless skirts are a boon and a blessing to women, because they hang closely and compactly, and, being made with an extra width round the hem they allow greater freedom to the feet. But woe to that woman who thinks she can manage in her ordinary walking dress, and so appears on the ice with a demi train ! One or two women were foolish enough to make the attempt, and the result, of course, was disaster. It is easy enough to take hold of one’s ‘ tail ’ when walking, but on skates it is a totally difterent thing. The mere stooping sideways to catch hold of the superfluous portion of the skirt is enough to upset the equilibrium of the unaccustomed performer ; and, even if that feat is safely accomplished, it is impossible to take long and elegant sweeps when the skirt is dragged back, as it naturally must be when held up. Also, both hands are wanted by most people to restore the balance, if it is at any time threatened to be lost.

A City Mouse.