MAIL NEWS.

Evening Star, Issue 3019, 23 October 1872, Page 4

MAIL NEWS.

A London letter to the New York Mail says : popularity that the whole town was glad to read, the contradiction of Lady Beaconstield s alarming illness. But if her Ladyship has not been exactly ill, she has nevertheless sustained a severe shock. Very recently, when on a visit to a friend, she felt a weak* ness in her arm, and on examining the sensitive part it was found that a vein had burst and that some loss of blood had already ensued. This was all ; but the incident was of a nature to justify apprehension, and to account for the sinister rumors which speedily got into circulation, especially when it is remembered that her Ladyship is upwards of eighty years of age, and therefore fifteen or sixteen years older than her husband. Mr Disraeli’s conjugal devotion is so well known that little need be said on that subject. A lady once congratulated him on his great affection for his wife. His answer was as true as it was delicately expressed: “I ought to be fond of her, for I owe everything to her.’ Under any circumstances he is a man who would have made his mark both as a politician and as an author, but without his wife’s fortune he might still have been struggling for a place in the second official rank of the Conservative party. If all that his detractors say of him be true, he yet has personal qualities which render him far more attractive than many men of more saintly renown. Very good men are sometimes very cruel or very canting, but Mr Disraeli is not a charlatan of this order.” From Zurich the Sirlsa hears that “several of our future ‘ doetoresscs ’ are adopting costumes which are neither male nor female. They wear short dresses, their hair not so long as many of the students of the opposite sex, small round hats, &c. In a word, their whole appearance confirms the opinion that if a young girl wishes to study medicine she must cease to be a woman. In short, she must be, as was said of Queen Elizabeth of England, ‘ more than a woman, and less than a man.” An English Magistrate sentenced a couple to matrimony under circumstances which seem legally 'just, although legally curious. A young man aud a young woman were contesting possession of a piece of property, the one claiming under an old lease, and the other under an old will, “ It just strike me, ” said the Justice, “that there is a pleasant and easy way to terminate the old lawsuit. The plaintiff appears to be a respectable young man, aud this is a very nice young woman, (Laughter.) They can both get married, ami live happy on the farm. If they go on with law proci edings it will all be frittered away between lawyers, who, 1 am sure, are not ungallant enough to wish the marriage not to come oft'.” The lady blushed, and the young man stammered — they “liked each other a little bit,” so a verdict was entered for the plaintifl on condition of his promise to marry the defendant within two months, a stay of execution being added to the verdict till the marriage ceremony should be completed. A magnificent tribute to the memory of Albert, the Prince t’onsortof Queen Victoria, has just been completed in London, on the site of the Great Exhibition of 1851, One

figure, however, a statue of the Prince, remains to be supplied, owing to the illness of the sculptor, Mr Foley, and will not be ready for some time. The memorial has been ten years building, at a cost of nearly LIOO,OOO. Of this sum, L 35,000 were raised by private subscription, Ll2,oooby an appeal to the working classes of the kingdom and colonies, and L 50,000 were voted by Parliament. The design selected was prepared by Mr Gilbert Scott, and comprised a colossal statue of the Prince, placed beneath a magnificent shrine or tabernacle, and surrounded by works of sculpture, illustrating the arts and sciences he fostered, and the great undertakings he originated. The design, it is said, has been beautifully realised, aud forms one of the grandest monuments ever erected. The carvings, mosaics, base-work in stone, &c., are marvellous. The sculpture embraces four great corner groups, representing Europe, Asia, Africa, and America. The European Mail says Owing to the continued scarcity of meat there is an increased demand for Australian sorts. Mr Tallerman has visited Gateshead aud Newcastle, where there has been a strike among the artisans’ wives against the high price of meat, and succeeded in laying the foundation of a good demand for Australian meat. Sir Charles Cowper has ready for shipment by the Hawkesbury fourteen out of the twenty-five SO-pouuder guns obtained from the Government for the service of New South Wales. These have been converted into the kind of gun most approved of nowadays, and will doubtless give a good account of themselves when called on. The other eleven will be shipped very shortly. Several old theatrical favorites in Australia are contemplating a return to the colonies. First in point of importance is Lady Don, who, whilst retaining all th® freshness and spirit of the old days, possesses added excelleucs, the result of far travelling and ca eful study. We are sure her ladyship will receive a hearty welcome from colonists. Mr Farquharaon also speaks of returning. Barry Sullivan may be looked for also. In the year 1871 there were COO orders registered in the County Courts of England and Wales, protecting property acquired by a deserted wife s'nee her desertion by her husband. This is 151 fewer than the number registered in 1870. A New York paper informs its readers that “one of the novelties of the day is a cut-glass decanter with a musical box in the bottom of it, ingeniously cased in opaque glass. The movement made to pour out wine starts the music, and selections from the best operas are exquisitely played. August Belmont imported several of these double decanters from Geneva, where they are manufactured, to give the zest of novelty to his sybarite banquets, and a gentleman in Washington, first seeing them there, ordered several. ”