MR RALPH NEVILL’S MEMORIES.

Hokitika Guardian, 7 December 1923, Page 4

MR RALPH NEVILL’S MEMORIES.

■‘THE WORLD OF FASHION.” WOMEN BETTER LOOKING. LONDON. Oct. IS. More entertaining reminiscences and amusing stories about notable Victorians are related by Mr Ralph Nevill in his new hook. “The World of Fashion.”

Tie thinks that the Victorians of the early nineteenth century who went to a public school when they were about nine were hardier and more capable as a Hass than their successors. Many of them were astute and clever at managing their property. Others were hopelessly casual and extravagant. Such a one was the luxurious nobleman. who. when his affairs had become hopelessly involved, and ruin was staring him in the fact', blandly continued to he as extravagant as over.

“My dear fellow.” said an old friend. ”1 hope you won’t mind unsaying so. but it surely can’t he necessary for you to keep an Italian pastrycook as well as a French chef ” “Damme. sir.” was the reply, “tilings have come to a pretty pass when a man mayn’t have a biscuit with his glass of sherry!” Another ol tin- class, who. though simple in Ids la-tc'. liked state even when alone, never sat down to cat a ' solitary cutlet, without three servania in liverv and two out. standing round the table. WILHELM’S HAD TASTE. The Kaiser’s ..(forts to be genial occasionally led him to make reuiail-s which were neither happy nor in good taste. The late Lady I’.agct, who was one of the most popular figures in London I society, having sustained terrible injuries in a lift accident, went abroad to he treated by a great German surgeon. with the result that, the latter | eventually succeeded in getting a badly broken leg into such a condition j that she was able to walk with the , help of a stick. Smile time later, she told me. the Kaiser, who know this, seeing Lady . Paget at a party in London, shouted , to her. "Hullo Lady Paget ! How is your new leg ‘made ill Germany’ going on f ” Mr Nevill declares that for the last ICO vears a “great deal of lioiisense has been talked and written I about the frequency tit divorce in I aristocratic circles.” It is only when some well-known names occur that the Press thinks it worth while to devote much space to a divorce ease. The public is then , worked up into frenzied indignation at the immorality of the rich, whereas in sober truth as a class they are j 1 not a hit more vicious than the , humbler sinners whose lapses are not worth reporting. In a chapter on journalists Mr No . will recalls George Augustus .Sain, a great Fleet-street light of a geiu-ra-r tiou hack. As he had a very red nose, captious people were inclined to think lie drank too miicli, which was far from being til* ease. At a Bohemian club. Mr Sala once told a friend that he had been hr 'lit up solely on milk, to which the latter, with a glance at the speaker's rubicund countenance, retorted. “ ’Ma Sn--1 la.’ I supposey” ; Victorian hostesses did not like unpitiietimlity. One ladv had a very dra-tie way of reminding a gue.-l "I hi- or her shortcomings. If she gave a dinner-parly and anyone was more than a qtlnrler-ol an hour behind time, she did not i,nil. hut put the absent guest’s elmir in the middle of the table, only allowing it. to be removed when lie or she had arrived. DUKE SENT <>H THE GRANS. ]n a dol'ghuu! • haptc? en \ i< torm.n - feme try-home 'em there is a good story about lie' isle Duke ni Norioil.. w hose ‘'a ppea i lie. did not exactly coincide with iliat of a great iiol:!"- . man a - depicted by popular novelists.” ! A woman at Arundel Castle, seeing ' the Duke walking on a grass lawn, v. here a not h e hade t he public to “Keep, of tl’.e Grass.” shouted out: - “llie, get oil' there! IDs your soil L who get these places closed tor the ; likes of II- !” f The Duke, who was the most coiir- [. icons of men, liieeklv obeyed. A store which has been told ol sev--1 era I oilier people is here credited lo the late Lord Charles Beresford as I he “real oriugimitor.” One one occasion when, at the eleventh hour, he had been summoned I" dine with tin 1 then Prince of Wales, he is said to have telegraphed back: Very sorry, can't crime. Lie billows by post. PASSING OP ORIGINALITV. Every year in. English life. Mr Nevill 1 laments, people of ■ 1 a ways and ! appearance are gelling rarer and rarer—“even the bookmakers presenting t!i - njipearniK'.’ of ordinary gentlemen ■ or of respectable tradesmen,” A'so the professional jokers, one of the chief of whom was the late Lord ■ Charles Beresford. have ,:ln.o-f dis- ■ appeared. The latter, having bet that he would exercise a privilege reserved to llie I Sovereign and drive’down Rotten Row. persuaded the driver of a water-cart to let him take his place and. rigged in the man's emit and cap. easily won the wager. 1 Lord Cardigan, the leader of the Rahielava Charge, was “inclined to he e.veeedingly lenient trout the point of view of morals.” A young Ifussar officer having tip- • I plied for three days’ leave, his commander pointed mu that as he was on the roll for some special duty. the matter would he rather difficult, to arrange. ■Von hud better let- me know why you want the leave,” said lie. “Gli ' hut I could not do that, my lord.” I / “Well, let me know, not as your commanding officer, but as from one man to another.” The subaltern then admitted that lie wanted to run away with another man’s wife. “Most ‘hussarlike' you shall have your leave." said Lord Cardigan, and proceeded to till up tho necessary form in high good humour. Port always had a soothing effect i upon Tennyson. Sitting next to a young lady at dinner one evening, the poet did not ad- | dress a word to her till the end. when i he said : “Your stays are creaking.” i She was upset, hut later cm Tenny- I son. having had a bottle of port, went j upstairs in a good humour, sat down | by her. and said: ”1 apologise for j what 1 said just now; it was not your j stays hut my braces." ■'Tramway.” Air Nevill explains, is really a tontraction: strictly speaking, it. should lie “Outrnmway”—the j “mode of conveyance in question hav- 1 ing originally been devised by Sir j James (Intrant's father, the founder of i the great Butterly Ironworks.” 1 RIDERS’ BRAVE DISPLAY. Recalling the brave display in Rotten row a generation ago. Mr Nevill j remarks that ltowaduvs the “dress of i

the male frequenters, which was once so smart, differs little from that worn by the denizens of the Now Cut or of tin; Mile End-road.” (In the other hand, it must be confessed that the ladies are more tastefully arrayed than in the past. They also understand more about making the most of their good points, and altogether are probably superior in

looks to Hie uiiK.li-vtt tin Led beauties ol the Victorian Era. Formerly, as Mr Nevill says. commercial magnates were constant attendants at church and were generally on very good terms with their parson, who often regarded the wealthy members of his thick with sincere adinira-

liut there were exceptions who occasionally behaved in an unconventional and disturbing manner. Such a one was an uncompromising vicar who preaching on social laxity, declared that he would mention an erring husband by name unless the latter put a pound in the hag. The offertory that morning yielded thirty-seven sovereigns, widen mn. l ' the clergyman chuckle over the -U‘tess of his stratagem. One of the “most disquieting features of modern English hie ( -M r Nevill observes) is the disinclination ~)■ all classes, rich or poor, to live in the country. 1 1 i. net only the labouring Hass which drift into great cities.