A LADY'S LETTER FROM LONDON. [FROM THE AUCKLAND " STAR'S " LONDON CORRESPONDENT. ] London, December 4.

Te Aroha News, Volume II, Issue 86, 24 January 1885, Page 6

A LADY'S LETTER FROM LONDON. [FROM THE AUCKLAND " STAR'S " LONDON CORRESPONDENT. ] London, December 4.

Dear Mr Editor,— Frost in the air, gaudy annuals on the bookstalls, and countless pretty things in the shop windows serve to remind us that Christmas, with its inevitable festivitifls, is coining, and that, as a well-conducted family, we must forthwith perpetrate the annual extravagance of buying presents for our kinsfolk. There do not seem to be many novelties to choose from this year, Tom says he means to give all our friends who sing "ammoniapnones." You know what they are? Dr. Carter Moffats new machines for improving and increasing the volume of the voice. They are selling by tens of thousands. Since the experimental con cert was givenin St. James's Hall, and people discovered that, even after two or three inhalations, their compass perceptibly increased, almost all professional singers have invested in ammoniaphones. The cost is only one guinea, so that tho invention seems worth a trial at least Hail's type- writer is another " knowing " present either for a lady or gentleman. Till recently " The Remington " (a machine like a small piano and costing £21) has been the only type-writer in use. Now, however, an American firm have invented a neat little machine which fits into a box a foot long and a few inches high, can be convoniently carried in the hand anywhere, and worked by a child after halfan-hour's practice. Mr O'Donnel, Mr Herbert Gladstone, and other M.IVs now do all their correspondence with Hall's type-writer. You can make two admirable press copies f.om its work, or if, you use a hektograph, 50 to 60 copies. The cost of Hall's machine is £S. It is not much use devoting a great deal of space to "chiffons" at this time of the year, for we are now wearing furs, sealskins, and heavy cloths, which would be far too heavy for your climate, even in the dead of winter. Sables and sealskins arc extremely fashionable this year. I met Mrs Cornwallis West in Bond-street the other afternoon. She wore a long sealskin coat that reached almost to the edge of her dark blue dress, and a sealskin bonnet with blue and red feathers in it. Lady Dudley's sables are exquisite and priceless. They are of the rarest shade, and match perfectly. Mrs Langtry wears a close-fitting costume of blackest- blue velvet, with ruff and cuffa of sable and toguo to match. The Princess of Wales has a costume of dark green in the same stylo, only rather plainer. Her sables are also a wonderful set. " Tout est Finney " was, I regret to say, the vile pun perpetrated by Tom as he put down the " Globe '' the other evening after reading mo a report of Miss Finney's breach of promise case against Lord Garmoyle. We were not ablo to get into Court to vitnoss the trial, but Cousin Herbert, who is a briefless barrister, was there, and declares ho enjoyed himself immensely. Miss Finney, accompanied by an elderly lady — probably her mother— occupied a seat on the bench, and was the observed of all observer?. She wore a very becoming costume of muchbraided dark green cloth, and though partially veiled during the AttorneyGeneral's speech, seemed perfectly indif ferent and seli-posse.ssed. Tastes differ, of course, but I cannot say I admire Miss Finney, or Fortescue, as she prefers to be called. The lady certainly possesses a sinuous languishing kind of beauty of a certain sort, but it require? careful dress to sot it off. In servant's garb, for example, she looks positively plain. ScandaMoving Londoners have boon more than compensated for the partial collapse of tho Fortescue-Garmoyle case by the astounding disclosures in Adams v. Coleridge. What family has not a skeleton in its closet nowadays? Fancy tho Lord Chief Justice of England putting his daughter and servants on miserable board iv«f/i's whilst he was feasting and being made much of in America ' Fancy, too, the greatest of England's judges, tho supposed embodiment of benign justice and unswerving moral rectitude conspiring u ith his son to blacken tho character of a poor and therefore unwelcome suitor for hi.* daughior's hand ! Imagine, too, this example to the nation turning his only daughter out of doors, striking her out of his will, and generally playing the stern parent of fid ion ! Our sympathies (mine and Tom's) arc altogether uith MiAdams. There can be no doubt he had been verbally libelled continuously, and that the great inlluontc of tho Lord Chief Justice had been strained to its utmost to injure and ruin him before he availed himself of the Hon. Bernard Coleridge* viittcn attack to ventilate his wrongs The scene in Court, too, was disgraceful Justice Manisty, who tried the case, threw every possiblo impediment in the plainiiO'b way, and exhibited a partisanship a\ ith the Colendges that, thank goodness ! has drawn forth tho sternest reprehensions from the pacss. The jury were disgusted, and although imperatively ordered by the Judge to nonsuit Adams, indignantly declined to bo over-awed by the power and position of the defendants. They found for the plaintiff damages C3.0C0, which is, of course equivalent to saying that Bernard Coleridge and his fathor, the Lord Chief Justice, maliciously and knowingly libelled MiAdams. Judge Manisty 's attempt to overrule this verdict will probably succeed ; but the fact remains that 12 good men and true havo indirectly found Lord Coleridge guilty of a shamoful act. In any case Adams's revenge is complete. The idol has been smashed, and only very common clay remains. Lord Coleridge's prestige might have survived his treatment of Adams, but the picture of a great man's home, of the daughter on board wages, the cheap fish for lunch, the fuss about lighting the drawing-room fire, the son selling wine on commission, and the general atmosphere of parsimony and meanness, will never be forgotten. Miss Coleridge, the heroine of the story, is 36, and no beauty. She can, however, talk half-a dozen languages, and has passed the examination of "Musical Doctor" The friendship between herself and Adams was purely Platonic, and would have romained so, but for malicious acquaintances who talked scandal about tho pair, #hd co forced Adams into a proposal of marriage. The great success of tho leading "society " journals has naturally raised up heaps of cheap imitations. Prominent amongst the least reputable of these is a little paper called "Modern Society," which began life by calmly reproducing the greater part of "Truth," "The World," "Vanity Fair," and Life" for a penny. This was stopped after a time, and "Modorn Socioty" then had recourse to the London letters of the leading American papers, which are written by first-class men, and often contain matter too pungent for British nostrils. The system answered, and " Modern Socioty " has now a circulation of 60,000 weekly according to the publisher's returns. A few months ago, lowever, it inserted sundry free and easy libels about Lady Colin Campbells mother, 1 a respectable old lady living quietly in a 1 London suburb. Proceedings were taken

civilly (a much safer and more certain means of redress than criminal prosecution), and the other day a severe jury mulcthed the worthy proprietorof "Modern Society " one thousand pounds and costs. The paper has since been sold. We spent a very merry evening at the Criterion Theatre on Saturday week, when "The Candidate," a new 3-act comedy by a member of Parliament (name unknown), was produced. Like all such pieces, "The Candidate " deals with the troubles of a too-much-married husband. In this case the hero is Lord George Oldacre, whose life is made miserable by his mother-in-law — a strong-minded woman with a mission to "preserve the peers" and a penchant for Mr Goodeve, a fat oily missionary from the Fijis. Oldacre has been asked to contest the borough of East Hampton in the Consorvative interests against Mr Bradley, the great Radical bugbear and atheist. He seizes this opportunity to enjoy a fortnight's holiday in London without his wife's knowledge, and persuades his private secretary, Alaric Baffin, to assume his name, and go and canvass at East Hampton in his stead. There is no risk, he points out, for, of course, the Fast Hampton Radicals will never return a Tory as Bradley's confrere. Unfortunately, Baffin himself is an out-and-out Radical, and when he finds himself in the midst of an energetic mob of Bradley's adorers at East Hampton, with a water-butt conveniently handy and angry voices ominously asking which sort of brick he likes best, he forgets all about his assumed r6le, and at once proclaims his genuine conviction. These ar« of the extremost anti-Conservativo character ; in faol, compared with them the views of the late member, Mr Henry (meant, of course, for Labouchere), were 'flabby." The East Hampton men are delighted at his conversion, and return Lord Oldacre at the top of the poll. At the end of the fortnight {i.e., the day after the declaration of the poll at East Hampton), Oldacre comes home, and is pestered to give the result of the election, but cannot, as Baffin hasn't returned. He gets himself into a fearful mess, from which, however, the Secretary's arrival with the astounding news of his election extricates him. Preparations are being made for rejoicings on a large scale when the post arrives and retribution sets in. Oldacre receives a post-card of congratulation from Gladstone, and cordial letters from Bradley and Henry. These, together with the Tory newspapers containing articles on the "Renegade Peer," "Extraordinary Recantation of a Rich Conservative," &c, fall into his mother-in-law's hands. Baffin, moreover, has made love to a pretty widow whilst at East Hampton, and she writes to Lord Oldacre affectionately as " my darling popsy-wopsy," announcing her immediate arrival. The wretched nobleman finds himself obliged either to bear the onus of all Baffin's misdoings or else confess his own, which, alas ! include a flirtation made with a pretty actress in London. Complication folio ,vs complication till at last Baffin confesses, and Oldacre turns on his mother-in-law and defies her, having first proved her favourite missionary a humbug. The piece bristles with political allusions and jokes, the latter at the expense of each party in turn. Thus, it is no sooner observed that "Radicals will be loyal -for a sovereign" than someone retorts "Conservatives will do anything— for a crown," and those who might be disturbed by playful arguments about abolishing the House of Lords are soothed by hearing tlie caucus described as a " machine for turning out politics as they do Brummagem jewellery." The piece is capitally played — Mr Charles Wyndham as the volatile 01 Jacre, Mr Geddens as Baffin, and Mr Blakeley as the fat, unctuous old missionary who " superintends the salvation " of his " dear Fijians " from a distance — being all inimitable. I saw Mr Labouchere — to whom, as MiHenry, frequent allusions were made — laughing heartily in the stalls, and the great Bradley (Bradlaugh) himself was said to be lurking somewhere ac the back of one of the private boxes. The piece, I need scarcely Say, made a hit, and w ill run for many a month to come. "The Grand Mogul," Andran's new comic opera at the Comedy Theatre, has failed miserably and deservedly. The libretto by Farnic is a lame, hulting a flair — the words of the songs being mostly impossible to sing -and the scijire doesn't contain a single number worthy of the composer of the "Mascotte" and "Olivette." Arthur Roberts, in the character of an Indian Fakir, "Juggins Lai/' sings a funny song called "The Dotletof My Eye," but that i?u't by And ran at all. The snake-charming disgusted us sadly. The spectacle of pretty Miss Florence St. John in a very dccolletec dress, with two slimy snakes twining round her arms and neck, and snuggling their heads into her pearl -powdered bosom, was anything but nice. I promised to send you a description of tlie dresses Avorn by Mrs Bancroft and Miss Calhoun in "Diplomacy." The latter have been much canvassed. They are the work of the court milliner, Madame Nicole, uho describes them as follows in the society papers: — "Mrs Bancroft vcars two s-plendid dresses — one of crimson coral icd velvet, with long train, and panels at the •ndesof gold-coloured satin, covered with a network of fine red and gold cords, every square fastened by a tiny pea-shaped gkutd of gold, heading a tassel of luby-tinted beads. The sleeves are simply buttoned across the top of the arm, but wich diamonds. The second, quito as handsome, is a sort of surtout of seal brown plush over an inner dress of cream, the skirt being of faille, draped with cream cashmere. The plush jacket, fitting close behind, hangs like a Zouave, loose in front, and is adorned with the richest passementerie ornaments in gold, as it were splashed on, as well as down the sides of the open fronts. This surtout is lined with rose dc Chine, giving such pretty rijlcts on to the cream. Miss Calhoun's costumes aro simply delicious. The robe dc chambrc, in which she first appears, is a jaunty arrangement of white serge and pale blue quilted satin, with a tiny hood at the back. Then a heurrefrais satin tea-gown, shrouded in delicate valenciennes, is a triumph of elegance in its filmy draperies. The travelling diess ic< a kind of redingote of chamois coloured cloth, with revers of seal-coloured plush, buttoned back with large steel buttons, showing a waistcoat covered with steel passementerie in leafy designs, some of which extend like a gold and steel flower to the upright plush sollar, and. also head the plush revers at the back. With this is worn a tall felt hat, exactly matching in colour, trimmed with a broad band of plush, into which chamois marabout feathers are fastened by an aigretto of sparkling steel drops. The ball-dress is a trained robe of white satin, with pale salmon velvet stripes about three inches broad. Tho paysanne corsage is made plain and pointed (the stripes beautifully adjusted) and white satin puffed loosely across the ches 1 to the shoulders ; then, as if to break the hard white line next tho next, salmon tullo sprinklod with tiny tassels of pink pearls is carolossly draped ovor it, and caught up at oach shoulder. The front of the skirt is one mass of this beautiful tullo and pearls in bewildering draperies.