A LADY'S LETTER FROM LONDON.

Te Aroha News, Volume VI, Issue 302, 26 September 1888, Page 3

A LADY'S LETTER FROM LONDON.

(By Elise.)

PRECIS. Ghastly Goodwood— Lord Beaumont's Markiage to the daughter of " madame Elisk" — The Venerable Duciik3s of MONTBOSE ELOPES WITH Mb MILNEB — A Buide of Seventy Summers — Milner's Safe — His First Commission for Her Grace — Jars During the Honeymoon— Blue Blood and Bonnets— Who Mrs Oakley Is — The Boyoe Case Ended— Miss Oohbe's Cure for Insomnia —A Specific for Colds in the Head— "The Black Arrow," an Old AcquaintanceSome Good Magazine Stories— Alphonse Daudet's Last Success.

London, August 10. Demi Mr Editor, — A damp, drizzling, and altogether inglorious Goodwood wound up the wettest London season for the last twenty years, and moat people, I imagine, are now moodily wondering whether there is any possibility whatever of finding a holiday resort where it won't rain. How intensely miserable bad weather such as we have been experiencing for the last three months makes one, you with your glorious climate can form no notion. It simply kills everything. I feel as if I should never care to go to Goodwood again. There were no royalties, no House party, no pretty frocks, and — this was woi'st of- all — no shelter. Enveloped in waterproofs, and up to the ankles in mud, we picniced dolefully under the dripping trees, and endeavoured to console one another with the delusive hope that it would " clear up presently." If peeresses are becoming milliners, it is also a fact that milliners aro becoming peeresses. Miss Isaac-on, who was married to Lord Beaumont last week amidsbt such smart surroundings, is a daughter of the greatest of all fashionable dressmakers, " Madame Elise." She i-etircd from business some years ago, and (after the md^iner of the times) the concern was converted into a public company. 1 fancy, however, more than one of the titled dames who gossiped affably with Mrs Wooton Isaacson and admired her pale grey velvet toilet at Lady Beaumont's wedding breakfast last week must, in the old days, have given many an order to "Madame Elise. " But "society" has — when it chooses— a conveniently short memory.

A Sensational Elopement. Had a thunderbolt exploded in the ballroom at Bllesmere House on Saturday evening last, it could scarcely have excited a greater sensation than did Mr 1C Bobby*' Lowther's quiet announcement that the venerable and eccentric Dowager Duchess of Montrose had eloped with young Mr Harry Milner, and been duly married to him the previous afternoon. Talk of a man wedding his grandmother, why here was a case of a youngster espousing a woman old enough to be his great-grandmother. The Duchess, according to Debrett, is over seventy, whilst Mr Milner has barely completed his 22nd year. Her Grace has always been a lemarkable woman, but this last exploit of hers, as Mr Lowther observed, cap= everything. She was originally a daughter ot the second Lord Decres, and firat saw the light in 1818. In 1536 she married the fourth Duke of Montrose, who died in 1875, and barely a year later his disconsolate widow gave her hand and heart to Mr Stirling Crawfurd, the great racing man, and one of the richest, if not the, richest commoner in Scotland. Mr Cra\yfurd was devoted to his wife, and, according to report, she was very fond of him. Nevertheless she managed to make his once popular colours much misliked on the turf, and by her injudicious interference rendered his latter days at Newmarket profoundly uncomfortable. When Mr Crawfurd died in 1883 tho Duchess professed to be utterly inconsolable. She dispersed his stud of racehorses, turned her back on sport for ever, and erected a gigantic mausoleum to the memory of the deceased. This state of things did not, however, last long. Eight months later "Mr Man ton " registered the old colours and started racing again on an extensive scale, and ever .since, as you know, she has been a power in the racing world. At Newmarket Her Grace is not popular. If her heart is (as her friends assert) a warm one, her temper is positively fiery, and &he has never placed the least restraint upon it. Overweening vanity and bad temper are, indeed, her chief foibles. No interior with self-respect «erves her long. She changes her trainers and jockeys almost as ofren as her dresses, and the domestic servants at 45, Belgrave Square, are seldom the same two seasons running. In appearance " Mr Manton " is a stout, blowsy personage, with a flaxen wig and an overflowing figure. She seems about 50, and suitably dressed would make a pleasant enough looking elderly lady. Unfortunately, she will wear loud colour*, and she von 1 1 acknowledge to growing old. WortT and other great milliners do their best for her, but try as they may, Her Grace seems constantly verging on caricature. Mr Crawfurd left his widow all the money and estates he had a right to, and some to which he had no right. Over the latter the heir to the entailed estates and the Duchess fought a lawsuit which coso thousands, and ■which, of course, Her Grace lost. This made her poorer by £30,000 a-year. She has also paid a pretty penny for her racing experiences and indulged in other extravagances. Still she must still be a wealthy woman. I doubt, however, whether she has much put by, and the Crawfurd estates revert to the rightful heir at her death, so that her new spouse cannot look forward to inheriting much.

The Bridegroom. Knowing his bride's variable temperament, Mr Milner declined to proceed to the altar until Her Grace executed an irrevocable document leaving him £6,000 a-year at her demise and settling £3,000 a-year on him during her lifetime. When the marriage was first announced the bridegroom was generally supposed to be Lord Durham's younger brother, but this was a mistake. He belongs, however, to a good county family. The relationships in the Duchess's family have naturally become rather mixed. For; instance, three ot Mr Milner's new daughters-in-law have sons older than he is, and not so very long ago he himself was credited with admiring one of his present spouse's grandnieces. Mr Milner does not know much of turf matters, and the Duchess is likely to find out before long that she would have boon wiser to have avoided marriage and retained the advice and assistance of John Delacour. The placidity of the honeymoon was, gossips say, somewhat seriously ! marred at Goodwood. .The Duchess sent Mr Milner into the ring to, back a horse of hers called Zanzibar for the Sussex Stakes. i It started at 33 to 1, so that Her Grace's commission of £100 ought, properly laid out, to have realised at least £3,000. Instead of that Mr Milner, being a novice at the work, got flustered, and accepted £1,000 to £100. One can quite imagine that when, after the filly's unexpected victory, the young man jubilantly proclaimed " We have won a thoa'," that) his bride's temper was much tried. "Say, 1 rather, you've thrown away two "thou! " she observed, irately, and much to his confusion. "Next time I want a commission done I shall nob confide ifc to a fool /"

"Blue Blood and Bonnets." Mrs Oakley, who is better known to the world as " Madame Isabel " (the first and most successful of lady milliners), has been giving a "Star" reporter her notions on "Blue Blood and Bonnets." What I mainly gather from the interview is that Madame would have succeeded in most possible vocations. She seoms energetic, business-like, and, above all, independent. As a girl, Mrs Oakley went to Girton, and would doubtless have taken a good degree there but for having to go out to India suddenly to nurse her future husband. Curiously enough, the suggestion that she should start a milliner's shop came from an Australian lady, our old friend, Mrs Ca>shol Hoey. Pluck of no ordinary sort was required to carry out the idea. Latterly it has become almost fashionable to open a millinery atetier, but two years ago it meant (or Mr& Oaklej thought it meant) giving up society and most things that (to a young and pretty woman) make life worth living. There can be no doubt that it was the Princess of Wales' commonsense and good-nature that settled the ■social stains of the lady milliner. K.R.H. not merely bought bonnets galore from; "Madame Isabel,"but she took care to send! Mr Oakley a card for a Marlborough House garden party. I remember the occasion perfectly, because it was the "Colindies" season. The " Star " reporter does not seem to have made much of his interviewing opportunities, or else " Madame Isabel " was purposely discreet. Beyond learning that the rental of limited premises in Bond street is £450, and that a clever bonnet-maker commands a salary of £300 a year, he appears to have come (metaphorically speaking) empty away. But, stay, I almost torgot one item. The Princess of Wales is (from a milliner's point of view) economical. She buys half-a-dozen of the latest shapes at a time, but she never pays more than 30s for a fully- trimmed bonnet. [ wondernow whether Madame Isabel would care to maree me one of the charming bonnets such as she builds lor H. R.H. for 30s. Somehow, I think not.

The Boyce Case. Marriage through a matrimonial agency docs not in the case of Mr and Mrs Boyce appear to have been attended with bhe usual happy iesult&. Letters and photos were exchanged in the first instance. Mrs Boyce thought her fufcuie husband an adorably handsome and good-tempered - looking man. Mr Boyce thought the laay passable. She wrote clever, amusing and affectionate letters, and she was dowered with a substantial sum in cash besides having "expectations." Altogether the match promised well. The happy pair were united, paid the dear agent who had made their two hearts beat as one a substantial consideration, and started on their honeymoon Then, alas, mutuallyunpleasanb discoveries (as a doctor would say) supervened. Mr Boyce discovered that Mrs Boyce's hair, complexion and figure were, to describe them mildly, works of art,al&o that the love letters which he had clasped so fondly to his heart were written by his wife's Mend. Mrs Boyce discovered that Mr Boyce had the temper of a fiend, and a penchant for kissing pretty chambermaids, also that he had a female fiiend who addressed him in letters as " Darling Baby " and .seemed on surprisingly intimate terms, everything considered. From this time forth the pair were miserable. Mrs Boyce was jealous and aggravating, and Mr Boyce faithless, and at times ferociously cruel. Mrs Boyce's friends could not, unfortunately, prove the husband's faithlessness, and when, upon his wife leaving him, he sued for restitution of conjugal rights, the Court, to everyone's surprise, gave the case in his favour. Mrs Boyce thereupon flatly refused to live with her husband, and some apropos discoveries coming to hand, the case was re-tried. This time the result was entirely different. Mrs Boyce successfully divorced her husband, both on the grounds of faithlessness and cruelty, and he was mulcted with the heavy costs of both actions.

A Cure for Insomnia. A very interesting correspondence ha s been going on in the "'Spectator" on the &übjecfc of innocent cures for insomnia. We have all, when waked up in the middle of the night, tried counting a million, or repeating hymns, or thinking of last Sunday's sermon as a means of securing "nature's sweet restorer." F.C.P. (presumably Miss Frances Power Cobbe) suggcsls a new method. Her assertion is, and there are sound physiological reasons to back it up, that sleep can often be obtained by endeavouring to follow further a dream from which one has wakened. That there must be a good deal in the idea seems probable, as several other correspondents have conoborated MissCobbe's experiences. I imagine, however, they were all (like that lady herself) persons with peculiarly lucid minds and strong imaginations. Insomnia usually signifies either ill-health or mental worry, and persons in such a condition seldom dream dreams they would care to continue. Nevertheless, the hint is worth noting.

A Specific For Colds In the Head. And now I must tell you of a specific we have discovered for colds in the head and catarrh. It is an American remedy called " Marshall's Cubeb Cigarettes," and its effects are simplj' marvellous. The smoke is quite sweet, fragrant and^ unobjectionable, but it works wonders. A few whiffs inhaled and exhaled through the nostrils will, in a minute or two, give relief in the worst cases, and obstinate, indeed, must be the cold which a shilling box will not cure. Ladies need not fear that by using them they are being inveighled into smoking tobacco. The cigarettes are purely a medicament, and harmless. No harm can possibly come of toying them. By-the-by, the doctor who told me of the cigarettes also volunteered that Carlsbad Salts (the real thing) was the best of all salines. When required try a teaspoonful in half a tumbler of very hot water first thing in the morning.

Something to Read. Mr Stevenson's new story, *' The Black Arrow," is, I was disappointed to find, a very old acquaintance. It appeared some yeai's back in "Young Folk.« " (for which our author was then writing; under the norn da plume of Captain John North), and has, moreover, recently been running through a number of provincial, American and colonial papers as "The Outlaws ot Tunstall Forest." When you get the August number of "Temple Bai'," be sure and read "The Second Armada, or How We Were Saved by a Fluke." It is the best thing of the sort that has been written since " The Battle of Dorking " set us in such a flutter. Tom says he thinks Mr Clark Russell must be the author, but I feel sure no one could have described a naval action so brilliantly but a naval officer. The " Chapter on Proposals," begun in July, is also continued in this number. The writer's experiences may be veracious. I only hope people won't judge all girls' thoughts by this particular "maiden's meditations." She is not what at school we should have called "nice." " Baldwin's Mistake," in •« Cornhill " for August, must, like " The Dean's Sister," in the July number, be founded on fact. I distinctly remember, when we were in New Zealand, hearing of an elderly lady who had come oub to marry a man, and met

with a bitter disappointment. Her name and initials were the same as those of a pretty niece, and through this an awful embrocjlio arose. A young man met them both travelling on the Continent, and fell in love with the niece. When they returned to New Zealand he proposed by letter, and, rather to his surprise, was promptly accepted. The lady purchased a trousseau and came out to be married. Judge the happy man's dismay when he found himself greeted, not by the niece, but the aunt. In the " Cornhill" story, Mr Baldwin holds his tongue and quietly marries the old lady, but if I remember rightly his living prototype did nothing of the sort. On the contrary, he insisted on returning theaunt home with thanks and repeating hia proposal to the niece. That the latter would have nothing to say to him, goes, I should imagine, without saying. A cousin of ours, who lives in Paris, says Frenchmen have gone as crazy over Daudet's " L'lmmortel " as we have over " Robert Elsmere." Sixty-five thousand copies were sold in two months.