WOMAN'S WORLD

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 47, 17 August 1911, Page 6

WOMAN'S WORLD

j (Conducted by "Eileen"). fl.!?' SHAKESPEARE BALL.' KINGS AND MOTLEY CLOWNS. London, June 23. In a .wonderful week the Shakespeare Ball on Tuesday night was a sight to provide one of the memories of a lifetime.

Its address to the eye and the historic imagination was of a kind to beggar description. Before Queen Elizabeth on her throne of purple and gold passed, amid the glories of a garden such as Malvolio would have delighted to pace in, dukes, ambassadors, cardinals, peers, maids of honor, and all the splendid figures associated with the drama which is the crown of a nation's literature. The Shakespeare Memorial Ball was designed to swell the resources of the fund for the creation of a great national memorial to the great national poet, and its object commanded the fullest sym--1 patliy and support of the King and Queen, and the presence of the distinguished members of the foreign missions over here for the Coronation.

When shortly after midnight the silver trumpets rang out for the glowing processions of the quadrilles, order seemed suddenly to be evolved out of a dazzling chaos which was like the flying of myriad shuttles through a magic loom. Headed by. a master of ceremonies with a wand, a corps of Beefeaters marched with silent dignity across the floor; at a wave of the wand they lowered their halberds; a further flourish, and they advanced witli' them stretched butt tcvpoint and pressed the gay dancers back to the tiers, whick by now were filled with distinguished social people all in brilliant costumes. Another fanfare and the pursuivants in the quaint but rich tabards led in a glittering Court, Good Queen Bess for escort had the stalwart Yeomen, in the uniform her father had created, and she was surrounded by her statesmen, judges, soldiers, sailors and adventurers, flatterers, noble lords and ladies, and pert pages. The Court was made up exactly as it was in 1598, according to the records preserved ..in. Nichol's "Progresses of Queen Elizabeth." Leicester and Philip Sidney and Walsingham were in their graves at that time, but we saw Lord Burghley and Francis Bacon, the Earls of Shrewsbury, Northumberland and Northampton, Lords Cobham, Hamilton and Norres, Walter Raleigh, Francis Drake, Thomas Sackville, and a host of great dames and lovely maidens. 1 GERMAN CROWN PRINCE LOOKS ON. Most of the men ( and ,women were the actual direct defendants of the personages in who-ip gsii'nients they were dressed. A Cecil wore the robes of his great ancestor, Burghley; the mysterious Chancellor, for whom some would dethrone Shakespeare, was represented by one of his name; and there were Sackvilles and Fortescues, Talbots and Comptons and Lytteltons, Hamiltono and Ho.vards. Of Drake and Raleigh only the spirit appeared. The Queen herself (Mrs. Arthur James), in a dress of blue, was more beautiful than one is wont to think of Elizabeth, a little less brusque in manner and cold of eye, but regal in her bearing, a masterful Tudor monarch,"conscious of her dignity and sure of herself,,,,

Upon the procession princesses looked down from the /ronij row of the boxes. They wore govts'' th&£' were the envy of many a woman present, and they ail wore so much in the way of diamonds that they seemed, to -sparkle from head to toe. The tiaras, fiecklaces and other jewels were worth a king's ransom. Behind them sat the princes in gorgeous military uniforms, abal?e with gemstudded decorations. The German Crown Prince and Princess came in last of the guests. In a box adjoining was the Duke of Norfolk nr a scarlet and gold uniform, and near him were fieldmarshals and court officers.

Cabinet Ministers, too, in their fulldress uniforms, were present. Amongst them was the Hoffie"Sec¥etary (Mr. Winston Churchill), Indiap princes, in magnificent attirfe, aAd foreign envoys. They beheld Mr. F. E. SmiTfiTas Hamelt, walk hand in hand with Miss' Marie Lohr, a charming Op'mlia, The Amazons—all the tallest. ::i;lies in society-—were a striking s veri in their Britannia-like apparel. These included the Countess of Londesborough, Lady Juliet Duff, Lady Desborough and the Countess Hochberg. In Macbeth .the most fascinating person was Banquo's Ghost—a grim and grisly figure draped in smoky grey. He danced in quite sprightly fashion with a witch.

There were 28 groups in all, and each was dressed to indicate the play which that particular party represented. THE PLAY IN QUADRILLES.

Altogether, the quadrille of Shakespeare's lovers elaborated by Lady Tree I was very beautiful. ' The Marquis of I Granby was Henry VII., and Shak.es- ! peare was really the Duke of Marlborough. When the dance was.in full swing one marvelled at the, splpdors of the pageant under a sky blue as Naples' own, within the circle of trimmed box and crumbling walls, laden with grape vines, and discovering color foil in the Hombre cypresses rearing their heads to the blue vault and tl\e peacocks on the velvet lawns spreading their plumage in the sun. Kings and motley clowns josiV'l l aoli other, and figures of vast dignity belonging ',■> mediaeval Europe scanned the rout through the monocle of later Piccadilly. A striking figures was he who wore a suit of golden armor, with a helmet of gold surmounted by a niagara of white floating plumes. His breastplate of jewels was like a wellstoked fire on a frosty sight. The Prime Minister's family was well represented in Lady Sheffield's "Winter's Tale" set. Sir Alfred Mond masqueraded, not appropriately, as "old John o' Gaunt, time-honored Lancaster"; Mr. Alfred Lyttelton figured as an ancestor in Queen Elizabeth's court; Viscount Lewisham made a terrible "Caliban"; Mr. Hemmerde gambolled, as the Prince of Verona, in gorgeous attire, is the neighborhood of Miss Lilian Braithwaite, Miss Margaret Halstan, and Miss Lena Ashwell, in the Romeo and Juliet set; Mr. St. Loe Straehey put on the livery of the sun and the character of

Othello; and, finally; Lord Winterton played Benedick, a very proper part. The popular novelist, Mr. A. E. W. Mason, was "Balthasar" in the fine "Much Ado About Nothing" set, with Mr. Fred Terry, Sir. George Alexander, Miss Ellen Terry, and Miss Julia Xttilson: General Sir lan Hamilton made a 1 lordly "Duke Frederick" in "As You Like it," with Lady Ridley as "Rosalind"; Lady Alington and Lady Jean Cochrane made charming daughters of Old Nile as "Cleopatra" and ''lras"; Mr. Somerset Maughan promoted hiinself, for the nonce, to the House of Lords and the title of Earl of Northumberland. Miss Marie Corelli was picturesque as Anne Hathaway, in a peasant's dress, in which was pinned a bunch of rosemary from Anne Hathaway's own garden. The Marchioness of Salisbury played her ancestress, "Lady Burghley"; Mrs. Patrick Campbell was a maid of honor to Queen Bess. Miss Phyllis Neilson Terry was a delightful "Rosalind," and Lady Diana Manners a lively "Perdita." The Countess of Crewe, Countess Zia Torby, Mrs. J. J. Astor, the Duchess of Marlborough, the Duchess of -Roxburghe, the Countess of Lytton, and Viscountess Curzon figured in Lady Paget's splendid "Henry VI." set.