M.WORTH, THE PARIS DRESSMAKER.

Waikato Times, Volume XXX, Issue 2423, 21 January 1888, Page 1 (Supplement)

M.WORTH, THE PARIS DRESSMAKER.

M. Worth, the Parisian king of dressmakers, is an Englishman about 45 yiara ol<l, gooddookinc, and of pleasant manners. He is said to have obtained admis-sion-to, the salons aufl opera box of a celebrated foreign princess and leader of fashions as a settlement of her long unpaid bills—a composition which so ofYcndcd the court dignitaries of her native country that she narrowly escaped social ostracism on her return home. Tbo same Madame de M , it is declared, being anxious to make a display without a great outlay, arranger 1 , with \Vnrth to hire his dresses for one wearing, and then ti return them for sale to those ladies who were desirous of imitating the toilettes of her highness. Worth himself is said to be fond of personal display, his finders being bedecked with valuable rings—one a. superb siriglestoue diamond, another a large square antique, gem set in fine diamonds, and so forth. ITo is al-o fond of huilJinif, an:l spend' large suku of money in altering, art-auxins;, and re-dccor.ttiug the magnificent inausimi which he possesses in the suburbs of Paris. He is a mni of tireless activity ; every department in his immense establishment is under his mv.i personal supervision, and it is difiiouil to obtain more than a few moments uuiul-errupted conversation with him, so frequently is lie called upon fur iii'ivicii; or, as be i<iipa:i(!i:tly r«inarlcd to an interviewer, " the wurkwomen cannot as ;nu-.-h as put in a s-leevo without coming , to me about it." He buys the material, sees tlm customers, ile-'igns the style, and selects the colours himself, and his taste is said to be very good, only that he has " a weakness for arraying blondes in certain bright shades of yellow.'" The price paid by unhappy husbands and disconsolate fathers for his productions arc something fabulous. His charge for an ordinary silk walking or evening dress may be computed at fifty or sixty pounds ; but upon grand occasions even this price is largely exceeded. Notwithstanding these exorbitant figures, lie is literally overwhelmed with orders, his customers including not only Parisians, but large numbers of English and Americans. Whether his prciits will be. smaller now that dresses are largely being made on scientific principles, we cannot say, but it is certain that for many years he has reaped a rich harvest from the vanities of the fai> - sex. Mm Lanvjtky's coaehmau is one of the sialics of Long Branch. lie is only a little more than four feet tall, and weighs about 110 pounds. What little hair he Ims is red. and his f.soo is covered with freckles. As a fuil for his handsome mistress he is au unqualified success. A c'ORUESi'OXDENT writes from tho neighbourhood of Bologna, under dite, September 11th, tha", the highwaymen who are infecting the wild country bstween there .and Pistola hava stopped a countess, who was driving home to her coutitrv ho i*o, aud robbed her of money and valuables to the extent of 601)0 florins. Tat; French Government liavr , t-ikon measures to suppress the importation of manufactured cripples iuto tbo country from Tlu scoundrels who deal in these tilings take feeble young children anil biud their lower limbs under them so as to destroy the use of thorn, and then turn them out to beg in little cart*. The Government have ordered tho Prefects in the southern department to prevent their ent.iance into France. Some old buildings having n peculiar if not highly historic interest, have been demolished in the Tower of London. They were situated between the WakeHeld and Lanthorn towers, and wero formerly used as prisous and places for administering the rack, tbo wheel, and other methods of torture. Iu the latter capacity they wore used to a great extent "up to the time of James 11. Of hue yours they have merely been used as store-rooms ai;d warehouses for the purposes of the garrison. It is proposed to make a green plot on the site.

A sensational event, of which no previous announcement was made in tliß playbills, occurred on the evening of the 20th August in the Theatre Royal, West BroiTi'vidi. In a piece called "Shoulder to Shoulder," a steam vessel runs into a small boat, and at this point the audience became so excited that a lad of fourteen overbalanced himself and fell from the g-illery on to the heads of the people in thi! pit. Strange to say, the boy escaped without any further injury thin the lc \ of one of his front teeth, and was so anxious to witness the close of the p«rfo"iii;u]'.'-' that the rnanag'.'i - him :vr.h a seat in the dress cucie.

A Home paper is responsible for the following:—Mi , Thomas Fitzmaurice Burke, who recently had been >,:';eiaiiy apprise , . 1 . that ho is the heir to a fortune of two millions.sterling, has just been paying ii visit to Old Bromptou, Chatinun, in which town he formerly resided for many years. The enormous wealth of which Mr iJtirke will shortly come into possesaion has been bequeathed by ijlis halfbrother, Samuel Burke Loan, formerly of Prospect.Villa, Cork, Ireland. This Mr Loan emigrated to Australia iu 1832, and, going up country during the gold fever, opened a store on the goldtield, and rapidly accumulated a fortune. At a later period Mr Loan removed to New Zealand, his good fortune and sound judgment in investing his savings i-.ausing his already large fortune to swell rapidly. When he Hied at Auckland. N«'\v Zealand, last Nove.ml.er, at th ■ of sewn y-tw • 3 ears, he was possesse i in round figure of about *2,000,000.