The Sun.
London, England, 1862-05-12 00:00:00

LADIES BY PURCHASE.

A transaction of a very questionable nature is announced
as likely to take place on the outskirts of the fashionable
world. The public will be astonished to learn that a lady
of " high title" is ready, for the modest sum of £5,000, to
play the part of Tarpeia, and to deliver over the gates of
the Capitol to any of the fair barbarians who are clamour-
ing round them for admission. Everybody knows that it is
possible occasionally foi outsiders to drift into the inner
circles of fashion under the wing of some interested chaperon
who has a motive for doing a kindness. Extensive political

interest, a large rent-roll, a powerful patroness, and some-
times conspicuous personal merit, are all of use to those
who are fortunate enough to possess them, and serve in turn
as a magical talisman to open the doors of Paradise. Intro-
ductions, no doubt, are often bestowed on those who have
no especial claim to be introduced; and very little in this
world is given away for nothing. But it is the first time
that an introduction to " exclusive society" has been put up
as a marketable article, to be knocked down to any one,
good, bad, or indifferent, who will bid £5,000 for it. Tho
Countess of Beam was persuaded to present the Dubarry
at Court, in return for the promise of a successful termina-
tion of her provincial law-suit. Human nature has its
weaknesses, and feminine integrity is not always proof
against the tremendous influence of self-interest. But the
Countess of Beam did not put an advertisement in the
papers, to say that she would initiate anybody into the
mysteries of fashionable life who would give her her own
p rice. This, however, is what " a lady of high title and
first position" proposes, in the papers of the week, to do.
She " will receieve at her husband's West-end mansion, a
lady wishing to be properly presented, or aspiring to advan-
tages, derivable from an introduction to exclusive society.
Confidence must be kept, name and all circumstances stated,
and no ambiguous inquiries will succeed. £5,C00 is requi-
site.—K. G., 2, Spring-gardens, W hitehall." The history
of a London season is a history, among other things, of
struggles, triumphs, and disappointments. The inmost circle
contains, or is supposed by those outside it to contain, all
that life can give of social attractions, honours, and delights.
Round about are numberless larger rings—the coulisses of
fashion—occupied by aspirants who view the position of
those outside them with disdain, their own position with
dissatisfaction, and that of the more fortunate with admira-
tion and envy. Half the ball-rooms in London at this time
of the year are filled with people whose pleasure for the
night is spoilt by the reflection that they are not able to be
somewhere else. It would save a great deal of trouble and
of expense if the plan pursued by the lady of high title were
to be universally adopted. The acquaintance of a duke or
a duchess. from a social point of view, appears to be worth
something ; and as their number is not capable of being in-
definitely increased, the value of the acquaintance—on the
principles of Adam Smith himself—is capable of being re-
ferred to a pecuniary standard. If the world were universally
conducted on such plain ,commercial relations, everybody
would know what attitude to assume. The lady of title
receives fees for introductions to her friends. The next
step will be for ladies of title to receive fees for introductions
to themselves. Money may soon be taken at the doors, and
reserved tickets in the middle of the room kept for those

who choose to pay an additional price. A full price season
ticket will enable the holder to address herself freely to any
one she chooses ; while the less fortunate are to be restricted
to the conversation of Scotch law lords, Irish peeresses,
and K C.B.'s. Different articles of social furniture would
have a run upon them at different times. Titles of more
than 150 years' standing will have to be paid in advance,
Peeresses above the rank of marchioness to be paid for
extra. Foreign stock never could be looked upon with
favour, and bishops will, in all probability, always continue
to be a little flat. But eldest sons will go to a high figure
directly ; and a great deal might be done in the city with a
skilful investment in old county families. If matters were
put at once upon this wholesome and intelligible footing,
and society were reduced to a grand system of promotion
by purchase, there would be nothing to complain of in the
proceedings of the "lady of title" who is ready to sell the
society of her friends for £5,000, In the days of Hudson
and of the railway mania such things were done on a large
scale, and every day they are done upon a small one, but they
have seldom been done with such open and barefaced effron-
tery. lawn probcktillty Avpo isement ispArfectiv ft An" in -
It is not less of a swindle for all that. In the first place it
is a gross imposition on the members of the " exclusive"
society in which the lady of title moves. If the £5,000 be-
longs to anybody, it belongs in all conscience and equity to
the whole body, and not to her, and she ought to be com-
pelled to disgorge it when she has got it. Any attempt to
extort money for showing her friends to the public is in
reality converting them into a social Zoological Garden
without their knowledge and against their will. In the
second place, the advertisement is a fraud upon the credu-
lous simplicity to which it is addressed. There are not half-
a dozen ladies in London who have the power of palming
off an unknown and obscure acquaintance on the world. A
great deal may, no doubt, be done by assiduous puffing and
chaperoning, but there is a limit even to this. Continually
it happens that an attempt of the kind is made. It is sel-
dom or never a complete success. Lady Dash may stand
at the head of her plebian protegee's staircase and receive
the guests whom she herself has invited. She may procure
transferrable invitations to the parties and balls of the
" exclusive society" to which she herself belongs, lßut
it will always be beyond the power of any single in-
dividual to confer the stamp of fashion -upon an acquaint-
ance as if it were a patent or an order. Fashionable society
has its follies and its vices ; but it is probably not so foolish
as to elect into its inner circle those of whom it knows abso-
lutely nothing. When it is deceived it chooses to be de-
ceived with its eyes open. It tolerates the rich, it endures
the vulgar, and caresses occasionally the disreputable; but
it does so for its own distinct purposes, and not because it is
I deluded by the credentials they present.—London Review.
101115

CIVIL CONTINGENCIES.—The annual account of
the public expenditure under this head has been laid before
Parliament. The two largest items in the past year aro
£14,044, paid on account of the Prince of Wales's visit to
Canada, and £5,367 expenses connected with the funeral
of her late Royal Highness the Duchess of Kent, including
cost of mourning supplied to the servants of the royal
household. Lord Westbury's " outfit allowance" on his
appointment as Lord Chancellor was £1,843. There is an
item of £6lO for a work that seems far in the distance—a
new edition of the statutes. The sum of £713 was paid for
fees on the investiture of the King of Prussia with the
Order of the Garter. The whole amount of these "sun-
dries" is £44,838.

The Italian iron-plated frigate, the Formidable,
left Toulsn the day before yesterday for an experimental
trip.