New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1877-07-16

COTRT AND SOCiETY GOSSIP.
Gossipping letters from various unpleasant
DE, sons who are alleged to be trequenter' OF
/ London drawnG-r0Oms and therefore NH
to the throat Of petty scandal ard mali
cious anecdotes, are bringing us stories OF
! Gen. Grants adventures i'll England not al
togcthe so satisfactory rs the accounts OF
the ex-President's tour originally transmitted
TO this country by telegraph. Readers OF THE
TRIBUNE have learned from the letters of our
regular correspondent that there has been
more or less conflict and heart burning between
Minister PieTcpont and tie British ans
tocracy on the subject of seats at the dim
ncr-tablc and that the result has been
drawn battle, Mr. PicucpOnt getting the
upper hand of dukes, ambassadors and such
people in his own house, but failing 10 carry
his point AT Buckingham Palace ard at the
parties of the Prince OF Wales. These mcmor-
able contests are matters of history, and very
proper subjects for the serious correspondent.
But there are chronicles of a much less dign-
fed character Besides the tusslcs over ccrc-
mony-which we suspect Gen. Grant carod
very little about--there seem to have been
other troubles, told principally IN private let
tiers, which find their way anonymously into
American newspapers. Incredible gauchcres
are related, not of the General himself but OF
some of those who accompany him; the visit
to Windsor is said to have been attended by
n disaereeable incident, of which the official
Court reporters make no mention, and London
society is represented rs laughing with good
humored contempt at the fuss and state with
which the American Embassy presents our
Cincinnatus to the subjects of an eticte des-
poti.m. and making a great many highly-per-
sonal remarks upon the Official and travelling
Americans whom these occasions of parade
draw out of the obscuIity Of their hotels and
lolging-houses into the fierce light of the first
circles.
Most of these ANONYMOUS anecdotes are prob
| ably untrue, and those which are based upon
fact are, doubtless, transformed in the tell
ing that they no better than falSehondS. 1t
seems to lis the extreme Of uAkindncSs to dis
| turb tie serenity of the public mind with
apocryphal scandals, and the extreme OF impro-
pricty to fill Il great metropolitan newspaper
with the sort of chatter which suits quilting
! bee. They r.anage these things better III Lon
don. OF course, people Will talk and when
! Her Majesty asks Il few Of the neighbOTs to
! step in of an afternoon for quiet cup of tea,
we have no doubt there is Il pretty picking to
pieces of characters and criticizing of man
ners. But this sort of gossip is kept
out of the daily newspapers. The late
| Mr.. Greville has recently given us a
| specimen of the scandalOus talk which
used to be common in London society
IN the first half of the present century,
and it seems to have turned upon the bad
manners quite as much as the bad morals of
the Arstocracy. If he reflected faithfully the
observations of the high people among whom
! he lived, there was hardly a well-bred OF an
estimable person in the Realm-that is, per-
son who was anybody. King William " was
"a very silly old gentleman who talked
dreadful nonsense in his convivial moments,
| blackguarled the Duchess of Kent, and fell
asleep over his wine. Nothing cOuld be more
IrIeverent or more bitter than the description
which the fashionable writer gave of his royal
| master rs the vul gar old King sat muttering
and swearing over his morning newspapers,
punctuating his reading with ordinations,
| q" That's "a lie :" or cur>ing his guest, the King
| of the Belgians, because Leopold asked for water
| at dinner: &C d-n it, sir! why don't you drink
| winei never allow ANYBODY To drink water ut
nv table" George " was almost equally coarse,
and great deal more selfish, ana Mr. Gre
Vile got great many nice stories about him
| from Ills Majesty's valet. Lady - was re-
puted to be the Kings mistress; all her meals
used to be sent to her from st. James's in a
hackney-coach and merely warmed over in
| her own kitchen. The Kings surgeon, O'Reily
came to the Palace every Jay with budget
of scandal and as soon his back was turned
his majesty told his servants that" O'Relly
was the damnedest liar in the world" The
Duke OF Cumberland offered violence to the
wife of Lord Chancellor LyBdhurst COurtieIs
and Ministers were as bad as the royal family.
| Nobody had any influence with the Duke
of Wellington except the silliest women. Lord
! Palmerston was set down as contemplate
person of mean capacity Lord Brougham
wished "to go junketng on the Rhine with
Mrs. p, and this project was only marred
"by his discovering that he could not leave
"the country without putting the Great Seal
Gin commission, at cost Ito himselO of
eel, 400" Such are the stories with which