New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1881-07-31
GARDENPARTLES IN LONDON
From The London World.


Contemporaries may be divided into two classes
those which are regular and those which are ex-
ceptonal, features In the London season. There is
a certain number of hosts and hostesses " 40 an
nuallN never fail to fling open their palaces and
brightest days OF summer. Again. there are others
who only do 80 at long intervals or with view of
slenaiIzing Their position in manner which is in
tended 10 carry with II certain sense of dramatic
surprise. One OF the great entertainments of last
month Was Lady Wallace's " At Home at Hertford
House, Manchester Square. London does not possess
more splendid residence; and the fact that il is
only thrown open TO the fashionable public at long
intervals enhances the attractions of the festivals of
which 1t is the scene. Lady Walaces at home was A
combination If the al fresco and of the indoor enter
tanment. The guests wandered through galleries
full of pictures and crowded with medi.ev al arms,
They made the descent of a marble staircase and
most remarkable dainties of which We're tomato
sandwiches concocted with consummate skill,
with fower-beds, where the murmurs of FLASHING
fountains were blended with the notes of Hungarian
h 10 tins same order Of entertainment belongs
the young Duke of st. James, who. q
year ago, came unexpectedly into his vast
peeted Of being fGfnsSa tSSs su no one had s9s-
noble relative, his predecessor in the title aud tits
estates had lived the life of recluse. and probably
not half dozen persons in London were aware that
beyond the gloomy portals of the family mansion
was there an inviting expanse of well-cultivated
verdure. These are the garden parties which mark
distinct epochs In the lives Of those who give and
those who assist at them. They have an impor-
lance which is peculiarly their own, and, within
certain UNITS, they have no competitors.
Contemporaries like those at Holland House at
Holly Lodge. and at Marlborough House stand in a
different category. They annual events they
are expected by the fashionable world they per-
form service which no other social function can
accomplish. They show the brilliant miscellany of
London society IN its most vast and varied aspects
The most exalted personages in the realm assist &C
them; the hnmbest competitors for social distinc-
ton are not excluded The Sovereign of these
realms graced the gathering of the heir
apparent and her daughter-in-law last week.
and Mrs. Ponsonby de 1omkyns was pleasantly
conspicuous also amongst the guests. There are
freedom and elasticity i'm an entertainment given in
he Anhp IL ranaf. - II.
guests not strictly eligible. Already there
are several ladies who utilize the gardens Of tho
ing their friends Such a summer as we are now ex-
perencIng inspires hope that thus example may 90
The garden-party at Marlborough House was quiet
as large as the assembage of former years az CHS
spirits and surrounded by grandchildren In
different stages. The Princess of Wales gray
Princess Beatrice blue. Short dresses prevailed;
and very short some of them were-mOre suited 10 a
noon IN royal garden. One lady, in tight jacket
speckled with flowers, and a skirt of white
muslin fifteen inches off the ground, was neither
more nor less tnan carlcature. But II IS pleas
anter TO recall the memory Of beauty rather than
ngliness, and TO turn from paint and vulgarity 20
Lady Dudley, IN lovely dress of mauye with white
lace; TO the Hon. Mrs. Reginald Talbot, in a
medieval composition of brown satin and white;
and Lady Hermione DRncombe the incarnation Of
nymph-hke beauty, in vesGal white. There was
also lemon-tinted dress, with shaded parasol 10
match, which refreshing TO the loOker-on, and
most becoming to the wearer.
The crimson-velvet tents, gorgeous with gold en-
brodery, which the Prince of Wales brought from
India, added 20 the coup dGa at the garlen-paTty,
and these were not the only reminder of the Indian
Empire; for the gardens at Marlborough House. be-
ing surrounded by a terrace and wall form sort of
basin and on Thursday the temperature high
as ii is in Bombay. The result that the Queen
was overcome by such unusual state OF the Their
mometer, and feeling ILL., her Majesty cansed general
disappointment by leaving earlier than ii was hoped
she would.
Her Majesty the Queen honored Madame Nilsson
with the gracious distinction of retaining her quite
ten minutes IN a conversation, as / am informed of
the most hattering and cOndescending kind.