New-York tribune., 1882-04-24
LONDON GOSSIP.
AN ENGLISHMANs NOTES ON ENGLISH
TOPICS.

Every unfortunate ODllgeu 10 rchiiih III
London during this present Easter must bitterly bewa
his hard fortune AS rule, confess that dctest 'he
Easter holidays One has come to town for permanent
| residence late in January early in the following
month and IL is tiresome thing to have TO pack up ana
go away again for ten days fortnight in April The
| weather at Eastertde IN this country may as rule
be summed up in Carlylcsc language as "altogether
devish" 1t is either all sunglarc, wind ana DUST or
dull gray and ran-sOddened Aud in country house 1t
| is drcary time must not be understood here as
deprecating English countryhousc life. which take TO
be the best expression English socabity. But there
are times and for it. From the killing OF the
first grouse TO the last In the grass counties after
March fox there is great JOY in an English country
house. be found. only highly cultivated
society but plenty do in the Of shooting hunuhs
speecbfying at nelghboring towns, or stumping a
county for 10y collection. There dancing ana pm
vate theatricals in every great house one If
asked tor at least charades ana Iahc!
balls. This Ia the real English Hc' ""ch
from various causes many Americans miss ou' lno
| few enjoy SO much. Nobody can understand EhgiSn
people from what of them in London Ihey-tha'
is all those worth knowinghavo too much TO do TO en-
| 10Y anything properly. From the Craven mecnng ~
Newmarket till the curtain falls on the season at eoou
wood one to pass ones life III keeping appoinE
mens either for business pleasure Ills perpetu
drive" and vastly like work. 1t Is In the autumn All"
winter season in the country that English foR really
ve hut at Easter tho country IL rule wretched
The house and servants are in full blast but only
in work for few days, and there Is an hconpcIo anu
transient air about everything. There Is hotnhs 10
hunt nothing TO shoot and although troutshing mas
commenced the fish are yet poor in color ana quanty
and do not rise freely Wherefore hate Easter out of
town as "A rule but this year glad to run TO London
superMare esteem myself lucky in getting rooms, for
all the clever youths who left things TO the last minute
are stranded. From Brighton TO Margate on the one
side and BournemOuth on the other, there If hardly
single hotel which is not full The fact is that everybody
sirks counryhouse invitations, especially if the peo
pie are of the extra High Church rituaistic stamp
When this is the case nothing is of the ladies on
Thursday, Friday and Sunday. They are always
at their dev0tons, and the men have nothing TO ia
back upon but a quiet game Of poker-billiars make
noise which would be quite too awuI-or IN the room
Of the boldest ripcur a little turn at baccarat
Happily the Craven meeting next week will afford
capital opportunity for getting away from anybody or
anywhere 10 Newmarket where there always good so
ciety and comfort we'll sport The sporting world
has been little dashed at the scratching Of Iroquois
for the City aud Suburban at EPSON the week after
next so much money was Won last year by Englsh
| people on the American horses IroquOis and FOXha
that undue anxiety has been shown 10 back them TINS
! season. Gerald, Golden Gate and sachem are much
talked Of at the younger clubs where Lori Famouhs
Dutch has been put about strong "tp for the
Two thousand and especially the Derby The telc-
graph long since told of the oxford and Cambridge
and the Hanlan and Boyd boat races. In both cases
such odds laid tie winners as TO make the events
foregone conclusions. Both were won actually
from start to finish the losers having kind of chance
whatever. The uter-unverSty race has greatly de-
clned popularity. Only few years ago the fair Young
ladies appeared in Cambridge o0ors and the brunettes
favored oxford, while few mOnd0iRcS Of japanese
procvities mingled the pale, wa-hodout blue and the
deep muddy purple in their toilets in iGcng-both-
ways manner.
"Ihe Colonel" that is to say Woottwe W. Wood,'
draws nigh his end after occupying the boards Of
the Prince of Waless Theatre for more than year
| d" Why cert'nly" IT is time Charles Coghlan played
something else for these prepOserously long runs are
terribly mischievous to artists That they bring in
plenty of money TO author and manager must be ad
mittcd but they crenize our actors and actresses Mo-
notonous repetition deadly thing, journalists recog
nize when such days Christmas NewYear the Fourth
of July and Waterloo Day round again year after
| year. II is complained that the same whip must be
taken up to fog the dead donkey Actors have a
| more robust power of staying" and play for O
hundred nights without showing signs of fatigue. In my
experience however thev play well afterward,
and after hundred and fifty nights appear TO me to
stand greatly need of rehearsal Coghlan, who has
mmoralized himself The Colonel" has been known
10 say in one of many clubs that his tseSSe came
| from too much Colonel" What is most odd is that
| Patience" stl draws good houses and that
| the opera ccmique and the play founded on the
aesthetic should have achieved permanent
success The only possible explanation is that
| Mr.. Burnand. Mr. Gilbert and Arthur sullivan have
proed by the labors of Mr. DuMaurier, who by means
of Punch popular feeling against the aesthetic
clques Of south Kensinston.
This whole scheme Of ridicule is eOmical being d
rectod against an unreaty. Batting the costumes worn
at the Grosvenor Garden tea parties by Mrs
| Stevens tho wife OF the art critic of The
| AAtenoum, himself member OF the pre-
u. hrafl nd bV
| the wife of the famous artist. there is nothing
very ridiculous the socaed artistic fashions invented
In opposition TO the bourgeois costumes Of Worth The
happy medium has been hit of by Lady Lindsay Of Bal
cares and few other grdndeS danes de par te monde
who are only artistic by accident AS for sunowcrsm
| or dafTodIity lOlatry whatever it is. the 30
called aesthetics have taught the vulgar million Of the
middle and semuppeT class the wealth of decorative
beauty TO obtained from yellow flowers These came
into fashion quite naturally with blue and white china
One does need TO have genius for color to under
stand that granted service Of blue and white Nankin
| dinner table have such decoration as Lent
lilies prmroses, the cultivated dafodl and Jonquil and
the yellow narcssus. The harmony is perfect and Il
| only relieved by little dark ovegreen glass Nc
tables in London are remarkable for tasteful dec
| Grafton in this peculiar way than Sir Henry
ThompsOns and Mrs. Bancrofts. Sir lIenrys ocaves'
| are very well known for their entertaining
quality and the fact that always fresh faces
Them Mrs Bancroft's sunday dinners are also remark
able celebrities meets, and her table hter
| ally jonciaee dc heurS.
The sham esthetcsm which only exists, if it exists at
ALL in very narrow circle is made up by set OF shall
low fools who neither paint write nor compose incllg
ble music Such writer's Mr.. SymOnds and Mr.. Peter
and snch painters and writers Mr. ROssetu need
| apology my humble pen. Imay, however, be per
mtted say that II Mr.. BurneJones and some men OF
the Botticell school would learn to draw the human
figure as the president Of the Royal Academy draw
il they would be less scorfully handled by critics The
apostles of lean angd. bony beauty unlucklly for
| themselves wretched draughtsmen-lke the archGOOg
zeal Alma Tadema who II be could draw would be the
nanter OF his time NerY few OF art critics