New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1883-12-09
LONDON GOSSIP.
AN ENGLIsHMAN'S NOTES ON ENGLISH
TOPICS.

rrpou AN OCCASIONAL CORRESPONDENT TRIBUNE.
LONDON, November "a.
Mrs Lynn Linton, author of " lone" Patr-
cia KemhaI" Leon Dundas 5" and other successful
works of fiction Just fired gun the echoes whereof
are ringing not only literary circles but in the best so
ciety of the really great world. She has Unpublished
large number Of her essays contributed TO The saturday
Rereac under tho title OF The Girl OF the PERIOD and
other Social Essays" by Eliza Lynn Linton Everybody
has heard Of these famous articles which created OK
traordnary sensation when they appeared but the celeb
rity attaching their authorship has been so long denied
10 Mrs Linton that in self-deence she made up her
mind TO reprint them with her name attached There
was great mystery about The Saturday RerieU In It's
palmy DAYS under the editorshp Of Douglas Cook VINO
was himself problem. Everybody knew that he lived
in the queer little covered street called the Albany an
od-ashiOned bachelors paradise extending from Picca-
dy To Burlington Gardens parallel with the burlington
Arcade on the opposite side OF the great building devoted
10 the Royal Academy the Royal Society the Society OF
Antiquaries and other learned bodies Everybody met
him I'm society hut not soul knew anything about him
or his anecedens That he had recently written Tor The
Times and The Morning Chronicle was known mt what
he had done M 10 that time tongue could tell hut hs
own and that did not His friends declared he had
filed important positions in India and the Colonies HIS
enemies and their legion, swore roundy ta1
he was returned convict. But nobody had any details
He lived a Of mystery and keI the names OF biz
writer's as secret as hs antccedens. His regular
staff was mainly composed OF the old hands OF The Morn
ing Chronicle. of the Strangiord and Hayward period
but 1t was believed all London that the smart articles
we're written by briecss baTisters the cream OF young
Oxford" earning bread by literary work while awaiting
regular egA business This fable eagerly swallowed
by the ignorant public ever ready attribute freshness
and pucss to very young writers Instead ~ to more
able and practi,cd hands. As matter of fact Douglas
Cook got together the best team OF literary hacks secn MP
70 his day wsh dear old john Bcnfod TO Tool, after the
philosophy and the drama. while the editor Sc
teced spIighty subjects which made his hacks 10 pncc
and clryet like old hunter WHO after drawing sand
cart for few years feels his feet the tui and hears
the souni the huutsmau's horn. The Albany hacks
were men OF culture and skilled journalists only too de
lighted 10 escape and then from tie arid ways Of
politics the pleasant meadows Of social discourse The
Young men -et To DO inferior work such rs minor re
views and book notices, and among these was Lod Rod
cr Cecil whose c,Gcr brother. the blind Lord Claiborne
and hjs living father separated at that time from the
Marqui-ate Of Salisbury Lord Robert bright and
bitter young man, with vile Ghc daughter OF Baron
Allersoul and young family, and very -!ad 20
his knowledge OF French and German M writing foreign
hook-uotccs for IN, saturday Resieu, and Wd- under
stand very badly paid for his work Douglas Cook was
not in the least oycwed by Mr. Bercsiord HOPE, the
proprietor of the paper, who had married Lord Robert;
sister Lady Mildred Cecil and treated him uowi,c better
than ANYBODY else / have beard il sOlcmuly ayCrcd
that Lord Robert Was not allowed 10 buy foreign books
for review hut Obliged to borrow them from hook cller7
on condition Of cutting the leaves. so hint could
extracted from Tie cdtOf ~ To Tie authorship OF
"a, thing and thus when The Girl Of the Period series
tppearcd immense curiosity Was excited.
After rs manner the world "pGt this and that to
getier" and with "a not uncommon result It was argued
that such paper, must have been written by somebody
within the charmed circle OF the highest society. Also
4 WIS clear that tlcy written by q Hence
il wac dcIuccd that Lady Robert Lady Salisbury
WAS always staying with Lady Mildred Hope and that
3lr BercsfOrd Hope the owner Of Ihe SdtHTddB
Reries Lady Salisbury VINO is very clever and woman
OF great character must have written the articles ana her
maine was mentioned everywhere the author In her
preface to the volumes pablished, Mrs Linton al
Indies TO her having been twice introduced 10 tie supposed
suthor OF her own work, pIct"ndor being clergy
man who had boldly told his friends that he had written
the paucra and the other, lady OF rank well known IN
London society and to this hour believed by her own
circle 10 have writer" the "Gir Of the Period and
other articles Of similar texture. II must be little mo
poonou- TO an author to be peetually introduced TO
,he supposed writers OF her works, and can under
stand that feminine patience would ultimately
bneak down under such trial Nobody dreams that
Lady Salisbury limited that she had written the
papcrs but 10 seems the belief OF the circle
allowed 10 pass uncontradicted. What Mrs. Linton's
friends insist IT, that Lady Salisbury had given distinct
and precise denial there would have been an end to the
rnmor. At any rate the murder Is out now, ana the
ouarrel is pretty enough as IL stands
II Is quite easy understand the Man of Mystery In
sistng that Mrs Lynn Linton should not, at the tinc
came forward and ayow her work. Such proceeding
would have entirely at variance with the canons OF
ANONYMOUS journalism 1t would certainly have greatly
weakened the attaching to the articles The
Girl OF the Period II had been known that they had
been written not by member Of the arisocraey but by
very clever lady honorably earning her livelihood by
her pen 80 Douglas Cook kept his brilliant ady-con-
tributor sup his sleeve" and the authorship OF her
famous articles has been matter OF dispute, except
among few well-infonned people, unto this day
The old Marquis of Salisbury father Of the present
peer was a strange being lie built mud-waD round
Hatfield and the fire occurred, and still older
Warehouses burnt he is said to have charged the in
surance company with the value Of his dinner spoiled by
the accident
hear that the marriage Of Lord Garmoyle with Miss
Finney iss Fortescuel ia postponed to, at the earliest
next July.
The death of Lady Ohio Fitzgerald within year OF that
OF her husband will plunge many families In mourning
he was brother Of the present Duke Of Leinster ana
uncle Of the Marquis Of Kildare who Ia about to marry
the great beauty Lady Hermione Dunconhe, and Lady