The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1883-05-10
Mrs. Fonsonby d, Tomkyns.

Henry james, Jr., contributes n lively
and appreciativc study of ''du Maurier
and London Society," to the May Cen
tat1y, from which we quote his inter
probation of a character which is ia
miliar to the readers of London
punch. "
This lady is a real creation. She is
an incident of one of the later phases of
du Maurier's activitY--a child of the
age which has also produced Mrs CHM
abue Brown and Messrs Maudle and
Postlethwaite She is not one of the
heroincs of the aesthetic movements,
though we may be sure she dabbles in
that movement so faras itpays to do so.
Mrs. Ponsonby de Tomkyns is little of
everything, in so far rs anything paws
She is always on the lookout, she never
misses an opportunity. She . is not Il
specialist, for that cuts off too many OPP
portunities, and the aesthetic people
have the tort, aS the French say, to be
specialists No, Mrs. Ponsonby de
Tomkyns is-what shall we call herr.
we'll, she is the modern social spirit.
She is prepared for everything; she is
ready to take advantage of everything;
she would invite MIR R.'adlaugh to din
ner if she thought the Duchess would
come TO meet him. The Duchess is her
great achievement she never lets go Of
her Duchess She is young. very nice
looking, slim. graceful, interchangeable.
She tires poor Ponsonby completely out:
she can keep going for hours after poor
Ponsonbv is reduced To stupefaction
This unfortunate husband is, indeed.
almost stupeiied. He is not, like his
wife. person of Imagination. She
leaves him far behind, though he is SO
dull and heavy that, if she were less
superior person, he would have been n
sad incumbrance. He ALWAYS figures
in the corner of the scenes in which she
distinguishes herself, separated from her
by something like the gulf that separa-
ted Caliban from Ariel. He has his
hands in his pockets. his head poked
forward; what Is going on is quite be-
yond his comprehension. He vaguely
wonders what his wife will do next;
her maneuvers quite transcend him.
Mrs. Ponsonby de Tompkyns always
succeeds She Is never at fault; she is
as quick as the instinct of self-preServa-
ton. She is the little London lady who
undetermined to be a greater one. She
pushes, pushes, gently but 1irmly-al-
ways pushes. At last she arrives. 1t
is true that she had only the other day,
on June -, 1882, a considerable failure;
We IbiSF the reader To ttle iltIle incident
of Madame Gaminot, in the Punch
for that date. But she will recover from
it; she has already recovered from it.
She is not even afraid of Sir Gorgius
Midas of the dreadful Midas Junior
She pretends to think Lady Midas the
most elegant of women; when it is nee
essafy to tiatter, she lays it on as with
a trowel. She hesitates at nothing; she
is very modern. If she doesn't take the
aesthetic line more than is necessary,
She finds it necessary to take it Il little;
for, if we are to believe du Maurier. the
passion for strange raiment and blue
china has, during the last few years,
made ravages in the London world
We may be sure that Mrs. Ponsonby de
Tomkyns has an array of fragile disks
attached to her walls, and that she can
put in word about Botticelli at the
right moment. She is far, however,
from being u representative of aesthetic
ism, for her hair is very neatly an
ranged, and her dress looks French and
superficial,