New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1885-05-31
THE LONDON SEASON.
REPRESSION IN MAYFAIR-HousEs
1hC nprN AND SHUT.


, in,S - on the greatest scale, grumbes
49,. ,onS,v and persistenty than any other place
~ .he face of the globe Is 1t not the most Eng
Esh &c all English citiesi For years the Lonaonei
h.s hocn complain,ng that his social Amusement,
,ve,c growing steadily fewer. This year. no WI.
ted Won in his melancholy way, is the WORST 'i'"'
has been known Never were 80 rev p1'
MAYER 40 raany smart houses ooo
never so many leaders or ornaments " 80 Ir,aon
cor,eot themselves with brief visits W
4; tho same that has been at the root vi
tbe languid movement of previous years
ho n social paralysis in London, IL Is oecSu'0 "a,
farmer of Illinois grows wheat chcapr, ,""
farmers of Berkshire. There are rev Ensiisn ,e"
rolls. great or small which have not been cut Gown
100 tononts car no longer pay the old rents
Reduced rent rolls mean economy ana eoohoh'S
means more life in the country and less IN London
There Is another sort OF caviler VINO i"-
s;s,s that the season has been Droken
mn nv the caprice Of the Primo Minister
O. ~ he had much to do with such matters. r"
lament met in October, met again IN epr"i'S,
took but shert holiday at Easter ana uses nv
od;on,, for Whitsuntide till the Friday oeluio
whit Sunday. Yet the West End has conVihceo ~
self that Mr. Gladstone is responsible LOT inc oe
presson in Mayfair and the duineSS thai sioou'
Rel
The sittIngs at ST. Stephens have little to do d.
rootlv with the dearth Of parties but the absence
of the Guards in Egypt has great deal TO DO WIN
- Them has been disease and death among the
oni,ers of some of the crack regiments
Of Her Majesty and not lew houses
ara closed in consequence. Those when are
not closed arc quieter for the same reason. lhere
arc toe many gaps in the social circle 10 De easily
Allied Nh. The shadow of Russian war darKenod
the town for weeks and few people cared to an
nsunee parties and balls that military disaster OF
even military movements might presently prevent
Parties there have been, certainly. Lady Sails
bury has gwen two In Arlington Street on the
greatest scale. Lady Derby was at home 10
multitude in st. James's Square last wednesday
Mrs Peel has had receptions at tho Speakers House
Toav Havter gave two assemblies in Grosvenor
souare before Easter, but has given none
since Lady Ripon her return from
India received her friends in Carlton
Gardens O single evehing. Lady Wimbornes
parties In Hamilton Place were by no means exciu-
syely, but still preponderantiy. Conseryative.lnls-
terial Inequalities have been on the most limited
scale and from Downing Street itself no invita-
tons have been issued except to dinners and to Mr.
Gladstone's usual Thursday breakfasts The Spen-
GERS have been IN Ireland and theSpencer househas
been closed. Lady Granville has not resumed her
evenings in Carlton House Terrace. Lansdowne
House opened not its doors. and Lord and Lady
Rosebery are now in mourning Lady Harcourt. who
used to receive pretty regularly in Grafton-st
three or four tincs during the season. has wholly
discontinued this praiseworthy practice. So have
Lady Aberdeen In Grosyenor Square and Lady
Breads,lbane at Harcourt House. Lord Northbrook
and Lady Emma Barring were at home once or twice
at the Admiralty and Mrs. Childers in Piccadilly.
That exhausts or nearly SO, the list of gather
ings which can be called mainly partly political
Ia their character Other houses there arc in which
politics play but subordinate role AS rule they
have been open less often and to fewer people than
usual. The diplematists. however, never quite re-
tireinto the back ground. Something's always going
on at the French Embassy. For the Russian. the
moment is not propitious Count MINISTER'S mon
ster receptions In Carlton House Terrace yet to
be hold, nor has the Austrian Embassy this season
made Delgrave Square i'm passabe with its serried
ranks of carriages. Tho Turk eatertains no moro
the reyelries in Bryanston Square have ceased the
gaye.y OF the Brazilian Legation undergoes ten
porary eclipse the Baron and Baroness de Penedo
are gone abroad.
At most of the very smsrtest houses in London,
where no will prevails but that OF their
own set, the stagnatien, though not CON-
piete, is marked. Lady de Rothschhd
has given one party, kept down to numbers which
left room 10 move freely about in tho great draw
ing-room and gaze at leisure on the matchless
Gainsboroughs or the marvellous Murii!os. There
is another at tho same house on Saturday. Lady
Margaret Beaumont eDlivens the last few days be-
fore the recess with party at the weli-known ad-
dress in Piccadlly hard by the still stateier man
sion of the Rcthschilds which itself looks down
lcftily on Apsiey House, that gloomy dwelling
which the late Duke Of Wellington opened but sell
dom. and the present Dake has opened not at ALL
Lady Corks friends have been msde welcome at
her new house in Begrsve Square, but not too fire.
quently to allow their pleasure to pau by safety
Mrs Campbell Of Crage, who for some seasons has
occupied the house IN Cavendish Square once the
residence of an American Minister Mr. PierreponD.
takes little account Of social depression elsewhere
aad has dspelled not little of 1t by succession
of at-h0ae. Mrs Jeune is one OF the brilliant ex-
ceptions, and her interesting assemblages of celeb
rites of all classes have been interesting as ever
Lady Goldsmid interrupted her Fridays at Easter
for visit to Cannes but is again in London and ut
home TO the musical world aud others. Lady Rid
lev begins her Tuesdays this week and continues
them through juno.
Deyonshire House has seen no company since the
death of Lord Frederick Cayendish. Grosvenor
House. from which people hoped much on the re-
marriage of the Duke Of Westminster three years
AGO. became house of mourning on the death Of
his eldest son aud heir Earl Grosvenor last year.
The long illness of Lord Dudley did not prevent an
occasional festiyity at Dudley House down to year
before last. Bat Lord Dudley died last week-a
man of whom there is much TO be said. were
IL possible to say II all freely-and
Lady Dudley's Observance of conventional usage
on the occasion will be of the strictest.
Lady Jersey. think. has given no parties, mol
Lady stanhope. who. like the Roseberys. is IN
mourning for Col mel Primrose 1t IS TOO soon for
Londonderry House TO forget the death Of its 70
cent possessor but ii be taken for granted that
the clever woman whom London has admired az