New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1888-07-08
LONDON SOCIETY. ,
WITH SOME PARTICULARS OF THE MOURN
ING FOR THE LATE GERMAN EMPEROR.

The fourteen days OF public mourning oruereu
by the Queen for her son-n-aw are drawing to
close, and very glad people will be TO see the
last Of them Lopdon in black is not an exhila-
rating spectacle. There have been court mourn
ings before now, but no general mourning OF
recent years, and the depressing effect of it came
as novelty, and not an agreeable novelty
Society," by one of those tacit pebiscites which are
voted nobody quite knows how, had agreed
from the first TO respect the Queens wish. Not
10 respect IT, was thought proof of bad taste.
The disscnters had 10 advertise their dissent by
wearing coors. and few care TO be conspicuous in
red when all the world is in black.
All the world, however, means the classes
The masses made effort for day or two, but
it was not kept up and the streets have never
been quite black A shop-grl who put on hit
of black ribbon somewhere thought she had done
enough TO express her sympathy with the Queen.
ard so perhaps she had. The most remarkable
act Of compliance with the royal wish, was on the
part Of the unhappy women who throng Regent
Street in the late afternoon and evening. They
have, it appears, n public opinion OF their own
and they too like the world above them, voted for
conformity and the hues of death. 1t was honestly
meant. no doubt, but what comment on social
customs. and what caricaturel
The rule of dress has not after ALL been very
rigid. Ladies thought themselves entitled to
wear, on occasion, instead of black white, or
gray. or mauve, or white and black They wore
black or gray gloves generally black. BonnetS
and hats were black; so were parasols. few
put their servants also into mourning, but this
was the exception You could not enter room
without feeling the gloom, and the more people
there were the greater the gloom. IL was
deepest of all at the opera. The aspect OF
Covent Garden, with its great area of stalls, ITS
tiers of boxes, its long stretch of galleries, its
IN.
where in black, was funeral Some of the
younger women were in white. but not many.
The one thing that lent brilancy to the scene
was the diamonds II seemed as if never before
had so many been worn. The black gowns set
of the gems, which sparl1ed and shone and
lighted up the house.
More melancholy than the opera was the Park
on Sunday in the interval between church and
luncheon, from half past 12 to . o'clock. This
is ordinarily one of the sights and gayeties of
London: one that the transient American in his
hurried fight TO the Continent may be advised
20 see Time was when society walked in the
Row, or more accurately. in the paths on either
side of the Row. II walks there no longer
The Row is full, but not, to use current
phrase, with the right people 1t is full of
people who have gone there 10 the right
people, and who probably believe they do
them. But the real world time since
moved little northward. 1t gathered for
awhile in the open space at the east end of
the Row Then it crossed the drive and sat in
the shadow of the Achilles statue. Now it has
migrated still further and is 10 be found on
the expanse of turf between the statue and STAN
hope Gate. Some of the right people
still stroll up and down the walk
that borders this grassy plain, and
,here are still some who push their way toward
Tho oldpr nrnmpOade Pint mo of those whom
you will most care TO see, most Of the women
whose social renown is greatest spend this hour
of sunshine in chairs in the triangle of which /
have given you the apex. Not all this multitude,
not all even of those who are in the space which
society has set apart for ITSELF really persons
of distinction, they used TO say, OF quality.
heard only few Sundays ago lady, who is
within far within, this magic circle, If not quite
at the centre. dapore the impossibility of keeping
any space absolutely sacred 10 the select few;
the select two thousand or three thousand, or even
four, whose names are TO be found in the Golden
Books Of the leaders Of society They follow
us wherever we 60" cries this disconsOlate dame.
Perhaps she would be more disconsoate still if
they did not follow.
Well, this great company is in common times
q very brilliant one in costume; brilliant but
not too brilliant. For in the matter of costume,
the Englishwoman of to-day is far more ad-
mirable person than she was ten years ago. The
American has shown her English cousin how 10
dress and her cousin has learnt the lesson, and
now dresses almost as well as her teacher. Paris
and New-YorlS between them have educated Lon
don HYDE Park has become no unworthy rival
of Central Park and the Bots de BouloGnc, and
the number of really well-dressed women in Lon
don is to-day ten or twenty times rs great as it
was before the century got into the eighties.
The transformation is nowhere to be better seen
than in the Park of Sunday morning unless II
be in the Royal Enclosure at Ascot on the Cup
DAY. II is in the enclosure that the greatest
number of women allow themselves the greatest
spendor On the Sunday before Ascot which is
supposed 10 be the best Sunday for the Park.
there appeared certain lady who belongs, as every
body knows to the very smarteSt set in society.
She is young, she is extremely pretty. she has every
title 20 admiration. She had chosen on that day
10 array herself in gown whereof the body was
in VIVID green velvet, covered with gold braid in
intricate patterns; vivid green wide velvet sash
with gold braid hanging from the waist TO the
ground: the petticoat of mOuSe-colorcd silk the
bonnet again of green and gold and parasol of
green bestrcwn with swarms of gold butterflies
There was no denying the brilliancy of these gar
ments, but the dearest and most candid friends
of the wearer pronounced their verdict on them
with that instantaneous decision peculiar TO the
feminine intellect. " 1t would be too smart, even
for Ascot The rumor Of this lustrous appariton
spread The question was, Have you seen Lady
KS costume?a and the people who asked and
answered IT, though incapable of anything so un-
conventional running, sailed of TO see the sight
There sat this charming person with group OF
admirers about her, while long procession filed
past, and gazed II is long since any single gown
has created such excitement That 1t was much
too fine for the Park was agreed. " But Will She
wear it at Ascot? ' queried her friends Their
anxiety was satisfied on Cup Day. The gown
Was worn the gown and parasol were tho most
striking things in all that assembly of gayly
dressed women, who had borrowed for their own
parasols all tie tints Of the rainbow. Two people
Uho nartad and wished 70 meet again agrecd 70