Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-04-05
CELEBRITIES ABROAD.
Lively Gossip at First Hand About
Some Famous People In London.

CELEBRITIES ABROAD.
Lively Gossip at First Hand About
Some Famous People In London.
ITO be lion in London must be something
unique in the way of human experience" said
a lady who had recently returned from Europe
to STAR reporter. at represents a phase of
existence to which nothing in life to be met with
elsewhere is at all comparable. Among other
things it signifies being launched into a circle
where everybody one meets is somebody. At
the dinner table more particularly, in the
character Of a lion, one encounters the ceebri-
ties of the day and the exalted of the cart h
generally. All the world meets in London and
in single drawing room of the British metrop-
oils you may see with one glance a gathering
that fairly represents the wit and brains,
genius and achievement Of advanced civiliza-
ton. You may be q lion if only you are
sufficiently original in your ownsway. Robert
browning was lionized in London for twenty
years spoiled by it somewhat, by the way;
Buffalo Bill was also lion not less worshipped
during the comparatively brief period Of his
stay in England. Society in that country must
be entertained and any one who will amuse
the British aristocracy contribute a new
idea has the best possible letter Of introduc ton
to the peerage and gentry"
LEAVING LIoNIsM OUT OF THE QUESTION"
she continued. ''the reception accorded to
professional celebrity in this country is alto
gether different from that extended abroad.
In America one concludes successful lecture
let us say, and the women rush up with pleased
faces and say that they SO glad to have
heard the discourse and that they are anxious
to have their children instructed on the points
spoken OF. But in England the women would
say: Come and dine at my house on Wednes-
day. You can't come then? Well. let us say
Saturday. So sorry. What day next week can
you Gomez You will understand what mean
when l tell you that the social rewards for
something done are greater in London than any
where else in the world. Even Ouida London
has tried its best to make lion Of, notwith-
standing difficulties on her part which rendered
the task palpably impossible. l remember
meeting her not very long ago at dinner in
London. OF course, every body knows how &C.
centric she is. That night she at her worst.
She sat on the end of a sofa in a limp attitude.
designed to be voluptuously languishlng, as
fancy-this was before dinner was announced
and when any one was introduced to her she
would give an imperceptible nod and interpose
an enormous feather fan between herself and
further conversation. At the table she behaved
like a spoiled child who is trying to see how bad
1t can be, among other things raking into the
conversation the unsavory Colin Campbell case,
which has been by general consent interdicted
in polite society. When the ladies left the din
ing room, Ouida-she wishes always to be
called Madam Ouida'-said to the hostess:
:" Let me know the moment my carriage
comes, for l wish to GO,
subsequently, when her carriage was
announced, she rushed out with hardly word
for the hostess and none at all for any one else,
while Rider Haggard remarked:
Ibid you ever see such guy Of a woman?'
GIVE THE DEVIL HIS DUE.
Sand vet she had on by all odds the hand
soonest, best made and most costly gown in
= ha fh,t,
ugly, but the fact was merely that it was un-
suited to her. There has got to be a certain
cOnsonance between the individual and the
Dress don't you know. For my own part, 1
admire Ouida very much for the intellectual
part of her and would gladly talk with her
again. notwithstanding her eccentricites. She
has a face very much like George Eliot's, and
there are only two or three such that we have
known OF i'll the world"
Tell me something about Rider Haggard,
Il never knew him very we'll He is very
young looking, slim and blonde. Among the
men and women, too, he seems to be very pop
ular. Oscar Wilde / am better acquainted With
He Is growing TO be enormously fat; he is very
tall you know. and it would not be too much
to term him elephantine. To me his face al
ways looks like that of an amiabie old woman.
But in fact he is one of the brightest men in
London and really brilliant conversatonalst
His so-called esthetic folly was never int ended
for anything else than effect. Mrs. Wilde is a
very ambitious woman with a great deal of
style. just before left London, few weeks
ago. went to q reception where were to be seen
the best dressed women in England. AS was
| going down the main staircase Oscar was
J squeezing his rotund immensely through the
/ front doorway, his wife following on his arm
/ in dove-colored dress with a round waist. low
neck and short pulled sleeves, straight skirt
and her blonde hair in a fluff, while she carried
! III her hand an enormous peacock-feather fan
| There were plenty of beautiful gowns to be
seen on that occasion and literally shovelfuls
| of diamonds; but hers was the most pictur-
esque and generally attractive figure of all. al
I though she is not particularly pretty woman
! tell YOU that any woman, even though ugly,
/ has 1t III her power To make herself pictur-
! esque. Mrs. Wilde. Oscars mother, told me
two or three days later that the velveteen of
! which that picturesque dress was composed
| cost only % cents yard. Things are not so
much thought of by the yard in England as
| here.
! THE PRINCE AND Mr. GLADSTONE.
''You know tho Prince of Waies?'
Il have never spoken to him. but have seen
him often. We owe him great deal, because
! it is he who has made the American fashion
] able in England IL is considered the proper
thing over there now to admire US and every
! thing that is American goes In referring
/ to America l always heard one phrase from
| every one IN England, and that was: oh,
! you re wonderful peopler The prince is one
OF the brightest men in the British Isles No
| BODY realizes how difficult position he has to
maintain and what real genius il requires to
sustain it The social side of it is only one
side; IN politics he has far harder role to
! play. And yet, rs you have often heard, he is
! the most popular man in England never met
/ any one who knew the prince who didn't like
| him. HIS tact Is infinite. As for the Princess
| OF Wales, she is pretty as a picture and
| every one loves her. but she never says or
does anything and is almost like u lay figure
| OF royalty. Gladstone is Il great admirer of
| ours also; he is accustomed to refer to the
United States as the great American expert
| ment. | have met Whistler several times
the painter, you know-and he struck me as a
very brilliant man, dried up, old-lookIng and
little. He loves to be talked about and can
| paint beautifully when he chooses, though
! much of his work is absurd and an outrage
on art l saw picture Of his at the academy
| this year OF a woman ten heads high-think OF
IL. Referring to his physique people speak Of
| HIM as the soul of a mosquito"
Go My Gait.
/ Igomy gait with ne'er q whine