The daily morning journal and courier., 1896-11-21

of equally superior birth manifest even toward the humblest classes, Instead of this, Lady Salisbury, who is by no means of aristocratic origin, having been Miss Alderson at the time of her marriage, distinctly shows her guests, especially the official ones, that she looks upon their presence and upon the necessity of receiving them as very great bore indeed, and she has queer habit of turning away her head when she extends her hand in greeting, just as if the people she was welcoming were not worthy of look.
 This peculiar mannerism of the mar chioness so fascinated an irreverent young attache of one of the foreign embassies accredited to the court of St. James that he trained his poodle to sit up and on mention of Lady Salisbury's name to turn his head over it's left shoulder, while it extended a paw with an air of ennui The patient way in which the dog used to repeat this per- formance again and again with a re- signed look of intense boredom on it's expressive features was most comical- ly suggestive.
 Yet, for all that, Lady Salisbury Is a very clever woman and a power in the land. Her husband is the most taci- turn of men and rarely condescends to take counsel of any one, even his very colleagues In the cabinet being, as a rule ignorant either of what he Is do- ing or what he has in view. The only person whose advice he seeks and ac cepts is that of the wife whom he mar ried when he was so poor as to be com pelled to resort to journalism for liV ing, his marriage, regarded by his fam fly as mesalliance, having served still further to embitter his father against him. A woman of great sagacity, keenness of perception and common sense, her advice is as a rule sound. and she may, therefore, in way, be said to have been almost as useful to her husband as Mrs. Gladstone has been to the grand old man. Of the two ladies, Lady Salisbury is the more careless of appearances, and is re- nowned for the extreme dowdiness of her attire In daytime she invariably affects a dress the blue color of which is as peculiar as it's cut, and, as she is never seen garhed any differently save when in dinner or ball dress, there is a sort Of impression in London society that the marchioness has for years all ways worn the self-same dingy old gown.
 Of Lady Rosebery little need be said save that she died before her husband achieved the distinction of the premier ship, that she was devoted to him al- most to the point of idolatry, and that the immense wealth which as one of the Rothschild heiresses she brought to him constituted the indispensable step ping stone to the political eminence which he afterward attained. She was not clever woman, but a kind hearted and good one, whose death was mourned by large circle, especially by the poor.
 To an even still greater degree than Lord Rosebery was Lord Beaconsfield indebted for his political success to the homely and somewhat eccentric wo- man who conferred upon him her for tune along with her hand. She was not an attractive woman, nor yet clev- CT, but the relations between the strangely assorted couple were char acterized on her side by passionate ad- miration and devotion and on his by that most strongly developed of all the numerous good qualities of the Hebrew race-gratitude. I dare say many have heard the story of how, driving down to Westminster with him one evening when he was to deliver one of those speeches upon which the fate of his party depended, her hand was terribly crushed by the door of the brougham being violently closed upon it. So afraid was she lest her husband should be upset by the discovery of the accident that she refrained from utter ing a cry or even a murmur, managed to conceal her mangled hand, and drove all the way down to the House of Commons, chatting as if nothing had happened, and only tainted after her husband had alighted at Westminster and had entered the palace Nor was 1t until he returned home, long after midnight, that he became acquainted with the fact that she had met with a mishap
 It is probeble that DisraeIi had this in mind when, in response to an inqui- ry on the part of his lifelong acduain- tance, the wit and cynic, BernaI Os- borne, as to the nature of the tie that bound him to Lady Beaconsfield, he remarked Tt is something beyond your comprehension, namely, grati- tude." There is likewise rumor cur rent in London to the effect that the late Lord Chelmsford owed the loss of his office of lord high chancellar not to | any malfeasance or incapaeity, but solely to a sarcastic witticism at the expense of Lady Beaconsfleld, which was brought by one of his friends to the ear of her brilliant husband.
 Nor in this enumeration of the better halves of English prime ministers can one omit the name of Lady Palmers- ton, who not only acted as the political | adviser of her husband throughout his career, both before and after their marriage, but likewise took much of his burden upon her shoulders by acting as his private secretary, the only one on whose loyalty, intelligence and d!scre- tion he could implicitly rely. Pos sessed of the most delicate tact, intui- ton and persuasiveness, she removed from his path many difficulties created by his abruptness of speech and by his passionate temper. while her political salon at Piccadilly was of priceless value to the parties over the destinies of which her husband presided for so | many years.
 From this it will be seen how alto