Year: 1877

.n I..,.i, LONDON, May 0.


Sight seeing is hard work, as General
Grant must begin TO find out. He has
been everywhere and seen almost every-
body, and if he could make himself into
twenty men plenty of occupation would
be found for all Of them. As [ told YOU
would be the case, he is the lion of the
season, sh iring the honors with a lion
ness who has suddenly appeared in the
London world aud about whom every-
body raves. 1t was most amusing last
night to watch the crowd of celebrities at
Lord Houghton's house tumbling one
over the other in their eagerness TO catch
a sight Of the lion or lioness for both were
present. The rooms were densely pack
ed with all sorts of great guns-the Duke
OF Wellington, the Duke of Argyll, the
Duke Of Sutherland, several ambassadors
no end of ''lords,' and ladies innumerable
The throng was so great that rather
fancy Lord Houghton felt anxious at one
time about the safety Of his floors. In
the midst of one of the most densely
packed rooms, General Grant stood, with
General Badeau by his side, and no one
could get near him. The crowd tried to
peep over each others heads, and asked
eagerly, (which is he, which is hep"
Gen. Badeau was pointed out in nine
cases out of ten. "And that tall lady
with the diamonds close by him is his
wife," said a gentleman to knot of fair
lion hunters. l looked and beheld the
the tall lady was Mrs. Hicks, the re-
doubtable Mrs. Hicks! There were half
Iar III DIN xNf
some of them very handsome, and some
not handsome at all. Two of the three
prettiesl girls in the room were Ameri-
cans-Miss Howe, of Boston, lovely as a
Peri, and Miss Beckwith, of New York.
1t puts one all in fiutter to look at them
and it was the universal verdict that
Miss Howe carried off the palm. And a
fairer head never bore palm in this
world-to that am prepared to make
solemn affidavit.


Two out of three l have said, and who
was the third? The lioness, my worthy
editor, and had you been there you
would have made chase after her just as
all the rest of US did, and thrown dignity
and pride to the deuce. did not think
such creatures lived out of heaven, but
there she was in the flesh, and such lus-
trous, dazzling flesh, shining and spot
less as ivory, and white as the driven
snow on mountain side-dear me, my
aged heart warns even now at the thought
of it, Her face is like some dream of a
happier world, her form like that of a
Grecian goddess, her eyes-but the mo-
ment you see these it is all over with
you; you are knocked, like that famous
work of famous preacher, "higher than


kite" and there is nothing for it but
to PROSTATE meekly before the divinity
and go home and be miserable. And
who is she? Well, really nobody knows
much more about her than this-that she
is lady from Jersey, one of the Chanel
Islands, that she is married to a gentle
man named Langtree, and that she has
been plainly and quietly brought up in
manner becoming gentlewoman. She
only came over here with her husband
for little holiday, and everybody made
dash at her at once, as gold hunters grasp
at some huge nugget. And now she is
all the rage, and people climb up on
chairs or stand wedged in ON staircase
merely TO get glimpse at her. Judge
then, what must have been the feelings
of your too-susceptible correspondent
when he found himself sitting next but
two to her at supper the other night. His
condition at one time was grave; but he
is making fair recovery.


And the lion and the liopess went
down to supper together-quite lovely
sight to witness. l do not know how it
was, but the ex-President with his usual
nan ara1 n IN Al
Langtree on one side of him and Miss
Howe on the other, and then u look of
perfect contentment came into his face,
and l verify belive that at the moment
he did not care cent for all the dukes
and duchesses in existence. The crowd
surged round the door looking eagerly,
not to say hungrily, upon this Paradise,
brilliantly furnished supper table, and
beautiful women sitting round it-alto-
gether feast worthy of the high gods,
only do not believe, and never will that
the female partners OF their joys were
half so radient as are Miss Howe and Mrs.
Langtree. General Grant seemed, it
struck me, very indlsposed to retire from
his enviable position-in fact, he mani
tested an unmistakable intention to fight
it out on that line if it took all the rest
of the summer. But the gnashing of teeth
of the crowd in the other rooms became
TOO loud to be misunderstood, and so we
who had snatched a few moments of
Olympian existence We're hurried back
into the prosaic world again. Yes, yes,
| dare say you will think this rather
highflow n for such an old stager as am,
and want to mark it all out, but should
like to sit you down before these two
beauties and see what you would write
afterwards. Few men would have drawn
it so very mild as L have done.


The men-who cared about the men ?
When gave up my partner at the sup
per table 1t seemed to me that had new
er seen such an Unlocking lot of visages
in my life. There was the Duke of Wei
hngton, not all beautiful; old Lord Crewe,
wandering about the rooms muttering to
himself, and carrying beaver hat all
brushed the wrong way and a thick
walking-stick. In his button hole he had
what at first sight seemed large carrot,
a.aA ....k.,, a