Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 146, February 18, 1914Various
General
Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 146, February 18, 1914
Various
English wit and humor -- Periodicals
From a Competition in _People of Position_ (with which are incorporated
_West End Whispers and Mayfair Mysteries_). Prizes will be awarded to
the three readers who are first, second, and third in guessing the
identities of the greatest number of Society Personages indicated in the
Guess Who It Is series of articles.
First Prize, a copy of this year's _Debrett_. Second Prize, a copy of
last year's _Debrett_. Third Prize, a bound volume of _People of
Position_ (with which are incorporated _West-End Whispers and Mayfair
Mysteries_.)
* * * * *
She is a woman who matters very much indeed. By birth and by marriage
she belongs to two extremely ancient families, which were settled in
Britain when it was entirely covered with forests and inhabited largely
by wild beasts. But it is not any advantage of birth or of wealth that
has made her the great social figure she is. It is her extraordinary
charm and her arresting personality. She is not strictly beautiful, but
her smile is peculiarly her own--a rare distinction in these days when
there is so much that is artificial.
She has the reputation of being one of the three best dressed women in
Europe, and never wears anything, not even her boots, more than once.
Her wit is positively brilliant, and in this connection it may be
asserted once for all that it was she who first gave vogue to the
greeting, "Doodledo," an abbreviated form of "How d'you do," though
others have been given the credit for that sparkling pleasantry. In the
art of "setting down" she is unapproachable, combining gentle courtesy
with fine satire and mordant epigram, as on the occasion when a certain
pushing and impossible outside person claimed her acquaintance in public
with a loud "How are you?" With her own look and smile she turned and
gave him his _coup de grace_--"Not any the better for seeing you!"--at
which an exalted foreign Personage, who was chatting with her laughed so
much that he fell into an apoplexy.
She and her husband are sometimes at their beautiful place in
Middleshire, and sometimes at their mansion in Belvenor Square. When
they are not in England they are generally abroad. She is devoted to
horse-riding, motoring, yachting, and ski-ing, but has not, like some of
her set, forgotten how to walk. On the contrary, when in town she may
occasionally be seen taking this old-fashioned form of exercise in the
Park, placing one foot alternately before the other in her charmingly
characteristic manner.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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