their English and German bands and their brilliant combinations of Chinese lanterns and electric lamps, a delightful _al fresco_ lounge. Here in the summer evenings the pursuit of pleasure was combined with a chastened homage to the cause of scientific enlightenment and social improvement. This was one of a series of specialised exhibitions, the organisation of which had been the work of the Prince of Wales, who also earned the gratitude of the town at this time by persuading the Queen to let him hold two Levees on her behalf. On the 20th of July the Queen and Princess Beatrice were at Claremont, where the Duchess of Albany gave birth to a son; after which her Majesty proceeded to Osborne on the 30th of the month, where she was visited by the German Crown Prince and Princess. An interesting event in the life of the Court in the season of 1884 was the reception given by the venerable Duchess of Cambridge at St. James’s Palace on the 25th of July to celebrate the completion of her eighty-seventh year. The season of 1884 virtually ended with the Garden Party which the Prince of Wales gave at Marlborough House on the same day. It ended, as it began, gloomily, and the social chroniclers lamented the poorness of the entertainments, the badness of the dinners, the mournfulness of the balls. They only brightened up when they recorded, with a transient gleam of joy, that, though all the “great houses” attended by Royalty had been closed, three had opened their doors since Easter, namely, Devonshire House, where Lord Hartington entertained guests twice; Norfolk House, where Lord and Lady Edmond Talbot gave a ball that was endurable; and Stafford House, where, at a small party in the middle of July, the Prince and Princess of Wales made their first appearance in Society since their mourning.