The TALK of LONDON .sx OXFORD dons are not , in general , a particularly youthful and lively body of men .sx Prolonged study of the Humanities seems to have made some of them slightly inhuman .sx Much regret , accordingly , will be caused by one resignation which is , I learn , to take effect at the end of this term .sx It is that of Lord David Cecil .sx LORD DAVID has been a Fellow of Wadham College since 1928 :sx his erudition is equalled only by his popularity with both senior and junior members of the university , and his wit and effervescent personality have made him a welcome guest and a soughtafter host .sx NOW Lord David , encouraged , no doubt , by the success of his Hawthornden prize-winning book , " The Stricken Deer , " wants to devote more time to his literary work than he can at Oxford .sx He has taken a small house in that quiet and increasingly favoured Kensington retreat , Edwardes-square .sx Behind the house is a garden , and in the garden is a laburnum tree which shades the ground-floor windows .sx Lord David likes laburnum ; he also likes light .sx So , instead of cutting down the tree , he intends to uproot it carefully and replant it on the other side of the garden .sx LORD BERNERS is a busy man .sx He has recently painted a number of pictures .sx His already extensive aviary has been increased by the acquisition of a pitta ( or Old World ant-thrush ) and a ( or sawbill ) , which need constant attention .sx He has , too , composed a ballet which is to be performed in a few days time at the St. Valentine's Eve ball .sx NOR is that all .sx Lord Berners has been invited ( and has agreed ) to compose a Municipal Waltz for the inhabitants of Eastbourne .sx If other seaside resorts follow this enlightened example , I shall expect shortly to hear that Stravinsky has been commissioned to compose a Southsea Symphony ; that Dr. Bridges has written an Ode to the Mayor of Blackpool :sx and that Matisse is doing some mural decorations for the town hall at Margate .sx I HEARD yesterday from Mrren that several members of the British teams to compete in the international downhill ski races at Mrren on February 19 have just been chosen .sx This race meeting marks the success of a strenuous campaign by the British Ski Club for the recognition as international events of downhill and slalom racing .sx The International Ski Congress at Oslo last year asked the British Ski Club to organise this first international meeting .sx THE captain of the British men's team is to be Mr. C. E W. Mackintosh .sx Four other members of it are Mr. W. R. Bracken , Mr. W. J. Riddell , Flight-Lieutenant :sx H. R. E. D. Waghorn , and Mr. Peter Lunn .sx Mackintosh is one of the best skiers in the world , and can race a little faster than Bracken , who , however , is more consistent , and has won the British ski championship three times running .sx Flight-Lieutenant Waghorn ( of Schneider Trophy fame ) was second in the downhill race for the championship .sx MISS DOREEN ELLIOT will probably captain the women's team , two other members of which are Miss Audrey Sale-Barker and Miss Mackinnon , who is only seventeen , and last year won the ladies' ski-running championship .sx The Hon .sx Verena Maxwell , Lord Farnham's daughter , may also be chosen for the women's team , and Lord Knebworth for the men's team .sx WIDE interest will be caused by the announcement of the Hon .sx Patrick Balfour's engagement to Miss Marion Burrell , for both are well-known in London and Scotland alike .sx Miss Burrell is an extremely attractive girl , with a naturally fair complexion and a friendly manner .sx When she was a debutante a few years ago her father took Norfolk House for the season and entertained there .sx AT the moment Miss Burrell is in Scotland , and she will not be coming to London for a few days .sx Her Berwickshire home , Hutton Castle , was bought from Lord Tweedmouth by her father , Sir William Burrell , who reconstructed it to house his magnificent collection of art treasures .sx Sir William has been a connoisseur since his youth :sx he owns stained glass of inestimable value ; his tapestries alone are said to be worth 250,000 ; and some of his French impressionist pictures - Manets and Degas bought by him many years before they were considered of any account at all - are now at the Tate Gallery on loan .sx MR. BALFOUR is , like his fiancee , tall , fair-haired , and Scottish .sx He is one of the young men who have in the last few years come down from Oxford and invaded Fleet-street with notable success .sx LORD BESSBOROUGH will make an acceptable and , I believe , most popular Governor-General of Canada .sx He was , as Lord Duncannon , Conservative M. P. for Dover for seven years ; he was , too , an ardent Tariff Reformer , and has therefore studied the Empire .sx APART from his general social and political qualifications , his wife , Lady Bessborough , will be welcomed by the French people of Canada , since she is herself French .sx Her father , the Baron Jean de Neuflize , was a prominent banker in Paris .sx A BIBLIOPHIL with whom I lunched yesterday had with him a new book with a mauve wrapper .sx I noticed that he treated it with assiduous and reverent care .sx He would not leave it in the cloakroom of the restaurant :sx his face paled visibly when a waiter let a spot of gravy fall a few inches from the volume .sx " It is , " he explained , " a copy of Robert Graves' new poems - published today .sx " THEY are extremely interesting , " he went on .sx " Even Arnold Bennett , who hardly ever likes modern poetry , said that Graves was 'a genius at once grave and bright .sx ' And I value this copy particularly , because the title-page is printed upside down !sx " SPECULATORS in first editions are , indeed , overjoyed when some such rarity as this comes their way .sx A classic modern misprint occurred in the first edition of Norman Douglas' " South " ; and for years collectors hunted feverishly , and paid many pounds , for copies of this book in which the first three lines on page 335 were transposed .sx Recent bibliographers , however , have depreciated this misprint , asserting that it was not a genuine one , since it did not occur in the original proof-sheets .sx But the controversy is still , I believe , raging with incredible fierceness .sx .sx .. THE TALK OF LONDON .sx FROM America I have news of intense social activity , though at this time most of the smart New Yorkers are leaving for Palm Beach , Miami , or Havana .sx There are , it seems , few signs of financial depression .sx Hundreds of cocktail parties are given daily .sx " Every one " says my correspondent " is spending as much as ever - and drinking more .sx " A big private dance is being given this week by Mr. Clarence .sx H. Mackay for Miss Roosevelt , a great heiress .sx NOR does the slump seem to have affected the theatrical world .sx Every good show is crowded , and the agents demand at least 3 for a seat for " Grand Hotel " - a dramatisation , faithful in every detail , of Vicki Baum's novel .sx The most successful musical show is " The New Yorkers .sx " " PRIVATE LIVES , " it seems , had a brilliant New York opening .sx Lord Besse was there with his sister Lady Bridget Parsons , and the Hon .sx John Fox-Strangways , who is working in a New York insurance office .sx Miss Beatrice Little , who had arrived from England only that afternoon , was in the audience .sx So was Miss Ruth Chatterton .sx So were Lord and Lady Milford Haven who have been staying with Mrs. Cornelius Vanderbilt , " the uncrowned queen of New York Society .sx " ONE of Mrs. Vanderbilt's proteges of the moment is the Hon .sx David Herbert , Lord Pembroke's son .sx Mr. Herbert went to America some time ago to make his fortune in a revue .sx The revue's backer failed .sx Mr. Herbert was determined not to fail .sx So he obtained work with a firm of interior decorators , began immediately to paint and furnish a suite of rooms to his own designs , and gave a reception in the rooms to which Mrs. Vanderbilt invited all the wealth and fashion of New York .sx FOR the benefit of dance-music " fans , " I may add that the popular tune of the winter in New York has been " Love for Sale , " which is by that brilliant song writer , Mr. Cole Porter .sx SOME other very good tunes from America , which were certainly new to me , were sung by Miss Marion Harris on her opening night at a Coventry-street restaurant .sx I remember seeing Miss Harris in New York when she was enjoying a wild success there about seven years ago , and admiring her blonde hair and her melodious and skillfully managed voice .sx I admired them still more the other night .sx HER songs included " Blue Again , " " Just Like Frankie and Johnnie , " " Something Good is Bound to Come of That , " and - most amusing of all - " My Canary's Got Circles Under its Eyes .sx " Among those applauding her were Lord Brecknock ( with her predecessor at the same restaurant , Miss Frances Maddux ) and a large supper party which Lord Churston was giving in honour of his own twenty-first birthday .sx While Lord Brougham and Vaux leaned , cigar in mouth , from the balcony .sx LORD BROUGHAM found himself yesterday afternoon in very different - and more sedate - surroundings .sx He went to the House of Lords to take the oath and his seat , and to be welcomed formally by the Lord Chancellor , who was , presumably , seated on the very Woolsack occupied which such distinction exactly a century ago by Lord Brougham's famous ancestor .sx IN a few days' time Lord Brougham will be leaving for the Riviera , which is , I hear , enjoying a spell of particularly fine weather .sx He will motor all the way from Calais to Monte Carlo .sx The Duchess of Roxburghe , too , is hoping to visit Monte Carlo shortly .sx And other notable people who will soon be leaving England are Lord Tennyson , who is off to the South Seas , and Lady Gwendeline Churchill , who is going to stay with Lord and Lady Islington at the house which they have built near Barcelona .sx MR. J. B. PRIESTLEY , the " best seller " of recent years , sails to-day on a voyage of discovery to the United States and beyond .sx " Beyond " means the island of Tahiti , in the Pacific .sx Mr. Priestley's " Good Companion " on the voyage will be his wife .sx HE got a wonderful send-off on Monday night at Heinemann's beautiful Queen Anne house in Great Russell-street , where the " intelligentsia " - and others - of London fore-gathered .sx Mr. J. C. Squire was there in a " pullover" ; Mr. Humbert Wolfe , in the fullest of dress ; Lady Jowitt , Lady Annaly , Lady Diana Cooper - all as if ready for a ball ; the Hon .sx Mrs. Edwin Montagu , " one of the ten cleverest women in England , " and so on .sx .. It was called a " Columbus Party .sx " THE TALK OF LONDON .sx By THE DRAGOMAN .sx CELEBRITIES by the score were to be seen at the reception given by Lady Elphinstone in the enthralling environment provided by the Scottish Art Exhibition .sx THE Prime Minister's car drove into Grosvenor-square just in front of mine .sx I met Baron and Sir and Lady Oxford and Asquith , who went round of the treasures with Mr. Edward Knoblock , and seemed , I thought , to prefer the Allan Ramsays to the Raeburns .sx THESE Raeburns were the subject of some interesting calculations by the guests .sx There are seventeen of them ; and people were trying to work out on their fingers how much they would fetch at Christie's , at an average price of 20,000 apiece .sx HERE , too , I met Mr. George Wade , whose tactful statue of Lord Haig at Edinburgh has offended nobody .sx He was admiring some pictures by Dobson - not Frank Dobson , but a Scottish pupil of Van Dyck .sx I was interested to observe again the thoroughness with which all the arrangements for this exhibition - held in a private house and open for only a fortnight - had been carried out .sx The cases were illuminated from within .sx And the exhibits were roped off for protection - which is more that was done for the Dutch or Italian exhibitions at Burlington House .sx AT a party to which I went on later in the evening there was an interesting and refreshing innovation .sx As the guests arrived out of the cold , wet night , and were announced , glasses of steaming hot punch were handed to them .sx This , I think , is an excellent idea that might well be adopted by hostesses during the winter months .sx