Hogg's Wedding

Oh I'm not so old, and I'm not so plain,

And I'm quite prepared to marry again!

--Lord High Chancellor's song in Gilbert & Sullivan's Iolanthe

Smart U. S. Citizens hummed thus, last week, as they perused a private letter or two containing delicious details of the recent London marriage of England's cherubic Lord High Chancellor, Sir Douglas McGarel Hogg, Baron Hailsham. For one thing this extremely select wedding was attended by only 60 guests, the press and the public being barred. For another it took place in King Henry VII's Chapel, in Westminster Abbey, the most gloriously Gothic and splendid shrine in England. Moreover the license was the first to be issued by the new Archbishop of Canterbury and Primate of All England, the Most Reverend Father in God, Cosmo Gordon Lang.

English jurists were still arguing hotly, last week, whether the Lord High Chancellor did not break the common law of England when he had Henry VII's Chapel roped off for his wedding. The law is explicit. The ceremony must take place with open doors because, at any moment someone may need to rush in and state why the marriage should not take place.

In the case of potent Baron Hailsham, however, people merely hummed another snatch of the Lord Chancellor's song:

The Law is the true embodiment

Of everything that's excellent.

It has no kind of taint or flaw,

And I, my lords, embody the Law!

Little Domini Lawrence is the daughter of widowed Hon. Mrs. Clive Lawrence who was married to the Lord High Chancellor, himself a widower. Little Domini came to the wedding dressed all in primrose yellow, with a primrose yellow hat edged with white fur. Awed by the sombre splendor of the great chapel--where Knights of the Bath worship--Little Domini sat mouse quiet as long as she could. Suddenly it seemed to occur to her that so much pomp deserved at least one question:

"Is this a game?" shrilled Little Domini Lawrence.

Stifling their mirth, the 60 august personages managed to issue forth in good order. Some even gravely contrasted the ceremony with the wedding of Lord Hailham's father.

They recalled that the late, rich Quintin Hogg greatly interested himself in welfare work among poor children, as did his prospective bride. Therefore, in words once uttered by the Present Lord High Chancellor: "We have a family legend that when father and mother went on their honeymoon they took with them 30 ragged boys from London. Mother spent most of her time fielding point while the boys were learning to play cricket."

People mostly remember Baron Hailsham as Sir Douglas McGarel Hogg (TIME, May 16, 1927). With the inferior title he made a great name for himself in the House of Commons as Attorney General; and for years Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin depended on Sir Douglas to carry the brunt of many a debate, silence hecklers, sit tight.