GENERAL NEWS.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXV, Issue 2012, 22 February 1907, Page 3

GENERAL NEWS.

WHITEWASHING A VILLAIN. If anything in English history is taught to school hoys with confidence it is that Richard 111. was a villain. Yet wo find so eminent a man as Sir Clements Markham endeavoring to whitewash him. Fifteen years ago Sir Clements astonished students by applying a preliminary coat, in the form of an articlo in the “English Historical Roviow,” in which ho endeavored to prove that Richard 111. was not the murderer of his nephews, Edward V. and the Duko of York, hut that tlio princes wore murdered by Henry VII. Dr. Janies Gairdncr, a distinguished authority on that time, wrote refuting tlio arguments advanced by Sir Clements, "ho lias, howover, returned t< tile attack ill a nook called “Richard 111. : His Life and Character Reviewed in tlio Light of Recent Research.” A London reviewer remarks very fairly that our estimate of Richaul’s character must largely depend on the question whothor ho murdered his nephews. Down to the death of Edward IY. Richard was horn as a valiant knight, a successful general, a faithful servant of his brother tho King, and in private life as respectable and religious. Ho was not guilty of tho death of Clarence, nor does the story that ho slew Prince Edward, the son of Henry VI. rest on any satisfactory ground. And it may lie remarked that ho was not hump-backed.. his deformity, if such it can ho called, consisting in one shoulder being lower than the other. But that lie was guilty of the murder of tho Princes is asserted by i’i authorities, and certainly when those are marshalled they look very formidable. “Act ive arc asked to believe,” says tlie reviewer, “on no evidence save supposition, such ns that ‘tho children’ mentioned in certain regulations for the Roval Household in 1484 must mean the sons of Edward IY.. that Richard kept the lads at his Court, and that ‘dozens or hundreds’ of the pcoplo knew it, that they disappeared after Henry VII. came to the throne, that Henry murdered thong that Tyrcll and Dighton wore his accomplices,.anil that no olio dared to ask wlmt'hadbecomo of tho lads No one vitli any idea of what historical evidence means will consider that this hook renders the charge against Richard of murdering his nephews a natter of doubt.” However, Sir Clements has given years of study to tho question, and has come to tho conclusion that Richard must lie acquitted on all counts of tho indictment. Ho rests his argument on the theory that all testimony under the Tudors was prejudiced or perverted to suit the reigning dynasty.

BOY COOKS. Mr. Eustace Milos, no doubt haying been condemned, through the unorthodox and experimental character of his own meals, to do much cooking himself, now declares it a necessity in education that all boys jliould learn to ho cooks. “An hour ir two a week, spent in the preparation of a sensible meal,” is all that ho modestly requires during the school period, to the end tluit youths should achieve more victories than ■.ve had quite realised were to be gained “among tho pots.” That hour’s cookery lesson, it appears, will train a hoy’s souse of smell, of taste, and of temperature, his touch and muscular sense, his hearing, and his sight. “And constantly he has to ho using his otherwise neglected left hand in various ways that educate it in deftness and accuracy.” This last assertion is puzzling.' Is ambidexterity a characteristic of that plague of domestic life, the ordinary plain cook? Or has Mr. Miles been misled through observing some exceptional person who beat ego’s, peeled potatoes, and mixed puddings with a strong left hand? But besides physical benefits, the boy who cooks is to acquire many incidental virtues. By discriminating between flavors, colors. ‘ quantities, “ho should become finer and more delicate in judgments and actions.” He learns cleanliness, through the recurrent necessity for washing up, and patience, as “a simply indispensable virtue in the kitchen.” He absorbs arithmetic, agriculture, botany, and geography, simply by taking an intelligent interest in the prices of foods and the ways in which foods arc grown. So Mr. Eustace Miles extols the science which after all is to end only in making a soup, in cooking a vegetable, and preparing a cheese sauce. “No mellow master of the meats and drinks” is tho essayist on cookery. His temperate vision is of boys at school called up for a lesson in making “lentil and potato fritters,” and such-like hermit fare. And thus, perhaps, he removes the scheme from our colonial sympathies. If our accomplished sons are to specialise on lentils and Brussels sprouts me may do hotter to risk the experiments of domestic daughters, or even tolerate tho left-handed Marv-Jane.

ACROBAT CENTENARIAN. The veteran Grantham acrobat Henry Johnson, celebrated his one hundredth birthday on Christmas Day. He is still remarkably well, and daily takes a short walk. Johnson was born at Norwich on Christmas Day, 1806; and at a tender age became a strolling acrobat. He was associated with tho original Sanger’s Circus, and at tlio ago of fourteen he went to Pekin with Hughes’ Circus. When lie returned to England ho became a partner with Maltaga, a Chinese juggler, and the pair toured the country, afterwards performing before George IV. and his Court at Buckingham Palace in 1830. Outside the Royal Hotol at Tunbridge Wells they gave their entertainment before Queen Victoria, then a little girl. The partnership was dissolved in 1862, and Johnson went into the business by himself. Some thirty years ago lie gave a show at Sandringham before the present King. Johnson lias resided in Grantham for forty years, and lie did not retire from the active pursuit of his calling until ho was well past eighty. Ilis career was brought to the notice of King Eduard a row months ago; and one of his most valued possessions is the letter of congratulation received from His Majesty at the time.