TOWER OF LONDON.

Manawatu Times, Volume III, Issue 24, 9 January 1878, Page 2

TOWER OF LONDON.

By the Rev Charles Clark. A large audience assembled at the Foresters' Hall on Saturday night to hear the Rev. Charles Clark's lecture on the " Tower of London." The reputation acquired by this celebrated lecturer m his extensivo travels had served to waken m this place expectations of something extraordinary m the way of oratory ; and these expectations, we venture to say, were fully realised on Saturday night. From the eloquent exordium to the no less eloquent peroration the attention of the audience was riveted, and after the Orpheus of words had held them enchained for nearly two hours, and the entertainment was at last over, we believe there were few present who did not wish for the opportunity of hearing him again. The records of the Tower contain a wond ous amount of romance and tragedy but their delineation by Mr Clark were as strikingly different from the matter of fact history as a vivid picture illustration is from a mere word description: and the versatility that created startling contrasts m parts of the lecture was no less remarkable than the excellence that characterised the whole. In leading his audience through the halls and dungeons of that wierd old tower Mr Clark did not fail to fling around the events narrated their medieval characteristics of horror and romance. With the potent wand of oratory he summoned the spectra of the dead past into the living presence of a 19th century audience, and made to pass m review many an event of the " bad old times " and many a personage upon whom the "round of sovereignty" or the chains of the tower-dungeons had rested. The reverend and the beautiful, the heroic, the cowardly and the infamous were told off m language vividly grand, humourous, or pathetic; and it is hard to determine m which class of representation Mr Clark exhibited the greater power. He was great m his impassioned declamation and panygeric, but he was no less great m describing the melting scenes at the headsman's block, when white haired old men and tender women met the felon's doom : and his personifications of humorous and grotesque character- were simply exquisite. After a very brilliant introduction Mr Clark described the '" Tower of London," its origin, and the alterations it underwent through successive generations. He described the incarceration of Bishop Flambard, and his romantic escape by letting himself down from a height of over sixty feet hy a rope; then, the attempt of the corpulent Prince of Wales to elope from a still greater height by means .oi his bed-clothes, and his arriving at the ground m such a state as to necessitate his being put to bed with a shovel. Mr Clark then entered upon that portion of tower history romancised by Shakespere m his play of King Richard 111. and recited Clarence's . dream with thrilling effect. The executions of Fisher aud More were

pourtiayed with masterly skill, then, that of Lady Jane Gaey, the innocent victim of a plot. Mr Clark brought his audience to the block and went through the tragio scene with the power of a Ristori. (Passing over many characters and events dealt with by the lecturer, we come to the admirable sketch which he gave of the character of Sir Walter Raleigh. He passed a great eulogium upon this great philosopher and courtier and referred to the probability of Shakspere having based his character of Othello upon him. Mr Clark then spoke of the tower as it is, and of the liberties of the age m which we live, and concluded a brilliant peroration, amid enthusiastic appplause. In recognition of this he came forward and expressed his regret that after the kind reception accorded him he could not prolong his stay. The arrangements which had been made necessitated his proceeding to New Plymouth, but on his return via Wanganui he hoped to be able to give another lecture m Palmerston. The announcement was received with loud cheers. We think if the manager, MrSmythe, can arrange for Mr Clark to give not one but two more lectures m Palmerston he may confidently expect a full audience on both occasions. Mr Clark's discourses are rightly termed "lecture entertainments," for they are entertaining m the best sense, and the visitors from Feilding and Woodville that were amongst tho audience must have felt themselves well repaid for the trouble of their journey.