Social, Theatrical, and Sporting. (From Our Special Correspondent.) London, July 13. TABLE TALK.

Te Aroha News, Volume V, Issue 220, 17 September 1887, Page 3

Social, Theatrical, and Sporting. (From Our Special Correspondent. ) London, July 13.

TABLE TALK.

The amount which the Queen herself will have to pay towaid the Jubilee hospitalities is estimated at from .£lOO,OOO to £150,000. Mr Matthew?, fromwhomsneh great things were expected as Home Secretary, has proved an egregious failure. The Conservatives arc furious at the manner in which he blundered over the Cass case on Tuesday evening. The under-secretaries behind him saw clearly enough "the way the cat jumped " half an hour before the division, and urged their leader to give way gracefully, but without result. Subsequent^ it transpired that Mr Matthews and Mr Newton (the Mailboro-streel magistrate) are personal friends, hence, of course, the former's dislike to meddling with the mutter. So many of the now " Jubilee " sixpences have been gilted and successfully passed as half-sovereigns that even Mr Goschen has taken fright and consented to their withdrawal from circulation. At the Crystal Palace no fewer than 30 of these delusive coins were accepted by the stall-holders in a single day. The denominations ot the new money were omitted ('tis explained) in view of England shortly adopting a decimal coinage. Tho enterprising stock - brokers who "cornered" the value of the Jubilee fivepound pieces up to neai'ly £9 now learn with intense disgust that they are being freely minted, and will continue to bo produced so long a& the demand tor them continues. " Dagonet " says quite the most wonderful sight of tho whole Jubilee was Queen Kapiolani trying to set her watch by the Automatic Weighing Machine at Charing Cross Railway Station. Lord Colin Campbell has been formally adjudicated a bankrupt. His debts amount to £15,622, his assots to £119. The Duke, you may remember, lent the young man £5,000 to carry on the divorce proceedings. His Grace'? generosity and family pride were duly commented on at the time. It now, however, turns out ho took good care to secure himself by attaching some leversionary interests to which Lord Colin was entitled. Lady Colin is even worse off than hor husband (who has £400 a year, which no one can touch). Before tho trial she was able to make money reviewing and writing for tho papers; now none of fche sfcaider journals care to employ her. Several " pocioty " papers would accept articles published under hor own signature, but her ladyship will not wrice thus — at any rate in England. I am glad Mrs Bernard Beere means to visit Australia next year, for you will be quite delighted with her performance of Mi'S Despurn in " As in a Looking Glass." Since Genevieve Ward suiprised us with her powerful acting as the heroine of " For-get-me-not"' thero has been nothing quite like it. Mrs Beeres Australian repertoire will also include " Fedora" and "Masks and Faces." I have not seen her in the latter, bub report places her "Peg Woffington" second only to Mrs Bancroft's. "The Shadows of a Great City" is the title of the melodtuma with which Miss Grace Hawthorne initiates her management of the Princesses' Theatre next week.

The critics have with one accord damned tho new play " Civil War " ab the Gaiety Theatre. Perhaps if Mrs Brown Pofcter had not played the heroine and Kyrlo Bellew the h.3ro they might have been more merdiul, hub both are unpopular with " the profession." "Curly is as handsome as ever, though Ills erstwhile hyacinthine looks .arc wully grizzled. I saw him on the Strand the other uay, smiling the same sad, .swc'jb r»milo which the Melbourne ladies used to find so ii resistible years ago. The new Swedish prima donna Sigrid Arnoldson has made a genuine hit, and oa the nights she sings at Drury Lane tho scenes associated with the early days of Jenny Lind and Nillson are z-e-enacted. I Already fabulous prices are being paid for scats to witness her iirst appearance next | week in " Dinorah," an opera hitherto sacred to tho unapproachable- Patti, By-the-way, "La Diva," after hearing Mdlle. Arnaldhon in " 11 Baibiero,"' is said to have remarked in French " Behold my successor !" Tho Duko of Westminster has a handsome 2-year-old brother to Ormonde called Ossory that will make its chhut in the Middle Park Plate. Orbit, the Duke's colt by Bend Or, out of Windermere, which cut such a poor figure ab Stockbridge, will also be reserved for the back-end meetings. Benzon, the "Jubilee" plunger, has pur- | cha°ed a batcli of yearlings from Robert ' Peck for t'B,ooo. The lob includes a very handsome brother to Suporba and Saraband by Muncaster — Highland Fling. \ Accoul'ng to present appearances the Duchess of Monti ose w ill win the St. Leger with Eiridspord. Merry Hampton's form has been much discounted by the poor figure cut by Quilp in the Northumberland Plate ; in fact, the former is probably one of tho worst horses that ever won the Derby. IMexb to Ehispord, Mr Bairds Salisbury seems most likely to score at Doncaster. The Chestei field Stakes for two-year-olds* on Thuisday, at Newmarket, fell to the Duke of Portland's Ayi shire after a severe race with Mr Peck's Baitizan, who was only beaten by half-a-length, Lord Hartington's C'haplet colt running into third place. The finest two-year-old at Kingsclere, bar Fiiars Balsam, is the Prince of Wales's Loyalty (brother to Paradox), but lie will not be started till the back-end. " Dr. Phillips," the grossly realistic picture of middle-class. Jewish life, which cieatcd such angry cackling amongst the descendants of the Twelve Tribes three months ago, turnj out (as I surmised at the time) to be by George Moore. The talented author of " The Mummers Wife" did not, however, produce this Zola-like fiction by himself. He wai assisted by Mrs Herman Morivale (the wife of the dramatist), herself a comerted or perverted Jewess. Hence the fidelity of many of the pictures. Mr Moore's new novel, " A Mere Accident," made its appearance last week and (despite much that is nasty and repulsive) contains some powerful writing. I fancy, though, that even the most devoted disciples of realism will shrink from the final chapters. Thtsc describe, with much elaborate detail, tho mental tortures endured by the heroine, a refined and sensitive girl, who on the eve of wedding the man she loves is assaulted and ravished by a brutal tramp. The horrois caused by this " mere accident ' are pictured in the most lurid language, and culminate in the unhinging of the unfortunate damsel's mind. She mistakes her horrified lover for the vile wretch who violated her innocence, ai d, shrieking as he attempts to kiss and soothe her, backs out of a tin co-story window, only to fall dead at her distracted father's feet. The greater part of tho book, lw\^ er, is taken up with an elaborate analysis of tho character of the hero — a not paiticularly interesting person. Cheap editions ot Mr Moore's " Mummer' 3 Wife *' and " Drama in Muslin " have just been issued at 2s each. New 2s novels include Christie Murray's " Cynic Fortune ;" " Lady Blanksmere,"by " The Duchess " (not one of her best books) ; "Social Vicissitudes," by A. C. Phillips (very clover); and "The Outsider," by Hawley Smart. The last-named author, by-the-way, has just commenced a new novel in " The llluskated London News," called "Saddle and Sabre." VizitellyVs have reduced the price of their translations of Zola's novels from 6s to 3.s 6d. The new Boisgobeys aro "The Red Camellia" (Chevalier Casse-Cou), "Fickle Heart (Coeur Volant), a stupid story, and "The Nameless Man" (Une A flture Mysterieuse). The latter is one of the prolific Frenchman's earlier and cleverer works. Maxwell's have purchased the copyright of Boisgobey's last story, "The Felon's Bequest," and are bringing it out at 2s A translation of Gustave Drop's racy " Papa, Mamma and Baby," is selling largely. Mudie refused to circulate it.