MR GLADSTONE'S GREAT SPEECH ON BUNKUM!! LORD ROWTON TELLING THE QUEEN A GOOD STORY! HER MAJESTY'S RIPPLING LAUGH! MADAME PATTI SINGING "HOME, SWEET HOME!" AFTER DINNER AT MARLBOROUGH HOUSE! PRINCE ALBERT VICTOR SINGING "TWO LOVELY BLACK EYES!" HENRY IRVINg AS MACBETH! SPURGEON IN THE PULPIT Etc., Etc., Etc.

Te Aroha News, Volume VI, Issue 330, 2 January 1889, Page 3

MR GLADSTONE'S GRE AT SPEECH ON BUNKUM ! ! LORD ROWTON TELLING THE QUEEN A GOOD STORY! HER MAJESTY'S RIPPLING LAUGH! MADAME PATTI SINGING " HOME, SWEET HOME!" AFTER DINNER AT MARLBORO UGH HOUSE ! PRINCE ALBERT VICTOR SINGING " TWO LOVELY BLACK EYES !" HENRY IRVINg AS MACBETH! SPURGEON IN THE PULPIT Etc., Etc., Etc.

Colonel Hughes-Hallett Again. lhiov to the meeting of Parliament last winter, Captain Selwyn announced his intention of horse-whipping Coionel HughesHallett within an inch of his life the first time he mofc that "gay militaire " inside the walls of the House of Common 0 . Upon the i representations of friends and party leaders, and out of consideration for his much-in-jured sister, ho was at length persuaded to 1 forego this luxury. Now, however, I fear, nothingcan preventa serious emeide. Colonel ■ Hughes-Hallett, it seems, is in Amoiica, • and, not contonb with the amnesty of silenco 3 granted him by society, has, with characf teri&tic taste, been con tiding tho story of i his amorous dairyings to the inevitable , interviewer. People — all over the world — r will, I fancy, learn with surprise- that 3 Colonel Hughes-Hallett i& a much-injured I man. He never sought either Miss Beatrice - Selwyn or her money. The girl folb lowed her too fascinating creature from I country house to country house, an absolutely forced her&elf into his reluctant

arms. Plato lrimsolf coukl not havo felt I more equably towards Miss Selwyn'than i did the man who unwillingly and " with alla 1 1 heavy heart "seduced hcv. The Colonel's exposure 'lib Mr Henry Smith's was, 6 ad to say, the work of political enemies, The Queen knows this, and that is why sho did not call on the gallant Colonel to resign his commission. Furthermore, Mrs llughesHalletts money is all settled on herself, so that sho could have divorced her husband had she thought him in fault. To those 1 who like hi y self remember poor Miss Sclwyn'a shocking story, the biay.cn effrontery of these statements is simply confounding. No wonder Captain Solwyn's lingers itch to give his relative some Oona ji (c injuries to gas about. And what line, one speculates, will the Conservative whips take now V Tho gentlemen of the party protested before against Colonel Hughes Ifallett being permitted to retain hh .seat,

Toolc's Talcs. All colonists will, T imagine, want to know what '"dear old Tooled' book is liko. Well, I'm ah'aul J cannot be ecstatically laudatory, b'or ono thing, of course tho boo'c is not- Toole'a at all, bnt " genial Joe Hnbton's. ' And genial, much too genial Joe, has rather overdone tho " Boswellian "' business. Tho pair, it seems, tin veiled about a good deal together whilst the actor was "on lour," in order that llatton might get up his subject. During: those journey s> " the sptightly comedian," cither because he thought ho ought to piovide his biographer with " copy,' 1 or because he wibhed to live up tolrisrenute as a funny man, seems to have been continually -indulging in focbl'j practical jokes. Thco mild waggeries mcio no doubt amusing enough at the ' time, but chronicled at ponderous length by the "genial Joe" they stiike us- a<*, alas ! the dtcariest of forced imbecilities. '*H>no somehow pietuies Toole in a lirst -clas-j cania^e trying \ainly to mohi 1 new " funnimont--." with the terrible i Lai ton seated opposite him, notebook in hand, and an anticipatory giin on his iace. The preface, which is all Toolc's own, 1 liked. Ono wishes, indeed, he had waited a tew years till he ictircd, and then given us his own reminiscences, in hia own language. The rambling, disjointed anecdotes and recollections jotted down anyhow by Joe llatton may be well enough to dip into for half an-hour, but arc of absolutely no value as a contribution to dramatic literatmc. Far diflerent is it r ith Dr. Westland JNlarston'p brilliant and scholarly analyses of tho careers and capabilities of recent actors and aeti esses he has known, from Charles Kean and <!. Y. Brooke to AUred Wigan and Adelaide NciKon. These two volumes contain a mine of thcatiical lore and cultured criticism. Specially iuteic^ting and grateful to the present generation should be Dr. !Mais>ton'3 description and defence of the character and genius ot Adelaide Neilson. A more lovable, good-hearted, and honest little lady than this beautiful actress never lived, yot few of her piofession ha"\o been as shamelessly lied about and traduced. To this day your club Jlaw ur will letail with /cst and anparcut belief scoies of scandalous of which M"^ Keilson was the heroine, and in which there never was an iota of truth. A« a matter of fact, Mis=! Neilson married Phillip Lee, the son of a Northamptonshire clergyman, before &ho c\ er went on the stage, and though the pair quarrelled occasionally, when the actress became famous she never ically exhibited the iaintest partiality for any other man. A ceitain class of mashers think it a. fane thing to aHect a knowledgo ot actresses' fjailties. lam glad, however, to lind a strong feeling growing up against that kind of thing. The mail who hinted at . anythino being w rong v> ith ]\lary Anderson, Maudo Millctt, or Mis Kcndal would nowadays run a strong chance of getting knocked down or being called a blackguard. The fact X I suppose, that owing partly to the society papers and partly to the altered attitude of society itself tow aids the stage, we know moie about the [ private lhe-a of our leading actresses than we did iifteen yeais ago. Few, for instance, ever even heaid Adelaido Ncil&on was manied.

The Sliaftesbury Theatre. It is a tad but. \ eatable /act that Shakbpeve's. plays unless mounted on a stupendous scale as at blic Lyceum, nndeuppoited by a/'/is/es of the calibic of Irving", Ellen Tony and Mary Andcrton, will not nowadays draw good audiences in London. The Bancrofts and the Jvendals (not to mention lessor folk) found this out to their co&b, and Miss Walli-5 and her husband are paying: for similar expoience. Tho re\ival of" Ab <, Yon Like Jl" at tlie Shaitesbury (surely an ill-omened dame for a playhouse) is simply deadly dull. The thcatio is the safest, prettiest anil nio^fc comfortable in London : the smoking looms, ' etc., aie luxury itself, and the liquors retailed at the bar unusually good. But the play, as the bard remaiks, is I In, thing, and the play, alas, liore won't '-draw. "' Miss Wallis herself, though a oonpcienfciou? loading aetie? 1^ enough, doe& not as a "star" rank much above Mi-:S Linpird. Her Rosalind is a buxom, not to -ay mature person, so much older than Oilando that ono feels quite soiry for the young fellow. As for tho re&t of the actois and actresses, they were quite out of ifc. Tho scenery, too, was only mediocre, and, worst of all, the performance dragged unconscionably.

A Great Operatic Event. The great operatic event of the decad 0 promises to be tho gorgeous l-evival o* Gounod's "Romeo et Juliette""' at the Grand Opera, Paris, in November. The silver- voiced Jean de Re&ko ploys Ylomeo, and, tempted by the prospect of achieving a great artistic success on an historic occasion, Adelina I'abti has consented to ji undertake Juliette. In singing'heic la diva I really does mako'arjcon&iderable concession, as the Grand Opera management can only offer her the bagatelle of £200 a-night (ihe old Co vent Garden terms), and she has seldom latterlj- appeared in opera anywhere undor four or five times that amount. The Russian Opera Company at the newly-christened (but still unlucky) Jodrell Theatre have proved a dead failure. Very few people even sab out the first performance of Rubenstein's "The Demon,"' and on the second night the house was practically empty. The ticasury, I beliove, totalled £4 10s.

"The Merry Duolicss." Jn Sunday's "Referee" George R. Sims relates how Mr3,fJordon-Baillie, then Mrs Knight Aston, called upon him with a view to obtaining the Australian rights of his comic opera, "The Merry Duchesp." " Dagonet " uiisliked and mistrusted the lady. She talked too big and too fast. He tried to politely choke hor off, but she called again and again. At length, to get rid of the woman's importunity, Mr Sims agreed tojet Mrs Aston have whatshe wanted for Jt'soo.~ "~ AT> We same time, however, i " Dagonet' s " solicitor was instructed on no account to~part with the libretto and score 1 until £500 in notes or gold, iwt a cheque, i was paid. When Mrs Aston found Sims • and solicitor inexoi'able on this point she ' troubled them, no further. "The Union Jack " is not proving a sues cess at the Adelphi, i.e., it dGes not draw as big houses 'as the "-Bells of Haslemere " i and "The Harbour Lights " did during the i first six .months, of fchoir runs. Sims and ' l'ettit are consequently busily engaged on a/

j new piece for production al Christmas unless I business improves. " "The Armada" ab Drury Lane is tho biggest "draw" ever known at the so- called national theatre outside pantomime lime.

Literary Notes. The titles of Miss Edna Lyall'a and Geo Mnnville Form's serials for next year's " Good Words " avo " A Hardy Norseman " and "The. Haute Noblesse." William Black will also begin a shorter story in the February number called " A Spring 1 Idyll." In the November number of " Scribnor's," IX. L.Stevenson commences "The Master of Ballantrao," a Scotch yarn in* much the same key as "Kidnapped," and General Phil Sheridan (the popular Confederate commander) re ! ate3 his experiences of the Franco-Prussian war whilst attached un ollicially t) the Ciown Prince's staff. The new volume of " Cassell's Family Magazine," 'which opens with the Uuccmbcr number, will contain tlio initial chapters of " Under a, Soranao Mask," by Frank Bassott, and "Mi French, of Brazenofco," by Mary L. Armit. When the Bconoiotts "reminisced" so successfully, I ventured lo predict it would not bo long before we heard of buxom Madge Kendal trying likewis-c to achieve literary laurels It now transpires the lair actress has been busy dotting down her views on things in general for some time past, and tint the result will appear in the January and following numbors of "Murray's Magazine." The "annual season "' has set in with its customary .severity. If anything, I think the majority nre more rubbishy than Übuai. Walter Bc&ant, in the " Tuner House," ! tries- to bhow that the discovery of the elixir of life, so far from benefiting the world, would in all probability blight humanity. j The description of the announcement of Dr. Linistcr's " grand discovery " at the Royal Institution, and of the surprising and unexpected results following upon it, aio, however, well imagined, but the story somehow lackb the lttrhtnesa and biightness of touch so noticeable in Besant's earlier work. L observed ivist the &amo thing in "Herr Paulus." You couldn't say the story was dull exactly, but there was a suspicion of ponderosity about it. Henry M urray (ayounger brother of David Christie) has written a story, a senjj sational shocker, for " Bow Bells Annual " called " Monkey Mephisto."' It is not particularly good, but will serve to pass an idle hour, a remark that also applies to "My Poor Dick," J. S. Winter's Annual. The novel ]>ar excellence, ol the fortnight ! is W. E. Norris's " The Rogue,'' quite one of the best bits of work this improving writer lias given us. Mr Norris's plots are not specially intricato and exciting, but they avo true to life, and the people he draws we recognise as living, breathing human boinge, and not puppets. Zola's new novel, " La ke\e," is aptly named in one waj at lea^t, /.<?., it will cer tainly send any Englishman who reads it to sleep, if not to dream. The "master" has now set to work on a detective story. Whether ho will succeed in this line is, I should imagine, extremely doubttul. The subject aflords, however, grand openings for that species of "realism" which is (from a commercial point of view) Zola's special meficr, and the absence of which in " La Reve " is said to have seriously afiected the sale of that idyll. The best things in the November magazines are " Scenes From a Silent Woild, by a Prison Visitor " in Black wood's, " One of the Many " in "Temple Bar," and "Barbara"' in Longman's— both sad. but wellwritten little stones — and "An Unexpected Visit" in Murray's. In the last named, 1 may also mention, "The Reproach of Annersley'' reaches an exciting ori&is. On no account miss " Scenes From a Silent World ' in Blackwood&.