Gossip from the Great Village

Te Aroha News, Volume VI, Issue 338, 30 January 1889, Page 4

Gossip from the Great Village

■Rumours to the' effecb that desperate measures would, if necessary, be taken to prevent the two " Invincible " convicts who have consented to give evidence before the Parnell Commission entering the wit-ness-box, have led to the authorities prej serving profound secrecy as to the whereabouts and date of examination of the men. They will be ", sprung " on the Court quite unexpectedly some morning, and the "Times" confidently hopes to play a big trump card with them. James Mullet, whoso statements are said to be the most startling, was, it may be remembered, the publican at whose house the " Invincible " men used to meet. He must not be confounded with his cousin Joseph, also a convict for " the term of his natural life." The latter was offered the opportunity of "splitting," but, as his friends expected, remained staunch. The Duchoss of Sutherland was for many years the greatest, haughtiest, and most influential of all the grandcs dames of London society. To be asked to Trentham or Dunroom during those spendthrift years when the hospitalities oi Leveson-Gowers were almost regal in their magnificence, was a cachet of social position for which many a Yankee millionaire would have sacrificed thousands. But the Duchess (she was the Duchess then) entertained only the elect of the elect. Of late years she grew "serious," and lived mostly in seclusion. There were differences, too, betwixt herself and the Duke. Her Grace found it hard to forgive His Grace's somewhat ostentatious gallantries, and His Grace hated Her Grace's numerous pet Anglican priests. Both were in reality very tond of one another, but they drifted apart, as married couples at their exalted position so easily can. Valeric Wiedomann, the young lady whose action for breach of promipe and slander against the "Honorable" Robert Walpole terminated so sensationally and , unexpectedly last week, has gone to Germany to obtain the certificate of her child's birth.. Walpole's counsel, you may remember, implied no child had been born, and Miss Wiedemann's extraordinary behaviour, when questioned on the subject, certainly seemed to favour the supposition. She explains this now by stating that the | child was taken away from her by her I mother immediately after its birth, and she has not been allowed to see it since. The subject, in fact, was tabooed in the family (a German pastor's, remember), and in consequence Sir E. Clarkes questions pressed ' doubly hard on the plaintiff. She could not in her excited state of mind be made to understand that as she had pleaded the birth in her statement of claim as a reason for damages it would be necessary to answer disagreeable questions on a subject which she herself considered dead. The "Pall Mall Gazette" has espoused Miss Wiedeman's cause con amove, and is collecting funds with a view to pushing on the new trial. Free pardons and £800 apiece can, after all, only very partially make up to those poor men, Brannigan and Murphy, for the nine years' undeserved misery they endured at Portland and Dartmoor. Still, it is satisfactory to know Mr Matthews has tendered some atonement. Sir Henry Manisty (whose name recalls one notable miscarriage of justice) tried the Edlingham Vicarage burglary case in 1879, and it is somewhat remarkable that at the same assizes two other men should also have been wrongfully convicted of crime and subsequently released. Egdell and Richardson, the real culprits in the Edlingham case, were disposed of at Newcastle last week, Baron Pollock sentencing them, in consideration of their voluntary confessions, to the mitigated penalty of 5 years' penal servitude. The death is announced of the Countess de Eethel d'Arragon, better known to most of us as the widow of that brilliant novelist and journalist, E. C. Grenville Murray. The Countess had for a long time been preparing her versatile husband's autobiography and literary remains for publication. He was an extraordinary man, and a sensational success was prediceed for the work by Mr Labouchere and others who knew its leading features. The Countess had all but finished correcting the proof sheets when she fell ill, so that the book is pretty sure to be produced some time Robert Martin, author of the immortal " Ballyhooley " and the equally famous " Killaloe," is getting more ior permitting the singing of his new song, "Ennisccrfchy " in the current Gaiety burlesque, than the late lamented Planche received for writing any of his exquisitely fanciful extravaganzas. I hear, too, my friend Mr Geofiroy Thorn obtained £100 from Harry Randall for the exclusive right to sing his amusing apropos parody, " Who Killed Cock Warren ?'' How many people, I wonder, knew till the other day, when they saw her eightieth birthday chronicled in the papers, that Mrs Frances Kemble, the ' ' Fanny Kemble " of sixty j 7 ears since, was alive and well. Fanny Kemble was the niece of tho great Mrs Seddons, and the daughter of Charles Kemble. It is just three score years and five since she made her debut at Drury Lane in the part of " Juliet " and at once scored a success. Her early experiences are detailed in a most interesting book called "Records of My Girlhood," published in page 107, and followed a few seasons later with "Records of Later Life." It is strange to reflect how many " star " actresses Mrs Kemble must have seen — Seddons, Ellen Tree O'Neil, Helen Faucet, Kate Terry, Adelaide Neilson, and Ristori down to Mary Anderson and Mrs Beerbohm Tree. The triumph par excellence of the great revival, or rather production, of Gounod's " Romeo and Juliette " at the Paris Grand Opera, was not Patti's "Juliet" (though that was a splendid artistic success), but Jean de Reski's " Romeo." Looking wonderfully young and handsome, the tenor sang as if inspired, till the great house fairly rose at him. Patti, oddly enough, was nervous and not at all herself in the opening scene. She even dropped a bar, which so disconcerted Gounod, who was conducting, that he nearly broke down. Things improved, however, almost immediately, and in the balcony duet both Patti and De Reski were at their best, which means considerably more than my pen can convey. The baritone Edouard de Reski also seems to have greatly pleased the Parisian critics. Augustus Harris will make a feature of "Romeo and Juliette" at the Royal Italian Opera next spring, the De Reskis playing their original parts, and pretty Miss [ Maclntyre, who has been creating such a furore during his company's tour in the provinces, playing "Juliet." The houses at the Haymarket have improved to such an extent during the last two months that our lucky young Australian friend Haddon Chambers is now drawing from £100 to £130 a week as has share of " Captain Swift." He also gets about £40 a week for the provincial lights and an average of about £50 a week from / America and other parts of the world. Of course this won't go on for ever, buf» Mr Chambers can calpulate on some months of it — after a bit, of course, on a decreasing scale. Some plays last an immense time, GvR. Sims, for instance,' draws a regular income out of " The Lights of London " and *' In the Ranks " even nowadays.