TABLE TALK. Social, Dramatic, Etc. (From Our Special Correspondent.)

Te Aroha News, Volume VI, Issue 356, 3 April 1889, Page 6

TABLE TALK. Social, Dramatic, Etc. (From Our Special Correspondent.)

„. , , r < , ' „L ondon, February 2nd. Some little time ago M. Floquet, apostro'iph'ising 1 General Boulanger, said, " At your age Napoleon was already dead." ' On Sunday last a friend of the hero of the hour* apostrophising M. Floquot, exclaimed significantly, "At your age, Robespierre was already guilliotined !" r < " Will the Queen refuse to recognise the* new Duchess of Marlborough ?" is a question , much canvassed in society] ustnow The for- 1 mai notice to-the efiect chat Ber Grace proposes to be presented at the first drawing room has been forwarded to the Lord Chamberlain without provoking any reBponse, but 'tis early yet to say there won't be one.' After declining to sanction the* presentation of the innocent and much-in^ jured Lady Blandford it would certainly seem quaint if Her Majesty admitted the Dnchesp to Court. The Rev. IT. R. Haweis, the eccentric bub eloquent pastor of St. James's, West-moreland-street, has been making the hair of his more orthodox' and conventional brethren stand on end with horror anent the character of his sermons latterly. The series he delivered on "Robert Elsmere" werp, from all accounts, humorous enough, but* they would sound positively staid beside the racy discourse on " Kindness to Animals" (more panicularly cats) which theiev. gentleman preached last Sunday morning. Laughter convulsed the 'congregation frequently, not mere tittering, but hearty " ha-ha's, ' and Mr Haweis seems to have been in no wise disconcerted thereby. To-morrow the pastor's subject will be " Kindness to Horses and Dogs." The most influential of the provincial papers politically is the Manchester " Guardian," which has for years been edited by a very able Gladstonian ; journalist named Scott. By way of setting things right a bit in Cottonopolis, some rich Unionist'! headed by Loi d HartingUm have now purchased the " Examiner " and sent Mr Frank Hill (exeditor of the "Daily News") to Manchester to edit it. Since he split with the " Daily News " over the Unionist question, Mr Hill has worked principally for the "World." Air Fredei'ick Bryant (of Bryant and May, the matchmakers), who died the other, day at the comparatively early age of 45, ' leave-p ersonalty, to the value of £270,000. This surely goes a good way towards show- , ing that the match-girls' strike of last year ■ was justifiable. , It is broadly circulated at Oxford that ' "the 'new author," whose story, "The County/ commenced to run in "Cornhill " for January, is none other than Mi&3 Rhoda Broughton. The style is certainly Miss Broughton's style (or one of her dis ciples'), and Oxford says that the "Mr Nugent " who marries his, housemaid in the fiist chapter is perfectly well-known theie. As Mibs Broughton lives at Oxford, these facts are certainly suspicious. I should havo tlnught, however, that the "hot waier' 1 this brilliant lady got into through caricaturing well known 'Vaisity worthies in "Belinda" would have cured her of utilising friends and neighbours in her nove's. k The new " Cock and Hen ' club which John tlolungshead is promoting 1 will be called the ' Coiinthiin/' and is to be conducted on strictly Bohemian Hues. Gentlemen members must be " somebodies" and " good fellows," and lady members must definitely belong (and be known to belong) to the literary, artistic, or theatrical professions. It opens to night, and looks like being a truly festive' resort. A good story is going the rounds auent a raw young Irishman recently imported into the stafi of the "Star." He was entrusted the other evening with the not oversow eringly important duty of writing 1 a " par " about a city smoking concert. He gob on well enough whilst' he had a programme to rely on, but the names of the encores somehow got horribly muddled. One vocalist whose efforts were much appreciated he put down as " rendering with rare edect that solemn sea song ' The Starboaid Martyr ' " (Stabat Mater). The death is announced of Signor Nicolun's divorced wife Madame Marie Anato. Patti has beeu very good to her children, whom the woman graeeles&ly deserted some time after leaving the tenor. One is an officer in a French regiment and the other a singer at Brussels. Patti would have gladly made them independent of professions, but their father very properly objected I see by the way that though Messrs Harrison paid La Diva €2,800 for singing at their four concerts at the Albert Hall, they made £2,000 themselves out of the speculation. On Tuesday last, though thoie were more than ten thousand people in the building, crowds were turned away. The article on the " Bismarck Dynasty " in the new number of the " Contemporary," has created a greater sensation than any magazine article I can remember since Madame Adams's "Berlin Society "in the " Revuo dcs Deux Mondes." It is an attack on the German Chancellor at once deadly and ruthless by someone well behind the s< enes, who knows all the man of iron's weakest spots. The papers are full of it, and ot speculations as to whom the writer may be. The Empress Frederick, Sir Morcll Mackenzie, and Sir Robert Morier have each in turn been fixed on as the possible author. Report t speaks very highly indeed of Messrs Burnand and Solomon's dramatic cantata"Pick\viok," which will be produced at the Comedy Theatre on "Wednesday. Mr Burnand has carefully avoided the ground occupied by Gilbert in " Trial by Jury." Mr Pickwick will not appear in Court, but in the modest retirement of the historic apartments in Goswell-street, the whole action being confinad to the eventful morninp 1 of the fatal misunderstanding with Mrs Bard ell. The hero of the cantata is " the Baker " with whom it will be remembered Mrs Bardell (vide the evidence of Mrs Saunders) was suspected of " keeping company,,"' On the eventful morning the baker has a marriage license in his qocket, Mrs Bardell's name is to be filled in, and he will call for, her answer. He suspects Pickwick of being his hated rival, and he tells Mrs Burdell so. She can have jnst one hour in which to decide. At the end of that hour the baker returns, only, alas, ! to find the buxom widow in the ' miserable Pickwick's, arms. The three' friends are on the landing. No explanation is forthcoming; the baker a'equires none, he waits for none. Eyeing, the, guilty pair with suyireme disdain he sings the refrain of an appropriate "baker-roll," or rather "barcarolle' and departs. In another second the wedding bells chime, and by public license the man ,of buns and loaves espouses another. Such is the story of the cantata which opens with a Bardell Ballad, sung by,., the fair widow herself, who is * ' discovered dusting. " The music by little .Solomon ( composer j,of ,;' Billee Taylor ") is said fcq.be admirable of its.kindj'and with Arthur pectt as Pickwick, Lottie Venne as Mrs Bardell,,, JDeane Brande as. the Baker, and little Peneley as Sam Weller,everyone expects a great treat. ~ , , - , ' Friday next, will see the last for the preset of ".Captain Swift", at the Haymarkeb.

It was produced in August, last, • and 'has consequently run ju3t six months. " The Merry Wives of, Winder" t is to bet, 1 put up in its place, ' but for a week only, as Mr Tree is under contract to produce the play he has bought from H. A. Jones before April. . ,- ' ( s '' That 'unlucky house, the St. James, ' tj is still" without, a tenant, though there, are ' ■several actors and playwrights wanting ' 'theatres. But they won't chance the St. ~ James ; , Rutland Barrington lost, the savings of ten years in as many weeks there.. The Strand has also had a bad name since poor Mrs ' Swan borough rebuilt it. ' Now, ' however,, with a good play like " The Balloon " and an experienced man like Wyndham at the head of affairs, the tide should turn. Hawfcrey, the lucky, dropped a pretty penny over " Atalanta," it seems. ' The dresses alone cost £1,000. ' Poor Solina Dolaro,' who died, in New York the other day, was one of the finest opera boUffe artistes the English stage has ' known. Well do I remember, in the old days of the Philharmonic at Islington, hovr it used to be the " chic " thing to drop in about ten to hear Soldene and Dolaro sing the quarrelling duet in "Madame Angbt." Dolaro was incomparably the best Clairette I ever saw. She also made* «V great success in •• La Perichole " at the little Royalty Theatre in Soho, which she leased for a season. Dolaro fell ill and lost her voice at the zenith of her beauty and powers. She then took to ■Journalism, writing " Fashion Notes,'' etc., for various American papers. La&t year the poor lady completed a novel, and submitted it to the editor of the >" Tribune," who was struck by its cleverness, and at once purchased the serial rights. Shocking to say, the MS. was stolen from her desk and never recovered. Mdme. Dolaro had kept neither copy nor notes, so that her year's work was completely thrown away. The disappointment was terrible, and in , all probability brought about her premature death. She leaves two daughters. Simultaneously with the publication of poor Lady Brasseys " Last Voyage in the Sunbeam," comes the announcement that the famous yacht is being prepared for another long cruise. Lord Brassey will, on dit, be accompanied by his daughters and several friends. A reviewer of Lady Brasseys book remarks there is not much in her ladyship's experiences to confirm the belief in the health-giving properties of long voyages and travels in various climes. Recurring fevers, in fact, ended in per- . manently enfeebling her health. This is true, but it should be remembered that there is considerable difference between a voyage for one's health in a five thousand ton P. and O. or Orient liner and a sightseeing cruise in a comparatively small boat like the Sunbeam. The latter, despite her luxurious fittings, appears to have been particularly wet and uncomfortable in rough weather. "French Janet," the ghost story by Sarah Tybler, which has been running through " Cornhill," is founded on a wellknown family legend of the Monoreiffe family. The most notable novel recently published is Walter Besant'a " For Faith and Freedom," issued in three volumes on Saturday last. It is an old-fashioned story of the same sort as " Dorothy Forster " and. "The World Went Very' Well Then," which some people consider the author's masterpieces. In "Dorothy Forpter," you may remember, the heroine, a Northumbrian girl, tells the story of the Jacobite rising of 1745. In "Faith and Freedom" the heroine, Alice Eykin, is also made the narrator, the tale she has to tell being that, of the rebellion of King Monmouth, and the ' bloody assize of Judge Jefferies which followed. The story was admirably illustr/ated by Forrester when it ran through the "Illustrated London News," but the attempt to reproduce the pictures (much reduced in size, ot course) in the boolt has not answered. Personally, I much prefer Mr Besant when he is dealing with , present-day problems, like those touched on in "Children of Gibeon " and the interesting new novel he is doing for Longman's; but there can be no doubt that as a work of art and a faithful picture of British life <in the seventeenth century, it deserves high praise, and will be widely read. Mndie took 500 copies. Tillotson's programme for this year includes " The Pennycomequieks," by Mr Baring-Gould ; " Jezebel's Friends," .by Dora Russell ; " The Cur<*e of Cain's Hold." ' by G. A. Henty ; " A Pit Brow Lassie, Thy , J. Monk Foster, and a new story" by Hall Came. Curiously enough, the most successful of all purveyors of serial fiction for newspapers is Miss Dora Russell, who kas written no fewer than twency-two novels (running 26 weeks each) for the Tillotson .syndicate.