TABLE TALK. (From Our Own Correspondent.) London, March 29.

Te Aroha News, Volume VI, Issue 372, 29 May 1889, Page 3

TABLE TALK. (From Our Own Correspondent.) London, March 29.

The news of John Bright's death was, despite columns of obituary notices and yards of personal reminiscences, received by the people, for whose cause he workod so long and so successfully, with comparative unconcern. He had, in truth, outlived his great popularity, anj was, to the younger generation of working - men politicians, little more than a name. To realise this, one has only to recall the Free Trade agitation of 1543, or the "Terrible Radicals" AntiWar campaign of 1853. How England would have been convulsed with feeling had the " Tribune of the People "—the impassioned Orator whose wondrous words were still ringing in our ears and making i our hearts beat -died then ! Up to almost the last the old man showed rare vitality, never (curiously enough) looking the least bit ill. He always liked to have the papers read to him if possible, and followed the progress of the Parnell Com-/ mission with the deepest interest. In ( November last, when supposed to be moribund, Mr Bright bade farewell to each member of his family separately. This melancholy function, instead of depressing the sick man's spirits seemed to raise them, and when Dr. Drysdale called expecting to hear the worst, he found his patient much better. Bright rallied till Friday last, when the east wind (deadliest of all breezes) began to blow, and gave him a new cold. He died soon after daybreak on "Wednesday morning. The Donegal Divorce Suit. The most noblo the Marquis of Donegal, who cut such a poor figure 4n the Divorce Court last week, is better known "about town " as the Earl of Belfast, which courtesy title he bore until his venerable father died about ten days ago. The new peer inherits nothing from his sire save sundry debts which (as he has just, gone bankrupt on his own account) he is scarcely likely to settle. The divorce suit was a " cross " business. Lady Belfast accused Lord Belfast of cruelty and infidelity, and Lord Belfast accused Lady Belfast~of drunkenness, voluntary desertion, and miscellaneous other improprieties. The evidence showed the pair to have lived unhappy, lives, and to be almost equally in fault. The match was, of course, a mesalliance from the beginning, though the bridegroom was only Captain Chichester when he married Miss Mary Anne Williams in 1865. She is his second wife. Fortunately, there are no children. Mr Justice Butt could not, unfortunately, see his way to dividing the unhappy couple. Lord Donegal's brothers are well off, and in good positions, but they long ago presented him w ith that delectable joint, the 11 cold shoulder." He figures sometimes at fourth-rate clubs and similar resorts, wheie a title (so long as it is a title) ensures a man liberal liquid refreshment. The " Star " thus describes his lordship's appearance: — "He is over sixty years of a<re, a little man with white hair, whito moustache and Dundreary whiskers, through the opening of which a little round knob of a chin bulges out. He has a sensual-look-ing mouth, curving forehead, littly shifty eyes, and a nose that had been a good one, but is showing traces of wear. During the early part of the case he sat in the body of the Court behind his counsel. When it came to his turn to go into the box he could be better observed. He gathered the folds of a rusty black frock coat round him, pushed the frayed edges of his shirt cuffs up his sleeves, polished up a pair of pincenez eye-glasses with a dirty-looking silk handkerchief," and settled himself in a lounging attitude against the rail of the box, looking the most perfect specimen of the aristocrat run to seed that it i 3 possible to imagine." The Boat Race. When one remembers that a few years ago people (young people especially) talked of literally nothing but the 'Varsity boat race for the week preceding its decision, there certainly does seem something strange in no one caring a "dump" about tomorrow's struggle. Experts explain the public apathy on the ground that these contests are now foregone conclusions. Last year and the year before, for example, the waterside authorities found the winner directly the rival crews appeared on the Thames for practice, and this year the same parties have from the first declared Cambridge cannot possibly lose. At Hammersmith Bridge lam assured the light blues will have the race in hand, and from that point the Oxonians will be unable to make up any way. Well, we shall see. Whatever happens, the crowd should be a phenomenal one, as everyone, from my Lord Duke to a coster, can get down to the riverside at 3 o'clock on the Saturday half-holiday if he chooses. Theatrical Notes. The most important theatrical premiere o^ the season will be the opening next week of the magnificent new house (the Garrick) which Mr Gilbert has built for Mr Hare with Pinero's drama, "The Profligate." Unless rumour lies a good deal more than usual, the arrangements at the Garrick, both before and behind the curtain, will make the great B. P. open its eyes. Where his little fads are concerned Mr Gilbert lavishes money recklessly, and a reasonable fortune has bpen expended in perfecting the comfort of all classes of Mr Hare's probable patrons. The pit stalls are, lam told, models of ingenuity, fitted with umbrella and hat racks, and a place for coffee or ice plate. Anenfe the opening programme, gossips vary. Miss Kate Rorke thinks the play "quite lovely," whereas Mr Willard, who was specially engaged for the title rBle (the Profligate), has thrown it up in disgust. Despite the excellence of the playing and the tout ensemble, of the " Merry Wives " at the Haymarket, it is not drawing very large audiences, and Mr Henry Arthur Jones's " Wealth " has consequently been put in rehearsal. Last night a new play by W. Outram Tristram (author of the " Red Lamp"), and called "The Panel Picture," was produced at the Opera Comique with fair success. On Wednesday a somewhat silly piece entitled " Merry Margate " just passed muster at the Comedy Theatre. Whether the latter will ultimately succeed or not depends entirely on Mr W. S. Penley, whose eccentric performance of "Uncle Kiah " alone rendered " uncles and aunts " worth going to see. "Doris." " Doris " is the title finally fixed on by Cellier and Stephenson for their new opera afc the Lyric, to be produced on the 20th prox. The change of venue from the Prince of Wales'a to Mr Edwardes's house in Shaftesbury Avenue has (a8 I told you might be the case) proved fatal to the run of " Dorothy." Without rhyme or reason the business afc once fell off, and not even the Marie Temple s esclandre helped ifc on again. The piece ' will bo withdrawn next Saturday, after the 930 th performance. " Our Boys," with ita 1 1,150 consecutive repetitions, therefore still remains the longest run on record. Afc Christmas, Mr Ed wardes backed "Dorothy" to run afc least 1,200 nights, and no doubt he would have won but for the move.

Literary Notes. Mr D. H. Harkine, who plays one of the parts in Mr Mansfield's revival of " Richard 111.,"ab the Globe Theatre, is, lam told, the "distinguished tragedian " who starred through the Australias in " Othello," " Hamlet," etc, not long ago. Several correspondents have mixed up Mr Malcolm Watson, whose play, "Calumny," is to be produced at the Shaftesbury Theatre next week, with Mr Marriott- Watson, the author of " Marahuna." Both gentlemen have written plays and aspire to become successful dramatists, otherwise there is no relationship or connection between them. "Sweet Lavender," though closely approaching its4ooth nightat Terry's Theatre, still draws good houses. Mr Pigott's " The Bookmaker " has, in consequence, been shelved a little longer. The late Samuel Carter Hall and his wife wrote, I see it stated, between them some 600 books of various sorts, yet at the present moment there are barely half a dozen of the works in circulation. The niO3t interestirjg effort of Mr S. O. Hall's I ever read was "My Momories." During his long life, / he met most authors, poets, actors, and artists of repute, and his recollections of thorn, if occasionally trivial, were always endurable and sometimes thoroughly well worth chronicling. Dickens took a great dislike to Mr Hall, and drew from his personal peculiarities (it was alleged) the oi % iginal Pecksniff. No doubt his manner did strike one as oleaginous, and so did Mra Hall's, and they used language which frequently laid them open to the charge of being hypocrites. Nevertheless, at the bottom they were, I believe, thoroughly well-meaning, kindly people. After Mrs S. C. Hall's death in 1882, her husband became an enthusiastic spiricualist, and held frequent intercommunion with her. He learnt from her spirit a number of novel and interesting facts about the great hereafter, which he used from time to time to lay before parties of lay and clerical iriends with intense conviction. Part I. of Black wood's new serial, " Travel, Adventure and Sport," collected from the pages of " Maga," will contain ••The Discovery of the Victoria Nyanza," by Captain Speke ; "My Home in Palestine," by Laurence Oliphant ; "A Sketch in the Tropics" and " How I Caught My First Salmon," an attractive and miscellaneous selection surely well worth a shilling. Murray's cheap edition of Darwin's "Voyage of the Beagle" at Zs 6d, places this (till now) expensive work within every one's reach. 'Tis a capital present for any lad with a taste for natural history. The death of Percy B. St. John will recall many pleasant youthful memories to men now in the prime of manhood. Twenty years ago Percy B. St. John, Amelia Bowman and Captain Mayne Reid held much the same position towards the rising generation as R. A. Ballantyne, Geo. 11. Henty and Geo. Manville Fenn do now. Nob that their boys' books were as high -class as are the majority nowadays. " The Arctic Crusoe " of Mr St. John's, which was an extraordinarily popular story in its time, will not stand the test of comparison with Ballantyne's "Fightiner the Flames." Henty's "Final Reckoning," or half-a-dozen books one could mention. The other day, alas, I picked up by chance a tale which as a youn# boy I gloated over, Miss Bowman's " Bear Hunters of the Rocky Mountains." My notion was to give ifc to a youngster friend, but after perusing a few chapters, I concluded it wouldn't do. The present generation of boys (lucky doers) will never be under the painful nece?sity of " going back upon " its youthful favourites. Twenty years hence, for example, "Treasure Island " should be as popular as now.