TOPICS OF THE DAY. (For the Mail of August 16th.) (From Our Special Correspondent.) London, August 16. PRECIS.

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 409, 9 October 1889, Page 4

TOPICS OF THE DAY. (For the Mail of August 16th.) (From Our Special Correspondent. ) London, August 16. PRECIS.

The Mayhrick Verdict — Epidemic of Moral HyiruuiA Popular Clamouk — The Juhy Pumped — Tnism Pluck — Brieklky's Position— Ruined and Rk-HORSKI-UL-MU MAYIUUCIv's He \LTII— TIIE Home Skcrutakys Decision-Okkbrs of MAKKIAUIfi— CVHIOUS C'ONSOIi \TION - TWO Stokies— Dramatic and Musical Notks— Expensive Wagebs- Lkwks Hacks -Kempton Park— Liikkahy Noieis— lnspkctou Moskr's Notes— Another Seuies— > k\v Editions— "Saint liaiito"— A Skqukl— Ciieai- Issuks, Etc.

The Maybrick Veudict. ' With the epidemic of moral hysteria which has broken out over the Maybrick verdict I have, 1 frankly confess, no sympathy whatever. One cannot forget that the shrieking sentimentalists who now elevate the self- con fessed odulteress, Florence Maybrick, into a heroine and martyr are the ' same crowd who waxed frantic in their enthusiasm over the impostor Orton ; who Borrowed over the conviction of the villainous Lip?ki ; and who hounded Inspector Wbicher out of Scotland Yard for doubting the innocence ot Constance Kent. During the past week the jurymen who eat on the Maybrick case have boen interviewed and pumped in the most scandalous manner. Nono of them, fortunately, had anything of importance to reveal. They appoar, indeed, to have taken the greatest possible pains to arrive at a right verdict. Not only was every conceivable point for the defence threshed out for them in Court twenty titr.es over, but they discussed nothing else during the long evenings they were locked up together at the Victoria Hotel. Two jurymen incline towards giving Mrs Maybrick the benefit of aome flight doubt in their minds up to the time she made her self-damnatory statement. After that comparative certainty became Absolute conviction. I muet say I think the jury (though by no means a brilliant-looking lot) showed great pluck in sticking to the letter of their oath. The temptation to shirk a profoundly disagreeable duty and also take the popular course must havo been 1 enormous. It appears to be considered the right thing just now to attribute Mra Maybrick'* present position wholly to Brierley, and to speak of that most miserable and remorae- • ful man in terms of ferocious malignity. I ' must confess, however, I think he is being > punished with a severity out of all propor- [ tion to his crime. The worst to be said of 1 him is that most unwillingly (as his letters <■ show) he allowed himself to be drawn into an intrigue with Mrs Maybrick, and at her > request and by her arrangement met her I in London. Ho regietted the faux pas almost as coon as it was committed, and 1 had cut the connection and was on 1 bhe verge of leaving Liverpool when the ' catastrophe occurred. It is not of course in the least true that Maybrick was either an arsenic eater, a > hypochondriac, or a valetudinarian in the ordinary sense of the words. Generally L speaking, he was brisk, alert and full of : business. Theclimate of Liverpool is very re1 laxing, and as a local chemist testified, ■ there are few men on 'Change who do not ' occasionally feel the want of a pick-me-up of strychnine, quinine, or arsenic. May- ! brick no doubt suffered from a liver ' now and again also lik« most Liverpudlians, bufe he was the last man to dose ' himself secretly. He loved talking about ' medicine and his little ailments too well. Moreover, none of the chemists in the busi- * ness quarter, or in any other quarter of i Liverpool, had of late years sold Maybrick aught but the most ordinary medicines. Mrs Maybrick speaks four languages, and is a clever pianiste and amateur actress. 1 She has read quantities of both French and English novels, and was a brilliant and 1 fluent conversationalist, specially happy in repartee.

The Homk Secretary's Decision. It is a solemn fact that during the four days prior to her conviction Mrs Maybrick received no fewer than three offers of marriage, and since the verdict her lawyers (the Messrs Cleaver) have been deluged with proffers cf financial and general assistance. The date of the execution is fixed for Monday week, and up to this afternoon the Home Secretary has vouchsafed no reply to tho popular clamour. Mr Matthews has called to his aid two other judges beside Mr Justice Stephen, and the whole of the voluminous evidence is again undergoing careful review. The fact that the purchase of the large quantity ol powdered arsenio found at Battlecrease House has not been traced to either Mr or Mrs Maybrick may, ibis thought, weigh with the Home Secretary in favour of a reprie\e. Mrs Maybiick and her mother (now living in the stiictcst incognito near Kirkdale gaol) had arranged to sail for America directly the anticipated verdict of "Not guilty " set the former lady free. So certain were they of being able to go that two berths were engaged by tho Aurania for last Saturday. It is significant that these have nob been forfeited, but were on Friday transferred to a steamer sailing a month hence.

Curious Consolation; A Home Rule M.1 J . wifch some sense of humour, tells a characteristic story about Colonel Satindersou, on whose Iri V.li estates there have been "ructions" lately. The row was of the usual sort — unpaid rents, pressure, evictions— and the order of the pun issued to the unfortunate agent. The latter wrote with a good deal of feeling to the colonel on the subject, declaring that ho expected every hour to be shot at. The gallant Orangeman replied promptly: "Dear Sir,— You may say to the tenants that any threats to shoot you will not intimidate me." Consolatory, wasn't it? Another somewhat similar yarn relates how a cultured Bostonian who turned cowboy and went out West consoled himself for a rather unfortunate mistake. Riding one afternoon in a reputedly wild and lawless part of the country, the young man came across a stranger who, after talking for a bit, suddenly made a very suspicious movement towards his revolver pocket. Thinking to be beforehand with the rascals the Bostonian whisked out his own pistol and shot him. The man fell off his horse like a log. " I think I'd better ceniirm mv suspicions," said the Bostonian, and dismounted. On turning the body over,* however, he found the man's hand on a halfextracted whisky flask. "Dear me," quoth he, " I'm afraid I've made a sad mistake. The fellow was not a robber, bub a gentleman, and he was not going to shoot me but to offer me a drink. Well, well," (here he drew his sleeve suggestively across his mouth and took up the flask) " the last wishes of the deceased shall be respected (a long pull), indeed, I may say, have been respected."

Dramatic and Mcsical. i The evergreen " Betsy " has been revived again at the Criterion Theatre, and with < Aubrey Boucicault as the baby, Alfred < Maltby as the tutor, Lottie Venne in her i original creation of the title role, goes as < merrily as ever, and seems fco be drawing < fireb-rate business. |

' The one important; novelty of the month will be •« The Middleman" at the Shaftesbury Theatre. 'In 'this pieco Mr Willard will appear ma character strikingly different to any tie has before undei taken, viz., a poor working man in some Staffordshire porcelain works whose valuable inventions are purchased for trifling sums by his grasping employer, •• The Middleman' of the title. Mr Jones's hero will not pone as the oppressed inventor of fiction, but rather as a modest man of genius who combines fertile ingenuity with the trusting faith, unselfishness and simplicity of Tom Pinch, a part, by the way, Willard has played in the provinces. The love interest will be supplied by the inventor's eon, who, of course, adores "The Middleman's " daughter. For the hitter part Miss Maude Millott has been engaged, the unattractive title role being filled by Mr Macintosh, who has sevoral times pieviously scored successes in similar roles. One of the principal scenes will represent the pottery furnaces in full blast, and for this Mr Willard proposes to reproduce an everyday picture at Doulton's world-famous factory. The promenade concerts are in full swing at Covent Garden, with Nikita and Signorj Foli as principal vocalists, and your late, j visitor, Mr Radcliffe, as flautiso.

Literary Notes. : Mr Montagu William?, who knows more of that mysterious world '• Bohemia " than any living veteran, is writing his reminiscences. They will be published by Macmillans in the autumn, and should afford capital reading Inspector Moser, for many years one of tho most successful detectives at Scotland, is (with the literary assistance of Mr Chae. Rideal) contributing a series of •• Leaves from my Note Book " to Cassell's "Saturday Journal. " A selection from these have just been republished in a shilling volume by Trischler, which seems to be selling like wild-fire. Tho experiences in tho main are commonplace, and a marked contrast to the imaginative detective 3tories of Peddie and others. I must, however, except " A Queer Cuss " and " Among the Fenians." Scarcely is one " series " announced for publication than another is advertised as ready. Last week was issued tho prospectus of •• The World's Great Explorers " series, and now Mr Fisher Unwin (whose " Stories of Nations " have been deservedly successful) tells me he has in hand an " Adventure " series. The initial volume will be Trulawny's •• Adventures of a Younger Son," which will be followed by " Irish Adventurers," " Adventurous Women," " Escape From Captivity," "The Moravian Missionaries," "The Jesuits in the Far East," and " Adventurous Scotchmen." The books will be handy in size and well illustrated. One cannot, however, forbear the reflection that much the same ground has been gone over in Cassell'a admirably-compiled serial " The World of Adventure." A new six-shilling odition (the sixth) of Maxwell Gray* " Koproach of Annesley" is announced. lam glad to learn that the author is in somewhat better health than she was a few weeks back. Wilkie Collins, too, seems to have partially got over his paralytic stroke, though he will nover be «ble to write again. That laborious hard worker, Clark Russell, has accepted a commission from G. P. Putnam (the American Muiray) to write a popular ll Life of Lord Nelson." I should have thought it impossible to improve on Sou they 's claseic myself. Mr Russell's story " Marooned " (now running through "Macmillan ") is announced torimmediate publication. It differs in no material respect from half-a-dozen other nautical novels from the same pen. "Sant Ilario," Mr Marion Crawfords sequel to " Saracinesca," will be quite as popular as that famous novel of Roman life. Nearly all our old friends and a number of new ones, are introduced, and the main incident tells how Giovanni Saracinesca, Marquis de Sant Ilario, is thiough a number of circumstantial trifles led into suspect* ing his idolised wife Corona (erstwhile the spouse of old Aetradente), of having proved faithless to him with Antonio Gouache. His jealousy, and his refusal to credit her explanations, nearly kill Corona, and finally an accident reveals to Giovanni his insane folly, only just in time to save her life. The husband's penitence and sorrow are touching in the extreme, and Corona feels them acutely, but for a time her love for Giovanni seem 9 quite dead. She even shrinks painfully at his touch. How Giovanni despairs, and how a number of exciting events put things right, it would not bo fair to tell. Everyone of you should read " Sant Ilario." I fancy it is not generally known that Chiehester is tho original of Anthony Tiollope's " Barchester," and that Bishop Gilbert, the predecessor of the venerable Bishop Durnford, who died the other day, waa tho ever- to-bt-remembered "Bishop Proudie " of the novelist's chronicles of Barsetshire. If there be in Australia and New Zealand any misguided colonists who have not up to the present read that masterpiece of romantic fiction "Lorna Doone," because it was unobtainable under six shillings, let them hie them to the nearest booksellers andpurchaseforthwith thenew 2sedition. I confess I bought it (neatly bound in cloth for 2s 6d) on a railway journey last weok half fearing the story would not interest me a second time. Once, however, fairly launched, there came no inclination to lay it down again. This is certainly not so with all Black more's books, some of which ' are heavy and sluggish to a degree. Thomas Hardy's novels at 2s will be a distinct boon to the million, who have not • hitherto had much opportunity of making acquaintance with his Dorsetshire rustics and agi iculturists. " The Mayor of Casterbridge " (considered by many bis beat work) comes first. ' MrsLumaensßankB,theauthoreeBof "The Manchester Man," and kindred stories very popular some years back, wob recently discovered almost starving nt tho age of 70. Influentialfriendsjapplied for a pension from tho literary fund, but for a long time Mr W. H. Smith refused to grant it, urging that writers of fiction were not suitable recipients for Imperial bounty. This, however, raised such a storm of irate objections and precedents that the Right Honourable gentleman had to give way, and a grant of £100 a year to Mrs Banks i« now announced.

The Chilians have (says a Home paper) evidently discovered the secret of longevity. From a recent return it appears that nearly 500 persons out of a total of 2,500,000 are upwards of a hundred years old. One man puts his age down at 150, making himself the oldest man in the world. After him comes a woman aged 138 ; two women and one man report themselves at 135 ; 132, 130, and 127 each have a representathe, while there are seven 125 years old, eight 120, twenty-seven 115, and no less than ninety-one aged 110. But they are mostly coloured persons. The whites in Chili are cut down like flowers at the early age of 90 I or so. " I hear, Mr Grant, thai you have been elected Mayor of your town." '• You are correctly informed, sir." "And do you intend to carry out the policy of your pre- | dcceasor ?" " Indeed I do, sir. I shall carry it oub and deposit it on the garbage heap."