Talk and Talkers of To-day.

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 414, 26 October 1889, Page 6

Talk and Talkers of To- day.

In the July number of the * New Roview ' there is an interesting article on titled ' Talk and Talkers of To-day,' in which the writer stoutly denies that the art of conversation is extinct in London society.

Some Good Provincial Talkers. YVho are our beat talkers ' In answering this question, we shall first exclude from our purview all provincial conversation. We are, of course, well aware thab in so doing we exclude much that is well worth close attention. No doubt there is plenty that is valuable and interesting to be hoard in those academic circles, where men still cherish the icy sneers of the late Master of Trinity, and encourage the snappish impertinences of the present Master of Balliol — even, wo believe, in the ' cultured' quarters of manufacturing districts, and in the villas where the literary ladies of Edgbaston gather round the mystic tripod of Mr Shorthouse. But all this conversation we exclude, simply becauso its heroes are little known in London, and we wish to illustrate the virtues and vices of conversation by reference to familiar oxamplo?.

Mr Charles Villiers ! And now, when we come to consider and to analyse the best conversation of to-day, we obey a natural instinct when we think first of Mr Charles Villiers. Hie venerable age alone would entitle him to this preeminence, for haa ho not been one of the best talkere in London for something like seventy years ? He has a delicate sense of fun, a keen eye for incongruities and absurdities, and that genuine cynicism which springs nob from the poor desire to bo thought worldly wise, but from a life-long acquaintance with Hie foibles of political men.

Mk Gladstone's Talk with the Queek. We have instanced Mr Villiers as an euiinont talker. We now turn to an eminent man who talks — Mr Gladstone. An absurd story has long been current among stupid people with rampant prejudices that Mr Gladstone is habitually uncivil to the Queen. As a matter of fact, the story is «o ridiculously wido of the mark that it deserves mention only because, in itself false, it is founded on a truth which illustrates our subject. • I,' said the Duke of Wellington on a memorable occasion, ' have no small talk, and Peel has no manners.' Mr Gladstone has manners, but no small talk. Honce, w e believe, the genesis of the absurd Btory just quoted about his demeanour to the Queen. The astute Lord Beaconstield used to engage Her Majesty in conversation about water-colour drawing and the third-cousinships of German princes. Mr Gladstone harangues her about the polity of the Hittites; or the relations between the Athanasian Creed and Homer. The Queen, perplexed and uncomfortable, seeks to make a digression — addresses a remark to a daughter, or offers a biscuit to a begging terrier. Mr Gladstone restrains himself with an effort, waits till the princess has answered or the dog has sat down, and then promptly resumes — ' As I was saying .'

Sik Gkorgi; Trkvei/tan a Good Talker # After noticing Lord Granville'e wellknown eminence aa a good talker, the ( writer adds that another politician who excels in conversation is Sir George Trevelyan. Whenever ho touches an historical or literary theme* Sir George's whole being seems to undergo a transformation. The real man flashes out through his twinkling eyes. As he muses the tire burns and he speaks with hie tongue. Fact*, data*, dotails, rumours, traditions, cantos of noetry (original and quoted), reams of prose, English and Latin and Greek and French, come tumbling out in headlong but not disorderly array. He jumps at an opening, seizes an allusion, replies with lightning quickness to a conversational challenge, and is ready, on a moment's notice, to decide any literary or historical controversy in a measured tone of deliberate emphasis which is not wholly free from exaggeration. For the rest, Sir George is delightful company ; light-hearted as a boy, full of autobiographical chit-chat ; never bald, never flat, never stale.

Mb John Mokley's ' Dignikiud Austejutv.' Mr Morley's •grecableness in conversation is ot a different kind. His leading characteristic is a certain dignified austerity of demeanour which repels familiarity, and tends to keep converaation on a high level ; but each time one meets him there is less formality and leas restraint, and the grave courtesy, which never fails, is soon touched with friendliness and frank good humour, in a singularly attractive fashion. He talks not much, but .remarkably well. His sentences are deliberate, clear-cut, often eloquent. His quotations are apt aud original. His fine taste and varied culture enable him to hold his own in many helds where the mere prof* sional politician is apt to bo terribly astray. He never obtrudes his own opinions ; never introduces debateable matter ; never lays down the laws. But he is always ready to take up the gauntlet— especially if a Tory throws it down ; and may be backed to meet rude dogmatism or ill-informed assertion with a quick fervour and robustness of tone, before which the aggressor « ill beat a hasty retreat. His kindness to social and literary beginners is one of Mr Morley's most engaging traits. He invariably finds something pleasant to cay about the most immature and unpromising efforts, and he has the knack of so handling his own early expeiience as to make it an encouragement and a stimulus, and not (as is the manner of egotists) a burden and a dread.

Lord Salisbury as Jekyll ani> Hyde' Lord Salisbury goes so little into general society that his qualities as a talker are not familiarly known. Yet no one can listen, even casually, to his conversation without appreciating the tino manner, full both of dignity and courtesy, the perf«ct freedom from pomposity, formality, and self-aaaer-tion, and the dash of cynicism which modifies, though it never, mask?, the flavour of his fun. The combination of so much amiability, frankness, and politeness in the intercoura of society with the inartistic insolence and unmannerly personalities which mark Lord Salisbury's public utterances, suggests the leading idea of a novel of Mr Louis Stevenson's, to which it I*B a point of literary honour not more directly to allude.

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