TOPICS OF THE DAY. (FROM OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT.) London, September 13.

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 417, 6 November 1889, Page 6

TOPICS OF THE DAY. (FROM OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT. ) London, September 13.

THE LATEST iWHITECHAPEL . HORROR. In connection with the latest Whilechapel horror, it seems just worth mentioningthat in 1.-iB,t Saturday 'B "Mirror," fttuart Cumberland announced that ho had re-dreamt thd vision wliich had preceded seven of Jack-tho-Ripper's previous crimes, and confidently predicted that in the course of the present week we should discover more of that worthy's handiwork.' Odd, wasn't it '1 Thanks to Hume Nisbel/tj pketchea, the " Mirror " seems now to be making some way. The letterpress, as a rule, is not up to much, save when Cumberland can recall some aproj/oi reminiscence of notables, | whose thoughts he has read or attempted to road.

Tl/E SHAH IN VIENNA. —DISAGREEABLE CONDUCT. , ! The Shah appears to .have carried on in fine style at Vienna, where he paid no attention whatever to Court etiquette,, indeed, seemed' to positively rejoico in floutjing theAustiian Royalties*. Things came to a climax at the opera, tor the Kintr of j'lvingj-' small favourite Aziz plneed a heavy footstool (it is believed out of pure mischief) 'in the way of ono of the Grand Dukes as he was advancing ceremoniously to pay his ie?pects. The dignified old fellow ■went over head foremost, coming what is ■vulgarly called a severe " cropper." This was bad enough, but when the Shah burst into a roar of laughter and clapped his hands joyfully' the Court were almost frozen with horror. The Archduke picked himselfup and retired, his face in all probability betraying his feelings. Anyhow, the Shah chose to be otiended, and turning his t-iclt on the Empeior and the Imperjar Hignesses generally, walked off, without bttHing any of the'paity farewell. They waited wipper for His Majesty, but he declined to appear, sending word that ho preferred eating aVane with Aziz. Altogether, it was with the mtensest relief the \ ienncse Court ollicials baa^ farewell to the wayward potentate and hVa exiyeant suite. , Augustus Moore quotes an epitc^h which poor James Albery wrote upon himself at the more riotous portion of his career :—: — lEo reriilletl 'n'catli the modn, Ho slept beneatli the auu V He lived a lite of going to do, And died with nothing done.

BENZON S '..PROSPECTS. . Mi Benzon's much'abused uncle and guardian has not left that enterpiising youth another quartet of a million to chuck away, bub settled X'4oo a-ycar on him in tuch a manner that he can't mortgage or anticipate it. The meaning of the hints in Benzon's book that he may poscibly again be in funds some day, is that he aspires to the hand and heart of a well-dowered damsel. This young lady bioke oil their engagement when hrrjfaitce became (as ho yracefu'ly expressed it) "stony,' but has since relented. If the match "ever comes oft, her money will, however, indubitably be strictly tied up. Just abpre&ent, at any rate, the young man is in no want of ready money. Some Austiahans who have been vieiting Scarborough tell me Mr Beuzon is stopping at the Royal Hotel there in gieat style, and gave a ball oii w \Vednesday evening to the fashionable tag-i ag and bobtail of that smart seaside resoit. Upwards of 700 persons were present, a fifth of whom the host himself knew personally.

DRAMATIC NOTES. The old Olympic Theatre, which has lo?b caste tenibly of late years, is about to be down and rebuilt on modern lines. Mrs Langtiy, who is on the look-out for a London will probably lease it for a time/ The Jersey Lily" wears wonderfuliy well. Three years of haid work and continuous travelling does not seem to have a^od her perceptibly.' "T-life"\>vondrous complexion which &et: : all London talking when as a giil of eighteen she burst on .■society at the Academy- l'rivato View of 1878 is not, pet hap*, quite whatib was. Mrs Langtry, like other actresses, has had to condescend to rouge and pearl powder. On the stage, however, she etill looks a peerlessly beautiful woman, and her acting has enounously improved. The Yankee dude who u&ed to follow Mrs Lang try everywhere, is no longer en evidence, the Chineee page boy has been sent home to the land of his fathers, and pugs and pets ireneially have been severely pub down. Mi's Langtry has abandoned the role of pampeied beauty lor that ot acticss per se. "My Aft." (with a big A, please) "has become uiy All," she says impressively ; " I care for nothing else." With the production of "A Man's Shadow " at the Haymarket last night, the autumn season at the theatres may be' said t) have fairly begun. To moirow, "London Day by Day" re-opens the Adelphi; on Monday, Horace Lingard revives Offenbach's " Brigands " at the Avenue, ant 1 Saturday ne.\b is ti.ved for the premieres of " Blas«s Kuy Bias" at the Claiety, and "The Royal Oak " at Drury Lane.

LITE tt A K Y NOTES. 11 Mik© Fletcher " is the- title of George Moore's 'new realistic novel, now going through the press. It belongs to the same (jemi6 as "The Mummer's Wife," dealing with music halls and variety artists much as that great work did with theaties and piovincial touring companies. Mrs Harrison, or, as she prefers to be called, " Lucas Malet," has just finished a novel with the euphonious title of "The Wages of Sin," which will run serially through the " Universal Review," commencing riext month. ' it deals with a somewhat delicate social question, viz., the terrible after-effects of youthful profligacy, and, as thc^author speaks out very plainly, will not improbably excite considerable discussion. Trie stoiiy, as a work of art, is said to be a distinct advance on "Colonel Enderby's Wife," and likely to clinch Lucas Malet's reputation as a novelist of the first (contemporary) rank. Thirty thousand copies of a work purporting to tell the true story of the relations between the Baroness Vetsera and the l<te Archduke Rudolph were seized in Vienna last week, and the newspapers warned not to mention the occurrence. Nevertheless, a few copies reached England, and 1 hear one has fallen into the hands of the "enterprising " Vizetelly. The book was written by a member of the Vetsera family, who paints the poor Crown Prince in painfully dark colours. Mr Jerome K. Jerome cpuldn't write a stupid book if he tried; bufc " Three Men in a Boat," — riot to mention the dog, is quite unworthy the author of "Idle Thoughts" and " Stageland." Mr Jerome's up-river excursion with two friends would have made a capital magazine story, but stretched out into twonty odd laboriously humorous chapters it becomes wearisome, arid even irritating. 1 see Canon Farrar recognise? the merits of Gissing's " Nether ,\Ybrld " iri.the current "Contemporary." ' ' Sonnenschein and Co. J s_ announcement^ for the coming publishing? season irlclude " Anecdotes, of Musical Celebrities" by "Hr, Louis Engel (L., E. of the {< Worlcf "); " Court Life Under the rianta,genets »

HubeibHall, "Young Mr Ain.slie's Courtship ' by T. C. Phillips, ",A Conspiracy ot Silence" by George Colmore, and "The Wages of Sin " by Lucas Maleb. - Amongst the cheap re-issues of the week are Mrs iiiddell's " Senior Va\ bner " (a very lair sample of hor work), and" Jno. Law's "Out of Work," at 2», and Haidy's "•■Wbodlande>s"(one of the best of tho Dorsetshire eerier), and Miss Keary's "Ca?rle Daly," at 3a 6d. "Tire Woddlandevs^" is a thoroughly restful book. I spent a sunny Sunday afternoon under the trees on the banks ot tho Thames reading it, and enjoyed myselt immensely in a peaceful sort of way. A sensational shocker would liavo been wholly out of harmony with surroundings, which Hardy's quiet story just suited. Cassoll'B "Saturday Journal." winch ha? poached pretty considerably on tho "Family Heiald's" preserves" during the past twelvemonth, will add still further improvements to the new volume commencing ne\t month. I hear there is bomo bilk of forming the " Family Herald " into a limited liability company. Tuschler appears to be plunging recklessly into literary investments of all sorts. I hear ho has agreed to take Miss Mary Crommelin's four next novel?. Let us hope for his .sake they'll be as good as "In the West Countrie." ■GEORGE R. SIMS AND U. E. SIM M.S. I sec you fell into the common mistake of supposing the journalist Simms, who had a ,bout of nation ifs with the Duke of Cambridge, wag CiCOrgoK. of that ilk, " Dagonet " and dramatist. Curiously enough, there never were two men more unlike one another. The Sims, whom all the world has heard of, is a burly six-footer, chock full of good humour and dyspepsia, a\lio would have made things exceedingly warm, for His Royal Highness at cloie quarters., (J. E. Simms is a little irascible man, without a thimbleful of humour in his composition, or the faintest possibility of under any conceivable circumstances seeing or making a joke