TABLE TALK. (FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT). London, September 20.

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 421, 20 November 1889, Page 4

TABLE TALK. (FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT). London, September 20.

Cardinal Manning and the Strike. The hero par excellence of the late strike was Cardinal Manning. To him and to him alone belongs the credib of bringing the quarrel to an end. When the Lord Mayor and the Bishop ot London —angry and disgusted with what they considered Burns's and TilleL's lack of good faith — turned their backs upon the Mansion House, and even energetic Sydney Buxton grew discouraged, Dr. Manning continued his campaign of conciliation undauntedly. At the beginning of the week the prospect looked absolutely hopeless. By the end, the "Cardinal's Peace" was an accepted fact. It is not often that I feel much sympathy with Mr Stead's over • exubeiant gush, but in an article on the conclusion of terms he does seem for once to have struck the right key. • c The part," writes the editor of the 11 Pall Mali Gazette," "played by the Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster, henceforth in the heart of his countrymen the Primate of All England, is also a matter for sincere satisfaction. What a magnificent revenge for the bitter intolerance which passed the Ecclesiastical Titles Act that today the only feeling in the minds of the English people is a regret that the title bestowed by the Pope upon Henry Edward, Caidinal Archbishop of Westminster, should not be sufficiently exalted adequately to express the unique position which Dr. Mnnning holds in the country of his birth ! The assistance which the Caidinal has rendered in adjusting the strike recalls tho«e great acts of secular service by which alone hi? Church acquired that hold upon the world which long centuries have failed enjitoly to destroy. When the Cardinal .vent to and fro between the dockers and the directors, refusing to despair when his established brother of London had shaken off the dust of his feet against the strike and disappeared iuto space, combating with the utmost patience the difficulties interposed by prejudiceand passion, interposing aconstant element of cool common sense in the midst of hot-blooded counsels, he must have felt sustained and inspired by the best traditions of his Church. The occasion, no doubt, was less imposing than on that great historic day when St. Leo stood up as a mediator and deliverer between Attila and the Eternal City, but. the spirit of devotion and the sanctified sagacity of the Cardinal were no less admirable than those of the great Pontitf. Other mci have in this great struggle done excellently, but the Caidinal has exceeded them all."

Mrs Maybrick. Mrs Maybrick's American friends appear to have remembered her longer than the tickle "greater jury," for, it is said, "important fresh evidence" has been hunted up and sent over for Mr Matthews' consideration. Th 6 lady herseJf has quite rec ivered her health and commenced work at Zupphill as a convict semp«tro«s. Curiously enough, the warders at Woking, like the warderg at Walton Prison, have never had the faintest doubt of Mrs May brick's guilt. "A worn tn," they say, " must have a good face to carry off prison garb. Mrs Maybrick's is not a good face.*'

Gordon Bennett and His London Stafi\ George Gordon Bennett marie one of hi* periodical dramatic descents on the New York "Herald's" London Office on Friday afternoon, and dismissed twochirds of the entire literary staff, commencing with the news sub editor. When he said " Go," he, of course, meant, " in the course of a fortnight unless I change my mind," but English journalists are not acclimatised to this sort of thing yet, and taking up their hats the lot went there and then, leaving George Goidon to get out his paper as best he could, bun day and Monday's *' Heralds" were, in consequence, composed entirely of reprint from the American papers, and Mr Bennett habeen consumedly laughed at. As he is the sort of a man who can b-at anything bat ridicule (which v* death fco him), the Yankee has been pretty severely punished In future, I guess he'll think twice before he treats English journalists like niggers.

Dramatic. ** The Dead Heart" is announced for production at the Lyceum next Saturday. and close on its heels will come Gilbert and Sullivan's new opera at the Savoy, which appears to be in far more forward condition than people imagined. To-morrow we have " Ruy Bias " at the Gaiety, and " The Royal Oak " at Drury Lane, not to mention a new ooera founded on " The Lady ot Lyons," and called "A Castle in Como." at the Opera Comique. The libretto of the latter i% by a Mr Searle and the music by Major Cockle. Both are unknown to the general public. Mr Robert Buchanan is perhaps the most mfcliked man of letters amongst his fellows in London. He has few friends, and many enemies, and I don't suppose he ever in his life went out of the way to retain one of the former, or conciliate the latter. This being so, one may, I think, conclude (human nature bein j human nature) that when one finds the critics unanimously praising a new work of Buchanans it must be very good indeed. I, at any rate, thought so, and ib was full of expecrabions I went with a friend to the Hay market on Fiiday to see " A Man** Shadow/ Nor were we disappointed. The French original of the piece " Roger le Honte" (now playing at the Paris Ambigu Theatre) is, from all accounts, a tawdry melodrama, spoilt at its strongest} points by inane buffooneries, and reeking with sentiments which no English audience would tolerate fora moment. Mr Buchanan has converted ib into a wholesome, sensational, yet sympathetic play, with cri«p dialogue, and at least three singularly p >werful situations. The plot burns (like the " Lyons Mail ") on the likeness between a good man and a bad one, Mr Beerbohm Tree, of course, acting both. Laroque, the hero, has incurred the undying enmity of his " double " Luveraon, a Prussian spy, who schemes with the former's cast-uff mistress to ruin and destroy him. Laroque is accused of a murder commiited by his double, who skilfully weaves an inextricable chain of ciicumpbantial evidence around him. Even Laroque's wife and child, who see the murder committed from the window of the house oppopite, believe him guilty, although the agonised mother trains the terrified and sensitive child to deny everything. Then comes the trial, and the child is brought up tp bear witness against her father, but still denies having se°n or heard anything, though the perplexed prisoner implores her to speak the truth. The exp'anation of one piece of damning evidence could prove his innocence, and thi3 it is in his power to givo ; but this revelation, though tt Bayed his own life, would break the heart of his dearest friend, comrade, and ad»'o<cate, for it would involve the public shaming of that friend's wife, the prisoner's former mistress. He therefore remains persistently silent on this point. But his "double'" gives this information to the advocate just as he is about to make Jiis speech for the defence, and believing hie

friend has been false to him, he~is in tho awful position of having to decide between proclaiming his own dishonour and the shame of his wife to save the innocent, or remaining silent and allowing tho friend he. believos to have wronged him to suffer unjustly. He chooses the path of duty, but sudden death spares him in the terrible act of performing it. ### , « It was in this episode that Mr James Fernandez, by his splendidly intense acting, ensured the success of the play. It was a grand eflort, the situation was thrilling, and the audience was intensely excited and surprised ; consequently, when the tension was over, tho house rose at the actor, and thundered its applau.se. The startling situation of the previous act, when the muider was committed, albeit the agony was unduly prolonged, had distinctly piejudiced tho audience in favour of the pUy ; but the end of the trial scene clinched matters, and the sombre but ."till exciting, and in some measure, pathetic, last act. — which, by the way, is entire'y Mr Buchanans own — . was followed with that substantial inteiest which assured success always awakens. Mr Beerbohm Tree payed the dual part of the villain and the hero with artistic effect, suggesting the difference in resemblance, though he will surely work out his double conception with still more subtlety and greater distinction — for versatility in characterisation is his forte. Miss Julia Neilson played the advocate's wife and the hero's cast-off and jealous mistress with much nervous force and suppressed passion, and in the last act with pathos. It was not her fault that tho character wab extravagant in motive ; the beautiful young actress showed nevertheless that she had in her that true dramatic instinct and power of which we recognised the promise from the first. E.\perience alcne is what she requires. Little Minnie Terry, however, secured the greatest tiiuraph of all in the painful part of Laroque's child. During tiie trial scene the feminine pai t of the audience w.is bathed in tears. Even we men sniffed and blew our noses. Nevertheless rhere was a general feeling that a small child ought not to be acting Such a tragic role, and that on e>ery account little Miss Terry would be better in bed. The new piece at the Adelphi benefits materially from the introduction ot fre-h blood into the Company. Terriss and Miss Millwaid wore ail very well at first, but during the past five years one has seen them aseveiy variety of melodramatic hero and heroine, and latterly we grew (I'm not ashamed to say) deadly bored with the pair. In "London, Day by Day," Ueorge Alexander (late of the Lyceum) play-t the ctmalrous hero with a freshness and spontaneiety that at once caught the fancy of tho audience, and Ahna Murray and Mary Rorke make a charming biace of heroines. The fair Alma is a persecuted heiress who cannot claim a fortune left her owing to a little ditterence wiih the police in times gone by. She was, it .-eems (wrongfully, of course), committed to prison for theft, and when released on ticket-of- leave omitted to repoit herself. At the commencement of the play pooi Ama is in the hands of a gang of blacklegs who threaten to deprive her of her liberty unless she parts with her fortune. George Alexander come.* to the rescue and resolve? the young lady shall do neither. He w ill thwart the villains and prove his darling's innocence, which of course he does, at the end of the fifth act. Meanwhile, all sorts of exciting incidents occur in the gardens ut Hampton Court, in Leicester Square by night, out-ide the Alhambni, and in--ide the Pelican Club and Marlborough Police Court. Eventually things are cleared up at St. Katherine's Docks. The dialogue is throughout much abo»e the level of Adelphi dramas, and there are numerous well drawn subordinate characters. "Moih" Marins enact- the villain (a regular bigamous out and outer), J. D. Beveridge (the traditional Adelphi scoundrel) becoming for the nonce a breezy, Irish Americm with a compound accent. Johnny Shine, as a comic cabman, shaies mo*t of the '"faf speeches, with Lionel Rignold, who is inimitable in the part of n ia*cally old Jew moneylender. Finally little Mi»s Andrewes scoies immensely as a street boy of the Joe type. The play mu>t all round be pronounced a big «ucee-< of its sort, and Mr Bland Holt is to be congratulated on having acquired the Australian rights.

Literary. Mr Stead has, it is understood, at lent finally severed his connection with Mr Thompson, of the " Pall Mall Gazette," and yOtiS to America for a time on various schemes intent. He will be succeeded in Northumberland-street by younur Charles Morl^y (nephew of John Morley), who has hitherto had chaige of the " Budget," and been interviewer in chief to the establishment. It was Charley Morley who wrote the famous intei view with Tawhaio, which feo excited the late Mr Che-son's wrath, when the Maoris were over. He i- a very clever scribe of the crhp, flippant, Jerome K. Jerome school, and tcay not improbably do big things with the " Pall Mall."