HOME GOSSIP FOR THE EVENING STAR.

Thames Star, Volume VI, Issue 1868, 29 December 1874, Page 2

HOME GOSSIP FOR THE EVENING STAR.

L6Ni>oN; Oct. 21st, 1874,

A certain English peer having; oil liis secession to the Church of Rome lately, abjured Freemasonry, and the head of that church having also lately excommunicated all Freemasons everywhere who would not " go and do likewise," we hare been wondering what reprisals^ the craf fc would take; recollecting all the terrible stories heard in our youthful days of the mysterious disappearance of renegade brethren, and the mysterious deaths of princes and potentates who had shown themselves hostile'or mischievous to the order. "Well, there having been possibly no way discovered of getting a certain. Marquis out of the way which should ©scape tho detection of the police, and scruples existing no doubt as to shortening the life of such a very harmless old gentleman as Fius the .Ninth, an exped'.int we find was hit upon by one Grand Lodge of Masons. This lodge, calling itself The Orient, and hailing from Palermo, has expelled the Pope. It actually appears that His Holiness was once a Mason himself, and pledged his love and fellowship in this lodire under his name of Mastai Ferretti, and ' though no doubt His Holiness must have abjured his fellowship lonjj ago, yet his name remained on the record* bfthe Lodge as "a brother; and the Lodge has vindicated its dignity, if not its authority, b/expelling him— the decree bearing the -signature of "Victor Emanuel, King of Italy,"and Grand Master of the Orient." Well, if we are'to be asked what then ? Of whnfc consequence is all thiS^i^re should bo obliged to answer lite" vbl'd^Kaspar, '• why,, that I catmot tell;" ajthdugh.ho doubt, the members of the Orient would add, as he did, ."-but 'twas a famous victory." In fact. "no one seems one penny the worse ; " neither renegades, excommunicated brethren, nor the Pope himself, as far as we can learn ; 'but at this time of theiyear, like my Lord Tom Noddy, we are so p p m . pletely with "nothing to do,'v and nothing to say for that matter, that we would go to Jmcho for gossip not to say Palermo.

Onr Grand Duchess gave us a little excitement; by producing our new Prince so 'unexpectedly that the Empress Grandmother was not in time to quarrel with the monthly nurse, fall hysterically into the doctor's'arms, or snub her.son-in-law. Just as the Princess of Wales behared on the occasion pi''Hei^fir;Btboji >n l ~'' <'so5 i'jilas the Duchess of Edinburgh comported jierself. The commonest barndoor :hen oduld not have laid her first egg with less of the solemn importance and dignity which should attach to such events, than these royal ladies in taking on themselves the cares of maternity.

A couple of, members of -the -Stock Exchange,tod—one of them an ex M.P.—did their best for us the other- day by getting up a little row in the street. The ex M.P., one A') r Labouchere, had, it seems, been writing some articles for,a.weekly paper called rfio in which he had ; used some.y possibly parliamentary, l)ut not complimentary language concerning Stock Exchange transactions in general, bu^jj'hich expressions were taken in par* ticular as meant to give offence to one Mr Abbott, who found the cap fitted him exactly. Qn this Mr Abbott, meeting Mr Labouchere, expressed his ; infentioa of horsewhipping him on the spot; but not having, unfortunately, jn'ovided himself with a horsewhip, he gave him a " tap " on the shoulder instead, fwhich Mr Labouchere returned by knocking off his hat, which led. to both gentlemen having they opportunity' of stating their wrongs in a Police Court; .and to the public in general being consequently enlightened as! to the very peculiar notions which the Stock Exchange appears to have as to the readiest modei Of getting money out of. the oj£—the publican general. A mode, it may be said, much pleasauter to. Stock Exchangers than justifiable to— the "public in general^ and which seeiris to have been pretty freely practised by 'both these gentlemen. :':

q^ince^fchen liad to discuss the proceedings of the Dean and Chapter of Worcester in refusing the use of ths. Cathedral for 'the«approaching Musical Festival; but previous to that, not even an irrepressibly rampant curate, unrestrainably strong-minded woman, or incomprehensibly eloquent Spiritualist had given us anything to say from the timel when we had diposed of Mr Herbert and Mr Welby Pugin't little affair : peace be on the dwellings and the- consciences of both; i-'This Worcester business is really a miserable one. For more than a hundred and' fifty years have the three old cathedral towns of Gloucester, Hereford, jand Worcester annually held aj'estjyal— eacfi towit taking itsHuir, thusiriiaking it triennial in each—at which the. three choirs ; with. J,m Jlitfe {piend.y . rivalry,'*a,nd a^great deal, of honour and ;glory~jhe 'sacred iinusic being always .performed, inth^ft;...sttbedral of thai lown !w.h 'sip, the yearly festival wa.s being held, and the secular in some other suitable public building. For all this .time these towns have been prominently, before the worhjl a»- ; .place's where; the. taste for, as• ;>/well as... the study of, music was. cultivated, and flourished ;; and at-its triennal each town was benefited!: both ; and financially by the number of-visitors for the occasion. Hitherto 1 the clergy have always been the warmest supporters of the business and on this occasion,the Bishop of Worcester was named as the President ;■ but when, about a month ago, the Mayor-made the: application-—from long usaee. considered merely a form—'to the-Dean and Chapter for the use of the Cathedral, there was at first an ominous silence. Then the shell burst* . On : Monday -last. this courteous and reverend gentleman held a " ? pecial Chapter," at which it was resolved that the use of the Cathedral should be refused; which resolution he conveyed to the Mayor in form as polite, as his delay j in giving any answer for so long a time ; was considerate. "Immense excitement," we are told, prevails in Worcester ;■■■ and the inhabitants have called on%he I Mayor to hold an.,indignation meeting, but it is to be feared that the Honorable and lieverend Grantham Yorke-rthat is the name of this obstructive dignitarywill be one too many for either Mayor or inhabitants. > . j

At the Musical Festival held this year, in Liverpool, the great attraciion in musical composition was Mr Arthur Sullivan's " Light of-the World; " and, star among the performers, Madame Patti, whose services were paid at the rate of £400 per night.

The Leeds Musical Festival which has just taken place is only the second that has been held in that city Mdlle Titiens wavthe/>mraa danna. .

At a meeting of the London School Board held lately the balance sheet- for the six months ending March 25th, 1874, was produced. -According to this sheet the, Board has .received sincej the ? beginning £209,8741 on the general' account; and as loans £756,000, while the expenditure has been on works and general accounts £201,000, and on the capital account £680,000. The cost of education for each child was averaged at fifteen shillings per year. What has become, is; becoming, or is to become, of the money? Well, one member innocently- admitted that of rt ihie immense sums received by the Board, " toot one shilling " bad been devoted to current expenses ;.. it bad all been abesorbed in purchasing land and erecting buildingf^ What a good time these last three or four years hav£ been for London buildeira^nd iLoncyw^iiandholders, but how ajagpt, thej^Wtr^ei; Arabs, the hornbook, anqpbe ten commandments ? t