MR. LOWE AND THE LADIES.

Tuapeka Times, Volume III, Issue 152, 5 January 1871, Page 7

MR. LOWE AND THE LADIES.

At the last Lord Mayor's banquet, held in London, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, in rising to propose the last tonst, was loudly cheered. He said, — My Lords, Ladies and Gentlemen, — As a contribution to a serious part of the discourse of this evening, I beg to make a single observation, and that is that, as avo are surrounded on all sides by the horrors of war, so we ought to be more studious and more anxious than ever to preserve for our fellow-citizens the blessings of peace. And with that single . observation I pasa — I hope not an uneasy and ungrateful transition — to those who are ministers of peace and the sources of many of our comforts — I mean " the

Ladies." (Loud cheers.) I cannot say when that toast first came into fashion, but, as a lady was the cause of the siege of Troy it is fair to suppose that the Grecian heroes were in the habit of drinkiiig" the health of the sex. (!-iaugh.) I cannot, I confess^ sec any peculiar fitness in rnj, \mng called upon to propose tKp-.toast, an( i much regret that JHy lioblo friend and colleague the Marquis of Hartington, who sits on my left, and who enjoys the distinction of being the only batchelor in the Cabinet (a laugh), has not been permitted to do justice to the subject. It migb,t even be thought that ibae subject was inappropriate at the present moment, when armies stand confronting each other on the dreadful and' perilous edge of battle, for that sets aside for the present moment all social hopes and reflections ; yet I have no doubt that before the eyes of sentinels, vedettes, and pickets, and around the

crowded watchfires of the two armies," there perpetually arise forms of grace and beauty min»led with their hopes and fears of the future. ((.Mirers.) But, putting all that aside, I will propose, without further obseiv.ition, " The Health of the Ladies," nndgis Europe is now divided into two hostile camps, I will justify my toast by quoting two poets of the rival nations. The first is a German, who says :—: — Honour the women who weave anrl entwine In our earthly existence their roses divine. (Cheers.) The other is a Prenehman, who, writing on a lady's picture, said : —

Whoe'er thou art, thy master see

"Who was, or is, or is to be. • (A laugh.) I beg to couple with the toast "The Lady Mayoress." (Loud cheers.)