CHARLES READE.

Waikato Times, Volume XXIV, Issue 1989, 7 April 1885, Page 3

CHARLES READE.

Tim distingirVied no\elist and drama tiat was very eccentric in many respects On one occasion I accompanied him to Paiis, vwien he visited the gay capita! to witness the implementation of "L'A-«so nioir," for the purpose of adapting ie to the English stage, which he did siic-os*-fully undti the title of "Dunk. 1 Haung twice Been Hie play as .1 mattei of biisiUnas at the Boulevaid Theatie, and paying a single usit to the Comedie Ftancaist> to \ have" a peep at Sarah Bernhardt, who at thnt time had not been heard in Eng land, I eonld not induce him to enter the dooisof a French theatie, but he would persist in going night after night to the Cirque, the acrobitic entertainments of / which, especially the antics of the educated mules and the clowns, seemed to amuse hiiii inoidinately. On our way lnck to his hotul he would uot make the slightest uference to what we had witnessed, hut would «hoot off on other subjects not in the remotest way connected with Paris or anything associated theiewith. I lemetnber one night lie g)^w eloquent on the subject of diamonds, .md for q.iite an hour related anecdotes of the famous big diamonds of the world, which would have delighted Mi'Streoter, who, at the period of which I write, had not produced his famous and e\h,uisti\ c w 01 k on this sparkling subject Rrade's memory was prodigious, an<! his knowledge of details of matters in which he felt an interest struck hip as being remarkable. When we arrived nt his hotel in the Hue Rivoli I usually siw him to liit. chanibfi, where ho would light a doze n candles of vanous sizes .md colours, set them all in a row, and then he would ling for boiling water, brew a jorum of whukcy punch, drink it, and then bow me out with a coidial imitation to join him at breakfast or dinner, as the caj-e might be, thf> next day. In character he was one of the simplest and homsti -t nirn I e\ei met, and to know him thoroughly was not only to admiic but to love him. Knowing his gentle ways, I could m\ei quite understand his cantnnkci oust,! ss when he took up his pen to deal a bfow at .1 fancied wiong, or paiiy the thiust of an assailant. He was a haul hittsr whin a 1 ousted, but 111 pin ate w;.s the soul of kindness, and chnitible m an cmim nt deque <ji owing weary of the cm sine of Ir.s hotel I asked him to dine with me. He was not \u v well at tho time I speak of, being subject to distiessiug attacks of indigestion. He prot<sted that Fiercli cooking upset liis stomach, so I interviewed v iny landloid on the subject of dinner, and he faithfully promised to pay close attention to the menu and sre thnt it wis eutirely fne from the slight suspicion of gicasc. This was Reade's incessant woriy, ami he averred the French wcie too fond of the fi\ ing-pan. In that he was light. From ainuig \eiy often with him I knew pretty well what suited him in the nay ot food, and when he glanced at a nniui I submitted to him, he deolaied I hit his t.iste a tunreilh He ai lived punctually with a pile of French plays under Ins arm, and said he'd had a constitutional on the Champs Ely«oe to get up an appetite. The soup was uuexcf ption ible, but to my horror the next dish, a sole, was floating in a lake of fat. I was appalled. I rang for the landlord and reminded him of my injunction. Of course lie was profuse iv his apologies, andpiomised to serve another ; but we skipped the tis'i and pursued the dinner to the end, and our (ihtinguiithed guest evidently enjoyed it. He drank very little wine, declined coffee or a ( /c'vf, ordered a lnrge cup of tea and then excused himself and left the table Cioing to a liirht oveicoat he took a small p.uceloutof the pocket, undid itc.irefully, and mysteriously weut into a coiner, tinned his back on the other guests ami silently consumed the contents. Of eoinse wo weie all .iinu^i'd nt this eccentric proceeding. I thought he was taking some form of medicine to coiintei act the effect of ft rather ample dinner, and I \ cntuied, when he returned to the table, to ask him what he had been con suming. " Well," said he with .1 ?ad smile, " I have ju-t piten two baked apples. I spotted them in a window in the Rue Neti\e dcs Petite Champs, and for the life of mu I couldn't resist them. Eh ' th' y w ei<; good," and liv smacked his lips likr a uro it boy, and then sat down to hi 3 W.\ This is a veiy good specimen of the quaint, odd, out-of-tlie-w.iy sort of things he used to do. — Howard Paul.

Money doesn't always make the mare go Fat man (who is in something of a hurr>,:'Tll give >on a sovereign to get me to the station in thiee minute. ' C.il> man (with provoking slovvne-s): "Well, son, jou might coirupt me but you can't bribe that horse. This is the reason why cats wash their faces after meals: A cat caught a span on ami was about to devour it but the sparrow said, " No gentleman eats till he lias fiist washed his face." The cat struck with tins reinaik, set the spauou down and began to wash his face with his paw, but the sparrow flew away This vexed puss exceedingly, and he &aid, '' As lung as I Inc. I will eat first and wash my face aftcrwaids." Which all cats do to tins day. LORI* \Vol-iM,ky looks very well after hn men, according to the Ai my and Nay ) Gazette. Tl. is journal alfo lem.i'ks : - Om 1 of the last tclegianis fiom Iv-iti to Caiio was for 2000 white umbiel.'as to be pcrsomllv conducted up the Nile w ith all despatch by a special!) *At cted orlieet As the tior.ps are already aimed with \cils and •jo.'iile'?, tlin Curo Commissaiies are now cnrsing almit the Moski in anticipation of a fuitil''i icqiiisition of a coupJ' of thousand fans to co-npltite the field < (|inpinent for the final advance on Xli ii ton tn. An Amuiitiin tia\ ellcr whos" name is Know n (says a New York pipei) was in a trim of the North western Railway, going fiom London to Liverpool lately, when an cAdled disillusion arose over America's ictpoiisibility for the dynamite explosions The opinion was fieely expiisvd that the United States Go\ eminent wab gifiitly to bl.mivi for hat hoi ing sue!) men as o' Donovan llossa. He defended hio country in vigorous language and was attacked by a crowd of the passengers. 'I he American drew a revolver and kept hin assailants at bay until the $raiD leached Chester, when he jumped from the carriage and escaped. Tub Dunedin Herald asks who should pay the expenae of fortifying the port*, and thus answers itself : — Not the majority, who have nothing to lose. The burden should be laid on those who, for want of defences, would have to answ er the enemy's requisition for a cool couple of hundred thousand sovereigns or so. Parliament should be immediately convened in the event of a war, and power taken to assess the banks and finance companies in the moderate amount of one per cent on their deposits. This would provide £100,000, a sum amply sufficient in the meantime. To defray the expense of interim measures of protection a patriotic fund might be at once opened for subscriptions, to which our colonial millionaires might easily contribute £20,000 a'nongsfc them. Thk shires and vermin boards of VicLoiia are working most effectively in some districts bj fencing off all waterholes, UnkM, •nd other means of wnter supply, which has proved highly successful. Mr LMcelles, the chairman of a vermin board, who first introduced the fencing Dff system, slates that the rabbits arc dying oft in thousands where it is followed, and he feels confident that if the dry season continues he will piactically clear the rabbits olf all his own blocks. He first of all fences off all the waterholes and tanks where a supply cf water ;ould be had ; then places pure water Dutside the fence for one or two days, to iC<i\\Btom tfje animals to visit the spot, md after a few days he gives poisoned water ; with tb« result of 1470 dead labbits and six wild dogs within 100 yauls from two tanks.