MISS FARREN. (THE QULEN).

Waikato Times, Volume XXIV, Issue 2010, 26 May 1885, Page 3

MISS FARREN. (THE QULEN).

By bnth an lush woman, Elizabeth Farren was the daughter of a suigcon in CoiK, and amid the surroundings of her eaihest years m that city, 01 tiie Atiange viciMitudes which she encoun* tered in her maiden life, it needed moie than a prophetic spirit to foietell that one day the corouet of the Dei by iamily sliould rest upon her brow. But no one would more truly endorse the saving that tiuth is stranger than fiction than the Irish surgeon's daughter. Mis Fan-en's family resided in Liveipool, and when, thiouph inipioudei.ee and folly. her husband had utteily ruined his ''fern piospeeta and those of las family, she peisuaded him to leave Ireland and seek help fiom her lelatnes. One may suppose tiiat the biuwei in Liverpool did not materially assist hi-, pooit-i lelaticns, for we find tliat as a last resouioe Miss Faneu determined to tiy- hei fortune on the stage, wlnoli at that period in the history of the Lnglish diama seems to have been the forlorn hope of those who have been unsuccessful in every other profession, oftentimes, no doubt, pioving a veiy false hope to many v hose names have bceu forgotten by all, while to the tew whose histrionic talents were born in them it proved the stepping atono to fame What the mother ol Elizabeth Farren achieved vie know not, no gieat pLce ceitainly among the 101 l of actresses ; but the v\ hole family seem to have joined the corps cie long, as fathei, mother and daughter all trod the boards. In 1MJ!) wo hear of a strolling company, under Mr Farren, getting into tiouble with the mayui ot Salisbury foi venturing to appear in that place without the city magnate's consent, an<i ending in the ignominious locking up of the manager in the town market place, where through an accidental meeting with a jouth named Bmroughcs, the son of an upholsteier, Lizzie Faiicu hist encountered a fnend who in later years often alluded to the extraonlinaiy oontiast of their past and pieseiit mtercouibe. Dancing and singing between the acts ot v.uiout dramas seems to have been the lntiodtic tiou to a inoiu ambitious caieir on the stage. Cunously enough, the youth who had buti urnled bur m tho market place at Salisbury when her fathei Mas doomed to pass his Christmas day in the lockup, ai.d little Lizzie neatly fell on the slippery stones as vhe earned his breakfast to the prisoner, on this second occasion of their encounter was then advancing slowly along the load of legal study, and was enabled to assist his young f i lend to a permanent situation to the Liverpool Theatre, where her salary was £2 10s a week, the actress finding her own shoes and stockings ; and, whethei true or not, the tiadition is that on the liist evening of her perfoimance wlujnMisaFauen expicssed hi*r gratitude, for the help rendered on a second Christmas, she prophetically remarked that she hoped he ini^ht live to be Lord Chief Justice, to which he replied that there was us much chance of that as that the columbine in the Liverpool pautoinme would become a counters. Round and about the province Miss Fan en was known as the "star" of her day, and it could surely have been by no accident that her faithful friend, Mr Burroughs, wire always at hand in some crisis of her career. More likely that he was watching it with moic than common interest, for in 177<), when Mr Younger'n company was in Cheater, we find that to Mr Burroughes was due the ovei flowing house which was seen on tlje mqht of her own benefit. But now, in her eighteenth year, the goal of playing in a London theatre to a London audience was reached, and on the !)th of June at the Haymaiket, Miss Farren made her debut as Miss Haidcastle in the comedy of She Stoops to Conquer. From this time hjr theatiical success was as the queen of comedy, and, amidst fill the tuaU and difficulties which beset the path of an actress, especially in those d.ijs, Miss Farren wnsas gieatlj piaised for the stetlini; woith of hei private chaiactei as for her public sue cess, and at eveiy house where the best and mo-it e^clu^ive sociPty conjugated she was ever an honoured gueit We hear of her at the Duke of Richmond s home at Whitehall assisting in the arlangeimntof some amateur theatricals, the ptutcipal paitein which weie taken .by members of the family, though, among others who assisted, we hear that the Eirl of Derby was one, and then Hist met Miss Farren. Unfoitunate circiini ■tances, which have no place lie it, had ' brought about a separation' between Lord Derby and his wite, so that the ad miration which he felt for Miss Farren seemed likely to be a misfortune ; but bo circumspect was their conduct that not a breath of slander could be raised even when the world knew that a prov isional engagement existed between the tvv n. Devoting her self to hei profession, MissFaircn played without intermission year after year in London and tlie piovinces, gathering fresh lauiels wherever she went. In 1797 the first Countess of Dei by died, nnd the Karl within two months fulfilled his cnyngenunt with >li<-s Fairen, who took hei faiewell of the stapc in the character of Lady Teazle, just twenty years after her dibut at the Hn\ market. Queen Charlotte at once took special notice of the new Countess, selecting hei to take part in the ceremonial of the Princess Royal's marriage to the King of Wurtembnrg, aid often inviting her to stay at Wiudsor Ct'-tle. One winter's evening, on the road from London to Bpeml Olnwtnius at Court, Lady LViliy's caniige bioUe down, and theic seemed little] hope of completiup the journey, when a catrla^c ov t ltook the foiloin lady and an eldeilv gen tk man n huh ted nnd offered my service in Ins po'vti say in;; he was on his way to Windsor. Judge of the mutual sin prise when it proveil to be none other th.m the Lord Chief Justice of England, the old heio of Miss Farren's childish ti on hie one Clnistiiias day, many, many yearn before, in Salishuiy tow n, and who always tinned up as a fntnd indeed in the hoiu of need, their eaily pi ophctic words now entirely fuifillel, as they finished their journey to WindsOi together. As Tountess of Derby, reigning over the household at Kuowsley, and in the intimate relations with her family, she was equally respected and beloved. Her only son died at the age of seventeen ; also a daughter before she had seen her tenth year ; one child alone survived, the late Countess of Wilton. Lady Derby died in IK2!>, and at her husband's death the family honours passed to his son by Hie first marriage.

Cytkfs is comparatively the most flounsing financially of all great Britain s dependencies, not even excepting India or Canada. The revenues of Cyprus show a surplus of upwards 73 per cent over tho expentlituie, which the surplus of no other possession of Great Britain approaches. .feist of visitors to the Aroha Baths last Week :— Mi VV. H. Lynn, Mr Love, Mrs Winter, Rev. Mr Clarke, Mr H.ill, Mr St<-ftd, Mr A. Smith, Mr Douglas, Mr A. C. Webl), Mi O'Sullivan, Miss Bi«ks, Mish O'Dowd, Auckland ; Mr Eawry, Mr J. I'Yater, Mrs Curti», Mr Lyons, Thames ; Minn Law, Miss Kydd, Dunedin ; Mr CLnke, California; Mr Bridnon, Coroni.inflel; Mr Hutchings, Mr Mason, Mr J. H. Buckland, Mr Wells, Cambridge ; Mr I). McOougall and servant, Queensland; I)r. anrl Mr« Keyworth, Wellington ; Eev. Mr liouchpr, England; Mihi ttwarbiiek, Londim ; Mr and Mrs Cox and family, HhaftoHbury ; Mr Rollnaon, Tanpiri ; Mr J)ouglas, Tauranga; Mri Cassens, Mr Wallace, Woodyear's Circus |)Hity (21), Waik.ito ; Mr and Mrs J. B. Whyto and son, Hamilton ; Mr Prarer, Nelson ; Mr K. Marland, Belfast, Ireland ; Mr Vause, Onehunga- ; Rev. B. Callinan, Sydney ; Mr and Mrs Comes, Mackytown ; Mr K. I<\ Roche, (Jhineroa, etc., etc. ALCoiioirr tAruirv— lhe chronic drbauclioo feel* that bo positively cannot exut without his alcoholic stimulation Ko quit drinking or to continue the habit brin<?» death all the tnme. Such a man cm find in American Cos Hop Hitters properly usod, .i perfect panacea for tho gruokardl's euro. Kead