The World.

Waikato Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2245, 27 November 1886, Page 2 (Supplement)

The World.

[T Ms"M3ftißf paragraphs are extracted ftVm 'the London society papers' and other journals.] - ' THINGS -have been very quiet nt Balmoral during the last month, the Queen having been so much taken np about Bulgarian affairs and the departure for India of the Duke and Duchess of Connaught, from whom her Majesty receives frequent telegrams. Business all tho morning (the daily messenger leaving for London at half-past one, while the boxes and letters arrive at seven in the morning), and a walk in the grounds after luncheon, followed by a drive to the Glassalt Shiol, or Birkhall, or the Glengelder Shiel, have been the routine. The arrival of the Prince and Princess of Wales and their family at Abergeldio will enliven the Court. The Grand Duko of Hesse and his younger daughters are shortly expected at Balmoral, and Prince Henry of Battcmburg returns from Jugenheim this week, but it is understood that the projected visit of the other members of his family has wisely been postponed. There has been hardly any shooting- so far in any of the Queons forests, so the Prince of Wales will have plenty of sport, and I hoar that he is to take part in deer-drives at Glenmuiok and Inveroauld, and in Mar Forest. Princess Louise has been staying at Aix-les-Bains during the last month, and Lord Lome has been diverting himself at Cromer, where several members of the Campbell family are residing. The Princess is at the Grand hotel, where she occupies an "apartment" on the secund floor. H.R.H., who travels incognita as Lady Cowan, ia accompanied by Miss Hervey and three servant". Sho has been taking a regular course uf the baths, and U uncler tho care of Dr. Brachet, who attended the Queen when she was there last year. The Princess dresses very simply, in contrast with the gaudy costumes of many of tho visitors. She makes an ex -' cursion every fine afternoon to some pretty place in the neighbourhood. I am glad to hear that Prince Alexander of Batteuberg's visit to the English Court has been wisely postponed, and he and his parents are to be the Q teen's gue3ts at Windsor Castle in the winter. The fitst ascent of the Juugfrau by a woman was made by a German lady th.c week before last. A high functionary at the War Office has just devised a new motto for the Ordnance Department : '• Hope ou, Hope ever 1" £40,000 has been expended on the repair of H. M. S. Tourmaline, with the result that she steams just two knots slower now than she did when she came home. Sport on the Tay, so long delayed, has at last commenced in earnest. The river is filled with enormous nun. bers of salmon, and exceptionally large baskets have already beeu taken, I hear that it is now settled that Lord Lyons ia to resign the Paris Embassy before Christmas, and he will be succeeded by Lord Lytton, who has always yearned for this post. According to the Times, the Cheshire Hounds ha\e had a remarkable run of fifty-five miles afier a, "smart young fox," and during the entire run the hnntsmeu never camo across a cornfield. This must have been a very " smarb young fox." Sir Richard Sutton has been so unfortunate as to lose the whole of his large and valuable herd of Jersey cattle at Becnham park, as they have been slaughtered in consequence of a sudden and quite inexplicable outbreak of plcuropneumonia. Everyone knows the red official des-patch-box by sight, which messengers from the public departments carry to and fro Ministers' private houses or to St. Stephen's. A box of this kind at the War Office is now called " Pandora's box," because Hope (Colonel Hope) is sure to be at the bottom of it. A book by uuy other name would read as well, we know ; but the Monte Carlo library catalogue is qnite startling. Here are some items : " The frisch Sketch Book," "The autocratoff the Break Fast," " Far Froud the Madding Crowd," "The liffie Lime Prince," •' Fizebel's Daughter," and "The Forlorn Hope." Desertion is a rare charge to be made against an English officer, but a sad case has just occurred in India, a Lieutenant Lund, of the Seaforth Highlanders, having added this to a long series of indiscretions. The Indian papers are full of the affair, which seems to be one of those cases in which the folly ia greater than the crime. Lord Dalkeith is a real loss, for he was one of the best young men of the day. Thure was no tawdry nonsense about him; but he was a clever, shrewd, pleasant fellow, fond of all country sports and pastimes, much interested in farming subjects, and exceedingly popular iv the south of Scotland among all classes. The Bishop of Lichfield's pastoral continues to provoke protests from all sorts of persons, but no one has weakened the force of Dr Maclagan's arguments. It is amusing to observe that one of his critics saya, " Why does not the bishop insist upon his dean and canons wearing their copes ?" Fancy a bishop insisting on auything to a dean ! Somethiug might be done to curb the enthusiasm of the owners of Hyp stock in the naming ot their bovine treasures after popular favourites. It must be a rude shock to the worshipper of high art, and seems to approach dangerously near profanity, to read that " Ellen Terry" is a "yearling heifer." No one would guess it to lo )k at her. In Sydney tho happy Australians arm themselves with an oyster-knife and a bottle of vinegar, clamber over the rocks, detaching and opening oysters, and take a sort of go-as-you-plsaae breakfast. Lucky folks ! Thiuk of the joy, instead of payiag throe bhilling-s a dozen, of rollins; in the sand at Whistable devouring gratuitous native?! Yet another mysterious death in the Thames. When Sir Charles Warren has tired of dog-stealing* he may perhaps turn his attention to the insufficient patrol of the Embankment. There is, and has been for years, murder stilking grim and ghastly in the midst of as; iind wbilo policemen are officiously ovei'-roguUting the street traffic, the inoffensive m.tn who owns a watch is carefully knocked down and planted in the river. The announcement that Lord Spencer will shortly address several Gbiclstonian meetings in various parts of thd country is incorrect, us he and Lady Spencer aro going abroad at once, and will be away for ei<rht or nine months at least, and po?si bly for longer. They intend to pay a vuib to India. I fancy that Lord Spencer is thoroughly sick of politics, and he i.s not likely again to corao prominently before tho country in that lim\ Cardinal Newman greatly alarmed his fellow-Oratorians at Birmingham a few days ago by a sudden attack of illness, which reduced him to an extreme state of prostration. Happily his Eminence rallied, and though still weak and bending beneath the burden of "eighty-five years, he maintains his old routine of life, which includes rising every morning at half-past four and making his own bed, in accordance with the common rule of the community. A peal of bells, in direct imitation of the famous peal of Sfcrasburg Cathedral, is being specially cast for tbo production of Sir Arthur Sullivan's cantata, "The Golden Legend," at the forthcoming Leeds Festival. With the clanging of these bells the cantata opens, the sceno being the spire of Straaburg Cathedral, where Lucifer and the Powers of the Air are trying to tear down the cross, but are stopped by the anointed peal, which eventually have a "bell" chorus, "Laudo Deum verum ! Plebum voco ! Congrego clerutn ! " There is a story told of Prince Bismarck that, when he was a young man, he occupied once an apartment which lacked that very necessary adjunct to a young man's quarter's^ a bell communi-

eating with his valet's room. Ho coinplained of this to his landlord, who, however, refused to make any alterations on the" "premises. The next morning the landlord 'was startled by the sound of a violent report issuing from Bismarck's room, and, on rushing frantically in, discovered his lodger calmly seated in bed, holding a smoking pistol in his hand. " It's my way of calling my servant," said Bismarck ; *' don't you think it a very effective one.?" The bell-pull was fitted up the same day. The Colin Campbell divorce suit will be heard before Sir James Haunen, soon after the opening of the Law Courts in November. There will be an extraordinary Bar, the present Attorney and Solicitor-General (Sir Hnnry James and Sir Charles Russell), Sir James Parker Deane, Q.C., D C.L., and Mr Inderwick, QC, being among the counsel engaged. Sir Henry James leads for the petitioner, Lord Colin Oampbell. The co respondents are four in number— a duke, who has already appeared in the same character, but with a different company ; a gentleman almost as widely known in literature and art as in military circles ; a captain, a most valuable public servant ; and a fashionable surgeon. The composer of ' ' Simon the Cellarer, " "Good-bye, Sweetheart, Good-bye," "The Friar of Orders Grey," "The Leather BotteV' and a host of songs which have entertained three genera turns of Englishmen, died suddenly at Margate, at the ripe old age of seventy-seven. John Liptrot Hattou never gained much money by' his songs, and James Davidson used to tell the story that an album of nineteen f melodies (including the famous " To Anthea"), set to words by Herrick, Jonson and Sedley, was offered to ten of the then leading music publishers for a five-pound note, and was refused by all of them. For a considerable time afterwards ''To Anthea" was worth a hundred times that amount per year. Considerable interest was excited at Kissingen by the presence there of a young Polish lady who posse->ses a remarkably fine contralto voice, pure and even in quality, and of extended range. Competent judges prpdict a brilliant career for this lady if she could be induced to enter the musical profession, and efforts are now being made to induce her parents to, at loa«t, permit her to study singing seriously, with a view of her ultimate appearance in public. It will be nothing short of a calamity to the musical world should a voice of such exceptionally rare quality be lost io musical arf\ The young 1 lady's parents are rich : one would almost be pardoned for wishing that this were nob s>, and that there was a necessity for her earning her livehood. But we may possibly hear more of tM* gifted lady.

surgeon.