The World.

Waikato Times, Volume XXVIII, Issue 2331, 18 June 1887, Page 6 (Supplement)

The World.

~ [The following paragraphs are extracted ,f from the London society papers and a otherjournals.] y It has been settled that there is to be a . choir of about two hundred voices at the A Thanksgiving Service in Westminster i- Abbey on June 21st. The singers" are "to e be placed in galleries on each side of the n choir, and the accompaniments wsl be it played by Dr Bridge on the splendid u organ'which will be supplemented by c drums, trumpets, and trombones. The (, effect will be magnificent. * Mr Tyler Is executing a marble bust of e tho late Lord Iddesleigh Dowager 11 Countess, and it is ; to be< placed in the e library at Pynes, where Lady Iddesleigh > has taken up her residence. I'hear that e her ladyship was much gratified by the t Queen's kindness ino'ffering her' the late e Lady Margaret Bourse's rooms in Hampi ton Court Palace, wjrich offer was conis veyed in a letter from: the' Dowager Lady d Ely. If is probable that Lady: Iddes>t leigh will be asked to. accept .the ;offioe - of Lady-iu-Waiting to the Queen whene ever there may be a vacancy, and' brie of x her Majesty V favourite < attendants > is >s known to be desirous of retiring from the e Household. i ■■■•■■■■ V An instance of the affection which is nj feltfor the Queen, evenby her Bubjeots e who have never seen her, is afforded by n an incident that happened in County Kilt dare the othor day. A lady at a mothers' s meeting said she would be at home on the s following Monday to receive donations e from any of those present to the Irish Women's Jubilee Fund. Much to her t surprise, they all came, some giving a e penny and others more* whilst one i poor e old .woman who did. > not possess the - smallest coin of the realm brought two f fresh eggs as a gift to her Majesty. I e wobder if the Queen has been told about 1 the eggs. ! There can' be no doubt about t the spirit which prompted that gift. The Prince.of Wales has sent a;portrait .; of himself to the Boston Ancient and Honourable Artillery Company, of which ; he was elected an honorary member when he was in America in 18(50. The," beauty " of the Imperial party at \i Berlin last week was the Princess Mathilde 5 of Saxony, the eldest daughter of Prince George of Saxony, the younger brother of the King, and heir to the throne. The Princess, who attained her twenty-fourth year a few days ago, is not only beautiful, a but also clever and "extremely accoinf .plished.. She iu known to have refused at least two very desirable: offers. ; There 3 has latterly been some talk of her marry- ,, ing the Prince William of Hohenzollerni Sigmaririgen, the eldest son of Prince ) Leopold,, who is really the head of the , family who reign in Prussia, and one of , the richest Royal personages in Europe. The King of Roumania is the second brother of Prince Leopold. Princess 'Mathilde quite eclipsed the daughters of [ the German Crown Princej and the j Princess Irene of Hesse. : ' The Shepleigh Court estate, in South p Devon, which has been in the market for some time,past, was sold last . week for £18,100, at which price it is a great bargain; as there is a capital house, with '. nice grounds, and the rental is upwards '. of £1,300 a year. ' The difficulties of the Crystal Palace ( seem to, be overwhelming. In spite of an • attractive Jubilee programme, which would largely help to resuscitate its fallen fortunes, there appears to be no likelihood , of the debenture-holders agreeing, and ' thus matters have arrived at a deadlock. Major Pardey, who died recently at ; Bath—that halfpay PatmoS—was one of , the very few survivors of the Peninsular \ war. He served in the Royal Staff Corps, and was present at the siege of San Sebastian, and at the battles of Vittoria and Toulouse. Major Pardey subsequently served for many years in the Shropshire Militia. Lord Wolverton, who recently gave up the pack of bloodhounds with which he had for some years hunted an extensive district in Dorsetshire, has converted the Kennels at Iwerne Minster into a dairy factory, which he iu tends to work' on a large scale, with all! the latest improvements. .Canon Harvey, of Gloucester, celebrated his ninetieth birthday a few days ago, and in the afternoon he read one of the lessons at the.Cathedral service. He is rather feeble,' but' retains his voice, and is still an excellent reader. Canon Harvey was curate to Bishop Blomfield sixty-two years ago, when that 'prelate held the-living of St. Bbtolph along with the See of Chester. • Lady Strangford, who death is just announced, married her husband under curious circumstances/ Lord Strangford had written a very severe review in the Saturday Review on a book that she had published. She sought to make his acquaintance to discuss the book with him, when she made it so clear to him that the lady had greater merits than her book that he married:her;.: Everyone who has Macmillan's this month: will turn to. Lord Tennyson's Jubilee Ode.; .And,,.l recommend everyone to read it, if only to learn what wretched stuff the Poet Laureate can write.' It is unpleasant to. have to criticise the author of " In Memoriam " in this manner, but they are not his real friends who attempt to bide from him the fact that Garnien Sceculare is a production which is beneath contempt. ~Mr Samuel Danks/Vyaddy, Q,C., ALP..', is, a , many-sided man.: On Friday ,he occupied'the pulpit/of a Wesleyan chapel at An/erly, On Saturday, he attended the boat race in the. Press; steamer, as, the representative of the St. James's Gazette. There is no objection to a man preaching one, day. and describing ,a boat race another ; but how came Mr Waddy to be offered, or to accept, a retainer from Mr Frederick Greenwood of all people ? : Neither Mr Christopher Talbot nor Sir Hussey Vivian ever had the slightest claim to be considered a Unionist. The votes of these gentlemen on Saturday : morning were, of course, relied upon by the, Opposition. As to Mr Winterbotham —who is now known, as Winterbotham the Wobbler—l congratulate the Liberal Unionists:on the fact that, he has joined ; the Separatists. Supporters . without stamina can do a cause more harm than opponents. The sooner everyweak-kneed Unionist/answers to the Separatist whip the better. ,< ....,,, .'.,.-/,'. .One.of the most .effective points in Mr Gbschen's speech was his account.on the atrocious boycotting. case in which., the father of adying child was not allowed , to buy bread for, it./ The /baby, indeed, was boycotted before it; was born, since the local. midwife was not allowed to: attend its mother. It was boycotted all its short life ; it was''boycotted .to death, since, as we have said, the father was not permitted to obtain proper food for it; and it was boycotted after it: was dead, for the poor man was compelled to dig the grave and bury .the body himself Waring the wanderer has come back again.. In other words, Lord Randolph Churchill has returned to us, and returned to us a very different man from what her was when he left, us. The look of health which had been so, long absent from his cheeks, from his eyes, and from his general bearing, has come back to him again, and his appearance pleasantly ' recalls the wild, young politician who ' formed the Fourth party, and fought a brave fjght, some seven years ago. Eastern suns have slightly bronzed his complexion; the charm of Eastern i languor and Eastern indolence have lent 1 a new youth and a boyish suppleness to ' his carriage ; in fact, South Padding'tori < may almost be congratulated on having,a a new member. . 1 Among the few consolations Sir William t Haroourt can find in his present abject a condition as the avowed friend and ally y of the Irish patriots, his emancipation c from constant uneasiriness as to his per- 6 sonal safety must rank high. It is not so s long ago since he went into terror of his life t from the men he now champions, and was ri the best and most expensively protected ' public servant in the kingdom. I wish h some inquiring economist in the House a

would ask what it cost to shield Sir William Harcourt from possible harm in the days when; he was Home Secretary. I have it on very good authority that nearly a score of constables, in and out of uniform, were regularly employed off and on at, Graf ton-street and> elsewhere. The whole protective machinery must have cost something dike a couple of thousand a year. ■ -

cellar from a country-house in the south ofScotland'was sold at Edinburgh last week, when sbine '' Jeroboams" of very old rum went at the wonderful price p,f : 6ss each. Several"Tappit r .Hens";;of rum, described ras,," extraordinary old and' ,rare,"; , fetched : 345., and some magnums ;17sj each., On the other hau.d; some, very fine; port of : the'famous vintage of 1847 fetched only : 685.,, per doz., whereas <not long: ago, ,in London, wine of the sameyear, and in no respect superior, went at 146s per dozen, Po,rt "cellared", in 1839 was. given away at 50s per dozen; sherry ofr,lS4S fetched 105s per dozen,,Johannisberg of 1858 was very cheap; at ,1265,; and a still,; greater bargain was the Steinberg Cabinet of 1862 at ..909. ft, . I,;- !.:■■ '■. ' :.,. - : ■.■.-!,.■ ' ! j