Illustrated London Letter

Auckland Star, Volume XXII, Issue 247, 17 October 1891, Page 4 (Supplement)

Illustrated London Letter

(feom our special correspondent.)

London, August 22, Crowding in the Cokios.

"The old order changeth,'' and with good effect at South Kensington. The "Brampton Boilers," once the pride of Coles, C. 8., and the mark of many a scathing shaft from the grey goose quills of bhe press, have vanished, and in their place has arisen tb e Btately pile thab houses—V. aterhouses, in fact—our Natural History collection. Nov/ our South-Western suburb i_ to be enriched with a new Museum, of which Mr A. Webb is the lucky architect. Tha building will be in the now familiar Renaissance style, with an exterior " arrangement," as Mr Whistler would have it, "in red brick and buff terra-cotta." There will be three floors, the lasb wibh bop lights, and in them room will be found for some of the nation's European treasures, and for the whole of the now half-hidden Oriental collections. The new building will front the Cromwell Road,exbending along ib for seven hundred feeb. Mr Spurgeon once likened Rome to eeven miles of bhe British Museum. By-and-by South Kensington will have to change its name to Curio Quarters. " Hosea Biglow." The loss of bhe great American writer, James Russell Lowell, has been so spontaneously mourned on both sides of the Atlantic thab henceforward there musb bo a percepbible shorbening of bhe wide dividing line once held bo differentiate the two great branches of the Anglo-Saxon race. A poet, a scholar, a critic, a diplomatist, the life-work of Lowell won the admiration and respect of all English-speaking peoples. In England his name will lasb longest, perhaps, as the inimitable creator of Hosea Biglow.and the famous " Biglow papers." When ljowell first formulated the " Pious Editor's Creed," and told two worlds "Whab Mr Robinson thinks," he was in

debt to none for inspiration. As a writer remarks, truly enough, " the vigour of the language, the pungent humour, the eccentric 3 dialect were wholly original and exquisitely suited to effective satire." To the mass of tho people of this country who have nob had bhe opportunity of appreciating his brilliant literary gifts—excepting through fche quaint and matchless Hosea— Russell Lowell will live as the popular American Minister who, perhaps, did more than any other American to ceaieob a fraternal feeling between the English and American people. But not the least important part of this departed genius' lifework was his advocacy of reform and honesb governmenb in America. French Blue-jackets and Marines. In bhe "good old days" when England and France were always by the ears, ib was our insular custom to regard tho French sailor with contempt and bo overwhelm him wibh ridicule. Bub time has changed all thab, for now when a French fleet is m English waters the good people of our coa3b vie with each other in the cordialby of their welcome and the profusion of their hospitality. Truth to tell, when man has become subservient to science, and the world's fighting machines are dominated by dynamite and electricity, there seems little to choose between English and French bluejackets. Both are well found, well brained, well dressed sons of Nepfcuue, who, when

the time comes, will stand to their guns to £ blown into a better world by torpedoe , Z» ««skied " by electric mines. A man s Srsonal prowess must diminish as the fighbKistaEces increase, and as ships of war jlng felon v hu u doffn SS oKIeYr g mas n ts above bhe horizon a will be le ss con^cuou^ ftbeJwroic crux of tbo kmg snavee.

I Light and Learning. I The sixty-first annual meeting of bhe I British Association is held bhis week at

Cardi'ff,wider the presidency of Dr. W. Hug" gins, the distinguished astronomer who succeeds Sir Frederick AbeJ. As usual wibh bhese scientific assemblages, there will be a judicious sandwiching of work with play ; but ib is doubtful whether bhe meeting will receive the lengthy notices in the press accorded to what has been termed " The Scare Congress" sitting in London. "Hoch Hapsburg." The 18th was the Emperor of Austria's birthday, and the august event was celebrated by the whole family circle, who assembled in the delightful mounbain villa ab Ischl to congratulate and toast with many a "hoch!" the distinguished head of the House of Hapsburg.

To the English people by far the most interesting figure in bhe Austrian Royal family is bhe Empress, whose frequent visits bo this country, some years ago, made her mosb popular in society. Her splendid riding in the hunting field, of which she was passionately fond, was once a theme for admiration in tho gossip of English society. We shall probably nob see her highness again in bhis country—certain ib i 3 we shall never again see thab irresistible vivacity and charm of manner for which she waa distinguished. Her long-standing quarrel with bhe Emperor ha 3 never been really healed, and with bhe tragic death of the Crown Prince a sebbled melancholy has come upon hor, and she loves bo spend her days in solitude. The Casble of Lainz, in bhe cenbro of bhe Imperial park, near Vienna, is now one of her favourite places, though in earlier days she never cared to spend moro than an hour or two in thab beautiful place, which, from bhe silence and solitude of its surroundings, mighb be the dwelling of some Sleeping Beauty. In a few months the magnifieanb casble which is being builb for the Empress on bheislandofCorfu will be completed, aud bhen Her Majesby will retire there to spend hor remaining days. No more delightful spot could be imagined. The view from bhe casble is superb. Ab bhe foot lie bhe blue wabers of bhe lonian Sea, whilst opposite tower the lofty snow-clad mountains of Epirus and Albania, and all around the castle aro picturesque woods and gardens. Atlantic Midget. Deeds of daring are held by some people to be the outcome of a desire for gain, a craving for fame and a hankering for foolhardiness. Tho modern mariners of the air and sea are held to be lavishly endowed with the latter commodity. Pending the crossing of the Atlantic in a walnut-shell or on a tooth-pick, a singularly daring voyage has jusb been completed by Captain Josiah Lawlor of Boston, U.S., who dropped anchor ab Portsmouth a few days ago in his midget sailing boat Sea Serpent, afber a race across " the herring pond " with tho

Lilliputian Mermaid, This race has gone to the swift, and the tiny Sea Serpent is now the Victory of the hour. Her measurements are 14ft. 11-J-in. long and 2fb. deep, and she has a beam of sfb. 2in. There is nob a single sbraighb line in her, she being, in fact, a series of curves. The " Sea Serpenb " has no cenbre-board like the " Mermaid," bub is stiffened with a keel to which 3201b of lead is fastened. It is on the cards that Captain Lawlor and his trim little craft may be seen shortly at the Naval Exhibition. King Alexander's Tour. Following the example of the Czarewitch, fche Crown Prince of Greece and bhe Prince of Naples, the juvenile King of Servia is

baking a "Grand Tour," bub apparently it is nob on the cards bhab he will come to England. Nowhere has he been received more enthusiastically bhan by bhe Parisians. The reason given for bhis seems a libtle absurd, if we may believe a correspondent, who says: " King Alexander is looked upon by bhe people here as highly sympathetic, because ho has a Russian mobher, and has paid his firsb visit abroad to tho Czar. The Czar, however, did nob seem disposed to bestow any lavish welcome, and ib is said bhab the young king and his guardians felb slighted ab the off-hand way in which they were treated afc the Russian Court."

IfCOPTRIGHT.]