Illustrated London Letter.

Auckland Star, Volume XXIII, Issue 90, 16 April 1892, Page 4 (Supplement)

Illustrated London Letter.

(From Our London Correspondent.) London, February 6. 'Will Ye No Come Back Again?' • The Order of the White Rose ' ia not so ultra-modern as some think. A similar society, a Cycle of the White Rose, was founded in 1710, and held periodic mooting 8 till past the half of tho century. And this was not a solitary survival, bub bhese Bociebies seemed really to meet with a convivial object ; the original raison d'etre had passed into the limbo of the archaic. The present Order was instituted to revive chivalric feeling, and to make some headway against tho slanders of hiatory, which havo covered with infamy some of the noblest names of the past. It is in very deed a Jacobite socioty, sacred to the manes of the Stuart dynasty and to the idea of sovereignty as of Divine authority. The done-to death kings aro held to be martyrs, their deaths national crimes—such 'crimes'in the recordsof Scripture have been often the salvation of countries and peoples. Another principle to be enunciated by this Order is bhe building up and conservation of monarchy as against democracy. So far bo well—until tho fulness of timo and the •federation of the nations.' But ib does Bound a bit queer to hear of a ' Queen over the water,' who bub for cerbain events would now be Mary 111. of England, Scotland, .and Ireland. Thi3 lady, whom the ' right owners' are keeping out of her lief, is the Princess Louiso of Bavaria, who makes no sign. There is nothing impossible, and tho day may be mapped in the future when the elder branch of the Royal union may ' hae its am again,' but I rather fancy that ere that civilisation •will have had enough of dynastios, and Democracy will be king ; bub as somo one said in relation to a change of church rule, Presbyter is priest writ large. Sentiment never dies. Like miasma, it is ever rising, but its body corporate is a shadow ! Bub to tha reviver of tho White Rose, Mr Francillon, the charming novelist and wribor, we shall owe much interesting historical gossip. He, with others, will make a pilgrimage on February 8 to the soubh~ aisle of Wesbminster Abbey, to place on bhe monument of Mary Queen of Scots a white rose wreath. But if Elizabeth gave Mary of Scots a traitor's death, she gave her a queen's burial, laying her with much solemnity in Peterborough Cathedral. James 1., the ' misfortunate Mary's' craven son, re-interred her in j Westminster Abbey, that the ' like honour might be done to bhe body of his dearest mother, and the like monument be extant of hor that had been done to others, and to his dear sister, the late Queen Elizabeth.' And now, by a strange irony of fate, the two queens rest facing each other in the north and Bouth aisles of the chapel. Their monuments, which closely resemble each other, were erected by the impartial James I. Mary's white marble effigy is finely executed ; it lies under an elaborate canopy on a heavy sarcophagus. She wears a closely-fitting coif and hand ruff, and a long mantle fastened by a brooch. The Scottish lion, crowned, lies ab her feet. The tomb adjoining is that of Margaret, Countess of Lennox, granddaughter of Henry VII. It was her son, Lord Darnley, who married Mary Stuart. Other members of tho Stuart dynasty are buried in Queen Mary's vault. The Death of Mr Spurgeon. The Rev. Charles Haddon Spurgeon has at last succumbed to the lingering and painful illness which months ago laid him low, and the regret at his demise will be as widesDread as his fame was universal. Though the pastor of a sect, he was in every sense a preacher for the multitude, and his eloquence gathered around him men and women of all divisions of the Christian Church. Even some of tho most aggressive unbelievers were thorough admirers of his oratory and preaching. Mr Spurgeon carried his audiencos away by his strong, clear, and simple style and thrilling voice. He

ignored conventionality, whether in the pulpit, on the platform, or in private life. He once declared, as all will remember, and maintained it against all ridicule and deprecation, that he ' smoked to the glory of God.' He was a man who easily lived down .; hostile criticism, and probably cared i fStothing ab all about it,

A Grand Wedding. It was pleasant to hear wedding bells 'ring out'the melancholy tolling of January, and to see old St. Margaret's, ab Westminster, en fete in honour of a young and lovely bride. Palms and rare exotics decked the choir and chancel, and tho chancel rails wore banked by foliage, liberally intermixed with lilies, all in honour of the marriage of Lady Olivia Taylour, the only child and heiress of 'the Earl of Bective, M.P., to Lord Henry Cavondish-Bentinck, M.P., halfbrother to the Duke of Portland. The function was quiet and subdued. It was only a week to the day on which the funeral took place of the young Buko of Clarence, and any assisting ab bhe marriage festivities had had place at the Alberb Memorial Chap-dab Windsor, and tho contrast musb hace been sharp. Lord Boebive's mother was Alderman Thompson's daughter and heiress. The alderman left his daughber a handsome income, bub bho bulk of his fortune ho left in trust for her eldest son, with bhe provision bhab ib was to be invested in land, which ho was to inherit on his comine* of age. The minority being lon:.', bho properby was by bhab time worth nearly two millions sterling. The late Lady Boctive was in early lite a remarkably thin woman, bub she became equally remarkable for hor corpulence, and died of overfab. Lord Becbive's father, tho Marquis of Headfort, married, in secundus noces, Mrs Wilson Ratten. The bride's dross was the conventional white satin, covered with magnificent Brussels laco. Her veil of tho same was flung over a high Russian diadem of diamonds, her husband's gift, and it shrouded her from hoad to foot. She had diamond ostrich feathers, her father's gift, a diamond rose from the Duchess of Portland, and a magnificent bracelet of eoms from hor mother. The bridesmaids wore white cloth dressos and brown fur. full bodices with yellow cashes, brown beaver hats with white birds and yellow bow 6. aud instead of bouquets thoy carried muffs of the same fur. Each, too, wore a diamond merrythought brooch, with gold birds above—the bridegroom's

gift. Tho service was fully choral. Lady Bective hold a reception in the afternoon at her residence in Belgrade Square, at which wero present all the leading members of the aristocratic ring in society, the Marchioness of Downshire--her mother—being one of the most impressive in appearance. Tho bride is lovely, and the match is understood to be a love ono. She wenb off in pale-blue brocade and costly sable, and a lovely picture hat softly plumed. The presents were in great numbers—they read like the pick of a bric-a-brac shop, and a jewellers' window. The Opening of Parliabient. 'Coming events cast their shadows before,' and the opening of Parliament is heralded by the circulars of the leaders of the Government in both Houses, and the announcement of tho names of the mover and seconder of the address. Earl Dudley proposes and Lord Lamington seconds the dutiful address of the Lords to Her Majesty's speech from the throne. Lord Dudley is quite a young man, the son of the labe eccentric earl of that name, and of his widow, the beautiful countess, daughter

of the late Sir Thomas Moncneff. Lord Dudley married a month or two ago Miss Gurney, the adopted daughter of the Duke of Bedford. He has his spurs to wm in public life. Lord Lamington was known to fame as Mr Cochrane Bailhe, M.P. for North St. Pancras in 1890, m which year, he succeeded to the Peerage. The New Vicar of Bray. At the Savoy Theatre the now comic opera is a travesty of the time-old ,Vmar of Bray, as told in the serio-comic soug said co havo been wribben by an officer in Colonel Fuller's regiment in the reign of George I. The hero of the song was not a myth. Fuller, in his 'Worthies of England,' differs from the song, inasmuch as in the latter the vicar is represented as living in the time of Charles II and his successor down to Georgo I ' Fuller says : — «The vivacious vicar hereof (Bray), living under Kings Henry VIII. and Edward VI., Queens Mary and Elizabeth, was first a Papist, then a Protestant, then a Papist, and then a Protestant again. He had seen some martyrs j burnt at Windsor (two miles from Bray), and found this fire too hot for his tender l temper. Tho vicar, on being taxed by one for being a turncoat and an inconstant E changeling, said, 'Not so, for I always i kept my principle, which ie to live and I die Vicar of Bray.' In a letter dated June 14th, 1735, it is stated that one Simon

AUeyn, or Allen, was Vicar of Bray about 1640, and died ICBB, so was Vicar of Brayi < for nearly fifty years. Tradibionally, bhen, : the vicar, from national politics, could i always say he found his reasons in high i places ; the stage vicar deserts Low Church. 1 i

and becomes Hl_rh in order to geb rid of an obnoxious curate, and then 'verts back again to escape the penalty of being too High. The satire is obvious, and brought down by some changes to date, and the. allusions are in familiar hearing. The piece (by Messrs Grundy and Solomon) was hrst produced at the Globe in 1882. Catidinal Manning's Mantlis. All who know Mun»igtior Gilbort—and there musb bo few among English Catholics who do not know this kindly and hardworking cleric—are hoping that the mantle of Cardinal Manning will fall upon his shoulders. He has just boon unanimously elected Vicar Capitular of Westminster, and his valuable work amoutt the poor in tho East End of London and for Catholicism is woll known at tho Vatican. Fabher Gilborb has established refugee for tho poor at bho Easb End of London, which are now accommodating 300 nightly, and it is difficult to measure tho extent of his other charitablo work, so unostentatious is ib Thero are many must remember the agitation caused in England by tho tacit permission given to the holding of tho title in this country, and how tho Crown was accused of a breach of faith to its Protestant guaranbees, and how bho fall of bho Anglican Church in consequence of bhis bibular brespass was prophesied. Nous avons change tout eclu. To-day the lload cf tho Church, Her Majesty, pPce? her biibutary wreath on tho tomb of the representative of Popish creed and power in the very heart of her dominions, tho stronghold of Protestantism. There are several vacancies in the Sacred College, and these tho Pope must iill up at once. The canonical vestments of cardinals havo always been of scarlet colour. In private life they wear black, liko simple priests, bub their stockings and bolder.- of their hats must always bo red. Time was when cardinals wero the all-powerful envoys of the Popo, able to make and unmake kings, and to excommunicato. In those ... *:_

days distrust of them and ill-feeling against them was strong. ' Never did cardinal bring good to England,' says the Duke of Suffolk in Henry VII. in re Wolsey's conduct in trying to bring aboub his master's divorce from Catherine of Aragon. Nowadays cardinals are innoxious so far as temporal power goes, and spiritual mattors are on a different plan this end of the age. Cardinals are benevolent workers and social reformers, and the cardinal's hat and stockings are very pretty bits of colour. Mrs Osborne's Return. The chase after Mrs Osborne seems to have been a very half-hearted one, and in her case the technicalities of the law of arrest proved her safeguard for a bime. Thab the detectives knew whore she was is very clear, but they wero nob able to arrest her on the documents they carried. It is in the favour of the unfortunate woman that she insisted on facing

the ordeal of trial, and submitting herself to the laws she had outraged. Her refuge in Spain was precarious, but her noble hua band offered to exile himself from England and his profession, and go with her to Buenos Ayres. He approves, however, of her act, and he will stand by her to the bitter end. He is a hero of tho purest water. His deed of chivalry will be rewarded with the sympathy and admiration of all degrees of

jm _ MMSCT __ t i_g____Mg»«raMi^^ persons. Mrs Osborne is now in Hulloway Gaol in the infirmary. She is near her confinement, and in a most weak and nervous ' state. Those who know her intimately, say they could hardly recoenise her as she stood that dark gloomy morning in the waiting room of the Mansion House Court. She is indicted on perjury, and will have to undergo the punishment awarded to that offence. Full restitution has been made to all those who suffered pecuniary loss by her action, and ib is said Mrs Hargreaves fully forgives her treachery to her. The misguided woman may >eb rise on hor 'dead self to higher things.' She has already suffered a full and complete punishment. Bobby Burns. There is a pathetic irony in the increasing interest that grows and gathers round the memory and relics of Robert Burns, the great poet, who lived a life of ponury, and died in tho hard struggle. It would almost seem bhat we value tho inanimate clay more than the immortal genius that made ib remarkable. There was, is still, a controversy on the subject of the extant portraits of the bard, a lid now somo one claims to have found his fiddle- the identical fiddle which, in Thornton's hands, fired Burns to sing tho song we sine: still, and which will be sung so long as poetry and music survive. A melody would seize the fancy of the poet, and he would breabhe ib in words. This is nob an uncommon thing. Mr F. E. Weatherly, our besb modern song-wriber, writes his lyrics to melodies in his brain. He will hear some tune whistled by a gamin, and beforo night ib is wedded to graceful music. Thk Strong Man's Greatest 'Lift.' Jusb £700 in cash, besides jewellery, so ib is alleged, is tha latest effort of Samson. He is not the first expert, who has reckoned without his host. He went oil'to America by the White Star steamer Majestic, which

on arrival at New York was boarded by an intruder, with whom Mr Samson retired in cu"*-ocly, awaiting the necessary cxtradi- ! 051 papers, when ho will return to this country to give au account of his prowess. Chsrchez la femme is a caso in Samson's point. A lady had become enamoured of tho muscular athlete, and he cased her of her valuables as well as her heart. The lady has a husband, so the trial will be sensational.