TOPICS OF THE DAY,

Press, Volume XLVI, Issue 7418, 9 December 1889, Page 4

TOPICS OF THE DAY,

Is it true that women are more mercenary in their love affairs than, they used to be ? "Mr Punch," we regret to say, seems to hare taken temporary leave of the gallantry by -which he haa been as a rale distinguished, implies that they are. The Spectator, on the other hand, in a remark' ably able article, with which we are glad to be able to agree, successfully rebttta the charge. It is not; true that in every case the one great; question which a woman

asks herself nowadays is, " What is he worth f* and that unless that can be .answered satisfactorily, however clerer and good and brave the suitor may be, he has to go - away with the bitterness of refusal in his be&tb. Of coarse we do not pretend to say that eueh a ooosideratioxi is generally disregard**?*

cr are not a number of obmb in whioh it is n»der\# importaace. Within due limits,iti»both proper and necessary thai; they should look at the financial position of their would-be husbands. It is a matter of the utmost importance to a woniau, if, as in the majority of cases, she is not able to support herself> that net huabancj should be in apoeitSon toshidld-heP fro»-th© tirials and privations with which poverty is always ready to strike down the weak and defenceless.. Ifr is true,--elyV tal*t tfvery now an unhappy marriage is made because the wife has yielded to the notion that money was the be thought of. But would there not be more unhappy marriages if such, prudential considerations **ie& 9&etes isb to a f woman's mind ? As our contemporary says, "The desire to marry well often proves the touchstone by unccuacioualy a girl is enabled to take "tbe> 4rite measure of ner* feeliiigs towards a man. If it overcomes the conventions! jut-regfrd to arbad match she need faidof trustittgnerself to itshiirection. If it dpeajiot, in ninetjy-niue cases out of anundred, the. passion was merely a delusion froto rt'hic"h' will s6me day thank Heaven she ejftaped in safety." So far the sex are obeying what we may really call a natural instinct for their own protection. So far front their being more j calculating in this respect than they used to be, however, experience goes to snow that if anything women are more ready to marry ] out off theirJibwa set a ( ud to Jbe less J worldly, in fact, T than they were formerly Wit{h' to "speaS* respect of our grandmothers and great grandmothers, we belieye they valued a: conifortable position in' life j-nst ati much as their charming descendants in the present day.i Those think should read what sotte of the satirists of a hundred or a hundred and fifty years ago ■ had to say about the keenness of young j women/attl of their patents likewise, onthe question of "settlements" in those days. A writer in the Toiler, for example* ; tells us in f'thjkgodjk old times/ :— "A fine woman, who has also a fortune, 1 is set; up by way of auction; her first lover has tentd one agabst him. The very; hour after he has opened his heart and his rent roll, he is made no other use of but. to taise; tier priee< her friends lose no" opportunity 'of' publishing itf to call,in,new bidders, while the poor lover' very Innocently waita until the plenipotentiaeies, ab the inns of Court have debateci db'oub the alliance. AH' the partisans of the lady throw difficulties iv the way until other offers come in ; and the man wfco'catne lii-st is riot'put in possession until she has been refused by> half the town/ , o<T : . - ■ > . , ' . If there is anything more mercenary now-a-days in the way in which marriages are matfe oit tne-female , side, where' is*the ; B atiri3t who. has been bpld enough to point it out? The controversy in regard to the curious caricature" lately" introduced into Chester Cathedral will revive, in many minds, memories, of what, is generally admitted be "V"tne quaintest aha , lnostt pictureiqlttk :6ifcJ: ia; JSng&nsl.: y,The wall by which it is surrounded, dates from the Roman occupation, 'although repaired and added to from time, to time, and is the most perfect example in the kingdom. The moat. , feature the place ,1a Ttd,j>e found in the " Rows," or ancient timbe r galleries extending over .the .paved.foot", ways, forming a covered with the first stovies .of the houses, and] sheltered, by the overhanging upper room 8 * of 'the 'iatterl "ifeny * of the housee are timbered, or have elaborately carved wooden fronts; one of the most interesting to visitoi-3 being the "God's Providence House," from which Mrs Banks' well known| novel derives its name {and motif. The

Cathedral, in which we are more particularly interested just now, is a fine Gothic edifice, its different portions dating over ojMttlies,>ls ia built of the sandstone of the district, the rich warm, tpne., of which .has a particularly good effeci i Many fchousandi of > pofxttda have been spent on the restoration. An important part or , the. work consisted in undoing what had been done by Oliver Cromwell soldiery; The interior of the building was rich -Hfifch carvings. - These, of ■ of courlej itt4!h4 Jyes of the Puritans were Popish abominations, and so they covered; themj ; alLqveK with £ thick layer of plaster,; making the surface of the latter level and' smooth, so that the once beautiful Cathedral resembled in its Internal arrangements the dining hall of & modern gaol.

Thevtts|e ' pfcesient; day is-lSot in favor of this style of seßtheticisn£ but prefers.; the; carvings* and bo, with., infinite pains, these have had their piaster coverings ? eßipped off, aad oaoQ more' they glorify the walls of the grand, old fane. Dean Howson has certainly allowed them to meet with, strange company. Wβ could understand such caricatures being placed outside- 'the building, say iai the; form of Grotesqttb figures) were frequently used ixx thie way by the ! mediafeval ; the idea being to typify the expulsion of evil epitite from the interior of the sacred'building. ' This, however, would -be less complimentary to, poor Lord Beaconsfield and Mr Gladstone, to say nothing the distinguished Cardinal, than even the "grotesque portrai ture" to which they have already been treated. y '.'. Ibeland never had a warmer friend than Sydney Smith, but; he. was a 6 supporter of the Home Stule agitation which was being waged even in his day. "Where," he said, "is it to end? Are all political agglutinations to; be unglnedP Are we prepared for a second Heptarchy, and to see the King of Sussex fighting with the Emperor of Essex, or marrying tb c Dowager Queen of Hampshire ?" In these days, when there is talk of Home Eule not only for Ireland, but for Scotland, Wales, and goodness know a what other subdivisions of the United Kingdom, the witty Canon's query is even more-pertinent than when he penned it.