TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Press, Volume LV, Issue 10146, 20 September 1898, Page 4

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Melbourne's "Shakespeare A Ball," held at the end of Shakespeare August, in aid of the draBall. matic charities, seems to have been like Hazlitt's prize fight, "a complete thing." No sooner was the scheme suggested, than a number of high Shakespearian scholars took it. in hand to carry' out, with a_ due reference to appropriateness throughout. Artists assisted in the decoration of the hall, or devised costumes. Messrs Williamson and Musgrove lent properties and gave advice. The result was a really brilliant and characteristic affair, and the"Hamlet. sets, the "As you like it" sets, and others which preceded the regular dances, had an interest quite distinct from the amusing jumble of the ordinary fancy dress ball. The Shakespearian rule, however, was not too strictly enforced, a fancy dress "of any period represented in the plays" ; being considered suitable. Some persons were content merely to appear in '''anything dramatic," and there was a sprinkling of. "Sign of the Cross" characters, Lady Teazles, and even a "Little Red Riding-hood" strayed ill from the land of fairy tales. But by far. the greater number present were true to Shakespeare. Juliets and Ophelias abounded. There was quite a run upon Portias; and Cleopatras were to be seen on this occasion certainly in "infiuite variety." It is harder - to account for the popularity of Juliet's "old nurse," unless on economical grounds, which do not seem to have weighed much with others of the Qompahy. Many persons gave thirty pounds--for a costume, while the king in "Lovo's Labour Lost" was so bedecked with jewels, reported to be real, that people wondered if he had special police protection. Macbeth's "Three Witches" made a striking group in dresses qi shadowy grey, bats' wings and the dftiracteristic Mother Shipton hats. Spiders, snakes, and centipedes formed their adornments, arranged with such a creepy effect that it is recorded nervous people edged away, saying, "Aren't they horrid!" Macbeth, himself was great in a dres? designed by Mr Hugh Paterson, the artist, though as the evening went on, this king was heard to grumble at his crown, and ask a monarch who flourished a few hundred years later, to "feel the weight of that thing." The other sympathetically replied, "Yes, old man, but- thank your lucky stars it will keep on; mine fell off." A little incident which'gave rise to some neat quotations on the uneasiness of heads that wear a, crown, &c. Reports do not state yet what amount may have been gained for the dramatic charities. But there is no doubt that a Shakespearian ball gives an occasion for much fine dress, picturesque grouping, and probably, if wits are quick, some very pretty Shakespearian flirtations. Ths report, of the Post and Pictorial Telegraph Department, in Post Cards, referring to the pictorial post cards which were issued just before Christmas last year, remarks that the sales have not been up to on account of the late pejtod at which the cards reached the colony from I London. It is possible, however, that the sales would have" been greater if the card 'had been a little more artistic, and if then

had been a trifle more room on it for writing a message. We gather that up to the present the pictorial post card has been all but unknown in England. But on the Continent it is in great demand, especially, it seems, by persons who have begun to make a hobby" of post-card collecting. Many of the cards, which are mostly executed in Munich, bear most artistic reproductions of photographs and engravings, while others have views of spots noted for fine scenery and arc obtainable at thsse places, where they are largely purchased by tourists. Each new series of post-card is eagerly bought up as soon as it appears, and specimens are posted to collectors in all parts of the Continent in incredible numbers. The small artistic value of the few pictorial post cards which have so far been issued in England probably accounts for the very slight degree of interest taken in them. This reproach is, however, to be taken away by a syndicate, which has promised to produce a series of really creditable post-cards. The first one issued bore what is described as being an admirable photograph of the Bank of England, and others of like nature are to follow. The idea of pictorial post-cards is, we think, a good one, affording a cheap advertisement of specially interesting places, and in a colony like New Zealand, where we hope to reap in time great profit from the tourist traffic, it is an idea which could be advantageously extended beyond its present point. , . ' ~

We have previously had occaA Lost sion to dwell upon some famous Illusion, historical legends which have ' been dissipated by the scepticism of this critical age. But we did not think that we should ever have to invite our readers to believe that the Bastille was a much misrepresented and misunderstood institution. We are now assured by a certain learned M. Funck Brentano, that it was really a very convenient place to five in. Poor men had, of course, a great deal to put up with; but so they had everywhere id the middle ages. Rich men, on the other hand, found it a real "edition de luxe" of a prison. They could get any sort of treatment that they were willing to pay for. The ordinary captives, it seems, walked about a great deal, and spent an inordinate amount of time in playing bowls, which seems to have been the Gallic substitute for the fives and handball of London's historic Marshalsea. In the case of two brothers, M. Brentano informs us that they were allowed their liberty in turn; justice being satisfied so long as one of them remained in durance. One English gentleman, we are informed, was permitted to solace his captivity with the society of his pretty young wife, with jvhom he had eloped. The Comte de Belle Isle, a- very literary traitor, was allowed a large library in his cell. One asks what Latude and the other unfortunates who made the evil reputation of the Bastille were always trying to escape from. As,a matter of fact, people occasionally sought the shelter of its hospitality, just as in an earlier age they claimed right of sanctuary in the churches. In 1693 an Englishman, who preferred to describe himself as Mr Jones, surrendered himself, and there, attended by the awestruck deference of the governor, he lived and died. Who was he? And "Who was the man in the iron mask?" On this exciting point conjecture is unnecessary. The great mystery of the Bastille is a riddle no longer. The iron mask was, not Monmouth, nor Mol iere, nor .Louis XIV. 's brother; he was only a disreputable and not very dangerous Italian, named Mattioli.' "Still, the majority of people will, no doubt, continue to amuse their fancy with guesses about the iron mask; and they will prefer, in spite of M.. Brentano, to retain their youthful convictions about the horrors of the Bastille, and to rejoice over its fall-

Mr Walhek When, of whose A Great death early in August we had "Coach." word by cable message, had a

unique reputation throughout the British Empire as a "coach." Debarred by incurable spinal disease, the result- of a kick he received at school, from doing more at the University than taking an ordinary pass degree, and subsequently from going in for any of the professions, he devoted himself to preparing pupils for the Indian Civil Service, the Army, and the Home Civil Service examinations with such success that one of Mr Wren's biographers says for many years "Wren's" lias enjoyed an extraordinary prestige as the only sure portal to the services, Mr Wren himself was very proud of the success he attained under such conditions. "Year after year," he once said, "I worked with my boys, sometimes lying on my back, sometimes on my face. I had a special couch made to lecture on as I lay on my face. I achieved more and more successes. I was called crammer, charlatan, crimp, impostor, and a lot more. That did not harm mc." As a fact, we are told, he was hot a "crammer"—he did not aim at instilling into a pupil a smattering of a lot of things, but a thorough - knowledge of a few. The popular idea of a crammer, as ho said on another occasion, is that of a man who stuffs his pupils with knowledge as they fatten chickens, by means of a tube through which prepared food ia forced into their gullets. "Anything^more utterly opposed to true education could hardly be imagined, unless, indeed, it be the system, inefficient,, slovenly and contemptible, which prevails at most of our public schools." His pride in his success was, indeed, largely made up of gratification at beating the public schools, as time after time- the - examination lists showed conclusively that he did. He compared his position with that of these schools. "You see mc deformed and paralytic, a constant sufferer from neuralgic pains. I have spent the greater part of my life on an invalid couch. My recovery is almost miraculous, but I, never sfcruok work nor despaired. When I started as a private tutor, I could not give my degree as a proof of my competence, so I had not that recommendation. What advantages have the schools? They had free buildings, rich endowment, the prestige of centuries, ail the most promising boys, teachers who had graduated with the highest honours. The only pupils I got at first were thosi the schools neglected. Surely my system had something good in it." Individual atten- ' How he - tion, it is said, was Achieved Success, part of the secreh of • Mr Wren's success; he had the eye of lan McLaren's ' jJomsie" for seeing a boy's capacity, and he made each pupil concentrate bis, energy on the studies best fitted for him. He was also a fine mm of bpsjness and a strict discjplinarian. "Madam,'' he once said to a lady who, after representing her son as possessing all the virtues of an unfallen archangel, asked what religious training he would get at Mr Wren's, "Madam, you pay mc to prepare your son to pass the competitive examination for the Civil Service, not for Paradise, If your son is all that you say of him, he stands in need of nc religious training, but there is no place in.which your son will be more sharply looked after from a moral point of view, than with mc, for I have three golden rules which are enforced inexorably—first, pay in advance; secondly, no money returned; thirdly, work or go." If one of his pupils did show signs of slackening interest in h\a work Mi Wren did not preach to him, but he dealt with him shortly

aad sharply. "Look here, my bpy,"-ji'v would say, "you stop that- or go. ;_■_:• fathei lias paid mc to put you through, afif if you do as I tell you I will put Jw ■ through; but if you won't I shall keep money and send you about your busioe«»As might be gathered from his remarks (W the public schools, Mr Wren was a Radical, but was unsuccessful in hj 9 .. tempts to get into Parliament. In one kT, spect he resembled Bismarck; h e **fo_j have liked to carry on the animosity of to, life after he was dead. At least he declared once that he should like the following'jn. scription on his tombstone:—"Here lm. Walter Wren, the greatest triend of the British fathei who sends his sons to thr public schools that ever lived. His exer. tious forced the headmasters to give parents at least something for the money they -pay them." But, as one of his friends says a man who accomplished so much in face of such physical infirmity, would merit a better epitaph.