TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Press, Volume LXV, Issue 13428, 21 May 1909, Page 6

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Of the members of the Tho British Cabinet, Sir EdForeign ward Grey inspires tho Secretary. ' most confidence, both in tho House and out of it. When he is criticised, it is in moderate terms. The Opposition caricaturist, irho lores to depict Mr Asquith, Mr Churchill, and Mr LloydGeorge, and other Ministers, in undignified situations, includes Sir

Edward in his group. Mr T. P. O Connor, in attempting to account for this high esteem iv which the Foreign Secretary is held by all parties, draws a most interesting character sketch of him. Sir Edwnrd Grey belongs to one of the most ancient and most historic of English governing families. He has all the pride of his class. Egotism, eoif-glorincation, &df-«atisfaction and arrogance ai*e absolutely foroign to him, yet fetv men are. prouder. He is rigidly honest, and ho never angles for popularity or praise. The House of Commons knows him less than any of his colleagues on the Treasury Bench. He appears ouly when there are questions to answer or his Department is under diseussioa. and then disappears at once. Ho rarely dines at the Hom-p, aiid the sir; ok ins-room has* n«ver known him. Even if tho exacting duties of his office* permitted it—lie is credited with working sometimes sevwateen ar.d eighteen hours a day—his reserved character would prevent his hob-nob-bing with members. His epeeches, which cast a .strange spell over tho no-use, an? models of simplicity. TheTe is a complete absence of impressive diction; ar>? no illuminating phrases, no ■epigram.?. But the iwpreeaion left on the listener is that only an idiot or an ignoramus would thiuK of disputing the courea advocated. To his intimates Sir Edward is most genial and responsive; to othera he i<? taciturn and mysterious. He goes but little into society, and his habite border on asceticism. Much of his epare tiros is spent in a little cottage in Devonshire, witih one servant, a few books, and his beloved fishing r<? j J. Iv character and intelk<;t h>. has tho equipment of tho ideal Minister for Foreign Affairs.

This year's 'Varsity boat The race was a creat contest. Boat Public opinion was ovarii a whelmingly on tho sido of * Cambridge. They had had three successive wins under the satno ''stroke," who was again in command of the boat. If Cambridge won a fourth time Stuart would establish a record, and the British public deSrly loves records. Oxford was merely tolerated as necessary to the contest. Critics would have none of them. At length a bomb was exploded in the rowing world, in the eJiape of now;, that Oxford had done a trial row over the course in record time. Then Stuart left tho Cambridge, boat for a few days, "owing to illness, and bow caught a chitl and had to retire altogether, so when tho crews lined np the race was not looked upon % as altogether a certainty for Cambridge. It was an ideal day, and the banks of the river were thronged with people. Stuart's poacy had always been to get a kad at the i&tart and keep it, but this time the Oxford stroke beat him at these tactics. Pulling splendidly, Oxford ' coon had half a length's advantage. Then Cambriage settled down to work, and drew up inch bj inch. At the mile Oxford had a few feet to , the good, but just past the post Cambridge drew level. Thence to Hammeremith bridge Cambridge was some inches ahead, bat the boats shot I thn bridge together, amid groat excitement. Cambridge, with the ohoicv : pf sides, then drew ahead, Stuart , ! straining every nervo to make the most ! of this advantage, but the Dark Blues ! stuck to him doggedly. 'lfteuc© to Barnes bridge it was a magnificent struggle, the boats swinging level most of the way. At the bridge Bourne spurted and shot ahead. Stuart called on his men for an effort, but they were absolutely exhausted, and the race was over. Qxford finished comparatively fresh; Cambridge looked as though they could scarcely hang to their oars. The victory was a triumph for good coaching. Threo weeks before the race Oxford were raw and ragged, and victory seemed impossible. Under Mr Harccurt Gold, an old Oxford "blue," they improved, daily, and went to tho post a well-trained confident crew.

The nomenclature of LosLondon don streets and localities is Street full of interest. How Names, many people, aeks a writer

in the "Standard.," know that Scotland YaTd is a> called from the palace erected on tiho epot in early days for the accommodation of the Scottish kings. who came to pay homage for their crow.n at Westminster, oi* that Holborn -was "Hollow Bourne' , or stream? Wornnrood street and Camomile street are co called because those herbs used to grow there in very eariy days. Certain names are apt to bo very misleading. Thus, those who are airare that Dr. Johnson lived in Johnson's court might be excused for supposing that the place was called after, the groat lexicographer; but as a "matter of iact it was 60 named before his time; Snow Hill has nothing to do with snow, but ie really a corruption of Snore Sill, and is said to he derived from the' fact that the passengers in the .stage coaches on their way to the Saracen's Head, close by, generally in a somnolent condition at this point of their journey. SpTmon Lane Has nothing to do with (■pi-moms, but ia a corruption of the shererhomerS; or money clippers, ■whose office wAs here, what time the Mint stood close by; and Gutter Lane is so called from a private person of Danish extraction named "Guthurun," to whom the land it stands on belonged. To many famous Englishmen London does little or no justice in this respect. The British Science Guild has submitted to the London County Council the names of over thirty eminent scientists that either are not immortalised at all in this way, or are used for obscure streets. Newton, Darwin, Huxley, Faraday, Kelvin, and Tyndall are among them. But a ! greater man than these has no place named after him. There is no Shakespeare street or square, and had it not been for private generosity, it is quit© probable London would bo without a statuo of ShaKespeare. It 13 proposed to re-name, after Shakespeare, a street that rues past the eito of the old Globe Theatre. Southwark, a locality with -which the poet waa intimately connected.