TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Evening Star, Issue 8267, 12 July 1890, Page 2 (Supplement)

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

[From OrR Special Cokkfsposdknt.J

London, May 30.

A contingent of militant Irish members have been enjoying their Whitsuntide holidays after characteristic fashion by raising a rare rumpus in the neighborhood of Tipperary. Mr Balfour recently decided that it was inexpedient for the present to permit public meetings in the heated atmosphere of thia particular district. Naturally Mr William O'Brien and his friends (amongst whom, 1 regret to say, was Mr Dillon) immediately resolved it was necessary to defy the tyrant Chief Secretary. What good they expected to do by their opposition beyond embroiling a number of angry Paddies with the police, and proving up to the hilt the undeniable wisdom of Mr Balfour's embargo, is not very clear. Mr O'Brien explained he was acting on principle. It certainly does seem to be a piinciple with him to get up a riot whenever he visits Ireland. The usual programme was gone through on this occasion. The Irish members invested the proclaimeddistriot, and, surrounded by a mob of patriots, made inflammatory speeches. Requested by the police to desist, Mr O'Brien refused. "The constabulary then (I now quote from a Home Rule correspondent) forced their way between Mr O'Brien and the crowd, and struck at (not ' struck,' please note) the people. One man directed a blow at Mr O'Brien (the constable declares Mr O'Brien tried hard to get hit, but that he wisely restrained himself), and a scene of great excitement followed. The po/ice were, then withdrawn, and Mr O'Brien instantly resumed his address. He was allowed to go on till he again began advising resistance to Balfour's edict. The police thereupon tried to break up the meeting. Mr O'Brieu called out: ' I say we claim nothing here to-day but common fairplay, and fairplay we will have yet at the hands of the British people. Englishmen have the right of peaceful meeting and of combination, and the rights that Englishmen claim we claim. We will never surrender them at the word and command of every policeman who chooses to order us about like slaves.— (Cheers.) We will yield to superior force, but we will assert the right which was conceded to Englishmen in Tipperary only a month ago.'—(Cheers.) At thia moment a party of Hussars, with Mr Bruen, R.M., at their head, galloped up. The police, when they saw the Hussars approach, plucked up courage, and rushed on the people. Mr William O'Brien received a blow from a baton on the arm. An old man named Maher was brutally beaten, and was carried to an adjoining house bleeding profusely. Mr Dillon and Mr O'Brien succeeded in getting the people a:vay, and the cavalry then dashed up through the village. Mr Dillon and MiO'Brien then left for Cashel, which they reached about four o'clock. When they arrived the people in the streets cheered loudly. The hussars then drew their sabres, and the police fell upon the people. Even women and children were amongst the injured. After the baton charge the hussars charged through the street at full gallop, but without inflicting one-tenth of the injury caused by the police. On the side of the police one man was stiuck with a stone.'" This, of course, is the Home Rule account of the Jracas. A Unionist correspondent

vo-.V3 the constabulary, taunted woll nigh beyon;l cnrljrance, behaved with conspicuous moderation. It was, he says, plainly O'Brien's deaire to get a disfiguring blow over the face with a. truncheon which lie could show in the House of Commons, and to this end he wag designedly very insulting, Some of the younger constables eased their tongues a bit at last, but thero was no physical violence. STANLEY. On one point all who have come into contact with Stanley are unanimous. He cares for no other subject but Africa, and will talk of his work there or of nothing. When other topics crop up the light dies from the man's face, and he sinks back in his chair looking bored and tired. An old journalist friend says: "I found him thoroughly hardened and indifferent. Absolutely nothing interests him but the heart of Africa. He does not complain of ill-health, but the elasticity of his nature (once so prominent) has departed. Stanley never laughs, and when he smiles it is with a painful effort. His thorough mastery of everything connected with his hobby makes him interesting when he talks of it, but it is like pulling teeth out to try and converse wiih him on anything else. Lord Salisbury and Londoners generally have disgusted the Buccaneer of the Congo by their apathy. DR LOUIS ENOEL. ' Truth ' this week contains a cruel attack on Dr Louis Engel, the disgraced exmusical critic of the ' World,' accusing him of habitual blackmailing of the vilest character, and averring that he ought, for this and other reasons, to have been struck off Edmunds's staff long ago. Even if these allegations are true, surely this is tiot the time to make them. A few weeks back "L.E," was a power in the musical world, and had ' Truth ' then spoken out we should most of us approved its action. Now, however, that Dr Engel is a ruined man with a putrid repatation, there seems neither sense nor propriety in attacking him. THE HYPNOTISM CRAZE. Apropos of the present craze for dabbling in hypnotism, cures by suggestion, etc., etc., I may mention that a fat, pig-like young man, who appeared at the public stances of both Milo De Meyer and Kennedy, and invariably proved a first-rate subjeot, has incontinently gone mad. ' The Times' warns dabblers that this is not an uncommon consequence of playing with mesmerism. Verb. sap. 1 JUDAH.' I have not seen the new piece at the Shaftesbury Theatre yet; but everyone tells me it is the best thing we've had in London this year, and bound to run a couple of years. Describing the plot, a respected critic observes : —" The story is simple and direct. It is written round Judah Llewellyn (Welsh Presbyterian preacher) and Vashti Dethic (worker of sham miracles), their love, and the troubles that beset it. Judah is an enthusiast and visionary, incapable of deceit or trickery. Vashti is the forced confederate of a knavish father, whose hold upon her is all the greater when she realises how the discovery of her imposture would debase her in the eyes of the man she loveß. A rich man's child being sick unto death, Vashti is sent for as the last hope. Her wonderful powers can only be exercised kiter 1 prolonged fast-

ing. As her old fraud of a father puts it (to himself), the general public won't let you do them good in an honest straightforward way—you're bound to humbug them. So Vashti must abstain from food for three weeks as a preliminary. Unfortunately, there is a sceptical professor who insists on making sure that the girl does fast. They watch her closely all day, and at night the professor's daughter puts her to bed in the castle-keep and brings away the key. For some days the confederate father contrives to send in supplies at night, but his proceedings being then discovered and frustrated, Vashti is soon in parlous case. Meanwhile, Judah has every night, by means best known to himself, contrived to scale the castle wall, aDd secretly sit upon a window-ledge or something—just ; to be near his loved one. Anon comes i Vashti's father with a false key to let her out of her dungeon, up stage, <;., while he scurries away to fetch the food he ought to have brought with him. She hides in the conservatory p.s. There are watchers hiding in a chamber 0.r,, but they are probably deaf. Judah, alas ! is not deaf. From his window-ledge he has heard all, and has discovered that his immaculate Vashti is after all but a mere weak, sinful woman. At this point there was (not to put too fine a point on it) so much peep-bo business going on that I trembled lest some irreverent godlet should call attention to the same—in which case the play would have been ruined. Happily, there was a tine climax to come, and when Judah, being i sternly interrogated by the watchers, made hay of his principles and took his oath to a I lie, in order that he might save the girl of | his heart, the audience appreciated the magnitude of his self-sacrifice, and the second act ended amid uproarious applause. The last act is the best of the three, for herein the author again strikes the chord of ! sijlf-sacrifiee, and with even more success. The young minister suffers agonies of re- i morse, but lie never reproaches the woman i for whom he siuned. They are to be married in a week. When the exposure of Vashti's imposture seems inevitable, and friends would dissuade Judah from the match, his answer is that he will marry her at once. But first both he and she do public penance. She confesses her cheat, and asks forgiveness of the cheated. He, confessing that he lied, refuses a proffered endowment, and resigns his ministry. Nevertheless, despite this somewhat melancholy condition of affairs, the author contrives after all to work in a happy ending which is both natural and artistic. Simi- I larly, the gloom of other situations is lightened with some excellent comedy scenes, furnished by a priggish, over-educated young man, who despises in a general way everything but himself and a Girton young lady of the most advanced type. The businesslike love - making of this tjueer couple (F. Kerr and Miss G. Warden) called forth roars of laughter, but it was pure comedy all the time, and never mere fooling. "Jndah " has the advantage of an excellent cast, and, despite the short time it has had for rehearsal, the first performance went without a single hitch. Willard and Miss Olga Brandon are ideal representatives of Judah and Vashti. The author could not possibly have been better served. Sant Matthews, as the sceptical Professor, showed himself a master of his art. Equally good in its way was Royce Carleton's impersonation of Vashti's father, a character which |

recalls Sludge the Medium, even as Judah and Vaahti are reminiscent of ' The Scarlet Lester,' But the treatment is Joues's own, and there is not room for e/en the faintest suggestion of plagiarism. 'The Queen's Counsel' is the translation of a not particular funny French piece of pronounced Palais Royal pattern. Throughout the three acts half a dozen different characters pursue the heroine, who ha 3, for unexplained reasons, donned male attire and fled from home. The young woman's disguise leads to her finding herself in all sorts of embarrassing (and, to frenchmen, exquisitely humorous) situations. English audiences do not, however, take to outrageously broad jokes very kindly, and Mr Mortimer's piece was but coldly received at the Comedy Theatre. The new mußic hall in the Strand, which has been so long building, was opened to the public on Saturday evening. It is called the Tivoli, and associated with the groat German restaurant of that name. At first there was some idea of making the Tivoli a aemi-French, semi-Teutonic place of entertainment, a few English artists being introduced now and again. The directors did not, however, fancy such a speculation would pay, and ordinary comiques, seriocomiques, and acrobats are in consequence relied on. The Tivoli is a pretty little hall, sumptuously decorated and upholstered after the manner of the Empire and Pavilion. A few years ago one would have reeled off columns anent its splendors and conveniences ; now we expect them as our right, I may remark, too, in passant, we pay for them through the nose. At the Oxford and Canterbury, in the old days, Is 6d or at most 2s was asked for a comfortable stall. Now the smart variety halls demand 53 for similar accommodation. For the American rights of • Little Lord Fauntleroy ' Mrs Burnett has received up to the present LI 7,000, and her fees for representations in England amount to L 12.000. The colonial rights the lady estimates at close on LI,OOO, so that we may reckon the play has altogether brought her L 30.000. Nor is this all, for though the heyday of the piece has past, it will be played in America and our English provinces for some time to come. Certain dramas (' The Silver King,' for instance) never seem to wear out in the provinces, and yield their authors a steady income. LITERARY NOTES, Messrs Smith, Elder, and Co. are evidently quite determined to choke the pirates off ' Vanity Fair.' Not content with producing the admirable shilling issue (which you have by this time seen) they are publishing a most superior two-shilling edition. This has been printed from the same fine clear type, and contains precisely similar illustrations to the seven-and-sixpenny 'Library Thackery.' The only difference is that the paper is a good deal thinner and the cloth binding not quite so smart. Taken all round, I think this ' Vanity Fair' (purchaseable in England for eighteenpence) must be pronounced quite the cheapest classic ever placed on the market. Another wonderfully cheap reprint is Macmillan's sixpenny • Tom Brown's School Days,' in size and ' appearance uniform with the same firms Kingsley's, and containing fifty-eight excellent illustraJ tions of Arthur Hughes and Sydney Prior

Hall. A bibliography in this re-issue shows that since April, 1857, when ' Tom Brown ' took the reading world (both young and old) by storm, upwards of sixty heavy editions have been printed. Of the original 10s Gd issue five editions were sold in a few months. The most permanenty popular, however, has been the 2s post octavo, first published in July, 1865, of which, up to 1887, some eighteen editions were called for. The nicest edition now to give a boy who wants something more " keepable " than a sixpenny reprint is Macmillan's new crown octavo issue, with illustrations, at 3s 6d (or in England, 2s 9d). There is also of course the ' Golden Treasury ' edition at 4s 6d, but that has no illustrations.

It is a fact worth noting that whilst men almost without exception " enthuse " on the subject of Rudyard Kipling, the majority of women absolutely dislike his stories.. Ask why, and they'll tell you probably that he's horridly cynical and unsympathetic. That, however, is not the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Other writerß (Baring Gould, for example) are cynical and unsympathetic, yet women don't rail against them. The fact is that through many of the Anglo-Indian's tales there runs a distinct vein of coarseness which repels refined women. This vulgarity, indeed, is Kipling's greatest danger. It comes, I conjecture, from too intimate association with low grade minds of the Tommy Atkins sort. Still, one must remember that without that association we should never have had ' Soldiers Three,' a booklet which covers a multitude of vulgarities. Kipling has a gloomy and powerful story in ' Macmillan's Magazine ' for June. It is called ' Without Benefit of Clergy,' and describes the brief married life of an Indian Civil servant, who weds a Mohammedan girl. The inability of the author to be seriously sympathetic was never more painfully conspicuous than iii this sombre little tale. He writes hardly, cynically, drearily till one almost laments that such material should have fallen into his hands. Conceive Ameera's love story told by Mrs Oliphant, Christie Murray, or even Mrs Burnett. Women would have wept over it. Now no one will shed tears over ' Without Benefit of Clergy,' though it will certainly depress lots of people. However, you can all read it for yourselves and see whether you agree with me.

AmoDgst new shilling issues may be mentioned 'ln the Days of the Dandies,' long promised, and at last out; ' The Three Burglars,' by Frank Stockton, whose peculiar vein of humor does not appeal very strongly to me; ' A Black Business,' by Hawley Smart, a tale of hypnotism and crime ; and ' We Two at Monte Carlo,' by Albert Vandam, a silly shocker. Miss Mary Angela Dickens, a granddaughter of the great Charles, has written a Btory which will form the summer number of ' All the Year Round.' ' Ferrer's Court' is the title of John Strange Winter's new booklet (or rather Booties-let) which White's will bring out at a shilling on the 24th prox. At Mudie's Mr Montagu-Williams's entertaining ' Reminiscences ' can now be bought cheap from the " clearance" list. The novels most frequently asked for at this library and Smith's just now are ' The Rajah's Heir' (which has, as I expected, been moßt favorably reviewed), Hugh Westbury'a ' Acte,' and Ouida's ' Syrlin.' English editors used at one time to salve

i their consciences for dieting their readers on b trash by declaring that poor folk wouldn't , read high-class novels. Time and Tillott son's and Leng's Fiction Bureaux have long ago proved the fallacy of this statement. , i The novels these bureaux supply may not be t of the highest order, but they are at least immeasurably superior to Braeine and Co.'s t sentimental balderdash. Fergus Hume's first serious effort in fiction s will be published in three volumes on June i 10 by Whites. The story is called 'The . Man With a Secret' —such a good title, I wonder it has never been used before, i Farjeon'a ' Mystery of M. Felix' is published in three volumes to-day. It was most successful as a serial, materially im- ; proving the circulation of the weeklies in which it appeared. Mrs Campbell-Praed has returned from i Algiers very much benefited by the "grape cure" which she underwent there, and ; resumed her literary work. ' The Ladies' Gallery,' the third of tho stories which the , clever Australian wrote in conjunction with Mr Justin M'Carthy, has just been reissued at 2s, uniform with ' The Rival Princess.'