LONDON TABLE TALK.

Evening Star, Issue 8553, 27 June 1891, Page 2 (Supplement)

LONDON TABLE TALK.

[Fbom Our Spkoial Cobbbspondbht.) London, May 8. Mr Gladstone's family and friends are fond of saying they notice but little change in him as the months and years go by, and that physically and mentally his powers remain undiminished. I fear this is not quite accurate. Mr Champion, who sat next to the G.O.M. at dinner one night last week, subsequently expressed himself greatly surprised and shocked at his aged and broken appearance. The Liberal Leader talked with his ancient energy and volubility for a time, but he soon tired, and seemed glad to go home early. All the world and his wife attended the Academy private view on Friday afternoon and the Bolokow sale at Christie's on Saturday. The prices realised at the latter were phenomenal; seldom, indeed, have bo many popular masterpieces been put up to auotion on a single day. Every schoolboy knows (i.e., has seen engravings of) Hogarth's 'Gates of Paris,' whioh fetched 2,450g5, and Turner's 'Walton Bridges,' whioh realised 7,100g5; Landseer's 'Breeze' (a retriever with game), went for 4,120g5; Meissonier's ' Scene Painter ' for 6,450gs ; and Muller's 'Ohees Players' for L 3.050. The total realised by the entire collection was within a few shillings of L70.0C0. The most striking feature of the Academy this year is the number of pictures of sick women and ohildren. A passion for portray suffering ssems to have seized a certain artietio clique. Perhaps the most remarkable of these dolorous paintings is Luke Fildes'a 'The Doctor,' a kindly-looking medico breaking the news of ber sick child's probable death to the agonised mother. The scene represents a Scotch cottar's home by night, and the atmosphere of impending disaster is very subtly conveyed. Another picture of the same sort, ' The Crisis,' by Dioksee, has been purchased for Melbourne by Herkomer, and is described in my Anglooolonial notes. The professor himself sends a realistic canvas called 'On Strike.' A dogged - looking workman, with lowering brows and defiant expression, leans idly against the street door of bis dismantled home, whilst his hungry wife and child gaze at him with piteously beseeohing eyes. Evidently the wife has been imploring the fellow to return to work, and he has refused. DB MAGEE. The Archbishop of York succumbed to the influenza epidemic yesterday, and six members of the Archbishop of Canterbury's family are down with the fell complaint. Dr Magee's loss will be very severely felt both in his diocese and in the House of Lords. He had been an archbishop only six months, yet in that brief time achieved more useful reforms than his predecessor did duringyears. DrMageewas incomparably the greatest orator in tho present House of Lords, and even in the days of Bishop Wilberforce, Lord Derby, aid Lord Beaconsfield held his own. Hia famous speech against the disestablishment of the Irish Church was the only one which disputed the palm of eloquenoe with the late Lord Derby. Detractors complained that tho bishop's style was too militant for a spiritual peer. In truth he had an Irishman's love for fighting. In nearly all his speeches and sermons there was more or less provooative matter. He liked to wake up his startled congregation with some seemingly audacious paradox, and then to show by calm reasoning that it was only a patent truth after all. Dr Mogee possessed a robust sense of humor, but it was kindly—never cynioil. fie hated "faddists," however, and ridiculed even the most respectable of them mercilessly, In appearance the archbishop resembled the Jesuit priest of fiction. He was a little man, with dark brilliant eyes, a mobile face, and a protrudiDg chin, LORD JAMES DOUGLAS. Lord James Douglas, who committed suicide at the Euston Hotel on Monday evening by cutting his throat, was an unusually eccentric membsr of an exceptionally peculiar family. Twin brother to the notorious Lady Florence Dixie, and younger brother of the " mad " Marquis of Queensberry, and of Lady Gertrude Douglas, who married a journeyman baker, the deceased lived well up to the reputation of his relatives. He first came before the public as a sporting novelist of considerable merit. All his books (four, I fancy altogether) were eminently readable, but ' Royal Angus' is the best, In this story, indeed, His Lordship ran captain Hawley Smart very close on his own ground. Whilst still talked of as a writer of promise, Lord James Douglas was hailed to tho Police Court charged with pursuing a young lady with unwelcome love. The girl's relatives prosecuted, and according to the gossips she herself had no say in the matter. Anyhow, Lord James would not desist from following her, and ultimately had to go to Holloway Castle for oontempt of court, Soon after be emerged from durance vile, and whilst society was still gloating over his romantic and unfortunate attachment the young man (this was in 1888) suddenly married the wealthy widow of Mr Hennessy, the cognac merchant. After that nothing further publicly transpired till a fortnight or so ago, when Lord James Douglas was charged with filling up the census paper insultingly, He apologised by letter, and threw the blame vaguely on his wife and her boy. As a matter of fact the unfortunate man had been intermittently insane for some time, and a great anxiety to hia friends. BOYCOTTING THE 'ERA,' Mr IrviDg, Mr Hare, and the whole of the leading theatrical managers have'' boycotted" the ' Era,' and threaten to start a trade organ which will moro fully and fairly represent tho views of the profession. The quarrel is a very pretty one as it stands. A CUBIOTTS CASE. Some months ago a pious, elderly party, named Taplin, divorced his wife on the ground of adultery with his personal friend, Mr Cowen, The case was proved up to the hilt. Taplin caught the culprits in flagrante delicto, and administered personal chastisement to the betrayer. Nothing could be clearer or more satisfactory. Sir James Hannen pronounced a decree nisi, and Taplin went home free—so he thought, Alas! the best laid schemes, etc, etc. Taplin had neighbors, and Taplin's neighbors wrote a word or two to that meddling functionary the Queen's Proctor. The latter instituted inquiries, and routed out a strange story. Mr Taplin wanted to shunt Mib Taplin, and persuaded friend Cowen to help him. He did, indeed, find Cowen in Mrs Taplin's bedroom, and ho chastised both him and her, The chastisement was however, slight, and did not prevent him from walkiDg arm-in-arm with the betrayer an hour later. Neighbors averred that Taplin was so overjoyed at the discovery of Mrs Tapin's offence that he held two prayermeetings on the Bpot, and subsequently gave a dinner to celebrate the pronouncement of the decree nisi. This was premature, as was Taplin's affectionate leave-taking of his wife and the co-respondent, whom he saw off to Liverpool a month ago. Judge Jeunel revoked the decree on Wednesday, and cast petitioner and co-respondent in costs. Counsel stated that Mr Taplin's was the first case on record of a petitioner and corespondent conspiring to obtain a divorce. THEATRICAL NOTES. The success of 'L'Enfant Prodigue,' which draws crowds to the Prince of Wales Theatre nine times a week, has aroused emulation, and several pantomime comedies are in preparation, One by Cecil Raleigh, with music by James Glover, on a military subject, is absolutely in rehearsal. Marias (the redoubtable " Mons.") hopes much from a twenty-five minutes' "monologue," in whioh he will perform solus. In 1878 society was scandalised by the elopement of Lady Desart (wife of the literary earl) with Charles Sugden, a goodlooking jeune premier, with no particular prospects. The earl divorced his countesß, and Sugden did the right thing, and married the lady. That the fires of passion Boon burnt out amidst the disillusions of matrimony is, however, evident. Last week the woman who thought the world well lost twelve years ago for Sudgen's sake obtained a decree nisi against him on the usual grounds. What an opportunity is here for moralists. The wife deserts her good and noble husband for a lover. Later on the lover tires of the lady, and tortures her with jealousy by taking np with a fair young Tottie. Then does the erring wife divorce the wicked lover, and] falling at her

noble husband's feet, clasp hi* knees and pray for forgiveness. " Jtfse, pretty one," cries the Earl, magnanimously, "let t|ie past be forgotten," and the following week they were, re-married quietly at St. George's, Hanover square. Thus would the story have ended ia the ' London Journal.' > Praotically, there is a bar to any such beatific conclusion in the existence of another Lady Desart, whom the Earl married in 1881. Mrs Bugden is an elderly lady, with a grown up daughter of twenty by her first husband. A revival of« Wild Oats' will follow« The School for Scandal' at the Criterion. In this Wyndham plays Rover, and David James John Jory. Dary Lane is only doing moderate business with ' Never Too Late to Mend,' and ' youth may be revived there shortly. Wilson Barrett's disastrous season at the New Olympio closes to-morrow. The house is simply phenomenally unlucky, as almost any of the new pieces he put on there would have run many months at any other " home of melodrama." AMr Herbert Basing has taken the Shaftesbury, and opens with a piece called " Handfast," for which a very strong oast is engaged. Carl Hertz, the most suooesf ul of modern illusionists, bar, perhaps, Buatier de Eolta, has just produced a very puzzling elaboration of the disappearing lady trick. At first, | yon may remember, the lady simply (1) sat in a chair, (2) was covered with a sheet, and (3) vanished into thin air at the identical moment the conjuror withdrew the sheet. A newspaper being laid under the chair, it was manifestly impossible for the. lady to sink through the stage, the conjuror always painted oat. That, however, was exactly what the lady did do, and directly the conjuror covered her. Steel supports then shot out from the back and sides of the chair, which held up the sheet, and looked like the extremities of the woman's head, knees, and elbows. As the operator whisked the sheet off he touched a spring, and the supports sprang back into the chair. These trick chairs can now be bought for Lls apiece. Hertz first elaborated this illusion by allowing one of the audience to bind a male in acrobatic costume tightly with cords. This person was laid in a hammock slung on poles six feet from the stage. A ring of spectators surrounded the oot, and one suspicious creature usually got underneath it. Hertz finally laid a thin silk cloth lightly over the recumbent captive, and talked " patter " for perhaps 120*ec. He then whisked the cloth off, and assisted a girl in full evening drees to alight, The captive male had, of course, disappeared. This was mistifying enough, but mere child's play to the latest development, which transmutes a lady securely bound into a racehorse standing fifteen hands high, and restless to boot.

'The Director' is the title of the new tbree-aot farce by an unknown author which Edward Terry produces to-day at his theatre. The characters appear to be a mixture of city folk and music hall "stars." ' The Henrietta' has not (despite brilliant newspaper notioes) suoceeded in attracting large audiences to the Avenue Theatre, and in the hope that it may do better elsewhere the piece will on Monday be moved to Terry's. IBSEN. Notice to Ibaenitea, or, as some prefer to style them, Ibsoeue ones.—lt is altogether unorthodox to talk of the matter as Ibbaon, The correct pronunciation is Ibeson, with a long I. In like manner beware of referring to the Norwegian's latest thing in erratic and erotic heroines ai Hedda Gabbler, The lady's real fiiends call her Garbler. If, by the way, you must read Ibsen avoid the mangled "Camelot" edition. Archer (VV. A., of the « World') is the only translator who understands "thenew Shake-sp-are'a " subtleties, and bii edition of the latter's playa (published in four 3« 6i volumea by Walter Scott) should alone be purchased, Hedda Gabbler is at present Hsinnemann's property, and issued separately in one 3 3 6d volame. Even ardent worshippers at Ibsen's shiiae admit it is scarcely worth so much. The BUCC3BS of Hedda Gabbler at the Vaudeville Theatre, where this much-dis-eased piece is now being played in the evenings (vice ' Money,' which belied its name), will lead to a deluge of Ibsenite experiments, Already Wilson Barrett promises 'The Pillars of the Housß,' and 'Wild Duck' and 'ALaiyfrom the Sea' are threatened. LITERARY NOTES. The May magazines are uninteresting on the whole. Gladstone's article on 'John Murray,' in * Murray'?,' should not be passed over, and Mrs Lynn Linton has a pregnant article in the ' Nineteenth Century' on the Jackson case which may edify you. Miss Bland's ' Personal Recollections of Mazzlnl,' in the ' Fortnightly,' are worth perusal, and Miss Mary Angela Dickens commences a story called ' Cross Currents' in ' All The Year Round,' which believers in heredity will peruse with some curiosity. The copyright of the letters which Lord Randolph Churchill will oontribute to the ' Daily Graphic' has been secured by Sampson, Low for a stiff sum. There are several good amateur artists on the expedition, and most of the leaders possess " the harmless, necessary kodak." So illustrations should be numerous.

Mies Hawker, the author of ' Mdlle Ixe,' has a volume of short stories in preparation. She is also engaged on a novel, Jerome K. Jerome's * Diary of a Pilgrimage,' and other sketches, appeared last Saturday. It contains the description of the author's trip to Oberammergau, which ran through the * Daily Graphic,' aud essays on 'Clocks,' ' Evergreens,' * Tea Kettles,' 'A Pathetic Story,' 'The New Utopia,' and ' Dreams.' I have not done morß than glance at the book yet, but I can safely affirm it U worth a round dozsn of 'Told After Supper.' ' Mea Culpa,' by Sidney Luska (Kenry Harland) has exasperated me more than almost any novel I remember to havo recently read. It is the story of a young Russian girl whose father has, through innocent indiscretion, incurred banishment and the forfeiture of his estates. Father and daughter reside in Paris, where, after the girl Monica has experienced the joys and sorrows of an unfortunate love affair, they meet Prince Leonticheff. His Serene Highness is not only enormously wealthy, but very clever, very conceited, and a colossal egotist. Although a fat, redfaced young man, the Prince imagines no girl can resist hia fascinations (which include a particularly persuasive tongue), and the discovery that Monica ignores him piques his vanity. Ultimately Leonticheff falls passionately in love with the girl, and sweeping aside her wishes and every other obstacle with indomitable perseverance, marries her almost by main force, Monica tells the Prince again and again she can never, never love bim, but ultimately when he procures her father's recall to Russia she gives way. Then the heroine's misbehaviour commences, By patience, by kindness, by generosity, and by exercising great personal self-restraint the Prince endeavors to gain his wife's love. But all in vain. She not merely repulses his overtures, but openly shows that she loathes him. I believe any man would havo become a brute under such treatment as Monica meted out to her husband. Small wonder, then, that Leonticheffs love turns sour, and that he ill-treats his wife after a fashion. I confess I could get up little sympathy with her. The tragic culmination to the story, which is distinctly well written, I leave your readers to find out for themselves. The character sketches of Armidis, the American-Greek, and of Monica's simple but utterly eeifish father are excellent. THE ONE THOUSAND. Matthew Dawson ran first and second for the One Thousand Guineas with Mimi and Melody, the favorite Siphonia just securing the third place. The winner stood at 10 to 1 when the betting opened on Friday after-1 noon, and was hardly mentioned in town, but the owner, Mr Noel Fenvrick, took all the money that could be got on in Tatter- j Ball's Ring down to sevens. Of the dozen runners Mr Douglas Baird'a Siphonia (Tom Cannon up) was a trifle more fancied than Lord Ellesmere's Belvidera, 2 to 1 being taken about one and 5 to 2 the other. Then came Mimi at 7, Cereza at 10, and Grace Emily at 15 to 1. Bar these, long prises (20 to 40 to 1) were tendered. Mimi, who is by Barcaline out of a Lord Lyon mare, made all the running, and won easily by a length and a half from the Auatralian-owned Melody (by Tynedale— Glee), Siphonia a bad third. Balvidera was easily defeated by her despised stable OompaaiOTa Sabra, and poth Cerezft and

Charm failed to stay. With Corstorphine coming on Matthew Dawson holds the key to the Oaks. Common's Two Thousand trial was at even weights with Gone Coon, and not, as we all were told, at a difference of 71b or 101b. The colt won easily, but this did not make the race (on the Hastings Plate and Craven Stakes form) seem by any means a certainty for him. CHESTER (TOP, Backers experienced a terrible time at Chester on Tuesday, no fewer than fi/e "odds on" favorites being successively bowled over. Wednesday would have been nearly as bad but for the once-famous Cup Race. In this event Baron Huron's Vaaistas (5 yrs, Bit 31b) made up for endless disappointments by winning easily from the nine-year-old Tommy Tittlemouse (6 it 12!b), who has competed in more races than any horse in training. There were a dozen runners, and Vaaistas (well baoked down t3 9to 4) started first favorite- Then came Sister Mary at i to 1, Madame Neruda at 6 to 1, and Burnaby, Tommy Tittlemouse, and Lily of Lumley at 10 to 1 each. The firstnamed ran third. Vasistas lay behind till I approaching the final bend for home, when George Barrett gave the son of Idus and Veranda his head, and, shooting quickly to the front, the horse won by a length. DEMOS DEMONSTRATES IK HYDE FABK. Sunday week last was indeed a red letter day in the calender of the demonstratively - inclined working man both in England and on the Continent. But whilst "Labor Day" in France, Italy, and Germany was an occasion of ruffianism and disorder (engendered in many cases by the obnoxious attitude of the various authorities), the day in England came and passed without the slightest symptom of lawlessness showing itself. In London, where was the ehiefest gathering of all, the authorities took no precautions whatever beyond agreeing with the promoters of the meeting upon the line of route to be taken by the various sections in their march to the Embankment, and the subsequent grand march to the Park. At the former place the sight between noon and two o'clock was one not likely to be soon forgotten by those who were present. Standing on Waterloo Bridge and looking east or west, one conld see nothing but a black mass, broken here and there by brilliant colored banners, whilst the music of a hundred bands came to one's ears from far and near. To specify each particular contingent of worker in the gathering would occupy a column; but it is only necessary to Bay that every trade or calling in London which boasts a union was represented. The march to the Park was taken by way of Victoria street and Grosvenor Gardens. Along theEe avenues only a thin line of spectators had gathered ; but once the Park gates were in view evidence of popular curiosity and sympathy was manifest in a tremendous bunk of humanity massed around the Wellington Statue and the Park gates. Once in the Park, the demonstrators began to cluster round the twelve platforms which had been erected and ranged in a semicircle. The speakers—among whom were John Burns,Ben Tillett, Mr Cunningham Graham, M.P., and others—at once commenced to address the workers, though not one-third of the procession had got into the Park. Of course only those in the near vicinity of the orators could hear them, and it is only from the cutdown newspaper reports that one can evrn gueßS at the line of argument adopted By the various speakers. But it matters little, since they all came to the same conclusion— namely, that life for the worker was not worth living unless an eight hours day became law. Apparently ail thoee present took the same view, for they accorded the speakers tiemendona apphua\ As the evening wore on the crowd <d processionists and sight-seers gradually filtered away, and by half-past Eevcn the only signs of what had been were qnantiti s of orange peel and paper beßtrewa uj:on the grass.