THE PRONCE OF WALES AND THE ROYAL LITERARY FUND.

New Zealand Herald, Volume I, Issue 225, 2 August 1864, Page 3

THE PRONCE OF WALES AND THE ROYAL LITERARY FUND.

We read in ali the English papers that hare come to hand by the last mail of" the great popularity ot the Prince and Princess of Wales, among their future subjects. When we consider how very freely they mix with Die people without that pride and affectation which is often thought by what'the late Sir .Robert Peel called the \ ulgar rich," to be essential to dignity, we cannot wonder why (hey should be so popular. lhe Prince enters thoroughly into nil those sports and pastimes which are the special favourites of the Jinglisli, such as hunting, cricket, tennis, &e., and thus wins the sympathies of a very large class of Knglislimcn who love to see a person of liis rank enjoy the manlv sports of Jus nation. The following will show that his Boyal Highness is not unmindful of the claims of literature and literary men, and as it is understood to be not a speech " dressed up." for him, but entirely his own, it speaks well for both the knowledge, good taste, and kindly feeling of his Eoyal Jiighix'ss, and proves that he is not tied to any otic ciass of ideas, but takes a wide view of his duties to all classes of the people :— The 75th anniversary dinner of the Koyal Literary luinrl took place on Wednesday evening. May 18th, at St. James's JJall, London, under the presidency of his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales. The company was large and very inHuential. The 'pi , ° I ' IS ! S :llu ' ' he Church" having been given, llio 1 riuce o( Wales paid : My Lords and gentlemen—iho next toast. ] have 'to propose is "The Army, Navy, and Volunteers." (Cheers.) This is a toast which it gives me especial pleasure to propose, from till! circumstances of my having served for a time m both iniantry and cavalry (hear.) Short as the service was, it has been long enough to impiess 1110 with the conviction of the efficiency of all

•rsinks composing the liriti=h Army (cheers.) I have nUu had mi n|i])<<Hiimtv linr'M!? '-' X voyage (o 'iueriea in 1850, um | on nmny olln-r occasions, of witnessing tliu able manner in which the duties ol' the navy are performed. The Volunteers demand our | warmest thanks and approbation for the zeal with j which they rum.' forwur.i when they thought their ■ services were ri quired, a zeal which they still evince oil every occasion afforded them (hear, hear.) 1 beg lo couple tiie army and volunteers with the name of my illuslrous relative, the Duke of Cambridge (cheers), who so admirably fills the arduous post of Commiinder-iu -Chief, entrusted In him by (lie Queen, and to whose practical and libera] administration the army owes its present high state of efficiency (hear, hear.) With the navy T will couple the name of li'ear-iUlmiral Sic Alexander Millie, who only lately has returned from the successful discharge of the difficult duties attaching to the command of the North American station (cheers). Thel'ulieof Cambridge responded for the army and volunteers, and t~ir A. Milne acknowledged the toast 011 behalf of the navy. The Prince of Wales then rose and said : Tour Royal Highness, my lords and gentlemen,—l have now to propose the most important toast of the evening—it is " Prosperity to the Royal Literary I" tmd"—ehcers). Although the most important, it is nevertheless the toast upon which, perhaps, I can say lseat. Certainly 1 can give you 110 new information, as every ono herd present knows better than I do the ohariu ter of the Institution. Still, it is right that 1 should venture to oiler a few remarks 011 the working of the Society. You are all aware, gentlemen, ol the immense advantages which have been derived from it in support of literature and science. One of its principal features is that it is not limited to our own countrymen, but is often extended to literary men of all nations—(oheers). In this way many eminent men who would otherwise be incapacitated from making their talents known to the world are enabled to do so—(hear, hear.). The second important. feature is the secrecy with which this timely aid is given, a secrecy so ,sacredly observed that in the number of cases, which amount to l,(Vt7 since the foundation of this corporation in the year 1700, there is not a single instance of any indiscretion having been committed ; and if cases have been brought to light, it has only been through the acknowledgment of literary men thus assisted, and who have been anxious to express their gratitude—(hear). I ought here to mention the name of a distinguished man of letters whose loss must be deeply deplored in all literary circles. I allude to Mr. Thackery—(continued cheering). I allude to him not so much on account of his works, for they are standard works, but because he was an active member of your committee, and always ready to open his purse for the relief of literary men struggling with difficulties— (hear, hear). Gentlemen, some of those here present do not perhaps know that in France, since 1857, an institution similar to ours, and founded by 51. Thenard, has been in existence for the benefit of scientific men only, and that a few days ago 11. Champfleury, a distinguished writer, proposed to found a literary society, adopting some of our principles. It is to be hoped that these two societies may be one day amalgamated, and may form sister literary funds —(cheers) ; and if administered, on our model, I think we may augur for [fie Jnstiaution a large measure of succcess. (Hoar, hear.) AVe shall at all times bo most happy to enter into communication with it, and show it tlio result of our long experience, and of the unwearied zeal and exertion of the oflicers of this corporation.—(Hear, hear.) 1 will not detain you much longer, gentlemen ; but 1 cannot sit down without bringing back to your recollection the deep interest which niv dour and lamented lather (ehccrs) took in everything connected with literature and science, and particularly in the labours of this Society.—(" Heir, hear," and cheers.) Is'obody has forgotten that the secund time lie spoke 111 public in this country was as chairman of the Literary Fund dinner, and we all, I am convinced, deeply regret that the speeches made on that occasion were not reported at full length, as every word falling from those lips could not fitil to command univci>a] admiration, — (Cheers.) Gentlemen, let us drink " Prosperity to the Royal Literary Fund." The to;>st was drunk with great applause, and responded to by Kail Stanhope. Karl liussell, who was received with loud cheers inteimiiiglcd with some hissing, pioposccl the toast of " Knglish Literature," which was responded to by Mr. A. Trollopo.—Lord lloughfon proposed the toast of "Foreign Literatim," which was acknowledged by M . Van do AVeyer, the Belgian ami assador.— ICaal Stanhope then gave " The health of his Royal Highness the Chairman," which was appiopriately I acknowledged. The toast of "The Ladies," who filled the spacious galleries, and evidently took the deepest interest in the proceedings, hi ought the ban- | quet to a close. I Dkake-rtheet.—We nre glad to see flint the City Hoard lmve made a recommencement of the work at the foot of Union-street, filling in the hollow and sideling to a level with Drake-street. There is one point, however, which appears to I have escaped the notice of flic Fngincer of the Board, and that is the escape of the water from the locks at the upper corner of the junction of Drake and Union streets. There is always n regular How in wet weather, and even in fine weather a little one, from this point ; and if the water be allowed to soak through the newly formed road, laid how it may he, unless with solid stone, it w ill be a quagmire. jN'ow while the work of filling is in progress, it would be j very easy to lay a gutter of six-inch drain tiles across Union-street into flic iower ground. If the water is not so carried away it will most assuredly soak up, by capillary attraction to the to]) of the newly formed road, and keep it in a state of rottenness. "While 011 this matter we must again call attention to the neglect and bad faith of the Provincial Government in not having made any attempt to cany out the work begun, and now nearly finished, by the City Board —the embankment and sea-wall across the Bay. Before the Board commenced this work they applied to the. Superintendent to do the half belonging to the Provincial Government, which that functionary promised should be at once commenced if the Board would do its share. The Board has done its share, and done it well, too, and it is a great pity to think that very soon the road which the City Board have made secure at great expense, may be rendered unavailable for purposes of traflic because the Provincial Government will not take steps to secure the continuation of that road in the same way, and as they had promised to do. Every north-easter washes away a portion of Drakestreet. One would think it was in the hands rather of an auctioneer than the Superintendent, for it is literally " Going, going, gone !" Tub Auckland Permanent Building and Investment Society*.—As will be seen from our advertising columns, there will be an adjourned meeting of this society for issuing new shares this evening. This is caused by the large number of applications for shares last night, which it was found totally impossible to receive. The society has caused a very large amount of enquiry about, and interest in, its proceedings, and is doubtless destined to be a very popular and very useful institution. There were 110 less than 140 shares taken last night, and the amount of money received amounted to £333 Ids. Subscriptions paid to-niglit will date as from last night. Vauietius of Diet.—lt is astonishing how far from cosmopolitan every one is in his notions of eating.—The Shetland Islanders will not eat crabs or lobsters ; the Italian eat cockchafers ; gipsies eat hedgehogs ; and French whalers, whales ; Australian natives eat frogs, snakes, moths and grubs, but they will not touch oysters: South Sea Islanders will not drink goat's or cow's milk, but they will eat dogs anil rats; the Chinese eat, dogs, rats, earthworms, small live, crabs, and sea slugs ; South American Creoles, and Indians, would not at one time eat turtle; the ancient Romans ale asses' flesh and snails ; Tnrters eat horse-flesh ; Jen s and Mahometans will not eat pork, nor Hindoos beef; the Viennese cat live wood ants; the West Indians cnt iguuana, and the Africans and South Americans eat monkeys and alligators ; snails are eaten in j Southern. .Europe; our own JMew Zealandevs steep maize in water until it is putrid, and then eat it when the very smell of it twenty yards j away, has on more than one occasion brought our very heart into our mouth.

Prince ot? Wales Theatbe.—A very excellent house assembled here last eveninc, and the bright particular star Mr. S. Barry shone-with even greater brilliancy than on his first appearance. It affords us unmitigated pleasure when we feel that we can speak in terms of commendation of any dramatic artiste, and we but render Mr. S. Barry simple justice when we accord him our highest praise for his most admirable delineation ol Irish character: his geniality and humour pervades his entire performance, and he never by any chance loses sight of the character he is representing ; his keen sense of the ludicrous aids his impersonation in 110 small degree, and lends it a force and vitality which, necessarily becoming contagious, permeates throughout the entire audience, and the result is an unqualified success. His O'Callaglian perfectly carried away his audicnce, and the shrieks of "laughter frequently rendered the dialogue inaudible. To-night there is an entire change cf performance, the first piece being the drama of " Kory O'More"—always an especial favourite whenever and wherever produced. The cast is an excellent one, embracing the managers Messrs. Barry and Daniels, Mr. Manly, Messrs. Clifford and West, Miss Fanny Young,—indeed every member of the company ; the entertainments concluding with a new farce entitled " Paddy Miles' Boy," Mr. Shiel Barry of course impersonating the hero. We anticipate a full house, and shall speak of the performance in a future issue. Cal Iro lin lan Circus.—This justly popular place of amusement was literally crowded last night, so much so that it was found necessary to refuse further admission to the public. There was an entire change of performance, and the different exhibitions of horsemanship and acrobatic evolutions was received with rounds of applause. Tin-: Devoted Band. —Mr. Sala, writing to the Daily Telegraph, says : —" Warning you not to place implicit belief in it, I may mention a story current yesterday that the signalman on Poncy Mountain have for sometime been puzzled by seeing moving about" in the Confederate camp numbers of men clad in a new and sombre uniform. The m3'stery is now solved. There is said to be in General Lee's army a regiment twelve hundred strong, formed of the most despeiate characters in the camp, and called the ' Devoted Band.' They are entirely clad in black. They march to the sound •of muffled drums, and cany black flags. They are specially detailed to look after coloured troops, and they are to refuse quarter to all negroes with whom tliej r may come in contact. I shall be anxious to hear of the exploits of these new Black Brunswickers, although it is hard to believe that a commanding officer, who is likewise an accomplished gentleman, would sanction any such vindictive organisation. It would be useless, lioweper, to conceal that the greatest bitterness ot feeling towards coloured troops exists in the Southern lines. The Confederate prisoners confined at Look Out Point, in Maryland, have been driven almost lo madness by a regiment of black troops being placcd as guards over them. One negro, formerly a slave, is said to have discovered his ex-master among the prisoners, and to have offered to loan him ten dollars. You may imagine the effect of such an offer on the captured planter." Pol.ice Coukt.—Yesterday a case of petty larceny was disposed of, in which the accused declared that he only stole the article, a thing of trifling value, in order to be sent to prison, being entirely destitute. We fear that there are too many in this city who find it difficult to obtain employment, while wealth and work for thousands lie undeveloped in our midst. There is a rich alluvial gold-field in the Thames district. The land is justly forfeit to the Crown. To whom, we ask, is it due that the public are not allowed to develope this natural source of wealth—this field for labour—the great lever which would raise this province to greatness ? This is a question which is being anxioush* asked out of doors. It is one which we ourselves shall ask until the truth be ascertained and made known. There was also a case arising out of a breach in the Merchant Shipping Act, which resulted in the committal of Peter Henley, chief officer of the brig 'Annie Laurie,' to the Supreme Court, 011 the charge of mutinous conduct at sea. La tji es' I! a c e at Coiik.—For the benefit of our lady readers, and to show them how thoroughly the ' I!ights of Woman' are esteemed at home, and that even the turf is open to the aspiring demoiselles of tl,ie " Bloomer" school, we extract the followng from the Dublin licvicw : —" We have always heard the Corkoniaus rated as possibly just a trifle too fast. They are doubtless more emotional, more gushing than we cold jS ortherners. Their latest eccentricitj', however, which borders 011 impropriety—is the proposed Ladies' Pace. And a pretty figure will the ladies make of it! It would appear, from a recent announcement in one of Iheir newspapers, that the gay Corkonian.s have improvised a horse race, in which the ladies are to participate. A number of ladies " of position" in Cork, who are well known as graceful and spirited horsewomen have signified their willingness to take part in the coming races. The prizes are said to be " both valuable and appropriate, including a twenty guinea bracelet, an expensive]}' mounted gold riding whip, and another valuable prize for the third race. It is to be a real drag hunt, with a well-known pack of hounds in the county, and it is asserted, as a matter of special gratulation, that " there will be some very good jumps on the course"" Several famous English equestarians are also expected to join in the sport, so that the contest will become international in its character. In fact, says the Cork editor, with a sort of cannibalistic chuckle, " every element adds piqancy and flavour to tlio event." Already live ladies have volunteered to ride in the race, and it is expected that twice as many more will do so before the entries are closed. Verily, people have tastes ! If we protest, in the name of delicacy and decency, against this flagrant violation against the rules of decorum, we shall simply have our labour for our pains, and probably be set down as prudes into the bargain. IN evertheless, we do protest, and that most emphatically, against this latest and most glaring innovation upon the sacred social laws by which the conduct of our sex has ever been regulated. And in this decided disapproval of the proposed Ladies' Kace, not only do-we express the sentiments of Irish ladies generally, but of Irish gentlemen as well. Cohhect Time. —In order to §ive the inhabitants of Auckland an opportunity of setting their watches and clocks by one correct time, we see tbat Captain S. J. Williams, proposes dropping a time ball every Sunday morning, about .0 a.m., from the flag-staff at Smales Point. Persons will thus be enabled to note the exact time at which the ball fell, aad the next morning will see in this journal what that time really was, and will thus be enabled to correct their time pieces. Captain Williams certainly deserves the thanks of the community for this gratuitous endeavour to correct a very great nuisance to business men, the variations of time in different parts of the town affording all sorts of excuses for want of punctuality. The nine o'clock gun has done much to correct this, but many do not hear it when the wind is from the town/ and even the gun is not always particular to five minutes one way or the other. The ]N t ew Maokay gun appears to be a terrible weapon. Speaking of it the TVecTcly Despatch says : —" The new windage gun constructed by Mr. Mackay, of Liverpool, was tried again at Crosby, on Monday, and the result was, in all respects, as favourable as on the first occasion. The projectile, though fourteen pounds lighter than on the previous trial, drilled a perfectly circular hole through the target, went through the teak backing and the rest of the impediments, and fell more than four hundred yards beyond. It is stated that no vessel with armour less, than ten inches thick could stand long against such a weapon.

The Pai Marairi Superstition.—We learn,, with somewhat of surprise, that Williain Is aylov /srio has arrived from Raglan states tliattlreKgatimaniapoto and Waikato Kinptes south of-' that place have adopted the superstition of the' Wanganui fanatics. "When we stated yesterday morning that we had not much faith in any general submission as likely to be made at" present on the part of the rebels, we were notaware of this fact. Such, however, being thecase, we may expect that the rebels have comc to the determination of trying still further eon--elusions with us in the field. One thing is certain, that until one side is thoroughly beaten, and' rnade to feel that it is beaten —no solid, and secure peace can be made. No tampering: with the rebels on the part of the employees of the' Native Office should be permitted by the Colo--nial Government. It might be possible topatch; up a hollow peace, by pestering and teasing,-aye,-and suing the natives to come in and submit,but that peace would be a : hollow and a" rotten' one. W hen we hear of gentlemen connected! with the Native Office going backwards and forwards to the rebel camps, we feel more than half-inclined to wish that the Suppression of Rebellion Act was in more active operation. Ladies in the Caspian.—Ladies- will for a time, no doubt, be at a premium in the Waikato settlements, though not, perhaps, so much so as we read of their having been in California, where a party of travellers having found a cast-away petticoat in their travels, set it up on a pole and danced round it. By the following, which we take from Jia.tiiciek's Three Years' Residence in Persia, it would seem that the Caspian furnishes us now with a sample of what society -in "Waikato may be. unless Miss Rye's services be called into requisition : —" Ladies are so scarce in the Caspian that the Russian officers are ready to worship them. On the 14th, a grand serenade was got up in honour of Madame P which would probably have gone on indefinitely had it not been prorogued by a thunderstorm and a boras or tornado. Observing an elderly midshipman kiss a fair hand in a very fervid, impressive manner, I attempted to quiz the lady, who said very seriously, " Mr. So-and-So is so much in love with me that it is quite embarrassing. My husband has reasoned with him and begged him to conquer his feelings, but he says he can't, so he comes every day—to teach me algebra!" The Man in the Ibon Mask.—The question of who was "the Man in the Iron Mask" c , has agitated the public mind as long and as greatly as that of who was the writer of the letters of " Junius." Paris papers notice a work just issued at Boston, " Unedited Correspondence of Benjamin Franklin." It contains a recorded conversation of that illustrious man with the Due de Richelieu (who died in 1788), the purport of which was to assure the American envoy that the " man in the iron mask" was the son of Anne de Autriche; queen of Louis XIV., by adulterous connection with the Duke of Buckingham, and that the secret had been left in the family by Cardinal Richelieu, who was the contriver of this life-long concealment and vicarious penalty. A Man Gored bt a Bcel.—Yesterday morning between 5 and 6 o'clock a man was gored by a bull in the neighbourhood of Newmarket ; he wa's passing along the road and the animal, which was loose, rushed at him and severely injured him, inflicting a lacerated wound about two inches under the heart, which, it is feared, will be fatal. The man was attended immediately by Dr. Goldsbro, of Parnell. It is time that the practise of letting cattle go at large in the suburbs of Auckland should be discontinued. They are now, it seoms. not only a nuisance but a positive danger. Why do not -the proper officers enforce the carrying out of the provisions of the Acts passed to prevent this public inconvenience, and why donot those, whose duty it is to see that these officers perform their part, do so. The cattle, pig, and goat nuisance has reached an intolerable point, in the neighbovrhood of the town.