ITEMS OF SOCIAL NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 8986, 25 February 1888, Page 3 (Supplement)

ITEMS OF SOCIAL NEWS.

[FROM THE SOCIETY PAPERS.]

The year which has just closed has nob been a specially notable one in the annala of English literature. It may be doubted, indeed, whether any book of first-rate and permanent importance has appeared during 1887 except Darwin's life; and that is nob so much a great book as a book about a great man. No new stars have appeared in the firmament, and the old ones hava not burst into any fresh brightness. English literature is by no means rid yet of that " rule of the old" of which Mr. Grant) Allen not long ago complained. Lord Tennyson is 78, Mr. Browning is 75, MrLowell is 68, Mr. Whittier is 80, Mr. Ruskhi is 68, Cardinal Newman is 86; even Mr. Matthew Arnold is 65. Long may they all live; for can anyone honestly say that there are successors ready all along the lines to " fill up the gaps in the files 2"

Another member of the English aristae racy is about to bring a bride from tha United States. Nice is the scene of tha engagement, the lovers being Mr. Horaca Walpole, nephew and heir of Lord Orford, and Miss Louisa Corbin, of New York, niece of Mr. Austin Corbin. The marriage, which is to take place in London, will ba one of the fashionable events of May The Corbin family winters at Cannes. The lady is said to have great expectations.

The death is announced in Paris of M. Planat, better known as Marcellin, who may be regarded as the originator of tha society journal. He founded La Vie Parisienne in 1862 with the aid of the brilliant; group of men who, after graduating in tha Ecole Normale, either clustered round Prince Napoleon and the Princess Clotilde, or intrigued' in Orleanist lons against tha Empire, to go over to it later. Edmond About, Taine, and Prevost Paradol were of the number ; but as they were not merely brilliant writers, but men of thought;, they soon ceased to write for the weekly paper to which they had furnished articles under borrowed names. La Vie Parisienne is noti true to the life, but it has from the time ita was started to the present hour shown the) idle and opulent class agog for amusement and epicurean pleasures—Parisian life as they wish it to be. It was the masked balls at the Tuileries and the Ministries in the early years of the Empire, particularly the one given by the Empress Eugdnie afc the Hotel d'Albe, which suggested La Via Parisienne to Planat.

In a roll of 5, Edward 11., in the British Museum, there is a list of the officers and crew of a royal barge cruising off Berwick-upon-Tweed. Among them are the admiral, the constable, William the " boteswein," and 26 seamen. The admiral's pay was 23 a day, the master and constable (id, and tliQ boatswain and rest of the crew 3d.

If Drake could have been brought back from the dead and put on the quarter-deck of the Britannia in 1837, it would not have taken him a moment to see that he was standing on a much larger and better version of the Bear or the Triumph, or any of the big ships which fought the Armada. A good deal would have been new to him, but it would have been comparatively matter of detail, and it would not have taken him a week to learn to handle the three-decker as easily as he did the Golden Hind. But if a naval officer who had learnt his business in the Britannia, or the frigates of the first quarter of the century, had fallen asleep in 1537, and then revived on board the Inflexible or Thunderer in 1887, it is doubtful whether he would know that he was on board a ship at all. The difference is more one of kind than of degree. The shape, the material, the means of propulsion, are radically changed. Never was a greater change effected in so short a time or with such a lavish display of ingenuity.

The Earl of Fife is nob only the boon companion of the heir-apparent, but is also a great favourite with Her Majesty. The father of the present Earl was a curious specimen of the kilted race. He was one day dining with the Queen, and attracted her attention and surprise by saying: " Your Majesty will be glad to hear that I have left of drinking soda and brandy." The Queen, smiling, said, "lam glad to hear it, Lord Fife." His lordship thereupon made the further remark : " Your Majesty will also be pleased to learn that I have taken to soda and whiskey instead."

A rather nice question has been raised by a gentleman invited to the Gaikwar of Baroda's ball given at Brighton. Among the invited guests were a man and woman, both bearing titles, whose relationship is more intimate than legal. The wife of the man was not present; the other lady was. The aggrieved gentleman writes to protest against the presence of the other person as an insult to every lady in the room. If so, was not the presence of her partner equally an insult to every man present ? If it is an insult in one case, we do not see why it is no insult in the other.

Lord Salisbury has put his foot down on dear bread. A corn duty he will not permit —no, not even if the refusal should cost him the support of his hon. friend Mr. Howard Vincent. But on all other points _ in the Fair Trade programme he is open to' conviction, and will do what he can to square the trade. We condole with our Tory friends upon this summary knocking on the head of their pet specific. For Protection that does not protect agriculture— the one great staple of British manufacture which is seriously threatened by foreign competition—is no Protection at all. From the Protectionist point of view Lord Salisbury's position is akin to that of a man who insisted that a knight should go into battle without either helmet or breastplate, although he was willing to consider whether he should wear greaves on his legs and put mailed shoes on his feet. If armour is any use at all, it should be used to protect the head and the heart, and a tariff that does not protect the industry that creates food is like armour that defends the extremities on condition of leaving the vitals exposed to attack.

We confess we think the interests of humanity will be best served by publishing such reports of the great prize fight as have appeared in the newspaper with "the largest circulation in the world." It is distinctly good that 300,000 family circles should have the supreme privilege of reading the details of the pugilistic encounter between Jem Smith and Jake Kilrain which were published the other morning. Whether it is agreeable to read of " the swelling of the Englishman's ear to the size of an egg," or the " bunging-up of Kilrain's right eye to the size of a loaf," at the breakfast-table, is of course a matter of taste. It is certainly strong diet for an empty stomach, and calculated to create a healthy feeling of disgust with the whole thing.

Miss Ellen Terry was much annoyed and hurt by a paragraph in a New lork paper which referred to her numerous managers rather brutally, and added that her record was such in a connubial way that her endeavour to enter New \ork society was altogether hopeless. The facts are that Miss Terry lias been married twice and is now a widow. She has never made any attempt to enter society for the simple reason that she is at work night and day and when not acting keeps studiously to her room, as her health is very delicate and rest is what she needs above everything. Beyond this she is beset by hundreds of callers whom she cannot receive and by dozens of invitations she cannot accept from some of the best people in the land. Indeed „ she has no social ambitions whatever, and has always discouraged any endeavours to make her depart from the rule. "I act every night, J rehearse frequently every day, I dare not eat heavy suppers, my professional life prevents me from attending heavy dinners, and there is seldom a ddy when I can even give one hour to friends." That is what Miss Terry says. . How absurd then the assumption that a society which she has no desire and no time to eater rejects her, ' , : i .