LONDON CHAT.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 13586, 7 May 1906, Page 2

LONDON CHAT.

(Prom. Our Own Correspondent) LONDON, March 17. King Edward, is having a very Rood time in the delightful. Basque Country, on both sides of the Franco-Spanish frontier. Indeed. a more eharming/locality for a spring holiday could hardly be conceived. What with the Bay of Biscay on one side, and the splendid Pyrenean Mountains on- the other, with the infinite diversity of coastal and inland scenery, amj the interesting contrast presented 'by tho tlirco nationalities that coalesce at that, point—French, Spanish, and Basque,—anybody might find agreeable occupation there for months, making Biarritz or St. Joan do Lux or San Sebastian iiis headquarters. Strangely enough, this part of the world is usually overlooked by New Zealanders, who apparerilly prefer to stick to tho movo hacltneyod lines of travel. Last wcok was a plnnge into midsummer —warm, sunny, arid delightful. Then suddenly there came in succession two tremendous and most destructive .south-west gales, with torrential rain; and then, still more suddenly, a reversion to midwinter, with the only definito snowstorm of tho season, .accompanied by a bitterly cold and keen northerly gale. Terrific seas ran on the southern and western. coasts, doing an infinity of damag?, while the Thames rose so high that 11.M.M. Buzzard, tho training ship which lies near Blackfrinrs bridge, was riding on a level with the top of tho Thames Embankment wall, and much of the Embankment itself was under water through the flooding of the river. At the Parish Church of the large southern suburb of London, Clapham, the rector last Sunday introduced into tho morning service,. quite apart from .the regular sermon, a special address in vigorous, not to say bitter, condemnation of the conduct of overybody concerned in the recent "conversion" of Princess Eria to the Church of Rofno for the purpose of her approaching marriage with the King of Spain. The rector's severest censure was directed at tho King himself as Supremo Governor of the National Church for his conduct in countenancing and, appardntly, favouring his niece's apostacy. Tho lector, indeed, made things exceedingly sultry for his Majesty; but, strange to say, the King seems to be enjoying himself at Biarritz just, as light-heartedly as if ho had never come under this iderical ban. Apparently it is a ciiGO of Ingoldsby's celebrated " Jackdaw of Rheims" over again—in spite of the curse "iiobody seemed a penny tho worse!" Indeed if I may confide to you my private and secret views as to the probabilities of the ease, I should hazard tho conjecture that if all tho .clergy of the kingdom were to wait as a deputation upon King Edward and insist, upon his forbidding tho banns, his Majesty would simply Smile, and remark, in liis pleasant way. what a very fino day it was. And the wedding' would go 011 just the same.

In this sacred connection I mav observe that various bishops are taking the current, season of Lent as the text for many denunciatory discourses upon social follies, frivolities, and failings. One bishop yesterday was very severe indeed upon the vain and siliy custom of'shaking hands high up in the air—that is how he put it. Another earnestly deprecated the wearing by women and girls, when they attended holy communion, -of hats so vast in diameter and circtimferiee that they sot in one another's way,' and scratched one another's faces' while the wearers were kneeling before, the liolv table. Mwy " mere men " think .that, the bishop might have gone et.ill # further, and might well have denouncod with still inore severity the selfish and vulgar vanity which loads so many .women td wrar t.hcee same matinees at public entertainments, thus absolutely intereeptincr all view from those in their roar. A movement is steadily in progress, and mav possibly assume ooncret-e form in another, decade or so, for making the removal, -cf these hats. oompnlsory—or. at anyratc. an absolute condition of admittance. Not only "mere men," but also oil sensible and considerate women would greatly rejoice to see.this very .necessary ft'form immediately instituted.

Another religions question which i- being mooted just, now liy various bishops and clergy is formulated by tham a? " the f.yr&ntly of choirS." Tt is hemp stronplv urged that much of the devotion and c-Mcatiicra of the church Mrvici-s. is sacrificed nowadays to the morn desire of rolf-display on (ho part cf tho choirs; ami in rare and special owe, such' as thesis of the urc»t caAhadraJs. with fully-cquippcd choral institutions— the sinking of elaborate anthems and equallr elaborate Cariticio services should ho abandoned, mate congregational methods of chanting being adopted, and greater pains being taken to ensure a, rcvercnl and expressive interpretation of the hymns. It is freely aseerted that many organists and choirmasters "scamp" in the most circlets' and perfunctory way the mere chanting and hymn-singing, devoting all fltoir efforts to ensure—riot always with entire success— an effective and sometimes dramatic performance of florid fprvm to Mm canticles, and of highlv elaborate and somctim'-s strikingly operatic and imsuit.il.'le oratorio selections as " anthems," sometimes oven actual adaptations from secular operas boing employed. A "very pretty ouarrel," or, at anyrate, a somewhat prrimomom controversy. bids fair lo develop from tliwc episcopal and pri»st!v • ntterancei. Recently I described the intrwluciinn into the Lenten Friday services of St.

Paul's Calhedral of Allegri's celebrated " Miserere," which liad been sung annually* for moro than hvo centuries in the Popes* Sistiue Chapel at- the A'r.tican, in_ Rome. The edition used at St. Paul's, by lee way,, is a special and very effective one, editcc.' by the organ's!, Sir ficorge Martin. This wor'.d-fnnious setting of Psalm )i was again sung yesterday afternoon, and one cf tho London daily papers refers io it as follows, "Many stories are I old of AllcgriV. setting, it was most jealocsly guarded by the Papal authorities. Even the singers were allowed! lo have the score in I heir hands only wi'.ea they wore actually singing, and to possess a copy involved the risk of excommunicationi from the Church. Mozart took it down by ear, and at- least one copy found ita way' to Kngland. secured bv the musical I)r Burnoy. falher of Fanny ll'Arblay. the novelist. JfCOpoM I, of Austria, a grc.it lover of music, sent a sppeial ambassador to the Pope will) a request for a .copy. This was ■ acecded to. bur when the Psalnr. was sung by j\ qualified Vienna choir the> Emperor was highly disappointed, so mucin of the effect of the simple dioral music: depending upon the traditional light and: nhade derived from Allegri himself. Fridayis the day at- St. Paul's when the organ is silent. Th-i 1 Miserere' tomes as a devotional close (o the service." J'liis is accurate' in the main, excepting that if omits the fact of some errors being found in Mozart's aural version of the workIt was, as I previously stated. oMicr Sir ,1 oh 11 Slainer or Sir Arthur Sullivan who was able to correct theso slips, and so secure an absolutely accurate copy of the renowned work. 1 iwu- add, also, that however fine may have been " the traditional light and shade derived from Allcgrii Jiimself," nothing can possibly surpass the perfection and beauly of the exquisite' nuances whic'h Sir George Martin and_hit> superb choir impart to this most beautiful, solemn, and devotional composition as given in our London Cathedral. Apropos of music, it- is impossible to avoid noting lhat 011 the day 011 which I am writing Senor Manuel Garcia, the greatest teacher of singing who lias ever lived, and the inventor of Ilia laryngoscope (to which the medical study and treatment of the throat owes so much), completed t'no 101 s- year of his age, and entered upon his 102 nd year. Ho is still quite liale. and hearty, and except for an occasional lapso of memory, is in full possession of all bis faculties. Needless to say. ho is a perfect storehouse of most interesting musical reminiscences, as indeed might bo o.xpccled of sutft a man who has lived in tile days of Beethoven, Spohr. Mendelssohn, Wagner, and Brahms, on to Tschaikowsky and Richard Strauss, lie continues to take the warmest interest in everything- connected; with his own special subjcct—voice-produc-tion. And even occasionally gives a lesson to persons particularly favoured. A" few days ago the great clock of Westminster suddenly stopped and forebodings of coming disaster ran high in the caso of tlio superstitious, for this famous clock, which occupies the well-known tower o£ the Houses of Parliament, has admittedly broken all records as an accurate timekeeper, as well as being without parallel in tho rareness in its need of repairs. Clearly, then, this unaccountable stoppage must constitute a portent of grave national disaster, possibly duo to the new Parliament, which assembles daily under its boom. with the first touch of common sense the mysterious portent vanished into thin air. Some workmen had been employed in the tower, and on departing for the night had, after tlio manner oE their kind, "chucked things down anyhow"; little recked they that one piece of board casually projected into the works of the great clock, and impeded the counterpoise of its hands, Had they teen aware, or had they noticed what they ha-d done or its efFcct,. I don't suppose their cheerful insousiance would have been in the slightest degree disturbed. It is not a. little cartons that all the papers,' including the leading ones agree in porpoiuating the silly error that the oft-heard "Big Ben" is the name of the clock, instead of being that of only one of its live bells. The Times, at auyrate, ought to know better, seeing that it was the great boll's godfather, and suggested that it fehould 1» so named in compliment to Sir Benjapiia Hall. It is" Big Ben" upon which the hours arc struck, tlio " Cambridge chimes" being sounded upon four smaller, but still immense, bells. It does not Eeem to Ixi known—or, at anyrate, remembared—that after the original "Big Ben" had teen broken while .hanging for test in an openair framework ouisido Westminster Abbey, the second bell east was originally named " St. Stephen," after the old church, which constituted a former meeting-place' of tho House' of Commons. In the end, however, tho public taste reverted to its first love, and the name " Big Ben" is now' unchangeably fixed. There are purists who find fault- with its tone as "a very bad K," but I think that most Now Zealand visitors arc greatly impressed by its ponderously deep and solemn, albeit somewhat hoarse, utterances.

A rather droll incident has just livened the dulncss of currant polities. Tho Unionist member for Basingstoke having died, a bye-elect,ion was nooil»ila.(ed. The seal; hadbconwon by the barest majority, so that the Liberals wore sanguine of capturing it; ami 110 doubt they would have succeeded in doing so had not a second Liboral insisted on stamKng, and thus diverted a sufficient number oi votes from the authorised Liberal candidate not only to put hiin in a minority, but also to increase very substantially the majority by which the Unionists had won in the generiil election. His semso of humour was doubtless gratified, alike by the success of his freak and by the ridicluoiis fury which the result, excited. lie was very nearly paying dearly for his joke, however, for the Radical mob rose in its rage, and yearned fo rend him .limb from limb, lie only oscaped bv the skin of his teeth and by tho speed of a motor, in which ho managed to take refuge through an overlooked exit in the back of the building, and he was pursued for miles by a yelling and menacing multitude hankering after his blood. Judiciously avoiding the station from which ho was expected to depart, lie made for a more remote wayfide one, where ho luobilr caught a train, and left while iiis baffled pursuers howled themselves hoarse.

Doubt still existing whether a foreign invasion of Kngland is really posible, Mr William Le Queux (tho well-known sensa-tion-novelist), has patriotically set himsdlf ti show how easily it could 'lie managed if Germany really set herself to the task. He has written a book called "The Invasion of 1910," which he alleges 10 be highly approved by Lord Roberts, and of which ho is publishing daily instalments in one cf the half-penny morning papers. He tells us that, lie lifts taken enormous pains to verify the certainty of all the possibilities and opportunities which he so obligingly points out to formally. He and a professional assistant have travelled I forget how may thounsand miles by motor all over England, and, in fact, seem to have acted as spies for Germany in the most thorough-going and sufficient manner. It need hardly !>e added I hat all sorts of advertising dodges are being practised to enhance the domnwl for his book and its sensationalism. Naturally, a member of Parliament was induced to asl: the I'rimo Minister a question nn the subject. As a matter of course, too, the humourless Sir llenry Oa.mpbell-'.aiment!an promptly fell into tho trap, and in his place in Parliament pronounced upon the book a censujo which is certain to be its best nossible advertisement. Manifestly the next obvious step ivas for the auihor to write to the Trims Minister earne-Iy remonstrating against the grave injustice done him, and then to send all the " correspondence'' for publication in every newspaper. Mr I<e Queux, of course, tjrofesses to be actuated by the patrofic object of v.-aniing his countrymen against li:e peril in which they stand. Unappreciativo critics think he might have found some oth'-r way of attaining this end than by'fo carefully suggesting to England's hypothetical enemies tho course of procedure which they could most easily and successfully pursue.

Now that the question of "Feeding tha masses," especially fclioo! children, is so prominently' to the front, it is gratifying to noic that a. fresh and singularly inexpensive diet has just been discovered. You have only to go out into the garden or field after a shower, collect as inr.uy encils as you want, and then out ',aem. Tliey are declared to be particularly wholesome in Ihoir raw state: indeed. l<> Ik specially intended by Providence as " the poor man's oyster." But if you prefer them in some degree ccoked you ukHv pour boilinj; Water on them, when their antipathy to this treatment causes them to :!iriuk from thoir original soft and rather elobbcry condition into compact and tCol>h:-joinc morsels, which, as in the ca.'e of jioriwiiiltlc3._ can be removed from the sheiis an<l transferred to tho mouth with the simple a,id of ,tho harmless, nccossary pin. For growing schoolboys this fare is csp'ecir.Hy recommended. and one enthusiastic devotee of this snail diet avers that if von want really to enjoy u flcat: ."ind kidney puuding in its highest degree of ncriecfion and. flavour you have only to add a godly number of large snails. These, when cooked in . Iho pudding, are av-erted to give it' a. spccial joyous juiciness which must be. tasted to be appreciated. Oysters, it is declared, are "not in it" as associated ;with. ..steal: pudding. And vet the public hegitatol Strange, very strange.'