THE COMMON ROUND.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20089, 4 May 1927, Page 2

THE COMMON ROUND.

By Waxfaeeb. The Town Clerk, ger advertisement in the newspapers, signals his expectation that every Dunedin citizen will this day do his (or her) civic duty. “Cordially invited” we shall form an eager queue outside the Town Hall, indulgently so named, long before noon; and, once having gained admission, we shall throng the Council Chamber to its utmost capacity in honour of the installation of the Mayorelect, Mr William Burgoyne Taverner. In times past I have seldom had occasion to mention Mr Taverner’s name in this column, but during the next two years it may become almost as much of a household word as the name of h's predecessor. “Taverner” has at least as imposing i» sound as “Tapley,” and the historic traditions of “Burgoyne” rival those of “Livingston. ’’ And, yet, what’s in a name? Good work, without any distinction of nomenclature, bears its own lustre. Nevertheless, there may be something—occasionally there is too much —in a name. Parents or godparents should exercise forethought beiore burdening their helpless infanta with august labels to which it may be impossible to live up- Even in police court reports one comes upon lamentable instances of short-sighted ambition in this matter. In a biographical sketch of an erudite clergyman 1 find the following choice morsei; Of his fellow-pupils, he particularly remembered two; one was bir Thomas Brock, K.A., the sculptor; die other had a classically-minded father who caused Jus son to be christened Homer Demosthenes Virgil. . . . That boy became a publican, licensed to sell beer! From the same sketch another paragraph may be quoted, though it is not concerned with the vagaries ol baptismal nomenclature. Ho had a keen relish for the odd humours, idiosyncrasies and quaint turns of speech that definitely mark out certain individuals as “originals” or “characters. One of those local “characters,” John Mawer, of Aby, who is still remembered, once diverted him by saying to him in his precise, formal way: “1 have been somewhat under a misap-pre-hension with regard to you. Since receiving your letter I have come to the conclusion that you have in you a precipitate of reason, and that you are not without a tincture of humour!” At another time he was greatly amused by one of his aged Authorpe parishioners. It was in November, 1895, when he was coming to Louth to preach in Louth Parish Church for the first time. The old lady told him that her daughter was spending that Sunday at Louth, and that she had bidden her by all means to go to the church, “just to encourage you, Sir, by the sight of e friendly face, and remember,” she added, “to say to yourself, many a worser man if possible has stood in this pulpit before mel” If possible!

Members of tho profession which carries the insignia of the wig and gown are not usually addicted to the practice of the poetic art; though some eminent lawyers have been known to “drop into verse” in engaging style. Lord Darling is a very clever rhymer, and the gift of happy versification has been traditional in the Scottish judiciary for several generations. Still, one docs not instinctively associate the idea of poesy with the bench and bar. Moreover, when a distinguished lawyer dies and passes to the special mansion in Paradise prepared for tho professional order which has been unjustly stigmatised “the devil’s brigade,” we do not expect his accomplishments and virtues to be commemorated in metrical form. All. the more noteworthy, therefore, is a sonnet on the death of Sir Marshall-Hall which appeared recently In tho Morning Post: Fold the Bilk gown, and let tha wig be' laid Into tho well-worn hoi; their work is done For ©vor; now tho final ens© is won; The long term closes; the Inst speech is made, No Prisoner fit tho Bar may seek his Ko judge will hear him now; beneath his No witness now shall writhe, no felon quail, No jury by his eloquence bo swayed.

Tho Homan head on Saxon shoulders *ct, Tho silver hair, and tall, heroic Iramo Aro seen no more; but some will not forget, And, till they die, must reverence (ho name Of him, who, as (hey struggled in tho not, Bose in his strength, and to their rescue came. Declining from this lofty strain, the rind reverts, perhaps not quite incongruously, to the judge of burlesque fame who recalled his forensic triumphs; “All thieves who could my fees afford Helled on my orations; And many a burglar I've restored To his 'friends and hie relation?." A sentiment of romance may attach to the wig and gown—especially tho wig. In a recent Punch a frisky damsel appeals gratefully and alluringly to the dumpy old advocate who had won the day for her —“Oh, !o give me a lock of your curly hairl” Not so very long ago the president of the Divorce Court, trying to win the confidence of a very small boy who had unhappily been introduced as witness in an un-savoury case, said, “Don’t be frightened, kiddy; come anil look at this silly old wig of mine.” By the way, the cable told us last week that Sir Edward Marshall-Hall had left over £IOO,OOO behind him—“a cool hundred thousand,” Joe Gargcry would have said. Not much poesy or romance about that! An ancient story may be tagged on. Two prominent and prosperous barristers, of the mid-Victorian period earned very large incomes, but they dealt with their money in different ways. Ballantinc was a bon viveur and a spendthrift; his coins burned his pocket. Hawkins, like Mrs Gilpin, had a frugal mind; he husbanded his wealth with a shrewd carefulness which annoyed his reckless rival. “I say, Hawkins,” exclaimed tho volatile sorjeant one day, “why don’t you spend some of your money and get enjoyment out of it ? . You cau’t take it with you, you know, when you die; and, if you could, it would melt.’’

Auent Prayer-book revision, which Is still a current topic of interest, it may be noted that in former days the Ten Commandments, the Creed, and the Lord’s Prayer used to be displayed in the chancel of English churches, either printed on cards or painted on boards. The legibility of the print or paint naturally faded in course of time, and restoration became necessary. This is by way of prelude to the following extract from a London paper.

The Bishops need not think that they are the first to undertake the task cl Prayer Book Revision; and they should realise that as artificers in this direction they compare most unfavourably, both in despatch and in costliness, with a rival of the last centuryIn Southey’s “Doctor” there is quoted, with a voucher for its genuineness, ‘‘a painter’s hill at Cirencester delivered in to the Churchwardens of an adjacent parish in these words: ‘Mr Charles Ferebee Churchwarden of Siddington, to Joseph Cook, Debtor: To mending the Commandments altering the Belief, and making a new Lord’s Prayer. £1 Is.’ ”

Punch irreverently suggests that the tasK of Revision should be relegated to a conference of and miners.