LONDON TOWN TALK.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 2632, 31 August 1876, Page 3

LONDON TOWN TALK.

(Correspondent 0/ t?io Melbourne Argun,) A ourious instance has latoly ooourrod of tho foroo of publio opinion, even though it is but a side-wind of it that is sot in motion. Tho animals brought baok by tho Prinoe of Wales from India, and placed in tho Zoological Gardens, had all pob titles, or nicknames, oonforred upon fchom, whioh woro printed over fchoir rospootivo cages. Who was answerable for thoso names I know not, perhaps tho Prinoo himsolf, or his companions, or even tho sailors on board tho Sorapis. However, two of these titlos aro now covered wifch a veil, fcho Buoooptibilitios of a oertain sootion of tho publio boing too tondor to allow tho saorod namos of Moody and Sankey to bo assooiatod with two kitton-liko loopards. Mr Ruskin is funnier than ovor. In this month's (July 1) Fors Clavigera he gives a full aocounfc of his " St) George's Company," whioh if nofc, pecuniarily, muoh moro prosporous bhan ofchor joint; stook oompanios, has certainly magnifloenb aims. Its objeot is " fcho health, wealth, and long life of tho British nation," whioh, says Mr Ruskin, " is afc present unhealthy, poor, and likely to perish from fcho faoo of the earth." Tho oom* pany who havo sot themeolvos to work to sot Groat Britain on her legs consist of 30 per. sons, " nono of them rioh, soveral of thorn siok, and tho leader of thorn, at all ovonts, not likoly to livo long." In spite of fcho hot weather thero havo boon some ourious athlotio sports amongst us. Dr Konoaly has boon arguing his own oaso againsb his lato brother benohors in person, with moro than his usual violenoo and vituperation. Ho sooms to have beon willing ab ono timo to givo up his chambers for £150 ready monoy, but now ho wants £25,000 for loaving tho oharming sooiety of Gray's Inn. His gosturos and exoitement, oonsidoring tho height of the thermometer, woro very oreditablo. La Crosso has also boen playod by tho Canadian and Indian teams at fashionablo Hurlingham, and boforo tjho Quoon at Windsor. On tho latter oooasion tho ohiof of the Iroquois, very musoular and aotivo savages no doubt—but (pace Fonimoro Cooper) thoy havo bufc won ono gamo against tho wfcite man yet — thus addressed Hor Majesty s " Momsollo — Madam — Queen. I thank God wo havo played boforo you to-day," It sooms that tho sentiment of toadyism is not altogether a civilised produotion or else that tho Iroquois aro aooustomed to oxpross fchoir grafcifcudo to tho Groat Spirit for \ vory small meroies. I In tho literary world thoro is just now a ! good doal of soandal afloat. Mr Robort Buchanan (tho gentleman who has boen sot* ting tho Americans to rights about tho merits of their own Walt Whitman) has brought an aotion against tho Examiner for an attaok on him in fchafc paper, written by Mr Swinburno. Ho considers it to bo " porsonal." Undor crossexamination he oonfessed to having himself delioatoly alluded to Mr Swinburno's bibulous tastes in fche following lines : — "To tho door with tho boy. Call a cab. Ho is tipsy. And thoy oarriod tho naughty young gonfcloman out." He also, ho allows, thus dopioted Mr Tennyson ;— "Wifch his trousors unbraood and shirt-collar un* dono. Ho lolled afc his oaso liko a good-imfcurod bear." If thoso lines are porhaps a littlo porsonal, I hardly think thafc their pootioal beauty is an oxouso for it. Mr Buohanan's oounsol road oxtraots from Mr Swinburno's works till ho brought " tho blush of shamo into tho honest ohook" of fcho judgo, who boggod him to dosist, Exoopt that ifc was inoidontally provod in tho oourso of tho trial thab bho devil is a nativo of North Britain, nothing satisfactory has rosultod from Mr Buohanan's aotion, Ho has roalised, it is true, £150 in the way of damages; but tho publio has also realised thab avery littlo brains go a vory long way to making a " well-known author," and that " litoraturo " is somotimos a synonym for " clique." If tho " floshly sohool " aro to do tho world any serious harm, ifc will not oortainly bo with tho oarrial woapon of intolligonoo. Diflloulb as ifc may bo to writo history with impartiality, how sad it would bo woro thoro no histories, but only suoh conflicting roports of things as arc to bo read in tho pages of nowspapors. In tho llappel, for oxamplo, of last week, I road rospooting tho lato Goorgo Sand that "futuro generations will find in her works a world as real as that whioh surrounds fchom ; thafc sho has sown a sood of great and noblo thoughts that will prove a glorious harvest for agos ; and that in hor death wo havo lost ono of the groatost bonefaotorj of the human raoo." L' Univers on tho othor hand observes, " this woman is doad, so wo will boliovo nothing to hor disadvantage, except that sho has misused ovory talonfc committed to hor fcrusfc, and boen fcho foo of religion and morality. A fow villago storios will bo all that will bo romomborod of hor after a yoar or fcwo." Tho Ulfcramontano Papists oan never forgot that Goorgo Sand ooquettod with their roligion, and finally abandonod it; and ib io fcruo fchat sho wroto somo books fchat woro somothing worse than " unoonventional." But I fanoy the genoral projudioo has beon exoited against hor moro from hor having afc ono fcimo adopted fcho malo oostumo than anything eho ever wroto. Her genius was unquestionable, and hor aspirations, if vaguo and quixotio, woro gonerous and noblo. I remomber Mrs Barrott-Browning writing of hor at what may be oonsidorod hor most " unoonvontional " period, ob " a truo and noblo woman under the mud." Tho " old stagors " among our novolists will take oomfort from the faot that this extraordinary writor contributed about 50 stories to tho TRevue do Deux Mondes alono, and wroto os well and as freshly in hor 70th yoar as in hor 27th. Sho exohanged hor real namo (Dudovanfc) for the norn de plume of Georgo Sand on tho oooasion of her publishing her firsfc novel (whioh she wrote in conneotion with Jules Sandean, who was aooustomed to drop the seoond syllable of his name whon signing hia artioles), aud re*

tamed it to tho last. In her oase these little faots aro noteworthy* but the interest of audi matters (some people require to be told) is oonfined to tho great masters of tho pen. Under tho uncourtly heading of "Bad News for Taxpayers " a radioal newspaper informs me that " H.R.H. tho Duke of Connaught is engaged to bo married to tho Prinooss Frederioa, daughter of the ex-King of Hanover." Her brother, Prince Ernest, will, it is said, on his father's doath, resido in England, and sit in the House of Peers as Duko of Cumberland. To a Gallic souroo sooioty in London is indebted for tho rumour that the Empress Eugenic is about to marry again. Her ohoice is a oortain Lord Dutlan (a peer unknown to your correspondent, even by name), who will endow hor on her marriage-day with " five millions of pounds." The Bonapartist newspapers are furious at this report, whioh they affoofc to oonsidor as saorilegious. "The attitude " of the Empress, they say, ought to protect her from suoh audaoious soandals. Nothing of this, however, is to be gathered from fcho photographs of her Imperial Majesty, and with those alone I am ao-' quainted. Tho domostio servant question has, by no j moans, deoreased in importance sinco " The Greatest Plague of Life " was written to illustrato it. Tho happy mean between " sympathy " and " spoiling " seems very diffioult for tho mistressos to hit, and they, on their part, fail "to mako things oomfortablo " bolow stairs, as do tho servants to give satisfaction. A fashionablo lady of our acquaintance, who nevor dreams of visiting her kitohen, was thus taken to task, the other day, by her own bufclor. He had given her solemn warning, and sho had expressed — too lato as it sooms — her rogrot at parting with so muoh cxoollenoo. " Ah, my lady," sighed he, " you should havo spoke like that beforo. Not a word of kindness have I had from you since I have been in tho plaoe, and it's love, it's love, it's lovo, my lady, as makes the world go round." lam not a rioh man, but I would havo given a sovereign to have been present whon that butler thus relieved his mind.