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TABLE TALK.

SHERIDAN AND THE MEMOIRS OF MISS SIDNEY BIDulph.

CORRESPONDENT, who writes from Edinburgh and signs. W. Douglas Kellock, states that the letter in the Athenæum of the Hon. Lewis Wingfield, concerning Sheridan and the "School for Scandal," on which I founded a note in Table Talk for February last, has led me into inaccuracy. That the "Memoirs of Miss Sidney Bidulph" is by Sheridan's mother, Frances Sheridan (née Chamberlaine), was pointed out immediately after the appearance of Mr. Wingfield's letter, as was the fact that Mr. Wingfield was not the first to discover the obligation. In these matters I simply followed the communication in the Athenæum. It is therefore just and desirable that these explanations should be furnished. Mr. Kellock also urges that the resemblance between the return of Miss Arnold's uncle in "Sidney Bidulph" and that of Sir Oliver Surface in the "School for Scandal " is not very close, and that the incident might be traced to many other novels and plays. This is possible. Still, it is a fair assumption that Sheridan was familiar with the novel written by his mother, and the question of his indebtedness is not affected by the nearness of relationship. I am obliged to my correspondent for his correction, the subject matter of which I had, however, previously seen. His substitution of Sidney Biddulph for Sidney Bidulph I accept. Rather curiously, however, in "Memoirs of the Life and Writings of Mrs. Frances Sheridan," by her granddaughter, Alicia Lefanu, London, 1824, 8vo, which I have before me, the name Biddulph upon the title page and throughout the volume, is given with two d's. It is also so spelt in Lowndes' Bibliographer's Manual."

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WHIMSICAL STORIES PRESERVED BY HILL BURTON.

N the Book-Hunter of Burton is given the famous anecdote concerning Robert Owen, the parallelogram communist, and Wilberforce, the Bishop of Oxford. In an edition of "Men of the Time," a copy of which is still in the possession of a valued friend of

mine, a known collector, and a Fellow of the Royal Society, a few lines dropped out from what is technically called "the form." In the process of restoration one or two lines intended for Owen got into the account of his nearest neighbour, Oxford, whose biographical record ran, accordingly, thus: Oxford, the Right Reverend Samuel Wilberforce, Bishop of, was born in 1805. A more kind-hearted and truly benevolent man does not exist. A sceptic as regards religious revelation, he is nevertheless "an out and out believer in spirit movements." The blunder was, of course, detected, and the edition was withdrawn. A few copies got out, however, to scandalize the orthodox and to amuse the ribald. Here, again, is the account of the famous printer's blunder that destroyed a poetic reputation, when, for a portion of the line, "Lo! the pale martyr in his sheet of fire," were substituted the words "shirt on fire." In this, too, is an account how plagiarisms are detected by means of careless printers when in an unacknowledged "crib," "the imitation," as Peignot says, "is so exact that the very typographical errors are carefully preserved." Here, once more, is to be found the best Irish bull on record, a bull which five readers out of six will pass over without a suspicion that it is not perfectly correct. It occurs in a brief passage descriptive of the happy conclusion of a duel. "The one party received a slight wound in the breast; the other fired in the air-and so the matter terminated." Here, lastly, appears the "artless statement" from a learned book on Irish ecclesiastical controversy, written, of course, by an Irishman, that a certain eminent personage had "abandoned the errors of the Church of Rome, and adopted those of the Church of England."

THE

CONTEMPORARY VERDICTS UPON GREATNESS.

HE question whether an age is able to take the intellectual measure of its greatest men has never been definitely settled. If the stature of Shakespeare and Milton was visible only to individuals, and not to the majority of those with whom they dwelt, Chaucer seems in his lifetime to have obtained full recognition, at least from those of his own calling, and an idea of the immeasurable bigness of Dante seems to have been formed by the commonplace intellect of his day. Petrarch and Tasso, again, it is known were crowned with laurels in the capitol, and the world has accepted and approved the verdict. Among men whose reputation, obtained during their lifetime, has been maintained, are Molière, Voltaire, and Balzac, in France, Goethe in Germany, and Swift in England. I speak only of men of highest mark. The brilliant reputations of

soldiers are maintained, and such great captains, to deal only with men comparatively modern, as Gustavus Adolphus, Henri IV., Marshal Saxe, Marlborough, Wellington, Napoleon, are not likely to be displaced from the columns they occupy. Statesmen, on the contrary, seem to live by the hate or contempt they have inspired. Few indeed are the men who, after having controlled for any long period the destinies of nations, have left even a tolerable reputation. Actors, again, keep their place, and Betterton, Garrick, Kean, Kemble, Macready, Siddons, Talma, Rachel, and a score others, shine with undiminished lustre. These few reflections are suggested by the competition recently held in the columns of a London evening paper, given of late to experiments of this class, as to who are the greatest living Englishmen. I will put on one side as political the question who is the greatest statesman, and will leave out also the greatest preacher, novelist, and humbug. The result of some fifteen hundred opinions, then, is to place Mr. Millais as the greatest painter by 814 votes against 448 for Sir F. Leighton. This might, perhaps, have been expected. Mr. Sala, the only well-known jour nalist, heads the list of newspaper writers with 888 votes; the modern reputation of Lord Wolseley is shown in his having 1,060 for the position of greatest soldier. Mr. Huxley heads the men of science with 866 votes. Mr. Irving, in the competition. for actors, is foremost of all, having 1,337 votes. There is no cause for surprise in this. I am, however, astonished to find that Mr. Ruskin leads with 568 votes the list of writers, while Lord Tennyson comes in next with 262 votes. Is this the real opinion amongst Englishmen? I fancy not. There is a tendency to a reaction in the case of Lord Tennyson's reputation. I fancy, however, a broader experiment would show even yet that he stands. foremost in English estimation.

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THE STAGE AS A PROFESSION IN ENGLAND.

OW far the stage is a desirable profession for young women threatens to become one of the burning questions of the day. One disputant after another enters the arena, and Mr. Burnand, Mr. Hollingshead, Mr. Toole, and Mr. Dickens discuss the important question whether an actress is likely to remain a virtuous woman. There is in reality nothing to discuss. As I have more than once indicated, the best protection for a young woman of any social position is necessarily happy domestic surroundings. When for the close and careful protection of home is substituted an independent

life, new dangers have necessarily to be faced Whether a woman paints at an academy, sings at a concert, acts on the stage, or sells goods behind a counter, she is exposed to temptations which her more carefully guarded sister ignores. It is, however, imperative that women shall be able to earn their own living, and a woman who will make herself respected at home will probably do so on the stage. We want, as Macaulay somewhere says, "a robust and not a valetudinanın virtue' The lady who forfeits her character after going on the stage-that is to say, who cannot resist temptation-is no very desirable companion for a wife, even though circumstances should have kent her honest. There are theatres in London that are as child's in all respects as any commercial establishmen's. Without

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THE STAGE IN HOLLAND.

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stance theatrical tract, printed in 1743 The Case of our Present Theatrical Disputes In which is contained a Succinct Account of the Ir oss and Declension of the Ancient Stage," etc., etc., the grets of a century and a half ago are shown to have settled sit sårtory manner the question of the morals of actresses à England is now disturbed. "In point of decorum," says the Dutch theatre excels all others; their actors and a messes are al people of reputation, and cannot appear upon the ther cease so to be ; but then they all have some les Mr. Dym, who is their principal tragedian, is :-1 Mr. Punt, who is an excellent comedian, is an or actresses are the wives or daughters of burghers, ret al solitely get their living by a playhouse, so or do anything there which can blemish their cha" Whether the same course is still adopted I can at least bear personal witness to the real way in which the principal theatres of Holland and can state that no sacrifice of art attends the

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since the actors are among the best in ente por Germany can show finer acting than Rotterdam dramatic company during its - 2 1 - speaking, disastrous visit to London.

SYLVANUS URBAN,

THE

GENTLEMAN'S MAGAZINE.

M

MAY 1885.

THE UNFORESEEN.

BY ALICE O'HANLON.

CHAPTER XVIII.

IN HYDE PARK.

ASTER EUSTACE AWDRY was born early in the pleasant month of May, and towards the close of the July following he paid his first visit to the Metropolis, attended by his devoted parents, two nurses, and a suitable array of domestic servants.

In addition to the ancestral domain of Clavermere, a small estate in Devonshire, and a shooting-box in Scotland, the Grand Turk's papa (by that name Miss Ashmead had christened this infant prodigy) possessed a house in Park Lane, and thither with all due honour he was conducted. On the same afternoon of his arrival, his Imperial Highness was presented with a new courtier, whom, being in an unusually fractious mood, we are bound to confess, he received very unamiably. The courtier in question was his maternal grandfather. Mr. Estcourt had now been living in London upwards of three months. He had given up his house and his business in Quebec, and had taken furnished apartments in the West End, with the intention-so his daughter had been given to understand-of devoting his attention to the ship-building concern (principally of small yachts and barges), hitherto managed by his partner, Mr. Filder, on the Thames bank.

But, although he had been in England so long, and within a few hours' journey by rail from Clavermere, Mr. Estcourt had actually paid only one short, half-day's visit to Claudia since his arrival.

That visit had taken place just before the birth of her boy, and until now Mr. Estcourt had absolutely never seen King Baby! Claudia had felt both excessively hurt and excessively indignant VOL. CCLVIII. NO. 1853.

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