The Sun.
London, England, 1870-06-17 00:00:00

MEEROPOLITAN GOSSIP.-THURSDAY,

A week or two ago a letter purporting to be from the
Prince of Wales to his brother the Duke of Edinburgh
was published in the French papers. The authenticity
of that letter was subsequently denied. But what could
have been the . object of inventing it ? Was
it a mere hoax, or had it any specific pur-
pose ? The Memorial Diplomatique, a Paris journal
which is supposed to be in the secrets of all great
personages, declares that the " mystification " is due to
the enemies of the Prince, " who affects a certain con-
tempt for public opinion, and, far from occupying himself
with affairs of State, in a manner to prepare himself for
the arduous task he will one day have to fulfils
gives himself up to pleasure and amusement." This
very influential, and usually very discreet journal,
goes on to give sundry particulars with regard to the
Prince's private affairs, which an English journalist will
not care to repeat. Suffice it to say that the Queen having
refused to aid her son out of her resources, the assist-
ance of the Cabinet has been asked, and under
the guise of a great act of policy which will
assume the form of a brilliant court at
Dublin, Mr. Gladstone means to ask for a considerable
rßrdrease to the 'Prince's income.— --This becoming known,

the enemies of the Prince, says the paper above mentioned,
forged the letter with the view of rendering Parliament
less favourable to the idea. If this be a true account of
the incident it must be confessed that the foes of his
Royal Highness dissembled their hatred very suc-
cessfully. There was nothing in the spurious letter to
damage the Prince, but, on the contrary, it told in his
favour. The forgery might very well have come from a
friendly hand.
It , will be remembered that early in the year the
Liberal papers and certain Liberal M.P.'s were
rather hard upon the Foreign Office because
a young Englishman, named Nathan, had been
apprehended by the Italian Government, sent to prison,
and was lying there month after month without trial. It
was alleged that Nathan was a most guilelesss, inoffensive
creature, and had nothing to do with any political move-
ments whatever. The pressure placed upon Lord
Clarendon and Mr. Otway made them place pres-
sure upon the Italian Government, and Nathan was libe-
rated. The next thing we heard of him was that he was
leading a band of revolutionists on the borders of the
Lake of Como. Of course they did nothing, but after
being paid their expenses by their youthful commander,
returned to their own homes. It is now said that this
hare-brained young Englishman with the Jewish name is
the son of no less a person than Mazzini. ,His mother has

long lived near Lugano, where Mazzini resides when he is
conspiring in the Swiss Canton of Tessindthat runs down,
so iiiconveniently for the Florence Government, into
Italian territory. Nathan was born about 1850, and a
foreigner who visited London two years later remembers
how devoted he found Mazzini at that time to an

infant. It is supposed that this was the youngster who
has just been undertaking an abortive conspiracy in his
father's native country, and thereby shewing himself a
true chip of the old block.
To-night the first real battle of the session in the House
of Commons begins. It is unusually late. Ordinarily
the fighting is done before the middle of June, and after
that time wearied members assume the attitude of the
Lotos-eaters. But Mr. Gladstone got his Land.
Bill through first as the most urgent measure;
and left until now the Education Bill, which
is the most disputed. Mr. Vernon Harcourt
heads the attack, and it is expected that the debate
not be concluded until Monday or Tuesday. As'regards
the Land Bill, it is safe. The resolution taken by the
Lords not to oppose the second reading removes all diffi-_
culty out of the way, and the one peer who has moved
the rejection—of- the bill, will find himself the
leader of a very forlorn hope. Yesterday's
debate in the House of Commons was exceed-
ingly lively, the tie gave rise to much excite-
ment, and Mr. Disraeli's short speech was an in-
cident worth noting. _

I am glad to be able to give a good account of. the
Archbishop of Canterbury. He is ordered to be out of
doors eight hours a day, and he is regaining strength. He
is not, however, expected at Lambeth for some time to

come.

Themovement for appropriating to the education of girls
wasted or useless charitable endowments is making slow
progress. The committee are working just now in West-
minster, and it is hoped that before the London season is
over the Dean and Lady Augusta Stanley will take part
in a public meeting.
It is fully expected that Professor Jowett will succeed
Dr. Scott, who has just been appointed to the Deanery of
Rochester, as Master of BallioL Dr. Scott's predecessor
also obtained a deanery, that of Wells, which Dr. John-
son still holds. Will Dr. Scott's successor be equally
fortunate?
Last year a good deal of curiosity was excited in London
society by the announcement that a grand ball was to be
given at Willis's Rooms by somebody whose very name
even was unknown. Of course no one would go under the
circumstances. The rooms were thronged to overflow-
ing. Some 800 guests were present, and the host
was not acquainted with a dozen of them. It was very
brilliant and very pleasant, and there was not the
smallest evidence of anything improper. The experi.
meat is to be repeated on the 20th, and is
likely to be just as successful as on the former
occasion. The giver of the entertainment comes from
the Eastern counties, and the story runs that, having
made the acquaintance of some charming young ladies
abroad, they induced him to give a ball. He allowed
them carte blanche, and so tickets were sent to friends
and friends' friends to the 12th remove. Another enter-
tainment of a more regular kind, the soirée of the Royal
Academy, takes place on the 29th.
The Great Western Railway Company have started
broughams and barouches, which they let out at 9d. the
mile, or 2s. 6d. the hour. They are most comfortable
carriages, and the extra sixpence an hour is a most mode-
rate charge for the advantage of driving in vehicles that
are neither tainted with pestilence nor swarming with
vermin.
The lamentably brilliant weather continues. This
morning the thermometer -was 68 deg. at eight
o'clock. While our fellow-subjects at the An-
tipodes are being drowned with rain, we are
being sc Drched up to a degree far more
serious than in 1868. The hot dry weather of that year
was two months later, and we had good crops both of hay
and corn. This year there is no prospect of either. It is
much to be regretted, in seasons like this, that the system
of sewage irrigation does not prevail more extensively.
Visiting Banbury a little while ago, I was
greatly struck by the appearance of the grass
on the town sewage farm. In the same field there
were two levels—one too high for the sewage, and that was
coarse and poor while the sewage-watered portion was
luxuriant. During the drought of 1868, the crops of rye
grass were sold at very high prices, realising nearly £3O
an acre. There is no doubt that the same system adopted
in other towns would secure our cattle against the dearth
from which they are now suffering, and which is com-
pelling farmers to part with their lean stock now,
to the great detriment of our purses six months hence.
M. Dore is painting a picture larger than any of his
previous works, and that is saying a good deal, for this
artist is an adept in covering the greatest amount of can-
vas in the shortest time. The subject of this
work is Christ leaving the Praetorian Hall.
M. Dore is disappointed with London. He
came over here in order to make the drawings
for a book of which Mr. Blanchard Jerrold
is to do the letter press. But the artist can find
nothing picturesque in the province of houses. He should
go_to Ratcliff Highway and Rotten Row, and he will find
plen,tx, of materials, and of very different kinds.
PerhiN M. Dore would like London better if he
knew thltondoners' language. But he is no linguist.
It is. rumoured that Mr. John Forster, whp wrote the
life of 'Walter -Savage Landor, will be the biographer of
Dickens. Sir Hoc Holland, the celebrated physician
who married the 'vghter of Sydney Smith, is writing
his own autobiograp He has visited all parts of the
world, and last year was in America. He is now nearly
eighty-two. There isno chance of Cobden's life
I
being written at pracint. His friends, have
iprib*e reasons for withholding the biography
fof the present. Lieutenant ?Colonel Prince Edmond de
la Tour d'Auvergne has added another to the numerous
works on Waterloo. He attributes the defeat to Grouchy's
inactivitykilant thinks that a victory could not have saved
Napoleon from an overthrow, andilid save the lives of 100,000
men, who would otherwise have perished in subsequent
battles. Thetitleof Mr. Buchanan's new poem is " Ballads
of Life."
The New British Vi4titution s just opened its first
summer exhibition with'o,o worla, chiefly by olci masters.
Captain Ottley lends a Wry ldige number of the works
exhibited, and some of them are exceedingly valuable.
The most remarkable is a work by Titian, which has been
perdu fofma,nY Years. There is also a work by the rare
Spahlsh Oxtiztßittales.

FMOSES and SON supply every description of
. clothing, ready-made, or made to measure, for all ages,
all occasions, and all classes : also Hosiery and Drapery, Hats
and Caps, Boots and Shoes, and complete outfits for all climates.
All Goods marked in Plain Figures.
Any article exchanged if not worn or injured.
List of Prices, with Rules for Self-measure, Patterns, and
Fashion-sheet, gratis and post-free.
E. MOSES and SON'S Establishments are closed every Friday
evening at sunset, till Saturday evening at sunset, when busi-
ness is resumed until Eleven o'clock.
The following are the only addresses of E. MOSES and SON :

LONDON.
CORNER of MINORIES and ALDGATE.
NEW OXFORD-STREET, CORNER OF HART-STREET.
CORNER of TOTTENHAM-COURT-ROAD and EUSTON-ROAD,

COUNTRY BRANCH
BRADFORD, YORKSHIRE.

LONDON, FRIDAY, JUNE 17, 1870.

As ff the melancholy ocean and Fenianism were
not enough to disturb the excitable imagination of

her people, poor Ireland has for several weeks had to

endure the •pieode of Mr. DARCY Inv'Nn's
insanity. A. country gentleman in the prime of life,
with an income of nearly £B,OOO a year, having be-
sides this personal property amounting to some
£so,ooo—a magistrate, a landowner, the possessor of
a castle, and gardens, and a park, and a saw-

mill, he suddenly goes out of his mind in
the most odd and whimsical way imaginable
with all the appearance of aspiring to the notoriety
of a political agitator, whose aim in life is at one
and the same time—to set the law at defiance and to
vindicate it. His manifestations of excitement bore all
the aspect of insurrectionary demonstrations. He
wielded the pen and brandished fire-arms alternately.
he appeared in Enniskillen armed with revolvers.
He fired shots into the dwelling-house of
his supposed foe, Captain BUTLER, a neigh-
bouring stipendiary magistrate. He covered his own
place, Irvinestown, with printed placards of the
most incendiary character. He " wired " telegrams
of the wildest description to all kinds of illustrious
personages. Addressing himself to the QUEEN, he
informed her Majesty by telegraph that he was in
possession of what his Sovereign had not—to wit,
the finest lake view in the country—magnanimously
adding that he placed it entirely at HER MAJESTY'S
command. He informed H.R.H. the Duke of
CAMBRIDGE, as the Field-Marshal Commanding-in-
Chief that he, Mr. DARCY IRVINE, must have martial
law, and no mistake I He announced to the LORD-
LIEUTENANT of IIkELAND and to the LORD
CHANCELLOR of IRELAND simultaneously, and, it
must be said also, inooherently—what ? Why nothing
less than this. "1 was born," he wrote to them,
"what is called a genius; at seven years I was in
fractious [whatever that meant], and I am the only
gentleman whom I know in thia country who dis-
tinguished himself in college." He put himself into
communication, in a manner that must have astonished
them all very considerably, with the Lord Mayors of
London and Dublin, as well as with the Provosts of
Glasgow and of Edinburgh. He apprised the Queen
that he felt ill, and that he deemed it essential for
the sake of the safety of. her Crown and Throne and
Sceptre, that her Majesty should make up her royal
mind to interpose without further delay between
himself and his worst enemy, Captain BUTLER
aforesaid, of that otherwise the latter, after
killing him gradually during these last five years
would rob him with impunity by the aid of
Fenian rebels and Ribbonmen. He " cabled " under
the waters of the Channel to the Queen's Private
Secretary the intimation that the turnkeys were
" rev olters," thereby contributing a new word to the
English dictionary. He despatched an express mes-
sage to the Secretary of the Carlton Club, em-
powering him at once to send across to
the sister island to his aid two first
class cooks, a couple of kitchenmaids,
a butler, a valet de ohambre, two under-butlers, and
three housemaids. On the 16th ult. he issued a
wildly declamatory notice or proclamation, thus
expressed :—" Rise 1" he cried, "sons of civil and
religious liberty, Orange and Green. Meet in Ennis-
killen on Friday, 20th May, on the Fair-green, in
defence of the QUEEN and her throne ; in defence of
your lives; in defence of Irish rights; in defiance of
all party government; in defiance of the police
magistrates who wrote in the press that peaceful
inhabitants are shocked to see loyal men carrying
arms to protect their lives against assassins. United
we stand, divided we fall." Finishing off not with a
flourish, a la Bob Acres, of Odds, Triggers, and
Bullets, but with the superb bathos of "Yours truly,
H. M. D'Ancy IRVINE." The Authorities at length be-
ginning to have a glimmering of the state of things,
put him under arrest, when, lo and behold, he instructs
his solicitor to issue a writ against the Crown for the
recovery of damages to the amount of £60,000 for
unlawful seizure and unauthorized detention. A.
Commission of Inquiry at length pronounces
him to be of unsound mind—et voila tout.
Sorrowful and absurd though the whole
story is, it has its significance. It is, if you
will, from first to last, like " a tale told by an idiot,
full of sound and fury, signifying nothing." But it is
for all that intensely and essentially indigenous of the
soil—it is distinctly born of the mad and lawless
follies by which whatis called Fenianism has so long
been distracting the imagination of the more empty-
headed portion of the Irish population.

Tnr: public will learn with great dissatisfaction

that the Treasury have put their threat in execution
and arrested Mr. EDMUNDS. He has been taken to
Whitecross-street Prison, having beep arrested at
the suit of the Crown for the amount of the award
given against him. This would be all very well,
however hard the course of proceeding might ap-
pear, and however unusual the event might be, were
there not another side to the question. Mr. EDMUNDS
has commenced an action for libel against
Mr. GLADSTONE and other Treasury officials,
when forthwith he is put hors de combat,
and the case is virtually decided against him.
Inquiry was made in the House of Commons con-
cerning the matter some weeks ago, when Mr. LowE
informed the House that he did not mean to "hold
his hand." That promise he has kept with a zeal
worthy of a better cause, but he may regret the I