The Sun.
London, England, 1868-12-25 00:00:00

EXTRAVAGANCE IN THE THEATRE.

At the opening of the new Gaiety Theatre in the
Strand, the ladies in the boxes were supplied
gratuitously with scented fans, inscribed with the
programme of the evening's entertainment. This is
curiously like to, though at the same time amusingly
different from, an arrangement which has long pre-
vailed at a theatre in the plebeian district of lloxton.
There, each of the audience is regaled with a good
hunch of bread and cheese. The competition among
theatre lessees is evidently becoming very keen.
Before long they will be offering to pay their visitors'
cab fares, just as parliamentary candidates pay
electors' rairway fares.

TWO SOCIAL EVILS.

•- -
The Daily .7cors calls attention to two social evils
which are every day becoming more flagrant. The
first is the multiplication of " lords " and " honour-
ables " in the Banl.-:ruptcy Court. The bankrupt's
liabilities are ten, twenty, sixty thousand pounds ;
his assets nil. He never had any money, and he
never expects to have any. Had a house at Brighton
at £370 per annum. Had five servants. Had a
horse or two. Attributes his difficulties to " in-
sufficiency of income." It never seems to occur either
to the bankrupt or to the Commissioners in Bank-
ruptcy that where the income is inadequate to the
wants, it is the second which must be reduced to the
proportions of the first. How is Lord Fitzfool and
the Hon. Tom Noddy to understand this when he
finds \Vest -end tradesmen, who know well his
impecuniosity, giving him unlimited credit because
of the handle to his name ? After all, he is not so
great a fool as they.
The other evil is more serious, because it affects a
larger class, and is more difficult of remedy. It is
the growing audacity of the licentious. Year by
year they have been becoming more bold. First
they published photographs of ballet girls. Then
" Anonyma " became the heroine of the shopwin-
dows ; then we introduced female acrobats in men's
attire, or in no attire at all. Then we imported
trench dances into our music-halls, dances which
even the un-Puritanical Parisians banished from
their cafes chantants. At this moment a courtesan
is all the rage, and her portrait is seen by the side of
Bishops and Cabinet Ministers, and is bought
while theirs remain unsold. The proprietor of a
Casino has hired this woman at so much
a night, and finds himself, well paid by
the number of fast men who come to
pay court to this frail woman. The latest develop-
ment of this downward progress is the publication of
this woman's portrait and career in a journal of large
circulation among servants, and the issue of
two almanacks illustrated with pictures of female
harlequins and acrobats more or less in primceval
costume, without any of the primceval innocence.
Apathy, ratner tnan disturbance, has been the prevail.
ing feature of the municipal elections in Spain. The right
of voting was open to the lowest and most illiterate classes,
but these were the most backward in exercising it. In
Madrid the most crowded districts produced the fewest
esters ; of a population of 500,000, not above 20,000
polled. In Spain, as everywhere else, interest
in politics is a public feeling of very slow
growth. There is no necessity that the Spanish voter
should write or dictate the name of the candidate for
whom be votes. In very many cases at these municipal
elections he simply took a ticket from the representative
of one of the parties, who were of course on the look-out,
and cast it into the urn, often without knowing the names
inscribed. The parliamentary elections may cause more
excitement.

The Paris correspondent of the Independance Beige
denies that Prince Carignano is about to visit Madrid.
The assertion of the Liberte that he was the candidate
whom the Provisional Government would propose to the
Cortes is incorrect.

The Madrid correspondent of the same journal is much
disposed to fear that the new year will see the end of the
peaceful phase of the Revolution. It is not denied that
the Carlists are making great preparations and are gaining
partisans in Navarre, Arragon, and Catalonia ; whilst, on
the other hand, the impatient Republicans will
not wait for the decision of the Cortes. The
clergy have entered into the campaign most vigo-
rously. Political preaching is the regular practice. One
Par:.ll priest terminated his sermon with the evangelical
assurance that the best tribute which his auditors could
offer as reparation for their sins was a dagger red'Avith the
blood of the Liberals. Everything betokens a speedy
scramble of parties.