New-York tribune., 1884-03-24
NOTES FROM LONDON.
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS..

PERsONAL-LlCERAltl
- ,ror, A., coRnFspoSDfNr OF THE TRIBUNE
tFRoN IH~ "H LONDON, March .,
II would be ungracious to look 700 e.oS's nv.
origin of the memorial bust TO LohBio"o"' -.
~ saturday WAS set up in Westminster Apo1S
I'll ,rooofnl and gratifying ceremonials. bhg"sl
W. - beon found to say in print that one VI
- --o,,otecs Of this tribute had ms own hoVo-
-, u,ore ut heart than honors TO LoheieHo"'
A. American. while he may regret the sihgui"ii'y
90 .ho methods of the conspicuous want OF goou
t,ste thus exhibited, may forget tins III MS pe"s0
ot the recognition Of the international quanty oo
longing 10 literature written IN the Ehg'lSh anu
American tongue The bust is not oad one LoI"
CnouviIla said few words in his easy way, re-
,narLabIe alike for tact and good feeling. Mr.
To,re,l smoke with the apt felicity which has gwen
r., a nlace apart among those who address the
Tpglish rublic on occasions remote from poItlcs'
,yhot he said of Longfelow and of English adInlra-
tion for Longfellow was in the right key suihcent
INT not excessive and in the style which is his own
The Prince of Wales sent a letter OF regret.
Few announcements could be more tantalizing TO
ono section of the English public than that when
LET'S the world know that memoir OF Bernal oS-
horne an existence will not be published but is
+o have a p1iyats circulation. Mr.. Bagena is the
sautbor-a well-known writer for the press KNOWN
also by a good book on the Irish IN America anu
now. | think private secretary to Lord uni"''l'
The Dpke of St Albans has had $50 copies struck
of for distribution among his friends AS 'n1
Ducbess of ST. Adams is daughter Oh berhai
Osborne this implies that the biography has been
aoo With the sanction of the family, and, perhaps,
,,i,b more discretion than the general public
would like.
Bernal Osborne was long conspicuous figure in
London. He has sometimes been named as rival
10 the late Mr.. Hayward, and 1t IS true that the
two men were both ornaments OF society. bOth
were sought for both were good takers, but tnere
The resemblance ends. Bernal Osbornes puOnc
life was political. Haywards literary. OsbOrnes
style of conversation had little IN common win
Uavwards it was more personal, dealt more with
the topics of the day, and perhaps more ag-
aressye. certainly less various and less finished
He drew more on his own wit and talent for sharp
savings and less on stores of anecdote; less sun
ON reminiscence and history, of which Hayward
was ALWAYS full If Osborne chose. If he was pro
yoked. or if he had target iii a man whom he as
liked, he could deal terrible blows. NO man
equalled him in the art of making other men
ridiculous. ! don't mean that he was haDtuaHy
oruel but give the occasion, he capable of
drawing on a foolish person to the disclosure OF
lis folly in a way that was at once mastery ana
merciless There are stories OF dinnertabes at
which the Prince of Wales and Osborne were both
guests and some third person wEo plumed himself
On his intimacy with the Prince, or on the frlhce
liking for him, and who staggered about It, On
sueb a man Osborne would lavish sarcasm, w.t.
raillery grave irony in swift prolusion whlch
sent the Prince into uncomfortable meTrIment'
But scenes of that sort are not likely to hnd
place in Mr.. Bagenals pages
During his long Parliamentary career Berna
Osborne occupied place of his own. lie had
gift for handling serious subjects lightly lie could
make An amusing speech on the Budget and jokes
on the Corn Laws and yet contribute as much to
the elucidatIon of a dry subject rs II he had Deeh
equally dry himself. The House of Commons de-
lighted in him. and everybody grieved when he
retired from Parliamentary life The II ouse was
perceptibly duller without him. Nobody VINO
sees the House now Tor the first time can form
mnch notion of what it was fifteen years ago with
Disraeli Lowe, Roebuck, the present Sir Robert
Peel. Osborne and other men now absent from its
benches 1t has degenerated in many other points,
INIT in none more than in the sparkling freshness
of the debates III which such men took the lead.
Nh. Fscott has an excellent article on the late Mr.
HAYWARD in the March FOrtnightly, bringing ont
with force the more serious side Of HaywaTds char
acter Ii is the only paper have seen which gives
ANYTHING like an adequate account of the political
Influence which Hayward welded for more than
generation Mr.. kscott who has fund OF un-
usual knowledge, tells two or three stories about
Haywards relations to Palmerston and other lead
ers too long to quote here, but eminenty character
istic of the man. He does Justice TO his courage
end decisiyeness of character to the thoroughness
of his knowledge and his really passionate love OF
tnth. In another direction, here is a passage which
will have a fresh interest at this moment IN America
There is no reason why the fact should not he here
recorded that when Mrs. LangtTy made nor private
debut the late Mr. CheneIy expressed ns Iei?i a.
discovering that Mr.. Hayward possessed Il Iieket
for the performance, and was wiling 10 write a
notice of it, The critque mil igh not have been mas
teIpiece but it struck the keynote Whlch the press
of the countries at once TOOK up
This last remark is perfectly true Mr.. Hayward S
criticism in The Times contributed more than all
Others to the immense fame which Mrs. Langtry all
at once achieved. One reason for this was that Mr.
HAYWARD nut aside all the tnid traditions of the
paper he was writing for and said what he
thought lie described and praised Mrs Langtrys
beauty in glowing terms, and warmly recognized
the promise of dramatic capacity which that first
performance revealed The old stagers were aghast
at this freedom, and the article was pretty roughly
handled by the regulars of the profession. Bat
HAYWARD knew perfectly well what he was about
and the result has abundantly yndcated bis gener-
Gus anticipatOns. Mr.. Escott is hardly accurate IN
spealling of this performance as private. IL was
only private IN the sense that Mrs Langtry's per-
,onal friends had been beforehand with the public
in buying tickets. But tickets were on sale at the
agents and at the theatre. bought oDe myself and
q very pretty price l paid for it. Mr. Hayward,
may add was one of Mrs. Langtry's earliest and
most constant and most useful friends. The num-
Der of people who compete for the honor OF having
sdiscovered" the Jersey Lily is considerable, but
not one of them rendered her the service which
Hayward did who would have scoiled at the idea OF
claiming any merit in the matter. Mrs. Langtry
was ono, and only one, of many less beautiful and
gifted women who found in Hayward an adviser
equally competent and disinterested
Whoever is responsible for the publication of
George EliOts Essays" BlackwOOd Il Sons has
not taken much wise thought for her fame, or per
haps has thought her fame great enough to support