The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-01-08


 ''The play opens at Plymouth with the sighting of the Armada You see Drake playing bowls with the sea captains and refusing to be disturbed in his game by the appearance of the Spanish fleet. The next act takes place on the terrace of Richmond palace, and the third in West minister Hall during the trial of Essex for high treason. Before the earl is led away he has final scene, which is very finely written. with the Queen. In the last act, which is laid in Richmond pal ace, the Queen dies"
 There have been some remarkable de- velopments in the recent suicide of Paul Lafargue and his wife. the daughter of Karl Marx, the great prophet of the so- cialists.
 Lafargue's will indicates that ten years ago he had decided not to live longer than his 17th birthday, acting on the theory that a man has a right to disappear from this world when he is no longer of use in it.
 Everybody believed Lafarsue to be an extremely wealthy man. and tie modest life he and his wife lived at their pretty villa at Draveil was attributed to niserll- ness. His will shows that the famous re- former died penniless, while the house and orchard are mortgaged up to the hilt He only left enough to pay little legacles to his faithful servants.
 From what his executors say, Lafargue did not take his life in moment of dis or.,- hut tJa of ceived plan arranged in fcll detail a de- cade ago. Ten years ago he inherited q legacy of s95.Oe0. T am 60 years old" ne then said. 'and for 10 years shall keep my suppleness of limb and activity of minc Then I shall fall a victim to the disabli- ties of old age prefer not to face them. If death does not come to me then shall go to meet 1t. I give myself ten years to live and in order to prevent these being overshadowed by sordid money worries 1 shall divide my legacy into ten equal parts When my money is gone shall go too
 From 1901 until November 26s 1911, Paul LafargueNand his wife had an uneventful existence in their little villa, their money not invested and thus producing no inter- est. gradually diminishing Sometimes on Sunday there were gatherings of friends in the orchard to drink "to the future state.' The years passed and three weeks before the tragedy the old socialist still had s5O0 left.
 The fatal day was close at hand, for LafarSue had several small egacies to provide for. Suddenly friend called upon him for a loan. q must have s200, he trro .+ him the money, "and so goodbye.'
 A week or two later Paul and his wife had reached the goal they had set for themselves ten years before 7
 The brawl in which Prince Ouroussof Che thus spells his natne), junior, was en- gagged in night restaurant of the Place Pigalle, does not surprise anyone. Ihe restaurant in which the young prince. ac- companied by M. Monthly figured as the one frequented by Harry Thaw and his captivating wife during their sojourn in Paris The etiquette of the place Is morning clothes, so that customers be not frightened away on seeing gentlemen fresh from the Taberin or La Boite 8 Fursy in evening dress, with emaculate shirt fronts and white cravats. But there are small rooms to which they can be- take themselves Places must be be- spoken, and one way or another they come to a stiff total, whether in the gen. eral room or elsewhere.
 Society ladies in search of artistic in- pressions in the music hall part of the es- tablishment may be seen among the sou peuses. Persons of their set do not often know whether to ignore their presence or the country, as a cavalry officer of for tune and baronal title not long ago told me. Well. Prince Ouroussoff who entered in a visibiy excited state, to believe the police reports. refused, though in smart evening dress, to pass from the general room to a private one. He and his friend squared off when the waiter insisted The manager and other walters came flying to the rescue The Prince suddenly drew g revolver from his pocket and threatened to discharge 1t if not allowed to have his own way. The dernier ressort in such cases. the police were called in. and they collared the prince. and not minding the fists of his companion took both in charge They tasted the rigours of the lookup for short time. until the rank of the owner of the revolver could be ascer- tained. as the commissioner could not be sure that the visiting card he gave might not be a borrowed one.
 In the University of Paris Latin is now fighting for it's life. It is not yet threat ened officially with complete destruction, though it has already for some years past disappeared from the purely scien- tific degree of science ;>but some university men of influence are agitating to turn Latin out of the curriculum, even for lit erary degrees.
 To the ordinary man it seems obvious that no ope can know French etymologi- cally. that is to say, thoroughly without some knowledge of Latin; but even the question whether Latin is of any use Tor students of the French language and It. erature has been furiously debated in aca- demic circles here fer months past. Books and articles have been published on both sides. but at present 1t looks as If