PERSONAL ITEMS.

The Duke of Atholl takes the palm among British Peers as a many-titled man. He has twenty-three titles.

For twelve years past Madame Albani has spent the autumn near Balmoral at a house called Old Mar Lodge, lent her by tho Duke of Fife.

Rockfeller was a lazy boy, whose highest ambition was to be a trapeze performer in a circus. His wealth is now estimated at £40,000,000, and he did not make ib in the sawdust ring,

The Earl of Desart, author of the " Raid of the Detrimental," is perhaps better known as the writer of the celebrated sermon on Mother Hubbard, which appeared in one of his earlier books.

The Millais biography is in the hands of Mr. John Guille Millais, tho third son of the late President of the Royal Academy. Mr. Millais was in his eager days one of the Rossshire Buffs, the Duke of Albany's Own, bub he has now married and settled down near Horsham.

Mr. A. E. Bateman, C.M.G., who is expected to succeed Sir Robert Giffen in the Statistical Department of the Board of Trade, has had a ripe experience of commercial treaties. Probably no treaty has been negotiated of recent years in connection with which he has not been consulted. Mr. Bateman at this moment holds the position of Deputy-Controller of the Board of Trade.

The Master of the Rolls, who, ib is said, will shortly resign, is over 82 years of age, and is tho oldest judge on the Bench, of which he has been an occupant for upwards of 29 years, having been appointed a Justice of the Courb of Common Pleas, in August, 1868. In November, 1876, ho was appointed a Lord-Justice of Appeal, but in April, 1883, he was raised to his present dignity of Master of the Rolls; and in 1885 lie was created a Peer of the United Kingdom under the title of Lord Esher.

Miss Braddon, the novelist), writes at) great speed, in working upon her books, being able to produce on the average about fifteen hundred words an hour. Long ago the first Lord Lytton gave her the advice of his own experience, that ib was often better to attack the third volume, after finishing the first. This enables the writer to bring all possible thought and vigour to bear upon the denouement, afterwards filling in the less dramatic part of the story, and thus avoid any falling off, due to fatigue or weariness in the concluding chapters. Miss Braddon has often found this advice very useful in her work upon the great number of novols she has produced.

The Bishop Designate of Wakefield, the Right Rev. Rodney Eden, Bishop Suffragan of Dover, who is to succeed tho late Dr. Walsham How, has many qualifications for the post. He is a native of the North Country, and was ordained in the diocese of Ripon, his reputation being won in tho diocese of Durham. He is the eon of the Rector of Sedgebrook, Durham, and bis first appointment was at Aysgarth. His only incumbency was at Bishop Auckland, his whole career having been spent within the Wesb Riding. Among the chief of the Bishop Designated many charms are his frankness and the entire absence of bigotry from his conversation. The warm way in which the appointment has been received in theKorth presages well for his popularity during his work there.

All readers of Punch will learn with regreb of the death of Mr. E. J. Milliken, the creator of the '"Airy", of undying fame. Mr. Milliken,- whose death is keenly regretted by his co-workers, made his first appearance on the staff of Punch in 1875, on January 2, bub . the inimitable "'Arry Papers' withdrew 'attention from the " Child Chappie's Pilgrimage a parody of Lytton's "Olenaveril," entitled, "Fitzdotteril;" and more recently," The New Guide to Knowledge," which appeared in 1885. Mr. Milliken always contributed the cartoon verses, and to him is due the credit for the majority of the inspirations, for the subject. ; In this connection especially the staff will feel his loss greatly, for being well read his inventive faculty had a wide range and was uniformly successful.