PERSONAL NOTES,

Otago Witness, Issue 2308, 26 May 1898, Page 47

PERSONAL NOTES,

— The Eaaperor of China, who was carefully educated by an American missionary, can speak and read the English largaage fluently. Ha has a positive horror of European doctors, and his diet is regulated by a board of native medical men.

— M. Francois Coppee. the French poet and dramatist, is a bachelor, and devoted to his pel; cats. A friend who visited him a few years ago avers that he found one cat in the antechamber of the poet's residence, two cafcs in the dining- room, four in the drawiDg room, and eight in his study.

— Lord Rosslyn, as is well known, is actsDg in Me Pinero's play at the London Court; Thaalre. That ie, by night. By day he is now an editor. On an office door near the Strand b.B has put up his &ign — " The Scottish Life. Edited by the Earl of Rosslyn."

— Baron yon Hollsnben, the new German ambassador to the United Sbates, is crisscrossed from breast to crown with scars inflicted in duals, 21 o£ which he has fought. There ia a saying in Germany that while the baron is sometimes marked by a gear his opponents are more often marked by a gravestone. — The Czar is the fortunate possessor of a tenor voice of exceptional sweetness. He is, however, diffident of his powers as a feimger, and can oaiy bs induced So ashibifc his gj.it, within the circle of his s mmedifcts relatives. Ha has, it; is said, bosn hssiti to declare : "li I were not Czar, I think I could earn a respectable livelihood as a singer."

— Professor Max Muller has enjoyed a distinction which is probably nniquo. On December 3, 1873, aft the invitation ol Dean Stanley, h& delivered a lecture in s Westminster Abbey on the "Religious oil the World." It is said febafc no other lajcian hag

ever delivered an address within the sacred preoiccts.

— An interesting figure has disappeared from the Royal Navy in the person of Quartermaster Arthur Dickens, who "went out with the tide " at Chatham in the beginning of March, in the eighty-fourth year of hi 3 age. He accompanied Sir John Ross's expedition to the Arctic regions, was with the Baltic Fiest during the Crimean war, and had also seen other war service.

— Lord Wolseley is almost as devoted to the pen as to the sword, and if he had not been fated to be a field-marshal he would beyond qoestion have been a man of letters. He ri?e3 early in tbe morning to write, and bis official duties only commence when a pile cf MS. testifies to his industry with the pen. For some time past he has employed a nnmber of copjiits in making exlr&cts for him iv the archives of Venice.

— Lieutenant Churchill, who has just-been telling the story of hi 3 experiences in the late Indian war, is the son of tbe late Lord Randolph Churchill. He is an officer in the 4tb Hassarp, and is stationed at Bangalore, in the Madras Presidency, in one of the loveliest localities in India. Lieut. Churchill went to the wars as a volunteer, and wrote letters to the Daily Telegraph.

— When Mr Hiram Mixim, the famous 'inventor, first ■ lefc school he was employed aa a carriage painter, and his ability with the brush was noticeably exemplified by an incident which occurred one afternooD. A man called to see his employer while the latter was out. On his return Hiram informed him of tbe visit. " i forgot to ask his name," the boy said, " and ao I drew that " — poiati&g to a daub or* a board. So lifelike was the hasfcj sketch Shat Masim's employer at orca knew whom his visitor bad been.

— The Prince ot Wales U quite unable to appreciate the game of golf. One of tha caddies, who i* well known at St. Andre T7F, can be drawn occasionally into exprcjsi&g his views about golfers, great and otherwise upon whom he h&s at vaiious dmee attended. He is evidently no respecter of persons, for ■wten bi& oyiniou was asseo on the respective merits of tbe Prince, 3Tr isquitb, and Mi Ealfoar, he replied : <v Aye, I mind tie oH^uef. Tbuy'il ha'e muckle to llorn.a m . I tel'.ed ths Prince sc ; imL ha only laaghp<3. A light heart is \siy well for cricket, bnt i».*s a sotamn business J3 gowf."

— The late Sir James SUnsMd made landscape gardening one of his mosc cherished hobbiep. This he bad plenty of opportunities of foUowicg i.t hi& country seal, Caßtle Hill. RoiberSsld, Sasssx, where fr.here is evidence oa ail hsytids o£,),ua lo«i for flowers aud hie knowledge ' cf agricalture. "Deceased was brcugbt up in an atmosphere of piety, and there was a tradition that on one occasiosi, when & boy, he made a notable ptayer — a praye* which the whola ol his afterlife se«oas ia some fashionto hava be in spent in fulfilling. Be prayed: "Make us all goodeier aa' goodersr until we can't be no gooderer."

— The Marquess cf Londonderry- -who, although he boasts a distinguished descent from, aa ancestor who tough b at Agincourt, has been willing to barn laige revenues at> a coal merchant — is a dark, baedsome, fi.Defeaenred in&u of 45. The noted S'iaha.a coilkries, the sale of which he has bean negotiating for the aabstastial snxa o' £2,000,000, Tere at c-dc «t) in the possession of Bjron's family, who had not the tatsjpuse to turn them into gold. L-jtd Londonderry o«im 50,000 acres of had, and has r.wo princely eaats noich of the Hnmber, one in Ireland, another i*» Wa'es, and a town house in Park Lano.

— The Marquess of Bats is possibly n?ors than any British peer the architect of his own fortune. It is estimated that his fortune, if converted into gold, would represent a weight of at least 80 tons of bullion, and would requJra for ite transport the utmost strength of 50 of his horsas. His income Kay safely be estimated at £2000 a dsy. Add to this 18 titles, besidea dignities innumerable, and five lordly pleasure ho«SB3, and it will readily be acknowledged that the MarquesG has reason to think himself among the blessed of the earth. Cardiff has been to Lord Bnte the source from whioh lncky millions have flowed.

— Major Frederick John Deal try Lugard, C.8., D.5.0., who has left England to take up his new duties in the Lagos Hinterland, fis one of the brilliant band of officers who have done so much to extend the British rale in Africa. The son of General Sir Edward Lugard, he was born' 40 years ago, and entered the army attbe age of 19. He became captain in the Norfolk Regiment in 1885 and major in 180(5. He served during the Afghan War of 1879-80, for which he obtained a medal. He also served in the Soudan campaign of 1885. Major Lugard was next employed in the Burraah Field Force (1886-S7), and was thrice mention^ ia despatches. Sicce the time of the Burma^i War his services have been almost escla sivelj African. Sent to Nyassalaud in tht early daya of the protectorate, he wsi. severely wounded in a fight with the Ara'r. slavers, whom, however, he defeated. Itwa.-, however, his work in Uganda which first brought Major Lugard prominently before the public. •

— Mr Frederick Tennyson, whose death wasrecentlyannounced, had rescued thegreat age of 91 years. Like his brothers, the lato Poet Laureate and Charles, he turned his attention to poetry early, his first succeas beiDg*at Trinity College in 1828, on which occasion he won Sir William Browne's msde.l for a Greek ode in Sapphic metre on Egypt. In 1854 appeared his first volume of poems, " D.*ys and Honrs," which met with a kindly reception. By this time, however, Alfred Tennyson was whining popularity on every hand, and probably the elder brother was not disposed to enter into competition with one of his name, for he remained teilenfc until 1890, when " The Isles of Greece " was published. II;s )«sfc volume, " Poems of the Day and Year," was Ssatisd in. 1595. Mr Frederick Tennyson was* a gr^sl traveller, his favourite baanca byfog \.h& Ici\izn Iths and Sicily.

I Dear Sra,-~Please inform your readers that I | have been cured of Debility by a simple and ml | expensive remedy, and will bo pleased to send the ; means uf cure to sll suft'erera. I do this entirely 1 out of gifitiracie a»d maka no chaise whatever. s Sftnd Giaixjpad addresw d or.vulope to Mr "W ILBEB KJ3LLOGU. B«x 344, Mellwuhc. Yicicda.

— The buuioKi timo on llio Atlantic cable is I —It is said that in London there are no between tho hours oi" 10 and 12 in the forenoon. I fewer than. 10,000 professional musicians of During that lime, on an average, about 900 I various grades, and that inoro than bcil «€ meijsmg'cs pass over tho cables each way. ' lihejJi are women.