Pars about Notabilities.

Auckland Star, Volume XLII, Issue 155, 1 July 1911, Page 15

Pars about Notabilities.

Father R. H. Benson has been designated private chamberlain to the Popl with the title of Monsignor. Born in 1871 at AVellington College, Monsignor Benson is the fourth son of the °late Archbishop Benson, and after bein"- educated at Eton and Trinity Colleger Cambridge, he took Anglican orders and held curacies in East London. Thirteen years ago he joined the Anglican Community of the Resurrection at Mirfield, and in 1003 ho was received into the Roman Catholic Church. Of his admission the "Catholic Who's Who" says:-"Since Jobio Matthew, son of the' Archbishop of York, became a Catholic in 1600, probably no son of an Anglican Archbishop other than Father Benson has joined 'the Italian Mission' (as Archbishop Benson lightly named it)."

Jsow that the Kaiser has sent the! Crown Prince to command a regiment in 1 distant Dantzig, there can be no harm (says the "Club Gossip" of the "Liverpool Post") in relating the episode' which brought him into disgrace with his autocratic father. In India the young Prince thoroughly enjoyed him- : self, and proved he was every inch a sportsman and a good fellow. But he did not attempt to conceal how 'bored he was -with ceremonials which threw him into enforced contact with generals and veteran officials. The climax came on one occasion when he was to be entertained by a native potentate. All was in readiness, but nowhere could the German Heir-Apparent be found. Hours passed, making it necessary to cancel the whole ceremonial. And then it was found he had been amusing himself by investigating native haunts after the manner of inquiring Europeans. Such is the tale current all over India. Rumour declares that on hearing this the Kaiser recalled him promptly, and that this was the secret of the cutting short of his Eastern tour. At present he is rusticating and very much bored.

Enver Bey, one of the leaders of the| Young Turk revolution, was on May 15 last wedded to the royal bride, Princess' Nadjii Sultana, conferred upon him as! a reward for his services. The ceremony' at the palace was a strange one. The! Sheikh-ul-Islam presided, but neither the j bride nor bridegioom was there. Indeed, | each was represented by three witnesses 1 who entered into the contract on their j behalf. This custom follows the rul-j of the sacred law. It is not settled where the happy pair 'will live. It is said that the Sultan considers it undesirable that the Princess should resido in a foreign capital, and it is thought possible that Enver Bey may be promoted to a post I on the General 6taff in Constantinople. The marriage had twice before been postponed on the eve of its celebration. A good story is going the rounds of the Continental press concerning the Archduke Francis Ferdinand, heir to the Austrian throne. The Archduke, who had his wife as his companion, was driving his own motor near his estate in Austria when they halted by the wayside. A passing peasant made a request for a "lift" to the next village, and was

accommodated with a seat beside the | Duchess, to whom he talked freely all the j way, and at the end of the journey informed the Archduke that his wife "had a lovely face." He also asked to pay ( something for his journey, and wished to i stand the Royal driver a drink, but the i Archduke smilingly refused and drove ! i away, leaving the peasant to discover his 1 identity later. i The discovery of an interesting relic of \ Gordon in the shape of his cigar case—"a j plain leather case, which had evidently ] seen much service, with his name written . on the back in black ink"—recalls the General's unostenlatious departure from ; England in 1884. On January 18 he was • summoned to a meeting at the War Office, , and at eight o'clock on the same evening he left Calais for the Soudan. Quiet as , was his departure, three of the most distinguished men in the country acted as his servants, for Lord Granville took his = ticket, Lord Wolseley carried his bag, j and the Duke of Cambridge opened the : carriage door. Of the four men, only : Lord Wolseley survives to-day. ' An engagement is soon to be officially | announced between Miss Dorothy Drew, : the grandchild of the late Mr. Gladstone, i and Lieutenant Parish, one of Lord Gladstone's aides-de-camp in South Africa. Miss Dorothy Drew was the favourite of the late Mr. Gladstone, and he always ; liked to have her with him. She is now 20 years of age. Many amusing storiei are told of her and her famous grandfather. On one occasion she was asked : by him why she was not up earlier in the i morning. In an instant she answered '. that her grandfather had told her to do as ■ the Bible told her, and as the Bible said, "It is vain for you to rise up early," she had followed the advice. After a visit, when quite a child, to Queen Victoria at i Windsor, she was asked whether she did ' not think the Castle was a glorious place. She replied that it was "just as nice as , Hawarden Castle." ' Karl Baedeker, whose death has just occurred, was the son of the creator of [ the guide-books which have made the firm famous. The founder of the publishing house was Diederich Baedeker, who died at Biclenfeld in 1716; and the family has carried on the business first at Coblenz, and afterwards at Leipzig, ever since. The prosperity of the business has not been achieved without opposition from hotel- ! keepers, who objected to criticism. The ' circulation of the "French Guide" was once forbidden in France on account of an alleged libel on a Nancy hotel; and some ] tppid cautions against certain hotels at Naples were once denounced by the Cham- j her of Commerce of that city as "insults I and defamations." The, first Baedeker ' was the "Rheinreise," which appeared in 1828. An extraordinary ceremony will take place shortly in Paris in honour of a j negro clown named Choeolat. It is proI posed to decorate the clown with the | purple ribbon, which will make him an | officer of. public instruction. Choeolat, j clown though he is, is not only a man and a brother, but a philanthropist. He has made old and young Parisians laugh at the Nouveau Cirque and other places for 27 years, and in his Spare time he has clowned for nothing for the amusement I of sick children and their elders in every hospital in Paris. The clown's companion, with whom he did most of his 27 years' hard work, is an Englishman j named Ocorsre Footit. He used to de- , wribo himself, with his white powdered , face, as Choeolnt's twin brother, who was j " born in daylight, while Choeolat was j horn just after it got dark." Footit, ■ though he is a man with grown-up sons, .is still a clown, and has no thought of [ retiring yet.