People We Read About.

Evening Star, Issue 7428, 25 January 1888, Page 4

People We Read About.

Archibald Forbes, in one of his graphic letters from the Zulu War, described the "rapture of battle" on Sir Evelyn "Wood's face, at Ulundi, where Wood was on horseback, just inside the square. He was the most conspicuous mark for the assegais, but escaped. It was reported months ago that the Ameer Abdurrahman, of Afghanistan, was dying of a bad leg, and this caused Ayoub to .snring up. But the latest novvs is that the Ameer is still hearty. Threatened men livelong. He is calling on Lord Dufl'erin to send him an English Central for the Afghan army. Lord Dufleriii won't, for Russia is very friendly just now. Charles Warner, the new Loudon actor, coming out under engagement to Williamson, Garner, and Musgrovo, is confounded by some people with other Stillioo to fay lie has never been in Au-.trali,i. It is said that Henry Neil Warner, the old Melbourne favorite, is still acting in America. He was Charles Surface, in the School for Scandal, at the opening ol the M. IV-urne Theatre Royal, near thirty-throe years ago. Spurgeon is at his old winter quarters in Mentono, on the Riviera, not far from the Crown Prince, at San Reino. Very likely there will be an interview between these distinguished men. Youii" i'rince Wilhelm, almost regarded as Emperor of Germany, is intellectual as well as belligerent. In the latest papers we find reports of his admirable speech at a kind of Church Congress in Berlin, urging that Christian Socialism should he studied.

Lord Randolph Churchill's wife, who shares his St. Petersburg triumphs, is a Yankee, the beautiful daughter of Mr Jerome, un American millionaire. Site is a delicious singer, and very smart every way. Perhaps everyone does not know that Lord Wolseley has only one eye with which to inspect our forces. He lost the other at Sebastopol. Ouce he beat the African magicians, and astounded them by pulling out his eye, tossing it in the air, and catching it again—so the story runs. After Barnnm's last disastrous lire he .simply cabled to his English agent " Menagerie'all burnt. Buy new one," and the agent bought Wombwell's show right out. There is a little French actress—Madame Chaumont—they are trying to persuade to come to Melbourne with the new Vaudeville Company. A most charming singer, she has scarcely a rag of voice, and her acting is the most suggestive conceivable. A young Australian working man lately visited his relatives on Lord Salisbury's estate, England, and Lord Salisbury was mortally offended at his neglect to touch his hat.

Baron Von Moltke still delights in the fresh English novels. His long-deceased English wife, and niece also, was his tutor. He was reading 'Little Dorritt' while Bismarck negotiated with the French diplomats for peace. Mrs Langtry never takes cold baths, never walks fifteen miles a day, never fondles pug dogs, doesn't care for the opinions of New York society, is growing rich, and is not growing fat. Washburne, the Minneapolis flour king, is a slender man with mutton-chop whiskers, and looks quite like a professional man. Emperor Francis Joseph of Austria will next year celebrate the 40th anniversary of his reign. Robert Browning is a dapper little man, very careful about his dress, and does not look the poet. P. T. Barnum has just purchased an enormous amount of real estate in Bridgeport, Conn. It consists of a great tract of land situated in the centre of the city, and includes five churches, the old court-house, six livery stables, three bank buildings, all the stores on the west side of Main street, and more than 100 private residences and dwellings. The property is worth over L 1.500.000. Thomas Loncley, of I> ivr, is r-:aid to be the heaviest British subject in th- world. Fie was born in ISJS, of medium-sized parents, and was not a large baby. His present weight is 5001b, height Oft fjin, measurement of the waist Soin, size of leg 25in. He finds considerable difficulty in walking, and d«es not trust himself in a carriage for fear of breaking the springs. ITe is said to be very temperate both in eating and drinking, and has never suffered from any ill-health of a serious nature. Hear-Admiral Worden, the hero of the Monitor and Merrimac fight, is living in Washington, the half-pay on which he was retired giving him an income of L 1,500 a year. He is seventy years of age, but looks younger. The wound he received at the Monitor and Merrimac battle not only impaired his sight, but has left him always subject to severe headaches. A cash-book kept by Dickens in 182S, when a boy in Blackmore's office, has just been unearthed. The signature on the flyleaf is the earliest known, and the accounts contain the names of Wuller, Mrs Bar dell, etc. Marshal Mac.Mahon is growing old, and a correspondent says that his straight-set form on the Arab steed from Algieiia, where he first won his sword and spurs, which used to be one of the features of the Bois de Boulogne on gala days, is no lon*" >r ~et' n ' George K " fcrsii y> S0!1 of 1)r Kirs °y. of Lancaster, Pa, ia £ A to >.^ th, - tallest b " y in the country. He is tlin'^f' 1 yeara . old » and seven feet high, and he has an elder brother who measures six feet three inches. The father and mother are each six feet high.