MAINLY ABOUT TERSONS.

Evening Star, Issue 10901, 8 April 1899, Page 2 (Supplement)

MAINLY ABOUT TERSONS.

Who is Fiona Macleod? Mr William Sharp evidently knows, but will not tell. When asked if Fiona Macleod was William Sharp, Mr Sharp replied in a letter that left the applicant in his previous state of bewilderment. A writer in the ' Daily Mail' says that Fiona Macleod is a woman. Certain scribes think they detect a resemblance i between the writing of Mr Sharp and Fiona Macleod, and point out several words that are used by both. The world hears very little nowadays of Mrs Barney Barnatb, who is living very quietly with her children at Brighton. At one time the late Mr Barnato vowed that he would never rest until no door in London remained closed against his wife. He would, doubtless, have made good his resolution if he had lived, but Mrs Barnato does not deeply grieve over that particular part of her loss, as she was never anxious to mix with the English upper ten. She in handsome, and at one time possessed more and finer diamonds than almost any woman in London. A characteristic story is told of the late Mrs Lynn Linton in Mr Edward Cooper's preface to his new volume of stories, called 'Children, Racehorses, and Ghosts.' " One of these stories (he says), that entitled 'ln This World or the Next,' was the first which I wrote, and was submitted by me to my dear friend the late Mrs Lynn Linton for criticism. She disapproved warmly. 'You have made an Englishman afraid of two common footpads!' she said indignantly. 'Nobody could possibly admire such a story. Make your hero afraid of his supernatural companion if you uke, but not of the others. If you take my advice you will never in your stories make an Englishman afraid of anything.' I think that Mrs Lynn Linton's own perfect fearlessness of everything, from the devil and public opinion down to the measles, was about her strongest characteristic. The latest recruit to the ranks of the centenarians is Mrs Astwood, a native and inhabitant of Littleport, Cambridgeshire, who attained the age of a hundred years on February 19. She was born on February' 19, j 1799, in the midst of the Fens. At that • time a breach had taken place in the banks, followed by a disastrous inundation, and i the babe had to be removed from the house ] when only & few hours old. Mr James Ij Jpnei, for pany years agent to Lord De i

weotaMe aga-;C:d?ter-onß. " /Her sister, 3fiws her W 'DWW and the, united ages of ntofcner, daughter, and.tater.npw living in th m? w^¥ w * years. / Gjajsgdw proposes to confer on Si* tf.» Jxtfnx the degree of Doctor of Law*. - ,BcotUWtb.Uß Mows the lead of England ai} j^reland,'. Consequent on the r#tts»ient of Mr Preece, C.8., from the iead'of the English Telegraph Department, Jfr J. Hookey, the assistant-engtoeer-hvphjef; becomes engineer-in-chief of the English Post Office, and Mr J, Gavey assistant-engineer-in-chief and electrician. The wife of .a gentleman's coachman at Geisdorf (Prussia) has just been blessed with twin boys, being the seventh and eighth sons. The Kaiser was asked tt» stand as godfather, and he has consented, sendingthe parents a handsome sum of money* and permission s for the newcomenrto be christened William the First and William" the Second. These names are also to be registered in the church. -• '. ' ■..<-, James Briggs, a,first-class criofceter in his early days, v and father of the famous Lancashire professional Of that name, is dead; aged sixty-one yeajrs. There are, It: is tfairi, few more versatile men in England than: the Hon. Alfred Lyttelton, the son of the fourth Lord Lyttelton. At Cambridge he won the equivalent offive distinct "blues," and represented/his 'varsity, in cricket, football, racquets, tennis, and athletic sports. He has representedfEngland both on cricket and football fields, and has' been champion tennis 'player for fifteen* vears. He is further a clever lawyer, a rising-politician, and a good speaker and musician. Mr Letter's elation at seeing his daughter, Lady Curzon, Vicereine of India, havingtaken the shape pf money to purchase a West End mansion, Mr Vanderbilt, not to be eclipsed before the Four Hundred, has sent the Duchess of Marlborough £IOO,OOO for a similar purpose. Alderman James Wood, LL.D., who died at Southport on February 15, was four times mayor of that English borough, andtwo months ago had the freedom of the city conferred on him. He was a prominent

member of the Wesleyan body, and was well known throughout the kingdom as a I generous, donor to Nonconformist institutions. On a recent occasion he gave £I,OOO to the Salvation Army. The story of a letter having been received from one of the crew of the Santa Margherita, the vessel in which the Archduke Johann is believed to have been lost, proves to be a hoax. There never was a sailor called Pajurich on board that vessel, and no letter from a man of that name has arrived at his alleged native village, Costrena. The whole thing is an invention. There is a good story now going the rounds of clerical society in Borne, and it is claimed for it that it has the merit of being true. Leo XHL, with all his virtues, has, like all mortals, also his small defects, one of which, as is well known, is closeness with regard to money matters. Some members of his family cannot, however, be accused of this trait, and have consequently got into trouble-. One of these, who ( stands very near the Pontiff, when almost at the ena of his resources, remembered that Leo XIII. not long ago had sold a vineyard belonging to the family in common, without ever speaking of dividing the proceeds. The young man went to the Pontiff and asked for what he considered his " share." " Share!". exclaimed the Pope, with benovelence. "My son, have you. not been to the Church of the Stigmata? Have you not seen there the family chapel, the "paintings, the portraits of your, grandmother 'and your two uncles, and the pictures of St. Camile, your own patron, and St. Sylvia, the patron of your grandmother? There, my son, is where your share has gone." Some time ago (says " Rambler," in ' The Independent') it was stated in various papers that Mr Rudyard JKipling had received a shilling a word story he had written for 'Pearson's Magazine.' This induced a young American to write to him and enclose a shilling. "Hearing that wisdom was being retailed at a shilling a word," wrote the youth, " I enclose a shilling for a sample." Mr Kipling kept the order, and sent back the word "-Thanks." An intersting incident in connection with Sir L. Rundle, "the new commander of the South-eastern Military District, has just been made known. The General on arrival at Dover found that his orderly, a gunner in the Royal Artillery, had the most unusual number of sii good conduct stripes, which is an equivalent to thirty years' service and exemplary behaviour - ,, He was so pleased'

Thii fine t>ld sold(ernov appears with one r%ht arm atid six on the loft. J I ,i ', ,