PEOPLE YOU KNOW.

Mataura Ensign, Issue 635, 14 September 1899, Page 3

PEOPLE YOU KNOW.

Whenever the Tsar feels that he can do so with safety, when he is away from the capital and Moscow, he takes a walk alone before ttreakfast. The Duke of Devonshire possesses a book for which his father refused an offer of £20,000. It is Claude Lorrain's " Book of Truth, " the rarest Book in Europe, and an heirloom in the family. The German Emperor will drink no coffee but Mexican, supplies of which are regularly sent to him by the German planters who have long been cultivating it on the Pacific Coast of Mexico. Lady Londonderry is a peeress of varied accomplishments. She knows as much about politics as her husband, is well read on all agricultural matters, can manage a yacht, and is an expert photographer. Mr W. P. Frith, the Royal Academician, has a great dislike for oatmeal porridge. Many years ago, when told that oatmeal would insure a long life, he expressed a preference for a short one without it. The Duke of Argyll possesses a curious avenue of trees on his estate near Loch Fyne. Every one has been planted by a distinguished person, and bears an inscription as to when and by whom it was set in the ground. The Crown Prince of Sweden and Norway has an unenviable physical characteristic. Along the roots of all his teeth runs a bar or strip of bone. Whenever he has a tooth extracted this bone has to be cut through. King George of Greece goes in for music in private, and his instruments are not those usually seen in Royal palaces. He performs on hand-bells and on glasses of various sizes, which give forth their notes on being touched by a wet finger-tip. President McKinley has a most remarkable collection of walking sticks. There are more than one hundred curious sticks from all parts of the world, ; most of them are of wood, but there are some of india-rubber, and others of cork and stone. Mi* John Roberts, the billiard champion, is a great traveller. He hns been to India eleven times, to the Capo twelve times, has made five journeys to Australia, and, of course, has visited America. He has been down all the most famous mines in the world. Mr Phil May, the caricaturist, smokes enormous cigars, and is always smoking. He often, receipts an account by sketching his own face across that of the Queen on the stamp, including the cigar, which is as much a part of his face as tlie eyebrows. . King Oscar of Sweden is an ardent pedestrian, and on three or four days of the Aveek he does a thirty-mile tramp. It is not an uncommon sight to see him return to the Palace wet through ; he cannot be persuaded to carry an umbrella, and he never takes shelter from the rain. The Tsar has four separate services of horses and carriages, namely, the Russian, the French, the English, and the gala sets. The Russian set accompanies him wherever he goes. The gala set of horses consists of fifty perfectly - formed, white Haqoverians, with blue eyes. The Sultan of Turkey, although ,he is interested in thwarting Great Britain politically, had a decided admiration for the people of that country. The daring perseverance of the "sturdy sons of Albion " (one of the few phrases of English known to him) appeal. to him very strongjy. Queen Victoria has a miniature portrait of each of her grandchildren, token in infancy. These portraits, nearly three dozen, are set in three bracelets, each in its own setting. When her Majesty wears one of these bracelets she can see the pictures of one-third the number of her children's children. The Prince of Wales has only played in one real cricket match ; that was soon after he had left the University, and it took place in the Viceregal Lodge, Dublin. The result of his fielding was the missing of two easy catches, and when his turn came at the wicket he was bowled by the first ball — a slow lob. The Governor of Creto, Prince George of Greece, has two prominent characteristics — he is very shy and exceedingly strong. His uncle, the late Tsar Alexander, was a very strong man, and uncle and nephew had many trials of strength together ; during the last years of the Tsar's life, Prince George was proved to be the stronger. The Duchess of Coburg (Duchess of Edinburgh) was always noted as the best-dressed, of the Queen's daughters-in-law. The somewhat haughty air which she usually wore has increased since she has been the wife of a reigning prince. She does not forget that she is the aunt of the Tsar. She never really liked England because it was " so much cut up by railways."