CURRENT GOSSIP.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XVIII, Issue 6757, 14 July 1883, Page 3 (Supplement)

CURRENT GOSSIP.

JOHN B. GoUGH says the lecture business is declining because the people are inclining to music and theatricals. . , . .. Samuel L. Clemens (Mark Twain) is the guest of the Marquis of Lome at the Government House at Ottawa. In Paris a fashion among the young men is the wearing of four studs on the shut front instead of the former single-stud. Mr. Matthew Arnold has recently said that he drinks wine, not because he finds it indispensable, but because it seems to him " to add to tho agreeableness of life. Mr. George Bancroft, the historian, is in his eighty-third year. He loves roses. He loves alsol to ride horseback. He sits erect, and enjoys the motion of the thoroughbred. Sir Abraham Woodiwias, one of the batch of new British knights, commenced life at Derby as a labouring stonemason, and Jus wife, now Lady Woodiwiss, rose from an equally humble social position. I like not nicknames; I abhor Their use in conversation ; still, "Were I compelled to choose one for Oar much-beloved Prime Minister, It should bo Affirmation Bill. —St. James' Gazette. Though Sir Theodore Martin is a courtier, ho has ventured to demur to the Royal wish. When it was intimated to him, as the Court biographer, that a monograph of the late John Brown would be acceptable, he had the courage to respectfully decline the suggestion. . -~ As Leo XIII. was recently conversing with a French lady in her native language he found himself at a loss for a word, aud asked her if she spoke Italian. The reply was in the affirmative. "Then," said the Pope, "we will use my native languaße, for i le»r that if I employ yours I may compromise my infallibility.!" , It is stated that the Queen has ordered a large brass, bearing a eulogistic inscription, in memory of John Brown, which is to be placed on the walls of the Prince Consorts Mausoleum at Frogmore. A bust an! a statue are also in preparation, and at Gratlue an elaborate monument is to be placed oyer the grave, and a "cairn" on one of the adjacent hills. , . His Majesty King William of Holland is a large, rather stem-looking man of sixty-three years of age. He was dressed in the uniform of a general of the army, and appeared to advantage. Queen Emma is forty years younger than His Majesty, and is pretty and graceful, with a most affable and agreeable manner, which has greatly endeared her to her subjects. Mr. Gladstone has a double. The other night loungers in the lobby were moved by the appearance of an old gentleman bearing a remarkable resemblance to the Premier, who appeared in the midst. Inquiries were made, and it transpired that he was a Mr. Cook, a AVesleyan minister from Aylesbury. It appears that he is generally mistaken for Sir. Gladstone, and he is accustomed to be cheered and stared at wherever he goes. Mr. Charles James Jessel, upon whom Mr. Gladstone has recommended the Queen to confer a baronetcy, in consideration of the eminent services of his father, the late Master of the Rolls, is twenty-two years of age, and having completed his University career, is studying for the bar. Air. Jessel was the tallest man but one at Oxford. He is a Titan in person, and may become, like his father, a giant in intellect. The natives of Anam, with whom the French are now at war, aro said to be the worst-built and the u.liest of the members of the Mongolian race. They are below middleheight, and distinctly shorter than their Chinese neighbours. Their complexion is darker than the Chinese; they have thick skinn, low foreheads, flat skulls, and lozengeshaped face, and, owing to the formation of the pelvis, they walk with a curious swagger which identifies the race. In their various encounters with the French, they have shown themselves an obstinate, tenacious, and sometimes a cruel foe. The followers of that philosopher who declared that you may know man best by his amusements, might make up some interesting statistics from a study of the various forms of relaxation chiefly affected by our leading men. Here aro a few facts towards such a compilation. Mr. Gladstone, as the world already knows too well, finds delight in felling trees. Lord Salisbury is exceedingly fond of playine tennis—not lawn tennis, but the real game. "Sir Stafford Northcote is one of the few people who still care for the once fashionable croquet. Mr. W. E. Forster is devoted to whist Lord Randolph Churchhill excels in chess. There i 3 an Irish M.P. about whose" age there has long been a mystery, and who was in the House of Commons fifty-three years ago. Mr. Gladstone sometimes talks to him as though he had been grey and reverend in the youth of the premier. It is generally believed that he is at least a hundred. The other day there was a talk of sending him a memorial illuminated and framed recognising him (in joke of course), as a centenarian, but he was born in 1795. He is, therefore, eighty-five. His real birthday is somewhere in June, but he always fixes it for March 17, which is St. Patrick's Day. Charged once with thus changing his natal anniversary, he replied, " Ah, but, me boy, the people like it; and did you ever know me, now, go against the people '1"