PERSONAL ITEMS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 11872, 25 January 1902, Page 4 (Supplement)

PERSONAL ITEMS.

Mrs. Patrick Campbell is said to be the only actress whom the present Queen lias received on intimate terms. While Mrs. Campbell was said to have been held in high regard by Queen Victoria the once popular and brilliant Marie Wilton, wife of Sir Squire Bancroft, was the only actress who was honoured by her acquaintance.

Like another famous actor, Mr. Forbes Robertson, Mr. Weedon Grossmith is a clever portrait-painter, and has several times been hung on the line at Burlington House. He is, indeed, a devotee of three arts those of music, painting, and the drama; for, in addition to his painting and his acting, he is a violinist of no mean order. It is fifteen years since he made his debut on the stage, his adoption of it as a profession being the result of many . amateur performances.

Whistler, the celebrated artist, was once painting the portrait of a distinguished novelist who w,*is extremely clever, but also extremely ill-favoured. When the portrait was finished the sitter did not seem satisfied with it. " You don't seem to like it," said Whistler. The sitter confessed that he did not, and said, in justification, "You must admit that it is a bad work of art." " Yes," returned Whistler, " but I think you must admit also that you are a bad work of Nature."

Miss Vida Goldstein has been chosen as the Australasian delegate to the conference of delegates from, the various women suffrage societies of the world. She passed through on the steamer Sierra for America, where the conference will open at Washington on February 12. Representatives will also attend from Europe, the United States, India, China, Japan, and various other parts of the world. A fluent speaker, and a forcible writer, Miss Goldstein has done splendid work in Victoria for the cause which she has at heart.

Miss Ellen Terry's earliest ambitious were for shopkeeping, and not acting. But by some happy chance the stage secured its own. It is marvellous the power she has over the London Lyceum crowd, and it is interesting to know how much they contribute to her success. During the early eighties Sarah Bernhardt, who had watched intently her performance of Juliet, went behind the scenes to congratulate her. " How can you act in this way every night?" asked the great French actress. "It is the audience," exclaimed Miss Terry ; " they inspire me."

The present) Bishop of Peterborough is very fond of telling the following story: — He went to preach in a certain town, and arriving very early , walked into the church to have a look round. An elderly lady also arrived early, hoping to obtain a good seat. On , seeing the bishop she mistook him for the pew-opener, and, slipping a half-crown into his hand, said, Give me a good seat, please, where I can see the bishop." The astonished but good-natured bishop took tlio half-crown and showed the lady into a front seat. One can imagine the poor lady's feelings when she saw her " -opener" ascend the pulpit.

M. Waldeck-Rousseau, tho French Prime Minister, is probably less known, in an intimate sense, than any other public man in France. He likes not the crowded ways, but rather the quiet of the fireside, and so, outside lus public work, people sec littlo of him. He has. the reputation of being a nervous man. It is related of him by a writer in the Figaro that one day when he was pleading at t£e Law Courts he espied a lady he knew amongst the audience. He told her it tended to unnerve him, speaking before friends. ■' From the circumstance that he is a lawyer people account for his apparent ability to speak on both sides. Arid this is the man, somewhat sombre and unobtrusive, who during two years and a-half [ has kept a heterogeneous party in order.