PEOPLE WE READ ABOUT.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1507, 17 January 1901, Page 11

PEOPLE WE READ ABOUT.

.Mr Arthur J. Balfour is very fond of music, and has composed several' pianoforte pieces. *****

The Duke of York can make capital sailing boats and other tors for children. *** * *

General lan Hamilton was literally cradled in war, for he was hprn in a fortress, and la is earliest, memories are of bng’lo calls, the tramp of armed men. and the glitter of uniforms.

Li Hung Chang has been known to writs poetry, and once in the columns of the "Pekin Gazette" composed an ode in praise of the beauty and adornment of the Dowager Empress of China.

The Pope’s Ippg _ life and wonderful health are' remarkable; but it may not be generally known that his family' is celebrated in that way. for .several of Iris immediate relatives have lived to be over ninety years of age.

Few writers have had such a disheartening experience of literarv work as Mr Herbert Spencer. After fifteen rears of laborious writing lie found ’ himself =61200 out'of pocket, and it was nine years later that lie was able to clear his expellees. Since then, happily, his books have yielded a small profit; Put. in spite of his distinguished services to literature and philosophy, it would, according to hirnsolf, have paid him better to drive a nen in a city office.

It would probably surprise the reader to know liow many well-known men of title could make a good livings in more ways than one if circuo;stances necessitated their doing so. Among these is Lord Ponakl Gower. His Lords hi nis now busv oil a history of iheDuchy of Corn wail. 'His “Life of Joan of Arc" is well known, and it will be remembered that he edited the Stafford House Letters. Bur c-yen if his pen failed him, Lord Gower would be aide to turn to sculpture. Shakespeare’s monument at Stratford is one of his works, and among others his best known statues are those of Marie Antoinette cn her way to execution, and that of the “Old Guard at Waterloo."

Mr Richard Harding Davis, the American novelist and war correspondent, has had experience enough in his thirty-six years to draw upon for a dozen books. Mr Davis was discouraged at first, but a year or two of New York journalism decided liis career. As a reporter, his work was chiefly that of a. “’special commissioner." and in this capacity he lived for a fortnight with a gang of thieves whom he was the means of having arrested. He went through similar experiences in London at the time of the Whitecharpl murders, accompanying the police cn their rounds, and writing 1 up flm ' '-'dice side” of the case for a New York paper; Mr Davis, by the way. was the first man to bring to England a personal account of the great Johnstown floods.

Cardinal Vaughan learned to knit as a boy, and can use a needle skillfully. * *■ * * * * *

The Earl of Hopetonn, first GovernorGeneral of the Commonwealth of Australia., delights in taking port in amateur theatricals and tableaux. As a hoy his recreation was map-drawing.

All our leading statesmen, with the exception of Lord Rosebery, are short-sight-ed. The one with the shortest sight, is Mr Gcschen. But when reading a document Sir Henrv. Campbell-Bannerman gives evidence of being a close second.

When, the Queen was at Balmoral, some time ago, she visited an aged cottager, and, on leaving her, said: “You will now no longer be afraid of me, and I shall expect you to pay me a visit." “Ah. ma’am," Was the-reply, “it’s not vers el I’m frightened at; it’s them grand servants of yours!" * * * * *

There is little in Mi* Abbey, the wellknown RbyaJ. Academician, to suggest the artist. With his dark moustache, strong features and spectacles he suggest? Mr Rudyard Kipling; but his light knickerboeker suits somewhat destroy the comparison. Mr Abbey is on enthusiastic cricketer, and spends much of his spai*e time at the nets in his beautiful grounds at Fairford, Gloucestershire. *..* * * *

There are few more popular men in Bohemia than Mr Comyns Carr, the genial and i ovial. writer of clays and art-o rit Icism.” Born in 1819, Mr Carr has played many parts on .the variety stage of life, from barrister to art-critic, from editor to director of an art-gallery, and from essayist to writer of melodrama. In appearance he is a curious mixture oi‘ the late Lord Tennyson and Charles Dickens, and ip Ids nature lie has much of ihe unquencaal )ie spirit and boy sh love of fun nlu.cn characterised the latter. -v. * x- * The Duke of Cum bev’and, wlmse reconciliation with the Kaiser is said to -have taken place, is a man whom* Er~.ish people know little, though ho miFht now have been the first personage in the Empire had his father been born a week earlier than he wr:. Tie missed the throne of England Ur three days, ncvjng be'-n born on May 27. 18U). exact!v seventy hours after Queen Victoria. Had the duke’s father been bo”o before the Queen, he would have been King of England Distead of merely King of Hanover, and the glorious Victorian Era would never have dawned! The Duke is probably the only living man who has ever threatened Ihe Queen with a lawsuit. It was oyer the famous Cumberland icwe.s, whien the Queen, after much hesitation, hanoed over to her ducal cousin.