GLIMPSES OF FAMOUS MEN.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 6362, 9 November 1907, Page 5

GLIMPSES OF FAMOUS MEN.

’j (From Our (Special Correspondent.) s LONDON, September 27. Air Walter ( rane, (h« well known - artist, gives many impressions of 1 interesting celebrities in his “Remin--1 isconces,” which were published this - week by Methuen. Here, for instance, - . is a glimpse of R.. L. Stevenson“l mm Stevenson once or twice about this penod at tho Savilo Club, in its old f quarters in Savilo Row. Ho used to _ stand on tho hearth-rug in tho smok- _ ing-room, tho centre of an admiring I circle, and discourse very much in tho ! same stylo as that in which ho wrote, j It gave 0110 tlm impression of artificia-! j lity rather—l mean his manner of I speaking and choice of words, as if r' carefully selected and cultivated. If a remark was offered by one of the - company ho would perhaps accept it, and turn it about much as a conjuror 3 does when ho borrows a handkerchief . or a hat from some one in his audi-

c once; or perhaps he would work it in-, - to his next sentence, returning it to : his interlocutor improved, wrapped in ; 9 silver paper, metaphorically speak-1 i mg. His personal appearance was quite as unusual as his speech. A i° n Si pale, thin face and lank hair, I , quick and penetrating eyes, and a i ' rather sardonic smile. Tho world in general, especially in clubland, wore : white shirts and collars as a rule, but \ Stevenson sported black ones.” 1 , Of Tennyson, we got a more olabor-1 i ate portrait. Mr Crane found him | ‘brusque and almost rough” in mair ' nor, and mentions that the poet's deep ■ voice became rather like a growl when ! ho objected to somo dish that was served at dinner. In tho drawing-room ho was persuaded to read a then unpublished poem, the "Ballad of the Fleet.” ' “Beforo he began ho solemnly enjoined. ■ tho whole company—almost swearing ) every one—to the strictest secrecy as ' i to the poem, or his having read H:ii and when the reading was finished and : * when tho applause and gratitude of 1 tho small audience (which consisted ' o. Mr Stopford Brooke, his sister, and'! his daughters, my wife and self, and J -Mr Frederick Wedmore) had subsided, i i tho Laureate growled out, ‘Yes. and to’c think that those wretched follows of c tbn “Nineteenth Conturv” onlv craved mo throo hundred pounds for it!’ I '

I Ho gives a graphic little pen-picturo' t of William Morris' Tho first time I I saw William Morris was from a window it in Queen-square. .' . . . Wo were' a leaning out- of the open windqw one 111I 11 ißummor’s evening, chatting and watch- J ;mg tho people passing to and from! t jacross tho quiet stone-paved square : h I (which always had a retired, old-world n and rather Continental look at the south end), when we caught sight of a sturdy figure, clad in snuff-brown strid- o ing .along in a determined manner, v with an oak stick in hi-s hand and a if soft felt hat on. Ho turned his head'd as ho passed, hearing us talking, and 11 glanced up, and wo met quick, pene- 61 trating eyes, set in a handsome face,; and a fair board, with grave and ab-li c stractcd look, and probably a little ! n fagged after a day's toil at the works.” in Among the many reminiscences of t( Morris, tlioro is a curious little sketch °j of tho poet standing on a waggon in m Hyde Park addressing a May Day doministration. Tho waggon is decked it with, spring wild flowers and the red lu flag waves over his head. And there in ;ii afine sentence describing the funeral I<> William Morris atLechlado:—‘There Pf was no ghastly black-plumed horso ori 1 ’ 1 unholstory to bo seen, but! a simple country cart, gaily painted and decked with flowers, and drawn | by a splendid Shiro horse, was there to bear tho poet’s body to its last rest.” jve