PERSONAL NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 1880, 2 December 1887, Page 34

PERSONAL NOTES.

Premier Crispi, of Italy, was a common soldier in Garibaldi's " glorious thousand." It is no exaggeration to describe Mrs Meadows White as the most remarkable female composer England ever produced. — . Athenaeum. No one who knows Mr Conkling will ex» pect him to waste many compliments. He can well afford to keep the politicians at bay if it be true, as reported, that his law practice is bringing him in from 75,000d0l to 100,000dol per annum.Mrs Dedman, widow of the collector of the Maldon District Branch of the Essex Provident Society, has been elected to fill her late husband's post. The proposal of electing a woman as collector has been the cause of much disagreement among the members of the executive committee. The Very Rev. Dr Scott, who is resigning the deanery of Rochester, has resolved to forego the pension to which he is entitled. The stipend attached to the office is £2000 per annum, and the pension would be onethird of this sum. Dr Scott has held the deanery for 17 years, Madame Paul Bert, who is a lady of Scotch extraction (Miss Clayton, of Banff), and a Presbyterian, will, it is said, be appointed to the high post of Lady Principal of the Female Colleges of the Legion of Honour at Ecorian and St. Denis, rendered vacant by the retirement of Baronne le Ray. The other candidate is the widow of Gen. Chonzy. The Emperor of Austria has conferred on M. Pasteur the Iron Crown decoration, which includes the title of Baron yon Pasteur. Two more of his patients have died. One of them was a labourer who, four months after treatment, was detected plucking and eating a neighbour's cherries. He was fined Gfr and costs, became paralysed the same day in the right arm while ploughing, and died a few days afterwards of rabies.

The real Claverhouse seems to have been a

rather commonplace officer, with a handsome face, who suffered one scandalous defeat and died in an accidental victory. Hatred and admiration, abuse and song and romance

have made a hero of him, as many a hero and saint have been made before and since. — St. James' Gazette. Charlotte Bronte was one of the most rigorously truthful persons, and yet she made the utterly astounding statement that Jane Eyre resembled herself in nothing but in being little and plain. When a shrewd and veracious woman does manage to deceive herself, how great is the deception !— Academy. J. M. Bailey, once famous as the wit of the Danbury News, has faded from the humorous world, and is now an actor in a daily repeated domestic tragedy. His wife is insane and demands his entire attention. He must dress her and arrange her hair, and attend to all her wants. She is like a child, and he gives her all his affection, time, and attention. His devotion is described as something heroic. To return to Lawrence Oliphant for a moment. He is at present busy with his pen

under the slope of Mount Carmel, at his home in Haifa. His villa is a charming and comfortable one of white limestone, with a

lovely garden and beautiful view. He disclaims the idea that such a life can be monotonous, and says that he there finds what he

never could obtain in England — peace and sunshine. There and thereabouts he intends to remain for the rest of his natural life. Up on the heights of Carmel he has another villa for hot weather. He declares that Palestine

has unbounded resources, and " needs only the removal of existing obstructions to develop into one of the richest and most fruit-

ful territories in the world." His charming and accomplished wife died in Algeria some time ago. This is the latest story about Mr Gladstone, which is given, by a London correspondent :—": — " Chatting the other night with the keeper of a secondhand bookstall in one of the streets leading out of Holborn, the following interesting little story came out. Mr Gladstone is a

frequent purchaser at this bookstall, but he never has any money with him. Mrs Gladstone will not let him carry any about with him, because he spends it so recklessly, buying everything that takes his fancy so long as the loose cash holds out. Tho shopkeeper in question, however, gives

the right hon. gentleman a note of his purchases, and the money is always punctually sent the next day. Mr Gladstone is ab present, collecting portraits of Garibaldi."