PERSONAL NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 1917, 13 November 1890, Page 41

PERSONAL NOTES.

I - — * — - ' KVasius Wiman, worth 2,qoojooodoli began life, oh a. farhi at 80c a weelt,. , . The Crown Princess of Denmark is the tallest princess in the world. Her height is announced to be 6ft 3in. Young Grant, Alan Arthur, and one of the Garfield boys met recently in Philadelphia. Neither knew the others by pight. Victoria is the olde3t monarch of any great country in the world, in age, as well as in service. $he is 7l years did, and has been on the throne 53 years. The insanity which has clouded the intellect of John Ruskin is a sad ending to the life of one who has exercised such an influence on art and literature. The other day an English authority stated that the new President of the Argentine Kepublic, Dr Pellegrini, was a relation of John Bright; but a Parisian savant says that the doctor-president is descended from a French papa, also mamma. Osraan Digna, who c has lately been resuscitated after a number of supposed killings, is said to be a Frenchman by birth, a native of Rouen, whence he went when 15 years old to Cairo to learn the art tof warfare with Captain Merail, an ex-French officer. Miss Misao Tsuni Hirate San, who is the daughter of a Japanese nobleman, arrived in the United States four years ago. She is now about to return home to work as a Christian missionary among her countrymen, notwithstanding the strenuous opposition of her father. Bey. Dr Hermann Adler, recently chosen chief rabbi in London, traces bis descent from Aaron, and his ancestors have immemorinlly claimed and been allowed certain privileges in the synagogue which are only allowed to descendants from the first high priest of Israel. The Prince of Wales is said to be a very good landlord at Sandringham. Although the Prince is not a teetotaller and does not seek to make his dependants such, there is no public house on the estate. The peasant cottages are of model kind, surrounded by pretty gardens. The Emperor William gave away upwards of 150 decorations during the 24 hours which hB spent at Ostend. The railway and harbour employes to whom his Majesty sent decorations would infinitely have preferred to receive either money or jewe'lery, accordingto the ordinary custom of travelling sovereigns, but William is a careful man. The young Countess de Bironj nee De Lesseps, drives about Paris in her iSOOdol victoria, dressed in white panelled silk with hand painted flowers. The white parasol she carries in the Bois is white net gathered over a gilded frame and ornamented with a Dresden china handle, the cost of which would pay fora whole tea set. The Prince of Monaco has had a yacht built for himself at BlackwalJ t a vessel of 556 tons burden, and fitted up with cabins to serve the purpose of laboratory and aquarium, in order that he may be able the more fully to gratify his taste for capturing all kinds of sea monsters and' marine flora, and duly preserving and classifying them. Matrimony has not chilled his ardour for these pursuits, and it appears thai the Princess, so far from objecting to her husband's hobby, takes nearly as much interest in his investigations of the briny deep as himself. Alphonse XIII has two great pleasures to which he looks forward during his daily outing ; the one is to meet any soldiers on the march, when he gravely returns their salutes, scans their uniforms, or, with • the liveliest interest, listens to the band. His Majesty's other delight is to encounter some poor person to whom he may be allowed to give alms; he wants to stop the carriage for every beggar, but this is not of course allowed, but perhaps once during the "royal progress " he is allowed to give a silver piece to some seemingly deserving object. Then great is his joy at being permitted to present the money with his own little hands. " Take it, and may God help you I " The little fragile King of Spain is deriving benefit from his sojourn at St. Sebastian. His anxious mother has the sagacity to let him enjoy himself like any other child of his age at tbe seaside, and dabble in the eea-'-water, baild sand castles, and make mud pies to his heart's content. The life he leads is essentially simple and strengthening. He rises early, and has his bowl of bread and milk in the garden, if it is a fine morning. When the s~un gets high in the heavens, his attendants lead him away to the shadier portions of the grounds, or he lies down in-doors for a mid-day siesta, but at 4 o'clock in the afternoon he almost invariably goes for a drive. Mr George Augustus Sala, " the prince of journalists," as he has been termed, writes nis thoughts out in the neatest possible kind of hand. The letters of each word would appear to have been packed together, formed as it were one by one. This is said to arise from the fact that Mr Sala in early life followed the occupation of engraver. He has been known to write enough matter to fill a column of the Daily Telegraph on two or three half sheets of note paper. There is little or no likelihood of typographical errors resulting from Mr Sala's handwriting, which is a good example for many literary novices, who apparently labour under the delusion that slovenly penmanship is a sign of genius. Sir Bartle Frere dreamed of stretching our South African dominion, already bigger than Austria, Germany, France, Spain, and Italy, up to the Zambesi ; but Lord Salisbury has stretched it up to Lake Tanganyika, 600 miles farther to the north. He has taken in 1 a solid block — to be called, we suppose, the Province of Livingsfconia— of 250,000 square miles. Between Stephenson's road and Cape Town— at least 2000 miles— there is nothing which is not ours (for we reckon the Boer States as certain to become English States) except the Portuguese possessions, which we shall, under some happy conjunction of circumstances, sooner or later buy. That vast territory, in which you might sprinkle kingdoms like Portugal and then be unable to find them, cannot be invaded from any side except by Germany, for her dominion, while it shuts us out from one single route— and that we may traverse by treaty right, and avoid by a treaty with the Congo King — also shuts out every other foe. Prince George of Wales is certainly under an unlucky star at present ; he seems to do

nothing but step upon the toes of those he is brought in contact with. Archbishop O'Brien arranged to give a large dinner in his honour as sooh as he arrived in Halifax, and td invite the e.Uteot society to meet him. His invitation, however, was refused, to the great indignation of the colony, which ohose to regard the Prince's conduct as a deliberate insult, and resented it accordingly. This coming to the knowledge of the Prince, he sent an officer to explain to the archbishop that the fault was really not his, but that, as a point of etiquette, he could not accept an official invita f ion during the absence of his chief. This in some measure, though by no means entirely, allayed the popular indignation. A more absurd piece of red tapeism it would be hard to conceive of. Surely the young man must know that, as a choice of evils, it is better to break through a useless official regulation than to offend a whole colony. — The skull from which Lord Byron used to drink was composed of the bones from the crown of the head only, beautifully polished, the lower or death's-head portion having been cut off. The edge was bound round with a broad silver baud, and it was upheld in its reveise position by a handsome silver stand with which the handle was connected, forming, in fact, a very handsome drinking vessel. Some famous verses given in the poet's 1 works were cut in the silver, not in the skull, and it held an entire bottle of wine. The great poet generally drank from it when he entertained company at Newstead Abbey. The story runs that it was mounted and prepared by a Nottinghamshire artificer, who, when severely reproved for accepting such a commission by a certain reverend neighbour of Byron's, said he would be glad to earn as much as he had received for that task by making such another cup from the worthy divine's own skull, the bare idea of which feo upset the clergyman that he was taken ill, and was for a little time confined to his bed.

— The greatest Dumas, Dumas of the " Musketeers,*' particularly loved White roses, and this is a tale told about him and them :—: — One day a stout gentleman, dressed in black, came in to him carrying a fine bunch or white roses, which he offered on the plea of being " un admirateur de yolre genie " (an admirer of your genius). Before Dumas could say a word the man bad vanished. A month later "Monte Cristo" was out, and again the same visitor appeared with an enormous bouquet of white roses. " Votre roman est un pur chef-d'oeuvre " (your novel is a perfect masterpiece), he said, put. the rr>sos down, and vanished. Another fortnight passed, and " Antony " created a sensation on the stage. For the third time the man appeared with some magnificent White roses for the dramatist, because "votre drarne est uue merveille " (your plsj is a wonder). "But who are you?" gasped Dumas, anxious not to let the mysterious man escape as before. " Oh, nobody j I am as obscure as you are illustrious," was tbe reply, •' and my name is M. Auguste." After this the man was seen no more, but the sequel of the affair was explained three months later, when Dumas noticed above the shop of a Paris florist a signboard bearing the inscription: "Auguste, Marchand de Fleurs. Fournisseur particulier d'Alexandre Dumas " — i.e., flower merchant ; purveyor by appointment' to Alexander Dumas. " What would you have, dear master V* explained the owner of the shop. " I had been' installed here for three years and never made a penny, but since I have taken you on my signboard the guineas are rolling in,"