PERSONAL NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 1956, 20 August 1891, Page 37

PERSONAL NOTES.

Mark Twain is at present in France, where he intends to settle for three years.

Mr Herbert Spencer has recently become a member of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, having assured himself that the society is unlikely to degenerate into undue interference with the rights of individuals.

It is stated that Bret Harte's income from his books published in London last year was £3000, while from his American publishers he received only £250. It is said that Bret Harte stands highest in the lists of the literary agents in point of price, that his terms are fabulous, and his works always easy to place.

The Rev. John S. Masters, Vicar of Christ Church, Shooter's Hill, is a marvellously active man for his age. He is 93, and yet he is able to, and does, read the service at his church without the aid of spectacles, and frequently walks to his home at Bennett Park, Blackheath, lat;er in the day. The ex-Empress Eugenic, when staying recently at Cap-Martin — a charming town, where she is building a villa, in the neighbourhood of Mentone, — was called upon to fill the census paper. She filled it up in her own handwriting as follows: — "Comtesse Pierreponds (Marie Eugenic); 64 years of age ; born in Grenada (Spain) ; naturalised French; widow; travelling."

Victor Hugo's fame is to be perpetuated at Verneuil, a suburb of Rouen, where a new boulevard is to be called after the poet. The christening of the thoroughfare is to take place amid great pomp. There will be music, banquets, speeches, and illuminations, and M. Lockroy, with M. Georges Hugo, grandson of the poet, will be present at the inauguration.

Dr Maclagan goes to York, and the Christian soldier marches not only onwards but upwards. We doubt if there have been many lieutenants in the army who have become Archbishops. But Maclagan has achieved that feat. Born at Edinburgh in 1826, he served in the Indian army, retiring as lieutenant in 1852, and five years was ordained priest by the Bishop of London. We hear