PERSONAL NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 1967, 5 November 1891, Page 40

PERSONAL NOTES.

On Thursday, August 6, Lord Tennyson celebrated his 82nd birthday at his Beat of Aid worth, near Haslemere. It has been definitely decided that the title by which Prince George of Wales will be called to the Upper House is the Duke of York. Miss Olive Schreiner, the South African novelist, is at present residing at Cape Town, where she goes a good deal into society and is often to be met at Government House. She is greatly interested in public matters, and frequently attends the debates in the Cape Parliament. The Pope is said to speak better English than many Englishmen and Americans. He is particularly fond of the tongue and uses it in preference to French, the language of the Papal Court, when receiving English or American visitors. The Pope is also a master of the German tongue. King Otto of Bavaria has lately had a serious access of cerebral mania, and is now in a condition of considerable danger. He has often refused to take nourishment before, but this time his resolution not to do so has been more determined and protracted than it has ever previously been. But for the use of compulsion, in fact, his Majesty would ere this have been starved to death. Count Tolstoi continues to practice the precepts he teaches. He still dresses as a peasant, and works for some hours in the fields every day. He also denounces all marriages which are not what he calls " angel marriages." It cannot be forgotten, however, that the author of the ".Kreuczer Sonata," before he professed his tardy belief in the sinfulness of marriage, ;as it is commonly understood, in the world, had been himself the father of 16 children 1 A tombstone has been , erected over tjhe grave of the late Mr W. H. Gladstone at Hawarden. It is a plain cro3B of white marble on three steps or bases. Upon the latter are engraved : "'Thou shalt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee.' — Isaiah, xxvi chap., 3rd verse. William Henry Gladstone; born 3rd June 1840; passed away 6th July 1891 " :— Soon shall come the great awaking, j'oon the rending of the tomb ; Then the seittering of all shndowi , And the end of toil snd gloom. A low border of white marble encloses the grave. Within this pansies are thickly planted, representing a white cross on a ground of purple. Here is an interesting fact regarding the kindness of the Duke of Westminster as a landlord, — South street is a quiet thoroughfare leading out of Park lane, and in' one of the old houses lives a lady of whom but little is heard to-day, though she is one of the foremost women of the century. She lives in a quiet, homely style.and though the Duke is desirous of pulling down the houses in the street in order that others may be built to correspond with the surrounding .mansions, he will not have a single brick touched for fear this one tenant tnay be disturbed in her old age. The lady is. Miss Florence, Nightingale. The home of Celia Thaxter, the American poetesses in Appledore, the. largest of the Isles of Shoals. It is surrounded. by a beautiful garden, gorgeous with, brilliant blossoms, among which "Mrs * Thaxter may be seen at work in the early morning hours. The ' house, a roomy cottage, i 3 always fragrant and bright with cut flowers, and the walls are covered with choice bits of painting, etching, and sketching 1 . The poetess was brought to the Isles of Shoals by her father— their owner— when Bhe was only five years old, and lived there until she was 16, when she married Mr Levi Thaxter. Since then she has spent her summers at Appledore, To be born a dwarf in these days seems to be equivalent to being born with a silver spoon in one's moutb, One of the most popular of our miniature folk is the famous Mrs General Tom Thumb. She is nearly 60 years of, age, but, in America, where she is just now travelliag, she demands £100 a week and gets it easily. She not only gets £100 in. cash at the end of every seven days, but she has her railway fare paid from her home in Bridgeport, Con., to points of exhibit, as well as a carriage from her hotel to the museum or theatre. Aside from this salary and perquisites, .she reaps a large income from the sale of her photographs. Baron' Rothschild is- fond of the London omnibus drivers. Every Christmas he sends a brace 'of -pheasants, a bottle of wine, and five, shillings to all the drivers, whose routes lie about Piccadilly. A short time ago one of the oldest drivers met with a serious accident. The famous banker noticed he was off the box, and made inquiries as to his absence. Being interested, he set about discovering where he lived, visited him, and made personal inquiries regarding his health. In a few days a message was received by the astonished 'busman that Rothschild had allowed him a pension of IB shillings a week for the rest of his^life. Madame Caro is spoken of as one of the most gifted women of the day. She is the widow of the professor whose theological lectures at the College de France attracted crowds of the fashionable women of Paris, whose enthusiasm procured them the nickname -of " Les Carolines." Madame Caro sent her first book anonymously to the Revue dcs Deux Mondes ; and her husband himself did not, for some years, know the authorship of the powerful story of "Le Peche de Madeleine." After her husband's death she was compelled to resume her pen, and her charming novel of " A Gill's Love " is now appearing in the Revue dcs Deux Mondes. The late Duke of Cleveland had a rentroll of £91,784. He owned 102,774 acres of land, the Cleveland estates alone stretching from Darlington to Westmoreland, a distance of nearly 80 miles. The Duchess of Cleveland (who is the authoress of a very interesting work entitled "Battle Abbey Roll") completed the 72nd year of her life on the Ist of June last. In 1843 Lady Catherine, then 24 years of age, was married to Lord Dalmeny, M.P., the elder son of the fourth Earl of Rosebery, and brother of the Hon. Bouverie Francis Stanhope, who still survives to prove, in his 78th year, from what a good old stock the Primrose family were derived. Lord Dalmeny died in 1851, his only surviving son being the Earl of Rosebery ; and two

of his daughters survive in the persons of Lady Mary Hope and the Baroness Leoonfield. After three years of widowhood, she married in 1854 Lord Harry George Vane, who 10 years later became Duke of Cleveland. _______________