PERSONAL NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2055, 13 July 1893, Page 41

PERSONAL NOTES.

Sir Edwin Arnold proposes to return again to Japan. It is reported even — but we (Bookman) are far from vouching for the truf.h of -this — that he intends to be naturalised there.

Miss Lanceley, sister of the Rev. Walter Lanceley, of HolyweU, has gone out as a missionary to the Upper Congo, in the same part of the country where another of her brothers worked for several yaars, and where he died.

IE Charles Dickens were alive be would be about three years younger than Dr Oliver Wendell Holmes. Gladstone is as old as Lincoln would be if alive, and older than Grant or Garfield would be. Mendelssohn, if living, would be 84 and'Macatfay 93.

Professor Tidy, who has given evidence in his capacity of Home Office analyst in most of the famous poisoning cases of recent years, including*the Lamson trial, when he was highly complimented by the judge, is probably the greatest authority on the purity of the water that England possesses. The Duke of Norfolk, who took ao prominent a part in the recent celebrations of the Pope's Jubilee, is a small, sallow-faced man. He has, however, very beautiful eyes and possesses a kind heart. It would be difficult to enumerate all .the good he does in the course of a year. The Duke is a widower. His only child, the Earl of Arundel, is 13 years old, and an imbecile.

Not bo many people are aware that Lord Lyon Playfair is to be credited with having indirectly brought about the invention of paraffin. His discovery, when a young man, in a Derbyshire coal mine of an oil-spring like petroleum attracted Mr James Young, who, after working and exhausting this oil, produced from cannel-coal and soda-ash its equivalent, the famous " Young's Paraffin," and became a millionaire.

Lord Mountmorres, it has been observed, has turned journalist. Lord Fairfax has long been a doctor. The Marquis of Normanby takes pupils. Earl Russell is an electrician, and Lord Rayleigh a lecturer on electricity and physics. The' Marquis of Donegall, the Earl of Stamford, Viscount Mole3worth, Lord Hawke, Lord Scarsdale, Lord Saye and Sele, Loid Plunkef-, and Lord Petre are all Anglioan or Roman clergymen. ' Mr Hichael Maybrick, better known as " Stephen Adams," before turning his attention to song-composing, was an organist and an operatic singer,- and played Count Arnheim in the "Bohemian Girl" at the St. James's theatre. Hi 9 songs, of which he manages to turn out three or four in the course of a year, command an extensive sale: more than 100,000 copies of " Naacy Lee " were disposed of in less than two years. Jean Gerardy, the boy 'cellist, is the son of one of the professors at the musical academy of Liege. He is now 14 and has been playing the instrument in different European oountries for the last four years. Little Jean was of course a born musician, but it was not till he was seven that his fondness for the violoncello ass9rted itself, and then he studied at his father's academy for three years. Before this period elapsed he had composed several pieces for the 'cello. Mr J. N. Maskelyne, the prestidigitateur, was, like the celebrated Robert Houdin, apprenticed to a watchmaker, 'at which trade he acquired that rare knowledge of mechanism which he has since applied so successfully to the purposes of legerdemain. He resides at Bittersea, close to the villa occupied by his partner, Mr Cooke, who has been assc elated with Mr Maskelyne in his entertainments ever since the latter's expose of the Davenport brothers in 1865, when the talented conjurer was first brought into prominence. There is no more regular attendant at the sittings of the House of Lords than the Archbishop of Canterbury, wbo makes it a rule to be in his place punctually at 4 o'clock. His Grace considers it a duty, as head of the Church, to be always prepared to answer questions which may be put to him as Primate. There is an unwritten rule that information on any matter relating to the Church should be asked direct of the Archbishop ; but private notice is always given in advance, whenever it is possible.

Lord Hugh Cecil is to be the Conservative candidate for Greenwich when Mr Boord retires— an event shortly expected. He is the fifth and youngest son of Lord Salisbury. Lord Oranborne, the eldest son of the Conservative leader, now sits for Rochester; Lord Rupert, the second son, holds the family living at Hatfield ; Lord Edgar, the third son, has been called to the Bar, and is married to a sister of the Earl of Durham ; Lord Edward, the fourth son, is an aide-de-camp to Viscount Woheley. Lord Hugh, who is only 24 years of Bga, has but recently left Oxford.

Mr Hall Oaine is going to forsake Cumberland fox the Isle of Man. He has taken

Greeba Castle, a fine old battlemented house high up the side of Greeba mountain, close to Peel, and among the fisher folk of whom Oapt'n Davy is an excellent representative. Mr Came iB hard at work on his new story, "The Prophet," for Messrs Tillofcson, and it promises to be the beat that has yet come from his pen. The title was copyrighted some years ago ; and the novelist, recognising how much there is in a name, has half-a dozen titles copyrighted for books still to be written. The late Lord Derby was one of those irresolute mortals who can never make up , their minds to any course in time. Consequently, he was a decided failure, though undoubtedly a clever man. He was in 1862 offered the throne of Greece. Disraeli wrote to his friend Mrs Brydges-Willyams, " It is a dazzling adventure for the 'House of Stanley; but they are not an imaginative race, and I fancy they will prefer Knowsley to the Parthenon, and Lancashire to the Attic Plains." And Dizy was right. Two months later he wrote to the same friend — 11 The Greeks really want to make my friend ■ Lord Stanley their king. This beats any novel. I think he ought to take the crown, but he '< will not. Had I his youth I would not hesitate, even with the Earldom of Derby in the distance." Mr Charles Leland, the creator of the immortal Hans Breitman, is almost as nomadic as his characters. His nominal home is in Philadelphia, but he has hitherto ! Battled there for as short a time as he settles anywhere else. He is very fond of Italy, and was a resident of Florence for a considerable time two seasons ago. His appearance has been likened to that of a Viking chief in nineteenth-century dress," the gaunt massive frame, snowy hair and beard, and, more than all, the frosty bine eyes with their shrewd, fearless expression," making the comparison almost inevitable. Mrs Leland, too, is a notable woman; and it may be remembered that Thackeray, after his visit to America, spoke of her as the most beautiful lady he had seen there. Mrs Elizabeth Robins Pennell, it may just be added, is a niece of Mr Leland. Mrs Alexander, who wrote " The Wooiog O't " and other well-known stories, at one time gave up writing to please her husband, who, according to her own statement, thought a literary woman an abomination. The death of Mr Hector— for Mrs " Alexander" is only a noni de plume— removed the necessity for keeping her pen idle, and she has since become one of the most prolific story-tellers .of her sex. The only child of Mr French, of Dublin, she came to England when she was 19, and as maid, wife, and widow has spent most of her time in or near London. For the benefit of her children's education she went for a short period to Dresden and Paris, and even set up house for a time at St. Andrews, but she soon returned to the metropolis, where she declares she can always write better than anywhere else. Her husband's connection with the East led her into frequent intercourse with Legard, Burton, Bawlinson, and others, and turned her tastes in a direction not usually followed by literary ladies. As a stoiy-writer she began in The Family Heralj, and soon afterwards had a novel published by Bentley. A second work followed, but it was not until she published "The Wooing O'fc" that she came into general notice. It was a real success.