PERSONAL NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2085, 8 February 1894, Page 49

PERSONAL NOTES.

M. de Lesseps is at present in Paris, and rapidly regaining strength and lucidity. Although he is' in bis eighty-ninth year he can receive friends and take bis band at a quiet rubber. His recovery has been wonderful.

The Rev. H. C. Chuttleworth, who is well known for his work among ycung people employed in London, contends that the people of every parish should be allowed to elect their own clergy.

Mr Buskin is very unlikely to resume his literary labours. Although, says the Bookman, he is in good health, he is entirely unequal to any mental effort, and is allowed to converse only on subjects which do not agitate hi 3 mind.

Signor Luigi Arditi, the famous composer, only obtained £50 for his "II Bacio," waltz. The Paris publisher who secured it cleared 200,000fr by the transaction, and the copyright was recently sold for £600.

The brother of Mrs Harriet Beecher Stowe, the Rev. Edward Beecher, ha«>, with his wife, just received the oongiatulations of friends on reaching the 65th year of married life. Mr Beecher is in bis 90th year, and Mrs Beecher in her 87ob, and botd are vigorous mentally and physically.

Mr Hall Came is at present residing in Peel, Isle of Man, hard at work on a novel, which he and his friends who have seen what has been already written think is the strongest piece of work he has ever done. Mr Hall Came is contemplating settling permanently in Peel, and thinks of building a house there.

Few writers can transfer their thoughts direct to the typewriter. Mr T. P. O'Connor, however, always prepares his copy in this way. Once started, he rarely has to pause, as the constant click of the machine in no way interrupts the flow of thought, as it does with most men.

The Hon. John Collier, the distinguished portrait painter, con .gs of • a Devonshire family, as bis brother 1 i title, Baron Monk*well, denotes. Both the late peer and his father showed great artistic talent, though their fame at present rests chiefly on their ability as lawyers.

The late Prince Alexander o£ Bafctenburg and Prince Ferdinand of Bulgaria were warm friends, and carried on a brisk correspondence. Prince Ferdinand hss given lO.OOOfr towards the national monument which is to be erected to the memory of Prince Alexander of Balgaria. Lord Charles Beresford has won the Royal Humane Society's medal on three successive occasions for the saving of lite. In one case, he sprang overboard dressed jußt as he was in a weighty shooting attire, with his pockets loaded with cartridges, and rescued a sailor who had fallen overboard off the Falkland Isle?.

Sir George Elliot, the great colliery proprietor, has risen from the ranks of labour, for he was once a " pit laddie " in the north. During his career as a Member of Parliament, Sir George was regarded by his fellowlegislators as the personification of goodhumour, and bis somewhat original speeches invariably attracted a good audience.

It is said by Edison's friends that be doe 3 everything contrary to medical precept, although he is never ill. He often smokes 20 cigars a day, and very seldom sleeps more than four hours out of the 24, while sometimes, with the inventor's fever stroDg upon him, he will go for two or three days without sleep.

Among the sufferers from the hard times in Italy i 3 General Menotti Garibaldi, son of the Italian hero. Although the general, like the other descendants of Garibaldi, has a State pension of 10,000 lire, he lost so much money recently that he was obliged to allow his furniture to be sold to pay back taxes. The general is a member of Parliament.

Mr Chamberlain is a remarkably lucid speaker, and he never allows himself: to be flurried while addressing the House of Commons. In private Mr Chamberlain is equally lucid, and journalists who have interviewed him declare that there is never any dffiicnlty about grasping his meaning. Like other public men he does not always answer every question put to him by the interviewer.

Madame Belle Cole, the singer, is exceedingly fond of horses, and ridicg in the park is her favourite recreation. She is one of the cleverest lady whips, and can at times be seen "tooling" along to Windsor or Hampton Court. Having her residence quite near, Madame Belle Cole occasionly spends a morning at Tattersall's with her husband, who fully shares her taste in this respect.

Miss May Yohe, the talented prima donna, possesses among her treasures an electric piano, which can be played either in the customary manner or by automatic action. It is, perhaps, not generally known that Miss Yohe has a considerable amount of Indian blood in her veins, her mother being a pure American Indian. On her father's side she is of Dutch extraction.

The German Emperor's butler is an American. His wine-cellar is a model of orderly arrangement. Each precious vintage — and some are almost priceless — has a separate enclosure railed in with iron, and labelled with the name, age, price, and r umber of bottles of the wine. No decanters are nsed oa the Imperial tables : the wine is poured out by footmen from the original bottles, the utmost care being taken in the process.

Of Sardou, the famous French dramatist, a correspondent in Paris writes as fol'ows :—: — " His personal appearance is striking. The corners of the moutb, which Nature cut straight across the face, have been tormented by continuous and feverish conversation, and the right-hand corner has contracted a rictus which is daily becoming more and more like that of Voltaire. Never have we seen a more mobile face, and never have we listened to a more eloquent and fascinating talker."

Lord Rosebery is much liked by Her Majesty, who takes great pleasure in the wit and brightness of her present Foreign Minister's conversation. Even politics e*n be taken too seriously, and there can ba no doubt that the personal popularity of Lord Kosebery owes much to the fact that he has sufficient fan in his composition to do wbat Lord Beaconsfield did— namely, raise an occasional Bly laugh at the expense of bis own political " Bide."

Mr Henry Irving possesses among hia most valued treasures two articles to which

peculiar interest attaches. One is a little purse made of green silk thread, with a silver band. It was found in the pocket of Edmund Kean on the death of the latter, and did not contain a single coin. The other article referred to is a silver timekeeper which formerly belonged to Edwin Forrest. The hands point to thirty minutes past 5, at which moment the great actor expired, and the watch stopped.