PERSONAL NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2094, 12 April 1894, Page 45

PERSONAL NOTES.

Miss Lily Hall Came, the Bister of the novelist, lived for some time as a child under the roof of Dante Gabriel Rossetti, and she will some day, it is promised, set forth in print her recollections of the poet. Mrs Alexander, the novelist, has been lame for two years from a cuiious cause. She Buffered sericua hurt .to her knee, owing to her cramped position in the dress circle of a London theatre one evening, and she is new unable to walk without a stick. Mr Richard leGallienne, wfcosel " Religion o£ a Literary Man " everybody has been discussing, began life in an accountant's office in Liverpool. But he soon found that he was better at letters than at figures. He is only 28, is married, and lives in an old house at Brentford. Lord Salisbury was 61 on Feburary 3, the Dnke of Devonshire is Gl, Mr Chamberlain 58, Mr Arthur Balfour 46, Sir William Harcourt is 67, Mr John Morley 57, Lord Rosebery 47. Lady Constance Lytton, daughter of the late Lord Lytton and granddaughter of Balwer, is the worthy descendant of her literary accestors. She has for seveial years edited an amateur newspaper, and now has formally entered the ranks of London journalism. The Duke of Fife started life with an enormous fortune, to which he has steadily added. Everything that he touches seems to turn to gold. Brock in a London trußt company, purchased by him some years ago at £30 a Bhare, is now quoted at £9000 a share. Mr William Watson, the pott, whese merits were substantially recognised by Mr Gladstone last year, is again in bad health. All literary work has been forbidden him for a considerable time, as hi* nervous system is completely shattered. He has been living for some months on tbe south coast. Misß Eleanor Reee, the well-known contralto singer, has decided to devote herself to journalism, and is about to join the ranks of what Mr Oscar Wilde haß called the "inkBtajned wretches," Mies Bees, is an, old

pupil of the Royal Academy of Music In private life Miss Bees is the wife of Mr Matthew Brodie, the actor. Siegfried Wagner, who is being induce by some of his friends in London to visit England and conduct a series of concerts of his father's work, does not seem to satisfy the critics of the Fatherland. It is said he conducts with his left hand, and his right hand, when not otherwise engaged, generally glides into bis trouser pocket. Miss Olive Schreiner is a pleasant, brightfaced little lady, who likes to dress in bright colours. She wa3 only 17 years of age when she wrote her celebrated novel " The Story of an African Farm." When in London, Miss Schreiner llres in one of those tiny flats specially given over to thoso of the fair sex who wish to live alone. She does her writing whenever the fancy seizes her, and has no really regular hours for work. Mr F. 0. Selous, the famous hunter, has a great reputation for veracity throughout Africa. According to the two lady nurses, Miss Blennerhassett and Miss Sleeman, who recently published their experiences of Mashonaland, his title is "The man who never tells a lie." So thoroughly is he trusted, indeed, that the tallest story would bo accepted by a native as literal truth if Mr Selous's name were given as authority to it. Mr W. S. Gilbert has no ear for music, and cannot tell the difference between harmony and diecord, yet he likes it and has an ear for rhythm. He says: " The slightest error in bime, which would probably escape a musician, wonld jar most gratingly on my ear. My fondness for music chiefly lies in hearing pieces which are connected in my mind with associations. I would rather hear an unknown soprano singitg a song I knew than Patti singing one I did not know." Mr Orlando B. Potter, the well-known New York capitalist and ex-Congressman, who3e death was recently reported, raised himself fiom the fate of being an obscure working man on a New England hillside farm to wealth and prominence mainly by indefatigable industry and hard work. He paid taxes on real estate amounting to over GO.OOOdoI. This would represent an assessed valuation of about 2,400,000d0l and an actual value ofclose to 5,000,000d01. The literary lion in London of the coming spring will probably be Mr Budyard Kipling, as he is believed to be contemplating a visit. A very different reception awaits the author of "The Barrack-room Ballada" and of " Soldiers Three" from tbe one he met with when, a few years ago, he arrived in London with a small bundle of short stories in his luggage. Few then would have prophesied that he would so rapidly rise to the first rank both as Poet and prose-Writer. Mr Kipling

and Mr Stevenson have shown that taking up a residence thousands of miles from the literary centre in no way interferes with the progress of an author's fame. The •• boom " goes on just the name, perhaps even better, for " distance makes the heart grow fonder." The Marquess of Exeter, who, like the Marquess of Salisbury, is a descendant of William Cecil, Queen Elisabeth's Secretary of State, has one of the finest residences in England — to wit, Burghley House, near Stamford. In one room is the Marquesß's state bed, presumably the bed that Elizabeth used to eleep in during her visits to her Minister. It is 6ft high and must require some climbing to get into. The canopy is 18ft high. The cost was £3000. General Favrat possessed enormous bodily strength, even in his old age. Feeling ill one day, he sect for the dcotor. As tbe latter was sitting by the bedside, the old warrior began to lament : " Ab, dear, doctor, I am not the man I was ; you can't imagine how weak I am getting; look here," and with these words he grasped with his right hand one of the legs of the chair on which tbo doctor was sitting, and lifted both the chair and its occupant a couple of feet from the ground. "lou see," said he, "it takes quite an effort." j Mr William Morris, who has recently come before the public in a new lighS as the poet of the Underground railway, lives in a faded old house In Chiswick Mai), divided only by a narrow roadway from the river. Exteriorly the arch- decorator leaves his home undecorated, except by a board with notices on halfsheets of paper, which look as if they related to lost dogs, but really are announcements of his Sunday evening Socialist meetings. It is from this house, Kelmscott House, that Mr Morris'a magnificent reprints are published.