PERSONAL NOTES.

Otago Witness, Volume 01, Issue 2123, 1 November 1894, Page 49

PERSONAL NOTES.

Mr Edwin J. Ellis, who is one of the contributors to tl The Second Book of 'the Rhymers' Olub," is an extremely versatile man. Many think the illustrations which he supplies for his books even cleverer than the letterpress. He is a brother of the wellknown painter, Mr Tristram Ellis, and is the wit of the Rhymers' Olub.

Mr Thomas J. Wise, the prince of modern bibliographers, whose Browning bibliography is published in a recent number of The Athenaeum, ia a busy and prosperous " city" man who has only his evenings to give to literature. Mr Wise, who is a very pleasant, personable man, was a prominont member of the Vagabonds' Olub, wnich is just being reconstituted into the New Vagabonds.

Miss Myra Bwann, whose novel " Shallows" has reoently been brought oat in two volumes

by Hurab and Blaokett, It a Yorkshire womail from the East Riding, well known looally fof her beauty and her prowess in active sports. In person she is the very type of the healthy Englishwoman which the novelist ohooses for his heroine—tall, ereofc, blue-eyed, goldenhaired, and with a rosy complexion. Though this is her first novel, she is the authoress of a successful play produced by one of our leading theatrical managers. The Rev. William Bright, D D., whosfl "Waymarks in Church History" has beefr brought out by the Longmans, is a canon of Christ Ohurob, and professor of one of the fanoy kinds of theology with whioh Oxford garnishes itself. Dr Bright, who is still a bachelor, and dispenses most liberal hospitalities in his oharmiflg canon's house ia Christ Ohuroh, is a very high churohman. He is our greatest living church historian, and must not bo confused with the Rev. J. Franok Bright, also an historian and Oxford don. Dr Franck Bright is the master of University College. Paderewski, the great pianist, was a professor of music long before he discovered hia talent, and he did not begin tp make headway until he was 27. He was then very poor, In debt, and residing in Paris. A. foreign princess bade him attend her salon for a fee of a lOOfr. He did so, with a friend, and his hostess and her friends were oharmed with hia original playing. Bat the musician was proud as he was poor. He had walked on foot to the house, and when the princess •aid to him, as he was about to leave, " You must allow me to send yon home in my carriage," Paderewski replied, " Madam, mjr carriage is at the door "; and he walked bacfc with his friend. That evening was the turning point in his fortunes. Dr Bridge, the popular organist of Woafcminster Abbey, is a man of 60, and is joou> larly kDOwn among his fellows as " Westminster Bridge." Both he and Mrs Bridge— a charming and accomplished lady, a nieca of the late Baron Amphlett — are enthusiastic anglers, and every summer the one oompetes ! with the other for the capture of the biggest salmon. Dr Bridge is a born humourist. He I tells of going to open a new organ in the country not long ago, The action of the in** strument was very stiff and heavy, and ha said so when one of the committee asked him bia opinion. " Ob, well," was the reply, " oux organist is a Terr strong young man; the exercise will do him good." Dr Bridge ha* his domicile in the Llttlington Tower of ,sthe Abbey cloisters, and sleeps in the old priori bedroom, which bears date 1304. As a composer he is associated with Mr Gladstono in at line setting of the latter's Latin version of " Rook of Ages." One of the greatest heroes of the Lisbon arena is the toreador Peixinho. He is an extraordinarily skilful marksman, and, perhaps, derives his name, which is Portuguese for " little fish," from an instrument he often uses in the ring. This is a small iron stick, with a pointed end. He will toss this with unerring aim at a bull which is the length of the ring away. It is, however, at the olose of the entertainment that the popularity off Peixinho is, or used to be, evinoed. When the last bull had been taken away, people would throw their hats into the ring, and he, like the common or circus clown, would throw them back on to the respective heads of the spectators, seldom missing one ; then, amid thunders of applause, enthusiastic admirers! would throw bouquets or boxes of oigars and cigarettes into the ring, and he would retire,, heavily laden with the proceeds of popularity* Another of the shining light? cf Lisbon Ia Tiuoco, most daring of toreadors. It is interesting to note how many peett may be regarded as authors : The Duke of Argyll Lord Lamlngton Lord Rosebery Earl of Meath Lord Dunraven Lord Playfair Lord Dunmore Duke of Rutland Lord Dysart Lord Selborne Earl Grey Lord Wolseley Lord Houghton Lord Wolverton Marquis of Huntly Lord Kelvin The most prolific writer has been the Daka of Argyll, and his subjects have includad science, antiquities, poetry, and politics;. Biography is represented by Lord Rosebery and Lord Wolseiey, politics by Earl Grey, science by Lord Kelvin and Lord Playfair, social reform by Lord Meath, poetry by the) Duke of Rutland and Lord Houghton, churoh history and bymnology by Lord Selborne, travel by the Marquis of Huntly, Lord Dunmore, and Lord Wolverton, and fiction by the Earl of Dysart, The latest peer to entej? ! the literary ranks is the young Duke oJC Marlborougb, who shows by his article on " Blenheim and its Memories " in the August Pall Mall Magazine that he wields a facile pen. THE NEWMAN OF THE FBEE CHUItCH. A very short man, but with a frame suggestive of great strength, arms as long as Rob Roy's, hair shaggy and unkempt, the. facial expression cad and lowering, the featuroa almost ugly, the mouth large, with sensitive lips, something in them of the eensl? tive child or the pouting woman. The whole face redeemed into nobleness by the towering forehead and the dominant expression of elevation and intellectuality. Not a good-looking man by any means, but as if bathed in a light of spiritual beauty. He Is in the very prime of 'physical and mental strength— 33 years of age; having taken long to ripen, more ambitious to excel than to shine; an observer, a thinker, a student, a superlative preacher, he now comes to the front because his Church and hi* country call him, and because the few why have the secret of his herculean powers tell him that his hour has come. This Is Robert Smith Oandlish, the Newman of the Scottish Church movement ; the man who more expressly than any other took the toroh from the hand of Chalmers when the old leader fell ; the most sincerely loved, the most intensely hated, the most oon» spiouous, and the most representative of th« founders of the Free Ohuroh.— Peter Bayne,

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