PERSONAL NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2168, 12 September 1895, Page 42

PERSONAL NOTES.

* . ■ Jules Verne is now 67 years old. His first novel waa published when he was 35, and he has been producing them at the rate of two a year ever since. He thinks Charles Dickens the greatest of all British novelists. • . • When abroad the Prince of Wales endeavours to make all his official visits in the morning, so that he may have the rest of the day free for recreation and Bocial duties. As an early " caller," however, he ia surpassed by the German JJmperor, who may be expected before, as soon as after, breakfast. • . • King Oflcar of Sweden, the most gifted, Derhap3, of royal musicians, has a magnificent musical library at bis Stockholm palace, in which he takes especial pride, as It Is mainly of his own collecting. The library contains much that is valuable and unique, and is regarded as one of the most interestIng "eights" of tho city.

' *,' Alphonso Daudet has been more of ft traveller than most French men of letters, I and his recent visit to England is said to ba only the prelude to a long series of journeyings abroad. He ezpeole to visit America? and the far East before he settles down to Parisian life again. What has deterred him so long from making the journey round the world has been his dislike of being lionised. * .* Lord Salisbury has an Income of someJ thing like £150,000' a year. Yet, says Answers, passionately^ fond sa he is of science, literary pursuits, and a country life, he deliberately renounces them for the Foreign Offioe, because tbe 12 hoars a day he puts in there, to say nothiog of tbe ceasetatf anxiety, reduce bis weight and keep him in good health. So the " great Tory party " is nothing more than an anti-fat. • . * The new Dake of Hamilton was utterly unknown even by name to his predecessor till a few years ago. He was introduced by a friend, and was warmly taken up by the late Duke, who at once made him, as hie heir, an allowance of £100 a year, and also gave him rent free a honse at Newmarket, where be and his sisters have since resided during ft good part of the season. The present Duke has been a lieutenant in the Royal Navy, and is spok9n of very kindly by all those who knew him when he was plain Mr Douglas Hamilton. • . ' A story is balug told of Mr Chamberlain having once begun a speech, which had followed one of Mr B right's most eloquent addre3BOß, with a quotation from Dickens. Mr Chamberlain had commenced, •• As tha red-nosed man in ' Pickwick ' said " But he got no furthor, for the contrast with Mr Bright's resounding periods, embroidered with his customary Soriptural qaotationa and adaptation, was too much for the audience. The laughter was so loud and long that the audience did not hear what the " red-nosed man" did say. • , * Mr Hall C»ine is one of fow writers of note who shine as after-dionor speakers. He has an excellent voice aud delivery, and possesses the happy knack of Bpeaking as if he were albogether independent of raanuacripb asßistanc?. As a matter of fftob, however, hla speeches are written out in ibat altnoßt copperplate hand of his, which ia the joy of compositors, nearly word for word as they are delivered. HU speeches abound in anecdote, and it need hardly be said that they aro ootiched in the expresifive style of which th« author of " The Minxaaan " is a matter. • . • The " Rehan cult," Americans tell ue, did not originate either — as some have pretended— wir,h the virit of Miss Rehan to England, or with the dramatic critics or male playgoers of New York ; it was, in its inception, an outburst of schoolgirl enthusiasm. Every schoolgirl in New York was a Rehan fanatic, went to D.ily mntinees as to religious demonstrations, encircled her looking-glass with portraits of her idol, and imitated that idol's tricks of voica and movement. And as nothing is more infec* tious than enthusiasm, presently all America, old and young, caught this girlish idolatry, and did its best to better it. • . • Mrs Cralgie (John Oliver Hobbes), who got her decree nisi recently, comes of a Nonconformist family. Her parents attend the City Temple. She is a regular worker, and in this respect a disciple of M. Zola. "I try to work," she says, " regularly. I make a practioe o£ writing every day. The re»ulb is not always good ; but I endeavour to make that a rule. I may write two or three hours, and the result may only be two or three lines, even if I consider the matter only fairly good. Another thing I do. I try co far as I can to thiuk about the work only while I am working, and to put it out of my mind for tbe rest of the day, so that I may always come fresh to it. My rule is to be at my 3esk at half-past 9. If I lose time in the morning I can make it up in the afternoon, after tea, but I never work at night." Straugely enough John Oliver Hobbei baa never attempted a portrait. " One trait in a person may suggest a character, but my characters are in no sense drawn from life . . . never in tbe smallest degree."