PERSONAL NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 224, 28 May 1896, Page 47

PERSONAL NOTES.

•;• M. Bouguereaa.tthe 'French farfciat.Jis . orre 6f the 1 most indefatigable- paiatera of the ■ age. : He has 'signed- 429 canvases, toot <in- • dluding' Sketches and minor -■works, andnhiai . masterpieces' 6f colouring- BtHl easily leatf rbe - French school. • . • Said Pasha, who 'during 1 the- height of • the recent Armenian crteiu.Boughtf sanctuary with Sir Philip Gurrie at thftßritiehuEmbassy at tOonstantinopte, %arid -was with .difficulty i prevailed >npon % by ;t/he semißß*ri»6 fof the . Sultan- tc?s return to r his ;home, ifljanxioas to end' bis days>in England. , •. . • - Mrs Keeloy, the • veteran .'actress, li-eee,-.save for her servants, quite alone rin: her-in-tereiting' little - house in ■ Petteam "• Gresceat,and never seems in any but the best spirits and health. 'She passes her- time, in* painting, . reading, .and -needlswork. -Some .of -hsr fancy-work is particularly -fine. •..* Admiml.Keppel, the \ Grand Old Man, of.the Epglifih fleet, who is. a prime favourite, with all.the-E'/yal.Blamily, is six -months, older .than Mr Gladstone. .He was a email boy when Napoleon was overthrown, but, when.the.Oiimean war broke out he had become an officer of experience, -and was put, in command of the naval brigade before Sebaetopol. Admiral Keppel has. been on the] retired list for the past 17, years. \ • DrlTridtjof Nansen.is a typical Norse-man,-with tha light hair and the blue eyes of the race, and is^n his thirty-fifth, year. 1 He made 'his first expedition into -the'far. north, the. year he came of age, but is far, from beiug a mere wandsrer in strange places. He is a most competent authority in many large departments of zoology, -and hte, published, papers on -various anatomical, subjects-are Of considerable ' interest and ira-! pprtance. . * . • In' his, youth . an apothecary's appren-i tlce,' Ibssn abandoned medicine to take'the : bueinesß management of a theatre which a friend established at Bergen. Thus brought directly into contact with the - stage, Ibsen 'digeoTered' his ' talent ' for dramatic writing,

although his first 'too or three plays attraotecTbut little notioe. "In" 1838, at the age' of '30, Ibsen married the daughter of a Bergen olergyman, with whom ho has had a very happy domestic life. His home is now at Munich. * . * Sli Jacobus de Wet, the late British agent in the Transvaal, whose name has been so prominently before the public, is a defendant of Jaoobas, the great Dutch artist, whose son settled at the Oape in 1690. He was born at the Oape over 60 years ago, and was for -many years in business there es a notary public and law agent. Ho was a member o£ the Legislative Assembly for over 20 jyears, and in 1890 was -appointed the Queen's representative at Pretoria, receiving j the honour of knighthoods Heiis very popular with the Boers. * . * The Mikado is the religions hesd of the, Japanese as well as their ruler. ;Hie plaoa is hereditary, and it baa been filled by. members of hiti family for more than 2500 years. .His is iuoomparably the most ancient lineage known. The Mikako is the 122 ad .of the line. The founder of it, whoie hope >dl posterity in his wildest dreams. could coot, have equalled .the result, was contemporary with'Nebuohadnezzar, 660 B.C. O( the seven great religions enumerated by .Max -Muller as possessing Bibles, the Mikado's family is older than five. ■ . ' ; Mr Philip James Bailey.vthe vrenerabla and renowned author of " Featus," ia now living at Nottingham. T)r Robertson 'Nicoll' called on him-.fche.other.'day, and; found! him, _ although in his 80th year, wonderfully hale sand hearty. It is considerably over half ta: century since " Featus " appeared, and for a time at all events it had an enormous sale, both in Great Britain and in America. By Rosaetti, his brother tells, it was " enormously relished," and "read/yet again and again." A cheap editioia — the 11th or 12th —was published not very manyyeara-ago. • . • Eat^Granville, who ia in his 24th year, has just entered the diplomatic servioo, -and has been jgiven san [appointment as a third' aeoretary, a post which carries a 'salary of, only £150 per annum, though, o£ course, it 8«on leads to better things. His lordship, looking, at his family history, should have every reason to hope for a successful career. His grandfather, who was British Ambassador to France, was in 1833 created a poor in recognition of hia 'brilliant- diplomatic^aer- 1 vices, and , the late earl, from being an attache to .the , Paris, Embaasy, lived to be twice Foreign Saore'tary of Great Britain and leader of the Liberal party in the House of Lords. • . • The following is the moving appeal of an American newspaper asking reporters and other offensive persons to re*peoe the seclusion of .a genius: "Budyard Kipling is a resident of the good old town of Brattloboro, in the noble Green. Mountain 1 State. America possesses him, and the charm of Green Mountain scenery, the air of this great land of freedom, and the gentle persuasions of Mm Kipling are likely to .make a thorough American of him if the American reporters will ' let him alone. Let us claim .'Kipling and .make him poet laureate hare if necessary. We must keep hirtf in this oountry and make a mau of him." • . • It is not generally known that the 1 Duke of Sutherland, doea not hiatorJcally take< his title from the county of Sutherland. His title, if not as a dukedom, yet as an earldom, dates from about 1228, so that it is far older than the county of Sutherland. It is takeu from a email district called Sutherland, an old Scandinavian colony, whioh, long after it had .been made anearldom, gave its name to a county which it made np in conjunction with four similar districts. Thus in modern times there are two Sutherlands—the small one from which the Duke takes his tHle,,ancl .the large rone f com which he ifti supposed to take it. •«• Undoubtedly one of the most pioturequo figures in American literary society, says' •• Sfc. Barba," in the Queen, is Mr William Winter, the famous dramatic critic of the New' York Tribune, who has known all the ! finest actors of England and America fora ' couple ofsgeoeraiione,- and < can raise < genius from unmerited obscurity. with a few strokes of his, pen, .Mr.Winter live&ina picturesque suburb .of. New .York, where his -singularly, beautiful, claar-oufc, .-and .poetic • features, eloquent blne'eyes, and noble mane of anow-. white i hair rare as -familiar: as a'householdword. .He 'frequently -visits England, and,' tho^gh"he belongs 'to ~si - family settled ifor 1 many. generations in' America; hia sympathies' with* the old coant.ry«re<»lmoßtr>as<istrong v .as" > if he- had .been! born there. : • . • ' The 1 Prince of 'Wales ' has always b«en', i fascinated' by *t>ig ."fires, iand -very often has, > gone long distances .to. see ■ the"llefcrop6litan; I Fire Brigade at their dangerous "work. ' Once, •-after the .opera .he .strolled unattended 'towards^a spot where the red fclow in the sky indicated a great 'conflagration. Seeing a newspaper reporter* takiug note?, the Prince , asked him for derail?, which were, of course, .-readily given, especially as the identity of .thequestionerwas^knownto the journalist. .At: the conclusion of the conversation the iPiince offered the reporter a oigar, whioh' the i latter carefully wrapped in • an .envelope and .placed in his pocket. "Why (don't 'you; smoke It ? " «aid the 1 Prince. ' " Becausa l J m not' likely ever, to get another cigar from the Prince' of .Wales, soli mean to-.keep this one as a' memento." The Prince laughed good.naturedly, and, bringing out his- case again, replied, " WeD/yoa bad better have another • one ; this time to smoke." • . •'Tb&lata Mr George Aogustns Sala was '• patted on the head by Wellington; "heard' Malibran sing -anti P<*i?auini play^eaw the coronation • of- Queen Victoria, and lived", to. celebrate her jubilee; saw -Louis Philippe while he-was still king of the French ; witnessed the second funerSl of Napoleon; , gazed on -three (revolutions .in the French. • capital ; :saw old Czir Nicholas .at the:Aacot ' races ; attended ' the • f uneril - of ' the asßansi-, nated ''Alexander 11, -and lived in Rnseia; when there were millions 1 , of white serfs there ;\ followed Garibaldi in -bis campaign', in -the Tyrol ; ■ was in- the -IPranoo'Meiiean.War-and' at the storming ■ of "Pueblo Turkish.' Oonstiiaition. proclaimed in'.Oonntan-; ' tin§ pie' from* the -steps "of ttheold SSeraglio •} listened W.Daniel . o'Gonnell: in the (London; Tavern ; -spent !13 .-years dn-A-merfoa duriag, the -Civil >War, >and -met i Lincoln, 13fcward,i Stunner,' Greely, and Grant; as<well<asJeff«« • ooni Davis, and was a friend of Diokensandi Thackeray. *.< Lieutenant Stuarfe Gordon, lateß.N.,

collaborator with Mr Leonard Oatram in tfid naval (drama ir Traa 'Blue } or, "Afloat and A«hore(," which was 'to be prodaocd *rf^ the Olympic Theatre on March 12) has had n short- but advenfenroua oareoaij Entericg the service in JB7l, Ji« aailad^ as midshipman on board the J&adymiott and Immortalite in tho Flying Squadron, ifflt 1874-78, and journeyed nearly afi ovar tha world. He landed with an armad party tift, Singapore, and assUted in suppreealng fchf insurrection there. In 1878 Lieutenant Oordon was present at the pasawgo oi tbe ttoxi danelles «,nd BuUsaquent oparations there, and also ftl, Baf ifei and B>iklsx Bays. He wa« al«o i/wsentat the-secon'd passage of .the Da?* danaileni, and at the defence of the Gallipoli Peninsula. He served in the Egyptian canP paign, receivins; the medil and Khedive afcai*. Lieutenant Gordon was then.engaged in Eatfli "Afrioa and Arabia, in the suppreisiori of tho elavo trade, and was personally concerned in, some of the largest oapfcurea' known' for many years. Being compelled ■to retire from the service owing to deteotlva eyesight, Lieiw tenant Gordon entered the employ of thqr Royal Niger Oonstabnlary, of whioh :he bft«^ came active commandant. As civil engineer/ and pioneer to the Imperial English Baal! •Africa Company, ha surveyed' th*ifir»t telegraph wire in East Afrioa. Many of M*( Gordon's own experiences -aro-^wolrked int§ his naval drama, in the rehearsals of wbicfc he t%kes the keenest interest.