PERSONAL NOTES,

Otago Witness, Issue 2287, 30 December 1897, Page 47

PERSONAL NOTES,

•. ' The youngest general officer in the army is Major-general Hunter, at present second in command in Egypt. He is 40 years of age, and has been in all the fighting in the Soudan since 1881.

• , - The Sultan of Turkey is very fond of music, and often play 3 duets on the piano with his children. When he receives a visitor, Abdul Hamid sits beside him on the sofa, and invariably lights a cigarette for his guest with his own fingers.

•'.■ Bismarck possesses no fewer than 482 different crosses and decorations. Some ingenious individual has calculated that, in order to be able to wear these all at once, the Prince would have to have a chest measurement of 21ft.

■ . • Colonel Warburton, now a prominent figure in the Frontier War in India, probably knovrs Afghanistan better than any British

officer living. His mother was herself an Afghan princess of rank, and he has visited? many remote villages in the country, and got into complete touch with the natives. • . ■ M. Zola, the great French novelist, is embarrassed in the trivial details of his daily life by a host of superstitious fears and a belief in good and evil omens. The number 17, for instance, suggests to the disciple of realism all sorts of evil. While most people regard 13 as unlacky, to M, Zola 17, or any combination of figures that foots up to that amount, is filled with dire portent. j • . • The house of Dr Siemens, the Berlin electrician, is known throughout Germany as j " the wonder of Wansee." It is fitted from roof to cellar with electricity. The dining room, kitchen, and wine cellar are all connected by means of a miniature electric railway. In order to convey things from one room to another, the article required has only to be placed on a little car, a button pressed, and the car is almost instantly where it ought to be. • . • Sir James Vaughan, the well-known Bow Street stipendiary, has the intimate knowledge of the sordid phases of life which 33 years of London Police Court magistracy are calculated to give. Born in the year before Waterloo, he is three years older than the veteran Master of the R -Up, the doyen of our judges of the Supreme Court. Sir James wn.B called to the bar 58 years ago, and married the daughter of the late Mr Jacob Bright, of Rochdale. In appearance, with his flight, bowed figure, bald head, and myriad-wrinkled face, he rather suggests a survivor from the last century than an active magistrate of thlp. • . • The doyen of Paris journalists is M. Eugene Veuillot, who is 89, but the Society of Dramatic Authors can boast a member, M. Ernest Legouve, who is turned 90, and that age is surpassed by the doyenne of the Authors' Society, who is nearing the cantury. She is Madame dv Bob d'Elbhecq, who is in her ninety-ninth year, having been born on May 13, 1799. Madame d'Elbhecq has retired to a convent, but she has not given up tbe world of lettcrp. She has written innumerable tales of a religious turn, and is still hard at work. Over 30.000 of some of her books have been sold, but they are not very profitable, and the old lady is in receipt of a pension from the Authors' Society. • . • K<ng George of Greece, in the earlier years of his reign, often participated in the feats of running and leaping of which his countrymen are so fond. In order to conceal bis identity he entered tbe contests under the name of George Papadopoulos. la a certain amateur contest which he won he was accused of being a professional. As " George Papadopoulos " naturally could not give a satisfactory account of his identity and" antecedents, the crowd become convinced that he really was a professional. In order to escape rough treatment he confessed his identity — not to the crowd, but to a police officer, who managed to get him away to a placß of safety without permitting the crowd to discover that they had been threatening their sovereign. • . • The E irl of Crawford, who holds the ancient barony of Lindsay, dating from the twelfth century, is one of the moat accomplished astronomers in Europe. Born 50 years sgo, he entered the army late in the sixties, only, however, to leave it shortly afterwards to -prosecute the scientific studies which have absorbed him ever since. Lord Crawford's name is remembered chiefly in connection with the strange disappearance of his father's body in 1880. The most diligent search failed to discover it, although money was lavished in the sfforfc ; until after a year's search ifc was found in the grounds of Dunechr, the Earl's Aberdeenshire house, within a few yards of the mausoleum from which it had been taken. The Earl is at present actively engaged in re-forming the Lindsay clan, whose members are scattered all over the world.

* . * Sir William M'Cormac, the new baronet, is the President of the Royal College of Surgeons, and is probably the most highlydecorated member of the medical profegßioD. He has the Order of Medjidie, the Crown of Prussia, the Ritter K>euz of Bavaria, Dannebrog, Crown of Italy, Cross of the Takovo of Servia, Order of Merit of Spain and Portugal, and the Star of Sweden. He is also Knight of Grace and the Order of St John of Jerusalem. Sir William has served as a volunteer in the medical and surgical departments when war has broken out in any part of Europe. He was all through the FrancoGerman, Tarco-ServiaD, and Russo-Tarkish wars, and was actually present at tbe battle of Sedan. In the generous amusements of life he is an accomplished angler, and a wellknown figure on the golfing links.

* . * Colonel Robert G. Ingersoll is, says a Home paper, best known on this side of the Atlantic as an anti-theological lecturer. The odium attached to the frank avowal of heterodox belief has been his lot for the greater part of his life, and has had the effect of minimising in the eyes of many people powers of comprehension and insight of an almost unique character. His " Mistakes of Moses " is thus better known than his " Walt Whitman " or his " Voltaire," though the latter woiks are worthy of more attention from the serious student. His latest effort in the literary field is a lecture on Shakespeare, a reprint of which is published in this country by R. Forder, 28 Stonecutter Btreer, London, EC. The principal feature of this lecture is the enthusiastic appreciation which thrills in every line. , Sharp, vivid sentences, often eloquent, always forcible, are scattered in abundance. The lecturer has evidently adopted no conventional plan of treatment. He elucidates as far as possible the main characteristics of Shakespeare's geniup, and quotes with an aptness which many may envy. This lecture is so different in style and matter frbm any known criticism or appreciation of Shakespeare that it is difficult to estimate its value with reference to the mass of literature about the great poet. It stands quite apart.

Bronchitis and Pulmonary Complaints. — It is desirable that anyone who is affected with any form of chesb complaint arising from cold should at once obtain a bottle of Bdnnington's Cabhagben Irish Moss, for its effect is most reliable. The public are cautioned against the numerous attempted imitations of this well-known article, cone of which approach its UALIT*