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Otago Witness, Issue 2400, 1 March 1900, Page 57

PERSONAL NOTES.

— Mr Thomas Hardy, the author of "Tess of the D'Urbervilles" and many other novels, is devoted to cycling. He is now nearly 60 years old, and he began his literal" career at 18. -

— Reginald, d'lberville, eighth Baron de Longueil, in the province of Quebec, is said to be the only living popsessor of a Canadian title. Tt was granted by Louis XIV, 1700, when Canada was under French rule, and it was confirmed by the Queen in 1880. The present baron is 4-3 years of ago. He succeeded to the title on the death of his brother in 1898.

— Lord Dufferin's youngest son has gone out to South Africa, commissioned by a wellknown publisher to write a book on the country and the political situation. All Lord Dufferin's sons are now at the front — the late Earl of Ava and Lord Frederick Blackwood, of the 9th Lancers, who is with Lord Methuen.

— Lord Chesham, who is to command the 3000 Yeomanry who are to be sent out to the Cape, was both the son-in-law and the brother-in-law of the late Duke of Westminster. He married, in 1877, Lady Beatrice Grosvenor, the daughter of the Duke of Westminster by his first marriage, and the Duke married as his second wife, in 1882, Lord Chesham's youngest sister.

— The Cza'- has made Prince George of Greece, the Governor of Crete, a magnificent New Year's: gift. It is a splendid yacht, which has been specially built at Sebastopol. The Czar has never forgotten how Prince George saved his life when they were travelling in Japan, and a Japanese fanatic attacked the Czarevitch, as he was then. The yaehu is a souvenir of that incident in the journey to Japan.

—Mr Michael Davitt, who recently resigned his seat in Parliament, enjoyed the distinction of being the only member of the House of Commons having but one arm. He is a. journalist raid author by profession, and an ardent gardener by inclination. The famous Irishman still treasures the three ticket^-of-leave, which serve to remind him that certain years of his life have been spent as a political prisoner in her Majesty's jails. — Charlotte, sister of Heinri'ch Heine, the German poet, died at Hamburg in October last, aged 99. The fact that Heine's sister lived almost to the end of the century, when her famous brother died nearly 50 years ago, comes upon one with no little surprise. Charlotte yon Heine was the only sister of the poet, and was about three years his junior. She married in early life a Hamburg merchant named Moritz Embden, and had a daughter, who afterwards became the Princess Delia Rocca.

— Colonel Sir Fitzroy Maclean, Bart., the chief of the Macleans, who has been appointed prsfident of the Highland Society in London in the place of the Marquis of Tullibardine, who is now on active service in South Africa, has a distinguished military record. He served throughout the Crimean campaign, and wap present at the siege of Sevastopol, for which he received a medal and two clasps: Sir Fitzroy airo served in Canada from 1868 till 1870, and in 1865 was selected to repoz-t on French cavalry manoeuvres.

—If the Hon. Walter Rothschild's offer for service in South Africa be accepted, one of the most interesting figures in the present House of Commons will, for the time being at all cvcntd, be removed from the Parliamentary arena. Like Sir John Lubbock and Sir Herbert Maxwell, the hou. member is one of the few practical zoologists at St. Stephen's. Mr Rothschild only entered Parliament in the middle of last session, when he succeeded the late Baron Ferdinand, but his immense frame, no less than his straw chim-ney-pot, &oon became familiar objects to his colleagues. — The late Duke of Westminster, in addition to his unfailing generosity, was a most prompt and obliging correspondent. He never left a letter unanswered, and almost invariably replied by return of post. It is said that a gentleman, who was staying at Eton as a guest, related, not long since, that one evening, on coming downstairs to post a letter in the box, he femnd the Duke and Duchess were there before him, and that the letters they were about to consign to the same receptacle were 85 in number, all written by theraaelves ; but, of course, the vast majority by the Duke.

— The Sultan of Turkey is short in stature, but, on account of his shoes, which have, heels sin high, he has the appearance of a tall man. 'His beard and hair are as white as snow, yet he skilfully dyes it with some preparation which makes him appear to be a man of vigour and in the prime of life. His Roman nose is extremely big. His hearing is defective, as he has the use of but one ear. His hands and feet are small and his voice rough. Hi 3 pale face portrays his cares and his fears, and marks him as a man of poor health. His temper is indescribably bad, and when he is angry ho uses vulgar language, He is the despotic ruler of some 18,000,000 men.

— The present Lady Methuen belongs to a well-known Somersetshire family. She is a cousin of her husband, and her marriage to ike fcpaoiifl flpldier took #l&ce fiyj? xears

after the death of his first wife, and just before he was appointed D.A.G. at the Cape of Good Hope ; while the year following — that is to say. in 1885 — Lord (then the Hon. Paul Sandford) Methuen commanded the famous Methuen's Horse in Bechuanaland. Lord and Lady Melhuen have four children. Since their return from South Africa, and while Lord Methuen was in command of the Home District, they spent a great deal of their time at their Wiltshire seat, Corsham Court.

— The late Mr Justice O'Brien was unmarried. His home in Merrion square, Dublin, writer one who knew him, is a museum of the rarest editions of celebrated authors. He was a great book fancier, and an expert in the nn'steries of book-binding. He was, moreover, an ort critic of no mean reputation, and the posbes?or of a very considerable collection of the woi'ks of the old masters ; while his treasures of porcelain ware are regaided as the mo»t valuable in Ireland. Mr O'Brien's memory, the writer, was marvellous, and, as his reading was very wide and his conversational powers unrh ailed, it is no exaggeiation to say that he was one of the most charming members of society of his generation.

— Major the Hon. North de Ooigny Dal-rymple-Hamilton, of the Scot? Guards, who was severely wounded at Belmont, is tho second son of tlie Earl of Stair. On the death of his mother a few years ago, he assumed her name of Hamilton. He joined the Guards in 1871, and iv 1882. was present with his regiment at the battle o£ Tel-el-Kebir. In 1885, in an action at Hasheen, Major Dalrymple-Hamilton was wounded, ar.d while lying wounded in Netley Hospital was visited by his Sovereign, with whom anft other members of the Royal Family he is a grrat favourite. The Queen and Princess of Wales have been (sponsors to his children. At the last general election, the Hon. North Dahymple-Hamilton contested Mr Gladstone 's old Midlothian seat in the Unionist interest.

— Lord Bclgrave. the new Duke of Westminster, is the stepson of Mr George Wyndham, the Under-Secretary for War, who became the second husband of the Countess Grosvenor. He went out to South Africa some time before the war began, and joined the personal staff of Sir Alfred Milner. The young Duke is only 20, and is tall, standing over 6ft hip;h. He gave great promise of distinction in the military career, which his succession to the dukedom will of necessity end, though not, perhaps, till the end of the war. The Duke may be expected to carry on the sporting tradition-: of tho Grosvenor family. Ms is known in the home circle as "Bend Or," a name given him after the famous Derby winner, who achieved his triumphs when he was in his cradle.

— Professor Max" Muller, the great authority of Indian languages and literature, says that his interest in our great Eastern Empire was first excited when he was 3, boy not 10 years of age. On the outside of one of his copy books at school was a very rough picture of "Benares, with crowds of men, women, and children, who were on their way to bathe in the sacred waters of the Ganges. Max Muller knew nothing at that time about India, pave thc>t "the people were black, that they burnt their widows, and that, in order to get into Paradise, they had first to be mangled under the car of Juggernaut." But the picture of Benares on the old copybook, having taken his fancy, set him dreaming ; end in later life he gave up his time to the study of the country which had interested him as a little boy. — The father of the young King of Spain once said : "I should like to be an uncrowned king, have plenty of money, and live in Paris." Alfonso" XIII does not hold the same views. Even as a very small child he is said to have been fonder of the applaxise of the public than other children are of sweets. He opened Parliament in bibs and tuckers, and went to races and inaugurated exhibitions before he could walk. Once, when he was barely four years old, an alarm was raised in the palece that he was lost. Servants searched for him everywhere, in every room and corner, the guard was turned out, and explored the gardens, but his little Majesty was nowhere to be found. At last a qentlcman-in-waiting, hurrying out of the palace gates to carry the news and institute a search outside, noticed that a crowd was collecting and was cheering and saluting someo.ie in the direction of the royal apartments. Looking round, the courtier saw his young master perched in a balcony of the palace kissing his hand to the people.