PERSONAL NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2646, 30 November 1904, Page 77

PERSONAL NOTES.

— Mr Charles Ranbury-Wiiliams, who has succeeded ilr Henry Ne-wbolt in the editorship of tl c Monthly Review, rarries a name that has still (says the Pall Mall Gazette) a good many a-scciation". liteiary, social, and political. The Sir Charles Hanbu-iy-"Wiliia-ms who ilrsc put it; tog-etkei" was the intimate, of Hervey, Winnmgton, Walpole, Henry Fox, Lord Holland : the satirist whom half a dozen people at a time wero anxious to run through the body: the diplomatist v, ho achieved fo brilliant a success and so brilliant a failme at St. Peterpburg. — Sir Thomas Esnionde, who visitcci New Zealand some years ago in company with Mr Redmond, M.P., tho leader of the Irish Home Rule party in the- British Hoibe of Commons, ha? reached the age of 42, and is descendant of one of those gallant soldiers ■nhq fought in the wars in Ireland in the reign 01 Charles I. JSii Thomas is the ele\enth member of the family to bear the title cf this early baronetcy, but though he himself has worn the- uniform of the Royal Artillery, his ambitions are mostly of a political nature, and in the House of Commons he ia well known and highly esteemed. He is a great-grandson of the famous Henry Grattan. Sir Thomas has lepre^entcd North "Wexford sine? 1900, having pre\iou*ly ?at for division? of Dublin and Kerry. — Sir Frederick Treves is new residing" ab Alxjrgtlche Mains, one of the King's p'oasant houses in the neighbourhood of Balmordl. His Majesty is now in the best of health, but as sergeant-surgeon to the King, Sir Frederick is expected to be in more or 10-s proximity to the King's person. Sir Piode-iclc Treves is a Dorset man. and vra- horn more than 50 years ago. He has had as remarkable a career as p.ny doctor ever had at his age. His profe.-=orial and University appointments make a fjoodly list, and prior to that great event in his life when he cchiov<?d world- wide fame by performing a remarkably successful operation on the King, he had won no small court favour as Surgeon Extraordinary to the lato Queen Victoria. Sir Frederick is a man of jovial temperament, and a considerable writer on abstruse medcial subject--. — Profe-sor Gecrge Darwin, "the prcs:dentelecfc of next year's meeting of the British As=ociation. which is to be held in South Africa, is the second son of the great Charles Darwin, and. greater than his father in one respect — for to the author of "The Origin of Species" mathematics wero to the end a sealed mystery — he was second wrangler at Cambridge in 1868. Born in 1845 at Down, in Kent, he had a brilliant career at the University, and became a Fellow of Trinity College. In 1574 he was called to the Bar, but returned to Cambridge and devoted himself to mathematical =cieuc<?. He has been Plumian Professor of Astronomy and Experimental Philosophy -ince 1883. He has written on such diverse subjects as "The Marriage ot First Cousins" and "Small Deflections of the Plumb-line Due ro Movement of the Earth." —It is interesting to note that Lord Inc-hiquin is the only subject of the King who can use royal scarlet liveries for hii doine^tic. Tho family are of royal descent through the original race of the" Hibernian Sovereigns. The present peer is a lall, athletic-!oobii">g man, of an artistic turn of mind, and an excellent amateur photographer, his landscape^ being particularly norenorthv. Ha served for some time in

\ the Rifle Brigade 1 , and succeeded his falhei not \ory tors; firco in the fami.y ho.. ours. Dronioland Cast'.-e. whore the inclvquins have been seated for many yrar«, 1-, in the County of Clare, net far from IJmcriclc. It. i-» a fine place in the rabtellatcd st\le, and contain' c ome \aiiia-ble pictures and heirlooms. The ground; are magnificently tUjibcicd. and the sheeting on the property is aLout the be>t in Ireland, the late peer h&' ing- taken a keen interest jn the breeding 1 of game. — .Sir Jarre= and Lady Sievv, ri^'it have liad a varied experience of countries. Sir •Tamos i\o!t his Knight Ooimr.andershin of St. Mich, el and St. "George in £outh Africa, where lie \va- Commissioner of Ci-ovn Lands and Public Works Jn Cap? Colony. Ho spent a portion of last winter on th-o Riviera, and was one of tho very k.st of public men to Vase an interview with Hie late President Ivrngcr. There is a curious incident in connection with his visit vvh.ch proves the tect and pcr=or.al poiju'arity of •Sir James. The Kx-jjrcsic'-cnt vas complaining of bin <r'a£ c -c=. through which he could not see. '"Try mine, s*ud >Sir James. Air Krusjer d<d =o, with excellent rcsiilrs. "It's a pity I did not give them to you long ago, Mr Kruger ; you'd have f-cen better. ' Sir James's glasses weio leit a= a present, and the old man u»"d them till his death. — Abbas 11. Khedive, of E-jypt, is one of tho brst clucaled young rulers of the tiir.-e. He sptiaks =; x lan^uagef fiuenriy — Ena-li.-h. French, Gcrinar. Italian. Arabic, and Turkish — and has visited ori-ry capital in Furope. His linguistic attainments are dno to ti-.e. variety of tho tutors and preceptors of his youth. An English j,overnc«s besjan. hib education, winch -was carried on at the Hcix^ox-s School ot Geneva, and la'or at tho Th-ercsiaimni in Vienna. Ahl.as TI c'ro^cs like ary -ordinary younsr sccioty ivan when not :n uniform, with l!.e exception that he always wears the red tarhrosh, or turban, of his fathers. He is fond of wearing hi 1 ? uniform, that of commandor-in-chief of his army of 5000 men. According; to the precepts of the Koran, ho i«e\vr touches wine^ or spirit--, and, although his suite are constantly smoking, he never u c es tobacco. Hl3 wife iv a beautiful Circassian lady, and ho is never happier than when ho is in tho fociety of her and her children at his Palace of Koubheh, five miles from Cairo. —Mr JYistiee Kcnnedv is, if not. exactiy our strongest judge, the finest classical scholar on the Bench. He is a Cambridge nan. and is the fourth member of his family who can claim the distinction of being senior classic. Curiously enough, he succeeded another senior classic, Mr Justice Denmau, en the Bench, and the legend has it rhat the retiring judge congratulated bis successor in neatly turned La+in verse, tc which the latter replied suitably in a Greek ode. Sir William Kennedy, who was born in 1846, bas been n. judge for a round dozen years, havinp; attained to thf^ ermine at an early age. Lady Kennedy is a daughter of the late f George Richmond, A.R.A., and a sister of Sir William Richmond. Amor.s; his linguistic accomplishments, which dc not s+op s'ncirt at the dead languages, Mr .Tustire Kennedy reckons one wl-ich is regarded with envy by those judges of a lower court who wrestle- with civ: I cases where aliens most ck> congregate. His lordship ecu spcaSc no fewer than eight, languages, a "id would there-fore be a terror to thp shifty litigants who pretend. f r .r purposes of their own, n n to -' luaintod with the English toivgue — George Arburhnot Bit)--, -eerrvl Baron Inverelyde. has be-on cele ;% :atina; his fortythird birthday. There is nothing of ari?iocratio languor aUout hi-p. for he i-, a Jvu- 1110=5 man to the finger tips, alert aivl misterful. with a square face and a stroi.g jaw, a man who obviously knows exact'v what he wants, and is, therefore-, well 011 the road towards obtaining :t. He is as a worker as hi' father, but he "ha 5 in his nahiv" a strain of tho tonderne^ that made his grrndfathe-r. Sir Gcwjjp Burnt., founder of the Cun-ird Steam Ship Company, a .lovable man, as well as a sue eossful — not a very eomir.on combination •of virtues. To write ih^ history of firCunard Company would be lo write the history r>i steam navigation since the yrai* 1840. when the Briismniu started on h^v inaidrn trip ncio=;<; the Atlantic, to ronc-h her destination 14A days later. Yet the Britannia was a won e'er in her d-ay. just as the great C'iinarders that are now building will b.^ the fastest of all the oconn greyhounds afloat. The Britannia's tn".-nage-w-as. but 1154 tons: ihat of the Tvrrnia i"! 14.027 tor>s. hrv lengK'n i-> thrice the Britannia's 200 feer. A= Ihe hr-sines? tmw the ships grew, wood aaA'o place to iron, and iron to steel, and the Crnard was ahvavs abreast, if not ahead, of thp times.

— To do reverence to the memory of an « trd-ent pmoker named Oudcrerraans who had died in Rotterdam, all his old cronie-s came ii the funeral smoking- long clay pipe?. On- | dei-smaiis left a sum of money to pay the ex- j ijenses of a yearly ?r>ioking concert to keep > his memory green.

— Tea-drinking is k constart occupation for a Tibetan. In every teaifc and in ■every house the tea kettle is always on the fire. The laws of hospitality bind all to present tea to their guests, and every Tibetan carries with her a wooden bowl of Himalayan mapl© by way of a tea cup.