Untitled

Otago Witness, Issue 2818, 18 March 1908, Page 97

But the best episcopal story relates to a Roman Catholic bishop of Agen. He had been married before he became a priest, and his daughters did the honours of the episcopal palace. A vei;y t ' devout French lady called upon, him, and was rather astonished when a young man came into the room, whom the bishop introduced as "Mon fils." A few minrftes later another young man came into the room, whom the oishop introduced 1 as "Mon second fils." The lady then started up, saying, "Une fois pas&e. A tout pecne misencorde. Mais deux fois^ — O monseigneur!" and she left the room. (In substance what the lady 6aid was, "One may forgive a single slip_, but two ! 0 monseigneur!") At a time -when I was frequenting the Athenaeum a good deal (writes Sir Henry) a Cingalese gentleman, who had come to laigland to read for the bar, was recommended by Sir Roderick Murchison to aH his acquaintances. On© day, finding him dining alone, Mr Hayward and I invited him to our table. Mr Hayward wished to instruct him as to the constitution of English society, and said, "You will find in England that men of distinction, who be long neither to. the aristocracy nor to the richer classes, but have made a mark either in literature or by their conversa ticnal powers, are alwaysi received in great houses on a footing of perfect equality. You never go to a great house but you will see some distinguished literary man received as one of the most highlyhonoured guests." The Cingalese said, very naively, "But are these not called sycophants?" There was complete silence. What added point to the incident was that Hayward's particular foible was the way he prided himself on his acquaintance with people of rank. Kinglake, the historian of th© Crimean War, was another habitue at the Athenaeum, and he, too, was famous for his faculty of, humorous observation. Sir Henry says: — "On one occasion a young man, who was a friend of both of Us, came to the Athenaeum in a very perturbed state, asking us to get him out of a scrape. He told us that he had been sitting with a goodlooking widow of about middle age, whom wft both knew, and that some evil genius had tempted him to kiss her. She, he told us, had worked herself up into a great rage, 6aid she had never been so much insulted in her life, and desired him to leave the house. He said to us, 'What do you think she will do?' Kinglake replied, 'BewaTe! She will pursue you through life with her unrelenting gratitude !' " Sir Henry mentions Lola Montez, a celebrity who visited Victoria in the fifties, appearing as a star dancer at Cremorne Gardens, Richmond, and afterwards vis'ting the goldfields towns. He says : — 7< She had a liaison with the old King of Bavaria, and had been created a Bavarian countess by the title of Countess de Lansfeldt. The King's infatuation for this lady was the cause of a revolution, and actually of his abdication. He ordered her to leave the capital, but she only went a few miles out of Munich, and returned dTessed as a man. She was arrested, i placed in a post-chaise, and sent to SwitI zarl&od. Thence she came to England.

The Countess was a very handsome woman, and being, I believe, English} ,-b.Y:birth, spoke the. language^^erfectijto i'^Afall events, her mother' Va© EnglishV^nd she herself had married an "English ofjf&r, from whpm she was divorced.. She'jook : a house not far from my lodgings irt Half^, moon street, where she ueed. to re^e«jef}clS an eveninig. The society wa.3 ;y.ery mijted'. ~ ■ There wete several v " old frje'ndy'>of?^^^U^ prominent men of ,'the -wbr|i— anS^kfsd" ' some qaeer foreignei^, Javidently of a very Bohemian or&er; She professed ultra-Re-public opinions", and, w.as always quoting the language of N a Mr Hobbes, whom I never saw, but whose name was well- ; known in all revolutionary circles; and who, I fancy, had been her adviser when in Munich." Lola Montez during Jier Australian , tour had many infatuated -adn[iixfir6. A septuagenarian, until ajfe'flf jy^ea^s^gq in business in Wellington, u<S^d say* -'that when he was a young Jnan in Melbourne he made the enchantress preseatAi^^&ed t at £1500, and was regarded with^i^Sffiile. ;