People We Hear About.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXVII, Issue 9, 2 March 1899, Page 24

People We Hear About.

The death is reported of Lady Mexborough. She was wife of the Earl of Mexborough, and lived at Methley Abbey, near Leeds. The deceased lady was a Catholic. Mr. Tuohy, the London correspondent of the Dublin FrveuatK, is said to have come in for a legacy of £500 from the late Bwoa Rothschild. Mr. Taohy was for a time the Baron's Parliamentary secretary. John Oliver Hobbes is the worn de plume of Mrs. Craigie. She became a convert to the Catholic Church in 1892, after five yearß of anxious thought and study. She was chiefly influenced by the writings of Cardinal Newman. We are glad to learn (says a Ceylon exchange) that Mr. Pat. Doyle, C.E., the well-known editor of the Indian Engineering , has been declared a member of the Societe dee Ingenieurs Civils de France. The distinction is well merited. The Grand Old Man of the Catholic Church is not the Pope, as most people suppose, but Cardinal Mertel, who is now in his ninetyfifth year, and so active and energetic that he bidß fair to ice the nineteenth century out and the twentieth in. Five brothers, all priests — Revs. John, William, George, Edwaid, and Charles Hickey — recently took part in a Requiem Maaa tihat was sung in Cincinnati Cathedral for the repose of the soul ot Ml uncle of theirs. The Queen-Regent of Spain leads an extremely simple life, rising at seven and retiring to rest at eleven. She sees little of society. Mont of her time is taken up in anxious consultations with her Minister*, and when she has half an hour to spare it is usually fpent with her children. Bishop Butler, of Demerara, Bays Catholic Opinion, at Kingston, Jamaica, served in the army for several years before he became a priest. He touk part in the Indian Mutiny of 1857-8 ; he was Ad - jntaut of hid regiment and retired as Captain ; he was a purchase officer. It is related in Berlin that the German Empress met a chimney sweep one morning' at work in a room at the Palace. Her Majesty nodded in a friendly manner, and bidding him wait a moment, returned very soon leading her two youngest children by the hand. Each was the bearer ot a Ohrismas honey cake, which their Royal Highnesses offered to the sweep. Oliver Destree, said to be the most gifted of younger Belgian writers, has entered the Benedictine monastery at Maredsous, with intention of becoming a monk. With Huysmans, Destree, Tiasot, all in monasteries, and Alfred Austin talking religion (says the Midland ll( fit w), it must appear to materialists that a singular change lately has come upon the world. Mr. J. F. Xavier O'Brien, the anti-Parnellite, claims the distinction of being the last man in the British Empire to have been sentenotd to be hanged, drawn and quartered. That was in 1867, when he was taken while leading an armed charge on barracks. The authorities, however, spared his anatomy and sent him to penal servitude. The judge who sentenced him praised him for so bravely rescuing some women and children from the burning barracks. The Emperor Francis Joseph of Austri i begins his day's work probably earlier than any of his contemporaries on European thrones. His Prime Ministers have had many an audience with him as early as six o'clock on a summer morning. He has risen at four o'clock, breakfasted at five, and been ready for business Boon afterwards. An enormous correspondence awaits him each day, and he sits at a great desk making his decisions on important questions with a rapidity that might well tire out an ordinary secretary. Signor Foli, one of the most celebrated bass singers of our time, is a native of Cahir, Tippetary. His home name is Allan James Foley. He went to Italy when a lad. He was taught singing at Naples by the elder Bisaccia, making his debut at Cantania as Eltniro in ' Othello.' He first appeared in London in 1866. He visited New Zealand in 181)2. His splendid declamatory powers and artistic style render him a favourite with the British public. Bir George Bowen, ex-Governor of New Zealand, died at Brighton, England, last week. The deceased was born at Taughboyne, Donegal, Ireland, where his father was rector in 1821. He was educated at Trinity College, Oxford, and graduated B.A. as fir>t-«lass in Classics in 1844. In 1847 he was elected President of the Uuivt rsity of Corfu, and in 18.") i became Chief Secretary of the Go\ eminent (*f the lonian Islands. In IS.'ii) he was appointed first Governor of the new colony of Queensland, and in 1868 he became Governor of New Zealand. Dunn? his term of office Te Kooti made his escape, and perpetrated the Poverty Bay massacre. Sir George, before ihe conclusion of hi-i term, saw the Maori troubles brought to an end for the time being, and he was promoted to be Governor of Victoria in 1X7.3. After leaving Victoria Sir George was Governor in succession of Mauritius and Hongkong, retiring on his pension in 18b7. In 1886 he was appointed to the Privy Council.

In the choir at St. Peter's, at Rome, there is not a female voice, and yet the most difficult oratorios and sacred music written are rendered in such a manner as to make one think Adelina Patti is leading. The choir (says the Catholic Citizen) is composed of 60 boys. They are trained for the work from the time they get control of their vocal chords, and some of the best singers are not over nine years old. At the age of 17 they are dropped from the choir. To g ay that in that famous edifice one hears the grandest church music he world has ever known sounds commonplace, so far short does it tall of apt description. Mr. John Morley, whose sixtieth birthday occurred the other day, although he is in no way the austere mau of tradition, is not rich in amusements. He likes long walks over Scottish hills, and solitary meditations in country lanes, and he has the bookman's resource of supreme happiness in the seclusion of his library. The one relaxation he permits himself is music, of which he is intensely found. An American newspaper was responsible for the report that Mr. Morley's favourite recreation was entomology, and that he was frequently seen with a butterfly-net chasing a rare specimen. This, of course, was purely imaginative. Miss Cissie Loftus (Mrs. Justin Huntley McCarthy) has just been giving Koster and Bial'a music hall, New York, a very welldeserved lesson on morals and good taste. She was billed to appear there in her well-known imitations. In the meantime the management produced a scene against which there was an outcry. The police and grand jury, who were called upon by au indignant press to interfere, did nothing, but Miss Cissie Loftua, in a finely-worded letter handed to all the newspapers in advance, declared that she could never degrade her art by appearing on the same stage with such a disgusting performance. Herr Christian Dieden, the oldest member of the German Centre party, has been called to hia eternal rest. He died at Uerzig on the Mosel, at the same spot where he was born eightyeight years ago — on the 17th December. 1810. He was one of the best known and most highly-esteemed members of the Reichstag. Ever since 1870 he has uninterruptedly held a seat both in the Prussian Diet and the Reichstag for the same constituency. Witt-lich-Berncastel. It was always understood that his return was a matter of course, and, in point of fact, his majority showed an increase whenever he was opposed. On the approach of the recent electoral contest he thought of retiring. A passing improvement in his health, which had not been good, caused him to change his decision ; but he was not well enough to put in an appearance at the opening of Parliament. He spoke but rarely, yet he was generally recognised as a man of influence, and at the same time his amiable character won for ' old Dieden ' the respect and friendship of all parties. Mr. Arthur O'Connor, who was recently made a Q C. is better known as a politician than a lawyer. Born in 1844, he was educated at St. Cuthbert's College, Ushaw, and called to the Bar at the Middle Temple in 1883. He entered Parliament in ISKO as Nationalist member for Queen's County, but in ISB."j when he was elected for both the Ossory division of Queen's County and for E ist Donegal he elected to sit for the latter constituency, which he continues to represent in the present Parliament. He is deputy Chairman of Committees of the House of Commons, and is also a member of the panel of chairman of the Standing Committee on Trade and on Law. He was chairman of the Public Accounts Committee from 18i>'<-8, and has served on the Royal Commissions on Trade Depression, Civil Service Establishments, and the Incidence of Local Taxation. He was a member of the Home Office Committee on Prisons in 1801, chairman of the Treasury Departmental Committee on the Stationery Department in 18U4, and has been a Public Works Loan Commissioner since 18' JO. In these capacities lie has tamed the high appreciation of all his colleagues. Mr. Fisher Unwin, in announcing Ihc 'J'uo StantJn rd.\. a new novel by the Rev. Dr. Barry, discourses thus concerning the author Dr. Barry is a Catholic priest, theologian, and stu'ent of languages and literatures. By descent a Norman Celt of the Fouth-west of Ireland, he was brought up at the well-known College of O-cott, near Birmingham — of which Dr. Spencer Nortbcote was then president — and at the Englit-h College, Rome. He was ordained by Cardinal Patriz/-i in St. John Lateran, and celebrated his first Mass at the shrine of St. Peter. On returning to England he was given various honourable posts in the Catholic community, lectured for some years on metaphysics and theology as a professor, and contributed many articles to the Dull m llcr'ww. He has also given lectures and addresses in most of the large towns in England and America. In 1894 he gave a series of lectures at the Royal Institute

on the ' Masters of Modern Thought.' In 1897, the anniversary of Edmund Burkes death, he was invited to deliver the Centennial Address both in London and Dublin. To the Qwrrtcrl'/ and other reviews he has contributed above 00 essays on topics literary, philosophical, and social ; and his work in journalism has been extensive. One of the most famous musical composers of the 1 i«t century was Christopher Willibald von Gluck. He began as a choir boy in the cathedral of Vienna. His voice was so pure and beautiful that when he bang his iieaiers were enchanted. His pro^rc j in piety kept pace with his progress in music. Often he could be been at eventide kneeling in prayer before the tabernacle. Ouc day when he sang one of Our Lady's antiphones more exquisitely than usual, a religious, enraptured by the singing, gave him as a ktep-sake a rosary, bidding him to keep it in memory of Brother Ansel<-m. 1 Recite at least a part of it every day, and, if you are faithful to this practice, you will be as dear to God as you will be great among men.' Later on, when himself a celebrated maes-tro. at the court of Vienna, he would leave the entertainment of the night and go i apart to say his bead*, just as a prie-t would withdraw to recite his breviary. When death came to him (says the Catholic Transmit'), after a glorious career, it found him ready. He held in his hand I the poor but pmed ro«ary of Brother Anselem. wlio-e prophecy had 1 been fulfilled.