People We Heat About.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXVIII, Issue 37, 13 September 1900, Page 10

People We Heat About.

Mrs. Humphrey Ward, in the Presidential address delivered by her a few weeks ago in London, at the annual dinner of the women writers, included among contemporary poetesses eulogised by her three Irish ladies — Miss Moira O'Neill, Mits Emily Lawless, and Mrs. Hinkson (better known as Miss Catherine Tynan).

The new Premier of Italy, Rignor Saracco, is a Catholic who has more than once shown publicly his devotion to the Church and tho priesthood. The accession of such a man gives hope that the country may vet be rescued from the plight into which Crispi and his followers have plunged it.

A well-informed Munich newspaper confirms the statement that Pr. Lieber, the loader of the-famous German Centre Party, will shortly visit the United States. The trip is undertaken not only for hia health, but also for the purpose of studying industrial and commercial conditions in preparation for the coming work of drafting new commercial treaties.

The Hon. Mrs. Neville Lytton, the only child of Mr. and Lady Anne Klunt, is one of the direct descendants of Lord Byron. By the birth of her first born a short time ago, phe has carried on the Byron descent to a fifth generation. Her baby ia the great, great grandchild of Byron. All the direct descendants of the poet are Catholics.

The Earl of Cavan dJed on Saturday, July 21, at his Beat, Wheathampstead House, Herefordshire. Lord Cavan is gratefully remembered in Ireland as one of the very few Irish members of his class who supported Mr. Gladstone in his Home Rule policy. He was the ninth Earl and tenth Baron Lambart and Baron Cavan in the peerage of Ireland, and was the eldest son of the eighth Earl by Caroline Augusta, daughter of the first Lord Hatherton.

Sir Thomas Farrell, who for many years occupied the position of president of the lloya l Academy of Arts, died at Stillorgan on the 2nd July. He was the son of Terence Farrell, a Hibernian Academician of distinction, and a sculptor of great repute towards the middle of the century. The son achieved distinction early in his career. He was born in the year of Catholic Emancipation, was an indefatigable worker, and devoted to the ideals of his art. Amongst the numerous works of his which adorn the City of Dublin are the statues of William Smith O'Brien, Sir John Gray, and Lord Ardilaun. The statues of Cardinal Cullen, Archbishop Murray. Shiel, and Lord O'Hagan are also from his chisel.

Mr. Michael Moloney (says an American exchange) died at his home in Glenwood. Montrose. on Sunday, July 8, at the extreme old age of lo" years. He was born in County Cork, Ireland, January 25, 17'.K(. and the members ot his father's family were unusually long-lived. His father was renowned as an Irish poet, following that pursuit until late in life in his native land. He had a brother also who reached the age of !>B, his father's age, and an uncle who died at li>l> y, ,irs. Deceased did not become feeble till within the past year and a half. lie bad a great memory, which he retained up to the last moment Two weeks before his demise on the Bth July, for his own amusement he was reciting many of the poems which his father had composed.

Mis Meynell has just published a work on 'John Ruskin,' which is vi ry favorably received by the English Press. The London corresjxmiUiit of the Adelaide lli-rjiftrr speaks of the authoress as probably the must cultivated Knglishwoman of letters to-day, and adds '.M,s. Mevnell is a Catholic, her husband edits Catholic papers, at d her sinter is Lady Butler, who painted the '' Roll Gall." Ihe hook is dedicated to Lieutenant-General Sir W. F. Butler, KGC. — 'a British officer, who is singularly of one mind with me on matteis regarding the nation's honor," wrote Ruskin. Mrs. Meynell hints that ll u skin might have found " some solace in the midst of the martyrdom of his convictions" in the Catholic Church. She says " ,lohn Ruskin never pardoned himself for stopping short of the whole renunciation of a Saint Francis." '

A correspondent of the New York Sun writes concerning the M( Kmleys as follows Pr Cornwall, of Brooklyn, in attempting to build a pedigree tor the President, falls into error. He states that .James MeKinley, a Perthshire Scotchman, went to Ireland in 161)1, as a soldier in tue army of William of Orange, and fought in the battle of the Bojne. Impossible ! The battle of the Boyne took place in I*J'.)O, a year earlier. Eminent Irish genealogists claim that the McKinleys and M<Ginleys are of old Irish stock, and I have yet to see proof to the contrary. Shamus Oge McKinley is heard from in Ulster in Kiss, bt ing engaged in road making on the shores of Lough Neagh. Anglicized, this name would be James McKiulty the younger, which proves that he was not the first of the name. No living man knows how many generations of the McKinleys were born, and lived and died in Ireland before the immigrant ancestor of the President came to these shores. David McKmhy was a tax collector in Antrim. Ireland, in 1709. He was a son of Shanius O_-e McKinley. One of David's sons, William Mi Kinley, was, born in Ireland about 1 7 1 ."» . James McKinley, son of David anil grandson ot Sliamus <*ge, migrated to America, and his son, David, great-grandson of Shamus Oge, was the ancestor of the President. If thtre was ever any Scotch blood in the McKinley family, which I very much doubt, it was by that time pretty well thinned out. The Mi Iviuleys in the old land have closely identified theuis"lv<s with the c ui=e of Irish independence. One of them, Francis McKmley, was a member of the United Irishmen and was executed in 17i»S an a ieh«4 to English law. This Francis left two sons, sturdy young Irishmen, one of whom, John McKinley, subsequently came to the Ijnited States. Francis, the other son, was in po.-hCiMon of the old homestead in Ireland down to 1838, when he, teo, Uiime to this country.