People We Hear About

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXIII, Issue 27, 6 July 1905, Page 10

People We Hear About

Lord Howard of GJossop, grandson of the thirteenth Duke of Norfolk is 46 years of age. The owner of 20,000 acres, he came into the title in 1883. Writing of this year's pictures in the Royal Academy, Mr. W. 11. Lucy says : ' The place of lionor in ,tihe second gallery is devoted to a woodeny picture of the King, whioh one is selfishly glad to know is " pointed for Belfast." Anything is good enough for Belfast, despite the boasted loyalty of the " Orange Gang." ' Much has lately been written about Royal pedigrees. Perhaps in the genealogical way one of the most splendid records is that of Menelik of Abyssinia, who insists on his descent in a straight line from Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. There "is, however, a noble family in France, the Counts of Noe, who show on their family blazon the ark, and claim its commander as their ancestor. The French Louis who said ' Apres moi le deluge ' was not so literal in claiming precedence of the Flood. A correspondent writes as follows to the ' Catholic Times ' : I met during the past week a commercial gentleman from Venice, who, in the course of conversation, ga\e me interesting information aboiit our Holy Father, with whom, as Patriarch of Venice, he had frequent opportunities of conversing. 'Himself a Protestant, he spoke in the very hibhest terms of his nobility of character and suavity of mariners, ana described him as a noble-hear tod man who spent all his money in helping the poor, the aged, and the distressed. When Lord Cornwallis was Viceroy of Ireland (says an exchange) an address from Kilkenny was presented to him at Dublin Castle. One of his eyes, owing to some natural defect, was smaller than the other, and was always csci Hating in its socket. On this occasion the orwas more than usually restless, and when the Bishop of Kilkenny read the opening words of the address, ' Your Excellency has always kept a steady eye upon Ireland,' the incongruity of the sentiment sent the assembly into an uncontrollable frt of laughter. ' Never,' said Cur ran, who used 'to tell the tale, ' did I hear of its match except in the Mayor of Coventry's compliment to Queen Elizabeth . " When the Spanish Armada attacked your Majesty, edod, they caught the wrong sow by tlie ear." ' Nearly two centuries ago two young Catholic gentlemen left their native County of Limerick to seek in France the careers which persecution refused them at home One of them, MucMahon, married a grca<t heiress and founded a noble family. His descendant was ' the modern Bayard,' , Patrick Maurice de MacMahon, Marshal of France, Duke of Magenta, first President of the third French Republic. 'The Marshal's son, the present Duke, is married to the Princess Margaret of France, greatgranddaughter of King Louis Philippe. The other exile, Patrick Cleary, or Clary, founded a great house of shipowners in the South of France. His grandson, James Clary, had two pretty daughters. One married Joseph Buonaparte, and became Queen of Spain. The other daughter refused the Great Napoleon when a young officer, married Bernadptte, and when that famous soldier became King of Sweden, Mademoiselle Clary reigned as his Queen. And from the French King and Irish Queen of Sweden is descended Prince (Jwstavus Adolphus. Thus it oame to pass that in our own time of the descendants of the two Limerick adventurers one has wedded a daughter of the Kings of France, and one has married a daughter of the Kings of England. Wilting of the late Canon O'Hanlon, of Sandymount, Dublin, whoso (death took place in the early part of May, the ' Catholic Times ' says : His ' Lives' of the Irish Saints ' is a monumental work. He spent twenty-six years in getting together the materials for it. Parts of it, each consisting of sixty-four pages, have been published successively for the past thirty-two years. The lives of mo fewer than 3500 Irish saints were dealt with, and those who know how difficult is the task of securing particulars on a biographical subject which goes back to th,T twilight of history will appreciate the extent of his literary labors in this connection. So satisfactory was Canon O'Hanlon's execution of the work that congratulations poured in on him from men of eminence; including Aubrey de Vere, Denis Florence McCarthy, Cardinal Moran, and the late Cardinal Vaughan. Having spent six years on the mission at St. Louis in the United States, where he was a fellow-worker with Archbishop Ryan, Canon O'Hanlon took a deep interest in I Irish America, and he wrote, besides many othei works, an Irish American History of the United States' and a guide for emigrants to that country. His friends were very numerous, for Jus heart was full of kindness.