People We Hear About

New Zealand Tablet, 29 October 1908, Page 28

People We Hear About

The Earl of Westmeath is one of "the only two Cathejic Irish representative peers (of whom Lord Bellew is the" other). His earldom dates Jts creation from the reign* of Queen Elizabeth, and the estates, which have been in the possession of 'the family from time immemorial, number some 16,000 acres in extent. ,He has been a world-wide traveller ; but in all his experiences the one which impressed him the most deeply— and he is himself the' authority for the assertion— was his visit to Pope Leo XIII on the occasion of his Pontifical jubilee.' Lord Westmeath, who has a great taste for art in many of its branches, "has, at Pallas near Longhrea, a notable collection of fine paintings of the old school.

An announcement which recently went the round of the press to the effect that Killarney House, the beautiful home of Lord Ivenmare, was about to be change ownership has proved to be inaccurate. The Killarney estates, which have been in Lord Kenmare's family since the reign of James 1., by whom they were bestowed on his ancestor, include the lovely Island of Ross and the historic Ross Castle, which, after a fierce contest, -was se.zed by. the Parliamentarian forces, commanded by General Ludlow. Lord Kenmare, who possesses at Killarney a very beautiful chapel and a fine collection .of paintings, traces "his 'descent from a. prominent knight of Queen Elizabeth's Court— Sir Valentine Browne— who was appointed, her Majesty's Auditor-General of Ireland.

A contributor to .London Sunday Chronicle, writing of the visit of Cardinal Vincenzo Vannutelli to London as the Pope's Legate to the Eucharistic Congress, says this is not the first visit which his Eminence paid to England. In 1904, when on his way as .Papal envoy to Ireland, where he represented the Pope at the re-opening of Armagh Cathedral, he was the guest in London of the Archbishop of Westminster.", Arriving in Ireland he gave proof of his Christian breadth of view ard tactful spirit by driving to pay a visit to the Protestant Primate, who it is said, was deeply touched by this simple act of human brotherhood This act, of course, was not without its etfectTpon the crowd of excited Orangemen who had assembled i» a mon> or less hostile «p,r,t to witness .the Cardinal's progress through o cheT; ' O ™T %Vh ° had C ° me PrCparCd tO CUrse ~'™-d of h P ?? a r O ? er ° CCaSiOn thC Cardinal made the ambers of the Royal Insh Constabulary, who were keeping the ways for him through the crowds, stand aghast at the coolness with which towering above some of the tallest members of the force, he broke their ranks in order to let some struggling old man « 1, get near him to touch his hand or kiss his ring.

ÜbJXV I qU ' S ° fußipof u ßipon ' Who has i«st retired from the b P in M- WaS - bOrn " D ° Wning Street ' London,- his father beuift Prune Minister in the reign of George IV. ]"t is now fifty-s.x years- since he entered public life af member oHu 7 To reahse how far back that period is, we have only to remember that when he entered Parliament the present cities of ChristchTch and Duned.n had scarcely got beyond the canvas-tent stage^Before _ he end of the fifties he was Undersecretary for War, wit, n ( «.v. r* council. in 1871 he , became Grand Master of the Freemasons, a- position he reliquished tl,ree years iiPMil and is a X ° C ' ety> vlcc 'P^^t of the Catholic Union, Society. VC SUPP ° rtCr ° f St jOSC P h>s Fo^ Missionary