Personalities.

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 372, 25 June 1903, Page 2

Personalities.

Jg?HE GEEATjpIIJf MIItfOTER. elTTwas induced .fey 9ir,John Sineclair •Agriculture towards Mt>e end of the eighteenth centurjr and make him the president. Having enjoyed his. (ffice for a few years, Sinclair began to desire promotion hi the social scale. * Dear Mr, Pitt/ he wrote to the Prime Minister—' DsL’tjfdfc think the President oftha s ß6ard 6i /A|fncsdwe should be a peer P’ ‘ Dear Sir Jphn Sinclair/ replied^Pitt — ‘ I eafcirely/ngreawith you. I hake therefore appointed £ord Somerville' tbsucceed culture.’ Sir John Sinclair went about wringing his hands and exclaiming— ‘ Dear me, «de»rmo-rritwas.jßacka standing!’ * THE 03 HER CROWN.’ There would seem to be a wave of literature floating over the courts of Europe, for I have been told that the ;(Jo,6BiL of : Italy ;has been writing a book which has for its object the presentations of what might be called the other side of the picture. Though it may not prove an exemplification of the saw that * Uneasy is the head that wears a crown/ it is nevertheless intended to show that there is another side to the life of the royal personages whose' lot iS 'Sb envied by ordinary men and women. To women especially the books of royal women writers must specially appeal, and I have no doubt that when Her Majesty’s book dies come cut it will be received with a great deal of interest. I have been told that the title is‘Tte Other Crown.’ . NAPOLEON S RETREAT I FROM MOSCOW.* I Sir Horace Rumbold recalls a tragic experience of Baron de Meyehdorff, vho fought against Napoleon on the occasion ' of retreat froth Mpscpw. Meyendoi ff acted asgaPdper.to one of the Russian commanders, and we are told of his exciting adventures : *Th the fading daylight he would certainly have lost bit way on the boundless and featureless, frozen plain, but for a track which, the pursuing Russians had marked,, by planting upright in the snowdrifts the corpses of the enemy that had fallen by the way. For a considerable distance, in fact; he had ridden literally through an.avenue of frozen Frenchmen.’

A DUCHESS AS A BIPLE SHOT. The Duchess of Newcastle is a first-rate shot, who qan boast of having pnce saved her husb tad-frota a terrible death by her skill in rifle-shooting. "The Dnohese, who s'till' looks little- more than( a girl, has spent man; days shooting big game is the Bocky Mountains, in North America, with ihe'Duke. 'lt Was' on these Kmdun tains that the latter..had the misfortune to be overtaken by;a: bear, which violently attacked him. The Duke, fired at it, bat, inissing it, only enraged the great: beast the more. There could have been only one end to such- an ; ::contest- but for the.ct urage of the gii 1- wife, who xealising the imminent danger of her husband, tock steady aim, and settled the. fate of Bruin by a fiae shot from" her own rifle,' Nowadays tlhe Duchess does not practice rifle shooting as she used to. Her hobby is dogs; fancy dogs of many sorte. But she does not, nevertheless, allow "her still as a marksvfbmari'to grow rustyl She practices regularly, throughout each year, in order maintain her high standard, so that whjen she' accompanies thefiDake on his photographic expeditions in foreign countries, which is not seldom, she may join with" him in his; favourite sp^rt. EECOGNrSED'THE CHARM. L " Jjprd Chief, Justice. Holt presided in the court ''fit thei king's bench a poor, decrepit old; creature was brought before him, charged as a 'criminal, oa whom tho full severity of the law ought to be visited with exemplary -:■ . -••; 'What is iter crime r' asked his lordship. ' ~T , " l "' Witchcrafts' "'''- ' How is it proved ?' ' Sie powerful spell.' ;^Letmeflee s it/ ■ >■ >: \

The spell was handed to the bench, It appeared a small ball of variously coloured rags of silk with threads of as many different hues.. These were unwpuad and unfolded, until there appeared a scrap of \pa yrbigh were written certain character's now nearly illegible from much use, . .... ,- *, .„ I , . The judge, after looking' at' this paper, charm a few minutes, addressed himself. 16 the- terrified prisoner; ' Prisoneir, how* came you by this V W, ■' 4- young, gentleman,, my, lord, gave's&. to m<=, to cure my child's ague.f f , * ' How long since ?' ,'*"* |j ' Thirty years; my lord.' •&nd'di*ifc cure her P' /■.«««*.•■«*

-'Oj yee, and many -others. , , : . „% it. The.jndgei paused a few moment?, asck then . addtessed himself; to the jury. ' of thf jury, thirty years ago I and some companions, as thoughtless as myself, went to this Woman's dwelling, then a public house, and, after enjoying ourselves, found we had ho means; to discharge the reckoning. Observing <a child ill with ague, I pretended! had a spell to cure ler. ; I wrote the classic line you bee on the scrap of parchment, and was discharged of the demand, on me by? the gratitude of the yoot- woman before us, for the' supposed benefit.' , :