PERSONAL NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2892, 18 August 1909, Page 87

PERSONAL NOTES.

— The Earl o| Durham, who recently celebrated his fifty-fourth birthday, sbarea with the Earl of Malrhesbury the distinction of. haying gained a peerage by a ■aa.rrow margin of minutes. He is twin brother to the Hon. I. W. Lambton. They greatly resemble each other. Lord Durham is tb.3 senior steward of the Jock-ay Club, a. hereditary Liberal of strong and independent;* views, and a clever and humorous speaker. On numerous occasions he has entertained the King, the Prince of Wales, and othen royalties at his seat, Lambton Castle, in. Durham. , — A romantic struggle for fame is illustrated by the career of Mr Alfred Hud- j son, who has 'had a picture accepted for thia| year's Academy, He started life as an.j engine-cleaner, and in tbe course of time was promoted to his present post of chief clerk in the locomotive department of the Nortb-eaatern railway at Leeds. He do-, veloped a iiussion foe art, but had no money to purchase he necessary equipment. 13^ exercising tbe strictest economy, however, iie waayable to save out of hie wages sufh'.cient to some brushes and paintHe has exhibited in different parts of th<s country. — "Give me 10,600 well-disciplined cyclist* and I will guarantee to hold up any invading<irmy / that attempts to land on our shores,'' once remarked that ardent believer jr. the utl'ity of the bicycle in warfare. General Sir Charles Douglas. In this connection he tells an amusing story. He was carrying out some cyclist manoeuvres, and> found a troop of men sitting calmly under «. hedge watching *ar> opposing "orce o£ cyclists rapidly approaching them. "Don'r. you worry about those chape, sir," saidthe young officer. "I have peppered their road pretty well with sixpennyworth of tirAaoks. Wait till they get off to mend their punctures, and 1 will round the whole of them up in something like no time." — There are few better all-round sportsmen than the Earl of Lonsdale. He rides, shoots, motors, boxes, yachts, and is art expert slipper of greyhounds. Horses, however, have been the hobby of his life, ami on matters connected with, them his opinions , are> of grea' value. Once Lord* Lonsdale made a bet he would drive 20 miles in less than an hour. The roads were bad, but the weather was worse. Foe the first five miles his iordebip drove a four in-hand, a pair for another, five miles, rode postilion of a pair fpr the next five, and 1 completed the remainder of the distance by driving a single horse for the hist stage. The entire journey was covered in four and a-half minutes under the hour.

• — It was Lord Balcarres, a trustee of the National Portrait Gallery, who announced tbe saving to England of Holbein's picture, "The Duchess of Milan." His lordship has crowded much gcod work into his 37 years of life. Not only has he distinguished himself in the cause of art and architecture —he i« a trained architect—but he has also served the State in the House of Commons as one of the Unionist Whips. A notable obar-aefceristk. is his rapid ' walk. "Burns's gallop is nowhere in it with Balcarres's walk," g.owled *" recalcitrant - member on one occasion after being {etched back to the never-ending divisions while trying to escape. "It's no gotfd unless you are streets abeadj? - — The JSari jf Tankerville, who has been in the publk eye m connection with some lourious goings-on' at Chilling-ham Cattle, is an unconventional, but extremely accomplished, peer, with sT wife as accomplished as himself. "Soldier and sailor, too" (for he served in both arm; and navy), he has ranched in the Wild West, shot bears in the Rookies, exhibited exquisite miniature* of his own painting in the Academy, thrown a atone,. 113 yards over the Tweed, and l>ea£&xi -all comere •&£ sin^le-sfciolc elxml putting- tihe shot et North Country sport*. One of Lord Tankerville's many gifts n musio^and he has a singing voice of ra*« beauty. He sang 1 for -Mr Moody at th« Chicago "Exhibition, and in 1872 accompanied tbe veteran •yangelart on hk last

aiisaon to England, taking Mr Sankey'e jilace as leader of the hymns. — Archibald Fitzroy George Hay, twelfth Earl of Kinnoull, was §4 in June. Formerly in the Black Watch, ther^ Colonel of the Egyptian Gendarmerie and Chief of Staff" to Baker Pasha during the campaign on the Red Sea, he has had experience of military life. But Orpheus, not Mars, is .fcis best friend, for of music he is passionately fond ; he plays both organ and piano beautifully ; composes, and singe well. X«ord Kinnoull's family is a cadet branch of the Erroll family. The first Earl of Kinsoull wa6 created in 1633, when George {Hay, Gentleman of the Bedchamber to King Jam>w, and afterwards Lord Chancellor of Scotland, was elevated to the peerage. The third Earl had many unpleasant experiences during the CiviJ War, and was imprisoned ir Edinburgh Caertle. He made hie escape, but was again taken prisoner by the English. The present peer has been marnied twice, and hie heir is his grandson, Lord Hay of Kinfauns, who is seven years old.

— The Duk« of Grafton has lived a busy and eventful life, and despite his advanced ag-s of 88 years is still active. He joined r,he 60th Rifles in 1837, ar.tl ivro years J*ter he exchanged into the. Coldsiresm Guards, ■■vifh which x-egiment he Tougiii .Throughout vhe Crimea, bein-gr seriously wouiicod. He letirecl from "the army nearly 30 yeai-s ago, vn'th the rank of General. The Duke is

«-ne of the Grand Old Men of the peerage ; for many years lie was a well-known figure at Court, having been Equerry to Queen Victoria from 1849 to 1882, Honorary .Kquerry from 1882 to 1901, and since that <ate Equerry to the King. He is an uncle of Mr Balfour, for in 1847 he wedded the daughter of James Balfour of Whitt-inge-hame. Tho Duchess of Grafton, however, died over half a century ago, and the Duke

has never remarried. Once he made a vow J:evei to vidu in a motor car, but it went i •<> way of most vows, and on the occasion « : a luncheon at the K^ttering agricultural t :cw he said, ''I &va -v ray eighty-fourth \ear, and have t'n.s cut b:oken a vow I luade nover to enrer a- motor oar." — Quite a number of playwrights served tfieir literary apprenticeship as journalists. .'. M. Barrie wae a reporter on a Nottingham paper before he came to London. Henry Arthur Jones wrote articles and stories from boyhood, and did not enter a theatre until he was 18 years of age. Hubert Davies was for some years a journalist in America, while Hall Came, after

l-^ins: trained as an architect, became a

.^-.^al.st .nnd leader-writer on the staff ,'of the Liveipool Mercury, and after coming ■to London wrote for the Athenaeum, Academy, and other papers. Csoil Raleigh, the author of co many Drury Lane dramas, wrote for Vanity Fair, and was at ono time 6ub-editor and dramatic critic for the Lady. Ccspo Hamilton has filled the editorial" <hair of the World. Adrian Ross hae done . much journalistic work, while ii would he impossible to say how manj papers ar.d periodicals George H. Sims has .written for. MrVn F'ske, che American playwright. comnveriDsd h : v literary career as an editorial writer anu special correspondent of Ihe ifcew York Herald, and was a war - correspondent before he became a dramatic critic . axid stage-writer. — One of the most interesting of living •rtiste is M. Edouard Deiaille, "who was invited to Windsor by the King the other dfty. M. Detaille is, of course, famed for bm realistic battle pictures. He wa» a pupil of Meissonier, who early recognised his ability; and M. Detaille'e first picture •exhibited r.t the f-alon depicted the '*In- j terior of Melssonier's Studio." M. De- ,

t&ille hae h«d a good deal of personal experience of the horrors of warfare, for „- L«e was on the staff of General Appert

during the war of 1870. "I leave you every liberty of observing and studying, but, of \ all things-, don't permit yourself to be killed," said Appert, and his young friend , made full use of the opportunities granted

to him. M. Detaillehas for long beer an intimate friend of King Edward, and he ■was decorated at the jubilee of Queen Vie-

I toria. He has painted the portraits of many ' royal personages, including those of the Tsar and the Duke of Connaught. — The Duke of Ooimaught has always beer very populai in hi 6 military capacity. But #3 real strength ot the Duke's popularity can best be proved by the fact that the servants in his household simply adore him. There is an amusing story told of how, soon after he first took up his command at Dublin some few years ago, his '" valet came to him, asking for a ' fortnight's ' leave. The Duke noticed that he gave no reas<«], but granted him permission. Exactly "11 -days after the man returned, and. then - the Duke demanded his reason for wishing

a. holiday. "I wanted to have a. fight, sir," I ■was tho reply, '"and I knewul would get ' badly marked. . But I'm all right now again." Hi* Royal Highness immediately became interested, but it was a long time - be-fore he €licited the fact that the valet ' bad been ligMing a man who had referred to t'Se Duke as a •'feather-bed" soldier. The Duko has an abundant sense of humour. Once, while holding a reception et the Horsi Guards, he asked an officer who ; had just be«n introduced what he wanted. ''Notf-'.ng, thank you," was the modest reply. '"My dear sir." exclaimed the Duke, Bhaking the astonished officer vigorously foy tho hand, "I am really glad to meet you. It is a long time since I have met an army officer who wants-d iiothing." Another time, while the Duke and the Duchess were returning from come social function, the sentry called out the guard and gave the royal salute. His Royal Highness imrne- ' diately proceeded to blow up the sergeant, ap Irishman, but was entirely disarmed vifoen the latter made answer, "The guard, sir, is out for her Royal Highness, who is entitled to it." — The Spanish dramatist Jose Echegaray, whoee play, "El Gran Galeoto," is, now being played in an English dress as "The iWorTd and Hie Wife," won Came as a mathematician Jong before he wrote his fi»t play. When he was a student £t the gteat Spanl&h college Escuela <Je Caminos (where in' later years he held 1 the ChaJr of Mathematics) a, certain intricate mathematical problem was 6et one Saturday, the solution to be sent in the next Monday. Only the most ambitious could hope to do anything with it. An hour before the time ' one of hie fellow-student* went to Eche- - gtaray's lodgings to see if he could get any light on the subject. He found Eohe#ar.ay in his bedroom seated on the edge or the bed in his night -shirt, his head bent,

in profound thought. There was no daylight. The room was close-curtained, the " ehutters up, and on the mantelpiece an expiring lamp. "Hush !" wa6 Echegaray's greeting when at last he saw his companion.

Then suddenly he darted across to a small board, .crying, "Here it is!" Feverishly he proceeded to draw lines, circles, to dash down figures. n The whole night I liave been thinking of that problem — and look there!" The professor, who never in tho least expected anyone to solve the problem, regarded his pupil with an admiration not unmixed with awe when he received the solution. Mathematics were Echegaray'e earliest passion, and having studied them "ierociousiy, ravenously," he left the Escuela de Caminos with the highest honours obtainable. That was in 1853. Since then he has written about 60 playe.

— The Grand Duke Dmitri Constaiitinovitoh, eoitein of the Czar of Russia, has suddenly announced his intention, of aban-doning*-his immense fortune and entering a monastery. As son of a Czar's brother, Dmitri Constantinovitcb was born, in the midst of unlimited luxury. His high rank gave him the usual benefits of an army of sei*vants, courtiers, and slaves, the richest of rooms, the heaviest of gold friate, and the most splendid of jewels. Large tracts of forests were his: mines filled with gems and farms populated with a. thousand slaves belonged to him. Dmitri Oonstsntinovitch enjoyed his wealth to the utmost. But it is said, that satiety has brought a distaste for things worldly. Were he an. Anglo-Saxon he would talk, about the simple life. As it is, he chooses to retire from the world altogether and live as a monk. He takes no evidence of his wealth with him. The endowments be will give to the monastery are not for his use, but for the poor. Hie earthly possessions are to consist of a wooden bed without a mattress, a blanket of coarse brown wool to cover him, a pillow of wood, with a niche carved for the neck, a rush-bottomed ohair, a wooden candlestick, one pair of wooden pattens, one haircloth shirt, one cassook of coarse wool, a cowl, and a rosary. During more than three months in the year he will eat neither meat, eggs, butter, cheese, nor fisn. His fare will, at such times, consist of barley boiled in water, cakes -fried in oil, and black bread. At other times he will eat broth, a slice of boiled beef, or an egg. He will keep his own cell clean, and cultivate with' his own hands the little garden allotted to him. Be will rise for prayers at 2 in th© morning and get up at 6 for the day- He will not talk to his brother monks in the refectory except on rare occasions, when called upon to do co by the abbot. His name, let alone his title, is to be left outeide, and he is to be known to the other inmates by a new one, ohosen on his entrance. This life, to one who has had all that wealth, birth, and social position can give, would seem to be somewhat etern and narrow, and yefc Dmitri Constantinovitch has deliberately chosen, it.