PLAIN SPEAKING.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume XXV, Issue 10234, 25 June 1883, Page 2

PLAIN SPEAKING.

. Although tho English Press has, ; generally speaking, published laudatory [ notices of the late John Brown, the . following extract from Truth shows that opinions are not all in his favour : — " It had for some time been predicted by persons who knew John Brown that i his first seriom illnfss would kill him. The fact is ho died of his prosperity. For the first forty years of his life he , existed principally in the open air, and , took an enormous amount of exercise, while his manner of living was not luxurious. . Of late, however,, he had taken little or no oxerrise, and every whim had been indulged, so that ha was not in a condition to resist the malady with which ha was attacked. If he had remained a gillie, or a keeper, ho -wov.ld probably have lived to be a very old man ; but the enervating life which he had led for several years was about as suitable to him asA would hi the sand of Arabia to a reindeer, or the snow of Lapland to a camel. A brougham, a dogcart, and a ridinghorse were always at John Brown's disposal. Ho hid his own suite of rooms at Windsor, Osborue, and Balmoral ; a separate table was ki»pt for him, and he was waited on by obseqiius servants appointed for that purpose. He had the exclusive right of shooting in the extensive, well-stocked oo rers on the Osborne estate; he could shoot at Windsor and Balmoral when disposed thus to amusehimself, and the salmon fishing on tha Queen's water on the Dee was also under his dominion. In the Queen's household John Brown's word was law, and from Sir John Gowell down to the housemaids it was tho primary object of eve-y official or servant to stind well with him, or at least to keep clear of offending him. For anyone that fell undfr bis displeasure was sure to come to grief. If a s.-rvant, his promotion was stopped;. and if an ofiicial, he was worried and huvried, and everything that he did was wrong. Except by his own friends and his parasites, John Brown was exceedingly disliked ; indeed one niiajbt use. a stronger word. This would be the case with almost any magnified menial, lu L . John Brown did not conciliate. The fortitcr in re was the only method with which he was familiar, and he was both truculent and - tyrannical. The manner in which ha spoke lo the • ladies and gentlemen ' of the Court was frequently most offens ; but it was hopeless for anyone to re* lit ■ his freedom. Indeed, as Major P.mdennis, from living sj much with dulc^s. came nt last to feel like one, so ' J.BJ hail quite tho air and sentiments of . Royal personage of say one hundred, years ago. In his love for strong laugguage he gre.itly resembled the lat» revered George 11. One of his ' fads '" was a violent hatred of the Press. John Brown was at various times employed by the Que.-n to conduct inquiries of a confidential nature, and bis knowledge of the private affairs of a number of distinguished personages might at some future peuod have proved exceedingly inconvenient. He was treated with the utmost consideration by all tho members of. the Eoyal Family, with the exception of the Duke of Edinburgh, who made lnm no presents, and who always ar>. peared to regard him with infinite d& daiu-a feeling which probably arose from His floral Highne M haviuc been : ordered to apologise to him for havinsenes of differences between Her Royul Highness an <] t ),o Queen. Lord Beaconsheld always shook hands with this faithful ami powerful retainer, and addressed bun a, ■ M y good friend,' invariably treating Wm with Oriental «mrfo»y. The JoUi| a ,i notices of John Brow, wliu-.h }»»vc .a^red in the,

daily papers, are simply for the most part a parrago of nonsense. He was a faithful servant, and a discreet, ssga- • cioua man ; but nevertheless he was exalted out of his own proper place in a very preposterous way. Of all men that overlived, the Prince Consortwould least have approved of this sort of thing, as his idea of the relation between master and servant was so intensely German-Court-like, that, ' unless owing to special circumstances,' he rarely spoke to any domestic except through an equerry or other attendant, the only exception to this rule being his German valet, who is now in the Queen's service." .

Lbssons in Hoese ißiiKura. — Wo are requested to inform the professor's pupils that Mr Charles Gordon purposes bringing into the yards to-day one unbroken four-year-old colt and one spoilt horse, so that they will hare a capital opportunity of witnessing the. professor's theory of horse training. Sebious A.CCIDBHT. — A little boy, son of Mr William Harrison (an employe of Mr John McGregor, Cherry Bank) was thrown from a horse on Saturday afternoon up the No. 3 Line, when .ho was nearing town. The boy'B knee-cap was badly smashed, and he sustained other injuries to the lirab which the medical testimony pronouncos to be very ssrious.