RECOLLECTIONS OF CHARLES LEVER, THE NOVELIST.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume II, Issue 109, 29 May 1875, Page 14

RECOLLECTIONS OF CHARLES LEVER, THE NOVELIST.

The Villa Morrelli was an unattractive-looking house from the rood, from which it was approached by iron gates and a short drive. Bet on the other (or garden) it was one of the most picturesque, irregularly-built old houses imaginable, and the flagged garden terrace at the back commanded a lovely view of the storied hill of San Miniato, with its ancient church and half -ruined fortification, on its top, and of the olive and vine-planted valley which divided the two eminences. Often of a summer evening, before the- arrival of whisters from Florence, I used to find Lever in an easy-chair on this terrace with coffee before him and a cigar in his mouth, enjoying the cool hour of the Aye Maria. Sometimes, finding nobody there, I penetrated into the long series of sitting-rooms that occupied all the ground floor of the building, and on these occasions was sure to find him in a little study, the last and remotest, of the suite, writing. But he was always glad of a motive for laying the pen aside. And then we used to go and sit on the terrace and discuss the chances of a coming war — that which was decided at Sadowa — and Lever would give his reasons, strategical and political, for feeling sure that Austria would be victorious. And then, one by one, the whisters would drop in, and the Austrians and Prussians were forgotten in the excitement of the battles, the upshot of which our friend was better able to predict. Lever's outward appearance was exactly such as the mental characterics which have been attributed to him in the preceding pages would lead one to expect. He was, though not a tall, rather a large-made and large-limbed man — not fat, but portly in his person, j and there was a kind of expensiveness in his character. 'He used to wear a coat falling freely and widely back, and exhibiting a large expanse of waistcoat. He affected, I think, light colors rather, and often a white waistcoat. He was an especially spruce and speckless looking man, yet without any appearance of care or ■ precision. He used to show a great deal of linen about his bosom, and neck, and hands, which always looked as if it had been put on the minute before, and would, if it were to be preserved in the condition one always saw it in, need to be renewed the next minute. His head was rather large, and sufficiently bald at the top to show that on phrenological principles it was exceedingly well formed — broad and, though not massive, in the forehead, and with that wide, round arch from ear to ear which is held to denote a welldeveloped and well-balanced moral organization. The broad face, clean-looking and fresh-colored, but hardly to be called florid, with its clear eyes briinming over with humor, and its wide mouth well furnished with brilliantly white teeth, was the very picture and most eloquent expression of good-nature, good-temper and goodhumor. The lips were full, but not sensual ; there was too much indicative of intellect about them. The chin, always smoothly shaven, was large, and might have been called a little heavy had it been appended to a less mobile and less wit-lighted face. It had an expressiveness of its own too, that chin ; for it had a way, when he was in a satirical mood and was about to say a sharp thing, of assuming a look of hardness and squareness about the under jaw which would have imparted a character of severity to the face, if the eyes had not all the time been shooting out sun-beams on the sly. I wonder how those eyes looked when he was really angered. I never saw him so. — ' Lippincott's Magazine.'

Thb King op Delhi and the Seidietz Powdeb —On the fh s1;s 1 ; consignment of seidlitz powders in the capital of Delhi, the monarch became deeply interested in the accounts of the refreshing box. A box was brought to the king in full court, and the interpreter explained to his majesty how it should be used. Into a goblet be put the twelve blue papers, and having added water the Mug drank it off. Thiß was the alkali, and the countenance expressed no signs of satisfaction. It was then explained that in the combination of the two powders lay the luxury, and the twelve white powders were quickly dissolved, and as eagerly swallowed by his majesty. With a shriek that will be remembered while Delhi is numbered among the kingdoms, the monarch rose, staggered, exploded, and, in full agonies, screamed, •' hold me down ! " then, rushing from the throne, fell prostrate on the floor. There he lay during the long-continued effervescence of the compound, squirting like ten thousand pennyworths of imperial Eop, and believing himself in the agonies of death — a melancholy umiliating proof that kings are mortal. A bill is before the Tennessee Legislature, says the Sau Francisco correspondent of the ' New Zealand Herald,' which contains the following section : — " That bachelorism is hereby declared a privilege, and every male inhabitant of this State over 30 years of age, being sound of mind and enjoying good bodily health, remaining unmarried after the first day of May, 1875, shall pay a^.fine of ten dollars annually. - .