People We Hear About

New Zealand Tablet, 16 July 1908, Page 28

People We Hear About

It is stated by the London correspondent- of the . Irisfr Times ' that the King will pay a short visit ;to Ireland during August, in order to spend a few days at the seat of the Marquis of Waterford, Curraghmore. "

.Lord Lovat, the well-known Catholic Scottish nobleman, has been invited to take part in Jhe Quebec Tercentenary celebrations as head of the clan Fraser, and descendant of Simon JFraser, the commander of the Fraser Highlanders,' who were the first of Wolfe's troops to scale the heights of Quebec. Lord Loyat is

taking his pipers with him.

In noticing the recent visit of the President of France toEngland, the ' Catholic Weekly ' says it is generally supposed that M. Fallieres has little sympathy with the persecuting attitude taken up by the French Government towards the Church. However that may be,* it is certain- that "his wife is a devout Catholic, and that he has a daughter who had made up her mind a few years ago to take the veil. Circumstances did not permit her to carry out her intention, but she has' riot abandoned it. She has refused several brilliant offers of marriage, and is heart and soul in the work of her parish church, St. Clo tilde's, Paris.

The Earl of Kenmare, who., is selling his landed property in Ireland to the tenants under the Wyndham Act, is also* disposing of his magnificent residence, Killarney House and demesne, one of the beauty spots of the renowned Lakes. Ine house, which was erected by the late Earl, is on a wooded height facing a range of mountains, with the famed Lower Lake lying- under the demesne. The place possesses considerable historic "interest, as Ross Island, more properly a peninsula, forms a portion of the beautiful demesne, and situated there alsa is Ross Castle, which was surrendered by Lord Muskerry in 1652 to the- Parliamentary forces under General Ludlow. Lord Kenmare is descended from Sir- Valentine Browne, of Totteridge, Herts, who was AuditorGeneral of Ireland in the days of Queen Elizabeth, but it wasanother ancestor, the first baronet, who acquired from James I. the valuable lands including the Lakes of Killarney.

Speaking at a luncheon given by Cardinal Gibbons at the Catholic University of America, Cardinal Logue said -his visit to that country had been fraught with many pleasant surprises. He was in sympathy with" America and its government. While. he always had entertained visions of a nation characterised with; vigor and energy, he declared his expectations were more than: fulfilled. He was astonished at the enterprise and energy .displayed by Americans. ' One " thing that particularly impresses me,' said his Eminence, ' is the manner in which the newspapershandle the news. The method observed by the big metropolitan journals is wonderful. They seem to get the news in some mysterious manner without bothering the principals. Why, the second day of my visit in this country I picked up a newspaper, and found a long interview which I had given to a reporter. I could not remember giving the interview, but I suppose the reporter knew what he was writing about. At any rate, he did not make me say anything that I would not have said.'

By the death of Francois Coppe'e, the French poet and dramatist, French literature has suffered a serious loss. The deceased, who passed away on May 23 at the age of sixty-six, was a fearless champion of the Church. Whilst taking the lead in a poetic circle which cultivated novelty and despised the older canons of the art, he -never really renounced the love of classical form and purity of expression. The result was that he gradually drew away from his school and asserted hi 9 individuality. - .The French Academy in 1884 gave the stamp of- its approval to v his productions by selecting him for the chair which had been held by Victor de Laprade. • Like Brunetiere, Huysmah, and other French contemporaries of his, Francois Coppe'e turned to the Church because in the stress and troubles of life it offered

him a philosophy which was an anodyne for pain.

Very touch-

ingly he tells the story of his conversion in the little volume, ,-' La Bonne Souffrance.' His heart cried for comfprt, and he found it in Catholic doctrine, which he believed so profoundly, *in fidelity to the successor of Peter, whose blessing was one of the joys of his death-bed,'- and in the cross which he ' lovingly clasped 1 .as he expired. ,_ ' "' "