MISCELLANEOUS.

Inangahua Times, Volume X, Issue 1574, 15 July 1885, Page 3

MISCELLANEOUS.

»■ The writer of London Town Talk in the Argas says :— " • 6b, 'tis what shall we do wheu Mr Russell Lowell goes ?' is the bitter cry that breaks from all secretaries of public dinners. His . duties as responder to everything having the least connection with literatrtte have Income so onerous that he has actually had to appoint a deputy, and, of course, an American deputy. Mr Howard Potter, of New York,' on behalf of Mr Lowell,' unveiled the new Shake speare window in Stratford-on-Avon Chnrch last week, Mr L. himself being engaged to nnveil the burst of Coleridge at the sunie date, in Westminister Abbey. His absence from the Academy dinner left the returning thanks for English literature to Professor Jebb, who, like the little boy iti the song, 'only learns (or. at all eve§ts, only writes about, > Latin?' At the Royal Literary Fund dinner the same catastrophe placed the yauie toast in the hands of another professor of the illustrious obscure class* It woo Id seem, indeed, that when Mr Lowell leaves us there will Vie nobody (who is anybody) left to represent letters through the vocal organs at all. We have been so long aeenstomed to have Mr Lowell for our mouthpiece that nobody wonders at this, but when he leaves ns it will, doubtless, occnr to people to ask why nobody but professors of Greek and Latin are invited to fill his place as representatives of our native writers. The confession, to those who remember the brilliant oratory of Charle* Dickens, is a humiliating one, bnt the fact ts that there is no English writer of any reputation who can make an afterdi^ner speech, and, being sensible as well as intelligent persons, they know it. It : is not, perhaps, of much consequence, for the sort of people who make it a point of attending public dinners wonld probably prefer a royal highness, or even a lord, to the greatest orator who ever uttered trope, but it is certainly a circumstance to be regretted." The dispute concerning the will of the late Duke of Brunswick has* been amicably settled. The Duke of Cumberland will get about £800,000, and the King of Saxony about £250,000. The Dowager Dunhess of Hamilton (Pri*fcesß Mary of Bfirden^ gets £50, 000, and the same amount fills to the Prince Alexander of Hesse (fan her of the Princes of Battenburg), to whom it will be an opportune windfall, as he has been in poor circumstances, since the death of his sister, the late Empress of Russia, who gave him a large annual allowance during the last 25 years of her life. Two members of the Royal Family of Bavaria get £25, 000 each. The £800,000 ought to console the Duke of Cumberland for being excluded from the succession. Within the past few months Francesco,' Maria, Carmelo, and Mario Bellioi, brothers and sister* of the composer* of " Norma " and '• La SonnaraWa,' have died at Catania, iu Sicily. Mario Bellini was organist and choir-master of the Dome Chapel, and was the writer of several church pieces. " I like vour custom of ze shout," said Dn Caletnbough ; but it is sometimes peculiar — par example : I met one maa last week. He say he vos married, and he say com' an' hav' a drink, an' lad a drink, I met anozer man att' he say to me, 'My vife 'ave a scbild, com' and wet ze sell ild s 'ed,' and we wet 'is 'ed. Then I met still anozer man, an' he say, 'Oh, my dear fren, I am in grief. I 'ave lost my vife. She is dead. Com' an' 'ave a drink,' and t went." "BuCHtr-PAiBA." — Quick, complete cure, all annoying Kidney, Bladder and Urinary Diseases, At Druggists Kempthorne, Prosser k Co.. Agents. Christchurch. TOWLE'S PENNYROYAL AND STEEL PILLS FOR FEMALES quickl" correct all irregularities, and relieve the distressing symptoms so prevalent with the sex. Boxen 1b l|d., and 2s. 6d., of al Chemists. Prepared only by E T. Towle, Chemist, Nottingham, England Wholesale of all tbe Wholesale Houses Beware of Imitation?