Round And About.

the " Ozone , " evidently for use at Henley . My Lord was not at all satisfied as to several points of construction , and whilst the boatman stood bareheaded and quite overpowered with the presence of his illustrious client , the assistant with the greatest sang { void imaginable placed his greasy , sunburnt paws upon his Lordship ' s shoulder and chatted to him in a most patronising way .

I am not certain he did not indulge in a complimentary " dig in the ribs "; but Lord Churchill ' s face was a perfect study of embarrassment . That particular assistant was created to become a ticket-collector on the District Railway , and has evidently mistaken his calling .

¦ * * * The late Lord Caithness , who was but 31 years of age and unmarried , was buried in the Chapel Royal of Holyrood—the right of which has been the valued possession of his family for several generations—on Wednesday , May 30 . The Earl , who was of a

retiring disposition , dined with Lord Hopetoun , the High Commissioner of Scotland—who subsequently attended his funeral in uniform—a few hours previous to his death , which was terribly sudden . He was Lord Lieutenant of the County of Caithness-shire , an Elder of the Church of Canisby , a Colonel of Volunteers , and

the Provincial Grand Master of Caithness , a position he held with much dignity . He was a most popular man , his tenants were extremely fond of him , and the sailors of the Francisca , his splendid yacht , simply adored him .

* * * The new Earl is Mr . James Augustus Sinclair , a very distant cousin of the deceased peer . He is a bank agent in Aberdeen , and inherits nothing but the title . The Scotch estates are bequeathed to Mr . Heathcote , a college friend of the late Earl , on condition

that he resides three months every year at Barrowgill Castle , and assumes the name of Sinclair . The Caithness jewels go to Lady Emily Carew , , £ " 3 , 000 to Piper Mackintosh ( who watched over the body in St . Giles ' s Cathedral the night preceding the funeral ) , and the residue to the poor of the parish of Canisby . As no mention

whatever is made in the will , of the yacht , or the valuable pictures , which include masterpieces of Rubens , Vandyke , Reynolds , and hosts of others , the property in Hertfordshire , the house in Hillstreet , or a large value of Consols and cash , the poor of the fortunate parish seem to have dropped into a good thing . For the sake of the heir to the title it is almost to be wished the will may be successful ] }' contested .

* * * A certain weekly publication , famed for its trenchant remarks upon matters that may offend against its own opinions , very unwisely comments upon an unfortunate affair connected with a recent issue of a high-toned illustrated paper . This certain weekly

publication must have known that by thus drawing public attention to a matter which no other journal in London took cognisance of , and giving such details as would enable innocent people to indulge their curiosity upon , it showed a gieat want of good , or an abundant possession of very bad , taste . This is not the kind of smartness that is wanted in an old-established and reputable paper that caters largely for the amusement of its lady readers .

* * * Mr . Henry King , of Hammersmith , a horsey gentleman I have not the pleasure of knowing , has been fined 40 s ., and 12 s . 6 d . costs , for working an animal in an unfit condition . This animal , as may be supposed , was a horse , but it had been a racehorse , and besides

running in the Derby of 1870 , had won several races since . I wonder if any of the fair dames and gallant sirs who have patted Cockney Boy ' s silken coat in days gone by would recognise him now , or if any of the Newmarket cats will eventually feed off the carcass of the fallen . I wonder !

* * * Lord Londesborough was in brilliant form at the Lyric Tent at Ascot , and seems to be more and more attached to the histrionic art and its professors .

Mr . Gladstone has earned another appellation . Argus calls him "The great steam tongue . " Poor Mr . Gladstone ! I have always pitied him for the " larks " everybody seems to enjoy at his—and , for the matter of that , every other politician ' s—expense . The only time I bore him any animosity was the night his Irish Bill was defeated in the Commons . I had walked down Parliament-street ,

as everybody else seemed to be going in the same direction , and had been standing at the corner of Downing-street but a few moments , when a carriage " with a horse attached " came dashing down the street , to the consternation of the police and the amusement of the hoary ruffians who formed the greater part of the crowd . To make

room for the venerable gentleman ' s conveyance taxed the composure of the "A " Division , no doubt , but I have never been able to obtain any explanation why a burly member of the force should come at me like a mad bull and lay me prostrate in the gutter . But be did , and I am not going to forget it .

* * * I have it from the highest possible source that Prince Edward of Wales is about to consult the editors of half a dozen " Society " papers with a view to ascertaining details of his suggested marriage . This course would give some annoyance , no doubt , to his illustrious

family , but then he thinks—and I think so too—that it would be a most serious thing if he were to take unto himself any lady who should not be approved of by those gentlemen of the press . To be serious , there seems to be no foundation for the rumour that Prince Edward is to be installed as the Provincial Grand Master for Surrey .

* * * The Government has given the vacant land adjoining the National Gallery for the erection of the New Portrait Gallery , the entire cost of which is to be so generously defrayed by the anonymous philanthropist , as announced by Lord Salisbury at the

recent Academy banquet . The site is very central , and about the only one suitable . In the hands of Mr . Ewan Christian we may safely expect a grand edifice , and if he gives us as fine a staircase as Mr . Charles Eastlake has at last secured for the National Gallery we shall be quite satisfied .

* * -it-It is not generally known , I believe , that his Grace the Duke of Portland is a member of the Craft , and a very sincere one , too , though his many social and public duties have prevented him attaining to any high position therein . His seat at Welbeck , about

which we have read so much lately , is quite historic , but I fancy in centuries to come , when the Law Courts will be worshipped , and Nelson ' s Column will have been distributed among the museums of the world , Welbeck will be known principally for its subterranean apartments , and the eccentric Duke who constructed them .

* * The present owner will carry on the traditions of his race untarnished . He has safely passed through that probationary period of life when wealthy scions of the nobility are most tempted to step down from the paths of honourable example and

indulge the propensities of early manhood in the bubbles of the Bohemian world . His first act on coming into his estates was to enhance the comforts of his workpeople and servants by giving them a beautiful range of buildings in which their hours of relaxation might be spent in pastimes and amusements of an

intellectual order . They have their library and their reading-rooms , their billiard and refreshment saloons , and all the comfortable luxuries a generous master can give them . The lady he has taken as the mistress of his vast wealth will assist him nobly to carry out the duties of his high position , and we may safely

look forward to a record of such a life as springs from the possession of all that is good and best in womanhood , and ail that is noble and honourable in an English gentleman . * * * What is this we hear about a penny Graphic and a penny Illustrated London Neivs ? It is only recently that the proprietors of