The copper country evening news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907, 1897-09-10
FADS OF FAMOUS MEN
GREAT CHARACTERS WHO HAD A
FONDNeSS FOR SOMETHING.

Wellington and Napoleon Liked the Pratt
tie of Babes and Milton Courted Song.
Byron's Love of Flowers and Dogs-PeI-
lisson and the Spider.
Henry Nv of France, the great Huguenot
King, who has lately become familiar To
many OF us in the works of Mr. Stanley
Weyman, was passionately fond of chill
dren 1t Is related of him that one day no
was discovered by an ambassador crawling
ON all fours with the dauphin on his back
and the rest Of the royal children urging
him To equine feats. He was not abashed,
and without rising said to tho intruder,
Have you children, Mr.. EmbassadorY"
"Ies, sire. " In that case, - replied Henry,
II shall proceed with my sport. Z" A fond
ness for children was n feature in the char
acter of the Duke of Wellington and also
In that of his great adversary, Napoleon.
It'll difficult To realize this imperious man,
this terror of nations, dandling the young
king of Rome in his arms and laughingiy
daubing his face with sauce from his break
fast plate. Yet so it is recorded of him.
Another of his Weaknesses was for the
music of bells. He woul,Sstop in the midst
of discussion on the gravest subjects TO
listen To IA village peal, and be surprised
and almost indignant If those about him
failed to evince "a corresponding interest.
"They remind me- he said on one coca
sion, "of the first years passed at Brienne.
l was happy then. "
Music, indeed, in one form or another
has been the hobby of many great men.
Milton delighted to play upon the organ
and composed many fine chants to psalms
Gainsborough performed with no little
skill on the violin, Many of the anxious
and feverish hours of Luther were solaced
by his flute. The great reformer, however,
had another fayorite recreation in the shape
Of the game Of skittles or ninepins. Prob
ably the success attending his la bors never
gave him so keen an exhilaration of pleas
ure as did the knocking down of all the
pins at stroke.
Byron loved flowers and kept his rooms
constantly decked with them. He said
that he drew from them his inspiration.
In the later years of his life he formed a
great affection for dogs, and generally had
sOmO of them about him. a favOrite one,
on it's dumlse received the honor of Il
Byronic epitaph. Many famous men have
, di5plGyCd u similar fondness for animals,
and in not a. few instances the animal
chosen has been of n kind usually connect
cd with household pets. Cardinal Richie
lieu found amusement in a collection Of
cats. The poet Cuwper tanned hares and
spent much of his time feeding and fon-
ding them. Goethe made friends with an
| animal of n far less inviting description.
| 1t Is related of him that he rarely passed q
| day without bringing from "a chimney cor
| ner live snake, which he kept there, and
| caressed it like u bosom friend. Hardly q
| more agreeable form was taken by Rem
| brandt, who became devoted to an ape.
| When he heard of this animals death, lac
! was so overcome with grief that he intro.
| duced its figure into group he was then
| engaged upon of a noble family. Needless
to say, the family in question refused tc
recognize this unseemly addition to their
I numbers, and, the painter declining &c
| erase it,, the picture was left on his hands
1t is said to be still in existence.
| More remarkable almost than any Of
] these is the friendship which Poisson
made with spider in c~der to beguile the
tedium of solitary con- % ent in the bas
| tile. That "A creature "a ,nis kind shoulo
I show itself amenable to such influence IL
J perhaps more to he wondered at than thai
| man so placed should desire to tame 1t
James was another lover of animals, bu
J he does not seem To have confined his favol
! to any particular variety He kept pri
| yate menagerie in st. James park, where
( in all manner of beasts wero gathered TO
! gether and tended with scrupulous care
| Stables, white gyrfalcons of Iceland ant
| flying squirrels were, we are told, among
tho most highly priced specimens in thi
J collection.
About the year 1929 the king of SpaiI
| obtained the good offices of his majesty by
| the diplomatic presentation of an elephant
] and five camels The former of these ap
pears to have been somewhat costly visit
or to entertain. He required two Spanish
| keepers as well as two English ones fol
his sole service, and breeze noate wha
the chardges of the elephant and hi
keepers are in the yeare'' sets the figure
at 9275 les (sl,37s). This compute
ton, however, does not seem to have GOV
cred tho entire expense, for the "breef'
noate' is supplemented by the following
"Besides his keepers afirme that from thu
month of September until April he mus
| drink mot water) but wyne-and from
| April unto September he must have gal
Ion of wyne the daye"
| Apart from animals, the vagaries o.
great men have taken many similar forms
Beethoven was possessed with "a continue
desire to change lodgings. Hardly was HI
| installed in one set of apartments than III
| would discover some defect In them ant
set about searching for others. What 1
field Is there here, surely, for the enter
prising tourist He would be an unlucky
| man, indeed, who should fail to uneartl
| at least one of the great composers many
abodes London Standard.
| One Of the Many.