Page:Men of the Time, eleventh edition.djvu/96

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
BARNUM—BARODA.
79

the Petticoats," "The Carnival of Naples," "Before Breakfast," "Mr. Mallett,"and "Win and Wear Her." His various canzonets and ballads number, perhaps, a thousand, amongst which figure the familiar titles of "The Light Guitar," "Rise, Gentle Moon," and "Not a Drum was Heard." He became director of the Olympic Theatre in 1832, under the management of Madame Vestria. In 1839 he married the youngest daughter of the late celebrated violoncellist, Robert Lindley, after which he retired to Cheltenham, where he has resided for many years, turning his attention to the study and cultivation of the voice, upon which he has published an important volume.


BARNUM, Phineas Taylor, born at Bethel, Connecticut, July 5, 1810. He began business at the age of thirteen, and in 1834 removed to New York, where in 1841 he purchased the American Museum, by which in a few years he acquired a fortune. In 1856 he engaged Jenny Lind to visit America, to give 150 concerts, but the engagement was cancelled when 93 performances had been given. In 1855 he took up his residence at Bridgeport, Connecticut, and engaged largely in real estate and manufacturing enterprises. These were unsuccessful, and he became bankrupt. Having effected a compromise with his creditors, he resumed the management of the Museum, and soon retrieved his fortunes. He was twice burnt out—in 1865, and again in 1868, when he announced his retirement from business. The instinct of the showman, however, was too strong, and after a few years he reentered the field on a larger scale than ever. Mr. Barnum served one term in the Connecticut Legislature (1865), and was a candidate for Congress in 1866, but was defeated by his Democratic opponent. He has lectured upon temperance and other topics, and besides some smaller works has published: "The Life of P. T. Barnum, written by Himself," 1855; "The Humbugs of the World," 1865; and a sort of autobiography entitled "Struggles and Triumphs," 1869.


BARODA, The Maharajah Gaekwar of. His Highness Maharajah Syaji Rao Gaekwar was born on the 10th of March, 1863, at the town of Kavalana in the Nassick District, and is the son of the late Rao Bhikaji Rao Gaekwar. He was educated in the "Maharajah's School" at Baroda, under the personal supervision and tuition of Mr. F. Elliot, of the Indian Civil Service. It will be in the memory of our readers how the late Gaekwar, Mulhar Rao, for his attempt to poison Colonel Phayre, the British Resident, and for continual and gross misgovernment, was, after being tried by a mixed commission of European officials and native chiefs, deposed from his government and sent into exile at Madras, where he died at the end of 1882. On Mulhar Rao's deposition, and with the consent of the Earl of Northbrook, then Viceroy of India, the Maharanee Jumna Bai adopted, on the 27th of May, 1875, the present Maharajah, who was on the same day installed on the guddee or throne. During the minority of the Maharajah the administration was carried on by a Council of Regency under the direction of the European representative; and Raja Sir Taujore Madhava Rao, Bahadoor, K.C.S.I., who was the Dewan to His Highness Maharajah Scindiah of Gwalior, was specially selected to fill the post of Prime Minister, together with a seat at the Regency Board. On the 28th December, 1881, and at the early age of 18, His Highness was invested with full and sovereign powers, and since he has held the reins of state he has, with the assistance of Sir Madhava Rao, whom he has retained as his Prime Minister, given the greatest satisfaction by his aptitude for work and desire to intro-