A GLANCE I TO THE PAS T V A GLANCE INTO THE PAST A GLANCE INTO THE PAST BY ARTHUR SEBRIGHT LONDON EVELEIGH NASH & GRAYSON LTD. 148, STRAND 1922 CONTENTS PAGE Chapter I 9 My Boyhood. Death of my Father and Mother. Sir Hastings Yelverton. Miss Octavia Sebright. My Schooldays. My Brother Jack's Marriage. Montagu Loftus's Originality. Chapter II - ... 20 I \ea\e Radley and go to a Tutor's. Hunting in a London Hotel. My first deal in horses. Tom Dickinson. I am launched in London. Chapter III 81 The Canterbury Music Hall. Henry Villiers. The Sliding Roof. My Sister-in-law at Lowndes Square. Mrs. Langtry. Mrs. Luke Wheeler. Mrs. Cornwallis West. Lord Ranelagh. The Good-looking men of the day. Boxing and my professional instructors. My Grandfather and the Prize Ring. I enter the City. Hume Webster. Baron Grant. Whittaker Wright. Dr. Strousburgh. Bob Bristowe's shooting party. Chapter IV _____ 47 My hunting box. The Pytchley Hounds. The Colonel's Birthday Present. Prince Metternich. Albert Muntz and Lord Willoughby de Broke. Bob Yerburgh. Chapter V---- ---55 My visit to Dinard. My Supposed Duel with Lord St. Leonards. I visit Hardwick. Mr. Barwick Baker. My Ad- venture at a Hunt Ball. Talking in Railway Carriages. Chapter VI - 62 Drumochter. My Guests and the Furniture. Caroline Duchess of Montrose and Captain Machell. The Black Hare and a Narrow Escape. Chapter VII - ______ 70 London Hostesses. I mistake my host for the butler. Lady Salisbury. Lady Marion Alford. Lady Goldsmid's Musical Evenings. Tranby Croft and the Wilsons. My Experiences in the Train with Lord Portarlington. Lord Henry Vane-Tempest and Mr. Peel. The Origin of the Bachelors' Club. Chapter VIII -------- 81 Her Royal Highness Princess Mary Duchess of Teck and the Duke of Teck. I fall asleep after dinner. Chesterfield House. I forget my own name. London Entertaining and Entertain- ing in Country houses. Cards. Smoking among women. I stay at the wrong house in the country. I dine at the wrong house in London. Chapter IX 91 The Wimbledon Rifle Meeting. My Encounter with the " rudest woman in London." Ferdy Arkwright. I go to the most expensive hotel in London in order to economise. My uninvited guests. I entertain some friends to breakfast. 2065839 CONTENTS PAGE Chapter X 101 An Imaginary Supper Party. The Monkey and the Diamonds. A new way of speeding up Cabmen. My Drive from Netting Hill. A smash in Duke Street. The Duke of York's Steps. My Race in Piccadilly. Chapter XI 113 My unknown Estates. " The Family." Joe Aylesford. Pack- ington Hall. My Yacht. My First Marriage. Strange effect of Opium. Mr. Frank Platt. The Island of Samoa. The Family. Chapter XII - 124 Portman Square. The Ardlamont mystery. Mr. Monson. Extraordinary Case of Mistaken Identity. Chapter XIII - 129 Moneylenders I have known. A woman moneylender. An intricate deal. The ethics of moneylending. A man attempts to shoot me and then impersonates my brother in Australia. Chapter XIV -------- 140 My First Experience of a Racecourse. My house-party for Ascot. My Racing Stable at Letcombe. Mr. Lofler. Chapter XV -------- 162 Jockeys I have known. Chapter XVI 168 Evelyn Gardens. Death of my Nephew, Sir Egbert Sebright. Devizes Castle. Brighton. Fred Barrett. Berlin. Baron and Baroness James Bleichroder. Chapter XVII - - - 174 Wargrave Court. The Thames Conservancy. Highwaymen. A Burglary. Glenthorne. My Hack makes me walk home. Chapter XVIII ------- 184 My Narrow Escape in a Railway Carriage. My Driving Accident. Lady Florence Dixie and her Jaguar. Lady Florence's attempted Assassination. My Special Train. Chapter XIX 197 Society of To-day, Bohemian and otherwise. Smoking among Women. Skittles. Inspector Moser. I am taken for a burglar. My brother Guy is introduced to some Nurses on the Sands. Burglars in the Wine Cellar. Lord Aylesbury. Sir John Bennett. Hughie Drummond. Chapter XX 214 London Beggars. Chapter XXI 282 The Turf as an Institution. The Ethics of Gambling. The Drink Question. Blackmailers and Blackmailing. The British Court. King Edward. King Edward's Watch. Our Present Queen. Unconscious Humour in a Sermon. How to Keep Young. Prejudice the ruling spirit of the age. A GLANCE INTO THE PAST A Glance into the Past CHAPTER I My Boyhood. Death of my Father and Mother. Sir Hastings Yelverton. Miss Octavia Sebright. My School- days. My Brother Jack's Marriage. Montagu Loftus's Originality. IN writing my reminiscences I am doing what I have been repeatedly requested to do dur- ing the last twenty years. I have, however, postponed from time to time beginning the work, partly from sheer idleness, and partly be- cause I have always felt that I should be faced with the difficulty of so compiling the following pages that they might interest those who care to read them, and at the same time avoid hurting the feel- ings of people who are still living. Shakespeare has most truly said that " All the world's a stage and all the men and women merely players/' and 10 A GLANCE INTO THE PAST for me the curtain rang up on the 30th of March, 1859, at a house in Wilton Place that my father had taken for the season. My father, Sir Thomas Sebright, of Beechwood Park, Herts, and Besford Court, Worcester, mar- ried twice, his first wife being a Miss Hoffman, daughter of Captain Hoffman. By her he had two sons, Walter and John ; the former died before he reached the age of manhood; the latter lived to succeed to the title and estates as Sir John Sebright, afterwards referred to in these pages. My father married as his second wife a Miss Henry, daughter of Colonel Henry and Lady Emily Henry, who was before her marriage Lady Emily Fitzgerald, daughter of the Duke of Leins- ter. By this marriage my father had three sons, Edgar, Guy and myself, Edgar, my eldest brother, being the late Sir Edgar Sebright, who was for some time Equerry to Her Royal Highness Prin- cess Mary, Duchess of Teck. My brother Guy was formerly in the Coldstream Guards and is now Sir Guy Sebright. The early childhood of my brothers and myself was spent at Beechwood Park, Hertfordshire, which has been for generations and still is the family home of the Sebrights. Beechwood is a very A GLANCE INTO THE PAST 11 beautiful place, for which we all feel strong affec- tion. When I was six weeks old my mother died, so that practically I never had a mother. When I was only seven years old my father also died and I was left an orphan. At my father's death an aunt of mine, Miss Octavia Sebright, became our guardian, in con- junction with our uncle, Admiral Sir Hastings Yelverton, but the latter being in Command of the Mediterranean Fleet, our aunt being in reality our sole guardian, took upon her shoulders the entire care of my brothers and myself, and continued this care until her death some seven years later. Cer- tainly no woman ever showed a more noble and unselfish devotion to her nephews or a higher sense of duty than did this best of women. After my father's death we continued to live for some time at Beech wood, but the estates having passed at his death to my half brother, Jack, we eventually moved to London, my aunt having taken a lease of No. 34 Elvaston Place, Queen's Gate, which be- came our abode. Before proceeding with the events of my own life let me here say a few words concerning this particular locality in which we had come to settle. It may surprise many of the young people of to- 12 A GLANCE INTO THE PAST day to hear that in those days when my nursery governess used to take me for a walk down Elvaston Place into Gloucester Road, we used to cross that street and shortly afterwards get over a stile that led into a turnip field. A short distance from this in that part which is now occupied, I think, by Kensington Court, stood the premises of Messrs. Blackman, the horse dealers, who owned an open- air riding school, together with a large field in which were a number of fences used for the school- ing of hunters, and known as Blackman 's Hunting Grounds. At this establishment we boys first began to ride. The Albert Memorial was of course not yet built, and the present site of the Imperial Institute, the Natural History Museum, and the Albert Hall, was occupied by the Royal Horticul- tural Gardens. At the unusually early age of nine it was decided to send me to Eton, and to Eton accordingly I went, entering the house of Mr. John Hawtrey, affectionately known to thousands in this country as " Jack Hawtrey," and father of Charles Hawtrey, the well-known actor. I believe I am accurate in saying that I was the youngest boy who ever went to Eton. After I had been there about two years Mr. Hawtrey gave up his position as an A GLANCE INTO THE PAST 13 Eton Master and opened a first-class Preparatory School at Aldin House, Slough. I went with him, being, to the best of my recollection, the first boy who entered the doors of that famous establish- ment, the intention being that I should return to Eton at the age of fourteen. My particular friends at Eton were Hugh Lowther (now Lord Lonsdale), Lord Trafalgar, and Mr. Carter Wood. The latter had some re- markably pretty sisters, two of whom married two brothers, both of them great friends of mine, namely, Freddy Knollys and his brother Sip Knollys of the Scots Guards, who, poor fellow, died some years ago in consequence of an accident. Only four events have imprinted themselves on my memory in connection with my stay at Eton. The first was the famous fight between Tindal and Wake. The second was a fight between Hugh Lowther and a boy called Bury, due to the former's interference because he thought I was being bullied. The third event was this. Hugh Lowther was talking to me one day out of a bedroom window while I was standing in the playing field below. I began to pelt him with rotten apples, while he amused himself by dodging them as he bobbed his head up and down. After three or four 14 A GLANCE INTO THE PAST shots, none of which hit the target, I made a solemn vow that the next shot should be a bull's eye, but I was not aware that Mr. Hawtrey had in the meantime entered the dormitory and severely admonished Hugh Lowther ; so the next head that popped up at the window was not Hugh Lowther 's but the Rev. John's, and this time sure enough it was a bull's eye, for my rotten apple landed full on that much respected nose and burst like a high ex- plosive shell all over his face. Only those who knew dear old Jack Hawtrey and who remember the respectful awe with which we boys regarded that gentleman will realise the horror of my feel- ings at the moment. He, however, treated the mishap like the gentleman and sportsman he was. The remaining event that impressed itself on my memory and that may be said to have imprinted itself on me elsewhere, was the flogging of me by Dr. Durnford, whom Etonians will remember as Judy Durnford, for forcibly kissing the housemaid. As I was only ten years of age I considered the punishment rather superfluous. I must now return to Aldin House, Slough, where, as I have already remarked, I arrived on the opening day. I do not suppose that there ever was or ever will be a school where the boys were so well A GLANCE INTO THE PAST 15 cared for, so well fed, or received in every respect so much individual attention as they did at Aldin House. No school ever possessed a better tone, or took more pains to bring up the boys to be gentle- men in every sense of the word. About two years after my arrival at Hawtrey's, being a far more promising boy at games than at lessons, I got my Cricket Eleven Cap and became chief bowler. I never was a really good bat but was best known in that particular department of the game for very hard hitting. Among those who played with me in the Eleven at that time were that famous cricketer Lord Hawke, the Hon. Dan Finch, Billie Brownlow (the present Lord Lurgan), and Mr. Arthur Newton. I spent at Hawtrey's a thoroughly happy and healthy life, both in mind and body, and when I reached the age of fourteen it was decided, I do not exactly know why, to send me to Radley instead of back to Eton, so to Radley I went. Radley Col- lege was originally the family place of Sir George Bowyer, and the house and park were sold by the Bowyer family to the College authorities. It is situated only a few miles from Oxford. The natural surroundings of Radley are everything that could be wished for to make it a great school. It 16 A GLANCE INTO THE PAST always did, and I believe still does, turn out some very good oarsmen, and the Radley Eight is always a prominent feature at Henley Regatta. It also turned out an excellent Cricket Eleven, of which I became a member. There is also, or anyhow was, a very good cricket team of Old Radleians, called " The Radley Rangers," for whom I used to play after I left school. In spite of all this, all was not right with Radley. The principal cause of trouble was the Warden of that time, who was stern but unjust, morose with- out dignity, utterly tactless and unsympathetic, without any idea of how to gain the confidence either of the boys or of the Under Masters. There were also at that time certainly two other masters who were exact copies of himself. There was, how- ever, one master in particular who will always stand out as a real good fellow and who was loved by the whole school, namely, dear old Charlie Moore, and I shall always look back upon him with affection, and with him I must include Kitty Warton, the organist, who is I believe there to this day. There are also at Radley far too many chapel attendances, in fact on Saints' Days we boys were hardly ever out of chapel, so that we gradually came to regard the worship of God as a particularly tedious sort of A GLANCE INTO THE PAST 17 drill. This I am certain is a most hurtful and in- jurious system, resulting in the manufacture of a number of merely "professing" Christians and humbugs. The chapel at Radley is fine, contains a most ex- cellent organ with a particularly sweet vox humana stop, and came I believe originally from Cologne Cathedral, or at least so I have been told. My great friend and inseparable companion at Radley was Howard Vyse. We were practically always together and our great friendship lasted till his death some years later when he was leading his men into action a dearer better fellow never breathed. His sister married her cousin, Mr. Howard Vyse, of " The Blues," whom also I knew very well, and whose name is mentioned by me in these pages in connection with a rather amusing experience of mine. While I was at Radley I suffered one of the most painful personal bereavements of my life, namely, the loss of my aunt and guardian, Miss Sebright. Well do I remember the arrival of the telegram re- calling me to London. She died at Elvaston Place and was buried in the family vault at Flamp- stead Church in Hertfordshire. I was so young when I lost my parents that I have no recollection 18 A GLANCE INTO THE PAST whatever of my mother and only a very faint recol- lection of my father. Consequently the two sacred words mother and father had for me no meaning whatever. I forgot to mention that not long after the death of my father and our removal with my aunt from Beech wood to Elvaston Place, my brother Jack married the Hon. Olivia Fitzpatrick, the youngest daughter of Lord Castletown, an ex- tremely clever and fascinating though rather eccentric woman, afterwards well known in London Society as Lady Sebright. During our residence at Elvaston Place I used often to see Montagu Loftus, the youngest son of Lord Loftus, at that time British Ambassador in St. Petersburg. He lived quite close to us in Queen's Gate. He might be best described as "original," and his originality was perhaps most strangely exhibited in his peculiar manner of deal- ing with his personal luggage. I remember one day he had just arrived from abroad and I was sit- ting with him in his bedroom ; when he had finished unpacking three large leather portmanteaux I found that he had a most effectual method of sav- ing both time and labour, for he simply threw them out of the window, whence by good luck they fell as they were intended into the area. A GLANCE INTO THE PAST 19 I remember one foggy winter's night I was sitting with him and he was showing me an enormous Russian or Turkish sabre. I remarked that I should not like anybody to attack me with it. 66 No," he replied, " nor would anybody else. Just notice." He seized the weapon, ruffled his hair all up on end, and then opened the street door. There was in the street only one person, a man carrying a box on his head and walking toward us in the mist. Monty Loftus charged at him brandishing the sabre over his head, at the same time giving vent to a series of the most diabolical shrieks. The man stood for a moment as if petrified, then believing no doubt that he was in the presence of a homicidal maniac, he dropped the box off his head with a crash, fled at full speed and vanished in the mist. CHAPTER II I leave Radley and go to a Tutor's. Hunting in a London Hotel. My first deal in horses. Tom Dickinson. I am launched in London. WHEN I left Radley, the house in Elvaston Place having been sold, my two brothers and myself took up our abode at the South Kensington Hotel in Queen's Gate Place. About this time my brother Guy entered the Army and left to join his Regiment, and as it had been decided that I was to go into the Guards I was sent to the Rev. Mr. Hutchinson, Pitstone Vicarage, near Tring, who was to act as my Army crammer. I must here give some account of Mr. Hutchinson, who was to have the doubtful pleasure of instructing and ruling over myself and three or four other particularly unruly young gentlemen, varying in age from seventeen to twenty. Mr. Hutchinson was in appearance rather A GLANCE INTO THE PAST 21 short, with a round, beaming and kindly face, and a nature that was far too pliant and far too con- fiding for his job. I am sorry to say that we all took more or less advantage of him. My fellow workers or rather non-workers at Pitstone were Lord Henry Paulet (the present Marquess of Winchester), Mr. Napier, Mr. George Marsh, and Tom Dickinson, and I have no hesitation in saying that we contrived to combine the maximum of sport with the minimum of work. My life at this period consisted of hunting, shooting, ratting, dances, and in the winter Hunt balls, and excur- sions from time to time to London with a little spasmodic work occasionally for the sake of appear- ances. In addition to this I also kept a pack of dwarf harriers and a couple of horses in the neigh- bouring village in order to assist my military studies. I must at this point give my readers a short account of my hounds and of their arrival at Pit- stone Vicarage. I had been for some time before I left Radley quietly collecting them, although I was not quite clear in my mind at that time where and when I should ever be able to use them. How- ever, when it was decided that I should go to Pit- stone I telegraphed from the South Kensington 22 A GLANCE INTO THE PAST Hotel, where I was living, and ordered them to be sent up to me the day before my departure for that peaceful spot. They arrived safely at Padding- ton Station, but by a much later train than I had intended, and were met by myself. They were as wild as hawks, and from their general demeanour I had grave misgivings about their respectability and future conduct. It was not long before I realised that my misgivings were well-founded. Strangely enough it had never occurred to me that I had no place in London for a pack of hounds, especially at that hour of the night ; however, even at that age, I was not going to be stopped by trifles, so I packed them into three four-wheeled cabs and decided to take them to the South Kensington Hotel, although I was not quite clear in my mind as to what I was going to do with them when I got there. I travelled in the first cab with a portion of the pack, the remainder following behind in the other cabs. We duly arrived at the hotel, the drivers of the other cabs informing me on our arrival that their portions of the pack had fought throughout the whole of the journey. Nothing daunted, how- ever, I threw open the cab doors, and airing all the hound language of which I was possessed, I boldly marched into the hotel at 11.30 p.m. surrounded A GLANCE INTO THE PAST 23 by ten couple of hounds. All might even then have gone well but for the unfortunate circum- stance that the hotel cat was at that moment sitting in the hall pondering over the various pleasures and disappointments of life. One look was enough for her and up the grand staircase of the hotel she fled like greased lightning with the entire pack in pur- suit ; the pace was hot and the cat chose as a line all the principal bedroom corridors of the hotel, which was crowded at the time. I have always loved the music of a pack of hounds in full cry, but for some little time after that night I could hardly think of it without a shudder. No words of mine can describe the scene in the corridors of the hotel furious men and women standing at their bedroom doors in their night attire, all endeavouring to out- strip one another in their abuse of my unfortunate self. One furious and extremely stout old gentle- man approached me in a threatening attitude ex- claiming " Damn it, sir, this is scandalous, it's an outrage. I will leave the hotel first thing in the morning," etc., etc. By this time, however, I was past the worried stage and was in a boiling rage with the hounds, the people in the hotel, and every- thing else. I yelled at him, " Damn it, sir, you don't suppose I hunt hotel cats for choice." By 24 A GLANCE INTO THE PAST this time the cat had safely gone to ground some- where or other and I was informed by a friendly Boots with sporting instincts that the pack had worked their way down into the hall again and were invading the bar, and there sure enough I found them. With the help of my friend the Boots I took them down into the area, and there, having divided them into two lots, we locked them up in two coal holes, where, after we had given them all some water, we left them to do whatever they jolly well liked, which I presume they did, as they howled the greater part of the night, besides in- dulging in occasional fights to vary the monotony. The following morning, having possessed myself of a hunting whip, some couples and some leads, I got them under proper control and took them to Pitstone, where we arrived without adventure. On my arrival there I was warmly welcomed by Mr. and Mrs. Hutchinson, and casually remarked that my hounds were on the road. " Hounds, my boy," remarked the worthy gentleman; "do you mean to tell me you have brought a pack of hounds? " " Yes, sir," I replied. We eventually agreed that I should hunt them two days a week on the understanding that I did extra work on two other days in order to adjust the balance. A GLANCE INTO THE PAST 25 Shortly after this I bought from a sporting farmer in the locality two horses, a bay and a brown. The latter was a good hunter, but the former was not, and I soon afterwards managed to get rid of him in the following manner. I was hacking him one morning into the neighbouring town of Tring, when I saw a sporting doctor whom I knew by sight riding toward me on a particularly good looking and sporting grey horse. I pulled up and got into conversation with him. I saw that he admired my horse very much, and to make a long story short we there and then exchanged, he riding off on my horse and I on his, and I may remark that there never was a shadow of a doubt about who had the best of the bargain. I named this horse Katerfelto and rode him frequently with my own harriers, the Hertfordshire hounds, the Old Berkeley, and with Lord Fitzhardinge in Gloucestershire . This may be said to be the point at which I began my sporting career. Tom Dickinson, to whom I have already referred as being one of my fellow pupils at Pitstone Vicarage, was quite a character, short in stature, high shouldered, with a bullet head and close-cropped hair. He lived only for ratting with ferrets. His bosom friend and inseparable 26 A GLANCE INTO THE PAST companion was a man called Tom Paradine, the village rat-catcher, who must have made quite a good profit by selling him a varied assortment of mongrel curs and ferrets, of which he had abund- ance. One day when we boys were sitting at tea with Mr. and Mrs. Hutchinson, the former looked across the table at me and said, "It is most re- markable, Sebright, how the rats have increased on these premises lately." I agreed that there cer- tainly was quite a fine show, but I could offer no explanation of such a strange phenomenon. I thought at the time that I could see a peculiar ex- pression in Tom Dickinson's eye. Sure enough after tea that young gentleman informed me that three months before he had turned down fifty rats purchased from his dear friend, Tom Paradine, in the stables and outhouses of the reverend gentle- man, " just for breeding stock " as he called it. Tom Dickinson was the owner of a wonderful bay mare who could jump almost anything and was as game as a pebble ; she was however a very hot ride at the best of times, and although her owner was a very moderate horseman, he could ride this par- ticular animal as no other man could. I borrowed her from him one day and rode her over to Tring Station. Nothing in particular happened till on A GLANCE INTO THE PAST 27 the way home, just as we arrived at the cross roads in the village of Stocks. She suddenly made a clean bolt of it; she went straight through the village, past the Lodge gates of Stocks (once the residence of Mrs. Humphrey Ward, but then the residence of Mr. Bright), when, unfortunately, out from a narrow lane on the right hand side of the road there suddenly appeared a travelling pedlar driving a pony and cart. She did not however waste time over trifles, and treating it as if she had been in the habit of jumping ponies and carts all her life, she cleared the lot. Fortunately there was in front of us a very steep hill, up which I started to push her for all she was worth, and by the time she got to the top I succeeded in stopping her. This was the only animal in my life who really took complete charge of me, although many of them have got away with me for a short burst of two hundred yards or so. While I remained at Pitstone I hunted with my own harriers, Mr. Selby Lowndes' hounds, the Hertfordshire hounds, the Old Berkeley, and once or twice with Baron Rothschild's stag hounds. The last named, however, is a form of sport (if you can call it a sport at all) that does not appeal to me. The whole thing is too tame and too " cut and 28 A GLANCE INTO THE PAST dried," and on the rare occasions when I have been out hunting the tame stag I have never quite felt that I was hunting at all. I also did a good deal of shooting at this time, especially with Lord Brown- low at Ashridge. The time had now come for me to pass my examination for the Army. I accordingly went to London and presented myself at Burlington House for that purpose, but as I had done practically no real work while I was at Pitstone, it was not sur- prising that I failed in my examination. It was decided, or rather to be correct I decided, for I had now quite kicked over the traces, that all idea of the Army should be dropped, with the result that at the age of nineteen I found myself in the posi- tion of a gentleman at large about town looking about five years older than I was, and although still a minor, yet able to borrow money repayable on my coming of age, every shilling of which I repaid immediately after my twenty-first birthday. I may mention that there existed in those days amongst gentlemen a much higher code of honour on those matters than exists to-day, and any young man who repudiated a debt on the grounds that it was incurred by him during his minority, whether for goods supplied or for money borrowed, no A GLANCE INTO THE PAST 29 matter whether it came from a moneylender or anyone else, was looked upon as an absolute black- guard and classed on a level with a man who cheated at cards. Two facts connected with this period of my life were real misfortunes for me ; one was that I looked much older than I really was, and was consequently treated as a man, though I was in reality only a boy and should have been so treated, especially by women. The other was the deplorable fact that I had no sister. One of the greatest regrets of my life is that I never had one, and I should not like to say what sum of money I would not have given to possess a really nice sister whom I could have taken about and petted and spoilt, and who could have been my constant companion, confidant, and friend. Another great advantage that a man de- rives from having a sister or sisters is the fact that he is better able to weigh women in the balance and to appreciate their real place in the world. I began my career by regarding every woman and girl as a sort of mysterious deity, but later in my life came a time when I honestly and truly believed that such a thing as a good and virtuous woman did not exist. My brother Guy being now in the Coldstream Guards, my brother Edgar and myself decided to 30 A GLANCE INTO THE PAST set up a bachelor establishment in Mount Street, Grosvenor Square, which became our home for some years. From this point in my career I found myself launched into London Society as a man of the world. CHAPTER III The Canterbury Music Hall. Henry Villiers. The Sliding Roof. My Sister-in-law at Lowndes Square. Mrs. Langtry. Mrs. Luke Wheeler. Mrs. Cornwallis West. Lord Ranelagh. The Good-looking men of the day. Boxing and my professional instructors. My Grandfather and the Prize Ring. I enter the City. Hume Webster. Baron Grant. Whittaker Wright. Dr. Strousburgh. Bob Bristowe's shooting party. MY time in London was spent in very much the same way as that of other young men of my position. In the morning I generally rode in the Row, which was then the universal dress parade of London Society. In the afternoon I paid calls ; in the evening there was an endless round of dinners, theatres, the Opera, receptions, and balls, and occasionally a Music Hall. The latter, however, is a form of entertainment that has always rather bored me ; there was however in London one Music 3* 32 A GLANCE INTO THE PAST Hall to which I used, like many men of my acquaintance, to go very frequently. The Canter- bury was in those days run by Mr. Henry Villiers, who afterwards became the lessee of the London Pavilion, and he had managed to get together under its hospitable roof some very charming variety artistes, among whom may be mentioned Nellie Power, Phyllis Broughton (whom I remem- ber as a little girl dancing a hornpipe in sailor's clothes), Ada Wilson, who afterwards married Gordon in "The Blues," and her sister Lizzie Wilson, who married young Cooke, son of Lord Leicester, all of them very charming and attrac- tive girls. There was also a very beautiful Russian girl, whose name I cannot remember. Talking of the hospitable roof of the Canterbury reminds me of an incident that occurred one night when I was there. Mr. Villiers had recently intro- duced a new feature into the building, namely, a sliding roof, which enabled the management by some mechanical contrivance or other to cause the roof to slide back, leaving the whole of the centre of the house open to the sky. Of this innovation he was extremely proud, and it had been most ex- tensively advertised all over London. It was a hot A GLANCE INTO THE PAST 33 and stifling summer night, and to the comfort and delight of a packed house the roof gracefully slid back without a hitch. I can see Henry Villiers now in my mind, immaculately dressed, with a white waistcoat, a white gardenia in his buttonhole, and his face beaming with pride and self-satisfac- tion. But unfortunately this roseate condition of things did not last long, for about fifteen minutes later a violent thunderstorm burst over London. The sliding roof positively declined to slide and no power on earth could get it back again, so that tor- rents of rain poured into the stalls, the occupants of which beat a hasty retreat, with the exception of two or three men who facetiously retained their seats with their umbrellas up. I have often won- dered whether Henry Villiers is still in the land of the living ; he was a courteous and kindly man and an ideal manager of Variety entertainments. My brother Jack had now been married for some years, and their town house was at 27 Lowndes Square, their time being spent partly there and partly at Beech wood. My sister-in-law had no claims to beauty, but in spite of that fact she was one of the most fascinating women in London, ex- tremely clever, and a centre of attraction in 34 A GLANCE INTO THE PAST Society. She also possessed that most delightful gift, a lovely speaking voice. Her tastes were rather inclined to be Bohemian, and unfortunately she was a born gambler, with disastrous effect on my brother's fortune, he being a very weak and over-indulgent husband. At my brother's house in Lowndes Square Mrs. Langtry first made her bow to London Society, and first met the late King Edward. I well remember the late Lord Ranelagh asking my sister-in-law one night at dinner whether she would send an invitation for a reception that she was about to hold to a friend of his who he said came from Jersey, was very beautiful, and whose name was Mrs. Langtry. There were at that time in London Society three ladies who gave rise to the title "professional beauties," namely, Mrs. Lang- try, Mrs. Luke Wheeler, and Mrs. Cornwallis West. I knew them all three well, and the first two intimately. Speaking of Lord Ranelagh reminds me of a rather amusing incident. Although very advanced in years he could never realise that he was an old man ; he was always dressed in the height of fashion, and was frequently to be seen in public with the most youthful and not always most refined mem- A GLANCE INTO THE PAST 35 bers of the Corps de Ballet. I was standing one day on the platform of Waterloo Station when my attention was drawn to the fact that the people on the platform were all convulsed with laughter, and all staring upward in the direction of the steps, which in those days used to lead from the bridge above to the platform below. On looking in that direction I saw a queer group old Lord Ranelagh, with his glossy top hat tilted on one side at a jaunty angle, a large flower in his buttonhole, and a look of conscious pride on his face, descending the steps to the platform, while two young ladies, or perhaps I ought to say two young persons of the usual class whom he was escorting, were walking behind him in step, each of them with her two hands raised, her thumbs to her nose and the fingers of both hands extended behind poor old Ranelagh 's head, in the attitude that used to be known to schoolboys as " cocking snooks." Besides "professional beauties" there were in those days a certain number of men who were famous for their extraordinary good looks, although of different types, of whom the best known were Charlie Buller, Ralph Vivian, Jack Stracey, Jim Duncombe, and Lord Rossmore (all in the 36 A GLANCE INTO THE PAST Guards), also Adrian Hope, Lord Battersea, Beauty Blunt, and Con way the actor. All these men were strikingly handsome in their own styles. I think, however, that taking all things into con- sideration poor old Charlie Buller was the hand- somest man I have ever seen in my life, and that was the opinion of ninety-eight men and women out of every hundred in London. He was in fact almost too good-looking for a man of medium height, a magnificent figure of a man, possessed of great strength, and the finest amateur boxer in England, in fact there were probably not more than three professionals who would have stood any chance of beating him. The great world's champion, Jim Mace, was of that opinion, for he told me so one day when I was boxing with him at Brighton. Charlie Buller had wavy dark chestnut hair, perfectly chiselled features, perfect teeth, and beautiful blue eyes with long dark curling lashes in fact, he was, as I have already remarked, much too good-looking. He was also a very good cricketer and a fine racquet player. One of his favourite amusements was breaking pokers across his arm. Poor Charlie, perhaps he never showed to greater advantage than when standing bare- A GLANCE INTO THE PAST 37 headed in his long white coat in the racquet courts at Prince's. I have seen him on those occasions walk out into the cricket ground there on match days just to see how the game was going and have seen the women gaze in astonishment at the appari- tion with an admiration that they could not even pretend to hide. Talking of boxing reminds me that I used often to box in those days and was desperately keen. I had an empty room on the top floor at Mount Street set apart for the purpose. By the advice of Charlie Buller I began with young Reid as my first profes- sional instructor, and later on, also by his advice, I went to Batt Mullens, and also occasionally to Ned Donelly ; afterwards I used to spar with the great Jim Mace himself. I have no hesitation in saying that Batt Mullens was the most perfect judge of distance I ever saw, and I have both seen and sparred with very many. I am sometimes asked who I consider was the greatest fighter of my time and I have no hesitation in saying that Peter Jack- son was the flower of the flock. He was a coloured man with a great white heart, a fine character, uni- versally respected by every man and woman of all classes who ever knew him. 38 A GLANCE INTO THE PAST I think I must have inherited my great love of fighting and sport generally from my grandfather, Sir John Sebright, who was one of the chief sup- porters of Tom Cribb and of the Prize Ring in general, as well as of hunting and other sports. At one time when he was High Sheriff of Hertford- shire he brought off a great fight in the park at Beechwood. It was either Tom Cribb v. Horton, Dutch Sam v. Cropley, or else Gulley v. Gregson I am not quite sure which. Talking of Gulley reminds me that he afterwards became a book- maker and finally Member of Parliament for Ponte- fract, being put up by my grandfather. My grandfather was amongst other things recog- nised as one of the greatest authorities in the world on hawks and hawking. He also founded the well- known breed of Sebright Bantams. I fully believe in teaching boys to box. I am certain that it teaches them to keep their temper and have always found that the knowledge that you can box and that you possess a real big punch keeps you out of a lot of rows instead of drawing you into them ; while on the other hand, if you are dragged into a row against your will, you know what is necessary to protect yourself and others. A GLANCE INTO THE PAST 39 My sister-in-law, Lady Sebright, became bitten with a taste for speculation on the Stock Exchange, and among her friends was a Mr. Hume Webster, the senior partner in the firm of Webster, Hoare and Co., a firm of private bankers and financiers in Abchurch Lane. I entered the business and re- mained in it for about eighteen months. After this I joined a well-known firm on the Stock Exchange, Messrs. Swabe, Ransford and Schiff, on what is known as the half commission business. Talking of Mr. Hume Webster, he was quite as well known on the Turf as in the world of Finance, owing to the fact that he founded at his place, Marden Park, in Surrey, a breeding stud of considerable import- ance. The annual yearling sale at that establish- ment became one of the regular features of the flat-racing season. Hume Webster came to a tragic end ; having got into financial difficulties in the City he went down to Marden Park as usual for the week-end, and on Sunday, after inspecting his Stud and quite quietly and unconcernedly giving instructions to his gardener, he strolled up the park into a wood and there shot himself. His wife was a charming woman and a great friend of mine. I have in my 40 A GLANCE INTO THE PAST time known and had to do with many of the financiers who have been unusually prominent and filled the public eye. Among these were Baron Grant, Dr. Strousburgh, and Whittaker Wright. Baron Grant somehow or other never impressed me as a great financier, or even as a particularly clever man. I used to see him fairly frequently at Abchurch Lane, for he was very intimate with Hume Webster and they had considerable business relations. I was far too young and inexperienced to form any judgment whatever about the real nature of Baron Grant's financial operations, but he incurred a considerable amount of abuse and some wag on the Stock Exchange posted up the following verse : Kings may give titles, Titles don't give honour, Titles without honour Are but a " Baron Grant." Dr. Strousburgh was a German Jew and a man of very great ability. His financial operations in Germany, Turkey, Russia and else where in Europe, were enormous and mostly successful. He resided in Berlin in a large house which is now the British Embassy. He amassed an immense fortune, but unfortunately for him while in Russia, where he A GLANCE INTO THE PAST 41 was endeavouring to collect a very large sum of money owing to him by the Government of that country, he was arrested and imprisoned in a fortress. Bismarck made several demands for his release, and although it is not generally known it is none the less a fact that the question of his release at last became so acute as nearly to cause war between the two Empires. He eventually regained his liberty but was never paid the money, and I believe finally died a comparatively poor man. Lord Loftus, British Ambassador at Berlin, told me many interesting stories about Dr. Strousburgh. For some time in Berlin Society he became almost the sole topic of conversation ; this grew at last so tedious that an anti-Strousburgh Society was formed, every member of which consented to be fined a certain sum if he mentioned him at dinner. For my own part I liked him and he had a strong and interesting personality. Whittaker Wright I saw frequently at one time, and was to a great extent the means of his starting in business in London. When I first met him at the office of my solicitor he was a poor man, but I came to the conclusion that he was a man of very considerable ability. I arranged a plan by which I was successful in raising 10,000 for him to start business in the City. He was in many ways a most remarkable man ; he possessed a wonderfully clear brain, a strong masterful will, and was quite unable even then to think in anything less than millions. To his mind to wish for a thing and to possess it, or to desire that such and such a thing should be done and to have it done, were one and the same thing. He must have spent a fortune at his place, Lee Park, in Surrey, on its winter garden and its billiard room under the lake, with its roof of glass where you can see the fish swimming about over your head. I used to dine with him pretty frequently at his house in London and used to gasp with astonish- ment at his habits on those occasions. He used to have a quart bottle of champagne and a quart bottle of port placed in front of him ; he would drink them one after the other, placing them when empty on the flodr under his chair. Then when the ladies got up and left the room he would pull his chair up to the table and embark on a large number of liqueurs. Then afterwards, in the billiard room, he would make a start on brandies and soda. He would in the meantime smoke a number of large cigars. The strange thing about it all was that I have never in my life seen him otherwise than perfectly sober in A GLANCE INTO THE PAST 43 the strictest sense of the word, nor have I been able to find anybody else who had. In addition to all this he took no exercise and would never walk a yard if he could help it. I well remember one day I met him at the top of the Row as he was about to leave the Park. He came up to me and asked me to dine with him that night, remarking at the same time, " I hope you will not mind my turning you out early as I have got some work to do." I replied that I did not mind at all. We dined tete-a-tete ; during dinner and afterwards he consumed his usual amount of wine, liqueurs, etc. After dinner we played billiards till three o'clock in the morning, when he remarked " I am sorry, old chap, but I am afraid I must turn you out now as I have got to draw the prospectus of the Abaris Corporation! *' Poor Whittaker Wright, he also came to a tragic end ; criminal proceedings were taken against him in connection with some financial misconduct, either real or imaginary, and he contrived to poison himself immediately after hearing the verdict and sentence. I know nothing whatever of the facts of the case that was put forward by the prosecution ; nor do I know whether he was guilty or inno- 44 A GLANCE INTO THE PAST cent. The fact of his having been found guilty in a highly intricate financial case of that description by a Jury that had to deal with matter which could be understood only with the greatest difficulty by men whose minds and brains had been trained for years in that particular direction, conveys nothing what- ever to my mind one way or the other. There is something, however, that I do know, and that dis- gusts me beyond measure, and that is that many men in the City as well as the West End who never had a shilling and others who had precious little until they knew Whittaker Wright, and who owe their fortunes to him, are to-day among his fiercest detractors and are loudest in abusing him. Some of these men ought to be well kicked. However, no sane man of the world with any knowledge of life would ever dream of expecting anything else. Before quitting the subject of the City and City people, I find myself wondering how many of my readers will remember a strange character named Bob Bristowe, who was formerly on the Stock Exchange. A cheery and breezy man, he was in the habit of doing himself well, or it might be said that on many occasions he did himself ' ' not wisely but too well." Among other pursuits he was very A GLANCE INTO THE PAST 45 fond of shooting, and on a certain memorable occa- sion he invited a number of his friends to shoot with him at his place somewhere (I think) in the county of Kent. A portion of the ground over which they were to shoot was surrounded by a high wall and was I believe a kind of park of considerable extent. The day before the shooting party was to take place he procured, through the agency of Mr. Jamrach, the famous dealer in wild animals, a collection of livestock containing, to the best of my recollection, a jaguar, two or three leopards, several wild boars, etc. These he had transported overnight to the scene of the next day's sport, and turned down in a large wood within the enclosure above mentioned. All the friends whom he had invited to join him were more or less hard drinkers. The following morning, when the guns had been placed at their various posts, the beaters began to drive the wood, when to the astonishment and horror of his friends who had retired to rest only in the early hours of the morning, after an unusually thick night, they saw approaching them the wild animals I have just described. They did not wait for any enquiry but one and all made tracks for home at full speed. This exploit was the cause of 46 A GLANCE INTO THE PAST considerable trouble in the locality, as well it might be. After a while I got thoroughly tired of the City and turned my back upon it with the keenest de- light, and can honestly say that I have not for one single moment regretted my departure. CHAPTER IV My hunting box. The Pytchley Hounds. The Colonel's Birthday Present. Prince Metternich. Albert Muntz and Lord Willoughby de Broke. Bob Yerburgh. HUNTING now more than ever engaged my attention, and I decided to take a hunting box at Rugby, together with my friend, Mr. Robert Yerburgh, afterwards M.P. for Chester, and President of the Navy League. Bob Yerburgh was one of the smartest men in London, and to see him dressing on a hunting morning was quite a study in charac- ter. He was, however, one of the boldest and hardest men to hounds I have ever seen, in fact nothing, however big, would stop him. We were joined shortly afterwards by Count Metternich (afterwards Prince Metternich) and Mr. Jerwyn Jones, of Pantglass. The latter was a good horse- man and a good man to hounds. Metternich was 47 48 A GLANCE INTO THE PAST not a good horseman, but he was a charming com- panion, and eventually became Austrian Ambas- sador in London. I think that perhaps all things considered I never had a better time during my bachelor life than at Rugby. What could one want more? Four bachelor friends who all got on well together, plenty of the best horses in England to ride (I myself had twelve), perfect health and strength, the Pytchley and North Warwickshire hounds to hunt with, and a neighbourhood with plenty of nice people, among them my cousin Sir Reynold Knightley (after- wards Lord Knightley) at Fausley, the Towns- hends at Coton House, and Mrs. Arnold Crossley and her pretty sister, Mrs. Charlie Cadogan, at Springhill. The latter lady was a great friend of mine and frequently rode my horses. Naturally in the Pytchley country there were many really good men to hounds, among whom I must mention Bob Yerburgh, Jerwyn Jones, Captain Ridell (well known as Puggy Ridell), who was not only a hard man to hounds but also a very fine horseman with beautiful hands, Mr. Gillpin (the well-known gentleman jockey), Jerry Dalgleish, and occasion- ally Bay Middleton, well-known as the intimate friend and pilot in the hunting field of the late A GLANCE INTO THE PAST 49 Empress Elizabeth of Austria. I must not, how- ever, forget to mention another very hard man to hounds, namely, Mr. Albert Muntz, a heavy man and not a finished horseman. He was always splendidly mounted, went very hard, and gave very high prices for his horses, as he could well afford, and it took something very much out of the ordinary to stop him. He had however one pecu- liarity, which was that in no circumstances what- ever, even though he might have been left at the start, would he ever admit that any good run could possibly take place without his being either abso- lutely first up at the finish, or at all events among the first three or four. This habit of course was well-known to everybody and became a sort of standing joke, for instance the following amusing incident. The Pytchley had a very good run from Crick Gorse, in which Albert Muntz took part. The following morning he wired to Lord Willoughby de Broke : " Splendid day, eight mile point, very fast, only three in it," whereupon Lord Willoughby de Broke wired back " Who were the other two? " The harmony of our existence was somewhat dis- turbed for a while by the arrival of a certain Colonel in the Guards, who asked leave to join our party 4 50 A GLANCE INTO THE PAST and who succeeded in making himself decidedly unpopular. The circumstances which ultimately led to his departure were as follows : Bob Yerburgh and myself had invited Mrs. Arnold Crossley and Mrs. Charlie Cadogan to dinner, when we dis- covered by chance that the Colonel's birthday fell on the same day. On the morning of that day, as there was a hard frost and no hunting, Bob and I strolled up to the stables to inspect our horses. On our way back through the town we noticed in the window of a small shop an immense pair of red flannel stays. We stood for a moment gazing at them in awestruck silence and then, in the words of the poet, it was a case of " Two minds with but a single thought," and we both exclaimed " A birthday present for the Colonel." Into the shop we went, and to the astonishment of the young lady behind the counter we purchased the stays, and having had them care- fully packed in a box with several sheets of tissue paper and a layer of cotton wool, we had it addressed to Colonel , marked outside " This side up, with care," and returned home well pleased with our bargain. The box was handed to Yerburgh's valet, or my valet, I forget which, with orders to bring it into the dining room and hand it A GLANCE INTO THE PAST 51 to Colonel directly the soup was on the table. That evening, when our guests and our- selves had sat down to dinner, the parcel was duly brought into the room and handed to Colonel , who remarked : " Ah, a birthday present for me, and by the way it is packed it ought to be something worth having." His interest increased as he removed layer after layer of tissue paper. At last out rolled our birthday present. Naturally everybody at the table roared with laughter, but in- stead of taking the joke in good part he lost his temper and flung them into the fire, where they gave out a terrible smell, whereupon Bob Yer- burgh, rising from his seat, went to the fireplace and picking up the tongs seized the stays and started to carry them toward the door, but was in- tercepted by Colonel , and a violent struggle began for the possession of the tongs. Both men had now lost their tempers, especially the Colonel. The ladies in the meantime were in a state of alarm, not having supposed for one moment that we should include an impromptu fight in the evening's entertainment. I jumped up and forcibly separated them, but not before a portion of the flaming stays had parted with the tongs and found a final resting place in the soup tureen, which was 52 A GLANCE INTO THE PAST the most annoying part of the whole business, as we had at that time a remarkably good cook. The next morning we held a council of war and decided unanimously to ask Colonel , who had so long disturbed the harmony of our peaceful abode, to pack up and go, which he did. Just before our second season at Rugby, Jerwyn Jones decided to go abroad for the winter and very kindly lent me for the season the whole of his stud, which included some of the best hunters in Eng- land. All of them had been bought from the famous Bob Chapman at top prices, among them a famous horse called Harkaway, with which he had won a big steeplechase at Aylesbury. Conse- quently, as I already had twelve nailing good horses of my own I had the time of my life as far as hunt- ing was concerned. At about this time, finding myself in London on a Monday morning, I strolled into Tattersall's to witness the dispersal by auction of the Stud of Billie Markham, at that time well-known with the Quorn and Cottesmore Hounds. As I entered the Yard one of his horses was being led up for sale. He was a great blood horse, over sixteen hands high (called Shackabac), and yet up to a good deal of weight. He had all the appearance of a Grand A GLANCE INTO THE PAST 53 National winner. I fully expected that he would fetch a very high price, but began to bid for him, and to my intense astonishment he was knocked down to me for a sum of 60 the smalmess of which caused me considerable suspicion. I could not, however, find anything wrong with him and sent him to Rugby. I was not long in discovering the reason for which I had been able to buy him so cheaply. I had in my service at that time a very famous rough-rider, named Tom Warr, who was known all over Leicestershire, so I told him to ride the horse and see what it was made of. I did not hunt myself that day, but in the evening I sent for Warr to report to me generally on the horse's be- haviour. He informed me with a grin on his face that the first thing the horse did in Rugby was to enter a linendraper's shop, in spite of all his endeavours to prevent it. He afterwards charged a brick wall with his head, but eventually Warr managed, after various adventures, to get him to the Meet. When the hounds ran the horse at first behaved splendidly; he jumped everything, no matter how big, in his stride, and nothing in the whole field could catch him. He then suddenly, for no apparent reason, ran away in the opposite direction for three miles. In spite of the horse's 54 A GLANCE INTO THE PAST misdeeds Jerwyn Jones was so taken with him that he asked me whether I would sell him, as he was going to have a day with the Windsor Drag. I accordingly sold him the horse for 10, and he took him with him to Windsor. Three days afterwards I went to London, and in the afternoon called upon Jerwyn Jones in Charles Street, Berkeley Square. On my arrival his valet told me that his master was laid up, and on being shown into his bedroom I found my unfortunate friend in bed with two broken ribs and a broken leg, which he informed me had been caused by his recent purchase running away with him through a big wood and jumping into a chalk pit, where he had broken his own neck. CHAPTER V My visit to Dinard. My Supposed Duel with Lord St. Leonards. I visit Hardwick. Mr. Barwick Baker. My Adventure at a Hunt Ball. Talking in Railway Carriages. I following August at the close of the London season Bob Yerburgh and I decided to go for a trip to Dinard, where there was at that time quite a consider- able English colony, besides a large number of English visitors who had gone over there for the season. In the course of this visit a certain incident occurred that was much talked about at the time and eventually got into the papers. I refer to my duel, or rather my supposed duel, with Lord St. Leonards, for as a matter of fact it never took place. As the story has been frequently misrepresented I take this opportunity of stating exactly what did, as well as what did not happen. $5 56 A GLANCE INTO THE PAST Lord St. Leonards had a most violent and un- governable temper. In Lady St. Leonards he also had a most attractive and charming wife, of whom he was so madly jealous that his jealousy amounted to a positive mania, being exhibited toward every man who even spoke to or danced with her. Lady St. Leonards was a friend of mine and a frequent dancing partner at balls in London. Shortly after our arrival at Dinard Bob Yerburgh and myself, together with two or three other men, decided to give a ball at the Casino, and Lord and Lady St. Leonards being at Dinard at the time were invited as a matter of course. I danced two or three times with Lady St. Leonards, and while we were in the middle of a waltz Lord St. Leonards suddenly plunged through the crowded room, seized his wife roughly by the arm and began to heap at the top of his voice the most objectionable epithets upon her and upon myself. Naturally all dancing stopped and we became the centre of a horrified crowd. I stood between Lord St. Leonards and his wife and invited the former to follow me into the garden of the Casino, which he did, together with Bob Yerburgh, the Hon. Hubert Duncombe, and I think Colonel Hamilton. I there and then demanded from him a full apology in writing, both A GLANCE INTO THE PAST 57 to Lady St. Leonards and to myself, which he refused to give, with the result that on the follow- ing morning I sent him by hand a challenge, stating at the same time that if he refused to meet me I would publicly thrash him in the Casino. He accepted my challenge, and a duel was arranged, the place of meeting to be an island near the coast and the weapons to be pistols. Lord St. Leonards, however, thought better of it and sent me a letter of apology which I agreed to accept. As it has sometimes been suggested that it was I who climbed down (at least so I have heard) I may mention that the letter in question is at the present moment still in my possession. The following winter I spent in hunting at Rugby, country house parties, etc. I also went on a visit to Hard wick Court, Gloucestershire, the residence of Mr. Barwick Baker, taking with me three of my horses, and hunted with Lord Fitz- hardinge and with the Duke of Beaufort. Mr. Barwick Baker was one of the most lovable of men and was respected by all who knew him. Among other things he was the leading spirit in the move- ment that brought about the establishment of reformatory schools for boys who had been con- victed and who would otherwise have been sent to 58 A GLANCE INTO THE PAST prison. His younger son, Henry Baker, was one of the best of fellows and one of the finest per- formers over a country to hounds in all England. Mrs. Bar wick Baker was my cousin as well as my godmother. The Berkeley Vale that is hunted by Lord Fitz- hardinge is a fine sporting country, its only fault being that after a little rain the grassland is inclined to ride unusually heavy. There used to be quite a good shoot at Hard wick, but the whole atmosphere of the place was hunting first and foremost. In the course of one of my many visits to Hardwick I had a very unpleasant experience, which, however, taught me a useful lesson that I have never for- gotten. Together with the rest of the house party I attended the Gloucester Hunt Ball ; we arrived rather early and I stood for some minutes on the landing outside the ballroom watching the latest arrivals coming up the grand staircase, and at the same time carrying on a conversation with a man whom I was frequently meeting in the hunting field, but whose name I did not know. Suddenly I noticed a woman coming up toward us a most extraordinary looking woman, with masses of dyed hair, her face enamelled, and her lips smothered in carmine. Nobody had ever seen her before and A GLANCE INTO THE PAST 59 there was an awestruck silence as she approached the top of the staircase. Without looking at my companion I remarked to him in a low voice, " Good heavens, what an appalling looking woman ! How on earth did she get here ? She looks like the sort of woman who perambulates the Hay market at one o'clock in the morning." By that time this strange apparition had reached us whereupon my companion took my arm and leading me up to her said, " Let me introduce you to my wife ! ' I have been in some queer situations in my life, as well as some highly dangerous ones, but on the whole I do not think I ever felt so " knocked out " as I did at that moment. This reminds me that it is a most dangerous habit to talk too freely in railway carriages, especially when you mention names. I was once travelling down from Victoria Station (to join a house party in Sussex) and the carriage was full, all the passengers being men. We had hardly got out of London when one of the occupants of the carriage mentioned my name and in a very short time I was the sole topic of conversation among my fellow passengers. They discussed my life, my conduct, my personal appearance, and everything else about me, to all of which I listened with the keenest 60 A GLANCE INTO THE PAST amusement. Finally the gentleman who occupied the corner seat opposite me leant forward and addressing me said, " Have you ever seen him? " " Well, I have," I replied. " Indeed, well now what is he like? " " Well," said I in a thoughtful meditative manner, "he is about my height and build with a fair moustache and not unlike me," whereupon my questioner or questioners, for they were all questioning me now, proceeded to enquire about his personal character, or rather to be strictly correct my personal character. My nearest neigh- bour said to me, " Now can you tell me, sir, what sort of man he really is? ' " Well", said I, "he wants knowing, a lot of knowing, but when you do know him, what a man, sir ! You could not find his equal." By this time I had reached my destination, and stepping out of the train I bade them a courteous Good Evening. On another occasion I was travelling on the Great Western Railway, there being only one occupant of the carriage besides myself. We got into conversation, and after a while began to discuss two or three of the great Public Schools. My companion was a particularly nice and intelligent man. Finally we began to discuss Radley, and I said I hoped that the present Warden of Radley A GLANCE INTO THE PAST 61 was not such a rotter as the Warden was in my day, upon which he remarked, " I am afraid I ought not to express any opinion on that subject because I am the Warden of Radley ! " CHAPTER VI Drumochter. My Guests and the Furniture. Caroline Duchess of Montrose and Captain Machell. The Black Hare and a Narrow Escape. AS I have already remarked, after my return from Dinard I went back to Rugby for the hunting season, and after that to London for the season as usual. I now came to the conclusion that I should never be happy unless I possessed a moor in Scotland, and having been furnished by some well- known agents with particulars of Scotch shootings that were to let, I picked out the one that I thought sounded most promising, a place called Drumochter in Inverness-shire, and went northward to see it. When I first saw the glorious scenery, including Loch Ericht with Ben Alder on the opposite side, I made up my mind to take the place and spend 6a A GLANCE INTO THE PAST 63 there as much of my time as I could manage. When, however, I arrived at Drumochter Lodge I got rather a shock, for it was a horrible place. I was much amused at the expression on the face of the worthy factor (they call the Estate Agents in the Highlands factors) when he asked me how I liked the house, and I replied, " Take it away." And take it away they did, for to make a long story short I took a very long lease of the place from Colonel Macpherson of Cluny and built the present Drumochter Lodge, which is about as good a shoot- ing box as you could find in Scotland. I also planted on the estate a large number of trees and improved it in various other ways. The building of the new house was begun only about five months before the shooting season. I was, however, determined to sleep in it on the night of the eleventh of August and begin shooting the next day. The contractors only just managed to get the workmen out of the house on Ike 9th. I arrived myself on the morning of the llth together with my guests, the servants, and the furniture, all on the same train, which I should think is almost unique. I forget who were my guests on that occasion but remember that Lord Hopetoun (afterwards Lord Linlithgow) together with Arthur 64 A GLANCE INTO THE PAST Hay of the Scots Guards, and Horace Stopford of the Grenadier Guards, were of the party. We had very good sport at Drumochter and after my party had broken up I used to vary it occasionally by going over to shoot with Caroline Duchess of Mont- rose and her husband Mr. Stirling Crawford, at their place Dalnaspidal, which was only about four miles from me. Mr. Stirling Crawford, whom the Duchess had married as her second husband, was a man of considerable wealth. He was a most charming man and also one of the pillars of the English Turf. He won the Derby with Sefton, and the St. Leger with Craig Miller. Caroline Duchess of Montrose was one of the characters of her day and the stories about her are legion ; many of them are true and many of them probably un- true. On one occasion when I was staying at Dalnaspidal the party consisted so far as I can remember of Lord and Lady Kilmorey (just back from their honeymoon) Mr. Newton Ogle, and the famous Captain Machell. The Duchess decided to come and join us that day at luncheon. When luncheon time arrived we were sitting on the heather waiting for her to turn up when suddenly we saw a figure some little distance off which turned out to be the lady, stuck in a bog nearly up A GLANCE INTO THE PAST 65 to her waist ; her hat was on one side, and she was gesticulating wildly with both arms. Her appear- ance was so funny that it was impossible not to laugh. She was speedily rescued by two of the gillies, and on joining us looked from one to an- other for any sign of laughter on our faces. She thought she detected a smile on Machell's face, whereupon she addressed him in language which was to say the least of it pointed. Captain Machell had a most remarkable career. He began life as a subaltern in a line Regiment and developed con- siderable ability as a runner, jumper, etc. One of his favourite amusements was to stand on the hearthrug in front of the fireplace with his feet together and back himself to jump on to the mantelpiece, which he rarely failed to do. He then took up racing, and before long became one of the leading owners as well as the manager from time to time of some of the greatest racing stables in England. He was also regarded, and justly so, as the shrewdest judge of turf affairs in the country. He was a bold determined better whenever he really knew something ; he engineered many great coups and amassed a considerable fortune. Poor Machell very nearly came to a most tragic end. His health had been bad for some time; he then 5 66 A GLANCE INTO THE PAST had a very severe attack of influenza, and much against the advice of his doctor insisted on attend- ing Liverpool Races. He was extremely ill in his hotel and became delirious. In the course of the evening the people passing in the street below were horrified to see the figure of a man in his night shirt seated on the parapet of the hotel with his feet dangling over the street. The figure in question turned out to be Machell. The great question was how to get him back again ; finally his valet who had been with him a number of years was sent for, and by some means or other managed to get him safely back to his bed. He, however, died a few months afterwards. While I am on the subject of shooting I should like to mention an incident that occurred at a shooting party at my cousin's, the late Lord Gage's place, Firle, in Sussex. At dinner the night before our first day's shoot Lord Gage told us he had been informed by his head keeper that the man had seen a fully grown jet-black hare in one of the coverts. I asked Lord Gage whether in the event of my shooting it myself I might keep it, and he said yes. Surely enough shortly after the first drive of the next day's shoot there were cries from the beaters of " the black hare." It was, however, killed by A GLANCE INTO THE PAST 67 General Gage, and I have always regretted that I was not so fortunate as to obtain this curiosity. I may be wrong, but from information that we then obtained from the Editor of "The Field" and from other sources, I believe that there is hardly any other authentic case of a jet-black English hare having been shot in this country. This particular day's shoot was otherwise eventful for me, as through his careless handling of my second gun my loader shot my cap off my head, but fortunately without injuring me in any way whatever. This I think is about as narrow an escape as one can have without serious injury. In the following year we broke up our bachelor party at Rugby and I decided to move my horses to Leighton Buzzard, living myself at my Chambers in Mount Street in the hunting season, and going down to Leighton by train on hunting days. This I did for two seasons, hunting almost exclusively with Mr. Selby Lowndes' hounds in what is known as the Vale of Aylesbury. Hunting by train from London has its disadvantages, one of them being that (speaking for myself) I always found myself, after a long day's hunting and the railway journey back to London, so tired and sleepy that I was good for nothing in the evening. This reminds me of a 68 A GLANCE INTO THE PAST practical joke that was played upon me by a friend of mine. I had returned home from Leigh ton after a very hard day's hunting and was more than usually tired when a friend informed me that he had taken a box at the Alhambra for that night and invited me to join the party, which consisted of himself, one other man and a certain actress better known for her good looks than her talents on the stage. I accepted the invitation, and having arrived at their box and seated myself next to the fair lady of the party, I shortly afterwards fell asleep and remained in that condition throughout the whole of the performance. I woke up about 1 o'clock in the morning, not knowing in the least where I was, to find myself in darkness with the house closed. When I looked up I could see not a soul in the building but myself. After groping about for some time and shouting I at last encountered the fireman, whom I firmly believe had been " squared " by my host, and was released. Talking of going to sleep reminds me of an experience of mine while travelling on the London & South Western Railway. It was in the middle of winter and a bitterly cold night. I was going to Weybridge, which is only about twenty miles from London, but had not been in the train many A GLANCE INTO THE PAST 69 minutes when I fell asleep. When I woke up I looked at my watch and was surprised to find that it was long after the time at which we ought to have arrived at Weybridge. In the meantime the train tore on through the darkness ; we eventually pulled up at a station and putting my head out of the window I enquired the name of the station from a porter, who replied, "Southampton, sir!' " Why," said I, " I want to go to Weybridge." " Well this is Southampton anyway," said he, " and there is no train back to Weybridge to-night." I eventually, however, travelled back in the guard's van of a goods train, arriving at some unearthly hour in the morning at the Oaklands Park Hotel where I was staying. CHAPTER VII London Hostesses. I mistake my host for the butler. Lady Salisbury. Lady Marion Alford. Lady Goldsmid's Musical Evenings. Tranby Croft and the Wilsons. My Experiences in the Train with Lord Portarlington. Lord Henry Vane-Tempest and Mr. Peel. The Origin of the Bachelors' Club. I MUST now speak more particularly of my social life in London Society and of some of the people whom I numbered among my intimate friends and acquaintances. There were at that time in London a great many hostesses ; it is impossible to remember all of them, but among others who occur to my mind I must mention Lady Salisbury, Lady Wimborne, the Duchess of Westminster, the Duchess of Bedford, Lady Waldegrave, Lady Egerton of Tatton, Mrs. Nilebois, Lady Herbert of Lee, Louisa Lady Ash- 70 A GLANCE INTO THE PAST 71 burton, Lady Hayter, Lady Londonderry, Lady Ardilawn, her sister-in-law Lady Iveagh, Mrs. Adrian Hope, Mrs. Lowther, Lady Battersea, Lady de Rothschild, Lady Goldsmid, Mrs. Bischoffscheim, Mrs. Henry Oppenheim, Mrs. Cavendish Bentinck, and Mrs. Arthur Wilson all of whose houses I frequented from time to time. With Lord and Lady Salisbury I was on the most intimate terms of friendship and used to lunch at their house in Arlington Street about twice a week throughout the season. Like most really great men Lord Salisbury, who was at that time Prime Minister, was always most kind and considerate to young men, and used to draw them out on the topics of the day. So although I have been acquainted with most of the famous men of the day among my own countrymen and a good many of those of other nations, I shall always consider Lord Salisbury one of the most delightful companions I have ever met. Lady Salisbury, a very great friend of mine, was an extremely shrewd and clever woman ; she used to make many people feel nervous, in consequence of her habit of gazing very fixedly at them in silence with a peculiar con- traction of the eyes while they were talking, which made her appear to be making a highly critical 72 A GLANCE INTO THE PAST analysis of every word they uttered. She was a most kindly woman, and a good friend. The Duchess of Westminster, whom also I used to see frequently, was a cheery kindly woman and a good hostess, with an abundance of fair hair and features of the Roman type. She has been dead many years ; the last time I saw her I remember well. We were walking round the garden of Grosvenor House together with the Count de Janse at 4 o'clock in the morning after a big ball that she had given, the little fairy lamps with which the trees in the garden were illuminated were flickering down, and I remember that we discussed music. I never saw her again, and I did not guess that her life was drawing to a close. The Duchess of Bedford, who lived in a large house in Eaton Square, used to entertain a great deal, but the Duke was a recluse and there were many of their regular guests who did not even know him by sight, I myself being among the number. One night at a ball given by them I took a lady with whom I had been dancing down to supper ; my partner having stated that she would like some champagne I looked round for a waiter, and seeing an elderly man standing on the other side of the table, whom I took for the ducal butler, I asked him A GLANCE INTO THE PAST 78 to bring my partner some champagne. To this request he paid no attention. When I repeated my order in a rather raised tone of voice he turned round and walked out of the room. At that moment a friend of mine who was sitting near me exclaimed, " Be quiet you silly ass, that's the Duke." Lady Ermyntrude Russell, one of the daughters of the Duchess of Bedford, was one of the best dancers in London and one of my most frequent and regular partners. She afterwards married Sir Edward Mallet, our Ambassador in St. Petersburg. From time to time we hear the term " grande dame " applied to this lady or that in London Society, but I very much doubt whether there has ever existed in England during the last forty years, or for the matter of that at any time, a lady to whom this term could be more justly applied than to Lady Marion Alford, the mother of the late Lord Brownlow. She was a most charming and talented woman and in every way most dis- tinguished. She was one of my dearest and most intimate friends and I have spent many happy hours at her beautiful home Alford House. I must here make particular mention of Lady Gojdsmid as a hostess, I do not think that any 74 A GLANCE INTO THE PAST woman ever understood better the art of entertain- ing. She was an Italian by birth (I think a Venetian) and married Sir Julian Goldsmid, a man of great wealth. The passion of her life was fine music and her beautiful house in Piccadilly became a principal centre of the finest music, and at her Wednesday nights in the season she used to gather together some of the greatest artistes and the finest musical talent in London. I may here mention that I was myself blessed with a voice and used often to sing in London and elsewhere both in public and private. I used to sing regularly at all Lady Goldsmid's musical receptions and have sung with de Soria, Christine Nilsson, Calve, Sembrich, and many other great artistes. Sir Julian Goldsmid was also the owner of a very beautiful place near Tunbridge Wells called Summerhill, where also I used to be a fre- quent visitor. Sir Julian had no son and eight daughters, and I well remember Lady Goldsmid on my first visit to Summerhill calling them all together in a line like soldiers, to show them to me, making them stand at attention, and then saying, " What do you think of that? " Lady Goldsmid was a very graceful woman, rather slight, with a A GLANCE INTO THE PAST 75 quantity of beautiful golden hair, and looked par- ticularly well at night. Mrs. Arthur Wilson lived in Grosvenor Crescent and also had a place called Tranby Croft near Hull, which was the scene of the famous Tranby Croft baccarat scandal, at which I barely missed being present, having been invited to form one of the house-party on that occasion, but as it happened I had already accepted another invitation for the same date. The case will always be remembered owing to the fact that the late King Edward (then Prince of Wales), who was the guest of Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Wilson at the time, was afterwards called as a witness in the Law Courts in the action for libel that arose from the events that took place on that occasion. As I have already stated in these pages, I was desperately keen on boxing, and also I am afraid to some extent on fighting, but I always had a rooted dislike to what is known as bear fighting among friends, for I have known many occasions on which it has been the cause of real ill-feeling between men who had previously been friends, and it frequently begins as bear fighting but ends with real fighting. One of my closest friends was George Darner, afterwards Lord Portarlington. He was in the 76 A GLANCE INTO THE PAST Guards a remarkably handsome man, a very good figure, and possessed of great strength ; in fact John Gladstone and he were then considered the two strongest men in the Guards. Unfortunately George Darner and I both centred our affection on the same lady. It happened by chance that toward me that feeling was returned by the lady in ques- tion, but not toward George Darner. This caused some bitterness of feeling in his mind toward myself. We had both spent the week-end at the house of the lady and her mother, and on the Mon- day we all four travelled up to London by train. Shortly after the train had left the station George began to chaff me, but with a distinct tinge of bitterness behind. This I took with the utmost good humour ; he then started bear fighting in the carriage and did all he could to push me off the seat, which although he was over 15 stone and I was 12 stone 7, he failed to do. This so much enraged him that in a very short time he completely lost his temper, seized me by the throat, and in a minute we were locked in a desperate struggle and engaged in a real fight. The small space of a railway carriage is a very unsuitable place in which to give away two stone in weight to a fit and angry man ; we were both of us using every ounce of strength A GLANCE INTO THE PAST 77 we possessed, and sometimes one was on top and sometimes the other. All this time the two ladies in the carriage were in a state of consterna- tion. At last I made a final and desperate effort to get the upper hand and succeeded in throwing him heavily, but unfortunately I threw him on to the lady's mother, who in her turn knocked over her daughter, with the result that both ladies were on the floor of the carriage, George Darner on the top of them, and I on the top of him. In falling George Darner struck his arm with great force against the brass handle of the door and injured it. Just at this moment we pulled up at the station in London and formed a funny looking party when we emerged from the carriage. The very next morning I had been walking in the Row and strolled across the open part of the Park in the direction of the Marble Arch on my way to lunch with Lady Battersea at Surrey House ; there was on the path coming toward me only one solitary figure namely George Darner with one arm in a sling. He came straight up to me and holding out his uninjured hand exclaimed, " Shake hands, old man, it was all my fault and it served me right." We remained very good friends right up to the day of his death, which took place many years afterwards. 78 A GLANCE INTO THE PAST There was another occasion on which, although I was not myself concerned, I was a spectator of the trouble that arose from a bear fight between two friends. I was sitting one day in the smoking- room of the Bachelors' Club talking to Lord Henry Vane-Tempest, who was one of my dearest friends and to whom I was much attached, when a young fellow named Peel, who was in the 1st or 2nd Life Guards (I forget which) came into the room, and as he was passing the armchair in which Henry Vane- Tempest was sitting the latter said in a joking way, " Here young man, pick up that paper for me," pointing to a paper which he had dropped on the floor. Peel replied, " Pick it up yourself," where upon Vane-Tempest caught hold of his arm as he passed and pulled it downward toward the paper. One little thing led to another and, to cut a long story short, in a few seconds these two friends, both of them officers in the Life Guards, had completely lost their temper and were engaged in the smoking- room of the Bachelors' Club in a desperate fight, which they finished by rolling into the fender, each of them having hold of the other's throat. At this moment Jeffreys the hall porter rushed in, and he and I succeeded in parting them. Henry Vane- Tempest was one of the very best fellows I ever A GLANCE INTO THE PAST 79 knew and a real good sportsman in every sense of the word. I should like to say something here about the origin of the Bachelors' Club, of which I was one of the four original founders. One day the late Augustus Lumley, who afterwards became Mr. Augustus Saville, suggested to me that my brother and I should join Mr. William Gillett and himself in giving a big ball at which Royalty were to be present in a house in Kensington that had been built but never occupied by Baron Grant, the City financier, to whom I have already referred in these pages. Baron Grant had purchased some filthy and most unsavoury slums off High Street, Kensington, which were almost entirely occupied by the lowest class of Irish, and were known as the Rookeries. These slums he pulled down and built upon the site a very large house with a marble staircase, which is now in Madame Tussaud's. He laid out behind the house a large garden in which he dug out quite a fair sized lake. My brothers and I agreed to Augustus Lumley 's suggestion, and the outcome was the great Bachelors' Ball that was then given. We illuminated the lake with fairy lanterns and imported two or three gondolas for the amusement of our guests. After the ball was over we four sat 80 A GLANCE INTO THE PAST down to supper in the early hours of the morning and a suggestion was put forward " Why not a Bachelors' Club? " The idea caught on. The present Club premises in Hamilton Place, Picca- dilly, were secured and the Club founded. CHAPTER VIII Her Royal Highness Princess Mary Duchess of Teck and the Duke of Teck. I fall asleep after dinner. Chesterfield House. I forget my own name. London Entertaining and Entertaining in Country houses. Cards. Smoking among women. I stay at the wrong house in the country. I dine at the wrong house in London. AMONG the kindest and best friends I ever had were Her Royal Highness Princess Mary Adelaide Duchess of Teck and the Duke of Teck and their children, including Princess Mary, now Her Majesty Queen Mary. I was frequently their guest both at Kensington Palace and at White Lodge, Richmond Park. I do not think it possible to find more perfectly brought up children than Princes Francis, Adolphus and Alexander, and Princess May of Teck, and I always looked forward 81 6 82 A GLANCE INTO THE PAST to spending a week-end at White Lodge. This reminds me of an event that occurred at one of these week-end parties. I was at the time a martyr to dyspepsia in its most acute form, and one of the consequences of the attacks that nearly always took place immediately after dinner was an overwhelm- ing inclination to sleep which nothing on earth could overcome. This inclination was always stronger if I sat near to or facing the fire. On this particular evening we were sitting after dinner in what ( if my memory serves me correctly) was called the Gallery. Her Royal Highness was sitting in a large armchair before the fire, and I was seated on a footstool at her feet, when I began to feel one of my attacks coming on. I put up a great fight against the enemy, but bit by bit it overcame me, and my head sank lower and lower till at last it found a final resting place on Her Royal Highness' knee, to the horror of the assembled guests, whom I shocked still more by snoring audibly. At this period of my life these onsets of sleep were so fre- quent and so severe that at last I became afraid to accept any invitation to dine out or to stay at country houses for fear of falling asleep in the middle of dinner. At this time and for about two years afterwards something must have gone wrong A GLANCE INTO THE PAST 83 with my internal economy for not only did I have these overwhelming onsets of sleep but I was also troubled with the most extraordinary periods of absent-mindedness. I will here relate a few instances of this which may sound rather incredible, but are perfectly true. I had accepted an invitation to dine at Chester- field House with Mr. Charles Magniac, one of whose most strongly marked characteristics was his extreme punctuality at dinner and his intense dis- like to any of his guests, or even any of his own family, being only one minute late for that meal. I went home to Mount Street that evening at my usual hour to dress for dinner, but for some reason or other I quite forgot that it was dressing time and imagined that it was time to go to bed. I accord- ingly got into my pyjamas for the night and went to bed where I was ultimately discovered by my valet nearly half an hour after the time when I ought to have been sitting at dinner at Chesterfield House. I dressed at express speed, jumped into my brougham, and drove to Chesterfield House, where to my horror the footman informed me that they had already been at dinner nearly an hour. I found myself seated at the table with a lady whose name I forget on one side of me, and the Duke of 84 A GLANCE INTO THE PAST Portland on my left, who whispered to me, " You will catch it." My host was, however, very nice about it after all, and when I explained to him the cause of my apparent rudeness he was highly amused and considerably astonished, as well he might be. On another occasion I was dining at the Bachelors' Club, and having dressed for dinner I walked downstairs with my bedroom candle lit in my hand (there was no electric light in those days) but instead of blowing it out and placing it on the hall table I strolled up Mount Street with it lit in my hand for about sixty or seventy yards, when my valet overtook me and drew my attention to my mistake. On another occasion I called one afternoon on Mrs. Monty Brune and on my way upstairs when the footman said, " What name shall I say, sir? " I suddenly realised to my horror that I had entirely forgotten my own name. I paused and stared at the footman, and he stared suspiciously at me, having I believe come to the hasty conclusion that I was a well-dressed burglar. Suddenly after an interval of probably about half a minute, which seemed to me at the time much longer, my memory began to work again. " Mr. Sebright," said I, in A GLANCE INTO THE PAST 85 much the same way as you suddenly fire a gun so I was duly announced. I have always been of opinion that no kind of entertaining on a large scale in London can in any way be compared to entertaining in country houses. In London entertainments there are far too many people and the whole procedure is far too formal and mechanical. In country-house parties the guests are frequently asked for the express purpose of meeting other guests, while as a rule all the rest of the party are either known to each other or at least belong to the same set, or else have some per- sonal attribute that will make them interesting or agreeable companions for their fellow guests. In addition to this, many of the great house parties are assembled under the roofs of the most beautiful and historical of our old English homes ; consequently, quite apart from the attraction of hunting and shooting in the Autumn and Winter, the surround- ings themselves are a source of endless interest and delight. Personally during the London season I used always to look forward keenly to the time when the season would be over and country-house parties would begin, for with the one exception of musical evenings they are the only form of entertainment that really appealed to me. Country houses in 86 A GLANCE INTO THE PAST those days had one great advantage over the country houses of to-day, inasmuch as with a few exceptions one was not cursed with that most appalling of pastimes, cards, which frequently now- a-days spoils all social entertainments, and which is in my opinion the most boring pastime ever devised by man. Invented for the purpose of amusing an imbecile King, they were then, as the Yankee said, " verra nice and verra appropriate." Owing to this pestilential habit the art of conversation has almost died out, while the harm and misery that it has caused among men and also among married women, and even young girls, is simply incal- culable. Talking of country houses reminds me of an incident that happened to myself. I had been asked to go and stay with Mr. Howard Vyse, at Stoke Place, near Slough. I duly arrived at about 4 o'clock in the afternoon at Slough Station, but the carriage that had been sent to meet me had been delayed in some way or other ; consequently on my arrival I could see no sort of conveyance except the station cabs, one of which I took, ordering the driver to take me to Stoke Park (instead of Stoke Place). On my arrival I paid him off, rang the bell and was admitted by two footmen, who proceeded A GLANCE INTO THE PAST 87 to get my luggage off the cab, which then began to drive at a leisurely pace down the park. In the meantime I had divested myself of my overcoat, and having generally straightened myself out, I was escorted by one of the footmen down a passage to one of the reception rooms of the house. For- tunately I then asked my guide, " Do you know whether Mr. Howard Vyse is at home? " meaning that I thought he might be in the garden, or some- where about the place, whereupon he looked rather puzzled. " I do not know whether he is at home just now, sir," he replied, "but I know that he was last week. ' ' It was now my turn to be puzzled. At this moment an idea seemed to dawn upon him, and he said, " He does not live here, sir, he lives at Stoke Place." I did not wait to hear more, but fled back to the hall. Fortunately I always carried, and do to this day, a powerful dog whistle for use out shooting, or for cabs, etc. This I blew for all I was worth, with the result that the retreating cab- man heard it, and after violent gesticulations from the footman and myself, he returned and once more took me under his wing, finally landing me at Stoke Place. I was then informed that Stoke Park was the property of a Mr. Coleman, and about a year afterwards I made that gentleman's acquaintance, 88 A GLANCE INTO THE PAST and while dining with him at his house in Grosvenot Square I told him all about that event much to his amusement. Talking of the Stoke Park incident reminds me that I once actually sat down to table at a large dinner party in London to which I had never been invited, and where the host and hostess were un- known to me. What happened was as follows. It was the day of the Eton and Harrow match and I had spent most of the day at Lord's. Just before the close of play I met young Coleridge Kennard, who had just joined the Guards, whom I knew very well, but at that time I had never met any of his family, although I afterwards saw them frequently. His father had recently bought a house in Upper Grosvenor Street and asked me to dine with them that evening. I accepted the invitation, and at five minutes to eight presented myself at a house in Grosvenor Street (instead of Upper Grosvenor Street), the number of which also turned out to be wrong. I rang the bell and the door was opened by a footman who looked decidedly surprised to see me. He remarked, " They have nearly finished dinner, sir," a statement which astonished me con- siderably as I had arrived punctually at the time I asked. He ushered me into the dining-room A GLANCE INTO THE PAST 89 where I found a large dinner-party consisting I should think of from fifteeen to twenty people. My entry caused everybody suddenly to stop talk- ing. In the meantime the footman pushed a chair up between two people at one end of the table and I sat down feeling decidedly uncomfortable, at the same time looking everywhere for young Kennard. After a short whispered conversation between the master of the house and the footman at the other end of the table, the former rose from his seat and came up to me. I immediately began to apologise for being late and told him that his son had dis- tinctly bidden me to come at eight o'clock. He looked puzzled and then said, " Do you know I cannot help thinking that you have come to dine at the wrong house?" " But you are Colonel Kennard," said I. " No, I am not," he replied. I then explained exactly what had happened, stating who I was. He was charming, and said he knew me quite well by name and would have been 90 A GLANCE INTO THE PAST very pleased if I had remained to dinner only they were dining early because several of them were going to the theatre. He then escorted me to the hall door and I took my departure. CHAPTER IX The Wimbledon Rifle Meeting. My Encounter with the " rudest woman in London." Ferdy Arkwright. I go to the most expensive hotel in London in order to economise. My uninvited guests. I entertain some friends to breakfast. AMONG the regular social fixtures of the London Season in my day was the Wimbledon Rifle Meeting, at the con- clusion of which it was customary for whoever was President for that year to entertain a large number of people to tea, and the various prizes which had been won during the week were then presented. Lord Brownlow happened to be President of the Association for that particular year, and Lady Brownlow asked me to come down and help her to entertain, which I did. I used in those days to be rather proud of my feet, and had 9* 92 A GLANCE INTO THE PAST recently ordered from my bootmakers some very smart patent leather shoes, which had arrived the evening before the Wimbledon fixture. The fol- lowing morning I put on my new shoes, which I found decidedly tight ; however my vanity was too much for my prudence, so soothing my mind with the hope that the tightness would "wear off," I drove down to Wimbledon. As the day went on my trouble with my shoes, instead of " wearing off," increased to an alarming extent. Finally, after the prizes had been distributed, the time arrived for me to help Lady Brownlow to entertain. My particular duties were to meet the people in the Hall and find out their requirements ; if they wanted tea I was to tell them where to go for it, and if they did not I was to pass them on to Lady Brownlow. This I did for some time, all the while changing from one foot to the other like a cat on hot bricks. At last, after I had ministered to the comfort of two or three hundred people, the agony became so intense that I could bear it no longer, so slipping quietly out of the main entrance I dived into the gorse bushes of the Common, and having sat down on the grass I pulled off my instruments of torture, and after flinging them in a fit of temper into the thickest part of the bushes, I started to run A GLANCE INTO THE PAST 98 across the public common in my socks, dodging from bush to bush all the departing guests whom I met in much the same way as a Red Indian would play at hide and seek with his enemy. Fortunately I caught sight of an empty hansom on the main road which was returning to London ; across the open I fled at full speed, and having hailed the driver I jumped in and was driven home to my rooms in Mount Street, greatly astonishing my valet by arriving in my socks. There were then in London Society several women who adopted a special role of being rude to men, particularly snubbing young men. There were two women who were notorious for this habit ; I fell foul of them both, but neither of them was anxious for a second encounter. One of the two ladies in question, who was by far the worse of the two, was the sister of a very popular and much re- spected Peer, a most charming and courteous man of the old school, who had stayed with us at Beech- wood. She was unmarried, very advanced in years, very made up, and always affected a girlish and coquettish manner. She was a most notorious gambler and could be, when she liked, the rudest woman in London. I was dining one night in Eton Square, at the house of a close friend of mine, a 94 A GLANCE INTO THE PAST very popular Colonel in the Household Cavalry. This lady was also one of the guests, and sat exactly opposite me. I had already been informed by a friend of mine that she had stated that I wanted " sitting on." I must here remark that it was fairly well-known by this time that I was living most ex- travagantly and far beyond my means. In the middle of dinner, in the lull of the conversation, Miss raised her lorgnette, and fixing her gaze upon me with a rude stare said in a loud and insolent tone : " Mr. Sebright, what is your income? " Whereupon I looked quietly across the table at her and said : " Miss , what is your age ? ' : The whole table exploded with laughter ; the lady herself was in such a violent passion at having the tables turned on her so unexpectedly that she burst into tears of rage at the dinner table. Both my host and my hostess informed me after dinner that they considered I was perfectly justified in the circumstances, and that " it served her jolly well right." My encounter with the other lady who went in for snubbing men was as follows : I was dining with the Comtesse de Polignac at her house in (I think) Charles Street, and I happened by chance to sit next to this lady. Immediately after we sat down A GLANCE INTO THE PAST 95 to dinner I addressed to her some remark or other, whereupon she looked at me and yawned, but took no notice. I repeated my remark with the same result. This happened a third time, and then she deliberately turned her back upon me. I was now however quite certain that the whole thing was a piece of deliberate and intentional rudeness, and leaning forward I said : "If you only knew how hideously ugly you look when you make those faces you would not do so." Strangely enough this lady and I from that time became great friends. There used to be in those days a most quaint and original character called Ferdy Arkwright. He was a man of a certain age and had an impediment in his speech ; he was rather what women call a cheeky sort of man, but he was very good-hearted, immensely popular and very witty. He was dining one night at a large dinner party in London when a lady who was sitting next to him, and to whom he had addressed two or three remarks without elicit- ing any response, turned round and yawned in his face in a very rude manner. He bent forward and with a genial smile said : " My d-d-dear 1-1-lady, there is n-n-no o-o-occasion for you to s-s-s-wagger s-s-o much about it. I h-h-h-ave got my b-b-back teeth stopped with gold as well as you." 96 A GLANCE INTO THE PAST On another occasion a lady who was sitting next to him at dinner kept pulling the table cloth in her direction. After a time this rather upset poor Ferdy, who, turning toward her, remarked : " My d-d-d-ear, my d-d-dear, d-d-d-on't take all the clothes." By this time my affairs were becoming involved and I had contracted a considerable number of debts. I gave up my stud of hunters, keeping only one horse, a chestnut, who was a brilliant hunter, and had originally belonged to Marcus Beresford. As he was also a very good hack I used to ride him regularly in the Park. I gave up my moor in Scot- land and all my carriages and carriage horses, with the exception of my private hansom and two very fast trotters to draw it. I also gave up my rooms in Mount Street and moved to Parish's Hotel in George Street, Hanover Square, which was the best residential hotel in London and anything but economical. At this point I must mention a little incident that occurred shortly before I gave up my rooms in Mount Street, and that was rather an amusing ex- perience. I was going out for a walk in the Park one morning, and had just opened the street door when I was confronted by a very evil-looking A GLANCE INTO THE PAST 97 person, who informed me that he was a bailiff and that he was there to take possession of my furniture and goods in general on behalf of a moneylender who had obtained judgment against me in the High Court. At that moment another equally un- savoury gentleman arrived on the scene, and imme- diately afterwards a third, all on the same job, but for different creditors. My chief anxiety was lest the steward of the Chambers might hear of it. I suddenly hit upon a brilliant idea. I had on the top floor of the house three spare bedrooms, two of which were furnished and the other unfurnished. The latter I used as a boxing ring, but into the two furnished rooms I quietly smuggled my uninvited guests, one of them with a room to himself, and the two others in the second room. I told them I should be in a position to pay the amount of their claims in two days' time, and that in the meantime if they would remain absolutely quiet and not make a sound I would keep them supplied with good food, etc., as well as papers and books, but that they must not smoke. I then locked them all three in and used to walk and ride about London with the keys in my pocket. I used to carry food to them thrice a day, and at the same time used to let them out one by one for various necessary pur- 7 98 A GLANCE INTO THE PAST poses, while I stood there like a gaoler, and then locked them up again. Needless to say that when I paid their claims and they took their departure their own financial positions had distinctly improved. I lived at Parish's Hotel for some years, and there are two or three incidents that then occurred to me which I propose to mention. As I have already stated, I was by this time, I regret to say, heavily in debt, and among other debts there were several judgments against me in the County Court which had been followed by committal orders. I had a suite of rooms at Parish's, and one morning when I woke up I rubbed my eyes and to my astonishment there was a man sitting on each side of my bed. One look was enough " County Court Warrant Officers," I said to myself and sure enough they were. " Good morning, sir," said one of them. " I have several committal orders here against you, amounting in all to 240, and unless you are pre- pared to pay me that amount I shall have to arrest you." At that particular moment I had overdrawn my banking account as far as my bankers would allow, and he might just as well have asked me for the A GLANCE INTO THE PAST 99 National Debt. My one thought was to gain time. We had then at Parish's a most magnificent head waiter, a dignified and princely person named Thomas. I rang the bell for him, and on his arrival said to him with a wave of my hand toward my captors " Thomas, these two gentlemen will break- fast with me." I shall never forget the horrified and indignant expression on Thomas's face when he looked at my rather dirty and extremely un- attractive guests. I gave them a really good break- fast and in the meantime had formulated a plan. There was then in Pall Mall a well-known firm of financial agents named Burr & Co., with whom I had had considerable transactions, and was on very friendly terms. The firm occupied the entire house for their offices, but I remembered that the private room of one of the partners was on the ground floor, and that opening out of his room and covered by a curtain was a small private door leading into King Street, or rather into a yard that adjoined King Street. I determined that this bolt-hole should be the means of my regaining my liberty. After breakfast I informed my guests that the payment of the amount in question was a mere nothing and that all that was necessary was to drive down to my agents and draw the money. Accordingly to Pall 100 A GLANCE INTO THE PAST Mall we all went in a cab ; on arriving there we all three entered the office and I entered the private room of the partner already referred to, my captors in the meantime seating themselves on each side of the door, having satisfied themselves (as they thought) that there was no other outlet to the room. I quickly explained the position to my friend, and then lifting the curtain I disappeared. CHAPTER X An Imaginary Supper Party. The Monkey and the Diamonds. A new way of speeding up Cabmen. My Drive from Notting Hill. A smash in Duke Street. The Duke of York's Steps. My Race in Piccadilly. I MUST now refer to one more incident that happened in the course of my stay at Parish's. There was then in London a certain Mr. , who came and took a large suite of rooms on the first floor at that hotel ; he was only twenty-one years of age and had just inherited a considerable fortune. He had given way to drink, and even when sober was, to say the least of it, a most remarkable person. He had quite recently got married to a very good-looking woman. I came home one evening about eleven o'clock at night, and as I entered the front door, something whizzed past my ear and hit the street door with a hard rap. I turned round and picked it up, when to my surprise I found that it was a large diamond bracelet, worth I should say a consider- able sum of money. Looking up to the top of the stairs I saw Mr. standing on the landing, he being the person who had bombarded me with this novel form of ammunition. It needed only one glance to see that he was "well on." At that moment Mrs. Parish came up to me in despair and informed me that Mr. had set the whole hotel in an uproar, had offered to fight all the waiters, that he had in fact thrown Thomas out of his room, that he had also insisted on having an elaborate supper prepared for ten people in his sit- ting room, although there was as a matter of fact no one coming to supper with him at all would I "go up and put him to bed." At this moment Mr. came down the stairs and insisted on my going up and joining his purely imaginary supper party. This, for Mrs. Parish's sake, I agreed to do. On entering his rooms sure enough there was the supper all laid out on an elaborate scale, but not a soul there. Mr. then turned to me and said : " They're all late, but never mind I will get my wife to join us any way." I asked him where his wife was. " Oh," said he, A GLANCE INTO THE PAST 103 "she's in bed." Whereupon I told him that he had better let her stay there. Before I could stop him he had dashed through the doors leading to his bedroom, into which I of course could not follow him, and whence I heard sounds of a struggle. The next minute he reappeared in the room walking backward dragging after him his wife by her night- dress, which he had pulled over her head, leaving her completely naked. I sprang forward with the intention of putting him on his back and setting her at liberty, when it flashed through my mind that she would not like to remember I had seen her in that condition. I therefore fled for Mrs. Parish, who came, together with one of the chambermaids, and eventually succeeded in setting her free at the same time locking him out of his wife's bed- room, but not before he had possessed himself of her dressing bag which contained something like 30,000 worth of jewels. At this point I went to bed, but the sequel was related to me by two eye- witnesses. This young man, having possessed him- self of his wife's diamonds, departed in a cab for Dover Yard, Berkeley Street, Piccadilly, where he had his stables, and where I also had mine. On his arrival he liberated a tame monkey which he kept there in a loose box, fastened his wife's diamond 104 A GLANCE INTO THE PAST necklace, also her pearl necklace, round the animal's neck, and tied her diamond tiara over its head. At this moment the monkey, who was not acustomed to this kind of performance, spotted an open window, and like a flash was gone, diamonds and all, finally taking up a position on one of the stable roofs, where he sat in all his glory, alternately playing with his unaccustomed finery and making faces at his would-be captors, who soon included the police, together with a large crowd of passers- by. After considerable trouble he was caught ; the diamonds were rescued and restored to their owner. I do not know whether this young man is still in the land of the living, but the last news I had of him was what I read in the newspapers. It appears that some time after this he engaged a hansom cab in the West End, I think it was in Charles Street, Haymarket. The driver had not driven him very far when the little trap door in the roof of the cab was pushed open by the barrel of a revolver, and his fare shouted up at him : " Drive faster, you fool" bang "Why don't you drive faster you fool" bang two shots in all. The cabman did not wait to argue the point, but jumped off the cab and darted up the Haymarket, where he met a couple of policemen, with whom he returned. A GLANCE INTO THE PAST 105 Mr. was disarmed and arrested, being after- wards sent either to prison or a lunatic asylum I forget which though undoubtedly the latter was his proper abode. Talking of hansom cabs reminds me of two inci- dents that happened to myself, as well as a most remarkable one that I happened to witness. I was coming one afternoon out of a house in Notting Hill in a great hurry to keep an appoint- ment in Pall Mall, it being a matter of vital import- ance to me that I should not be late. The only hansom I could see was standing in front of a public house and I did not notice at the time that the driver was not quite sober. I jumped in and told him I was in a hurry and off we went up the Bayswater Road. To my surprise he whipped up his horse till it was going at a gallop, which was not at all what I intended when I said I was in a hurry. At this moment a cart was approaching us and turned to go down a street on the left-hand side of the road, which I think was St. Petersburg Place. Instead of attempting to make way my driver ran straight into it with a crash. Our horse kept his feet and we got free from the cart. To my surprise, instead of pulling up to embark on the usual altercation that takes place on these occasions, 106 A GLANCE INTO THE PAST we went flying on up the Bays water Road, the only difference being that we were now travelling at full gallop, in fact our horse was well stretched out. By this time I was in a towering passion, and pok- ing my stick up through the trap door in the roof, I called the driver every uncomplimentary name that I had ever heard or read of, but he made no reply, upon which I crept forward in front of the cab, and looking over the top I discovered the reason of his silence, namely " that he was not there." I was in reality sitting in a runaway cab without a driver. What had really happened no doubt was that when we collided with the cart he had been bumped off into the road. I managed with difficulty to reach the reins which were hang- ing loose, and when I had done so I soon stopped the horse. We were now at Lancaster Gate, and I had a burning desire to return and kick the driver. I could not, however, spare the time to return half- a-mile down the road to look for a drunken cab- man, for first and foremost I had to keep my appointment at all costs. The great question was what to do with the cab and horse, when I suddenly remembered the story of the old woman and the unsuspecting stranger, " Would you mind ? sir, holding the baby for a A GLANCE INTO THE PAST 107 moment? " I saw coming toward me another empty hansom, which I hailed, also a very un- sophisticated looking youth the latter had all the appearance of a likely subject. " Would you mind holding this horse for a moment?" said I. He con- sented and took hold of the horse's head, handling the reins as though they were red hot pokers. " You don't want me to hold him long, do you?" he enquired. " Not particularly," I replied, as I jumped into the other cab and drove off. The last I saw of him was when I looked through the little window at the back of the cab ; he was then staring after us with a sort of puzzled look. I never heard what became of my inebriated Jehu, the young man, or the cab and horse, but I kept my appoint- ment. My second experience was in Duke Street, St. James's, which, as most people are aware, is a rather narrow street, and leads downhill from Jermyn Street into King Street. I was driving down the hill one day in my private cab and had just reached a point about thirty yards from the bottom, when all of a sudden, without a word of warning, my cabman, who was a very fine driver, whipped up my horse for all he was worth, and we dashed down the remaining portion of the hill. I 108 A GLANCE INTO THE PAST put my stick up through the trap door at the top and gave him a bit of my mind. " Sit tight, sir, don't move," he shouted, and round the corner we dashed, my horse only just managing to get round without falling. We had scarcely cleared the corner when I heard the most appalling noise be- hind us, loud shouts, a bang and a crash and sounds of falling glass. It turned out that two cabs had been standing outside a public house at the top of the street, their drivers being inside refreshing themselves. Something had frightened both horses, with the result that both of them ran away together down the hill side by side at full gallop, the two cabs leaving no room for anything else in the street. When they reached the bottom of the hill one of them charged a lamp-post on the left side of the street, knocking it down as if it had been made of paper, the horse being killed instantly ; the other runaway dashed across King Street through a large plate-glass window and was so terribly cut about that it had to be destroyed. The third London cab incident I had no part in myself, but was merely an onlooker, and must con- fess that I would not have missed seeing it for any- thing. I was crossing Pall Mall one day at the bottom of Waterloo Place, on my way to call on a A GLANCE INTO THE PAST 109 friend of mine in Carlton House Terrace. When I was about forty or fifty yards from the Duke of York's steps which lead down into St. James's Park I heard loud shouts at some little distance behind me. I turned round and saw coming down Waterloo Place a runaway hansom cab, with no driver on the top and nobody inside. The horse might be said to be "all out." He got safely across Pall Mall without running into anything ; he then headed straight for the Duke of York's steps, which are thirty in number in addition to two wide landings in between, down which he galloped into the Park without a slip and without putting a foot wrong ! I afterwards, together with a policeman, inspected the horse when he had been caught in St. James's Park, and found that he had literally not got a scratch. The policeman re- marked to me : " You and I have seen something, sir, that very likely no one else has ever seen before or will ever see again." That the horse had not fallen with the impetus which the cab must have had behind him as it bounded from step to step was extraordinary, and it was a sight that I would not have missed seeing for anything in the world. A rather amusing incident happened to me one morning about this time. After breakfast I started 110 A GLANCE INTO THE PAST off in my cab to drive to the Bachelors' Club, which I was in the habit of doing nearly every morning about that hour of the day. Coming down Hamil- ton Place, as we were nearing the Club, I noticed a man standing outside who somehow or other did not attract me at all. I distinctly felt that he was an undesirable character, also that for the time being his life was linked with mine. The absent- minded fits to which I have referred in some of the earlier pages of this book had long since left me, and I had on the contrary become a particularly quick thinker. Instantly I pushed my stick up through the trap door, and addressing my cabman said : " Do you see that man outside the Club I don't like him. Turn to the right down Piccadilly. Go like the devil and lose him." We cleared the Club, got safely into Piccadilly and turned to the right toward Hyde Park Corner. Just then my cabman opened the little trap door in the roof and shouted : " He has seen you, sir, has got another cab and is after us." " Go on," I shouted to him. " Which way shall I go, sir? " he enquired. " I don't care, go where you like," I replied. Straight down St. George's Place we fled at full speed, past the Alexandra Hotel and Wilton Place, with my enemy in full pursuit. The pace was hot, but it A GLANCE INTO THE PAST 111 was very fortunate for me that I was in my own cab, for my horse was probably and was generally acknowledged to be the fastest harness horse then in London. There was considerable excitement in the street, the people not being accustomed to that particular form of entertainment in broad daylight. At Albert Gate the police endeavoured without success to hold us up. I then remembered that on the right hand side of Sloane Street there was a narrow turning that led into a labyrinth of stables and narrow streets, all of which were quite familiar to me and which have long since been pulled down in the improvements of the Cadogan Estate. I shouted to my driver " Down Sloane Street, then first to the right, and then I will guide you." We both managed to get round into Sloane Street without falling ; then came the narrow turning to the right. In order to get round this I had to pull up nearly into a walk, but fortunately I had, by this time a good hundred yards lead of my pursuer, and we got safely round the corner ; then up the narrow street we dashed. Just at that moment a costermonger emerged from another small street on the left-hand side leading a donkey-cart loaded up with cabbages. Pulling up was impossible, and over went the donkey-cart, cabbages and all, on to 112 A GLANCE INTO THE PAST the pavement, but I am thankful to say without injuring the donkey or the man. Almost at the same moment I saw a large cart loaded up with straw, the driver of which was starting to back across the narrow lane. " Dodge behind that cart," I shouted to my cabman. He just did it with about six inches to spare, and the driver of the straw cart backed across the road and completely blocked the way. We had defeated the enemy, but I was taking no chances, and never pulled up till I got into Cromwell Road, near the spot where the Natural History Museum now stands. Being hunted down Piccadilly in broad daylight by a Warrant Officer with an order for my arrest for 200 (for so he turned out to be) is purely an acquired taste, but I am bound to confess that I greatly enjoyed the excitement. CHAPTER XI My unknown Estates. " The Family." Joe Aylesford. Packington Hall. My Yacht. My First Marriage. Strange effect of Opium. Mr. Frank Platt. The Island of Samoa. The Family. I HAVE already mentioned the fact that owing to the extravagance and love of gambling, particularly on the Stock Ex- change, of my brother's wife the then Lady Sebright his fortune had become consider- ably impaired, and he was obliged to encumber his life interest to a large extent. Eventually Beech- wood was let furnished to a Mr. Greenfield, and it was decided to sell Besford Court, Worcestershire, an estate that had been in our family for many hundreds of years. The sale of this estate gave rise to the following peculiar incident. One morning I received a letter from somebody I did not know "3 8 114 A GLANCE INTO THE PAST from an address in Worcestershire. The wording of the letter was, to the best of my recollection, something like this : "Dear Sir, " If at any time you would like to come down and inspect your estate in this county we shall be very pleased to put you up. " Yours truly, Now I had never at any time owned any estate in Worcestershire ; all the Sebright estates in that county as well as in other counties being strictly entailed upon my brother, Sir John Sebright, who was therefore tenant for life. I came to the con- clusion that it was either a mistake or else a prac- tical joke. I did not however tear the letter up, but put it in my pocket and carried it about with me for about three weeks, when having occasion to call and see a certain solicitor who was acting for me at that time as well as for my brother, I laugh- ingly referred to the letter in question. From a peculiar look that came into his eyes as I was talk- ing to him I quickly came to the conclusion that he A GLANCE INTO THE PAST 115 had already heard something about it, and that in- stead of its being a practical joke, there was on the contrary something in it. He asked me to leave the letter with him, which I did, and he said he would make enquiries. To make a long story short, what had really happened was this. At the sale of the Besford Estate by auction it was purchased by Lord Beauchamp, and as is customary in these cases his solicitors had instructed counsel to examine the title, with the result that they advised him not to complete the purchase, as the estate in reality belonged to the youngest son of the late Sir Thomas Sebright, having passed over the head of all the other sons direct to the youngest under the ancient Saxon law of Borough English which applied in that particular parish. As I am the youngest son of the late Sir Thomas Sebright I was the rightful owner of the property and had been ever since my father's death about twenty years before, my brother having been drawing the rent from the estate, which I need hardly say, without his knowledge, had never belonged to him for the whole of that time. I executed the necessary docu- ments, releasing him from his awkward position, and Lord Beauchamp completed the purchase. 116 A GLANCE INTO THE PAST Just at that time there was in London a little coterie of intimate friends of both sexes of which I was a member, and who were in the habit of frequently dining together, the dinner being given in turn by one or other of the male members. This little coterie was well known in London as " The Family,'* and consisted of Lord Aylesford, his two brothers, Dan and Clem Finch, the present Lord Sandys, the late Lord Cairns, Freddy Knollys, Mr. Frank Cobbett and myself. The lady mem- bers consisted of Mrs. Percy Cooper, Madame Marini, Connie Gilchrist, Mrs. Julius Benedict, and another lady. I need hardly remark that when we were all dining together we made a fairly large party. Poor Joe Aylesford was a great friend of mine ; he was a great big kindly warm-hearted man, the enemy of no one but himself, and eventu- ally he took it into his head that he would like to buy a ranch out in Texas, which he did. He went out there for a time to inspect it and see what life as a cowboy was like. While out there he unfor- tunately met with an accident and broke his leg ; blood poisoning set in, and was eventually the cause of his death. The evening before he left England he gave a dinner at his house in London, I myself A GLANCE INTO THE PAST 117 being one of the party. In the course of the even- ing he asked me to remain behind after all his guests had departed, as he wished to have a talk with me, which I did. He appeared to me to have a kind of presentiment of coming evil. After mak- ing me promise to befriend a certain person should the necessity arise during his absence, he then turned to me and said : " You were always keen on shooting. How would Packington and all the shooting for the season suit you? " I replied that nothing would suit me better, upon which he there and then gave me a letter to his steward at Pack- ington to that effect. Packington Hall, in War- wickshire, is a very large place, and the shooting is quite first-class. I could not, however, dream of occupying the house, which I could not afford to live in even if I had had the inclination. I there- fore, together with Dan and Clem Finch and a Mr. Honey wood, took up my abode at the inn at Bowden, on the outskirts of the Park, and this we made our headquarters for the season, during the whole of which we had the best of sport. About this time I took it into my head that I should like to possess a yacht, or at all events to hire one. A lady of my acquaintance told me of a 118 A GLANCE INTO THE PAST 500-ton steam yacht, which was at that time at Hull, and the owner of which was desirous of let- ting her for some three or four months. So to Hull I went, inspected the yacht, made up my mind to take her for three months, and paid the money. I ordered the yacht to be refitted and to join me at Southampton, at which port she duly arrived. In the meantime certain arrangements I had made respecting the party on the yacht fell through owing to circumstances which it is not necessary here to go into, with the result that I forwarded the necessary payments to the captain of my yacht, returned her to her owner at Hull, and have never seen her from that day to this, which was probably a fine piece of business for her owner, though a most unsatisfactory piece of extravagance on my part. I must now refer to a certain event in my life that took place about this time, and that may be described as the greatest tragedy of my career, namely, my secret marriage to my first wife, who was a Miss Scott, the daughter of Lena Lady Scott. Lady Scott herself was a very beautiful woman, and I had been her intimate friend since I was a lad of nineteen. She had two daughters, the elder A GLANCE INTO THE PAST 119 of whom became my wife, and the younger eventually married Lord Russell, and together with her mother figured largely in various proceed- ings in the King's Bench, in the Divorce Court, and at the Old Bailey. My own marriage with Miss Scott was dissolved by the Divorce Court on her petition, the Court granting her a decree of what is known as "Nullity of marriage ' ' on the ground of what is called "duress." I have no intention in these pages of breaking the silence that as a point of honour I imposed upon myself at the hearing of this famous law suit and that I have kept all these years. To a certain extent the reasons for that silence after- wards leaked out and became known more or less to everybody. But there was another reason that has never been known to anybody and never will be. It is sufficient for me to say that although I had a large number of witnesses present in Court and an immense number of most important letters, I refused to allow my leading counsel to call any of the former or to read a single one of the latter. When Mr. Justice Butt granted the decree, which he did after reserving his decision for several days, he made the following remark : " I feel that in this 120 A GLANCE INTO THE PAST case there is something which is being kept back from me."/ About a year after this tragedy in my life I got my reward, for I met my present dear wife and married her, and much as I had suffered in the past it was as nothing compared to the happiness that has since been mine. After our marriage my wife and I lived for a considerable time at Parish's Hotel, where she was most dangerously ill, and during her illness, when she was quite out of danger, as she was still suffering from sleeplessness, together with a return of pain, Dr. Duncombe con- sidered it necessary to give her opium. Whether the dose was rather strong or whatever else it was I do not know, but a strange thing happened. I had three friends dining with me that night, Lord Camoys, Sir Matthew Wood, and Mr. Frank Platt. We were dining in the private room of our suite. Out of this room a door opened into a very short passage that led into my wife's bedroom. We were in the middle of dinner when the communi- cating door was softly opened and my wife in her nightdress glided quietly into the room, her eyes wide open, with a kind of stony stare, her hands extended in front of her as though warding off A GLANCE INTO THE PAST 121 some sort of danger; she walked twice round the dining room table muttering to herself the whole of the time, " Yes, yes, I killed him. I shot the fox I shot the fox I shot the fox with my grand- father's gun." I signed to my guests to keep still, and rising from the table took her gently by the sleeve, drew her toward the bedroom door and led her to the bed. I then picked her up in my arms and laid her down without waking her up. The following morning she knew nothing whatever about it. I need hardly say that my wife was never guilty of the terrible crime of vulpecide, nor indeed of shooting anything else. The Mr. Platt I have mentioned as being one of my guests on that occasion was a most extra- ordinary man ; he was an American, universally known as President Platt, although nobody seemed to be quite clear as to what he was President of, which in no way prevented his getting to know a large number of influential people in London, with all of whom he was extremely popular. He was a kind-hearted genial sort of man, very well- informed and a most amusing companion. Some years afterwards I became acquainted with the whole of his history. It appears that together with 122 A GLANCE INTO THE PAST a friend of his, who was also an American, he char- tered a large steam yacht and went for an extended cruise, eventually landing on the Island of Samoa, which at a later period became so well known as the home of Stevenson. To this Island they both took a violent fancy, not only on account of its natural attractions but also because they thought they saw in it considerable commercial possibilities. They then and there annexed it. Frank Platt de- clared himself President of this new State, while his companion declared himself Secretary of State, Chancellor of the Exchequer, and a few other things. They proceeded to levy taxes on the native population, lived in great style, and had a high old time generally. Somehow or other news of this comic opera state reached the ears of the authori- ties in England, and a British cruiser was ordered to go round there and look into the matter. One morning the cruiser arrived, and having found out the exact position of affairs, they ordered Platt and his companion to clear out forthwith, which they refused to do. The cruiser eventually fired upon the yacht and sank her, and captured Platt 's com- panion, but Platt himself escaped. Nothing Daunted, Mr. Platt then instituted an action against A GLANCE INTO THE PAST 123 the British Government, claiming the sum of 300,000 damages for the loss of his island and the yacht. It was I believe shortly after this that his kindly face and heavy gold-rimmed spectacles beamed for the first time upon London. CHAPTER XII Portman Square. The Ardlamont mystery. Mr. Mon- son. Extraordinary Case of Mistaken Identity. AFTER a time my wife and I decided to leave Parish's Hotel, and took a fur- nished house in Upper Berkeley Street for a short time, finally moving thence to a house in Portman Square which we had re- cently purchased and where we continued to reside for some years. Shortly after we took possession of our new house occurred that extraordinary tragedy known as the Ardlamont mystery, which made such a sensation both in this country and in Scotland. It would be impossible for me to enter extensively into the facts of this extraordinary case ; briefly, however, they are as follows. A certain Mr. A. J. Monson, who was an Army crammer in Yorkshire, had among his pupils a lad 124 A GLANCE INTO THE PAST 125 named Eric Hambrough, who when he attained his majority would have become entitled to a valuable reversionary interest to considerable property com- ing to him upon his father's death. Young Ham- brough was I believe not on the best of terms with his father, and had been allowed to some extent to run loose. Monson had been extremely kind to him, whether from any ulterior motives or not I am quite unable to say, but the fact remained that he had. Ultimately young Hambrough looked to him for everything. I knew Mr. and Mrs. Monson and also two members of his family, namely, Lord Monson, once British Ambassador in Paris, and " Daddy " Monson, the very popular Secretary of Hurlingham Club. I had also met young Ham- brough on one occasion. One day toward the end of July Monson called upon me in London and informed me that he had rented a place in Scotland called Ardlamont for August and September and invited me to shoot with him, informing me at the same time that Eric Hambrough was to be one of the party. I however declined the invitation as I had already made other arrangements. Shortly after this he wrote to me from Scotland about something or other (I do not remember what), to which letter I replied. After this I heard no more 126 A GLANCE INTO THE PAST of Monson till one day I received a telegram from him " Am arrested on a charge of murder. Writing." I duly received a letter from him ex- plaining that he had been charged with the murder of young Eric Hambrough, by shooting him while they were both out shooting together in a wood a few days before. At the trial in Edinburgh, which lasted a week, and at which I was present, a verdict was brought in of " Not proven.'* I myself have always believed that Monson was innocent. I well remember that about a week after the trial was over I was sitting with my wife after dinner in the library of my house in Portman Square, together with a hospital nurse who had been nursing one of my children. It was a severe winter's night with a heavy snowstorm. We were discussing the case round the fire. The hospital nurse remarked : " I should be frightened to death anyhow if I were to meet that man." At that very moment the front door bell rang ; my butler opened the door and in walked Monson. I can see him now with the driv- ing snowstorm behind him, his face drawn, and very pale. He came forward and held out his hand to my wife, saying " I hope that you can take my hand and that you do not believe I am a murderer." As I have already remarked, we all firmly believed A GLANCE INTO THE PAST 127 in his innocence and therefore did all we could to reassure him ; he sat before the fire and told us of all he had suffered and that he was leaving Eng- land. I have never seen or heard of him from that day to this. Talking of circumstantial evidence reminds me of a case that shows how extremely dangerous evidence of this kind may be. The story I am about to relate is, I believe, the most remarkable instance of this on record, and was related to me by my friend Mr. Michael Fenton, whose father in his capacity of Crown Prosecutor for the County of Sligo had the conduct of the prosecution. It appears that on a certain date (which I do not re- member) a murder was committed in Sligo, and the police had the very best of reasons for suspect- ing that a man named Tommy White was the mur- derer. On the night of the murder he disappeared from Sligo. This man had a cast in one eye, and his left arm had a rather prominent tattoo mark. These marks of his identity as well as of his general appearance were of course fully set out in a descrip- tion that was circulated by the police all over Great Britain and Ireland. Some time elapsed, if my memory is correct I think it was many months, perhaps more when a policeman walking in 128 A GLANCE INTO THE PAST Liverpool, or in one of its outskirts, saw a man walking toward him who exactly answered to the description of the wanted man. After he had passed him he turned round and followed him, and coming up close beside him, he said " Good even- ing, Mr. White." The man turned round imme- diately and admitted that his name was Thomas White, that he came from Sligo, and had left that county shortly after the date on which the murder was committed. He was taken to the Police Station and charged, and it was noticed that he had a cast in his eye and a tattoo mark on his left arm. He was sent to Sligo and formally committed for trial, strongly professing his innocence. It was eventually proved up to the hilt that he was the wrong man ! It was also proved that the other Tommy White the real criminal had sailed on a certain ship for America, had been seen and had posted two letters out there only two or three days before the innocent Tommy White was arrested in Liverpool. CHAPTER XIII Moneylenders I have known. A woman moneylender. An intricate deal. The ethics of moneylending. A man attempts to shoot me and then impersonates my brother in Australia. 1 was at this time in London a cer- tain man, a Polish Jew, who settled himself in the West End as a money- lender. I have at various periods of my life had a great deal to do with London money- lenders, but have no hesitation in saying that I have never met the equal in some respects of this par- ticular gentleman. He always began the day with a long spell of prayer, and if you came to his office before a certain hour you would be told, " Hush, Mr. is praying." Whenever I received this information I knew that the interest would be extra hot. He had in his employment a confidential clerk, who was in his way almost as great a character as 129 9 130 A GLANCE INTO THE PAST his employer, and who was quite as particular about getting drunk regularly every morning as his master was about his devotions ; in fact, when his master wanted him to write a business letter to a client he used, as a matter of course, to send for him to a neighbouring public house. One day a friend of mine, who knew that I had had considerable experience of the little ways of moneylenders, asked me to call on Mr. who was threatening pro- ceedings against him. I promised my friend that I would be his ambassador, and accordingly on the following morning presented myself at Mr. 's office, and I must say I found him fairly amenable to reason, and was just coming to a satisfactory arrangement about my friend's affairs when I heard a heavy and uncertain step stumbling up the stair- case, the door of Mr. 's private room was violently thrown open and in lurched the confi- dential clerk, who was most confidentially drunk in fact, more so than usual. Mr. regarded his intoxicated employe with a look of pained surprise as though this was altogether some new phase which he had never encountered before. " Vy, Mr. you are drunk ! " he exclaimed (as if that worthy had ever been anything else), upon which his clerk lurched toward him, first chucked him under the A GLANCE INTO THE PAST 131 chin and then proceeded to kiss him on both cheeks. This was too much for Mr. . The little man felt that his reputation was at stake. He first seized a large London Directory, which he hurled at the head of his confidential clerk, and then seiz- ing his own brand new top hat which he had pur- chased the day before, he placed it on the floor and jumped on it, though how on earth this would punish anybody but himself I never could make out. Possibly it was some sort of secret sign between them of the breaking off of all diplomatic relations ; if so, it had its effect, for his clerk at this point had seated himself at his master's writing table, in his master's best chair, his head resting on his hands, and with his voice choked with sobs he was singing, "Little Darling come and kiss me, kiss me once before I die." There was a pause, and then up got the clerk and once more folded Mr. to his bosom weeping copious tears on his shoulder. All this was not conducive to business and a terrible thought flashed through my mind that he might possibly take it into his head to kiss me, as well as his master. I fled, but when I got safely down into the street I was so convulsed with laughter that I was nearly hysterical. This confidential clerk had a wife who was 182 A GLANCE INTO THE PAST possessed of the same weakness and the same fond- ness for the bottle as her husband. One morning he remarked to me to my great surprise, " Ah, Mary just loves you. She's just longing to meet you." I remarked that I had never yet had the pleasure of the lady's acquaintance. Some three weeks afterwards when I was standing in the hall of the Berkeley Hotel where I happened to be stay- ing at the moment, it being then about lunch time and the hall full of people, who should lurch through the entrance door but the confidential clerk, who approaching me exclaimed in excited tones, " Mary is outside, and is coming in to see you." He was himself in his usual condition. I looked quickly through the door of the hotel into the street, and there beheld Mary. She was lean- ing against the wall of Devonshire House staring blankly at the hotel, her bonnet was cocked on one side and she was in precisely the same condition as her husband. I made one dash for the lavatory of the hotel and having arrived there shut myself in until a friendly porter came to me and informed me that the coast was clear. Talking of moneylenders and money lending reminds me that I have something to say on the subject generally. So far as the professional A GLANCE INTO THE PAST 133 moneylenders themselves are concerned I have no hesitation in saying that some of them are the most unmitigated scoundrels. On the other hand, there are others who are perfectly straightforward fair- dealing men, who treat their clients very well so long as their clients treat them in the same way. I am, however, now not speaking so much about the personal character and methods of the individual moneylenders as I am about money-lending in the abstract. I am prepared to argue that money- lending is quite as respectable a business, provided it is conducted in a respectable way, as any other business in the world. There are two sides to a contract. Money is a marketable commodity, and is worth exactly whatever it will fetch, precisely the same as any other commodity. It is, moreover, the commodity, the possession of which enables people to convey to themselves all other commodities. Why then attempt to place a limit on the price of one commodity (and that the most important) and ignore entirely the huge profits which are made on most of the others? Why call the West End tradespeople, who frequently sell their goods at