LIBRARY
THE UNIVERSITY
OE CALIFORNIA
SANTA BARBARA
PRESENTED BY
MRS. HENRY ADAMS
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FIFTY-ONE YEARS
OF VICTORIAN LIFE
BY THE DOWAGER
COUNTESS OF JERSEY
NEW YORK
E. P. DUTTON AND COMPANY
1922
DEDICATED
TO
MY CHILDREN
AND
GRANDCHILDREN
Printed in Great Britain by
Bazell, Watson & Viney, Ld., London and Aylesbury.
JL
"What is this child of man that can conquer
Time and that is braver than Love ?
Even Memory."
LOED DUNSANY.
Though " a Sorrow's Crown of Sorrow "
Be • remembering happier things,"
Present joy will shine the brighter
If our morn a radiance flings.
We perchance may thwart the future
If we will not look before,
And upon a past which pains us
We may fasten Memory's door.
But we will not, cannot, banish
Bygone pleasure from our side.
Nor will doubt, beyond the storm-cloud,
Shall bo Light at Eventide.
M. E. J.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I
AN EARLY VICTORIAN CHILD
The Duke of Wellington — Travelling in the Fifties — Governesses —
" Mrs. Gailey " — Queen Victoria at Stoneleigh — A narrow escape — Life
at Stoneleigh — Rectors and vicars — Theatricals . . pp. 1-22
CHAPTER II
A VICTORIAN GIRL
Mantone — Genoa — Trafalgar veterans — Lord Muncaster and Greek
brigands — The Grosvenor family — Uncles and aunts — Confirmation —
" Coming out " — Ireland — Killarney — The O'Donoghuo — Mj'ths and
legends — The giant Benadadda ..... pp. 23-50
CHAPTER III
MARRIAGE
Fanny Kemble — An old-fashioned Cliristmas — A pre-matrimonial
party — Fonthill Abbey — Engagement — Married to Lord Jersey pp. 61-64
CHAPTER IV
V EARLY MARRIED LIFE
Lord Jersey's mother — In London — Isola Bella, Oannos — Oxfordshire
neighbours — Cuversfiold Church — Life at Middloton — Mr. Dinriicli —
Froudo and KingHloy — JaiiioM Kussoll Lowell — T. liughoH and J. K. Lowoll
— Mr. Gladjitono on Immortality — Thought-reading — Tom Hughos and
Rugby, Tonne— ee — Cardinal Newman .... pp. 05-93
vii
viii CONTENTS
CHAPTER V
BERLIN AND THE JUBILEE OF 1887
Sarah Bernhardt— Death of Gilbert Leigh — In Italy, 1884 — Court Ball
in Berlin — The Crown Prince Frederick — ^Prinee Bismarck — Conversation
with Bismarck — Bismarck and Lord Salisbury — Thanksgiving Service —
Trials of Court Ofificials — The Naval Review — Knowsley — Apotheosis
of the Queen PP. 94-121
CHAPTER VI
GHOST STORIES AND TRAVELS IN GREECE
Lord Halsbury's ghost story — The ghostly reporter — A Jubilee
sermon — Marathon — Miss Tricoupi — Nauplia — The Lauritun Mines —
Hadji Petros — Olympia — Zante pp. 122-140
CHAPTER VII
VOYAGE TO INDIA — HYDERABAD
Mr. Joseph Chamberlain — Departure for India — Colonel Olcott and
Professor Max Miiller — Sir Samuel Baker — Mahableshwar — H. H, the
Aga Khan — Rapes at Hyderabad — -H.H. the Nizam of Hyderabad —
Purdah ladies — Breakfast in a zenana .... pp. 141-161
CHAPTER VIII
MADRAS, CALCUTTA, AND BENARES
Brahmin philosophers — Faith of educated Hindus — Theosophists at
Adyar — The Ranees of Travancore — The Princesses of Tanjore — "The
Heart of Montrose " — The Palace of Madura — Rous Peter's Sacred Door
— Loyalty of native Indians — Passengers on the Pundua — The Brahmo
Somaj — Maharajah of Benares — Marriages of infants and widows
pp. 162-187
CHAPTER IX
NORTHERN INDIA AND JOURNEY HOME
The Relief of Lucknow — View from the Kotab Minar — Sekundra and
Futtehpore Sekree — ^The legend of Krislma — The Jains — The Mahara-
jah of Bhownuggar — Baroda — English as Lingua Franca — Meditations
of a Western wanderer — An English plimi-pudding — The Greek Royal
Family — Original derivations ...... pp. 188-211
CONTENTS ix
CHAPTER X
WINDSOR — EGYPT AND SYRIA
Dinner at Windsor — Voyago up the Nile — Choucry Pasha, Princess
Nazli — The Pigmies — Inn of the Good Samaritan — The Holy City —
Balbec — Damascus, Lady Ellen borough — Oriental methods of trade —
Sm>Tna — Constantinople — The Selamlik — The Orient Express — Story of
a picture ......... pp. 212-239
CHAPTER XI
FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF AUSTRALIA
War Office red tape — Balmoral — Farewell to England — Voyage on
the Arcadia — The Federation Convention — The delegates — The Blue
Mountains — Sir Alfred Stephen — Domestic Conditions — Correspondence
with Lord Derby — Labour Legislation — The Ex-Kaiser — Lord Derby's
poem .......... pp. 240-265
CHAPTER XII
FURTHER niPRESSIONS OF AUSTRALIA — NEW ZEALAND
AND NEW CALEDONIA
Yarrangobilly Cavea — Dunedin — The New Zealand Sounds — Hot
Springs of New Zealand — Huia Onslow — Noumea — The Governor of New
Caledonia — The Convict Settlement — Convicts in former days — Death of
Lord Ancram pp. 206-280
CHAPTER XIII
TONGA AND SAMOA
Tongan ladies — Arrival at Apia — Of^rman plantations — R. L. Stevenson
— King Malifitoa — Tlie Enchantod Forest — King Matuafa — The Kava
Ceremony— A native duno<j — Missionaries — Samoan mythology — Desiro
for Elnglish protection — Visit from Tamauese — An Object of Pity —
Courage of R. L. StovoQsoa .... . . pp. 287-318
X CONTENTS
CHAPTER XIV
DEPARTURE FROM AUSTRALIA — CHINA AND JAPAN
Bushrangers — Oircumstantial evidence — The Great Barrier Reef —
Coloured labour — Hong-Kong — Canton — The Viceroy of Canton —
Japanese scenery — Interview with the Empress — The Sacred Mirror of
the Sun Goddess — Christianity in Japan — Daimios of old Japan — Japanese
friends pp. 319-345
CHAPTER XV
JOURNEY HOME — THE NILE — LORD KITCHENER
The well-forged link of Empire — Columbus discovers America — The
Mayor cuts his hair — The pageant " America " — Back at Osterley — The
dahabyah Herodotus — Escape of Slatin Pasha — How a King and an
Arab evaded orders — The Dervishes — Lord Kitchener . pp. 346-368
CHAPTER XVI
DIAMOND JUBILEE AND DEATH OF QUEEN VICTORIA
Mr. Chamberlain, Colonial Secretary — The Queen at Temple Bar —
The South African War — Indian princesses — Lord and Lady Northoote
— The Victoria League — Mr. Chamberlain's letter . . pp. 369-383
Index pp. 385-392
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Margaret, Cou>'TESs of Jersey (photogravure) Froiitispiece
After the portrait 6y EUit Robert* at Otterley Park.
wkcma PAOB
Stoneleigii Abbey . . . . . .18
The Library, Middleton Park .... 68
From a photograph by the prettnt Counteis oj Jeriey.
MiDDLETON Park ....... 68
From a photograph by the present Countess o] Jersey.
OsTERLEY Park .....•• 238
From a photograph by W . U. Orote.
Group at Middleton Park, Christmas, 1904 . 370
XI
FIFTY-ONE YEARS
OF VICTORIAN LIFE
CHAPTER I
AN EARLY VICTORIAN CHILD
I WAS born at Stoneleigh Abbey on October 29tli, 1849.
My father has told me that immediately afterwards
— I suppose next day — I was held up at the window for
the members of the North Warwickshire Hunt to drink
my health. I fear that their kind wishes were so far
of no avail that I never became a sportswoman, though
I always lived amongst keen followers of the hounds.
For many years the first meet of the season was held at
Stoneleigh, and large hospitality extended to the
gentlemen and farmers within the Abbey and to the
crowd without. Almost anyone could get bread and
cheese and beer outside for the asking, till at last some
limit had to be placed when it was reported that special
trains were being run from Birmingham to a neighbouring
town to enable the populace to attend this sporting
carnival at my father's expense. He was a splendid
man and a fearless rider while health and strength
permitted — rather too fearless at times — and among
the many applicants for his bounty were men who based
their claims to assistance on the alleged fact that they
had picked up Lord Leigh after a fall out hunting.
It was always much more difficult to restrain him from
giving than to induce him to give.
1
2 AN EARLY VICTORIAN CHILD [ch. i
My mother, a daughter of Lord Westminster, told me
that from the moment she saw him she had never any
doubt as to whom she would marry. No wonder.
He was exceptionally handsome and charming, and
I believe he was as prompt in falling in love with her
as she confessed to having been with him. An old
relative who remembered their betrothal told me that
she knew what was coming when Mr. Leigh paid £5 for
some trifle at a bazaar where Lady Caroline Grosvenor
was selling. The sole reason for recording this is to note
that fancy bazaars were in vogue so long ago as 1848.
My mother was only twenty when she married, and
very small and pretty. I have heard that soon after
their arrival at Stoneleigh my father gave great satis-
faction to the villagers, who were eagerly watching
to see the bride out walking, by lifting his little wife in
his arms and carrying her over a wet place in the
road. This was typical of his unfailing devotion through
fifty- seven years of married life — a devotion which she
returned in full measure.
I was the eldest child of the young parents, and as
my grandfather, Chandos Lord Leigh, was then alive,
our home for a short time was at Adlestrop House in
Gloucestershire, which also belonged to the family ; but
my grandfather died and we moved to Stoneleigh
when I was far too young to remember any other home.
In those days we drove by road from one house to the
other, and on one occasion my father undertook to
convey my cradle in his dog- cart, in the space under
the back seat usually allotted to dogs. In the middle
of a village the door of this receptacle flew open and
the cradle shot out into the road, slightly embarrassing
to a very young man.
About the earliest thing I can recollect was seeing
THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON 3
the Crystal Palace Building when in Hyde Park. I
do not suppose that I was taken inside, but 1 distinctly
remember the great glittering glass Palace when I was
driving with my mother. Of course we had pictures of
the Great Exhibition and heard plenty about it, but
oddly enough one print that impressed me most was
a French caricature which represented an Englishman
distributing the prizes to an expectant throng with
words to this effect : " Ladies and Gentlemen, some
intrusive foreigners have come over to compete with
our people and have had the impertinence to make
some things better than we do. You will, however,
quite understand that none of the prizes will be given
to these outsiders." It was my earliest lesson in
doubting the lasting effects of attempts to unite rival
countries in any League of Nations.
Somewhere about this time I had the honour of
being presented to the great Duke of Wellington in
the long Gallery (now, alas ! no more) at Grosvenor
House. I do not remember the incident, but he was
the Hero in those days, and I was told it so often that
I felt as it I could recall it. My father said he kissed
me, but my mother's more modest claim was that he
shook hands.
My parents were each endowed with nine brothers
and sisters — i.e. my father was one of ten who all lived
till past middle life, my mother was one of thirteen of
whom ten attained a full complement of years. In-
deed, when my parents celebrated their golden wedding
they had sixteen brothers and sisters still alive. As
almost all these uncles and aunts married and most of
them had large families, it will be readily believed that
we did not lack cousins, and the long Gallery was a
eplendid gatliering-place for the ramiiications of the
4 AN EARLY VICTORIAN CHILD [ch. i
Grosvenor side of our family. Apart from the imposing
pictures, it was full of treasures, such as a miniature
crystal river which flowed when wound up and had
little swans swimming upon it. It was here, later on
in my girlhood, that I saw the first Japanese Embassy
to England, stately Daimios or Samurai in full native
costume and with two swords — a great joy to all of
us children.
To go back to early recollections — my next clear
impression is of the Crimean War and knitting a pair
of red mufietees for the soldiers. Plenty of " com-
forts " were sent out even in those days. Sir George
Higginson once told me that when boxes of miscellaneous
gifts arrived it was the custom to hold an auction.
On one occasion among the contents were several
copies of Boyle's Court Guide and two pairs of ladies'
stays ! So useful ! The latter were bestowed upon
the French vivandiere. No W.A.A.C.s then to benefit.
After the Crimean War came the Indian Mutiny,
and our toy soldiers represented English and Sepoys
instead of English and Russians. Children in each
generation I suppose follow wars by their toys. Despite
the comradeship of English and French in the Crimea,
I do not believe that we ever quite ceased to regard
France as the hereditary foe. A contemporary cousin
was said to have effaced France from the map of
Europe ; I do not think we were quite so daring.
In all, I rejoiced in five brothers and two sisters, but
the fifth brother died at fourteen months old before
our youngest sister was born. His death was our first
real sorrow and a very keen one. Long before that,
however, when we were only three children, Gilbert,
the brother next to me, a baby sister Agnes, and my-
self, our adventurous parents took us to the South of
TRAVELLING IN THE FIFTIES 5
France. I was four years old at tlie time and the
existence of a foreign land was quite a new light to
me. I well remember running into the nursery and
triumphantly exclaiming, " There is a country called
France and I am going there ! "
My further recollections are vague until we reached
Lyons, where the railway ended and our large travel-
ling carriage brought from England was put on a boat
— steamer, I suppose — and thus conveyed to Avignon.
Thence we drove, sleeping at various towns, until we
reached Mentone, where we spent some time, and I
subsequently learnt that we were then the only English
in the place. I think that my parents were very brave
to take about such young children, but I suppose the
experiment answered pretty well, as a year later they
again took Gilbert and me to France — this time to
Normandy, where I spent my sixth birthday, saw the
great horses dragging bales of cotton along the quays
at Rouen, and was enchanted with the ivory toys at
Dieppe.
I think that people who could afford it travelled
more in former days than is realised. Both my grand-
parents made prolonged tours with most of their elder
children. My grandfather Westminster took my mother
and her elder sisters in his yacht to Constantinople and
Rome. My mother well remembered some of her
experiences, including purchases from a Turkish shop-
keeper who kept a large cat on his counter and served
various comestibles with his hands, wiping them be-
tween each Hale on the animal's fur. At Rome she
told me how she and one of her sisters, girls of some
twelve and thirteen years old, used to wander out alone
into the Campagna in the early morning, wjiich seems
very strange in view of the stories of restraint placed
2
6 AN EARLY VICTORIAN CHILD [ch. i
upon children in bygone days. As to my grandfather
Leigh, I believe he travelled with his family for about
two years, to Switzerland, France and the North of
Italy. They had three carriages, one for the parents,
one for the schoolroom, and one for the nursery. A
courier escorted them, and an a vant- courier rode on
in front with bags of five- franc pieces to secure lodgings
when they migrated from one place to another. On
one occasion on the Riviera they met the then Grand
Duke Constantine, who thrust his head out of the
window and exclaimed " Toute Angleterre est en
route ! "
After our return from Normandy we were placed in
charge of a resident governess, a young German, but
as far as I can recollect she had very little control
over us. We discovered that the unlucky girl, though
of German parentage, had been born in Russia, and
with the unconscious cruelty of children taunted her
on this account. Anyhow her stay was short, and
she was succeeded about a year later by an English-
woman, Miss Custarde, who kept us in very good order
and stayed till she married when I was fourteen. Her
educational efforts were supplemented by masters and
mistresses during the London season and by French
resident governesses in the winter months, but I do
not think that we were at all overworked.
I doubt whether Miss Custarde would have been
considered highly educated according to modern stan-
dards, but she was very good in teaching us to look
up information for ourselves, which was just as useful
as anything else. Her strongest point was music, but
that she could not drive into me, and my music lessons
were a real penance to teacher and pupil alike. She
would give me lectures during their progress on such
GOVERNESSES 7
topics as the Parable of the Talents — quite ignoring
the elementary fact that though I could learn most of
my lessons quickly enough I had absolutely no talent
for music. She was, however, a remarkable woman
with great influence, not only over myself, but over
my younger aunts and over other men and women.
She was very orderly, and proud of that quality, but
she worked too much on my conscience, making me
regard trivial faults as actual sins which prevented her
from kissing me or showing me affection — an ostracism
which generally resulted in violent fits of penitence.
She had more than one admirer before she ended by
marrying a schoolmaster, with whom she used to take
long walks in the holidays. One peculiarity was that
she would give me sketches of admirers and get me to
write long stories embodying their imaginary adven-
tures. I suppose these were shown as great jokes to
the heroes and their friends. Of course she did not
think I knew the " inwardness " of her various friend-
ships, equally of course as time went on I understood
them perfectly. Miss Custarde is not the only gover-
ness I have known who acquired extraordinary influ-
ence over her pupils. In Marcel Prevost's novel Anges
Gardiens, which represents the dangers to French
families of engaging foreign governesses, he makes the
Belgian, Italian, and German women all to a greater
or less extent immoral, but the Englishwoman, though
at least as detestable as the others, is not immoral ;
the great evil which she inflicts on the family which
engages her is the absolute power which she acquires
over her pupil. The whole book is very unfair and
M. J'revost seems to overlook the slur which he casts
on his own countrymen, as none of the men appear able
to resist the wiles of the sirens engaged to look after
8 AN EARLY VICTORIAN CHILD [ch. i
the girls of their families ; but it is odd that he should
realise the danger of undue influence and attribute it
only to the Englishwoman. Why should this be a
characteristic of English governesses — supposing his
experience (borne out by my own) to be typical ? Is
it an Englishwoman's love of power and faculty for
concentration on the object which she wishes to attain ?
We liked several of our foreign governesses well
enough, but they exercised no particular influence —
and as a rule their engagements were only temporary.
I do not think that Miss Custarde gave them much
opportunity of ascendancy. With one her relations
were so strained that the two ladies had their suppers
at different tables in the schoolroom, and when the
Frenchwoman wanted the salt she rang the bell for the
schoolroom-maid to bring it from her English colleague's
table. However, I owed a great deal to Miss Custarde
and know that her affection for all of us was very real.
She died in the autumn of 1920, having retained all
her faculties till an advanced age.
After all no human being could compete with our
mother in the estimation of any of her children. Small
and fragile and often suffering from ill- health, she had
almost unbounded power over everyone with whom
she came in contact, and for her to express an opinion
on any point created an axiom from which there was
no appeal. As middle-aged men and women we have
often laughed over the way in which we have still
accepted " mama said " so-and-so as a final verdict.
As children our faith not only in her wisdom but in her
ability was unlimited. I remember being regarded as
almost a heretic by the younger ones because I ven-
tured to doubt whether she could make a watch. Vainly
did I hedge by asserting that I was certain that if she
"MRS. GAILEY" 9
had learnt she could make the most beautiful watch
in the world — I had infringed the" first article of family
faith by thinking that there was anything which she
could not do by the uninstructed light of nature. She
was a good musician, and a really excellent amateur
artist — her water-colour drawings charming. Her know-
ledge of history made it delightful to read aloud to her,
as she seemed as if the heroes and heroines of bygone
times had been her personal acquaintance. Needless to
say her personal care for everyone on my father's pro-
perty was untiring, and the standard of the schools in
the various villages was maintained at a height un-
common in days when Education Acts were not so
frequent and exacting as in later years.
Another great character in our home was our old
nurse. For some reason she was never called Nanna,
but always " Mrs. Gailey." The daughter of a small
tradesman, she was a woman of some education — she
had even learnt a little French and had been a con-
siderable reader. Though a disciple of Spurgeon, she
had lived as nurse with my mother's cousin the Duke
of Norfolk in the days when the girls of the family
w^ere Protestants though the boys were Roman Catholics.
When the Duchess (daughter of Lord Lyons) went over
to the Roman Church the Protestant nurse's position
became untenable, as the daughters had to follow their
mother. She told us that this was a great distress at
first to the eldest girl Victoria (afterwards Hope-Scott),
for at twelve years old she was able to feel the uprooting
of her previous faith. The other sisters were too young
to mind, (luih.'y's idol, however, was Lord Maltravers
(the late Duke), who nmst have been as attractive a
boy as he became deliglitful a man.
Gailey came to us when I was about four, my first
10 AN EARLY VICTORIAN CHILD [ch. i
nurse, who had been my wet-nurse, having married the
coachman. Our first encounter took place when I was
already in my cot, and I announced to her that if she
stayed a hundred years I should not love her as I had
done " Brownie." " And if I stay a hundred years,'*
was the repartee, " I shall not love you as I did the
little boy I have just left " — so we started fair. Never-
theless she was an excellent nurse and a fascinating
companion. She could tell stories by the hour and
knew all sorts of old-fashioned games which we played
in the nursery on holiday afternoons.
The great joy of the schoolroom children was to join
the little ones after tea and to sit in a circle while she
told us either old fairy tales, or more frequently her
own versions of novels which she had read and of which
she changed the names and condensed the incidents in
a most ingenious manner. On Sunday evenings Pil-
grim's Progress in her own words was substituted for
the novels. Miss Custarde could inflict no greater
punishment for failure in our " saying lessons " than to
keep us out of the nursery. Gailey stayed with us till
some time after my marriage and then retired on a
pension.
The Scottish housekeeper, Mrs. Wallace, was also a
devoted friend and a great dispenser of cakes, ices, and
home-made cowslip and ginger wine. Rose-water,
elder-flower water, and all stillroom mysteries found
an expert in her, and she even concocted mead from an
old recipe. Few people can have made mead in this
generation — it was like very strong rather sweet beer.
We all loved " Walley " — but she failed us on one
occasion. Someone said that she had had an uncle
who had fought at Waterloo, so we rushed to her room
to question her on this hero's prowess. " What did
QUEEN VICTORIA AT STONELEIGH 11
your uncle do at Waterloo ? " The reply was cautious
and rather chilling : " I believe he hid behind his horse."
She looked after all our dogs and was supposed to sleep
with eight animals and birds in her room.
In the summer of 1858 a great event occurred in
the annals of Stoneleigh. Queen Victoria stayed at
my father's for two nights in order to open Aston Hall
and Park, an old Manor House and property, which had
belonged to the Bracebridge family and had been
secured for the recreation of the people of Birmingham.
Naturally there was great excitement at the prospect.
For months beforehand workmen were employed in
the renovation and redecoration of the Abbey and its
precincts. Many years afterwards an ex-coachpainter
met one of my sons and recalled to him the glorious
days of preparation for Her Majesty's visit. " Even
the pigsties were painted, sir," said he.
Stoneleigh is a large mass of buildings — parts of the
basement remain from the original Abbey of the Cis-
tercian monks. On these was built a picturesque house
about the beginning of the seventeenth century, early
in the eighteenth century a large mansion was added
in the classical Italian style, and about a hundred years
later a new wing was erected to unite the two portions.
The old Abbey Church stood in what is now a lawn
between the house and the ancient Gateway, which
bears the arms of Henry II. To put everything in
order was no light task. The rooms for the Queen and
Prince Consort were enclosed on one side of the corridor
leading to them by a temporary wall, and curtained
off where the corridor led to the main staircase. In
additi(jn to every other preparation, the outline of tlie
guUiway, the main front of the house, and some of the
ornamental flower-beds were traced out with little
12 AN EARLY VICTORIAN CHILD [ch. i
lamps — I think there were 22,000 — which were lighted
at night with truly fairy-like effect. By that time we
were five children — the house was crowded in every
nook and corner with guests, servants, and attendants
of all kinds. Somehow my brother Gilbert and I were
stowed away in a room with two or three maids, but
the " little ones," Agnes and two small brothers Dudley
and Rupert, were sent to the keeper's house in the Deer-
park. That house was a delightful old-world building
standing on a hill with a lovely view, and we were
occasionally sent there for a day or two's change of air,
to our great joy.
On the occasion of the Royal Visit, however, Gilbert
and I quite realised our privilege in being kept in the
Abbey and allowed to stand with our mother and other
members of the family to welcome the Queen as the
carriage clattered up with its escort of Yeomanry. My
father had, of course, met Her Majesty at the station.
The Queen was more than gracious and at once won
the hearts of the children — but we did not equally appre-
ciate the Prince Consort. Assuredly he was excellent,
but he was very stiff and reserved, and I suppose that
we were accustomed to attentions from our father's
guests which he did not think fit to bestow upon us,
though the Queen gave them in ample measure.
We were allowed to join the large party of guests
after dinner, and either the first or the second evening
witnessed with interest and amusement the presenta-
tion of the country neighbours to the Queen. Having
been carefully instructed as to our own bows and
curtsies, we naturally became very critical of the
" grown-up " salutations, particularly when one nervous
lady on passing the royal presence tossed her head
back into the air by way of reverence. I think the
THE PRINCE CONSORT 13
same night my father escorted the Queen into the
garden in front of the house, which was separated
from part of the Park by a stone balustrade. In this
park-ground several thousand people had assembled
who spontaneously broke into " God save the Queen "
when she appeared. Fortunately the glorious hot
summer night (July) was ideal for the greeting.
One morning our small sister and brothers were
brought to the Abbey " to be presented.'' Agnes made
a neat little curtsv, though we unkindlv asserted that
it was behind the Queen's back, but the baby boys
were overcome by shyness and turned away from the
Queen's kisses. Unfortunate children ! they were never
allowed to forget this !
Poor Prince Consort lost his last chance of good
feeling from Gilbert and myself when he and the Queen
went to plant memorial trees. We rushed forward to
be in time to see the performance, but he sternly swept
us from the royal path. No doubt he was justified in
bidding us " stand back," but he might have remem-
bered that we were children, and his host's children,
and done it more gently.
I shall refer to our dear Queen later on, but may
here insert a little incident of her childhood which
came to my knowledge accidentally. In the village
belonging to my married home, Middleton Stoney,
there was a middle-aged policeman's wife who culti-
vated long ringlets on either side of her face. She
once confided to me that as a child she had had beau-
tiful curls, and that, living near Kensington Palace,
they had on one occasion been cut off to make " riding
curls " for Princess (afterwards Queen) Victoria, who
had lost her own hair — temporarily — from an illness.
The child had not liked this at all, though she had been
14 AN EARLY VICTORIAN CHILD [ch. i
given some of the Princess's hair as an equivalent. I
imagine that her parents received more substantial
payment.
Our childhood was varied by a good deal of migra-
tion. We were regularly taken each year about May
to our father's London house, 37 Portman Square,
where we entertained our various cousins at tea-parties
and visited them in return. We were generally taken
in the autumn to some seaside place such as Brighton,
Hastings, Rhyl, or the Isle of Wight. We estimated
the merits of each resort largely according to the
amount of sand which it afforded us to dig in, and I
think Shanklin in the Isle of Wight took the foremost
place in our afiections.
Two years, however, had specially delightful autumns,
for in each of these our father took a moor in Scotland
— once Kingairloch and the second time Strontian.
On each occasion I accompanied my parents ; to
Kingairloch, Gilbert (Gilly he was always called) came
also — the second year he spent half the time with us
and then returned to his tutor and Agnes, and Dudley
took his place for the remainder of our stay. How we
enjoyed the fishing, bathing in the loch, and paddling
in the burns ! Everyone who has spent the shooting
season in Scotland knows all about it, and our experi-
ences, though absolutely delightful, did not differ much
from other people's. These visits were about 1860 and
1861. The railroad did not extend nearly so far as at
present and the big travelling- carriage again came into
play. One day it had with considerable risk to be
conveyed over four ferries and ultimately to be driven
along a mountainous road after dark. As far as I
remember we had postilions — certainly the charioteer
or charioteers had had as much whisky as was good
A NARROW ESCAPE 15
for them, with the result that the back wheels of the
heavy carriage went right over the edge of a precipice.
The servants seated behind the carriage gave themselves
over for lost- — we children were half- asleep inside and
unconscious of our peril, when the horses made a
desperate bound forward and dragged the carriage back
on to the road. We were taken later to see the place
with the marks of the wheels still plain on the rocky
edge — and young as we were could quite realise what
we had escaped. Both shooting lodges were situated
in the midst of the lovely mountain scenery of North
Argyllshire, possibly Kingairloch was the more beau-
tiful of the two. One day from dawn to eve the moun-
tains echoed and re-echoed with the plaintive bleating
of flocks, and we were told that it was because the
lambs were taken from their mothers. I still possess
some verses which my mother wrote on that occasion,
and transcribe them to show that she had a strong
poetic as well as artistic vein :
" Far over the mountains and over the corries
Echoed loud wailings and bleat ings the day
\\ lien from the side of the mothers that loved them
The lambs at Kingairloch were taken away.
" Vainly, poor mothers, ye watch in the valley
The nook where your little ones gambolled before,
Vainly ye climb to the heights of the mountains —
They answer you not, and shall answer no more !
" Never again from that stream-silvered hill-side,
Seeking fresh gra&s betwixt harebell and heather.
Shall you and your lambkins look back on Loch Corry,
Watching the flight of the Hca-biid together.
*' No more, when the storm, striking chords on the mountains,
Drives down the thick mists their tall Hunimits to hide,
Shall you give the swetit gift of a mother's jjrotection
To the Huft little creatures crouched down by your Hide.
16 AN EARLY VICTORIAN CHILD [ch. i
" Past the sweet peril ! and gone the sweet pleasure ! —
Well might the echoes tell sadly that day
The plaint of the mothers that cried at Kingairloch
The day that the lambs were taken away."
Visits to Scotland included sojourns at Ardgowan, the
home of our uncle and aunt Sir Michael and Lady
Octavia Shaw-Stewart on the Clyde, Aunt Occy, as
we called her, was probably my mother's favourite
sister — in any case her children were our favourite
cousins on the Grosvenor side, and we loved our many
visits to Ardgowan both when we went to the moors
and in after years. There were excursions on the hills
and bathing in the salt-water of the Clyde, fishing from
boats, and shells to be collected on the beach. Also
my uncle had a beautiful yacht in which he took us
expeditions towards Arran and to Loch Long from
which we were able to go across the mountain pass to
Loch Lomond.
My grandmother Lady Leigh died in 1860, before
which time she used to pay lengthened visits to Stone-
leigh accompanied by three or four unmarried daughters.
She was a fine handsome old lady. Her hair had turned
white when she was about thirty-two, but, as old ladies
did in those days, she wore a brown front with a black
velvet band. She had a masterful temper and held her
daughters in considerable awe, but, after the manner
of grandparents, was very kind to us. I fancy that so
many unmarried sisters-in-law may have been a slight
trial to my mother, but we regarded our aunts as addi-
tional playfellows bound to provide us with some kind
of amusement. The favourite was certainly " Aunt
Georgy," the youngest daughter but one. She had an
unfailing flow of spirits, could tell stories and join in
games, and never objected to our invasion of her room
LIFE AT STOXELEIGH 17
at any time. Poor " Aunt Giissie " (Augusta) was less
fortunate : she had bad health and would scold us to
make us aiTectionate — an unsuccessful method to say
the least of it — the natural result was, I fear, that we
teased her whenever opportunity offered. Aunt Georgie
was very good-looking and I believe much admired.
She did not, however, marry till she was about forty.
A Colonel Newdigate, whose runaway horse she had
stopped when quite a girl, had fallen in love with her
and wanted to marry her. She persistently refused
and he married someone else. When his wife died, he
returned to his first affection and ultimately melted my
Aunt's heart. She had no children of her own, but was
a good stepmother to his only son — now Sir Frank
Newdegate, Governor of West Australia.
Stoneleigh offered every possible amusement to chil-
dren — long galleries and passages to race up and down,
a large hall for battledore and shuttlecock and other
games, parks and lawns for ri'ding and cricket, and the
River Avon at the bottom of the garden for fishing and
boating, not to mention skating in hard winters. People
are apt to talk and write as if " Early Victorian " and
" Mid- Victorian " children were kept under strict con-
trol and made to treat their elders with respectful awe.
I cannot recall any undue restraint in our case. As I
have already said, our mother was an influence which
no one would have attempted to resist, but she never
interfered with any reasonable happiness or amuse-
ment. Our father was the most cheerful of companions,
loving to take us about to any kind of sights or enter-
tainments which offered, and buying us toys and presents
on every possible occasion. Tlie only constraint put
upon us, which is not often used with the modern child,
concerned religious observance. We had to come in
18 AN EARLY VICTORIAN CHILD [ch. i
to daily Prayers at 10 o'clock even if it interfered
with working in our gardens or other out-door amuse-
ment — and church twice on Sundays was the invariable
rule as soon as we were old enough to walk to the
neighbouring villages of Stoneleigh and Ashow, or to
attend the ministrations of the chaplain who generally
officiated once each Sunday in the chapel in the house.
We had to learn some " Scripture lesson " every day
and two or three on Sundays, and I being the eldest
had not only to repeat these Sunday lessons to my
mother, but also to see in a general way that my
younger brothers and sisters knew theirs. I was made
to learn any number of chapters and hymns, and
Scripture catechisms — not to speak of the Thirty-nine
Articles ! At last when mother and governess failed
to find something more to learn by heart 1 was told to
commit portions of Thomas a Kempis to memory.
Here, I grieve to confess, I struck — that is to say, I did
not venture actually to refuse, but I repeated the good
brother's words in such a disagreeable and discontented
tone of voice that no one could stand it, and the attempt
to improve me in this way was tacitly abandoned.
On the whole I feel sure that the advantages
of acquiring so many great truths, and generally in
beautiful language, far outweighed any passing irri-
tation that a young girl may have felt with these
" religious obligations." If it is necessary to distinguish
between High and Low Church in these matters, I
suppose that my parents belonged to the orthodox
Evangelical School. I have a vague recollection of one
Vicar of Stoneleigh still preaching in the black silk
Geneva gown. At Ashow — the other church whose
services we attended — the Rector when I was small
was an old Charles Twisleton, a cousin of my father's.
RECTORS AND VICARS 19
He, however, had discarded the black gown long before
my day. My father told me that when the new Oxford
School first took to preaching in surplices Mr, Twisle-
ton adopted this fashion. Thereupon the astonished
family at the Abbey exclaimed, " Oh, Cousin Charles,
are you a Puseyite ? " " No, my dears," was the
confidential reply, " but black silk gowns are very
expensive and mine was worn out." Probably many
poor clergymen were glad to avail themselves of this
economical form of ritual. I have an idea that Rud-
yard Kipling's Norman Baron's advice to his son
would have appealed to my parents had it been written
in their day :
" Be polite but not friendly to Bishops,
And good to all poor Parish priests."
I feel that they were " friendly to Bishops " when
they met, and they were certainly good to all the
Rectors and Vicars of the various villages which be-
longed to my father or of which the livings were in
his gift, but they had no idea of giving their consciences
into ecclesiastical keeping. In fact my grandmother
Westminster once said to my mother, " My dear, you
and I spend much of our lives in rectifying the errors
of the clergy " ; those excellent men often failing in
business capacity.
The church services at both our churches were simple
to a degree. At Stoneleigh the organ was in the gallery
and the hymns were sung by the schoolchildren there.
The pulpit and reading-desk were part of what used
to be called a " three-decker " with a second reading-
desk for the clerk. This was exactly opposite our
large " S(|uire's Pew " across the aisle. There had
from time inunemorial been a \'illage Harvest Home
20 AN EARLY VICTORIAN CHILD [ch. i
with secular rejoicings, but at last there came the great
innovation of service with special decoration and
appropriate Psalms and Lessons in church. I do not
know the exact year, but think that it must have been
somewhere in the sixties, after my Uncle James — my
father's youngest brother — became Vicar of Stoneleigh,
as it must have been his influence which induced my
father to consent to what he considered slightly ritua-
listic.
However, all went well till it came to the Special
Psalms. The choir had nothing to do with leading
responses — these pertained to the clerk — old Job Jea-
cock — and when the first " special '' was given out he
utterly failed to find it. The congregation waited
while he descended from his desk — walked across the
aisle to our pew and handed his Prayerbook to me
that I might help him out of his difficulty !
Decorations in the churches at Christmas were fully
approved, and of course the house was a bower of
holly, ivy and mistletoe — these were ancient customs
never omitted in our home. Christmas was a glorious
time, extending from the Villagers' Dinner on S.
Thomas's Day to the Ball on our father's birthday,
January 17th — a liberal allowance. The children
dined down on both Christmas Lay and New Year's
Day, and there was always a Christmas Tree one
evening laden with toys and sweetmeats. Among
other Christmas customs there was the bullet-pudding
— a little hill of flour with a bullet on the top. Each
person in turn cut a slice of the pudding with his knife,
and when the bullet ultimately fell into the flour who-
ever let it down had to get it out again wdth his mouth.
Snap-dragon was also a great institution. The raisins
had to be seized from a dish of burning spirits of wine,
THEATRICALS 21
presided over by " Uncle Jimmy " (the clergyman)
dressed as a ghost in a sheet, who had regularly on this
occasion to thrill us with a recitation of " Alonzo the
Brave and Fair Imogene " — the faithless lady who was
carried ofit from her wedding feast by the ghost of her
lover. Of course her fate was inextricably mixed up
in our minds with the flame of the snap-dragon.
Twelfth Night, with drawing for characters, was duly
honoured — nor were private theatricals forgotten. Like
all children we loved dressing-up and acting. The first
" regular " play with family and household for audience
in which we performed was Bluebeard, written in verse
by my mother, in which I was Fatima. After that we
had many performances — sometimes of plays written
by her and sometimes by myself. I do not think that
we were budding Irvings or Ellen Terrys, but we
enjoyed ourselves immensely and the audiences were
tolerant.
More elaborate theatricals took place at Hams Hall,
the house of Sir Charles Adderley (afterwards Lord
Norton), who married my father's eldest sister. They
had a large family, of whom five sons and five daughters
grew up. These young people were devoted to acting
and some of us occasionally went over to assist — at
least I recollect performing on one occasion — ajul we
often saw these cousuis either at Hams or at Stoneleigh,
the houses being at no great distance apart. The
youngest son, afterwards well known as Father Adderley,
was particularly fond of dressing up — he was a well-
known actor — and I am not sure that he did not carry
his histrionic tastes into the Church of which he was
a greatly esteemed prop. Another numerous family of
cousins were the children of my father's fifth sister,
married to the itev. Henry Chohuondeley — a sou of
8
22 AN EARLY VICTORIAN CHILD [ch. i
Lord Delamere — who held the living of my father's
other place — Adlestrop. Uncle Cholmondeley was
clever and devoted enough to teach all his five sons
himself without sending them to preparatory schools ;
and between his teaching and their abilities, most, if
not all, of them won scholarships to aid their careers at
public schools. With their four sisters they were a
noisy but amusing set of companions, and we always
enjoyed their visits. My father's yoimgest sister was
not old enough for her children to be our actual con-
temporaries, but when she did marry — Mr. Granville
Leveson-Gower of Titsey — she had twelve sons and three
daughters — a good record.
My mother's sisters rivalled my father's in adding
to the population — one, Lady Macclesfield, having had
fifteen children, of whom twelve were alive to attend
her funeral when she died at the age of ninety. So I
reckoned at one time that I had a hundred first cousins
alive, and generally found one in whatever quarter
of the globe I chanced to visit.
Speaking of theatrical performances, I should speci-
ally mention my father's next brother, Chandos Leigh,
a well-known character at the Bar, as a Member of the
Zingari, and in many other spheres. Whenever oppor-
tunity served and enough nephews and nieces were
ready to perform he wrote for us what he called " Busi-
nesses " — variety entertainments to follow our little
plays — in which we appeared in any capacity — clowns,
fairies, Shakespeare or Sheridan characters, or any-
thing else which occurred to him as suited to our various
capacities, and for which he wrote clever and amusing
topical rhymes.
CHAPTER II
A VICTORIAN GIRL
The Christmas festivities of 1862 had to be suspended,
as my mother's health again obliged my father to take
her to the South of France. This time I was their sole
companion, the younger children remaining in England.
We travelled by easy stages, sleeping at Folkestone,
Boulogne, Paris, Dijon, Lyons, Avignon, and Toulon.
I kept a careful journal of our travels on this occasion,
and note that at Lyons we found one of the chief silk
manufactories employed in weaving a dress for Prin-
cess Alexandra, then engaged to the Prince of Wales.
It had a gold rose, shamrock and thistle combined on
a white ground. There also we crossed the Phone
and saw in the ho.spital at Ville Neuve, among other
curious old paintings, one by King Rene d'Anjou. It
represented the Holy Family, and my childish eyes
carried away the impression of a lovely infant pattmg
a soft woolly lamb. So completely was I fascinated
that, being again at Lyons after my marriage, I begged
my husband to drive out specially to see the picture of
my dream. Alas ! ten years had changed my eyesight,
and instead of the ideal figures, I saw a hard stiff
Madoima and Child, with a perfectly wooden lamb. I
mention this because I have often thought that the
populace who were so enraptured with a Madonna like
Cimabue's in 8. Maria Novella at Florence saw as i did
Bometliing beyond what was actually there. Grand and
23
24 A VICTORIAN GIRL [ch. ii
stately it is, but I think that unsophisticated eyes
must have endowed it with motherly grace and beauty,
as I gave life and softness to the baby and the lamb.
We went on by train from Toulon as far as Les Arcs
and then drove to Frejus, and next day to Cannes.
Whether the train then only went as far as Les Arcs
or whether my parents preferred the drive through the
beautiful scenery I do not know — anyhow we seem
to have thoroughly enjoyed the drive. I note that in
April we returned from Cannes to Toulon by a new
railroad. Cannes was a little seaside country town in
those days, with few hotels and villas such as have
sprung up in the last half- century ; but even then it
attracted sufficient visitors to render hotel accommo-
dation a difficulty, and we had to shorten our intended
stay. We went to pay our respects to the ex-Lord
Chancellor Brougham, already King of Cannes. He
was then eighty-five, and I have a vague recollection
of his being very voluble ; but I was most occupied
with his great-nephew, a brother of the present Lord
Brougham, who had a little house of his own in the
garden which was enough to fascinate any child. From
Cannes we drove to Nice, about which I record that
" the only thing in Nice is the sea." We had consider-
able difficulty in our next stage from Nice to Mentone,
as a rock had in one place fallen from the top of a
mountain to the valley below and filled up part of the
road with the debris of its fall. At Mentone we spent
over three weeks, occupied in walks with my father
and drives with him and my mother, or sometimes he
walked while I rode a donkey up the mountains. There
was considerable political excitement at that time,
Mentone having only been ceded by Italy to France in
1861 and the natives being by no means reconciled to
MENTONE 25
French rule. There was a great local feeling for Gari-
baldi, and though the " Iniio Garibaldi " was forbidden
I fear that my mother occasionally played it in the
hotel, and any listener (such as the waiter) who over-
heard it beamed accordingly. I happened to have a
scarlet flannel jacket for outdoor wear, and remember
women in the fields shouting out to me " Petite Gari-
baldi."
My mother often sat on the beach or among olive
trees to draw while I read, or looked at the sea, or made
up stories or poems, or invented imaginary kingdoms
to be shared with my sister and brothers on my return
— I fear always reserving supreme dominion for my
own share.
When we left England the idea had been to continue
our travels as far as Rome, but my mother's health
forbade, as the doctor said that the cold — particularly
of the Galleries — would be too much for her. It was
a great disappointment, above all to her, but she was
very good in submitting. As so long a tranquil sojourn
anywhere had not been contemplated, our library was
rather restricted, but two little volumes which she
had brought, one of Dryden, and Milton's "Paradise
Regained," afforded me happy hours. Also I perpe-
trated an Epic in six Cantos on the subject of Rienzi !
From Mentone we went to San Remo for a week,
returning to Mentone February 17th, when prepara-
tions began for a Fet« to be given by the English and
Danish to the inhabitants of the town on the occasion
of the Prince of Wales's marriage. Old Lord Glenelg
was, T bf'lieve, nominal President, but my father was
the moving spirit — entertaining the populace being for
him a thoroughly congenial task.
Many years afterwards in Samoa Robert Louis
26 A VICTORIAN GIRL [ch. ii
Stevenson told me that he was at Mentone with his
father at the time of the festivities, but he was a yomig
boy, and neither he nor I knew under what circum-
stances we were ultimately to make acquaintance.
There were all sorts of complications to be overcome —
for one thing it was Lent and my father had to obtain
a dispensation from M. le Cure for his flock to eat meat
at the festal dinner. This was accorded on condition
that fish was not also consumed. Then there appeared
great questions as to who would consent to sit down
with whom. We were told that orange-pickers would
not sit down with orange- carriers. As a matter of fact
I believe that it was against etiquette for women to
sit down with the men, and that in the end 300 work-
men sat down in the garden of the Hotel Victoria
(where we were staying) and I can still recollect seeing
the women standing laughing behind them while the
men handed them portions of food. Posts were gar-
landed with heath and scarlet geraniums, and decorated
with English, French, and Danish flags and portraits
of Queen Victoria and the Prince and Princess of
Wales. The festivities included a boat-race and other
races, and ended with illuminations and fireworks at
night. All went off splendidly, though the wind rather
interfered with lighting the little lamps which decorated
some of the buildings.
In connection with the Prince's wedding I heard one
story which I believe was told by my aunt Macclesfield
— (appointed Lady-in- Waiting to the Princess) to my
mother, which as far as I know has never appeared in
print.
The present ex- Kaiser, then little Prince William
aged four, came over with his parents for the wedding.
He appeared at the ceremony in a Scottish suit, where-
GENOA 27
upon the German ladies remonstrated with his mother,
8a}4ng that they miderstood that he was to have worn
the uniform of a Prussian officer. " I am very sorry,"
said his mother ; "he had it on, but Beatrice and
Leopold " (the Duke of Albany) " thought that he
looked so ridiculous with tails that they cut them off,
and we had to find an old Scottish suit of his uncle's
for him to wear ! " An early English protest against
militarism !
Two days after the excitement of these royal fes-
tivities we again left Mentone by road for Genoa, which
we reached March 16th, having stopped on the way
at San Remo, Alassio, and Savona. At Genoa we
joined my mother's sister Agnes and her husband, Sir
Archibald Campbell (of Garscube), and saw various
sights in their company.
I knew very little of my Uncle Archibald, as he died
comparatively young. At Genoa he was certainly very
lively, and I fear that I contrived unintentionally but
naturally to annoy him — it only shows how Italian
politics excited everyone, even a child. He had seen
some map in which the Italians had marked as their
own territory, not only what they had lately acquired,
but all to which they then aspired ; I hardly imagine
the Trentino, but certainly Venice. Uncle Archy
scoffed at their folly — with precocious audacity, and I
suppose having heard such Italian views at Mentone,
I asserted that they would ere long have both Venice
and Home ! He was quite indignant. It was imperti-
nent of me, as I knew nothing of their power or other-
wise, but it was a good shot !
1 have heard that Sir Arcliihald's mothiT was a
stately old Scottish lady who thought a great deal of
family, and precedence, and that one day he scandalised
28 A VICTORIAN GIRL [ch. ii
her by asking, " Well, mother, what would be the
precedence of an Archangel's eldest son ? ''
Aunt Aggy was broken-hearted when he died, and
always delicate, fell into very ill-health. When the
Franco- German War broke out she set to work un-
dauntedly for the sick and wounded, and positively
wanted to go abroad to nurse in some hospital — prob-
ably in Germany. A certain very clever Dr. Frank,
of German-Jewish descent, was to make arrangements.
The whole Grosvenor family and all its married con-
nections were up in arms, and my father was dispatched
to remonstrate with her. With much annoyance and
reluctance she gave in — and soon after married Dr.
Frank ! The family were again astounded, but after
all when they knew him they realised that he made
her happy and took to him quite kindly. My aunt
and Dr. Frank lived a great deal at Cannes, where
they had a nice villa — Grandbois — and many friends,
and he had a tribe of admiring patients. Aunt Aggy
was very charming and gentle and lived to a good age.
From Genoa we drove in easy stages to Spezia, noting
towns and villages on the way. It was a delightful
means of travelling, walking up the hills and stopping
at little townships for luncheon in primitive inns.
Motors have somewhat revived this method of travel,
but whirling along at a great pace can never allow you
to see and enjoy all the lesser beauties which struck you
in the old leisurely days. I have duly noted all sorts
of trivial incidents in my journal, but they are much
what occur in all such expeditions and I need not
dilate on the beauties of mountain, sea, and sky which
everyone knows so well. At Spezia we saw the scene
of Shelley's shipwreck, and on one coast of the Gulf
the prison where Garibaldi had been interned not very
TRAFALGAR VETERANS 29
long before. I record that it was a large building, and
that his rooms, shown us by a sailor, were " very nice."
I trust that he found them so. After returning to our
old quarters we left Mentone on April 15th, evidently
with great regret and with a parting sigh to the
voiturier who had driven us on all our expeditions,
including those to Genoa and Spezia — also to my
donkey-man and to the chambermaid. Looking back,
I feel that these southern weeks were among the happiest
of my life, and that something of the sunlight and
mountain scenery remained as memories never effaced.
We returned to England by much the same route
as our outward journey, only the railroad being now
open from Cannes to Toulon a night at Frejus was
unnecessary. I cannot remember whether it was on
our outward or our homeward journey, but on one or
the other we met at the Palace of the Popes at Avignon
an old custodian who had fought at Trafalgar and
been for some years prisoner in England. He showed
with some pride an English book, and it amused my
mother to recognise a translation from a German work
of which she did not hold a high opinion. I do not
suppose that the French soldier read enough of it to
do him much harm.
It is rather curious that my father on two or three
occasions took us to see at Greenwich Hospital an old
servant of Nelson's wlio was with him at Trafalgar,
so I have seen both a Frenchman and an Englishman
who took part in that battle. Nelson's servant had a
little room hung all round with pictures of tiie hero. My
father asked him whether the Admiral said tlie prayer
which one print represents him as reciting on his knees
before the battle. The man said he did nut know what
words he used, but he saw him kneel down to pray.
30 A VICTORIAN GIRL [ch. ii
On our way to Paris we spent a night at Fontainebleau
— and finally reached Stoneleigh on May 1st, 1863.
Speaking of my mother's numerous brothers and
sisters, I ought not to omit the eldest, Eleanor, Duchess
of Northumberland, who was a very great lady, hand-
some and dignified till her death at an advanced age.
She had no children, but was admired and respected
by many nephews and nieces. I believe that her country
neighbours regarded her as almost royal, curtsying
when she greeted them. I remember her telling me
that she could not go and hear some famous preacher
in London because she would not have her carriage
out on Sunday and had never been in any sort of cab.
What would she have thought of the modern fashion
of going in omnibuses ? However, a year or two before
her death the late Duke of Northumberland (grandson
of her husband's cousin and successor) told me with
great glee that they had succeeded in getting Duchess
Eleanor into a taxi and that she had enjoyed it very
much. I cannot think how they managed it. She
lived during her widowhood at Stanwick Park, and my
youngest sister Cordelia had a rather comical experi-
ence when staying with her there on one occasion.
My aunt, among other tabooed innovations, altogether
objected to motors and would not allow any through
her Lodge gates. Previous to her visit to Stanwick,
Cordelia had stayed with the Lawsons at Brayton in
Cumberland and while there had been stopped by a
policeman for riding a tricycle after dark without a light.
She left her address with the Lawson family, and while
at Stanwick the local policeman appeared, absolutely
trembling at having been forced to enter these sacred
precincts, to summon her in that she " drove a carriage,
to wit a tricycle, between the hours, etc." The
LORD ]\mNCASTER AND GREEK BRIGANDS 31
household managed to keep it dark from Aunt Eleanor,
and Cordelia sent authority to the Lawson family to
settle the case and pay the fine — but what would the
aunt have said had she known of her niece's crime and
penalty ?
Lady I\Licclesfield, the second daughter, I have already
mentioned. The surviving sister (one having died young)
next above my mother in age was Elizabeth Lady Wen-
lock, who was very clever and, among her nine children,
had charming daughters to whom I may refer later on.
Then after my mother came Octavia and Agnes — and
then Jane, married to Lord Muncaster, who died seven
years later at Castellamare, leaving her with one little
girl of about two years old. Margaret or Mimi, as we
called her, was a great interest when the young widowed
mother brought her to stay with us, soon after her
father's death. She was a dear little girl, and we were
told that she was a great heiress, and somehow in the
hands of the Lord Chancellor. Her father had died
without a will, and all the property, including the
beautiful Muncaster Castle in Cumberland, went to the
child though her uncle succeeded to the title. How-
ever, poor little Mimi died when she was eleven years
old, so her uncle succeeded to the property after all.
He was the Lord Muncaster who was captured by the
brigands near Marathon in 1870 with his wife and her
sister. Miss L'Estrange, Mr. Vyner, Mr. and Mrs. Lloyd,
and two other men. Tlie brigands lot the ladies go with-
out injur}' — Lady Muncaster had hidden her rings in her
mouth to protect them — but they would only let one
man go to get ransom for the rest. The men drew lots
and it fell to Vyner, l)ut he absolutely refused to take
the chance, saying that he was a bachelor and J^ord
Muncaster a married man. Instead of ransom the Greek
32 A VICTORIAN GIRL [ch. ii
Government sent troops. The brigands were annihilated,
but they first killed Vyner and his companions. It
was said that the Government stood in with the brigands,
but I have never quite understood why, if so, the
former did not prefer the money to the death of their
allies — unless they thought that they would have to
produce the ransom. Lord Muncaster always had his
head hanging a little to one side, and in my youth I
had a floating idea that it was from permanent grief
at the tragedy. Meantime my Aunt Jane married a
second time, a brother of Lord Crawford's. She was
pretty, with green eyes and a nervous manner. She
was a beautiful needlewoman and I believe a true
musician.
One more Grosvenor aunt must be remembered, my
mother's youngest sister Theodora. I have heard that
my grandmother was greatly distressed at the loss of
her fourth daughter, Evelyn, who died as a child,
although there were seven surviving sisters, therefore
when another girl-baby arrived she called her Theodora
• — the gift of God. Certainly she was greatly attached
to the child, and I fancy that the little Theodora was
given much more spoiling and freedom than her elder
sisters. She was very lively and amusing, and being
the only daughter left unmarried when my grand-
father died — in 1869 — she became her mother's con-
stant companion. When she ultimately married a
brother of Lord Wimborne's she and Mr. Merthyr
Guest continued to live with my grandmother, who
endowed them with a large fortune. Mr. Guest died
some years ago, but Aunt Theodora still lives — and
has one daughter.
My grandfather was a quiet old gentleman as far as
I recollect him — he is somehow associated in my mind
THE GROSVENOR FAMILY 33
with carpet slippers and a diffident manner. He was
what they call of a " saving " disposition, but I really
believe that he was oppressed with his great wealth,
and never sure that he was justified in spending much
on himself and his family. When he became a thor-
ough invalid before his death he was ordered to take
certain pills, and in order to induce him to do so my
grandmother would cut them in two and take half
herself. After his death his halves were discovered
intact done up with red tape !
During his lifetime I stayed with my parents once
or twice at the old Eaton Hall, before my uncle (the
first Duke) built the present Palace. It was a nice,
comfortable house. I have heard, from a neighbour
who recollected the incident, that when it was being
built the workmen employed would chisel rough repre-
sentations of each other's features in the gargoyles
which formed part of the decoration. I suppose that
was done in ancient times by the men who built the
churches and colleges of those days.
My grandparents besides these numerous daughters
had four sons — two, both named Gilbert, died, one as
a baby, the other, a sailor, as a young man. The late
Duke was my godfather and always very kind to me,
particularly when, after my marriage, I stayed on more
than one occasion at the new Eaton. I never knew
a man more anxious to do all he could for the people
about him, whether in the country or on his London
property. He had very much the feeling of a patriarch
and loved nothing better than to have about him the
generations of his family. It was a complicated family,
as he married first his own first cousin, C^onstance
Leveson-Gower, and after her death the sister of his
son-in-law Lord Chesham, husband of his second
34 A VICTORIAN GIRL [ch. ii
daughter Beatrice. I cannot quite unravel it, but
somehow he was brother-in-law to his own daughter.
The youngest son, Richard, a quaint, amusing man,
was created Lord Stalbridge.
Having said so much of my mother's family, I think
I should mention the two sisters of my father whom I
have hitherto omitted. One was his second sister,
Emma — a typical and excellent maiden aunt. She was
principally noted for being my sister Agnes's godmother
and feeling it her duty to hear her Catechism — but
neither Agnes nor any of us minded ; in fact I remember
— I suppose on some wet Sunday — that we all insisted
on sharing the Scripture lesson and were given figs in
consequence. The third sister was Caroline, twin with
Augusta, but very different, for whereas Aunt Gussie
was delicate and nervous, not to say irritable. Aunt
Car was slow and substantial. She ended with marry-
ing when no longer very young an old cousin of my
father's, a clergyman. Lord Saye and Sele, who had
actually baptized her early in life. She made him an
excellent wife ; she had numerous step-children, though
none of her own. Looldng back on these Early Vic-
torian uncles and aunts with their various wives and
husbands, I cannot but claim that they were good
English men and women, with a keen sense of duty to
their tenants and neighbours rich and poor. Of course
they varied immensely in character and had their
faults like other people, but I cannot recall one, either
man or woman, who did not try to act up to a standard
of right, and think I was fortunate to have been brought
up among them.
In my younger days I had also living several great-
uncles and aunts on both sides, but the only one whom
I can spare time and space to mention here is my
UNCLES AND AUNTS 35
Grandfather Leigh's sister, Caroline Lady East. When
she was young Mr. East fell in love with her and she
with him, but he was an impecunious youth and my
great-grandparents would not permit the marriage.
Whereupon he disguised himself as a hay-maker and
contrived an interview with his lady-love in which they
exchanged vows of fidelity. Then he went to India,
where he remained eleven years, and returned to find
the lady still faithful, and having accumulated a suffi-
cient fortmie married her. They had a nice little country
house on the borders of Oxfordshire and Gloucester-
shire, and, though they had no children, were one of
the happiest old couples I ever knew. My great-aunt
died in 1870, but Uncle East lived till over ninety and
went out hunting almost to the end — so eleven years
of India had not done him much harm. He stayed
with us at Middleton after my marriage when old
Lord Abingdon was also a guest. Lord Abingdon
must have been over seventy at the time, but a good
deal younger than Sir James. They had known each
other in youth and were quite delighted to meet again,
but each confided separately to my husband and myself
that he had thought that the other old fellow was dead.
However, they made great friends, and in token of
reunion Lord Abingdon sent his servant to cut Uncle
East's corns !
To return to my recollections of my own girlhood.
I think that it must have been in 1864 that I had a bad
attack of chicken-pox which temporarily hurt my eyes
and left me somewhat weak. Either in that autunm
or the following one my parents took me to the Isle
of Arran and left me there for a time with a maid —
while they accomj)anied my brother Gilbert buck to
school. 1 loved the Isle of Arran, and was only dis-
36 A VICTORIAN GIRL [ch. ii
turbed by the devotion of a child-niece of the land-
lady's who would follow me about everywhere. The
only way of escape was to go — or attempt to go — into
the mountains of which she was afraid, knowing that
there were giants there.
I must not omit one honour which I enjoyed in 1865.
My mother took me to see my Aunt Macclesfield, who
was in Waiting at Marlborough House when His present
Majesty was born. My aunt welcomed us in the Princess
of Wales's pretty sitting-room hung with a kind of
brocade with a pattern of roses. The baby was then
brought in to be admired, and to my gratification I was
allowed to hold the little Prince in my arms. I did
not then realise that in after years I could claim to
have nursed my King.
Shortly afterwards we used to hear a good deal of the
American Civil War. We were too young to have much
opinion as to the rival causes, but there was a general
impression conveyed to our minds that the " Southern-
ers were gentlemen." Some time after the war was
over, in December 1868, Jefferson Davis, the Southern
(Confederate) President, came to stay at Stoneleigh.
He was over in Europe on parole. We were told that
he had been in prison, and one of my younger brothers
was anxious to know whether we " should see the marks
of the chains." We had a favourite old housemaid
who was preparing his room, and we imparted to her the
thrilling information of his former imprisonment. Her
only response was " Umph, well, I suppose he won't
want these silver candlesticks." A large bedroom was
being prepared for him, but she considered that silver
candlesticks were only for ladies, and that presidents
and prisoners were not entitled to such luxuries.
He proved to be a benevolent old gentleman
CONFIRIVIATION 37
who impressed my cousins and myself by tlie
paternal way in which he addressed any elder girl as
" daughter."
After this — but I cannot remember the particular
years — we went in the autuimi to Land's End, The
Lizard, and Tintagel, and also had villas at Torquay and
Bournemouth respectively, but our experiences were too
ordinary to be worthy of record. I think I was about
seventeen when I went with my parents to Vichy, where
my father drank the waters — and we went on to some
beautiful Auvergne country. This was my last excursion
abroad with my parents before 1 married.
In 1867 I was confirmed. The church which we
attended was in Park Street. It has since been pulled
down, but was then regarded as specially the church
of the Westminster family. My grandparents sat in a
large pew occupying the length of the gallery at the
west end of the church. We had a pew in the south
gallery with very high sides, and my early recollections
are of sitting on a dusty red hassock from which I could
see little but the woodwork during a very long sermon.
One Sunday when I was approaching years of discretion
the clergyman gave out notice of a Coniirmatioii, with
the usual intimation that Candidates should give in
their names in the Vestry. My mother told me to
do this accompanied by my younger brother (Gilbert)
as chaperon. The clergyman seemed a good deal
surprised, and I rather fancy that I was the only
Candidate. He was an old man who had been there
for a long time. He said that he wouhl come and
see me at my parents' house, and duly arrived at 37
Portman Square. 1 was sent in to my father's sitting-
room for the interview, and I believe that he was more
embarrassed than I was, for 1 had long been led to regard
4
38 A VICTORIAN C4IRL [ch. ii
Confirmation as the proper sequence to learning my
Catechism and a fitting step in religious life. The
clergyman somewhat uneasily remarked that he had to
ascertain that I knew my Catechism, and asked me to
say it. This I could have done in my sleep, as it had
for years formed part of my Sunday instruction. When
I ended he asked after a slight pause whether I knew
why the Nicene Creed was so called. This was unex-
pected pleasure. I had lately read Milman's Latin
Christianity to my mother, and should have enjoyed
nothing better than delivering to my pastor a short
lecture on the Arian and Athanasian doctrines. When
I began it, however, he hastily cut me short, saying
that he saw that I knew all about it — how old was 1 %
" Seventeen and a half.'' " Quite old enough,'" said he,
and told me that he would send me my ticket, and when
I went to the church someone would show me where to
sit. This ended my preparation as far as he was con-
cerned. I believe he intimated to my parents that he
would see Miss Leigh again, but in practice he took care
to keep clear of the theological enfant terrible.
I was duly confirmed on May 31st, by Dr. Jackson,
Bishop of London. I feel sure that my mother amply
supplied any lacunse left by the poor old clergyman.
No doubt in those days Preparation for Confirmation
was not regarded as seriously as at present, but I do
not think that mine was quite typical, as some of my
contemporary cousins underwent a much more serious
course of instruction.
That autumn I began to " come out " in the country.
We went to a perfectly delightful ball at the Shaw-
Stewarts' at Ardgowan, where the late Duke of Argyll —
then Lord Lome — excited my admiration by the way
he danced reels in Highland costume. Thence my
"COMING OUT" 39
brother and I went to Hans Hall to tlie coming-of-age
of my cousin Charles Adderley, now Lord Norton. The
whole country-side swarmed to the festivities, and one
party unable to obtain any other conveyance chartered
a hearse. Miss Ferrier, in her novel The Inheritance,
makes one of her female characters arrive at a country
house, where she was determined to be received, in a
hearse — but she was even more gruesome than my
cousin's guests as she accompanied the corpse !
The following year (1868), May 12th, I was presented
— Princess Christian held the Drawing-Room on behalf
of the Queen, who still lived in retirement as far as social
functions were concerned. She, however, attended
this Drawing-Room for about half an hour — receiving
the entree. Her devotion to the Prince Consort and to
his memory was unparalleled. No doubt the fact that
she had practically never had anyone with whom she
could associate on equal terms until her marriage had
a good deal to do with it. I know of a lady whom she
summoned to sit with her when the Prince Consort was
being carried to his funeral on the ground that she was
a widow and could feel for her, and she said that her
shudders when the guns went off were dreadful, and
that she seemed unable to realise that here for the first
time was something that she could not control.
To return to my entry in the world. Naturally I
went during 18G8 and the three or four succeeding
years to the balls, dinners, and garden parties usual in
the course of the season. The " great houses " then
existed— they had not been pulled down or turned into
public galleries and ollices. Stafford House, Grosvenor
House, Northumberland House, and others entertained
111 royal style, and there were Garden Parties at Argyll
Lodge and Airlie Lodge on Campden Hill, at Syon, and
40 A VICTORIAN GIRL [ch. ii
at Chiswick, then in possession of the Duke of Devon-
shire.
In those days there was still a sort of question as to
the propriety of waltzing. Valses and square dances
were danced alternately at balls, and a few — but very
few — girls were limited to the latter. Chaperones were
the almost invariable rule and we went back to them
between the dances. " Sitting-out " did not come in
till some years later. In the country, however, there
was plenty of freedom, and I never remember any
restriction on parties of girls and young men walking or
rowing together without their elders. By the time I
came out my brother Gilbert (Gilly) was at Harrow and
Dudley and Rupert at Mr. Lee's Private School at
Brighton. My special charge and pet Rowland was
still at home, and the youngest of the family Cordelia
a baby.
Dudley and Rupy were inseparable. Duddy delicate,
Rupy sturdy and full of mischief into which he was apt
to drag his elder brother. I had to look after them, and
see that they accomplished a few lessons in the holidays —
— no light task, but I was ready for anything to keep
off holiday tutors and, I am afraid, to retain my position
as elder sister. Love of being first was doubtless my
besetting sin, and my good-natured younger brothers
and sisters accepted my rule — probably also because
it was easier than that of a real grown-up person. My
mother had bad health, and my father took it for
granted that it was my business to keep the young
ones as far as possible out of mischief. As for my sister
Agnes, she was always a saint, and I am afraid that
I was a tyrant as far as she was concerned. Cordelia
was born when I was over sixteen and was always
rather like my child. Rowland was just seven when
IRELAND 41
her arrival delighted the family, and his first remark
when he heard that he had a little sister was " I wonder
what she will think of ray knickerbockers " — to which
he had lately been promoted. Boys wore little tunics
with belts when they first left off baby frocks, and sailor
suits were not introduced when my brothers were
children.
My next special recollection is of a visit to Ireland
which I paid in company with my parents, Gilbert, and
Agnes in August 1869. We crossed in the Leinster and
duly lionised Dublin. I kept a journal during this
tour in which the sights of the city are duly noted with
the remark, after seeing the post office, that we " made
the various observations proper to intelligent but tired
travellers."
The country — Bray, Glendalough, and the Seven
Churches seem to have pleased us much better. I do
not know whether the guides and country people
generally are as free with their legends now as they were
fifty years ago, but they told us any amount of stories
to our great satisfaction. Brough, the guide at the
Seven Churches, was particularly voluble and added
considerably to the tales of St. Kevin given in the
guide-book. St. Kevin, as recounted by Moore in his
ballad, pushed Kathleen into the Lake when she would
follow him. I remember that Brough was much
embarrassed when I innocently asked why he did this.
However, he discreetly replied : " If your honourable
father and your honourable mother want you to marry
a gentleman and you don't like him, don't push him into
the water ! " Excellent advice and not diflicult to
follow in a general way. When St. Kevin was alive
the skylark used to sing early in the morning and waken
the people who had been up late the night before at a
42 A VICTORIAN GIRL [ch. ii
wedding or merrymaking. Wlien the Saint saw them
looking so bad he asked, " What's the matter ? "
On hearing that the lark would not let them get any
sleep, he laid a spell that never more should lark sing
above that lake. This encouragement of late hours
seems rather inconsistent with his general asceticism.
St. Kevin was more considerate to a blackbird than
to the laverock. The former once laid her eggs on his
extended hand, and he kept it held out until she
had had time to build her nest in it and hatch her
young.
Brough was even better acquainted with fairies than
with saints. He knew a man at Cork named Jack
M'Ginn, a wool-comber, who was carried away by the
fairies for seven years. At the end of that time he
accompanied them to a wedding (fairies like weddings).
There was present a young lady whom the fairies wanted
to make sneeze three times, as if they could do so and
no one said " God bless her " they could take her away.
So they tickled her nose three times with horse-hair,
but as they were withdrawing it the third time Jack
cried out in Irish " God bless her.'' This broke the
spell, and Jack fell crashing down amongst the crockery,
everyone ran away, and he arose retransformed to his
natural shape.
Another acquaintance of Brough's — a stout farmer —
met one evening three fairies carrying a coffin. Said
one, " What shall we do for a fourth man ? " " Switch
the first man who passes," replied the second. So
they caught the farmer and made him carry it all night,
till he found himself in the morning nearly dead not
far from his own door. Our guide enjoined us to be
sure, if fairies passed us in the air, to pick some blades
of grass and throw them after them, saying " Good luck
KILLARNEY 43
to you good folk " : as lie sagely remarked, a civil word
never does harm. As more prosaic recollections,
Brough told us of the grand fights at Glendalough,
when the young men were backed up by their sisters
and sweethearts. The etiquette was for a young woman
to take off her right stocking, put a stone in it and use
it as a weapon, " and any woman who fought well
would have twenty young farmers wanting to marry
her."
We stopped at Cork, whence we drove to see Blarney
Castle and its stones. In those days, and probably
still, there were two, one called the Ladies' Stone, which
we three children all kissed, and another suspended by
iron clamps from the top of the Castle, so that one had
to lie dowTi and hold on to the irons with one's body
partly over an open space — rather a break-neck pro-
ceeding, particularly in rising again. Only Gilly accom-
plished this. The railway to Glengariff then went as
far as Dunmanway, whence it was necessary to drive.
We slept at the Royal Hotel where we arrived in the
evening, and to the end of my life I never shall forget
the beauty of Bantry Bay as we saw it on waking next
morning with all its islands mirrored in purple shadows.
But the whole drive to Killarney, and above all the
Lakes as they break upon your sight, are beyond
description. We saw it all in absolutely glorious
weather — possibly rare in those regions, but certainly
the Lakes of Killarney impressed me then as more
beautiful than either the Scottish or the English Lakes
because of their marvellous richness of colour. After
fifty years, and travels in many lands, 1 still imagine
that they arc only excelled in colour by the coral islands
of the Pacific ; but of course the Irish Lakes may dwell
in my memory as more beautiful than they really
44 A VICTORIAN GIRL [oh. ii
are, as I saw them first when I had far fewer standards
of comparison. Anyhow, they were like a glorious
dream. We spent some enchanting days at Killarney
and saw all the surrounding beauties — the Gap of Dunloe
with the Serpent Lake in which St. Patrick drowned
the last snake in Ireland (in a chest into which he
enticed the foolish creature by promising to let it out
again), Mangerton, the highest mountain in Ireland
but one, and Carrantuohill, the highest of all, which
my brother and sister and I were allowed to ascend on
condition that the guide would take good care of us.
However, when out of our parents' sight he found that
he was troubled with a corn, and lay down to rest,
confiding us to a ponyman who very nearly lost us in a
fog. The ponies could only approach the base, the rest
was pretty stiff climbing.
The Upper, the Middle, and the Lower Lake are all
lovely, but the last was particularly attractive from its
connection with the local hero — the Great O'Donoghue,
whose story we gleaned from our guides and particu-
larly a boy who carried our luncheon basket up
Mangerton. He was a magician and had the power
of taking any shape he pleased, but he ended by a
tremendous leap into the Lake, after which he never
returned to his home. Once every seven years, however,
between six and seven on May Day morning, he rides
from one of the islands in the Lower Lake to the opposite
shore, with fairies strewing flowers before him, and for
the time his Castle also reappears. Any unmarried
man who sees him will marry a rich wife, and any
unmarried woman a rich husband. Our boatman
pointed out an island where girls used to stand to see
him pass, but no one ever saw him except an old boat-
man, and he had been married a long time, so the
THE O'DONOGHUES 45
apparition did not help him. No O'Douoghue has
ever been drowned since the hero's disappearance.
We heard two different versions of the cause of the
tragedy. Both attributed it to his wife's want of self-
control. One related that the husband was in the
habit of nmning about as a hare or a rabbit, and as
long as she did not laugh all went well, but when he
took this flying leap into the water she burst into a
fit of laughter and thereby lost him permanently. Our
boy guide's story was more circumstantial and more
dramatic. According to him, the O'Donoghue once
turned himself into an eel, and knotted himself three
times round Ross Castle, where he lived (a super-eel
or diminutive castle!). This frightened the lady
dreadfully, and he told her that if she " fritted " three
times on seeing any of his wonders she would see him
no more. Some time after he turned himself into a
goose and swam on the lake, and she shrieked aloud,
thinking to lose him. Finally he brought out his
white horse and told her that this was her last chance
of restraining her fears. She promised courage and
kept quiet while he rode straight up the Castle wall,
but when he turned to come down she fainted, where-
upon, horse and all, he leapt into the water. The boy also
declared that in the previous year he was seen by two
boatmen, a lady and a gentleman, another man, and
some " company," whereupon the lady fainted — recalling
the lady of O'Donoghue, it was the least she could do.
In the lower Lake may still be seen rocks representijig
the chieftain's pigeons, his spy-glass, his books con-
taining the " Ould Irish," and his mice (only to be
seen on Sundays after prayers). Jn the Bitter Lake,
which was pointed out to us from a distance, is the
fairy-island where he dances with the fairies.
46 A VICTORIAN GIRL [ch. ii
The O'Donoghue in his lifetime had his frivolous
moments. He once changed a number of fern fronds
into little pigs, which he took to the fair at Killarney
and sold to the jobbers. They looked just like other
pigs until the purchasers reached some running water.
As we all know, running water dissolves any spell,
and the pigs all turned back into little blades of fern.
As testimony to the authenticity of this tale the water
was duly shown to us. The O'Donoghue, however, knew
that the jobbers would not remain placid under the
trick, so he went home and told his maid to say, if
anyone asked for him, that he had gone to bed and to
sleep and could only be wakened by pulling his legs.
The jobbers arrived, received the message, went in
and pulled his legs, which immediately came off!
Off they ran in alarm, thinking that they had killed the
man, but the good O'Donoghue was only having his
fun with them, so called them back and returned their
money. We picked up a good deal of fairy-lore during
our sojourn in the south of Ireland, and I record it as
it may have passed away during the past half-century.
The driver who took us to the Gap of Dunloe told me
that in his mother's time a woman working in the
fields put down her baby. While she was out of the
way the steward saw the fairies change it for a fairy-
baby who would have been a plague to her all her life.
So as the child was crying and shrieking he stood over
it and declared that he would shoot the mother or any-
one else who should come near it, and as no one came
to comfort it the fairies could not leave their baby
to cry like that, so they brought back the stolen child
and took away their own. That steward was such a
man of resource that one cannot help wishing that he
were alive to deal with the Sinn Feiners of the present
MYTHS AND LEGENDS 47
day. Another piece of good advice which we received
was, if we saw a fairy (known by his red jacket) in
a field to keep an eye fixed on him till we came up
with him — then to take away his purse, and each time
we opened it we should find a shilling. I regret to say
that I never had the opportunity, but the guide, remark-
ing my father's tendency to give whenever asked,
observed that he thought his lordship had found a
fairy purse. It is a commonplace to notice the similarity
of folk-lore in many lands pointing to a common origin,
but it is rather curious to compare the tale of the
O'Donoghue with that of the Physicians of Myddfai in
South Wales. Only in that the husband, not the wife,
caused the final tragedy. The fairy-wife, rising from the
Lake, warns her mortal husband that she will disappear
for ever if he strikes her three times. Long years they
live in happmess, but thrice does he give her a slight
blow to arouse her from unconventional behaviour
at a christening, a wedding, and a funeral respectively.
Thereupon she wends her way to the Lake and like a
white cloud sinks into its waters. She leaves her sons
a legacy of wisdom and healing skill, and from time to
time a shadowy form and clear voice come to teach
them still deeper knowledge.
From the south of Ireland we went to the north, but
I regret to say were not nearly so fascinated by the
loyal Ulsterman as by the forthcoming sons of the south.
Nevertheless we enjoyed the wild scenery of Lough
Swilly and the legends connected with Dunluce Castle
and the Giant's Causeway. Among the tales of Dun-
luce was that of a banshee whose duty it is (or was) ^
to keep clean one of the rooms in tlie ruin. Tlio old
man who showed us over declared that slic did not always
properly fulfil her task. She is supposed to be the spirit
48 A VICTORIAN GIRL [ch. ii
of a cook who fell over the rocks into the water and
reappears as a tall woman with red hair. The place of
cook must have been a rather trying one in ancient
days, for the kitchen pointed out to us was on the edge
of a precipice and we were told that once when a good
dinner was prepared the attendants let it all fall into the
sea ! It was not, however, explained whether this was
the occasion on which the like fate befell the cook.
Possibly she died in a frantic effort to rescue it.
The Giant's Causeway was very interesting. We
first entered Portcorn Cave, which has fine colours and
a great deal of froth said to have been caused by the
giant's washerwoman washing a few collars there.
The giant in question was called Fin MacCoul, and at
the same time there lived another Giant in Scotland
called Benadadda. Wishing to pass backwards and
forwards, the two agreed that Fin should pave a way
of columns and Benadadda should work it. Hence
Fingal's Cave — gal or gael meaning " the stranger '' —
presumably the name was given in compliment to the
future guest. But the two champions found the work
harder than they had expected, and Benadadda sent to
tell Fin that if he did not make haste he must come over
and give him a beating. Fin returned that he was not
to put himself out, but to come if he pleased. Soon
after Fin rushed in crying out to his wife, " Goodness
gracious ! he's coming. I can't face that fellow ! "
And he tumbled into bed.
Soon Benadadda walked in. " Good day, ma'am.
Ye're Mrs. McCoul ? "
" Yes, sir ; I percave you are Benadadda ? "
*' I am ma'am. Is Fin at home ? "
" He's just gone into the garden for a few vegetables,
but he'll be back directly. Won't ye take a cheer ? "
THE GIANT BENADADDA 49
" Thank you kindly " — and lie sat down.
She continued : " Fve got a little boy iii that cradle
and we think he's taything, fer he won't give the fayther
nor me any raste. Just put your finger along his
gums."
Benadadda, unable to refuse a lady, put his fingers
into Fin's mouth, who promptly bit them off, and then
jumping up called on Benadadda to come on. The
Scottish giant, unable to fight with his wounded hand,
told them, " I wish I'd never come among you craters,"
and walked off. Mrs. MacCoul ran after him with an
oatcake, but having tasted it he said, " Very good
outside, but give the rest to your goodman " ; for she
had baked the tin girdle inside the cake. This is how
I recorded the tale, which I suppose I picked up locally,
but I have somewhere heard or read another account
in which, without waiting for his fingers to be bitten
off, Benadadda exclaimed, " Begorra, is that the baby ?
then I'll be but a mouthful to the fellow himself," and
made off.
I am unable to say which version is authentic, but
neither seems to attribute undaunted valour to either
champion, and both agree that Irish wit got the better
of superior Scottish strength. I record these tales rather
than attempt description of the Caves and other beauties
of the coast, as the physical features remain and the
legends may be forgotten. The great rocks shaped
like columns are called the Giant's Organs, and are
(or were) supposed to play every Christmas morning.
The tune they play is " St. Patrick's day in the morning,"
upon hearing which the whole Causeway dances round
three times.
We left Ireland at the end of August, having thoroughly
enjoyed our travels there. It was then a peaceful
50 A VICTORIAN GIRL [ch. ii
country. The Queen had given her name to Queens-
town Harbour in 1849, and I suppose had visited Killar-
ney on the same occasion. Anyhow, memories of her
stay still lingered there. I recollect even now the
enthusiasm with which a boatman who had been one
of those who had taken her on the Lake said, *' I passed
a long day looking at her." It was a thousand pities
that she did not often revisit Ireland.
CHAPTER III
MARRIAGE
Next year — 1870 — all thoughts were to a large extent
taken up with the Franco-German War. It does not
seem to me that we took violent sides in the struggle.
Naturally we were quite ignorant of the depths of
cruelty latent in the German nature, or of the ma-
noeuvres on the part of Bismarck which had led to the
declaration of war. We were fond of our sister's
French governess Mdlle. Verdure, and sorry for the
terrible collapse of her country, but I think on the whole
that the strongest feding in our family was amazement
at the revelation of inefficiency ]on the part of the French,
mingled with some admiration for the completeness of
German organisation. Anyhow, everyone was set
to work to provide comforts for the sick and wounded
on both sides — medical stores which I fancy would have
been to a large extent condenmed wholesale if submitted
to the medical authorities during the late War, but
which I am sure were very useful and acceptable in
70-71. As is well known, tliat winter was an excep-
tionally hard one — we had fine times skating, and I
remember a very pleasant visit to old Lord Bathurst
at Cirencester — ^but it nmst have been terrible in
Paris. Our Frcncli man-cook had some refugee
sisters quartered in the neigiibourhood who were em-
ployed by my mother in dressmaking work for our
51
52 MARRIAGE [ch. iii
benefit, but I do not know whether refugees were
numerous in England.
What did really excite us in common with all England
were the excesses of the Commune. Never shall I
forget the papers coming out with terrific headlines :
" Paris in Flames — Burning of the Tuileries/' and so
on. I passed the morning in floods of tears because
they were " burning history/' and had to be rebuked
by my mother for expressing the wish that the incen-
diaries could be soaked in petroleum and themselves
set on fire.
The year 1871 was rendered interesting to our family
by the marriages of our two Leigh uncles — Chandos, com-
monly known among us as " Uncle Eddy," married an
amiable and good-looking Miss Rigby, who inherited
money from a (deceased) Liverpool father. Uncle Eddy
was a great character. A fine, athletic man, successful
in every walk of life which he entered, a good horseman,
cricketer and actor, he did well at the Bar and seemed
to know practically everybody and to be friends with
them all. He was blessed with supreme self-confidence
and appeared innocently convinced that everyone was
as much interested in his afiairs as he was himself.
This childlike disposition was really attractive, and
quite outweighed the boyish conceit which endured to
the end of a long and useful life.
His love affairs with Miss Rigby were naturally very
public property. I heard all about them from the
beginning, and have no doubt that anyone of age
to listen and capable of sympathising was similarly
favoured. He originally proposed to the young lady
after a few days' acquaintance, and she turned pale
and said " You have no right to speak to me in this
way." Ups and downs followed, including a con-
FANNY KEMBLE 53
sultatiou with planchette, which quite properly wavered
and shook and spoke with an uncertain voice. This
was all in 1870. Some time in January we acted a small
farce which I had perpetrated called The Detective.
When it was over my uncle informed me that failing
his marriage he intended to leave me a thousand pounds
in recognition of this play. Fortunately I founded no
hopes on that thousand pounds, for I think that it
was the following morning when Uncle Eddy came
shouting along the top corridor where we slept.
" Margaret — you've lost your thousand pounds ! "
The post had come in and the fair lady had relented.
James, my father's youngest brother, called " Uncle
Jinmiy," had travelled in the United States and been
entertained on her plantation in Georgia by a charming
Southern lady — a Miss Butler, daughter of the descen-
dant of an old Irish family who had married the well-
known actress Fanny Kemble. Mr. and Mrs. Pierce
Butler had separated — not from any wrong-doing, but
from absolute incompatibility of temper. For one
thing the wife took up a Nnolent anti-slavery attitude —
a little awkward when (as she must have known when
she married) the husband owned a cotton plantation
worked by slave labour. However, the two daughters
remained on friendly terms with both parents, and
Mr. Butler died during — or shortly after — the war.
One daughter married a Dr. Wister and became the
mother of the well-known author, Owen Wister ; the
younger, Frances, married my uncle and was adopted
into the family as " Aunt Fanny." Though some ten
or eleven years older than myself, she and I became the
greatest friends, and 1 umch liked her somewhat erratic,
though withal stately, mother, who was called " Mrs.
Kemble." Both Uncles were married (on different
A
54 MARRIAGE [ch. hi
days) in June 1871, my sister Agnes being bridesmaid
to Miss Butler and I to Miss Rigby.
Both marriages were very happy ones, though my
Uncle Chandos ended his life in a dark cloud cast by the
late War — in which he lost his only two sons, and his
wife was killed in a motor accident not long after his
death.
Since I wrote above I have found an old journal
from May 18th, 1868, to November 3rd, 1869. I do not
extract much from it, as it largely consists of records of
the various balls and entertainments which we attended
— but it is rather amusing to note what circumstances,
social and otherwise, struck the fancy of a girl in her
first two seasons. Politically the Irish Church Bill
seems to have been the burning question. We went to
part of the Debate on the Second Reading (June 17th,
1869) in the House, and I not only give a summary of
Lord Salisbury's speech, but when the Bill was carried,
devote over two pages of my journal to a full description
of the details of the measure. The causes celebres of
Madame Rachel, the Beauty Doctor, and of the nun,
Miss Saurin, against her Mother Superior, Mrs. Starr,
appear also to have been topics of conversation.
One visit is perhaps worth recording. My father's
mother was a Miss Willes of an old family living on the
borders of Northamptonshire and Oxfordshire — regular
country people. One of her brothers, Charles, was
married to a certain Polly — I think she was a Miss
Waller, but anyhow they were a plump, old-fashioned
pair. She was supposed to keep a book in which were
recorded the names of over a hundred nephews and
nieces, and to sell a pig to give a present to any one of
the number who married. On the last day of 1868 my
brother Gilly and I went with our Aunt Georgiana
AN OLD-FASHIONED CHRISTMAS 55
to stay with this charming old couple at King-Sutton
Manor House near Banbury^. This is how I describe
the New Year festivities of fifty years ago : " It is a
queer old house like one in a stoiybook, full of corners.
My wash-stand was in a recess with a window, separated
from the rest of the room by doors so that it looked
like a chapel. We had dinner between six and seven, a
real Christmas dinner with nearly twenty people — great-
uncle Charles, great-amit Martha, great-aunt Sophy,
George Willes, Willie Willes, Stany Waller, the clergy-
man Mr. Bruce, Aunt Polly herself beaming at the
head of the table, turkey and beef stuck with holly,
and the plum-pudding brought in, in flaming brandy. . . .
Almost ever}'one seemed related to all the rest. A few
more people came after dinner while we were in the
drawing-room and the dining-room was being cleared
for dancing. Two fiddlers and a blowing-man were
then perched on a table in a corner and dancing began —
quadrilles, lancers, jig, reel, and valse carried on with
the utmost energy, by Aunt Polly in particular, till
about half-past eleven, when muffled bells began to
ring in a church close by and the dancing was stopped
that we might all listen. At twelve o'clock the muffles
were taken off. Aunt Polly charged with Xmas cards
into the midst of her company, punch was brought in
in great cups, silver, I believe ; everyone kissed, shook
hands, and wished everyone else a Happy New Year,
the bells rang a joy-peal, and we had supper, and then
began dancing again till between one and two in the
morning. After many efforts Gilly succeeded in catch-
ing Aunt Polly under the misletoe and kissing her." I
do not know what a " blowing-man " may have been,
but have a vivid recollection of Aunt Polly trying to
dance everyone down in a perpetual jig, and of the
56 MARRIAGE [ch. hi
portly figure of Uncle Charles, who had to be accommo-
dated with two chairs at dinner.
We had other very pleasant visits — and amongst
them we stayed with my uncle and aunt Wenlock for
my cousin Carry Lawley's wedding to Captain Caryl
Molyneux. This marriage was particularly interesting
to all the cousinhood, as it was brought about after
considerable opposition. Carry was an extraordinarily
pretty, lively, and attractive girl rather more than a
year older than myself. She had brilliant eyes and
auburn hair and was exceedingly clever and amusing.
Her family naturally expected her to make a marriage
which would give all her qualities a wide sphere. How-
ever, at the mature age of eleven she won the affections
of Lord Sefton's younger brother and he never fluctuated
in his choice. I do not know at what exact moment he
disclosed his admiration, but he contrived to make the
young lady as much in love with him as he was with her.
Vainly did her mother refuse consent. Carry stuck to
her guns, and I believe ultimately carried her point by
setting up a cough ! Anyhow the parents gave in, and
when they did so, accepted the position with a good
grace. Somehow what was considered sufficient pro-
vision for matrimony was made and Caryl and Carry
were married, on a brilliant spring day in April 1870.
It was at the Wenlocks' London house, in the follow-
ing year, that I made the acquaintance of Lord Jersey.
We had unknowingly met as children at an old inn on
Edgehill called " The Sunrising " ; at that time his
parents, Lord and Lady Villiers, lived not far off at
Upton House, which then belonged to Sarah, Lady
Jersey. While my brother and I were playing outside,
a boy with long fair hair looked out of the inn and
smilingly lashed his whip at us, unconscious that it was
A PRE-:MATRI]M0NIAL party 57
his first salutatiou to his future wife ! I discovered in
after years that George Villiers, as he then was, used to
ride over for lessons to a neighbouring clergyman and
put up his pony at the inn.
At the dinner-party at Berkeley Square Lord Jersey
did not take me in, and I had not the slightest idea who
he was, but when the ladies left the dining-room I was
laughed at for having monopolised his attention when
he was intended to talk to his partner. He was reckoned
exceedingly shy, and I thought no more of the matter
till the following season, to which I shall return in due
course.
After our return to Stoneleigh, though I do not
recollect in which month (I think August), we had a
large and gay party including a dance — it was dis-
tinctly a pre-matrimonial party, as three of the girls
whom it included were either engaged or married before
twelve months were over, though none of them to the
men present. The three girls were Gwendolen (then
called Gwendaline) Howard, who married Lord Bute ;
Maria Fox-Strangw^ays, married to Lord Bridport's son
Captain Hood ; and myself. Rather oddly, a much
older man and a widower, Lord Raglan, who was also of
the party, caught the matrimonial microbe and married
his second wife in the ensuing autumn.
Among others my cousin and great friend Hugh
Shaw-Stewart was there and immortalised our doings in
verse. At Christmas time I managed to get slight con-
gestion of the lungs and soon after went to spend some
time with my kind uncle and aunt Sir Michael and Lady
Octavia Shaw-Stewart at Fonthill, and Hughie, who had
also suflered from chest trou})le, stayed with his parents
there while preparijig for Oxford.
Fonthill, as is well known, belonged to the eccentric
58 MARRIAGE [ch. iii
Beckford and was full of his traditions. After his
death, the property was divided and my grandfather
Westminster bought the portion which included Beck-
ford's old house, of which the big tower had fallen down,
and built himself a modern house lower down the hill.
Another part was bought — I do not know when — by
Mr. Alfred Morrison. When my grandfather West-
minster died in the autumn of 1869 he left the reversion
of Fonthill Abbey to Uncle Michael. Perhaps he thought
that the Shaw- Stewarts should have an English as well
as a Scottish home. However that might have been,
Fonthill is a delightful place — and I benefited by their
residence there at this time. I think that they were
only to come into actual possession after my grand-
mother's death — but that she lent it to them on this
occasion as my aunt was delicate and it was considered
that she would be the better for southern air.
The modern house was a comfortable one with good
rooms, but had a peculiarity that no room opened into
another, as my grandfather objected to that arrange-
ment — dressing-rooms, for instance, though they might
open into the same lobbies, might not have doors into
the bedrooms.
Part of Beckford 's old house higher up the hill was
preserved as a sort of museum. The story was that he
insisted on continuous building, Sundays and weekdays
alike. The house had a very high tower which could
be seen from a hill overlooking Bath, where he ultim-
ately went to live. Every day he used to go up the
hill to look at his tower, but one morning when he
ascended as usual he saw it no longer — it had fallen
down. It used to be implied that this was a judgment
on the Sunday labour. Also we were told that he
made the still- existing avenues and drove about them
FONTHILL ABBEY 59
at night, which gave him an uncanny reputation.
Probably his authorship of that weird tale Vathek added
to the mystery which surrounded him. He had
accumulated among many other treasures a number of
great oriental jars from the Palace of the King of
Portugal, and when these were sold after his death
my grandfather, to the best of my recollection,
purchased three.
Mr. Morrison had secured a good many of the others,
which I saw in after years when I stayed at the other
Fonthill House which he had built on his part of the
property. Many of the other treasures passed, as is
well known, into the possession of Beckford's daughter
who married the 10th Duke of Hamilton. Alas — most
of them must have been dispersed ere now !
Mr. Alfred Morrison, when I was at Fonthill with my
uncle and aunt, was a subject of much interest, as it
was rumoured that he wanted to emulate Beckford.
I do not quite know in what way beyond trying to
collect the oriental jars. He was a distinctly literary
man, and was reported to have married his wife because
he found her reading a Greek grammar in the train.
Whether or no that was the original attraction I cannot
say, but she proved a delightful and amusing person
when I met her in after years. Meantime we used to
hear of the beautiful horses which he sent to the meets
of the local hounds, though he did not ride, and other
proofs of his wealth and supposed eccentricity.
My uncle as well as my aunt being far from strong,
we led a quiet though pleasant life. Hughie and I
shared a taste for drawing and painting of very amateur
deficription and Hughie used to help me witli J.iilin
verses, in which 1 then liked to dabble.
After my return to Stoncleigh 1 had yet another
60 MARRIAGE [ch. hi
treat. My Uncle James and his new wife " Aunt
Fanny " were kind enough to ask me to share in the
spring their first trip abroad after their marriage. We
went via Harwich to Rotterdam and thence for a
short tour in Holland and Belgium with which I was
highly delighted. The quaint canals, the cows with
table-cloths on their backs, the queer Jewish quarter
in Amsterdam, and still more the cathedrals and picture
galleries in Belgium gave me infinite pleasure, but are
too well known to describe.
Even the copyist in the Antwerp Gallery who, being
armless, painted with his toes was an amusement, as
much to my uncle, who loved freaks, as to myself.
Ghent and Bruges were a revelation ; and I was much
entertained by the guide who took us up the Belfry
of St. Nicholas (I think it was) at the former city and
pointed triumphantly to the scenery as " bien beau,
tout plat, pas de monta.gnes." He shared the old
Anglo-Saxon conception of Paradise.
" Nor hills nor mountains there
Stand steep, nor strong cliffs
Tower high, as here with us ; nor dells nor dales,
Nor mountain-caves, risings, nor hilly chains ;
Nor thereon rests aught unsmooth,
But the noble field flourishes under the skies
With delights blooming."
In the Cathedral of St. Nicholas, over the high altar,
was an image of the saint with three children in a tub.
My uncle asked a priest what he was doing with the
children, but all the good man could say was that " St.
Nicolas aimait beaucoup les enfants," quite ignorant
of the miracle attributed to his own saint, namely,
that he revived three martyred boys by putting them
into a barrel of salt.
Shortly after our return to England we moved to
ENGAGEMENT 61
Portman Square for the season. At a diiiner-party —
I believe at Lord Caniperdown's — I again met Lord
Jersey, but fancied that he would have forgotten me,
and subsequently ascertained that he had the same
idea of my memory. So we did not speak to each
other. Later on, however, my father told my mother
that he had met Lord Jersey and would like him asked
to diuner. The families had been friends in years gone
by, but had drifted apart. My mother agreed, sent
the invitation, which was accepted. In arranging how
the guests were to sit I innocently remarked to my
mother that it was no good counting Lord Jersey as a
young man — or words to that effect — as " he would
never speak to a girl " — and I was rather surprised
when in the drawing-room after he came across to me
and made a few remarks before the party broke up.
After this events moved rapidly for me. Jersey,
unexpectedly to many people, appeared at balls at
Montagu House, Northumberland House (then still
existing), and Grosvenor House. Also he came to
luncheon once or twice in Portman Square. He did not
dance at balls, but though " sitting-out " was not then
the fashion we somehow found a pretext — such as
looking at illuminations — for little walks. Then Lord
ToUemache drove my mother and me to a garden-party
at Syon, where I well recollect returning from another
" little walk " across a lawn where my mother was
sitting with what appeared to me to be a gallery of
aunts.
We went to a last ball at the Howards of Glossop in
Rutland Gate, and discovering that we were about to
leave London Jersey took his courage in two hands
and came to J'ortnian Square, .Fuly IHtli, and all was
happily settled.
62 MARRIAGE [ch. hi
I went next morning — it may have been the same
evening — to tell Aunt Fanny, who was then laid up at
a house not far from ours. I had been in the habit of
paying her constant visits, so she had an idea of what
might happen, and I found her mother, Mrs. Fanny
Kemble, with her. One word was enough to enlighten
my aunt, who then said, '* May I tell my mother ? ''
I assented, and she said, " This child has come to tell
me of her engagement." Whereupon Mrs. Kemble
demanded, with a tragical air worthy of her aunt Mrs.
Siddons, " And are you very happy, young lady V I
cheerfully answered, " Oh yes " — and she looked as if
she were going to cry. My aunt said afterwards that
any marriage reminded her of her own unfortunate
venture. Aunt Fanny was much amused when I con-
fided to her that finding immediate slumber difficult
the first night of my engagement I secured it by at-
tempting the longest sum which I could find in Colenso's
arithmetic. My brothers and sisters accepted the news
with mixed feelings — but poor little Cordelia, who had
been left at Stoneleigh, was quite upset. I wrote her
a letter in which I said that Lord Jersey should be her
brother and she should be bridesmaid. The nurse told
me that she burst into tears on receiving it and said
that he should not be her brother, and not take away
Markie. She quite relented when she saw him, because
she said that he had nice smooth light hair like Rowly
— and as time went on, she suggested that if Aggy
would only " marry or die " she should be " head girl
and hear the boys their lessons.'' As the youngest
" boy " was seven years older than herself this may be
regarded as an exceptional claim for woman's supremacy
in her family.
My future mother-in-law, Jersey's mother, and his
MARRIED TO LORD JERSEY 63
brothers welcomed me most kindly. As for his sisters,
Lady Julia Wombwell and Lady Caroline Jenkins, I
cannot say enough of their unvar}^ing friendship and
affection.
I was engaged about the middle of July, and shortly
we returned to Stoneleigh. My mother was terribly
busy afterwards, as my brother Gilbert came of age
on the first of September and the occasion was cele-
brated with great festivities, including a Tenants' Ball,
when the old gat-eway was illuminated as it had been
for the Queen's visit. The ivy, however, had grown
80 rapidly in the intervening years that an iron frame-
work had to be made outside it to hold the little lamps.
There was a very large family party in the house, and
naturally my affairs increased the general excitement
and I shared with my brother addresses and presenta-
tions. As my mother said — it could never happen to
her again to have a son come of age and a daughter
married in the same month. She was to have launched
the Lady Leigh lifeboat in the middle of September,
but my sister was commissioned to do it instead — and
we returned to Portman Square for final preparations.
Like most girls under similar circumstances I lived in
a whirl during those days, and my only clear recollec-
tions are signing Settlements (in happy ignorance of
their contents) and weeping bitterly the night before
the wedding at the idea of parting from my family,
being particularly upset by my brother Dudley's floods
of fraternal tears. However, we were all fairly com-
posed when the day — September 10th, 1872, dawned —
and I was safely married by my Uncle Jimmy at St.
Thomas's Church, Orchard Street. It was not our
parish, but we had a special licence as it was more
convenient. My bridesmaids were my two sisters,
64 MARRIAGE [ch. hi
Frances Adderley, one of the Cholmondeleys, Minna
Finch (daughter of my father's cousin Lady Aylesford),
and Julia Wombwell's eldest little girl Julia — after-
wards Lady Dartrey.
When all was over and farewells and congratulations
ended, Jersey and I went down for a short honeymoon
at Fonthill, which my grandmother lent us. So ended
a happy girlhood — so began a happy married life. I
do not say that either was free from shadows, but
looking back my prevailing feeling is thankfulness — and
what troubles I have had have been mostly of my own
making.
My father was so good — my mother so wise. One
piece of advice she gave me might well be given to
most young wives. " Do not think that because you
have seen things done in a particular way that is the
only right one.'' I cannot resist ending with a few
sentences from a charming letter which Aunt Fanny
wrote me when I went to Stoneleigh after my engage-
ment :
" I have thought of you unceasmgly and prayed
earnestly for you. I could not love you as I do, did
1 not believe that you were true and good and noble —
and on that, more than on anything else, do I rest my
faith for your future. Oh, Marky my darling child,
cling to the good that is in you. Never be false to
yourself. I see your little boat starting out on the
sea of life, anxiously and tremblingly — for I know full
well however smooth the water may be now there must
come rocks in everyone's life large enough to wreck
one. Do you call to mind, dear, how you almost wished
for such rocks to battle against a little time ago, weary-
ing of the tame, even stream down which you were
floating ? God be with you when you do meet them."
CHAPTER IV
EARLY MARRIED LIFE
It is more difficult to write at all consecutively of my
married life than of my girlhood, as I have less by
which I can date its episodes and more years to tra-
verse — but I must record what I can in such order as
can be contrived.
We did not stay long at Fonthill, and after a night
or two in London came straight to our Oxfordshire
home — Middleton Park.
My husband's grandfather and father had both died
in the same month (October 1859) when he was a boy
of fourteen. He w^as called " Grandison " for the
three weeks which intervened between their deaths,
having been George Villiers before, so when he returned
again to Eton after his father died, the boys said that
he came back each time with a fresh name. His grand-
mother, however, the well-known Sarah, Lady Jersey,
continued to reign at Middleton, for the largest share
of the family fortune belonged to her as heiress of her
grandfather Mr. Child — and, I suppose, in recognition
of all he had enjoyed of hers, her husband left her the
use of the Welsh property and she alone had the means
to keep up Middleton. She was very fond of my 1ms-
band, but when she died, soon after he came of age
and inherited the place, he did not care to make many
changes, and though his mother paid lengthened visits
66
66 EARLY MARRIED LIFE [ch. iv
slie had never really been mistress of the house.
Therefore I seemed to have come straight upon the
traces of a bygone generation. Even the china boxes
on my dressing-table and the blotters on the writing-
tables were much as Lady Jersey had left them — and
there were bits of needlework and letters in the drawers
which brought her personally vividly before me. The
fear and awe of her seemed to overhang the village,
and the children were still supposed to go to the
Infant School at two years old because she had thought
it a suitable age. She had been great at education,
had built or arranged schools in the various villages
belonging to her, and had endowed a small training
school for servants in connection with a Girls' School
at Middleton. Naturally the care of that school and
other similar matters fell to my province, and I some-
times felt, as I am sure other young women must have
done under similar circumstances, that a good deal
of wisdom was expected from me at an age which I
should have considered hardly sufficient for a second
housemaid. Some of the schools of that date must
have been quaint enough. An old lame woman still
had charge of the Infant School at the neighbouring
hamlet of Caulcot, whom we soon moved into the Alms-
houses. In after years one of her former pupils told
me that she was very good at teaching them Scripture
and a little reading, but there was no question of
writing. If the old lady had occasion to write a letter
on her own account she used a knitting-needle as a
pen while my informant held the paper steady. If a
child was naughty she made him or her stand crouched
under the table as a punishment. She never put on a
dress unless she knew that Lady Jersey was at the
Park, and then, she being crippled with rheumatism, her
LORD JERSEY'S MOTHER 67
pupil had to stand ou a chair to fasten it up, lest the
great lady should pay a surprise visit.
Sarah, Lady Jersey, had a great dislike to any cutting
down or even lopping of trees. She had done much
towards enlarging and planting the Park, and doubtless
trees were to her precious children. Therefore the
agent and woodmen, who realised the necessity of a
certain amount of judicious thinning, used to wait
until she had taken periodical drives of inspection
amongst the woods, and then exercised some dis-
cretion in their operations, trusting to trees having
branched out afresh or to her having forgotten their
exact condition before she came again.
In one school, Somerton, I was amused to find a
printed copy of regulations for the conduct of the
children, including injunctions never to forget their
benefactress. But she was really exceedingly good to
the poor people on the property and thoughtful as to
their individual requirements. One old woman near
her other place, Upton, told me how she had heard of
her death soon after receiving a present from her, and
added, " 1 thought she went straight to heaven for
Bending me that petticoat ! " Also she built good
cottages for the villagers before the practice was as
universal as it became later on. The only drawback
was that she would at times insist on the building
being carried on irrespective of the weather, with the
result that they were not always as dry as they should
have been.
Lady Jersey was well known in the world, admired
for her beauty and lively conversation, and no doubt
often flattered for her wealth, but she left a good record
of charity and duties fulfilled in her own home.
As for her beautiful daughter Lady Clementina, she
68 EARLY MARRIED LIFE [ch. iv
was locally regarded as an angel, and I have heard that
when she died the villagers resented her having been
buried next to her grandmother, Frances Lady Jersey,
as they thought her much too good to lie next to the
lady who had won the fleeting affections of George IV.
I soon found home and occupation at Middleton, but
I confess that after being accustomed to a large and
cheerful family I found the days and particularly the
autumn evenings rather lonely when my husband was
out hunting, a sport to which he was much addicted in
those days. However, we had several visitors of his
family and mine, and went to Stoneleigh for Christmas,
which was a great delight to me.
Soon after we went abroad, as it was thought desirable
after my chest attack of the previous winter that I
should not spend all the cold weather in England. We
spent some time at Cannes, and I fancy that it really
did my husband at least as much good as myself — any-
how he found that it suited him so well that we returned
on various occasions.
Sir Robert Gerard was then a great promoter of
parties to the He Ste Marguerite and elsewhere, and
the Due de Vallombrosa and the Duchesse de Luynes
helped to make things lively.
I will not, however, dwell on scenes well known to
so many people, and only say that after a short excursion
to Genoa and Turin we returned in the early spring, or
at the end of winter, to superintend a good deal of work
which was then being done to renovate some of the
rooms at Middleton. At the beginning of May we
moved to 7 Norfolk Crescent — a house which we had
taken from Mr. Charles Fane of Child's Bank — and my
eldest son was born there on June 2nd, 1873. He had
come into the world unduly soon — before he was ex-
XllK UliliAKV, MllJDLIvToX I'AUK.
J-'ri/m /iholnjruiiht by the prrseiU Voutilrn «/ Jtrtry.
MIDKI.KTnV J'AHK.
M]
IN LONDON 60
pected — and inconveniently selected Whit Monday
when the shops were shut and vre were unable to supply
certain deficiencies in the preparations. Nevertheless
he was extremely welcome, and though very small on
his arrival he soon made up for whatever he lacked in
size, and, as everyone who knows him will testify, he
is certainly of stature sufficient to please the most
exacting.
My mother-in-law and her second husband, Mr.
Brandling, were among our frequent visitors. Mr.
Brandling had a long beard and a loud voice, and a way
of fiingiiig open the doors into the dining-room when
he came in in the morning which was distinctly start-
ling. Apart from these peculiarities he did not leave
much mark in the world. He was very fond of reading,
and I used to suggest to him that he might occupy
himself in reviewing books, but I do not think that
he had much power of concentration. My mother-in-
law was tactful with him, but he had a decided temper,
especially when he played whist. As I did not play,
this did not affect me.
My younger sister-in-law, Caroline, and I were great
friends. She had married Mr. Jenkins, who was well
known as a sportsman and an amiable, genial man. His
chief claim to fame, apart from his knowledge of horses
and their training, was an expedition which he had
made to avenge his sister's death in Abyssinia. His
sister had married a Mr. Powell and she and her husband
had been nmrdered by natives when travelling in that
country. Mr. Jenkins and Mr. Powell's brother went
to Kgypt, collected followers, went into the territory
where the murder had taken place, burned the village
which sheltered the aggressors, and had tie chief culprits
handed over to them for execution. It was said that
70 EARLY MARRIED LIFE [ch. iv
the fact that a couple of Englishmen would not leave
their relatives' death unavenged produced more effect
than the whole Abyssinian expedition.
The winter after my boy's birth Caroline lost hers,
who was a few months older than mine, and was herself
very ill, so we invited her and Mr. Jenkins to join us at
Cannes, where we had this season taken a villa — Isola
Bella. We were the first people who inhabited it. It
has since been greatly enlarged and its gardens so
extended that it is now one of the finest houses in the
place. Even then it was very pretty and attractive,
and we enjoyed ourselves greatly.
There was a quaint clergyman at that time who had
known Caroline when she had been sent as a girl to
Hyeres, where he then ministered, and where he had
been famous for a head of hair almost too bushy to
admit of being covered by a hat. He was anxious to
re- claim acquaintance, but though civil she was not
effusive. He was noted for paying long visits when he
got into anyone's house. I heard of one occasion on
which his name was announced to a young lady who was
talking to a man cousin whom she knew well. The
youth on hearing the name exclaimed that he must
hide, and crept under the sofa. The visitor stayed on and
on till the young man could stand his cramped position
no longer and suddenly appeared. The parson was
quite unmoved and unmovable by the apparition of
what he took to be a lover, and merely remarked " Don't
mind me ! "
We found this house so charming that we sent our
courier back to England to bring out our boy. My
aunt. Lady Agnes, and her husband. Dr. Frank, with
their baby girl, lived not far off — they had found Isola
Bella for us and were pleasant neighbours. My husband,
ISOLA BELLA. CANNES 71
Caroline, and myself found additional occupation in
Italian lessons from a fiery little patriot whose name I
forget, but who had fought in the war against the
Austrians. Among other things he had a lurid story
about his mother whose secrets in the Confessional had
been betrayed by a priest, resulting in the arrest and I
believe death of a relative. After which though the
lady continued her prayers she — not unnaturally — de-
clined to make further confessions.
Our sojourn on this visit to Cannes was further
brightened by Conservative triumphs in the 1874
elections. We used to sit after breakfast on a stone
terrace in front of the villa, Mr. Jenkins smoking and
Jersey doing crochet as a pastime — being no smoker ;
and morning after morning the postman would appear
\^'ith English papers bringing further tidings of success.
The Jenkinses returned to England rather before
ourselves — we travelled back towards the end of April
in singularly hot weather, and when we reached Dover
Jersey left me there for a few days to rest while he
went back to Middleton. Unfortunately the journey,
or something, had been too nmch for me, and a little
girl, who only lived for a day, appeared before her
time at the Lord Warden Hotel. It was a great dis-
appointment, and I had a somewhat tedious month at
the hotel before migrating to 12 Gloucester Square —
the house which we had taken for the season.
I have no special recollections of that season, though
1 think that it was that year that I met Lord Beacons-
field at the Duke of Buccleuch's. It is, however, im-
possible to fix exactly the years in wliich one dined in
particular places and met particular people, nor is it
at all important.
I would rather siinmiarise (Jiir life in the country,
72 EARLY MARRIED LIFE [ch. iv
where we had garden parties, cricket matches, and
lawn tennis matches at which we were able to entertain
our neighbours. Now, alas ! the whole generation who
lived near Middleton in those days has almost passed
away. Our nearest neighbours were Sir Henry and
Lady Dashwood at Kirtlington Park with a family
of sons and daughters ; Lord Valentia, who lived with
his mother, Mrs. Devereux, and her husband the General
at Bletchington ; and the Drakes — old Mrs. Drake
and her daughters at Bignell. Sir Henry's family had
long lived at Kirtlington, which is a fine house, originally
built by the same architect — Smith, of Warwick — who
built the new portion of Stoneleigh early in the eigh-
teenth century. Sir Henry was a stalwart, pleasant
man, and a convinced teetotaller. Later on than the
year of which I speak the Dashwoods came over to
see some theatricals at Middleton in which my brothers
and sisters and some Cholmondeley cousins took part.
After the performance they gave a pressing invitation
to the performers to go over on a following day to
luncheon or tea. A detachment went accordingly,
and were treated with great hospitality but rather
like strolling players. " Where do you act next ? "
and so on, till finally Sir Henry burst out : " What an
amusing family yours is ! Not only all of you act,
but your uncle Mr. James Leigh gives temperance
lectures ! " Sir Henry's son. Sir George Dashwood,
had a large family of which three gallant boys lost their
lives in the Great War. To universal regret he was
obliged to sell Kirtlington. It was bought by Lord
Leven, whose brother and heir has in turn sold it to
Mr. Budgett. Not long before I married, the then
owner of another neighbouring place — Sir Algernon
Peyton, M.F.H., of Swift's House, had died. Lord
OXFORDSHIRE NEIGHBOURS 73
Valentia took the Bicester hounds which he had hunted,
for a time, rented Swift's from his widow, and ulti-
mately did the wisest thing by marrying her (1878)
and installing her at Bletchington. They are really
the only remaining family of my contemporaries sur-
viving — and, though they have occasionally let it,
they do live now in their own house. They had two
sons and six daughters — great friends of my children.
The eldest son was killed in the Great War.
Another neighbour was a droll old man called Roch-
fort Clarke, who lived at a house outside Chesterton
village with an old sister-in-law whose name I forget
(I think Miss Byrom) — but his wife being dead he was
deeply attached to her sister. Soon after our marriage
he came to call, and afterwards wrote a letter to con-
gratulate us on our happiness and to say that had it
not been for the iniquitous law forbidding marriage with
a deceased wife's sister we should have seen a picture
of equal domestic felicity in him and Miss . He
was very anxious to convert Irish Roman Catholics
to the ultra-Protestant faith, and he interpreted the
Second Commandment to forbid all pictures of any sort
or kind. None were allowed in his house. Once he
wrote a letter to the papers to protest against the
ritualism embodied in a picture in Chesterton Church —
an extremely evangelical place where Moody and Sankey
hymns prevailed. Later on the clergyman took me
into the church to show me the offending idol. It
consisted of a diminutive figure — as far as 1 could see
of a man — in a very small window high up over the
west door. The most appalling shock was inflicted
upon him by a visit to the Exhibition of 1851, where
various statuary was displayed including Gibson's
" Tinted Venus." This impelled him to break into a
74 EARLY MARRIED LIFE [ch. iv
song of protest of which I imperfectly recollect four
lines to this effect :
" Tell me, Victoria, can that borrowed grace
Compare with Albert's manly form and face ?
And tell me, Albert, can that shameless jest
Compare with thy Victoria clothed and dressed ? "
The sister-in-law died not long after I knew him, and
he then married a respectable maid-servant whom he
brought to see us dressed in brown silk and white gloves.
Shortly afterwards he himself departed this life and the
property was bought by the popular Bicester banker
Mr. Tubb, who married Miss Stratton — a second cousin
of mine — built a good house, from which pictures were
not barred, and had four nice daughters.
I cannot name all the neighbours, but should not omit
the old Warden of Merton, Mr. Marsham, who lived with
his wife and sons at Caversfield. The eldest son,
Charles Marsham, who succeeded to the place after his
death, was a great character well known in the hunting
and cricket fields. He was a good fellow with a hot
temper which sometimes caused trying scenes. To-
wards the end of his life he developed a passion for
guessing Vanity Fair acrostics, and when he saw you
instead of " How d'ye do ? " he greeted you with
" Can you remember what begins with D and ends with
F ? " or words to that effect. There was a famous
occasion when, as he with several others from Middleton
were driving to Meet, one of my young brothers sug-
gested some solution at which he absolutely scoffed.
When the hounds threw off, however, Charlie Marsham
disappeared and missed a first-class run. It was
ultimately discovered that he had slipped away to a
telegraph office to send off a solution embodying my
brother's suggestion !
CAVERSFIELD CHURCH 75
Caversfield Church was a small building of consider-
able antiquity standing very close to the Squire's
house. The present Lord North, now an old man, has
told me that long ago when he was Master of Hounds
he passed close to this church out cub-hunting at a
very early hour, when the sound of most beautiful
singing came from the tower, heard not only by himself
but by the huntsmen and whips who were with him —
80 beautiful that they paused to listen. Next time
he met the clergyman, who was another Marsham son,
he said to him, " What an early service you had in your
church on such a day ! " "I had no weekday service,"
replied Mr. Marsham, and professed entire ignorance
of the " angelic choir." I have never discovered any
tradition connected with Caversfield Church which
should have induced angels to come and sing their
morning anthem therein, but it is a pretty tale, and Lord
North was convinced that he had heard this music.
One thing is certain, the tiny agricultural parish
of Caversfield could not have produced songsters to
chant Matins while the world at large was yet wrapped
in slumber.
Thinking of Caversfield Church, I recollect attending
a service there when the Bishop of Oxford (Mackarness,
I believe) preached at its reopening after restoration.
In the course of his sermon he remarked that there
had been times when a congregation instead of thinking
of the preservation and beautifying of the sacred
building only considered how they should make them-
selves comfortable therein. This, as reported by the
local representative, appeared in the Bicester paper
as an episcopal comment that in former days people
had neglected to make themselves comfortable in
church. However, my old Archdeacon uncle-by-mar-
76 EARLY MARRIED LIFE [ch. iv
riage, Lord Saye and Sele, who was a distinctly uncon-
ventional thinker, once remarked to my mother that
he had always heard church compared to heaven, and
as heaven was certainly the most comfortable place
possible he did not see why church should not be made
comfortable. The old family pew at Middleton Church
had been reseated with benches to look more or less
like the rest of the church before I married, but was
still a little raised and separated by partitions from
the rest of the congregation. Later on it was levelled
and the partitions removed. From the point of view
of " comfort," and apart from all other considerations,
I do think that the square " Squire's Pew " — as it
still exists at Stoneleigh — where the occupants sit
facing each other — is not an ideal arrangement.
At Broughton Castle — the old Saye and Sele home —
one of the bedrooms had a little window from which
you could look down into the chapel belonging to the
house without the effort of descending. Once when we
stayed there and my mother was not dressed in time
for Morning Prayers she adopted this method of sharing
in the family devotions.
Broughton Castle, and Lord North's place, Wroxton
Abbey (now for sale) are both near Banbury, which
is about thirteen miles from Middleton — nothing in
the days of motors, but a more serious consideration
when visits had to be made with horses,
Mr. Cecil Bourke was clergyman at Middleton when
I married and had two very nice sisters, but he migrated
to Reading about two years later, and was succeeded
by the Rev. W. H. Draper, who has been there ever
since. He is an excellent man who has had a good wife
and eleven children. Mrs. Draper died lately, to the
sorrow of her many friends. Some of the children
LIFE AT MIDDLETON 77
have also gone, but others are doing good work in
various parts of the Empire. Old Lord Strathnairn,
of Mutiny fame, was once staying with us at J\Iiddleton.
He was extremely deaf and apt to be two or three
periods behind in the conversation. Someone men-
tioned leprosy and its causes at dinner, and after two
or three remarks that subject was dropped, and another
took its place, in which connection I observed that our
clerg}mian's wife had eleven children. Lord Strath-
nairn, with his mind still on " leprousy," turned to me
and in his usual courteous manner remarked, "It is
not catching, I believe ? "
Among other neighbours were Mr. and Mrs. Hibbert
at Bucknell Manor, who had six well-behaved little
daughters whom, though they treated them kindly,
they regarded as quite secondary to their only son.
On the other hand, Mr. and Mrs. Dewar at Cotmore
were perfectly good to their four sons, but the only
daughter distinctly ruled the roost. Moral : if a boy
baby has any choice he had better select a family
of sisters in which to be born, and the contrary advice
should be tendered to a female infant.
To return to our own affairs. The little girl whom
we lost in April 1874 was replaced, to our great pleasure,
by another little daughter born at Middleton, October
8th, 1875, and christened Margaret like the baby who
lay beneath a white marble cross in the churchyard.
The new little ]\Iargaret became and has remained a
constant treasure. Villiers' first words were " Hammer,
hammer," which he picked up from hearing the constant
hammering at the tank in the new water-tower. He
was very pleased witli liis sister, but a trifle jeakKis
of the attentions paid her by his nurse. A rather quaint
incident took place at the baby's christening. When
78 EARLY MARRIED LIFE [ch. iv
Villiers was born, old Lord Bathurst, then aged eighty-
two, asked to come and see him as he had known my
husband's great -grandmother Frances, Lady Jersey
(the admired of George IV) , and wanted to see the fifth
generation. We asked him to stay at Middleton for
the little girl's christening, and after dinner to propose
the baby's health.
He asked her name, and when I told him " Mar-
garet " he murmured, " What memories that brings
back ! " and fell into a reverie. When he rose for the
toast he confided to the family that her great-grand-
mother on my side — Margarette, Lady Leigh — had been
his first love and repeated, " Maggie Willes, Maggie
Willes, how I remember her walking down the streets
of Cirencester ! " He was a wonderful man for falling
in love — even when he was quite old he was always
fascinated by the youngest available girl — but he died
unmarried. Perhaps one love drove out the other
before either had time to secure a firm footing in his
heart.
Lord Bathurst told me that when he was a middle-
aged man and friend of the family Sarah Lady Jersey
was very anxious to secure Prince Nicholas Esterhazy
for her eldest daughter Sarah (a marriage which came
off in due course). She had asked him to stay at
Middleton, and it was generally believed that if he
accepted the match would be arranged. Lord Bathurst
in November 1841 was riding into Oxford when he met
Lady Jersey driving thence to Middleton. She put her
head out of the carriage and called to him, " We have
got our Prince ! " At that time the Queen was expect-
ing her second child, and Lord Bathurst, more occupied
with Her Majesty's hopes than with those of Lady
Jersey, at once assumed that this meant a Prince of
MR. DISRAELI 79
Wales, and rode rapidly on to announce the joyful
tidings. These were almost immediately verified, and
he gained credit for ver}* early intelligence. He was a
gallant old man, and despite his years climbed a fence
when staying at Middleton. He died between two and
three years later.
On a visit to the Exeters at Burghlcy, near Stam-
ford, we had met Mr. and Mrs. Finch of Burley-on-the-
Hill, near Oakham, and they asked us to stay with
them soon after little Margaret's birth. I mention this
because it was here that I met Lady Galloway, who
became my great friend, and with whom later on I
shared many delightful experiences. She was a hand-
some and fascinating woman a few months younger
than mvself.
It was in this year, May 18th, 1875, that Disraeli
wrote to Jersey offering him the appointment of Lord-
in- Waiting to the Queen — saying, " I think, also, my
selection would be pleasing to Her Majesty, as many
members of your family have been connected with the
Court." On May 28th he notified the Queen's ap-
proval. (It is rather quaint that the first letter begins
" My dear Jersey " — the second " My dear Villiers."
My husband was never called " Villiers," but Disraeli
knew his grandfather and father, who were both so
called.) Jersey used to answer for Local Government
in the House of Lords. The Queen was always very
kind to him, as she had known his grandmother so well,
and told me once that Lady Clementina had been her
playfellow. She was his godmother ; she records it if
I remember rightly in the Life of the Prince Consort,
or anyhow in a letter or Diary of the period, and says
there that she became godmother as a token of friend-
ship to Sir Koliert Peel — his mother's father. She
80 EARLY MARRIED LIFE [ch. iv
declared to us that she had held him in her arms at his
christening, and of course it was not for us to contra-
dict Her Majesty : but I think that she officiated by
proxy. She gave him two or three of her books in
which she wrote his name as " Victor Alexander/' and
again we accepted the nomenclature. As a matter of
fact he was " Victor Albert George " and always called
" George " in the family. He had, however, the greatest
respect and affection for his royal godmother, and
valued her beautiful christening cup. As Lord-in-
Waiting he had to attend the House of Lords when in
session, and spoke occasionally — he always sat near
his old friend Lord de Ros, who was a permanent Lord-
in-Waiting.
I used to go fairly often to the House during the
years which followed his appointment and before we
went to Australia, and heard many interesting debates.
Jersey and I always considered the late Duke of Argyll
and the late Lord Cranbrook as two of the finest orators
in the House. The Duke was really splendid, and
with his fine head and hair thrown back he looked the
true Highland Chieftain. Several much less effective
speakers would sometimes persist in addressing the
House, I remember Lord Houghton exciting much
laughter on one occasion when he said of some point
in his speech " and that reminds me," he paused and
repeated " and that reminds me," but the impromptu
would not spring forth till he shook his head and pulled
a slip of paper, on which it was carefully written, out
of his waistcoat pocket.
I was told, though I was not present, of a house-
party of which the Duke of Argyll and Lord Houghton
both formed part. One evening — Sunday evening, I
believe — Lord Houghton offered to read to the assembled
FROUDE AND KINGSLEY 81
company Fronde's account of the " Pilgrimage of
Grace " in his History of Emjlayid. Most of them seem
to have submitted more or less cheerfully, but the
Duke, becoming bored, retired into the background
with a book which he had taken from the table. Just
when Lord Houghton had reached the most thrilling
part and had lowered his voice to give due emphasis to
the narrative, the Duke, who had completely forgotten
what was going on, threw dov\Ti his book and exclaimed,
" What an extraordinary character of Nebuchad-
nezzar ! " Whereupon Lord Houghton in turn threw
down Froude and in wrathful accents cried, " One must
be a Duke and a Cabinet Minister to be guilty of such
rudeness ! "
Froude was rather a friend of ours — a pleasant
though slightly cynical man. I recollect him at Lady
Derby's one evening saying that books were objection-
able ; all books ought to be burnt. I ventured to
suggest that he had written various books which I had
read with pleasure — why did he write them if such
was his opinion ? He shrugged his shoulders and
remarked, " 11 faut vivre." When Lady Derby told
this afterwards to Lord Derby he said that I ought
to have given the classic reply, " Je n'en vois pas la
necessite," but perhaps this would have been going a
little far.
Froude and Kingsloy were brothers-in-law, having
married two Misses Grenfell. On one occasion the
former was giving a liectorial Address at 8t. Andrews
and remarked on the untrustworthiness of clerical
statements. About the same time Kingslcy gave a
discourse at Cambridge in which he quoted a para-
dox of Walpole's to the eifect that whatever else
is true, history is not. Some epigrammists there-
82 EARLY MARRIED LIFE [ch. iv
upon perpetrated the following lines. I quote from
memory :
" Froude informs the Scottish youth
Parsons seldom speak the truth ;
While at Cambridge Kingsley cries
' History is a pack of lies ! '
Whence these judgments so malign ?
A little thought will solve the mystery.
For Froude thinks Kingsley a divine
And Kingsley goes to Froude for history."
The Galloways when we first made their acquaintance
lived at 17 Upper Grosvenor Street. In 1875 we
occupied 17a Great Cumberland Street — and in 1876
a nice house belonging to Mr. Bassett in Charles Street
— but in 1877 we bought 3 Great Stanhope Street,
being rather tired of taking houses for the season. My
second (surviving) daughter Mary was born here on
May 26th — a beautiful baby, god-daughter to Lady
Galloway and Julia Wombwell. My third and youngest
daughter, Beatrice, was born at Folkestone October 12th,
1880, and the family was completed three years later
by Arthur, born November 24th, 1883, to our great
joy, as it endowed us with a second son just before his
elder brother went to Mr. Chignell's school — Castle-
mount — at Dover.
In the same month, but just before Arthur was born,
our tenant at Osterley, the old Duchess of Cleveland
(Caroline), died. She was a fine old lady and an excel-
lent tenant, caring for the house as if it had been her
own. She had most generous instincts, and once when
part of the stonework round the roof of Osterley had
been destroyed by a storm she wrote to my husband
saying that she had placed a considerable sum with
his bankers to aid in its restoration. This was unex-
pected and certainly unsolicited, which made it all the
JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL 83
more acceptable. We should never have thought of
disturbing her during her lifetime, and even when she
died our tirst idea was to relet the place to a suitable
tenant. I had never lived there (though we once slept
for a night durijig the Duchess's tenure), so had no
associations with, and had never realised, the beauty
of, the place. However, after her death we thought
we would give one garden-party before reletting, which
we did in 188-4. The day was perfect, and an unex-
pected number of guests arrived. We were fascinated
with the place and decided to keep it as a " suburban "
home instead of letting, and it became the joy of my
life and a great pleasure to my husband.
I ^vill speak of some of our guests later on, but I
must first mention some of those whom we knew at
Great Stanhope Street and Middleton during the
earlier years of our married life. One of our great
friends was the American Minister Mr. Lowell. Looking
through some of his letters, I recall his perfect charm of
manner in speaking and in writing. The simplest
occurrence, such as changing the date of a dinner-
party in 1882, gave him the opportunity of words which
might have befitted a courtier of old days :
" Her Majesty — long life to her — has gone and ap-
pointed Saturday, June 3rd, to be born on. After
sixty-three years to learn wisdom in, she can do nothing
better than take my Saturday away from me — for I
must go to drink her health at the Foreign Of lice ! 'Tis
enough to make a democrat of any Tory that ever was
except you. 1 have moved on my poor little dijuicr
to 5th. I can make no other combination in the near
future, what witli Her xMajcsty's engagements and
mine, but that. Can you come then 'i Or is my table
to lose its pearl ? If you can't, I Bhall make another
specially for you."
84 EARLY MARRIED LIFE [ch. iv
Before I knew Mr. Lowell personally 1 was introduced
to his works by Mr. Tom Hughes (" Tom Brown '' of
the " Schooldays ") who stayed with us at Middleton at
the beginning of 1880 and gave me a copy of Lowell's
poems carefully marked with those he preferred. Four
years later in August Lowell stayed with us there. It
was a real hot summer, and he wrote into Hughes'
gift these verses which certainly make the volume
doubly precious :
" Tiirbid from Loudon's noise and smoke.
Here found I air and quiet too,
Air filtered through the beech and oak,
Quiet that nothing harsher broke
Than stockdoves' meditative coo.
" So I turn Tory for the nonce
And find the Radical a bore
Who cannot see (thick-witted dunce !)
That what was good for people once
Must be as good for evermore.
" Sun, sink no deeper down the sky,
Nature, ne'er leave this summer mood,
Breeze, loiter thus for ever by,
Stir the dead leaf or let it lie,
Since I am happy, all is good ! "
This poem was afterwards republished under the title
" The Optimist "' in a collection called Heartsease and
Rite. Lowell added four additional stanzas between
the first and the last two, elaborating the description
and the underlying idea. I think, however, that the
three original ones are the best, particularly the gentle
hit at the '' Tory " — with whom he loved to identify
me. The " stockdoves " were the woodpigeons whose
cooing on our lawn soothed and delighted him. Mr.
Hughes told me that he had first made Mr. Lowell's
acquaintance by correspondence, having written to him
to express his admiration of one of his works. I have
T. HUGHES AND J. R. LOWELL 85
just discovered that iii an Introduction to his Collected
Works published 1891 Hughes says that Triibner asked
him in 1859 to write a preface to the English edition of
the Biglow Papers which gave him the long-desired
opportunity of writing to the author. He also told me
— which he also describes in the Introduction — how
nervous he was when about at last to meet his unknown
friend lest he should not come up to the ideal which he
had formed, and how overjoyed he w^as to find him even
more delightful than his letters. In a fit of generosity
Hughes, quite unasked, gave me a very interesting
letter which Lowell wrote him on his appointment to
England in 1880. It is a long letter, some of it dealing
with private matters, but one passage may be trans-
cribed :
" I have been rather amused with some of the com-
ments of your press that have been sent me. They
almost seem to think I shall come in a hostile spirit,
because I have commented sharply on the pretension
and incompetence of one or two British bookmakers !
It is also more than hinted that I said bitter things
about England during our war. Well, I hope none of
my commentators will ever have as good reason to be
bitter. It is only Englislimen who have the happy
privilege of speaking frankly about their neighbours,
and only they who are never satisfied unless an outsider
likes England better than his own country. Thank God
I have spoken my mind at home too, when it would
have been far more comfortable to hold my tongue.
Had 1 felt less kindly toward England, perhaps I
shouldn't have been so bitter, if bitter 1 was."
Mr. Hughes records, again in the Introduction, that
Lowell said in one of his letters during the American
War, " We are all as cross as terriers with your kind
of neutrality " — but he rejoiceii in the gradual increasing
7
86 EARLY MARRIED LIFE [ch. iv
warmth of his^feeling for England as he grew to know
her better during the last years of his life.
While I knew him he was always most friendly, and
it is pleasant to recall him sitting in the garden at
Osterley on peaceful summer evenings enjoying specially
that blue haze peculiar to the Valley of the Thames
which softens without obscuring the gentle English
landscape.
One more letter, including a copy of verses, I cannot
resist copying. In July 1887 he endowed me with
Omar Khayyam, and some months later I received
this— dated " At sea, 2nd November 1887 " :
" Some verses have been beating their wings against
the walls of my brain ever since I gave you the Omar
Khayyam. I don't think they will improve their
feathers by doing it longer. So I have caught and caged
them on the next leaf that you may if you like paste
them into the book. With kindest regards to Lord
Jersey and in the pleasant hope of seeing you again in
the spring.
Faithfully yours,
J. R. Lowell."
" With a copy of Omar Khayyam.
" These pearls of thought in Persian gulfs were bred,
Each softly lucent as a rounded moon :
The diver Omar plucked them from their bed,
Fitzgerald strung them on an English thread.
" Fit rosary for a queen in shape and hue
When Contemplation tells her pensive beads
Of mortal thoughts for ever old and new :
Fit for a queen ? Why, surely then, for you !
" The moral ? When Doubt's eddies toss and twirl
Faith's slender shallop 'neath our reeling feet.
Plunge ! If you find not peace beneath the whirl.
Groping, you may at least bring back a pearl."
He adds beneath the lines : " My pen has danced to
the dancing of the ship."
MR. GLADSTONE ON IMMORTALITY 87
The verses (of course not the covering letter) appeared
in Heartsease and Rue.
Mr. Lowell stayed with us at Osterley in the two
summers following his return. He died in America
just before we went to Australia.
We knew Robert Browning pretty w^ell, and I re-
collect one interesting conversation which I had with
him on death and immortality. Of the former he had
the rather curious idea that the soul's last sojourn in
the body was just between the eyebrows. He said that he
had seen several people die, and that the last movement
was there. I cannot think that a quiver of the forehead
proves it. For immortality, he said that he had em-
bodied his feelings in the " Old Pictures in Florence "
in the lines ending " I have had troubles enough for
one." No one, however, can read his poems without
realising his faith in the hereafter.
How diverse are the views of great men on this
mystery ! Lady Galloway wrote to me once from
Knowsley of a talk she had had with Mr. Gladstone
which I think worth recording in her own words :
" The theory of Mr. Gladstone's that mostly interested
me last night was — that every soul was not of necessity
immortal — that all the Christian faith of the innnortality
of the soul and resurrection of the body was a new
doctrine ijitroduced and revealed by our Lord in whom
alone, maybe, we receive immortal life. This lie only
swjgests, you understand — does not lay it down — but
I don't think I have quite grasped his idea of the mystery
of death, which as far as I can understand he thinks
Man would not have been subject to but for the Fall —
not tli;ii Death did not exist before the Fall — but that
it would have been a diiTeront kind of thing. h\ fact
that the connection between Sin and Death meant that
you lost inmiortality thru' Sin and gained it thro' Christ."
88 EARLY MARRIED LIFE [ch. iv
I might as well insert here part of a letter from Edwin
Arnold, author of The Light of Asia, which he wrote me
in January 1885 after reading an article which I had
perpetrated in The National Review on Buddhism. I
had not known him previously, but he did me the
honour to profess interest in my crude efforts and to
regret what he considered a misconception of Gautama's
fundamemtal idea. He continues :
" I remember more than one passage which seemed
to show that you considered Nirvana to be annihila-
tion ; and the aim and summum honum of the Buddhist
to escape existence finally and utterly. Permit me to
invite you not to adopt this view too decidedly in spite
of the vast authority of men like Max Miiller, Rhys
David, and others. My own studies (which I am far
from ranking with theirs, in regard of industry and
learning) convince me that it was, in every case, the
embodied life ; life as we know it and endure it, which
Gautama desired to be for ever done with. ... I
believe that when St. Paul writes ' the things not seen
are eternal,' he had attained much such a height of
insight and foresight as Buddha under the Bodhi Tree.
I even fancy that when Professor Tyndall lectures on
the light-rays which are invisible to our eyes, and the
cosmical sounds which are inaudible to ears of flesh and
blood, he approaches by a physical path the confines of
that infinite and enduring life of which Orientals dreamed
metaphysically. ''
After this Mr. Arnold — afterwards Sir Edwin — became
numbered among our friends, and was very kind in
giving us introductions when we wenb to India, as I will
record later.
Meantime I may mention a quaint bit of palmistry or
thought-reading connected with him. We had a friend,
Augusta Webb of Newstead, now Mrs. Eraser, who was
an expert in this line. She was calling on me one day
THOUGHT-READING 89
when I mentioned casually that I had met Mr. Arnold,
whose LigJit of Asia she greatly admired. She expressed
a great wish to meet him, so I said, " He is coming to
dine this evening — you had better come also." She
accepted with enthusiasm. He sat next to me, and to
please her I put her on his other side. In the course of
dinner something was said about favourite flowers, and
I exclaimed, " Augusta, tell Mr. Arnold his favourite
flower." She looked at his hand and said without
hesitation, " I don't know its name, but I think it is a
white flower rather like a rose and with a very strong
scent." He remarked, astonished, '* I wish I had
written it down beforehand to show how right you are.
It is an Indian flower." (I forget the name, which
he said he had mentioned in The Light of Asia), " white
and strong-smelling and something like a tuberose."
It is impossible that Augusta could have known before-
hand. Her sister told me later that she did occa-
sionally perceive a person's thought and that this was
one of the instances.
To return to Thomas Hughes, who originally gave
me Lowell's poems. He was an enthusiast and most
conscientious. On the occasion when, as I said before,
he stayed at Middleton he promised to tell my boy
Villiers — then six and a half years old — a story. Hav-
ing been prevented from doing so, he sent the story by
post, carefully written out with this charming letter :
" Fc'jruary Ul, 1880.
" My dear little Man,
" I was quite sorry this morning when you said
to me, as we were going away, ' Ah, but you have never
told me about the King of the Cats, as you j)r()]iiiH(>d.'
I was always taught when I was a little fellow, suialler
than you, that i must never ' run word,' even if it
90 EARLY MARRIED LIFE [ch. iv
cost me my knife with three blades and a tweezer,
or my ivory dog-whistle, which were the two most
precious things I had in the world. And my father
and mother not only told me that I must never ' run
word/ for they knew that boys are apt to forget what
they are only told, but they never * ran word ' with me,
which was a much surer way to fix what they told me
in my head ; because boys find it hard to forget what
they see the old folk that they love do day by day.
" So I have tried all my long life never to ' run
word,' and as I said I would tell you the story about
Rodilardus the King of the Cats, and as I can't tell it
you by word of mouth because you are down there in
the bright sunshine at Middleton, and I am up here in
foggy old London, I must tell it you in this way, though
I am not sure that you will be able to make it all out.
I know you can read, for I heard you read the psalm
at prayers this morning very well ; only as Mama was
reading out of the same book over your shoulder,
perhaps you heard what she said, and that helped you
a little to keep up with all the rest of us. But a boy
may be able to read his psalms in his prayer book and
yet not able to read a long piece of writing like this,
though I am making it as clear as I can. So if you
cannot make it all out you must just take it off to
Mama and get her to look over your shoulder and tell
you what it is all about. Well then, you know what I
told you was, that I used to think that some people
could get to understand what cats said to one another,
and to wish very much that 1 could make out their
talk myself. But all this time I have never been able
to make out a word of it, and do not now think that
anybody can. Only I am quite sure that any boy or
man who is fond of cats, and tries to make out what
they mean, and what they want, will learn a great
many things that will help to make him kind and wise.
And when you asked me why I used to think that I
could learn cat-talk I said I would tell you that story
about the King of the Cats which was told to me when
TOM HUGHES AND RUGBY, TENNESSEE 91
I was a very little fellow about your age. And so
here it is/'
The story itself is a variant, very picturesquely and
graphically told, of an old folk-tale, which I think
appears in Grinini, of a cat who, overhearing an account
given by a human being of the imposing funeral of one
of his race, exclaims, " Then I am King of the Cats ! "
and disappears up the chimney.
Tom Hughes, at the time of his visit to Middleton,
was very keen about the town which he proposed to
found on some kind of Christian-socialist principles, to
be called " New Rugby," in Tennessee. It was to have
one church, to be used by the various denominations,
and to be what is now called " Pussyfoot." What hap-
pened about the church I know not, but I have heard
as regards the teetotalism that drinks were buried by
traders just outside the sacred boundaries and dug up
secretly by the townsmen. Anyhow, I fear that the
well-meant project resulted in a heavy loss to poor
Hughes. I recollect that Lord Galloway's servant sug-
gested that he would like to accompany Mr. Hughes
to the States — " and I would valet you, sir." Hughes
repudiated all idea of valeting, but was willing to accept
the man as a comrade. All he got by his democratic
offer was that the man told the other servants that Mr.
Hughes did not understand real Englisli aristocracy.
Which reminds me of a pleasing definition given by the
Matron of our Village Training School for Servants of
the nmch-discussed word " gentleman." She told mo
one day that her sister had asked for one of our girls
as servant. As we generally sent them to rather superior
sit nations, I hcHitat^MJ, thoiigli I did not like to refuse
straight ofT, and asked, " What is your brother in-
92 EARLY MARRIED LIFE [ch. iv
law ? '" " He is a gentleman," was the answer. Ob-
serving that I looked somewhat surprised, the Matron
hastened to add, " You see, my sister keeps a temper-
ance hotel, and in such a case the husband does not
work, only cleans the windows and boots and so on."
Whereby I gather that not to work for regular wages
is the hall-mark of a gentleman ! But a girl was not
provided for the place.
1 believe that Henry James was first introduced to
us by Mr. Lowell, and became a frequent visitor after-
wards. He was an intimate friend of my uncle the
Dean of Hereford and of his mother-in-law Mrs. Kemble.
Under the name of Summersoft he gives a delightful
description of Osterley in his novel The Lesson of the
Master. " It all went together and spoke in one voice
— a rich English voice of the early part of the eighteenth
century." The Gallery he calls " a cheerful upholstered
avenue into the other century."
One dinner at Norfolk House lingers specially in my
memory ; it was in the summer of 1880 and was to
meet Dr. Newman not long after he had been promoted
to the dignity of Cardinal — an honour which many
people considered overdue. A large party was assembled
and stood in a circle ready to receive the new " Prince
of the Church," who was conducted into the room by
the Duke. As soon as he entered a somewhat
ancient lady, Mrs. W — H — , who was a convert to
" the Faith," went forward and grovelled before him
on her knees, kissing his hand with much effusion, and
I fancy embarrassing His Eminence considerably. My
aunt, the Duchess of Westminster, who was very
handsome but by no means slim, was standing next to
me and whispered, " Margaret, shall we have to do
that ? because I should never be able to get up again ! "
CARDINAL NEWMAN 93
However, none of the Roman Catholics present seemed
to consider such extreme genuflections necessary. I
think they made some reasonable kind of curtsy as he
was taken round, and then we went in to dinner.
Somewhat to my surprise and certainly to my pleasure,
I found mvself seated next to the Cardinal and found
him very attractive. I asked him whether the
" Gerontius " of the poem was a real person, and he
smiled and said " No," but I think he was pleased that
I had read it. I never met him again, but in October
1882 I was greatly surprised to receive a book with
this charming letter written from Birmingham :
** Madam,
" 1 have but one reason for venturing, as I do,
to ask your Ladyship's acceptance of a volume upon
the Russian Church which I am publishing, the work
of a dear friend now no more. That reason is the desire
I feel of expressing in some way my sense of your
kindness to me two years ago, when 1 had the honour
of meeting you at Norfolk House, and the little proba-
bility there is, at my age, of my having any other
opportunity of doing so.
" I trust you will accept this explanation, and am
" Your Ladyship's faithful servant,
" John H. Cardinal Newman."
The book was }soies of a Visit to the Russian Church
by Lord Selborne's brother, Mr. W. Palmer, edited and
with a Preface by Cardinal Newman. I have never
been able to understand what he considered my kind-
ness, as 1 thought the Great Man so kind to me, a young
female heretic.
CHAPTER V
BERLIN AND THE JUBILEE OF 1887
I FIND it difficult to recall all our foreign travels. In
1876 I paid — with my husband — my first visit to
Switzerland, and three years later we went again — this
time making the doubtful experiment of taking with
us Villiers aged six and Margaret (called Markie) aged
three. Somehow we conveyed these infants over
glaciers and mountains to various places, including
Zermatt, We contrived a sort of awning over a chaise
a porteurs carried by guides — but they did a good bit
of walking also. I was really terrified on one occasion
when we drove in a kind of dog- cart down precipitous
roads along the edge of precipices. The children sat
on either side of me — their little legs too short to reach
the floor of the carriage. I had an arm round either,
feeling — I believe justly — that if I let go for a moment
the child would be flung into space. Jersey was walk-
ing — the maid, I suppose, with courier and luggage —
anyhow I had sole responsibility for the time being.
Our courier was excellent, and no matter where we
arrived contrived to produce a rice-pudding on which
the children insisted. It is unnecessary to describe
the well-known scenes through which we passed.
Switzerland impressed me, as it does all travellers,
with its grandeur and beauty — but I never loved it as
I did the South and, later on, the East.
Another winter we went — after Christmas — with
94
SARAH BERNHARDT 95
Villiers only — to Biarritz ; again I did not think it
southern enough in sky and vegetation to rival the
Riviera, tliough the pinewoods, and great billows roll-
ing in from the sea, were attractive. Soon afterwards
we embarked in a governess — a clever young woman
called Ada INIason, who was recommended by Lady
Derby. She had been a show pupil at the Liverpool
Girls' College, and before we engaged her permanently
she went to complete her French education in Paris.
She stayed with us till she married in Australia. In
March 1883 we took Villiers, Markie, and Miss Mason
to the Riviera, Florence, and Venice. I do not know
that there is anything exceptional to record. I observe
in a short journal which I kept on this occasion that
Jersey and I while in Paris went to the Vaudeville to
see Sarah Bernhardt in Fedora. My comment is : " She
acted wonderfully but I did not think much of the
play. The great coup was supposed to be when the
hero gave her a bang on the head, but as that used to
make the ladies faint he contented himself with par-
tially throttling her wlien we saw it." 1 suppose
French ladies are more susceptible than Englisli. Once
in after years I went with a friend to see the divine
Sarah in Im To.sca. I thought the torture part horrid
enough, but when La Tosca had killed the wicked
Governor my companion observed ]ilaintively, " We
did not see any blood," as if it were not sulliciently
realistic.
On this same journey abroad we visited, as on various
other occasions, the He St. Honorat and Stt^ Marguerite,
a picnic party being given on the former by Lord
Abercromby and Mr. Savilc. Tlie Ducliesse dc Val-
lombrosa brought Marshal McMahon, and special interest
wiiii excited on tliis occasion siiico Bazaine had lately
96 BERLIN AND THE JUBILEE OF 1887 [ch. v
escaped from what had been formerly the prison of
the Masque de Fer. Jersey went with some of the party
to Ste Marguerite, and Marshal McMahon told Mr.
Savile that he did not connive at Bazaine's escape, but
that Madame Bazaine came to him and asked when he
would let her husband out. He replied, ** In six years,
or six months, if he is a hon gargon " ; so she went out
saying, " Then 1 shall know what to do,'" and slammed
the door after her, with the evident purpose of unlock-
ing another door, which she accomplished.
Marshal McMahon must have been a fine fellow, but
hardly possessed of French readiness of speech if this
story which I have heard of him is true. He waS to
review the Cadets at a Military College — St. Cyr, I
think — and was begged beforehand to say a special
word of encouragement to a young Algerian who was
in training there. When it came to the point the only
happy remark which occurred to him was, " Ah — vous
etes le negre — eh bien continuez le ! "'
From Cannes we went to several other places, in-
cluding Spezzia, Genoa, Venice, and Florence. We saw
all the orthodox sights in each place and at Florence
dined with Mr. John Meyer and his first wife, who, if
I remember rightly, was a Fitzgerald. He was in the
exceptional position of having no nationality — he was
somehow connected with Germany and Russia (not to
speak of Judaea) and had been in South America and
Switzerland. He had been a Russian, but had lost
that nationality as having been twenty-five years
absent from that country. He wanted to become an
Englishman, as his wife wanted to send her boy to
school in England, but it would mean a lengthened
residence or a private Act of Parliament costing £3,000.
In the end the nice Mrs. Meyer who entertained us on
DEATH OF GILBERT LEIGH 97
this occasion died, and he bought an Italian Marquisate
and turned into an Italian ! He married as his second
wife a beautiful Miss Fish, and I last saw them in their
charming villa near Florence.
The Meyers were pleasant hosts, and it was at
the diimer which I have mentioned that I first made
the acquaintance of a telephone. They had asked some
people to come in after dinner, and to show how the
instrument worked telephoned to invite an additional
guest. I never encountered a telephone at a private
house in London till long afterwards.
Our younger children, Mary and Beatrice, stayed
during our absence at our little Welsh home — Baglan
House, near Briton Ferry — a place which all our chil-
dren loved.
In 1884 a great sorrow befell our family. My brother
Gilbert, then M.P. for South Warwickshire, w^ent in
August of that year to America with Mr. W. H. Grenfell
— now Lord Desborough — with the object of getting
some bear-shooting in the Rockies. Towards the end
of the month they began camping — but the hunting
was not good, as Indians had previously driven the
part of the country which they visited with the view
of getting game for their side. Mr. Grenfell's journal
records frost at the end of August and heavy snow on
the night of September 1st. On September V2th they
pitched a camp in the Big Horn Mountains on a charm-
ing spot close to a clear, rocky river with trees and
high walls on either side. On Sunday the 14th, a
boiling hot day, they had an hour's wash in the river,
and after luncheon (Jillie started oil down the Ten
Sleeper canon alone on his horse — he was never seen
alive again. For a whole week Mr. Grenfell and the
three men whom they had with them searched in every
98 BERLIN AND THE JUBILEE OF 1887 [ch. v
possible direction, and at last, on the 21st, they found
my brother lying dead at the foot of a precipice from
which he had evidently fallen and been instantaneously
killed — " a terrible way," writes Mr. Grenfell, " to find
a friend who had endeared himself to all — always
cheery and ready to make the best of everything —
nothing put him out " — " his simplicity, absence of
self-assertion, and quaint humour made him a general
favourite — whatever happened he never complained
and did not know what fear was."
The news did not reach England till some three days
later, and it is impossible to dwell on the terrible
sorrow of all who loved him so dearly. My brother
Dudley was mercifully in the States at the time of the
fatal accident, and my uncle James Leigh set off at
once to bring the body home ; but the long wait — till
October 20th — was unspeakably trying most of all for
my poor parents, who were broken-hearted. My mother
put a bunch of white rosebuds on his coffin, for when a
little boy he had said one day that his " idea of love
was a bunch of roses."
I will only add her verses on her firstborn son :
*' He is gone, and gone for ever,
' Coming home again ' now never —
If 'tis cold he feels it not,
Recks not if 'tis scorching hot.
But by children circled round
Roams the happy hunting-ground,
Pure in heart and face as they,
Gladsome in God's glorious day.
" If I see him once again
Will he tell me of his pain ?
Did he shout or cry or call
When he saw that he must fall ?
Feel one pang of mortal fear
When the fatal plunge was near 'i
IN ITALY, 1884 99
"Or to the last— to fear a stranger —
Think to triumph over danger ?
■* I think so — on his marble face
Fright and terror left no trace —
Still — as if at Stoneleigh sleeping.
There he lay — all the weeping
Broke in streams from other eyes
Far away.
But to him come not again
Cold or heat or griof or pain."
Gilly was truly " to fear a stranger." He had, as
Mr. Grenfell recounts, been six times before to the
Rocky Mountain country and always had extraordinary
adventures — once he rode his horse along a ledge till
he could neither go forward nor turn, and had to slip
over its tail and climb out, leaving the anunal to shift
for itself. Two cowboys roped and got the saddle and
bridle off and left the horse, which somehow backed
out and got down without injury.
Earlier in the year 1884 Jersey, Lady Galloway, and I
made a pleasant tour among the Italian Lakes, including
a run to Milan for Easter Sunday, where we heard
some of the splendid service in the Cathedral. We
took with us Villiers, his last trip abroad before his
regular schooldays. He had attended Miss Woodman's
classes during two or three London seasons, and had
had a visiting tutor from Oxford — Mr. Angel Smith —
for the past year or so at Middleton ; but on May Ist,
after our return from the I^akes, he went to Mr. Chig-
nell's, Castlemount, Dover, where he remained till he
went to Eton three years later. He had an unvaryingly
good record both for the lessons and conduct while at
Ca.stlemount.
1 have no speciul n.'collection of the two following
years, so pass on to 1887. That winter J^ady Galloway
100 BERLIN AND THE JUBILEE OF 1887 [ch. v
was in Kussia and was to stay in Berlin with the Ambas-
sador, Sir Edward Malet, and his wife, Lady Ermyn-
trude, on her return. The Malets very kindly invited me
to meet her and to spend a few days at the Embassy.
I arrived there on February 21st, and found Lady
Galloway and her sister-in-law Lady Isabel Stewart
already installed. The following afternoon the routine
of German court etiquette — now a thing of the past —
began. Lady Ermyntrude took us to leave cards on the
various members of the Corps Diplomatique and then
proceeded to present Mrs. Talbot (now Lady Talbot)
and myself to Grafin Perponcher, the Empress's Ober-
meisterin. She was a funny old soul in a wig, but re-
garded as next door to royalty, and it was therefore
correct to make half a curtsy when introduced to her.
It was a great thing to have anyone so kind, and yet so
absolutely aware of all the shades of ceremonial, as
Lady Ermyntrude, to steer us through the Teutonic
pitfalls.
In the evening we were taken to the Carnival Court
Ball, where we stood in a row behind Lady Ermyntrude
to be presented to the Crown Prince and Princess as
they came round. The Diplomatic people were on the
left of the royal seats. The Weisser Saal was lighted
partly with candles and partly with electric lights ;
one felt that either one or the other would have had a
better effect, but no doubt that was all rectified in
later years. We were presently taken into an outer room
or gallery to be presented to the Empress Augusta, who
was seated in a chair with a sort of Stonehenge of chairs
in front. She was attired in what appeared to be royal
robes heavy with gold embroidery and gigantic diamonds,
but she looked almost like a resurrected corpse, except
that her eyes were still large and wonderfully bright
COURT BALL IN BERLIN 101
and glittering as if they had little torches behind them.
I fancy that she had some preparation of belladonna
dropped into them on these occasions. Her mouth was
always a little open, giving the impression that she
wanted to speak but could not ; really, however, she
talked fast enough, and was very gracious in sending
messages to my grandmother Westminster. After our
presentation we had to sit in Stonehenge for a few
minutes. We had heard that when the Empress was a
girl, her governess would place her in front of a circle of
chairs, and make her go round and address a polite
remark to each. We recognised the utility of the
practice as Her Majesty made a neat little sentence to
each of the circle seated before her this evening. Sir
Edward and Lady Ermyntrude went home early, as
they were in mourning, but when we tried to go in to
supper with the Embassy Staff, we were seized on by
Count Eulenberg and told to go into the royal supper-
room. The Crown Prince and Princess came and
talked to us very kindly, but I could not help thinking
the latter rather indiscreet, as when I made a futile
remark as to the fine sight presented by the Palace she
returned, " A finer sight at Buckingham Palace," then,
lowering her voice, " and prettier faces ! " True enough,
but a little risky addressed to a stranger with possible
eavesdroppers.
The old Emperor William was not at this ball, as he
was not well enough — which distressed him, as he
liked society ; but two days later we were invited to a
small concert at his own Palace, When we had made
our curtsies to the Empress she desired that we should
go round and be presented to His Majesty. I had been
told previously that he was interested in the idea of
seeing me, as he had been a great friend of my grand-
8
lA"
102 BERLIN AND THE JUBILEE OF 1887 [ch. v
mother Westminster and they used to interchange
presents on their birthdays. When we were taken up
to him Grafin Perponcher reminded him of Jersey's
grandmother and Lady Clementina Villiers, but he
immediately asked if I were not also related to Lady
Westminster. When I said that I was her grand-
daughter he asked, " Et etes-vous tou jours en relation
avec elle ? " and on hearing that I wrote to her charged
me with messages which she was afterwards very pleased
to receive.
During the singing we sat round little tables covered
with red velvet table-covers, which seemed a funny
arrangement, as it meant that some of the audience had
their backs to the performers. There were five which —
joining each other — ran down the centre of the room.
The Empress sat at the head of the end one, and the
Crown Princess presided at a round one in the middle
of the room, at which Lady Galloway and I were seated.
Princess Victoria (afterwards Schaumburg Lippe) sat
between us — we found her lively, though not pretty.
When the performance was over the Emperor came and
talked to us again ; he seemed very cheerful, though he
put his hand on the back of a chair for, as he said, " un
petit appui " ! I told him that I had been with the
crowd to see him when he looked out at the soldiers as
he did every morning. ** Quoi, Madame, vous avez
fait la curieuse ? " he said, and proceeded to tell us that
he was now " devenu la mode," though formerly | no one
came to look at him. Finally some supper was brought
and put on the tables where we had been sitting.
The following day we were invited to breakfast (or
rather 12.30 luncheon) with the Crown Prince and
Princess — only their three unmarried daughters besides
Lady Galloway, Lady Isabel, and myself. The Crown
THE CROWN PRINCE FREDERICK 103
Priiice was a most fascinating man and particularly
impressed us by his devotion to his wife, having even
consulted a lady dentist by her desire ! The three
Princesses each had in front of her place at table a
large collection of little silver objects given them on
their respective birthdays. The parents again reverted
to my grandmother, and on hearing of her inmiense
number of children and grandchildren the Prince re-
marked, " What a number of birthday presents that
must mean ! " — which amused me, as with all grand-
mamma's kindness to me personally, she was far from
troubling about the identity of all her grandchildren —
life would not have been long enough.
The Princess talked much of the hospitals at Berlin,
and of her trouble in introducing anything like decent
nursing into them. She said when she first married a
Children's Ward would be shut up at night without any
nurse whatever in charge, and several children found
dead in the morning. I believe she did great things
for the hospitals, but fear that discretion was not always
the better part of her valour, and that she more than
once gave ofEence by comparison with the superior
method in England. xVfter luncheon the Princesses
departed and the parents took us through their own
rooms, which were very pretty and comfortable. When
we reached her Studio the Crown Princess did not want
to take us in, as she said she must gooff to see Princess
William (the late ex-Kaiserin), but the Prince said,
" You go, I shall take them " — for he was determined
that we should see, and duly admire, his wife's artistic
talents. We saw the Crown Princess again in the
evening at the theatre, as she sent for Lady Galloway
and me into her box and j)ut Mary through a searching
catechism about liussia.
104 BERLIN AND THE JUBILEE OF 1887 [ch. t
Saturday 26th till the following Tuesday we spent
at Dresden, which we greatly admired. We saw the
Galleries and Museums, and attended a Wagner opera —
Siegfried ; but I need not record sights and sentiments
shared with so many other travellers. I had some
experience at Dresden of the dangers of " Verboten."
I ventured out for a short time alone and felt the risk
of being arrested at least twice — once for walking on
the wrong side of the bridge, once for standing in the
wrong place in the principal church. I committed a
third crime, but forget its nature.
Two evenings after our return to Berlin we were
invited to another royal concert, and on this occasion
I sat at Prince William's table quite unconscious that
he would be hereafter England's greatest foe ! What
impressed me most about him was the way in which
he asked questions. Someone told him that I held a
position in the Primrose League, and he at once wanted
to know all about it. The impression left on my mind
was that he thought that it brought women too promi-
nently forward.
Next day we visited the various palaces at Potsdam —
the Crown Princess had kindly sent word to her gardener
Mr. Walker, to meet us, and he proved an amiable and
efficient guide. At the Stadt Schloss Frederick the
Great's bedroom, with a silver balustrade, was being
prepared for the baptism of Prince William's fourth
son. We had been warned at the Embassy that this
expedition would be one of difficulty if not of danger,
but we accomplished all successfully save our return
from the Wild Park Station at Berlin. Of course this
was before the days of motors, so our journey to and
from Potsdam was by train, and somehow we missed
the Embassy carriage at the station. Innocently we
PRINCE BISMARCK 105
took a fly, but at the Embassy it was discovered that
this was a second-class fly. which was considered a
most disreputable proceeding. We had not known
the various categories of Berlin vehicles.
We had one real piece of good fortune, due to Herbert
Bismarck, whom we had known in England and met
several times at Berlin. His father had not been
present at the opening of the Reichstag which we
attended, so we had asked Herbert if he were likely to
speak on any following day, for we were anxious to see
him and he did not often appear at entertainments or
such-like gatherings.
Herbert promised to let us know, but he did better,
for he coached his mother what to do should we call,
and Lady Ermyntrude took us to see the Princess on
Saturday afternoon. Princess Bismarck was most graci-
ous, said Herbert had asked every day if we had called ;
he was devoted to England and to his collection of
photographs of English ladies, which he expected her to
distinguish one from the other.
Her sister, Countess Arnim, was also in the room.
When we had been talking with them for a few minutes
the Princess rang, and beckoned to the servant who
answered to come clo.se that she might whisper. Lady
Galloway overheard her say in German, " Tell the Prince
that the English ladies are here.'' After a short inter-
val an inner door opened slowly, and the tall form of
the Chancellor appeared. We all jumped up as the
Princess announced " Mon Mari." He shook hands
with Lady Ermyntrude, who introduced us each in
turn. Hearing that Lady Galloway was " la sonir
de Lord Salisbury," he was anxious to investigate
whether she resembled liini in face, but decided not
very much, as " Lord Salisbury avait les traits tr^s
106 BERLIN AND THE JUBILEE OF 1887 [ch. v
masculins and le visage plus carre/' which he empha-
sised rather in action than in words. Mary had to
sit on one side of him facing the light in order that he
might the better make these comparisons. I was at
the end of a sofa on his other hand. Lady Galloway
then remarked that he had been very kind to her
nephew Lord Edward Cecil, who had been in Berlin
in the spring of the previous year. Curiously enough,
though he had had him to dinner, he did not seem to
remember him, though he perfectly recollected Lord
Cranborne, who had been with his father at the time of
the Congress. Being informed that Lord Edward had
been abroad in order to study German, he asked, " Eh
bien, a-t-il eu de succes ? " and remarked that German
was a difficult language but less so for the English than
for some other people, and that while the English
often spoke French more fluently they grasped the
German construction better as being more akin to their
own. Mary agreed, saying we were of the same race,
whereupon he politely thanked her for having recalled
and acknowledged the fact. I then remarked that it
had been suggested that he wished to change " les
caracteres allemands,'' meaning the letters. He mis-
understood me to mean the characters of the people,
and said that he should hardly be capable of that, but
added : " On m'accuse d'avoir change une nation de
poetes en nation de politiques militaires, mais c'est
parce que nous avons ete si longtemps Tenclume qu'il
fallait le faire. II faut toujours etre I'enclume ou le
marteau, maintenant nous sommes le marteau. Nous
etions Tenclume jusqu'a Leipzig et Waterloo." I
suggested that at Waterloo " nous etions deux mar-
teaux," and he answered, bowing, " J'espere que nous
les serons encore ensemble." Little did he or I look
CONVERSATION WITH BISMARCK 107
on twenty-seven years ! Bismarck then asked for the
P^nglish of '* enclume " — " car je ne suis pas forgeron/'
and when we told him he said that he only knew
" I'anglais pour voyager, le russe pour la chasse et le
fran9ais pour les affaires, " and went on to speak of
his son, who, as we all agreed, knew English so well.
Like the Princess, he said that Count Herbert was much
attached to our country, and added that if he continued
to do well and ''si je peux guider sa destinee j'ai
I'intention qu'il aillc quelque jour en Angleterre " :
meantime he thought that Count Hatzfeldt was getting
on all right. Lady Galloway said that he was very
popular. Bismarck considered that he did better as
Ambassador than in affairs at home, as though he could
work well he lacked the power of sticking to his work.
I then referred to Mr. Deichmann, a country neighbour
of ours who had built a house near Bicester and married
a Miss de Bunsen, widow of another German, who had
been his friend. Mr. (afterwards Baron) Deichmann
and his wife were undoubtedly friends (or henchmen ?)
of the Bismarcks, and Mr. Deichmann was very proud
of a tankard which the Prince had given him. " He
gave me a very good horse," returned the Prince, when
I mentioned this, and described him as " bon enfant.''
In the light of after experience I feel sure that the
Dcichmanns were employed to report to the Prince on
social matters in England and particularly in diplomatic
circles. I do not at all mean that they were anti-
English, but that they were " utilised." They were
very intimate friends of the Miinsters, and somehow
kept in with the Crown Princess and her family, althou^di
the JVincess certainly did not love Bismarck ! I well
recollect a dinner which (in years later tliiin that of our
interview with the great in.in) the J.)eichmanns gave
108 BERLIN AND THE JUBILEE OF 1887 [ch. v
at their house in London to reconcile the French and
German Embassies. What had been the exact cause
of friction I do not know, but the ostensible one was that
the then Ambassadress, Madame Waddington, had not
worn mourning when some German princelet died.
Anyhow, Madame Deichmann had Madame Wadding-
ton to dinner, and Marie Miinster to a party afterwards,
and they were made to shake hands and be friends.
It was clever of Madame Deichmann, and she well
deserved the title of Baroness afterwards conferred
upon her. However, I am not altogether sure that
Bismarck appreciated the reference to his friends on
this occasion — he may not have wished to be thought
too intimate ! He did not resent it though, and
when we rose to take leave gave Lady Galloway many
messages for Lord Salisbury, hoping to see him again
in Germany or when he, Bismarck, came to England,
which he seemed to regard as quite on the cards. He
also asked Lady Ermyntrude affectionately after Sir
Edward, whom he thought looking rather unwell when
he last saw him, though quite himself again when he
became excited.
Just as we were going away the Prince asked if
we would like to see the room where the Congress
had been held. Of course we were delighted, so that
he took us in and showed us where they all sat. Lord
Beaconsfield on his right hand, and Lord Salisbury,
as he particularly pointed out to Lady Galloway, just
round the corner. Then Gortschakofi, who, he said,
did not take much part, next Schouvaloff, on whom
the work fell, but he added in English, '' Lord Salisbury
squeezed him." And there, he said, pointing to the
other side of the table, " sat the victim of the Congress,
the Turk.'" So little impression had the victim made
BISMARCK AND LORD SALISBURY 109
upon him that he could not even remember his name —
he thought, however, that it was Mehemet — Mehemet
something — at last Princess Bismarck helped him out
— Mehemet Ali. I believe the head Turk was Kara-
theodori Pasha, but presume that he was a nonentity ;
at all events neither Prince nor Princess Bismarck
referred to him. Bismarck rather apologised for the
bareness of the room, a fine, large, long apartment, and
wished that he were equal to giving balls in it — this,
with Emperor William's desire to go to balls, gave a
cheerful impression of these old men.
Little did we then realise what our feelings with
regard to Germany would be twenty-seven years later !
Though I feel ashamed now of the impression made
upon me by Prince Bismarck, I cannot help recording
that I was foolish enough to write some verses com-
paring him to Thor, the Scandinavian war-god, with
his hammer and anvil, and to add them to my account
of our interview.
After our return to England Lord Salisbury told Lady
Galloway that he should like to see this account, and
when I met him again he said to me with great amuse-
ment, " So you have seen Thor ?
Prince Bismarck had an undoubted admiration for
Lord Salisbury. Not long after Sir Edward Malet's
appointment to Berlin poor Lady Ermyntrude had a
child who did not survive its birth. She was very
ill. Some little time afterwards her father, the Duke of
Bedford, told me that she had been very anxious to come
over to England to be with her parents for her confine-
ment. This was arranged, and then Sir Edward,
anxious about her health, wanted to join her. He did
not know whether he could rightfully leave his dip-
lomatic duties, but Bismarck reassured him, telling
no BERLIN AND THE JUBILEE OF 1887 [ch. v
him that so long as Lord Salisbury was in power he
need have no apprehension as to the relations between
England and the German Empire.
I confess also to having been fascinated by the Crown
Prince — afterwards the Emperor Frederick ; but he
was not in the least like a Prussian — he was like a very
gentle knight. Poor man ! He had already begun to
suffer from the fatal malady to his throat. The last
time I spoke with him he came into the box in which
we were sitting at the theatre and said, " I cannot talk
to you much, my throat is so bad.'*
The next event which made a great impression on
me in common with every other subject of the British
Empire was the first Jubilee of Queen Victoria. Its
excitements, its glories, have been told over and over
again, but no one who did not live through it can grasp
the thrill which ran from end to end of the nation, and
no one who did live through it can pass it on to others.
The Queen became a tradition while yet alive. When
ten thousand children from the elementary schools
were entertained in Hyde Park the proceedings con-
cluded by the release of a balloon bearing the word
" Victoria." As it ascended one child was heard gravely
explaining to another that " that was the Queen going
up to Heaven." A man (or woman) wrote to the paper
that in the evening he had observed that the sunset
colours had formed themselves into a distinct arrange-
ment of red, white, and blue ! I chanced the week
before the Jubilee celebrations to express to a girl in
a shop a hope for fine weather. In a tone of rebuke
she replied, " Of course it will be fine : it is for the
Queen ! " — a sentiment more poetically expressed by
the French Ambassador Baron de Courcel, who said to
me on one rather doubtful day in the week preceding
THANKSGIVING SERVICE 111
the Diamond Jubilee, '' Le bon Dieu ncttoie les cieux
pour la Reiue ! " This confidence was fully justified :
the weather was glorious. When traffic was stopped
in the main thoroughfares, and all streets and houses
had their usual dinginess hidden in glowing decorations,
London looked like a fairy city — a fitting regal back-
ground for an imperial apotheosis — only perchance
excelletl by the Diamond Jubilee ten years later.
" Mother's come home/' I heard a stalwart policeman
say on the day when the Queen arrived in Buckingham
Palace. That was just it — Mother had come back to
her joyous children.
The Dowager Lady Amp thill, one of her ladies-in-
waiting, recounted an incident which I do not think
appeared in any of the papers. When the royal train
was coming down from Scotland Lady Ampthill awoke
in the early summer dawn, and looked out of the
carriage in which she had been sleeping. The world
was not yet awake, but as the train rushed through the
country amongst fields and meadows she was astonished
to see numbers of men and women standing apparently
silently gazing — simply waiting to see the passing of
the Great Queen to her Jubilee. Perhaps the climax
was the Thanksgiving Service in Westminster Abbey.
I cannot refrain from inserting here my mother's
lines describing the final scene on that occasion :
" It WM an hour of triumph, for n nation
Had gathered round the Monarch of their pride ;
All that a people held of gri>at or lovely,
The wiac, the world-renownod, Btood side by side.
" I>and« famed in story sent their Kinf^ and chieftains,
IhleH scarcely rocke<l of came our Qu<(on to greet,
PrinccHHes lent the tribute nf their U^auty,
And laid the flowers of welcome at h*"r feet.
112 BERLIN AND THE JUBILEE OF 1887 [ch. v
" The organs pealed, the trumpets gave their challenge,
A stormy shout of gladness rent the air,
All eyes beamed welcome, and all hearts bowed with her
When low she bent her royal head in prayer.
" She bent amid a haughty nation, knowing
No sun e'er set upon its widespread towers,
Though right and good had deemed that day the lion
To sheath its claws and robe itself in flowers.
" When Caesar kept high holiday, when Rom©
Called forth her maidens to fill hours of ease.
Pale warriors darkly met in bloody ring
Or some Numidian giant died to please.
" But in that hour supreme when all eyes turned
Upon the Queen's kind face and gestures mild.
Bright tears unbidden rose, stern bosoms heaved,
They saw her stoop — she stooped to kisa her child.
" Children and children's children passed before her.
Each one ' fair History's mark ' with stately grace ;
Mother of many nations, Queen and Empress,
She drew them each within her fond embrace.
" Symbolic kiss — it spoke of early birthdays,
When little hearts had swelled with little joys,
It told of kisses given and counsels tender
To graceful maidens and to princely boys ;
" Of fond caresses given in days of gladness
When Hope was young and blue the skies above,
Of kisses interchanged in hours of sorrow
When all seemed shattered save the bonds of love.
" And of that hour of dutiful surrender
Of hearts to Him who gives to Kings to be.
The memory of those kisses grave and tender ,
Shall knit our hearts, Victoria, still to thee.
" Sceptres outlasting long the hands that held them.
Thrones that have seated dynasties may fall :
Love never dies, his chain is linked to heaven^
The Lord, the friend, the comforter of all..
TRIALS OF COURT OFFICIALS 113
" Yes ! of those hours so joyous and so glorious
When the tall fires prolonged the festal day.
The memory of tliose kisses gently given
Shall bo the dearest wo shall bear away."
On July '2nd 1 recollect Lord and Lady Lathom com-
ing to spend a Sunday with us at Osterley. He was
then Lord Chamberlain — and the poor man seemed
utterly exhausted by the strain of the Jubilee festivities
though very happy at their success. He spoke among
other things of the quaint applications which he had
received for permission to attend the service at the
Abbey. Amongst others he had one from a lady who
said that if she did not obtain a seat a large class would
be unrepresented — namely, the class of Old Maids.
I think she had one. Even people like my father not
connected with the Court were pestered to " use in-
fluence " — one lady wrote to him to try and get seats
for herself and her father, and wanted them near the
preacher as " papa was very deaf."
Lord Mount Edgcuinbe — then Lord Steward — once
told me of a trying experience which he had in con-
nection with the Jubilee. There was a great banquet
at Windsor and he had to order the seating of the
guests, who included various foreign royalties. As
is well known in dealing with foreigners the order in
which they sit is far more important than the precedence
in which tliey walk into the banqueting hall — if you
put two princes or dignitaries one on the right, the
other on the loft of the table, and both arc about equally
important, you must take care to put the left-hand
man one higher up at the table than the guest on the
right. Well, Lord Mount Edgcumbe had ordered this
feast of some thirty or forty notabilities or more to
complete satisfaction, and had gone to his room to
114 BERLIN AND THE JUBILEE OF 1887 [ch. v
attire himself in all the glory of a High Steward. Just
as he was getting into his breeches a message was
brought him that two more German princelets had
arrived who had to be included in the party. Poor
man ! he had to hasten to complete his toilet and to
rush down and rearrange the whole table.
Talking of German etiquette (I don't know how far
it survives the fall of the Hohenzollerns), we had a
most eccentric Teutonic specimen at Osterley that
Jubilee summer. Our kind hostess at Berlin — Lady
Ermyntrude Malet — introduced to us, by letter, a
certain Count Seierstorpff — so we asked him to spend
Whitsuntide. We had various other guests, including
the Kintores and Lord and Lady Maud Wolmer (now
Lord and Lady Selborne) and Lady Maud's sister,
Lady Gwendolen Cecil. Count Seierstorp fit's one form
of conversation was to catechise everybody as to the
rank of the company — how far they were " ebenbiirtig."
This culminated in his asking me what Lady Maud
would be if Lord Wolmer were to die ! I told Lord
Wolmer this, and he said, *' Couldn't you tell him that
of two sisters in the house, both equally eligible, one
is unmarried ! "
When on W^hit-Monday we drove to see Ham House
he kept jumping up on the seat of the landau in which he
went with some of the party to inspect the surrounding
country — spying, I suppose — and when we were sitting
outside the house after dinner he suddenly disappeared
and was found to have rushed wildly right round a
portion of the grounds. Many years afterwards —
1913, I believe — Jersey and I met him again at Cannes.
He had grown into a fat, truculent Prussian, and had
married a pleasant American wife. Poor people !
After the War I asked what became of them. He and
THE NAVAL REVIEW 115
his two sous were killed in the War — she had lost money
and relations by the sinking of the Lusitania — had
gone mad and was in an asylum. 1 only wonder that
he had not gone mad, but suppose there was method
in his Osterley madness.
The last festivity in which I took part that summer
was the Jubilee Naval Keview at Spithead. Jersey
went by invitation of the P. and 0. Company on a
ship of their fleet — the Rome if I recollect rightly —
but Lady Galloway and I with her stepfather Lord
Derby were invited from Friday, July 22nd, for the
Review on Saturday and to spend Sunday on board
the Mirror, one of Sir John Pender's electric-cable
ships. I never shared in a more amusing party There
was great confusion with the luggage at Waterloo. I
think most people lost something. Lady Galloway
and I each had two small boxes and each lost one, but
it did not matter, as we were able to supplement each
other's remaining articles. Sir William Russell the
journalist lost all his luggage, but it was said that he
invariably did so, and he did not seem to mind at all.
Lord Wolseley, Lord Alcester, Lord Lymington (after-
wards Portsmouth), and Sir William Des Voeux, who had
been Governor of Fiji, Lady Tweeddale, and Countess
Marie Miinster were among the guests, and our kind
host did everything to make us happy. The Mirror,
like the otlier unofiicial ships, remained stationary
during the Review, but Lady Galloway and 1 persuaded
the Chairman, Sir John Pender, and the Captain to let a
boat take us to the House of Lords ship, the Euphrates,
for wiiich we had tickets, and which was to follow the
Queen's Yacht, the Victoria and Albert, down the lines,
it was a magniiicent sight. 1 will n(jt attempt to
describe it, as it has been far better recorded than any
116 BERLIN AND THE JUBILEE OF 1887 [ch. v
words of mine could achieve. One thing, however,
I may note. The then biggest and finest ships were
like rather ugly floating forts, and all, or almost all,
different from each other. The graceful old men-of-
war with long lines and pointed bows were considered
obsolete. Ten years later when there was a Keview
for the second Jubilee all was changed again. I do
not mean that the naval architects had reverted to
the old models, but the general effect was a return to
the old lines, and the fortress ships, almost sunk under
the sea, had disappeared. Also they were later on
built in classes, so that their fittings were interchange-
able and the engineers from one ship could be easily
transferred to another.
To return to our personal experiences. The rest
of the party had remained on the Mirror, and I
rather fancy some of them got a little bored, as
their time was less exciting than ours. Anyhow, one
or two of the men became exceedingly anxious for
our return as the dinner-hour approached, as of course
the boat could not fetch us off from the Euphrates
till all the proceedings were over and the coast clear.
We were told when we did get back, which I do not
think was unduly late, that Lord Alcester had expressed
a somewhat uncomplimentary opinion of women,
emphasised with a capital D ! However, everyone
enjoyed the illumination of the ships, and particularly
the searchlights — then somewhat of a novelty and in
which the Mirror specially distinguished herself. On
Sunday morning our Chairman, Sir John Pender, was
very properly anxious that his guests should enjoy
*' religious privileges " ; and as everyone was content
that he should have service on board instead of putting
us on shore, it was arranged accordingly. There was
THE NAVAL REVIEW 117
a distinct rivalry as to who should officiate. We had
not a Bishop nor even one of the lesser lights of the
Church among our otherwise representative company
— the Captain evidently considered that under these
circumstances he was the proper person to read prayers,
and he produced prayer-books — I suppose that they
were provided by the Electric Company — and Sir
John distinctly held that as Chairman it was for him,
although a Nonconformist, to conduct the Anglican
devotions — so he began. The Captain determined
anyhow to act as prompter. They got on all right —
till Sir John, a little man, stood up to read the First
Lesson. This unfortunately began, " And Satan stood
up " — still more unfortunately it appeared that it was
the wrong lesson, and the Captain ruthlessly pulled
him down. Nevertheless we somehow reached a
happy conclusion.
In the afternoon some of us, including Lord Derby,
were offered a choice of cruising about among the ships
or going over to see Lord and Lady De La W^arr at a
little house they had somewhere on the coast called
Inchmery. We chose the latter, and were sent in a tug
called the Undaunted. I tried to immortalise the
expedition in a so-called poem of which I only quote
a few verses — needless to say Lord Derby was the
hero :
" There was an Earl— a noblo Earl
Who would a sailor be,
And therefore asked two kindly daineH
To take him out to sea. . . .
** We've often hoard of inchmery,
Its charmu and crabs are vaunted ;
Bring round the tug and uaiit her off,
That splendid tug Undaunted !
118 BERLIN AND THE JUBILEE OF 1887 [ch. v
" The splendid tug sailed fast and far,
She bore as fair a band
As ever dared the heaving deep
And sighed to gain the land.
" She bore our Only General,
Whose prowess must be granted.
For he can always go to sleep
And always wake when wanted.
" A great Colonial Governor
Who would have ruled the main.
Only emotions swelled his breast
Which he could not restrain."
As to the above, Lord Wolseley explained to us that
he shared a characteristic with Napoleon and I rather
think Wellington — namely, that he could always go
to sleep in a minute when he so desired, and wake
with equal celerity. He exemplified this by retiring
into the little cabin of the launch when the waves
became somewhat restive, and fell fast asleep immedi-
ately, seated on a bench. The poor Colonial Governor,
Sir William Des Voeux, was less happy — he had to lie
prostrate at the bottom of the launch during the short
transit until we landed.
The De La Warrs gave us an excellent tea, and
we then strolled among the rocks on the shore, where
it was supposed that the great Lord Derby wanted to
find crabs :
" The time speeds on — and now at length.
By new-born terrors haunted.
Soldier and sage demand the tug —
' Where is the good Undaunted ' ?
" What object meets their straining eyes,
From aid and rescue far ?
Dauntless perhaps, but useless quite,
She's stranded on the bar.
KNOWSLEY 119
" The Captain smiles, ' It wasn't I,'
The General's out of reach.
The noble Earl sits down to play
Aunt Sally on the beach."
It was a fine sight to see Lord Derby (uncle of the
present Lord Derby), regarded by most people as an
exceptionally solemn statesman, sitting tranquilly on
the shore throwing stones — a sort of ducks and drakes
— into the sea — quite unmoved by the tug's disaster.
However, Lord De La Warr came to the rescue with
a launch which took us safely back to the Mirror —
minus Sir William, who had found the tug quite bad
enough and declined to trust himself to the launch.
He remained for the night at Inchmery, and I presume,
like the rest of us, found his way back to London next
day.
The Lord Derby of this expedition was a great friend
of mine. His wife, formerly Lady Salisbury, was
Lady Galloway's mother, and I originally met her
staying at Galloway House — after which she invited
us several times to Knowsley. I think my first visit
there was in 1879 when we met the Leckys — afterwards
great friends — and Mr. and Mrs. Robert Lowe (after-
wards Lord Sherbrooke). He was an albino and chiefly
remembered for his abortive attempt to tax matches,
giving rise to the joke '' ex luce lucellum." She was, I
believe, a very good-natured woman, but it was funny
to see the result of her excessive flow of conversation.
She would begin with a circle round her, and person
after person would gradually steal away, leaving her
at length with only one victim whom amiability or
good manners forbade to depart.
I well recollect that Lady Derby won my heart on
this occasion by coming to the front door to meet us
120 BERLIN AND THE JUBILEE OF 1887 [ch. v
on arrival, under the evident impression that as a
young woman I might be shy coming to a very large
house among those, including my host, who were mostly
strangers. I dare say that I might have survived the
shock, but I was much struck with the courtesy and
thoughtfulness of a woman old enough to be my
mother, and it was one of the first lessons, of which I
have had many in life, of the great effect of the manner
in which people originally receive their guests.
Lady Derby was a remarkable woman in many ways.
Her heart was first in her husband and children and
then in politics. She could never take a lightsome
view of life and let it carry her along. She always
wished to manage and direct it. Her motives were
invariably excellent, but occasionally things might
have gone better had she taken less trouble about
them. She did great things for her children, who
adored her, but even with them it might sometimes
have been well had their lives been left a little more
to their own discretion. She was kindness itself to me,
and I used greatly to enjoy going to Derby House,
then in St. James's Square, where she was always at
home to her particular friends at tea-time and where
one always had the chance of meeting interesting people.
To conclude my recollections of the Jubilee. I think
that it was in the autumn of 1887, and not after the
Diamond Jubilee, that we were staying with Lord and
Lady Muncaster at their beautiful home in Cumber-
land. We went to the local church and an Arch-
deacon was preaching for some Society which
involved a plea for missionary effort. He spoke to
this efiect (of course these are not the exact words) :
" There are black men, brown men, red men, and yellow
men in the British Empire. We must not despise any
APOTHEOSIS OF THE QUEEN 121
of them, for we are all children of one Great " I
naturally expected " Father," but he added " Mother " !
So far had Queen Victoria advanced in the tutelary
rank ! I was told after her death that the Tibetans
had adopted her as a protecting deity — and that they
attributed the invasion of their country to the fact
that she had died, as we had never disturbed them in
her lifetime. I record later on how natives in Madras
did " poojah " to her statue, offering coconuts and such
like tribute — but the Indians also did " poojah " to a
steam-engine when they first saw it, so perhaps this
was not an extraordinary token of reverence.
CHAPTER VI
GHOST STORIES AND TRAVELS IN GREECE
To go a little back in recollections of the eighties one
of our friends was Lord Cairns, Lord Chancellor in
1868 and again from 1874 till, I believe, his death.
Once when I was sitting near him at dinner, we were
discussing ghost stories. He said that without giving
them general credence he was impressed by one which
had been told him by the wife of the Prussian Minister,
Madame Bernstorff. (I think, though am not sure,
that Bernstorif was Minister before there was a German
Embassy.) The story was, briefly, that a man in
Berlin had a dream, thrice repeated, in which a comrade
appeared to him and said that he had been murdered,
and that his dead body was being carried out of the
city, covered with straw, by a certain gate. The man
roused himself, told the police, the body was duly
found and the murderers arrested. " Well,'' said I,
** I think I have read that story in Dryden, and believe
he took it from Chaucer.'' Sure enough I found the
tale in " The Cock and the Fox," Dryden's modernised
version of Chaucer's " Tale of the Nun's Priest " — but
the amusing thing is that Dryden says,
" An ancient author, equal with the best,
Relates this tale of dreams among the rest " —
and a note explains that the " ancient author " was
Cicero, from whose treatise, De Divinritione, the story
was taken. I sent the book to Lord Cairns, who
answered (June 25th, 1883) : " It is Madame Bern-
122
LORD HALSBURY'S GHOST STORY 123
storff's story to the letter ! It was most kind of
you to send it to me, and it is a fresh proof that
there is nothing new mider the sun ! The ' catena '
of Cicero — Chaucer — Dryden — BernstorfE is very
amusing."
Being a Lord Chancellor does not render a man
immune from belief in ghosts. I have more than once
heard the late Lord Halsbury relate his adventure in this
line. As a young man he went to stay with a friend, who
put him up for the night. After he had gone to bed, a
figure entered his room, and taking it to be his host he
spoke to it, but it made no reply and left as silently
as it entered. At breakfast next morning he said to
the master of the house — I suppose jokingly — " If you
did come in my room last night I think you might
have answered when I spoke to you." Both his hosts
looked embarrassed, and then his friend said, " Well,
to tell you the truth, that room is considered to be
haunted ; but it is our best room, and my wife thought
that a hard-headed lawyer would not be liable to be
disturbed, so we put you there." Mr. Giffard, as,
Lord Halsbury then was, left without further incident,
but some time after, meeting his friend again, he said,
" Well, how's your ghost getting on ? " " Oh, my dear
fellow," was the reply, " don't talk of my ghost. My
aunt came to stay witli me and we put her into that
room. The ghost came in and tried to get into her
bed, and she will never speak to me again ! "
Lord Halsbury also had a story about a ghost who
haunted his brother's house in London. I think it
was a little old woman, I cannot remem])er the details,
but he certainly seemed to believe in it.
Talking of dreams and apparitions, though 1 cannot
remember tlie year — probably in the early iiiiu^ties —
124 GHOST STORIES [oh. vi
I recollect a rather amusing instance of the explosion
of one of such stories when thoroughly sifted. Mr.
(afterwards Sir James) Knowles told me one day that
the great object of Myers and Gurney and the founders
of the Psychical Society was to obtain evidence of a
genuine apparition seen by two witnesses who would
both bear such testimony as would stand cross-examina-
tion by a barrister. This was most sensible, as one
person may honestly believe in an appearance, which
may be an hallucination caused by circumstances,
and affected by his own mental or bodily con-
dition, but it is hardly possible that such conditions
w411 enable two people to see the same spirit at
the same moment unless it should actually appear.
Mr. Knowles said that at last the Psychical Society
had found a well-authenticated story in which two
thoroughly credible witnesses had seen the ghost, and
this was to come out in the forthcoming number of
The Nineteenth Century.
The witnesses were an English judge and his wife ;
to the best of my recollection they were Sir Edmund
and Lady Hornby, and the scene of the apparition
Shanghai. Anyhow, I perfectly recollect the story,
which was as follows. The judge had been trying
a case during the day, and he and his wife had
retired to bed when a man (European, not native)
entered their bedroom. They were much annoyed by
this intrusion and asked what he wanted. He replied
that he was a reporter who had been in court, but had
been obliged to leave before the conclusion of the
trial, and was extremely anxious that the judge should
tell him what the verdict was that he might complete
the report for his paper. The judge, to get rid of him,
gave some answer that satisfied him, and the man
THE GHOSTLY REPORTER 126
departed. Next day the judge learnt that a reporter
had been present who was taken ill and died before the
conclusion of the trial, and he was convinced that
this was his ghostly visitor. The weak point, said Mr.
Knowles, was that the narrators would not allow
themselves to be cross-examined by a barrister. They
were very old, and nervous about the publication of
the story in print, and the thought of cross-examination
was quite too much for them. However, Mr. Knowles
and the other investigators were fully satisfied as to
their bona fides, and the tale duly appeared in an
article in the Review. No sooner was it published than
various people wrote pointing out that it was all a
misapprehension. There had been no reporter who had
suddenly died on the occasion specified, and various
other details were disproved by officials and others
who had been at the place at the time when the judge
was by way of having presided over the trial and seen
the ghost. (Sir Edmund was a judge of the Supreme
Court of China and Japan.) Mr. Knowles came again
and said, " There you see ! " The story when sub-
jected to the light of publicity fell to the ground.
No doubt something had put the germ into the old
people's heads and it had blossomed in the course of
years.
To return for a minute to the year 1887. In that
year my husband was appointed Lord Lieutenant of
Oxfordsliire — an appointment which he held until his
death. This is referred to in the following verses by
Mr. Lionel Ashley, younger son of the great Lord
Shaftesbury and a friend of my husband's and mine
of long standing. Lady Galloway and I used to call
him " the Bard," as he was fond of nuvking verses about
us. 1 in.scrt these because they give such a liappy idea
126 GHOST STORIES [ch. vi
of one of Osterlev Saturday-to-Monday parties. They
are dated June 19tli, 1887, which I see by our Visitors'
List was the Sunday.
" In a cot may be found, I have heard the remark,
More delight than in Castles with pillars.
But we find in the Palace of Osterley Park,
All the charms of suburban Villiers.
" A Sunday in Osterley Gardens and Halls,
That's a day to look on to and after.
Its pleasures my memory fondly recalls.
And the talk, with its wisdom and laughter.
" In a nice little church a grave sermon we heard,
Which reproved Christianity flabby.
And urged that in heaven a place be preferred
To a Jubilee seat in the Abbey.
• • • • •
" The Irish question, in masterly way,
Mr. Lowell made easy and clear.
We must make them content, without further delay,
But the method was not his affair.
• • • • •
" Of the Queen's new Lieutenant, with pleasure we hail
The appointment, for now 'tis a mercy.
From cold shoulders in Oxfordshire never will fail
To protect her a glorious Jersey.
• • • • •
" Then may everyone of th' illustrious Brood
Learn to make the same excellent stand his own,
That not only the names, but the qualities good
May descend to each ' Child ' and each ' Grandison.' "
The last line was rather prophetic, as there was no
" Grandison " apart from the family's Irish title at the
time of writing. My husband, as already mentioned,
bore the name for the three weeks between his grand-
father's and father's death, but our elder son was
always Villiers. Now his son is Grandison and I
think bids fair to inherit the " qualities good " of his
grandfather — he could not do better.
A JUBILEE SERMON 127
The " nice little churcli " was that at Norwood
Green, and the sermon, preached by a rather eccentric
Irish clergyman, informed us that he had been studying
history and found that in the chiys of George Ill's
Jubilee " there was an old king and a ma-ad king.
How would vou have liked that ? " And he continued
to tell us of the death at that period of Sir John Moore
commemorated by an Irish clergyman who " two
years later was translated to the Kingdom of Heaven,
for which his Irish curacy had so well prepared him."
In addition to those above named by Mr. Ashley, we
had staying with us Lord Rowton, Lord and Lady
Galloway, Lady Lytton and her daughter Betty, Col.
Charies Edgcumbe, my sister Cordelia, and my brother-
in-law Reginald Villiers, to whom my husband was
greatly attached. It is very pleasant to recall those
happy days, but sad to think how few that shared
them are left !
I turn from our Osterley parties for the time being
to record a most amusing journey which Lady Galloway
and I made to Greece in 1888. Lord Jersey could not
make up his mind to start with us, though we had
hopes (which proved vain) that he might join us later.
Our families were somewhat excited on learning our
intention, as the recollection of the Marathon brigands
who captured poor Mr. Vyner and the Muncasters still
coloured the popular ideas of Greece.
Our husbands, however, were — fortunately — confident
in our own powers of taking care of ourselves. Lord
Jersey calmly remarked, " If you are captured Galloway
and 1 will come with an army to rescue you." Mr.
Ashley, less trustful of the future, insisted on presenting
each of us with a sriiall revolver and l)ox of cartridges.
I forget what Mary did with hers, but my one (jbject
128 TRAVELS IN GREEOE [ch. vi
was to conceal the weapon from possible brigands.
I regarded them rather like wasps, who are supposed
not to sting if you let them alone, but I was certain
that if I tried to shoot I should miss, and then they
might be annoyed and I should suffer. I had to take
the revolver, but I hid the cartridges in my luggage
and put the weapon where it would not be seen.
We were not absolutely certain till we reached
Marseilles whether we should go to Greece after all, or
to Algeria or elsewhere, but finding that we could get
berths on a Messageries boat we ultimately carried out
our original intention though we did not really mean to
stay long in Athens or its neighbourhood, and imagined
Marathon (the scene of the Vyner tragedy) to be quite
" out of bounds."
However, when on March 31st we reached the
Piraeus early in the morning we soon found that we
were in the happiest possible abode. Our constant
friend and protector Sir Thomas (now Lord) Sanderson
had written from the Foreign Office to Mr. William
Haggard, the British Charge d'Affaires, to look after
us in the absence of the Minister, and it is impossible
to speak too highly of his kindness. The Greek Minis-
ters were deeply impressed by the fact that Lady
Galloway was (half) sister to the English Prime Minister,
Lord Salisbury, and laid themselves out to make every-
thing pleasant and delightful. Greece was still almost
unknown to Cook's tourists. I think there was a
Cook's Office, but I do not recall seeing any of his
clients about the place — anyhow, not outside Athens
itself. Mr. Haggard met us with a boat belonging to
the Harbour Master's Office, and as soon as we had
settled ourselves in the Hotel d'Angleterre at Athens
(a very good hotel) he began to make all sorts of arrange-
MARATHON 129
ments for us — so that instead of three days we stayed
some three weeks in Athens and about a month al-
together in Greece.
We told Mr. Haggard that our friends were very much
afraid of our finding brigands at Marathon, or rather
at their finding us. He assured us that after the
tragedy — seventeen years previously — all the brigands
had been killed and it was perfectly safe ; anyhow,
he took us to Marathon next day, and we were
delighted with the scenery through which we passed
and with the silent, desolate field where the battle
had been waged, with wild flowers growing on the
hillock pointed out as the soldiers' grave. Whether
it still keeps its impressive solitude I know not. It
is useless to attempt description of Greece, so well
known to all either from personal experience or from
hundreds of accounts both in prose and poetry, but I
may just say that as my mother (who saw it as a girl)
told me, the colours of the mountains were like those of
a dove's neck, and the clearness of the atmosphere
such that one felt as if one could see through the hills.
An evening or two later we dined with Mr. Haggard
and his wife, and we were soon introduced to the various
notabilities, who from the King and Queen downwards
were most kind and hospitable. To begin with their
Majesties, who entertained us at breakfast at the Royal
Kiosk at the Piraeus, and on more than one subsequent
occasion at dinner, and whom we met on various other
occasions : King George had much of the charm of
his sister Queen Alexantlra and was a distinctly astute
monarch. As far as one could judge, he really liked
his quaint little kingdom, and 1 remember his asserting
with energy- that they were a good people. The Queen,
a KuHsiuii, was u kindly, pious woman and apparently
130 TRAVELS IN GREECE [ch. vi
happy with her children, to whom she was devoted.
She then had six, but there were only three at home
at the time — Princess Alexandra, a pretty, merry girl
just grown-up, and two younger children, Marie and
Andrew. Andrew was a dear little boy about six or
seven years old. When I asked Princess Marie about
his birthday she gravely replied that he was too young
to have a birthday !
Greece struck me as a singularly " democratic "
country in the sense that there was really no " aris-
tocracy '' between the Sovereign and the people. What
in other countries is commonly called " Society " was
in Athens mainly composed of the Ministers, the Corps
Diplomatique, and one or two rich merchants — par-
ticularly one called Syngros, who spent large sums on
public works. One of these was the Academy, a large
building with, as far as we could ascertain, nothing as
yet inside it.
The Mykenae Museum, which contained many of
Schliemann's antiquities, discovered at Argos and
elsewhere, was specially interesting ; but the Greek
newspaper which followed our movements and for-
mulated our opinions for us said that when we visited
the Academy " both ladies were enthusiastic at the sight
of the building. They confessed that they never
expected to find in Athens such a beautiful building ;
they speak with enthusiasm of Athens in general " —
but evidently the Academy (of which I do not think we
saw the inside) was " It.''
M. Tricoupi was then Prime Minister, Minister of
War, and practically Dictator. He was undoubtedly a
man of great ability and judgment, and was devoted
to England. We saw him constantly and also his
sister Miss Tricoupi, a wonderful old lady.
mSS TRICOUPI 131
She gave up her life to promoting her brother's
interests in all respects. She appeared to me like a
link with the past, as she had been with her brother
in England early in the century, and then had taken to
Sarah, Lady Jersey, as a present from King Otho, a
water-colour drawing of a room in his Palace which
always hung in my bedroom at Middleton. She also
knew my grandmotlier and my mother's elder sisters.
\\Tienever Parliament was sitting she sat at home from
one o'clock in the afternoon till any hour of the night
to which the debates happened to continue. Any of
her brother's supporters, no matter of what rank,
could come into the large room at one end of which
she was seated. It did not appear to be necessary that
she should speak to them, much less offer them refresh-
ments. I saw some men who appeared to be sailors
or fishermen enter and seat themselves at the far end
of the room without speaking or apparently attracting
any particular notice.
When w^e went to see her she gave us tea and delicious
little rolled-up pieces of bread-and-butter — this we were
assured was an especial favour. Naturally she could
not have fed the whole of Athens daily ! Poor woman
— I saw her again on our subsequent visit to Athens,
and after that used to correspond for nearly thirty years.
She wrote most interesting letters, though after her
brother's death she lived mainly in retirement. During
the war, however, her feelings became somewhat
embittered towards the Allies ; she ultimately died
seated on her sofa — she never would give in to in-
capacity, though she must have been very old.
One of the most amusing members of the Ministry
was Theotoki, Minister of Marine, who went with us
on more than one excursion and was most kind in
132 TRAVELS IN GREECE [ch. vi
poviding gunboats for any destination which had to
be reached by sea. I rather think that he was of
Venetian descent — he had a nice, lively wife, and I
should say that he was not averse to a little innocent
flirtation. The bachelor Tricoupi embodied all his
ideals of woman in his capable and devoted sister, and
had very advanced Woman Suffrage views, more
uncommon then than a quarter of a century later.
He was all in favour of the appointment of women
not only as Members of Parliament, but also as Ministers
of the Crown. One day he and Theotoki were taking
us somewhere by sea when a discussion arose on this
point. Either Lady Galloway or I wickedly suggested
that women, admitted to the Cabinet, might exercise
undue influence on the minds of the male members.
Tricoupi in perfect innocence thereupon replied that it
might be arranged that only married men should
hold such office, apparently convinced that matrimony
would make them woman-proof ! I shall never forget
Theotoki's expressive glance.
Dragoumi, Minister of Foreign Affairs, was one of
those who gave a dinner-party in our honour, on which
occasion he and M. Tricoupi and one of the other
Ministers concocted an excellent programme to enable
us to visit Nauplia and Argos and Mykense. I wrote
an account of this to my mother which she kept, so I
may as well transcribe it, as it gives an account of
places which have probably been much altered and
brought up to date in the present day under the aus-
pices of " Cook's Tours.'' I told my mother :
" V^e went with Bakhmeteff the Russian and Haggard
the Englishman, who each had a Greek servant, and
we having a German courier made up a tolerably
mixed lot. You would have laughed to see the three
NAUPLIA 133
Cabinet Ministers sitting in solemn conclave at a party
the night before to settle all details of our expedition.
Theotoki, the Minister of Marine, had a ship ready to
send to meet us anywhere we liked, and Tricoupi
ordered Dragoumis, the Foreign Minister, just to go
down to send of! some further telegram, which Drag-
oumis — a white-haired statesman — obediently trotted
off to do. The Czar of all the Russias is not a greater
autocrat than Tricoupi. When we arrived at Nauplia
we fomid the M.P. for that district waiting for us at
the station, and he had received orders to have the
hotel thorougliiy cleaned and prepared — no one had
been allowed to inhabit it for four days before our
arrival. The landlord, as far as we could make out,
was locked up in a room, whence we heard coughs and
groans, presumably because he had fomid a clean
dwelling such a ghastly thing, and we were waited on
by a very smart individual (who was a Parisian doctor
of law !) and a small Greek girl. When we woke up
next morning we found by way of variety that the
ground was covered with snow and the coachman said
he could not possibly go to Epidaurus — however,
Bakhmeteff sent for the Prefect of Police, who told him
he nmst, so with four horses in front and one trotting
behind we went a perfectly lovely drive through splen-
did mountain country looking even more beautiful
from the enow on the hills. Perhaps you don't know
about Epidaurus — an ancient temple of ^sculapius
is there, and near it has lately been discovered the
most perfect theatre in Greece, which could seat twenty-
five thousand people. Hardly a stone is out of place—
we went up to the top row, and an unfortunate ' Ephor
of Antiquities ' who had also been ordered up from
Athens to do us the honours stood on the stage and
talked Uj us — one could hear every word. The
Ephor and all the inhabitants of Nauplia (who are
stated by the papers to have received ua ' with aiTec-
tion ') thought us quite mad, not only for going in the
snow, but for going in an open carriage, a circumstance
also carefully recordetl in the papers. A Greek would
10
134 TRAVELS IN GREECE [ch. vi
have shut up the carriage and both windows. Thursday
we returned (i.e. to Athens) by Tiryns, Argos and My-
kense and saw Dr. Schliemann's excavations. The
Treasury of Atreus is a marvellous thing — a great
cone-shaped chamber in a hill with an inner chamber
on one side and an enormous portal with projecting
walls in front with a gigantic slab over it. Metal
plates are said to have been fastened on the walls at
one time, but how on earth the prehistoric people
arranged these stones curving inwards so as to keep in
place and how they lifted some of them at all passes
the wit of man to conceive."
I continue in tins letter to explain how much of all
this Dr. Schliemann and his wife did and did not find,
and also to describe the " Lion Gate " and the " Agora "
— but all that is well-known and doubtless has been
further explored since our visit.
Among other dissipations at Athens we attended two
balls — one at M. Syngros", the other at the Austrian
Legation. After the former a correspondent of one of
the Greek papers wrote :
" It is a curious phenomenon the gaiety with which
the Prime Minister is possessed this year. I have
no doubt that he belongs to that fortunate circle which
sees with affection the setting on each day of the Car-
nival. It appears that the presence of the two dis-
tinguished English ladies who are receiving the hos-
pitality of our town for some days now has revived
in him dormant feelings and reminiscences. M.
Tricoupi passed the years of his youth in England, and
it was with the English ladies that he enjoyed the
sweet pleasure of dancing. This evening he dances
also with Lady Jersey. He frequently accompanied
the two distinguished ladies to the Buffet, and with
very juvenile agility he hastens to find for them their
sorties de bal with which the noble English ladies are
THE LAURIUM MINES 135
to protect their delicate bodies from the indiscretion
of that cold night."
M. BakhnictefE, who was one of our companions to
Nauplia, was a typical Russian — very clever, knowing
some eight or nine languages and all about Greece
ancient and modern. We used to call him the
" Courier," as he was invaluable on our various expedi-
tions, and he seemed to enjoy his honorary post. Like
many of his compatriots he had no real religious belief,
but regarded religious observance as quite a good
thing for women ; he told me that a man looked rather
ridiculous kneeling, but it was a becoming attitude
for women — the folds of her dress fell so nicely ! But
he assured me that if I saw him on duty in Russia I
should see him kissing the ikons with all reverence.
Poor man ! If still alive, I wonder what has happened
to him. He lent me a capital Japanese costume for
the ball at the Austrian Legation. Lady Galloway went
as " Dresden china " or a " houqxietihe."
We made a very interesting expedition to the Laurium
mines, of which I subsequently ventured to give an
account in The National Review, but again I think it
unnecessary here to describe a well-known enterprise
— the revival in modern days of lead mines worked in
classical times. We stayed the night at the house of
the manager, M. Cordelia. He and his wife were most
kindly hosts, and everyone contributed to our enjoy-
ment. One little domestic detail anmsed us. As we
entered the substantial and comfortable house one of
us exclaimed to the other, " Oh, there is a bath ! " — a
luxury not always found in our wanderings — but a
second glance showed us that we should have to wait
till our return to the hotel next day, as the bath was
fixed in the well of the staircase !
136 TRAVELS IN GREECE [ch. vi
As for our sentiments about the mines I cannot do
better than quote the words of the N ea Ephemeris,
one of the papers which knew so well what we thought
on each occasion :
" The eminently English spirit of the most ingenious
and noble ladies saw in all those works something like
the positiveness of the spirit that prevails in their own
country and were delighted at it in Greece which they
loved so much. They had no words to express their
satisfaction to the true man possessed with the spirit
of our century whom they found in the person of M.
Cordelia, the director of the works, and to his worthy
wife, who tendered to them so many nice attentions."
This, the Hora, and the Acropolis, seem to have been
the chief Government papers, and occasionally one of
them would hold up to contempt a wretched Dely-
annis organ which basely ignored the presence of the
English Prime Minister's sister !
I cannot record all our excursions to Eleusis, iEgina,
and elsewhere, but I will add a few lines describing the
general appearance of the people at that time, also
written to my mother, as probably they have greatly
changed in over thirty years :
" The Peloponnesian shepherds look remarkably
picturesque, as they wear large white coats with peaked
hoods over their heads. Further north the coats are
more often blue — near Athens black and a different
shape — near Eleusis the people are Albanians and wear
Albanian costumes, which are very bright with many
colours. Almost all the natives outside the towns
wear costumes which make the villages look like places
in plays, and every little inn is a regular picture —
but the country is very thinly populated and you go
for miles without seeing a soul. It is most beautiful.''
One rather interesting character was the Lord Cham-
HADJI PETROS 137
berlain, an old gentleman called Hadji Petros, son of
the original brigand who was one of the husbands of
Lady Ellenborough, and is the thinly disguised " Hadji
Stavros " of About's novel Le Roi des Montagnes.
Hadji Petros was supposed to be quite illiterate, but
he could sign his name, as he did so on a case of chocolate
which he gave me. Anyway, " by royal permission "
he took us over the Palace and down into the kitchens,
where he showed us the correct method of making
Turkish coffee. His son, we were told, was a very
smart young officer who led cotillons at the Athenian
balls — two generations from the original brigand.
We left Athens on February 22nd, and were taken
by ship from a port near Patras at the end of the Gulf
of Corinth to Pyrgos. We went in a Government boat
(the Salaminia, I believe), and it was arranged that
we should stay with the Demarch (Mayor) and drive
thence to see Olympia.
Fortunately for us M. Bakhmeteif accompanied us,
and the whole thing was very entertaining. The
officers on the ship thought it too absurd that we should
want to take ofi even hand luggage for the night, as
they said we should find everything we wanted at the
Demarch's. Sure enough we found three elaborate
sitting-rooms adorned with photographs and chairs
tied up with ribbons, a bedroom with two comfortable
beds and plenty of pin-cushions, and a dressing-room
provided with tooth-brushes, sponges, and dentifrice
water, but as means of washing one small green glass
jug and basin between us. However, we managed
to borrow two large, red earthenware pans from the
kitchen and got on nicely. The Demarch was more
than kind and hospitable, but as he knew no language
save his native Greek it was lucky that Bakhmetcff
138 TRAVELS IN GREECE [ch. vi
was there to interpret. We landed too late for Olympia
that evening, so we were taken down to a most roman-
tic and desolate spot, where Alpheus runs into the sea
in full view of the Acroceraunian mountains where
*' Arethusa arose from her couch of snows/' In addi-
tion to one or two officials we were guarded by a
delightful gendarme and were introduced to a bare-
legged giant in an oil- skin coat whose duty was to look
after the fish in a kind of stew or watercourse running
out of a lake. Whether the poachers had been busy
lately I know not, but the efforts of the custodian, the
gendarme, and the rest of the party to give us a fishing
entertainment were singularly abortive. Their object
appeared to be to capture a mullet, and at length a
dead one was landed by the joint throwing of a small
net and poking with Lady Galloway's parasol. With
dauntless courage they returned to the charge, and when
another small fish was seen the gendarme drew his
sword and vainly tried to stab it. Ultimately the
professional fishermen did catch it and gave it to the
gendarme, who skipped about with glee. He had
seen me put some shells in my pocket, and apparently
thought we should like to do the same with the
fish, so proceeded to wash it — and naturally let it
escape. Next day the Demarch told M. Bakhmeteff
that he had ordered an open carriage for the ladies
(knowing our lunatic tendencies) and that he would
take him (Bakhmeteff) in a shut one. Bakhmeteif
came to us in a frantic state of mind and begged our
authority to say that English ladies could not possibly
go in a carriage alone — so ultimately we three pro-
ceeded in the open carriage with our gendarme on
the box, and the Demarch followed with his servant.
All went well till it began to rain, when our gallant
OLY^IPIA— ZANTE 139
defender jumped ofE the box and into the shut carriage
with the Demarch and the other man. They put up
both windows and I believe smoked, only leaving a
little breathing-hole in front. Doubtless they enjoyed
themselves immensely — so did we.
As with other well-known places, I omit all descrip-
tion of Olympia, reached by a road concerning which
we decided that it would be a compliment to compare
it to a ploughed field. The drive took four hours each
way. I dare say there are hotels and chars-a-bancs if
not trams now, but I am very glad to recall Olympia,
as we saw it in the wilds with ruins of temples and the
newly excavated Gymnasium undisturbed by eager
tourists. The Museum, containing the beautiful statue
of Hermes with the Infant Bacchus, had not long been
erected on the lines of a Greek temple. By way of
an additional treat our hosts had roasted a lamb whole
and brought it into the outer hall of the Museum on
a stick regardless of the mess which it made. We made
futile efforts to protect the floor with newspapers, but
were obliged to eat some of the meat.
From Pyrgos we went to the Island of Zante, where
we spent Sunday. I wrote to my mother that it was a
most lovely place — and told her :
" We took some luncheon up into an olive grove on
the hills and lay on cushions there in the most perfect
air and warmth you can imagine, with birds singing
and the greenest grass thick with flowers just like the
Pre-Raphaelite pictures. A little higher up you could
see the sea on both sides. Cephalonia in one distance
and the Acroceraunian mountains in the other. This
island is, as you know, famous for flowers, and the
nosegays the Consul sent us were so enormous that
after filling all the vases, etc., we could we had to fill two
large foot pans and put them on the balcony."
140 TRAVELS IN GREECE [ch. vi
Of Cephalonia, where we spent a few hours on our way
to Corfu, my chief recollection is of wild mountainous
country. The Consul (or Vice-Consul) who took us for
a drive told us a thrilling tale — as yet unconcluded — of
two rival families. The father of one married his
daughter to a young man, whereas the other family
wanted her and attacked the bridal party on the wedding
day. I forget exactly how many people they killed,
but I think the bridegroom was among the victims, and
anyhow they carried off the young lady to the moun-
tains, and she was still there at the time of our visit.
Corfu was very delightful — but I recall no particular
incident. There seemed to be a good many people
who still regretted that Mr. Gladstone had handed it
over to Greece.
Our gunboat and M. BakhmetefE had left us at
Zante, and from Corfu we went by an Austrian Lloyd
steamer to Brindisi ; thence by train to Naples. There
we found Lord Rowton and dined with him and one or
two friends. We also spent a day with him in Rome,
where he was a good deal amused by our evident feeling
that Roman were not to be compared to Greek anti-
quities.
CHAPTER VII
VOYAGE TO INDIA — HYDERABAD
I MUST go back a little in these mixed memories to
record our early acquaintance with Mr. Josepli Chamber-
lain, who afterwards became one of our great friends.
I believe that I first met him at Lady St. Helier's (then
Lady Jeune) at a luncheon or party in 1886. We asked
him to dinner at 3 Great Stanhope Street, and he
accepted — and we also asked the Jeunes. Mr. Chamber-
lain, though this was about the time that he split wuth
Gladstone over Home Rule, was still regarded as a
dangerous Radical, and was by no means universally
met in Conservative houses. As it happened he
arrived at our dinner a little before the Jeunes. As they
were announced I went to the drawing-room door to
meet them and she stopped me, and said in a low voice
before entering the room, " You are coming to dine
with me on such a date — shall you mind meeting Mr.
Chamberlain ? " (She had quite forgotten our meeting
at her house.) " He is in the house," was my reply —
whereat she gasped and nearly fell backwards. I well
recollect the stern disapproval of our old-fashioned
Tory butler Freeman. He showed it in his manner,
though he did not venture at the moment to put it into
words — but a few days afterwards we had another
dinner at which were present some of our regular— and
1 am sure highly respectable — friends. The following
141
142 VOYAGE TO INDIA [ch. vii
morning Freeman said to me solemnly, " We had a
very nice dinner last night." " Yes," said I, " I think
it went off very well." " All very nice people," he added
with marked emphasis, and left me to digest the un-
spoken rebuke.
Freeman was a great character and his comments
were apt to be amusing. The year after this incident
Lord Eobert Cecil spent a Sunday at Osterley, and
after the party had left on Monday Freeman informed
me that there was only one thing that had troubled
him. In reply to my rather anxious inquiry as to
what had gone wrong he said : " That fine young fellow
Lord Salisbury's son did not hold himself up properly.
I spoke to his servant about it, and he said it was his
book. I said our young lord [Villiers] is very clever,
but I hope he will hold himself up." Poor Freeman !
he was rather a rough diamond in some respects, but
one of the best and most faithful of servants. He
caught a chill and died early in 1894, soon after our
return from Australia.
To return to Mr. Chamberlain. Though already
twice a widower he was still regarded politically as a
young man, and I remember the American Minister
Mr. Phelps assuring me that he had watched in the
House of Commons Mr. Gladstone snub Chamberlain in
a way that he was convinced had a good deal to do with
his breach with the Liberal party. I doubt that being
more than a very secondary cause, but I perfectly
recall the acrimonious tone in which Mr. Chamberlain
early in our acquaintance commented on the way in
which politicians were treated " because they were
young." Anyhow, Mr. Chamberlain not only asserted
himself as worthy of all consideration politically, but
he rapidly discarded socially his stern views of those
MR. JOSEPH CHAMBERLAIN 143
whom he had formerly stigmatised as " lilies of the
field." The late Sir Cecil Spring Rice once told me
that he and Mr. Chamberlain had been thrown together
a good deal on some occasion in America, and the
latter had confided to him that he had really believed
that the so-called " upper classes " were, taken as a
whole, the idle, selfish, self-indulgent, and generally
pernicious people whom he had denounced, but that
when he came to know them he realised that they were
a very different set of individuals. I have always held
that Mr. Chamberlain was an honest man, and that
when people accused him of changing his coat his
changes were the result of conviction. He once said
to me that he had invariably held that the people
ought to have what they really wanted, and that more
than once he had discovered that he was mistaken in
what he had previously imagined to be their desires,
and that then he was willing to follow their lead. " For
instance," he said, " I thought the country wanted
Secular Education and therefore advocated it, but
experience showed me that this was not the case and I
therefore ceased to support it." Of course this prin-
ciple may be pushed too far. A statesman ought to
have some convictions from which he cannot and will
not depart, but it would be absurd to say that a man
entering political life is bound to have a cut-and-dried
programme which nothing will make him modify.
Moreover Mr. Chamberlain had grown up in a narrow
commercial circle, and larger knowledge of men and
manners was bound to widen his views. On the first
occasion that he stayed with us at Osterley in June 1887
and June 1888 his daughter Miss Beatrice Chamberlain
came with him. I see by our old Visitors' Book that
we had some very good Conservatives to meet them —
144 VOYAGE TO INDIA [ch. vii
in 1888 Lady Lathom and her daughter Maud, George
Curzon, Lord and Lady Kintore, Sir John Stirling
Maxwell, and my husband's cousin. Prince Louis Ester-
hazy. I have been told that more than one person
first saw Mr. Chamberlain rowing on the Lake at Oster-
ley in a tall hat and with a pipe in his mouth ! I rather
think that it was at a garden party. In 1888 just after
the death of the Emperor Frederick almost everyone
appeared in mourning, which somebody said made it
look like a funeral wake tempered with strawberries.
Poor Beatrice Chamberlain, however, appeared in a
sort of plaid gown which made her very mihappy.
She confided to Lady Lathom that she had just returned
from France and had not known that people were wear-
ing mourning — moreover she belonged to some society
in Birmingham (a very sensible one) which agreed not
to wear mourning except for quite the nearest relatives.
She was afraid we might think that her clothes were due
to her Radical principles, which we certainly did not.
She became a very talented and distinguished woman,
and her death, a few years ago, was a loss to many good
causes. I was m.uch touched by a letter which she
wrote me after my husband died in 1915 in which she
said that he and 1 had been kind to her " particularly
in the long-ago days when I, not so very young, but so
very raw, was keeping house for papa and came with
him into this strange, unknown, and uncharted
world of London.'' We had done little enough, and it
was very nice of her to preserve such a recollection for
over a quarter of a century.
Next year when Mr. Chamberlain stayed with us he
had married the charming Miss Endicott, now Mrs.
Carnegie, but I shall have more to say of them both
later on.
DEPARTURE FOR INDIA 145
I must now record some recollectious of the first
of our three visits to India.
The idea of such a journey arose from my seeing
Mr. Robert Bourke in a hansom as I was driving late in
the season of 1886. He waved to me and I stopped
to hear what lie had to say. " I want to talk to you
and Jersey," said he. " Very well," I said ; "comedown
to Osterley and you will find us both at such a time."
It was accordingly arranged, and he told us that Lord
Salisbury had offered him the Government of Madras.
He was somewhat upset, as he had been Under-Secre-
tary for Foreign Affairs when Lord Salisbury was
Secretary of State for that Department, and when the
latter became Prime Minister Mr. Bourke thought that
he ought to have had higher promotion, and regarded
this offer rather as exile. However, on talking it all over
he began to paint the gubernatorial glories in more
roseate hues, and my husband and I both recommended
him to accept, as we neither of us thouglit in our hearts
that he was likely to attain Cabinet rank in England.
Then he said, " If I go, will you come out and stay
with me ? " It was a new but attractive project, and
we gave a provisional promise which we fulfilled in the
autumn of 1888. My parents undertook to keep an
eye on the younger children and to have them at Stone-
leigh for part of our absence— it was arranged that
Villiers should join us when his Christmas holidays
began, and tiie Eton authorities consented that he
should miss the following term as it was thouglit that
India would be equally educational. We accordingly
took our passages on the P. and (). Arcadia, which left
Marseilles on Friday, October 2Gth. My brother Dudley
and Mr. Charles BuUer sailed in the same ship, which
wa.s u new one and had iinpruvements then reckoned
146 VOYAGE TO INDIA [ch. vii
very novel. For instance, it had electric light, which
had not yet been installed in all the P. and 0. fleet.
There were about 240 first-class passengers — some enter-
taining ones among them, including Sir Samuel and
Lady Baker, Captain Hext, who was Director of Indian
Marine, and Mr. and Mrs. Gerard Leigh. In the second
saloon was the theosophist Colonel Olcott — an odd
mixture of philanthropy and humbug — but discussions
with him often served to pass the time. One was not
allowed to ask a second-saloon passenger for meals, but
we had permission for him to come and talk to us, and
also to give two theosophical lectures in the first-class
saloon. I shall have more to say of him at Madras —
but the inner meaning of theosophy is so often discussed
that I insert here the way in which he presented it as I
noted in my journal after one of his lectures given when
we were nearing Port Said :
" Colonel Olcott gave a lecture on the Theosophical
Society of which he is President. The Society has its
headquarters in Madras " (N.B. — really at Adyar near
Madras) " and has three chief objects — Universal
Brotherhood, Study of ancient oriental texts, Investi-
gation of hidden psychical forces. It admits ftiembers
of any religion, but requires universal toleration. Prac-
tically its own tenets are Buddhist, that being rather a
philosophy than a religion. It professes, however, to
assist its members to the better comprehension of the
esoteric or underlying significations of their respective
religions."
Colonel Olcott himself was a Buddhist, and moreover
laid claim to certain powers of healing, which I should
imagine, in so far as they were effectual, were a kind of
faith healing ; he went beyond M. Coue, as he declared
that he had healed a blind man ! Mrs. Gerard Leigh
COL. OLCOTT AND PROF. MAX ^lULLER U7
gravely asked hiin one day whetlier he could give her
something to protect her against spooks, as she often
had to stay in a house which she believed to be haunted.
" Give me something you are accustomed to wear," he
said, and she handed him a ring. He stared at it, and
said, " If you could see — you would see two rays "
(blue rays 1 think he said) " going from my eyes into this
ring." "" What will it do ? " she asked.' " Well," was
the answer, " it will be like a hand laid on your head to
protect you." If she remembered it next time a spook
was about, I feel sure that it was most effectual. " Your
ring," he said to one of us, " came out of a jeweller's
shop — mine came out of a rose," and told us a pleasing
legend of how his sister held a rose and Madame Blavat-
sky conjured a ring out of it.
He had very exalted philanthropic views, and long
afterwards, when he was in England, Professor Max
Miiller told me that he had said to him, " Colonel Olcott,
with all your fine ideas for doing good how can you lend
yourself to that nonsense of broken tea-cups and so
on ? " " And," continued Max Miiller, " he looked
down through his funny blue spectacles and answered,
* All religions must be manured ' — which surely gave
away the whole show."
Colonel Olcott was extremely anxious to enlist me as
a member of the Theosophical Society, assuring me
that he only wanted my signature to a document
which he would keep privately, " not for publication."
What good it would do him in that case is not
very apparent, but tlie net was spread in vain in
the sight of the bird as far as I was concerned. Years
afterwards he reappeared at Sydney and renewed iiia
appeal in tiie following pathetic — but still unsuc-
cessful —verses :
148 VOYAGE TO INDIA [ch. vii
" To our Lady of Leigh
Only a paper. Sign : I entreat you,
A very short paper, Bishops will greet you.
An innocent paper, Clergy beseech you.
My lady, to sign, Lady, to join
Expressing your int'rest. This league confratemal
Your broad-minded int'rest, To seek the eternal —
Your psychical int'rest, Not the infernal — •
In this work of mine. Basis of truth !
H. S. 0."
Sydney, 7th May 1891.
Another, still more generally interesting, fellow-
voyager on • the Arcadia was, as already mentioned. Sir
Samuel Baker, who, with his intrepid wife, was making
one of his frequent journeys to India. He enlivened
many hours which might have proved tedious by
stories of his African adventures, and was always sur-
rounded by an interested circle of listeners. He told
how on his expedition to the sources of the White Nile
he had met two tattered figures which proved to be
Speke and Grant coming back from tracing that part
of the river which flowed from the Victoria Nyanza.
They urged him to continue his undertaking as they
said that if he also found the source he was seeking
" England will have done it " — and she did. He asked
them to come into his camp — but they hung back — and
when he asked why they explained that they heard he
had Mrs. Baker with him, and were in such rags that
they did not like to present themselves before a lady !
Nevertheless they were induced not to treat the
desert like a London drawing-room, and the lady
laughed and mended their clothes for them. Sir
Samuel loved to tell stories of his wife's heroism and
self-possession in more than one critical juncture. With
all her adventures she had remained a very simple and
charming woman.
.SIR SAMUEL BAKER 149
When we were passing the Arabian Coast of the Gulf
of Suez Sir Samuel Baker pointed out Mount Sinai,
though some people pretend that you can only see
its whereabouts — not the Mountain itself. He told us
a great deal of Moses' adventures — from Josephus, I
believe — but he also said that he himself had seen all
the Plagues of Egypt, though he said that for " lice "
one should read " ticks " ! We asked how about the
Darkness ? He said he had been in a Khamsin wind
when for twenty minutes you could not see the flame of
a candle close by ; and as for the " first-born," when
plague or cholera swept ofE families they only cared
about the first-born, the second- or third-born did not
count. He and Lady Baker were also very amusing
about the visits to Egypt of the Princess of Wales and
the Empress Eugenie respectively.
We had a mild excitement in the Gulf of Aden when
a man played the " Boulanger " hymn during dinner.
No one now would recognise the " Boulanger " hymn,
as the hero of the black horse is forgotten, but then
the Germans hissed and the French applauded. The
captain was appealed to, and sent word to " tell the
man to stop that noise " — a message which the steward
delivered too accurately to please the performer !
I do not describe any of the sights which we saw
either at the Ports or at sea, much as they thrilled such
unaccustomed oriental travellers as ourselves. Most
people now are familiar with the voyage either from
personal experience or from oral or written descrip-
tions. I have made it several times since, and, bad
sailor as I am, only wisli 1 were young enough to under-
take it again. Our cicerones treated us mercifully, but
I believe some greenhorns are not so fortunate. 1 heard
of one youth who was warned in advance that the
11
150 VOYAGE TO INDIA [ch. vii
sailors and others were sure to try to take Mm in.
He was told several facts concerning the places and
people which they passed — these he absolutely refused
to believe. At last someone pointed out rocks in the
sea near Suez and said, " Those are the wheels of
Pharaoh's chariots."' " Ah, that I know is true," said
the youth, " for it's in the Bible."
We arrived at Bombay on the morning of November
10th, and were as delighted as are most visitors with the
glitter and glow of the city with its swarming and varied
population. The Yacht Club was a cool and pleasant
resort — and we visited the Arab horse-market, the
Towers of Silence, and other well known sights. Parti-
cularly were we impressed with the curious Caverns on
the Island of Elephanta, with the gigantic figures carved
in high relief. Few could help being awed by the three
immense heads joined together in the Central Division
of the great Central Hall, representing Brahma, Siva,
and Vishnu. I was specially interested in the designs
representing the story of the favourite Hindu deity
Ganpati or Ganesha. You see the marriage of his
parents Siva and Parvati, his birth, and a battle among
the gods and demons in the course of which he had his
head cut off. His irate mother substituted an ele-
phant's head and declared that she, the Mother of
Nature, would upset everything unless gods and men
worshipped him in this guise — and he now appears as
God of Wisdom. Another version is that Siva himself
cut off his son's head, mistaking him for an intruder in
his mother's apartments. However that may be, the
lower class of Hindu have adopted him as a favourite
deity, and we were told of a great festival in February
when they flock to the Caves with offerings of coco-nuts,
rice, and leaves.
MAHABLESHWAR 151
Our travellmg-companion Captain Hext was most
kind to us in Bombay, and a Parsee, Mr. Allbless,
showed us something of the life of that community.
From Bombay, after a night at Poona, we went to
Mahableshwar to stay with our kind friends, Lord and
Lady Reay, he being at that time Governor of the
Bombay Presidency. We left the train at Wathar
and a drive of about five hours through magnificent
scenery brought us to our destination soon after seven
in the evening of November 14th. We were greatly
struck by the huge square-topped mountains towering
in giant terraces above fertile, well-watered valleys.
The soil was generally deep brown or deep red. As
darkness came on we saw quantities of fire-flies amongst
the luxuriant vegetation. Next morning the view
from the house across the valley to a gigantic square-
topped mountain beyond was so dazzling as almost
to take away one's breath. Few things are so im-
pressive as to arrive after dark at an unknown dwelling,
and to awaken in the morning to a new world of glorious
scenery quivering in sunshine and colour. I recall
two instances of the same awaking to the joy of natural
beauty previously unsuspected — once at GlengarifE
and once at Mahableshwar. The soft radiance of
Southern Ireland was verv different from the almost
violent colouring of Lidia, but the sudden delight was
the same.
We spent a very happy six days at Mahableshwar
and saw all sorts of interesting people and places,
including the haunts of the great Mahratta Chieftain
Sivaji. Our introduction to Indian hill life could not
have been made under pleasanter auspices nor with
kinder hosts.
The Duke of Conuauglit was then Commander-in-
152 VOYAGE TO INDIA [ch. vii
Chief of the Bombay Presidency troops. H.E.H. and
the Duchess lived near the Reays, and they were also
very good to us. Lady Patricia Ramsay was then a
most attractive little girl of two years old. The older
children were in England. The Duke, here as elsewhere,
had a great reputation as a soldier.
When we visited Pertab Ghur, one of Sivaji's thirty-
one mountain fortresses, we w^ere told with amazement
that the Duke and his officers had lately brought a
battery of mule artillery up the steep hill leading thereto.
This fort had an arched gateway almost concealed
in the hill- side, with a door covered with iron spikes.
About fifty people live in the fort, and when they saw
the battery approaching they took the soldiers for
dacoits and shut the gates against them.
One visitor to Lord and Lady Reay while we were
with them was the Aga Khan, since so widely known, but
then a boy of about thirteen who was brought by his
uncle to pay his respects to the Governor. The story
of his ancestry as told to me at the time was as follows.
Some generations ago a Hindu announced a tenth
Avatar, or Incarnation, of Vishnu, and persuaded a
number of people to give him offerings for the Avatar.
At last, however, the devotees became tired of parting
with their goods for an unseen deity and insisted that
the Avatar should be shown to his disciples. The
Hindu agreed, and selected a deputation of two hundred,
whom he conducted on a sort of pilgrimage through
Northern India seeking for a suitable representative
who would consent to play the required part. At last
they reached the borders of Persia, and there he heard
of a holy man belonging to the then Royal Family
who would, he thought, fulfil all the requirements.
Before introducing his followers he contrived a private
H.H. THE AGA KHAN 163
interview with the Imaun (as I believe he was called)
and offered to hand over to him all the disciples and
their future offerings if he would assume the character
of an Avatar and pretend to have received those already
given. The Princely Saint consented on condition
that the Hindu believers should become Mohammedans
— no doubt this wholesale conversion to the true faith
overcame any scruples which he may have felt con-
cerning the requisite trivial deception. Thus arose
the sect of the Khojahs, Hindu — or at least Indian —
Mohammedans, acknowledging the spiritual headship
of this Persian Avatar and his descendants. Some
say that this Imaun was one of the tribe or order of
the Assassins of whom the Old Man of the Mountains
was chief in the time of the Crusades. It was declared
that each head of Aga Khan's family was assassinated
in turn, and that his life would be sacrificed in due
course to make way for his successor. However, I
hope that is not true, as I have known him for over
thirty years and saw him very much alive not long
ago.
When we met at Mahableshwar he was a stout youth
with dark eyes and hair and a very composed manner.
His father, who had died before our interview, did not
want the boy in childhood to know of his semi-divine
character as he justly thought that it would not be
very good for him, but the boy was too acute to be kept
in the dark. His mother was a Persiaji princess, and
he is immensely rich from offerings made to himself
and his ancestors. Even in boyhood he was called
" His Highness," that title having been given him in
1896 — but the rank and salute of a chief of the Bombay
Presidency was not granted till 1910, as he is not a
territorial ])rince, but owes his wealth and immense
154 VOYAGE TO INDIA [ch. vii
influence to the large numbers both, in India and Zanzi-
bar who acknowledge his spiritual sway.
We were told that he sometimes had a milk bath
and that his followers were then allowed to drink the
milk in Hvhich he had bathed ! Lord Reav asked
whether he would have to fast in Ramadan, but he said
not till he was fifteen. I asked what was done to people
if they did not keep the fast. He said nothing in India,
but in Persia the Moollahs beat defaulters.
When Aga Khan grew up he managed to reconcile
his followers to the orthodox Mohammedan faith. He
traces his descent from Mohammed's son-in-law Ali.
What his private religious views may have been is
impossible to say ; I should think he was really a Mo-
hammedan, but considered it necessary to allow his
followers to regard him as semi-divine. He was supposed
in after vears to have said to his friends that he could
drink wine if he liked because his devotees were made
to believe that his throat was so holy that it changed
to water on touching it — and he added that " being a
god was not all beer and skittles \ " I must say that
when he sat near me at dinner at Osterley he did not
drink wine. lie was once dining there when in England
for King Edward's coronation, and I told him that the
Sikh High-Priest was reported to have said that he
did not like to be mixed up with " these secular persons"
and wanted to hold the robe of the Archbishop of
Canterbury on the occasion. Aga Khan comically
protested against such an invasion of his ecclesiastical
status, and said in that case he should complain to the
King and go back to India !
From Mahableshwar a journey of two days and a
night brought us to Hyderabad (Deccan) — where we
stayed at the Residency with the Acting-Resident
RACES AT HYDERABAD 155
Mr. Howell and his wife. We were enchanted with
Hyderabad — a real typical Native State and extra-
ordinarily picturesque. We saw various interesting
examples of native life and tradition both in the
pauses on our journey and from the train. As we
drew near Hyderabad there were numbers of im-
mense syenite stones piled on each other or scattered
over the plain. Legend says that when Rama was
pursuing the giant Ravana who had carried off Siva
he enlisted the aid of the monkey-god Hanuman and
his army to make a bridge to Ceylon. The monkeys
carried rocks from the Himalayas, but not unnaturally
became pretty tired by the time they reached the
Deccan and let a good many fall, which may still
be seen scattered about.
Hyderabad is largely Mohammedan, and the Nizam
has a considerable army, including a regiment of negro
cavalry and a good many Arabs. We were fortunate
in seeing a race-meeting the day after our arrival, and
this gathering of natives in all their variety of costume
and colour was dazzling to our unaccustomed eyes. The
populace swarmed in the trees and clustered round
the boundary of the course, but even more brilliant
were the garments of the native nobles and gentlemen
who walked about in the ring and gathered in the grand-
stand. They wore long coats of every conceivable hue
and of rich materials, flowered red and green and g(jld
silk, purple velvet or embroidered white, with gold-
worked belts, i)right turbans, and sometimes swords.
There were little boys gaily dressed like their fathers,
riders in while muslin with black and gold turbans,
on prancing horses with tails dyed i)ink, others carryijig
little flags at the end of spears; Aral)s of the Nizam's
bodyguard with high boot^ and green, red, dark-blue.
156 VOYAGE TO INDIA [ch. vii
and gold costumes and striped floating round their
heads, and the Nizam's syces in yellow and blue.
The Nizam himself, an effete individual, had a red
fez, a pearl watch-chain, and dazzling emerald rings,
but was otherwise in European dress. Around him
were the gentlemen of his Court, salaaming to him and
to each other with strictly Oriental etiquette, and
mingled with them English officers, ladies and civilians.
Flags were flying surmounted by the Union Jack, and
a band played, ending up with " God save the Queen."
The jockeys were some English and some native, the
owners English, Parsee, and Mohammedan.
A hot Indian sun made the scene glow with golden
warmth during the afternoon and with rosy pink as it
set in the evening with the unexpected rapidity which
is almost startling until use has made it familiar. I
was talking a few days later to an Indian gentleman
about his visit to England, and he said what he did not
like was the light, which interfered with his sleeping.
Light is the last thing of which I should have expected
England to be accused, but there is in India no great
variety in the length of night and day all the year
round, so my friend was unaccustomed to the very
early dawn of an English summer day. Not long ago
I heard of an English coachman employed in America.
He, on being asked his opinion of the States, said he
did not like two things — they had no twilight and said
the Lord's Prayer wrong (i.e. ** Who art " instead of
" Which art "). It is difficult to satisfy the physical
and theological prejudices of an alien in any land.
Jersey had been introduced to the Nizam the day
following our arrival ; I made his acquaintance at the
races, but found him singularly lacking in animation.
The only occasion on which I saw him aroused to any-
H.H. THE NIZAM OF HYDERABAD 157
thiiig like interest was when we went to the Palace to
see his jewels. He had wonderful strings of pearls and
emeralds, something like a tiara of diamonds for the
front of a turban, large single diamonds in rings, one
remarkable ruby engraved with the seals of the Moghul
emperors, and an uncut diamond valued at £720,000
which was as uninteresting to look at as a pebble picked
up on a beach. If I recollect rightly that diamond
afterwards played a part in a lawsuit. Jersey said
something about black pearls, which he happened to
admire. The Nizam did not appear to notice the re-
mark, which was translated to him, but presently
made a slight sign, and with the ghost of a smile pro-
duced a little calico bag from which he extracted a
couple of these gems.
Poor man — he had four thousand women shut up in
his Zenana. That included his father's wives and
women servants as well as his own. Every woman
who becomes his wife begins with a monthly pension
of 35 rupees, which can, of course, be increased by his
favour. There was a story going when we were at
Hyderabad that the women had, shortly before, inveigled
the Nizam into the depths of the Zenana and given him
a good flogging ! No doubt strange things may happen
in remote apartments where no male except eunuchs
may ent^r. The present Nizam is, I believe, an en-
lightened and loyal ruler.
The City of Hyderabad was about eight miles in
circumference, and as a quarter was occupied by the
Nizam's palatial buildings there was room and to
spare both for ladies and Court officials. The Nizam
is of course semi-independent, but the Jiritish Govern-
ment exercises the ultimate control. Fortunately,
though the Nizam did not shine intellectually, he had
158 VOYAGE TO INDIA [ch. vii
some very intelligent Ministers, notably Sir Salar Jung,
who exercised the chief control, and the very enlightened
Director of Education, Syed Hossain Bilgrami, who with
his brother Seyd Ali had originally come from Bengal
and contrived to establish an intellectual standard
distinctly superior to that of many Native States.
Amongst other things Syed Hossain had set up a Zenana
School for " purdah " girls of the upper classes, which
was at that time quite a new experiment in India. When
we saw it the head mistress was a Mrs. Littledale, a
Christian Hindu lady married to an Englishman. The
main idea was that the young ladies should be suffi-
ciently educated to be real companions to the men
whom they were ultimately to marry. One of the
pupils on the occasion of our visit was a cousin of the
Bilgramis engaged to one of Syed Hossain's sons. The
young man in question was then at Oxford, and under-
stood to be anxious for the education of his ladv-love.
The whole question of the higher education of Indian
women, particularly of those of the upper classes,
bristles with difficulties. It has much advanced in
the thirty-three years which have elapsed since our
first visit to Hyderabad, but the problems have not
yet been by any means completely solved. If young
women are educated up to anything like a European
standard they can hardly fail to be discontented with
continuous seclusion. On the other hand, if they are
allowed to come out of purdah and to mix freely with
others of both sexes they will be looked down upon by
large sections of the community, and in many cases,
particularly among the ruling families, it will be difficult
to arrange suitable marriages for them. One sometimes
wonders whether such complete freedom as prevails in
Western and Northern lands has been altogether bene-
PURDAH LADIES 159
ficial to their women, and the climate of India might
make unrestrained intercourse even more difficult.
However, Parsee women are not secluded, nor are the
women of the quite low Indian castes.
As far as I could make out, opinions differed among the
ladies themselves as to whether they should or should
not prefer to come out of purdah. Some certainly
considered that for husbands to allow it would be to
show that they did not properly value their wives. For
instance, the Nizam's aide-de-camp All Bey, a very
active, intelligent soldier, told us that he would not
at all mind his wife seeing men or going about, but
that she would not wish it. On one occasion when the
fort at Secunderabad was brilliantly illuminated with
electric lights for some festivity he offered to drive
her out late, when the people had gone, to see the
effect, but she declined. On the other hand, when we
dined with the Financial Secretary Mehdi Ali, and the
ladies went afterwards into an inner drawing-room to
see Mrs. Mehdi Ali, she rather pathetically said to me
in perfect English : " I cannot go to call upon you,
Lady Jersey. I am not a woman, but a bird in a cage,"
It seemed rather absurd that she should be secluded,
for she was evidently highly educated, and I understood
read French as well as English. Her costume was
somewhat interesting. Most of the Moslem ladies wore
trousers and were enveloped in a sari. Mrs. Mehdi Ali
had a gorgeous brocade garment specially designed by
Howell (k, James, which at a casual glance looked like
an ordinary gown but somehow embraced a " divided
skirt."
1 liad an amusing breakfast with the sisters of Sir
Salar Jung and his brother the Muiiir-ul-Mulk. We had
dined the previous evening at a gorgeous banquet with
160 VOYAGE TO INDIA [ch. vii
the brothers, and the ladies of the party, including
Lady Gal way, Mrs. Howell, and five others, were in-
vited for eleven o'clock the following morning to the
Zenana in the same Palace. Of course brothers may
be present with their sisters. With a truly Oriental
disregard of time the Munir appeared about 11.25, the
ladies still later. The Munir was attired in an azure
blue coat embroidered with silver. The materials of
the most gorgeous men's coats were imported from Paris
— and their fezes chiefly came from Lincoln & Bennett's
in London.
As for the ladies, they generally wore stockings and
over them long drawers or breeches, fitting tightly to the
lower part of the leg and very full above. They had
jackets and voluminous scarves called " chuddars." I
believe the breeches were sewn on ! One of the sisters
wore yellow as a prevailing colour, and had bare arms
and feet. The other had a magnificent gold embroi-
dered crimson velvet jacket, a green chuddar, and pink
stockings. These ladies were both married, but the
husband of one was in a lunatic asylum. There was
also present a female cousin, bub she, being a widow,
was all in white and wore no jewels except one or two
armlets.
Our breakfast was spread on a long table under the
colonnade where we had dined the previous night. We
had then sat on chairs at a regular dining -table, but
this was only raised a few inches from the ground
and we sat on the floor, which was covered with a
white cloth. The table was thickly covered with
piled-up dishes containing principally all kinds of curry
and rice cooked in different ways. Water was the
main drink, but anyone who liked could ask for coffee.
Everyone had plates, and the Englishwomen were
BREAKFAST IN A ZENANA 161
provided with spoons and forks, but the Indian ladies
ate (very tidily) with their fingers, over which attendants
poured water after breakfast. The two sisters (half-
sisters really) sat side by side, and laughed and chattered
incessantly. Miss White, a lady doctor who was
present, interpreted anything they had to say, but
they were just meriy, talkative children with no real
interest in anything beyond their clothes, food, and
jewels. Miss White said that they knew, and taught
their children, nothing. I should say that they were
the most ignorant of all the native ladies whom I have
met in India, but certainly not the least happy, and
apparently quite contented.
CHAPTER VIII
MADRAS, CALCUTTA, AND BENARES
From Hyderabad we went to Madras to fulfil our
proraise of paying a visit to Mr. Bourke, who had now
become Lord Connemara. We stayed there for over
three weeks and became much interested in the Presi-
dency. Being rather remote from the usual routes of
visitors it is perhaps less known, and has been called
the " Benighted Presidency,'' but many of the natives
are exceptionally intelligent, and there appears to be
more opportunity than in some other parts of India of
seeing the Hindu faith in working order and less affected
than elsewhere by the influence of the Mohammedan
conquerors. Lord Connemara's Private Secretary, Mr.
Rees (afterwards Sir John Rees, so sadly killed by
falling from a train) was very kind in securing two
Brahmins of different varieties of the Hindu faith to
come and talk to me and explain their views — ^both
spoke excellent English. One was a Munshi who
belonged to the " Advaita " sect, which holds that
everything is part of the Divinity ; the other — an
ascetic — held a refined form of what is called the " Sank-
hya " philosophy, which presupposes eternal matter
with which the Eternal Mind unites itself. After all,
such fine drawn distinctions are quite congenial to the
spirit of the early Gnostics, the Schoolmen of the
Middle Ages, and even to Christians of to-day who are
ready to start fresh communities from differences on
162
BRAHMTX PHILOSOPHERS 163
tenets which seem to the ordinary mind without practical
bearing on the Two Great Commandments.
To return to my Brahmin friends. Both those here
mentioned and others to whom I have spoken claim a
faith certainly different from the vast mass of the
Indian peoples. They claim to believe in One God, and
Bay that all proceed from Him and that all effort should
be directed to reabsorption into Him. Good acts tend
to this result by the gradual purification in successive
incarnations of " Karma.'' which may perhaps be de-
scribed as the residuum of unconquered passions and
unexpiated sins after death. When the Munshi was
explaining this theory of upward progress Mr. Rees
asked him what happened to devil-worshippers and such
like out-caste races. " They go to hell," was the prompt
reply. Observing my look of surprise, Ramiah hastened
to add, " Oh, we have plenty of hells, twenty, thirty,
forty '' — evidently thinking that I was astounded not
at the sweeping perdition of his countrymen, but at
the probably overcrowded condition of the infernal
regions.
Shiva, Vishnu, and the other gods and goddesses
adored by the populace were regarded by the illuminati
as embodiments of various divine attributes, or incar-
nations to reveal tlie divine will and to deliver men from
evil. There seemed no unwillingness to accept Christ
in some such way as this. As one said to me, " I do
not know His history as well as I know my own sacred
books, but if what is told of Him is true, I believe that
he must have been a saint, if not a Divine Incarnation."
Another thought that each race had its own revelation.
We," he said, " have Krishna, you have Christ. You
say that your Christ was crucified — our Krishna was
shot."
164 MADRAS, CALCUTTA, AND BENARES [ch. viii
To an inquiry why if their own faith was so elevated
they left the masses to idol- worship I had the crushing
reply : '' Ignorant people and females cannot at once
comprehend the universal presence. We teach them
first that God is in the image — so He is, for He is every-
where — and from that we go on to explain that He
pervades the universe." I asked my ascetic friend,
Parthasaradi, whether in that case they might find the
deity in the leg of a table — to which he retorted with
Tyndairs views about the mutability of atoms, from
which he deduced that being everywhere He was
certainly also in the leg of the table — and he cited
Roman Catholic teaching on his side as justifying
idol- worship. Parthasaradi had a marvellous store of
quotations from Tyndall, Leibnitz, Matthew Arnold,
and others at his fingers' ends. He kindly said that if
I were as good as my creed he would be satisfied, and
hoped that I would be content if he were as good as
his. He had catechised Mr. Rees about me before he
would condescend to talk to me, as he did not think
that " European females " were generally sufficiently
interested in Hindu religion to make them worthy of
his expositions. He had been a Vakil of the High
Court, but had given up his position to embrace an
ascetic life, and had devoted his property to founding
a library, only reserving enough for himself and his
wife to live upon. His wife had become a sort of nun.
He was a curious-looking man with long shaggy black
hair and very white teeth — rather handsome. His
costume consisted of a cotton dhoti (cloth) of doubtful
whiteness wrapped round his legs and a green shawl
twisted about his body. There is no doubt that he
was very earnest in his faith in the Almighty, and I
was really touched by his appeal one day to Mr. Rees,
FAITH OF EDUCATED HINDUS 165
who chanced to be present at a visit which he paid me.
Mr. Rees told him that he was so eloquent that he
almost converted him to the need for greater religion.
Whereupon said the ascetic, with evident emotion :
" Why don't you come at once ? You need not wait
for an invitation as to a Governor's hreal:fa,<t." He
spoke just like a member of the Salvation Army, and
I am sure with an equally genuine feeling. It would
be absurd to generalise from a superficial acquaintance
with India, but it seemed to me from conversation with
these and other educated Indians that, while quite
willing to accept the high Christian morality and also
to profit from the education in Christian schools, work-
ing out a man's own salvation appealed to them more
than the doctrine of Atonement.
The Dewan Rao Behadur Kanta Chunder, a highly
intelligent man whom we met later on at Jeypore, allowed
that the Atonement was his stumbling-block. He
had been educated in a Mission School and had a great
respect and affection for the Principal, but he was not
a professing Christian. He said that he believed in
one God, but was obliged to continue Shiva-worship
to please his mother. I hope that he received the same
dispensation as Naaman ! He further said that he
believed in the transmigration of souls, but thought
that all spirits would ultimately return to the Great
Spirit whence they came.
I asked this Dewan about a point on which T was
curious — namely, whether as a child, before he came
under Mission influence, his Hindu faith had a practical
influence on his daily conduct. " Oh, yes," he said ;
" if I did anything wrong I was quite frightened of the
images of the gods in the house " — so I suppose they
have a real effect, but no one seemed to think that
12
166 IMADRAS, CALCUTTA, AND BENARES [ch. viii
anything made the native Indian truthful ! However,
it is to be feared that with the majority even of Christians
truth is not a primary virtue.
To return to Madras and our adventures there. I do
not attempt descriptions of the cities or scenery which
we visited. Much as we enjoyed such sights, they
are fully described in guide books, and I keep to our
personal experiences. The length of our visit to Madras
was partly due to unfortunate circumstances which it
is unnecessary to detail at length, though they have
since in broad outline become public property. Briefly,
shortly after our arrival Lady Connemara, who had
been staying at Ootacamund, arrived at Government
House accompanied by the doctor and one of the staff.
The following day she migrated to an hotel just as a
large dinner-party was arriving, and we had to conceal
her absence on plea of indisposition.
After several days' absence and much negotiation
she consented to return — but Lord Connemara implored
us to remain while she was away, and even after she
came back, to help him look after his guests, particularly
some who came to stay in the house. We were rather
amused, when later on we visited the Prendergasts
at Baroda, to discover that Sir Harry Prendergast
and his daughters, who had stayed at Government House
in the midst of the trouble, had never discovered
that Lady Connemara was not there, but thought that
she was ill in her own rooms all the time ! I cannot
help thinking that some of us must have been rather
like the policeman before the magistrate of whom the
cabman said " I won't go for to say that the gentleman
is telling a lie, but he handles the truth rather care-
lessly." I fear that we must have handled the truth
rather carelessly.
THEOSOPHISTS AT ADYAR 167
Fortunately the native servants could not speak
English, and the better class natives in the city behaved
extraordinarily well in wishing to keep things quiet
as far as possible. Anyhow, Lady Connemara came
back for a time, and ultimatelv — some time in the
following year, I think — returned to England. The
end, as is well known, was a divorce. She married
the doctor, and Lord Connemara a rich widow — a
Mrs. Coleman. They are all dead now and the causes
of dispute do not matter ; they may be summed up
with the old formula, " Faults on both sides."
The delay was rather tiresome for us, as we had
planned to get to Calcutta well before Christmas, but
on the other hand it enabled us to see a good deal that
we could not have done in the short time which we
had originally destined to the Presidency, and Lord
Connemara and his staff did everything for our enter-,
tainment.
Among other excursions we had an amusing visit
to our ship acquaintance. Colonel Olcott, at the head-
quarters, or Library, of the Theosophical Society at
Adyar. Adyar is a pretty place, and there are nice
shady drives near it with banyan, tamarind, and other
trees. As we approached we saw a large bungalow
on the top of a small hill, and noticed a number of
people seated in the verandah. It was evident that
they saw us from their elevation, but it did not seem
to have struck them that we could also see them from
below. When we arrived at the door everyone had
di.sappeared except Colonel Olcott, who was seated in
an attitude of abstraction, but jumped up holding out
his hands and expressing great pleasure at our visit.
We were taken into a long hall, liung round with
the shields of the various theosophical Lodges in
168 MADRAS, CALCUTTA, AND BENARES [ch. viii
India and elsewhere. There were several rooms,
and as we were shown into them the people whom we
had seen on the verandah were either " discovered "
or " entered " like actors on a stage, and duly intro-
duced : "A Russian Countess " — the " Countess of
Jersey " ; "a Japanese nobleman " — the " Earl of
Jersey." We were shown the doors of Kathiawar
wood rather well carved, and beyond there was a kind
of Sanctuary with two large paintings of Mahatmas
behind doors like those of a Roman Catholic altar-
piece. I believe that it was behind those doors that
Madame Blavatsky was supposed to have performed a
miracle with broken tea-cups, but I am not clear as to
details and Colonel Olcott was too cute to attempt
to foist the story upon us. What he did tell us was that
the artist Schmiechen painted the Mahatmas without
having seen them, implying some kind of inspiration.
We happened to know Schmiechen, as he had painted
several of our family, so when we were back in England
I remarked that I had seen the pictures which he had
painted without having seen the subjects. " Yes,"
said he, " but I had very good photographs of them ! "
Olcott told us that he intended to have portraits
of the Founders of all religions in this Sanctuary, but
so far the only companion of the Mahatmas was a
photograph of Paracelsus. He, however, produced
another photograph from somewhere and bade me
prepare to respect a bishop. The bishop proved to
be black ! Poor Olcott ! He made another attempt
to convert me while at Madras by lending me copies of
a rather colourless magazine — always assuring me that
his Society was in no sense anti-Christian. When he
called to see the effect which this publication had had
upon me I remarked that I had read not only the
THE RANEES OF TRAVANCORE 169
magazine, but its advertisements, which advertised
distinctly anti-Christian books. He turned the colour
of beetroot, for he had never thought of the advertise-
ments.
While we were at Madras the then Maharajah of
Travancore was invested with the insignia of the Grand
Cross of the Star of India. He was a gorgeous figure
wearing over a long coat of cloth-of-gold with small
green spangles the pale-blue satin cloak of the Order,
which cost him two thousand rupees at Calcutta. His
white turban was adorned with beautiful emeralds.
The right of succession in Travancore is peculiar,
being transmitted to males through females. As there
were no directly royal females in 1857, this Maharajah's
uncle adopted two Ranees to be '' Mothers of Princes."
The elder Ranee was charming and highly educated,
but unfortunately had no children, and her husband,
though a clever man (perhaps too clever !) got into
difficulties and was banished. The Ranee declined all
the suggestions of her friends that she should divorce
him, and her constancy was rewarded by his recall to
her side. This marital fidelity pleased Queen Victoria
so much that she sent the Princess a decoration.
The younger Ranee had two sons, of whom one,
called the First Prince, was considered Heir Presumptive
and was present at the Investiture. He did not strike
me as much of a man, and he and the Maharajah were
reported not to be on friendly terms. Ladies marry
in Travancore by accepting a dotli (i.e. sari) from a
man — if they do not like him they have only to send
it back, which constitutes a divorce.
Sir Mount Stuart Grant- iJufT, when Governor of
Madras, was admiring the embroidered cloth of one of
these Travancore ladies and innocently said that he
170 MADRAS, CALCUTTA, AND BENARES [ch. viii
would like to send her a cloth from Madras as a specimen
of the handiwork executed there., to which she promptly
retorted that she was much obliged, but that she was
quite satisfied with her present husband.
Although I refrain from descriptions in a general
way, I must include some reference to a journey in the
southern part of the Presidency which Lord Connemara
kindly arranged for us, as it is less well known than
Madras itself and other cities generally visited. Also
this part of the country will doubtless change rapidly,
if it has not already done so.
A long day's journey took us to Tanjore, where the
temporary District Judge, Mr. Fawcett, was good
enough to receive us in his bungalow and show us the
sights. The great Temple rejoices in the name of
Bahadeeswara-swami-kovil and is said to have been
built in the eleventh century. The Gopuram or great
pyramidical tower, 216 feet from the base to the top of
the gilded Kalasum, which takes the place of our Cross,
is most imposing. It is covered with carvings, and
amongst them we were shown the head and bust of an
Englishman in a round hat commonly called " John
Bright." The attendants point to this with pride,
saying that it was put there when the temple was
originally built, on accomit of a prophecy that the
English would one day possess the land. We were
struck by the wonderful foresight of the Hindu prophets
in the time of William the Conqueror, as they foretold
not only the advent of the English, but also their
costume 800 years after the date of the prophecy.
The Sivajee dynasty had ruled that part of the
country till a Rajah called Serfojee ceded his territory
to the British. His granddaughter, the senior lady of
his son Sevajee, was the last real Princess of the family.
THE PRINCESSES OF TANJORE 171
She was dead before the date of our visit, but some
ladies of the zenana still lingered on in the Palace.
Some years after our visit Lord Dulferin told me of his
experiences at Tanjore. As Viceroy he was admitted to
the zenana, though of course other men could not
enter. He was shown into a large, dimly lighted room
at the end of which was a Chair of State covered with
red cloth. The attendants made signs for him to
approach the cJiair, and he was just about to take his
seat upon it when he suddenly perceived a small figure
wrapped in the red cloth. He had been about to sit
down on the Princess !
We did not see the ladies, but we visited the large
rambling Palace, in which were three very fine halls.
One was rather like a church, with a nave and two
narrow side aisles, and two rows of dim windows one
above the other. This appeared to be utilised as a
Museum with very miscellaneous contents. There
was a silver-plated canopy intended to be held
over bridal pairs — and a divan on which were placed
portraits ot Queen Victoria and the late Ranee attended
by large dolls or figures presumably representing
members of the Sivajee family. All about the halls
were cheap ornaments, photographs, and, carefully
framed, an advertisement of Coats' sewing cotton !
Another hall contained a fine statue of Serfojee by
Flaxman, a bust of Nelson, and a picture representing
the head of Clive with mourners for his death.
There was also an interesting library with many
Sanscrit and other manuscripts. One book in parti-
cular, full of paintings of elephants executed for Serfojee,
was really amusing. Towards the beginning was a
picture of angelic white elephants, and oilier black,
red, and purple elephant. •s ;J1 with wings. An attendant
172 MADRAS, CALCUTTA, AND BENARES [ch. viii
declared that elephants supported the various quarters
of the globe and used to have wings, but one day in
flying they fell down upon a Rishi (Saint) and disturbed
his devotions, whereupon he induced the gods to deprive
them of their flying powers. It is always dangerous to
offend Saints.
From Tanjore a night's journey took us to Madura,
where we stayed with Mr. Turner, the Collector of the
District, in an interesting and remarkable house. At
the time of our visit it belonged to the Johnston family,
but they let it to the Government that the rent might pay
for a Scholarship at the Madras College. The principal
living-room was rather like a church, having forty
columns in it, and, the floor being on different levels
and divided in various ways, it served for sitting-
room, dining-, and billiard-room. From one corner a
winding staircase led to a terrace from which opened
bedrooms. Below the living-room were vaults or
dungeons where wild beasts and prisoners were
confined in the old days when the house was a sort of
Summer Palace. In one of these vaults tradition said
that a queen was starved to death.
My bedroom, a very large room, was rendered addition-
ally attractive as having been the temporary resting-place
of the heart of Montrose, enclosed in a little steel case
made of the blade of his sword. Lord Napier of
Merchiston, descended from Montrose's nephew, gave
this to his daughter (afterwards Mrs. Johnston) on his
death-bed, 1773, in a gold filigree box of Venetian work-
manship. When Mr. and Mrs. Johnston were on their
way to India their ship was attacked by a French frigate
and Mr. Johnston with the captain's permission took
charge of four quarter-deck guns. Mrs. Johnston refused
to leave her husband and remained on deck holding her
"THE HEART OF MONTROSE" 173
son, aged five, by one hand and in the other a hxrge
velvet reticule including, with several treasures, the
gold filigree box. A shot wounded the lady's arm,
bruised the child's hand, knocked down the father, and
shattered the filigree box, but the steel case with the
heart resisted the blow.
Arrived at Madura I\Irs. Johnston employed a native
goldsmith to make a filigree box after the pattern of
that which was damaged, and also a silver urn in which
it was placed and which stood on an ebony table in the
then drawing-room. The natives soon started a legend
that the urn contained a talisman, and that whoever
possessed it could never be wounded in battle or
taken prisoner. Owing to this report it was stolen,
and for some time could not be traced, but at last Mrs.
Johnston learnt that it had been purchased by a neigh-
bouring chief for a large sum of money.
Mr. A. Johnston, her son, in a letter to his daughters
dated 1836 and published as an appendix to Napier's
Life of Montrose, relates the particulars which he had
heard from his mother, and further his own experiences,
which give an impression of very familiar friendship
between English and natives in days when the former
were largely isolated from intercourse with home.
Young Alexander Johnston was sent each year by
his father during the hunting season to stay with one or
other of the neighbouring chiefs for four months
together to acquire the dilferent languages and native
gymnastic exercises. On one occasion he was hunting
in company with the chief who was supposed to have
the um, and distinguished himself by so wounding a
wild hog that his companion was enabled to dispatcli
it. Complimenting the youth on his bravery, the
chief asked in what way he could recognise his prowess.
174 MADRAS, CALCUTTA, AND BENARES [ch. viii
Young Jolinston thereupon told the history of the
urn and its contents, and begged the great favour of
its restoration to his mother if it were really in his
friend's possession. The chivalrous native replied that
he had indeed purchased it for a large sum, not knowing
that it was stolen from Mrs. Johnston, and added that
one brave man should always attend to the wishes of
another brave man no matter of what country or
religion, and that he felt it a duty to carry out that
brave man's wish who desired that his heart should be
kept by his descendants. With Oriental magnanimity
he accompanied the restored heart with rich presents to
the youth and his mother.
In after years this chief rebelled against the authority
of the Nabob of Arcot, was conquered by the aid of
English troops, and executed with many members of
his family. He behaved with undaunted courage, and
on hearing that he was to die, at once alluded, to the
story of the urn and expressed the hope that his heart
would be preserved by those who cared for him, in the
same way as that of the European warrior.
Mr. and Mrs. Johnston returned to Europe in 1792,
and being in France when the Revolutionary Govern-
ment required the surrender of all gold and silver
articles in private possession, they entrusted the urn
and its contents to an Englishwoman at Boulogne, who
promised to secrete it. Unfortunately she died shortly
afterwards, and the Johnstons were never able to trace
the lost treasure.
Mr. Alexander Johnston adds that he ultimately
received from the French Government the value of the
plate and jewels which his parents had been compelled
to give up to the Calais municipality. It is, however,
unlikely that he would have recovered the heart thirty
THE PALACE OF MADURA 175
or forty years afterwards — unless indeed Mrs. Johnston
had kept it in its little steel case and surrendered the
urn.
The old Palace at Madura is a fine building, now used
for a court of justice. At the time of our visit recol-
lections of the Prince of Wales (Edward VII) still pre-
vailed. When he arrived at the Palace a row of
elephants was stationed on either side of the court on
to which the principal buildings opened. All the
elephants duly salaamed at a given signal except one —
perhaps inoculated with Bolshevik principles. Where-
upon the stage-manager of the proceedings called out
in Tamil to the mahout of the recalcitrant animal, " I
fine you five rupees ! "
One of the purdah Ranees still occupied a side room
of the Palace, and our host Mr. Turner with another
man was stationed to guard the door. The Prince,
however, feeling that " nice customs curtsy to great
kings," put them aside and entered the apartment with
all his suite. The Ranee was much flurried at first, but
finally fascinated, and afterwards gave him a handsome
necklace.
From delightful terraces on the Palace roof you get
an extensive \4ew of the town and surrounding country.
There are two fine hills, one called Secundermullai , as
Alexander the Great is supposed to have camped there,
the other Elephantmullai, from a legend that the Chola
(Tanjore) King's magician made him a gigantic elephant,
but the Pandyan (Madura) King's magician changed it
into a mountain. As the mountain bears a decided
resemblance to an elephant, who will doubt the tale ?
The most striking feature of Madura is the immense
Temple, of which the size, the decorations, and the
wealth displayed are impressive evidence of the vitality
176 MADRAS, CALCUTTA, AND BENARES [ch. viii
of the Hindu faith. Four gopurams or towers guard
the entrances to the halls, galleries, arcades, and courts
within the sacred precincts. One hall is called the Hall
of a Thousand Pillars and is said really to contain 997.
In the galleries are colossal figures of dragons, gods,
goddesses, and heroes, groups being often carved out
of one gigantic monolith.
The presiding deity is Minachi, the old Dra vidian
fish-goddess adopted by the Brahmins as identical
with Parvati, wife of Siva. The Brahmins constantly
facilitated the conversion of the lower races to their
faith by admitting their tutelar deities to the Hindu
Pantheon. The great flag-staff of Minachi (alias
Parvati) is overlaid with gold. There are a thousand
Brahmins and attendants employed about the Temple,
which has an annual income of 70,000 rupees, and
shortly before our visit the Nattukottai Chetties or
native money-lenders had spent 40,000 rupees on the
fabric.
The Treasury contains stores of jewels, particularly
sapphires, and " vehicles " for the gods in the form of
elephants, cows, lions, or peacocks constructed of, or
overlaid with, gold or silver of fine workmanship. Two
cows, late additions, were pointed out to us as having
cost 17,000 rupees.
The Chetties are an immensely wealthy caste, and
lavish money in building both temples and commodious
houses for themselves. At one corner of the latter
they put a large figure of an Englishman attended by
a small native, at another an Englishwoman in a crino-
line and with rather short petticoat. They evidently
like to propitiate the powers both seen and unseen.
Before the Prince of Wales's visit the Collector asked
them to contribute a specified sum towards the fund
ROUS PETER'S SACRED DOOR 177
being raised for his entertainment. They refused,
but offered so much less. They were then shut up in
a place enclosed with palisades, while a series of notes
and messages was interchanged witli tliem. They
were much amused by the proceedings, which they
evidently regarded as the proper method of negotiation,
and kept refusing with roars of laughter, till feeling
that they had played the game long enough, they
consented to give the sum originally asked and were
released.
Among the many objects of interest in the temple
one of the quaintest was a door dedicated to a former
Collector called Rous Peter. He used to worship
Minachi in order to obtain any money that he wanted
from the Pagoda Treasury for the repair of the roads
and other public purposes.
After his death the Brahmins placed him among their
devils, and used to light little lamps round the door
in his honour. A devil was quite as much respected as
a beneficent deity, indeed it was even more necessary
to keep him in a good humour. Mr. Peter unfortunately
did not always distinguish between his own and the
public funds and finally poisoned himself.
He had a great friend, one Colonel Fisher, who married
a native woman, and he and Peter were buried side by
side near the Pagoda. Colonel Fisher's family were,
however, not satisfied with this semi- heat hen arrange-
ment and later on built a Christian church destined to
include their remains. There was some little difficulty
with the Christian authorities about this, but ultimately
it was amicably settled. When we were at Madura
a screen behind the altar shut oil from the rest of the
church the part where they were l)uried, to which the
natives came with garlands to j)lace on Peter's tomb.
178 MADRAS, CALCUTTA, AND BENARES [ch. viii
As is well known, such semi-deification of Europeans
who had captivated Indian imagination was not un-
common. We heard of a colonel buried in another
part of the Presidency on whose grave the natives
offered brandy and cheroots as a fitting tribute to his
tastes.
A twenty- three hours' journey brought us back to
Madras on the afternoon of December 16th. We had
greatly enjoyed our few days in the new world of
Southern India, and were impressed with the hold
that the Hindu faith still had on the population.
During the whole of our stay at Madras Lord Conne-
mara and his staff made every effort for our enjoyment.
Mr. Rees (Private Secretary) was especially kind in
arranging that I should see, not only the Public Museums
and other Institutions, but also some of the private
houses to which Europeans were not generally admitted.
Among the excellent representatives of the British
Government were the Minister of Education, Mr. Grigg,
and Mrs. Grigg. Madras owes much to them both —
the native girls particularly to Mrs. Grigg. Their son,
who acted as one of Lord Connemara's pages at the
Investiture of the Maharajah of Travancore, is now
Sir Edward Grigg, whose knowledge of the Empire
has been invaluable to the Prince of Wales, and who
is now Secretary to the Prime Minister.
One of the most prominent educational institutions
at Madras was the Scottish Free Church Mission which
had a College for boys and Schools for girls of different
castes. These included some Christians, but there
was no claim to any large number of conversions. All
scholars learnt to read the Bible, and no doubt a good
system of morality was inculcated. I believe that
had we gone to Trichinopoly we should have found
LOYALTY OF NATIVE INDIANS 17i>
many more Christians. It is much easier to convert
pariahs and low-caste natives, numerous in Southern
India, than those of the higher castes, who have to give
up social position and worldly advantage if they change
their faith. Lord Connemara often received very
amusing correspondence. One letter was from a luck-
less husband who wrote : " Notliing is more unsuitable
than for a man to have more than one wife. I have
three, and I pray your Excellency to banish whichever
two you please to the Andaman Islands or some other
distant comitry."
When we first visited India at all events the natives
had implicit faith in English power and justice even
when their loyalty left something to be desired. An
Englishman was talking to a man suspected of pro-
Russian sympathies, and pointed out to him the way
in which Russians treated their own subjects. " If
Russia took India," he said, " what would you do
if a Russian tried to confiscate your property ? "
" In that case," was the prompt reply, " I should
appeal to the High Court." For the most part, how-
ever, they were intensely loyal to the person of the
Sovereign.
When Queen Victoria's statue was unveiled at the
time of the First Jubilee the natives came in thousands
to visit it, and to " do poojah," presenting offerings
of cocoa-nuts, etc. The statue was in bronze, and they
expressed great pleasure in finding that their Mother
was brown after all ; they had hitherto imagined her
to be white !
We had arranged to sail from Madras to Calcutta
by a British India named the Pundua, which ought to
have landed us there in good time for Christmas, Imt
our voyage had many checks. First the hydraulic
180 MADRAS, CALCUTTA, AND BENARES [ch. viii
unloading machinery of that " perfidious bark " went
wrong, and we were only taken on board three days
later than the scheduled time for starting. Starting
at all from Madras was not particularly easy in those
days, for the harbour had been constructed on a some-
what doubtful principle ; nature had not done much
for it, and the results of science and engineering had
been seriously damaged by a cyclone. As Sir Mount
Stuart Grant Duff had sagely remarked, " Any plan
is a good one if you stick to it,'' but the damaged walls
were being rebuilt somewhat tentatively and there was
no conviction as to the ultimate outcome. Probably
there is now a satisfactory structure, but in our time
there was not much protection for the boat which
carried us to the Pundua. Mr. Rees was to accompany
us to Calcutta, and Lord Connemara and Lord Mars-
ham took us on board. We had taken tender farewells
of all our friends ashore and afloat — the Governor
had gone back in his boat, when we heard an explosion
followed by a fizzing. A few minutes later the captain
came up and said, " Very sorry, but we cannot start
to-day.'' " What has happened ? " " The top of
the cylinder has blown off." Much humiliated we
had to return with our luggage to Government House,
and to appear at what was called " The Dignity Ball "
in the evening.
Next day (December 22nd) we really did get off ;
the wretched Pundua possessed three cylinders, so one
was disconnected, and she arranged to proceed at two-
third speed with the others. This meant something
over nine knots an hour, and, after sticking on a sand-
bank near the mouth of the Hoogli, we ultimately
reached the neighbourhood of Diamond Harbour on
December 26th, and by means of a Post Office boat, and
PASSENGERS ON THE ' PUNDUA " 181
train, reached Calcutta and Government House late
that evening.
When I went on board the Pundua I was shown into
the good-sized " Ladies Cabin " and told that I could
have that and the adjoining bathroom to myself. In
reply to my inquiry as to whether the other ladies on
board would not want it, I was told that there was
only one other lady and she was not in the habit of
using the bath ! This seemed queer, till I discovered
that she was the heroine of one of the tragedies which
sometimes occur in the East. She was the daughter
of a family of mixed European and Indian parentage.
The other children were dusky but respectable. She
was white, and rather handsome, and fascinated a
luckless young Englishman of good family, who married
her, only to discover that she was extravagant and
given to flirtation. They were on their way to a post —
tea-planting if I remember aright — somewhere to the
North of India. When they first left England the
husband was very sea-sick, and the wife carried on a
violent flirtation with another passenger and was
also described as swearing and drinking. When the
husband recovered she insisted on his shooting her
admirer, and on his declining tried to shoot her husband.
The captain, however, seized the revolver and shut her
up in a second-class cabin. She was only allowed to
dine with the first-class passengers on Christmas even-
ing. Poor husband ! I believe that he was quite a
good fellow, but I do not know their subsequent fate.
We also had on board an orchid-hunter who had
given up the destination which he had originally pro-
posed to liinLself, because he discovered tliat a rival
was going to some new field for exj)loration, and as he
could not let liiiii liuvc llie sole chance of discovering
182 MADRAS, CALCUTTA, AND BENARES [ch. vin
the beautiful unknown flower of which there were
rumours, he set off to hunt him. All the material for
a novel, if only the lady with the revolver had formed
an alliance, offensive and defensive, with the orchid-
hunter. Unfortunately we did not learn the after-
history of any of these fellow-passengers.
We were warmly welcomed at Government House,
Calcutta, by Lord and Lady Lansdowne. Lord Lans-
downe, an old school and college friend of Jersey's, had
just taken over the reins of Government from Lord
Duiferin. Lord William Beresford, another old friend
of my husband's, was Military Secretary, and Colonel
Ardagh Private Secretary. Sir Donald Mackenzie Wal-
lace, who had been so eminently successful as Private
Secretary to the late Viceroy, was staying on for a
short time to place his experience at the service of the
new rulers. The aides-de-camp were Major Rowan
Hamilton, Captain Streatfeild, Captain Arthur Paken-
ham, Captain Harbord, and Lord Bingham.
We found that the tardy arrival of our unfortunate
Pundua had not only been a disappointment to ourselves,
but, alas ! a great grief to many of the Calcutta ladies,
as it was bringing out their new frocks for the Viceroy's
Christmas Ball. I hope that it proved a consolation to
many that the Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal gave a
ball at Belvedere two days after the ship came in, when
no doubt the dresses were unpacked. Lady Lans-
downe's pretty daughter, now Duchess of Devonshire,
was just out and therefore able to attend this ball.
We spent a few very pleasant days at Calcutta and
met various interesting people. Amongst them was
Protap Chunder Mozoondar, Head of the Brahmo
Somaj (i.e. Society Seeking God). He paid me a special
visit to expound the tenets of his Society, which, as is
THE BRAHMO SOMAJ 183
well known, was founded by Babu Chunder Sen, father
of the (Dowager) Maharanee of Kuch Behar. Briefly,
the ideas of the Society are based on natural theology,
or the human instinct, which tells almost all men that
there is a God. The Brahmo Somaj accepts a large
portion of the Holy Books of all nations, especially the
Vedas and the Bible. It acknowledges Christ as a
Divine Incarnation and Teacher of Righteousness, but
again it does not regard His atonement as necessary to
salvation. My informant's view was that Christian
missionaries did not sufficiently take into account
Hindu feelings, and enforced unnecessary uniformity
in dress, food, and outward ceremonies. This is quite
possible, but it would be difficult for a Christian mission-
ary not to insist on the Sacraments, which form no
essential part of the Brahmo Somaj ritual.
Babu Chunder Sen's own sermons or discourses in
England certainly go beyond a mere acknowledgment
of Christ as a Teacher and express deep personal de-
votion to him and acceptance of His atonement in the
sense of at-one-ment, or bringing together the whole
human race, and he regards the Sacraments as a mystical
sanctification of the ordinary acts of bathing — so con-
genial to the Indian — and eating. However, in some
such way Protap Chunder Mozoondar seemed to think
that a kind of Hinduised Christianity would ultimately
prevail in India.
It is impossible for an ordinary traveller to form an
opinion worth having on such a point, but the Brahmo
Somaj, like most religious bodies, has been vexed by
schism. Babu Chunder Sen among other reforms
laid down that girls should not be given in marriage
before the age of fourteen, but his own daughter was
married to the wealtliy young Maharajah Kiuh Bcliar
184 MADRAS, CALCUTTA, AND BENARES [ch. viii
before that age. This created some prejudice, though
the marriage was a successful one, and she was a highly-
educated and attractive woman. She had a great
reverence for her father, and in after years gave
me some of his works. Another pundit, later on,
started another Brahmo Somaj community of his own.
The explanation of this given to me by Kuch Behar
himself was that he was a " Parti " and that this other
teacher (whose name I have forgotten) wanted him to
marry his daughter, but he chose Miss Sen instead ! I
fear that this is not a unique example of church history
affected by social considerations.
While at Calcutta we received a telegram to say that
Villiers had reached Bombay and we met him at Benares
on New Year's Day, 1889. He had come out escorted
by a Mr. Ormond, who wanted to come to India with a
view to work there and was glad to be engaged as
Villiers's travelling companion. Rather a curious in-
cident was connected with their voyage. A young
Mr. S. C. had come out on our ship the Arcadia — on
Villiers's ship a youth travelled who impersonated this
same man. The amusing part was that a very excellent
couple. Lord and Lady W. (both now dead), were on
the same ship. Lady W. was an old friend of Mrs.
S. C. — the real man's mother — but, as it happened, had
not seen the son since his boyhood. Naturally she
accepted him under the name he had assumed, and
effusively said that she had nursed him on her knee as a
child. The other passengers readily accepted him as
the boy who had been nursed on Lady W.'s knee, and
it was not until he had landed in India that suspicion
became excited by the fact that there were two S. C.'s.
in the field and that number Two wished to raise funds
on his personality. This assumption of someone else's
lAUHARAJAH OF BENARES 186
name is common enough, and every traveller must
have come across instances, but it was rather funny
that our son and ourselves should have travelled with
the respective claimants.
At Benares we were taken in hand by a retired official
— a Jain — rejoicing in the name of Rajah Shiva Prashad.
We stayed at Clark's Hotel, while Shiva Prashad showed
us all the well-known sights of the Holy City, and
also took us to pay a formal visit to the " Maharajah
of the people of Benares." It is curious that the
Maharajah should have adopted that name, just as
Louis Philippe called himself " King of the French "
rather than " of France " to indicate less absolute
power. The Maharajah's modesty was due to the fact
that Shiva is supposed to uphold Benares on his trident,
and bears the name of " Mahadeva " — Great God, or
Ruler of the City — so the earthly potentate can only
look after the people — not claim the city itself.
The Maharajah's Palace was on the river in a kind of
suburb called Ramnagar, to which we were taken on a
barge. We were received at the water- steps by a
Babu seneschal, at the Castle steps by the Maharajah's
grandson, and at the door of a hall, or outer room, by
the Maharajah himself — a fine old man with spectacles.
It was all very feudal ; we were seated in due state in
the drawing-room, and after some polite conversation,
translated by our friend the Rajah, who squatted on
the floor at the Maliarajah's feet, we were entertained
with native music and nautch-dancing. After we had
taken leave of our host we inspected his tigers, kept, I
suppose, as an emblem of his rank. Shiva Prashad
told UH a romantic tale of his own life, accprding to
which he first entered the service of the Maharajah of
Bhurtporc, but was disgusted by the cruelty which
186 MADRAS, CALCUTTA, AND BENARES [ch. viii
lie saw exercised — prisoners thrown into miserable
pits, and only given water mixed with salt to drink. He
left the Maharajah, and thought of becoming an ascetic,
but being taunted by his relatives for his failure in life,
he (rather like St. Christopher) determined to enter the
service of someone " greater than the Maharajah.'' He
discovered this superior power in the British Government,
which gave him an appointment in the Persian Depart-
ment.
While there he somehow found himself with Lord
Hardinge and three thousand men arrayed against
sixty thousand Sikhs. The Council of War recommended
falling back and waiting for reinforcements, " but Lord
Hardinge pronounced these memorable words — ' We
must fight and conquer or fall here.' " They fought —
and first one three thousand, then another three thou-
sand friendly troops joined in, so the Homeric combat
ended in their favour, and Prashad himself was employed
as a spy. Afterwards he retired to the more peaceful
occupation of School Inspector, and when we knew him
enjoyed a pension and landed property.
He posed as a perfect specimen of a happy and con-
tented man, and had much to say about the excellence
of the British Raj and the ignorance and prejudice of
his own countrymen, whom he said we could not under-
stand as we persisted in comparing them with Europeans
— that is, with reasonable beings, whereas they had not
so much sense as animals ! All the same I think a good
deal of this contempt for the Hindu was assumed for
our benefit, particularly as the emancipation of women
evidently formed no part of his programme. He gave
an entertaining account of a visit paid by Miss Carpenter
to his wife and widowed sister. Miss Carpenter was a
philanthropic lady of about fifty, with hair beginning
MARRIAGES OF INFANTS ANT) WIDOWS 187
to grizzle, who carried on a crusade against infant mar-
riage and the prohibition of the remarriage of widows.
" Well," was the comment of Mrs. Prashad, " I married
when I was seven and my husband nine and I have been
happy. How is it that tliis lady has remained unmarried
till her hair is growing grey ? Has no one asked her ?
There ought to be a law in England that no one shall
remain unmarried after a certam age ! " The sister
countered an inquiry as to her continued widowhood
with the question, " Why does not the Empress marry
agam i
CHAPTER IX
NORTHERN INDIA AND JOURNEY HOME
From Benares we went to Luclcnow, where we had the
good fortune to meet Sir Frederick (afterwards Lord)
Roberts, and Lady Roberts, who were exceedingly kind
to us during our stay. We had one most interesting
expedition under their auspices. We and some others
met them by appointment at Dilkusha, a suburban,
ruined house of the former King of Oude from which
Sir Colin Campbell had started to finally relieve Outram
and Havelock in November 1857. Roberts, then a
young subaltern, was, as is well known, of the party,
and he took us as nearly as possible over the ground
which they had traversed. Havelock, who had previ-
ously brought relief to the garrison, but not enough to
raise the siege of Lucknow, had sent word to Sir Colin
not to come the same way that he had, as it entailed too
much figliting and loss to break right through the houses
held by the rebels, but to keep more to the right. Sir
Frederick pointed out the scenes of several encounters
with the enemy, and one spot where he, sent on a
message, was nearly lost — also Secunderabagh, a place
with a strong wall all round it, where the British found
and killed two thousand rebels, the British shouting
" Remember Cawnpore \ " to each man as they killed
him.
Each party — Campbell's, and Havelock's who ad-
vanced to join them— put flags on the buildings they
18S
THE RELIEF OF LUCKNOW 189
captured as signals to their friends. At last they
respectively reached the Moti Mahal or Pearl Palace.
Here Sir Frederick showed us the wall on which the
two parties, one on either side, worked till they effected
a breach and met each other. Then Sir Colin Cambell,
who was at the Mess House just across the road, came
forward and was greeted by Generals Outram and Have-
lock — and the relief was complete.
Sir Frederick had not seen the wall since the breach
had been built up again, but he pointed out its where-
abouts, and Jersey found the new masonry which
identified the spot. Colonel May, who had come with
us from Dilkusha, then took us over the Residency in
which he, then a young engineer, had been shut up
during the whole of the siege. It was amazing to see
the low walls which the besieged had managed to
defend for so long, particularly as they were then over-
looked by comparatively high houses held by the rebels
which had since been levelled to the ground. Colonel
May indicated all the posts, and the places of greatest
danger, but there was danger everywhere, except
perhaps in the underground rooms in which 250 women
and children of the 32nd were lodged. Cannon-balls
were always flying about — he told us of one lady the
back of whose chair was blown away while she was
sitting talking to him just outside the house, and of a
cannon-ball which passed between the knees of a Mrs.
Kavanagh, while she was in the verandah, without
injuring her. We also saw the place where the rebels
twice as.seml)led in thousands crying " Give us Gubbins
Sahib and we will go away." They particularly hated
Mr. Guljbins, as he was Financial Commissioner.
Sir Frederick said the ladies seemed quite dazed as
they came out, and told us of one whom he knew who
190 NORTHERN INDIA [ch. ix
came out with two children, but subsequently lost her
baby, while her husband was killed in the Mutiny.
She, he said, never fully recovered her senses. No
wonder, poor woman ! One quaint thing we were told
was that the rebels played themselves into quarters
every evening with " God save the Queen."
One unfortunate incident marred an otherwise delight-
ful time at Lucknow. A sham fight took place, and
Sir Frederick Roberts was good enough to lend a horse
to Jersey and a beautiful pony to Villiers in order that
they might witness it. Villiers, boylike, tried to ride
his pony up the steep bank of a nullah. It fell back
with him, and he suffered what was called a " green
fracture,'' the bones of his forearm being bent near the
wrist. They had to be straightened under chloroform.
We were able to leave Lucknow two days later, but the
arm rather hampered him during the rest of our journey.
Delhi was our next stopping-place, where we had a
most interesting time, being entertained by the Officer
Commanding, Colonel Hanna — who had during the
siege been employed in helping to keep open the lines
of communication so as to supply food and munitions
to the troops on the Ridge. He was therefore able to
show us from personal knowledge all the scenes of the
fighting and relief, as well as all the well-known marvels
of architecture and the glories left by the great Moghuls.
His house was near the old fortifications, which I
believe are now demolished for sanitary reasons, but it
was then a joy to look out of the windows, and see the
little golden-brown squirrels which frequented the old
moat, with the two marks on their backs left by Krishna's
fingers when he caressed their progenitors.
We were thrilled by his stories of events of which
he had been an eye-witness, culminating in his account
VIEW FROM THE KOTAB MINAR 191
of the three days during which the British troops were
permitted to sack the reconquered city. My husband
remarked that he would not have stopped them at the
end of three days. " Yes, you would, had you been
there/' said Colonel Hanna. It must be very hard to
restrain men maddened by weeks of hardship and the
recollection of atrocities perpetrated by their foes, if
they are once let loose in the stronghold of their enemies.
The troops camped on the Ridge, and losing their
bravest from hour to hour seem to have had at least one
advantage over the defenders of Lucknow — they did
not suffer from the terrible shortage of water.
Without attempting an account of all the palaces,
tombs, and mosques which we saw, I must just say that
nothing that I have ever seen is so impressive in its
way as the view from the Kotab Minar after you have
scaled the 375 steps to its tapering summit. Over the
great plain are scattered the vestiges of deserted cities
built by the conquerors and emperors of two thousand
years, a history culminating on the Ridge of Delhi,
where Queen Victoria was proclaimed Empress, and
where her grandson received in person the homage of
the feudatory princes and chiefs over whom he was
destined to rule. Even the Campagna of Rome has not
that array of skeletons of past and bygone cities actually
displayed before the eyes of the beholder, each bearing
the name of some ruler whose name and deeds are half
remembered although his dynasty has passed away.
One of these cities is Tughlakabad, with the tomb
of Tughlak and his son Juna. The latter was a horrid
tyrant who maimed and ill-treated many victims.
His cousin and successor Feroz seems to have been a
merciful and pious ruler : he compensated the injured as
far as possible and got them to write deeds of indemnity,
192 NORTHERN INDIA [ch. ix
which he placed in Juna's tomb that the latter might
present them on the day of judgment. One cannot
help thinking that Feroz rather than Juna may benefit
from this action at the Great Assize.
On January 12th we went to spend Saturday to
Monday with Major and Mrs. Paley at Meerut. Our
nephew George Wombwell was laid up at Colonel
Morris's house there with typhoid fever. He seemed to
be recovering, and after making arrangements for a
nurse and every attention we returned to Delhi on
Monday. We were afraid to keep Villiers in a canton-
ment station with illness about. Alas ! Jersey was
summoned back a few days later, when we were at
Agra, as George became worse, and died. It was very
sad.
At Agra we went first to Lauri's Hotel, but Sir John
Tyler, Superintendent of the Jail, persuaded us to
come and stay with him, which was really a great
thing, as Villiers had by no means completely recovered
from the effect of his accident, and Sir John being a
surgeon was able to look after him. Needless to say we
visited the famous Taj by moonlight and by day, each
time finding fresh beauties. I venture to quote a
sentence about it from an article which I wrote concern-
ing India published in The Nineteenth Century, because
Sir Edwin Arnold was polite enough to say that I had
discovered a fault which had escaped the observation
of himself and his fellows :
" The Taj, that fairy palace of a love stronger than
death, sprung from sunset clouds and silvered by the
moon, has but one fault — it is too perfect. Nothing is
left to the imagination. There are no mysterious
arches, no unfinished columns, nothing is there that
seems to speak of human longing and unfulfilled aspira-
SEKUNDRA AND FUTTEHPORE-SEKREE 193
tion ; you feel that a conqueror has made Art his slave,
and the work is complete ; you can demand nothing
more exquisite in this world."
Among the many wonders of Agra and its neighbour-
hood I was specially impressed by the Tomb of the
Great Akbar at Sekundra. As in the case of the Taj,
the real tomb is underneath the building, but in the
Taj the Show Tomb is simply in a raised chamber
something like a chapel, whereas Akbar's Show Tomb
is on a platform at the summit of a series of red sand-
stone buildings piled on each other and gradually
diminishing in size. The tomb, most beautifully carved,
is surrounded by a finely w^orked marble palisade and
arcade running round the platform. Presumptuously,
I took this mighty erection as an ideal for a scene in a
child's story, Eric, Prince of Lorlonia.
We were also delighted with Futtehpore-Sekree, the
great city which Akbar built and then deserted because
it had no water. It reminded us of Pompeii, though
perhaps it had less human interest it had a greater
imprint of grandeur. The great Archway or High
Gate, erected 1602 to commemorate Akbar's con-
quests in the Deccan, has a striking Arabic inscription,
concluding with the words :
" Said Jesus on whom be peace ! The world is a
bridge ; pass over it, but build no house there : he who
hopeth for an hour may hope for eternity : the world is
but an hour ; spend it in devotion : the rest is unseen."
The greatest possible art ha.s been lavished on the
tomb of the hermit Sheikh Suleem. This holy man had
a baby six months old when Akbar paid him a visit.
Seeing his father look depressed instead of elated by
the honour, the precocious infant asked the cause. The
194 NORTHERN INDIA [ch. ix
hermit must have been too much absorbed in religious
meditation to study the habits of babies, for instead of
being startled by the loquacity of his offspring he
confided to him that he grieved that the Emperor could
not have an heir unless some other person sacrificed
his child. " By your worship's leave/' said baby,
" I will die that a Prince may be born," and before the
father had time to remonstrate calmly expired. As a
result of this devotion Jehanghir was born, and Akbar
built Futtehpore-Sekree in the neighbourhood of the
hermit's abode.
When Sheikh Suleem died he was honoured with a
splendid tomb inlaid with mother-of-pearl and enclosed
in a marble summer-house with a beautifully carved
screen to which people who want children tie little
pieces of wool. Apparently a little addition to the
offering of wool is desirable, as the priest who acted as
guide assured us that an English officer who had a
blind child tied on the wool, but also promised our
informant a hundred rupees if the next was all right.
The next was a boy with perfect eyesight and the priest
had his reward.
Beside the baby's tomb, which is in an outer cemetery,
we saw a little tomb erected by a woman whose husband
was killed in the Afghan War over one of his old teeth !
We were fortunate in having Sir John Tyler as our
host at Agra, for as Superintendent of the Jail he was
able to ensure that we should have the best possible
carpets, which we wanted for Osterley, made there.
They were a long time coming, but they were well
worth it. Abdul Kerim, Queen Victoria's Munshi,
was a friend of his, in fact I believe that Sir John had
selected him for his distinguished post. He was on
leave at Agra at the time of our visit, and we went to
THE BIRTHPLACE OF KRISHNA 195
a Nautch given at his father's house in honour of the
Bismillah ceremony of his nephew.
From Agra we visited Muttra, where we were the
guests of the Seth Lachman Das — a very rich and
charitable old man of the Bunyali (banker and money-
lender) caste. He lodged us in a bungalow generally
let to some English officers who were temporarily
absent, and he and his nephew did all in their power
to show us the sights at Muttra and in the neighbour-
hood.
Amongst other sacred spots we were taken to Krish-
na's birthplace. It was curious that though, throughout
India, there are magnificent temples and rock-carvings
in honour of Vishnu and his incarnation Krishna,
his birthplace was only marked by a miserable little
building with two dolls representing Krishna's father
and mother.
The legend of Krishna's babyhood is a curious echo
of the birth of our Lord and the crossing of the Red
Sea combined. It seems that a wicked Tyrant wanted
to kill the child but his foster-father carried him over
the river near Muttra, and as soon as the water touched
the infant's feet it receded and they passed over dry
shod. In memory of this event little brass basins are
sold with an image within of the man carrying the child
in his arms. The child's foot projects, and if one pours
water into the basin it runs away as soon as it touches
the toe. I do not know what may be the hydraulic
trick, but certainly it is necessary to put the brass
basin into a larger one before trying the experiment
to receive the water which runs out at the bottom The
little birthplace building was in the courtyard of a
mosque — part of which was reserved for the Hindus.
The Seth had built a temple in Muttra itself, where
196 NORTHERN INDIA [ch. ix
he annually expended large sums in feeding the poor,
and he and his family had erected a still finer one at
Brindaban, a famous place of pilgrimage in the neigh-
bourhood, where they had set up a flag-staff 120 feet
high overlaid with real gold. Seth Lachman Das
maintained at his own expense twenty-five priests and
fifteen attendants besides fifty boys who were fed and
instructed in the Shastras. As at Madura, we were
struck by these rich men's apparent faith in their own
religion.
After visiting Deeg and Bhurtpore, we reached the
pretty Italian-looking town of Ulwar. The Maha-
rajah, who was an enlightened potentate, had un-
fortunately gone into camp, but we were interested
in the many tokens of his care for his subjects and of
his artistic tastes. He kept men executing illuminations
like the old monks.
When we visited the jail I was admitted to the
quarters of the female prisoners, who seemed quite
as anxious to show the labels which they carried record-
ing their crimes, as schoolchildren are to display their
exercises or needlework when one visits a school. One
smiling woman brought me a label inscribed " Bigamy/'
which struck me as rather ludicrous considering
the circumstances, and also a little unfair to the
criminal. Indian men are allowed several wives —
why was she punished for having more than one
husband ? Probably, however, she was safer locked up
in prison than left at the mercy of two husbands, one
of whom would almost certainly have cut oft" her nose
if he had an access of jealousy.
After Ulwar we spent a few days at that
most attractive city, Jeypore, called by Sir Edwin
Arnold the *' City of Victory," a victorious Maharajah
THE JAINS 197
having transferred his capital there from the former
picturesque town of Amber. The principal street of
Jeypore has houses on either side painted pink, which
has a brilliant effect in the sunlight, but when we were
there the paint certainly wanted renewing. The
Maharajah was a rarely intelligent man, and he had a
particularly clever and agreeable Dewan — or Prime
Minister. We made great friends with the English
doctor — Dr. Hendley — who not only attended some of
the native nobles, but also was able to superintend the
English lady doctor and thereby help the native ladies.
Formerly when a child was born a live goat was waved
over its head and the blood of a cock sprinkled on it
and its mother. Mother and child were then kept
for a fortnight without air, and with a charcoal fire
constantly burning, more charcoal being added if the
child cried. i\Iercifully the younger ladies and their
husbands were beginning to realise the comfort of
English treatment on these occasions.
On our way from Muttra to Ahmedabad we slept at
the Rajpootana Hotel, about sixteen miles from Mount
Abu Station, in order to visit the Dilwarra Temples of
the Jains. The Jains are a sect of very strict Bud-
dhists — almost the only representatives of the Buddhists
left in Hindustan proper. Ceylon and Burmah are
Buddhist, so are some of the lands on the Northern
Frontier, but the Brahmins contrived to exterminate
Buddhism in the great Peninsula in the eighth century
after it had spread and flourished there for about a
thousand years. These Dilwarra temples are well
worth a visit The pious founder is said to have bought
the land for as many pieces ot silver as would cover it,
and to liave paid £18,000,000 sterling for building,
besides £500,000 for levelling the site on the steep hill.
U
198 NORTHERN INDIA [ch. ix
Without attempting to guarantee the accuracy of
these figures, it may safely be said that it would be
difficult, if not impossible, to find any buildings in the
world of which the interiors present an equal amount
of highly finished artistic labour. Outside the temples
are low and not imposing, inside they are one mass of
minute and elaborate sculpture. You stand beneath
a dome with saints or angels worthy of a Gothic cathe-
dral rising to its central point. Around are arcades with
pillars and arches, beyond which are numerous small
chapels or shrines, each with the figure of a large cross-
legged Rishi or Saint with little rishis in attendance
Every inch of arch, arcade, and ceiling is adorned with
marvellous carving of ornaments, or of men, ships,
and animals. We were told that the central figure in
each temple was " Of the Almighty,'' who seemed to
exact as tribute to his power a fearful noise of cymbals
and tomtoms. He appeared to be not exactly a deity,
but a divine emanation. The really perfect Jain
wore a piece of muslin over his mouth to avoid destroy-
ing the life of even invisible insects, but such extreme
virtue was, I fancy, rare and must have been highly
uncomfortable.
From Ahmedabad we went to Bhownugger, where
we were received in great state by the young Maharajah
symptuously attired in green velvet and the Star of
India, and attended by his high officials and a guard
of honour. We felt very dirty and dusty after a hot
journey (thermometer in railway carriages nearly
100°) when received with so much splendour, but we
liked the Maharajah immensely and he became devoted
to my husband.
He gave us a splendid time with all sorts of " tam-
ashas " while we were his guests, but we were specially
THE MAHARAJAH OF BHOWNUGGER 199
interested in his personality. He had been educated
in the college for young chiefs at Ajmere and had
acquired a very high standard of ideas of right and
wrong and of his duty to his people. I expect that,
like the rest of us, he often found it hard to carry his
theories into practice, and it was rather pathetic when,
speaking of what he wished to do, he added, " We
must do the best we can and leave the rest to God ''
— then, looking up at the chandelier hanging in the
bungalow in which he entertained us, he continued,
** God is like that light, and the different religions are
the different colours through which He shines."
One of his difficulties, poor man, was in his mat-
rimonial arrangements. He had married two or three
ladies of high rank, as considered suitable by the Brah-
mins, but he had also married to please himself a fair
maiden of lower caste. He then learnt that if he did
not get rid of her the Brahmins meant to get rid of
liim. Thereupon he took the Political Officer of that
j^art of the country, Captain Ferris, into the middle
of the tennis ground, as the only spot free from the
risk of spies, and poured his griefs into the Englishman's
sympathetic bosom. Captain Ferris 's solution was that
Mrs. Ferris should call upon the despised Rani, as she
did on the more orthodox wives, and that the Maha-
rajah should cling to his English adviser for several
days, driving about with him and never leaving him,
wliich would for the time being prevent attempts at
assassination. What was to happen afterwards I
do not know. Perhaps the Brahmins became aware
that any foul play would bring the English raj down
upon them. Anyhow, the Maiiarajah lived to pay a
visit to England and came to see ub there — though he
did not attain old age.
200 NORTHERN INDIA [ch. ix
We heard a good deal of the harm resulting from the
great expense of native marriages, including the temp-
tation to infanticide. In the district about Ahmedabad
the lower castes do not forbid second marriages, and these
are less expensive than the first. Therefore a girl
was sometimes married to a hunch of flowers, which was
then thrown down a well. The husband thus disposed
of, the widow could contract a second alliance quite
cheaply.
We then spent two nights as guests of the Thakur
Sahib of Limbdi, who, like the other Kathiawar Princes
of Morvi and Gondal, had been in England for the
Jubilee, and whom we had known there. All three,
particularly Limbdi and Gondal, were enlightened men,
with various schemes for promoting the welfare of
their subjects. The life of many of these Indian Chiefs
recalls the days of Scottish Clans. When we were
driving with Limbdi he would point out labouring men
who saluted as he passed as his " cousins,'' and finally
told us that he had six thousand blood relations.
On February 14th we arrived at Baroda, where we
were most hospitably entertained by Sir Harry and
Lady Prendergast. Baroda, like so many Indian cities,
offered a picture of transition, or at least blending of
East and West. As is well known, the late Gaikwar
poisoned the British Resident. He was tried by a
Tribunal of three Indians and three British. The
former acquitted, the latter condemned him. He was
deposed and three boys of the family were selected of
whom the Maharanee was allowed to adopt one as heir.
She chose the present Gaikwar, who was educated under
British auspices, but has not always been happy in
his relations with the British Government. He how-
ever proved quite loyal during the late war. When
BARODA 201
we were at Baroda he had been decorating his Palace
in an inferior European style. He had bought some
fair pictures, but would only give an average of £100,
as he said that neither he nor his subjects were capable
of appreciating really good ones. In contrast to these
modern arrangements we saw the " Chattries '' of
former Gaikwars. These were funny little rooms,
something like small loose boxes in a garden surround-
ing a shrine. In one was a doll, representing Kunda
Rao's grandfather, in another the ashes of his father
under a turban with his photograph behind, in yet a
third the turbans of his mother and two other sons.
In each room there were a bed, water and other vessels,
and little lights burning, the idea being that all should
be kept in readiness lest the spirits should return to
occupy the apartments. After all, the rooms of the
late Queen of Hanover were until lately, perhaps are
still, kept as in her lifetime, provided with flowers and
with a lady-in-waiting in daily attendance ; so East and
West are much alike in their views of honour due to
the departed.
Back to Bombay for yet five happy days with our
dear friends Lord and Lady Reay before saying farewell
to India on February 22nd. We had had a truly
interesting experience during our three and a half
months in the Ea8t€rn Empire, and were deeply im-
pressed by the manner in which so many races were
knit together under British rule. How far all this may
endure under the new attempts at Constitution-making
by Occidentals for Orientals remains to be seen. When
we paid this first of our visits to India it was perfectly
evident that the idea of the Queen-Empress was the
comer-stone of government. My husband talked to
many natives, Maharajahs and officials, and would
202 NORTHERN INDIA [oh. ix
sometimes refer to the leaders of the great English
political parties. Their names seemed to convey
nothing to the Indians, but they always brought the
conversation back to " The Empress." Disraeli was
criticised in England for having bestowed that title
on his Mistress, but we had constant opportunities of
seeing its hold upon the Oriental mind. *' Give my
best respects to the Empress,"' was a favourite mission
given to Jersey by his Maharajah friends. He con-
scientiously tried to acquit himself thereof when we
saw the Queen, who was a good deal amused when he
painstakingly pronounced their titles and names.
I once heard a story which shows the effect of the
Royal ideal on quite a different class. A census was
in progress and a large number of hill-tribes had to be
counted. These people had been told a legend that
the reason for this reckoning was that the climate in
England had become so hot that a large number of
the women were to be transported there to act as
slaves and fan the Queen — also the men were to be
carried off for some other servile purpose. Consequently
the mass of the people hid themselves, to the great
embarrassment of the officials. One extremely capable
man, however, knew the people well and how to deal
with them He contrived to induce the leading tribes-
men to come and see him. In reply to his inquiry they
confessed their apprehensions. " You fools,"" said the
Englishman, " it is nothing of the sort. I will tell you
the reason. You have heard of the Kaiser-i-Hind ? ""
Yes — they had heard of her. " And you have heard
of the Kaiser-i-Roum ? " (the Czar). They had also
heard of him. ** Well, the Kaiser-i-Roum paid a
visit to the Kaiser-i-Hind, and when they had finished
their curry and rice they began talking. He said he
ENGLISH AS LINGUA FRANCA 203
had more subjects than she, the Kaiser-i-Hind said she
had most. To settle the matter they hiid a heavy bet
and both sent orders to count their people. If you
don't let yourselves be counted the Kaiser-i-Hind will
lose the bet and your faces will be blackened.'' The
tale of the bet appealed to their sporting instincts. All
difficulties disappeared. The tribesmen rushed to be
counted — probably two or three times over.
Again, it was curious to notice how the English
language was weaving its net over India,
At Jeypore an English-speaking native official had
been told of! to take us about during our stay. When
we were thanking him and saying good-bye, he remarked
that the next person whom he was to conduct was a
judge from Southern India. The judge was a native
Indian, but as he did not know the language of the
Jeypore State he had sent in advance to ask to be
provided with a guide who could speak English. For-
merly the lingua franca of the upper, or educated,
classes was Persian, of the lower ones Urdu — the kind
of Hindustani spoken by the Mohammedan, and after-
wards by the English army. Of course both languages
still prevail, but all educated Indians learn English
in addition to two or three of the hundred-odd languages
spoken in the Peninsula. On a later visit a Hyderabad
noble was taking my daughter and me to see various
sights. I noticed that he talked to a good many
natives in the course of our excursion, and as they
appeared to be of different castes and occupations, I
asked him at last how many languages he had talked
during the day. After a little reflection he reckoned
up six. It will not be such a very easy matter to
get all these people into the category of enlightened
electors.
204 NORTHERN INDIA [oh. ix
On our voyage home I occupied myself by writing
the article already mentioned as appearing in The Nine-
teenth Century—horn which I extract the following
supplement to my recollections :
" Caste is the ruling note in India. The story which
tells how the level plains of Kathiawar were reclaimed
from the sea illustrates this. The egrets laid their
eggs on the former ocean-line and the wave swept them
away. The egrets swore that the sea should be filled
up until she surrendered the eggs. They summoned
the other birds to help them, and all obeyed their call
except the eagle. He was the favourite steed of Vishnu,
so thought himself exonerated from mundane duties.
But Vishnu looked askance at him and said that he
should be put out of caste unless he went to help
his fellows. Back he flew to Kathiawar, and when the
sea saw that the royal bird had joined the ranks of
her opponents she succumbed and gave back the eggs,
" Hindu respect for animal life entails consequences
which make one wonder how the earth can provide not
only for the swarms of human inhabitants, including
unproductive religious mendicants, but also for such
numbers of mischievous beasts. Some castes will kill
no animals at all, and all Hindus hold so many as
sacred that peacocks, monkeys, and pigeons may be
seen everywhere, destroying crops and eating people
out of house and home. The people of a town, driven
to desperation, may be induced to catch the monkeys,
fill a train with them, and dispatch it to discharge its
cargo at some desolate spot ; but woe betide a simicide !
The monkeys in any given street will resent and lament
the capture of a comrade, but do not care at all if a
stranger is carried off. He is not of their caste.''
In May 1889 — The National Review also published
the following verses, which I wrote after reading
Sir Alfred Lyall's " Meditations of a Hindu Prince.''
I called them ** Meditations of a Western Wanderer " :
MEDITATIONS OF A WESTERN WANDERER 205
" All the world over, meseemeth, wherever my footsteps have trod,
The nations have builded them temples, and in them have imaged their
God.
Of the temples the Nature around them has fashioned and moulded
the plan,
And the gods took their life and their being from the visions and longings
of man.
" So the Greek bade his marble be instinct with curves of the rock-riven
foam.
Within it enshrining the Beauty and the Lore of his sunlitten home ;
And the Northman hewed deep in the mountain and reared his huge
pillars on high,
And drank to the strength of the thunder and the force flashing keen
from the sky.
" But they knew, did those builders of old time, that wisdom and courage
are vain.
That Persephoni' rises in springtide to sink in the winter again,
Th%t the revelling halls of Walhalla shall crumble when ages have
rolled
O'er the deep-rooted stem of the World-ash and the hardly-won Treasure
of gold.
" I turn to thee, mystical India, I ask ye, ye Dreamers of earth,
Of the Whence and the Whither of spirit, of the tale of its birth and
rebirth.
For the folks ye have temples and legends and dances to heroes and
kings.
But ye sages know more, would ye tell it, of the soul with her god-given
wings.
" Ah, nations have broken your barriers ; ah, empires have drunk of
your stream.
And each ere it passed bore its witness, and left a new thought for your
dream :
The Moslem saith, ' One is the Godhead,' the Brahmin ' Inspiring all,'
The Buddhist, ' The Law is Almighty, by which ye shall stand or shall
faU.'
" Yea, verily One the All-Fathor ; yea, Brahmin, all life is from Him,
And Righteous the Law of the Buddha, but the path of attainment is
dim.
U God not afar from His creature- -the Law over-hard to obey ?
Wherein shall the Life bo of profit to man seeing evil boar sway ?
206 JOURNEY HOME [oh. ix
" Must I ask of the faith which to children and not to the wise is revealed ?
By it shall the mist be uplifted ? By it shall the shrine be unsealed ?
Must I take it, the often-forgotten yet echoing answer of youth —
' 'Tis I,' saith the Word of the Father, ' am the Way and the Life and
the Truth ' 1
' * The Truth dwelleth ay with the peoples, let priests hide its light as they
will ;
'Tis spirit to spirit that speaketh, and spirit aspireth still ;
Wherever I seek I shall find it, that infinite longing of man
To rise to the house of his Father, to end where his being began.
" And the secret that gives him the power, the message that shows him
the way,
Is the Light he will struggle to follow, the Word he perforce will obey.
It is not the voice of the whirlwind, nor bolt from the storm -kindled
dome ;
'Tis stillness that bringeth the tidings — the child knows the accents
of home."
We had a calm voyage to Suez in the Bengal. It was
fortunate that it was calm — for the Bengal was quite
an old-fashioned ship. I think only something over
3,000 tons — different from the Arcadia, then the show-
ship of the P. and 0. fleet. I was amused once to come
across an account by Sir Richard Burton of a voyage
which he took in the Bengal years before, when he
described the P. and 0. as having done away with the
terrors of ocean travel by having provided such a
magnificent vessel.
We spent nine days at Cairo and Alexandria and saw
the usual sights, then quite new to us ; but it is generally
a mistake to visit one great land with a history and
antiquities of its own when the mind has just been
captured by another. Anyhow, we were so full of the
glories of India that Egypt failed to make the appeal
to us which she would otherwise have done, and which
she did on subsequent visits. The mosques in particular
seemed to us inferior to the marble dreams of Delhi
AN ENGLISH PLUM-PUDDING 207
and Agra. Moreover on this occasion we did not
ascend the Nile and see the wonderful temples. The
one thing which really impressed me was the Sphinx,
though I regret to say that my husband and son entirely
declined to share my feelings. Lord Kitchener was
then, as Adjutant to Sir Francis Greufell, Colonel
Kitchener. He afterwards became a great friend of
ours, but we first made his acquaintance on this
visit to Cairo. We had a most interesting inspection
of the Barrage works under the guidance of Sir Colin
MoncriefE and dined with the Khedive, and at the
British Agency.
From Alexandria we went by an Egyptian steamer —
at least a steamer belonging to an Egyptian line — to
Athens, which we reached on March 15th, accompanied
by Lady Galloway. On this voyage I performed the
one heroic deed of my life, with which bad sailors like
myself will sympathise. The crew of this ship was
mainly Turkish — the native Egyptians being no good
as seamen, but the captain, Losco by name, was a
Maltese and exceedingly proud of being a British
subject.
The fijst day of our voyage on the Behera was calm,
and we sat cheerfully at dinner listening to his con-
versation. He was particularly emphatic in his asser-
tions that he understood something of English cuisine,
I believe taught by his mother, and above all he under-
stood the concoction of an English plum-pudding and
that it must be boiled for twenty-four hours. Said
he, " You shall have a plum-pudding for dinner to-
morrow." Then and there he sent for the steward
and gave him full instructions. Next evening the
plum-pudding duly appeared, but meantime the wind
had freshened and the sea had risen. Under such
208 JOURNEY HOME [ch. ix
conditions I am in the habit of retiring to my cabin
and remaining prostrate until happier hours dawn-
but was I to shake, if not shatter, the allegiance of
this British subject by failing in my duty to a British
pudding ? I did not flinch. I sat through the courses
until the pudding was on the table. I ate and praised,
and then retired.
We reached Athens early on the following morning
and forgot rough seas and plum-puddings in the pleasure
of revisiting our former haunts and showing them to
Jersey and Villiers. The King and Queen were again
good enough to ask us to luncheon and dinner, and this
time we also found the British Minister, Sir Edmund
Monson, who had been absent on our previous visit.
He kindly included Villiers, though barely sixteen years
old, in an invitation to dinner, and much amusement
was caused in diplomatic circles by the very pretty
daughter of the American Minister, Clarice Fearn. She
was about seventeen and had evidently been almost
deprived of young companionship during her sojourn
at Athens. She was seated at the British Legation
between Villiers and a French Secretary no longer in
his first youth, so she promptly turned to the latter
and said, " I am not going to talk to you, I am. going
to talk to Lord Villiers " ; result, an animated con-
versation between the youngsters throughout dinner.
She at once acquired the nickname of " La belle-fiUe
de I'avenir," and long afterwards a man who had been
at the British Legation some time subsequent to our
visit said that he had always heard her called this,
though he had never known the reason. I need hardly
add that " Society " at Athens was very small and
easily amused. Poor " belle-fiUe de I'avenir,'' I saw
her again when she and her sister stayed for a time at
THE GREEK ROYAL FAMILY 209
Somerville College at Oxford, but she died quite young.
Her sister, Mrs. Barton French, still lives.
For the rest I need not recapitulate Greek experiences
beyond transcribing part of a letter to my mother which
contains an account of the domestic life of the Greek
Royal Family in those bygone days :
" Despite the weather we have been very comfortable
here and found almost all our old friends. The Queen
has a new baby since last year, to whom she is quite
devoted. It is number seven, but you might think
they had never had a baby before. The first time we
had luncheon there we all migrated to the nursery,
and the Duke of Sparta who is going to marry Princess
Sophie of Germany, almost resented George's suggestion
that some beautiful gold things of his might be moved
out of the nursery cupboard, as he said ' they have
always been there.' Last Sunday we had luncheon
there again, and this time the baby was brought down-
stairs and his brothers and sisters competed for the
honour of nursing him, the Queen and several of us
finally seating ourselves on the floor in order that the
infant prince might more conveniently play with the
head of his next youngest brother, who lay down with
it on a cushion for the purpose. It makes one almost
sad to see the eldest Princess, brought up like this — •
a perfectly innocent girl always in tits of laughter —
going to l)e married to one of the Czar's brothers ;
she will find it so different in that Russian Court, poor
thing."
Further on in the same letter I write :
" Everyone has a different story about the Rudolph-
Stephanie affair. I have met several people who knew
the Baroness and say she was very lovely. Some
disbelieve suicide, as he was shot through the back of
his head and she through the small of her buck, but,
as the Austrian Minister here says, no one knows or
ever will know the real triitli. J think the tragedies
210 JOURNEY HOME ch. ix
in those three imperial houses, Russia, Germany, and
Austria, surpass any the world has ever seen,'' and I
cite the wise man's prayer for " neither poverty nor
riches " as " about right/'
My mother sent the long letter of which this formed
part to my aunt Theodora Guest, who made a character-
istic comment. She allowed the wisdom of the prayer,
but continued — '' but in praying for neither poverty
nor riches, I should be careful to add ' especially not
the former,' for I don't see that poverty ensures peace,
or security from murder — and it would be hard to be
poor all one's life and be murdered at the end ! Better
be rich and comfortable if only for a time Still I would
not be Empress of Russia for something, and that poor
innocent Grecian princess is to be pitied."
This was written April 1889. What would my
mother, my aunt, or myself have said now ?
The baby of our luncheon party was Christopher,
now the husband of Mrs. Leeds. The poor little Princess
whose doom we feared had a more merciful one than
many of her relations. She married the Grand Duke
Paul later in 1889 and died in 1891 after the birth of
her second child. Taken indeed from the evil to come.
Her children were adopted by the Grand Duchess Serge,
who I believe has been murdered in the late Terror
— but I do not know what has happened to the
children.
To turn to something more cheerful. A delightful
woman, a real Mrs. Malaprop, had lately been at Athens
and much enlivened the British Legation both by her
remarks and her credulity. With her the Parthenon
was the " Parthian," the Odeum (an ancient theatre)
the Odium, Tanagra became *' Tangiers," and so on.
She told Mr. Haggard that she did not like the " Par-
ORIGINAL DERIVATIONS 211
thian," it was too big. "Oil/' he said, "you ought
to like it, for you have heard of the Parthian shafts —
those " (pointing to the columns) " are the original
Parthian shafts/' " How very interesting ! " said she.
He then proceeded to inform her that the Odeum was
used for music (which was true), but added that the
music was so bad that they all hated it, and therefore
the place was called the " Odium " — also " very inter-
esting." She was taken for an excursion in Thessaly,
where there were sheep-pens on the mountains, and
one happened to be fenced in a shape something like
an irregular figure 8. Another lady pointed this out
and gravely informed her that that was how the
Pelasgians numhered their nwuntains. " Oh, Charles,"
shouted the victim to her husband, " do look — the
Pelasgians numbered their hills — one, two, three — there
is number eight ! "
CHAPTER X
WINDSOR — EGYPT AND SYRIA
After our return to London in the spring I was greatly
surprised when on meeting Sir Henry Ponsonby one
day at a party he desired me to send my article on
India to the Queen. He was at that time her Private
Secretary and knew her deep interest in all things
concerning India, but I never imagined that anything
which I had written was sufficiently important to be
worth her notice. However, I could but do as I w^as
ordered, and I was still more surprised a little later at
the result, which was a command that Jersey and I
should dine and sleep at Windsor, Jersey had been
there before, but it was novel to me and very interesting.
We were taken on arrival to a very nice set of rooms
overlooking the Long Walk, up which we presently saw
the Queen returning from her afternoon drive. An
excellent tea was brought us and Lord Edward Clinton
came to look after us — also another member of the
Household, I forget who it was, but I recollect that an
animated discussion took place in our sitting-room as
to an omission on the part of somebody to send to meet
the Speaker (Arthur Peel) at the station ! It is always
rather a comfort to ordinary mortals to find that even
in the most exalted establishments mistakes do some-
times occur. We were told that dinner would be at a
nominal 8.30, and that a page would take us down
when we were ready. Of course we were dressed in
212
DINNER AT WINDSOR 213
excellent time, but just as I had finished my toilet
Jersey came into my room in great agitation. He was
expected to wear what we called " the funny trousers "
— not knee-breeches, but trousers fastened just below
the calf of the leg and sho\nng the socks. Unfortun-
ately his black silk socks were marked in white, and he
said I must pick out the marking — which was impossible
all in a minute, and the rooms somewhat dimly lit.
However, my maid suggested inking over the marks,
to my inmiense relief — and all was well.
When we went downstairs the Lady-in-Waiting,
Lady Southampton, showed us a plan of the table, and
it was explained that when the Queen went in to dinner
we all followed — were not sent in with a man — and
seated ourselves as directed. Then as time approached
we were drawn up on either side of the door by which
the Queen entered. She greeted each in turn kindly
but quickly, and went straight in. It was not really
stiff or formidable when we were once seated. After
dinner tne Queen established herself in a chair in the
Long Gallery and each guest was called up in turn for a
little conversation. She talked to me about India,
and said that it was only her great age and the fact that
she was a very bad sailor that prevented her going
there. She was much interested in our liaving seen
her Munshi at Agra, and he always formed a link
between Her Majesty and ourselves. She had us to
Windsor two or three times altogether, and always
spoke of him and arranged that we should see him. He
was quite a modest humble man to begin with, but I
fear that his head was rather turned later on.
Two pieces of advice Her Majesty bestowed upon me,
to keep a Journal, and wherever I travelled never to
forget England.
15
214 WINDSOR— EGYPT AND SYRIA [ch. x
This school term we were greatly pleased at Villiers
winning the Junior Oppidan Exhibition at Eton. He
had not even told us that he was going in for it, and we
saw the first announcement in The Times. His master,
Mr. Donaldson, wrote that he took it "in his stride
without quickening his space at all or making any
special preparation for it.*' It was certainly a credit-
able performance after missing a whole term while in
India.
In February 1890 Lady Galloway and I set ofi on a
fresh expedition. Jersey was anxious that I should
escape the cold, and held out hopes — unfortunately not
fulfilled — of joining us later. We went by a Messageries
steamer — the Congo — to Alexandria, and thence to Cairo,
where we found various friends, including Colonel
Kitchener, who had meantime stayed at Osterley and
who looked after us splendidly. He was very amusing,
and when there was a difficulty about our cabins on
the Nile boat he went off with us to Cook's Office and
said that we must have two cabins instead of two berths
with which, despite our orders given in London, they
tried to put us off. No one in Egypt could ever resist
Kjtchener's orders. He declared that we represented
two aunts whom he expected. I do not mean that he
told Cook this.
He told us how he and other officers had looked after
Mr. Chamberlain on a late journey up the Nile and how
he felt sure that they had enlightened him a good deal.
It was very shortly after this that Mr. Chamberlain
made a famous speech in Birmingham wherein he said
that he had seen enough of Egypt to realise that Eng-
land could not abandon the country in its present con-
dition. I do not remember the words, but that was
what they conveyed, quite different from former Radical
VOYAGE UP THE NILE 215
pronouncements. That was the great thing with Mr.
Chambeilain. As I have already maintained, he had
an open mind, and was ready to learn from facts and
experience.
To return to our Egyptian experiences. We went to
Luxor on the post boat, and spent about a week at the
hotel there. We found all sorts of friends on daha-
byahs and in other places, and were duly impressed by
the mighty temples and tombs of the kings. I do not
attempt any description of these marvels, never to
be forgotten by those who have seen them.
While we were at Luxor the Sirdar, Sir Francis Gren-
fell, arrived on a tour of inspection with LadvGrenfell and
others. We joined the same steamer, the Rameses, and
having so many friends on board made the voyage as
far as Assouan additionally pleasant. The direct
military jurisdiction at that time began near Edfou,
and a force of Ababdeh, or native guerilla police who w^ere
paid to guard the wells, came to receive the Sirdar on
his reaching this territory. A number mounted on
camels led by their Sheikh on horseback galloped along
the bank as the ship steamed on. At Edfou itself
there w^as a great reception of native infantry and others
mounted on camels and horses.
On this trip we saw beautiful Phila? in perfection ;
and also had the experience, while at Assouan, of
shooting the cataract, really a succession of rapids
among rocks. The Ijoatmen took care to make this
appear quite dangerous by getting close to a rock and
then just avoiding it with loud shouts. An Austrian,
Prince Schwarzenberg, who was one of our fellow-
passengers, looked pretty anxious during the process,
but there was no real cause for alarm. Last time we
visited Egypt the Dam, though of enormous benefit to
216 WINDSOR— EGYPT AND SYRIA [ch. x
the country, had destroyed much of the charm of Phila)
and of the excitement of the cataract.
From Assouan the Grenfells and their party went on
to Wady Haifa, and Lady Galloway, Mr. Clarke of the
British Agency, and I set off on our return journey to
Cairo. Prince Schwarzenberg and his friend Count
Westfahlen were our fellow-passengers. The Prince
was very melancholy, having lost a young wife to whom
he was devoted ; also he was very religious. Count
Westfahlen admired him greatly. The Prince was
quite interesting and cheered up considerably in the
course of our voyage. He was a good deal impressed
by the ordinary fact, as it seemed to us, that the English
on board the steamer had left a portion of the deck
undisturbed for the Sirdar's party without having
been officially requested to do so. According to him,
Austrians of the middle- class would not have done so
under similar circumstances. On the other hand, he
was astonished to learn that English boys of our own
families were in the habit of playing games with the
villagers. If his views of Bohemian society were cor-
rect, " democracy " for good and for evil was at a dis-
tinct discount !
Meantime the most amusing part of our down-river
voyage occurred at Assiout, where the steamer anchored,
and wherewe spent the afternoon with the Mudir Choucry
Pasha and dined with him in the evening. He received
us with a splendid cortege of donkeys (quite superior
to the ordinary race) and attendants ; and showed us
the hospital — where there were some women among
others who had been wounded at Toski — the prison,
and American schools. What entertained us most,
however, was an Italian Franciscan convent where the
nuns trained girls. The Prince was quite scandalised
CHOUCRY PASHA. PRINCESS NAZLI 217
because, he said, they ought to have been strictly
cloistered — whereas they admitted him, Mr. Clarke, and
the Mudir, whom tliey declared was '* un bon papa " ;
and one of the nuns played "11 Bacio " and the Bou-
langer Hymn for our amusement.
Choucry Pasha then took Lady Galloway and me to
visit his wife and married daughter, who, though their
charms were by no means dangerous, were much more
particular in secluding themselves than the nuns, for
the men of our party had to keep out of the way until
our interview was over and they had retired. Then
the Mudir sent a messenger to ask the Prince and Mr.
Clarke to join us. They declared that they were taken
aback when the black servant conveyed the summons
thus : " Pasha, ladies, harem," not feeling sure but
that they would have to rescue us from an unknown
fate. What they did find in the house was the dusky
host on his knees unpacking his portmanteau before us
in order to produce for our inspection some antiquities
which he had stowed away amongst his socks and other
garments !
The dinner, later in the evening, consisted of various
oriental dishes, and a large turkey appearing after
sweet pastry.
While at Cairo we paid a visit to the well-known
Princess Nazli, a relation of the Khedive's who received
Europeans, both men and ladies, but not altogether
with the approval of her vice-regal relatives. She said
that the doctor wanted her to go to the Kissingen baths,
but the Khedive did not like her to go alone, wouhi
prefer that she should marry someone. The Khedive
had told her in speaking of some other relations that
Sir Kvelyn Baring might interfere uilli anything else
but not with the members of his family. She had re-
218 WINDSOR— EGYPT AND SYRIA [ch. x
torted, " You liad better let him interfere with the
family, as then he will resign in three weeks/'
She told us of the cruelties which she knew were
inflicted on their slaves by the old ladies of Ibrahim
Pasha's and Mehemet Ali's family, and of how her
English governess would send her to try to obtain
mercy when the screams of the victims were heard.
She remembered when she was a child how the ladies
taught their attendants to use the kourbash, and how
she saw the poor women covered with blood.
Among other notable people then in Cairo was the
explorer Henry Stanley (afterwards Sir Henry), who
had not long returned from his expedition to relieve
Emin Pasha, and had visited the Pigmies. We met him
at dinner at Colonel Kitchener's, and as I sat near
him we talked a good deal. My impression was that
he did not easily begin a conversation, but was fluent
when once launched. He was engaged on his book.
In Darkest Africa, in which he declared that there were
to be three pages devoted to a beautiful white lady
fragrant with the odours of Araby whom he met under
the Equator ! If I subsequently identified her I fear
that I have now forgotten her.
I remarked on the loss of my brother-in-law's relative
Mr. Powell, who had gone up in a balloon and never
been heard of again, whereat Stanley's comment was,
" That would be someone to look for ! " We had
already met his companion, Dr. Parkes, at the Citadel,
who had shown some of us the little darts used by the
dwarfs. Years later Mr. James Harrison brought
several of the Pigmy men and women to England, and
they performed at the Hippodrome. He kindly offered
to bring them down to one of our Osterley garden
parties, where they created great interest and amuse-
THE PIGMIES 219
ment. They were about as big as children five to
seven years old, and quite willing to be led by the
hand. We had a long, low table arranged for them on
the lawn near some tall trees, and one of the little men
said, through the interpreter, that he thought that
" there must be good shooting in this forest." We
gave them some children's toys ; when the little woman
first saw a doll she shrank away quite frightened, but
was subsequently much pleased. The chief little man
appropriated a skipping-rope, and appeared with it
tied round his waist at the Hippodrome that evening.
We were told that the price of a wife among them was
two arrow^s, and one who had previously lost an arrow
was distressed at having lost " half a wife." The
Pigmies did not seem to mind the company, but when
one rather big man had inspected a little woman more
closely than pleased her she waited till he had turned
his back and then put out her tongue at him !
To return to our travels in 1890. We left Port
Said on a Russian boat on the afternoon of March 19th
and reached Jaffa early the following morning and
Jerusalem the same evening. It was very thrilling,
and I am always glad that we were there before the
days of railways. The whole place was pervaded with
Russian pilgrims, many of whom arrived on our boat.
Jerusalem has inspired painters, scribes, and poets
for hundreds of years, so I will only mention one or
two of the scenes which struck us most.
Naturally the Church of the Holy Sepulchre made a
deep impression upon us. The Sepulchre may or may
not have been the original tomb in which our Lord was
laid, but it has been consecrated by the vows and
prayers of countless generations, thousands have shed
their blood to win that spot from the infidel, and if
220 WINDSOR— EGYPT AND SYRIA [ch. x
warring Churches have built their chapels around it
at least they cluster under the same roof and bow to
the same Lord. The then Anglican Bishop, Dr. Blyth,
took us over the church. We entered by the Chapel
of the Angels into the little chapel or shrine containing
the Sepulchre. There indeed it was impossible to
forget the divisions of Christendom, as the altar over
the Holy Tomb was divided into two portions, one
decorated with images to suit the Latins, the other
with a picture to meet the views of the Orthodox Church.
Other chapels of the Roman and various Eastern
Churches surround the Sanctuary, the finest being that of
the Greeks, who seemed when we were there to exercise
the chief authority over the whole building. The Greek
Patriarch was a great friend of Bishop Blyth, and had
allowed one or two English and American clergymen
to celebrate in Abraham's Chapel, a curious little chapel
in an upper part of the mass of buildings included
in the church. Near it was the bush in which the ram
substituted for Isaac was supposed to have been caught.
Comprised in the church building are the steps up
to Calvary, the place of the Crucifixion, and the cleft
made by the earthquake in the rock.
The Church of the Nativity at Bethlehem is also
very interesting. The Grotto, said to be on the site
of the Stable, is under the church and the place of our
Lord's Birth is marked by a silver star let into the
pavement. Beyond are caves formerly inhabited by
St. Jerome, dark places in which to have translated
the Bible. As usual there are chapels for the different
sects, and blackened marks on the wall of a cave
showed where they set it on fire in one of their
quarrels. While we were in the church a procession
passed from the Latin Chapel to the Grotto, and a
INN OF THE GOOD SAJMARITAN 221
Turkish soldier was standing with a fixed bayonet
opposite the Armenian Chapel to keep the peace as
it went by. The Armenians had been forced to fold
a corner of the carpet before their altar slanting in-
stead of square, that the Latin processions might have
no pretext for treading on it. I suppose Indian Mo-
hanmiedans are now enlisted as ecclesiastical police,
unless indeed the warring Churches trust to the im-
partiality of English Tommies.
From Jerusalem we had a delightful excursion to
Jericho. A carriage road over the mountain pass was
in course of construction, but we had to ride horses
as it was not yet ready for vehicles. On the way
we passed the usual Russian pilgrims with their greasy
ringlets, plodding on foot, but the most interesting
party was one we saw at the Khan or Inn at the top
of the pass. This Inn was no doubt on the site of that
where the Good Samaritan left the traveller whom he
had treated as a neighbour. Even if our Lord was
only relating a parable, not an historic incident, this
must have been the Inn which He had in mind, as it
is the one natural stopping-place for travellers between
Jerusalem and Jericho. While we were seated in the
courtyard resting awhile in the open-air in preference
to the primitive room within, there rode in a group
exactly like the pictures of the Flight into Egypt —
a man leading a donkey or mule (I forget which) on wiiich
was seated a woman carrying a baby, evidently taking
it to baptize in Jordan. " The Madonna and Child,"
exclaimed Lady Galloway, and we felt thrill(;d to see
a living Bible picture before our eyes.
As U) falling among thieves, we had been assured
that there was every chance of our donig so unless we
paid the Sheikh of an Arab tribe to accompany ua as
222 WINDSOR— EGYPT AND SYRIA [ch. x
escort, Tliis was a simple and generally accepted form
of blackmail. The plundering Arabs agreed among
themselves that any tourist giving a fixed sum to one
of their leaders should be guaranteed against the un-
welcome attentions of the rest. As a special tribute
to " Lord Salisbury's sister," we were also provided
with a Turkish soldier, but I doubt his utility. Anyhow
the Arab was more picturesque and probably a more
effectual guardian.
We had also with us our dragoman Nicholas, whom
we had brought on from Egypt. I do not think that
he knew much about Palestine, but he was always
ready with an answer, and generally asserted that any
spot we asked for was " just round the corner " of the
nearest hill. I maliciously asked for Moimt Carmel,
knowing that it was far to the north. With a wave of
his hand he declared, " Just round there." When we
reached the bituminous desert land surrounding the
Dead Sea I gravely asked for Lot's wife. " Lot's
wife ? " said Nicholas, hopelessly perplexed. " Don't
you know, Nicholas ? " said Lady Galloway. " She
was turned into a pillar of salt." " Oh yes," he replied
pointing to the nearest salt-like hillock, " there she is."
No doubt if he ever took later travellers to those parts
they had the benefit of our identification.
We stopped for luncheon at Jericho, and having
inspected the strange land surrounding the Dead Sea,
v/e went on to the Jordan, a small, rapid river flowing
among alders and rushes. There we washed our rings
and bracelets and then returned to the Jordan Hotel
at Jericho, a solitary building kept by a Hungarian,
very comfortable in a simple way — though possessing
a perfect farmyard of noisy animals. As is well known
the Dead Sea lies over 1,300 feet below the level of the
THE HOLY CITY 223
Mediterranean and the Jordan discharges its water
into it, without any outlet on the other side. Hence
evaporation leaves all the saline deposits of the river
in this inland Sea and causes its weird dead appearance
and the heavy, forbidding nature of its waters.
It is impossible to dwell on all the spots named as
scenes of Gospel history and tradition. As Lady
Galloway truly remarked, the difference between the
story as simply told by the Evangelists, and the aggre-
gation of subsequent legend, deepened our conviction
of the truth which we had learnt in childhood. For
myself I had heard so much of the disappointment
which I should probably feel at finding Jerusalem so
small and thronged with so much that was tawdry
and counter to all our instincts, that I was relieved to
find the city and its surroundings far more beautiful
and impressive than I had expected. To look from
the Mount of Olives across the Valley of Jehoshaphat
to where the Mosque of Omar rises on Mount Zion is
in itself a revelation of all that stirred the souls of men
of three Faiths who fought and died to win the Holy
City. On the wall of rock on the city side of the Valley
a spot was pointed out to us on which Mohammedan
tradition foretold that Jesus would stand to judge
mankind at the Last Day. I asked why Mohammedans
should believe that our Lord would be the Judge. My
informant hesitatingly replied that '' He would judge
the world for not believing in Mohammed " — but I
think that the answer was only invented on the spur
of the moment.
The one sacred spot inside the city about which there
appeared to lie no dispute was Pilate's House, as from
time immemorial this building had been the abode of
the Roman Governor. When we saw it it formed part
224 WINDSOR— EGYPT AND SYRIA [ch. x
of the Convent of tlie Sisters of Zion, very nice women
who educated orphans and carried on a day school. In
a basement was the old pavement with marks of some
kind of chess or draught board on which the Roman
soldiers played a game. One of the arches of the
court, now included in the Convent Chapel, is called
the Ecce Homo Arch, as it is probable that our Lord
stood under it when Pilate said " Behold the Man."
On our way back to Jaffa we slept at Ramleh and again
embarked on a Russian steamer, which sailed on the
evening of March 25th and reached Beyrout on the
following morning. Jaffa was known as a very difficult
port in rough weather, but we were lucky both in
landing and embarking. One of the rocks which impeded
the entrance to the port was believed to have been
the monster which Perseus petrified with the head of
Medusa. I only hope that no engineer has blown
up this classic rock for the sake of any improvement
to the harbour !
Palestine must have entirely changed since we were
there thirty- one years ago, and it is curious to look
back on the problems exercising men's minds at that
time. The Jewish population was then stated to have
nearly trebled itself in ten years. We were rather
entertained by a sermon delivered by a very vehement
cleric in the English Church. He prophesied that
the Empire of Israel was bound to attain its ancient
magnificent limits, but he said that he was not asking
his congregation to contribute to this achievement
(though he gave them the opportunity), as it was
certain to be effected ; only any of us who held back
would not share in the ultimate triumph. I do not
know what he would have said now, but if alive and
holding the same views he must be a kind of Zionist.
BALBEC 226
The Siiltau had given the old Church of the Knights
of St. John of Jerusalem to the Emperor Frederick
for the Germans, and the performances of his son are
only too familiar, but in our day the fear was of Russian
machinations. Russian pilgrims, as a pious act, were
carrying stones to assist in building the Russian church,
of which the tall minaret dominated the Mount of
(.)lives, and the Russian Government was erecting
large buildings for pilgrims just outside the city walls
which, as we were significantly told, would be equally
available for troops.
From Beyrout we had a two days' drive, sleeping
at Shtora on the way to Balbec. The road was over
Lebanon, and a wonderful piece of French engineering.
The Hotel de Palmyra at Balbec was very comfortable.
We found close by some of the first tourists of the
season in tents supplied by Cook. They were very
cheerful, but I think must have been rather cold, as
March is full early for camping out in those regions
and there was plenty of snow on the mountain tops.
The women in that region wear a kind of patten
in winter to keep them above the snow. It is a
wooden over- shoe with raised sole and high wooden
heel instead of the iron ring under English pattens.
We were amazed at the splendour of the ruined Temples
of Balbec, where the Sun was worshipped at different
periods of ancient history as Baal or Jupiter. Most
astonishing of all was the enormous Phoenician plat-
form or substructure of great stones, three of which
are each well over GO feet long. In a c^uarry near by
is another stone, G8 feet long, hewn but not cut away
from the rock.
From Balbec we drove to Danuiscus, and met on
the way an escort aent to meet Lady Galloway. We
226 WINDSOR— EGYPT AND SYRIA [oh. x
did not take the escort beyond Shtora, where we had
luncheon, but at Hemeh we found the Vice-Consul,
Mr. Meshaka, and a carriage and guard of honour
sent by the Governor, so we drove into the town in
state.
The result of these attentions to " the Prime Minister's
sister'' was comic. A weird female had, it appears,
seen us at Jerusalem and followed our traces to Dam-
ascus. We saw her once coming into the restaurant
smoking a big cigar, and heard that she drank. She
was reported to have had a difference with her late
husband's trustees on the subject of his cremation.
Whether he, or she, or the trustees wanted him cremated
I forget, and am uncertain whether she was carrying
about his ashes, but anyhow she had vowed vengeance
against Lady Galloway because we had been provided
with an escort on more than one occasion and she had
not. The maids said that this woman had armed
herself with a revolver and sworn to shoot her rival !
I will record our further meeting in due course.
Meantime we were delighted with Damascus, one
of the most beautiful cities I have ever seen, standing
amidst orchards then flowering with blossom, among
which run Abana and Pharpar, so picturesque in their
windings that we were inclined to forgive Naaman
for vaunting them as " better than all the waters of
Israel." The men wore long quilted coats of brilliant
colours, red, green, and yellow, and the women brightly
coloured cotton garments. The whole effect was
cheerful and gay.
Being an Oriental city, it was naturally full of intrigue
and various citizens, notably the Jews, tried to claim
European nationality so as to evade the exactions
of the Turkish Government, but as far as we could
DMIASCUS. LADY ELLENBOROUGH 227
judge they seemed very prosperous. We visited several
houses, Turkish, Christian, and Jewish, very pretty,
built round courts with orange trees and basins of
water in the centre. The rooms were painted, or
inL^id with marble — one of the Jewish houses quite
gorgeous with inlaying, mother-of-pearl work, and
carved marble ; in one room a marble tree, white, with
a yellow canary-bird perching in its branches. I
think it was this house which boasted a fresco of the
Crystal Palace to show that its owner lived under the
" High Protection of the British Government." Per-
haps the family has now substituted a painting of the
Eiffel Tower to propitiate the French.
We w^ent to a mountain-spot overlooking the town
below the platform called Paradise, from which tradition
Bays that Mohammed looked down on the city, but
thought it so beautiful that he refrained from entering
it lest having enjoyed Paradise in this life he should
forfeit a right to it hereafter. It is a pretty story,
but I fear that history records that he did visit Damas-
cus, for which I trust that he w^as forgiven, as the
temptation must have been great.
We were much interested while at Damascus in
hearing more about Lady Ellenborough, w^ho had lived
in the house occupied by the Consul, Mr. Dickson, who
was very kind to us during our stay.
Lady Ellenborough was quite as adventurous a lady
as Lady Hester Stanhope, and her existence on the
whole more varied. She was the daughter of Admiral
Sir Henry Digby, and when quite a young girl nuirried
Lord Kllenborougii, then a widower. After six years'
experience of matrimony she was divorced, it was said
in consequence of her flirtations with thc^ then Prince
Schwurzenberg. However, that may have been, she
228 WINDSOR— EGYPT AND SYRIA [ch. x
was at one time married to a Bavarian Baron Venn-
ingen. How she got rid of him I do not know, but she
was well known as the " wife " of Hadji Petros the
brigand, whose son I have mentioned as among our
friends at Athens. While in Greece she fell a victim
to the fascination of the handsome Sheikh Mejmel
el Mazrab, who had brought over Arab horses for sale.
She went off with him, and her marriage to him is duly
recorded in Burke's Peerage. She lived with him
partly at Damascus and partly in the desert, evidently
much respected by her neighbours, who called her
" Lady Digby " or " Mrs. Digby '' as being sister of
Lord Digby. She was a good artist and is said to have
been very clever and pleasant. She dressed like a
Bedouin woman, and when she attended the English
church service came wrapped in her burnous ; but Mr.
Dickson's father, who was then the clergyman, always
knew when she had been there by finding a sovereign
in the plate. She died in 1881. 1 never heard that she
had a child by any of her husbands.
Among the glories of Damascus is the great Mosque,
once a Christian church, and hallowed by both Christian
and Moslem relics. When we were there it still had an
inscription high up, I think in Greek characters, stating
that the Kingdoms of this World should become the
Kingdoms of Christ. There was a fire some time after
we saw it, but I trust that the inscription is still intact.
Among the many other places which we saw was the
wall down which St. Paul escaped in a basket, and as
we looked thence into the desert Mr. Dickson told us
that until a short time before, a camel post started
regularly from a gate near by, bearing an Indian mail
to go by way of Bagdad. Before the Overland Route
was opened this was one of the speediest routes, and
ORIENTAL METHODS OF TRADE 229
was continued long after the necessity had ceased to
exist.
Time was some difficulty in Damascus, as Europeans
generally reckoned by the usual clock, while the natives,
Syrians and Arabs, counted, as in Biblical days, from
sunrise to sunset and their hours varied from day
to day — not that punctuality worried them nmch.
In making an appointment, however, in which men of
East and West were both involved it was necessary
to specify which sort of time was approximately in-
tended. Mr. Meshaka kindly took us to make some
purchases, and he introduced us to one shop in which
the proprietor — an Oriental, but I forget of exactly
what nationality — had really established fixed prices
on a reasonable scale. While we were looking round
some Americans came in and began asking prices.
The shopkeeper told them his principle of trade, where-
upon said one of them : " That will not do at all. You
must say so much more than you want and I must offer
80 much less. Then we must bargain until we come
to an agreement."
While they were considering their purchases I asked
the price of some tiny models, in Damascus ware, of
the women's snow-shoes. The man answered me
aloud, and then came up and whispered that they were
a fifth of the price, but he was obliged to put it on
nominally " because of those people " ! How can
dealers remain honest with such inducements to " pro-
liteering " i However, there is not much risk of their
abandoning their ancient methods of trade. 1 recollect
Captain Hcxt (our P. and O. fellow-traveller) telling me
of one of his experiences somewhere in tlie Levant.
While his ship stopped at a port one of the usual local
hawkers came on board and showed him a curio which
230 WINDSOR—EGYPT AND SYRIA [oh. x
he wished to possess. Captain Hext and the man were
in a cabin, and the man reiterated that the object in
question was worth a considerable sum, which he
named. While Captain Hext was hesitating a note for
him was dropped through the cabin- window by a
friend well versed in the habits of those regions. Acting
on the advice which it contained, he said to the hawker,
" By the head of your grandmother is this worth so
much ? " The man turned quite pale, and replied,
" By the head of my grandmother it is worth " — naming
a much lower sum — which he accepted, but asked
Captain Hext how he had learnt this formula (which
of course he did not reveal) and implored him to tell
no one else or he would be ruined. I am not quite
sure whether it was the " head '' or the " soul " of
his grandmother by which he had to swear, but I think
head.
We drove back from Damascus via Shtora to Beyrout,
where the Consul told us of the strange requirements of
visitors. One told him that he had been directed to
pray for some forty days in a cave — and expected the
Consul to find him the cave !
At Beyrout we took an Austrian boat and had a
most interesting voyage, stopping at Larnaca (Cyprus)
and at Rhodes, where I had just time to run up the
Street of the Knights. Early on Easter Eve we reached
Smyrna, where we stayed at the British Consulate with
Mr. Holmwood till the following afternoon. There was
a considerable population of mixed nationalities, amongst
them English whose children had never been in England.
Some of the young women whom we saw in church on
Easter Sunday were plump, white- skinned, and dark-
eyed like Orientals. Mr. Holmwood said that many
were sent for education to Constantinople, and ap-
SMYRNA 231
parently an Eastern life, necessarily with little exercise
or occupation, had even affected their appearance.
It was by no means safe in those days to venture far
outside the town, for brigands were dreaded, and only
some two years previously had carried off the sons of
one of the principal English merchants and held them
to ransom. They sent word that they would let them
go free if the father would come unarmed and un-
attended to a certain spot and bring £500. On his
undertaking to do so they liberated the boys without
waiting for the actual money, but the youngest died
from the effects of exposure, their captors having had
constantly to move to avoid pursuit. Mr. Holmwood
would not let us out of the sight of himself and his
dragoman, for he said that the Turks, unlike the Greeks,
had no respect for women.
A Canon Cazenove who was in our ship officiated on
Easter Sunday. The British Government having ceased
to subsidise a chaplain for the Consular Church, there
was only service when a travelling clergyman could be
annexed, but the congregation rolled up joyfully at
short notice. While we were in churcli we heard
cannon discharged outside in honour of the Sultan's
birthday, and the impression was somewhat strange —
an English service in the precincts of one of the Seven
Churches of the Revelation, a congregation partly of
travelling, partly of orientalised British, and without
the echoes of Mohammedan rule. Poor Smyrna ! still
the battleground of warring races.
We resumed our voyage and I was thrilled when we
passed Tenedos, touching at Besika Bay and seeing in
tlie distance the Plains of Troy. We entered the
JJardanelles in rain and mist, and 1 think it was fortu-
uat<; that we got through safely, as our Austrian rnplnin,
232 WINDSOR— EGYPT AND SYRIA [ch. x
thougli a mild lover of little birds, was also credited with
an affection for drink. A fine morning followed the
wet evening ; Sir Edgar Vincent sent a boat from the
Bank to meet us, and received us most hospitably in
his charming house. During a delightful week at
Constantinople we saw all the " lions " of that
wonderful city, under his auspices.
Despite its unrivalled position and the skill and
wealth lavished upon it by Christendom and Islam, I
do not think that Constantinople takes the same hold
upon one's affection as Athens or Rome. Many of the
buildings seem to have been " run up " for the glory of
some ruler rather than grown up out of the deep-rooted
religion or patriotism of a race. St. Sophia is glorious
with its cupola and its varied marble columns, but greatly
spoilt by the flaunting green shields with the names of
the companions of the Prophet ; and the whole effect
is distorted because the prayer carpets covering the
pavement have to slant towards the Kebla, the niche
or tablet indicating the direction of Mecca ; whereas
the Mosque, having been built as a Christian church,
was destined to look towards Jerusalem — at least it
was built so that the congregation should turn to the
East.
There was, however, one beautiful object which we
were delighted to have seen while it retained a brilliance
which it has since lost. There were in a new building
in process of erection opposite the Museum four tombs
which had lately been discovered near Sidon and brought
to Constantinople by Hampdi Bey, Director of the
School of Art. All were fine, but the finest was that
dignified by the name of Alexander's Tomb. The
attribution was doubtful, but not the beauty. They
had been covered up while the building was in progress,
CONSTANTINOPLE 233
but were just uncovered and we were allowed to see
them. Tlie unrivalled reliefs on " Alexander's Tomb "
represented Greeks and Persians first as fighting, and
then as having made friends. The two nations were
easily distinguished, as the Greeks had hardly any gar-
ments, while the Persians were fully clothed. The
tombs having long been buried in the sand, the vivid
colours, and particularly the purple worn by the Per-
sians, had been perfectly preserved, but I understand
that, exposed to the light, all soon faded aw^ay.
The streets of Constantinople were not nearly so gay
as those of Cairo or of many other Eastern towns which
I have seen. Things may have altered now, but during
our visit hardly any women walked about the city, and
the men were mostly dressed in dark European clothes
with red fezes, not at all picturesque. At the Sweet
AVaters, a stream in a valley rather like Richmond,
where we drove on Friday afternoon, it was different.
The ladies celebrated their Sabbath by driving in shut
carriages, or walking about near the water, in gay-
coloured mantles, often with parasols to match, and with
transparent veils which did not at all conceal their
very evident charms.
Sir \\'illiam White was then Ambassador, and he and
his wife were very kind to us. Among other things
Lady White invited us to join a party going over to
Kadikeui on the Scutari side of the Bosphorus. It
was a quaint expedition. The P^mbassy launch and
the French launch each carried guests. The French
launrh, " mouchc " as they called it, started first, but
the sea was rapidly rising, and the few minutes which
clap'^od before we followed meant that the waves were
almost dangerous. It was impossible, however, that
the British should show the white feather when France
234 WINDSOR— EGYPT AND SYRIA [ch. x
led the way. Lady Galloway and I sat silent, one or
two foreign ladies, Belgians, I think, screamed and
ejaculated ; the Swedish Minister sat on the prow like
a hardy Norseman and encouraged the rest of us, but
the Persian Minister wept hot tears, while Lady White
stood over him and tried to console him with a lace-
trimmed handkerchief and a bottle of eau de Cologne.
Having landed as best we could. Sir Edgar Vincent,
Lady Galloway and I drove to Scutari, where we saw
the howling dervishes. There was a band of little
children who were to lie on the floor for the chief, and
specially holy, dervish to walk upon at the conclusion
of the howling ceremony. The building where this
took place was so hot and crowded that I soon went
outside to wait for my companions. Immediately a
number of dishevelled inhabitants began to gather
round me, but I dispersed them with my one word of
Turkish pronounced in a loud and indignant tone. I
do not know how it is spelt, but it is pronounced " Haiti "
and means " go away." I make it a point in any
fresh country to learn if possible the equivalent for the
words '' hot water '' and " go away.'' I suppose as
we were not in an hotel I found the Turkish for " hot
water " unnecessary, but " go away " is always useful.
Among the people we met in Constantinople was a
venerable Pasha called Ahmed Vefyk, who used to
govern Brusa and part of Asia Minor, and was noted
for his honest energy, and for doing what he thought
right irrespective of the Sultan. He talked English
well, and his reminiscences were amusing. He told us
that fifty-five years previously he had taken thirty-nine
days to travel from Paris to Constantinople and then
everyone came to see him as a curiosity. He introduced
us to his fat wife and to a daughter, and offered to make
THE SELAMLIK 235
all arrangements for us if we would visit his former
Government.
Alas ! time did not admit, neither could we wait to
dine with the Sultan, though we received messages
desiring that we should do so. We were told, however,
that the Sultan always wished to retain known visitors
m Constantinople, and to effect this would ask them to
dine and then keep postponing the date so as to delay
their departure. We could not chance this, so were
obliged to leave without having seen more of His
Majesty than his arrival at the ceremony of the Selamlik
— a very pretty sight, but one which has often been
described. We were at a window just opposite the
Mosque and were edified, among other incidents, by the
way in which the ladies of the harem had to perform
their devotions. They were driven up in closed carriages,
their horses (not themselves) were taken out, and they
remained seated in the vehicles for the duration of the
service, which lasted about three-quarters of an hour.
Imagine Miss Maud Royden left in a taxi outside a church
while the ministers officiated within ! The Sultan was
driven up with brown horses, and drove himself away
in another carriage with white ones. I do not know if
this had any symbolic significance.
We left Constantinople by the Orient Express on the
evening of April 14th, and had quite an exciting journey
to Vienna, which we reached on the afternoon of the
lOth. Sir Kdgar Vincent accompanied us, and there
was also on the train Captain Waller, a Queen's
Messenger, anfl these were each bound to have a sepa-
rate sleeping compartment. There were various pas-
sengers of difTercnt nationalities, including our maids.
A compartment with four berths had been reserved
for Lady Galloway and myself — but when the maids
236 WINDSOR— EGYPT AND SYRIA [ch. x
looked in to arrange it they came back in alarm, an-
nouncing that our Damascus foewoman of the revolver
and the cigar had installed herself in our compartment
and refused to move ! Of course Sir Edgar, being
Governor of the Imperial Ottoman Bank, was all-
powerful and the lady had to give way — but there was
another sufferer. Later on a Greek who shared a
compartment with a German wanted to fight him ; they
had to be forcibly separated and the Greek shut up for
Tuesday night in the saloon while the German was
left in possession — which further reduced the accommo-
dation. When we stopped at Budapest, about mid-
night, the sister of the Queen of Servia was escorted
into the train with flowers and courtesy, but the poor
woman had to spend the night in the passage, as the
alternatives were sharing the compartment of the
revolver woman, who, we were told in the morning,
terrified her by barking like a dog, or going into the
saloon with the Greek, equally uncomfortable.
These were not all the excitements. Previously,
at Sofia, Prince Ferdinand of Bulgaria got into the
train accompanied by an imposing-looking man who we
thought was Stambuloff, the Prime Minister afterwards
assassinated. It appeared that Prince Ferdinand's
pastime was to join the train in this way, have his
dejeuner on board, get out at the frontier, and return to
his capital by the next train. It seemed a curious mode
of enjoyment, but probably Bulgaria was less lively
than it has become since. We heard afterwards that
he was annoyed because Sir Edgar and ourselves had
not been presented to him, but he might have given a
hint had he wished it.
Anyhow, we presently saw some apricot omelettes
walking about and asked for some, but were told that
THE ORIENT EXPRESS 237
this was a dejeuner commande and we could not share
it, to which deprivation we resigned ourselves. When
the repast was over, however, an American solemnly
addressed Sir Edgar saying, " Did you, who were near
the royal circle, have any of that asparagus ? '' (I
think it was asparagus — may have been French beans.)
** No," replied Sir Edgar. " Very well then," said the
Yankee ; " since you had none I will not protest, but
we were refused it, and if you had had any I should
certainly have made a row. It was lucky that we had
not shared any of the Princely fare, for there was hardly
space for more rows on that train.
At Vienna Lady Galloway and I parted. She went
to her relatives at Berlin, and I returned via Cologne
and Flushing to England, where I was very glad to
rejoin my family after these long wanderings.
We had some very happy parties at Osterley during
the succeeding summer. I have already mentioned
Mr. Henry James's description of the place. Our great
friend Sir Herbert Maxwell, in his novel Sir Lucian
Elphin, also adopted it under another name as the
background of one of his scenes, and I have quoted Mr.
Ashley's verses written in 1887. I love the place and
its memories so dearly that I cannot resist adding the
testimony of another friend, Mr. Augustus Hare. He
knew it well both in the days of the Duchess of Cleve-
land and after we had taken up our abode there, and
mentions it several times in The Story of my Life, but
he tells, in an accoimt of a visit to us including the Bank
Holiday of August 1890, of our last party before we went
to Australia. From that 1 extract a few lines, omitting
the over-kindly portraits of ourselves which he was apt
to draw of his friends :
" I wont to Osterley, which looked bewitching, vnth
238 WINDSOR— EGYPT AND SYRIA [ch. x
its swans floating in sunshine beyond the shade of the
old cedars. Those radiant gardens will now bloom
through five years unseen, for Lord Jersey has accepted
the Governorship of New South Wales, which can only be
from a sense of duty, as it is an immense self-sacrifice.
• ■ ■ • •
" The weather was really hot enough for the luxury of
open windows everywhere and for sitting out all day.
The party was a most pleasant one. M. de Stael, the
Russian Ambassador ; Lady Crawford, still lovely as
daylight, and her nice daughter Lady Evelyn ; Lady
Galloway, brimming with cleverness ; M. de Montholon,
French Minister at Athens ; Mr. and Mrs. Frank Parker,
most amusing and cheery ; Sir Philip Currie^ General
Feilding, etc. Everything was most unostentatiously
sumptuous and most enjoyable. On Monday we were
sent in three carriages to Richmond, where we saw Sir
Francis Cook's collection, very curious and worth
seeing as it is, but which, if his pictures deserved the
names they bear, would be one of the finest collections
in the world. Then after a luxurious luncheon at the
Star and Garter we went on to Ham House, where Lady
Huntingtower showed the curiosities, including all the
old dresses kept in a chest in the long gallery. Finally
I told the Jersey children — splendid audience — a long
story in a glade of the Osterley garden, where the
scene might have recalled the Decameron. I was very
sorry to leave these kind friends, and to know it would
be so long before I saw them again."'
Sir Francis Cook — Viscount Monserrate in Portugal —
had a wonderful collection both of pictures and objets
d'art which he was always ready to show to our
friends and ourselves. I am not expert enough to
know whether all the names attributed to the pictures
could be verified, but I can answer for one which we saw
on an occasion when we took Lord Rowton over with
some others. It was a large circular painting of the
STORY OF A PICTURE 239
Adoration of the Magi by Filippo Lippi. Lord Rowton
expressed the greatest interest in seeing it, as he said
that Lord Beaconsfield and himself had hesitated
greatly whether to utilise the money received for
Endyinion to purchase this beautiful picture, which was
then in the market, or to buy the house in Curzon
Street. I should think the decision to buy the house
was a ^ise one under the circumstances, but the picture
is a magnificent one. I saw it not long ago at an ex-
hibition of the Burlington Fine Arts Club lent by the
son — or grandson — of Sir Francis Cook.
CHAPTER XI
FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF AUSTRALIA
Mr. Hare's account of our August Party in 1890 men-
tions the reason of its being the last for some time. My
husband had been already offered the Governorship of
Bombay and would have liked it for many reasons, but
was obliged to decline as the climate might have
been injurious after an attack of typhoid fever from
which he had not long recovered. He was then ap-
pointed Paymaster- General, an unpaid office which he
held for about a year. The principal incident which
I recollect in this connection was a lengthened dispute
between his Department and the Treasury over a sum
of either two pounds or two shillings — I think the
latter — which had gone wrong in an expenditure of
thirty-five millions. In the end Jersey came to me and
triumphantly announced that the Paymaster- General's
Department had been proved to be in the right. How
much paper, ink, and Secretary's time had gone to
this conclusion I cannot say. Postage being " On Her
Majesty's Service " would not come into the reckoning.
We had one other experience of pre-war War Office
methods, but that was many years later. A rumour
arrived in Middleton village that the soldier son of one
of our labourers had had his head blown off. As there
was no war proceeding at the time, we could not think
how this accident had happened, and went to ask the
parents where their son was stationed. They had no
240
WAR OFFICE RED TAPE 241
clear idea, but after a long tallc remembered that they
had received a photograph of his regiment with the
Pyramids in the background. Armed with this in-
formation we approached the War Office and ultimately
elicited that the poor youth had not lost his head, but
had died of fever in Egypt, when arose the question of
certain pay due to him. The War Office, with an in-
satiable thirst for information, would pay nothing
until elaborate forms were filled up with the names and
addresses of all the brothers and sisters. These proved
to be scattered over the face of the Empire, and as the
parents could neither read nor write, endless visits to
them were necessary before we could find out enough
to fill in the forms. Before this was accomplished I had
to leave home and one of my daughters took charge.
At last she wrote that the money was really being
paid to the old father and would be deposited in the
Post Office. Knowing that he was very shaky, I wrote
back begging that she would get him to sign a paper
naming his heir, but before this was done he suddenly
fell down dead, leaving the money in the Post Office, and
my daughter corresponded on alternate days with the
General Post Office and the War Office before she could
get it out. Then some more money was found to be
due, and the War Office said they could not pay it
until they had certificates from the sexton and the
undertaker who had buried the poor old man. I was
back by the time these were procured, and lo and behold !
one spelt his name Hitchcox and one Hitchcocks.
Foreseeing another lengthened correspondence, I en-
closed the ionn with a letter in Jersey's name vouching
for the fact that they referred to the. same person but
that the villagers spelt the name in two dillerent ways.
Fortunately the War Office felt that they were now
242 FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF AUSTRALIA [ch. x
sufficiently acquainted with the family biography and
paid up. No wonder a plethora of clerks was needed
even in pre-war days.
To return to our own affairs. The late Lord Knuta-
ford, then Colonial Secretary, in the summer of 1890
asked my husband if he would accept the Governorship
of New South Wales, and he consented. Great stress
was laid on our not telling anyone before the Queen
had approved, and we were most conscientious, though
I do not believe that other people keep such offers
equally secret from all their friends and relatives. It
was rather inconvenient as we wanted to invite my
brother Rupert to accompany us as A.D.C. and he was
already committed to another appointment abroad.
As soon as the telegram announcing the Queen's ap-
proval arrived, I sent a footman to look for him at
two or three addresses saying that he must find Captain
Leigh somehow. He brought him back in triumph,
having caught him in the street. Lord Ancram and
my cousin Harry Cholmondeley were the other A.D.Cs.,
and George Goschen, now Lord Goschen, Private
Secretary.
Just before we were due to start, the Queen sent
for us to Balmoral to say good-bye. We there met
amongst others the Duke of Clarence, the only time I ever
saw him, and I thought him a singularly gentle, modest
young man. Some old gentleman had lately left him a
long gold and turquoise chain which had belonged to
Marie Antoinette. He told the Queen about it, and,
with genuine surprise, said he could not think why it
had been left to him. Her Majesty expressed the
greatest interest in anything which had belonged to
Marie Antoinette, so he ran upstairs and brought it
down for his grandmother's inspection. He talked of
*ir
BALMORAL 243
his voyage to Australia, and said he was sorry that he
had been too young to appreciate all he had seen as
he should have done. I remember the late Adnnral
Lord Clunwilliiini, who had the supervision of the
young Princes when they were on board the Bacchante,
saying that no boys had ever given him less trouble,
and that Prince George (the present King) was equal
to boys a year older than himself.
When we went to Australia Lord Hopetoun was
already there as Governor of Victoria, and Lord Kintore
as Governor of South Australia, while Lord Onslow
reigned in New Zealand. These, like Jersey, had all
previously been Lords-in- Waiting to the Queen, and
Her Majesty said to us, " As soon as I get a nice Lord-
in- Waiting Lord Salisbury sends him off to govern
a Colony " ; to which my husband aptly replied, '* You
see, Ma'am, how well you brought us up ! " A remark
rewarded by a gracious smile.
The Queen was indeed more than kmd, and was
very much upset when our departure was delayed, just
when all preparations were made, by my being seized
with an attack of typhoid fever. She telegraphed
constantly, and when the Court returned to Windsor
sent a messenger daily to inquire. We were told that
her kind heart led her to imagine that my illness was
either caused or intensified by our having been sum-
moned to Balmoral just at the last minute, because
she had forgotten that we were starting so soon. Of
course it had nothing to do with it, but the Queen was
well aware what typhoid fever meant. As she wrote
to Jersey, she was " but too well acquainted with this
terrible illness not to feel anxious whenever any relations
or friends are suffering from it."
The result was that when 1 was convalescent Jersey
244 FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF AUSTRALIA [ch. xi
had to start alone, and I went with my children to
spend Christmas at Stoneleigh, following him in January.
Lady Galloway was a true friend, for since our London
house was let she took me from Claridge's Hotel, where
I was taken ill, to her house in Upper Grosvenor Street
and nursed me there for weeks. Everyone was kind,
Lady Northcote offering that I should take possession
of her house and have Lady Galloway there to look
after me, but in the end I stayed in Upper Grosvenor
Street till I could move to Stoneleigh. Christmas
at Stoneleigh was an unexpected pleasure, and my
parents, brothers, and sisters did all they could to
further my convalescence. An addition to the family
party was my brother Dudley's charming new American
wife, of whom he was intensely proud. When we
greeted them or drank their healths, however, in the
course of the festivities he invariably prefaced his words
of thanks with " I and my wife " despite the laughmg
protests of his auditors. On Twelfth Night we drew
characters, with the result — perhaps not quite fortui-
tous — that my eldest girl Margaret and her youngest
brother Arthur, aged seven, were Queen and King.
Their healths were duly drunk, and Arthur eagerly
and emphatically responded, beginning " My wife and
I!''
Mrs. Dudley Leigh had been in her girlhood much
admired in the Court of Napoleon III and the Empress
Eugenie. She was greatly attached to the Empress
and was one of the young ladies recorded in Filon's
Memoirs as having helped to cheer the deposed monarchs
in the first part of their exile when they resided at
Cowes.
Helene Leigh (then Beckwith) told me that she and
her sister often went to spend an evening with the
FAREWELL TO ENGLAND 246
Empress, who, as is well known, had a leaning towards
spiritualism and table-turning. The Emperor disliked
the experiments, and on one occasion begged them to
stop. Presently he went to bed and then Eugenie
determined to resume. The table moved, and rapped
out '* Janvier." The Empress asked what the date
implied, and the answer came " La Mort." In the
following January the Emperor died. Personally none
of these coincidences convince me, as I have known
automatic and other prophecies which did not " come
off." The Emperor was very ill and his death must
have seemed imminent to many present, but I allow
that it is curious that the date as remembered by my
sister-in-law should have proved accurate.
At last I was considered well enough to start, and
went off accompanied by four children, two governesses
and three servants, the rest of the household having
preceded us. We had a bitterly cold journey, and
Lady Galloway, who joined us in London and went
with us across France and Italy, had her work cut out
to keep us warm and fed. She then went to stay
with some of her friends, having promised to visit us
later in Australia.
It was very sad leaving all ray family, and particularly
my eldest boy Villiers. He had to finish his time
at Eton and was then to come to us before going to
Oxford. Everyone who has to leave children behind —
and, alas ! that is the lot of only too many English
parents — knows what it means, and I will not dwell
upon it.
All our friends were most sympathetic and helpful,
and I was purtioularly touched by Lord Derby's thought-
fulness. In his first letter on hearing of the appoint-
ment he wrote : " You arc a queen and an exile. Are
17
246 FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF AUSTRALIA [oh. xi
you to be congratulated or condoled with ? . . ." He
went on with serious words of encouragement, and a
little later took the trouble voluntarily to write out
for our use notes on Australia " founded on the reports
of many friends and on some experience of C. 0/'
Among his very shrewd remarks was :
" Distrust all informants who have been long away ;
things change rapidly in those parts. And remember
that the enriched colonist who comes back with £10,000
a year to live in England does not in the least represent
the country in which his money was made."
Again he says that the Governor —
" Must spend his whole salary and something over.
But it is a mistake to suppose that mere outlay and
splendid festivities will conciliate goodwill — though
they go a long way towards it. What the colonists
really wish and like is that the Governor should appre-
ciate them, mix in their amusements and apparently
like to be among them.''
Fortunately Jersey always liked to be among his
fellow-men and understood them, and the Australians
soon found that out, and never forgot it. Also Lord
Derby truly said :
" The less a Governor interferes directly, the better ;
if his ministers come to think that he desires so to do,
they will tell him nothing ; if relieved from this fear,
they will be glad enough to profit by his experience
and impartiality."'
Many of Lord Derby's further comments are much
to the point, but I only cite one which is somewhat of
a forecast :
" Schemes of imperial federation are not treated
seriously by anybody, but intercolonial federation is
I
VOYAGE ON THE " ARCADIA " 247
a growing idea, and likely to be worked out, though
still much opposed."
During our absence Lord Derby was an excellent
correspondent and I may refer to his letters later on.
We sailed in the Arcadia, the same ship which had
taken us to India, with the same Captain Andrewes.
The usual incidents of a long voyage w^ere not wanting —
the natural effect on young men and women was exem-
plified in the growing attachment of a very clever
Australian Professor to our English governess — an
attachment which ultimately ripened to a wedding in
Australia, w^hen Miss Mason became Mrs. Harry Allen.
She is now Lady Allen, and when the Prince of Wales
visited Australia she sat at a banquet between H.R.H.
and the Governor-General, so our Australian experiences
were quite successful as far as she was concerned.
I do not recollect much of the other events on board
ship, for I was still not very strong and lived mostly
with my children, in a nice large cabin which the
P. and 0. had arranged for me. There was, however,
one couple who excited considerable interest — a youth
who always appeared in spotless white and a coloured
sash, and a girl who wore white frocks, displaying
varied ribbons to match her admirer's. When we
reached Ceylon passengers were forbidden to send any
washing ashore, as there was small-pox in Colombo,
and the young man went nearly frantic at being unable
to refresh his wardrobe. His fellow-passengers cruelly
ragged him, and he was reported to have run up and
down in front of his cabin with a drawn sword.
I suppose the small-pox was only in the native
quarters, for we were allowed to land, to our great joy,
had a delightful drive to Mount Lavinia, where we
saw the mango trick — not very impressive — had dinner
248 FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF AUSTRALIA [oh. xi
at the Colombo Hotel, and re-embarked for the longest
and dullest part of our voyage. The monotony of
the nine days between Ceylon and Australia was re-
lieved in a manner more stirring than pleasant. We
were met by a cyclone, and had to go considerably
out of our course to avoid its full fury, but what we
did encounter was quite bad enough and we were very
thankful when we sighted Australia.
We were fortunate during our sojourn in having the
old friends whom I previously mentioned, and their
wives, as colleagues. Lady Hopetoun and Lady Kintore
were away when we landed, having been on a trip
home ; but Lord Kintore met us at Adelaide and took
us up for the day to his beautiful house in the Mountains
— Marble Hill — while Lord Hopetoun looked after us
with equal hospitality at Melbourne. We only stayed
a few hours at each place, as our great object was to
reach our destination, which was primarily the Gov-
ernor's little country house. Hill View, situated in the
hills. Here I spent about a fortnight to rest and
revive before going down for the assembling of the
Federation Convention at Sydney.
This was a very stirring introduction to Colonial
life. (The words " Colony " and " Colonial " are now
taboo, but before Federation the present Australian
States were called " Colonies,'' and " Colonial " was
freely used by everyone !)
Delegates from all the States were assembled in
Sydney and most of them had brought wives, so it
was somewhat confusing to a new-comer to be at once
introduced to a number of people, however kindly
disposed towards her, whom she had never seen before,
in totally novel surroundings. As far as I recollect
the initial banquet took place on the evening of my
THE FEDERATION CONVENTION 249
arrival, March 1st, 1891. It was given in the Town
Hall, a really fine building in which we afterwards
attended endless functions of all descriptions. It was
arranged that Lady Innes, wife of Sir George Innes,
a judge, should dine alone with me and accompany
me to the Gallery to hear the speeches after the banquet.
All the guests courteously rose on my arrival ; my
cousin Harry Cholmondeley escorted me, very magni-
ficent in his A.D.C.'s uniform. As the Cholmondelevs
had been in the habit of acting with us at Middleton,
I felt very much as if I were taking part in private
theatricals.
The principal speeches were made by Jersey and the
New South Wales Premier, Sir Henry Parkes, who
was the main promotor of Federation. Sir Henry
was a remaricable character in his way. He was the
son of a small farmer on my grandmother's property
at Stoneleigh, where he attended the village school,
and his first pair of breeches was made by the village
tailor (the same parish clerk who made me find his
places in church) . Henry Parkes emigrated to Australia,
and a lady there told me how he kept a sort of toy-shop
and " fancy repository " where she could take her
umbrella to be mended. He became a Member of
Parliament and almost an autocrat. He had a fine
head, like a shaggy lion, and was a good speaker, thougli
I fear that the education given him in Stoneleigh School
had not altogether overcome a certain difficulty with
iiis " h's," and in the transaction of business he was
somewhat slow in thought. He was, however, un-
doubtedly able and tenacious, and did a great deal
for his growing country. He was a trifle like the German
Kaiser in his desire for his city's progress in art, and
had filled the National l^irk and the Botanic Gardens
250 FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF AUSTRALIA [ch. xi
with statues and busts more notable for quantity than
quality — but the intention was good, though the ex-
penditure was large. I believe that he had originated
the motto of the Federation : " One People, One
Destiny/'
Jersey's speech was extremely well received, though
his reference to the Union of the Saxon Heptarchy as
precursor to that of the Australian States enabled one
of the papers to indulge next day in witticisms. It
declared that it had greatly perplexed the audience,
some thinking that " Heptarchy " was the name of
one of His Excellency's ancestors who had fought at
Crecv — others that it was a kind of cake !
Next day began the serious work of the Convention.
Delegates were present from the six Australian Colonies ;
there were also three New Zealanders, including the
celebrated Sir George Grey, who held a *' watching
brief " to see what the Australians were doing, though
New Zealand had no intention of federating with the
others. She was quite right, for although in those
days people were apt to think of New Zealand as part
of " Australasia," she is too far ofi and too different
in origin and natural conditions to form a portion of
what is a very distinct continent.
No doubt the most intellectual and probably efficient
member of the Convention was the President, Sir
Samuel Griffith, Chief Justice of Queensland and
afterwards Chief Justice of the High Court of Australia.
It is not for me to attempt a summary of the debates
and of all the questions to which they gave rise, naturally
the most difficult being the relations between the States.
No doubt the result ultimately achieved did credit to
the statesmanship of many who took part. Probably
the weakest point was leaving to the separate States
THE DELEGATES 251
every power not expressly transferred to the Common-
wealth ; in Canada everything not expressly reserved
to the Provinces went to the Dominion, which certainly
tends to closer union. However, this is looking a
good deal ahead.
One of the points which seemed to add interest,
perhaps dignity, to the convention was the great size
of the delegates. They averaged over six feet in
height, arid I really forget how many pounds avoir-
dupois in weight — but something quite remarkable.
Australian legislators were undoubtedly of sturdy
growth, and whatever else they favoured had a great
predilection for tea. I sometimes attended debates
in New South Wales Parliament. My husband was
precluded from doing so, but members seemed to think
it rather a compliment that I should be present. How-
ever exciting the discussion, and whoever the orator,
as sure as six o'clock struck a cry of " Tea, tea, tea ! "
arose from all sides of the house, and out rushed every-
body to refresh himself before returning to duty.
The great antagonist to Sir Henry Parkes was Mr.,
afterwards Sir George, Dibbs. He was an immense
man, who had had a varied career, but was generally
esteemed for his direct and downright honesty. When
in his turn he became head of the Government he
was noted as the first Austndian-born Premier. When
we first arrived in the Colony he was supposed to have
Republican tendencies, but these seemed gradually,
indeed rapidly, to evaporate. While we were in Aus-
tralia he paid his first visit to England, wliere many
prominent people, including our family and friends,
paid him nmch attention. The final touch was put !)y
the JVince of Wales (afterwards King Edward), who
had discovered his liking for a big cigar, and with
252 FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF AUSTRALIA [ch. xi
unfailing tact he gave him one to smoke. Dibbs
said, " No, he should keep it,*' whereupon the Prince
replied that he was to smoke that, and he would give
him another. Of course this got into the Sydney
papers, and when the traveller returned the street
boys used to shout out, " Geordie, whereas the cigar
the Prince of Wales gave you ? "
The papers afforded us endless amusement during
his trip. They used to come out with heavy headlines.
" Dibbs meets one King — several Princes," etc. " Dibbs
visits the Queen,"' and on one occasion, mixed up with
it all, ** Lady Leigh desires that Dibbs should bring
out Lord Jersey's son." The Bulletin had a wicked
page of drawings caricaturing Parkes' wrath as he
read these items.
Dibbs returned a rabid imperialist. I said to him
one day, ** I suppose that talk of republicanism was
only your fun ? " " Only my fun," was his hasty reply.
The Chief Justice, Sir Frederick Darley, and his
delightful wife and family were among our greatest
friends. Sir Frederick was a tall, handsome man ;
his resemblance to my father was often noticed by those
who knew them both. Lady Darley was a very cul-
tivated woman, sister to Eolf Boldrewood, author of
Robbery under Arms, whose real name was Thomas
Browne.
Lady Darley was great at ** spirit-drawing " — a
power in which she quite honestly believed. It was
curious, but I think instinctive. She would take a
pencil between her fingers, and talk and look about the
room while the pencil drew shading on a sheet of paper.
Ultimately the shading would evolve a large head with
no outline but the shadow. Once when in after years
the Darleys were staying at IVIiddleton Lady Darley
THE BLUE MOUNTAINS 263
showed her powers at my request, and another lady
who was among our guests confided to me afterwards
that she had produced an exact portrait of a relative
long since dead who had held my friend in great affec-
tion. I am certain that Lady Darley did not know of
this person's existence — the result must be left between
telepathy and imagination ! Anyhow, these mystic
powers never interfered with Lady Darley's care for
her family a'nd for her duties to the community — she
was a real influence for good. She and Sir Frederick
have now passed away, but some of their daughters
live in England and are still among our friends.
Sir Frederick had built a charming house in the
Blue Mountains called Lilianfels after a daughter who
had died in youth. It was situated on a high plateau
among most romantic scenery — deep ravines and almost
inaccessible, thickly wooded valleys. One of these
valleys plays a leading part in Robbery under Arms,
the bushranging hero Starlight having his lair among the
rocks. A railway had been made to this high ground,
twisting and turning in extraordinary fashion, tradition
said because the engineer wanted to pay constant visits
to an innkeeper's daughter at a house somewhere on
the way. Once at Katoomba, beyond which lay Lilian-
fels, the difficulty for the pedestrian would not be to
scale mountains, but to descend into the valleys, and in
our time not many people attempted it. Tourists,
however, came up to admire the splendid views and
the picturesque waterfalls, and to visit the famous
Jenolan caves in the same neighbourhood.
The whole formation of the valleys and caves showed
that this part of the mountain-range had been in bygone
ages cliffs washed by the sea. 'I'lio Jenolan caves were
long lahyrinth.s full of stalactites and stalagmites of
254 FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF AUSTRALIA [ch. xi
wonderful forms and colours. About two miles had
been opened up when we were there, doubtless much
more has since become accessible. Some of us climbed
down a primitive iron ladder to view a mystical under-
ground river, source unknown. I seized on it with
joy for a child's story which I published later on.
I believe that there is now a fine hotel near the caves,
but when we spent a night there we found a very primi-
tive hostelry ; and as we were a party of nine, including
the Duchess of Buckingham and her cousin Miss Murray,
I am afraid we left little accommodation for other
arrivals. We were unconscious of the inconvenience to
which we were putting them until some time afterwards,
when a little publication was sent us anonymously.
It appears that a public room which had been allotted
to us as a dining-room had been turned into a bedroom
for two travellers after we had retired. Now this
hotel was strictly Pussyfoot, and my husband, having
been warned, had brought his own wine for our Party.
He left two bottles in the room, and our successors
frankly confessed that they had carried them ofi in
triumph and shared the contents with their companions
without saying where they had found them. The
writer in the account sent us said that he did not imagine
that the Governor knew how he had hampered the
other guests and did not suppose that he realised the
fate of his wine until he read this account. I must
say that we were more amused than annoyed ! All
this happened long after our landing in the country,
but thinking of the Darleys recalls our visit to my
memory.
The Chief Justice in each Colony was a great per-
sonality, and in due course Sir Frederick became in
addition Lieutenant-Governor, succeeding in that office
SIR ALFRED STEPHEN 255
dear old Sir Alfred Stephen, who held it when we
arrived. Sir Alfred was a member of the English family
which has given so many distinguished luminaries to
the Bar, and he worthily upheld their traditions at
the Antipodes. He had been in Tasmania before settling
in New South Wales, had been twice married, and had
had nine children by each wife, nine born in each
Colony, and, if I remember rightly, nine sons and nme
daughters in all. With sons, daughters, sons-in-law,
daughters-in-law, and other relatives his connections
played such a prominent part in Sydney society that
my A.D.C. brother found it advisable to devote certain
pages in the Government House invitation book to
" Sir Alfred Stephen's family," instead of entering
them in the usual alphabetical lists.
Sir Alfred was a delightful and intellectual man with
great devotion to philanthropic schemes. On one
point only I was disposed to differ from him — namely,
he was extremely anxious to facilitate divorce and was
much too serious in the matter to see the comic side
of some of the American reasons for separation. Quite
late in life, after being nearly bald his hair began to
grow again, and he proudly called attention to his
newly flowing locks.
I cannot name all the Ministers. Some had (much
to their credit) risen from quite lowly positions ; others
like Sir Frank Suttor, belonged to old Australian
families — indeed while we were in Australia a child of
the sixth generation was born to the Suttors, quite a
record in such a young country.
The general rule was while in Sydney the Governor
and his wife could only receive private hospitality from
the Chief Justice, Lieutenant-Governor, Admiral com-
manding the Station, and the Anglican and Roman
256 FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF AUSTRALIA [ch. xi
Catliolic Primates. Apart from these they could attend
any ball or function given by, I think, six joint hosts
— as for instance the Squatters' Ball, a Club dinner, or
a Charity Entertainment. It was a wise rule on the
whole, as it would have been exceedingly difficult to
discriminate among hosts and hostesses without giving
offence ; and personally I was very glad that the
Ministers and their wives should not have been even
indirectly called upon to entertain us, as most of them
were anything but rich, and yet had one begun the
custom others might have felt bound to follow. Up
the country it was different — when we visited the
different Districts for agricultural shows, opening of
school buildings, or general inspections, it was fully
recognised that prominent people should receive us,
and I cannot say enough of their kindness and hos-
pitality.
Indeed, open-handed hospitality was the rule in
Australia, and the squatters and landowners, such as
Mr. and Mrs. Osborne, Dr. and Mrs. Hay, and many
others of our hosts and friends, seemed never to regard
their own convenience if they could make their guests
happy.
Among the oldest families was that of Mrs. Macarthur
Onslow, whose ancestor had introduced merino sheep
into New South Wales, and who was — and is — uni-
versally respected in the State.
Looking back on our various expeditions, I realise
that our visits must often have been no small tax in
remote places and in houses where servants were
necessarily few. Quite rich people, having to our
knowledge lands and flocks bringing in thousands a
year, would have only three or four servants — the
daughters of the house would do much of the work,
DOMESTIC CONDITIONS 257
and \'isitor3 would be quite prepared to help in making
butter and cakes. A good deal that had been said
in England about the splendid times which servants
had overseas struck me on nearer observation as capable
of being looked at from quite another point of view.
For instance, much was made at one time of maid-
servants having horses to ride. When the nearest
town was perhaps fifteen or twenty miles oS, when a
horse cost £5 or £10, was never groomed, and when
the rider himself or herself caught and saddled him as
wanted, riding was not such an exceptional privilege.
Again, it was true that wages were about double
what they were in England, but accommodation was
much rougher, and servants were expected to help in
every department as required — no question of saying
" that is not my place." I am speaking of nearly
thirty years ago, but certainly almost all the servants
whom we took out returned with us to England.
This also applies to any remarks about social con-
ditions. As I said before, Lord Derby was most regular
in writing, and begged for any news which I could
send him. Having been Colonial Secretary, he retained
great interest in the Dominions. He told me in one
letter that he was keeping mine, as he thought they
might be of use hereafter, and after his death a number
were returned to me. I have also preserved many
of his ; but looking through them, both his and mine
refer so largely to topics of the day in both hemispheres
that I hardly think that voluminous extracts can be of
much present interest.
I, however, quote a few. In one of his first letters
he says :
" Writing to Australia is no easy matter. What
can one say to a friend who has met with reverses ?
268 FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF AUSTRALIA [ch. xi
And surely there is no greater reverse in life than being
turned upside down. Does it pay to be a constitutional
monarch turned wrong- side up ? "
To which I replied :
'' Your reversed friend was delighted to get your
letter ; though, as my little boy says when told that he
is upside down, ' No, we are standing straight, it is
the people in England who are standing on their heads
now,' which shows that he is rapidly imbibing Aus-
tralian theories, and believes that whatever be the
follies of the Old World, we in New South Wales must
be aU right."
I do not think that I felt upside down, but nevertheless
I had from time to time the feeling of having been
buried and dug up again. Born and brought up in a
very old house, and having both lived and travelled
almost entirely among what was ancient, it was a
strange experience to live where there were no relics
of an Old World, and hardly any spot where history
had been made in the long ago. On the other hand,
Australia looked bravely forward, and was, and is,
building for the future. As Lord Derby put it in another
letter :
" I trust you enjoy colonial society and antipodean
politics which at least have the charm of greater hope-
fulness than we can indulge in ia this used up old
country."
Some of his accounts might almost have been written
to-day ; for instance, July 1891 :
" The Labour party seems quite as lively with you as
it is here. Questions of that class will play a consider-
able part at the coming elections,and many candidates
who call themselves conservative will swallow pledges
more than half socialistic."
CORRESPONDENCE WITH LORD DERBY 259
And again in November :
" Speeches are constantly made but seldom read.
England is sick of the Irish question (!) but has no
other ready to put in its place. Claims for shorter
hours and higher wages are rising in every trade and
business, and this is the only subject that really touches
public opinion ; it is not, however, an easy one for
candidates to make capital out of, for opinion in the
electoral masses has not pronounced in favour of or
against a compulsory eight hours ; which is the main
question in dispute. The cat has not jumped yet,
when it does pledges and opinions will be swallowed, and
a dishonest scramble will follow."
Many cats have jumped since then, but the main
outlines of politics are not essentially different.
I confess that I was impressed by the extent to which
the problem of the unemployed existed in a country
with apparently limitless possibilities. Meetings of
these men took place constantly near the Queen's
Statue during 1892, and perhaps a portion of a letter
which I wrote to Lord Derby may be worth recording
as at least a first-hand impression of what took place
at the time.
"As to. the unemployed, they present the usual
features of the class, somewhat intensified by local
colour. A kind Government not only provides a free
Labour Bureau to meet their case, but has obtained
for them certain buildings belonging to the Munici-
pality as sleeping and smoking-rooms, and to the
' married destitute ' is now distributing orders for free
rations. 1 understand that about 9,UUU entered their
names on the books of the Labour Bureau, but only
some '200 have so far proved themselves qualified for
free rations. What I am, however, trying hard to
make out is wliy, when everyone tells you * there is
work for everyone in this country if he likes ' — * everyone
260 FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF AUSTRALIA [oh. xi
can make money here ' — ' this is the working-man's
paradise/ etc., etc., there should be such numbers of
men out of work and undoubtedly so much real desti-
tution. Possibly two incidents which have occurred
lately may assist in the solution of the problem. A
contractor took a number of men from the Labour
Bureau to do certain works near the Harbour. He
tried to sort them with a view to giving the less efficient
Gs. a day, the others to have 7s. or 85. a day when proved
capable of earning it. They all struck, and even the
Minister for Works backed them up, saying the con-
tractor must not do that — he must give all the men
standard wages, but might send away the inefficient
ones and have others in their place.'*
Of course the wages in Australia have risen enormously
in the last twenty-five years. At the time I wrote, as
far as I recollect, miners had about 145. a day and other
skilled labourers somewhere from IO5. to 135. The men
employed by the contractor were probably unskilled.
I continue my letter :
" Yesterday I visited a large Government Asylum for
women ... no poor law here. It comes to exactly the
same thing, only, instead of the rates, Government
supports the institution. But the interesting thing was
this — connected with this women's asylum is a farm,
and the Matron's husband (an ex P. & 0. captain) has
voluntarily taken it in hand. He wanted labour, and
observed that in a neighbouring Government Asylum
for men there are numbers of men capable of doing
plenty of work, but not up to the 75. to IO5. a day
standard. He asked permission to have some of these
men, and has now about 40 employed about the farm,
giving them board and lodging at this Women's Asylum
and from M, to I5. a day. I saw some at Zd. doing
4ft. draining, and I talked to one, a bricklayer, who was
doing excellent work for I5. a day. I calculated with
the Master what his board and lodging were worth
LABOUR LEGISLATION 201
(meat about 21(1. lb.) and it came to about Is. a day, so
with Is. wages on six days that was about I3s. a week/'
I remark that had Trade Unions found out that these
men, whom masters would not employ at full rates,
were working instead of sitting with folded hands, it
would doubtless have been stopped. Meantime, though
ancient history, this is not altogether unenlightening.
One rather amusing incident took place in Parliament.
" Eight hours " was the Trade Union rule, but was not
enforced by law at the time of which I write. A measure
was brought into the Legislative Assembly (the Lower
House) to make it legally obligatory. First came the
preamble, which was accepted, then Clause Two stating
that Eight Hours should be the legal working-day,
which was passed with acclamation, then the various
clauses with penalties attached which would oblige
employers and employed to abide by the new law. All
these were promptly negatived. It seems to have
struck somebody that two clauses expressing an aca-
demic opinion looked a little isolated, so a member
brought forward a third clause stating that nobody w^as
to be obliged to work eight hours if he did not want to
do so. This w^as accepted with equal unanimity, and
the Bill stood practically thus : 1st. Name. 2nd.
Eight hours is a legal working-day. 3rd. No one is
obliged to work eight hours. I believe that the whole
tiling evaporated in a burst of laughter and never went
to the Upper House, but of course every sort of stringent
regulation as to working-hours has come in since.
However, the immediate sequel of this legislative
eflort deserves record. A ship came into Sydney
Harbour and stevedores were enlisted to unload it.
After eight hours' work they wanted to go on so as to
get overtime pay. " Not at all," said the captain, " 1
18
262 FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF AUSTRALIA [ch. xi
am in no hurry. Eight hours is a legal working-day,
and I am not going to break the law/' Whereupon
they all struck because they were not allowed to work
overtime ! This is enough on this burning question,
which is certainly not peculiar to Australia.
Before leaving Lord Derby's letters a few extracts
with regard to European foreign affairs may be of
interest. In March "91 he writes :
" Every thing and person on the Continent is quiet ;
even the German Emperor. At least he has not been
emitting any oracles lately. He is said to have grown
tired of Caprivi, and another change is talked of. There
is a vague idea about that he is ' going queer.' I don't
know that it rests on any authority."
In the same letter, though this did not then concern
foreign politics, he says :
" The only rising man I hear of is on the Gladstonian
side — young Sir Edward Grey, grandson of old Sir
George, once Home Secretary. He is making a name
as an effective debater."
Even Lord Derby could not foresee under what
circumstances these two men, the Kaiser and Sir Edward,
would become protagonists twenty-three years later !
He also speaks of the " rising celebrity," Rudyard
Kipling. In the following May he says :
" Foreign affairs seem quiet all over Europe ; I am
not behind the scenes, but I know that the diplomatists
expect no early disturbance. The Czar would scarcely
indulge in the pleasing pastime of baiting his Jews, if
he looked forward to wanting a loan. Besides, he hates
soldiering, and takes some interest in finance. The
German Emperor has been making a fool of himself,
which is nothing new ; he delivered a speech the other
THE EX-KAISER 203
day, in which he praised the beer-swilling and duelling
of German students as being the most effective influences
to keep up the true German character ! He is an
energetic young savage, and that is the best one can
say."
It should be remembered that the Czar who indulged
in " the pleasing pastime of Jew baiting" was not the
luckless Nicholas II so brutally murdered — a victim, say
some, to the baited Jews — but his father, Alexander III,
whom he succeeded in 1894.
In July Lord Derby refers to the visit of the German
Emperor at the beginning of the month :
" He has been ramping up and down, seeing every-
thing, questioning everybody, intent on making the
most of his time, and keeping all the world in the con-
dition of fuss and bustle which is the element in which
he lives. It is almost too soon to judge the effect of his
visit. I should say that he was popular rather than
otherwise ; not from his manners, which are queer and
rather blunt ; but there is a certain simplicity about
him which pleases, as when he told the Windsor people,
in answer to an address, that he had come * to see his
grandmamma, who had always been kind to him.' He
had a good reception in the city, though not so enthusi-
astic as the press makes out. There was about as nmch
interest shown in his state entry as in an ordinary Lord
Mayor's Show. He is understood to be well satisfied,
and the visit has given people a subject to talk about,
which they were beginning to want. None now lasts
longer than a week. By that time, journalistic enter-
prise has said whatever is to be said, and the public
grows weary. I am afraid one effect of this German
visit will be to put the French in a bad humour, though
with no good reason. But that cannot be hel23ed."
Lord Derby seems to have been somewhat reassured,
as in August, after touching on home affairs, he writes :
264 FIRST IMPRESSIONS OP AUSTRALIA [ch. xi
" The other event is more important : the visit of
the French fleet to Portsmouth, where it has been
reviewed by the Queen, and civilities of every kind have
been exchanged. I call the matter important, because
the visit of the German Emperor made a great feeling
of soreness in France, and led to endless talk about
England having joined the anti-gallican alliance. All
that nonsense is ended by the courtesy shown to French
officers : and the relations of the two countries, if not
absolutely cordial, are again comfortable. The busi-
ness was well managed and does credit to the people
in Downing Street."'
Lord Derby continued to send most interesting news,
but unfortunately some of his later letters are missing,
and alas ! he died in the spring of 1893, so I never saw
my kind and constant friend again.
I never saw the following lines published. They
were given me by Lady Galloway, who told me that
Lord Derby believed that he had composed them, as
he could not remember having heard or read them
when he woke with them in his mind. She wrote down
what he said with regard to them.
" Lines made, as I believe, in sleep, in the course of a
dream, in which some fellow- student had asked me to
complete a poem which he was sending in :
" We judge but acts — not ours to look within :
The crime we censure, but ignore the Bin :
For who tho' versed in every legal art
Can trace the mazes of the human heart,
Allow for nature, training, faults of race
And friendships such as make us brave or base,
Or judge how long yon felon in his cell
Resisted, struggled — conquered ere he fell ?
Our judgments skim the surface of tho seas,
We have no sounding-line for depths like these,
Jan. 1893, 5 to 7 a.m."
LORD DERBY'S POEM 266
One or two imperfect lines follow. The idea recalls
Burns's " Address to the Unco' Guid " :
" Then at the balance let's be muto.
Wo never can adjust it ;
What's done wo partly may oomputo.
But know not what's resisted."
Lord Derby, however, goes deeper into the springs
of action. Verses composed in sleep are by no means
uncommon, but apart from Coleridge's " Kubla Khan,''
are perhaps seldom as consecutive as these.
CHAPTER XII
FURTHER AUSTRALIAN IMPRESSIONS — NEW ZEALAND AND
NEW CALEDONIA
Lady Gallowav came out to us towards tlie end of 1891,
and in January she accompanied us on one of our
amusing expeditions. This time it was about three
days' tour through a hilly — indeed mountainous country.
The hills in Australia do not, as a rule, attain great
height ; it is because they are so ancient in the world's
history that they have been worn down by the storms
of ages and the ravages of time. We went, however, to
open another range of caverns of the same kind as the
Jenolan Caves. These, the Yarrangobilly Caves, had
been explored, and to a certain extent excavated, within
more recent years, and were now to be made accessible
to tourists.
Mr. Dibbs and other officials and Members of Parlia-
ment, notably some Labour Members, came also ; and
a mixed multitude, said to amount to about five hundred
people in all, took part more or less in what was called
" The Governor's Picnic."
These did not follow us all through the hills, but
camped in the valley near the caves. Here a comic
incident occurred. For the first part of the tour we
were in one district, for the last in another, but somehow
in the middle we fell between two stools. In Number
One and Number Three we were entertained by hosts
who displayed the usual lavish hospitality, and all the
266
YARRANGOBILLY CAVES 2G7
way we were conveyed by kindly charioteers, and
accompanied by a splendid voluntary mounted escort,
but in Number Two, the valley near the caves, some-
thing had gone wrong. A wooden hut with several
rooms had been prepared for our reception, but no
food ! It was a sort of debatable ground, and either
through misunderstanding or, as was hinted, through
local jealousy, it was nobody's business to act host on
the border land.
The poor Premier and other officials were desperate
when they discovered our plight, and in the end Dibbs
possessed himself of one of the troopers' swords and
rushed o5 to a party of picnickers who were innocently
sitting down to enjoy the supper which they had brought
with them, asking what they meant by eating cold
mutton while the Governor and his party were desti-
tute !
He returned triumphant with a joint. Meantime
someone had produced a packet believed to contain
Brand's Essence. Lady Galloway claimed that she
knew how to make soup, so it was handed over to her.
She upset it all into a soup plate full of water, and then,
and not till then, it was discovered to be tea ! How-
ever, one way and another, we were provided with
sufficient food, and duly inaugurated the caves.
They were beautiful, but never have I been so hard
pressed for adjectives. The old guide whom we also
met in the Jenolan Caves had been put on duty at
the Yarrangobilly excavations for the occasion. He
8toppe<l our party of six or seven people before each
particular stalagmite or stilactitc, and would not
move on till each of us in turn had ejaculated " beauti-
ful," " magnfficent," " stupendous," or some other
such Iaudat<')ry word as suppressed laughter enabled
268 FURTHER AUSTRALIAN IMPRESSIONS [oh. xn
us to utter, for it became a sort of game not to repeat
what our companions had said.
The following day an early start took us to Tumut,
where we had a great reception and excellent entertain-
ment. We were, however, not allowed to enter the
town for our first greetings. As we drew near it, about
9 a.m. we perceived a table with a white cloth and
several men standing round it in a field (" paddock "
is the correct term in Australia). The wagonette was
stopped, we were requested to get out, and we found
that the magistrates of the district were waiting there
with champagne, forestalling the reception prepared
for us by the Municipality !
Shortly after our return to Hill View, our summer's
home. Lady Galloway, my brother Rupert, and I set
ofi on a trip to New Zealand. In the intervening time
the whole of Australia was deeply moved by the terrible
news of the death of the Duke of Clarence. The fact
of his recent engagement brought home to every house-
hold the full force of the tragedy. Addresses of con-
dolence poured in, and the stafi was fully occupied in
acknowledging them and forwarding them to England.
We sailed from Melbourne, staying for a day at
Hobart in Tasmania, where Lady Hamilton, wife of
Sir Robert Hamilton the Governor, who was then
absent, took excellent care of us. Tasmania appeared
to be a happy, friendly little place, but naturally we
had no time to see much. The harbour is fine, and the
vegetation in the neighbourhood of the city was rich
and green with quite an English aspect.
We then took ship for Dunedin, quite in the south of
the South Island. It took us about four days and the
sea was by no means calm.
Dunedin is a very interesting place and quite lives up
DUNEDIN 260
to its name, for it is a small edition of Edinburgh.
Scotch names over most of the shops, and as we walked
past the open door of a boys' school we heard instruc-
tions being given in a very decided Scottish accent.
There is a hill which recalls the Castle Hill, and even a
manufacture of a very good woollen fabric with a dis-
tinctly plaid character. No doubt all this has greatly
developed, but I trust it remains true to its Scottish
origin. It was fomided in 1848 by emigrants repre-
senting the Free Kirk of Scotland who left after the
separation from the Established Church. There is a
story that some of the first settlers put up a notice on
their land to the efiect that their co-religionists might
help themselves to wood but that all others were to pay
for it. True fraternal feeling, but it is hardly consonant
with usual Scottish shrewdness that they should have
expected the other wood- gatherers to volunteer payment.
From Dunedin we went on to Invercargill, the extreme
southern point, where the Governor, Lord Onslow, had
invited us to join him on the Government yacht, the
Hinemoa, and there we found Lady Onslow await-
ing us.
We were indeed fortunate in sharing in this expedi-
tion. The Onslows, who were on the point of returning
to England, had arranged a trip to the Sounds for which
they had not previously found time, and it was only in
their yacht that we could have fully enjoyed the wonders
of these fiords of the Southern Heim'sphere. I do not
know how it is now, but then excursion steamers only
went about four times a year, were very crowded, and
entered a limited number of Sounds. Lord Onslow
took us into one after another, each more imposing tlian
the last. I was particularly impressed by the desolate
grandeur of one said not to have been entered for
270 FURTHER AUSTRALIAN IMPRESSIONS [ch. xn
twenty-five years. The mountainous steeps whicli
guarded it were in great part simply rocky slopes, and it
seemed as if tbe spirits of the place resented our in-
trusion. In most of the other Sounds the precipitous
mountain sides were clad with wildly luxuriant foliage,
and land and water were alive with birds, particularly
water-fowl. Amongst these were the lovely black-and-
white Paradise ducks, which could be caught with
long-handled nets something like gigantic butterfly
nets.
The precipices enclosing the Sounds rise in some
cases five or six thousand feet from the water's edge,
their tops are snow- clad, and great waterfalls thunder
into the calm sea-inlets below. The most famous fiord
is Milford Sound, where is the great Bowen Fall. So
thick is the vegetation that one fallen tree was pointed
out to us on which we were assured that 500 different
specimens of ferns, creepers, etc., might be counted.
We had no time to verifiy this statement, but a hasty
inspection made it seem not at all impossible. One
thing is certain — the mountain- side with its impene-
trable forest descends so precipitously into the waters
below that our yacht of 500 tons was tied up to an
overhanging tree and had no need to cast anchor. I
think that there are seventeen Sounds in all (I do not
mean that we saw so many), but Milford Sound is the
only one which could be reached from the land, and even
that was, in our time, a matter of great difficulty. For
a long time the only inhabitant had been a man called
Sutherland, who was considered a hermit and peri-
odically supplied with food. He had discovered about
fourteen miles inland the great Sutherland waterfall,
which is much higher than Niagara though not nearly
so broad.
THE NEW ZEALAND SOUNDS 271
When we were in Milford Sound we found a small
band of convicts who had been lately established there
for the purpose of making a road to the Fall. I do not
think that they were working very hard, but they had
cleared about two miles of footpath through the thicket
along which we walked, and a lovely walk it was. Tea
at the end, however, was considerably disturbed by
sandflies which came round us in a perfect cloud, so that
we could only push our cups up under our veils.
New Zealand sandflies are a peculiarly virulent
species — a large blister rises directly they bite you, but
they have the saving grace that they stop the moment
the sun sets. They were, however, the only drawback
to this most delightful of trips. While we were fighting
them my brother and Lord Onslow's A.D.C., Captain
Guthrie, tried to push on to the Fall. As far as I
remember, they got a distant view but had not time to
reach it.^
Lord Onslow was a most considerate nautical host.
We cruised from Sound to Sound by night as a rule,
so that we might lie prostrate and asleep on the rough
waves which are apt to surround those shores, and
during the day we enjoyed the calm waters of the fiord.
We parted from the yacht and from our kind hosts
with regret, having arranged to be again their guests
at Wellington. Meantime we saw something of the
South Island, which, by the way, bears the alternative
name of Middle Lsland New Zealand is really composed
of three islands — North Lsland, the South or Middle
Lsland, and a little one at the foot named Stewart
• I loam that ninco our timo a hut ha« boon eroctod l)otwoen Suthorlaiul
Falls and .Milford Sound called Sandfly Hut. The guide-book says with
cnn'V)llng canflour that it " in woll namod, but thi« post is no le«8 notice-
able at any of the other ntopping-placwi."
272 NEW ZEALAND [ch. xii
Island. New Zealand claims dominion over a large
number of small islands in the Pacific, to which happily
two of the Samoan group over which it exercises a
" mandate " have been added since the war. Lord
Onslow told us that shortly before our visit he had been
to settle the claims of certain rival Queens of Rara-
tonga, one of these dependencies. Having decided in
favour of one of these royal ladies, he endowed her
with a sundial, as a sign of supremacy, as he thought
she could well assert herself by " setting the time of
day." The South Island is full of beauty. We went in
a steamer up Lake Wakatipu. I cannot attempt a
description of all the charms of this lake and its neigh-
bourhood. Naturally it differed from the Italian Lakes
in the absence of picturesque villages (now, by the way,
almost swallowed up by the rows of villas which skirt
Como and Maggiore), but on the other hand there was
the fascination of radiant nature little touched by the
hand of man. Probably now there is a happy and
growing population near Lake Wakatipu.
Before we left South Island we stayed for a night
or two with my cousin, Edmund Parker, a member
of Dalgetty's firm, who then lived at Christchurch.
It is curious that whereas Dunedin owed its origin to
the Scotch Free Kirk, Christchurch, founded two years
later, was a child of the " Canterbury Association,"
which, under the auspices of the Archbishop of Canter-
bury, Lord Lyttelton, and others, sent out a body of
settlers largely drawn from Oxford and strictly members
of the Church of England. They took up a tract of
land and sold it in portions, devoting ten shillings out
of every pound received to church and schools ; their
city was named Christchurch after the Cathedral and
College in Oxford, and the surrounding district bears
HOT SPRINGS OF NEW ZEALAND 275
the name of Canterbury. It stands upon the river
Avon, the banks of which are planted with willows
said to have been originally brought from Napoleon's
Tomb at St. Helena. There is a line cathedral copied
from Caen Cathedral in Normandy, and the whole place
recalls some city of the Old World transplanted to a
newer and brighter land.
The story goes that some of the original settlers,
importing classics into agriculture, " swore at their
oxen in Greek " — perhaps someone who heard them
quoting Virgil's Georgics took any foreign tongue for
Greek oaths.
After crossing to Wellington and spending a day or
two with the Onslows there, we set off again to visit
the famous hot-lake district in the Northern Island.
Our headquarters were at Rotorua and Whakarewarewa,
from both of which we visited the marvellous geysers,
springs, and hot lakes with which the district abounds.
The great Pink and WhiteTerraccs had been destroyed
by a mud volcano some years before our visit, but we
saw in many places how similar formations were being
reproduced by the chemical substances thrown up by
the springs, making polished pink-and-white pavements
and even terraces on a small scale. To see the natural
hot fountains starting up from the pools among the
rocks was entrancing. Some of the columns play at
regular intervals, some only occasionally ; one irregular
performer shoots up a column of boiling water to a
height sometimes attaining 100 feet. One was called
the Prince of Wales's Feathers, as the water sprang up
in that fonn.
New Zealand is far more prolific in legends than
Australia ; the Maoris being of a higher type than the
Australian aboriginal, naturally handed down semi-
274 NEW ZEALAND [ch. xii
historical, semi-mythical traditions of their ancestors.
Among the prettiest and best-known tales is that of
Hinemoa. This young lady was the daughter of the
chief of a powerful tribe whose headquarters was at
Whakarewarewa. Among the many suitors attracted
by her beauty she preferred a youth named Tutaneki ;
but though his mother was the daughter of the chief
of the Island of Mokoia, situated in the centre of the
Lake of Rotorua, his father was a commoner, and
Hinemoa's father was furious at the idea of a mes-
alliance. He dared Tutaneki again to set foot on the
mainland, and caused all the canoes to be hauled up
on the beach to keep Hinemoa from attempting to join
her lover. Tutaneki, however, was an accomplished
musician, and every evening the strains of his lute
floated so sweetly over the waters of the lake that
Hinemoa could no longer stand separation. Taking
six empty gourds as an improvised life-belt, she swam
the three miles dividing her from music and love.
Fortunately, though numbed by her exertions, she
landed on the island where a hot spring, still called
Hinemoa's Bath, wells up near the beach, and a plunge
into it soon revived her. More successful than Leander,
she was united to her lover and lived with him peace-
fully on Mokoia. Her father appears to have reconciled
himself to the inevitable.
At one moment we almost thought that we should
have, in a minor degree, to emulate the performance
of Hinemoa. We arranged to row across the Lake to
a spot on the shore opposite our hotel, where we were
to be met by a " coach " (as the ordinary vehicles were
called) bringing our luncheon. Somehow first our
rudder broke away and then the boatman seemed to
lose his head — and anyhow lost one of his oars. We
HUIA ONSLOW 275
were thereby left helplessly floating at no great distance
from the beach, and, what was worse, with no apparent
possibility of securing our luncheon. However, my
brother, bolder than Tutaneki, saved Lady Galloway
and myself from imitating Hinemoa. He plunged
into the water and managed to wade ashore, and we
soon had the satisfaction of seeing him return carrying
the limcheon basket on his head, and having sent a
messenger to summon another boat to our rescue.
One particularly fascinating feature in the Hot Lakes
District was the charm of open-air hot baths. Certain
pools were surrounded by high palisades rendering them
absolutely private. You secured a key and locked
yourself in, when you could disport yourself in natural
hot water and wade about under the trees to your heart's
content. The water was of a delightful temperature,
but certainly impregnated with chemicals, as I found
the skin peeling off my feet after two or three such
baths.
We arrived at Auckland in time to witness the final
send-off of that most popular Governor, Lord Onslow,
with special tributes to Lady Onslow and her baby
son Huia, who, having been born during his parents'
tenure of office, had been endowed with the Maori
chieftain's distinctive badge, the feather of the Huia,
and was christened by that name. Wlienever he
appeared the Maoris shouted " Huia ! Huia ! " and,
most tactfully, the child showed a preference for
brown men over white. Poor Huia grew into a splendid
and talented youth, but was disabled by an accident
while diving. Despite his crippled condition he gal-
lantly pursued his scientific studies till released by
death in 1922.
Of all Kudyard Kipling's Songs of the Cities I think
276 NEW ZEALAND [ch. xii
the Song of Auckland best conveys the claim of that
vision of beauty :
" Last, loneliest, loveliest, exquisite, apart —
On us, on us the unswerving season amiles,
Who wonder 'mid our fern why men depart
To seek the Happy Isles ! "
Truly, New Zealand must have waited while Provi-
dence bestowed gifts on many lands, and have then
received a special bounty from each store of blessing.
The strength of the mountain pass, the plunge of the
waterfall, the calm mirror of the lake, the awe of the
forest, the glow of the flowers, the fertile pasture for
the flock, the rich plains for the corn — gold, coal, and
Kauri gum, the marvels of her springs — all these and
much more are given to her children, together with one
of the most perfect climates on the face of the earth.
She has but one drawback — namely, that she is ringed
round by some of the stormiest oceans known to man.
Perhaps were it not so too many eager pilgrims would
seek this far-ofi Paradise !
Lord and Lady Onslow returned with us to Sydney
Government House, and soon after left with their
family for England. Lady Galloway in turn sailed
in the spring (Australian autumn), to my great regret.
She made the voyage in a Messageries boat, accompanied
by the very pretty daughters of Lord Southesk, Helena
and Dora Carnegie.
In July of this year (1892) my husband and I were
fortunately able to make a most interesting journey
to the French Colony of New Caledonia. As is well
known, certain questions had arisen from time to
time between Australia and New Caledonia, as the
former Government asserted that convicts escaped
from the French penal colony were apt to take refuge
NOXMEA 277
on Australian shores ; and since the total cessation
of convict transportation from Great Britain Australians
were, not unnaturally, additionally sensitive to their
arrival from any other quarter.
Apart from this, however, the relations between the
British and French " outposts of Empire " were very
friendly and a good many Australians had established
themselves as free settlers in Noumea, the capital of
New Caledonia ; and when the French Government
heard that Jersey contemplated a visit they sent word
(as we learnt later on) that a generous sum was to be
spent on the reception of the tirst Australian Governor
to undertake the voyage. Owing to the fact that he
had to await permission from home before absenting
himself from New South Wales, and as there was then
no cable to Noumea, we were unable to name an exact
date for our arrival, which after some three days'
voyage took place on July 13th. We sailed in a Mes-
sageries boat, the Armand Behic, very luxurious and
with most obliging officers, but much too narrow in
proportion to its length, which caused it to roll even
when the sea was perfectly calm. This was a common
fault with Messageries boats in those days. Probably
also it was deficient in cargo, as, despite a large Govern-
ment subsidy, this line was run to New Caledonia at
a considerable loss. 1 wrote to my mother describing
our arrival as folhjws :
" We were received " (at Noumea) " with a tremen-
dous salute of guns, aft^r which the Conscil de Sante
promptly {)ut the ship and all its company into quaran-
tine for 24 hours ! We (including Private Secretary and
Bcrvants) were allowed to sUiy on board, where we were
perfectly comfortable, but all the other passengers
from the Aniidud Behic and another 8hi[) arrivinj^
from Sydney at about the same time, were bundled oil
iw
278 NEW CALEDONIA [ch. xii
to the quarantine island. There were about 180 of
them and accommodation for about 25. What the
rhyme or reason of 24 hours' quarantine was in a ques-
tion of small-pox which might appear, if at all, in 21
days, we at first failed to discover, but the solution —
and 1 fancy the true one — ultimately offered was that
when our ship arrived with the British Ensign flying
there was an awful hullabaloo. They did not know we
were coming by this ship, and neither Government
House nor anything else was ready; so they cried,
" Whatever shall we do ? Happy thought ! Small-
pox at Sydney — let us quarantine them till we have
had time to prepare." '■* (Here let me remark that as a
rule Australia was absolutely free from small-pox, but
a few cases had lately been brought by a ship, and of
course relegated to the New South Wales remote
quarantine stations.)
To resume my letter :
" It mattered very little to us, but was awfully hard
on the other victims, particularly as they put all their
worn linen into some concoction of chemicals which
utterly spoilt it. Meantime we went off to the quaran-
tine island for a walk and went up a hill whence we
had a beautiful view of the harbour which is lovely . . .
high hills of charming shapes round it . . . the real
glow of vivid green, red, and blue which one imagines
in the South Pacific. . . . Well, next morning, at
9 a.m., we were allowed to land in great honour and
glory, and were received by the Mayor, girt with his
tricolour sash, and all the Municipal Council, and then
escorted to Government House, where everything had
been prepared, down to unlimited scent-bottles, tooth-
brushes, and splendidly bound copies of Byron and
Milton, to make us feel at home. The only drawback
was that having once established us, and apparently
cleaned up the house for our arrival, nobody ever
attempted to dust or clean in any way again — and as it
rained all the time after the first day, and everyone
THE GOVERNOR OF NEW CALEDONIA 279
walked everywhere, including in the ball-room, in
muddy boots, the effect was peculiar. Every place
was, however, decorated with flowers and flags, which
are no doubt excellent substitutes for dusters and
dustpans."
I shall not easily forget that household. It is hardly
necessary to say that the Governor, M. Lafion, was a
bachelor, a youjig man, clever and charming but evi-
dently unaccustomed to domestic details. I believe
that he was appointed through the influence of the
Paris Rothschild, who was a friend of his father, and
who had a predominating share in the nickel mines
which constitute the great wealth of New Caledonia.
He, however, was a civilian and had no voice in the
appointment of the Private Secretary and Military
A.D.C. who constituted his staff, and who treated their
Chief with a profound disregard which scandalised our
Private Secretary, George Goschen.
M. Laffon got up at any hour in the morning to take
us to " objects of interest " before the heat of the day,
but the staff did not trouble themselves to appear till
about noon, and when a ceremonious dejemier was
given we found that the Minister of the Interior was
running round to put the name-cards on the places of
the guests. These young men told Mr. Goschen that
when they did not want to go anywhere they pleaded
headache and wondered if their Governor were surprised
at the frequency of these ailments. " But don't you
liave a headache ? " added one of them. " An A.D.C,"
retf)rted our virtuous Briton, " never has a headache."
" But you have sentiments ? " " An A.D.C," was the
reply, " has no feelings." " You must feel unwell
sometimes '{ " " Never jnore than one out of four of
us at a time."
280 NEW CALEDONIA [ch. xii
Poor George Goschen was nearly crippled with
rheumatism while at Noumea, but would rather have
died on the spot than have omitted to set a good example
by following us everywhere in a pelting rain. Never-
theless when they deigned to accompany us the two
Frenchmen made themselves very agreeable.
Our English footman, originally a boy from Middleton
village, was considerably taken aback when he found
that the only attendance in our rooms was the sudden
inroad of a party of kanakas (natives) who ran in with
feather brushes, stirred up a little dust, and rapidly
disappeared. ** Well, Henry,'* said Mr. Goschen,
" either you or I will have to make His Excellency's
bed." And, stimulated by this and by my maid's
example^ Henry turned to., and we were made perfectly
comfortable.
Fortunately for the peace of mind of our kind hosts,
the Government and Municipality, we came in for the
Fetes de Juillet, so though they could not carry out
the special entertainments projected for us, they had
three balls, and some races, already arranged. It was
rather strange to have the music supplied by a Convict
Band in their penal garb, but it was very good.
In the middle of one of the balls we were summoned
to witness a " pilou-pilou," that is a native dance by the
kanakas — merry-looking people with tremendous heads
of wool standing straight up. They danced a kind of
ballet with much swaying of their bodies and swinging
of their weapons, which they afterwards presented to
me. I did not much like taking them, but was assured
that it was the custom.
These kanakas were darker and of a more negro type
than the Samoans whom we afterwards visited, but
not so dark as the Australian aboriginals, nor so
THE CONVICT SETTLEMENT 281
Ravage as the inhabitants of the New Hebrides or New
Ireland.
We saw two of their villages, and their system of
irrigation by little watercourses on the hill-side, which
showed considerable capacity for agriculture. The
Roman Catholic missionaries claimed to have con-
verted about ten thousand of them, and it was curious
to find in a dark little hut of bark and reeds, with little
inside except mat-s and smoke, two or three Mass books
and a crucifix. Some of the priests whom we met had
gone into the wilds of New Caledonia before the French
annexed it in 1853, and regardless of danger had worked
there ever since.
We were taken to see the chief buildings of the
Convict Settlement, which appeared to be large and
well planned, but one had rather a painful shock when
the first object pointed out was the site of the guillotine.
Naturally the convicts were divided into different
classes. We entered one long building where a number
were confined in common, and seemed fairly cheerful,
but others were in little separate cells from which they
were only brought out, and then alone, for a very
short time each day. Some had only a brief period of
such solitary confinement, but in one small cell we found
a very big man who almost seemed to fill it with his
body when he stood up at our entrance. He had been
condemned to seven years of this penance for having
assaulted a waiter. He implored the Covernor either
to have him executed at once, or to allow him a little
more liberty. 1 backed up his plea, and M. Laffon
promised some consideration, which I trust was effectual.
The worst thing wc saw was the lunatics' prison,
inhabited by men who had gone mad since their arrival
in the Island. One man had a most refined and intr^l-
282 NEW CALEDONIA [ch. xii
lectual head ; he had been a distinguished lawyer at
Lyons and was transported for having killed a man
who, if I recollect rightly, had been his sister's lover.
No wonder that shame, exile., and his surroundings had
driven him mad. Another was much happier ; he was
quite harmless, and was allowed to wander about and
indulge his mania, which was the decoration of the
little chapel. I have no reason at all to think that the
convicts were ill-treated, but we did not see the place
where the worst criminals were confined, and one of
the French ladies mysteriously remarked, " lis ont des
temps durs ceux-la."'
I always feel, however, that philanthropists who are
ready to condemn the treatment of convicts in any part
of the world fail to realise the difficulty of keeping
order amongst large bodies of men, most of whom, at all
events, have criminal instincts. The heroes of novels
and plays who undergo such imprisonment are almost
invariably represented as unjustly convicted, probably
scapegoats for real criminals, and all our sympathy is
evoked on their behalf. No doubt, particularly in the
early days of Australia, there were many cruelties and
much undue severity, but the comparatively few
officers and men who were put to guard and govern
masses of criminals had no easy task. They were far
removed from any possibility of summoning help in
cases of mutiny, and probably many of them deteri-
orated mentally and physically through much anxiety
and the hardships which they themselves had to en-
counter.
On the other hand, I heard manv authentic stories in
Australia of the kind treatment and good behaviour of
the convicts who were sent out from England for slight
ofiences, and who became steady and law-abiding
COXA'ICTS IN FORMER DAYS 283
settlers, and were particularly careful in the education
and upbringing of their children. One gentleman told
me of a dentist who refused a fee for treating him
because his father, who had been an official in convict
days, had been so good to the dentists ticket-of-leave
family. Of course it seems very hard of our ancestors
to have transported men and women for stealing bread
or poaching, and I am not justifying the penal laws of
the eighteenth century, but being what they were I
am not at all sure that the majority of those who were
sent to Australia were not better off than they would
have been shut up in the prisons of those days in England,
and certainly their children had a much better start in
life. I believe that the great hardship was the voyage
out in a slow sailing ship^ overcrowded, with little fresh
air and the constant risk of food and water rumiing
short. Once landed, there were many chances of
prosperity for the well-behaved. I say nothing of the
real black sheep who were relegated to Port Arthur or
Norfolk Island. It is a mercy to think that those days
are past and over.
To return to New Caledonia. There were elaborate
arrangements for work in the nickel mines, and as
assigned servants to free settlers whom the French
Government were very anxious to plant on the land.
I do not tliink that they were very successful in inducing
large numbers to undertake the long voyage, though
there were a few Bretons on our ship. A good many
Australians, however, were cstablislied in trade in
NoUUKM.
Worils fail to do justice to the kindness of the New
Caledonian French — they made every exertion to
render us liappy, and comi)letely succeeded. W'iien we
left they robbed their Museum of a whole collection of
284 NEW CALEDONIA [ch. xn
native curiosities which they put on board ship with us,
despite our protestations. One quaint incident perhaps
deserves record. Just as we departed I received an
imposing-looking missive written in flowery English,
which proved to be a letter from a French poilu. He
informed me that he had been in Australia and had
there married a girl whose name he gave me. She
was then living in Victoria, and if I remember rightly
was half Belgian, half British. A small child had been
the offspring of the union, but " France had called
on him to serve," and though his time of service over-
seas was nearly up, and though he wished to return to
Australia to " stand by his wife," France saw otherwise
and proposed to ship him back to Marseilles ; he was
in despair until I had appeared " like a star of hope
upon the horizon."
When we were back at Sydney I wrote to the Charity
Organization at Melbourne asking if they could find out
anything about the lady. Oddly enough she was
actually employed in the C.O.S. Office, and was said
to be quite respectable, though there appeared to
have been a little ; informality about the '' marriage
lines."
I then wrote to the very amiable French Colonel at
Noumea and asked whether under the circumstances
he could see his way to letting the lovelorn swain return
to Australia instead of to France. With prompt
courtesy he granted my request, and named some
approximate date for the man's arrival in Melbourne.
Thereupon I wrote a further letter to the C.O.S.,
asking that they would be prepared for a marriage
ceremony about which there should, this time, be no
mistake. The end of the romance, at all events of
this chapter, was that I received a gushing epistle of
DEATH OF LORD ANCRAM 285
gratitude signed by " two young hearts," or words to
that effect, " made for ever happy." I never saw the
youth and maiden whom I had thus been instrumental
in launching among the eddies and currents of matri-
mony, but I trust that the little girl was sufficient to
justify a somewhat blind experiment.
A great tragedy threw a shadow over our sojourn in
N.S.W.
One of our aides-de-camp was Lord Ancram, elder
son of Lord Lothian, and a particularly attractive
young man. He was a great favourite in Sydney and
much in request at gatherings of every description,
being good-looking and having charming manners. In
June 1892 he and my brother were invited to join a
shooting party in the country. He went off in high
spirits, and when he came to say good-bye to me,
knowing him to be rather delicate, I cautioned him
to be sure and put some kind of bedding under as well
as over him if sleeping out at night. This he promised
to do. I never saw him again. It was customary in
Australia to shoot riding. He and his companions got off
their horses for luncheon, and put their guns on the
ground. On remounting one of the party seems to
have picked up a loaded gun in mistake for his own
wliich he had discharged. Handled incautiously this
gun went off, and poor Ancram was shot through the
head, dying instantaneously. I shall never forget the
universal sorrow not only in Government House, but
among the whole warm-hearted community of New
South Wales. It was some comfort that the Admiral
commanding the Station, Lord Charles Scott, was
Ajicram's uncle, and he and his nice wife were able
to help, and advise as to the best means of breaking
the news to the poor parents and relatives in England.
286 NEW CALEDONIA [ch. xii
Poor George Goschen, who was devoted to Ancram,
was almost prostrated by grief. It was rather curious
that not very long before the accident Ancram told me
that he had dreamt that he found himself back in his
old home, but that his brother had taken his place and
that nobody recognised him or took any notice of him !
Treasures of the Old World are sometimes found at
the Antipodes. On one of our tours, at a township called
Bungendore, a large wooden box appeared unexpectedly
in our private railway car. Opened, it was found to
contain a letter from a Mr. Harold Mapletoft Davis
explaining that he confided to our care relics from Little
Gidding, brought from England long before by his
parents. His mother, Miss Mapletoft, was directly
descended from Dr. Mapletoft and from his wife, the
only Miss Colet who married. In the box were a copy
of the famous Harmonies, and bound volumes of manu-
script writings by Mary Colet and her sisters. The
fine binding of The Harmonies, now in the British
Museum, was said to have been executed by Mary Colet
herself ; slie did not die young as represented in " John
Inglesant," but lived to a good old age. There was also
a lovely Charles I embroidered miniature chest of drawers,
containing a boar's tooth, a handkerchief with the royal
monogram, and other relics. Charles I left this at
Little Gidding during his troubles. It was ultimately
purchased by Queen Victoria, and is now at Windsor.
CHAPTER XIII
TONGA AND SAMOA
Not long after our return from New Caledonia I set
sail again, this time to take advantage of an invitation
from the Britannic Land Commissioner to stay with
him at his house in Samoa. My brother Rupert Leigh
and my daughter Margaret accompanied me on the
Norddeutscher Lloyd mail-ship Luheck. The Germans
subsidised the line, but it was, I understood, run at a
regular loss. We left on August 3rd, and encountered
very rough weather, seas sweeping over the bridge,
and even invading our cabins. Captain Mentz was
very kind, installed us in his own quarters, and did his
best to find food which Margaret and I could eat despite
sea-sickness. I must say this for him, although he was
a German !
We passed Norfolk Island, but did not land anywhere
until we reached Nekualofa, the chief town of the
Tongan group, which consists of about 100 islands and
atolls. Tonga, like every island in the Pacific of which 1
ever heard, has its own particular quarrels and politics.
It was governed at the time of our visit by an ancient
potentatecalled King George, after Georgelllof England.
His wife had been (^ucen Charlotte, but she had died.
The hero, or rather villain, of recent Tongan history
was one Shirley Baker, a Wesleyan missionary with
the aspirations of a Kiciielicu or Mazarin. lie belonged
to the Wesleyan Church of Australia, which had pre-
287
288 TONGA AND SAMOA [ch. xiii
viously become independent of the Mother Church in
England. Shirley Baker, however, having made him-
self Prime Minister of Tonga, did not care to take orders
even from Australia, but persuaded the dusky monarch
that the right and proper thing was to have a Free
Methodist Church of his own. This would not have
mattered, but the inhabitants were all compelled to
belong to this new connexion, and beaten and imprisoned
if they wished to adhere to what was presumably the
Church of their baptism. Other trifling accusations,
such as of poisoning, were brought against this eccle-
siastical Prime Minister, and ultimately the British
High Commissioner from Fiji had to come down and
deport him to New Zealand. Still, however, as far
as we could learn during a brief stay of some twenty-
four hours, though there was surface peace, intrigue and
suspicion were still rampant.
Even before we landed my brother came to me and
said that one of our fellow-passengers had warned him
that if we paid a visit to King George the missionary
interpreter in attendance would probably misrepresent
what we had to say to the monarch. " But," added
Rupert, " I don't think that we have anything par-
ticular to say, have we ? " I agreed that I did not
think that our communications would vitally affect the
peace of the world, or even of the Pacific, so we ventured
to enter the royal precincts.
The Palace was a comfortable-looking villa, of
which the most striking adornment was a full-length
oil-painting of the old German Emperor William,
presented to the King for having declared the neutrality
of Tonga in the Franco-German War of 1870. The
High Commissioner of Fiji had countered this pro-
paganda by presenting an engraving of Queen Victoria,
TONGA:s ladies 2sy
but we were bound to confess, that, being merely head
and shoulders, our Sovereign Lady was placed at a
disadvantage in the artistic competition.
The Tongan ladies were celebrated for their beauty,
and we were told that when the Duke of Edinburgh, as
Prince Alfred, visited Australia and some places in the
Pacific, Tonga was much disappointed because he failed
to land on its shores. The inhabitants, however,
found balm for their wounded feelings in two explana-
tions offered : first, Queen Victoria was so impressed by
the importance of the group that had she sent a re-
presentative it must have been her eldest, not her
second son ; secondly, she had heard so much of the
charms of the ladies that she feared lest the Prince
should bring back a dusky daughter-in-law if exposed
to their wiles. One only wonders why they thought
that she should object. The King was a fine old man,
and we had no reason to believe that a rather weak-
looking missionary gave any serious misconstruction
of our conventional remarks. They dealt a good deal
with our Queen, and at all events he introduced her
name at the right place !
We had a very pretty drive in a vividly green lane, had
tea at the hotel, and returned to sleep on board. The
real joy, however, was our departure at sunrise next
morning. Never before or since have I seen such a
glory of colour — St John may have witnessed something
like it when he wrote the Revelation, but 1 cannot
believe that earth contains a rival.
The sun struck the coral reefs through an absolutely
calm sea, and its beams were broken up into streams
and rivers of crimson, blue, green, and purple, as if
a rainbow or the tail of an angelic peacock or bird of
paradise had fallen into the ocean ; nor did the rivers
290 TONGA AND SAMOA [ch. xiii
remain unchanged. At one moment a flood of crimson
passed by, and if we ran to the other side of the ship,
we found that the waters were turning to emerald ;
they parted and mingled and parted agaiii till we seemed
in a fairy world of magic.
We spent much time in the lagoons of Samoa and saw
beautiful hues, particularly deep purples, there, but
never again the extraordinary beauty of the Tongan
archipelago. Behind the ever-changing sea rose a
myriad islands crowned with palms and floating in
light. My brother asked me if I remembered the little
picture in our old Ballantyne's Coral Island of school-
room days. I had already thought of it, and gratefully
felt that at least one dream of childhood had been ful-
filled, that I had seen something of what our books had
told, though not as the sailor which I had sighed to be.
King George died in the spring after we had made
his acquaintance. A prominent resident whom we had
met at Nukualofa, Mr. Parker, wrote to describe the
honours paid to his memory. He said that he had
been for so many years " a leading character for good
and bad that his sudden, but on account of his age
not unexpected, death caused much commotion."
" However much some of his subjects may have
disliked him (or rather his regime) when alive, and
with much reason there were manv, now that he is
dead the respect they show is very striking. The
place both day and night is as silent as death, though
there is plenty of movement." On a low white wall
surrounding the premises, " at intervals of about one
foot there is a lamp placed on the top ; and at every
few yards of the road a camp of people squat down with
torches, and patiently wait for daylight as a sign of
respect, and also in all probability to keep evil spirits
away, though if asked the watchers would not say so."
ARRIVAL AT APIA 291
The house itself was brilliantly illuniinated with
hundreds of coloured lamps and paper lanthorns, and
within, mats, flowers, and sandal- wood powder were
lavished on the dead monarch. Meantime I must
return to our vovage.
We landed at Apia, the capital of Samoa, on August
13th, by Sydney calendar. (Samoan was different, as
we had crossed 180° longitude, but this is unimportant.)
We were met by our kindest of hosts, Mr. Bazett
Michael Haggard, with the boat of the British Com-
mission rowed by a fine crew of natives in white shirts
and red lava-lavas or kilts. These, like other Samoan
men, were tattooed from the waist to the knee rather
as if they wore tight breeches under their kilts. We
were taken to Haggard's quarters, a two-storied house
called Kuge's Buildings, embowered in trees, containing
a fine long reception room upstairs, with bedrooms oS
it for my daughter, myself, and my maid. Below were
the servants' quarters, the stufi being a very intelligent
Indian and two Samoan boys ; behind was a courtyard
with rooms beyond for Mr. Haggard and my brother.
The whole had been the property of a commercial
company. Mr. Haggard in his anxiety for our safety
used to lock us women in at night, but I do not know
what danger he apprehended.
Kuge's Buildings were situated on the principal road
of Apia, not far from the harbour which was the scene
of the famous hurricane in which the English ship
Callio'pe outrode the storm and escaped, while the
German Adler was wrecked against the reefs. Her
mast still rose above her shattered remains, marking
the spot where she lay.
The Samoan groiij) conKisted of three principal and
several outlying islands. Tutuila, whi( li j)ossessea the
292 TONGA AND SAMOA [oh. xiii
best harbour, was held by the Americans, while Upolu,
site of the capital, and Savaii, a mountainous isle,
were more or less in dispute between the Germans and
the British. The politics of the whole group were
involved to a degree, and certainly hold little interest for
anyone at this time of day. The League of Nations
did not exist in 1892, but Samoa would have afforded a
splendid field for its discussions, not to say a happy
hunting-ground for commissions and expenditure.
The main points of difference in 1892 may be summar-
ised thus : There were two kings, Malietoa Laupepa,
acknowledged by the European Powers, and a rebel,
Mataafa, fortified in the mountains. There was another
monarch, Tamasese, but he was not then counted
among the royal claimants, though son of a chief called
the " German King," because his father had once upon
a time been acknowledged by the Germans, who gave
him a uniform.
Also there were three Land Commissioners and three
Consuls, English, American, and German ; a German
Prime Minister ; Mabon, Secretary of State — I think
American — and a Swedish Chief Justice. The last-
named was appointed to settle any matters of dif-
ference which might arise between the Land Com-
missioners of the three Great Powers, and they were
to decide the disputes between the various claimants
to land.
The Europeans had often tried to induce the natives
to sell them land far below its value, and the natives
were not altogether behindhand in the game, as they
would sell the same land to two or three different pur-
chasers. Result, far more claims to land than acres
existing to satisfy the claimants. The Swedish Chief
Justice, a man called Cedercrantz, with a squint, did
GERMAN PLANTATIONS 2y3
not know English when appointed, and had to go to
Fiji to learn it.
To add to the complications there were three sets of
missionaries in Upoln, London missionaries and "Wesley-
ans, with a standing feud between them, and Roman
Catholics of course violently opposed to both. All this
for a population well under a hundred thousand 1
However, despite all these quarrels, and the consequent
excitements, the natives seemed a singularly contented
and easy-going community, and everyone whom we
met vied with all others in making us happy.
The Samoans are fairer than the New Caledonians
and their hair less woolly ; they approached nearer to
the Malay type. We found they did not in the least
want to work in the cocoa-nut plantations set on foot
by the Germans, and why should they. Fishing one
day a week and cultivating a few yams and taros on
another day would supply their food, and the women
made tappa for their few garments out of the bark of
trees.
The Germans imported workmen of the dusky negro
type from the New Hebrides and New Ireland, but the
English settlers were not allowed to do this, and the
consequence in our time was that the Germans
owned the plantations, but otherwise trade and
population accrued largely to New Zealanders and
other British subjects.
Our host, Bazett Haggard, brother to Rider Haggard
and to William Haggard whom we had known in Athens,
was a great character. When he visited Sydney he
was known as " Samoa," for he never talked of any-
thing else, which was perhaps not surprising under the
circumstances.
A lawyer by profession, on appointment as Land
20
294 TONGA AND SAMOA [ch. xiii
Commissioner he had been endowed with a Foreign
Office uniform and a Red Box which were sources of
infinite gratification and innocent pride. An Australian
young lady asked in awed tones, " Have you seen the
beautiful box which Lord Salisbury gave Mr. Haggard ? ''
Previous to a ball at Government House he asked with
all the solemnity appropriate to a budding diplomat
whether I would dance with him as first representative
of the Foreign Office at Sydney. After the dance he
laid aside his sword for the rest of the evening, assuring
me that this was the proper etiquette, to dance the
State dance wearing the sword and subsequent ones
without it. No doubt he was right.
Apart from Samoa the universe for him revolved
round his native county, Norfolk, whence sprang all
that was finest in the British race, particularly the
Haggard brothers. I forget how many there were, but
they had, he said, all loud voices, and on some occasion
won a contested election by the simple process of
shouting.
Apart from this quaint strain of simple satisfaction
with himself and his surroundings he was the kindest of
men, and 1 was assured that when it came to his legal
work all his oddities were cast aside and that he was
an excellent and capable Commissioner.
On the evening following our arrival he invited
Robert Louis Stevenson and Mrs. Stevenson to dinner,
and if we had already felt the fascination of Utopia
we then fell under the spell of the Enchanter who
evoked all the magic woven round its land and sea. I
shall never forget the moment when I first saw him and
his wife standing at the door of the long, wood-panelled
room in Ruge's Building. A slim, dark- haired, bright-
eyed figure in a loose, black velvet jacket over his
R. L. STEVENSON 296
white vest and trousers, and a scarlet silk sash round
his waist. By his side the short, dark woman with
cropped, curly hair and the strange piercing glance
which had won for her the name in native tongue,
" The \\'itch Woman of the Mountain."
Stevenson was never one to keep all the treasures of
his imagination and humour for his books. Every
word, every gesture revealed the man, and he gave
one the impression that life was for him a game to be
shared with his friends and played nobly to the end.
I think that Matthew Arnold's " Empedocles on Etna "
expressed him when he sang :
" Is it so small a thing
To have onjoyd the sun.
To have lived light in the spring.
To have loved, to have thought, to have done ;
To have atlvanced true friends, and beat down baffling foes ? "
But Stevenson, braver to confront life than Empedocles,
would not have leapt into the crater !
At that dinner, which inaugurated our friendship, a
very merry talk somehow turned on publishers and
publishing. It began, if I remember rightly, with a
reference to Mrs. Humphry Ward's latest book, for
which she was reported to have received a number of
thousands which both Stevenson and Haggard pro-
nounced to be incredible, Haggard speaking from his
brother's experience and Stevenson from his own.
Thereupon it was suggested by someone, and carried
unanimously, that we should form an " Apia Publishing
Company " ; and later on in Haggard's absence the rest
of us determined to write a story of which our host
should be hero, and the name, suggested, I think, by
Stevenson, was to he An Object of Pity, or the Man
Ua(j(jard.
296 TONGA AND SAMOA [ch. xm
Before this was completed various incidents occurred
which were incorporated into the tale. Another friend
of Mr. Haggard was the British Consul, Mr. Cusack
Smith, and he took us to tea with him and his pretty
wife on the Sunday afternoon following our arrival.
They lived in a pleasant bungalow of which the com-
pound — or lawn — was enlivened by a good-sized turtle
tied to a post, which was being kept ready to be
slaughtered and cooked when we came to dine with
them !
The question of fresh meat was not altogether easy
to solve in Samoa. We, knowing that there were
certain difficulties, had brought with us a provision of
tongues and similar preserved foods, also of champagne,
but there were few cows and oxen, and sheep were
impossible to rear on the island — at least so far means
had not been found to feed them amongst the luxuriant
tangle of tropical vegetation. Preserved provisions,
including butter, were mostly brought from New
Zealand. Samoa itself provided skinny chickens, some
kind of pigeon, yams, taros, and of course fish.
The occasional great treat • was pig cooked in the
native oven, an excellent kitchen arrangement. A
hole was dug in the ground, the object to be cooked
was wrapped up in leaves and placed between hot
stones ; the whole was then covered up with earth and
left long enough for the meat to be thoroughly soft and
cooked through ; when opened nothing could be more
tender.
Among other entertainments we were invited to
dine by King Malietoa, to whom we had already paid
a formal visit of ceremony. The banquet, which took
place about three in the afternoon, was laid on a long
cloth spread on the ground and consisted of all sorts
KING MALIETOA 297
of native delicacies, including a dish of a peculiar kind
of worm, and, besides pig and pigeon, of vegetables
cooked in various ways. The staff of the monarch
included an orator or *' Talking Man/' and a jester,
thereby recalling the attendants of the Duke of Austria
in The Talisman.
The Talking ]\Ian, whose badge of office was a fly-
whisk, carried over his shoulder, had had his innings at
our formal reception, but the jester came in very useful
at the banquet. We were told that one ot his most
successful jokes was to snatch away pieces of the food
placed before the King. On this occasion he was
crouched just behind Malietoa and myself. Part of the
regal etiquette was for the monarch to give me a piece
of any delicacy in his fmgers, but he always tact-
fully looked the other way when he had done so,
thereby giving me the chance of slipping it into
the hands of the jester, who consumed it chuckling
with glee.
Malietoa was a gentle, amiable being who seemed
rather oppressed by tlie position into which he had
been thrust by the Powers. His rival Mataafa was
undoubtedly the stronger character of the two, and
appealed to the romantic instincts of Stevenson, who
was his personal friend.
Stevenson and Haggard between them therefore
concocted a plot whereby I was to visit incognita the
ramp in tlic mountains of the rebel potentate. As it
would not do to keep my f)wn name, my husband being
then Governor of New South Wales, I was to become
Stevenson's cousin, Amelia Balfour, and he wrote
beforcliand to ask that accommodation should be
proviflcd f(jr me with the ladies of this royal house, as
1 was not well accustomed to Island customs.
298 TONGA AND SAMOA [ch. xiii
This is how Stevenson later on described the en-
counter in the very fragmentary " Samoid " :
" Two were the troops that encountered ; one from the way of the shore,
And the house where at night, by the timid, the Judge ^ may be heard
to roar.
And one from the side of the mountain. Now these at the trysting
spot
Arrived and lay in the shade. Nor let their names be forgot.
So these in the shade awaited the hour, and the hour went by ;
And ever they watched the ford of the stream with an anxious eye ;
And care, in the shade of the grove, consumed them, a doubtful crew.
As they harboured close from the bands of the men of Mulinuu
But the heart of the Teller of Tales (Tusitala) at length coxild endure
no more.
He loosed his steed from the thicket, and passed to the nearer shore,
And back through the land of his foes, steering his steed, and stiU
Scouting for enemies hidden. And lo ! under Vaca Hill
At the crook of the road a clatter of hoofs and a glitter of white !
And there came the band from the seaward, swift as a pigeon's flight.
Two were but there to return : the Judge of the Titles of land ;
He of the lion's hair, bearded, boisterous, bland ;
And the maid that was named for the pearl,^ a maid of another isle.
Light as a daisy rode, and gave us the light of her smile.
But two to pursue the adventure : one that was called the Queen
Light as the maid, her daughter, rode with us veiled in green,
And deep in the cloud of the veil, like a deer's in a woodland place.
The fire of the two dark eyes, in the field of the unflushed face.
And one her brother ^ that bore the name of a knight of old,
Rode at her heels unmoved : and the glass in his eye was cold.
Bright is the sun in the brook ; bright are the winter stars,
Brighter the glass in the eye of that captain of hussars."
The adventurous party consisted of R.L.S., his
stepson Lloyd Osbourne, his stepdaughter Mrs. Strong
(nee Osbourne), and a young native chief Henry Simele,
my brother, and myself. It was arranged with infinite,
1 Haggard, who had described to us the loud voices of himself and
his brothers.
* Margaret Villiers. ' Captain Rupert Leigh.
THE ENCHANTED FOREST 299
but somewhat futile, secrecy that j\Ir, Haggard, my
daugliter and I, with Rupert should ride out in the
afternoon and find the Vailima party awaiting us at
the Gasi-gasi Ford. This duly came off ; we were rather
late, and found our companions crouching, excited, at
the appointed spot in the attitude proper for con-
spirators.
Haggarrl and my daughter thereupon returned to
Ruge's Buildings, and the rest of us pursued our way
through the enchanted forest, past groves of bananas,
and up the mountain. From time to time little stiles
barring the narrow paths had to be negotiated ; some
Europeans explorers had imagined that these were a
kind of fortification to protect Mataafa's quarters, but
really they were nothing more romantic than fences
to keep pigs from wandering.
Nature in Samoa everywhere erected natural screens
for those who desired concealment in the extraordinary
luxuriance of her tangled vegetation : overhead, broad-
leaved forest trees interlacing their branches so* that it
was possible to ride even at midday under a tropical
sun ; below, the long and varied creeping plants which
went under the general name of " vines," and which
rendered progress difficult except where narrow tracks
had been cleared leading from one little village to
another. Mostly, however, the villagers were within
easy reach of the seashore, partly for convenience of
fishing, partly as being accessible in boats. The
villagers loved to visit their*fricnds, rowing pleasantly
from place to place witliin the lagoons which circled
the Island.
T(; return to our journey. Among other instances of
tropical luxuriance, we passed a quantity of sensitive
plant. The original plan! had been [)Iaccd by a member
300 TONGA AND SAMOA [ch. xiii
of a German firm on his child's grave, thence it had
quickly spread and had become a perfect pest in the
surrounding districts. My horse was an extremely
lanky and skinny animal which Mr. Haggard had
procured for my use, and which alternately rejoiced in
the names of " Pedigree " and " Starvation," the
latter seeming more appropriate. R.L.S. rode a fat
little pony. Mrs. Strong subsequently caricatured our
progress by representing me very tall with an extremely
tight waistband, and Stevenson looking upward from
his diminutive steed.
Mrs. Strong, be it understood, regarded any kind of
fitting garment as a foolish superfluity. On this occa-
sion she had donned corsets for the convenience of a
long ride, but when, in the twilight, we neared our
destination she slipped them ofi and gave them to
an attendant, bidding him be a good boy and carry
them for her.
As we approached the royal abode we were met first
by a man beating a drum, then by the whole popula-
tion, and heard many remarks interchanged in low
tones ; my companions told me that they referred to
the " Tamaiti Sili " or " Great Lady," showing how
singularly ineffectual was my disguise. If any proof
of this were needed it was soon supplied. Mataafa,
a very fine old man, received us most courteously,
attended specially by a remarkable old gentleman
called Popo, who had curiously aquiline features quite
unlike the ordinary native. Stevenson thus described
him :
" He who had worshipped feathers and shells and wood,
As a pillar alone in the desert that points where a city stood,
Survived the world that was his, playmates and gods and tongue—
For even the speech of his race had altered sii.ce Popo was young.
KING MATAAFA 301
And ages of time and epochs of changing manners bowed.
And the silent hosts of the dead wondered and muttered aloud
With him, as he bent and marvelled, a man of the time of the Ark,
And saluted the ungloved hand of the Lady of Osterley Park."
We were first presented witli refreshing cocoa-nuts,
and after profuse compliments, conveyed through the
interpreter, dinner, or supper, was prepared on a small
wooden table in the background. It consisted of
pigeon, chickens, taros, and yams, but poor Mataafa,
who liad previously adjourned for evening service,
could not share the birds because it was a fast
dav. He was a Roman Catholic — another point of
difference between him and Malietoa, who was a
Protestant.
After the evening repast came the kava ceremony. As
is well known, kava is a drink made from the roots of
the pepper-tree, chewed by young persons (who have
first carefully washed their teeth), and then soaked in
water. To me it always tasted rather like soapy water,
but it is most popular with the natives, who will sit
at festivities drinking large quantities. It is said to
have no effect on the head, but to numb the lower
limbs if too much is imbibed.
At special ceremonies, however, it is somewhat in the
nature of a loving-cup, only each guest has a cocoa-nut
shell refilled from the general wooden-legged bowl for
his benefit. The kava is always given in strict order
of precedence, and the interest was to see whether
Mataafa would give the first cup to Stevenson as a man,
and head of the family, or to me, a mere woman and
ostensibly a female relative, as in the latter case it
would show that he saw through my cousinly preten-
sions. It was rather a curious scene in the dimly
lightf'fl native house — chairs for the King and his
302 TONGA AND SAMOA [ch. xiii
European guests, while the interpreter, Henry Simele,
and the native henchmen squatted near-by. With an
indescribable expression of suppressed amusement
Mataafa handed the cup to me, whereupon Stevenson,
with a delightful twinkle of his eye, exclaimed, " Oh,
Amelia, you're a very bad conspirator ! '"
Stevenson and my brother were then taken off to
another house, while Mrs. Strong and I were escorted
to the couch prepared for us — a large pile of soft mats
enclosed in a mosquito curtain, with two pillows side
by side at the head.
A native house has often been described. It is
generally a roof shaped like an inverted boat of wooden
beams supported on posts and thatched with palm-
leaves. Its size varies greatly according to the position
and wealth of the owner. Mataafa's was a large one
and his mats were beautiful. There was only one
room, and in a general way no one would have demurred
at sleeping all together. However, in this case a large
tappa curtain was let down in the centre ; the King
and his warriors slept on one side, and the other formed
the apartment of Mrs. Strong and myself.
Mrs. Strong was a most entertaining companion, and
told me stories of American experience before we both
composed ourselves to sleep. She was much amused
by my one preparation for evening toilet, which was a
toothbrush ; but I had to go outside the matting curtains
suspended between the posts to use it, as all cooking
and washing was bound to take place where nothing
should spoil the beautiful mats carpeting the house
proper. I found guards outside waiting in the darkness,
and when he heard of my excursion Stevenson declared
that my teeth would become historic. It is not to be
supposed that the natives neglect cleanliness — they
THE KAVA CEREMONY 303
constantly bathe in the sea and in streams, but all
washing takes place outside, not inside, their houses.
Next morning we adjourned from the private abode
to Mataafa's large new Parliament House, where all
his chiefs were assembled for public or King's kava.
They sat round in a sort of circle, each representing one
of the royal " names " or tribes.
Without going into the intricacies of Samoan gene-
alogy it may be explained that no Prince could properly
be King of the whole group unless he could prove his
title to rule over all the " names." As it seemed that
neither Malietoa nor Mataafa could do this, their quarrel
was unlikely ever to be decided except by force
and by the support given to one or the other from
outside. Anyhow, a great number of " names " were
represented on this occasion and the scene was very
interesting.
This Parliament House was said to be the largest
native building in Samoa, and was certainly fine and
well constructed. On the cross-beams of the central
" roof- tree " were three painted wooden birds, emblems
of the King's house, as his father had been called
" King of the Birds."
The King and his guests again sat on chairs, the
chiefs squatted on the ground. This time, being public,
the King, with true courtesy, accepted my ostensible
position, and gave the kava first to R.L.S. ; after the
rest of us had drunk, it was carried to each chief in
turn, and in several cases curious rites accompanied
their acceptance of the cup. In one case an old man
had to lie down and be massaged for an imaginary
ailment, in another the kava was poured over a stone
which 8t<^>od for one of the ** names " wiiose human
representative was lacking. The most dramatic inci-
304 TONGA AND SAMOA [ch. xiii
dent was when a fine-looking chief, who was a sort of
War Lord in Mataafa's army, five times refused the
cup with a very haughty air before condescending to
drink, which he then had to do five times. We were
told that this was in memory of an ancestor who had
refused water when no supply could be obtained for his
king, recalling the story of David pouring out the
water obtained at the risk of his captains' lives.
When all was over some of the chiefs were presented
to us, particularly the War Lord, who had laid by his
truculent manners and was very smiling and amiable.
He had had two drinks, first as Head of the Forces,
later on as Headman of his Village — so was in great
form.
Poor Mataafa ! After we left the Islands war broke
out again, his forces were finally defeated, and I believe
that he died in exile. My stolen visit to him will,
however, be alwavs a most delisrhtful recollection.
We also paid our respects to Tamasese, son of the
*' German King,'" previous to spending a night with the
Wesleyan Missionary and his wife. Tamasese was out
when we arrived, as he did not expect us so early. We
had started in the Commissioner's boat at 4 a.m., and
saw the sun rise over the locked lagoon. We were,
however, most courteously received by his handsome
wife Viti, who besides her tappa lava-lava wore a kind
of double bib or sleeveless jumper falling to the waist
before and behind, with a hole in the middle for her
head to go through. This ingenious garment was made
of cotton pocket-handkerchiefs not yet cut apart for
sale and printed with portraits of prize-fighters.
Tamasese, when he entered the house, proved to be the
finest native whom we had yet seen, with the square
head and broad limbs of a Roman emperor. In addi-
A NATIVE DANCE 305
tion to the lava- lava both men and women loved to
decorate themselves and their guests with garlands of
flowers worn either on their heads or hung round their
necks. I have a vivid recollection of my brother seated
on a box in Tamasese's hospitable house with a wreath
of flowers on his head, surrounded by an admiring
crowd of young women, including the handsome Viti, a
young cousin or adopted daughter, and the Taupau or
Maid of the Village, a girl selected for her beauty and
charm to represent the commmiity in the receptions
and merry-makings which are a prominent feature in
Samoan life.
Later in the day we were present at a native dance, if
dance it can be called, when the performers sat for the
most part on the ground, and the action took place by
girls swinging their arms and bodies while the men
contributed the music. The girls did not confine them-
selves to rhythmic movements, but also gave a kind
of comic dramatic performance, mimicking amongst
other things the manners and customs of white people
with much laughter and enjoyment. They threw
bunches of leaves about by way of cricket balls — got up
and walked in peculiar manners, with explanations
which were translated to us as " German style,"
" English style," and so on ; and when they sang a kind
of song or recitative, concerning a college for native
girls about to be established by the missionaries, they
made the very sensible suggestion that one or two of
them should go and try what the life was like before
they entered in any number.
Tamasese paid us a return visit at Apia, It was
curious to see him seated on a chair liaving luncheon
with us, dressed solely in a white lava-lava and a large
garland of leaves and flowers (»r i)erries. He also
306 TONGA AND SAMOA [ch. xm
attended an evening party at Ruge's Buildings ; on
that occasion lie added a white linen coat to his costume
at Haggard's request, simply because the cocoa-nut oil
with which natives anoint their bodies might have
come off on the ladies' dresses in a crowd.
The truth is that a lava-lava and a coating of oil are
much the most healthy and practical costume in a
tropical climate. When a shower of rain comes on it
does so with such force that any ordinary garment is
soaked through in a few minutes. It is impossible for
natives to be always running home to change their
clothes even if their wardrobes permitted, and remaining
in these wet garments is surely provocative of the
consumption which so often carries them off.
Shirley Baker in Tonga made it a law that everyone
should wear an upper and a nether garment ; in Samoa
it was not a legal question, but the missionaries made
doubtless well-intentioned efforts to enforce the addition
of white shirts to the male, and overalls to the female
costume, which really seemed unnecessary with their
nice brown skins.
It is difficult for a casual visitor to judge fairly the
influence of missionaries on natives, but on the whole, as
far as I have seen missions in different lands, despite
mistakes and narrow-mindedness, it seems to be for
good. There is an enormous difference between missions
to ancient civilisations such as those of India and
China, and to children of nature such as the popu-
lation of the Pacific. I do not forget the command
"Go ye and teach all nations," an authority which
no Christian can dispute ; I am thinking only of
how this has been done, and with what effect on the
" nations."
It is pretty evident that when the nations have an
MISSIONARIES 307
elaborate ritual of their own, and when the educated
classes among tliem have a decided tendency to meta-
physics, a ritual such as that of the Roman Catholics is
apt to appeal to them, and the men sent to teach them
nmst be prepared to enter into their difficulties and
discussions. When, however, the populations to be
approached are merely inclined to deify the forces of
nature, and to believe in the power of spirits, if a man
of some education comes among them, helps them in
illness, and proves his superiority in agriculture and in
the arts of daily life, they are very ready to accept his
authority and obey his injunctions.
In the case of the South Sea Islanders there is no
doubt that the missionaries have afforded them pro-
tection against the tyranny and vices introduced by
many of the low-class traders and beachcombers who
exploited them in every possible way. The missionaries
have done their best to stop their drinking the horrible
spirits received from such men, in return for forced
labour and the produce of their land. They have done
much to eradicate cannibalism and other evil customs.
Their error seems to have been the attempt to put down
dances and festivities of all kinds on the plea that these
were connected with heathen rites, instead of encourag-
ing them under proper restrictions. Even when we
were in the Islands, however, many of the more en-
lightened missionaries had already realised that human
nature must have play, and that, as St. John told the
huntsman who found him playing with a partridge, you
cannot keep the bow always bent. Probably by now
the Christian Churches in the Pacific have learnt much
wisdom by experience.
As before remarked, there were, in IS!)2, three sets of
missionaries in Samoa. Apart from the Roman Catho-
308 TONGA AND SAMOA [ch. xiii
lies, the most important were the London Missionaries,
whose fomiders had been men of high education and
who had settled in the Islands about the time of Queen
Victoria's accession. The Wesleyans had also made
many converts.
Some years before our visit a sort of concordat had
been arranged between the various Anglican and Pro-
testant Churches working in the Pacific. The Church
of England clergy were to work in the Islands commonly
called Melanesia ; the Wesleyans, whose great achieve-
ments had been in Fiji, were to take that group, Tonga,
and other offshoots of their special missions ; the London
missionaries were to have Samoa and other fields of
labour where their converts predominated. Under
this agreement the Wesleyan missionaries left Samoa,
but alas ! after a time they came back, to the not
unnatural indignation of the London missionaries.
Their plea was that their flock begged them to return.
An outsider cannot pronounce on the rights and wrongs
of the question, but the feeling engendered was evident
to the most casual observer.
As for the Roman Catholics, we were sitting one
evening with a London missionary, when a native
servant ran in to inform him that the R.C. priest was
showing a magic-lantern in which our host and one of
his colleagues were represented in hell !
I should add that I noticed that in a course of lectures
given to their students by the London missionaries was
one " on the errors of the Roman Church," but that was
not as drastic, nor, I presume, so exciting, as the ocular
argument offered by the priest.
The mythology of the Samoans was much like that
of other primitive nations, and as in similar cases their
gods and heroes were closely connected. The chief
SA]\IOAN MYTHOLOGY 309
deity was a certain Tangoloalangi or " god-of-lieaven."
He had a son called Pilibuu, who came down to earth,
settled in Samoa, and planted kava and sugar-cane.
He also made a fishing-net and selected as his place of
abode a spot on Upolu large enough to enable him to
spread it out. Pilibuu had four sons to whom he
allotted various offices ; one was to look after the
plantations, another to carry the walking-stick and
fly-whisk to " do the talking," a third as warrior carried
the spear and club, while the youngest had charge of
the canoes. To all he gave the excellent advice, " When
you wish to work, work ; when you wish to talk, talk ;
when you wish to fight, fight." The second injunction
struck me as that most congenial to his descendants.
The Samoans had legends connected with their mats,
those of fine texture being valued as jewels are in
Western lands. One was told me at great length about
a mat made by a woman who was a spirit, who worked
at different times under the vines, under a canoe, and
on the sea-shore. Either her personal charms or her
industry captivated Tangoloalangi, and he took her up to
heaven and made her his wife. Her first child, a
daughter, was endowed with the mat, and looking down
from heaven she was fascinated by the appearance of a
fine man attired in a lava-lava of red bird-of-paradise
feathers. She descended in a shower of rain, but her
Endymion, mistaking her mode of transit for an ordinary
btonn, took off his plumes for fear they should get wet.
Arrived on earth she went up to him and said, " Where
is the man I saw from heaven wearing a fine lava-lava ? "
" I am he," replied the swain. Incredulous, she re-
torted, " I saw a man not so ugly as you." " I am the
same as before, but you saw me from a distance with a
red lava-lava on." In vain he resumed his adornment ;
21
310 TONGA AND SAMOA [ch. xiii
the charm was broken and she would none of him.
Instead of returning to the skies she wandered to another
village and had further adventures with the mat,
which she gave to her daughter by the earthly husband
whom she ultimately selected. She told the girl that on
any day on which she took the mat out to dry in the sun
there would be darkness, rain, and hurricane. The mat
was still preserved in the family of the man who told me
the story, and was never taken out to dry in the sun.
The Samoans, like other races, had a story of the
Flood, and one derivation (there are several) of the name
of the Group is Sa = sacred or preserved, Moa = fowl,
as they say that one of their gods preserved his fowls on
these islands during the deluge.
They had sacred symbols, such as sticks, leaves, and
stones, and a general belief in spirits, but I never heard
of any special ritual, nor were there any traces of
temples on the Islands. They seemed a gentle, amiable
people, not fierce like the natives of New Ireland, the
New Hebrides, and others of negroid type.
The constant joy of the natives is to go for a malanga
or boat expedition to visit neighbouring villages, and
we quite realised the fascination of this mode of progress
when we were rowed through the quiet lagoons in early
morning or late evening, the rising or setting sun striking
colours from the barrier reefs, and our boatmen chanting
native songs as they bent to their oars. Once a little
girl was thrown into our boat to attend us when we
were going to sleep in a native teacher's house. She
lay down at the bottom with a tappa cloth covering her
from the sun. We were amused, when the men began
to sing, to hear her little voice from under the cloth
joining in the melody.
On this occasion we visited one or two stations of
DESIRE FOR ENGLISH PROTECTION 311
the London missionaries and inspected a number of
young chief students. I noticed one youth who seemed
particularly pleased by something said to him by the
missionary. I asked what had gratified him, and Mr
Hills said that he had told him that the Island from
which he came (I think one of the Ellice Islands) had
just been annexed by the British, and they were so
afraid of being taken by the Germans ! That well
represented the general feeling. Once as we were
rowing in our boat a large native canoe passed us, and
the men in it shouted some earnest supplication. I
asked what it was, and was told that they were im-
ploring " by Jesus Christ " that we should beg the
British Government to take the Island.
Poor things, not long after we left, the agreement was
made by which England assumed the Protectorate of
Tonga and Germany that of Upolu and Savaii of the
Samoan group. Since the war New Zealand has the
" mandate " to govern them, and I hope they are
happy. I never heard that they were ill-treated by the
Germans during their protectorate, but they had
certainly seen enough of the forced labour on German
plantations to make them terribly afraid of their pos-
sibles fate.
The London missionaries had stations not only on
the main Island, but also on the outlying islets of
Manono and Apolima which they were anxious that we
should visit. The latter was a small but romantic
spot. The only practicable landing-place was between
two high projecting rocks, and we were told that any
party of natives taking refuge there could guarantee
themselves against pursuit by tying a rope across
from rock to rock and upsetting any hostile canoe into
the sea.
312 TONGA AND SAMOA [CH. xiii
Ocean itself, not the inhabitants, expressed an ob-
jection to our presence on this occasion. There was no
sheltering lagoon to receive us, the sea was so rough and
the surf so violent that our crew assured us that it was
impossible to land, and we had to retreat to Manono.
Mr. Haggard sent a message thence to the Apolima
chiefs assuring them of our great regret, and promising
that I would send my portrait to hang in their village
guest-house. I told this to the head missionary's
wife when I saw her again, and she exclaimed with
much earnestness, " Oh, do send the photograph or
they will all turn Wesleyans \ " To avert this catas-
trophe a large, elaborately framed photograph was
duly sent from Sydney and formally presented by Mr.
Haggard. I trust that it kept the score or so of
Islanders in the true faith. A subsequent visitor
found it hanging upside down in the guest-house,
and the last I heard of it was that the chiefs had
fled with it to the hills after some fighting in which
they were defeated. I seem to have been an inefficient
fetish, but I do not know whose quarrel they had
embraced.
We had one delightful picnic, not by boat, but riding
inland to a waterfall some twenty or thirty feet high.
Our meal was spread on rocks in the little river into
which it fell, and after our limcheon the native girls
who accompanied us sat on the top of the fall and let
themselves be carried by the water into the deep pool
below. My daughter and I envied, though we could
not emulate them, but my brother divested himself of
his outer garments and clad in pyjamas let two girls
take him by either arm and shot with them down into
the clear cool water. One girl who joined the enter-
tainment was said to be a spirit, but there was no
VISIT FROM TAMASESE 313
outward sign to show wherein she differed from a mortal.
Mortals or spirits, they were a cheery, light-hearted
race.
I must mention Tamasese's farewell visit to us
accompanied by one or two followers. Mr. Haggard
donned his uniform for the occasion, and as usual we
English sat in a row on chairs, while the Samoans
squatted on the floor in front. We had as interpreter
a half-caste called Yandall, who had some shado^vy
claim to the royal blood of England in his veins. How
or why I never understood, but he was held in vague
esteem on that account.
At this visit, after various polite phrases had been
interchanged, Haggard premised his oration by en-
joining on Yandall to interpret his words exactly. He
first dilated in flowery language on the importance of
my presence in Samoa, on which our guests interjected
murmurs of pleased assent. He then went on to
foreshadow our imminent departure — mournful " yahs "
came in here — and then wound up with words to this
effect : " Partings must always occur on earth ; there
is but one place where there will be no more partings,
and that is the Kingdom of heaven, ichcre Ladi/ Jersey
will be very fleased to see all f resent " ! Imagine the
joy of the Stevenson family when this gem of rhetoric
was reported to them.
1 have already referred to the story, An Object of
Pity, or the Man Haggard, which was written by my
brother and myself in collaboration with the Stcvensons.
The idea was that each author sliould descri])e his or
her own character, that Haggard should bo the hero of
a romance running through the whole, and that we
should all imitate the style of Ouida, to whom the
booklet was inscribed in a delightful dedication after-
314 TONGA AND SAMOA [ch. xiii
wards written by Stevenson, from which I venture to
cull a few extracts :
" Lady Ouida, — Many besides yourself have exulted to
collect Olympian polysyllables and to sling ink not
Wisely but too Well. They are forgotten, you endure.
Many have made it their goal and object to Exceed ; and
who else has been so Excessive ? ... It is therefore,
with a becoming diffidence that we profit by an unusual
circumstance to approach and to address you.
" We, undersigned, all persons of ability and good
character, were suddenly startled to find ourselves
walking in broad day in the halls of one of your romances.
We looked about us with embarrassment, we instinc-
tively spoke low ; and you were good enough not to
perceive the intrusion or to affect unconsciousness. But
we were there ; we have inhabited your tropical imagi-
nation ; we have lived in the reality that which you have
but dreamed of in your studio. And the Man Haggard
above all. The house he dwells in was not built by any
carpenter, you wrote it with your pen ; the friends with
which he has surrounded himself are the mere spirit of
your nostrils ; and those who look on at his career are
kept in a continual twitter lest he should fall out of
the volume ; in which case, I suppose he must infallibly
injure himself beyond repair ; and the characters in the
same novel, what would become of them ? . . . The
present volume has been written slavishly from your
own gorgeous but peculiar point of view. Your touch
of complaisance in observation, your genial excess of
epithet, and the grace of your antiquarian allusions,
have been cultivated like the virtues. Could we do
otherwise ? When nature and life had caught the lyre
from your burning hands who were we to affect a sterner
independence ? "
There follow humorous comments on the contents of
the chapters, and the Dedication ends with the signa-
tures of " Your fond admirers "' in Samoan with English
"AN OBJECT OF PITY" 315
translations. Mrs. Stevenson, for instance, was " Le
Fatine Mamana I Le Maunga, The Witch-Woman of
the Mountain " ; and the rest of us bore like fanciful
designations. It was of course absurd daring on the
part of Rupert and myself to write the initial
chapters, which dealt with an imaginary conspiracy
typical of the jealousies among various inhabitants of
the Islands, and with our expedition to Malie (Mataafa's
Camp) ; but we were honoured by the addition of four
amusing chapters written by Stevenson, Mrs. Stevenson,
Mrs. Strong, and their cousin Graham (now Sir Graham)
Balfour. The Stevensons gave a lurid account of
Haggard's evening party at Ruge's Buildings, and Mr.
Balfour projected himself into the future and imagined
Haggard old and historic surrounded by friends and
evolving memories of the past.
We had kept him in ignorance of what was on foot,
but when all was complete the Stevensons gave us
luncheon at Vailima with the best of native dishes,
Lloyd Osbourne, adorned with leaves and flowers in
native fashion, officiating as butler. When the
banquet was over a garland of flowers was hung
round Haggard's neck, a tankard of ale was placed
l)efore him, and Stevenson read aloud the MSS. replete
with alkisions to, and jokes about, his various innocent
idiosyncrasies. So far from being annoyed, the good-
natured hero was quite delighted, and kept on saying.
What a compliment all you people arc paying me ! "
In the end we posed as a group, Mrs. Strong lying on
the ground and Ji(jl(liiig up an ap})le while the rest of us
knelt or bent in various attitudes of adoration round
the erect form and smiling countenance of Haggard,
'i'hc })li(jtograph taken did not come out very well, but
sufiicicntly for my motlicr later (jii to make a coloured
316 TONGA AND SAMOA [ch. xiii
sketch for me to keep as a frontispiece for my special
copy oi An Object of Pity." It was indeed a happy
party — looking back it is sad to think how few of those
present now survive, but it was pleasure unalloyed
while it lasted.
As for the booklet, with general agreement of the
authors I had it privately printed at Sydney, the copies
being distributed amongst us. Some years after Steven-
son's death Mr. Blaikie asked leave to print twenty-five
presentation copies in the same form as the Edin-
burgh edition, to which Mrs. Stevenson consented. I
wrote an explanatory Preface, and lent for reproduction
the clever little book of coloured sketches by Mrs.
Strong, with Stevenson's verses underneath to which
I have already alluded.
We had arranged to return to Australia by the
American mail-ship, the Mariposa, so after three of
the happiest weeks of my life we had to embark on
board her on the evening of September 2nd, when she
entered the harbour of Apia.
Regret at leaving Samoa was, however, much allayed
by meeting my son, Villiers, who had come across
America from England in the charge of Sir George
Dibbs, our New South Wales Premier, whose visit to
the mother-land I have already described. Villiers had
grown very tall since we parted, he had finished his
Eton career and joined us to spend some months in
Australia before going to Oxford. We were amused by
an " interview " with him and Dibbs in one of the
American papers, in which he was described as son
of the Governor of New South Wales, but more
like a young Englishman than a young x4.ustralian,
which was hardly surprising considering that he had
at that time never set foot in Australia. This re-
COURAGE OF R. L. STEVENSON 317
minds me of some French people who seeing a
Maharajah in Paris at the time of Lord Minto's ap-
pointment to India, thought that the dignified and
turbaned Indian must be the new Viceroy — the Earl
of Minto.
Poor Robert Louis Stevenson — he died not long after
our visit ; his life, death, and funeral have been recorded
in many books and by many able pens. His life, with
all its struggles and despite constant ill-health, was, I
hope and believe, a happy one. Perhaps we most of us
fail to weigh fairly the compensating joy of overcoming
when confronted with adversity of any kind. He told
me once how he had had a MS. refused just at the time
when he had undertaken the cares of a family represented
by a wife and her children, but I am sure that the
pleasure of the success which he won was greater to his
buoyant nature than any depression caused by tem-
porary failure.
He loved his Island home, though he had from time
to time a sense of isolation. He let this appear once
when he said how he should feel our departure, and how
sorry he should be when he should also lose the com-
panionship of Haggard.
There has lately been some correspondence in the
papers about misprints in his books. Tliis may be due
in part to the necessity of leaving the correction of his
{proofs to others when he was residing or travelling in
distant climes. Wlien we were in Samoa, Una, or the
Beach of FaJe.sa, was appearing as a serial in an illus-
trated paper of which J received a copy. Stevenson
liad not seen it in print until I showed it to him, and
was much vexed to find that some verbal alteration had
})een made in the text. At his request when we left tlie
Inland I took a cable to send oil from Auckland, where
318 TONGA AND SAMOA [ch. xiii
our ship touclied, with strict injunctions to " follow
Una line by line." There was no cable then direct
from Samoa, and apparently no arrangement had been
made to let the author see his own work while in
progress.
CHAPTER XIV
DEPARTURE FROM AUSTRALIA CHINA AND JAPAN
Early in 1893 my husband was obliged to resign his
Governorship, as our Welsh agent had died and
there were many urgent calls for his presence in England.
The people of New South Wales were most generous in
their expressions of regret, and I need not dwell on all
the banquets and farewells which marked our departure.
I feel that all I have said of Australia and of our many
friends there is most inadequate ; but though the
people and places offered much variety in fact, in de-
scription it would be most difficult to avoid repetition
were I to attempt an account of the townships and
districts which we visited and of the welcome which we
received from hospitable hosts in every place. There
were mining centres like Newcastle where the coal was
80 near the surface that we walked into a large mine
through a sloping tunnel instead of descending in a
cage ; there was the beautiful scenery of the Hawkesbury
River, the rich lands romid Bathurst and Armidale and
other stations where we passed most enjoyable days
with squatters whose fathers had rescued these lands
and made '* the wilderness to blossom like a rose." It
often seemed to me that one special reason why English-
men in Colonial life succeeded where other nations
equally intelligent and enterprising failed to take
j)ermanent root was the way in which Englishwomen
would adapt themselves to isolation. We all know the
310
1
320 DEPARTURE FROM AUSTRALIA [ch. xiv
superiority of many Frencliwomen in domestic arts, but
it is difficult to imagine a Frenchwoman living in the
conditions accepted by English ladies in all parts of
the Empire.
One lady in New South Wales lived fifteen miles
from the nearest neighbour, and her one relaxation
after a hard day's work was to hear that neighbour
playing down the telephone on a violin. That, how-
ever, was living in the world compared to the fate of
another friend ! The husband of the latter lady was,
when we met, a very rich man who drove a four-in-hand
and sent his son to Eton. When they first started
Colonial life they lived for five years a hundred miles
from any other white woman. The lady had a white
maid- servant of some kind for a short time at the
beginning, of their career, but she soon left, and after
that she had only black " gins " (women). I was told
that one of her children had been burnt in a bush fire,
and her brother-in-law was killed by the blacks.
Naturally I did not refer to those tragedies, but I asked
whether she did not find the isolation very trying, par-
ticularly the evenings. She said, oh no, she was so
occupied during the day and so tired when the work
was over that she had no time to wish for anything but
rest. She was a very quiet, pleasant woman, a lady in
every sense of the word, and one could not but admire
the way in which she had passed through those hard
and trying years and resumed completely civilised
existence.
We heard many tales of bushrangers from those who
had encountered them or heard of their performances
from friends. It is not very astonishing that a popu-
lation largely recruited in early days from convicts
should have provided a contingent of highwaymen.
BUSHRANGERS 321
Their two main sources of income were the oxen and
horses which they stole and sold again after scientifically
" faking " the brands, and the gold which they robbed
as it was being conveyed to distant banks.
I have referred to Rolf Boldrewood's hero " Star-
light." Certain incidents of his career were adapted
from the life of the most prominent bushranger Kelly,
but whereas Starlight, for the purpose of the story, is
endowed with some of the traits of a fallen angel,
Kelly seems to have been a common sort of villain in
most respects, only gifted with exceptional daring and
with that power over other men which is potent for
good or evil. He was described as wearing " armour " ;
I believe that he protected himself with certain kitchen
utensils under his clothes. In the end, when hotly
pursued by the police, he and his band underwent a
regular siege in a house, but by that time the police
were able to bring up reinforcements by rail, the gang
was forced to surrender, and Kelly and others were
executed.
A sordid incident was that on the very night of his
execution Kelly's brother and sister appeared, for money,
on the stage in a theatre at Melbourne !
The railroad was the effectual means of stopping
bushranging, both by facilitating the movements of the
police and by enabling gold to be transported without
the risks attendant on coaches, or horsemen who were
sometimes sent by their employers to carry it from
place to place. A gentleman told me how he had been
thus commissioned, and being attacked by a solitary
bushranger in a wayside inn, dodged his assailant
round and round a stove and ultimately got off safely.
Bushranging was extinct before our arrival in New
South Wales, but Jersey had one rather curious ex-
322 DEPARTURE FROM AUSTRALIA [ch. xiv
perience of its aftermatli. An old man had murdered
his wife, and, in accordance with the then custom, the
capital sentence pronounced upon him by the judge
came before the Governor in Council for confirmation.
Jersey asked the advice of each member in turn, and
all concurred in the verdict except one man, who
declined to give an opinion. After the Council he took
my husband aside and told him that he had not
liked to join in the condemnation as he knew the
criminal personally. He added this curious detail. The
murderer had formerly been connected with a gang of
bushrangers ; he had not actually shared in their de-
predations, but he had received the animals they stole,
and it was his job to fake the brands — namely, to
efface the names or marks of the proper owners and to
substitute others so that the horses or cattle could not
be identified. The gang was captured and broken up,
the members being all sentenced to death or other
severe punishment, but this man escaped, as his crimes
could not be proved against him. Nemesis, however,
awaited him in another form. He kept his faking iron ;
and when his wife was found murdered, the fatal wound
was identified as having been inflicted with this weapon,
and he was thereby convicted.
Another story of those bygone days, though uncon-
nected with bushranging, seems worth preservation.
A man was found lying dead in the streets of Brisbane
(or some other town in Queensland), and there was no
evidence whatever to show how he had come by this
fate, though the fact that his watch was missing pointed
to violence on the part of some person unknown. A
considerable time afterwards certain poor houses were
demolished, with the view presumably to building
better ones in their place. Behind a brick in the
CIRCmiSTANTIAL EVIDENCE 323
chimney of one of these houses was found the missing
watch. A workman who had inhabited the house at
the time of the murder was thereupon arrested, and
brought before a judge who had come on circuit. The
workman protested his innocence, saying that he had
seen the man lying in the street and, finding that he
was quite dead, appropriated his watch and took it
home to his wife. The woman had told him that he
was very foolish, as if the watch were found in his
possession he might be accused of killing the man, and
yielding to her persuasions instead of trying to sell or
wearing it he hid it behind the chimney where it was
found. The story sounded thin, but on hearing the
details of place and date the presiding judge exclaimed
that it was true. When a young barrister he himself
had been in the same town, and was running to catch
the train when a man, apparently drunk, lurched
against him ; he pushed him aside and saw him fall,
but had no idea that he was injured, and hurried on.
The workman was acquitted, and I suppose that the
judge acquitted himself !
Space has not admitted any record of our visitors at
Sydney, but I must mention the pleasure which we had
in welcoming Miss Shaw who came on behalf of The
Times to examine and report on the Kanaka question.
It was universally allowed that The Times had been very
well advised in sending out so charming and capable a
lady. She won the hearts of the Queensland planters,
who introduced her to many sides of plantation life
which they would never have troubled themselves to
show a mere man. We gladly continued in England a
friendship thus begun at the Antipodes, none the less
gladly when Miss Shaw became the wife of an equally
talented servant of the Empire, Sir Erederick Lugard.
324 DEPARTURE FROM AUSTRALIA [ch. xiv
One year we entertained at Osterley a number of
foreign Colonial delegates and asked representative
English people to meet them.
Among our guests were Sir Frederick and Lady
Lugard. The latter was seated between a Belgian,
interested in the Congo, and I think a Dutchman. After
dinner these gentlemen asked me in somewhat agitated
tones, " Qui etait cette dame qui etait si forte dans la
question de FAfrique ? " and one said to the other,
" Elle vous a bien roule, mon cher."
I explained that it was Lady Lugard, formerly Miss
Flora Shaw.
" Quoi — la grande Miss Shaw ! Alors cela s'explique,"
was the reply in a voice of awe.
In February 1893 Villiers and our yoimger children
left in the Ofhir direct for England, accompanied by
Harry Cholmondeley, the German governess, and the
servants. My brother remained on the staff of our
successor. Sir Robert Duff. Our eldest daughter,
Margaret, stayed with us, as we contemplated a visit
to Japan and a trip across Canada and to Chicago on
our way back, and wished for her company.
We travelled by train to Toowoomba in Queensland,
where we slept one night, and then went on to Brisbane,
where we embarked on board the Eastern Australian
ship the Catterthun. Brisbane was still suffering from
the after-effects of great floods, and it was curious,
particularly in the suburbs, to see many houses, which
had been built on piles to avoid the depredation of
ants, overturned, and lying on their sides like houses
thrown out of a child's box of toys. Nevertheless
Brisbane struck us as a cheerful and prosperous city
during our few hours' stay.
The voyage through the lagoon of the Great Barrier
THE GREAT BARRIER REEF 325
Reef, though hot, was most enjoyable. As is well
koo^^^l this great coral reef extends for over twelve
hundred miles in the ocean washing the north-east
coast of Australia. In the wide expanse of sea between
it and the mainland ships can generally sail unvexed by
storms, and from a few hours after we left Brisbane till
we reached the mouth of the North Continent that was
our happy condition.
We stopped at one or two coast towns and passed
through the very pretty Albany Passage to the Gulf of
Carpentaria, across which we had a perfectly smooth
passage. We then spent a night or two with Mr.
Dash wood at Port Darwin, where we were much in-
terested in the population, partly officials of the Eastern
Extension Cable Company and partly Chinese. Every-
thing has doubtless changed greatly in the years which
have intervened since our visit. Port Darwin was then
the chief town of the Northern Territory of South
Australia — now the Northern Territory has been taken
over by the Commonwealth Government, which appoints
an Administrator and encourages settlement. 1 hope
the settlers will succeed, but Port Darwin remains in my
memory as a very hot place and the European inhabi-
tants as of somewhat yellow complexion.
The Chinese had a temple or Joss house, attached to
which was a sort of hull in which were stored numerous
jars recalling those of the Forty Thieves, but containing
the bones of dead Chinamen awaiting transport to their
own country.
While at Port Darwin Mr. Dasliwood very kindly
arranged a Corroboree for us. We were told that this
was one of the few places where such an entertainment
was possible, in parts of Australia farther south the
aboriginals have become too civilised, and in the wilder
22
326 DEPARTURE FROM AUSTRALIA [ch. xiv
places they were too shy and would not perform before
wliite men.
The whole thing was well worth seeing. The men
were almost naked, and had with their own blood
stuck wool in patterns on their black bodies. They had
tall hats or mitres of bamboo on their heads and carried
long spears. The Corroboree began after dark, and the
men shouted, danced, and carried on a mimic war to
the glare of blazing bonfires. A sort of music or
rhythmic noise accompanied the performance caused by
weird figures painted with stripes of white paint who
were striking their thighs with their hands. They
looked so uncanny that I could not at first make out
what they were, but was told that they were the women
or " gins." The scene might have come out of the
infernal regions or of a Witches' Walpurgis Night.
Next morning my husband wanted to give the per-
formers presents ; he was begged not to give them
money, as they would spend it in drink, but he was
allowed to purchase tobacco and tea and distribute
packets of these. Most peaceable quiet men and women
tidily dressed came up to receive them, and it was
hardly possible to believe that these were the demoniac
warriors who had thrilled us the night before.
While at Port Darwin we visited the prison, and
seven or eight Malays, under sentence of death for
piracy or some similar crime, were paraded for our in-
spection. I thought this somewhat hard upon them, but
we were assured that such notice would be rather pleasing
to them than otherwise, and their smiling countenances
certainly conveyed that impression. One odd bit of
red-tape was connected with this. Every death-sentence
had to go to Adelaide, then headquarters of the Northern
Territory Government, to be confirmed, but because
COLOURED LABOUR 327
when Port Darwiii was first established it took many
weeks for any communication to go to and fro, no
criminal could be executed till that number of wrecks
had elapsed, although telegraph or post could have
reported the sentence and received confirmation in
days if not in hours. No doubt all is now different, but
I do not suppose that the criminals objected to the
delay.
Here, as elsewhere in the semi-tropical parts of
Australia, the burning question of coloured labour
arose — one wondered, for instance, whether such labour
would not have largely facilitated the introduction of
rubber. Still Australia must, and will, decide this
and similar problems for herself ; and if even strictly
regulated Indian or kanaka labour would infringe the
ideal of " White Australia," the barrier must be main-
tained.
Of course our officers on board the Cattertliun were
white, but the crew were Chinese. At one time an
attempt had been made to prevent their employment —
very much to Captain Shannon's distress, as he loved
his Chinamen. This veto, however, was not in force
when we made the voyage, though the men were not
allowed on shore. We had a Chinese Wesleyan mis-
sionary on board, and we were told that when his
Wesleyan friends wanted him to visit them at Mel-
bourne or Sydney (the former, I think) they had to
deposit £100, to be refunded when he returned to the
ship, as a guarantee against his remaining in the country.
At Port Darwin we said a final farewell to Australia
and sailed for Hong-Kong. Our one port of call during
this voyage was at Dilli, port of the Portuguese Colony
of 'J'imor. 'i'he southern portion of 'I'imor belongs to
the Dutch, but our company was under contract to call
328 DEPARTURE FROM AUSTRALIA [ch. xiv
at the Portuguese port, and we suffered acutely in
consequence. The Portuguese had owned a gunboat
for five years, during which time they had contrived to
knock some forty-nine holes in its boiler. They had had
it once repaired by the Dutch, but it was past local
efforts, so we had to tow the wretched thing to Hong-
Kong, which seriously impeded our progress. The
Portuguese could not even tie it on straight, so after we
had gone some distance we had to send an officer and a
carpenter on board. They found the three officers of
the Portuguese Navy who had it in charge prostrate
with sea-sickness (not surprising from the way they
were tossing about), so they tied the vessel properly
behind us, left a card, and returned.
Timor was a picturesque mountainous island, but its
commerce as far as we could learn consisted of Timor
ponies — sturdy little beasts — and postage stamps. Of
course everyone on board rushed off to purchase the
latter for their collections.
I rode up with one or two companions to a Portuguese
monastery on the top of a hill, where the Father Superior
entertained us with exceptionally good port wine. He
said that he and his community educated young native
chiefs. We tried politely to ascertain whether the
education was gratis. The Reverend Father said that
the youths did not pay, but each brought several
natives who cultivated the plantations belonging to the
monastery as an equivalent. Presumably this was not
slavery, but what a convenient way of paying school
fees ! An improvement on S queers — the scholars learnt,
and their attendants toiled, for the public good.
Timor provided an interesting addition to our pas-
sengers in the person of a Portuguese Archbishop with
his attendant priests. I believe that his Grace had got
HONG-KONG 329
into some kind of ecclesiastical hot-water and was
going to Macao for inquiry, but I do not know parti-
culars. However, on the Sunday following our depar-
ture from Timor I learnt that our captain would read
the English service and the Chinese Wesleyan would
hold one for the crew on the lower deck. I suggested to
the first officer that he should offer the Portuguese
priests facilities for their rites, as it seemed only proper
that all creeds should take part. This was gratefully
accepted, but when a few days later I sent my friend
again to propose a service on March 25th (the Annun-
ciation) the padre was quite annoyed, and asked what
he knew about it ! My officer piously declared that
we knew all about it, but the Archbishop would have
nothing to say to it.
The only rough part of our whole voyage was some
twenty-four hours before reaching Hong-Kong, and if
we had not had the gunboat dragging behind we should
probably have landed before the storm. I was greatly
surprised by the beauty of Hong-Kong. Its depth of
colour is astonishing and the variety of craft and constant
movement in the harbour most fascinating. As viewed
from the Peak, it was like a scene from a world-drama
in which modern civilisation and traffic were ever
invading the strange and ancient life of the Cliina
beyond. There were the great men-of-war and merchant
ships of the West side by side with the sampans on
which thousands of Chinese made their homes, lived
and moved and had their being. To the roofs of the
sampans the babies were tied by long cords so that they
might play on deck without falling into the wat€r.
Anyhow, the boys were securely tied — there seemed
some litth; doubt about the knots in the case of girls.
Then behind the city were the great red-peaked hills
330 CHINA [CH. XIV
which one sees on screens — I had always thought that
they were the convention of the artist, but no, they
were exact transcripts from nature.
Across the harbour lay the British mainland posses-
sion, Kowloon, to which we paid an amusing visit.
We were taken by the Commodore of the Station, and
as I believe we did something unauthorised, gratitude
forbids me to mention his name. We entered a Chinese
gambling-house, which was very quaint. There was a
high hall with a gallery or galleries running round —
behind were some little rooms with men smoking, I
imagine opium. In the gallery in which we took seats
were several people, including Chinese ladies. On the
floor of the hall was a table at which sat two or three
Chinamen who appeared to be playing some game of
their own — probably fan-tan. We were given little
baskets with strings in which to let down our stakes.
As we did not know the game and had no idea what we
were backing, we put in some small coins for the fun
of the thing, and when we drew them up again found
them agreeably multiplied. I had a shrewd suspicion
that the heathen Chinee recognised our escort and took
good care that we were not fleeced.
The climate of Hong-Kong is said to be very trying,
and our brief experience bore this out. We spent
Easter Sunday there, and it was so hot that attendance
in the Cathedral was a distinct effort. A few days
later we went on an expedition to the Happy Valley,
and it was so cold that our hosts handed round orange
brandy to keep the party alive.
While we were there our daughter Margaret attended
her first " come- out " ball, and we felt that it was quite
an original performance for a debutante to be carried
to Government House in a Chinese chair.
CANTON 331
Hong-Kong should be a paradise for the young — there
were only nine English girls in the Colony of age to be
invited, and any number of young men from ships and
offices.
Even more interesting than Hong-Kong was our
brief \asit to Canton. The railway from Kowloon to
Canton was not then built, and we went by boat up
the Pearl River. Everything was novel to us, including
the pagodas on the banks of the river, erected to pro-
pitiate some kind of deities or spirits, but once there
remaining unused, and generally falling into decay.
We reached Canton at daybreak, and if Hong-Kong was
a revelation Canton was still more surprising. The
wide river was packed with native vessels. How they
cx)uld move at all was a problem : some were propelled
by wheels like water wheels, only the motive power was
men who worked a perpetual tread-mill ; the majority
were inhabited by a large river population called the
Tankers, who ages before had taken up their abode on
boats when driven by nature or man from land. We
were told that they never willingly went ashore, and when
compelled to do so by business, ran till they regained
their floating homes. But not the river alone, the vast
city with its teeming population was so exactly what you
see in Chinese pictures that it appeared quite unreal ;
for a moment I felt as if it had been built up to deceive
the Western traveller, as houses were erected and
peasants dressed up in the eighteenth century to make
Catherine the Great believe in a prosperous population
where none existed.
However, Canton was real, and the more we saw
during our short stay the more were we astonished by
pictures awakened to life. We visited a rich merchant,
and his house and enclosed garden, with little bridges,
332 CHINA [CH. xiv
quaintly trimmed shrubs, and summer-houses in which
were seated portly gentlemen in silk garments and round
hats with buttons on the top, had been transported
bodily from the old Chinese wall-paper in my nursery
at Stoneleigh. His wife was escorted into his hall by
attendant maidens, but so thick was the paint on her
face and mouth that for her utterance was as difficult
as walking on her tiny feet.
The merchant spoke a little English, but was not very
easy to understand. He showed the charmingly deco-
rated apartments of his " Number One Wife," but I
am uncertain whether that was the lady we saw or a
predecessor, and in the garden we were introduced to
" my Old Brother." We were entertained with super-
fine tea and also presented with some in packets, but
we did not find that pure Chinese tea was altogether
appreciated by our friends in England. We stayed at
the Consulate with Mr. Watters ; a most interesting
man who, having spent a large portion of his life in
China, had become imbued with much of their idealism,
and esteemed them highly in many respects. The
Consulates of the various European Powers were all
situated in a fortified enclosure called the Shameen,
outside the city proper. It was very pretty and pleasant,
with green grass and nice gardens. Soup made of birds'
nests duly appeared at dinner. As is well known, these
nests are made by the birds themselves of a kind of
gum, not of twigs and leaves. The birds are a species
of sea-swallow which builds in cliffs and rocks. The
nests come chiefly from Java, Sumatra, and the coasts
of Malacca. Our kind host also provided sharks'
fins, another much-esteemed luxury.
The wonderful streets of Canton with their gaily
painted signs and shops teeming with goods of all
THE VICEROY OF CANTON 333
descriptions, the temples, Examination Hall, and Prison
have been described by so many travellers that I will
not dwell upon them. We were carried to all the sights
in chairs, and under the auspices of Mr. Watters were
treated with every civility, though I cannot of course
say whether any insulting remarks were made in the
vernacular.
Our constant friend, Sir Thomas Sanderson, had
written in advance to ensure that Jersey should be
treated with every respect by the then Viceroy of
Canton, who was Li-Hung Chang's brother. It was
arranged that guards belonging to the Consulate should
accompany my husband when he went to pay his
ceremonial call so that he might appear sufficiently
important. He was very courteously received, and
took the opportunity of hinting to the interpreter that
when His Excellency returned the visit my daughter
and I would like to see him. Directly he arrived at
the Consulate he expressed a wish that we should appear,
and we gladly obeyed the summons. We discovered
afterwards that this was quite an innovation, as the
Viceroy had never before seen a white woman. Any-
how, he seemed just as amused at seeing us as we were
at seeing him, and asked every sort of question both
about public matters in England and about our domestic
affairs.
He wanted to know what would be done with my
jewellery when I died and why I did not wear ear-rings.
Of course he inquired about the Queen, also about the
British Parliament. CJoncerning the latter the inter-
preter translated the pertinent question, " His Excel-
lency wants to know how five hundred men can ever
settle anything "—1 fear that my husband could only
laugh in reply.
334 CHINA [CH. XIV j
The Viceroy and his attendants remained for about
an hour. We were seated at a long table facing the
Great Man, and Mr. Watters and the Vice-Consul at
either end. When our guest and his followers had
departed Mr. Watters told us that they had been care-
fully watching lest anything should have been said in
Chinese which could have been construed as deroga-
tory to the British. Only once, he said, had a term
been used with regard to the Queen's sons which was
not absolutely the highest properly applied to Princes.
The Viceroy was, however, in such a good temper and
the whole interview went off so well that they thought
it wiser to take no notice of this single lapse from diplo-
matic courtesy.
It was, probably still is, necessary to keep eyes and
ears open in dealing with the " childlike and bland "
race. The late Lord Loch once described to me a
typical scene which took place when he was Governor
of Hong-Kong. A great review of British troops was
being held at which a prominent Chinese Governor or
General (I forget which) was present and a number
of Chinese were onlookers. The Chinese ofi&cial was
exceedingly anxious to edge out of his allotted position
to one a little in front of Lord Loch, who was of course
taking the salute. If he had succeeded in doing so his
countrymen would have at once believed in the Chinese
claim that all foreign nations were tributary to the
Son of Heaven and have accepted the salute as a recog-
nition of the fact. Lord Loch therefore stepped a little
in advance each time that his guest moved forward, and
this continued till both, becoming aware of the absurdity
of the situation, burst out laughing and the gentleman
with the pigtail perforce resigned his " push."
Thanks to Mr. Watters we were able to buy some
JAPANESE SCENERY 335
exceptionally good Mandarins' coats and embroideries,
as he found dealers who had really fine things and made
them miderstand that Jersey meant business.
From Hong-Kong we sailed in an American ship for
Japan, and landed at Kobe towards the middle of
April. We had a very pleasant captain, who amused
me by the plaintive way in which he spoke of the cross-
examination to which he was subjected by many pas-
sengers. One man was much annoyed by the day lost
in crossing 170° longitude. " I tried to explain as
courteously as I could," said the captain, " but at last
he exclaimed, ' I don't believe you know anything
about it, but I have a brother-in-law in a bank in New
York and I shall write and ask him ! ' " — as if they kept
the missing day in the bank.
Kobe is approached through the beautiful inland sea,
but unfortunately it was foggy as we passed through, so
we lost the famous panorama, but we soon had every
opportunity of admiring the charms of Nature in
Japan. We had always heard of the quaint houses and
people, of their valour and their art, but somehow no
one had told us of the beauty of the scenery, and it was
quite a revelation to us.
1 do not attempt any account of the wonderful towns,
tombs, and temples which we saw during our month's
sojourn in the country, as travellers and historians have
described them again and again, and Lafcadio Hearn
and others who knew the people well have written of
the spirit and devotion of the Japanese ; but I venture
to tran.scribe a few words from an article which I wrote
just after our visit for The Nineteenth Century, giving
my impressions of the landscape in spring :
" Japanese scenery looks as if it ought to be etched.
Large broad masses of light and shade would fail to
336 JAPAN [CH. XIV
convey the full effect. Between trees varied in colour-
ing and delicate in tracery peep the thatched cottage
roofs and the neat grey rounded tiles of little wooden
houses standing in gardens gay with peach blossom and
wisteria ; while the valleys are mapped out into minute
patches of green young corn or flooded paddy-fields
interspersed here and there with trellises over which
are trained the spreading white branches of the pear.
Everywhere are broad river-courses and rushing moun-
tain streams, and now and again some stately avenue
of the sacred cryptomeria leads to a temple, monastery,
or tomb. Nothing more magnificent than these avenues
can be conceived. The tall madder-pink stems rear
their tufted crests in some cases seventy or eighty feet
into the air, and the ground below is carpeted with red
pyrus japonica, violets, ferns, and, near the romantic
monastery of Doryo-San, with a kind of lily or iris
whose white petals are marked with lilac and yellow.
The avenue leading to Nikko extends in an almost un-
broken line for over fifteen miles, the trees being known
as the offering of a daimio who was too poor to present
the usual stone or bronze lantern at the tomb of the
great Shogun leyasu."
At Tokyo we were hospitably entertained at the
Legation by Mr. (now Sir Maurice) de Bunsen, Charge
d'Affaires, in the absence of the Minister. The
Secretary of Legation, Mr. Spring Rice (afterwards Sir
Cecil), added greatly to our pleasure by his knowledge
of things Japanese and the trouble he took to explain
them.
A letter to my mother, dated April 1893, resumes
many of my impressions of a Japan of nearly thirty
years ago when it was still only emerging from its
century-long seclusion.
" You cannot imagine what a delightful country '
Japan is. Not only is it so pretty, but it is so full of
real interest. I had imagined that it was rather a
INTERVIEW WITH THE EMPRESS 3S7
joke full of toy-houses and toy-people — on the contrary
one finds great feudal castles with moats and battle-
ments, gigantic stones fifteen feet long, and the whole
place full of legends of knights and their retainers,
ghosts and witches and enchantments. . . . The Clan-
system here was in full-swing till just the other day,
when Sir Harry Parkes routed out the Mikado, and the
Shoguns (Tycoons) or Great War Lords, who had
ruled the country for centuries, had at last to give way.
'* Even now the representatives of the greatest clans
hold chief places in the Ministry and Naval and Military
Departments, and the question in Parliament here is
whether the radical opposition can break up the clan-
system and distribute the loaves and fishes of Govern-
ment patronage evenly amongst the people. Meantime
I doubt if the Mikado, or Emperor as it is most proper to
call him, is very happy in his new life. He thinks it
correct to adapt himself to * Western civilisation,' but
very evidently prefers the seclusion of his ancestors
and has credit for hating seeing people. There was to
have been a garden party — the Cherry Blossom Party —
at the Palace last Friday, but unfortunately it pelted,
so it was promptly given up and everyone said that
His Imperial Majesty was very glad not to have to
* show/
** However G. had an audience with him yesterday and
all of us with the Empress. It was rather funny. In
the first place there was great discussion about our
clothes. G. went in uniform, but the oificial documents
granting audience specified tliat the ladies were to
appear at lU a.m., in high gowns — and in the middle of
the Japanese characters came the French words ' robes
en traine.' The wife of the Vice-Chamberlain — an
Englishwoman — also wrote to ex])lain that we must
come without bonnets and with high gowns with trains !
So we had to write back and ex])l;iin that my latest
Paris morning frock luul but a sliort train and M's
smartest ditto none at all.
" However, they ])roiuise(l to cx[jlaiii this to tlie
Empress, and we arrived at the Palace, whicii we found
338 JAPAN [CH. XIV
swarming with gold-laced officials, chamberlains, vice-
chamberlains, and pages, and ladies in their regulation
costume — high silk gowns just like afternoon garments
but with long tails of the same material, about as long as
for drawing-rooms — how they could have expected the
passing voyager to be prepared with this peculiar fashion
at twenty-four hours' notice I know not, and I think
it was lucky that I had a flowered brocade with some
kind of train to it.
" The saloons were very magnificent — built five years
ago — all that was Japanese in them first-class — the
European decorations a German imitation of something
between Louis XV and Empire, which I leave to your
imagination. G. was carried off in one direction
whilst we were left to a trained little lady who fortu-
nately spoke a little English, and after a bit we were
taken to a corridor where we rejoined G. and Mr. de
Bunsen and were led through more passages to a little
room where a little lady stood bolt upright in a purple
gown with a small pattern of gold flowers and an order —
Japanese, I believe. She had a lady to interpret on her
right, and two more, maids of honour, I suppose, in the
background. The interpreting lady appeared to be
alive — the vitality of the others was doubtful. We all
bowed and curtsied, and I was told to go up to the
Empress, which I did, and when I was near enough to
avoid the possibility of her moving, she shook hands
and said something almost in a whisper, interpreted to
mean that she was very glad to see me for the first
time. I expressed proper gratification, then she asked
as to the length of our stay, and finally said how sorry
she was for the postponement of the garden party, to
which I responded with, I trust, true Eastern hyperbole
that Her Majesty's kindness in receiving us repaid me
for the disappointment. This seemed to please her,
and then she shook hands again, and went through her
little formulae with M. and G., giving one sentence to
the former and two to the latter, after which with a
great deal more bowing and curtsying we got out of
the room and were shown through the other apartments.
THE SACRED MIRROR OF THE SUN-GODDESS 339
I heard afterwards that Her Majesty was very pleased
with the interview, so she must be easily gratified, poor
dear. I am told ' by those who know ' that she is an
excellent woman, does a great deal for schools and hos-
pitals to the extent on at least one occasion of giving
away all her pocket-money for the year and leaving
herself with none. The poor woman has no children,
but the Emperor is allowed other inferior spouses —
with no recognised position — to the number of ten. I
do not know how many ladies he has, but he has one
little boy and two or three girls. The little boy is
thirteen and goes to a day-school, so is expected to be
of much more social disposition than his papa."
The boy in question is now Emperor and has un-
fortunately broken down in health. Mrs. Sannomya
(afterwards Baroness), wife of the Vice-Chamberlain,
told me that he was very intelligent, and that the
Empress, who adopted him in accordance with Japanese
custom, was fond of him. She also told me that the
secondary wives were about the Court, but that it was
not generally known which were the mothers of the
Prince and Princesses. Mrs. Sannomya personally
knew which they were, but the children were to be
considered as belonging to the Emperor and Empress,
the individual mothers had no recognised claim upon
them. I believe that this Oriental " zenana " arrange-
ment no longer exists, but meanwhile it assured the
unbroken descent of the Imperial rulers from the Sun-
goddess. We were assured that the reigning Emperor
still possessed the divine sword, the ball or jewel, and
the mirror with which she endowed her progeny. The
mirror is the symbol ot Shinto, the orthodox faith of
Japan, and it derives its sanctity from the incident
that it was used to attract the Sun-gcxldess from a
cave whither she had retired in high dudgeon after a
340 JAPAN [OH. XIV
quarrel with another deity. In fact it seems to have
acted as a pre-historic heliograph. By the crowing
of a cock and the flashing of the mirror Ten sho dai jin
was induced to think that morning had dawned, and
once more to irradiate the universe with her beams.
Though Shintoism, the ancient ancestral creed, was
re-established when the Emperor issued from his long
seclusion, the mass of the population no doubt prefer
the less abstract and more ritualistic Buddhism of
China and Japan. What the educated classes really
believe is exceedingly hard to discover. A very charm-
ing Japanese diplomatic lady remarked to me one
Sunday at Osterley in connection with church-going
that " it must be very nice to have a religion.' Viscount
Hayashi summed up the popular creed, in answer to
an inquiry on my part, as " the ethics of Confucius with
the religious sanction of Buddhism " : perhaps that is
as good a definition as any other.
It seems doubtful whether Christianity has made
solid progress, though treated with due respect by the
Government. Mr. Max Mliller told me that when the
Japanese were sending emissaries to the various WesterA
Powers with instructions to investigate their methods
both in war and peace, two of these envoys visited
him and asked him to supply them with a suitable
creed. " I told them," said he, " ' Be good Buddhists
first and I will think of something for you/ '' An
English lady long resident in Japan threw some further
light on the Japanese view of ready-made religious
faith. At the time when foreign instructors were
employed to start Japan with her face turned west-
ward, a German was enlisted to teach court etiquette, no
doubt including " robes montantes en traine." While
still in this service a Court official requested him to
CHRISTIAXITY IN JAPAN 341
supply the full ceremonial of a Court Christening.
" But," returned the Teuton, " you are not Christians, so
how can I provide you with a Christening ceremony ? "
" Never mind," was the reply, " you had better give
it us now that you are here ; we never know when we
mav want it."
St. Francis Xavier, who preached Christianity to the
Japanese in the sixteenth century, records the testimony
of his Japanese secretary, whom he found and converted
at Goa, as to the effect likely to be produced on his
fellow-countrymen by the saintly missionary. " His
people," said Anjiro of Satsuma, " would not immedi-
ately assent to what might be said to them, but they
would investigate what I might affirm respecting
religion by a multitude of questions, and above all by
observing whether my conduct agreed with my words.
This done, the King, the nobility, and adult population
would flock to Christ, being a nation which always
follows reason as a guide."
Whether convinced by reason or example it is certain
that the Japanese of the day accepted Christianity in
large numbers, and that many held firm in the terrible
persecution which raged later on. Nevertheless the
Christian faith was almost exterminated at the beginning
of the seventeenth century, only a few lingering traces
being found when the country was reopened to missions
in the latter half of the nineteenth.
Nowadays the Japanese idea unfortunately appears
to be that Christianity has not much influence on the
statesmanship of foreign countries, and their leading
men in competition with the West seem too keen on
pushing to the front in material directions to trouble
much about abstract doctrines. Belief in a spirit-world,
however, certainly prevailed among the masses of the
23
342 JAPAN [CH, xrv
people whom we saw frequenting temples and joining
in cheerful pilgrimages.
The great interests of our visit from a social and
political point of view was finding an acute and active-
minded race in a deliberate and determined state of
transition from a loyal and chivalrous past to an essen-
tially modern but still heroic future. Neither the war
with China nor that with Russia had then taken place,
but foundations were being laid which were to ensure
victory in both cases. The Daimios had surrendered
their land to the Emperor and received in return modem
titles of nobility, and incomes calculated on their
former revenues. The tillers of the soil were secured
on their former holdings and instead of rent paid land-
tax. Naturally everything was not settled without
much discontent, particularly on the part of the peas-
ants, who thought, as in other countries, that any sort
of revolution ought to result in their having the land in
fee-simple. Much water, however, has flowed under
the Sacred Bridges of Japan since we were there, and
I do not attempt to tread the labyrinths of the agrarian
or other problems with which the statesmen of New
Japan had or have to deal.
One thing, however, was evident even to those who,
like ourselves, spent but a short time in the country.
The younger nobles gained more than they lost in many
ways by the abandonment of their feudal prominence.
Their fathers had been more subservient to the Shoguns
than the French nobility to Louis XIV. The third of
the Tokugawa line, who lived in the seventeenth
century, decreed that the daimios were to spend half the
year at Yedo (the modern Tokyo), and even when they
were allowed to return to their own estates they were
obliged to leave their wives and families in the capital
DAIMIOS OF OLD JAPAN 343
as hostages. The mountain passes were strictly guarded,
and all persons traversing them rigidly searched, cruci-
fixion being the punishment meted out to such as left
the Shogun's territory without a permit. On the
shores of the beautiful Lake Hakone at the foot of the
main pass villas were still pointed out where the daimios
rested on their journey, and we were told that a
neighbouring town was in other times largely popu-
lated by hair-dressers, who had to rearrange the
elaborate coiffures of the ladies who were forced to
take their hair down before passing the Hakone Bar.
True, the daimios lived and travelled with great state and
had armies of retainers, but at least one great noble con-
fessed to me that the freedom which he then enjoyed
fully compensated him for the loss of former grandeur.
My daughter who *' came ouf at Hong-Kong had quite
a gay little season at Tokyo, as we were hospitably enter-
tained by both Japanese and diplomats, and amongst
other festivities we thoroughly enjoyed a splendid
ball given by Marquis Naboshima, the Emperor's Master
of Ceremonies.
We were also fortunate in seeing the actor Danjolo,
commonly called the " Irving of Japan," in one of his
principal characters. The floor of the theatre was
divided into little square boxes in which knelt the
audience, men, women, and children. From the main
entrance of the house to the stage ran a gangway,
somewhat elevated above the floor ; this was called the
Flowery Path, and served not only as a means of access
to the boxes on either side, but also as an approach by
which some of the principal actors made a sensational
entrance on the scene. A large gallery, divided like
the parterre, ran round three sides of the house and was
reached from an outside balcony. European spectators
344 JAPAN [CH. XIV
taking seats in the gallery were accommodated with
chairs.
The main feature wherein the Japanese differed from
an English stage was that the whole central part of the
former was round and turned on a pivot. The scenery,
simple but historically correct, ran across the diameter
of the reversible part ; so while one scenic background
was before the audience another was prepared behind
and wheeled round when wanted. To remove impedi-
menta at the sides or anything which had to be taken
away during the progress of a scene, little black figures
with black veils over their faces, like familiars of the
Inquisition, came in, and Japanese politeness accepted
them as invisible.
Danjolo, who acted the part of a wicked uncle, proved
himself worthy of his reputation and was excellently
supported by his company. All the parts were taken
by men ; some plays were in those days acted by women,
but it was not then customary for the two sexes to per-
form together. Now I believe that the barrier has been
broken down and that they do so freely.
When we had a Japanese dinner at the Club the
charming little waitresses gave dramatic performances
in intervals between the courses.
Certainly the Japanese are prompt in emergency. A
Japanese of high rank once told me how the Rising Sun
came to be the National Flag. A Japanese ship arrived
at an American port and the harbour authorities de-
manded to know under what flag she sailed. This was
before the days when Japan had entered freely into
commercial relations with other lands, and the captain
had no idea of a national ensign. Not to be outdone by
other mariners, he secured a large piece of white linen
and painted upon it a large red orb. This was offered
JAPANESE FRIENDS 345
and accepted as the National Flag of Japan, and is
still the flag of her merchant fleet. With rays darting
from it, it has become the ensign of her warships, and,
as a gold chrysanthemum on a red ground, represents
the Rising Sun in the Imperial Standard. According
to my informant, who told me the tale at a dinner-
party in London, the whole idea sprang from the
merchant captain's readiness of resource.
Whatever changes Japan may undergo, it must
still retain the charm of its pure, transparent atmo-
sphere with the delicate hues which I never saw else-
where except in Greece. In some respects, unlike as
they are physically, the Japanese recall the quick-
witted, art-loving Greeks. Again, Japan, with its
lovely lakes and mountains and its rich vegetation, has
something in common with New Zealand, and, like
those happy Islands, it has the luxury of natural hot
springs. I shall never forget the hotel at Miyanoshita.
where the large bathrooms on the ground-floor were
supplied with unlimited hot and cold water conducted
in simple bamboo pipes direct from springs in a hill
just behind the house.
Still more vividly do I recall the Japanese who did
80 much for our enjo}ment at Tokyo. Amongst others
was the delightful Mrs. Inouye, whose husband, as
Marquis Inouye, has since been Ambassador in London.
Marchioness Inouye has remained a real friend, and
constantly sends me news from the Island Empire. Nor
must I forget how much we saw under the guidance of
my cousin, the Rev. Lionel Cholmoudeley, for many
years a missionary in Japan, and Chaplain to the British
Embassy there.
CHAPTEK XV
JOURNEY HOME — THE NILE — LORD KITCHENER
Our sojourn in Japan was all too short, and we sailed
from Yokohama in a ship of the Empress Line on May
12. Capturing a spare day at 170° longitude, we
reached Vancouver on the Queen's Birthday. Our
thirteen days' voyage was somewhat tedious, as 1 do
not think that we passed a single ship on the whole
transit. The weather was dull and grey, and there
was a continuous rolling sea, but I must say for our
ship that no one suffered from sea-sickness. She lived
up to the repute which we had heard concerning these
liners ; they were broad and steady, and I for one was
duly grateful.
We had some pleasant fellow-passengers, including
Orlando Bridgeman (now Lord Bradford) and his
cousin Mr. William Bridgeman (now a prominent
politician). A voyage otherwise singularly devoid of
excitement was agitated by the discovery of one or
more cases of small-pox among the Chinese on board.
Every effort was made to keep this dark, but when the
ukase went forth that every passenger who had not been
vaccinated recently must undergo the operation, no
doubt remained as to the truth of the rumours current.
Fortunately my husband, my daughter, myself, and
my maid had all been vaccinated just before leaving
Sydney, but we still felt anxious about possible quaran-
tine at Victoria — the port on the Island of Vancouver —
346
THE WELL-FORGED LIXK OF EMPIRE 3-47
the towii being on the mainland. Nothing happened,
however, and if the ship's doctor perjured himself, and
if the captain did not contradict him, I trust that the
Recording Angel did not set it down, as the relief of the
passengers was indeed great.
The truth afterwards so forcibly expressed by Rudyard
Kipling was brought home to us w'hen landing on Cana-
dian shores :
" Take 'old of the Wings o' the mornin',
An' flop round the earth till you're dead ;
But you won't got away from the tune that they play
To the blooruin' old rag ovor'ead."
Ever}' morning at Sydney we were aroused by " God
Save the Queen " from the men-of-war in the harbour
just below Govenmient House, and at Vancouver we
found the whole population busy celebrating Queen
Victoria's Birthday. At the hotel nobody was left in
charge but a boy of fourteen, a most intelligent youth
who somehow lodged and fed us. Next day we were
anxious to find him and recognise his kind attentions
before leaving, but evidently in his case sport out-
weighed possible tips, for he had gone to the races
without giving us a chance.
Vancouver had a curiously unfinished appearance
when we saw it, houses just arising and streets laid out
but not completed. 1 have heard, and fully believe,
that it has since become a very fine city, rising as it
does jast within the Gateway to the Pacific, though it
is of Victoria that Rudyard Kipling (to quote him
again) sings :
" From East to Wost tho testod chain holds faat,
The woil-forgfsd link ringn true."
The Directors of the Canadian Pacific had most
kindly assigned a private car to our use, but we had
348 JOURNEY HOME [ch. xv
arrived a little before we had been expected, and as our
time was limited we travelled in the ordinary train as
far as Glacier, where we slept and the car caught us up.
Glacier in the Rockies well deserved its name, as we
found ourselves once more in the midst of ice and
frozen snow such as we had not seen except on distant
mountains for over two years. We were allowed to
attach the car to the through trains, and detach it to
wait for another, as desired, which gave us the chance
of seeing not only the great mountains and waterfalls
as we flew by, but also of admiring at leisure some of
the more famous places.
From Winnipeg our luxurious car with its bedrooms
and living-rooms all complete took us down as far as
St. Paul in the States, where we joined the ordinary
train for Chicago. I think that it was at St. Paul that
we had our first aggravating experience of American
independence, which contrasted with the courtesy of
Japan. A number of passengers had some twenty-five
minutes to secure luncheon (or dinner, I forget which)
before the departure of the next train. Unfortunately
they depended almost entirely on the ministrations of
a tall and gaily attired young woman ; still more un-
fortunately one or two of them rashly requested her
to make haste. Her vengeance was tranquil but sure.
She slowly and deliberately walked round, placing a
glass of iced water near each guest. It was hot enough
to render iced water acceptable, but not to the exclusion
of other food.
We included Chicago in our wanderings for the pur-
pose of seeing the great Exhibition which was by way
of celebrating the fourth centenary of Columbus's dis-
covery of America. A schoolboy once described the
life and exploits of Columbus to this effect : " Colum-
COLOIBUS DISCOVERS AMERICA 349
bus was a man who could make an egg stand on end
without breaking it. He landed in America and saw a
Chief and a party of men and said to them, ' Are you
the savages ? ' ' Yes,' said the Chief ; ' are you Colum-
bus ? ' ' Yes/ said Columbus, Then the Chief turned
to his men and said, ' It's of no use ; we're discovered
at last.' " Whether Columbus would have taken the
trouble to discover America if he could have seen in a
vision New York, Niagara, and a few other phenomena
I know not, but I am sure he would have never gone out
of his way to discover Chicago.
My sister-in-law, Mrs. Rowland Leigh, has told me
that her grandfather sold a great part of the land on
which Chicago now stands for a pony for her grand-
mother to ride upon. With all due respect he made a
great mistake in facilitating the erection of this over-
grown, bumptious, and obtrusive city. It may have
improved in the past thirty years, but I can conceive
of no way in which it could have become attractive.
It was horribly hot when we arrived, but a chilling
and unhealthy wind blew from Lake Michigan, on which
it stands, which gave us all chest colds, and we heard
that these were prevalent throughout the city. Then
the streets were badly laid and dirty. I think that the
inhabitants burnt some peculiar kind of smoky fuel.
They were very proud of this Exhibition, which looked
well, on the lines of the White City at Shepherd's Bush.
It was made of Phormium tenax (New Zealand flax)
plastered over with white composition, and as it stood
near some part of the Lake which had been arranged to
accommodate it the white buildings reflected in the
blue water had a picturesque effect. The only part of
the interior wliich really impressed me was a building
(not white) representing the old monastery where
350 JOURNEY HOME [oh. xv
Columbus had lived for some time in Spain. This was
filled with a very interesting loan collection of objects
connected with his life and times.
The citizens of Chicago had invited a large variety of
crowned heads and princely personages to attend the
Exhibition as their guests, but previous engagements had
been more prevalent than acceptances. They had
succeeded in securing a Spanish Duke who was a lineal
descendant of Columbus, and he and his family had
been the prominent features of their ceremonies to
date. Shortly before we came great excitement had
arisen because it was announced that the Infanta
Eulalia, aunt of the King of Spain, and a real genuine
Princess, would honour the city and Exhibition with
her royal presence. Two problems had thereupon to
be solved. What would they do with the Duke ?
They no longer wanted a minor luminary when a star of
the first magnitude was about to dawn above their
horizon. That was promptly settled. They put the
poor grandee into a train for New York on a Friday and
told him that they would continue to frank him until
the Monday, after which date he would be "on his
own.'' He was said to have declared himself highly
satisfied with the arrangement, as this would leave him
free to enjoy himself after his own fashion during the
remainder of his sojourn in America. I only hope
that they had paid his return tickets by steamboat, but
I never heard how that was managed.
The Duke being thus disposed of, problem two re-
quired far more serious consideration. The Mayor of
Chicago was a " man of the people " and had never
condescended to wear a tall hat, in fact he had such a
bush of hair that he could not have got one on to his
head ; and as a sort of socialist Samson whose political
THE MAYOR CUTS HIS HAIR 351
strength lay in his locks, he had steadily declined to cut
it. So day by day the Chicago papers came out with :
" Will H. [I forget his exact name] cut his hair ? "
" Will he wear a tall hat ? '' And when the great day
came and the Infanta was met at the station by the
Conscript Fathers, a pa?an of joy found voice in print :
" He wore a tall hat/' " He has cut his hair." I
cannot say whether the pillars of the municipal house
fell upon him at the next election.
I do not feel sure of the official designation of the
sturdy citizens who ultimately received the Infanta.
They may have constituted the Municipality or the
Council of the Exhibition, very likely both combined.
One thing, however, is certain : no Princess of Romance
was more jealously guarded by father, enchanter, giant,
or dwarf than Eulalia by her Chicago hosts. The
first knight -errant to meet his fate was our old Athens
friend, Mr. Fearn. He was Head of the Foreign Section
of the Exhibition, a highly cultured man, had held a
diplomatic post in Spain, where he had known the
Infanta, and could speak Spanish. When he heard
that she was coming he engaged sixteen rooms at the
Virginia Hotel (where we were staying) and arranged
to give her a reception. Could this be allowed ? Oh, no !
Mr. Fearn could converse with her in her own tongue and
no one else would be able to understand what was said
— the party had to be cancelled.
Then H.K.II. was to visit the Foreign Section, and
Mr. Fearn, who naturally expected to be on duty, in-
vited various friends, including ourselves, to be present
in the Gallery of the rather line Entrance Hall. .Mr.
Fearn, Head of the Section, to receive the Princess on
arrival ? Not at all — why, she might think that he
was the most important person present. Mr. Fearn
352 JOURNEY HOME [ch. xv
might hide where he pleased, but was to form no part
of the Reception Committee.
They wanted to take away his Gallery, but there he
put his foot down. His friends were coming and must
have their seats. So he sat with us and we watched
the proceedings from above. I must say that they
were singularly unimpressive. The Infanta arrived
escorted by some big, uncomfortable-looking men,
while a few little girls strewed a few small flowers
on the pavement in front of her. I heard afterwards
that H.R.H., who was distinctly a lady of spirit, was
thoroughly bored with her escort, and instead of spend-
ing the hours which they would have desired in gazing
on tinned pork, jam-pots, and machinery, insisted on
disporting herself in a kind of fair called, I think, the
Midway Pleasance, where there were rows of little
shops and a beer-garden. She forced her cortege to
accompany her into the latter and to sit down and drink
beer there. They were duly scandalised, but could not
protest. The Infanta was put up at the P Hotel
owned by a couple of the same name. The husband had
avowedly risen from the ranks, and the wife, being very
pretty and having great social aspirations, had left Mr.
P. at home when she journeyed to Europe. They
were very rich and had a house in Chicago in the most
fashionable quarter on the shores of the Lake, and
gave a great party for the Princess to which were
bidden all the elite of the city.
It appeared, however, that the royal guest did not
discover till just as she was setting forth that her hosts
were identical with her innkeepers, and the blue blood
of Spain did not at all approve the combination. It
was too late to back out of the engagement, but her
attitude at the party induced rather a frost, _and her
THE PAGEANT "AMERICA" 353
temper was not improved by the fact that a cup of
coffee was upset over her gown.
I cannot say that I saw this, for, though we received
a card for the entertainment, it came so late that we
did not feel culled upon to make an effort to attend.
The lady's sense of humour, however, was quite suffi-
cient to enable her to see the quaint side of her recep-
tion generally, in fact I chanced to hear when back in
England that she had given to some of our royal family
much the same account that is here recorded. It is
not to be assumed, nevertheless, that Chicago Society
does not include charming and kindly people. Among
the most prominent were, and doubtless are, the Mc-
Cormicks, some of whom we had known in London, and
who exerted themselves to show us hospitality. Mrs.
McCormick, head of the clan, gave us a noble luncheon,
previous to which we were introduced to about thirty
McCormicks by birth or marriage. " I guess you've
got right round," said one when we had shaken hands
with them all. Mrs. McCormick Goodhart took us to
see a great spectacle called " America," arranged at a
large theatre by Imre Kiralfy, subsequently of White
City fame.
The colour scheme was excellent. The historical
scenes presented might be called eclectic. The Dis-
covery of America was conducted by a page in white
satin who stood on the prow of Columbus's ship and
pointed with his hand to the shore. Beliind him in
the vessel were grouped men-at-arms whose gold
helmets were quite untarnished by sea-spray. Perhaps
they had been kept in air-tight boxes till the Discovery
was imminent and then brought out to do honour to
the occasion. The next scene which I recollect was the
arrival of the Pilgrim Fathers in an Indian village.
354 JOURNEY HOME [oh. xv
The Fathers, in square-cut coats and Puritan headgear,
stood round the village green, and did not turn a hair,
while young women danced a ballet in front of them.
After all, I saw a ballet danced in after years at the
Church Pageant at Fulham, so there is no reason
why the Pilgrim Fathers should not have enjoyed one
when it came their way. The final climax, however,
was a grand agricultural spectacle with a great dance
of young persons with reaping-hooks. This was a just
tribute to the McCormick family, who were the great
manufacturers of agricultural implements and thereby
promoted the prosperity of Chicago.
On leaving Chicago we wended our way to Niagara.
I am free to confess that we had seen so much grandeur
and beauty, and particularly such picturesque water-
falls, in Japan, that we did not approach any scene in
the New World with the thrill of expectation which
we might have nursed had we come fresh from more
prosaic surroundings, but Niagara swept away any
vestige of indifierence or sight- weariness. It is not for
me to describe it. I can only say that we were awe-
struck by the unending waters rushing with their
mighty volume between the rocks and beneath the sun.
When we sometimes tried to select the sights which
we had seen most worthy of inclusion in the Nine
Wonders of the World, neither my husband nor I ever
hesitated to place Niagara among the foremost.
At New York we stayed two or three nights waiting
for our ship. It was very hot, and most of our American
friends away at the seaside or in the country. My
chief impressions were that the waiting at the otherwise
comfortable Waldorf Hotel was the slowest I had ever
come across ; and that the amount of things " ver-
boten " in the Central Park was worthy of Berlin. In
BACK AT OSTERLEY 355
one place you might not drive, in another you might
not ride, in a third mounted police were prepared to
arrest you if you tried to walk. Really, except in war-
time, England is the one place where you can do as you
like. However, I am sure that New York had many
charms if we had had time and opportunity to find
them out.
We sailed in the AMiite Star ship Majestic, and after
a pleasant crossing reached England towards the end
of June 1893. The country was terribly burnt up
after a hot and dry spell, but we were very happy to be
at home again, and to find our friends and relations
awaiting us at Euston.
My daughter was just in time for two or three balls
at the end of the London season, the first being at
Bridgewater House. She and I were both delighted
to find that our friends had not forgotten us, and that
she had no lack of partners on her somewhat belated
" coming out." We were also in time to welcome our
friends at a garden party at Osterley, and to entertain
some of them from Saturdays to Mondays in July,
Then began many pleasant summers when friends
young and old came to our garden parties, and also to
spend Sundays with us at Osterley, or to stay with us in
the autumn and winter at Middleton. Looking back
at their names in our Visitors' Book, it is at once sad
to feel how many have passed away and consoling to
think of the happy days in which they shared, and
particularly to remember how some, now married and
proud parents of children, found their fate in the gardens
at Osterley or in the boat on the Lake.
It would be (lifTicult to say much of individuals, but
I could not omit recording that among our best and
dearest friends were Lord and Lady Northcote. I
356 ROME [CH. XV
find their names first in the list of those who stayed
with us July lst-3rd, 1893, and their friendship never
failed us — his lasted till death and hers is with me still.
Before, however, I attempt any reminiscences of our
special friends, I would mention yet two more expedi-
tions which had incidents of some interest.
In 1895 Lady Galloway and I were again in Rome,
and I believe that it was on this occasion that we were
received by Queen Margaret, whose husband King
Umberto was still alive. She was a charming and
beautiful woman with masses of auburn hair. She
spoke English perfectly and told us how much she
admired English literature, but I was rather amused by
her expressing particular preference for TJie Strand
Magazine — quite comprehensible really, as even when
one knows a foreign tongue fairly well, it is always
easier to read short stories and articles in it than pro-
founder works. She also liked much of Rudyard
Kipling, but found some of his writings too difficult.
Later on I sent Her Majesty the " Recessional," and
her lady-in-waiting wrote to say that she had read and
re-read the beautiful verses.
A former Italian Ambassador told me that when the
present King was still quite young some members of
the Government wanted him removed from the care of
women and his education confided to men. The
Queen, however, said, '' Leave him to me, and I will
make a man of him.'' " And," added my informant,
" she did ! "
Later in the year my husband engaged a dahabyah,
the Herodotua, to take us up the Nile, and we left England
on January 22nd, 1896, to join it. Margaret and Mary
went with us, and we sailed from Marseilles for Alexan-
dria in the Senegal, a Messageries boat which was one
THE DAHABYAH "HERODOTUS" 357
of the most wretched old tubs that I have ever en-
countered. How it contrived to reach Alexandria in
a storm was a mystery, the solution of which reflects
great credit on its captain. We had a peculiar lady
among our fellow-passengers, who, when Columbus was
mentioned, remarked that he was the man who went to
sea in a sack. Vve believe that she confused him with
Monte Cristo.
Anyhow we reached Cairo at last, where we were
joined by Lady Galloway, who had been staying with
Lord and Lady Cromer at the Agency, and we joined our
dahabyah — a very comfortable one — at Gingeh on
February 4th. As we had a steam-tug attached, we
were happily independent of wind and current, and
could stop when we pleased — no small consideration.
We realised this when, reaching Luxor three days
later, we met with friends who had been toiling up-
stream for a month, unable to visit any antiquities on
the way, as whenever they wanted to do so the wind,
or other phenomena, became favourable to progress.
I ought not to omit having met Nubar Pasha, the
Eg\'ptian statesman, at Cairo, a dear old man, with a
high esteem for the English, who, he said, had a great
respect for themselves, and for public opinion. At first
eight those two sentiments seem not altogether compa-
tible, but on thinking over his remark one perceives
how thev balance each other.
At El Ballianeh, another stopping-place on our
voyage to Luxor, we found the town decorated in honour
of the Khedive's lately married sister, who was making
an expedition up the Nile. Her husband, having
modern tendencies, was anxious that she should ride
like the English ladies, and had ordered a riding-habit
for her, but only one boot, as he only saw one of the
24
358 THE NILE [oh. xv
Englishwomen's feet. Had he lived in the present
year of grace his vision would not have been so limited.
Near Karnak, E. F. Benson and his sister were busy
excavating the Temple of Mant. Miss Benson had a
concession and excavated many treasures, while her
brother no doubt drew out of the desert his inspiration
for The Image in the Sand, published some years later.
In pre-war days we used to say that the Nile was
like Piccadilly and Luxor resembled the Bachelors'
Club, so many friends and acquaintances passed up and
down the river, but on this particular voyage the aspect
which most impressed my husband and myself was the
dominating influence of the Sirdar, Lord Kitchener.
We only saw him personally for a few minutes, as he
was with his staff on a tour of inspection, but wherever
we met ofl&cers of any description there was an alertness,
and a constant reference to " The Sirdar \" " The
Sirdar has ordered," " The Sirdar wishes." A state of
tension was quite evident, and soon proved to be justi-
fied.
No one quite knew when and where the Mahdi would
attack, everybody was on the look-out for hidden
Dervishes. At Assouan we had luncheon with the
ofiicers stationed there, Major Jackson (now Sir Herbert)
and others, who were most hospitable and amusing. I
must confess that though they were more than ready
for the Dervishes, they were specially hot against the
French. Of course at that time the feeling on both
sides was very bitter ; it was long before the days of the
entente, and any French ofiicer who made friends with
an Englishman had a very bad mark put against his
name by his superiors.
Either at Assouan or Philse, where Captain Lyons
entertained us, we heard a comical story of a tall English-
ESCAPE OF SLATIN PASHA 359
man in a cafe at Cairo. He was alone, and three or
four French officers who were sitting at a little table
began to make insulting remarks about the English.
This man kept silent until one of them put out his foot
as he passed, plainly intending to trip him up. There-
upon he seized his assailant and used him as a kind of
cudgel or flail wherewith to belabour his companions.
Naturally the others jumped up and attacked in their
turn, and the Englishman, outnumbered, must have had
tlie worst of it had not the girl behind the counter
suddenly taken his part and aimed a well-directed
shower of empty bottles at the Frenchmen, who there-
upon found discretion the better part of valour and
retreated.
Major Jackson gave us a graphic account of the arrival
of Slatin Pasha after his escape from Omdurman after
eleven years' captivity. He said that a dirty little
Arab merchant arrived at his quarters claiming to be
Slatin Pasha. He knew that Slatin had been prisoner,
but did not know of his escape, and felt doubtful of liis
identity. " However," said he, " I put him into a
bedroom and gave him some clothes and a cake of
Sunlight Soap, and there came out a neat little Austrian
gentleman," I have always thought what a large
bakshish Major Jackson miglit have received from the
proprietor of Sunlight Soap had he given them that
tale for publication. I believe that Major Burnaby
had £100 for mentioning the elYect of Cockle's Pills on
some native chief in liis Ride V> Khiva. However,
Slatin managed to convince his hosts that he was him-
self, despite that he had almost forgotten European
custonLS and languages during his long slavery. At
Assouan we were obliged to abandon our nice dahabyah
and trarisfer ourselves to a shaky and hot stern-wheeler
360 THE NILE [ch. xv
called the Tanjore, as tlie large dahabyali could not
travel above the First Cataract and we wanted to go to
Wady Haifa. There was some doubt as to whether we
could go at all, and the stern- wheeler had to form one of
a fleet of four which were bound to keep together and
each to carry an escort of six or seven Soudanese soldiers
for protection. What would have happened had a
strong force of dervishes attacked us I do not know,
but fortunately we were unmolested. Of the other
three stern-wheelers one was taken by the Bradley
Martins, Cravens, and Mrs. Sherman, and the other
two were public.
We had an object-lesson on the advantages of a
reputation for being unamiable. On board one of the
public stern- wheelers was a certain F. R., author and
journalist, with his wife and daughter. Jersey over-
heard Cook's representative giving special injunctions
to the agent in charge of this boat to keep F. R. in good
humour, as he might make himself very disagreeable.
Whether he did anything to damage the firm I know
not, but I know that he bored his fellow-passengers so
much that on the return journey they either transferred
themselves to the fourth boat or waited for another,
anything rather than travel back with the R.'s. So the
E.'s secured a whole stern- wheeler to themselves.
I have carefully refrained from any description of
the well-known temples and tombs, which record the
past glories of the cities of the Nile, but I must say a
word of the wonderful rock temple of Rameses II at
Abu Simbal, close on the river banks. We saw it by
moonlight, which added much to the effect of the great
pylon cut in the rock with its four sitting figures of the
king, each 66 feet high. Small figures stand by the
knees of the colossi, who look solemnly out over the
HOW A KING AND AN ARAB EVADED ORDERS 361
river unmoved by the passing centuries. Inside the
rock is a large corridor with eight great Osiride figures
guarding its columns, and within are smaller chambers
with sculptured walls.
I would also recall among the less important relics
of the past the small ruined Temple of Dakkoh. It
was built in Ptolemaic times by an Ethiopian monarch
singularly free from superstition. It was the custom
of these kings to kill themselves when ordered to do so
by the priests in the name of the gods, but when his
spiritual advisers ventured to send such a message to
King Erzamenes, he went with his soldiers and killed
the priests instead.
I do not know whether the story lingered on the
banks of the Nile till our times, but the instinct of this
king seems to have been reincarnated in an Arab, or
Egyptian, soldier who related to an English ofiicer his
first experience of an aeroplane during the late war.
This man was enlisted by the Turks during their inva-
sion of Egypt and afterwards captured by the British.
Said he, " I saw a bird, oh, such a beautiful bird, flying
in the sky. My officer told me to shoot it, but I did not
want to kill that beautiful bird, so I killed my officer."
Certainly if one wished to disobey an unreasonable
order it was the simplest method of escaping punish-
ment.
At Wady Haifa we were delightfully entertained at
tea and dinner by Colonel Hunter (now Sir Archibald).
Dinner in his pretty garden was indeed a pleasant
change from our j (filing stern- wheeler. Previously he
took us to see the 500 camels — riding and baggage — of
the camel-corps. All were absolutely ready for action.
Like the horses of Branksome Hall in the " Lay of the
Last Miiistrel," who " rotuly and wight stood saddled
362 THE NILE [ch. xv
in stable day and night/' these camels lay in rows with
all their kit on or near them — nothing to be done when
the order of advance should be given except to fill
their water-flasks. All this with the shadow of the
Sirdar pointing towards them — to fall even sooner than
the officers perchance anticipated.
While our boat waited at Wady Haifa we made a
short expedition, two hours by train on a local military
railway, to Sarras, which was then the Egyptian fron-
tier. Egyptian officers showed us the Fort on a hill
with two Krupp and two Maxim guns. There were one
or two other little forts on heights, and below was the
camp with tents, huts, camels, and horses. From the
hill we looked out at the coimtry beyond, a mass of
small hills rising from a sandy desert, all barren and
arid. It gave a weird impression to stand thus on the
uttermost outpost of civilisation wondering what of
death and terror lay beyond.
Seven years previously, in July 1889, Sir Herbert
Kitchener (as he then was) had written to my husband
from the Egyptian Headquarters at Assouan, and thus
described the Dervishes :
" I leave for the South to-morrow and shall then have
an opportimity of seeing the Dervish camp. It is most
extraordinary that they have been able to invade
Egypt in the way they have done without any supplies
or transport. I have talked to numbers of prisoners
and they say they are just as fanatical as ever ; their
intention is to march on Cairo, killing all who do not
accept their faith, and they do not care in the least how
many lives they lose in the attempt, as all that die in
their belief go straight to heaven. They have brought
all their women and children with them, and seem to
have no feeling whatever for the sufferings they make
them undergo. We have rescued almost thousands and
fed and clothed them ; they come in the most awful state
THE DERVISHES 303
of emaciation. I expect we shall have a fight shortly
with the strong men of the party who now keep all the
food for themselves, leaving the women and children
to die of starvation."
There was certainly real anxiety about them even
during our expedition, and it was thought better for
our stern-wheelers to anchor in the middle of the stream
at night, when far from barracks, for fear of attack. I
think, however, that it was at Assouan, a well-guarded
centre, that the Bradley Martins came to implore
Jersey to come and reassure poor Mrs. Sherman, Mrs.
Bradley Martin's kind old mother. She had heard
some firing in connection with Ramadan, and told her
family that she knew that their dahabyah had been
captured by dervishes and that they were keeping it
from her. Why she thought that the dervishes were
considerate enough to keep out of her cabin I do not
know, nor why she consented to believe my husband
and not her own children. However, it is not uncommon
for people to attach more weight to the opinion of an
outsider than to that of the relatives whom they see
every day.
Before returning to Cairo we tied up near ITelouan and
rode there along a good road with trees on either side.
Helouan itself struck us as resembling the modern
part of a Riviera town pitched in the desert. Neither
trees nor verandahs mitigated the glare of the sun,
unless a few clumps near the sulphur baths did duty
as shade ff)r the whole place. There were numerous
hotels ancl boarding-houses, thougli ! recorded the
opinion, which I saw no reason to modify on a visit
some years later, that there seemed no ])arti(ular
reason for people to go there unless preparatory to
committing suicide. However, 1 suppose that the
364 THE NILE [ch. xv
Kaces and the Baths constituted the attraction, and it
may have become more adapted to a semi-tropical
climate since we saw it.
Before we said farewell to the Herodotus the crew gave
us a ** musical and dramatic '' entertainment. The
comic part was largely supplied by the cook's boy, who
represented a European clad in a remarkably battered
suit and ordered about a luckless native workman. The
great joke was repeatedly to offer him as a seat the
ship's mallet (with which posts for tying up were driven
into the bank) and to withdraw it the moment he tried
to sit down. His face, and subsequent flogging of the
joker, were hailed with shrieks of laughter. Similar
pranks interspersed with singing, dancing, and tam-
bourine playing were witnessed by an appreciative
audience, including eight or ten native friends of the
sailors, who were supplied with coffee and cigarettes.
On March 12th we reached Cairo and, with regret,
left our comfortable dahabyah for the Ghezireh Palace
Hotel. On the 14th came the rumour that orders had
come from England that troops should advance on
Dongola. There was the more excitement as it was
asserted, and I believe truly, that the Government had
taken this decisive step without previous consultation
with either Lord Cromer or the Sirdar. However, all
was ready, and the climax came when in September
1898 the Dervishes were defeated by Sir Herbert Kit-
chener, the Mahdi slain, and Gordon avenged.
On October 7th of that year Sir Herbert wrote from
Cairo, in answer to my congratulations :
" I am indeed thankful all went off without a hitch.
I see the says we kill all the wounded, but when
I left Omdurman there were between six and seven
thousand wounded dervishes in hospital there. The
LORD KITCHENER 365
work was so hard on the Doctors that I had to call on
the released Egyptian doctors from prison to help ;
two of them were well educated, had diplomas, and were
and are very useful. We ran out of bandages and liad
to use our tirst field dressing which every man carries
with him."
How unjust were newspaper attacks on a man un-
failingly humane ! Kitchener's reception in England
towards the end of the year was a wild triumph — more
than he appreciated, for he complained to me of the
way in which the populace mobbed him at Charing
Cross Station and pulled at his clothes. I remember at
Dover, either that year or on his return from South
Africa, meeting the mistress of an Elementary School
whom I knew who was taking her scholars to see him
land " as an object lesson," an object lesson being per-
mitted in school hours. The children might certainly
have had many less useful lessons.
Lord Kitchener (as he had then become) spent a
Sunday with us at Osterley, June 17 — 19th, 1899. I
well recollect a conversation which I had with him on
that occasion. He expressed his dissatisfaction at his
military work being ended. " I should like to begin
again as a simple captain if I could have something
fresh to do." " Why," said I, " you are Governor-
General of the Soudan, surely there is great work to do
there." No, that was not the sort of job he wanted.
" Well," I told liim, " you need not worry yourself,
you are sure to be wanted soon for something else."
Little did he think, still less did I, that exactly six
months later, on December 18th, orders would reach him
at Khartum to join Lord Roberts as Ciiicf of the Stall,
in South Africa. He started at once, and met his
Conmiauder-in-Chief at Gibraltar on 27th. Indeed a
366 LORD KITCHENER [ch. xv
fresh and stirring act in the drama of his life opened
before him. Later on, when he had succeeded Lord
Roberts in the supreme command, he wrote (January
1902) thanking me for a little diary which I had sent
him, and continued :
" We are all still hard at it, and I really think the end
at last cannot be far oS. Still in this enormous country
and with the enemy we have to contend with there is no
saying how long some roving bands may not continue
in the field, living like robbers in the hills and making
occasional raids that are difficult to meet.
" It will be a joyful day when it is over, but however
long it may be in coming, we shall all stick to it.
" The Boers are simply senseless idiots to go on
destroying their country."
What would he have said of the Irish of twenty
years later ?
After his return from South Africa I was much amused
by the account he gave us of receiving the O.M. medal
from King Edward, who was ill at the time. When he
arrived at Buckingham Palace he was taken to the
King's bedroom, but kept waiting behind a large screen
at the entrance in company with Queen Alexandra, who
kept exclaiming, " This is most extraordinary \" At
last they were admitted to the royal presence, when
the King drew out the order from under his pillow. The
recipient had evidently been kept waiting while some-
body went to fetch it.
I have other recollections of Lord Kitchener at
Osterley, though I cannot exactly date them. One
Sunday some of us had been to church, and on our
return found George Peel extended in a garden chair,
looking positively white with anxiety. He confided
to us that Kitchener and M. Jusserand of the French
KITCHENER AND MRS. BOTHA 367
Embassy liad been marcliing up and down near the
Lake at the bottom of the garden violently discussing
Egypt and Fashoda, and he was afraid lest the English-
man should throw the Frenchman into the Lake — which,
considering their respective sizes, would not have been
difficult. They certainly parted friends, and Kitchener
mentions in one of his letters : *' I saw Jusserand in
Paris, but he said nothing to me about his engagement.
I must write to him."
Another meeting which took place at one of our garden
parties was with Mrs. Louis Botha. I was walking with
the General when I saw her coming down the steps from
the house. He and 1 went forward to meet her, and
it was really touching to see the evident pleasure with
which she responded to the warm greetings of her
husband's former opponent. She, like her husband,
knew the generous nature of the man.
Lord Kitchener certainly knew what he wanted even
in little things, but even he could not always get it.
Just when he was appointed to the Mediterranean
Command (which I am sure that he had no intention
of taking up) he came down to see us one afternoon,
and amused himself by sorting our Chinese from our
Japanese china, the latter kind being in his eyes " no
good." Tired of this, he suddenly said, " Now, let us
go into the garden and pick strawberries." " But,"
said I, " there are no strawberries growing out-of-doors
in May." " Oh," he exclaimed, " I thought when
we came to Ostcrley we always picked strawberries."
Fortunately I had some hot-house ones ready at tea.
At King Edward's Durbar at Delhi Lord Kitchener's
camp adjcjincd that of the Governor of Bombay, Lord
Northcote, with whom we were staying. He arrived a
day or two after we did, came over to see us, and took
368 LORD KITCHENER [oh. xv
me back to inspect the arrangements of his camp, in-
cluding the beautiful plate with which he had been pre-
sented. He was extremely happy, and most anxious
to make me avow the superiority of his establish-
ment to ours, which I would not admit. At last in
triumph he showed me a fender-seat and said, " Any-
how, Lady Northcote has not a fender-seat." But I
finally crushed him with, " No, but we have a billiard-
table ! "
I must allow that there was a general suspicion that
all would not go smoothly between two such master
minds as his and the Viceroy's. Those are high politics
with which I would not deal beyond saying that the
impression of most people who know India is that the
power ultimately given to the Commander-in-Chief was
well as long as Lord Kitchener held it, but too much for
a weaker successor in a day of world-upheaval.
The last time I saw him was in the July before the Great
War, when he came down to tea, and talked cheerfully
of all he was doing at Broome Park, and of the trees he
intended to plant, and how I must come over from Lady
Northcote's at Eastwell Park and see his improvements.
He certainly then had no idea of what lay before him.
In a last letter written from the War Office (I think in
1915, but it is only dated " 25th ") he speaks of trying
to motor down some evening, but naturally never had
time.
The final tragedy ended a great life, but he had done
his work.
CHAPTER XVI
THE DIAMOND JUBILEE — INDIA — THE PASSING OF THE
GREAT QUEEN
I REALISE that in the foregoing pages I have dwelt more
on foreign lands than on our own country. This only
means that they offered more novelty, not that England
was less interesting to my husband and myself.
The great Lord Shaftesbury used to say that his was
a generation which served God less and man more. I
trust that only the latter half of this dictum has proved
true, but certainly throughout Queen Victoria's reign
men and women seemed increasingly awake to their
duty to their fellows and particularly to children.
Without touching on well-known philanthropic move-
ments, I should like to mention one, unostentatious
but typical of many others — namely, the " Children's
Happy Evenings Association," founded by Miss Ada
Heather-Bigg and inspired throughout its existence by
the energy of her sister, Lady Bland-Sutton. This was
the pioneer Society for organised play in the Board, now
" County," Schools. It owed much to the work of many
of my friends, and was specially fortunate in the per-
sonal interest of its patron, now Queen Mary. Though
the exigencies of the new Education Act compelled it
to cease its voluntary work after the Great War, during
thirty years it brought happiness into tlie lives of
thousands of poor children.
360
370 THE DIAMOND JUBILEE [ch. xvi
To return to our Osterley experiences.
We had one specially interesting Sunday in June 1895.
Among others staying with us from Saturday to Monday
were Lord and Lady George Hamilton and Sir Stafford
and Lady Northcote. Mr. Arthur Balfour came down
on Sunday to dine and spend the night, and he and Lord
George were busy with a game of lawn tennis on the
garden front of the house. Several of us were in another
part of the grounds under the cedars overlooking the
Lake, enjoying the fine warm afternoon.
All at once a very hot and dusty figure appeared
through the little gate near the portico and re-
vealed itself as Schomberg — commonly called " Pom " —
McDonnell, then Lord Salisbury's Private Secretary.
I went to meet him, offering tea, dinner, or whatever
hospitality he preferred. All he would say in breath-
less and very serious tones was, " Give me an egg beat
up in brandy and find me Arthur Balfour."
The desired refreshment and the statesman were
produced in due course. It appeared on further in-
quiry that Mr. McDonnell had bicycled from Hatfield to
London in search of Mr. Balfour, and not finding him
in Carlton Gardens had pursued him to Osterley. Such
were the exigencies of pre-motor days. The interview
over, the messenger retreated as swiftly as he had come.
We were not allowed to know the message till next
morning when the papers came with the thrilling an-
nouncement, '' Resignation of the Government " ! Mr.
Balfour said to me, " I might quite well have told you,
but Pom was so very determined that I should not.''
The only recipient of the secret was Lord George
Hamilton.
When Mr. Balfour returned to the lawn-tennis ground
he said very quietly to Lord George between the sets,
MR. CHAMBERLAIN, COLONIAL SECRETARY 371
" The Goveninient have resigned " ; and then contmued
his game as if nothing had happened.
Lord Rosebery's Government had been defeated a
few days previously on the cordite vote, Sir Henry
Campbell-Bannerman liaving been Secretary of State
for War. Of course there was great excitement. Mr.
St. John Brodrick spent the next Sunday with us, and
was summoned to London by Lord Salisbury early on
the Monday morning, when he was oflfered, and accepted,
the post of Under-Secretary of State for War.
There was a prevalent idea that Mr. Chamberlain
would become Secretary of State for War, but I felt sure
that he would obtain the Colonies, knowing what a deep
interest he took in the Overseas P^mpire. We had once
had a long conversation about it at a dinner at Green-
wich. When the appointment was made I wrote to
congratulate him, and he said in his reply, " I hope I
may be able to do something to promote the closer
union of our Empire " — a hope amply fultilled.
I have many recollections of Mr. Cham})erlain at
Osterley. He was a charming guest, always ready to
take his share in any amusement or discussion. It
was comical to see him on one occasion making his way
in a sort of trot down the Gallery with a serious ex-
pression on his face, and his arm extended at full
length holding a poker towards him, which the game
somehow entailed his keeping clear of his nose.
He loved to sit on the platform on the top of the
double flight of steps leading to the garden after dinner
on hot nights, smoking and talking. I remember that
he told us a good ghost story, but am sorry that I forget
the details. The last time I saw him before his sad
illness I sat next to him at dinner at his own
hou.se. He had then taken up Trotection (which I
372 THE DIAMOND JUBILEE [oh. xvi
always wished he had called " Preference "). I said to
him : " You know, Mr. Chamberlain, I am a Free
Trader ? "
" Yes," he said, " I know, but you will give an old
friend credit for being honest."
" Certainly," I replied, and I said that truthfully with
my whole heart.
In later years we were neighbours at Cannes, as we
had the Villa Luynes for four seasons, not far from the
Villa Victoria where he took up his winter abode.
Everyone bore witness to Mrs. Chamberlain's devotion,
and it was splendid to see how she encouraged him, and
helped him to retain his interest in the outer world in
which he could no longer play an active part.
Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee in 1897 was marked
by even greater enthusiasm than the celebrations of
1887. Ten years ol that life of devotion to her Empire
had drawn ever closer the links between her and her
people. They had shared with her yet more sorrows
and yet more joys, especially the death of the Duke
of Clarence, the marriage of our present King, and
the births of our Prince of Wales and the Duke of
York.
I think the Prince of Wales began his inroad into the
hearts of the populace on this occasion. When the
Queen returned from her triumphal procession to St.
Paul's the two little Princes were taken out on to a bal-
cony to see and be seen by the throng below. The infant
Prince Albert danced in his nurse's arms, but Prince
Edward, or, as he was always called, Prince David,
solemnly and correctly saluted in return for the ringing
cheers with which he was greeted. An eye-witness
recounted at the time that still the spectators cheered,
and again and again the boy saluted, till at length as
THE QUEEN AT TEMPLE BAR 373
they would not stop he evidently felt that something
more was required, and saluted with both hands.
We had an exciting time, as the custom has always
been that when the Lord Mayor receives the Sovereign
at Temple Bar he should await his or her arrival at
Child's Bank, which is Xo. 1 Fleet Street. We accord-
ingly went there with our family and particular friends,
including my father and mother. My father's ancestor,
Sir Thomas Leigh, was Lord Mayor when Queen Eliza-
beth visited the city on her accession and presented it
with the Pearl Sword ; and two of my husband's an-
cestors, Sir Francis Child and his son bearing the same
name, who were Lords ^Layor in the eighteenth century,
are represented in their portraits at Osterley as holding
this sword.
The Lord Mayor of the Diamond Jubilee, Sir George
Faudel-Phillips, brought this same sword to the Bank
and showed it to us, realising our special interest, as the
representatives of both our families had had charge of
the sword in bygone years, and were present to see it
offered to Queen Victoria.
This ceremony took place exactly opposite the Bank,
and was certainly a trying one for the Lord Mayor, as
he had to offer the sword to her ^lajesty, receive it
back, and then in his flowing robes leap to his horse and
still bearing the weapon ride before her carriage to
St. Paul's.
It was impossible not to recall pictures of John
Gilpin when one saw his mantle flying in the air, but 1
must say that Sir George displayed excellent liorsemau-
ship and carried through his part without a hitch.
I never saw the Queen more beaming than on this
occasion, and no wonder, for she fully realised that the
wild acclamations of the people came straight from
25
374 THE DIAMOND JUBILEE [ch. xvi
their hearts. When we were again at Windsor in the
following May I ventured to hope that Her Majesty had
not been overtired. She said, " No — not on the day,
but when the celebrations had gone on for a month she
was rather tired/'
Kather an amusing incident occurred during the
procession. Lady Northcote and her father. Lord
Mount Stephen, were among our guests at the Bank.
A few days previously Lady Northcote had met Lord
Eoberts, Sir Donald Stewart, and Sir Eedvers Buller,
and had said jokingly : " What is the good of knowing
Field Marshals if they do not salute one on such an
occasion ? " As a result all three saluted her — Lord
Eoberts in particular was riding at the head of the
Colonial and Asiatic troops on the little white Arab
horse which he had ridden all through the Afghan War,
and all the time when he was Commander-in-Chief in
Madras and in India, The horse wore the Afghan
medal and the Kandahar Star given him by Queen
Victoria. When Lord Eoberts was opposite Child's,
he duly reined his charger round and solemnly saluted.
An evening paper gravely asserted that he had saluted
the city and that it was " a fine thing finely done."
It was finely done, but the salute was to a lady, not to
the city !
In the following year our eldest daughter Margaret
married Lord Dynevor's son, Walter Eice, and in 1899
our second daughter Mary married Lord Longford.
These proved the happiest possible marriages, and our
grandchildren as delightful as their parents. Both
these weddings took place from 25 St. James's Place
by the extreme kindness of Lady Northcote, who
provided the whole of the entertainments, including
putting us all up for the two occasions.
THE SOUTH AFRICAN WAR 375
My brother Rowland in 1898 married in America the
daughter of General Gordon of Savamiah, wlio was
warmly welcomed in our family.
In March 1899 Lady Northcote and I had a short but
delightful tour in Holland and Belgium.
Soon after this came the black shadows of the Afri-
can War, in which Longford took a distinguished part,
serving with the 2nd Life Guards and with the Imperial
Yeomanry, and, at Lord Robert's desire, raising the
Irish Horse. Though he was wounded at Lindley he
returned safely — but, alas ! in the European W^ar he was
killed at Suvla Bay — one of the best and bravest of men.
Lord Northcote having been appointed Governor of
Bombay, he and Lady Northcote left England early in
1900. My remaining daughter Beatrice and I travelled
with them as far as Marseilles, where they joined their
ship and we went on to North Italy.
The war w^as still raging in South Africa and we lived
in a state of constant anxiety. While we were in
Florence, however, the news came of the relief of
Kimberley. I shall always recollect the arrival of a
brief telegram to the effect that " General French had
ridden into Kimberley," quite sufficient to induce total
strangers to address each other in the tea-shop, which was
a common resort, and to exchange happy speculations
as to the truth of the news.
In Paris on our way back wc liad the further tidings of
the surrender of Cronje, and the relief of Ladysmith,
which I regret to say did not improve the temper of the
French or their manners towards English travellers —
but perhaps all this is better now forgotten. We had
found the Italians perfectly amiable.
One great diflcrence between the Boer War and thaU
which lias since devastated the world was that the former
376 INDIA [CH. XVI
did not in any way interfere with ocean travel, and in
the autumn following the departure of our friends,
Jersey, Beatrice, and myself set off again to join them
in India. They were on tour when we first reached
Bombay, so we went to see some of our former haunts
and a few places which we had not previously visited.
I have already written so much of India that I will
only very briefly mention some incidents which particu-
larly struck me on this occasion. I pass over the
wonderful Caves of Ellora, for, marvellous as they are,
they are fully described in guide-books. We paid a
second visit to Hyderabad, and it was curious there to
note the strong contrast between the modern education
of the girls of the higher classes and the conservative
attitude of some of the old ladies.
We attended a large dinner given by the Vikar, or
Prime Minister, who was married to the Nizam's sister,
and after dinner he expressed a wish that I should pay
a visit to his wife, who lived in a palace near the hall
in which we had dined. The Resident's wife kindly
accompanied me, though she had not hitherto made the
lady's acquaintance.
It was the weirdest visit I ever paid. Darkness had
fallen, and we were received at the entrance of the
Palace by a number of wild-looking females bearing
torches and wrapped in red saris. They reminded me
of an old print representing a beldame with a flaming
torch at the Gate of Tartarus, with Cerberus and other
monsters in the background : rather a libel on the
women, who w^ere doubtless excellent in private life,
but who seemed to be guarding a fatal portal on this
occasion. They conducted us to a vast, dimly lighted
chamber with pillars and arches ; which might have
been the Hall of Eblis.
INDIAN PRINCESSES 377
Wliat was happening in its recesses I could not see,
but in the middle, on an ordinary-looking chair, sat the
Princess, her destined daughter-in-law squatting at her
feet and attendants in the background. She was
wrapped in a gorgeous green-and-gold sari and covered
with jewels on neck, arms, and ankles, but her bare feet
projected in an uncomfortable manner ; she looked as
if a cushion on the floor would have suited her much
better than her stiff seat. Near her, looking singularly-
incongruous, stood her son, and a stepson whose existence
scandal said she resented. The young men were attired
in immaculate European dress-clothes, and might had
walked out of the Bachelors' Club except that they
wore on their heads curious mitre-shaped hats which
indicated their connection with the Nizam's house.
They both spoke English perfectly. Our conversation
with the lady was naturally limited to translated plati-
tudes, but I was interested to see the heroine, who was
reckoned very clever but not over-scrupulous.
At the great fortress city of Gwalior we visited very
different ladies — the mother and wife of Scindia, who
received us in pleasant apartments, well-furnished,
light and airy. The old lady might have been an
English dowager — she was extremely talkative and full
of her son the Maharajah, who was expected back
immediately from the Boxer War. The little wife was
in the charge of an English governess and seemed
anxious to remain in another room out of her mother-
in-law's way. She was about eighteen, and was much
amused at the height of my daughter wluj was her
cont^imporary. Unfortunately the poor young thing had
no child, though she had been nuirried for some years.
The Maliarajah was devoted to her and wanted to
avoid a second marriage, but lat<;r (Ui was obliged to
378 INDIA [CH. XVI
consent to taking another wife with a view to providing
an heir.
I do not know what ceremonies were then necessary,
but when he married our young friend certain diffi-
culties had arisen. The wife of Scindia had to be
chosen from a very limited caste, and the only eligible
young lady at the moment was the daughter of a quite
middle-class family somewhere near Bombay or Poona.
Now if the lady had been his equal by birth it would have
been proper for the Maharajah to ride to her residence
in order to bring her home, but he could not have gone
to a comparatively humble abode. As a compromise
he had to ride the same number of days which it would
have taken him to reach his bride, but it was arranged
that he should do this in his own dominions, sleeping
each night at the house of one of his Sirdars.
At Lahore we saw the College for young Chiefs,
modelled as far as possible on the lines of an English
Public School and, like the Mayo College at Ajmere,
intended to bring up a manly race of rulers without the
risks attendant on sending them to England. The
majority of the youths whom we saw were Mohammedans
or Sikhs. The Mohammedans would mess together,
but, though the Sikhs are by way of disregarding caste,
in practice it was found that each youth preferred to
eat in private. This may have been partly a question
of dignity, as these young northern chiefs came attended
with personal servants.
Their private rooms, with occupant's name outside,
were not unlike those of Eton boys, and each contained
a little illuminated card calling attention to the special
observances of the scholar's own faith, and saying that
the Directors of the College were anxious that the
students should attend to their religious obligations.
LORD AND LADY XORTHCOTE 379
I noticed outside one door " Grauth Sahib," and
wondered what Scotsman had entered himself as
pupil with such companions. On inquiry it proved
that this was the shrine or chapel of the " Granth " or
Sacred Book of the Sikhs, the one symbol allowed in
their worship. We went into the room where it was
kept, and found a large volume lying on the floor, with
flowers thrown upon it, evidently the oflering of some
devotee who had performed " poojali " or worship.
At beautiful Amritsar, now a home of sad memories,
in the Golden Temple in the Lake, we saw a far more
gorgeous shrine, but still with the Granth as its centre
of worship.
I must not linger over these scenes, though every
part of India offers a fresh temptation to dwell on its
manifold races, its historic temples and palaces, but
must hasten to our sojourn at Bombay, where Lord
and Lady Northcote gave us some of the most delightfid
weeks of our lives, including a truly cheerful Christmas
in a home away from home.
Every day brought something of interest seen under
the best possible auspices, and every evening a happy
time with our friends. It was a joy also to find how
they had rooted themselves in the esteem and affection
of both English and Indians in the Presidency.
Just before we sailed for England came the news of
Queen Victoria's serious illness. Everyone knew,
though no one liked to acknowledge, that recovery was
problematical. Wireless telegraphy was still in its
infancy, so we had no news between Boml)ay and
Aden, where we arrived in the middle of the night. I
was asleep in my berth when our ship anchored, and I
shall never forget waking in the early dawn and hearing
a man's voice saying to a friund just outside my cabin,
380 THE PASSING OF THE GREAT QUEEN [ch. xvi
" She went off very quietly." No need to ask who it
was whose passing from earth had wrung the hearts
of many nations, and not least of those who go down
to the sea in ships.
People who remember those winter days need no
description of their import, and those who are too
young to recall them can never realise what it meant
to feel as if a whole Empire had become one great
orphaned family. Statesmen and soldiers had given
place to their successors, poets, philosophers, and men
of science had passed away, but for over sixty years the
Queen had been the unchanging centre of our national
life, and it seemed incredible that even she had laid
down the burden of sovereignty, and would no longer
share the joys and sorrows of her people.
And here I would end these wandering reminiscences,
but must just record one tribute to her memory in
which I was privileged to take part.
In the following May a number of women dressed in
deep mourning assembled at 10 Downing Street, then
the dwelling of the Prime Minister, Mr. Arthur Balfour.
His sister Miss Balfour, Miss Georgina Frere, daughter
of the late Sir Bartle Frere, and Lady Edward Cecil
(now Lady Milner) had assembled us in order that we
might establish a society for knitting more closely
together British subjects dwelling in various parts of
the Empire.
We called it the Victoria League in memory of the
great Queen-Empress under whose sway that Empire
had extended to " regions Caesar never knew.'" The
executive committee then elected was composed of the
wives and sister of Cabinet Ministers, of wives of leaders
of the Opposition, and other representative ladies. Most
unexpectedly, just before the meeting Lady Eayleigh
THE VICTORIA LEAGUE 381
(Mr. Balfour's sister) informed me that I was to take
the chair and that it was intended to appoint me tirst
President. My breath was quite taken away, but
there was neither time nor oj^portunity for remon-
strance, and I conchided tliat I was chosen because one
great object of the founders being to emphasise " no
party politics," it was thought wiser not to select a
President whose husband was of Cabinet rank, and that
though a Conservative I had the qualification of over-
seas experience.
The late Lady Tweedmouth, a Liberal, was appointed
Vice-President, and shortly afterwards Mrs. Alfred
Lyttelton, representing the Liberal Unionists, became
Honorary Secretary. Later on Miss Talbot, now Dame
Meriel, took the post of Secretary, which she held for
fifteen years, and Mrs. Maurice Macmillaa succeeded
Miss Georgina Frere as Honorary Treasurer, a position
which she still holds. Miss Drayton, O.B.E., is now
our most eflficient Secretary.
For myself I have been President for twenty-one
years, and, thanks to the extraordinary kindness and
capacity of my colleagues, those years have been full
of interest and imshadowed by any disputes, despite
the divergent politics of the directing conmiittees. We
have always borne in mind the purpose of the League
80 well summed up by Rudyard Kipling on its founda-
tion, " the first attempt to organise sympathy."
We have now 38 British Branches and 22 Overseas
AfTiliatctl Leagues, besides Allied Associations, and we
are honoured by having the King and (^)ueen as Patrons
and the Prince of Wales and other members of the
Royal Family as Vice-Patrons.
Men were soon added to our Councils, and we had
two splendid Deputy Presidents in Sir Edward Cook
382 THE PASSING OF THE GREAT QUEEN [ch. xvi
and Sir James Dunlop-Smitli, now, alas ! both taken
from us. But the twenty-one years of the League's
work lie outside the limits of these wandering recol-
lections.
I would, however, like to insert the wise words which
Mr. Chamberlain wrote on March 16th, 1902, in reply
to a request sent by desire of our Committee for some
official recognition. After acknowledging my letter he
continues :
" I heartily approve of the efforts you are making to
draw closer the ties between our Colonial kinsfolk and
ourselves. I believe that the questions of sentiment
enter more largely into these things than the average
man is willing to admit, and that we have lost much in
the past by the absence of personal intercourse with
those whose support and friendship are daily becoming
more important to us as a Nation. The Colonials are
especially sensitive to these personal considerations.
They find it difficult to understand our preoccupations
and the impossibility of returning the hospitality they
so freely offer when we visit them.
" No Government can set this matter right, as it is
not a question of official recognition, but of private
and personal courtesy.
" I look therefore with the greatest hope to the work of
such associations as yours which may help to make our
Colonists feel that we appreciate their affection and desire
as far as in us lies to reciprocate it."'
He then proceeds to explain the view which he says
he has already discussed with Mr. Alfred Lyttelton —
namely, that it is wiser to refrain from giving official
colour to a work which had better maintain a " private
and personal character." He continues :
" I cannot dissociate myself from my office, and I do
not think that it would be wise or desirable that I
should extend the vast field of responsibility which that
MR. CHAMBERLAINS LETTER 383
office already covers by associating myself publicly with
these private Associations/'
He expresses himself as ready at any time to give
such assistance as obtaining special privileges for the
guests we represent at the Coronation or other functions,
and then says :
" But I feel that, except in such ways, I had better
stand apart, and that the great value of these associa-
tions lies in their non-official character. I represent
the Government — you represent the people, and I
tliink it is most important that this distinction should
be carefully preserved.
" I am open to conviction, but I think I am right in
begging you to accept my reasons and to excuse me
from accepting a request which as a private individual
I should have been proud to comply with."
Naturally we felt the justice of views so fully and
courteously explained.
And now I must end. The years spent under the
rule of two great Kings, and the guidance of two gracious
Queens, have had their joys and sorrows, public and
private, but they lie too near our day for a woman to
attempt even a personal record of what they have
brought under her ken.
The happy marriages of my eldest son to the beloved
daughter of Lord Kilmorey, of my youngest daughter
to Lord Dunsany, and of my brother Rupert to Miss
Dudley Smith belong to the present century.
I can only say how grateful I am for the aflection
of many friends, and the love of my children and
grandchildren, which have softened the sorrows and
heightened the joys of these latter years.
TUE END
INDEX
Abdul Kerim, Queen Victoria's
Munshi, 194-195, 213
Abingdon, Earl of, 33
Abu Simbal, 360. 361
Adderley, Sir Charles, and Hon.
Lady, n^ Leigh, 21
Adderley Cousins at Haras Hall,
21, 64
Adj'ar, Theosophist Headquarters,
167, 168
Aga Khan, H.H., the, 152-154
Akbar, his Tomb, 193 ; why he
built Futtehpore-Sekree. 194
Albert Edward, H.R.H. Prince of
Wales (Edward VII). gives cigar
to Mr. Dibbs, 251, 252
Alcester, Admiral Lord, 115
Alexandra, H.R.H., Princess of
Wales (afterwards Queen), gown
woven for, 23 ; fet« given for her
marriage at Mentone, 25, 26 ;
Prince William at her wedding,
26 ; at Marlborough Hou-so, 36,
366
Alexandra, Princess, of Greece, 209-
210
AH Beg. 159
Araptliill, i^owager Lady, 111
Ancram, Earl of, A.D.C., acciden-
tally killed, 285
Andrew, Prince, of Greece, ISO
Antwerp, 60
Apia, capital of Samoa, 291
Arcadia, h.k., 145, 247
Ardagh, Col. Sir Jolui, 182
Ardgowan, 16
Argyll. 8th Duk.» of, 80. 81
ArmituJ liihic, M'^HHagorioH a. 8., 277
Arnold, Sir Edwin, 88, 89
Arran, L*le of, 35, 36
Aahloy. Hon. Lionel, 125, 126. 127
AHsiout and its Mudir, 216 217
ANSouan, 214, 358, 359, 363
AtbenH, 127
Auckland, 275
Augusta, Emprosa, 100-101
Australia, voyage to, 247, 248
Avon, River, at Stonnleigh, 17
Avon, River, at Christchurch, N.Z.,
273
B
Baker, Sir Samuel and Lady, 148,
149
Baker, Shirlev, Wesleyan Mission-
ary, 287, 28'S
Bakmeteff, Russian diplomat, 132,
135, 137, 138. 140
Bathurst, William, 5th Earl, 78, 79
Bazaine. Marshal, his escape from
Sto. Marguerit-o, 96
Beaconsfield, Lord, 71, 79
Beckford, Williaui, of Fonthill
Abbey, 58, 59
Bedford, Hastings, Duke of, 109
Benadadda, Scotch giant, 48, 49
Benson, Mr. E. F. and Miss,
Excavations in Egypt, 358
Boresford, Lord William, 182
Berlin, visit to, 100-110
Bernhardt, Sarah, 95
Bernstoff, Madame, her ghost story,
122, 123
Bhownuggar, Maharajah of. his aims
and ditliculties, 198, 199
Biarritz, 95
Bilgrami, Syod Hossain, C.S.L, 158
Bismarck, Princo, 105-110
Bismank, Prino-ss, 105
Bismarck, Count Hcrlxirt, 105
Blyth, Dr., Anglican Bishop at
Jerusalem, 220
Bombay, 150
Boiirk-. R>v. Ci'fil. 76
Mrahmo-Soinaj, 182-184
lirandling. Mr. Charles, 69
lirisbanu, 324
Urou;{h (Irish Guide), 41-42
Broiit<liarii, iHt Lord, Lord Cli4Q'
collor, 24
Broughton Castle, 70
385
386
INDEX
Browne, Thomas (Rolf Boldre-
wood), 252
Browning, Robert, 76
Buckingham, Duchess of, 254
Buller, Mr. Charles, 145
Buller, F.M. Sir Redvers, 374
Burley-on-the-Hill, 79
Bute, Dowager Marchioness of, nee
Howard, 57
Cairns, 1st Earl, Lord Chancellor,
his ghost story, 122
Cairo, 357
Calcutta, 182-184
Campbell, Lady Agnes : see Frank
Campbell, Sir Archibald, 27
Campbell, Sir Colin, 188, 189
Canadian Pacific Railway, 347-348
Cannes, 24, 68, 372
Canton, Viceroy of, 333, 334
Carnegie, Ladies Helena and Dora,
276
Carpenter, Miss, philanthropist,
186, 187
Caulcot Infant School, 66, 67
Caversfield, The Angelic Choir, 75
Cazenove, Canon, 231
Cecil, Lady Gwendolen, 114
Cecil, Lord Robert, 142
Oedercrantz, Swedish Chief Justice
in Samoa, 292
Cephalonia and its brigands, 139,
140
Ceylon, 247
Chamberlain, Miss Beatrice, 144
Chamberlain, Mrs., n6e Endicott,
144, 372
Chamberlain, Rt. Hon. Joseph,
first acquaintance with, 140 ;
his political creed, 143, 372 ; at
Osterley, 143, 144, 371 ; in
Egypt, 214, 215 ; letter concern-
ing Victoria League, 352, 383
Chandar Ras Behadur Khanha, 165
Chicago, 348-354
Cholmondeley, Captain Harry,
A.D.C., 242, 249
Cholmondeley, Rev. Lionel, 345
Cholmondeley, Hon. Mrs., nee
Leigh, 21
Christchurch, N.Z., 272
Christian, H.R.H., Princess, 39
Christmas at Stoneleigh Abbey, 20,
21
Chimder Sen Babu, 183
Clarence, H.R.H., Duke of, 242;
death of, 268
Clarke, Mr. Frederick, 216, 217
Clarke, Mr. Roehfort and pictures,
73, 74
Cleveland, Caroline, Duchess of, 82
Clinton, Lord Edward, 212
Colombo, 247
Columbus, Christopher, how he
discovered America, 348, 349
Connaught, T.R.H. Duke and
Duchess, 151, 152
Connemara, Lord, 145, 162, 166,
167, 180
Consort, H.R.H. Prince, 11, 12, 13
Constantine, Duke of Sparta
("Tino"), 209
Constantine, Grand Duke (Ro-
manoff), 6
Constantinople, 232, 233
Cook, Sir Edward, 382
Cook, Sir Francis, collection at
r-' Richmond, 238
Crawford, Emily, Cotintess of, 238
Crimean War, 4
Cromer, Earl and Countess of, 357
Crystal Palace, 2, 3
Curzon, Hon. George, afterwards
Marquis, 127
Cusack-Smith, Mr. (afterwards Sir
Thomas) and Mrs., 296
Custarde, Miss, Governess, 6-8^.-'
D
Damascus, 226-230
Darley, Sir Frederick, Chief Justice,
N.S.W., and Lady, 251-253
Dartrey, Countess of, 64
Dashwood, Sir George, 72
Dashwood, Sir Henry and Lady, 72
Davis, Jefferson, ex-President, 36
de Bunsen, Sir Maurice, 336
Deichmann, Baron and Baroness,
107, 108
De La Warr, Earl and Countess of,
117-119
Derby, Edward, 15th Earl of, at
the Spithead Naval Review, 115,
117-119; letters from, 245-247,
257-264 ; poem composed in
sleep, 264-265 ; death of, 264
Derby, Mary, Countess of, 119, 120
de Ros, Lord, 80
Des Voeux, Sir William, 118-119
Devereux, General and Hon. Mrs.,
72
Devonshire, Duchess of, 182
Dewar, Mr. and Mrs., 77
Dibbs, Sir George, First Australian-
bom Premier, 251, 252
INDEX
387
Dickson, "Sir., Consul, at Damascus,
227, 228
Dieppe, 5
Dragoumis, Greek Foreign Minister,
132, 133
Draper, Rev. W. H. and Mrs., 76,
77
Draj-ton, Miss, O.B.E., 3S1
Dui?, Sir Plobert, 324
Dufferin, Marquis of. Viceroy, 171
Dunedin, N.Z., 268, 269
Dunlop-Smith, Sir James, 382
DjTievor, Lord (Hon. W. Rice), 374
East, Sir James, 35
Eaton Hall, 33
Edgcumbe, C!ol. Hon. Cliarles, 127
Edgehill, "The Sunrising," 56
Edinburgh, H.R.H. Duke of, 289;
at Mollxjume, 247
Edward, Prince of Wales, his first
public appearance, 372, 373
Elephanta, Caves of, 150
Ellenborough, Lady, her romantic
life, 227, 228
Endicott, Miss : see Chamberlain
Epidaiu'us Amphitheatre, 133
Esterhazy, Prince Louis, 143
Eeterhazy, Prince Nicholas, 78
Eugenie, Empress, 245
Eulalia, Infanta, 350-354
Eulenberg, Count, 101
Faudel-Phillips, Sir George, Lord
Mayor at Temple Bar, 373
Fawoett, Mr., Judge atTanjore, 170
Feam, Clarice, 208
Feam, Mr., American diplomat, 208
Ferdinand of Bulgaria, 236
Ferris, Captain, liritish Agent at
Bhownuggar, 199
Fiji, High CommisKioner, 288
Fin. McCoul ( Fingal), Irish Giant, 48
Fonthill Abbey, 67, 68, 64
Frank, Dr., 28
Frank. I^dy Agnes, 27, 28, 70
Fr«-<l«Tiek, Cro^-n Prince, after-
warrlH Emr».ror, 102, 103, 110
Frederick, Crown Princoss, after-
wards EmproBH, 102. 103. 104
Free Kirk Settleru in Now Zealand,
260
Freeman, family l.utlrr. 141. 142
Frore, Miw Georgina, 381
Froudo, J. A., 81 ; epigram on him
and Kingnley, 82
Futtohpore-Sokree, 193
Gailev, Mrs., nurse at Stoneleigh,
9. 10
Galloway, Mary, Countess of, first
acquaintanco with, 79, 82 ;
letter from, 87 ; with her in
Italy, 99 ; in Berlin. 10O-109.
at the Naval Review, 115-119;
in Greece, 127-140 ; meeting at
C-*iiro and rt^turn to Greece, 207 ;
journey with her tlirough Egj-pt,
Palestine, Syria. Constantinople
and Vienna, 214-237 ; nurses
Lady Jersey in Up|x>r CJrosvenor
Street, 244 ; visits Australia and
New Zealand, 266-276
Garibaldi Hjinn, 25 ; prison, 28
Genoa, 27
George V, H.M. King, as an infant,
36 ; on the BiicchaiUc, 243
George, King of Greece, 129, 208
George, King of Tonga, 287-290
Gerard, Sir Robert, 68
Ghent, 60
Giant's Causeway, its legend, 48, 49
Gladstone, Mr., his theory of im-
mortality, 87
Glendalough and its legends, 41, 42
GlengarifF. 43
Goschen, Hon. George, afterwards
Viscoimt, Private Secretary, 279,
280, 28G
Grandison, Viscoimt, Irish title of
Jersey family, 65, 126
Grant Duff, Sir Mount Stuart,
offers a cloth to the lianee, 169 ;
views on Madras Harbour, 180
Greenwich HospiUil, 29
Grenfell, Sir tVancis Sirdar, after-
wards Lord Grenfell, 216, 216
Grenfell, Mr. W. H.. afterwards
Lord Desborough, 97, 98
Grey, Sir George, of Now Zealand,
250
Griffith, Sir Samuel, Australian
statesman, 250
Grigg, Mr., Madras Minister of
Education, and Mrs., 178
Grigg, Sir Ivlward as a boy at
Madras, 178
Orosvonor House, 3, 4. 61
Gubbins, Sahib, Fmiuioml Com
missioner at Lurknow, IH9
Guest, Lady Theodore, 32, 210
Gwalior, 377
H
Hadji Petros, Greek I^ord Chamber-
lain, 137
388
INDEX
Hadji Petros, brigand, a husband
of Lady EUenborough, 228
Haggard, Bazett Michael, 291, 293,
294
Haggard, William, charge d'affaires
in Athens, 128; and Mrs., 129-
210
Hakone, Lake, 343
Halsbury, 1st Earl of. Lord Chan-
cellor, and the ghost, 123
Hamilton, Lady, wife of Governor
of Tasmania, 268
Hamilton, Lord and Lady George,
376
Hanna, Colonel Commanding at
Delhi, 190 ; his stories of the
siege, 191
Hare, Augustus, his account of
Osterley, 237, 238
Havelock, Sir Henry, and the
Relief of Lucknow, 188
Hay, Dr. and Mrs., 256
Hayashi, Viscount, on Japanese
religion, 340
Heather-Bigg, Miss Ada, foundress
Children's Happy Evenings, 369
Helouan, 363
Hendley, Doctor, 197
Hext, Captain, Director of Lidian
Marine, 146, 151, 229, 230
Higginson, Sir George, Story of
Crimea, 4
Hinemoa, Maori heroine, 274
Hinetnoa, New Zealand Government
yacht, 269
Hobart, 268
Holmwood, Mr., British Consul at
Smyrna, 230
Hong-Kong, 329, 330, 331
Hood, Lady Maria, nee Fox-
Strangways, 57
Hopetoun, Lord, afterwards Mar-
quis of Linlithgow, 248
Hornbj^ Sir Ed. and Lady, appari-
tion to at Shanghai, 124, 125
Houghton, Lord, 80, 81
Hughes, Thomas, gives Lowell's
works to Lady Jersey, 85 ; writes
story for her son, 89-91 ; founds
" New Rugby," 91
Hunter, Colonel, afterwards General
Sir Archibald, 361
Hyderabad, 155-161, and 376, 377
Inchmery, 117-119
India, visits to, 145-204 ;
inspired by, 205
poem
Innes, Sir George and Lady, 249
Inouye, Marquis and Marchioness,
345
Invercargill, 269
Ireland and its legends, 41-50
Jackson, Major, afterwards Sir
Herbert, at Assouan, 3 68, 359
Jains, the, and the Dilwarra
Temples, 197-198
James, Henry, 92
Japan, Emperor of, 337-340
Japan, Empress of, 337-339
Jeacock, Job, Parish Clerk at
Stoneleigh, 20 ; made Sir H.
Parkes's first breeches, 249
Jenkins, W. H., 69 and 70
Jenkins, Lady Caroline, nee
Villiers, 63, 69-71
Jenolan Caves, N.S.W., 253, 254
Jersey, 7th Earl of, as a boy, 56 ;
engagement and marriage, 61—
64 ; Lord-in- Waiting, 79 ; Lord-
Lieutenant of Oxfordshire, 125 ;
at Windsor, 212-213 ; Travels
in France, 68, 95, 96 ; in Italy,
94, 96, 97 ; in Switzerland, 94 ;
in India, 145-205 ; in Egypt,
206-7, 356-364 ; in Greece, 208-
1 1 ; Paymaster-General, 240 ; ap-
pointed Governor of New South
Wales, 242; at Balmoral, 242,
243 ; life in Australia, 249-257,
267, 268 ; visits New Caledonia,
276-284; in China, 329-335;
in Japan, 335-345, 376-379 ;
tlu-ough Canada, 347-348 ; in
United States, 343-345 ; at Child's
Bank, 373
Jersey, Frances, Countess of, nee
Twysden, 68, 78
Jersey, Julia, Countess of, nee Peel,
62, 69
Jersey, Margaret Elizabeth, Coun-
tess of, nee Leigh ; birth, 1 ;
journey with parents to France,
4-5 ; to Scotland, 14, 15 ; to
France and Italy, 23-29, 36;
to Ireland, 40-50 ; with Rev. J.
and Mrs. Leigh to Holland and
Belgium, 60 ; marriage, 61-64 ;
country neighbours, 72-77 ;
other friends, 81-93 ; after
marriage, travels in France, 68,
95, 96 ; in Italy, 94, 96, 97, 356,
375 ; in Switzerland, 94 ; in
Germany, 100-109; at the Naval
INDEX
389
Review, llo-119; travels in
India, 145-205. 37(>-379 ; at
Windsor, 212. 213 ; travels in
Greece. 127-140, 208-211; in
Eg>-pt. 206-7. 214-218. 356-
364 ; Palestine, 219-225 ; Syria.
225-230 ; Constantinople, 232-
235; in Australia, 249-257,
267, 268 ; visits New Zealand,
268-276. 319-323; New Cale-
dcnia, 276-284; Tonga, 287-
291 ; Samoa, 291-318, President
Victoria Leagiie, 381
Jerfev, Sarah, Countess of, n6e
Fane, 65-67, 78
Jeypore, City of V^ictory, 196
Johnston, Mr. and Mrs., and the
Heart of Montrose. 172-175
Junp, Sir Salar, and his sisters,
159-161
Jusserand, Monsieur, 366-367
Kamak, 358
Katoomba, 253
Kornble, Mrs. Fannj', 53, 62
Killamey Lakee, 43-45
Kingslev, Cliarles : see Froude, J.
A.
Kintore, Earl, 248
Kipling, Rudyard. " riainfr fckh-
rity," 262 ; quoted. 19. 276, 347 ;
his " Recessional." 356
Kitchener, Earl, in Egypt, 207, 214,
358 ; visit** to OntorlVv, 214, 365-
367, 368 ; letters from, 362. 363,
364-365. 366 ; at Delhi, 367-368
Knowles, Sir James and ,Vtne-
tetrUh Century, 124. 125
Kobe, 335
KotaK Minar, the, 191
Kowlf.on, 330
KrishnR, Mnilimin worship of,
his birthplaw. 195
KuL-h R*«har, Maharajah of. 183, 184
LAchman Daw, Seth, 195 196
LAfTon, Monni^'ur, Govcrnoi- nf N<'w
Caledonia. 279. 2H1
Lahore, 378, 379
Laniwiowno, Marquis and M>ir-
ehiorH'HS uf, 182
Liathorii. Earl and OumtcHH of, I 13,
144
Jjauriuin Min<-, 135, 136
I>-fkv, Mr. and Mrn., 119
L/Mgh, Hon. AgiK-H. 4, 1 2. I.J. 14.
34. 40
20
Leigh, Hon. Augusta, 17
Leigh, Caroline, Lady, nee Gros-
venor, 2 ; devotion of children,
8, 9 ; advice on daught<>r's mar-
riagt", 64 ; lott<>r8 of daughter to,
209, 210, 133-134. 336-339;
poems by, 1.5, 16; 98. 99, 111-
113; at Child's Bank, 373
Leigh, Chandos, 1st Lord, 2
Leigh, Hon. Sir Chandos, K.C.,
22, 52, 53
Leigh, Hon. Lady Chandos, nee
Rigby, 52, 53
Leigh, Hon. Mary Cordelia, 30. 40,
62, 127
L«^igh, Hon. Dudley, afterwards
3rd Lord Leigh, 12, 13, 14, 40,
63, 145, 244
Leigh, Hon. Mrs. Dudley, n«^e
Beckwith, 244, 245
Leigh, Mr. and Mrs. Gerard, 146,
147
Leigh, Hon. Gilbert, M.P., 4. 12,
13, 14. 54 ; death of, 97-99
Leigh, Hon. Mrs. James, nee
Butler, 53, 54, 60, 62 ; letter
from, 64
Leigh. Margarette, Lady,nte Willes.
16, 78
Leigh, Hon. Rowland, 40, 375
Leigh, Hon. Mrs. Rowland, nee
Gordon, 349. 375
Leigh, Major Hon. Rujv>rt. 12, 40 ;
A.D.C., 242 ; accompanies Lady
Jersey on s.s. Liibeck; 287; in
Tonga, 288, 289 ; in Samoa.
298 ; writes in .Ui Object of Pity.
315 ; joins Staff of Sir Rolx'it
Duf?. 324 : marriage. 383
Leigh. Hon. Mrs. Rupei-t, nee
I)u<llcy Smith, 383
Leigh. Hon. and Rev. ■!. W.
(Dean ..f Hereford), 2(t. 21, 53
Leigh, William Henry, 2nd Lord,
entertains North Warwiekshire
Hunt. 1; marriage, 2; travels
with his childn-n, 4, 5, 14, 15,
23-29, 36 ; receives Queen Vic-
toria at Stoneleigh, 11-13; taken
moors in Se<}tland. 14. 15; talk*-
with Nelson's servant, 29; viKit*-
Irt- land. 41-50 ; at Child's Bank.
373
I/-VfM<)n-(!ow«T, Hon. Mrs., !!«'•<•
; I^igh, 22
\ Lilth'flale. Mix.. School for Indiiii
i ladieH. 158
IJovd, Mr. aiKJ Mrs., 31. 32
Loi ii, Ist Lord, .'{34
390
INDEX
Longford, Colonel, Ear lof, 374, 375
Lowe, Robert, afterwards Lord
Sherbrooke, and Mrs., 119
Lowell, Mr. J. R., letters from,
83, 86 ; poems by, 84, 86
Lucknow, 188
Lugard, Sir Frederick and Lady,
323, 324
Lyons Silk Manufactory, 23
Lyttelton, Hon. Mrs. Alfred, 381
Lyttelton, Lord, and the Canter-
bury Association, 282
Lytton, Countess of, and Lady
Betty, 127
M
Macclesfield, Mary, Countess of,
nee Grosvenor, her story of ex-
Kaiser, 26, 27 ; mentioned, 31, 36
McDonnell, Sir Schomberg, 370
MacMahon, Marshal, 96
Macmillan, Mrs. Maurice, 381
Madras, 162 et seq. ; Harbour, 180
Madura, 172-177
Mahableshwar, 151
Malet, Sir Edward, 100, 101, 109
Malet, Lady Ermyntrude, 100, 101,
105, 109
Malietoa Laupepa, King of Samoa.
292 ; dinner with, 296-297
Marathon and its brigands, 31, 32 ;
visited, 129
Marie, Princess, of Greece, 130
Margaret, Queen of Italy, 356
Marsham, Charles, 74
Mary, H.M. Queen, interest in
" Children's Happy Evenings
Association," 369
Mason, Miss (Lady Allen), 247
Mataafa, rival King of Samoa, 292,
297-304
Max Miiller, Professor, 147, 340
Maxwell, Sir Herbert Maxwell,
Bart., 237
May, Colonel, at Lucknow, 189
Mehdi Ali, Mrs., 159
Mentone, 5 ; marriage celebrations
at for Prince of Wales, 25, 26
Meshaka, Mr., Vice -Consul at
Damascus, 226-229
Meyer, Mr. and Mrs. John, 96, 97
Middleton Park, 65, 66, 71, 72
Milford Sound, 270
Miyanoshita, hot baths, 345
Molyneux, JHon. Mrs. Caryl, nee
Lawley, 56
Morrison, Mr. Alfred, 58, 59
Motmt Abu, Jain temples on,
197, 198
Mount Stephen, Lord, 374
'■ Mrs. Malaprop," a modern, 210.
211
Muncaster, Lady, nee Grosvenor,
31 ; marries Hon. H. Lindsay, 32
Muncaster, Lord and Lady, 31, 32,
120
N
Nabeshima, Marquis, 345
Napier of Merchiston, Lord, 172
Nauplia, 132, 133
Nazli, Princess, 217, 218
Nekualofa in Tonga, 287
Newdegate, Sir Frank, 17
Newdigate, Hon. Mrs., nee Leigh,
16, 17
New Caledonia, voyage to, 276, 277
Newcastle in Australia, 319
Newman, Cardinal, 92, 93
New York, 354, 355
New Zealand, 268-276
Niagara, 354
Nikko, 336
Nile, the, 215, 216, 356-364
Nizam, H.H. the late, 155-157,
376, 377
Nizam, His Exalted Highness the
present, 377
Norfolk, Duchess of, nee Lyons, 9
Norfolk, Henry, Duke of, as Lord
Maltravers, 9 ; at Norfolk House,
92
Norfolk Island, 217
North, Lord, 75
Northcote, Lady, 244, 355, 356
370, 374, 375, 379
Northcote, Sir Stafford (afterwards
Lord), 355, 356, 370, 375, 379
Northumberland, Eleanor, Duchess
of, n6e Grosvenor, 30, 31
Noumea, 277, 278
Nubar Pasha on the English, 357
O
O'Donoghue, the, 44-46
Olcott, Colonel, Theosophist, 146-
148 ; at Adyar, 167-169
Olga, Queen of Greece, 127-128, 209
Olympia, 139
"One People, One Destiny," 250
Onslow, Countess, 269, 275, 276
Onslow, Earl, 269, 271, 272, 275, 276
Onslow,Hon.Huia- Maori Chieftain,
after years of, 275
Onslow, Mrs. MacArthur, 256
Orient Express, 235
Osborne, Mr. and Mrs., 266
INDEX
391
0-.bourno, Lloyd, 298, 315
Oaterlev Pctrk.Sl*. 83, 8G, 143, 144.
237, 238, 355
Parker. Hon. Edinund. 272
Parker. Mr., of Tonpa. 290
Parker, Sir Henrv, Premier of N't'W
South Wales, 249-251
Paley, Major and Mrs., 192
Peel, Hon. CJeorge, 366
Pender, Sir John. 115-117
PerjJoncher, Oriifin. 100
Phelps, Mr., American Minister, 142
Pigmies, African, 218, 219
Ponsonby, Sir Henry, 212
Port Darwin, 325-327
Pope, Saraoan native, 300
Prendergast, Sir Harry, 166 ; and
Lady, 200
Ihx)tap, Chunder Mozoondar, 182,
183
Putidua, 8.K., 180, 181, 182
Pyrgos, 137, 139
R
Raglan, Lord, 57
R^ranay, Lady Patricia, as a child,
152
Raratonga luland and it.<; Queens,
272
Reay, Lord and Ladv. 151, 152. 201
Roes. Sir John, 162. "l63, 178, 180
Hob'/cry under Arm^, 253
RobertH, F.M. Earl, at Lueknow,
188-190 ; at Child's Bank, 374
liome, 140. 356
R^jtorua. 273 ; Uiko of. 274, 275
Rjwton, I>jrd, 127, 140 ; his anec-
dote* of a f)i(:tur*'. 239
Ru^i'H Buildings, 27
Ru.sMoU, Sir William, 115
St. Holier, Lady, 140
St. Kevin at Glendalough. 41, 42
SaliHbury, Marquis of, Primo
Minist^^r, iii.smarfk's ostoem for,
105. 106. 108, 109
Samoa, 291 et H<»q.
Sand.rwjn. I>jrd, 128, 333
Saniiomiya, Barorn-Ks, 337. 339
Kavaii, Samoan Island, 292
Schwarzonborg, Prince, 215, 216
Hrolt, I»rd and Lady (;iiarles, 285
SfliersUirpfl, (>)unt. 114
8or;oj«««>, liajah of Tanjoro, 170,
171
SivAJoo, Prinoeu at Tanjore, 171
Shaft«sbury, Earl of, dictum on his
generation, 369
Shaw-Stewart, Sir Hujili, 57
Shaw-Stewart, Sir Michael and
Lady Octavia, n^e Urosvonor, 16.
38. 57
Shintoism, 339, 340
Shiva Pra-^had, Rajah. 185-187
Simele, Henrv, Samoan Chief, 298.
302
Slatin Pasha, liis escafx> from Om-
durman, 359
Sm>Tna, 2.30, 231
Somcrton School, 67
Southampton, Lady. I.,*\dv-in-
Waiting, 213
Spake and Grant, their meeting
with Sir S. Baker, 148
Spezia. 28, 29
Spring Rice, Sir Cecil, 336
Stal bridge. Lord, 34
Stanley, Sir Henry. Explorer, 218
Stephen. Sir Alfred, Lieutenant-
Governor, N.S.W., 255
Stevenson, R. L.. 25, 294, 295;
visit to rebel camp with, 297
303 ; chief author of An Object
of Pity, 313-316
Stevenson, Mrs. R. L., 294, 315, 316
Stewart, F.M. Sir Donald, 374
Strathnairn, F.M. Lord, 77
Strong, Mrs., 298, 300, 302. 315
Suleem Sheikh and his infant son,
193, 194
Sutherland, discoverer of Suther-
land Falls, N.Z., 270
Suttor, Sir Frank, 255
Switzerland, I'XjK'dition to, with
children, 94
Sydney, arrival at, 248
Syon House, 61
Tallx>t, Dame Meriel, O.B.E., 381
Tamaseso, Samoan Chief, 292, 304
306
Tanjore. 170
Theotoki. (Jreek Minister, 131 133
Timor, island of. 327-329
Toowoomba, Qu'-i-nsland, 324
Tricoupi, Greek Prime MinisU'r.
130. I.U
Tricoupi, .Miss, 1.30. 131. I.{:t. IS4
Trafalgar -eaiiwrt, 29
Travaneore, Maharajah anrl KanecM
of, 169, 170
Tontja. iHlatidx ..f. 2H7 291
Tubb. Mr. and Mn*.. 74
Tughlakaltud and it44 ruient, 191, 192
392
INDEX
Tiimut, N.S.W., reception at, 268
Turner, Mr., Collector of Madura,
172
Tutuila, Samoan Island, 291, 292
Tweedmouth, Fanny, Lady, 381
Tyler, Sir John, of Agra, 192, 194
U
Ulwar, 196
Upton House, 56
Upolu, chief Samoan island, 292
Vailima, R. L. Stevenson's home,
315
Valentia, Viscount and Viscountess,
72, 73
Vancouver, arrival at, 346, 347
Vetyk Ahmed Pasha, his reminis-
cences, 234
Victoria, H.M. Queen, at Stone-
leigh Abbey, 12, 13 ; anecdote of
her childhood, 13, 14 ; in Ireland,
50 ; devotion to Prince Consort's
memory, 39 ; first Jubilee, 110-
113, 120, 121 ; reverence for in
India, 179, 201-203 ; receives
Lord and Lady Jersey at Windsor.
212, 213; Diamond Jubilee, 372-
374 ; her death, 379, 380
Victoria League fovmded, 380-382
Villiers, Hon. Arthur, birth, 82
Villiers, Lady Beatrice, 82 ; in
Italy, 373 ; in India, 376, 377 ;
marries Lord Dunsany, 383
Villiers, Lady Clementina, 67, 68,
79
Villiers, Lady Margaret, 77, 98 ;
in Switzerland and Italy, 94, 95 ;
in Tonga and in Samoa, 287, 291.
298, 299 ; leaves Australia with
parents, 324 : at Hong-Kong, 330;
at Canton, 333 ; in Japan, 337.
338, 343 ; in London, 355 ; in
Egypt, 356 ; marries Hon. Walter
Rice, 374
Villiers, Lady Mary, 82, 97, 356 ;
marries Earl of Longford, 374
Villiers, Hon. Reginald, 127
Villiers, Viscount (now 8th Earl of
Jersey), birth, 68, 69 ; at Castle-
moimt School, Dover, 82 ; story
written for by Tom Hughes, 89-
91 ; in Switzerland, at Biarritz
and in Italy, 94, 95; in India
and Greece, 184-209 ; wins Junior
Oppidan Scholarship at Eton,
214
remains in England when
family go to Australia, 245 ; re-
joins Lady Jersey at Apia, his
experience with American re-
porter, 316 ; marriage with Lady
Cynthia Needham, 383
Vincent, Sir Edgar, afterwards
Lord d'Abernon, at Constanti-
nople, p. 232 ; on the Orient
Express, 235-237
Viti, Samoan lady, her dress, 304-
305
W
Wady Haifa, 361, 362
Wakatipu Lake, 272
Wallace, Mrs., housekeeper, 10, 11
Wallace, Sir Donald Mackenzie, 182
"\5Jfttters, Mr., Acting Consul at
Canton, 332, 333
Whakarewarewa hot springs, 273
Wenlock, Elizabeth, Lady, nee
Grosvenor, 31, 56
Wellington, Arthur, Duke of, 3
Wellington in New Zealand, 273
Westfahlen, Count, 216
Westminster, Constance, Duchess
of, 92
Westminster, 1st Duke of, 33
Westminster, Marchioness of, 19, 33
Westminster, Marquis of, 5, 32, 33
White, Miss, lady doctor at Hy-
derabad, 161
White, Sir William and Lady, 233,
234
William I, Emperor, 101, 102 ; his
picture in Tonga, 288
William, Prince, afterwards William
II, 26, 27, 104
Willes, Mr. and Mrs. Charles, their
New Year's Party, 54-56
Wister, Owen, American author, 53
Wolmer, Lord and Lady, after-
wards Earl and Countess of
Selborne, 114
Wolseley, F.M. Viscount, 115, 118
WombM-ell, George, death of, 172
Wombwell, Lady Julia, 63
Xavier, St. Francis, in Japan, 341
Y
Yandall, Samoan interpreter. 313
Yarrangobilly Caves, 266-268
Yokohama, 346
Zante, island of, 139, 140
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