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You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license - - -Title: An Autobiography - -Author: Elizabeth Butler - -Release Date: December 16, 2012 [EBook #41638] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY *** - - - - -Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images available at The Internet Archive) -Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team -at http://www.pgdp.net - - - - - - - -[Illustration: "GOT IT. BRAVO!"] - - - - -AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY - -BY - -ELIZABETH BUTLER - -_With Illustrations from Sketches by -THE AUTHOR._ - -CONSTABLE & CO. LTD. -LONDON BOMBAY SYDNEY -1922 - -PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN BY THE WHITEFRIARS PRESS, LTD., -LONDON AND TONBRIDGE. - - -To -MY CHILDREN - - - - -FOREWORD - - -The memoirs of a great artist must inevitably evoke the interest and -appreciation of the initiated. But this book makes a wider appeal, -written as it is by a woman whose career, apart from her art, has been -varied and adventurous, who has travelled widely and associated, not -only with the masters of her own craft, but with the great and eminent -in many fields. It is, moreover, the revelation of a personality apart, -at once feminine and virile, endued with the force engendered by -unswerving adherence to lofty aims. - -In this age of insistent ugliness, when the term "realism" is used to -cloak every form of grossness and degeneracy, it is a privilege to -commune with one who speaks of her "experiences of the world's -loveliness" and describes herself as "full of interest in mankind." -These two phrases, taken at random from the opening pages of "From -Sketch Book and Diary," seem to me eminently characteristic of Lady -Butler and her work. She is a worshipper of Beauty in its spiritual as -well as its concrete form, and all her life she has envisaged mankind in -its nobler aspect. - -At seven years old little Elizabeth Thompson was already drawing -miniature battles, at seventeen she was lamenting that as yet she had -achieved nothing great, and a very few years later the world was ringing -with the fame of the painter of "The Roll Call." - -Through the accumulated interests of changeful years, charged for her -with intense joy and sorrow, she has kept her valiant standard flying, -in her art as in her life remaining faithful to her belief in humanity, -using her power and insight for its uplifting. Not only has she depicted -for us great events and strenuous action, with a sureness all her own, -she has caught and materialised the qualities which inspire heroic -deeds--courage, endurance, fidelity to a life's ideal even in the moment -of death. And all without shirking the dreadful details of the -battlefield; amid blood and grime and misery, in loneliness and neglect, -in the desperate steadfastness of a lost cause, her figures stand out -true to themselves and to the highest traditions of their country. - -During the recent world-upheaval Lady Butler devoted herself in -characteristic fashion to the pursuance of her aims. Many of the -subjects painted and exhibited during those terrible years still -preached her gospel. She worked, moreover, with a twofold motive. Widow -of a great soldier, she devoted the proceeds of her labours to her less -fortunate sisters left impoverished, and even destitute, by the War. - -"_L'artiste donne de soi_," said M. Paderewski once. - -Lady Butler has always given generously of her best, and perhaps this -book of memories, intimate and characteristic, this record of wide -interests and high endeavour, full of picturesque incident and touched -with delicate humour, is as valuable a gift as any that she has yet -bestowed. - -M. E. FRANCIS. - - - - -CONTENTS - - -CHAP. PAGE - -I. FIRST IMPRESSIONS 1 - -II. EARLY YOUTH 10 - -III. MORE TRAVEL 19 - -IV. IN THE ART SCHOOLS 38 - -V. STUDY IN FLORENCE 54 - -VI. ROME 69 - -VII. WAR. BATTLE PAINTINGS 96 - -VIII. "THE ROLL CALL" 101 - -IX. ECHOES OF "THE ROLL CALL" 115 - -X. MORE WORK AND PLAY 130 - -XI. TO FLORENCE AND BACK 147 - -XII. AGAIN IN ITALY 159 - -XIII. A SOLDIER'S WIFE 167 - -XIV. QUEEN VICTORIA 183 - -XV. OFFICIAL LIFE--THE EAST 191 - -XVI. TO THE EAST 196 - -XVII. MORE OF THE EAST 211 - -XVIII. THE LAST OF EGYPT 224 - -XIX. ALDERSHOT 234 - -XX. ITALY AGAIN 252 - -XXI. THE DOVER COMMAND 260 - -XXII. THE CAPE AND DEVONPORT 275 - -XXIII. A NEW REIGN 284 - -XXIV. MOSTLY A ROMAN DIARY 311 - -XXV. THE GREAT WAR 320 - -INDEX 333 - - - - -LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS - - - PAGE - -"GOT IT, BRAVO!" _Frontispiece_ - -A LEAF FROM A VERY EARLY SKETCH-BOOK 12 - -FLYING SHOTS IN BELGIUM AND RHINELAND IN 1865 19 - -IN FLORENCE DURING MY STUDIES IN 1869 58 - -THE LAST OF THE RIDERLESS HORSE-RACES, AND A WET TRUDGE -TO THE VATICAN COUNCIL 80 - -CRIMEAN IDEAS 103 - -PRACTISING FOR "QUATRE BRAS" 130 - -ONE OF THE BALACLAVA SIX HUNDRED 151 - -IN WESTERN IRELAND: A "JARVEY" AND "BIDDY" 174 - -THE EGYPTIAN CAMEL CORPS AND THE BERSAGLIERI 230 - -ALDERSHOT MANOEUVRES: THE ENEMY IN SIGHT 234 - -A DESPATCH BEARER, BOER WAR, AND THE HORSE GUNNERS 284 - -NOTES ON THE EVE OF THE GREAT WAR 323 - -THE SHIRE HORSES: WHEELERS OF A 4·7. A HUSSAR SCOUT OF 1917 327 - -A POSTCARD, FOUND ON A GERMAN PRISONER, WITH "SCOTLAND -FOR EVER" TURNED INTO PRUSSIAN CAVALRY, TYPIFYING -THE VICTORIOUS ONRUSH OF THE GERMAN ARMY IN THE -NEW YEAR, 1915 332 - - - - -AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY - -ELIZABETH BUTLER - - -MY FRIENDS: You must write your memoirs. - -I: Every one writes his or her memoirs nowadays. Rather a plethora, -don't you think? An exceedingly difficult thing to do without too much -of the Ego. - -MY FRIENDS: Oh! but yours has been such an interesting life, so varied, -and you can bring in much outside yourself. Besides, you have kept a -diary, you say, ever since you were twelve, and you have such an -unusually long memory. A pity to waste all that. You simply _must_! - -I: Very well, but remember that I am writing while the world is still -knocked off its balance by the Great War, and few minds will care to -attune themselves to the Victorian and Edwardian stability of my time. - -MY FRIENDS: There will come a reaction. - - - - -CHAPTER I - -FIRST IMPRESSIONS - - -I was born at the pretty "Villa Claremont," just outside Lausanne and -overlooking Lake Leman. I made a good start with the parents Providence -gave me. My father, cultured, good, patient, after he left Cambridge set -out on the "Grand Tour," and after his unsuccessful attempt to enter -Parliament devoted his leisure to my and my younger sister's education. -Yes, he began with our first strokes, our "pot-hooks and hangers," our -two-and-two make four; nor did his tuition really cease till, entering -on matrimony, we left the paternal roof. He adopted, in giving us our -lessons, the principle of "a little and often," so that we had two -hours in the morning and no lessons in the afternoon, only bits of -history, poetry, the collect for the Sunday and dialogues in divers -languages to learn overnight by heart to be repeated to him next -morning. We had no regular holidays: a day off occasionally, especially -when travelling; and we travelled much. He believed that intelligent -travel was a great educator. He brought us up tremendous English -patriots, but our deepest contentment lay in our Italian life, because -we loved the sun--all of us. - -So we oscillated between our Ligurian Riviera and the home counties of -Kent and Surrey, but were never long at a time in any resting place. Our -father's daughter by his first wife had married, at seventeen, an -Italian officer whose family we met at Nervi, and she settled in Italy, -becoming one of our attractions to the beloved Land. That officer later -on joined Garibaldi, and was killed at the Battle of the Volturno. She -never left the country of her adoption, and that bright lure for us -remained. - -Although we were very strictly ruled during lessons, we ran rather wild -after, and, looking back, I only wonder that no illness or accident ever -befell us. Our dear Swiss nurse was often scandalised at our escapades, -but our mother, bright and beautiful, loving music and landscape -painting, and practising both with an amateur's enthusiasm, allowed us -what she considered very salutary freedom after study. Still, I don't -think she would have liked some of our wild doings and our consortings -with Genoese peasant children and Surrey ploughboys, had she known of -them. But, careful as she was of our physical and spiritual health, she -trusted us and thought us unique. - -My memory goes back to the time when I was just able to walk and we -dwelt in a typically English village near Cheltenham. I see myself -pretending to mind two big cart-horses during hay-making, while the fun -of the rake and the pitchfork was engaging others not so interested in -horses as I already was myself. Then I see the _Albergo_, with -vine-covered porch, at Ruta, on the "saddle" of Porto Fino, that -promontory which has been called the "Queen of the Mediterranean," where -we began our lessons, and, I may say, our worship of Italy. - -Then comes Villa de' Franchi for two exquisite years, a little nearer -Genoa, at Sori, a _palazzo_ of rose-coloured plaster and white stucco, -with flights of stone steps through the vineyards right down to the sea. -That sea was a joy to me in all its moods. We had our lessons in the -balcony in the summer, and our mother's piano sent bright melody out of -the open windows of the drawing-room when she wasn't painting the -mountains, the sea, the flowers. She had the "semi-grand" piano brought -out into the balcony one fullmoon night and played Beethoven's -"Moonlight Sonata" under those silver beams, while the sea, her -audience, in its reflected glory, murmured its applause. - -Often, after the babes were in bed, I cried my heart out when, through -the open windows, I could hear my mother's light soprano drowned by the -strong tenor of some Italian friend in a duet, during those musical -evenings so dear to the music-loving children of the South. It seemed -typical of her extinction, and I felt a rage against that tenor. Our -dear nurse, Amélie, would come to me with lemonade, and mamma, when -apprised of the state of things, would also come to the rescue, her -face, still bright from the singing, becoming sad and puckered. - -A stay at Edenbridge, in Kent, found me very happy riding in big waggons -during hay-making and hanging about the farm stables belonging to the -house, making friends with those splendid cart-horses which contrasted -with the mules of Genoa in so interesting a way. How the cuckoos sang -that summer; a note never heard in Italy. I began writing verse about -that time. Thus: - - The gates of Heaven open to the lovely season, - And all the meadows sweet they lie in peace. - -We children loved the Kentish beauty of our dear England. Poetry -filtered into our two little hearts wherever we abode, to blossom forth -in my little large-eyed, thoughtful sister in the process of time. To -Nervi we went again, taking Switzerland on the way this time, into Italy -by the Simplon and the Lago Maggiore. - -A nice couple of children we were sometimes! At this same Nervi, one -day, we little girls found the village people celebrating a _festa_ at -Sant' Ilario, high up on the foothills of the mountains behind our -house. We mixed in the crowd outside, as the church emptied, and armed -ourselves with branches. Rounding up the children, who were in swarms, -we gave chase. Down, down, through the zone of chestnut trees, down -through the olive woods, down through the vineyards, down to the little -town the throng fled, till, landing them in the street, we went home, -remarking on the evident superior power of the Anglo-Saxon race over the -Latin. - -As time went on my drawing-books began to show some promise, so that my -father gave me great historical subjects for treatment, but warning me, -in that amused way he had, that an artist must never get spoilt by -celebrity, keeping in mind the fluctuations of popularity. I took all -this seriously. I think that, having no boys to bring up, he tried to -put all the tuition suitable to both boys and girls into us. One result -was that as a child I had the ambition to be a writer as well as a -painter. We children were fanatically devoted to the worship of -Charlotte Brontë, since our father had read us "Jane Eyre" (with -omissions). Rather strong meat for babes! We began sending poetry and -prose to divers periodicals and cut our teeth on rejected MSS. - -We went back to Genoa, _viâ_ Jersey (as a little _détour_!) Poor old -Agostino, our inevitable cook, saw us as we drove from the station, on -our arrival, through the Via Carlo Felice. Worse luck, for he had become -too blind for his work. In days gone by he had done very well and we had -not the heart to cast him off. He ran after our carriage, kissing our -hands as he capered sideways alongside, at the peril of being run over. -So we were in for him again, but it was the last time. On our next visit -a friend told us, "Agostino is dead, thank goodness!" He and our dear -nurse, Amélie, used to have the most desperate rows, principally over -religion, he a devout Catholic and she a Protestant of the true Swiss -fibre. They always ended by wrangling themselves at the highest pitch of -their voices into papa's presence for judgment. But he never gave it, -only begging them to be quiet. She declared to Agostino that if he got -no wages at all he would still make a fortune out of us by his -perquisites; and, indeed, considering we left all purchases in his -hands, I don't think she exaggerated. The war against Austria had been -won. Magenta, Solferino, Montebello--dear me, how those names resounded! -One day as we were running along the road in our pinafores near the -Zerbino palace, above Genoa, along came Victor Emmanuel in an open -carriage looking very red and blotchy in the heat, with big, ungloved -hands, one of which he raised to his hat in saluting us little imps who -were shouting "Long live the King of Italy!" in English with all our -might. We were only a _little_ previous (!) Then the next year came the -Garibaldi enthusiasm, and we, like all the children about us, became -highly exalted _Garibaldians_. I saw the Liberator the day before he -sailed from Quarto for his historical landing in Sicily, at the Villa -Spinola, in the grounds of which we were, on a visit at the English -consul's. He was sitting in a little arbour overlooking the sea, talking -to the gardener. In the following autumn, when his fame had increased a -thousandfold, I made a pen and ink memory sketch of him which my father -told me to keep for future times. I vividly remember, though at the time -not able to understand the extraordinary meaning of the words, hearing -one of Garibaldi's adoring comrades (one Colonel Vecchii) a year or two -later on exclaim to my father, with hands raised to heaven, -"_Garibaldi!! C'est le Christ le revolver à la main!_" - -Our life at old Albaro was resumed, and I recall the pleasant English -colony at Genoa in those days, headed by the very popular consul, -"Monty" Brown, and the nice Church of England chaplain, the Rev. Alfred -Strettell. Ah! those primitive picnics on Porto Fino, when Mr. Strettell -and our father used to read aloud to the little company, including our -precocious selves, Shakespeare, Wordsworth, Keats, Tennyson, under the -vines and olives, between whose branches, far below the cultivated -terraces which we chose for our repose, appeared the deep blue waters of -the Sea of seas. My early sketch books are full of incidents in Genoese -peasant life: carnival revels in the streets, so suited to the child's -idea of fun; charges of Garibaldian cavalry on discomfited Neapolitan -troops (the despised _Borbonici_), and waving of tricolours by bellicose -patriots. I was taken to the Carlo Felice Theatre to see Ristori in -"Maria Stuarda," and became overwhelmed with adoration of that mighty -creature. One night she came on the stage waving a great red, white, and -green tricolour, and recited to a delirious audience a fine patriotic -poem to united Italy ending in the words "_E sii Regina Ancor!_" I see -her now in an immense crinoline. - -A charming autumn sojourn on the lakes of Orta and Maggiore filled our -young minds with beauty. Early autumn is the time for the Italian lakes, -while the vintage is "on" and the golden Indian corn is stored in the -open loggias of the farms, hanging in rich bunches in sun and luminous -shade amongst the flower pots and all the homely odds and ends of these -picturesque dwellings. The following spring was clouded by our return to -England and London in particularly cold and foggy weather, dark with the -London smoke, and our temporary installation in a dismal abode hastily -hired for us by our mother's father, where we could be close to his -pretty little dwelling at Fulham. My Diary was begun there. Poor little -"Mimi" (as I was called), the pages descriptive of our leaving Albaro at -that time are spotted with the mementos of her tears. The journey -itself was a distraction, for we returned by the long Cornice Route -which then was followed by the _Malle Poste_ and Diligence, the railway -being only in course of construction. It was very interesting to go in -that fashion, especially to me, who loved the horses and watched the -changing of our teams at the end of the "stages" with the intensest -zest. I made little sketches whenever halts allowed, and, as usual, my -irrepressible head was out of the Diligence window most of the time. The -Riviera is now known to everybody, and very delightful in its way. I -have not long returned from a very pleasant visit there; everything very -luxurious and up-to-date, but the local sentiment is lessened. The -reason is obvious, and has been laboured enough. One can still go off -the beaten paths and find the true Italy. I have found one funny little -sketch showing our _Malle Poste_ stopping to pick up the mail bag at a -village (San Remo, perhaps), which bag is being handed out of a top -window, at night, by the old postmistress. The _Malle Poste_ evidently -went "like the wind," for I invariably show the horses at a gallop all -along the route. - -My misery at the view of our approach to London through that wilderness -of slums that ushers us into the Great Metropolis is all chronicled, -and, what with one thing and another, the Diary sinks for a while into -despondency. But not for long. I cheer up soon. - -In London I took in all the amusing details of the London streets, so -new to me, coming from Italy. I seem, by my entries in the Diary, to -have been particularly diverted by the colour of those Dundreary -whiskers that the English "swell" of the period affected. I constantly -come upon "Saw no end of red whiskers." Then I read, "Mamma and I paid -calls, one on Dickens (_sic_)--out, thank goodness." Charles Dickens, -whom I dismiss in this offhand manner, had been a close friend of my -father's, and it was he who introduced my father to the beautiful Miss -Weller (amusing coincidence in names!) at an amateur concert where she -played. The result was rapid. My vivid memory can just recall Charles -Dickens's laugh. I never heard it echoed by any other man's till I heard -Lord Wolseley's. The volunteer movement was in full swing, and I became -even more enthusiastic over the citizen soldiers than I had been over -the _Garibaldini_. Then there are pages and pages filled with -descriptions of the pictures at the Royal Academy; of the Zoological -Gardens, describing nearly every bird, beast, reptile and fish. Laments -over the fogs and the cold of that dreadful London April and May, and -untiring outbursts in verse of regret for my lost Italy. But I stuffed -my sketch books with British volunteers in every conceivable uniform, -each corps dressed after its own taste. There was a very short-lived -corps called the Six-foot Guards! I sent a design for a uniform to the -_Illustrated London News_, which was returned with thanks. I felt hurt. -Grandpapa attached himself to the St. George's Rifles, and went, later -on, through storm and rain and sun in several sham fights. Well, _Punch_ -made fun of those good men and true, but I have lived to know that the -"Territorials," as they came to be called, were destined in the -following century to lend their strong arm in saving the nation. We next -had a breezy and refreshing experience of Hastings and the joy of rides -on the downs with the riding master. London fog and smoke were blown off -us by the briny breezes. - - - - -CHAPTER II - -EARLY YOUTH - - -In December we migrated back to London, and shortly before Christmas our -dear, faithful nurse died. That was Alice's and my first sense of -sorrow, and, even now, I can't bear to go over those dreadful days. Our -father told us we would never forgive ourselves if we did not take our -last look at her. He said we were very young for looking on death, but -"go, my children," he said, "it is right." I cannot read those -heartbroken words with which I fill page after page of my Diary even now -without tears. She had at first intended to remain at home at Lausanne -when my parents were leaving for England, shortly after my birth, but as -she was going I smiled at her from my cradle. "_Ah! Mademoiselle Mimi, -ce sourire!_" brought her back irresistibly, and with us she remained to -the end. - -As we girls grew apace we had a Parisian mistress to try and parisianise -our Swiss French and an Italian master to try and tuscanise our Genoese -Italian, and every Saturday a certain Mr. Standish gave me two hours' -drill in oil painting. How grand I felt! He gave me his own copies of -Landseer's horses' heads and dogs as models. This wasn't very much, but -it was a beginning. My lessons in the elementary class at the S. -Kensington School of Art are not worth mentioning. The masters gave me -hateful scrolls and patterns to copy, and I relieved my feelings by -ornamenting the margins of my drawing paper with angry scribblings of -horses and soldiers in every variety of fury. That did not last long. -This entry in the Diary speaks for itself:-- - -"_Sunday, March 16th, 1862._--We went to Mr. Lane's house preparatory to -going to see Millais in his studio. Mr. Richard Lane is an old friend of -papa's. The middle Miss Lane is a favourite model of Millais' and very -pretty. We entered his studio, which is hung with rich pre-Raphaelite -tapestry and pre-Raphaelite everything. The smell of cigar smoke -prepared me for what was to come. Millais, a tall, strapping, careless, -blunt, frank, young Englishman, was smoking with two villainous friends, -both with beards--red, of course. Instead of coming to be introduced -they sat looking at Millais' graceful drawings calling them 'jolly' and -'stunning,' the creatures! Millais would be handsome but for his eyes, -which are too small, and his hair is colourless and stands up in curls -over his large head but not encroaching upon his splendid forehead. He -seems to know what a universal favourite he is." I naturally did not -record in this precious piece of writing a rather humiliating little -detail. I wanted the company to see that I was a bit of a judge of -painting, ahem! In fact, a painter myself, and, approaching very near to -the wet picture of "The Ransom" (I think), I began to scrutinise. Mr. -Lane took me gently, but firmly, by the shoulders and placed me in a -distant chair. Had I been told by a seer that in 1875--the year I -painted "Quatre Bras"--this same Millais, after entertaining me at -dinner in that very house, would escort me down those very steps, and, -in shaking hands, was to say, "Good night, Miss Thompson, I shall soon -have the pleasure of congratulating you on your election to the -Academy, an honour which you will _t'oroughly_ deserve"--had I been told -this! - -Our next halt was in the Isle of Wight, at Ventnor, and then at -Bonchurch, and our house was "The Dell." Bonchurch was a beautiful -dwelling-place. But, alas! for what I may call the Oxford primness of -the society! It took long to get ourselves attuned to it. However, we -got to be fond of this society when the ice thawed. The Miss Sewells -were especially charming, sisters of the then Warden of New College. -Each family took a pride in the beauty of its house and gardens, the -result being a rivalry in loveliness, enriching Bonchurch with flowers, -woods and ornamental waters that filled us with delight. Mamma had "The -Dell" further beautified to come up to the high level of the others. She -made a little garden herself at the highest point of the grounds, with -grass steps, bordered with tall white lilies, and called it "the -Celestial Garden." The cherry trees she planted up there for the use of -the blackbirds came to nothing. The water-colours she painted at "The -Dell" are amongst her loveliest. - -[Illustration: A LEAF FROM A VERY EARLY SKETCH-BOOK.] - -Ventnor was fond of dances, At Homes, and diversions generally, but I -shall never forget my poor mother's initial trials at the musical -parties where the conversation raged during her playing, rising and -sinking with the _crescendos_ and _diminuendos_ (and this after the -worship of her playing in Italy!), and once she actually stopped dead in -the middle of a Mozart and silence reigned. She then tried the catching -"Saltarello," with the same result exactly. "The English appreciate -painting with their ears and music with their eyes," said Benjamin West -(if I am not mistaken), the American painter, who became President of -our Royal Academy. This hard saying had much truth in it, at least in -his day. Even in ours they had to be _told_ of the merits of a picture, -and the _sight_ of a pianist crossing his hands when performing was the -signal for exchanges of knowing smiles and nods amongst the audience, -who, talking, hadn't heard a note. For vocal music, however, silence was -the convention. How we used inwardly to laugh when, after a song piped -by some timid damsel, the music was handed round so that the words and -music might be seen in black and white by the guests assembled. I -thankfully record the fact that as time went on my mother's playing -seemed at last to command attention, and it being whispered that silence -was better suited to such music, it became quite the thing to stop -talking. - -Though Bonchurch was inclined to a moderate High Church tone, its rector -was of a pungent Low-Churchism, and he wrote us and the other girls who -sang in his choir a very severe letter one day ordering us to -discontinue turning to the east in the Creed. We all liked the much more -genial and very beautiful services at Holy Trinity Church, midway to -Ventnor, where we used to go for evensong. The Rev. Mr. G., of -Bonchurch, gave us very long sermons in the mornings, prophesying dismal -and alarming things to come, and we took refuge finally in the Rev. A. -L. B. Peile's more heartening discourses. - -The Ventnor dances were thoroughly enjoyable, and the croquet parties -and the rides with friends, and all the rest of it. Yes, it was a nice -life, but the morning lessons never broke off. No doubt we were -precocious, but we like to dwell on the fact of the shortness of our -childhood and the consequent length of our youth. I now and then come -upon funny juvenile sketch books where I find my Ventnor partners at -these dances clashing with charges of Garibaldian cavalry. There they -are, the desirable ones and the undesirable; the drawling "heavy swell" -and the raw stripling; the handsome and the ugly. The girls, too, are -there; the flirt and the wallflower. They all went in. - -These festive Ventnor doings were all very well, but it became more and -more borne in upon me that, if I intended to be a "great artist" (oh! -seductive words), my young 'teens were the right time for study. "Very -well, then--attention!--miss!" No sooner did my father perceive that I -meant business than he got me books on anatomy, architecture, costume, -arms and armour, Ruskin's inspiring writings, and everything he thought -the most appropriate for my training. But I longed for regular training -in some academy. I chafed, as my Diaries show. For some time yet I was -to learn in this irregular way, petitioning for real severe study till -my dear parents satisfied me at last. "You will be entering into a -tremendous ruck of painters, though, my child," my father said one day, -with a shake of his head. I answered, "I will single myself out of it." - -So, then, the lovely "Dell" was given up, and soon there began the -happiest period of my girlhood--my life as an art student at South -Kensington; _not_ in the elementary class of unpleasant memory, but in -the "antique" and the "life." - -But our father wanted first to show us Bruges and the Rhine, so we were -off again on our travels in the summer. Two new countries for us girls, -hurrah! and a little glimpse of a part of our own by the way. I find an -entry made at Henley. - -"_Henley, May 31st._--Before to-day I could not boast with justice of -knowing more than a fraction of England! This afternoon I saw her in one -of her loveliest phases on a row to Medmenham Abbey. Skies of the most -telling effects, ever changing as we rowed on, every reach we came to -revealing fresh beauties of a kind so new to me. The banks of long grass -full of flowers, the farmsteads gliding by, the willows allowed to grow -according to Nature's intention into exquisitely graceful trees, the -garden lawns sloping to the water's edge as a delicious contrast to the -predominating rural loveliness, and then that unruffled river! I have -seen the Thames! At Medmenham Abbey we had tea, and one of the most -beautiful parts of the river and meadowland, flowery to overflowing, was -seen before us through the arcades, the sky just there being of the most -delicious dappled warm greys, and further on the storm clouds towered, -red in the low sun. What pictures wherever you turn; and turn and turn -and turn we did, until my eyes ached, on our smooth row back. The -evening effects put the afternoon ones out of my head. I imagined a -score of pictures, peopling the rich, sweet banks with men and women of -the olden time. The skies received double glory and poetry from the -perfectly motionless water, which reflected all things as in a -mirror--as if it wasn't enough to see that overwhelming beauty without -seeing it doubled! At last I could look no more at the effects nor hear -the blackbirds and thrushes that sang all the way, and, to Mamma's -sympathetic amusement, I covered my eyes and ears with a shawl. Alas! -for the artist, there is no peace for him. He cannot gaze and -peacefully admire; he frets because he cannot 'get the thing down' in -paint. Having finished my row in that Paradise, let me also descend from -the poetic heights, and record the victory of the Frenchman. Yes, -'Gladiateur' has carried off the blue ribbon of the turf. Upon my word, -these Frenchmen!" It was the first time a French horse had won the -Derby. - -Bruges was after my own heart. Mediæval without being mouldy, kept -bright and clean by loving restorations done with care and knowledge. No -beautiful old building allowed to crumble away or be demolished to make -room for some dreary hideosity, but kept whole and wholesome for modern -use in all its own beauty. Would that the Italians possessed that same -spirit. My Diary records our daily walks through the beautiful, bright -streets with their curious signs named in Flemish and French, and the -charm of a certain _place_ planted with trees and surrounded by gabled -houses. Above every building or tree, go where you would, you always saw -rising up either the wondrous tower of the Halle (the _Beffroi_), dark -against the bright sky, or the beautiful red spire on the top of the -enormous grey brick tower of Notre Dame, a spire, I should say, -unequalled in the world not only for its lovely shape and proportions, -but for its exquisite style and colour: a delicious red for its upper -part, most refined and delicate, with white lines across, and as -delicate a yellow lower down. Or else you had the grey tower of the -cathedral, plain and imposing, made of small bricks like that of Notre -Dame, having a massive effect one would not expect from the material. -Over the little river, which runs nearly round the town, are -oft-recurring draw-bridges with ponderous grey gates, flanked by two -strong, round, tower-like wings. Most effective. On this river glided -barges pulled painfully by men, who trudged along like animals. I record -with horror that one barge was pulled by a woman! "It was quite painful -to see her bent forward doing an English horse's work, with the band -across her chest, casting sullen upward glances at us as we passed, and -the perspiration running down her face. From the river diverge canals -into the town, and nothing can describe the beauty of those water -streets reflecting the picturesque houses whose bases those waters wash, -as at Venice. When it comes to seeing two towers of the Halle, two -spires of Notre Dame, two towers of the cathedral, etc., etc., the -duplicate slightly quivering downwards in the calm water! Here and -there, as we crossed some canal or other, one special bit would come -upon us and startle us with its beauty. Such combinations of gables and -corner turrets and figures of saints and little water-side gardens with -trees, and always two or more of the towers and spires rising up, hazy -in the golden flood of the evening sun!" - -In our month at Bruges I made the most of every hour. It is one of the -few towns one loves with a personal love. I don't know what it looks -like to-day, after the blight of war that passed over Belgium, but I -trust not much harm was done there. How one trembled for the old -_beffroi_, which one heard was mined by the Huns when they were in -possession. - -"_August 24th._--Dear, exquisite, lovely, sunny, smiling Bruges, -good-bye! Good-bye, fair city of happy, ever happy, recollections. -Bright, gabled Bruges, we shall not look upon thy like again." - -I will make extracts from my German Diary, as Germany in those days was -still a land of kindly people whom we liked much before they became -spoilt by the Prussianism only then beginning to assert itself over the -civil population. The Rhine, too, was still unspoilt. That part of -Germany was agricultural; not yet industrialised out of its charm. I -also think these extracts, though so crude and "green," may show young -readers how we can enjoy travel by being interested in all we see. I may -become tiresome to older ones who have passed the Golden Gates, and for -some of whom Rhine or Nile or Seine or Loire has run somewhat dry. - -[Illustration: FLYING SHOTS IN BELGIUM AND RHINELAND IN /65.] - - - - -CHAPTER III - -MORE TRAVEL - - -"Alas! for railway travellers one approach to a place is like another. -Fancy arriving at Cologne through ragged factory outskirts and being -deposited under a glazed shed from which nothing but the railway objects -can be seen! We made a dash to the cathedral, I on the way remarking the -badly-dressed Düppel heroes (!) with their cook's caps and tight -trousers; and oh dear! the officers are of a very different mould here -from what they are in Belgium. Big-whiskered fellows with waists enough -to make the Belgians faint. But I am trifling. We went into the -cathedral by a most glorious old portal covered with rich Gothic -mouldings. Happy am I to be able to say I have seen Cologne Cathedral. -Now, hurrah for the Rhine! that river I have so longed, for years, to -see." - -We don't seem to have cared much for Bonn, though I intensely enjoyed -watching the swift river from the hotel garden and the Seven Mountains -beyond. The people, too, amused and interested me very much, and the -long porcelain pipe dangling from every male mouth gave me much matter -for sketching. - -My Diary on board the _Germania_: "Koenigswinter at the foot of the -Dragenfels began that series of exquisite towns at the foot of ruined -castles of which we have had more than a sufficient feast--that is, to -be able to do them all the justice which their excessive beauty calls -loudly for. We rounded the Dragenfels and saw it 'frowning' more -Byronically than on the Bonn side, and altogether more impressive. And -soon began the vines in all their sweet abundance on the smiling hill -slopes. Romantic Rolandsec expanded on our right as we neared it, and -there stood the fragment of the ruined castle peering down, as its -builder is said to have done, upon the Convent amidst the trees on its -island below. And then how fine looked the Seven Mountains as we looked -back upon them, closing in the river as though it were a lake, and away -we sped from them and left them growing mistier, and passed russet roofs -and white-walled houses with black beams across, and passed lovely -Unkel, picturesque to the core, bordering the water, and containing a -most delicious old church. Opposite rose curious hills, wild and round, -half vine-clad, half bare, and so on to Apollinarisberg on our right, -with its new four-pinnacled church on the hill, above Remagen and its -old church below. The last sight of the Dragenfels was a very happy one, -in misty sunlight, as it finally disappeared behind the near hills. On, -on we went, and passed the dark Erpeler Lei and the round, blasted and -dismal ruin of Okenfels; and Ling, with a cloud-capped mountain frowning -over it. As we glided by the fine restored _château_ of Argenfels and -the village of Hönningen the sky was red with the reflection of the -sunset which we could not see, and was reflected in the swirling river. -We did our Rhine pretty conscientiously by going first aft, then -forward, and then to starboard, and then to port, and glories were -always before us, look which way we would. So the Rhine has _not_ been -too much cried up, say what you will, Messrs. Blasé and Bore. The views -were constantly interrupted by the heads of the lack-lustre people on -board, who, just like the visitors at the R.A., hide the beauties they -can't appreciate from those who long to see them. But it soon began to -grow dark. - -"As we glided by Neuwied and stopped to take and discharge passengers a -band was playing the 'Düppel March,' so called because the Prussians -played it before Düppel. They are so blatantly proud of having beaten -the Danes and getting Schleswig-Holstein. Fireworks were spluttering, -and, altogether, a great deal of festivity was going on. It was quite -black on the afterdeck by this time, _minus_ lanterns. To go below to -the stuffy, lighted cabin was not to be thought of, so we walked up and -down, sometimes coming in contact with our fellow-man, or, rather, -woman, for the men carried lights at the fore (_i.e._, at the ends of -their cigars). At last, by the number of lights ahead, we knew we were -approaching Coblenz. We went to the "Giant" Hotel, close to the landing. -It was most tantalising to know that Ehrenbreitstein was towering -opposite, invisible, and that such masses of picturesqueness must be all -around. Papa and I had supper in the _Speise-saal_, and then I gladly -sought my couch, in my sweet room which looked on the front, after a -very enjoyable day. - -"Most glorious of glorious days! The theory held so drearily by Messrs. -Blasé and Bore about the mist and rain of the Rhine is knocked on the -head. We were off to Bingen, to my regret, for it was hard to leave such -a place as Coblenz, although greater beauties awaited us further up, -perhaps, than we had yet seen. But I must begin with the morning and -record the glorious sight before us as we looked out of our windows. -Strong Ehrenbreitstein against the pearly, hot, morning sky, the -furrowed rock laid bare in many places, and precipitous, sun-tinted and -shadow-stained; the bright little town just opposite, the hill behind -thickly clothed in rich vines athwart which the sun shone deliciously. -The green of the river, too, was beautifully soft. After breakfast we -took that charming invention, an open carriage, and went up to the -Chartreuse, the proper thing to do, as this hill overlooks one of _the_ -views of the world. We went first through part of the town, by the large -and rather ugly King's Palace, passing much picturesqueness. The women -have very pleasing headdresses about here of various patterns. Of -course, the place is full of soldiers and everything seems fortified. On -our ascent we passed great forts of immense strength, hard nuts for the -French to crack, if they ever have the wickedness (_sic_) to put their -pet notion of the Rhine being France's boundary into execution. What a -view we had all the way up; to our left, the winding Rhine disappearing -in the distance into the gorge, its beautiful valley smiling below, and -the vine-clad hills rising on either side, with their exquisite -surfaces. Purple shadows, and golden vines, and walnut trees, that -contrast which so often has enchanted my eyes on the Genoese Riviera, -the Italian lakes, and my own dear Lake Leman, gladdened them once more. -And then the really clear sky (no factory chimneys here) and those -intense white clouds casting shadows on the hills of lovely purple. We -went across the wide plateau on the top, a magnificent exercise ground -for the soldiers, health itself, and then we beheld, winding below us in -its sweet valley and by two picturesque villages, the little Moselle, by -no means 'blue,' as the song says, but of a pinky brown and apparently -very shallow. We were at a great height, and having got out of the -carriage we stood on the very verge of a sheer precipice, at the -far-down base of which wound the high road. Sweet little Moselle! I was -so loth to leave that view behind. It really does seem such a shame to -say so little of it. The air up there was full of the scent of wild -thyme, and mountain flowers grew thick in that hot sun, and the short -mountain grass was brown. - -"We descended by another road and were taken right through the town to -the old Moselle bridge which crosses that river near its confluence with -the green Rhine. What turreted corners, what gable ends, what exquisite -David Roberts 'bits' at every turn! The bridge and its old gate were a -picture in themselves, and the view from the middle of the bridge of the -walls, the old buildings, church towers and spires, and boats and rafts -moored below, was the essence of the picturesque. Market women and -_pelotons_ of soldiers with glittering helmets and bayonets make -excellent foreground groups. How unlike nearly-deserted Bruges is this -busy, thronged city! Oxen are as much used about here as horses, and add -much to the artist's joy. But I must hurry on; there is all the glorious -Rhine to Bingen to ascend. What a feast of beauty we have been partaking -of since leaving Failure Bonn! - -"Lots of people at 1 o'clock _table d'hôte_: staring Prooshan officers -in 'wings' and whiskers, more or less tightly clad, talking loud and -clattering their swords unnecessarily; swarms of English and a great -many honeymoon couples of all nations. It was very hot when we left to -dive into that glorious region we had seen from the Chartreuse. Those -were golden hours on board the _Lorelei_. But more 'spoons'; more -English; more Ya-ing natives and small boys always in the way, and so we -paddled away from beautiful Coblenz, and very fine did the 'Broadstone -of Honour' look as we left it gradually behind. And now we began again -the castles and the villages, the former more numerous than below -stream. Happy Mr. Moriarty to possess such a castle as Lahneck; and then -the beautiful town below, and the gorgeous wooded steep hills and the -beautiful tints on the water. Golden walnut trees on the banks and old -church towers--such rich loveliness gliding by perpetually. The towns -are certainly half the battle; they add immensely to the scene. Rhense -was the oldest town we had yet seen, and the old dark walls are -crumbling down. Such bits of archways, such corner bits, such old -age-tinted roofs! I _must_ not pass over Marksburg, the most perfect old -castle on the Rhine, quite unaltered and not quite ruinous, as it is -garrisoned by a corps of Invalides. It therefore looks stronger and -grander than the others. Below the cone which it crowns nestled the -inevitable picturesque town (Braubach) upon the shore. - -"Soon after passing this beautiful part we rounded another old village -and church on our right, for the river takes a great bend here. Of -course, new beauties appeared ahead as we swept round, soft purple -mountains, one behind the other, and hillsides golden with vines and -walnut trees. And then we came to Boppart, in the midst of the gorge, -one of the most enchanting old walled towns we had yet seen, with a -large water-cure establishment above it upon the orchard slopes of the -hill. Then the old castle called 'The Mouse' drew our attention to the -left again, and then to the right appeared, after we had passed the twin -castles of Sternberg and Liebenstein, or the 'Brothers,' the magnificent -ruin of Rheinfels above the town of St. Goar in the shadow of the steep -hill. How splendidly those blasted arches come out against the sunny -sky! Then 'The Cat' appeared on our left, supposed to be watching 'The -Mouse' round the corner; then, with the last gleam of the sun upon it, -appeared the castle of 'Schönberg' after we had passed the Lorelei rock, -tunnelled through by the railway, and hills glowing in autumn tints. -Sunset colour began to add new charm to mountains, hills, and river. Two -guns were fired in this part of the gorge for the echo. It rolled away -like thunder very satisfactorily. Gutenfels on its rock was splendid in -the sunset, with the town of Caub at its feet, and the curious old tower -called the Pfalz in mid-stream, where poor Louis le Débonnaire came to -die. I can hardly individualise the towns and their over-looking castles -that followed. There was Bacharach, with its curious three-sided towers -and church of St. Werner; then more castles, getting dimmer and dimmer -in the deepening twilight. The last was swallowed up in the night." - -I need not dwell on Bingen. I see us, happy wanderers, dropping down to -Boppart, to halt there for very fondly-remembered days at the water-cure -of "Marienberg," which we made our habitation for want of an hotel. -Being there I did the "cure" for nothing in particular, but was none the -worse for it. At any rate it passed me as "sound" after the ordeal by -water. The ordeal was severe, and so was the Spartan food. To any one -who wasn't going through the water ordeal the Spartan food ordeal -seemed impossible. But soon one got to like the whole thing and delight -in the freshness of that life in the warm sunny weather. We both -accepted the "Grape Cure" with unmixed feelings--2 lbs. each of grapes a -day; and even the cold, deep plate of sour milk (_dicke milch_), -sprinkled with brown breadcrumbs, and that _kraut_ preserve which so -dashed us at our first breakfast, became rather fascinating. We took our -pre-breakfast walk on four glasses of cold water, though, to _wet_ our -appetites. I see now, in memory, the swimming baths, with the blue water -rushing through them from the hills, and feel the exhilaration of the -six-in-the-morning plunge. Oh! _la jeunesse! La joie de vivre!_ - -They had dancing every Thursday evening in what was the great vaulted -refectory of the monks before that monastery was secularised. One gala -evening many people came in from outside. The young ladies were in -muslin frocks, which they, no doubt, had washed themselves, and the -ballroom was redolent of soap. The gentlemen went into the drawing-room -after each dance and combed their blond hair and beards at the -looking-glass over the mantelpiece, having brought brush and comb with -them. The next morning I was very elaborately saluted by a man in a -blouse, driving oxen, and I recognised in him one of my partners of the -evening before who had worn the correct _frac_ and white tie. What a -strange amalgamation of democracy and aristocracy we found in Germany! -The Diary tells of the music we had every evening till 10 o'clock and -"lights out." My mother and one or two typical German musical -geniuses--women patients--kept the piano in constant request, and the -evenings were really very bright and the tone so homely and kind. -Kindness was the prevailing spirit which we noticed amongst the Germans -in those far-away days. How they complimented us all on our halting -German; how the women admired our frocks, especially the buttons! I hope -they didn't expect us to go into equal ecstasies over their own -costumes. We sang and were in great voice, perhaps on account of the -"plunge baths," or was it the "sour milk"? - -A big Saxon cavalry officer who was doing the cure for a kick from a -horse and, being in mufti, had put off his "jack-boot" manners, was full -of enthusiasm about our voices. He expressed himself in graceful -pantomime after each of my songs by pointing to his ear and running his -finger down to his heart, for he spoke neither English nor French, and -worshipfully paid homage to Mamma's pianoforte playing. She played -indeed superbly. He was a big man. We called him "the Athlete." We had -nicknames for all the patients. There was "the _Sauer-kraut_," there was -the "Flighty," the funniest little shrivelled creature, a truly -wonderful musical genius, who, having heard me practising one morning, -flew to Mamma, telling her she had heard me go up to _Si_ and that I -must make my name as a _prima donna_--no less. That Mendelssohn had -proposed to her was a treasured memory. Her mother, with true German -pride of birth, forbade the union. There was a very great dame doing the -cure, the "_Incog_," who confided her card to Mamma with an Imperial -embrace before leaving, which revealed her as Marie, Prinzessin zu -Hohenzollern Hechingen. Then there was a most interesting and ugly -duellist, who a short time previously had killed a prince. His wife wore -blue spectacles, having cried herself blind over the regrettable -incident. And so on, and so on. - -The vintage began, and we visited many a vineyard on both banks of the -rapid, eddying river, watching the peasants at their wholesome work in -the mellowing sunlight. Whenever we bought grapes of these pleasant -people, they insisted on giving us extra bunches _gratis_ in that -old-fashioned way so prevalent in Italy. I record in the Diary one -classic-looking youth, with the sunset gold behind his serious, handsome -face, bent slightly over the vine he was picking, on the hillside where -we sat. He seemed the personification of the sanctity of labour. All -this sounds very sentimental to us war-weary ones of the twentieth -century, but we need refreshment in the pleasures of memory; memory of -more secure times. The Diary says:-- - -"When we left Boppart, Mamma and we two girls were half hidden in -bouquets, and our Marienberg friends clustered at the railway carriage -door and on the step--the '_Sauer-kraut_,' the 'Flighty,' the 'Athlete' -and all, and, as we started, the salutations were repeated for the -twentieth time, the 'Athlete' taking a long sniff of my bouquet, then -quickly blocking his nose hard to keep the scent in, after going through -the pantomime of the ear, the finger, and the heart. As Papa said, 'One -gets quite reconciled to the two-legged creature when meeting such -people as these.' Good-bye, lovely Boppart, of ever sweet -recollections!" - -We tarried at Cologne on our way to England. I see, together with -admiring and elaborate descriptions of the cathedral, a note on the -kindly manners of the Germans, so curiously at variance with the -impression left on the present generation by the episodes of the late -war. At the _table d'hôte_ one evening the two guests who happened to -sit opposite our parents, on opening their champagne at dessert, first -insisted on filling the two glasses of their English _vis-à-vis_ before -proceeding to fill their own. German manners then! The military class -kept, however, very much aloof, and were very irritating to us with -their wilfully offensive attitude. That unfortunate spirit had already -taken a further step forward after the conquest of Schleswig-Holstein, -and was to go further still after the knock-down blow to Austria; then -in 1870 comes more arrogance, and so on to its own undoing in our time. - -"_Aix la Chapelle._--Good-bye, Cologne, ever to remain bright by the -remembrance of its cathedral and that museum containing pictures which -have so inspired my mind. And so good-bye, dear, familiar Rhine; not the -Rhine of the hurried tourist and his John Murray Red Book, but the -glorious river about whose banks we have so often wandered at our -leisure. - -"And now '_Vorwärts_, _marsch_!' Northwards, to the Land of Roast Beef -plus Rinderpest.[1] But first, Aachen. Ineffable poetry surrounds this -evening of our arrival, for from the three churches which stand out -sharp against the bright moonlight sky in front of the hotel there peal -forth many mellow bells, filling my mind with that sort of sadness so -familiar to me. This is All Hallows' Eve. - -"_November 1st._--We saw the magnificent frescoes in the long, low, -arched hall of the Rathhaus, which is being magnificently restored, as -is the case with all the fine things of the Prussia we have seen. We -only just skimmed these great works of art, for the horses were waiting -in the pelting rain.... The first four frescoes we saw were by Rethel, -the first representing the finding of the body of Charlemagne sitting in -his tomb on his throne, crowned and robed, holding the ball and sceptre; -a very impressive subject, treated with all its requisite poetry and -feeling. The next fresco represents in a forcible manner Charlemagne -ordering a Saxon idol to be broken; the third is a superb episode from -the Battle of Cordova, where Charlemagne is wresting the standard from -the Infidel. The horses are all blindfolded, not to be frightened by the -masks which the enemy had prepared to frighten them with. The great -white bulls which draw the chariot are magnificently conceived. The -fourth fresco represents the entry of the great emperor--whose face, by -the by, lends itself well to the grand style of art--into Pavia; a -superb composition, as, indeed, they all are. After painting this the -artist lost his senses. No doubt such efforts as these may have caused -his mind to fail at last. He had supplied the compositions for the other -four frescoes which Kehren has painted, without the genius of the -originator. We were shown the narrow little old stone staircase up which -all those many German emperors came to the hall. I could almost fancy I -saw an emperor's head coming bobbing up round the bend, and a figure in -Imperial purple appear. Strange that such a steep little winding -staircase should be the only approach to such a splendid hall. The new -staircase, up which a different sort of monarch from the old German -emperors came a few days ago, in tight blue and silver uniform, is -indeed in keeping with the hall, and should have been trodden by the -emperors, whereas this old cad of a king[2] (_sic_) would get his due -were he to descend the little old worn stair head foremost." - -At Brussels my entry runs: "_November 3rd._--My birthday. I feel too -much buoyed up with the promise of doing something this year to feel as -wretched as I might have felt at the thought of my precious 'teens -dribbling away. Never say die; never, never, never! This birthday is -ever to be marked by our visit to Waterloo, which has impressed me so -deeply. The day was most enjoyable, but what an inexpressibly sad -feeling was mixed with my pleasure; what thoughts came crowding into my -mind on that awful field, smiling in the sunshine, and how, even now, my -whole mind is overshadowed with sadness as I think of those slaughtered -legions, dead half a century ago, lying in heaps of mouldering bones -under that undulating plain. We had not driven far out of Brussels when -a fine old man with a long white beard, and having a stout stick for -scarcely-needed support, and from whose waistcoat dangled a blue and red -ribbon with a silver medal attached bearing the words 'Wellington' and -'Waterloo,' stopped the carriage and asked whether we were not going to -the Field and offering his services as guide, which we readily accepted, -and he mounted the box. This was Sergeant-Major Mundy of the 7th -Hussars, who was twenty-seven when he fought on that memorable 18th -June, 1815. In time we got into the old road, that road which the -British trod on their way to Quatre Bras, ten miles beyond Waterloo, on -the 16th. We passed the forest of Soignies, which is fast being cleared, -and at no very distant period, I suppose, merely the name will remain. -What a road was this, bearing a history of thousands of sad incidents! -We visited the church at Waterloo where are the many tablets on the -walls to the memory of British officers and men who died in the great -fight. Touching inscriptions are on them. An old woman of eighty-eight -told us that she had tended the wounded after the battle. Is it -possible! There she was, she who at thirty-eight had beheld those men -just half a century ago! It was overpowering to my young mind. The old -lady seems steadier than the serjeant-major, eleven years her junior, -and wears a brown wig. Thanks to the old sergeant, we had no bothering -vendors of 'relics.' He says they have sold enough bullets to supply a -dozen battles. - -"We then resumed our way, now upon more historic ground than ever, the -field of the battle proper. The Lion Mound soon appeared, that much -abused monument. Certainly, as a monument to mark where the Prince of -Orange was wounded in the left shoulder it is much to be censured, -particularly with that Belgian lion on the top with its paw on Belgium, -looking defiance towards France, whose soldiers, as the truthful old -sergeant expressed himself, 'could any day, before breakfast, come and -make short work of the Belgians' (_sic_). But I look upon this pyramid -as marking the field of the fifteenth decisive battle of the world. In a -hundred years the original field may have been changed or built upon, -and then the mound will be more useful than ever as marking the centre -of the battlefield that was. To make it much ground has been cut away -and the surface of one part of the field materially lowered. On being -shown the plan for this 'Lion Mound,' Wellington exclaimed, 'Well, if -they make it, I shall never come here again,' or something to that -effect, and, as old Mundy said, 'the Duke was not one to break his word, -and he never did come again.' Do you know that, Sir Edwin Landseer, who -have it in the background of your picture of Wellington revisiting the -field? We drove up to the little Hotel du Musée, kept by the sergeant's -daughter, a dejected sort of person with a glib tongue and herself -rather grey. We just looked over Sergeant Cotton's museum, a collection -of the most pathetic old shakos and casques and blundering muskets, with -pans and flints, belonging to friend and foe; rusty bullets and cannon -balls, mouldering bits of accoutrements of men and horses, evil-smelling -bits of uniforms and even hair, under glass cases; skulls perforated -with balls, leg and arm bones in a heap in a wooden box; extracts from -newspapers of that sensational time, most interesting; rusty swords and -breastplates; medals and crosses, etc., etc., a dismal collection of -relics of the dead and gone. Those mouldy relics! Let us get out into -the sunshine. Not until, however, the positive old soldier had -marshalled us around him and explained to us, map in hand, the ground -and the leading features of the battle he was going to show us. - -"We then went, first, a short way up the mound, and the old warrior in -our midst began his most interesting talk, full of stirring and touching -anecdotes. What a story was that he was telling us, with the scenes of -that story before our eyes! I, all eagerness to learn from the lips of -one who took part in the fight, the story of that great victory of my -country, was always throughout that long day by the side of the old -hussar, and drank in the stirring narrative with avidity. There lay -before us the farm of La Haie Sainte--'lerhigh saint' as he called -it--restored to what it was before the battle, where the gallant Germans -held out so bravely, fighting only with the bayonet, for when they came -to load their firearms, oh, horror! the ammunition was found to be too -large for the muskets, and was, therefore, useless. There the great Life -Guard charge took place, there is the grave of the mighty Shaw, and on -the skyline the several hedges and knolls that mark this and that, and -where Napoleon took up his first position. And there lies La Belle -Alliance where Wellington and Blücher did _not_ meet--oh, Mr. -Maclise!--and a hundred other landmarks, all pointed out by the notched -stick of old Mundy. The stories attached to them were all clearly -related to us. After standing a long time on the mound until the man of -discipline had quite done his regulation story, with its stirring and -amusing touches and its minute details, we descended and set off on our -way to Hougoumont. What a walk was that! On that space raged most of the -battle; it was a walk through ghosts with agonised faces and distorted -bodies, crying noiselessly. - -"Our guide stopped us very often as we reached certain spots of leading -interest, one of them--the most important of all--being the place where -the last fearful tussle was made and the Old Guard broke and ran. There -was the field, planted with turnips, where our Guards lay down, and I -could not believe that the seemingly insignificant little bank of the -road, which sloped down to it, could have served to hide all those men -until I went down and stooped, and then I understood, for only just the -blades of the grass near me could I see against the sky. Our Guards -must indeed have seemed to start out of the ground to the bewildered -French, who were, by the by, just then deploying. That dreadful V formed -by our soldiers, with its two sides and point pouring in volley after -volley into the deploying Imperial Guard, must have indeed been a -'staggerer,' and so Napoleon's best soldiers turned tail, yelling -'_Sauve qui peut!_' and ran down that now peaceful undulation on the -other side of the road. - -"Many another spot with its grim story attached did I gaze at, and my -thoughts became more and more overpowering. And there stood a survivor -before us, relating this tale of a battle which, to me, seems to belong -to the olden time. But what made the deepest impression on my mind was -the sergeant's pointing out to us the place where he lay all night after -the battle, wounded, 'just a few yards from that hedge, there.' I repeat -this to myself often, and always wonder. We then left that historic -rutted road and, following a little path, soon came, after many more -stoppages, to the outer orchard of Hougoumont. Victor Hugo's thoughts -upon this awful place came crowding into my mind also. Yet the place did -look so sweet and happy: the sun shining on the rich, velvety grass, -chequered with the shade of the bare apple trees, and the contented cows -grazing on the grass which, on the fearful day fifty years ago, was not -_green_ between the heaps of dead and dying wretches. - -"Ah! the wall with the loopholes. I knew all about it and hastened to -look at it. Again all the wonderful stratagems and deeds of valour, -etc., etc., were related, and I have learnt the importance, not only of -a little hedge, but of the slightest depression on a battlefield. -Riddled with shot is this old brick wall and the walls of the farm, too. -Oh! this place of slaughter, of burning, of burying alive, this place of -concentrated horror! It was there that I most felt the sickening terror -of war, and that I looked upon it from the dark side, a thing I have -seldom had so strong an impulse to do before. The farm is peaceful again -and the pigs and poultry grunt and cluck amongst the straw, but there -are ruins inside. There's the door so bravely defended by that British -officer and sergeant, hanging on its hinges; there's the well which -served as a grave for living as well as dead, where Sergeant Mundy was -the last to fill his canteen; and there's the little chapel which served -as an oven to roast a lot of poor fellows who were pent up there by the -fire raging outside. We went into the terror-fraught inner orchard, -heard more interesting and saddening talk from the old soldier who says -there is nothing so nice as fighting one's battles over again, and then -we went out and returned to the inn and dined. After that we streamed -after our mentor to the Charleroi road, just to glance at the left part -of the field which the sergeant said he always liked going over the -best. 'Oh!' he said, looking lovingly at his pet, 'this was the -strongest position, except Hougoumont.' It was in this region that -Wellington was moved to tears at the loss of so many of his friends as -he rode off the field. Papa told me his memorable words on that -occasion: 'A defeat is the only thing sadder than a victory.' What a -scene of carnage it was! We looked at poor Gordon's monument and then -got into our carriage and left that great, immortal place, with the sun -shedding its last gleams upon it. I feel virtuous in having written this -much, seeing what I have done since. We drove back, in the clear night, -I a wiser and a sadder girl." - -About this same Battle of Waterloo. Before the Great War it always -loomed large to me, as it were from the very summit of military history, -indeed of all history. During the terrible years of the late War I -thought my Waterloo would diminish in grandeur by comparison, and that -the awful glamour so peculiar to it would be obliterated in the fumes of -a later terror. But no, there it remains, that lurid glamour glows -around it as before, and for the writer and for the painter its colour, -its great form, its deep tones, remain. We see through its blood-red -veil of smoke Napoleon fall. There never will be a fall like that again: -it is he who makes Waterloo colossal. - - - - -CHAPTER IV - -IN THE ART SCHOOLS - - -After tarrying in Brussels, doing the galleries thoroughly, we went to -Dover. I had been anything but in love with the exuberant Rubenses -gathered together in one surfeited room, but imbibed enthusiastic -stimulus from some of the moderns. I write: "Oh! that I had time to tell -of my admiration of Ambroise Thomas' 'Judas Iscariot,' of Charles -Verlat's wonderful 'Siege of Jerusalem by Godfrey of Bouillon,' with its -strikingly terrible incidents, given with wonderful vividness, so free -from coarseness; of Tshaggeny's 'Malle Poste,' with its capital horses. -There was not much study to be done in the time, but enthusiasm to be -caught, and I caught it." - -At Dover I find myself saying: "Still at my drawing of the soldiers -working at the new fort on the cliff, just outside the castle, which -forms the background of the scene. I am sending it to the _Illustrated -London News_." Then, a few days later: "Woe is me! my drawing is -returned with the usual apologies. Well, never mind, the world will hear -of me yet." And there, above my "diminished head," right over No. 2, -Sydney Villas, our temporary resting-place, stood that very castle, -biding its time when it should receive me as its official _châtelaine_, -and all through that art which I was so bent on. - -At Brompton I said "good-bye" to a year to me very bright and full of -adventure; a year rich in changes, full of varied scenes and emotions. -I say: "Enter, 1866, bearing for me happy promise for my future, for -to-day I had the interview with Mr. Burchett, the Headmaster of the -South Kensington School of Art, and everything proved satisfactory and -sunny. First, Papa and I trotted off to Mr. Burchett's office and saw -him, a bearded, velvet-skull-capped and cold-searching-eyed man. After a -little talk, we galloped off home, packed the drawings and the oil, -then, Mamma with us, we returned, and came into The Presence once more. -The office being at the end of the passage of the male schools, I could -see, and envy, the students going about. So the drawings were -scrutinised by _that Eye_, and I must say I never expected things to go -so well. Of course, this austere, rigid master is not one to say much, -but, on the contrary, to dwell upon the shortcomings and weaknesses; to -have no pity. He looked longer at my soldiers at work at Dover Castle -and some hands that I had done yesterday, saying they showed much -feeling. He said he did not know whether I only wished to make my -studies superficial, but strongly advised me to become an artist. I -scarcely needed such advice, I think, but it was very gratifying. I told -him I wished for severe study, and that I did _not_ wish to begin at the -wrong end. We were a long time talking, and he was very kind, and told -me off to the Life School after preliminary work in the Antique. I join -to-morrow. I now really feel as though fairly launched. Ah! they shall -hear of me some day. But, believe me, my ambition is of the right sort. - -"_January 2nd._--A very pleasant day for me. At ten marched off, with -board, paper, chalk, etc., etc., to the schools, and signed my name and -went through all the rest of the formalities, and was put to do a huge -eye in chalk. I felt very raw indeed, never having drawn from a cast -before. Everything was strange to me. I worked away until twenty minutes -to two, when I sped home to have my lunch. Five hours' work would be too -long were I not to break the time by this charming spin home and back in -the open air, which makes me set to work again with redoubled energy and -spirits sky-high. A man comes round at a certain time to the rooms to -see by the thermometer whether the temperature is according to rule, -which is a very excellent precaution; 65° seems to be the fixed degree. -Of course, I did not make any friends to-day; besides, we sit far apart, -on our own hooks, and not on forms. Much twining about of arms and -_darling-ing_, etc., went on, however, but we all seem to work here so -much more in earnest than over those dreary scrolls in the Elementary. -One girl in our room was a capital hit, short hair brushed back from a -clever forehead and a double eyeglass on an out-thrust nose. Then there -is a dear little pale girl, with a pretty head and large eyes, who is -struggling with that tremendous 'Fighting Gladiator.' She and he make a -charming _motif_ for a sketch. But I am too intent on my work to notice -much. The skeleton behind me seems, with outstretched arm, to encourage -me in my work, and smiles (we won't say _grins_) upon me, whilst behind -him--it?--the _écorché_ man seems to be digging his grave, for he is in -the attitude of using a spade. But enough for to-day. I was very much -excited all day afterwards. And no wonder, seeing that my prayer for a -beginning of my real study has now been granted and that I am at length -on the high road. Oh, joy, joy! - -"_January 15th._--Did very well at the schools. Upon my word, I am -getting on very smoothly. I peeped into the Life room for the first time -whilst work was going on, and beheld a splendid halberdier standing -above the girls' heads and looking very uncomfortable. He had a steel -headpiece and his hands were crossed upon the hilt of his sword in -front, and his face, excessively picturesque with its grizzly moustache, -was a tantalising sight for me! - -"_January 16th._--Oh, how I am getting on! I can't bear to look at my -old things. Was much encouraged by Mr. Burchett, who talked to me a good -deal, the mistress standing deferentially and smilingly by. He said, -'Ah! you seem to get over your difficulties very well,' and said with -what immense satisfaction I shall look back upon this work I'm doing. -Altogether it was very encouraging, and he said this last thing of mine -was excellent. He remarked that my early education in those matters had -been neglected, but I console myself with the thought that I have not -wasted my time so utterly, for all the travel I have had all my life has -put crowds of ideas into my head, and now I am learning how to bring -those ideas to good account. - -"_January 24th._--I shall soon have done the big head and shall soon -reach a full-length statue, and I shall go in for anatomy rather than -give so much time to this shading which the students waste so much time -over. I don't believe in carrying it so far. The little pale girl I -like, on the completion of her gladiator, has been promoted to the Life -class. A girl made friends with me, a big grenadier of a girl, who says -she wants to know 'all about the joints and muscles' and seems a -'thoroughgoer' like myself." - -This is how I write of dear Miss Vyvyan, a fine, rosy specimen of a -well-bred English girl, who became one of my dearest fellow -students--and drew well. In writing of me after I had come out in the -art world, she records this meeting in words all the more deserving of -remembrance for being those of a voice that is still. Of my other -fellow-students the Diary will have more to say, left to its own -diction. - -"_February 13th._--It is very pleasant at the schools--oh, charming! In -coming home at the end of my work I fell in with Mr. Lane, my friend in -the truest sense of the word. He was coming over to us. His first -inquiry was about me and my work. He was very much disappointed that I -was not in the Life class, fully expecting that I should be there, -seeing how highly Mr. Burchett twice spoke of my drawings to Mr. Lane, -and that I was quite ready for the Life. But, of course, Mr. B. is -desirous of putting me as much through the regular course as possible. -Mr. Lane shares Millais' opinion that 'the antique is all very well, but -that there is nothing like the living model, and that they are too fond -of black and white at the Museum.' I was enrolled as a member of the -Sketching Club this morning, and have only a week to do 'On the Watch' -in, the title they have given us to illustrate. _Only_ a week, Mimi? -That's an age to do a sketch in! Ah! yes, my dear, but I shall have five -hours in the schools every day except Saturdays. I have chosen for -subject a freebooter in a morion and cloak upon a bony horse, watching -the plain below him as night comes on, with his blunderbus ready -cocked. Wind is blowing, and makes the horse's mane and tail to stream -out." - -There follow pages and pages describing the daily doings at the schools: -the commotion amongst girls at the drawings I used to bring to show them -of battle scenes; the Sketching Club competitions, and all the work and -the play of an art school. At last I was promoted to the Life class. - -"_March 19th._--Oh, joyous day! oh, white! oh, snowy Monday! or should I -say _golden_ Monday? I entered the Life this joyous morn, and, what's -more, acquitted myself there not only to my satisfaction (for how could -I be satisfied if the masters weren't?), but to Mr. Denby's and the oil -master's _par excellence_, Mr. Collinson's. I own I was rather -diffident, feeling such a greenhorn in that room, but I may joyfully say -'So far, so good,' and do my very best of bests, and I can't fail to -progress. How willingly I would write down all the pleasant incidents -that occur every day, and those, above all, of to-day, which make this -delightful student life I am leading so bright and happy and amusing. -However, I shall write down all that my spare moments will allow me. -Little 'Pale Face' took me in hand and got me a nice position quite near -the sitter, as I am only to do his head. There was a good deal of -struggling as the number of girls increased, and late comers tried -amicably to badger me out of my good position. We waited more than half -an hour for the sitter, and beguiled the time as we are wont. Three -semi-circles surround the sitter and his platform. The inner and smaller -circle is for us who do his head only, and is formed by desks and low -chairs; the next is formed by small fixed easels, and the outer one by -the loose-easel brigade, so there are lots of us at work. At length the -martyr issued from the curtained closet where Messrs. Burchett, Denby -and Collinson had been helping the unhappy victim to make a lobster of -his upper self with heavy plates of armour. He became sadly modern below -the waist, for his nether part was not wanted. To see Mr. Denby pinning -on the man's refractory Puritan starched collar was rich. The model is a -small man, perfectly clean shaven with a most picturesque face; quite a -study. Very finely-chiselled mouth, with thin lips and well-marked chin -and jaw. The poor fellow was dreadfully nervous. He was posed standing, -morion on head, with a book in one hand, the other raised as though he -were discoursing to some fellow soldiers--may-be Covenanters--in a camp. -I never saw a man in such agony as he evinced, his nervousness seeming -at times to overpower him, and the weight of the armour and of the huge -morion (too big for him) told upon him in a painfully evident manner. He -was, consequently, allowed frequent rests, when down his trembling arm -would clatter and the instrument of torture on his heated forehead come -down with a great thump on the table. Mr. Denby was much pleased with my -drawing in, and Mr. Collinson commended my carefulness. This pleases me -more than anything else, for I know that carefulness is the most -essential quality in a student. - -"_March 27th._--Mr. Burchett showed me how to proceed with the finishing -of the face. He liked the way I had done the morion, which astonished -me, as I had done it all unaided. I am now a friend of more girls than I -can individualise, and they seem all to like me. 'Little Pale Face' is -very charming with me indeed. One girl told me a dream she had had of -me, and Mrs. C., wife of the _Athenæum_ art critic, clapped me on the -back very cordially." - -I give these extracts just to launch the Memoirs into that student life -which was of such importance to me. Till the Easter vacation I did all I -could to retrieve what I considered a good deal of leeway in my art -training. There were Sketching Club competitions of intense effort on my -part, and how joyful I felt at such events as my illustrations to -Thackeray's "Newcomes" coming through marked "Best" by the judges. - -"_May 9th._--_Veni_, _vidi_, _vici_! My re-entry into the schools after -the vacation has been a triumphal one, for my 'Newcomes' have been -returned 'The Best.' The girls were so glad to see me back. I have -chosen, as there is not to be a model till next Monday week, a beautiful -headpiece of elaborate design on whose surface the red drapery near it -is reflected. Some time after lunch Mrs. C. came running to me from the -Antique triumphantly waving a bunch of lilac above her head and crying -out that my 'Newcomes' had won! I jumped up, overjoyed, and went to see -the sketches, around which a crowd of students was buzzing. Mr. Denby, -who couldn't help knowing whose the 'Best' were, gave me a nod of -approbation. I was very happy. Returning to Fulham, I told the glad -tidings to Papa, Mamma, Grandpapa and Grandmamma as they each came in. -So this has been a charming day indeed." - -Page after page, closely written, describes the student life, than which -there cannot be a happier one for a boy or girl; thorough searchings -through the Royal Academy rooms for everything I could find for -instruction, admiration and criticism. I joined a class in Bolsover -Street for the study of the "undraped" female model, and worked very -hard there on alternate days. This necessitated long omnibus rides to -that dismal locality, but I always managed to post myself near the -omnibus door, so as to study the horses in motion in the crowded streets -from that coign of vantage. I also joined a painting class in Conduit -Street, but that venture was not a success. I went in about the same -time for very thorough artistic anatomy at the schools. I gave sketches -to nearly all my fellow students--fights round standards, cavalry -charges, thundering guns. I wonder where they are all now! I had always -had a great liking for the representation of movement, but at the same -time a deep well of melancholy existed in my nature, and caused me to -draw from its depths some very sad subjects for my sketches and plans -for future pictures. How strange it seems that I should have been so -impregnated, if I may use the word, with the warrior spirit in art, -seeing that we had had no soldiers in either my father's or mother's -family! My father had a deep admiration for the great captains of war, -but my mother detested war, though respecting deeply the heroism of the -soldier. Though she and I had much in common, yet, as regards the -military idea, we were somewhat far asunder; my dear and devoted mother -wished to see me lean towards other phases of art as well, especially -the religious phase, and my Italian studies in days to come very much -inclined me to sacred subjects. But as time went on circumstances -conducted me to the _genre militaire_, and there I have remained, as -regards my principal oil paintings, with few exceptions. My own reading -of war--that mysteriously inevitable recurrence throughout the -sorrowful history of our world--is that it calls forth the noblest and -the basest impulses of human nature. The painter should be careful to -keep himself at a distance, lest the ignoble and vile details under his -eyes should blind him irretrievably to the noble things that rise -beyond. To see the mountain tops we must not approach the base, where -the foot-hills mask the summits. Wellington's answer to enthusiastic -artists and writers seeking information concerning the details of his -crowning victory was full of meaning: "The best thing you can do for the -Battle of Waterloo is to leave it alone." He had passed along the -dreadful foot-hills which blocked his vision of the Alps. - -I worked hard at the schools and in the country throughout 1867, and, -with many ups and downs, progressed in the Life class. My fellow -students were a great delight to me, so enthusiastically did they watch -my progress and foretell great things for me. We formed a little club of -four or five students--kindred spirits--for mutual help and all sorts of -good deeds, the badge being a red cross and the motto "Thorough." I -remember a money-box into which we were, by the rules, to drop what -coins we could spare for the Poor. We were to read a chapter of the New -Testament every day, and a chapter of Thomas à Kempis, and all our works -were to be signed with the red cross and the club monogram. Seeing this -little sign in the corner of "The Roll Call" over my name set one of -those absurd stories circulating in the Press with which the public was -amused in 1874, namely, that I had been a Red Cross nurse in the Crimea. -As a counterpoise to this more "copy" was obtained for the papers by -paragraphs representing me as an infant prodigy, which I thank my stars -I was _not_! - -One day in this year 1867 I had, with great trepidation, asked Mr. -Burchett to accept two pen and ink illustrations I had made to Morris's -poem, "Riding together." Great commotion amongst the students. Some -preferred the drawing for the gay and happy first verse: - - Our spears stood bright and thick together, - Straight out the banners streamed behind, - As we galloped on in the sunny weather, - With our faces turned towards the wind. - -and others the tragic sequel: - - They bound my blood-stained hands together, - They bound his corpse to nod by my side, - Then on we rode in the bright March weather, - With clash of cymbal did we ride. - -The Diary says: "Mr. Burchett, surrounded by my dear fellow red crosses, -Va., B., and Vy., talked about the drawings in a way which pleased me -very much. When he was gone, Va. and B. disappeared and soon reappeared, -Va. with a crown of leaves to crown me with and B. with a comb and some -paper on which to play 'See the Conquering Hero comes' whilst Va. and -Vy. should carry me along the great corridor in a dandy chair. They had -great trouble to crown me, and then to get me to mount. It was a most -uncomfortable triumphal progress, Vy. being nearly six foot and Va. -rather short. They just put me down in time, for, had we gone an inch -further on, we should have confronted Miss Truelock,[3] who swooped -round the corner. I cannot describe the homage these three pay me, Va.'s -in particular--Vy.'s is measured, and not humble like Va.'s or -radiantly enthusiastic like B.'s. I am glad that I stand proof against -all this, but it is hard to do so, as I know it is so thoroughly -sincere, and that they say even more out of my hearing than to my face." - -The Sultan Abdul Aziz and the Khedive Ismail paid a visit to London that -year. We were in the midst of the festivities; and such church-bell -ringing, fireworks, musical uproar, especially at the Crystal Palace, -where the "Hallelujah," "Moses in Egypt," and other Biblical choruses -vied with the cheering of the crowds in expressions of exultation, -seldom had London known. This fills pages and pages of the Diary. As we -looked on from Willis and Sotheran's shop window, out of which all the -books had been cleared for us, in Trafalgar Square, at the arrival of -the "Father of the Faithful," it seemed a strange thing for the bells of -our churches to be pealing forth their joyous welcome. But how vain all -these political doings appear as time goes by! What sort of reception -would we give the present Sultan I wonder? We have even _abolished_ -Khedives. Much more reasonable and sane was the mob's welcome to the -Belgian volunteers, who were also England's guests that year. We English -were very courteous to the Belgians. Papa took us to the great Belgian -ball, where we appeared wearing red, black, and yellow sashes. He -offered to hold a Belgian officer's sword for him while he (the Belgian) -waltzed me round the hall. A silver medal was struck to commemorate this -visit, and every Belgian was presented with this decoration. On it were -engraved the words "_Vive La Belge_." No one could tell who the lady -was. - -This year saw my meek beginning in the showing of an oil picture -("Horses in Sunshine") at the Women Artists' Exhibition, and then -followed a water colour, "Bavarian Artillery going into Action," at the -Dudley Gallery--that delightful gallery which is now no more and which -_The Times_ designated the "nursery of young reputations." I continued -exhibiting water colours and black-and-whites for some years there. I -had the rare sensation of walking on air when my father, meeting me on -parting with Tom Taylor, the critic of _The Times_, told me the latter -had just come from the Dudley's press view and seen my "Bavarian -Artillery" on its walls. I had begun! - -In the latter part of this year's work at South Kensington Mr. Burchett -stirred us up by giving us "time" and "memory" drawing to do from the -antique, and many things which required quickness, imagination and -concentration, all of which suited me well. Charcoal studies on tinted -paper delighted me. I was always at home in such things. We often had -"time" drawings to do on very rough paper, using charcoal with the hog's -hair paint brush. What a good change from the dawdling chalk work -formerly in vogue when I joined. I had by this time painted my way in -oils through many models, male and female, with all the ups and downs -recorded elaborately, the encouragements and depressions, and the happy, -though slow, progress in the management of the brush. I had won a medal -for two life-size female heads in oils, and through all the ups and -downs the devotion of my dear "Red Cross" fellow students never -fluctuated. - -The year 1868 saw me steadily working away at the Schools and doing a -great many drawings for sketching clubs and various competitions during -this period, till we were off once more to Italy in October. On March -19th of that year I wrote in the Diary: "Ruskin has invited himself to -tea here on Monday!!!" Then: "Memorable Monday. On thee I was introduced -to Ruskin! Punctually at six came the great man. If I had been disposed -to be nervous with him, his cold formal bow and closing of the eyes, his -somewhat supercilious under-lip and sensitive nostrils would not have -put me at my ease. But, fortunately, I felt quite normal--unlike Mamma -and Alice, the latter of whom had reason for quaking, seeing that one of -her young poems, sent him by a friend, had been scanned by that eye and -pondered by that greatest of living minds. - -"He sat talking a little, not commonplaces at all; on the contrary, he -immediately began on great topics, Mamma and he coinciding all through, -particularly on the subject of modern ugliness, railways, factory -chimneys, backs of English houses, sash windows, etc., etc. Then he -directed his talk to me, and we sat talking together about art, of -course, and I showed him two life studies, which he expressed himself as -exceedingly pleased with in a very emphatic manner. But here we went -down to tea. After tea I showed him my imaginative drawings, which he -criticised a good deal. He said there was no reason why I should not -become a great artist (!), that I was 'destined to do great things.' But -he remarked, after this too kindly beginning, that it was evident I had -not studied enough from nature in those drawings, the light and shade -being incorrect and the relations of tones, etc., etc. He told me to -beware of sensational subjects, as yet, _à propos_ of the Lancelot and -Guinevere drawing; that such were dangerous, leading me to think I had -quite succeeded by virtue of the strength of my subject and to overlook -the consideration of minor points. He said, 'Do fewer of these things, -but what you do _do right_ and never mind the subject.' I did not like -that; my great idea is that an artist should choose a worthy subject and -concentrate his attention on the chief point. But Ruskin is a lover of -landscape art and loves to see every blade of grass in a foreground -lovingly dwelt upon. I cannot write down all he said as he and I leant -over the piano where my drawings were. But it was with my artillery -water colour, 'The Crest of the Hill,' that he was most pleased. He -knelt down before it where it hung low down and held a candle before it -the better to see it, and exclaimed 'Wonderful!' two or three times, and -said it had 'immense power.' Thank you, Dudley Gallery, for not hanging -it where Ruskin would never have seen it! - -"He listened to Mamma's playing and Alice's singing of Mamma's 'Ave -Maria' with perfectly absorbed attention, and seemed to enjoy the lovely -sounds. He had many kind things to say to Alice about her poem, saying -that he knew she was forced to write it; but was she always obliged to -write so sadly? Then he spied out Mamma's pictures, and insisted on -seeing lots of her water colours, which I know he must have enjoyed more -than my imaginative things, seeing with what humble lovingness Mamma -paints her landscapes. In fact, we showed him our paces all the evening. -Papa says he (P.) was like the circus man, standing in the middle with -the long whip, touching us up as we were trotted out before the great -man. He seems, by the by, to have a great contempt for the modern French -school, as I expected." - -Daily records follow of steady work, much more to the purpose than in -the humdrum old days. Mr. Burchett continued the new system with -increasing energy. He seemed to have taken it up in our Life class with -real pleasure latterly. In July the session ended, and I was not to -re-enter the schools till after my Italian art training had brought me a -long way forward. - - - - -CHAPTER V - -STUDY IN FLORENCE - - -Italy once more! Again the old palazzo at Albaro and the old friends -surrounding us! My work never relaxed, for I set up a little studio and -went in for life-size heads, and got more and more facility with the -brush. The kindly peasants let me paint them, and I victimised my -obliging friends and had professional models out from Genoa. That was a -very greatly enjoyed autumn, winter and spring, and the gaieties of the -English Colony, the private theatricals, the concerts at Villa -Novello--all those things did me good. The childish carnival revels had -still power over me--yea, _more_--though I _was_ grown up, and, to tell -the truth, I got all the fun out of them that was possible within -bounds. "The Red Cross Sketch Book," which I filled with illustrations -of our journey out and of life at Genoa, I dedicated to the club and -sent to them when we left for Florence. - -We found Genoa just as we had left it, still the brilliantly picturesque -city of the sea, its populace brightly clad in their Ligurian national -dress, the women still wearing the pezzotto, and the men the red cap I -loved; the port all delightful with oriental character, its shouting -muleteers and _facchini_, its fruit and flower sellers in the narrow -streets and entrances to the palaces--all the old local colour. Alas! I -was there only the other day, and found all the local charm had -gone--modernised away! - -When we left Genoa in April my father tried to get a _vetturino_ to take -us as far as Pisa by road on our way to Florence, for auld lang syne, -but Antonio--he who used to drive us into Genoa in the old days--said -that was now impossible on account of the railway--"_Non ci conviene, -signore_!"--but he would take us as far as Spezzia. So, to our delight, -we were able once more to experience the pleasures of the road and avoid -that truly horrible series of suffocating tunnels that tries us so much -on that portion of the coastline. At Sestri Levante I wrote: "I sit down -at this pleasant hotel, with the silent sea glimmering in the early -night before me outside the open window, to note down our journey thus -far. The day has been truly glorious, the sea without even the thinnest -rim of white along the coast, and such exquisite combinations of clouds. -We left Villa Quartara at ten, with Madame Vittorina and the servants in -tears. Majolina comes with us; she is such a good little maid. We had -three good horses, but for the Bracco Pass we shall have an extra one. -There is no way of travelling like this, in an open carriage; it is so -placid; there is no hurrying to catch trains and struggling in crowds, -no waiting in dismal _salles d'attente_. And then compare the entry into -the towns by the high road and through the principal streets, perhaps -through a city gate, the horse's hoofs clattering and the whip cracking -so merrily and the people standing about in groups watching us pass, to -sneaking into a station, one of which is just like the other, which -hasn't the slightest _couleur locale_ about it, and is sure to have -unsightly surroundings. - -"Away we went merrily, I feeling very jolly. The colour all along was -ravishing, as may be imagined, seeing what a perfect day it was and -that this is the loveliest season of the year. We dined at dear old -Ruta, where also the horses had a good rest and where I was able to -sketch something down. From Ruta to Sestri I rode by Majolina on the -box, by far the best position of all, and didn't I enjoy it! The horses' -bells jingled so cheerily and those three sturdy horses took us along so -well. Rapallo and Chiavari! Dear old friends, what delicious -picturesqueness they had, what lovely approaches to them by roads -bordered with trees! The views were simply distracting. Sestri is a gem. -Why don't water-colour painters come here in shoals? What colouring the -mountains had at sunset, and I had only a pencil and wretched little -sketch book. - -"_Spezzia, April 28th, 1869._--A repetition of yesterday in point of -weather. I feel as though I had been steeped all day in some balmy -liquid of gold, purple, and blue. I have a Titianesque feeling hovering -about me produced by the style of landscape we have passed through and -the faces of the people who are working in the patches of cultivation -under the mulberries and vines, and that intense, deep blue sky with -massive white clouds floating over it. We exclaimed as much at the -beauty of the women as at the purple of the mountains and the green of -the budding mulberries and poplars. And the men and boys; what perfect -types; such fine figures and handsome faces, such healthy colour! We -left the hotel at Sestri, with its avenue of orange trees in flower, at -ten o'clock, and, of course, crossed the Bracco to-day. We dined at a -little place called Bogliasco, in whose street, under our windows, -handsome youths with bare legs and arms were playing at a game of ball -which called forth fine action. I did not know at first whether to look -well at them all or sketch them down one by one, but did both, and I -hope to make a regular drawing of the group from the sketch I took and -from memory. We stopped at the top of the hill, from which is seen La -Spezzia lying below, with its beautiful bay and the Carara Mountains -beyond. Here ends our drive, for to-morrow we take the train for -Florence. - -"_Florence, April 29th._--Magnificent, cloudless weather. But, oh! what -a wearisome journey we had, the train crawling from one station to -another and stopping at each such a time, whilst we baked in the -cushioned carriage and couldn't even have lovely things to look at, -surrounded by the usual railway eyesores. We passed close by the Pisan -Campo Santo, and had a very good view of the Leaning Tower and the -Duomo. Such hurrying and struggling at the Pisa station to get into the -train for Florence, having, of course, to carry all our small baggage -ourselves. Railway travelling in Italy is odious. It was very lovely to -see Florence in the distance, with those domes and towers I know so well -by heart from pictures, but we were very limp indeed, the wearisome -train having taken all our enthusiasm away. Everything as we arrived -struck us as small, and I am still so dazzled by the splendour of Genoa -that my eyes cannot, as it were, comprehend the brown, grey and white -tones of this quiet-coloured little city. I must _Florentine_ myself as -fast as I can. This hotel is on the Lung' Arno, and charming was it to -look out of the windows in the lovely evening and see the river below -and the dome of the Carmine and tower of Santo Spirito against the clear -sky with, further off, the hills with their convents (alas! empty now) -and clusters of cypresses. No greater contrast to Genoa could be than -Florence in every way. Oh! may this city of the arts see me begin (and -finish) my first regular picture. _April 30th._--I and Papa strolled -about the streets to get a general impression of '_Firenze la gentile_,' -and looked into the Duomo, which is indeed bare and sad-coloured inside -except in its delicious painted windows over the altars, the harmonious -richness of which I should think could not be exceeded by any earthly -means. The outside is very gay and cheerful, but some of the marble has -browned itself into an appearance of wood. Oh! dear Giotto's Tower, -could elegance go beyond this? Is not this an example of the complete -_savoir faire_ of those true-born artists of old? And the 'Gates of -Paradise'! The delight of seeing these from the street is great, instead -of in a museum. But Michael Angelo's enthusiastic exclamation in their -praise rather makes one smile, for we know that it must have been in -admiration of their purely technical beauties, as the gates are by no -means large and grand _as_ gates, and the bronze is rather dark for an -entrance into Paradise! I reverently saluted the Palazzo Vecchio, and am -quite ready to get very much attached to the brown stone of Florence in -time. - -"_Villa Lamporecchi, May 1st._--We two and Papa had a good spell at the -Uffizi in the morning, and in the afternoon we took possession of this -pleasing house, which is so cool and has far-spreading views, one of -Florence from a terrace leading out of what I shall make my studio. A -garden and vineyards sloping down to the valley where Brunelleschi's -brown dome shows above the olives." - -[Illustration: IN FLORENCE DURING MY STUDIES IN /69.] - -Our mother did many lovely water colours, one especially exquisite -one of Fiesole seen in a shimmering blue midsummer light. That, and one -done on the Lung' Arno, to which Shelley's line - - "The purple noon's transparent might" - -could justly be applied, are treasured by me. She understood sunshine -and how to paint it. - -"_May 3rd._--I already feel Florence growing upon me. I begin to -understand the love English people of culture and taste get for this -most interesting and gentle city. The ground one treads on is all -historic, but it is in the artistic side of its history that I naturally -feel the greatest interest, and it is a delightful thing to go about -those streets and be reminded at every turn of the great Painters, -Architects, Sculptors I have read so much of. Here a palace designed by -Raphael, there a glorious row of windows carved by Michael Angelo, there -some exquisite ironwork wrought by some other born genius. I think the -style of architecture of the Strozzi Palace, the Ricardi, and others, is -perfection in its way, though at first, with the brilliant whites, -yellows and pinks of Genoa still in my eye, I felt rather depressed by -the uniform brown of the huge stones of which they are built. No wonder -I haunt the well-known gallery which runs over the Ponte Vecchio, lined -with the sketches, studies, and first thoughts of most of the great -masters. One delights almost more in these than in many of the finished -pictures. They bring one much more in contact, as it were, with the -great dead, and make one familiar with their methods of work. One sees -what little slips they made, how they modified their first thoughts, -over and over again, before finally fixing their choice. Very -encouraging to the struggling beginner to see these evidences of their -troubles! - -"I have never, before I came here where so many of them have lived, -realised the old masters as our comrades; I have never been so near them -and felt them to be mortals exactly like ourselves. This city and its -environs are so little changed, the greater part of them not at all, -since those grand old Michael Angelesque days that one feels brought -quite close to the old painters, seeing what they saw and walking on the -very same old pavement as they walked on, passing the houses where they -lived, and so forth." - -I was at that time bent on achieving my first "great picture," to be -taken from Keats's poem "The Pot of Basil"; Lorenzo riding to his death -between the two brothers: - - So the two brothers and their murdered man - Rode past fair Florence, - -but, fortunately, I resolved instead to put in further training before -attacking such a canvas, and I became the pupil of a very fine academic -draughtsman, though no great colourist, Giuseppe Bellucci. On alternate -days to those spent in his studio I copied in careful pencil some of the -exquisite figures in Andrea del Sarto's frescoes in the cloisters of the -SS. Annunziata. - -The heat was so great that, as it became more intense, I had to be at -Bellucci's, in the Via Santa Reparata, at eight o'clock instead of 8.30, -getting there in the comparative cool of the morning, after a salutary -walk into Florence, accompanied by little Majolina, no _signorina_ being -at liberty to walk alone. What heat! The sound of the ceaseless hiss of -the _cicale_ gave one the impression of the country's undergoing the -ordeal of being _frizzled_ by the sun. I record the appearance of my -first fire-fly on the night of May 6th. What more pleasing rest could -one have, after the heat and work of the day, than by a stroll through -the vineyards in the early night escorted by these little creatures with -their golden lamps? - -The cloisters were always cool, and I enjoyed my lonely hours there, but -the Bellucci studio became at last too much of a furnace. My master had -already several times suggested a rest, mopping his brow, when I also -began to doze over my work at last, and the model wouldn't keep his eyes -open. I record mine as "rolling in my head." - -I see in memory the blinding street outside, and hear the fretful -stamping of some tethered mule teased with the flies. The very Members -of Parliament in the Palazzo Vecchio had departed out of the impossible -Chamber, and, all things considered, I allowed Bellucci to persuade me -to take a little month of rest--"_un mesetto di riposo_"--at home during -part of July and August. That little month of rest was very nice. I did -a water colour of the white oxen ploughing in our _podere_; I helped (?) -the _contadini_ to cut the wheat with my sickle, and sketched them while -they went through the elaborate process of threshing, enlivened with -that rough innocent romping peculiar to young peasants, which gave me -delightful groups in movement. I love and respect the Italian peasant. -He has high ideas of religion, simplicity of living, honour. I can't say -I feel the same towards his _betters_ (?) in the Italian social scale. - -The grapes ripened. The scorched _cicale_ became silent, having, as the -country people declared, returned to the earth whence they sprang. The -heat had passed even _cicala_ pitch. I went back to the studio when the -"little month" had run out and the heat had sensibly cooled, and worked -very well there. I find this record of a birthday expedition: - -"I suggested a visit to the convent of San Salvi out at the Porta alla -Croce, where is to be seen Andrea del Sarto's 'Cenacolo.' This we did in -the forenoon, and in the afternoon visited Careggi. Enough isn't said -about Andrea. What volumes of praise have been written, what endless -talk goes on, about Raphael, and how little do people seem to appreciate -the quiet truth and soberness and subtlety of Andrea. This great fresco -is very striking as one enters the vaulted whitewashed refectory and -sees it facing the entrance at the further end. The great point in this -composition is the wonderful way in which this master has disposed the -hands of all those figures as they sit at the long table. In the row of -heads Andrea has revelled in his love of variety, and each is stamped, -as usual, with strong individuality. This beautifully coloured fresco -has impressed me with another great fact, viz., the wonderful value of -_bright yellow_ as well as white in a composition to light it up. The -second Apostle on our Saviour's left, who is slightly leaning forward on -his elbow and loosely clasping one hand in the other, has his shoulders -wrapped round with yellow drapery, the horizontally disposed folds of -which are the _ne plus ultra_ of artistic arrangement. There is -something very realistic in these figures and their attitudes. Some -people are down on me when they hear me going on about the rendering of -individual character being the most admirable of artistic qualities. - -"At 3.30 we went for such a drive to Careggi, once Lorenzo de' Medici's -villa--where, indeed, he died--and now belonging to Mr. Sloane, a -'bloated capitalist' of distant England. The 'keepsake' beauty of the -views thence was perfect. A combination of garden kept in English order -and lovely Italian landscape is indeed a rich feast for the eye. I was -in ecstasies all along. We made a great _détour_ on our return and -reached home in the after-glow, which cast a light on the houses as of a -second sun. - -"_October 18th._--Went with Papa and Alice to see Raphael's 'Last -Supper' at the Egyptian Museum, long ago a convent. It is not perfectly -sure that Raphael painted it, but, be that as it may, its excellence is -there, evident to all true artists. It seems to me, considering that it -is an early work, that none but one of the first-class men could have -painted it. It offers a very instructive contrast with del Sarto's at -San Salvi. The latter immediately strikes the spectator with its effect, -and makes him exclaim with admiration at the very first moment--at -least, I am speaking for myself. The former (Raphael's) grew upon me in -an extraordinary way after I had come close up to it and dwelt long on -the heads, separately; but on entering the room the rigidity and -formality of the figures, whose aureoles of solid metal are all on one -level, the want of connection of these figures one with the other, and -the uniform light over them all had an unprepossessing effect. -Artistically considered this fresco is not to be mentioned with -Andrea's, but then del Sarto was a ripe and experienced artist when he -painted the San Salvi fresco, whereas they conjecture Raphael to have -been only twenty-two when he painted this. There is more spiritual -feeling in Raphael's, more dignity and ideality altogether; no doubt a -higher conception, and some feel more satisfied with it than with -Andrea's. The refinement and melancholy look of St. Matthew is a thing -to be thought of through life. St. Andrew's face, with the long, -double-peaked white beard, is glorious, and is a contrast to the other -old man's head next to it, St. Peter's, which is of a harder kind, but -not less wonderful. St. Bartholomew, with his dark complexion and black -beard, is strongly marked from the others, who are either fair or -grey-headed. The profile of St. Philip, with a pointed white beard, gave -me great delight, and I wish I could have been left an hour there to -solitary contemplation. St. James Major, a beardless youth, is a true -Perugino type, a very familiar face. Judas is a miserable little figure, -smaller than the others, though on the spectator's side of the table in -the foreground. He seems not to have been taken from life at all. - -"On one of the walls of the room are hung some little chalk studies of -hands, etc., for the fresco, most exquisitely drawn, and seeming, some -of them, better modelled than in the finished work; notably St. Peter's -hand which holds the knife. Is there no Modern who can give us a 'Last -Supper' to rank with this, Andrea's and Leonardo's?" - -This entry in my Diary of student days leads my thoughts to poor -Leonardo da Vinci. A painter must sympathise with him through his -recorded struggles to accomplish, in his "Cenacolo," what may be called -the almost superhuman achievement of worthily representing the Saviour's -face. Had he but been content to use the study which we see in the Brera -gallery! But, no! he must try to do better at Santa Maria delle -Grazie--and fails. How many sleepless nights and nerve-racking days he -must have suffered during this supreme attempt, ending in complete -discouragement. I think the Brera study one of the very few satisfactory -representations of the divine Countenance left us in art. To me it is -supreme in its infinite pathos. But it is always the way with the truly -great geniuses; they never feel that they have reached the heights they -hoped to win. - -Ruskin tells us that Albert Dürer, on finishing one of his own works, -felt absolutely satisfied. "It could not be done better," was the -complacent German's verdict. Ruskin praises him for this, because the -verdict was true. So it was, as regarding a piece of mere handicraft. -But to return to the Diary. - -"We went then to pay a call on Michael Angelo at his apartment in the -Via Ghibellina. I do not put it in those words as a silly joke, but -because it expresses the feeling I had at the moment. To go to his -house, up his staircase to his flat, and ring at his door produced in my -mind a vivid impression that he was alive and, living there, would -receive us in his drawing-room. Everything is well nigh as it was in his -time, but restored and made to look like new, the place being far more -as he saw it than if it were half ruinous and going to decay. Even the -furniture is the same, but new velveted and varnished. It is a pretty -apartment, such as one can see any day in nice modern houses. I touched -his little slippers, which are preserved, together with his two walking -sticks, in a tiny cabinet where he used to write, and where I wondered -how he found space to stretch his legs. The slippers are very small and -of a peculiar, rather Eastern, shape, and very little worn. Altogether, -I could not realise the lapse of time between his date and ours. The -little sketches round the walls of the room, which is furnished with -yellow satin chairs and sofa, are very admirable and free. The Titian -hung here is a very splendid bit of colour. This was a very impressive -visit. The bronze bust of M. A. by Giovanni da Bologna is magnificent; -it gives immense character, and must be the image of the man." - -On October 21st I bade good-bye to Bellucci. His system forbade praise -for the pupil, which was rather depressing, but he relaxed sufficiently -to tell my father at parting that I would do things (_Farà delle cose_) -and that I was untiring (_istancabile_), taking study seriously, not -like the others (_le altre_). With this I had to be content. He had -drilled me in drawing more severely than I could have been drilled in -England. For that purpose he had kept me a good deal to painting in -monochrome, so as to have my attention absorbed by the drawing and -modelling and _chiaroscuro_ of an object without the distraction of -colour. He also said to me I could now walk alone (_può camminare da -sè_), and with this valedictory good-bye we parted. Being free, I spent -the remaining time at Florence in visits to the churches and galleries -with my father and sister, seeing works I had not had time to study up -till then. - -"_October 22nd._--We first went to see the Ghirlandajos at Santa -Trinità, which I had not yet seen. They are fading, as, indeed, most of -the grand old frescoes are doing, but the heads are full of character, -and the grand old costumes are still plainly visible. From thence we -went to the small cloister called _dello Scalzo_, where are the -exquisite monochromes of Andrea del Sarto. Would that this cloister had -been roofed in long ago, for the weather has made sad havoc of these -precious things. Being in monochrome and much washed out, they have a -faded look indeed; but how the drawing tells! What a master of anatomy -was he, and yet how unexaggerated, how true: he was content to limit -himself to Nature; _knew where to draw the line_, had, in fact, the -reticence which Michael Angelo couldn't recognise; could stop at the -limit of truth and good taste through which the great sculptor burst -with coarse violence. There are some backs of legs in those frescoes -which are simply perfect. These works illustrate the events in the life -of John the Baptist. Here, again, how marvellous and admirable are all -the hands, not only in drawing, but in action, how touching the heads, -how grand and thoroughly artistic the draperies and the poses of the -figures. A splendid lesson in the management of drapery is, especially, -the fresco to the right of the entrance, the 'Vision of Zacharias.' -There are four figures, two immediately in the foreground and at either -extremity of the composition; the two others, seen between them, further -off. The nearest ones are in draperies of the grandest and largest -folds, with such masses of light and dark, of the most satisfying -breadth; and the two more distant ones have folds of a slightly more -complex nature, if such a word can be used with regard to such a -thoroughly broadly treated work. This gives such contrast and relief -between the near and distant figures, and the absence of the aid of -colour makes the science of art all the more simply perceived. Most -beautiful is the fresco representing the birth of St. John, though the -lower part is quite lost. What consummate drapery arrangements! The nude -figure _vue de dos_ in the fresco of St. John baptising his disciples is -a masterly bit of drawing. Though the paint has fallen off many parts of -these frescoes, one can trace the drawing by the incision which was -made on the wet plaster to mark all the outlines preparatory to -beginning the painting." - -These are but a few of my art student's impressions of this -fondly-remembered Florentine epoch, which are recorded at great length -in the Diary for my own study. And now away to Rome! - - - - -CHAPTER VI - -ROME - - -That was a memorable journey to Rome by Perugia. I have travelled more -than once by that line, and the more direct one as well, since then, and -I feel as though I could never have enough of either, though to be on -the road again, as we now can be by motor, would be still greater bliss. -But the original journey took place so long ago that it has positively -an old-world glamour about it, and a certain roughness in the flavour, -so difficult to enjoy in these times of Pulman cars and Palace Hotels, -which make all places taste so much alike. The old towns on the -foothills of the Apennines drew me to the left, and the great sunlit -plains to the right, of the carriage in an _embarras de choix_ as we -sped along. Cortona, Arezzo, Castiglione--Fiorentin--each little old -city putting out its predecessor, as it seemed to me, as more perfect in -its picturesque effect than the one last seen. It was the story of the -Rhine castles and villages over again. The Lake of Trasimene appeared on -our right towards sundown, a sheet of still water so tender in its tints -and so lonely; no town on its malaria-stricken banks; a boat or two, -water-fowl among the rushes and, as we proceeded, the great, magnified -globe of the sun sinking behind the rim of the lake. We were going deep -into the Umbrian Hills, deep into old Italy; the deeper the better. We -neared Perugia, where we passed the night, before dark, and saw the old -brown city tinged faintly with the after-glow, afar off on its hill. A -massive castle stood there in those days which I have not regretted -since, as it symbolised the old time of foreign tyranny. It is gone now, -but how mediæval it looked, frowning on the world that darkening -evening. Hills stood behind the city in deep blue masses against a sky -singularly red, where a great planet was shining. There was a Perugino -picture come to life for us! Even the little spindly trees tracing their -slender branches on the red sky were in the true _naïf_ Perugino spirit! -How pleased we were! We rumbled in the four-horse station 'bus under two -echoing gateways piercing the massive outer and inner city walls and -along the silent streets, lit with rare oil lamps. Not a gas jet, aha! -But we were to feel still more deeply mediæval, whether we liked it or -not, for on reaching the Hotel de la Poste we found it was full, and had -to wander off to seek what hostel could take us in through very dark, -ancient streets. I will let the Diary speak: - -"The _facchino_ of the hotel conducted us to a place little better than -a _cabaret_, belonging, no doubt, to a chum. I wouldn't have minded -putting up there, but Mamma knew better, and, rewarding the woman of the -_cabaret_ with two francs, much against her protestations, we went off -up the steep street again and made for the 'Corona,' a shade better, -close to the market place. My bedroom was as though it had once been a -dungeon, so massive were the walls and deep the vaulting of the low -ceiling. We went to bed almost immediately after our dinner, which was -enlivened by the conversation of men who were eating at a neighbouring -table, all, except a priest, with their hats on. One was very -loquacious, shouting politics. He held forth about '_Il Mastai_,' as he -called His Holiness Pope Pius the Ninth, and flourished renegade _Padre -Giacinto_ in the priest's face, the courteous and laconic priest's -eyebrows remaining at high-water mark all the time. The shouter went on -to say that English was '_una lingua povera e meschina_' ('Poor and -mean'!)" - -The next morning before leaving we saw all that time allowed us of -Perugia, the bronze statue of Pope Julius III. impressing me deeply. -Indeed, there is no statue more eloquent than this one. Alas! the -Italians have removed it from its right place, and when I revisited the -city in 1900 I found the tram terminus in place of the Pope. - -"_October 27th._--After the morning's doings in sunshine the day became -sad, and from Foligno, where we had a long wait, the story is but of -rain and dusk and night. We became more and more apathetic and bored, -though we were roused up at the frontier station, where I saw the Papal -_gendarmes_ and gave the alarm. Mamma went on her knees in the carriage -and cried, '_Viva Il Papa Rè!_' We all joined in, drinking his health in -some very flat 'red _grignolino_' we had with us. I became more and more -excited as we neared the centre of the earth, the capital of -Christendom, the highest city in the world. In the rainy darkness we ran -into the Roman station, which might have been that of Brighton for aught -we could see. I strained my eyes right and left for Papal uniforms, and -was rewarded by Zouaves and others, and lots of French (of the Legion) -into the bargain. - -Then a long wait, in the 'bus of the Anglo-American Hotel, for our -luggage; and at last we rattled over the pavement, which, with its -cobble stones, was a great contrast to the large flat flags of -Florence, along very dark and gloomy streets. An apartment all crimson -damask was ready prepared for us, which looked cheery and revived us. - -"_October 28th_, 56, _Via del Babuino._--The day began rather -dismally--looking for apartments in the rain! The coming of the -OEcumenical Council has greatly inflated the prices; Rome is crammed. -At last we took this attractive one for six months, '_esposto a -mezzogiorno_.' Facing due south, fortunately. - -"The sun came out then, and all things were bright and joyous as we -rattled off in a little victoria to feast our eyes (we two for the first -time) on St. Peter's. Papa, knowing Rome already, knew what to do and -how best to give us our first impressions. An epoch in my life, never to -be forgotten, a moment in my existence too solemn and beyond my power of -writing to allow of my describing it! I have seen St. Peter's. No, -indeed, no descriptions have ever given me an adequate idea of what I -have just seen. The sensation of seeing the real thing one has gazed at -in pictures and photographs with longing is one of peculiar delight. - -"To find myself really on the Ponte Sant' Angelo! No dream this. There -is the huge castle and the angel with outstretched wings, and there is -St. Peter's in very truth. The sight of it made the tears rise and my -throat tighten, so greatly was I overcome by that soul-moving sight. The -dome is perfect; the whole, with its great piazza and colonnade, is -perfect; I am utterly overpowered and, as to writing, it is too -inadequate, and I do so merely because I must do my duty by this -journal. - -"What a state I was in, though exteriorly so quiet. And all around us -other beauties--the yellow Tiber, the old houses, the great -fortress-tomb--oh, Mimi, the artist, is not all the enthusiasm in you at -full power? We got out of the carriage at the bottom of the piazza and -walked up to the basilica on foot. The two familiar fountains--so -familiar, yet seen for the first time in reality--were sending up their -spray in such magnificent abundance, which the wind took and sent in -cascade-like forms far out over the reflecting pavement. The interior of -St. Peter's, which impresses different people in such various ways, was -a radiant revelation to me. We had but a preliminary taste to-day. We -drove thence to the Piazza del Popolo, and then had an entrancing walk -on Monte Pincio. We came down by the French Academy, with its row of -clipped ilexes, under which you see one of the most exquisite views of -silvery Rome, St. Peter's in the middle. We dipped down by the steps of -the Trinità, where the models congregate, flecking the wide grey steps -with all the colours of the rainbow. - -"_October 29th._--Papa would not let us linger in the Colosseum too -long, for to-day he wanted us to have only a general idea of things. -Those bits of distance seen through triumphal arches, between old -pillars, through gaps in ancient walls, how they please! As we were -climbing the Palatine hill a Black Franciscan came up to us for alms, -and in return offered us his snuff-box, out of which Alice and I took a -pinch, and we went sneezing over the ruins. On to the Capitol, and down -thence homeward through streets full of priests, monks and soldiers. All -the afternoon given to being tossed about, with poor Papa, by the Dogana -from the railway station to the custom-house in the Baths of Diocletian, -and from there to the artist commissioned by the Government to examine -incoming works of art. They would not let me have my box of studies, -calling them 'modern pictures' on which we must pay duty." - -Rome under the Temporal Power was so unlike Rome, capital of Italy, as -we see it to-day, that I think it just as well to draw largely from the -Diary, which is crammed with descriptions of men and things belonging to -the old order which can never be seen again. I love to recall it all. We -were in Rome just in time. We left it in May and the Italians entered it -in September. Though I was not a Catholic then, and found delight in -Rome almost entirely as an artist, the power and vitality of the Church -could not but impress me there. - -"_October 30th._--This has been one of the most perfectly enjoyable days -of my life. Papa and I drove to the Vatican through that bright light -air which gives one such energy. The Vatican! What a place wherein to -revel. We climbed one of the mighty staircases guarded by the -interesting Papal Guards, halberd on shoulder, until we got to the top -loggia and went into the picture gallery, I to enchant my eyes with the -grandest pictures that men have conceived. But I will not touch on them -till I go there to study. And so on from one glory to another. We turned -into St. Peter's and there strolled a long time. Before we went in, and -as we were standing at the bottom of the Scala Regia enjoying the -clearness of the sunshine on the city, we saw the _gendarmes_, the -Zouaves and others standing at attention, and, looking back, we saw the -red, black, and yellow Swiss running with operatic effect to seize their -halberds, and Cardinal Antonelli came down to get into his carriage, -almost stumbling over me, who didn't know he was so near. Before he got -into his great old-fashioned coach, harnessed to those heavy black -horses with the trailing scarlet traces, a picturesque incident -occurred. A girl-faced young priest tremulously accosted the Cardinal, -hat in hand, no doubt begging some favour of the great man. The Cardinal -spoke a little time to him with grand kindness, and then the priest fell -on one knee, kissed the Cardinal's ring, and got up blushing pink all -over his beautiful young face, and passed on, gracefully and modestly, -as he had done the rest. Then off rattled the carriage, the Zouaves -presented arms, salutes were made, hats lifted, and Antonelli was gone. - -"In St. Peter's were crowds of priests in different colours, forming -masses of black, purple, and scarlet of great beauty. Two Oriental -bishops were making the round, one, a Dominican, having with him a sort -of Malay for a chaplain in turban and robe. Two others had Chinamen with -pigtails in attendance, these two emaciated prelates bearing signs of -recent torture endured in China, living martyrs out of Florentine -frescoes. Yonder comes a bearded Oriental with mild, beautiful face, and -following him a scarlet-clad German with yellow hair, projecting ears, -coarse mouth, and spectacles over his little eyes; and then a -sharp-visaged Jesuit, or a spiritual, wan Franciscan and a burly Roman -secular. No end of types. One very young Italian monk had the face of a -saint, all ready made for a fresco. I looked at him in unspeakable -admiration as he stood looking up at some inscription, probably -translating it in his own mind. On our way home, to crown all, we met -the Pope. His outrider in cocked hat and feathers came clattering along -the narrow street in advance, then a red-and-gold coach, black prancing -horses--all shadowy to me, as I was intent only on catching a view of -the Holy Father. We got out of the carriage, as in duty bound, and bent -the knee like the rest as he passed by. I saw his profile well, with -that well-known smile on his kind face. As we looked after the carriages -and horsemen the effect was touching of the people kneeling in masses -along the way. The sight of Italian men kneeling is novel to me in the -extreme. - -"_October 31st._--I went first, with Mamma and Alice, to St. Peter's, -where I studied types, attitudes and costumes. The sight of a Zouave -officer kneeling, booted and spurred, his sword by his side, and his -face shaded with his hand, is indeed striking, and one knows all those -have enrolled themselves for a sacred cause they have at heart--higher -even than for love of any particular country. The difference of types -among these Zouaves is most interesting. The Belgian and Dutch decidedly -predominate. Papa and I went thence for a fascinating stroll of many -hours, finding it hard to turn back. We went up to Sant' Onofrio and -then round by the great Farnese Palace. The view from Sant' Onofrio over -Rome is--well, my language is utterly annihilated here. How invigorated -I felt, and not a bit tired." - -I have never been able to call up enthusiasm over the Pantheon, -low-lying, black and pagan in every line. Why does Byron lash himself -into calling it "Pride of Rome"? For the same reason, I suppose, that he -laments and sighs over the disappearance of Dodona's "aged grove and -oracle divine." As if any one cares! The view of Rome from Monte Mario, -being _the_ view, should have a place here as we saw it one of those -richly-coloured days. - -"_November 3rd._--My birthday, marked by the customary birthday -expedition, this time to Monte Mario. Nothing could be more splendid -than looked the Capital of the World as it lay below us when we reached -the top of that commanding height. The Campagna lay beyond it, ending in -that direction with the Sabine and Alban Mountains, the furthest all -white with snow. Buildings, cypresses, pines, formed foreground groups -to the silver city as they only can do to such perfection in these -parts. In another direction we could see the Campagna with its straight -horizon like a calm rosy-brown sea meeting the limpid sky. We drove a -long way on the high road across the Campagna Florence-wards. No high -walls as in the Florentine drives were here to shut out the views, which -unfolded themselves on all sides as we trotted on. We got out of the -carriage on the Campagna and strolled about on the brown grass, enjoying -the sweet free breeze and the great sweep of country stretching away to -the luminous horizon towards the sun, and to the lilac mountains in the -other direction. These mountains became tender pink as we went -Romewards, and when the city again appeared it was in a richly-coloured -light, the Campagna beyond in warm shadow from large chocolate-coloured -clouds which were rising heaped up into the sky. A superb effect." - -Here follow many days chiefly given up to studio hunting and "property" -seeking for my work, soon to be set up. Models there were in plenty, of -course, as Rome was then still the artists' headquarters. How things -have changed! - -I began with a _ciociara_ spinning with a distaff in the well-known and -very much used-up costume, just for practice, and another peasant girl. -Then I painted, at my dear mother's earnest desire, "The -Magnificat"--Mary's visit to Elizabeth--and on off days my father and I -"did" all the pictures contained in various palaces, the Vatican, and -the Villa Borghese, filling pages and pages of notes in the old Diary. I -felt the value of every day in Rome. Many people might think I ought not -to have worked so much in a studio, but I think I divided the time well. -I felt I must keep my hand in, and practise with the brush, though how -often I was tempted to join the others on some fascinating ramble may be -imagined. Soon, however, the rains of a Roman December set in, and Rome -became very wet indeed. Our father read us Roman history every evening -when there were no visitors. We had a good many, our mother and her -music and brightness soon attracting all that was nice in the English -and American colonies. Dear old Mr. Severn, he in whose arms Keats died, -often took tea with us (we kept our way of having dinner early and tea -in the evening), and there was an antiquarian who took interest in -nothing whatever except the old Roman walls, and he used to come and -hold forth about the "Agger of Servius Tullius" till my head went round. -He kept his own on, it seemed to me, by pressing his hand on the bald -top of it as he explained to us about that bit of "agger" which he had -discovered, and the herring-bone brick of which it was built. Often as I -have revisited Rome, I cannot become enthusiastic over the discovery of -some old Roman sewer, or bit of hot-water pipe, or horrible stone basin -with a hole in the bottom for draining off the blood of sacrificial -oxen. I always long to get back into the sunshine and fresh air from the -mouldy depths of Pagan Rome when I get caught in a party to whom the -antiquarian enthusiasts like to hold forth below the surface of the -earth. Alice listens, deferential and controlled, while I fidget, -supporting myself on my umbrella, with such a face! Here is a little bit -of Papal Rome impossible to-day: - -"_November 29th._--In the course of our long ramble after my work Papa -and I, in the soft evening, came upon a scene which I shall not forget, -made by a young priest preaching to a little crowd in the street before -the side door of Santa Maria Sopra Minerva, a Rembrandtesque effect -being produced by the two lamps held by a priest at either side of the -platform on which the preacher stood. One of these held the large -crucifix to which the preacher turned at times, with gestures of rapture -such as only an Italian could use in so natural a way. To see him, -lighted from below, in his black habit and hear his impassioned voice! -All the men were bareheaded, and such as passed by took their hats off. -Penetrating as the priest's voice was, it was now and then quite drowned -by the street noises, especially the rattling of wheels on the rough -stones." - -The days that follow are filled with my work on "The Visitation," with -few intervals of sight-seeing. Then comes the great ecclesiastical event -to be marked in history, which brought all the world to Rome. - -"_Opening of the OEcumenical Council, December 8th._--A memorable day, -this! We got up by candlelight, as at a quarter past seven we were to -drive to St. Peter's. The dreary raining dawn was announced, just as it -broke, by the heavy cannon of Castel Sant' Angelo, the flash of which -was reflected in the blue-grey sky long before the sound reached us, and -the cannon on the Aventine echoed those of the Castel. How dreary it -felt, yet how imposing for any one who has got into the right feeling -about this solemn event. On our way we overtook scores of priests on -foot, trying to walk clear of the puddles in those thin, buckled shoes -of theirs. It must have been trying for the old ones. There were bishops -amongst them, too poor to afford a cab. We have seen them day after day -thus going to the Vatican meetings. One great blessing the rain brought: -it kept hundreds of people from coming to the church, and thus saved -many crushings to death, for it is terrible to contemplate, seeing what -a crowd there actually was, what it might have been had the building -been crammed. Entrance and egress were both at one end of the church. -That thought must console me for the terrible toning down and darkening -of what, otherwise, would have been a great pageant. So many thousands -of wet feet brought something like a lake half way up the floor; so -slippery was it that, had the crowd swayed in a panic, it wouldn't have -been very nice. - -"Papa and I insinuated ourselves into the hedge of people kept back by -Zouaves and Palatine Guards, as we came opposite the statue of St. -Peter, and I eventually got fixed three rows back from the soldiers, and -was lucky to get in so far. I was jammed between a monk and a short -youth of the 'horsey' kind. The atmosphere in that warm, wet crowd was -trying. I could see into the Council Hall opposite. - -[Illustration: ROMAN IMPRESSIONS IN 1870. - -THE LAST OF THE RIDERLESS HORSE-RACES, AND A WET TRUDGE - -TO THE VATICAN COUNCIL.] - -"The passage kept clear for the great procession was very wide. On the -other side I could see rows of English and American girls and elderly -females in the best places, as usual, right to the front, as bold as -brass, and didn't they eye the bishops over through their -_pince-nez!_ We must have been waiting two hours before the procession -entered the church. I ought to have mentioned that the sacred dark -bronze statue of St. Peter was robed in gorgeous golden vestments with a -splendid triple crown on its head, making it look like a black Pope, and -very life-like from where I saw it. It seemed very strange. - -"At last there was a buzz as people perceived the slowly-moving -_silhouette_ of the procession as it passed along in a far-off gallery, -veiled from us by pink curtains, against the light and very high up, -over the entrance. We could see the prelates had all vested by the -outlines of the mitres and the high-shouldered look of the figures in -stiff copes. As the procession entered the church the 'Veni Creator' -swelled up majestically and floated through the immense space. The -effect of the procession to me was _nil_; all I could do was to catch a -glimpse of each bishop as he passed between the bobbing heads of the men -in front of me. All the European and United States Bishops were in white -and silver, but now and then there passed Oriental Patriarchs in rich -vestments, their picturesque dark faces (two were quite brown) telling -so strikingly amongst the pale or rosy Europeans. Each had his solemn -secretary, with imperturbable Eastern face, bearing his jewelled crown, -something in shape like the dome of a mosque. One Oriental wore a jewel -on his dusky forehead, another a black cowl over his head, shading his -keen, dark face, the coarse cowl contrasting in a startling way with the -delicate splendour of the gold and pink and amber vestments worn over -the rough monk's habit. Still, all this could not be imposing to me, -having to squint and crane as I did, seldom being able to see with both -eyes at once. I could at intervals see the silvery prelates, most of -them with snowy heads, and the dark Easterns mount into their seats in -the Council Chamber, our Archbishop Manning amongst them. I had a quite -good glimpse of Cardinal Bonaparte, very like the great Napoleon. Of the -Pope I saw nothing. He was closely surrounded, as he walked past, by the -high-helmeted Noble Guard, and, of course, at that supreme moment every -one in front of me strove to get a better sight of him. Then Papa and I -gladly struggled our way out of the great crowd and went to seek Mamma, -who, very wisely, had not attempted to get a place, but was meekly -sitting on the steps of a confessional in a quiet chapel. Mamma then -went home, and we went into the crowd again to try and see the Council -from a point opposite. We saw it pretty well, the two white banks of -mitred bishops on each side and, far back, the little red Pope in the -middle. Mass was being sung, all Gregorian, but it was faintly heard -from our great distance. - -"No council business was being done to-day; it was only the Mass to open -the meeting. The crowd was most interesting. Surely every nation was -represented in it. An officer of the 42nd Highlanders had an excellent -effect. What shall I do in London, with its dead level of monotony? Oh! -dear, oh! dear. I was quite loth to go home. And so the council is -opened. God speed!" - -The Ghetto was in existence in those days, so I have even experienced -the sight of _that_. Very horrible, packed with "red-haired, blear-eyed -creatures, with loose lips and long, baggy noses." Thus I describe them -in this warren, during our drive one day. What a "_sventramento_" that -must have been when the Italians cleared away and cleaned up all that -congested horror. Wide, wind-swept spaces and a shining, though hideous, -synagogue met my astonished gaze when next I went there and couldn't -find the Ghetto. - -At the end of the year La Signorina Elizabetta Thompson had to apply to -his Eminenza Riverendissima Cardinal Berardi, Minister of Public Works, -to announce her intention of sending the "Magnificat" to the Pope's -international exhibition. At that picture I worked hard, my mother being -my model for Our Lady, and an old _ciociara_ from the Trinità steps for -St. Elizabeth. How it rained that December! But we had radiant sunshine -in between the days when the streets were all running with red-brown -rivulets, through which the horses splashed as if fording a stream. - -"_January 25th, 1870._--I finished my 'Magnificat' to-day. Yet ought I -to say I ceased to paint at it, for 'finish' suggests something far -beyond what this picture is. Well, I shall enjoy being on the loose now. -To stroll about Rome after having passed through a picture is perfect -enjoyment. I should feel very uncomfortable at the present time if I -had, up till now, done nothing but lionise. I have no hope of my picture -being accepted now, but still it is pleasant to think that I have worked -hard. - -"_February 3rd._--I took my picture to the Calcografia place, as warned -to do. There, in dusty horror, it awaits the selecting committee's -review, which takes place to-morrow. Mamma and I held it manfully in the -little open carriage to keep it from tumbling out, our arms stretched to -their utmost. Lots of men were shuffling about in that dusty place with -pictures of all sizes. But, oh! what a scene of horror was that -collection of daubs. Oh! mercy on us. - -"_February 5th._--My 'Magnificat' is accepted. First, off goes Mamma -with Celestina to the Calcografia to learn the fate of the picture, and -bring it back triumphant, she and the maid holding it steady in the -little open carriage. Soon after, off we go to the Palazzo Poli to see -nice Mr. Severn, who says he is so proud of me, and will do all he can -to help me in art matters, to see whether he could make the exhibition -people hang my picture well, as we were told the artists had to see to -that themselves if they wanted it well done. I, for my part, would leave -it to them and rather shirk a place on the line, for my picture is -depressingly unsatisfactory to me, but Mamma, for whom I have painted -it, loves it, and wants it well placed 'so that the Pope may see it'! -From thence off we go to the abode of the Minister of Commerce, Cardinal -B., for my pass. We were there told, to our dismay, that we could not -take the picture ourselves to the exhibition, as it was held in the -cloisters of Sta. Maria degli Angeli, and no permission had yet been -given to admit women before the opening. But I knew that between Papa -and Mr. Severn the picture would be seen to inside the cloistered walls. -After lunch, off goes Papa with my pass, we following in the little open -carriage as before, holding the old picture before us with straining -arms and knitted brows, very much jolted and bumped. We are stopped at -the cloisters, and told to drive out again, and there we pull up, our -faces turned in the opposite direction. The hood of the carriage -suddenly collapses, and we are revealed, unable to let go the picture, -with the soldiers collected about the place grinning. Papa arrives, and -he and two _facchini_ come to the rescue, and then disappear with the -picture amongst the forbidden regions enclosed in the gloomy ruins of -Diocletian's Baths. Papa, on returning home, told me how charmed old -Severn, who was there, was with the picture, and even Podesti, the -judge, after some criticisms, and in no way ready to give it a good -place, said to Severn he had expected the signorina's picture to be -rubbish (_porcheria_). I suppose because it was a woman's work. He -retracted, and said he would like to see me. - -"_February 14th._--I began another picture to-day, after all my -resolutions to the contrary, the subject, two Roman shepherds playing at -'_Morra_', sitting on a fallen pillar, a third _contadino_, in a cloak, -looking on. I posed my first model, putting a light background to him, -the effect being capital, he coming rich and dusky against it. He soon -understood I wanted energy thrown into the action. I shall delight in -this subject, because the hands figure so conspicuously in the game. - -"_February 15th._--I went up alone to the Trinità to choose the other -young man for my 'Morra,' and, after a little inspection of the group of -lolling Romagnoli, gave the apple to one with a finely-cut profile and -black hair, the other models, male and female, clustering round to hear, -and many bystanders and the Zouave sentry, hard by, looking on." - -On one evening in this eventful Roman period I had the opportunity of -seeing the famous race of the riderless horses (the _barberi_), which -closed the Carnival doings. The impression remains with me quite vividly -to this day. The colour, the movement; the fast-deepening twilight; the -historic associations of that vast Piazza del Popolo, where I see the -great obelisk retaining, on its upper part, the last flush from the -west; the impetuous waters of the fountains at its base in cool shadow; -St. Peter's dome away to the left--this is the setting. Then I hear the -clatter of the dragoon's horses as the detachment forms up for clearing -the course. The stands, at the foot of the obelisk, are full, some of -the crowd in carnival costume and with masks. A sharp word of command -rings out in the chilly air. Away go the dragoons, down the narrow Corso -and back, at full gallop, splitting the surging crowd with theatrical -effect. The line is clear. Now comes the moment of expectancy! At that -unique starting post, the obelisk upon which Moses in Egypt may have -looked as upon an interesting monument of antiquity in pre-Exodus days, -there appear eleven highly-nervous barbs, tricked out with plumes and -painted with white spots and stripes. The convicts who lead them in -(each man, one may say, carrying his life in his hand) are trying, with -iron grip, to keep their horses quiet, for the spiked balls and other -irritants are now unfastened and dangling loose from the horses' backs. -But one terrified beast comes on "kicking against the pricks" already. -The whole pack become wild. The more they plunge, the more the balls -bang and prick. One furious creature, wrenching itself free, whirls -round in the wrong direction. But there is no time to lose; the -restraining rope must be cut. A gun booms; there is a shout and clapping -of hands. Ten of the horses, with heads down, get off in a bunch, -shooting straight as arrows for the Corso; the eleventh slips on the -cobbles, rolls over and, recovering itself, tears after its pals, -straining every nerve. I hear a voice shout "_E capace di vincere!_" -("He is fit to win!") and in an instant the lot are engulfed in that -dark, narrow street, the squibs on their backs going off like pistol -shots, and the crackling bits of metallic tinsel, getting detached, fly -back in a shower of light. The sparks from the iron heels splash out in -red fire through the dusk. The course is just one mile--the whole length -of the straight street. At the winning post a great sheet is stretched -across the way, through which some of the horses burst, to be captured -some days afterwards while roaming about the open spaces of the -Campagna. It is the dense crowd, forming two walls along the course, -that forces the horses to keep the centre. This was the last of the -_barberi_. They were more frightened than hurt, yet I am not sorry that -these races have been abolished. - -Here follow records of expeditions in weather of spring freshness--to -catacombs, along the Via Appia, to the wild Campagna, and all the -delights of that Roman time when the lark inspires the poet. I got on -well with my "Morra" picture, which wasn't bad, and which has a niche in -my art career, because it turned out to be the first picture I sold, -which joyful event happened in London. - -"_March 25th_.--A brilliant day, full of colour. This is a great feast, -the Annunciation, and I gave up work to see the Pope come in grand -procession to the Church of the Minerva with his Cross Bearer on a white -mule, and all the cardinals, bishops, ambassadors and officials in -carriages of antique magnificence, a spectacle of great pomp, and -nowhere else to be seen. We did it in this wise. At nine we drove to the -Minerva, the sun very brilliant and the air very cold, and soon posted -ourselves on the steps of the church in the midst of a tight crowd, I -quite helpless in a knot of French soldiers of the Legion, who chaffed -each other good-humouredly over my head. The piazza, in the midst of -which rises the funny little obelisk on the elephant's back, swarmed -with people, black being quite the exception in that motley crowd. -Zouaves and the Legion formed a square to keep the piazza open, and -dragoons pranced officiously about, as is their wont. Every balcony was -thronged with gay ladies and full-dressed officers (some most gallant -and smart Austrians were at a window near us), and crimson cloth and -brocade flapped from every window, here in powerful sunshine, there in -effective shadow. Some dark, Florentine-coloured houses opposite, mostly -in shade, as they were between us and the sun, had a strong effect -against the bright sky, their crimson cloths and gaily dressed ladies -relieving their dark masses, and their beautiful roofs and chimneys -making a lovely sky line. - -"Presently the gilt and painted coaches of the cardinals began to -arrive, huge, high-swung vehicles drawn by very fat black horses dressed -out with gold and crimson trappings, but the servants and coachmen, in -spite of their extra full get-up, having that inimitable shabby-genteel -appearance which belongs exclusively to them. The Prior of the -Dominicans, to which order this church belongs, stood outside the -archway through which the Pope and all went into the church after -alighting from their coaches. He was there to welcome them, and, oh! the -number of bows he must have made, and his mouth must have ached again -with all those wide smiles. Near him also stood the Noble Guards and all -the general officers, plastered over with orders; and all these, too, -saluted and salaamed as each ecclesiastical bigwig grandly and -courteously swept by under the archway, glowing in his scarlet and -shining in his purple. The carriages pulled up at the spot of all others -best suited to us. Everything was filled with light, the cardinals -glowing like rubies inside their coaches, even their faces all aglow -with the red reflections thrown up from their ardent robes. But there -presently came a sight which I could hardly stand; it was eloquent of -the olden time and filled the mind with a strange feeling of awe and -solemnity, as though long ages had rolled back and by a miracle the dead -time had been revived and shown to us for a brief and precious moment. -On a sleek white mule came a prelate, all in pure lilac, his grey head -bare to the sunshine and carrying in his right hand the gold and -jewelled Cross. The trappings of the mule were black and gold, a large -black, square cloth thrown over its back in the mediæval fashion. The -Cross, which was large and must have weighed considerably, was very -conspicuous. The beauty of the colour of mule and rider, the black and -gold housings of that white beast, the lilac of the rider's robes, and -the tender glory of the embossed Cross--how these things enchant me! An -attendant took the Cross as the priest dismounted. Then a flourish of -modern Zouave bugles and a sharp roll of the drum intruded the forgotten -present day on our notice, and soon on came the gallant _gendarmerie_ -and dragoons, and then the coach of His Holiness, seeming to bubble over -with molten gold in the sunshine. Its six black horses ambled fatly -along, all but the wheelers trailing their long, red traces almost on -the ground, as seems to be the ecclesiastical fashion in harness (only -the wheelers really pull), and guided by bedizened postillions in wigs -decidedly like those worn by English Q.C.'s. Flowers were showered down -on this coach from the windows, and much cheering rang in the fresh, -clear air. I see now in my mind's eye the out-thrust chins and long, -bare necks of a clump of enthusiastic Zouaves shouting with all their -hearts under the Pope's carriage windows in divers tongues. But the -English 'Long live the Pope King,' though given with a will, did not -travel as far as the open '_Viva il Papa Rè_' or '_Vive le Pape Roi_.' I -put in my British 'Hurrah!' as did Papa, splendidly, just as three old -and very fat cardinals had painfully got down from His Holiness's high -coach and he himself had begun to emerge. We could see him quite well in -the coach, because the sides were more glass than gilding, and very -assiduously did the kind-looking old man bless the people right and left -as he drove up. He had on his head, not the skull cap I have hitherto -seen him in, which allows his silver locks to be seen, but the -old-lady-like headgear so familiar to me from pictures, notably several -portraits of Leo X. at Florence, which covers the ears and is bound with -ermine. It makes the lower part of the face look very large, and is not -becoming. After getting down he stood a long time receiving homage from -many grandees, and smiled and beamed with kindness on everybody. Then we -all bundled into the church, but as every one there was standing on, -instead of sitting on, the chairs, we could see nothing of the -ceremonies. We struggled out, after listening a little to the singing, -and Papa and I strolled delightedly to St. Peter's, on whose great -piazza we awaited the return of the procession. It was very beautiful, -winding along towards us, with my white mule and all, over that vast -space." - -Remember, Reader, that these things can never more be seen, and that is -why I give these extracts _in extenso_. Merely as history they are -precious. How we would like to have some word pictures of Rome in the -seventeenth, sixteenth and fifteenth centuries, but we don't get them. -The chronicles tell us of magnificence, numbers, illustrious people, -dress, and so forth; but, somehow, we would like something more intimate -and descriptive of local colour--effects of weather, etc.--to help us to -realise life as it was in the olden time. I think in this age of -ugliness we prize the picturesque and the artistic all the more for -their rarer charm. - -After "Morra" I did a life-size oil study of the head of the celebrated -model, Francesco, which was a great advance in freedom of brush work. -But the walks were not abandoned, and many a delightful round we made -with our father, who was very happy in Rome. The Colosseum was rich in -flowers and trees, which clothed with colour its hideous stages of -seats. The same abundant foliage beautified the brickwork of Caracalla's -Baths, but those beautiful veils were, unfortunately, slowly helping -further to demolish the ruins, and had to be all cleared away later on. -I have several times managed to wander over those eerie ruins in later -years by full moon, but I have never again enjoyed the awe-inspiring -sensation produced by the first visit, when those trees waved and -sighed, and the owls hooted, as in Byron's time. And then the loneliness -of the Colosseum was more impressive, and helped one to detach oneself -in thought from the present day more easily. Now the town is creeping -out that way. - -"_April 3rd._--Our goal was Santa Croce to-day, beyond the Lateran, for -there the Pope was to come to bless the 'Agnus Dei.' This ceremony -takes place only once in seven years. Everything was _en petite tenue_, -the quietest carriages, the seediest servants, but oh! how glorious it -all was in that fervent sunlight. We stood outside the church, I greatly -enjoying the amusing crowd, full of such varied types. The effect of the -Pope's two carriages and the horsemen coming trotting along the -straight, long road from St. John's to this church, the luminous dust -rising in clouds in the wind, was very pretty. The shouting and cheering -and waving of handkerchiefs were quite frantic, more hearty even than at -the Minerva. People seemed to feel more easy and jolly here, with no -grandeur to awe them. His Holiness looked much more spry than when I -last saw him. We lost poor little Mamma and, in despair, returned -without her, and she didn't turn up till 7 o'clock!" - -The Roman Diary of 1870 must end with the last Easter Benediction given -under the temporal power, _Urbi et Orbi_. - -"_Easter Sunday, April 17th_.--What a day, brimming over with rich -eye-feasts, with pomp and splendour! What can the eye see nowadays to -come anywhere near what I saw to-day, except on this anniversary here in -unique Rome? Of course, all the world knows that the splendour of this -great ceremony outshines that of any other here or in the whole world. -Mamma and I reserved ourselves for the benediction alone, so did not -start for St. Peter's till ten o'clock, and got there long before the -troops. On getting out of the carriage we strolled leisurely to the -steps leading up to the church, where we took up our stand, enjoying the -delicious sunshine and fresh, clear air, and also the interesting people -that were gradually filling the piazza, amongst whom were pilgrims with -long staves, many being Neapolitans, the women in new costumes of the -brightest dyes and with snowy _tovaglie_ artistically folded. Some of -these women carried the family luggage on their heads, this luggage -being great bundles wrapped in rugs of red, black, and yellow stripes, -some with the big coloured umbrella passed through and cleverly -balanced. All these people had trudged on foot all the way. Their shoes -hung at their waists, and also their water flasks. As the troops came -pouring in we were requested by the sappers to range ourselves and not -to encroach beyond the bottom step. Here was a position to see from! We -watched the different corps forming to the stirring bugle and trumpet -sounds, the officers mounting their horses, all splendid in velvet -housings, the officers in the fullest of full dress. There was no -pushing in the crowd, and we were as comfortable as possible. But there -was a scene to our left, up on the terrace that runs along the upper -part of the piazza and is part of the Vatican, which was worth to me all -the rest; it was, pictorially, the most beautiful sight of all. Along -this terrace, the balustrade of which was hung with mellow old faded -tapestry, and bears those dark-toned, effective statues standing out so -well against the blue sky, were collected in a long line, I should say, -nearly all the bishops who are gathered here in Rome for the Council, in -their white and silver vestments, and wearing their snowy mitres, a few -dark-dressed ladies in veils and an officer in bright colour here and -there supporting most artistically those long masses of white. Above the -heads of this assembly stretched the long white awning, through which -the strong sun sent a glowing shade, and above that the clear sky, with -the Papal white and yellow flags and standards in great quantities -fluttering in the breeze! My delighted eyes kept wandering up to that -terrace away from the coarser military picturesqueness in front. Up -there was a real bit of the olden time. There was a feeling as of lilies -about those white-robed pontiffs. At last a sign from a little balcony -high up on the façade was given, and all the troops sprang to attention, -and then the gentle-faced old Pope glided into view there, borne on his -chair and wearing the triple crown. Clang go the rifles and sabres in a -general salute, and a few '_evvivas_' burst from the crowd, which are -immediately suppressed by a general 'sh-sh-sh,' and amidst a most -imposing silence, the silence of a great multitude, the Pope begins to -read from a crimson book held before him with the voice of a strong -young man. Curiously enough, in this stillness all the horses began to -neigh, but their voices could not drown the single one of Pio Nono. -After the reading the Pope rose, and down went, on their knees, the mass -of people and soldiers, 'like one man,' and the old Pope pressed his -hands together a moment and then flung open his arms upwards with an -action full of electrifying fervour as he pronounced the grand words of -the blessing which rang out, it seemed, to the ends of the Earth. - -"In the evening we saw the famous illumination of the dome of St. -Peter's from the Pincian. The wind rather spoiled the first or silver -one, but the next, the golden, was a grand sight, beginning with the -cross at the top and running down in streams over the dome. As I looked, -I heard a funny bit of Latin from an English tourist, who asked a priest -'_Quis est illuminatio, olio o gas?_' '_Olio, olio_,' answered the -priest good-naturedly." - -And so our Papal Rome on May 2nd, 1870, retreated into my very -appreciative memory, and we returned for a few days to Florence, and -thence to Padua and Venice and Verona on our way to England through the -Tyrol and Bavaria. What a downward slope in art it is from Italy into -Germany! We girls felt a great irritation at the change, and were too -recalcitrant to attend to the German sights properly. - -But I filled the Diary with very searching notes of the wonderful things -I saw in Venice, thanks to Veronese, Titian, Tintoretto, Palma Vecchio -and others, who filled me with all that an artist can desire in the way -of colour. I was anxious to improve my weak point, and here was a -lesson! - -It is curious, however, to watch through the succeeding years how I was -gradually inducted by circumstances into that line of painting which is -so far removed from what inspired me just then. It was the Franco-German -War and a return to the Isle of Wight that sent me back on the military -road with ever diminishing digressions. Well, perhaps my father's fear, -which I have already mentioned in my early 'teens, that I was joining in -a "tremendous ruck" in taking the field would have been justified had I -not taken up a line of painting almost non-exploited by English artists. -The statement of a French art critic when writing of one of my war -pictures, "_L'Angleterre n'a guère qu'un peintre militaire, c'est une -femme_," shows the position. I wish I could have another life here below -to share the joys of those who paint what I studied in Italy, if only -for the love of such work, though I am very certain I should be quite -indistinguishable in _that_ "ruck." - - - - -CHAPTER VII - -WAR. BATTLE PAINTINGS - - -Padua I greatly enjoyed--its academic quiet, its Shakespearean -atmosphere; and still more did Shakespearean Verona enchant me. I had a -good study of the modern French school at the Paris Salon, and on -getting back to London rejoined the South Kensington schools till the -end of the summer session. Then a studio and practice from the living -model. In July we were all absorbed in the great Franco-German War, -declared in the middle of that month. It seems so absurd to us to-day -that we should have been pro-German in England. This little entry in the -Diary shows how Bismarck's dishonest manoeuvres had hoodwinked the -world. "France _will_ fight, so Prussia _must_, and all for nothing but -jealousy--a pretty spectacle!" We all believed it was France that was -the guilty party. I call to mind how some one came running upstairs to -find me and, subsiding on the top step with _The Times_ in her hand, -announced the surrender of MacMahon's army and the Emperor. I wrote "the -Germans are pro-di-gious!" and I have lived to see them prostrate. Such -is history. - -I was asked, as the war developed, if I had been inspired by it, and -this caused me to turn my attention pictorially that way. Once I began -on that line I went at a gallop, in water-colour at first, and many a -subject did I send to the "Dudley Gallery" and to Manchester, all the -drawings selling quickly, but I never relaxed that serious practice in -oil painting which was my solid foundation. I sent the poor "Magnificat" -to the Royal Academy in the spring of 1871. It was rejected, and -returned to me with a large hole in it. - -That summer, which we spent at well-loved Henley-on-Thames, was marred -by the awful doings of the Commune in Paris. _The Times_ had a -stereotyped heading for a long time: "The Destruction of Paris." What -horrible suspense there was while we feared the destruction of the -Louvre and Notre Dame. I see in the Diary: "_May 28th, 1871_.--Oh! that -to-morrow's papers may bring a decided contradiction of the oft-repeated -report that the great Louvre pictures are lost and that Notre Dame no -longer stands intact. As yet all is confusion and dismay, and one -clings, therefore, to the hope that little by little we may hear that -some fragments, at least, may be spared to bereaved humanity and that -all that beauty is not annihilated." - -In August, 1871, we were off again. From London back to Ventnor! There I -kept my hand in by painting in oils life-sized portraits of friends and -relations and some Italian ecclesiastical subjects, such as young -Franciscan monks, disciples of him who loved the birds, feeding their -doves in a cloister; an old friar teaching schoolboys, _al fresco_, -outside a church, as I had seen one doing in Rome. For this friar I -commandeered our landlord as a model, for he had just the white beard -and portly figure I required. Yet he was one of the most _furibond_ -dissenters I ever met--a Congregationalist--but very obliging. Also a -candlelight effect in the Church of San Pietro in Vincoli, in Rome; a -large altar-piece for our little Church of St. Wilfrid, and so on, a -mixture of the ecclesiastical and the military. The dances, theatricals, -croquet parties, rides--all the old ways were linked up again at -Ventnor, and I have a very bright memory of our second dwelling there -and reunion with our old friends. In the spring of 1872 I sent one of -the many Roman subjects I was painting to the Academy, a water-colour of -a Papal Zouave saluting two bishops in a Roman street. It was rejected, -but this time without a hole. This year was full of promise, and I very -nearly reached the top of my long hill climb, for in it I began what -proved to be my first Academy picture. - -What proved of great importance to me, this year of 1872, was my -introduction, if I may put it so, to the British Army! I then saw the -British soldier as I never had had the opportunity of seeing him before. -My father took me to see something of the autumn manoeuvres near -Southampton. Subjects for water-colour drawings appeared in abundance to -my delighted observation. One of the generals who was to be an umpire at -these manoeuvres, Sir F. C., had become greatly interested in me, as a -mutual friend had described my battle scenes to him, and said he would -speak about me to Sir Charles Staveley, one of the commanders in the -impending "war," so that I might have facilities for seeing the -interesting movements. He hoped that, if I saw the manoeuvres, I would -"give the British soldiers a turn," which I did with alacrity. I sent -some of the sketches to Manchester and to my old friend the "Dudley." -One of them, "Soldiers Watering Horses," found a purchaser in a Mr. -Galloway, of Manchester, who asked through an agent if I would paint him -an oil picture. I said "Yes," and in time painted him "The Roll Call." -Meanwhile, in the spring of 1873, I sent my first really large war -picture in oils to the Academy. It was accepted, but "skyed," well -noticed in the Press and, to my great delight, sold. The subject was, of -course, from the war which was still uppermost in our thoughts: a -wounded French colonel (for whom my father sat), riding a spent horse, -and a young subaltern of Cuirassiers, walking alongside (studied from a -young Irish officer friend), "missing" after one of the French defeats, -making their way over a forlorn landscape. The Cameron Highlanders were -quartered at Parkhurst, near Ventnor, about this time, and I was able to -make a good many sketches of these splendid troops, so essentially -pictorial. I have ever since then liked to make Highlanders subjects for -my brush. - -In this same year of 1873 my sister and I, now both belonging to the old -faith, whither our mother had preceded us, joined the first pilgrimage -to leave the shores of England since the Reformation. I had arranged -with the _Graphic_ to make pen-and-ink sketches of the pilgrimage, which -was arousing an extraordinary amount of public interest. Our goal was -the primitive little town of Paray-le-Monial, deep in the heart of -France, where Margaret Mary Alacoque received our Lord's message. I -cannot convey to my readers who are not "of us" the fresh and exultant -impressions we received on that visit. There was a mixture of religious -and national patriotism in our minds which produced feelings of the -purest happiness. The steamer that took us English pilgrims from -Newhaven to Dieppe on September 2nd flew the standard of the Sacred -Heart at the main and the Union Jack at the peak, seeming thus to -symbolise the whole character of the enterprise. Those _Graphic_ -sketches proved a very great burden to me. Nowadays one of the pilgrims -would have done all by "snapshots." I tried to sketch as I walked in the -processions at Paray and to sing the hymn at the same time. There was -hardly a moment's rest for us, except for a few intervals of sleep. The -long ceremonies and prescribed devotions, the processions, the stirring -hymns and the journey there and back, all crowded into a week from start -to finish, called for all one's strength. But how joyfully given! - -I can never forget the hearty, well-mannered welcome the French gave us, -lay and clerical. The place itself was lovely and the weather kind. It -is good to have had such an experience as this in our weary world. The -Bishop of Salford, the future Cardinal Vaughan, led us, and our clergy -mustered in great force. The dear French people never showed so well as -during their welcome of us. It suited their courteous and hospitable -natures. Most of our hosts were peasants and owners of little -picturesque shops in this jewel of a little town. We two were billeted -at a shoemaker's. The urbanity of the French clergy in receiving our own -may be imagined. I love to think back on the truly beautiful sights and -sounds of Paray, with the dominant note of the church bells vibrating -over all. They gave us a graceful send-off, pleased to have the -assurance of our approval of our reception. Many compliments on our -_solide piété_, with regrets as to their own "_légèreté_," and so forth. -"_Vive l'Angleterre!_" "_Vive la France!_" "_Adieu!_" - - - - -CHAPTER VIII - -"THE ROLL CALL" - - -I had quite a large number of commissions for military water-colours to -get through on my return home, and an oil of French artillery on the -march to paint, in my little glass studio under St. Boniface Down. But -after my not inconsiderable success with "Missing" at the Academy, I -became more and more convinced that a London studio _must_ be my destiny -for the coming winter. Of course, my father demurred. He couldn't bear -to part with me. Still, it must be done, and to London I went, with his -sad consent. I had long been turning "The Roll Call" in my mind. My -father shook his head; the Crimea was "forgotten." My mother rather -shivered at the idea of the snow. It was no use; they saw I was bent on -that subject. My dear mother and our devoted family doctor in London -(Dr. Pollard[4]), who would do anything in his power to help me, between -them got me the studio, No. 76, Fulham Road, where I painted the picture -which brought me such utterly unexpected celebrity. - -Mr. Burchett, still headmaster at South Kensington, was delighted to see -me with all the necessary facilities for carrying out my work, and he -sent me the best models in London, nearly all ex-soldiers. One in -particular, who had been in the Crimea, was invaluable. He stood for -the sergeant who calls the roll. I engaged my models for five hours each -day, but often asked them to give me an extra half-hour. Towards the -end, as always happens, I had to put on pressure, and had them for six -hours. My preliminary expeditions for the old uniforms of the Crimean -epoch were directed by my kind Dr. Pollard, who rooted about Chelsea -back streets to find what I required among the Jews. One, Mr. Abrahams, -found me a good customer. I say in my Diary: - -"Dr. Pollard and I had a delightful time at Mr. Abrahams' dingy little -pawnshop in a hideous Chelsea slum, and, indeed, I enjoyed it _far_ more -than I should have enjoyed the same length of time at a West End -milliner's. I got nearly all the old accoutrements I had so much longed -for, and in the evening my Jew turned up at Dr. Pollard's after a long -tramp in the city for more accoutrements, helmets, coatees, haversacks, -etc., and I sallied forth with the 'Ole Clo!' in the rain to my boarding -house under our mutual umbrella, and he under his great bag as well. We -chatted about the trade '_chemin faisant_.'" - -[Illustration: CRIMEAN IDEAS.] - -I called Saturday, December 13th, 1873, a "red-letter day," for I then -began my picture at the London studio. Having made a little water-colour -sketch previously, very carefully, of every attitude of the figures, I -had none of those alterations to make in the course of my work which -waste so much time. Each figure was drawn in first without the great -coat, my models posing in a tight "shell jacket," so as to get the -figure well drawn first. How easily then could the thick, less shapely -great coat be painted on the well-secured foundation. No matter how its -heavy folds, the cross-belts, haversacks, water-bottles, and -everything else broke the lines, they were there, safe and sound, -underneath. An artist remarked, "What an absurdly easy picture!" Yes, no -doubt it was, but it was all the more so owing to the care taken at the -beginning. This may be useful to young painters, though, really, it -seems to me just now that sound drawing is at a discount. It will come -by its own again. Some people might say I was too anxious to be correct -in minor military details, but I feared making the least mistake in -these technical matters, and gave myself some unnecessary trouble. For -instance, on one of my last days at the picture I became anxious as to -the correct letters that should appear stamped on the Guards' -haversacks. I sought professional advice. Dr. Pollard sent me the beery -old Crimean pensioner who used to stand at the Museum gate wearing a -gold-laced hat, to answer my urgent inquiry as to this matter. Up comes -the puffing old gentleman, redolent of rum. I, full of expectation, ask -him the question: "What should the letters be?" "B. O.!" he roars -out--"Board of Ordnance!" Then, after a congested stare, he calls out, -correcting himself, "W. D.--War Deportment!" "Oh!" I say, faintly, "War -Department; thank you." Then he mixes up the two together and roars, "W. -O.!" And that was all I got. He mopped his rubicund face and, to my -relief, stumped away down my stairs. Another Crimean hero came to tell -me whether I was right in having put a grenade on the pouches. "Well, -miss, the natural _hinference_ would be that it _was_ a grenade, but it -was something like my 'and." Desperation! I got the thing "like his -hand" just in time to put it in before "The Roll Call" left--a brass -badge lent me by the War Office--and obliterated the much more -effective grenade. - -On March 29th and 30th, 1874, came my first "Studio Sunday" and Monday, -and on the Tuesday the poor old "Roll Call" was sent in. I watched the -men take it down my narrow stairs and said "_Au revoir_," for I was -disappointed with it, and apprehensive of its rejection and speedy -return. So it always is with artists. We never feel we have fulfilled -our hopes. - -The two show days were very tiring. Somehow the studio, after church -time on the Sunday, was crowded. Good Dr. Pollard hired a "Buttons" for -me, to open the door, and busied himself with the people, and enjoyed -it. So did I, though so tired. It was "the thing" in those days to make -the round of the studios on the eve of "sending-in day." - -Mr. Galloway's agent came, and, to my intense relief, told me the -picture went far beyond his expectations. He had been nervous about it, -as it was through him the owner had bought it, without ever seeing it. -On receiving the agent's report, Mr. Galloway sent me a cheque at -once--£126--being more than the hundred agreed to. The copyright was -mine. - -The days that followed felt quite strange. Not a dab with a brush, and -my time my own. It was the end of Lent, and then Easter brought such -church ceremonial as our poor little Ventnor St. Wilfrid's could not -aspire to. A little more Diary: - -"_Saturday, April 11th._--A charming morning, for Dr. Pollard had a fine -piece of news to tell me. First, Elmore, R.A., had burst out to him -yesterday about my picture at the Academy, saying that all the -Academicians are in quite a commotion about it, and Elmore wants to -make my acquaintance very much. He told Dr. P. I might get £500 for 'The -Roll Call'! I little expected to have such early and gratifying news of -the picture which I sent in with such forebodings. After Dr. P. had -delivered this broadside of Elmore's compliments he brought the -following battery of heavy guns to bear upon me which compelled me to -sink into a chair. It is a note from Herbert, R.A., in answer to a few -lines which kind Father Bagshawe had volunteered to write to him, as a -friend, to ask him, as one of the Selecting Committee, just simply to -let me know, as soon as convenient, whether my picture was accepted or -rejected. The note is as follows: - - 'DEAR MISS THOMPSON,--I have just received a note from Father - Bagshawe of the Oratory in which he wished me to address a few - lines to you on the subject of your picture in the R.A. To tell the - truth I desired to do so a day or two since but did not for two - reasons: the first being that as a custom the doings of the R.A. - are for a time kept secret; the second that I felt I was a stranger - to you and you would hear what I wished to say from some - friend--but Father Bagshawe's note, and the decision being over, I - may tell you with what pleasure I greeted the picture and the - painter of it when it came before us for judgment. It was simply - this: I was so struck by the excellent work in it that I proposed - we should lift our hats and give it and you, though, as I thought, - unknown to me, a round of huzzahs, which was generally done. You - now know my feeling with regard to your work, and may be sure that - I shall do everything as one of the hangers that it shall be - _perfectly seen_ on our walls. - - I am tired and hurried, and ask you to excuse this very hasty note, - but _accept my hearty congratulations_, and - - Believe me to be, dear Miss Thompson, - - Most faithfully yours, - - J. R. HERBERT.' - -I trotted off at once to show Father Bagshawe the note, and then left -for home with my brilliant news." - -While at home at Ventnor I received from many sources most extraordinary -rumours of the stir the picture was making in London amongst those who -were behind the scenes. How it was "the talk of the clubs" and spoken of -as the "coming picture of the year," "the hit of the season," and all -that kind of thing. Friends wrote to me to give me this pleasant news -from different quarters. Ventnor society rejoiced most kindly. I went to -London to what I call in the Diary "the scene of my possible triumphs," -having taken rooms at a boarding house. I had better let the Diary -speak: - -"_'Varnishing Day,' Tuesday, April 28th._--My real feelings as, laden -like last year, with palette, brushes and paint box, I ascended the -great staircase, all alone, though meeting and being overtaken by -hurrying men similarly equipped to myself, were not happy ones. Before -reaching the top stairs I sighed to myself, 'After all your working -extra hours through the winter, what has it been for? That you may have -a cause of mortification in having an unsatisfactory picture on the -Academy walls for people to stare at.' I tried to feel indifferent, but -had not to make the effort for long, for I soon espied my dark battalion -in Room _II. on the line_, with a knot of artists before it. Then began -my ovation (!) (which, meaning a second-class triumph, is _not_ quite -the word). I never expected anything so perfectly satisfactory and so -like the realisation of a castle in the air as the events of this day. -It would be impossible to say all that was said to me by the swells. -Millais, R.A., talked and talked, so did Calderon, R.A., and Val -Prinsep, asking me questions as to where I studied, and praising this -figure and that. Herbert, R.A., hung about me all day, and introduced -me to his two sons. Du Maurier told me how highly Tom Taylor had spoken -to him of the picture. Mr. S., our Roman friend, cleaned the picture for -me beautifully, insisting on doing so lest I should spoil my new -velveteen frock. At lunchtime I returned to the boarding house to fetch -a sketch of a better Russian helmet I had done at Ventnor, to replace -the bad one I had been obliged to put in the foreground from a Prussian -one for want of a better. I sent a gleeful telegram home to say the -picture was on the line. I could hardly do the little helmet alterations -necessary, so crowded was I by congratulating and questioning artists -and starers. I by no means disliked it all. Delightful is it to be an -object of interest to so many people. I am sure I cannot have looked -very glum that day. In the most distant rooms people steered towards me -to felicitate me most cordially. 'Only send as _good_ a picture next -year' was Millais' answer to my expressed hope that next year I should -do better. This was after overhearing Mr. C. tell me I might be elected -A.R.A. if I kept up to the mark next year. O'Neil, R.A., seemed rather -to deprecate all the applause I had to-day and, shaking his head, warned -me of the dangers of sudden popularity. I know all about _that_, I -think. - -"_Thursday, April 30th._--The Royalties' private view. The Prince of -Wales wants 'The Roll Call.' It is not mine to let him have, and -Galloway won't give it up. - -"_Friday, May 1st._--The to-me-glorious private view of 1874. I insert -here my letter to Papa about it: - - 'DEAREST ----, I feel as though I were undertaking a really - difficult work in attempting to describe to you the events of this - most memorable day. I don't suppose I ever can have another such - day, because, however great my future successes may be, they can - never partake of the character of this one. It is my first great - success. As Tom Taylor told me to-day, I have suddenly burst into - fame, and this _first time_ can never come again. It has a - character peculiar to all _first things_ and to them alone. You - know that "the _élite_ of London society" goes to the Private View. - Well, the greater part of the _élite_ have been presented to me - this day, all with the same hearty words of congratulation on their - lips and the same warm shake of the hand ready to follow the - introductory bow. I was not at all disconcerted by all these - bigwigs. The Duke of Westminster invited me to come and see the - pictures at Grosvenor House, and the old Duchess of Beaufort was so - delighted with "The Roll Call" that she asked me to tell her the - history of each soldier, which I did, the knot of people which, by - the bye, is always before the picture swelling into a little crowd - to see me and, if possible, catch what I was saying. Galloway's - tall figure was almost a fixture near the painting. That poor man, - he was sadly distracted about this Prince of Wales affair, but the - last I heard from him was that he _couldn't_ part with it. - - Some one at the Academy offered him £1,000 for it, and T. Agnew - told him he would give him anything he asked, but he refused those - offers without a moment's hesitation. He has telegraphed to his - wife at Manchester, as he says women can decide so much better than - men on the spur of the moment. The Prince gives him till the dinner - to-morrow to make up his mind. The Duchess of Beaufort introduced - Lord Raglan's daughters to me, who were pleased with the interest I - took in their father. Old Kinglake was also introduced, and we had - a comparatively long talk in that huge assembly where you are - perpetually interrupted in your conversation by fresh arrivals of - friends or new introductions. Do you remember joking with me, when - I was a child, about the exaggerations of popularity? How strange - it felt to-day to be realizing, in actual experience, what you - warned me of, in fun, when looking at my drawings. You need not be - afraid that I shall forget. What I _do_ feel is great pleasure at - having "arrived," at last. The great banker Bunbury has invited me - and a friend to the ball at the Goldsmiths' Hall on Wednesday - night. He is one of the wardens. Oh! if you could only come up in - time to take me. Col. Lloyd Lindsay, of Alma fame, and his wife - were wild to have "The Roll Call." She shyly told me she had cried - before the picture. But, for enthusiasm, William Agnew beat them - all. He came up to be introduced, and spoke in such expressions of - admiration that his voice positively shook, and he said that, - having missed purchasing this work, he would feel "proud and happy" - if I would paint him one, the time, subject and price, whatever it - might be, being left entirely to me. Sir Richard Airey, the man who - wrote the fatally misconstrued order on his holster and handed it - to Nolan on the 25th October, 1854, was very cordial, and showed - that he took a keen pleasure in the picture. I told him I valued a - Crimean man's praise more than anybody else's, and I repeated the - observation later to old Sir William Codrington under similar - circumstances, and to other Crimean officers. One of them, whose - father was killed at the assault on the Redan, pressed me very hard - to consent to paint him two Crimean subjects, but I cannot promise - anything more till I have worked out my already too numerous - commissions, old ones, at the horrible old prices. - - Sir Henry Thompson, a great surgeon, I understand, was very polite, - and introduced his little daughter who paints. Lady Salisbury had a - long chat with me and showed a great intelligence on art matters. - Many others were introduced, or I to them, but most of them exist - as ghosts in my memory. I have forgotten some of their names and, - as some only wrote their addresses on my catalogue, I don't know - who is who. The others gave me their cards, so that is all right. - Horsley, R.A., is such a genial, hearty sort of man. He says he - shouldn't wonder if my name was mentioned in the Royal speeches at - the dinner. Lady Somebody introduced me to Miss Florence - Nightingale's sister, who wanted to know if there was any - possibility of my "most kindly" letting the picture be taken, at - the close of the exhibition, to her poor sister to see. Miss - Nightingale, you know, is now bedridden. Now I must stop. More - to-morrow....' - -I remember how on the following Sunday my good friend Dr. Pollard, who -lived close to my boarding house, waylaid me on my way to mass at the -Oratory, and from his front garden called me in stentorian tones, waving -the _Observer_ over his head. On crossing over I learnt of the speeches -of the Prince of Wales and the Duke of Cambridge at the Academy banquet -the evening before, in which most surprising words were uttered about me -and the picture. - -"_Monday, May 4th_.--The opening day of the Royal Academy. A dense crowd -before my grenadiers. I fear that fully half of that crowd have been -sent there by the royal speeches on Saturday. I may say that I awoke -this morning and found myself famous. Great fun at the Academy, where -were some of my dear fellow students rejoicing in the fulfilment of -their prophecies in the old days. Overwhelmed with congratulations on -all sides; and as to the papers, it is impossible to copy their -magnificent critiques, from _The Times_ downwards. - -"_Wednesday, May 6th_.--The Queen had my picture abstracted from the -R.A. last night to gaze at, at Buckingham Palace! It is now, of course, -in its place again. Went with Papa to the brilliant Goldsmiths' Ball, -where I danced. I was a bit of a lion there, or shall I say lioness? Sir -William Ferguson was introduced to me; and he, in his turn, introduced -his daughter and drank to my further success at the supper. Sir F. -Chapman also was presented, and expressed his astonishment at the -accuracy of the military details in my picture. He is a Crimean man. The -King of the Goldsmiths was brought up to me to express his thanks at my -'honouring' their ball with my presence. The engravers are already at me -to buy the copyright, but my dear counsellor and friend, Seymour Haden, -says I am to accept nothing short of £1,000, and get still more if I -can! - -"_May 10th_.--The Dowager Lady Westmoreland, who is about 80, and who -has lost pleasure in seeing new faces, when she heard of my Crimean -picture, expressed a great wish to see me, and to-day I went to dine at -her house, meeting there the present earl and countess, an old Waterloo -lord, and Henry Weigall and his wife, Lady Rose. The dear old lady was -so sweet. She was the Duke of Wellington's favourite niece, and his -Grace's portraits deck the walls of more than one room. Her pleasure was -in talking of the Florence of the old pre-Austrian days, where she lived -sixteen years, but my great pleasure was talking with the earl and the -Waterloo lord, who were most loquacious. Lord Westmoreland was on Lord -Raglan's staff in the Crimea. - -"_May 11th_.--Received cheque for the 'San Pietro in Vincoli' and -'Children of St. Francis.' My popularity has _levered_ those two poor -little pictures off. Messrs. Dickinson & Co. have bought my copyright -for £1,200!!!" - -There follows a good deal in the Diary concerning the trouble with Mr. -Galloway, who made hard conditions regarding his ceding "The Roll Call" -to the Queen, who wished to have it. He felt he was bound to let it go -to his Sovereign, but only on condition that I should paint him my next -Academy picture for the same price as he had given for the one he was -ceding, and that the Queen should sign with her own hand six of the -artist's proofs when the engraving of her picture came out. I had set my -heart on painting the 28th Regiment in square receiving the last charge -of the French Cuirassiers at Quatre Bras, but as that picture would -necessitate far more work than "The Roll Call," I could not paint it for -that little £126--so very puny now! So I most reluctantly suggested a -subject I had long had _in petto_, "The Dawn of Sedan," French -Cuirassiers watching by their horses in the historic fog of that -fateful morning--a very simple composition. To cut a very long story -short, he finally consented to have "Quatre Bras" at my own price, -£1,126, the copyright remaining his. All this talk went on for a long -time, and meanwhile, all through the London society doings, I made oil -studies of all the grey horses for "Sedan." The General Omnibus Company -sent me all shades of grey _percherons_ for this purpose. I also made -life-size oil studies of hands for "Quatre Bras," where hands were to be -very strong points, gripping "Brown Besses." So I took time by the -forelock for either subject. I was very fortunate in having the help of -wise business heads to grapple with the business part of my work, for I -have not been favoured that way myself. - -There is no mention in the Diary of the policeman who, a few days after -the opening of the Academy, had to be posted, poor hot man, in my corner -to keep the crowd from too closely approaching the picture and to ask -the people to "move on." That policeman was there instead of the brass -bar which, as a child, I had pleased myself by imagining in front of one -of my works, _à la_ Frith's "Derby Day." The R.A.'s told me the bar -created so much jealousy, when used, that it had been decided never to -use it again. But I think a live policeman quite as much calculated to -produce the undesirable result. I learnt later that his services were -quite as necessary for the protection of two lovely little pictures of -Leighton's, past which the people _scraped_ to get at mine, they being, -unfortunately, hung at right angles to mine in its corner. What an -unfortunate arrangement of the hangers! Horsley told me that they went -every evening after the closing, with a lantern, to see if the two gems -had been scratched. They were never seen. I wonder if Leighton had any -feelings of dislike towards "that girl." She who in her 'teens records -her prostrations of worship before his earlier works, ere he became so -coldly classical. - -It is a curious condition of the mind between gratitude for the -appreciation of one's work by those who know, and the uncomfortable -sense of an exaggerated popularity with the crowd. The exaggeration is -unavoidable, and, no doubt, passes, but the fact that counts is the -power of touching the people's heart, an "organ" which remains the same -through all the changing fashions in art. I remember an argument I once -had with Alma Tadema on this matter of touching the heart. He laughed at -me, and didn't believe in it at all. - -"_Tuesday, May 12th._--Mr. Charles Manning and his wife have been so -very nice to me, and this morning Mrs. M. bore me off to be presented to -His Grace of Westminster, with whom I had a long interview. What a face! -all spirit and no flesh. After that, to the School of Art Needlework to -meet Lady Marion Alford and other Catholic ladies. I ordered there a -pretty screen for my studio on the strength of my £1,200! Thence I -proceeded on a round of calls, going first to the Desanges, where I -lunched. There they told me the Prince of Wales was coming at four -o'clock to see the Ashanti picture Desanges is just finishing. They -begged me to come back a little before then, so as to be ready to be -presented when the moment should arrive. I returned accordingly, and -found the place crowded with people who had come to see the picture. As -soon as H.R.H. was announced, all the people were sent below to the -drawing-room and kept under hatches until Royalty should take its -departure; but I alone was to remain in the back studio, to be handy. -All this was much against my will, as I hate being thrust forward. But, -as it turned out, there was no thrusting forward on this occasion, and -all was very nice and natural. The Prince soon came in to where I was, -Mr. Desanges saying 'Here she is' in answer to a question. His first -remark to me was, of course, about the picture, saying he had hoped to -be its possessor, etc., etc., and he asked me how I had got the correct -details for the uniforms, and so on, having quite a little chat. He -spoke very frankly, and has a most clear, audible voice." - -Of course, the photographers began bothering. The idea of my portraits -being published in the shop windows was repugnant to me. Nowadays one is -snapshotted whether one likes it or not, but it wasn't so bad in those -days; one's own consent was asked, at any rate. I refused. However, it -had to come to that at last. My grandfather simply walked into the shop -of the first people that had asked me, in Regent Street, and calmly made -the appointment. I was so cross on being dragged there that the result -was as I expected--a rather harassed and coerced young woman, and the -worst of it was that this particular photograph was the one most widely -published. Indeed, one of my Aunts, passing along a street in Chelsea, -was astonished to see her rueful niece on a costermonger's barrow -amongst some bananas! - - - - -CHAPTER IX - -ECHOES OF "THE ROLL CALL" - - -On May 14th I lunched at Lady Raglan's. Kinglake was there to meet me, -and we talked Crimea. I had read and re-read his much too prolix -history, which I thought overburdened with detail, giving one an -impression of the two Balaclava charges as lasting hours rather than -minutes. But I had learnt much that was of the utmost value from this -very superabundance of detail. Then on the next day I rose early, and -was off by seven with the Horsleys to Aldershot at the invitation of Sir -Hope Grant, of Indian celebrity, commanding, who travelled down with us. -"Lady Grant received us at the house, where we found a nice breakfast, -and where I got dried, being drenched by a torrential downpour. Would -that it had continued longer, if only to lay the hideous sand in the -Long Valley, which made the field day something very like a fiasco. I -tried to sketch, but my book was nearly blown out of my hand, my -umbrella was turned inside out and my arms benumbed by the cold. M., -most luckily, was on the field, and Mrs. Horsley and I were soon -comfortably ensconced in his hansom cab and trying to feel more -comfortable and jolly. When the sham fight began we had to keep shifting -our standpoint, and Mrs. H. and I had repeatedly to jump out of the -hansom, as we were threatened by an upset every minute over those -sandhills. As to the two charges of cavalry, which Sir Hope had on -purpose for me, I could hardly see them, what with the dust storms half -swallowing them up in dense dun-coloured sheets and my eyes being full -of sand. However, I made the most of the situation, and hope I have got -some good hints. I ought to have so much of this sort of thing, and hope -to now, with all those 'friends in court!' When the march past began Sir -Hope sent to ask me if I would like to stand by his charger at the -saluting base, which I did, and saw, of course, beautifully. I felt -extraordinarily situated, standing there, half liking and half not -liking the situation, with an enormous mounted staff of utterly unknown, -gorgeous officers curvetting and jingling behind me and the general. As -one regiment passed, marching, as I thought, just as splendidly as the -others, I heard Sir Hope snap at them 'Very bad, very bad. Don't, -don't!' And I felt for them so much, trusting they didn't see me or mind -my having heard." - -Three days later, at a charming lunch at Lady Herbert's, I met her son, -Lord Pembroke, and Dr. Kingsley, Charles's brother--"The Earl and the -Doctor." It was interesting to see the originals of the title they gave -their book. The next day people came to the Academy to find, in place of -"The Roll Call," a placard--"This picture has been temporarily removed -by command of Her Majesty." She had it taken to Windsor to look at -before her departure for Scotland, and to show to the Czar, who was on a -visit. - -Calderon, the R.A., whom I met that evening, told me the Academy had -never been receiving so many daily shillings before, and that it ought -to present me with a diamond necklace. And so forth, and so forth--all -noted in the faithful Diary, wherein many extravagances of the moment in -my regard are safely tucked away. Two days later I see: "_May -20th._--The Woolwich review was quite glorious. I went with Lady -Herbert, the Lane Foxes, Lord Denbigh and Capt. Slade. We posted there -and back with two jolly greys and a postboy in a sky-blue jacket. This -was quite after my own heart. Lord Denbigh talked art and war all the -way, interesting me beyond expression. We were in the forefront of -everything on arrival, next the Saluting Point, round which were grouped -the most brilliant sons of Mars I ever saw gathered together, and of -various nations. The Czar Alexander II. headed these, flanked by my two -friends, the Prince of Wales and the Duke of Cambridge. The artillery -manoeuvres were effective, and I sketched as much as I could, getting -up on the box, Lord Denbigh holding my parasol over my head, as the sun -was strong. I suppose people like spoiling me just now, or _trying_ to." - -Then, two days later, I note that I dined at Lady Rose Weigall's, my -left-hand neighbour at table the Archbishop of York, Dr. Thomson, who -took in the hostess. He and I seem to have talked an immense deal about -all sorts of things. He confided to me that his private opinion was that -the Irish Church should never have been disestablished. In the course of -further conversation I thought it better to let him know I was a -Catholic by a passing remark. I said I thought the Neapolitans did not -make such solid Catholics as the English. He stared, none too pleased! -The next night I met at the Westmorelands', at dinner, Lord George -Paget, Colonel Kingscote, and Henry Weigall, my host of the previous -evening. Lord George was drawn out during dinner about Balaclava, and I -listened to his loud cavalry soldier's talk with the keenest interest. -He protested that we were making him say too much, but we were -insatiable. Lord George was a man I had tried to picture; he was almost -the last to ride back from the light cavalry charge. His manner and -speech were _soldatesque_, his expressions requiring at times a "saving -your presence" to the ladies, as a prefix. For me time flew in listening -to this interesting Balaclava hero, and it was very late when I made up -my mind to go, a wiser but by no means a sadder girl. - -At a dinner at Lady Georgiana Fullerton's my sister and I met Aubrey de -Vere, who delighted Alice with his conversation. The general company, -however, seem to have chiefly amused themselves with the long and, on -the whole, silly controversy which was appearing in _The Times_ -regarding the sequence of the horse's steps as he walks. It began by my -horse's walk in "The Roll Call" having been criticised by those who held -to the old conventional idea. How many hours I had moved alongside -horses to see for myself exactly how a horse puts his feet down in the -walk! I had told many people to go down on all fours themselves and -walk, noting the sequence with their own hands and knees, which was sure -to be correct instinctively. At this same dinner Lady Lothian told me -she had followed my advice, and the idea of that sedate _grande dame_, -with grey hair combed under a white lace cap, pacing round her room on -all fours I thought delightful. Since those days I have been vindicated -by the snap-shot. - -I find many Diary pages chiefly devoted to preparations for "Quatre -Bras" and the doing of several pen-and-ink reminiscences of what I had -seen at Woolwich and Aldershot, and exhibited at the "Dudley." Some were -bought by the picture dealer Gambart, and some by Agnew. One of those -pen-and-inks was the "Halt!"--those Scots Greys I only half saw through -the dust storm at Aldershot pulling up in the midst of a tremendous -charge, very close to us. Gambart had come to my studio to see if he -could get anything, and when I told him of this "Halt!" which I had just -sent to the "Dudley," he there and then wrote me a cheque for it, -without seeing it. When he went there to claim it, behold! it had -already been sold, before the opening. He was very angry, and threatened -law against the "Dudley" for what he called "skimming" the show before -the public got a chance. But the possessor was, like Mr. Galloway, a -_Maanchester maan_, and these are very firm on what they call "our -rights." It was no use. I had to make Gambart a compensation drawing. -This introduces Mr. Whitehead, for whom I was to paint "Balaclava." He -had the "Halt!" tight. - -On Corpus Christi Day that year Alice and I, having received our -invitations from the Bishop of Salford, of happy pilgrimage memory, to -join in the services and procession in honour of the Blessed Sacrament -at the Missionary College, Mill Hill, we went thither that glorious -midsummer day. At page 127 of the Diary I have put down certain -sentiments about the practice of the Catholic faith in England, and I -express a longing to see the Host carried through English fields. I -little thought in one year to see my hope realised; yet so it was at -Mill Hill. After vespers in the little church, the procession was -formed, and I shall long remember the choristers, in their purple -cassocks, passing along a field of golden buttercups and the white and -gold banners at the head of the procession floating out against a -typical English sky as their bearers passed over a little hillock which -commands a lovely view of the rich landscape. The bishop bore the Host, -and six favoured men held the canopy. Franciscan nuns in the procession -sang the hymns. - -The early days of that July had their pleasant festivities, such as a -dinner, with Alice, at Lady Londonderry's (she who was our mother's -godmother on the occasion of her reception into the Catholic Church) and -the Academy _soirée_, where Mrs. Tait invited me and Dr. Pollard to a -large garden party at Lambeth Palace. There I note: "The Royalties were -in full force, the _Waleses_, as I have heard the Prince and Princess -called, and many others. It was amusing and very pleasant in the -gardens, though provokingly windy. I had a curiously uncomfortable and -oppressed feeling, though, in that headquarters of the--what shall I -call it?--Opposition? The Archbishop and Mrs. Archbishop, particularly -Mrs., rather appalled me. But dear Dr. Pollard, that stout Protestant, -must have been very gratified." - -On July 4th Colonel Browne, C.B., R.E., who took the keenest interest in -my "Quatre Bras," and did all in his power to help me with the military -part of it, had a day at Chatham for me. He, Mrs. B. and daughters -called for me in the morning, and we set forth for Chatham, where some -300 men of the Royal Engineers were awaiting us on the "Lines." Colonel -Browne had ordered them beforehand, and had them in full dress, with -knapsacks, as I desired. - -They first formed the old-fashioned four-deep square for me, and not -only that, but the beautiful parade dressing was broken and _accidenté_ -by my directions, so as to have a little more the appearance of the real -thing. They fired in sections, too, as I wished, but, unfortunately, the -wind was so strong that the smoke was whisked away in a twinkling, and -what I chiefly wished to study was unobtainable, _i.e._, masses of men -seen through smoke. After they had fired away all their ammunition, the -whole body of men were drawn up in line, and, the rear rank having been -distanced from the front rank, I, attended by Colonel Browne and a -sergeant, walked down them both, slowly, picking out here and there a -man I thought would do for a "Quatre Bras" model (beardless), and the -sergeant took down the name of each man as I pointed him out very -unobtrusively, Colonel Browne promising to have these men up at -Brompton, quartered there for the time I wanted them. So I write: "I -shall not want for soldierly faces, what with those sappers and the -Scots Fusilier Guards, of whom I am sure I can have the pick, through -Colonel Hepburn's courtesy. After this interesting 'choosing a model' -was ended, we all repaired to Colonel Galway's quarters, where we -lunched. After that I went to the guard-room to see the men I had chosen -in the morning, so as to write down their personal descriptions in my -book. Each man was marched in by the sergeant and stood at attention -with every vestige of expression discharged from his countenance whilst -I wrote down his personal peculiarities. I had chosen eight out of the -300 in the morning, but only five were brought now by the sergeant, as I -had managed to pitch upon three bad characters out of the eight, and -these could not be sent me. We spent the rest of the day very pleasantly -listening to the band, going over the museum, etc. I ought to see as -much of military life as possible, and I must go down to Aldershot as -often as I can. - -"_July 16th._--Mamma and I went to Henley-on-Thames in search of a rye -field for my 'Quatre Bras.' Eagerly I looked at the harvest fields as we -sped to our goal to see how advanced they were. We had a great -difficulty in finding any rye at Henley, it having all been cut, except -a little patch which we at length discovered by the direction of a -farmer. I bought a piece of it, and then immediately trampled it down -with the aid of a lot of children. Mamma and I then went to work, but, -oh! horror, my oil brushes were missing. I had left them in the chaise, -which had returned to Henley. So Mamma went frantically to work with two -slimy water-colour brushes to get down tints whilst I drew down forms in -pencil. We laughed a good deal and worked on into the darkness, two -regular 'Pre-Raphaelite Brethren,' to all appearances, bending over a -patch of trampled rye." - -I seem to have felt to the utmost the exhilaration produced by the -following episode. Let the young Diary speak: "The grand and glorious -Lord Mayor's banquet to the stars of literature and art came off to-day, -July 21st, and it was to me such a delightful thing that I felt all the -time in a pleasant sort of dream. I was mentioned in two speeches, Lord -Houghton's ('Monckton Milnes') and Sir Francis Grant's, P.R.A. As the -President spoke of me, he said his eye rested with pleasure on me at -that moment! Papa came with me. Above all the display of civic -splendour one felt the dominant spirit of hospitality in that -ever-to-me-delightful Mansion House. It was a unique thing because such -aristocrats as were there were those of merit and genius. The few lords -were only there because they represented literature, being authors. -Patti was there. She wished to have a talk with me, and went through -little Italian dramatic compliments, like Neilson. Old Cruikshank was a -strange-looking old man, a wonder to me as the illustrator of 'Oliver -Twist' and others of Dickens's works--a unique genius. He said many nice -things about me to Papa. I wished the evening could have lasted a week." - -The next entries are connected with the "Quatre Bras" cartoon: "Dreadful -misgivings about a vital point. I have made my front rank men sitting on -their heels in the kneeling position. Not so the drill book. After my -model went, most luckily came Colonel Browne. Shakes his head at the -attitudes. Will telegraph to Chatham about the heel and let me know in -the morning. - -"_July 23rd._--Colonel Browne came, and with him a smart sergeant-major, -instructor of musketry. Alas! this man and telegram from Chatham dead -against me. Sergeant says the men at Chatham must have been sitting on -their heels to rest and steady themselves. He showed me the exact -position when at the 'ready' to receive cavalry. To my delight I may -have him to-morrow as a model, but it is no end of a bore, this wasted -time." - -"_July 24th._--The musketry instructor, contrary to my sad expectations, -was by no means the automaton one expects a soldier to be, but a -thoroughly intelligent model, and his attitudes combined perfect -drill-book correctness with great life and action. He was splendid. I -can feel certain of everything being right in the attitudes, and will -have no misgivings. It is extraordinary what a well-studied position -that kneeling to resist cavalry is. I dread to think what blunders I -might have committed. No civilian would have detected them, but the -military would have been down upon me. I feel, of course, rather -fettered at having to observe rules so strict and imperative concerning -the poses of my figures, which, I hope, will have much action. I have to -combine the drill book and the fierce fray! I told an artist the other -day, very seriously, that I wished to show what an English square looks -like viewed quite close at the end of two hours' action, when about to -receive a last charge. A cool speech, seeing I have never seen the -thing! And yet I seem to have seen it--the hot, blackened faces, the set -teeth or gasping mouths, the bloodshot eyes and the mocking laughter, -the stern, cool, calculating look here and there; the unimpressionable, -dogged stare! Oh! that I could put on canvas what I have in my mind! - -"_July 25th._--A glorious day at Chatham, where again the Engineers were -put through field exercises, and I studied them with all my faculties. I -got splendid hints to-day. Went with Colonel Browne and Papa. - -"_July 28th._--My dear musketry instructor for a few more attitudes. He -has put me through the process of loading the 'Brown Bess'--a -flint-lock--so that I shall have my soldiers handling their arms -properly. Galloway has sold the copyright of this picture to Messrs. -Dickenson for £2,000! They must have faith in my doing it well." - -On August 11th I see I took a much-needed holiday at home, at Ventnor; -and, as I say, "gave myself up to fresh air, exercise, a little -out-of-door painting, and Napier's 'Peninsular War,' in six volumes." -Shortly before I left for home I received from Queen Victoria a very -splendid bracelet set with pearls and a large emerald. My mother and -good friend Dr. Pollard were with me in the studio when the messenger -brought it, and we formed a jubilant trio. - -It was pleasant to be amongst my old Ventnor friends who had known me -since I was little more than a child. But on September 10th I had to bid -them and the old place goodbye, and on September 11th I re-entered my -beloved studio. - -"_September 12th._--An eventful day, for my 'Quatre Bras' canvas was -tackled. The sergeant-major and Colonel Browne arrived. The latter, good -man, has had the whole Waterloo uniform made for me at the Government -clothing factory at Pimlico. It has been made to fit the sergeant-major, -who put on the whole thing for me to see. We had a dress rehearsal, and -very delighted I was. They have even had the coat dyed the old -'brick-dust' red and made of the baize cloth of those days! Times are -changed for me. It will be my fault if the picture is a fiasco." - -During the painting of "Quatre Bras" I was elected a member of the Royal -Institute of Painters in Water Colour, and I contributed to the Winter -Exhibition that large sketch of a sowar of the 10th Bengal Lancers which -I called "Missed!" and which the _Graphic_ bought and published in -colours. This reproduction sold to such an extent that the _Graphic_ -must have been pleased! The sowar at "tent-pegging" has missed his peg -and pulls at his horse at full gallop. I had never seen tent-pegging at -that time, but I did this from description, by an Anglo-Indian officer -of the 10th, who put the thing vividly before me. How many, many -tent-peggings I have seen since, and what a number of subjects they have -given me for my brush and pencil! Those captivating and pictorial -movements of men and horses are inexhaustible in their variety. - -I had more models sent to me than I could put into the big -picture--Guardsmen, Engineers and Policemen--the latter being useful as, -in those days, the police did not wear the moustache, and I had -difficulty in finding heads suitable for the Waterloo time. Not a head -in the picture is repeated. I had a welcome opportunity of showing -varieties of types such as gave me so much pleasure in the old -Florentine days when I enjoyed the Andrea del Sartos, Masaccios, Francia -Bigios, and other works so full of characteristic heads. - -On November 7th my sister and I went for a weekend to Birmingham, where -the people who had bought "The Roll Call" copyright were exhibiting that -picture. They particularly wished me to go. We were very agreeably -entertained at Birmingham, where I was curious to meet the buyer of my -first picture sold, that "Morra" which I painted in Rome. Unfortunately -I inquired everywhere for "Mr. Glass," and had to leave Birmingham -without seeing him and the early work. No one had heard of him! His name -was Chance, the great Birmingham _glass_ manufacturer. - -"_November 27th._--In the morning off with Dr. Pollard to Sanger's -Circus, where arrangements had been made for me to see two horses go -through their performances of lying down, floundering on the ground, -and rearing for my 'Quatre Bras' foreground horses. It was a funny -experience behind the scenes, and I sketched as I followed the horses in -their movements over the arena with many members of the troupe looking -on, the young ladies with their hair in curl-papers against the -evening's performance. I am now ripe to go to Paris." - -So to Paris I went, with my father. We were guests of my father's old -friends, Mr. and Mrs. Talmadge, Boulevard Haussmann, and a complete -change of scene it was. It gave my work the desired fillip and the fresh -impulse of emulation, for we visited the best studios, where I met my -most admired French painters. The Paris Diary says: - -"_December 3rd._--Our first lion was Bonnat in his studio. A little man, -strong and wiry; I didn't care for his pictures. His colouring is -dreadful. What good light those Parisians get while we are muddling in -our smoky art centre. We next went to Gérôme, and it was an epoch in my -life when I saw him. He was at work but did not mind being interrupted. -He is a much smaller man than I expected, with wide open, quick black -eyes, yet with deep lids, the eyes opening wide only when he talks. He -talked a great deal and knew me by name and '_l'Appel,_' which he -politely said he heard was '_digne_' of the celebrity it had gained. We -went to see an exhibition of horrors--Carolus Duran's productions, now -on view at the _Cercle Artistique_. The talk is all about this man, just -now the vogue. He illustrates a very disagreeable present phase of -French Art. At Goupil's we saw De Neuville's 'Combat on the Roof of a -House,' and I feasted my eyes on some pickings from the most celebrated -artists of the Continent. I am having a great treat and a great lesson. - -"_December 4th._--Had a _supposed_ great opportunity in being invited to -join a party of very _mondaines Parisiennes_ to go over the Grand Opera, -which is just being finished. Oh, the chatter of those women in the -carriage going there! They vied with each other in frivolous outpourings -which continued all the time we explored that dreadful building. It is a -pile of ostentation which oppressed me by the extravagant display of -gilding, marbles and bronze, and silver, and mosaic, and brocade, heaped -up over each other in a gorged kind of way. How truly weary I felt; and -the bedizened dressing-rooms of the actresses and _danseuses_ were the -last straw. Ugh! and all really tasteless." - -However, I recovered from the Grand Opera, and really enjoyed the lively -dinners where conversation was not limited to couples, but flowed with -great _ésprit_ across the table and round and round. Still, in time, my -sleep suffered, for I seemed to hear those voices in the night. How -graceful were the French equivalents to the compliments I received in -London. They thought I would like to know that the fame of "_l'Appel_" -had reached Paris, and so I did. - -We visited Detaille's beautiful studio. He was my greatest admiration at -that time. Also Henriette Browne's and others, and, of course, the -Luxembourg, so I drew much profit from my little visit. But what a -change I saw in the army! I who could remember the Empire of my -childhood, with its endless variety of uniforms, its buglings, and -drummings, and trumpetings; its _chic_ and glitter and swagger: 1870 was -over it all now. Well, never mind, I have lived to see it in the "_bleu -d'horizon_" of a new and glorious day. My Paris Diary winds up with: -"_December 14th._--Papa and I returned home from our Paris visit. My eye -has been very much sharpened, and very severe was that organ as it -rested on my 'Quatre Bras' for the first time since a fortnight ago. Ye -Gods! what a deal I have to do to that picture before it will be fit to -look at! I continue to receive droll letters and poems (!). One I must -quote the opening line of: - - 'Go on, go on, thou glorious girl!' - -Very cheering." - - - - -CHAPTER X - -MORE WORK AND PLAY - - -So I worked steadily at the big picture, finding the red coats very -trying. What would I have thought, when studying at Florence, if I had -been told to paint a mass of men in one colour, and that "brick-dust"? -However, my Aldershot observations had been of immense value in showing -me how the British red coat becomes blackish-purple here, pale salmon -colour there, and so forth, under the influence of the weather and wear -and tear. I have all the days noted down, with the amount of work done, -for future guidance, and lamentations over the fogs of that winter of -1874-5. I gave nicknames in the Diary to the figures in my picture, -which I was amused to find, later on, was also the habit of Meissonier; -one of my figures I called the "_Gamin_" and he, too, actually had a -"_Gamin_." Those fogs retarded my work cruelly, and towards the end I -had to begin at the studio at 9.30 instead of 10, and work on till very -late. The porter at No. 76 told me mine was the first fire to be lit in -the morning of all in The Avenue. - -[Illustration: PRACTISING FOR "QUATRE BRAS."] - -One day the Horse Guards, directed by their surgeon, had a magnificent -black charger thrown down in the riding school at Knightsbridge (on deep -sawdust) for me to see, and get hints from, for the fallen horse in my -foreground. The riding master strapped up one of the furious animal's -forelegs and then let him go. What a commotion before he fell! How he -plunged and snorted in clouds of dust till the final plunge, when the -riding master and a trooper threw themselves on him to keep him down -while I made a frantic sketch. "What must it be," I ask, "when a horse -is wounded in battle, if this painless proceeding can put him into such -a state?" - -The spring of 1875 was full of experiences for me. I note that "at the -Horse Guards' riding school a charger was again 'put down' for me, but -more gently this time, and without the risk, as the riding master said, -of breaking the horse's neck, as last time. I was favoured with a -charge, two troopers riding full tilt at me and pulling up at within two -yards of where I stood, covering me with the sawdust. I stood it bravely -the _second_ time, but the first I got out of the way. With 'Quatre -Bras' in my head, I tried to fancy myself one of my young fellows being -charged, but I fear my expression was much too feminine and pacific." -March 22nd gave me a long day's tussle with the grey, bounding horse -shot in mid-career. I say: "This _is_ a teaser. I was tired out and -faint when I got home." If that was a black day, the next was a white -one: "The sculptor, Boehm, came in, and gave me the very hints I wanted -to complete my bounding horse. Galloway also came. He says 'Quatre Bras' -beats 'The Roll Call' into a cocked hat! He gave me £500 on account. Oh! -the nice and strange feeling of easiness of mind and slackening of -speed; it is beginning to refresh me at last, and my seven months' task -is nearly accomplished." Another visitor was the Duke of Cambridge, who, -it appears, gave each soldier in my square a long scrutiny and showed -how well he understood the points. - -On "Studio Monday" the crowds came, so that I could do very little in -the morning. The novelty, which amused me at first, had worn off, and I -was vexed that such numbers arrived, and tried to put in a touch here -and there whenever I could. Millais' visit, however, I record as "nice, -for he was most sincerely pleased with the picture, going over it with -great _gusto_. It is the drawing, character, and expression he most -dwells on, which is a comfort. But I must now try to improve my _tone_, -I know. And what about '_quality_'? To-day, Sending-in Day, Mrs. Millais -came, and told me what her husband had been saying. He considers me, she -said, an even stronger artist than Rosa Bonheur, and is greatly pleased -with my _drawing_. _That_ (the 'drawing') pleased me more than anything. -But I think it is a pity to make comparisons between artists. I _may_ be -equal to Rosa Bonheur in power, but how widely apart lie our courses! I -was so put out in the morning, when I arrived early to get a little -painting, to find the wretched photographers in possession. I showed my -vexation most unmistakably, and at last bundled the men out. They were -working for Messrs. Dickinson. So much of my time had been taken from me -that I was actually dabbing at the picture when the men came to take it -away; I dabbing in front and they tapping at the nails behind. How -disagreeable!" - -After doing a water colour of a Scots Grey orderly for the "Institute," -which Agnew bought, I was free at last to take my holiday. So my Mother -and I were off to Canterbury to be present at the opening of St. -Thomas's Church there. - -"_April 11th, Canterbury._--To Mass in the wretched barn over a stable -wherein a hen, having laid an egg, cackled all through the service. And -this has been our only church since the mission was first begun six -years ago, up till now, in the city of the great English Martyr. But -this state of things comes to an end on Tuesday." - -This opening of St. Thomas's Church was the first public act of Cardinal -Manning as Cardinal, and it went off most successfully. There were rows -of Bishops and Canons and Monsignori and mitred Abbots, and monks and -secular priests, all beautifully disposed in the Sanctuary. The sun -shone nearly the whole time on the Cardinal as he sat on his throne. -After Mass came the luncheon at which much cheering and laughter were -indulged in. Later on Benediction, and a visit to the Cathedral. I -rather winced when a group of men went down on their knees and kissed -the place where the blood of St. Thomas à Becket is supposed to still -stain the flags. The Anglican verger stared and did _not_ understand. - -On Varnishing Day at the Academy I was evidently not enchanted with the -position of my picture. "It is in what is called 'the Black Hole'--the -only dark room, the light of which looks quite blue by contrast with the -golden sun-glow in the others. However, the artists seemed to think it a -most enviable position. The big picture is conspicuous, forming the -centre of the line on that wall. One academician told me that on account -of the rush there would be to see it they felt they must put it there. -This 'Lecture Room' I don't think was originally meant for pictures and -acts on the principle of a lobster pot. You may go round and round the -galleries and never find your way into it! I had the gratification of -being told by R.A. after R.A. that my picture was in some respects an -advance on last year's, and I was much congratulated on having done what -was generally believed more than doubtful--that is, sending any -important picture this year with the load and responsibility of my -'almost overwhelming success,' as they called it, of last year on my -mind. And that I should send such a difficult one, with so much more in -it than the other, they all consider 'very plucky.' I was not very happy -myself, although I know 'Quatre Bras' to be to 'The Roll Call' as a -mountain to a hill. However, it was all very gratifying, and I stayed -there to the end. My picture was crowded, and I could see how it was -being pulled to pieces and unmercifully criticised. I returned to the -studio, where I found a champagne lunch spread and a family gathering -awaiting me, all anxiety as to the position of my _magnum opus_. After -that hilarious meal I sped back to the fascination of Burlington House. -I don't think, though, that Mamma will ever forgive the R.A.'s for the -'Black Hole.' - -"_April 30th._--The private view, to which Papa and I went. It is very -seldom that an 'outsider' gets invited, but they make a pet of me at the -Academy. Again this day contrasted very soberly with the dazzling P.V. -of '74. There were fewer great guns, and I was not torn to pieces to be -introduced here, there, and everywhere, most of the people being the -same as last year, and knowing me already. The same _furore_ cannot be -repeated; the first time, as I said, can never be a second. Papa and I -and lots of others lunched over the way at the Penders' in Arlington -Street, our hosts of last night, and it was all very friendly and nice, -and we returned in a body to the R.A. afterwards. I was surprised, at -the big 'At Home' last night, to find myself a centre again, and people -all so anxious to hear my answers to their questions. Last year I felt -all this more keenly, as it had all the fascination of novelty. This -year just the faintest atom of zest is gone. - -"_May 3rd._--To the Academy on this, the opening day. A dense, surging -multitude before my picture. The whole place was crowded so that before -'Quatre Bras' the jammed people numbered in dozens and the picture was -most completely and satisfactorily rendered invisible. It was chaos, for -there was no policeman, as last year, to make people move one way. They -clashed in front of that canvas and, in struggling to wriggle out, -lunged right against it. Dear little Mamma, who was there nearly all the -time of our visit, told me this, for I could not stay there as, to my -regret, I find I get recognised (I suppose from my latest photos, which -are more like me than the first horror) and the report soon spreads that -I am present. So I wander about in other rooms. I don't know why I feel -so irritated at starers. One can have a little too much popularity. Not -one single thing in this world is without its drawbacks. I see I am in -for minute and severe criticism in the papers, which actually give me -their first notices of the R.A. The _Telegraph_ gives me its entire -article. _The Times_ leads off with me because it says 'Quatre Bras' -will be the picture the public will want to hear about most. It seems to -be discussed from every point of view in a way not usual with battle -pieces. But that is as it should be, for I hope my military pictures -will have moral and artistic qualities not generally thought necessary -to military _genre_. - -"_May 4th._--All of us and friends to the Academy, where we had a -lively lunch, Mamma nearly all the time in 'my crowd,' half delighted -with the success and half terrified at the danger the picture was in -from the eagerness of the curious multitude. I just furtively glanced -between the people, and could only see a head of a soldier at a time. A -nice notion the public must have of the _tout ensemble_ of my -production!" - -I was afloat on the London season again, sometimes with my father, or -with Dr. Pollard. My dear mother did not now go out in the evenings, -being too fatigued from her most regrettable sleeplessness. There was a -dinner or At Home nearly every day, and occasionally a dance or a ball. -At one of the latter my partner informed me that Miss Thompson was to be -there that evening. All this was fun for the time. At a crowded -afternoon At Home at the Campanas', where all the singers from the opera -were herded, and nearly cracked the too-narrow walls of those tiny rooms -by the concussion of the sound issuing from their wonderful throats, I -met Salvini. "Having his 'Otello,' which we saw the other night, fresh -in my mind, I tried to _enthuse_ about it to him, but became so -tongue-tied with nervousness that I could only feebly say _'Quasi, quasi -piangevo!' 'O! non bisogna piangere,'_ poor Salvini kindly answered. To -tell him I nearly cried! To tell the truth, I was much too painfully -impressed by the terrific realism of the murder of Desdemona and of -Othello's suicide to _cry_. I have been told that, when Othello is -chasing Desdemona round the room and finally catches her for the murder, -women in the audience have been known to cry out 'Don't!' And I told him -I _nearly_ cried! Ugh!" - -After this I went to Great Marlow for fresh air with my mother, and -worked up an oil picture of a scout of the 3rd Dragoon Guards whom I saw -at Aldershot, getting the landscape at Marlow. It has since been -engraved. - -By the middle of June I was at work in the studio once more. The -evenings brought their diversions. Under Mrs. Owen Lewis's chaperonage I -went to Lady Petre's At Home one evening, where 600 guests were -assembled "to meet H.E. the Cardinal."[5] I record that "I enjoyed it -very much, though people did nothing but talk at the top of their voices -as they wriggled about in the dense crowd which they helped to swell. -They say it is a characteristic of these Catholic parties that the talk -is so loud, as everybody knows everybody intimately! I met many people I -knew, and my dear chaperon introduced lots of people to me. I had a -longish talk with H.E., who scolded me, half seriously, for not having -come to see him. I was aware of an extra interest in me in those -orthodox rooms, and was much amused at an enthusiastic woman asking, -repeatedly, whether I was there. These fleeting experiences instruct one -as they fly. Now I know what it feels like to be 'the fashion.'" Other -festivities have their record: "I went to a very nice garden party at -the house of the great engineer, Mr. Fowler, where the usual sort of -thing concerning me went on--introductions of 'grateful' people in large -numbers who, most of them, poured out their heartfelt(!) feelings about -me and my work. I can stand a surprising amount of this, and am by no -means _blasée_ yet. Mr. Fowler has a very choice collection of modern -pictures, which I much enjoyed." Again: "The dinner at the Millais' was -nice, but its great attraction was Heilbuth's being there, one of my -greatest admirations as regards his particular line--characteristic -scenes of Roman ecclesiastical life such as I so much enjoyed in Rome. I -told Millais I had had Heilbuth's photograph in my album for years. 'Do -you hear that, Heilbuth?' he shouted. To my disgust he was portioned off -to some one else to go in to dinner, but I had de Nittis, a very clever -Neapolitan artist, and, what with him and Heilbuth and Hallé and Tissot, -we talked more French and Italian than English that evening. Millais was -so genial and cordial, and in seeing me into the carriage he hinted very -broadly that I was soon to have what I 'most _t_'oroughly -deserved'--that is, my election as A.R.A. He pronounced the '_th_' like -that, and with great emphasis. Was that the Jersey touch?" - -In July I saw de Neuville's remarkable "Street Combat," which made a -deep impression on me. I went also to see the field day at Aldershot, a -great success, with splendid weather. After the "battle," Captain Cardew -took us over several camps, and showed us the stables and many things -which interested me greatly and gave me many ideas. The entry for July -17th says: - -"Arranging the composition for my 'Balaclava' in the morning, and at -1.30 came my dear hussar,[6] who has sat on his fiery chestnut for me -already, on a fine bay, for my left-hand horse in the new picture. I -have been leading such a life amongst the jarring accounts of the -Crimean men I have had in my studio to consult. Some contradict each -other flatly. When Col. C. saw my rough charcoal sketch on the wall, he -said _no_ dress caps were worn in that charge, and coolly rubbed them -off, and with a piece of charcoal put mean little forage caps on all the -heads (on the wrong side, too!), and contentedly marched out of the -door. In comes an old 17th Lancer sergeant, and I tell him what has been -done to my cartoon. 'Well, miss,' says he, 'all I can tell you is that -my dress cap went into the charge and my dress cap came out of it!' On -went the dress caps again and up went my spirits, so dashed by Col. C. -To my delight this lancer veteran has kept his very uniform--somewhat -moth-eaten, but the real original, and he will lend it to me. I can get -the splendid headdress of the 17th, the 'Death or Glory Boys,' of that -period at a military tailor's." - -The Lord Mayor's splendid banquet to the Royal Academicians and -distinguished "outsiders" was in many respects a repetition of the last -but with the difference that the assembly was almost entirely composed -of artists. "I went with Papa, and I must say, as my name was shouted -out and we passed through the lane of people to where the Lord Mayor and -Lady Mayoress were standing to receive their guests, I felt a momentary -stroke of nervousness, for people were standing there to see who was -arriving, and every eye was upon me. I was mentioned in three or four -speeches. The Lord Mayor, looking at me, said that he was honoured to -have amongst his guests Miss Thompson (cheers), and Major Knollys -brought in 'The Roll Call' and 'Quatre Bras' amidst clamour, while Sir -Henry Cole's allusion to my possible election as an A.R.A. was equally -well received. I felt very glad as I sat there and heard my present -work cheered; for in that hall, last year, I had still the great ordeal -to go through of painting, and painting successfully, my next picture, -and that was now a _fait accompli_." - -A rainy July sadly hindered me from seeing as much as I had hoped to see -of the Aldershot manoeuvres. On one lovely day, however, Papa and I -went down in the special train with the Prince of Wales, the Duke of -Cambridge, and all the "cocked hats." In our compartment was Lord -Dufferin, who, on hearing my name, asked to be introduced and proved a -most charming companion, and what he said about "Quatre Bras" was nice. -He was only in England on a short furlough from Canada, and did not see -my "Roll Call." - -"At the station at Farnborough the picturesqueness began with the gay -groups of the escort, and other soldiers and general officers, all in -war trim, moving about in the sunshine, while in the background slowly -passed, heavily laden, the Army on the march to the scene of action. -Papa and I and Major Bethune took a carriage and slowly followed the -march, I standing up to see all I could. - -"We were soon overtaken by the brilliant staff, and saluted as it -flashed past by many of its gallant members, including the dashing Baron -de Grancey in his sky blue _Chasseurs d'Afrique_ uniform. Poor Lord -Dufferin in civilian dress--frock coat and tall hat--had to ride a -rough-trotting troop horse, as his own horse never turned up at the -station. A trooper was ordered to dismount, and the elegant Lord -Dufferin took his place in the black sheepskin saddle. He did all with -perfect grace, and I see him now, as he passed our carriage, lift his -hat with a smiling bow, as though he was riding the smoothest of Arabs. -The country was lovely. All the heather out and the fir woods aromatic. -In one village regiments were standing in the streets, others defiling -into woods and all sorts of artillery, ambulance, and engineer waggons -lumbering along with a dull roll very suggestive of real war. At this -village the two Army Corps separated to become enemies, the one -distinguished from the other by the men of one side wearing broad white -bands round their headdresses. This gave the wearers a rather savage -look which I much enjoyed. It made their already brown faces look still -grimmer. Of course, our driver took the wrong road and we saw nothing of -the actual battle, but distant puffs of smoke. However, I saw all the -march back to Aldershot, and really, what with the full ambulances, the -men lying exhausted (_sic_) by the roadside, or limping along, and the -cheers and songs of the dirty, begrimed troops, it was not so unlike -war. At the North Camp Sir Henry de Bathe was introduced, and Papa and I -stood by him as the troops came in." A day or two later I was in the -Long Valley where the most splendid military spectacle was given us, -some 22,000 being paraded in the glorious sunshine and effective cloud -shadows in one of the most striking landscapes I have seen in England. -"It was very instructive to me," I write, "to see the difference in the -appearance of the men to-day from that which they presented on Thursday. -Their very faces seemed different; clean, open and good-looking, whereas -on Thursday I wondered that British soldiers could look as they did. The -infantry in particular, on that day, seemed changed; they looked almost -savage, so distorted were their faces with powder and dirt and deep -lines caused by the glare of the sun. I was well within the limits when -I painted my 28th in square. I suppose it would not have done to be -realistic to the fullest extent. The lunch at the Welsh Fusiliers' mess -in a tent I thought very nice. Papa came down for the day. It is very -good of him. I don't think he approves of my being so much on my own -hook. But things can't help being rather abnormal." - -Here follows another fresh air holiday at my grandparents' at Worthing -(where I rode with my grandfather), finishing up with a visit which I -shall always remember with pleasure--I ought to say gratitude--not only -for its own sake, but for all the enjoyment it obtained for me in Italy. -That August I was a guest of the Higford-Burrs at Aldermaston Court, an -Elizabethan house standing in a big Berkshire park. "I arrived just as -the company were finishing dinner. I was welcomed with open arms. Mrs. -Higford-Burr embraced me, although I have only seen her twice before, -and I was made to sit down at table in my travelling dress, positively -declining to recall dishes, hating a fuss as I do. The dessert was -pleasant because every one made me feel at home, especially Mrs. Janet -Ross, daughter of the Lady Duff Gordon whose writings had made me long -to see the Nile in my childhood. There are five lakes in the Park, and -one part is a heather-covered Common, of which I have made eight oil -sketches on my little panels, so that I have had the pleasure of working -hard and enjoying the society of most delightful people. There were -always other guests at dinner besides the house party, and the average -number who sat down was eighteen. Besides Mrs. Ross were Mr. and Mrs. -Layard, he the Nineveh explorer, and now Ambassador at Madrid, the -Poynters, R.A., the Misses Duff Gordon, and others, in the house. Mrs. -Burr with her great tact allowed me to absent myself between breakfast -and tea, taking my sandwiches and paints with me to the moor." - -Days at Worthing followed, where my mother and I painted all day on the -Downs, I with my "Balaclava" in view, which required a valley and low -hills. My mother's help was of great value, as I had not had much time -to practise landscape up to then. Then came my visit, with Alice, to -Newcastle, where "Quatre Bras" was being exhibited, to be followed by -our visit at Mrs. Ross's Villa near Florence, whither she had invited us -when at Aldermaston, to see the _fêtes_ in honour of Michael Angelo. - -"We left for Newcastle by the 'Flying Scotchman' from King's Cross at 10 -a.m., and had a flying shot at Peterborough and York Cathedrals, and a -fine flying view of Durham. Newcastle impressed us very much as we -thundered over the iron bridge across the Tyne and looked down on the -smoke-shrouded, red-roofed city belching forth black and brown smoke and -jets of white steam in all directions. It rises in fine masses up from -the turbid flood of the dark river, and has a lurid grandeur quite novel -to us. I could not help admiring it, though, as it were, under protest, -for it seems to me something like a sin to obscure the light of Heaven -when it is not necessary. The laws for consuming factory smoke are quite -disregarded here. Mrs. Mawson, representing the firm at whose gallery -'Quatre Bras' is being exhibited, was awaiting our arrival, and was to -be our hostess. We were honoured and fêted in the way of the -warm-hearted North. Nothing could have been more successful than our -visit in its way. These Northerners are most hospitable, and we are -delighted with them. They have quite a _cachet_ of their own, so -cultured and well read on the top of their intense commercialism--far -more responsive in conversation than many society people I know 'down -South.' We had a day at Durham under Mrs. Mawson's wing, visiting that -finest of all English Cathedrals (to my mind), and the Bishop's palace, -etc. We rested at the Dean's, where, of course, I was asked for my -autograph. I already find how interested the people are about here, more -even than in other parts where I have been. Durham is a place I loved -before I saw it. The way that grand mass of Norman architecture rises -abruptly from the woods that slope sheer down to the calm river is a -unique thing. Of course, the smoky atmosphere makes architectural -ornament look shallow by dimming the deep shadows of carvings, etc.--a -great pity. On our return we took another lion _en passant_--my picture -at Newcastle, and most delighted I was to find it so well lighted. I may -say I have never seen it properly before, because it never looked so -well in my studio, and as to the Black Hole----! What people they are up -here for shaking hands! When some one is brought up to me the introducer -puts it in this way: 'Mr. So-and-So wishes very much to have the honour -of shaking hands with you, Miss Thompson.' There is a straight-forward -ring in their speech which I like." - -We were up one morning at 4.30 to be off to Scotland for the day. At -Berwick the rainy weather lifted and we were delighted by the look of -the old Border town on its promontory by the broad and shining Tweed. -Passing over the long bridge, which has such a fine effect spanning the -river, we were pleased to find ourselves in a country new to us. -Edinburgh struck us very much, for we had never quite believed in it, -and thought it was "all the brag of the Scotch," but we were converted. -It is so like a fine old Continental city--nothing reminds one of -England, and yet there is a _Scotchiness_ about it which gives it a -sentiment of its own. Our towns are, as a rule, so poorly situated, but -Edinburgh has the advantage of being built on steep hills and of being -back-grounded by great crags which give it a most majestic look. The -grey colour of the city is fine, and the houses, nearly all gabled and -very tall, are exceedingly picturesque, and none have those vile, black, -wriggling chimney pots which disfigure what sky lines our towns may -have. I was delighted to see so many women with white caps and tartan -shawls and the children barefoot; picturesque horse harness; plenty of -kilted soldiers. - -We did all the lions, including the garrison fortress where the Cameron -Highlanders were, and where Colonel Miller, of Parkhurst memory, came -out, very pleased to speak to me and escort us about. He had the water -colour I gave him of his charger, done at Parkhurst in the old Ventnor -days. Our return to Newcastle was made in glorious sunshine, and we -greedily devoured the peculiarly sweet and remote-looking scenes we -passed through. I shall long remember Newcastle at sunset on that -evening, Then, I will say, the smoke looked grand. They asked me to look -at my picture by gas light. The sixpenny crowd was there, the men -touching their caps as I passed. In the street they formed a lane for me -to pass to the carriage. "What nice people!" I exclaim in the Diary. - -All the morning of our departure I was employed in sitting for my -photograph, looking at productions of local artists and calling on the -Bishop and the Protestant Vicar. One man had carved a chair which was to -be dedicated to me. I was quaintly enthroned on it. All this was done on -our way to the station, where we lunched under dozens of eyes, and on -the platform a crowd was assembled. I read: "Several local dignitaries -were introduced and 'shook hands,' as also the 'Gentlemen of the local -Press.' As I said a few words to each the crowd saw me over the -barriers, which made me get quite hot and I was rather glad when the -train drew up and we could get into our carriage. The farewell -handshakings at the door may be imagined. We left in a cloud of waving -handkerchiefs and hats. I don't know that I respond sufficiently to all -this. Frankly, my picture being made so much of pleases me most -satisfactorily, but the _personal_ part of the tribute makes me -curiously uncomfortable when coming in this way." - -Ruskin wrote a pamphlet on that year's Academy in which he told the -world that he had approached "Quatre Bras" with "iniquitous prejudice" -as being the work of a woman. He had always held that no woman could -paint, and he accounted for my work being what he found it as being that -of an Amazon. I was very pleased to see myself in the character of an -Amazon. - - - - -CHAPTER XI - -TO FLORENCE AND BACK - - -We started on our most delightful journey to Florence early in September -of that year to assist at the Michael Angelo fêtes as the guests of dear -Mrs. Janet Ross and the Marchese della Stufa, who, with Mr. Ross, -inhabited in the summer the delicious old villa of Castagnolo, at Lastra -a Signa, six miles on the Pisan side of my beloved Florence. Of course, -I give page after page in the Diary to our journey across Italy under -the Alps and the Apennines. To the modern motorist it must all sound -slow, though we did travel by rail! Above all the lovely things we saw -on our way by the Turin-Bologna line, I think Parma, rising from the -banks of a shallow river, glowing in sunshine and palpitating jewel-like -shade, holds pride of place for noontide beauty. After Modena came the -deeper loveliness of the afternoon, and then Bologna, mellowed by the -rosy tints of early evening. Then the sunset and then the tender moon. - -By moonlight we crossed the Apennines, and to the sound of the droning -summer beetle--an extraordinarily penetrating sound, which I declared -makes itself heard above the railway noises, we descended into the -Garden of Italy, slowly, under powerful brakes. At ten we reached -Florence, and in the crowd on the platform a tall, distinguished-looking -man bowed to me. "Miss Thompson?" "Yes." It was the Marchese, and lo! -behind him, who should there be but my old master, Bellucci. What a -warm welcome they gave us. Of course, our luggage had stuck at the -_douane_ at Modane, and was telegraphed for. No help for it; we must do -without it for a day or two. We got into the carriage which was awaiting -us, and the Marchese into his little pony trap, and off we went flying -for a mysterious, dream-like drive in misty moonlight, we in front and -our host behind, jingle-jingling merrily with the pleasant monotony of -his lion-maned little pony's canter. We could not believe the drive was -a real one. It was too much joy to be at Florence--too good to be true. -But how tired we were! - -At last we drove up to the great towered villa, an old-fashioned -Florentine ancestral place, which has been the home of the Della Stufas -for generations, and there, in the great doorway, stood Mrs. Ross, -welcoming us most cordially to "Castagnolo." We passed through frescoed -rooms and passages, dimly lighted with oil lamps of genuine old Tuscan -patterns, and were delighted with our bedrooms--enormous, brick-paved -and airy. There we made a show of tidying ourselves, and went down to a -fruit-decked supper, though hardly able to sit up for sleep. How kind -they were to us! We felt quite at home at once. - -"_September 12th._--After Mass at the picturesque little chapel which, -with the _vicario's_ dwelling, abuts on the _fattoria_ wing of the -villa, we drove into Florence with Mrs. Ross and the Marchese, whom we -find the typical Italian patrician of the high school. We were rigged -out in Mrs. Ross's frocks, which didn't fit us at all. But what was to -be done? Provoking girls! It was a dear, hot, dusty, dazzling old -Florentine drive, bless it! and we were very pleased. Florence was _en -fête_ and all _imbandierata_ and hung with the usual coloured draperies, -and all joyous with church bells and military bands. The concert in -honour of Michael Angelo (the fêtes began to-day) was held in the -Palazzo Vecchio, and very excellent music they gave us, the audience -bursting out in applause before some of the best pieces were quite -finished in that refreshingly spontaneous way Italians have. After the -concert we loitered about the piazza looking at the ever-moving and -chattering crowd in the deep, transparent shade and dazzling sunshine. -It was a glorious sight, with the white statues of the fountain rising -into the sunlight against houses hung mostly with very beautiful yellow -draperies. I stood at the top of the steps of the Loggia de' Lanzi, and, -resting my book on the pedestal of one of the lions, I made a rough -sketch of the scene, keeping the _Graphic_ engagement in view. I -subsequently took another of the Michael Angelo procession passing the -Ponte alle Grazie on its way from Santa Croce to the new 'Piazzale -Michel Angelo,' which they have made since we were here before, on the -height of San Miniato. It was a pretty procession on account of the rich -banners. A day full of charming sights and melodious sounds." - -The great doings of the last day of the fêtes were the illuminations in -the moonlit evening. They were artistically done, and we had a feast of -them, taking a long, slow drive to the piazzale by the new zigzag. -Michael Angelo was remembered at every turn, and the places he fortified -were especially marked out by lovely lights, all more or less soft and -glowing. Not a vile gas jet to be seen anywhere. The city was not -illuminated, nor was anything, with few exceptions, save the lines of -the great man's fortifications. The old white banner of Florence, with -the _Giglio_, floated above the tricolour on the heights which Michael -Angelo defended in person. The effect, especially on the church of San -Miniato, of golden lamps making all the surfaces aglow, as if the walls -were transparent, and of the green-blue moonlight above, was a thing as -lovely as can be seen on this earth. It was a thoroughly Italian -festival. We were charmed with the people; no pushing in the crowds, -which enjoyed themselves very much. They made way for us when they saw -we were foreigners. - -We stayed at Castagnolo nearly all through the vintage, pressed from one -week to another to linger, though I made many attempts to go on account -of beginning my "Balaclava." The fascination of Castagnolo was intense, -and we had certainly a happy experience. I sketched hard every day in -the garden, the vineyards, and the old courtyard where the most -picturesque vintage incidents occurred, with the white oxen, the wine -pressing, and the bare-legged, merry _contadini_, all in an atmosphere -scented with the fermenting grapes. Everything in the _Cortile_ was dyed -with the wine in the making. I loved to lean over the great vats and -inhale that wholesome effluence, listening to the low sea-like murmur of -the fermentation. On the days when we helped to pick the grapes on the -hillside (and "helping ourselves" at the same time) we had _collazione_ -there, a little picnic, with the indispensable guitar and post-prandial -cigarette. Every one made the most of this blessed time, as such moments -should be made the most of when they are given us, I think. Young -Italians often dined at the villa, and the evenings were spent in -singing _stornelli_ and _rispetti_ until midnight to the guitar, -every one of these young fellows having a nice voice. They were merry, -pleasant creatures. - -[Illustration: ONE OF THE BALAKLAVA SIX-HUNDRED.] - -Nothing but the stern necessity of returning to work could have kept me -from seeing the vintage out. We left most regretfully on October 4th, -taking Genoa and our dear step-sister on the way. Even as it was our -lingering in Italy made me too late, as things turned out, for the -Academy! - -October 19th has this entry: "Began my 'Balaclava' cartoon to-day. -Marked all the positions of the men and horses. My trip to Italy and the -glorious and happy and healthy life I have led there, and the utter -change of scene and occupation, have done me priceless good, and at last -I feel like going at this picture _con amore_. I was in hopes this happy -result would be obtained." "Balaclava" was painted for Mr. Whitehead, of -Manchester. I had owed him a picture from the time I exhibited -"Missing." It was to be the same size, and for the same price as that -work, and I was in honour bound to fulfil my contract! So I again -brought forward the "Dawn of Sedan," although my prices were now so -enlarged that £80 had become quite out of proportion, even for a simple -subject like that. However, after long parleys, and on account of Mr. -Whitehead's repudiation of the Sedan subject, it was agreed that -"Balaclava" should be his, at the new scale altogether. The Fine Art -Society (late Dickenson & Co.) gave Mr. Whitehead £3,000 for the -copyright, and engaged the great Stacpoole, as before, to execute the -engraving. - -I was very sorry that the picture was not ready for Sending-in Day at -the Academy. No doubt the fuss that was made about it, and my having -begun a month too late, put me off; but, be that as it may, I was a -good deal disturbed towards the end, and had to exhibit "Balaclava" at -the private gallery of the purchasers of the copyright in Bond Street. -This gave me more time to finish. I had my own Private View on April -20th, 1876: "The picture is disappointing to me. In vain I call to mind -all the things that judges of art have said about this being the best -thing I have yet painted. Can one _never_ be happy when the work is -done? This day was only for our friends and was no test. Still, there -was what may be called a sensation. Virginia Gabriel, the composer, was -led out of the room by her husband in tears! One officer who had been -through the charge told a friend he would never have come if he had -known how like the real thing it was. Curiously enough, another said -that after the stress of Inkermann a soldier had come up to his horse -and leant his face against it exactly as I have the man doing to the -left of my picture. - -"_April 22nd._--An enormous number of people at the Society's Private -View and some of the morning papers blossoming out in the most beautiful -notices, ever so long, and I getting a little reassured." A day later: -"Went to lunch at Mrs. Mitchell's, who invited me at the Private View, -next door to Lady Raglan's, her great friend. Two distinguished officers -were there to meet me, and we had a pleasant chat." And this is all I -say! One of the two was Major W. F. Butler, author of "The Great Lone -Land." - -The London season went by full of society doings. Our mother had long -been "At Home" on Wednesdays, and much good music was heard at "The -Boltons," South Kensington. Ruskin came to see us there. He and our -mother were often of the same way of thinking on many subjects, and I -remember seeing him gently clapping his hands at many points she made. -He was displeased with me on one occasion when, on his asking me which -of the Italian masters I had especially studied, I named Andrea del -Sarto. "Come into the corner and let me scold you," were his -disconcerting words. Why? Of course, I was crestfallen, but, all the -same, I wondered what could be the matter with Andrea's "Cenacolo" at -San Salvi, or his frescoes at the SS. Annunziata, or his "Madonna with -St. Francis and St. John," in the Tribune of the Uffizi. The figure of -the St. John is, to me, one of the most adorable things in art. That -gentle, manly face; that dignified pose; the exquisite modelling of the -hand, and the harmonious colours of the drapery--what _could_ be the -matter with such work? I remember, at one of the artistic London "At -Homes," Frith, R.A., coming up to me with a long face to say, if I did -not send to the Academy, I should lose my chance of election. But I -think the difficulties of electing a woman were great, and much -discussion must have been the consequence amongst the R.A.'s. However, -as it turned out, in 1879 I lost my election by _two_ votes only! Since -then I think the door has been closed, and wisely. I returned to the -studio on May 18th, for I could not lay down the brush for any amount of -society doings. Besides, I soon had to make preparations for -"Inkermann." - -"_Saturday, June 10th._--Saw Genl. Darby-Griffith, to get information -about Inkermann. I returned just in time to dress for the delightful -Lord Mayor's Banquet to the Representatives of Art at the Mansion -House, a place of delightful recollections for me. Neither this year's -nor last year's banquet quite came up to the one of 'The Roll Call' year -in point of numbers and excitement, but it was most delightful and -interesting to be in that great gathering of artists and hear oneself -gracefully alluded to in The Lord Mayor's speech and others. Marcus -Stone sat on my left, and we had really a thoroughly good conversation -all through dinner such as I have seldom embarked on, and I found, when -I tried it, that I could talk pretty well. He is a fine fellow, and -simple-minded and genuine. My _vis-à-vis_ was Alma Tadema, with his -remarkable-looking wife, like a lady out of one of his own pictures; and -many well-known heads wagged all around me. After dinner and the -speeches, Du Maurier, of _Punch_, suggested to the Lord Mayor that we -should get up a quadrille, which was instantly done, and the friskier -spirits amongst us had a nice dance. Du Maurier was my partner; and on -my left I had John Tenniel, so that I may be said to have been supported -by Punch both at the beginning and end of dinner, this being Du -Maurier's simple and obvious joke, _vide_ the post-turtle indulgence -peculiar to civic banquets. After a waltz we laggards at last took our -departure in the best spirits." - -I remember that in June we went to a most memorable High Mass, to wit, -the first to be celebrated in the Old Saxon Church of St. Etheldreda -since the days of the Reformation. This church was the second place of -Christian worship erected in London, if not in England, in the old Saxon -times. We were much impressed as the Gregorian Mass sounded once more in -the grey-stoned crypt. The upper church was not to be ready for years. -Those old grey stones woke up that morning which had so long been -smothered in the London clay. - -Here follow too many descriptions in the Diary of dances, dinners and -other functions. They are superfluous. There were, however, some -_Tableaux Vivants_ at an interesting house--Mrs. Bishop's, a very -intellectual woman, much appreciated in society in general, and Catholic -society in particular--which may be recorded in this very personal -narrative, for I had a funny hand in a single-figure tableau which -showed the dazed 11th Hussar who figures in the foreground of my -"Balaclava." The man who stood for him in the tableau had been my model -for the picture, but to this day I feel the irritation caused me by that -man. In the picture I have him with his busby pushed back, as it -certainly would and should have been, off his heated brow. But, while I -was posing him for the tableau, every time I looked away he rammed it -down at the becoming "smart" angle. I got quite cross, and insisted on -the necessary push back. The wretch pretended to obey, but, just before -the curtain rose, rammed the busby down again, and utterly destroyed the -meaning of that figure! We didn't want a representation of Mr. So-and-so -in the becoming uniform of a hussar, but my battered trooper. The thing -fell very flat. But tableaux, to my mind, are a mistake, in many ways. - -I often mention my pleasure in meeting Lord and Lady Denbigh, for they -were people after my own heart. Lady Denbigh was one of those women one -always looks at with a smile; she was so _simpatica_ and true and -unworldly. - -July 18th is noted as "a memorable day for Alice, for she and I spent -the afternoon at _Tennyson's_! I say 'for Alice' because, as regards -myself, the event was not so delightful as a day at Aldershot. Tennyson -has indeed managed to shut himself off from the haunts of men, for, -arrived at Haslemere, a primitive little village, we had a six-mile -drive up, up, over a wild moor and through three gates leading to -narrow, rutty lanes before we dipped down to the big Gothic, lonely -house overlooking a vast plain, with Leith Hill in the distance. -Tennyson had invited us through Aubrey de Vere, the poet, and very -apprehensive we were, and nervous, as we neared the abode of a man -reported to be such a bear to strangers. We first saw Mrs. Tennyson, a -gentle, invalid lady lying on her back on a sofa. After some time the -poet sent down word to ask us to come up to his sanctum, where he -received us with a rather hard stare, his clay pipe and long, black, -straggling hair being quite what I expected. He got up with a little -difficulty, and when we had sat down--he, we two and his most -deferential son--he asked which was the painter and which was the poet. -After our answer, which struck me as funny, as though we ought to have -said, with a bob, 'Please, sir, I'm the painter,' and 'Please, sir, I'm -the poet,' he made a few commonplace remarks about my pictures in a most -sepulchral bass voice. But he and Alice, in whom he was more interested, -naturally, did most of the talking; there was not much of that, though, -for he evidently prefers to answer a remark by a long look, and perhaps -a slightly sneering smile, and then an averted head. All this is not -awe-inspiring, and looks rather put on. We ceased to be frightened. - -"There is no grandeur about Tennyson, no melancholy abstraction; and, if -I had made a demi-god of him, his personality would have much -disappointed me. Some of his poetry is so truly great that his manner -seems below it. The pauses in the conversation were long and frequent, -and he did not always seem to take in the meaning of a remark, so that I -was relieved when, after a good deal of staring and smiling at Alice in -a way rather trying to the patience, he acceded to her request and read -us 'The Passing of Arthur.' He was so long in finding the place, when -his son at last found him a copy of the book which suited him, and the -tone he read in so deep and monotonous, that I was much bored and longed -for the hour of our departure. He was vexed with Alice for choosing that -poem, which he seemed to think less of than of his later works, and he -took the poor child to task in a few words meant to be caustic, though -they made us smile. But the ice was melting. He seemed amused at us and -we gratefully began to laugh at some quaint phrases he levelled at us. -Then he dropped the awe-inspiring tone, and took us all over the grounds -and gave us each a rose. He pitched into us for our dresses which were -too fashionable and tight to please him. He pinned Alice against a -pillar of the entrance to the house on our re-entry from the garden to -watch my back as I walked on with his son, pointing the _walking-stick_ -of scorn at my skirt, the trimming of which particularly roused his ire. -Altogether I felt a great relief when we said goodbye to our curious -host with whom it was so difficult to carry on conversation, and to know -whether he liked us or not. Away, over the windy, twilight heath behind -the little ponies--away, away!" - -At the beginning of August I began my studies for "The Return from -Inkermann." The foreground I got at Worthing; and I had another visit -to Aldershot and many further conversations with Inkermann -survivors--officers of distinction. I am bound to say that these often -contradicted each other, and the rough sketches I made after each -interview had to be re-arranged over and over again. I read Dr. -Russell's account (_The Times_ correspondent) and sometimes I returned -to my own conception, finding it on the whole the most likely to be -true. - -I laugh even now at the recollection of two elderly _sabreurs_, one of -them a General in the Indian Army, who had a hot discussion in my -studio, _â propos_ of my "Balaclava," about the best use of the sabre. -The Indian, who was for slashing, twirled his umbrella so briskly, to -illustrate his own theory, that I feared for the picture which stood -close by his sword arm. The opposition umbrella illustrated "the point" -theory. - -Having finally clearly fixed the whole composition of "Inkermann," in -sepia on tinted paper the size of the future picture I closed the studio -on August 25th and turned my face once more to Italy. - - - - -CHAPTER XII - -AGAIN IN ITALY - - -My sister and I tarried at Genoa on our way to Castagnolo where we were -to have again the joys of a Tuscan vintage. But between Genoa and -Florence lay our well-loved Porto Fino and, having an invitation from -our old friend Monty Brown, the English Consul and his young wife, to -stay at their castello there, we spent a week at that Eden. We were -alone for part of the time and thoroughly relished the situation, with -only old Caterina, the cook, and the dog, "Bismarck," as company. Two -Marianas in a moated grange, with a difference. "He" came not, and so -allowed us to clasp to our hearts our chief delights--the sky, the sea, -the olives and the joyous vines. In those early days many of the deep -windows had no glass, and one night, when a staggering Mediterranean -thunderstorm crashed down upon us, we really didn't like it and hid the -knives under the table at dinner. Caterina was saying her Rosary very -loud in the kitchen. As we went up the winding stairs to bed I carried -the lamp, and was full of talk, when a gust of wind blew the lamp out, -and Alice laughed at my complete silence, more eloquent than any words -of alarm. We had every evening to expel curious specimens of the lizard -tribe that had come in, and turn over our pillows, remembering the -habits of the scorpion. - -But that storm was the only one, and as to the sea, which three-parts -enveloped our little Promontory, its blue utterly baffled my poor -paints. But paint I did, on those little panels that we owe to Fortuny, -so nicely fitting into the box he invented. There was a little cape, -crowned with a shrine to Our Lady--"the Madonnetta" it was called--where -I used to go daily to inhale the ozone off the sea which thundered down -below amongst the brown "pudding-stone" rocks, at the base of a sheer -precipice. The "sounding deep." Oh, the freshness, the health, the joy -of that haunt of mine! Our walks were perilous sometimes, the paths -which almost overhung the deep foaming sea being slippery with the -sheddings of the pines. At the "nasty bits" we had to hold on by shrubs -and twigs, and haul ourselves along by these always aromatic supports. - -Admirable is the industry of the peasants all over Italy. Here on the -extreme point of Porto Fino wherever there was a tiny "pocket" of clay, -a cabbage or two or a vine with its black clusters of grapes toppling -over the abyss found foot-hold. We came one day upon a pretty girl on -the very verge of destruction, "holding on by her eyelids," gathering -figs with a hooked stick, a demure pussy keeping her company by dozing -calmly on a branch of the fig tree. The walls built to support these -handfuls of clay on the face of the rock are a puzzle to me. Where did -the men stand to build them? It makes me giddy to think of it. - -Paragi, the lovely rival of Monty's robber stronghold, belonged to his -brother, and a fairer thing I never saw than Fred's loggia with the -slender white marble columns, between which one saw the coast trending -away to La Spezzia. But "goodbye," Porto Fino! On our way to -Castagnolo, at lovely Lastre a Signa, we paused at Pisa for a night. - -"Pisa is a _bald Florence_, if I may say so; beautiful, but so empty and -lifeless. There are houses there quite peculiar, however, to Pisa, most -interesting for their local style. Very broad in effect are those flat -blank surfaces without mouldings. The frescoes on them, alas! are now -merely very beautiful blotches and stains of colour. We had ample time -for a good survey of the Duomo, Baptistery, Camposanto and Leaning -Tower, all vividly remembered from when I saw them as a little child. -But I get very tired by sight-seeing and don't enjoy it much. What I -like is to sit by the hour in a place, sketching or meditating. Besides, -I had been kept nearly all night awake at the Albergo Minerva by railway -whistles, ducks, parrots, cats, dogs, cocks and hens, so that I was only -at half power and I slept most of the way to Signa. - -"At the station a carriage fitted, for the heat, with cool-looking brown -holland curtains was awaiting us on the chance of our coming, and we -were soon greeted at dear Castagnolo by Mrs. Ross. Very good of her to -show so much happy welcome seeing we had been expected the evening -before, not to say for many days, and only our luggage had turned up! -The Marchese, who had to go into Florence this morning for the day, had -gone down to meet us last evening, and returned with the disconcerting -announcement that, whereas we had arrived last year without our luggage, -this year the luggage had arrived without us. '_I bauli sono giunti ma -le bambine--Chè!_'" - -Here follows the record of the same delights as those of the year -before. We had been long expected, and Mrs. Ross told me that the -peaches had been kept back for us in a most tantalising way by the -_padrone_, and that everything was threatening over-ripeness by our -delay. The light-hearted life was in full force. There were great -numbers of doves and pigeons at Castagnolo which shared in the general -hilarity, swirling in the sunshine and swooping down on the grain -scattered for them with little cries of pleasure. I don't know whether I -should find a socialistic blight appearing here and there, if I returned -to those haunts of my youth, over that patriarchal life, but it seemed -to me that the relations between the _padrone_ and his splendid -_contadini_ showed how suitable the system obtaining in Tuscany was -then. The labourers were the _fanciulli_ (the children) of the master, -and without the least approach to servility these men stood up to him in -all the pride of their own station. But what deference they showed to -him! Always the uncovered head and the respectful and dignified attitude -when spoken to or speaking. I mustn't forget the frank smile and the -pleasant white teeth. It was a smiling life; every one caught the -smiling habit. Oh, that we could keep it up through a London winter! And -to a London winter we returned, for my friends in England were getting -fidgety about "Inkermann." One more extract, however, from the -Castagnolo Diary must find a place before the veil is drawn. The -Marchese took us to Siena for two days. - -"_September 29th._--We got up by candlelight at 5 a.m. and had a fresh -drive in the phaeton to the station, whence we took train to the -fascinating Etruscan city, whose very name is magic. The weather, as a -matter of course, was splendid, and Siena dwells in my mind all tender -brown-gold in a flood of sunshine. Small as the city is, and hard as we -worked for those two days, we could only see a portion of its treasures. -The result of my observation in the churches and picture galleries shows -me that the art there, as regards painting, is very inferior; and, -indeed, after Florence, with its most exquisite examples of painting and -drawing, these works of art are not taking. I suppose Florence has -spoilt me. Here and there one picks out a plum, such as the 'Svenimento -of St. Catherine' in San Domenico, by Sodoma, the only thing by him that -I could look at with pleasure; also, of course, the famous Perugino in -Sant' Agostino, which I beheld with delight, and a lovely gem of a Holy -Family by Palma Vecchio in the Academy--such a jewel of Venetian colour. - -"The frescoes, however, in the sacristy of the cathedral are things -apart, and such as I have never seen anywhere else, for the very dry air -of Siena has preserved them since Pinturicchio's time quite intact, and -there one sees, as one can see nowhere else, ancient frescoes as they -were when freshly painted. And very different they are from one's -notions of old frescoes; certainly not so pleasing if looked at as bits -of colour staining old walls in mellow broken tints, but intensely -interesting and beautiful as pictures. Here one sees what frescoes were -meant to be: deep in colour, exceedingly forcible, with positive -illusion in linear and aërial perspective, the latter being most -unexpected and surprising. One's usual notion of frescoes is that they -must be flat and airless, and modern artists who go in for fresco -decorative art paint accordingly, judging from the faded examples of -what were once evidently such as one sees here--forcible pictures. - -"Certainly these wall spaces, looking like apertures through which one -sees crowds of figures and gorgeous halls or airy landscapes, do not -please the eye when looking at the room _as_ a room. One would prefer to -feel the solidity of the walls; but taking each fresco and looking at it -for its own sake only, one feels the keenest pleasure. They are -magnificent pictures, full of individual character and realistic action, -unsurpassable by any modern. - -"I cannot attempt to put into words my impression of the cathedral -itself. Certainly, I never felt the beauty of a church more. It being -St. Michael's Day, we heard Mass in the midst of our wanderings, and we -were much struck by the devotion of the people, the men especially--very -unlike what we saw in Genoa. In the afternoon we had a glorious drive -through a perfect pre-Raphaelite landscape to Belcaro, a fortress-villa -about six miles outside Siena, every turn in the road giving us a new -aspect of the golden-brown city behind us on its steep hill. Perhaps the -most beautiful view of Siena is from near Belcaro, where you get the -dark pine trees in the immediate foreground. The owner of the villa took -us all over it, the Marchese gushing outrageously to him about the -beauties of the dreadful frescoes on walls and ceilings, painted by the -man himself. We had been warned, Alice and I, to express our admiration, -but I regret to say we had our hearts so scooped out of us on seeing -those things in the midst of such true loveliness that we couldn't say a -thing, but only murmured. So the poor Marchese had to do -triple-distilled gush to serve for three, and said everything was -'_portentoso_.' - -"In the evening we all three went out again and, in the bright -moonlight, strolled about the streets, the piazza, and round the -cathedral, which shone in the full light which fell upon it. The deep -sky was throbbing with stars, and all the essence of an Italian -September moonlight night was there. Oh, sweet, restful Siena dream! -Like a dream, and yet such a precious reality, to be gratefully kept in -memory to the end." - -Back at Castagnolo on October 1st. "Went for my _solita passeggiata_ up -to the hill of lavender and dwarf oak and other mountain shrubs, where I -made a study of an oak bush on the only wet day we have had, for my -'Inkermann' foreground. Mrs. Ross, a fearless rider, went on with the -breaking in of the Arab colt 'Pascià' to-day. Old Maso, one of the -_habitués_ of the villa, whooped and screamed every time the colt bucked -or reared, and he waddled away as fast as he could, groaning in terror, -only to creep back again to venture another look. And he had been an -officer in the army! I have secured some water-colour sketches of the -vintage for the 'Institute' and knocked off another panel or two, and -sketched Mrs. Ross in her Turkish dress, so I have not been idle." Janet -Ross seemed to have assimilated the sunshine of Egypt and Italy into her -buoyant nature, and to see the vigour with which she conducted the -vintage at Castagnolo acted as a tonic on us all; so did the deep -contralto voice and the guitar, and the racy talk. - -We left on October 14th, on a golden day, with the thermometer at 90 -degrees in the shade, to return to the icy smoke-twilight of London, -where we groped, as the Diary says, in sealskins and ulsters. Castagnolo -has our thanks. How could we have had the fulness of Italian delights -which our kind hosts afforded us in some pension or hotel in Florence? -And what hospitality theirs was! We tried to sing some of the -"_Stornelli_" in the hansom that took us home from Victoria Station. One -of our favourites, "_M'affaccio alla finestra e vedo Stelle_," had to be -modified, as we looked through the glass of the cab, into "_Ma non vedo -Stelle_," sung in the minor, for nothing but the murk of a foggy night -was there. What but the stern necessity of beginning "Inkermann" could -have brought me back? My dear sister cannot have rejoiced, and may have -wished to tarry, but when did she ever "put a spoke in my wheel"? - - - - -CHAPTER XIII - -A SOLDIER'S WIFE - - -Though the London winter was gloomy, on the whole, and I was handicapped -in the middle of my work by a cold which retarded the picture so much -that, to my deep disappointment, I had again to miss the Academy, the -brightest spring of my life followed, for on March 3rd I was engaged to -be married to the author of "The Great Lone Land." It may not be out of -place to give a little sketch of our rather romantic meeting. - -When the newly-promoted Major Butler was lying at Netley Hospital, just -beginning to recover from the Ashanti fever that had nearly killed him -at the close of that campaign, his sister Frances used to read to him -the papers, and they thus learnt together how, at the Royal Academy -banquet of that spring, the Prince of Wales and the Duke of Cambridge -had spoken as they did of Miss Elizabeth Thompson. As paper after paper -spoke of me and of my work, he said one day to his sister, in utter fun -under his slowly reviving spirits, "I wonder if Miss Thompson would -marry me?" Two years after that he met me for the first time, and yet -another year was to go by before the Fates said "Now!" - -When "Inkermann" was carted off to Bond Street on April 19th, what a -relief and delight it was to tell the model "Time is up." "Mamma and I -danced about the studio when the picture was gone, revelling in our -freedom to make as much dust as we liked, when hitherto one had had to -be so careful about dust." We always did this on such occasions. - -The Fine Art Society, at whose galleries in Bond Street the picture was -exhibited, bought it and the copyright together. No doubt for some the -subject of this work is too sad, but my dominant feeling in painting it -was that which Wellington gave expression to in those memorable words on -leaving the field of battle at Waterloo: "There is nothing sadder than a -victory, except a defeat." It shows the remnants of the Guards and the -20th Regiment and odds and ends of infantry returning in the grey of a -November evening from the "Soldiers' Battle," most of the men very -weary. The A.D.C. on horseback I painted from a fine young soldier, -Rupert Carrington, who kindly gave me a sitting. His mother, Lady -Carrington, sent me as a wedding present a medal taken from a dead -Russian on the field of Inkermann, set in a gold bracelet, which is one -of my treasures, her name and mine engraved on it. - -"_April 20th_.--The first Private View of 'Inkermann.' I was there a -short time, and was quite happy at the look of my picture. The other -three are in the same gallery, and very popular the whole exhibition -seems to be. They have even got my 1873 venture, 'Missing,' by itself -upstairs, and remarkably well it looks, too. The crowd was dense and I -left the good people wriggling in a cloud of dust." - -June 11th of that year, 1877, was my wedding day. Cardinal Manning -married us in the Church of the Servite Fathers; our guests were chiefly -that gallant group of soldiers who, with my husband, had won the Ashanti -War, Sir Garnet Wolseley, Redvers Buller and their comrades. My "Red -Cross" fellow students of old South Kensington days gave me the very -touching surprise of strewing our path down the church, as we came out, -with flowers. I had not known they were there. - -And now a new country opened out for my admiration and delight in days -so long before the dreadful cloud had fallen on it under which I am now -writing these Recollections--so long, so long before. It looks like -another world to me now. One might say I had had already a sufficiently -large share of the earth's beauties to enjoy, yet here opened out an -utterly new and unique experience--Ireland. Our wedding tour was chiefly -devoted to the Wild West, with a pause at Glencar, in Kerry. I have -tried in happier political times to convey to my readers in another -place[7] my impression of that Western country--its freshness, its wild -beauty, its entrancing poetry, and that sadness which, like the minor -key in music, is the most appealing quality in poetry. That note is -utterly absent from the poetry of Italy; there all is in the major, like -its national music, so that my mind received, with strange delight, a -new sensation, surprising, heart-stirring, appealing. My husband had -given me the choice of a _local_ for the wedding tour between Ireland -and the Crimea. How could I hesitate? - -My first married picture was the one I made studies for in -Glencar--"'Listed for the Connaught Rangers." I had splendid models for -the two Irish recruits who are being marched out of the glen by a -recruiting sergeant, followed by the "decoy" private and two drummer -boys of that regiment, the old 88th, with the yellow facings of that -time. The men were cousins, Foley by name, and wore their national -dress, the jacket with the long, white homespun sleeves and the -picturesque black hat which I fear is little worn now, and is largely -replaced by that quite cosmopolitan peaked cap I loathe. The deep -richness of those typical Irish days of cloud and sunshine had so -enchanted me that I was determined to try and represent the effect in -this picture, which was a departure from my former ones, the landscape -occupying an equal share with the figures, and the civilian peasant -dress forming the centre of interest. Its black, white and brown -colouring, the four red coats and the bright brass of the drum, gave me -an enjoyable combination with the blue and red-purple of the mountains -in the background, and the sunlight on the middle distance of the stony -Kerry bog-land. Here was that variety as to local colour denied me in -the other works. It was a joy to realise this subject. The picture was -for Mr. Whitehead, the owner of "Balaclava." - -The opening day of my introduction to the Wild West was on a Sunday in -that June: "From Limerick Junction to Glencar. I had my first experience -of an Irish Mass, and my impression is deepening every day that Ireland -is as much a foreign country to England as is France or Italy. The -congregation was all new to me. The peasant element had quite a _cachet_ -of its own, though in a way an exact equivalent to the Tuscan--the -rough-looking men in homespun coats in a crowd inside and outside of the -church, the women in national dress; the constabulary, equivalent to the -_gendarmes_, in full dress, mixing with the people and yet not of them. -This Limerick Junction was the nucleus of the Fenian nebula. In this -terrible Tipperary the stalwart constabulary, whom I greatly admire, -have a grave significance. I have never seen finer men than those, and -they are of a type new to me. How I enjoy new types, new countries, new -customs! The girls, looking so nice in their Bruges-like hoods, are very -fresh and comely. - -"We left at noon for the goal of our expedition, and I think I may say -that I never had a more memorable little journey. The distant mountains -I had looked at in the morning took clearer forms and colours by -degrees, and the charm of the Irish bogs with their rich black and -purple peat-earth, and bright, reedy grass, and teeming wild flowers, -developed themselves to my delighted eyes as the train whirled us -southwards. At Killarney we took a carriage and set off on my favourite -mode of travel, soon entering upon tracts of that wild nature I was most -anxious to experience. The evening was deepening, and in its solemn -tones I saw for the first time the Wild West Land, whose aspect -gradually grew wilder and more strange as we neared the mysterious -mountains that rose ahead of us. I was content. I was beginning to taste -the salt of the Wilds. What human habitations there are are so like the -stone heaps that lie over the face of the land that they are scarcely -distinguishable from them; but my 'contentment' was much dashed by the -sight of the dwellers in this poor land which yields them so little. -Very strange, wild figures came to the black doors to watch us pass, -with, in some cases, half-witted looks. - -"The mighty 'Carran Thual,' one of the mountain group which rises out of -Glencar and dominates the whole land of Kerry, was on fire with blazing -heather, its peaks sending up a glorious column of smoke which spread -out at the top for miles and miles, and changed its delicate smoke tints -every minute as the sun sank lower. As we reached the rocky pass that -took us by the remote Lough Acoose that sun had gone down behind an -opposite mountain, and the blazing heather glowed brighter as the -twilight deepened, and circles of fire played weirdly on the mountain -side. Our glen gave the 'Saxon bride' its grandest illumination on her -arrival. Wild, strange birds rose from the bracken as we passed, and -flew strongly away over lake and mountain torrent, and the little black -Kerry cattle all watched us go by with ears pricked and heads -inquiringly raised. The last stage of the journey had a brilliant -_finale_. A herd of young horses was in our way in the narrow road, and -the creatures careered before us, unable or too stupid to turn aside -into the ditches by the roadside to let us through. We could not head -them, and for fully a mile did those shaggy, wild things caper and jump -ahead, their manes flying out wildly, with the glow from the west -shining through them. Some imbecile cows soon joined them in the -stampede, for no imaginable reason, unless they enjoyed the fright of -being pursued, and the ungainly progress of those recruits was a sight -to behold--tails in the air and horns in the dust. With this escort we -entered Glencar." - -Nothing that I have seen in my travels since that golden time has in the -least dimmed my recollections of that Glencar existence; nor could -anything jar against a thing so unique. I have fully recorded in my -former book how we made different excursions, always on ponies, every -day, not returning till the evening. What impressed me most during these -rides was the depth and richness of the Irish landscape colouring. The -moisture of the ocean air brings out all its glossy depth. Even without -the help of actual sunshine, so essential to the landscape beauty of -Italy, the local colour is powerful. In describing to me the same deep -colouring in Scotland Millais used the simile of the wet pebble. Take a -grey, dry pebble on the seashore and dip it in the water. It will show -many lovely tints. Our inn was in the centre of the glen, delightfully -rough, and impregnated with that scent of turf smoke which has ever -since been to me the subtlest and most touching reminder of those days. -Yet with that roughness there was in the primitive little inn a very -pleasant provision of such sustenance as old campaigners and fishermen -know how to establish in the haunts they visit. - -The coast of Clare came next in our journey, where the Atlantic hurls -itself full tilt at the iron cliffs, and the west wind, which I learnt -to love, comes, without once touching land since it left the coast of -Labrador, to fill one with a sense of salt and freshness and health as -it rushes into one's lungs from off the foam. I was interested in making -comparisons between that sea and the other "sounding deep" that washes -the rocks of Porto Fino as I looked down on the thundering waves below -the cliffs of Moher. Here was the simplest and severest colouring--dark -green, almost amounting to black; light green, cold and pure; foam so -pure that its whiteness had over it a rosy tinge, merely by contrast -with the green of the waves, and that was all; whereas the sea around -Porto Fino baffles both painter and word-painter with its infinite -variety of blues, purples, and greens. These are contrasts that I -delight in. How the west wind rushed at us, full of spray! How the ocean -roared! It was a revel of wind where we stood at the very edge of those -sheer cliffs. Across their black faces sea birds incessantly circled and -wheeled, crying with a shrill clamour. That and the booming of the waves -many fathoms below, as they leap into the immense caverns, were the only -sounds that pierced the wind. The black rocks had ledges of greyer rock, -and along these ledges, tier above tier, sat myriads of white-headed -gulls, their white heads looking like illumination lamps on the faces of -titanic buildings. The Isles of Arran and the mountains of Connemara -spread out before us on the ocean, which sparkled in one place with the -gold beams of the faint, spray-shrouded sun. - -Then good-bye to Erin for the present on July 15th and the establishment -of ourselves in London till our return to the Land that held a magnet -for us on September 21st. There we paid a visit to the Knight of Kerry, -at Valentia Island. What a delightful home! The size of the fuchsia -trees told of the mild climate; the scenery was of the remotest and -freshest, most pleasing to the senses, and the ever-welcome scent of -turf smoke would not be denied in the big house where the sods glowed in -the great fireplaces. My surprise, when strolling on one of the innocent -little strands by the sea, was great at seeing the Atlantic cable -emerging, quite simply, from the water between the pebbles, as though it -was nothing in particular. Following it, we reached a very up-to-date -building, so out of keeping with the primitive scene, filled with busy -clerks transmitting goodness knows what cosmopolitan corruption from the -New World to the Old, and _vice versâ_. - -[Illustration: In Western Ireland. - -A "Jarvey" and "Biddy."] - -I would not have missed the Valentia pig for anything. A taller, leaner, -gaunter specimen has not his match anywhere, not even in the little -black hog of Monte Cassino, whose salient hips are so unexpected. There -is something particularly arresting in a pig with visible hips.[8] All -the animals in the west seemed to me free-and-easy creatures that live -with the peasants as members of the family, having a much better time -than the humans. They frisk irresponsibly in and out of the cabins--no -"by your leave" or "with your leave"--and, altogether, enjoy life to the -top of their own highest level. The poorer the people, the greater -appears the contrast caused by this inverted state of things. - -The next time we left England was to go in the opposite direction--to -the Pyrenees. Rapid travel is fast levelling down the different -countries, and a carriage journey through the Pyrenean country is a -bygone pleasure. We have to go to Thibet or the Great Wall of China for -our trips if we want to write anything original about our travels. A -flight by air to the North Pole would, at first, prove very readable and -novel, if well described. This, however, does not take from the pleasure -of going over the inner circle in memory. In the year 1878 we could -still find much that was new and refreshing in a tour through the south -of France! Some friends of mine went up to Khartoum from Cairo not long -ago, with return tickets, by rail, and all they could say was that the -journey was so dusty that they had to draw the blinds of their -compartment and play bridge all the way. Poor dears, how arid! - -This little tour of ours was well advised. The loss of our firstborn, -Mary Patricia, brought our first sorrow with it, and we went to Lourdes -and made a wide _détour_ from there through the Pyrenees to Switzerland. -There is nothing like travel for restoring the aching mind to -usefulness. But, undoubtedly, the send-off from Lourdes gave me the -initial impetus towards recovery of which, though I say little, I am -very sensible. We drove to St. Sauveur after our visit to the Grotto -where such striking cures have happened, and each day brought more fully -back to me that zest for natural beauty which has been with me such an -invigorator. - -St. Sauveur was bracing and beautiful, but too full of invalids. It was -rather saddening to see them around the Hontalade Sulphur Springs. At -Lourdes they were clustering round the cascade that flows from the -Grotto where the statue of Our Lady stands, exactly reproducing the -figure as seen by the little Shepherdess. Poor humanity, reaching out -hopeful arms in its pain, here for physical help, there for spiritual. -The Gave rushes through both Lourdes and St. Sauveur, with a very sharp -noise in the rocky gorge of the latter, too harsh to be a soothing -sound. I looked forward to getting yet another experience of _vetturino_ -travel which I had never thought could be enjoyed again, and which -proved to be still possible. The journey was a success, and, besides the -beauty of that very majestic mountain scenery, the little incidents of -the road were picturesque. Our driver was proud to tell us he was known -as "_L'ancien chien des Pyrénées_," and a characteristic "old dog" he -was, one-eyed and weatherbeaten, wearing the national blue _béret_ and -very voluble in local _patois_. His horses' bells jingled in the old -familiar way of my childhood; two absurd little dogs of his accompanied -us all the way who, in the noonday heat, sat in the wayside streams for -a moment to cool, and emerged little dripping rags. The first day's -ascent was over the Pass of the Tourmalet, the second over that of the -Col d'Aspin, and the third and final climb was that of the Col de -Peyresourde. Then Bagnères de Luchon appeared deep down in the valley -where our drive came to an end. What would we have seen of the Pyrenees -if we had burrowed in tunnels under those _Cols?_ Luchon was not -embellished by the invalids there, whose principal ailment amongst the -female patients was evidently a condition of _embonpoint_ so remarkable -that the suggestion of overfeeding could not possibly be ignored. - -We had refreshing "_ascensions_" on horseback; a wide view of Spain from -Super-Bagnère, wherein the backbone of the Pyrenees, with the savage -"Maladetta," rising supreme, 11,000 feet above sea level, has its -origin. Many very pleasant excursions we had besides. I tried a hurried -sketch of one of these views from the saddle, the only precious chance I -had, but a little Frenchman in tourist helmet and blue veil (and such -boots and spurs!), who was riding in our direction with a party, threw -himself off his pony into my foreground and, hoping to be included in -the view which he was pretending to admire, posed there, right in my -way, his comrades calling him in vain to rejoin them. - -On leaving Luchon we journeyed _viâ_ Toulouse to Cette, following the -course of the Garonne, which famous river we had seen in its little -muddy infancy near Arreau and in its culminating grandeur at Bordeaux. -Toulouse looked majestic, a fair city as I remember it. There I was -interested to see that famous canal which carries on the traffic from -the great river to the Mediterranean. A noteworthy feature in the -landscape as we journeyed on to Cette in the dreary, dun-coloured -gloaming was the mediæval city of Carcassonne. To come suddenly upon a -complete restoration to life of an old-world city, full of towers and -wrapped in its unbroken walls, gives one a strange sensation. One seems -to be suddenly deposited in the heart of the Middle Ages. That dark -evening there was something indescribably gloomy in the aspect of that -cinder-coloured mass against an ashen sky, and set on a hill high above -the fields cultivated in prim rows and patches, looking like a town in -the background of some hunting scene, so often shown in old tapestry. -All was darkening before an approaching storm. In writing of it at the -time I was not aware that we owed this most precious old city to -Viollet-le-Duc, who has restored it stone by stone. - -Cette looked so bleared and blind the next morning in a sea mist that I -have preserved a dejected impression of those low shores, grey -tamarisks, and lagunes, and waste places, seen as though in a dismal -dream. I was coaxed back to cheerfulness by the sunshine of Nismes, -where we spent several hours, on our way to our halt for the night, -strolling in the warm-tinted Roman ruins, and I finally relaxed in the -delight of our arriving once more at one of my most beloved cities, -splendid Avignon. Good travelling. This closed the day. Under my -parents' _régime_, and chiefly on account of my mother, who hated night -travel, and on account of our general easy-going ways, we gave nearly a -fortnight to reach Genoa from England, with pauses here and there. - -My redundant Diary carries me on now, like the rapid Rhone itself, to my -native Lake Leman. I see it now as I saw it that day, August 8th, -1878--a blue opal. There is always something sacred about a place in -which one came into the world. We visited "Claremont," a lovely dwelling -overlooking the lake, and facing the snowy ridges of the Dents du Midi. -Looking at that house "all my mother came into my eyes" as I thought of -her that November night, long ago, and of our dear, faithful nurse whom -I captured there to our service till death, with a smile! - -And now for the dear old Rhine once more. We got to Bâle next day, and -very scenic the old town looked on our arrival in the evening. On either -side of the swift-flowing river the gabled houses were full of lights, -which were reflected in the water, all looking red-gold by contrast with -the green-gold of the moon. On August 10th from Bâle to Heidelberg, the -rose-coloured city of the great Tun! Other tuns are also shown, not -quite so capacious; but what swilling they suggest on the part of the -old electors, who gathered all that hock in tithes! - -I was mortified when trying to impress my husband with the charms of the -Rhine as we dropped down to Cologne. My early Diary tells of my -enchantment on that fondly-remembered river. But, alas! this time the -weather was rainy and ugly all the way, and as we came to the best part, -the romantic Gorge, he shut himself up in a deck cabin, out of which I -could not entice him. I suspect the natives on board drove him in there -rather than his resentment at the "come down" from the glowing -descriptions one reads in travel books. These natives were a most -irritating foreground to the blurred views. All day long, and into the -night, meals were perpetually breaking out all over the deck and, do -what one could, the feeding of those Teutons obtruded itself on one's -attention _ad nauseam_. I have a sketch, taken _sub rosa_, of an obese -and terrible _frau_, seated behind her rather smart officer husband at -one of the little tables. She had emptied her capacious mug of beer, and -was asking him for more, to which demand he was paying no attention. But -"Gustav! Gustav!" she persisted, poking him in the back with her empty -tankard. The "Gustav!" and the prods were getting too much to be ignored -by the long-suffering back, and she got her refill. What General Gordon -calls the "German visage" in contrast with the "Italian countenance" -never appeared so surprisingly ugly as it did to us that day on the -crowded deck of the _Queen of Prussia_. - -My Diary says: "At Mayence, Will and I, always on the look-out for -soldiers, had a good opportunity of seeing German infantry, as we -stopped here a long time and two line battalions crossed the bridge near -us. From the deck of the steamer the men looked big enough, but when -Will ran on shore and overhauled them to have a nearer look, I could -gauge their height by his six-foot-two. He showed a clear head and -shoulders above their _pickelhauben_. They were short, chiefly by reason -of the stumpy legs, which carry a long back--a very unbeautiful -arrangement." - -The next day we had a rather dull start from Cologne along a dismal -stretch of river as far as Düsseldorf. Killing time at Düsseldorf is not -lively. At the café where we had tea two young subalterns of hussars -came gaily in to have their coffee, and, just as they were sitting down -with a cavalry swagger, there came in a major of some other corps, and -the two immediately got up, saluted, and left the room. Here was -discipline! On our returning to the steamer Will found an epauletted -disciple of Bismarck in my place at supper. He told the epauletted one -of his mistake, much to the latter's manifest astonishment, who didn't -move. I suppose there came something into the British soldier's eye, -but, anyway, the sabre-rattler eventually got up and went elsewhere: -things felt electric. - -August 14th found us nearly all day on board the boat. "A very -interesting day, showing me a phase of Rhine scenery familiar to me in -Dutch pictures by the score, but never seen by me till then in reality. -The strong wind blew from the sea and tossed the green-yellow river into -tumultuous waves, over which came bounding the blunt-bowed craft from -Holland, taking merchandise up stream, and differing in no way from the -boats beloved of the old Dutch masters. On either side of the river were -low banks waving with rushes, and beyond stretched sunken marshy -meadows, and here and there quaint little towns glided by with windmills -whirring, and clusters of ships' masts appearing above the grey willows -and sedges. Dordrecht formed a perfect picture _à la_ Rembrandt, with a -host of windmills on the skyline, telling dark against the brightness, -at the confluence of the Maes and Rhine. Here Cuyp was born, the painter -of sunlit cows. Rotterdam pleased us greatly, and we strolled about in -the evening, coming upon the statue of Erasmus, which I place amongst -the most admirable statues I have seen. Rotterdam possesses in rich -abundance the peculiar charm of a seaport. A place of this kind has for -me a very strong attraction. The varied shipping, the bustle on land -and water, the colour, the noise, the mixture of human types, the bustle -of men and animals; all these things have always filled me with pleasure -at a great seaport." A visit to Holland ("the dustless" land, as my -husband called it truly), a revel amongst the Amsterdam galleries, then -Antwerp, where we embarked for Harwich, closed our trip. Invigorated and -restored, I set to work on an 8-foot canvas, whereon I painted a subject -which had been in my mind since childhood. - - - - -CHAPTER XIV - -QUEEN VICTORIA - - -It must have been at Villa de' Franchi that my father related to me a -tragedy which had profoundly moved England in the year 1842, and he -laughingly encouraged me to paint it when I should be grown up. The -Diary says: "We are now at war with poor Shere Ali, and this new Afghan -War revived for me the idea of the tragedy of '42, namely, Dr. Brydon -reaching Jellalabad, weary and fainting, on his dying horse, the sole -survivor, as was then thought, from our disaster in the Cabul passes.... -Here I am, on 1st March, 1879, not doing badly with the picture. I think -it is well painted, and I hope poetical. But I have had the darkest -winter I can remember, and lost nearly all January by the succession of -fogs which have accompanied this long frost. Will sailed under orders -for the Cape last Friday, February 28th. Our terrible defeat at Isandula -has caused the greatest commotion here, and regiments are being poured -out of England to Zululand in a fleet of transports; and now staff -officers are being selected for posts of great responsibility out there, -and amongst these is Colonel Butler, A.A.G. to General Clifford. - -"_March 16th, 1879._--I am beginning to show my picture. Scarcely -anything is talked of still but the fighting in Zululand and the -incapacity of that poor unfortunate Lord Chelmsford, whom Government -keeps telling they will continue to trust in his supreme post of -Commander-in-Chief, though he would evidently be thankful to be relieved -of an anxiety which his nervous temperament and susceptible nature must -make unbearable. What magnificent subjects for pictures the 'Defence of -Rorke's Drift' will furnish. When we get full details I shall be much -tempted to paint some episode of that courageous achievement which has -shed balm on the aching wound of Isandula. But the temptation will have -to be very strong to make me break my rule of not painting contemporary -subjects. I like to mature my themes. - -"Studio Sunday. At last, at last! After three years of disappointment -another Academy Studio Show has come, and that very brightly and -successfully. I have called the Afghan picture 'The Remnants of an -Army.' I had the Irish picture to show also, by permission of Whitehead, -''Listed for the Connaught Rangers.' From one till six to-day people -poured in. My studio was got up quite charmingly with curtains and -screens, and with wild beast skins disposed on the floor, and my arms -and armour furbished up. The two pictures came out well, and both -appeared to 'take.' However, not much value can be attached to to-day's -praises to my face. But I must not let Elmore's (R.A.) tribute to the -'Remnants of an Army' go unrecorded. 'It is impossible to look at that -man's face unmoved,' and his eyes were positively dimmed! I have heard -it said that no one was ever known to shed tears before a picture. On -reading a book, on hearing music, yes, but not on seeing a painting. -Well! that is not true, as I have proved more than once. I can't resist -telling here of a pathetic man who came to me to say, 'I had a wet eye -when I saw your picture!' He had one eye brown and the other blue, and -I almost asked, 'Which, the brown or the blue?' It is often so difficult -to know what to answer appreciatively to enthusiastic and unexpected -praise! - -"Varnishing Day. A long and cheery day in those rooms of happy memory at -Burlington House. Both my pictures are well hung and look well, and -congratulations flowed in." A few days later: "Alice and I to the -Private View at that fascinating Burlington House, so fascinating when -one's works are well placed! The Press is treating me very well. No -subsidised puffs _here_, so I enjoy these critiques. The Academy has -received me back with open arms, and the members are very nice to me, -some of them expressing their hope that I am pleased with the positions -of my pictures, and several of them speaking quite openly about their -determination to vote for me at the next election." - -The Fine Art Society bought the Afghan subject of which they published a -very faithful engraving, and it is now at the Tate Gallery. It is a -comfort to me to know that nearly all my principal works are either in -the keeping of my Sovereign or in public galleries, and not changing -hands among private collectors. - -I spent much of a cool, if rainy, summer at Edenbridge, in Kent, taking -a rose bower of a cottage there, my parents with me. There we heard in -the papers the dreadful news of the Prince Imperial's death. Then -followed a hasty line from my husband, written in a fury of indignation -from Natal, at the sacrifice of "the last of the Napoleons." When he -returned at long last from the deplorable Zulu War, followed by the -Sekukuni Campaign, the poor Empress Eugénie sent for him to Camden -Place, and during a long and most painful interview she asked for all -details, her tears flowing all the time, and in her open way letting all -her sorrow loose in paroxysms of grief. He had managed the funeral and -embarkation at Durban. The pall was covered with artificial violets -which he had asked the nuns there to make, at high pressure, and he -subsequently described to me the impressive sight of the _cortège_ as it -wound down the hill to the port off Durban, in the afternoon sunshine. - -At little Edenbridge I was busy making studies of any grey horses I -could find, as I had already begun my charge of the Scots Greys at -Waterloo at my studio. That charge I called "Scotland for Ever," and I -owe the subject to an impulse I received that season from the Private -View at the Grosvenor Gallery, now extinct. The Grosvenor was the home -of the "Æsthetes" of the period, whose sometimes unwholesome productions -preceded those of our modern "Impressionists." I felt myself getting -more and more annoyed while perambulating those rooms, and to such a -point of exasperation was I impelled that I fairly fled and, breathing -the honest air of Bond Street, took a hansom to my studio. There I -pinned a 7-foot sheet of brown paper on an old canvas and, with a piece -of charcoal and a piece of white chalk, flung the charge of "The Greys" -upon it. Dr. Pollard, who still looked in during my husband's absences -as he used to do in my maiden days to see that all was well with me, -found me in a surprising mood. - -On returning from my _villeggiatura_ in Kent with my parents I took up -again the painting of this charge, and one day the Keeper of the Queen's -Privy Purse, Sir Henry Ponsonby, called at the studio to ask me if I -would paint a picture for Her Majesty, the subject to be taken from a -war of her own reign. - -Of course, I said "Yes," and gladly welcomed the honour, but being a -slow worker, I saw that "Scotland for Ever!" must be put aside if the -Queen's picture was to be ready for the next Academy. - -Every one was still hurrahing over the defence of "Rorke's Drift" in -Zululand as though it had been a second Waterloo. My friends (not my -parents) urged and urged. I demurred, because it was against my -principles to paint a conflict. In the "Greys" the enemy was not shown, -here our men would have to be represented at grips with the foe. No, I -put that subject aside and proposed one that I felt and saw in my mind's -eye most vividly. I proposed this to the Queen--the finding of the dead -Prince Imperial and the bearing of his body from the scene of his heroic -death on the lances of the 17th Lancers. Her Majesty sent me word that -she approved, to my great relief. I began planning that most impressive -composition. Then I got a message to say the Queen thought it better not -to paint the subject. What was to be done? The Crimea was exhausted. -Afghanistan? But I was compelled by clamour to choose the popular -Rorke's Drift; so, characteristically, when I yielded I threw all my -energies into the undertaking. - -When the 24th Regiment, now the South Wales Borderers, who in that fight -saved Natal, came home, some of the principal heroes were first summoned -to Windsor and then sent on to me, and as soon as I could get down to -Portsmouth, where the 24th were quartered, I undertook to make all the -studies from life necessary for the big picture there. Nothing that the -officers of that regiment and the staff could possibly do to help me was -neglected. They even had a representation of the fight acted by the men -who took part in it, dressed in the uniforms they wore on that awful -night. Of course, the result was that I reproduced the event as nearly -to the life as possible, but from the soldier's point of view--I may say -the _private's_ point of view--not mine, as the principal witnesses were -from the ranks. To be as true to facts as possible I purposely withdrew -my own view of the thing. What caused the great difficulty I had to -grapple with was the fact that the whole mass of those fighting figures -was illuminated by firelight from the burning hospital. Firelight -transforms colours in an extraordinary way which you hardly realise till -you have to reproduce the thing in paint. - -The Zulus were a great difficulty. I had them in the composition in dark -masses, rather swallowed up in the shade, but for one salient figure -grasping a soldier's bayonet to twist it off the rifle, as was done by -many of those heroic savages. My excellent Dr. Pollard got me a sort of -Zulu as model from a show in London. It was unfortunate that a fog came -down the day he was brought to my studio, so that at one time I could -see nothing of my dusky savage but the whites of his eyes and his teeth. -I hope I may never have to go through such troubles again! - -When the picture was in its pale, shallow, early stage, the Queen, who -was deeply interested in its progress, wished to see it, and me. So to -Windsor I took it. The Ponsonbys escorted me to the Great Gallery, where -I beheld my production, looking its palest, meanest, and flattest, -installed on an easel, with two lords bending over it--one of them Lord -Beaconsfield. - -Exeunt the two lords, right, through a dark side door. Enter the Queen, -left. Prince Leopold, Duchess of Argyll, Princess Beatrice and others -grouped round the easel, centre. The Queen came up to me and placed her -plump little hand in mine after I had curtseyed, and I was counselled to -give Her Majesty the description of every figure. She spoke very kindly -in a very deep, guttural voice, and showed so much emotion that I -thought her all too kind, shrinking now and then as I spoke of the -wounds, etc. She told me how she had found my husband lying at Netley -Hospital after Ashanti, apparently near his end, and spoke with warmth -of his services in that campaign. She did not leave us until I had -explained every figure, even the most distant. She knew all by name, for -I had managed to show, in that scuffle, all the V.C.'s and other -conspicuous actors in the drama, the survivors having already been -presented to her. Majors Chard and Bromhead were sufficiently -recognisable in the centre, for I had had them both for their portraits. - -The Academicians put "The Defence of Rorke's Drift" in the Lecture Room -of unhappy "Quatre Bras" memory, no doubt for the same reason they gave -in the case of that picture. Yes, there was a great crush before it, but -I was not satisfied as to its effect in that poor light. It is now with -"The Roll Call" at St. James's Palace. I learnt later how very, very -pleased the Queen was with her commission, and that one day at Windsor, -wishing to show it to some friends, the twilight deepening, she showed -so much appreciation that she took a pair of candlesticks and held them -up at the full stretch of her arms to light the picture. I like to see -in my mind's eye that Rembrandtesque effect, with the principal figure -in the group our Queen. She wanted me to paint her two other subjects, -but, somehow, that never came off. - - - - -CHAPTER XV - -OFFICIAL LIFE--THE EAST - - -In 1880 my husband was offered the post of Adjutant-General at Plymouth, -and thither we went in time, with the pretty little infant Elizabeth -Frances, who came to fill the place of the sister who was gone. There -three more of our children were born. - -I took up "Scotland for Ever!" again, and in the bright light of our -house on the Hoe, with never a brown fog to hinder me, and with any -amount of grey army horses as models, I finished that work. It was -exhibited alone. It is quite unnecessary to burden my readers with the -reason of this. I was very sorry, as I expected rather a bright effect -with all those white and grey galloping _hippogriffes_ bounding out of -the Academy walls. There was a law suit in question, and there let the -matter rest. Messrs. Hildesheimer bought the copyright from me, and the -picture I sold, later on, to a private purchaser, who has presented it -to the city of Leeds. By a happy chance I had a supply of very brilliant -Spanish white (_blanco de plata_) for those horses, and though I have -ever since used the finest _blanc d'argent_, made in Paris, I don't -think the Spanish white has a rival. Perhaps its maker took the secret -with her to the Elysian Fields. It was an old widow of Seville. - -On May 11th of that year our beloved father died, comforted with the -heartening rites of the Church. He had been received not long before the -end. - -Life at "pleasant Plymouth" was very interesting in its way, and the -charm of the West Country found in me the heartiest appreciation. But -the climate is relaxing, and conducive to lotus eating. One seems to -live in a mental Devonshire cream of pleasant days spent in excursions -on land and water, trips up the many lovely rivers, or across the -beautiful Sound to various picnic rendezvous on the coast. There was -much festivity: balls in the winter and long excursions in summer, -frequently to the wilds of Dartmoor. Particularly pleasant were the -receptions at Government House under the auspices of the -Pakenhams--perfect hosts--and at the Admiralty, with its very -distinguished host and hostess, Sir Houston and Lady Stewart. Over -Dartmoor there spread the charm of the unbounded hospitality of the -Mortimer Colliers, who lived on the verge of the moor, and this was a -thing ever to be fondly remembered. No pleasanter house could offer one -a welcome than "Foxhams," and how hearty a welcome that always was! - -Riding was our principal pleasure. I never spent more enjoyable days in -the saddle elsewhere. My husband and I had a riding tour through -Cornwall--just the thing I liked most. But he was from time to time -called away. To Egypt in 1882, for Tel-el-Kebir; twice to Canada, the -second time on Government business; and in 1884 to the great Gordon -Relief Expedition, that terrible tragedy, made possible by the maddening -delays at home. I illustrated the book he wrote[9] on that colossal -enterprise, so wantonly turned into failure from quite feasible success. - -My next picture was on a smaller scale than its predecessors, and was -exhibited at the Academy in 1882. The Boer War, with its terrible Majuba -Hill disaster, had attracted all our sorrowful attention the year before -to South Africa, and I chose the attack on Laing's Nek for my subject. -The two Eton boys whom I show, Elwes and Monck, went forward (Elwes to -his death) with the cry of "_Floreat Etona!_" and I gave the picture -those words for its title. - -Yet another Lord Mayor's Banquet at the Mansion House, in honour of the -Royal Academicians, saw me late in 1881 a guest once more in those -gilded halls, this time by my husband's side. He responded for the Army, -and joined Arts and Arms in a bright little speech, composed -_impromptu_. "We were a highly honoured couple," I read in the Diary, -"and very glad that we came up. We must have sat at that festive board -over three hours. The music all through was exceedingly good and, -indeed, so was the fare. The homely tone of civic hospitality is so -characteristic, dressed as it is with gold and silver magnificence, -rivalling that of Royalty itself! One of the waiters tried to press me -to have a second helping of whitebait by whispering in my ear the -seductive words, '_Devilled_, ma'am.' It was a fiery edition of the -former recipe. I resisted." - -The departure of my husband with Lord Wolseley (then Sir Garnet) and -Staff for Egypt on August 5th, 1882, to suppress poor old Arabi and his -"rebels" was the most trying to me of all the many partings, because of -its dramatic setting. One bears up well on a crowded railway platform, -but when it comes to watching a ship putting off to sea, as I did that -time at Liverpool, to the sound of farewell cheering and "Auld Lang -Syne," one would sooner read of its pathos than suffer it in person. -Soldiers' wives in war time have to feel the sickening sensation on -waking some morning when news of a fight is expected of saying to -themselves, "I may be a widow." Not only have I gone through that, but -have had a second period of trial with two sons under fire in the World -War. - -I gave a long period of my precious time to making preparations for a -large picture representing Wolseley and his Staff reaching the bridge -across the canal at the close of the battle of Tel-el-Kebir, followed by -his Staff, wherein figured my husband. The latter had not been very -enthusiastic about the subject. To beat those poor _fellaheen_ soldiers -was not a matter for exultation, he said; and he told me that the -capture of Arabi's earthworks had been like "going through brown paper." -He thought the theme unworthy, and hoped I would drop the idea. But I -wouldn't; and, seeing me bent on it, he did all he could to help me to -realise the scene I had chosen. Lord Wolseley gave me a fidgety sitting -at their house in London, his wife trying to keep him quiet on her knee -like a good boy. I had crowds of Highlanders to represent, and went in -for the minutest rendering of the equipment then in use. Well, I never -was so long over a work. Depend upon it, if you do not "see" the thing -vividly before you begin, but have to build it up as you go along, the -picture will not be one of your best. Nor was this one! It was exhibited -in the Academy of 1885, and had a moderate success. It was well -engraved. - -In the September of 1884 my husband left for the Gordon Expedition, -having finished his work of getting boats ready for the cataracts, boats -to carry the whole Army. In the following June he came home on leave, -well in health, in spite of rending wear and tear, but deeply hurt at -the failure of what might have been one of the greatest campaigns in -modern history. How he had urged and urged, and fumed at the delays! He -told me the campaign was lost _three times over_. Gordon was simply -sacrificed to ineptitude in high quarters at home. In this connection, I -ask, can praise be too great for the British rank and file who did -_their_ best in this unparalleled effort? You saw Lifeguardsmen plying -their oars in the boats, oars they had never handled before this call; -marines mounted on camels--more than "horse-marines," as a camel in his -movements is five horses rolled into one; everything he was called upon -to do the British soldier did to the best of his capacity. - -We spent most of my husband's precious leave in Glencar. What better -haven to come to from the feverish toil on river and in desert, ending -in bitter disappointment? We went to Court functions, also. How these -functions amused me, and how I revelled in their colour, in their -variety of types brought together, all these guests in national uniform -or costume. And I must be allowed to add how proud I was of my -six-foot-two soldier in all his splendour. The Queen's aide-de-camp -uniform, which he wore at the time of which I am writing, till he was -promoted major-general, was particularly well designed, both for "dress" -and "undress." I frankly own I loved these Court receptions. No, I was -never bored by them, I am thankful to say; and I don't believe any woman -is who has the luck to go there, whatever she may say. - - - - -CHAPTER XVI - -TO THE EAST - - -I followed my husband to Egypt, where he had returned, in command at -Wady Halfa on the expiration of his leave, on November 14th, 1885. I -went with our eldest little boy and girl. A new experience for me--the -East! One of my longings in childhood was to see the East. There it was -for me. - -Cairo in 1885 still retained much of its Oriental aspect in the European -quarter. (I don't suppose the old, true Cairo will ever change.) I was -just in time. The Shepheard's Hotel of that day had a terrace in front -of it where we used to sit and watch the life of the street below, an -occupation very pleasing to myself. The building was overrun with a -wealth of flowering creepers of all sorts of loveliness, and surrounded -with a garden. When next we visited Cairo the creepers were being torn -down, and the terrace demolished. Then a huge hotel was run up in -avaricious haste to reap the next season's harvest from the thronging -visitors, and now stands flush with the street to echo the trams. - -It is difficult for me now to revive in memory the exquisite surprise I -felt when first I saw the life of the East. I could hardly believe the -thing was real, everyday life. Though I have often returned to Egypt -since, that first-time feeling never was renewed, though my enjoyment of -Oriental beauty and picturesqueness never, I am glad to say, faded in -the least. Oh, you who enjoy the zest of life, be thankful that you -possess it! It is a thing not to be acquired, but to be born with. I -think artists keep it the longest, for it enters the heart by the eye. -The long letters I wrote to my mother on the spot and at the moment I -incorporated later in the little book already referred to. Oh, the -pleasures of memory, streaked with sadness though they must be, and with -ugly things of all kinds, too! Still, how intensely precious a -possession they are when _weeded_. To me, after Italy and, of course, -the Holy Land, give me the Nile. - -I and the children remained in Cairo till I got my husband's message -from the front that the way was clear enough for our journey as far as -Luxor. There I and the children remained until the fight at Giniss was -won and all danger was over further up stream. At Luxor began the most -enjoyable of all modes of travel--by houseboat. The _dahabiyeh Fostat_ -was sent down from Wady Halfa to take us up to Assouan, where my husband -awaited us. We had reached Luxor from Cairo by the commonplace post -boat. The Assouan Dam was, of course, not in existence, and our -_dahabiyeh_ had to be hauled in the old way through the first cataract, -while we transferred ourselves to another _dahabiyeh_ moored off the now -submerged island of Philæ. - -This cut-and-dried chronicle includes one of the most enchanting -experiences of my life. Above Philæ we entered Nubia, before whose -intensified colouring the lower desert pales. Time being very precious -to my husband, our slow, dreamy sailing houseboat had to be towed by a -little steamer for the rest of the way to Wady Halfa, where we lived -till the heat of March warned us that I and the children must prudently -go into northern coolness. And to Plymouth we returned, leaving the -General to drag out the burning summer at Wady Halfa in such heat as I -never had had to suffer. While at Halfa I made many sketches in oil for -my picture, "A Desert Grave," out in the desert across the river. It is -very trying painting in the desert on account of the wind, which blows -the sand perpetually into your eyes. With that and the glare, I took two -inflamed eyes back with me to Europe. The picture should have been more -poetical than it turned out to be, and I wish I could repaint it now. It -was well placed at the Academy. The Upper Nile had these graves of -British officers and men all along its banks during that terrible toll -taken in the course of the Gordon Expedition and after, some in single -loneliness, far apart, and some in twos and threes. These graves had to -be made exactly in the same way as those of the enemy, lest a cross or -some other Christian mark should invite desecration. - -The World War has thrown a dreadful cloud between us and those old war -days, but the cloud in time will spread out thinner and let us look -through to those past times. - -My next experience was Brittany. Thither we went for a rest, and to give -the children the habit of talking French. At Dinan, in an old farmhouse, -we ruralised amidst orchards and amongst the Breton peasantry. Very nice -and quiet and healthy. There our youngest boy was born, Martin William, -who was immediately inscribed on the army books as liable for service in -the French Army if he reached the age of eighteen on French soil. During -that part of our stay at Dinan I painted the 24th Dragoons, who were -stationed there, leaving the town by the old Porte St. Malo for the -front, a great crowd of people seeing them off. I had mounted dragoons -and peasants for the asking as models. - -My husband was knighted--K.C.B.--in this interval, at Windsor. We went -to live in Ireland from Dinan, in 1888, under the Wicklow Mountains, -where the children continued their healthy country life in its fulness. -The picture I had painted of the departing dragoons went to the Academy -in 1889, and in 1890 I exhibited "An Eviction in Ireland," which Lord -Salisbury was pleased to be facetious about in his speech at the -banquet, remarking on the "breezy beauty" of the landscape, which almost -made him wish he could take part in an eviction himself. How like a -Cecil! - -The 'eighties had seen our Government do some dreadful things in the way -of evictions in Ireland. Being at Glendalough at the end of that decade, -and hearing one day that an eviction was to take place some nine miles -distant from where we were staying for my husband's shooting, I got an -outside car and drove off to the scene, armed with my paints. I met the -police returning from their distasteful "job," armed to the teeth and -very flushed. On getting there I found the ruins of the cabin -smouldering, the ground quite hot under my feet, and I set up my easel -there. The evicted woman came to search amongst the ashes of her home to -try and find some of her belongings intact. She was very philosophical, -and did not rise to the level of my indignation as an ardent English -sympathiser. However, I studied her well, and on returning home at -Delgany I set up the big picture which commemorates a typical eviction -in the black 'eighties. I seldom can say I am pleased with my work when -done, but I _am_ complacent about this picture; it has the true Irish -atmosphere, and I was glad to turn out that landscape successfully which -I had made all my studies for, on the spot, at Glendalough. What storms -of wind and rain, and what dazzling sunbursts I struggled in, one day -the paints being blown out of my box and nearly whirled into the lake -far below my mountain perch! My canvas, acting like a sail, once nearly -sent me down there too. I did not see this picture at all at the -Academy, but I am very certain it cannot have been very "popular" in -England. Before it was finished my husband was appointed to the command -at Alexandria, and as soon as I had packed off the "Eviction," I -followed, on March 24th, and saw again the fascinating East. - -My journey took me _viâ_ Venice, where the P.& O. boat _Hydaspes_ was -waiting. Can any journey to Egypt be more charming than this one, right -across Italy? - -Oh! you who do not think a journey a mere means of getting to your -destination as quickly as possible, say, if you have taken the -Milan-Verona-Padua line, is there anything in all Italy to surpass that -burst on the view of the Lago di Garda after you emerge from the Lonato -tunnel? On a blue day, say in spring? If you have not gone that way yet, -I beg you to be on the look-out on your left when you do go. This -wonderful surprise is suddenly revealed, and almost as quickly lost. -Waste not a second. I put up at the "Angleterre" at Venice, on the Riva, -because from there one sees the lagunes and glimpses of the open sea -beyond, and the air is open and fresh. - -"_March 28th._--Took gondola for the big P. & O. S.S. which is to be my -home for the next six days. I at once saw the ship was one of their -smartest boats, and all looked very festive on board. Luncheon was -served immediately after my arrival, and I found a bright company -thereat assembled, with Sir Henry and Lady Layard at their head; some -come to see friends off and others to go on. We amalgamated very -pleasantly, and great was the waving of handkerchiefs as we slowly -steamed past the Dogana and the Riva, our returning friends having gone -on shore in gondolas whose sable sides were hidden in brilliant -draperies. The sashes of the gondoliers' liveries flashed in coloured -silks and gold fringes; the sea sparkled. I rejoiced. The Montalba girls -gave us a salvo of pocket handkerchiefs from their balcony on the -Giudecca. What a gay scene! Lady Layard, on leaving, introduced Mrs. H. -M., who was to join her husband at Brindisi for a long trip in the big -liner from England, and I was very happy at the prospect of her pleasant -and intellectual companionship thus far." - -And so we passed out into the early night on the dim Adriatic, after a -sunset farewell to Venice, which remains to me as one of the tenderest -visions of the past. That voyage to Alexandria is more enjoyable, given -fair weather, than most voyages, because one is hardly ever out of sight -of land, and such classic land, too! The Ionian Islands, "Morea's -Hills," Candia. But what a pleasure it is to see on the day before the -arrival the signs that the landing is near at hand. The General in -Command will be waiting at sunrise on the landing stage, perhaps the -light catching the gold lace on his cap, appearing above the turbans of -the native crowd. Of course every one who has been to Egypt knows the -feeling of disappointment at the first sight of its shores, low-lying -and fringed with those incongruous windmills which the Great Napoleon -vainly planted there to teach the natives how better to make flour. In -vain. And so were his wheelbarrows. The natives preferred carrying the -mud in their hands. And the city, how it fails to give you the Oriental -impression you are longing for, with its pseudo-Italian architecture, -its hard paved streets, and dusty boulevards and squares. Government -House on the Boulevard de Ramleh was comfortable, roomy and airy, but I -missed the imagined garden and palm trees of the Cairo official -residence. - -"_April 3rd._--We have a view of Cleopatra's Tomb (so called) to the -right, jutting out into the intensely blue sea, but the other arm of the -bay (the old Roman harbour) to our left, covered with native houses and -minarets, is partly hidden by an abomination which hurts me to -exasperation, one of those amorphous buildings of tenth-rate Italian -vulgarity and dreariness which are being run up here in such quantities, -and rears its gaunt expanse close behind this house. To cap this -erection it has received the title of 'Bombay Castle.' Never mind, I -shall soon, in my happy way, cease to notice what I don't like to see, -and shall enjoy all that is left here of the original East and its -fascinating barbaric beauty. Will took me for a most interesting drive, -first to Ras-el-Tin, during which we threaded a conglomeration of East -and West which was bewildering. There were nightmarish Italian -'_palazzi_' loaded with cheap, bluntly-moulded stucco; glaring streets, -cafés, dusty gardens, over-dressed Jewish and Levantine women driving -about in exaggerated hats, frocks and figures; and there also appeared -the dark narrow bazaars and original streets, the latticed windows, the -finely-coloured robes of the natives, the weird goats, the wolfish dogs, -straying about in all directions. Mounds of rubbish everywhere; some -only the leavings of newly-built houses, some the remains of the -bombardment's havoc, others the dust of a once beautiful city whose -loveliness in old Roman times must have been supreme. - -"Only here and there was I reminded of the charm of Cairo--a tree by a -yellow wall, a group of natives eating sugar cane, a water-seller with -his tinkling brass cups and a rose behind his ear, and so on. We then -had a really enjoyable drive along the Mahmoudieh Canal, which was balm -to my mind and eyes. All along the placid water on the opposite bank ran -Arab villages with their accompaniments of palms, buffaloes, goats, -water jars, native men and women in scriptural robes; water wheels; -square-shaped, almost window-less mud dwellings, so appropriate under -that intense light. On our bank were the remnants of Pashadom in the -shape of gimcrack palaces closed and let go to ruin, on account of -fashion having betaken itself to the suburb of Ramleh. These dwellings -were, however, so hidden in deep tropical gardens of great and rich -beauty that they did not offend. - -"Beyond the Arab villages on the other bank appeared Lake Mareotis, and -there was a poetical feeling about all that region. It was so strange to -have on one side of a narrow band of water old Egypt and the life of the -East going on just as it has been for ages past, and on the other the -ephemeral tokens of the sham and fleeting life of to-day, and this all -the way along a drive of some two miles. This is the fashionable drive, -and to see young Egypt on horseback, and old Jewry in carriages, passing -and repassing up and down this cosmopolitan Rotten Row is decidedly -trying. My admired friends, the running syces, though, redeem the thing -to me. Their dress is one of the most perfect in shape, colour and -material ever devised. The air was rich with the scent of strange -flowers, some of which billowed over entrance gates in magnificent -purple masses." - -I must be excused for having shown irritation in my Diary at starting. I -soon adapted myself to the entourage, and I hope I "did my manners" as -became my official responsibilities. I liked the Greeks best of -all--nay, I got very fond of these handsome, sunny people. - -It was a curiously cosmopolitan society, and I, who am never good at -remembering the little feuds that are always simmering in this kind of -mixed company, must have sometimes made mistakes. I heard a Greek woman, -who had dined with us the previous evening, informing her friends in a -voice fraught with meaning, _"Imaginez, hier au soir chez le Général -Monsieur Gariopulo a donné le bras à Madame Buzzato!"_ The recipients of -this information were filled with mirth. What _had_ I done in pairing -off these two for the procession to dinner? - -The British were entrenched at Ramleh. The little stations on the -railway there gave me quite a turn at first sight. One was "Bulkley," -the next "Fleming," then "Sydney O. Schutz," and finally San Stefano at -railhead, and a casino with a corrugated iron roof under that scorching -sun. Oh, that I should see such a thing in Egypt! Cheek by jowl with the -little villas one saw weird Bedouin tents and wild Arabs and their -animals, carrying on their existence as if the Briton had never come -there. - -The incongruities of Alexandria became to me positively enjoyable; and -the desert air, as ever, was life-giving. My little Syrian horse, -"Minnow," carried me many a mile alongside my husband's charger, over -that pleasant desert sand. But an occasional khamseen wind gave me a -taste of the disagreeable phase of Egyptian weather. I name, with the -vivid recollection of the khamseen's irritating qualities, the -experience of paying calls (in a nice toilette) under its suffocating -puffs. And how the flies swarm; how they settle in black masses on the -sweetmeats sold in the streets, and hang in tassels from the native -children's eyes. Oh, yes, there is a seamy side to all things, but it -isn't my way to turn it up more than is necessary. Here may follow a bit -of Diary: - -"_May 22nd._--We had a memorable picnic at Rosetta to-day, with thirty -of the English colony. I had long wished to visit this ancient city, -brick-built and half deserted, a once opulent place, but now mournful in -its decay. I longed to see old Nile once more. We chartered a special -train and left Moharram Bey Station at 8 a.m. I was much pleased with -the seaside desert and the effects of mirage over Aboukir Bay. The -ancient town of Edkou struck me very much. It was built of the small -brown Rosetta brick, and was placed on a hill, giving it a different -aspect from the usual Arab pale-walled villages which are usually built -on level ground. It had thus a peculiar character. Shortly before -reaching Rosetta the land becomes richly cultivated. There is a subtle -beauty about the cultivated regions of this fascinating land of Egypt -which I feel very much. It is the beauty of abundance and richness as -well as of vivid colour. - -"At Rosetta dense crowds of natives awaited us and some police were -detailed to escort us through the town. I heard some of the women of our -party wishing they could pick the blue tiles off the minarets, but for -my part I prefer them under their lovely sky and sunshine, rather than -ornamenting mantelpieces in a Kensington fog. A little _musharabieh_ -lattice is still left here in the windows and has not yet been taken to -grace the British drawing-rooms of Ramleh. We strolled about the bazaars -and into the old ramshackle mosques, and, altogether, exhausted the -sights. Everywhere in Rosetta you see beautiful little Corinthian marble -columns incorporated with the Arab buildings, and supporting the -ceilings and pulpits of the mosques. They are daubed over with red -plaster. Very often a rich Corinthian capital is used as a base to a -pillar by being turned upside down, so that the shaft, crowned with its -own capital, possesses two--one at each end--an arrangement evidently -satisfactory to the barbarian Arabs who succeeded the classic builders -of the old city. Almost every angle of a house has a Greek column acting -as corner stone. But the brown brickwork is very dismal, and but for the -vivid colours of the people's dresses the monotony of tone would be -displeasing. This is Bairam, and the people during the three days' feast -succeeding the dismal Ramadan Fast are in their most radiant dresses, -and revelry and feasting are going on everywhere. Such a mass of moving -colour as was the market place of Rosetta to-day these eyes, that have -seen so much, never looked upon before. - -"At last, when we had climbed into enough mosques and poked about into -houses, and through all the bazaars (the fish bazaar was trying), we -went down to the landing stage and took boat for the trysting place, -about a mile up the broad, wind-lashed Nile. Will and the Bishop of -Clifton, sole remaining straggler from the late pilgrimage to the Holy -Land, and half our party had gone on before us; and, after a quick sail -along the palm-fringed bank, we arrived at the pretty landing place -chosen for our picnic. We found a tent pitched and the servants busy -laying the cloth under a dense sycamore, close to an old mosque whose -onion-shaped dome and Arab minaret gave me great pleasure as we came in -sight of them. I was impatient to make a sketch. I lost no time, and -went off and established myself in a palm grove with my water colours. -The usual Egyptian drawbacks, however, were there--flies, and puffs of -sand blown into one's eyes and powdering one's paints. On the Mahmoudieh -Canal I am exempt from the sand nuisance, and nothing can be pleasanter -than my experience there, sitting in an open carriage with the hood up, -and not a soul to bother me. - -"Our return to Rosetta was lively. As we were then going against the -wind, we had to be towed from the shore, and it was very interesting to -watch the agility of our crew dodging in and out of the boats moored -under the bank and deftly disengaging the tow-rope from the spars and -rigging of these vessels. A tall Circassian _effendi_ of police cantered -on his little Arab along the bank to see that all went well with us. The -other half of our party chose to sail and progress by laborious tacking -from one side of the wide river to the other, and arrived long after we -did. We all met at the house of the Syrian postmaster, where he and his -pretty little wife received us with native politeness, and gave us -coffee and sweets. Our return journey was most pleasant, and we got to -Alexandria at 8 p.m. Twelve charming hours. - -"_May 24th._--The Queen's birthday. Trooping of the colour at 5 p.m. on -the Moharrem Bey Ground. Most successful. Will, mounted on a powerful -chestnut, did look a commanding figure as he raised his plumed helmet -and led the ringing cheers for the Queen which brought the pretty -ceremony to a close. The sun was near setting behind the height of -Komeldik, and lit up the roses in the men's helmets and garlanded round -the standard. In the evening a dull and solemn dinner to the heads of -departments and their wives. A difficult function. We had the band of -the Suffolks playing outside the windows, which were wide open on the -sea. I went out sketching in the morning, very early. I should have been -at my post all day on such an occasion, I confess. Will said I was like -Nero, fiddling while Rome was burning. - -"_May 29th._--The Mediterranean Fleet is here. Great interchange of -cards, firing of salutes, etc., etc. All very ceremonious, but -productive of picturesqueness and colour and effect, so I like it very -much. The Khedive Tewfik, too, has arrived, with the Khediviah, for the -hot season from Cairo. Will, of course, had to be present at the station -this morning for the reception of our puppet, and it was not nice to see -the Union Jack down in the dust as the guard of honour of the Suffolks -gave the salute. Our dinner to-night was to the admiral and officers of -the newly-arrived British squadron. - -"_June 2nd._--To the Khediviah's first reception at the harem of the -Ras-el-Tin Palace. I had two Englishwomen to present, rather an -unmanageable pair, as seniority appeared to be claimed erroneously at -the last moment by the junior. This reception has become a most dull -affair now that Oriental ways are done away with. Dancing girls no -longer amuse the guests, nor handmaidens cater to them with sweetmeats -during the audience, and there is nothing left but absolute emptiness. -The Vice-Reine sits, in European dress, on a divan at the end of a vast -hall, and the visitors sit in a semi-circle before her on hard European -chairs reflected in a polished _parquet_, speaking to each other in -whispers and furtively sipping coffee. She addresses a few remarks to -those nearest her, and the pauses are articulated by the click of the -ever-moving fans of the assembly. The ladies-in-waiting and girl slaves -move about in a mooning way in the funniest frocks, supposed to be -European, but some of them absolutely frumpish. Melancholy eunuchs of -the bluest black, in glossy frock coats, rise and bow as one passes -along the passages to or from the presence, and it is a relief to get -out through the jealously-walled garden into the outer world. - -"I find it difficult to converse in a harem, being so bad at small talk. -I upset the Vice-Reine's equanimity by telling her (which was quite -true) that I had heard she was taking lessons in painting. '_Moi, -madame?!! Oh! je n'aurais pas le courage!_' It was as bad as when I told -her, in Cairo, how much I liked poking about the bazaars. '_Vous allez -dans les bazaars, madame?!!_' So I relapsed into talking of illnesses, -which subject I have always found touches the proper note in a harem. -They say the Vice-Reine delights in these audiences, as they are -amongst the great events of her days. She is a beautiful woman, a -Circassian, and of lovely whiteness. - -"Finished the delicate sketch of the loveliest bit of the canal, where -the pink minaret and the black cypress are. I wish I could do just one -more reach of that lovely waterway before I leave! There is a particular -group of oleanders nodding with heavy pink blossom by the water's edge -against a soft blurred background of tamarisk, where women and girls in -dark blue, brilliant orange, and rose-coloured robes come down to fetch -water in their amphoræ. There is another reach lined for the whole -length of the picture with tall waving canebrakes, above whose tender -green tops appears the delicate distance of the lagoons of Mareotis; -there is--but ah! each bend of that canal reveals fresh beauties, and -often as Will has driven me there, I am as eager as ever to miss no -point in the lovely sequence. - -"_June 14th._--All my days now I am sketching more continuously, as the -arduous work of paying calls has relaxed greatly. This evening we drove -again far beyond Ramleh on the old route followed by Napoleon to reach -Aboukir, and I finished the sketch there." - -And so on, till my departure a few days later. I had wisely left my oils -at home at Delgany, and thus got together a much larger number of -subjects, the handier medium of water-colour being better suited to the -official life I had to attend to. - - - - -CHAPTER XVII - -MORE OF THE EAST - - -My return voyage was made on board the Messageries boat to Marseilles. -This gave me the Straits of Messina as well as those of Bonifacio. On -passing Ajaccio I don't think a single French passenger gave a thought -to Napoleon. I was intent on taking in every detail of that place, as -far as I could see it through a morning mist. Corsica looked very grand, -crowned with great snow-capped mountains. - -I lost no time in getting home to the children, and passed the rest of -the summer in the green loveliness of Ireland, returning to Egypt, in -the following October, _viâ_ Venice again. Every soldier's wife knows -what it is to be torn in two between the husband far away abroad and the -children one must leave at home. The trial is great, no doubt of it. -Then there is this perplexity: whether it would be well to take one of -the children with one and risk the dangers of the journey and the -climate at the other end. Parents pay heavily for our far-flung Empire! - -On the morning of my departure from Venice I woke to the call of the -sunbeams pouring into my room, and, behold, as I went to the window, the -dome of the "Salute" taking the salute, as we say in the Army, of the -sunrise! And the Dogana's gilded globe responding, too. Joy! our start -at least will be calm. Till midday I had Venice to myself, and I could -stroll about the Piazza and little streets, and recollect myself in -peaceful meditation in St. Mark's. What delicate loveliness is that of -Venice! Those russet reds and creamy whites and tender yellows, and here -and there bits of deep indigo blue to give emphasis to the colour -scheme. And that tender opalesque sky, and the gilded statues on domes -and towers, and the rich mosaics twinkling in the hazy light! These -things make one feel a love for Venice which is full of gratitude for so -beautiful a thing. - -At 12.30 I took gondola and was rowed to my old friend the _Hydaspes_ -lying in the Giudecca, and was just in time to sit down to a truly -Hydaspian luncheon, which was crowded. To my indescribable relief the -captain told me I should have a cabin all to myself as last time. At two -o'clock we cast off, and that effective passage all along the front of -the city was again made which so impressed me the preceding spring; and -then we turned off seawards, winding through the channel marked out by -those white posts with black heads which, even in their humble way, are -so harmonious in tone and are beloved by painters, carrying out as they -do the whole artistic scheme. Every fishing boat we met or overtook gave -one a study of harmonies. Now it was an orange sail with a red upper -corner in soft sunlight against the flat blue-purple of the distant -mountains and the vivid green of the Lido; now, composing with a line of -rosy, snowy mountain tops that lay like massive clouds on the horizon, -would rise a pale cool grey-white sail, well in the foreground, with its -upper part tinted a soft mouse-grey and its lower border deep -terra-cotta red. The sea, pale blue; the sky thinly veiled with clouds -of a rosy dove-grey. Nowhere does one see such delicacy of colouring as -here. Then the market boats looked well, full of vegetables, whose cool -green came just where it should for the completion of the colour study. -To think that the Local Board, or whatever those modern vulgarians are -called, of Venice are advocating the complete suppression of those -coloured sails, to be replaced by plain white ones all round. Hands off, -_mascalzoni!_ All this enchantment gradually faded away in the mists of -evening and of distance, and we were soon well out to sea. - -"_Sunday._--At 9 a.m. Brindisi in bright, low sunshine," says the Diary. -"To Missa Cantata; much pleasant strolling. What animation all day with -the loading and unloading, the coming and going of passengers, the cries -and laughter of the population thronging the quays! The _Britannia_ from -London was already in, and I watched the transfer of my heavy luggage -from her to the _Hydaspes_ with a hawk's eye. I had a genuine compliment -on landing paid to my accent. Those pests, the little beggar boys, who -hang on to the English and can't be shaken off, attacked me at first -till I turned on them and shouted, '_Via, birrrrichini!_' One of them -pulled the others away: 'Come away, don't you see she is not English!' -The Italians still think _Gl' Inglesi_ are all millionaires and made of -_scudi_. - -"_November 12th._--What indescribable joy this afternoon to see the crew -busy with the preparations for our arrival to-morrow morning! - -"_November 13th._--Of course I began to get ready at 3 a.m. and peer out -of the porthole on the waste of starlit waters as I felt the ship -stopping off the distant lighthouse. We lay to a long time waiting for -the dawn before proceeding to enter the harbour. The sun rose behind the -city just as we turned into the port. I looked towards the distant -landing stage. Half a mile off, with my wonderful sight, I saw Will, -though the sun was right in my eyes. I knew him not only by his height, -but by the shining gold band round his cap. We were a long time coming -in and swinging round alongside, and, before the gangway was well down, -Will sprang on to it and, in spite of the warning shouts of the sailors, -was the first to board the _Hydaspes_." - -I was back in Egypt; to be there once more was bliss. The now brimming -Mahmoudieh saw me haunting it again; the predominating red of the -flowering trees and creepers that I noted before had made place for -enchanting variations of yellow, and all the vegetation had deepened. -The heat was great at first. I was particularly struck by the enhanced -beauty of the date palms, whose golden and deep purple fruit now hung in -clusters under the graceful branches. But all too soon came a good deal -of rain, to my indignation. Rain in Egypt! The natives say we have -brought it with us. I never saw any in Cairo nor upstream. - -The Governor of the city had invited us to make use of a little -_dahabiyeh_, the _Rose_, for a cruise on the Lower Nile, and on November -20th we started. My husband had already welcomed on their arrival, in a -worthy manner, the officers of the French fleet, with whom he was in -perfect sympathy; but my Diary records the happy necessity for our -departure by the scheduled time on board the _Rose_ on that very -November 20th. That morning the German squadron arrived and the thunder -of its guns gave us an unintentional send-off! They were duly honoured, -of course, but the General himself was away. - -It was a nine days' cruise to the mouth of the Nile and back. Quite a -different reading of the Nile from the one I have recorded in my letters -to my mother, and reproduced in "From Sketch Book and Diary." Very few -tourists or even serious travellers have come so far down, so that one -is less afraid of being forestalled by abler writers in recording one's -impressions there. It was pretty to see the big Turkish flag fluttering -at our helm, and a beautifully disproportionate pennon streaming in -crimson magnificence from the point of the little vessel's curved -felucca spar. But our first days were damping: "_November 22nd._--Oh, -the rain! Alas! that I should know Egypt under such deluges, and see in -this land the deepest, ugliest mud in the world. We had to moor off the -residence of the Bey, to whom this _dahabiyeh_ belongs, last night, as -we wished to pay him our respects and tender him our thanks this -morning. He made us stay to luncheon, and a very excellent Arab repast -it was. I got on well with him as he spoke excellent French, but his -mother! Oh! it was heavy, as she could only talk Turkish, and my -translated remarks didn't even get a smile out of her. I must say the -Mohammedan women are deadly. - -"We proceeded on our voyage very late in the day, on account of this -visit which common civility made necessary. The weather brightened up at -sunset and nothing more weird have I ever seen than the mud villages, -cemeteries, lonely tombs, goats, buffaloes and wild human beings that -loomed on the banks as we glided by, brown and black against that sky -full of racing clouds that seemed red-hot from the great fiery globe -that had just sunk below the palm-fringed horizon. These canal banks -might give many people the horrors. I certainly think them in this -weather the most uncanny bits of manipulated nature I have ever seen. I -was fortunate in getting down in colour such a telling thing, a goatherd -in a Bedouin's burnous, which was wildly flapping in the hot wind -against the red glow in the west, driving a herd of those goats I find -so effective, with their long, pendant ears, and kids skipping in impish -gambols in front. 'Apocalyptic' apparition, caught, as we left it -astern, in that portentous gloaming! I shall make something of this. As -to the inhabitants of those regions, to contemplate their life is too -depressing. As darkness comes on you see them creeping into their -unlighted mud hovels like their animals. On the Upper Nile, at least, -the fellaheen have glorious air, the sun, the clean, dry sand, but here -in that mud----! - -"_November 23rd_.--No more rain. At Atfeh we left the canal at last, by -a lock, and I gave a sigh of relief and contentment, for we were on the -broad bosom of Old Nile. After a delay at this mud town to buy -provisions we pushed out into the current and with eight immensely long -'sweeps' (the wind was against sailing) we made a good run to Rosetta, -on whose mud bank we thumped by the light of a pale moon. The rhythmic -sound of those splashing oars and of the chant of the oarsmen in the -minor key, with barbaric 'intervals' unknown to our music, continued to -echo in my ears--it all seemed wild and strange and haunting. - -"_November 24th_.--Began this morning a sketch of Rosetta to finish on -our return from rounding up our outward voyage at the western mouth of -the great river where we saw it emerge into a very desolate, grey -Mediterranean. I may now say I have a very good idea of the mighty -river for upward of a thousand miles of its course--a good bit further, -both below and above stream, than the authoress of 'A Thousand Miles up -the Nile' knew it, whom in my early days I longed to emulate and, if -possible, surpass! An old-fashioned book, now, I suppose, but all the -more interesting for that. Furling sail, for the wind had been fair -to-day, we turned and were towed back to Fort St. Julian, where we -moored for the night. - -"_November 25th_.--After a nice little sketch of the Fort St. Julian, -celebrated in Napoleonic annals, we started off, and reached Rosetta in -good time, so that I was able most satisfactorily to finish my large -water-colour of the place. I was rather bothered where I sat at the -water's edge by the small boys and a very persistent pelican, which kept -flying from the river into the fish market and returning with stolen -fish, to souse them in the water before filling its pouch, in time to -avoid capture by the pursuing brats. - -"_November 26th_.--From Rosetta we glided pleasantly to Metubis, one of -the many shining cities, as seen from afar, that become heaps of squalid -dwellings when viewed at close quarters. But the minarets of those -phantom cities remain erect in all their beauty, and this city in -particular was transfigured by the most magnificent sunset I have ever -seen, even here." - -The wild town of Syndioor was our mooring place for the next night, and -at sunrise we were off homewards. Syndioor and the opposite city of -Deyrout were veiled in a soft mist, out of which rose their tall -minarets in stately beauty, radiant in the level light. The effect on -the mind of these ruined places, once magnificent centres of commerce -and luxury, is quite extraordinary. They are now, all of them, -derelicts. And so in time we slipped back into the canal, landing under -the oleanders of our starting place. The crew kissed hands, the _reis_ -made his obeisance, and we returned to the hard stones and rattle of the -Boulevard de Ramleh, refreshed. The Germans were gone. - -Balls, picnics, gymkhanas and dinners were varied by intervals of -water-colour sketching in the desert. One picnic, out at Mex, to the -west of Alexandria, was distinguished by a great camel ride we all had -on the soft-paced, mouse-coloured mounts of the Camel Corps, the -Englishwomen looking so nice in their well-cut riding habits, sitting -easily on their tall steeds. I managed to secure several sketches that -day of the men and camels of the corps, and have one sketch of ourselves -starting for our turn in the desert. Our ponies took us back home. The -sort of day I liked. As I record, the completeness of my enjoyment was -caused by my having been able to put some useful work in, as usual. I -had a Camel Corps picture _in petto_ at this time. - -"_February 13th_, 1891.--We had the Duke of Cambridge to luncheon. He -arrived yesterday on board the _Surprise_ from Malta, and Will, of -course, received him officially, but not royally, as he is travelling -incog., and he came here to tea. To-day we had a large party to meet -him, and a very genial luncheon it was, not to say rollicking. The day -was exquisite, and out of the open windows the sea sparkled, blue and -calm. H.R.H. seemed to me rather feeble, but in the best of humours; a -wonderful old man to come to Egypt for the first time at seventy-two, -braving this burning sun and with such a high colour to begin with! One -felt as though one was talking to George III. to hear the 'What, what, -what? Who, who, who? Why, why, why?' Col. Lane, one of his suite, said -he had never seen him in better spirits. I was gratified at his praise -of our cook--very loud praise, literally, as he is not only rather deaf -himself, but speaks to people as though they also were a 'little hard of -hearing.' 'Very good cook, my dear' (to me). 'Very good cook, Butler' -(across the table to Will). 'Very good cook, eh, Sykes?' (very loud to -Christopher Sykes, further off). 'You are a _gourmet_, you know better -about these things than I do, eh?' C. S.: 'I ought to have learnt -something about it at Gloucester House, sir!' H.R.H. (to me): 'Your -health, my dear.' 'Butler, your very good health!' Aside to me: 'What's -the Consul's name?' I: 'Sir Charles Cookson.' 'Sir Charles, your -health!' When I hand the salt to H.R.H. he stops my hand: 'I wouldn't -quarrel with her for the world, Butler.' And so the feast goes on, our -august guest plying me with questions about the relationship and -antecedents of every one at the table; about the manners and customs of -the populace of Alexandria; the state of commerce; the climate. I answer -to the best of my ability with the most unsatisfactory information. He -started at four for Cairo, leaving a most kindly impression on my -memory. The last of the old Georgian type! 'Your mutton was good, my -dear; not at all _goaty_,' were his valedictory words." - -Mutton _is_ goaty in Egypt unless well selected. I advise travellers to -confine themselves to the good poultry, and to leave meat alone. What I -would have done without our dear, good old Magro, the major domo who did -my housekeeping out there, I dread to think. His name, denoting a lean -habit of body, was a misnomer, for he was rotund. A good, honest -Maltese, his devotion to "Sair William" was really touching. I was only -as the moon is to the sun, and to serve the sun he would, I am -convinced, have risked his life. I came in for his devotion to myself by -reason of my reflected glory. One morning he came hurtling towards me, -through the rooms, waving aloft what at first looked like a red -republican flag, but it proved to be a sirloin or other portion of -bovine anatomy which he had had the luck to purchase in the market (good -beef being so rare). "Look, miladi, you will not often meet such beef -walking in the street!" He laid it out for my admiration. This is the -way he used to ask me for the daily orders: "What will miladi command -for dinner?" "Cutlets?" (patting his ribs); "a loin?" (indications of -lumbago); "or a leg?" (advancing that limb); "or, for a delicate -_entrée_, brains?" (laying a finger on his perspiring forehead). "Oh, -for goodness' sake, Magro, not brains!" When the day's work was done he -would retire to what we called the "Ah!-poor-me-room"--his -boudoir--where, repeating aloud those words so dear to his nationality, -he would take up his cigar. Government gave him £250 a year for all this -expenditure of zeal. - -While on the subject of Oriental housekeeping, I must record the -following. Our predecessors of a former time had what to me would have -been an experience difficult to recover from. They were giving a large -Christmas dinner, and the cook, proud of the pudding he had mastered the -intricacies of, insisted on bringing it in himself, all ablaze. It was -only a few steps from the kitchen to the dining-room. Holding the great -dish well up before him, he unfortunately set fire to his beard, and the -effect of his dusky face approaching in the subdued light of the door, -illuminated in that way by blue flames, must have been satanic. - -"_March 14th_.--Lord Charles Beresford, who has relieved the other ship -with the _Undaunted_, invited us all to luncheon on board, but Will and -I could not stay to luncheon as we had guests; nevertheless, we had a -very interesting morning on board. On arriving at the Marina we found -Lady Charles, Lady Edmund Talbot, Colonel Kitchener,[10] whose light, -rather tiger-like eyes in that sunburnt face slightly frightened me, and -others waiting to go with us to the _Undaunted_ in the ship's barge and -a steam launch. Lord Charles received us with his usual sailor-like -welcome, and we had a tremendous inspection of the ship, one of our -latest experiments in naval machinery--a belted cruiser. She will -probably cruise to the bottom if ever the real test comes. A torpedo was -fired for us, but it gambolled away like a porpoise, ending by plunging -into a mudbank. I wish they would diverge their direction like that in -war, detestable inventions! - -"_April 1st_, 1891.--I am now quite in the full swing of Egyptian -enjoyment. No more Egyptian rain! Excellent accounts from home, and my -intention of going back is rendered unnecessary. How thankful I am, on -the eve of our departure for Palestine, for the 'all well' from home!" - -My entries in the Diary during that unique journey, and my letters to my -mother, are published in my book, "Letters from the Holy Land." I -illustrated it with the water colours I made during our pilgrimage, and -I was most delighted to find the little book had an utterly unexpected -success. It was nice to find myself among the writers! To have ridden -through this land from end to end is to have experienced a pleasure such -as no other part of the earth can give us. Had I had no more joy in -store for me, that would have been enough. - -As the railway was not opened till the following year the mind was not -disturbed, and could concentrate on the scenes before it with all the -recollection it required. I called our progress "riding through the -Bible." Many a local allusion in both Testaments, which had seemed vague -or difficult to appreciate before, opened out, so to say, before one's -happy vision, and gave a substance, a vitality to the Scripture -narrative which produced a satisfaction delightful to experience. -Perhaps the strongest longing in my childhood's mind had been to do this -journey. To do it as we did, just our two selves, and in the fresh -spring weather, was a happy circumstance. - -As I look back to that time which we spent amidst the scenes of Our -Lord's revealed life on earth, no portion of it produces such a sense of -mental peace as does the night of our arrival on the shores of the Sea -of Galilee. _There_ there were no crowds, no distractions, not a thing -to jar on the mind. Before and around one, as one sat on the pebbly -strand, appeared the very outlines of the hills His eyes had rested on, -and far from modern life encroaching on one's sensitiveness, the cities -that lined those sacred shores in His time had disappeared like one of -the fleeting cloud shadows which the moon was casting all along their -ruined sites. His words came back with a poignant force, "Woe unto -thee, Chorazin! Woe unto thee, Bethsaida!... and thou, Capernaum, which -art exalted unto heaven...." Where were they? And the high waves raced -foaming and breaking on the shingle, blown by a strong though mild wind -that came across from the dark cliffs of the country of the Gadarenes. -One seemed to feel His approach where He had so often walked. One can -hardly speak of the awe which that feeling brought to the mind. He was -quite near! - -Undoubtedly the effect of a journey through the Holy Land _does_ -permanently impress itself upon one's life. It is a tremendous -experience to be brought thus face to face with the Gospel narrative. We -returned to the modern world on May 1st. This time I left Alexandria in -company with my husband on June 3rd, and on landing at Venice we at once -went on to Verona, where he was anxious to visit the battlefield of -Arcole. - - - - -CHAPTER XVIII - -THE LAST OF EGYPT - - -Here at Verona was Italy in her richest dress, her abundant and varied -crops filling the landscape, one might say, to overflowing; not a space -of soil left untilled, and, all the way along our road to San Bonifacio -for Arcole, the snow-capped Alps were shimmering in the blue atmosphere -on one hand, and a great teeming plain stretched away to the horizon on -the other. - -I noticed the fine physique of the peasantry, and their nice ways. Every -peasant man we met on the road raised his hat to us as we passed. At San -Bonifacio we got out of the carriage and, turning to the right, we -walked to Arcole, becoming exclusively Napoleonic on reaching the famous -marsh. History says that a soldier saved Napoleon from drowning early in -the battle by pulling him out of the water in that marsh, "by the hair!" -I pondered this _bald_ statement, and came to the conclusion that the -thing must have happened in this wise. Young Bonaparte in those early -days wore his hair very long, and gathered up into a queue. Had he been -close-cropped, as his later experience in Egypt compelled him to be, the -history of the world might have been very different. As I looked into -the water from the famous little bridge, I saw the place where the young -conqueror slipped and plunged in. The soldier must have caught hold of -the pigtail, and with the good grip it afforded him pulled his drowning -general out. Between the little bridge and the spot where he sank -Napoleon raised the obelisk which we see to-day. Thus do I like to -realise interesting events in history. - -Our driver on the way back became a dreadful bore, for ever turning on -the box to chatter. First he informed us that Arcole was called after -Hercules, "a very strong man" (great thumping of biceps to illustrate -his meaning), which we knew before. Then, when within sight of the -battlefield of Custozza, where our dear Italians got such a "dusting" -from the Austrians, he informed us that he had been in the battle, and -that the Italians had _blasted_ the enemy. "_Li abbiamo fulminati_." -"Oh, shut up, do! _Basta, caro!_" - -Our afternoon stroll all over Verona merged into a moonlight one which -takes first rank in my Italian chronicles. The effect of a roaring -Alpine torrent (for such is the Adige at this season of melting snows) -rushing and swirling through the heart of that ancient city, between -embankments bordered with domed churches, with towers and palaces, I -found quite unique. Mysterious, too, it all felt in the lights and -profound shades of the moonlight. Above rose the hills with very -striking serrated outlines, crowned with fortresses. - -The rest of the summer saw me at home at Delgany. I must say the "Green -Isle" for summer, following Egypt for winter, makes a very pleasant -combination. My husband had returned to Alexandria on August 23rd, and I -and a wee child followed in November. I had half accomplished my next -Academy picture at home, and I took it out to finish in Egypt--"Halt on -a Forced March: Retreat to Corunna." A study of an artillery team this -time, giving the look of the spent horses, "lean unto war." It was very -well placed at the Academy in the fresh first room, and well received, -but it was too sad a subject, perhaps, so I have it still. There were no -half-starved horses in all Wicklow, I am happy to say, look where I -would for models. I had well-to-do ones to get tone and colour from, but -I bided my time. In Egypt I had plenty of choice, and had I not been -able to put the finishing touches to my team _there_, the picture would -never have been so strong--an instance of my favourite definition when I -am asked, "What is the secret of success?" "_Seize opportunities_." - -So on December 10th, 1891, I, with the little child I had safely brought -out with me, landed once more at Alexandria. The big charger and the -grey Syrian pony had now a black donkey alongside for the desert rides, -which were the chief pleasure of our life out there. - -But the winter grew sad. On January 7th, 1892, the Khedive Tewfik died -rather mysteriously, it was said, but his death was announced as the -result of that plague we call the "flu," which reached even to the East. -Just eight days later poor Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence, fell a -victim to it, and in the same way died Cardinal Manning. Also some of -our own friends at Alexandria went down. And yet never was there more -brilliant weather, so softly brilliant that one could hardly realise the -presence of danger. All the balls and other festivities were stopped, of -course. I had ample time to finish my "Halt on a Forced March" in this -long interval, so boring and depressing to Alexandrian society. Soon -things returned to pleasantly normal conditions, however, and being -free from the studio on sending my picture off, I went in -whole-heartedly for the amenities of my official position. The Private -View at the far-away Royal Academy was in my mind on the occasion of my -giving away the prizes at some athletic sports, for I knew it was just -then in full blast, April 29th, 1892. I knew my quiet picture could not -make anything of a stir, and I chaffed myself by suggesting that the -"three cheers and one cheer more" proposed by the English consul at the -end of the prize-giving, which rent the sunset air in that dusty plain -in my honour, should be all I ought to expect. It would be a _little_ -too much to receive applause in two quarters of the globe at the same -moment, allowing for difference of time! - -I call upon my Diary again: "_May 18th_.--We joined a picnic in the very -palm grove through which the Turks fled from the French pursuit under -Bonaparte to find death in the surf of Aboukir Bay. We were shaded by -clumps of pomegranate trees in flower as well as by the waving, rustling -palms, and a cool wind blew round us most pleasantly, while the white -and grey donkeys that brought us rested in groups, their drivers and the -villagers squatting about them in those unconsciously graceful attitudes -I love to jot down in my sketch book. The moving shadows of the palm -branches on the sand always capture my observation; no other tree -shadows produce that effect of ever-interlacing forms. Far away in the -radiant light lay the region where the terrible naval battle took place -later, to our credit. Altogether our party was surrounded by frightful -reminiscences, in the midst of which the picnic went its usual picnicky -way. We rode back to Alexandria by the light of the stars. - -"_May 23rd_.--A wonderful day, full of colour, movement and interest. -Young Abbas II., the new Khedive, was received here on his arrival from -Cairo, the whole population, swelled by strange wild Asiatics from -distant parts, filling the streets and squares through which he was to -pass. Will, of course, had to receive him at the station. The crowd -alone was a pleasure to look at. The Khedive seemed a squat young man -with a round pink and white painted face. They say he loves not the -English. What I enjoyed above all was the drive we took soon after, all -the length of the line of reception, to Ras-el-Tin. Oh, those narrow -streets of the old quarter, filled with numberless varieties of Oriental -costumes. Now and then the crowd was threaded by troops, some on -horseback, some perched on camels, and, to give the finishing touch of -variety, the native fire brigade went by, wearing the brass helmets of -their London _confrères_, very surprising headgear bonneting their black -and brown faces." - -I, with the little child, left for home on June 7th, _viâ_ Genoa, well -provided with a good stock of studies of camels and Camel Corps -troopers. These were for my 8-foot picture, destined for the next -Academy. Many a camel had I stalked about the Ramleh desert to watch its -mannerisms in movement. I got quite to revel in camels. Usually that -interesting beast is made utterly uninteresting in pictures, whereas if -you know him personally he is full of surprises and one never gets to -the end of him. - -The voyage to my dear old Genoa was full of beautiful sights, with one -exception. I don't know what old Naples was like--I know it was -frightfully dirty--but I saw it modernised into a very horrid town, a -smudge of ugliness on one of the ideal beauties of the world. It gave me -a shock on beholding it as we entered the harbour, and so I leave the -town itself severely alone, with its new, barrack-like buildings looking -gaunt and gritty in the burning June sunshine. The cloisters of the -Certosa at Sant' Elmo are very beautiful, and I much enjoyed the church -and the splendid "Descent from the Cross" of Spagnoletto. There was just -time for a dash up there before leaving at 12 noon. As we steamed out -towards Ischia I got the oft-painted (and, alas! oleographed) view of -Vesuvius across the whole extent of the bay from off Posilipo. Certainly -nowhere on earth can a fairer scene be beheld, and greater grace of -coast and mountain outline. Then the fair scene melted away into the -tender haze of the June afternoon--blue and tender grey, the volcanic -islands one by one disappeared and the day of my first sight of the Bay -of Naples closed. - -June 12th was a most memorable day, a day of deepest, sweetest, and -saddest impressions and memories for me. In the afternoon I made ready -for our approach to that part of the world where the brightest years of -my childhood were spent--the Gulf of Genoa. In order not to lose one -moment away from the contemplation of what we were approaching, I packed -up all our things before three o'clock, did all the _fin de voyage_ -paying and tipping, and then, my mind free for concentration, I -stationed myself at the starboard bulwark, binocular in hand. At long -last I saw in the haze of the lovely afternoon a shadowy outline of -rocky mountain which my heart, rather than my eyes, told me was Porto -Fino, for never had I seen it before from out at sea, at that angle. But -I knew where to look for it, and while to the other passengers we seemed -still out of sight of land I saw the shadowy form. Then little by little -the whole coast grew out of the haze and I saw again, one after the -other, the houses we lived in from Ruta to Albaro. With the powerful -glass I had I could see Villa de' Franchi and its sundial, and see how -many windows were open or shut at Villa Quartara as we passed Albaro, -and see the old, well-loved pine tree and cypress avenue of the latter -_palazzo_. - -"The sight of Genoa in the lurid sunset glow, with its steep, conical -mountains behind it, crowned with forts, half shrouded in dark grey -clouds, was very impressive. 'La Superba' looked her proudest thus seen -full face from the sea, seated on her rocky throne. By the by, when -_will_ people give up translating 'superba' by 'superb'? It is rather -trying. 'Genoa the Superb'! Ugh!" - -[Illustration: THE EGYPTIAN CAMEL-CORPS AND THE BERSAGLIERI.] - -I worked away well in the pleasant seclusion of Delgany, at my 8-foot -canvas whereon I carried very far forward my "Review of the Native Camel -Corps at Cairo." I had already a water-colour drawing of this subject, -which I had made while the scene was fresh in my mind's eye. I had been -indebted to the then General commanding at Cairo for the facilities -afforded me to see, at close quarters, a charge of the native Camel -Corps, which impressed me indelibly. I had driven out of Cairo to the -desert, where the manoeuvres were taking place, and, getting out of -the carriage opposite the saluting base, I placed myself in front of the -advancing squadrons, so timing things that I got well clear at the right -moment. I wanted as much of a full-face view as possible. The -attitudes of the men, wielding their whips, the movements of the camels, -the whole rush of the thing gave me such a sensation of advancing force -that, as soon as the "Halt!" was sounded, and the 300 animals had flung -themselves on their knees with the roar and snarl peculiar to those -creatures when required to exert themselves, I hastened back to -Shepheard's and marked down the salient points. The men were of all -shades, from _fellaheen_ yellow to the bluest black of Nubia, and it was -a striking moment when they all leapt off their saddles (as the camels -collapsed), panting, and beginning to re-set their disordered -accoutrements. In those days the saddles were covered with red morocco -leather, with fringed strips that flew out in the wind, adding, for the -artist, a welcome aid to the representation of motion. Now, of course, -that precious bit of colour is gone, and the necessity for khaki -invisibility reaches even to the camel saddle, which is now a stiff and -unattractive dun-coloured object. - -For my last and most brilliant visit to Egypt I took out our eldest -little girl, and a very enjoyable trip we had, _viâ_ Genoa. Of course, I -took out the picture to finish it on its native sands. I had the richest -choice of military camels, arms and accoutrements, and a native trooper -or two, as models, but only for studies. I was careful to have no posed -model to paint from in the studio, otherwise good-bye to movement. These -graceful Orientals become the stupidest, stiff lay figures the moment -you ask them to pose as models. Besides, the sincere Mohammedans refuse -to be painted at all. I have never used a Kodak myself, finding -snapshots of little value, but quick sketches done unbeknown to the -_sketchee_ and a good memory serve much better. The picture, I grieve to -say, was hung not very kindly at the Academy, but at the Paris Salon it -was received with all the appreciation I could desire. - -What pleased me particularly in this last sojourn in Egypt was our visit -to Cairo, where I was so happy during my first experience, when I -described my sensations as being comparable to swimming in Oriental -colour, light, and picturesqueness. The only thing that jarred was the -tyranny of Cairo society, which compelled one to appear at the -diversions, whether one liked it or not. Nevertheless, I gained a very -thorough knowledge of the wondrously beautiful mosques, having the -advantage of the guidance of one who knew them all intimately--Dean -Butcher. It was a true pleasure to have him as _cicerone_, and I am -grateful to him for his most kindly giving up his time for little C. and -me. My husband had long ago been acquainted with every nook and corner -of Cairo, but Dean Butcher had made a special study of these mosques, -and I think he was pleased with the way we took in the fascinating -information he gave me and the child. - -It's a far cry from Cairo to Aldershot! On November 1st, 1893, my -husband's command of the 2nd Infantry Brigade began there. Much as I -loved Egypt, it was a great delight for me to know that the parting from -the children was not to be repeated. I had had Egypt to my heart's -content. - -After returning home from Egypt, at Delgany, on June 17th, 1893, I set -up my next big picture, "The Réveil in the Bivouac of the Scots Greys on -the Morning of Waterloo--Early Dawn." I was able to make all my -twilight studies at home, all out of doors; not a thing painted in the -studio. I pressed many people into my service as models, and I think I -got the light on their fine Irish faces very true to nature. I even -caught an Irish dragoon home on leave in the village, whose splendid -profile I saw at once would be very telling. - - - - -CHAPTER XIX - -ALDERSHOT - - -And now our Irish home under the glorious Wicklow Mountains broke up, -and I was to become acquainted with life in the great English camp. The -huts for officers were still standing at that time, wooden bungalows of -the quaintest fashion, all the more pleasing to me for being unlike -ordinary houses. The old court-martial hut became my studio, four -skylights having been placed in it, and I was quite happy there. I -worked hard at "The Réveil," and finished it in that unconventional -workshop. - -To say that Aldershot society was brilliant would be very wide of the -mark. How could it be? But to us there was a very great attraction close -by, at Farnborough. There lived a woman who was and ever will be a very -remarkable figure in history, the Empress Eugénie. She hadn't forgotten -my husband's connection with her beloved son's tragic story out in South -Africa, nor her interview with him at Camden Place, and his management -of the Prince's funeral at Durban. We often took tea with her on Sundays -during our Aldershot period, her "At Home" day for intimate friends and -relatives, at the big house on the hill. She became very fond of talking -politics with _Sair William_, and always in English, and she used to sit -in that confidential way foreign politicians have, expressive of the -whispered divulgence of tremendous secrets and of occult plots and -plans in various parts of the world. She talked incessantly with him, -but was a bad listener; and if a subject came up in conversation which -did not interest her, a sharp snap or two of her fan would soon bring -things to a stop. - -[Illustration: ALDERSHOT MANOEUVRES. - -THE ENEMY IN SIGHT.] - -Entries from the Aldershot Diary: - -"_January 9th_, 1894.--We went to the memorial service at the Empress's -church in commemoration of the death of Napoleon III. After Mass we went -down to the crypt, where another short service was chanted and the tombs -of the Emperor and Prince Imperial were incensed. Between the two lies -the one awaiting the pathetic widow who was kneeling there shrouded with -black, a motionless, solitary figure, for whom one felt a very deep -respect. - -"_March 14th_.--Delightful dinner at Government House, where the Duke -and Duchess of Connaught proved most cheery host and hostess. He took me -to dinner, and we talked other than banalities. All the other generals' -wives and the generals and heads of departments were there to the number -of twenty-two. - -"_March 25th_.--To a brilliant dinner at Government House to meet the -Duke of Cambridge. Good old George was in splendid form, and asked me if -I remembered the lunch we gave him at Alexandria. It was a most cheery -evening. We sat down about twenty-eight, of whom only six were ladies. -Grenfell, our old friend of Genoese days, and Evelyn Wood were there. - -"_May 17th_.--A glorious day for the Queen's Review, which was certainly -a dazzling spectacle. Dear old Queen, it is many a long year since she -reviewed the Aldershot Division; nor would she have come but that her -son is now in supreme command here. Old people say it was like old -times, only that she has shrunk into a tinier woman than ever she was, -and by the side of the towering Duchess of Coburg in that spacious -carriage she looked indeed tiny, and nearly extinguished under a large -grey sunshade. A good place was reserved for my little carriage close to -the Royal Enclosure, and I enjoyed the congenial scene to the utmost. -Was I not in my element? The review took place on Laffan's Plain, a -glorious sweep of intense green turf which I often take little Martin to -for our morning walk, and no Aldershot dust annoyed us. I was very proud -of the general commanding the 2nd Brigade riding past the saluting base -at the head of his troops on that mighty charger, 'Heart of Oak,' that -fine golden bay, set off to the utmost advantage by the ceremonial -saddle-cloth and housings of blue and gold. That general gives the -salute with a very free sweep of the sword arm. The march past took a -long time. As to the crowd of officers behind the Queen's carriage, my -eyes positively ached with the sight of all that scarlet and gold. I -must say this scarlet is pushed too far to my mind. It must have now -reached the highest pitch of dyeing powers. It was a duller tone at -Waterloo; and certainly still more artistic when Cromwell first ordered -his men to wear it. But I may be wrong, and it is certainly very -splendid. The Duke of Cambridge and Prince of Wales were on huge black -chargers, and wore field marshals' uniforms. It was pretty to see the -Duke of Connaught--who, at the head of his staff, in front of the -division drawn up in line, had sat awaiting the Queen's arrival--canter -up to his mother and salute her as her carriage drove into the -enclosure. Then he cantered back to his place, a very graceful rider, -and the review began. I managed to do good work at 'The Réveil' in -forenoon. What a contrast and rest to the eyes that picture is after -such glittering spectacles as to-day's. War _versus_ Parade! It was -pathetic to see the Queen to-day with her soldiers. She cannot pass them -in review many more times. - -"The Empress Eugénie has returned, and we had a long interview with her -the other day at her beautiful home at Farnborough. She is by no means -the wreck and shadow some people are pleased to describe her as being, -but has the remains of a certain masculine power which I suppose was -very masterful in the great old days of her splendour. She is not too -tall, and has a fine, upright figure. She lives apparently altogether in -the memory of her son, and is surrounded by his portraits and relics, -including drawings showing him making his heroic stand, alone, forsaken, -against the savage enemy. I feel, as an Englishwoman, very uneasy and -remorseful while listening to that poor mother, with her tearful eyes, -as she speaks of her dead boy, who need not have been sacrificed. There -is no trace in her words of anger or reproach or contempt, only most -appealing grief. She has one window in the hall full to a height of many -feet of the tall grass which grows on the spot where her treasured son -was done to death by seventeen assegai wounds, all received full in -front. I remember his taking us over some artillery stables, I think, at -Woolwich once. He had a charming face. The Empress rightly described to -us the quality of the blue of his eyes--'the blue sky seen in water.' - -"We often go to her beautiful church these fine summer days. Her only -infirmity appears to be her rheumatism, which necessitates some one -giving her his arm to ascend or descend the sanctuary steps when she -goes to or comes from her _prie-Dieu_ to the right of the altar. -Sometimes it is M. Franceschini Pietri, sometimes it is the faithful old -servant Uhlmann who performs this duty. - -"_August 13th._--We have had the Queen down again for another review in -splendid (Queen's) weather. The night before the review Her Majesty gave -a dinner at the Pavilion to her generals, and for the first time in her -life sat down at table with them. Will gave me a most interesting -account. In the night there was a great military tattoo, which I -witnessed with C. from General Utterson's grounds. Very effective, if a -little too spun out. Will and the others were standing about the Queen's -and the Empress Eugénie's carriages all the time, in the grass soaked -with the heavy night dew, and felt all rather blue and bored. In the -Queen's carriage all was glum, while the Empress with her party chatted -helpfully in hers to fill up the time. It was pitch dark but for the -torches carried by long lines of troops in the distance. - -"To-day was made memorable by the review held of our brilliant little -division by the German Emperor on Laffan's Plain, in perfect weather. He -wore the uniform of our Royal Dragoons, of which regiment he is honorary -colonel, and rode a bay horse as finely trained as a circus horse (and -rather suggestive of one, as are his others, too, that are here), with -the curb reins passing somewhere towards the rider's knees, which supply -the place of the left hand, half the size of the right and apparently -almost powerless. The poor fellow's shoulders are padded, too, and one -sees a _hiatus_ between the false, square shoulder and the real one, -which is very sloping. But the general appearance was gallant, and the -young man seemed full of gaiety and martial spirit. He took the salute, -of course, and was a striking figure under the Union Jack which waved -over his British helmet. Then followed a little episode which, if rather -theatrical, was enlivening, and a pretty surprise. As the Royal -Dragoons' turn came to pass the saluting base the Kaiser drew his sword -and, darting away from his post, placed himself at the head of his -British regiment, the Duke of Connaught replacing him at the flagstaff -_pro tem_. The Kaiser couldn't salute himself, of course, so saluted the -Duke, and, when the Dragoons were clear, back he came at a circus canter -to resume his post and continue to receive the salute of the passing -legions, as before. We all clapped him for this graceful compliment. It -was smartly done. The detachment (seventy-five in number) had been sent -over from Dublin on purpose for this little display. In the evening Will -dined at Government House in a nest of Germans, who seemed afraid to sit -well upon their chairs in the august presence of their Emperor, and sat -on the very edge. One particularly corpulent general was very nearly -slipping off. I went to the evening reception, no wives being asked to -the dinner, as the dining-room is so small and the German suite so -voluminous. - -"I was at once presented to H.I.M., who talked to me, like a good boy, -about my painting and about the army, which he said he greatly admired -for its appearance. He is just now a keen Anglo-maniac (_sic_)! We shall -have him dressing one of his regiments in kilts next. He is not at all -as hard-looking as I expected, but not at all healthy. His face, seen -near, is unwholesome in its colour and texture, and the eyes have that -_boiled_ look which suggests a want of clarity in the system, it seems -to me. He is nice and natural in his manner and in the expression of his -face, with light brown moustache brushed up on his cheeks. He wore the -mess dress of the Royal Dragoons, and his right hand was twinkling with -very 'loud' rings on every finger, coiled serpents with jewelled eyes. - -"_August 14th._--A glorious sham fight in the Long Valley and heights -for the Kaiser. I shall always remember his appearance as, at the head -of a large and brilliant staff of Germans and English, he came suddenly -galloping up to the mound where I was standing with the children, -riding, this time, a white horse and wearing his silver English Dragoon -helmet without the plume. He seemed joyous as his eye took in the lovely -landscape and he sat some minutes looking down on the scene, -gesticulating as he brightly spoke to the deferential _pickelhauben_ -that bent down around him. He then dashed off down the hill and crested -another, with, if you please, C. on her father's huge grey second -charger careering after the gallant band, and escaping for an anxious -(to me) half-hour from my surveillance. The child looked like a fly on -that enormous animal which overtopped the crowd of staff horses. Adieu -to the old gunpowder smoke. It has cleared away for ever. One sees too -much nowadays, and that mystery of effect, so awful and so grand, caused -by the lurid smoke, is gone. How much writers and painters owe to the -old black powder of the days gone by! - -"_September 23rd._--Had a delightful evening, for we dined with the -Empress Eugénie. I seemed to be basking in the 'Napoleonic Idea' as I -sat at that table and saw my glass engraved with the Imperial 'N,' and -was aware of the historical portraits of the Bonaparte Era that hung -round the room. The Empress was full of bright conversation and chaff; -and I find, as I see her oftener, that she has plenty of humour and -enjoys a joke greatly. We didn't go in arm in arm, men and women, but -_Sa Majesté_ signed to me and another woman to go in on either side of -her. She called to Will to come and sit on her right. I was very happy -and in my element. Oh! how the mind feels relieved and expanded in that -atmosphere. We had music after dinner, and I had long talks on Egypt -with the Empress, whose recollections of that bright land are -particularly brilliant, she having been there during the jubilant -ceremonies in connection with the opening of the Suez Canal. One year -before the great calamities to her and her husband! She told me that -just for a freak she walked several times in and out between the two -pillars on the Piazzetta at Venice, that time, to brave Fate, who, it -was said, punished those who dared to do this. 'Then _les évènements_ -followed,' she added. Well might she say that life is an up and down -existence. She waved her hand up and down, very high and very low, as -she said it, with a very weary sigh. Her face is often very beautiful; -those eyes drooping at the outer corners look particularly lovely as -they are bent downwards, and her white hair is arranged most gracefully. -She is always in black. - -"Will has accepted the extension of his command here to my great -pleasure; the chief charm to us in this place is the neighbourhood of -the Empress. That makes Farnborough unique. Not only is she so -interesting, but now and then there are visitors at her house whose very -names are sonorous memories. The other day as we came into her presence -she went up to Will and asked him to let Prince Murat, Ney (Prince de la -Moscowa) and Masséna (duc de Rivoli), see some of the regiments in his -brigade at their barracks. When the inspection was over these three -illustrious Names came to lunch with us, and I sat between Murat and -Masséna, with _le Brave des Braves_ opposite. What's in a name? -Everything, sometimes. I thought myself a very favoured creature last -Sunday as I sat by Eugénie at her tea table and she sprinkled my muffin -with salt out of her little muffineer. I am glad to know she likes me -and she is very fond of Will. One Sunday she and I and the Marquise de -Gallifet were sitting together, and the Empress was talking to the -latter about 'The Roll Call,' pronouncing the name in English, but -Madame, who looked somewhat stony and unsympathetic, could not pronounce -the name when the Empress asked her to, and made a very funny thing out -of it. The Empress tried to teach her, making fun of her attempts which -became more and more comic, combined with her frigid expression. At last -the Empress turned to me and asked me to show how it ought to be said in -the proper way; but, as she had just given me an enormous chocolate -cream, I was for the moment unable to pronounce anything with this thing -in my cheek, and she went into fits of laughter as I made several -attempts to say the unfortunate name. So it was never pronounced, and -Madame la Marquise looked on as though she thought we were both rather -childish, which made the Empress laugh the more. The least thing, if it -is at all comical, sends her into one of her laughing fits which are -very catching--except by Gallifets. - -"Talking of camel riding (and they say she rode like a Bedouin in the -desert) I sent her into another fit which brought the tears to her eyes -by saying I always forgot '_quel bout de mon chameau se lève le -premier_' at starting. But she sent me into one of my own particular -fits the other day. I was telling her, in answer to her enquiry as to -insuring pictures on sending them by sea, that I thought only their -total loss would be paid for, and what the artist considered an injury -of a grave nature amounting to total loss might not be so considered by -the insurance company. 'And if,' she said, 'you have a portrait and a -hole is made right through one of the eyes?' Here she slowly closed her -left eye and looked at me stolidly with the right, to represent the -injured effigy, 'would you not get compensation?' The one-eyed portrait -continued to look at me out of the forlorn single eye with every vestige -of expression gone, and I laughed so much that I begged her to become -herself again, but she wouldn't, for a long time. - -"There has been a great deal of pheasant shooting, particularly at the -De Worms' at Henley Park, where a _chef_ at £500 a year has made that -hospitable house very attractive; but there has been one shoot at -Farnboro' made memorable by Franceschini Pietri distinguishing himself -with his erratic gunnery. Suddenly he was seen on a shutter, screaming, -as the servants bore him to the house. Every one thought he was wounded, -but it turned out he was sure he had hit somebody else, which happily -wasn't true. People are shy of having him, after that, at their shoots, -especially Baron de Worms, who showed me how he accoutred himself by -padding and goggles, one day, bullet-proof against that excitable little -southerner, who was a member of the party at Henley Park." - -After one of the Empress's dinners at Farnboro' Hill, a small dinner of -intimate friends, we had fun over a lottery which she had arranged, -making everything go off in the most sprightly French way. What easy, -pleasant society it was! One admired the courage which put on this -brightness, though all knew that the dead weight on the poor heart was -there, so that others should not feel depressed. Even with these kind -semblances of cheeriness no one could be unmindful of the abiding sorrow -in that woman's face. - -"_January 9th, 1895._--The anniversary of the Emperor Napoleon's death -come round again. There was quite a little stir during the service in -the church. The catafalque, heaped up with flowers, was surrounded with -scores of lighted tapers as it lay before the altar. A young priest, in -a laced _cotta_, went up to it to set a leaf or flower or something in -its place, when instantly one of his lace sleeves blazed. Almost -simultaneously the General, in full uniform, springing up the altar -steps without the smallest click of his sword, was at the priest's side, -beating out the fire. Not another soul in that crowded place had seen -anything. That was like Will! We laid wreaths on the tombs in the -crypt." - -An entry in March of that year records good progress with "The Dawn of -Waterloo," and mentions that we had the honour of receiving the Empress -Frederick and her hosts, the Connaughts, and their suites, who came to -see the picture. I found the Empress still more like her mother than -when I first saw her, when she and the Crown Prince Frederick dined at -the Goschens'--a memorable dinner, when the fine, serious-looking and -bearded Frederick told my husband he would desire nothing better for his -sons than that they should follow in his footsteps. The Empress was -beaming--that is exactly the word--and a few minutes after coming into -the drawing-room she showed that she was anxious to get on to the -studio, to save the light. So out we sallied, walking two and two, a -formidable procession, and we were nearly half an hour in the little -court-martial hut. They all had tea with us afterwards, quite filling -the tiny drawing-room. The Empress was very small, and as she talked to -me, looking up into my face, I thought her the most taking little woman -I ever saw. She had what I call the "Victoria charm," which all her -sisters shared with her--absolutely unstudied, homely, and exceedingly -friendly. At least it so appeared to me in a high degree in her that -day. But what a sorrow she had had to bear! - -The picture was taken to the Club House, there to be shown for three -days to the division before Sending-in Day. The idea was Will's, but I -got the thanks--undeserved, as I had been reluctant to brave the dust on -the wet paint. Crowds went to see it, from the generals down to the -traditional last drummer. - -I thought the Academicians were again unkind in the placing of my -picture, and a trip to Paris was all the more welcome as a diversion, -for there I was able to seek consolation in the treat of a plunge into -the best art in the "City of Light." One interesting day in May found us -at Malmaison, the country house of Napoleon and Josephine. There is -always something mournful in a house no longer tenanted which once -echoed the talk, the laughter, the comings and goings, the pleasant and -arresting sounds of voices that are long silent. But _this_ house, of -all houses! It was absolutely stripped of everything but Napoleon's -billiard table, and the worm-eaten bookshelves in his little musty study -the only "fixtures" left. The ceilings we found in holes; that garden, -once so much admired and enjoyed, choked with dusty nettles. We went -into every room--the one where poor derelict Josephine died; the guests' -bedrooms; the dining-room where Napoleon took his hurried meals; the -library where he studied; the billiard-room, where he himself often took -part in a game surrounded by "fair women and brave men" in the glitter -of gorgeous uniforms and radiant _toilettes_. One lends one's mind's ear -to the daily and nightly sounds outside--the clatter of horses' hoofs as -the staff ride in and out of the courtyards with momentous despatches; -the sharp words of command; the announcement of urgent arrivals -demanding instant hearing. We found our minds revelling in suchlike -imaginings. The chapel, the coach-houses, the great iron gates were all -there, but seen as in a dream. - -We were back at Aldershot on May 30th. "The Queen's Ball, at Buckingham -Palace, brilliant as ever. The Shahzada, the Ameer of Afghanistan's son, -was the guest of the evening, as it is our policy just now to do him -particular honour, after having made his father 'sit up.' A pale, -wretched-looking Oriental, bored to tears! The usual delightful medley -of men of every nationality, civilised and semi-civilised, was there in -full splendour, but the rush of that crowd for the supper-room, in the -wake of royalty, was most unseemly. Every one got jammed, and it was -most unpleasant to have steel cartridge boxes and sword hilts sticking -into one's bare arms in the pressure. I think there was something wrong -this time with the doors. I was much complimented that night on my 'Dawn -of Waterloo,' but that was an inadequate salve to my wounded feelings. - -"_June 15th._--A great review here in honour of the young Shahzada, who -is being so highly honoured this season. I don't think I ever saw such a -large staff as surrounded that pallid princeling as he rode on to the -field. The whole thing was a long affair, and our bored visitor -refreshed himself occasionally with consolatory snuff. The whole of the -cavalry finished up, as usual, with a charge 'stem on,' and as the -formidable onrush neared the weedy youth he began to turn his horse -round, possibly suspecting deep-laid treachery." - -My husband and I were present when Cardinals Vaughan and Logue laid the -foundation stone of Westminster Cathedral. The luncheon that followed -was enlivened by some excellent speeches, especially Cardinal Logue's, -whose rich brogue rolled out some well-turned phrases. - -A week later we were at dinner at Farnborough Hill. "There was a large -house-party, including Princes Victor and Louis Napoleon, the elder a -taciturn, shy, dark man about thirty-three, and the younger an alert, -intelligent officer of thirty-one, who is a colonel in the Russian -cavalry, and is the hope and darling of the Bonapartists. I call him -Napoleon IV. Victor went in with the Empress to dinner and Louis with -me, but on taking our seats the two brothers exchanged places, so that I -sat on Victor's right. I had an uphill task to talk with the studious, -silent Victor, and found my right-hand neighbour much more pleasant -company, Sir Mackenzie Wallace. I had not caught his name and his accent -was so perfect and his idioms and turns of speech so irreproachable that -I never questioned his being a Frenchman. Away we went in the liveliest -manner with our French till suddenly we lapsed into English, why I don't -know. This gave the Empress her chance. She began chuckling behind her -toothpick and asked me in French if he had a good accent in speaking -English. 'Yes, madame, very good!' 'Ah? _really_ good?' (chuckle). -'Really good, madame.' 'Ah, that is well' (chuckle). I saw in Will's -face I was being chaffed and guessed the truth. Much laughter, -especially from Louis. He told Will, across the Empress, that he had -seen an engraving of 'Scotland for Ever' in a shop window in Moscow, and -had presented it to the mess of his own cavalry regiment, the Czar being -now colonel of the Scots Greys, and that he little expected so soon to -meet the painter of that picture. The dinner was very bright and -sparkling, so unlike a purely English one. How gratefully Will and I -conformed to the spirit of the thing. His Irish heart beats in harmony -with it. I didn't quite recover from my _faux pas_ at table, and, on our -taking leave, brought everything into line once more by wishing Prince -Louis '_Felicissima Sera!_' in a way denoting a bewilderment of mind -amidst such a confusion of tongues. I left amidst applause. - -"_July 8th._--There was a sham fight on the Fox Hills to-day to which -the two French princes went. Will mounted Victor on steady 'Roly Poly,' -and sent H. on 'Heart of Oak' to attend on His Imperial Highness -throughout the day. Louis was mounted by the Duke. My General loves to -honour a Napoleon, so, when he was riding home with Louis after the -fight, and the Guards were preparing to give the General the usual -salute, he begged the Imperial Colonel to take the salute himself. 'But, -General, I am not even in uniform!' answered Louis. 'One of your name, -sir, is always in uniform,' was the ready reply. So Louis took it. On -his way back to the Empress he stopped at our hut, and after a glass of -iced claret cup on this grilling day, he looked at my sketches, and at -the little oil picture I am painting for Miss S.--'Right Wheel!'--the -Scots Greys at manoeuvres. I wonder if he has it in him to make a bid -for the French Throne! - -"_July 12th._--The Queen came down to-day, and there was a very fine -display of the picked athletes of the army at the new gymnasium in the -afternoon, before Her Majesty, who did not leave her carriage. She -looked pleased and in great good humour. She gave a dinner to her -generals in the evening at the Pavilion as she did last year. Will sat -near her, and she kept nodding and smiling to him at intervals as he -carried on a lively conversation with Princesses Louise and Beatrice. -Her Majesty expanded into full contentment when nine pipers, supplied by -the three Highland Regiments of the Division, entered the room at the -close of dinner in full blast. They tell me that each regiment jealously -adhered to its own key for its skirls, or whatever the right word is, -and so in three different keys did the pibrochs bray, but this detail -was not particularly noticeable in the general hurly-burly. The Queen -stood it well, though in that confined space it must have tried her -nerves. Give me the bagpipes on the mountain side or in the desert, -where I have heard them and loved them. - -"_July 13th._--At a very fine review for the Queen, who brought her -usual weather with her. She looked well pleased, especially with the -stirring light cavalry charge at the close, when Brabazon pulled up his -line at full charging pace within about 12 yards (it seemed to me) of -the royal carriage. Really, for a moment, I thought, as the dark mass of -men and horses rolled towards us, that he had forgotten all about -'Halt!' It was a tremendous _tour de force_, and a bit of swagger on the -part of this dashing hussar. That group of the Queen in her carriage, -with the four white horses and scarlet coated servants; the Prince of -Wales and the rest of the glittering Staff; Prince Victor Napoleon in -civilian dress, his heavy face shaded by his tall black hat as he -uneasily sat his excited horse; the other carriages resplendent in red -and gold; the Empress's more sober equipage full of French _élégantes_, -and the wave of dark hussars bursting in a cloud of dust almost in -amongst the group, all the leaders of the charging squadrons with sabres -flung up and heads thrown back--what a sight to please me! I feel a -physical sensation of refreshment on such occasions. What discipline and -training this performance showed! Had one horse got out of hand he might -have flopped right into the Queen's lap. I saw one of the squadron -leaders give a little shiver when all was over. On getting home I was -doing something to the bearskins of my Scots Greys in 'Right Wheel,' -showing the way the wind blew the hair back, as I had just seen it at -the review, while fresh in my mind, when a servant came to tell me -Princess Louise was at the Hut. I had got into my painting dress with -sleeves turned up for coolness. I ran in, changed in half a minute, and -had a nice interview, the Duchess of Connaught being there also, and we -had one of those 'shoppy' art talks which the Duchess of Argyll likes. - -"_August 16th._--My 'At Home' day was made memorable by the appearance -of the Empress Eugénie, who brought a remedy for little Eileen's cold. -It was a plaster, which she showed me how to use. I cannot say how -touched we were by this act, so thoughtful and kind--that poor childless -widow! She seems to have a particularly tender feeling for Eileen, -indeed Mdlle. d'Allonville has told me so." - -The rest of the Aldershot Diary is filled with military activities up to -the date of the expiration of my husband's time there, and his -appointment to the command of the South Eastern District with Dover -Castle as our home. But between the two commands came an interlude -filled with a tour through some parts of Italy I had not seen before, -and a visit to the Villa Cyrnos at Cap Martin, whither the Empress had -invited us. - - - - -CHAPTER XX - -ITALY AGAIN - - -In January, 1896, we left Aldershot on a raw foggy day, with the usual -winter brown-paper sky, the essence of dreariness, on leave for the land -I love best. At Turin our train for Genoa was filled with poor young -soldiers off to Abyssinia, the Italian Government having followed our -example in the policy of "expansion"; with what success was soon seen. -An Italian told us that "good coffee" was to be had from there, amongst -other desirable commodities. So the poor young conscripts were being -sent to fetch the good coffee, etc. They were singing in a chorus of -tenor voices as they went, after affectionately kissing the comrades who -had come to see them off. - -At sunrise we arrived at Naples, Vesuvius looking like a great amethyst, -transparent in the golden haze from the sun which rose just behind it. I -must say the Neapolitan population struck me as very wretched; the men -were no better than the poor creatures one might see in Whitechapel any -day, and dressed, like them, in shoddy clothing. The poor skeleton mules -and horses were covered with picturesque brass-mounted harness instead -of flesh, and I saw no red-sashed, brown-limbed _lazzaroni_ such as were -supposed to dance _tarantelle_ on the shore. Certainly there is not much -dancing and singing in their hungry-looking descendants. - -January 17th was a memorable day, spent at Pompeii. One must see the -place for oneself. Familiar with it though you may be through books and -paintings, Pompeii takes you by surprise. The suddenness of that -entrance into the City of the Dead _is_ a surprise to a newcomer, such -as I was. To come into the city at once by the "Street of Tombs," which -carries you steeply upwards into the interior--no turnstiles at the -gate, no ticket collectors, no leave-your-umbrella-at-the-door; this -natural way of entering gave me a strange sensation as if I were walking -into the past. The present day was non-existent. Though we were three -and a half hours circulating about those theatres, baths, villas, shops, -through the narrow streets, with their deep ruts and stepping stones, I -was so absorbed in the fascination of realising the life of those days -that I never needed to rest for a moment, and the day had grown very -hot. One rather drags oneself through a museum, but we were here under -the sky, and Vesuvius, the author of this destruction, was there in very -truth, looking down on us as we wandered through the remnants of his -victim. - -As to beauty of colour there is here a great feast for the painter. What -could surpass, on a day like that, the simple beauty of those positive -reds and yellows and blues of walls and pillars in that light, -back-grounded by the tender blue of mountains delicately crested with -the white of their snows? The positive strong foreground colours -emphasised by the delicacy of the background! The absolute silence of -the place was impressive and very welcome. - -The Diary had better "carry on" here: "_Sunday, January 19th._--To Capri -and Sorrento on our way to Amalfi. There is a string of names! I feel I -can't pronounce them to myself with adequate relish. To Mass at 8, and -then at 9 by steamer to Capri, touching at Sorrento on our way. Three -hours' passage over a very dark blue sea, which was flecked with foam -off Castellamare. Capri is all I expected, a mass of orange and lemon -groves in its lower part, with wonderful crags soaring abruptly, in -places, out of the clear green water. Tiberius's villa is perched on the -edge of a fearful precipice that has memories connected with his -cruelties which one tries to smother. Indeed, all around one, in those -scenes of Nature's loveliness, the detestable doings of man against man -are but too persistently obtruding themselves on the mind which is -seeking only restful pleasure. - -"We were driven to the Hotel Quisisana ('Here one gets well'), very high -up on a steep ridge, where the village is, and were sorry to find our -pleasure marred by being set down to _déjeuner_ with as repulsive a -company of Teutons as one could see. The perspective of those feeding -faces, along the edge of the table, tried me horribly. They say the -Germans are outnumbering the British as tourists in Italy now. Nowhere -do their loud voices and rude manners jar upon our sensibility so -painfully as in Italy. The _Frau_ next to me actually sniffed at four -bottles out of the cruet in succession, poking them into her nose before -she satisfied herself that she had found the right sauce for her chop! -What's to be done with such people? - -"We had not much time to give to the lovely island, for the little -steamer had to take us to Sorrento at two o'clock. We put up there at -the Hotel Tramontano, and had a stroll at sunset, with views of the -coast and Vesuvius that spread out beyond the reach of my well-meaning, -but inadequate, pen. I can't help the impulse of recording the things of -beauty I have seen. It is owing to a wish to preserve such precious -things in my memory, to waste nothing of them, and to record my -gratitude as well." - -At Amalfi came the culmination to our long series of experiences of the -Neapolitan Riviera. The names of Amalfi, Ravello, Salerno and Pæstum -will be with me to the end, in a halo of enchantment. - -On returning to Naples, of course, we paid our respects to Vesuvius. Our -climb to the highest point allowable of the erupting cone was not at all -enchanting, and left my mind in a most perturbed condition. There was -much food for meditation when our visit was over, but at the time one -had only leisure to receive impressions, and very disconcerting -impressions at that. A keen north wind blew the fumes from the crater -straight down my throat as I panted upwards through the sulphur, ankle -deep, and I could only think of my discomfort and probable collapse. I -disdained a litter. I perceived several fat Germans in litters. - -An even deeper impression was made on my mind than that produced by the -eruption proper on our coming, after much staggering over cold lava, -near a great, crawling river of liquid fire oozing out of the mountain's -side. Above our heads the great maw of the crater was throwing up bursts -of rock fragments with rumblings and growls from the cruel monster. I -wonder when that wild beast will make its next pounce? And down there, -far, far below, in the plain lay little Pompeii, its poor, tiny, -insignificant victim! Yes, for a thoughtful climber there was more than -the sulphurous north wind to make him pause. - -The little funicular railway had brought us up to the foot of the cone, -crunching laboriously over the shoulder of the mountain, and I could not -but think--"If the chain broke?" At one point the open truck seemed to -dangle over space. We were sitting with our faces turned towards the sea -and away from the cone, and (were we never to be rid of them?) two -corpulent Teutons faced us, hideously conspicuous, as having apparently -nothing but blue air behind them. There was no horizon at all to the -sea, the pale haze merging sea and sky into one. Then, when we alighted, -we found ourselves in a restaurant with Messrs. Cook & Co.'s waiters -running about. Certainly it was no time for meditating or moralising in -that medley of the prehistoric and the _fin de siècle_. - -I found Rome very much changed after the lapse of all those years since -I was there with our family during the last months of the Temporal -Power. I shall never forget the shock I felt when, to lead off, on our -arrival, I conducted my husband to the great balustrade on the Pincian -overlooking the city, promising him my favourite view. It was a truly -striking one in the far-off days, and quite beautiful. Instead of the -reposeful vineyards of the area facing us beyond the Tiber, fitting -middle distance between us and St. Peter's, gaunt buildings bordering -wide, straight, staring streets glistening with tramlines seemed to jeer -at me in vulgar triumph, and I am not sure that I did not shed tears in -private when we got back to our hotel. One fact, however, brought a -sense of mental expansion as I surveyed that view, which should have -made amends for the sensitive contraction of my artist's mind. That -great basilica yonder was mine now! A return to Rome had another touch -of sadness for me. Our father had been so happy there in introducing his -girls to the city he loved. He seemed now to be ever by my side as the -well-remembered haunts that were left unchanged were seen again. Leo -XIII. was now Pope. On one particular occasion in the Sistine Chapel, at -Mass, I was struck by the extraordinary effect of his white, utterly -ethereal face and fragile figure as he stood at the altar, relieved -against the background of Michael Angelo's exceedingly muscular "Last -Judgment." And, now, what of this "Last Judgment"? The action of our -Lord, splendidly rendered as giving the powerful realisation of the push -which that heavy arm is giving in menace to the condemned souls towards -the Abyss on His left (I had almost said the _shove!_), is realistic and -strong. But what a gross conception! Our modern minds cannot be -impressed by this fleshly rendering of such a subject, a rendering -suitable to the coarser fibre of the Middle Ages. I could positively -hate this fresco, were I not lured, as a painter, to admire its -technical power. - -Our visit to the Empress at Cap Martin followed, on our way home to -Aldershot. She received us with her usual genial grace. The place, of -course, ideal, and the typical blue weather. We were made very much at -home. Madame le Breton told me I was to wear a _table d'hôte_ frock at -dinner, and Pietri told Sir William a black tie to the evening suit was -the order of the day. - -"_February 13th._--The Villa Cyrnos is in a wood of stone pines, -overhanging the sea on a promontory between Mentone and Monte Carlo. It -is in the French Riviera style, all very white--no Italian fresco -colouring. Plentiful striped awnings to keep off the intense sunlight. -Cool marble rooms, polished parquets, flowers in masses--a sense of -grateful freshness with reminders of the heat outside in the dancing -reflections from the sea. Indeed, this is a charming retreat. Madame -d'Arcos and her sister, Mrs. Vaughan, were there, who having just -arrived from England, were full of accounts of the arrival of the -remains of Prince Henry of Battenberg from Ashanti, and the funeral, at -which Madame d'Arcos had represented the Empress. The different episodes -were minutely described by her of this, the last act of the latest -tragedy in our Royal Family. She had a sympathetic listener in the poor -Empress. - -"_February 14th._--A sunny day marred, to me, by a visit to Monte Carlo, -where the gambling is in fullest activity. The Empress wanted us all to -go for a little cruise in a yacht, but though the sea was calm enough I -preferred _terra firma_, and her ladies drove me to Monte Carlo. Hateful -place! The lovely mountains were radiant in the low sunshine of that -afternoon and the sea sparkling with light, but a crowd of overdressed -riff-raff was circulating about the casino and pigeon-shooting place, -from which came the ceaseless crack of the cowardly, unsportsmanlike -guns. I record, with loathing, one fellow I saw who came on the green, -protected from the gentle air by a fur-lined coat which his valet took -charge of while his master maimed his allotted number of clipped -victims, and carefully replaced as soon as all the birds were down. A -black dog ran out to fetch each fluttering thing as it fell. I was glad -to see this hero was not an Englishman. Inside the casino the people -were massed round the gaming tables, the hard light from the circular -openings above each table bringing into relief the ugly lines of their -perspiring faces. The atmosphere was dusty and stifling, and the hands -of these horribly absorbed people were black with clawing in their gains -across the grimy green baize. I drank in the pure, cool air of the -sunset loveliness outside when I got free, with a very certain -persuasion that I would never pay a second visit, except under polite -compulsion, to the gambling palace of Monte Carlo. - -"_February 15th._--The Empress took us quite a long walk to see the -corps of the '_Alpins_' at the Mentone barracks and back by the rocky -paths along the shore. She is very active, and is looking beautiful. - -"_Sunday, February 16th._--All of us to Mass at the little Mentone -church. The dear Empress gave me a little holy picture during the -service and said, 'I want you to keep this.' There is at times something -very touching about her." - -I sent a small picture this year to the "New Gallery," instead of the -Academy, feeling still the effects of their unkindness in placing "The -Dawn of Waterloo" where they did the preceding year. - - - - -CHAPTER XXI - -THE DOVER COMMAND - - -And now Dover Castle rises into prominence above the horizon as I travel -onward. My husband was offered Colchester or Dover. He left the choice -to me. How could there be a doubt in my mind? The Castle was the very -ideal, to me, of a residence. Here was History, picturesqueness, a wide -view of the silver sea, and the line of the French coast to free the -mind of insularity. So to Dover we went, children, furniture, horses, -servants, dogs and all, from the Aldershot bungalow. As usual, I was -spared by Sir William all the trouble of the move, and while I was -comfortably harboured by my ever kind and hospitable friends, the -Sweetmans, in Queen's Gate, my husband was managing all the tiresome -work of the move. - -It was a pleasure to give dances at the Constables' Tower, and the -dinners were like feasts in the feudal times under that vaulted ceiling -of the Banqueting Hall. Our boys' bedroom in the older part of this -Constables' Tower had witnessed the death of King Stephen, and a winding -staircase conducted the unappreciative London servants by a rope to -their remote domiciles. The modernised part held the drawing-rooms, -morning-room, library, and chief bedrooms, while in the garden, walled -round by the ramparts, stood the tower whence Queen Mary is said to have -gazed upon her lost Calais. My studio had a balcony which overhung the -moat and drawbridge. What could I have better than that? No wonder I -accomplished a creditable picture there, for I had many advantages. I -place "Steady, the Drums and Fifes!" amongst those of my works with -which I am the least dissatisfied. The Academy treated me well this -time, and gave the picture a place of honour. These drummer-boys of the -old 57th Regiment, now the Middlesex, are waiting, under fire, for the -order to sound the advance, at the Battle of Albuera. That order was -long delayed, and they and the regiment had to bear the supreme test of -endurance, the keeping motionless under fire. A difficult subject, -excellent for literature, very trying for painting. I had had the vision -of those drummer-boys for many years before my mind's eye, and it is a -very obvious fact that what you see strongly in that way means a -successful realisation in paint. Circumstances were favourable at Dover. -The Gordon Boys' Home there gave me a variety of models in its -well-drilled lads, and my own boys were sufficiently grown to be of -great use, though, for obvious reasons, I could not include their dear -faces in so painful a scene. The yellow coatees, too, were a tremendous -relief to me after that red which is so hard to manage. I remember -asking Detaille if he ever thought of giving our army a turn. "I would -like to," he said, "but the red frightens us." The bandsmen of the -Peninsular War days wore coatees of the colour of the regimental -facings. After long and patient researches I found out this fact, and -the facings of the 57th, being canary yellow, I had an unexpected treat. -I remember how the Duke of York[11] at an Aldershot dinner had -characteristically caught up this fact with great interest when I told -him all about my preparations for this picture. I am glad to know this -work belongs to the old 57th, the "Die Hards," who won that title at -Albuera. "Die hard, men, die hard!" was their colonel's order on that -tremendous day. - -Many interesting events punctuated our official life at Dover: - -"_August 15th, 1896._--Great doings to-day. We had a busy time of it. -Lord Salisbury was installed Lord Warden in the place of Lord Dufferin. -Will had the direction, not only of the military part of the ceremonies -but of the social (in conjunction with me), as far as the Constables' -Tower was concerned. Everything went well. Lord and Lady Salisbury drove -in a carriage and four from Walmer up to our Tower, and, while the -procession was forming outside to escort them down to the town, they -rested in our drawing-room for about half an hour, and Lord Dufferin -also came in. - -"I had to converse with these exalted personages whilst officers in full -uniform and women in full toilettes came and went with clatter of sabre -and rustle of silk. To fill up the rather trying half-hour and being -expected to devote my attention chiefly to the new Lord Warden, I -bethought myself of conducting him to a window which gave a bird's-eye -view of the smoky little town below. I moralised, _à la_ Ruskin, on the -ugliness of the coal smoke which was smudging that view in particular, -and spoiling England in general. On reconducting the weighty Salisbury -to a rather fragile settee I morally and very nearly physically knocked -him over by this felicitous remark: 'Well, I have the consolation of -knowing that the coalfields of England are finite!' 'What?' he shouted, -with a bound which nearly broke the back of that settee. I don't think -he said anything more to me that day. Of course, I meant that smokeless -methods would have to be discovered for working our industries, but I -left that unsaid, feeling very small. It is my misfortune that I have -not the knack of small talk, so useful to official people, and that I am -obliged to propel myself into conversation by pronouncements of that -kind. Shall I ever forget the catastrophe at the L----s' dinner at -Aldershot, when I announced, during a pause in the general conversation, -to an old gentleman who had taken me in, and whose name I hadn't caught, -that there was one word I would inscribe on the tombstone of the Irish -nation, and that word was--Whisky. The old gentleman was John Jameson. - -"But to return to to-day's doings. I had to consign to C.,[12] as my -deputy, the head of the table for such of the people as were remaining -at the Castle for luncheon as I myself had to appear at that function at -the Town Hall. The procession, military, civil and civic--especially -civic--started at 12 for the 'Court of Shepway,' where much antique -ceremonial took place. When they all reached the Town Hall after that, -Lord Salisbury first unveiled a full-length portrait of the outgoing -Lord Warden, at the entrance to the Banqueting Hall, and complimented -him on so excellent a likeness with a genial pat on the back. We were -all in good humour which increased as we filed in to luncheon and -continued to increase during that civic feast, enlivened by a band. -Trumpets sounded before each speech, and the sharp clapping of hands -called, I think, 'Kentish Fire,' gave a local touch which was pleasingly -original. I am glad, always, to find the county spirit still so strong -in England, and nowhere is it stronger than in Kent. It must work well -in war with the county regiments. - -"I am afraid Lady Salisbury must have got rather knocked out of time -coming to the Castle, by all the saluting, trumpeting and general -prancing of the guard of honour. She was nervous crossing our drawbridge -with four 'jumpy' horses which she told me had never been with troops -before! Altogether I don't think this was a day to suit her at all. I -heard the postillion riding the near leader shout back to the coachman -on the box as they started homeward from our door, 'Put on both brakes -_hard!_' Away went the open carriage which had very low sides and no -hood, and Lord Salisbury, being very wide, rather bulged over the side. -Wearing a military cape, lent him by my General, the day turning chilly, -he had a rather top-heavy appearance, and we only breathed freely when -that ticklish drawbridge, and the very steep drop of the hill beyond it, -were passed. So now let them rest at Walmer. Will will do all he can to -secure peace for them there." - -On August 20th I went to poor Sir John Millais' funeral in St. Paul's. -The ceremony was touching to me when I thought of the kind, enthusiastic -friend of my early days and his hearty encouragement and praise. They -had placed his palette and a sheaf of his brushes on the coffin. Lord -Wolseley, Irving, the actor, Holman Hunt and Lord Rosebery were the -pall-bearers. The ceremony struck me as gloomy after being accustomed to -Catholic ritual, and the undertaker element was too pronounced, but the -music was exquisite. So good-bye to a truly great and sincere artist. -What a successful life he had, rounded by so terribly painful a death! - -One of the most interesting of the Dover episodes was our hiring of -"Broome Hall" for the South-Eastern District manoeuvres in the -following September. The Castle was too far away for working them from -there, so this fine old Elizabethan mansion, being in the very centre of -the theatre of "war," became our headquarters. There we entertained Lord -Wolseley and his staff as the house-party. Other warriors and many -civilians whose lovely country houses were dotted about that beautiful -Kentish region came in from outside each day, and for four days what -felt to me like a roaring kind of hospitality went on which proved an -astonishing feat of housekeeping on my part. True, I was liberally -helped, but to this day I marvel that things went so successfully. -Everything had to be brought from the Castle--servants in an omnibus, -_batterie de cuisine_, plate, linen and all sorts of necessary things, -in military waggons, for the house had not been inhabited for a long -while. All the food was sent out from Dover fresh every day, by road--no -village near. The house had been palatially furnished in the old days, -but its glory was much faded and so ancestral was it that it possessed a -ghost. A pathetic interest attaches to "Broome" to-day, and I should not -know it again in its renovated beauty. Lord Kitchener restored it to -more than its pristine lustre, I am told. - -The morning start each day of all these generals (Sir Evelyn Wood was -one of them) from the front door for the "battle" was a pleasing sight -for me, with the strong cavalry escort following. After the gallant -cavalcade had got clear I would follow in the little victoria with -friends, hoping in my innermost heart that I was leaving everything well -in hand behind me for the hungry "Cocked Hats" on their return. - -On March 30th, 1897, I had a glimpse of Gladstone. We were on the pier -to receive a Royalty, and the "Grand Old Man" was also on board the -Calais boat. He was the last to land and was accompanied by his wife. He -came up the gangway with some difficulty, and struck me as very much -aged, with his face showing signs of pain. I had not seen him since he -sat beside me at a dinner at the Ripons' in 1880, when his keen eye had -rather overawed me. He was now eighty-eight! The crowd cheered him well, -but the old couple were past that sort of thing, and only anxious to -seek their rest at "Betteshanger," a few miles distant, whither Lord -Northbourne's carriage whirled them away from public view. - -And now comes the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria. I think my fresh -impressions written down at the time should be inserted here as I find -them. Too much national sorrow and suffering brought to us by the Great -War, and too many changes have since blurred that bright picture to -allow of posthumous enthusiasm for its chronicling to-day. Were I to -tone down that picture to the appearance it has to me at the present -time it would hardly be worth showing. - -"_June 22nd, 1897._--Jubilee Day. I never expected to be so touched by -what I have seen of these pageants and rejoicings, and to feel so much -personal affection for the Queen as I have done through this wonderful -week. Thinking of other nations, we cannot help being impressed with the -way in which the English have comported themselves on this occasion--the -unanimity of the crowds; the willingness of every one concerned; all -resulting in those huge pageants passing off without a single jar. My -place was in the courtyard of the Horse Guards; Will's place was on his -big grey before St. Paul's, at Queen Anne's statue, to keep an eye on -things. I had an effective view of the procession making the bend from -Whitehall into the courtyard, and out by the archway into the parade -ground. This gave me time to enjoy the varied types of all those -nationalities whose warriors represented them, as they filed past at -close quarters. But we had five hours of waiting. These hours were well -filled up for me, so continually interested in watching the movements of -the troops as they took up their positions for receiving the procession -and saluting the Queen. I think in the way of perfect dress and of -superfine, thoroughbred horseflesh, Lord Lonsdale's troop of Cumberland -Hussars was as memorable a group as any that day. They wore the 'sling -jacket,' only known to me in pictures and old prints of the pre-Crimean -days, and to see these gallant-looking crimson pelisses in reality was -quite a delightful surprise. - -"The sun burst through the clouds just as the guns announced to us that -the Queen had started from Buckingham Palace on her great round by St. -Paul's at 11.15. So we waited, waited. Presently some one called out, -'Here's Captain Ames,' and, knowing he was the leader, we nimbly ran up -to our seats. It seemed hardly credible that the journey to St. Paul's -and the ceremony there, and the journey homewards could have occupied -so comparatively brief an interval. I think the part of the procession -which most delighted me was the cohort of Indian cavalry, and then the -gorgeous bunch of thirty-six princes, each in his national dress or -uniform. These rode in triplets. You saw a blue-coated Prussian riding -with a Montenegrin on one side and an Italian bonneted by the absurd -general's helmet now in vogue on the other. Then came another triplet of -a Persian, whose breast was a galaxy of diamonds flashing in the sun, an -Austrian with fur pelisse and busby (poor man, in that heat), and the -brother of the Khedive, wearing the familiar _tarboosh_, riding a little -white Arab. Then followed an English Admiral in the person of the Duke -of York, a Japanese mannikin on his right, and a huge Russian on his -left, and so on, and so on--types and dresses from all the quarters of -the globe in close proximity, so that one could compare them at a -glance. The dignified Indian cavalry were superb as to dress and -_puggarees_, but the faces were stolid, very unlike the keen, clean-cut -Arab types which so charmed me in Egypt and Palestine. There certainly -were too many carriages filled with small Germans. Then came the -colonial escort to the Queen's carriage. As they came on and passed -before us I do not exaggerate when I say that there seemed to pass over -them an ever-deepening cloud-shadow, as it were, from the white -Canadians riding in front, through ever-deepening shades of brown down -to the blackest of negroes, who rode last. What an epitome of our -Colonial Empire! Then, finally, before the supreme moment, came Lord -Wolseley, the immediate forerunner of the Royal carriage. He looked well -and gallant and youthful. Then round the curve into the courtyard the -eight cream-coloured horses in rich gala harness of Garter-blue and -gold! So quick was the pace that I dared not dwell too long on their -beauty for I was too absorbed in the Queen during that precious minute. -There she was, the centre of all this! A little woman, seated by herself -(I had not time to see who sat facing her) with an expressionless pink -face, preoccupied in settling her bonnet, which had got a little -crooked, as though nothing unusual was going on, and that was the last I -saw of her as she passed under the dark archway, facing homeward. - -"_June 26th._--Off from Dover at 2 a.m. for Southampton, by way of -London, to see the culminating glory of the Jubilee--the greatest naval -review ever witnessed. At eight we left Waterloo in one of the -'specials' that took holders of invitation cards for the various ocean -liners that had been chartered for the occasion. Our ship was the P. and -O. _Paramatta_, and very pleased I was on beholding her vast -proportions, for I feared qualms on any smaller vessel. There were -meetings on board with friends and a great luncheon, and general good -humour and complacency at being Britons. The day cleared up at 10.30, -and only a slight haze thinly veiled the mighty host of the Channel -Fleet as we slowly steamed towards it along the Solent. Gradually the -sun shone fully out and the day settled into steady brilliance. - -"Well, I have been so inflated with national pride since beholding our -naval power this day that if I don't get a prick of some sort I shall go -off like a balloon. Let us be exultant just for a week! We won't think -of the ugly look of India just now and all the nasty warnings of the -bumptious Kaiser and the rest of it. We can't while looking at Britannia -ruling the waves, as we are doing to-day. Five miles of ships of war -five lines deep! When all these ships fired each twenty-one guns by -divisions as the Prince of Wales steamed up and down the lines, and the -crews of each vessel in turn gave such cheers as only Jack Tar can give, -it was not the moment to threaten us with anything. I shall never forget -the aspect of this fleet of ours, black hulls and yellow funnels and -'fighting tops' stretching to east and west as far as the eye could -reach and beyond, the mellow sunlight full upon them and the -slowly-rolling clouds of smoke that wrapped them round with mystery as -their countless guns thundered the salute! Myriads of flags fluttered in -the breeze, the sea sparkled, and in and out of those motionless -battleships all manner of steam and sailing craft moved incessantly, -deepening by the contrast of their hurry the sense one had of the -majestic power contained in those reposing monsters.... Every one is -saying, 'And to think that not a single ship has been recalled from -abroad to make up this display!' We are all very pleased, and have the -good old Nelson feeling about us." On June 28th the Queen held her -Jubilee Garden Party in the Buckingham Palace grounds. There we looked -our last on her. - -I took four of the children, in August, to Bruges, that old city so much -enjoyed by me in my early years. I was charmed to see how carefully all -the old houses had been preserved, and, indeed, I noticed that a few of -them, vulgarly modernised then, were now restored to their original -beauty. How well the Belgians understand these things! Seventeen years -after this date the eldest of the two schoolboys I had with me was to -ride through that same old Bruges as A.D.C. to the general commanding -"The Immortal 7th Division," which, retiring before the German hordes, -was to turn and help to rend them at Ypres. - -In 1898 I exhibited a smaller picture than usual--"The Morrow of -Talavera," which was very kindly placed at the Academy--and I began a -large Crimean subject, "The Colours," for the succeeding year. I had -some fine models at Dover for this picture. In making the studies for it -I had an interesting experience. I wanted to show the colour party of -the Scots Guards advancing up the hill of the Alma in their full parade -dress--the last time British troops wore it in action--Lieutenant Lloyd -Lindsay carrying the Queen's colour. It was then he won the V.C. Lord -Wantage (that same Lloyd Lindsay), now an old man, but full of energy, -when he heard of my project, conducted me to the Guards' Chapel in -London, and there and then had the old, dusty, moth-eaten Alma colours -taken down from their place on the walls, and held the Queen's colour -once more in his hand for me to see. I made careful studies at the -chapel, and restored the fresh tints which he told me they had on that -far-away day, when I came to put them into the picture. I was in South -Africa when the Academy opened in the following spring. - -On September 11th, 1898, we received the terrible news of the -assassination of the Empress of Austria. I had seen her every Sunday and -feast day at our little Ventnor church, at Mass, during her residence at -Steep Hill Castle. She had the tiniest waist I ever saw--indeed, no -woman could have lived with a tinier one. She was beautiful, but so -frigid in her manner; she seemed made of stone, yet she rode splendidly -to hounds--altogether an enigma. - -October 27th, 1898, I thoroughly enjoyed. It was a day after my own -heart--picturesque, historical, stirring, amusing. Sir Herbert -Kitchener, _the_ Sirdar _par excellence_, was received at Dover on his -arrival from the captured Khartoum with all the prestige of his new-won -honours shining around him. My husband had decided that the regulation -military honours "to be accorded to distinguished persons" were -applicable to the man who was coming, and so a guard of honour -(Highlanders) with the regimental colour was drawn up at the pier head, -the regimental officers in red and the staff in blue. The crowd on the -upper part of the pier was immense and densely packed all along the -parapet, and the Lower Pier, reserved for special people, was crowded, -too. It was a calm, grey, yet bright day, and the absence of wind made -things pleasant. Great gathering of Cocked Hats at the entrance gates, -and we all walked to the landing stage. There was a dense smudge of -black smoke on the horizon. I knew that meant Kitchener. Keeping my eye -on that smudge, I took but a distracted part in the small talk and -frequent introductions of distinguished persons come from afar to -welcome the man of the hour, "the Avenger of Gordon." I was conducted to -the head of the landing steps, together with such of the staff as were -not to go on board the boat with the General. Then the smudge got hidden -behind the pier end, but I could see the ever-increasing swish and swirl -of the water on the starboard side of the hidden steamer, and soon she -swept alongside; a few vague cheers began, no one in the crowd knowing -the Sirdar by sight. When, however, the General went on board and shook -hands, this proclaimed at once where the man was, and cheer upon cheer -thundered out. I have never, before or since, seen such spontaneous -enthusiasm in England. After a little talk (my husband and he were long -together on the Nile) and after the delivery of letters (one from the -Queen) and telegrams, during which the hurrahs went on in a great roar -and multitudinous pocket handkerchiefs fluttered in a long perspective, -the big, solid, stolid, sunburnt Briton stepped on English soil once -more. While shaking hands with me he seemed astonished and amused at all -that was going on and, looking over my head at the masses of people -above, he lifted his hat, and thenceforth kept it in his hand as he was -escorted to the Lord Warden Hotel. He had asked his A.D.C., on first -catching sight of the reception awaiting him, "What is all this about?" - -Then there was an Address at the hotel to which he listened with an -ox-like patience, and after that the enormous company of invited guests -went to lunch. In his speech my husband paid the Sirdar the compliment -of saying that the traditional Field Marshal's baton would be found in -his trunk when the customs officers opened it at Victoria. Kitchener -spoke so low I could not hear him. Had he been less immovable one could -have plainly seen how utterly he hated having to make a speech. His -travelling dress looked most interestingly incongruous amidst the rich -uniforms and the glossy frock-coats as he stood up to say what he had to -say. As we all bulged out of the hotel door the cheers began again from -the crowds. I took care to look at the people that day, and I was struck -by their _unanimity_. All ranks were there, and yet on every face, well -bred or unwashed, I saw the same identical expression--one of broad, -laughing delight. Such were my impressions, which I noted down, as -usual, at the moment, and I have lived to see that remarkable man work -out his life, and end it with a tragedy that will hold its place in -history; my husband's prophecy, put in those playful words at Dover, -fulfilled; a threatening disaster to the Empire turned into victory with -the aid of that extraordinary mind and physical endurance; and the -burning fire of that personality quenched, untimely, in the icy depths -of a northern sea. - - - - -CHAPTER XXII - -THE CAPE AND DEVONPORT - - -On November 12th, 1898, my husband sailed for South Africa, there to -take up the military command, and to act as High Commissioner in place -of Sir Alfred Milner, home on leave. His staff at Dover loved him. Their -send-off brought tears to his eyes. I, C. and the A.D.C. saw him off -from Southampton, to rejoin him in the process of time at the Cape. We -little knew what a dark period in his life awaited him out there, -brought about by the malice of those in power there and at home. It is -too sacred and too painful a subject for me to record it here further -than I have done. The facts will be found in his "Autobiography." I left -England on February 18th, 1899, with three of the children, leaving the -two eldest boys at college. It was a very painful leave-taking at the -Waterloo Station. My mother was there and all the dear ones, whom I did -not expect to see again for two or three years--my mother perhaps ever -again. Yet in a few months we were back there! My theory that one should -try and not fret about the future, which is an absolutely unknown -quantity, proved justified. I have chronicled our voyage out in my -former little book, and described one night at Madeira--a night of -enchantment under the moon. - -I need not go over the days on the "blue water" again, nor our strange -life beyond the Equator, where, though I was filled with admiration for -the beauty of our surroundings, I never felt the happiness which Italy, -Egypt or Palestine had given me. Very absurd, no doubt, and sentimental, -but my love of the old haunts made me feel resentful of the topsy-turvy -state of things I found down there. The crescent moon on what (to me) -was the wrong side of the sunset, the hot north wind, the cold blast -from the south, the shadows all inverted--no, I did not enjoy this -contradiction to my well-beloved traditions. There was, besides, a local -melancholy in that strange beauty I cannot describe. All this may be put -down to sentimentality, but a very real melancholy attaches to South -Africa in my mind in connection with my husband, who suffered there for -his honesty and devotion to the honour of the Empire he served. The -authorities accepted his resignation of the Cape command which he -tendered for fear of embarrassing the Government, and he accepted the -command of the Western District in its place, which meant Devonport. So -on August 22nd we all embarked for Home. - -There we found the campaign of calumny, originated in South Africa -against Sir William, in its acutest phase. The Press was letting loose -all the poison with which it was being supplied, and I consequently went -through, at first, the bitter pain of daily trying to intercept the -vilest anonymous letters, many of them beer-stained missives couched in -ill-spelt language from the slums. Not all the reparation offered to my -husband later on--the bestowal of the Grand Cross of the Bath, his -election to the dignity of Privy Councillor, his selection as the safest -judge to investigate the South African war stores scandals, not to name -other acts conveying the _amende honorable_--ever healed the wound. - -His offence had been a frank admission of sympathy for a people -tenacious of their independence and, knowing the Boers as he did, he -knew what their resistance would mean in case of attack. He was appalled -at the prospect of a war, not against an army but against a people, -involving the farm-burnings and all the horrors which our armies would -have to resort to. He would fain have seen violence avoided and -diplomacy used instead, knowing, as he did, that the old intransigent -Dopper element would die out in time, and the new generation of Boers, -many of whom were educated at our universities, intermarrying with the -English, as they were already doing, would have brought about that very -union of the two races within the Empire which has been reached to-day -through all that suffering. In case, however, war should be decided on -he employed the utmost vigour allowed to official language to warn those -in power of the necessity for enormous forces in order to ensure -success. Some of his despatches were suppressed. The idea at -Headquarters was an easy march to Pretoria. What I have alluded to as -the malice which prompted the campaign of calumny had caused the report -to be spread that our initial defeats were owing to his wilful neglect -in not warning the directing powers of the gravity of their undertaking. - -The chief interest I found in our new appointment was caused by the -frequent arrivals of foreign men-of-war, whose captains were received -officially and socially, and there were admirals, too, when squadrons -came. It was interesting and amusing. Lord and Lady Charles Scott were -at the Admiralty and, later, Sir Edward Seymour, during our appointment. -The foreign sailors prevented the official functions from becoming -monotonous, and we got a certain amount of pleasure out of this -Devonport phase of our experiences. I carried my painting "through thick -and thin," and did well, on the whole, at the Academy. I had the -"consuming zeal"--a very necessary possession. One year it was a big -tent-pegging picture (I don't know where its purchaser is now), which -was well lighted at Burlington House. Then a Boer War subject, "Within -Sound of the Guns"--well placed; followed by an Afghan subject, "Rescue -of Wounded," which to my great pleasure was given an excellent place in -the _Salle d'Honneur_. I also accomplished other smaller works and -exhibited a great number of water colours. It is a medium I like much. I -also prepared for the Press my "Letters from the Holy Land" there which -I have already mentioned. My publishers, Messrs. A. and C. Black, -reproduced the water-colour illustrations very faithfully. - -Our French sailor guests were always bright, so were the Italians, but -the Japanese were very heavy in hand, and conversation was uphill work. -It was mainly carried on by repeated smiles and nods on their part. When -their big ships came in on one occasion the Admiralty gave them the -first dinner, of course, and at the end the bandmaster had the happy -thought of giving a few bars out of Arthur Sullivan's "Mikado" before -the Emperor's health was drunk, the National Air not being in his -repertory. Some one asked the Jap admiral if he recognised it. "Ah! no, -no, no!" came the usual smiling and nodding answer. At the Port -Admirals' I was to learn that in the navy you mustn't stand up for our -Sovereign's health, by order of William IV. This resulted one evening in -our sitting for "The King" and standing up for "The Kaiser." There were -the German admiral and officers present. I thought that very -unfortunate.[13] - -Well, Devonport in summer was very delightful, but Devonport in winter -had long periods of fog and gloom. I had the blessing of another trip to -Italy, this time with our eldest daughter, starting on a dark wintry day -in early March, 1900. Sir William's work prevented his coming with us. -_Viâ_ Genoa to Rome lay our happy way. Of course, it wasn't the Rome I -first knew, but the shock I received when revisiting it four years -before this present visit had already introduced me into the new order, -and I now knew what to see, enjoy, and avoid. There were several new -things to enjoy: above all, the Forum, now all open to the sky! In the -dear old days that space was a rather dreary expanse of waste land where -some poor old paupers were to be daily seen, leisurely labouring under -the delusion that they were excavating. They grubbed up the tufts of -grass and scraped the dust with pocket-knives, and the treasures below -remained comfortably tucked away from public view. Then the much-abused -Embankment. The dignified sweep of its lines leads the eye up, as it -follows the flow of the stream, to the dignity of St. Peter's, whereas, -formerly, in its place, unbeautiful masses of mouldering houses tottered -over the Tiber and gave that long-suffering river the reflections of -their drainpipes. Then, the two end arches of that most estimable Ponte -Sant' Angelo are now cleared of the old mud which blocked them up -malodorously and docked the lovely thing of its symmetry. Then, finally, -Rome is clean! - -We had the good fortune to be present at two very striking Papal -functions, striking as bringing together Catholics from a wide-flung -circle embracing some remote nationalities unknown by sight to me. The -first was the Pope's Benediction in St. Peter's on March 18th. We were -standing altogether about three hours in the crowd at the Tomb, well -placed for seeing the Holy Father. He was taken round the vast basilica -in his _sedia gestatoria_, and blessed a wildly cheering crowd. I never -saw a human being so like a spirit as Leo XIII. He looked as white as -his mitre as he leant forward and stretched his arm out in benediction -from side to side, borne high above the helmets of the Noble Guard. One -heard cheers in all languages, and a curious effect was produced by the -whirling handkerchiefs, which made a white haze above the dark crowd. I -have often heard secular monarchs cheered, and that very heartily, but -for a Pope it seems that more than ordinary loyalty prompts the -cheerers. The people seem to give out their whole being in their voices -and gestures. - -The Diary says: "I am glad I have seen that old man's face and his look, -as though it came to us from beyond the grave. At times the cheers went -up to the highest pitch of both men's and women's voices. A strange -sound to hear in a church." - -A spring day spent at the well-known Hadrian's Villa, under Tivoli, is -not to be allowed to pass without a grateful record. It is a most -exquisite place of old ruins, cypresses, olives and, at this time, -flowering peach trees, violets and anemones. It is an enchanting site -for a country house. Hadrian chose well. From there you see the -delicately-pencilled dome of St. Peter's on the rim of the horizon to -the west, and behind you, to the north, rise the steep foot-hills of the -mountains, some crowned with old cities. The ruins of the villa are all -_minus_ the lovely outer coating which used to hide the brickwork, and -poor Hadrian would have felt very woeful had he foreseen that all the -white loveliness of his villa was to come to this. But as bits of warm -colour and lovely surface those brick spaces take the sun and shadow -beautifully between the dark masses of the cypresses and feathery grey -cloudiness of the olives. Nowhere is the "touch and go" nature of life -more strikingly put before the mind than in dead Rome, where so much -magnificence in stone and marble and mosaic and bronze has fallen into -lumps of crumbling brick. - -On March 26th we attended the Papal Benediction in the Sistine Chapel, -which is a remarkable thing to see. It was a memorable morning. The -floor of the chapel was packed with pilgrims, some of them rough men and -women from remote regions of the north-east, whose outlandish costumes -were especially remarkable for the heavy Cossack boots, reaching to the -knee, worn by both sexes. One wondered how these people journeyed to -Rome. What a gathering of the faithful we looked down on from our -gallery! The same ecstatic cheering we had heard in St. Peter's -announced the entrance of Leo XIII. There he was, the holy creature, -blessing right and left with that thin alabaster hand, half covered with -a white mitten. With all their hoarse barbaric cheering, I noticed how -those peasants, who had so particularly attracted me, remembered to bend -their heads and most devoutly make the sign of the cross as he passed. -They almost monopolised my study of the motley crowd, but I was aware of -the many nationalities present, and the same enthusiasm came from them -all. At such times a great consolation eases the mind, saddened, as it -often is, by the general atmosphere of declining faith in which one has -to live one's ordinary life in the world. After the Mass came the -presentation of the pilgrims at the altar steps. The Pope had kind words -for all, bending down to hear and to speak to them, and often stroking -the men's heads. One huge Muscovite peasant knelt long at his feet, and -the Pope kept patting the rough man's cheek and speaking to him and -blessing him over and over again. At the sight of this a wild -"_hourah_!" broke from his fellow villagers. Where in the world was -their village? In the mists of remoteness, but here in heart, -unmistakably. Following the swarthy giant three sandy-haired German -students, carrying their plumed caps in their hands and girt with -rapiers, presented some college documents to receive the Papal -benediction, and a great many men and women knelt and passed on, but the -Pope seemed in no way fatigued. As he was borne out again he waved us an -upward blessing with his white and most friendly countenance turned up -to us. - -Our Roman wanderings included a visit to the Holy Father's Vatican -gardens, which are part of the little temporal kingdom a Pope still -possesses, and to his tiny "country house" therein, where he goes for -change of air(!) in the summer, about two stonethrows from the Vatican. -I note: "There are well-trimmed vineyards there; there are pet birds and -beasts in a little 'zoological gardens'; there is the arbour where he -has his meals on hot days; and, finally, we were conducted to his little -villa bedroom from whose window one of the finest views of Rome is seen, -dominated by the Quirinal, within (let us hope) shaking hands distance." -We heard the "Miserere" at St. Peter's on Good Friday--very impressive, -that twilight service in the apse of the great basilica! The -unaccompanied voices of boys sounded in sweetest music--one hardly knew -whence it came--and the air seemed to thrill with the thin angelic sound -in the waning light as one by one the candles at the altar were put out. -At the last Psalm the last light was extinguished, and the vast crowd -with its wan faces remained lighted only by the faint glimmer that came -down from the pale sky through the high windows. Then good-bye to Rome. -We left for Perugia on April 22nd. I certainly ought to be grateful for -having had yet another reception by my Umbrian Hills! And such a -reception that April afternoon, with the low sun gilding everything into -fullest beauty! I did my best to secure that moment in miserably -inadequate paint from the hotel window immediately on arrival. Better -than nothing. But no more of Perugia, nor of dear old Florence on our -way to academic Padua; no more of Verona. I have much yet to record on -getting home, and after! - - - - -CHAPTER XXIII - -A NEW REIGN - - -Sir William was asked by Lord Wolseley to take up the Aldershot command -in the absence of Sir Redvers Buller, who was struggling very -desperately to retrieve our fortunes in the Boer War; so to Aldershot we -went from Devonport, where my husband's command ran concurrently. How -intensely England had hoped for the turning of the tide when Buller was -given the tremendous task of directing our armies! We forget the horrors -the nation went through in those days because the late War has made us -pass through the same apprehensions multiplied by millions, but there -the fact remains in our history that we nearly suffered a terrible -catastrophe at the time of which I am writing. Buller, on leaving for -the Cape, had said to my husband how fervently he wished he possessed -his gift of imagination, and, indeed, that is a very precious gift to a -commander. This truly awful state of things--our terrible losses, and -the temporary lowering of our military prestige (thank heaven, so -gloriously recovered and enhanced in the World War!)--were the answer to -the repeated assertion made, when we were at the Cape, by those who -ought to have known, that "the Boers won't fight." How this used to -enrage my husband, whose "gift of imagination" made him see so clearly -the danger ahead. Well, all this is of the long ago, and, as I have -already noted, it is better to say little now; but the sense of -injustice lives! - -[Illustration: A DESPATCH-BEARER, BOER WAR, AND THE HORSE-GUNNERS.] - -Buller had a great reception at Aldershot on his return from South -Africa. I never saw a more radiantly happy face on a woman than poor -Lady Audrey's, who had been in a state of most tense anxiety during her -dear Redvers' absence. As the train steamed into the station the band -struck up "See the Conquering Hero comes!" The horses of his carriage -were unharnessed, and the triumphal car was drawn by a team of firemen -to Government House. At the entrance gate a group of school children -sang "Home, sweet Home"; my husband hauled down his flag and Buller's -was run up, and so that episode closed. - -We had inhabited a suburban-looking villa on the road to Farnborough -during the absence of Sir Redvers, not wishing to disturb the anxious -watcher at Government House, and very often we saw the Empress, just as -in the old days. She told us the dear Queen was very ill, far worse than -the world was allowed to know. My husband had always said the war would -kill her, for she had taken our losses cruelly to heart, and so it -happened on January 22nd, 1901. The resumed Devonport Diary says: - -"A day ever to be marked in English history as a day of mourning. Our -Queen is dead. At dinner S. brought us the news that she passed away at -6.30 this afternoon. We were prepared for it, but it seems like a dream. -To us who have been born and have lived all our lives under her -sovereignty it is difficult to realise that she is gone. - -"_January 23rd, 1901._--A dull gloomy day, punctuated by 81 minute guns, -which began booming at noon. All the royal standards and flags hanging -half-mast in the fog, on land and afloat. - -"_January 24th._--At noon-day all standards and flags were run up to the -masthead, and a quick thunder of guns proclaimed the accession of Edward -VII. At the end the band on board the guardship _Nile_ struck up 'God -Save the King.' The flags will all be lowered again until the day after -Queen Victoria is laid to rest. Edward VII.! How strange it sounds, and -how events and changes are rolling down upon us every hour now. Albert -Edward will be a greater man as Edward VII. - -"_February 5th._--The Queen was buried to-day beside her husband at -Frogmore. It is inexpressibly touching to think of them side by side -again. Model wife and mother, how many of your women subjects have -strayed away, of late, from those virtues which you were true to to the -last! - -"_February 16th._--There is great indignation amongst us Catholics at -Edward VII. having been called upon to take the oath at the opening of -Parliament which savours so much of the darkest days of 'No Popery' -bigotry. I think it might have been modified by this time, and the lies -about 'idolatry' and the 'worship' of the Virgin Mary eliminated. Could -not the King have had strength of mind enough to refuse to insult his -Catholic subjects? I know he must have deeply disliked to pronounce -those words. - -"_August 6th._--Again the flags to-day are at half-mast, and so is the -royal standard, and this time, on the men-of-war, it is the German flag! -The Empress Frederick died yesterday." I never mentioned at the time of -our visit to the Connaughts at Bagshot, when we were first at Aldershot, -a touching incident concerning her. Sir William sat next to her at -dinner, and, _à propos_ of a really fine still-life picture painted by -her, which hung over the dining-room door in the hall, he asked her -whether she still kept up her painting. "No," she said, "I have cried -myself blind!" What with one Empress crying as though her heart would -break in speaking to him that time at Camden Place and this Empress -telling him she had cried herself blind----! The illness and death of -the Kaiser Frederick must have been a period of great anguish. - -During this summer I was very busy with my picture of the "10th Bengal -Lancers at Tent Pegging," a subject requiring much sunshine study, which -I have already mentioned. - -In September, Lord Roberts--"the miniature Field Marshal," as I call him -in the Diary--came down on inspection, and great were the doings in his -honour. "How will this little figure stand in history? Will's -well-planned defence against a night attack from the sea came off very -well this dark still night, though the navy were nearly an hour late. -There was too much waiting, but when, at last, the enemy torpedo boats -and destroyers appeared, the whole Sound was bordered with such a zone -of fire that, had it been real war, not a rivet of the invader's -flotilla would have been left in possession of its hold. 'Bobs' must -have been gratified at to-night's display, which he reviewed from -Stonehouse. - -"Our Roberts dinner was of twenty-two covers, and the only women were -Lady Charles Scott, myself and C. A guard of honour was at the front -door, and presented arms as the Field Marshal arrived, the band playing. -He certainly is diminutive. A nice face, soldierlike, and a natural -manner. With him that too jocose Evelyn Wood and others. 'Bobs,' of -course, took me in to dinner, and, on my left, Lord Charles Scott took -in C. Will took in Lady Charles. The others--Lord Mount Edgcumbe, H.S.H. -Prince Louis of Battenberg (in command of the _Implacable_), Admiral -Jackson, and so forth--subsided into their places according to -seniority. Every man in blue or red except one rifleman. Soft music -during dinner and two bars of the National Anthem before the still -unfamiliar 'The King, God bless him!' at dessert. Will still feels a -little--I don't know how to express it--of the mental hesitation before -changing 'the Queen' which he felt so strongly at first. He was very -truly attached to her. I was back in the drawing-room in good time to -receive the crowd, who came in a continuous flow, all with an expectant -smile, to pay homage to the Lion. I don't think I forgot anybody's name -(coached by the A.D.C.) in all those introductions, but that item of my -duties is a thing I dread. I never saw people in such good humour at any -social function before. We certainly _do_ love to honour our soldiers. -But, all the time, things are not going too well with us in the war! - -"_September 14th._--Again the flags half-mast! Now it is the 'Stars and -Stripes.' Poor President McKinley succumbed to-day to his horrible -wound. The surgeons wouldn't let him die for a long while, though he -asked them to. They did their best. - -"_March 7th, 1902._--And now for the royal visit, the principal occasion -for which is the launching of the great battleship the _Queen_, by Queen -Alexandra. Will was responsible for all matters ashore, as the admiral -was for those afloat. Lady Charles and I had to be on the platform at -North Road to receive Their Majesties, the only other women there being -Lady Morley and the Plymouth Mayor's daughter, bearing a bouquet for -presentation. The royal train had an engine decorated in front of its -funnel with an enormous gilt crown, and I was pleased, as it -majestically glided into the station, to see that it is possible even in -railway prose to have a little dash of poetry. The band struck up, the -guard of honour presented arms with a clang. First, out sprang lacqueys -carrying bags and wraps who scurried to the royal carriages waiting -outside, and out sprang various admirals and diplomats in hot haste, all -with rather anxious faces veneered with smiles. And then, leisurely, the -ever lovely and self-possessed Queen and her kindly and kingly consort, -wearing, over his full-dress admiral's uniform, a caped overcoat. -Salutes, bows, curtseys, smiles, handshakes. Will presents the great -silver Key of the Citadel, which Charles II. had made for locking the -Great Gate against the refractory people. Edward VII. touches it and the -General Commanding returns it to the R.A. officer, who has charge of it. -We all kiss the King's hand as seeing him for the first time to speak to -since his accession. The Queen withdraws her hand quickly before any -officer can salute it in like manner, which looks a little ungracious. -Whilst the General and Admiral are introducing their respective staffs -to the King, the Queen has a little chat with me and asks after my -painting and so forth. She is very fond of that water colour I did for -her album at Dover of a trooper of her 'own' 19th Hussars at -tent-pegging. Lady Charles and I did not join in the procession through -the Three Towns to the dockyard, but hastened home to avoid the crowd. - -"In the evening we dined with Their Majesties on board the royal yacht -over part of which floating palace C. and I had been conducted in the -morning. Whatever the yacht's sailing value may be she certainly cuts -out the Kaiser's _Hohenzollern_ in her internal splendour. When it comes -to washstand tops of onyx and alabaster; and carpets of unfathomable -depth of pile, and hangings in bedrooms of every shade of delicate -colour, 'toning,' as the milliners say, with each particular set of -furniture; and the most elaborately beautiful arrangements for lighting -and warming electrically, and so on, and so on--one rather wonders why -so much luxury was piled on luxury in this new yacht which the King, I -am told, does not like on the high seas. Her lines are not as graceful -as those of the old _Victoria and Albert_, and it is said she 'rolls -awful'! - -"Well, to dinner! As we drove up to the yacht, which is moored right -opposite the Port Admiral's house and is the habitation of the King and -Queen during their sojourn here, we saw her outlined against the pitch -black sky by coloured electric lamps, which was pretty. Equerries, -secretaries and Miss Knollys received us at the top of the gangway, and -the ladies of the Queen soon filed into the ante-chamber (or cabin) -where they and we, the guests, awaited Their Majesties. Full uniform was -ordered for the men, and we ladies were requested to come in 'high, thin -dresses,' as, it appears, is the etiquette on board royal yachts. There -were the Admiral and Lady Charles, the Duke and Duchess of Buccleugh, -Lord and Lady St. Germans, Lord Walter Kerr, Lord Mount Edgcumbe ('the -Hearl,' as he is known to Plymothians), the Bishop of Exeter, Lady -Lytton and others up to about thirty-six in number. The King, still -dressed as an admiral, and the Queen in a charming black and white -semi-transparent frock, with many ropes of pearls, soon came in, and, -the curtseying over, we filed into the great dining saloon brilliantly -lighted and splendid. The King led in his daughter, Princess Victoria. -Buccleugh led in the Queen, and so on. How unlike the painfully solemn, -whispered dinners of dear old Queen Victoria was this banquet. We -shouted of necessity, as the band played all the time. The King and -Queen seem to me to have acquired an _expanded_ dignity since they have -come to the Throne. Will and I could not do justice to the dinner as it -was Friday, but that didn't matter. After the sweets the head servant -(what Goliaths in red liveries they all are!) handed the King a _snuff -box_! I was so fascinated by the sight of the descendant of the Georges -engaged in the very Georgian act of taking a pinch that my eyes were -riveted on him. I love history and am always trying to revive the past -in imagination. It is true that 'a cat may look at a King,' but then I -am _not_ a cat (at least I hope not). I only trust His Majesty didn't -mind, but he certainly saw me! - -"After dinner we women went down with the Queen to her boudoir, where an -Egyptian-looking servant wearing a _tarboosh_ handed us coffee of -surpassing aroma, and Her Majesty showed us her beloved little Japanese -dog and some of the pretty things about the room. She then asked us to -see her bedroom (which I had already seen that morning) and the little -dog's basket where he sleeps near her bed. She is still extremely -beautiful. Her figure is youthful and shapely, and all her movements are -queenly. The King had quite a long talk with Will about this dreadful -Boer War which is causing us all so much anxiety, after we went up -again. He then came over to me, and after a few commonplaces he came -nearer and in a confidential tone began about Will. I think he is fond -of him. What he said was kind, and I knew he wanted me to repeat his -sympathetic words to my husband afterwards. He spoke of him as a -'splendid soldier.' I know he had in his mind the painful trial Will had -gone through. It was late when Their Majesties bade us good-night. - -"_March 8th._--The great day of the launch of H.M.S. _Queen_. I wonder -if the hearts of the sailors beat anxiously to-day at all! A quieter, -more unemotional-looking set of men than those naval bigwigs could -nowhere be seen in the world. But, first of all, there was the -medal-giving at the R.N. Barracks, where Ladies Poore and Charles Scott, -Mrs. Jackson and myself had to receive the King and Queen by the side of -our respective husbands on a raised daïs in the centre of the huge -parade ground. It was very cold, and the Queen told me she envied me my -fur-lined coat. Will said I missed an opportunity of making a pendant to -Sir Walter Raleigh! The function was very long, for the King had to give -a medal to each one of the three hundred bluejackets and marines who -passed before him in single file. At the launching place we all -assembled on a great platform, and there in front of us stood the huge -hull of the battleship, the ram projecting over the little table on -which the Queen was to cut the ropes. That red-painted ram was garlanded -with flowers, and the bottle hung from the garland, completely hidden -under a covering of roses. It contained red Australian wine, a very -sensible change from the French champagne of former times. Down below an -immense crowd of workmen waited, some of them right under the ship, and -all round, in the different stands, were dense masses of people. We were -soon joined by three German naval grandees and two Japanese -_leprechauns_, one an admiral, a toadlike-looking creature in a uniform -entirely copied from ours. Our new allies are not handsome. Then came -the Bishop of Exeter, in robes and cap and with a peaked beard, a living -Holbein in the dress of Cranmer. How could I, a painter, not delight in -that figure? I told a friend that bishop had no business to be alive, -but ought to be a painting by Holbein, on panel. What does she do but -whisk off straight to him and Mrs. Bishop and tell them! Our privileged -group kept swelling with additions of officers in full glory and smart -women in lovely frocks, and bouquets were brought in, and everything was -to me perfectly charming. Monarchy calls much beauty into existence. -Long may it endure! - -"At last there was a stir; the monarchs came up the inclined approach -and the band struck up. They took their places facing the ship's bows, -and Cranmer on panel by Holbein blessed the ship in as nearly a Catholic -way as was possible, with the sign of the cross left out. A subordinate -held his crozier before him. A hymn had previously been sung and a -psalm, followed by the Lord's Prayer. Then came the 'christening' -(strange word), a picturesque Pagan ceremony. The Queen brightened up -after the last 'Amen' and, nearing the table, reached over to the -flower-decked bottle; then, stepping back, swung it from her against the -monstrous ram, saying, 'God bless this ship and all that sail in her.' I -heard a little crack, and only a few red drops trickled down. This -wouldn't do, for she immediately seized the bottle again and, stepping -well back this time and holding the bottle as high over her head as the -ropes would allow, flung it with such violence that it smashed all to -pieces and the red wine gushed over her hands and sleeves and poured out -its last drops on the table. A great cheer rang out at this, and the -King laughingly seemed to say to her, 'You did it this time with a -vengeance!' She flushed up, looking as though she enjoyed the fun. Then -came the great moment of the cutting by the Queen of the little ropes -that held the monster bound as by silken threads. Six good taps with the -mallet, severing the six strands across a 'turtle back' in the centre of -the table, and away flew the two ropes down amongst the cheering crowd -of workmen and, automatically, down came the two last supports on either -side of the yet impassive hull. Still impassive--not a hair's breadth of -movement! A painful pause. Some men below were pumping the hydraulic -apparatus for all they were worth. I kept my eye on the nose of the ram, -gauging it by some object behind. Firm as a rock! At last a tiny -movement, no more than the starting of a snail across a cabbage leaf. -'She's off!' A hurricane of cheers, and with the most admirable and -dignified acceleration of speed the great ship, seeming to come into -life, glided down the slips and, ploughing through the parting and -surging waters, floated off far into the Hamoaze to the strains of 'Rule -Britannia.' Queen Alexandra, in her elation, made motions with her arms -as though she was shoving the ship off herself. Scarcely had the -battleship _Queen_ passed into the water than the blocks displaced by -her passage were rolled back, still hot as it were from the friction, -into the position they had occupied before she moved, and the King, -stepping forward, turned a little electric handle at the table, and lo! -the keel plate of the _Edward VII_. slowly moved forward and stopped in -its position on the blocks as the germ of the new battleship. The King, -in a loud voice, proclaimed that the keel plate of the _Edward VII_. was -'well and truly laid,' and a great cheer arose and 'God Save the King,' -and all was over. A new battleship was born.[14] We met Their Majesties -at the Port Admiral's at tea, and Will dined with them, together with -some of his staff. - -"_March 10th_.--Saw Their Majesties off. I wonder if they were getting -tired of seeing always the same set of faces and smiles? I am going to -present C. at Court on the 14th, and my function twin, Lady Charles, is -going there, too, so I shall feel it will be a case of 'Here we are -again,' when I meet the royal eye that night. In the evening the news of -Methuen's defeat and capture by Delarey. To think this horror was going -on the day we received the King and Queen at North Road Station! - -"_March 14th_.--The King's Court was much better arranged than formerly, -as we had only to make two curtseys--nothing more--instead of having to -run the gauntlet of a long row of princes and princesses who were -abreast of Queen Victoria (or her representative), and who used to -inspect one from head to foot. These were now grouped behind the -monarchs, and formed a rich, subdued background to the two regal -figures on their thrones. (What a blessing to the aforesaid princes and -princesses to be spared the necessity of passing all those nervous women -in review, and by daylight, too!) Altogether the music and the generally -more festive character of the function struck one as a great and happy -improvement on the old dispensation. The King and Queen didn't exactly -say, 'How do you do again?' as I appeared, but looked it as I met their -smiling eyes. This is the first Court of the King's reign. - -"_March 27th_.--Cecil Rhodes died yesterday. I am glad I saw him at the -Cape. One morning just at sunrise I and the children were driving to -Mass during the mission and, as we passed over the railway line, we saw -people riding down from 'Grootschuur.' The foremost horseman was Cecil -Rhodes, looking very big and with a wide red face. He gave me a -searching look or stare as if trying to make out who I was in the shade -of the carriage hood. So I saw his face well. - -"_April 3rd_.--Will and I are invited by the King and Queen to see them -crowned at Westminster. I am to wear 'court dress with plumes but -without train.' But what if the nightmare war still is dragging on in -June? The time is getting short! We hear the King is getting anxious. -Lord Wolseley's trip to the Cape (for his health!) is supposed to have -really to do with bringing about peace. But ''ware politics' for me. -They are not in my line. What a wet blanket would be spread as a pall -over all the purple canopies in Westminster Abbey if war was still -brooding over us all! Imagine news of a new Methuen disaster on the -morning of June 26th!" - -On Varnishing Day that spring at the Royal Academy I found that my -tent-pegging picture could not look to greater advantage, but it was in -the last room, where the public looks with "lack-lustre eyes," being -tired. - -On June 21st I left to attend the Coronation of Edward VII., spending -two days at Dick's monastery at Downside on the way, high up in the -Mendip Hills. I note: "I had a bright little room at the guest house -just outside the precincts. That night the full moon, that emblem of -serenity, rose opposite my window, and I felt as though lifted up above -that world into which I was about to plunge for my participation in the -pomp of the Coronation in a few hours. It is inexpressibly touching to -me to see my son where he is. A hard probation, for the Benedictine test -is long and severe, as indeed the test is, necessarily, throughout the -Religious Orders. - -"_June 24th_.--Memorable day! I was passing along Buckingham Palace Road -at 12.30 when I saw a poster: 'Coronation Postponed'! Groups of people -were buying up the papers. Of course, no one believed the news at first, -and people were rather amusedly perplexed. No one had heard that the -King was ill. On getting to Piccadilly I saw the official posters and -the explanation. An operation just performed! and only yesterday Knollys -telling the world there was 'not a word of truth in the alarming rumours -of the King's health.' I and Mrs. C. went to a dismal afternoon concert -at 2.30 to which we were pledged, and which the promoters were in two -minds about postponing, and we left in the middle to stroll about the -crowded streets and watch the effect of the disastrous news. There was -something very dramatic in the scene in front of the palace--the huge -crowd waiting and watching, the royal standard drooping on the roof -(not half-mast yet?), and the sense of brooding sorrow over the great -building, which held the, perhaps, dying King. What a change in two or -three hours! - -"_June 26th_.--This was to have been the Coronation Day. General -dismantling. Those dead laurel wreaths still lying in the gutters are -said to be the same that were used at the funeral of King Humbert. What -a weird thought! The crowds are thinning, but still, at night, they gaze -at the little clumps of illuminations which some people exhibit, as the -King is going on well. '_Vivat Rex_' flares in great brilliancy here and -there. The words have a deeper meaning than usual. May he live! - -"_June 27th_.--This was to have been the day of the royal procession. -Where is that rose-colour-lined coach I so looked forward to? Lying idle -in its cover. Every one is moralising. Even the clubmen, Will tells me, -are furbishing up little religious platitudes and texts; many are -curiously superstitious, which is strange." - -On our return home I was very busy in the studio. There was much -galloping and trotting of horses up and down in the Government House -grounds for my studies of movement for my next Academy picture (dealing -with Boer War yeomanry) and others. - -"_August 9th_.--King Edward VII. was crowned to-day. At about 12.40 the -guns firing in the Sound and batteries announced that, at last, the -Coronation was consummated. We were asked to the ceremony, but could not -go up this time." - -A little tour in France, with my husband and our two girls, made in -September, 1902, gave us sunny days in Anjou on the Loire. The majestic -rivers of France are her chief attraction for the painter, and to us -English Turner's charm is inseparably blended with their slowly flowing -waters. We were visitors at a _château_ at Savonnières, near Angers, for -most of the time, and our hosts took care that we should miss none of -the lovely things around their domain. The German "Ocean Greyhounds" of -the Hamburg-Amerika line used to call at Plymouth in those days, huge, -three-funnel monsters which, I think, we have since appropriated, and -one of these, the _Augusta Marie_, bore us off to Cherbourg in all the -pride of her gorgeous saloons, flower-decked tables, band, and -extraordinary bombastic oleographs from allegorical pictures by the -Kaiser William II. As we boarded her the band played "God Save the -King," the captain receiving Sir William with finished regulation -attention, and hardly had the great twin engines swung the ship into the -Sound to receive her passengers, than with another swing forward, which -made the masts wriggle to their very tops, she was off. It was the -"Marseillaise" as we reached France. That band played us nearly the -whole way over. A really pretty idea, this, of playing the national air -of each country where the ship touched. - -It was vintage time at Savonnières, which was a French "Castagnolo," a -most delightful translation into French of that Italian patriarchal -home. There were stone terraces garlanded with vines bearing--not the -big black grapes of Tuscany, but small yellow ones of surpassing -sugariness. We were in a typical and beautiful bit of France, peaceful, -plenteous, and full of dignity. They lead the simple life here such as I -love, which is not to be found in the big English country houses, as -far as I know. I was truly pleased at the sight of the peasantry at Mass -on the Sunday. The women in particular had that dignity which is so -marked in their class, and the white lace coifs they wore had many -varieties of shape, all most beautiful, and were very _soignées_ and -neatly worn. Not an untidy woman or girl amongst these daughters of the -soil. - -I was anxious to see "Angers la Noire," where we stayed on our way from -Savonnières to Amboise. But the black slate houses which gave it that -name are being turned into white stone ones, and so its grim -characteristic is passing away. Give me character, good or bad; -characterless things are odious. I don't suppose a more perfect old -Angevin town exists than Amboise. It fulfilled all I required and -expected of it. How Turner understood these towns on the broad, majestic -Loire! He occasionally exaggerated, but his exaggerations were always in -the right direction, emphasising thus the dominant beauties of each -place and their local sentiment. Which recalls the deep charm of the -rivers of France more subtly to the mind, Turner's series or an album of -photographs? Turner's mind saw more truly than the camera. The castle of -Amboise is superb and its creamy white stone a glory. Then came Blois, -with a quite different reading of a castle, where plenty of colour and -gilding and Gothic richness gave the character--not so restful to eye -and mind as Amboise. Through both the _châteaux_ we were marshalled -along by a guide. I would sooner learn less of a place, by myself, than -be told all by a tiresome man in a _cicerone's_ livery. Plenty of -horrors were supplied us at both places, vitiating my otherwise simple -pleasure as a painter in the sight of so much beauty. - -We returned to Plymouth Sound on a lovely day, and there our blue -launch, with that bright brass funnel I had so long agitated for, was -awaiting us, and we landed at the steps of Mount Wise as though we had -merely been for a trip to Penlee Point. - -I found my picture of the yeomanry cantering through a "spruit" in the -Boer War, "Within Sound of the Guns," admirably placed this time at -Burlington House, in the spring of 1903. I had greatly improved in tone -by this time. Millais' remark once upon a time, "She draws better than -any of us, but I wish her _tone_ was better," had sunk deep. - -On July 14th, 1903, the Princess Henry of Battenberg (as the title was -then), with a suite of six, paid us a visit of two days at Government -House, and we had, of course, a big reception, which was inevitable. Our -guest hated the ordeal of all those presentations, being very retiring, -and I sympathised. I heard her murmur to her lady, Miss Bulteel, "I -shall die," as the first arrival was announced. And there she had to -stand till I and the A.D.C. had finished terrifying her with about 250 -people in succession. What a tax royalty has to pay! There was the -laying of a foundation stone, a trip in the launch up the Tamar, and -something to be done each day, but with as many rests as we could -squeeze in for our very _simpatica_ princess. The drive through the -streets of Plymouth showed me what the crowd looks like from royalty's -point of view as I sat by her side in the carriage. I remarked to her -what bad teeth the people had. "They are nothing to those in the north," -the poor dear said. How often royalty has to run that gauntlet of an -unlovely and cheering crowd! - -I was now to go through the great ordeal of witnessing our dear -Dick's[15] taking his vows. This was on September 4th, 1903, at Belmont -Minster, Hereford. - -On July 10th, 1904, a German squadron of eighteen men-of-war came -thundering into the Sound, and on the 12th we assembled a Garden Party -of about three hundred guests to give the three admirals and their -officers a very proper welcome. Eighteen beautiful ships, but all -untried. I lunched on board the flagship, the _Kaiser Wilhelm II._, on -the previous day, and anything to equal the dandified "get up" of that -war vessel could not be found afloat. Wherever there was an excuse for a -gold Imperial crown, there it was, relieved by the spotless whiteness of -its surroundings. The fair-haired bluejackets were extremely clean and -comely, but struck me as being drilled too much like soldiers, and -wanting the natural manner of our men. The impression on my mind at the -time was that immense care and pains had been taken to show off these -brand-new ships and to rival ours, but that they were not a bit like -their models. The General dined in state on board that evening. Oh! the -veneer of politeness shown to us these days; the bowings, the clicking -of heels, the well-drilled salutes; and all the time we were joking -amongst ourselves about the certainty we had that they were taking -soundings of our great harbour. As usual, they were allowed to do just -as they liked there. It is a tremendous thought to me that I have lived -to hear of the surrender of Germany's entire navy. How often in those -days we allowed ourselves to imagine a modern _possible_ Trafalgar, but -such a cataclysm as this was outside the bounds of any one's -imagination. - -I devoted a great deal of my time to getting up a "one-man-show," my -first of many, composed of water colours, and in accomplishing the -Afghan picture I have already mentioned as being so much honoured by the -Hanging Committee at the Academy in the spring of 1904. My husband's -command of the Western District terminated on January 31st, 1905, and -with it his career in the army, as he had reached the retiring age. The -Liberal Party was very keen on having him as an M.P., representing East -Leeds. I am glad the idea did not materialise. I know what would have -happened. He would have set out full of honest and worthy enthusiasm to -serve the _Patria_. Then, little by little, he would have found what -political life really is, and thrown the thing up in disgust. An old -story. _Non Patria sed Party!_ So utterly outside my own life had -politics been that I had an amused sensation when I saw the -Parliamentary world opening before me, like a gulf! - -"_January 31st_, 1905.--Will is to stand for East Leeds. It is all very -sudden. Liberals so eager that he has almost been (courteously) hustled -into the great enterprise. Herbert Gladstone, Campbell-Bannerman and -other leaders have written almost irresistible letters to him, pleading. -When he goes to the election at Leeds he is to be 'put to no expense -whatever,' and they are confident of a 'handsome majority.' We shall -see! Besides all this he is given a most momentous commission at the War -Office to investigate certain ugly-looking matters connected with the -Boer War stores scandal that require clearing up. I am glad they have -done him the 'poetical justice' of selecting him for this. - -"_February 13th_.--We went to a very brilliant and (to me) novel -gathering at the Campbell-Bannermans'. All the leaders of the Liberal -Party there, an interesting if not very noble study. All so cordial to -Will. Tremendous crush, but nice when we got down to the more airy tea -room. The snatches of conversation I got in the general hubbub all -sounded somewhat 'shoppy.' Winston Churchill, a ruddy young man, with a -roguish twinkle in his eye, Herbert Gladstone and his lovely wife, our -bluff, rosy host and other 'leaders' were very interesting, and we met -many friends, all on the 'congratulate.' All these M.P.'s seem to relish -their life. I suppose it _has_ a great fascination, this working to get -your side in, as at a football match." - -The general election in course of time swept over England and brought in -the Liberal Party with an overwhelming majority. My husband did not -stand for East Leeds. He had to abandon the idea, as a Catholic, on -account of the religious difficulties connected with the Education Act. - -Our life in the glorious west of Ireland, which followed our retirement -from Devonport, has been so fully described by this pen of mine in "From -Sketch-book and Diary" that I give but a slight sketch of it here. Those -were days when one could give one's whole heart, so to speak, to Erin, -before the dreadful cloud had fallen on her which, as I write, has lent -her her present forbidding gloom. That will pass, please God! - -To come straight through from London and its noise and superfluous fuss -and turmoil into the absolute peace and purity of County Mayo in perfect -summer weather was such a relief to mind and body that one felt it as an -emancipation. Health, good sleep, enjoyment of pure air and noble -scenery; kindly, unsophisticated peasantry--all these things were there, -and the flocks and herds and the sea birds. In the midst of all that -appealing poetry, so peculiar to Ireland, I had a funny object lesson of -a prosaic kind at romantic Mulranny, on Clewe Bay. In the little station -I saw a big heap in sackcloth lying on the platform--"_Hog-product from -Chicago_"--and the country able to "cure" the matchless Irish pig! I -went on to get some darning wool in the hamlet--"_Made in England_"--and -all those sheep around us! Outside the shop door a horse had the usual -big nose-bag--_"Made in Austria"!_ All these things, with a little -energy, should have come out of the place itself, surely? I thought to -encourage native industry, when found, by ordering woollen hose at the -convent school. No two stockings of the same pair were of equal length. -The bay was rich in fish, and one day came a little fleet of fishing -boats--_from France!_ There was Ireland to-day in a nutshell. What of -to-morrow? Is this really Ireland's heavy sleep before the dawn? - -I have seen some of the most impressive beauties of our world, but never -have I been more impressed than by the solemn grandeur of the mountain -across Clewe Bay they call Croagh Patrick, as we saw it on the evening -of our arrival at Mulranny. The last flush of the after-glow lingered on -its dark slopes and the red planet Mars flamed above its cone, all this -solemn beauty reflected in the sleeping waters. At Mulranny I spent -nearly all my days making studies of sheep and landscape for the next -picture I sent to the Academy--"A Cistercian Shepherd." This gave me a -period of the most exquisitely reposeful work. The building up of this -picture was in itself an idyll. But the public didn't want idylls from -me at all. "Give us soldiers and horses, but pastoral idylls--no!" -People had a slightly reproachful tone in their comments after seeing my -poor pastoral on the Academy walls. Some one said, "How are the mighty -fallen!" - -We made our home in the heart of Tipperary, under the Galtee Mountains. -It seemed time for us to seek a dignified repose, "the world forgetting, -by the world forgot," but we did not succeed in our intention. In 1906 -my husband went on a great round of observation through Cape Colony and -the (former) Boer Republics on a literary mission. I and E. went off to -Italy, meanwhile; Rome as our goal. There I had the great pleasure of -the companionship of my sister, and it may be imagined with what -feelings we re-trod the old haunts in and about that city together. - -"_April 9th, 1906_.--We had a charming stroll through the Villa d'Este -gardens, where the oldest, hoariest cypresses are to be seen, and -fountains and water conduits of graceful and fantastic shape, wherever -one turns, all gushing with impetuous waters. The architects of these -gardens revelled in their fanciful designs and sported with the -responsive flood. Cascades spout in all directions from the rocks on -which Tivoli is built. We had _déjeuner_ under a pergola at the inn -right over one of these waterfalls, where, far below us, birds flew to -and fro in the mist of the spray. Nature and art have joined in play at -Tivoli. I always have had a healthy dislike of burrowing in tombs and -catacombs. The sepulchral, bat-scented air of such places in Egypt--the -land, of all others, of limpid air and sunshine and dryness--is not in -any way attractive to me, and I greatly dislike diving into the Roman -catacombs out of the sunny Appian Way. On former occasions I went -through them all, so this time I kept above ground. I learnt all that -the catacombs teach in my early years, and am not likely to lose that -tremendous impression. - -"_April 10th_.--A true Campagna day, as Italianised as I could make it. -We had a frugal _colazione_ under the pergola of an Appian Way-side inn, -watched by half a dozen hungry cats, that unattractive, wild, malignant -kind of cat peculiar to Italy. The girl who waited on us drew our white -wine in a decanter from what looked like a well in the garden. It had, -apparently, not 'been cool'd a long age in _that_ deep-delved earth,' -but it did very well. I was perfectly happy. This old-fashioned _al -fresco_ entertainment had the local colour which I look for when I -travel and which is getting rarer year by year. Our Colosseum moonlight -was more weird than ever. At eleven we had our moon. It was a large, -battered, woeful, waning old moon, that looked in at us through the -broken arch. An opportune owl, which had been screeching like a cat in -the shade, flitted across its sloping disc just at the supreme moment." - -To receive Holy Communion at the hands of the Holy Father is a privilege -for which we should be very thankful. It was mine and E.'s on Easter -morning that year, at his private Mass in the Sistine Chapel. There I -saw Pius X. for the first time. Goodness and compassion shine from that -sad and gentle face. It is the general custom to kiss the 'Fisherman's -ring' on the Pope's hand before receiving, but Pius X. very markedly -prevents this. One can understand! Our audience with the Holy Father -took place on the eve of our departure. There was a never-absent look -with him of what I may call the submissive sense of a too-heavy burden -of responsibility. No photographs convey the right impression of this -Pope. He was very pale, very spiritual, very kind and a little weary; -most gentle and touching in his manner. The World War at its outset -broke that tender heart. I sent him my "Letters from the Holy Land," for -which I received very urbane thanks from one of the cardinals. I don't -think the Holy Father knows a single word of English, and I wonder what -he made of it. - -As to our tour homeward, taking Florence and Venice on the way, I think -we will take that as read. I revel in the Diary in all the dear old -Italian details, marred only by the change I noticed in Venice as -regards her broken silence. The hurry of modern life has invaded even -the "silent city," and there is too much electric glare in the lighting -now, at night, for the old enjoyment of her moonlights. It annoyed me to -see the moon looking quite shabby above the incandescent globes on the -Riva. - -From Venice to the Dublin Castle season is a big jump. We had an average -of twenty-one balls in six weeks in each of the two seasons 1907--1908. -Little did I think that it would be quite an unmixed pleasure to me to -do _chaperon_ for some five hours at a stretch; but so it turned out. It -all depends what sort of daughter you have on the scene! The Aberdeens -were then in power. - -Lady Aberdeen was untiring in her endeavours to trace and combat the -dire disease which seemed to fasten on the Irish in an especial manner. -She went about lecturing to the people with a tuberculosis "caravan." -She brought it to Cashel, and my husband made the opening speech at her -exhibition there. But her addresses came to nothing. The lungs exhibited -in the "caravan" in spirits of wine appealed in vain. She actually asked -the people that day to go back to their discarded oatmeal "stir-about"! -They prefer their stewed tea and their artificially whitened, so-called -bread, with the resultant loss of their teeth. My experiences at the -different Dublin horse shows were sociable and pleasant. There you see -the finest horses and the most beautiful women in the world, and Dublin -gives you that hospitality which is the most admirable quality in the -Irish nature. - -Sir William spent the remaining days of his life in trying, by addresses -to the people in different parts of the country, to quicken their sense -of the necessity for industry, sobriety, and a more serious view of -existence. They did not seem to like it, and he was apparently only -beating the air. I remember one particularly strong appeal he made in -Meath at a huge open-air meeting. I thought to myself that such -warnings, given in his vivid and friendly Irish style, touched with -humour to leaven the severity, would have impressed his hearers. The -applause disappointed me. Well, he did his best to the very last for the -country and the people he loved. He had vainly longed all his life for -Home Rule within the Empire. Was this, then, all that was wanting? - -I recall in this connection an episode which was eloquent of the hearty -appreciation of his worth, quite irrespective of politics. At a banquet -given in Dublin to welcome Lord and Lady Granard, after their marriage, -he was called upon to respond for "the Guests." For fully one minute the -cheers were so persistent when he rose that he had to wait before his -opening words could be heard. The company were nearly all Unionists. - -After all the misunderstandings connected with Sir William's association -with the Boer War and its antecedents had been righted at last, these -words of a distinguished general at Headquarters were spoken: "Butler -stands a head and shoulders above us all." - -The year 1910 is one which in our family remains for ever sacred. My -dear mother died on March 13th. - -On June 7th a very brave soldier, who feared none but God, was called to -his reward. Here my Diary stops for nearly a year.[16] - - - - -CHAPTER XXIV - -MOSTLY A ROMAN DIARY - - -Palm Sunday, 1911, found me in Rome, on the eve of my son's ordination -as priest. One of those extraordinary occurrences which have happened in -my life took place that day. Four of us joined at the appointed place -and hour: I and Eileen from Ireland (Dick, already in Rome) and Patrick, -just landed, in the nick of time, from India! We three met at the foot -of the Aventine and went up to Sant' Anselmo, where we knew we should -see _the other one_ during the Palm Sunday Mass, though not to speak to -till after the long service was ended. He intoned the Gospel as deacon, -and when his deep voice reached us in the gallery we looked at each -other with a smile. None of us had seen him for a more or less long -time. - -"Holy Saturday. The great day. Dick assumed the chasuble, and is -officially known now as Father Urban, though 'Dick' he will ever remain -with us. The weather was Romanly brilliant, but I was anxious, knowing -that these young deacons were to be on their knees in the great Lateran -Church, fasting, from 7 a.m. We three waited a long time in the piazza -of the Lateran for the pealing of the bells which should announce the -beginning of the Easter time, and which was to be the signal for our -entry into the great basilica at 9.15. We had places in two balconies, -right over the altar. Below us stood about forty deacons, with our -particular one in their midst, each holding his folded chasuble across -his arms ready for the vesting. The sight of these young fellows, in -their white and gold deacons' vestments, was very touching. Each one was -called up by name in turn, and ascended the altar steps, where sat the -consecrating bishop, who looked more like a spirit than a mere human -creature. When Urbano Butler (pronounced _Boutler_, of course, by the -Italian voice) was called, how we craned forward! To me the whole thing -was poignant. What those boys give up! ('Well,' answers a voice, 'they -give up the world, and a good thing too!') - -"We went, when the ceremony was completed, into a side chapel to receive -the newly-made young priests' first blessing. These young fellows ran -out of the sacristy towards the crowd of expectant parents and friends, -their newly-acquired chasubles flying behind them as they ran, with -outstretched hands, for the kisses of that kneeling crowd that awaited -them. What a sight! Can any one paint it and do it justice? Old and -young, gentlefolk and peasants, smiling through tears, kissing the young -hands that blessed them. Dick came to his mother first, then to his -soldier brother, then to his sister, and I saw him lifting an aged -prelate to his feet after blessing him. Strangers knelt to him and to -the others, and I saw, in its perfection, what is meant by 'laughing for -joy' on those young and holy faces. There was one exception. A poor -young Irish boy, somehow, had no relative to bless--no one--he seemed -left out in his corner, and he was crying. Perhaps his mother was -'beyond the beyond' in far Connemara? I heard of this afterwards. Had I -seen him, I would certainly have asked his blessing too. So it -is--always some shadow, even here. - -"As soon as we could get hold of Dick, in his plain habit, we hurried -him to a little _trattoria_ across the piazza, where his dear friend and -chum, John Collins,[17] treated him to a good cup of chocolate to break -his long fast." - -It was quite a necessary anti-climax for me when we and our friends all -met again at the hotel and sat down, to the number of fifteen, to a -bright luncheon I gave in honour of the day. A very celebrated English -cardinal honoured me with his presence there. - -"_Easter Sunday_.--Patrick, Eileen and I received Holy Communion in the -crypt of Sant' Anselmo from Dick's hands at his first Mass. These few -words contain the culmination of all. - -"_April 17th_.--In the afternoon we were all off, piloted by Dick, to -the celebrated Benedictine monastery of Monte Cassino, a long way down -towards Naples, to spend a few days, Patrick as guest within the -precincts, and E. and I lodging at the guest-house, which forms part of -the monastic farm, poised on the edge of a great precipice. The sheer -rock plunges down to the base of the mountain whereon stands the -wonderful monastery. It is something to see a great domed church on the -top of such a mountain, and a building of such vast proportions, -containing one of the greatest libraries in the world. A mule path was -all the monks intended for communication between the two worlds, but now -a great carriage road takes us up by an easy zigzag. - -"_April 18th_.--Every hour of our visit to Monte Cassino must be lived. -I made a sketch of the monastery and the abyss into which one peers -from that great height, with angry red clouds gathering over the tops of -the snowy mountains. But my sketches are too didactic; and, indeed, who -but Turner could convey to the beholder the awful spirit of that scene? -The tempest sent us in and we had the experience of a good thunderstorm -amidst those severe mountains that have the appearance of a petrified -chaos. Last night E. woke up to find the room full of a surprising blue -light, which at first she took to be the dawn because, through the open -windows, she heard the whole land thrilling with the song of birds. But -such a _blue_ light for dawn? She got up to see. The light was that of -the full moon and the birds were nightingales. - -"I was enchanted to see the beautiful dress of the peasant women here. -Their white _tovaglie_ are looped back in a more graceful line than the -Roman. The queerest little thin black hogs, like poor relations of the -tall, pink Valentia variety which I have already signalised, browse on -the steep ascent to this great stronghold, and everything still looks -wild, in spite of the carriage road. I should have preferred coming up -here on a mule. Our suppers at the guest-house were Spartan. Rather -dismal, having to pump conversation with the Italian guests at this -festive(!) board. Our intellectual food, however, was rich. The abbot -and his monks did the honours of far-famed Monte Cassino for us with the -kindest attention, showing very markedly their satisfaction in -possessing Brother Urban, whose father's name they held in great -esteem." - -On April 22nd we had the long-expected audience with Pio Decimo. It was -only semi-private and there were crowds, including eleven English naval -officers, to be presented. I had my little speech ready, but when we -came into the Pope's presence we found him standing instead of restfully -seated, and he looked so fatigued and so aged since I last saw him that -I knew I must keep him listening as short a time as possible. First I -presented "_Mio figlio primogenito, ufficiale_;" then "_mio figlio -Benedettino_" and then "_mia figlia_." He spoke a little while to Dick -in Latin, and then we knelt and received his blessing and departed, to -see him no more. - -It is a great thing to have seen Leo XIII. and Pius X., as I have had -the opportunity of seeing them. Both have left a deep impression on -modern life, especially the former, who was a great statesman. To see -the fragile scabbard of the flesh one wondered how the keen sword of the -spirit could be held at all within it. It was his diplomatic tact that -smoothed away many of the difficulties that obtruded themselves between -the Vatican and the Quirinal, and that tact kept the Papacy on good -terms with France and her Republic, to which he called on all French -Catholics to give their support. It was he who forced "the man of blood -and iron" to relax the ferocious laws against the Church in Germany, and -to allow the evicted bishops to return to their Sees. Diplomatic -relations with Germany were renewed, and the Church's laws regarding -marriage and education had to be re-admitted by the Government. Even the -dark "Orthodox" intolerance of Russia bent sufficiently to his influence -to allow of the establishment of Catholic episcopal Sees in that -country, and the cessation of the imprisonment of priests. The -episcopate in Scotland, too, was restored. We owe to him that spread of -Catholicism in the United States which has long been such a surprise to -the onlooker. Then there are his great encyclicals on the Social -Question, setting forth the Christian teaching on the relations between -capital and labour; establishing the social movement on Christian lines. -How clearly he saw the threat of a great European war at no very distant -date from his time unless armaments were reduced. That refined mind -inclined him to the advancement of the cause of the Arts and of -learning. Students thank him for opening the Vatican archives to them, -which he did with the words, "The Church has nothing to fear from the -publication of the Truth." His is the Vatican observatory--one of the -most famous in the world. It makes one smile to remember his remarks on -the then young Kaiser William II., who seems to have struck the Holy -Father as somewhat bumptious on the occasion of his historic visit. -"That young man," as he called him, evidently impressed the Pope as one -having much to learn. - -What a contrast Pius X. presents to his predecessor! The son of a -postman at Rieti, a little town in Venetia. I remember when a deputation -of young men came to pay him their respects at the Vatican, arriving on -their bicycles, that he told them how much he would have liked a bike -himself when, as a bare-legged boy, he had to trudge every day seven -miles to school and back. Needless to say, he had no diplomatic or -political training, but he led the truly simple life, very saintly and -apostolic. He devoted his energies chiefly to the purely pastoral side -of his office. We are grateful to him for his reform of Church music -(and it needed it in Italy!). He was very emphatic in urging frequent -communion and early communion for children. His condemnation of -"modernism" is fresh in all our minds, and we are glad he removed the -prohibition on Catholics from standing for the Italian Parliament, -thereby allowing them to obtain influential positions in public life. He -took a firm stand with regard to the advancing encroachment of the -French Government on the liberties of the Church in his day. His policy -is being amply justified under our very eyes. - -We joined the big garden party, after the Papal audience, at the British -Embassy. A great crush in that lovely remnant of the once glorious, -far-spreading gardens I can remember, nearly all turned to-day into -deadly streets on which a gridiron of tram lines has been screwed down. -Prince Arthur of Connaught brought in the Queen-Mother, Margherita, to -the lawn where the dancing took place. The Rennell-Rodd children as -little fairies were pretty and danced charmingly, but I felt for the -professional dancer who, poor thing, was not in her first youth, and -unkindly dealt with by the searching daylight. To have to caper airily -on that grass was no joke. It was heavy going for her and made me -melancholy, in conjunction with my memories of the old Ludovisi gardens -and the vanished pines. - -On October 26th my youngest daughter, Eileen, was married to Lord -Gormanston, at the Brompton Oratory, the church so loved by our mother, -and where I was received. Our dear Dick married them. I had the -reception in Lowndes Square in the beautiful house lent by a friend. - -Ireland has many historic ancestral dwellings, and one of these became -my daughter's new home in Meath. Shakespeare's "cloud-capp'd towers" -seemed not so much the "baseless fabric" of the poet's vision when I -saw, one day, the low-lying trail of a bright Irish mist brush the high -tops of the towers of Gormanston. A thing of visions, too, is realised -there in a cloister carved so solidly out of the dense foliage of the -yew that never monastic cloister of stone gave a more restful -"contiguity of shade." - -I spent the winter of 1911--12 in London, and worked hard at water -colours, of which I was able to exhibit a goodly number at a "one-man -show" in the spring. The King lent my good old "Roll Call," and the -whole thing was a success. I showed many landscapes there as well as -military subjects; many Italian and Egyptian drawings made during my -travels, and scenes in Ireland. These exhibitions in a well-lighted -gallery are pleasant, and the private view day a social rendezvous for -one's friends. - -Through my sister, with whom I revisited Rome early in 1913, I had the -pleasure of knowing many Americans there. How refreshing they are, and -responsive (I don't mean the mere tourist!), whereas my dear compatriots -are very heavy in hand sometimes. American women are particularly well -read and cultivated and full of life. They don't travel in Europe for -nothing. I have had some dull experiences in the English world when -embarking, at our solemn British dinners, on cosmopolitan subjects for -conversation. What was I to say to a man who, having lately returned -from Florence, gave it as his opinion that it was only "a second-rate -Cheltenham"? I tried that unlucky Florentine subject on another. He: -"Florence? Oh, yes, I liked that--that--_minaret thing_ by the side of -the--the--er----" I: "The Duomo?" He: "Oh, yes, the Duomo." I (in -gloomy despair): "Do you mean Giotto's Tower?" Collapse of our -conversation. - -Very probably I bade my last farewell to St. Peter's that year. I had -more than once bidden a provisional "good-bye" at sundown on leaving -Rome to that dome which I always loved to see against the western glory -from the familiar terrace on Monte Pincio, only to return, on a further -visit, and see it again with the old, fresh feeling of thankfulness. My -initial enthusiasm, crudely chronicled as it is in my early Diary on -first coming in sight of St. Peter's, was a young artist's emotion, but -to the maturer mind what a miracle that Sermon in Stone reveals! The -tomb of one Simon, no better, before his call, than any ordinary -fisherman one may see to-day on our coasts--and now? "TU ES PETRUS...." - - - - -CHAPTER XXV - -THE GREAT WAR - - -I was very busy with oil brush and water-colour brush during the summer -of 1913, and the succeeding winter, in Ireland, accomplishing a large -oil, "The Cuirassier's Last _Reveil_, Morning of Waterloo," and a number -of drawings, all of that inexhaustible battle, for my next "one-man -show" held on its centenary, 1915. I left no stone unturned to get true -studies of dawn twilight for that _reveil_, and I got them. At the -pretty house of my friends, the Egerton Castles, on a steep Surrey hill, -I had my chance. The house faced the east. It was midsummer; an alarm -clock roused me each morning at 2.30. I had modelled a little grey horse -and a man, and set them up on my balcony, facing in the right direction, -and there I waited, with palette spread, for the dawn. Time was short; -the first ray of sunrise would spoil all, so I could only dab down the -tones, anyhow; but they were all-important dabs, and made the big -picture run without a hitch. Nothing delays a picture more than the -searching for the true relations of tone without sufficient data. But -this is a truism. - -The Waterloo water colours were most interesting to work out. I had any -amount of books for reference, records of old uniforms to get from -contemporary paintings; and I utilised the many studies of horses I had -made for years, chiefly on the chance of their coming in useful some -day. The result was the best "show" I had yet had at the Leicester -Galleries. But ere that exhibition opened, the World War burst upon us! -First my soldier son went off, and then the Benedictine donned khaki, as -chaplain to the forces. He went, one may say, from the cloister to the -cannon. I had to pass through the ordeal which became the lot of so many -mothers of sons throughout the Empire. - -"_Lyndhurst, New Forest, September 22nd, 1914._--I must keep up the old -Diary during this most eventful time, when the biggest war the world has -ever been stricken with is raging. To think that I have lived to see it! -It was always said a war would be too terrible now to run the risk of, -and that nations would fear too much to hazard such a peril. Lo! here we -are pouring soldiers into the great jaws of death in hundreds of -thousands, and sending poor human flesh and blood to face the new -'scientific' warfare--the same flesh and blood and nervous system of the -days of bows and arrows. Patrick is off as A.D.C. to General Capper, -commanding the 7th Division. Martin, who was the first to be ordered to -the front, attached to the 2nd Royal Irish, has been transferred to the -wireless military station at Valentia. That regiment has been utterly -shattered in the Mons retreat, so I have reason to be thankful for the -change. I am here, at Patrick's suggestion, that I may see an army under -war conditions and have priceless opportunities of studying 'the real -thing.' The 7th Division[18] is now nearly complete, and by October 3rd -should be on the sea. I arrived at Southampton to-day, and my good old -son in his new Staff uniform was at the station ready to motor me up to -Lyndhurst where the Staff are, and all the division, under canvas. I was -very proud of the red tabs on Patrick's collar, meaning so much. I saw -at once, on arriving, the difference between this and my Aldershot -impressions. This is _war_, and there is no doubt the bearing of the men -is different. They were always smart, always cheery, _but not like -this_. There is a quiet seriousness quite new to me. They are going to -look death straight in the face. - -"_September 23rd._--I had a most striking lesson in the appearance of -men after a very long march, _plus_ that look which is quite absent on -peace manoeuvres, however hot and trying the conditions. What -surprises and telling 'bits' one sees which could never be imagined with -such a convincing power. A team of eight mammoth shire horses drawing a -great gun is a sight never to be forgotten; shapely, superb cart horses -with coats as satiny as any thoroughbred's, in polished artillery -harness, with the mild eyes of their breed--I must do that amongst many -most _real_ subjects. But I see the German shells ploughing through -these teams of willing beasts. They will suffer terribly. - -"_September 25th._--Getting hotter every day and not a cloud. I brought -this weather with me. Patrick waits on me whenever he is off duty for an -hour or so, and it is a charming experience to have him riding by the -side of the carriage to direct the driver and explain to me every -necessary detail. The place swarms with troops for ever in movement, and -the roll of guns and drums, and the notes of the cheery pipes and fifes -go on all day. The Gordons have arrived. - -[Illustration: NOTES ON THE EVE OF THE GREAT WAR.] - -"_September 26th._--Signs of pressure. They may now be off any hour. -The ammunition has all arrived, and there wants but one battery of -artillery to complete the division. General Capper won't wait much -longer and will be off without it if it delays and make up a battery _en -route_ somehow. It is sad to see so many mere boys arriving at the hotel -fresh from Sandhurst. They are given companies to command, captains -being killed, wounded or missing in such numbers. As to Patrick's -regiment, the old Royal Irish seem to have been so shattered that they -are all _hors de combat_ for the present. - -"_September 27th._--What a precious Sunday this has been! First, Patrick -accompanied me to Mass, said by Father Bernard Vaughan, in a secluded -part of the camp, where the heather had not been ploughed up by men, -horses and guns, as elsewhere, and where the altar was erected in a -wooded glen. The Grenadier and Scots Guards were all on their knees as -we arrived, and the bright green and gold vestments of the priest were -relieved very vividly in the sunshine against the darker green -background of the forest beyond. Quite a little crowd of stalwart -guardsmen received Holy Communion, and two of them were sheltering with -their careful hands the candles from the soft warm breeze, one at each -end of the altar. We sit out in the leafy garden of the hotel and have -tea there, we parents and relatives, with our boys by us at all spare -moments. To-day, being Sunday, there have been extra crowds of relatives -and friends who have motored over from afar. There is pathos here, very -real pathos. How many of these husbands and sons and brothers I see -sitting close to their dear ones, for the last time, perhaps! Who knows? -The voices are low and quiet--very quiet. Patrick and I were -photographed together by M. E. These little snapshots will be precious. -We were nearly all day together to-day as there was a rest. All this -quiet time here our brave soldiers are being shattered on the banks of -the Aisne. Just now must be a tremendously important period of the -fighting. We may get great news to-morrow. Many names I know beginning -to appear in the casualty lists. - -"_September 28th, 1914._--Had a good motor run with the R.'s right -through the field of 'battle' in the midst of the great forest--a -rolling height covered with heather and bracken. Our soldiers certainly -have learnt, at last, how to take cover. One can easily realise how it -is that the proportion of officers killed is so high. Kneeling or -standing up to give directions they are very conspicuous, whereas of the -men one catches only a glimpse of their presence now and then through a -tell-tale knapsack or the round top of a cap in the bracken; yet the -ground is packed with men--quite uncanny. The Gordons were a beautiful -sight as they sprang up to reach a fresh position. I noticed how the -breeze, as they ran, blew the khaki aprons aside and the revealed tartan -kilts gave a welcome bit of colour and touched up the drab most -effectively. One 'gay Gordon' sergeant told us, 'We are a grand -diveesion, all old warriors, and when we get out 'twill make a -deeference.'" - -The most impressive episode to me of that well-remembered day was when -Patrick took me up to the high ground at sunset and we looked down on -the camp. The mellow, very red sun was setting and the white moon was -already well up over the camp, which looked mysterious, lightly veiled -by the thin grey wood-smoke of the fires. Thousands of troops were -massed or moving, shadowy, far away; others in the middle distance -received the blood-red glow on the men's faces with an extraordinary -effect. They showed as ruddy, vaporous lines of colour over the scarcely -perceptible tones of the dusky uniforms. Horses stood up dark on the -sky-line. The bugles sounded the "Retreat"; these doomed legions, -shadow-like, moved to and fro. It was the prologue to a great tragedy. - -"_September 30th._--There was a field day of the whole of one brigade. -The regiments in it are 'The Queen's,' the Welsh Fusiliers, Staffords, -and Warwicks, with the monstrous 4·7 guns drawn by my well-loved mighty -mammoths. The guns are made impossible to the artist of modern war by -being daubed in blue and red blotches which make them absolutely -formless and, of course, no glint of light on the hidden metal is seen. -Still, there is much that is very striking, though the colour, the -sparkle, the gallant plumage, the glinting of gold and silver, have -given way to universal grimness. After all, why dress up grim war in all -that splendour? My idea of war subjects has always been anti-sparkle. - -"As I sat in the motor in the centre of the far-flung 'battle,' in a -hollow road, lo! the Headquarter Staff came along, a gallant group, _à -la_ Meissonier, Patrick, on his skittish brown mare 'Dawn,' riding -behind the General, who rode a big black (_very_ effective), with the -chief of the Staff nearly alongside. The escort consisted of a strong -detachment of the fine Northumberland Hussars, mounted on their own -hunters. They are to be the bodyguard of the General at the Front. -Several drivers of the artillery are men who were wounded at Mons and -elsewhere, and, being well again, are returning with this division to -the Front. All the horses here are superb. Poor beasts, poor beasts! One -daily, hourly, reminds oneself that the very dittoes of these men and -animals are suffering, fighting, dying over there in France. Kitchener -tells our General that the 7th Division will 'probably arrive after the -first phase is over,' which looks as though he fully expects the -favourable and early end of the present one. - -"_October 2nd._--The whole division was out to-day. I was motored into -the very thick of the operations on the high lands, and watched the men -entrenching themselves, a thing I had never yet seen. Most picturesque -and telling. And the murderous guns were being embedded in the yellow -earth and covered with heather against aeroplanes, especially, and their -wheels masked with horse blankets. There they lay, black, hump-backed -objects, with just their mouths protruding, and as each gun section -finished their work with the pick and shovel, they lay flat down to hide -themselves. How war is waged now! Great news allowed to be published -to-day in the papers. The Indian Army has arrived, and is now at the -_Front!_ It landed long ago at Marseilles, but how well the secret has -been kept! How mighty are the events daily occurring. Late in the -afternoon I saw the Northumberland Hussars, on a high ridge, _practising -the sword exercise!_ With the idea that the sword was obsolete -(engendered by the Boer War experience), no yeomanry has, of late, been -armed with sabres, but, seeing what use our Scots Greys, Lancers, -Dragoon Guards and Hussars have lately been making of the steel, General -Capper has insisted on these, his own yeomen, being thus armed. I felt -stirred with the pathos of this sight--men learning how to use a new -arm on the eve of battle. They were mounted and drawn up in a long, -two-deep line on that brown heath, with a heavy bank of dark clouds like -mine in 'Scotland for Ever!' behind their heads--a fine subject. - -[Illustration: THE SHIRE HORSES: WHEELERS OF A 4·7, - -A HUSSAR SCOUT OF 1917.] - -"Who will look at my 'Waterloos' now? I have but one more of that series -to do. Then I shall stop and turn all my attention and energy to this -stupendous war. I shall call up my Indian sowars again, but _not_ at -play this time. - -"_October 3rd_.--Sketched Patrick's three beautiful chargers' heads in -water colour. Still the word 'Go!' is suspended over our heads. - -"_October 4th_.--The word 'Go!' has just sounded. In ten minutes Patrick -had to run and get his handbag, great coat and sword and be off with his -General to London. They pass through here to-morrow on their way to -embark. - -"_October 5th_, 1914.--I was down at seven, and as they did not finally -leave till 8.15 I had a golden half-hour's respite. Then came the -parting...." - -I left Lyndhurst at once. It will ever remain with me in a halo of -physical and spiritual sunshine seen through a mist of sadness. - -On November 2nd, 1914, my son Patrick was severely wounded during the -terrible, prolonged first Battle of Ypres, and was sent home to be -nursed back to health and fighting power at Guy's Hospital, where I saw -him. He told me that as he lay on the field his General and Staff passed -by, and all the General said was, "Hullo, Butler! is that you? -Good-bye!"[19] General Capper was as brave a soldier as ever lived, -but, I think, too fond for a General of being, as he said he wished to -be, _in the vanguard_. Thus he met his death (riding on horseback, I -understand) at Loos. Patrick's brother A.D.C., Captain Isaac, whom I -daily used to see at Lyndhurst, was killed early in the War. The poor -fellow, to calm my apprehensions regarding my own son, had tried to -assure me that, as A.D.C., he would be as safe as in Piccadilly. - -Towards the end of 1914 London had become intensely interesting in its -tragic aspect, and so very unlike itself. Soldiers of all ranks formed -the majority of the male population. In fact, wherever I looked now -there was some new sight of absorbing interest, telling me we were at -war, and such a war! Bands were playing at recruiting stations; flags of -all the Allies fluttered in the breeze in gaudy bunches; "pom-pom" guns -began to appear, pointing skywards from their platforms in the parks, -awaiting "Taubes" or "Zeppelins." I went daily to watch the recruits -drilling in the parks--such strangely varied types of men they were, and -most of them appearing the veriest civilians, from top to toe. Yet these -very shop-boys had come forward to offer their all for England, and the -good fellows bowed to the terrible, shouting drill-sergeants as never -they had bowed to any man before. What enraged me was the giggling of -the shop-girls who looked on--a far harder ordeal for the boys even than -the yells of the sergeants. One of the squads in the Green Park was -supremely interesting to me one day, in (I am bound to say) a semi-comic -way. These recruits were members and associates of the Royal Academy. -They were mostly somewhat podgy, others somewhat bald. When resting, -having piled arms, they played leap-frog, which was very funny, and -showed how light-heartedly my brothers of the brush were going to meet -the Boche. Of the maimed and blind men one met at every turn I can -scarcely write. I find that when I am most deeply moved my pen lags too -far behind my brush. - -On getting home to Ireland I set to work upon a series of khaki water -colours of the War for my next "one-man show," which opened with most -satisfactory _éclat_ in May, 1917. One of the principal subjects was -done under the impulse of a great indignation, for Nurse Cavell had been -executed. I called the drawing "The Avengers." Also I exhibited at the -Academy, at the same time, "The Charge of the Dorset Yeomanry at Agagia, -Egypt." This was a large oil painting, commissioned by Colonel Goodden -and presented by him to his county of Dorset. That charge of the British -yeomen the year before had sealed the fate of the combined Turks and -Senussi, who had contemplated an attack on Egypt. One of the most -difficult things in painting a war subject is the having to introduce, -as often happens, portraits of particular characters in the drama. Their -own mothers would not know the men in the heat, dust, and excitement of -a charge, or with the haggard pallor on them of a night watch. In the -Dorset charge all the officers were portraits, and I brought as many in -as possible without too much disobeying the "distance" regulation. The -Enemy (of the Senussi tribe) wore flowing _burnouses_, which helped the -movement, but at their machine guns I, rather reluctantly, had to place -the necessary Turkish officers. I had studies for those figures and for -the desert, which I had made long ago in the East. It is well to keep -one's sketches; they often come in very useful. - -The previous year, 1916, had been a hard one. Our struggles in the War, -the Sinn Fein rebellion in Dublin, and one dreadful day in that year -when the first report of the Battle of Jutland was published--these were -great trials. I certainly would not like to go through another phase -like that. But I was hard at work in the studio at home in Tipperary, -and this kept my mind in a healthy condition, as always, through -trouble. Let all who have congenial work to do bless their stars! - -On July 31st my second son, the chaplain, had a narrow escape. It was at -the great Battle of Flanders, where we seem to have made a good -_beginning_ at last. Father Knapp and Dick were tending the wounded and -dying under a rain of shells, when the old priest told Dick to go and -get a few minutes' rest. On returning to his sorrowful work Dick met the -fine old Carmelite as he was borne on a stretcher, dying of a shell that -had exploded just where my son had been standing a few minutes before. - -I see in the Diary: "_December 11th, 1917_.--To-day our army is to make -its formal entry into Jerusalem. I can scarcely write for excitement. -How vividly I see it all, knowing every yard of that holy ground! Dick -writes from before Cambrai that, if he had to go through another such -day as that of the 30th November last, he would go mad with grief. He -lost all his dearest friends in the Grenadier Guards, and he says -England little knows how near she was to a great disaster when the enemy -surprised us on that terrible Friday." - -Men who have gone through the horrors of war say little about them, but -I have learnt many strange things from rare remarks here and there. To -show how human life becomes of no account as the fighting grows, here is -an instance. A soldier was executed at dawn one day for "cowardice." An -officer who had acted at the court-martial met a private of the same -regiment as the dead man's that day, who remarked to his officer that -all he could say about his dead "pal" was that he had seen him perform -an act of bravery three times which would have deserved the V.C. "My -good man," said the officer, "why didn't you come forward at the trial -and say this?" "Well, I didn't think of it, sir." After all, to die one -way or another had become quite immaterial. - -One of the most important of my water colours at the second khaki -exhibition, held in London in May, 1919, was of the memorable charge of -the Warwick and Worcester Yeomanry at Huj, near Jerusalem, which charge -outshone the old Balaclava one we love to remember, and which differed -from the Crimean exploit in that we not only captured all the enemy -guns, but _held_ them. I had had all details--ground plans, description -of the weather on that memorable day, position of the sun, etc., -etc.--supplied me by an eye-witness who had a singularly quick eye and -precise perception.[20] I called it "Jerusalem delivered," for that -charge opened the gates of the Holy City to us. "The Canadian Bombers on -Vimy Ridge" was another of the more conspicuous subjects, and this one -went to Canada. - -But I must look back a little: "_Monday, November 11th, -1918_.--Armistice Day! I have been fortunate in seeing London on this -day of days. I arrived at Victoria into a London of laughter, flags, -joy-rides on every conceivable and inconceivable vehicle. I had hints on -the way to London by eruptions of Union Jacks growing thicker and -thicker along the railway, but I could not let myself believe that it -was the end of all our long-drawn-out trial that I would find on -arrival. But so it was. I went alone for a good stroll through Oxford -Street, Bond Street, and Piccadilly. People meeting, though strangers, -were smiling at each other. _I_ smiled to strange faces that were -smiling at me. What a novel sensation! The streets were thronged with -the _true_ happiness in the people's eyes, and there was no -"_mafficking_" no horse-play, but such _fun_. The matter was too great -for rowdyism and drunkenness. The crowd was allowed to do just as it -pleased for once, yet I saw no accidents. The police just looked on, and -would have beamed also, I am sure, if they had not been on duty. They -had, apparently, thrown the reins on the public's neck. I saw some sad -faces, but, of course, such as these kept mostly away." - -In deepest gratitude I felt I could be amongst the smilers that day, for -both my own sons, who faced death to the very end in so many of the -theatres of war to which our armies were sent, had survived. - -The boat that took me back to Ireland eventually had no protecting -airship serpentining above us. We could breathe freely now! - -[Illustration: A POST-CARD, FOUND ON A GERMAN PRISONER, WITH "SCOTLAND -FOR EVER" TURNED INTO PRUSSIAN CAVALRY, TYPIFYING THE VICTORIOUS ON-RUSH -OF THE GERMAN ARMY IN THE NEW YEAR, 1915.] - - - - -INDEX - - -Abbas II., Khedive, 228. - -Aberdeen, Marchioness of, 308. - -Agostino (cook), 5. - -Aix-la-Chapelle, Germany, 29. - -Albaro, Italy, 6, 54, 230. - -Aldershot, review at, 236. - -Alexandra, Queen, launches _Queen_, 288 _seq._ - -Alexandria, Egypt, 202 _seq._ - -Alma Tadema, Sir L., 154. - -Amalfi, Italy, 255. - -Amboise, France, 300. - -Amélie (nurse), 2, 3, 5, 10. - -"An Eviction in Ireland," 199. - -Angers, France, 300. - -Antonelli, Cardinal, 74. - -Arcole, Italy, 224. - -Armistice Day, 1918, 332. - -Atfeh, Egypt, 216. - -Avignon, France, 178. - - -Bagshawe, Father, 105. - -"Balaclava," composition, 138; - copyright sold, 151; - exhibited, 152. - -Bâle, Switzerland, 179. - -_Barberi_ races, 85. - -Beatrice, Princess, 301. - -Bellucci, Giuseppe, 60, 66, 148. - -Beresford, Lord Charles, 221. - -Birmingham, 126. - -Blois, France, 300. - -Bonchurch, Isle of Wight, 12. - -Bonn, Germany, 19. - -Boppart, Germany, 24. - -Broome Hall, Kent, 265. - -Browne, Colonel, 120. - -Bruges, Belgium, 16, 270. - -Brussels, Belgium, 31. - -Buller, Sir Redvers, 284. - -Burchett, Mr., 39, 41, 42, 44, 48, 50, 101. - -Butcher, Dean, 232. - -Butler, Elizabeth, Lady, birth and education, 1; - visits to Italy, 3, 54 _seq._, 147 _seq._, 159 _seq._, 252 seq., - 279 _seq._, 306, 311 _seq._; - taste for drawing, 4; - early sketches, 7; - commences Diary, 7; - artistic training, 10, 14, 39 _seq._, 60 _seq._, 77; - German experiences, 19 _seq._, 179 seq.; - visits Waterloo, 31; - taste for military subjects, 46; - early exhibits, 50; - sells water-colours, 96; - first military drawings, 98; - conversion to Catholicism, 99; - first Academy picture, 99; - photographs, 114; - at Lord Mayor's banquets, 122, 139, 153, 193; - present from Queen Victoria, 125; - visits Paris, 127 _seq._; - proposed election as R.A., 153; - marriage, 168, Irish experiences, 169 _seq._, 199, 304; - tour in Pyrenees, 175; - paints "Rorke's Drift" for Queen Victoria, 187 _seq._; - life at Plymouth, 191; - Tel-el-Kebir picture, 194; - residence in Egypt, 196, 202 _seq._; - in Brittany, 198; - paints 24th Dragoons, 199; - tour in Palestine, 221; - Aldershot life, 234 _seq._; - residence at Dover, 260; - in South Africa, 275; - at Devonport, 277; - tour in France, 298; - "one-man" shows, 303, 318, 321, 329, 331. - -----, Martin, 321. - -----, Patrick, 321 _seq._ - -----, Richard (Urban), at Downside, 297; - enters Benedictine Order, 302; - ordained as priest, 311; - presented to Pius X., 315; - as army chaplain, 321; - war experiences, 330. - -Butler, General Sir William, marriage, 168; - German tour, 179 _seq._; - Zulu War, 183; - friendship with Empress Eugénie, 185, 241, 257; - at Plymouth, 191; - at Lord Mayor's banquet, 193; - Egyptian campaign (1882), 193; - Gordon expedition, 194; - Wady Halfa command, 196; - receives K.C.B., 199; - Alexandria command, 200; - Aldershot command, 234, 284; - Dover command, 260; - South African command, 275; - attacks on, 276; - Devonport command, 277; - tour in France, 298; - asked to stand for Parliament, 303; - on Royal Commission, 303; - speeches in Ireland, 309; - death, 310. - - -CAIRO, Egypt, 196. - -Cambridge, Duke of, 131, 218, 235. - -"Canadian Bombers on Vimy Ridge," 331. - -Canterbury, opening of church in, 132. - -Cap Martin, France, 251, 257. - -Capper, General, 327. - -Capri, Italy, 254. - -Carcassonne, France, 178. - -Castagnolo, Italy, 161. - -Cette, France, 177. - -Chapman, Sir F., 110. - -"Charge of the Dorset Yeomanry at Agagia, Egypt," 329. - -Chatham, Kent, 120. - -"Cistercian Shepherd," 305. - -Coblenz, Germany, 21. - -Collier, Mortimer, 192. - -Cologne, Germany, 19. - -Connaught, Duke of, 235. - -Corpus Christi procession, 119. - -Cruikshank, George, 123. - -"Cuirassier's Last Réveil, Morning of Waterloo," 320. - - -D'ARCOS, Madame, 258. - -"Dawn of Sedan," 111. - -"Dawn of Waterloo," 244. - -"Defence of Rorke's Drift," 187 _seq._ - -Delgany, Ireland, 199, 225. - -Denbigh, Earl of, 117. - -"Desert Grave," 198. - -Devonport, 277. - -Deyrout, Egypt, 217. - -Diamond Jubilee, 1897, 266. - -Dickens, Charles, 9. - -Dinan, France, 198. - -Dordrecht, Holland, 181. - -Dover, Kent, 38, 260. - -Du Maurier, George, 107, 154. - -Dufferin, Marquis of, 140. - -Durham, 144. - -Düsseldorf, Germany, 180. - - -EDENBRIDGE, Kent, 4, 185. - -Edinburgh, 145. - -Edkou, Egypt, 205. - -Edward VII., King (formerly Albert Edward, Prince of Wales), - approves of "Roll Call," 113; - accession, 286; - at launch of _Queen_, 289 _seq._; - lays keel of battleship, 295; - postponed coronation, 297. - -_Edward VII._ (battleship), 295. - -Elizabeth, Empress of Austria, 271. - -Eugénie, Empress, interview with General Butler, 185; - friendship with the Butlers, 234, 251; - devotion to her son, 237; - recollections of Egypt, 241; - at Cap Martin, 257. - - -FARNBOROUGH, Hants., 235. - -Ferguson, Sir William, 110. - -"Floreat Etona!" 193. - -Florence, Italy, 57 _seq._, 147 _seq._, 161. - -Fort St. Julian, Egypt, 217. - -Frederick, Emperor, 245. - -----, Empress. _See_ Victoria, Empress Frederick. - - -GABRIEL, Virginia, 152. - -Gallifet, Marquise de, 242. - -Galloway, Mr., 111, 131. - -Garibaldi, Giuseppe, 6. - -Gave, River, 176. - -Genoa, Italy, 5, 54, 230. - -George V., King, 261. - -Gladstone, W. E., 266. - -Glendalough, Ireland, 199. - -Gormanston, Viscountess (formerly Miss Eileen Butler), 317. - -Gormanston, Ireland, 318. - -Grant, Sir Hope, 115, 116. - -_Graphic_, 99, 125. - - -HADEN, Seymour, 110. - -Hadrian's Villa, Rome, 280. - -"Halt!" 119. - -"Halt on a Forced March: Retreat to Corunna," 225. - -Hastings, Sussex, 9. - -Heidelberg, Germany, 179. - -Henley-on-Thames, 15, 97. - -Henry of Battenberg, Princess. _See_ Beatrice, Princess. - -Herbert, J. R., 105. - - -IMPERIAL, Prince. _See_ Napoleon, Prince Imperial. - - -"Jerusalem Delivered," 331. - - -KITCHENER, Lord, 221, 272 _seq._ - -Koenigswinter, Germany, 19. - - -LANE, Richard, 11, 42. - -Le Breton, Madame, 257. - -Leman, Lake (Lake of Geneva), 179. - -Leo XIII., Pope, 257, 280, 281, 315. - -_Letters from the Holy Land_, 278. - -"'Listed for the Connaught Rangers," 169, 184. - -Lothian, Marchioness of, 118. - -Louis Napoleon, Prince, 247. - -Louise, Princess, Duchess of Argyll, 250. - -Lourdes, France, 176. - -Luchon, Bagnères de, France, 177. - -Luxor, Egypt, 197. - -Lyndhurst, Hants., 321. - - -MCKINLEY, William, 288. - -"Magnificat," 83, 97. - -Magro (cook), 219. - -Mahmoudich Canal, Egypt, 207. - -Malmaison, France, 245. - -Manning, Cardinal, 113, 133, 137. - -Mareotis, Lake, 203. - -Mayence, Germany, 180. - -Medmenham Abbey, 15. - -Metubis, Egypt, 217. - -Meynell, Mrs., 10, 51, 79, 99, 119, 155. - -Millais, Sir J. E., 11, 106, 107, 132, 138, 264. - -"Missed!" 125. - -"Missing," 168. - -Missionary College, Mill Hill, 119. - -Monte Carlo, 258. - -Monte Cassino, Monastery, 313. - -"Morrow of Talavera," 271. - -Mulranny, Ireland, 305. - -Mundy, Sergeant-Major, 31. - - -NAPLES, Italy, 229, 252. - -Napoleon, Prince Imperial, 185, 237. - -Naval Review, 1897, 269. - -Nervi, Italy, 2, 4. - -Newcastle-on-Tyne, 143. - -_Newcomes_, illustrations to, 45. - -Nîmes, France, 178. - - -OECUMENICAL COUNCIL, opening of, 79. - - -PAGET, Lord George, 118. - -Paray-le-Monial, pilgrimage to, 99. - -Patti, Adelina, 123. - -Perugia, Italy, 70, 283. - -Pietri, Franceschini, 243, 257. - -Pisa, Italy, 161. - -Pius IX., Pope, 76, 82, 90, 92, 94. - ----- X., Pope, 307, 314, 316. - -Podesti, Signor, 85. - -Pollard, Dr., 101, 102, 104, 120, 186. - -Pompeii, Italy, 253. - -Porto Fino, Italy, 159, 230. - - -"QUATRE BRAS," studies for, 112, 130; - models for, 120; - copyright sold, 124; - correctness of uniforms, 125; - where hung, 133; - success of, 135; - Ruskin's approval, 146. - -_Queen_, launching of, 288 _seq._ - - -RAMLEH, Egypt, 204. - -Ras-el-Tin, Egypt, 228. - -"Remnants of an Army," 184. - -"Rescue of Wounded," 278. - -"Return from Inkermann," preparations for, 153, 157, 165; - exhibited, 168. - -"Réveil in the Bivouac of the Scots Greys on the Morning of Waterloo," 232. - -"Review of the Native Camel Corps at Cairo," 230. - -Rhodes, Cecil, 296. - -_Riding Together_, illustrations to, 48. - -"Right Wheel," 250. - -Ristori, Adelaide, 7. - -Roberts, Earl, 287. - "Roll Call," models for, 101; - methods of work, 102; - attention to details in, 103; - success of, 104; - private view, 107; - sale of copyright, 111; - bought by Queen Victoria, 111; - taken to Windsor, 116; - question of horse's steps in, 118. - -Rome, Lady Butler's visits to, 71 _seq._, 256, 279, 306, 311 _seq._ - -Rosetta, Egypt, 205, 216. - -Ross, Mrs. Janet, 148, 161, 165. - -Rotterdam, Holland, 181. - -Ruskin, John, 51, 146, 153. - -Ruta, Italy, 3, 230. - - -ST. ETHELDREDA'S Church, London, High Mass in, 154. - -St. Peter's, Rome, functions in, 75, 280, 283. - -St. Sauveur, France, 176. - -Salisbury, Marquis of, 199, 262 _seq._ - -Salvini, Tommaso, 136. - -Savennières, France, 299. - -"Scotland for Ever," 186, 187, 191. - -Sestri Levante, Italy, 56. - -Severn, Joseph, 78, 84, 107. - -Shahzada of Afghanistan, 246. - -Siena, Italy, 162. - -Sistine Chapel, Rome, 281, 307. - -Sori, Italy, 3. - -Sorrento, Italy, 254. - -South Kensington Art School, 10. - -"Steady, the Drums and Fifes!" 261. - -Stone, Marcus, 154. - -Strettell, Rev. Alfred, 6. - -Stufa, Marchese delle, 147, 161. - -Super-Bagnère, France, 177. - -Syndioor, Egypt, 217. - - -TENNYSON, Alfred, Lord, 155 _seq._ - -"Tenth Bengal Lancers at Tent-pegging," 278, 287, 297. - -Tewfik, Khedive, 208, 226. - -"The Avengers," 239. - -"The Colours," 271. - -Thompson, Miss Alice. _See_ Meynell, Mrs. - -----, Miss Elizabeth. _See_ Butler, Elizabeth, Lady. - -----, Mr. T. J., 1, 2, 14, 49, 84, 191. - -----, Mrs. T. J., 2, 3, 9, 12, 51, 58, 83, 84, 143, 310. - -Thomson, Dr., Archbishop of York, 117. - -Toulouse, France, 177. - - -VALENTIA Island, 174. - -Vatican Gardens, Rome, 282. - -Vecchii, Colonel, 6. - -Venice, Italy, 200, 211, 308. - -Ventnor, Isle of Wight, 12, 97. - -Verona, Italy, 224. - -Vesuvius, Mount, ascent of, 255. - -Victor Emmanuel, King of Italy, 6. - -Victor Napoleon, Prince, 247. - -Victoria, Queen, buys "Roll Call," 111; - commissions "Rorke's Drift," 187; - reviews troops at Aldershot, 235, 250; - death, 285. - -----, Empress Frederick, 244, 286. - -Vyvyan, Miss, 42. - - -WADY Halfa, Egypt, 197. - -Wallace, Sir D. Mackenzie, 248. - -Waterloo, field of, 31. - -Wellington, Duke of, 33. - -Westmoreland, Countess of, 110. - -William II., German Emperor, 238. - -"Within Sound of the Guns," 278, 301. - -Wolseley, Viscount, 194, 265. - -Woolwich, review at, 117. - - -PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN BY THE WHITEFRIARS PRESS LTD. LONDON AND -TONBRIDGE. - - -Since I closed these Memoirs my sister, Alice Meynell, has passed away. - -I feel that it is not out of place to record here the fact of her desire -that I should reduce the mention of her name throughout the book. In the -original text it had figured much oftener alongside of my own. Her wish -to keep her personality always retired prevailed upon me to delete many -an allusion to her which would have graced the text, greatly to its -advantage. - -ELIZ^{TH.} BUTLER. - -_31st December, 1922._ - - - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[1] The cattle plague was raging in England. - -[2] William I., afterwards German Emperor. - -[3] The severe Lady Superintendent. - -[4] Whose son, Mr. Alfred Pollard, C.B., became the head of the British -Museum Printed Book Department. - -[5] Manning. - -[6] Poor young Inman, who was killed at the fight of Laing's Nek, S. -Africa. - -[7] "From Sketch-Book and Diary," A. & C. Black. - -[8] I have just been told by an Irishman that the Valentia breed are -trained for _racing!_ - -[9] "The Campaign of the Cataracts." - -[10] The late Lord Kitchener. - -[11] Now King George V. - -[12] Our eldest daughter Elizabeth, now Mrs. Kingscote. - -[13] Some one has explained to me, with what authority I cannot tell, -that "The Sailor King" gave this order to his officers with Royal tact, -being well aware that they could no more stand, at that period of the -dinner, than he could himself. So we sit. - -[14] To die during the World War.--E. B., 1921. - -[15] Our second son. - -[16] My daughter, Lady Gormanston, who completed and edited her father's -autobiography, has recorded in the After-word the circumstances of his -passing. - -[17] Since dead. - -[18] Only a few survivors of the original division which I saw are left. -(1916.) - -[19] In his little book, "A Galloper at Ypres" (Fisher Unwin), my son -gives a clear account of his own experience of that battle. - -[20] Colonel the Hon. Richard Preston, whose book, "The Desert Mounted -Corps," is a masterpiece. - - * * * * * - -Typographical error corrected by the etext transcriber: - -Italian friend in a duett=> Italian friend in a duet {pg 3} - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of An Autobiography, by Elizabeth Butler - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY *** - -***** This file should be named 41638-8.txt or 41638-8.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/4/1/6/3/41638/ - -Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images available at The Internet Archive) -Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team -at http://www.pgdp.net - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions -will be renamed. - -Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no -one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation -(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without -permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Thus, we do not necessarily -keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. - - -Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: - - http://www.gutenberg.org - -This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, -including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary -Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to -subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/41638-8.zip b/41638-8.zip Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index d94cc35..0000000 --- a/41638-8.zip +++ /dev/null diff --git a/41638-h.zip b/41638-h.zip Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index f793da3..0000000 --- a/41638-h.zip +++ /dev/null diff --git a/41638.txt b/41638.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 32217bd..0000000 --- a/41638.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,10116 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of An Autobiography, by Elizabeth Butler - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with -almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license - - -Title: An Autobiography - -Author: Elizabeth Butler - -Release Date: December 16, 2012 [EBook #41638] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ASCII - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY *** - - - - -Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images available at The Internet Archive) -Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team -at http://www.pgdp.net - - - - - - - -[Illustration: "GOT IT. BRAVO!"] - - - - -AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY - -BY - -ELIZABETH BUTLER - -_With Illustrations from Sketches by -THE AUTHOR._ - -CONSTABLE & CO. LTD. -LONDON BOMBAY SYDNEY -1922 - -PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN BY THE WHITEFRIARS PRESS, LTD., -LONDON AND TONBRIDGE. - - -To -MY CHILDREN - - - - -FOREWORD - - -The memoirs of a great artist must inevitably evoke the interest and -appreciation of the initiated. But this book makes a wider appeal, -written as it is by a woman whose career, apart from her art, has been -varied and adventurous, who has travelled widely and associated, not -only with the masters of her own craft, but with the great and eminent -in many fields. It is, moreover, the revelation of a personality apart, -at once feminine and virile, endued with the force engendered by -unswerving adherence to lofty aims. - -In this age of insistent ugliness, when the term "realism" is used to -cloak every form of grossness and degeneracy, it is a privilege to -commune with one who speaks of her "experiences of the world's -loveliness" and describes herself as "full of interest in mankind." -These two phrases, taken at random from the opening pages of "From -Sketch Book and Diary," seem to me eminently characteristic of Lady -Butler and her work. She is a worshipper of Beauty in its spiritual as -well as its concrete form, and all her life she has envisaged mankind in -its nobler aspect. - -At seven years old little Elizabeth Thompson was already drawing -miniature battles, at seventeen she was lamenting that as yet she had -achieved nothing great, and a very few years later the world was ringing -with the fame of the painter of "The Roll Call." - -Through the accumulated interests of changeful years, charged for her -with intense joy and sorrow, she has kept her valiant standard flying, -in her art as in her life remaining faithful to her belief in humanity, -using her power and insight for its uplifting. Not only has she depicted -for us great events and strenuous action, with a sureness all her own, -she has caught and materialised the qualities which inspire heroic -deeds--courage, endurance, fidelity to a life's ideal even in the moment -of death. And all without shirking the dreadful details of the -battlefield; amid blood and grime and misery, in loneliness and neglect, -in the desperate steadfastness of a lost cause, her figures stand out -true to themselves and to the highest traditions of their country. - -During the recent world-upheaval Lady Butler devoted herself in -characteristic fashion to the pursuance of her aims. Many of the -subjects painted and exhibited during those terrible years still -preached her gospel. She worked, moreover, with a twofold motive. Widow -of a great soldier, she devoted the proceeds of her labours to her less -fortunate sisters left impoverished, and even destitute, by the War. - -"_L'artiste donne de soi_," said M. Paderewski once. - -Lady Butler has always given generously of her best, and perhaps this -book of memories, intimate and characteristic, this record of wide -interests and high endeavour, full of picturesque incident and touched -with delicate humour, is as valuable a gift as any that she has yet -bestowed. - -M. E. FRANCIS. - - - - -CONTENTS - - -CHAP. PAGE - -I. FIRST IMPRESSIONS 1 - -II. EARLY YOUTH 10 - -III. MORE TRAVEL 19 - -IV. IN THE ART SCHOOLS 38 - -V. STUDY IN FLORENCE 54 - -VI. ROME 69 - -VII. WAR. BATTLE PAINTINGS 96 - -VIII. "THE ROLL CALL" 101 - -IX. ECHOES OF "THE ROLL CALL" 115 - -X. MORE WORK AND PLAY 130 - -XI. TO FLORENCE AND BACK 147 - -XII. AGAIN IN ITALY 159 - -XIII. A SOLDIER'S WIFE 167 - -XIV. QUEEN VICTORIA 183 - -XV. OFFICIAL LIFE--THE EAST 191 - -XVI. TO THE EAST 196 - -XVII. MORE OF THE EAST 211 - -XVIII. THE LAST OF EGYPT 224 - -XIX. ALDERSHOT 234 - -XX. ITALY AGAIN 252 - -XXI. THE DOVER COMMAND 260 - -XXII. THE CAPE AND DEVONPORT 275 - -XXIII. A NEW REIGN 284 - -XXIV. MOSTLY A ROMAN DIARY 311 - -XXV. THE GREAT WAR 320 - -INDEX 333 - - - - -LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS - - - PAGE - -"GOT IT, BRAVO!" _Frontispiece_ - -A LEAF FROM A VERY EARLY SKETCH-BOOK 12 - -FLYING SHOTS IN BELGIUM AND RHINELAND IN 1865 19 - -IN FLORENCE DURING MY STUDIES IN 1869 58 - -THE LAST OF THE RIDERLESS HORSE-RACES, AND A WET TRUDGE -TO THE VATICAN COUNCIL 80 - -CRIMEAN IDEAS 103 - -PRACTISING FOR "QUATRE BRAS" 130 - -ONE OF THE BALACLAVA SIX HUNDRED 151 - -IN WESTERN IRELAND: A "JARVEY" AND "BIDDY" 174 - -THE EGYPTIAN CAMEL CORPS AND THE BERSAGLIERI 230 - -ALDERSHOT MANOEUVRES: THE ENEMY IN SIGHT 234 - -A DESPATCH BEARER, BOER WAR, AND THE HORSE GUNNERS 284 - -NOTES ON THE EVE OF THE GREAT WAR 323 - -THE SHIRE HORSES: WHEELERS OF A 4.7. A HUSSAR SCOUT OF 1917 327 - -A POSTCARD, FOUND ON A GERMAN PRISONER, WITH "SCOTLAND -FOR EVER" TURNED INTO PRUSSIAN CAVALRY, TYPIFYING -THE VICTORIOUS ONRUSH OF THE GERMAN ARMY IN THE -NEW YEAR, 1915 332 - - - - -AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY - -ELIZABETH BUTLER - - -MY FRIENDS: You must write your memoirs. - -I: Every one writes his or her memoirs nowadays. Rather a plethora, -don't you think? An exceedingly difficult thing to do without too much -of the Ego. - -MY FRIENDS: Oh! but yours has been such an interesting life, so varied, -and you can bring in much outside yourself. Besides, you have kept a -diary, you say, ever since you were twelve, and you have such an -unusually long memory. A pity to waste all that. You simply _must_! - -I: Very well, but remember that I am writing while the world is still -knocked off its balance by the Great War, and few minds will care to -attune themselves to the Victorian and Edwardian stability of my time. - -MY FRIENDS: There will come a reaction. - - - - -CHAPTER I - -FIRST IMPRESSIONS - - -I was born at the pretty "Villa Claremont," just outside Lausanne and -overlooking Lake Leman. I made a good start with the parents Providence -gave me. My father, cultured, good, patient, after he left Cambridge set -out on the "Grand Tour," and after his unsuccessful attempt to enter -Parliament devoted his leisure to my and my younger sister's education. -Yes, he began with our first strokes, our "pot-hooks and hangers," our -two-and-two make four; nor did his tuition really cease till, entering -on matrimony, we left the paternal roof. He adopted, in giving us our -lessons, the principle of "a little and often," so that we had two -hours in the morning and no lessons in the afternoon, only bits of -history, poetry, the collect for the Sunday and dialogues in divers -languages to learn overnight by heart to be repeated to him next -morning. We had no regular holidays: a day off occasionally, especially -when travelling; and we travelled much. He believed that intelligent -travel was a great educator. He brought us up tremendous English -patriots, but our deepest contentment lay in our Italian life, because -we loved the sun--all of us. - -So we oscillated between our Ligurian Riviera and the home counties of -Kent and Surrey, but were never long at a time in any resting place. Our -father's daughter by his first wife had married, at seventeen, an -Italian officer whose family we met at Nervi, and she settled in Italy, -becoming one of our attractions to the beloved Land. That officer later -on joined Garibaldi, and was killed at the Battle of the Volturno. She -never left the country of her adoption, and that bright lure for us -remained. - -Although we were very strictly ruled during lessons, we ran rather wild -after, and, looking back, I only wonder that no illness or accident ever -befell us. Our dear Swiss nurse was often scandalised at our escapades, -but our mother, bright and beautiful, loving music and landscape -painting, and practising both with an amateur's enthusiasm, allowed us -what she considered very salutary freedom after study. Still, I don't -think she would have liked some of our wild doings and our consortings -with Genoese peasant children and Surrey ploughboys, had she known of -them. But, careful as she was of our physical and spiritual health, she -trusted us and thought us unique. - -My memory goes back to the time when I was just able to walk and we -dwelt in a typically English village near Cheltenham. I see myself -pretending to mind two big cart-horses during hay-making, while the fun -of the rake and the pitchfork was engaging others not so interested in -horses as I already was myself. Then I see the _Albergo_, with -vine-covered porch, at Ruta, on the "saddle" of Porto Fino, that -promontory which has been called the "Queen of the Mediterranean," where -we began our lessons, and, I may say, our worship of Italy. - -Then comes Villa de' Franchi for two exquisite years, a little nearer -Genoa, at Sori, a _palazzo_ of rose-coloured plaster and white stucco, -with flights of stone steps through the vineyards right down to the sea. -That sea was a joy to me in all its moods. We had our lessons in the -balcony in the summer, and our mother's piano sent bright melody out of -the open windows of the drawing-room when she wasn't painting the -mountains, the sea, the flowers. She had the "semi-grand" piano brought -out into the balcony one fullmoon night and played Beethoven's -"Moonlight Sonata" under those silver beams, while the sea, her -audience, in its reflected glory, murmured its applause. - -Often, after the babes were in bed, I cried my heart out when, through -the open windows, I could hear my mother's light soprano drowned by the -strong tenor of some Italian friend in a duet, during those musical -evenings so dear to the music-loving children of the South. It seemed -typical of her extinction, and I felt a rage against that tenor. Our -dear nurse, Amelie, would come to me with lemonade, and mamma, when -apprised of the state of things, would also come to the rescue, her -face, still bright from the singing, becoming sad and puckered. - -A stay at Edenbridge, in Kent, found me very happy riding in big waggons -during hay-making and hanging about the farm stables belonging to the -house, making friends with those splendid cart-horses which contrasted -with the mules of Genoa in so interesting a way. How the cuckoos sang -that summer; a note never heard in Italy. I began writing verse about -that time. Thus: - - The gates of Heaven open to the lovely season, - And all the meadows sweet they lie in peace. - -We children loved the Kentish beauty of our dear England. Poetry -filtered into our two little hearts wherever we abode, to blossom forth -in my little large-eyed, thoughtful sister in the process of time. To -Nervi we went again, taking Switzerland on the way this time, into Italy -by the Simplon and the Lago Maggiore. - -A nice couple of children we were sometimes! At this same Nervi, one -day, we little girls found the village people celebrating a _festa_ at -Sant' Ilario, high up on the foothills of the mountains behind our -house. We mixed in the crowd outside, as the church emptied, and armed -ourselves with branches. Rounding up the children, who were in swarms, -we gave chase. Down, down, through the zone of chestnut trees, down -through the olive woods, down through the vineyards, down to the little -town the throng fled, till, landing them in the street, we went home, -remarking on the evident superior power of the Anglo-Saxon race over the -Latin. - -As time went on my drawing-books began to show some promise, so that my -father gave me great historical subjects for treatment, but warning me, -in that amused way he had, that an artist must never get spoilt by -celebrity, keeping in mind the fluctuations of popularity. I took all -this seriously. I think that, having no boys to bring up, he tried to -put all the tuition suitable to both boys and girls into us. One result -was that as a child I had the ambition to be a writer as well as a -painter. We children were fanatically devoted to the worship of -Charlotte Bronte, since our father had read us "Jane Eyre" (with -omissions). Rather strong meat for babes! We began sending poetry and -prose to divers periodicals and cut our teeth on rejected MSS. - -We went back to Genoa, _via_ Jersey (as a little _detour_!) Poor old -Agostino, our inevitable cook, saw us as we drove from the station, on -our arrival, through the Via Carlo Felice. Worse luck, for he had become -too blind for his work. In days gone by he had done very well and we had -not the heart to cast him off. He ran after our carriage, kissing our -hands as he capered sideways alongside, at the peril of being run over. -So we were in for him again, but it was the last time. On our next visit -a friend told us, "Agostino is dead, thank goodness!" He and our dear -nurse, Amelie, used to have the most desperate rows, principally over -religion, he a devout Catholic and she a Protestant of the true Swiss -fibre. They always ended by wrangling themselves at the highest pitch of -their voices into papa's presence for judgment. But he never gave it, -only begging them to be quiet. She declared to Agostino that if he got -no wages at all he would still make a fortune out of us by his -perquisites; and, indeed, considering we left all purchases in his -hands, I don't think she exaggerated. The war against Austria had been -won. Magenta, Solferino, Montebello--dear me, how those names resounded! -One day as we were running along the road in our pinafores near the -Zerbino palace, above Genoa, along came Victor Emmanuel in an open -carriage looking very red and blotchy in the heat, with big, ungloved -hands, one of which he raised to his hat in saluting us little imps who -were shouting "Long live the King of Italy!" in English with all our -might. We were only a _little_ previous (!) Then the next year came the -Garibaldi enthusiasm, and we, like all the children about us, became -highly exalted _Garibaldians_. I saw the Liberator the day before he -sailed from Quarto for his historical landing in Sicily, at the Villa -Spinola, in the grounds of which we were, on a visit at the English -consul's. He was sitting in a little arbour overlooking the sea, talking -to the gardener. In the following autumn, when his fame had increased a -thousandfold, I made a pen and ink memory sketch of him which my father -told me to keep for future times. I vividly remember, though at the time -not able to understand the extraordinary meaning of the words, hearing -one of Garibaldi's adoring comrades (one Colonel Vecchii) a year or two -later on exclaim to my father, with hands raised to heaven, -"_Garibaldi!! C'est le Christ le revolver a la main!_" - -Our life at old Albaro was resumed, and I recall the pleasant English -colony at Genoa in those days, headed by the very popular consul, -"Monty" Brown, and the nice Church of England chaplain, the Rev. Alfred -Strettell. Ah! those primitive picnics on Porto Fino, when Mr. Strettell -and our father used to read aloud to the little company, including our -precocious selves, Shakespeare, Wordsworth, Keats, Tennyson, under the -vines and olives, between whose branches, far below the cultivated -terraces which we chose for our repose, appeared the deep blue waters of -the Sea of seas. My early sketch books are full of incidents in Genoese -peasant life: carnival revels in the streets, so suited to the child's -idea of fun; charges of Garibaldian cavalry on discomfited Neapolitan -troops (the despised _Borbonici_), and waving of tricolours by bellicose -patriots. I was taken to the Carlo Felice Theatre to see Ristori in -"Maria Stuarda," and became overwhelmed with adoration of that mighty -creature. One night she came on the stage waving a great red, white, and -green tricolour, and recited to a delirious audience a fine patriotic -poem to united Italy ending in the words "_E sii Regina Ancor!_" I see -her now in an immense crinoline. - -A charming autumn sojourn on the lakes of Orta and Maggiore filled our -young minds with beauty. Early autumn is the time for the Italian lakes, -while the vintage is "on" and the golden Indian corn is stored in the -open loggias of the farms, hanging in rich bunches in sun and luminous -shade amongst the flower pots and all the homely odds and ends of these -picturesque dwellings. The following spring was clouded by our return to -England and London in particularly cold and foggy weather, dark with the -London smoke, and our temporary installation in a dismal abode hastily -hired for us by our mother's father, where we could be close to his -pretty little dwelling at Fulham. My Diary was begun there. Poor little -"Mimi" (as I was called), the pages descriptive of our leaving Albaro at -that time are spotted with the mementos of her tears. The journey -itself was a distraction, for we returned by the long Cornice Route -which then was followed by the _Malle Poste_ and Diligence, the railway -being only in course of construction. It was very interesting to go in -that fashion, especially to me, who loved the horses and watched the -changing of our teams at the end of the "stages" with the intensest -zest. I made little sketches whenever halts allowed, and, as usual, my -irrepressible head was out of the Diligence window most of the time. The -Riviera is now known to everybody, and very delightful in its way. I -have not long returned from a very pleasant visit there; everything very -luxurious and up-to-date, but the local sentiment is lessened. The -reason is obvious, and has been laboured enough. One can still go off -the beaten paths and find the true Italy. I have found one funny little -sketch showing our _Malle Poste_ stopping to pick up the mail bag at a -village (San Remo, perhaps), which bag is being handed out of a top -window, at night, by the old postmistress. The _Malle Poste_ evidently -went "like the wind," for I invariably show the horses at a gallop all -along the route. - -My misery at the view of our approach to London through that wilderness -of slums that ushers us into the Great Metropolis is all chronicled, -and, what with one thing and another, the Diary sinks for a while into -despondency. But not for long. I cheer up soon. - -In London I took in all the amusing details of the London streets, so -new to me, coming from Italy. I seem, by my entries in the Diary, to -have been particularly diverted by the colour of those Dundreary -whiskers that the English "swell" of the period affected. I constantly -come upon "Saw no end of red whiskers." Then I read, "Mamma and I paid -calls, one on Dickens (_sic_)--out, thank goodness." Charles Dickens, -whom I dismiss in this offhand manner, had been a close friend of my -father's, and it was he who introduced my father to the beautiful Miss -Weller (amusing coincidence in names!) at an amateur concert where she -played. The result was rapid. My vivid memory can just recall Charles -Dickens's laugh. I never heard it echoed by any other man's till I heard -Lord Wolseley's. The volunteer movement was in full swing, and I became -even more enthusiastic over the citizen soldiers than I had been over -the _Garibaldini_. Then there are pages and pages filled with -descriptions of the pictures at the Royal Academy; of the Zoological -Gardens, describing nearly every bird, beast, reptile and fish. Laments -over the fogs and the cold of that dreadful London April and May, and -untiring outbursts in verse of regret for my lost Italy. But I stuffed -my sketch books with British volunteers in every conceivable uniform, -each corps dressed after its own taste. There was a very short-lived -corps called the Six-foot Guards! I sent a design for a uniform to the -_Illustrated London News_, which was returned with thanks. I felt hurt. -Grandpapa attached himself to the St. George's Rifles, and went, later -on, through storm and rain and sun in several sham fights. Well, _Punch_ -made fun of those good men and true, but I have lived to know that the -"Territorials," as they came to be called, were destined in the -following century to lend their strong arm in saving the nation. We next -had a breezy and refreshing experience of Hastings and the joy of rides -on the downs with the riding master. London fog and smoke were blown off -us by the briny breezes. - - - - -CHAPTER II - -EARLY YOUTH - - -In December we migrated back to London, and shortly before Christmas our -dear, faithful nurse died. That was Alice's and my first sense of -sorrow, and, even now, I can't bear to go over those dreadful days. Our -father told us we would never forgive ourselves if we did not take our -last look at her. He said we were very young for looking on death, but -"go, my children," he said, "it is right." I cannot read those -heartbroken words with which I fill page after page of my Diary even now -without tears. She had at first intended to remain at home at Lausanne -when my parents were leaving for England, shortly after my birth, but as -she was going I smiled at her from my cradle. "_Ah! Mademoiselle Mimi, -ce sourire!_" brought her back irresistibly, and with us she remained to -the end. - -As we girls grew apace we had a Parisian mistress to try and parisianise -our Swiss French and an Italian master to try and tuscanise our Genoese -Italian, and every Saturday a certain Mr. Standish gave me two hours' -drill in oil painting. How grand I felt! He gave me his own copies of -Landseer's horses' heads and dogs as models. This wasn't very much, but -it was a beginning. My lessons in the elementary class at the S. -Kensington School of Art are not worth mentioning. The masters gave me -hateful scrolls and patterns to copy, and I relieved my feelings by -ornamenting the margins of my drawing paper with angry scribblings of -horses and soldiers in every variety of fury. That did not last long. -This entry in the Diary speaks for itself:-- - -"_Sunday, March 16th, 1862._--We went to Mr. Lane's house preparatory to -going to see Millais in his studio. Mr. Richard Lane is an old friend of -papa's. The middle Miss Lane is a favourite model of Millais' and very -pretty. We entered his studio, which is hung with rich pre-Raphaelite -tapestry and pre-Raphaelite everything. The smell of cigar smoke -prepared me for what was to come. Millais, a tall, strapping, careless, -blunt, frank, young Englishman, was smoking with two villainous friends, -both with beards--red, of course. Instead of coming to be introduced -they sat looking at Millais' graceful drawings calling them 'jolly' and -'stunning,' the creatures! Millais would be handsome but for his eyes, -which are too small, and his hair is colourless and stands up in curls -over his large head but not encroaching upon his splendid forehead. He -seems to know what a universal favourite he is." I naturally did not -record in this precious piece of writing a rather humiliating little -detail. I wanted the company to see that I was a bit of a judge of -painting, ahem! In fact, a painter myself, and, approaching very near to -the wet picture of "The Ransom" (I think), I began to scrutinise. Mr. -Lane took me gently, but firmly, by the shoulders and placed me in a -distant chair. Had I been told by a seer that in 1875--the year I -painted "Quatre Bras"--this same Millais, after entertaining me at -dinner in that very house, would escort me down those very steps, and, -in shaking hands, was to say, "Good night, Miss Thompson, I shall soon -have the pleasure of congratulating you on your election to the -Academy, an honour which you will _t'oroughly_ deserve"--had I been told -this! - -Our next halt was in the Isle of Wight, at Ventnor, and then at -Bonchurch, and our house was "The Dell." Bonchurch was a beautiful -dwelling-place. But, alas! for what I may call the Oxford primness of -the society! It took long to get ourselves attuned to it. However, we -got to be fond of this society when the ice thawed. The Miss Sewells -were especially charming, sisters of the then Warden of New College. -Each family took a pride in the beauty of its house and gardens, the -result being a rivalry in loveliness, enriching Bonchurch with flowers, -woods and ornamental waters that filled us with delight. Mamma had "The -Dell" further beautified to come up to the high level of the others. She -made a little garden herself at the highest point of the grounds, with -grass steps, bordered with tall white lilies, and called it "the -Celestial Garden." The cherry trees she planted up there for the use of -the blackbirds came to nothing. The water-colours she painted at "The -Dell" are amongst her loveliest. - -[Illustration: A LEAF FROM A VERY EARLY SKETCH-BOOK.] - -Ventnor was fond of dances, At Homes, and diversions generally, but I -shall never forget my poor mother's initial trials at the musical -parties where the conversation raged during her playing, rising and -sinking with the _crescendos_ and _diminuendos_ (and this after the -worship of her playing in Italy!), and once she actually stopped dead in -the middle of a Mozart and silence reigned. She then tried the catching -"Saltarello," with the same result exactly. "The English appreciate -painting with their ears and music with their eyes," said Benjamin West -(if I am not mistaken), the American painter, who became President of -our Royal Academy. This hard saying had much truth in it, at least in -his day. Even in ours they had to be _told_ of the merits of a picture, -and the _sight_ of a pianist crossing his hands when performing was the -signal for exchanges of knowing smiles and nods amongst the audience, -who, talking, hadn't heard a note. For vocal music, however, silence was -the convention. How we used inwardly to laugh when, after a song piped -by some timid damsel, the music was handed round so that the words and -music might be seen in black and white by the guests assembled. I -thankfully record the fact that as time went on my mother's playing -seemed at last to command attention, and it being whispered that silence -was better suited to such music, it became quite the thing to stop -talking. - -Though Bonchurch was inclined to a moderate High Church tone, its rector -was of a pungent Low-Churchism, and he wrote us and the other girls who -sang in his choir a very severe letter one day ordering us to -discontinue turning to the east in the Creed. We all liked the much more -genial and very beautiful services at Holy Trinity Church, midway to -Ventnor, where we used to go for evensong. The Rev. Mr. G., of -Bonchurch, gave us very long sermons in the mornings, prophesying dismal -and alarming things to come, and we took refuge finally in the Rev. A. -L. B. Peile's more heartening discourses. - -The Ventnor dances were thoroughly enjoyable, and the croquet parties -and the rides with friends, and all the rest of it. Yes, it was a nice -life, but the morning lessons never broke off. No doubt we were -precocious, but we like to dwell on the fact of the shortness of our -childhood and the consequent length of our youth. I now and then come -upon funny juvenile sketch books where I find my Ventnor partners at -these dances clashing with charges of Garibaldian cavalry. There they -are, the desirable ones and the undesirable; the drawling "heavy swell" -and the raw stripling; the handsome and the ugly. The girls, too, are -there; the flirt and the wallflower. They all went in. - -These festive Ventnor doings were all very well, but it became more and -more borne in upon me that, if I intended to be a "great artist" (oh! -seductive words), my young 'teens were the right time for study. "Very -well, then--attention!--miss!" No sooner did my father perceive that I -meant business than he got me books on anatomy, architecture, costume, -arms and armour, Ruskin's inspiring writings, and everything he thought -the most appropriate for my training. But I longed for regular training -in some academy. I chafed, as my Diaries show. For some time yet I was -to learn in this irregular way, petitioning for real severe study till -my dear parents satisfied me at last. "You will be entering into a -tremendous ruck of painters, though, my child," my father said one day, -with a shake of his head. I answered, "I will single myself out of it." - -So, then, the lovely "Dell" was given up, and soon there began the -happiest period of my girlhood--my life as an art student at South -Kensington; _not_ in the elementary class of unpleasant memory, but in -the "antique" and the "life." - -But our father wanted first to show us Bruges and the Rhine, so we were -off again on our travels in the summer. Two new countries for us girls, -hurrah! and a little glimpse of a part of our own by the way. I find an -entry made at Henley. - -"_Henley, May 31st._--Before to-day I could not boast with justice of -knowing more than a fraction of England! This afternoon I saw her in one -of her loveliest phases on a row to Medmenham Abbey. Skies of the most -telling effects, ever changing as we rowed on, every reach we came to -revealing fresh beauties of a kind so new to me. The banks of long grass -full of flowers, the farmsteads gliding by, the willows allowed to grow -according to Nature's intention into exquisitely graceful trees, the -garden lawns sloping to the water's edge as a delicious contrast to the -predominating rural loveliness, and then that unruffled river! I have -seen the Thames! At Medmenham Abbey we had tea, and one of the most -beautiful parts of the river and meadowland, flowery to overflowing, was -seen before us through the arcades, the sky just there being of the most -delicious dappled warm greys, and further on the storm clouds towered, -red in the low sun. What pictures wherever you turn; and turn and turn -and turn we did, until my eyes ached, on our smooth row back. The -evening effects put the afternoon ones out of my head. I imagined a -score of pictures, peopling the rich, sweet banks with men and women of -the olden time. The skies received double glory and poetry from the -perfectly motionless water, which reflected all things as in a -mirror--as if it wasn't enough to see that overwhelming beauty without -seeing it doubled! At last I could look no more at the effects nor hear -the blackbirds and thrushes that sang all the way, and, to Mamma's -sympathetic amusement, I covered my eyes and ears with a shawl. Alas! -for the artist, there is no peace for him. He cannot gaze and -peacefully admire; he frets because he cannot 'get the thing down' in -paint. Having finished my row in that Paradise, let me also descend from -the poetic heights, and record the victory of the Frenchman. Yes, -'Gladiateur' has carried off the blue ribbon of the turf. Upon my word, -these Frenchmen!" It was the first time a French horse had won the -Derby. - -Bruges was after my own heart. Mediaeval without being mouldy, kept -bright and clean by loving restorations done with care and knowledge. No -beautiful old building allowed to crumble away or be demolished to make -room for some dreary hideosity, but kept whole and wholesome for modern -use in all its own beauty. Would that the Italians possessed that same -spirit. My Diary records our daily walks through the beautiful, bright -streets with their curious signs named in Flemish and French, and the -charm of a certain _place_ planted with trees and surrounded by gabled -houses. Above every building or tree, go where you would, you always saw -rising up either the wondrous tower of the Halle (the _Beffroi_), dark -against the bright sky, or the beautiful red spire on the top of the -enormous grey brick tower of Notre Dame, a spire, I should say, -unequalled in the world not only for its lovely shape and proportions, -but for its exquisite style and colour: a delicious red for its upper -part, most refined and delicate, with white lines across, and as -delicate a yellow lower down. Or else you had the grey tower of the -cathedral, plain and imposing, made of small bricks like that of Notre -Dame, having a massive effect one would not expect from the material. -Over the little river, which runs nearly round the town, are -oft-recurring draw-bridges with ponderous grey gates, flanked by two -strong, round, tower-like wings. Most effective. On this river glided -barges pulled painfully by men, who trudged along like animals. I record -with horror that one barge was pulled by a woman! "It was quite painful -to see her bent forward doing an English horse's work, with the band -across her chest, casting sullen upward glances at us as we passed, and -the perspiration running down her face. From the river diverge canals -into the town, and nothing can describe the beauty of those water -streets reflecting the picturesque houses whose bases those waters wash, -as at Venice. When it comes to seeing two towers of the Halle, two -spires of Notre Dame, two towers of the cathedral, etc., etc., the -duplicate slightly quivering downwards in the calm water! Here and -there, as we crossed some canal or other, one special bit would come -upon us and startle us with its beauty. Such combinations of gables and -corner turrets and figures of saints and little water-side gardens with -trees, and always two or more of the towers and spires rising up, hazy -in the golden flood of the evening sun!" - -In our month at Bruges I made the most of every hour. It is one of the -few towns one loves with a personal love. I don't know what it looks -like to-day, after the blight of war that passed over Belgium, but I -trust not much harm was done there. How one trembled for the old -_beffroi_, which one heard was mined by the Huns when they were in -possession. - -"_August 24th._--Dear, exquisite, lovely, sunny, smiling Bruges, -good-bye! Good-bye, fair city of happy, ever happy, recollections. -Bright, gabled Bruges, we shall not look upon thy like again." - -I will make extracts from my German Diary, as Germany in those days was -still a land of kindly people whom we liked much before they became -spoilt by the Prussianism only then beginning to assert itself over the -civil population. The Rhine, too, was still unspoilt. That part of -Germany was agricultural; not yet industrialised out of its charm. I -also think these extracts, though so crude and "green," may show young -readers how we can enjoy travel by being interested in all we see. I may -become tiresome to older ones who have passed the Golden Gates, and for -some of whom Rhine or Nile or Seine or Loire has run somewhat dry. - -[Illustration: FLYING SHOTS IN BELGIUM AND RHINELAND IN /65.] - - - - -CHAPTER III - -MORE TRAVEL - - -"Alas! for railway travellers one approach to a place is like another. -Fancy arriving at Cologne through ragged factory outskirts and being -deposited under a glazed shed from which nothing but the railway objects -can be seen! We made a dash to the cathedral, I on the way remarking the -badly-dressed Dueppel heroes (!) with their cook's caps and tight -trousers; and oh dear! the officers are of a very different mould here -from what they are in Belgium. Big-whiskered fellows with waists enough -to make the Belgians faint. But I am trifling. We went into the -cathedral by a most glorious old portal covered with rich Gothic -mouldings. Happy am I to be able to say I have seen Cologne Cathedral. -Now, hurrah for the Rhine! that river I have so longed, for years, to -see." - -We don't seem to have cared much for Bonn, though I intensely enjoyed -watching the swift river from the hotel garden and the Seven Mountains -beyond. The people, too, amused and interested me very much, and the -long porcelain pipe dangling from every male mouth gave me much matter -for sketching. - -My Diary on board the _Germania_: "Koenigswinter at the foot of the -Dragenfels began that series of exquisite towns at the foot of ruined -castles of which we have had more than a sufficient feast--that is, to -be able to do them all the justice which their excessive beauty calls -loudly for. We rounded the Dragenfels and saw it 'frowning' more -Byronically than on the Bonn side, and altogether more impressive. And -soon began the vines in all their sweet abundance on the smiling hill -slopes. Romantic Rolandsec expanded on our right as we neared it, and -there stood the fragment of the ruined castle peering down, as its -builder is said to have done, upon the Convent amidst the trees on its -island below. And then how fine looked the Seven Mountains as we looked -back upon them, closing in the river as though it were a lake, and away -we sped from them and left them growing mistier, and passed russet roofs -and white-walled houses with black beams across, and passed lovely -Unkel, picturesque to the core, bordering the water, and containing a -most delicious old church. Opposite rose curious hills, wild and round, -half vine-clad, half bare, and so on to Apollinarisberg on our right, -with its new four-pinnacled church on the hill, above Remagen and its -old church below. The last sight of the Dragenfels was a very happy one, -in misty sunlight, as it finally disappeared behind the near hills. On, -on we went, and passed the dark Erpeler Lei and the round, blasted and -dismal ruin of Okenfels; and Ling, with a cloud-capped mountain frowning -over it. As we glided by the fine restored _chateau_ of Argenfels and -the village of Hoenningen the sky was red with the reflection of the -sunset which we could not see, and was reflected in the swirling river. -We did our Rhine pretty conscientiously by going first aft, then -forward, and then to starboard, and then to port, and glories were -always before us, look which way we would. So the Rhine has _not_ been -too much cried up, say what you will, Messrs. Blase and Bore. The views -were constantly interrupted by the heads of the lack-lustre people on -board, who, just like the visitors at the R.A., hide the beauties they -can't appreciate from those who long to see them. But it soon began to -grow dark. - -"As we glided by Neuwied and stopped to take and discharge passengers a -band was playing the 'Dueppel March,' so called because the Prussians -played it before Dueppel. They are so blatantly proud of having beaten -the Danes and getting Schleswig-Holstein. Fireworks were spluttering, -and, altogether, a great deal of festivity was going on. It was quite -black on the afterdeck by this time, _minus_ lanterns. To go below to -the stuffy, lighted cabin was not to be thought of, so we walked up and -down, sometimes coming in contact with our fellow-man, or, rather, -woman, for the men carried lights at the fore (_i.e._, at the ends of -their cigars). At last, by the number of lights ahead, we knew we were -approaching Coblenz. We went to the "Giant" Hotel, close to the landing. -It was most tantalising to know that Ehrenbreitstein was towering -opposite, invisible, and that such masses of picturesqueness must be all -around. Papa and I had supper in the _Speise-saal_, and then I gladly -sought my couch, in my sweet room which looked on the front, after a -very enjoyable day. - -"Most glorious of glorious days! The theory held so drearily by Messrs. -Blase and Bore about the mist and rain of the Rhine is knocked on the -head. We were off to Bingen, to my regret, for it was hard to leave such -a place as Coblenz, although greater beauties awaited us further up, -perhaps, than we had yet seen. But I must begin with the morning and -record the glorious sight before us as we looked out of our windows. -Strong Ehrenbreitstein against the pearly, hot, morning sky, the -furrowed rock laid bare in many places, and precipitous, sun-tinted and -shadow-stained; the bright little town just opposite, the hill behind -thickly clothed in rich vines athwart which the sun shone deliciously. -The green of the river, too, was beautifully soft. After breakfast we -took that charming invention, an open carriage, and went up to the -Chartreuse, the proper thing to do, as this hill overlooks one of _the_ -views of the world. We went first through part of the town, by the large -and rather ugly King's Palace, passing much picturesqueness. The women -have very pleasing headdresses about here of various patterns. Of -course, the place is full of soldiers and everything seems fortified. On -our ascent we passed great forts of immense strength, hard nuts for the -French to crack, if they ever have the wickedness (_sic_) to put their -pet notion of the Rhine being France's boundary into execution. What a -view we had all the way up; to our left, the winding Rhine disappearing -in the distance into the gorge, its beautiful valley smiling below, and -the vine-clad hills rising on either side, with their exquisite -surfaces. Purple shadows, and golden vines, and walnut trees, that -contrast which so often has enchanted my eyes on the Genoese Riviera, -the Italian lakes, and my own dear Lake Leman, gladdened them once more. -And then the really clear sky (no factory chimneys here) and those -intense white clouds casting shadows on the hills of lovely purple. We -went across the wide plateau on the top, a magnificent exercise ground -for the soldiers, health itself, and then we beheld, winding below us in -its sweet valley and by two picturesque villages, the little Moselle, by -no means 'blue,' as the song says, but of a pinky brown and apparently -very shallow. We were at a great height, and having got out of the -carriage we stood on the very verge of a sheer precipice, at the -far-down base of which wound the high road. Sweet little Moselle! I was -so loth to leave that view behind. It really does seem such a shame to -say so little of it. The air up there was full of the scent of wild -thyme, and mountain flowers grew thick in that hot sun, and the short -mountain grass was brown. - -"We descended by another road and were taken right through the town to -the old Moselle bridge which crosses that river near its confluence with -the green Rhine. What turreted corners, what gable ends, what exquisite -David Roberts 'bits' at every turn! The bridge and its old gate were a -picture in themselves, and the view from the middle of the bridge of the -walls, the old buildings, church towers and spires, and boats and rafts -moored below, was the essence of the picturesque. Market women and -_pelotons_ of soldiers with glittering helmets and bayonets make -excellent foreground groups. How unlike nearly-deserted Bruges is this -busy, thronged city! Oxen are as much used about here as horses, and add -much to the artist's joy. But I must hurry on; there is all the glorious -Rhine to Bingen to ascend. What a feast of beauty we have been partaking -of since leaving Failure Bonn! - -"Lots of people at 1 o'clock _table d'hote_: staring Prooshan officers -in 'wings' and whiskers, more or less tightly clad, talking loud and -clattering their swords unnecessarily; swarms of English and a great -many honeymoon couples of all nations. It was very hot when we left to -dive into that glorious region we had seen from the Chartreuse. Those -were golden hours on board the _Lorelei_. But more 'spoons'; more -English; more Ya-ing natives and small boys always in the way, and so we -paddled away from beautiful Coblenz, and very fine did the 'Broadstone -of Honour' look as we left it gradually behind. And now we began again -the castles and the villages, the former more numerous than below -stream. Happy Mr. Moriarty to possess such a castle as Lahneck; and then -the beautiful town below, and the gorgeous wooded steep hills and the -beautiful tints on the water. Golden walnut trees on the banks and old -church towers--such rich loveliness gliding by perpetually. The towns -are certainly half the battle; they add immensely to the scene. Rhense -was the oldest town we had yet seen, and the old dark walls are -crumbling down. Such bits of archways, such corner bits, such old -age-tinted roofs! I _must_ not pass over Marksburg, the most perfect old -castle on the Rhine, quite unaltered and not quite ruinous, as it is -garrisoned by a corps of Invalides. It therefore looks stronger and -grander than the others. Below the cone which it crowns nestled the -inevitable picturesque town (Braubach) upon the shore. - -"Soon after passing this beautiful part we rounded another old village -and church on our right, for the river takes a great bend here. Of -course, new beauties appeared ahead as we swept round, soft purple -mountains, one behind the other, and hillsides golden with vines and -walnut trees. And then we came to Boppart, in the midst of the gorge, -one of the most enchanting old walled towns we had yet seen, with a -large water-cure establishment above it upon the orchard slopes of the -hill. Then the old castle called 'The Mouse' drew our attention to the -left again, and then to the right appeared, after we had passed the twin -castles of Sternberg and Liebenstein, or the 'Brothers,' the magnificent -ruin of Rheinfels above the town of St. Goar in the shadow of the steep -hill. How splendidly those blasted arches come out against the sunny -sky! Then 'The Cat' appeared on our left, supposed to be watching 'The -Mouse' round the corner; then, with the last gleam of the sun upon it, -appeared the castle of 'Schoenberg' after we had passed the Lorelei rock, -tunnelled through by the railway, and hills glowing in autumn tints. -Sunset colour began to add new charm to mountains, hills, and river. Two -guns were fired in this part of the gorge for the echo. It rolled away -like thunder very satisfactorily. Gutenfels on its rock was splendid in -the sunset, with the town of Caub at its feet, and the curious old tower -called the Pfalz in mid-stream, where poor Louis le Debonnaire came to -die. I can hardly individualise the towns and their over-looking castles -that followed. There was Bacharach, with its curious three-sided towers -and church of St. Werner; then more castles, getting dimmer and dimmer -in the deepening twilight. The last was swallowed up in the night." - -I need not dwell on Bingen. I see us, happy wanderers, dropping down to -Boppart, to halt there for very fondly-remembered days at the water-cure -of "Marienberg," which we made our habitation for want of an hotel. -Being there I did the "cure" for nothing in particular, but was none the -worse for it. At any rate it passed me as "sound" after the ordeal by -water. The ordeal was severe, and so was the Spartan food. To any one -who wasn't going through the water ordeal the Spartan food ordeal -seemed impossible. But soon one got to like the whole thing and delight -in the freshness of that life in the warm sunny weather. We both -accepted the "Grape Cure" with unmixed feelings--2 lbs. each of grapes a -day; and even the cold, deep plate of sour milk (_dicke milch_), -sprinkled with brown breadcrumbs, and that _kraut_ preserve which so -dashed us at our first breakfast, became rather fascinating. We took our -pre-breakfast walk on four glasses of cold water, though, to _wet_ our -appetites. I see now, in memory, the swimming baths, with the blue water -rushing through them from the hills, and feel the exhilaration of the -six-in-the-morning plunge. Oh! _la jeunesse! La joie de vivre!_ - -They had dancing every Thursday evening in what was the great vaulted -refectory of the monks before that monastery was secularised. One gala -evening many people came in from outside. The young ladies were in -muslin frocks, which they, no doubt, had washed themselves, and the -ballroom was redolent of soap. The gentlemen went into the drawing-room -after each dance and combed their blond hair and beards at the -looking-glass over the mantelpiece, having brought brush and comb with -them. The next morning I was very elaborately saluted by a man in a -blouse, driving oxen, and I recognised in him one of my partners of the -evening before who had worn the correct _frac_ and white tie. What a -strange amalgamation of democracy and aristocracy we found in Germany! -The Diary tells of the music we had every evening till 10 o'clock and -"lights out." My mother and one or two typical German musical -geniuses--women patients--kept the piano in constant request, and the -evenings were really very bright and the tone so homely and kind. -Kindness was the prevailing spirit which we noticed amongst the Germans -in those far-away days. How they complimented us all on our halting -German; how the women admired our frocks, especially the buttons! I hope -they didn't expect us to go into equal ecstasies over their own -costumes. We sang and were in great voice, perhaps on account of the -"plunge baths," or was it the "sour milk"? - -A big Saxon cavalry officer who was doing the cure for a kick from a -horse and, being in mufti, had put off his "jack-boot" manners, was full -of enthusiasm about our voices. He expressed himself in graceful -pantomime after each of my songs by pointing to his ear and running his -finger down to his heart, for he spoke neither English nor French, and -worshipfully paid homage to Mamma's pianoforte playing. She played -indeed superbly. He was a big man. We called him "the Athlete." We had -nicknames for all the patients. There was "the _Sauer-kraut_," there was -the "Flighty," the funniest little shrivelled creature, a truly -wonderful musical genius, who, having heard me practising one morning, -flew to Mamma, telling her she had heard me go up to _Si_ and that I -must make my name as a _prima donna_--no less. That Mendelssohn had -proposed to her was a treasured memory. Her mother, with true German -pride of birth, forbade the union. There was a very great dame doing the -cure, the "_Incog_," who confided her card to Mamma with an Imperial -embrace before leaving, which revealed her as Marie, Prinzessin zu -Hohenzollern Hechingen. Then there was a most interesting and ugly -duellist, who a short time previously had killed a prince. His wife wore -blue spectacles, having cried herself blind over the regrettable -incident. And so on, and so on. - -The vintage began, and we visited many a vineyard on both banks of the -rapid, eddying river, watching the peasants at their wholesome work in -the mellowing sunlight. Whenever we bought grapes of these pleasant -people, they insisted on giving us extra bunches _gratis_ in that -old-fashioned way so prevalent in Italy. I record in the Diary one -classic-looking youth, with the sunset gold behind his serious, handsome -face, bent slightly over the vine he was picking, on the hillside where -we sat. He seemed the personification of the sanctity of labour. All -this sounds very sentimental to us war-weary ones of the twentieth -century, but we need refreshment in the pleasures of memory; memory of -more secure times. The Diary says:-- - -"When we left Boppart, Mamma and we two girls were half hidden in -bouquets, and our Marienberg friends clustered at the railway carriage -door and on the step--the '_Sauer-kraut_,' the 'Flighty,' the 'Athlete' -and all, and, as we started, the salutations were repeated for the -twentieth time, the 'Athlete' taking a long sniff of my bouquet, then -quickly blocking his nose hard to keep the scent in, after going through -the pantomime of the ear, the finger, and the heart. As Papa said, 'One -gets quite reconciled to the two-legged creature when meeting such -people as these.' Good-bye, lovely Boppart, of ever sweet -recollections!" - -We tarried at Cologne on our way to England. I see, together with -admiring and elaborate descriptions of the cathedral, a note on the -kindly manners of the Germans, so curiously at variance with the -impression left on the present generation by the episodes of the late -war. At the _table d'hote_ one evening the two guests who happened to -sit opposite our parents, on opening their champagne at dessert, first -insisted on filling the two glasses of their English _vis-a-vis_ before -proceeding to fill their own. German manners then! The military class -kept, however, very much aloof, and were very irritating to us with -their wilfully offensive attitude. That unfortunate spirit had already -taken a further step forward after the conquest of Schleswig-Holstein, -and was to go further still after the knock-down blow to Austria; then -in 1870 comes more arrogance, and so on to its own undoing in our time. - -"_Aix la Chapelle._--Good-bye, Cologne, ever to remain bright by the -remembrance of its cathedral and that museum containing pictures which -have so inspired my mind. And so good-bye, dear, familiar Rhine; not the -Rhine of the hurried tourist and his John Murray Red Book, but the -glorious river about whose banks we have so often wandered at our -leisure. - -"And now '_Vorwaerts_, _marsch_!' Northwards, to the Land of Roast Beef -plus Rinderpest.[1] But first, Aachen. Ineffable poetry surrounds this -evening of our arrival, for from the three churches which stand out -sharp against the bright moonlight sky in front of the hotel there peal -forth many mellow bells, filling my mind with that sort of sadness so -familiar to me. This is All Hallows' Eve. - -"_November 1st._--We saw the magnificent frescoes in the long, low, -arched hall of the Rathhaus, which is being magnificently restored, as -is the case with all the fine things of the Prussia we have seen. We -only just skimmed these great works of art, for the horses were waiting -in the pelting rain.... The first four frescoes we saw were by Rethel, -the first representing the finding of the body of Charlemagne sitting in -his tomb on his throne, crowned and robed, holding the ball and sceptre; -a very impressive subject, treated with all its requisite poetry and -feeling. The next fresco represents in a forcible manner Charlemagne -ordering a Saxon idol to be broken; the third is a superb episode from -the Battle of Cordova, where Charlemagne is wresting the standard from -the Infidel. The horses are all blindfolded, not to be frightened by the -masks which the enemy had prepared to frighten them with. The great -white bulls which draw the chariot are magnificently conceived. The -fourth fresco represents the entry of the great emperor--whose face, by -the by, lends itself well to the grand style of art--into Pavia; a -superb composition, as, indeed, they all are. After painting this the -artist lost his senses. No doubt such efforts as these may have caused -his mind to fail at last. He had supplied the compositions for the other -four frescoes which Kehren has painted, without the genius of the -originator. We were shown the narrow little old stone staircase up which -all those many German emperors came to the hall. I could almost fancy I -saw an emperor's head coming bobbing up round the bend, and a figure in -Imperial purple appear. Strange that such a steep little winding -staircase should be the only approach to such a splendid hall. The new -staircase, up which a different sort of monarch from the old German -emperors came a few days ago, in tight blue and silver uniform, is -indeed in keeping with the hall, and should have been trodden by the -emperors, whereas this old cad of a king[2] (_sic_) would get his due -were he to descend the little old worn stair head foremost." - -At Brussels my entry runs: "_November 3rd._--My birthday. I feel too -much buoyed up with the promise of doing something this year to feel as -wretched as I might have felt at the thought of my precious 'teens -dribbling away. Never say die; never, never, never! This birthday is -ever to be marked by our visit to Waterloo, which has impressed me so -deeply. The day was most enjoyable, but what an inexpressibly sad -feeling was mixed with my pleasure; what thoughts came crowding into my -mind on that awful field, smiling in the sunshine, and how, even now, my -whole mind is overshadowed with sadness as I think of those slaughtered -legions, dead half a century ago, lying in heaps of mouldering bones -under that undulating plain. We had not driven far out of Brussels when -a fine old man with a long white beard, and having a stout stick for -scarcely-needed support, and from whose waistcoat dangled a blue and red -ribbon with a silver medal attached bearing the words 'Wellington' and -'Waterloo,' stopped the carriage and asked whether we were not going to -the Field and offering his services as guide, which we readily accepted, -and he mounted the box. This was Sergeant-Major Mundy of the 7th -Hussars, who was twenty-seven when he fought on that memorable 18th -June, 1815. In time we got into the old road, that road which the -British trod on their way to Quatre Bras, ten miles beyond Waterloo, on -the 16th. We passed the forest of Soignies, which is fast being cleared, -and at no very distant period, I suppose, merely the name will remain. -What a road was this, bearing a history of thousands of sad incidents! -We visited the church at Waterloo where are the many tablets on the -walls to the memory of British officers and men who died in the great -fight. Touching inscriptions are on them. An old woman of eighty-eight -told us that she had tended the wounded after the battle. Is it -possible! There she was, she who at thirty-eight had beheld those men -just half a century ago! It was overpowering to my young mind. The old -lady seems steadier than the serjeant-major, eleven years her junior, -and wears a brown wig. Thanks to the old sergeant, we had no bothering -vendors of 'relics.' He says they have sold enough bullets to supply a -dozen battles. - -"We then resumed our way, now upon more historic ground than ever, the -field of the battle proper. The Lion Mound soon appeared, that much -abused monument. Certainly, as a monument to mark where the Prince of -Orange was wounded in the left shoulder it is much to be censured, -particularly with that Belgian lion on the top with its paw on Belgium, -looking defiance towards France, whose soldiers, as the truthful old -sergeant expressed himself, 'could any day, before breakfast, come and -make short work of the Belgians' (_sic_). But I look upon this pyramid -as marking the field of the fifteenth decisive battle of the world. In a -hundred years the original field may have been changed or built upon, -and then the mound will be more useful than ever as marking the centre -of the battlefield that was. To make it much ground has been cut away -and the surface of one part of the field materially lowered. On being -shown the plan for this 'Lion Mound,' Wellington exclaimed, 'Well, if -they make it, I shall never come here again,' or something to that -effect, and, as old Mundy said, 'the Duke was not one to break his word, -and he never did come again.' Do you know that, Sir Edwin Landseer, who -have it in the background of your picture of Wellington revisiting the -field? We drove up to the little Hotel du Musee, kept by the sergeant's -daughter, a dejected sort of person with a glib tongue and herself -rather grey. We just looked over Sergeant Cotton's museum, a collection -of the most pathetic old shakos and casques and blundering muskets, with -pans and flints, belonging to friend and foe; rusty bullets and cannon -balls, mouldering bits of accoutrements of men and horses, evil-smelling -bits of uniforms and even hair, under glass cases; skulls perforated -with balls, leg and arm bones in a heap in a wooden box; extracts from -newspapers of that sensational time, most interesting; rusty swords and -breastplates; medals and crosses, etc., etc., a dismal collection of -relics of the dead and gone. Those mouldy relics! Let us get out into -the sunshine. Not until, however, the positive old soldier had -marshalled us around him and explained to us, map in hand, the ground -and the leading features of the battle he was going to show us. - -"We then went, first, a short way up the mound, and the old warrior in -our midst began his most interesting talk, full of stirring and touching -anecdotes. What a story was that he was telling us, with the scenes of -that story before our eyes! I, all eagerness to learn from the lips of -one who took part in the fight, the story of that great victory of my -country, was always throughout that long day by the side of the old -hussar, and drank in the stirring narrative with avidity. There lay -before us the farm of La Haie Sainte--'lerhigh saint' as he called -it--restored to what it was before the battle, where the gallant Germans -held out so bravely, fighting only with the bayonet, for when they came -to load their firearms, oh, horror! the ammunition was found to be too -large for the muskets, and was, therefore, useless. There the great Life -Guard charge took place, there is the grave of the mighty Shaw, and on -the skyline the several hedges and knolls that mark this and that, and -where Napoleon took up his first position. And there lies La Belle -Alliance where Wellington and Bluecher did _not_ meet--oh, Mr. -Maclise!--and a hundred other landmarks, all pointed out by the notched -stick of old Mundy. The stories attached to them were all clearly -related to us. After standing a long time on the mound until the man of -discipline had quite done his regulation story, with its stirring and -amusing touches and its minute details, we descended and set off on our -way to Hougoumont. What a walk was that! On that space raged most of the -battle; it was a walk through ghosts with agonised faces and distorted -bodies, crying noiselessly. - -"Our guide stopped us very often as we reached certain spots of leading -interest, one of them--the most important of all--being the place where -the last fearful tussle was made and the Old Guard broke and ran. There -was the field, planted with turnips, where our Guards lay down, and I -could not believe that the seemingly insignificant little bank of the -road, which sloped down to it, could have served to hide all those men -until I went down and stooped, and then I understood, for only just the -blades of the grass near me could I see against the sky. Our Guards -must indeed have seemed to start out of the ground to the bewildered -French, who were, by the by, just then deploying. That dreadful V formed -by our soldiers, with its two sides and point pouring in volley after -volley into the deploying Imperial Guard, must have indeed been a -'staggerer,' and so Napoleon's best soldiers turned tail, yelling -'_Sauve qui peut!_' and ran down that now peaceful undulation on the -other side of the road. - -"Many another spot with its grim story attached did I gaze at, and my -thoughts became more and more overpowering. And there stood a survivor -before us, relating this tale of a battle which, to me, seems to belong -to the olden time. But what made the deepest impression on my mind was -the sergeant's pointing out to us the place where he lay all night after -the battle, wounded, 'just a few yards from that hedge, there.' I repeat -this to myself often, and always wonder. We then left that historic -rutted road and, following a little path, soon came, after many more -stoppages, to the outer orchard of Hougoumont. Victor Hugo's thoughts -upon this awful place came crowding into my mind also. Yet the place did -look so sweet and happy: the sun shining on the rich, velvety grass, -chequered with the shade of the bare apple trees, and the contented cows -grazing on the grass which, on the fearful day fifty years ago, was not -_green_ between the heaps of dead and dying wretches. - -"Ah! the wall with the loopholes. I knew all about it and hastened to -look at it. Again all the wonderful stratagems and deeds of valour, -etc., etc., were related, and I have learnt the importance, not only of -a little hedge, but of the slightest depression on a battlefield. -Riddled with shot is this old brick wall and the walls of the farm, too. -Oh! this place of slaughter, of burning, of burying alive, this place of -concentrated horror! It was there that I most felt the sickening terror -of war, and that I looked upon it from the dark side, a thing I have -seldom had so strong an impulse to do before. The farm is peaceful again -and the pigs and poultry grunt and cluck amongst the straw, but there -are ruins inside. There's the door so bravely defended by that British -officer and sergeant, hanging on its hinges; there's the well which -served as a grave for living as well as dead, where Sergeant Mundy was -the last to fill his canteen; and there's the little chapel which served -as an oven to roast a lot of poor fellows who were pent up there by the -fire raging outside. We went into the terror-fraught inner orchard, -heard more interesting and saddening talk from the old soldier who says -there is nothing so nice as fighting one's battles over again, and then -we went out and returned to the inn and dined. After that we streamed -after our mentor to the Charleroi road, just to glance at the left part -of the field which the sergeant said he always liked going over the -best. 'Oh!' he said, looking lovingly at his pet, 'this was the -strongest position, except Hougoumont.' It was in this region that -Wellington was moved to tears at the loss of so many of his friends as -he rode off the field. Papa told me his memorable words on that -occasion: 'A defeat is the only thing sadder than a victory.' What a -scene of carnage it was! We looked at poor Gordon's monument and then -got into our carriage and left that great, immortal place, with the sun -shedding its last gleams upon it. I feel virtuous in having written this -much, seeing what I have done since. We drove back, in the clear night, -I a wiser and a sadder girl." - -About this same Battle of Waterloo. Before the Great War it always -loomed large to me, as it were from the very summit of military history, -indeed of all history. During the terrible years of the late War I -thought my Waterloo would diminish in grandeur by comparison, and that -the awful glamour so peculiar to it would be obliterated in the fumes of -a later terror. But no, there it remains, that lurid glamour glows -around it as before, and for the writer and for the painter its colour, -its great form, its deep tones, remain. We see through its blood-red -veil of smoke Napoleon fall. There never will be a fall like that again: -it is he who makes Waterloo colossal. - - - - -CHAPTER IV - -IN THE ART SCHOOLS - - -After tarrying in Brussels, doing the galleries thoroughly, we went to -Dover. I had been anything but in love with the exuberant Rubenses -gathered together in one surfeited room, but imbibed enthusiastic -stimulus from some of the moderns. I write: "Oh! that I had time to tell -of my admiration of Ambroise Thomas' 'Judas Iscariot,' of Charles -Verlat's wonderful 'Siege of Jerusalem by Godfrey of Bouillon,' with its -strikingly terrible incidents, given with wonderful vividness, so free -from coarseness; of Tshaggeny's 'Malle Poste,' with its capital horses. -There was not much study to be done in the time, but enthusiasm to be -caught, and I caught it." - -At Dover I find myself saying: "Still at my drawing of the soldiers -working at the new fort on the cliff, just outside the castle, which -forms the background of the scene. I am sending it to the _Illustrated -London News_." Then, a few days later: "Woe is me! my drawing is -returned with the usual apologies. Well, never mind, the world will hear -of me yet." And there, above my "diminished head," right over No. 2, -Sydney Villas, our temporary resting-place, stood that very castle, -biding its time when it should receive me as its official _chatelaine_, -and all through that art which I was so bent on. - -At Brompton I said "good-bye" to a year to me very bright and full of -adventure; a year rich in changes, full of varied scenes and emotions. -I say: "Enter, 1866, bearing for me happy promise for my future, for -to-day I had the interview with Mr. Burchett, the Headmaster of the -South Kensington School of Art, and everything proved satisfactory and -sunny. First, Papa and I trotted off to Mr. Burchett's office and saw -him, a bearded, velvet-skull-capped and cold-searching-eyed man. After a -little talk, we galloped off home, packed the drawings and the oil, -then, Mamma with us, we returned, and came into The Presence once more. -The office being at the end of the passage of the male schools, I could -see, and envy, the students going about. So the drawings were -scrutinised by _that Eye_, and I must say I never expected things to go -so well. Of course, this austere, rigid master is not one to say much, -but, on the contrary, to dwell upon the shortcomings and weaknesses; to -have no pity. He looked longer at my soldiers at work at Dover Castle -and some hands that I had done yesterday, saying they showed much -feeling. He said he did not know whether I only wished to make my -studies superficial, but strongly advised me to become an artist. I -scarcely needed such advice, I think, but it was very gratifying. I told -him I wished for severe study, and that I did _not_ wish to begin at the -wrong end. We were a long time talking, and he was very kind, and told -me off to the Life School after preliminary work in the Antique. I join -to-morrow. I now really feel as though fairly launched. Ah! they shall -hear of me some day. But, believe me, my ambition is of the right sort. - -"_January 2nd._--A very pleasant day for me. At ten marched off, with -board, paper, chalk, etc., etc., to the schools, and signed my name and -went through all the rest of the formalities, and was put to do a huge -eye in chalk. I felt very raw indeed, never having drawn from a cast -before. Everything was strange to me. I worked away until twenty minutes -to two, when I sped home to have my lunch. Five hours' work would be too -long were I not to break the time by this charming spin home and back in -the open air, which makes me set to work again with redoubled energy and -spirits sky-high. A man comes round at a certain time to the rooms to -see by the thermometer whether the temperature is according to rule, -which is a very excellent precaution; 65 deg. seems to be the fixed degree. -Of course, I did not make any friends to-day; besides, we sit far apart, -on our own hooks, and not on forms. Much twining about of arms and -_darling-ing_, etc., went on, however, but we all seem to work here so -much more in earnest than over those dreary scrolls in the Elementary. -One girl in our room was a capital hit, short hair brushed back from a -clever forehead and a double eyeglass on an out-thrust nose. Then there -is a dear little pale girl, with a pretty head and large eyes, who is -struggling with that tremendous 'Fighting Gladiator.' She and he make a -charming _motif_ for a sketch. But I am too intent on my work to notice -much. The skeleton behind me seems, with outstretched arm, to encourage -me in my work, and smiles (we won't say _grins_) upon me, whilst behind -him--it?--the _ecorche_ man seems to be digging his grave, for he is in -the attitude of using a spade. But enough for to-day. I was very much -excited all day afterwards. And no wonder, seeing that my prayer for a -beginning of my real study has now been granted and that I am at length -on the high road. Oh, joy, joy! - -"_January 15th._--Did very well at the schools. Upon my word, I am -getting on very smoothly. I peeped into the Life room for the first time -whilst work was going on, and beheld a splendid halberdier standing -above the girls' heads and looking very uncomfortable. He had a steel -headpiece and his hands were crossed upon the hilt of his sword in -front, and his face, excessively picturesque with its grizzly moustache, -was a tantalising sight for me! - -"_January 16th._--Oh, how I am getting on! I can't bear to look at my -old things. Was much encouraged by Mr. Burchett, who talked to me a good -deal, the mistress standing deferentially and smilingly by. He said, -'Ah! you seem to get over your difficulties very well,' and said with -what immense satisfaction I shall look back upon this work I'm doing. -Altogether it was very encouraging, and he said this last thing of mine -was excellent. He remarked that my early education in those matters had -been neglected, but I console myself with the thought that I have not -wasted my time so utterly, for all the travel I have had all my life has -put crowds of ideas into my head, and now I am learning how to bring -those ideas to good account. - -"_January 24th._--I shall soon have done the big head and shall soon -reach a full-length statue, and I shall go in for anatomy rather than -give so much time to this shading which the students waste so much time -over. I don't believe in carrying it so far. The little pale girl I -like, on the completion of her gladiator, has been promoted to the Life -class. A girl made friends with me, a big grenadier of a girl, who says -she wants to know 'all about the joints and muscles' and seems a -'thoroughgoer' like myself." - -This is how I write of dear Miss Vyvyan, a fine, rosy specimen of a -well-bred English girl, who became one of my dearest fellow -students--and drew well. In writing of me after I had come out in the -art world, she records this meeting in words all the more deserving of -remembrance for being those of a voice that is still. Of my other -fellow-students the Diary will have more to say, left to its own -diction. - -"_February 13th._--It is very pleasant at the schools--oh, charming! In -coming home at the end of my work I fell in with Mr. Lane, my friend in -the truest sense of the word. He was coming over to us. His first -inquiry was about me and my work. He was very much disappointed that I -was not in the Life class, fully expecting that I should be there, -seeing how highly Mr. Burchett twice spoke of my drawings to Mr. Lane, -and that I was quite ready for the Life. But, of course, Mr. B. is -desirous of putting me as much through the regular course as possible. -Mr. Lane shares Millais' opinion that 'the antique is all very well, but -that there is nothing like the living model, and that they are too fond -of black and white at the Museum.' I was enrolled as a member of the -Sketching Club this morning, and have only a week to do 'On the Watch' -in, the title they have given us to illustrate. _Only_ a week, Mimi? -That's an age to do a sketch in! Ah! yes, my dear, but I shall have five -hours in the schools every day except Saturdays. I have chosen for -subject a freebooter in a morion and cloak upon a bony horse, watching -the plain below him as night comes on, with his blunderbus ready -cocked. Wind is blowing, and makes the horse's mane and tail to stream -out." - -There follow pages and pages describing the daily doings at the schools: -the commotion amongst girls at the drawings I used to bring to show them -of battle scenes; the Sketching Club competitions, and all the work and -the play of an art school. At last I was promoted to the Life class. - -"_March 19th._--Oh, joyous day! oh, white! oh, snowy Monday! or should I -say _golden_ Monday? I entered the Life this joyous morn, and, what's -more, acquitted myself there not only to my satisfaction (for how could -I be satisfied if the masters weren't?), but to Mr. Denby's and the oil -master's _par excellence_, Mr. Collinson's. I own I was rather -diffident, feeling such a greenhorn in that room, but I may joyfully say -'So far, so good,' and do my very best of bests, and I can't fail to -progress. How willingly I would write down all the pleasant incidents -that occur every day, and those, above all, of to-day, which make this -delightful student life I am leading so bright and happy and amusing. -However, I shall write down all that my spare moments will allow me. -Little 'Pale Face' took me in hand and got me a nice position quite near -the sitter, as I am only to do his head. There was a good deal of -struggling as the number of girls increased, and late comers tried -amicably to badger me out of my good position. We waited more than half -an hour for the sitter, and beguiled the time as we are wont. Three -semi-circles surround the sitter and his platform. The inner and smaller -circle is for us who do his head only, and is formed by desks and low -chairs; the next is formed by small fixed easels, and the outer one by -the loose-easel brigade, so there are lots of us at work. At length the -martyr issued from the curtained closet where Messrs. Burchett, Denby -and Collinson had been helping the unhappy victim to make a lobster of -his upper self with heavy plates of armour. He became sadly modern below -the waist, for his nether part was not wanted. To see Mr. Denby pinning -on the man's refractory Puritan starched collar was rich. The model is a -small man, perfectly clean shaven with a most picturesque face; quite a -study. Very finely-chiselled mouth, with thin lips and well-marked chin -and jaw. The poor fellow was dreadfully nervous. He was posed standing, -morion on head, with a book in one hand, the other raised as though he -were discoursing to some fellow soldiers--may-be Covenanters--in a camp. -I never saw a man in such agony as he evinced, his nervousness seeming -at times to overpower him, and the weight of the armour and of the huge -morion (too big for him) told upon him in a painfully evident manner. He -was, consequently, allowed frequent rests, when down his trembling arm -would clatter and the instrument of torture on his heated forehead come -down with a great thump on the table. Mr. Denby was much pleased with my -drawing in, and Mr. Collinson commended my carefulness. This pleases me -more than anything else, for I know that carefulness is the most -essential quality in a student. - -"_March 27th._--Mr. Burchett showed me how to proceed with the finishing -of the face. He liked the way I had done the morion, which astonished -me, as I had done it all unaided. I am now a friend of more girls than I -can individualise, and they seem all to like me. 'Little Pale Face' is -very charming with me indeed. One girl told me a dream she had had of -me, and Mrs. C., wife of the _Athenaeum_ art critic, clapped me on the -back very cordially." - -I give these extracts just to launch the Memoirs into that student life -which was of such importance to me. Till the Easter vacation I did all I -could to retrieve what I considered a good deal of leeway in my art -training. There were Sketching Club competitions of intense effort on my -part, and how joyful I felt at such events as my illustrations to -Thackeray's "Newcomes" coming through marked "Best" by the judges. - -"_May 9th._--_Veni_, _vidi_, _vici_! My re-entry into the schools after -the vacation has been a triumphal one, for my 'Newcomes' have been -returned 'The Best.' The girls were so glad to see me back. I have -chosen, as there is not to be a model till next Monday week, a beautiful -headpiece of elaborate design on whose surface the red drapery near it -is reflected. Some time after lunch Mrs. C. came running to me from the -Antique triumphantly waving a bunch of lilac above her head and crying -out that my 'Newcomes' had won! I jumped up, overjoyed, and went to see -the sketches, around which a crowd of students was buzzing. Mr. Denby, -who couldn't help knowing whose the 'Best' were, gave me a nod of -approbation. I was very happy. Returning to Fulham, I told the glad -tidings to Papa, Mamma, Grandpapa and Grandmamma as they each came in. -So this has been a charming day indeed." - -Page after page, closely written, describes the student life, than which -there cannot be a happier one for a boy or girl; thorough searchings -through the Royal Academy rooms for everything I could find for -instruction, admiration and criticism. I joined a class in Bolsover -Street for the study of the "undraped" female model, and worked very -hard there on alternate days. This necessitated long omnibus rides to -that dismal locality, but I always managed to post myself near the -omnibus door, so as to study the horses in motion in the crowded streets -from that coign of vantage. I also joined a painting class in Conduit -Street, but that venture was not a success. I went in about the same -time for very thorough artistic anatomy at the schools. I gave sketches -to nearly all my fellow students--fights round standards, cavalry -charges, thundering guns. I wonder where they are all now! I had always -had a great liking for the representation of movement, but at the same -time a deep well of melancholy existed in my nature, and caused me to -draw from its depths some very sad subjects for my sketches and plans -for future pictures. How strange it seems that I should have been so -impregnated, if I may use the word, with the warrior spirit in art, -seeing that we had had no soldiers in either my father's or mother's -family! My father had a deep admiration for the great captains of war, -but my mother detested war, though respecting deeply the heroism of the -soldier. Though she and I had much in common, yet, as regards the -military idea, we were somewhat far asunder; my dear and devoted mother -wished to see me lean towards other phases of art as well, especially -the religious phase, and my Italian studies in days to come very much -inclined me to sacred subjects. But as time went on circumstances -conducted me to the _genre militaire_, and there I have remained, as -regards my principal oil paintings, with few exceptions. My own reading -of war--that mysteriously inevitable recurrence throughout the -sorrowful history of our world--is that it calls forth the noblest and -the basest impulses of human nature. The painter should be careful to -keep himself at a distance, lest the ignoble and vile details under his -eyes should blind him irretrievably to the noble things that rise -beyond. To see the mountain tops we must not approach the base, where -the foot-hills mask the summits. Wellington's answer to enthusiastic -artists and writers seeking information concerning the details of his -crowning victory was full of meaning: "The best thing you can do for the -Battle of Waterloo is to leave it alone." He had passed along the -dreadful foot-hills which blocked his vision of the Alps. - -I worked hard at the schools and in the country throughout 1867, and, -with many ups and downs, progressed in the Life class. My fellow -students were a great delight to me, so enthusiastically did they watch -my progress and foretell great things for me. We formed a little club of -four or five students--kindred spirits--for mutual help and all sorts of -good deeds, the badge being a red cross and the motto "Thorough." I -remember a money-box into which we were, by the rules, to drop what -coins we could spare for the Poor. We were to read a chapter of the New -Testament every day, and a chapter of Thomas a Kempis, and all our works -were to be signed with the red cross and the club monogram. Seeing this -little sign in the corner of "The Roll Call" over my name set one of -those absurd stories circulating in the Press with which the public was -amused in 1874, namely, that I had been a Red Cross nurse in the Crimea. -As a counterpoise to this more "copy" was obtained for the papers by -paragraphs representing me as an infant prodigy, which I thank my stars -I was _not_! - -One day in this year 1867 I had, with great trepidation, asked Mr. -Burchett to accept two pen and ink illustrations I had made to Morris's -poem, "Riding together." Great commotion amongst the students. Some -preferred the drawing for the gay and happy first verse: - - Our spears stood bright and thick together, - Straight out the banners streamed behind, - As we galloped on in the sunny weather, - With our faces turned towards the wind. - -and others the tragic sequel: - - They bound my blood-stained hands together, - They bound his corpse to nod by my side, - Then on we rode in the bright March weather, - With clash of cymbal did we ride. - -The Diary says: "Mr. Burchett, surrounded by my dear fellow red crosses, -Va., B., and Vy., talked about the drawings in a way which pleased me -very much. When he was gone, Va. and B. disappeared and soon reappeared, -Va. with a crown of leaves to crown me with and B. with a comb and some -paper on which to play 'See the Conquering Hero comes' whilst Va. and -Vy. should carry me along the great corridor in a dandy chair. They had -great trouble to crown me, and then to get me to mount. It was a most -uncomfortable triumphal progress, Vy. being nearly six foot and Va. -rather short. They just put me down in time, for, had we gone an inch -further on, we should have confronted Miss Truelock,[3] who swooped -round the corner. I cannot describe the homage these three pay me, Va.'s -in particular--Vy.'s is measured, and not humble like Va.'s or -radiantly enthusiastic like B.'s. I am glad that I stand proof against -all this, but it is hard to do so, as I know it is so thoroughly -sincere, and that they say even more out of my hearing than to my face." - -The Sultan Abdul Aziz and the Khedive Ismail paid a visit to London that -year. We were in the midst of the festivities; and such church-bell -ringing, fireworks, musical uproar, especially at the Crystal Palace, -where the "Hallelujah," "Moses in Egypt," and other Biblical choruses -vied with the cheering of the crowds in expressions of exultation, -seldom had London known. This fills pages and pages of the Diary. As we -looked on from Willis and Sotheran's shop window, out of which all the -books had been cleared for us, in Trafalgar Square, at the arrival of -the "Father of the Faithful," it seemed a strange thing for the bells of -our churches to be pealing forth their joyous welcome. But how vain all -these political doings appear as time goes by! What sort of reception -would we give the present Sultan I wonder? We have even _abolished_ -Khedives. Much more reasonable and sane was the mob's welcome to the -Belgian volunteers, who were also England's guests that year. We English -were very courteous to the Belgians. Papa took us to the great Belgian -ball, where we appeared wearing red, black, and yellow sashes. He -offered to hold a Belgian officer's sword for him while he (the Belgian) -waltzed me round the hall. A silver medal was struck to commemorate this -visit, and every Belgian was presented with this decoration. On it were -engraved the words "_Vive La Belge_." No one could tell who the lady -was. - -This year saw my meek beginning in the showing of an oil picture -("Horses in Sunshine") at the Women Artists' Exhibition, and then -followed a water colour, "Bavarian Artillery going into Action," at the -Dudley Gallery--that delightful gallery which is now no more and which -_The Times_ designated the "nursery of young reputations." I continued -exhibiting water colours and black-and-whites for some years there. I -had the rare sensation of walking on air when my father, meeting me on -parting with Tom Taylor, the critic of _The Times_, told me the latter -had just come from the Dudley's press view and seen my "Bavarian -Artillery" on its walls. I had begun! - -In the latter part of this year's work at South Kensington Mr. Burchett -stirred us up by giving us "time" and "memory" drawing to do from the -antique, and many things which required quickness, imagination and -concentration, all of which suited me well. Charcoal studies on tinted -paper delighted me. I was always at home in such things. We often had -"time" drawings to do on very rough paper, using charcoal with the hog's -hair paint brush. What a good change from the dawdling chalk work -formerly in vogue when I joined. I had by this time painted my way in -oils through many models, male and female, with all the ups and downs -recorded elaborately, the encouragements and depressions, and the happy, -though slow, progress in the management of the brush. I had won a medal -for two life-size female heads in oils, and through all the ups and -downs the devotion of my dear "Red Cross" fellow students never -fluctuated. - -The year 1868 saw me steadily working away at the Schools and doing a -great many drawings for sketching clubs and various competitions during -this period, till we were off once more to Italy in October. On March -19th of that year I wrote in the Diary: "Ruskin has invited himself to -tea here on Monday!!!" Then: "Memorable Monday. On thee I was introduced -to Ruskin! Punctually at six came the great man. If I had been disposed -to be nervous with him, his cold formal bow and closing of the eyes, his -somewhat supercilious under-lip and sensitive nostrils would not have -put me at my ease. But, fortunately, I felt quite normal--unlike Mamma -and Alice, the latter of whom had reason for quaking, seeing that one of -her young poems, sent him by a friend, had been scanned by that eye and -pondered by that greatest of living minds. - -"He sat talking a little, not commonplaces at all; on the contrary, he -immediately began on great topics, Mamma and he coinciding all through, -particularly on the subject of modern ugliness, railways, factory -chimneys, backs of English houses, sash windows, etc., etc. Then he -directed his talk to me, and we sat talking together about art, of -course, and I showed him two life studies, which he expressed himself as -exceedingly pleased with in a very emphatic manner. But here we went -down to tea. After tea I showed him my imaginative drawings, which he -criticised a good deal. He said there was no reason why I should not -become a great artist (!), that I was 'destined to do great things.' But -he remarked, after this too kindly beginning, that it was evident I had -not studied enough from nature in those drawings, the light and shade -being incorrect and the relations of tones, etc., etc. He told me to -beware of sensational subjects, as yet, _a propos_ of the Lancelot and -Guinevere drawing; that such were dangerous, leading me to think I had -quite succeeded by virtue of the strength of my subject and to overlook -the consideration of minor points. He said, 'Do fewer of these things, -but what you do _do right_ and never mind the subject.' I did not like -that; my great idea is that an artist should choose a worthy subject and -concentrate his attention on the chief point. But Ruskin is a lover of -landscape art and loves to see every blade of grass in a foreground -lovingly dwelt upon. I cannot write down all he said as he and I leant -over the piano where my drawings were. But it was with my artillery -water colour, 'The Crest of the Hill,' that he was most pleased. He -knelt down before it where it hung low down and held a candle before it -the better to see it, and exclaimed 'Wonderful!' two or three times, and -said it had 'immense power.' Thank you, Dudley Gallery, for not hanging -it where Ruskin would never have seen it! - -"He listened to Mamma's playing and Alice's singing of Mamma's 'Ave -Maria' with perfectly absorbed attention, and seemed to enjoy the lovely -sounds. He had many kind things to say to Alice about her poem, saying -that he knew she was forced to write it; but was she always obliged to -write so sadly? Then he spied out Mamma's pictures, and insisted on -seeing lots of her water colours, which I know he must have enjoyed more -than my imaginative things, seeing with what humble lovingness Mamma -paints her landscapes. In fact, we showed him our paces all the evening. -Papa says he (P.) was like the circus man, standing in the middle with -the long whip, touching us up as we were trotted out before the great -man. He seems, by the by, to have a great contempt for the modern French -school, as I expected." - -Daily records follow of steady work, much more to the purpose than in -the humdrum old days. Mr. Burchett continued the new system with -increasing energy. He seemed to have taken it up in our Life class with -real pleasure latterly. In July the session ended, and I was not to -re-enter the schools till after my Italian art training had brought me a -long way forward. - - - - -CHAPTER V - -STUDY IN FLORENCE - - -Italy once more! Again the old palazzo at Albaro and the old friends -surrounding us! My work never relaxed, for I set up a little studio and -went in for life-size heads, and got more and more facility with the -brush. The kindly peasants let me paint them, and I victimised my -obliging friends and had professional models out from Genoa. That was a -very greatly enjoyed autumn, winter and spring, and the gaieties of the -English Colony, the private theatricals, the concerts at Villa -Novello--all those things did me good. The childish carnival revels had -still power over me--yea, _more_--though I _was_ grown up, and, to tell -the truth, I got all the fun out of them that was possible within -bounds. "The Red Cross Sketch Book," which I filled with illustrations -of our journey out and of life at Genoa, I dedicated to the club and -sent to them when we left for Florence. - -We found Genoa just as we had left it, still the brilliantly picturesque -city of the sea, its populace brightly clad in their Ligurian national -dress, the women still wearing the pezzotto, and the men the red cap I -loved; the port all delightful with oriental character, its shouting -muleteers and _facchini_, its fruit and flower sellers in the narrow -streets and entrances to the palaces--all the old local colour. Alas! I -was there only the other day, and found all the local charm had -gone--modernised away! - -When we left Genoa in April my father tried to get a _vetturino_ to take -us as far as Pisa by road on our way to Florence, for auld lang syne, -but Antonio--he who used to drive us into Genoa in the old days--said -that was now impossible on account of the railway--"_Non ci conviene, -signore_!"--but he would take us as far as Spezzia. So, to our delight, -we were able once more to experience the pleasures of the road and avoid -that truly horrible series of suffocating tunnels that tries us so much -on that portion of the coastline. At Sestri Levante I wrote: "I sit down -at this pleasant hotel, with the silent sea glimmering in the early -night before me outside the open window, to note down our journey thus -far. The day has been truly glorious, the sea without even the thinnest -rim of white along the coast, and such exquisite combinations of clouds. -We left Villa Quartara at ten, with Madame Vittorina and the servants in -tears. Majolina comes with us; she is such a good little maid. We had -three good horses, but for the Bracco Pass we shall have an extra one. -There is no way of travelling like this, in an open carriage; it is so -placid; there is no hurrying to catch trains and struggling in crowds, -no waiting in dismal _salles d'attente_. And then compare the entry into -the towns by the high road and through the principal streets, perhaps -through a city gate, the horse's hoofs clattering and the whip cracking -so merrily and the people standing about in groups watching us pass, to -sneaking into a station, one of which is just like the other, which -hasn't the slightest _couleur locale_ about it, and is sure to have -unsightly surroundings. - -"Away we went merrily, I feeling very jolly. The colour all along was -ravishing, as may be imagined, seeing what a perfect day it was and -that this is the loveliest season of the year. We dined at dear old -Ruta, where also the horses had a good rest and where I was able to -sketch something down. From Ruta to Sestri I rode by Majolina on the -box, by far the best position of all, and didn't I enjoy it! The horses' -bells jingled so cheerily and those three sturdy horses took us along so -well. Rapallo and Chiavari! Dear old friends, what delicious -picturesqueness they had, what lovely approaches to them by roads -bordered with trees! The views were simply distracting. Sestri is a gem. -Why don't water-colour painters come here in shoals? What colouring the -mountains had at sunset, and I had only a pencil and wretched little -sketch book. - -"_Spezzia, April 28th, 1869._--A repetition of yesterday in point of -weather. I feel as though I had been steeped all day in some balmy -liquid of gold, purple, and blue. I have a Titianesque feeling hovering -about me produced by the style of landscape we have passed through and -the faces of the people who are working in the patches of cultivation -under the mulberries and vines, and that intense, deep blue sky with -massive white clouds floating over it. We exclaimed as much at the -beauty of the women as at the purple of the mountains and the green of -the budding mulberries and poplars. And the men and boys; what perfect -types; such fine figures and handsome faces, such healthy colour! We -left the hotel at Sestri, with its avenue of orange trees in flower, at -ten o'clock, and, of course, crossed the Bracco to-day. We dined at a -little place called Bogliasco, in whose street, under our windows, -handsome youths with bare legs and arms were playing at a game of ball -which called forth fine action. I did not know at first whether to look -well at them all or sketch them down one by one, but did both, and I -hope to make a regular drawing of the group from the sketch I took and -from memory. We stopped at the top of the hill, from which is seen La -Spezzia lying below, with its beautiful bay and the Carara Mountains -beyond. Here ends our drive, for to-morrow we take the train for -Florence. - -"_Florence, April 29th._--Magnificent, cloudless weather. But, oh! what -a wearisome journey we had, the train crawling from one station to -another and stopping at each such a time, whilst we baked in the -cushioned carriage and couldn't even have lovely things to look at, -surrounded by the usual railway eyesores. We passed close by the Pisan -Campo Santo, and had a very good view of the Leaning Tower and the -Duomo. Such hurrying and struggling at the Pisa station to get into the -train for Florence, having, of course, to carry all our small baggage -ourselves. Railway travelling in Italy is odious. It was very lovely to -see Florence in the distance, with those domes and towers I know so well -by heart from pictures, but we were very limp indeed, the wearisome -train having taken all our enthusiasm away. Everything as we arrived -struck us as small, and I am still so dazzled by the splendour of Genoa -that my eyes cannot, as it were, comprehend the brown, grey and white -tones of this quiet-coloured little city. I must _Florentine_ myself as -fast as I can. This hotel is on the Lung' Arno, and charming was it to -look out of the windows in the lovely evening and see the river below -and the dome of the Carmine and tower of Santo Spirito against the clear -sky with, further off, the hills with their convents (alas! empty now) -and clusters of cypresses. No greater contrast to Genoa could be than -Florence in every way. Oh! may this city of the arts see me begin (and -finish) my first regular picture. _April 30th._--I and Papa strolled -about the streets to get a general impression of '_Firenze la gentile_,' -and looked into the Duomo, which is indeed bare and sad-coloured inside -except in its delicious painted windows over the altars, the harmonious -richness of which I should think could not be exceeded by any earthly -means. The outside is very gay and cheerful, but some of the marble has -browned itself into an appearance of wood. Oh! dear Giotto's Tower, -could elegance go beyond this? Is not this an example of the complete -_savoir faire_ of those true-born artists of old? And the 'Gates of -Paradise'! The delight of seeing these from the street is great, instead -of in a museum. But Michael Angelo's enthusiastic exclamation in their -praise rather makes one smile, for we know that it must have been in -admiration of their purely technical beauties, as the gates are by no -means large and grand _as_ gates, and the bronze is rather dark for an -entrance into Paradise! I reverently saluted the Palazzo Vecchio, and am -quite ready to get very much attached to the brown stone of Florence in -time. - -"_Villa Lamporecchi, May 1st._--We two and Papa had a good spell at the -Uffizi in the morning, and in the afternoon we took possession of this -pleasing house, which is so cool and has far-spreading views, one of -Florence from a terrace leading out of what I shall make my studio. A -garden and vineyards sloping down to the valley where Brunelleschi's -brown dome shows above the olives." - -[Illustration: IN FLORENCE DURING MY STUDIES IN /69.] - -Our mother did many lovely water colours, one especially exquisite -one of Fiesole seen in a shimmering blue midsummer light. That, and one -done on the Lung' Arno, to which Shelley's line - - "The purple noon's transparent might" - -could justly be applied, are treasured by me. She understood sunshine -and how to paint it. - -"_May 3rd._--I already feel Florence growing upon me. I begin to -understand the love English people of culture and taste get for this -most interesting and gentle city. The ground one treads on is all -historic, but it is in the artistic side of its history that I naturally -feel the greatest interest, and it is a delightful thing to go about -those streets and be reminded at every turn of the great Painters, -Architects, Sculptors I have read so much of. Here a palace designed by -Raphael, there a glorious row of windows carved by Michael Angelo, there -some exquisite ironwork wrought by some other born genius. I think the -style of architecture of the Strozzi Palace, the Ricardi, and others, is -perfection in its way, though at first, with the brilliant whites, -yellows and pinks of Genoa still in my eye, I felt rather depressed by -the uniform brown of the huge stones of which they are built. No wonder -I haunt the well-known gallery which runs over the Ponte Vecchio, lined -with the sketches, studies, and first thoughts of most of the great -masters. One delights almost more in these than in many of the finished -pictures. They bring one much more in contact, as it were, with the -great dead, and make one familiar with their methods of work. One sees -what little slips they made, how they modified their first thoughts, -over and over again, before finally fixing their choice. Very -encouraging to the struggling beginner to see these evidences of their -troubles! - -"I have never, before I came here where so many of them have lived, -realised the old masters as our comrades; I have never been so near them -and felt them to be mortals exactly like ourselves. This city and its -environs are so little changed, the greater part of them not at all, -since those grand old Michael Angelesque days that one feels brought -quite close to the old painters, seeing what they saw and walking on the -very same old pavement as they walked on, passing the houses where they -lived, and so forth." - -I was at that time bent on achieving my first "great picture," to be -taken from Keats's poem "The Pot of Basil"; Lorenzo riding to his death -between the two brothers: - - So the two brothers and their murdered man - Rode past fair Florence, - -but, fortunately, I resolved instead to put in further training before -attacking such a canvas, and I became the pupil of a very fine academic -draughtsman, though no great colourist, Giuseppe Bellucci. On alternate -days to those spent in his studio I copied in careful pencil some of the -exquisite figures in Andrea del Sarto's frescoes in the cloisters of the -SS. Annunziata. - -The heat was so great that, as it became more intense, I had to be at -Bellucci's, in the Via Santa Reparata, at eight o'clock instead of 8.30, -getting there in the comparative cool of the morning, after a salutary -walk into Florence, accompanied by little Majolina, no _signorina_ being -at liberty to walk alone. What heat! The sound of the ceaseless hiss of -the _cicale_ gave one the impression of the country's undergoing the -ordeal of being _frizzled_ by the sun. I record the appearance of my -first fire-fly on the night of May 6th. What more pleasing rest could -one have, after the heat and work of the day, than by a stroll through -the vineyards in the early night escorted by these little creatures with -their golden lamps? - -The cloisters were always cool, and I enjoyed my lonely hours there, but -the Bellucci studio became at last too much of a furnace. My master had -already several times suggested a rest, mopping his brow, when I also -began to doze over my work at last, and the model wouldn't keep his eyes -open. I record mine as "rolling in my head." - -I see in memory the blinding street outside, and hear the fretful -stamping of some tethered mule teased with the flies. The very Members -of Parliament in the Palazzo Vecchio had departed out of the impossible -Chamber, and, all things considered, I allowed Bellucci to persuade me -to take a little month of rest--"_un mesetto di riposo_"--at home during -part of July and August. That little month of rest was very nice. I did -a water colour of the white oxen ploughing in our _podere_; I helped (?) -the _contadini_ to cut the wheat with my sickle, and sketched them while -they went through the elaborate process of threshing, enlivened with -that rough innocent romping peculiar to young peasants, which gave me -delightful groups in movement. I love and respect the Italian peasant. -He has high ideas of religion, simplicity of living, honour. I can't say -I feel the same towards his _betters_ (?) in the Italian social scale. - -The grapes ripened. The scorched _cicale_ became silent, having, as the -country people declared, returned to the earth whence they sprang. The -heat had passed even _cicala_ pitch. I went back to the studio when the -"little month" had run out and the heat had sensibly cooled, and worked -very well there. I find this record of a birthday expedition: - -"I suggested a visit to the convent of San Salvi out at the Porta alla -Croce, where is to be seen Andrea del Sarto's 'Cenacolo.' This we did in -the forenoon, and in the afternoon visited Careggi. Enough isn't said -about Andrea. What volumes of praise have been written, what endless -talk goes on, about Raphael, and how little do people seem to appreciate -the quiet truth and soberness and subtlety of Andrea. This great fresco -is very striking as one enters the vaulted whitewashed refectory and -sees it facing the entrance at the further end. The great point in this -composition is the wonderful way in which this master has disposed the -hands of all those figures as they sit at the long table. In the row of -heads Andrea has revelled in his love of variety, and each is stamped, -as usual, with strong individuality. This beautifully coloured fresco -has impressed me with another great fact, viz., the wonderful value of -_bright yellow_ as well as white in a composition to light it up. The -second Apostle on our Saviour's left, who is slightly leaning forward on -his elbow and loosely clasping one hand in the other, has his shoulders -wrapped round with yellow drapery, the horizontally disposed folds of -which are the _ne plus ultra_ of artistic arrangement. There is -something very realistic in these figures and their attitudes. Some -people are down on me when they hear me going on about the rendering of -individual character being the most admirable of artistic qualities. - -"At 3.30 we went for such a drive to Careggi, once Lorenzo de' Medici's -villa--where, indeed, he died--and now belonging to Mr. Sloane, a -'bloated capitalist' of distant England. The 'keepsake' beauty of the -views thence was perfect. A combination of garden kept in English order -and lovely Italian landscape is indeed a rich feast for the eye. I was -in ecstasies all along. We made a great _detour_ on our return and -reached home in the after-glow, which cast a light on the houses as of a -second sun. - -"_October 18th._--Went with Papa and Alice to see Raphael's 'Last -Supper' at the Egyptian Museum, long ago a convent. It is not perfectly -sure that Raphael painted it, but, be that as it may, its excellence is -there, evident to all true artists. It seems to me, considering that it -is an early work, that none but one of the first-class men could have -painted it. It offers a very instructive contrast with del Sarto's at -San Salvi. The latter immediately strikes the spectator with its effect, -and makes him exclaim with admiration at the very first moment--at -least, I am speaking for myself. The former (Raphael's) grew upon me in -an extraordinary way after I had come close up to it and dwelt long on -the heads, separately; but on entering the room the rigidity and -formality of the figures, whose aureoles of solid metal are all on one -level, the want of connection of these figures one with the other, and -the uniform light over them all had an unprepossessing effect. -Artistically considered this fresco is not to be mentioned with -Andrea's, but then del Sarto was a ripe and experienced artist when he -painted the San Salvi fresco, whereas they conjecture Raphael to have -been only twenty-two when he painted this. There is more spiritual -feeling in Raphael's, more dignity and ideality altogether; no doubt a -higher conception, and some feel more satisfied with it than with -Andrea's. The refinement and melancholy look of St. Matthew is a thing -to be thought of through life. St. Andrew's face, with the long, -double-peaked white beard, is glorious, and is a contrast to the other -old man's head next to it, St. Peter's, which is of a harder kind, but -not less wonderful. St. Bartholomew, with his dark complexion and black -beard, is strongly marked from the others, who are either fair or -grey-headed. The profile of St. Philip, with a pointed white beard, gave -me great delight, and I wish I could have been left an hour there to -solitary contemplation. St. James Major, a beardless youth, is a true -Perugino type, a very familiar face. Judas is a miserable little figure, -smaller than the others, though on the spectator's side of the table in -the foreground. He seems not to have been taken from life at all. - -"On one of the walls of the room are hung some little chalk studies of -hands, etc., for the fresco, most exquisitely drawn, and seeming, some -of them, better modelled than in the finished work; notably St. Peter's -hand which holds the knife. Is there no Modern who can give us a 'Last -Supper' to rank with this, Andrea's and Leonardo's?" - -This entry in my Diary of student days leads my thoughts to poor -Leonardo da Vinci. A painter must sympathise with him through his -recorded struggles to accomplish, in his "Cenacolo," what may be called -the almost superhuman achievement of worthily representing the Saviour's -face. Had he but been content to use the study which we see in the Brera -gallery! But, no! he must try to do better at Santa Maria delle -Grazie--and fails. How many sleepless nights and nerve-racking days he -must have suffered during this supreme attempt, ending in complete -discouragement. I think the Brera study one of the very few satisfactory -representations of the divine Countenance left us in art. To me it is -supreme in its infinite pathos. But it is always the way with the truly -great geniuses; they never feel that they have reached the heights they -hoped to win. - -Ruskin tells us that Albert Duerer, on finishing one of his own works, -felt absolutely satisfied. "It could not be done better," was the -complacent German's verdict. Ruskin praises him for this, because the -verdict was true. So it was, as regarding a piece of mere handicraft. -But to return to the Diary. - -"We went then to pay a call on Michael Angelo at his apartment in the -Via Ghibellina. I do not put it in those words as a silly joke, but -because it expresses the feeling I had at the moment. To go to his -house, up his staircase to his flat, and ring at his door produced in my -mind a vivid impression that he was alive and, living there, would -receive us in his drawing-room. Everything is well nigh as it was in his -time, but restored and made to look like new, the place being far more -as he saw it than if it were half ruinous and going to decay. Even the -furniture is the same, but new velveted and varnished. It is a pretty -apartment, such as one can see any day in nice modern houses. I touched -his little slippers, which are preserved, together with his two walking -sticks, in a tiny cabinet where he used to write, and where I wondered -how he found space to stretch his legs. The slippers are very small and -of a peculiar, rather Eastern, shape, and very little worn. Altogether, -I could not realise the lapse of time between his date and ours. The -little sketches round the walls of the room, which is furnished with -yellow satin chairs and sofa, are very admirable and free. The Titian -hung here is a very splendid bit of colour. This was a very impressive -visit. The bronze bust of M. A. by Giovanni da Bologna is magnificent; -it gives immense character, and must be the image of the man." - -On October 21st I bade good-bye to Bellucci. His system forbade praise -for the pupil, which was rather depressing, but he relaxed sufficiently -to tell my father at parting that I would do things (_Fara delle cose_) -and that I was untiring (_istancabile_), taking study seriously, not -like the others (_le altre_). With this I had to be content. He had -drilled me in drawing more severely than I could have been drilled in -England. For that purpose he had kept me a good deal to painting in -monochrome, so as to have my attention absorbed by the drawing and -modelling and _chiaroscuro_ of an object without the distraction of -colour. He also said to me I could now walk alone (_puo camminare da -se_), and with this valedictory good-bye we parted. Being free, I spent -the remaining time at Florence in visits to the churches and galleries -with my father and sister, seeing works I had not had time to study up -till then. - -"_October 22nd._--We first went to see the Ghirlandajos at Santa -Trinita, which I had not yet seen. They are fading, as, indeed, most of -the grand old frescoes are doing, but the heads are full of character, -and the grand old costumes are still plainly visible. From thence we -went to the small cloister called _dello Scalzo_, where are the -exquisite monochromes of Andrea del Sarto. Would that this cloister had -been roofed in long ago, for the weather has made sad havoc of these -precious things. Being in monochrome and much washed out, they have a -faded look indeed; but how the drawing tells! What a master of anatomy -was he, and yet how unexaggerated, how true: he was content to limit -himself to Nature; _knew where to draw the line_, had, in fact, the -reticence which Michael Angelo couldn't recognise; could stop at the -limit of truth and good taste through which the great sculptor burst -with coarse violence. There are some backs of legs in those frescoes -which are simply perfect. These works illustrate the events in the life -of John the Baptist. Here, again, how marvellous and admirable are all -the hands, not only in drawing, but in action, how touching the heads, -how grand and thoroughly artistic the draperies and the poses of the -figures. A splendid lesson in the management of drapery is, especially, -the fresco to the right of the entrance, the 'Vision of Zacharias.' -There are four figures, two immediately in the foreground and at either -extremity of the composition; the two others, seen between them, further -off. The nearest ones are in draperies of the grandest and largest -folds, with such masses of light and dark, of the most satisfying -breadth; and the two more distant ones have folds of a slightly more -complex nature, if such a word can be used with regard to such a -thoroughly broadly treated work. This gives such contrast and relief -between the near and distant figures, and the absence of the aid of -colour makes the science of art all the more simply perceived. Most -beautiful is the fresco representing the birth of St. John, though the -lower part is quite lost. What consummate drapery arrangements! The nude -figure _vue de dos_ in the fresco of St. John baptising his disciples is -a masterly bit of drawing. Though the paint has fallen off many parts of -these frescoes, one can trace the drawing by the incision which was -made on the wet plaster to mark all the outlines preparatory to -beginning the painting." - -These are but a few of my art student's impressions of this -fondly-remembered Florentine epoch, which are recorded at great length -in the Diary for my own study. And now away to Rome! - - - - -CHAPTER VI - -ROME - - -That was a memorable journey to Rome by Perugia. I have travelled more -than once by that line, and the more direct one as well, since then, and -I feel as though I could never have enough of either, though to be on -the road again, as we now can be by motor, would be still greater bliss. -But the original journey took place so long ago that it has positively -an old-world glamour about it, and a certain roughness in the flavour, -so difficult to enjoy in these times of Pulman cars and Palace Hotels, -which make all places taste so much alike. The old towns on the -foothills of the Apennines drew me to the left, and the great sunlit -plains to the right, of the carriage in an _embarras de choix_ as we -sped along. Cortona, Arezzo, Castiglione--Fiorentin--each little old -city putting out its predecessor, as it seemed to me, as more perfect in -its picturesque effect than the one last seen. It was the story of the -Rhine castles and villages over again. The Lake of Trasimene appeared on -our right towards sundown, a sheet of still water so tender in its tints -and so lonely; no town on its malaria-stricken banks; a boat or two, -water-fowl among the rushes and, as we proceeded, the great, magnified -globe of the sun sinking behind the rim of the lake. We were going deep -into the Umbrian Hills, deep into old Italy; the deeper the better. We -neared Perugia, where we passed the night, before dark, and saw the old -brown city tinged faintly with the after-glow, afar off on its hill. A -massive castle stood there in those days which I have not regretted -since, as it symbolised the old time of foreign tyranny. It is gone now, -but how mediaeval it looked, frowning on the world that darkening -evening. Hills stood behind the city in deep blue masses against a sky -singularly red, where a great planet was shining. There was a Perugino -picture come to life for us! Even the little spindly trees tracing their -slender branches on the red sky were in the true _naif_ Perugino spirit! -How pleased we were! We rumbled in the four-horse station 'bus under two -echoing gateways piercing the massive outer and inner city walls and -along the silent streets, lit with rare oil lamps. Not a gas jet, aha! -But we were to feel still more deeply mediaeval, whether we liked it or -not, for on reaching the Hotel de la Poste we found it was full, and had -to wander off to seek what hostel could take us in through very dark, -ancient streets. I will let the Diary speak: - -"The _facchino_ of the hotel conducted us to a place little better than -a _cabaret_, belonging, no doubt, to a chum. I wouldn't have minded -putting up there, but Mamma knew better, and, rewarding the woman of the -_cabaret_ with two francs, much against her protestations, we went off -up the steep street again and made for the 'Corona,' a shade better, -close to the market place. My bedroom was as though it had once been a -dungeon, so massive were the walls and deep the vaulting of the low -ceiling. We went to bed almost immediately after our dinner, which was -enlivened by the conversation of men who were eating at a neighbouring -table, all, except a priest, with their hats on. One was very -loquacious, shouting politics. He held forth about '_Il Mastai_,' as he -called His Holiness Pope Pius the Ninth, and flourished renegade _Padre -Giacinto_ in the priest's face, the courteous and laconic priest's -eyebrows remaining at high-water mark all the time. The shouter went on -to say that English was '_una lingua povera e meschina_' ('Poor and -mean'!)" - -The next morning before leaving we saw all that time allowed us of -Perugia, the bronze statue of Pope Julius III. impressing me deeply. -Indeed, there is no statue more eloquent than this one. Alas! the -Italians have removed it from its right place, and when I revisited the -city in 1900 I found the tram terminus in place of the Pope. - -"_October 27th._--After the morning's doings in sunshine the day became -sad, and from Foligno, where we had a long wait, the story is but of -rain and dusk and night. We became more and more apathetic and bored, -though we were roused up at the frontier station, where I saw the Papal -_gendarmes_ and gave the alarm. Mamma went on her knees in the carriage -and cried, '_Viva Il Papa Re!_' We all joined in, drinking his health in -some very flat 'red _grignolino_' we had with us. I became more and more -excited as we neared the centre of the earth, the capital of -Christendom, the highest city in the world. In the rainy darkness we ran -into the Roman station, which might have been that of Brighton for aught -we could see. I strained my eyes right and left for Papal uniforms, and -was rewarded by Zouaves and others, and lots of French (of the Legion) -into the bargain. - -Then a long wait, in the 'bus of the Anglo-American Hotel, for our -luggage; and at last we rattled over the pavement, which, with its -cobble stones, was a great contrast to the large flat flags of -Florence, along very dark and gloomy streets. An apartment all crimson -damask was ready prepared for us, which looked cheery and revived us. - -"_October 28th_, 56, _Via del Babuino._--The day began rather -dismally--looking for apartments in the rain! The coming of the -OEcumenical Council has greatly inflated the prices; Rome is crammed. -At last we took this attractive one for six months, '_esposto a -mezzogiorno_.' Facing due south, fortunately. - -"The sun came out then, and all things were bright and joyous as we -rattled off in a little victoria to feast our eyes (we two for the first -time) on St. Peter's. Papa, knowing Rome already, knew what to do and -how best to give us our first impressions. An epoch in my life, never to -be forgotten, a moment in my existence too solemn and beyond my power of -writing to allow of my describing it! I have seen St. Peter's. No, -indeed, no descriptions have ever given me an adequate idea of what I -have just seen. The sensation of seeing the real thing one has gazed at -in pictures and photographs with longing is one of peculiar delight. - -"To find myself really on the Ponte Sant' Angelo! No dream this. There -is the huge castle and the angel with outstretched wings, and there is -St. Peter's in very truth. The sight of it made the tears rise and my -throat tighten, so greatly was I overcome by that soul-moving sight. The -dome is perfect; the whole, with its great piazza and colonnade, is -perfect; I am utterly overpowered and, as to writing, it is too -inadequate, and I do so merely because I must do my duty by this -journal. - -"What a state I was in, though exteriorly so quiet. And all around us -other beauties--the yellow Tiber, the old houses, the great -fortress-tomb--oh, Mimi, the artist, is not all the enthusiasm in you at -full power? We got out of the carriage at the bottom of the piazza and -walked up to the basilica on foot. The two familiar fountains--so -familiar, yet seen for the first time in reality--were sending up their -spray in such magnificent abundance, which the wind took and sent in -cascade-like forms far out over the reflecting pavement. The interior of -St. Peter's, which impresses different people in such various ways, was -a radiant revelation to me. We had but a preliminary taste to-day. We -drove thence to the Piazza del Popolo, and then had an entrancing walk -on Monte Pincio. We came down by the French Academy, with its row of -clipped ilexes, under which you see one of the most exquisite views of -silvery Rome, St. Peter's in the middle. We dipped down by the steps of -the Trinita, where the models congregate, flecking the wide grey steps -with all the colours of the rainbow. - -"_October 29th._--Papa would not let us linger in the Colosseum too -long, for to-day he wanted us to have only a general idea of things. -Those bits of distance seen through triumphal arches, between old -pillars, through gaps in ancient walls, how they please! As we were -climbing the Palatine hill a Black Franciscan came up to us for alms, -and in return offered us his snuff-box, out of which Alice and I took a -pinch, and we went sneezing over the ruins. On to the Capitol, and down -thence homeward through streets full of priests, monks and soldiers. All -the afternoon given to being tossed about, with poor Papa, by the Dogana -from the railway station to the custom-house in the Baths of Diocletian, -and from there to the artist commissioned by the Government to examine -incoming works of art. They would not let me have my box of studies, -calling them 'modern pictures' on which we must pay duty." - -Rome under the Temporal Power was so unlike Rome, capital of Italy, as -we see it to-day, that I think it just as well to draw largely from the -Diary, which is crammed with descriptions of men and things belonging to -the old order which can never be seen again. I love to recall it all. We -were in Rome just in time. We left it in May and the Italians entered it -in September. Though I was not a Catholic then, and found delight in -Rome almost entirely as an artist, the power and vitality of the Church -could not but impress me there. - -"_October 30th._--This has been one of the most perfectly enjoyable days -of my life. Papa and I drove to the Vatican through that bright light -air which gives one such energy. The Vatican! What a place wherein to -revel. We climbed one of the mighty staircases guarded by the -interesting Papal Guards, halberd on shoulder, until we got to the top -loggia and went into the picture gallery, I to enchant my eyes with the -grandest pictures that men have conceived. But I will not touch on them -till I go there to study. And so on from one glory to another. We turned -into St. Peter's and there strolled a long time. Before we went in, and -as we were standing at the bottom of the Scala Regia enjoying the -clearness of the sunshine on the city, we saw the _gendarmes_, the -Zouaves and others standing at attention, and, looking back, we saw the -red, black, and yellow Swiss running with operatic effect to seize their -halberds, and Cardinal Antonelli came down to get into his carriage, -almost stumbling over me, who didn't know he was so near. Before he got -into his great old-fashioned coach, harnessed to those heavy black -horses with the trailing scarlet traces, a picturesque incident -occurred. A girl-faced young priest tremulously accosted the Cardinal, -hat in hand, no doubt begging some favour of the great man. The Cardinal -spoke a little time to him with grand kindness, and then the priest fell -on one knee, kissed the Cardinal's ring, and got up blushing pink all -over his beautiful young face, and passed on, gracefully and modestly, -as he had done the rest. Then off rattled the carriage, the Zouaves -presented arms, salutes were made, hats lifted, and Antonelli was gone. - -"In St. Peter's were crowds of priests in different colours, forming -masses of black, purple, and scarlet of great beauty. Two Oriental -bishops were making the round, one, a Dominican, having with him a sort -of Malay for a chaplain in turban and robe. Two others had Chinamen with -pigtails in attendance, these two emaciated prelates bearing signs of -recent torture endured in China, living martyrs out of Florentine -frescoes. Yonder comes a bearded Oriental with mild, beautiful face, and -following him a scarlet-clad German with yellow hair, projecting ears, -coarse mouth, and spectacles over his little eyes; and then a -sharp-visaged Jesuit, or a spiritual, wan Franciscan and a burly Roman -secular. No end of types. One very young Italian monk had the face of a -saint, all ready made for a fresco. I looked at him in unspeakable -admiration as he stood looking up at some inscription, probably -translating it in his own mind. On our way home, to crown all, we met -the Pope. His outrider in cocked hat and feathers came clattering along -the narrow street in advance, then a red-and-gold coach, black prancing -horses--all shadowy to me, as I was intent only on catching a view of -the Holy Father. We got out of the carriage, as in duty bound, and bent -the knee like the rest as he passed by. I saw his profile well, with -that well-known smile on his kind face. As we looked after the carriages -and horsemen the effect was touching of the people kneeling in masses -along the way. The sight of Italian men kneeling is novel to me in the -extreme. - -"_October 31st._--I went first, with Mamma and Alice, to St. Peter's, -where I studied types, attitudes and costumes. The sight of a Zouave -officer kneeling, booted and spurred, his sword by his side, and his -face shaded with his hand, is indeed striking, and one knows all those -have enrolled themselves for a sacred cause they have at heart--higher -even than for love of any particular country. The difference of types -among these Zouaves is most interesting. The Belgian and Dutch decidedly -predominate. Papa and I went thence for a fascinating stroll of many -hours, finding it hard to turn back. We went up to Sant' Onofrio and -then round by the great Farnese Palace. The view from Sant' Onofrio over -Rome is--well, my language is utterly annihilated here. How invigorated -I felt, and not a bit tired." - -I have never been able to call up enthusiasm over the Pantheon, -low-lying, black and pagan in every line. Why does Byron lash himself -into calling it "Pride of Rome"? For the same reason, I suppose, that he -laments and sighs over the disappearance of Dodona's "aged grove and -oracle divine." As if any one cares! The view of Rome from Monte Mario, -being _the_ view, should have a place here as we saw it one of those -richly-coloured days. - -"_November 3rd._--My birthday, marked by the customary birthday -expedition, this time to Monte Mario. Nothing could be more splendid -than looked the Capital of the World as it lay below us when we reached -the top of that commanding height. The Campagna lay beyond it, ending in -that direction with the Sabine and Alban Mountains, the furthest all -white with snow. Buildings, cypresses, pines, formed foreground groups -to the silver city as they only can do to such perfection in these -parts. In another direction we could see the Campagna with its straight -horizon like a calm rosy-brown sea meeting the limpid sky. We drove a -long way on the high road across the Campagna Florence-wards. No high -walls as in the Florentine drives were here to shut out the views, which -unfolded themselves on all sides as we trotted on. We got out of the -carriage on the Campagna and strolled about on the brown grass, enjoying -the sweet free breeze and the great sweep of country stretching away to -the luminous horizon towards the sun, and to the lilac mountains in the -other direction. These mountains became tender pink as we went -Romewards, and when the city again appeared it was in a richly-coloured -light, the Campagna beyond in warm shadow from large chocolate-coloured -clouds which were rising heaped up into the sky. A superb effect." - -Here follow many days chiefly given up to studio hunting and "property" -seeking for my work, soon to be set up. Models there were in plenty, of -course, as Rome was then still the artists' headquarters. How things -have changed! - -I began with a _ciociara_ spinning with a distaff in the well-known and -very much used-up costume, just for practice, and another peasant girl. -Then I painted, at my dear mother's earnest desire, "The -Magnificat"--Mary's visit to Elizabeth--and on off days my father and I -"did" all the pictures contained in various palaces, the Vatican, and -the Villa Borghese, filling pages and pages of notes in the old Diary. I -felt the value of every day in Rome. Many people might think I ought not -to have worked so much in a studio, but I think I divided the time well. -I felt I must keep my hand in, and practise with the brush, though how -often I was tempted to join the others on some fascinating ramble may be -imagined. Soon, however, the rains of a Roman December set in, and Rome -became very wet indeed. Our father read us Roman history every evening -when there were no visitors. We had a good many, our mother and her -music and brightness soon attracting all that was nice in the English -and American colonies. Dear old Mr. Severn, he in whose arms Keats died, -often took tea with us (we kept our way of having dinner early and tea -in the evening), and there was an antiquarian who took interest in -nothing whatever except the old Roman walls, and he used to come and -hold forth about the "Agger of Servius Tullius" till my head went round. -He kept his own on, it seemed to me, by pressing his hand on the bald -top of it as he explained to us about that bit of "agger" which he had -discovered, and the herring-bone brick of which it was built. Often as I -have revisited Rome, I cannot become enthusiastic over the discovery of -some old Roman sewer, or bit of hot-water pipe, or horrible stone basin -with a hole in the bottom for draining off the blood of sacrificial -oxen. I always long to get back into the sunshine and fresh air from the -mouldy depths of Pagan Rome when I get caught in a party to whom the -antiquarian enthusiasts like to hold forth below the surface of the -earth. Alice listens, deferential and controlled, while I fidget, -supporting myself on my umbrella, with such a face! Here is a little bit -of Papal Rome impossible to-day: - -"_November 29th._--In the course of our long ramble after my work Papa -and I, in the soft evening, came upon a scene which I shall not forget, -made by a young priest preaching to a little crowd in the street before -the side door of Santa Maria Sopra Minerva, a Rembrandtesque effect -being produced by the two lamps held by a priest at either side of the -platform on which the preacher stood. One of these held the large -crucifix to which the preacher turned at times, with gestures of rapture -such as only an Italian could use in so natural a way. To see him, -lighted from below, in his black habit and hear his impassioned voice! -All the men were bareheaded, and such as passed by took their hats off. -Penetrating as the priest's voice was, it was now and then quite drowned -by the street noises, especially the rattling of wheels on the rough -stones." - -The days that follow are filled with my work on "The Visitation," with -few intervals of sight-seeing. Then comes the great ecclesiastical event -to be marked in history, which brought all the world to Rome. - -"_Opening of the OEcumenical Council, December 8th._--A memorable day, -this! We got up by candlelight, as at a quarter past seven we were to -drive to St. Peter's. The dreary raining dawn was announced, just as it -broke, by the heavy cannon of Castel Sant' Angelo, the flash of which -was reflected in the blue-grey sky long before the sound reached us, and -the cannon on the Aventine echoed those of the Castel. How dreary it -felt, yet how imposing for any one who has got into the right feeling -about this solemn event. On our way we overtook scores of priests on -foot, trying to walk clear of the puddles in those thin, buckled shoes -of theirs. It must have been trying for the old ones. There were bishops -amongst them, too poor to afford a cab. We have seen them day after day -thus going to the Vatican meetings. One great blessing the rain brought: -it kept hundreds of people from coming to the church, and thus saved -many crushings to death, for it is terrible to contemplate, seeing what -a crowd there actually was, what it might have been had the building -been crammed. Entrance and egress were both at one end of the church. -That thought must console me for the terrible toning down and darkening -of what, otherwise, would have been a great pageant. So many thousands -of wet feet brought something like a lake half way up the floor; so -slippery was it that, had the crowd swayed in a panic, it wouldn't have -been very nice. - -"Papa and I insinuated ourselves into the hedge of people kept back by -Zouaves and Palatine Guards, as we came opposite the statue of St. -Peter, and I eventually got fixed three rows back from the soldiers, and -was lucky to get in so far. I was jammed between a monk and a short -youth of the 'horsey' kind. The atmosphere in that warm, wet crowd was -trying. I could see into the Council Hall opposite. - -[Illustration: ROMAN IMPRESSIONS IN 1870. - -THE LAST OF THE RIDERLESS HORSE-RACES, AND A WET TRUDGE - -TO THE VATICAN COUNCIL.] - -"The passage kept clear for the great procession was very wide. On the -other side I could see rows of English and American girls and elderly -females in the best places, as usual, right to the front, as bold as -brass, and didn't they eye the bishops over through their -_pince-nez!_ We must have been waiting two hours before the procession -entered the church. I ought to have mentioned that the sacred dark -bronze statue of St. Peter was robed in gorgeous golden vestments with a -splendid triple crown on its head, making it look like a black Pope, and -very life-like from where I saw it. It seemed very strange. - -"At last there was a buzz as people perceived the slowly-moving -_silhouette_ of the procession as it passed along in a far-off gallery, -veiled from us by pink curtains, against the light and very high up, -over the entrance. We could see the prelates had all vested by the -outlines of the mitres and the high-shouldered look of the figures in -stiff copes. As the procession entered the church the 'Veni Creator' -swelled up majestically and floated through the immense space. The -effect of the procession to me was _nil_; all I could do was to catch a -glimpse of each bishop as he passed between the bobbing heads of the men -in front of me. All the European and United States Bishops were in white -and silver, but now and then there passed Oriental Patriarchs in rich -vestments, their picturesque dark faces (two were quite brown) telling -so strikingly amongst the pale or rosy Europeans. Each had his solemn -secretary, with imperturbable Eastern face, bearing his jewelled crown, -something in shape like the dome of a mosque. One Oriental wore a jewel -on his dusky forehead, another a black cowl over his head, shading his -keen, dark face, the coarse cowl contrasting in a startling way with the -delicate splendour of the gold and pink and amber vestments worn over -the rough monk's habit. Still, all this could not be imposing to me, -having to squint and crane as I did, seldom being able to see with both -eyes at once. I could at intervals see the silvery prelates, most of -them with snowy heads, and the dark Easterns mount into their seats in -the Council Chamber, our Archbishop Manning amongst them. I had a quite -good glimpse of Cardinal Bonaparte, very like the great Napoleon. Of the -Pope I saw nothing. He was closely surrounded, as he walked past, by the -high-helmeted Noble Guard, and, of course, at that supreme moment every -one in front of me strove to get a better sight of him. Then Papa and I -gladly struggled our way out of the great crowd and went to seek Mamma, -who, very wisely, had not attempted to get a place, but was meekly -sitting on the steps of a confessional in a quiet chapel. Mamma then -went home, and we went into the crowd again to try and see the Council -from a point opposite. We saw it pretty well, the two white banks of -mitred bishops on each side and, far back, the little red Pope in the -middle. Mass was being sung, all Gregorian, but it was faintly heard -from our great distance. - -"No council business was being done to-day; it was only the Mass to open -the meeting. The crowd was most interesting. Surely every nation was -represented in it. An officer of the 42nd Highlanders had an excellent -effect. What shall I do in London, with its dead level of monotony? Oh! -dear, oh! dear. I was quite loth to go home. And so the council is -opened. God speed!" - -The Ghetto was in existence in those days, so I have even experienced -the sight of _that_. Very horrible, packed with "red-haired, blear-eyed -creatures, with loose lips and long, baggy noses." Thus I describe them -in this warren, during our drive one day. What a "_sventramento_" that -must have been when the Italians cleared away and cleaned up all that -congested horror. Wide, wind-swept spaces and a shining, though hideous, -synagogue met my astonished gaze when next I went there and couldn't -find the Ghetto. - -At the end of the year La Signorina Elizabetta Thompson had to apply to -his Eminenza Riverendissima Cardinal Berardi, Minister of Public Works, -to announce her intention of sending the "Magnificat" to the Pope's -international exhibition. At that picture I worked hard, my mother being -my model for Our Lady, and an old _ciociara_ from the Trinita steps for -St. Elizabeth. How it rained that December! But we had radiant sunshine -in between the days when the streets were all running with red-brown -rivulets, through which the horses splashed as if fording a stream. - -"_January 25th, 1870._--I finished my 'Magnificat' to-day. Yet ought I -to say I ceased to paint at it, for 'finish' suggests something far -beyond what this picture is. Well, I shall enjoy being on the loose now. -To stroll about Rome after having passed through a picture is perfect -enjoyment. I should feel very uncomfortable at the present time if I -had, up till now, done nothing but lionise. I have no hope of my picture -being accepted now, but still it is pleasant to think that I have worked -hard. - -"_February 3rd._--I took my picture to the Calcografia place, as warned -to do. There, in dusty horror, it awaits the selecting committee's -review, which takes place to-morrow. Mamma and I held it manfully in the -little open carriage to keep it from tumbling out, our arms stretched to -their utmost. Lots of men were shuffling about in that dusty place with -pictures of all sizes. But, oh! what a scene of horror was that -collection of daubs. Oh! mercy on us. - -"_February 5th._--My 'Magnificat' is accepted. First, off goes Mamma -with Celestina to the Calcografia to learn the fate of the picture, and -bring it back triumphant, she and the maid holding it steady in the -little open carriage. Soon after, off we go to the Palazzo Poli to see -nice Mr. Severn, who says he is so proud of me, and will do all he can -to help me in art matters, to see whether he could make the exhibition -people hang my picture well, as we were told the artists had to see to -that themselves if they wanted it well done. I, for my part, would leave -it to them and rather shirk a place on the line, for my picture is -depressingly unsatisfactory to me, but Mamma, for whom I have painted -it, loves it, and wants it well placed 'so that the Pope may see it'! -From thence off we go to the abode of the Minister of Commerce, Cardinal -B., for my pass. We were there told, to our dismay, that we could not -take the picture ourselves to the exhibition, as it was held in the -cloisters of Sta. Maria degli Angeli, and no permission had yet been -given to admit women before the opening. But I knew that between Papa -and Mr. Severn the picture would be seen to inside the cloistered walls. -After lunch, off goes Papa with my pass, we following in the little open -carriage as before, holding the old picture before us with straining -arms and knitted brows, very much jolted and bumped. We are stopped at -the cloisters, and told to drive out again, and there we pull up, our -faces turned in the opposite direction. The hood of the carriage -suddenly collapses, and we are revealed, unable to let go the picture, -with the soldiers collected about the place grinning. Papa arrives, and -he and two _facchini_ come to the rescue, and then disappear with the -picture amongst the forbidden regions enclosed in the gloomy ruins of -Diocletian's Baths. Papa, on returning home, told me how charmed old -Severn, who was there, was with the picture, and even Podesti, the -judge, after some criticisms, and in no way ready to give it a good -place, said to Severn he had expected the signorina's picture to be -rubbish (_porcheria_). I suppose because it was a woman's work. He -retracted, and said he would like to see me. - -"_February 14th._--I began another picture to-day, after all my -resolutions to the contrary, the subject, two Roman shepherds playing at -'_Morra_', sitting on a fallen pillar, a third _contadino_, in a cloak, -looking on. I posed my first model, putting a light background to him, -the effect being capital, he coming rich and dusky against it. He soon -understood I wanted energy thrown into the action. I shall delight in -this subject, because the hands figure so conspicuously in the game. - -"_February 15th._--I went up alone to the Trinita to choose the other -young man for my 'Morra,' and, after a little inspection of the group of -lolling Romagnoli, gave the apple to one with a finely-cut profile and -black hair, the other models, male and female, clustering round to hear, -and many bystanders and the Zouave sentry, hard by, looking on." - -On one evening in this eventful Roman period I had the opportunity of -seeing the famous race of the riderless horses (the _barberi_), which -closed the Carnival doings. The impression remains with me quite vividly -to this day. The colour, the movement; the fast-deepening twilight; the -historic associations of that vast Piazza del Popolo, where I see the -great obelisk retaining, on its upper part, the last flush from the -west; the impetuous waters of the fountains at its base in cool shadow; -St. Peter's dome away to the left--this is the setting. Then I hear the -clatter of the dragoon's horses as the detachment forms up for clearing -the course. The stands, at the foot of the obelisk, are full, some of -the crowd in carnival costume and with masks. A sharp word of command -rings out in the chilly air. Away go the dragoons, down the narrow Corso -and back, at full gallop, splitting the surging crowd with theatrical -effect. The line is clear. Now comes the moment of expectancy! At that -unique starting post, the obelisk upon which Moses in Egypt may have -looked as upon an interesting monument of antiquity in pre-Exodus days, -there appear eleven highly-nervous barbs, tricked out with plumes and -painted with white spots and stripes. The convicts who lead them in -(each man, one may say, carrying his life in his hand) are trying, with -iron grip, to keep their horses quiet, for the spiked balls and other -irritants are now unfastened and dangling loose from the horses' backs. -But one terrified beast comes on "kicking against the pricks" already. -The whole pack become wild. The more they plunge, the more the balls -bang and prick. One furious creature, wrenching itself free, whirls -round in the wrong direction. But there is no time to lose; the -restraining rope must be cut. A gun booms; there is a shout and clapping -of hands. Ten of the horses, with heads down, get off in a bunch, -shooting straight as arrows for the Corso; the eleventh slips on the -cobbles, rolls over and, recovering itself, tears after its pals, -straining every nerve. I hear a voice shout "_E capace di vincere!_" -("He is fit to win!") and in an instant the lot are engulfed in that -dark, narrow street, the squibs on their backs going off like pistol -shots, and the crackling bits of metallic tinsel, getting detached, fly -back in a shower of light. The sparks from the iron heels splash out in -red fire through the dusk. The course is just one mile--the whole length -of the straight street. At the winning post a great sheet is stretched -across the way, through which some of the horses burst, to be captured -some days afterwards while roaming about the open spaces of the -Campagna. It is the dense crowd, forming two walls along the course, -that forces the horses to keep the centre. This was the last of the -_barberi_. They were more frightened than hurt, yet I am not sorry that -these races have been abolished. - -Here follow records of expeditions in weather of spring freshness--to -catacombs, along the Via Appia, to the wild Campagna, and all the -delights of that Roman time when the lark inspires the poet. I got on -well with my "Morra" picture, which wasn't bad, and which has a niche in -my art career, because it turned out to be the first picture I sold, -which joyful event happened in London. - -"_March 25th_.--A brilliant day, full of colour. This is a great feast, -the Annunciation, and I gave up work to see the Pope come in grand -procession to the Church of the Minerva with his Cross Bearer on a white -mule, and all the cardinals, bishops, ambassadors and officials in -carriages of antique magnificence, a spectacle of great pomp, and -nowhere else to be seen. We did it in this wise. At nine we drove to the -Minerva, the sun very brilliant and the air very cold, and soon posted -ourselves on the steps of the church in the midst of a tight crowd, I -quite helpless in a knot of French soldiers of the Legion, who chaffed -each other good-humouredly over my head. The piazza, in the midst of -which rises the funny little obelisk on the elephant's back, swarmed -with people, black being quite the exception in that motley crowd. -Zouaves and the Legion formed a square to keep the piazza open, and -dragoons pranced officiously about, as is their wont. Every balcony was -thronged with gay ladies and full-dressed officers (some most gallant -and smart Austrians were at a window near us), and crimson cloth and -brocade flapped from every window, here in powerful sunshine, there in -effective shadow. Some dark, Florentine-coloured houses opposite, mostly -in shade, as they were between us and the sun, had a strong effect -against the bright sky, their crimson cloths and gaily dressed ladies -relieving their dark masses, and their beautiful roofs and chimneys -making a lovely sky line. - -"Presently the gilt and painted coaches of the cardinals began to -arrive, huge, high-swung vehicles drawn by very fat black horses dressed -out with gold and crimson trappings, but the servants and coachmen, in -spite of their extra full get-up, having that inimitable shabby-genteel -appearance which belongs exclusively to them. The Prior of the -Dominicans, to which order this church belongs, stood outside the -archway through which the Pope and all went into the church after -alighting from their coaches. He was there to welcome them, and, oh! the -number of bows he must have made, and his mouth must have ached again -with all those wide smiles. Near him also stood the Noble Guards and all -the general officers, plastered over with orders; and all these, too, -saluted and salaamed as each ecclesiastical bigwig grandly and -courteously swept by under the archway, glowing in his scarlet and -shining in his purple. The carriages pulled up at the spot of all others -best suited to us. Everything was filled with light, the cardinals -glowing like rubies inside their coaches, even their faces all aglow -with the red reflections thrown up from their ardent robes. But there -presently came a sight which I could hardly stand; it was eloquent of -the olden time and filled the mind with a strange feeling of awe and -solemnity, as though long ages had rolled back and by a miracle the dead -time had been revived and shown to us for a brief and precious moment. -On a sleek white mule came a prelate, all in pure lilac, his grey head -bare to the sunshine and carrying in his right hand the gold and -jewelled Cross. The trappings of the mule were black and gold, a large -black, square cloth thrown over its back in the mediaeval fashion. The -Cross, which was large and must have weighed considerably, was very -conspicuous. The beauty of the colour of mule and rider, the black and -gold housings of that white beast, the lilac of the rider's robes, and -the tender glory of the embossed Cross--how these things enchant me! An -attendant took the Cross as the priest dismounted. Then a flourish of -modern Zouave bugles and a sharp roll of the drum intruded the forgotten -present day on our notice, and soon on came the gallant _gendarmerie_ -and dragoons, and then the coach of His Holiness, seeming to bubble over -with molten gold in the sunshine. Its six black horses ambled fatly -along, all but the wheelers trailing their long, red traces almost on -the ground, as seems to be the ecclesiastical fashion in harness (only -the wheelers really pull), and guided by bedizened postillions in wigs -decidedly like those worn by English Q.C.'s. Flowers were showered down -on this coach from the windows, and much cheering rang in the fresh, -clear air. I see now in my mind's eye the out-thrust chins and long, -bare necks of a clump of enthusiastic Zouaves shouting with all their -hearts under the Pope's carriage windows in divers tongues. But the -English 'Long live the Pope King,' though given with a will, did not -travel as far as the open '_Viva il Papa Re_' or '_Vive le Pape Roi_.' I -put in my British 'Hurrah!' as did Papa, splendidly, just as three old -and very fat cardinals had painfully got down from His Holiness's high -coach and he himself had begun to emerge. We could see him quite well in -the coach, because the sides were more glass than gilding, and very -assiduously did the kind-looking old man bless the people right and left -as he drove up. He had on his head, not the skull cap I have hitherto -seen him in, which allows his silver locks to be seen, but the -old-lady-like headgear so familiar to me from pictures, notably several -portraits of Leo X. at Florence, which covers the ears and is bound with -ermine. It makes the lower part of the face look very large, and is not -becoming. After getting down he stood a long time receiving homage from -many grandees, and smiled and beamed with kindness on everybody. Then we -all bundled into the church, but as every one there was standing on, -instead of sitting on, the chairs, we could see nothing of the -ceremonies. We struggled out, after listening a little to the singing, -and Papa and I strolled delightedly to St. Peter's, on whose great -piazza we awaited the return of the procession. It was very beautiful, -winding along towards us, with my white mule and all, over that vast -space." - -Remember, Reader, that these things can never more be seen, and that is -why I give these extracts _in extenso_. Merely as history they are -precious. How we would like to have some word pictures of Rome in the -seventeenth, sixteenth and fifteenth centuries, but we don't get them. -The chronicles tell us of magnificence, numbers, illustrious people, -dress, and so forth; but, somehow, we would like something more intimate -and descriptive of local colour--effects of weather, etc.--to help us to -realise life as it was in the olden time. I think in this age of -ugliness we prize the picturesque and the artistic all the more for -their rarer charm. - -After "Morra" I did a life-size oil study of the head of the celebrated -model, Francesco, which was a great advance in freedom of brush work. -But the walks were not abandoned, and many a delightful round we made -with our father, who was very happy in Rome. The Colosseum was rich in -flowers and trees, which clothed with colour its hideous stages of -seats. The same abundant foliage beautified the brickwork of Caracalla's -Baths, but those beautiful veils were, unfortunately, slowly helping -further to demolish the ruins, and had to be all cleared away later on. -I have several times managed to wander over those eerie ruins in later -years by full moon, but I have never again enjoyed the awe-inspiring -sensation produced by the first visit, when those trees waved and -sighed, and the owls hooted, as in Byron's time. And then the loneliness -of the Colosseum was more impressive, and helped one to detach oneself -in thought from the present day more easily. Now the town is creeping -out that way. - -"_April 3rd._--Our goal was Santa Croce to-day, beyond the Lateran, for -there the Pope was to come to bless the 'Agnus Dei.' This ceremony -takes place only once in seven years. Everything was _en petite tenue_, -the quietest carriages, the seediest servants, but oh! how glorious it -all was in that fervent sunlight. We stood outside the church, I greatly -enjoying the amusing crowd, full of such varied types. The effect of the -Pope's two carriages and the horsemen coming trotting along the -straight, long road from St. John's to this church, the luminous dust -rising in clouds in the wind, was very pretty. The shouting and cheering -and waving of handkerchiefs were quite frantic, more hearty even than at -the Minerva. People seemed to feel more easy and jolly here, with no -grandeur to awe them. His Holiness looked much more spry than when I -last saw him. We lost poor little Mamma and, in despair, returned -without her, and she didn't turn up till 7 o'clock!" - -The Roman Diary of 1870 must end with the last Easter Benediction given -under the temporal power, _Urbi et Orbi_. - -"_Easter Sunday, April 17th_.--What a day, brimming over with rich -eye-feasts, with pomp and splendour! What can the eye see nowadays to -come anywhere near what I saw to-day, except on this anniversary here in -unique Rome? Of course, all the world knows that the splendour of this -great ceremony outshines that of any other here or in the whole world. -Mamma and I reserved ourselves for the benediction alone, so did not -start for St. Peter's till ten o'clock, and got there long before the -troops. On getting out of the carriage we strolled leisurely to the -steps leading up to the church, where we took up our stand, enjoying the -delicious sunshine and fresh, clear air, and also the interesting people -that were gradually filling the piazza, amongst whom were pilgrims with -long staves, many being Neapolitans, the women in new costumes of the -brightest dyes and with snowy _tovaglie_ artistically folded. Some of -these women carried the family luggage on their heads, this luggage -being great bundles wrapped in rugs of red, black, and yellow stripes, -some with the big coloured umbrella passed through and cleverly -balanced. All these people had trudged on foot all the way. Their shoes -hung at their waists, and also their water flasks. As the troops came -pouring in we were requested by the sappers to range ourselves and not -to encroach beyond the bottom step. Here was a position to see from! We -watched the different corps forming to the stirring bugle and trumpet -sounds, the officers mounting their horses, all splendid in velvet -housings, the officers in the fullest of full dress. There was no -pushing in the crowd, and we were as comfortable as possible. But there -was a scene to our left, up on the terrace that runs along the upper -part of the piazza and is part of the Vatican, which was worth to me all -the rest; it was, pictorially, the most beautiful sight of all. Along -this terrace, the balustrade of which was hung with mellow old faded -tapestry, and bears those dark-toned, effective statues standing out so -well against the blue sky, were collected in a long line, I should say, -nearly all the bishops who are gathered here in Rome for the Council, in -their white and silver vestments, and wearing their snowy mitres, a few -dark-dressed ladies in veils and an officer in bright colour here and -there supporting most artistically those long masses of white. Above the -heads of this assembly stretched the long white awning, through which -the strong sun sent a glowing shade, and above that the clear sky, with -the Papal white and yellow flags and standards in great quantities -fluttering in the breeze! My delighted eyes kept wandering up to that -terrace away from the coarser military picturesqueness in front. Up -there was a real bit of the olden time. There was a feeling as of lilies -about those white-robed pontiffs. At last a sign from a little balcony -high up on the facade was given, and all the troops sprang to attention, -and then the gentle-faced old Pope glided into view there, borne on his -chair and wearing the triple crown. Clang go the rifles and sabres in a -general salute, and a few '_evvivas_' burst from the crowd, which are -immediately suppressed by a general 'sh-sh-sh,' and amidst a most -imposing silence, the silence of a great multitude, the Pope begins to -read from a crimson book held before him with the voice of a strong -young man. Curiously enough, in this stillness all the horses began to -neigh, but their voices could not drown the single one of Pio Nono. -After the reading the Pope rose, and down went, on their knees, the mass -of people and soldiers, 'like one man,' and the old Pope pressed his -hands together a moment and then flung open his arms upwards with an -action full of electrifying fervour as he pronounced the grand words of -the blessing which rang out, it seemed, to the ends of the Earth. - -"In the evening we saw the famous illumination of the dome of St. -Peter's from the Pincian. The wind rather spoiled the first or silver -one, but the next, the golden, was a grand sight, beginning with the -cross at the top and running down in streams over the dome. As I looked, -I heard a funny bit of Latin from an English tourist, who asked a priest -'_Quis est illuminatio, olio o gas?_' '_Olio, olio_,' answered the -priest good-naturedly." - -And so our Papal Rome on May 2nd, 1870, retreated into my very -appreciative memory, and we returned for a few days to Florence, and -thence to Padua and Venice and Verona on our way to England through the -Tyrol and Bavaria. What a downward slope in art it is from Italy into -Germany! We girls felt a great irritation at the change, and were too -recalcitrant to attend to the German sights properly. - -But I filled the Diary with very searching notes of the wonderful things -I saw in Venice, thanks to Veronese, Titian, Tintoretto, Palma Vecchio -and others, who filled me with all that an artist can desire in the way -of colour. I was anxious to improve my weak point, and here was a -lesson! - -It is curious, however, to watch through the succeeding years how I was -gradually inducted by circumstances into that line of painting which is -so far removed from what inspired me just then. It was the Franco-German -War and a return to the Isle of Wight that sent me back on the military -road with ever diminishing digressions. Well, perhaps my father's fear, -which I have already mentioned in my early 'teens, that I was joining in -a "tremendous ruck" in taking the field would have been justified had I -not taken up a line of painting almost non-exploited by English artists. -The statement of a French art critic when writing of one of my war -pictures, "_L'Angleterre n'a guere qu'un peintre militaire, c'est une -femme_," shows the position. I wish I could have another life here below -to share the joys of those who paint what I studied in Italy, if only -for the love of such work, though I am very certain I should be quite -indistinguishable in _that_ "ruck." - - - - -CHAPTER VII - -WAR. BATTLE PAINTINGS - - -Padua I greatly enjoyed--its academic quiet, its Shakespearean -atmosphere; and still more did Shakespearean Verona enchant me. I had a -good study of the modern French school at the Paris Salon, and on -getting back to London rejoined the South Kensington schools till the -end of the summer session. Then a studio and practice from the living -model. In July we were all absorbed in the great Franco-German War, -declared in the middle of that month. It seems so absurd to us to-day -that we should have been pro-German in England. This little entry in the -Diary shows how Bismarck's dishonest manoeuvres had hoodwinked the -world. "France _will_ fight, so Prussia _must_, and all for nothing but -jealousy--a pretty spectacle!" We all believed it was France that was -the guilty party. I call to mind how some one came running upstairs to -find me and, subsiding on the top step with _The Times_ in her hand, -announced the surrender of MacMahon's army and the Emperor. I wrote "the -Germans are pro-di-gious!" and I have lived to see them prostrate. Such -is history. - -I was asked, as the war developed, if I had been inspired by it, and -this caused me to turn my attention pictorially that way. Once I began -on that line I went at a gallop, in water-colour at first, and many a -subject did I send to the "Dudley Gallery" and to Manchester, all the -drawings selling quickly, but I never relaxed that serious practice in -oil painting which was my solid foundation. I sent the poor "Magnificat" -to the Royal Academy in the spring of 1871. It was rejected, and -returned to me with a large hole in it. - -That summer, which we spent at well-loved Henley-on-Thames, was marred -by the awful doings of the Commune in Paris. _The Times_ had a -stereotyped heading for a long time: "The Destruction of Paris." What -horrible suspense there was while we feared the destruction of the -Louvre and Notre Dame. I see in the Diary: "_May 28th, 1871_.--Oh! that -to-morrow's papers may bring a decided contradiction of the oft-repeated -report that the great Louvre pictures are lost and that Notre Dame no -longer stands intact. As yet all is confusion and dismay, and one -clings, therefore, to the hope that little by little we may hear that -some fragments, at least, may be spared to bereaved humanity and that -all that beauty is not annihilated." - -In August, 1871, we were off again. From London back to Ventnor! There I -kept my hand in by painting in oils life-sized portraits of friends and -relations and some Italian ecclesiastical subjects, such as young -Franciscan monks, disciples of him who loved the birds, feeding their -doves in a cloister; an old friar teaching schoolboys, _al fresco_, -outside a church, as I had seen one doing in Rome. For this friar I -commandeered our landlord as a model, for he had just the white beard -and portly figure I required. Yet he was one of the most _furibond_ -dissenters I ever met--a Congregationalist--but very obliging. Also a -candlelight effect in the Church of San Pietro in Vincoli, in Rome; a -large altar-piece for our little Church of St. Wilfrid, and so on, a -mixture of the ecclesiastical and the military. The dances, theatricals, -croquet parties, rides--all the old ways were linked up again at -Ventnor, and I have a very bright memory of our second dwelling there -and reunion with our old friends. In the spring of 1872 I sent one of -the many Roman subjects I was painting to the Academy, a water-colour of -a Papal Zouave saluting two bishops in a Roman street. It was rejected, -but this time without a hole. This year was full of promise, and I very -nearly reached the top of my long hill climb, for in it I began what -proved to be my first Academy picture. - -What proved of great importance to me, this year of 1872, was my -introduction, if I may put it so, to the British Army! I then saw the -British soldier as I never had had the opportunity of seeing him before. -My father took me to see something of the autumn manoeuvres near -Southampton. Subjects for water-colour drawings appeared in abundance to -my delighted observation. One of the generals who was to be an umpire at -these manoeuvres, Sir F. C., had become greatly interested in me, as a -mutual friend had described my battle scenes to him, and said he would -speak about me to Sir Charles Staveley, one of the commanders in the -impending "war," so that I might have facilities for seeing the -interesting movements. He hoped that, if I saw the manoeuvres, I would -"give the British soldiers a turn," which I did with alacrity. I sent -some of the sketches to Manchester and to my old friend the "Dudley." -One of them, "Soldiers Watering Horses," found a purchaser in a Mr. -Galloway, of Manchester, who asked through an agent if I would paint him -an oil picture. I said "Yes," and in time painted him "The Roll Call." -Meanwhile, in the spring of 1873, I sent my first really large war -picture in oils to the Academy. It was accepted, but "skyed," well -noticed in the Press and, to my great delight, sold. The subject was, of -course, from the war which was still uppermost in our thoughts: a -wounded French colonel (for whom my father sat), riding a spent horse, -and a young subaltern of Cuirassiers, walking alongside (studied from a -young Irish officer friend), "missing" after one of the French defeats, -making their way over a forlorn landscape. The Cameron Highlanders were -quartered at Parkhurst, near Ventnor, about this time, and I was able to -make a good many sketches of these splendid troops, so essentially -pictorial. I have ever since then liked to make Highlanders subjects for -my brush. - -In this same year of 1873 my sister and I, now both belonging to the old -faith, whither our mother had preceded us, joined the first pilgrimage -to leave the shores of England since the Reformation. I had arranged -with the _Graphic_ to make pen-and-ink sketches of the pilgrimage, which -was arousing an extraordinary amount of public interest. Our goal was -the primitive little town of Paray-le-Monial, deep in the heart of -France, where Margaret Mary Alacoque received our Lord's message. I -cannot convey to my readers who are not "of us" the fresh and exultant -impressions we received on that visit. There was a mixture of religious -and national patriotism in our minds which produced feelings of the -purest happiness. The steamer that took us English pilgrims from -Newhaven to Dieppe on September 2nd flew the standard of the Sacred -Heart at the main and the Union Jack at the peak, seeming thus to -symbolise the whole character of the enterprise. Those _Graphic_ -sketches proved a very great burden to me. Nowadays one of the pilgrims -would have done all by "snapshots." I tried to sketch as I walked in the -processions at Paray and to sing the hymn at the same time. There was -hardly a moment's rest for us, except for a few intervals of sleep. The -long ceremonies and prescribed devotions, the processions, the stirring -hymns and the journey there and back, all crowded into a week from start -to finish, called for all one's strength. But how joyfully given! - -I can never forget the hearty, well-mannered welcome the French gave us, -lay and clerical. The place itself was lovely and the weather kind. It -is good to have had such an experience as this in our weary world. The -Bishop of Salford, the future Cardinal Vaughan, led us, and our clergy -mustered in great force. The dear French people never showed so well as -during their welcome of us. It suited their courteous and hospitable -natures. Most of our hosts were peasants and owners of little -picturesque shops in this jewel of a little town. We two were billeted -at a shoemaker's. The urbanity of the French clergy in receiving our own -may be imagined. I love to think back on the truly beautiful sights and -sounds of Paray, with the dominant note of the church bells vibrating -over all. They gave us a graceful send-off, pleased to have the -assurance of our approval of our reception. Many compliments on our -_solide piete_, with regrets as to their own "_legerete_," and so forth. -"_Vive l'Angleterre!_" "_Vive la France!_" "_Adieu!_" - - - - -CHAPTER VIII - -"THE ROLL CALL" - - -I had quite a large number of commissions for military water-colours to -get through on my return home, and an oil of French artillery on the -march to paint, in my little glass studio under St. Boniface Down. But -after my not inconsiderable success with "Missing" at the Academy, I -became more and more convinced that a London studio _must_ be my destiny -for the coming winter. Of course, my father demurred. He couldn't bear -to part with me. Still, it must be done, and to London I went, with his -sad consent. I had long been turning "The Roll Call" in my mind. My -father shook his head; the Crimea was "forgotten." My mother rather -shivered at the idea of the snow. It was no use; they saw I was bent on -that subject. My dear mother and our devoted family doctor in London -(Dr. Pollard[4]), who would do anything in his power to help me, between -them got me the studio, No. 76, Fulham Road, where I painted the picture -which brought me such utterly unexpected celebrity. - -Mr. Burchett, still headmaster at South Kensington, was delighted to see -me with all the necessary facilities for carrying out my work, and he -sent me the best models in London, nearly all ex-soldiers. One in -particular, who had been in the Crimea, was invaluable. He stood for -the sergeant who calls the roll. I engaged my models for five hours each -day, but often asked them to give me an extra half-hour. Towards the -end, as always happens, I had to put on pressure, and had them for six -hours. My preliminary expeditions for the old uniforms of the Crimean -epoch were directed by my kind Dr. Pollard, who rooted about Chelsea -back streets to find what I required among the Jews. One, Mr. Abrahams, -found me a good customer. I say in my Diary: - -"Dr. Pollard and I had a delightful time at Mr. Abrahams' dingy little -pawnshop in a hideous Chelsea slum, and, indeed, I enjoyed it _far_ more -than I should have enjoyed the same length of time at a West End -milliner's. I got nearly all the old accoutrements I had so much longed -for, and in the evening my Jew turned up at Dr. Pollard's after a long -tramp in the city for more accoutrements, helmets, coatees, haversacks, -etc., and I sallied forth with the 'Ole Clo!' in the rain to my boarding -house under our mutual umbrella, and he under his great bag as well. We -chatted about the trade '_chemin faisant_.'" - -[Illustration: CRIMEAN IDEAS.] - -I called Saturday, December 13th, 1873, a "red-letter day," for I then -began my picture at the London studio. Having made a little water-colour -sketch previously, very carefully, of every attitude of the figures, I -had none of those alterations to make in the course of my work which -waste so much time. Each figure was drawn in first without the great -coat, my models posing in a tight "shell jacket," so as to get the -figure well drawn first. How easily then could the thick, less shapely -great coat be painted on the well-secured foundation. No matter how its -heavy folds, the cross-belts, haversacks, water-bottles, and -everything else broke the lines, they were there, safe and sound, -underneath. An artist remarked, "What an absurdly easy picture!" Yes, no -doubt it was, but it was all the more so owing to the care taken at the -beginning. This may be useful to young painters, though, really, it -seems to me just now that sound drawing is at a discount. It will come -by its own again. Some people might say I was too anxious to be correct -in minor military details, but I feared making the least mistake in -these technical matters, and gave myself some unnecessary trouble. For -instance, on one of my last days at the picture I became anxious as to -the correct letters that should appear stamped on the Guards' -haversacks. I sought professional advice. Dr. Pollard sent me the beery -old Crimean pensioner who used to stand at the Museum gate wearing a -gold-laced hat, to answer my urgent inquiry as to this matter. Up comes -the puffing old gentleman, redolent of rum. I, full of expectation, ask -him the question: "What should the letters be?" "B. O.!" he roars -out--"Board of Ordnance!" Then, after a congested stare, he calls out, -correcting himself, "W. D.--War Deportment!" "Oh!" I say, faintly, "War -Department; thank you." Then he mixes up the two together and roars, "W. -O.!" And that was all I got. He mopped his rubicund face and, to my -relief, stumped away down my stairs. Another Crimean hero came to tell -me whether I was right in having put a grenade on the pouches. "Well, -miss, the natural _hinference_ would be that it _was_ a grenade, but it -was something like my 'and." Desperation! I got the thing "like his -hand" just in time to put it in before "The Roll Call" left--a brass -badge lent me by the War Office--and obliterated the much more -effective grenade. - -On March 29th and 30th, 1874, came my first "Studio Sunday" and Monday, -and on the Tuesday the poor old "Roll Call" was sent in. I watched the -men take it down my narrow stairs and said "_Au revoir_," for I was -disappointed with it, and apprehensive of its rejection and speedy -return. So it always is with artists. We never feel we have fulfilled -our hopes. - -The two show days were very tiring. Somehow the studio, after church -time on the Sunday, was crowded. Good Dr. Pollard hired a "Buttons" for -me, to open the door, and busied himself with the people, and enjoyed -it. So did I, though so tired. It was "the thing" in those days to make -the round of the studios on the eve of "sending-in day." - -Mr. Galloway's agent came, and, to my intense relief, told me the -picture went far beyond his expectations. He had been nervous about it, -as it was through him the owner had bought it, without ever seeing it. -On receiving the agent's report, Mr. Galloway sent me a cheque at -once--L126--being more than the hundred agreed to. The copyright was -mine. - -The days that followed felt quite strange. Not a dab with a brush, and -my time my own. It was the end of Lent, and then Easter brought such -church ceremonial as our poor little Ventnor St. Wilfrid's could not -aspire to. A little more Diary: - -"_Saturday, April 11th._--A charming morning, for Dr. Pollard had a fine -piece of news to tell me. First, Elmore, R.A., had burst out to him -yesterday about my picture at the Academy, saying that all the -Academicians are in quite a commotion about it, and Elmore wants to -make my acquaintance very much. He told Dr. P. I might get L500 for 'The -Roll Call'! I little expected to have such early and gratifying news of -the picture which I sent in with such forebodings. After Dr. P. had -delivered this broadside of Elmore's compliments he brought the -following battery of heavy guns to bear upon me which compelled me to -sink into a chair. It is a note from Herbert, R.A., in answer to a few -lines which kind Father Bagshawe had volunteered to write to him, as a -friend, to ask him, as one of the Selecting Committee, just simply to -let me know, as soon as convenient, whether my picture was accepted or -rejected. The note is as follows: - - 'DEAR MISS THOMPSON,--I have just received a note from Father - Bagshawe of the Oratory in which he wished me to address a few - lines to you on the subject of your picture in the R.A. To tell the - truth I desired to do so a day or two since but did not for two - reasons: the first being that as a custom the doings of the R.A. - are for a time kept secret; the second that I felt I was a stranger - to you and you would hear what I wished to say from some - friend--but Father Bagshawe's note, and the decision being over, I - may tell you with what pleasure I greeted the picture and the - painter of it when it came before us for judgment. It was simply - this: I was so struck by the excellent work in it that I proposed - we should lift our hats and give it and you, though, as I thought, - unknown to me, a round of huzzahs, which was generally done. You - now know my feeling with regard to your work, and may be sure that - I shall do everything as one of the hangers that it shall be - _perfectly seen_ on our walls. - - I am tired and hurried, and ask you to excuse this very hasty note, - but _accept my hearty congratulations_, and - - Believe me to be, dear Miss Thompson, - - Most faithfully yours, - - J. R. HERBERT.' - -I trotted off at once to show Father Bagshawe the note, and then left -for home with my brilliant news." - -While at home at Ventnor I received from many sources most extraordinary -rumours of the stir the picture was making in London amongst those who -were behind the scenes. How it was "the talk of the clubs" and spoken of -as the "coming picture of the year," "the hit of the season," and all -that kind of thing. Friends wrote to me to give me this pleasant news -from different quarters. Ventnor society rejoiced most kindly. I went to -London to what I call in the Diary "the scene of my possible triumphs," -having taken rooms at a boarding house. I had better let the Diary -speak: - -"_'Varnishing Day,' Tuesday, April 28th._--My real feelings as, laden -like last year, with palette, brushes and paint box, I ascended the -great staircase, all alone, though meeting and being overtaken by -hurrying men similarly equipped to myself, were not happy ones. Before -reaching the top stairs I sighed to myself, 'After all your working -extra hours through the winter, what has it been for? That you may have -a cause of mortification in having an unsatisfactory picture on the -Academy walls for people to stare at.' I tried to feel indifferent, but -had not to make the effort for long, for I soon espied my dark battalion -in Room _II. on the line_, with a knot of artists before it. Then began -my ovation (!) (which, meaning a second-class triumph, is _not_ quite -the word). I never expected anything so perfectly satisfactory and so -like the realisation of a castle in the air as the events of this day. -It would be impossible to say all that was said to me by the swells. -Millais, R.A., talked and talked, so did Calderon, R.A., and Val -Prinsep, asking me questions as to where I studied, and praising this -figure and that. Herbert, R.A., hung about me all day, and introduced -me to his two sons. Du Maurier told me how highly Tom Taylor had spoken -to him of the picture. Mr. S., our Roman friend, cleaned the picture for -me beautifully, insisting on doing so lest I should spoil my new -velveteen frock. At lunchtime I returned to the boarding house to fetch -a sketch of a better Russian helmet I had done at Ventnor, to replace -the bad one I had been obliged to put in the foreground from a Prussian -one for want of a better. I sent a gleeful telegram home to say the -picture was on the line. I could hardly do the little helmet alterations -necessary, so crowded was I by congratulating and questioning artists -and starers. I by no means disliked it all. Delightful is it to be an -object of interest to so many people. I am sure I cannot have looked -very glum that day. In the most distant rooms people steered towards me -to felicitate me most cordially. 'Only send as _good_ a picture next -year' was Millais' answer to my expressed hope that next year I should -do better. This was after overhearing Mr. C. tell me I might be elected -A.R.A. if I kept up to the mark next year. O'Neil, R.A., seemed rather -to deprecate all the applause I had to-day and, shaking his head, warned -me of the dangers of sudden popularity. I know all about _that_, I -think. - -"_Thursday, April 30th._--The Royalties' private view. The Prince of -Wales wants 'The Roll Call.' It is not mine to let him have, and -Galloway won't give it up. - -"_Friday, May 1st._--The to-me-glorious private view of 1874. I insert -here my letter to Papa about it: - - 'DEAREST ----, I feel as though I were undertaking a really - difficult work in attempting to describe to you the events of this - most memorable day. I don't suppose I ever can have another such - day, because, however great my future successes may be, they can - never partake of the character of this one. It is my first great - success. As Tom Taylor told me to-day, I have suddenly burst into - fame, and this _first time_ can never come again. It has a - character peculiar to all _first things_ and to them alone. You - know that "the _elite_ of London society" goes to the Private View. - Well, the greater part of the _elite_ have been presented to me - this day, all with the same hearty words of congratulation on their - lips and the same warm shake of the hand ready to follow the - introductory bow. I was not at all disconcerted by all these - bigwigs. The Duke of Westminster invited me to come and see the - pictures at Grosvenor House, and the old Duchess of Beaufort was so - delighted with "The Roll Call" that she asked me to tell her the - history of each soldier, which I did, the knot of people which, by - the bye, is always before the picture swelling into a little crowd - to see me and, if possible, catch what I was saying. Galloway's - tall figure was almost a fixture near the painting. That poor man, - he was sadly distracted about this Prince of Wales affair, but the - last I heard from him was that he _couldn't_ part with it. - - Some one at the Academy offered him L1,000 for it, and T. Agnew - told him he would give him anything he asked, but he refused those - offers without a moment's hesitation. He has telegraphed to his - wife at Manchester, as he says women can decide so much better than - men on the spur of the moment. The Prince gives him till the dinner - to-morrow to make up his mind. The Duchess of Beaufort introduced - Lord Raglan's daughters to me, who were pleased with the interest I - took in their father. Old Kinglake was also introduced, and we had - a comparatively long talk in that huge assembly where you are - perpetually interrupted in your conversation by fresh arrivals of - friends or new introductions. Do you remember joking with me, when - I was a child, about the exaggerations of popularity? How strange - it felt to-day to be realizing, in actual experience, what you - warned me of, in fun, when looking at my drawings. You need not be - afraid that I shall forget. What I _do_ feel is great pleasure at - having "arrived," at last. The great banker Bunbury has invited me - and a friend to the ball at the Goldsmiths' Hall on Wednesday - night. He is one of the wardens. Oh! if you could only come up in - time to take me. Col. Lloyd Lindsay, of Alma fame, and his wife - were wild to have "The Roll Call." She shyly told me she had cried - before the picture. But, for enthusiasm, William Agnew beat them - all. He came up to be introduced, and spoke in such expressions of - admiration that his voice positively shook, and he said that, - having missed purchasing this work, he would feel "proud and happy" - if I would paint him one, the time, subject and price, whatever it - might be, being left entirely to me. Sir Richard Airey, the man who - wrote the fatally misconstrued order on his holster and handed it - to Nolan on the 25th October, 1854, was very cordial, and showed - that he took a keen pleasure in the picture. I told him I valued a - Crimean man's praise more than anybody else's, and I repeated the - observation later to old Sir William Codrington under similar - circumstances, and to other Crimean officers. One of them, whose - father was killed at the assault on the Redan, pressed me very hard - to consent to paint him two Crimean subjects, but I cannot promise - anything more till I have worked out my already too numerous - commissions, old ones, at the horrible old prices. - - Sir Henry Thompson, a great surgeon, I understand, was very polite, - and introduced his little daughter who paints. Lady Salisbury had a - long chat with me and showed a great intelligence on art matters. - Many others were introduced, or I to them, but most of them exist - as ghosts in my memory. I have forgotten some of their names and, - as some only wrote their addresses on my catalogue, I don't know - who is who. The others gave me their cards, so that is all right. - Horsley, R.A., is such a genial, hearty sort of man. He says he - shouldn't wonder if my name was mentioned in the Royal speeches at - the dinner. Lady Somebody introduced me to Miss Florence - Nightingale's sister, who wanted to know if there was any - possibility of my "most kindly" letting the picture be taken, at - the close of the exhibition, to her poor sister to see. Miss - Nightingale, you know, is now bedridden. Now I must stop. More - to-morrow....' - -I remember how on the following Sunday my good friend Dr. Pollard, who -lived close to my boarding house, waylaid me on my way to mass at the -Oratory, and from his front garden called me in stentorian tones, waving -the _Observer_ over his head. On crossing over I learnt of the speeches -of the Prince of Wales and the Duke of Cambridge at the Academy banquet -the evening before, in which most surprising words were uttered about me -and the picture. - -"_Monday, May 4th_.--The opening day of the Royal Academy. A dense crowd -before my grenadiers. I fear that fully half of that crowd have been -sent there by the royal speeches on Saturday. I may say that I awoke -this morning and found myself famous. Great fun at the Academy, where -were some of my dear fellow students rejoicing in the fulfilment of -their prophecies in the old days. Overwhelmed with congratulations on -all sides; and as to the papers, it is impossible to copy their -magnificent critiques, from _The Times_ downwards. - -"_Wednesday, May 6th_.--The Queen had my picture abstracted from the -R.A. last night to gaze at, at Buckingham Palace! It is now, of course, -in its place again. Went with Papa to the brilliant Goldsmiths' Ball, -where I danced. I was a bit of a lion there, or shall I say lioness? Sir -William Ferguson was introduced to me; and he, in his turn, introduced -his daughter and drank to my further success at the supper. Sir F. -Chapman also was presented, and expressed his astonishment at the -accuracy of the military details in my picture. He is a Crimean man. The -King of the Goldsmiths was brought up to me to express his thanks at my -'honouring' their ball with my presence. The engravers are already at me -to buy the copyright, but my dear counsellor and friend, Seymour Haden, -says I am to accept nothing short of L1,000, and get still more if I -can! - -"_May 10th_.--The Dowager Lady Westmoreland, who is about 80, and who -has lost pleasure in seeing new faces, when she heard of my Crimean -picture, expressed a great wish to see me, and to-day I went to dine at -her house, meeting there the present earl and countess, an old Waterloo -lord, and Henry Weigall and his wife, Lady Rose. The dear old lady was -so sweet. She was the Duke of Wellington's favourite niece, and his -Grace's portraits deck the walls of more than one room. Her pleasure was -in talking of the Florence of the old pre-Austrian days, where she lived -sixteen years, but my great pleasure was talking with the earl and the -Waterloo lord, who were most loquacious. Lord Westmoreland was on Lord -Raglan's staff in the Crimea. - -"_May 11th_.--Received cheque for the 'San Pietro in Vincoli' and -'Children of St. Francis.' My popularity has _levered_ those two poor -little pictures off. Messrs. Dickinson & Co. have bought my copyright -for L1,200!!!" - -There follows a good deal in the Diary concerning the trouble with Mr. -Galloway, who made hard conditions regarding his ceding "The Roll Call" -to the Queen, who wished to have it. He felt he was bound to let it go -to his Sovereign, but only on condition that I should paint him my next -Academy picture for the same price as he had given for the one he was -ceding, and that the Queen should sign with her own hand six of the -artist's proofs when the engraving of her picture came out. I had set my -heart on painting the 28th Regiment in square receiving the last charge -of the French Cuirassiers at Quatre Bras, but as that picture would -necessitate far more work than "The Roll Call," I could not paint it for -that little L126--so very puny now! So I most reluctantly suggested a -subject I had long had _in petto_, "The Dawn of Sedan," French -Cuirassiers watching by their horses in the historic fog of that -fateful morning--a very simple composition. To cut a very long story -short, he finally consented to have "Quatre Bras" at my own price, -L1,126, the copyright remaining his. All this talk went on for a long -time, and meanwhile, all through the London society doings, I made oil -studies of all the grey horses for "Sedan." The General Omnibus Company -sent me all shades of grey _percherons_ for this purpose. I also made -life-size oil studies of hands for "Quatre Bras," where hands were to be -very strong points, gripping "Brown Besses." So I took time by the -forelock for either subject. I was very fortunate in having the help of -wise business heads to grapple with the business part of my work, for I -have not been favoured that way myself. - -There is no mention in the Diary of the policeman who, a few days after -the opening of the Academy, had to be posted, poor hot man, in my corner -to keep the crowd from too closely approaching the picture and to ask -the people to "move on." That policeman was there instead of the brass -bar which, as a child, I had pleased myself by imagining in front of one -of my works, _a la_ Frith's "Derby Day." The R.A.'s told me the bar -created so much jealousy, when used, that it had been decided never to -use it again. But I think a live policeman quite as much calculated to -produce the undesirable result. I learnt later that his services were -quite as necessary for the protection of two lovely little pictures of -Leighton's, past which the people _scraped_ to get at mine, they being, -unfortunately, hung at right angles to mine in its corner. What an -unfortunate arrangement of the hangers! Horsley told me that they went -every evening after the closing, with a lantern, to see if the two gems -had been scratched. They were never seen. I wonder if Leighton had any -feelings of dislike towards "that girl." She who in her 'teens records -her prostrations of worship before his earlier works, ere he became so -coldly classical. - -It is a curious condition of the mind between gratitude for the -appreciation of one's work by those who know, and the uncomfortable -sense of an exaggerated popularity with the crowd. The exaggeration is -unavoidable, and, no doubt, passes, but the fact that counts is the -power of touching the people's heart, an "organ" which remains the same -through all the changing fashions in art. I remember an argument I once -had with Alma Tadema on this matter of touching the heart. He laughed at -me, and didn't believe in it at all. - -"_Tuesday, May 12th._--Mr. Charles Manning and his wife have been so -very nice to me, and this morning Mrs. M. bore me off to be presented to -His Grace of Westminster, with whom I had a long interview. What a face! -all spirit and no flesh. After that, to the School of Art Needlework to -meet Lady Marion Alford and other Catholic ladies. I ordered there a -pretty screen for my studio on the strength of my L1,200! Thence I -proceeded on a round of calls, going first to the Desanges, where I -lunched. There they told me the Prince of Wales was coming at four -o'clock to see the Ashanti picture Desanges is just finishing. They -begged me to come back a little before then, so as to be ready to be -presented when the moment should arrive. I returned accordingly, and -found the place crowded with people who had come to see the picture. As -soon as H.R.H. was announced, all the people were sent below to the -drawing-room and kept under hatches until Royalty should take its -departure; but I alone was to remain in the back studio, to be handy. -All this was much against my will, as I hate being thrust forward. But, -as it turned out, there was no thrusting forward on this occasion, and -all was very nice and natural. The Prince soon came in to where I was, -Mr. Desanges saying 'Here she is' in answer to a question. His first -remark to me was, of course, about the picture, saying he had hoped to -be its possessor, etc., etc., and he asked me how I had got the correct -details for the uniforms, and so on, having quite a little chat. He -spoke very frankly, and has a most clear, audible voice." - -Of course, the photographers began bothering. The idea of my portraits -being published in the shop windows was repugnant to me. Nowadays one is -snapshotted whether one likes it or not, but it wasn't so bad in those -days; one's own consent was asked, at any rate. I refused. However, it -had to come to that at last. My grandfather simply walked into the shop -of the first people that had asked me, in Regent Street, and calmly made -the appointment. I was so cross on being dragged there that the result -was as I expected--a rather harassed and coerced young woman, and the -worst of it was that this particular photograph was the one most widely -published. Indeed, one of my Aunts, passing along a street in Chelsea, -was astonished to see her rueful niece on a costermonger's barrow -amongst some bananas! - - - - -CHAPTER IX - -ECHOES OF "THE ROLL CALL" - - -On May 14th I lunched at Lady Raglan's. Kinglake was there to meet me, -and we talked Crimea. I had read and re-read his much too prolix -history, which I thought overburdened with detail, giving one an -impression of the two Balaclava charges as lasting hours rather than -minutes. But I had learnt much that was of the utmost value from this -very superabundance of detail. Then on the next day I rose early, and -was off by seven with the Horsleys to Aldershot at the invitation of Sir -Hope Grant, of Indian celebrity, commanding, who travelled down with us. -"Lady Grant received us at the house, where we found a nice breakfast, -and where I got dried, being drenched by a torrential downpour. Would -that it had continued longer, if only to lay the hideous sand in the -Long Valley, which made the field day something very like a fiasco. I -tried to sketch, but my book was nearly blown out of my hand, my -umbrella was turned inside out and my arms benumbed by the cold. M., -most luckily, was on the field, and Mrs. Horsley and I were soon -comfortably ensconced in his hansom cab and trying to feel more -comfortable and jolly. When the sham fight began we had to keep shifting -our standpoint, and Mrs. H. and I had repeatedly to jump out of the -hansom, as we were threatened by an upset every minute over those -sandhills. As to the two charges of cavalry, which Sir Hope had on -purpose for me, I could hardly see them, what with the dust storms half -swallowing them up in dense dun-coloured sheets and my eyes being full -of sand. However, I made the most of the situation, and hope I have got -some good hints. I ought to have so much of this sort of thing, and hope -to now, with all those 'friends in court!' When the march past began Sir -Hope sent to ask me if I would like to stand by his charger at the -saluting base, which I did, and saw, of course, beautifully. I felt -extraordinarily situated, standing there, half liking and half not -liking the situation, with an enormous mounted staff of utterly unknown, -gorgeous officers curvetting and jingling behind me and the general. As -one regiment passed, marching, as I thought, just as splendidly as the -others, I heard Sir Hope snap at them 'Very bad, very bad. Don't, -don't!' And I felt for them so much, trusting they didn't see me or mind -my having heard." - -Three days later, at a charming lunch at Lady Herbert's, I met her son, -Lord Pembroke, and Dr. Kingsley, Charles's brother--"The Earl and the -Doctor." It was interesting to see the originals of the title they gave -their book. The next day people came to the Academy to find, in place of -"The Roll Call," a placard--"This picture has been temporarily removed -by command of Her Majesty." She had it taken to Windsor to look at -before her departure for Scotland, and to show to the Czar, who was on a -visit. - -Calderon, the R.A., whom I met that evening, told me the Academy had -never been receiving so many daily shillings before, and that it ought -to present me with a diamond necklace. And so forth, and so forth--all -noted in the faithful Diary, wherein many extravagances of the moment in -my regard are safely tucked away. Two days later I see: "_May -20th._--The Woolwich review was quite glorious. I went with Lady -Herbert, the Lane Foxes, Lord Denbigh and Capt. Slade. We posted there -and back with two jolly greys and a postboy in a sky-blue jacket. This -was quite after my own heart. Lord Denbigh talked art and war all the -way, interesting me beyond expression. We were in the forefront of -everything on arrival, next the Saluting Point, round which were grouped -the most brilliant sons of Mars I ever saw gathered together, and of -various nations. The Czar Alexander II. headed these, flanked by my two -friends, the Prince of Wales and the Duke of Cambridge. The artillery -manoeuvres were effective, and I sketched as much as I could, getting -up on the box, Lord Denbigh holding my parasol over my head, as the sun -was strong. I suppose people like spoiling me just now, or _trying_ to." - -Then, two days later, I note that I dined at Lady Rose Weigall's, my -left-hand neighbour at table the Archbishop of York, Dr. Thomson, who -took in the hostess. He and I seem to have talked an immense deal about -all sorts of things. He confided to me that his private opinion was that -the Irish Church should never have been disestablished. In the course of -further conversation I thought it better to let him know I was a -Catholic by a passing remark. I said I thought the Neapolitans did not -make such solid Catholics as the English. He stared, none too pleased! -The next night I met at the Westmorelands', at dinner, Lord George -Paget, Colonel Kingscote, and Henry Weigall, my host of the previous -evening. Lord George was drawn out during dinner about Balaclava, and I -listened to his loud cavalry soldier's talk with the keenest interest. -He protested that we were making him say too much, but we were -insatiable. Lord George was a man I had tried to picture; he was almost -the last to ride back from the light cavalry charge. His manner and -speech were _soldatesque_, his expressions requiring at times a "saving -your presence" to the ladies, as a prefix. For me time flew in listening -to this interesting Balaclava hero, and it was very late when I made up -my mind to go, a wiser but by no means a sadder girl. - -At a dinner at Lady Georgiana Fullerton's my sister and I met Aubrey de -Vere, who delighted Alice with his conversation. The general company, -however, seem to have chiefly amused themselves with the long and, on -the whole, silly controversy which was appearing in _The Times_ -regarding the sequence of the horse's steps as he walks. It began by my -horse's walk in "The Roll Call" having been criticised by those who held -to the old conventional idea. How many hours I had moved alongside -horses to see for myself exactly how a horse puts his feet down in the -walk! I had told many people to go down on all fours themselves and -walk, noting the sequence with their own hands and knees, which was sure -to be correct instinctively. At this same dinner Lady Lothian told me -she had followed my advice, and the idea of that sedate _grande dame_, -with grey hair combed under a white lace cap, pacing round her room on -all fours I thought delightful. Since those days I have been vindicated -by the snap-shot. - -I find many Diary pages chiefly devoted to preparations for "Quatre -Bras" and the doing of several pen-and-ink reminiscences of what I had -seen at Woolwich and Aldershot, and exhibited at the "Dudley." Some were -bought by the picture dealer Gambart, and some by Agnew. One of those -pen-and-inks was the "Halt!"--those Scots Greys I only half saw through -the dust storm at Aldershot pulling up in the midst of a tremendous -charge, very close to us. Gambart had come to my studio to see if he -could get anything, and when I told him of this "Halt!" which I had just -sent to the "Dudley," he there and then wrote me a cheque for it, -without seeing it. When he went there to claim it, behold! it had -already been sold, before the opening. He was very angry, and threatened -law against the "Dudley" for what he called "skimming" the show before -the public got a chance. But the possessor was, like Mr. Galloway, a -_Maanchester maan_, and these are very firm on what they call "our -rights." It was no use. I had to make Gambart a compensation drawing. -This introduces Mr. Whitehead, for whom I was to paint "Balaclava." He -had the "Halt!" tight. - -On Corpus Christi Day that year Alice and I, having received our -invitations from the Bishop of Salford, of happy pilgrimage memory, to -join in the services and procession in honour of the Blessed Sacrament -at the Missionary College, Mill Hill, we went thither that glorious -midsummer day. At page 127 of the Diary I have put down certain -sentiments about the practice of the Catholic faith in England, and I -express a longing to see the Host carried through English fields. I -little thought in one year to see my hope realised; yet so it was at -Mill Hill. After vespers in the little church, the procession was -formed, and I shall long remember the choristers, in their purple -cassocks, passing along a field of golden buttercups and the white and -gold banners at the head of the procession floating out against a -typical English sky as their bearers passed over a little hillock which -commands a lovely view of the rich landscape. The bishop bore the Host, -and six favoured men held the canopy. Franciscan nuns in the procession -sang the hymns. - -The early days of that July had their pleasant festivities, such as a -dinner, with Alice, at Lady Londonderry's (she who was our mother's -godmother on the occasion of her reception into the Catholic Church) and -the Academy _soiree_, where Mrs. Tait invited me and Dr. Pollard to a -large garden party at Lambeth Palace. There I note: "The Royalties were -in full force, the _Waleses_, as I have heard the Prince and Princess -called, and many others. It was amusing and very pleasant in the -gardens, though provokingly windy. I had a curiously uncomfortable and -oppressed feeling, though, in that headquarters of the--what shall I -call it?--Opposition? The Archbishop and Mrs. Archbishop, particularly -Mrs., rather appalled me. But dear Dr. Pollard, that stout Protestant, -must have been very gratified." - -On July 4th Colonel Browne, C.B., R.E., who took the keenest interest in -my "Quatre Bras," and did all in his power to help me with the military -part of it, had a day at Chatham for me. He, Mrs. B. and daughters -called for me in the morning, and we set forth for Chatham, where some -300 men of the Royal Engineers were awaiting us on the "Lines." Colonel -Browne had ordered them beforehand, and had them in full dress, with -knapsacks, as I desired. - -They first formed the old-fashioned four-deep square for me, and not -only that, but the beautiful parade dressing was broken and _accidente_ -by my directions, so as to have a little more the appearance of the real -thing. They fired in sections, too, as I wished, but, unfortunately, the -wind was so strong that the smoke was whisked away in a twinkling, and -what I chiefly wished to study was unobtainable, _i.e._, masses of men -seen through smoke. After they had fired away all their ammunition, the -whole body of men were drawn up in line, and, the rear rank having been -distanced from the front rank, I, attended by Colonel Browne and a -sergeant, walked down them both, slowly, picking out here and there a -man I thought would do for a "Quatre Bras" model (beardless), and the -sergeant took down the name of each man as I pointed him out very -unobtrusively, Colonel Browne promising to have these men up at -Brompton, quartered there for the time I wanted them. So I write: "I -shall not want for soldierly faces, what with those sappers and the -Scots Fusilier Guards, of whom I am sure I can have the pick, through -Colonel Hepburn's courtesy. After this interesting 'choosing a model' -was ended, we all repaired to Colonel Galway's quarters, where we -lunched. After that I went to the guard-room to see the men I had chosen -in the morning, so as to write down their personal descriptions in my -book. Each man was marched in by the sergeant and stood at attention -with every vestige of expression discharged from his countenance whilst -I wrote down his personal peculiarities. I had chosen eight out of the -300 in the morning, but only five were brought now by the sergeant, as I -had managed to pitch upon three bad characters out of the eight, and -these could not be sent me. We spent the rest of the day very pleasantly -listening to the band, going over the museum, etc. I ought to see as -much of military life as possible, and I must go down to Aldershot as -often as I can. - -"_July 16th._--Mamma and I went to Henley-on-Thames in search of a rye -field for my 'Quatre Bras.' Eagerly I looked at the harvest fields as we -sped to our goal to see how advanced they were. We had a great -difficulty in finding any rye at Henley, it having all been cut, except -a little patch which we at length discovered by the direction of a -farmer. I bought a piece of it, and then immediately trampled it down -with the aid of a lot of children. Mamma and I then went to work, but, -oh! horror, my oil brushes were missing. I had left them in the chaise, -which had returned to Henley. So Mamma went frantically to work with two -slimy water-colour brushes to get down tints whilst I drew down forms in -pencil. We laughed a good deal and worked on into the darkness, two -regular 'Pre-Raphaelite Brethren,' to all appearances, bending over a -patch of trampled rye." - -I seem to have felt to the utmost the exhilaration produced by the -following episode. Let the young Diary speak: "The grand and glorious -Lord Mayor's banquet to the stars of literature and art came off to-day, -July 21st, and it was to me such a delightful thing that I felt all the -time in a pleasant sort of dream. I was mentioned in two speeches, Lord -Houghton's ('Monckton Milnes') and Sir Francis Grant's, P.R.A. As the -President spoke of me, he said his eye rested with pleasure on me at -that moment! Papa came with me. Above all the display of civic -splendour one felt the dominant spirit of hospitality in that -ever-to-me-delightful Mansion House. It was a unique thing because such -aristocrats as were there were those of merit and genius. The few lords -were only there because they represented literature, being authors. -Patti was there. She wished to have a talk with me, and went through -little Italian dramatic compliments, like Neilson. Old Cruikshank was a -strange-looking old man, a wonder to me as the illustrator of 'Oliver -Twist' and others of Dickens's works--a unique genius. He said many nice -things about me to Papa. I wished the evening could have lasted a week." - -The next entries are connected with the "Quatre Bras" cartoon: "Dreadful -misgivings about a vital point. I have made my front rank men sitting on -their heels in the kneeling position. Not so the drill book. After my -model went, most luckily came Colonel Browne. Shakes his head at the -attitudes. Will telegraph to Chatham about the heel and let me know in -the morning. - -"_July 23rd._--Colonel Browne came, and with him a smart sergeant-major, -instructor of musketry. Alas! this man and telegram from Chatham dead -against me. Sergeant says the men at Chatham must have been sitting on -their heels to rest and steady themselves. He showed me the exact -position when at the 'ready' to receive cavalry. To my delight I may -have him to-morrow as a model, but it is no end of a bore, this wasted -time." - -"_July 24th._--The musketry instructor, contrary to my sad expectations, -was by no means the automaton one expects a soldier to be, but a -thoroughly intelligent model, and his attitudes combined perfect -drill-book correctness with great life and action. He was splendid. I -can feel certain of everything being right in the attitudes, and will -have no misgivings. It is extraordinary what a well-studied position -that kneeling to resist cavalry is. I dread to think what blunders I -might have committed. No civilian would have detected them, but the -military would have been down upon me. I feel, of course, rather -fettered at having to observe rules so strict and imperative concerning -the poses of my figures, which, I hope, will have much action. I have to -combine the drill book and the fierce fray! I told an artist the other -day, very seriously, that I wished to show what an English square looks -like viewed quite close at the end of two hours' action, when about to -receive a last charge. A cool speech, seeing I have never seen the -thing! And yet I seem to have seen it--the hot, blackened faces, the set -teeth or gasping mouths, the bloodshot eyes and the mocking laughter, -the stern, cool, calculating look here and there; the unimpressionable, -dogged stare! Oh! that I could put on canvas what I have in my mind! - -"_July 25th._--A glorious day at Chatham, where again the Engineers were -put through field exercises, and I studied them with all my faculties. I -got splendid hints to-day. Went with Colonel Browne and Papa. - -"_July 28th._--My dear musketry instructor for a few more attitudes. He -has put me through the process of loading the 'Brown Bess'--a -flint-lock--so that I shall have my soldiers handling their arms -properly. Galloway has sold the copyright of this picture to Messrs. -Dickenson for L2,000! They must have faith in my doing it well." - -On August 11th I see I took a much-needed holiday at home, at Ventnor; -and, as I say, "gave myself up to fresh air, exercise, a little -out-of-door painting, and Napier's 'Peninsular War,' in six volumes." -Shortly before I left for home I received from Queen Victoria a very -splendid bracelet set with pearls and a large emerald. My mother and -good friend Dr. Pollard were with me in the studio when the messenger -brought it, and we formed a jubilant trio. - -It was pleasant to be amongst my old Ventnor friends who had known me -since I was little more than a child. But on September 10th I had to bid -them and the old place goodbye, and on September 11th I re-entered my -beloved studio. - -"_September 12th._--An eventful day, for my 'Quatre Bras' canvas was -tackled. The sergeant-major and Colonel Browne arrived. The latter, good -man, has had the whole Waterloo uniform made for me at the Government -clothing factory at Pimlico. It has been made to fit the sergeant-major, -who put on the whole thing for me to see. We had a dress rehearsal, and -very delighted I was. They have even had the coat dyed the old -'brick-dust' red and made of the baize cloth of those days! Times are -changed for me. It will be my fault if the picture is a fiasco." - -During the painting of "Quatre Bras" I was elected a member of the Royal -Institute of Painters in Water Colour, and I contributed to the Winter -Exhibition that large sketch of a sowar of the 10th Bengal Lancers which -I called "Missed!" and which the _Graphic_ bought and published in -colours. This reproduction sold to such an extent that the _Graphic_ -must have been pleased! The sowar at "tent-pegging" has missed his peg -and pulls at his horse at full gallop. I had never seen tent-pegging at -that time, but I did this from description, by an Anglo-Indian officer -of the 10th, who put the thing vividly before me. How many, many -tent-peggings I have seen since, and what a number of subjects they have -given me for my brush and pencil! Those captivating and pictorial -movements of men and horses are inexhaustible in their variety. - -I had more models sent to me than I could put into the big -picture--Guardsmen, Engineers and Policemen--the latter being useful as, -in those days, the police did not wear the moustache, and I had -difficulty in finding heads suitable for the Waterloo time. Not a head -in the picture is repeated. I had a welcome opportunity of showing -varieties of types such as gave me so much pleasure in the old -Florentine days when I enjoyed the Andrea del Sartos, Masaccios, Francia -Bigios, and other works so full of characteristic heads. - -On November 7th my sister and I went for a weekend to Birmingham, where -the people who had bought "The Roll Call" copyright were exhibiting that -picture. They particularly wished me to go. We were very agreeably -entertained at Birmingham, where I was curious to meet the buyer of my -first picture sold, that "Morra" which I painted in Rome. Unfortunately -I inquired everywhere for "Mr. Glass," and had to leave Birmingham -without seeing him and the early work. No one had heard of him! His name -was Chance, the great Birmingham _glass_ manufacturer. - -"_November 27th._--In the morning off with Dr. Pollard to Sanger's -Circus, where arrangements had been made for me to see two horses go -through their performances of lying down, floundering on the ground, -and rearing for my 'Quatre Bras' foreground horses. It was a funny -experience behind the scenes, and I sketched as I followed the horses in -their movements over the arena with many members of the troupe looking -on, the young ladies with their hair in curl-papers against the -evening's performance. I am now ripe to go to Paris." - -So to Paris I went, with my father. We were guests of my father's old -friends, Mr. and Mrs. Talmadge, Boulevard Haussmann, and a complete -change of scene it was. It gave my work the desired fillip and the fresh -impulse of emulation, for we visited the best studios, where I met my -most admired French painters. The Paris Diary says: - -"_December 3rd._--Our first lion was Bonnat in his studio. A little man, -strong and wiry; I didn't care for his pictures. His colouring is -dreadful. What good light those Parisians get while we are muddling in -our smoky art centre. We next went to Gerome, and it was an epoch in my -life when I saw him. He was at work but did not mind being interrupted. -He is a much smaller man than I expected, with wide open, quick black -eyes, yet with deep lids, the eyes opening wide only when he talks. He -talked a great deal and knew me by name and '_l'Appel,_' which he -politely said he heard was '_digne_' of the celebrity it had gained. We -went to see an exhibition of horrors--Carolus Duran's productions, now -on view at the _Cercle Artistique_. The talk is all about this man, just -now the vogue. He illustrates a very disagreeable present phase of -French Art. At Goupil's we saw De Neuville's 'Combat on the Roof of a -House,' and I feasted my eyes on some pickings from the most celebrated -artists of the Continent. I am having a great treat and a great lesson. - -"_December 4th._--Had a _supposed_ great opportunity in being invited to -join a party of very _mondaines Parisiennes_ to go over the Grand Opera, -which is just being finished. Oh, the chatter of those women in the -carriage going there! They vied with each other in frivolous outpourings -which continued all the time we explored that dreadful building. It is a -pile of ostentation which oppressed me by the extravagant display of -gilding, marbles and bronze, and silver, and mosaic, and brocade, heaped -up over each other in a gorged kind of way. How truly weary I felt; and -the bedizened dressing-rooms of the actresses and _danseuses_ were the -last straw. Ugh! and all really tasteless." - -However, I recovered from the Grand Opera, and really enjoyed the lively -dinners where conversation was not limited to couples, but flowed with -great _esprit_ across the table and round and round. Still, in time, my -sleep suffered, for I seemed to hear those voices in the night. How -graceful were the French equivalents to the compliments I received in -London. They thought I would like to know that the fame of "_l'Appel_" -had reached Paris, and so I did. - -We visited Detaille's beautiful studio. He was my greatest admiration at -that time. Also Henriette Browne's and others, and, of course, the -Luxembourg, so I drew much profit from my little visit. But what a -change I saw in the army! I who could remember the Empire of my -childhood, with its endless variety of uniforms, its buglings, and -drummings, and trumpetings; its _chic_ and glitter and swagger: 1870 was -over it all now. Well, never mind, I have lived to see it in the "_bleu -d'horizon_" of a new and glorious day. My Paris Diary winds up with: -"_December 14th._--Papa and I returned home from our Paris visit. My eye -has been very much sharpened, and very severe was that organ as it -rested on my 'Quatre Bras' for the first time since a fortnight ago. Ye -Gods! what a deal I have to do to that picture before it will be fit to -look at! I continue to receive droll letters and poems (!). One I must -quote the opening line of: - - 'Go on, go on, thou glorious girl!' - -Very cheering." - - - - -CHAPTER X - -MORE WORK AND PLAY - - -So I worked steadily at the big picture, finding the red coats very -trying. What would I have thought, when studying at Florence, if I had -been told to paint a mass of men in one colour, and that "brick-dust"? -However, my Aldershot observations had been of immense value in showing -me how the British red coat becomes blackish-purple here, pale salmon -colour there, and so forth, under the influence of the weather and wear -and tear. I have all the days noted down, with the amount of work done, -for future guidance, and lamentations over the fogs of that winter of -1874-5. I gave nicknames in the Diary to the figures in my picture, -which I was amused to find, later on, was also the habit of Meissonier; -one of my figures I called the "_Gamin_" and he, too, actually had a -"_Gamin_." Those fogs retarded my work cruelly, and towards the end I -had to begin at the studio at 9.30 instead of 10, and work on till very -late. The porter at No. 76 told me mine was the first fire to be lit in -the morning of all in The Avenue. - -[Illustration: PRACTISING FOR "QUATRE BRAS."] - -One day the Horse Guards, directed by their surgeon, had a magnificent -black charger thrown down in the riding school at Knightsbridge (on deep -sawdust) for me to see, and get hints from, for the fallen horse in my -foreground. The riding master strapped up one of the furious animal's -forelegs and then let him go. What a commotion before he fell! How he -plunged and snorted in clouds of dust till the final plunge, when the -riding master and a trooper threw themselves on him to keep him down -while I made a frantic sketch. "What must it be," I ask, "when a horse -is wounded in battle, if this painless proceeding can put him into such -a state?" - -The spring of 1875 was full of experiences for me. I note that "at the -Horse Guards' riding school a charger was again 'put down' for me, but -more gently this time, and without the risk, as the riding master said, -of breaking the horse's neck, as last time. I was favoured with a -charge, two troopers riding full tilt at me and pulling up at within two -yards of where I stood, covering me with the sawdust. I stood it bravely -the _second_ time, but the first I got out of the way. With 'Quatre -Bras' in my head, I tried to fancy myself one of my young fellows being -charged, but I fear my expression was much too feminine and pacific." -March 22nd gave me a long day's tussle with the grey, bounding horse -shot in mid-career. I say: "This _is_ a teaser. I was tired out and -faint when I got home." If that was a black day, the next was a white -one: "The sculptor, Boehm, came in, and gave me the very hints I wanted -to complete my bounding horse. Galloway also came. He says 'Quatre Bras' -beats 'The Roll Call' into a cocked hat! He gave me L500 on account. Oh! -the nice and strange feeling of easiness of mind and slackening of -speed; it is beginning to refresh me at last, and my seven months' task -is nearly accomplished." Another visitor was the Duke of Cambridge, who, -it appears, gave each soldier in my square a long scrutiny and showed -how well he understood the points. - -On "Studio Monday" the crowds came, so that I could do very little in -the morning. The novelty, which amused me at first, had worn off, and I -was vexed that such numbers arrived, and tried to put in a touch here -and there whenever I could. Millais' visit, however, I record as "nice, -for he was most sincerely pleased with the picture, going over it with -great _gusto_. It is the drawing, character, and expression he most -dwells on, which is a comfort. But I must now try to improve my _tone_, -I know. And what about '_quality_'? To-day, Sending-in Day, Mrs. Millais -came, and told me what her husband had been saying. He considers me, she -said, an even stronger artist than Rosa Bonheur, and is greatly pleased -with my _drawing_. _That_ (the 'drawing') pleased me more than anything. -But I think it is a pity to make comparisons between artists. I _may_ be -equal to Rosa Bonheur in power, but how widely apart lie our courses! I -was so put out in the morning, when I arrived early to get a little -painting, to find the wretched photographers in possession. I showed my -vexation most unmistakably, and at last bundled the men out. They were -working for Messrs. Dickinson. So much of my time had been taken from me -that I was actually dabbing at the picture when the men came to take it -away; I dabbing in front and they tapping at the nails behind. How -disagreeable!" - -After doing a water colour of a Scots Grey orderly for the "Institute," -which Agnew bought, I was free at last to take my holiday. So my Mother -and I were off to Canterbury to be present at the opening of St. -Thomas's Church there. - -"_April 11th, Canterbury._--To Mass in the wretched barn over a stable -wherein a hen, having laid an egg, cackled all through the service. And -this has been our only church since the mission was first begun six -years ago, up till now, in the city of the great English Martyr. But -this state of things comes to an end on Tuesday." - -This opening of St. Thomas's Church was the first public act of Cardinal -Manning as Cardinal, and it went off most successfully. There were rows -of Bishops and Canons and Monsignori and mitred Abbots, and monks and -secular priests, all beautifully disposed in the Sanctuary. The sun -shone nearly the whole time on the Cardinal as he sat on his throne. -After Mass came the luncheon at which much cheering and laughter were -indulged in. Later on Benediction, and a visit to the Cathedral. I -rather winced when a group of men went down on their knees and kissed -the place where the blood of St. Thomas a Becket is supposed to still -stain the flags. The Anglican verger stared and did _not_ understand. - -On Varnishing Day at the Academy I was evidently not enchanted with the -position of my picture. "It is in what is called 'the Black Hole'--the -only dark room, the light of which looks quite blue by contrast with the -golden sun-glow in the others. However, the artists seemed to think it a -most enviable position. The big picture is conspicuous, forming the -centre of the line on that wall. One academician told me that on account -of the rush there would be to see it they felt they must put it there. -This 'Lecture Room' I don't think was originally meant for pictures and -acts on the principle of a lobster pot. You may go round and round the -galleries and never find your way into it! I had the gratification of -being told by R.A. after R.A. that my picture was in some respects an -advance on last year's, and I was much congratulated on having done what -was generally believed more than doubtful--that is, sending any -important picture this year with the load and responsibility of my -'almost overwhelming success,' as they called it, of last year on my -mind. And that I should send such a difficult one, with so much more in -it than the other, they all consider 'very plucky.' I was not very happy -myself, although I know 'Quatre Bras' to be to 'The Roll Call' as a -mountain to a hill. However, it was all very gratifying, and I stayed -there to the end. My picture was crowded, and I could see how it was -being pulled to pieces and unmercifully criticised. I returned to the -studio, where I found a champagne lunch spread and a family gathering -awaiting me, all anxiety as to the position of my _magnum opus_. After -that hilarious meal I sped back to the fascination of Burlington House. -I don't think, though, that Mamma will ever forgive the R.A.'s for the -'Black Hole.' - -"_April 30th._--The private view, to which Papa and I went. It is very -seldom that an 'outsider' gets invited, but they make a pet of me at the -Academy. Again this day contrasted very soberly with the dazzling P.V. -of '74. There were fewer great guns, and I was not torn to pieces to be -introduced here, there, and everywhere, most of the people being the -same as last year, and knowing me already. The same _furore_ cannot be -repeated; the first time, as I said, can never be a second. Papa and I -and lots of others lunched over the way at the Penders' in Arlington -Street, our hosts of last night, and it was all very friendly and nice, -and we returned in a body to the R.A. afterwards. I was surprised, at -the big 'At Home' last night, to find myself a centre again, and people -all so anxious to hear my answers to their questions. Last year I felt -all this more keenly, as it had all the fascination of novelty. This -year just the faintest atom of zest is gone. - -"_May 3rd._--To the Academy on this, the opening day. A dense, surging -multitude before my picture. The whole place was crowded so that before -'Quatre Bras' the jammed people numbered in dozens and the picture was -most completely and satisfactorily rendered invisible. It was chaos, for -there was no policeman, as last year, to make people move one way. They -clashed in front of that canvas and, in struggling to wriggle out, -lunged right against it. Dear little Mamma, who was there nearly all the -time of our visit, told me this, for I could not stay there as, to my -regret, I find I get recognised (I suppose from my latest photos, which -are more like me than the first horror) and the report soon spreads that -I am present. So I wander about in other rooms. I don't know why I feel -so irritated at starers. One can have a little too much popularity. Not -one single thing in this world is without its drawbacks. I see I am in -for minute and severe criticism in the papers, which actually give me -their first notices of the R.A. The _Telegraph_ gives me its entire -article. _The Times_ leads off with me because it says 'Quatre Bras' -will be the picture the public will want to hear about most. It seems to -be discussed from every point of view in a way not usual with battle -pieces. But that is as it should be, for I hope my military pictures -will have moral and artistic qualities not generally thought necessary -to military _genre_. - -"_May 4th._--All of us and friends to the Academy, where we had a -lively lunch, Mamma nearly all the time in 'my crowd,' half delighted -with the success and half terrified at the danger the picture was in -from the eagerness of the curious multitude. I just furtively glanced -between the people, and could only see a head of a soldier at a time. A -nice notion the public must have of the _tout ensemble_ of my -production!" - -I was afloat on the London season again, sometimes with my father, or -with Dr. Pollard. My dear mother did not now go out in the evenings, -being too fatigued from her most regrettable sleeplessness. There was a -dinner or At Home nearly every day, and occasionally a dance or a ball. -At one of the latter my partner informed me that Miss Thompson was to be -there that evening. All this was fun for the time. At a crowded -afternoon At Home at the Campanas', where all the singers from the opera -were herded, and nearly cracked the too-narrow walls of those tiny rooms -by the concussion of the sound issuing from their wonderful throats, I -met Salvini. "Having his 'Otello,' which we saw the other night, fresh -in my mind, I tried to _enthuse_ about it to him, but became so -tongue-tied with nervousness that I could only feebly say _'Quasi, quasi -piangevo!' 'O! non bisogna piangere,'_ poor Salvini kindly answered. To -tell him I nearly cried! To tell the truth, I was much too painfully -impressed by the terrific realism of the murder of Desdemona and of -Othello's suicide to _cry_. I have been told that, when Othello is -chasing Desdemona round the room and finally catches her for the murder, -women in the audience have been known to cry out 'Don't!' And I told him -I _nearly_ cried! Ugh!" - -After this I went to Great Marlow for fresh air with my mother, and -worked up an oil picture of a scout of the 3rd Dragoon Guards whom I saw -at Aldershot, getting the landscape at Marlow. It has since been -engraved. - -By the middle of June I was at work in the studio once more. The -evenings brought their diversions. Under Mrs. Owen Lewis's chaperonage I -went to Lady Petre's At Home one evening, where 600 guests were -assembled "to meet H.E. the Cardinal."[5] I record that "I enjoyed it -very much, though people did nothing but talk at the top of their voices -as they wriggled about in the dense crowd which they helped to swell. -They say it is a characteristic of these Catholic parties that the talk -is so loud, as everybody knows everybody intimately! I met many people I -knew, and my dear chaperon introduced lots of people to me. I had a -longish talk with H.E., who scolded me, half seriously, for not having -come to see him. I was aware of an extra interest in me in those -orthodox rooms, and was much amused at an enthusiastic woman asking, -repeatedly, whether I was there. These fleeting experiences instruct one -as they fly. Now I know what it feels like to be 'the fashion.'" Other -festivities have their record: "I went to a very nice garden party at -the house of the great engineer, Mr. Fowler, where the usual sort of -thing concerning me went on--introductions of 'grateful' people in large -numbers who, most of them, poured out their heartfelt(!) feelings about -me and my work. I can stand a surprising amount of this, and am by no -means _blasee_ yet. Mr. Fowler has a very choice collection of modern -pictures, which I much enjoyed." Again: "The dinner at the Millais' was -nice, but its great attraction was Heilbuth's being there, one of my -greatest admirations as regards his particular line--characteristic -scenes of Roman ecclesiastical life such as I so much enjoyed in Rome. I -told Millais I had had Heilbuth's photograph in my album for years. 'Do -you hear that, Heilbuth?' he shouted. To my disgust he was portioned off -to some one else to go in to dinner, but I had de Nittis, a very clever -Neapolitan artist, and, what with him and Heilbuth and Halle and Tissot, -we talked more French and Italian than English that evening. Millais was -so genial and cordial, and in seeing me into the carriage he hinted very -broadly that I was soon to have what I 'most _t_'oroughly -deserved'--that is, my election as A.R.A. He pronounced the '_th_' like -that, and with great emphasis. Was that the Jersey touch?" - -In July I saw de Neuville's remarkable "Street Combat," which made a -deep impression on me. I went also to see the field day at Aldershot, a -great success, with splendid weather. After the "battle," Captain Cardew -took us over several camps, and showed us the stables and many things -which interested me greatly and gave me many ideas. The entry for July -17th says: - -"Arranging the composition for my 'Balaclava' in the morning, and at -1.30 came my dear hussar,[6] who has sat on his fiery chestnut for me -already, on a fine bay, for my left-hand horse in the new picture. I -have been leading such a life amongst the jarring accounts of the -Crimean men I have had in my studio to consult. Some contradict each -other flatly. When Col. C. saw my rough charcoal sketch on the wall, he -said _no_ dress caps were worn in that charge, and coolly rubbed them -off, and with a piece of charcoal put mean little forage caps on all the -heads (on the wrong side, too!), and contentedly marched out of the -door. In comes an old 17th Lancer sergeant, and I tell him what has been -done to my cartoon. 'Well, miss,' says he, 'all I can tell you is that -my dress cap went into the charge and my dress cap came out of it!' On -went the dress caps again and up went my spirits, so dashed by Col. C. -To my delight this lancer veteran has kept his very uniform--somewhat -moth-eaten, but the real original, and he will lend it to me. I can get -the splendid headdress of the 17th, the 'Death or Glory Boys,' of that -period at a military tailor's." - -The Lord Mayor's splendid banquet to the Royal Academicians and -distinguished "outsiders" was in many respects a repetition of the last -but with the difference that the assembly was almost entirely composed -of artists. "I went with Papa, and I must say, as my name was shouted -out and we passed through the lane of people to where the Lord Mayor and -Lady Mayoress were standing to receive their guests, I felt a momentary -stroke of nervousness, for people were standing there to see who was -arriving, and every eye was upon me. I was mentioned in three or four -speeches. The Lord Mayor, looking at me, said that he was honoured to -have amongst his guests Miss Thompson (cheers), and Major Knollys -brought in 'The Roll Call' and 'Quatre Bras' amidst clamour, while Sir -Henry Cole's allusion to my possible election as an A.R.A. was equally -well received. I felt very glad as I sat there and heard my present -work cheered; for in that hall, last year, I had still the great ordeal -to go through of painting, and painting successfully, my next picture, -and that was now a _fait accompli_." - -A rainy July sadly hindered me from seeing as much as I had hoped to see -of the Aldershot manoeuvres. On one lovely day, however, Papa and I -went down in the special train with the Prince of Wales, the Duke of -Cambridge, and all the "cocked hats." In our compartment was Lord -Dufferin, who, on hearing my name, asked to be introduced and proved a -most charming companion, and what he said about "Quatre Bras" was nice. -He was only in England on a short furlough from Canada, and did not see -my "Roll Call." - -"At the station at Farnborough the picturesqueness began with the gay -groups of the escort, and other soldiers and general officers, all in -war trim, moving about in the sunshine, while in the background slowly -passed, heavily laden, the Army on the march to the scene of action. -Papa and I and Major Bethune took a carriage and slowly followed the -march, I standing up to see all I could. - -"We were soon overtaken by the brilliant staff, and saluted as it -flashed past by many of its gallant members, including the dashing Baron -de Grancey in his sky blue _Chasseurs d'Afrique_ uniform. Poor Lord -Dufferin in civilian dress--frock coat and tall hat--had to ride a -rough-trotting troop horse, as his own horse never turned up at the -station. A trooper was ordered to dismount, and the elegant Lord -Dufferin took his place in the black sheepskin saddle. He did all with -perfect grace, and I see him now, as he passed our carriage, lift his -hat with a smiling bow, as though he was riding the smoothest of Arabs. -The country was lovely. All the heather out and the fir woods aromatic. -In one village regiments were standing in the streets, others defiling -into woods and all sorts of artillery, ambulance, and engineer waggons -lumbering along with a dull roll very suggestive of real war. At this -village the two Army Corps separated to become enemies, the one -distinguished from the other by the men of one side wearing broad white -bands round their headdresses. This gave the wearers a rather savage -look which I much enjoyed. It made their already brown faces look still -grimmer. Of course, our driver took the wrong road and we saw nothing of -the actual battle, but distant puffs of smoke. However, I saw all the -march back to Aldershot, and really, what with the full ambulances, the -men lying exhausted (_sic_) by the roadside, or limping along, and the -cheers and songs of the dirty, begrimed troops, it was not so unlike -war. At the North Camp Sir Henry de Bathe was introduced, and Papa and I -stood by him as the troops came in." A day or two later I was in the -Long Valley where the most splendid military spectacle was given us, -some 22,000 being paraded in the glorious sunshine and effective cloud -shadows in one of the most striking landscapes I have seen in England. -"It was very instructive to me," I write, "to see the difference in the -appearance of the men to-day from that which they presented on Thursday. -Their very faces seemed different; clean, open and good-looking, whereas -on Thursday I wondered that British soldiers could look as they did. The -infantry in particular, on that day, seemed changed; they looked almost -savage, so distorted were their faces with powder and dirt and deep -lines caused by the glare of the sun. I was well within the limits when -I painted my 28th in square. I suppose it would not have done to be -realistic to the fullest extent. The lunch at the Welsh Fusiliers' mess -in a tent I thought very nice. Papa came down for the day. It is very -good of him. I don't think he approves of my being so much on my own -hook. But things can't help being rather abnormal." - -Here follows another fresh air holiday at my grandparents' at Worthing -(where I rode with my grandfather), finishing up with a visit which I -shall always remember with pleasure--I ought to say gratitude--not only -for its own sake, but for all the enjoyment it obtained for me in Italy. -That August I was a guest of the Higford-Burrs at Aldermaston Court, an -Elizabethan house standing in a big Berkshire park. "I arrived just as -the company were finishing dinner. I was welcomed with open arms. Mrs. -Higford-Burr embraced me, although I have only seen her twice before, -and I was made to sit down at table in my travelling dress, positively -declining to recall dishes, hating a fuss as I do. The dessert was -pleasant because every one made me feel at home, especially Mrs. Janet -Ross, daughter of the Lady Duff Gordon whose writings had made me long -to see the Nile in my childhood. There are five lakes in the Park, and -one part is a heather-covered Common, of which I have made eight oil -sketches on my little panels, so that I have had the pleasure of working -hard and enjoying the society of most delightful people. There were -always other guests at dinner besides the house party, and the average -number who sat down was eighteen. Besides Mrs. Ross were Mr. and Mrs. -Layard, he the Nineveh explorer, and now Ambassador at Madrid, the -Poynters, R.A., the Misses Duff Gordon, and others, in the house. Mrs. -Burr with her great tact allowed me to absent myself between breakfast -and tea, taking my sandwiches and paints with me to the moor." - -Days at Worthing followed, where my mother and I painted all day on the -Downs, I with my "Balaclava" in view, which required a valley and low -hills. My mother's help was of great value, as I had not had much time -to practise landscape up to then. Then came my visit, with Alice, to -Newcastle, where "Quatre Bras" was being exhibited, to be followed by -our visit at Mrs. Ross's Villa near Florence, whither she had invited us -when at Aldermaston, to see the _fetes_ in honour of Michael Angelo. - -"We left for Newcastle by the 'Flying Scotchman' from King's Cross at 10 -a.m., and had a flying shot at Peterborough and York Cathedrals, and a -fine flying view of Durham. Newcastle impressed us very much as we -thundered over the iron bridge across the Tyne and looked down on the -smoke-shrouded, red-roofed city belching forth black and brown smoke and -jets of white steam in all directions. It rises in fine masses up from -the turbid flood of the dark river, and has a lurid grandeur quite novel -to us. I could not help admiring it, though, as it were, under protest, -for it seems to me something like a sin to obscure the light of Heaven -when it is not necessary. The laws for consuming factory smoke are quite -disregarded here. Mrs. Mawson, representing the firm at whose gallery -'Quatre Bras' is being exhibited, was awaiting our arrival, and was to -be our hostess. We were honoured and feted in the way of the -warm-hearted North. Nothing could have been more successful than our -visit in its way. These Northerners are most hospitable, and we are -delighted with them. They have quite a _cachet_ of their own, so -cultured and well read on the top of their intense commercialism--far -more responsive in conversation than many society people I know 'down -South.' We had a day at Durham under Mrs. Mawson's wing, visiting that -finest of all English Cathedrals (to my mind), and the Bishop's palace, -etc. We rested at the Dean's, where, of course, I was asked for my -autograph. I already find how interested the people are about here, more -even than in other parts where I have been. Durham is a place I loved -before I saw it. The way that grand mass of Norman architecture rises -abruptly from the woods that slope sheer down to the calm river is a -unique thing. Of course, the smoky atmosphere makes architectural -ornament look shallow by dimming the deep shadows of carvings, etc.--a -great pity. On our return we took another lion _en passant_--my picture -at Newcastle, and most delighted I was to find it so well lighted. I may -say I have never seen it properly before, because it never looked so -well in my studio, and as to the Black Hole----! What people they are up -here for shaking hands! When some one is brought up to me the introducer -puts it in this way: 'Mr. So-and-So wishes very much to have the honour -of shaking hands with you, Miss Thompson.' There is a straight-forward -ring in their speech which I like." - -We were up one morning at 4.30 to be off to Scotland for the day. At -Berwick the rainy weather lifted and we were delighted by the look of -the old Border town on its promontory by the broad and shining Tweed. -Passing over the long bridge, which has such a fine effect spanning the -river, we were pleased to find ourselves in a country new to us. -Edinburgh struck us very much, for we had never quite believed in it, -and thought it was "all the brag of the Scotch," but we were converted. -It is so like a fine old Continental city--nothing reminds one of -England, and yet there is a _Scotchiness_ about it which gives it a -sentiment of its own. Our towns are, as a rule, so poorly situated, but -Edinburgh has the advantage of being built on steep hills and of being -back-grounded by great crags which give it a most majestic look. The -grey colour of the city is fine, and the houses, nearly all gabled and -very tall, are exceedingly picturesque, and none have those vile, black, -wriggling chimney pots which disfigure what sky lines our towns may -have. I was delighted to see so many women with white caps and tartan -shawls and the children barefoot; picturesque horse harness; plenty of -kilted soldiers. - -We did all the lions, including the garrison fortress where the Cameron -Highlanders were, and where Colonel Miller, of Parkhurst memory, came -out, very pleased to speak to me and escort us about. He had the water -colour I gave him of his charger, done at Parkhurst in the old Ventnor -days. Our return to Newcastle was made in glorious sunshine, and we -greedily devoured the peculiarly sweet and remote-looking scenes we -passed through. I shall long remember Newcastle at sunset on that -evening, Then, I will say, the smoke looked grand. They asked me to look -at my picture by gas light. The sixpenny crowd was there, the men -touching their caps as I passed. In the street they formed a lane for me -to pass to the carriage. "What nice people!" I exclaim in the Diary. - -All the morning of our departure I was employed in sitting for my -photograph, looking at productions of local artists and calling on the -Bishop and the Protestant Vicar. One man had carved a chair which was to -be dedicated to me. I was quaintly enthroned on it. All this was done on -our way to the station, where we lunched under dozens of eyes, and on -the platform a crowd was assembled. I read: "Several local dignitaries -were introduced and 'shook hands,' as also the 'Gentlemen of the local -Press.' As I said a few words to each the crowd saw me over the -barriers, which made me get quite hot and I was rather glad when the -train drew up and we could get into our carriage. The farewell -handshakings at the door may be imagined. We left in a cloud of waving -handkerchiefs and hats. I don't know that I respond sufficiently to all -this. Frankly, my picture being made so much of pleases me most -satisfactorily, but the _personal_ part of the tribute makes me -curiously uncomfortable when coming in this way." - -Ruskin wrote a pamphlet on that year's Academy in which he told the -world that he had approached "Quatre Bras" with "iniquitous prejudice" -as being the work of a woman. He had always held that no woman could -paint, and he accounted for my work being what he found it as being that -of an Amazon. I was very pleased to see myself in the character of an -Amazon. - - - - -CHAPTER XI - -TO FLORENCE AND BACK - - -We started on our most delightful journey to Florence early in September -of that year to assist at the Michael Angelo fetes as the guests of dear -Mrs. Janet Ross and the Marchese della Stufa, who, with Mr. Ross, -inhabited in the summer the delicious old villa of Castagnolo, at Lastra -a Signa, six miles on the Pisan side of my beloved Florence. Of course, -I give page after page in the Diary to our journey across Italy under -the Alps and the Apennines. To the modern motorist it must all sound -slow, though we did travel by rail! Above all the lovely things we saw -on our way by the Turin-Bologna line, I think Parma, rising from the -banks of a shallow river, glowing in sunshine and palpitating jewel-like -shade, holds pride of place for noontide beauty. After Modena came the -deeper loveliness of the afternoon, and then Bologna, mellowed by the -rosy tints of early evening. Then the sunset and then the tender moon. - -By moonlight we crossed the Apennines, and to the sound of the droning -summer beetle--an extraordinarily penetrating sound, which I declared -makes itself heard above the railway noises, we descended into the -Garden of Italy, slowly, under powerful brakes. At ten we reached -Florence, and in the crowd on the platform a tall, distinguished-looking -man bowed to me. "Miss Thompson?" "Yes." It was the Marchese, and lo! -behind him, who should there be but my old master, Bellucci. What a -warm welcome they gave us. Of course, our luggage had stuck at the -_douane_ at Modane, and was telegraphed for. No help for it; we must do -without it for a day or two. We got into the carriage which was awaiting -us, and the Marchese into his little pony trap, and off we went flying -for a mysterious, dream-like drive in misty moonlight, we in front and -our host behind, jingle-jingling merrily with the pleasant monotony of -his lion-maned little pony's canter. We could not believe the drive was -a real one. It was too much joy to be at Florence--too good to be true. -But how tired we were! - -At last we drove up to the great towered villa, an old-fashioned -Florentine ancestral place, which has been the home of the Della Stufas -for generations, and there, in the great doorway, stood Mrs. Ross, -welcoming us most cordially to "Castagnolo." We passed through frescoed -rooms and passages, dimly lighted with oil lamps of genuine old Tuscan -patterns, and were delighted with our bedrooms--enormous, brick-paved -and airy. There we made a show of tidying ourselves, and went down to a -fruit-decked supper, though hardly able to sit up for sleep. How kind -they were to us! We felt quite at home at once. - -"_September 12th._--After Mass at the picturesque little chapel which, -with the _vicario's_ dwelling, abuts on the _fattoria_ wing of the -villa, we drove into Florence with Mrs. Ross and the Marchese, whom we -find the typical Italian patrician of the high school. We were rigged -out in Mrs. Ross's frocks, which didn't fit us at all. But what was to -be done? Provoking girls! It was a dear, hot, dusty, dazzling old -Florentine drive, bless it! and we were very pleased. Florence was _en -fete_ and all _imbandierata_ and hung with the usual coloured draperies, -and all joyous with church bells and military bands. The concert in -honour of Michael Angelo (the fetes began to-day) was held in the -Palazzo Vecchio, and very excellent music they gave us, the audience -bursting out in applause before some of the best pieces were quite -finished in that refreshingly spontaneous way Italians have. After the -concert we loitered about the piazza looking at the ever-moving and -chattering crowd in the deep, transparent shade and dazzling sunshine. -It was a glorious sight, with the white statues of the fountain rising -into the sunlight against houses hung mostly with very beautiful yellow -draperies. I stood at the top of the steps of the Loggia de' Lanzi, and, -resting my book on the pedestal of one of the lions, I made a rough -sketch of the scene, keeping the _Graphic_ engagement in view. I -subsequently took another of the Michael Angelo procession passing the -Ponte alle Grazie on its way from Santa Croce to the new 'Piazzale -Michel Angelo,' which they have made since we were here before, on the -height of San Miniato. It was a pretty procession on account of the rich -banners. A day full of charming sights and melodious sounds." - -The great doings of the last day of the fetes were the illuminations in -the moonlit evening. They were artistically done, and we had a feast of -them, taking a long, slow drive to the piazzale by the new zigzag. -Michael Angelo was remembered at every turn, and the places he fortified -were especially marked out by lovely lights, all more or less soft and -glowing. Not a vile gas jet to be seen anywhere. The city was not -illuminated, nor was anything, with few exceptions, save the lines of -the great man's fortifications. The old white banner of Florence, with -the _Giglio_, floated above the tricolour on the heights which Michael -Angelo defended in person. The effect, especially on the church of San -Miniato, of golden lamps making all the surfaces aglow, as if the walls -were transparent, and of the green-blue moonlight above, was a thing as -lovely as can be seen on this earth. It was a thoroughly Italian -festival. We were charmed with the people; no pushing in the crowds, -which enjoyed themselves very much. They made way for us when they saw -we were foreigners. - -We stayed at Castagnolo nearly all through the vintage, pressed from one -week to another to linger, though I made many attempts to go on account -of beginning my "Balaclava." The fascination of Castagnolo was intense, -and we had certainly a happy experience. I sketched hard every day in -the garden, the vineyards, and the old courtyard where the most -picturesque vintage incidents occurred, with the white oxen, the wine -pressing, and the bare-legged, merry _contadini_, all in an atmosphere -scented with the fermenting grapes. Everything in the _Cortile_ was dyed -with the wine in the making. I loved to lean over the great vats and -inhale that wholesome effluence, listening to the low sea-like murmur of -the fermentation. On the days when we helped to pick the grapes on the -hillside (and "helping ourselves" at the same time) we had _collazione_ -there, a little picnic, with the indispensable guitar and post-prandial -cigarette. Every one made the most of this blessed time, as such moments -should be made the most of when they are given us, I think. Young -Italians often dined at the villa, and the evenings were spent in -singing _stornelli_ and _rispetti_ until midnight to the guitar, -every one of these young fellows having a nice voice. They were merry, -pleasant creatures. - -[Illustration: ONE OF THE BALAKLAVA SIX-HUNDRED.] - -Nothing but the stern necessity of returning to work could have kept me -from seeing the vintage out. We left most regretfully on October 4th, -taking Genoa and our dear step-sister on the way. Even as it was our -lingering in Italy made me too late, as things turned out, for the -Academy! - -October 19th has this entry: "Began my 'Balaclava' cartoon to-day. -Marked all the positions of the men and horses. My trip to Italy and the -glorious and happy and healthy life I have led there, and the utter -change of scene and occupation, have done me priceless good, and at last -I feel like going at this picture _con amore_. I was in hopes this happy -result would be obtained." "Balaclava" was painted for Mr. Whitehead, of -Manchester. I had owed him a picture from the time I exhibited -"Missing." It was to be the same size, and for the same price as that -work, and I was in honour bound to fulfil my contract! So I again -brought forward the "Dawn of Sedan," although my prices were now so -enlarged that L80 had become quite out of proportion, even for a simple -subject like that. However, after long parleys, and on account of Mr. -Whitehead's repudiation of the Sedan subject, it was agreed that -"Balaclava" should be his, at the new scale altogether. The Fine Art -Society (late Dickenson & Co.) gave Mr. Whitehead L3,000 for the -copyright, and engaged the great Stacpoole, as before, to execute the -engraving. - -I was very sorry that the picture was not ready for Sending-in Day at -the Academy. No doubt the fuss that was made about it, and my having -begun a month too late, put me off; but, be that as it may, I was a -good deal disturbed towards the end, and had to exhibit "Balaclava" at -the private gallery of the purchasers of the copyright in Bond Street. -This gave me more time to finish. I had my own Private View on April -20th, 1876: "The picture is disappointing to me. In vain I call to mind -all the things that judges of art have said about this being the best -thing I have yet painted. Can one _never_ be happy when the work is -done? This day was only for our friends and was no test. Still, there -was what may be called a sensation. Virginia Gabriel, the composer, was -led out of the room by her husband in tears! One officer who had been -through the charge told a friend he would never have come if he had -known how like the real thing it was. Curiously enough, another said -that after the stress of Inkermann a soldier had come up to his horse -and leant his face against it exactly as I have the man doing to the -left of my picture. - -"_April 22nd._--An enormous number of people at the Society's Private -View and some of the morning papers blossoming out in the most beautiful -notices, ever so long, and I getting a little reassured." A day later: -"Went to lunch at Mrs. Mitchell's, who invited me at the Private View, -next door to Lady Raglan's, her great friend. Two distinguished officers -were there to meet me, and we had a pleasant chat." And this is all I -say! One of the two was Major W. F. Butler, author of "The Great Lone -Land." - -The London season went by full of society doings. Our mother had long -been "At Home" on Wednesdays, and much good music was heard at "The -Boltons," South Kensington. Ruskin came to see us there. He and our -mother were often of the same way of thinking on many subjects, and I -remember seeing him gently clapping his hands at many points she made. -He was displeased with me on one occasion when, on his asking me which -of the Italian masters I had especially studied, I named Andrea del -Sarto. "Come into the corner and let me scold you," were his -disconcerting words. Why? Of course, I was crestfallen, but, all the -same, I wondered what could be the matter with Andrea's "Cenacolo" at -San Salvi, or his frescoes at the SS. Annunziata, or his "Madonna with -St. Francis and St. John," in the Tribune of the Uffizi. The figure of -the St. John is, to me, one of the most adorable things in art. That -gentle, manly face; that dignified pose; the exquisite modelling of the -hand, and the harmonious colours of the drapery--what _could_ be the -matter with such work? I remember, at one of the artistic London "At -Homes," Frith, R.A., coming up to me with a long face to say, if I did -not send to the Academy, I should lose my chance of election. But I -think the difficulties of electing a woman were great, and much -discussion must have been the consequence amongst the R.A.'s. However, -as it turned out, in 1879 I lost my election by _two_ votes only! Since -then I think the door has been closed, and wisely. I returned to the -studio on May 18th, for I could not lay down the brush for any amount of -society doings. Besides, I soon had to make preparations for -"Inkermann." - -"_Saturday, June 10th._--Saw Genl. Darby-Griffith, to get information -about Inkermann. I returned just in time to dress for the delightful -Lord Mayor's Banquet to the Representatives of Art at the Mansion -House, a place of delightful recollections for me. Neither this year's -nor last year's banquet quite came up to the one of 'The Roll Call' year -in point of numbers and excitement, but it was most delightful and -interesting to be in that great gathering of artists and hear oneself -gracefully alluded to in The Lord Mayor's speech and others. Marcus -Stone sat on my left, and we had really a thoroughly good conversation -all through dinner such as I have seldom embarked on, and I found, when -I tried it, that I could talk pretty well. He is a fine fellow, and -simple-minded and genuine. My _vis-a-vis_ was Alma Tadema, with his -remarkable-looking wife, like a lady out of one of his own pictures; and -many well-known heads wagged all around me. After dinner and the -speeches, Du Maurier, of _Punch_, suggested to the Lord Mayor that we -should get up a quadrille, which was instantly done, and the friskier -spirits amongst us had a nice dance. Du Maurier was my partner; and on -my left I had John Tenniel, so that I may be said to have been supported -by Punch both at the beginning and end of dinner, this being Du -Maurier's simple and obvious joke, _vide_ the post-turtle indulgence -peculiar to civic banquets. After a waltz we laggards at last took our -departure in the best spirits." - -I remember that in June we went to a most memorable High Mass, to wit, -the first to be celebrated in the Old Saxon Church of St. Etheldreda -since the days of the Reformation. This church was the second place of -Christian worship erected in London, if not in England, in the old Saxon -times. We were much impressed as the Gregorian Mass sounded once more in -the grey-stoned crypt. The upper church was not to be ready for years. -Those old grey stones woke up that morning which had so long been -smothered in the London clay. - -Here follow too many descriptions in the Diary of dances, dinners and -other functions. They are superfluous. There were, however, some -_Tableaux Vivants_ at an interesting house--Mrs. Bishop's, a very -intellectual woman, much appreciated in society in general, and Catholic -society in particular--which may be recorded in this very personal -narrative, for I had a funny hand in a single-figure tableau which -showed the dazed 11th Hussar who figures in the foreground of my -"Balaclava." The man who stood for him in the tableau had been my model -for the picture, but to this day I feel the irritation caused me by that -man. In the picture I have him with his busby pushed back, as it -certainly would and should have been, off his heated brow. But, while I -was posing him for the tableau, every time I looked away he rammed it -down at the becoming "smart" angle. I got quite cross, and insisted on -the necessary push back. The wretch pretended to obey, but, just before -the curtain rose, rammed the busby down again, and utterly destroyed the -meaning of that figure! We didn't want a representation of Mr. So-and-so -in the becoming uniform of a hussar, but my battered trooper. The thing -fell very flat. But tableaux, to my mind, are a mistake, in many ways. - -I often mention my pleasure in meeting Lord and Lady Denbigh, for they -were people after my own heart. Lady Denbigh was one of those women one -always looks at with a smile; she was so _simpatica_ and true and -unworldly. - -July 18th is noted as "a memorable day for Alice, for she and I spent -the afternoon at _Tennyson's_! I say 'for Alice' because, as regards -myself, the event was not so delightful as a day at Aldershot. Tennyson -has indeed managed to shut himself off from the haunts of men, for, -arrived at Haslemere, a primitive little village, we had a six-mile -drive up, up, over a wild moor and through three gates leading to -narrow, rutty lanes before we dipped down to the big Gothic, lonely -house overlooking a vast plain, with Leith Hill in the distance. -Tennyson had invited us through Aubrey de Vere, the poet, and very -apprehensive we were, and nervous, as we neared the abode of a man -reported to be such a bear to strangers. We first saw Mrs. Tennyson, a -gentle, invalid lady lying on her back on a sofa. After some time the -poet sent down word to ask us to come up to his sanctum, where he -received us with a rather hard stare, his clay pipe and long, black, -straggling hair being quite what I expected. He got up with a little -difficulty, and when we had sat down--he, we two and his most -deferential son--he asked which was the painter and which was the poet. -After our answer, which struck me as funny, as though we ought to have -said, with a bob, 'Please, sir, I'm the painter,' and 'Please, sir, I'm -the poet,' he made a few commonplace remarks about my pictures in a most -sepulchral bass voice. But he and Alice, in whom he was more interested, -naturally, did most of the talking; there was not much of that, though, -for he evidently prefers to answer a remark by a long look, and perhaps -a slightly sneering smile, and then an averted head. All this is not -awe-inspiring, and looks rather put on. We ceased to be frightened. - -"There is no grandeur about Tennyson, no melancholy abstraction; and, if -I had made a demi-god of him, his personality would have much -disappointed me. Some of his poetry is so truly great that his manner -seems below it. The pauses in the conversation were long and frequent, -and he did not always seem to take in the meaning of a remark, so that I -was relieved when, after a good deal of staring and smiling at Alice in -a way rather trying to the patience, he acceded to her request and read -us 'The Passing of Arthur.' He was so long in finding the place, when -his son at last found him a copy of the book which suited him, and the -tone he read in so deep and monotonous, that I was much bored and longed -for the hour of our departure. He was vexed with Alice for choosing that -poem, which he seemed to think less of than of his later works, and he -took the poor child to task in a few words meant to be caustic, though -they made us smile. But the ice was melting. He seemed amused at us and -we gratefully began to laugh at some quaint phrases he levelled at us. -Then he dropped the awe-inspiring tone, and took us all over the grounds -and gave us each a rose. He pitched into us for our dresses which were -too fashionable and tight to please him. He pinned Alice against a -pillar of the entrance to the house on our re-entry from the garden to -watch my back as I walked on with his son, pointing the _walking-stick_ -of scorn at my skirt, the trimming of which particularly roused his ire. -Altogether I felt a great relief when we said goodbye to our curious -host with whom it was so difficult to carry on conversation, and to know -whether he liked us or not. Away, over the windy, twilight heath behind -the little ponies--away, away!" - -At the beginning of August I began my studies for "The Return from -Inkermann." The foreground I got at Worthing; and I had another visit -to Aldershot and many further conversations with Inkermann -survivors--officers of distinction. I am bound to say that these often -contradicted each other, and the rough sketches I made after each -interview had to be re-arranged over and over again. I read Dr. -Russell's account (_The Times_ correspondent) and sometimes I returned -to my own conception, finding it on the whole the most likely to be -true. - -I laugh even now at the recollection of two elderly _sabreurs_, one of -them a General in the Indian Army, who had a hot discussion in my -studio, _a propos_ of my "Balaclava," about the best use of the sabre. -The Indian, who was for slashing, twirled his umbrella so briskly, to -illustrate his own theory, that I feared for the picture which stood -close by his sword arm. The opposition umbrella illustrated "the point" -theory. - -Having finally clearly fixed the whole composition of "Inkermann," in -sepia on tinted paper the size of the future picture I closed the studio -on August 25th and turned my face once more to Italy. - - - - -CHAPTER XII - -AGAIN IN ITALY - - -My sister and I tarried at Genoa on our way to Castagnolo where we were -to have again the joys of a Tuscan vintage. But between Genoa and -Florence lay our well-loved Porto Fino and, having an invitation from -our old friend Monty Brown, the English Consul and his young wife, to -stay at their castello there, we spent a week at that Eden. We were -alone for part of the time and thoroughly relished the situation, with -only old Caterina, the cook, and the dog, "Bismarck," as company. Two -Marianas in a moated grange, with a difference. "He" came not, and so -allowed us to clasp to our hearts our chief delights--the sky, the sea, -the olives and the joyous vines. In those early days many of the deep -windows had no glass, and one night, when a staggering Mediterranean -thunderstorm crashed down upon us, we really didn't like it and hid the -knives under the table at dinner. Caterina was saying her Rosary very -loud in the kitchen. As we went up the winding stairs to bed I carried -the lamp, and was full of talk, when a gust of wind blew the lamp out, -and Alice laughed at my complete silence, more eloquent than any words -of alarm. We had every evening to expel curious specimens of the lizard -tribe that had come in, and turn over our pillows, remembering the -habits of the scorpion. - -But that storm was the only one, and as to the sea, which three-parts -enveloped our little Promontory, its blue utterly baffled my poor -paints. But paint I did, on those little panels that we owe to Fortuny, -so nicely fitting into the box he invented. There was a little cape, -crowned with a shrine to Our Lady--"the Madonnetta" it was called--where -I used to go daily to inhale the ozone off the sea which thundered down -below amongst the brown "pudding-stone" rocks, at the base of a sheer -precipice. The "sounding deep." Oh, the freshness, the health, the joy -of that haunt of mine! Our walks were perilous sometimes, the paths -which almost overhung the deep foaming sea being slippery with the -sheddings of the pines. At the "nasty bits" we had to hold on by shrubs -and twigs, and haul ourselves along by these always aromatic supports. - -Admirable is the industry of the peasants all over Italy. Here on the -extreme point of Porto Fino wherever there was a tiny "pocket" of clay, -a cabbage or two or a vine with its black clusters of grapes toppling -over the abyss found foot-hold. We came one day upon a pretty girl on -the very verge of destruction, "holding on by her eyelids," gathering -figs with a hooked stick, a demure pussy keeping her company by dozing -calmly on a branch of the fig tree. The walls built to support these -handfuls of clay on the face of the rock are a puzzle to me. Where did -the men stand to build them? It makes me giddy to think of it. - -Paragi, the lovely rival of Monty's robber stronghold, belonged to his -brother, and a fairer thing I never saw than Fred's loggia with the -slender white marble columns, between which one saw the coast trending -away to La Spezzia. But "goodbye," Porto Fino! On our way to -Castagnolo, at lovely Lastre a Signa, we paused at Pisa for a night. - -"Pisa is a _bald Florence_, if I may say so; beautiful, but so empty and -lifeless. There are houses there quite peculiar, however, to Pisa, most -interesting for their local style. Very broad in effect are those flat -blank surfaces without mouldings. The frescoes on them, alas! are now -merely very beautiful blotches and stains of colour. We had ample time -for a good survey of the Duomo, Baptistery, Camposanto and Leaning -Tower, all vividly remembered from when I saw them as a little child. -But I get very tired by sight-seeing and don't enjoy it much. What I -like is to sit by the hour in a place, sketching or meditating. Besides, -I had been kept nearly all night awake at the Albergo Minerva by railway -whistles, ducks, parrots, cats, dogs, cocks and hens, so that I was only -at half power and I slept most of the way to Signa. - -"At the station a carriage fitted, for the heat, with cool-looking brown -holland curtains was awaiting us on the chance of our coming, and we -were soon greeted at dear Castagnolo by Mrs. Ross. Very good of her to -show so much happy welcome seeing we had been expected the evening -before, not to say for many days, and only our luggage had turned up! -The Marchese, who had to go into Florence this morning for the day, had -gone down to meet us last evening, and returned with the disconcerting -announcement that, whereas we had arrived last year without our luggage, -this year the luggage had arrived without us. '_I bauli sono giunti ma -le bambine--Che!_'" - -Here follows the record of the same delights as those of the year -before. We had been long expected, and Mrs. Ross told me that the -peaches had been kept back for us in a most tantalising way by the -_padrone_, and that everything was threatening over-ripeness by our -delay. The light-hearted life was in full force. There were great -numbers of doves and pigeons at Castagnolo which shared in the general -hilarity, swirling in the sunshine and swooping down on the grain -scattered for them with little cries of pleasure. I don't know whether I -should find a socialistic blight appearing here and there, if I returned -to those haunts of my youth, over that patriarchal life, but it seemed -to me that the relations between the _padrone_ and his splendid -_contadini_ showed how suitable the system obtaining in Tuscany was -then. The labourers were the _fanciulli_ (the children) of the master, -and without the least approach to servility these men stood up to him in -all the pride of their own station. But what deference they showed to -him! Always the uncovered head and the respectful and dignified attitude -when spoken to or speaking. I mustn't forget the frank smile and the -pleasant white teeth. It was a smiling life; every one caught the -smiling habit. Oh, that we could keep it up through a London winter! And -to a London winter we returned, for my friends in England were getting -fidgety about "Inkermann." One more extract, however, from the -Castagnolo Diary must find a place before the veil is drawn. The -Marchese took us to Siena for two days. - -"_September 29th._--We got up by candlelight at 5 a.m. and had a fresh -drive in the phaeton to the station, whence we took train to the -fascinating Etruscan city, whose very name is magic. The weather, as a -matter of course, was splendid, and Siena dwells in my mind all tender -brown-gold in a flood of sunshine. Small as the city is, and hard as we -worked for those two days, we could only see a portion of its treasures. -The result of my observation in the churches and picture galleries shows -me that the art there, as regards painting, is very inferior; and, -indeed, after Florence, with its most exquisite examples of painting and -drawing, these works of art are not taking. I suppose Florence has -spoilt me. Here and there one picks out a plum, such as the 'Svenimento -of St. Catherine' in San Domenico, by Sodoma, the only thing by him that -I could look at with pleasure; also, of course, the famous Perugino in -Sant' Agostino, which I beheld with delight, and a lovely gem of a Holy -Family by Palma Vecchio in the Academy--such a jewel of Venetian colour. - -"The frescoes, however, in the sacristy of the cathedral are things -apart, and such as I have never seen anywhere else, for the very dry air -of Siena has preserved them since Pinturicchio's time quite intact, and -there one sees, as one can see nowhere else, ancient frescoes as they -were when freshly painted. And very different they are from one's -notions of old frescoes; certainly not so pleasing if looked at as bits -of colour staining old walls in mellow broken tints, but intensely -interesting and beautiful as pictures. Here one sees what frescoes were -meant to be: deep in colour, exceedingly forcible, with positive -illusion in linear and aerial perspective, the latter being most -unexpected and surprising. One's usual notion of frescoes is that they -must be flat and airless, and modern artists who go in for fresco -decorative art paint accordingly, judging from the faded examples of -what were once evidently such as one sees here--forcible pictures. - -"Certainly these wall spaces, looking like apertures through which one -sees crowds of figures and gorgeous halls or airy landscapes, do not -please the eye when looking at the room _as_ a room. One would prefer to -feel the solidity of the walls; but taking each fresco and looking at it -for its own sake only, one feels the keenest pleasure. They are -magnificent pictures, full of individual character and realistic action, -unsurpassable by any modern. - -"I cannot attempt to put into words my impression of the cathedral -itself. Certainly, I never felt the beauty of a church more. It being -St. Michael's Day, we heard Mass in the midst of our wanderings, and we -were much struck by the devotion of the people, the men especially--very -unlike what we saw in Genoa. In the afternoon we had a glorious drive -through a perfect pre-Raphaelite landscape to Belcaro, a fortress-villa -about six miles outside Siena, every turn in the road giving us a new -aspect of the golden-brown city behind us on its steep hill. Perhaps the -most beautiful view of Siena is from near Belcaro, where you get the -dark pine trees in the immediate foreground. The owner of the villa took -us all over it, the Marchese gushing outrageously to him about the -beauties of the dreadful frescoes on walls and ceilings, painted by the -man himself. We had been warned, Alice and I, to express our admiration, -but I regret to say we had our hearts so scooped out of us on seeing -those things in the midst of such true loveliness that we couldn't say a -thing, but only murmured. So the poor Marchese had to do -triple-distilled gush to serve for three, and said everything was -'_portentoso_.' - -"In the evening we all three went out again and, in the bright -moonlight, strolled about the streets, the piazza, and round the -cathedral, which shone in the full light which fell upon it. The deep -sky was throbbing with stars, and all the essence of an Italian -September moonlight night was there. Oh, sweet, restful Siena dream! -Like a dream, and yet such a precious reality, to be gratefully kept in -memory to the end." - -Back at Castagnolo on October 1st. "Went for my _solita passeggiata_ up -to the hill of lavender and dwarf oak and other mountain shrubs, where I -made a study of an oak bush on the only wet day we have had, for my -'Inkermann' foreground. Mrs. Ross, a fearless rider, went on with the -breaking in of the Arab colt 'Pascia' to-day. Old Maso, one of the -_habitues_ of the villa, whooped and screamed every time the colt bucked -or reared, and he waddled away as fast as he could, groaning in terror, -only to creep back again to venture another look. And he had been an -officer in the army! I have secured some water-colour sketches of the -vintage for the 'Institute' and knocked off another panel or two, and -sketched Mrs. Ross in her Turkish dress, so I have not been idle." Janet -Ross seemed to have assimilated the sunshine of Egypt and Italy into her -buoyant nature, and to see the vigour with which she conducted the -vintage at Castagnolo acted as a tonic on us all; so did the deep -contralto voice and the guitar, and the racy talk. - -We left on October 14th, on a golden day, with the thermometer at 90 -degrees in the shade, to return to the icy smoke-twilight of London, -where we groped, as the Diary says, in sealskins and ulsters. Castagnolo -has our thanks. How could we have had the fulness of Italian delights -which our kind hosts afforded us in some pension or hotel in Florence? -And what hospitality theirs was! We tried to sing some of the -"_Stornelli_" in the hansom that took us home from Victoria Station. One -of our favourites, "_M'affaccio alla finestra e vedo Stelle_," had to be -modified, as we looked through the glass of the cab, into "_Ma non vedo -Stelle_," sung in the minor, for nothing but the murk of a foggy night -was there. What but the stern necessity of beginning "Inkermann" could -have brought me back? My dear sister cannot have rejoiced, and may have -wished to tarry, but when did she ever "put a spoke in my wheel"? - - - - -CHAPTER XIII - -A SOLDIER'S WIFE - - -Though the London winter was gloomy, on the whole, and I was handicapped -in the middle of my work by a cold which retarded the picture so much -that, to my deep disappointment, I had again to miss the Academy, the -brightest spring of my life followed, for on March 3rd I was engaged to -be married to the author of "The Great Lone Land." It may not be out of -place to give a little sketch of our rather romantic meeting. - -When the newly-promoted Major Butler was lying at Netley Hospital, just -beginning to recover from the Ashanti fever that had nearly killed him -at the close of that campaign, his sister Frances used to read to him -the papers, and they thus learnt together how, at the Royal Academy -banquet of that spring, the Prince of Wales and the Duke of Cambridge -had spoken as they did of Miss Elizabeth Thompson. As paper after paper -spoke of me and of my work, he said one day to his sister, in utter fun -under his slowly reviving spirits, "I wonder if Miss Thompson would -marry me?" Two years after that he met me for the first time, and yet -another year was to go by before the Fates said "Now!" - -When "Inkermann" was carted off to Bond Street on April 19th, what a -relief and delight it was to tell the model "Time is up." "Mamma and I -danced about the studio when the picture was gone, revelling in our -freedom to make as much dust as we liked, when hitherto one had had to -be so careful about dust." We always did this on such occasions. - -The Fine Art Society, at whose galleries in Bond Street the picture was -exhibited, bought it and the copyright together. No doubt for some the -subject of this work is too sad, but my dominant feeling in painting it -was that which Wellington gave expression to in those memorable words on -leaving the field of battle at Waterloo: "There is nothing sadder than a -victory, except a defeat." It shows the remnants of the Guards and the -20th Regiment and odds and ends of infantry returning in the grey of a -November evening from the "Soldiers' Battle," most of the men very -weary. The A.D.C. on horseback I painted from a fine young soldier, -Rupert Carrington, who kindly gave me a sitting. His mother, Lady -Carrington, sent me as a wedding present a medal taken from a dead -Russian on the field of Inkermann, set in a gold bracelet, which is one -of my treasures, her name and mine engraved on it. - -"_April 20th_.--The first Private View of 'Inkermann.' I was there a -short time, and was quite happy at the look of my picture. The other -three are in the same gallery, and very popular the whole exhibition -seems to be. They have even got my 1873 venture, 'Missing,' by itself -upstairs, and remarkably well it looks, too. The crowd was dense and I -left the good people wriggling in a cloud of dust." - -June 11th of that year, 1877, was my wedding day. Cardinal Manning -married us in the Church of the Servite Fathers; our guests were chiefly -that gallant group of soldiers who, with my husband, had won the Ashanti -War, Sir Garnet Wolseley, Redvers Buller and their comrades. My "Red -Cross" fellow students of old South Kensington days gave me the very -touching surprise of strewing our path down the church, as we came out, -with flowers. I had not known they were there. - -And now a new country opened out for my admiration and delight in days -so long before the dreadful cloud had fallen on it under which I am now -writing these Recollections--so long, so long before. It looks like -another world to me now. One might say I had had already a sufficiently -large share of the earth's beauties to enjoy, yet here opened out an -utterly new and unique experience--Ireland. Our wedding tour was chiefly -devoted to the Wild West, with a pause at Glencar, in Kerry. I have -tried in happier political times to convey to my readers in another -place[7] my impression of that Western country--its freshness, its wild -beauty, its entrancing poetry, and that sadness which, like the minor -key in music, is the most appealing quality in poetry. That note is -utterly absent from the poetry of Italy; there all is in the major, like -its national music, so that my mind received, with strange delight, a -new sensation, surprising, heart-stirring, appealing. My husband had -given me the choice of a _local_ for the wedding tour between Ireland -and the Crimea. How could I hesitate? - -My first married picture was the one I made studies for in -Glencar--"'Listed for the Connaught Rangers." I had splendid models for -the two Irish recruits who are being marched out of the glen by a -recruiting sergeant, followed by the "decoy" private and two drummer -boys of that regiment, the old 88th, with the yellow facings of that -time. The men were cousins, Foley by name, and wore their national -dress, the jacket with the long, white homespun sleeves and the -picturesque black hat which I fear is little worn now, and is largely -replaced by that quite cosmopolitan peaked cap I loathe. The deep -richness of those typical Irish days of cloud and sunshine had so -enchanted me that I was determined to try and represent the effect in -this picture, which was a departure from my former ones, the landscape -occupying an equal share with the figures, and the civilian peasant -dress forming the centre of interest. Its black, white and brown -colouring, the four red coats and the bright brass of the drum, gave me -an enjoyable combination with the blue and red-purple of the mountains -in the background, and the sunlight on the middle distance of the stony -Kerry bog-land. Here was that variety as to local colour denied me in -the other works. It was a joy to realise this subject. The picture was -for Mr. Whitehead, the owner of "Balaclava." - -The opening day of my introduction to the Wild West was on a Sunday in -that June: "From Limerick Junction to Glencar. I had my first experience -of an Irish Mass, and my impression is deepening every day that Ireland -is as much a foreign country to England as is France or Italy. The -congregation was all new to me. The peasant element had quite a _cachet_ -of its own, though in a way an exact equivalent to the Tuscan--the -rough-looking men in homespun coats in a crowd inside and outside of the -church, the women in national dress; the constabulary, equivalent to the -_gendarmes_, in full dress, mixing with the people and yet not of them. -This Limerick Junction was the nucleus of the Fenian nebula. In this -terrible Tipperary the stalwart constabulary, whom I greatly admire, -have a grave significance. I have never seen finer men than those, and -they are of a type new to me. How I enjoy new types, new countries, new -customs! The girls, looking so nice in their Bruges-like hoods, are very -fresh and comely. - -"We left at noon for the goal of our expedition, and I think I may say -that I never had a more memorable little journey. The distant mountains -I had looked at in the morning took clearer forms and colours by -degrees, and the charm of the Irish bogs with their rich black and -purple peat-earth, and bright, reedy grass, and teeming wild flowers, -developed themselves to my delighted eyes as the train whirled us -southwards. At Killarney we took a carriage and set off on my favourite -mode of travel, soon entering upon tracts of that wild nature I was most -anxious to experience. The evening was deepening, and in its solemn -tones I saw for the first time the Wild West Land, whose aspect -gradually grew wilder and more strange as we neared the mysterious -mountains that rose ahead of us. I was content. I was beginning to taste -the salt of the Wilds. What human habitations there are are so like the -stone heaps that lie over the face of the land that they are scarcely -distinguishable from them; but my 'contentment' was much dashed by the -sight of the dwellers in this poor land which yields them so little. -Very strange, wild figures came to the black doors to watch us pass, -with, in some cases, half-witted looks. - -"The mighty 'Carran Thual,' one of the mountain group which rises out of -Glencar and dominates the whole land of Kerry, was on fire with blazing -heather, its peaks sending up a glorious column of smoke which spread -out at the top for miles and miles, and changed its delicate smoke tints -every minute as the sun sank lower. As we reached the rocky pass that -took us by the remote Lough Acoose that sun had gone down behind an -opposite mountain, and the blazing heather glowed brighter as the -twilight deepened, and circles of fire played weirdly on the mountain -side. Our glen gave the 'Saxon bride' its grandest illumination on her -arrival. Wild, strange birds rose from the bracken as we passed, and -flew strongly away over lake and mountain torrent, and the little black -Kerry cattle all watched us go by with ears pricked and heads -inquiringly raised. The last stage of the journey had a brilliant -_finale_. A herd of young horses was in our way in the narrow road, and -the creatures careered before us, unable or too stupid to turn aside -into the ditches by the roadside to let us through. We could not head -them, and for fully a mile did those shaggy, wild things caper and jump -ahead, their manes flying out wildly, with the glow from the west -shining through them. Some imbecile cows soon joined them in the -stampede, for no imaginable reason, unless they enjoyed the fright of -being pursued, and the ungainly progress of those recruits was a sight -to behold--tails in the air and horns in the dust. With this escort we -entered Glencar." - -Nothing that I have seen in my travels since that golden time has in the -least dimmed my recollections of that Glencar existence; nor could -anything jar against a thing so unique. I have fully recorded in my -former book how we made different excursions, always on ponies, every -day, not returning till the evening. What impressed me most during these -rides was the depth and richness of the Irish landscape colouring. The -moisture of the ocean air brings out all its glossy depth. Even without -the help of actual sunshine, so essential to the landscape beauty of -Italy, the local colour is powerful. In describing to me the same deep -colouring in Scotland Millais used the simile of the wet pebble. Take a -grey, dry pebble on the seashore and dip it in the water. It will show -many lovely tints. Our inn was in the centre of the glen, delightfully -rough, and impregnated with that scent of turf smoke which has ever -since been to me the subtlest and most touching reminder of those days. -Yet with that roughness there was in the primitive little inn a very -pleasant provision of such sustenance as old campaigners and fishermen -know how to establish in the haunts they visit. - -The coast of Clare came next in our journey, where the Atlantic hurls -itself full tilt at the iron cliffs, and the west wind, which I learnt -to love, comes, without once touching land since it left the coast of -Labrador, to fill one with a sense of salt and freshness and health as -it rushes into one's lungs from off the foam. I was interested in making -comparisons between that sea and the other "sounding deep" that washes -the rocks of Porto Fino as I looked down on the thundering waves below -the cliffs of Moher. Here was the simplest and severest colouring--dark -green, almost amounting to black; light green, cold and pure; foam so -pure that its whiteness had over it a rosy tinge, merely by contrast -with the green of the waves, and that was all; whereas the sea around -Porto Fino baffles both painter and word-painter with its infinite -variety of blues, purples, and greens. These are contrasts that I -delight in. How the west wind rushed at us, full of spray! How the ocean -roared! It was a revel of wind where we stood at the very edge of those -sheer cliffs. Across their black faces sea birds incessantly circled and -wheeled, crying with a shrill clamour. That and the booming of the waves -many fathoms below, as they leap into the immense caverns, were the only -sounds that pierced the wind. The black rocks had ledges of greyer rock, -and along these ledges, tier above tier, sat myriads of white-headed -gulls, their white heads looking like illumination lamps on the faces of -titanic buildings. The Isles of Arran and the mountains of Connemara -spread out before us on the ocean, which sparkled in one place with the -gold beams of the faint, spray-shrouded sun. - -Then good-bye to Erin for the present on July 15th and the establishment -of ourselves in London till our return to the Land that held a magnet -for us on September 21st. There we paid a visit to the Knight of Kerry, -at Valentia Island. What a delightful home! The size of the fuchsia -trees told of the mild climate; the scenery was of the remotest and -freshest, most pleasing to the senses, and the ever-welcome scent of -turf smoke would not be denied in the big house where the sods glowed in -the great fireplaces. My surprise, when strolling on one of the innocent -little strands by the sea, was great at seeing the Atlantic cable -emerging, quite simply, from the water between the pebbles, as though it -was nothing in particular. Following it, we reached a very up-to-date -building, so out of keeping with the primitive scene, filled with busy -clerks transmitting goodness knows what cosmopolitan corruption from the -New World to the Old, and _vice versa_. - -[Illustration: In Western Ireland. - -A "Jarvey" and "Biddy."] - -I would not have missed the Valentia pig for anything. A taller, leaner, -gaunter specimen has not his match anywhere, not even in the little -black hog of Monte Cassino, whose salient hips are so unexpected. There -is something particularly arresting in a pig with visible hips.[8] All -the animals in the west seemed to me free-and-easy creatures that live -with the peasants as members of the family, having a much better time -than the humans. They frisk irresponsibly in and out of the cabins--no -"by your leave" or "with your leave"--and, altogether, enjoy life to the -top of their own highest level. The poorer the people, the greater -appears the contrast caused by this inverted state of things. - -The next time we left England was to go in the opposite direction--to -the Pyrenees. Rapid travel is fast levelling down the different -countries, and a carriage journey through the Pyrenean country is a -bygone pleasure. We have to go to Thibet or the Great Wall of China for -our trips if we want to write anything original about our travels. A -flight by air to the North Pole would, at first, prove very readable and -novel, if well described. This, however, does not take from the pleasure -of going over the inner circle in memory. In the year 1878 we could -still find much that was new and refreshing in a tour through the south -of France! Some friends of mine went up to Khartoum from Cairo not long -ago, with return tickets, by rail, and all they could say was that the -journey was so dusty that they had to draw the blinds of their -compartment and play bridge all the way. Poor dears, how arid! - -This little tour of ours was well advised. The loss of our firstborn, -Mary Patricia, brought our first sorrow with it, and we went to Lourdes -and made a wide _detour_ from there through the Pyrenees to Switzerland. -There is nothing like travel for restoring the aching mind to -usefulness. But, undoubtedly, the send-off from Lourdes gave me the -initial impetus towards recovery of which, though I say little, I am -very sensible. We drove to St. Sauveur after our visit to the Grotto -where such striking cures have happened, and each day brought more fully -back to me that zest for natural beauty which has been with me such an -invigorator. - -St. Sauveur was bracing and beautiful, but too full of invalids. It was -rather saddening to see them around the Hontalade Sulphur Springs. At -Lourdes they were clustering round the cascade that flows from the -Grotto where the statue of Our Lady stands, exactly reproducing the -figure as seen by the little Shepherdess. Poor humanity, reaching out -hopeful arms in its pain, here for physical help, there for spiritual. -The Gave rushes through both Lourdes and St. Sauveur, with a very sharp -noise in the rocky gorge of the latter, too harsh to be a soothing -sound. I looked forward to getting yet another experience of _vetturino_ -travel which I had never thought could be enjoyed again, and which -proved to be still possible. The journey was a success, and, besides the -beauty of that very majestic mountain scenery, the little incidents of -the road were picturesque. Our driver was proud to tell us he was known -as "_L'ancien chien des Pyrenees_," and a characteristic "old dog" he -was, one-eyed and weatherbeaten, wearing the national blue _beret_ and -very voluble in local _patois_. His horses' bells jingled in the old -familiar way of my childhood; two absurd little dogs of his accompanied -us all the way who, in the noonday heat, sat in the wayside streams for -a moment to cool, and emerged little dripping rags. The first day's -ascent was over the Pass of the Tourmalet, the second over that of the -Col d'Aspin, and the third and final climb was that of the Col de -Peyresourde. Then Bagneres de Luchon appeared deep down in the valley -where our drive came to an end. What would we have seen of the Pyrenees -if we had burrowed in tunnels under those _Cols?_ Luchon was not -embellished by the invalids there, whose principal ailment amongst the -female patients was evidently a condition of _embonpoint_ so remarkable -that the suggestion of overfeeding could not possibly be ignored. - -We had refreshing "_ascensions_" on horseback; a wide view of Spain from -Super-Bagnere, wherein the backbone of the Pyrenees, with the savage -"Maladetta," rising supreme, 11,000 feet above sea level, has its -origin. Many very pleasant excursions we had besides. I tried a hurried -sketch of one of these views from the saddle, the only precious chance I -had, but a little Frenchman in tourist helmet and blue veil (and such -boots and spurs!), who was riding in our direction with a party, threw -himself off his pony into my foreground and, hoping to be included in -the view which he was pretending to admire, posed there, right in my -way, his comrades calling him in vain to rejoin them. - -On leaving Luchon we journeyed _via_ Toulouse to Cette, following the -course of the Garonne, which famous river we had seen in its little -muddy infancy near Arreau and in its culminating grandeur at Bordeaux. -Toulouse looked majestic, a fair city as I remember it. There I was -interested to see that famous canal which carries on the traffic from -the great river to the Mediterranean. A noteworthy feature in the -landscape as we journeyed on to Cette in the dreary, dun-coloured -gloaming was the mediaeval city of Carcassonne. To come suddenly upon a -complete restoration to life of an old-world city, full of towers and -wrapped in its unbroken walls, gives one a strange sensation. One seems -to be suddenly deposited in the heart of the Middle Ages. That dark -evening there was something indescribably gloomy in the aspect of that -cinder-coloured mass against an ashen sky, and set on a hill high above -the fields cultivated in prim rows and patches, looking like a town in -the background of some hunting scene, so often shown in old tapestry. -All was darkening before an approaching storm. In writing of it at the -time I was not aware that we owed this most precious old city to -Viollet-le-Duc, who has restored it stone by stone. - -Cette looked so bleared and blind the next morning in a sea mist that I -have preserved a dejected impression of those low shores, grey -tamarisks, and lagunes, and waste places, seen as though in a dismal -dream. I was coaxed back to cheerfulness by the sunshine of Nismes, -where we spent several hours, on our way to our halt for the night, -strolling in the warm-tinted Roman ruins, and I finally relaxed in the -delight of our arriving once more at one of my most beloved cities, -splendid Avignon. Good travelling. This closed the day. Under my -parents' _regime_, and chiefly on account of my mother, who hated night -travel, and on account of our general easy-going ways, we gave nearly a -fortnight to reach Genoa from England, with pauses here and there. - -My redundant Diary carries me on now, like the rapid Rhone itself, to my -native Lake Leman. I see it now as I saw it that day, August 8th, -1878--a blue opal. There is always something sacred about a place in -which one came into the world. We visited "Claremont," a lovely dwelling -overlooking the lake, and facing the snowy ridges of the Dents du Midi. -Looking at that house "all my mother came into my eyes" as I thought of -her that November night, long ago, and of our dear, faithful nurse whom -I captured there to our service till death, with a smile! - -And now for the dear old Rhine once more. We got to Bale next day, and -very scenic the old town looked on our arrival in the evening. On either -side of the swift-flowing river the gabled houses were full of lights, -which were reflected in the water, all looking red-gold by contrast with -the green-gold of the moon. On August 10th from Bale to Heidelberg, the -rose-coloured city of the great Tun! Other tuns are also shown, not -quite so capacious; but what swilling they suggest on the part of the -old electors, who gathered all that hock in tithes! - -I was mortified when trying to impress my husband with the charms of the -Rhine as we dropped down to Cologne. My early Diary tells of my -enchantment on that fondly-remembered river. But, alas! this time the -weather was rainy and ugly all the way, and as we came to the best part, -the romantic Gorge, he shut himself up in a deck cabin, out of which I -could not entice him. I suspect the natives on board drove him in there -rather than his resentment at the "come down" from the glowing -descriptions one reads in travel books. These natives were a most -irritating foreground to the blurred views. All day long, and into the -night, meals were perpetually breaking out all over the deck and, do -what one could, the feeding of those Teutons obtruded itself on one's -attention _ad nauseam_. I have a sketch, taken _sub rosa_, of an obese -and terrible _frau_, seated behind her rather smart officer husband at -one of the little tables. She had emptied her capacious mug of beer, and -was asking him for more, to which demand he was paying no attention. But -"Gustav! Gustav!" she persisted, poking him in the back with her empty -tankard. The "Gustav!" and the prods were getting too much to be ignored -by the long-suffering back, and she got her refill. What General Gordon -calls the "German visage" in contrast with the "Italian countenance" -never appeared so surprisingly ugly as it did to us that day on the -crowded deck of the _Queen of Prussia_. - -My Diary says: "At Mayence, Will and I, always on the look-out for -soldiers, had a good opportunity of seeing German infantry, as we -stopped here a long time and two line battalions crossed the bridge near -us. From the deck of the steamer the men looked big enough, but when -Will ran on shore and overhauled them to have a nearer look, I could -gauge their height by his six-foot-two. He showed a clear head and -shoulders above their _pickelhauben_. They were short, chiefly by reason -of the stumpy legs, which carry a long back--a very unbeautiful -arrangement." - -The next day we had a rather dull start from Cologne along a dismal -stretch of river as far as Duesseldorf. Killing time at Duesseldorf is not -lively. At the cafe where we had tea two young subalterns of hussars -came gaily in to have their coffee, and, just as they were sitting down -with a cavalry swagger, there came in a major of some other corps, and -the two immediately got up, saluted, and left the room. Here was -discipline! On our returning to the steamer Will found an epauletted -disciple of Bismarck in my place at supper. He told the epauletted one -of his mistake, much to the latter's manifest astonishment, who didn't -move. I suppose there came something into the British soldier's eye, -but, anyway, the sabre-rattler eventually got up and went elsewhere: -things felt electric. - -August 14th found us nearly all day on board the boat. "A very -interesting day, showing me a phase of Rhine scenery familiar to me in -Dutch pictures by the score, but never seen by me till then in reality. -The strong wind blew from the sea and tossed the green-yellow river into -tumultuous waves, over which came bounding the blunt-bowed craft from -Holland, taking merchandise up stream, and differing in no way from the -boats beloved of the old Dutch masters. On either side of the river were -low banks waving with rushes, and beyond stretched sunken marshy -meadows, and here and there quaint little towns glided by with windmills -whirring, and clusters of ships' masts appearing above the grey willows -and sedges. Dordrecht formed a perfect picture _a la_ Rembrandt, with a -host of windmills on the skyline, telling dark against the brightness, -at the confluence of the Maes and Rhine. Here Cuyp was born, the painter -of sunlit cows. Rotterdam pleased us greatly, and we strolled about in -the evening, coming upon the statue of Erasmus, which I place amongst -the most admirable statues I have seen. Rotterdam possesses in rich -abundance the peculiar charm of a seaport. A place of this kind has for -me a very strong attraction. The varied shipping, the bustle on land -and water, the colour, the noise, the mixture of human types, the bustle -of men and animals; all these things have always filled me with pleasure -at a great seaport." A visit to Holland ("the dustless" land, as my -husband called it truly), a revel amongst the Amsterdam galleries, then -Antwerp, where we embarked for Harwich, closed our trip. Invigorated and -restored, I set to work on an 8-foot canvas, whereon I painted a subject -which had been in my mind since childhood. - - - - -CHAPTER XIV - -QUEEN VICTORIA - - -It must have been at Villa de' Franchi that my father related to me a -tragedy which had profoundly moved England in the year 1842, and he -laughingly encouraged me to paint it when I should be grown up. The -Diary says: "We are now at war with poor Shere Ali, and this new Afghan -War revived for me the idea of the tragedy of '42, namely, Dr. Brydon -reaching Jellalabad, weary and fainting, on his dying horse, the sole -survivor, as was then thought, from our disaster in the Cabul passes.... -Here I am, on 1st March, 1879, not doing badly with the picture. I think -it is well painted, and I hope poetical. But I have had the darkest -winter I can remember, and lost nearly all January by the succession of -fogs which have accompanied this long frost. Will sailed under orders -for the Cape last Friday, February 28th. Our terrible defeat at Isandula -has caused the greatest commotion here, and regiments are being poured -out of England to Zululand in a fleet of transports; and now staff -officers are being selected for posts of great responsibility out there, -and amongst these is Colonel Butler, A.A.G. to General Clifford. - -"_March 16th, 1879._--I am beginning to show my picture. Scarcely -anything is talked of still but the fighting in Zululand and the -incapacity of that poor unfortunate Lord Chelmsford, whom Government -keeps telling they will continue to trust in his supreme post of -Commander-in-Chief, though he would evidently be thankful to be relieved -of an anxiety which his nervous temperament and susceptible nature must -make unbearable. What magnificent subjects for pictures the 'Defence of -Rorke's Drift' will furnish. When we get full details I shall be much -tempted to paint some episode of that courageous achievement which has -shed balm on the aching wound of Isandula. But the temptation will have -to be very strong to make me break my rule of not painting contemporary -subjects. I like to mature my themes. - -"Studio Sunday. At last, at last! After three years of disappointment -another Academy Studio Show has come, and that very brightly and -successfully. I have called the Afghan picture 'The Remnants of an -Army.' I had the Irish picture to show also, by permission of Whitehead, -''Listed for the Connaught Rangers.' From one till six to-day people -poured in. My studio was got up quite charmingly with curtains and -screens, and with wild beast skins disposed on the floor, and my arms -and armour furbished up. The two pictures came out well, and both -appeared to 'take.' However, not much value can be attached to to-day's -praises to my face. But I must not let Elmore's (R.A.) tribute to the -'Remnants of an Army' go unrecorded. 'It is impossible to look at that -man's face unmoved,' and his eyes were positively dimmed! I have heard -it said that no one was ever known to shed tears before a picture. On -reading a book, on hearing music, yes, but not on seeing a painting. -Well! that is not true, as I have proved more than once. I can't resist -telling here of a pathetic man who came to me to say, 'I had a wet eye -when I saw your picture!' He had one eye brown and the other blue, and -I almost asked, 'Which, the brown or the blue?' It is often so difficult -to know what to answer appreciatively to enthusiastic and unexpected -praise! - -"Varnishing Day. A long and cheery day in those rooms of happy memory at -Burlington House. Both my pictures are well hung and look well, and -congratulations flowed in." A few days later: "Alice and I to the -Private View at that fascinating Burlington House, so fascinating when -one's works are well placed! The Press is treating me very well. No -subsidised puffs _here_, so I enjoy these critiques. The Academy has -received me back with open arms, and the members are very nice to me, -some of them expressing their hope that I am pleased with the positions -of my pictures, and several of them speaking quite openly about their -determination to vote for me at the next election." - -The Fine Art Society bought the Afghan subject of which they published a -very faithful engraving, and it is now at the Tate Gallery. It is a -comfort to me to know that nearly all my principal works are either in -the keeping of my Sovereign or in public galleries, and not changing -hands among private collectors. - -I spent much of a cool, if rainy, summer at Edenbridge, in Kent, taking -a rose bower of a cottage there, my parents with me. There we heard in -the papers the dreadful news of the Prince Imperial's death. Then -followed a hasty line from my husband, written in a fury of indignation -from Natal, at the sacrifice of "the last of the Napoleons." When he -returned at long last from the deplorable Zulu War, followed by the -Sekukuni Campaign, the poor Empress Eugenie sent for him to Camden -Place, and during a long and most painful interview she asked for all -details, her tears flowing all the time, and in her open way letting all -her sorrow loose in paroxysms of grief. He had managed the funeral and -embarkation at Durban. The pall was covered with artificial violets -which he had asked the nuns there to make, at high pressure, and he -subsequently described to me the impressive sight of the _cortege_ as it -wound down the hill to the port off Durban, in the afternoon sunshine. - -At little Edenbridge I was busy making studies of any grey horses I -could find, as I had already begun my charge of the Scots Greys at -Waterloo at my studio. That charge I called "Scotland for Ever," and I -owe the subject to an impulse I received that season from the Private -View at the Grosvenor Gallery, now extinct. The Grosvenor was the home -of the "AEsthetes" of the period, whose sometimes unwholesome productions -preceded those of our modern "Impressionists." I felt myself getting -more and more annoyed while perambulating those rooms, and to such a -point of exasperation was I impelled that I fairly fled and, breathing -the honest air of Bond Street, took a hansom to my studio. There I -pinned a 7-foot sheet of brown paper on an old canvas and, with a piece -of charcoal and a piece of white chalk, flung the charge of "The Greys" -upon it. Dr. Pollard, who still looked in during my husband's absences -as he used to do in my maiden days to see that all was well with me, -found me in a surprising mood. - -On returning from my _villeggiatura_ in Kent with my parents I took up -again the painting of this charge, and one day the Keeper of the Queen's -Privy Purse, Sir Henry Ponsonby, called at the studio to ask me if I -would paint a picture for Her Majesty, the subject to be taken from a -war of her own reign. - -Of course, I said "Yes," and gladly welcomed the honour, but being a -slow worker, I saw that "Scotland for Ever!" must be put aside if the -Queen's picture was to be ready for the next Academy. - -Every one was still hurrahing over the defence of "Rorke's Drift" in -Zululand as though it had been a second Waterloo. My friends (not my -parents) urged and urged. I demurred, because it was against my -principles to paint a conflict. In the "Greys" the enemy was not shown, -here our men would have to be represented at grips with the foe. No, I -put that subject aside and proposed one that I felt and saw in my mind's -eye most vividly. I proposed this to the Queen--the finding of the dead -Prince Imperial and the bearing of his body from the scene of his heroic -death on the lances of the 17th Lancers. Her Majesty sent me word that -she approved, to my great relief. I began planning that most impressive -composition. Then I got a message to say the Queen thought it better not -to paint the subject. What was to be done? The Crimea was exhausted. -Afghanistan? But I was compelled by clamour to choose the popular -Rorke's Drift; so, characteristically, when I yielded I threw all my -energies into the undertaking. - -When the 24th Regiment, now the South Wales Borderers, who in that fight -saved Natal, came home, some of the principal heroes were first summoned -to Windsor and then sent on to me, and as soon as I could get down to -Portsmouth, where the 24th were quartered, I undertook to make all the -studies from life necessary for the big picture there. Nothing that the -officers of that regiment and the staff could possibly do to help me was -neglected. They even had a representation of the fight acted by the men -who took part in it, dressed in the uniforms they wore on that awful -night. Of course, the result was that I reproduced the event as nearly -to the life as possible, but from the soldier's point of view--I may say -the _private's_ point of view--not mine, as the principal witnesses were -from the ranks. To be as true to facts as possible I purposely withdrew -my own view of the thing. What caused the great difficulty I had to -grapple with was the fact that the whole mass of those fighting figures -was illuminated by firelight from the burning hospital. Firelight -transforms colours in an extraordinary way which you hardly realise till -you have to reproduce the thing in paint. - -The Zulus were a great difficulty. I had them in the composition in dark -masses, rather swallowed up in the shade, but for one salient figure -grasping a soldier's bayonet to twist it off the rifle, as was done by -many of those heroic savages. My excellent Dr. Pollard got me a sort of -Zulu as model from a show in London. It was unfortunate that a fog came -down the day he was brought to my studio, so that at one time I could -see nothing of my dusky savage but the whites of his eyes and his teeth. -I hope I may never have to go through such troubles again! - -When the picture was in its pale, shallow, early stage, the Queen, who -was deeply interested in its progress, wished to see it, and me. So to -Windsor I took it. The Ponsonbys escorted me to the Great Gallery, where -I beheld my production, looking its palest, meanest, and flattest, -installed on an easel, with two lords bending over it--one of them Lord -Beaconsfield. - -Exeunt the two lords, right, through a dark side door. Enter the Queen, -left. Prince Leopold, Duchess of Argyll, Princess Beatrice and others -grouped round the easel, centre. The Queen came up to me and placed her -plump little hand in mine after I had curtseyed, and I was counselled to -give Her Majesty the description of every figure. She spoke very kindly -in a very deep, guttural voice, and showed so much emotion that I -thought her all too kind, shrinking now and then as I spoke of the -wounds, etc. She told me how she had found my husband lying at Netley -Hospital after Ashanti, apparently near his end, and spoke with warmth -of his services in that campaign. She did not leave us until I had -explained every figure, even the most distant. She knew all by name, for -I had managed to show, in that scuffle, all the V.C.'s and other -conspicuous actors in the drama, the survivors having already been -presented to her. Majors Chard and Bromhead were sufficiently -recognisable in the centre, for I had had them both for their portraits. - -The Academicians put "The Defence of Rorke's Drift" in the Lecture Room -of unhappy "Quatre Bras" memory, no doubt for the same reason they gave -in the case of that picture. Yes, there was a great crush before it, but -I was not satisfied as to its effect in that poor light. It is now with -"The Roll Call" at St. James's Palace. I learnt later how very, very -pleased the Queen was with her commission, and that one day at Windsor, -wishing to show it to some friends, the twilight deepening, she showed -so much appreciation that she took a pair of candlesticks and held them -up at the full stretch of her arms to light the picture. I like to see -in my mind's eye that Rembrandtesque effect, with the principal figure -in the group our Queen. She wanted me to paint her two other subjects, -but, somehow, that never came off. - - - - -CHAPTER XV - -OFFICIAL LIFE--THE EAST - - -In 1880 my husband was offered the post of Adjutant-General at Plymouth, -and thither we went in time, with the pretty little infant Elizabeth -Frances, who came to fill the place of the sister who was gone. There -three more of our children were born. - -I took up "Scotland for Ever!" again, and in the bright light of our -house on the Hoe, with never a brown fog to hinder me, and with any -amount of grey army horses as models, I finished that work. It was -exhibited alone. It is quite unnecessary to burden my readers with the -reason of this. I was very sorry, as I expected rather a bright effect -with all those white and grey galloping _hippogriffes_ bounding out of -the Academy walls. There was a law suit in question, and there let the -matter rest. Messrs. Hildesheimer bought the copyright from me, and the -picture I sold, later on, to a private purchaser, who has presented it -to the city of Leeds. By a happy chance I had a supply of very brilliant -Spanish white (_blanco de plata_) for those horses, and though I have -ever since used the finest _blanc d'argent_, made in Paris, I don't -think the Spanish white has a rival. Perhaps its maker took the secret -with her to the Elysian Fields. It was an old widow of Seville. - -On May 11th of that year our beloved father died, comforted with the -heartening rites of the Church. He had been received not long before the -end. - -Life at "pleasant Plymouth" was very interesting in its way, and the -charm of the West Country found in me the heartiest appreciation. But -the climate is relaxing, and conducive to lotus eating. One seems to -live in a mental Devonshire cream of pleasant days spent in excursions -on land and water, trips up the many lovely rivers, or across the -beautiful Sound to various picnic rendezvous on the coast. There was -much festivity: balls in the winter and long excursions in summer, -frequently to the wilds of Dartmoor. Particularly pleasant were the -receptions at Government House under the auspices of the -Pakenhams--perfect hosts--and at the Admiralty, with its very -distinguished host and hostess, Sir Houston and Lady Stewart. Over -Dartmoor there spread the charm of the unbounded hospitality of the -Mortimer Colliers, who lived on the verge of the moor, and this was a -thing ever to be fondly remembered. No pleasanter house could offer one -a welcome than "Foxhams," and how hearty a welcome that always was! - -Riding was our principal pleasure. I never spent more enjoyable days in -the saddle elsewhere. My husband and I had a riding tour through -Cornwall--just the thing I liked most. But he was from time to time -called away. To Egypt in 1882, for Tel-el-Kebir; twice to Canada, the -second time on Government business; and in 1884 to the great Gordon -Relief Expedition, that terrible tragedy, made possible by the maddening -delays at home. I illustrated the book he wrote[9] on that colossal -enterprise, so wantonly turned into failure from quite feasible success. - -My next picture was on a smaller scale than its predecessors, and was -exhibited at the Academy in 1882. The Boer War, with its terrible Majuba -Hill disaster, had attracted all our sorrowful attention the year before -to South Africa, and I chose the attack on Laing's Nek for my subject. -The two Eton boys whom I show, Elwes and Monck, went forward (Elwes to -his death) with the cry of "_Floreat Etona!_" and I gave the picture -those words for its title. - -Yet another Lord Mayor's Banquet at the Mansion House, in honour of the -Royal Academicians, saw me late in 1881 a guest once more in those -gilded halls, this time by my husband's side. He responded for the Army, -and joined Arts and Arms in a bright little speech, composed -_impromptu_. "We were a highly honoured couple," I read in the Diary, -"and very glad that we came up. We must have sat at that festive board -over three hours. The music all through was exceedingly good and, -indeed, so was the fare. The homely tone of civic hospitality is so -characteristic, dressed as it is with gold and silver magnificence, -rivalling that of Royalty itself! One of the waiters tried to press me -to have a second helping of whitebait by whispering in my ear the -seductive words, '_Devilled_, ma'am.' It was a fiery edition of the -former recipe. I resisted." - -The departure of my husband with Lord Wolseley (then Sir Garnet) and -Staff for Egypt on August 5th, 1882, to suppress poor old Arabi and his -"rebels" was the most trying to me of all the many partings, because of -its dramatic setting. One bears up well on a crowded railway platform, -but when it comes to watching a ship putting off to sea, as I did that -time at Liverpool, to the sound of farewell cheering and "Auld Lang -Syne," one would sooner read of its pathos than suffer it in person. -Soldiers' wives in war time have to feel the sickening sensation on -waking some morning when news of a fight is expected of saying to -themselves, "I may be a widow." Not only have I gone through that, but -have had a second period of trial with two sons under fire in the World -War. - -I gave a long period of my precious time to making preparations for a -large picture representing Wolseley and his Staff reaching the bridge -across the canal at the close of the battle of Tel-el-Kebir, followed by -his Staff, wherein figured my husband. The latter had not been very -enthusiastic about the subject. To beat those poor _fellaheen_ soldiers -was not a matter for exultation, he said; and he told me that the -capture of Arabi's earthworks had been like "going through brown paper." -He thought the theme unworthy, and hoped I would drop the idea. But I -wouldn't; and, seeing me bent on it, he did all he could to help me to -realise the scene I had chosen. Lord Wolseley gave me a fidgety sitting -at their house in London, his wife trying to keep him quiet on her knee -like a good boy. I had crowds of Highlanders to represent, and went in -for the minutest rendering of the equipment then in use. Well, I never -was so long over a work. Depend upon it, if you do not "see" the thing -vividly before you begin, but have to build it up as you go along, the -picture will not be one of your best. Nor was this one! It was exhibited -in the Academy of 1885, and had a moderate success. It was well -engraved. - -In the September of 1884 my husband left for the Gordon Expedition, -having finished his work of getting boats ready for the cataracts, boats -to carry the whole Army. In the following June he came home on leave, -well in health, in spite of rending wear and tear, but deeply hurt at -the failure of what might have been one of the greatest campaigns in -modern history. How he had urged and urged, and fumed at the delays! He -told me the campaign was lost _three times over_. Gordon was simply -sacrificed to ineptitude in high quarters at home. In this connection, I -ask, can praise be too great for the British rank and file who did -_their_ best in this unparalleled effort? You saw Lifeguardsmen plying -their oars in the boats, oars they had never handled before this call; -marines mounted on camels--more than "horse-marines," as a camel in his -movements is five horses rolled into one; everything he was called upon -to do the British soldier did to the best of his capacity. - -We spent most of my husband's precious leave in Glencar. What better -haven to come to from the feverish toil on river and in desert, ending -in bitter disappointment? We went to Court functions, also. How these -functions amused me, and how I revelled in their colour, in their -variety of types brought together, all these guests in national uniform -or costume. And I must be allowed to add how proud I was of my -six-foot-two soldier in all his splendour. The Queen's aide-de-camp -uniform, which he wore at the time of which I am writing, till he was -promoted major-general, was particularly well designed, both for "dress" -and "undress." I frankly own I loved these Court receptions. No, I was -never bored by them, I am thankful to say; and I don't believe any woman -is who has the luck to go there, whatever she may say. - - - - -CHAPTER XVI - -TO THE EAST - - -I followed my husband to Egypt, where he had returned, in command at -Wady Halfa on the expiration of his leave, on November 14th, 1885. I -went with our eldest little boy and girl. A new experience for me--the -East! One of my longings in childhood was to see the East. There it was -for me. - -Cairo in 1885 still retained much of its Oriental aspect in the European -quarter. (I don't suppose the old, true Cairo will ever change.) I was -just in time. The Shepheard's Hotel of that day had a terrace in front -of it where we used to sit and watch the life of the street below, an -occupation very pleasing to myself. The building was overrun with a -wealth of flowering creepers of all sorts of loveliness, and surrounded -with a garden. When next we visited Cairo the creepers were being torn -down, and the terrace demolished. Then a huge hotel was run up in -avaricious haste to reap the next season's harvest from the thronging -visitors, and now stands flush with the street to echo the trams. - -It is difficult for me now to revive in memory the exquisite surprise I -felt when first I saw the life of the East. I could hardly believe the -thing was real, everyday life. Though I have often returned to Egypt -since, that first-time feeling never was renewed, though my enjoyment of -Oriental beauty and picturesqueness never, I am glad to say, faded in -the least. Oh, you who enjoy the zest of life, be thankful that you -possess it! It is a thing not to be acquired, but to be born with. I -think artists keep it the longest, for it enters the heart by the eye. -The long letters I wrote to my mother on the spot and at the moment I -incorporated later in the little book already referred to. Oh, the -pleasures of memory, streaked with sadness though they must be, and with -ugly things of all kinds, too! Still, how intensely precious a -possession they are when _weeded_. To me, after Italy and, of course, -the Holy Land, give me the Nile. - -I and the children remained in Cairo till I got my husband's message -from the front that the way was clear enough for our journey as far as -Luxor. There I and the children remained until the fight at Giniss was -won and all danger was over further up stream. At Luxor began the most -enjoyable of all modes of travel--by houseboat. The _dahabiyeh Fostat_ -was sent down from Wady Halfa to take us up to Assouan, where my husband -awaited us. We had reached Luxor from Cairo by the commonplace post -boat. The Assouan Dam was, of course, not in existence, and our -_dahabiyeh_ had to be hauled in the old way through the first cataract, -while we transferred ourselves to another _dahabiyeh_ moored off the now -submerged island of Philae. - -This cut-and-dried chronicle includes one of the most enchanting -experiences of my life. Above Philae we entered Nubia, before whose -intensified colouring the lower desert pales. Time being very precious -to my husband, our slow, dreamy sailing houseboat had to be towed by a -little steamer for the rest of the way to Wady Halfa, where we lived -till the heat of March warned us that I and the children must prudently -go into northern coolness. And to Plymouth we returned, leaving the -General to drag out the burning summer at Wady Halfa in such heat as I -never had had to suffer. While at Halfa I made many sketches in oil for -my picture, "A Desert Grave," out in the desert across the river. It is -very trying painting in the desert on account of the wind, which blows -the sand perpetually into your eyes. With that and the glare, I took two -inflamed eyes back with me to Europe. The picture should have been more -poetical than it turned out to be, and I wish I could repaint it now. It -was well placed at the Academy. The Upper Nile had these graves of -British officers and men all along its banks during that terrible toll -taken in the course of the Gordon Expedition and after, some in single -loneliness, far apart, and some in twos and threes. These graves had to -be made exactly in the same way as those of the enemy, lest a cross or -some other Christian mark should invite desecration. - -The World War has thrown a dreadful cloud between us and those old war -days, but the cloud in time will spread out thinner and let us look -through to those past times. - -My next experience was Brittany. Thither we went for a rest, and to give -the children the habit of talking French. At Dinan, in an old farmhouse, -we ruralised amidst orchards and amongst the Breton peasantry. Very nice -and quiet and healthy. There our youngest boy was born, Martin William, -who was immediately inscribed on the army books as liable for service in -the French Army if he reached the age of eighteen on French soil. During -that part of our stay at Dinan I painted the 24th Dragoons, who were -stationed there, leaving the town by the old Porte St. Malo for the -front, a great crowd of people seeing them off. I had mounted dragoons -and peasants for the asking as models. - -My husband was knighted--K.C.B.--in this interval, at Windsor. We went -to live in Ireland from Dinan, in 1888, under the Wicklow Mountains, -where the children continued their healthy country life in its fulness. -The picture I had painted of the departing dragoons went to the Academy -in 1889, and in 1890 I exhibited "An Eviction in Ireland," which Lord -Salisbury was pleased to be facetious about in his speech at the -banquet, remarking on the "breezy beauty" of the landscape, which almost -made him wish he could take part in an eviction himself. How like a -Cecil! - -The 'eighties had seen our Government do some dreadful things in the way -of evictions in Ireland. Being at Glendalough at the end of that decade, -and hearing one day that an eviction was to take place some nine miles -distant from where we were staying for my husband's shooting, I got an -outside car and drove off to the scene, armed with my paints. I met the -police returning from their distasteful "job," armed to the teeth and -very flushed. On getting there I found the ruins of the cabin -smouldering, the ground quite hot under my feet, and I set up my easel -there. The evicted woman came to search amongst the ashes of her home to -try and find some of her belongings intact. She was very philosophical, -and did not rise to the level of my indignation as an ardent English -sympathiser. However, I studied her well, and on returning home at -Delgany I set up the big picture which commemorates a typical eviction -in the black 'eighties. I seldom can say I am pleased with my work when -done, but I _am_ complacent about this picture; it has the true Irish -atmosphere, and I was glad to turn out that landscape successfully which -I had made all my studies for, on the spot, at Glendalough. What storms -of wind and rain, and what dazzling sunbursts I struggled in, one day -the paints being blown out of my box and nearly whirled into the lake -far below my mountain perch! My canvas, acting like a sail, once nearly -sent me down there too. I did not see this picture at all at the -Academy, but I am very certain it cannot have been very "popular" in -England. Before it was finished my husband was appointed to the command -at Alexandria, and as soon as I had packed off the "Eviction," I -followed, on March 24th, and saw again the fascinating East. - -My journey took me _via_ Venice, where the P.& O. boat _Hydaspes_ was -waiting. Can any journey to Egypt be more charming than this one, right -across Italy? - -Oh! you who do not think a journey a mere means of getting to your -destination as quickly as possible, say, if you have taken the -Milan-Verona-Padua line, is there anything in all Italy to surpass that -burst on the view of the Lago di Garda after you emerge from the Lonato -tunnel? On a blue day, say in spring? If you have not gone that way yet, -I beg you to be on the look-out on your left when you do go. This -wonderful surprise is suddenly revealed, and almost as quickly lost. -Waste not a second. I put up at the "Angleterre" at Venice, on the Riva, -because from there one sees the lagunes and glimpses of the open sea -beyond, and the air is open and fresh. - -"_March 28th._--Took gondola for the big P. & O. S.S. which is to be my -home for the next six days. I at once saw the ship was one of their -smartest boats, and all looked very festive on board. Luncheon was -served immediately after my arrival, and I found a bright company -thereat assembled, with Sir Henry and Lady Layard at their head; some -come to see friends off and others to go on. We amalgamated very -pleasantly, and great was the waving of handkerchiefs as we slowly -steamed past the Dogana and the Riva, our returning friends having gone -on shore in gondolas whose sable sides were hidden in brilliant -draperies. The sashes of the gondoliers' liveries flashed in coloured -silks and gold fringes; the sea sparkled. I rejoiced. The Montalba girls -gave us a salvo of pocket handkerchiefs from their balcony on the -Giudecca. What a gay scene! Lady Layard, on leaving, introduced Mrs. H. -M., who was to join her husband at Brindisi for a long trip in the big -liner from England, and I was very happy at the prospect of her pleasant -and intellectual companionship thus far." - -And so we passed out into the early night on the dim Adriatic, after a -sunset farewell to Venice, which remains to me as one of the tenderest -visions of the past. That voyage to Alexandria is more enjoyable, given -fair weather, than most voyages, because one is hardly ever out of sight -of land, and such classic land, too! The Ionian Islands, "Morea's -Hills," Candia. But what a pleasure it is to see on the day before the -arrival the signs that the landing is near at hand. The General in -Command will be waiting at sunrise on the landing stage, perhaps the -light catching the gold lace on his cap, appearing above the turbans of -the native crowd. Of course every one who has been to Egypt knows the -feeling of disappointment at the first sight of its shores, low-lying -and fringed with those incongruous windmills which the Great Napoleon -vainly planted there to teach the natives how better to make flour. In -vain. And so were his wheelbarrows. The natives preferred carrying the -mud in their hands. And the city, how it fails to give you the Oriental -impression you are longing for, with its pseudo-Italian architecture, -its hard paved streets, and dusty boulevards and squares. Government -House on the Boulevard de Ramleh was comfortable, roomy and airy, but I -missed the imagined garden and palm trees of the Cairo official -residence. - -"_April 3rd._--We have a view of Cleopatra's Tomb (so called) to the -right, jutting out into the intensely blue sea, but the other arm of the -bay (the old Roman harbour) to our left, covered with native houses and -minarets, is partly hidden by an abomination which hurts me to -exasperation, one of those amorphous buildings of tenth-rate Italian -vulgarity and dreariness which are being run up here in such quantities, -and rears its gaunt expanse close behind this house. To cap this -erection it has received the title of 'Bombay Castle.' Never mind, I -shall soon, in my happy way, cease to notice what I don't like to see, -and shall enjoy all that is left here of the original East and its -fascinating barbaric beauty. Will took me for a most interesting drive, -first to Ras-el-Tin, during which we threaded a conglomeration of East -and West which was bewildering. There were nightmarish Italian -'_palazzi_' loaded with cheap, bluntly-moulded stucco; glaring streets, -cafes, dusty gardens, over-dressed Jewish and Levantine women driving -about in exaggerated hats, frocks and figures; and there also appeared -the dark narrow bazaars and original streets, the latticed windows, the -finely-coloured robes of the natives, the weird goats, the wolfish dogs, -straying about in all directions. Mounds of rubbish everywhere; some -only the leavings of newly-built houses, some the remains of the -bombardment's havoc, others the dust of a once beautiful city whose -loveliness in old Roman times must have been supreme. - -"Only here and there was I reminded of the charm of Cairo--a tree by a -yellow wall, a group of natives eating sugar cane, a water-seller with -his tinkling brass cups and a rose behind his ear, and so on. We then -had a really enjoyable drive along the Mahmoudieh Canal, which was balm -to my mind and eyes. All along the placid water on the opposite bank ran -Arab villages with their accompaniments of palms, buffaloes, goats, -water jars, native men and women in scriptural robes; water wheels; -square-shaped, almost window-less mud dwellings, so appropriate under -that intense light. On our bank were the remnants of Pashadom in the -shape of gimcrack palaces closed and let go to ruin, on account of -fashion having betaken itself to the suburb of Ramleh. These dwellings -were, however, so hidden in deep tropical gardens of great and rich -beauty that they did not offend. - -"Beyond the Arab villages on the other bank appeared Lake Mareotis, and -there was a poetical feeling about all that region. It was so strange to -have on one side of a narrow band of water old Egypt and the life of the -East going on just as it has been for ages past, and on the other the -ephemeral tokens of the sham and fleeting life of to-day, and this all -the way along a drive of some two miles. This is the fashionable drive, -and to see young Egypt on horseback, and old Jewry in carriages, passing -and repassing up and down this cosmopolitan Rotten Row is decidedly -trying. My admired friends, the running syces, though, redeem the thing -to me. Their dress is one of the most perfect in shape, colour and -material ever devised. The air was rich with the scent of strange -flowers, some of which billowed over entrance gates in magnificent -purple masses." - -I must be excused for having shown irritation in my Diary at starting. I -soon adapted myself to the entourage, and I hope I "did my manners" as -became my official responsibilities. I liked the Greeks best of -all--nay, I got very fond of these handsome, sunny people. - -It was a curiously cosmopolitan society, and I, who am never good at -remembering the little feuds that are always simmering in this kind of -mixed company, must have sometimes made mistakes. I heard a Greek woman, -who had dined with us the previous evening, informing her friends in a -voice fraught with meaning, _"Imaginez, hier au soir chez le General -Monsieur Gariopulo a donne le bras a Madame Buzzato!"_ The recipients of -this information were filled with mirth. What _had_ I done in pairing -off these two for the procession to dinner? - -The British were entrenched at Ramleh. The little stations on the -railway there gave me quite a turn at first sight. One was "Bulkley," -the next "Fleming," then "Sydney O. Schutz," and finally San Stefano at -railhead, and a casino with a corrugated iron roof under that scorching -sun. Oh, that I should see such a thing in Egypt! Cheek by jowl with the -little villas one saw weird Bedouin tents and wild Arabs and their -animals, carrying on their existence as if the Briton had never come -there. - -The incongruities of Alexandria became to me positively enjoyable; and -the desert air, as ever, was life-giving. My little Syrian horse, -"Minnow," carried me many a mile alongside my husband's charger, over -that pleasant desert sand. But an occasional khamseen wind gave me a -taste of the disagreeable phase of Egyptian weather. I name, with the -vivid recollection of the khamseen's irritating qualities, the -experience of paying calls (in a nice toilette) under its suffocating -puffs. And how the flies swarm; how they settle in black masses on the -sweetmeats sold in the streets, and hang in tassels from the native -children's eyes. Oh, yes, there is a seamy side to all things, but it -isn't my way to turn it up more than is necessary. Here may follow a bit -of Diary: - -"_May 22nd._--We had a memorable picnic at Rosetta to-day, with thirty -of the English colony. I had long wished to visit this ancient city, -brick-built and half deserted, a once opulent place, but now mournful in -its decay. I longed to see old Nile once more. We chartered a special -train and left Moharram Bey Station at 8 a.m. I was much pleased with -the seaside desert and the effects of mirage over Aboukir Bay. The -ancient town of Edkou struck me very much. It was built of the small -brown Rosetta brick, and was placed on a hill, giving it a different -aspect from the usual Arab pale-walled villages which are usually built -on level ground. It had thus a peculiar character. Shortly before -reaching Rosetta the land becomes richly cultivated. There is a subtle -beauty about the cultivated regions of this fascinating land of Egypt -which I feel very much. It is the beauty of abundance and richness as -well as of vivid colour. - -"At Rosetta dense crowds of natives awaited us and some police were -detailed to escort us through the town. I heard some of the women of our -party wishing they could pick the blue tiles off the minarets, but for -my part I prefer them under their lovely sky and sunshine, rather than -ornamenting mantelpieces in a Kensington fog. A little _musharabieh_ -lattice is still left here in the windows and has not yet been taken to -grace the British drawing-rooms of Ramleh. We strolled about the bazaars -and into the old ramshackle mosques, and, altogether, exhausted the -sights. Everywhere in Rosetta you see beautiful little Corinthian marble -columns incorporated with the Arab buildings, and supporting the -ceilings and pulpits of the mosques. They are daubed over with red -plaster. Very often a rich Corinthian capital is used as a base to a -pillar by being turned upside down, so that the shaft, crowned with its -own capital, possesses two--one at each end--an arrangement evidently -satisfactory to the barbarian Arabs who succeeded the classic builders -of the old city. Almost every angle of a house has a Greek column acting -as corner stone. But the brown brickwork is very dismal, and but for the -vivid colours of the people's dresses the monotony of tone would be -displeasing. This is Bairam, and the people during the three days' feast -succeeding the dismal Ramadan Fast are in their most radiant dresses, -and revelry and feasting are going on everywhere. Such a mass of moving -colour as was the market place of Rosetta to-day these eyes, that have -seen so much, never looked upon before. - -"At last, when we had climbed into enough mosques and poked about into -houses, and through all the bazaars (the fish bazaar was trying), we -went down to the landing stage and took boat for the trysting place, -about a mile up the broad, wind-lashed Nile. Will and the Bishop of -Clifton, sole remaining straggler from the late pilgrimage to the Holy -Land, and half our party had gone on before us; and, after a quick sail -along the palm-fringed bank, we arrived at the pretty landing place -chosen for our picnic. We found a tent pitched and the servants busy -laying the cloth under a dense sycamore, close to an old mosque whose -onion-shaped dome and Arab minaret gave me great pleasure as we came in -sight of them. I was impatient to make a sketch. I lost no time, and -went off and established myself in a palm grove with my water colours. -The usual Egyptian drawbacks, however, were there--flies, and puffs of -sand blown into one's eyes and powdering one's paints. On the Mahmoudieh -Canal I am exempt from the sand nuisance, and nothing can be pleasanter -than my experience there, sitting in an open carriage with the hood up, -and not a soul to bother me. - -"Our return to Rosetta was lively. As we were then going against the -wind, we had to be towed from the shore, and it was very interesting to -watch the agility of our crew dodging in and out of the boats moored -under the bank and deftly disengaging the tow-rope from the spars and -rigging of these vessels. A tall Circassian _effendi_ of police cantered -on his little Arab along the bank to see that all went well with us. The -other half of our party chose to sail and progress by laborious tacking -from one side of the wide river to the other, and arrived long after we -did. We all met at the house of the Syrian postmaster, where he and his -pretty little wife received us with native politeness, and gave us -coffee and sweets. Our return journey was most pleasant, and we got to -Alexandria at 8 p.m. Twelve charming hours. - -"_May 24th._--The Queen's birthday. Trooping of the colour at 5 p.m. on -the Moharrem Bey Ground. Most successful. Will, mounted on a powerful -chestnut, did look a commanding figure as he raised his plumed helmet -and led the ringing cheers for the Queen which brought the pretty -ceremony to a close. The sun was near setting behind the height of -Komeldik, and lit up the roses in the men's helmets and garlanded round -the standard. In the evening a dull and solemn dinner to the heads of -departments and their wives. A difficult function. We had the band of -the Suffolks playing outside the windows, which were wide open on the -sea. I went out sketching in the morning, very early. I should have been -at my post all day on such an occasion, I confess. Will said I was like -Nero, fiddling while Rome was burning. - -"_May 29th._--The Mediterranean Fleet is here. Great interchange of -cards, firing of salutes, etc., etc. All very ceremonious, but -productive of picturesqueness and colour and effect, so I like it very -much. The Khedive Tewfik, too, has arrived, with the Khediviah, for the -hot season from Cairo. Will, of course, had to be present at the station -this morning for the reception of our puppet, and it was not nice to see -the Union Jack down in the dust as the guard of honour of the Suffolks -gave the salute. Our dinner to-night was to the admiral and officers of -the newly-arrived British squadron. - -"_June 2nd._--To the Khediviah's first reception at the harem of the -Ras-el-Tin Palace. I had two Englishwomen to present, rather an -unmanageable pair, as seniority appeared to be claimed erroneously at -the last moment by the junior. This reception has become a most dull -affair now that Oriental ways are done away with. Dancing girls no -longer amuse the guests, nor handmaidens cater to them with sweetmeats -during the audience, and there is nothing left but absolute emptiness. -The Vice-Reine sits, in European dress, on a divan at the end of a vast -hall, and the visitors sit in a semi-circle before her on hard European -chairs reflected in a polished _parquet_, speaking to each other in -whispers and furtively sipping coffee. She addresses a few remarks to -those nearest her, and the pauses are articulated by the click of the -ever-moving fans of the assembly. The ladies-in-waiting and girl slaves -move about in a mooning way in the funniest frocks, supposed to be -European, but some of them absolutely frumpish. Melancholy eunuchs of -the bluest black, in glossy frock coats, rise and bow as one passes -along the passages to or from the presence, and it is a relief to get -out through the jealously-walled garden into the outer world. - -"I find it difficult to converse in a harem, being so bad at small talk. -I upset the Vice-Reine's equanimity by telling her (which was quite -true) that I had heard she was taking lessons in painting. '_Moi, -madame?!! Oh! je n'aurais pas le courage!_' It was as bad as when I told -her, in Cairo, how much I liked poking about the bazaars. '_Vous allez -dans les bazaars, madame?!!_' So I relapsed into talking of illnesses, -which subject I have always found touches the proper note in a harem. -They say the Vice-Reine delights in these audiences, as they are -amongst the great events of her days. She is a beautiful woman, a -Circassian, and of lovely whiteness. - -"Finished the delicate sketch of the loveliest bit of the canal, where -the pink minaret and the black cypress are. I wish I could do just one -more reach of that lovely waterway before I leave! There is a particular -group of oleanders nodding with heavy pink blossom by the water's edge -against a soft blurred background of tamarisk, where women and girls in -dark blue, brilliant orange, and rose-coloured robes come down to fetch -water in their amphorae. There is another reach lined for the whole -length of the picture with tall waving canebrakes, above whose tender -green tops appears the delicate distance of the lagoons of Mareotis; -there is--but ah! each bend of that canal reveals fresh beauties, and -often as Will has driven me there, I am as eager as ever to miss no -point in the lovely sequence. - -"_June 14th._--All my days now I am sketching more continuously, as the -arduous work of paying calls has relaxed greatly. This evening we drove -again far beyond Ramleh on the old route followed by Napoleon to reach -Aboukir, and I finished the sketch there." - -And so on, till my departure a few days later. I had wisely left my oils -at home at Delgany, and thus got together a much larger number of -subjects, the handier medium of water-colour being better suited to the -official life I had to attend to. - - - - -CHAPTER XVII - -MORE OF THE EAST - - -My return voyage was made on board the Messageries boat to Marseilles. -This gave me the Straits of Messina as well as those of Bonifacio. On -passing Ajaccio I don't think a single French passenger gave a thought -to Napoleon. I was intent on taking in every detail of that place, as -far as I could see it through a morning mist. Corsica looked very grand, -crowned with great snow-capped mountains. - -I lost no time in getting home to the children, and passed the rest of -the summer in the green loveliness of Ireland, returning to Egypt, in -the following October, _via_ Venice again. Every soldier's wife knows -what it is to be torn in two between the husband far away abroad and the -children one must leave at home. The trial is great, no doubt of it. -Then there is this perplexity: whether it would be well to take one of -the children with one and risk the dangers of the journey and the -climate at the other end. Parents pay heavily for our far-flung Empire! - -On the morning of my departure from Venice I woke to the call of the -sunbeams pouring into my room, and, behold, as I went to the window, the -dome of the "Salute" taking the salute, as we say in the Army, of the -sunrise! And the Dogana's gilded globe responding, too. Joy! our start -at least will be calm. Till midday I had Venice to myself, and I could -stroll about the Piazza and little streets, and recollect myself in -peaceful meditation in St. Mark's. What delicate loveliness is that of -Venice! Those russet reds and creamy whites and tender yellows, and here -and there bits of deep indigo blue to give emphasis to the colour -scheme. And that tender opalesque sky, and the gilded statues on domes -and towers, and the rich mosaics twinkling in the hazy light! These -things make one feel a love for Venice which is full of gratitude for so -beautiful a thing. - -At 12.30 I took gondola and was rowed to my old friend the _Hydaspes_ -lying in the Giudecca, and was just in time to sit down to a truly -Hydaspian luncheon, which was crowded. To my indescribable relief the -captain told me I should have a cabin all to myself as last time. At two -o'clock we cast off, and that effective passage all along the front of -the city was again made which so impressed me the preceding spring; and -then we turned off seawards, winding through the channel marked out by -those white posts with black heads which, even in their humble way, are -so harmonious in tone and are beloved by painters, carrying out as they -do the whole artistic scheme. Every fishing boat we met or overtook gave -one a study of harmonies. Now it was an orange sail with a red upper -corner in soft sunlight against the flat blue-purple of the distant -mountains and the vivid green of the Lido; now, composing with a line of -rosy, snowy mountain tops that lay like massive clouds on the horizon, -would rise a pale cool grey-white sail, well in the foreground, with its -upper part tinted a soft mouse-grey and its lower border deep -terra-cotta red. The sea, pale blue; the sky thinly veiled with clouds -of a rosy dove-grey. Nowhere does one see such delicacy of colouring as -here. Then the market boats looked well, full of vegetables, whose cool -green came just where it should for the completion of the colour study. -To think that the Local Board, or whatever those modern vulgarians are -called, of Venice are advocating the complete suppression of those -coloured sails, to be replaced by plain white ones all round. Hands off, -_mascalzoni!_ All this enchantment gradually faded away in the mists of -evening and of distance, and we were soon well out to sea. - -"_Sunday._--At 9 a.m. Brindisi in bright, low sunshine," says the Diary. -"To Missa Cantata; much pleasant strolling. What animation all day with -the loading and unloading, the coming and going of passengers, the cries -and laughter of the population thronging the quays! The _Britannia_ from -London was already in, and I watched the transfer of my heavy luggage -from her to the _Hydaspes_ with a hawk's eye. I had a genuine compliment -on landing paid to my accent. Those pests, the little beggar boys, who -hang on to the English and can't be shaken off, attacked me at first -till I turned on them and shouted, '_Via, birrrrichini!_' One of them -pulled the others away: 'Come away, don't you see she is not English!' -The Italians still think _Gl' Inglesi_ are all millionaires and made of -_scudi_. - -"_November 12th._--What indescribable joy this afternoon to see the crew -busy with the preparations for our arrival to-morrow morning! - -"_November 13th._--Of course I began to get ready at 3 a.m. and peer out -of the porthole on the waste of starlit waters as I felt the ship -stopping off the distant lighthouse. We lay to a long time waiting for -the dawn before proceeding to enter the harbour. The sun rose behind the -city just as we turned into the port. I looked towards the distant -landing stage. Half a mile off, with my wonderful sight, I saw Will, -though the sun was right in my eyes. I knew him not only by his height, -but by the shining gold band round his cap. We were a long time coming -in and swinging round alongside, and, before the gangway was well down, -Will sprang on to it and, in spite of the warning shouts of the sailors, -was the first to board the _Hydaspes_." - -I was back in Egypt; to be there once more was bliss. The now brimming -Mahmoudieh saw me haunting it again; the predominating red of the -flowering trees and creepers that I noted before had made place for -enchanting variations of yellow, and all the vegetation had deepened. -The heat was great at first. I was particularly struck by the enhanced -beauty of the date palms, whose golden and deep purple fruit now hung in -clusters under the graceful branches. But all too soon came a good deal -of rain, to my indignation. Rain in Egypt! The natives say we have -brought it with us. I never saw any in Cairo nor upstream. - -The Governor of the city had invited us to make use of a little -_dahabiyeh_, the _Rose_, for a cruise on the Lower Nile, and on November -20th we started. My husband had already welcomed on their arrival, in a -worthy manner, the officers of the French fleet, with whom he was in -perfect sympathy; but my Diary records the happy necessity for our -departure by the scheduled time on board the _Rose_ on that very -November 20th. That morning the German squadron arrived and the thunder -of its guns gave us an unintentional send-off! They were duly honoured, -of course, but the General himself was away. - -It was a nine days' cruise to the mouth of the Nile and back. Quite a -different reading of the Nile from the one I have recorded in my letters -to my mother, and reproduced in "From Sketch Book and Diary." Very few -tourists or even serious travellers have come so far down, so that one -is less afraid of being forestalled by abler writers in recording one's -impressions there. It was pretty to see the big Turkish flag fluttering -at our helm, and a beautifully disproportionate pennon streaming in -crimson magnificence from the point of the little vessel's curved -felucca spar. But our first days were damping: "_November 22nd._--Oh, -the rain! Alas! that I should know Egypt under such deluges, and see in -this land the deepest, ugliest mud in the world. We had to moor off the -residence of the Bey, to whom this _dahabiyeh_ belongs, last night, as -we wished to pay him our respects and tender him our thanks this -morning. He made us stay to luncheon, and a very excellent Arab repast -it was. I got on well with him as he spoke excellent French, but his -mother! Oh! it was heavy, as she could only talk Turkish, and my -translated remarks didn't even get a smile out of her. I must say the -Mohammedan women are deadly. - -"We proceeded on our voyage very late in the day, on account of this -visit which common civility made necessary. The weather brightened up at -sunset and nothing more weird have I ever seen than the mud villages, -cemeteries, lonely tombs, goats, buffaloes and wild human beings that -loomed on the banks as we glided by, brown and black against that sky -full of racing clouds that seemed red-hot from the great fiery globe -that had just sunk below the palm-fringed horizon. These canal banks -might give many people the horrors. I certainly think them in this -weather the most uncanny bits of manipulated nature I have ever seen. I -was fortunate in getting down in colour such a telling thing, a goatherd -in a Bedouin's burnous, which was wildly flapping in the hot wind -against the red glow in the west, driving a herd of those goats I find -so effective, with their long, pendant ears, and kids skipping in impish -gambols in front. 'Apocalyptic' apparition, caught, as we left it -astern, in that portentous gloaming! I shall make something of this. As -to the inhabitants of those regions, to contemplate their life is too -depressing. As darkness comes on you see them creeping into their -unlighted mud hovels like their animals. On the Upper Nile, at least, -the fellaheen have glorious air, the sun, the clean, dry sand, but here -in that mud----! - -"_November 23rd_.--No more rain. At Atfeh we left the canal at last, by -a lock, and I gave a sigh of relief and contentment, for we were on the -broad bosom of Old Nile. After a delay at this mud town to buy -provisions we pushed out into the current and with eight immensely long -'sweeps' (the wind was against sailing) we made a good run to Rosetta, -on whose mud bank we thumped by the light of a pale moon. The rhythmic -sound of those splashing oars and of the chant of the oarsmen in the -minor key, with barbaric 'intervals' unknown to our music, continued to -echo in my ears--it all seemed wild and strange and haunting. - -"_November 24th_.--Began this morning a sketch of Rosetta to finish on -our return from rounding up our outward voyage at the western mouth of -the great river where we saw it emerge into a very desolate, grey -Mediterranean. I may now say I have a very good idea of the mighty -river for upward of a thousand miles of its course--a good bit further, -both below and above stream, than the authoress of 'A Thousand Miles up -the Nile' knew it, whom in my early days I longed to emulate and, if -possible, surpass! An old-fashioned book, now, I suppose, but all the -more interesting for that. Furling sail, for the wind had been fair -to-day, we turned and were towed back to Fort St. Julian, where we -moored for the night. - -"_November 25th_.--After a nice little sketch of the Fort St. Julian, -celebrated in Napoleonic annals, we started off, and reached Rosetta in -good time, so that I was able most satisfactorily to finish my large -water-colour of the place. I was rather bothered where I sat at the -water's edge by the small boys and a very persistent pelican, which kept -flying from the river into the fish market and returning with stolen -fish, to souse them in the water before filling its pouch, in time to -avoid capture by the pursuing brats. - -"_November 26th_.--From Rosetta we glided pleasantly to Metubis, one of -the many shining cities, as seen from afar, that become heaps of squalid -dwellings when viewed at close quarters. But the minarets of those -phantom cities remain erect in all their beauty, and this city in -particular was transfigured by the most magnificent sunset I have ever -seen, even here." - -The wild town of Syndioor was our mooring place for the next night, and -at sunrise we were off homewards. Syndioor and the opposite city of -Deyrout were veiled in a soft mist, out of which rose their tall -minarets in stately beauty, radiant in the level light. The effect on -the mind of these ruined places, once magnificent centres of commerce -and luxury, is quite extraordinary. They are now, all of them, -derelicts. And so in time we slipped back into the canal, landing under -the oleanders of our starting place. The crew kissed hands, the _reis_ -made his obeisance, and we returned to the hard stones and rattle of the -Boulevard de Ramleh, refreshed. The Germans were gone. - -Balls, picnics, gymkhanas and dinners were varied by intervals of -water-colour sketching in the desert. One picnic, out at Mex, to the -west of Alexandria, was distinguished by a great camel ride we all had -on the soft-paced, mouse-coloured mounts of the Camel Corps, the -Englishwomen looking so nice in their well-cut riding habits, sitting -easily on their tall steeds. I managed to secure several sketches that -day of the men and camels of the corps, and have one sketch of ourselves -starting for our turn in the desert. Our ponies took us back home. The -sort of day I liked. As I record, the completeness of my enjoyment was -caused by my having been able to put some useful work in, as usual. I -had a Camel Corps picture _in petto_ at this time. - -"_February 13th_, 1891.--We had the Duke of Cambridge to luncheon. He -arrived yesterday on board the _Surprise_ from Malta, and Will, of -course, received him officially, but not royally, as he is travelling -incog., and he came here to tea. To-day we had a large party to meet -him, and a very genial luncheon it was, not to say rollicking. The day -was exquisite, and out of the open windows the sea sparkled, blue and -calm. H.R.H. seemed to me rather feeble, but in the best of humours; a -wonderful old man to come to Egypt for the first time at seventy-two, -braving this burning sun and with such a high colour to begin with! One -felt as though one was talking to George III. to hear the 'What, what, -what? Who, who, who? Why, why, why?' Col. Lane, one of his suite, said -he had never seen him in better spirits. I was gratified at his praise -of our cook--very loud praise, literally, as he is not only rather deaf -himself, but speaks to people as though they also were a 'little hard of -hearing.' 'Very good cook, my dear' (to me). 'Very good cook, Butler' -(across the table to Will). 'Very good cook, eh, Sykes?' (very loud to -Christopher Sykes, further off). 'You are a _gourmet_, you know better -about these things than I do, eh?' C. S.: 'I ought to have learnt -something about it at Gloucester House, sir!' H.R.H. (to me): 'Your -health, my dear.' 'Butler, your very good health!' Aside to me: 'What's -the Consul's name?' I: 'Sir Charles Cookson.' 'Sir Charles, your -health!' When I hand the salt to H.R.H. he stops my hand: 'I wouldn't -quarrel with her for the world, Butler.' And so the feast goes on, our -august guest plying me with questions about the relationship and -antecedents of every one at the table; about the manners and customs of -the populace of Alexandria; the state of commerce; the climate. I answer -to the best of my ability with the most unsatisfactory information. He -started at four for Cairo, leaving a most kindly impression on my -memory. The last of the old Georgian type! 'Your mutton was good, my -dear; not at all _goaty_,' were his valedictory words." - -Mutton _is_ goaty in Egypt unless well selected. I advise travellers to -confine themselves to the good poultry, and to leave meat alone. What I -would have done without our dear, good old Magro, the major domo who did -my housekeeping out there, I dread to think. His name, denoting a lean -habit of body, was a misnomer, for he was rotund. A good, honest -Maltese, his devotion to "Sair William" was really touching. I was only -as the moon is to the sun, and to serve the sun he would, I am -convinced, have risked his life. I came in for his devotion to myself by -reason of my reflected glory. One morning he came hurtling towards me, -through the rooms, waving aloft what at first looked like a red -republican flag, but it proved to be a sirloin or other portion of -bovine anatomy which he had had the luck to purchase in the market (good -beef being so rare). "Look, miladi, you will not often meet such beef -walking in the street!" He laid it out for my admiration. This is the -way he used to ask me for the daily orders: "What will miladi command -for dinner?" "Cutlets?" (patting his ribs); "a loin?" (indications of -lumbago); "or a leg?" (advancing that limb); "or, for a delicate -_entree_, brains?" (laying a finger on his perspiring forehead). "Oh, -for goodness' sake, Magro, not brains!" When the day's work was done he -would retire to what we called the "Ah!-poor-me-room"--his -boudoir--where, repeating aloud those words so dear to his nationality, -he would take up his cigar. Government gave him L250 a year for all this -expenditure of zeal. - -While on the subject of Oriental housekeeping, I must record the -following. Our predecessors of a former time had what to me would have -been an experience difficult to recover from. They were giving a large -Christmas dinner, and the cook, proud of the pudding he had mastered the -intricacies of, insisted on bringing it in himself, all ablaze. It was -only a few steps from the kitchen to the dining-room. Holding the great -dish well up before him, he unfortunately set fire to his beard, and the -effect of his dusky face approaching in the subdued light of the door, -illuminated in that way by blue flames, must have been satanic. - -"_March 14th_.--Lord Charles Beresford, who has relieved the other ship -with the _Undaunted_, invited us all to luncheon on board, but Will and -I could not stay to luncheon as we had guests; nevertheless, we had a -very interesting morning on board. On arriving at the Marina we found -Lady Charles, Lady Edmund Talbot, Colonel Kitchener,[10] whose light, -rather tiger-like eyes in that sunburnt face slightly frightened me, and -others waiting to go with us to the _Undaunted_ in the ship's barge and -a steam launch. Lord Charles received us with his usual sailor-like -welcome, and we had a tremendous inspection of the ship, one of our -latest experiments in naval machinery--a belted cruiser. She will -probably cruise to the bottom if ever the real test comes. A torpedo was -fired for us, but it gambolled away like a porpoise, ending by plunging -into a mudbank. I wish they would diverge their direction like that in -war, detestable inventions! - -"_April 1st_, 1891.--I am now quite in the full swing of Egyptian -enjoyment. No more Egyptian rain! Excellent accounts from home, and my -intention of going back is rendered unnecessary. How thankful I am, on -the eve of our departure for Palestine, for the 'all well' from home!" - -My entries in the Diary during that unique journey, and my letters to my -mother, are published in my book, "Letters from the Holy Land." I -illustrated it with the water colours I made during our pilgrimage, and -I was most delighted to find the little book had an utterly unexpected -success. It was nice to find myself among the writers! To have ridden -through this land from end to end is to have experienced a pleasure such -as no other part of the earth can give us. Had I had no more joy in -store for me, that would have been enough. - -As the railway was not opened till the following year the mind was not -disturbed, and could concentrate on the scenes before it with all the -recollection it required. I called our progress "riding through the -Bible." Many a local allusion in both Testaments, which had seemed vague -or difficult to appreciate before, opened out, so to say, before one's -happy vision, and gave a substance, a vitality to the Scripture -narrative which produced a satisfaction delightful to experience. -Perhaps the strongest longing in my childhood's mind had been to do this -journey. To do it as we did, just our two selves, and in the fresh -spring weather, was a happy circumstance. - -As I look back to that time which we spent amidst the scenes of Our -Lord's revealed life on earth, no portion of it produces such a sense of -mental peace as does the night of our arrival on the shores of the Sea -of Galilee. _There_ there were no crowds, no distractions, not a thing -to jar on the mind. Before and around one, as one sat on the pebbly -strand, appeared the very outlines of the hills His eyes had rested on, -and far from modern life encroaching on one's sensitiveness, the cities -that lined those sacred shores in His time had disappeared like one of -the fleeting cloud shadows which the moon was casting all along their -ruined sites. His words came back with a poignant force, "Woe unto -thee, Chorazin! Woe unto thee, Bethsaida!... and thou, Capernaum, which -art exalted unto heaven...." Where were they? And the high waves raced -foaming and breaking on the shingle, blown by a strong though mild wind -that came across from the dark cliffs of the country of the Gadarenes. -One seemed to feel His approach where He had so often walked. One can -hardly speak of the awe which that feeling brought to the mind. He was -quite near! - -Undoubtedly the effect of a journey through the Holy Land _does_ -permanently impress itself upon one's life. It is a tremendous -experience to be brought thus face to face with the Gospel narrative. We -returned to the modern world on May 1st. This time I left Alexandria in -company with my husband on June 3rd, and on landing at Venice we at once -went on to Verona, where he was anxious to visit the battlefield of -Arcole. - - - - -CHAPTER XVIII - -THE LAST OF EGYPT - - -Here at Verona was Italy in her richest dress, her abundant and varied -crops filling the landscape, one might say, to overflowing; not a space -of soil left untilled, and, all the way along our road to San Bonifacio -for Arcole, the snow-capped Alps were shimmering in the blue atmosphere -on one hand, and a great teeming plain stretched away to the horizon on -the other. - -I noticed the fine physique of the peasantry, and their nice ways. Every -peasant man we met on the road raised his hat to us as we passed. At San -Bonifacio we got out of the carriage and, turning to the right, we -walked to Arcole, becoming exclusively Napoleonic on reaching the famous -marsh. History says that a soldier saved Napoleon from drowning early in -the battle by pulling him out of the water in that marsh, "by the hair!" -I pondered this _bald_ statement, and came to the conclusion that the -thing must have happened in this wise. Young Bonaparte in those early -days wore his hair very long, and gathered up into a queue. Had he been -close-cropped, as his later experience in Egypt compelled him to be, the -history of the world might have been very different. As I looked into -the water from the famous little bridge, I saw the place where the young -conqueror slipped and plunged in. The soldier must have caught hold of -the pigtail, and with the good grip it afforded him pulled his drowning -general out. Between the little bridge and the spot where he sank -Napoleon raised the obelisk which we see to-day. Thus do I like to -realise interesting events in history. - -Our driver on the way back became a dreadful bore, for ever turning on -the box to chatter. First he informed us that Arcole was called after -Hercules, "a very strong man" (great thumping of biceps to illustrate -his meaning), which we knew before. Then, when within sight of the -battlefield of Custozza, where our dear Italians got such a "dusting" -from the Austrians, he informed us that he had been in the battle, and -that the Italians had _blasted_ the enemy. "_Li abbiamo fulminati_." -"Oh, shut up, do! _Basta, caro!_" - -Our afternoon stroll all over Verona merged into a moonlight one which -takes first rank in my Italian chronicles. The effect of a roaring -Alpine torrent (for such is the Adige at this season of melting snows) -rushing and swirling through the heart of that ancient city, between -embankments bordered with domed churches, with towers and palaces, I -found quite unique. Mysterious, too, it all felt in the lights and -profound shades of the moonlight. Above rose the hills with very -striking serrated outlines, crowned with fortresses. - -The rest of the summer saw me at home at Delgany. I must say the "Green -Isle" for summer, following Egypt for winter, makes a very pleasant -combination. My husband had returned to Alexandria on August 23rd, and I -and a wee child followed in November. I had half accomplished my next -Academy picture at home, and I took it out to finish in Egypt--"Halt on -a Forced March: Retreat to Corunna." A study of an artillery team this -time, giving the look of the spent horses, "lean unto war." It was very -well placed at the Academy in the fresh first room, and well received, -but it was too sad a subject, perhaps, so I have it still. There were no -half-starved horses in all Wicklow, I am happy to say, look where I -would for models. I had well-to-do ones to get tone and colour from, but -I bided my time. In Egypt I had plenty of choice, and had I not been -able to put the finishing touches to my team _there_, the picture would -never have been so strong--an instance of my favourite definition when I -am asked, "What is the secret of success?" "_Seize opportunities_." - -So on December 10th, 1891, I, with the little child I had safely brought -out with me, landed once more at Alexandria. The big charger and the -grey Syrian pony had now a black donkey alongside for the desert rides, -which were the chief pleasure of our life out there. - -But the winter grew sad. On January 7th, 1892, the Khedive Tewfik died -rather mysteriously, it was said, but his death was announced as the -result of that plague we call the "flu," which reached even to the East. -Just eight days later poor Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence, fell a -victim to it, and in the same way died Cardinal Manning. Also some of -our own friends at Alexandria went down. And yet never was there more -brilliant weather, so softly brilliant that one could hardly realise the -presence of danger. All the balls and other festivities were stopped, of -course. I had ample time to finish my "Halt on a Forced March" in this -long interval, so boring and depressing to Alexandrian society. Soon -things returned to pleasantly normal conditions, however, and being -free from the studio on sending my picture off, I went in -whole-heartedly for the amenities of my official position. The Private -View at the far-away Royal Academy was in my mind on the occasion of my -giving away the prizes at some athletic sports, for I knew it was just -then in full blast, April 29th, 1892. I knew my quiet picture could not -make anything of a stir, and I chaffed myself by suggesting that the -"three cheers and one cheer more" proposed by the English consul at the -end of the prize-giving, which rent the sunset air in that dusty plain -in my honour, should be all I ought to expect. It would be a _little_ -too much to receive applause in two quarters of the globe at the same -moment, allowing for difference of time! - -I call upon my Diary again: "_May 18th_.--We joined a picnic in the very -palm grove through which the Turks fled from the French pursuit under -Bonaparte to find death in the surf of Aboukir Bay. We were shaded by -clumps of pomegranate trees in flower as well as by the waving, rustling -palms, and a cool wind blew round us most pleasantly, while the white -and grey donkeys that brought us rested in groups, their drivers and the -villagers squatting about them in those unconsciously graceful attitudes -I love to jot down in my sketch book. The moving shadows of the palm -branches on the sand always capture my observation; no other tree -shadows produce that effect of ever-interlacing forms. Far away in the -radiant light lay the region where the terrible naval battle took place -later, to our credit. Altogether our party was surrounded by frightful -reminiscences, in the midst of which the picnic went its usual picnicky -way. We rode back to Alexandria by the light of the stars. - -"_May 23rd_.--A wonderful day, full of colour, movement and interest. -Young Abbas II., the new Khedive, was received here on his arrival from -Cairo, the whole population, swelled by strange wild Asiatics from -distant parts, filling the streets and squares through which he was to -pass. Will, of course, had to receive him at the station. The crowd -alone was a pleasure to look at. The Khedive seemed a squat young man -with a round pink and white painted face. They say he loves not the -English. What I enjoyed above all was the drive we took soon after, all -the length of the line of reception, to Ras-el-Tin. Oh, those narrow -streets of the old quarter, filled with numberless varieties of Oriental -costumes. Now and then the crowd was threaded by troops, some on -horseback, some perched on camels, and, to give the finishing touch of -variety, the native fire brigade went by, wearing the brass helmets of -their London _confreres_, very surprising headgear bonneting their black -and brown faces." - -I, with the little child, left for home on June 7th, _via_ Genoa, well -provided with a good stock of studies of camels and Camel Corps -troopers. These were for my 8-foot picture, destined for the next -Academy. Many a camel had I stalked about the Ramleh desert to watch its -mannerisms in movement. I got quite to revel in camels. Usually that -interesting beast is made utterly uninteresting in pictures, whereas if -you know him personally he is full of surprises and one never gets to -the end of him. - -The voyage to my dear old Genoa was full of beautiful sights, with one -exception. I don't know what old Naples was like--I know it was -frightfully dirty--but I saw it modernised into a very horrid town, a -smudge of ugliness on one of the ideal beauties of the world. It gave me -a shock on beholding it as we entered the harbour, and so I leave the -town itself severely alone, with its new, barrack-like buildings looking -gaunt and gritty in the burning June sunshine. The cloisters of the -Certosa at Sant' Elmo are very beautiful, and I much enjoyed the church -and the splendid "Descent from the Cross" of Spagnoletto. There was just -time for a dash up there before leaving at 12 noon. As we steamed out -towards Ischia I got the oft-painted (and, alas! oleographed) view of -Vesuvius across the whole extent of the bay from off Posilipo. Certainly -nowhere on earth can a fairer scene be beheld, and greater grace of -coast and mountain outline. Then the fair scene melted away into the -tender haze of the June afternoon--blue and tender grey, the volcanic -islands one by one disappeared and the day of my first sight of the Bay -of Naples closed. - -June 12th was a most memorable day, a day of deepest, sweetest, and -saddest impressions and memories for me. In the afternoon I made ready -for our approach to that part of the world where the brightest years of -my childhood were spent--the Gulf of Genoa. In order not to lose one -moment away from the contemplation of what we were approaching, I packed -up all our things before three o'clock, did all the _fin de voyage_ -paying and tipping, and then, my mind free for concentration, I -stationed myself at the starboard bulwark, binocular in hand. At long -last I saw in the haze of the lovely afternoon a shadowy outline of -rocky mountain which my heart, rather than my eyes, told me was Porto -Fino, for never had I seen it before from out at sea, at that angle. But -I knew where to look for it, and while to the other passengers we seemed -still out of sight of land I saw the shadowy form. Then little by little -the whole coast grew out of the haze and I saw again, one after the -other, the houses we lived in from Ruta to Albaro. With the powerful -glass I had I could see Villa de' Franchi and its sundial, and see how -many windows were open or shut at Villa Quartara as we passed Albaro, -and see the old, well-loved pine tree and cypress avenue of the latter -_palazzo_. - -"The sight of Genoa in the lurid sunset glow, with its steep, conical -mountains behind it, crowned with forts, half shrouded in dark grey -clouds, was very impressive. 'La Superba' looked her proudest thus seen -full face from the sea, seated on her rocky throne. By the by, when -_will_ people give up translating 'superba' by 'superb'? It is rather -trying. 'Genoa the Superb'! Ugh!" - -[Illustration: THE EGYPTIAN CAMEL-CORPS AND THE BERSAGLIERI.] - -I worked away well in the pleasant seclusion of Delgany, at my 8-foot -canvas whereon I carried very far forward my "Review of the Native Camel -Corps at Cairo." I had already a water-colour drawing of this subject, -which I had made while the scene was fresh in my mind's eye. I had been -indebted to the then General commanding at Cairo for the facilities -afforded me to see, at close quarters, a charge of the native Camel -Corps, which impressed me indelibly. I had driven out of Cairo to the -desert, where the manoeuvres were taking place, and, getting out of -the carriage opposite the saluting base, I placed myself in front of the -advancing squadrons, so timing things that I got well clear at the right -moment. I wanted as much of a full-face view as possible. The -attitudes of the men, wielding their whips, the movements of the camels, -the whole rush of the thing gave me such a sensation of advancing force -that, as soon as the "Halt!" was sounded, and the 300 animals had flung -themselves on their knees with the roar and snarl peculiar to those -creatures when required to exert themselves, I hastened back to -Shepheard's and marked down the salient points. The men were of all -shades, from _fellaheen_ yellow to the bluest black of Nubia, and it was -a striking moment when they all leapt off their saddles (as the camels -collapsed), panting, and beginning to re-set their disordered -accoutrements. In those days the saddles were covered with red morocco -leather, with fringed strips that flew out in the wind, adding, for the -artist, a welcome aid to the representation of motion. Now, of course, -that precious bit of colour is gone, and the necessity for khaki -invisibility reaches even to the camel saddle, which is now a stiff and -unattractive dun-coloured object. - -For my last and most brilliant visit to Egypt I took out our eldest -little girl, and a very enjoyable trip we had, _via_ Genoa. Of course, I -took out the picture to finish it on its native sands. I had the richest -choice of military camels, arms and accoutrements, and a native trooper -or two, as models, but only for studies. I was careful to have no posed -model to paint from in the studio, otherwise good-bye to movement. These -graceful Orientals become the stupidest, stiff lay figures the moment -you ask them to pose as models. Besides, the sincere Mohammedans refuse -to be painted at all. I have never used a Kodak myself, finding -snapshots of little value, but quick sketches done unbeknown to the -_sketchee_ and a good memory serve much better. The picture, I grieve to -say, was hung not very kindly at the Academy, but at the Paris Salon it -was received with all the appreciation I could desire. - -What pleased me particularly in this last sojourn in Egypt was our visit -to Cairo, where I was so happy during my first experience, when I -described my sensations as being comparable to swimming in Oriental -colour, light, and picturesqueness. The only thing that jarred was the -tyranny of Cairo society, which compelled one to appear at the -diversions, whether one liked it or not. Nevertheless, I gained a very -thorough knowledge of the wondrously beautiful mosques, having the -advantage of the guidance of one who knew them all intimately--Dean -Butcher. It was a true pleasure to have him as _cicerone_, and I am -grateful to him for his most kindly giving up his time for little C. and -me. My husband had long ago been acquainted with every nook and corner -of Cairo, but Dean Butcher had made a special study of these mosques, -and I think he was pleased with the way we took in the fascinating -information he gave me and the child. - -It's a far cry from Cairo to Aldershot! On November 1st, 1893, my -husband's command of the 2nd Infantry Brigade began there. Much as I -loved Egypt, it was a great delight for me to know that the parting from -the children was not to be repeated. I had had Egypt to my heart's -content. - -After returning home from Egypt, at Delgany, on June 17th, 1893, I set -up my next big picture, "The Reveil in the Bivouac of the Scots Greys on -the Morning of Waterloo--Early Dawn." I was able to make all my -twilight studies at home, all out of doors; not a thing painted in the -studio. I pressed many people into my service as models, and I think I -got the light on their fine Irish faces very true to nature. I even -caught an Irish dragoon home on leave in the village, whose splendid -profile I saw at once would be very telling. - - - - -CHAPTER XIX - -ALDERSHOT - - -And now our Irish home under the glorious Wicklow Mountains broke up, -and I was to become acquainted with life in the great English camp. The -huts for officers were still standing at that time, wooden bungalows of -the quaintest fashion, all the more pleasing to me for being unlike -ordinary houses. The old court-martial hut became my studio, four -skylights having been placed in it, and I was quite happy there. I -worked hard at "The Reveil," and finished it in that unconventional -workshop. - -To say that Aldershot society was brilliant would be very wide of the -mark. How could it be? But to us there was a very great attraction close -by, at Farnborough. There lived a woman who was and ever will be a very -remarkable figure in history, the Empress Eugenie. She hadn't forgotten -my husband's connection with her beloved son's tragic story out in South -Africa, nor her interview with him at Camden Place, and his management -of the Prince's funeral at Durban. We often took tea with her on Sundays -during our Aldershot period, her "At Home" day for intimate friends and -relatives, at the big house on the hill. She became very fond of talking -politics with _Sair William_, and always in English, and she used to sit -in that confidential way foreign politicians have, expressive of the -whispered divulgence of tremendous secrets and of occult plots and -plans in various parts of the world. She talked incessantly with him, -but was a bad listener; and if a subject came up in conversation which -did not interest her, a sharp snap or two of her fan would soon bring -things to a stop. - -[Illustration: ALDERSHOT MANOEUVRES. - -THE ENEMY IN SIGHT.] - -Entries from the Aldershot Diary: - -"_January 9th_, 1894.--We went to the memorial service at the Empress's -church in commemoration of the death of Napoleon III. After Mass we went -down to the crypt, where another short service was chanted and the tombs -of the Emperor and Prince Imperial were incensed. Between the two lies -the one awaiting the pathetic widow who was kneeling there shrouded with -black, a motionless, solitary figure, for whom one felt a very deep -respect. - -"_March 14th_.--Delightful dinner at Government House, where the Duke -and Duchess of Connaught proved most cheery host and hostess. He took me -to dinner, and we talked other than banalities. All the other generals' -wives and the generals and heads of departments were there to the number -of twenty-two. - -"_March 25th_.--To a brilliant dinner at Government House to meet the -Duke of Cambridge. Good old George was in splendid form, and asked me if -I remembered the lunch we gave him at Alexandria. It was a most cheery -evening. We sat down about twenty-eight, of whom only six were ladies. -Grenfell, our old friend of Genoese days, and Evelyn Wood were there. - -"_May 17th_.--A glorious day for the Queen's Review, which was certainly -a dazzling spectacle. Dear old Queen, it is many a long year since she -reviewed the Aldershot Division; nor would she have come but that her -son is now in supreme command here. Old people say it was like old -times, only that she has shrunk into a tinier woman than ever she was, -and by the side of the towering Duchess of Coburg in that spacious -carriage she looked indeed tiny, and nearly extinguished under a large -grey sunshade. A good place was reserved for my little carriage close to -the Royal Enclosure, and I enjoyed the congenial scene to the utmost. -Was I not in my element? The review took place on Laffan's Plain, a -glorious sweep of intense green turf which I often take little Martin to -for our morning walk, and no Aldershot dust annoyed us. I was very proud -of the general commanding the 2nd Brigade riding past the saluting base -at the head of his troops on that mighty charger, 'Heart of Oak,' that -fine golden bay, set off to the utmost advantage by the ceremonial -saddle-cloth and housings of blue and gold. That general gives the -salute with a very free sweep of the sword arm. The march past took a -long time. As to the crowd of officers behind the Queen's carriage, my -eyes positively ached with the sight of all that scarlet and gold. I -must say this scarlet is pushed too far to my mind. It must have now -reached the highest pitch of dyeing powers. It was a duller tone at -Waterloo; and certainly still more artistic when Cromwell first ordered -his men to wear it. But I may be wrong, and it is certainly very -splendid. The Duke of Cambridge and Prince of Wales were on huge black -chargers, and wore field marshals' uniforms. It was pretty to see the -Duke of Connaught--who, at the head of his staff, in front of the -division drawn up in line, had sat awaiting the Queen's arrival--canter -up to his mother and salute her as her carriage drove into the -enclosure. Then he cantered back to his place, a very graceful rider, -and the review began. I managed to do good work at 'The Reveil' in -forenoon. What a contrast and rest to the eyes that picture is after -such glittering spectacles as to-day's. War _versus_ Parade! It was -pathetic to see the Queen to-day with her soldiers. She cannot pass them -in review many more times. - -"The Empress Eugenie has returned, and we had a long interview with her -the other day at her beautiful home at Farnborough. She is by no means -the wreck and shadow some people are pleased to describe her as being, -but has the remains of a certain masculine power which I suppose was -very masterful in the great old days of her splendour. She is not too -tall, and has a fine, upright figure. She lives apparently altogether in -the memory of her son, and is surrounded by his portraits and relics, -including drawings showing him making his heroic stand, alone, forsaken, -against the savage enemy. I feel, as an Englishwoman, very uneasy and -remorseful while listening to that poor mother, with her tearful eyes, -as she speaks of her dead boy, who need not have been sacrificed. There -is no trace in her words of anger or reproach or contempt, only most -appealing grief. She has one window in the hall full to a height of many -feet of the tall grass which grows on the spot where her treasured son -was done to death by seventeen assegai wounds, all received full in -front. I remember his taking us over some artillery stables, I think, at -Woolwich once. He had a charming face. The Empress rightly described to -us the quality of the blue of his eyes--'the blue sky seen in water.' - -"We often go to her beautiful church these fine summer days. Her only -infirmity appears to be her rheumatism, which necessitates some one -giving her his arm to ascend or descend the sanctuary steps when she -goes to or comes from her _prie-Dieu_ to the right of the altar. -Sometimes it is M. Franceschini Pietri, sometimes it is the faithful old -servant Uhlmann who performs this duty. - -"_August 13th._--We have had the Queen down again for another review in -splendid (Queen's) weather. The night before the review Her Majesty gave -a dinner at the Pavilion to her generals, and for the first time in her -life sat down at table with them. Will gave me a most interesting -account. In the night there was a great military tattoo, which I -witnessed with C. from General Utterson's grounds. Very effective, if a -little too spun out. Will and the others were standing about the Queen's -and the Empress Eugenie's carriages all the time, in the grass soaked -with the heavy night dew, and felt all rather blue and bored. In the -Queen's carriage all was glum, while the Empress with her party chatted -helpfully in hers to fill up the time. It was pitch dark but for the -torches carried by long lines of troops in the distance. - -"To-day was made memorable by the review held of our brilliant little -division by the German Emperor on Laffan's Plain, in perfect weather. He -wore the uniform of our Royal Dragoons, of which regiment he is honorary -colonel, and rode a bay horse as finely trained as a circus horse (and -rather suggestive of one, as are his others, too, that are here), with -the curb reins passing somewhere towards the rider's knees, which supply -the place of the left hand, half the size of the right and apparently -almost powerless. The poor fellow's shoulders are padded, too, and one -sees a _hiatus_ between the false, square shoulder and the real one, -which is very sloping. But the general appearance was gallant, and the -young man seemed full of gaiety and martial spirit. He took the salute, -of course, and was a striking figure under the Union Jack which waved -over his British helmet. Then followed a little episode which, if rather -theatrical, was enlivening, and a pretty surprise. As the Royal -Dragoons' turn came to pass the saluting base the Kaiser drew his sword -and, darting away from his post, placed himself at the head of his -British regiment, the Duke of Connaught replacing him at the flagstaff -_pro tem_. The Kaiser couldn't salute himself, of course, so saluted the -Duke, and, when the Dragoons were clear, back he came at a circus canter -to resume his post and continue to receive the salute of the passing -legions, as before. We all clapped him for this graceful compliment. It -was smartly done. The detachment (seventy-five in number) had been sent -over from Dublin on purpose for this little display. In the evening Will -dined at Government House in a nest of Germans, who seemed afraid to sit -well upon their chairs in the august presence of their Emperor, and sat -on the very edge. One particularly corpulent general was very nearly -slipping off. I went to the evening reception, no wives being asked to -the dinner, as the dining-room is so small and the German suite so -voluminous. - -"I was at once presented to H.I.M., who talked to me, like a good boy, -about my painting and about the army, which he said he greatly admired -for its appearance. He is just now a keen Anglo-maniac (_sic_)! We shall -have him dressing one of his regiments in kilts next. He is not at all -as hard-looking as I expected, but not at all healthy. His face, seen -near, is unwholesome in its colour and texture, and the eyes have that -_boiled_ look which suggests a want of clarity in the system, it seems -to me. He is nice and natural in his manner and in the expression of his -face, with light brown moustache brushed up on his cheeks. He wore the -mess dress of the Royal Dragoons, and his right hand was twinkling with -very 'loud' rings on every finger, coiled serpents with jewelled eyes. - -"_August 14th._--A glorious sham fight in the Long Valley and heights -for the Kaiser. I shall always remember his appearance as, at the head -of a large and brilliant staff of Germans and English, he came suddenly -galloping up to the mound where I was standing with the children, -riding, this time, a white horse and wearing his silver English Dragoon -helmet without the plume. He seemed joyous as his eye took in the lovely -landscape and he sat some minutes looking down on the scene, -gesticulating as he brightly spoke to the deferential _pickelhauben_ -that bent down around him. He then dashed off down the hill and crested -another, with, if you please, C. on her father's huge grey second -charger careering after the gallant band, and escaping for an anxious -(to me) half-hour from my surveillance. The child looked like a fly on -that enormous animal which overtopped the crowd of staff horses. Adieu -to the old gunpowder smoke. It has cleared away for ever. One sees too -much nowadays, and that mystery of effect, so awful and so grand, caused -by the lurid smoke, is gone. How much writers and painters owe to the -old black powder of the days gone by! - -"_September 23rd._--Had a delightful evening, for we dined with the -Empress Eugenie. I seemed to be basking in the 'Napoleonic Idea' as I -sat at that table and saw my glass engraved with the Imperial 'N,' and -was aware of the historical portraits of the Bonaparte Era that hung -round the room. The Empress was full of bright conversation and chaff; -and I find, as I see her oftener, that she has plenty of humour and -enjoys a joke greatly. We didn't go in arm in arm, men and women, but -_Sa Majeste_ signed to me and another woman to go in on either side of -her. She called to Will to come and sit on her right. I was very happy -and in my element. Oh! how the mind feels relieved and expanded in that -atmosphere. We had music after dinner, and I had long talks on Egypt -with the Empress, whose recollections of that bright land are -particularly brilliant, she having been there during the jubilant -ceremonies in connection with the opening of the Suez Canal. One year -before the great calamities to her and her husband! She told me that -just for a freak she walked several times in and out between the two -pillars on the Piazzetta at Venice, that time, to brave Fate, who, it -was said, punished those who dared to do this. 'Then _les evenements_ -followed,' she added. Well might she say that life is an up and down -existence. She waved her hand up and down, very high and very low, as -she said it, with a very weary sigh. Her face is often very beautiful; -those eyes drooping at the outer corners look particularly lovely as -they are bent downwards, and her white hair is arranged most gracefully. -She is always in black. - -"Will has accepted the extension of his command here to my great -pleasure; the chief charm to us in this place is the neighbourhood of -the Empress. That makes Farnborough unique. Not only is she so -interesting, but now and then there are visitors at her house whose very -names are sonorous memories. The other day as we came into her presence -she went up to Will and asked him to let Prince Murat, Ney (Prince de la -Moscowa) and Massena (duc de Rivoli), see some of the regiments in his -brigade at their barracks. When the inspection was over these three -illustrious Names came to lunch with us, and I sat between Murat and -Massena, with _le Brave des Braves_ opposite. What's in a name? -Everything, sometimes. I thought myself a very favoured creature last -Sunday as I sat by Eugenie at her tea table and she sprinkled my muffin -with salt out of her little muffineer. I am glad to know she likes me -and she is very fond of Will. One Sunday she and I and the Marquise de -Gallifet were sitting together, and the Empress was talking to the -latter about 'The Roll Call,' pronouncing the name in English, but -Madame, who looked somewhat stony and unsympathetic, could not pronounce -the name when the Empress asked her to, and made a very funny thing out -of it. The Empress tried to teach her, making fun of her attempts which -became more and more comic, combined with her frigid expression. At last -the Empress turned to me and asked me to show how it ought to be said in -the proper way; but, as she had just given me an enormous chocolate -cream, I was for the moment unable to pronounce anything with this thing -in my cheek, and she went into fits of laughter as I made several -attempts to say the unfortunate name. So it was never pronounced, and -Madame la Marquise looked on as though she thought we were both rather -childish, which made the Empress laugh the more. The least thing, if it -is at all comical, sends her into one of her laughing fits which are -very catching--except by Gallifets. - -"Talking of camel riding (and they say she rode like a Bedouin in the -desert) I sent her into another fit which brought the tears to her eyes -by saying I always forgot '_quel bout de mon chameau se leve le -premier_' at starting. But she sent me into one of my own particular -fits the other day. I was telling her, in answer to her enquiry as to -insuring pictures on sending them by sea, that I thought only their -total loss would be paid for, and what the artist considered an injury -of a grave nature amounting to total loss might not be so considered by -the insurance company. 'And if,' she said, 'you have a portrait and a -hole is made right through one of the eyes?' Here she slowly closed her -left eye and looked at me stolidly with the right, to represent the -injured effigy, 'would you not get compensation?' The one-eyed portrait -continued to look at me out of the forlorn single eye with every vestige -of expression gone, and I laughed so much that I begged her to become -herself again, but she wouldn't, for a long time. - -"There has been a great deal of pheasant shooting, particularly at the -De Worms' at Henley Park, where a _chef_ at L500 a year has made that -hospitable house very attractive; but there has been one shoot at -Farnboro' made memorable by Franceschini Pietri distinguishing himself -with his erratic gunnery. Suddenly he was seen on a shutter, screaming, -as the servants bore him to the house. Every one thought he was wounded, -but it turned out he was sure he had hit somebody else, which happily -wasn't true. People are shy of having him, after that, at their shoots, -especially Baron de Worms, who showed me how he accoutred himself by -padding and goggles, one day, bullet-proof against that excitable little -southerner, who was a member of the party at Henley Park." - -After one of the Empress's dinners at Farnboro' Hill, a small dinner of -intimate friends, we had fun over a lottery which she had arranged, -making everything go off in the most sprightly French way. What easy, -pleasant society it was! One admired the courage which put on this -brightness, though all knew that the dead weight on the poor heart was -there, so that others should not feel depressed. Even with these kind -semblances of cheeriness no one could be unmindful of the abiding sorrow -in that woman's face. - -"_January 9th, 1895._--The anniversary of the Emperor Napoleon's death -come round again. There was quite a little stir during the service in -the church. The catafalque, heaped up with flowers, was surrounded with -scores of lighted tapers as it lay before the altar. A young priest, in -a laced _cotta_, went up to it to set a leaf or flower or something in -its place, when instantly one of his lace sleeves blazed. Almost -simultaneously the General, in full uniform, springing up the altar -steps without the smallest click of his sword, was at the priest's side, -beating out the fire. Not another soul in that crowded place had seen -anything. That was like Will! We laid wreaths on the tombs in the -crypt." - -An entry in March of that year records good progress with "The Dawn of -Waterloo," and mentions that we had the honour of receiving the Empress -Frederick and her hosts, the Connaughts, and their suites, who came to -see the picture. I found the Empress still more like her mother than -when I first saw her, when she and the Crown Prince Frederick dined at -the Goschens'--a memorable dinner, when the fine, serious-looking and -bearded Frederick told my husband he would desire nothing better for his -sons than that they should follow in his footsteps. The Empress was -beaming--that is exactly the word--and a few minutes after coming into -the drawing-room she showed that she was anxious to get on to the -studio, to save the light. So out we sallied, walking two and two, a -formidable procession, and we were nearly half an hour in the little -court-martial hut. They all had tea with us afterwards, quite filling -the tiny drawing-room. The Empress was very small, and as she talked to -me, looking up into my face, I thought her the most taking little woman -I ever saw. She had what I call the "Victoria charm," which all her -sisters shared with her--absolutely unstudied, homely, and exceedingly -friendly. At least it so appeared to me in a high degree in her that -day. But what a sorrow she had had to bear! - -The picture was taken to the Club House, there to be shown for three -days to the division before Sending-in Day. The idea was Will's, but I -got the thanks--undeserved, as I had been reluctant to brave the dust on -the wet paint. Crowds went to see it, from the generals down to the -traditional last drummer. - -I thought the Academicians were again unkind in the placing of my -picture, and a trip to Paris was all the more welcome as a diversion, -for there I was able to seek consolation in the treat of a plunge into -the best art in the "City of Light." One interesting day in May found us -at Malmaison, the country house of Napoleon and Josephine. There is -always something mournful in a house no longer tenanted which once -echoed the talk, the laughter, the comings and goings, the pleasant and -arresting sounds of voices that are long silent. But _this_ house, of -all houses! It was absolutely stripped of everything but Napoleon's -billiard table, and the worm-eaten bookshelves in his little musty study -the only "fixtures" left. The ceilings we found in holes; that garden, -once so much admired and enjoyed, choked with dusty nettles. We went -into every room--the one where poor derelict Josephine died; the guests' -bedrooms; the dining-room where Napoleon took his hurried meals; the -library where he studied; the billiard-room, where he himself often took -part in a game surrounded by "fair women and brave men" in the glitter -of gorgeous uniforms and radiant _toilettes_. One lends one's mind's ear -to the daily and nightly sounds outside--the clatter of horses' hoofs as -the staff ride in and out of the courtyards with momentous despatches; -the sharp words of command; the announcement of urgent arrivals -demanding instant hearing. We found our minds revelling in suchlike -imaginings. The chapel, the coach-houses, the great iron gates were all -there, but seen as in a dream. - -We were back at Aldershot on May 30th. "The Queen's Ball, at Buckingham -Palace, brilliant as ever. The Shahzada, the Ameer of Afghanistan's son, -was the guest of the evening, as it is our policy just now to do him -particular honour, after having made his father 'sit up.' A pale, -wretched-looking Oriental, bored to tears! The usual delightful medley -of men of every nationality, civilised and semi-civilised, was there in -full splendour, but the rush of that crowd for the supper-room, in the -wake of royalty, was most unseemly. Every one got jammed, and it was -most unpleasant to have steel cartridge boxes and sword hilts sticking -into one's bare arms in the pressure. I think there was something wrong -this time with the doors. I was much complimented that night on my 'Dawn -of Waterloo,' but that was an inadequate salve to my wounded feelings. - -"_June 15th._--A great review here in honour of the young Shahzada, who -is being so highly honoured this season. I don't think I ever saw such a -large staff as surrounded that pallid princeling as he rode on to the -field. The whole thing was a long affair, and our bored visitor -refreshed himself occasionally with consolatory snuff. The whole of the -cavalry finished up, as usual, with a charge 'stem on,' and as the -formidable onrush neared the weedy youth he began to turn his horse -round, possibly suspecting deep-laid treachery." - -My husband and I were present when Cardinals Vaughan and Logue laid the -foundation stone of Westminster Cathedral. The luncheon that followed -was enlivened by some excellent speeches, especially Cardinal Logue's, -whose rich brogue rolled out some well-turned phrases. - -A week later we were at dinner at Farnborough Hill. "There was a large -house-party, including Princes Victor and Louis Napoleon, the elder a -taciturn, shy, dark man about thirty-three, and the younger an alert, -intelligent officer of thirty-one, who is a colonel in the Russian -cavalry, and is the hope and darling of the Bonapartists. I call him -Napoleon IV. Victor went in with the Empress to dinner and Louis with -me, but on taking our seats the two brothers exchanged places, so that I -sat on Victor's right. I had an uphill task to talk with the studious, -silent Victor, and found my right-hand neighbour much more pleasant -company, Sir Mackenzie Wallace. I had not caught his name and his accent -was so perfect and his idioms and turns of speech so irreproachable that -I never questioned his being a Frenchman. Away we went in the liveliest -manner with our French till suddenly we lapsed into English, why I don't -know. This gave the Empress her chance. She began chuckling behind her -toothpick and asked me in French if he had a good accent in speaking -English. 'Yes, madame, very good!' 'Ah? _really_ good?' (chuckle). -'Really good, madame.' 'Ah, that is well' (chuckle). I saw in Will's -face I was being chaffed and guessed the truth. Much laughter, -especially from Louis. He told Will, across the Empress, that he had -seen an engraving of 'Scotland for Ever' in a shop window in Moscow, and -had presented it to the mess of his own cavalry regiment, the Czar being -now colonel of the Scots Greys, and that he little expected so soon to -meet the painter of that picture. The dinner was very bright and -sparkling, so unlike a purely English one. How gratefully Will and I -conformed to the spirit of the thing. His Irish heart beats in harmony -with it. I didn't quite recover from my _faux pas_ at table, and, on our -taking leave, brought everything into line once more by wishing Prince -Louis '_Felicissima Sera!_' in a way denoting a bewilderment of mind -amidst such a confusion of tongues. I left amidst applause. - -"_July 8th._--There was a sham fight on the Fox Hills to-day to which -the two French princes went. Will mounted Victor on steady 'Roly Poly,' -and sent H. on 'Heart of Oak' to attend on His Imperial Highness -throughout the day. Louis was mounted by the Duke. My General loves to -honour a Napoleon, so, when he was riding home with Louis after the -fight, and the Guards were preparing to give the General the usual -salute, he begged the Imperial Colonel to take the salute himself. 'But, -General, I am not even in uniform!' answered Louis. 'One of your name, -sir, is always in uniform,' was the ready reply. So Louis took it. On -his way back to the Empress he stopped at our hut, and after a glass of -iced claret cup on this grilling day, he looked at my sketches, and at -the little oil picture I am painting for Miss S.--'Right Wheel!'--the -Scots Greys at manoeuvres. I wonder if he has it in him to make a bid -for the French Throne! - -"_July 12th._--The Queen came down to-day, and there was a very fine -display of the picked athletes of the army at the new gymnasium in the -afternoon, before Her Majesty, who did not leave her carriage. She -looked pleased and in great good humour. She gave a dinner to her -generals in the evening at the Pavilion as she did last year. Will sat -near her, and she kept nodding and smiling to him at intervals as he -carried on a lively conversation with Princesses Louise and Beatrice. -Her Majesty expanded into full contentment when nine pipers, supplied by -the three Highland Regiments of the Division, entered the room at the -close of dinner in full blast. They tell me that each regiment jealously -adhered to its own key for its skirls, or whatever the right word is, -and so in three different keys did the pibrochs bray, but this detail -was not particularly noticeable in the general hurly-burly. The Queen -stood it well, though in that confined space it must have tried her -nerves. Give me the bagpipes on the mountain side or in the desert, -where I have heard them and loved them. - -"_July 13th._--At a very fine review for the Queen, who brought her -usual weather with her. She looked well pleased, especially with the -stirring light cavalry charge at the close, when Brabazon pulled up his -line at full charging pace within about 12 yards (it seemed to me) of -the royal carriage. Really, for a moment, I thought, as the dark mass of -men and horses rolled towards us, that he had forgotten all about -'Halt!' It was a tremendous _tour de force_, and a bit of swagger on the -part of this dashing hussar. That group of the Queen in her carriage, -with the four white horses and scarlet coated servants; the Prince of -Wales and the rest of the glittering Staff; Prince Victor Napoleon in -civilian dress, his heavy face shaded by his tall black hat as he -uneasily sat his excited horse; the other carriages resplendent in red -and gold; the Empress's more sober equipage full of French _elegantes_, -and the wave of dark hussars bursting in a cloud of dust almost in -amongst the group, all the leaders of the charging squadrons with sabres -flung up and heads thrown back--what a sight to please me! I feel a -physical sensation of refreshment on such occasions. What discipline and -training this performance showed! Had one horse got out of hand he might -have flopped right into the Queen's lap. I saw one of the squadron -leaders give a little shiver when all was over. On getting home I was -doing something to the bearskins of my Scots Greys in 'Right Wheel,' -showing the way the wind blew the hair back, as I had just seen it at -the review, while fresh in my mind, when a servant came to tell me -Princess Louise was at the Hut. I had got into my painting dress with -sleeves turned up for coolness. I ran in, changed in half a minute, and -had a nice interview, the Duchess of Connaught being there also, and we -had one of those 'shoppy' art talks which the Duchess of Argyll likes. - -"_August 16th._--My 'At Home' day was made memorable by the appearance -of the Empress Eugenie, who brought a remedy for little Eileen's cold. -It was a plaster, which she showed me how to use. I cannot say how -touched we were by this act, so thoughtful and kind--that poor childless -widow! She seems to have a particularly tender feeling for Eileen, -indeed Mdlle. d'Allonville has told me so." - -The rest of the Aldershot Diary is filled with military activities up to -the date of the expiration of my husband's time there, and his -appointment to the command of the South Eastern District with Dover -Castle as our home. But between the two commands came an interlude -filled with a tour through some parts of Italy I had not seen before, -and a visit to the Villa Cyrnos at Cap Martin, whither the Empress had -invited us. - - - - -CHAPTER XX - -ITALY AGAIN - - -In January, 1896, we left Aldershot on a raw foggy day, with the usual -winter brown-paper sky, the essence of dreariness, on leave for the land -I love best. At Turin our train for Genoa was filled with poor young -soldiers off to Abyssinia, the Italian Government having followed our -example in the policy of "expansion"; with what success was soon seen. -An Italian told us that "good coffee" was to be had from there, amongst -other desirable commodities. So the poor young conscripts were being -sent to fetch the good coffee, etc. They were singing in a chorus of -tenor voices as they went, after affectionately kissing the comrades who -had come to see them off. - -At sunrise we arrived at Naples, Vesuvius looking like a great amethyst, -transparent in the golden haze from the sun which rose just behind it. I -must say the Neapolitan population struck me as very wretched; the men -were no better than the poor creatures one might see in Whitechapel any -day, and dressed, like them, in shoddy clothing. The poor skeleton mules -and horses were covered with picturesque brass-mounted harness instead -of flesh, and I saw no red-sashed, brown-limbed _lazzaroni_ such as were -supposed to dance _tarantelle_ on the shore. Certainly there is not much -dancing and singing in their hungry-looking descendants. - -January 17th was a memorable day, spent at Pompeii. One must see the -place for oneself. Familiar with it though you may be through books and -paintings, Pompeii takes you by surprise. The suddenness of that -entrance into the City of the Dead _is_ a surprise to a newcomer, such -as I was. To come into the city at once by the "Street of Tombs," which -carries you steeply upwards into the interior--no turnstiles at the -gate, no ticket collectors, no leave-your-umbrella-at-the-door; this -natural way of entering gave me a strange sensation as if I were walking -into the past. The present day was non-existent. Though we were three -and a half hours circulating about those theatres, baths, villas, shops, -through the narrow streets, with their deep ruts and stepping stones, I -was so absorbed in the fascination of realising the life of those days -that I never needed to rest for a moment, and the day had grown very -hot. One rather drags oneself through a museum, but we were here under -the sky, and Vesuvius, the author of this destruction, was there in very -truth, looking down on us as we wandered through the remnants of his -victim. - -As to beauty of colour there is here a great feast for the painter. What -could surpass, on a day like that, the simple beauty of those positive -reds and yellows and blues of walls and pillars in that light, -back-grounded by the tender blue of mountains delicately crested with -the white of their snows? The positive strong foreground colours -emphasised by the delicacy of the background! The absolute silence of -the place was impressive and very welcome. - -The Diary had better "carry on" here: "_Sunday, January 19th._--To Capri -and Sorrento on our way to Amalfi. There is a string of names! I feel I -can't pronounce them to myself with adequate relish. To Mass at 8, and -then at 9 by steamer to Capri, touching at Sorrento on our way. Three -hours' passage over a very dark blue sea, which was flecked with foam -off Castellamare. Capri is all I expected, a mass of orange and lemon -groves in its lower part, with wonderful crags soaring abruptly, in -places, out of the clear green water. Tiberius's villa is perched on the -edge of a fearful precipice that has memories connected with his -cruelties which one tries to smother. Indeed, all around one, in those -scenes of Nature's loveliness, the detestable doings of man against man -are but too persistently obtruding themselves on the mind which is -seeking only restful pleasure. - -"We were driven to the Hotel Quisisana ('Here one gets well'), very high -up on a steep ridge, where the village is, and were sorry to find our -pleasure marred by being set down to _dejeuner_ with as repulsive a -company of Teutons as one could see. The perspective of those feeding -faces, along the edge of the table, tried me horribly. They say the -Germans are outnumbering the British as tourists in Italy now. Nowhere -do their loud voices and rude manners jar upon our sensibility so -painfully as in Italy. The _Frau_ next to me actually sniffed at four -bottles out of the cruet in succession, poking them into her nose before -she satisfied herself that she had found the right sauce for her chop! -What's to be done with such people? - -"We had not much time to give to the lovely island, for the little -steamer had to take us to Sorrento at two o'clock. We put up there at -the Hotel Tramontano, and had a stroll at sunset, with views of the -coast and Vesuvius that spread out beyond the reach of my well-meaning, -but inadequate, pen. I can't help the impulse of recording the things of -beauty I have seen. It is owing to a wish to preserve such precious -things in my memory, to waste nothing of them, and to record my -gratitude as well." - -At Amalfi came the culmination to our long series of experiences of the -Neapolitan Riviera. The names of Amalfi, Ravello, Salerno and Paestum -will be with me to the end, in a halo of enchantment. - -On returning to Naples, of course, we paid our respects to Vesuvius. Our -climb to the highest point allowable of the erupting cone was not at all -enchanting, and left my mind in a most perturbed condition. There was -much food for meditation when our visit was over, but at the time one -had only leisure to receive impressions, and very disconcerting -impressions at that. A keen north wind blew the fumes from the crater -straight down my throat as I panted upwards through the sulphur, ankle -deep, and I could only think of my discomfort and probable collapse. I -disdained a litter. I perceived several fat Germans in litters. - -An even deeper impression was made on my mind than that produced by the -eruption proper on our coming, after much staggering over cold lava, -near a great, crawling river of liquid fire oozing out of the mountain's -side. Above our heads the great maw of the crater was throwing up bursts -of rock fragments with rumblings and growls from the cruel monster. I -wonder when that wild beast will make its next pounce? And down there, -far, far below, in the plain lay little Pompeii, its poor, tiny, -insignificant victim! Yes, for a thoughtful climber there was more than -the sulphurous north wind to make him pause. - -The little funicular railway had brought us up to the foot of the cone, -crunching laboriously over the shoulder of the mountain, and I could not -but think--"If the chain broke?" At one point the open truck seemed to -dangle over space. We were sitting with our faces turned towards the sea -and away from the cone, and (were we never to be rid of them?) two -corpulent Teutons faced us, hideously conspicuous, as having apparently -nothing but blue air behind them. There was no horizon at all to the -sea, the pale haze merging sea and sky into one. Then, when we alighted, -we found ourselves in a restaurant with Messrs. Cook & Co.'s waiters -running about. Certainly it was no time for meditating or moralising in -that medley of the prehistoric and the _fin de siecle_. - -I found Rome very much changed after the lapse of all those years since -I was there with our family during the last months of the Temporal -Power. I shall never forget the shock I felt when, to lead off, on our -arrival, I conducted my husband to the great balustrade on the Pincian -overlooking the city, promising him my favourite view. It was a truly -striking one in the far-off days, and quite beautiful. Instead of the -reposeful vineyards of the area facing us beyond the Tiber, fitting -middle distance between us and St. Peter's, gaunt buildings bordering -wide, straight, staring streets glistening with tramlines seemed to jeer -at me in vulgar triumph, and I am not sure that I did not shed tears in -private when we got back to our hotel. One fact, however, brought a -sense of mental expansion as I surveyed that view, which should have -made amends for the sensitive contraction of my artist's mind. That -great basilica yonder was mine now! A return to Rome had another touch -of sadness for me. Our father had been so happy there in introducing his -girls to the city he loved. He seemed now to be ever by my side as the -well-remembered haunts that were left unchanged were seen again. Leo -XIII. was now Pope. On one particular occasion in the Sistine Chapel, at -Mass, I was struck by the extraordinary effect of his white, utterly -ethereal face and fragile figure as he stood at the altar, relieved -against the background of Michael Angelo's exceedingly muscular "Last -Judgment." And, now, what of this "Last Judgment"? The action of our -Lord, splendidly rendered as giving the powerful realisation of the push -which that heavy arm is giving in menace to the condemned souls towards -the Abyss on His left (I had almost said the _shove!_), is realistic and -strong. But what a gross conception! Our modern minds cannot be -impressed by this fleshly rendering of such a subject, a rendering -suitable to the coarser fibre of the Middle Ages. I could positively -hate this fresco, were I not lured, as a painter, to admire its -technical power. - -Our visit to the Empress at Cap Martin followed, on our way home to -Aldershot. She received us with her usual genial grace. The place, of -course, ideal, and the typical blue weather. We were made very much at -home. Madame le Breton told me I was to wear a _table d'hote_ frock at -dinner, and Pietri told Sir William a black tie to the evening suit was -the order of the day. - -"_February 13th._--The Villa Cyrnos is in a wood of stone pines, -overhanging the sea on a promontory between Mentone and Monte Carlo. It -is in the French Riviera style, all very white--no Italian fresco -colouring. Plentiful striped awnings to keep off the intense sunlight. -Cool marble rooms, polished parquets, flowers in masses--a sense of -grateful freshness with reminders of the heat outside in the dancing -reflections from the sea. Indeed, this is a charming retreat. Madame -d'Arcos and her sister, Mrs. Vaughan, were there, who having just -arrived from England, were full of accounts of the arrival of the -remains of Prince Henry of Battenberg from Ashanti, and the funeral, at -which Madame d'Arcos had represented the Empress. The different episodes -were minutely described by her of this, the last act of the latest -tragedy in our Royal Family. She had a sympathetic listener in the poor -Empress. - -"_February 14th._--A sunny day marred, to me, by a visit to Monte Carlo, -where the gambling is in fullest activity. The Empress wanted us all to -go for a little cruise in a yacht, but though the sea was calm enough I -preferred _terra firma_, and her ladies drove me to Monte Carlo. Hateful -place! The lovely mountains were radiant in the low sunshine of that -afternoon and the sea sparkling with light, but a crowd of overdressed -riff-raff was circulating about the casino and pigeon-shooting place, -from which came the ceaseless crack of the cowardly, unsportsmanlike -guns. I record, with loathing, one fellow I saw who came on the green, -protected from the gentle air by a fur-lined coat which his valet took -charge of while his master maimed his allotted number of clipped -victims, and carefully replaced as soon as all the birds were down. A -black dog ran out to fetch each fluttering thing as it fell. I was glad -to see this hero was not an Englishman. Inside the casino the people -were massed round the gaming tables, the hard light from the circular -openings above each table bringing into relief the ugly lines of their -perspiring faces. The atmosphere was dusty and stifling, and the hands -of these horribly absorbed people were black with clawing in their gains -across the grimy green baize. I drank in the pure, cool air of the -sunset loveliness outside when I got free, with a very certain -persuasion that I would never pay a second visit, except under polite -compulsion, to the gambling palace of Monte Carlo. - -"_February 15th._--The Empress took us quite a long walk to see the -corps of the '_Alpins_' at the Mentone barracks and back by the rocky -paths along the shore. She is very active, and is looking beautiful. - -"_Sunday, February 16th._--All of us to Mass at the little Mentone -church. The dear Empress gave me a little holy picture during the -service and said, 'I want you to keep this.' There is at times something -very touching about her." - -I sent a small picture this year to the "New Gallery," instead of the -Academy, feeling still the effects of their unkindness in placing "The -Dawn of Waterloo" where they did the preceding year. - - - - -CHAPTER XXI - -THE DOVER COMMAND - - -And now Dover Castle rises into prominence above the horizon as I travel -onward. My husband was offered Colchester or Dover. He left the choice -to me. How could there be a doubt in my mind? The Castle was the very -ideal, to me, of a residence. Here was History, picturesqueness, a wide -view of the silver sea, and the line of the French coast to free the -mind of insularity. So to Dover we went, children, furniture, horses, -servants, dogs and all, from the Aldershot bungalow. As usual, I was -spared by Sir William all the trouble of the move, and while I was -comfortably harboured by my ever kind and hospitable friends, the -Sweetmans, in Queen's Gate, my husband was managing all the tiresome -work of the move. - -It was a pleasure to give dances at the Constables' Tower, and the -dinners were like feasts in the feudal times under that vaulted ceiling -of the Banqueting Hall. Our boys' bedroom in the older part of this -Constables' Tower had witnessed the death of King Stephen, and a winding -staircase conducted the unappreciative London servants by a rope to -their remote domiciles. The modernised part held the drawing-rooms, -morning-room, library, and chief bedrooms, while in the garden, walled -round by the ramparts, stood the tower whence Queen Mary is said to have -gazed upon her lost Calais. My studio had a balcony which overhung the -moat and drawbridge. What could I have better than that? No wonder I -accomplished a creditable picture there, for I had many advantages. I -place "Steady, the Drums and Fifes!" amongst those of my works with -which I am the least dissatisfied. The Academy treated me well this -time, and gave the picture a place of honour. These drummer-boys of the -old 57th Regiment, now the Middlesex, are waiting, under fire, for the -order to sound the advance, at the Battle of Albuera. That order was -long delayed, and they and the regiment had to bear the supreme test of -endurance, the keeping motionless under fire. A difficult subject, -excellent for literature, very trying for painting. I had had the vision -of those drummer-boys for many years before my mind's eye, and it is a -very obvious fact that what you see strongly in that way means a -successful realisation in paint. Circumstances were favourable at Dover. -The Gordon Boys' Home there gave me a variety of models in its -well-drilled lads, and my own boys were sufficiently grown to be of -great use, though, for obvious reasons, I could not include their dear -faces in so painful a scene. The yellow coatees, too, were a tremendous -relief to me after that red which is so hard to manage. I remember -asking Detaille if he ever thought of giving our army a turn. "I would -like to," he said, "but the red frightens us." The bandsmen of the -Peninsular War days wore coatees of the colour of the regimental -facings. After long and patient researches I found out this fact, and -the facings of the 57th, being canary yellow, I had an unexpected treat. -I remember how the Duke of York[11] at an Aldershot dinner had -characteristically caught up this fact with great interest when I told -him all about my preparations for this picture. I am glad to know this -work belongs to the old 57th, the "Die Hards," who won that title at -Albuera. "Die hard, men, die hard!" was their colonel's order on that -tremendous day. - -Many interesting events punctuated our official life at Dover: - -"_August 15th, 1896._--Great doings to-day. We had a busy time of it. -Lord Salisbury was installed Lord Warden in the place of Lord Dufferin. -Will had the direction, not only of the military part of the ceremonies -but of the social (in conjunction with me), as far as the Constables' -Tower was concerned. Everything went well. Lord and Lady Salisbury drove -in a carriage and four from Walmer up to our Tower, and, while the -procession was forming outside to escort them down to the town, they -rested in our drawing-room for about half an hour, and Lord Dufferin -also came in. - -"I had to converse with these exalted personages whilst officers in full -uniform and women in full toilettes came and went with clatter of sabre -and rustle of silk. To fill up the rather trying half-hour and being -expected to devote my attention chiefly to the new Lord Warden, I -bethought myself of conducting him to a window which gave a bird's-eye -view of the smoky little town below. I moralised, _a la_ Ruskin, on the -ugliness of the coal smoke which was smudging that view in particular, -and spoiling England in general. On reconducting the weighty Salisbury -to a rather fragile settee I morally and very nearly physically knocked -him over by this felicitous remark: 'Well, I have the consolation of -knowing that the coalfields of England are finite!' 'What?' he shouted, -with a bound which nearly broke the back of that settee. I don't think -he said anything more to me that day. Of course, I meant that smokeless -methods would have to be discovered for working our industries, but I -left that unsaid, feeling very small. It is my misfortune that I have -not the knack of small talk, so useful to official people, and that I am -obliged to propel myself into conversation by pronouncements of that -kind. Shall I ever forget the catastrophe at the L----s' dinner at -Aldershot, when I announced, during a pause in the general conversation, -to an old gentleman who had taken me in, and whose name I hadn't caught, -that there was one word I would inscribe on the tombstone of the Irish -nation, and that word was--Whisky. The old gentleman was John Jameson. - -"But to return to to-day's doings. I had to consign to C.,[12] as my -deputy, the head of the table for such of the people as were remaining -at the Castle for luncheon as I myself had to appear at that function at -the Town Hall. The procession, military, civil and civic--especially -civic--started at 12 for the 'Court of Shepway,' where much antique -ceremonial took place. When they all reached the Town Hall after that, -Lord Salisbury first unveiled a full-length portrait of the outgoing -Lord Warden, at the entrance to the Banqueting Hall, and complimented -him on so excellent a likeness with a genial pat on the back. We were -all in good humour which increased as we filed in to luncheon and -continued to increase during that civic feast, enlivened by a band. -Trumpets sounded before each speech, and the sharp clapping of hands -called, I think, 'Kentish Fire,' gave a local touch which was pleasingly -original. I am glad, always, to find the county spirit still so strong -in England, and nowhere is it stronger than in Kent. It must work well -in war with the county regiments. - -"I am afraid Lady Salisbury must have got rather knocked out of time -coming to the Castle, by all the saluting, trumpeting and general -prancing of the guard of honour. She was nervous crossing our drawbridge -with four 'jumpy' horses which she told me had never been with troops -before! Altogether I don't think this was a day to suit her at all. I -heard the postillion riding the near leader shout back to the coachman -on the box as they started homeward from our door, 'Put on both brakes -_hard!_' Away went the open carriage which had very low sides and no -hood, and Lord Salisbury, being very wide, rather bulged over the side. -Wearing a military cape, lent him by my General, the day turning chilly, -he had a rather top-heavy appearance, and we only breathed freely when -that ticklish drawbridge, and the very steep drop of the hill beyond it, -were passed. So now let them rest at Walmer. Will will do all he can to -secure peace for them there." - -On August 20th I went to poor Sir John Millais' funeral in St. Paul's. -The ceremony was touching to me when I thought of the kind, enthusiastic -friend of my early days and his hearty encouragement and praise. They -had placed his palette and a sheaf of his brushes on the coffin. Lord -Wolseley, Irving, the actor, Holman Hunt and Lord Rosebery were the -pall-bearers. The ceremony struck me as gloomy after being accustomed to -Catholic ritual, and the undertaker element was too pronounced, but the -music was exquisite. So good-bye to a truly great and sincere artist. -What a successful life he had, rounded by so terribly painful a death! - -One of the most interesting of the Dover episodes was our hiring of -"Broome Hall" for the South-Eastern District manoeuvres in the -following September. The Castle was too far away for working them from -there, so this fine old Elizabethan mansion, being in the very centre of -the theatre of "war," became our headquarters. There we entertained Lord -Wolseley and his staff as the house-party. Other warriors and many -civilians whose lovely country houses were dotted about that beautiful -Kentish region came in from outside each day, and for four days what -felt to me like a roaring kind of hospitality went on which proved an -astonishing feat of housekeeping on my part. True, I was liberally -helped, but to this day I marvel that things went so successfully. -Everything had to be brought from the Castle--servants in an omnibus, -_batterie de cuisine_, plate, linen and all sorts of necessary things, -in military waggons, for the house had not been inhabited for a long -while. All the food was sent out from Dover fresh every day, by road--no -village near. The house had been palatially furnished in the old days, -but its glory was much faded and so ancestral was it that it possessed a -ghost. A pathetic interest attaches to "Broome" to-day, and I should not -know it again in its renovated beauty. Lord Kitchener restored it to -more than its pristine lustre, I am told. - -The morning start each day of all these generals (Sir Evelyn Wood was -one of them) from the front door for the "battle" was a pleasing sight -for me, with the strong cavalry escort following. After the gallant -cavalcade had got clear I would follow in the little victoria with -friends, hoping in my innermost heart that I was leaving everything well -in hand behind me for the hungry "Cocked Hats" on their return. - -On March 30th, 1897, I had a glimpse of Gladstone. We were on the pier -to receive a Royalty, and the "Grand Old Man" was also on board the -Calais boat. He was the last to land and was accompanied by his wife. He -came up the gangway with some difficulty, and struck me as very much -aged, with his face showing signs of pain. I had not seen him since he -sat beside me at a dinner at the Ripons' in 1880, when his keen eye had -rather overawed me. He was now eighty-eight! The crowd cheered him well, -but the old couple were past that sort of thing, and only anxious to -seek their rest at "Betteshanger," a few miles distant, whither Lord -Northbourne's carriage whirled them away from public view. - -And now comes the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria. I think my fresh -impressions written down at the time should be inserted here as I find -them. Too much national sorrow and suffering brought to us by the Great -War, and too many changes have since blurred that bright picture to -allow of posthumous enthusiasm for its chronicling to-day. Were I to -tone down that picture to the appearance it has to me at the present -time it would hardly be worth showing. - -"_June 22nd, 1897._--Jubilee Day. I never expected to be so touched by -what I have seen of these pageants and rejoicings, and to feel so much -personal affection for the Queen as I have done through this wonderful -week. Thinking of other nations, we cannot help being impressed with the -way in which the English have comported themselves on this occasion--the -unanimity of the crowds; the willingness of every one concerned; all -resulting in those huge pageants passing off without a single jar. My -place was in the courtyard of the Horse Guards; Will's place was on his -big grey before St. Paul's, at Queen Anne's statue, to keep an eye on -things. I had an effective view of the procession making the bend from -Whitehall into the courtyard, and out by the archway into the parade -ground. This gave me time to enjoy the varied types of all those -nationalities whose warriors represented them, as they filed past at -close quarters. But we had five hours of waiting. These hours were well -filled up for me, so continually interested in watching the movements of -the troops as they took up their positions for receiving the procession -and saluting the Queen. I think in the way of perfect dress and of -superfine, thoroughbred horseflesh, Lord Lonsdale's troop of Cumberland -Hussars was as memorable a group as any that day. They wore the 'sling -jacket,' only known to me in pictures and old prints of the pre-Crimean -days, and to see these gallant-looking crimson pelisses in reality was -quite a delightful surprise. - -"The sun burst through the clouds just as the guns announced to us that -the Queen had started from Buckingham Palace on her great round by St. -Paul's at 11.15. So we waited, waited. Presently some one called out, -'Here's Captain Ames,' and, knowing he was the leader, we nimbly ran up -to our seats. It seemed hardly credible that the journey to St. Paul's -and the ceremony there, and the journey homewards could have occupied -so comparatively brief an interval. I think the part of the procession -which most delighted me was the cohort of Indian cavalry, and then the -gorgeous bunch of thirty-six princes, each in his national dress or -uniform. These rode in triplets. You saw a blue-coated Prussian riding -with a Montenegrin on one side and an Italian bonneted by the absurd -general's helmet now in vogue on the other. Then came another triplet of -a Persian, whose breast was a galaxy of diamonds flashing in the sun, an -Austrian with fur pelisse and busby (poor man, in that heat), and the -brother of the Khedive, wearing the familiar _tarboosh_, riding a little -white Arab. Then followed an English Admiral in the person of the Duke -of York, a Japanese mannikin on his right, and a huge Russian on his -left, and so on, and so on--types and dresses from all the quarters of -the globe in close proximity, so that one could compare them at a -glance. The dignified Indian cavalry were superb as to dress and -_puggarees_, but the faces were stolid, very unlike the keen, clean-cut -Arab types which so charmed me in Egypt and Palestine. There certainly -were too many carriages filled with small Germans. Then came the -colonial escort to the Queen's carriage. As they came on and passed -before us I do not exaggerate when I say that there seemed to pass over -them an ever-deepening cloud-shadow, as it were, from the white -Canadians riding in front, through ever-deepening shades of brown down -to the blackest of negroes, who rode last. What an epitome of our -Colonial Empire! Then, finally, before the supreme moment, came Lord -Wolseley, the immediate forerunner of the Royal carriage. He looked well -and gallant and youthful. Then round the curve into the courtyard the -eight cream-coloured horses in rich gala harness of Garter-blue and -gold! So quick was the pace that I dared not dwell too long on their -beauty for I was too absorbed in the Queen during that precious minute. -There she was, the centre of all this! A little woman, seated by herself -(I had not time to see who sat facing her) with an expressionless pink -face, preoccupied in settling her bonnet, which had got a little -crooked, as though nothing unusual was going on, and that was the last I -saw of her as she passed under the dark archway, facing homeward. - -"_June 26th._--Off from Dover at 2 a.m. for Southampton, by way of -London, to see the culminating glory of the Jubilee--the greatest naval -review ever witnessed. At eight we left Waterloo in one of the -'specials' that took holders of invitation cards for the various ocean -liners that had been chartered for the occasion. Our ship was the P. and -O. _Paramatta_, and very pleased I was on beholding her vast -proportions, for I feared qualms on any smaller vessel. There were -meetings on board with friends and a great luncheon, and general good -humour and complacency at being Britons. The day cleared up at 10.30, -and only a slight haze thinly veiled the mighty host of the Channel -Fleet as we slowly steamed towards it along the Solent. Gradually the -sun shone fully out and the day settled into steady brilliance. - -"Well, I have been so inflated with national pride since beholding our -naval power this day that if I don't get a prick of some sort I shall go -off like a balloon. Let us be exultant just for a week! We won't think -of the ugly look of India just now and all the nasty warnings of the -bumptious Kaiser and the rest of it. We can't while looking at Britannia -ruling the waves, as we are doing to-day. Five miles of ships of war -five lines deep! When all these ships fired each twenty-one guns by -divisions as the Prince of Wales steamed up and down the lines, and the -crews of each vessel in turn gave such cheers as only Jack Tar can give, -it was not the moment to threaten us with anything. I shall never forget -the aspect of this fleet of ours, black hulls and yellow funnels and -'fighting tops' stretching to east and west as far as the eye could -reach and beyond, the mellow sunlight full upon them and the -slowly-rolling clouds of smoke that wrapped them round with mystery as -their countless guns thundered the salute! Myriads of flags fluttered in -the breeze, the sea sparkled, and in and out of those motionless -battleships all manner of steam and sailing craft moved incessantly, -deepening by the contrast of their hurry the sense one had of the -majestic power contained in those reposing monsters.... Every one is -saying, 'And to think that not a single ship has been recalled from -abroad to make up this display!' We are all very pleased, and have the -good old Nelson feeling about us." On June 28th the Queen held her -Jubilee Garden Party in the Buckingham Palace grounds. There we looked -our last on her. - -I took four of the children, in August, to Bruges, that old city so much -enjoyed by me in my early years. I was charmed to see how carefully all -the old houses had been preserved, and, indeed, I noticed that a few of -them, vulgarly modernised then, were now restored to their original -beauty. How well the Belgians understand these things! Seventeen years -after this date the eldest of the two schoolboys I had with me was to -ride through that same old Bruges as A.D.C. to the general commanding -"The Immortal 7th Division," which, retiring before the German hordes, -was to turn and help to rend them at Ypres. - -In 1898 I exhibited a smaller picture than usual--"The Morrow of -Talavera," which was very kindly placed at the Academy--and I began a -large Crimean subject, "The Colours," for the succeeding year. I had -some fine models at Dover for this picture. In making the studies for it -I had an interesting experience. I wanted to show the colour party of -the Scots Guards advancing up the hill of the Alma in their full parade -dress--the last time British troops wore it in action--Lieutenant Lloyd -Lindsay carrying the Queen's colour. It was then he won the V.C. Lord -Wantage (that same Lloyd Lindsay), now an old man, but full of energy, -when he heard of my project, conducted me to the Guards' Chapel in -London, and there and then had the old, dusty, moth-eaten Alma colours -taken down from their place on the walls, and held the Queen's colour -once more in his hand for me to see. I made careful studies at the -chapel, and restored the fresh tints which he told me they had on that -far-away day, when I came to put them into the picture. I was in South -Africa when the Academy opened in the following spring. - -On September 11th, 1898, we received the terrible news of the -assassination of the Empress of Austria. I had seen her every Sunday and -feast day at our little Ventnor church, at Mass, during her residence at -Steep Hill Castle. She had the tiniest waist I ever saw--indeed, no -woman could have lived with a tinier one. She was beautiful, but so -frigid in her manner; she seemed made of stone, yet she rode splendidly -to hounds--altogether an enigma. - -October 27th, 1898, I thoroughly enjoyed. It was a day after my own -heart--picturesque, historical, stirring, amusing. Sir Herbert -Kitchener, _the_ Sirdar _par excellence_, was received at Dover on his -arrival from the captured Khartoum with all the prestige of his new-won -honours shining around him. My husband had decided that the regulation -military honours "to be accorded to distinguished persons" were -applicable to the man who was coming, and so a guard of honour -(Highlanders) with the regimental colour was drawn up at the pier head, -the regimental officers in red and the staff in blue. The crowd on the -upper part of the pier was immense and densely packed all along the -parapet, and the Lower Pier, reserved for special people, was crowded, -too. It was a calm, grey, yet bright day, and the absence of wind made -things pleasant. Great gathering of Cocked Hats at the entrance gates, -and we all walked to the landing stage. There was a dense smudge of -black smoke on the horizon. I knew that meant Kitchener. Keeping my eye -on that smudge, I took but a distracted part in the small talk and -frequent introductions of distinguished persons come from afar to -welcome the man of the hour, "the Avenger of Gordon." I was conducted to -the head of the landing steps, together with such of the staff as were -not to go on board the boat with the General. Then the smudge got hidden -behind the pier end, but I could see the ever-increasing swish and swirl -of the water on the starboard side of the hidden steamer, and soon she -swept alongside; a few vague cheers began, no one in the crowd knowing -the Sirdar by sight. When, however, the General went on board and shook -hands, this proclaimed at once where the man was, and cheer upon cheer -thundered out. I have never, before or since, seen such spontaneous -enthusiasm in England. After a little talk (my husband and he were long -together on the Nile) and after the delivery of letters (one from the -Queen) and telegrams, during which the hurrahs went on in a great roar -and multitudinous pocket handkerchiefs fluttered in a long perspective, -the big, solid, stolid, sunburnt Briton stepped on English soil once -more. While shaking hands with me he seemed astonished and amused at all -that was going on and, looking over my head at the masses of people -above, he lifted his hat, and thenceforth kept it in his hand as he was -escorted to the Lord Warden Hotel. He had asked his A.D.C., on first -catching sight of the reception awaiting him, "What is all this about?" - -Then there was an Address at the hotel to which he listened with an -ox-like patience, and after that the enormous company of invited guests -went to lunch. In his speech my husband paid the Sirdar the compliment -of saying that the traditional Field Marshal's baton would be found in -his trunk when the customs officers opened it at Victoria. Kitchener -spoke so low I could not hear him. Had he been less immovable one could -have plainly seen how utterly he hated having to make a speech. His -travelling dress looked most interestingly incongruous amidst the rich -uniforms and the glossy frock-coats as he stood up to say what he had to -say. As we all bulged out of the hotel door the cheers began again from -the crowds. I took care to look at the people that day, and I was struck -by their _unanimity_. All ranks were there, and yet on every face, well -bred or unwashed, I saw the same identical expression--one of broad, -laughing delight. Such were my impressions, which I noted down, as -usual, at the moment, and I have lived to see that remarkable man work -out his life, and end it with a tragedy that will hold its place in -history; my husband's prophecy, put in those playful words at Dover, -fulfilled; a threatening disaster to the Empire turned into victory with -the aid of that extraordinary mind and physical endurance; and the -burning fire of that personality quenched, untimely, in the icy depths -of a northern sea. - - - - -CHAPTER XXII - -THE CAPE AND DEVONPORT - - -On November 12th, 1898, my husband sailed for South Africa, there to -take up the military command, and to act as High Commissioner in place -of Sir Alfred Milner, home on leave. His staff at Dover loved him. Their -send-off brought tears to his eyes. I, C. and the A.D.C. saw him off -from Southampton, to rejoin him in the process of time at the Cape. We -little knew what a dark period in his life awaited him out there, -brought about by the malice of those in power there and at home. It is -too sacred and too painful a subject for me to record it here further -than I have done. The facts will be found in his "Autobiography." I left -England on February 18th, 1899, with three of the children, leaving the -two eldest boys at college. It was a very painful leave-taking at the -Waterloo Station. My mother was there and all the dear ones, whom I did -not expect to see again for two or three years--my mother perhaps ever -again. Yet in a few months we were back there! My theory that one should -try and not fret about the future, which is an absolutely unknown -quantity, proved justified. I have chronicled our voyage out in my -former little book, and described one night at Madeira--a night of -enchantment under the moon. - -I need not go over the days on the "blue water" again, nor our strange -life beyond the Equator, where, though I was filled with admiration for -the beauty of our surroundings, I never felt the happiness which Italy, -Egypt or Palestine had given me. Very absurd, no doubt, and sentimental, -but my love of the old haunts made me feel resentful of the topsy-turvy -state of things I found down there. The crescent moon on what (to me) -was the wrong side of the sunset, the hot north wind, the cold blast -from the south, the shadows all inverted--no, I did not enjoy this -contradiction to my well-beloved traditions. There was, besides, a local -melancholy in that strange beauty I cannot describe. All this may be put -down to sentimentality, but a very real melancholy attaches to South -Africa in my mind in connection with my husband, who suffered there for -his honesty and devotion to the honour of the Empire he served. The -authorities accepted his resignation of the Cape command which he -tendered for fear of embarrassing the Government, and he accepted the -command of the Western District in its place, which meant Devonport. So -on August 22nd we all embarked for Home. - -There we found the campaign of calumny, originated in South Africa -against Sir William, in its acutest phase. The Press was letting loose -all the poison with which it was being supplied, and I consequently went -through, at first, the bitter pain of daily trying to intercept the -vilest anonymous letters, many of them beer-stained missives couched in -ill-spelt language from the slums. Not all the reparation offered to my -husband later on--the bestowal of the Grand Cross of the Bath, his -election to the dignity of Privy Councillor, his selection as the safest -judge to investigate the South African war stores scandals, not to name -other acts conveying the _amende honorable_--ever healed the wound. - -His offence had been a frank admission of sympathy for a people -tenacious of their independence and, knowing the Boers as he did, he -knew what their resistance would mean in case of attack. He was appalled -at the prospect of a war, not against an army but against a people, -involving the farm-burnings and all the horrors which our armies would -have to resort to. He would fain have seen violence avoided and -diplomacy used instead, knowing, as he did, that the old intransigent -Dopper element would die out in time, and the new generation of Boers, -many of whom were educated at our universities, intermarrying with the -English, as they were already doing, would have brought about that very -union of the two races within the Empire which has been reached to-day -through all that suffering. In case, however, war should be decided on -he employed the utmost vigour allowed to official language to warn those -in power of the necessity for enormous forces in order to ensure -success. Some of his despatches were suppressed. The idea at -Headquarters was an easy march to Pretoria. What I have alluded to as -the malice which prompted the campaign of calumny had caused the report -to be spread that our initial defeats were owing to his wilful neglect -in not warning the directing powers of the gravity of their undertaking. - -The chief interest I found in our new appointment was caused by the -frequent arrivals of foreign men-of-war, whose captains were received -officially and socially, and there were admirals, too, when squadrons -came. It was interesting and amusing. Lord and Lady Charles Scott were -at the Admiralty and, later, Sir Edward Seymour, during our appointment. -The foreign sailors prevented the official functions from becoming -monotonous, and we got a certain amount of pleasure out of this -Devonport phase of our experiences. I carried my painting "through thick -and thin," and did well, on the whole, at the Academy. I had the -"consuming zeal"--a very necessary possession. One year it was a big -tent-pegging picture (I don't know where its purchaser is now), which -was well lighted at Burlington House. Then a Boer War subject, "Within -Sound of the Guns"--well placed; followed by an Afghan subject, "Rescue -of Wounded," which to my great pleasure was given an excellent place in -the _Salle d'Honneur_. I also accomplished other smaller works and -exhibited a great number of water colours. It is a medium I like much. I -also prepared for the Press my "Letters from the Holy Land" there which -I have already mentioned. My publishers, Messrs. A. and C. Black, -reproduced the water-colour illustrations very faithfully. - -Our French sailor guests were always bright, so were the Italians, but -the Japanese were very heavy in hand, and conversation was uphill work. -It was mainly carried on by repeated smiles and nods on their part. When -their big ships came in on one occasion the Admiralty gave them the -first dinner, of course, and at the end the bandmaster had the happy -thought of giving a few bars out of Arthur Sullivan's "Mikado" before -the Emperor's health was drunk, the National Air not being in his -repertory. Some one asked the Jap admiral if he recognised it. "Ah! no, -no, no!" came the usual smiling and nodding answer. At the Port -Admirals' I was to learn that in the navy you mustn't stand up for our -Sovereign's health, by order of William IV. This resulted one evening in -our sitting for "The King" and standing up for "The Kaiser." There were -the German admiral and officers present. I thought that very -unfortunate.[13] - -Well, Devonport in summer was very delightful, but Devonport in winter -had long periods of fog and gloom. I had the blessing of another trip to -Italy, this time with our eldest daughter, starting on a dark wintry day -in early March, 1900. Sir William's work prevented his coming with us. -_Via_ Genoa to Rome lay our happy way. Of course, it wasn't the Rome I -first knew, but the shock I received when revisiting it four years -before this present visit had already introduced me into the new order, -and I now knew what to see, enjoy, and avoid. There were several new -things to enjoy: above all, the Forum, now all open to the sky! In the -dear old days that space was a rather dreary expanse of waste land where -some poor old paupers were to be daily seen, leisurely labouring under -the delusion that they were excavating. They grubbed up the tufts of -grass and scraped the dust with pocket-knives, and the treasures below -remained comfortably tucked away from public view. Then the much-abused -Embankment. The dignified sweep of its lines leads the eye up, as it -follows the flow of the stream, to the dignity of St. Peter's, whereas, -formerly, in its place, unbeautiful masses of mouldering houses tottered -over the Tiber and gave that long-suffering river the reflections of -their drainpipes. Then, the two end arches of that most estimable Ponte -Sant' Angelo are now cleared of the old mud which blocked them up -malodorously and docked the lovely thing of its symmetry. Then, finally, -Rome is clean! - -We had the good fortune to be present at two very striking Papal -functions, striking as bringing together Catholics from a wide-flung -circle embracing some remote nationalities unknown by sight to me. The -first was the Pope's Benediction in St. Peter's on March 18th. We were -standing altogether about three hours in the crowd at the Tomb, well -placed for seeing the Holy Father. He was taken round the vast basilica -in his _sedia gestatoria_, and blessed a wildly cheering crowd. I never -saw a human being so like a spirit as Leo XIII. He looked as white as -his mitre as he leant forward and stretched his arm out in benediction -from side to side, borne high above the helmets of the Noble Guard. One -heard cheers in all languages, and a curious effect was produced by the -whirling handkerchiefs, which made a white haze above the dark crowd. I -have often heard secular monarchs cheered, and that very heartily, but -for a Pope it seems that more than ordinary loyalty prompts the -cheerers. The people seem to give out their whole being in their voices -and gestures. - -The Diary says: "I am glad I have seen that old man's face and his look, -as though it came to us from beyond the grave. At times the cheers went -up to the highest pitch of both men's and women's voices. A strange -sound to hear in a church." - -A spring day spent at the well-known Hadrian's Villa, under Tivoli, is -not to be allowed to pass without a grateful record. It is a most -exquisite place of old ruins, cypresses, olives and, at this time, -flowering peach trees, violets and anemones. It is an enchanting site -for a country house. Hadrian chose well. From there you see the -delicately-pencilled dome of St. Peter's on the rim of the horizon to -the west, and behind you, to the north, rise the steep foot-hills of the -mountains, some crowned with old cities. The ruins of the villa are all -_minus_ the lovely outer coating which used to hide the brickwork, and -poor Hadrian would have felt very woeful had he foreseen that all the -white loveliness of his villa was to come to this. But as bits of warm -colour and lovely surface those brick spaces take the sun and shadow -beautifully between the dark masses of the cypresses and feathery grey -cloudiness of the olives. Nowhere is the "touch and go" nature of life -more strikingly put before the mind than in dead Rome, where so much -magnificence in stone and marble and mosaic and bronze has fallen into -lumps of crumbling brick. - -On March 26th we attended the Papal Benediction in the Sistine Chapel, -which is a remarkable thing to see. It was a memorable morning. The -floor of the chapel was packed with pilgrims, some of them rough men and -women from remote regions of the north-east, whose outlandish costumes -were especially remarkable for the heavy Cossack boots, reaching to the -knee, worn by both sexes. One wondered how these people journeyed to -Rome. What a gathering of the faithful we looked down on from our -gallery! The same ecstatic cheering we had heard in St. Peter's -announced the entrance of Leo XIII. There he was, the holy creature, -blessing right and left with that thin alabaster hand, half covered with -a white mitten. With all their hoarse barbaric cheering, I noticed how -those peasants, who had so particularly attracted me, remembered to bend -their heads and most devoutly make the sign of the cross as he passed. -They almost monopolised my study of the motley crowd, but I was aware of -the many nationalities present, and the same enthusiasm came from them -all. At such times a great consolation eases the mind, saddened, as it -often is, by the general atmosphere of declining faith in which one has -to live one's ordinary life in the world. After the Mass came the -presentation of the pilgrims at the altar steps. The Pope had kind words -for all, bending down to hear and to speak to them, and often stroking -the men's heads. One huge Muscovite peasant knelt long at his feet, and -the Pope kept patting the rough man's cheek and speaking to him and -blessing him over and over again. At the sight of this a wild -"_hourah_!" broke from his fellow villagers. Where in the world was -their village? In the mists of remoteness, but here in heart, -unmistakably. Following the swarthy giant three sandy-haired German -students, carrying their plumed caps in their hands and girt with -rapiers, presented some college documents to receive the Papal -benediction, and a great many men and women knelt and passed on, but the -Pope seemed in no way fatigued. As he was borne out again he waved us an -upward blessing with his white and most friendly countenance turned up -to us. - -Our Roman wanderings included a visit to the Holy Father's Vatican -gardens, which are part of the little temporal kingdom a Pope still -possesses, and to his tiny "country house" therein, where he goes for -change of air(!) in the summer, about two stonethrows from the Vatican. -I note: "There are well-trimmed vineyards there; there are pet birds and -beasts in a little 'zoological gardens'; there is the arbour where he -has his meals on hot days; and, finally, we were conducted to his little -villa bedroom from whose window one of the finest views of Rome is seen, -dominated by the Quirinal, within (let us hope) shaking hands distance." -We heard the "Miserere" at St. Peter's on Good Friday--very impressive, -that twilight service in the apse of the great basilica! The -unaccompanied voices of boys sounded in sweetest music--one hardly knew -whence it came--and the air seemed to thrill with the thin angelic sound -in the waning light as one by one the candles at the altar were put out. -At the last Psalm the last light was extinguished, and the vast crowd -with its wan faces remained lighted only by the faint glimmer that came -down from the pale sky through the high windows. Then good-bye to Rome. -We left for Perugia on April 22nd. I certainly ought to be grateful for -having had yet another reception by my Umbrian Hills! And such a -reception that April afternoon, with the low sun gilding everything into -fullest beauty! I did my best to secure that moment in miserably -inadequate paint from the hotel window immediately on arrival. Better -than nothing. But no more of Perugia, nor of dear old Florence on our -way to academic Padua; no more of Verona. I have much yet to record on -getting home, and after! - - - - -CHAPTER XXIII - -A NEW REIGN - - -Sir William was asked by Lord Wolseley to take up the Aldershot command -in the absence of Sir Redvers Buller, who was struggling very -desperately to retrieve our fortunes in the Boer War; so to Aldershot we -went from Devonport, where my husband's command ran concurrently. How -intensely England had hoped for the turning of the tide when Buller was -given the tremendous task of directing our armies! We forget the horrors -the nation went through in those days because the late War has made us -pass through the same apprehensions multiplied by millions, but there -the fact remains in our history that we nearly suffered a terrible -catastrophe at the time of which I am writing. Buller, on leaving for -the Cape, had said to my husband how fervently he wished he possessed -his gift of imagination, and, indeed, that is a very precious gift to a -commander. This truly awful state of things--our terrible losses, and -the temporary lowering of our military prestige (thank heaven, so -gloriously recovered and enhanced in the World War!)--were the answer to -the repeated assertion made, when we were at the Cape, by those who -ought to have known, that "the Boers won't fight." How this used to -enrage my husband, whose "gift of imagination" made him see so clearly -the danger ahead. Well, all this is of the long ago, and, as I have -already noted, it is better to say little now; but the sense of -injustice lives! - -[Illustration: A DESPATCH-BEARER, BOER WAR, AND THE HORSE-GUNNERS.] - -Buller had a great reception at Aldershot on his return from South -Africa. I never saw a more radiantly happy face on a woman than poor -Lady Audrey's, who had been in a state of most tense anxiety during her -dear Redvers' absence. As the train steamed into the station the band -struck up "See the Conquering Hero comes!" The horses of his carriage -were unharnessed, and the triumphal car was drawn by a team of firemen -to Government House. At the entrance gate a group of school children -sang "Home, sweet Home"; my husband hauled down his flag and Buller's -was run up, and so that episode closed. - -We had inhabited a suburban-looking villa on the road to Farnborough -during the absence of Sir Redvers, not wishing to disturb the anxious -watcher at Government House, and very often we saw the Empress, just as -in the old days. She told us the dear Queen was very ill, far worse than -the world was allowed to know. My husband had always said the war would -kill her, for she had taken our losses cruelly to heart, and so it -happened on January 22nd, 1901. The resumed Devonport Diary says: - -"A day ever to be marked in English history as a day of mourning. Our -Queen is dead. At dinner S. brought us the news that she passed away at -6.30 this afternoon. We were prepared for it, but it seems like a dream. -To us who have been born and have lived all our lives under her -sovereignty it is difficult to realise that she is gone. - -"_January 23rd, 1901._--A dull gloomy day, punctuated by 81 minute guns, -which began booming at noon. All the royal standards and flags hanging -half-mast in the fog, on land and afloat. - -"_January 24th._--At noon-day all standards and flags were run up to the -masthead, and a quick thunder of guns proclaimed the accession of Edward -VII. At the end the band on board the guardship _Nile_ struck up 'God -Save the King.' The flags will all be lowered again until the day after -Queen Victoria is laid to rest. Edward VII.! How strange it sounds, and -how events and changes are rolling down upon us every hour now. Albert -Edward will be a greater man as Edward VII. - -"_February 5th._--The Queen was buried to-day beside her husband at -Frogmore. It is inexpressibly touching to think of them side by side -again. Model wife and mother, how many of your women subjects have -strayed away, of late, from those virtues which you were true to to the -last! - -"_February 16th._--There is great indignation amongst us Catholics at -Edward VII. having been called upon to take the oath at the opening of -Parliament which savours so much of the darkest days of 'No Popery' -bigotry. I think it might have been modified by this time, and the lies -about 'idolatry' and the 'worship' of the Virgin Mary eliminated. Could -not the King have had strength of mind enough to refuse to insult his -Catholic subjects? I know he must have deeply disliked to pronounce -those words. - -"_August 6th._--Again the flags to-day are at half-mast, and so is the -royal standard, and this time, on the men-of-war, it is the German flag! -The Empress Frederick died yesterday." I never mentioned at the time of -our visit to the Connaughts at Bagshot, when we were first at Aldershot, -a touching incident concerning her. Sir William sat next to her at -dinner, and, _a propos_ of a really fine still-life picture painted by -her, which hung over the dining-room door in the hall, he asked her -whether she still kept up her painting. "No," she said, "I have cried -myself blind!" What with one Empress crying as though her heart would -break in speaking to him that time at Camden Place and this Empress -telling him she had cried herself blind----! The illness and death of -the Kaiser Frederick must have been a period of great anguish. - -During this summer I was very busy with my picture of the "10th Bengal -Lancers at Tent Pegging," a subject requiring much sunshine study, which -I have already mentioned. - -In September, Lord Roberts--"the miniature Field Marshal," as I call him -in the Diary--came down on inspection, and great were the doings in his -honour. "How will this little figure stand in history? Will's -well-planned defence against a night attack from the sea came off very -well this dark still night, though the navy were nearly an hour late. -There was too much waiting, but when, at last, the enemy torpedo boats -and destroyers appeared, the whole Sound was bordered with such a zone -of fire that, had it been real war, not a rivet of the invader's -flotilla would have been left in possession of its hold. 'Bobs' must -have been gratified at to-night's display, which he reviewed from -Stonehouse. - -"Our Roberts dinner was of twenty-two covers, and the only women were -Lady Charles Scott, myself and C. A guard of honour was at the front -door, and presented arms as the Field Marshal arrived, the band playing. -He certainly is diminutive. A nice face, soldierlike, and a natural -manner. With him that too jocose Evelyn Wood and others. 'Bobs,' of -course, took me in to dinner, and, on my left, Lord Charles Scott took -in C. Will took in Lady Charles. The others--Lord Mount Edgcumbe, H.S.H. -Prince Louis of Battenberg (in command of the _Implacable_), Admiral -Jackson, and so forth--subsided into their places according to -seniority. Every man in blue or red except one rifleman. Soft music -during dinner and two bars of the National Anthem before the still -unfamiliar 'The King, God bless him!' at dessert. Will still feels a -little--I don't know how to express it--of the mental hesitation before -changing 'the Queen' which he felt so strongly at first. He was very -truly attached to her. I was back in the drawing-room in good time to -receive the crowd, who came in a continuous flow, all with an expectant -smile, to pay homage to the Lion. I don't think I forgot anybody's name -(coached by the A.D.C.) in all those introductions, but that item of my -duties is a thing I dread. I never saw people in such good humour at any -social function before. We certainly _do_ love to honour our soldiers. -But, all the time, things are not going too well with us in the war! - -"_September 14th._--Again the flags half-mast! Now it is the 'Stars and -Stripes.' Poor President McKinley succumbed to-day to his horrible -wound. The surgeons wouldn't let him die for a long while, though he -asked them to. They did their best. - -"_March 7th, 1902._--And now for the royal visit, the principal occasion -for which is the launching of the great battleship the _Queen_, by Queen -Alexandra. Will was responsible for all matters ashore, as the admiral -was for those afloat. Lady Charles and I had to be on the platform at -North Road to receive Their Majesties, the only other women there being -Lady Morley and the Plymouth Mayor's daughter, bearing a bouquet for -presentation. The royal train had an engine decorated in front of its -funnel with an enormous gilt crown, and I was pleased, as it -majestically glided into the station, to see that it is possible even in -railway prose to have a little dash of poetry. The band struck up, the -guard of honour presented arms with a clang. First, out sprang lacqueys -carrying bags and wraps who scurried to the royal carriages waiting -outside, and out sprang various admirals and diplomats in hot haste, all -with rather anxious faces veneered with smiles. And then, leisurely, the -ever lovely and self-possessed Queen and her kindly and kingly consort, -wearing, over his full-dress admiral's uniform, a caped overcoat. -Salutes, bows, curtseys, smiles, handshakes. Will presents the great -silver Key of the Citadel, which Charles II. had made for locking the -Great Gate against the refractory people. Edward VII. touches it and the -General Commanding returns it to the R.A. officer, who has charge of it. -We all kiss the King's hand as seeing him for the first time to speak to -since his accession. The Queen withdraws her hand quickly before any -officer can salute it in like manner, which looks a little ungracious. -Whilst the General and Admiral are introducing their respective staffs -to the King, the Queen has a little chat with me and asks after my -painting and so forth. She is very fond of that water colour I did for -her album at Dover of a trooper of her 'own' 19th Hussars at -tent-pegging. Lady Charles and I did not join in the procession through -the Three Towns to the dockyard, but hastened home to avoid the crowd. - -"In the evening we dined with Their Majesties on board the royal yacht -over part of which floating palace C. and I had been conducted in the -morning. Whatever the yacht's sailing value may be she certainly cuts -out the Kaiser's _Hohenzollern_ in her internal splendour. When it comes -to washstand tops of onyx and alabaster; and carpets of unfathomable -depth of pile, and hangings in bedrooms of every shade of delicate -colour, 'toning,' as the milliners say, with each particular set of -furniture; and the most elaborately beautiful arrangements for lighting -and warming electrically, and so on, and so on--one rather wonders why -so much luxury was piled on luxury in this new yacht which the King, I -am told, does not like on the high seas. Her lines are not as graceful -as those of the old _Victoria and Albert_, and it is said she 'rolls -awful'! - -"Well, to dinner! As we drove up to the yacht, which is moored right -opposite the Port Admiral's house and is the habitation of the King and -Queen during their sojourn here, we saw her outlined against the pitch -black sky by coloured electric lamps, which was pretty. Equerries, -secretaries and Miss Knollys received us at the top of the gangway, and -the ladies of the Queen soon filed into the ante-chamber (or cabin) -where they and we, the guests, awaited Their Majesties. Full uniform was -ordered for the men, and we ladies were requested to come in 'high, thin -dresses,' as, it appears, is the etiquette on board royal yachts. There -were the Admiral and Lady Charles, the Duke and Duchess of Buccleugh, -Lord and Lady St. Germans, Lord Walter Kerr, Lord Mount Edgcumbe ('the -Hearl,' as he is known to Plymothians), the Bishop of Exeter, Lady -Lytton and others up to about thirty-six in number. The King, still -dressed as an admiral, and the Queen in a charming black and white -semi-transparent frock, with many ropes of pearls, soon came in, and, -the curtseying over, we filed into the great dining saloon brilliantly -lighted and splendid. The King led in his daughter, Princess Victoria. -Buccleugh led in the Queen, and so on. How unlike the painfully solemn, -whispered dinners of dear old Queen Victoria was this banquet. We -shouted of necessity, as the band played all the time. The King and -Queen seem to me to have acquired an _expanded_ dignity since they have -come to the Throne. Will and I could not do justice to the dinner as it -was Friday, but that didn't matter. After the sweets the head servant -(what Goliaths in red liveries they all are!) handed the King a _snuff -box_! I was so fascinated by the sight of the descendant of the Georges -engaged in the very Georgian act of taking a pinch that my eyes were -riveted on him. I love history and am always trying to revive the past -in imagination. It is true that 'a cat may look at a King,' but then I -am _not_ a cat (at least I hope not). I only trust His Majesty didn't -mind, but he certainly saw me! - -"After dinner we women went down with the Queen to her boudoir, where an -Egyptian-looking servant wearing a _tarboosh_ handed us coffee of -surpassing aroma, and Her Majesty showed us her beloved little Japanese -dog and some of the pretty things about the room. She then asked us to -see her bedroom (which I had already seen that morning) and the little -dog's basket where he sleeps near her bed. She is still extremely -beautiful. Her figure is youthful and shapely, and all her movements are -queenly. The King had quite a long talk with Will about this dreadful -Boer War which is causing us all so much anxiety, after we went up -again. He then came over to me, and after a few commonplaces he came -nearer and in a confidential tone began about Will. I think he is fond -of him. What he said was kind, and I knew he wanted me to repeat his -sympathetic words to my husband afterwards. He spoke of him as a -'splendid soldier.' I know he had in his mind the painful trial Will had -gone through. It was late when Their Majesties bade us good-night. - -"_March 8th._--The great day of the launch of H.M.S. _Queen_. I wonder -if the hearts of the sailors beat anxiously to-day at all! A quieter, -more unemotional-looking set of men than those naval bigwigs could -nowhere be seen in the world. But, first of all, there was the -medal-giving at the R.N. Barracks, where Ladies Poore and Charles Scott, -Mrs. Jackson and myself had to receive the King and Queen by the side of -our respective husbands on a raised dais in the centre of the huge -parade ground. It was very cold, and the Queen told me she envied me my -fur-lined coat. Will said I missed an opportunity of making a pendant to -Sir Walter Raleigh! The function was very long, for the King had to give -a medal to each one of the three hundred bluejackets and marines who -passed before him in single file. At the launching place we all -assembled on a great platform, and there in front of us stood the huge -hull of the battleship, the ram projecting over the little table on -which the Queen was to cut the ropes. That red-painted ram was garlanded -with flowers, and the bottle hung from the garland, completely hidden -under a covering of roses. It contained red Australian wine, a very -sensible change from the French champagne of former times. Down below an -immense crowd of workmen waited, some of them right under the ship, and -all round, in the different stands, were dense masses of people. We were -soon joined by three German naval grandees and two Japanese -_leprechauns_, one an admiral, a toadlike-looking creature in a uniform -entirely copied from ours. Our new allies are not handsome. Then came -the Bishop of Exeter, in robes and cap and with a peaked beard, a living -Holbein in the dress of Cranmer. How could I, a painter, not delight in -that figure? I told a friend that bishop had no business to be alive, -but ought to be a painting by Holbein, on panel. What does she do but -whisk off straight to him and Mrs. Bishop and tell them! Our privileged -group kept swelling with additions of officers in full glory and smart -women in lovely frocks, and bouquets were brought in, and everything was -to me perfectly charming. Monarchy calls much beauty into existence. -Long may it endure! - -"At last there was a stir; the monarchs came up the inclined approach -and the band struck up. They took their places facing the ship's bows, -and Cranmer on panel by Holbein blessed the ship in as nearly a Catholic -way as was possible, with the sign of the cross left out. A subordinate -held his crozier before him. A hymn had previously been sung and a -psalm, followed by the Lord's Prayer. Then came the 'christening' -(strange word), a picturesque Pagan ceremony. The Queen brightened up -after the last 'Amen' and, nearing the table, reached over to the -flower-decked bottle; then, stepping back, swung it from her against the -monstrous ram, saying, 'God bless this ship and all that sail in her.' I -heard a little crack, and only a few red drops trickled down. This -wouldn't do, for she immediately seized the bottle again and, stepping -well back this time and holding the bottle as high over her head as the -ropes would allow, flung it with such violence that it smashed all to -pieces and the red wine gushed over her hands and sleeves and poured out -its last drops on the table. A great cheer rang out at this, and the -King laughingly seemed to say to her, 'You did it this time with a -vengeance!' She flushed up, looking as though she enjoyed the fun. Then -came the great moment of the cutting by the Queen of the little ropes -that held the monster bound as by silken threads. Six good taps with the -mallet, severing the six strands across a 'turtle back' in the centre of -the table, and away flew the two ropes down amongst the cheering crowd -of workmen and, automatically, down came the two last supports on either -side of the yet impassive hull. Still impassive--not a hair's breadth of -movement! A painful pause. Some men below were pumping the hydraulic -apparatus for all they were worth. I kept my eye on the nose of the ram, -gauging it by some object behind. Firm as a rock! At last a tiny -movement, no more than the starting of a snail across a cabbage leaf. -'She's off!' A hurricane of cheers, and with the most admirable and -dignified acceleration of speed the great ship, seeming to come into -life, glided down the slips and, ploughing through the parting and -surging waters, floated off far into the Hamoaze to the strains of 'Rule -Britannia.' Queen Alexandra, in her elation, made motions with her arms -as though she was shoving the ship off herself. Scarcely had the -battleship _Queen_ passed into the water than the blocks displaced by -her passage were rolled back, still hot as it were from the friction, -into the position they had occupied before she moved, and the King, -stepping forward, turned a little electric handle at the table, and lo! -the keel plate of the _Edward VII_. slowly moved forward and stopped in -its position on the blocks as the germ of the new battleship. The King, -in a loud voice, proclaimed that the keel plate of the _Edward VII_. was -'well and truly laid,' and a great cheer arose and 'God Save the King,' -and all was over. A new battleship was born.[14] We met Their Majesties -at the Port Admiral's at tea, and Will dined with them, together with -some of his staff. - -"_March 10th_.--Saw Their Majesties off. I wonder if they were getting -tired of seeing always the same set of faces and smiles? I am going to -present C. at Court on the 14th, and my function twin, Lady Charles, is -going there, too, so I shall feel it will be a case of 'Here we are -again,' when I meet the royal eye that night. In the evening the news of -Methuen's defeat and capture by Delarey. To think this horror was going -on the day we received the King and Queen at North Road Station! - -"_March 14th_.--The King's Court was much better arranged than formerly, -as we had only to make two curtseys--nothing more--instead of having to -run the gauntlet of a long row of princes and princesses who were -abreast of Queen Victoria (or her representative), and who used to -inspect one from head to foot. These were now grouped behind the -monarchs, and formed a rich, subdued background to the two regal -figures on their thrones. (What a blessing to the aforesaid princes and -princesses to be spared the necessity of passing all those nervous women -in review, and by daylight, too!) Altogether the music and the generally -more festive character of the function struck one as a great and happy -improvement on the old dispensation. The King and Queen didn't exactly -say, 'How do you do again?' as I appeared, but looked it as I met their -smiling eyes. This is the first Court of the King's reign. - -"_March 27th_.--Cecil Rhodes died yesterday. I am glad I saw him at the -Cape. One morning just at sunrise I and the children were driving to -Mass during the mission and, as we passed over the railway line, we saw -people riding down from 'Grootschuur.' The foremost horseman was Cecil -Rhodes, looking very big and with a wide red face. He gave me a -searching look or stare as if trying to make out who I was in the shade -of the carriage hood. So I saw his face well. - -"_April 3rd_.--Will and I are invited by the King and Queen to see them -crowned at Westminster. I am to wear 'court dress with plumes but -without train.' But what if the nightmare war still is dragging on in -June? The time is getting short! We hear the King is getting anxious. -Lord Wolseley's trip to the Cape (for his health!) is supposed to have -really to do with bringing about peace. But ''ware politics' for me. -They are not in my line. What a wet blanket would be spread as a pall -over all the purple canopies in Westminster Abbey if war was still -brooding over us all! Imagine news of a new Methuen disaster on the -morning of June 26th!" - -On Varnishing Day that spring at the Royal Academy I found that my -tent-pegging picture could not look to greater advantage, but it was in -the last room, where the public looks with "lack-lustre eyes," being -tired. - -On June 21st I left to attend the Coronation of Edward VII., spending -two days at Dick's monastery at Downside on the way, high up in the -Mendip Hills. I note: "I had a bright little room at the guest house -just outside the precincts. That night the full moon, that emblem of -serenity, rose opposite my window, and I felt as though lifted up above -that world into which I was about to plunge for my participation in the -pomp of the Coronation in a few hours. It is inexpressibly touching to -me to see my son where he is. A hard probation, for the Benedictine test -is long and severe, as indeed the test is, necessarily, throughout the -Religious Orders. - -"_June 24th_.--Memorable day! I was passing along Buckingham Palace Road -at 12.30 when I saw a poster: 'Coronation Postponed'! Groups of people -were buying up the papers. Of course, no one believed the news at first, -and people were rather amusedly perplexed. No one had heard that the -King was ill. On getting to Piccadilly I saw the official posters and -the explanation. An operation just performed! and only yesterday Knollys -telling the world there was 'not a word of truth in the alarming rumours -of the King's health.' I and Mrs. C. went to a dismal afternoon concert -at 2.30 to which we were pledged, and which the promoters were in two -minds about postponing, and we left in the middle to stroll about the -crowded streets and watch the effect of the disastrous news. There was -something very dramatic in the scene in front of the palace--the huge -crowd waiting and watching, the royal standard drooping on the roof -(not half-mast yet?), and the sense of brooding sorrow over the great -building, which held the, perhaps, dying King. What a change in two or -three hours! - -"_June 26th_.--This was to have been the Coronation Day. General -dismantling. Those dead laurel wreaths still lying in the gutters are -said to be the same that were used at the funeral of King Humbert. What -a weird thought! The crowds are thinning, but still, at night, they gaze -at the little clumps of illuminations which some people exhibit, as the -King is going on well. '_Vivat Rex_' flares in great brilliancy here and -there. The words have a deeper meaning than usual. May he live! - -"_June 27th_.--This was to have been the day of the royal procession. -Where is that rose-colour-lined coach I so looked forward to? Lying idle -in its cover. Every one is moralising. Even the clubmen, Will tells me, -are furbishing up little religious platitudes and texts; many are -curiously superstitious, which is strange." - -On our return home I was very busy in the studio. There was much -galloping and trotting of horses up and down in the Government House -grounds for my studies of movement for my next Academy picture (dealing -with Boer War yeomanry) and others. - -"_August 9th_.--King Edward VII. was crowned to-day. At about 12.40 the -guns firing in the Sound and batteries announced that, at last, the -Coronation was consummated. We were asked to the ceremony, but could not -go up this time." - -A little tour in France, with my husband and our two girls, made in -September, 1902, gave us sunny days in Anjou on the Loire. The majestic -rivers of France are her chief attraction for the painter, and to us -English Turner's charm is inseparably blended with their slowly flowing -waters. We were visitors at a _chateau_ at Savonnieres, near Angers, for -most of the time, and our hosts took care that we should miss none of -the lovely things around their domain. The German "Ocean Greyhounds" of -the Hamburg-Amerika line used to call at Plymouth in those days, huge, -three-funnel monsters which, I think, we have since appropriated, and -one of these, the _Augusta Marie_, bore us off to Cherbourg in all the -pride of her gorgeous saloons, flower-decked tables, band, and -extraordinary bombastic oleographs from allegorical pictures by the -Kaiser William II. As we boarded her the band played "God Save the -King," the captain receiving Sir William with finished regulation -attention, and hardly had the great twin engines swung the ship into the -Sound to receive her passengers, than with another swing forward, which -made the masts wriggle to their very tops, she was off. It was the -"Marseillaise" as we reached France. That band played us nearly the -whole way over. A really pretty idea, this, of playing the national air -of each country where the ship touched. - -It was vintage time at Savonnieres, which was a French "Castagnolo," a -most delightful translation into French of that Italian patriarchal -home. There were stone terraces garlanded with vines bearing--not the -big black grapes of Tuscany, but small yellow ones of surpassing -sugariness. We were in a typical and beautiful bit of France, peaceful, -plenteous, and full of dignity. They lead the simple life here such as I -love, which is not to be found in the big English country houses, as -far as I know. I was truly pleased at the sight of the peasantry at Mass -on the Sunday. The women in particular had that dignity which is so -marked in their class, and the white lace coifs they wore had many -varieties of shape, all most beautiful, and were very _soignees_ and -neatly worn. Not an untidy woman or girl amongst these daughters of the -soil. - -I was anxious to see "Angers la Noire," where we stayed on our way from -Savonnieres to Amboise. But the black slate houses which gave it that -name are being turned into white stone ones, and so its grim -characteristic is passing away. Give me character, good or bad; -characterless things are odious. I don't suppose a more perfect old -Angevin town exists than Amboise. It fulfilled all I required and -expected of it. How Turner understood these towns on the broad, majestic -Loire! He occasionally exaggerated, but his exaggerations were always in -the right direction, emphasising thus the dominant beauties of each -place and their local sentiment. Which recalls the deep charm of the -rivers of France more subtly to the mind, Turner's series or an album of -photographs? Turner's mind saw more truly than the camera. The castle of -Amboise is superb and its creamy white stone a glory. Then came Blois, -with a quite different reading of a castle, where plenty of colour and -gilding and Gothic richness gave the character--not so restful to eye -and mind as Amboise. Through both the _chateaux_ we were marshalled -along by a guide. I would sooner learn less of a place, by myself, than -be told all by a tiresome man in a _cicerone's_ livery. Plenty of -horrors were supplied us at both places, vitiating my otherwise simple -pleasure as a painter in the sight of so much beauty. - -We returned to Plymouth Sound on a lovely day, and there our blue -launch, with that bright brass funnel I had so long agitated for, was -awaiting us, and we landed at the steps of Mount Wise as though we had -merely been for a trip to Penlee Point. - -I found my picture of the yeomanry cantering through a "spruit" in the -Boer War, "Within Sound of the Guns," admirably placed this time at -Burlington House, in the spring of 1903. I had greatly improved in tone -by this time. Millais' remark once upon a time, "She draws better than -any of us, but I wish her _tone_ was better," had sunk deep. - -On July 14th, 1903, the Princess Henry of Battenberg (as the title was -then), with a suite of six, paid us a visit of two days at Government -House, and we had, of course, a big reception, which was inevitable. Our -guest hated the ordeal of all those presentations, being very retiring, -and I sympathised. I heard her murmur to her lady, Miss Bulteel, "I -shall die," as the first arrival was announced. And there she had to -stand till I and the A.D.C. had finished terrifying her with about 250 -people in succession. What a tax royalty has to pay! There was the -laying of a foundation stone, a trip in the launch up the Tamar, and -something to be done each day, but with as many rests as we could -squeeze in for our very _simpatica_ princess. The drive through the -streets of Plymouth showed me what the crowd looks like from royalty's -point of view as I sat by her side in the carriage. I remarked to her -what bad teeth the people had. "They are nothing to those in the north," -the poor dear said. How often royalty has to run that gauntlet of an -unlovely and cheering crowd! - -I was now to go through the great ordeal of witnessing our dear -Dick's[15] taking his vows. This was on September 4th, 1903, at Belmont -Minster, Hereford. - -On July 10th, 1904, a German squadron of eighteen men-of-war came -thundering into the Sound, and on the 12th we assembled a Garden Party -of about three hundred guests to give the three admirals and their -officers a very proper welcome. Eighteen beautiful ships, but all -untried. I lunched on board the flagship, the _Kaiser Wilhelm II._, on -the previous day, and anything to equal the dandified "get up" of that -war vessel could not be found afloat. Wherever there was an excuse for a -gold Imperial crown, there it was, relieved by the spotless whiteness of -its surroundings. The fair-haired bluejackets were extremely clean and -comely, but struck me as being drilled too much like soldiers, and -wanting the natural manner of our men. The impression on my mind at the -time was that immense care and pains had been taken to show off these -brand-new ships and to rival ours, but that they were not a bit like -their models. The General dined in state on board that evening. Oh! the -veneer of politeness shown to us these days; the bowings, the clicking -of heels, the well-drilled salutes; and all the time we were joking -amongst ourselves about the certainty we had that they were taking -soundings of our great harbour. As usual, they were allowed to do just -as they liked there. It is a tremendous thought to me that I have lived -to hear of the surrender of Germany's entire navy. How often in those -days we allowed ourselves to imagine a modern _possible_ Trafalgar, but -such a cataclysm as this was outside the bounds of any one's -imagination. - -I devoted a great deal of my time to getting up a "one-man-show," my -first of many, composed of water colours, and in accomplishing the -Afghan picture I have already mentioned as being so much honoured by the -Hanging Committee at the Academy in the spring of 1904. My husband's -command of the Western District terminated on January 31st, 1905, and -with it his career in the army, as he had reached the retiring age. The -Liberal Party was very keen on having him as an M.P., representing East -Leeds. I am glad the idea did not materialise. I know what would have -happened. He would have set out full of honest and worthy enthusiasm to -serve the _Patria_. Then, little by little, he would have found what -political life really is, and thrown the thing up in disgust. An old -story. _Non Patria sed Party!_ So utterly outside my own life had -politics been that I had an amused sensation when I saw the -Parliamentary world opening before me, like a gulf! - -"_January 31st_, 1905.--Will is to stand for East Leeds. It is all very -sudden. Liberals so eager that he has almost been (courteously) hustled -into the great enterprise. Herbert Gladstone, Campbell-Bannerman and -other leaders have written almost irresistible letters to him, pleading. -When he goes to the election at Leeds he is to be 'put to no expense -whatever,' and they are confident of a 'handsome majority.' We shall -see! Besides all this he is given a most momentous commission at the War -Office to investigate certain ugly-looking matters connected with the -Boer War stores scandal that require clearing up. I am glad they have -done him the 'poetical justice' of selecting him for this. - -"_February 13th_.--We went to a very brilliant and (to me) novel -gathering at the Campbell-Bannermans'. All the leaders of the Liberal -Party there, an interesting if not very noble study. All so cordial to -Will. Tremendous crush, but nice when we got down to the more airy tea -room. The snatches of conversation I got in the general hubbub all -sounded somewhat 'shoppy.' Winston Churchill, a ruddy young man, with a -roguish twinkle in his eye, Herbert Gladstone and his lovely wife, our -bluff, rosy host and other 'leaders' were very interesting, and we met -many friends, all on the 'congratulate.' All these M.P.'s seem to relish -their life. I suppose it _has_ a great fascination, this working to get -your side in, as at a football match." - -The general election in course of time swept over England and brought in -the Liberal Party with an overwhelming majority. My husband did not -stand for East Leeds. He had to abandon the idea, as a Catholic, on -account of the religious difficulties connected with the Education Act. - -Our life in the glorious west of Ireland, which followed our retirement -from Devonport, has been so fully described by this pen of mine in "From -Sketch-book and Diary" that I give but a slight sketch of it here. Those -were days when one could give one's whole heart, so to speak, to Erin, -before the dreadful cloud had fallen on her which, as I write, has lent -her her present forbidding gloom. That will pass, please God! - -To come straight through from London and its noise and superfluous fuss -and turmoil into the absolute peace and purity of County Mayo in perfect -summer weather was such a relief to mind and body that one felt it as an -emancipation. Health, good sleep, enjoyment of pure air and noble -scenery; kindly, unsophisticated peasantry--all these things were there, -and the flocks and herds and the sea birds. In the midst of all that -appealing poetry, so peculiar to Ireland, I had a funny object lesson of -a prosaic kind at romantic Mulranny, on Clewe Bay. In the little station -I saw a big heap in sackcloth lying on the platform--"_Hog-product from -Chicago_"--and the country able to "cure" the matchless Irish pig! I -went on to get some darning wool in the hamlet--"_Made in England_"--and -all those sheep around us! Outside the shop door a horse had the usual -big nose-bag--_"Made in Austria"!_ All these things, with a little -energy, should have come out of the place itself, surely? I thought to -encourage native industry, when found, by ordering woollen hose at the -convent school. No two stockings of the same pair were of equal length. -The bay was rich in fish, and one day came a little fleet of fishing -boats--_from France!_ There was Ireland to-day in a nutshell. What of -to-morrow? Is this really Ireland's heavy sleep before the dawn? - -I have seen some of the most impressive beauties of our world, but never -have I been more impressed than by the solemn grandeur of the mountain -across Clewe Bay they call Croagh Patrick, as we saw it on the evening -of our arrival at Mulranny. The last flush of the after-glow lingered on -its dark slopes and the red planet Mars flamed above its cone, all this -solemn beauty reflected in the sleeping waters. At Mulranny I spent -nearly all my days making studies of sheep and landscape for the next -picture I sent to the Academy--"A Cistercian Shepherd." This gave me a -period of the most exquisitely reposeful work. The building up of this -picture was in itself an idyll. But the public didn't want idylls from -me at all. "Give us soldiers and horses, but pastoral idylls--no!" -People had a slightly reproachful tone in their comments after seeing my -poor pastoral on the Academy walls. Some one said, "How are the mighty -fallen!" - -We made our home in the heart of Tipperary, under the Galtee Mountains. -It seemed time for us to seek a dignified repose, "the world forgetting, -by the world forgot," but we did not succeed in our intention. In 1906 -my husband went on a great round of observation through Cape Colony and -the (former) Boer Republics on a literary mission. I and E. went off to -Italy, meanwhile; Rome as our goal. There I had the great pleasure of -the companionship of my sister, and it may be imagined with what -feelings we re-trod the old haunts in and about that city together. - -"_April 9th, 1906_.--We had a charming stroll through the Villa d'Este -gardens, where the oldest, hoariest cypresses are to be seen, and -fountains and water conduits of graceful and fantastic shape, wherever -one turns, all gushing with impetuous waters. The architects of these -gardens revelled in their fanciful designs and sported with the -responsive flood. Cascades spout in all directions from the rocks on -which Tivoli is built. We had _dejeuner_ under a pergola at the inn -right over one of these waterfalls, where, far below us, birds flew to -and fro in the mist of the spray. Nature and art have joined in play at -Tivoli. I always have had a healthy dislike of burrowing in tombs and -catacombs. The sepulchral, bat-scented air of such places in Egypt--the -land, of all others, of limpid air and sunshine and dryness--is not in -any way attractive to me, and I greatly dislike diving into the Roman -catacombs out of the sunny Appian Way. On former occasions I went -through them all, so this time I kept above ground. I learnt all that -the catacombs teach in my early years, and am not likely to lose that -tremendous impression. - -"_April 10th_.--A true Campagna day, as Italianised as I could make it. -We had a frugal _colazione_ under the pergola of an Appian Way-side inn, -watched by half a dozen hungry cats, that unattractive, wild, malignant -kind of cat peculiar to Italy. The girl who waited on us drew our white -wine in a decanter from what looked like a well in the garden. It had, -apparently, not 'been cool'd a long age in _that_ deep-delved earth,' -but it did very well. I was perfectly happy. This old-fashioned _al -fresco_ entertainment had the local colour which I look for when I -travel and which is getting rarer year by year. Our Colosseum moonlight -was more weird than ever. At eleven we had our moon. It was a large, -battered, woeful, waning old moon, that looked in at us through the -broken arch. An opportune owl, which had been screeching like a cat in -the shade, flitted across its sloping disc just at the supreme moment." - -To receive Holy Communion at the hands of the Holy Father is a privilege -for which we should be very thankful. It was mine and E.'s on Easter -morning that year, at his private Mass in the Sistine Chapel. There I -saw Pius X. for the first time. Goodness and compassion shine from that -sad and gentle face. It is the general custom to kiss the 'Fisherman's -ring' on the Pope's hand before receiving, but Pius X. very markedly -prevents this. One can understand! Our audience with the Holy Father -took place on the eve of our departure. There was a never-absent look -with him of what I may call the submissive sense of a too-heavy burden -of responsibility. No photographs convey the right impression of this -Pope. He was very pale, very spiritual, very kind and a little weary; -most gentle and touching in his manner. The World War at its outset -broke that tender heart. I sent him my "Letters from the Holy Land," for -which I received very urbane thanks from one of the cardinals. I don't -think the Holy Father knows a single word of English, and I wonder what -he made of it. - -As to our tour homeward, taking Florence and Venice on the way, I think -we will take that as read. I revel in the Diary in all the dear old -Italian details, marred only by the change I noticed in Venice as -regards her broken silence. The hurry of modern life has invaded even -the "silent city," and there is too much electric glare in the lighting -now, at night, for the old enjoyment of her moonlights. It annoyed me to -see the moon looking quite shabby above the incandescent globes on the -Riva. - -From Venice to the Dublin Castle season is a big jump. We had an average -of twenty-one balls in six weeks in each of the two seasons 1907--1908. -Little did I think that it would be quite an unmixed pleasure to me to -do _chaperon_ for some five hours at a stretch; but so it turned out. It -all depends what sort of daughter you have on the scene! The Aberdeens -were then in power. - -Lady Aberdeen was untiring in her endeavours to trace and combat the -dire disease which seemed to fasten on the Irish in an especial manner. -She went about lecturing to the people with a tuberculosis "caravan." -She brought it to Cashel, and my husband made the opening speech at her -exhibition there. But her addresses came to nothing. The lungs exhibited -in the "caravan" in spirits of wine appealed in vain. She actually asked -the people that day to go back to their discarded oatmeal "stir-about"! -They prefer their stewed tea and their artificially whitened, so-called -bread, with the resultant loss of their teeth. My experiences at the -different Dublin horse shows were sociable and pleasant. There you see -the finest horses and the most beautiful women in the world, and Dublin -gives you that hospitality which is the most admirable quality in the -Irish nature. - -Sir William spent the remaining days of his life in trying, by addresses -to the people in different parts of the country, to quicken their sense -of the necessity for industry, sobriety, and a more serious view of -existence. They did not seem to like it, and he was apparently only -beating the air. I remember one particularly strong appeal he made in -Meath at a huge open-air meeting. I thought to myself that such -warnings, given in his vivid and friendly Irish style, touched with -humour to leaven the severity, would have impressed his hearers. The -applause disappointed me. Well, he did his best to the very last for the -country and the people he loved. He had vainly longed all his life for -Home Rule within the Empire. Was this, then, all that was wanting? - -I recall in this connection an episode which was eloquent of the hearty -appreciation of his worth, quite irrespective of politics. At a banquet -given in Dublin to welcome Lord and Lady Granard, after their marriage, -he was called upon to respond for "the Guests." For fully one minute the -cheers were so persistent when he rose that he had to wait before his -opening words could be heard. The company were nearly all Unionists. - -After all the misunderstandings connected with Sir William's association -with the Boer War and its antecedents had been righted at last, these -words of a distinguished general at Headquarters were spoken: "Butler -stands a head and shoulders above us all." - -The year 1910 is one which in our family remains for ever sacred. My -dear mother died on March 13th. - -On June 7th a very brave soldier, who feared none but God, was called to -his reward. Here my Diary stops for nearly a year.[16] - - - - -CHAPTER XXIV - -MOSTLY A ROMAN DIARY - - -Palm Sunday, 1911, found me in Rome, on the eve of my son's ordination -as priest. One of those extraordinary occurrences which have happened in -my life took place that day. Four of us joined at the appointed place -and hour: I and Eileen from Ireland (Dick, already in Rome) and Patrick, -just landed, in the nick of time, from India! We three met at the foot -of the Aventine and went up to Sant' Anselmo, where we knew we should -see _the other one_ during the Palm Sunday Mass, though not to speak to -till after the long service was ended. He intoned the Gospel as deacon, -and when his deep voice reached us in the gallery we looked at each -other with a smile. None of us had seen him for a more or less long -time. - -"Holy Saturday. The great day. Dick assumed the chasuble, and is -officially known now as Father Urban, though 'Dick' he will ever remain -with us. The weather was Romanly brilliant, but I was anxious, knowing -that these young deacons were to be on their knees in the great Lateran -Church, fasting, from 7 a.m. We three waited a long time in the piazza -of the Lateran for the pealing of the bells which should announce the -beginning of the Easter time, and which was to be the signal for our -entry into the great basilica at 9.15. We had places in two balconies, -right over the altar. Below us stood about forty deacons, with our -particular one in their midst, each holding his folded chasuble across -his arms ready for the vesting. The sight of these young fellows, in -their white and gold deacons' vestments, was very touching. Each one was -called up by name in turn, and ascended the altar steps, where sat the -consecrating bishop, who looked more like a spirit than a mere human -creature. When Urbano Butler (pronounced _Boutler_, of course, by the -Italian voice) was called, how we craned forward! To me the whole thing -was poignant. What those boys give up! ('Well,' answers a voice, 'they -give up the world, and a good thing too!') - -"We went, when the ceremony was completed, into a side chapel to receive -the newly-made young priests' first blessing. These young fellows ran -out of the sacristy towards the crowd of expectant parents and friends, -their newly-acquired chasubles flying behind them as they ran, with -outstretched hands, for the kisses of that kneeling crowd that awaited -them. What a sight! Can any one paint it and do it justice? Old and -young, gentlefolk and peasants, smiling through tears, kissing the young -hands that blessed them. Dick came to his mother first, then to his -soldier brother, then to his sister, and I saw him lifting an aged -prelate to his feet after blessing him. Strangers knelt to him and to -the others, and I saw, in its perfection, what is meant by 'laughing for -joy' on those young and holy faces. There was one exception. A poor -young Irish boy, somehow, had no relative to bless--no one--he seemed -left out in his corner, and he was crying. Perhaps his mother was -'beyond the beyond' in far Connemara? I heard of this afterwards. Had I -seen him, I would certainly have asked his blessing too. So it -is--always some shadow, even here. - -"As soon as we could get hold of Dick, in his plain habit, we hurried -him to a little _trattoria_ across the piazza, where his dear friend and -chum, John Collins,[17] treated him to a good cup of chocolate to break -his long fast." - -It was quite a necessary anti-climax for me when we and our friends all -met again at the hotel and sat down, to the number of fifteen, to a -bright luncheon I gave in honour of the day. A very celebrated English -cardinal honoured me with his presence there. - -"_Easter Sunday_.--Patrick, Eileen and I received Holy Communion in the -crypt of Sant' Anselmo from Dick's hands at his first Mass. These few -words contain the culmination of all. - -"_April 17th_.--In the afternoon we were all off, piloted by Dick, to -the celebrated Benedictine monastery of Monte Cassino, a long way down -towards Naples, to spend a few days, Patrick as guest within the -precincts, and E. and I lodging at the guest-house, which forms part of -the monastic farm, poised on the edge of a great precipice. The sheer -rock plunges down to the base of the mountain whereon stands the -wonderful monastery. It is something to see a great domed church on the -top of such a mountain, and a building of such vast proportions, -containing one of the greatest libraries in the world. A mule path was -all the monks intended for communication between the two worlds, but now -a great carriage road takes us up by an easy zigzag. - -"_April 18th_.--Every hour of our visit to Monte Cassino must be lived. -I made a sketch of the monastery and the abyss into which one peers -from that great height, with angry red clouds gathering over the tops of -the snowy mountains. But my sketches are too didactic; and, indeed, who -but Turner could convey to the beholder the awful spirit of that scene? -The tempest sent us in and we had the experience of a good thunderstorm -amidst those severe mountains that have the appearance of a petrified -chaos. Last night E. woke up to find the room full of a surprising blue -light, which at first she took to be the dawn because, through the open -windows, she heard the whole land thrilling with the song of birds. But -such a _blue_ light for dawn? She got up to see. The light was that of -the full moon and the birds were nightingales. - -"I was enchanted to see the beautiful dress of the peasant women here. -Their white _tovaglie_ are looped back in a more graceful line than the -Roman. The queerest little thin black hogs, like poor relations of the -tall, pink Valentia variety which I have already signalised, browse on -the steep ascent to this great stronghold, and everything still looks -wild, in spite of the carriage road. I should have preferred coming up -here on a mule. Our suppers at the guest-house were Spartan. Rather -dismal, having to pump conversation with the Italian guests at this -festive(!) board. Our intellectual food, however, was rich. The abbot -and his monks did the honours of far-famed Monte Cassino for us with the -kindest attention, showing very markedly their satisfaction in -possessing Brother Urban, whose father's name they held in great -esteem." - -On April 22nd we had the long-expected audience with Pio Decimo. It was -only semi-private and there were crowds, including eleven English naval -officers, to be presented. I had my little speech ready, but when we -came into the Pope's presence we found him standing instead of restfully -seated, and he looked so fatigued and so aged since I last saw him that -I knew I must keep him listening as short a time as possible. First I -presented "_Mio figlio primogenito, ufficiale_;" then "_mio figlio -Benedettino_" and then "_mia figlia_." He spoke a little while to Dick -in Latin, and then we knelt and received his blessing and departed, to -see him no more. - -It is a great thing to have seen Leo XIII. and Pius X., as I have had -the opportunity of seeing them. Both have left a deep impression on -modern life, especially the former, who was a great statesman. To see -the fragile scabbard of the flesh one wondered how the keen sword of the -spirit could be held at all within it. It was his diplomatic tact that -smoothed away many of the difficulties that obtruded themselves between -the Vatican and the Quirinal, and that tact kept the Papacy on good -terms with France and her Republic, to which he called on all French -Catholics to give their support. It was he who forced "the man of blood -and iron" to relax the ferocious laws against the Church in Germany, and -to allow the evicted bishops to return to their Sees. Diplomatic -relations with Germany were renewed, and the Church's laws regarding -marriage and education had to be re-admitted by the Government. Even the -dark "Orthodox" intolerance of Russia bent sufficiently to his influence -to allow of the establishment of Catholic episcopal Sees in that -country, and the cessation of the imprisonment of priests. The -episcopate in Scotland, too, was restored. We owe to him that spread of -Catholicism in the United States which has long been such a surprise to -the onlooker. Then there are his great encyclicals on the Social -Question, setting forth the Christian teaching on the relations between -capital and labour; establishing the social movement on Christian lines. -How clearly he saw the threat of a great European war at no very distant -date from his time unless armaments were reduced. That refined mind -inclined him to the advancement of the cause of the Arts and of -learning. Students thank him for opening the Vatican archives to them, -which he did with the words, "The Church has nothing to fear from the -publication of the Truth." His is the Vatican observatory--one of the -most famous in the world. It makes one smile to remember his remarks on -the then young Kaiser William II., who seems to have struck the Holy -Father as somewhat bumptious on the occasion of his historic visit. -"That young man," as he called him, evidently impressed the Pope as one -having much to learn. - -What a contrast Pius X. presents to his predecessor! The son of a -postman at Rieti, a little town in Venetia. I remember when a deputation -of young men came to pay him their respects at the Vatican, arriving on -their bicycles, that he told them how much he would have liked a bike -himself when, as a bare-legged boy, he had to trudge every day seven -miles to school and back. Needless to say, he had no diplomatic or -political training, but he led the truly simple life, very saintly and -apostolic. He devoted his energies chiefly to the purely pastoral side -of his office. We are grateful to him for his reform of Church music -(and it needed it in Italy!). He was very emphatic in urging frequent -communion and early communion for children. His condemnation of -"modernism" is fresh in all our minds, and we are glad he removed the -prohibition on Catholics from standing for the Italian Parliament, -thereby allowing them to obtain influential positions in public life. He -took a firm stand with regard to the advancing encroachment of the -French Government on the liberties of the Church in his day. His policy -is being amply justified under our very eyes. - -We joined the big garden party, after the Papal audience, at the British -Embassy. A great crush in that lovely remnant of the once glorious, -far-spreading gardens I can remember, nearly all turned to-day into -deadly streets on which a gridiron of tram lines has been screwed down. -Prince Arthur of Connaught brought in the Queen-Mother, Margherita, to -the lawn where the dancing took place. The Rennell-Rodd children as -little fairies were pretty and danced charmingly, but I felt for the -professional dancer who, poor thing, was not in her first youth, and -unkindly dealt with by the searching daylight. To have to caper airily -on that grass was no joke. It was heavy going for her and made me -melancholy, in conjunction with my memories of the old Ludovisi gardens -and the vanished pines. - -On October 26th my youngest daughter, Eileen, was married to Lord -Gormanston, at the Brompton Oratory, the church so loved by our mother, -and where I was received. Our dear Dick married them. I had the -reception in Lowndes Square in the beautiful house lent by a friend. - -Ireland has many historic ancestral dwellings, and one of these became -my daughter's new home in Meath. Shakespeare's "cloud-capp'd towers" -seemed not so much the "baseless fabric" of the poet's vision when I -saw, one day, the low-lying trail of a bright Irish mist brush the high -tops of the towers of Gormanston. A thing of visions, too, is realised -there in a cloister carved so solidly out of the dense foliage of the -yew that never monastic cloister of stone gave a more restful -"contiguity of shade." - -I spent the winter of 1911--12 in London, and worked hard at water -colours, of which I was able to exhibit a goodly number at a "one-man -show" in the spring. The King lent my good old "Roll Call," and the -whole thing was a success. I showed many landscapes there as well as -military subjects; many Italian and Egyptian drawings made during my -travels, and scenes in Ireland. These exhibitions in a well-lighted -gallery are pleasant, and the private view day a social rendezvous for -one's friends. - -Through my sister, with whom I revisited Rome early in 1913, I had the -pleasure of knowing many Americans there. How refreshing they are, and -responsive (I don't mean the mere tourist!), whereas my dear compatriots -are very heavy in hand sometimes. American women are particularly well -read and cultivated and full of life. They don't travel in Europe for -nothing. I have had some dull experiences in the English world when -embarking, at our solemn British dinners, on cosmopolitan subjects for -conversation. What was I to say to a man who, having lately returned -from Florence, gave it as his opinion that it was only "a second-rate -Cheltenham"? I tried that unlucky Florentine subject on another. He: -"Florence? Oh, yes, I liked that--that--_minaret thing_ by the side of -the--the--er----" I: "The Duomo?" He: "Oh, yes, the Duomo." I (in -gloomy despair): "Do you mean Giotto's Tower?" Collapse of our -conversation. - -Very probably I bade my last farewell to St. Peter's that year. I had -more than once bidden a provisional "good-bye" at sundown on leaving -Rome to that dome which I always loved to see against the western glory -from the familiar terrace on Monte Pincio, only to return, on a further -visit, and see it again with the old, fresh feeling of thankfulness. My -initial enthusiasm, crudely chronicled as it is in my early Diary on -first coming in sight of St. Peter's, was a young artist's emotion, but -to the maturer mind what a miracle that Sermon in Stone reveals! The -tomb of one Simon, no better, before his call, than any ordinary -fisherman one may see to-day on our coasts--and now? "TU ES PETRUS...." - - - - -CHAPTER XXV - -THE GREAT WAR - - -I was very busy with oil brush and water-colour brush during the summer -of 1913, and the succeeding winter, in Ireland, accomplishing a large -oil, "The Cuirassier's Last _Reveil_, Morning of Waterloo," and a number -of drawings, all of that inexhaustible battle, for my next "one-man -show" held on its centenary, 1915. I left no stone unturned to get true -studies of dawn twilight for that _reveil_, and I got them. At the -pretty house of my friends, the Egerton Castles, on a steep Surrey hill, -I had my chance. The house faced the east. It was midsummer; an alarm -clock roused me each morning at 2.30. I had modelled a little grey horse -and a man, and set them up on my balcony, facing in the right direction, -and there I waited, with palette spread, for the dawn. Time was short; -the first ray of sunrise would spoil all, so I could only dab down the -tones, anyhow; but they were all-important dabs, and made the big -picture run without a hitch. Nothing delays a picture more than the -searching for the true relations of tone without sufficient data. But -this is a truism. - -The Waterloo water colours were most interesting to work out. I had any -amount of books for reference, records of old uniforms to get from -contemporary paintings; and I utilised the many studies of horses I had -made for years, chiefly on the chance of their coming in useful some -day. The result was the best "show" I had yet had at the Leicester -Galleries. But ere that exhibition opened, the World War burst upon us! -First my soldier son went off, and then the Benedictine donned khaki, as -chaplain to the forces. He went, one may say, from the cloister to the -cannon. I had to pass through the ordeal which became the lot of so many -mothers of sons throughout the Empire. - -"_Lyndhurst, New Forest, September 22nd, 1914._--I must keep up the old -Diary during this most eventful time, when the biggest war the world has -ever been stricken with is raging. To think that I have lived to see it! -It was always said a war would be too terrible now to run the risk of, -and that nations would fear too much to hazard such a peril. Lo! here we -are pouring soldiers into the great jaws of death in hundreds of -thousands, and sending poor human flesh and blood to face the new -'scientific' warfare--the same flesh and blood and nervous system of the -days of bows and arrows. Patrick is off as A.D.C. to General Capper, -commanding the 7th Division. Martin, who was the first to be ordered to -the front, attached to the 2nd Royal Irish, has been transferred to the -wireless military station at Valentia. That regiment has been utterly -shattered in the Mons retreat, so I have reason to be thankful for the -change. I am here, at Patrick's suggestion, that I may see an army under -war conditions and have priceless opportunities of studying 'the real -thing.' The 7th Division[18] is now nearly complete, and by October 3rd -should be on the sea. I arrived at Southampton to-day, and my good old -son in his new Staff uniform was at the station ready to motor me up to -Lyndhurst where the Staff are, and all the division, under canvas. I was -very proud of the red tabs on Patrick's collar, meaning so much. I saw -at once, on arriving, the difference between this and my Aldershot -impressions. This is _war_, and there is no doubt the bearing of the men -is different. They were always smart, always cheery, _but not like -this_. There is a quiet seriousness quite new to me. They are going to -look death straight in the face. - -"_September 23rd._--I had a most striking lesson in the appearance of -men after a very long march, _plus_ that look which is quite absent on -peace manoeuvres, however hot and trying the conditions. What -surprises and telling 'bits' one sees which could never be imagined with -such a convincing power. A team of eight mammoth shire horses drawing a -great gun is a sight never to be forgotten; shapely, superb cart horses -with coats as satiny as any thoroughbred's, in polished artillery -harness, with the mild eyes of their breed--I must do that amongst many -most _real_ subjects. But I see the German shells ploughing through -these teams of willing beasts. They will suffer terribly. - -"_September 25th._--Getting hotter every day and not a cloud. I brought -this weather with me. Patrick waits on me whenever he is off duty for an -hour or so, and it is a charming experience to have him riding by the -side of the carriage to direct the driver and explain to me every -necessary detail. The place swarms with troops for ever in movement, and -the roll of guns and drums, and the notes of the cheery pipes and fifes -go on all day. The Gordons have arrived. - -[Illustration: NOTES ON THE EVE OF THE GREAT WAR.] - -"_September 26th._--Signs of pressure. They may now be off any hour. -The ammunition has all arrived, and there wants but one battery of -artillery to complete the division. General Capper won't wait much -longer and will be off without it if it delays and make up a battery _en -route_ somehow. It is sad to see so many mere boys arriving at the hotel -fresh from Sandhurst. They are given companies to command, captains -being killed, wounded or missing in such numbers. As to Patrick's -regiment, the old Royal Irish seem to have been so shattered that they -are all _hors de combat_ for the present. - -"_September 27th._--What a precious Sunday this has been! First, Patrick -accompanied me to Mass, said by Father Bernard Vaughan, in a secluded -part of the camp, where the heather had not been ploughed up by men, -horses and guns, as elsewhere, and where the altar was erected in a -wooded glen. The Grenadier and Scots Guards were all on their knees as -we arrived, and the bright green and gold vestments of the priest were -relieved very vividly in the sunshine against the darker green -background of the forest beyond. Quite a little crowd of stalwart -guardsmen received Holy Communion, and two of them were sheltering with -their careful hands the candles from the soft warm breeze, one at each -end of the altar. We sit out in the leafy garden of the hotel and have -tea there, we parents and relatives, with our boys by us at all spare -moments. To-day, being Sunday, there have been extra crowds of relatives -and friends who have motored over from afar. There is pathos here, very -real pathos. How many of these husbands and sons and brothers I see -sitting close to their dear ones, for the last time, perhaps! Who knows? -The voices are low and quiet--very quiet. Patrick and I were -photographed together by M. E. These little snapshots will be precious. -We were nearly all day together to-day as there was a rest. All this -quiet time here our brave soldiers are being shattered on the banks of -the Aisne. Just now must be a tremendously important period of the -fighting. We may get great news to-morrow. Many names I know beginning -to appear in the casualty lists. - -"_September 28th, 1914._--Had a good motor run with the R.'s right -through the field of 'battle' in the midst of the great forest--a -rolling height covered with heather and bracken. Our soldiers certainly -have learnt, at last, how to take cover. One can easily realise how it -is that the proportion of officers killed is so high. Kneeling or -standing up to give directions they are very conspicuous, whereas of the -men one catches only a glimpse of their presence now and then through a -tell-tale knapsack or the round top of a cap in the bracken; yet the -ground is packed with men--quite uncanny. The Gordons were a beautiful -sight as they sprang up to reach a fresh position. I noticed how the -breeze, as they ran, blew the khaki aprons aside and the revealed tartan -kilts gave a welcome bit of colour and touched up the drab most -effectively. One 'gay Gordon' sergeant told us, 'We are a grand -diveesion, all old warriors, and when we get out 'twill make a -deeference.'" - -The most impressive episode to me of that well-remembered day was when -Patrick took me up to the high ground at sunset and we looked down on -the camp. The mellow, very red sun was setting and the white moon was -already well up over the camp, which looked mysterious, lightly veiled -by the thin grey wood-smoke of the fires. Thousands of troops were -massed or moving, shadowy, far away; others in the middle distance -received the blood-red glow on the men's faces with an extraordinary -effect. They showed as ruddy, vaporous lines of colour over the scarcely -perceptible tones of the dusky uniforms. Horses stood up dark on the -sky-line. The bugles sounded the "Retreat"; these doomed legions, -shadow-like, moved to and fro. It was the prologue to a great tragedy. - -"_September 30th._--There was a field day of the whole of one brigade. -The regiments in it are 'The Queen's,' the Welsh Fusiliers, Staffords, -and Warwicks, with the monstrous 4.7 guns drawn by my well-loved mighty -mammoths. The guns are made impossible to the artist of modern war by -being daubed in blue and red blotches which make them absolutely -formless and, of course, no glint of light on the hidden metal is seen. -Still, there is much that is very striking, though the colour, the -sparkle, the gallant plumage, the glinting of gold and silver, have -given way to universal grimness. After all, why dress up grim war in all -that splendour? My idea of war subjects has always been anti-sparkle. - -"As I sat in the motor in the centre of the far-flung 'battle,' in a -hollow road, lo! the Headquarter Staff came along, a gallant group, _a -la_ Meissonier, Patrick, on his skittish brown mare 'Dawn,' riding -behind the General, who rode a big black (_very_ effective), with the -chief of the Staff nearly alongside. The escort consisted of a strong -detachment of the fine Northumberland Hussars, mounted on their own -hunters. They are to be the bodyguard of the General at the Front. -Several drivers of the artillery are men who were wounded at Mons and -elsewhere, and, being well again, are returning with this division to -the Front. All the horses here are superb. Poor beasts, poor beasts! One -daily, hourly, reminds oneself that the very dittoes of these men and -animals are suffering, fighting, dying over there in France. Kitchener -tells our General that the 7th Division will 'probably arrive after the -first phase is over,' which looks as though he fully expects the -favourable and early end of the present one. - -"_October 2nd._--The whole division was out to-day. I was motored into -the very thick of the operations on the high lands, and watched the men -entrenching themselves, a thing I had never yet seen. Most picturesque -and telling. And the murderous guns were being embedded in the yellow -earth and covered with heather against aeroplanes, especially, and their -wheels masked with horse blankets. There they lay, black, hump-backed -objects, with just their mouths protruding, and as each gun section -finished their work with the pick and shovel, they lay flat down to hide -themselves. How war is waged now! Great news allowed to be published -to-day in the papers. The Indian Army has arrived, and is now at the -_Front!_ It landed long ago at Marseilles, but how well the secret has -been kept! How mighty are the events daily occurring. Late in the -afternoon I saw the Northumberland Hussars, on a high ridge, _practising -the sword exercise!_ With the idea that the sword was obsolete -(engendered by the Boer War experience), no yeomanry has, of late, been -armed with sabres, but, seeing what use our Scots Greys, Lancers, -Dragoon Guards and Hussars have lately been making of the steel, General -Capper has insisted on these, his own yeomen, being thus armed. I felt -stirred with the pathos of this sight--men learning how to use a new -arm on the eve of battle. They were mounted and drawn up in a long, -two-deep line on that brown heath, with a heavy bank of dark clouds like -mine in 'Scotland for Ever!' behind their heads--a fine subject. - -[Illustration: THE SHIRE HORSES: WHEELERS OF A 4.7, - -A HUSSAR SCOUT OF 1917.] - -"Who will look at my 'Waterloos' now? I have but one more of that series -to do. Then I shall stop and turn all my attention and energy to this -stupendous war. I shall call up my Indian sowars again, but _not_ at -play this time. - -"_October 3rd_.--Sketched Patrick's three beautiful chargers' heads in -water colour. Still the word 'Go!' is suspended over our heads. - -"_October 4th_.--The word 'Go!' has just sounded. In ten minutes Patrick -had to run and get his handbag, great coat and sword and be off with his -General to London. They pass through here to-morrow on their way to -embark. - -"_October 5th_, 1914.--I was down at seven, and as they did not finally -leave till 8.15 I had a golden half-hour's respite. Then came the -parting...." - -I left Lyndhurst at once. It will ever remain with me in a halo of -physical and spiritual sunshine seen through a mist of sadness. - -On November 2nd, 1914, my son Patrick was severely wounded during the -terrible, prolonged first Battle of Ypres, and was sent home to be -nursed back to health and fighting power at Guy's Hospital, where I saw -him. He told me that as he lay on the field his General and Staff passed -by, and all the General said was, "Hullo, Butler! is that you? -Good-bye!"[19] General Capper was as brave a soldier as ever lived, -but, I think, too fond for a General of being, as he said he wished to -be, _in the vanguard_. Thus he met his death (riding on horseback, I -understand) at Loos. Patrick's brother A.D.C., Captain Isaac, whom I -daily used to see at Lyndhurst, was killed early in the War. The poor -fellow, to calm my apprehensions regarding my own son, had tried to -assure me that, as A.D.C., he would be as safe as in Piccadilly. - -Towards the end of 1914 London had become intensely interesting in its -tragic aspect, and so very unlike itself. Soldiers of all ranks formed -the majority of the male population. In fact, wherever I looked now -there was some new sight of absorbing interest, telling me we were at -war, and such a war! Bands were playing at recruiting stations; flags of -all the Allies fluttered in the breeze in gaudy bunches; "pom-pom" guns -began to appear, pointing skywards from their platforms in the parks, -awaiting "Taubes" or "Zeppelins." I went daily to watch the recruits -drilling in the parks--such strangely varied types of men they were, and -most of them appearing the veriest civilians, from top to toe. Yet these -very shop-boys had come forward to offer their all for England, and the -good fellows bowed to the terrible, shouting drill-sergeants as never -they had bowed to any man before. What enraged me was the giggling of -the shop-girls who looked on--a far harder ordeal for the boys even than -the yells of the sergeants. One of the squads in the Green Park was -supremely interesting to me one day, in (I am bound to say) a semi-comic -way. These recruits were members and associates of the Royal Academy. -They were mostly somewhat podgy, others somewhat bald. When resting, -having piled arms, they played leap-frog, which was very funny, and -showed how light-heartedly my brothers of the brush were going to meet -the Boche. Of the maimed and blind men one met at every turn I can -scarcely write. I find that when I am most deeply moved my pen lags too -far behind my brush. - -On getting home to Ireland I set to work upon a series of khaki water -colours of the War for my next "one-man show," which opened with most -satisfactory _eclat_ in May, 1917. One of the principal subjects was -done under the impulse of a great indignation, for Nurse Cavell had been -executed. I called the drawing "The Avengers." Also I exhibited at the -Academy, at the same time, "The Charge of the Dorset Yeomanry at Agagia, -Egypt." This was a large oil painting, commissioned by Colonel Goodden -and presented by him to his county of Dorset. That charge of the British -yeomen the year before had sealed the fate of the combined Turks and -Senussi, who had contemplated an attack on Egypt. One of the most -difficult things in painting a war subject is the having to introduce, -as often happens, portraits of particular characters in the drama. Their -own mothers would not know the men in the heat, dust, and excitement of -a charge, or with the haggard pallor on them of a night watch. In the -Dorset charge all the officers were portraits, and I brought as many in -as possible without too much disobeying the "distance" regulation. The -Enemy (of the Senussi tribe) wore flowing _burnouses_, which helped the -movement, but at their machine guns I, rather reluctantly, had to place -the necessary Turkish officers. I had studies for those figures and for -the desert, which I had made long ago in the East. It is well to keep -one's sketches; they often come in very useful. - -The previous year, 1916, had been a hard one. Our struggles in the War, -the Sinn Fein rebellion in Dublin, and one dreadful day in that year -when the first report of the Battle of Jutland was published--these were -great trials. I certainly would not like to go through another phase -like that. But I was hard at work in the studio at home in Tipperary, -and this kept my mind in a healthy condition, as always, through -trouble. Let all who have congenial work to do bless their stars! - -On July 31st my second son, the chaplain, had a narrow escape. It was at -the great Battle of Flanders, where we seem to have made a good -_beginning_ at last. Father Knapp and Dick were tending the wounded and -dying under a rain of shells, when the old priest told Dick to go and -get a few minutes' rest. On returning to his sorrowful work Dick met the -fine old Carmelite as he was borne on a stretcher, dying of a shell that -had exploded just where my son had been standing a few minutes before. - -I see in the Diary: "_December 11th, 1917_.--To-day our army is to make -its formal entry into Jerusalem. I can scarcely write for excitement. -How vividly I see it all, knowing every yard of that holy ground! Dick -writes from before Cambrai that, if he had to go through another such -day as that of the 30th November last, he would go mad with grief. He -lost all his dearest friends in the Grenadier Guards, and he says -England little knows how near she was to a great disaster when the enemy -surprised us on that terrible Friday." - -Men who have gone through the horrors of war say little about them, but -I have learnt many strange things from rare remarks here and there. To -show how human life becomes of no account as the fighting grows, here is -an instance. A soldier was executed at dawn one day for "cowardice." An -officer who had acted at the court-martial met a private of the same -regiment as the dead man's that day, who remarked to his officer that -all he could say about his dead "pal" was that he had seen him perform -an act of bravery three times which would have deserved the V.C. "My -good man," said the officer, "why didn't you come forward at the trial -and say this?" "Well, I didn't think of it, sir." After all, to die one -way or another had become quite immaterial. - -One of the most important of my water colours at the second khaki -exhibition, held in London in May, 1919, was of the memorable charge of -the Warwick and Worcester Yeomanry at Huj, near Jerusalem, which charge -outshone the old Balaclava one we love to remember, and which differed -from the Crimean exploit in that we not only captured all the enemy -guns, but _held_ them. I had had all details--ground plans, description -of the weather on that memorable day, position of the sun, etc., -etc.--supplied me by an eye-witness who had a singularly quick eye and -precise perception.[20] I called it "Jerusalem delivered," for that -charge opened the gates of the Holy City to us. "The Canadian Bombers on -Vimy Ridge" was another of the more conspicuous subjects, and this one -went to Canada. - -But I must look back a little: "_Monday, November 11th, -1918_.--Armistice Day! I have been fortunate in seeing London on this -day of days. I arrived at Victoria into a London of laughter, flags, -joy-rides on every conceivable and inconceivable vehicle. I had hints on -the way to London by eruptions of Union Jacks growing thicker and -thicker along the railway, but I could not let myself believe that it -was the end of all our long-drawn-out trial that I would find on -arrival. But so it was. I went alone for a good stroll through Oxford -Street, Bond Street, and Piccadilly. People meeting, though strangers, -were smiling at each other. _I_ smiled to strange faces that were -smiling at me. What a novel sensation! The streets were thronged with -the _true_ happiness in the people's eyes, and there was no -"_mafficking_" no horse-play, but such _fun_. The matter was too great -for rowdyism and drunkenness. The crowd was allowed to do just as it -pleased for once, yet I saw no accidents. The police just looked on, and -would have beamed also, I am sure, if they had not been on duty. They -had, apparently, thrown the reins on the public's neck. I saw some sad -faces, but, of course, such as these kept mostly away." - -In deepest gratitude I felt I could be amongst the smilers that day, for -both my own sons, who faced death to the very end in so many of the -theatres of war to which our armies were sent, had survived. - -The boat that took me back to Ireland eventually had no protecting -airship serpentining above us. We could breathe freely now! - -[Illustration: A POST-CARD, FOUND ON A GERMAN PRISONER, WITH "SCOTLAND -FOR EVER" TURNED INTO PRUSSIAN CAVALRY, TYPIFYING THE VICTORIOUS ON-RUSH -OF THE GERMAN ARMY IN THE NEW YEAR, 1915.] - - - - -INDEX - - -Abbas II., Khedive, 228. - -Aberdeen, Marchioness of, 308. - -Agostino (cook), 5. - -Aix-la-Chapelle, Germany, 29. - -Albaro, Italy, 6, 54, 230. - -Aldershot, review at, 236. - -Alexandra, Queen, launches _Queen_, 288 _seq._ - -Alexandria, Egypt, 202 _seq._ - -Alma Tadema, Sir L., 154. - -Amalfi, Italy, 255. - -Amboise, France, 300. - -Amelie (nurse), 2, 3, 5, 10. - -"An Eviction in Ireland," 199. - -Angers, France, 300. - -Antonelli, Cardinal, 74. - -Arcole, Italy, 224. - -Armistice Day, 1918, 332. - -Atfeh, Egypt, 216. - -Avignon, France, 178. - - -Bagshawe, Father, 105. - -"Balaclava," composition, 138; - copyright sold, 151; - exhibited, 152. - -Bale, Switzerland, 179. - -_Barberi_ races, 85. - -Beatrice, Princess, 301. - -Bellucci, Giuseppe, 60, 66, 148. - -Beresford, Lord Charles, 221. - -Birmingham, 126. - -Blois, France, 300. - -Bonchurch, Isle of Wight, 12. - -Bonn, Germany, 19. - -Boppart, Germany, 24. - -Broome Hall, Kent, 265. - -Browne, Colonel, 120. - -Bruges, Belgium, 16, 270. - -Brussels, Belgium, 31. - -Buller, Sir Redvers, 284. - -Burchett, Mr., 39, 41, 42, 44, 48, 50, 101. - -Butcher, Dean, 232. - -Butler, Elizabeth, Lady, birth and education, 1; - visits to Italy, 3, 54 _seq._, 147 _seq._, 159 _seq._, 252 seq., - 279 _seq._, 306, 311 _seq._; - taste for drawing, 4; - early sketches, 7; - commences Diary, 7; - artistic training, 10, 14, 39 _seq._, 60 _seq._, 77; - German experiences, 19 _seq._, 179 seq.; - visits Waterloo, 31; - taste for military subjects, 46; - early exhibits, 50; - sells water-colours, 96; - first military drawings, 98; - conversion to Catholicism, 99; - first Academy picture, 99; - photographs, 114; - at Lord Mayor's banquets, 122, 139, 153, 193; - present from Queen Victoria, 125; - visits Paris, 127 _seq._; - proposed election as R.A., 153; - marriage, 168, Irish experiences, 169 _seq._, 199, 304; - tour in Pyrenees, 175; - paints "Rorke's Drift" for Queen Victoria, 187 _seq._; - life at Plymouth, 191; - Tel-el-Kebir picture, 194; - residence in Egypt, 196, 202 _seq._; - in Brittany, 198; - paints 24th Dragoons, 199; - tour in Palestine, 221; - Aldershot life, 234 _seq._; - residence at Dover, 260; - in South Africa, 275; - at Devonport, 277; - tour in France, 298; - "one-man" shows, 303, 318, 321, 329, 331. - -----, Martin, 321. - -----, Patrick, 321 _seq._ - -----, Richard (Urban), at Downside, 297; - enters Benedictine Order, 302; - ordained as priest, 311; - presented to Pius X., 315; - as army chaplain, 321; - war experiences, 330. - -Butler, General Sir William, marriage, 168; - German tour, 179 _seq._; - Zulu War, 183; - friendship with Empress Eugenie, 185, 241, 257; - at Plymouth, 191; - at Lord Mayor's banquet, 193; - Egyptian campaign (1882), 193; - Gordon expedition, 194; - Wady Halfa command, 196; - receives K.C.B., 199; - Alexandria command, 200; - Aldershot command, 234, 284; - Dover command, 260; - South African command, 275; - attacks on, 276; - Devonport command, 277; - tour in France, 298; - asked to stand for Parliament, 303; - on Royal Commission, 303; - speeches in Ireland, 309; - death, 310. - - -CAIRO, Egypt, 196. - -Cambridge, Duke of, 131, 218, 235. - -"Canadian Bombers on Vimy Ridge," 331. - -Canterbury, opening of church in, 132. - -Cap Martin, France, 251, 257. - -Capper, General, 327. - -Capri, Italy, 254. - -Carcassonne, France, 178. - -Castagnolo, Italy, 161. - -Cette, France, 177. - -Chapman, Sir F., 110. - -"Charge of the Dorset Yeomanry at Agagia, Egypt," 329. - -Chatham, Kent, 120. - -"Cistercian Shepherd," 305. - -Coblenz, Germany, 21. - -Collier, Mortimer, 192. - -Cologne, Germany, 19. - -Connaught, Duke of, 235. - -Corpus Christi procession, 119. - -Cruikshank, George, 123. - -"Cuirassier's Last Reveil, Morning of Waterloo," 320. - - -D'ARCOS, Madame, 258. - -"Dawn of Sedan," 111. - -"Dawn of Waterloo," 244. - -"Defence of Rorke's Drift," 187 _seq._ - -Delgany, Ireland, 199, 225. - -Denbigh, Earl of, 117. - -"Desert Grave," 198. - -Devonport, 277. - -Deyrout, Egypt, 217. - -Diamond Jubilee, 1897, 266. - -Dickens, Charles, 9. - -Dinan, France, 198. - -Dordrecht, Holland, 181. - -Dover, Kent, 38, 260. - -Du Maurier, George, 107, 154. - -Dufferin, Marquis of, 140. - -Durham, 144. - -Duesseldorf, Germany, 180. - - -EDENBRIDGE, Kent, 4, 185. - -Edinburgh, 145. - -Edkou, Egypt, 205. - -Edward VII., King (formerly Albert Edward, Prince of Wales), - approves of "Roll Call," 113; - accession, 286; - at launch of _Queen_, 289 _seq._; - lays keel of battleship, 295; - postponed coronation, 297. - -_Edward VII._ (battleship), 295. - -Elizabeth, Empress of Austria, 271. - -Eugenie, Empress, interview with General Butler, 185; - friendship with the Butlers, 234, 251; - devotion to her son, 237; - recollections of Egypt, 241; - at Cap Martin, 257. - - -FARNBOROUGH, Hants., 235. - -Ferguson, Sir William, 110. - -"Floreat Etona!" 193. - -Florence, Italy, 57 _seq._, 147 _seq._, 161. - -Fort St. Julian, Egypt, 217. - -Frederick, Emperor, 245. - -----, Empress. _See_ Victoria, Empress Frederick. - - -GABRIEL, Virginia, 152. - -Gallifet, Marquise de, 242. - -Galloway, Mr., 111, 131. - -Garibaldi, Giuseppe, 6. - -Gave, River, 176. - -Genoa, Italy, 5, 54, 230. - -George V., King, 261. - -Gladstone, W. E., 266. - -Glendalough, Ireland, 199. - -Gormanston, Viscountess (formerly Miss Eileen Butler), 317. - -Gormanston, Ireland, 318. - -Grant, Sir Hope, 115, 116. - -_Graphic_, 99, 125. - - -HADEN, Seymour, 110. - -Hadrian's Villa, Rome, 280. - -"Halt!" 119. - -"Halt on a Forced March: Retreat to Corunna," 225. - -Hastings, Sussex, 9. - -Heidelberg, Germany, 179. - -Henley-on-Thames, 15, 97. - -Henry of Battenberg, Princess. _See_ Beatrice, Princess. - -Herbert, J. R., 105. - - -IMPERIAL, Prince. _See_ Napoleon, Prince Imperial. - - -"Jerusalem Delivered," 331. - - -KITCHENER, Lord, 221, 272 _seq._ - -Koenigswinter, Germany, 19. - - -LANE, Richard, 11, 42. - -Le Breton, Madame, 257. - -Leman, Lake (Lake of Geneva), 179. - -Leo XIII., Pope, 257, 280, 281, 315. - -_Letters from the Holy Land_, 278. - -"'Listed for the Connaught Rangers," 169, 184. - -Lothian, Marchioness of, 118. - -Louis Napoleon, Prince, 247. - -Louise, Princess, Duchess of Argyll, 250. - -Lourdes, France, 176. - -Luchon, Bagneres de, France, 177. - -Luxor, Egypt, 197. - -Lyndhurst, Hants., 321. - - -MCKINLEY, William, 288. - -"Magnificat," 83, 97. - -Magro (cook), 219. - -Mahmoudich Canal, Egypt, 207. - -Malmaison, France, 245. - -Manning, Cardinal, 113, 133, 137. - -Mareotis, Lake, 203. - -Mayence, Germany, 180. - -Medmenham Abbey, 15. - -Metubis, Egypt, 217. - -Meynell, Mrs., 10, 51, 79, 99, 119, 155. - -Millais, Sir J. E., 11, 106, 107, 132, 138, 264. - -"Missed!" 125. - -"Missing," 168. - -Missionary College, Mill Hill, 119. - -Monte Carlo, 258. - -Monte Cassino, Monastery, 313. - -"Morrow of Talavera," 271. - -Mulranny, Ireland, 305. - -Mundy, Sergeant-Major, 31. - - -NAPLES, Italy, 229, 252. - -Napoleon, Prince Imperial, 185, 237. - -Naval Review, 1897, 269. - -Nervi, Italy, 2, 4. - -Newcastle-on-Tyne, 143. - -_Newcomes_, illustrations to, 45. - -Nimes, France, 178. - - -OECUMENICAL COUNCIL, opening of, 79. - - -PAGET, Lord George, 118. - -Paray-le-Monial, pilgrimage to, 99. - -Patti, Adelina, 123. - -Perugia, Italy, 70, 283. - -Pietri, Franceschini, 243, 257. - -Pisa, Italy, 161. - -Pius IX., Pope, 76, 82, 90, 92, 94. - ----- X., Pope, 307, 314, 316. - -Podesti, Signor, 85. - -Pollard, Dr., 101, 102, 104, 120, 186. - -Pompeii, Italy, 253. - -Porto Fino, Italy, 159, 230. - - -"QUATRE BRAS," studies for, 112, 130; - models for, 120; - copyright sold, 124; - correctness of uniforms, 125; - where hung, 133; - success of, 135; - Ruskin's approval, 146. - -_Queen_, launching of, 288 _seq._ - - -RAMLEH, Egypt, 204. - -Ras-el-Tin, Egypt, 228. - -"Remnants of an Army," 184. - -"Rescue of Wounded," 278. - -"Return from Inkermann," preparations for, 153, 157, 165; - exhibited, 168. - -"Reveil in the Bivouac of the Scots Greys on the Morning of Waterloo," 232. - -"Review of the Native Camel Corps at Cairo," 230. - -Rhodes, Cecil, 296. - -_Riding Together_, illustrations to, 48. - -"Right Wheel," 250. - -Ristori, Adelaide, 7. - -Roberts, Earl, 287. - "Roll Call," models for, 101; - methods of work, 102; - attention to details in, 103; - success of, 104; - private view, 107; - sale of copyright, 111; - bought by Queen Victoria, 111; - taken to Windsor, 116; - question of horse's steps in, 118. - -Rome, Lady Butler's visits to, 71 _seq._, 256, 279, 306, 311 _seq._ - -Rosetta, Egypt, 205, 216. - -Ross, Mrs. Janet, 148, 161, 165. - -Rotterdam, Holland, 181. - -Ruskin, John, 51, 146, 153. - -Ruta, Italy, 3, 230. - - -ST. ETHELDREDA'S Church, London, High Mass in, 154. - -St. Peter's, Rome, functions in, 75, 280, 283. - -St. Sauveur, France, 176. - -Salisbury, Marquis of, 199, 262 _seq._ - -Salvini, Tommaso, 136. - -Savennieres, France, 299. - -"Scotland for Ever," 186, 187, 191. - -Sestri Levante, Italy, 56. - -Severn, Joseph, 78, 84, 107. - -Shahzada of Afghanistan, 246. - -Siena, Italy, 162. - -Sistine Chapel, Rome, 281, 307. - -Sori, Italy, 3. - -Sorrento, Italy, 254. - -South Kensington Art School, 10. - -"Steady, the Drums and Fifes!" 261. - -Stone, Marcus, 154. - -Strettell, Rev. Alfred, 6. - -Stufa, Marchese delle, 147, 161. - -Super-Bagnere, France, 177. - -Syndioor, Egypt, 217. - - -TENNYSON, Alfred, Lord, 155 _seq._ - -"Tenth Bengal Lancers at Tent-pegging," 278, 287, 297. - -Tewfik, Khedive, 208, 226. - -"The Avengers," 239. - -"The Colours," 271. - -Thompson, Miss Alice. _See_ Meynell, Mrs. - -----, Miss Elizabeth. _See_ Butler, Elizabeth, Lady. - -----, Mr. T. J., 1, 2, 14, 49, 84, 191. - -----, Mrs. T. J., 2, 3, 9, 12, 51, 58, 83, 84, 143, 310. - -Thomson, Dr., Archbishop of York, 117. - -Toulouse, France, 177. - - -VALENTIA Island, 174. - -Vatican Gardens, Rome, 282. - -Vecchii, Colonel, 6. - -Venice, Italy, 200, 211, 308. - -Ventnor, Isle of Wight, 12, 97. - -Verona, Italy, 224. - -Vesuvius, Mount, ascent of, 255. - -Victor Emmanuel, King of Italy, 6. - -Victor Napoleon, Prince, 247. - -Victoria, Queen, buys "Roll Call," 111; - commissions "Rorke's Drift," 187; - reviews troops at Aldershot, 235, 250; - death, 285. - -----, Empress Frederick, 244, 286. - -Vyvyan, Miss, 42. - - -WADY Halfa, Egypt, 197. - -Wallace, Sir D. Mackenzie, 248. - -Waterloo, field of, 31. - -Wellington, Duke of, 33. - -Westmoreland, Countess of, 110. - -William II., German Emperor, 238. - -"Within Sound of the Guns," 278, 301. - -Wolseley, Viscount, 194, 265. - -Woolwich, review at, 117. - - -PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN BY THE WHITEFRIARS PRESS LTD. LONDON AND -TONBRIDGE. - - -Since I closed these Memoirs my sister, Alice Meynell, has passed away. - -I feel that it is not out of place to record here the fact of her desire -that I should reduce the mention of her name throughout the book. In the -original text it had figured much oftener alongside of my own. Her wish -to keep her personality always retired prevailed upon me to delete many -an allusion to her which would have graced the text, greatly to its -advantage. - -ELIZ^{TH.} BUTLER. - -_31st December, 1922._ - - - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[1] The cattle plague was raging in England. - -[2] William I., afterwards German Emperor. - -[3] The severe Lady Superintendent. - -[4] Whose son, Mr. Alfred Pollard, C.B., became the head of the British -Museum Printed Book Department. - -[5] Manning. - -[6] Poor young Inman, who was killed at the fight of Laing's Nek, S. -Africa. - -[7] "From Sketch-Book and Diary," A. & C. Black. - -[8] I have just been told by an Irishman that the Valentia breed are -trained for _racing!_ - -[9] "The Campaign of the Cataracts." - -[10] The late Lord Kitchener. - -[11] Now King George V. - -[12] Our eldest daughter Elizabeth, now Mrs. Kingscote. - -[13] Some one has explained to me, with what authority I cannot tell, -that "The Sailor King" gave this order to his officers with Royal tact, -being well aware that they could no more stand, at that period of the -dinner, than he could himself. So we sit. - -[14] To die during the World War.--E. B., 1921. - -[15] Our second son. - -[16] My daughter, Lady Gormanston, who completed and edited her father's -autobiography, has recorded in the After-word the circumstances of his -passing. - -[17] Since dead. - -[18] Only a few survivors of the original division which I saw are left. -(1916.) - -[19] In his little book, "A Galloper at Ypres" (Fisher Unwin), my son -gives a clear account of his own experience of that battle. - -[20] Colonel the Hon. Richard Preston, whose book, "The Desert Mounted -Corps," is a masterpiece. - - * * * * * - -Typographical error corrected by the etext transcriber: - -Italian friend in a duett=> Italian friend in a duet {pg 3} - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of An Autobiography, by Elizabeth Butler - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY *** - -***** This file should be named 41638.txt or 41638.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/4/1/6/3/41638/ - -Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images available at The Internet Archive) -Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team -at http://www.pgdp.net - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions -will be renamed. - -Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no -one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation -(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without -permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license - - -Title: An Autobiography - -Author: Elizabeth Butler - -Release Date: December 16, 2012 [EBook #41638] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY *** - - - - -Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images available at The Internet Archive) -Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team -at http://www.pgdp.net - - - - - - - -[Illustration: “GOT IT. BRAVO!â€] - - - - -AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY - -BY - -ELIZABETH BUTLER - -_With Illustrations from Sketches by -THE AUTHOR._ - -CONSTABLE & CO. LTD. -LONDON BOMBAY SYDNEY -1922 - -PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN BY THE WHITEFRIARS PRESS, LTD., -LONDON AND TONBRIDGE. - - -To -MY CHILDREN - - - - -FOREWORD - - -The memoirs of a great artist must inevitably evoke the interest and -appreciation of the initiated. But this book makes a wider appeal, -written as it is by a woman whose career, apart from her art, has been -varied and adventurous, who has travelled widely and associated, not -only with the masters of her own craft, but with the great and eminent -in many fields. It is, moreover, the revelation of a personality apart, -at once feminine and virile, endued with the force engendered by -unswerving adherence to lofty aims. - -In this age of insistent ugliness, when the term “realism†is used to -cloak every form of grossness and degeneracy, it is a privilege to -commune with one who speaks of her “experiences of the world’s -loveliness†and describes herself as “full of interest in mankind.†-These two phrases, taken at random from the opening pages of “From -Sketch Book and Diary,†seem to me eminently characteristic of Lady -Butler and her work. She is a worshipper of Beauty in its spiritual as -well as its concrete form, and all her life she has envisaged mankind in -its nobler aspect. - -At seven years old little Elizabeth Thompson was already drawing -miniature battles, at seventeen she was lamenting that as yet she had -achieved nothing great, and a very few years later the world was ringing -with the fame of the painter of “The Roll Call.†- -Through the accumulated interests of changeful years, charged for her -with intense joy and sorrow, she has kept her valiant standard flying, -in her art as in her life remaining faithful to her belief in humanity, -using her power and insight for its uplifting. Not only has she depicted -for us great events and strenuous action, with a sureness all her own, -she has caught and materialised the qualities which inspire heroic -deeds--courage, endurance, fidelity to a life’s ideal even in the moment -of death. And all without shirking the dreadful details of the -battlefield; amid blood and grime and misery, in loneliness and neglect, -in the desperate steadfastness of a lost cause, her figures stand out -true to themselves and to the highest traditions of their country. - -During the recent world-upheaval Lady Butler devoted herself in -characteristic fashion to the pursuance of her aims. Many of the -subjects painted and exhibited during those terrible years still -preached her gospel. She worked, moreover, with a twofold motive. Widow -of a great soldier, she devoted the proceeds of her labours to her less -fortunate sisters left impoverished, and even destitute, by the War. - -“_L’artiste donne de soi_,†said M. Paderewski once. - -Lady Butler has always given generously of her best, and perhaps this -book of memories, intimate and characteristic, this record of wide -interests and high endeavour, full of picturesque incident and touched -with delicate humour, is as valuable a gift as any that she has yet -bestowed. - -M. E. FRANCIS. - - - - -CONTENTS - - -CHAP. PAGE - -I. FIRST IMPRESSIONS 1 - -II. EARLY YOUTH 10 - -III. MORE TRAVEL 19 - -IV. IN THE ART SCHOOLS 38 - -V. STUDY IN FLORENCE 54 - -VI. ROME 69 - -VII. WAR. BATTLE PAINTINGS 96 - -VIII. “THE ROLL CALL†101 - -IX. ECHOES OF “THE ROLL CALL†115 - -X. MORE WORK AND PLAY 130 - -XI. TO FLORENCE AND BACK 147 - -XII. AGAIN IN ITALY 159 - -XIII. A SOLDIER’S WIFE 167 - -XIV. QUEEN VICTORIA 183 - -XV. OFFICIAL LIFE--THE EAST 191 - -XVI. TO THE EAST 196 - -XVII. MORE OF THE EAST 211 - -XVIII. THE LAST OF EGYPT 224 - -XIX. ALDERSHOT 234 - -XX. ITALY AGAIN 252 - -XXI. THE DOVER COMMAND 260 - -XXII. THE CAPE AND DEVONPORT 275 - -XXIII. A NEW REIGN 284 - -XXIV. MOSTLY A ROMAN DIARY 311 - -XXV. THE GREAT WAR 320 - -INDEX 333 - - - - -LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS - - - PAGE - -“GOT IT, BRAVO!†_Frontispiece_ - -A LEAF FROM A VERY EARLY SKETCH-BOOK 12 - -FLYING SHOTS IN BELGIUM AND RHINELAND IN 1865 19 - -IN FLORENCE DURING MY STUDIES IN 1869 58 - -THE LAST OF THE RIDERLESS HORSE-RACES, AND A WET TRUDGE -TO THE VATICAN COUNCIL 80 - -CRIMEAN IDEAS 103 - -PRACTISING FOR “QUATRE BRAS†130 - -ONE OF THE BALACLAVA SIX HUNDRED 151 - -IN WESTERN IRELAND: A “JARVEY†AND “BIDDY†174 - -THE EGYPTIAN CAMEL CORPS AND THE BERSAGLIERI 230 - -ALDERSHOT MANÅ’UVRES: THE ENEMY IN SIGHT 234 - -A DESPATCH BEARER, BOER WAR, AND THE HORSE GUNNERS 284 - -NOTES ON THE EVE OF THE GREAT WAR 323 - -THE SHIRE HORSES: WHEELERS OF A 4·7. A HUSSAR SCOUT OF 1917 327 - -A POSTCARD, FOUND ON A GERMAN PRISONER, WITH “SCOTLAND -FOR EVER†TURNED INTO PRUSSIAN CAVALRY, TYPIFYING -THE VICTORIOUS ONRUSH OF THE GERMAN ARMY IN THE -NEW YEAR, 1915 332 - - - - -AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY - -ELIZABETH BUTLER - - -MY FRIENDS: You must write your memoirs. - -I: Every one writes his or her memoirs nowadays. Rather a plethora, -don’t you think? An exceedingly difficult thing to do without too much -of the Ego. - -MY FRIENDS: Oh! but yours has been such an interesting life, so varied, -and you can bring in much outside yourself. Besides, you have kept a -diary, you say, ever since you were twelve, and you have such an -unusually long memory. A pity to waste all that. You simply _must_! - -I: Very well, but remember that I am writing while the world is still -knocked off its balance by the Great War, and few minds will care to -attune themselves to the Victorian and Edwardian stability of my time. - -MY FRIENDS: There will come a reaction. - - - - -CHAPTER I - -FIRST IMPRESSIONS - - -I was born at the pretty “Villa Claremont,†just outside Lausanne and -overlooking Lake Leman. I made a good start with the parents Providence -gave me. My father, cultured, good, patient, after he left Cambridge set -out on the “Grand Tour,†and after his unsuccessful attempt to enter -Parliament devoted his leisure to my and my younger sister’s education. -Yes, he began with our first strokes, our “pot-hooks and hangers,†our -two-and-two make four; nor did his tuition really cease till, entering -on matrimony, we left the paternal roof. He adopted, in giving us our -lessons, the principle of “a little and often,†so that we had two -hours in the morning and no lessons in the afternoon, only bits of -history, poetry, the collect for the Sunday and dialogues in divers -languages to learn overnight by heart to be repeated to him next -morning. We had no regular holidays: a day off occasionally, especially -when travelling; and we travelled much. He believed that intelligent -travel was a great educator. He brought us up tremendous English -patriots, but our deepest contentment lay in our Italian life, because -we loved the sun--all of us. - -So we oscillated between our Ligurian Riviera and the home counties of -Kent and Surrey, but were never long at a time in any resting place. Our -father’s daughter by his first wife had married, at seventeen, an -Italian officer whose family we met at Nervi, and she settled in Italy, -becoming one of our attractions to the beloved Land. That officer later -on joined Garibaldi, and was killed at the Battle of the Volturno. She -never left the country of her adoption, and that bright lure for us -remained. - -Although we were very strictly ruled during lessons, we ran rather wild -after, and, looking back, I only wonder that no illness or accident ever -befell us. Our dear Swiss nurse was often scandalised at our escapades, -but our mother, bright and beautiful, loving music and landscape -painting, and practising both with an amateur’s enthusiasm, allowed us -what she considered very salutary freedom after study. Still, I don’t -think she would have liked some of our wild doings and our consortings -with Genoese peasant children and Surrey ploughboys, had she known of -them. But, careful as she was of our physical and spiritual health, she -trusted us and thought us unique. - -My memory goes back to the time when I was just able to walk and we -dwelt in a typically English village near Cheltenham. I see myself -pretending to mind two big cart-horses during hay-making, while the fun -of the rake and the pitchfork was engaging others not so interested in -horses as I already was myself. Then I see the _Albergo_, with -vine-covered porch, at Ruta, on the “saddle†of Porto Fino, that -promontory which has been called the “Queen of the Mediterranean,†where -we began our lessons, and, I may say, our worship of Italy. - -Then comes Villa de’ Franchi for two exquisite years, a little nearer -Genoa, at Sori, a _palazzo_ of rose-coloured plaster and white stucco, -with flights of stone steps through the vineyards right down to the sea. -That sea was a joy to me in all its moods. We had our lessons in the -balcony in the summer, and our mother’s piano sent bright melody out of -the open windows of the drawing-room when she wasn’t painting the -mountains, the sea, the flowers. She had the “semi-grand†piano brought -out into the balcony one fullmoon night and played Beethoven’s -“Moonlight Sonata†under those silver beams, while the sea, her -audience, in its reflected glory, murmured its applause. - -Often, after the babes were in bed, I cried my heart out when, through -the open windows, I could hear my mother’s light soprano drowned by the -strong tenor of some Italian friend in a duet, during those musical -evenings so dear to the music-loving children of the South. It seemed -typical of her extinction, and I felt a rage against that tenor. Our -dear nurse, Amélie, would come to me with lemonade, and mamma, when -apprised of the state of things, would also come to the rescue, her -face, still bright from the singing, becoming sad and puckered. - -A stay at Edenbridge, in Kent, found me very happy riding in big waggons -during hay-making and hanging about the farm stables belonging to the -house, making friends with those splendid cart-horses which contrasted -with the mules of Genoa in so interesting a way. How the cuckoos sang -that summer; a note never heard in Italy. I began writing verse about -that time. Thus: - - The gates of Heaven open to the lovely season, - And all the meadows sweet they lie in peace. - -We children loved the Kentish beauty of our dear England. Poetry -filtered into our two little hearts wherever we abode, to blossom forth -in my little large-eyed, thoughtful sister in the process of time. To -Nervi we went again, taking Switzerland on the way this time, into Italy -by the Simplon and the Lago Maggiore. - -A nice couple of children we were sometimes! At this same Nervi, one -day, we little girls found the village people celebrating a _festa_ at -Sant’ Ilario, high up on the foothills of the mountains behind our -house. We mixed in the crowd outside, as the church emptied, and armed -ourselves with branches. Rounding up the children, who were in swarms, -we gave chase. Down, down, through the zone of chestnut trees, down -through the olive woods, down through the vineyards, down to the little -town the throng fled, till, landing them in the street, we went home, -remarking on the evident superior power of the Anglo-Saxon race over the -Latin. - -As time went on my drawing-books began to show some promise, so that my -father gave me great historical subjects for treatment, but warning me, -in that amused way he had, that an artist must never get spoilt by -celebrity, keeping in mind the fluctuations of popularity. I took all -this seriously. I think that, having no boys to bring up, he tried to -put all the tuition suitable to both boys and girls into us. One result -was that as a child I had the ambition to be a writer as well as a -painter. We children were fanatically devoted to the worship of -Charlotte Brontë, since our father had read us “Jane Eyre†(with -omissions). Rather strong meat for babes! We began sending poetry and -prose to divers periodicals and cut our teeth on rejected MSS. - -We went back to Genoa, _viâ_ Jersey (as a little _détour_!) Poor old -Agostino, our inevitable cook, saw us as we drove from the station, on -our arrival, through the Via Carlo Felice. Worse luck, for he had become -too blind for his work. In days gone by he had done very well and we had -not the heart to cast him off. He ran after our carriage, kissing our -hands as he capered sideways alongside, at the peril of being run over. -So we were in for him again, but it was the last time. On our next visit -a friend told us, “Agostino is dead, thank goodness!†He and our dear -nurse, Amélie, used to have the most desperate rows, principally over -religion, he a devout Catholic and she a Protestant of the true Swiss -fibre. They always ended by wrangling themselves at the highest pitch of -their voices into papa’s presence for judgment. But he never gave it, -only begging them to be quiet. She declared to Agostino that if he got -no wages at all he would still make a fortune out of us by his -perquisites; and, indeed, considering we left all purchases in his -hands, I don’t think she exaggerated. The war against Austria had been -won. Magenta, Solferino, Montebello--dear me, how those names resounded! -One day as we were running along the road in our pinafores near the -Zerbino palace, above Genoa, along came Victor Emmanuel in an open -carriage looking very red and blotchy in the heat, with big, ungloved -hands, one of which he raised to his hat in saluting us little imps who -were shouting “Long live the King of Italy!†in English with all our -might. We were only a _little_ previous (!) Then the next year came the -Garibaldi enthusiasm, and we, like all the children about us, became -highly exalted _Garibaldians_. I saw the Liberator the day before he -sailed from Quarto for his historical landing in Sicily, at the Villa -Spinola, in the grounds of which we were, on a visit at the English -consul’s. He was sitting in a little arbour overlooking the sea, talking -to the gardener. In the following autumn, when his fame had increased a -thousandfold, I made a pen and ink memory sketch of him which my father -told me to keep for future times. I vividly remember, though at the time -not able to understand the extraordinary meaning of the words, hearing -one of Garibaldi’s adoring comrades (one Colonel Vecchii) a year or two -later on exclaim to my father, with hands raised to heaven, -“_Garibaldi!! C’est le Christ le revolver à la main!_†- -Our life at old Albaro was resumed, and I recall the pleasant English -colony at Genoa in those days, headed by the very popular consul, -“Monty†Brown, and the nice Church of England chaplain, the Rev. Alfred -Strettell. Ah! those primitive picnics on Porto Fino, when Mr. Strettell -and our father used to read aloud to the little company, including our -precocious selves, Shakespeare, Wordsworth, Keats, Tennyson, under the -vines and olives, between whose branches, far below the cultivated -terraces which we chose for our repose, appeared the deep blue waters of -the Sea of seas. My early sketch books are full of incidents in Genoese -peasant life: carnival revels in the streets, so suited to the child’s -idea of fun; charges of Garibaldian cavalry on discomfited Neapolitan -troops (the despised _Borbonici_), and waving of tricolours by bellicose -patriots. I was taken to the Carlo Felice Theatre to see Ristori in -“Maria Stuarda,†and became overwhelmed with adoration of that mighty -creature. One night she came on the stage waving a great red, white, and -green tricolour, and recited to a delirious audience a fine patriotic -poem to united Italy ending in the words “_E sii Regina Ancor!_†I see -her now in an immense crinoline. - -A charming autumn sojourn on the lakes of Orta and Maggiore filled our -young minds with beauty. Early autumn is the time for the Italian lakes, -while the vintage is “on†and the golden Indian corn is stored in the -open loggias of the farms, hanging in rich bunches in sun and luminous -shade amongst the flower pots and all the homely odds and ends of these -picturesque dwellings. The following spring was clouded by our return to -England and London in particularly cold and foggy weather, dark with the -London smoke, and our temporary installation in a dismal abode hastily -hired for us by our mother’s father, where we could be close to his -pretty little dwelling at Fulham. My Diary was begun there. Poor little -“Mimi†(as I was called), the pages descriptive of our leaving Albaro at -that time are spotted with the mementos of her tears. The journey -itself was a distraction, for we returned by the long Cornice Route -which then was followed by the _Malle Poste_ and Diligence, the railway -being only in course of construction. It was very interesting to go in -that fashion, especially to me, who loved the horses and watched the -changing of our teams at the end of the “stages†with the intensest -zest. I made little sketches whenever halts allowed, and, as usual, my -irrepressible head was out of the Diligence window most of the time. The -Riviera is now known to everybody, and very delightful in its way. I -have not long returned from a very pleasant visit there; everything very -luxurious and up-to-date, but the local sentiment is lessened. The -reason is obvious, and has been laboured enough. One can still go off -the beaten paths and find the true Italy. I have found one funny little -sketch showing our _Malle Poste_ stopping to pick up the mail bag at a -village (San Remo, perhaps), which bag is being handed out of a top -window, at night, by the old postmistress. The _Malle Poste_ evidently -went “like the wind,†for I invariably show the horses at a gallop all -along the route. - -My misery at the view of our approach to London through that wilderness -of slums that ushers us into the Great Metropolis is all chronicled, -and, what with one thing and another, the Diary sinks for a while into -despondency. But not for long. I cheer up soon. - -In London I took in all the amusing details of the London streets, so -new to me, coming from Italy. I seem, by my entries in the Diary, to -have been particularly diverted by the colour of those Dundreary -whiskers that the English “swell†of the period affected. I constantly -come upon “Saw no end of red whiskers.†Then I read, “Mamma and I paid -calls, one on Dickens (_sic_)--out, thank goodness.†Charles Dickens, -whom I dismiss in this offhand manner, had been a close friend of my -father’s, and it was he who introduced my father to the beautiful Miss -Weller (amusing coincidence in names!) at an amateur concert where she -played. The result was rapid. My vivid memory can just recall Charles -Dickens’s laugh. I never heard it echoed by any other man’s till I heard -Lord Wolseley’s. The volunteer movement was in full swing, and I became -even more enthusiastic over the citizen soldiers than I had been over -the _Garibaldini_. Then there are pages and pages filled with -descriptions of the pictures at the Royal Academy; of the Zoological -Gardens, describing nearly every bird, beast, reptile and fish. Laments -over the fogs and the cold of that dreadful London April and May, and -untiring outbursts in verse of regret for my lost Italy. But I stuffed -my sketch books with British volunteers in every conceivable uniform, -each corps dressed after its own taste. There was a very short-lived -corps called the Six-foot Guards! I sent a design for a uniform to the -_Illustrated London News_, which was returned with thanks. I felt hurt. -Grandpapa attached himself to the St. George’s Rifles, and went, later -on, through storm and rain and sun in several sham fights. Well, _Punch_ -made fun of those good men and true, but I have lived to know that the -“Territorials,†as they came to be called, were destined in the -following century to lend their strong arm in saving the nation. We next -had a breezy and refreshing experience of Hastings and the joy of rides -on the downs with the riding master. London fog and smoke were blown off -us by the briny breezes. - - - - -CHAPTER II - -EARLY YOUTH - - -In December we migrated back to London, and shortly before Christmas our -dear, faithful nurse died. That was Alice’s and my first sense of -sorrow, and, even now, I can’t bear to go over those dreadful days. Our -father told us we would never forgive ourselves if we did not take our -last look at her. He said we were very young for looking on death, but -“go, my children,†he said, “it is right.†I cannot read those -heartbroken words with which I fill page after page of my Diary even now -without tears. She had at first intended to remain at home at Lausanne -when my parents were leaving for England, shortly after my birth, but as -she was going I smiled at her from my cradle. “_Ah! Mademoiselle Mimi, -ce sourire!_†brought her back irresistibly, and with us she remained to -the end. - -As we girls grew apace we had a Parisian mistress to try and parisianise -our Swiss French and an Italian master to try and tuscanise our Genoese -Italian, and every Saturday a certain Mr. Standish gave me two hours’ -drill in oil painting. How grand I felt! He gave me his own copies of -Landseer’s horses’ heads and dogs as models. This wasn’t very much, but -it was a beginning. My lessons in the elementary class at the S. -Kensington School of Art are not worth mentioning. The masters gave me -hateful scrolls and patterns to copy, and I relieved my feelings by -ornamenting the margins of my drawing paper with angry scribblings of -horses and soldiers in every variety of fury. That did not last long. -This entry in the Diary speaks for itself:-- - -“_Sunday, March 16th, 1862._--We went to Mr. Lane’s house preparatory to -going to see Millais in his studio. Mr. Richard Lane is an old friend of -papa’s. The middle Miss Lane is a favourite model of Millais’ and very -pretty. We entered his studio, which is hung with rich pre-Raphaelite -tapestry and pre-Raphaelite everything. The smell of cigar smoke -prepared me for what was to come. Millais, a tall, strapping, careless, -blunt, frank, young Englishman, was smoking with two villainous friends, -both with beards--red, of course. Instead of coming to be introduced -they sat looking at Millais’ graceful drawings calling them ‘jolly’ and -‘stunning,’ the creatures! Millais would be handsome but for his eyes, -which are too small, and his hair is colourless and stands up in curls -over his large head but not encroaching upon his splendid forehead. He -seems to know what a universal favourite he is.†I naturally did not -record in this precious piece of writing a rather humiliating little -detail. I wanted the company to see that I was a bit of a judge of -painting, ahem! In fact, a painter myself, and, approaching very near to -the wet picture of “The Ransom†(I think), I began to scrutinise. Mr. -Lane took me gently, but firmly, by the shoulders and placed me in a -distant chair. Had I been told by a seer that in 1875--the year I -painted “Quatre Brasâ€--this same Millais, after entertaining me at -dinner in that very house, would escort me down those very steps, and, -in shaking hands, was to say, “Good night, Miss Thompson, I shall soon -have the pleasure of congratulating you on your election to the -Academy, an honour which you will _t’oroughly_ deserveâ€--had I been told -this! - -Our next halt was in the Isle of Wight, at Ventnor, and then at -Bonchurch, and our house was “The Dell.†Bonchurch was a beautiful -dwelling-place. But, alas! for what I may call the Oxford primness of -the society! It took long to get ourselves attuned to it. However, we -got to be fond of this society when the ice thawed. The Miss Sewells -were especially charming, sisters of the then Warden of New College. -Each family took a pride in the beauty of its house and gardens, the -result being a rivalry in loveliness, enriching Bonchurch with flowers, -woods and ornamental waters that filled us with delight. Mamma had “The -Dell†further beautified to come up to the high level of the others. She -made a little garden herself at the highest point of the grounds, with -grass steps, bordered with tall white lilies, and called it “the -Celestial Garden.†The cherry trees she planted up there for the use of -the blackbirds came to nothing. The water-colours she painted at “The -Dell†are amongst her loveliest. - -[Illustration: A LEAF FROM A VERY EARLY SKETCH-BOOK.] - -Ventnor was fond of dances, At Homes, and diversions generally, but I -shall never forget my poor mother’s initial trials at the musical -parties where the conversation raged during her playing, rising and -sinking with the _crescendos_ and _diminuendos_ (and this after the -worship of her playing in Italy!), and once she actually stopped dead in -the middle of a Mozart and silence reigned. She then tried the catching -“Saltarello,†with the same result exactly. “The English appreciate -painting with their ears and music with their eyes,†said Benjamin West -(if I am not mistaken), the American painter, who became President of -our Royal Academy. This hard saying had much truth in it, at least in -his day. Even in ours they had to be _told_ of the merits of a picture, -and the _sight_ of a pianist crossing his hands when performing was the -signal for exchanges of knowing smiles and nods amongst the audience, -who, talking, hadn’t heard a note. For vocal music, however, silence was -the convention. How we used inwardly to laugh when, after a song piped -by some timid damsel, the music was handed round so that the words and -music might be seen in black and white by the guests assembled. I -thankfully record the fact that as time went on my mother’s playing -seemed at last to command attention, and it being whispered that silence -was better suited to such music, it became quite the thing to stop -talking. - -Though Bonchurch was inclined to a moderate High Church tone, its rector -was of a pungent Low-Churchism, and he wrote us and the other girls who -sang in his choir a very severe letter one day ordering us to -discontinue turning to the east in the Creed. We all liked the much more -genial and very beautiful services at Holy Trinity Church, midway to -Ventnor, where we used to go for evensong. The Rev. Mr. G., of -Bonchurch, gave us very long sermons in the mornings, prophesying dismal -and alarming things to come, and we took refuge finally in the Rev. A. -L. B. Peile’s more heartening discourses. - -The Ventnor dances were thoroughly enjoyable, and the croquet parties -and the rides with friends, and all the rest of it. Yes, it was a nice -life, but the morning lessons never broke off. No doubt we were -precocious, but we like to dwell on the fact of the shortness of our -childhood and the consequent length of our youth. I now and then come -upon funny juvenile sketch books where I find my Ventnor partners at -these dances clashing with charges of Garibaldian cavalry. There they -are, the desirable ones and the undesirable; the drawling “heavy swell†-and the raw stripling; the handsome and the ugly. The girls, too, are -there; the flirt and the wallflower. They all went in. - -These festive Ventnor doings were all very well, but it became more and -more borne in upon me that, if I intended to be a “great artist†(oh! -seductive words), my young ’teens were the right time for study. “Very -well, then--attention!--miss!†No sooner did my father perceive that I -meant business than he got me books on anatomy, architecture, costume, -arms and armour, Ruskin’s inspiring writings, and everything he thought -the most appropriate for my training. But I longed for regular training -in some academy. I chafed, as my Diaries show. For some time yet I was -to learn in this irregular way, petitioning for real severe study till -my dear parents satisfied me at last. “You will be entering into a -tremendous ruck of painters, though, my child,†my father said one day, -with a shake of his head. I answered, “I will single myself out of it.†- -So, then, the lovely “Dell†was given up, and soon there began the -happiest period of my girlhood--my life as an art student at South -Kensington; _not_ in the elementary class of unpleasant memory, but in -the “antique†and the “life.†- -But our father wanted first to show us Bruges and the Rhine, so we were -off again on our travels in the summer. Two new countries for us girls, -hurrah! and a little glimpse of a part of our own by the way. I find an -entry made at Henley. - -“_Henley, May 31st._--Before to-day I could not boast with justice of -knowing more than a fraction of England! This afternoon I saw her in one -of her loveliest phases on a row to Medmenham Abbey. Skies of the most -telling effects, ever changing as we rowed on, every reach we came to -revealing fresh beauties of a kind so new to me. The banks of long grass -full of flowers, the farmsteads gliding by, the willows allowed to grow -according to Nature’s intention into exquisitely graceful trees, the -garden lawns sloping to the water’s edge as a delicious contrast to the -predominating rural loveliness, and then that unruffled river! I have -seen the Thames! At Medmenham Abbey we had tea, and one of the most -beautiful parts of the river and meadowland, flowery to overflowing, was -seen before us through the arcades, the sky just there being of the most -delicious dappled warm greys, and further on the storm clouds towered, -red in the low sun. What pictures wherever you turn; and turn and turn -and turn we did, until my eyes ached, on our smooth row back. The -evening effects put the afternoon ones out of my head. I imagined a -score of pictures, peopling the rich, sweet banks with men and women of -the olden time. The skies received double glory and poetry from the -perfectly motionless water, which reflected all things as in a -mirror--as if it wasn’t enough to see that overwhelming beauty without -seeing it doubled! At last I could look no more at the effects nor hear -the blackbirds and thrushes that sang all the way, and, to Mamma’s -sympathetic amusement, I covered my eyes and ears with a shawl. Alas! -for the artist, there is no peace for him. He cannot gaze and -peacefully admire; he frets because he cannot ‘get the thing down’ in -paint. Having finished my row in that Paradise, let me also descend from -the poetic heights, and record the victory of the Frenchman. Yes, -‘Gladiateur’ has carried off the blue ribbon of the turf. Upon my word, -these Frenchmen!†It was the first time a French horse had won the -Derby. - -Bruges was after my own heart. Mediæval without being mouldy, kept -bright and clean by loving restorations done with care and knowledge. No -beautiful old building allowed to crumble away or be demolished to make -room for some dreary hideosity, but kept whole and wholesome for modern -use in all its own beauty. Would that the Italians possessed that same -spirit. My Diary records our daily walks through the beautiful, bright -streets with their curious signs named in Flemish and French, and the -charm of a certain _place_ planted with trees and surrounded by gabled -houses. Above every building or tree, go where you would, you always saw -rising up either the wondrous tower of the Halle (the _Beffroi_), dark -against the bright sky, or the beautiful red spire on the top of the -enormous grey brick tower of Notre Dame, a spire, I should say, -unequalled in the world not only for its lovely shape and proportions, -but for its exquisite style and colour: a delicious red for its upper -part, most refined and delicate, with white lines across, and as -delicate a yellow lower down. Or else you had the grey tower of the -cathedral, plain and imposing, made of small bricks like that of Notre -Dame, having a massive effect one would not expect from the material. -Over the little river, which runs nearly round the town, are -oft-recurring draw-bridges with ponderous grey gates, flanked by two -strong, round, tower-like wings. Most effective. On this river glided -barges pulled painfully by men, who trudged along like animals. I record -with horror that one barge was pulled by a woman! “It was quite painful -to see her bent forward doing an English horse’s work, with the band -across her chest, casting sullen upward glances at us as we passed, and -the perspiration running down her face. From the river diverge canals -into the town, and nothing can describe the beauty of those water -streets reflecting the picturesque houses whose bases those waters wash, -as at Venice. When it comes to seeing two towers of the Halle, two -spires of Notre Dame, two towers of the cathedral, etc., etc., the -duplicate slightly quivering downwards in the calm water! Here and -there, as we crossed some canal or other, one special bit would come -upon us and startle us with its beauty. Such combinations of gables and -corner turrets and figures of saints and little water-side gardens with -trees, and always two or more of the towers and spires rising up, hazy -in the golden flood of the evening sun!†- -In our month at Bruges I made the most of every hour. It is one of the -few towns one loves with a personal love. I don’t know what it looks -like to-day, after the blight of war that passed over Belgium, but I -trust not much harm was done there. How one trembled for the old -_beffroi_, which one heard was mined by the Huns when they were in -possession. - -“_August 24th._--Dear, exquisite, lovely, sunny, smiling Bruges, -good-bye! Good-bye, fair city of happy, ever happy, recollections. -Bright, gabled Bruges, we shall not look upon thy like again.†- -I will make extracts from my German Diary, as Germany in those days was -still a land of kindly people whom we liked much before they became -spoilt by the Prussianism only then beginning to assert itself over the -civil population. The Rhine, too, was still unspoilt. That part of -Germany was agricultural; not yet industrialised out of its charm. I -also think these extracts, though so crude and “green,†may show young -readers how we can enjoy travel by being interested in all we see. I may -become tiresome to older ones who have passed the Golden Gates, and for -some of whom Rhine or Nile or Seine or Loire has run somewhat dry. - -[Illustration: FLYING SHOTS IN BELGIUM AND RHINELAND IN /65.] - - - - -CHAPTER III - -MORE TRAVEL - - -“Alas! for railway travellers one approach to a place is like another. -Fancy arriving at Cologne through ragged factory outskirts and being -deposited under a glazed shed from which nothing but the railway objects -can be seen! We made a dash to the cathedral, I on the way remarking the -badly-dressed Düppel heroes (!) with their cook’s caps and tight -trousers; and oh dear! the officers are of a very different mould here -from what they are in Belgium. Big-whiskered fellows with waists enough -to make the Belgians faint. But I am trifling. We went into the -cathedral by a most glorious old portal covered with rich Gothic -mouldings. Happy am I to be able to say I have seen Cologne Cathedral. -Now, hurrah for the Rhine! that river I have so longed, for years, to -see.†- -We don’t seem to have cared much for Bonn, though I intensely enjoyed -watching the swift river from the hotel garden and the Seven Mountains -beyond. The people, too, amused and interested me very much, and the -long porcelain pipe dangling from every male mouth gave me much matter -for sketching. - -My Diary on board the _Germania_: “Koenigswinter at the foot of the -Dragenfels began that series of exquisite towns at the foot of ruined -castles of which we have had more than a sufficient feast--that is, to -be able to do them all the justice which their excessive beauty calls -loudly for. We rounded the Dragenfels and saw it ‘frowning’ more -Byronically than on the Bonn side, and altogether more impressive. And -soon began the vines in all their sweet abundance on the smiling hill -slopes. Romantic Rolandsec expanded on our right as we neared it, and -there stood the fragment of the ruined castle peering down, as its -builder is said to have done, upon the Convent amidst the trees on its -island below. And then how fine looked the Seven Mountains as we looked -back upon them, closing in the river as though it were a lake, and away -we sped from them and left them growing mistier, and passed russet roofs -and white-walled houses with black beams across, and passed lovely -Unkel, picturesque to the core, bordering the water, and containing a -most delicious old church. Opposite rose curious hills, wild and round, -half vine-clad, half bare, and so on to Apollinarisberg on our right, -with its new four-pinnacled church on the hill, above Remagen and its -old church below. The last sight of the Dragenfels was a very happy one, -in misty sunlight, as it finally disappeared behind the near hills. On, -on we went, and passed the dark Erpeler Lei and the round, blasted and -dismal ruin of Okenfels; and Ling, with a cloud-capped mountain frowning -over it. As we glided by the fine restored _château_ of Argenfels and -the village of Hönningen the sky was red with the reflection of the -sunset which we could not see, and was reflected in the swirling river. -We did our Rhine pretty conscientiously by going first aft, then -forward, and then to starboard, and then to port, and glories were -always before us, look which way we would. So the Rhine has _not_ been -too much cried up, say what you will, Messrs. Blasé and Bore. The views -were constantly interrupted by the heads of the lack-lustre people on -board, who, just like the visitors at the R.A., hide the beauties they -can’t appreciate from those who long to see them. But it soon began to -grow dark. - -“As we glided by Neuwied and stopped to take and discharge passengers a -band was playing the ‘Düppel March,’ so called because the Prussians -played it before Düppel. They are so blatantly proud of having beaten -the Danes and getting Schleswig-Holstein. Fireworks were spluttering, -and, altogether, a great deal of festivity was going on. It was quite -black on the afterdeck by this time, _minus_ lanterns. To go below to -the stuffy, lighted cabin was not to be thought of, so we walked up and -down, sometimes coming in contact with our fellow-man, or, rather, -woman, for the men carried lights at the fore (_i.e._, at the ends of -their cigars). At last, by the number of lights ahead, we knew we were -approaching Coblenz. We went to the “Giant†Hotel, close to the landing. -It was most tantalising to know that Ehrenbreitstein was towering -opposite, invisible, and that such masses of picturesqueness must be all -around. Papa and I had supper in the _Speise-saal_, and then I gladly -sought my couch, in my sweet room which looked on the front, after a -very enjoyable day. - -“Most glorious of glorious days! The theory held so drearily by Messrs. -Blasé and Bore about the mist and rain of the Rhine is knocked on the -head. We were off to Bingen, to my regret, for it was hard to leave such -a place as Coblenz, although greater beauties awaited us further up, -perhaps, than we had yet seen. But I must begin with the morning and -record the glorious sight before us as we looked out of our windows. -Strong Ehrenbreitstein against the pearly, hot, morning sky, the -furrowed rock laid bare in many places, and precipitous, sun-tinted and -shadow-stained; the bright little town just opposite, the hill behind -thickly clothed in rich vines athwart which the sun shone deliciously. -The green of the river, too, was beautifully soft. After breakfast we -took that charming invention, an open carriage, and went up to the -Chartreuse, the proper thing to do, as this hill overlooks one of _the_ -views of the world. We went first through part of the town, by the large -and rather ugly King’s Palace, passing much picturesqueness. The women -have very pleasing headdresses about here of various patterns. Of -course, the place is full of soldiers and everything seems fortified. On -our ascent we passed great forts of immense strength, hard nuts for the -French to crack, if they ever have the wickedness (_sic_) to put their -pet notion of the Rhine being France’s boundary into execution. What a -view we had all the way up; to our left, the winding Rhine disappearing -in the distance into the gorge, its beautiful valley smiling below, and -the vine-clad hills rising on either side, with their exquisite -surfaces. Purple shadows, and golden vines, and walnut trees, that -contrast which so often has enchanted my eyes on the Genoese Riviera, -the Italian lakes, and my own dear Lake Leman, gladdened them once more. -And then the really clear sky (no factory chimneys here) and those -intense white clouds casting shadows on the hills of lovely purple. We -went across the wide plateau on the top, a magnificent exercise ground -for the soldiers, health itself, and then we beheld, winding below us in -its sweet valley and by two picturesque villages, the little Moselle, by -no means ‘blue,’ as the song says, but of a pinky brown and apparently -very shallow. We were at a great height, and having got out of the -carriage we stood on the very verge of a sheer precipice, at the -far-down base of which wound the high road. Sweet little Moselle! I was -so loth to leave that view behind. It really does seem such a shame to -say so little of it. The air up there was full of the scent of wild -thyme, and mountain flowers grew thick in that hot sun, and the short -mountain grass was brown. - -“We descended by another road and were taken right through the town to -the old Moselle bridge which crosses that river near its confluence with -the green Rhine. What turreted corners, what gable ends, what exquisite -David Roberts ‘bits’ at every turn! The bridge and its old gate were a -picture in themselves, and the view from the middle of the bridge of the -walls, the old buildings, church towers and spires, and boats and rafts -moored below, was the essence of the picturesque. Market women and -_pelotons_ of soldiers with glittering helmets and bayonets make -excellent foreground groups. How unlike nearly-deserted Bruges is this -busy, thronged city! Oxen are as much used about here as horses, and add -much to the artist’s joy. But I must hurry on; there is all the glorious -Rhine to Bingen to ascend. What a feast of beauty we have been partaking -of since leaving Failure Bonn! - -“Lots of people at 1 o’clock _table d’hôte_: staring Prooshan officers -in ‘wings’ and whiskers, more or less tightly clad, talking loud and -clattering their swords unnecessarily; swarms of English and a great -many honeymoon couples of all nations. It was very hot when we left to -dive into that glorious region we had seen from the Chartreuse. Those -were golden hours on board the _Lorelei_. But more ‘spoons’; more -English; more Ya-ing natives and small boys always in the way, and so we -paddled away from beautiful Coblenz, and very fine did the ‘Broadstone -of Honour’ look as we left it gradually behind. And now we began again -the castles and the villages, the former more numerous than below -stream. Happy Mr. Moriarty to possess such a castle as Lahneck; and then -the beautiful town below, and the gorgeous wooded steep hills and the -beautiful tints on the water. Golden walnut trees on the banks and old -church towers--such rich loveliness gliding by perpetually. The towns -are certainly half the battle; they add immensely to the scene. Rhense -was the oldest town we had yet seen, and the old dark walls are -crumbling down. Such bits of archways, such corner bits, such old -age-tinted roofs! I _must_ not pass over Marksburg, the most perfect old -castle on the Rhine, quite unaltered and not quite ruinous, as it is -garrisoned by a corps of Invalides. It therefore looks stronger and -grander than the others. Below the cone which it crowns nestled the -inevitable picturesque town (Braubach) upon the shore. - -“Soon after passing this beautiful part we rounded another old village -and church on our right, for the river takes a great bend here. Of -course, new beauties appeared ahead as we swept round, soft purple -mountains, one behind the other, and hillsides golden with vines and -walnut trees. And then we came to Boppart, in the midst of the gorge, -one of the most enchanting old walled towns we had yet seen, with a -large water-cure establishment above it upon the orchard slopes of the -hill. Then the old castle called ‘The Mouse’ drew our attention to the -left again, and then to the right appeared, after we had passed the twin -castles of Sternberg and Liebenstein, or the ‘Brothers,’ the magnificent -ruin of Rheinfels above the town of St. Goar in the shadow of the steep -hill. How splendidly those blasted arches come out against the sunny -sky! Then ‘The Cat’ appeared on our left, supposed to be watching ‘The -Mouse’ round the corner; then, with the last gleam of the sun upon it, -appeared the castle of ‘Schönberg’ after we had passed the Lorelei rock, -tunnelled through by the railway, and hills glowing in autumn tints. -Sunset colour began to add new charm to mountains, hills, and river. Two -guns were fired in this part of the gorge for the echo. It rolled away -like thunder very satisfactorily. Gutenfels on its rock was splendid in -the sunset, with the town of Caub at its feet, and the curious old tower -called the Pfalz in mid-stream, where poor Louis le Débonnaire came to -die. I can hardly individualise the towns and their over-looking castles -that followed. There was Bacharach, with its curious three-sided towers -and church of St. Werner; then more castles, getting dimmer and dimmer -in the deepening twilight. The last was swallowed up in the night.†- -I need not dwell on Bingen. I see us, happy wanderers, dropping down to -Boppart, to halt there for very fondly-remembered days at the water-cure -of “Marienberg,†which we made our habitation for want of an hotel. -Being there I did the “cure†for nothing in particular, but was none the -worse for it. At any rate it passed me as “sound†after the ordeal by -water. The ordeal was severe, and so was the Spartan food. To any one -who wasn’t going through the water ordeal the Spartan food ordeal -seemed impossible. But soon one got to like the whole thing and delight -in the freshness of that life in the warm sunny weather. We both -accepted the “Grape Cure†with unmixed feelings--2 lbs. each of grapes a -day; and even the cold, deep plate of sour milk (_dicke milch_), -sprinkled with brown breadcrumbs, and that _kraut_ preserve which so -dashed us at our first breakfast, became rather fascinating. We took our -pre-breakfast walk on four glasses of cold water, though, to _wet_ our -appetites. I see now, in memory, the swimming baths, with the blue water -rushing through them from the hills, and feel the exhilaration of the -six-in-the-morning plunge. Oh! _la jeunesse! La joie de vivre!_ - -They had dancing every Thursday evening in what was the great vaulted -refectory of the monks before that monastery was secularised. One gala -evening many people came in from outside. The young ladies were in -muslin frocks, which they, no doubt, had washed themselves, and the -ballroom was redolent of soap. The gentlemen went into the drawing-room -after each dance and combed their blond hair and beards at the -looking-glass over the mantelpiece, having brought brush and comb with -them. The next morning I was very elaborately saluted by a man in a -blouse, driving oxen, and I recognised in him one of my partners of the -evening before who had worn the correct _frac_ and white tie. What a -strange amalgamation of democracy and aristocracy we found in Germany! -The Diary tells of the music we had every evening till 10 o’clock and -“lights out.†My mother and one or two typical German musical -geniuses--women patients--kept the piano in constant request, and the -evenings were really very bright and the tone so homely and kind. -Kindness was the prevailing spirit which we noticed amongst the Germans -in those far-away days. How they complimented us all on our halting -German; how the women admired our frocks, especially the buttons! I hope -they didn’t expect us to go into equal ecstasies over their own -costumes. We sang and were in great voice, perhaps on account of the -“plunge baths,†or was it the “sour milkâ€? - -A big Saxon cavalry officer who was doing the cure for a kick from a -horse and, being in mufti, had put off his “jack-boot†manners, was full -of enthusiasm about our voices. He expressed himself in graceful -pantomime after each of my songs by pointing to his ear and running his -finger down to his heart, for he spoke neither English nor French, and -worshipfully paid homage to Mamma’s pianoforte playing. She played -indeed superbly. He was a big man. We called him “the Athlete.†We had -nicknames for all the patients. There was “the _Sauer-kraut_,†there was -the “Flighty,†the funniest little shrivelled creature, a truly -wonderful musical genius, who, having heard me practising one morning, -flew to Mamma, telling her she had heard me go up to _Si_ and that I -must make my name as a _prima donna_--no less. That Mendelssohn had -proposed to her was a treasured memory. Her mother, with true German -pride of birth, forbade the union. There was a very great dame doing the -cure, the “_Incog_,†who confided her card to Mamma with an Imperial -embrace before leaving, which revealed her as Marie, Prinzessin zu -Hohenzollern Hechingen. Then there was a most interesting and ugly -duellist, who a short time previously had killed a prince. His wife wore -blue spectacles, having cried herself blind over the regrettable -incident. And so on, and so on. - -The vintage began, and we visited many a vineyard on both banks of the -rapid, eddying river, watching the peasants at their wholesome work in -the mellowing sunlight. Whenever we bought grapes of these pleasant -people, they insisted on giving us extra bunches _gratis_ in that -old-fashioned way so prevalent in Italy. I record in the Diary one -classic-looking youth, with the sunset gold behind his serious, handsome -face, bent slightly over the vine he was picking, on the hillside where -we sat. He seemed the personification of the sanctity of labour. All -this sounds very sentimental to us war-weary ones of the twentieth -century, but we need refreshment in the pleasures of memory; memory of -more secure times. The Diary says:-- - -“When we left Boppart, Mamma and we two girls were half hidden in -bouquets, and our Marienberg friends clustered at the railway carriage -door and on the step--the ‘_Sauer-kraut_,’ the ‘Flighty,’ the ‘Athlete’ -and all, and, as we started, the salutations were repeated for the -twentieth time, the ‘Athlete’ taking a long sniff of my bouquet, then -quickly blocking his nose hard to keep the scent in, after going through -the pantomime of the ear, the finger, and the heart. As Papa said, ‘One -gets quite reconciled to the two-legged creature when meeting such -people as these.’ Good-bye, lovely Boppart, of ever sweet -recollections!†- -We tarried at Cologne on our way to England. I see, together with -admiring and elaborate descriptions of the cathedral, a note on the -kindly manners of the Germans, so curiously at variance with the -impression left on the present generation by the episodes of the late -war. At the _table d’hôte_ one evening the two guests who happened to -sit opposite our parents, on opening their champagne at dessert, first -insisted on filling the two glasses of their English _vis-à -vis_ before -proceeding to fill their own. German manners then! The military class -kept, however, very much aloof, and were very irritating to us with -their wilfully offensive attitude. That unfortunate spirit had already -taken a further step forward after the conquest of Schleswig-Holstein, -and was to go further still after the knock-down blow to Austria; then -in 1870 comes more arrogance, and so on to its own undoing in our time. - -“_Aix la Chapelle._--Good-bye, Cologne, ever to remain bright by the -remembrance of its cathedral and that museum containing pictures which -have so inspired my mind. And so good-bye, dear, familiar Rhine; not the -Rhine of the hurried tourist and his John Murray Red Book, but the -glorious river about whose banks we have so often wandered at our -leisure. - -“And now ‘_Vorwärts_, _marsch_!’ Northwards, to the Land of Roast Beef -plus Rinderpest.[1] But first, Aachen. Ineffable poetry surrounds this -evening of our arrival, for from the three churches which stand out -sharp against the bright moonlight sky in front of the hotel there peal -forth many mellow bells, filling my mind with that sort of sadness so -familiar to me. This is All Hallows’ Eve. - -“_November 1st._--We saw the magnificent frescoes in the long, low, -arched hall of the Rathhaus, which is being magnificently restored, as -is the case with all the fine things of the Prussia we have seen. We -only just skimmed these great works of art, for the horses were waiting -in the pelting rain.... The first four frescoes we saw were by Rethel, -the first representing the finding of the body of Charlemagne sitting in -his tomb on his throne, crowned and robed, holding the ball and sceptre; -a very impressive subject, treated with all its requisite poetry and -feeling. The next fresco represents in a forcible manner Charlemagne -ordering a Saxon idol to be broken; the third is a superb episode from -the Battle of Cordova, where Charlemagne is wresting the standard from -the Infidel. The horses are all blindfolded, not to be frightened by the -masks which the enemy had prepared to frighten them with. The great -white bulls which draw the chariot are magnificently conceived. The -fourth fresco represents the entry of the great emperor--whose face, by -the by, lends itself well to the grand style of art--into Pavia; a -superb composition, as, indeed, they all are. After painting this the -artist lost his senses. No doubt such efforts as these may have caused -his mind to fail at last. He had supplied the compositions for the other -four frescoes which Kehren has painted, without the genius of the -originator. We were shown the narrow little old stone staircase up which -all those many German emperors came to the hall. I could almost fancy I -saw an emperor’s head coming bobbing up round the bend, and a figure in -Imperial purple appear. Strange that such a steep little winding -staircase should be the only approach to such a splendid hall. The new -staircase, up which a different sort of monarch from the old German -emperors came a few days ago, in tight blue and silver uniform, is -indeed in keeping with the hall, and should have been trodden by the -emperors, whereas this old cad of a king[2] (_sic_) would get his due -were he to descend the little old worn stair head foremost.†- -At Brussels my entry runs: “_November 3rd._--My birthday. I feel too -much buoyed up with the promise of doing something this year to feel as -wretched as I might have felt at the thought of my precious ‘teens -dribbling away. Never say die; never, never, never! This birthday is -ever to be marked by our visit to Waterloo, which has impressed me so -deeply. The day was most enjoyable, but what an inexpressibly sad -feeling was mixed with my pleasure; what thoughts came crowding into my -mind on that awful field, smiling in the sunshine, and how, even now, my -whole mind is overshadowed with sadness as I think of those slaughtered -legions, dead half a century ago, lying in heaps of mouldering bones -under that undulating plain. We had not driven far out of Brussels when -a fine old man with a long white beard, and having a stout stick for -scarcely-needed support, and from whose waistcoat dangled a blue and red -ribbon with a silver medal attached bearing the words ‘Wellington’ and -‘Waterloo,’ stopped the carriage and asked whether we were not going to -the Field and offering his services as guide, which we readily accepted, -and he mounted the box. This was Sergeant-Major Mundy of the 7th -Hussars, who was twenty-seven when he fought on that memorable 18th -June, 1815. In time we got into the old road, that road which the -British trod on their way to Quatre Bras, ten miles beyond Waterloo, on -the 16th. We passed the forest of Soignies, which is fast being cleared, -and at no very distant period, I suppose, merely the name will remain. -What a road was this, bearing a history of thousands of sad incidents! -We visited the church at Waterloo where are the many tablets on the -walls to the memory of British officers and men who died in the great -fight. Touching inscriptions are on them. An old woman of eighty-eight -told us that she had tended the wounded after the battle. Is it -possible! There she was, she who at thirty-eight had beheld those men -just half a century ago! It was overpowering to my young mind. The old -lady seems steadier than the serjeant-major, eleven years her junior, -and wears a brown wig. Thanks to the old sergeant, we had no bothering -vendors of ‘relics.’ He says they have sold enough bullets to supply a -dozen battles. - -“We then resumed our way, now upon more historic ground than ever, the -field of the battle proper. The Lion Mound soon appeared, that much -abused monument. Certainly, as a monument to mark where the Prince of -Orange was wounded in the left shoulder it is much to be censured, -particularly with that Belgian lion on the top with its paw on Belgium, -looking defiance towards France, whose soldiers, as the truthful old -sergeant expressed himself, ‘could any day, before breakfast, come and -make short work of the Belgians’ (_sic_). But I look upon this pyramid -as marking the field of the fifteenth decisive battle of the world. In a -hundred years the original field may have been changed or built upon, -and then the mound will be more useful than ever as marking the centre -of the battlefield that was. To make it much ground has been cut away -and the surface of one part of the field materially lowered. On being -shown the plan for this ‘Lion Mound,’ Wellington exclaimed, ‘Well, if -they make it, I shall never come here again,’ or something to that -effect, and, as old Mundy said, ‘the Duke was not one to break his word, -and he never did come again.’ Do you know that, Sir Edwin Landseer, who -have it in the background of your picture of Wellington revisiting the -field? We drove up to the little Hotel du Musée, kept by the sergeant’s -daughter, a dejected sort of person with a glib tongue and herself -rather grey. We just looked over Sergeant Cotton’s museum, a collection -of the most pathetic old shakos and casques and blundering muskets, with -pans and flints, belonging to friend and foe; rusty bullets and cannon -balls, mouldering bits of accoutrements of men and horses, evil-smelling -bits of uniforms and even hair, under glass cases; skulls perforated -with balls, leg and arm bones in a heap in a wooden box; extracts from -newspapers of that sensational time, most interesting; rusty swords and -breastplates; medals and crosses, etc., etc., a dismal collection of -relics of the dead and gone. Those mouldy relics! Let us get out into -the sunshine. Not until, however, the positive old soldier had -marshalled us around him and explained to us, map in hand, the ground -and the leading features of the battle he was going to show us. - -“We then went, first, a short way up the mound, and the old warrior in -our midst began his most interesting talk, full of stirring and touching -anecdotes. What a story was that he was telling us, with the scenes of -that story before our eyes! I, all eagerness to learn from the lips of -one who took part in the fight, the story of that great victory of my -country, was always throughout that long day by the side of the old -hussar, and drank in the stirring narrative with avidity. There lay -before us the farm of La Haie Sainte--‘lerhigh saint’ as he called -it--restored to what it was before the battle, where the gallant Germans -held out so bravely, fighting only with the bayonet, for when they came -to load their firearms, oh, horror! the ammunition was found to be too -large for the muskets, and was, therefore, useless. There the great Life -Guard charge took place, there is the grave of the mighty Shaw, and on -the skyline the several hedges and knolls that mark this and that, and -where Napoleon took up his first position. And there lies La Belle -Alliance where Wellington and Blücher did _not_ meet--oh, Mr. -Maclise!--and a hundred other landmarks, all pointed out by the notched -stick of old Mundy. The stories attached to them were all clearly -related to us. After standing a long time on the mound until the man of -discipline had quite done his regulation story, with its stirring and -amusing touches and its minute details, we descended and set off on our -way to Hougoumont. What a walk was that! On that space raged most of the -battle; it was a walk through ghosts with agonised faces and distorted -bodies, crying noiselessly. - -“Our guide stopped us very often as we reached certain spots of leading -interest, one of them--the most important of all--being the place where -the last fearful tussle was made and the Old Guard broke and ran. There -was the field, planted with turnips, where our Guards lay down, and I -could not believe that the seemingly insignificant little bank of the -road, which sloped down to it, could have served to hide all those men -until I went down and stooped, and then I understood, for only just the -blades of the grass near me could I see against the sky. Our Guards -must indeed have seemed to start out of the ground to the bewildered -French, who were, by the by, just then deploying. That dreadful V formed -by our soldiers, with its two sides and point pouring in volley after -volley into the deploying Imperial Guard, must have indeed been a -‘staggerer,’ and so Napoleon’s best soldiers turned tail, yelling -‘_Sauve qui peut!_’ and ran down that now peaceful undulation on the -other side of the road. - -“Many another spot with its grim story attached did I gaze at, and my -thoughts became more and more overpowering. And there stood a survivor -before us, relating this tale of a battle which, to me, seems to belong -to the olden time. But what made the deepest impression on my mind was -the sergeant’s pointing out to us the place where he lay all night after -the battle, wounded, ‘just a few yards from that hedge, there.’ I repeat -this to myself often, and always wonder. We then left that historic -rutted road and, following a little path, soon came, after many more -stoppages, to the outer orchard of Hougoumont. Victor Hugo’s thoughts -upon this awful place came crowding into my mind also. Yet the place did -look so sweet and happy: the sun shining on the rich, velvety grass, -chequered with the shade of the bare apple trees, and the contented cows -grazing on the grass which, on the fearful day fifty years ago, was not -_green_ between the heaps of dead and dying wretches. - -“Ah! the wall with the loopholes. I knew all about it and hastened to -look at it. Again all the wonderful stratagems and deeds of valour, -etc., etc., were related, and I have learnt the importance, not only of -a little hedge, but of the slightest depression on a battlefield. -Riddled with shot is this old brick wall and the walls of the farm, too. -Oh! this place of slaughter, of burning, of burying alive, this place of -concentrated horror! It was there that I most felt the sickening terror -of war, and that I looked upon it from the dark side, a thing I have -seldom had so strong an impulse to do before. The farm is peaceful again -and the pigs and poultry grunt and cluck amongst the straw, but there -are ruins inside. There’s the door so bravely defended by that British -officer and sergeant, hanging on its hinges; there’s the well which -served as a grave for living as well as dead, where Sergeant Mundy was -the last to fill his canteen; and there’s the little chapel which served -as an oven to roast a lot of poor fellows who were pent up there by the -fire raging outside. We went into the terror-fraught inner orchard, -heard more interesting and saddening talk from the old soldier who says -there is nothing so nice as fighting one’s battles over again, and then -we went out and returned to the inn and dined. After that we streamed -after our mentor to the Charleroi road, just to glance at the left part -of the field which the sergeant said he always liked going over the -best. ‘Oh!’ he said, looking lovingly at his pet, ‘this was the -strongest position, except Hougoumont.’ It was in this region that -Wellington was moved to tears at the loss of so many of his friends as -he rode off the field. Papa told me his memorable words on that -occasion: ‘A defeat is the only thing sadder than a victory.’ What a -scene of carnage it was! We looked at poor Gordon’s monument and then -got into our carriage and left that great, immortal place, with the sun -shedding its last gleams upon it. I feel virtuous in having written this -much, seeing what I have done since. We drove back, in the clear night, -I a wiser and a sadder girl.†- -About this same Battle of Waterloo. Before the Great War it always -loomed large to me, as it were from the very summit of military history, -indeed of all history. During the terrible years of the late War I -thought my Waterloo would diminish in grandeur by comparison, and that -the awful glamour so peculiar to it would be obliterated in the fumes of -a later terror. But no, there it remains, that lurid glamour glows -around it as before, and for the writer and for the painter its colour, -its great form, its deep tones, remain. We see through its blood-red -veil of smoke Napoleon fall. There never will be a fall like that again: -it is he who makes Waterloo colossal. - - - - -CHAPTER IV - -IN THE ART SCHOOLS - - -After tarrying in Brussels, doing the galleries thoroughly, we went to -Dover. I had been anything but in love with the exuberant Rubenses -gathered together in one surfeited room, but imbibed enthusiastic -stimulus from some of the moderns. I write: “Oh! that I had time to tell -of my admiration of Ambroise Thomas’ ‘Judas Iscariot,’ of Charles -Verlat’s wonderful ‘Siege of Jerusalem by Godfrey of Bouillon,’ with its -strikingly terrible incidents, given with wonderful vividness, so free -from coarseness; of Tshaggeny’s ‘Malle Poste,’ with its capital horses. -There was not much study to be done in the time, but enthusiasm to be -caught, and I caught it.†- -At Dover I find myself saying: “Still at my drawing of the soldiers -working at the new fort on the cliff, just outside the castle, which -forms the background of the scene. I am sending it to the _Illustrated -London News_.†Then, a few days later: “Woe is me! my drawing is -returned with the usual apologies. Well, never mind, the world will hear -of me yet.†And there, above my “diminished head,†right over No. 2, -Sydney Villas, our temporary resting-place, stood that very castle, -biding its time when it should receive me as its official _châtelaine_, -and all through that art which I was so bent on. - -At Brompton I said “good-bye†to a year to me very bright and full of -adventure; a year rich in changes, full of varied scenes and emotions. -I say: “Enter, 1866, bearing for me happy promise for my future, for -to-day I had the interview with Mr. Burchett, the Headmaster of the -South Kensington School of Art, and everything proved satisfactory and -sunny. First, Papa and I trotted off to Mr. Burchett’s office and saw -him, a bearded, velvet-skull-capped and cold-searching-eyed man. After a -little talk, we galloped off home, packed the drawings and the oil, -then, Mamma with us, we returned, and came into The Presence once more. -The office being at the end of the passage of the male schools, I could -see, and envy, the students going about. So the drawings were -scrutinised by _that Eye_, and I must say I never expected things to go -so well. Of course, this austere, rigid master is not one to say much, -but, on the contrary, to dwell upon the shortcomings and weaknesses; to -have no pity. He looked longer at my soldiers at work at Dover Castle -and some hands that I had done yesterday, saying they showed much -feeling. He said he did not know whether I only wished to make my -studies superficial, but strongly advised me to become an artist. I -scarcely needed such advice, I think, but it was very gratifying. I told -him I wished for severe study, and that I did _not_ wish to begin at the -wrong end. We were a long time talking, and he was very kind, and told -me off to the Life School after preliminary work in the Antique. I join -to-morrow. I now really feel as though fairly launched. Ah! they shall -hear of me some day. But, believe me, my ambition is of the right sort. - -“_January 2nd._--A very pleasant day for me. At ten marched off, with -board, paper, chalk, etc., etc., to the schools, and signed my name and -went through all the rest of the formalities, and was put to do a huge -eye in chalk. I felt very raw indeed, never having drawn from a cast -before. Everything was strange to me. I worked away until twenty minutes -to two, when I sped home to have my lunch. Five hours’ work would be too -long were I not to break the time by this charming spin home and back in -the open air, which makes me set to work again with redoubled energy and -spirits sky-high. A man comes round at a certain time to the rooms to -see by the thermometer whether the temperature is according to rule, -which is a very excellent precaution; 65° seems to be the fixed degree. -Of course, I did not make any friends to-day; besides, we sit far apart, -on our own hooks, and not on forms. Much twining about of arms and -_darling-ing_, etc., went on, however, but we all seem to work here so -much more in earnest than over those dreary scrolls in the Elementary. -One girl in our room was a capital hit, short hair brushed back from a -clever forehead and a double eyeglass on an out-thrust nose. Then there -is a dear little pale girl, with a pretty head and large eyes, who is -struggling with that tremendous ‘Fighting Gladiator.’ She and he make a -charming _motif_ for a sketch. But I am too intent on my work to notice -much. The skeleton behind me seems, with outstretched arm, to encourage -me in my work, and smiles (we won’t say _grins_) upon me, whilst behind -him--it?--the _écorché_ man seems to be digging his grave, for he is in -the attitude of using a spade. But enough for to-day. I was very much -excited all day afterwards. And no wonder, seeing that my prayer for a -beginning of my real study has now been granted and that I am at length -on the high road. Oh, joy, joy! - -“_January 15th._--Did very well at the schools. Upon my word, I am -getting on very smoothly. I peeped into the Life room for the first time -whilst work was going on, and beheld a splendid halberdier standing -above the girls’ heads and looking very uncomfortable. He had a steel -headpiece and his hands were crossed upon the hilt of his sword in -front, and his face, excessively picturesque with its grizzly moustache, -was a tantalising sight for me! - -“_January 16th._--Oh, how I am getting on! I can’t bear to look at my -old things. Was much encouraged by Mr. Burchett, who talked to me a good -deal, the mistress standing deferentially and smilingly by. He said, -‘Ah! you seem to get over your difficulties very well,’ and said with -what immense satisfaction I shall look back upon this work I’m doing. -Altogether it was very encouraging, and he said this last thing of mine -was excellent. He remarked that my early education in those matters had -been neglected, but I console myself with the thought that I have not -wasted my time so utterly, for all the travel I have had all my life has -put crowds of ideas into my head, and now I am learning how to bring -those ideas to good account. - -“_January 24th._--I shall soon have done the big head and shall soon -reach a full-length statue, and I shall go in for anatomy rather than -give so much time to this shading which the students waste so much time -over. I don’t believe in carrying it so far. The little pale girl I -like, on the completion of her gladiator, has been promoted to the Life -class. A girl made friends with me, a big grenadier of a girl, who says -she wants to know ‘all about the joints and muscles’ and seems a -‘thoroughgoer’ like myself.†- -This is how I write of dear Miss Vyvyan, a fine, rosy specimen of a -well-bred English girl, who became one of my dearest fellow -students--and drew well. In writing of me after I had come out in the -art world, she records this meeting in words all the more deserving of -remembrance for being those of a voice that is still. Of my other -fellow-students the Diary will have more to say, left to its own -diction. - -“_February 13th._--It is very pleasant at the schools--oh, charming! In -coming home at the end of my work I fell in with Mr. Lane, my friend in -the truest sense of the word. He was coming over to us. His first -inquiry was about me and my work. He was very much disappointed that I -was not in the Life class, fully expecting that I should be there, -seeing how highly Mr. Burchett twice spoke of my drawings to Mr. Lane, -and that I was quite ready for the Life. But, of course, Mr. B. is -desirous of putting me as much through the regular course as possible. -Mr. Lane shares Millais’ opinion that ‘the antique is all very well, but -that there is nothing like the living model, and that they are too fond -of black and white at the Museum.’ I was enrolled as a member of the -Sketching Club this morning, and have only a week to do ‘On the Watch’ -in, the title they have given us to illustrate. _Only_ a week, Mimi? -That’s an age to do a sketch in! Ah! yes, my dear, but I shall have five -hours in the schools every day except Saturdays. I have chosen for -subject a freebooter in a morion and cloak upon a bony horse, watching -the plain below him as night comes on, with his blunderbus ready -cocked. Wind is blowing, and makes the horse’s mane and tail to stream -out.†- -There follow pages and pages describing the daily doings at the schools: -the commotion amongst girls at the drawings I used to bring to show them -of battle scenes; the Sketching Club competitions, and all the work and -the play of an art school. At last I was promoted to the Life class. - -“_March 19th._--Oh, joyous day! oh, white! oh, snowy Monday! or should I -say _golden_ Monday? I entered the Life this joyous morn, and, what’s -more, acquitted myself there not only to my satisfaction (for how could -I be satisfied if the masters weren’t?), but to Mr. Denby’s and the oil -master’s _par excellence_, Mr. Collinson’s. I own I was rather -diffident, feeling such a greenhorn in that room, but I may joyfully say -‘So far, so good,’ and do my very best of bests, and I can’t fail to -progress. How willingly I would write down all the pleasant incidents -that occur every day, and those, above all, of to-day, which make this -delightful student life I am leading so bright and happy and amusing. -However, I shall write down all that my spare moments will allow me. -Little ‘Pale Face’ took me in hand and got me a nice position quite near -the sitter, as I am only to do his head. There was a good deal of -struggling as the number of girls increased, and late comers tried -amicably to badger me out of my good position. We waited more than half -an hour for the sitter, and beguiled the time as we are wont. Three -semi-circles surround the sitter and his platform. The inner and smaller -circle is for us who do his head only, and is formed by desks and low -chairs; the next is formed by small fixed easels, and the outer one by -the loose-easel brigade, so there are lots of us at work. At length the -martyr issued from the curtained closet where Messrs. Burchett, Denby -and Collinson had been helping the unhappy victim to make a lobster of -his upper self with heavy plates of armour. He became sadly modern below -the waist, for his nether part was not wanted. To see Mr. Denby pinning -on the man’s refractory Puritan starched collar was rich. The model is a -small man, perfectly clean shaven with a most picturesque face; quite a -study. Very finely-chiselled mouth, with thin lips and well-marked chin -and jaw. The poor fellow was dreadfully nervous. He was posed standing, -morion on head, with a book in one hand, the other raised as though he -were discoursing to some fellow soldiers--may-be Covenanters--in a camp. -I never saw a man in such agony as he evinced, his nervousness seeming -at times to overpower him, and the weight of the armour and of the huge -morion (too big for him) told upon him in a painfully evident manner. He -was, consequently, allowed frequent rests, when down his trembling arm -would clatter and the instrument of torture on his heated forehead come -down with a great thump on the table. Mr. Denby was much pleased with my -drawing in, and Mr. Collinson commended my carefulness. This pleases me -more than anything else, for I know that carefulness is the most -essential quality in a student. - -“_March 27th._--Mr. Burchett showed me how to proceed with the finishing -of the face. He liked the way I had done the morion, which astonished -me, as I had done it all unaided. I am now a friend of more girls than I -can individualise, and they seem all to like me. ‘Little Pale Face’ is -very charming with me indeed. One girl told me a dream she had had of -me, and Mrs. C., wife of the _Athenæum_ art critic, clapped me on the -back very cordially.†- -I give these extracts just to launch the Memoirs into that student life -which was of such importance to me. Till the Easter vacation I did all I -could to retrieve what I considered a good deal of leeway in my art -training. There were Sketching Club competitions of intense effort on my -part, and how joyful I felt at such events as my illustrations to -Thackeray’s “Newcomes†coming through marked “Best†by the judges. - -“_May 9th._--_Veni_, _vidi_, _vici_! My re-entry into the schools after -the vacation has been a triumphal one, for my ‘Newcomes’ have been -returned ‘The Best.’ The girls were so glad to see me back. I have -chosen, as there is not to be a model till next Monday week, a beautiful -headpiece of elaborate design on whose surface the red drapery near it -is reflected. Some time after lunch Mrs. C. came running to me from the -Antique triumphantly waving a bunch of lilac above her head and crying -out that my ‘Newcomes’ had won! I jumped up, overjoyed, and went to see -the sketches, around which a crowd of students was buzzing. Mr. Denby, -who couldn’t help knowing whose the ‘Best’ were, gave me a nod of -approbation. I was very happy. Returning to Fulham, I told the glad -tidings to Papa, Mamma, Grandpapa and Grandmamma as they each came in. -So this has been a charming day indeed.†- -Page after page, closely written, describes the student life, than which -there cannot be a happier one for a boy or girl; thorough searchings -through the Royal Academy rooms for everything I could find for -instruction, admiration and criticism. I joined a class in Bolsover -Street for the study of the “undraped†female model, and worked very -hard there on alternate days. This necessitated long omnibus rides to -that dismal locality, but I always managed to post myself near the -omnibus door, so as to study the horses in motion in the crowded streets -from that coign of vantage. I also joined a painting class in Conduit -Street, but that venture was not a success. I went in about the same -time for very thorough artistic anatomy at the schools. I gave sketches -to nearly all my fellow students--fights round standards, cavalry -charges, thundering guns. I wonder where they are all now! I had always -had a great liking for the representation of movement, but at the same -time a deep well of melancholy existed in my nature, and caused me to -draw from its depths some very sad subjects for my sketches and plans -for future pictures. How strange it seems that I should have been so -impregnated, if I may use the word, with the warrior spirit in art, -seeing that we had had no soldiers in either my father’s or mother’s -family! My father had a deep admiration for the great captains of war, -but my mother detested war, though respecting deeply the heroism of the -soldier. Though she and I had much in common, yet, as regards the -military idea, we were somewhat far asunder; my dear and devoted mother -wished to see me lean towards other phases of art as well, especially -the religious phase, and my Italian studies in days to come very much -inclined me to sacred subjects. But as time went on circumstances -conducted me to the _genre militaire_, and there I have remained, as -regards my principal oil paintings, with few exceptions. My own reading -of war--that mysteriously inevitable recurrence throughout the -sorrowful history of our world--is that it calls forth the noblest and -the basest impulses of human nature. The painter should be careful to -keep himself at a distance, lest the ignoble and vile details under his -eyes should blind him irretrievably to the noble things that rise -beyond. To see the mountain tops we must not approach the base, where -the foot-hills mask the summits. Wellington’s answer to enthusiastic -artists and writers seeking information concerning the details of his -crowning victory was full of meaning: “The best thing you can do for the -Battle of Waterloo is to leave it alone.†He had passed along the -dreadful foot-hills which blocked his vision of the Alps. - -I worked hard at the schools and in the country throughout 1867, and, -with many ups and downs, progressed in the Life class. My fellow -students were a great delight to me, so enthusiastically did they watch -my progress and foretell great things for me. We formed a little club of -four or five students--kindred spirits--for mutual help and all sorts of -good deeds, the badge being a red cross and the motto “Thorough.†I -remember a money-box into which we were, by the rules, to drop what -coins we could spare for the Poor. We were to read a chapter of the New -Testament every day, and a chapter of Thomas à Kempis, and all our works -were to be signed with the red cross and the club monogram. Seeing this -little sign in the corner of “The Roll Call†over my name set one of -those absurd stories circulating in the Press with which the public was -amused in 1874, namely, that I had been a Red Cross nurse in the Crimea. -As a counterpoise to this more “copy†was obtained for the papers by -paragraphs representing me as an infant prodigy, which I thank my stars -I was _not_! - -One day in this year 1867 I had, with great trepidation, asked Mr. -Burchett to accept two pen and ink illustrations I had made to Morris’s -poem, “Riding together.†Great commotion amongst the students. Some -preferred the drawing for the gay and happy first verse: - - Our spears stood bright and thick together, - Straight out the banners streamed behind, - As we galloped on in the sunny weather, - With our faces turned towards the wind. - -and others the tragic sequel: - - They bound my blood-stained hands together, - They bound his corpse to nod by my side, - Then on we rode in the bright March weather, - With clash of cymbal did we ride. - -The Diary says: “Mr. Burchett, surrounded by my dear fellow red crosses, -Va., B., and Vy., talked about the drawings in a way which pleased me -very much. When he was gone, Va. and B. disappeared and soon reappeared, -Va. with a crown of leaves to crown me with and B. with a comb and some -paper on which to play ‘See the Conquering Hero comes’ whilst Va. and -Vy. should carry me along the great corridor in a dandy chair. They had -great trouble to crown me, and then to get me to mount. It was a most -uncomfortable triumphal progress, Vy. being nearly six foot and Va. -rather short. They just put me down in time, for, had we gone an inch -further on, we should have confronted Miss Truelock,[3] who swooped -round the corner. I cannot describe the homage these three pay me, Va.’s -in particular--Vy.’s is measured, and not humble like Va.’s or -radiantly enthusiastic like B.’s. I am glad that I stand proof against -all this, but it is hard to do so, as I know it is so thoroughly -sincere, and that they say even more out of my hearing than to my face.†- -The Sultan Abdul Aziz and the Khedive Ismail paid a visit to London that -year. We were in the midst of the festivities; and such church-bell -ringing, fireworks, musical uproar, especially at the Crystal Palace, -where the “Hallelujah,†“Moses in Egypt,†and other Biblical choruses -vied with the cheering of the crowds in expressions of exultation, -seldom had London known. This fills pages and pages of the Diary. As we -looked on from Willis and Sotheran’s shop window, out of which all the -books had been cleared for us, in Trafalgar Square, at the arrival of -the “Father of the Faithful,†it seemed a strange thing for the bells of -our churches to be pealing forth their joyous welcome. But how vain all -these political doings appear as time goes by! What sort of reception -would we give the present Sultan I wonder? We have even _abolished_ -Khedives. Much more reasonable and sane was the mob’s welcome to the -Belgian volunteers, who were also England’s guests that year. We English -were very courteous to the Belgians. Papa took us to the great Belgian -ball, where we appeared wearing red, black, and yellow sashes. He -offered to hold a Belgian officer’s sword for him while he (the Belgian) -waltzed me round the hall. A silver medal was struck to commemorate this -visit, and every Belgian was presented with this decoration. On it were -engraved the words “_Vive La Belge_.†No one could tell who the lady -was. - -This year saw my meek beginning in the showing of an oil picture -(“Horses in Sunshineâ€) at the Women Artists’ Exhibition, and then -followed a water colour, “Bavarian Artillery going into Action,†at the -Dudley Gallery--that delightful gallery which is now no more and which -_The Times_ designated the “nursery of young reputations.†I continued -exhibiting water colours and black-and-whites for some years there. I -had the rare sensation of walking on air when my father, meeting me on -parting with Tom Taylor, the critic of _The Times_, told me the latter -had just come from the Dudley’s press view and seen my “Bavarian -Artillery†on its walls. I had begun! - -In the latter part of this year’s work at South Kensington Mr. Burchett -stirred us up by giving us “time†and “memory†drawing to do from the -antique, and many things which required quickness, imagination and -concentration, all of which suited me well. Charcoal studies on tinted -paper delighted me. I was always at home in such things. We often had -“time†drawings to do on very rough paper, using charcoal with the hog’s -hair paint brush. What a good change from the dawdling chalk work -formerly in vogue when I joined. I had by this time painted my way in -oils through many models, male and female, with all the ups and downs -recorded elaborately, the encouragements and depressions, and the happy, -though slow, progress in the management of the brush. I had won a medal -for two life-size female heads in oils, and through all the ups and -downs the devotion of my dear “Red Cross†fellow students never -fluctuated. - -The year 1868 saw me steadily working away at the Schools and doing a -great many drawings for sketching clubs and various competitions during -this period, till we were off once more to Italy in October. On March -19th of that year I wrote in the Diary: “Ruskin has invited himself to -tea here on Monday!!!†Then: “Memorable Monday. On thee I was introduced -to Ruskin! Punctually at six came the great man. If I had been disposed -to be nervous with him, his cold formal bow and closing of the eyes, his -somewhat supercilious under-lip and sensitive nostrils would not have -put me at my ease. But, fortunately, I felt quite normal--unlike Mamma -and Alice, the latter of whom had reason for quaking, seeing that one of -her young poems, sent him by a friend, had been scanned by that eye and -pondered by that greatest of living minds. - -“He sat talking a little, not commonplaces at all; on the contrary, he -immediately began on great topics, Mamma and he coinciding all through, -particularly on the subject of modern ugliness, railways, factory -chimneys, backs of English houses, sash windows, etc., etc. Then he -directed his talk to me, and we sat talking together about art, of -course, and I showed him two life studies, which he expressed himself as -exceedingly pleased with in a very emphatic manner. But here we went -down to tea. After tea I showed him my imaginative drawings, which he -criticised a good deal. He said there was no reason why I should not -become a great artist (!), that I was ‘destined to do great things.’ But -he remarked, after this too kindly beginning, that it was evident I had -not studied enough from nature in those drawings, the light and shade -being incorrect and the relations of tones, etc., etc. He told me to -beware of sensational subjects, as yet, _à propos_ of the Lancelot and -Guinevere drawing; that such were dangerous, leading me to think I had -quite succeeded by virtue of the strength of my subject and to overlook -the consideration of minor points. He said, ‘Do fewer of these things, -but what you do _do right_ and never mind the subject.’ I did not like -that; my great idea is that an artist should choose a worthy subject and -concentrate his attention on the chief point. But Ruskin is a lover of -landscape art and loves to see every blade of grass in a foreground -lovingly dwelt upon. I cannot write down all he said as he and I leant -over the piano where my drawings were. But it was with my artillery -water colour, ‘The Crest of the Hill,’ that he was most pleased. He -knelt down before it where it hung low down and held a candle before it -the better to see it, and exclaimed ‘Wonderful!’ two or three times, and -said it had ‘immense power.’ Thank you, Dudley Gallery, for not hanging -it where Ruskin would never have seen it! - -“He listened to Mamma’s playing and Alice’s singing of Mamma’s ‘Ave -Maria’ with perfectly absorbed attention, and seemed to enjoy the lovely -sounds. He had many kind things to say to Alice about her poem, saying -that he knew she was forced to write it; but was she always obliged to -write so sadly? Then he spied out Mamma’s pictures, and insisted on -seeing lots of her water colours, which I know he must have enjoyed more -than my imaginative things, seeing with what humble lovingness Mamma -paints her landscapes. In fact, we showed him our paces all the evening. -Papa says he (P.) was like the circus man, standing in the middle with -the long whip, touching us up as we were trotted out before the great -man. He seems, by the by, to have a great contempt for the modern French -school, as I expected.†- -Daily records follow of steady work, much more to the purpose than in -the humdrum old days. Mr. Burchett continued the new system with -increasing energy. He seemed to have taken it up in our Life class with -real pleasure latterly. In July the session ended, and I was not to -re-enter the schools till after my Italian art training had brought me a -long way forward. - - - - -CHAPTER V - -STUDY IN FLORENCE - - -Italy once more! Again the old palazzo at Albaro and the old friends -surrounding us! My work never relaxed, for I set up a little studio and -went in for life-size heads, and got more and more facility with the -brush. The kindly peasants let me paint them, and I victimised my -obliging friends and had professional models out from Genoa. That was a -very greatly enjoyed autumn, winter and spring, and the gaieties of the -English Colony, the private theatricals, the concerts at Villa -Novello--all those things did me good. The childish carnival revels had -still power over me--yea, _more_--though I _was_ grown up, and, to tell -the truth, I got all the fun out of them that was possible within -bounds. “The Red Cross Sketch Book,†which I filled with illustrations -of our journey out and of life at Genoa, I dedicated to the club and -sent to them when we left for Florence. - -We found Genoa just as we had left it, still the brilliantly picturesque -city of the sea, its populace brightly clad in their Ligurian national -dress, the women still wearing the pezzotto, and the men the red cap I -loved; the port all delightful with oriental character, its shouting -muleteers and _facchini_, its fruit and flower sellers in the narrow -streets and entrances to the palaces--all the old local colour. Alas! I -was there only the other day, and found all the local charm had -gone--modernised away! - -When we left Genoa in April my father tried to get a _vetturino_ to take -us as far as Pisa by road on our way to Florence, for auld lang syne, -but Antonio--he who used to drive us into Genoa in the old days--said -that was now impossible on account of the railway--“_Non ci conviene, -signore_!â€--but he would take us as far as Spezzia. So, to our delight, -we were able once more to experience the pleasures of the road and avoid -that truly horrible series of suffocating tunnels that tries us so much -on that portion of the coastline. At Sestri Levante I wrote: “I sit down -at this pleasant hotel, with the silent sea glimmering in the early -night before me outside the open window, to note down our journey thus -far. The day has been truly glorious, the sea without even the thinnest -rim of white along the coast, and such exquisite combinations of clouds. -We left Villa Quartara at ten, with Madame Vittorina and the servants in -tears. Majolina comes with us; she is such a good little maid. We had -three good horses, but for the Bracco Pass we shall have an extra one. -There is no way of travelling like this, in an open carriage; it is so -placid; there is no hurrying to catch trains and struggling in crowds, -no waiting in dismal _salles d’attente_. And then compare the entry into -the towns by the high road and through the principal streets, perhaps -through a city gate, the horse’s hoofs clattering and the whip cracking -so merrily and the people standing about in groups watching us pass, to -sneaking into a station, one of which is just like the other, which -hasn’t the slightest _couleur locale_ about it, and is sure to have -unsightly surroundings. - -“Away we went merrily, I feeling very jolly. The colour all along was -ravishing, as may be imagined, seeing what a perfect day it was and -that this is the loveliest season of the year. We dined at dear old -Ruta, where also the horses had a good rest and where I was able to -sketch something down. From Ruta to Sestri I rode by Majolina on the -box, by far the best position of all, and didn’t I enjoy it! The horses’ -bells jingled so cheerily and those three sturdy horses took us along so -well. Rapallo and Chiavari! Dear old friends, what delicious -picturesqueness they had, what lovely approaches to them by roads -bordered with trees! The views were simply distracting. Sestri is a gem. -Why don’t water-colour painters come here in shoals? What colouring the -mountains had at sunset, and I had only a pencil and wretched little -sketch book. - -“_Spezzia, April 28th, 1869._--A repetition of yesterday in point of -weather. I feel as though I had been steeped all day in some balmy -liquid of gold, purple, and blue. I have a Titianesque feeling hovering -about me produced by the style of landscape we have passed through and -the faces of the people who are working in the patches of cultivation -under the mulberries and vines, and that intense, deep blue sky with -massive white clouds floating over it. We exclaimed as much at the -beauty of the women as at the purple of the mountains and the green of -the budding mulberries and poplars. And the men and boys; what perfect -types; such fine figures and handsome faces, such healthy colour! We -left the hotel at Sestri, with its avenue of orange trees in flower, at -ten o’clock, and, of course, crossed the Bracco to-day. We dined at a -little place called Bogliasco, in whose street, under our windows, -handsome youths with bare legs and arms were playing at a game of ball -which called forth fine action. I did not know at first whether to look -well at them all or sketch them down one by one, but did both, and I -hope to make a regular drawing of the group from the sketch I took and -from memory. We stopped at the top of the hill, from which is seen La -Spezzia lying below, with its beautiful bay and the Carara Mountains -beyond. Here ends our drive, for to-morrow we take the train for -Florence. - -“_Florence, April 29th._--Magnificent, cloudless weather. But, oh! what -a wearisome journey we had, the train crawling from one station to -another and stopping at each such a time, whilst we baked in the -cushioned carriage and couldn’t even have lovely things to look at, -surrounded by the usual railway eyesores. We passed close by the Pisan -Campo Santo, and had a very good view of the Leaning Tower and the -Duomo. Such hurrying and struggling at the Pisa station to get into the -train for Florence, having, of course, to carry all our small baggage -ourselves. Railway travelling in Italy is odious. It was very lovely to -see Florence in the distance, with those domes and towers I know so well -by heart from pictures, but we were very limp indeed, the wearisome -train having taken all our enthusiasm away. Everything as we arrived -struck us as small, and I am still so dazzled by the splendour of Genoa -that my eyes cannot, as it were, comprehend the brown, grey and white -tones of this quiet-coloured little city. I must _Florentine_ myself as -fast as I can. This hotel is on the Lung’ Arno, and charming was it to -look out of the windows in the lovely evening and see the river below -and the dome of the Carmine and tower of Santo Spirito against the clear -sky with, further off, the hills with their convents (alas! empty now) -and clusters of cypresses. No greater contrast to Genoa could be than -Florence in every way. Oh! may this city of the arts see me begin (and -finish) my first regular picture. _April 30th._--I and Papa strolled -about the streets to get a general impression of ‘_Firenze la gentile_,’ -and looked into the Duomo, which is indeed bare and sad-coloured inside -except in its delicious painted windows over the altars, the harmonious -richness of which I should think could not be exceeded by any earthly -means. The outside is very gay and cheerful, but some of the marble has -browned itself into an appearance of wood. Oh! dear Giotto’s Tower, -could elegance go beyond this? Is not this an example of the complete -_savoir faire_ of those true-born artists of old? And the ‘Gates of -Paradise’! The delight of seeing these from the street is great, instead -of in a museum. But Michael Angelo’s enthusiastic exclamation in their -praise rather makes one smile, for we know that it must have been in -admiration of their purely technical beauties, as the gates are by no -means large and grand _as_ gates, and the bronze is rather dark for an -entrance into Paradise! I reverently saluted the Palazzo Vecchio, and am -quite ready to get very much attached to the brown stone of Florence in -time. - -“_Villa Lamporecchi, May 1st._--We two and Papa had a good spell at the -Uffizi in the morning, and in the afternoon we took possession of this -pleasing house, which is so cool and has far-spreading views, one of -Florence from a terrace leading out of what I shall make my studio. A -garden and vineyards sloping down to the valley where Brunelleschi’s -brown dome shows above the olives.†- -[Illustration: IN FLORENCE DURING MY STUDIES IN /69.] - -Our mother did many lovely water colours, one especially exquisite -one of Fiesole seen in a shimmering blue midsummer light. That, and one -done on the Lung’ Arno, to which Shelley’s line - - “The purple noon’s transparent might†- -could justly be applied, are treasured by me. She understood sunshine -and how to paint it. - -“_May 3rd._--I already feel Florence growing upon me. I begin to -understand the love English people of culture and taste get for this -most interesting and gentle city. The ground one treads on is all -historic, but it is in the artistic side of its history that I naturally -feel the greatest interest, and it is a delightful thing to go about -those streets and be reminded at every turn of the great Painters, -Architects, Sculptors I have read so much of. Here a palace designed by -Raphael, there a glorious row of windows carved by Michael Angelo, there -some exquisite ironwork wrought by some other born genius. I think the -style of architecture of the Strozzi Palace, the Ricardi, and others, is -perfection in its way, though at first, with the brilliant whites, -yellows and pinks of Genoa still in my eye, I felt rather depressed by -the uniform brown of the huge stones of which they are built. No wonder -I haunt the well-known gallery which runs over the Ponte Vecchio, lined -with the sketches, studies, and first thoughts of most of the great -masters. One delights almost more in these than in many of the finished -pictures. They bring one much more in contact, as it were, with the -great dead, and make one familiar with their methods of work. One sees -what little slips they made, how they modified their first thoughts, -over and over again, before finally fixing their choice. Very -encouraging to the struggling beginner to see these evidences of their -troubles! - -“I have never, before I came here where so many of them have lived, -realised the old masters as our comrades; I have never been so near them -and felt them to be mortals exactly like ourselves. This city and its -environs are so little changed, the greater part of them not at all, -since those grand old Michael Angelesque days that one feels brought -quite close to the old painters, seeing what they saw and walking on the -very same old pavement as they walked on, passing the houses where they -lived, and so forth.†- -I was at that time bent on achieving my first “great picture,†to be -taken from Keats’s poem “The Pot of Basilâ€; Lorenzo riding to his death -between the two brothers: - - So the two brothers and their murdered man - Rode past fair Florence, - -but, fortunately, I resolved instead to put in further training before -attacking such a canvas, and I became the pupil of a very fine academic -draughtsman, though no great colourist, Giuseppe Bellucci. On alternate -days to those spent in his studio I copied in careful pencil some of the -exquisite figures in Andrea del Sarto’s frescoes in the cloisters of the -SS. Annunziata. - -The heat was so great that, as it became more intense, I had to be at -Bellucci’s, in the Via Santa Reparata, at eight o’clock instead of 8.30, -getting there in the comparative cool of the morning, after a salutary -walk into Florence, accompanied by little Majolina, no _signorina_ being -at liberty to walk alone. What heat! The sound of the ceaseless hiss of -the _cicale_ gave one the impression of the country’s undergoing the -ordeal of being _frizzled_ by the sun. I record the appearance of my -first fire-fly on the night of May 6th. What more pleasing rest could -one have, after the heat and work of the day, than by a stroll through -the vineyards in the early night escorted by these little creatures with -their golden lamps? - -The cloisters were always cool, and I enjoyed my lonely hours there, but -the Bellucci studio became at last too much of a furnace. My master had -already several times suggested a rest, mopping his brow, when I also -began to doze over my work at last, and the model wouldn’t keep his eyes -open. I record mine as “rolling in my head.†- -I see in memory the blinding street outside, and hear the fretful -stamping of some tethered mule teased with the flies. The very Members -of Parliament in the Palazzo Vecchio had departed out of the impossible -Chamber, and, all things considered, I allowed Bellucci to persuade me -to take a little month of rest--“_un mesetto di riposo_â€--at home during -part of July and August. That little month of rest was very nice. I did -a water colour of the white oxen ploughing in our _podere_; I helped (?) -the _contadini_ to cut the wheat with my sickle, and sketched them while -they went through the elaborate process of threshing, enlivened with -that rough innocent romping peculiar to young peasants, which gave me -delightful groups in movement. I love and respect the Italian peasant. -He has high ideas of religion, simplicity of living, honour. I can’t say -I feel the same towards his _betters_ (?) in the Italian social scale. - -The grapes ripened. The scorched _cicale_ became silent, having, as the -country people declared, returned to the earth whence they sprang. The -heat had passed even _cicala_ pitch. I went back to the studio when the -“little month†had run out and the heat had sensibly cooled, and worked -very well there. I find this record of a birthday expedition: - -“I suggested a visit to the convent of San Salvi out at the Porta alla -Croce, where is to be seen Andrea del Sarto’s ‘Cenacolo.’ This we did in -the forenoon, and in the afternoon visited Careggi. Enough isn’t said -about Andrea. What volumes of praise have been written, what endless -talk goes on, about Raphael, and how little do people seem to appreciate -the quiet truth and soberness and subtlety of Andrea. This great fresco -is very striking as one enters the vaulted whitewashed refectory and -sees it facing the entrance at the further end. The great point in this -composition is the wonderful way in which this master has disposed the -hands of all those figures as they sit at the long table. In the row of -heads Andrea has revelled in his love of variety, and each is stamped, -as usual, with strong individuality. This beautifully coloured fresco -has impressed me with another great fact, viz., the wonderful value of -_bright yellow_ as well as white in a composition to light it up. The -second Apostle on our Saviour’s left, who is slightly leaning forward on -his elbow and loosely clasping one hand in the other, has his shoulders -wrapped round with yellow drapery, the horizontally disposed folds of -which are the _ne plus ultra_ of artistic arrangement. There is -something very realistic in these figures and their attitudes. Some -people are down on me when they hear me going on about the rendering of -individual character being the most admirable of artistic qualities. - -“At 3.30 we went for such a drive to Careggi, once Lorenzo de’ Medici’s -villa--where, indeed, he died--and now belonging to Mr. Sloane, a -‘bloated capitalist’ of distant England. The ‘keepsake’ beauty of the -views thence was perfect. A combination of garden kept in English order -and lovely Italian landscape is indeed a rich feast for the eye. I was -in ecstasies all along. We made a great _détour_ on our return and -reached home in the after-glow, which cast a light on the houses as of a -second sun. - -“_October 18th._--Went with Papa and Alice to see Raphael’s ‘Last -Supper’ at the Egyptian Museum, long ago a convent. It is not perfectly -sure that Raphael painted it, but, be that as it may, its excellence is -there, evident to all true artists. It seems to me, considering that it -is an early work, that none but one of the first-class men could have -painted it. It offers a very instructive contrast with del Sarto’s at -San Salvi. The latter immediately strikes the spectator with its effect, -and makes him exclaim with admiration at the very first moment--at -least, I am speaking for myself. The former (Raphael’s) grew upon me in -an extraordinary way after I had come close up to it and dwelt long on -the heads, separately; but on entering the room the rigidity and -formality of the figures, whose aureoles of solid metal are all on one -level, the want of connection of these figures one with the other, and -the uniform light over them all had an unprepossessing effect. -Artistically considered this fresco is not to be mentioned with -Andrea’s, but then del Sarto was a ripe and experienced artist when he -painted the San Salvi fresco, whereas they conjecture Raphael to have -been only twenty-two when he painted this. There is more spiritual -feeling in Raphael’s, more dignity and ideality altogether; no doubt a -higher conception, and some feel more satisfied with it than with -Andrea’s. The refinement and melancholy look of St. Matthew is a thing -to be thought of through life. St. Andrew’s face, with the long, -double-peaked white beard, is glorious, and is a contrast to the other -old man’s head next to it, St. Peter’s, which is of a harder kind, but -not less wonderful. St. Bartholomew, with his dark complexion and black -beard, is strongly marked from the others, who are either fair or -grey-headed. The profile of St. Philip, with a pointed white beard, gave -me great delight, and I wish I could have been left an hour there to -solitary contemplation. St. James Major, a beardless youth, is a true -Perugino type, a very familiar face. Judas is a miserable little figure, -smaller than the others, though on the spectator’s side of the table in -the foreground. He seems not to have been taken from life at all. - -“On one of the walls of the room are hung some little chalk studies of -hands, etc., for the fresco, most exquisitely drawn, and seeming, some -of them, better modelled than in the finished work; notably St. Peter’s -hand which holds the knife. Is there no Modern who can give us a ‘Last -Supper’ to rank with this, Andrea’s and Leonardo’s?†- -This entry in my Diary of student days leads my thoughts to poor -Leonardo da Vinci. A painter must sympathise with him through his -recorded struggles to accomplish, in his “Cenacolo,†what may be called -the almost superhuman achievement of worthily representing the Saviour’s -face. Had he but been content to use the study which we see in the Brera -gallery! But, no! he must try to do better at Santa Maria delle -Grazie--and fails. How many sleepless nights and nerve-racking days he -must have suffered during this supreme attempt, ending in complete -discouragement. I think the Brera study one of the very few satisfactory -representations of the divine Countenance left us in art. To me it is -supreme in its infinite pathos. But it is always the way with the truly -great geniuses; they never feel that they have reached the heights they -hoped to win. - -Ruskin tells us that Albert Dürer, on finishing one of his own works, -felt absolutely satisfied. “It could not be done better,†was the -complacent German’s verdict. Ruskin praises him for this, because the -verdict was true. So it was, as regarding a piece of mere handicraft. -But to return to the Diary. - -“We went then to pay a call on Michael Angelo at his apartment in the -Via Ghibellina. I do not put it in those words as a silly joke, but -because it expresses the feeling I had at the moment. To go to his -house, up his staircase to his flat, and ring at his door produced in my -mind a vivid impression that he was alive and, living there, would -receive us in his drawing-room. Everything is well nigh as it was in his -time, but restored and made to look like new, the place being far more -as he saw it than if it were half ruinous and going to decay. Even the -furniture is the same, but new velveted and varnished. It is a pretty -apartment, such as one can see any day in nice modern houses. I touched -his little slippers, which are preserved, together with his two walking -sticks, in a tiny cabinet where he used to write, and where I wondered -how he found space to stretch his legs. The slippers are very small and -of a peculiar, rather Eastern, shape, and very little worn. Altogether, -I could not realise the lapse of time between his date and ours. The -little sketches round the walls of the room, which is furnished with -yellow satin chairs and sofa, are very admirable and free. The Titian -hung here is a very splendid bit of colour. This was a very impressive -visit. The bronze bust of M. A. by Giovanni da Bologna is magnificent; -it gives immense character, and must be the image of the man.†- -On October 21st I bade good-bye to Bellucci. His system forbade praise -for the pupil, which was rather depressing, but he relaxed sufficiently -to tell my father at parting that I would do things (_Farà delle cose_) -and that I was untiring (_istancabile_), taking study seriously, not -like the others (_le altre_). With this I had to be content. He had -drilled me in drawing more severely than I could have been drilled in -England. For that purpose he had kept me a good deal to painting in -monochrome, so as to have my attention absorbed by the drawing and -modelling and _chiaroscuro_ of an object without the distraction of -colour. He also said to me I could now walk alone (_può camminare da -sè_), and with this valedictory good-bye we parted. Being free, I spent -the remaining time at Florence in visits to the churches and galleries -with my father and sister, seeing works I had not had time to study up -till then. - -“_October 22nd._--We first went to see the Ghirlandajos at Santa -Trinità , which I had not yet seen. They are fading, as, indeed, most of -the grand old frescoes are doing, but the heads are full of character, -and the grand old costumes are still plainly visible. From thence we -went to the small cloister called _dello Scalzo_, where are the -exquisite monochromes of Andrea del Sarto. Would that this cloister had -been roofed in long ago, for the weather has made sad havoc of these -precious things. Being in monochrome and much washed out, they have a -faded look indeed; but how the drawing tells! What a master of anatomy -was he, and yet how unexaggerated, how true: he was content to limit -himself to Nature; _knew where to draw the line_, had, in fact, the -reticence which Michael Angelo couldn’t recognise; could stop at the -limit of truth and good taste through which the great sculptor burst -with coarse violence. There are some backs of legs in those frescoes -which are simply perfect. These works illustrate the events in the life -of John the Baptist. Here, again, how marvellous and admirable are all -the hands, not only in drawing, but in action, how touching the heads, -how grand and thoroughly artistic the draperies and the poses of the -figures. A splendid lesson in the management of drapery is, especially, -the fresco to the right of the entrance, the ‘Vision of Zacharias.’ -There are four figures, two immediately in the foreground and at either -extremity of the composition; the two others, seen between them, further -off. The nearest ones are in draperies of the grandest and largest -folds, with such masses of light and dark, of the most satisfying -breadth; and the two more distant ones have folds of a slightly more -complex nature, if such a word can be used with regard to such a -thoroughly broadly treated work. This gives such contrast and relief -between the near and distant figures, and the absence of the aid of -colour makes the science of art all the more simply perceived. Most -beautiful is the fresco representing the birth of St. John, though the -lower part is quite lost. What consummate drapery arrangements! The nude -figure _vue de dos_ in the fresco of St. John baptising his disciples is -a masterly bit of drawing. Though the paint has fallen off many parts of -these frescoes, one can trace the drawing by the incision which was -made on the wet plaster to mark all the outlines preparatory to -beginning the painting.†- -These are but a few of my art student’s impressions of this -fondly-remembered Florentine epoch, which are recorded at great length -in the Diary for my own study. And now away to Rome! - - - - -CHAPTER VI - -ROME - - -That was a memorable journey to Rome by Perugia. I have travelled more -than once by that line, and the more direct one as well, since then, and -I feel as though I could never have enough of either, though to be on -the road again, as we now can be by motor, would be still greater bliss. -But the original journey took place so long ago that it has positively -an old-world glamour about it, and a certain roughness in the flavour, -so difficult to enjoy in these times of Pulman cars and Palace Hotels, -which make all places taste so much alike. The old towns on the -foothills of the Apennines drew me to the left, and the great sunlit -plains to the right, of the carriage in an _embarras de choix_ as we -sped along. Cortona, Arezzo, Castiglione--Fiorentin--each little old -city putting out its predecessor, as it seemed to me, as more perfect in -its picturesque effect than the one last seen. It was the story of the -Rhine castles and villages over again. The Lake of Trasimene appeared on -our right towards sundown, a sheet of still water so tender in its tints -and so lonely; no town on its malaria-stricken banks; a boat or two, -water-fowl among the rushes and, as we proceeded, the great, magnified -globe of the sun sinking behind the rim of the lake. We were going deep -into the Umbrian Hills, deep into old Italy; the deeper the better. We -neared Perugia, where we passed the night, before dark, and saw the old -brown city tinged faintly with the after-glow, afar off on its hill. A -massive castle stood there in those days which I have not regretted -since, as it symbolised the old time of foreign tyranny. It is gone now, -but how mediæval it looked, frowning on the world that darkening -evening. Hills stood behind the city in deep blue masses against a sky -singularly red, where a great planet was shining. There was a Perugino -picture come to life for us! Even the little spindly trees tracing their -slender branches on the red sky were in the true _naïf_ Perugino spirit! -How pleased we were! We rumbled in the four-horse station ’bus under two -echoing gateways piercing the massive outer and inner city walls and -along the silent streets, lit with rare oil lamps. Not a gas jet, aha! -But we were to feel still more deeply mediæval, whether we liked it or -not, for on reaching the Hotel de la Poste we found it was full, and had -to wander off to seek what hostel could take us in through very dark, -ancient streets. I will let the Diary speak: - -“The _facchino_ of the hotel conducted us to a place little better than -a _cabaret_, belonging, no doubt, to a chum. I wouldn’t have minded -putting up there, but Mamma knew better, and, rewarding the woman of the -_cabaret_ with two francs, much against her protestations, we went off -up the steep street again and made for the ‘Corona,’ a shade better, -close to the market place. My bedroom was as though it had once been a -dungeon, so massive were the walls and deep the vaulting of the low -ceiling. We went to bed almost immediately after our dinner, which was -enlivened by the conversation of men who were eating at a neighbouring -table, all, except a priest, with their hats on. One was very -loquacious, shouting politics. He held forth about ‘_Il Mastai_,’ as he -called His Holiness Pope Pius the Ninth, and flourished renegade _Padre -Giacinto_ in the priest’s face, the courteous and laconic priest’s -eyebrows remaining at high-water mark all the time. The shouter went on -to say that English was ‘_una lingua povera e meschina_’ (‘Poor and -mean’!)†- -The next morning before leaving we saw all that time allowed us of -Perugia, the bronze statue of Pope Julius III. impressing me deeply. -Indeed, there is no statue more eloquent than this one. Alas! the -Italians have removed it from its right place, and when I revisited the -city in 1900 I found the tram terminus in place of the Pope. - -“_October 27th._--After the morning’s doings in sunshine the day became -sad, and from Foligno, where we had a long wait, the story is but of -rain and dusk and night. We became more and more apathetic and bored, -though we were roused up at the frontier station, where I saw the Papal -_gendarmes_ and gave the alarm. Mamma went on her knees in the carriage -and cried, ‘_Viva Il Papa Rè!_’ We all joined in, drinking his health in -some very flat ‘red _grignolino_’ we had with us. I became more and more -excited as we neared the centre of the earth, the capital of -Christendom, the highest city in the world. In the rainy darkness we ran -into the Roman station, which might have been that of Brighton for aught -we could see. I strained my eyes right and left for Papal uniforms, and -was rewarded by Zouaves and others, and lots of French (of the Legion) -into the bargain. - -Then a long wait, in the ’bus of the Anglo-American Hotel, for our -luggage; and at last we rattled over the pavement, which, with its -cobble stones, was a great contrast to the large flat flags of -Florence, along very dark and gloomy streets. An apartment all crimson -damask was ready prepared for us, which looked cheery and revived us. - -“_October 28th_, 56, _Via del Babuino._--The day began rather -dismally--looking for apartments in the rain! The coming of the -Å’cumenical Council has greatly inflated the prices; Rome is crammed. -At last we took this attractive one for six months, ‘_esposto a -mezzogiorno_.’ Facing due south, fortunately. - -“The sun came out then, and all things were bright and joyous as we -rattled off in a little victoria to feast our eyes (we two for the first -time) on St. Peter’s. Papa, knowing Rome already, knew what to do and -how best to give us our first impressions. An epoch in my life, never to -be forgotten, a moment in my existence too solemn and beyond my power of -writing to allow of my describing it! I have seen St. Peter’s. No, -indeed, no descriptions have ever given me an adequate idea of what I -have just seen. The sensation of seeing the real thing one has gazed at -in pictures and photographs with longing is one of peculiar delight. - -“To find myself really on the Ponte Sant’ Angelo! No dream this. There -is the huge castle and the angel with outstretched wings, and there is -St. Peter’s in very truth. The sight of it made the tears rise and my -throat tighten, so greatly was I overcome by that soul-moving sight. The -dome is perfect; the whole, with its great piazza and colonnade, is -perfect; I am utterly overpowered and, as to writing, it is too -inadequate, and I do so merely because I must do my duty by this -journal. - -“What a state I was in, though exteriorly so quiet. And all around us -other beauties--the yellow Tiber, the old houses, the great -fortress-tomb--oh, Mimi, the artist, is not all the enthusiasm in you at -full power? We got out of the carriage at the bottom of the piazza and -walked up to the basilica on foot. The two familiar fountains--so -familiar, yet seen for the first time in reality--were sending up their -spray in such magnificent abundance, which the wind took and sent in -cascade-like forms far out over the reflecting pavement. The interior of -St. Peter’s, which impresses different people in such various ways, was -a radiant revelation to me. We had but a preliminary taste to-day. We -drove thence to the Piazza del Popolo, and then had an entrancing walk -on Monte Pincio. We came down by the French Academy, with its row of -clipped ilexes, under which you see one of the most exquisite views of -silvery Rome, St. Peter’s in the middle. We dipped down by the steps of -the Trinità , where the models congregate, flecking the wide grey steps -with all the colours of the rainbow. - -“_October 29th._--Papa would not let us linger in the Colosseum too -long, for to-day he wanted us to have only a general idea of things. -Those bits of distance seen through triumphal arches, between old -pillars, through gaps in ancient walls, how they please! As we were -climbing the Palatine hill a Black Franciscan came up to us for alms, -and in return offered us his snuff-box, out of which Alice and I took a -pinch, and we went sneezing over the ruins. On to the Capitol, and down -thence homeward through streets full of priests, monks and soldiers. All -the afternoon given to being tossed about, with poor Papa, by the Dogana -from the railway station to the custom-house in the Baths of Diocletian, -and from there to the artist commissioned by the Government to examine -incoming works of art. They would not let me have my box of studies, -calling them ‘modern pictures’ on which we must pay duty.†- -Rome under the Temporal Power was so unlike Rome, capital of Italy, as -we see it to-day, that I think it just as well to draw largely from the -Diary, which is crammed with descriptions of men and things belonging to -the old order which can never be seen again. I love to recall it all. We -were in Rome just in time. We left it in May and the Italians entered it -in September. Though I was not a Catholic then, and found delight in -Rome almost entirely as an artist, the power and vitality of the Church -could not but impress me there. - -“_October 30th._--This has been one of the most perfectly enjoyable days -of my life. Papa and I drove to the Vatican through that bright light -air which gives one such energy. The Vatican! What a place wherein to -revel. We climbed one of the mighty staircases guarded by the -interesting Papal Guards, halberd on shoulder, until we got to the top -loggia and went into the picture gallery, I to enchant my eyes with the -grandest pictures that men have conceived. But I will not touch on them -till I go there to study. And so on from one glory to another. We turned -into St. Peter’s and there strolled a long time. Before we went in, and -as we were standing at the bottom of the Scala Regia enjoying the -clearness of the sunshine on the city, we saw the _gendarmes_, the -Zouaves and others standing at attention, and, looking back, we saw the -red, black, and yellow Swiss running with operatic effect to seize their -halberds, and Cardinal Antonelli came down to get into his carriage, -almost stumbling over me, who didn’t know he was so near. Before he got -into his great old-fashioned coach, harnessed to those heavy black -horses with the trailing scarlet traces, a picturesque incident -occurred. A girl-faced young priest tremulously accosted the Cardinal, -hat in hand, no doubt begging some favour of the great man. The Cardinal -spoke a little time to him with grand kindness, and then the priest fell -on one knee, kissed the Cardinal’s ring, and got up blushing pink all -over his beautiful young face, and passed on, gracefully and modestly, -as he had done the rest. Then off rattled the carriage, the Zouaves -presented arms, salutes were made, hats lifted, and Antonelli was gone. - -“In St. Peter’s were crowds of priests in different colours, forming -masses of black, purple, and scarlet of great beauty. Two Oriental -bishops were making the round, one, a Dominican, having with him a sort -of Malay for a chaplain in turban and robe. Two others had Chinamen with -pigtails in attendance, these two emaciated prelates bearing signs of -recent torture endured in China, living martyrs out of Florentine -frescoes. Yonder comes a bearded Oriental with mild, beautiful face, and -following him a scarlet-clad German with yellow hair, projecting ears, -coarse mouth, and spectacles over his little eyes; and then a -sharp-visaged Jesuit, or a spiritual, wan Franciscan and a burly Roman -secular. No end of types. One very young Italian monk had the face of a -saint, all ready made for a fresco. I looked at him in unspeakable -admiration as he stood looking up at some inscription, probably -translating it in his own mind. On our way home, to crown all, we met -the Pope. His outrider in cocked hat and feathers came clattering along -the narrow street in advance, then a red-and-gold coach, black prancing -horses--all shadowy to me, as I was intent only on catching a view of -the Holy Father. We got out of the carriage, as in duty bound, and bent -the knee like the rest as he passed by. I saw his profile well, with -that well-known smile on his kind face. As we looked after the carriages -and horsemen the effect was touching of the people kneeling in masses -along the way. The sight of Italian men kneeling is novel to me in the -extreme. - -“_October 31st._--I went first, with Mamma and Alice, to St. Peter’s, -where I studied types, attitudes and costumes. The sight of a Zouave -officer kneeling, booted and spurred, his sword by his side, and his -face shaded with his hand, is indeed striking, and one knows all those -have enrolled themselves for a sacred cause they have at heart--higher -even than for love of any particular country. The difference of types -among these Zouaves is most interesting. The Belgian and Dutch decidedly -predominate. Papa and I went thence for a fascinating stroll of many -hours, finding it hard to turn back. We went up to Sant’ Onofrio and -then round by the great Farnese Palace. The view from Sant’ Onofrio over -Rome is--well, my language is utterly annihilated here. How invigorated -I felt, and not a bit tired.†- -I have never been able to call up enthusiasm over the Pantheon, -low-lying, black and pagan in every line. Why does Byron lash himself -into calling it “Pride of Romeâ€? For the same reason, I suppose, that he -laments and sighs over the disappearance of Dodona’s “aged grove and -oracle divine.†As if any one cares! The view of Rome from Monte Mario, -being _the_ view, should have a place here as we saw it one of those -richly-coloured days. - -“_November 3rd._--My birthday, marked by the customary birthday -expedition, this time to Monte Mario. Nothing could be more splendid -than looked the Capital of the World as it lay below us when we reached -the top of that commanding height. The Campagna lay beyond it, ending in -that direction with the Sabine and Alban Mountains, the furthest all -white with snow. Buildings, cypresses, pines, formed foreground groups -to the silver city as they only can do to such perfection in these -parts. In another direction we could see the Campagna with its straight -horizon like a calm rosy-brown sea meeting the limpid sky. We drove a -long way on the high road across the Campagna Florence-wards. No high -walls as in the Florentine drives were here to shut out the views, which -unfolded themselves on all sides as we trotted on. We got out of the -carriage on the Campagna and strolled about on the brown grass, enjoying -the sweet free breeze and the great sweep of country stretching away to -the luminous horizon towards the sun, and to the lilac mountains in the -other direction. These mountains became tender pink as we went -Romewards, and when the city again appeared it was in a richly-coloured -light, the Campagna beyond in warm shadow from large chocolate-coloured -clouds which were rising heaped up into the sky. A superb effect.†- -Here follow many days chiefly given up to studio hunting and “property†-seeking for my work, soon to be set up. Models there were in plenty, of -course, as Rome was then still the artists’ headquarters. How things -have changed! - -I began with a _ciociara_ spinning with a distaff in the well-known and -very much used-up costume, just for practice, and another peasant girl. -Then I painted, at my dear mother’s earnest desire, “The -Magnificatâ€--Mary’s visit to Elizabeth--and on off days my father and I -“did†all the pictures contained in various palaces, the Vatican, and -the Villa Borghese, filling pages and pages of notes in the old Diary. I -felt the value of every day in Rome. Many people might think I ought not -to have worked so much in a studio, but I think I divided the time well. -I felt I must keep my hand in, and practise with the brush, though how -often I was tempted to join the others on some fascinating ramble may be -imagined. Soon, however, the rains of a Roman December set in, and Rome -became very wet indeed. Our father read us Roman history every evening -when there were no visitors. We had a good many, our mother and her -music and brightness soon attracting all that was nice in the English -and American colonies. Dear old Mr. Severn, he in whose arms Keats died, -often took tea with us (we kept our way of having dinner early and tea -in the evening), and there was an antiquarian who took interest in -nothing whatever except the old Roman walls, and he used to come and -hold forth about the “Agger of Servius Tullius†till my head went round. -He kept his own on, it seemed to me, by pressing his hand on the bald -top of it as he explained to us about that bit of “agger†which he had -discovered, and the herring-bone brick of which it was built. Often as I -have revisited Rome, I cannot become enthusiastic over the discovery of -some old Roman sewer, or bit of hot-water pipe, or horrible stone basin -with a hole in the bottom for draining off the blood of sacrificial -oxen. I always long to get back into the sunshine and fresh air from the -mouldy depths of Pagan Rome when I get caught in a party to whom the -antiquarian enthusiasts like to hold forth below the surface of the -earth. Alice listens, deferential and controlled, while I fidget, -supporting myself on my umbrella, with such a face! Here is a little bit -of Papal Rome impossible to-day: - -“_November 29th._--In the course of our long ramble after my work Papa -and I, in the soft evening, came upon a scene which I shall not forget, -made by a young priest preaching to a little crowd in the street before -the side door of Santa Maria Sopra Minerva, a Rembrandtesque effect -being produced by the two lamps held by a priest at either side of the -platform on which the preacher stood. One of these held the large -crucifix to which the preacher turned at times, with gestures of rapture -such as only an Italian could use in so natural a way. To see him, -lighted from below, in his black habit and hear his impassioned voice! -All the men were bareheaded, and such as passed by took their hats off. -Penetrating as the priest’s voice was, it was now and then quite drowned -by the street noises, especially the rattling of wheels on the rough -stones.†- -The days that follow are filled with my work on “The Visitation,†with -few intervals of sight-seeing. Then comes the great ecclesiastical event -to be marked in history, which brought all the world to Rome. - -“_Opening of the Å’cumenical Council, December 8th._--A memorable day, -this! We got up by candlelight, as at a quarter past seven we were to -drive to St. Peter’s. The dreary raining dawn was announced, just as it -broke, by the heavy cannon of Castel Sant’ Angelo, the flash of which -was reflected in the blue-grey sky long before the sound reached us, and -the cannon on the Aventine echoed those of the Castel. How dreary it -felt, yet how imposing for any one who has got into the right feeling -about this solemn event. On our way we overtook scores of priests on -foot, trying to walk clear of the puddles in those thin, buckled shoes -of theirs. It must have been trying for the old ones. There were bishops -amongst them, too poor to afford a cab. We have seen them day after day -thus going to the Vatican meetings. One great blessing the rain brought: -it kept hundreds of people from coming to the church, and thus saved -many crushings to death, for it is terrible to contemplate, seeing what -a crowd there actually was, what it might have been had the building -been crammed. Entrance and egress were both at one end of the church. -That thought must console me for the terrible toning down and darkening -of what, otherwise, would have been a great pageant. So many thousands -of wet feet brought something like a lake half way up the floor; so -slippery was it that, had the crowd swayed in a panic, it wouldn’t have -been very nice. - -“Papa and I insinuated ourselves into the hedge of people kept back by -Zouaves and Palatine Guards, as we came opposite the statue of St. -Peter, and I eventually got fixed three rows back from the soldiers, and -was lucky to get in so far. I was jammed between a monk and a short -youth of the ‘horsey’ kind. The atmosphere in that warm, wet crowd was -trying. I could see into the Council Hall opposite. - -[Illustration: ROMAN IMPRESSIONS IN 1870. - -THE LAST OF THE RIDERLESS HORSE-RACES, AND A WET TRUDGE - -TO THE VATICAN COUNCIL.] - -“The passage kept clear for the great procession was very wide. On the -other side I could see rows of English and American girls and elderly -females in the best places, as usual, right to the front, as bold as -brass, and didn’t they eye the bishops over through their -_pince-nez!_ We must have been waiting two hours before the procession -entered the church. I ought to have mentioned that the sacred dark -bronze statue of St. Peter was robed in gorgeous golden vestments with a -splendid triple crown on its head, making it look like a black Pope, and -very life-like from where I saw it. It seemed very strange. - -“At last there was a buzz as people perceived the slowly-moving -_silhouette_ of the procession as it passed along in a far-off gallery, -veiled from us by pink curtains, against the light and very high up, -over the entrance. We could see the prelates had all vested by the -outlines of the mitres and the high-shouldered look of the figures in -stiff copes. As the procession entered the church the ‘Veni Creator’ -swelled up majestically and floated through the immense space. The -effect of the procession to me was _nil_; all I could do was to catch a -glimpse of each bishop as he passed between the bobbing heads of the men -in front of me. All the European and United States Bishops were in white -and silver, but now and then there passed Oriental Patriarchs in rich -vestments, their picturesque dark faces (two were quite brown) telling -so strikingly amongst the pale or rosy Europeans. Each had his solemn -secretary, with imperturbable Eastern face, bearing his jewelled crown, -something in shape like the dome of a mosque. One Oriental wore a jewel -on his dusky forehead, another a black cowl over his head, shading his -keen, dark face, the coarse cowl contrasting in a startling way with the -delicate splendour of the gold and pink and amber vestments worn over -the rough monk’s habit. Still, all this could not be imposing to me, -having to squint and crane as I did, seldom being able to see with both -eyes at once. I could at intervals see the silvery prelates, most of -them with snowy heads, and the dark Easterns mount into their seats in -the Council Chamber, our Archbishop Manning amongst them. I had a quite -good glimpse of Cardinal Bonaparte, very like the great Napoleon. Of the -Pope I saw nothing. He was closely surrounded, as he walked past, by the -high-helmeted Noble Guard, and, of course, at that supreme moment every -one in front of me strove to get a better sight of him. Then Papa and I -gladly struggled our way out of the great crowd and went to seek Mamma, -who, very wisely, had not attempted to get a place, but was meekly -sitting on the steps of a confessional in a quiet chapel. Mamma then -went home, and we went into the crowd again to try and see the Council -from a point opposite. We saw it pretty well, the two white banks of -mitred bishops on each side and, far back, the little red Pope in the -middle. Mass was being sung, all Gregorian, but it was faintly heard -from our great distance. - -“No council business was being done to-day; it was only the Mass to open -the meeting. The crowd was most interesting. Surely every nation was -represented in it. An officer of the 42nd Highlanders had an excellent -effect. What shall I do in London, with its dead level of monotony? Oh! -dear, oh! dear. I was quite loth to go home. And so the council is -opened. God speed!†- -The Ghetto was in existence in those days, so I have even experienced -the sight of _that_. Very horrible, packed with “red-haired, blear-eyed -creatures, with loose lips and long, baggy noses.†Thus I describe them -in this warren, during our drive one day. What a “_sventramento_†that -must have been when the Italians cleared away and cleaned up all that -congested horror. Wide, wind-swept spaces and a shining, though hideous, -synagogue met my astonished gaze when next I went there and couldn’t -find the Ghetto. - -At the end of the year La Signorina Elizabetta Thompson had to apply to -his Eminenza Riverendissima Cardinal Berardi, Minister of Public Works, -to announce her intention of sending the “Magnificat†to the Pope’s -international exhibition. At that picture I worked hard, my mother being -my model for Our Lady, and an old _ciociara_ from the Trinità steps for -St. Elizabeth. How it rained that December! But we had radiant sunshine -in between the days when the streets were all running with red-brown -rivulets, through which the horses splashed as if fording a stream. - -“_January 25th, 1870._--I finished my ‘Magnificat’ to-day. Yet ought I -to say I ceased to paint at it, for ‘finish’ suggests something far -beyond what this picture is. Well, I shall enjoy being on the loose now. -To stroll about Rome after having passed through a picture is perfect -enjoyment. I should feel very uncomfortable at the present time if I -had, up till now, done nothing but lionise. I have no hope of my picture -being accepted now, but still it is pleasant to think that I have worked -hard. - -“_February 3rd._--I took my picture to the Calcografia place, as warned -to do. There, in dusty horror, it awaits the selecting committee’s -review, which takes place to-morrow. Mamma and I held it manfully in the -little open carriage to keep it from tumbling out, our arms stretched to -their utmost. Lots of men were shuffling about in that dusty place with -pictures of all sizes. But, oh! what a scene of horror was that -collection of daubs. Oh! mercy on us. - -“_February 5th._--My ‘Magnificat’ is accepted. First, off goes Mamma -with Celestina to the Calcografia to learn the fate of the picture, and -bring it back triumphant, she and the maid holding it steady in the -little open carriage. Soon after, off we go to the Palazzo Poli to see -nice Mr. Severn, who says he is so proud of me, and will do all he can -to help me in art matters, to see whether he could make the exhibition -people hang my picture well, as we were told the artists had to see to -that themselves if they wanted it well done. I, for my part, would leave -it to them and rather shirk a place on the line, for my picture is -depressingly unsatisfactory to me, but Mamma, for whom I have painted -it, loves it, and wants it well placed ‘so that the Pope may see it’! -From thence off we go to the abode of the Minister of Commerce, Cardinal -B., for my pass. We were there told, to our dismay, that we could not -take the picture ourselves to the exhibition, as it was held in the -cloisters of Sta. Maria degli Angeli, and no permission had yet been -given to admit women before the opening. But I knew that between Papa -and Mr. Severn the picture would be seen to inside the cloistered walls. -After lunch, off goes Papa with my pass, we following in the little open -carriage as before, holding the old picture before us with straining -arms and knitted brows, very much jolted and bumped. We are stopped at -the cloisters, and told to drive out again, and there we pull up, our -faces turned in the opposite direction. The hood of the carriage -suddenly collapses, and we are revealed, unable to let go the picture, -with the soldiers collected about the place grinning. Papa arrives, and -he and two _facchini_ come to the rescue, and then disappear with the -picture amongst the forbidden regions enclosed in the gloomy ruins of -Diocletian’s Baths. Papa, on returning home, told me how charmed old -Severn, who was there, was with the picture, and even Podesti, the -judge, after some criticisms, and in no way ready to give it a good -place, said to Severn he had expected the signorina’s picture to be -rubbish (_porcheria_). I suppose because it was a woman’s work. He -retracted, and said he would like to see me. - -“_February 14th._--I began another picture to-day, after all my -resolutions to the contrary, the subject, two Roman shepherds playing at -‘_Morra_’, sitting on a fallen pillar, a third _contadino_, in a cloak, -looking on. I posed my first model, putting a light background to him, -the effect being capital, he coming rich and dusky against it. He soon -understood I wanted energy thrown into the action. I shall delight in -this subject, because the hands figure so conspicuously in the game. - -“_February 15th._--I went up alone to the Trinità to choose the other -young man for my ‘Morra,’ and, after a little inspection of the group of -lolling Romagnoli, gave the apple to one with a finely-cut profile and -black hair, the other models, male and female, clustering round to hear, -and many bystanders and the Zouave sentry, hard by, looking on.†- -On one evening in this eventful Roman period I had the opportunity of -seeing the famous race of the riderless horses (the _barberi_), which -closed the Carnival doings. The impression remains with me quite vividly -to this day. The colour, the movement; the fast-deepening twilight; the -historic associations of that vast Piazza del Popolo, where I see the -great obelisk retaining, on its upper part, the last flush from the -west; the impetuous waters of the fountains at its base in cool shadow; -St. Peter’s dome away to the left--this is the setting. Then I hear the -clatter of the dragoon’s horses as the detachment forms up for clearing -the course. The stands, at the foot of the obelisk, are full, some of -the crowd in carnival costume and with masks. A sharp word of command -rings out in the chilly air. Away go the dragoons, down the narrow Corso -and back, at full gallop, splitting the surging crowd with theatrical -effect. The line is clear. Now comes the moment of expectancy! At that -unique starting post, the obelisk upon which Moses in Egypt may have -looked as upon an interesting monument of antiquity in pre-Exodus days, -there appear eleven highly-nervous barbs, tricked out with plumes and -painted with white spots and stripes. The convicts who lead them in -(each man, one may say, carrying his life in his hand) are trying, with -iron grip, to keep their horses quiet, for the spiked balls and other -irritants are now unfastened and dangling loose from the horses’ backs. -But one terrified beast comes on “kicking against the pricks†already. -The whole pack become wild. The more they plunge, the more the balls -bang and prick. One furious creature, wrenching itself free, whirls -round in the wrong direction. But there is no time to lose; the -restraining rope must be cut. A gun booms; there is a shout and clapping -of hands. Ten of the horses, with heads down, get off in a bunch, -shooting straight as arrows for the Corso; the eleventh slips on the -cobbles, rolls over and, recovering itself, tears after its pals, -straining every nerve. I hear a voice shout “_E capace di vincere!_†-(“He is fit to win!â€) and in an instant the lot are engulfed in that -dark, narrow street, the squibs on their backs going off like pistol -shots, and the crackling bits of metallic tinsel, getting detached, fly -back in a shower of light. The sparks from the iron heels splash out in -red fire through the dusk. The course is just one mile--the whole length -of the straight street. At the winning post a great sheet is stretched -across the way, through which some of the horses burst, to be captured -some days afterwards while roaming about the open spaces of the -Campagna. It is the dense crowd, forming two walls along the course, -that forces the horses to keep the centre. This was the last of the -_barberi_. They were more frightened than hurt, yet I am not sorry that -these races have been abolished. - -Here follow records of expeditions in weather of spring freshness--to -catacombs, along the Via Appia, to the wild Campagna, and all the -delights of that Roman time when the lark inspires the poet. I got on -well with my “Morra†picture, which wasn’t bad, and which has a niche in -my art career, because it turned out to be the first picture I sold, -which joyful event happened in London. - -“_March 25th_.--A brilliant day, full of colour. This is a great feast, -the Annunciation, and I gave up work to see the Pope come in grand -procession to the Church of the Minerva with his Cross Bearer on a white -mule, and all the cardinals, bishops, ambassadors and officials in -carriages of antique magnificence, a spectacle of great pomp, and -nowhere else to be seen. We did it in this wise. At nine we drove to the -Minerva, the sun very brilliant and the air very cold, and soon posted -ourselves on the steps of the church in the midst of a tight crowd, I -quite helpless in a knot of French soldiers of the Legion, who chaffed -each other good-humouredly over my head. The piazza, in the midst of -which rises the funny little obelisk on the elephant’s back, swarmed -with people, black being quite the exception in that motley crowd. -Zouaves and the Legion formed a square to keep the piazza open, and -dragoons pranced officiously about, as is their wont. Every balcony was -thronged with gay ladies and full-dressed officers (some most gallant -and smart Austrians were at a window near us), and crimson cloth and -brocade flapped from every window, here in powerful sunshine, there in -effective shadow. Some dark, Florentine-coloured houses opposite, mostly -in shade, as they were between us and the sun, had a strong effect -against the bright sky, their crimson cloths and gaily dressed ladies -relieving their dark masses, and their beautiful roofs and chimneys -making a lovely sky line. - -“Presently the gilt and painted coaches of the cardinals began to -arrive, huge, high-swung vehicles drawn by very fat black horses dressed -out with gold and crimson trappings, but the servants and coachmen, in -spite of their extra full get-up, having that inimitable shabby-genteel -appearance which belongs exclusively to them. The Prior of the -Dominicans, to which order this church belongs, stood outside the -archway through which the Pope and all went into the church after -alighting from their coaches. He was there to welcome them, and, oh! the -number of bows he must have made, and his mouth must have ached again -with all those wide smiles. Near him also stood the Noble Guards and all -the general officers, plastered over with orders; and all these, too, -saluted and salaamed as each ecclesiastical bigwig grandly and -courteously swept by under the archway, glowing in his scarlet and -shining in his purple. The carriages pulled up at the spot of all others -best suited to us. Everything was filled with light, the cardinals -glowing like rubies inside their coaches, even their faces all aglow -with the red reflections thrown up from their ardent robes. But there -presently came a sight which I could hardly stand; it was eloquent of -the olden time and filled the mind with a strange feeling of awe and -solemnity, as though long ages had rolled back and by a miracle the dead -time had been revived and shown to us for a brief and precious moment. -On a sleek white mule came a prelate, all in pure lilac, his grey head -bare to the sunshine and carrying in his right hand the gold and -jewelled Cross. The trappings of the mule were black and gold, a large -black, square cloth thrown over its back in the mediæval fashion. The -Cross, which was large and must have weighed considerably, was very -conspicuous. The beauty of the colour of mule and rider, the black and -gold housings of that white beast, the lilac of the rider’s robes, and -the tender glory of the embossed Cross--how these things enchant me! An -attendant took the Cross as the priest dismounted. Then a flourish of -modern Zouave bugles and a sharp roll of the drum intruded the forgotten -present day on our notice, and soon on came the gallant _gendarmerie_ -and dragoons, and then the coach of His Holiness, seeming to bubble over -with molten gold in the sunshine. Its six black horses ambled fatly -along, all but the wheelers trailing their long, red traces almost on -the ground, as seems to be the ecclesiastical fashion in harness (only -the wheelers really pull), and guided by bedizened postillions in wigs -decidedly like those worn by English Q.C.’s. Flowers were showered down -on this coach from the windows, and much cheering rang in the fresh, -clear air. I see now in my mind’s eye the out-thrust chins and long, -bare necks of a clump of enthusiastic Zouaves shouting with all their -hearts under the Pope’s carriage windows in divers tongues. But the -English ‘Long live the Pope King,’ though given with a will, did not -travel as far as the open ‘_Viva il Papa Rè_’ or ‘_Vive le Pape Roi_.’ I -put in my British ‘Hurrah!’ as did Papa, splendidly, just as three old -and very fat cardinals had painfully got down from His Holiness’s high -coach and he himself had begun to emerge. We could see him quite well in -the coach, because the sides were more glass than gilding, and very -assiduously did the kind-looking old man bless the people right and left -as he drove up. He had on his head, not the skull cap I have hitherto -seen him in, which allows his silver locks to be seen, but the -old-lady-like headgear so familiar to me from pictures, notably several -portraits of Leo X. at Florence, which covers the ears and is bound with -ermine. It makes the lower part of the face look very large, and is not -becoming. After getting down he stood a long time receiving homage from -many grandees, and smiled and beamed with kindness on everybody. Then we -all bundled into the church, but as every one there was standing on, -instead of sitting on, the chairs, we could see nothing of the -ceremonies. We struggled out, after listening a little to the singing, -and Papa and I strolled delightedly to St. Peter’s, on whose great -piazza we awaited the return of the procession. It was very beautiful, -winding along towards us, with my white mule and all, over that vast -space.†- -Remember, Reader, that these things can never more be seen, and that is -why I give these extracts _in extenso_. Merely as history they are -precious. How we would like to have some word pictures of Rome in the -seventeenth, sixteenth and fifteenth centuries, but we don’t get them. -The chronicles tell us of magnificence, numbers, illustrious people, -dress, and so forth; but, somehow, we would like something more intimate -and descriptive of local colour--effects of weather, etc.--to help us to -realise life as it was in the olden time. I think in this age of -ugliness we prize the picturesque and the artistic all the more for -their rarer charm. - -After “Morra†I did a life-size oil study of the head of the celebrated -model, Francesco, which was a great advance in freedom of brush work. -But the walks were not abandoned, and many a delightful round we made -with our father, who was very happy in Rome. The Colosseum was rich in -flowers and trees, which clothed with colour its hideous stages of -seats. The same abundant foliage beautified the brickwork of Caracalla’s -Baths, but those beautiful veils were, unfortunately, slowly helping -further to demolish the ruins, and had to be all cleared away later on. -I have several times managed to wander over those eerie ruins in later -years by full moon, but I have never again enjoyed the awe-inspiring -sensation produced by the first visit, when those trees waved and -sighed, and the owls hooted, as in Byron’s time. And then the loneliness -of the Colosseum was more impressive, and helped one to detach oneself -in thought from the present day more easily. Now the town is creeping -out that way. - -“_April 3rd._--Our goal was Santa Croce to-day, beyond the Lateran, for -there the Pope was to come to bless the ‘Agnus Dei.’ This ceremony -takes place only once in seven years. Everything was _en petite tenue_, -the quietest carriages, the seediest servants, but oh! how glorious it -all was in that fervent sunlight. We stood outside the church, I greatly -enjoying the amusing crowd, full of such varied types. The effect of the -Pope’s two carriages and the horsemen coming trotting along the -straight, long road from St. John’s to this church, the luminous dust -rising in clouds in the wind, was very pretty. The shouting and cheering -and waving of handkerchiefs were quite frantic, more hearty even than at -the Minerva. People seemed to feel more easy and jolly here, with no -grandeur to awe them. His Holiness looked much more spry than when I -last saw him. We lost poor little Mamma and, in despair, returned -without her, and she didn’t turn up till 7 o’clock!†- -The Roman Diary of 1870 must end with the last Easter Benediction given -under the temporal power, _Urbi et Orbi_. - -“_Easter Sunday, April 17th_.--What a day, brimming over with rich -eye-feasts, with pomp and splendour! What can the eye see nowadays to -come anywhere near what I saw to-day, except on this anniversary here in -unique Rome? Of course, all the world knows that the splendour of this -great ceremony outshines that of any other here or in the whole world. -Mamma and I reserved ourselves for the benediction alone, so did not -start for St. Peter’s till ten o’clock, and got there long before the -troops. On getting out of the carriage we strolled leisurely to the -steps leading up to the church, where we took up our stand, enjoying the -delicious sunshine and fresh, clear air, and also the interesting people -that were gradually filling the piazza, amongst whom were pilgrims with -long staves, many being Neapolitans, the women in new costumes of the -brightest dyes and with snowy _tovaglie_ artistically folded. Some of -these women carried the family luggage on their heads, this luggage -being great bundles wrapped in rugs of red, black, and yellow stripes, -some with the big coloured umbrella passed through and cleverly -balanced. All these people had trudged on foot all the way. Their shoes -hung at their waists, and also their water flasks. As the troops came -pouring in we were requested by the sappers to range ourselves and not -to encroach beyond the bottom step. Here was a position to see from! We -watched the different corps forming to the stirring bugle and trumpet -sounds, the officers mounting their horses, all splendid in velvet -housings, the officers in the fullest of full dress. There was no -pushing in the crowd, and we were as comfortable as possible. But there -was a scene to our left, up on the terrace that runs along the upper -part of the piazza and is part of the Vatican, which was worth to me all -the rest; it was, pictorially, the most beautiful sight of all. Along -this terrace, the balustrade of which was hung with mellow old faded -tapestry, and bears those dark-toned, effective statues standing out so -well against the blue sky, were collected in a long line, I should say, -nearly all the bishops who are gathered here in Rome for the Council, in -their white and silver vestments, and wearing their snowy mitres, a few -dark-dressed ladies in veils and an officer in bright colour here and -there supporting most artistically those long masses of white. Above the -heads of this assembly stretched the long white awning, through which -the strong sun sent a glowing shade, and above that the clear sky, with -the Papal white and yellow flags and standards in great quantities -fluttering in the breeze! My delighted eyes kept wandering up to that -terrace away from the coarser military picturesqueness in front. Up -there was a real bit of the olden time. There was a feeling as of lilies -about those white-robed pontiffs. At last a sign from a little balcony -high up on the façade was given, and all the troops sprang to attention, -and then the gentle-faced old Pope glided into view there, borne on his -chair and wearing the triple crown. Clang go the rifles and sabres in a -general salute, and a few ‘_evvivas_’ burst from the crowd, which are -immediately suppressed by a general ‘sh-sh-sh,’ and amidst a most -imposing silence, the silence of a great multitude, the Pope begins to -read from a crimson book held before him with the voice of a strong -young man. Curiously enough, in this stillness all the horses began to -neigh, but their voices could not drown the single one of Pio Nono. -After the reading the Pope rose, and down went, on their knees, the mass -of people and soldiers, ‘like one man,’ and the old Pope pressed his -hands together a moment and then flung open his arms upwards with an -action full of electrifying fervour as he pronounced the grand words of -the blessing which rang out, it seemed, to the ends of the Earth. - -“In the evening we saw the famous illumination of the dome of St. -Peter’s from the Pincian. The wind rather spoiled the first or silver -one, but the next, the golden, was a grand sight, beginning with the -cross at the top and running down in streams over the dome. As I looked, -I heard a funny bit of Latin from an English tourist, who asked a priest -‘_Quis est illuminatio, olio o gas?_’ ‘_Olio, olio_,’ answered the -priest good-naturedly.†- -And so our Papal Rome on May 2nd, 1870, retreated into my very -appreciative memory, and we returned for a few days to Florence, and -thence to Padua and Venice and Verona on our way to England through the -Tyrol and Bavaria. What a downward slope in art it is from Italy into -Germany! We girls felt a great irritation at the change, and were too -recalcitrant to attend to the German sights properly. - -But I filled the Diary with very searching notes of the wonderful things -I saw in Venice, thanks to Veronese, Titian, Tintoretto, Palma Vecchio -and others, who filled me with all that an artist can desire in the way -of colour. I was anxious to improve my weak point, and here was a -lesson! - -It is curious, however, to watch through the succeeding years how I was -gradually inducted by circumstances into that line of painting which is -so far removed from what inspired me just then. It was the Franco-German -War and a return to the Isle of Wight that sent me back on the military -road with ever diminishing digressions. Well, perhaps my father’s fear, -which I have already mentioned in my early ‘teens, that I was joining in -a “tremendous ruck†in taking the field would have been justified had I -not taken up a line of painting almost non-exploited by English artists. -The statement of a French art critic when writing of one of my war -pictures, “_L’Angleterre n’a guère qu’un peintre militaire, c’est une -femme_,†shows the position. I wish I could have another life here below -to share the joys of those who paint what I studied in Italy, if only -for the love of such work, though I am very certain I should be quite -indistinguishable in _that_ “ruck.†- - - - -CHAPTER VII - -WAR. BATTLE PAINTINGS - - -Padua I greatly enjoyed--its academic quiet, its Shakespearean -atmosphere; and still more did Shakespearean Verona enchant me. I had a -good study of the modern French school at the Paris Salon, and on -getting back to London rejoined the South Kensington schools till the -end of the summer session. Then a studio and practice from the living -model. In July we were all absorbed in the great Franco-German War, -declared in the middle of that month. It seems so absurd to us to-day -that we should have been pro-German in England. This little entry in the -Diary shows how Bismarck’s dishonest manÅ“uvres had hoodwinked the -world. “France _will_ fight, so Prussia _must_, and all for nothing but -jealousy--a pretty spectacle!†We all believed it was France that was -the guilty party. I call to mind how some one came running upstairs to -find me and, subsiding on the top step with _The Times_ in her hand, -announced the surrender of MacMahon’s army and the Emperor. I wrote “the -Germans are pro-di-gious!†and I have lived to see them prostrate. Such -is history. - -I was asked, as the war developed, if I had been inspired by it, and -this caused me to turn my attention pictorially that way. Once I began -on that line I went at a gallop, in water-colour at first, and many a -subject did I send to the “Dudley Gallery†and to Manchester, all the -drawings selling quickly, but I never relaxed that serious practice in -oil painting which was my solid foundation. I sent the poor “Magnificat†-to the Royal Academy in the spring of 1871. It was rejected, and -returned to me with a large hole in it. - -That summer, which we spent at well-loved Henley-on-Thames, was marred -by the awful doings of the Commune in Paris. _The Times_ had a -stereotyped heading for a long time: “The Destruction of Paris.†What -horrible suspense there was while we feared the destruction of the -Louvre and Notre Dame. I see in the Diary: “_May 28th, 1871_.--Oh! that -to-morrow’s papers may bring a decided contradiction of the oft-repeated -report that the great Louvre pictures are lost and that Notre Dame no -longer stands intact. As yet all is confusion and dismay, and one -clings, therefore, to the hope that little by little we may hear that -some fragments, at least, may be spared to bereaved humanity and that -all that beauty is not annihilated.†- -In August, 1871, we were off again. From London back to Ventnor! There I -kept my hand in by painting in oils life-sized portraits of friends and -relations and some Italian ecclesiastical subjects, such as young -Franciscan monks, disciples of him who loved the birds, feeding their -doves in a cloister; an old friar teaching schoolboys, _al fresco_, -outside a church, as I had seen one doing in Rome. For this friar I -commandeered our landlord as a model, for he had just the white beard -and portly figure I required. Yet he was one of the most _furibond_ -dissenters I ever met--a Congregationalist--but very obliging. Also a -candlelight effect in the Church of San Pietro in Vincoli, in Rome; a -large altar-piece for our little Church of St. Wilfrid, and so on, a -mixture of the ecclesiastical and the military. The dances, theatricals, -croquet parties, rides--all the old ways were linked up again at -Ventnor, and I have a very bright memory of our second dwelling there -and reunion with our old friends. In the spring of 1872 I sent one of -the many Roman subjects I was painting to the Academy, a water-colour of -a Papal Zouave saluting two bishops in a Roman street. It was rejected, -but this time without a hole. This year was full of promise, and I very -nearly reached the top of my long hill climb, for in it I began what -proved to be my first Academy picture. - -What proved of great importance to me, this year of 1872, was my -introduction, if I may put it so, to the British Army! I then saw the -British soldier as I never had had the opportunity of seeing him before. -My father took me to see something of the autumn manÅ“uvres near -Southampton. Subjects for water-colour drawings appeared in abundance to -my delighted observation. One of the generals who was to be an umpire at -these manÅ“uvres, Sir F. C., had become greatly interested in me, as a -mutual friend had described my battle scenes to him, and said he would -speak about me to Sir Charles Staveley, one of the commanders in the -impending “war,†so that I might have facilities for seeing the -interesting movements. He hoped that, if I saw the manÅ“uvres, I would -“give the British soldiers a turn,†which I did with alacrity. I sent -some of the sketches to Manchester and to my old friend the “Dudley.†-One of them, “Soldiers Watering Horses,†found a purchaser in a Mr. -Galloway, of Manchester, who asked through an agent if I would paint him -an oil picture. I said “Yes,†and in time painted him “The Roll Call.†-Meanwhile, in the spring of 1873, I sent my first really large war -picture in oils to the Academy. It was accepted, but “skyed,†well -noticed in the Press and, to my great delight, sold. The subject was, of -course, from the war which was still uppermost in our thoughts: a -wounded French colonel (for whom my father sat), riding a spent horse, -and a young subaltern of Cuirassiers, walking alongside (studied from a -young Irish officer friend), “missing†after one of the French defeats, -making their way over a forlorn landscape. The Cameron Highlanders were -quartered at Parkhurst, near Ventnor, about this time, and I was able to -make a good many sketches of these splendid troops, so essentially -pictorial. I have ever since then liked to make Highlanders subjects for -my brush. - -In this same year of 1873 my sister and I, now both belonging to the old -faith, whither our mother had preceded us, joined the first pilgrimage -to leave the shores of England since the Reformation. I had arranged -with the _Graphic_ to make pen-and-ink sketches of the pilgrimage, which -was arousing an extraordinary amount of public interest. Our goal was -the primitive little town of Paray-le-Monial, deep in the heart of -France, where Margaret Mary Alacoque received our Lord’s message. I -cannot convey to my readers who are not “of us†the fresh and exultant -impressions we received on that visit. There was a mixture of religious -and national patriotism in our minds which produced feelings of the -purest happiness. The steamer that took us English pilgrims from -Newhaven to Dieppe on September 2nd flew the standard of the Sacred -Heart at the main and the Union Jack at the peak, seeming thus to -symbolise the whole character of the enterprise. Those _Graphic_ -sketches proved a very great burden to me. Nowadays one of the pilgrims -would have done all by “snapshots.†I tried to sketch as I walked in the -processions at Paray and to sing the hymn at the same time. There was -hardly a moment’s rest for us, except for a few intervals of sleep. The -long ceremonies and prescribed devotions, the processions, the stirring -hymns and the journey there and back, all crowded into a week from start -to finish, called for all one’s strength. But how joyfully given! - -I can never forget the hearty, well-mannered welcome the French gave us, -lay and clerical. The place itself was lovely and the weather kind. It -is good to have had such an experience as this in our weary world. The -Bishop of Salford, the future Cardinal Vaughan, led us, and our clergy -mustered in great force. The dear French people never showed so well as -during their welcome of us. It suited their courteous and hospitable -natures. Most of our hosts were peasants and owners of little -picturesque shops in this jewel of a little town. We two were billeted -at a shoemaker’s. The urbanity of the French clergy in receiving our own -may be imagined. I love to think back on the truly beautiful sights and -sounds of Paray, with the dominant note of the church bells vibrating -over all. They gave us a graceful send-off, pleased to have the -assurance of our approval of our reception. Many compliments on our -_solide piété_, with regrets as to their own “_légèreté_,†and so forth. -“_Vive l’Angleterre!_†“_Vive la France!_†“_Adieu!_†- - - - -CHAPTER VIII - -“THE ROLL CALL†- - -I had quite a large number of commissions for military water-colours to -get through on my return home, and an oil of French artillery on the -march to paint, in my little glass studio under St. Boniface Down. But -after my not inconsiderable success with “Missing†at the Academy, I -became more and more convinced that a London studio _must_ be my destiny -for the coming winter. Of course, my father demurred. He couldn’t bear -to part with me. Still, it must be done, and to London I went, with his -sad consent. I had long been turning “The Roll Call†in my mind. My -father shook his head; the Crimea was “forgotten.†My mother rather -shivered at the idea of the snow. It was no use; they saw I was bent on -that subject. My dear mother and our devoted family doctor in London -(Dr. Pollard[4]), who would do anything in his power to help me, between -them got me the studio, No. 76, Fulham Road, where I painted the picture -which brought me such utterly unexpected celebrity. - -Mr. Burchett, still headmaster at South Kensington, was delighted to see -me with all the necessary facilities for carrying out my work, and he -sent me the best models in London, nearly all ex-soldiers. One in -particular, who had been in the Crimea, was invaluable. He stood for -the sergeant who calls the roll. I engaged my models for five hours each -day, but often asked them to give me an extra half-hour. Towards the -end, as always happens, I had to put on pressure, and had them for six -hours. My preliminary expeditions for the old uniforms of the Crimean -epoch were directed by my kind Dr. Pollard, who rooted about Chelsea -back streets to find what I required among the Jews. One, Mr. Abrahams, -found me a good customer. I say in my Diary: - -“Dr. Pollard and I had a delightful time at Mr. Abrahams’ dingy little -pawnshop in a hideous Chelsea slum, and, indeed, I enjoyed it _far_ more -than I should have enjoyed the same length of time at a West End -milliner’s. I got nearly all the old accoutrements I had so much longed -for, and in the evening my Jew turned up at Dr. Pollard’s after a long -tramp in the city for more accoutrements, helmets, coatees, haversacks, -etc., and I sallied forth with the ‘Ole Clo!’ in the rain to my boarding -house under our mutual umbrella, and he under his great bag as well. We -chatted about the trade ‘_chemin faisant_.’†- -[Illustration: CRIMEAN IDEAS.] - -I called Saturday, December 13th, 1873, a “red-letter day,†for I then -began my picture at the London studio. Having made a little water-colour -sketch previously, very carefully, of every attitude of the figures, I -had none of those alterations to make in the course of my work which -waste so much time. Each figure was drawn in first without the great -coat, my models posing in a tight “shell jacket,†so as to get the -figure well drawn first. How easily then could the thick, less shapely -great coat be painted on the well-secured foundation. No matter how its -heavy folds, the cross-belts, haversacks, water-bottles, and -everything else broke the lines, they were there, safe and sound, -underneath. An artist remarked, “What an absurdly easy picture!†Yes, no -doubt it was, but it was all the more so owing to the care taken at the -beginning. This may be useful to young painters, though, really, it -seems to me just now that sound drawing is at a discount. It will come -by its own again. Some people might say I was too anxious to be correct -in minor military details, but I feared making the least mistake in -these technical matters, and gave myself some unnecessary trouble. For -instance, on one of my last days at the picture I became anxious as to -the correct letters that should appear stamped on the Guards’ -haversacks. I sought professional advice. Dr. Pollard sent me the beery -old Crimean pensioner who used to stand at the Museum gate wearing a -gold-laced hat, to answer my urgent inquiry as to this matter. Up comes -the puffing old gentleman, redolent of rum. I, full of expectation, ask -him the question: “What should the letters be?†“B. O.!†he roars -out--“Board of Ordnance!†Then, after a congested stare, he calls out, -correcting himself, “W. D.--War Deportment!†“Oh!†I say, faintly, “War -Department; thank you.†Then he mixes up the two together and roars, “W. -O.!†And that was all I got. He mopped his rubicund face and, to my -relief, stumped away down my stairs. Another Crimean hero came to tell -me whether I was right in having put a grenade on the pouches. “Well, -miss, the natural _hinference_ would be that it _was_ a grenade, but it -was something like my ‘and.†Desperation! I got the thing “like his -hand†just in time to put it in before “The Roll Call†left--a brass -badge lent me by the War Office--and obliterated the much more -effective grenade. - -On March 29th and 30th, 1874, came my first “Studio Sunday†and Monday, -and on the Tuesday the poor old “Roll Call†was sent in. I watched the -men take it down my narrow stairs and said “_Au revoir_,†for I was -disappointed with it, and apprehensive of its rejection and speedy -return. So it always is with artists. We never feel we have fulfilled -our hopes. - -The two show days were very tiring. Somehow the studio, after church -time on the Sunday, was crowded. Good Dr. Pollard hired a “Buttons†for -me, to open the door, and busied himself with the people, and enjoyed -it. So did I, though so tired. It was “the thing†in those days to make -the round of the studios on the eve of “sending-in day.†- -Mr. Galloway’s agent came, and, to my intense relief, told me the -picture went far beyond his expectations. He had been nervous about it, -as it was through him the owner had bought it, without ever seeing it. -On receiving the agent’s report, Mr. Galloway sent me a cheque at -once--£126--being more than the hundred agreed to. The copyright was -mine. - -The days that followed felt quite strange. Not a dab with a brush, and -my time my own. It was the end of Lent, and then Easter brought such -church ceremonial as our poor little Ventnor St. Wilfrid’s could not -aspire to. A little more Diary: - -“_Saturday, April 11th._--A charming morning, for Dr. Pollard had a fine -piece of news to tell me. First, Elmore, R.A., had burst out to him -yesterday about my picture at the Academy, saying that all the -Academicians are in quite a commotion about it, and Elmore wants to -make my acquaintance very much. He told Dr. P. I might get £500 for ‘The -Roll Call’! I little expected to have such early and gratifying news of -the picture which I sent in with such forebodings. After Dr. P. had -delivered this broadside of Elmore’s compliments he brought the -following battery of heavy guns to bear upon me which compelled me to -sink into a chair. It is a note from Herbert, R.A., in answer to a few -lines which kind Father Bagshawe had volunteered to write to him, as a -friend, to ask him, as one of the Selecting Committee, just simply to -let me know, as soon as convenient, whether my picture was accepted or -rejected. The note is as follows: - - ‘DEAR MISS THOMPSON,--I have just received a note from Father - Bagshawe of the Oratory in which he wished me to address a few - lines to you on the subject of your picture in the R.A. To tell the - truth I desired to do so a day or two since but did not for two - reasons: the first being that as a custom the doings of the R.A. - are for a time kept secret; the second that I felt I was a stranger - to you and you would hear what I wished to say from some - friend--but Father Bagshawe’s note, and the decision being over, I - may tell you with what pleasure I greeted the picture and the - painter of it when it came before us for judgment. It was simply - this: I was so struck by the excellent work in it that I proposed - we should lift our hats and give it and you, though, as I thought, - unknown to me, a round of huzzahs, which was generally done. You - now know my feeling with regard to your work, and may be sure that - I shall do everything as one of the hangers that it shall be - _perfectly seen_ on our walls. - - I am tired and hurried, and ask you to excuse this very hasty note, - but _accept my hearty congratulations_, and - - Believe me to be, dear Miss Thompson, - - Most faithfully yours, - - J. R. HERBERT.’ - -I trotted off at once to show Father Bagshawe the note, and then left -for home with my brilliant news.†- -While at home at Ventnor I received from many sources most extraordinary -rumours of the stir the picture was making in London amongst those who -were behind the scenes. How it was “the talk of the clubs†and spoken of -as the “coming picture of the year,†“the hit of the season,†and all -that kind of thing. Friends wrote to me to give me this pleasant news -from different quarters. Ventnor society rejoiced most kindly. I went to -London to what I call in the Diary “the scene of my possible triumphs,†-having taken rooms at a boarding house. I had better let the Diary -speak: - -“_‘Varnishing Day,’ Tuesday, April 28th._--My real feelings as, laden -like last year, with palette, brushes and paint box, I ascended the -great staircase, all alone, though meeting and being overtaken by -hurrying men similarly equipped to myself, were not happy ones. Before -reaching the top stairs I sighed to myself, ‘After all your working -extra hours through the winter, what has it been for? That you may have -a cause of mortification in having an unsatisfactory picture on the -Academy walls for people to stare at.’ I tried to feel indifferent, but -had not to make the effort for long, for I soon espied my dark battalion -in Room _II. on the line_, with a knot of artists before it. Then began -my ovation (!) (which, meaning a second-class triumph, is _not_ quite -the word). I never expected anything so perfectly satisfactory and so -like the realisation of a castle in the air as the events of this day. -It would be impossible to say all that was said to me by the swells. -Millais, R.A., talked and talked, so did Calderon, R.A., and Val -Prinsep, asking me questions as to where I studied, and praising this -figure and that. Herbert, R.A., hung about me all day, and introduced -me to his two sons. Du Maurier told me how highly Tom Taylor had spoken -to him of the picture. Mr. S., our Roman friend, cleaned the picture for -me beautifully, insisting on doing so lest I should spoil my new -velveteen frock. At lunchtime I returned to the boarding house to fetch -a sketch of a better Russian helmet I had done at Ventnor, to replace -the bad one I had been obliged to put in the foreground from a Prussian -one for want of a better. I sent a gleeful telegram home to say the -picture was on the line. I could hardly do the little helmet alterations -necessary, so crowded was I by congratulating and questioning artists -and starers. I by no means disliked it all. Delightful is it to be an -object of interest to so many people. I am sure I cannot have looked -very glum that day. In the most distant rooms people steered towards me -to felicitate me most cordially. ‘Only send as _good_ a picture next -year’ was Millais’ answer to my expressed hope that next year I should -do better. This was after overhearing Mr. C. tell me I might be elected -A.R.A. if I kept up to the mark next year. O’Neil, R.A., seemed rather -to deprecate all the applause I had to-day and, shaking his head, warned -me of the dangers of sudden popularity. I know all about _that_, I -think. - -“_Thursday, April 30th._--The Royalties’ private view. The Prince of -Wales wants ‘The Roll Call.’ It is not mine to let him have, and -Galloway won’t give it up. - -“_Friday, May 1st._--The to-me-glorious private view of 1874. I insert -here my letter to Papa about it: - - ‘DEAREST ----, I feel as though I were undertaking a really - difficult work in attempting to describe to you the events of this - most memorable day. I don’t suppose I ever can have another such - day, because, however great my future successes may be, they can - never partake of the character of this one. It is my first great - success. As Tom Taylor told me to-day, I have suddenly burst into - fame, and this _first time_ can never come again. It has a - character peculiar to all _first things_ and to them alone. You - know that “the _élite_ of London society†goes to the Private View. - Well, the greater part of the _élite_ have been presented to me - this day, all with the same hearty words of congratulation on their - lips and the same warm shake of the hand ready to follow the - introductory bow. I was not at all disconcerted by all these - bigwigs. The Duke of Westminster invited me to come and see the - pictures at Grosvenor House, and the old Duchess of Beaufort was so - delighted with “The Roll Call†that she asked me to tell her the - history of each soldier, which I did, the knot of people which, by - the bye, is always before the picture swelling into a little crowd - to see me and, if possible, catch what I was saying. Galloway’s - tall figure was almost a fixture near the painting. That poor man, - he was sadly distracted about this Prince of Wales affair, but the - last I heard from him was that he _couldn’t_ part with it. - - Some one at the Academy offered him £1,000 for it, and T. Agnew - told him he would give him anything he asked, but he refused those - offers without a moment’s hesitation. He has telegraphed to his - wife at Manchester, as he says women can decide so much better than - men on the spur of the moment. The Prince gives him till the dinner - to-morrow to make up his mind. The Duchess of Beaufort introduced - Lord Raglan’s daughters to me, who were pleased with the interest I - took in their father. Old Kinglake was also introduced, and we had - a comparatively long talk in that huge assembly where you are - perpetually interrupted in your conversation by fresh arrivals of - friends or new introductions. Do you remember joking with me, when - I was a child, about the exaggerations of popularity? How strange - it felt to-day to be realizing, in actual experience, what you - warned me of, in fun, when looking at my drawings. You need not be - afraid that I shall forget. What I _do_ feel is great pleasure at - having “arrived,†at last. The great banker Bunbury has invited me - and a friend to the ball at the Goldsmiths’ Hall on Wednesday - night. He is one of the wardens. Oh! if you could only come up in - time to take me. Col. Lloyd Lindsay, of Alma fame, and his wife - were wild to have “The Roll Call.†She shyly told me she had cried - before the picture. But, for enthusiasm, William Agnew beat them - all. He came up to be introduced, and spoke in such expressions of - admiration that his voice positively shook, and he said that, - having missed purchasing this work, he would feel “proud and happy†- if I would paint him one, the time, subject and price, whatever it - might be, being left entirely to me. Sir Richard Airey, the man who - wrote the fatally misconstrued order on his holster and handed it - to Nolan on the 25th October, 1854, was very cordial, and showed - that he took a keen pleasure in the picture. I told him I valued a - Crimean man’s praise more than anybody else’s, and I repeated the - observation later to old Sir William Codrington under similar - circumstances, and to other Crimean officers. One of them, whose - father was killed at the assault on the Redan, pressed me very hard - to consent to paint him two Crimean subjects, but I cannot promise - anything more till I have worked out my already too numerous - commissions, old ones, at the horrible old prices. - - Sir Henry Thompson, a great surgeon, I understand, was very polite, - and introduced his little daughter who paints. Lady Salisbury had a - long chat with me and showed a great intelligence on art matters. - Many others were introduced, or I to them, but most of them exist - as ghosts in my memory. I have forgotten some of their names and, - as some only wrote their addresses on my catalogue, I don’t know - who is who. The others gave me their cards, so that is all right. - Horsley, R.A., is such a genial, hearty sort of man. He says he - shouldn’t wonder if my name was mentioned in the Royal speeches at - the dinner. Lady Somebody introduced me to Miss Florence - Nightingale’s sister, who wanted to know if there was any - possibility of my “most kindly†letting the picture be taken, at - the close of the exhibition, to her poor sister to see. Miss - Nightingale, you know, is now bedridden. Now I must stop. More - to-morrow....’ - -I remember how on the following Sunday my good friend Dr. Pollard, who -lived close to my boarding house, waylaid me on my way to mass at the -Oratory, and from his front garden called me in stentorian tones, waving -the _Observer_ over his head. On crossing over I learnt of the speeches -of the Prince of Wales and the Duke of Cambridge at the Academy banquet -the evening before, in which most surprising words were uttered about me -and the picture. - -“_Monday, May 4th_.--The opening day of the Royal Academy. A dense crowd -before my grenadiers. I fear that fully half of that crowd have been -sent there by the royal speeches on Saturday. I may say that I awoke -this morning and found myself famous. Great fun at the Academy, where -were some of my dear fellow students rejoicing in the fulfilment of -their prophecies in the old days. Overwhelmed with congratulations on -all sides; and as to the papers, it is impossible to copy their -magnificent critiques, from _The Times_ downwards. - -“_Wednesday, May 6th_.--The Queen had my picture abstracted from the -R.A. last night to gaze at, at Buckingham Palace! It is now, of course, -in its place again. Went with Papa to the brilliant Goldsmiths’ Ball, -where I danced. I was a bit of a lion there, or shall I say lioness? Sir -William Ferguson was introduced to me; and he, in his turn, introduced -his daughter and drank to my further success at the supper. Sir F. -Chapman also was presented, and expressed his astonishment at the -accuracy of the military details in my picture. He is a Crimean man. The -King of the Goldsmiths was brought up to me to express his thanks at my -‘honouring’ their ball with my presence. The engravers are already at me -to buy the copyright, but my dear counsellor and friend, Seymour Haden, -says I am to accept nothing short of £1,000, and get still more if I -can! - -“_May 10th_.--The Dowager Lady Westmoreland, who is about 80, and who -has lost pleasure in seeing new faces, when she heard of my Crimean -picture, expressed a great wish to see me, and to-day I went to dine at -her house, meeting there the present earl and countess, an old Waterloo -lord, and Henry Weigall and his wife, Lady Rose. The dear old lady was -so sweet. She was the Duke of Wellington’s favourite niece, and his -Grace’s portraits deck the walls of more than one room. Her pleasure was -in talking of the Florence of the old pre-Austrian days, where she lived -sixteen years, but my great pleasure was talking with the earl and the -Waterloo lord, who were most loquacious. Lord Westmoreland was on Lord -Raglan’s staff in the Crimea. - -“_May 11th_.--Received cheque for the ‘San Pietro in Vincoli’ and -‘Children of St. Francis.’ My popularity has _levered_ those two poor -little pictures off. Messrs. Dickinson & Co. have bought my copyright -for £1,200!!!†- -There follows a good deal in the Diary concerning the trouble with Mr. -Galloway, who made hard conditions regarding his ceding “The Roll Call†-to the Queen, who wished to have it. He felt he was bound to let it go -to his Sovereign, but only on condition that I should paint him my next -Academy picture for the same price as he had given for the one he was -ceding, and that the Queen should sign with her own hand six of the -artist’s proofs when the engraving of her picture came out. I had set my -heart on painting the 28th Regiment in square receiving the last charge -of the French Cuirassiers at Quatre Bras, but as that picture would -necessitate far more work than “The Roll Call,†I could not paint it for -that little £126--so very puny now! So I most reluctantly suggested a -subject I had long had _in petto_, “The Dawn of Sedan,†French -Cuirassiers watching by their horses in the historic fog of that -fateful morning--a very simple composition. To cut a very long story -short, he finally consented to have “Quatre Bras†at my own price, -£1,126, the copyright remaining his. All this talk went on for a long -time, and meanwhile, all through the London society doings, I made oil -studies of all the grey horses for “Sedan.†The General Omnibus Company -sent me all shades of grey _percherons_ for this purpose. I also made -life-size oil studies of hands for “Quatre Bras,†where hands were to be -very strong points, gripping “Brown Besses.†So I took time by the -forelock for either subject. I was very fortunate in having the help of -wise business heads to grapple with the business part of my work, for I -have not been favoured that way myself. - -There is no mention in the Diary of the policeman who, a few days after -the opening of the Academy, had to be posted, poor hot man, in my corner -to keep the crowd from too closely approaching the picture and to ask -the people to “move on.†That policeman was there instead of the brass -bar which, as a child, I had pleased myself by imagining in front of one -of my works, _à la_ Frith’s “Derby Day.†The R.A.’s told me the bar -created so much jealousy, when used, that it had been decided never to -use it again. But I think a live policeman quite as much calculated to -produce the undesirable result. I learnt later that his services were -quite as necessary for the protection of two lovely little pictures of -Leighton’s, past which the people _scraped_ to get at mine, they being, -unfortunately, hung at right angles to mine in its corner. What an -unfortunate arrangement of the hangers! Horsley told me that they went -every evening after the closing, with a lantern, to see if the two gems -had been scratched. They were never seen. I wonder if Leighton had any -feelings of dislike towards “that girl.†She who in her ‘teens records -her prostrations of worship before his earlier works, ere he became so -coldly classical. - -It is a curious condition of the mind between gratitude for the -appreciation of one’s work by those who know, and the uncomfortable -sense of an exaggerated popularity with the crowd. The exaggeration is -unavoidable, and, no doubt, passes, but the fact that counts is the -power of touching the people’s heart, an “organ†which remains the same -through all the changing fashions in art. I remember an argument I once -had with Alma Tadema on this matter of touching the heart. He laughed at -me, and didn’t believe in it at all. - -“_Tuesday, May 12th._--Mr. Charles Manning and his wife have been so -very nice to me, and this morning Mrs. M. bore me off to be presented to -His Grace of Westminster, with whom I had a long interview. What a face! -all spirit and no flesh. After that, to the School of Art Needlework to -meet Lady Marion Alford and other Catholic ladies. I ordered there a -pretty screen for my studio on the strength of my £1,200! Thence I -proceeded on a round of calls, going first to the Desanges, where I -lunched. There they told me the Prince of Wales was coming at four -o’clock to see the Ashanti picture Desanges is just finishing. They -begged me to come back a little before then, so as to be ready to be -presented when the moment should arrive. I returned accordingly, and -found the place crowded with people who had come to see the picture. As -soon as H.R.H. was announced, all the people were sent below to the -drawing-room and kept under hatches until Royalty should take its -departure; but I alone was to remain in the back studio, to be handy. -All this was much against my will, as I hate being thrust forward. But, -as it turned out, there was no thrusting forward on this occasion, and -all was very nice and natural. The Prince soon came in to where I was, -Mr. Desanges saying ‘Here she is’ in answer to a question. His first -remark to me was, of course, about the picture, saying he had hoped to -be its possessor, etc., etc., and he asked me how I had got the correct -details for the uniforms, and so on, having quite a little chat. He -spoke very frankly, and has a most clear, audible voice.†- -Of course, the photographers began bothering. The idea of my portraits -being published in the shop windows was repugnant to me. Nowadays one is -snapshotted whether one likes it or not, but it wasn’t so bad in those -days; one’s own consent was asked, at any rate. I refused. However, it -had to come to that at last. My grandfather simply walked into the shop -of the first people that had asked me, in Regent Street, and calmly made -the appointment. I was so cross on being dragged there that the result -was as I expected--a rather harassed and coerced young woman, and the -worst of it was that this particular photograph was the one most widely -published. Indeed, one of my Aunts, passing along a street in Chelsea, -was astonished to see her rueful niece on a costermonger’s barrow -amongst some bananas! - - - - -CHAPTER IX - -ECHOES OF “THE ROLL CALL†- - -On May 14th I lunched at Lady Raglan’s. Kinglake was there to meet me, -and we talked Crimea. I had read and re-read his much too prolix -history, which I thought overburdened with detail, giving one an -impression of the two Balaclava charges as lasting hours rather than -minutes. But I had learnt much that was of the utmost value from this -very superabundance of detail. Then on the next day I rose early, and -was off by seven with the Horsleys to Aldershot at the invitation of Sir -Hope Grant, of Indian celebrity, commanding, who travelled down with us. -“Lady Grant received us at the house, where we found a nice breakfast, -and where I got dried, being drenched by a torrential downpour. Would -that it had continued longer, if only to lay the hideous sand in the -Long Valley, which made the field day something very like a fiasco. I -tried to sketch, but my book was nearly blown out of my hand, my -umbrella was turned inside out and my arms benumbed by the cold. M., -most luckily, was on the field, and Mrs. Horsley and I were soon -comfortably ensconced in his hansom cab and trying to feel more -comfortable and jolly. When the sham fight began we had to keep shifting -our standpoint, and Mrs. H. and I had repeatedly to jump out of the -hansom, as we were threatened by an upset every minute over those -sandhills. As to the two charges of cavalry, which Sir Hope had on -purpose for me, I could hardly see them, what with the dust storms half -swallowing them up in dense dun-coloured sheets and my eyes being full -of sand. However, I made the most of the situation, and hope I have got -some good hints. I ought to have so much of this sort of thing, and hope -to now, with all those ‘friends in court!’ When the march past began Sir -Hope sent to ask me if I would like to stand by his charger at the -saluting base, which I did, and saw, of course, beautifully. I felt -extraordinarily situated, standing there, half liking and half not -liking the situation, with an enormous mounted staff of utterly unknown, -gorgeous officers curvetting and jingling behind me and the general. As -one regiment passed, marching, as I thought, just as splendidly as the -others, I heard Sir Hope snap at them ‘Very bad, very bad. Don’t, -don’t!’ And I felt for them so much, trusting they didn’t see me or mind -my having heard.†- -Three days later, at a charming lunch at Lady Herbert’s, I met her son, -Lord Pembroke, and Dr. Kingsley, Charles’s brother--“The Earl and the -Doctor.†It was interesting to see the originals of the title they gave -their book. The next day people came to the Academy to find, in place of -“The Roll Call,†a placard--“This picture has been temporarily removed -by command of Her Majesty.†She had it taken to Windsor to look at -before her departure for Scotland, and to show to the Czar, who was on a -visit. - -Calderon, the R.A., whom I met that evening, told me the Academy had -never been receiving so many daily shillings before, and that it ought -to present me with a diamond necklace. And so forth, and so forth--all -noted in the faithful Diary, wherein many extravagances of the moment in -my regard are safely tucked away. Two days later I see: “_May -20th._--The Woolwich review was quite glorious. I went with Lady -Herbert, the Lane Foxes, Lord Denbigh and Capt. Slade. We posted there -and back with two jolly greys and a postboy in a sky-blue jacket. This -was quite after my own heart. Lord Denbigh talked art and war all the -way, interesting me beyond expression. We were in the forefront of -everything on arrival, next the Saluting Point, round which were grouped -the most brilliant sons of Mars I ever saw gathered together, and of -various nations. The Czar Alexander II. headed these, flanked by my two -friends, the Prince of Wales and the Duke of Cambridge. The artillery -manÅ“uvres were effective, and I sketched as much as I could, getting -up on the box, Lord Denbigh holding my parasol over my head, as the sun -was strong. I suppose people like spoiling me just now, or _trying_ to.†- -Then, two days later, I note that I dined at Lady Rose Weigall’s, my -left-hand neighbour at table the Archbishop of York, Dr. Thomson, who -took in the hostess. He and I seem to have talked an immense deal about -all sorts of things. He confided to me that his private opinion was that -the Irish Church should never have been disestablished. In the course of -further conversation I thought it better to let him know I was a -Catholic by a passing remark. I said I thought the Neapolitans did not -make such solid Catholics as the English. He stared, none too pleased! -The next night I met at the Westmorelands’, at dinner, Lord George -Paget, Colonel Kingscote, and Henry Weigall, my host of the previous -evening. Lord George was drawn out during dinner about Balaclava, and I -listened to his loud cavalry soldier’s talk with the keenest interest. -He protested that we were making him say too much, but we were -insatiable. Lord George was a man I had tried to picture; he was almost -the last to ride back from the light cavalry charge. His manner and -speech were _soldatesque_, his expressions requiring at times a “saving -your presence†to the ladies, as a prefix. For me time flew in listening -to this interesting Balaclava hero, and it was very late when I made up -my mind to go, a wiser but by no means a sadder girl. - -At a dinner at Lady Georgiana Fullerton’s my sister and I met Aubrey de -Vere, who delighted Alice with his conversation. The general company, -however, seem to have chiefly amused themselves with the long and, on -the whole, silly controversy which was appearing in _The Times_ -regarding the sequence of the horse’s steps as he walks. It began by my -horse’s walk in “The Roll Call†having been criticised by those who held -to the old conventional idea. How many hours I had moved alongside -horses to see for myself exactly how a horse puts his feet down in the -walk! I had told many people to go down on all fours themselves and -walk, noting the sequence with their own hands and knees, which was sure -to be correct instinctively. At this same dinner Lady Lothian told me -she had followed my advice, and the idea of that sedate _grande dame_, -with grey hair combed under a white lace cap, pacing round her room on -all fours I thought delightful. Since those days I have been vindicated -by the snap-shot. - -I find many Diary pages chiefly devoted to preparations for “Quatre -Bras†and the doing of several pen-and-ink reminiscences of what I had -seen at Woolwich and Aldershot, and exhibited at the “Dudley.†Some were -bought by the picture dealer Gambart, and some by Agnew. One of those -pen-and-inks was the “Halt!â€--those Scots Greys I only half saw through -the dust storm at Aldershot pulling up in the midst of a tremendous -charge, very close to us. Gambart had come to my studio to see if he -could get anything, and when I told him of this “Halt!†which I had just -sent to the “Dudley,†he there and then wrote me a cheque for it, -without seeing it. When he went there to claim it, behold! it had -already been sold, before the opening. He was very angry, and threatened -law against the “Dudley†for what he called “skimming†the show before -the public got a chance. But the possessor was, like Mr. Galloway, a -_Maanchester maan_, and these are very firm on what they call “our -rights.†It was no use. I had to make Gambart a compensation drawing. -This introduces Mr. Whitehead, for whom I was to paint “Balaclava.†He -had the “Halt!†tight. - -On Corpus Christi Day that year Alice and I, having received our -invitations from the Bishop of Salford, of happy pilgrimage memory, to -join in the services and procession in honour of the Blessed Sacrament -at the Missionary College, Mill Hill, we went thither that glorious -midsummer day. At page 127 of the Diary I have put down certain -sentiments about the practice of the Catholic faith in England, and I -express a longing to see the Host carried through English fields. I -little thought in one year to see my hope realised; yet so it was at -Mill Hill. After vespers in the little church, the procession was -formed, and I shall long remember the choristers, in their purple -cassocks, passing along a field of golden buttercups and the white and -gold banners at the head of the procession floating out against a -typical English sky as their bearers passed over a little hillock which -commands a lovely view of the rich landscape. The bishop bore the Host, -and six favoured men held the canopy. Franciscan nuns in the procession -sang the hymns. - -The early days of that July had their pleasant festivities, such as a -dinner, with Alice, at Lady Londonderry’s (she who was our mother’s -godmother on the occasion of her reception into the Catholic Church) and -the Academy _soirée_, where Mrs. Tait invited me and Dr. Pollard to a -large garden party at Lambeth Palace. There I note: “The Royalties were -in full force, the _Waleses_, as I have heard the Prince and Princess -called, and many others. It was amusing and very pleasant in the -gardens, though provokingly windy. I had a curiously uncomfortable and -oppressed feeling, though, in that headquarters of the--what shall I -call it?--Opposition? The Archbishop and Mrs. Archbishop, particularly -Mrs., rather appalled me. But dear Dr. Pollard, that stout Protestant, -must have been very gratified.†- -On July 4th Colonel Browne, C.B., R.E., who took the keenest interest in -my “Quatre Bras,†and did all in his power to help me with the military -part of it, had a day at Chatham for me. He, Mrs. B. and daughters -called for me in the morning, and we set forth for Chatham, where some -300 men of the Royal Engineers were awaiting us on the “Lines.†Colonel -Browne had ordered them beforehand, and had them in full dress, with -knapsacks, as I desired. - -They first formed the old-fashioned four-deep square for me, and not -only that, but the beautiful parade dressing was broken and _accidenté_ -by my directions, so as to have a little more the appearance of the real -thing. They fired in sections, too, as I wished, but, unfortunately, the -wind was so strong that the smoke was whisked away in a twinkling, and -what I chiefly wished to study was unobtainable, _i.e._, masses of men -seen through smoke. After they had fired away all their ammunition, the -whole body of men were drawn up in line, and, the rear rank having been -distanced from the front rank, I, attended by Colonel Browne and a -sergeant, walked down them both, slowly, picking out here and there a -man I thought would do for a “Quatre Bras†model (beardless), and the -sergeant took down the name of each man as I pointed him out very -unobtrusively, Colonel Browne promising to have these men up at -Brompton, quartered there for the time I wanted them. So I write: “I -shall not want for soldierly faces, what with those sappers and the -Scots Fusilier Guards, of whom I am sure I can have the pick, through -Colonel Hepburn’s courtesy. After this interesting ‘choosing a model’ -was ended, we all repaired to Colonel Galway’s quarters, where we -lunched. After that I went to the guard-room to see the men I had chosen -in the morning, so as to write down their personal descriptions in my -book. Each man was marched in by the sergeant and stood at attention -with every vestige of expression discharged from his countenance whilst -I wrote down his personal peculiarities. I had chosen eight out of the -300 in the morning, but only five were brought now by the sergeant, as I -had managed to pitch upon three bad characters out of the eight, and -these could not be sent me. We spent the rest of the day very pleasantly -listening to the band, going over the museum, etc. I ought to see as -much of military life as possible, and I must go down to Aldershot as -often as I can. - -“_July 16th._--Mamma and I went to Henley-on-Thames in search of a rye -field for my ‘Quatre Bras.’ Eagerly I looked at the harvest fields as we -sped to our goal to see how advanced they were. We had a great -difficulty in finding any rye at Henley, it having all been cut, except -a little patch which we at length discovered by the direction of a -farmer. I bought a piece of it, and then immediately trampled it down -with the aid of a lot of children. Mamma and I then went to work, but, -oh! horror, my oil brushes were missing. I had left them in the chaise, -which had returned to Henley. So Mamma went frantically to work with two -slimy water-colour brushes to get down tints whilst I drew down forms in -pencil. We laughed a good deal and worked on into the darkness, two -regular ‘Pre-Raphaelite Brethren,’ to all appearances, bending over a -patch of trampled rye.†- -I seem to have felt to the utmost the exhilaration produced by the -following episode. Let the young Diary speak: “The grand and glorious -Lord Mayor’s banquet to the stars of literature and art came off to-day, -July 21st, and it was to me such a delightful thing that I felt all the -time in a pleasant sort of dream. I was mentioned in two speeches, Lord -Houghton’s (‘Monckton Milnes’) and Sir Francis Grant’s, P.R.A. As the -President spoke of me, he said his eye rested with pleasure on me at -that moment! Papa came with me. Above all the display of civic -splendour one felt the dominant spirit of hospitality in that -ever-to-me-delightful Mansion House. It was a unique thing because such -aristocrats as were there were those of merit and genius. The few lords -were only there because they represented literature, being authors. -Patti was there. She wished to have a talk with me, and went through -little Italian dramatic compliments, like Neilson. Old Cruikshank was a -strange-looking old man, a wonder to me as the illustrator of ‘Oliver -Twist’ and others of Dickens’s works--a unique genius. He said many nice -things about me to Papa. I wished the evening could have lasted a week.†- -The next entries are connected with the “Quatre Bras†cartoon: “Dreadful -misgivings about a vital point. I have made my front rank men sitting on -their heels in the kneeling position. Not so the drill book. After my -model went, most luckily came Colonel Browne. Shakes his head at the -attitudes. Will telegraph to Chatham about the heel and let me know in -the morning. - -“_July 23rd._--Colonel Browne came, and with him a smart sergeant-major, -instructor of musketry. Alas! this man and telegram from Chatham dead -against me. Sergeant says the men at Chatham must have been sitting on -their heels to rest and steady themselves. He showed me the exact -position when at the ‘ready’ to receive cavalry. To my delight I may -have him to-morrow as a model, but it is no end of a bore, this wasted -time.†- -“_July 24th._--The musketry instructor, contrary to my sad expectations, -was by no means the automaton one expects a soldier to be, but a -thoroughly intelligent model, and his attitudes combined perfect -drill-book correctness with great life and action. He was splendid. I -can feel certain of everything being right in the attitudes, and will -have no misgivings. It is extraordinary what a well-studied position -that kneeling to resist cavalry is. I dread to think what blunders I -might have committed. No civilian would have detected them, but the -military would have been down upon me. I feel, of course, rather -fettered at having to observe rules so strict and imperative concerning -the poses of my figures, which, I hope, will have much action. I have to -combine the drill book and the fierce fray! I told an artist the other -day, very seriously, that I wished to show what an English square looks -like viewed quite close at the end of two hours’ action, when about to -receive a last charge. A cool speech, seeing I have never seen the -thing! And yet I seem to have seen it--the hot, blackened faces, the set -teeth or gasping mouths, the bloodshot eyes and the mocking laughter, -the stern, cool, calculating look here and there; the unimpressionable, -dogged stare! Oh! that I could put on canvas what I have in my mind! - -“_July 25th._--A glorious day at Chatham, where again the Engineers were -put through field exercises, and I studied them with all my faculties. I -got splendid hints to-day. Went with Colonel Browne and Papa. - -“_July 28th._--My dear musketry instructor for a few more attitudes. He -has put me through the process of loading the ‘Brown Bess’--a -flint-lock--so that I shall have my soldiers handling their arms -properly. Galloway has sold the copyright of this picture to Messrs. -Dickenson for £2,000! They must have faith in my doing it well.†- -On August 11th I see I took a much-needed holiday at home, at Ventnor; -and, as I say, “gave myself up to fresh air, exercise, a little -out-of-door painting, and Napier’s ‘Peninsular War,’ in six volumes.†-Shortly before I left for home I received from Queen Victoria a very -splendid bracelet set with pearls and a large emerald. My mother and -good friend Dr. Pollard were with me in the studio when the messenger -brought it, and we formed a jubilant trio. - -It was pleasant to be amongst my old Ventnor friends who had known me -since I was little more than a child. But on September 10th I had to bid -them and the old place goodbye, and on September 11th I re-entered my -beloved studio. - -“_September 12th._--An eventful day, for my ‘Quatre Bras’ canvas was -tackled. The sergeant-major and Colonel Browne arrived. The latter, good -man, has had the whole Waterloo uniform made for me at the Government -clothing factory at Pimlico. It has been made to fit the sergeant-major, -who put on the whole thing for me to see. We had a dress rehearsal, and -very delighted I was. They have even had the coat dyed the old -‘brick-dust’ red and made of the baize cloth of those days! Times are -changed for me. It will be my fault if the picture is a fiasco.†- -During the painting of “Quatre Bras†I was elected a member of the Royal -Institute of Painters in Water Colour, and I contributed to the Winter -Exhibition that large sketch of a sowar of the 10th Bengal Lancers which -I called “Missed!†and which the _Graphic_ bought and published in -colours. This reproduction sold to such an extent that the _Graphic_ -must have been pleased! The sowar at “tent-pegging†has missed his peg -and pulls at his horse at full gallop. I had never seen tent-pegging at -that time, but I did this from description, by an Anglo-Indian officer -of the 10th, who put the thing vividly before me. How many, many -tent-peggings I have seen since, and what a number of subjects they have -given me for my brush and pencil! Those captivating and pictorial -movements of men and horses are inexhaustible in their variety. - -I had more models sent to me than I could put into the big -picture--Guardsmen, Engineers and Policemen--the latter being useful as, -in those days, the police did not wear the moustache, and I had -difficulty in finding heads suitable for the Waterloo time. Not a head -in the picture is repeated. I had a welcome opportunity of showing -varieties of types such as gave me so much pleasure in the old -Florentine days when I enjoyed the Andrea del Sartos, Masaccios, Francia -Bigios, and other works so full of characteristic heads. - -On November 7th my sister and I went for a weekend to Birmingham, where -the people who had bought “The Roll Call†copyright were exhibiting that -picture. They particularly wished me to go. We were very agreeably -entertained at Birmingham, where I was curious to meet the buyer of my -first picture sold, that “Morra†which I painted in Rome. Unfortunately -I inquired everywhere for “Mr. Glass,†and had to leave Birmingham -without seeing him and the early work. No one had heard of him! His name -was Chance, the great Birmingham _glass_ manufacturer. - -“_November 27th._--In the morning off with Dr. Pollard to Sanger’s -Circus, where arrangements had been made for me to see two horses go -through their performances of lying down, floundering on the ground, -and rearing for my ‘Quatre Bras’ foreground horses. It was a funny -experience behind the scenes, and I sketched as I followed the horses in -their movements over the arena with many members of the troupe looking -on, the young ladies with their hair in curl-papers against the -evening’s performance. I am now ripe to go to Paris.†- -So to Paris I went, with my father. We were guests of my father’s old -friends, Mr. and Mrs. Talmadge, Boulevard Haussmann, and a complete -change of scene it was. It gave my work the desired fillip and the fresh -impulse of emulation, for we visited the best studios, where I met my -most admired French painters. The Paris Diary says: - -“_December 3rd._--Our first lion was Bonnat in his studio. A little man, -strong and wiry; I didn’t care for his pictures. His colouring is -dreadful. What good light those Parisians get while we are muddling in -our smoky art centre. We next went to Gérôme, and it was an epoch in my -life when I saw him. He was at work but did not mind being interrupted. -He is a much smaller man than I expected, with wide open, quick black -eyes, yet with deep lids, the eyes opening wide only when he talks. He -talked a great deal and knew me by name and ‘_l’Appel,_’ which he -politely said he heard was ‘_digne_’ of the celebrity it had gained. We -went to see an exhibition of horrors--Carolus Duran’s productions, now -on view at the _Cercle Artistique_. The talk is all about this man, just -now the vogue. He illustrates a very disagreeable present phase of -French Art. At Goupil’s we saw De Neuville’s ‘Combat on the Roof of a -House,’ and I feasted my eyes on some pickings from the most celebrated -artists of the Continent. I am having a great treat and a great lesson. - -“_December 4th._--Had a _supposed_ great opportunity in being invited to -join a party of very _mondaines Parisiennes_ to go over the Grand Opera, -which is just being finished. Oh, the chatter of those women in the -carriage going there! They vied with each other in frivolous outpourings -which continued all the time we explored that dreadful building. It is a -pile of ostentation which oppressed me by the extravagant display of -gilding, marbles and bronze, and silver, and mosaic, and brocade, heaped -up over each other in a gorged kind of way. How truly weary I felt; and -the bedizened dressing-rooms of the actresses and _danseuses_ were the -last straw. Ugh! and all really tasteless.†- -However, I recovered from the Grand Opera, and really enjoyed the lively -dinners where conversation was not limited to couples, but flowed with -great _ésprit_ across the table and round and round. Still, in time, my -sleep suffered, for I seemed to hear those voices in the night. How -graceful were the French equivalents to the compliments I received in -London. They thought I would like to know that the fame of “_l’Appel_†-had reached Paris, and so I did. - -We visited Detaille’s beautiful studio. He was my greatest admiration at -that time. Also Henriette Browne’s and others, and, of course, the -Luxembourg, so I drew much profit from my little visit. But what a -change I saw in the army! I who could remember the Empire of my -childhood, with its endless variety of uniforms, its buglings, and -drummings, and trumpetings; its _chic_ and glitter and swagger: 1870 was -over it all now. Well, never mind, I have lived to see it in the “_bleu -d’horizon_†of a new and glorious day. My Paris Diary winds up with: -“_December 14th._--Papa and I returned home from our Paris visit. My eye -has been very much sharpened, and very severe was that organ as it -rested on my ‘Quatre Bras’ for the first time since a fortnight ago. Ye -Gods! what a deal I have to do to that picture before it will be fit to -look at! I continue to receive droll letters and poems (!). One I must -quote the opening line of: - - ‘Go on, go on, thou glorious girl!’ - -Very cheering.†- - - - -CHAPTER X - -MORE WORK AND PLAY - - -So I worked steadily at the big picture, finding the red coats very -trying. What would I have thought, when studying at Florence, if I had -been told to paint a mass of men in one colour, and that “brick-dustâ€? -However, my Aldershot observations had been of immense value in showing -me how the British red coat becomes blackish-purple here, pale salmon -colour there, and so forth, under the influence of the weather and wear -and tear. I have all the days noted down, with the amount of work done, -for future guidance, and lamentations over the fogs of that winter of -1874-5. I gave nicknames in the Diary to the figures in my picture, -which I was amused to find, later on, was also the habit of Meissonier; -one of my figures I called the “_Gamin_†and he, too, actually had a -“_Gamin_.†Those fogs retarded my work cruelly, and towards the end I -had to begin at the studio at 9.30 instead of 10, and work on till very -late. The porter at No. 76 told me mine was the first fire to be lit in -the morning of all in The Avenue. - -[Illustration: PRACTISING FOR “QUATRE BRAS.â€] - -One day the Horse Guards, directed by their surgeon, had a magnificent -black charger thrown down in the riding school at Knightsbridge (on deep -sawdust) for me to see, and get hints from, for the fallen horse in my -foreground. The riding master strapped up one of the furious animal’s -forelegs and then let him go. What a commotion before he fell! How he -plunged and snorted in clouds of dust till the final plunge, when the -riding master and a trooper threw themselves on him to keep him down -while I made a frantic sketch. “What must it be,†I ask, “when a horse -is wounded in battle, if this painless proceeding can put him into such -a state?†- -The spring of 1875 was full of experiences for me. I note that “at the -Horse Guards’ riding school a charger was again ‘put down’ for me, but -more gently this time, and without the risk, as the riding master said, -of breaking the horse’s neck, as last time. I was favoured with a -charge, two troopers riding full tilt at me and pulling up at within two -yards of where I stood, covering me with the sawdust. I stood it bravely -the _second_ time, but the first I got out of the way. With ‘Quatre -Bras’ in my head, I tried to fancy myself one of my young fellows being -charged, but I fear my expression was much too feminine and pacific.†-March 22nd gave me a long day’s tussle with the grey, bounding horse -shot in mid-career. I say: “This _is_ a teaser. I was tired out and -faint when I got home.†If that was a black day, the next was a white -one: “The sculptor, Boehm, came in, and gave me the very hints I wanted -to complete my bounding horse. Galloway also came. He says ‘Quatre Bras’ -beats ‘The Roll Call’ into a cocked hat! He gave me £500 on account. Oh! -the nice and strange feeling of easiness of mind and slackening of -speed; it is beginning to refresh me at last, and my seven months’ task -is nearly accomplished.†Another visitor was the Duke of Cambridge, who, -it appears, gave each soldier in my square a long scrutiny and showed -how well he understood the points. - -On “Studio Monday†the crowds came, so that I could do very little in -the morning. The novelty, which amused me at first, had worn off, and I -was vexed that such numbers arrived, and tried to put in a touch here -and there whenever I could. Millais’ visit, however, I record as “nice, -for he was most sincerely pleased with the picture, going over it with -great _gusto_. It is the drawing, character, and expression he most -dwells on, which is a comfort. But I must now try to improve my _tone_, -I know. And what about ‘_quality_’? To-day, Sending-in Day, Mrs. Millais -came, and told me what her husband had been saying. He considers me, she -said, an even stronger artist than Rosa Bonheur, and is greatly pleased -with my _drawing_. _That_ (the ‘drawing’) pleased me more than anything. -But I think it is a pity to make comparisons between artists. I _may_ be -equal to Rosa Bonheur in power, but how widely apart lie our courses! I -was so put out in the morning, when I arrived early to get a little -painting, to find the wretched photographers in possession. I showed my -vexation most unmistakably, and at last bundled the men out. They were -working for Messrs. Dickinson. So much of my time had been taken from me -that I was actually dabbing at the picture when the men came to take it -away; I dabbing in front and they tapping at the nails behind. How -disagreeable!†- -After doing a water colour of a Scots Grey orderly for the “Institute,†-which Agnew bought, I was free at last to take my holiday. So my Mother -and I were off to Canterbury to be present at the opening of St. -Thomas’s Church there. - -“_April 11th, Canterbury._--To Mass in the wretched barn over a stable -wherein a hen, having laid an egg, cackled all through the service. And -this has been our only church since the mission was first begun six -years ago, up till now, in the city of the great English Martyr. But -this state of things comes to an end on Tuesday.†- -This opening of St. Thomas’s Church was the first public act of Cardinal -Manning as Cardinal, and it went off most successfully. There were rows -of Bishops and Canons and Monsignori and mitred Abbots, and monks and -secular priests, all beautifully disposed in the Sanctuary. The sun -shone nearly the whole time on the Cardinal as he sat on his throne. -After Mass came the luncheon at which much cheering and laughter were -indulged in. Later on Benediction, and a visit to the Cathedral. I -rather winced when a group of men went down on their knees and kissed -the place where the blood of St. Thomas à Becket is supposed to still -stain the flags. The Anglican verger stared and did _not_ understand. - -On Varnishing Day at the Academy I was evidently not enchanted with the -position of my picture. “It is in what is called ‘the Black Hole’--the -only dark room, the light of which looks quite blue by contrast with the -golden sun-glow in the others. However, the artists seemed to think it a -most enviable position. The big picture is conspicuous, forming the -centre of the line on that wall. One academician told me that on account -of the rush there would be to see it they felt they must put it there. -This ‘Lecture Room’ I don’t think was originally meant for pictures and -acts on the principle of a lobster pot. You may go round and round the -galleries and never find your way into it! I had the gratification of -being told by R.A. after R.A. that my picture was in some respects an -advance on last year’s, and I was much congratulated on having done what -was generally believed more than doubtful--that is, sending any -important picture this year with the load and responsibility of my -‘almost overwhelming success,’ as they called it, of last year on my -mind. And that I should send such a difficult one, with so much more in -it than the other, they all consider ‘very plucky.’ I was not very happy -myself, although I know ‘Quatre Bras’ to be to ‘The Roll Call’ as a -mountain to a hill. However, it was all very gratifying, and I stayed -there to the end. My picture was crowded, and I could see how it was -being pulled to pieces and unmercifully criticised. I returned to the -studio, where I found a champagne lunch spread and a family gathering -awaiting me, all anxiety as to the position of my _magnum opus_. After -that hilarious meal I sped back to the fascination of Burlington House. -I don’t think, though, that Mamma will ever forgive the R.A.’s for the -‘Black Hole.’ - -“_April 30th._--The private view, to which Papa and I went. It is very -seldom that an ‘outsider’ gets invited, but they make a pet of me at the -Academy. Again this day contrasted very soberly with the dazzling P.V. -of ‘74. There were fewer great guns, and I was not torn to pieces to be -introduced here, there, and everywhere, most of the people being the -same as last year, and knowing me already. The same _furore_ cannot be -repeated; the first time, as I said, can never be a second. Papa and I -and lots of others lunched over the way at the Penders’ in Arlington -Street, our hosts of last night, and it was all very friendly and nice, -and we returned in a body to the R.A. afterwards. I was surprised, at -the big ‘At Home’ last night, to find myself a centre again, and people -all so anxious to hear my answers to their questions. Last year I felt -all this more keenly, as it had all the fascination of novelty. This -year just the faintest atom of zest is gone. - -“_May 3rd._--To the Academy on this, the opening day. A dense, surging -multitude before my picture. The whole place was crowded so that before -‘Quatre Bras’ the jammed people numbered in dozens and the picture was -most completely and satisfactorily rendered invisible. It was chaos, for -there was no policeman, as last year, to make people move one way. They -clashed in front of that canvas and, in struggling to wriggle out, -lunged right against it. Dear little Mamma, who was there nearly all the -time of our visit, told me this, for I could not stay there as, to my -regret, I find I get recognised (I suppose from my latest photos, which -are more like me than the first horror) and the report soon spreads that -I am present. So I wander about in other rooms. I don’t know why I feel -so irritated at starers. One can have a little too much popularity. Not -one single thing in this world is without its drawbacks. I see I am in -for minute and severe criticism in the papers, which actually give me -their first notices of the R.A. The _Telegraph_ gives me its entire -article. _The Times_ leads off with me because it says ‘Quatre Bras’ -will be the picture the public will want to hear about most. It seems to -be discussed from every point of view in a way not usual with battle -pieces. But that is as it should be, for I hope my military pictures -will have moral and artistic qualities not generally thought necessary -to military _genre_. - -“_May 4th._--All of us and friends to the Academy, where we had a -lively lunch, Mamma nearly all the time in ‘my crowd,’ half delighted -with the success and half terrified at the danger the picture was in -from the eagerness of the curious multitude. I just furtively glanced -between the people, and could only see a head of a soldier at a time. A -nice notion the public must have of the _tout ensemble_ of my -production!†- -I was afloat on the London season again, sometimes with my father, or -with Dr. Pollard. My dear mother did not now go out in the evenings, -being too fatigued from her most regrettable sleeplessness. There was a -dinner or At Home nearly every day, and occasionally a dance or a ball. -At one of the latter my partner informed me that Miss Thompson was to be -there that evening. All this was fun for the time. At a crowded -afternoon At Home at the Campanas’, where all the singers from the opera -were herded, and nearly cracked the too-narrow walls of those tiny rooms -by the concussion of the sound issuing from their wonderful throats, I -met Salvini. “Having his ‘Otello,’ which we saw the other night, fresh -in my mind, I tried to _enthuse_ about it to him, but became so -tongue-tied with nervousness that I could only feebly say _‘Quasi, quasi -piangevo!’ ‘O! non bisogna piangere,’_ poor Salvini kindly answered. To -tell him I nearly cried! To tell the truth, I was much too painfully -impressed by the terrific realism of the murder of Desdemona and of -Othello’s suicide to _cry_. I have been told that, when Othello is -chasing Desdemona round the room and finally catches her for the murder, -women in the audience have been known to cry out ‘Don’t!’ And I told him -I _nearly_ cried! Ugh!†- -After this I went to Great Marlow for fresh air with my mother, and -worked up an oil picture of a scout of the 3rd Dragoon Guards whom I saw -at Aldershot, getting the landscape at Marlow. It has since been -engraved. - -By the middle of June I was at work in the studio once more. The -evenings brought their diversions. Under Mrs. Owen Lewis’s chaperonage I -went to Lady Petre’s At Home one evening, where 600 guests were -assembled “to meet H.E. the Cardinal.â€[5] I record that “I enjoyed it -very much, though people did nothing but talk at the top of their voices -as they wriggled about in the dense crowd which they helped to swell. -They say it is a characteristic of these Catholic parties that the talk -is so loud, as everybody knows everybody intimately! I met many people I -knew, and my dear chaperon introduced lots of people to me. I had a -longish talk with H.E., who scolded me, half seriously, for not having -come to see him. I was aware of an extra interest in me in those -orthodox rooms, and was much amused at an enthusiastic woman asking, -repeatedly, whether I was there. These fleeting experiences instruct one -as they fly. Now I know what it feels like to be ‘the fashion.’†Other -festivities have their record: “I went to a very nice garden party at -the house of the great engineer, Mr. Fowler, where the usual sort of -thing concerning me went on--introductions of ‘grateful’ people in large -numbers who, most of them, poured out their heartfelt(!) feelings about -me and my work. I can stand a surprising amount of this, and am by no -means _blasée_ yet. Mr. Fowler has a very choice collection of modern -pictures, which I much enjoyed.†Again: “The dinner at the Millais’ was -nice, but its great attraction was Heilbuth’s being there, one of my -greatest admirations as regards his particular line--characteristic -scenes of Roman ecclesiastical life such as I so much enjoyed in Rome. I -told Millais I had had Heilbuth’s photograph in my album for years. ‘Do -you hear that, Heilbuth?’ he shouted. To my disgust he was portioned off -to some one else to go in to dinner, but I had de Nittis, a very clever -Neapolitan artist, and, what with him and Heilbuth and Hallé and Tissot, -we talked more French and Italian than English that evening. Millais was -so genial and cordial, and in seeing me into the carriage he hinted very -broadly that I was soon to have what I ‘most _t_’oroughly -deserved’--that is, my election as A.R.A. He pronounced the ‘_th_’ like -that, and with great emphasis. Was that the Jersey touch?†- -In July I saw de Neuville’s remarkable “Street Combat,†which made a -deep impression on me. I went also to see the field day at Aldershot, a -great success, with splendid weather. After the “battle,†Captain Cardew -took us over several camps, and showed us the stables and many things -which interested me greatly and gave me many ideas. The entry for July -17th says: - -“Arranging the composition for my ‘Balaclava’ in the morning, and at -1.30 came my dear hussar,[6] who has sat on his fiery chestnut for me -already, on a fine bay, for my left-hand horse in the new picture. I -have been leading such a life amongst the jarring accounts of the -Crimean men I have had in my studio to consult. Some contradict each -other flatly. When Col. C. saw my rough charcoal sketch on the wall, he -said _no_ dress caps were worn in that charge, and coolly rubbed them -off, and with a piece of charcoal put mean little forage caps on all the -heads (on the wrong side, too!), and contentedly marched out of the -door. In comes an old 17th Lancer sergeant, and I tell him what has been -done to my cartoon. ‘Well, miss,’ says he, ‘all I can tell you is that -my dress cap went into the charge and my dress cap came out of it!’ On -went the dress caps again and up went my spirits, so dashed by Col. C. -To my delight this lancer veteran has kept his very uniform--somewhat -moth-eaten, but the real original, and he will lend it to me. I can get -the splendid headdress of the 17th, the ‘Death or Glory Boys,’ of that -period at a military tailor’s.†- -The Lord Mayor’s splendid banquet to the Royal Academicians and -distinguished “outsiders†was in many respects a repetition of the last -but with the difference that the assembly was almost entirely composed -of artists. “I went with Papa, and I must say, as my name was shouted -out and we passed through the lane of people to where the Lord Mayor and -Lady Mayoress were standing to receive their guests, I felt a momentary -stroke of nervousness, for people were standing there to see who was -arriving, and every eye was upon me. I was mentioned in three or four -speeches. The Lord Mayor, looking at me, said that he was honoured to -have amongst his guests Miss Thompson (cheers), and Major Knollys -brought in ‘The Roll Call’ and ‘Quatre Bras’ amidst clamour, while Sir -Henry Cole’s allusion to my possible election as an A.R.A. was equally -well received. I felt very glad as I sat there and heard my present -work cheered; for in that hall, last year, I had still the great ordeal -to go through of painting, and painting successfully, my next picture, -and that was now a _fait accompli_.†- -A rainy July sadly hindered me from seeing as much as I had hoped to see -of the Aldershot manÅ“uvres. On one lovely day, however, Papa and I -went down in the special train with the Prince of Wales, the Duke of -Cambridge, and all the “cocked hats.†In our compartment was Lord -Dufferin, who, on hearing my name, asked to be introduced and proved a -most charming companion, and what he said about “Quatre Bras†was nice. -He was only in England on a short furlough from Canada, and did not see -my “Roll Call.†- -“At the station at Farnborough the picturesqueness began with the gay -groups of the escort, and other soldiers and general officers, all in -war trim, moving about in the sunshine, while in the background slowly -passed, heavily laden, the Army on the march to the scene of action. -Papa and I and Major Bethune took a carriage and slowly followed the -march, I standing up to see all I could. - -“We were soon overtaken by the brilliant staff, and saluted as it -flashed past by many of its gallant members, including the dashing Baron -de Grancey in his sky blue _Chasseurs d’Afrique_ uniform. Poor Lord -Dufferin in civilian dress--frock coat and tall hat--had to ride a -rough-trotting troop horse, as his own horse never turned up at the -station. A trooper was ordered to dismount, and the elegant Lord -Dufferin took his place in the black sheepskin saddle. He did all with -perfect grace, and I see him now, as he passed our carriage, lift his -hat with a smiling bow, as though he was riding the smoothest of Arabs. -The country was lovely. All the heather out and the fir woods aromatic. -In one village regiments were standing in the streets, others defiling -into woods and all sorts of artillery, ambulance, and engineer waggons -lumbering along with a dull roll very suggestive of real war. At this -village the two Army Corps separated to become enemies, the one -distinguished from the other by the men of one side wearing broad white -bands round their headdresses. This gave the wearers a rather savage -look which I much enjoyed. It made their already brown faces look still -grimmer. Of course, our driver took the wrong road and we saw nothing of -the actual battle, but distant puffs of smoke. However, I saw all the -march back to Aldershot, and really, what with the full ambulances, the -men lying exhausted (_sic_) by the roadside, or limping along, and the -cheers and songs of the dirty, begrimed troops, it was not so unlike -war. At the North Camp Sir Henry de Bathe was introduced, and Papa and I -stood by him as the troops came in.†A day or two later I was in the -Long Valley where the most splendid military spectacle was given us, -some 22,000 being paraded in the glorious sunshine and effective cloud -shadows in one of the most striking landscapes I have seen in England. -“It was very instructive to me,†I write, “to see the difference in the -appearance of the men to-day from that which they presented on Thursday. -Their very faces seemed different; clean, open and good-looking, whereas -on Thursday I wondered that British soldiers could look as they did. The -infantry in particular, on that day, seemed changed; they looked almost -savage, so distorted were their faces with powder and dirt and deep -lines caused by the glare of the sun. I was well within the limits when -I painted my 28th in square. I suppose it would not have done to be -realistic to the fullest extent. The lunch at the Welsh Fusiliers’ mess -in a tent I thought very nice. Papa came down for the day. It is very -good of him. I don’t think he approves of my being so much on my own -hook. But things can’t help being rather abnormal.†- -Here follows another fresh air holiday at my grandparents’ at Worthing -(where I rode with my grandfather), finishing up with a visit which I -shall always remember with pleasure--I ought to say gratitude--not only -for its own sake, but for all the enjoyment it obtained for me in Italy. -That August I was a guest of the Higford-Burrs at Aldermaston Court, an -Elizabethan house standing in a big Berkshire park. “I arrived just as -the company were finishing dinner. I was welcomed with open arms. Mrs. -Higford-Burr embraced me, although I have only seen her twice before, -and I was made to sit down at table in my travelling dress, positively -declining to recall dishes, hating a fuss as I do. The dessert was -pleasant because every one made me feel at home, especially Mrs. Janet -Ross, daughter of the Lady Duff Gordon whose writings had made me long -to see the Nile in my childhood. There are five lakes in the Park, and -one part is a heather-covered Common, of which I have made eight oil -sketches on my little panels, so that I have had the pleasure of working -hard and enjoying the society of most delightful people. There were -always other guests at dinner besides the house party, and the average -number who sat down was eighteen. Besides Mrs. Ross were Mr. and Mrs. -Layard, he the Nineveh explorer, and now Ambassador at Madrid, the -Poynters, R.A., the Misses Duff Gordon, and others, in the house. Mrs. -Burr with her great tact allowed me to absent myself between breakfast -and tea, taking my sandwiches and paints with me to the moor.†- -Days at Worthing followed, where my mother and I painted all day on the -Downs, I with my “Balaclava†in view, which required a valley and low -hills. My mother’s help was of great value, as I had not had much time -to practise landscape up to then. Then came my visit, with Alice, to -Newcastle, where “Quatre Bras†was being exhibited, to be followed by -our visit at Mrs. Ross’s Villa near Florence, whither she had invited us -when at Aldermaston, to see the _fêtes_ in honour of Michael Angelo. - -“We left for Newcastle by the ‘Flying Scotchman’ from King’s Cross at 10 -a.m., and had a flying shot at Peterborough and York Cathedrals, and a -fine flying view of Durham. Newcastle impressed us very much as we -thundered over the iron bridge across the Tyne and looked down on the -smoke-shrouded, red-roofed city belching forth black and brown smoke and -jets of white steam in all directions. It rises in fine masses up from -the turbid flood of the dark river, and has a lurid grandeur quite novel -to us. I could not help admiring it, though, as it were, under protest, -for it seems to me something like a sin to obscure the light of Heaven -when it is not necessary. The laws for consuming factory smoke are quite -disregarded here. Mrs. Mawson, representing the firm at whose gallery -‘Quatre Bras’ is being exhibited, was awaiting our arrival, and was to -be our hostess. We were honoured and fêted in the way of the -warm-hearted North. Nothing could have been more successful than our -visit in its way. These Northerners are most hospitable, and we are -delighted with them. They have quite a _cachet_ of their own, so -cultured and well read on the top of their intense commercialism--far -more responsive in conversation than many society people I know ‘down -South.’ We had a day at Durham under Mrs. Mawson’s wing, visiting that -finest of all English Cathedrals (to my mind), and the Bishop’s palace, -etc. We rested at the Dean’s, where, of course, I was asked for my -autograph. I already find how interested the people are about here, more -even than in other parts where I have been. Durham is a place I loved -before I saw it. The way that grand mass of Norman architecture rises -abruptly from the woods that slope sheer down to the calm river is a -unique thing. Of course, the smoky atmosphere makes architectural -ornament look shallow by dimming the deep shadows of carvings, etc.--a -great pity. On our return we took another lion _en passant_--my picture -at Newcastle, and most delighted I was to find it so well lighted. I may -say I have never seen it properly before, because it never looked so -well in my studio, and as to the Black Hole----! What people they are up -here for shaking hands! When some one is brought up to me the introducer -puts it in this way: ‘Mr. So-and-So wishes very much to have the honour -of shaking hands with you, Miss Thompson.’ There is a straight-forward -ring in their speech which I like.†- -We were up one morning at 4.30 to be off to Scotland for the day. At -Berwick the rainy weather lifted and we were delighted by the look of -the old Border town on its promontory by the broad and shining Tweed. -Passing over the long bridge, which has such a fine effect spanning the -river, we were pleased to find ourselves in a country new to us. -Edinburgh struck us very much, for we had never quite believed in it, -and thought it was “all the brag of the Scotch,†but we were converted. -It is so like a fine old Continental city--nothing reminds one of -England, and yet there is a _Scotchiness_ about it which gives it a -sentiment of its own. Our towns are, as a rule, so poorly situated, but -Edinburgh has the advantage of being built on steep hills and of being -back-grounded by great crags which give it a most majestic look. The -grey colour of the city is fine, and the houses, nearly all gabled and -very tall, are exceedingly picturesque, and none have those vile, black, -wriggling chimney pots which disfigure what sky lines our towns may -have. I was delighted to see so many women with white caps and tartan -shawls and the children barefoot; picturesque horse harness; plenty of -kilted soldiers. - -We did all the lions, including the garrison fortress where the Cameron -Highlanders were, and where Colonel Miller, of Parkhurst memory, came -out, very pleased to speak to me and escort us about. He had the water -colour I gave him of his charger, done at Parkhurst in the old Ventnor -days. Our return to Newcastle was made in glorious sunshine, and we -greedily devoured the peculiarly sweet and remote-looking scenes we -passed through. I shall long remember Newcastle at sunset on that -evening, Then, I will say, the smoke looked grand. They asked me to look -at my picture by gas light. The sixpenny crowd was there, the men -touching their caps as I passed. In the street they formed a lane for me -to pass to the carriage. “What nice people!†I exclaim in the Diary. - -All the morning of our departure I was employed in sitting for my -photograph, looking at productions of local artists and calling on the -Bishop and the Protestant Vicar. One man had carved a chair which was to -be dedicated to me. I was quaintly enthroned on it. All this was done on -our way to the station, where we lunched under dozens of eyes, and on -the platform a crowd was assembled. I read: “Several local dignitaries -were introduced and ‘shook hands,’ as also the ‘Gentlemen of the local -Press.’ As I said a few words to each the crowd saw me over the -barriers, which made me get quite hot and I was rather glad when the -train drew up and we could get into our carriage. The farewell -handshakings at the door may be imagined. We left in a cloud of waving -handkerchiefs and hats. I don’t know that I respond sufficiently to all -this. Frankly, my picture being made so much of pleases me most -satisfactorily, but the _personal_ part of the tribute makes me -curiously uncomfortable when coming in this way.†- -Ruskin wrote a pamphlet on that year’s Academy in which he told the -world that he had approached “Quatre Bras†with “iniquitous prejudice†-as being the work of a woman. He had always held that no woman could -paint, and he accounted for my work being what he found it as being that -of an Amazon. I was very pleased to see myself in the character of an -Amazon. - - - - -CHAPTER XI - -TO FLORENCE AND BACK - - -We started on our most delightful journey to Florence early in September -of that year to assist at the Michael Angelo fêtes as the guests of dear -Mrs. Janet Ross and the Marchese della Stufa, who, with Mr. Ross, -inhabited in the summer the delicious old villa of Castagnolo, at Lastra -a Signa, six miles on the Pisan side of my beloved Florence. Of course, -I give page after page in the Diary to our journey across Italy under -the Alps and the Apennines. To the modern motorist it must all sound -slow, though we did travel by rail! Above all the lovely things we saw -on our way by the Turin-Bologna line, I think Parma, rising from the -banks of a shallow river, glowing in sunshine and palpitating jewel-like -shade, holds pride of place for noontide beauty. After Modena came the -deeper loveliness of the afternoon, and then Bologna, mellowed by the -rosy tints of early evening. Then the sunset and then the tender moon. - -By moonlight we crossed the Apennines, and to the sound of the droning -summer beetle--an extraordinarily penetrating sound, which I declared -makes itself heard above the railway noises, we descended into the -Garden of Italy, slowly, under powerful brakes. At ten we reached -Florence, and in the crowd on the platform a tall, distinguished-looking -man bowed to me. “Miss Thompson?†“Yes.†It was the Marchese, and lo! -behind him, who should there be but my old master, Bellucci. What a -warm welcome they gave us. Of course, our luggage had stuck at the -_douane_ at Modane, and was telegraphed for. No help for it; we must do -without it for a day or two. We got into the carriage which was awaiting -us, and the Marchese into his little pony trap, and off we went flying -for a mysterious, dream-like drive in misty moonlight, we in front and -our host behind, jingle-jingling merrily with the pleasant monotony of -his lion-maned little pony’s canter. We could not believe the drive was -a real one. It was too much joy to be at Florence--too good to be true. -But how tired we were! - -At last we drove up to the great towered villa, an old-fashioned -Florentine ancestral place, which has been the home of the Della Stufas -for generations, and there, in the great doorway, stood Mrs. Ross, -welcoming us most cordially to “Castagnolo.†We passed through frescoed -rooms and passages, dimly lighted with oil lamps of genuine old Tuscan -patterns, and were delighted with our bedrooms--enormous, brick-paved -and airy. There we made a show of tidying ourselves, and went down to a -fruit-decked supper, though hardly able to sit up for sleep. How kind -they were to us! We felt quite at home at once. - -“_September 12th._--After Mass at the picturesque little chapel which, -with the _vicario’s_ dwelling, abuts on the _fattoria_ wing of the -villa, we drove into Florence with Mrs. Ross and the Marchese, whom we -find the typical Italian patrician of the high school. We were rigged -out in Mrs. Ross’s frocks, which didn’t fit us at all. But what was to -be done? Provoking girls! It was a dear, hot, dusty, dazzling old -Florentine drive, bless it! and we were very pleased. Florence was _en -fête_ and all _imbandierata_ and hung with the usual coloured draperies, -and all joyous with church bells and military bands. The concert in -honour of Michael Angelo (the fêtes began to-day) was held in the -Palazzo Vecchio, and very excellent music they gave us, the audience -bursting out in applause before some of the best pieces were quite -finished in that refreshingly spontaneous way Italians have. After the -concert we loitered about the piazza looking at the ever-moving and -chattering crowd in the deep, transparent shade and dazzling sunshine. -It was a glorious sight, with the white statues of the fountain rising -into the sunlight against houses hung mostly with very beautiful yellow -draperies. I stood at the top of the steps of the Loggia de’ Lanzi, and, -resting my book on the pedestal of one of the lions, I made a rough -sketch of the scene, keeping the _Graphic_ engagement in view. I -subsequently took another of the Michael Angelo procession passing the -Ponte alle Grazie on its way from Santa Croce to the new ‘Piazzale -Michel Angelo,’ which they have made since we were here before, on the -height of San Miniato. It was a pretty procession on account of the rich -banners. A day full of charming sights and melodious sounds.†- -The great doings of the last day of the fêtes were the illuminations in -the moonlit evening. They were artistically done, and we had a feast of -them, taking a long, slow drive to the piazzale by the new zigzag. -Michael Angelo was remembered at every turn, and the places he fortified -were especially marked out by lovely lights, all more or less soft and -glowing. Not a vile gas jet to be seen anywhere. The city was not -illuminated, nor was anything, with few exceptions, save the lines of -the great man’s fortifications. The old white banner of Florence, with -the _Giglio_, floated above the tricolour on the heights which Michael -Angelo defended in person. The effect, especially on the church of San -Miniato, of golden lamps making all the surfaces aglow, as if the walls -were transparent, and of the green-blue moonlight above, was a thing as -lovely as can be seen on this earth. It was a thoroughly Italian -festival. We were charmed with the people; no pushing in the crowds, -which enjoyed themselves very much. They made way for us when they saw -we were foreigners. - -We stayed at Castagnolo nearly all through the vintage, pressed from one -week to another to linger, though I made many attempts to go on account -of beginning my “Balaclava.†The fascination of Castagnolo was intense, -and we had certainly a happy experience. I sketched hard every day in -the garden, the vineyards, and the old courtyard where the most -picturesque vintage incidents occurred, with the white oxen, the wine -pressing, and the bare-legged, merry _contadini_, all in an atmosphere -scented with the fermenting grapes. Everything in the _Cortile_ was dyed -with the wine in the making. I loved to lean over the great vats and -inhale that wholesome effluence, listening to the low sea-like murmur of -the fermentation. On the days when we helped to pick the grapes on the -hillside (and “helping ourselves†at the same time) we had _collazione_ -there, a little picnic, with the indispensable guitar and post-prandial -cigarette. Every one made the most of this blessed time, as such moments -should be made the most of when they are given us, I think. Young -Italians often dined at the villa, and the evenings were spent in -singing _stornelli_ and _rispetti_ until midnight to the guitar, -every one of these young fellows having a nice voice. They were merry, -pleasant creatures. - -[Illustration: ONE OF THE BALAKLAVA SIX-HUNDRED.] - -Nothing but the stern necessity of returning to work could have kept me -from seeing the vintage out. We left most regretfully on October 4th, -taking Genoa and our dear step-sister on the way. Even as it was our -lingering in Italy made me too late, as things turned out, for the -Academy! - -October 19th has this entry: “Began my ‘Balaclava’ cartoon to-day. -Marked all the positions of the men and horses. My trip to Italy and the -glorious and happy and healthy life I have led there, and the utter -change of scene and occupation, have done me priceless good, and at last -I feel like going at this picture _con amore_. I was in hopes this happy -result would be obtained.†“Balaclava†was painted for Mr. Whitehead, of -Manchester. I had owed him a picture from the time I exhibited -“Missing.†It was to be the same size, and for the same price as that -work, and I was in honour bound to fulfil my contract! So I again -brought forward the “Dawn of Sedan,†although my prices were now so -enlarged that £80 had become quite out of proportion, even for a simple -subject like that. However, after long parleys, and on account of Mr. -Whitehead’s repudiation of the Sedan subject, it was agreed that -“Balaclava†should be his, at the new scale altogether. The Fine Art -Society (late Dickenson & Co.) gave Mr. Whitehead £3,000 for the -copyright, and engaged the great Stacpoole, as before, to execute the -engraving. - -I was very sorry that the picture was not ready for Sending-in Day at -the Academy. No doubt the fuss that was made about it, and my having -begun a month too late, put me off; but, be that as it may, I was a -good deal disturbed towards the end, and had to exhibit “Balaclava†at -the private gallery of the purchasers of the copyright in Bond Street. -This gave me more time to finish. I had my own Private View on April -20th, 1876: “The picture is disappointing to me. In vain I call to mind -all the things that judges of art have said about this being the best -thing I have yet painted. Can one _never_ be happy when the work is -done? This day was only for our friends and was no test. Still, there -was what may be called a sensation. Virginia Gabriel, the composer, was -led out of the room by her husband in tears! One officer who had been -through the charge told a friend he would never have come if he had -known how like the real thing it was. Curiously enough, another said -that after the stress of Inkermann a soldier had come up to his horse -and leant his face against it exactly as I have the man doing to the -left of my picture. - -“_April 22nd._--An enormous number of people at the Society’s Private -View and some of the morning papers blossoming out in the most beautiful -notices, ever so long, and I getting a little reassured.†A day later: -“Went to lunch at Mrs. Mitchell’s, who invited me at the Private View, -next door to Lady Raglan’s, her great friend. Two distinguished officers -were there to meet me, and we had a pleasant chat.†And this is all I -say! One of the two was Major W. F. Butler, author of “The Great Lone -Land.†- -The London season went by full of society doings. Our mother had long -been “At Home†on Wednesdays, and much good music was heard at “The -Boltons,†South Kensington. Ruskin came to see us there. He and our -mother were often of the same way of thinking on many subjects, and I -remember seeing him gently clapping his hands at many points she made. -He was displeased with me on one occasion when, on his asking me which -of the Italian masters I had especially studied, I named Andrea del -Sarto. “Come into the corner and let me scold you,†were his -disconcerting words. Why? Of course, I was crestfallen, but, all the -same, I wondered what could be the matter with Andrea’s “Cenacolo†at -San Salvi, or his frescoes at the SS. Annunziata, or his “Madonna with -St. Francis and St. John,†in the Tribune of the Uffizi. The figure of -the St. John is, to me, one of the most adorable things in art. That -gentle, manly face; that dignified pose; the exquisite modelling of the -hand, and the harmonious colours of the drapery--what _could_ be the -matter with such work? I remember, at one of the artistic London “At -Homes,†Frith, R.A., coming up to me with a long face to say, if I did -not send to the Academy, I should lose my chance of election. But I -think the difficulties of electing a woman were great, and much -discussion must have been the consequence amongst the R.A.’s. However, -as it turned out, in 1879 I lost my election by _two_ votes only! Since -then I think the door has been closed, and wisely. I returned to the -studio on May 18th, for I could not lay down the brush for any amount of -society doings. Besides, I soon had to make preparations for -“Inkermann.†- -“_Saturday, June 10th._--Saw Genl. Darby-Griffith, to get information -about Inkermann. I returned just in time to dress for the delightful -Lord Mayor’s Banquet to the Representatives of Art at the Mansion -House, a place of delightful recollections for me. Neither this year’s -nor last year’s banquet quite came up to the one of ‘The Roll Call’ year -in point of numbers and excitement, but it was most delightful and -interesting to be in that great gathering of artists and hear oneself -gracefully alluded to in The Lord Mayor’s speech and others. Marcus -Stone sat on my left, and we had really a thoroughly good conversation -all through dinner such as I have seldom embarked on, and I found, when -I tried it, that I could talk pretty well. He is a fine fellow, and -simple-minded and genuine. My _vis-à -vis_ was Alma Tadema, with his -remarkable-looking wife, like a lady out of one of his own pictures; and -many well-known heads wagged all around me. After dinner and the -speeches, Du Maurier, of _Punch_, suggested to the Lord Mayor that we -should get up a quadrille, which was instantly done, and the friskier -spirits amongst us had a nice dance. Du Maurier was my partner; and on -my left I had John Tenniel, so that I may be said to have been supported -by Punch both at the beginning and end of dinner, this being Du -Maurier’s simple and obvious joke, _vide_ the post-turtle indulgence -peculiar to civic banquets. After a waltz we laggards at last took our -departure in the best spirits.†- -I remember that in June we went to a most memorable High Mass, to wit, -the first to be celebrated in the Old Saxon Church of St. Etheldreda -since the days of the Reformation. This church was the second place of -Christian worship erected in London, if not in England, in the old Saxon -times. We were much impressed as the Gregorian Mass sounded once more in -the grey-stoned crypt. The upper church was not to be ready for years. -Those old grey stones woke up that morning which had so long been -smothered in the London clay. - -Here follow too many descriptions in the Diary of dances, dinners and -other functions. They are superfluous. There were, however, some -_Tableaux Vivants_ at an interesting house--Mrs. Bishop’s, a very -intellectual woman, much appreciated in society in general, and Catholic -society in particular--which may be recorded in this very personal -narrative, for I had a funny hand in a single-figure tableau which -showed the dazed 11th Hussar who figures in the foreground of my -“Balaclava.†The man who stood for him in the tableau had been my model -for the picture, but to this day I feel the irritation caused me by that -man. In the picture I have him with his busby pushed back, as it -certainly would and should have been, off his heated brow. But, while I -was posing him for the tableau, every time I looked away he rammed it -down at the becoming “smart†angle. I got quite cross, and insisted on -the necessary push back. The wretch pretended to obey, but, just before -the curtain rose, rammed the busby down again, and utterly destroyed the -meaning of that figure! We didn’t want a representation of Mr. So-and-so -in the becoming uniform of a hussar, but my battered trooper. The thing -fell very flat. But tableaux, to my mind, are a mistake, in many ways. - -I often mention my pleasure in meeting Lord and Lady Denbigh, for they -were people after my own heart. Lady Denbigh was one of those women one -always looks at with a smile; she was so _simpatica_ and true and -unworldly. - -July 18th is noted as “a memorable day for Alice, for she and I spent -the afternoon at _Tennyson’s_! I say ‘for Alice’ because, as regards -myself, the event was not so delightful as a day at Aldershot. Tennyson -has indeed managed to shut himself off from the haunts of men, for, -arrived at Haslemere, a primitive little village, we had a six-mile -drive up, up, over a wild moor and through three gates leading to -narrow, rutty lanes before we dipped down to the big Gothic, lonely -house overlooking a vast plain, with Leith Hill in the distance. -Tennyson had invited us through Aubrey de Vere, the poet, and very -apprehensive we were, and nervous, as we neared the abode of a man -reported to be such a bear to strangers. We first saw Mrs. Tennyson, a -gentle, invalid lady lying on her back on a sofa. After some time the -poet sent down word to ask us to come up to his sanctum, where he -received us with a rather hard stare, his clay pipe and long, black, -straggling hair being quite what I expected. He got up with a little -difficulty, and when we had sat down--he, we two and his most -deferential son--he asked which was the painter and which was the poet. -After our answer, which struck me as funny, as though we ought to have -said, with a bob, ‘Please, sir, I’m the painter,’ and ‘Please, sir, I’m -the poet,’ he made a few commonplace remarks about my pictures in a most -sepulchral bass voice. But he and Alice, in whom he was more interested, -naturally, did most of the talking; there was not much of that, though, -for he evidently prefers to answer a remark by a long look, and perhaps -a slightly sneering smile, and then an averted head. All this is not -awe-inspiring, and looks rather put on. We ceased to be frightened. - -“There is no grandeur about Tennyson, no melancholy abstraction; and, if -I had made a demi-god of him, his personality would have much -disappointed me. Some of his poetry is so truly great that his manner -seems below it. The pauses in the conversation were long and frequent, -and he did not always seem to take in the meaning of a remark, so that I -was relieved when, after a good deal of staring and smiling at Alice in -a way rather trying to the patience, he acceded to her request and read -us ‘The Passing of Arthur.’ He was so long in finding the place, when -his son at last found him a copy of the book which suited him, and the -tone he read in so deep and monotonous, that I was much bored and longed -for the hour of our departure. He was vexed with Alice for choosing that -poem, which he seemed to think less of than of his later works, and he -took the poor child to task in a few words meant to be caustic, though -they made us smile. But the ice was melting. He seemed amused at us and -we gratefully began to laugh at some quaint phrases he levelled at us. -Then he dropped the awe-inspiring tone, and took us all over the grounds -and gave us each a rose. He pitched into us for our dresses which were -too fashionable and tight to please him. He pinned Alice against a -pillar of the entrance to the house on our re-entry from the garden to -watch my back as I walked on with his son, pointing the _walking-stick_ -of scorn at my skirt, the trimming of which particularly roused his ire. -Altogether I felt a great relief when we said goodbye to our curious -host with whom it was so difficult to carry on conversation, and to know -whether he liked us or not. Away, over the windy, twilight heath behind -the little ponies--away, away!†- -At the beginning of August I began my studies for “The Return from -Inkermann.†The foreground I got at Worthing; and I had another visit -to Aldershot and many further conversations with Inkermann -survivors--officers of distinction. I am bound to say that these often -contradicted each other, and the rough sketches I made after each -interview had to be re-arranged over and over again. I read Dr. -Russell’s account (_The Times_ correspondent) and sometimes I returned -to my own conception, finding it on the whole the most likely to be -true. - -I laugh even now at the recollection of two elderly _sabreurs_, one of -them a General in the Indian Army, who had a hot discussion in my -studio, _â propos_ of my “Balaclava,†about the best use of the sabre. -The Indian, who was for slashing, twirled his umbrella so briskly, to -illustrate his own theory, that I feared for the picture which stood -close by his sword arm. The opposition umbrella illustrated “the point†-theory. - -Having finally clearly fixed the whole composition of “Inkermann,†in -sepia on tinted paper the size of the future picture I closed the studio -on August 25th and turned my face once more to Italy. - - - - -CHAPTER XII - -AGAIN IN ITALY - - -My sister and I tarried at Genoa on our way to Castagnolo where we were -to have again the joys of a Tuscan vintage. But between Genoa and -Florence lay our well-loved Porto Fino and, having an invitation from -our old friend Monty Brown, the English Consul and his young wife, to -stay at their castello there, we spent a week at that Eden. We were -alone for part of the time and thoroughly relished the situation, with -only old Caterina, the cook, and the dog, “Bismarck,†as company. Two -Marianas in a moated grange, with a difference. “He†came not, and so -allowed us to clasp to our hearts our chief delights--the sky, the sea, -the olives and the joyous vines. In those early days many of the deep -windows had no glass, and one night, when a staggering Mediterranean -thunderstorm crashed down upon us, we really didn’t like it and hid the -knives under the table at dinner. Caterina was saying her Rosary very -loud in the kitchen. As we went up the winding stairs to bed I carried -the lamp, and was full of talk, when a gust of wind blew the lamp out, -and Alice laughed at my complete silence, more eloquent than any words -of alarm. We had every evening to expel curious specimens of the lizard -tribe that had come in, and turn over our pillows, remembering the -habits of the scorpion. - -But that storm was the only one, and as to the sea, which three-parts -enveloped our little Promontory, its blue utterly baffled my poor -paints. But paint I did, on those little panels that we owe to Fortuny, -so nicely fitting into the box he invented. There was a little cape, -crowned with a shrine to Our Lady--“the Madonnetta†it was called--where -I used to go daily to inhale the ozone off the sea which thundered down -below amongst the brown “pudding-stone†rocks, at the base of a sheer -precipice. The “sounding deep.†Oh, the freshness, the health, the joy -of that haunt of mine! Our walks were perilous sometimes, the paths -which almost overhung the deep foaming sea being slippery with the -sheddings of the pines. At the “nasty bits†we had to hold on by shrubs -and twigs, and haul ourselves along by these always aromatic supports. - -Admirable is the industry of the peasants all over Italy. Here on the -extreme point of Porto Fino wherever there was a tiny “pocket†of clay, -a cabbage or two or a vine with its black clusters of grapes toppling -over the abyss found foot-hold. We came one day upon a pretty girl on -the very verge of destruction, “holding on by her eyelids,†gathering -figs with a hooked stick, a demure pussy keeping her company by dozing -calmly on a branch of the fig tree. The walls built to support these -handfuls of clay on the face of the rock are a puzzle to me. Where did -the men stand to build them? It makes me giddy to think of it. - -Paragi, the lovely rival of Monty’s robber stronghold, belonged to his -brother, and a fairer thing I never saw than Fred’s loggia with the -slender white marble columns, between which one saw the coast trending -away to La Spezzia. But “goodbye,†Porto Fino! On our way to -Castagnolo, at lovely Lastre a Signa, we paused at Pisa for a night. - -“Pisa is a _bald Florence_, if I may say so; beautiful, but so empty and -lifeless. There are houses there quite peculiar, however, to Pisa, most -interesting for their local style. Very broad in effect are those flat -blank surfaces without mouldings. The frescoes on them, alas! are now -merely very beautiful blotches and stains of colour. We had ample time -for a good survey of the Duomo, Baptistery, Camposanto and Leaning -Tower, all vividly remembered from when I saw them as a little child. -But I get very tired by sight-seeing and don’t enjoy it much. What I -like is to sit by the hour in a place, sketching or meditating. Besides, -I had been kept nearly all night awake at the Albergo Minerva by railway -whistles, ducks, parrots, cats, dogs, cocks and hens, so that I was only -at half power and I slept most of the way to Signa. - -“At the station a carriage fitted, for the heat, with cool-looking brown -holland curtains was awaiting us on the chance of our coming, and we -were soon greeted at dear Castagnolo by Mrs. Ross. Very good of her to -show so much happy welcome seeing we had been expected the evening -before, not to say for many days, and only our luggage had turned up! -The Marchese, who had to go into Florence this morning for the day, had -gone down to meet us last evening, and returned with the disconcerting -announcement that, whereas we had arrived last year without our luggage, -this year the luggage had arrived without us. ‘_I bauli sono giunti ma -le bambine--Chè!_’†- -Here follows the record of the same delights as those of the year -before. We had been long expected, and Mrs. Ross told me that the -peaches had been kept back for us in a most tantalising way by the -_padrone_, and that everything was threatening over-ripeness by our -delay. The light-hearted life was in full force. There were great -numbers of doves and pigeons at Castagnolo which shared in the general -hilarity, swirling in the sunshine and swooping down on the grain -scattered for them with little cries of pleasure. I don’t know whether I -should find a socialistic blight appearing here and there, if I returned -to those haunts of my youth, over that patriarchal life, but it seemed -to me that the relations between the _padrone_ and his splendid -_contadini_ showed how suitable the system obtaining in Tuscany was -then. The labourers were the _fanciulli_ (the children) of the master, -and without the least approach to servility these men stood up to him in -all the pride of their own station. But what deference they showed to -him! Always the uncovered head and the respectful and dignified attitude -when spoken to or speaking. I mustn’t forget the frank smile and the -pleasant white teeth. It was a smiling life; every one caught the -smiling habit. Oh, that we could keep it up through a London winter! And -to a London winter we returned, for my friends in England were getting -fidgety about “Inkermann.†One more extract, however, from the -Castagnolo Diary must find a place before the veil is drawn. The -Marchese took us to Siena for two days. - -“_September 29th._--We got up by candlelight at 5 a.m. and had a fresh -drive in the phaeton to the station, whence we took train to the -fascinating Etruscan city, whose very name is magic. The weather, as a -matter of course, was splendid, and Siena dwells in my mind all tender -brown-gold in a flood of sunshine. Small as the city is, and hard as we -worked for those two days, we could only see a portion of its treasures. -The result of my observation in the churches and picture galleries shows -me that the art there, as regards painting, is very inferior; and, -indeed, after Florence, with its most exquisite examples of painting and -drawing, these works of art are not taking. I suppose Florence has -spoilt me. Here and there one picks out a plum, such as the ‘Svenimento -of St. Catherine’ in San Domenico, by Sodoma, the only thing by him that -I could look at with pleasure; also, of course, the famous Perugino in -Sant’ Agostino, which I beheld with delight, and a lovely gem of a Holy -Family by Palma Vecchio in the Academy--such a jewel of Venetian colour. - -“The frescoes, however, in the sacristy of the cathedral are things -apart, and such as I have never seen anywhere else, for the very dry air -of Siena has preserved them since Pinturicchio’s time quite intact, and -there one sees, as one can see nowhere else, ancient frescoes as they -were when freshly painted. And very different they are from one’s -notions of old frescoes; certainly not so pleasing if looked at as bits -of colour staining old walls in mellow broken tints, but intensely -interesting and beautiful as pictures. Here one sees what frescoes were -meant to be: deep in colour, exceedingly forcible, with positive -illusion in linear and aërial perspective, the latter being most -unexpected and surprising. One’s usual notion of frescoes is that they -must be flat and airless, and modern artists who go in for fresco -decorative art paint accordingly, judging from the faded examples of -what were once evidently such as one sees here--forcible pictures. - -“Certainly these wall spaces, looking like apertures through which one -sees crowds of figures and gorgeous halls or airy landscapes, do not -please the eye when looking at the room _as_ a room. One would prefer to -feel the solidity of the walls; but taking each fresco and looking at it -for its own sake only, one feels the keenest pleasure. They are -magnificent pictures, full of individual character and realistic action, -unsurpassable by any modern. - -“I cannot attempt to put into words my impression of the cathedral -itself. Certainly, I never felt the beauty of a church more. It being -St. Michael’s Day, we heard Mass in the midst of our wanderings, and we -were much struck by the devotion of the people, the men especially--very -unlike what we saw in Genoa. In the afternoon we had a glorious drive -through a perfect pre-Raphaelite landscape to Belcaro, a fortress-villa -about six miles outside Siena, every turn in the road giving us a new -aspect of the golden-brown city behind us on its steep hill. Perhaps the -most beautiful view of Siena is from near Belcaro, where you get the -dark pine trees in the immediate foreground. The owner of the villa took -us all over it, the Marchese gushing outrageously to him about the -beauties of the dreadful frescoes on walls and ceilings, painted by the -man himself. We had been warned, Alice and I, to express our admiration, -but I regret to say we had our hearts so scooped out of us on seeing -those things in the midst of such true loveliness that we couldn’t say a -thing, but only murmured. So the poor Marchese had to do -triple-distilled gush to serve for three, and said everything was -‘_portentoso_.’ - -“In the evening we all three went out again and, in the bright -moonlight, strolled about the streets, the piazza, and round the -cathedral, which shone in the full light which fell upon it. The deep -sky was throbbing with stars, and all the essence of an Italian -September moonlight night was there. Oh, sweet, restful Siena dream! -Like a dream, and yet such a precious reality, to be gratefully kept in -memory to the end.†- -Back at Castagnolo on October 1st. “Went for my _solita passeggiata_ up -to the hill of lavender and dwarf oak and other mountain shrubs, where I -made a study of an oak bush on the only wet day we have had, for my -‘Inkermann’ foreground. Mrs. Ross, a fearless rider, went on with the -breaking in of the Arab colt ‘Pascià ’ to-day. Old Maso, one of the -_habitués_ of the villa, whooped and screamed every time the colt bucked -or reared, and he waddled away as fast as he could, groaning in terror, -only to creep back again to venture another look. And he had been an -officer in the army! I have secured some water-colour sketches of the -vintage for the ‘Institute’ and knocked off another panel or two, and -sketched Mrs. Ross in her Turkish dress, so I have not been idle.†Janet -Ross seemed to have assimilated the sunshine of Egypt and Italy into her -buoyant nature, and to see the vigour with which she conducted the -vintage at Castagnolo acted as a tonic on us all; so did the deep -contralto voice and the guitar, and the racy talk. - -We left on October 14th, on a golden day, with the thermometer at 90 -degrees in the shade, to return to the icy smoke-twilight of London, -where we groped, as the Diary says, in sealskins and ulsters. Castagnolo -has our thanks. How could we have had the fulness of Italian delights -which our kind hosts afforded us in some pension or hotel in Florence? -And what hospitality theirs was! We tried to sing some of the -“_Stornelli_†in the hansom that took us home from Victoria Station. One -of our favourites, “_M’affaccio alla finestra e vedo Stelle_,†had to be -modified, as we looked through the glass of the cab, into “_Ma non vedo -Stelle_,†sung in the minor, for nothing but the murk of a foggy night -was there. What but the stern necessity of beginning “Inkermann†could -have brought me back? My dear sister cannot have rejoiced, and may have -wished to tarry, but when did she ever “put a spoke in my wheelâ€? - - - - -CHAPTER XIII - -A SOLDIER’S WIFE - - -Though the London winter was gloomy, on the whole, and I was handicapped -in the middle of my work by a cold which retarded the picture so much -that, to my deep disappointment, I had again to miss the Academy, the -brightest spring of my life followed, for on March 3rd I was engaged to -be married to the author of “The Great Lone Land.†It may not be out of -place to give a little sketch of our rather romantic meeting. - -When the newly-promoted Major Butler was lying at Netley Hospital, just -beginning to recover from the Ashanti fever that had nearly killed him -at the close of that campaign, his sister Frances used to read to him -the papers, and they thus learnt together how, at the Royal Academy -banquet of that spring, the Prince of Wales and the Duke of Cambridge -had spoken as they did of Miss Elizabeth Thompson. As paper after paper -spoke of me and of my work, he said one day to his sister, in utter fun -under his slowly reviving spirits, “I wonder if Miss Thompson would -marry me?†Two years after that he met me for the first time, and yet -another year was to go by before the Fates said “Now!†- -When “Inkermann†was carted off to Bond Street on April 19th, what a -relief and delight it was to tell the model “Time is up.†“Mamma and I -danced about the studio when the picture was gone, revelling in our -freedom to make as much dust as we liked, when hitherto one had had to -be so careful about dust.†We always did this on such occasions. - -The Fine Art Society, at whose galleries in Bond Street the picture was -exhibited, bought it and the copyright together. No doubt for some the -subject of this work is too sad, but my dominant feeling in painting it -was that which Wellington gave expression to in those memorable words on -leaving the field of battle at Waterloo: “There is nothing sadder than a -victory, except a defeat.†It shows the remnants of the Guards and the -20th Regiment and odds and ends of infantry returning in the grey of a -November evening from the “Soldiers’ Battle,†most of the men very -weary. The A.D.C. on horseback I painted from a fine young soldier, -Rupert Carrington, who kindly gave me a sitting. His mother, Lady -Carrington, sent me as a wedding present a medal taken from a dead -Russian on the field of Inkermann, set in a gold bracelet, which is one -of my treasures, her name and mine engraved on it. - -“_April 20th_.--The first Private View of ‘Inkermann.’ I was there a -short time, and was quite happy at the look of my picture. The other -three are in the same gallery, and very popular the whole exhibition -seems to be. They have even got my 1873 venture, ‘Missing,’ by itself -upstairs, and remarkably well it looks, too. The crowd was dense and I -left the good people wriggling in a cloud of dust.†- -June 11th of that year, 1877, was my wedding day. Cardinal Manning -married us in the Church of the Servite Fathers; our guests were chiefly -that gallant group of soldiers who, with my husband, had won the Ashanti -War, Sir Garnet Wolseley, Redvers Buller and their comrades. My “Red -Cross†fellow students of old South Kensington days gave me the very -touching surprise of strewing our path down the church, as we came out, -with flowers. I had not known they were there. - -And now a new country opened out for my admiration and delight in days -so long before the dreadful cloud had fallen on it under which I am now -writing these Recollections--so long, so long before. It looks like -another world to me now. One might say I had had already a sufficiently -large share of the earth’s beauties to enjoy, yet here opened out an -utterly new and unique experience--Ireland. Our wedding tour was chiefly -devoted to the Wild West, with a pause at Glencar, in Kerry. I have -tried in happier political times to convey to my readers in another -place[7] my impression of that Western country--its freshness, its wild -beauty, its entrancing poetry, and that sadness which, like the minor -key in music, is the most appealing quality in poetry. That note is -utterly absent from the poetry of Italy; there all is in the major, like -its national music, so that my mind received, with strange delight, a -new sensation, surprising, heart-stirring, appealing. My husband had -given me the choice of a _local_ for the wedding tour between Ireland -and the Crimea. How could I hesitate? - -My first married picture was the one I made studies for in -Glencar--“‘Listed for the Connaught Rangers.†I had splendid models for -the two Irish recruits who are being marched out of the glen by a -recruiting sergeant, followed by the “decoy†private and two drummer -boys of that regiment, the old 88th, with the yellow facings of that -time. The men were cousins, Foley by name, and wore their national -dress, the jacket with the long, white homespun sleeves and the -picturesque black hat which I fear is little worn now, and is largely -replaced by that quite cosmopolitan peaked cap I loathe. The deep -richness of those typical Irish days of cloud and sunshine had so -enchanted me that I was determined to try and represent the effect in -this picture, which was a departure from my former ones, the landscape -occupying an equal share with the figures, and the civilian peasant -dress forming the centre of interest. Its black, white and brown -colouring, the four red coats and the bright brass of the drum, gave me -an enjoyable combination with the blue and red-purple of the mountains -in the background, and the sunlight on the middle distance of the stony -Kerry bog-land. Here was that variety as to local colour denied me in -the other works. It was a joy to realise this subject. The picture was -for Mr. Whitehead, the owner of “Balaclava.†- -The opening day of my introduction to the Wild West was on a Sunday in -that June: “From Limerick Junction to Glencar. I had my first experience -of an Irish Mass, and my impression is deepening every day that Ireland -is as much a foreign country to England as is France or Italy. The -congregation was all new to me. The peasant element had quite a _cachet_ -of its own, though in a way an exact equivalent to the Tuscan--the -rough-looking men in homespun coats in a crowd inside and outside of the -church, the women in national dress; the constabulary, equivalent to the -_gendarmes_, in full dress, mixing with the people and yet not of them. -This Limerick Junction was the nucleus of the Fenian nebula. In this -terrible Tipperary the stalwart constabulary, whom I greatly admire, -have a grave significance. I have never seen finer men than those, and -they are of a type new to me. How I enjoy new types, new countries, new -customs! The girls, looking so nice in their Bruges-like hoods, are very -fresh and comely. - -“We left at noon for the goal of our expedition, and I think I may say -that I never had a more memorable little journey. The distant mountains -I had looked at in the morning took clearer forms and colours by -degrees, and the charm of the Irish bogs with their rich black and -purple peat-earth, and bright, reedy grass, and teeming wild flowers, -developed themselves to my delighted eyes as the train whirled us -southwards. At Killarney we took a carriage and set off on my favourite -mode of travel, soon entering upon tracts of that wild nature I was most -anxious to experience. The evening was deepening, and in its solemn -tones I saw for the first time the Wild West Land, whose aspect -gradually grew wilder and more strange as we neared the mysterious -mountains that rose ahead of us. I was content. I was beginning to taste -the salt of the Wilds. What human habitations there are are so like the -stone heaps that lie over the face of the land that they are scarcely -distinguishable from them; but my ‘contentment’ was much dashed by the -sight of the dwellers in this poor land which yields them so little. -Very strange, wild figures came to the black doors to watch us pass, -with, in some cases, half-witted looks. - -“The mighty ‘Carran Thual,’ one of the mountain group which rises out of -Glencar and dominates the whole land of Kerry, was on fire with blazing -heather, its peaks sending up a glorious column of smoke which spread -out at the top for miles and miles, and changed its delicate smoke tints -every minute as the sun sank lower. As we reached the rocky pass that -took us by the remote Lough Acoose that sun had gone down behind an -opposite mountain, and the blazing heather glowed brighter as the -twilight deepened, and circles of fire played weirdly on the mountain -side. Our glen gave the ‘Saxon bride’ its grandest illumination on her -arrival. Wild, strange birds rose from the bracken as we passed, and -flew strongly away over lake and mountain torrent, and the little black -Kerry cattle all watched us go by with ears pricked and heads -inquiringly raised. The last stage of the journey had a brilliant -_finale_. A herd of young horses was in our way in the narrow road, and -the creatures careered before us, unable or too stupid to turn aside -into the ditches by the roadside to let us through. We could not head -them, and for fully a mile did those shaggy, wild things caper and jump -ahead, their manes flying out wildly, with the glow from the west -shining through them. Some imbecile cows soon joined them in the -stampede, for no imaginable reason, unless they enjoyed the fright of -being pursued, and the ungainly progress of those recruits was a sight -to behold--tails in the air and horns in the dust. With this escort we -entered Glencar.†- -Nothing that I have seen in my travels since that golden time has in the -least dimmed my recollections of that Glencar existence; nor could -anything jar against a thing so unique. I have fully recorded in my -former book how we made different excursions, always on ponies, every -day, not returning till the evening. What impressed me most during these -rides was the depth and richness of the Irish landscape colouring. The -moisture of the ocean air brings out all its glossy depth. Even without -the help of actual sunshine, so essential to the landscape beauty of -Italy, the local colour is powerful. In describing to me the same deep -colouring in Scotland Millais used the simile of the wet pebble. Take a -grey, dry pebble on the seashore and dip it in the water. It will show -many lovely tints. Our inn was in the centre of the glen, delightfully -rough, and impregnated with that scent of turf smoke which has ever -since been to me the subtlest and most touching reminder of those days. -Yet with that roughness there was in the primitive little inn a very -pleasant provision of such sustenance as old campaigners and fishermen -know how to establish in the haunts they visit. - -The coast of Clare came next in our journey, where the Atlantic hurls -itself full tilt at the iron cliffs, and the west wind, which I learnt -to love, comes, without once touching land since it left the coast of -Labrador, to fill one with a sense of salt and freshness and health as -it rushes into one’s lungs from off the foam. I was interested in making -comparisons between that sea and the other “sounding deep†that washes -the rocks of Porto Fino as I looked down on the thundering waves below -the cliffs of Moher. Here was the simplest and severest colouring--dark -green, almost amounting to black; light green, cold and pure; foam so -pure that its whiteness had over it a rosy tinge, merely by contrast -with the green of the waves, and that was all; whereas the sea around -Porto Fino baffles both painter and word-painter with its infinite -variety of blues, purples, and greens. These are contrasts that I -delight in. How the west wind rushed at us, full of spray! How the ocean -roared! It was a revel of wind where we stood at the very edge of those -sheer cliffs. Across their black faces sea birds incessantly circled and -wheeled, crying with a shrill clamour. That and the booming of the waves -many fathoms below, as they leap into the immense caverns, were the only -sounds that pierced the wind. The black rocks had ledges of greyer rock, -and along these ledges, tier above tier, sat myriads of white-headed -gulls, their white heads looking like illumination lamps on the faces of -titanic buildings. The Isles of Arran and the mountains of Connemara -spread out before us on the ocean, which sparkled in one place with the -gold beams of the faint, spray-shrouded sun. - -Then good-bye to Erin for the present on July 15th and the establishment -of ourselves in London till our return to the Land that held a magnet -for us on September 21st. There we paid a visit to the Knight of Kerry, -at Valentia Island. What a delightful home! The size of the fuchsia -trees told of the mild climate; the scenery was of the remotest and -freshest, most pleasing to the senses, and the ever-welcome scent of -turf smoke would not be denied in the big house where the sods glowed in -the great fireplaces. My surprise, when strolling on one of the innocent -little strands by the sea, was great at seeing the Atlantic cable -emerging, quite simply, from the water between the pebbles, as though it -was nothing in particular. Following it, we reached a very up-to-date -building, so out of keeping with the primitive scene, filled with busy -clerks transmitting goodness knows what cosmopolitan corruption from the -New World to the Old, and _vice versâ_. - -[Illustration: In Western Ireland. - -A “Jarvey†and “Biddy.â€] - -I would not have missed the Valentia pig for anything. A taller, leaner, -gaunter specimen has not his match anywhere, not even in the little -black hog of Monte Cassino, whose salient hips are so unexpected. There -is something particularly arresting in a pig with visible hips.[8] All -the animals in the west seemed to me free-and-easy creatures that live -with the peasants as members of the family, having a much better time -than the humans. They frisk irresponsibly in and out of the cabins--no -“by your leave†or “with your leaveâ€--and, altogether, enjoy life to the -top of their own highest level. The poorer the people, the greater -appears the contrast caused by this inverted state of things. - -The next time we left England was to go in the opposite direction--to -the Pyrenees. Rapid travel is fast levelling down the different -countries, and a carriage journey through the Pyrenean country is a -bygone pleasure. We have to go to Thibet or the Great Wall of China for -our trips if we want to write anything original about our travels. A -flight by air to the North Pole would, at first, prove very readable and -novel, if well described. This, however, does not take from the pleasure -of going over the inner circle in memory. In the year 1878 we could -still find much that was new and refreshing in a tour through the south -of France! Some friends of mine went up to Khartoum from Cairo not long -ago, with return tickets, by rail, and all they could say was that the -journey was so dusty that they had to draw the blinds of their -compartment and play bridge all the way. Poor dears, how arid! - -This little tour of ours was well advised. The loss of our firstborn, -Mary Patricia, brought our first sorrow with it, and we went to Lourdes -and made a wide _détour_ from there through the Pyrenees to Switzerland. -There is nothing like travel for restoring the aching mind to -usefulness. But, undoubtedly, the send-off from Lourdes gave me the -initial impetus towards recovery of which, though I say little, I am -very sensible. We drove to St. Sauveur after our visit to the Grotto -where such striking cures have happened, and each day brought more fully -back to me that zest for natural beauty which has been with me such an -invigorator. - -St. Sauveur was bracing and beautiful, but too full of invalids. It was -rather saddening to see them around the Hontalade Sulphur Springs. At -Lourdes they were clustering round the cascade that flows from the -Grotto where the statue of Our Lady stands, exactly reproducing the -figure as seen by the little Shepherdess. Poor humanity, reaching out -hopeful arms in its pain, here for physical help, there for spiritual. -The Gave rushes through both Lourdes and St. Sauveur, with a very sharp -noise in the rocky gorge of the latter, too harsh to be a soothing -sound. I looked forward to getting yet another experience of _vetturino_ -travel which I had never thought could be enjoyed again, and which -proved to be still possible. The journey was a success, and, besides the -beauty of that very majestic mountain scenery, the little incidents of -the road were picturesque. Our driver was proud to tell us he was known -as “_L’ancien chien des Pyrénées_,†and a characteristic “old dog†he -was, one-eyed and weatherbeaten, wearing the national blue _béret_ and -very voluble in local _patois_. His horses’ bells jingled in the old -familiar way of my childhood; two absurd little dogs of his accompanied -us all the way who, in the noonday heat, sat in the wayside streams for -a moment to cool, and emerged little dripping rags. The first day’s -ascent was over the Pass of the Tourmalet, the second over that of the -Col d’Aspin, and the third and final climb was that of the Col de -Peyresourde. Then Bagnères de Luchon appeared deep down in the valley -where our drive came to an end. What would we have seen of the Pyrenees -if we had burrowed in tunnels under those _Cols?_ Luchon was not -embellished by the invalids there, whose principal ailment amongst the -female patients was evidently a condition of _embonpoint_ so remarkable -that the suggestion of overfeeding could not possibly be ignored. - -We had refreshing “_ascensions_†on horseback; a wide view of Spain from -Super-Bagnère, wherein the backbone of the Pyrenees, with the savage -“Maladetta,†rising supreme, 11,000 feet above sea level, has its -origin. Many very pleasant excursions we had besides. I tried a hurried -sketch of one of these views from the saddle, the only precious chance I -had, but a little Frenchman in tourist helmet and blue veil (and such -boots and spurs!), who was riding in our direction with a party, threw -himself off his pony into my foreground and, hoping to be included in -the view which he was pretending to admire, posed there, right in my -way, his comrades calling him in vain to rejoin them. - -On leaving Luchon we journeyed _viâ_ Toulouse to Cette, following the -course of the Garonne, which famous river we had seen in its little -muddy infancy near Arreau and in its culminating grandeur at Bordeaux. -Toulouse looked majestic, a fair city as I remember it. There I was -interested to see that famous canal which carries on the traffic from -the great river to the Mediterranean. A noteworthy feature in the -landscape as we journeyed on to Cette in the dreary, dun-coloured -gloaming was the mediæval city of Carcassonne. To come suddenly upon a -complete restoration to life of an old-world city, full of towers and -wrapped in its unbroken walls, gives one a strange sensation. One seems -to be suddenly deposited in the heart of the Middle Ages. That dark -evening there was something indescribably gloomy in the aspect of that -cinder-coloured mass against an ashen sky, and set on a hill high above -the fields cultivated in prim rows and patches, looking like a town in -the background of some hunting scene, so often shown in old tapestry. -All was darkening before an approaching storm. In writing of it at the -time I was not aware that we owed this most precious old city to -Viollet-le-Duc, who has restored it stone by stone. - -Cette looked so bleared and blind the next morning in a sea mist that I -have preserved a dejected impression of those low shores, grey -tamarisks, and lagunes, and waste places, seen as though in a dismal -dream. I was coaxed back to cheerfulness by the sunshine of Nismes, -where we spent several hours, on our way to our halt for the night, -strolling in the warm-tinted Roman ruins, and I finally relaxed in the -delight of our arriving once more at one of my most beloved cities, -splendid Avignon. Good travelling. This closed the day. Under my -parents’ _régime_, and chiefly on account of my mother, who hated night -travel, and on account of our general easy-going ways, we gave nearly a -fortnight to reach Genoa from England, with pauses here and there. - -My redundant Diary carries me on now, like the rapid Rhone itself, to my -native Lake Leman. I see it now as I saw it that day, August 8th, -1878--a blue opal. There is always something sacred about a place in -which one came into the world. We visited “Claremont,†a lovely dwelling -overlooking the lake, and facing the snowy ridges of the Dents du Midi. -Looking at that house “all my mother came into my eyes†as I thought of -her that November night, long ago, and of our dear, faithful nurse whom -I captured there to our service till death, with a smile! - -And now for the dear old Rhine once more. We got to Bâle next day, and -very scenic the old town looked on our arrival in the evening. On either -side of the swift-flowing river the gabled houses were full of lights, -which were reflected in the water, all looking red-gold by contrast with -the green-gold of the moon. On August 10th from Bâle to Heidelberg, the -rose-coloured city of the great Tun! Other tuns are also shown, not -quite so capacious; but what swilling they suggest on the part of the -old electors, who gathered all that hock in tithes! - -I was mortified when trying to impress my husband with the charms of the -Rhine as we dropped down to Cologne. My early Diary tells of my -enchantment on that fondly-remembered river. But, alas! this time the -weather was rainy and ugly all the way, and as we came to the best part, -the romantic Gorge, he shut himself up in a deck cabin, out of which I -could not entice him. I suspect the natives on board drove him in there -rather than his resentment at the “come down†from the glowing -descriptions one reads in travel books. These natives were a most -irritating foreground to the blurred views. All day long, and into the -night, meals were perpetually breaking out all over the deck and, do -what one could, the feeding of those Teutons obtruded itself on one’s -attention _ad nauseam_. I have a sketch, taken _sub rosa_, of an obese -and terrible _frau_, seated behind her rather smart officer husband at -one of the little tables. She had emptied her capacious mug of beer, and -was asking him for more, to which demand he was paying no attention. But -“Gustav! Gustav!†she persisted, poking him in the back with her empty -tankard. The “Gustav!†and the prods were getting too much to be ignored -by the long-suffering back, and she got her refill. What General Gordon -calls the “German visage†in contrast with the “Italian countenance†-never appeared so surprisingly ugly as it did to us that day on the -crowded deck of the _Queen of Prussia_. - -My Diary says: “At Mayence, Will and I, always on the look-out for -soldiers, had a good opportunity of seeing German infantry, as we -stopped here a long time and two line battalions crossed the bridge near -us. From the deck of the steamer the men looked big enough, but when -Will ran on shore and overhauled them to have a nearer look, I could -gauge their height by his six-foot-two. He showed a clear head and -shoulders above their _pickelhauben_. They were short, chiefly by reason -of the stumpy legs, which carry a long back--a very unbeautiful -arrangement.†- -The next day we had a rather dull start from Cologne along a dismal -stretch of river as far as Düsseldorf. Killing time at Düsseldorf is not -lively. At the café where we had tea two young subalterns of hussars -came gaily in to have their coffee, and, just as they were sitting down -with a cavalry swagger, there came in a major of some other corps, and -the two immediately got up, saluted, and left the room. Here was -discipline! On our returning to the steamer Will found an epauletted -disciple of Bismarck in my place at supper. He told the epauletted one -of his mistake, much to the latter’s manifest astonishment, who didn’t -move. I suppose there came something into the British soldier’s eye, -but, anyway, the sabre-rattler eventually got up and went elsewhere: -things felt electric. - -August 14th found us nearly all day on board the boat. “A very -interesting day, showing me a phase of Rhine scenery familiar to me in -Dutch pictures by the score, but never seen by me till then in reality. -The strong wind blew from the sea and tossed the green-yellow river into -tumultuous waves, over which came bounding the blunt-bowed craft from -Holland, taking merchandise up stream, and differing in no way from the -boats beloved of the old Dutch masters. On either side of the river were -low banks waving with rushes, and beyond stretched sunken marshy -meadows, and here and there quaint little towns glided by with windmills -whirring, and clusters of ships’ masts appearing above the grey willows -and sedges. Dordrecht formed a perfect picture _à la_ Rembrandt, with a -host of windmills on the skyline, telling dark against the brightness, -at the confluence of the Maes and Rhine. Here Cuyp was born, the painter -of sunlit cows. Rotterdam pleased us greatly, and we strolled about in -the evening, coming upon the statue of Erasmus, which I place amongst -the most admirable statues I have seen. Rotterdam possesses in rich -abundance the peculiar charm of a seaport. A place of this kind has for -me a very strong attraction. The varied shipping, the bustle on land -and water, the colour, the noise, the mixture of human types, the bustle -of men and animals; all these things have always filled me with pleasure -at a great seaport.†A visit to Holland (“the dustless†land, as my -husband called it truly), a revel amongst the Amsterdam galleries, then -Antwerp, where we embarked for Harwich, closed our trip. Invigorated and -restored, I set to work on an 8-foot canvas, whereon I painted a subject -which had been in my mind since childhood. - - - - -CHAPTER XIV - -QUEEN VICTORIA - - -It must have been at Villa de’ Franchi that my father related to me a -tragedy which had profoundly moved England in the year 1842, and he -laughingly encouraged me to paint it when I should be grown up. The -Diary says: “We are now at war with poor Shere Ali, and this new Afghan -War revived for me the idea of the tragedy of ‘42, namely, Dr. Brydon -reaching Jellalabad, weary and fainting, on his dying horse, the sole -survivor, as was then thought, from our disaster in the Cabul passes.... -Here I am, on 1st March, 1879, not doing badly with the picture. I think -it is well painted, and I hope poetical. But I have had the darkest -winter I can remember, and lost nearly all January by the succession of -fogs which have accompanied this long frost. Will sailed under orders -for the Cape last Friday, February 28th. Our terrible defeat at Isandula -has caused the greatest commotion here, and regiments are being poured -out of England to Zululand in a fleet of transports; and now staff -officers are being selected for posts of great responsibility out there, -and amongst these is Colonel Butler, A.A.G. to General Clifford. - -“_March 16th, 1879._--I am beginning to show my picture. Scarcely -anything is talked of still but the fighting in Zululand and the -incapacity of that poor unfortunate Lord Chelmsford, whom Government -keeps telling they will continue to trust in his supreme post of -Commander-in-Chief, though he would evidently be thankful to be relieved -of an anxiety which his nervous temperament and susceptible nature must -make unbearable. What magnificent subjects for pictures the ‘Defence of -Rorke’s Drift’ will furnish. When we get full details I shall be much -tempted to paint some episode of that courageous achievement which has -shed balm on the aching wound of Isandula. But the temptation will have -to be very strong to make me break my rule of not painting contemporary -subjects. I like to mature my themes. - -“Studio Sunday. At last, at last! After three years of disappointment -another Academy Studio Show has come, and that very brightly and -successfully. I have called the Afghan picture ‘The Remnants of an -Army.’ I had the Irish picture to show also, by permission of Whitehead, -‘’Listed for the Connaught Rangers.’ From one till six to-day people -poured in. My studio was got up quite charmingly with curtains and -screens, and with wild beast skins disposed on the floor, and my arms -and armour furbished up. The two pictures came out well, and both -appeared to ‘take.’ However, not much value can be attached to to-day’s -praises to my face. But I must not let Elmore’s (R.A.) tribute to the -‘Remnants of an Army’ go unrecorded. ‘It is impossible to look at that -man’s face unmoved,’ and his eyes were positively dimmed! I have heard -it said that no one was ever known to shed tears before a picture. On -reading a book, on hearing music, yes, but not on seeing a painting. -Well! that is not true, as I have proved more than once. I can’t resist -telling here of a pathetic man who came to me to say, ‘I had a wet eye -when I saw your picture!’ He had one eye brown and the other blue, and -I almost asked, ‘Which, the brown or the blue?’ It is often so difficult -to know what to answer appreciatively to enthusiastic and unexpected -praise! - -“Varnishing Day. A long and cheery day in those rooms of happy memory at -Burlington House. Both my pictures are well hung and look well, and -congratulations flowed in.†A few days later: “Alice and I to the -Private View at that fascinating Burlington House, so fascinating when -one’s works are well placed! The Press is treating me very well. No -subsidised puffs _here_, so I enjoy these critiques. The Academy has -received me back with open arms, and the members are very nice to me, -some of them expressing their hope that I am pleased with the positions -of my pictures, and several of them speaking quite openly about their -determination to vote for me at the next election.†- -The Fine Art Society bought the Afghan subject of which they published a -very faithful engraving, and it is now at the Tate Gallery. It is a -comfort to me to know that nearly all my principal works are either in -the keeping of my Sovereign or in public galleries, and not changing -hands among private collectors. - -I spent much of a cool, if rainy, summer at Edenbridge, in Kent, taking -a rose bower of a cottage there, my parents with me. There we heard in -the papers the dreadful news of the Prince Imperial’s death. Then -followed a hasty line from my husband, written in a fury of indignation -from Natal, at the sacrifice of “the last of the Napoleons.†When he -returned at long last from the deplorable Zulu War, followed by the -Sekukuni Campaign, the poor Empress Eugénie sent for him to Camden -Place, and during a long and most painful interview she asked for all -details, her tears flowing all the time, and in her open way letting all -her sorrow loose in paroxysms of grief. He had managed the funeral and -embarkation at Durban. The pall was covered with artificial violets -which he had asked the nuns there to make, at high pressure, and he -subsequently described to me the impressive sight of the _cortège_ as it -wound down the hill to the port off Durban, in the afternoon sunshine. - -At little Edenbridge I was busy making studies of any grey horses I -could find, as I had already begun my charge of the Scots Greys at -Waterloo at my studio. That charge I called “Scotland for Ever,†and I -owe the subject to an impulse I received that season from the Private -View at the Grosvenor Gallery, now extinct. The Grosvenor was the home -of the “Æsthetes†of the period, whose sometimes unwholesome productions -preceded those of our modern “Impressionists.†I felt myself getting -more and more annoyed while perambulating those rooms, and to such a -point of exasperation was I impelled that I fairly fled and, breathing -the honest air of Bond Street, took a hansom to my studio. There I -pinned a 7-foot sheet of brown paper on an old canvas and, with a piece -of charcoal and a piece of white chalk, flung the charge of “The Greys†-upon it. Dr. Pollard, who still looked in during my husband’s absences -as he used to do in my maiden days to see that all was well with me, -found me in a surprising mood. - -On returning from my _villeggiatura_ in Kent with my parents I took up -again the painting of this charge, and one day the Keeper of the Queen’s -Privy Purse, Sir Henry Ponsonby, called at the studio to ask me if I -would paint a picture for Her Majesty, the subject to be taken from a -war of her own reign. - -Of course, I said “Yes,†and gladly welcomed the honour, but being a -slow worker, I saw that “Scotland for Ever!†must be put aside if the -Queen’s picture was to be ready for the next Academy. - -Every one was still hurrahing over the defence of “Rorke’s Drift†in -Zululand as though it had been a second Waterloo. My friends (not my -parents) urged and urged. I demurred, because it was against my -principles to paint a conflict. In the “Greys†the enemy was not shown, -here our men would have to be represented at grips with the foe. No, I -put that subject aside and proposed one that I felt and saw in my mind’s -eye most vividly. I proposed this to the Queen--the finding of the dead -Prince Imperial and the bearing of his body from the scene of his heroic -death on the lances of the 17th Lancers. Her Majesty sent me word that -she approved, to my great relief. I began planning that most impressive -composition. Then I got a message to say the Queen thought it better not -to paint the subject. What was to be done? The Crimea was exhausted. -Afghanistan? But I was compelled by clamour to choose the popular -Rorke’s Drift; so, characteristically, when I yielded I threw all my -energies into the undertaking. - -When the 24th Regiment, now the South Wales Borderers, who in that fight -saved Natal, came home, some of the principal heroes were first summoned -to Windsor and then sent on to me, and as soon as I could get down to -Portsmouth, where the 24th were quartered, I undertook to make all the -studies from life necessary for the big picture there. Nothing that the -officers of that regiment and the staff could possibly do to help me was -neglected. They even had a representation of the fight acted by the men -who took part in it, dressed in the uniforms they wore on that awful -night. Of course, the result was that I reproduced the event as nearly -to the life as possible, but from the soldier’s point of view--I may say -the _private’s_ point of view--not mine, as the principal witnesses were -from the ranks. To be as true to facts as possible I purposely withdrew -my own view of the thing. What caused the great difficulty I had to -grapple with was the fact that the whole mass of those fighting figures -was illuminated by firelight from the burning hospital. Firelight -transforms colours in an extraordinary way which you hardly realise till -you have to reproduce the thing in paint. - -The Zulus were a great difficulty. I had them in the composition in dark -masses, rather swallowed up in the shade, but for one salient figure -grasping a soldier’s bayonet to twist it off the rifle, as was done by -many of those heroic savages. My excellent Dr. Pollard got me a sort of -Zulu as model from a show in London. It was unfortunate that a fog came -down the day he was brought to my studio, so that at one time I could -see nothing of my dusky savage but the whites of his eyes and his teeth. -I hope I may never have to go through such troubles again! - -When the picture was in its pale, shallow, early stage, the Queen, who -was deeply interested in its progress, wished to see it, and me. So to -Windsor I took it. The Ponsonbys escorted me to the Great Gallery, where -I beheld my production, looking its palest, meanest, and flattest, -installed on an easel, with two lords bending over it--one of them Lord -Beaconsfield. - -Exeunt the two lords, right, through a dark side door. Enter the Queen, -left. Prince Leopold, Duchess of Argyll, Princess Beatrice and others -grouped round the easel, centre. The Queen came up to me and placed her -plump little hand in mine after I had curtseyed, and I was counselled to -give Her Majesty the description of every figure. She spoke very kindly -in a very deep, guttural voice, and showed so much emotion that I -thought her all too kind, shrinking now and then as I spoke of the -wounds, etc. She told me how she had found my husband lying at Netley -Hospital after Ashanti, apparently near his end, and spoke with warmth -of his services in that campaign. She did not leave us until I had -explained every figure, even the most distant. She knew all by name, for -I had managed to show, in that scuffle, all the V.C.’s and other -conspicuous actors in the drama, the survivors having already been -presented to her. Majors Chard and Bromhead were sufficiently -recognisable in the centre, for I had had them both for their portraits. - -The Academicians put “The Defence of Rorke’s Drift†in the Lecture Room -of unhappy “Quatre Bras†memory, no doubt for the same reason they gave -in the case of that picture. Yes, there was a great crush before it, but -I was not satisfied as to its effect in that poor light. It is now with -“The Roll Call†at St. James’s Palace. I learnt later how very, very -pleased the Queen was with her commission, and that one day at Windsor, -wishing to show it to some friends, the twilight deepening, she showed -so much appreciation that she took a pair of candlesticks and held them -up at the full stretch of her arms to light the picture. I like to see -in my mind’s eye that Rembrandtesque effect, with the principal figure -in the group our Queen. She wanted me to paint her two other subjects, -but, somehow, that never came off. - - - - -CHAPTER XV - -OFFICIAL LIFE--THE EAST - - -In 1880 my husband was offered the post of Adjutant-General at Plymouth, -and thither we went in time, with the pretty little infant Elizabeth -Frances, who came to fill the place of the sister who was gone. There -three more of our children were born. - -I took up “Scotland for Ever!†again, and in the bright light of our -house on the Hoe, with never a brown fog to hinder me, and with any -amount of grey army horses as models, I finished that work. It was -exhibited alone. It is quite unnecessary to burden my readers with the -reason of this. I was very sorry, as I expected rather a bright effect -with all those white and grey galloping _hippogriffes_ bounding out of -the Academy walls. There was a law suit in question, and there let the -matter rest. Messrs. Hildesheimer bought the copyright from me, and the -picture I sold, later on, to a private purchaser, who has presented it -to the city of Leeds. By a happy chance I had a supply of very brilliant -Spanish white (_blanco de plata_) for those horses, and though I have -ever since used the finest _blanc d’argent_, made in Paris, I don’t -think the Spanish white has a rival. Perhaps its maker took the secret -with her to the Elysian Fields. It was an old widow of Seville. - -On May 11th of that year our beloved father died, comforted with the -heartening rites of the Church. He had been received not long before the -end. - -Life at “pleasant Plymouth†was very interesting in its way, and the -charm of the West Country found in me the heartiest appreciation. But -the climate is relaxing, and conducive to lotus eating. One seems to -live in a mental Devonshire cream of pleasant days spent in excursions -on land and water, trips up the many lovely rivers, or across the -beautiful Sound to various picnic rendezvous on the coast. There was -much festivity: balls in the winter and long excursions in summer, -frequently to the wilds of Dartmoor. Particularly pleasant were the -receptions at Government House under the auspices of the -Pakenhams--perfect hosts--and at the Admiralty, with its very -distinguished host and hostess, Sir Houston and Lady Stewart. Over -Dartmoor there spread the charm of the unbounded hospitality of the -Mortimer Colliers, who lived on the verge of the moor, and this was a -thing ever to be fondly remembered. No pleasanter house could offer one -a welcome than “Foxhams,†and how hearty a welcome that always was! - -Riding was our principal pleasure. I never spent more enjoyable days in -the saddle elsewhere. My husband and I had a riding tour through -Cornwall--just the thing I liked most. But he was from time to time -called away. To Egypt in 1882, for Tel-el-Kebir; twice to Canada, the -second time on Government business; and in 1884 to the great Gordon -Relief Expedition, that terrible tragedy, made possible by the maddening -delays at home. I illustrated the book he wrote[9] on that colossal -enterprise, so wantonly turned into failure from quite feasible success. - -My next picture was on a smaller scale than its predecessors, and was -exhibited at the Academy in 1882. The Boer War, with its terrible Majuba -Hill disaster, had attracted all our sorrowful attention the year before -to South Africa, and I chose the attack on Laing’s Nek for my subject. -The two Eton boys whom I show, Elwes and Monck, went forward (Elwes to -his death) with the cry of “_Floreat Etona!_†and I gave the picture -those words for its title. - -Yet another Lord Mayor’s Banquet at the Mansion House, in honour of the -Royal Academicians, saw me late in 1881 a guest once more in those -gilded halls, this time by my husband’s side. He responded for the Army, -and joined Arts and Arms in a bright little speech, composed -_impromptu_. “We were a highly honoured couple,†I read in the Diary, -“and very glad that we came up. We must have sat at that festive board -over three hours. The music all through was exceedingly good and, -indeed, so was the fare. The homely tone of civic hospitality is so -characteristic, dressed as it is with gold and silver magnificence, -rivalling that of Royalty itself! One of the waiters tried to press me -to have a second helping of whitebait by whispering in my ear the -seductive words, ‘_Devilled_, ma’am.’ It was a fiery edition of the -former recipe. I resisted.†- -The departure of my husband with Lord Wolseley (then Sir Garnet) and -Staff for Egypt on August 5th, 1882, to suppress poor old Arabi and his -“rebels†was the most trying to me of all the many partings, because of -its dramatic setting. One bears up well on a crowded railway platform, -but when it comes to watching a ship putting off to sea, as I did that -time at Liverpool, to the sound of farewell cheering and “Auld Lang -Syne,†one would sooner read of its pathos than suffer it in person. -Soldiers’ wives in war time have to feel the sickening sensation on -waking some morning when news of a fight is expected of saying to -themselves, “I may be a widow.†Not only have I gone through that, but -have had a second period of trial with two sons under fire in the World -War. - -I gave a long period of my precious time to making preparations for a -large picture representing Wolseley and his Staff reaching the bridge -across the canal at the close of the battle of Tel-el-Kebir, followed by -his Staff, wherein figured my husband. The latter had not been very -enthusiastic about the subject. To beat those poor _fellaheen_ soldiers -was not a matter for exultation, he said; and he told me that the -capture of Arabi’s earthworks had been like “going through brown paper.†-He thought the theme unworthy, and hoped I would drop the idea. But I -wouldn’t; and, seeing me bent on it, he did all he could to help me to -realise the scene I had chosen. Lord Wolseley gave me a fidgety sitting -at their house in London, his wife trying to keep him quiet on her knee -like a good boy. I had crowds of Highlanders to represent, and went in -for the minutest rendering of the equipment then in use. Well, I never -was so long over a work. Depend upon it, if you do not “see†the thing -vividly before you begin, but have to build it up as you go along, the -picture will not be one of your best. Nor was this one! It was exhibited -in the Academy of 1885, and had a moderate success. It was well -engraved. - -In the September of 1884 my husband left for the Gordon Expedition, -having finished his work of getting boats ready for the cataracts, boats -to carry the whole Army. In the following June he came home on leave, -well in health, in spite of rending wear and tear, but deeply hurt at -the failure of what might have been one of the greatest campaigns in -modern history. How he had urged and urged, and fumed at the delays! He -told me the campaign was lost _three times over_. Gordon was simply -sacrificed to ineptitude in high quarters at home. In this connection, I -ask, can praise be too great for the British rank and file who did -_their_ best in this unparalleled effort? You saw Lifeguardsmen plying -their oars in the boats, oars they had never handled before this call; -marines mounted on camels--more than “horse-marines,†as a camel in his -movements is five horses rolled into one; everything he was called upon -to do the British soldier did to the best of his capacity. - -We spent most of my husband’s precious leave in Glencar. What better -haven to come to from the feverish toil on river and in desert, ending -in bitter disappointment? We went to Court functions, also. How these -functions amused me, and how I revelled in their colour, in their -variety of types brought together, all these guests in national uniform -or costume. And I must be allowed to add how proud I was of my -six-foot-two soldier in all his splendour. The Queen’s aide-de-camp -uniform, which he wore at the time of which I am writing, till he was -promoted major-general, was particularly well designed, both for “dress†-and “undress.†I frankly own I loved these Court receptions. No, I was -never bored by them, I am thankful to say; and I don’t believe any woman -is who has the luck to go there, whatever she may say. - - - - -CHAPTER XVI - -TO THE EAST - - -I followed my husband to Egypt, where he had returned, in command at -Wady Halfa on the expiration of his leave, on November 14th, 1885. I -went with our eldest little boy and girl. A new experience for me--the -East! One of my longings in childhood was to see the East. There it was -for me. - -Cairo in 1885 still retained much of its Oriental aspect in the European -quarter. (I don’t suppose the old, true Cairo will ever change.) I was -just in time. The Shepheard’s Hotel of that day had a terrace in front -of it where we used to sit and watch the life of the street below, an -occupation very pleasing to myself. The building was overrun with a -wealth of flowering creepers of all sorts of loveliness, and surrounded -with a garden. When next we visited Cairo the creepers were being torn -down, and the terrace demolished. Then a huge hotel was run up in -avaricious haste to reap the next season’s harvest from the thronging -visitors, and now stands flush with the street to echo the trams. - -It is difficult for me now to revive in memory the exquisite surprise I -felt when first I saw the life of the East. I could hardly believe the -thing was real, everyday life. Though I have often returned to Egypt -since, that first-time feeling never was renewed, though my enjoyment of -Oriental beauty and picturesqueness never, I am glad to say, faded in -the least. Oh, you who enjoy the zest of life, be thankful that you -possess it! It is a thing not to be acquired, but to be born with. I -think artists keep it the longest, for it enters the heart by the eye. -The long letters I wrote to my mother on the spot and at the moment I -incorporated later in the little book already referred to. Oh, the -pleasures of memory, streaked with sadness though they must be, and with -ugly things of all kinds, too! Still, how intensely precious a -possession they are when _weeded_. To me, after Italy and, of course, -the Holy Land, give me the Nile. - -I and the children remained in Cairo till I got my husband’s message -from the front that the way was clear enough for our journey as far as -Luxor. There I and the children remained until the fight at Giniss was -won and all danger was over further up stream. At Luxor began the most -enjoyable of all modes of travel--by houseboat. The _dahabiyeh Fostat_ -was sent down from Wady Halfa to take us up to Assouan, where my husband -awaited us. We had reached Luxor from Cairo by the commonplace post -boat. The Assouan Dam was, of course, not in existence, and our -_dahabiyeh_ had to be hauled in the old way through the first cataract, -while we transferred ourselves to another _dahabiyeh_ moored off the now -submerged island of Philæ. - -This cut-and-dried chronicle includes one of the most enchanting -experiences of my life. Above Philæ we entered Nubia, before whose -intensified colouring the lower desert pales. Time being very precious -to my husband, our slow, dreamy sailing houseboat had to be towed by a -little steamer for the rest of the way to Wady Halfa, where we lived -till the heat of March warned us that I and the children must prudently -go into northern coolness. And to Plymouth we returned, leaving the -General to drag out the burning summer at Wady Halfa in such heat as I -never had had to suffer. While at Halfa I made many sketches in oil for -my picture, “A Desert Grave,†out in the desert across the river. It is -very trying painting in the desert on account of the wind, which blows -the sand perpetually into your eyes. With that and the glare, I took two -inflamed eyes back with me to Europe. The picture should have been more -poetical than it turned out to be, and I wish I could repaint it now. It -was well placed at the Academy. The Upper Nile had these graves of -British officers and men all along its banks during that terrible toll -taken in the course of the Gordon Expedition and after, some in single -loneliness, far apart, and some in twos and threes. These graves had to -be made exactly in the same way as those of the enemy, lest a cross or -some other Christian mark should invite desecration. - -The World War has thrown a dreadful cloud between us and those old war -days, but the cloud in time will spread out thinner and let us look -through to those past times. - -My next experience was Brittany. Thither we went for a rest, and to give -the children the habit of talking French. At Dinan, in an old farmhouse, -we ruralised amidst orchards and amongst the Breton peasantry. Very nice -and quiet and healthy. There our youngest boy was born, Martin William, -who was immediately inscribed on the army books as liable for service in -the French Army if he reached the age of eighteen on French soil. During -that part of our stay at Dinan I painted the 24th Dragoons, who were -stationed there, leaving the town by the old Porte St. Malo for the -front, a great crowd of people seeing them off. I had mounted dragoons -and peasants for the asking as models. - -My husband was knighted--K.C.B.--in this interval, at Windsor. We went -to live in Ireland from Dinan, in 1888, under the Wicklow Mountains, -where the children continued their healthy country life in its fulness. -The picture I had painted of the departing dragoons went to the Academy -in 1889, and in 1890 I exhibited “An Eviction in Ireland,†which Lord -Salisbury was pleased to be facetious about in his speech at the -banquet, remarking on the “breezy beauty†of the landscape, which almost -made him wish he could take part in an eviction himself. How like a -Cecil! - -The ‘eighties had seen our Government do some dreadful things in the way -of evictions in Ireland. Being at Glendalough at the end of that decade, -and hearing one day that an eviction was to take place some nine miles -distant from where we were staying for my husband’s shooting, I got an -outside car and drove off to the scene, armed with my paints. I met the -police returning from their distasteful “job,†armed to the teeth and -very flushed. On getting there I found the ruins of the cabin -smouldering, the ground quite hot under my feet, and I set up my easel -there. The evicted woman came to search amongst the ashes of her home to -try and find some of her belongings intact. She was very philosophical, -and did not rise to the level of my indignation as an ardent English -sympathiser. However, I studied her well, and on returning home at -Delgany I set up the big picture which commemorates a typical eviction -in the black ‘eighties. I seldom can say I am pleased with my work when -done, but I _am_ complacent about this picture; it has the true Irish -atmosphere, and I was glad to turn out that landscape successfully which -I had made all my studies for, on the spot, at Glendalough. What storms -of wind and rain, and what dazzling sunbursts I struggled in, one day -the paints being blown out of my box and nearly whirled into the lake -far below my mountain perch! My canvas, acting like a sail, once nearly -sent me down there too. I did not see this picture at all at the -Academy, but I am very certain it cannot have been very “popular†in -England. Before it was finished my husband was appointed to the command -at Alexandria, and as soon as I had packed off the “Eviction,†I -followed, on March 24th, and saw again the fascinating East. - -My journey took me _viâ_ Venice, where the P.& O. boat _Hydaspes_ was -waiting. Can any journey to Egypt be more charming than this one, right -across Italy? - -Oh! you who do not think a journey a mere means of getting to your -destination as quickly as possible, say, if you have taken the -Milan-Verona-Padua line, is there anything in all Italy to surpass that -burst on the view of the Lago di Garda after you emerge from the Lonato -tunnel? On a blue day, say in spring? If you have not gone that way yet, -I beg you to be on the look-out on your left when you do go. This -wonderful surprise is suddenly revealed, and almost as quickly lost. -Waste not a second. I put up at the “Angleterre†at Venice, on the Riva, -because from there one sees the lagunes and glimpses of the open sea -beyond, and the air is open and fresh. - -“_March 28th._--Took gondola for the big P. & O. S.S. which is to be my -home for the next six days. I at once saw the ship was one of their -smartest boats, and all looked very festive on board. Luncheon was -served immediately after my arrival, and I found a bright company -thereat assembled, with Sir Henry and Lady Layard at their head; some -come to see friends off and others to go on. We amalgamated very -pleasantly, and great was the waving of handkerchiefs as we slowly -steamed past the Dogana and the Riva, our returning friends having gone -on shore in gondolas whose sable sides were hidden in brilliant -draperies. The sashes of the gondoliers’ liveries flashed in coloured -silks and gold fringes; the sea sparkled. I rejoiced. The Montalba girls -gave us a salvo of pocket handkerchiefs from their balcony on the -Giudecca. What a gay scene! Lady Layard, on leaving, introduced Mrs. H. -M., who was to join her husband at Brindisi for a long trip in the big -liner from England, and I was very happy at the prospect of her pleasant -and intellectual companionship thus far.†- -And so we passed out into the early night on the dim Adriatic, after a -sunset farewell to Venice, which remains to me as one of the tenderest -visions of the past. That voyage to Alexandria is more enjoyable, given -fair weather, than most voyages, because one is hardly ever out of sight -of land, and such classic land, too! The Ionian Islands, “Morea’s -Hills,†Candia. But what a pleasure it is to see on the day before the -arrival the signs that the landing is near at hand. The General in -Command will be waiting at sunrise on the landing stage, perhaps the -light catching the gold lace on his cap, appearing above the turbans of -the native crowd. Of course every one who has been to Egypt knows the -feeling of disappointment at the first sight of its shores, low-lying -and fringed with those incongruous windmills which the Great Napoleon -vainly planted there to teach the natives how better to make flour. In -vain. And so were his wheelbarrows. The natives preferred carrying the -mud in their hands. And the city, how it fails to give you the Oriental -impression you are longing for, with its pseudo-Italian architecture, -its hard paved streets, and dusty boulevards and squares. Government -House on the Boulevard de Ramleh was comfortable, roomy and airy, but I -missed the imagined garden and palm trees of the Cairo official -residence. - -“_April 3rd._--We have a view of Cleopatra’s Tomb (so called) to the -right, jutting out into the intensely blue sea, but the other arm of the -bay (the old Roman harbour) to our left, covered with native houses and -minarets, is partly hidden by an abomination which hurts me to -exasperation, one of those amorphous buildings of tenth-rate Italian -vulgarity and dreariness which are being run up here in such quantities, -and rears its gaunt expanse close behind this house. To cap this -erection it has received the title of ‘Bombay Castle.’ Never mind, I -shall soon, in my happy way, cease to notice what I don’t like to see, -and shall enjoy all that is left here of the original East and its -fascinating barbaric beauty. Will took me for a most interesting drive, -first to Ras-el-Tin, during which we threaded a conglomeration of East -and West which was bewildering. There were nightmarish Italian -‘_palazzi_’ loaded with cheap, bluntly-moulded stucco; glaring streets, -cafés, dusty gardens, over-dressed Jewish and Levantine women driving -about in exaggerated hats, frocks and figures; and there also appeared -the dark narrow bazaars and original streets, the latticed windows, the -finely-coloured robes of the natives, the weird goats, the wolfish dogs, -straying about in all directions. Mounds of rubbish everywhere; some -only the leavings of newly-built houses, some the remains of the -bombardment’s havoc, others the dust of a once beautiful city whose -loveliness in old Roman times must have been supreme. - -“Only here and there was I reminded of the charm of Cairo--a tree by a -yellow wall, a group of natives eating sugar cane, a water-seller with -his tinkling brass cups and a rose behind his ear, and so on. We then -had a really enjoyable drive along the Mahmoudieh Canal, which was balm -to my mind and eyes. All along the placid water on the opposite bank ran -Arab villages with their accompaniments of palms, buffaloes, goats, -water jars, native men and women in scriptural robes; water wheels; -square-shaped, almost window-less mud dwellings, so appropriate under -that intense light. On our bank were the remnants of Pashadom in the -shape of gimcrack palaces closed and let go to ruin, on account of -fashion having betaken itself to the suburb of Ramleh. These dwellings -were, however, so hidden in deep tropical gardens of great and rich -beauty that they did not offend. - -“Beyond the Arab villages on the other bank appeared Lake Mareotis, and -there was a poetical feeling about all that region. It was so strange to -have on one side of a narrow band of water old Egypt and the life of the -East going on just as it has been for ages past, and on the other the -ephemeral tokens of the sham and fleeting life of to-day, and this all -the way along a drive of some two miles. This is the fashionable drive, -and to see young Egypt on horseback, and old Jewry in carriages, passing -and repassing up and down this cosmopolitan Rotten Row is decidedly -trying. My admired friends, the running syces, though, redeem the thing -to me. Their dress is one of the most perfect in shape, colour and -material ever devised. The air was rich with the scent of strange -flowers, some of which billowed over entrance gates in magnificent -purple masses.†- -I must be excused for having shown irritation in my Diary at starting. I -soon adapted myself to the entourage, and I hope I “did my manners†as -became my official responsibilities. I liked the Greeks best of -all--nay, I got very fond of these handsome, sunny people. - -It was a curiously cosmopolitan society, and I, who am never good at -remembering the little feuds that are always simmering in this kind of -mixed company, must have sometimes made mistakes. I heard a Greek woman, -who had dined with us the previous evening, informing her friends in a -voice fraught with meaning, _â€Imaginez, hier au soir chez le Général -Monsieur Gariopulo a donné le bras à Madame Buzzato!â€_ The recipients of -this information were filled with mirth. What _had_ I done in pairing -off these two for the procession to dinner? - -The British were entrenched at Ramleh. The little stations on the -railway there gave me quite a turn at first sight. One was “Bulkley,†-the next “Fleming,†then “Sydney O. Schutz,†and finally San Stefano at -railhead, and a casino with a corrugated iron roof under that scorching -sun. Oh, that I should see such a thing in Egypt! Cheek by jowl with the -little villas one saw weird Bedouin tents and wild Arabs and their -animals, carrying on their existence as if the Briton had never come -there. - -The incongruities of Alexandria became to me positively enjoyable; and -the desert air, as ever, was life-giving. My little Syrian horse, -“Minnow,†carried me many a mile alongside my husband’s charger, over -that pleasant desert sand. But an occasional khamseen wind gave me a -taste of the disagreeable phase of Egyptian weather. I name, with the -vivid recollection of the khamseen’s irritating qualities, the -experience of paying calls (in a nice toilette) under its suffocating -puffs. And how the flies swarm; how they settle in black masses on the -sweetmeats sold in the streets, and hang in tassels from the native -children’s eyes. Oh, yes, there is a seamy side to all things, but it -isn’t my way to turn it up more than is necessary. Here may follow a bit -of Diary: - -“_May 22nd._--We had a memorable picnic at Rosetta to-day, with thirty -of the English colony. I had long wished to visit this ancient city, -brick-built and half deserted, a once opulent place, but now mournful in -its decay. I longed to see old Nile once more. We chartered a special -train and left Moharram Bey Station at 8 a.m. I was much pleased with -the seaside desert and the effects of mirage over Aboukir Bay. The -ancient town of Edkou struck me very much. It was built of the small -brown Rosetta brick, and was placed on a hill, giving it a different -aspect from the usual Arab pale-walled villages which are usually built -on level ground. It had thus a peculiar character. Shortly before -reaching Rosetta the land becomes richly cultivated. There is a subtle -beauty about the cultivated regions of this fascinating land of Egypt -which I feel very much. It is the beauty of abundance and richness as -well as of vivid colour. - -“At Rosetta dense crowds of natives awaited us and some police were -detailed to escort us through the town. I heard some of the women of our -party wishing they could pick the blue tiles off the minarets, but for -my part I prefer them under their lovely sky and sunshine, rather than -ornamenting mantelpieces in a Kensington fog. A little _musharabieh_ -lattice is still left here in the windows and has not yet been taken to -grace the British drawing-rooms of Ramleh. We strolled about the bazaars -and into the old ramshackle mosques, and, altogether, exhausted the -sights. Everywhere in Rosetta you see beautiful little Corinthian marble -columns incorporated with the Arab buildings, and supporting the -ceilings and pulpits of the mosques. They are daubed over with red -plaster. Very often a rich Corinthian capital is used as a base to a -pillar by being turned upside down, so that the shaft, crowned with its -own capital, possesses two--one at each end--an arrangement evidently -satisfactory to the barbarian Arabs who succeeded the classic builders -of the old city. Almost every angle of a house has a Greek column acting -as corner stone. But the brown brickwork is very dismal, and but for the -vivid colours of the people’s dresses the monotony of tone would be -displeasing. This is Bairam, and the people during the three days’ feast -succeeding the dismal Ramadan Fast are in their most radiant dresses, -and revelry and feasting are going on everywhere. Such a mass of moving -colour as was the market place of Rosetta to-day these eyes, that have -seen so much, never looked upon before. - -“At last, when we had climbed into enough mosques and poked about into -houses, and through all the bazaars (the fish bazaar was trying), we -went down to the landing stage and took boat for the trysting place, -about a mile up the broad, wind-lashed Nile. Will and the Bishop of -Clifton, sole remaining straggler from the late pilgrimage to the Holy -Land, and half our party had gone on before us; and, after a quick sail -along the palm-fringed bank, we arrived at the pretty landing place -chosen for our picnic. We found a tent pitched and the servants busy -laying the cloth under a dense sycamore, close to an old mosque whose -onion-shaped dome and Arab minaret gave me great pleasure as we came in -sight of them. I was impatient to make a sketch. I lost no time, and -went off and established myself in a palm grove with my water colours. -The usual Egyptian drawbacks, however, were there--flies, and puffs of -sand blown into one’s eyes and powdering one’s paints. On the Mahmoudieh -Canal I am exempt from the sand nuisance, and nothing can be pleasanter -than my experience there, sitting in an open carriage with the hood up, -and not a soul to bother me. - -“Our return to Rosetta was lively. As we were then going against the -wind, we had to be towed from the shore, and it was very interesting to -watch the agility of our crew dodging in and out of the boats moored -under the bank and deftly disengaging the tow-rope from the spars and -rigging of these vessels. A tall Circassian _effendi_ of police cantered -on his little Arab along the bank to see that all went well with us. The -other half of our party chose to sail and progress by laborious tacking -from one side of the wide river to the other, and arrived long after we -did. We all met at the house of the Syrian postmaster, where he and his -pretty little wife received us with native politeness, and gave us -coffee and sweets. Our return journey was most pleasant, and we got to -Alexandria at 8 p.m. Twelve charming hours. - -“_May 24th._--The Queen’s birthday. Trooping of the colour at 5 p.m. on -the Moharrem Bey Ground. Most successful. Will, mounted on a powerful -chestnut, did look a commanding figure as he raised his plumed helmet -and led the ringing cheers for the Queen which brought the pretty -ceremony to a close. The sun was near setting behind the height of -Komeldik, and lit up the roses in the men’s helmets and garlanded round -the standard. In the evening a dull and solemn dinner to the heads of -departments and their wives. A difficult function. We had the band of -the Suffolks playing outside the windows, which were wide open on the -sea. I went out sketching in the morning, very early. I should have been -at my post all day on such an occasion, I confess. Will said I was like -Nero, fiddling while Rome was burning. - -“_May 29th._--The Mediterranean Fleet is here. Great interchange of -cards, firing of salutes, etc., etc. All very ceremonious, but -productive of picturesqueness and colour and effect, so I like it very -much. The Khedive Tewfik, too, has arrived, with the Khediviah, for the -hot season from Cairo. Will, of course, had to be present at the station -this morning for the reception of our puppet, and it was not nice to see -the Union Jack down in the dust as the guard of honour of the Suffolks -gave the salute. Our dinner to-night was to the admiral and officers of -the newly-arrived British squadron. - -“_June 2nd._--To the Khediviah’s first reception at the harem of the -Ras-el-Tin Palace. I had two Englishwomen to present, rather an -unmanageable pair, as seniority appeared to be claimed erroneously at -the last moment by the junior. This reception has become a most dull -affair now that Oriental ways are done away with. Dancing girls no -longer amuse the guests, nor handmaidens cater to them with sweetmeats -during the audience, and there is nothing left but absolute emptiness. -The Vice-Reine sits, in European dress, on a divan at the end of a vast -hall, and the visitors sit in a semi-circle before her on hard European -chairs reflected in a polished _parquet_, speaking to each other in -whispers and furtively sipping coffee. She addresses a few remarks to -those nearest her, and the pauses are articulated by the click of the -ever-moving fans of the assembly. The ladies-in-waiting and girl slaves -move about in a mooning way in the funniest frocks, supposed to be -European, but some of them absolutely frumpish. Melancholy eunuchs of -the bluest black, in glossy frock coats, rise and bow as one passes -along the passages to or from the presence, and it is a relief to get -out through the jealously-walled garden into the outer world. - -“I find it difficult to converse in a harem, being so bad at small talk. -I upset the Vice-Reine’s equanimity by telling her (which was quite -true) that I had heard she was taking lessons in painting. ‘_Moi, -madame?!! Oh! je n’aurais pas le courage!_’ It was as bad as when I told -her, in Cairo, how much I liked poking about the bazaars. ‘_Vous allez -dans les bazaars, madame?!!_’ So I relapsed into talking of illnesses, -which subject I have always found touches the proper note in a harem. -They say the Vice-Reine delights in these audiences, as they are -amongst the great events of her days. She is a beautiful woman, a -Circassian, and of lovely whiteness. - -“Finished the delicate sketch of the loveliest bit of the canal, where -the pink minaret and the black cypress are. I wish I could do just one -more reach of that lovely waterway before I leave! There is a particular -group of oleanders nodding with heavy pink blossom by the water’s edge -against a soft blurred background of tamarisk, where women and girls in -dark blue, brilliant orange, and rose-coloured robes come down to fetch -water in their amphoræ. There is another reach lined for the whole -length of the picture with tall waving canebrakes, above whose tender -green tops appears the delicate distance of the lagoons of Mareotis; -there is--but ah! each bend of that canal reveals fresh beauties, and -often as Will has driven me there, I am as eager as ever to miss no -point in the lovely sequence. - -“_June 14th._--All my days now I am sketching more continuously, as the -arduous work of paying calls has relaxed greatly. This evening we drove -again far beyond Ramleh on the old route followed by Napoleon to reach -Aboukir, and I finished the sketch there.†- -And so on, till my departure a few days later. I had wisely left my oils -at home at Delgany, and thus got together a much larger number of -subjects, the handier medium of water-colour being better suited to the -official life I had to attend to. - - - - -CHAPTER XVII - -MORE OF THE EAST - - -My return voyage was made on board the Messageries boat to Marseilles. -This gave me the Straits of Messina as well as those of Bonifacio. On -passing Ajaccio I don’t think a single French passenger gave a thought -to Napoleon. I was intent on taking in every detail of that place, as -far as I could see it through a morning mist. Corsica looked very grand, -crowned with great snow-capped mountains. - -I lost no time in getting home to the children, and passed the rest of -the summer in the green loveliness of Ireland, returning to Egypt, in -the following October, _viâ_ Venice again. Every soldier’s wife knows -what it is to be torn in two between the husband far away abroad and the -children one must leave at home. The trial is great, no doubt of it. -Then there is this perplexity: whether it would be well to take one of -the children with one and risk the dangers of the journey and the -climate at the other end. Parents pay heavily for our far-flung Empire! - -On the morning of my departure from Venice I woke to the call of the -sunbeams pouring into my room, and, behold, as I went to the window, the -dome of the “Salute†taking the salute, as we say in the Army, of the -sunrise! And the Dogana’s gilded globe responding, too. Joy! our start -at least will be calm. Till midday I had Venice to myself, and I could -stroll about the Piazza and little streets, and recollect myself in -peaceful meditation in St. Mark’s. What delicate loveliness is that of -Venice! Those russet reds and creamy whites and tender yellows, and here -and there bits of deep indigo blue to give emphasis to the colour -scheme. And that tender opalesque sky, and the gilded statues on domes -and towers, and the rich mosaics twinkling in the hazy light! These -things make one feel a love for Venice which is full of gratitude for so -beautiful a thing. - -At 12.30 I took gondola and was rowed to my old friend the _Hydaspes_ -lying in the Giudecca, and was just in time to sit down to a truly -Hydaspian luncheon, which was crowded. To my indescribable relief the -captain told me I should have a cabin all to myself as last time. At two -o’clock we cast off, and that effective passage all along the front of -the city was again made which so impressed me the preceding spring; and -then we turned off seawards, winding through the channel marked out by -those white posts with black heads which, even in their humble way, are -so harmonious in tone and are beloved by painters, carrying out as they -do the whole artistic scheme. Every fishing boat we met or overtook gave -one a study of harmonies. Now it was an orange sail with a red upper -corner in soft sunlight against the flat blue-purple of the distant -mountains and the vivid green of the Lido; now, composing with a line of -rosy, snowy mountain tops that lay like massive clouds on the horizon, -would rise a pale cool grey-white sail, well in the foreground, with its -upper part tinted a soft mouse-grey and its lower border deep -terra-cotta red. The sea, pale blue; the sky thinly veiled with clouds -of a rosy dove-grey. Nowhere does one see such delicacy of colouring as -here. Then the market boats looked well, full of vegetables, whose cool -green came just where it should for the completion of the colour study. -To think that the Local Board, or whatever those modern vulgarians are -called, of Venice are advocating the complete suppression of those -coloured sails, to be replaced by plain white ones all round. Hands off, -_mascalzoni!_ All this enchantment gradually faded away in the mists of -evening and of distance, and we were soon well out to sea. - -“_Sunday._--At 9 a.m. Brindisi in bright, low sunshine,†says the Diary. -“To Missa Cantata; much pleasant strolling. What animation all day with -the loading and unloading, the coming and going of passengers, the cries -and laughter of the population thronging the quays! The _Britannia_ from -London was already in, and I watched the transfer of my heavy luggage -from her to the _Hydaspes_ with a hawk’s eye. I had a genuine compliment -on landing paid to my accent. Those pests, the little beggar boys, who -hang on to the English and can’t be shaken off, attacked me at first -till I turned on them and shouted, ‘_Via, birrrrichini!_’ One of them -pulled the others away: ‘Come away, don’t you see she is not English!’ -The Italians still think _Gl’ Inglesi_ are all millionaires and made of -_scudi_. - -“_November 12th._--What indescribable joy this afternoon to see the crew -busy with the preparations for our arrival to-morrow morning! - -“_November 13th._--Of course I began to get ready at 3 a.m. and peer out -of the porthole on the waste of starlit waters as I felt the ship -stopping off the distant lighthouse. We lay to a long time waiting for -the dawn before proceeding to enter the harbour. The sun rose behind the -city just as we turned into the port. I looked towards the distant -landing stage. Half a mile off, with my wonderful sight, I saw Will, -though the sun was right in my eyes. I knew him not only by his height, -but by the shining gold band round his cap. We were a long time coming -in and swinging round alongside, and, before the gangway was well down, -Will sprang on to it and, in spite of the warning shouts of the sailors, -was the first to board the _Hydaspes_.†- -I was back in Egypt; to be there once more was bliss. The now brimming -Mahmoudieh saw me haunting it again; the predominating red of the -flowering trees and creepers that I noted before had made place for -enchanting variations of yellow, and all the vegetation had deepened. -The heat was great at first. I was particularly struck by the enhanced -beauty of the date palms, whose golden and deep purple fruit now hung in -clusters under the graceful branches. But all too soon came a good deal -of rain, to my indignation. Rain in Egypt! The natives say we have -brought it with us. I never saw any in Cairo nor upstream. - -The Governor of the city had invited us to make use of a little -_dahabiyeh_, the _Rose_, for a cruise on the Lower Nile, and on November -20th we started. My husband had already welcomed on their arrival, in a -worthy manner, the officers of the French fleet, with whom he was in -perfect sympathy; but my Diary records the happy necessity for our -departure by the scheduled time on board the _Rose_ on that very -November 20th. That morning the German squadron arrived and the thunder -of its guns gave us an unintentional send-off! They were duly honoured, -of course, but the General himself was away. - -It was a nine days’ cruise to the mouth of the Nile and back. Quite a -different reading of the Nile from the one I have recorded in my letters -to my mother, and reproduced in “From Sketch Book and Diary.†Very few -tourists or even serious travellers have come so far down, so that one -is less afraid of being forestalled by abler writers in recording one’s -impressions there. It was pretty to see the big Turkish flag fluttering -at our helm, and a beautifully disproportionate pennon streaming in -crimson magnificence from the point of the little vessel’s curved -felucca spar. But our first days were damping: “_November 22nd._--Oh, -the rain! Alas! that I should know Egypt under such deluges, and see in -this land the deepest, ugliest mud in the world. We had to moor off the -residence of the Bey, to whom this _dahabiyeh_ belongs, last night, as -we wished to pay him our respects and tender him our thanks this -morning. He made us stay to luncheon, and a very excellent Arab repast -it was. I got on well with him as he spoke excellent French, but his -mother! Oh! it was heavy, as she could only talk Turkish, and my -translated remarks didn’t even get a smile out of her. I must say the -Mohammedan women are deadly. - -“We proceeded on our voyage very late in the day, on account of this -visit which common civility made necessary. The weather brightened up at -sunset and nothing more weird have I ever seen than the mud villages, -cemeteries, lonely tombs, goats, buffaloes and wild human beings that -loomed on the banks as we glided by, brown and black against that sky -full of racing clouds that seemed red-hot from the great fiery globe -that had just sunk below the palm-fringed horizon. These canal banks -might give many people the horrors. I certainly think them in this -weather the most uncanny bits of manipulated nature I have ever seen. I -was fortunate in getting down in colour such a telling thing, a goatherd -in a Bedouin’s burnous, which was wildly flapping in the hot wind -against the red glow in the west, driving a herd of those goats I find -so effective, with their long, pendant ears, and kids skipping in impish -gambols in front. ‘Apocalyptic’ apparition, caught, as we left it -astern, in that portentous gloaming! I shall make something of this. As -to the inhabitants of those regions, to contemplate their life is too -depressing. As darkness comes on you see them creeping into their -unlighted mud hovels like their animals. On the Upper Nile, at least, -the fellaheen have glorious air, the sun, the clean, dry sand, but here -in that mud----! - -“_November 23rd_.--No more rain. At Atfeh we left the canal at last, by -a lock, and I gave a sigh of relief and contentment, for we were on the -broad bosom of Old Nile. After a delay at this mud town to buy -provisions we pushed out into the current and with eight immensely long -‘sweeps’ (the wind was against sailing) we made a good run to Rosetta, -on whose mud bank we thumped by the light of a pale moon. The rhythmic -sound of those splashing oars and of the chant of the oarsmen in the -minor key, with barbaric ‘intervals’ unknown to our music, continued to -echo in my ears--it all seemed wild and strange and haunting. - -“_November 24th_.--Began this morning a sketch of Rosetta to finish on -our return from rounding up our outward voyage at the western mouth of -the great river where we saw it emerge into a very desolate, grey -Mediterranean. I may now say I have a very good idea of the mighty -river for upward of a thousand miles of its course--a good bit further, -both below and above stream, than the authoress of ‘A Thousand Miles up -the Nile’ knew it, whom in my early days I longed to emulate and, if -possible, surpass! An old-fashioned book, now, I suppose, but all the -more interesting for that. Furling sail, for the wind had been fair -to-day, we turned and were towed back to Fort St. Julian, where we -moored for the night. - -“_November 25th_.--After a nice little sketch of the Fort St. Julian, -celebrated in Napoleonic annals, we started off, and reached Rosetta in -good time, so that I was able most satisfactorily to finish my large -water-colour of the place. I was rather bothered where I sat at the -water’s edge by the small boys and a very persistent pelican, which kept -flying from the river into the fish market and returning with stolen -fish, to souse them in the water before filling its pouch, in time to -avoid capture by the pursuing brats. - -“_November 26th_.--From Rosetta we glided pleasantly to Metubis, one of -the many shining cities, as seen from afar, that become heaps of squalid -dwellings when viewed at close quarters. But the minarets of those -phantom cities remain erect in all their beauty, and this city in -particular was transfigured by the most magnificent sunset I have ever -seen, even here.†- -The wild town of Syndioor was our mooring place for the next night, and -at sunrise we were off homewards. Syndioor and the opposite city of -Deyrout were veiled in a soft mist, out of which rose their tall -minarets in stately beauty, radiant in the level light. The effect on -the mind of these ruined places, once magnificent centres of commerce -and luxury, is quite extraordinary. They are now, all of them, -derelicts. And so in time we slipped back into the canal, landing under -the oleanders of our starting place. The crew kissed hands, the _reis_ -made his obeisance, and we returned to the hard stones and rattle of the -Boulevard de Ramleh, refreshed. The Germans were gone. - -Balls, picnics, gymkhanas and dinners were varied by intervals of -water-colour sketching in the desert. One picnic, out at Mex, to the -west of Alexandria, was distinguished by a great camel ride we all had -on the soft-paced, mouse-coloured mounts of the Camel Corps, the -Englishwomen looking so nice in their well-cut riding habits, sitting -easily on their tall steeds. I managed to secure several sketches that -day of the men and camels of the corps, and have one sketch of ourselves -starting for our turn in the desert. Our ponies took us back home. The -sort of day I liked. As I record, the completeness of my enjoyment was -caused by my having been able to put some useful work in, as usual. I -had a Camel Corps picture _in petto_ at this time. - -“_February 13th_, 1891.--We had the Duke of Cambridge to luncheon. He -arrived yesterday on board the _Surprise_ from Malta, and Will, of -course, received him officially, but not royally, as he is travelling -incog., and he came here to tea. To-day we had a large party to meet -him, and a very genial luncheon it was, not to say rollicking. The day -was exquisite, and out of the open windows the sea sparkled, blue and -calm. H.R.H. seemed to me rather feeble, but in the best of humours; a -wonderful old man to come to Egypt for the first time at seventy-two, -braving this burning sun and with such a high colour to begin with! One -felt as though one was talking to George III. to hear the ‘What, what, -what? Who, who, who? Why, why, why?’ Col. Lane, one of his suite, said -he had never seen him in better spirits. I was gratified at his praise -of our cook--very loud praise, literally, as he is not only rather deaf -himself, but speaks to people as though they also were a ‘little hard of -hearing.’ ‘Very good cook, my dear’ (to me). ‘Very good cook, Butler’ -(across the table to Will). ‘Very good cook, eh, Sykes?’ (very loud to -Christopher Sykes, further off). ‘You are a _gourmet_, you know better -about these things than I do, eh?’ C. S.: ‘I ought to have learnt -something about it at Gloucester House, sir!’ H.R.H. (to me): ‘Your -health, my dear.’ ‘Butler, your very good health!’ Aside to me: ‘What’s -the Consul’s name?’ I: ‘Sir Charles Cookson.’ ‘Sir Charles, your -health!’ When I hand the salt to H.R.H. he stops my hand: ‘I wouldn’t -quarrel with her for the world, Butler.’ And so the feast goes on, our -august guest plying me with questions about the relationship and -antecedents of every one at the table; about the manners and customs of -the populace of Alexandria; the state of commerce; the climate. I answer -to the best of my ability with the most unsatisfactory information. He -started at four for Cairo, leaving a most kindly impression on my -memory. The last of the old Georgian type! ‘Your mutton was good, my -dear; not at all _goaty_,’ were his valedictory words.†- -Mutton _is_ goaty in Egypt unless well selected. I advise travellers to -confine themselves to the good poultry, and to leave meat alone. What I -would have done without our dear, good old Magro, the major domo who did -my housekeeping out there, I dread to think. His name, denoting a lean -habit of body, was a misnomer, for he was rotund. A good, honest -Maltese, his devotion to “Sair William†was really touching. I was only -as the moon is to the sun, and to serve the sun he would, I am -convinced, have risked his life. I came in for his devotion to myself by -reason of my reflected glory. One morning he came hurtling towards me, -through the rooms, waving aloft what at first looked like a red -republican flag, but it proved to be a sirloin or other portion of -bovine anatomy which he had had the luck to purchase in the market (good -beef being so rare). “Look, miladi, you will not often meet such beef -walking in the street!†He laid it out for my admiration. This is the -way he used to ask me for the daily orders: “What will miladi command -for dinner?†“Cutlets?†(patting his ribs); “a loin?†(indications of -lumbago); “or a leg?†(advancing that limb); “or, for a delicate -_entrée_, brains?†(laying a finger on his perspiring forehead). “Oh, -for goodness’ sake, Magro, not brains!†When the day’s work was done he -would retire to what we called the “Ah!-poor-me-roomâ€--his -boudoir--where, repeating aloud those words so dear to his nationality, -he would take up his cigar. Government gave him £250 a year for all this -expenditure of zeal. - -While on the subject of Oriental housekeeping, I must record the -following. Our predecessors of a former time had what to me would have -been an experience difficult to recover from. They were giving a large -Christmas dinner, and the cook, proud of the pudding he had mastered the -intricacies of, insisted on bringing it in himself, all ablaze. It was -only a few steps from the kitchen to the dining-room. Holding the great -dish well up before him, he unfortunately set fire to his beard, and the -effect of his dusky face approaching in the subdued light of the door, -illuminated in that way by blue flames, must have been satanic. - -“_March 14th_.--Lord Charles Beresford, who has relieved the other ship -with the _Undaunted_, invited us all to luncheon on board, but Will and -I could not stay to luncheon as we had guests; nevertheless, we had a -very interesting morning on board. On arriving at the Marina we found -Lady Charles, Lady Edmund Talbot, Colonel Kitchener,[10] whose light, -rather tiger-like eyes in that sunburnt face slightly frightened me, and -others waiting to go with us to the _Undaunted_ in the ship’s barge and -a steam launch. Lord Charles received us with his usual sailor-like -welcome, and we had a tremendous inspection of the ship, one of our -latest experiments in naval machinery--a belted cruiser. She will -probably cruise to the bottom if ever the real test comes. A torpedo was -fired for us, but it gambolled away like a porpoise, ending by plunging -into a mudbank. I wish they would diverge their direction like that in -war, detestable inventions! - -“_April 1st_, 1891.--I am now quite in the full swing of Egyptian -enjoyment. No more Egyptian rain! Excellent accounts from home, and my -intention of going back is rendered unnecessary. How thankful I am, on -the eve of our departure for Palestine, for the ‘all well’ from home!†- -My entries in the Diary during that unique journey, and my letters to my -mother, are published in my book, “Letters from the Holy Land.†I -illustrated it with the water colours I made during our pilgrimage, and -I was most delighted to find the little book had an utterly unexpected -success. It was nice to find myself among the writers! To have ridden -through this land from end to end is to have experienced a pleasure such -as no other part of the earth can give us. Had I had no more joy in -store for me, that would have been enough. - -As the railway was not opened till the following year the mind was not -disturbed, and could concentrate on the scenes before it with all the -recollection it required. I called our progress “riding through the -Bible.†Many a local allusion in both Testaments, which had seemed vague -or difficult to appreciate before, opened out, so to say, before one’s -happy vision, and gave a substance, a vitality to the Scripture -narrative which produced a satisfaction delightful to experience. -Perhaps the strongest longing in my childhood’s mind had been to do this -journey. To do it as we did, just our two selves, and in the fresh -spring weather, was a happy circumstance. - -As I look back to that time which we spent amidst the scenes of Our -Lord’s revealed life on earth, no portion of it produces such a sense of -mental peace as does the night of our arrival on the shores of the Sea -of Galilee. _There_ there were no crowds, no distractions, not a thing -to jar on the mind. Before and around one, as one sat on the pebbly -strand, appeared the very outlines of the hills His eyes had rested on, -and far from modern life encroaching on one’s sensitiveness, the cities -that lined those sacred shores in His time had disappeared like one of -the fleeting cloud shadows which the moon was casting all along their -ruined sites. His words came back with a poignant force, “Woe unto -thee, Chorazin! Woe unto thee, Bethsaida!... and thou, Capernaum, which -art exalted unto heaven....†Where were they? And the high waves raced -foaming and breaking on the shingle, blown by a strong though mild wind -that came across from the dark cliffs of the country of the Gadarenes. -One seemed to feel His approach where He had so often walked. One can -hardly speak of the awe which that feeling brought to the mind. He was -quite near! - -Undoubtedly the effect of a journey through the Holy Land _does_ -permanently impress itself upon one’s life. It is a tremendous -experience to be brought thus face to face with the Gospel narrative. We -returned to the modern world on May 1st. This time I left Alexandria in -company with my husband on June 3rd, and on landing at Venice we at once -went on to Verona, where he was anxious to visit the battlefield of -Arcole. - - - - -CHAPTER XVIII - -THE LAST OF EGYPT - - -Here at Verona was Italy in her richest dress, her abundant and varied -crops filling the landscape, one might say, to overflowing; not a space -of soil left untilled, and, all the way along our road to San Bonifacio -for Arcole, the snow-capped Alps were shimmering in the blue atmosphere -on one hand, and a great teeming plain stretched away to the horizon on -the other. - -I noticed the fine physique of the peasantry, and their nice ways. Every -peasant man we met on the road raised his hat to us as we passed. At San -Bonifacio we got out of the carriage and, turning to the right, we -walked to Arcole, becoming exclusively Napoleonic on reaching the famous -marsh. History says that a soldier saved Napoleon from drowning early in -the battle by pulling him out of the water in that marsh, “by the hair!†-I pondered this _bald_ statement, and came to the conclusion that the -thing must have happened in this wise. Young Bonaparte in those early -days wore his hair very long, and gathered up into a queue. Had he been -close-cropped, as his later experience in Egypt compelled him to be, the -history of the world might have been very different. As I looked into -the water from the famous little bridge, I saw the place where the young -conqueror slipped and plunged in. The soldier must have caught hold of -the pigtail, and with the good grip it afforded him pulled his drowning -general out. Between the little bridge and the spot where he sank -Napoleon raised the obelisk which we see to-day. Thus do I like to -realise interesting events in history. - -Our driver on the way back became a dreadful bore, for ever turning on -the box to chatter. First he informed us that Arcole was called after -Hercules, “a very strong man†(great thumping of biceps to illustrate -his meaning), which we knew before. Then, when within sight of the -battlefield of Custozza, where our dear Italians got such a “dusting†-from the Austrians, he informed us that he had been in the battle, and -that the Italians had _blasted_ the enemy. “_Li abbiamo fulminati_.†-“Oh, shut up, do! _Basta, caro!_†- -Our afternoon stroll all over Verona merged into a moonlight one which -takes first rank in my Italian chronicles. The effect of a roaring -Alpine torrent (for such is the Adige at this season of melting snows) -rushing and swirling through the heart of that ancient city, between -embankments bordered with domed churches, with towers and palaces, I -found quite unique. Mysterious, too, it all felt in the lights and -profound shades of the moonlight. Above rose the hills with very -striking serrated outlines, crowned with fortresses. - -The rest of the summer saw me at home at Delgany. I must say the “Green -Isle†for summer, following Egypt for winter, makes a very pleasant -combination. My husband had returned to Alexandria on August 23rd, and I -and a wee child followed in November. I had half accomplished my next -Academy picture at home, and I took it out to finish in Egypt--“Halt on -a Forced March: Retreat to Corunna.†A study of an artillery team this -time, giving the look of the spent horses, “lean unto war.†It was very -well placed at the Academy in the fresh first room, and well received, -but it was too sad a subject, perhaps, so I have it still. There were no -half-starved horses in all Wicklow, I am happy to say, look where I -would for models. I had well-to-do ones to get tone and colour from, but -I bided my time. In Egypt I had plenty of choice, and had I not been -able to put the finishing touches to my team _there_, the picture would -never have been so strong--an instance of my favourite definition when I -am asked, “What is the secret of success?†“_Seize opportunities_.†- -So on December 10th, 1891, I, with the little child I had safely brought -out with me, landed once more at Alexandria. The big charger and the -grey Syrian pony had now a black donkey alongside for the desert rides, -which were the chief pleasure of our life out there. - -But the winter grew sad. On January 7th, 1892, the Khedive Tewfik died -rather mysteriously, it was said, but his death was announced as the -result of that plague we call the “flu,†which reached even to the East. -Just eight days later poor Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence, fell a -victim to it, and in the same way died Cardinal Manning. Also some of -our own friends at Alexandria went down. And yet never was there more -brilliant weather, so softly brilliant that one could hardly realise the -presence of danger. All the balls and other festivities were stopped, of -course. I had ample time to finish my “Halt on a Forced March†in this -long interval, so boring and depressing to Alexandrian society. Soon -things returned to pleasantly normal conditions, however, and being -free from the studio on sending my picture off, I went in -whole-heartedly for the amenities of my official position. The Private -View at the far-away Royal Academy was in my mind on the occasion of my -giving away the prizes at some athletic sports, for I knew it was just -then in full blast, April 29th, 1892. I knew my quiet picture could not -make anything of a stir, and I chaffed myself by suggesting that the -“three cheers and one cheer more†proposed by the English consul at the -end of the prize-giving, which rent the sunset air in that dusty plain -in my honour, should be all I ought to expect. It would be a _little_ -too much to receive applause in two quarters of the globe at the same -moment, allowing for difference of time! - -I call upon my Diary again: “_May 18th_.--We joined a picnic in the very -palm grove through which the Turks fled from the French pursuit under -Bonaparte to find death in the surf of Aboukir Bay. We were shaded by -clumps of pomegranate trees in flower as well as by the waving, rustling -palms, and a cool wind blew round us most pleasantly, while the white -and grey donkeys that brought us rested in groups, their drivers and the -villagers squatting about them in those unconsciously graceful attitudes -I love to jot down in my sketch book. The moving shadows of the palm -branches on the sand always capture my observation; no other tree -shadows produce that effect of ever-interlacing forms. Far away in the -radiant light lay the region where the terrible naval battle took place -later, to our credit. Altogether our party was surrounded by frightful -reminiscences, in the midst of which the picnic went its usual picnicky -way. We rode back to Alexandria by the light of the stars. - -“_May 23rd_.--A wonderful day, full of colour, movement and interest. -Young Abbas II., the new Khedive, was received here on his arrival from -Cairo, the whole population, swelled by strange wild Asiatics from -distant parts, filling the streets and squares through which he was to -pass. Will, of course, had to receive him at the station. The crowd -alone was a pleasure to look at. The Khedive seemed a squat young man -with a round pink and white painted face. They say he loves not the -English. What I enjoyed above all was the drive we took soon after, all -the length of the line of reception, to Ras-el-Tin. Oh, those narrow -streets of the old quarter, filled with numberless varieties of Oriental -costumes. Now and then the crowd was threaded by troops, some on -horseback, some perched on camels, and, to give the finishing touch of -variety, the native fire brigade went by, wearing the brass helmets of -their London _confrères_, very surprising headgear bonneting their black -and brown faces.†- -I, with the little child, left for home on June 7th, _viâ_ Genoa, well -provided with a good stock of studies of camels and Camel Corps -troopers. These were for my 8-foot picture, destined for the next -Academy. Many a camel had I stalked about the Ramleh desert to watch its -mannerisms in movement. I got quite to revel in camels. Usually that -interesting beast is made utterly uninteresting in pictures, whereas if -you know him personally he is full of surprises and one never gets to -the end of him. - -The voyage to my dear old Genoa was full of beautiful sights, with one -exception. I don’t know what old Naples was like--I know it was -frightfully dirty--but I saw it modernised into a very horrid town, a -smudge of ugliness on one of the ideal beauties of the world. It gave me -a shock on beholding it as we entered the harbour, and so I leave the -town itself severely alone, with its new, barrack-like buildings looking -gaunt and gritty in the burning June sunshine. The cloisters of the -Certosa at Sant’ Elmo are very beautiful, and I much enjoyed the church -and the splendid “Descent from the Cross†of Spagnoletto. There was just -time for a dash up there before leaving at 12 noon. As we steamed out -towards Ischia I got the oft-painted (and, alas! oleographed) view of -Vesuvius across the whole extent of the bay from off Posilipo. Certainly -nowhere on earth can a fairer scene be beheld, and greater grace of -coast and mountain outline. Then the fair scene melted away into the -tender haze of the June afternoon--blue and tender grey, the volcanic -islands one by one disappeared and the day of my first sight of the Bay -of Naples closed. - -June 12th was a most memorable day, a day of deepest, sweetest, and -saddest impressions and memories for me. In the afternoon I made ready -for our approach to that part of the world where the brightest years of -my childhood were spent--the Gulf of Genoa. In order not to lose one -moment away from the contemplation of what we were approaching, I packed -up all our things before three o’clock, did all the _fin de voyage_ -paying and tipping, and then, my mind free for concentration, I -stationed myself at the starboard bulwark, binocular in hand. At long -last I saw in the haze of the lovely afternoon a shadowy outline of -rocky mountain which my heart, rather than my eyes, told me was Porto -Fino, for never had I seen it before from out at sea, at that angle. But -I knew where to look for it, and while to the other passengers we seemed -still out of sight of land I saw the shadowy form. Then little by little -the whole coast grew out of the haze and I saw again, one after the -other, the houses we lived in from Ruta to Albaro. With the powerful -glass I had I could see Villa de’ Franchi and its sundial, and see how -many windows were open or shut at Villa Quartara as we passed Albaro, -and see the old, well-loved pine tree and cypress avenue of the latter -_palazzo_. - -“The sight of Genoa in the lurid sunset glow, with its steep, conical -mountains behind it, crowned with forts, half shrouded in dark grey -clouds, was very impressive. ‘La Superba’ looked her proudest thus seen -full face from the sea, seated on her rocky throne. By the by, when -_will_ people give up translating ‘superba’ by ‘superb’? It is rather -trying. ‘Genoa the Superb’! Ugh!†- -[Illustration: THE EGYPTIAN CAMEL-CORPS AND THE BERSAGLIERI.] - -I worked away well in the pleasant seclusion of Delgany, at my 8-foot -canvas whereon I carried very far forward my “Review of the Native Camel -Corps at Cairo.†I had already a water-colour drawing of this subject, -which I had made while the scene was fresh in my mind’s eye. I had been -indebted to the then General commanding at Cairo for the facilities -afforded me to see, at close quarters, a charge of the native Camel -Corps, which impressed me indelibly. I had driven out of Cairo to the -desert, where the manÅ“uvres were taking place, and, getting out of -the carriage opposite the saluting base, I placed myself in front of the -advancing squadrons, so timing things that I got well clear at the right -moment. I wanted as much of a full-face view as possible. The -attitudes of the men, wielding their whips, the movements of the camels, -the whole rush of the thing gave me such a sensation of advancing force -that, as soon as the “Halt!†was sounded, and the 300 animals had flung -themselves on their knees with the roar and snarl peculiar to those -creatures when required to exert themselves, I hastened back to -Shepheard’s and marked down the salient points. The men were of all -shades, from _fellaheen_ yellow to the bluest black of Nubia, and it was -a striking moment when they all leapt off their saddles (as the camels -collapsed), panting, and beginning to re-set their disordered -accoutrements. In those days the saddles were covered with red morocco -leather, with fringed strips that flew out in the wind, adding, for the -artist, a welcome aid to the representation of motion. Now, of course, -that precious bit of colour is gone, and the necessity for khaki -invisibility reaches even to the camel saddle, which is now a stiff and -unattractive dun-coloured object. - -For my last and most brilliant visit to Egypt I took out our eldest -little girl, and a very enjoyable trip we had, _viâ_ Genoa. Of course, I -took out the picture to finish it on its native sands. I had the richest -choice of military camels, arms and accoutrements, and a native trooper -or two, as models, but only for studies. I was careful to have no posed -model to paint from in the studio, otherwise good-bye to movement. These -graceful Orientals become the stupidest, stiff lay figures the moment -you ask them to pose as models. Besides, the sincere Mohammedans refuse -to be painted at all. I have never used a Kodak myself, finding -snapshots of little value, but quick sketches done unbeknown to the -_sketchee_ and a good memory serve much better. The picture, I grieve to -say, was hung not very kindly at the Academy, but at the Paris Salon it -was received with all the appreciation I could desire. - -What pleased me particularly in this last sojourn in Egypt was our visit -to Cairo, where I was so happy during my first experience, when I -described my sensations as being comparable to swimming in Oriental -colour, light, and picturesqueness. The only thing that jarred was the -tyranny of Cairo society, which compelled one to appear at the -diversions, whether one liked it or not. Nevertheless, I gained a very -thorough knowledge of the wondrously beautiful mosques, having the -advantage of the guidance of one who knew them all intimately--Dean -Butcher. It was a true pleasure to have him as _cicerone_, and I am -grateful to him for his most kindly giving up his time for little C. and -me. My husband had long ago been acquainted with every nook and corner -of Cairo, but Dean Butcher had made a special study of these mosques, -and I think he was pleased with the way we took in the fascinating -information he gave me and the child. - -It’s a far cry from Cairo to Aldershot! On November 1st, 1893, my -husband’s command of the 2nd Infantry Brigade began there. Much as I -loved Egypt, it was a great delight for me to know that the parting from -the children was not to be repeated. I had had Egypt to my heart’s -content. - -After returning home from Egypt, at Delgany, on June 17th, 1893, I set -up my next big picture, “The Réveil in the Bivouac of the Scots Greys on -the Morning of Waterloo--Early Dawn.†I was able to make all my -twilight studies at home, all out of doors; not a thing painted in the -studio. I pressed many people into my service as models, and I think I -got the light on their fine Irish faces very true to nature. I even -caught an Irish dragoon home on leave in the village, whose splendid -profile I saw at once would be very telling. - - - - -CHAPTER XIX - -ALDERSHOT - - -And now our Irish home under the glorious Wicklow Mountains broke up, -and I was to become acquainted with life in the great English camp. The -huts for officers were still standing at that time, wooden bungalows of -the quaintest fashion, all the more pleasing to me for being unlike -ordinary houses. The old court-martial hut became my studio, four -skylights having been placed in it, and I was quite happy there. I -worked hard at “The Réveil,†and finished it in that unconventional -workshop. - -To say that Aldershot society was brilliant would be very wide of the -mark. How could it be? But to us there was a very great attraction close -by, at Farnborough. There lived a woman who was and ever will be a very -remarkable figure in history, the Empress Eugénie. She hadn’t forgotten -my husband’s connection with her beloved son’s tragic story out in South -Africa, nor her interview with him at Camden Place, and his management -of the Prince’s funeral at Durban. We often took tea with her on Sundays -during our Aldershot period, her “At Home†day for intimate friends and -relatives, at the big house on the hill. She became very fond of talking -politics with _Sair William_, and always in English, and she used to sit -in that confidential way foreign politicians have, expressive of the -whispered divulgence of tremendous secrets and of occult plots and -plans in various parts of the world. She talked incessantly with him, -but was a bad listener; and if a subject came up in conversation which -did not interest her, a sharp snap or two of her fan would soon bring -things to a stop. - -[Illustration: ALDERSHOT MANÅ’UVRES. - -THE ENEMY IN SIGHT.] - -Entries from the Aldershot Diary: - -“_January 9th_, 1894.--We went to the memorial service at the Empress’s -church in commemoration of the death of Napoleon III. After Mass we went -down to the crypt, where another short service was chanted and the tombs -of the Emperor and Prince Imperial were incensed. Between the two lies -the one awaiting the pathetic widow who was kneeling there shrouded with -black, a motionless, solitary figure, for whom one felt a very deep -respect. - -“_March 14th_.--Delightful dinner at Government House, where the Duke -and Duchess of Connaught proved most cheery host and hostess. He took me -to dinner, and we talked other than banalities. All the other generals’ -wives and the generals and heads of departments were there to the number -of twenty-two. - -“_March 25th_.--To a brilliant dinner at Government House to meet the -Duke of Cambridge. Good old George was in splendid form, and asked me if -I remembered the lunch we gave him at Alexandria. It was a most cheery -evening. We sat down about twenty-eight, of whom only six were ladies. -Grenfell, our old friend of Genoese days, and Evelyn Wood were there. - -“_May 17th_.--A glorious day for the Queen’s Review, which was certainly -a dazzling spectacle. Dear old Queen, it is many a long year since she -reviewed the Aldershot Division; nor would she have come but that her -son is now in supreme command here. Old people say it was like old -times, only that she has shrunk into a tinier woman than ever she was, -and by the side of the towering Duchess of Coburg in that spacious -carriage she looked indeed tiny, and nearly extinguished under a large -grey sunshade. A good place was reserved for my little carriage close to -the Royal Enclosure, and I enjoyed the congenial scene to the utmost. -Was I not in my element? The review took place on Laffan’s Plain, a -glorious sweep of intense green turf which I often take little Martin to -for our morning walk, and no Aldershot dust annoyed us. I was very proud -of the general commanding the 2nd Brigade riding past the saluting base -at the head of his troops on that mighty charger, ‘Heart of Oak,’ that -fine golden bay, set off to the utmost advantage by the ceremonial -saddle-cloth and housings of blue and gold. That general gives the -salute with a very free sweep of the sword arm. The march past took a -long time. As to the crowd of officers behind the Queen’s carriage, my -eyes positively ached with the sight of all that scarlet and gold. I -must say this scarlet is pushed too far to my mind. It must have now -reached the highest pitch of dyeing powers. It was a duller tone at -Waterloo; and certainly still more artistic when Cromwell first ordered -his men to wear it. But I may be wrong, and it is certainly very -splendid. The Duke of Cambridge and Prince of Wales were on huge black -chargers, and wore field marshals’ uniforms. It was pretty to see the -Duke of Connaught--who, at the head of his staff, in front of the -division drawn up in line, had sat awaiting the Queen’s arrival--canter -up to his mother and salute her as her carriage drove into the -enclosure. Then he cantered back to his place, a very graceful rider, -and the review began. I managed to do good work at ‘The Réveil’ in -forenoon. What a contrast and rest to the eyes that picture is after -such glittering spectacles as to-day’s. War _versus_ Parade! It was -pathetic to see the Queen to-day with her soldiers. She cannot pass them -in review many more times. - -“The Empress Eugénie has returned, and we had a long interview with her -the other day at her beautiful home at Farnborough. She is by no means -the wreck and shadow some people are pleased to describe her as being, -but has the remains of a certain masculine power which I suppose was -very masterful in the great old days of her splendour. She is not too -tall, and has a fine, upright figure. She lives apparently altogether in -the memory of her son, and is surrounded by his portraits and relics, -including drawings showing him making his heroic stand, alone, forsaken, -against the savage enemy. I feel, as an Englishwoman, very uneasy and -remorseful while listening to that poor mother, with her tearful eyes, -as she speaks of her dead boy, who need not have been sacrificed. There -is no trace in her words of anger or reproach or contempt, only most -appealing grief. She has one window in the hall full to a height of many -feet of the tall grass which grows on the spot where her treasured son -was done to death by seventeen assegai wounds, all received full in -front. I remember his taking us over some artillery stables, I think, at -Woolwich once. He had a charming face. The Empress rightly described to -us the quality of the blue of his eyes--‘the blue sky seen in water.’ - -“We often go to her beautiful church these fine summer days. Her only -infirmity appears to be her rheumatism, which necessitates some one -giving her his arm to ascend or descend the sanctuary steps when she -goes to or comes from her _prie-Dieu_ to the right of the altar. -Sometimes it is M. Franceschini Pietri, sometimes it is the faithful old -servant Uhlmann who performs this duty. - -“_August 13th._--We have had the Queen down again for another review in -splendid (Queen’s) weather. The night before the review Her Majesty gave -a dinner at the Pavilion to her generals, and for the first time in her -life sat down at table with them. Will gave me a most interesting -account. In the night there was a great military tattoo, which I -witnessed with C. from General Utterson’s grounds. Very effective, if a -little too spun out. Will and the others were standing about the Queen’s -and the Empress Eugénie’s carriages all the time, in the grass soaked -with the heavy night dew, and felt all rather blue and bored. In the -Queen’s carriage all was glum, while the Empress with her party chatted -helpfully in hers to fill up the time. It was pitch dark but for the -torches carried by long lines of troops in the distance. - -“To-day was made memorable by the review held of our brilliant little -division by the German Emperor on Laffan’s Plain, in perfect weather. He -wore the uniform of our Royal Dragoons, of which regiment he is honorary -colonel, and rode a bay horse as finely trained as a circus horse (and -rather suggestive of one, as are his others, too, that are here), with -the curb reins passing somewhere towards the rider’s knees, which supply -the place of the left hand, half the size of the right and apparently -almost powerless. The poor fellow’s shoulders are padded, too, and one -sees a _hiatus_ between the false, square shoulder and the real one, -which is very sloping. But the general appearance was gallant, and the -young man seemed full of gaiety and martial spirit. He took the salute, -of course, and was a striking figure under the Union Jack which waved -over his British helmet. Then followed a little episode which, if rather -theatrical, was enlivening, and a pretty surprise. As the Royal -Dragoons’ turn came to pass the saluting base the Kaiser drew his sword -and, darting away from his post, placed himself at the head of his -British regiment, the Duke of Connaught replacing him at the flagstaff -_pro tem_. The Kaiser couldn’t salute himself, of course, so saluted the -Duke, and, when the Dragoons were clear, back he came at a circus canter -to resume his post and continue to receive the salute of the passing -legions, as before. We all clapped him for this graceful compliment. It -was smartly done. The detachment (seventy-five in number) had been sent -over from Dublin on purpose for this little display. In the evening Will -dined at Government House in a nest of Germans, who seemed afraid to sit -well upon their chairs in the august presence of their Emperor, and sat -on the very edge. One particularly corpulent general was very nearly -slipping off. I went to the evening reception, no wives being asked to -the dinner, as the dining-room is so small and the German suite so -voluminous. - -“I was at once presented to H.I.M., who talked to me, like a good boy, -about my painting and about the army, which he said he greatly admired -for its appearance. He is just now a keen Anglo-maniac (_sic_)! We shall -have him dressing one of his regiments in kilts next. He is not at all -as hard-looking as I expected, but not at all healthy. His face, seen -near, is unwholesome in its colour and texture, and the eyes have that -_boiled_ look which suggests a want of clarity in the system, it seems -to me. He is nice and natural in his manner and in the expression of his -face, with light brown moustache brushed up on his cheeks. He wore the -mess dress of the Royal Dragoons, and his right hand was twinkling with -very ‘loud’ rings on every finger, coiled serpents with jewelled eyes. - -“_August 14th._--A glorious sham fight in the Long Valley and heights -for the Kaiser. I shall always remember his appearance as, at the head -of a large and brilliant staff of Germans and English, he came suddenly -galloping up to the mound where I was standing with the children, -riding, this time, a white horse and wearing his silver English Dragoon -helmet without the plume. He seemed joyous as his eye took in the lovely -landscape and he sat some minutes looking down on the scene, -gesticulating as he brightly spoke to the deferential _pickelhauben_ -that bent down around him. He then dashed off down the hill and crested -another, with, if you please, C. on her father’s huge grey second -charger careering after the gallant band, and escaping for an anxious -(to me) half-hour from my surveillance. The child looked like a fly on -that enormous animal which overtopped the crowd of staff horses. Adieu -to the old gunpowder smoke. It has cleared away for ever. One sees too -much nowadays, and that mystery of effect, so awful and so grand, caused -by the lurid smoke, is gone. How much writers and painters owe to the -old black powder of the days gone by! - -“_September 23rd._--Had a delightful evening, for we dined with the -Empress Eugénie. I seemed to be basking in the ‘Napoleonic Idea’ as I -sat at that table and saw my glass engraved with the Imperial ‘N,’ and -was aware of the historical portraits of the Bonaparte Era that hung -round the room. The Empress was full of bright conversation and chaff; -and I find, as I see her oftener, that she has plenty of humour and -enjoys a joke greatly. We didn’t go in arm in arm, men and women, but -_Sa Majesté_ signed to me and another woman to go in on either side of -her. She called to Will to come and sit on her right. I was very happy -and in my element. Oh! how the mind feels relieved and expanded in that -atmosphere. We had music after dinner, and I had long talks on Egypt -with the Empress, whose recollections of that bright land are -particularly brilliant, she having been there during the jubilant -ceremonies in connection with the opening of the Suez Canal. One year -before the great calamities to her and her husband! She told me that -just for a freak she walked several times in and out between the two -pillars on the Piazzetta at Venice, that time, to brave Fate, who, it -was said, punished those who dared to do this. ‘Then _les évènements_ -followed,’ she added. Well might she say that life is an up and down -existence. She waved her hand up and down, very high and very low, as -she said it, with a very weary sigh. Her face is often very beautiful; -those eyes drooping at the outer corners look particularly lovely as -they are bent downwards, and her white hair is arranged most gracefully. -She is always in black. - -“Will has accepted the extension of his command here to my great -pleasure; the chief charm to us in this place is the neighbourhood of -the Empress. That makes Farnborough unique. Not only is she so -interesting, but now and then there are visitors at her house whose very -names are sonorous memories. The other day as we came into her presence -she went up to Will and asked him to let Prince Murat, Ney (Prince de la -Moscowa) and Masséna (duc de Rivoli), see some of the regiments in his -brigade at their barracks. When the inspection was over these three -illustrious Names came to lunch with us, and I sat between Murat and -Masséna, with _le Brave des Braves_ opposite. What’s in a name? -Everything, sometimes. I thought myself a very favoured creature last -Sunday as I sat by Eugénie at her tea table and she sprinkled my muffin -with salt out of her little muffineer. I am glad to know she likes me -and she is very fond of Will. One Sunday she and I and the Marquise de -Gallifet were sitting together, and the Empress was talking to the -latter about ‘The Roll Call,’ pronouncing the name in English, but -Madame, who looked somewhat stony and unsympathetic, could not pronounce -the name when the Empress asked her to, and made a very funny thing out -of it. The Empress tried to teach her, making fun of her attempts which -became more and more comic, combined with her frigid expression. At last -the Empress turned to me and asked me to show how it ought to be said in -the proper way; but, as she had just given me an enormous chocolate -cream, I was for the moment unable to pronounce anything with this thing -in my cheek, and she went into fits of laughter as I made several -attempts to say the unfortunate name. So it was never pronounced, and -Madame la Marquise looked on as though she thought we were both rather -childish, which made the Empress laugh the more. The least thing, if it -is at all comical, sends her into one of her laughing fits which are -very catching--except by Gallifets. - -“Talking of camel riding (and they say she rode like a Bedouin in the -desert) I sent her into another fit which brought the tears to her eyes -by saying I always forgot ‘_quel bout de mon chameau se lève le -premier_’ at starting. But she sent me into one of my own particular -fits the other day. I was telling her, in answer to her enquiry as to -insuring pictures on sending them by sea, that I thought only their -total loss would be paid for, and what the artist considered an injury -of a grave nature amounting to total loss might not be so considered by -the insurance company. ‘And if,’ she said, ‘you have a portrait and a -hole is made right through one of the eyes?’ Here she slowly closed her -left eye and looked at me stolidly with the right, to represent the -injured effigy, ‘would you not get compensation?’ The one-eyed portrait -continued to look at me out of the forlorn single eye with every vestige -of expression gone, and I laughed so much that I begged her to become -herself again, but she wouldn’t, for a long time. - -“There has been a great deal of pheasant shooting, particularly at the -De Worms’ at Henley Park, where a _chef_ at £500 a year has made that -hospitable house very attractive; but there has been one shoot at -Farnboro’ made memorable by Franceschini Pietri distinguishing himself -with his erratic gunnery. Suddenly he was seen on a shutter, screaming, -as the servants bore him to the house. Every one thought he was wounded, -but it turned out he was sure he had hit somebody else, which happily -wasn’t true. People are shy of having him, after that, at their shoots, -especially Baron de Worms, who showed me how he accoutred himself by -padding and goggles, one day, bullet-proof against that excitable little -southerner, who was a member of the party at Henley Park.†- -After one of the Empress’s dinners at Farnboro’ Hill, a small dinner of -intimate friends, we had fun over a lottery which she had arranged, -making everything go off in the most sprightly French way. What easy, -pleasant society it was! One admired the courage which put on this -brightness, though all knew that the dead weight on the poor heart was -there, so that others should not feel depressed. Even with these kind -semblances of cheeriness no one could be unmindful of the abiding sorrow -in that woman’s face. - -“_January 9th, 1895._--The anniversary of the Emperor Napoleon’s death -come round again. There was quite a little stir during the service in -the church. The catafalque, heaped up with flowers, was surrounded with -scores of lighted tapers as it lay before the altar. A young priest, in -a laced _cotta_, went up to it to set a leaf or flower or something in -its place, when instantly one of his lace sleeves blazed. Almost -simultaneously the General, in full uniform, springing up the altar -steps without the smallest click of his sword, was at the priest’s side, -beating out the fire. Not another soul in that crowded place had seen -anything. That was like Will! We laid wreaths on the tombs in the -crypt.†- -An entry in March of that year records good progress with “The Dawn of -Waterloo,†and mentions that we had the honour of receiving the Empress -Frederick and her hosts, the Connaughts, and their suites, who came to -see the picture. I found the Empress still more like her mother than -when I first saw her, when she and the Crown Prince Frederick dined at -the Goschens’--a memorable dinner, when the fine, serious-looking and -bearded Frederick told my husband he would desire nothing better for his -sons than that they should follow in his footsteps. The Empress was -beaming--that is exactly the word--and a few minutes after coming into -the drawing-room she showed that she was anxious to get on to the -studio, to save the light. So out we sallied, walking two and two, a -formidable procession, and we were nearly half an hour in the little -court-martial hut. They all had tea with us afterwards, quite filling -the tiny drawing-room. The Empress was very small, and as she talked to -me, looking up into my face, I thought her the most taking little woman -I ever saw. She had what I call the “Victoria charm,†which all her -sisters shared with her--absolutely unstudied, homely, and exceedingly -friendly. At least it so appeared to me in a high degree in her that -day. But what a sorrow she had had to bear! - -The picture was taken to the Club House, there to be shown for three -days to the division before Sending-in Day. The idea was Will’s, but I -got the thanks--undeserved, as I had been reluctant to brave the dust on -the wet paint. Crowds went to see it, from the generals down to the -traditional last drummer. - -I thought the Academicians were again unkind in the placing of my -picture, and a trip to Paris was all the more welcome as a diversion, -for there I was able to seek consolation in the treat of a plunge into -the best art in the “City of Light.†One interesting day in May found us -at Malmaison, the country house of Napoleon and Josephine. There is -always something mournful in a house no longer tenanted which once -echoed the talk, the laughter, the comings and goings, the pleasant and -arresting sounds of voices that are long silent. But _this_ house, of -all houses! It was absolutely stripped of everything but Napoleon’s -billiard table, and the worm-eaten bookshelves in his little musty study -the only “fixtures†left. The ceilings we found in holes; that garden, -once so much admired and enjoyed, choked with dusty nettles. We went -into every room--the one where poor derelict Josephine died; the guests’ -bedrooms; the dining-room where Napoleon took his hurried meals; the -library where he studied; the billiard-room, where he himself often took -part in a game surrounded by “fair women and brave men†in the glitter -of gorgeous uniforms and radiant _toilettes_. One lends one’s mind’s ear -to the daily and nightly sounds outside--the clatter of horses’ hoofs as -the staff ride in and out of the courtyards with momentous despatches; -the sharp words of command; the announcement of urgent arrivals -demanding instant hearing. We found our minds revelling in suchlike -imaginings. The chapel, the coach-houses, the great iron gates were all -there, but seen as in a dream. - -We were back at Aldershot on May 30th. “The Queen’s Ball, at Buckingham -Palace, brilliant as ever. The Shahzada, the Ameer of Afghanistan’s son, -was the guest of the evening, as it is our policy just now to do him -particular honour, after having made his father ‘sit up.’ A pale, -wretched-looking Oriental, bored to tears! The usual delightful medley -of men of every nationality, civilised and semi-civilised, was there in -full splendour, but the rush of that crowd for the supper-room, in the -wake of royalty, was most unseemly. Every one got jammed, and it was -most unpleasant to have steel cartridge boxes and sword hilts sticking -into one’s bare arms in the pressure. I think there was something wrong -this time with the doors. I was much complimented that night on my ‘Dawn -of Waterloo,’ but that was an inadequate salve to my wounded feelings. - -“_June 15th._--A great review here in honour of the young Shahzada, who -is being so highly honoured this season. I don’t think I ever saw such a -large staff as surrounded that pallid princeling as he rode on to the -field. The whole thing was a long affair, and our bored visitor -refreshed himself occasionally with consolatory snuff. The whole of the -cavalry finished up, as usual, with a charge ‘stem on,’ and as the -formidable onrush neared the weedy youth he began to turn his horse -round, possibly suspecting deep-laid treachery.†- -My husband and I were present when Cardinals Vaughan and Logue laid the -foundation stone of Westminster Cathedral. The luncheon that followed -was enlivened by some excellent speeches, especially Cardinal Logue’s, -whose rich brogue rolled out some well-turned phrases. - -A week later we were at dinner at Farnborough Hill. “There was a large -house-party, including Princes Victor and Louis Napoleon, the elder a -taciturn, shy, dark man about thirty-three, and the younger an alert, -intelligent officer of thirty-one, who is a colonel in the Russian -cavalry, and is the hope and darling of the Bonapartists. I call him -Napoleon IV. Victor went in with the Empress to dinner and Louis with -me, but on taking our seats the two brothers exchanged places, so that I -sat on Victor’s right. I had an uphill task to talk with the studious, -silent Victor, and found my right-hand neighbour much more pleasant -company, Sir Mackenzie Wallace. I had not caught his name and his accent -was so perfect and his idioms and turns of speech so irreproachable that -I never questioned his being a Frenchman. Away we went in the liveliest -manner with our French till suddenly we lapsed into English, why I don’t -know. This gave the Empress her chance. She began chuckling behind her -toothpick and asked me in French if he had a good accent in speaking -English. ‘Yes, madame, very good!’ ‘Ah? _really_ good?’ (chuckle). -‘Really good, madame.’ ‘Ah, that is well’ (chuckle). I saw in Will’s -face I was being chaffed and guessed the truth. Much laughter, -especially from Louis. He told Will, across the Empress, that he had -seen an engraving of ‘Scotland for Ever’ in a shop window in Moscow, and -had presented it to the mess of his own cavalry regiment, the Czar being -now colonel of the Scots Greys, and that he little expected so soon to -meet the painter of that picture. The dinner was very bright and -sparkling, so unlike a purely English one. How gratefully Will and I -conformed to the spirit of the thing. His Irish heart beats in harmony -with it. I didn’t quite recover from my _faux pas_ at table, and, on our -taking leave, brought everything into line once more by wishing Prince -Louis ‘_Felicissima Sera!_’ in a way denoting a bewilderment of mind -amidst such a confusion of tongues. I left amidst applause. - -“_July 8th._--There was a sham fight on the Fox Hills to-day to which -the two French princes went. Will mounted Victor on steady ‘Roly Poly,’ -and sent H. on ‘Heart of Oak’ to attend on His Imperial Highness -throughout the day. Louis was mounted by the Duke. My General loves to -honour a Napoleon, so, when he was riding home with Louis after the -fight, and the Guards were preparing to give the General the usual -salute, he begged the Imperial Colonel to take the salute himself. ‘But, -General, I am not even in uniform!’ answered Louis. ‘One of your name, -sir, is always in uniform,’ was the ready reply. So Louis took it. On -his way back to the Empress he stopped at our hut, and after a glass of -iced claret cup on this grilling day, he looked at my sketches, and at -the little oil picture I am painting for Miss S.--‘Right Wheel!’--the -Scots Greys at manÅ“uvres. I wonder if he has it in him to make a bid -for the French Throne! - -“_July 12th._--The Queen came down to-day, and there was a very fine -display of the picked athletes of the army at the new gymnasium in the -afternoon, before Her Majesty, who did not leave her carriage. She -looked pleased and in great good humour. She gave a dinner to her -generals in the evening at the Pavilion as she did last year. Will sat -near her, and she kept nodding and smiling to him at intervals as he -carried on a lively conversation with Princesses Louise and Beatrice. -Her Majesty expanded into full contentment when nine pipers, supplied by -the three Highland Regiments of the Division, entered the room at the -close of dinner in full blast. They tell me that each regiment jealously -adhered to its own key for its skirls, or whatever the right word is, -and so in three different keys did the pibrochs bray, but this detail -was not particularly noticeable in the general hurly-burly. The Queen -stood it well, though in that confined space it must have tried her -nerves. Give me the bagpipes on the mountain side or in the desert, -where I have heard them and loved them. - -“_July 13th._--At a very fine review for the Queen, who brought her -usual weather with her. She looked well pleased, especially with the -stirring light cavalry charge at the close, when Brabazon pulled up his -line at full charging pace within about 12 yards (it seemed to me) of -the royal carriage. Really, for a moment, I thought, as the dark mass of -men and horses rolled towards us, that he had forgotten all about -‘Halt!’ It was a tremendous _tour de force_, and a bit of swagger on the -part of this dashing hussar. That group of the Queen in her carriage, -with the four white horses and scarlet coated servants; the Prince of -Wales and the rest of the glittering Staff; Prince Victor Napoleon in -civilian dress, his heavy face shaded by his tall black hat as he -uneasily sat his excited horse; the other carriages resplendent in red -and gold; the Empress’s more sober equipage full of French _élégantes_, -and the wave of dark hussars bursting in a cloud of dust almost in -amongst the group, all the leaders of the charging squadrons with sabres -flung up and heads thrown back--what a sight to please me! I feel a -physical sensation of refreshment on such occasions. What discipline and -training this performance showed! Had one horse got out of hand he might -have flopped right into the Queen’s lap. I saw one of the squadron -leaders give a little shiver when all was over. On getting home I was -doing something to the bearskins of my Scots Greys in ‘Right Wheel,’ -showing the way the wind blew the hair back, as I had just seen it at -the review, while fresh in my mind, when a servant came to tell me -Princess Louise was at the Hut. I had got into my painting dress with -sleeves turned up for coolness. I ran in, changed in half a minute, and -had a nice interview, the Duchess of Connaught being there also, and we -had one of those ‘shoppy’ art talks which the Duchess of Argyll likes. - -“_August 16th._--My ‘At Home’ day was made memorable by the appearance -of the Empress Eugénie, who brought a remedy for little Eileen’s cold. -It was a plaster, which she showed me how to use. I cannot say how -touched we were by this act, so thoughtful and kind--that poor childless -widow! She seems to have a particularly tender feeling for Eileen, -indeed Mdlle. d’Allonville has told me so.†- -The rest of the Aldershot Diary is filled with military activities up to -the date of the expiration of my husband’s time there, and his -appointment to the command of the South Eastern District with Dover -Castle as our home. But between the two commands came an interlude -filled with a tour through some parts of Italy I had not seen before, -and a visit to the Villa Cyrnos at Cap Martin, whither the Empress had -invited us. - - - - -CHAPTER XX - -ITALY AGAIN - - -In January, 1896, we left Aldershot on a raw foggy day, with the usual -winter brown-paper sky, the essence of dreariness, on leave for the land -I love best. At Turin our train for Genoa was filled with poor young -soldiers off to Abyssinia, the Italian Government having followed our -example in the policy of “expansionâ€; with what success was soon seen. -An Italian told us that “good coffee†was to be had from there, amongst -other desirable commodities. So the poor young conscripts were being -sent to fetch the good coffee, etc. They were singing in a chorus of -tenor voices as they went, after affectionately kissing the comrades who -had come to see them off. - -At sunrise we arrived at Naples, Vesuvius looking like a great amethyst, -transparent in the golden haze from the sun which rose just behind it. I -must say the Neapolitan population struck me as very wretched; the men -were no better than the poor creatures one might see in Whitechapel any -day, and dressed, like them, in shoddy clothing. The poor skeleton mules -and horses were covered with picturesque brass-mounted harness instead -of flesh, and I saw no red-sashed, brown-limbed _lazzaroni_ such as were -supposed to dance _tarantelle_ on the shore. Certainly there is not much -dancing and singing in their hungry-looking descendants. - -January 17th was a memorable day, spent at Pompeii. One must see the -place for oneself. Familiar with it though you may be through books and -paintings, Pompeii takes you by surprise. The suddenness of that -entrance into the City of the Dead _is_ a surprise to a newcomer, such -as I was. To come into the city at once by the “Street of Tombs,†which -carries you steeply upwards into the interior--no turnstiles at the -gate, no ticket collectors, no leave-your-umbrella-at-the-door; this -natural way of entering gave me a strange sensation as if I were walking -into the past. The present day was non-existent. Though we were three -and a half hours circulating about those theatres, baths, villas, shops, -through the narrow streets, with their deep ruts and stepping stones, I -was so absorbed in the fascination of realising the life of those days -that I never needed to rest for a moment, and the day had grown very -hot. One rather drags oneself through a museum, but we were here under -the sky, and Vesuvius, the author of this destruction, was there in very -truth, looking down on us as we wandered through the remnants of his -victim. - -As to beauty of colour there is here a great feast for the painter. What -could surpass, on a day like that, the simple beauty of those positive -reds and yellows and blues of walls and pillars in that light, -back-grounded by the tender blue of mountains delicately crested with -the white of their snows? The positive strong foreground colours -emphasised by the delicacy of the background! The absolute silence of -the place was impressive and very welcome. - -The Diary had better “carry on†here: “_Sunday, January 19th._--To Capri -and Sorrento on our way to Amalfi. There is a string of names! I feel I -can’t pronounce them to myself with adequate relish. To Mass at 8, and -then at 9 by steamer to Capri, touching at Sorrento on our way. Three -hours’ passage over a very dark blue sea, which was flecked with foam -off Castellamare. Capri is all I expected, a mass of orange and lemon -groves in its lower part, with wonderful crags soaring abruptly, in -places, out of the clear green water. Tiberius’s villa is perched on the -edge of a fearful precipice that has memories connected with his -cruelties which one tries to smother. Indeed, all around one, in those -scenes of Nature’s loveliness, the detestable doings of man against man -are but too persistently obtruding themselves on the mind which is -seeking only restful pleasure. - -“We were driven to the Hotel Quisisana (‘Here one gets well’), very high -up on a steep ridge, where the village is, and were sorry to find our -pleasure marred by being set down to _déjeuner_ with as repulsive a -company of Teutons as one could see. The perspective of those feeding -faces, along the edge of the table, tried me horribly. They say the -Germans are outnumbering the British as tourists in Italy now. Nowhere -do their loud voices and rude manners jar upon our sensibility so -painfully as in Italy. The _Frau_ next to me actually sniffed at four -bottles out of the cruet in succession, poking them into her nose before -she satisfied herself that she had found the right sauce for her chop! -What’s to be done with such people? - -“We had not much time to give to the lovely island, for the little -steamer had to take us to Sorrento at two o’clock. We put up there at -the Hotel Tramontano, and had a stroll at sunset, with views of the -coast and Vesuvius that spread out beyond the reach of my well-meaning, -but inadequate, pen. I can’t help the impulse of recording the things of -beauty I have seen. It is owing to a wish to preserve such precious -things in my memory, to waste nothing of them, and to record my -gratitude as well.†- -At Amalfi came the culmination to our long series of experiences of the -Neapolitan Riviera. The names of Amalfi, Ravello, Salerno and Pæstum -will be with me to the end, in a halo of enchantment. - -On returning to Naples, of course, we paid our respects to Vesuvius. Our -climb to the highest point allowable of the erupting cone was not at all -enchanting, and left my mind in a most perturbed condition. There was -much food for meditation when our visit was over, but at the time one -had only leisure to receive impressions, and very disconcerting -impressions at that. A keen north wind blew the fumes from the crater -straight down my throat as I panted upwards through the sulphur, ankle -deep, and I could only think of my discomfort and probable collapse. I -disdained a litter. I perceived several fat Germans in litters. - -An even deeper impression was made on my mind than that produced by the -eruption proper on our coming, after much staggering over cold lava, -near a great, crawling river of liquid fire oozing out of the mountain’s -side. Above our heads the great maw of the crater was throwing up bursts -of rock fragments with rumblings and growls from the cruel monster. I -wonder when that wild beast will make its next pounce? And down there, -far, far below, in the plain lay little Pompeii, its poor, tiny, -insignificant victim! Yes, for a thoughtful climber there was more than -the sulphurous north wind to make him pause. - -The little funicular railway had brought us up to the foot of the cone, -crunching laboriously over the shoulder of the mountain, and I could not -but think--“If the chain broke?†At one point the open truck seemed to -dangle over space. We were sitting with our faces turned towards the sea -and away from the cone, and (were we never to be rid of them?) two -corpulent Teutons faced us, hideously conspicuous, as having apparently -nothing but blue air behind them. There was no horizon at all to the -sea, the pale haze merging sea and sky into one. Then, when we alighted, -we found ourselves in a restaurant with Messrs. Cook & Co.’s waiters -running about. Certainly it was no time for meditating or moralising in -that medley of the prehistoric and the _fin de siècle_. - -I found Rome very much changed after the lapse of all those years since -I was there with our family during the last months of the Temporal -Power. I shall never forget the shock I felt when, to lead off, on our -arrival, I conducted my husband to the great balustrade on the Pincian -overlooking the city, promising him my favourite view. It was a truly -striking one in the far-off days, and quite beautiful. Instead of the -reposeful vineyards of the area facing us beyond the Tiber, fitting -middle distance between us and St. Peter’s, gaunt buildings bordering -wide, straight, staring streets glistening with tramlines seemed to jeer -at me in vulgar triumph, and I am not sure that I did not shed tears in -private when we got back to our hotel. One fact, however, brought a -sense of mental expansion as I surveyed that view, which should have -made amends for the sensitive contraction of my artist’s mind. That -great basilica yonder was mine now! A return to Rome had another touch -of sadness for me. Our father had been so happy there in introducing his -girls to the city he loved. He seemed now to be ever by my side as the -well-remembered haunts that were left unchanged were seen again. Leo -XIII. was now Pope. On one particular occasion in the Sistine Chapel, at -Mass, I was struck by the extraordinary effect of his white, utterly -ethereal face and fragile figure as he stood at the altar, relieved -against the background of Michael Angelo’s exceedingly muscular “Last -Judgment.†And, now, what of this “Last Judgmentâ€? The action of our -Lord, splendidly rendered as giving the powerful realisation of the push -which that heavy arm is giving in menace to the condemned souls towards -the Abyss on His left (I had almost said the _shove!_), is realistic and -strong. But what a gross conception! Our modern minds cannot be -impressed by this fleshly rendering of such a subject, a rendering -suitable to the coarser fibre of the Middle Ages. I could positively -hate this fresco, were I not lured, as a painter, to admire its -technical power. - -Our visit to the Empress at Cap Martin followed, on our way home to -Aldershot. She received us with her usual genial grace. The place, of -course, ideal, and the typical blue weather. We were made very much at -home. Madame le Breton told me I was to wear a _table d’hôte_ frock at -dinner, and Pietri told Sir William a black tie to the evening suit was -the order of the day. - -“_February 13th._--The Villa Cyrnos is in a wood of stone pines, -overhanging the sea on a promontory between Mentone and Monte Carlo. It -is in the French Riviera style, all very white--no Italian fresco -colouring. Plentiful striped awnings to keep off the intense sunlight. -Cool marble rooms, polished parquets, flowers in masses--a sense of -grateful freshness with reminders of the heat outside in the dancing -reflections from the sea. Indeed, this is a charming retreat. Madame -d’Arcos and her sister, Mrs. Vaughan, were there, who having just -arrived from England, were full of accounts of the arrival of the -remains of Prince Henry of Battenberg from Ashanti, and the funeral, at -which Madame d’Arcos had represented the Empress. The different episodes -were minutely described by her of this, the last act of the latest -tragedy in our Royal Family. She had a sympathetic listener in the poor -Empress. - -“_February 14th._--A sunny day marred, to me, by a visit to Monte Carlo, -where the gambling is in fullest activity. The Empress wanted us all to -go for a little cruise in a yacht, but though the sea was calm enough I -preferred _terra firma_, and her ladies drove me to Monte Carlo. Hateful -place! The lovely mountains were radiant in the low sunshine of that -afternoon and the sea sparkling with light, but a crowd of overdressed -riff-raff was circulating about the casino and pigeon-shooting place, -from which came the ceaseless crack of the cowardly, unsportsmanlike -guns. I record, with loathing, one fellow I saw who came on the green, -protected from the gentle air by a fur-lined coat which his valet took -charge of while his master maimed his allotted number of clipped -victims, and carefully replaced as soon as all the birds were down. A -black dog ran out to fetch each fluttering thing as it fell. I was glad -to see this hero was not an Englishman. Inside the casino the people -were massed round the gaming tables, the hard light from the circular -openings above each table bringing into relief the ugly lines of their -perspiring faces. The atmosphere was dusty and stifling, and the hands -of these horribly absorbed people were black with clawing in their gains -across the grimy green baize. I drank in the pure, cool air of the -sunset loveliness outside when I got free, with a very certain -persuasion that I would never pay a second visit, except under polite -compulsion, to the gambling palace of Monte Carlo. - -“_February 15th._--The Empress took us quite a long walk to see the -corps of the ‘_Alpins_’ at the Mentone barracks and back by the rocky -paths along the shore. She is very active, and is looking beautiful. - -“_Sunday, February 16th._--All of us to Mass at the little Mentone -church. The dear Empress gave me a little holy picture during the -service and said, ‘I want you to keep this.’ There is at times something -very touching about her.†- -I sent a small picture this year to the “New Gallery,†instead of the -Academy, feeling still the effects of their unkindness in placing “The -Dawn of Waterloo†where they did the preceding year. - - - - -CHAPTER XXI - -THE DOVER COMMAND - - -And now Dover Castle rises into prominence above the horizon as I travel -onward. My husband was offered Colchester or Dover. He left the choice -to me. How could there be a doubt in my mind? The Castle was the very -ideal, to me, of a residence. Here was History, picturesqueness, a wide -view of the silver sea, and the line of the French coast to free the -mind of insularity. So to Dover we went, children, furniture, horses, -servants, dogs and all, from the Aldershot bungalow. As usual, I was -spared by Sir William all the trouble of the move, and while I was -comfortably harboured by my ever kind and hospitable friends, the -Sweetmans, in Queen’s Gate, my husband was managing all the tiresome -work of the move. - -It was a pleasure to give dances at the Constables’ Tower, and the -dinners were like feasts in the feudal times under that vaulted ceiling -of the Banqueting Hall. Our boys’ bedroom in the older part of this -Constables’ Tower had witnessed the death of King Stephen, and a winding -staircase conducted the unappreciative London servants by a rope to -their remote domiciles. The modernised part held the drawing-rooms, -morning-room, library, and chief bedrooms, while in the garden, walled -round by the ramparts, stood the tower whence Queen Mary is said to have -gazed upon her lost Calais. My studio had a balcony which overhung the -moat and drawbridge. What could I have better than that? No wonder I -accomplished a creditable picture there, for I had many advantages. I -place “Steady, the Drums and Fifes!†amongst those of my works with -which I am the least dissatisfied. The Academy treated me well this -time, and gave the picture a place of honour. These drummer-boys of the -old 57th Regiment, now the Middlesex, are waiting, under fire, for the -order to sound the advance, at the Battle of Albuera. That order was -long delayed, and they and the regiment had to bear the supreme test of -endurance, the keeping motionless under fire. A difficult subject, -excellent for literature, very trying for painting. I had had the vision -of those drummer-boys for many years before my mind’s eye, and it is a -very obvious fact that what you see strongly in that way means a -successful realisation in paint. Circumstances were favourable at Dover. -The Gordon Boys’ Home there gave me a variety of models in its -well-drilled lads, and my own boys were sufficiently grown to be of -great use, though, for obvious reasons, I could not include their dear -faces in so painful a scene. The yellow coatees, too, were a tremendous -relief to me after that red which is so hard to manage. I remember -asking Detaille if he ever thought of giving our army a turn. “I would -like to,†he said, “but the red frightens us.†The bandsmen of the -Peninsular War days wore coatees of the colour of the regimental -facings. After long and patient researches I found out this fact, and -the facings of the 57th, being canary yellow, I had an unexpected treat. -I remember how the Duke of York[11] at an Aldershot dinner had -characteristically caught up this fact with great interest when I told -him all about my preparations for this picture. I am glad to know this -work belongs to the old 57th, the “Die Hards,†who won that title at -Albuera. “Die hard, men, die hard!†was their colonel’s order on that -tremendous day. - -Many interesting events punctuated our official life at Dover: - -“_August 15th, 1896._--Great doings to-day. We had a busy time of it. -Lord Salisbury was installed Lord Warden in the place of Lord Dufferin. -Will had the direction, not only of the military part of the ceremonies -but of the social (in conjunction with me), as far as the Constables’ -Tower was concerned. Everything went well. Lord and Lady Salisbury drove -in a carriage and four from Walmer up to our Tower, and, while the -procession was forming outside to escort them down to the town, they -rested in our drawing-room for about half an hour, and Lord Dufferin -also came in. - -“I had to converse with these exalted personages whilst officers in full -uniform and women in full toilettes came and went with clatter of sabre -and rustle of silk. To fill up the rather trying half-hour and being -expected to devote my attention chiefly to the new Lord Warden, I -bethought myself of conducting him to a window which gave a bird’s-eye -view of the smoky little town below. I moralised, _à la_ Ruskin, on the -ugliness of the coal smoke which was smudging that view in particular, -and spoiling England in general. On reconducting the weighty Salisbury -to a rather fragile settee I morally and very nearly physically knocked -him over by this felicitous remark: ‘Well, I have the consolation of -knowing that the coalfields of England are finite!’ ‘What?’ he shouted, -with a bound which nearly broke the back of that settee. I don’t think -he said anything more to me that day. Of course, I meant that smokeless -methods would have to be discovered for working our industries, but I -left that unsaid, feeling very small. It is my misfortune that I have -not the knack of small talk, so useful to official people, and that I am -obliged to propel myself into conversation by pronouncements of that -kind. Shall I ever forget the catastrophe at the L----s’ dinner at -Aldershot, when I announced, during a pause in the general conversation, -to an old gentleman who had taken me in, and whose name I hadn’t caught, -that there was one word I would inscribe on the tombstone of the Irish -nation, and that word was--Whisky. The old gentleman was John Jameson. - -“But to return to to-day’s doings. I had to consign to C.,[12] as my -deputy, the head of the table for such of the people as were remaining -at the Castle for luncheon as I myself had to appear at that function at -the Town Hall. The procession, military, civil and civic--especially -civic--started at 12 for the ‘Court of Shepway,’ where much antique -ceremonial took place. When they all reached the Town Hall after that, -Lord Salisbury first unveiled a full-length portrait of the outgoing -Lord Warden, at the entrance to the Banqueting Hall, and complimented -him on so excellent a likeness with a genial pat on the back. We were -all in good humour which increased as we filed in to luncheon and -continued to increase during that civic feast, enlivened by a band. -Trumpets sounded before each speech, and the sharp clapping of hands -called, I think, ‘Kentish Fire,’ gave a local touch which was pleasingly -original. I am glad, always, to find the county spirit still so strong -in England, and nowhere is it stronger than in Kent. It must work well -in war with the county regiments. - -“I am afraid Lady Salisbury must have got rather knocked out of time -coming to the Castle, by all the saluting, trumpeting and general -prancing of the guard of honour. She was nervous crossing our drawbridge -with four ‘jumpy’ horses which she told me had never been with troops -before! Altogether I don’t think this was a day to suit her at all. I -heard the postillion riding the near leader shout back to the coachman -on the box as they started homeward from our door, ‘Put on both brakes -_hard!_’ Away went the open carriage which had very low sides and no -hood, and Lord Salisbury, being very wide, rather bulged over the side. -Wearing a military cape, lent him by my General, the day turning chilly, -he had a rather top-heavy appearance, and we only breathed freely when -that ticklish drawbridge, and the very steep drop of the hill beyond it, -were passed. So now let them rest at Walmer. Will will do all he can to -secure peace for them there.†- -On August 20th I went to poor Sir John Millais’ funeral in St. Paul’s. -The ceremony was touching to me when I thought of the kind, enthusiastic -friend of my early days and his hearty encouragement and praise. They -had placed his palette and a sheaf of his brushes on the coffin. Lord -Wolseley, Irving, the actor, Holman Hunt and Lord Rosebery were the -pall-bearers. The ceremony struck me as gloomy after being accustomed to -Catholic ritual, and the undertaker element was too pronounced, but the -music was exquisite. So good-bye to a truly great and sincere artist. -What a successful life he had, rounded by so terribly painful a death! - -One of the most interesting of the Dover episodes was our hiring of -“Broome Hall†for the South-Eastern District manÅ“uvres in the -following September. The Castle was too far away for working them from -there, so this fine old Elizabethan mansion, being in the very centre of -the theatre of “war,†became our headquarters. There we entertained Lord -Wolseley and his staff as the house-party. Other warriors and many -civilians whose lovely country houses were dotted about that beautiful -Kentish region came in from outside each day, and for four days what -felt to me like a roaring kind of hospitality went on which proved an -astonishing feat of housekeeping on my part. True, I was liberally -helped, but to this day I marvel that things went so successfully. -Everything had to be brought from the Castle--servants in an omnibus, -_batterie de cuisine_, plate, linen and all sorts of necessary things, -in military waggons, for the house had not been inhabited for a long -while. All the food was sent out from Dover fresh every day, by road--no -village near. The house had been palatially furnished in the old days, -but its glory was much faded and so ancestral was it that it possessed a -ghost. A pathetic interest attaches to “Broome†to-day, and I should not -know it again in its renovated beauty. Lord Kitchener restored it to -more than its pristine lustre, I am told. - -The morning start each day of all these generals (Sir Evelyn Wood was -one of them) from the front door for the “battle†was a pleasing sight -for me, with the strong cavalry escort following. After the gallant -cavalcade had got clear I would follow in the little victoria with -friends, hoping in my innermost heart that I was leaving everything well -in hand behind me for the hungry “Cocked Hats†on their return. - -On March 30th, 1897, I had a glimpse of Gladstone. We were on the pier -to receive a Royalty, and the “Grand Old Man†was also on board the -Calais boat. He was the last to land and was accompanied by his wife. He -came up the gangway with some difficulty, and struck me as very much -aged, with his face showing signs of pain. I had not seen him since he -sat beside me at a dinner at the Ripons’ in 1880, when his keen eye had -rather overawed me. He was now eighty-eight! The crowd cheered him well, -but the old couple were past that sort of thing, and only anxious to -seek their rest at “Betteshanger,†a few miles distant, whither Lord -Northbourne’s carriage whirled them away from public view. - -And now comes the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria. I think my fresh -impressions written down at the time should be inserted here as I find -them. Too much national sorrow and suffering brought to us by the Great -War, and too many changes have since blurred that bright picture to -allow of posthumous enthusiasm for its chronicling to-day. Were I to -tone down that picture to the appearance it has to me at the present -time it would hardly be worth showing. - -“_June 22nd, 1897._--Jubilee Day. I never expected to be so touched by -what I have seen of these pageants and rejoicings, and to feel so much -personal affection for the Queen as I have done through this wonderful -week. Thinking of other nations, we cannot help being impressed with the -way in which the English have comported themselves on this occasion--the -unanimity of the crowds; the willingness of every one concerned; all -resulting in those huge pageants passing off without a single jar. My -place was in the courtyard of the Horse Guards; Will’s place was on his -big grey before St. Paul’s, at Queen Anne’s statue, to keep an eye on -things. I had an effective view of the procession making the bend from -Whitehall into the courtyard, and out by the archway into the parade -ground. This gave me time to enjoy the varied types of all those -nationalities whose warriors represented them, as they filed past at -close quarters. But we had five hours of waiting. These hours were well -filled up for me, so continually interested in watching the movements of -the troops as they took up their positions for receiving the procession -and saluting the Queen. I think in the way of perfect dress and of -superfine, thoroughbred horseflesh, Lord Lonsdale’s troop of Cumberland -Hussars was as memorable a group as any that day. They wore the ‘sling -jacket,’ only known to me in pictures and old prints of the pre-Crimean -days, and to see these gallant-looking crimson pelisses in reality was -quite a delightful surprise. - -“The sun burst through the clouds just as the guns announced to us that -the Queen had started from Buckingham Palace on her great round by St. -Paul’s at 11.15. So we waited, waited. Presently some one called out, -‘Here’s Captain Ames,’ and, knowing he was the leader, we nimbly ran up -to our seats. It seemed hardly credible that the journey to St. Paul’s -and the ceremony there, and the journey homewards could have occupied -so comparatively brief an interval. I think the part of the procession -which most delighted me was the cohort of Indian cavalry, and then the -gorgeous bunch of thirty-six princes, each in his national dress or -uniform. These rode in triplets. You saw a blue-coated Prussian riding -with a Montenegrin on one side and an Italian bonneted by the absurd -general’s helmet now in vogue on the other. Then came another triplet of -a Persian, whose breast was a galaxy of diamonds flashing in the sun, an -Austrian with fur pelisse and busby (poor man, in that heat), and the -brother of the Khedive, wearing the familiar _tarboosh_, riding a little -white Arab. Then followed an English Admiral in the person of the Duke -of York, a Japanese mannikin on his right, and a huge Russian on his -left, and so on, and so on--types and dresses from all the quarters of -the globe in close proximity, so that one could compare them at a -glance. The dignified Indian cavalry were superb as to dress and -_puggarees_, but the faces were stolid, very unlike the keen, clean-cut -Arab types which so charmed me in Egypt and Palestine. There certainly -were too many carriages filled with small Germans. Then came the -colonial escort to the Queen’s carriage. As they came on and passed -before us I do not exaggerate when I say that there seemed to pass over -them an ever-deepening cloud-shadow, as it were, from the white -Canadians riding in front, through ever-deepening shades of brown down -to the blackest of negroes, who rode last. What an epitome of our -Colonial Empire! Then, finally, before the supreme moment, came Lord -Wolseley, the immediate forerunner of the Royal carriage. He looked well -and gallant and youthful. Then round the curve into the courtyard the -eight cream-coloured horses in rich gala harness of Garter-blue and -gold! So quick was the pace that I dared not dwell too long on their -beauty for I was too absorbed in the Queen during that precious minute. -There she was, the centre of all this! A little woman, seated by herself -(I had not time to see who sat facing her) with an expressionless pink -face, preoccupied in settling her bonnet, which had got a little -crooked, as though nothing unusual was going on, and that was the last I -saw of her as she passed under the dark archway, facing homeward. - -“_June 26th._--Off from Dover at 2 a.m. for Southampton, by way of -London, to see the culminating glory of the Jubilee--the greatest naval -review ever witnessed. At eight we left Waterloo in one of the -‘specials’ that took holders of invitation cards for the various ocean -liners that had been chartered for the occasion. Our ship was the P. and -O. _Paramatta_, and very pleased I was on beholding her vast -proportions, for I feared qualms on any smaller vessel. There were -meetings on board with friends and a great luncheon, and general good -humour and complacency at being Britons. The day cleared up at 10.30, -and only a slight haze thinly veiled the mighty host of the Channel -Fleet as we slowly steamed towards it along the Solent. Gradually the -sun shone fully out and the day settled into steady brilliance. - -“Well, I have been so inflated with national pride since beholding our -naval power this day that if I don’t get a prick of some sort I shall go -off like a balloon. Let us be exultant just for a week! We won’t think -of the ugly look of India just now and all the nasty warnings of the -bumptious Kaiser and the rest of it. We can’t while looking at Britannia -ruling the waves, as we are doing to-day. Five miles of ships of war -five lines deep! When all these ships fired each twenty-one guns by -divisions as the Prince of Wales steamed up and down the lines, and the -crews of each vessel in turn gave such cheers as only Jack Tar can give, -it was not the moment to threaten us with anything. I shall never forget -the aspect of this fleet of ours, black hulls and yellow funnels and -‘fighting tops’ stretching to east and west as far as the eye could -reach and beyond, the mellow sunlight full upon them and the -slowly-rolling clouds of smoke that wrapped them round with mystery as -their countless guns thundered the salute! Myriads of flags fluttered in -the breeze, the sea sparkled, and in and out of those motionless -battleships all manner of steam and sailing craft moved incessantly, -deepening by the contrast of their hurry the sense one had of the -majestic power contained in those reposing monsters.... Every one is -saying, ‘And to think that not a single ship has been recalled from -abroad to make up this display!’ We are all very pleased, and have the -good old Nelson feeling about us.†On June 28th the Queen held her -Jubilee Garden Party in the Buckingham Palace grounds. There we looked -our last on her. - -I took four of the children, in August, to Bruges, that old city so much -enjoyed by me in my early years. I was charmed to see how carefully all -the old houses had been preserved, and, indeed, I noticed that a few of -them, vulgarly modernised then, were now restored to their original -beauty. How well the Belgians understand these things! Seventeen years -after this date the eldest of the two schoolboys I had with me was to -ride through that same old Bruges as A.D.C. to the general commanding -“The Immortal 7th Division,†which, retiring before the German hordes, -was to turn and help to rend them at Ypres. - -In 1898 I exhibited a smaller picture than usual--“The Morrow of -Talavera,†which was very kindly placed at the Academy--and I began a -large Crimean subject, “The Colours,†for the succeeding year. I had -some fine models at Dover for this picture. In making the studies for it -I had an interesting experience. I wanted to show the colour party of -the Scots Guards advancing up the hill of the Alma in their full parade -dress--the last time British troops wore it in action--Lieutenant Lloyd -Lindsay carrying the Queen’s colour. It was then he won the V.C. Lord -Wantage (that same Lloyd Lindsay), now an old man, but full of energy, -when he heard of my project, conducted me to the Guards’ Chapel in -London, and there and then had the old, dusty, moth-eaten Alma colours -taken down from their place on the walls, and held the Queen’s colour -once more in his hand for me to see. I made careful studies at the -chapel, and restored the fresh tints which he told me they had on that -far-away day, when I came to put them into the picture. I was in South -Africa when the Academy opened in the following spring. - -On September 11th, 1898, we received the terrible news of the -assassination of the Empress of Austria. I had seen her every Sunday and -feast day at our little Ventnor church, at Mass, during her residence at -Steep Hill Castle. She had the tiniest waist I ever saw--indeed, no -woman could have lived with a tinier one. She was beautiful, but so -frigid in her manner; she seemed made of stone, yet she rode splendidly -to hounds--altogether an enigma. - -October 27th, 1898, I thoroughly enjoyed. It was a day after my own -heart--picturesque, historical, stirring, amusing. Sir Herbert -Kitchener, _the_ Sirdar _par excellence_, was received at Dover on his -arrival from the captured Khartoum with all the prestige of his new-won -honours shining around him. My husband had decided that the regulation -military honours “to be accorded to distinguished persons†were -applicable to the man who was coming, and so a guard of honour -(Highlanders) with the regimental colour was drawn up at the pier head, -the regimental officers in red and the staff in blue. The crowd on the -upper part of the pier was immense and densely packed all along the -parapet, and the Lower Pier, reserved for special people, was crowded, -too. It was a calm, grey, yet bright day, and the absence of wind made -things pleasant. Great gathering of Cocked Hats at the entrance gates, -and we all walked to the landing stage. There was a dense smudge of -black smoke on the horizon. I knew that meant Kitchener. Keeping my eye -on that smudge, I took but a distracted part in the small talk and -frequent introductions of distinguished persons come from afar to -welcome the man of the hour, “the Avenger of Gordon.†I was conducted to -the head of the landing steps, together with such of the staff as were -not to go on board the boat with the General. Then the smudge got hidden -behind the pier end, but I could see the ever-increasing swish and swirl -of the water on the starboard side of the hidden steamer, and soon she -swept alongside; a few vague cheers began, no one in the crowd knowing -the Sirdar by sight. When, however, the General went on board and shook -hands, this proclaimed at once where the man was, and cheer upon cheer -thundered out. I have never, before or since, seen such spontaneous -enthusiasm in England. After a little talk (my husband and he were long -together on the Nile) and after the delivery of letters (one from the -Queen) and telegrams, during which the hurrahs went on in a great roar -and multitudinous pocket handkerchiefs fluttered in a long perspective, -the big, solid, stolid, sunburnt Briton stepped on English soil once -more. While shaking hands with me he seemed astonished and amused at all -that was going on and, looking over my head at the masses of people -above, he lifted his hat, and thenceforth kept it in his hand as he was -escorted to the Lord Warden Hotel. He had asked his A.D.C., on first -catching sight of the reception awaiting him, “What is all this about?†- -Then there was an Address at the hotel to which he listened with an -ox-like patience, and after that the enormous company of invited guests -went to lunch. In his speech my husband paid the Sirdar the compliment -of saying that the traditional Field Marshal’s baton would be found in -his trunk when the customs officers opened it at Victoria. Kitchener -spoke so low I could not hear him. Had he been less immovable one could -have plainly seen how utterly he hated having to make a speech. His -travelling dress looked most interestingly incongruous amidst the rich -uniforms and the glossy frock-coats as he stood up to say what he had to -say. As we all bulged out of the hotel door the cheers began again from -the crowds. I took care to look at the people that day, and I was struck -by their _unanimity_. All ranks were there, and yet on every face, well -bred or unwashed, I saw the same identical expression--one of broad, -laughing delight. Such were my impressions, which I noted down, as -usual, at the moment, and I have lived to see that remarkable man work -out his life, and end it with a tragedy that will hold its place in -history; my husband’s prophecy, put in those playful words at Dover, -fulfilled; a threatening disaster to the Empire turned into victory with -the aid of that extraordinary mind and physical endurance; and the -burning fire of that personality quenched, untimely, in the icy depths -of a northern sea. - - - - -CHAPTER XXII - -THE CAPE AND DEVONPORT - - -On November 12th, 1898, my husband sailed for South Africa, there to -take up the military command, and to act as High Commissioner in place -of Sir Alfred Milner, home on leave. His staff at Dover loved him. Their -send-off brought tears to his eyes. I, C. and the A.D.C. saw him off -from Southampton, to rejoin him in the process of time at the Cape. We -little knew what a dark period in his life awaited him out there, -brought about by the malice of those in power there and at home. It is -too sacred and too painful a subject for me to record it here further -than I have done. The facts will be found in his “Autobiography.†I left -England on February 18th, 1899, with three of the children, leaving the -two eldest boys at college. It was a very painful leave-taking at the -Waterloo Station. My mother was there and all the dear ones, whom I did -not expect to see again for two or three years--my mother perhaps ever -again. Yet in a few months we were back there! My theory that one should -try and not fret about the future, which is an absolutely unknown -quantity, proved justified. I have chronicled our voyage out in my -former little book, and described one night at Madeira--a night of -enchantment under the moon. - -I need not go over the days on the “blue water†again, nor our strange -life beyond the Equator, where, though I was filled with admiration for -the beauty of our surroundings, I never felt the happiness which Italy, -Egypt or Palestine had given me. Very absurd, no doubt, and sentimental, -but my love of the old haunts made me feel resentful of the topsy-turvy -state of things I found down there. The crescent moon on what (to me) -was the wrong side of the sunset, the hot north wind, the cold blast -from the south, the shadows all inverted--no, I did not enjoy this -contradiction to my well-beloved traditions. There was, besides, a local -melancholy in that strange beauty I cannot describe. All this may be put -down to sentimentality, but a very real melancholy attaches to South -Africa in my mind in connection with my husband, who suffered there for -his honesty and devotion to the honour of the Empire he served. The -authorities accepted his resignation of the Cape command which he -tendered for fear of embarrassing the Government, and he accepted the -command of the Western District in its place, which meant Devonport. So -on August 22nd we all embarked for Home. - -There we found the campaign of calumny, originated in South Africa -against Sir William, in its acutest phase. The Press was letting loose -all the poison with which it was being supplied, and I consequently went -through, at first, the bitter pain of daily trying to intercept the -vilest anonymous letters, many of them beer-stained missives couched in -ill-spelt language from the slums. Not all the reparation offered to my -husband later on--the bestowal of the Grand Cross of the Bath, his -election to the dignity of Privy Councillor, his selection as the safest -judge to investigate the South African war stores scandals, not to name -other acts conveying the _amende honorable_--ever healed the wound. - -His offence had been a frank admission of sympathy for a people -tenacious of their independence and, knowing the Boers as he did, he -knew what their resistance would mean in case of attack. He was appalled -at the prospect of a war, not against an army but against a people, -involving the farm-burnings and all the horrors which our armies would -have to resort to. He would fain have seen violence avoided and -diplomacy used instead, knowing, as he did, that the old intransigent -Dopper element would die out in time, and the new generation of Boers, -many of whom were educated at our universities, intermarrying with the -English, as they were already doing, would have brought about that very -union of the two races within the Empire which has been reached to-day -through all that suffering. In case, however, war should be decided on -he employed the utmost vigour allowed to official language to warn those -in power of the necessity for enormous forces in order to ensure -success. Some of his despatches were suppressed. The idea at -Headquarters was an easy march to Pretoria. What I have alluded to as -the malice which prompted the campaign of calumny had caused the report -to be spread that our initial defeats were owing to his wilful neglect -in not warning the directing powers of the gravity of their undertaking. - -The chief interest I found in our new appointment was caused by the -frequent arrivals of foreign men-of-war, whose captains were received -officially and socially, and there were admirals, too, when squadrons -came. It was interesting and amusing. Lord and Lady Charles Scott were -at the Admiralty and, later, Sir Edward Seymour, during our appointment. -The foreign sailors prevented the official functions from becoming -monotonous, and we got a certain amount of pleasure out of this -Devonport phase of our experiences. I carried my painting “through thick -and thin,†and did well, on the whole, at the Academy. I had the -“consuming zealâ€--a very necessary possession. One year it was a big -tent-pegging picture (I don’t know where its purchaser is now), which -was well lighted at Burlington House. Then a Boer War subject, “Within -Sound of the Gunsâ€--well placed; followed by an Afghan subject, “Rescue -of Wounded,†which to my great pleasure was given an excellent place in -the _Salle d’Honneur_. I also accomplished other smaller works and -exhibited a great number of water colours. It is a medium I like much. I -also prepared for the Press my “Letters from the Holy Land†there which -I have already mentioned. My publishers, Messrs. A. and C. Black, -reproduced the water-colour illustrations very faithfully. - -Our French sailor guests were always bright, so were the Italians, but -the Japanese were very heavy in hand, and conversation was uphill work. -It was mainly carried on by repeated smiles and nods on their part. When -their big ships came in on one occasion the Admiralty gave them the -first dinner, of course, and at the end the bandmaster had the happy -thought of giving a few bars out of Arthur Sullivan’s “Mikado†before -the Emperor’s health was drunk, the National Air not being in his -repertory. Some one asked the Jap admiral if he recognised it. “Ah! no, -no, no!†came the usual smiling and nodding answer. At the Port -Admirals’ I was to learn that in the navy you mustn’t stand up for our -Sovereign’s health, by order of William IV. This resulted one evening in -our sitting for “The King†and standing up for “The Kaiser.†There were -the German admiral and officers present. I thought that very -unfortunate.[13] - -Well, Devonport in summer was very delightful, but Devonport in winter -had long periods of fog and gloom. I had the blessing of another trip to -Italy, this time with our eldest daughter, starting on a dark wintry day -in early March, 1900. Sir William’s work prevented his coming with us. -_Viâ_ Genoa to Rome lay our happy way. Of course, it wasn’t the Rome I -first knew, but the shock I received when revisiting it four years -before this present visit had already introduced me into the new order, -and I now knew what to see, enjoy, and avoid. There were several new -things to enjoy: above all, the Forum, now all open to the sky! In the -dear old days that space was a rather dreary expanse of waste land where -some poor old paupers were to be daily seen, leisurely labouring under -the delusion that they were excavating. They grubbed up the tufts of -grass and scraped the dust with pocket-knives, and the treasures below -remained comfortably tucked away from public view. Then the much-abused -Embankment. The dignified sweep of its lines leads the eye up, as it -follows the flow of the stream, to the dignity of St. Peter’s, whereas, -formerly, in its place, unbeautiful masses of mouldering houses tottered -over the Tiber and gave that long-suffering river the reflections of -their drainpipes. Then, the two end arches of that most estimable Ponte -Sant’ Angelo are now cleared of the old mud which blocked them up -malodorously and docked the lovely thing of its symmetry. Then, finally, -Rome is clean! - -We had the good fortune to be present at two very striking Papal -functions, striking as bringing together Catholics from a wide-flung -circle embracing some remote nationalities unknown by sight to me. The -first was the Pope’s Benediction in St. Peter’s on March 18th. We were -standing altogether about three hours in the crowd at the Tomb, well -placed for seeing the Holy Father. He was taken round the vast basilica -in his _sedia gestatoria_, and blessed a wildly cheering crowd. I never -saw a human being so like a spirit as Leo XIII. He looked as white as -his mitre as he leant forward and stretched his arm out in benediction -from side to side, borne high above the helmets of the Noble Guard. One -heard cheers in all languages, and a curious effect was produced by the -whirling handkerchiefs, which made a white haze above the dark crowd. I -have often heard secular monarchs cheered, and that very heartily, but -for a Pope it seems that more than ordinary loyalty prompts the -cheerers. The people seem to give out their whole being in their voices -and gestures. - -The Diary says: “I am glad I have seen that old man’s face and his look, -as though it came to us from beyond the grave. At times the cheers went -up to the highest pitch of both men’s and women’s voices. A strange -sound to hear in a church.†- -A spring day spent at the well-known Hadrian’s Villa, under Tivoli, is -not to be allowed to pass without a grateful record. It is a most -exquisite place of old ruins, cypresses, olives and, at this time, -flowering peach trees, violets and anemones. It is an enchanting site -for a country house. Hadrian chose well. From there you see the -delicately-pencilled dome of St. Peter’s on the rim of the horizon to -the west, and behind you, to the north, rise the steep foot-hills of the -mountains, some crowned with old cities. The ruins of the villa are all -_minus_ the lovely outer coating which used to hide the brickwork, and -poor Hadrian would have felt very woeful had he foreseen that all the -white loveliness of his villa was to come to this. But as bits of warm -colour and lovely surface those brick spaces take the sun and shadow -beautifully between the dark masses of the cypresses and feathery grey -cloudiness of the olives. Nowhere is the “touch and go†nature of life -more strikingly put before the mind than in dead Rome, where so much -magnificence in stone and marble and mosaic and bronze has fallen into -lumps of crumbling brick. - -On March 26th we attended the Papal Benediction in the Sistine Chapel, -which is a remarkable thing to see. It was a memorable morning. The -floor of the chapel was packed with pilgrims, some of them rough men and -women from remote regions of the north-east, whose outlandish costumes -were especially remarkable for the heavy Cossack boots, reaching to the -knee, worn by both sexes. One wondered how these people journeyed to -Rome. What a gathering of the faithful we looked down on from our -gallery! The same ecstatic cheering we had heard in St. Peter’s -announced the entrance of Leo XIII. There he was, the holy creature, -blessing right and left with that thin alabaster hand, half covered with -a white mitten. With all their hoarse barbaric cheering, I noticed how -those peasants, who had so particularly attracted me, remembered to bend -their heads and most devoutly make the sign of the cross as he passed. -They almost monopolised my study of the motley crowd, but I was aware of -the many nationalities present, and the same enthusiasm came from them -all. At such times a great consolation eases the mind, saddened, as it -often is, by the general atmosphere of declining faith in which one has -to live one’s ordinary life in the world. After the Mass came the -presentation of the pilgrims at the altar steps. The Pope had kind words -for all, bending down to hear and to speak to them, and often stroking -the men’s heads. One huge Muscovite peasant knelt long at his feet, and -the Pope kept patting the rough man’s cheek and speaking to him and -blessing him over and over again. At the sight of this a wild -“_hourah_!†broke from his fellow villagers. Where in the world was -their village? In the mists of remoteness, but here in heart, -unmistakably. Following the swarthy giant three sandy-haired German -students, carrying their plumed caps in their hands and girt with -rapiers, presented some college documents to receive the Papal -benediction, and a great many men and women knelt and passed on, but the -Pope seemed in no way fatigued. As he was borne out again he waved us an -upward blessing with his white and most friendly countenance turned up -to us. - -Our Roman wanderings included a visit to the Holy Father’s Vatican -gardens, which are part of the little temporal kingdom a Pope still -possesses, and to his tiny “country house†therein, where he goes for -change of air(!) in the summer, about two stonethrows from the Vatican. -I note: “There are well-trimmed vineyards there; there are pet birds and -beasts in a little ‘zoological gardens’; there is the arbour where he -has his meals on hot days; and, finally, we were conducted to his little -villa bedroom from whose window one of the finest views of Rome is seen, -dominated by the Quirinal, within (let us hope) shaking hands distance.†-We heard the “Miserere†at St. Peter’s on Good Friday--very impressive, -that twilight service in the apse of the great basilica! The -unaccompanied voices of boys sounded in sweetest music--one hardly knew -whence it came--and the air seemed to thrill with the thin angelic sound -in the waning light as one by one the candles at the altar were put out. -At the last Psalm the last light was extinguished, and the vast crowd -with its wan faces remained lighted only by the faint glimmer that came -down from the pale sky through the high windows. Then good-bye to Rome. -We left for Perugia on April 22nd. I certainly ought to be grateful for -having had yet another reception by my Umbrian Hills! And such a -reception that April afternoon, with the low sun gilding everything into -fullest beauty! I did my best to secure that moment in miserably -inadequate paint from the hotel window immediately on arrival. Better -than nothing. But no more of Perugia, nor of dear old Florence on our -way to academic Padua; no more of Verona. I have much yet to record on -getting home, and after! - - - - -CHAPTER XXIII - -A NEW REIGN - - -Sir William was asked by Lord Wolseley to take up the Aldershot command -in the absence of Sir Redvers Buller, who was struggling very -desperately to retrieve our fortunes in the Boer War; so to Aldershot we -went from Devonport, where my husband’s command ran concurrently. How -intensely England had hoped for the turning of the tide when Buller was -given the tremendous task of directing our armies! We forget the horrors -the nation went through in those days because the late War has made us -pass through the same apprehensions multiplied by millions, but there -the fact remains in our history that we nearly suffered a terrible -catastrophe at the time of which I am writing. Buller, on leaving for -the Cape, had said to my husband how fervently he wished he possessed -his gift of imagination, and, indeed, that is a very precious gift to a -commander. This truly awful state of things--our terrible losses, and -the temporary lowering of our military prestige (thank heaven, so -gloriously recovered and enhanced in the World War!)--were the answer to -the repeated assertion made, when we were at the Cape, by those who -ought to have known, that “the Boers won’t fight.†How this used to -enrage my husband, whose “gift of imagination†made him see so clearly -the danger ahead. Well, all this is of the long ago, and, as I have -already noted, it is better to say little now; but the sense of -injustice lives! - -[Illustration: A DESPATCH-BEARER, BOER WAR, AND THE HORSE-GUNNERS.] - -Buller had a great reception at Aldershot on his return from South -Africa. I never saw a more radiantly happy face on a woman than poor -Lady Audrey’s, who had been in a state of most tense anxiety during her -dear Redvers’ absence. As the train steamed into the station the band -struck up “See the Conquering Hero comes!†The horses of his carriage -were unharnessed, and the triumphal car was drawn by a team of firemen -to Government House. At the entrance gate a group of school children -sang “Home, sweet Homeâ€; my husband hauled down his flag and Buller’s -was run up, and so that episode closed. - -We had inhabited a suburban-looking villa on the road to Farnborough -during the absence of Sir Redvers, not wishing to disturb the anxious -watcher at Government House, and very often we saw the Empress, just as -in the old days. She told us the dear Queen was very ill, far worse than -the world was allowed to know. My husband had always said the war would -kill her, for she had taken our losses cruelly to heart, and so it -happened on January 22nd, 1901. The resumed Devonport Diary says: - -“A day ever to be marked in English history as a day of mourning. Our -Queen is dead. At dinner S. brought us the news that she passed away at -6.30 this afternoon. We were prepared for it, but it seems like a dream. -To us who have been born and have lived all our lives under her -sovereignty it is difficult to realise that she is gone. - -“_January 23rd, 1901._--A dull gloomy day, punctuated by 81 minute guns, -which began booming at noon. All the royal standards and flags hanging -half-mast in the fog, on land and afloat. - -“_January 24th._--At noon-day all standards and flags were run up to the -masthead, and a quick thunder of guns proclaimed the accession of Edward -VII. At the end the band on board the guardship _Nile_ struck up ‘God -Save the King.’ The flags will all be lowered again until the day after -Queen Victoria is laid to rest. Edward VII.! How strange it sounds, and -how events and changes are rolling down upon us every hour now. Albert -Edward will be a greater man as Edward VII. - -“_February 5th._--The Queen was buried to-day beside her husband at -Frogmore. It is inexpressibly touching to think of them side by side -again. Model wife and mother, how many of your women subjects have -strayed away, of late, from those virtues which you were true to to the -last! - -“_February 16th._--There is great indignation amongst us Catholics at -Edward VII. having been called upon to take the oath at the opening of -Parliament which savours so much of the darkest days of ‘No Popery’ -bigotry. I think it might have been modified by this time, and the lies -about ‘idolatry’ and the ‘worship’ of the Virgin Mary eliminated. Could -not the King have had strength of mind enough to refuse to insult his -Catholic subjects? I know he must have deeply disliked to pronounce -those words. - -“_August 6th._--Again the flags to-day are at half-mast, and so is the -royal standard, and this time, on the men-of-war, it is the German flag! -The Empress Frederick died yesterday.†I never mentioned at the time of -our visit to the Connaughts at Bagshot, when we were first at Aldershot, -a touching incident concerning her. Sir William sat next to her at -dinner, and, _à propos_ of a really fine still-life picture painted by -her, which hung over the dining-room door in the hall, he asked her -whether she still kept up her painting. “No,†she said, “I have cried -myself blind!†What with one Empress crying as though her heart would -break in speaking to him that time at Camden Place and this Empress -telling him she had cried herself blind----! The illness and death of -the Kaiser Frederick must have been a period of great anguish. - -During this summer I was very busy with my picture of the “10th Bengal -Lancers at Tent Pegging,†a subject requiring much sunshine study, which -I have already mentioned. - -In September, Lord Roberts--“the miniature Field Marshal,†as I call him -in the Diary--came down on inspection, and great were the doings in his -honour. “How will this little figure stand in history? Will’s -well-planned defence against a night attack from the sea came off very -well this dark still night, though the navy were nearly an hour late. -There was too much waiting, but when, at last, the enemy torpedo boats -and destroyers appeared, the whole Sound was bordered with such a zone -of fire that, had it been real war, not a rivet of the invader’s -flotilla would have been left in possession of its hold. ‘Bobs’ must -have been gratified at to-night’s display, which he reviewed from -Stonehouse. - -“Our Roberts dinner was of twenty-two covers, and the only women were -Lady Charles Scott, myself and C. A guard of honour was at the front -door, and presented arms as the Field Marshal arrived, the band playing. -He certainly is diminutive. A nice face, soldierlike, and a natural -manner. With him that too jocose Evelyn Wood and others. ‘Bobs,’ of -course, took me in to dinner, and, on my left, Lord Charles Scott took -in C. Will took in Lady Charles. The others--Lord Mount Edgcumbe, H.S.H. -Prince Louis of Battenberg (in command of the _Implacable_), Admiral -Jackson, and so forth--subsided into their places according to -seniority. Every man in blue or red except one rifleman. Soft music -during dinner and two bars of the National Anthem before the still -unfamiliar ‘The King, God bless him!’ at dessert. Will still feels a -little--I don’t know how to express it--of the mental hesitation before -changing ‘the Queen’ which he felt so strongly at first. He was very -truly attached to her. I was back in the drawing-room in good time to -receive the crowd, who came in a continuous flow, all with an expectant -smile, to pay homage to the Lion. I don’t think I forgot anybody’s name -(coached by the A.D.C.) in all those introductions, but that item of my -duties is a thing I dread. I never saw people in such good humour at any -social function before. We certainly _do_ love to honour our soldiers. -But, all the time, things are not going too well with us in the war! - -“_September 14th._--Again the flags half-mast! Now it is the ‘Stars and -Stripes.’ Poor President McKinley succumbed to-day to his horrible -wound. The surgeons wouldn’t let him die for a long while, though he -asked them to. They did their best. - -“_March 7th, 1902._--And now for the royal visit, the principal occasion -for which is the launching of the great battleship the _Queen_, by Queen -Alexandra. Will was responsible for all matters ashore, as the admiral -was for those afloat. Lady Charles and I had to be on the platform at -North Road to receive Their Majesties, the only other women there being -Lady Morley and the Plymouth Mayor’s daughter, bearing a bouquet for -presentation. The royal train had an engine decorated in front of its -funnel with an enormous gilt crown, and I was pleased, as it -majestically glided into the station, to see that it is possible even in -railway prose to have a little dash of poetry. The band struck up, the -guard of honour presented arms with a clang. First, out sprang lacqueys -carrying bags and wraps who scurried to the royal carriages waiting -outside, and out sprang various admirals and diplomats in hot haste, all -with rather anxious faces veneered with smiles. And then, leisurely, the -ever lovely and self-possessed Queen and her kindly and kingly consort, -wearing, over his full-dress admiral’s uniform, a caped overcoat. -Salutes, bows, curtseys, smiles, handshakes. Will presents the great -silver Key of the Citadel, which Charles II. had made for locking the -Great Gate against the refractory people. Edward VII. touches it and the -General Commanding returns it to the R.A. officer, who has charge of it. -We all kiss the King’s hand as seeing him for the first time to speak to -since his accession. The Queen withdraws her hand quickly before any -officer can salute it in like manner, which looks a little ungracious. -Whilst the General and Admiral are introducing their respective staffs -to the King, the Queen has a little chat with me and asks after my -painting and so forth. She is very fond of that water colour I did for -her album at Dover of a trooper of her ‘own’ 19th Hussars at -tent-pegging. Lady Charles and I did not join in the procession through -the Three Towns to the dockyard, but hastened home to avoid the crowd. - -“In the evening we dined with Their Majesties on board the royal yacht -over part of which floating palace C. and I had been conducted in the -morning. Whatever the yacht’s sailing value may be she certainly cuts -out the Kaiser’s _Hohenzollern_ in her internal splendour. When it comes -to washstand tops of onyx and alabaster; and carpets of unfathomable -depth of pile, and hangings in bedrooms of every shade of delicate -colour, ‘toning,’ as the milliners say, with each particular set of -furniture; and the most elaborately beautiful arrangements for lighting -and warming electrically, and so on, and so on--one rather wonders why -so much luxury was piled on luxury in this new yacht which the King, I -am told, does not like on the high seas. Her lines are not as graceful -as those of the old _Victoria and Albert_, and it is said she ‘rolls -awful’! - -“Well, to dinner! As we drove up to the yacht, which is moored right -opposite the Port Admiral’s house and is the habitation of the King and -Queen during their sojourn here, we saw her outlined against the pitch -black sky by coloured electric lamps, which was pretty. Equerries, -secretaries and Miss Knollys received us at the top of the gangway, and -the ladies of the Queen soon filed into the ante-chamber (or cabin) -where they and we, the guests, awaited Their Majesties. Full uniform was -ordered for the men, and we ladies were requested to come in ‘high, thin -dresses,’ as, it appears, is the etiquette on board royal yachts. There -were the Admiral and Lady Charles, the Duke and Duchess of Buccleugh, -Lord and Lady St. Germans, Lord Walter Kerr, Lord Mount Edgcumbe (‘the -Hearl,’ as he is known to Plymothians), the Bishop of Exeter, Lady -Lytton and others up to about thirty-six in number. The King, still -dressed as an admiral, and the Queen in a charming black and white -semi-transparent frock, with many ropes of pearls, soon came in, and, -the curtseying over, we filed into the great dining saloon brilliantly -lighted and splendid. The King led in his daughter, Princess Victoria. -Buccleugh led in the Queen, and so on. How unlike the painfully solemn, -whispered dinners of dear old Queen Victoria was this banquet. We -shouted of necessity, as the band played all the time. The King and -Queen seem to me to have acquired an _expanded_ dignity since they have -come to the Throne. Will and I could not do justice to the dinner as it -was Friday, but that didn’t matter. After the sweets the head servant -(what Goliaths in red liveries they all are!) handed the King a _snuff -box_! I was so fascinated by the sight of the descendant of the Georges -engaged in the very Georgian act of taking a pinch that my eyes were -riveted on him. I love history and am always trying to revive the past -in imagination. It is true that ‘a cat may look at a King,’ but then I -am _not_ a cat (at least I hope not). I only trust His Majesty didn’t -mind, but he certainly saw me! - -“After dinner we women went down with the Queen to her boudoir, where an -Egyptian-looking servant wearing a _tarboosh_ handed us coffee of -surpassing aroma, and Her Majesty showed us her beloved little Japanese -dog and some of the pretty things about the room. She then asked us to -see her bedroom (which I had already seen that morning) and the little -dog’s basket where he sleeps near her bed. She is still extremely -beautiful. Her figure is youthful and shapely, and all her movements are -queenly. The King had quite a long talk with Will about this dreadful -Boer War which is causing us all so much anxiety, after we went up -again. He then came over to me, and after a few commonplaces he came -nearer and in a confidential tone began about Will. I think he is fond -of him. What he said was kind, and I knew he wanted me to repeat his -sympathetic words to my husband afterwards. He spoke of him as a -‘splendid soldier.’ I know he had in his mind the painful trial Will had -gone through. It was late when Their Majesties bade us good-night. - -“_March 8th._--The great day of the launch of H.M.S. _Queen_. I wonder -if the hearts of the sailors beat anxiously to-day at all! A quieter, -more unemotional-looking set of men than those naval bigwigs could -nowhere be seen in the world. But, first of all, there was the -medal-giving at the R.N. Barracks, where Ladies Poore and Charles Scott, -Mrs. Jackson and myself had to receive the King and Queen by the side of -our respective husbands on a raised daïs in the centre of the huge -parade ground. It was very cold, and the Queen told me she envied me my -fur-lined coat. Will said I missed an opportunity of making a pendant to -Sir Walter Raleigh! The function was very long, for the King had to give -a medal to each one of the three hundred bluejackets and marines who -passed before him in single file. At the launching place we all -assembled on a great platform, and there in front of us stood the huge -hull of the battleship, the ram projecting over the little table on -which the Queen was to cut the ropes. That red-painted ram was garlanded -with flowers, and the bottle hung from the garland, completely hidden -under a covering of roses. It contained red Australian wine, a very -sensible change from the French champagne of former times. Down below an -immense crowd of workmen waited, some of them right under the ship, and -all round, in the different stands, were dense masses of people. We were -soon joined by three German naval grandees and two Japanese -_leprechauns_, one an admiral, a toadlike-looking creature in a uniform -entirely copied from ours. Our new allies are not handsome. Then came -the Bishop of Exeter, in robes and cap and with a peaked beard, a living -Holbein in the dress of Cranmer. How could I, a painter, not delight in -that figure? I told a friend that bishop had no business to be alive, -but ought to be a painting by Holbein, on panel. What does she do but -whisk off straight to him and Mrs. Bishop and tell them! Our privileged -group kept swelling with additions of officers in full glory and smart -women in lovely frocks, and bouquets were brought in, and everything was -to me perfectly charming. Monarchy calls much beauty into existence. -Long may it endure! - -“At last there was a stir; the monarchs came up the inclined approach -and the band struck up. They took their places facing the ship’s bows, -and Cranmer on panel by Holbein blessed the ship in as nearly a Catholic -way as was possible, with the sign of the cross left out. A subordinate -held his crozier before him. A hymn had previously been sung and a -psalm, followed by the Lord’s Prayer. Then came the ‘christening’ -(strange word), a picturesque Pagan ceremony. The Queen brightened up -after the last ‘Amen’ and, nearing the table, reached over to the -flower-decked bottle; then, stepping back, swung it from her against the -monstrous ram, saying, ‘God bless this ship and all that sail in her.’ I -heard a little crack, and only a few red drops trickled down. This -wouldn’t do, for she immediately seized the bottle again and, stepping -well back this time and holding the bottle as high over her head as the -ropes would allow, flung it with such violence that it smashed all to -pieces and the red wine gushed over her hands and sleeves and poured out -its last drops on the table. A great cheer rang out at this, and the -King laughingly seemed to say to her, ‘You did it this time with a -vengeance!’ She flushed up, looking as though she enjoyed the fun. Then -came the great moment of the cutting by the Queen of the little ropes -that held the monster bound as by silken threads. Six good taps with the -mallet, severing the six strands across a ‘turtle back’ in the centre of -the table, and away flew the two ropes down amongst the cheering crowd -of workmen and, automatically, down came the two last supports on either -side of the yet impassive hull. Still impassive--not a hair’s breadth of -movement! A painful pause. Some men below were pumping the hydraulic -apparatus for all they were worth. I kept my eye on the nose of the ram, -gauging it by some object behind. Firm as a rock! At last a tiny -movement, no more than the starting of a snail across a cabbage leaf. -‘She’s off!’ A hurricane of cheers, and with the most admirable and -dignified acceleration of speed the great ship, seeming to come into -life, glided down the slips and, ploughing through the parting and -surging waters, floated off far into the Hamoaze to the strains of ‘Rule -Britannia.’ Queen Alexandra, in her elation, made motions with her arms -as though she was shoving the ship off herself. Scarcely had the -battleship _Queen_ passed into the water than the blocks displaced by -her passage were rolled back, still hot as it were from the friction, -into the position they had occupied before she moved, and the King, -stepping forward, turned a little electric handle at the table, and lo! -the keel plate of the _Edward VII_. slowly moved forward and stopped in -its position on the blocks as the germ of the new battleship. The King, -in a loud voice, proclaimed that the keel plate of the _Edward VII_. was -‘well and truly laid,’ and a great cheer arose and ‘God Save the King,’ -and all was over. A new battleship was born.[14] We met Their Majesties -at the Port Admiral’s at tea, and Will dined with them, together with -some of his staff. - -“_March 10th_.--Saw Their Majesties off. I wonder if they were getting -tired of seeing always the same set of faces and smiles? I am going to -present C. at Court on the 14th, and my function twin, Lady Charles, is -going there, too, so I shall feel it will be a case of ‘Here we are -again,’ when I meet the royal eye that night. In the evening the news of -Methuen’s defeat and capture by Delarey. To think this horror was going -on the day we received the King and Queen at North Road Station! - -“_March 14th_.--The King’s Court was much better arranged than formerly, -as we had only to make two curtseys--nothing more--instead of having to -run the gauntlet of a long row of princes and princesses who were -abreast of Queen Victoria (or her representative), and who used to -inspect one from head to foot. These were now grouped behind the -monarchs, and formed a rich, subdued background to the two regal -figures on their thrones. (What a blessing to the aforesaid princes and -princesses to be spared the necessity of passing all those nervous women -in review, and by daylight, too!) Altogether the music and the generally -more festive character of the function struck one as a great and happy -improvement on the old dispensation. The King and Queen didn’t exactly -say, ‘How do you do again?’ as I appeared, but looked it as I met their -smiling eyes. This is the first Court of the King’s reign. - -“_March 27th_.--Cecil Rhodes died yesterday. I am glad I saw him at the -Cape. One morning just at sunrise I and the children were driving to -Mass during the mission and, as we passed over the railway line, we saw -people riding down from ‘Grootschuur.’ The foremost horseman was Cecil -Rhodes, looking very big and with a wide red face. He gave me a -searching look or stare as if trying to make out who I was in the shade -of the carriage hood. So I saw his face well. - -“_April 3rd_.--Will and I are invited by the King and Queen to see them -crowned at Westminster. I am to wear ‘court dress with plumes but -without train.’ But what if the nightmare war still is dragging on in -June? The time is getting short! We hear the King is getting anxious. -Lord Wolseley’s trip to the Cape (for his health!) is supposed to have -really to do with bringing about peace. But ‘’ware politics’ for me. -They are not in my line. What a wet blanket would be spread as a pall -over all the purple canopies in Westminster Abbey if war was still -brooding over us all! Imagine news of a new Methuen disaster on the -morning of June 26th!†- -On Varnishing Day that spring at the Royal Academy I found that my -tent-pegging picture could not look to greater advantage, but it was in -the last room, where the public looks with “lack-lustre eyes,†being -tired. - -On June 21st I left to attend the Coronation of Edward VII., spending -two days at Dick’s monastery at Downside on the way, high up in the -Mendip Hills. I note: “I had a bright little room at the guest house -just outside the precincts. That night the full moon, that emblem of -serenity, rose opposite my window, and I felt as though lifted up above -that world into which I was about to plunge for my participation in the -pomp of the Coronation in a few hours. It is inexpressibly touching to -me to see my son where he is. A hard probation, for the Benedictine test -is long and severe, as indeed the test is, necessarily, throughout the -Religious Orders. - -“_June 24th_.--Memorable day! I was passing along Buckingham Palace Road -at 12.30 when I saw a poster: ‘Coronation Postponed’! Groups of people -were buying up the papers. Of course, no one believed the news at first, -and people were rather amusedly perplexed. No one had heard that the -King was ill. On getting to Piccadilly I saw the official posters and -the explanation. An operation just performed! and only yesterday Knollys -telling the world there was ‘not a word of truth in the alarming rumours -of the King’s health.’ I and Mrs. C. went to a dismal afternoon concert -at 2.30 to which we were pledged, and which the promoters were in two -minds about postponing, and we left in the middle to stroll about the -crowded streets and watch the effect of the disastrous news. There was -something very dramatic in the scene in front of the palace--the huge -crowd waiting and watching, the royal standard drooping on the roof -(not half-mast yet?), and the sense of brooding sorrow over the great -building, which held the, perhaps, dying King. What a change in two or -three hours! - -“_June 26th_.--This was to have been the Coronation Day. General -dismantling. Those dead laurel wreaths still lying in the gutters are -said to be the same that were used at the funeral of King Humbert. What -a weird thought! The crowds are thinning, but still, at night, they gaze -at the little clumps of illuminations which some people exhibit, as the -King is going on well. ‘_Vivat Rex_’ flares in great brilliancy here and -there. The words have a deeper meaning than usual. May he live! - -“_June 27th_.--This was to have been the day of the royal procession. -Where is that rose-colour-lined coach I so looked forward to? Lying idle -in its cover. Every one is moralising. Even the clubmen, Will tells me, -are furbishing up little religious platitudes and texts; many are -curiously superstitious, which is strange.†- -On our return home I was very busy in the studio. There was much -galloping and trotting of horses up and down in the Government House -grounds for my studies of movement for my next Academy picture (dealing -with Boer War yeomanry) and others. - -“_August 9th_.--King Edward VII. was crowned to-day. At about 12.40 the -guns firing in the Sound and batteries announced that, at last, the -Coronation was consummated. We were asked to the ceremony, but could not -go up this time.†- -A little tour in France, with my husband and our two girls, made in -September, 1902, gave us sunny days in Anjou on the Loire. The majestic -rivers of France are her chief attraction for the painter, and to us -English Turner’s charm is inseparably blended with their slowly flowing -waters. We were visitors at a _château_ at Savonnières, near Angers, for -most of the time, and our hosts took care that we should miss none of -the lovely things around their domain. The German “Ocean Greyhounds†of -the Hamburg-Amerika line used to call at Plymouth in those days, huge, -three-funnel monsters which, I think, we have since appropriated, and -one of these, the _Augusta Marie_, bore us off to Cherbourg in all the -pride of her gorgeous saloons, flower-decked tables, band, and -extraordinary bombastic oleographs from allegorical pictures by the -Kaiser William II. As we boarded her the band played “God Save the -King,†the captain receiving Sir William with finished regulation -attention, and hardly had the great twin engines swung the ship into the -Sound to receive her passengers, than with another swing forward, which -made the masts wriggle to their very tops, she was off. It was the -“Marseillaise†as we reached France. That band played us nearly the -whole way over. A really pretty idea, this, of playing the national air -of each country where the ship touched. - -It was vintage time at Savonnières, which was a French “Castagnolo,†a -most delightful translation into French of that Italian patriarchal -home. There were stone terraces garlanded with vines bearing--not the -big black grapes of Tuscany, but small yellow ones of surpassing -sugariness. We were in a typical and beautiful bit of France, peaceful, -plenteous, and full of dignity. They lead the simple life here such as I -love, which is not to be found in the big English country houses, as -far as I know. I was truly pleased at the sight of the peasantry at Mass -on the Sunday. The women in particular had that dignity which is so -marked in their class, and the white lace coifs they wore had many -varieties of shape, all most beautiful, and were very _soignées_ and -neatly worn. Not an untidy woman or girl amongst these daughters of the -soil. - -I was anxious to see “Angers la Noire,†where we stayed on our way from -Savonnières to Amboise. But the black slate houses which gave it that -name are being turned into white stone ones, and so its grim -characteristic is passing away. Give me character, good or bad; -characterless things are odious. I don’t suppose a more perfect old -Angevin town exists than Amboise. It fulfilled all I required and -expected of it. How Turner understood these towns on the broad, majestic -Loire! He occasionally exaggerated, but his exaggerations were always in -the right direction, emphasising thus the dominant beauties of each -place and their local sentiment. Which recalls the deep charm of the -rivers of France more subtly to the mind, Turner’s series or an album of -photographs? Turner’s mind saw more truly than the camera. The castle of -Amboise is superb and its creamy white stone a glory. Then came Blois, -with a quite different reading of a castle, where plenty of colour and -gilding and Gothic richness gave the character--not so restful to eye -and mind as Amboise. Through both the _châteaux_ we were marshalled -along by a guide. I would sooner learn less of a place, by myself, than -be told all by a tiresome man in a _cicerone’s_ livery. Plenty of -horrors were supplied us at both places, vitiating my otherwise simple -pleasure as a painter in the sight of so much beauty. - -We returned to Plymouth Sound on a lovely day, and there our blue -launch, with that bright brass funnel I had so long agitated for, was -awaiting us, and we landed at the steps of Mount Wise as though we had -merely been for a trip to Penlee Point. - -I found my picture of the yeomanry cantering through a “spruit†in the -Boer War, “Within Sound of the Guns,†admirably placed this time at -Burlington House, in the spring of 1903. I had greatly improved in tone -by this time. Millais’ remark once upon a time, “She draws better than -any of us, but I wish her _tone_ was better,†had sunk deep. - -On July 14th, 1903, the Princess Henry of Battenberg (as the title was -then), with a suite of six, paid us a visit of two days at Government -House, and we had, of course, a big reception, which was inevitable. Our -guest hated the ordeal of all those presentations, being very retiring, -and I sympathised. I heard her murmur to her lady, Miss Bulteel, “I -shall die,†as the first arrival was announced. And there she had to -stand till I and the A.D.C. had finished terrifying her with about 250 -people in succession. What a tax royalty has to pay! There was the -laying of a foundation stone, a trip in the launch up the Tamar, and -something to be done each day, but with as many rests as we could -squeeze in for our very _simpatica_ princess. The drive through the -streets of Plymouth showed me what the crowd looks like from royalty’s -point of view as I sat by her side in the carriage. I remarked to her -what bad teeth the people had. “They are nothing to those in the north,†-the poor dear said. How often royalty has to run that gauntlet of an -unlovely and cheering crowd! - -I was now to go through the great ordeal of witnessing our dear -Dick’s[15] taking his vows. This was on September 4th, 1903, at Belmont -Minster, Hereford. - -On July 10th, 1904, a German squadron of eighteen men-of-war came -thundering into the Sound, and on the 12th we assembled a Garden Party -of about three hundred guests to give the three admirals and their -officers a very proper welcome. Eighteen beautiful ships, but all -untried. I lunched on board the flagship, the _Kaiser Wilhelm II._, on -the previous day, and anything to equal the dandified “get up†of that -war vessel could not be found afloat. Wherever there was an excuse for a -gold Imperial crown, there it was, relieved by the spotless whiteness of -its surroundings. The fair-haired bluejackets were extremely clean and -comely, but struck me as being drilled too much like soldiers, and -wanting the natural manner of our men. The impression on my mind at the -time was that immense care and pains had been taken to show off these -brand-new ships and to rival ours, but that they were not a bit like -their models. The General dined in state on board that evening. Oh! the -veneer of politeness shown to us these days; the bowings, the clicking -of heels, the well-drilled salutes; and all the time we were joking -amongst ourselves about the certainty we had that they were taking -soundings of our great harbour. As usual, they were allowed to do just -as they liked there. It is a tremendous thought to me that I have lived -to hear of the surrender of Germany’s entire navy. How often in those -days we allowed ourselves to imagine a modern _possible_ Trafalgar, but -such a cataclysm as this was outside the bounds of any one’s -imagination. - -I devoted a great deal of my time to getting up a “one-man-show,†my -first of many, composed of water colours, and in accomplishing the -Afghan picture I have already mentioned as being so much honoured by the -Hanging Committee at the Academy in the spring of 1904. My husband’s -command of the Western District terminated on January 31st, 1905, and -with it his career in the army, as he had reached the retiring age. The -Liberal Party was very keen on having him as an M.P., representing East -Leeds. I am glad the idea did not materialise. I know what would have -happened. He would have set out full of honest and worthy enthusiasm to -serve the _Patria_. Then, little by little, he would have found what -political life really is, and thrown the thing up in disgust. An old -story. _Non Patria sed Party!_ So utterly outside my own life had -politics been that I had an amused sensation when I saw the -Parliamentary world opening before me, like a gulf! - -“_January 31st_, 1905.--Will is to stand for East Leeds. It is all very -sudden. Liberals so eager that he has almost been (courteously) hustled -into the great enterprise. Herbert Gladstone, Campbell-Bannerman and -other leaders have written almost irresistible letters to him, pleading. -When he goes to the election at Leeds he is to be ‘put to no expense -whatever,’ and they are confident of a ‘handsome majority.’ We shall -see! Besides all this he is given a most momentous commission at the War -Office to investigate certain ugly-looking matters connected with the -Boer War stores scandal that require clearing up. I am glad they have -done him the ‘poetical justice’ of selecting him for this. - -“_February 13th_.--We went to a very brilliant and (to me) novel -gathering at the Campbell-Bannermans’. All the leaders of the Liberal -Party there, an interesting if not very noble study. All so cordial to -Will. Tremendous crush, but nice when we got down to the more airy tea -room. The snatches of conversation I got in the general hubbub all -sounded somewhat ‘shoppy.’ Winston Churchill, a ruddy young man, with a -roguish twinkle in his eye, Herbert Gladstone and his lovely wife, our -bluff, rosy host and other ‘leaders’ were very interesting, and we met -many friends, all on the ‘congratulate.’ All these M.P.’s seem to relish -their life. I suppose it _has_ a great fascination, this working to get -your side in, as at a football match.†- -The general election in course of time swept over England and brought in -the Liberal Party with an overwhelming majority. My husband did not -stand for East Leeds. He had to abandon the idea, as a Catholic, on -account of the religious difficulties connected with the Education Act. - -Our life in the glorious west of Ireland, which followed our retirement -from Devonport, has been so fully described by this pen of mine in “From -Sketch-book and Diary†that I give but a slight sketch of it here. Those -were days when one could give one’s whole heart, so to speak, to Erin, -before the dreadful cloud had fallen on her which, as I write, has lent -her her present forbidding gloom. That will pass, please God! - -To come straight through from London and its noise and superfluous fuss -and turmoil into the absolute peace and purity of County Mayo in perfect -summer weather was such a relief to mind and body that one felt it as an -emancipation. Health, good sleep, enjoyment of pure air and noble -scenery; kindly, unsophisticated peasantry--all these things were there, -and the flocks and herds and the sea birds. In the midst of all that -appealing poetry, so peculiar to Ireland, I had a funny object lesson of -a prosaic kind at romantic Mulranny, on Clewe Bay. In the little station -I saw a big heap in sackcloth lying on the platform--“_Hog-product from -Chicago_â€--and the country able to “cure†the matchless Irish pig! I -went on to get some darning wool in the hamlet--“_Made in England_â€--and -all those sheep around us! Outside the shop door a horse had the usual -big nose-bag--_â€Made in Austriaâ€!_ All these things, with a little -energy, should have come out of the place itself, surely? I thought to -encourage native industry, when found, by ordering woollen hose at the -convent school. No two stockings of the same pair were of equal length. -The bay was rich in fish, and one day came a little fleet of fishing -boats--_from France!_ There was Ireland to-day in a nutshell. What of -to-morrow? Is this really Ireland’s heavy sleep before the dawn? - -I have seen some of the most impressive beauties of our world, but never -have I been more impressed than by the solemn grandeur of the mountain -across Clewe Bay they call Croagh Patrick, as we saw it on the evening -of our arrival at Mulranny. The last flush of the after-glow lingered on -its dark slopes and the red planet Mars flamed above its cone, all this -solemn beauty reflected in the sleeping waters. At Mulranny I spent -nearly all my days making studies of sheep and landscape for the next -picture I sent to the Academy--“A Cistercian Shepherd.†This gave me a -period of the most exquisitely reposeful work. The building up of this -picture was in itself an idyll. But the public didn’t want idylls from -me at all. “Give us soldiers and horses, but pastoral idylls--no!†-People had a slightly reproachful tone in their comments after seeing my -poor pastoral on the Academy walls. Some one said, “How are the mighty -fallen!†- -We made our home in the heart of Tipperary, under the Galtee Mountains. -It seemed time for us to seek a dignified repose, “the world forgetting, -by the world forgot,†but we did not succeed in our intention. In 1906 -my husband went on a great round of observation through Cape Colony and -the (former) Boer Republics on a literary mission. I and E. went off to -Italy, meanwhile; Rome as our goal. There I had the great pleasure of -the companionship of my sister, and it may be imagined with what -feelings we re-trod the old haunts in and about that city together. - -“_April 9th, 1906_.--We had a charming stroll through the Villa d’Este -gardens, where the oldest, hoariest cypresses are to be seen, and -fountains and water conduits of graceful and fantastic shape, wherever -one turns, all gushing with impetuous waters. The architects of these -gardens revelled in their fanciful designs and sported with the -responsive flood. Cascades spout in all directions from the rocks on -which Tivoli is built. We had _déjeuner_ under a pergola at the inn -right over one of these waterfalls, where, far below us, birds flew to -and fro in the mist of the spray. Nature and art have joined in play at -Tivoli. I always have had a healthy dislike of burrowing in tombs and -catacombs. The sepulchral, bat-scented air of such places in Egypt--the -land, of all others, of limpid air and sunshine and dryness--is not in -any way attractive to me, and I greatly dislike diving into the Roman -catacombs out of the sunny Appian Way. On former occasions I went -through them all, so this time I kept above ground. I learnt all that -the catacombs teach in my early years, and am not likely to lose that -tremendous impression. - -“_April 10th_.--A true Campagna day, as Italianised as I could make it. -We had a frugal _colazione_ under the pergola of an Appian Way-side inn, -watched by half a dozen hungry cats, that unattractive, wild, malignant -kind of cat peculiar to Italy. The girl who waited on us drew our white -wine in a decanter from what looked like a well in the garden. It had, -apparently, not ‘been cool’d a long age in _that_ deep-delved earth,’ -but it did very well. I was perfectly happy. This old-fashioned _al -fresco_ entertainment had the local colour which I look for when I -travel and which is getting rarer year by year. Our Colosseum moonlight -was more weird than ever. At eleven we had our moon. It was a large, -battered, woeful, waning old moon, that looked in at us through the -broken arch. An opportune owl, which had been screeching like a cat in -the shade, flitted across its sloping disc just at the supreme moment.†- -To receive Holy Communion at the hands of the Holy Father is a privilege -for which we should be very thankful. It was mine and E.’s on Easter -morning that year, at his private Mass in the Sistine Chapel. There I -saw Pius X. for the first time. Goodness and compassion shine from that -sad and gentle face. It is the general custom to kiss the ‘Fisherman’s -ring’ on the Pope’s hand before receiving, but Pius X. very markedly -prevents this. One can understand! Our audience with the Holy Father -took place on the eve of our departure. There was a never-absent look -with him of what I may call the submissive sense of a too-heavy burden -of responsibility. No photographs convey the right impression of this -Pope. He was very pale, very spiritual, very kind and a little weary; -most gentle and touching in his manner. The World War at its outset -broke that tender heart. I sent him my “Letters from the Holy Land,†for -which I received very urbane thanks from one of the cardinals. I don’t -think the Holy Father knows a single word of English, and I wonder what -he made of it. - -As to our tour homeward, taking Florence and Venice on the way, I think -we will take that as read. I revel in the Diary in all the dear old -Italian details, marred only by the change I noticed in Venice as -regards her broken silence. The hurry of modern life has invaded even -the “silent city,†and there is too much electric glare in the lighting -now, at night, for the old enjoyment of her moonlights. It annoyed me to -see the moon looking quite shabby above the incandescent globes on the -Riva. - -From Venice to the Dublin Castle season is a big jump. We had an average -of twenty-one balls in six weeks in each of the two seasons 1907--1908. -Little did I think that it would be quite an unmixed pleasure to me to -do _chaperon_ for some five hours at a stretch; but so it turned out. It -all depends what sort of daughter you have on the scene! The Aberdeens -were then in power. - -Lady Aberdeen was untiring in her endeavours to trace and combat the -dire disease which seemed to fasten on the Irish in an especial manner. -She went about lecturing to the people with a tuberculosis “caravan.†-She brought it to Cashel, and my husband made the opening speech at her -exhibition there. But her addresses came to nothing. The lungs exhibited -in the “caravan†in spirits of wine appealed in vain. She actually asked -the people that day to go back to their discarded oatmeal “stir-aboutâ€! -They prefer their stewed tea and their artificially whitened, so-called -bread, with the resultant loss of their teeth. My experiences at the -different Dublin horse shows were sociable and pleasant. There you see -the finest horses and the most beautiful women in the world, and Dublin -gives you that hospitality which is the most admirable quality in the -Irish nature. - -Sir William spent the remaining days of his life in trying, by addresses -to the people in different parts of the country, to quicken their sense -of the necessity for industry, sobriety, and a more serious view of -existence. They did not seem to like it, and he was apparently only -beating the air. I remember one particularly strong appeal he made in -Meath at a huge open-air meeting. I thought to myself that such -warnings, given in his vivid and friendly Irish style, touched with -humour to leaven the severity, would have impressed his hearers. The -applause disappointed me. Well, he did his best to the very last for the -country and the people he loved. He had vainly longed all his life for -Home Rule within the Empire. Was this, then, all that was wanting? - -I recall in this connection an episode which was eloquent of the hearty -appreciation of his worth, quite irrespective of politics. At a banquet -given in Dublin to welcome Lord and Lady Granard, after their marriage, -he was called upon to respond for “the Guests.†For fully one minute the -cheers were so persistent when he rose that he had to wait before his -opening words could be heard. The company were nearly all Unionists. - -After all the misunderstandings connected with Sir William’s association -with the Boer War and its antecedents had been righted at last, these -words of a distinguished general at Headquarters were spoken: “Butler -stands a head and shoulders above us all.†- -The year 1910 is one which in our family remains for ever sacred. My -dear mother died on March 13th. - -On June 7th a very brave soldier, who feared none but God, was called to -his reward. Here my Diary stops for nearly a year.[16] - - - - -CHAPTER XXIV - -MOSTLY A ROMAN DIARY - - -Palm Sunday, 1911, found me in Rome, on the eve of my son’s ordination -as priest. One of those extraordinary occurrences which have happened in -my life took place that day. Four of us joined at the appointed place -and hour: I and Eileen from Ireland (Dick, already in Rome) and Patrick, -just landed, in the nick of time, from India! We three met at the foot -of the Aventine and went up to Sant’ Anselmo, where we knew we should -see _the other one_ during the Palm Sunday Mass, though not to speak to -till after the long service was ended. He intoned the Gospel as deacon, -and when his deep voice reached us in the gallery we looked at each -other with a smile. None of us had seen him for a more or less long -time. - -“Holy Saturday. The great day. Dick assumed the chasuble, and is -officially known now as Father Urban, though ‘Dick’ he will ever remain -with us. The weather was Romanly brilliant, but I was anxious, knowing -that these young deacons were to be on their knees in the great Lateran -Church, fasting, from 7 a.m. We three waited a long time in the piazza -of the Lateran for the pealing of the bells which should announce the -beginning of the Easter time, and which was to be the signal for our -entry into the great basilica at 9.15. We had places in two balconies, -right over the altar. Below us stood about forty deacons, with our -particular one in their midst, each holding his folded chasuble across -his arms ready for the vesting. The sight of these young fellows, in -their white and gold deacons’ vestments, was very touching. Each one was -called up by name in turn, and ascended the altar steps, where sat the -consecrating bishop, who looked more like a spirit than a mere human -creature. When Urbano Butler (pronounced _Boutler_, of course, by the -Italian voice) was called, how we craned forward! To me the whole thing -was poignant. What those boys give up! (‘Well,’ answers a voice, ‘they -give up the world, and a good thing too!’) - -“We went, when the ceremony was completed, into a side chapel to receive -the newly-made young priests’ first blessing. These young fellows ran -out of the sacristy towards the crowd of expectant parents and friends, -their newly-acquired chasubles flying behind them as they ran, with -outstretched hands, for the kisses of that kneeling crowd that awaited -them. What a sight! Can any one paint it and do it justice? Old and -young, gentlefolk and peasants, smiling through tears, kissing the young -hands that blessed them. Dick came to his mother first, then to his -soldier brother, then to his sister, and I saw him lifting an aged -prelate to his feet after blessing him. Strangers knelt to him and to -the others, and I saw, in its perfection, what is meant by ‘laughing for -joy’ on those young and holy faces. There was one exception. A poor -young Irish boy, somehow, had no relative to bless--no one--he seemed -left out in his corner, and he was crying. Perhaps his mother was -‘beyond the beyond’ in far Connemara? I heard of this afterwards. Had I -seen him, I would certainly have asked his blessing too. So it -is--always some shadow, even here. - -“As soon as we could get hold of Dick, in his plain habit, we hurried -him to a little _trattoria_ across the piazza, where his dear friend and -chum, John Collins,[17] treated him to a good cup of chocolate to break -his long fast.†- -It was quite a necessary anti-climax for me when we and our friends all -met again at the hotel and sat down, to the number of fifteen, to a -bright luncheon I gave in honour of the day. A very celebrated English -cardinal honoured me with his presence there. - -“_Easter Sunday_.--Patrick, Eileen and I received Holy Communion in the -crypt of Sant’ Anselmo from Dick’s hands at his first Mass. These few -words contain the culmination of all. - -“_April 17th_.--In the afternoon we were all off, piloted by Dick, to -the celebrated Benedictine monastery of Monte Cassino, a long way down -towards Naples, to spend a few days, Patrick as guest within the -precincts, and E. and I lodging at the guest-house, which forms part of -the monastic farm, poised on the edge of a great precipice. The sheer -rock plunges down to the base of the mountain whereon stands the -wonderful monastery. It is something to see a great domed church on the -top of such a mountain, and a building of such vast proportions, -containing one of the greatest libraries in the world. A mule path was -all the monks intended for communication between the two worlds, but now -a great carriage road takes us up by an easy zigzag. - -“_April 18th_.--Every hour of our visit to Monte Cassino must be lived. -I made a sketch of the monastery and the abyss into which one peers -from that great height, with angry red clouds gathering over the tops of -the snowy mountains. But my sketches are too didactic; and, indeed, who -but Turner could convey to the beholder the awful spirit of that scene? -The tempest sent us in and we had the experience of a good thunderstorm -amidst those severe mountains that have the appearance of a petrified -chaos. Last night E. woke up to find the room full of a surprising blue -light, which at first she took to be the dawn because, through the open -windows, she heard the whole land thrilling with the song of birds. But -such a _blue_ light for dawn? She got up to see. The light was that of -the full moon and the birds were nightingales. - -“I was enchanted to see the beautiful dress of the peasant women here. -Their white _tovaglie_ are looped back in a more graceful line than the -Roman. The queerest little thin black hogs, like poor relations of the -tall, pink Valentia variety which I have already signalised, browse on -the steep ascent to this great stronghold, and everything still looks -wild, in spite of the carriage road. I should have preferred coming up -here on a mule. Our suppers at the guest-house were Spartan. Rather -dismal, having to pump conversation with the Italian guests at this -festive(!) board. Our intellectual food, however, was rich. The abbot -and his monks did the honours of far-famed Monte Cassino for us with the -kindest attention, showing very markedly their satisfaction in -possessing Brother Urban, whose father’s name they held in great -esteem.†- -On April 22nd we had the long-expected audience with Pio Decimo. It was -only semi-private and there were crowds, including eleven English naval -officers, to be presented. I had my little speech ready, but when we -came into the Pope’s presence we found him standing instead of restfully -seated, and he looked so fatigued and so aged since I last saw him that -I knew I must keep him listening as short a time as possible. First I -presented “_Mio figlio primogenito, ufficiale_;†then “_mio figlio -Benedettino_†and then “_mia figlia_.†He spoke a little while to Dick -in Latin, and then we knelt and received his blessing and departed, to -see him no more. - -It is a great thing to have seen Leo XIII. and Pius X., as I have had -the opportunity of seeing them. Both have left a deep impression on -modern life, especially the former, who was a great statesman. To see -the fragile scabbard of the flesh one wondered how the keen sword of the -spirit could be held at all within it. It was his diplomatic tact that -smoothed away many of the difficulties that obtruded themselves between -the Vatican and the Quirinal, and that tact kept the Papacy on good -terms with France and her Republic, to which he called on all French -Catholics to give their support. It was he who forced “the man of blood -and iron†to relax the ferocious laws against the Church in Germany, and -to allow the evicted bishops to return to their Sees. Diplomatic -relations with Germany were renewed, and the Church’s laws regarding -marriage and education had to be re-admitted by the Government. Even the -dark “Orthodox†intolerance of Russia bent sufficiently to his influence -to allow of the establishment of Catholic episcopal Sees in that -country, and the cessation of the imprisonment of priests. The -episcopate in Scotland, too, was restored. We owe to him that spread of -Catholicism in the United States which has long been such a surprise to -the onlooker. Then there are his great encyclicals on the Social -Question, setting forth the Christian teaching on the relations between -capital and labour; establishing the social movement on Christian lines. -How clearly he saw the threat of a great European war at no very distant -date from his time unless armaments were reduced. That refined mind -inclined him to the advancement of the cause of the Arts and of -learning. Students thank him for opening the Vatican archives to them, -which he did with the words, “The Church has nothing to fear from the -publication of the Truth.†His is the Vatican observatory--one of the -most famous in the world. It makes one smile to remember his remarks on -the then young Kaiser William II., who seems to have struck the Holy -Father as somewhat bumptious on the occasion of his historic visit. -“That young man,†as he called him, evidently impressed the Pope as one -having much to learn. - -What a contrast Pius X. presents to his predecessor! The son of a -postman at Rieti, a little town in Venetia. I remember when a deputation -of young men came to pay him their respects at the Vatican, arriving on -their bicycles, that he told them how much he would have liked a bike -himself when, as a bare-legged boy, he had to trudge every day seven -miles to school and back. Needless to say, he had no diplomatic or -political training, but he led the truly simple life, very saintly and -apostolic. He devoted his energies chiefly to the purely pastoral side -of his office. We are grateful to him for his reform of Church music -(and it needed it in Italy!). He was very emphatic in urging frequent -communion and early communion for children. His condemnation of -“modernism†is fresh in all our minds, and we are glad he removed the -prohibition on Catholics from standing for the Italian Parliament, -thereby allowing them to obtain influential positions in public life. He -took a firm stand with regard to the advancing encroachment of the -French Government on the liberties of the Church in his day. His policy -is being amply justified under our very eyes. - -We joined the big garden party, after the Papal audience, at the British -Embassy. A great crush in that lovely remnant of the once glorious, -far-spreading gardens I can remember, nearly all turned to-day into -deadly streets on which a gridiron of tram lines has been screwed down. -Prince Arthur of Connaught brought in the Queen-Mother, Margherita, to -the lawn where the dancing took place. The Rennell-Rodd children as -little fairies were pretty and danced charmingly, but I felt for the -professional dancer who, poor thing, was not in her first youth, and -unkindly dealt with by the searching daylight. To have to caper airily -on that grass was no joke. It was heavy going for her and made me -melancholy, in conjunction with my memories of the old Ludovisi gardens -and the vanished pines. - -On October 26th my youngest daughter, Eileen, was married to Lord -Gormanston, at the Brompton Oratory, the church so loved by our mother, -and where I was received. Our dear Dick married them. I had the -reception in Lowndes Square in the beautiful house lent by a friend. - -Ireland has many historic ancestral dwellings, and one of these became -my daughter’s new home in Meath. Shakespeare’s “cloud-capp’d towers†-seemed not so much the “baseless fabric†of the poet’s vision when I -saw, one day, the low-lying trail of a bright Irish mist brush the high -tops of the towers of Gormanston. A thing of visions, too, is realised -there in a cloister carved so solidly out of the dense foliage of the -yew that never monastic cloister of stone gave a more restful -“contiguity of shade.†- -I spent the winter of 1911--12 in London, and worked hard at water -colours, of which I was able to exhibit a goodly number at a “one-man -show†in the spring. The King lent my good old “Roll Call,†and the -whole thing was a success. I showed many landscapes there as well as -military subjects; many Italian and Egyptian drawings made during my -travels, and scenes in Ireland. These exhibitions in a well-lighted -gallery are pleasant, and the private view day a social rendezvous for -one’s friends. - -Through my sister, with whom I revisited Rome early in 1913, I had the -pleasure of knowing many Americans there. How refreshing they are, and -responsive (I don’t mean the mere tourist!), whereas my dear compatriots -are very heavy in hand sometimes. American women are particularly well -read and cultivated and full of life. They don’t travel in Europe for -nothing. I have had some dull experiences in the English world when -embarking, at our solemn British dinners, on cosmopolitan subjects for -conversation. What was I to say to a man who, having lately returned -from Florence, gave it as his opinion that it was only “a second-rate -Cheltenhamâ€? I tried that unlucky Florentine subject on another. He: -“Florence? Oh, yes, I liked that--that--_minaret thing_ by the side of -the--the--er----“ I: “The Duomo?†He: “Oh, yes, the Duomo.†I (in -gloomy despair): “Do you mean Giotto’s Tower?†Collapse of our -conversation. - -Very probably I bade my last farewell to St. Peter’s that year. I had -more than once bidden a provisional “good-bye†at sundown on leaving -Rome to that dome which I always loved to see against the western glory -from the familiar terrace on Monte Pincio, only to return, on a further -visit, and see it again with the old, fresh feeling of thankfulness. My -initial enthusiasm, crudely chronicled as it is in my early Diary on -first coming in sight of St. Peter’s, was a young artist’s emotion, but -to the maturer mind what a miracle that Sermon in Stone reveals! The -tomb of one Simon, no better, before his call, than any ordinary -fisherman one may see to-day on our coasts--and now? “TU ES PETRUS....†- - - - -CHAPTER XXV - -THE GREAT WAR - - -I was very busy with oil brush and water-colour brush during the summer -of 1913, and the succeeding winter, in Ireland, accomplishing a large -oil, “The Cuirassier’s Last _Reveil_, Morning of Waterloo,†and a number -of drawings, all of that inexhaustible battle, for my next “one-man -show†held on its centenary, 1915. I left no stone unturned to get true -studies of dawn twilight for that _reveil_, and I got them. At the -pretty house of my friends, the Egerton Castles, on a steep Surrey hill, -I had my chance. The house faced the east. It was midsummer; an alarm -clock roused me each morning at 2.30. I had modelled a little grey horse -and a man, and set them up on my balcony, facing in the right direction, -and there I waited, with palette spread, for the dawn. Time was short; -the first ray of sunrise would spoil all, so I could only dab down the -tones, anyhow; but they were all-important dabs, and made the big -picture run without a hitch. Nothing delays a picture more than the -searching for the true relations of tone without sufficient data. But -this is a truism. - -The Waterloo water colours were most interesting to work out. I had any -amount of books for reference, records of old uniforms to get from -contemporary paintings; and I utilised the many studies of horses I had -made for years, chiefly on the chance of their coming in useful some -day. The result was the best “show†I had yet had at the Leicester -Galleries. But ere that exhibition opened, the World War burst upon us! -First my soldier son went off, and then the Benedictine donned khaki, as -chaplain to the forces. He went, one may say, from the cloister to the -cannon. I had to pass through the ordeal which became the lot of so many -mothers of sons throughout the Empire. - -“_Lyndhurst, New Forest, September 22nd, 1914._--I must keep up the old -Diary during this most eventful time, when the biggest war the world has -ever been stricken with is raging. To think that I have lived to see it! -It was always said a war would be too terrible now to run the risk of, -and that nations would fear too much to hazard such a peril. Lo! here we -are pouring soldiers into the great jaws of death in hundreds of -thousands, and sending poor human flesh and blood to face the new -‘scientific’ warfare--the same flesh and blood and nervous system of the -days of bows and arrows. Patrick is off as A.D.C. to General Capper, -commanding the 7th Division. Martin, who was the first to be ordered to -the front, attached to the 2nd Royal Irish, has been transferred to the -wireless military station at Valentia. That regiment has been utterly -shattered in the Mons retreat, so I have reason to be thankful for the -change. I am here, at Patrick’s suggestion, that I may see an army under -war conditions and have priceless opportunities of studying ‘the real -thing.’ The 7th Division[18] is now nearly complete, and by October 3rd -should be on the sea. I arrived at Southampton to-day, and my good old -son in his new Staff uniform was at the station ready to motor me up to -Lyndhurst where the Staff are, and all the division, under canvas. I was -very proud of the red tabs on Patrick’s collar, meaning so much. I saw -at once, on arriving, the difference between this and my Aldershot -impressions. This is _war_, and there is no doubt the bearing of the men -is different. They were always smart, always cheery, _but not like -this_. There is a quiet seriousness quite new to me. They are going to -look death straight in the face. - -“_September 23rd._--I had a most striking lesson in the appearance of -men after a very long march, _plus_ that look which is quite absent on -peace manÅ“uvres, however hot and trying the conditions. What -surprises and telling ‘bits’ one sees which could never be imagined with -such a convincing power. A team of eight mammoth shire horses drawing a -great gun is a sight never to be forgotten; shapely, superb cart horses -with coats as satiny as any thoroughbred’s, in polished artillery -harness, with the mild eyes of their breed--I must do that amongst many -most _real_ subjects. But I see the German shells ploughing through -these teams of willing beasts. They will suffer terribly. - -“_September 25th._--Getting hotter every day and not a cloud. I brought -this weather with me. Patrick waits on me whenever he is off duty for an -hour or so, and it is a charming experience to have him riding by the -side of the carriage to direct the driver and explain to me every -necessary detail. The place swarms with troops for ever in movement, and -the roll of guns and drums, and the notes of the cheery pipes and fifes -go on all day. The Gordons have arrived. - -[Illustration: NOTES ON THE EVE OF THE GREAT WAR.] - -“_September 26th._--Signs of pressure. They may now be off any hour. -The ammunition has all arrived, and there wants but one battery of -artillery to complete the division. General Capper won’t wait much -longer and will be off without it if it delays and make up a battery _en -route_ somehow. It is sad to see so many mere boys arriving at the hotel -fresh from Sandhurst. They are given companies to command, captains -being killed, wounded or missing in such numbers. As to Patrick’s -regiment, the old Royal Irish seem to have been so shattered that they -are all _hors de combat_ for the present. - -“_September 27th._--What a precious Sunday this has been! First, Patrick -accompanied me to Mass, said by Father Bernard Vaughan, in a secluded -part of the camp, where the heather had not been ploughed up by men, -horses and guns, as elsewhere, and where the altar was erected in a -wooded glen. The Grenadier and Scots Guards were all on their knees as -we arrived, and the bright green and gold vestments of the priest were -relieved very vividly in the sunshine against the darker green -background of the forest beyond. Quite a little crowd of stalwart -guardsmen received Holy Communion, and two of them were sheltering with -their careful hands the candles from the soft warm breeze, one at each -end of the altar. We sit out in the leafy garden of the hotel and have -tea there, we parents and relatives, with our boys by us at all spare -moments. To-day, being Sunday, there have been extra crowds of relatives -and friends who have motored over from afar. There is pathos here, very -real pathos. How many of these husbands and sons and brothers I see -sitting close to their dear ones, for the last time, perhaps! Who knows? -The voices are low and quiet--very quiet. Patrick and I were -photographed together by M. E. These little snapshots will be precious. -We were nearly all day together to-day as there was a rest. All this -quiet time here our brave soldiers are being shattered on the banks of -the Aisne. Just now must be a tremendously important period of the -fighting. We may get great news to-morrow. Many names I know beginning -to appear in the casualty lists. - -“_September 28th, 1914._--Had a good motor run with the R.’s right -through the field of ‘battle’ in the midst of the great forest--a -rolling height covered with heather and bracken. Our soldiers certainly -have learnt, at last, how to take cover. One can easily realise how it -is that the proportion of officers killed is so high. Kneeling or -standing up to give directions they are very conspicuous, whereas of the -men one catches only a glimpse of their presence now and then through a -tell-tale knapsack or the round top of a cap in the bracken; yet the -ground is packed with men--quite uncanny. The Gordons were a beautiful -sight as they sprang up to reach a fresh position. I noticed how the -breeze, as they ran, blew the khaki aprons aside and the revealed tartan -kilts gave a welcome bit of colour and touched up the drab most -effectively. One ‘gay Gordon’ sergeant told us, ‘We are a grand -diveesion, all old warriors, and when we get out ‘twill make a -deeference.’†- -The most impressive episode to me of that well-remembered day was when -Patrick took me up to the high ground at sunset and we looked down on -the camp. The mellow, very red sun was setting and the white moon was -already well up over the camp, which looked mysterious, lightly veiled -by the thin grey wood-smoke of the fires. Thousands of troops were -massed or moving, shadowy, far away; others in the middle distance -received the blood-red glow on the men’s faces with an extraordinary -effect. They showed as ruddy, vaporous lines of colour over the scarcely -perceptible tones of the dusky uniforms. Horses stood up dark on the -sky-line. The bugles sounded the “Retreatâ€; these doomed legions, -shadow-like, moved to and fro. It was the prologue to a great tragedy. - -“_September 30th._--There was a field day of the whole of one brigade. -The regiments in it are ‘The Queen’s,’ the Welsh Fusiliers, Staffords, -and Warwicks, with the monstrous 4·7 guns drawn by my well-loved mighty -mammoths. The guns are made impossible to the artist of modern war by -being daubed in blue and red blotches which make them absolutely -formless and, of course, no glint of light on the hidden metal is seen. -Still, there is much that is very striking, though the colour, the -sparkle, the gallant plumage, the glinting of gold and silver, have -given way to universal grimness. After all, why dress up grim war in all -that splendour? My idea of war subjects has always been anti-sparkle. - -“As I sat in the motor in the centre of the far-flung ‘battle,’ in a -hollow road, lo! the Headquarter Staff came along, a gallant group, _à -la_ Meissonier, Patrick, on his skittish brown mare ‘Dawn,’ riding -behind the General, who rode a big black (_very_ effective), with the -chief of the Staff nearly alongside. The escort consisted of a strong -detachment of the fine Northumberland Hussars, mounted on their own -hunters. They are to be the bodyguard of the General at the Front. -Several drivers of the artillery are men who were wounded at Mons and -elsewhere, and, being well again, are returning with this division to -the Front. All the horses here are superb. Poor beasts, poor beasts! One -daily, hourly, reminds oneself that the very dittoes of these men and -animals are suffering, fighting, dying over there in France. Kitchener -tells our General that the 7th Division will ‘probably arrive after the -first phase is over,’ which looks as though he fully expects the -favourable and early end of the present one. - -“_October 2nd._--The whole division was out to-day. I was motored into -the very thick of the operations on the high lands, and watched the men -entrenching themselves, a thing I had never yet seen. Most picturesque -and telling. And the murderous guns were being embedded in the yellow -earth and covered with heather against aeroplanes, especially, and their -wheels masked with horse blankets. There they lay, black, hump-backed -objects, with just their mouths protruding, and as each gun section -finished their work with the pick and shovel, they lay flat down to hide -themselves. How war is waged now! Great news allowed to be published -to-day in the papers. The Indian Army has arrived, and is now at the -_Front!_ It landed long ago at Marseilles, but how well the secret has -been kept! How mighty are the events daily occurring. Late in the -afternoon I saw the Northumberland Hussars, on a high ridge, _practising -the sword exercise!_ With the idea that the sword was obsolete -(engendered by the Boer War experience), no yeomanry has, of late, been -armed with sabres, but, seeing what use our Scots Greys, Lancers, -Dragoon Guards and Hussars have lately been making of the steel, General -Capper has insisted on these, his own yeomen, being thus armed. I felt -stirred with the pathos of this sight--men learning how to use a new -arm on the eve of battle. They were mounted and drawn up in a long, -two-deep line on that brown heath, with a heavy bank of dark clouds like -mine in ‘Scotland for Ever!’ behind their heads--a fine subject. - -[Illustration: THE SHIRE HORSES: WHEELERS OF A 4·7, - -A HUSSAR SCOUT OF 1917.] - -“Who will look at my ‘Waterloos’ now? I have but one more of that series -to do. Then I shall stop and turn all my attention and energy to this -stupendous war. I shall call up my Indian sowars again, but _not_ at -play this time. - -“_October 3rd_.--Sketched Patrick’s three beautiful chargers’ heads in -water colour. Still the word ‘Go!’ is suspended over our heads. - -“_October 4th_.--The word ‘Go!’ has just sounded. In ten minutes Patrick -had to run and get his handbag, great coat and sword and be off with his -General to London. They pass through here to-morrow on their way to -embark. - -“_October 5th_, 1914.--I was down at seven, and as they did not finally -leave till 8.15 I had a golden half-hour’s respite. Then came the -parting....†- -I left Lyndhurst at once. It will ever remain with me in a halo of -physical and spiritual sunshine seen through a mist of sadness. - -On November 2nd, 1914, my son Patrick was severely wounded during the -terrible, prolonged first Battle of Ypres, and was sent home to be -nursed back to health and fighting power at Guy’s Hospital, where I saw -him. He told me that as he lay on the field his General and Staff passed -by, and all the General said was, “Hullo, Butler! is that you? -Good-bye!â€[19] General Capper was as brave a soldier as ever lived, -but, I think, too fond for a General of being, as he said he wished to -be, _in the vanguard_. Thus he met his death (riding on horseback, I -understand) at Loos. Patrick’s brother A.D.C., Captain Isaac, whom I -daily used to see at Lyndhurst, was killed early in the War. The poor -fellow, to calm my apprehensions regarding my own son, had tried to -assure me that, as A.D.C., he would be as safe as in Piccadilly. - -Towards the end of 1914 London had become intensely interesting in its -tragic aspect, and so very unlike itself. Soldiers of all ranks formed -the majority of the male population. In fact, wherever I looked now -there was some new sight of absorbing interest, telling me we were at -war, and such a war! Bands were playing at recruiting stations; flags of -all the Allies fluttered in the breeze in gaudy bunches; “pom-pom†guns -began to appear, pointing skywards from their platforms in the parks, -awaiting “Taubes†or “Zeppelins.†I went daily to watch the recruits -drilling in the parks--such strangely varied types of men they were, and -most of them appearing the veriest civilians, from top to toe. Yet these -very shop-boys had come forward to offer their all for England, and the -good fellows bowed to the terrible, shouting drill-sergeants as never -they had bowed to any man before. What enraged me was the giggling of -the shop-girls who looked on--a far harder ordeal for the boys even than -the yells of the sergeants. One of the squads in the Green Park was -supremely interesting to me one day, in (I am bound to say) a semi-comic -way. These recruits were members and associates of the Royal Academy. -They were mostly somewhat podgy, others somewhat bald. When resting, -having piled arms, they played leap-frog, which was very funny, and -showed how light-heartedly my brothers of the brush were going to meet -the Boche. Of the maimed and blind men one met at every turn I can -scarcely write. I find that when I am most deeply moved my pen lags too -far behind my brush. - -On getting home to Ireland I set to work upon a series of khaki water -colours of the War for my next “one-man show,†which opened with most -satisfactory _éclat_ in May, 1917. One of the principal subjects was -done under the impulse of a great indignation, for Nurse Cavell had been -executed. I called the drawing “The Avengers.†Also I exhibited at the -Academy, at the same time, “The Charge of the Dorset Yeomanry at Agagia, -Egypt.†This was a large oil painting, commissioned by Colonel Goodden -and presented by him to his county of Dorset. That charge of the British -yeomen the year before had sealed the fate of the combined Turks and -Senussi, who had contemplated an attack on Egypt. One of the most -difficult things in painting a war subject is the having to introduce, -as often happens, portraits of particular characters in the drama. Their -own mothers would not know the men in the heat, dust, and excitement of -a charge, or with the haggard pallor on them of a night watch. In the -Dorset charge all the officers were portraits, and I brought as many in -as possible without too much disobeying the “distance†regulation. The -Enemy (of the Senussi tribe) wore flowing _burnouses_, which helped the -movement, but at their machine guns I, rather reluctantly, had to place -the necessary Turkish officers. I had studies for those figures and for -the desert, which I had made long ago in the East. It is well to keep -one’s sketches; they often come in very useful. - -The previous year, 1916, had been a hard one. Our struggles in the War, -the Sinn Fein rebellion in Dublin, and one dreadful day in that year -when the first report of the Battle of Jutland was published--these were -great trials. I certainly would not like to go through another phase -like that. But I was hard at work in the studio at home in Tipperary, -and this kept my mind in a healthy condition, as always, through -trouble. Let all who have congenial work to do bless their stars! - -On July 31st my second son, the chaplain, had a narrow escape. It was at -the great Battle of Flanders, where we seem to have made a good -_beginning_ at last. Father Knapp and Dick were tending the wounded and -dying under a rain of shells, when the old priest told Dick to go and -get a few minutes’ rest. On returning to his sorrowful work Dick met the -fine old Carmelite as he was borne on a stretcher, dying of a shell that -had exploded just where my son had been standing a few minutes before. - -I see in the Diary: “_December 11th, 1917_.--To-day our army is to make -its formal entry into Jerusalem. I can scarcely write for excitement. -How vividly I see it all, knowing every yard of that holy ground! Dick -writes from before Cambrai that, if he had to go through another such -day as that of the 30th November last, he would go mad with grief. He -lost all his dearest friends in the Grenadier Guards, and he says -England little knows how near she was to a great disaster when the enemy -surprised us on that terrible Friday.†- -Men who have gone through the horrors of war say little about them, but -I have learnt many strange things from rare remarks here and there. To -show how human life becomes of no account as the fighting grows, here is -an instance. A soldier was executed at dawn one day for “cowardice.†An -officer who had acted at the court-martial met a private of the same -regiment as the dead man’s that day, who remarked to his officer that -all he could say about his dead “pal†was that he had seen him perform -an act of bravery three times which would have deserved the V.C. “My -good man,†said the officer, “why didn’t you come forward at the trial -and say this?†“Well, I didn’t think of it, sir.†After all, to die one -way or another had become quite immaterial. - -One of the most important of my water colours at the second khaki -exhibition, held in London in May, 1919, was of the memorable charge of -the Warwick and Worcester Yeomanry at Huj, near Jerusalem, which charge -outshone the old Balaclava one we love to remember, and which differed -from the Crimean exploit in that we not only captured all the enemy -guns, but _held_ them. I had had all details--ground plans, description -of the weather on that memorable day, position of the sun, etc., -etc.--supplied me by an eye-witness who had a singularly quick eye and -precise perception.[20] I called it “Jerusalem delivered,†for that -charge opened the gates of the Holy City to us. “The Canadian Bombers on -Vimy Ridge†was another of the more conspicuous subjects, and this one -went to Canada. - -But I must look back a little: “_Monday, November 11th, -1918_.--Armistice Day! I have been fortunate in seeing London on this -day of days. I arrived at Victoria into a London of laughter, flags, -joy-rides on every conceivable and inconceivable vehicle. I had hints on -the way to London by eruptions of Union Jacks growing thicker and -thicker along the railway, but I could not let myself believe that it -was the end of all our long-drawn-out trial that I would find on -arrival. But so it was. I went alone for a good stroll through Oxford -Street, Bond Street, and Piccadilly. People meeting, though strangers, -were smiling at each other. _I_ smiled to strange faces that were -smiling at me. What a novel sensation! The streets were thronged with -the _true_ happiness in the people’s eyes, and there was no -“_mafficking_†no horse-play, but such _fun_. The matter was too great -for rowdyism and drunkenness. The crowd was allowed to do just as it -pleased for once, yet I saw no accidents. The police just looked on, and -would have beamed also, I am sure, if they had not been on duty. They -had, apparently, thrown the reins on the public’s neck. I saw some sad -faces, but, of course, such as these kept mostly away.†- -In deepest gratitude I felt I could be amongst the smilers that day, for -both my own sons, who faced death to the very end in so many of the -theatres of war to which our armies were sent, had survived. - -The boat that took me back to Ireland eventually had no protecting -airship serpentining above us. We could breathe freely now! - -[Illustration: A POST-CARD, FOUND ON A GERMAN PRISONER, WITH “SCOTLAND -FOR EVER†TURNED INTO PRUSSIAN CAVALRY, TYPIFYING THE VICTORIOUS ON-RUSH -OF THE GERMAN ARMY IN THE NEW YEAR, 1915.] - - - - -INDEX - - -Abbas II., Khedive, 228. - -Aberdeen, Marchioness of, 308. - -Agostino (cook), 5. - -Aix-la-Chapelle, Germany, 29. - -Albaro, Italy, 6, 54, 230. - -Aldershot, review at, 236. - -Alexandra, Queen, launches _Queen_, 288 _seq._ - -Alexandria, Egypt, 202 _seq._ - -Alma Tadema, Sir L., 154. - -Amalfi, Italy, 255. - -Amboise, France, 300. - -Amélie (nurse), 2, 3, 5, 10. - -“An Eviction in Ireland,†199. - -Angers, France, 300. - -Antonelli, Cardinal, 74. - -Arcole, Italy, 224. - -Armistice Day, 1918, 332. - -Atfeh, Egypt, 216. - -Avignon, France, 178. - - -Bagshawe, Father, 105. - -“Balaclava,†composition, 138; - copyright sold, 151; - exhibited, 152. - -Bâle, Switzerland, 179. - -_Barberi_ races, 85. - -Beatrice, Princess, 301. - -Bellucci, Giuseppe, 60, 66, 148. - -Beresford, Lord Charles, 221. - -Birmingham, 126. - -Blois, France, 300. - -Bonchurch, Isle of Wight, 12. - -Bonn, Germany, 19. - -Boppart, Germany, 24. - -Broome Hall, Kent, 265. - -Browne, Colonel, 120. - -Bruges, Belgium, 16, 270. - -Brussels, Belgium, 31. - -Buller, Sir Redvers, 284. - -Burchett, Mr., 39, 41, 42, 44, 48, 50, 101. - -Butcher, Dean, 232. - -Butler, Elizabeth, Lady, birth and education, 1; - visits to Italy, 3, 54 _seq._, 147 _seq._, 159 _seq._, 252 seq., - 279 _seq._, 306, 311 _seq._; - taste for drawing, 4; - early sketches, 7; - commences Diary, 7; - artistic training, 10, 14, 39 _seq._, 60 _seq._, 77; - German experiences, 19 _seq._, 179 seq.; - visits Waterloo, 31; - taste for military subjects, 46; - early exhibits, 50; - sells water-colours, 96; - first military drawings, 98; - conversion to Catholicism, 99; - first Academy picture, 99; - photographs, 114; - at Lord Mayor’s banquets, 122, 139, 153, 193; - present from Queen Victoria, 125; - visits Paris, 127 _seq._; - proposed election as R.A., 153; - marriage, 168, Irish experiences, 169 _seq._, 199, 304; - tour in Pyrenees, 175; - paints “Rorke’s Drift†for Queen Victoria, 187 _seq._; - life at Plymouth, 191; - Tel-el-Kebir picture, 194; - residence in Egypt, 196, 202 _seq._; - in Brittany, 198; - paints 24th Dragoons, 199; - tour in Palestine, 221; - Aldershot life, 234 _seq._; - residence at Dover, 260; - in South Africa, 275; - at Devonport, 277; - tour in France, 298; - “one-man†shows, 303, 318, 321, 329, 331. - -----, Martin, 321. - -----, Patrick, 321 _seq._ - -----, Richard (Urban), at Downside, 297; - enters Benedictine Order, 302; - ordained as priest, 311; - presented to Pius X., 315; - as army chaplain, 321; - war experiences, 330. - -Butler, General Sir William, marriage, 168; - German tour, 179 _seq._; - Zulu War, 183; - friendship with Empress Eugénie, 185, 241, 257; - at Plymouth, 191; - at Lord Mayor’s banquet, 193; - Egyptian campaign (1882), 193; - Gordon expedition, 194; - Wady Halfa command, 196; - receives K.C.B., 199; - Alexandria command, 200; - Aldershot command, 234, 284; - Dover command, 260; - South African command, 275; - attacks on, 276; - Devonport command, 277; - tour in France, 298; - asked to stand for Parliament, 303; - on Royal Commission, 303; - speeches in Ireland, 309; - death, 310. - - -CAIRO, Egypt, 196. - -Cambridge, Duke of, 131, 218, 235. - -“Canadian Bombers on Vimy Ridge,†331. - -Canterbury, opening of church in, 132. - -Cap Martin, France, 251, 257. - -Capper, General, 327. - -Capri, Italy, 254. - -Carcassonne, France, 178. - -Castagnolo, Italy, 161. - -Cette, France, 177. - -Chapman, Sir F., 110. - -“Charge of the Dorset Yeomanry at Agagia, Egypt,†329. - -Chatham, Kent, 120. - -“Cistercian Shepherd,†305. - -Coblenz, Germany, 21. - -Collier, Mortimer, 192. - -Cologne, Germany, 19. - -Connaught, Duke of, 235. - -Corpus Christi procession, 119. - -Cruikshank, George, 123. - -“Cuirassier’s Last Réveil, Morning of Waterloo,†320. - - -D’ARCOS, Madame, 258. - -“Dawn of Sedan,†111. - -“Dawn of Waterloo,†244. - -“Defence of Rorke’s Drift,†187 _seq._ - -Delgany, Ireland, 199, 225. - -Denbigh, Earl of, 117. - -“Desert Grave,†198. - -Devonport, 277. - -Deyrout, Egypt, 217. - -Diamond Jubilee, 1897, 266. - -Dickens, Charles, 9. - -Dinan, France, 198. - -Dordrecht, Holland, 181. - -Dover, Kent, 38, 260. - -Du Maurier, George, 107, 154. - -Dufferin, Marquis of, 140. - -Durham, 144. - -Düsseldorf, Germany, 180. - - -EDENBRIDGE, Kent, 4, 185. - -Edinburgh, 145. - -Edkou, Egypt, 205. - -Edward VII., King (formerly Albert Edward, Prince of Wales), - approves of “Roll Call,†113; - accession, 286; - at launch of _Queen_, 289 _seq._; - lays keel of battleship, 295; - postponed coronation, 297. - -_Edward VII._ (battleship), 295. - -Elizabeth, Empress of Austria, 271. - -Eugénie, Empress, interview with General Butler, 185; - friendship with the Butlers, 234, 251; - devotion to her son, 237; - recollections of Egypt, 241; - at Cap Martin, 257. - - -FARNBOROUGH, Hants., 235. - -Ferguson, Sir William, 110. - -“Floreat Etona!†193. - -Florence, Italy, 57 _seq._, 147 _seq._, 161. - -Fort St. Julian, Egypt, 217. - -Frederick, Emperor, 245. - -----, Empress. _See_ Victoria, Empress Frederick. - - -GABRIEL, Virginia, 152. - -Gallifet, Marquise de, 242. - -Galloway, Mr., 111, 131. - -Garibaldi, Giuseppe, 6. - -Gave, River, 176. - -Genoa, Italy, 5, 54, 230. - -George V., King, 261. - -Gladstone, W. E., 266. - -Glendalough, Ireland, 199. - -Gormanston, Viscountess (formerly Miss Eileen Butler), 317. - -Gormanston, Ireland, 318. - -Grant, Sir Hope, 115, 116. - -_Graphic_, 99, 125. - - -HADEN, Seymour, 110. - -Hadrian’s Villa, Rome, 280. - -“Halt!†119. - -“Halt on a Forced March: Retreat to Corunna,†225. - -Hastings, Sussex, 9. - -Heidelberg, Germany, 179. - -Henley-on-Thames, 15, 97. - -Henry of Battenberg, Princess. _See_ Beatrice, Princess. - -Herbert, J. R., 105. - - -IMPERIAL, Prince. _See_ Napoleon, Prince Imperial. - - -“Jerusalem Delivered,†331. - - -KITCHENER, Lord, 221, 272 _seq._ - -Koenigswinter, Germany, 19. - - -LANE, Richard, 11, 42. - -Le Breton, Madame, 257. - -Leman, Lake (Lake of Geneva), 179. - -Leo XIII., Pope, 257, 280, 281, 315. - -_Letters from the Holy Land_, 278. - -“‘Listed for the Connaught Rangers,†169, 184. - -Lothian, Marchioness of, 118. - -Louis Napoleon, Prince, 247. - -Louise, Princess, Duchess of Argyll, 250. - -Lourdes, France, 176. - -Luchon, Bagnères de, France, 177. - -Luxor, Egypt, 197. - -Lyndhurst, Hants., 321. - - -MCKINLEY, William, 288. - -“Magnificat,†83, 97. - -Magro (cook), 219. - -Mahmoudich Canal, Egypt, 207. - -Malmaison, France, 245. - -Manning, Cardinal, 113, 133, 137. - -Mareotis, Lake, 203. - -Mayence, Germany, 180. - -Medmenham Abbey, 15. - -Metubis, Egypt, 217. - -Meynell, Mrs., 10, 51, 79, 99, 119, 155. - -Millais, Sir J. E., 11, 106, 107, 132, 138, 264. - -“Missed!†125. - -“Missing,†168. - -Missionary College, Mill Hill, 119. - -Monte Carlo, 258. - -Monte Cassino, Monastery, 313. - -“Morrow of Talavera,†271. - -Mulranny, Ireland, 305. - -Mundy, Sergeant-Major, 31. - - -NAPLES, Italy, 229, 252. - -Napoleon, Prince Imperial, 185, 237. - -Naval Review, 1897, 269. - -Nervi, Italy, 2, 4. - -Newcastle-on-Tyne, 143. - -_Newcomes_, illustrations to, 45. - -Nîmes, France, 178. - - -Å’CUMENICAL COUNCIL, opening of, 79. - - -PAGET, Lord George, 118. - -Paray-le-Monial, pilgrimage to, 99. - -Patti, Adelina, 123. - -Perugia, Italy, 70, 283. - -Pietri, Franceschini, 243, 257. - -Pisa, Italy, 161. - -Pius IX., Pope, 76, 82, 90, 92, 94. - ----- X., Pope, 307, 314, 316. - -Podesti, Signor, 85. - -Pollard, Dr., 101, 102, 104, 120, 186. - -Pompeii, Italy, 253. - -Porto Fino, Italy, 159, 230. - - -â€QUATRE BRAS,†studies for, 112, 130; - models for, 120; - copyright sold, 124; - correctness of uniforms, 125; - where hung, 133; - success of, 135; - Ruskin’s approval, 146. - -_Queen_, launching of, 288 _seq._ - - -RAMLEH, Egypt, 204. - -Ras-el-Tin, Egypt, 228. - -“Remnants of an Army,†184. - -“Rescue of Wounded,†278. - -“Return from Inkermann,†preparations for, 153, 157, 165; - exhibited, 168. - -“Réveil in the Bivouac of the Scots Greys on the Morning of Waterloo,†232. - -“Review of the Native Camel Corps at Cairo,†230. - -Rhodes, Cecil, 296. - -_Riding Together_, illustrations to, 48. - -“Right Wheel,†250. - -Ristori, Adelaide, 7. - -Roberts, Earl, 287. - “Roll Call,†models for, 101; - methods of work, 102; - attention to details in, 103; - success of, 104; - private view, 107; - sale of copyright, 111; - bought by Queen Victoria, 111; - taken to Windsor, 116; - question of horse’s steps in, 118. - -Rome, Lady Butler’s visits to, 71 _seq._, 256, 279, 306, 311 _seq._ - -Rosetta, Egypt, 205, 216. - -Ross, Mrs. Janet, 148, 161, 165. - -Rotterdam, Holland, 181. - -Ruskin, John, 51, 146, 153. - -Ruta, Italy, 3, 230. - - -ST. ETHELDREDA’S Church, London, High Mass in, 154. - -St. Peter’s, Rome, functions in, 75, 280, 283. - -St. Sauveur, France, 176. - -Salisbury, Marquis of, 199, 262 _seq._ - -Salvini, Tommaso, 136. - -Savennières, France, 299. - -“Scotland for Ever,†186, 187, 191. - -Sestri Levante, Italy, 56. - -Severn, Joseph, 78, 84, 107. - -Shahzada of Afghanistan, 246. - -Siena, Italy, 162. - -Sistine Chapel, Rome, 281, 307. - -Sori, Italy, 3. - -Sorrento, Italy, 254. - -South Kensington Art School, 10. - -“Steady, the Drums and Fifes!†261. - -Stone, Marcus, 154. - -Strettell, Rev. Alfred, 6. - -Stufa, Marchese delle, 147, 161. - -Super-Bagnère, France, 177. - -Syndioor, Egypt, 217. - - -TENNYSON, Alfred, Lord, 155 _seq._ - -“Tenth Bengal Lancers at Tent-pegging,†278, 287, 297. - -Tewfik, Khedive, 208, 226. - -“The Avengers,†239. - -“The Colours,†271. - -Thompson, Miss Alice. _See_ Meynell, Mrs. - -----, Miss Elizabeth. _See_ Butler, Elizabeth, Lady. - -----, Mr. T. J., 1, 2, 14, 49, 84, 191. - -----, Mrs. T. J., 2, 3, 9, 12, 51, 58, 83, 84, 143, 310. - -Thomson, Dr., Archbishop of York, 117. - -Toulouse, France, 177. - - -VALENTIA Island, 174. - -Vatican Gardens, Rome, 282. - -Vecchii, Colonel, 6. - -Venice, Italy, 200, 211, 308. - -Ventnor, Isle of Wight, 12, 97. - -Verona, Italy, 224. - -Vesuvius, Mount, ascent of, 255. - -Victor Emmanuel, King of Italy, 6. - -Victor Napoleon, Prince, 247. - -Victoria, Queen, buys “Roll Call,†111; - commissions “Rorke’s Drift,†187; - reviews troops at Aldershot, 235, 250; - death, 285. - -----, Empress Frederick, 244, 286. - -Vyvyan, Miss, 42. - - -WADY Halfa, Egypt, 197. - -Wallace, Sir D. Mackenzie, 248. - -Waterloo, field of, 31. - -Wellington, Duke of, 33. - -Westmoreland, Countess of, 110. - -William II., German Emperor, 238. - -“Within Sound of the Guns,†278, 301. - -Wolseley, Viscount, 194, 265. - -Woolwich, review at, 117. - - -PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN BY THE WHITEFRIARS PRESS LTD. LONDON AND -TONBRIDGE. - - -Since I closed these Memoirs my sister, Alice Meynell, has passed away. - -I feel that it is not out of place to record here the fact of her desire -that I should reduce the mention of her name throughout the book. In the -original text it had figured much oftener alongside of my own. Her wish -to keep her personality always retired prevailed upon me to delete many -an allusion to her which would have graced the text, greatly to its -advantage. - -ELIZ^{TH.} BUTLER. - -_31st December, 1922._ - - - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[1] The cattle plague was raging in England. - -[2] William I., afterwards German Emperor. - -[3] The severe Lady Superintendent. - -[4] Whose son, Mr. Alfred Pollard, C.B., became the head of the British -Museum Printed Book Department. - -[5] Manning. - -[6] Poor young Inman, who was killed at the fight of Laing’s Nek, S. -Africa. - -[7] “From Sketch-Book and Diary,†A. & C. Black. - -[8] I have just been told by an Irishman that the Valentia breed are -trained for _racing!_ - -[9] “The Campaign of the Cataracts.†- -[10] The late Lord Kitchener. - -[11] Now King George V. - -[12] Our eldest daughter Elizabeth, now Mrs. Kingscote. - -[13] Some one has explained to me, with what authority I cannot tell, -that “The Sailor King†gave this order to his officers with Royal tact, -being well aware that they could no more stand, at that period of the -dinner, than he could himself. So we sit. - -[14] To die during the World War.--E. B., 1921. - -[15] Our second son. - -[16] My daughter, Lady Gormanston, who completed and edited her father’s -autobiography, has recorded in the After-word the circumstances of his -passing. - -[17] Since dead. - -[18] Only a few survivors of the original division which I saw are left. -(1916.) - -[19] In his little book, “A Galloper at Ypres†(Fisher Unwin), my son -gives a clear account of his own experience of that battle. - -[20] Colonel the Hon. Richard Preston, whose book, “The Desert Mounted -Corps,†is a masterpiece. - - * * * * * - -Typographical error corrected by the etext transcriber: - -Italian friend in a duett=> Italian friend in a duet {pg 3} - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of An Autobiography, by Elizabeth Butler - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY *** - -***** This file should be named 41638-0.txt or 41638-0.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/4/1/6/3/41638/ - -Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images available at The Internet Archive) -Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team -at http://www.pgdp.net - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions -will be renamed. - -Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no -one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation -(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without -permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license - - -Title: An Autobiography - -Author: Elizabeth Butler - -Release Date: December 16, 2012 [EBook #41638] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY *** - - - - -Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images available at The Internet Archive) -Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team -at http://www.pgdp.net - - - - - - - -[Illustration: "GOT IT. BRAVO!"] - - - - -AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY - -BY - -ELIZABETH BUTLER - -_With Illustrations from Sketches by -THE AUTHOR._ - -CONSTABLE & CO. LTD. -LONDON BOMBAY SYDNEY -1922 - -PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN BY THE WHITEFRIARS PRESS, LTD., -LONDON AND TONBRIDGE. - - -To -MY CHILDREN - - - - -FOREWORD - - -The memoirs of a great artist must inevitably evoke the interest and -appreciation of the initiated. But this book makes a wider appeal, -written as it is by a woman whose career, apart from her art, has been -varied and adventurous, who has travelled widely and associated, not -only with the masters of her own craft, but with the great and eminent -in many fields. It is, moreover, the revelation of a personality apart, -at once feminine and virile, endued with the force engendered by -unswerving adherence to lofty aims. - -In this age of insistent ugliness, when the term "realism" is used to -cloak every form of grossness and degeneracy, it is a privilege to -commune with one who speaks of her "experiences of the world's -loveliness" and describes herself as "full of interest in mankind." -These two phrases, taken at random from the opening pages of "From -Sketch Book and Diary," seem to me eminently characteristic of Lady -Butler and her work. She is a worshipper of Beauty in its spiritual as -well as its concrete form, and all her life she has envisaged mankind in -its nobler aspect. - -At seven years old little Elizabeth Thompson was already drawing -miniature battles, at seventeen she was lamenting that as yet she had -achieved nothing great, and a very few years later the world was ringing -with the fame of the painter of "The Roll Call." - -Through the accumulated interests of changeful years, charged for her -with intense joy and sorrow, she has kept her valiant standard flying, -in her art as in her life remaining faithful to her belief in humanity, -using her power and insight for its uplifting. Not only has she depicted -for us great events and strenuous action, with a sureness all her own, -she has caught and materialised the qualities which inspire heroic -deeds--courage, endurance, fidelity to a life's ideal even in the moment -of death. And all without shirking the dreadful details of the -battlefield; amid blood and grime and misery, in loneliness and neglect, -in the desperate steadfastness of a lost cause, her figures stand out -true to themselves and to the highest traditions of their country. - -During the recent world-upheaval Lady Butler devoted herself in -characteristic fashion to the pursuance of her aims. Many of the -subjects painted and exhibited during those terrible years still -preached her gospel. She worked, moreover, with a twofold motive. Widow -of a great soldier, she devoted the proceeds of her labours to her less -fortunate sisters left impoverished, and even destitute, by the War. - -"_L'artiste donne de soi_," said M. Paderewski once. - -Lady Butler has always given generously of her best, and perhaps this -book of memories, intimate and characteristic, this record of wide -interests and high endeavour, full of picturesque incident and touched -with delicate humour, is as valuable a gift as any that she has yet -bestowed. - -M. E. FRANCIS. - - - - -CONTENTS - - -CHAP. PAGE - -I. FIRST IMPRESSIONS 1 - -II. EARLY YOUTH 10 - -III. MORE TRAVEL 19 - -IV. IN THE ART SCHOOLS 38 - -V. STUDY IN FLORENCE 54 - -VI. ROME 69 - -VII. WAR. BATTLE PAINTINGS 96 - -VIII. "THE ROLL CALL" 101 - -IX. ECHOES OF "THE ROLL CALL" 115 - -X. MORE WORK AND PLAY 130 - -XI. TO FLORENCE AND BACK 147 - -XII. AGAIN IN ITALY 159 - -XIII. A SOLDIER'S WIFE 167 - -XIV. QUEEN VICTORIA 183 - -XV. OFFICIAL LIFE--THE EAST 191 - -XVI. TO THE EAST 196 - -XVII. MORE OF THE EAST 211 - -XVIII. THE LAST OF EGYPT 224 - -XIX. ALDERSHOT 234 - -XX. ITALY AGAIN 252 - -XXI. THE DOVER COMMAND 260 - -XXII. THE CAPE AND DEVONPORT 275 - -XXIII. A NEW REIGN 284 - -XXIV. MOSTLY A ROMAN DIARY 311 - -XXV. THE GREAT WAR 320 - -INDEX 333 - - - - -LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS - - - PAGE - -"GOT IT, BRAVO!" _Frontispiece_ - -A LEAF FROM A VERY EARLY SKETCH-BOOK 12 - -FLYING SHOTS IN BELGIUM AND RHINELAND IN 1865 19 - -IN FLORENCE DURING MY STUDIES IN 1869 58 - -THE LAST OF THE RIDERLESS HORSE-RACES, AND A WET TRUDGE -TO THE VATICAN COUNCIL 80 - -CRIMEAN IDEAS 103 - -PRACTISING FOR "QUATRE BRAS" 130 - -ONE OF THE BALACLAVA SIX HUNDRED 151 - -IN WESTERN IRELAND: A "JARVEY" AND "BIDDY" 174 - -THE EGYPTIAN CAMEL CORPS AND THE BERSAGLIERI 230 - -ALDERSHOT MANOEUVRES: THE ENEMY IN SIGHT 234 - -A DESPATCH BEARER, BOER WAR, AND THE HORSE GUNNERS 284 - -NOTES ON THE EVE OF THE GREAT WAR 323 - -THE SHIRE HORSES: WHEELERS OF A 4·7. A HUSSAR SCOUT OF 1917 327 - -A POSTCARD, FOUND ON A GERMAN PRISONER, WITH "SCOTLAND -FOR EVER" TURNED INTO PRUSSIAN CAVALRY, TYPIFYING -THE VICTORIOUS ONRUSH OF THE GERMAN ARMY IN THE -NEW YEAR, 1915 332 - - - - -AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY - -ELIZABETH BUTLER - - -MY FRIENDS: You must write your memoirs. - -I: Every one writes his or her memoirs nowadays. Rather a plethora, -don't you think? An exceedingly difficult thing to do without too much -of the Ego. - -MY FRIENDS: Oh! but yours has been such an interesting life, so varied, -and you can bring in much outside yourself. Besides, you have kept a -diary, you say, ever since you were twelve, and you have such an -unusually long memory. A pity to waste all that. You simply _must_! - -I: Very well, but remember that I am writing while the world is still -knocked off its balance by the Great War, and few minds will care to -attune themselves to the Victorian and Edwardian stability of my time. - -MY FRIENDS: There will come a reaction. - - - - -CHAPTER I - -FIRST IMPRESSIONS - - -I was born at the pretty "Villa Claremont," just outside Lausanne and -overlooking Lake Leman. I made a good start with the parents Providence -gave me. My father, cultured, good, patient, after he left Cambridge set -out on the "Grand Tour," and after his unsuccessful attempt to enter -Parliament devoted his leisure to my and my younger sister's education. -Yes, he began with our first strokes, our "pot-hooks and hangers," our -two-and-two make four; nor did his tuition really cease till, entering -on matrimony, we left the paternal roof. He adopted, in giving us our -lessons, the principle of "a little and often," so that we had two -hours in the morning and no lessons in the afternoon, only bits of -history, poetry, the collect for the Sunday and dialogues in divers -languages to learn overnight by heart to be repeated to him next -morning. We had no regular holidays: a day off occasionally, especially -when travelling; and we travelled much. He believed that intelligent -travel was a great educator. He brought us up tremendous English -patriots, but our deepest contentment lay in our Italian life, because -we loved the sun--all of us. - -So we oscillated between our Ligurian Riviera and the home counties of -Kent and Surrey, but were never long at a time in any resting place. Our -father's daughter by his first wife had married, at seventeen, an -Italian officer whose family we met at Nervi, and she settled in Italy, -becoming one of our attractions to the beloved Land. That officer later -on joined Garibaldi, and was killed at the Battle of the Volturno. She -never left the country of her adoption, and that bright lure for us -remained. - -Although we were very strictly ruled during lessons, we ran rather wild -after, and, looking back, I only wonder that no illness or accident ever -befell us. Our dear Swiss nurse was often scandalised at our escapades, -but our mother, bright and beautiful, loving music and landscape -painting, and practising both with an amateur's enthusiasm, allowed us -what she considered very salutary freedom after study. Still, I don't -think she would have liked some of our wild doings and our consortings -with Genoese peasant children and Surrey ploughboys, had she known of -them. But, careful as she was of our physical and spiritual health, she -trusted us and thought us unique. - -My memory goes back to the time when I was just able to walk and we -dwelt in a typically English village near Cheltenham. I see myself -pretending to mind two big cart-horses during hay-making, while the fun -of the rake and the pitchfork was engaging others not so interested in -horses as I already was myself. Then I see the _Albergo_, with -vine-covered porch, at Ruta, on the "saddle" of Porto Fino, that -promontory which has been called the "Queen of the Mediterranean," where -we began our lessons, and, I may say, our worship of Italy. - -Then comes Villa de' Franchi for two exquisite years, a little nearer -Genoa, at Sori, a _palazzo_ of rose-coloured plaster and white stucco, -with flights of stone steps through the vineyards right down to the sea. -That sea was a joy to me in all its moods. We had our lessons in the -balcony in the summer, and our mother's piano sent bright melody out of -the open windows of the drawing-room when she wasn't painting the -mountains, the sea, the flowers. She had the "semi-grand" piano brought -out into the balcony one fullmoon night and played Beethoven's -"Moonlight Sonata" under those silver beams, while the sea, her -audience, in its reflected glory, murmured its applause. - -Often, after the babes were in bed, I cried my heart out when, through -the open windows, I could hear my mother's light soprano drowned by the -strong tenor of some Italian friend in a duet, during those musical -evenings so dear to the music-loving children of the South. It seemed -typical of her extinction, and I felt a rage against that tenor. Our -dear nurse, Amélie, would come to me with lemonade, and mamma, when -apprised of the state of things, would also come to the rescue, her -face, still bright from the singing, becoming sad and puckered. - -A stay at Edenbridge, in Kent, found me very happy riding in big waggons -during hay-making and hanging about the farm stables belonging to the -house, making friends with those splendid cart-horses which contrasted -with the mules of Genoa in so interesting a way. How the cuckoos sang -that summer; a note never heard in Italy. I began writing verse about -that time. Thus: - - The gates of Heaven open to the lovely season, - And all the meadows sweet they lie in peace. - -We children loved the Kentish beauty of our dear England. Poetry -filtered into our two little hearts wherever we abode, to blossom forth -in my little large-eyed, thoughtful sister in the process of time. To -Nervi we went again, taking Switzerland on the way this time, into Italy -by the Simplon and the Lago Maggiore. - -A nice couple of children we were sometimes! At this same Nervi, one -day, we little girls found the village people celebrating a _festa_ at -Sant' Ilario, high up on the foothills of the mountains behind our -house. We mixed in the crowd outside, as the church emptied, and armed -ourselves with branches. Rounding up the children, who were in swarms, -we gave chase. Down, down, through the zone of chestnut trees, down -through the olive woods, down through the vineyards, down to the little -town the throng fled, till, landing them in the street, we went home, -remarking on the evident superior power of the Anglo-Saxon race over the -Latin. - -As time went on my drawing-books began to show some promise, so that my -father gave me great historical subjects for treatment, but warning me, -in that amused way he had, that an artist must never get spoilt by -celebrity, keeping in mind the fluctuations of popularity. I took all -this seriously. I think that, having no boys to bring up, he tried to -put all the tuition suitable to both boys and girls into us. One result -was that as a child I had the ambition to be a writer as well as a -painter. We children were fanatically devoted to the worship of -Charlotte Brontë, since our father had read us "Jane Eyre" (with -omissions). Rather strong meat for babes! We began sending poetry and -prose to divers periodicals and cut our teeth on rejected MSS. - -We went back to Genoa, _viâ_ Jersey (as a little _détour_!) Poor old -Agostino, our inevitable cook, saw us as we drove from the station, on -our arrival, through the Via Carlo Felice. Worse luck, for he had become -too blind for his work. In days gone by he had done very well and we had -not the heart to cast him off. He ran after our carriage, kissing our -hands as he capered sideways alongside, at the peril of being run over. -So we were in for him again, but it was the last time. On our next visit -a friend told us, "Agostino is dead, thank goodness!" He and our dear -nurse, Amélie, used to have the most desperate rows, principally over -religion, he a devout Catholic and she a Protestant of the true Swiss -fibre. They always ended by wrangling themselves at the highest pitch of -their voices into papa's presence for judgment. But he never gave it, -only begging them to be quiet. She declared to Agostino that if he got -no wages at all he would still make a fortune out of us by his -perquisites; and, indeed, considering we left all purchases in his -hands, I don't think she exaggerated. The war against Austria had been -won. Magenta, Solferino, Montebello--dear me, how those names resounded! -One day as we were running along the road in our pinafores near the -Zerbino palace, above Genoa, along came Victor Emmanuel in an open -carriage looking very red and blotchy in the heat, with big, ungloved -hands, one of which he raised to his hat in saluting us little imps who -were shouting "Long live the King of Italy!" in English with all our -might. We were only a _little_ previous (!) Then the next year came the -Garibaldi enthusiasm, and we, like all the children about us, became -highly exalted _Garibaldians_. I saw the Liberator the day before he -sailed from Quarto for his historical landing in Sicily, at the Villa -Spinola, in the grounds of which we were, on a visit at the English -consul's. He was sitting in a little arbour overlooking the sea, talking -to the gardener. In the following autumn, when his fame had increased a -thousandfold, I made a pen and ink memory sketch of him which my father -told me to keep for future times. I vividly remember, though at the time -not able to understand the extraordinary meaning of the words, hearing -one of Garibaldi's adoring comrades (one Colonel Vecchii) a year or two -later on exclaim to my father, with hands raised to heaven, -"_Garibaldi!! C'est le Christ le revolver à la main!_" - -Our life at old Albaro was resumed, and I recall the pleasant English -colony at Genoa in those days, headed by the very popular consul, -"Monty" Brown, and the nice Church of England chaplain, the Rev. Alfred -Strettell. Ah! those primitive picnics on Porto Fino, when Mr. Strettell -and our father used to read aloud to the little company, including our -precocious selves, Shakespeare, Wordsworth, Keats, Tennyson, under the -vines and olives, between whose branches, far below the cultivated -terraces which we chose for our repose, appeared the deep blue waters of -the Sea of seas. My early sketch books are full of incidents in Genoese -peasant life: carnival revels in the streets, so suited to the child's -idea of fun; charges of Garibaldian cavalry on discomfited Neapolitan -troops (the despised _Borbonici_), and waving of tricolours by bellicose -patriots. I was taken to the Carlo Felice Theatre to see Ristori in -"Maria Stuarda," and became overwhelmed with adoration of that mighty -creature. One night she came on the stage waving a great red, white, and -green tricolour, and recited to a delirious audience a fine patriotic -poem to united Italy ending in the words "_E sii Regina Ancor!_" I see -her now in an immense crinoline. - -A charming autumn sojourn on the lakes of Orta and Maggiore filled our -young minds with beauty. Early autumn is the time for the Italian lakes, -while the vintage is "on" and the golden Indian corn is stored in the -open loggias of the farms, hanging in rich bunches in sun and luminous -shade amongst the flower pots and all the homely odds and ends of these -picturesque dwellings. The following spring was clouded by our return to -England and London in particularly cold and foggy weather, dark with the -London smoke, and our temporary installation in a dismal abode hastily -hired for us by our mother's father, where we could be close to his -pretty little dwelling at Fulham. My Diary was begun there. Poor little -"Mimi" (as I was called), the pages descriptive of our leaving Albaro at -that time are spotted with the mementos of her tears. The journey -itself was a distraction, for we returned by the long Cornice Route -which then was followed by the _Malle Poste_ and Diligence, the railway -being only in course of construction. It was very interesting to go in -that fashion, especially to me, who loved the horses and watched the -changing of our teams at the end of the "stages" with the intensest -zest. I made little sketches whenever halts allowed, and, as usual, my -irrepressible head was out of the Diligence window most of the time. The -Riviera is now known to everybody, and very delightful in its way. I -have not long returned from a very pleasant visit there; everything very -luxurious and up-to-date, but the local sentiment is lessened. The -reason is obvious, and has been laboured enough. One can still go off -the beaten paths and find the true Italy. I have found one funny little -sketch showing our _Malle Poste_ stopping to pick up the mail bag at a -village (San Remo, perhaps), which bag is being handed out of a top -window, at night, by the old postmistress. The _Malle Poste_ evidently -went "like the wind," for I invariably show the horses at a gallop all -along the route. - -My misery at the view of our approach to London through that wilderness -of slums that ushers us into the Great Metropolis is all chronicled, -and, what with one thing and another, the Diary sinks for a while into -despondency. But not for long. I cheer up soon. - -In London I took in all the amusing details of the London streets, so -new to me, coming from Italy. I seem, by my entries in the Diary, to -have been particularly diverted by the colour of those Dundreary -whiskers that the English "swell" of the period affected. I constantly -come upon "Saw no end of red whiskers." Then I read, "Mamma and I paid -calls, one on Dickens (_sic_)--out, thank goodness." Charles Dickens, -whom I dismiss in this offhand manner, had been a close friend of my -father's, and it was he who introduced my father to the beautiful Miss -Weller (amusing coincidence in names!) at an amateur concert where she -played. The result was rapid. My vivid memory can just recall Charles -Dickens's laugh. I never heard it echoed by any other man's till I heard -Lord Wolseley's. The volunteer movement was in full swing, and I became -even more enthusiastic over the citizen soldiers than I had been over -the _Garibaldini_. Then there are pages and pages filled with -descriptions of the pictures at the Royal Academy; of the Zoological -Gardens, describing nearly every bird, beast, reptile and fish. Laments -over the fogs and the cold of that dreadful London April and May, and -untiring outbursts in verse of regret for my lost Italy. But I stuffed -my sketch books with British volunteers in every conceivable uniform, -each corps dressed after its own taste. There was a very short-lived -corps called the Six-foot Guards! I sent a design for a uniform to the -_Illustrated London News_, which was returned with thanks. I felt hurt. -Grandpapa attached himself to the St. George's Rifles, and went, later -on, through storm and rain and sun in several sham fights. Well, _Punch_ -made fun of those good men and true, but I have lived to know that the -"Territorials," as they came to be called, were destined in the -following century to lend their strong arm in saving the nation. We next -had a breezy and refreshing experience of Hastings and the joy of rides -on the downs with the riding master. London fog and smoke were blown off -us by the briny breezes. - - - - -CHAPTER II - -EARLY YOUTH - - -In December we migrated back to London, and shortly before Christmas our -dear, faithful nurse died. That was Alice's and my first sense of -sorrow, and, even now, I can't bear to go over those dreadful days. Our -father told us we would never forgive ourselves if we did not take our -last look at her. He said we were very young for looking on death, but -"go, my children," he said, "it is right." I cannot read those -heartbroken words with which I fill page after page of my Diary even now -without tears. She had at first intended to remain at home at Lausanne -when my parents were leaving for England, shortly after my birth, but as -she was going I smiled at her from my cradle. "_Ah! Mademoiselle Mimi, -ce sourire!_" brought her back irresistibly, and with us she remained to -the end. - -As we girls grew apace we had a Parisian mistress to try and parisianise -our Swiss French and an Italian master to try and tuscanise our Genoese -Italian, and every Saturday a certain Mr. Standish gave me two hours' -drill in oil painting. How grand I felt! He gave me his own copies of -Landseer's horses' heads and dogs as models. This wasn't very much, but -it was a beginning. My lessons in the elementary class at the S. -Kensington School of Art are not worth mentioning. The masters gave me -hateful scrolls and patterns to copy, and I relieved my feelings by -ornamenting the margins of my drawing paper with angry scribblings of -horses and soldiers in every variety of fury. That did not last long. -This entry in the Diary speaks for itself:-- - -"_Sunday, March 16th, 1862._--We went to Mr. Lane's house preparatory to -going to see Millais in his studio. Mr. Richard Lane is an old friend of -papa's. The middle Miss Lane is a favourite model of Millais' and very -pretty. We entered his studio, which is hung with rich pre-Raphaelite -tapestry and pre-Raphaelite everything. The smell of cigar smoke -prepared me for what was to come. Millais, a tall, strapping, careless, -blunt, frank, young Englishman, was smoking with two villainous friends, -both with beards--red, of course. Instead of coming to be introduced -they sat looking at Millais' graceful drawings calling them 'jolly' and -'stunning,' the creatures! Millais would be handsome but for his eyes, -which are too small, and his hair is colourless and stands up in curls -over his large head but not encroaching upon his splendid forehead. He -seems to know what a universal favourite he is." I naturally did not -record in this precious piece of writing a rather humiliating little -detail. I wanted the company to see that I was a bit of a judge of -painting, ahem! In fact, a painter myself, and, approaching very near to -the wet picture of "The Ransom" (I think), I began to scrutinise. Mr. -Lane took me gently, but firmly, by the shoulders and placed me in a -distant chair. Had I been told by a seer that in 1875--the year I -painted "Quatre Bras"--this same Millais, after entertaining me at -dinner in that very house, would escort me down those very steps, and, -in shaking hands, was to say, "Good night, Miss Thompson, I shall soon -have the pleasure of congratulating you on your election to the -Academy, an honour which you will _t'oroughly_ deserve"--had I been told -this! - -Our next halt was in the Isle of Wight, at Ventnor, and then at -Bonchurch, and our house was "The Dell." Bonchurch was a beautiful -dwelling-place. But, alas! for what I may call the Oxford primness of -the society! It took long to get ourselves attuned to it. However, we -got to be fond of this society when the ice thawed. The Miss Sewells -were especially charming, sisters of the then Warden of New College. -Each family took a pride in the beauty of its house and gardens, the -result being a rivalry in loveliness, enriching Bonchurch with flowers, -woods and ornamental waters that filled us with delight. Mamma had "The -Dell" further beautified to come up to the high level of the others. She -made a little garden herself at the highest point of the grounds, with -grass steps, bordered with tall white lilies, and called it "the -Celestial Garden." The cherry trees she planted up there for the use of -the blackbirds came to nothing. The water-colours she painted at "The -Dell" are amongst her loveliest. - -[Illustration: A LEAF FROM A VERY EARLY SKETCH-BOOK.] - -Ventnor was fond of dances, At Homes, and diversions generally, but I -shall never forget my poor mother's initial trials at the musical -parties where the conversation raged during her playing, rising and -sinking with the _crescendos_ and _diminuendos_ (and this after the -worship of her playing in Italy!), and once she actually stopped dead in -the middle of a Mozart and silence reigned. She then tried the catching -"Saltarello," with the same result exactly. "The English appreciate -painting with their ears and music with their eyes," said Benjamin West -(if I am not mistaken), the American painter, who became President of -our Royal Academy. This hard saying had much truth in it, at least in -his day. Even in ours they had to be _told_ of the merits of a picture, -and the _sight_ of a pianist crossing his hands when performing was the -signal for exchanges of knowing smiles and nods amongst the audience, -who, talking, hadn't heard a note. For vocal music, however, silence was -the convention. How we used inwardly to laugh when, after a song piped -by some timid damsel, the music was handed round so that the words and -music might be seen in black and white by the guests assembled. I -thankfully record the fact that as time went on my mother's playing -seemed at last to command attention, and it being whispered that silence -was better suited to such music, it became quite the thing to stop -talking. - -Though Bonchurch was inclined to a moderate High Church tone, its rector -was of a pungent Low-Churchism, and he wrote us and the other girls who -sang in his choir a very severe letter one day ordering us to -discontinue turning to the east in the Creed. We all liked the much more -genial and very beautiful services at Holy Trinity Church, midway to -Ventnor, where we used to go for evensong. The Rev. Mr. G., of -Bonchurch, gave us very long sermons in the mornings, prophesying dismal -and alarming things to come, and we took refuge finally in the Rev. A. -L. B. Peile's more heartening discourses. - -The Ventnor dances were thoroughly enjoyable, and the croquet parties -and the rides with friends, and all the rest of it. Yes, it was a nice -life, but the morning lessons never broke off. No doubt we were -precocious, but we like to dwell on the fact of the shortness of our -childhood and the consequent length of our youth. I now and then come -upon funny juvenile sketch books where I find my Ventnor partners at -these dances clashing with charges of Garibaldian cavalry. There they -are, the desirable ones and the undesirable; the drawling "heavy swell" -and the raw stripling; the handsome and the ugly. The girls, too, are -there; the flirt and the wallflower. They all went in. - -These festive Ventnor doings were all very well, but it became more and -more borne in upon me that, if I intended to be a "great artist" (oh! -seductive words), my young 'teens were the right time for study. "Very -well, then--attention!--miss!" No sooner did my father perceive that I -meant business than he got me books on anatomy, architecture, costume, -arms and armour, Ruskin's inspiring writings, and everything he thought -the most appropriate for my training. But I longed for regular training -in some academy. I chafed, as my Diaries show. For some time yet I was -to learn in this irregular way, petitioning for real severe study till -my dear parents satisfied me at last. "You will be entering into a -tremendous ruck of painters, though, my child," my father said one day, -with a shake of his head. I answered, "I will single myself out of it." - -So, then, the lovely "Dell" was given up, and soon there began the -happiest period of my girlhood--my life as an art student at South -Kensington; _not_ in the elementary class of unpleasant memory, but in -the "antique" and the "life." - -But our father wanted first to show us Bruges and the Rhine, so we were -off again on our travels in the summer. Two new countries for us girls, -hurrah! and a little glimpse of a part of our own by the way. I find an -entry made at Henley. - -"_Henley, May 31st._--Before to-day I could not boast with justice of -knowing more than a fraction of England! This afternoon I saw her in one -of her loveliest phases on a row to Medmenham Abbey. Skies of the most -telling effects, ever changing as we rowed on, every reach we came to -revealing fresh beauties of a kind so new to me. The banks of long grass -full of flowers, the farmsteads gliding by, the willows allowed to grow -according to Nature's intention into exquisitely graceful trees, the -garden lawns sloping to the water's edge as a delicious contrast to the -predominating rural loveliness, and then that unruffled river! I have -seen the Thames! At Medmenham Abbey we had tea, and one of the most -beautiful parts of the river and meadowland, flowery to overflowing, was -seen before us through the arcades, the sky just there being of the most -delicious dappled warm greys, and further on the storm clouds towered, -red in the low sun. What pictures wherever you turn; and turn and turn -and turn we did, until my eyes ached, on our smooth row back. The -evening effects put the afternoon ones out of my head. I imagined a -score of pictures, peopling the rich, sweet banks with men and women of -the olden time. The skies received double glory and poetry from the -perfectly motionless water, which reflected all things as in a -mirror--as if it wasn't enough to see that overwhelming beauty without -seeing it doubled! At last I could look no more at the effects nor hear -the blackbirds and thrushes that sang all the way, and, to Mamma's -sympathetic amusement, I covered my eyes and ears with a shawl. Alas! -for the artist, there is no peace for him. He cannot gaze and -peacefully admire; he frets because he cannot 'get the thing down' in -paint. Having finished my row in that Paradise, let me also descend from -the poetic heights, and record the victory of the Frenchman. Yes, -'Gladiateur' has carried off the blue ribbon of the turf. Upon my word, -these Frenchmen!" It was the first time a French horse had won the -Derby. - -Bruges was after my own heart. Mediæval without being mouldy, kept -bright and clean by loving restorations done with care and knowledge. No -beautiful old building allowed to crumble away or be demolished to make -room for some dreary hideosity, but kept whole and wholesome for modern -use in all its own beauty. Would that the Italians possessed that same -spirit. My Diary records our daily walks through the beautiful, bright -streets with their curious signs named in Flemish and French, and the -charm of a certain _place_ planted with trees and surrounded by gabled -houses. Above every building or tree, go where you would, you always saw -rising up either the wondrous tower of the Halle (the _Beffroi_), dark -against the bright sky, or the beautiful red spire on the top of the -enormous grey brick tower of Notre Dame, a spire, I should say, -unequalled in the world not only for its lovely shape and proportions, -but for its exquisite style and colour: a delicious red for its upper -part, most refined and delicate, with white lines across, and as -delicate a yellow lower down. Or else you had the grey tower of the -cathedral, plain and imposing, made of small bricks like that of Notre -Dame, having a massive effect one would not expect from the material. -Over the little river, which runs nearly round the town, are -oft-recurring draw-bridges with ponderous grey gates, flanked by two -strong, round, tower-like wings. Most effective. On this river glided -barges pulled painfully by men, who trudged along like animals. I record -with horror that one barge was pulled by a woman! "It was quite painful -to see her bent forward doing an English horse's work, with the band -across her chest, casting sullen upward glances at us as we passed, and -the perspiration running down her face. From the river diverge canals -into the town, and nothing can describe the beauty of those water -streets reflecting the picturesque houses whose bases those waters wash, -as at Venice. When it comes to seeing two towers of the Halle, two -spires of Notre Dame, two towers of the cathedral, etc., etc., the -duplicate slightly quivering downwards in the calm water! Here and -there, as we crossed some canal or other, one special bit would come -upon us and startle us with its beauty. Such combinations of gables and -corner turrets and figures of saints and little water-side gardens with -trees, and always two or more of the towers and spires rising up, hazy -in the golden flood of the evening sun!" - -In our month at Bruges I made the most of every hour. It is one of the -few towns one loves with a personal love. I don't know what it looks -like to-day, after the blight of war that passed over Belgium, but I -trust not much harm was done there. How one trembled for the old -_beffroi_, which one heard was mined by the Huns when they were in -possession. - -"_August 24th._--Dear, exquisite, lovely, sunny, smiling Bruges, -good-bye! Good-bye, fair city of happy, ever happy, recollections. -Bright, gabled Bruges, we shall not look upon thy like again." - -I will make extracts from my German Diary, as Germany in those days was -still a land of kindly people whom we liked much before they became -spoilt by the Prussianism only then beginning to assert itself over the -civil population. The Rhine, too, was still unspoilt. That part of -Germany was agricultural; not yet industrialised out of its charm. I -also think these extracts, though so crude and "green," may show young -readers how we can enjoy travel by being interested in all we see. I may -become tiresome to older ones who have passed the Golden Gates, and for -some of whom Rhine or Nile or Seine or Loire has run somewhat dry. - -[Illustration: FLYING SHOTS IN BELGIUM AND RHINELAND IN /65.] - - - - -CHAPTER III - -MORE TRAVEL - - -"Alas! for railway travellers one approach to a place is like another. -Fancy arriving at Cologne through ragged factory outskirts and being -deposited under a glazed shed from which nothing but the railway objects -can be seen! We made a dash to the cathedral, I on the way remarking the -badly-dressed Düppel heroes (!) with their cook's caps and tight -trousers; and oh dear! the officers are of a very different mould here -from what they are in Belgium. Big-whiskered fellows with waists enough -to make the Belgians faint. But I am trifling. We went into the -cathedral by a most glorious old portal covered with rich Gothic -mouldings. Happy am I to be able to say I have seen Cologne Cathedral. -Now, hurrah for the Rhine! that river I have so longed, for years, to -see." - -We don't seem to have cared much for Bonn, though I intensely enjoyed -watching the swift river from the hotel garden and the Seven Mountains -beyond. The people, too, amused and interested me very much, and the -long porcelain pipe dangling from every male mouth gave me much matter -for sketching. - -My Diary on board the _Germania_: "Koenigswinter at the foot of the -Dragenfels began that series of exquisite towns at the foot of ruined -castles of which we have had more than a sufficient feast--that is, to -be able to do them all the justice which their excessive beauty calls -loudly for. We rounded the Dragenfels and saw it 'frowning' more -Byronically than on the Bonn side, and altogether more impressive. And -soon began the vines in all their sweet abundance on the smiling hill -slopes. Romantic Rolandsec expanded on our right as we neared it, and -there stood the fragment of the ruined castle peering down, as its -builder is said to have done, upon the Convent amidst the trees on its -island below. And then how fine looked the Seven Mountains as we looked -back upon them, closing in the river as though it were a lake, and away -we sped from them and left them growing mistier, and passed russet roofs -and white-walled houses with black beams across, and passed lovely -Unkel, picturesque to the core, bordering the water, and containing a -most delicious old church. Opposite rose curious hills, wild and round, -half vine-clad, half bare, and so on to Apollinarisberg on our right, -with its new four-pinnacled church on the hill, above Remagen and its -old church below. The last sight of the Dragenfels was a very happy one, -in misty sunlight, as it finally disappeared behind the near hills. On, -on we went, and passed the dark Erpeler Lei and the round, blasted and -dismal ruin of Okenfels; and Ling, with a cloud-capped mountain frowning -over it. As we glided by the fine restored _château_ of Argenfels and -the village of Hönningen the sky was red with the reflection of the -sunset which we could not see, and was reflected in the swirling river. -We did our Rhine pretty conscientiously by going first aft, then -forward, and then to starboard, and then to port, and glories were -always before us, look which way we would. So the Rhine has _not_ been -too much cried up, say what you will, Messrs. Blasé and Bore. The views -were constantly interrupted by the heads of the lack-lustre people on -board, who, just like the visitors at the R.A., hide the beauties they -can't appreciate from those who long to see them. But it soon began to -grow dark. - -"As we glided by Neuwied and stopped to take and discharge passengers a -band was playing the 'Düppel March,' so called because the Prussians -played it before Düppel. They are so blatantly proud of having beaten -the Danes and getting Schleswig-Holstein. Fireworks were spluttering, -and, altogether, a great deal of festivity was going on. It was quite -black on the afterdeck by this time, _minus_ lanterns. To go below to -the stuffy, lighted cabin was not to be thought of, so we walked up and -down, sometimes coming in contact with our fellow-man, or, rather, -woman, for the men carried lights at the fore (_i.e._, at the ends of -their cigars). At last, by the number of lights ahead, we knew we were -approaching Coblenz. We went to the "Giant" Hotel, close to the landing. -It was most tantalising to know that Ehrenbreitstein was towering -opposite, invisible, and that such masses of picturesqueness must be all -around. Papa and I had supper in the _Speise-saal_, and then I gladly -sought my couch, in my sweet room which looked on the front, after a -very enjoyable day. - -"Most glorious of glorious days! The theory held so drearily by Messrs. -Blasé and Bore about the mist and rain of the Rhine is knocked on the -head. We were off to Bingen, to my regret, for it was hard to leave such -a place as Coblenz, although greater beauties awaited us further up, -perhaps, than we had yet seen. But I must begin with the morning and -record the glorious sight before us as we looked out of our windows. -Strong Ehrenbreitstein against the pearly, hot, morning sky, the -furrowed rock laid bare in many places, and precipitous, sun-tinted and -shadow-stained; the bright little town just opposite, the hill behind -thickly clothed in rich vines athwart which the sun shone deliciously. -The green of the river, too, was beautifully soft. After breakfast we -took that charming invention, an open carriage, and went up to the -Chartreuse, the proper thing to do, as this hill overlooks one of _the_ -views of the world. We went first through part of the town, by the large -and rather ugly King's Palace, passing much picturesqueness. The women -have very pleasing headdresses about here of various patterns. Of -course, the place is full of soldiers and everything seems fortified. On -our ascent we passed great forts of immense strength, hard nuts for the -French to crack, if they ever have the wickedness (_sic_) to put their -pet notion of the Rhine being France's boundary into execution. What a -view we had all the way up; to our left, the winding Rhine disappearing -in the distance into the gorge, its beautiful valley smiling below, and -the vine-clad hills rising on either side, with their exquisite -surfaces. Purple shadows, and golden vines, and walnut trees, that -contrast which so often has enchanted my eyes on the Genoese Riviera, -the Italian lakes, and my own dear Lake Leman, gladdened them once more. -And then the really clear sky (no factory chimneys here) and those -intense white clouds casting shadows on the hills of lovely purple. We -went across the wide plateau on the top, a magnificent exercise ground -for the soldiers, health itself, and then we beheld, winding below us in -its sweet valley and by two picturesque villages, the little Moselle, by -no means 'blue,' as the song says, but of a pinky brown and apparently -very shallow. We were at a great height, and having got out of the -carriage we stood on the very verge of a sheer precipice, at the -far-down base of which wound the high road. Sweet little Moselle! I was -so loth to leave that view behind. It really does seem such a shame to -say so little of it. The air up there was full of the scent of wild -thyme, and mountain flowers grew thick in that hot sun, and the short -mountain grass was brown. - -"We descended by another road and were taken right through the town to -the old Moselle bridge which crosses that river near its confluence with -the green Rhine. What turreted corners, what gable ends, what exquisite -David Roberts 'bits' at every turn! The bridge and its old gate were a -picture in themselves, and the view from the middle of the bridge of the -walls, the old buildings, church towers and spires, and boats and rafts -moored below, was the essence of the picturesque. Market women and -_pelotons_ of soldiers with glittering helmets and bayonets make -excellent foreground groups. How unlike nearly-deserted Bruges is this -busy, thronged city! Oxen are as much used about here as horses, and add -much to the artist's joy. But I must hurry on; there is all the glorious -Rhine to Bingen to ascend. What a feast of beauty we have been partaking -of since leaving Failure Bonn! - -"Lots of people at 1 o'clock _table d'hôte_: staring Prooshan officers -in 'wings' and whiskers, more or less tightly clad, talking loud and -clattering their swords unnecessarily; swarms of English and a great -many honeymoon couples of all nations. It was very hot when we left to -dive into that glorious region we had seen from the Chartreuse. Those -were golden hours on board the _Lorelei_. But more 'spoons'; more -English; more Ya-ing natives and small boys always in the way, and so we -paddled away from beautiful Coblenz, and very fine did the 'Broadstone -of Honour' look as we left it gradually behind. And now we began again -the castles and the villages, the former more numerous than below -stream. Happy Mr. Moriarty to possess such a castle as Lahneck; and then -the beautiful town below, and the gorgeous wooded steep hills and the -beautiful tints on the water. Golden walnut trees on the banks and old -church towers--such rich loveliness gliding by perpetually. The towns -are certainly half the battle; they add immensely to the scene. Rhense -was the oldest town we had yet seen, and the old dark walls are -crumbling down. Such bits of archways, such corner bits, such old -age-tinted roofs! I _must_ not pass over Marksburg, the most perfect old -castle on the Rhine, quite unaltered and not quite ruinous, as it is -garrisoned by a corps of Invalides. It therefore looks stronger and -grander than the others. Below the cone which it crowns nestled the -inevitable picturesque town (Braubach) upon the shore. - -"Soon after passing this beautiful part we rounded another old village -and church on our right, for the river takes a great bend here. Of -course, new beauties appeared ahead as we swept round, soft purple -mountains, one behind the other, and hillsides golden with vines and -walnut trees. And then we came to Boppart, in the midst of the gorge, -one of the most enchanting old walled towns we had yet seen, with a -large water-cure establishment above it upon the orchard slopes of the -hill. Then the old castle called 'The Mouse' drew our attention to the -left again, and then to the right appeared, after we had passed the twin -castles of Sternberg and Liebenstein, or the 'Brothers,' the magnificent -ruin of Rheinfels above the town of St. Goar in the shadow of the steep -hill. How splendidly those blasted arches come out against the sunny -sky! Then 'The Cat' appeared on our left, supposed to be watching 'The -Mouse' round the corner; then, with the last gleam of the sun upon it, -appeared the castle of 'Schönberg' after we had passed the Lorelei rock, -tunnelled through by the railway, and hills glowing in autumn tints. -Sunset colour began to add new charm to mountains, hills, and river. Two -guns were fired in this part of the gorge for the echo. It rolled away -like thunder very satisfactorily. Gutenfels on its rock was splendid in -the sunset, with the town of Caub at its feet, and the curious old tower -called the Pfalz in mid-stream, where poor Louis le Débonnaire came to -die. I can hardly individualise the towns and their over-looking castles -that followed. There was Bacharach, with its curious three-sided towers -and church of St. Werner; then more castles, getting dimmer and dimmer -in the deepening twilight. The last was swallowed up in the night." - -I need not dwell on Bingen. I see us, happy wanderers, dropping down to -Boppart, to halt there for very fondly-remembered days at the water-cure -of "Marienberg," which we made our habitation for want of an hotel. -Being there I did the "cure" for nothing in particular, but was none the -worse for it. At any rate it passed me as "sound" after the ordeal by -water. The ordeal was severe, and so was the Spartan food. To any one -who wasn't going through the water ordeal the Spartan food ordeal -seemed impossible. But soon one got to like the whole thing and delight -in the freshness of that life in the warm sunny weather. We both -accepted the "Grape Cure" with unmixed feelings--2 lbs. each of grapes a -day; and even the cold, deep plate of sour milk (_dicke milch_), -sprinkled with brown breadcrumbs, and that _kraut_ preserve which so -dashed us at our first breakfast, became rather fascinating. We took our -pre-breakfast walk on four glasses of cold water, though, to _wet_ our -appetites. I see now, in memory, the swimming baths, with the blue water -rushing through them from the hills, and feel the exhilaration of the -six-in-the-morning plunge. Oh! _la jeunesse! La joie de vivre!_ - -They had dancing every Thursday evening in what was the great vaulted -refectory of the monks before that monastery was secularised. One gala -evening many people came in from outside. The young ladies were in -muslin frocks, which they, no doubt, had washed themselves, and the -ballroom was redolent of soap. The gentlemen went into the drawing-room -after each dance and combed their blond hair and beards at the -looking-glass over the mantelpiece, having brought brush and comb with -them. The next morning I was very elaborately saluted by a man in a -blouse, driving oxen, and I recognised in him one of my partners of the -evening before who had worn the correct _frac_ and white tie. What a -strange amalgamation of democracy and aristocracy we found in Germany! -The Diary tells of the music we had every evening till 10 o'clock and -"lights out." My mother and one or two typical German musical -geniuses--women patients--kept the piano in constant request, and the -evenings were really very bright and the tone so homely and kind. -Kindness was the prevailing spirit which we noticed amongst the Germans -in those far-away days. How they complimented us all on our halting -German; how the women admired our frocks, especially the buttons! I hope -they didn't expect us to go into equal ecstasies over their own -costumes. We sang and were in great voice, perhaps on account of the -"plunge baths," or was it the "sour milk"? - -A big Saxon cavalry officer who was doing the cure for a kick from a -horse and, being in mufti, had put off his "jack-boot" manners, was full -of enthusiasm about our voices. He expressed himself in graceful -pantomime after each of my songs by pointing to his ear and running his -finger down to his heart, for he spoke neither English nor French, and -worshipfully paid homage to Mamma's pianoforte playing. She played -indeed superbly. He was a big man. We called him "the Athlete." We had -nicknames for all the patients. There was "the _Sauer-kraut_," there was -the "Flighty," the funniest little shrivelled creature, a truly -wonderful musical genius, who, having heard me practising one morning, -flew to Mamma, telling her she had heard me go up to _Si_ and that I -must make my name as a _prima donna_--no less. That Mendelssohn had -proposed to her was a treasured memory. Her mother, with true German -pride of birth, forbade the union. There was a very great dame doing the -cure, the "_Incog_," who confided her card to Mamma with an Imperial -embrace before leaving, which revealed her as Marie, Prinzessin zu -Hohenzollern Hechingen. Then there was a most interesting and ugly -duellist, who a short time previously had killed a prince. His wife wore -blue spectacles, having cried herself blind over the regrettable -incident. And so on, and so on. - -The vintage began, and we visited many a vineyard on both banks of the -rapid, eddying river, watching the peasants at their wholesome work in -the mellowing sunlight. Whenever we bought grapes of these pleasant -people, they insisted on giving us extra bunches _gratis_ in that -old-fashioned way so prevalent in Italy. I record in the Diary one -classic-looking youth, with the sunset gold behind his serious, handsome -face, bent slightly over the vine he was picking, on the hillside where -we sat. He seemed the personification of the sanctity of labour. All -this sounds very sentimental to us war-weary ones of the twentieth -century, but we need refreshment in the pleasures of memory; memory of -more secure times. The Diary says:-- - -"When we left Boppart, Mamma and we two girls were half hidden in -bouquets, and our Marienberg friends clustered at the railway carriage -door and on the step--the '_Sauer-kraut_,' the 'Flighty,' the 'Athlete' -and all, and, as we started, the salutations were repeated for the -twentieth time, the 'Athlete' taking a long sniff of my bouquet, then -quickly blocking his nose hard to keep the scent in, after going through -the pantomime of the ear, the finger, and the heart. As Papa said, 'One -gets quite reconciled to the two-legged creature when meeting such -people as these.' Good-bye, lovely Boppart, of ever sweet -recollections!" - -We tarried at Cologne on our way to England. I see, together with -admiring and elaborate descriptions of the cathedral, a note on the -kindly manners of the Germans, so curiously at variance with the -impression left on the present generation by the episodes of the late -war. At the _table d'hôte_ one evening the two guests who happened to -sit opposite our parents, on opening their champagne at dessert, first -insisted on filling the two glasses of their English _vis-à-vis_ before -proceeding to fill their own. German manners then! The military class -kept, however, very much aloof, and were very irritating to us with -their wilfully offensive attitude. That unfortunate spirit had already -taken a further step forward after the conquest of Schleswig-Holstein, -and was to go further still after the knock-down blow to Austria; then -in 1870 comes more arrogance, and so on to its own undoing in our time. - -"_Aix la Chapelle._--Good-bye, Cologne, ever to remain bright by the -remembrance of its cathedral and that museum containing pictures which -have so inspired my mind. And so good-bye, dear, familiar Rhine; not the -Rhine of the hurried tourist and his John Murray Red Book, but the -glorious river about whose banks we have so often wandered at our -leisure. - -"And now '_Vorwärts_, _marsch_!' Northwards, to the Land of Roast Beef -plus Rinderpest.[1] But first, Aachen. Ineffable poetry surrounds this -evening of our arrival, for from the three churches which stand out -sharp against the bright moonlight sky in front of the hotel there peal -forth many mellow bells, filling my mind with that sort of sadness so -familiar to me. This is All Hallows' Eve. - -"_November 1st._--We saw the magnificent frescoes in the long, low, -arched hall of the Rathhaus, which is being magnificently restored, as -is the case with all the fine things of the Prussia we have seen. We -only just skimmed these great works of art, for the horses were waiting -in the pelting rain.... The first four frescoes we saw were by Rethel, -the first representing the finding of the body of Charlemagne sitting in -his tomb on his throne, crowned and robed, holding the ball and sceptre; -a very impressive subject, treated with all its requisite poetry and -feeling. The next fresco represents in a forcible manner Charlemagne -ordering a Saxon idol to be broken; the third is a superb episode from -the Battle of Cordova, where Charlemagne is wresting the standard from -the Infidel. The horses are all blindfolded, not to be frightened by the -masks which the enemy had prepared to frighten them with. The great -white bulls which draw the chariot are magnificently conceived. The -fourth fresco represents the entry of the great emperor--whose face, by -the by, lends itself well to the grand style of art--into Pavia; a -superb composition, as, indeed, they all are. After painting this the -artist lost his senses. No doubt such efforts as these may have caused -his mind to fail at last. He had supplied the compositions for the other -four frescoes which Kehren has painted, without the genius of the -originator. We were shown the narrow little old stone staircase up which -all those many German emperors came to the hall. I could almost fancy I -saw an emperor's head coming bobbing up round the bend, and a figure in -Imperial purple appear. Strange that such a steep little winding -staircase should be the only approach to such a splendid hall. The new -staircase, up which a different sort of monarch from the old German -emperors came a few days ago, in tight blue and silver uniform, is -indeed in keeping with the hall, and should have been trodden by the -emperors, whereas this old cad of a king[2] (_sic_) would get his due -were he to descend the little old worn stair head foremost." - -At Brussels my entry runs: "_November 3rd._--My birthday. I feel too -much buoyed up with the promise of doing something this year to feel as -wretched as I might have felt at the thought of my precious 'teens -dribbling away. Never say die; never, never, never! This birthday is -ever to be marked by our visit to Waterloo, which has impressed me so -deeply. The day was most enjoyable, but what an inexpressibly sad -feeling was mixed with my pleasure; what thoughts came crowding into my -mind on that awful field, smiling in the sunshine, and how, even now, my -whole mind is overshadowed with sadness as I think of those slaughtered -legions, dead half a century ago, lying in heaps of mouldering bones -under that undulating plain. We had not driven far out of Brussels when -a fine old man with a long white beard, and having a stout stick for -scarcely-needed support, and from whose waistcoat dangled a blue and red -ribbon with a silver medal attached bearing the words 'Wellington' and -'Waterloo,' stopped the carriage and asked whether we were not going to -the Field and offering his services as guide, which we readily accepted, -and he mounted the box. This was Sergeant-Major Mundy of the 7th -Hussars, who was twenty-seven when he fought on that memorable 18th -June, 1815. In time we got into the old road, that road which the -British trod on their way to Quatre Bras, ten miles beyond Waterloo, on -the 16th. We passed the forest of Soignies, which is fast being cleared, -and at no very distant period, I suppose, merely the name will remain. -What a road was this, bearing a history of thousands of sad incidents! -We visited the church at Waterloo where are the many tablets on the -walls to the memory of British officers and men who died in the great -fight. Touching inscriptions are on them. An old woman of eighty-eight -told us that she had tended the wounded after the battle. Is it -possible! There she was, she who at thirty-eight had beheld those men -just half a century ago! It was overpowering to my young mind. The old -lady seems steadier than the serjeant-major, eleven years her junior, -and wears a brown wig. Thanks to the old sergeant, we had no bothering -vendors of 'relics.' He says they have sold enough bullets to supply a -dozen battles. - -"We then resumed our way, now upon more historic ground than ever, the -field of the battle proper. The Lion Mound soon appeared, that much -abused monument. Certainly, as a monument to mark where the Prince of -Orange was wounded in the left shoulder it is much to be censured, -particularly with that Belgian lion on the top with its paw on Belgium, -looking defiance towards France, whose soldiers, as the truthful old -sergeant expressed himself, 'could any day, before breakfast, come and -make short work of the Belgians' (_sic_). But I look upon this pyramid -as marking the field of the fifteenth decisive battle of the world. In a -hundred years the original field may have been changed or built upon, -and then the mound will be more useful than ever as marking the centre -of the battlefield that was. To make it much ground has been cut away -and the surface of one part of the field materially lowered. On being -shown the plan for this 'Lion Mound,' Wellington exclaimed, 'Well, if -they make it, I shall never come here again,' or something to that -effect, and, as old Mundy said, 'the Duke was not one to break his word, -and he never did come again.' Do you know that, Sir Edwin Landseer, who -have it in the background of your picture of Wellington revisiting the -field? We drove up to the little Hotel du Musée, kept by the sergeant's -daughter, a dejected sort of person with a glib tongue and herself -rather grey. We just looked over Sergeant Cotton's museum, a collection -of the most pathetic old shakos and casques and blundering muskets, with -pans and flints, belonging to friend and foe; rusty bullets and cannon -balls, mouldering bits of accoutrements of men and horses, evil-smelling -bits of uniforms and even hair, under glass cases; skulls perforated -with balls, leg and arm bones in a heap in a wooden box; extracts from -newspapers of that sensational time, most interesting; rusty swords and -breastplates; medals and crosses, etc., etc., a dismal collection of -relics of the dead and gone. Those mouldy relics! Let us get out into -the sunshine. Not until, however, the positive old soldier had -marshalled us around him and explained to us, map in hand, the ground -and the leading features of the battle he was going to show us. - -"We then went, first, a short way up the mound, and the old warrior in -our midst began his most interesting talk, full of stirring and touching -anecdotes. What a story was that he was telling us, with the scenes of -that story before our eyes! I, all eagerness to learn from the lips of -one who took part in the fight, the story of that great victory of my -country, was always throughout that long day by the side of the old -hussar, and drank in the stirring narrative with avidity. There lay -before us the farm of La Haie Sainte--'lerhigh saint' as he called -it--restored to what it was before the battle, where the gallant Germans -held out so bravely, fighting only with the bayonet, for when they came -to load their firearms, oh, horror! the ammunition was found to be too -large for the muskets, and was, therefore, useless. There the great Life -Guard charge took place, there is the grave of the mighty Shaw, and on -the skyline the several hedges and knolls that mark this and that, and -where Napoleon took up his first position. And there lies La Belle -Alliance where Wellington and Blücher did _not_ meet--oh, Mr. -Maclise!--and a hundred other landmarks, all pointed out by the notched -stick of old Mundy. The stories attached to them were all clearly -related to us. After standing a long time on the mound until the man of -discipline had quite done his regulation story, with its stirring and -amusing touches and its minute details, we descended and set off on our -way to Hougoumont. What a walk was that! On that space raged most of the -battle; it was a walk through ghosts with agonised faces and distorted -bodies, crying noiselessly. - -"Our guide stopped us very often as we reached certain spots of leading -interest, one of them--the most important of all--being the place where -the last fearful tussle was made and the Old Guard broke and ran. There -was the field, planted with turnips, where our Guards lay down, and I -could not believe that the seemingly insignificant little bank of the -road, which sloped down to it, could have served to hide all those men -until I went down and stooped, and then I understood, for only just the -blades of the grass near me could I see against the sky. Our Guards -must indeed have seemed to start out of the ground to the bewildered -French, who were, by the by, just then deploying. That dreadful V formed -by our soldiers, with its two sides and point pouring in volley after -volley into the deploying Imperial Guard, must have indeed been a -'staggerer,' and so Napoleon's best soldiers turned tail, yelling -'_Sauve qui peut!_' and ran down that now peaceful undulation on the -other side of the road. - -"Many another spot with its grim story attached did I gaze at, and my -thoughts became more and more overpowering. And there stood a survivor -before us, relating this tale of a battle which, to me, seems to belong -to the olden time. But what made the deepest impression on my mind was -the sergeant's pointing out to us the place where he lay all night after -the battle, wounded, 'just a few yards from that hedge, there.' I repeat -this to myself often, and always wonder. We then left that historic -rutted road and, following a little path, soon came, after many more -stoppages, to the outer orchard of Hougoumont. Victor Hugo's thoughts -upon this awful place came crowding into my mind also. Yet the place did -look so sweet and happy: the sun shining on the rich, velvety grass, -chequered with the shade of the bare apple trees, and the contented cows -grazing on the grass which, on the fearful day fifty years ago, was not -_green_ between the heaps of dead and dying wretches. - -"Ah! the wall with the loopholes. I knew all about it and hastened to -look at it. Again all the wonderful stratagems and deeds of valour, -etc., etc., were related, and I have learnt the importance, not only of -a little hedge, but of the slightest depression on a battlefield. -Riddled with shot is this old brick wall and the walls of the farm, too. -Oh! this place of slaughter, of burning, of burying alive, this place of -concentrated horror! It was there that I most felt the sickening terror -of war, and that I looked upon it from the dark side, a thing I have -seldom had so strong an impulse to do before. The farm is peaceful again -and the pigs and poultry grunt and cluck amongst the straw, but there -are ruins inside. There's the door so bravely defended by that British -officer and sergeant, hanging on its hinges; there's the well which -served as a grave for living as well as dead, where Sergeant Mundy was -the last to fill his canteen; and there's the little chapel which served -as an oven to roast a lot of poor fellows who were pent up there by the -fire raging outside. We went into the terror-fraught inner orchard, -heard more interesting and saddening talk from the old soldier who says -there is nothing so nice as fighting one's battles over again, and then -we went out and returned to the inn and dined. After that we streamed -after our mentor to the Charleroi road, just to glance at the left part -of the field which the sergeant said he always liked going over the -best. 'Oh!' he said, looking lovingly at his pet, 'this was the -strongest position, except Hougoumont.' It was in this region that -Wellington was moved to tears at the loss of so many of his friends as -he rode off the field. Papa told me his memorable words on that -occasion: 'A defeat is the only thing sadder than a victory.' What a -scene of carnage it was! We looked at poor Gordon's monument and then -got into our carriage and left that great, immortal place, with the sun -shedding its last gleams upon it. I feel virtuous in having written this -much, seeing what I have done since. We drove back, in the clear night, -I a wiser and a sadder girl." - -About this same Battle of Waterloo. Before the Great War it always -loomed large to me, as it were from the very summit of military history, -indeed of all history. During the terrible years of the late War I -thought my Waterloo would diminish in grandeur by comparison, and that -the awful glamour so peculiar to it would be obliterated in the fumes of -a later terror. But no, there it remains, that lurid glamour glows -around it as before, and for the writer and for the painter its colour, -its great form, its deep tones, remain. We see through its blood-red -veil of smoke Napoleon fall. There never will be a fall like that again: -it is he who makes Waterloo colossal. - - - - -CHAPTER IV - -IN THE ART SCHOOLS - - -After tarrying in Brussels, doing the galleries thoroughly, we went to -Dover. I had been anything but in love with the exuberant Rubenses -gathered together in one surfeited room, but imbibed enthusiastic -stimulus from some of the moderns. I write: "Oh! that I had time to tell -of my admiration of Ambroise Thomas' 'Judas Iscariot,' of Charles -Verlat's wonderful 'Siege of Jerusalem by Godfrey of Bouillon,' with its -strikingly terrible incidents, given with wonderful vividness, so free -from coarseness; of Tshaggeny's 'Malle Poste,' with its capital horses. -There was not much study to be done in the time, but enthusiasm to be -caught, and I caught it." - -At Dover I find myself saying: "Still at my drawing of the soldiers -working at the new fort on the cliff, just outside the castle, which -forms the background of the scene. I am sending it to the _Illustrated -London News_." Then, a few days later: "Woe is me! my drawing is -returned with the usual apologies. Well, never mind, the world will hear -of me yet." And there, above my "diminished head," right over No. 2, -Sydney Villas, our temporary resting-place, stood that very castle, -biding its time when it should receive me as its official _châtelaine_, -and all through that art which I was so bent on. - -At Brompton I said "good-bye" to a year to me very bright and full of -adventure; a year rich in changes, full of varied scenes and emotions. -I say: "Enter, 1866, bearing for me happy promise for my future, for -to-day I had the interview with Mr. Burchett, the Headmaster of the -South Kensington School of Art, and everything proved satisfactory and -sunny. First, Papa and I trotted off to Mr. Burchett's office and saw -him, a bearded, velvet-skull-capped and cold-searching-eyed man. After a -little talk, we galloped off home, packed the drawings and the oil, -then, Mamma with us, we returned, and came into The Presence once more. -The office being at the end of the passage of the male schools, I could -see, and envy, the students going about. So the drawings were -scrutinised by _that Eye_, and I must say I never expected things to go -so well. Of course, this austere, rigid master is not one to say much, -but, on the contrary, to dwell upon the shortcomings and weaknesses; to -have no pity. He looked longer at my soldiers at work at Dover Castle -and some hands that I had done yesterday, saying they showed much -feeling. He said he did not know whether I only wished to make my -studies superficial, but strongly advised me to become an artist. I -scarcely needed such advice, I think, but it was very gratifying. I told -him I wished for severe study, and that I did _not_ wish to begin at the -wrong end. We were a long time talking, and he was very kind, and told -me off to the Life School after preliminary work in the Antique. I join -to-morrow. I now really feel as though fairly launched. Ah! they shall -hear of me some day. But, believe me, my ambition is of the right sort. - -"_January 2nd._--A very pleasant day for me. At ten marched off, with -board, paper, chalk, etc., etc., to the schools, and signed my name and -went through all the rest of the formalities, and was put to do a huge -eye in chalk. I felt very raw indeed, never having drawn from a cast -before. Everything was strange to me. I worked away until twenty minutes -to two, when I sped home to have my lunch. Five hours' work would be too -long were I not to break the time by this charming spin home and back in -the open air, which makes me set to work again with redoubled energy and -spirits sky-high. A man comes round at a certain time to the rooms to -see by the thermometer whether the temperature is according to rule, -which is a very excellent precaution; 65° seems to be the fixed degree. -Of course, I did not make any friends to-day; besides, we sit far apart, -on our own hooks, and not on forms. Much twining about of arms and -_darling-ing_, etc., went on, however, but we all seem to work here so -much more in earnest than over those dreary scrolls in the Elementary. -One girl in our room was a capital hit, short hair brushed back from a -clever forehead and a double eyeglass on an out-thrust nose. Then there -is a dear little pale girl, with a pretty head and large eyes, who is -struggling with that tremendous 'Fighting Gladiator.' She and he make a -charming _motif_ for a sketch. But I am too intent on my work to notice -much. The skeleton behind me seems, with outstretched arm, to encourage -me in my work, and smiles (we won't say _grins_) upon me, whilst behind -him--it?--the _écorché_ man seems to be digging his grave, for he is in -the attitude of using a spade. But enough for to-day. I was very much -excited all day afterwards. And no wonder, seeing that my prayer for a -beginning of my real study has now been granted and that I am at length -on the high road. Oh, joy, joy! - -"_January 15th._--Did very well at the schools. Upon my word, I am -getting on very smoothly. I peeped into the Life room for the first time -whilst work was going on, and beheld a splendid halberdier standing -above the girls' heads and looking very uncomfortable. He had a steel -headpiece and his hands were crossed upon the hilt of his sword in -front, and his face, excessively picturesque with its grizzly moustache, -was a tantalising sight for me! - -"_January 16th._--Oh, how I am getting on! I can't bear to look at my -old things. Was much encouraged by Mr. Burchett, who talked to me a good -deal, the mistress standing deferentially and smilingly by. He said, -'Ah! you seem to get over your difficulties very well,' and said with -what immense satisfaction I shall look back upon this work I'm doing. -Altogether it was very encouraging, and he said this last thing of mine -was excellent. He remarked that my early education in those matters had -been neglected, but I console myself with the thought that I have not -wasted my time so utterly, for all the travel I have had all my life has -put crowds of ideas into my head, and now I am learning how to bring -those ideas to good account. - -"_January 24th._--I shall soon have done the big head and shall soon -reach a full-length statue, and I shall go in for anatomy rather than -give so much time to this shading which the students waste so much time -over. I don't believe in carrying it so far. The little pale girl I -like, on the completion of her gladiator, has been promoted to the Life -class. A girl made friends with me, a big grenadier of a girl, who says -she wants to know 'all about the joints and muscles' and seems a -'thoroughgoer' like myself." - -This is how I write of dear Miss Vyvyan, a fine, rosy specimen of a -well-bred English girl, who became one of my dearest fellow -students--and drew well. In writing of me after I had come out in the -art world, she records this meeting in words all the more deserving of -remembrance for being those of a voice that is still. Of my other -fellow-students the Diary will have more to say, left to its own -diction. - -"_February 13th._--It is very pleasant at the schools--oh, charming! In -coming home at the end of my work I fell in with Mr. Lane, my friend in -the truest sense of the word. He was coming over to us. His first -inquiry was about me and my work. He was very much disappointed that I -was not in the Life class, fully expecting that I should be there, -seeing how highly Mr. Burchett twice spoke of my drawings to Mr. Lane, -and that I was quite ready for the Life. But, of course, Mr. B. is -desirous of putting me as much through the regular course as possible. -Mr. Lane shares Millais' opinion that 'the antique is all very well, but -that there is nothing like the living model, and that they are too fond -of black and white at the Museum.' I was enrolled as a member of the -Sketching Club this morning, and have only a week to do 'On the Watch' -in, the title they have given us to illustrate. _Only_ a week, Mimi? -That's an age to do a sketch in! Ah! yes, my dear, but I shall have five -hours in the schools every day except Saturdays. I have chosen for -subject a freebooter in a morion and cloak upon a bony horse, watching -the plain below him as night comes on, with his blunderbus ready -cocked. Wind is blowing, and makes the horse's mane and tail to stream -out." - -There follow pages and pages describing the daily doings at the schools: -the commotion amongst girls at the drawings I used to bring to show them -of battle scenes; the Sketching Club competitions, and all the work and -the play of an art school. At last I was promoted to the Life class. - -"_March 19th._--Oh, joyous day! oh, white! oh, snowy Monday! or should I -say _golden_ Monday? I entered the Life this joyous morn, and, what's -more, acquitted myself there not only to my satisfaction (for how could -I be satisfied if the masters weren't?), but to Mr. Denby's and the oil -master's _par excellence_, Mr. Collinson's. I own I was rather -diffident, feeling such a greenhorn in that room, but I may joyfully say -'So far, so good,' and do my very best of bests, and I can't fail to -progress. How willingly I would write down all the pleasant incidents -that occur every day, and those, above all, of to-day, which make this -delightful student life I am leading so bright and happy and amusing. -However, I shall write down all that my spare moments will allow me. -Little 'Pale Face' took me in hand and got me a nice position quite near -the sitter, as I am only to do his head. There was a good deal of -struggling as the number of girls increased, and late comers tried -amicably to badger me out of my good position. We waited more than half -an hour for the sitter, and beguiled the time as we are wont. Three -semi-circles surround the sitter and his platform. The inner and smaller -circle is for us who do his head only, and is formed by desks and low -chairs; the next is formed by small fixed easels, and the outer one by -the loose-easel brigade, so there are lots of us at work. At length the -martyr issued from the curtained closet where Messrs. Burchett, Denby -and Collinson had been helping the unhappy victim to make a lobster of -his upper self with heavy plates of armour. He became sadly modern below -the waist, for his nether part was not wanted. To see Mr. Denby pinning -on the man's refractory Puritan starched collar was rich. The model is a -small man, perfectly clean shaven with a most picturesque face; quite a -study. Very finely-chiselled mouth, with thin lips and well-marked chin -and jaw. The poor fellow was dreadfully nervous. He was posed standing, -morion on head, with a book in one hand, the other raised as though he -were discoursing to some fellow soldiers--may-be Covenanters--in a camp. -I never saw a man in such agony as he evinced, his nervousness seeming -at times to overpower him, and the weight of the armour and of the huge -morion (too big for him) told upon him in a painfully evident manner. He -was, consequently, allowed frequent rests, when down his trembling arm -would clatter and the instrument of torture on his heated forehead come -down with a great thump on the table. Mr. Denby was much pleased with my -drawing in, and Mr. Collinson commended my carefulness. This pleases me -more than anything else, for I know that carefulness is the most -essential quality in a student. - -"_March 27th._--Mr. Burchett showed me how to proceed with the finishing -of the face. He liked the way I had done the morion, which astonished -me, as I had done it all unaided. I am now a friend of more girls than I -can individualise, and they seem all to like me. 'Little Pale Face' is -very charming with me indeed. One girl told me a dream she had had of -me, and Mrs. C., wife of the _Athenæum_ art critic, clapped me on the -back very cordially." - -I give these extracts just to launch the Memoirs into that student life -which was of such importance to me. Till the Easter vacation I did all I -could to retrieve what I considered a good deal of leeway in my art -training. There were Sketching Club competitions of intense effort on my -part, and how joyful I felt at such events as my illustrations to -Thackeray's "Newcomes" coming through marked "Best" by the judges. - -"_May 9th._--_Veni_, _vidi_, _vici_! My re-entry into the schools after -the vacation has been a triumphal one, for my 'Newcomes' have been -returned 'The Best.' The girls were so glad to see me back. I have -chosen, as there is not to be a model till next Monday week, a beautiful -headpiece of elaborate design on whose surface the red drapery near it -is reflected. Some time after lunch Mrs. C. came running to me from the -Antique triumphantly waving a bunch of lilac above her head and crying -out that my 'Newcomes' had won! I jumped up, overjoyed, and went to see -the sketches, around which a crowd of students was buzzing. Mr. Denby, -who couldn't help knowing whose the 'Best' were, gave me a nod of -approbation. I was very happy. Returning to Fulham, I told the glad -tidings to Papa, Mamma, Grandpapa and Grandmamma as they each came in. -So this has been a charming day indeed." - -Page after page, closely written, describes the student life, than which -there cannot be a happier one for a boy or girl; thorough searchings -through the Royal Academy rooms for everything I could find for -instruction, admiration and criticism. I joined a class in Bolsover -Street for the study of the "undraped" female model, and worked very -hard there on alternate days. This necessitated long omnibus rides to -that dismal locality, but I always managed to post myself near the -omnibus door, so as to study the horses in motion in the crowded streets -from that coign of vantage. I also joined a painting class in Conduit -Street, but that venture was not a success. I went in about the same -time for very thorough artistic anatomy at the schools. I gave sketches -to nearly all my fellow students--fights round standards, cavalry -charges, thundering guns. I wonder where they are all now! I had always -had a great liking for the representation of movement, but at the same -time a deep well of melancholy existed in my nature, and caused me to -draw from its depths some very sad subjects for my sketches and plans -for future pictures. How strange it seems that I should have been so -impregnated, if I may use the word, with the warrior spirit in art, -seeing that we had had no soldiers in either my father's or mother's -family! My father had a deep admiration for the great captains of war, -but my mother detested war, though respecting deeply the heroism of the -soldier. Though she and I had much in common, yet, as regards the -military idea, we were somewhat far asunder; my dear and devoted mother -wished to see me lean towards other phases of art as well, especially -the religious phase, and my Italian studies in days to come very much -inclined me to sacred subjects. But as time went on circumstances -conducted me to the _genre militaire_, and there I have remained, as -regards my principal oil paintings, with few exceptions. My own reading -of war--that mysteriously inevitable recurrence throughout the -sorrowful history of our world--is that it calls forth the noblest and -the basest impulses of human nature. The painter should be careful to -keep himself at a distance, lest the ignoble and vile details under his -eyes should blind him irretrievably to the noble things that rise -beyond. To see the mountain tops we must not approach the base, where -the foot-hills mask the summits. Wellington's answer to enthusiastic -artists and writers seeking information concerning the details of his -crowning victory was full of meaning: "The best thing you can do for the -Battle of Waterloo is to leave it alone." He had passed along the -dreadful foot-hills which blocked his vision of the Alps. - -I worked hard at the schools and in the country throughout 1867, and, -with many ups and downs, progressed in the Life class. My fellow -students were a great delight to me, so enthusiastically did they watch -my progress and foretell great things for me. We formed a little club of -four or five students--kindred spirits--for mutual help and all sorts of -good deeds, the badge being a red cross and the motto "Thorough." I -remember a money-box into which we were, by the rules, to drop what -coins we could spare for the Poor. We were to read a chapter of the New -Testament every day, and a chapter of Thomas à Kempis, and all our works -were to be signed with the red cross and the club monogram. Seeing this -little sign in the corner of "The Roll Call" over my name set one of -those absurd stories circulating in the Press with which the public was -amused in 1874, namely, that I had been a Red Cross nurse in the Crimea. -As a counterpoise to this more "copy" was obtained for the papers by -paragraphs representing me as an infant prodigy, which I thank my stars -I was _not_! - -One day in this year 1867 I had, with great trepidation, asked Mr. -Burchett to accept two pen and ink illustrations I had made to Morris's -poem, "Riding together." Great commotion amongst the students. Some -preferred the drawing for the gay and happy first verse: - - Our spears stood bright and thick together, - Straight out the banners streamed behind, - As we galloped on in the sunny weather, - With our faces turned towards the wind. - -and others the tragic sequel: - - They bound my blood-stained hands together, - They bound his corpse to nod by my side, - Then on we rode in the bright March weather, - With clash of cymbal did we ride. - -The Diary says: "Mr. Burchett, surrounded by my dear fellow red crosses, -Va., B., and Vy., talked about the drawings in a way which pleased me -very much. When he was gone, Va. and B. disappeared and soon reappeared, -Va. with a crown of leaves to crown me with and B. with a comb and some -paper on which to play 'See the Conquering Hero comes' whilst Va. and -Vy. should carry me along the great corridor in a dandy chair. They had -great trouble to crown me, and then to get me to mount. It was a most -uncomfortable triumphal progress, Vy. being nearly six foot and Va. -rather short. They just put me down in time, for, had we gone an inch -further on, we should have confronted Miss Truelock,[3] who swooped -round the corner. I cannot describe the homage these three pay me, Va.'s -in particular--Vy.'s is measured, and not humble like Va.'s or -radiantly enthusiastic like B.'s. I am glad that I stand proof against -all this, but it is hard to do so, as I know it is so thoroughly -sincere, and that they say even more out of my hearing than to my face." - -The Sultan Abdul Aziz and the Khedive Ismail paid a visit to London that -year. We were in the midst of the festivities; and such church-bell -ringing, fireworks, musical uproar, especially at the Crystal Palace, -where the "Hallelujah," "Moses in Egypt," and other Biblical choruses -vied with the cheering of the crowds in expressions of exultation, -seldom had London known. This fills pages and pages of the Diary. As we -looked on from Willis and Sotheran's shop window, out of which all the -books had been cleared for us, in Trafalgar Square, at the arrival of -the "Father of the Faithful," it seemed a strange thing for the bells of -our churches to be pealing forth their joyous welcome. But how vain all -these political doings appear as time goes by! What sort of reception -would we give the present Sultan I wonder? We have even _abolished_ -Khedives. Much more reasonable and sane was the mob's welcome to the -Belgian volunteers, who were also England's guests that year. We English -were very courteous to the Belgians. Papa took us to the great Belgian -ball, where we appeared wearing red, black, and yellow sashes. He -offered to hold a Belgian officer's sword for him while he (the Belgian) -waltzed me round the hall. A silver medal was struck to commemorate this -visit, and every Belgian was presented with this decoration. On it were -engraved the words "_Vive La Belge_." No one could tell who the lady -was. - -This year saw my meek beginning in the showing of an oil picture -("Horses in Sunshine") at the Women Artists' Exhibition, and then -followed a water colour, "Bavarian Artillery going into Action," at the -Dudley Gallery--that delightful gallery which is now no more and which -_The Times_ designated the "nursery of young reputations." I continued -exhibiting water colours and black-and-whites for some years there. I -had the rare sensation of walking on air when my father, meeting me on -parting with Tom Taylor, the critic of _The Times_, told me the latter -had just come from the Dudley's press view and seen my "Bavarian -Artillery" on its walls. I had begun! - -In the latter part of this year's work at South Kensington Mr. Burchett -stirred us up by giving us "time" and "memory" drawing to do from the -antique, and many things which required quickness, imagination and -concentration, all of which suited me well. Charcoal studies on tinted -paper delighted me. I was always at home in such things. We often had -"time" drawings to do on very rough paper, using charcoal with the hog's -hair paint brush. What a good change from the dawdling chalk work -formerly in vogue when I joined. I had by this time painted my way in -oils through many models, male and female, with all the ups and downs -recorded elaborately, the encouragements and depressions, and the happy, -though slow, progress in the management of the brush. I had won a medal -for two life-size female heads in oils, and through all the ups and -downs the devotion of my dear "Red Cross" fellow students never -fluctuated. - -The year 1868 saw me steadily working away at the Schools and doing a -great many drawings for sketching clubs and various competitions during -this period, till we were off once more to Italy in October. On March -19th of that year I wrote in the Diary: "Ruskin has invited himself to -tea here on Monday!!!" Then: "Memorable Monday. On thee I was introduced -to Ruskin! Punctually at six came the great man. If I had been disposed -to be nervous with him, his cold formal bow and closing of the eyes, his -somewhat supercilious under-lip and sensitive nostrils would not have -put me at my ease. But, fortunately, I felt quite normal--unlike Mamma -and Alice, the latter of whom had reason for quaking, seeing that one of -her young poems, sent him by a friend, had been scanned by that eye and -pondered by that greatest of living minds. - -"He sat talking a little, not commonplaces at all; on the contrary, he -immediately began on great topics, Mamma and he coinciding all through, -particularly on the subject of modern ugliness, railways, factory -chimneys, backs of English houses, sash windows, etc., etc. Then he -directed his talk to me, and we sat talking together about art, of -course, and I showed him two life studies, which he expressed himself as -exceedingly pleased with in a very emphatic manner. But here we went -down to tea. After tea I showed him my imaginative drawings, which he -criticised a good deal. He said there was no reason why I should not -become a great artist (!), that I was 'destined to do great things.' But -he remarked, after this too kindly beginning, that it was evident I had -not studied enough from nature in those drawings, the light and shade -being incorrect and the relations of tones, etc., etc. He told me to -beware of sensational subjects, as yet, _à propos_ of the Lancelot and -Guinevere drawing; that such were dangerous, leading me to think I had -quite succeeded by virtue of the strength of my subject and to overlook -the consideration of minor points. He said, 'Do fewer of these things, -but what you do _do right_ and never mind the subject.' I did not like -that; my great idea is that an artist should choose a worthy subject and -concentrate his attention on the chief point. But Ruskin is a lover of -landscape art and loves to see every blade of grass in a foreground -lovingly dwelt upon. I cannot write down all he said as he and I leant -over the piano where my drawings were. But it was with my artillery -water colour, 'The Crest of the Hill,' that he was most pleased. He -knelt down before it where it hung low down and held a candle before it -the better to see it, and exclaimed 'Wonderful!' two or three times, and -said it had 'immense power.' Thank you, Dudley Gallery, for not hanging -it where Ruskin would never have seen it! - -"He listened to Mamma's playing and Alice's singing of Mamma's 'Ave -Maria' with perfectly absorbed attention, and seemed to enjoy the lovely -sounds. He had many kind things to say to Alice about her poem, saying -that he knew she was forced to write it; but was she always obliged to -write so sadly? Then he spied out Mamma's pictures, and insisted on -seeing lots of her water colours, which I know he must have enjoyed more -than my imaginative things, seeing with what humble lovingness Mamma -paints her landscapes. In fact, we showed him our paces all the evening. -Papa says he (P.) was like the circus man, standing in the middle with -the long whip, touching us up as we were trotted out before the great -man. He seems, by the by, to have a great contempt for the modern French -school, as I expected." - -Daily records follow of steady work, much more to the purpose than in -the humdrum old days. Mr. Burchett continued the new system with -increasing energy. He seemed to have taken it up in our Life class with -real pleasure latterly. In July the session ended, and I was not to -re-enter the schools till after my Italian art training had brought me a -long way forward. - - - - -CHAPTER V - -STUDY IN FLORENCE - - -Italy once more! Again the old palazzo at Albaro and the old friends -surrounding us! My work never relaxed, for I set up a little studio and -went in for life-size heads, and got more and more facility with the -brush. The kindly peasants let me paint them, and I victimised my -obliging friends and had professional models out from Genoa. That was a -very greatly enjoyed autumn, winter and spring, and the gaieties of the -English Colony, the private theatricals, the concerts at Villa -Novello--all those things did me good. The childish carnival revels had -still power over me--yea, _more_--though I _was_ grown up, and, to tell -the truth, I got all the fun out of them that was possible within -bounds. "The Red Cross Sketch Book," which I filled with illustrations -of our journey out and of life at Genoa, I dedicated to the club and -sent to them when we left for Florence. - -We found Genoa just as we had left it, still the brilliantly picturesque -city of the sea, its populace brightly clad in their Ligurian national -dress, the women still wearing the pezzotto, and the men the red cap I -loved; the port all delightful with oriental character, its shouting -muleteers and _facchini_, its fruit and flower sellers in the narrow -streets and entrances to the palaces--all the old local colour. Alas! I -was there only the other day, and found all the local charm had -gone--modernised away! - -When we left Genoa in April my father tried to get a _vetturino_ to take -us as far as Pisa by road on our way to Florence, for auld lang syne, -but Antonio--he who used to drive us into Genoa in the old days--said -that was now impossible on account of the railway--"_Non ci conviene, -signore_!"--but he would take us as far as Spezzia. So, to our delight, -we were able once more to experience the pleasures of the road and avoid -that truly horrible series of suffocating tunnels that tries us so much -on that portion of the coastline. At Sestri Levante I wrote: "I sit down -at this pleasant hotel, with the silent sea glimmering in the early -night before me outside the open window, to note down our journey thus -far. The day has been truly glorious, the sea without even the thinnest -rim of white along the coast, and such exquisite combinations of clouds. -We left Villa Quartara at ten, with Madame Vittorina and the servants in -tears. Majolina comes with us; she is such a good little maid. We had -three good horses, but for the Bracco Pass we shall have an extra one. -There is no way of travelling like this, in an open carriage; it is so -placid; there is no hurrying to catch trains and struggling in crowds, -no waiting in dismal _salles d'attente_. And then compare the entry into -the towns by the high road and through the principal streets, perhaps -through a city gate, the horse's hoofs clattering and the whip cracking -so merrily and the people standing about in groups watching us pass, to -sneaking into a station, one of which is just like the other, which -hasn't the slightest _couleur locale_ about it, and is sure to have -unsightly surroundings. - -"Away we went merrily, I feeling very jolly. The colour all along was -ravishing, as may be imagined, seeing what a perfect day it was and -that this is the loveliest season of the year. We dined at dear old -Ruta, where also the horses had a good rest and where I was able to -sketch something down. From Ruta to Sestri I rode by Majolina on the -box, by far the best position of all, and didn't I enjoy it! The horses' -bells jingled so cheerily and those three sturdy horses took us along so -well. Rapallo and Chiavari! Dear old friends, what delicious -picturesqueness they had, what lovely approaches to them by roads -bordered with trees! The views were simply distracting. Sestri is a gem. -Why don't water-colour painters come here in shoals? What colouring the -mountains had at sunset, and I had only a pencil and wretched little -sketch book. - -"_Spezzia, April 28th, 1869._--A repetition of yesterday in point of -weather. I feel as though I had been steeped all day in some balmy -liquid of gold, purple, and blue. I have a Titianesque feeling hovering -about me produced by the style of landscape we have passed through and -the faces of the people who are working in the patches of cultivation -under the mulberries and vines, and that intense, deep blue sky with -massive white clouds floating over it. We exclaimed as much at the -beauty of the women as at the purple of the mountains and the green of -the budding mulberries and poplars. And the men and boys; what perfect -types; such fine figures and handsome faces, such healthy colour! We -left the hotel at Sestri, with its avenue of orange trees in flower, at -ten o'clock, and, of course, crossed the Bracco to-day. We dined at a -little place called Bogliasco, in whose street, under our windows, -handsome youths with bare legs and arms were playing at a game of ball -which called forth fine action. I did not know at first whether to look -well at them all or sketch them down one by one, but did both, and I -hope to make a regular drawing of the group from the sketch I took and -from memory. We stopped at the top of the hill, from which is seen La -Spezzia lying below, with its beautiful bay and the Carara Mountains -beyond. Here ends our drive, for to-morrow we take the train for -Florence. - -"_Florence, April 29th._--Magnificent, cloudless weather. But, oh! what -a wearisome journey we had, the train crawling from one station to -another and stopping at each such a time, whilst we baked in the -cushioned carriage and couldn't even have lovely things to look at, -surrounded by the usual railway eyesores. We passed close by the Pisan -Campo Santo, and had a very good view of the Leaning Tower and the -Duomo. Such hurrying and struggling at the Pisa station to get into the -train for Florence, having, of course, to carry all our small baggage -ourselves. Railway travelling in Italy is odious. It was very lovely to -see Florence in the distance, with those domes and towers I know so well -by heart from pictures, but we were very limp indeed, the wearisome -train having taken all our enthusiasm away. Everything as we arrived -struck us as small, and I am still so dazzled by the splendour of Genoa -that my eyes cannot, as it were, comprehend the brown, grey and white -tones of this quiet-coloured little city. I must _Florentine_ myself as -fast as I can. This hotel is on the Lung' Arno, and charming was it to -look out of the windows in the lovely evening and see the river below -and the dome of the Carmine and tower of Santo Spirito against the clear -sky with, further off, the hills with their convents (alas! empty now) -and clusters of cypresses. No greater contrast to Genoa could be than -Florence in every way. Oh! may this city of the arts see me begin (and -finish) my first regular picture. _April 30th._--I and Papa strolled -about the streets to get a general impression of '_Firenze la gentile_,' -and looked into the Duomo, which is indeed bare and sad-coloured inside -except in its delicious painted windows over the altars, the harmonious -richness of which I should think could not be exceeded by any earthly -means. The outside is very gay and cheerful, but some of the marble has -browned itself into an appearance of wood. Oh! dear Giotto's Tower, -could elegance go beyond this? Is not this an example of the complete -_savoir faire_ of those true-born artists of old? And the 'Gates of -Paradise'! The delight of seeing these from the street is great, instead -of in a museum. But Michael Angelo's enthusiastic exclamation in their -praise rather makes one smile, for we know that it must have been in -admiration of their purely technical beauties, as the gates are by no -means large and grand _as_ gates, and the bronze is rather dark for an -entrance into Paradise! I reverently saluted the Palazzo Vecchio, and am -quite ready to get very much attached to the brown stone of Florence in -time. - -"_Villa Lamporecchi, May 1st._--We two and Papa had a good spell at the -Uffizi in the morning, and in the afternoon we took possession of this -pleasing house, which is so cool and has far-spreading views, one of -Florence from a terrace leading out of what I shall make my studio. A -garden and vineyards sloping down to the valley where Brunelleschi's -brown dome shows above the olives." - -[Illustration: IN FLORENCE DURING MY STUDIES IN /69.] - -Our mother did many lovely water colours, one especially exquisite -one of Fiesole seen in a shimmering blue midsummer light. That, and one -done on the Lung' Arno, to which Shelley's line - - "The purple noon's transparent might" - -could justly be applied, are treasured by me. She understood sunshine -and how to paint it. - -"_May 3rd._--I already feel Florence growing upon me. I begin to -understand the love English people of culture and taste get for this -most interesting and gentle city. The ground one treads on is all -historic, but it is in the artistic side of its history that I naturally -feel the greatest interest, and it is a delightful thing to go about -those streets and be reminded at every turn of the great Painters, -Architects, Sculptors I have read so much of. Here a palace designed by -Raphael, there a glorious row of windows carved by Michael Angelo, there -some exquisite ironwork wrought by some other born genius. I think the -style of architecture of the Strozzi Palace, the Ricardi, and others, is -perfection in its way, though at first, with the brilliant whites, -yellows and pinks of Genoa still in my eye, I felt rather depressed by -the uniform brown of the huge stones of which they are built. No wonder -I haunt the well-known gallery which runs over the Ponte Vecchio, lined -with the sketches, studies, and first thoughts of most of the great -masters. One delights almost more in these than in many of the finished -pictures. They bring one much more in contact, as it were, with the -great dead, and make one familiar with their methods of work. One sees -what little slips they made, how they modified their first thoughts, -over and over again, before finally fixing their choice. Very -encouraging to the struggling beginner to see these evidences of their -troubles! - -"I have never, before I came here where so many of them have lived, -realised the old masters as our comrades; I have never been so near them -and felt them to be mortals exactly like ourselves. This city and its -environs are so little changed, the greater part of them not at all, -since those grand old Michael Angelesque days that one feels brought -quite close to the old painters, seeing what they saw and walking on the -very same old pavement as they walked on, passing the houses where they -lived, and so forth." - -I was at that time bent on achieving my first "great picture," to be -taken from Keats's poem "The Pot of Basil"; Lorenzo riding to his death -between the two brothers: - - So the two brothers and their murdered man - Rode past fair Florence, - -but, fortunately, I resolved instead to put in further training before -attacking such a canvas, and I became the pupil of a very fine academic -draughtsman, though no great colourist, Giuseppe Bellucci. On alternate -days to those spent in his studio I copied in careful pencil some of the -exquisite figures in Andrea del Sarto's frescoes in the cloisters of the -SS. Annunziata. - -The heat was so great that, as it became more intense, I had to be at -Bellucci's, in the Via Santa Reparata, at eight o'clock instead of 8.30, -getting there in the comparative cool of the morning, after a salutary -walk into Florence, accompanied by little Majolina, no _signorina_ being -at liberty to walk alone. What heat! The sound of the ceaseless hiss of -the _cicale_ gave one the impression of the country's undergoing the -ordeal of being _frizzled_ by the sun. I record the appearance of my -first fire-fly on the night of May 6th. What more pleasing rest could -one have, after the heat and work of the day, than by a stroll through -the vineyards in the early night escorted by these little creatures with -their golden lamps? - -The cloisters were always cool, and I enjoyed my lonely hours there, but -the Bellucci studio became at last too much of a furnace. My master had -already several times suggested a rest, mopping his brow, when I also -began to doze over my work at last, and the model wouldn't keep his eyes -open. I record mine as "rolling in my head." - -I see in memory the blinding street outside, and hear the fretful -stamping of some tethered mule teased with the flies. The very Members -of Parliament in the Palazzo Vecchio had departed out of the impossible -Chamber, and, all things considered, I allowed Bellucci to persuade me -to take a little month of rest--"_un mesetto di riposo_"--at home during -part of July and August. That little month of rest was very nice. I did -a water colour of the white oxen ploughing in our _podere_; I helped (?) -the _contadini_ to cut the wheat with my sickle, and sketched them while -they went through the elaborate process of threshing, enlivened with -that rough innocent romping peculiar to young peasants, which gave me -delightful groups in movement. I love and respect the Italian peasant. -He has high ideas of religion, simplicity of living, honour. I can't say -I feel the same towards his _betters_ (?) in the Italian social scale. - -The grapes ripened. The scorched _cicale_ became silent, having, as the -country people declared, returned to the earth whence they sprang. The -heat had passed even _cicala_ pitch. I went back to the studio when the -"little month" had run out and the heat had sensibly cooled, and worked -very well there. I find this record of a birthday expedition: - -"I suggested a visit to the convent of San Salvi out at the Porta alla -Croce, where is to be seen Andrea del Sarto's 'Cenacolo.' This we did in -the forenoon, and in the afternoon visited Careggi. Enough isn't said -about Andrea. What volumes of praise have been written, what endless -talk goes on, about Raphael, and how little do people seem to appreciate -the quiet truth and soberness and subtlety of Andrea. This great fresco -is very striking as one enters the vaulted whitewashed refectory and -sees it facing the entrance at the further end. The great point in this -composition is the wonderful way in which this master has disposed the -hands of all those figures as they sit at the long table. In the row of -heads Andrea has revelled in his love of variety, and each is stamped, -as usual, with strong individuality. This beautifully coloured fresco -has impressed me with another great fact, viz., the wonderful value of -_bright yellow_ as well as white in a composition to light it up. The -second Apostle on our Saviour's left, who is slightly leaning forward on -his elbow and loosely clasping one hand in the other, has his shoulders -wrapped round with yellow drapery, the horizontally disposed folds of -which are the _ne plus ultra_ of artistic arrangement. There is -something very realistic in these figures and their attitudes. Some -people are down on me when they hear me going on about the rendering of -individual character being the most admirable of artistic qualities. - -"At 3.30 we went for such a drive to Careggi, once Lorenzo de' Medici's -villa--where, indeed, he died--and now belonging to Mr. Sloane, a -'bloated capitalist' of distant England. The 'keepsake' beauty of the -views thence was perfect. A combination of garden kept in English order -and lovely Italian landscape is indeed a rich feast for the eye. I was -in ecstasies all along. We made a great _détour_ on our return and -reached home in the after-glow, which cast a light on the houses as of a -second sun. - -"_October 18th._--Went with Papa and Alice to see Raphael's 'Last -Supper' at the Egyptian Museum, long ago a convent. It is not perfectly -sure that Raphael painted it, but, be that as it may, its excellence is -there, evident to all true artists. It seems to me, considering that it -is an early work, that none but one of the first-class men could have -painted it. It offers a very instructive contrast with del Sarto's at -San Salvi. The latter immediately strikes the spectator with its effect, -and makes him exclaim with admiration at the very first moment--at -least, I am speaking for myself. The former (Raphael's) grew upon me in -an extraordinary way after I had come close up to it and dwelt long on -the heads, separately; but on entering the room the rigidity and -formality of the figures, whose aureoles of solid metal are all on one -level, the want of connection of these figures one with the other, and -the uniform light over them all had an unprepossessing effect. -Artistically considered this fresco is not to be mentioned with -Andrea's, but then del Sarto was a ripe and experienced artist when he -painted the San Salvi fresco, whereas they conjecture Raphael to have -been only twenty-two when he painted this. There is more spiritual -feeling in Raphael's, more dignity and ideality altogether; no doubt a -higher conception, and some feel more satisfied with it than with -Andrea's. The refinement and melancholy look of St. Matthew is a thing -to be thought of through life. St. Andrew's face, with the long, -double-peaked white beard, is glorious, and is a contrast to the other -old man's head next to it, St. Peter's, which is of a harder kind, but -not less wonderful. St. Bartholomew, with his dark complexion and black -beard, is strongly marked from the others, who are either fair or -grey-headed. The profile of St. Philip, with a pointed white beard, gave -me great delight, and I wish I could have been left an hour there to -solitary contemplation. St. James Major, a beardless youth, is a true -Perugino type, a very familiar face. Judas is a miserable little figure, -smaller than the others, though on the spectator's side of the table in -the foreground. He seems not to have been taken from life at all. - -"On one of the walls of the room are hung some little chalk studies of -hands, etc., for the fresco, most exquisitely drawn, and seeming, some -of them, better modelled than in the finished work; notably St. Peter's -hand which holds the knife. Is there no Modern who can give us a 'Last -Supper' to rank with this, Andrea's and Leonardo's?" - -This entry in my Diary of student days leads my thoughts to poor -Leonardo da Vinci. A painter must sympathise with him through his -recorded struggles to accomplish, in his "Cenacolo," what may be called -the almost superhuman achievement of worthily representing the Saviour's -face. Had he but been content to use the study which we see in the Brera -gallery! But, no! he must try to do better at Santa Maria delle -Grazie--and fails. How many sleepless nights and nerve-racking days he -must have suffered during this supreme attempt, ending in complete -discouragement. I think the Brera study one of the very few satisfactory -representations of the divine Countenance left us in art. To me it is -supreme in its infinite pathos. But it is always the way with the truly -great geniuses; they never feel that they have reached the heights they -hoped to win. - -Ruskin tells us that Albert Dürer, on finishing one of his own works, -felt absolutely satisfied. "It could not be done better," was the -complacent German's verdict. Ruskin praises him for this, because the -verdict was true. So it was, as regarding a piece of mere handicraft. -But to return to the Diary. - -"We went then to pay a call on Michael Angelo at his apartment in the -Via Ghibellina. I do not put it in those words as a silly joke, but -because it expresses the feeling I had at the moment. To go to his -house, up his staircase to his flat, and ring at his door produced in my -mind a vivid impression that he was alive and, living there, would -receive us in his drawing-room. Everything is well nigh as it was in his -time, but restored and made to look like new, the place being far more -as he saw it than if it were half ruinous and going to decay. Even the -furniture is the same, but new velveted and varnished. It is a pretty -apartment, such as one can see any day in nice modern houses. I touched -his little slippers, which are preserved, together with his two walking -sticks, in a tiny cabinet where he used to write, and where I wondered -how he found space to stretch his legs. The slippers are very small and -of a peculiar, rather Eastern, shape, and very little worn. Altogether, -I could not realise the lapse of time between his date and ours. The -little sketches round the walls of the room, which is furnished with -yellow satin chairs and sofa, are very admirable and free. The Titian -hung here is a very splendid bit of colour. This was a very impressive -visit. The bronze bust of M. A. by Giovanni da Bologna is magnificent; -it gives immense character, and must be the image of the man." - -On October 21st I bade good-bye to Bellucci. His system forbade praise -for the pupil, which was rather depressing, but he relaxed sufficiently -to tell my father at parting that I would do things (_Farà delle cose_) -and that I was untiring (_istancabile_), taking study seriously, not -like the others (_le altre_). With this I had to be content. He had -drilled me in drawing more severely than I could have been drilled in -England. For that purpose he had kept me a good deal to painting in -monochrome, so as to have my attention absorbed by the drawing and -modelling and _chiaroscuro_ of an object without the distraction of -colour. He also said to me I could now walk alone (_può camminare da -sè_), and with this valedictory good-bye we parted. Being free, I spent -the remaining time at Florence in visits to the churches and galleries -with my father and sister, seeing works I had not had time to study up -till then. - -"_October 22nd._--We first went to see the Ghirlandajos at Santa -Trinità, which I had not yet seen. They are fading, as, indeed, most of -the grand old frescoes are doing, but the heads are full of character, -and the grand old costumes are still plainly visible. From thence we -went to the small cloister called _dello Scalzo_, where are the -exquisite monochromes of Andrea del Sarto. Would that this cloister had -been roofed in long ago, for the weather has made sad havoc of these -precious things. Being in monochrome and much washed out, they have a -faded look indeed; but how the drawing tells! What a master of anatomy -was he, and yet how unexaggerated, how true: he was content to limit -himself to Nature; _knew where to draw the line_, had, in fact, the -reticence which Michael Angelo couldn't recognise; could stop at the -limit of truth and good taste through which the great sculptor burst -with coarse violence. There are some backs of legs in those frescoes -which are simply perfect. These works illustrate the events in the life -of John the Baptist. Here, again, how marvellous and admirable are all -the hands, not only in drawing, but in action, how touching the heads, -how grand and thoroughly artistic the draperies and the poses of the -figures. A splendid lesson in the management of drapery is, especially, -the fresco to the right of the entrance, the 'Vision of Zacharias.' -There are four figures, two immediately in the foreground and at either -extremity of the composition; the two others, seen between them, further -off. The nearest ones are in draperies of the grandest and largest -folds, with such masses of light and dark, of the most satisfying -breadth; and the two more distant ones have folds of a slightly more -complex nature, if such a word can be used with regard to such a -thoroughly broadly treated work. This gives such contrast and relief -between the near and distant figures, and the absence of the aid of -colour makes the science of art all the more simply perceived. Most -beautiful is the fresco representing the birth of St. John, though the -lower part is quite lost. What consummate drapery arrangements! The nude -figure _vue de dos_ in the fresco of St. John baptising his disciples is -a masterly bit of drawing. Though the paint has fallen off many parts of -these frescoes, one can trace the drawing by the incision which was -made on the wet plaster to mark all the outlines preparatory to -beginning the painting." - -These are but a few of my art student's impressions of this -fondly-remembered Florentine epoch, which are recorded at great length -in the Diary for my own study. And now away to Rome! - - - - -CHAPTER VI - -ROME - - -That was a memorable journey to Rome by Perugia. I have travelled more -than once by that line, and the more direct one as well, since then, and -I feel as though I could never have enough of either, though to be on -the road again, as we now can be by motor, would be still greater bliss. -But the original journey took place so long ago that it has positively -an old-world glamour about it, and a certain roughness in the flavour, -so difficult to enjoy in these times of Pulman cars and Palace Hotels, -which make all places taste so much alike. The old towns on the -foothills of the Apennines drew me to the left, and the great sunlit -plains to the right, of the carriage in an _embarras de choix_ as we -sped along. Cortona, Arezzo, Castiglione--Fiorentin--each little old -city putting out its predecessor, as it seemed to me, as more perfect in -its picturesque effect than the one last seen. It was the story of the -Rhine castles and villages over again. The Lake of Trasimene appeared on -our right towards sundown, a sheet of still water so tender in its tints -and so lonely; no town on its malaria-stricken banks; a boat or two, -water-fowl among the rushes and, as we proceeded, the great, magnified -globe of the sun sinking behind the rim of the lake. We were going deep -into the Umbrian Hills, deep into old Italy; the deeper the better. We -neared Perugia, where we passed the night, before dark, and saw the old -brown city tinged faintly with the after-glow, afar off on its hill. A -massive castle stood there in those days which I have not regretted -since, as it symbolised the old time of foreign tyranny. It is gone now, -but how mediæval it looked, frowning on the world that darkening -evening. Hills stood behind the city in deep blue masses against a sky -singularly red, where a great planet was shining. There was a Perugino -picture come to life for us! Even the little spindly trees tracing their -slender branches on the red sky were in the true _naïf_ Perugino spirit! -How pleased we were! We rumbled in the four-horse station 'bus under two -echoing gateways piercing the massive outer and inner city walls and -along the silent streets, lit with rare oil lamps. Not a gas jet, aha! -But we were to feel still more deeply mediæval, whether we liked it or -not, for on reaching the Hotel de la Poste we found it was full, and had -to wander off to seek what hostel could take us in through very dark, -ancient streets. I will let the Diary speak: - -"The _facchino_ of the hotel conducted us to a place little better than -a _cabaret_, belonging, no doubt, to a chum. I wouldn't have minded -putting up there, but Mamma knew better, and, rewarding the woman of the -_cabaret_ with two francs, much against her protestations, we went off -up the steep street again and made for the 'Corona,' a shade better, -close to the market place. My bedroom was as though it had once been a -dungeon, so massive were the walls and deep the vaulting of the low -ceiling. We went to bed almost immediately after our dinner, which was -enlivened by the conversation of men who were eating at a neighbouring -table, all, except a priest, with their hats on. One was very -loquacious, shouting politics. He held forth about '_Il Mastai_,' as he -called His Holiness Pope Pius the Ninth, and flourished renegade _Padre -Giacinto_ in the priest's face, the courteous and laconic priest's -eyebrows remaining at high-water mark all the time. The shouter went on -to say that English was '_una lingua povera e meschina_' ('Poor and -mean'!)" - -The next morning before leaving we saw all that time allowed us of -Perugia, the bronze statue of Pope Julius III. impressing me deeply. -Indeed, there is no statue more eloquent than this one. Alas! the -Italians have removed it from its right place, and when I revisited the -city in 1900 I found the tram terminus in place of the Pope. - -"_October 27th._--After the morning's doings in sunshine the day became -sad, and from Foligno, where we had a long wait, the story is but of -rain and dusk and night. We became more and more apathetic and bored, -though we were roused up at the frontier station, where I saw the Papal -_gendarmes_ and gave the alarm. Mamma went on her knees in the carriage -and cried, '_Viva Il Papa Rè!_' We all joined in, drinking his health in -some very flat 'red _grignolino_' we had with us. I became more and more -excited as we neared the centre of the earth, the capital of -Christendom, the highest city in the world. In the rainy darkness we ran -into the Roman station, which might have been that of Brighton for aught -we could see. I strained my eyes right and left for Papal uniforms, and -was rewarded by Zouaves and others, and lots of French (of the Legion) -into the bargain. - -Then a long wait, in the 'bus of the Anglo-American Hotel, for our -luggage; and at last we rattled over the pavement, which, with its -cobble stones, was a great contrast to the large flat flags of -Florence, along very dark and gloomy streets. An apartment all crimson -damask was ready prepared for us, which looked cheery and revived us. - -"_October 28th_, 56, _Via del Babuino._--The day began rather -dismally--looking for apartments in the rain! The coming of the -OEcumenical Council has greatly inflated the prices; Rome is crammed. -At last we took this attractive one for six months, '_esposto a -mezzogiorno_.' Facing due south, fortunately. - -"The sun came out then, and all things were bright and joyous as we -rattled off in a little victoria to feast our eyes (we two for the first -time) on St. Peter's. Papa, knowing Rome already, knew what to do and -how best to give us our first impressions. An epoch in my life, never to -be forgotten, a moment in my existence too solemn and beyond my power of -writing to allow of my describing it! I have seen St. Peter's. No, -indeed, no descriptions have ever given me an adequate idea of what I -have just seen. The sensation of seeing the real thing one has gazed at -in pictures and photographs with longing is one of peculiar delight. - -"To find myself really on the Ponte Sant' Angelo! No dream this. There -is the huge castle and the angel with outstretched wings, and there is -St. Peter's in very truth. The sight of it made the tears rise and my -throat tighten, so greatly was I overcome by that soul-moving sight. The -dome is perfect; the whole, with its great piazza and colonnade, is -perfect; I am utterly overpowered and, as to writing, it is too -inadequate, and I do so merely because I must do my duty by this -journal. - -"What a state I was in, though exteriorly so quiet. And all around us -other beauties--the yellow Tiber, the old houses, the great -fortress-tomb--oh, Mimi, the artist, is not all the enthusiasm in you at -full power? We got out of the carriage at the bottom of the piazza and -walked up to the basilica on foot. The two familiar fountains--so -familiar, yet seen for the first time in reality--were sending up their -spray in such magnificent abundance, which the wind took and sent in -cascade-like forms far out over the reflecting pavement. The interior of -St. Peter's, which impresses different people in such various ways, was -a radiant revelation to me. We had but a preliminary taste to-day. We -drove thence to the Piazza del Popolo, and then had an entrancing walk -on Monte Pincio. We came down by the French Academy, with its row of -clipped ilexes, under which you see one of the most exquisite views of -silvery Rome, St. Peter's in the middle. We dipped down by the steps of -the Trinità, where the models congregate, flecking the wide grey steps -with all the colours of the rainbow. - -"_October 29th._--Papa would not let us linger in the Colosseum too -long, for to-day he wanted us to have only a general idea of things. -Those bits of distance seen through triumphal arches, between old -pillars, through gaps in ancient walls, how they please! As we were -climbing the Palatine hill a Black Franciscan came up to us for alms, -and in return offered us his snuff-box, out of which Alice and I took a -pinch, and we went sneezing over the ruins. On to the Capitol, and down -thence homeward through streets full of priests, monks and soldiers. All -the afternoon given to being tossed about, with poor Papa, by the Dogana -from the railway station to the custom-house in the Baths of Diocletian, -and from there to the artist commissioned by the Government to examine -incoming works of art. They would not let me have my box of studies, -calling them 'modern pictures' on which we must pay duty." - -Rome under the Temporal Power was so unlike Rome, capital of Italy, as -we see it to-day, that I think it just as well to draw largely from the -Diary, which is crammed with descriptions of men and things belonging to -the old order which can never be seen again. I love to recall it all. We -were in Rome just in time. We left it in May and the Italians entered it -in September. Though I was not a Catholic then, and found delight in -Rome almost entirely as an artist, the power and vitality of the Church -could not but impress me there. - -"_October 30th._--This has been one of the most perfectly enjoyable days -of my life. Papa and I drove to the Vatican through that bright light -air which gives one such energy. The Vatican! What a place wherein to -revel. We climbed one of the mighty staircases guarded by the -interesting Papal Guards, halberd on shoulder, until we got to the top -loggia and went into the picture gallery, I to enchant my eyes with the -grandest pictures that men have conceived. But I will not touch on them -till I go there to study. And so on from one glory to another. We turned -into St. Peter's and there strolled a long time. Before we went in, and -as we were standing at the bottom of the Scala Regia enjoying the -clearness of the sunshine on the city, we saw the _gendarmes_, the -Zouaves and others standing at attention, and, looking back, we saw the -red, black, and yellow Swiss running with operatic effect to seize their -halberds, and Cardinal Antonelli came down to get into his carriage, -almost stumbling over me, who didn't know he was so near. Before he got -into his great old-fashioned coach, harnessed to those heavy black -horses with the trailing scarlet traces, a picturesque incident -occurred. A girl-faced young priest tremulously accosted the Cardinal, -hat in hand, no doubt begging some favour of the great man. The Cardinal -spoke a little time to him with grand kindness, and then the priest fell -on one knee, kissed the Cardinal's ring, and got up blushing pink all -over his beautiful young face, and passed on, gracefully and modestly, -as he had done the rest. Then off rattled the carriage, the Zouaves -presented arms, salutes were made, hats lifted, and Antonelli was gone. - -"In St. Peter's were crowds of priests in different colours, forming -masses of black, purple, and scarlet of great beauty. Two Oriental -bishops were making the round, one, a Dominican, having with him a sort -of Malay for a chaplain in turban and robe. Two others had Chinamen with -pigtails in attendance, these two emaciated prelates bearing signs of -recent torture endured in China, living martyrs out of Florentine -frescoes. Yonder comes a bearded Oriental with mild, beautiful face, and -following him a scarlet-clad German with yellow hair, projecting ears, -coarse mouth, and spectacles over his little eyes; and then a -sharp-visaged Jesuit, or a spiritual, wan Franciscan and a burly Roman -secular. No end of types. One very young Italian monk had the face of a -saint, all ready made for a fresco. I looked at him in unspeakable -admiration as he stood looking up at some inscription, probably -translating it in his own mind. On our way home, to crown all, we met -the Pope. His outrider in cocked hat and feathers came clattering along -the narrow street in advance, then a red-and-gold coach, black prancing -horses--all shadowy to me, as I was intent only on catching a view of -the Holy Father. We got out of the carriage, as in duty bound, and bent -the knee like the rest as he passed by. I saw his profile well, with -that well-known smile on his kind face. As we looked after the carriages -and horsemen the effect was touching of the people kneeling in masses -along the way. The sight of Italian men kneeling is novel to me in the -extreme. - -"_October 31st._--I went first, with Mamma and Alice, to St. Peter's, -where I studied types, attitudes and costumes. The sight of a Zouave -officer kneeling, booted and spurred, his sword by his side, and his -face shaded with his hand, is indeed striking, and one knows all those -have enrolled themselves for a sacred cause they have at heart--higher -even than for love of any particular country. The difference of types -among these Zouaves is most interesting. The Belgian and Dutch decidedly -predominate. Papa and I went thence for a fascinating stroll of many -hours, finding it hard to turn back. We went up to Sant' Onofrio and -then round by the great Farnese Palace. The view from Sant' Onofrio over -Rome is--well, my language is utterly annihilated here. How invigorated -I felt, and not a bit tired." - -I have never been able to call up enthusiasm over the Pantheon, -low-lying, black and pagan in every line. Why does Byron lash himself -into calling it "Pride of Rome"? For the same reason, I suppose, that he -laments and sighs over the disappearance of Dodona's "aged grove and -oracle divine." As if any one cares! The view of Rome from Monte Mario, -being _the_ view, should have a place here as we saw it one of those -richly-coloured days. - -"_November 3rd._--My birthday, marked by the customary birthday -expedition, this time to Monte Mario. Nothing could be more splendid -than looked the Capital of the World as it lay below us when we reached -the top of that commanding height. The Campagna lay beyond it, ending in -that direction with the Sabine and Alban Mountains, the furthest all -white with snow. Buildings, cypresses, pines, formed foreground groups -to the silver city as they only can do to such perfection in these -parts. In another direction we could see the Campagna with its straight -horizon like a calm rosy-brown sea meeting the limpid sky. We drove a -long way on the high road across the Campagna Florence-wards. No high -walls as in the Florentine drives were here to shut out the views, which -unfolded themselves on all sides as we trotted on. We got out of the -carriage on the Campagna and strolled about on the brown grass, enjoying -the sweet free breeze and the great sweep of country stretching away to -the luminous horizon towards the sun, and to the lilac mountains in the -other direction. These mountains became tender pink as we went -Romewards, and when the city again appeared it was in a richly-coloured -light, the Campagna beyond in warm shadow from large chocolate-coloured -clouds which were rising heaped up into the sky. A superb effect." - -Here follow many days chiefly given up to studio hunting and "property" -seeking for my work, soon to be set up. Models there were in plenty, of -course, as Rome was then still the artists' headquarters. How things -have changed! - -I began with a _ciociara_ spinning with a distaff in the well-known and -very much used-up costume, just for practice, and another peasant girl. -Then I painted, at my dear mother's earnest desire, "The -Magnificat"--Mary's visit to Elizabeth--and on off days my father and I -"did" all the pictures contained in various palaces, the Vatican, and -the Villa Borghese, filling pages and pages of notes in the old Diary. I -felt the value of every day in Rome. Many people might think I ought not -to have worked so much in a studio, but I think I divided the time well. -I felt I must keep my hand in, and practise with the brush, though how -often I was tempted to join the others on some fascinating ramble may be -imagined. Soon, however, the rains of a Roman December set in, and Rome -became very wet indeed. Our father read us Roman history every evening -when there were no visitors. We had a good many, our mother and her -music and brightness soon attracting all that was nice in the English -and American colonies. Dear old Mr. Severn, he in whose arms Keats died, -often took tea with us (we kept our way of having dinner early and tea -in the evening), and there was an antiquarian who took interest in -nothing whatever except the old Roman walls, and he used to come and -hold forth about the "Agger of Servius Tullius" till my head went round. -He kept his own on, it seemed to me, by pressing his hand on the bald -top of it as he explained to us about that bit of "agger" which he had -discovered, and the herring-bone brick of which it was built. Often as I -have revisited Rome, I cannot become enthusiastic over the discovery of -some old Roman sewer, or bit of hot-water pipe, or horrible stone basin -with a hole in the bottom for draining off the blood of sacrificial -oxen. I always long to get back into the sunshine and fresh air from the -mouldy depths of Pagan Rome when I get caught in a party to whom the -antiquarian enthusiasts like to hold forth below the surface of the -earth. Alice listens, deferential and controlled, while I fidget, -supporting myself on my umbrella, with such a face! Here is a little bit -of Papal Rome impossible to-day: - -"_November 29th._--In the course of our long ramble after my work Papa -and I, in the soft evening, came upon a scene which I shall not forget, -made by a young priest preaching to a little crowd in the street before -the side door of Santa Maria Sopra Minerva, a Rembrandtesque effect -being produced by the two lamps held by a priest at either side of the -platform on which the preacher stood. One of these held the large -crucifix to which the preacher turned at times, with gestures of rapture -such as only an Italian could use in so natural a way. To see him, -lighted from below, in his black habit and hear his impassioned voice! -All the men were bareheaded, and such as passed by took their hats off. -Penetrating as the priest's voice was, it was now and then quite drowned -by the street noises, especially the rattling of wheels on the rough -stones." - -The days that follow are filled with my work on "The Visitation," with -few intervals of sight-seeing. Then comes the great ecclesiastical event -to be marked in history, which brought all the world to Rome. - -"_Opening of the OEcumenical Council, December 8th._--A memorable day, -this! We got up by candlelight, as at a quarter past seven we were to -drive to St. Peter's. The dreary raining dawn was announced, just as it -broke, by the heavy cannon of Castel Sant' Angelo, the flash of which -was reflected in the blue-grey sky long before the sound reached us, and -the cannon on the Aventine echoed those of the Castel. How dreary it -felt, yet how imposing for any one who has got into the right feeling -about this solemn event. On our way we overtook scores of priests on -foot, trying to walk clear of the puddles in those thin, buckled shoes -of theirs. It must have been trying for the old ones. There were bishops -amongst them, too poor to afford a cab. We have seen them day after day -thus going to the Vatican meetings. One great blessing the rain brought: -it kept hundreds of people from coming to the church, and thus saved -many crushings to death, for it is terrible to contemplate, seeing what -a crowd there actually was, what it might have been had the building -been crammed. Entrance and egress were both at one end of the church. -That thought must console me for the terrible toning down and darkening -of what, otherwise, would have been a great pageant. So many thousands -of wet feet brought something like a lake half way up the floor; so -slippery was it that, had the crowd swayed in a panic, it wouldn't have -been very nice. - -"Papa and I insinuated ourselves into the hedge of people kept back by -Zouaves and Palatine Guards, as we came opposite the statue of St. -Peter, and I eventually got fixed three rows back from the soldiers, and -was lucky to get in so far. I was jammed between a monk and a short -youth of the 'horsey' kind. The atmosphere in that warm, wet crowd was -trying. I could see into the Council Hall opposite. - -[Illustration: ROMAN IMPRESSIONS IN 1870. - -THE LAST OF THE RIDERLESS HORSE-RACES, AND A WET TRUDGE - -TO THE VATICAN COUNCIL.] - -"The passage kept clear for the great procession was very wide. On the -other side I could see rows of English and American girls and elderly -females in the best places, as usual, right to the front, as bold as -brass, and didn't they eye the bishops over through their -_pince-nez!_ We must have been waiting two hours before the procession -entered the church. I ought to have mentioned that the sacred dark -bronze statue of St. Peter was robed in gorgeous golden vestments with a -splendid triple crown on its head, making it look like a black Pope, and -very life-like from where I saw it. It seemed very strange. - -"At last there was a buzz as people perceived the slowly-moving -_silhouette_ of the procession as it passed along in a far-off gallery, -veiled from us by pink curtains, against the light and very high up, -over the entrance. We could see the prelates had all vested by the -outlines of the mitres and the high-shouldered look of the figures in -stiff copes. As the procession entered the church the 'Veni Creator' -swelled up majestically and floated through the immense space. The -effect of the procession to me was _nil_; all I could do was to catch a -glimpse of each bishop as he passed between the bobbing heads of the men -in front of me. All the European and United States Bishops were in white -and silver, but now and then there passed Oriental Patriarchs in rich -vestments, their picturesque dark faces (two were quite brown) telling -so strikingly amongst the pale or rosy Europeans. Each had his solemn -secretary, with imperturbable Eastern face, bearing his jewelled crown, -something in shape like the dome of a mosque. One Oriental wore a jewel -on his dusky forehead, another a black cowl over his head, shading his -keen, dark face, the coarse cowl contrasting in a startling way with the -delicate splendour of the gold and pink and amber vestments worn over -the rough monk's habit. Still, all this could not be imposing to me, -having to squint and crane as I did, seldom being able to see with both -eyes at once. I could at intervals see the silvery prelates, most of -them with snowy heads, and the dark Easterns mount into their seats in -the Council Chamber, our Archbishop Manning amongst them. I had a quite -good glimpse of Cardinal Bonaparte, very like the great Napoleon. Of the -Pope I saw nothing. He was closely surrounded, as he walked past, by the -high-helmeted Noble Guard, and, of course, at that supreme moment every -one in front of me strove to get a better sight of him. Then Papa and I -gladly struggled our way out of the great crowd and went to seek Mamma, -who, very wisely, had not attempted to get a place, but was meekly -sitting on the steps of a confessional in a quiet chapel. Mamma then -went home, and we went into the crowd again to try and see the Council -from a point opposite. We saw it pretty well, the two white banks of -mitred bishops on each side and, far back, the little red Pope in the -middle. Mass was being sung, all Gregorian, but it was faintly heard -from our great distance. - -"No council business was being done to-day; it was only the Mass to open -the meeting. The crowd was most interesting. Surely every nation was -represented in it. An officer of the 42nd Highlanders had an excellent -effect. What shall I do in London, with its dead level of monotony? Oh! -dear, oh! dear. I was quite loth to go home. And so the council is -opened. God speed!" - -The Ghetto was in existence in those days, so I have even experienced -the sight of _that_. Very horrible, packed with "red-haired, blear-eyed -creatures, with loose lips and long, baggy noses." Thus I describe them -in this warren, during our drive one day. What a "_sventramento_" that -must have been when the Italians cleared away and cleaned up all that -congested horror. Wide, wind-swept spaces and a shining, though hideous, -synagogue met my astonished gaze when next I went there and couldn't -find the Ghetto. - -At the end of the year La Signorina Elizabetta Thompson had to apply to -his Eminenza Riverendissima Cardinal Berardi, Minister of Public Works, -to announce her intention of sending the "Magnificat" to the Pope's -international exhibition. At that picture I worked hard, my mother being -my model for Our Lady, and an old _ciociara_ from the Trinità steps for -St. Elizabeth. How it rained that December! But we had radiant sunshine -in between the days when the streets were all running with red-brown -rivulets, through which the horses splashed as if fording a stream. - -"_January 25th, 1870._--I finished my 'Magnificat' to-day. Yet ought I -to say I ceased to paint at it, for 'finish' suggests something far -beyond what this picture is. Well, I shall enjoy being on the loose now. -To stroll about Rome after having passed through a picture is perfect -enjoyment. I should feel very uncomfortable at the present time if I -had, up till now, done nothing but lionise. I have no hope of my picture -being accepted now, but still it is pleasant to think that I have worked -hard. - -"_February 3rd._--I took my picture to the Calcografia place, as warned -to do. There, in dusty horror, it awaits the selecting committee's -review, which takes place to-morrow. Mamma and I held it manfully in the -little open carriage to keep it from tumbling out, our arms stretched to -their utmost. Lots of men were shuffling about in that dusty place with -pictures of all sizes. But, oh! what a scene of horror was that -collection of daubs. Oh! mercy on us. - -"_February 5th._--My 'Magnificat' is accepted. First, off goes Mamma -with Celestina to the Calcografia to learn the fate of the picture, and -bring it back triumphant, she and the maid holding it steady in the -little open carriage. Soon after, off we go to the Palazzo Poli to see -nice Mr. Severn, who says he is so proud of me, and will do all he can -to help me in art matters, to see whether he could make the exhibition -people hang my picture well, as we were told the artists had to see to -that themselves if they wanted it well done. I, for my part, would leave -it to them and rather shirk a place on the line, for my picture is -depressingly unsatisfactory to me, but Mamma, for whom I have painted -it, loves it, and wants it well placed 'so that the Pope may see it'! -From thence off we go to the abode of the Minister of Commerce, Cardinal -B., for my pass. We were there told, to our dismay, that we could not -take the picture ourselves to the exhibition, as it was held in the -cloisters of Sta. Maria degli Angeli, and no permission had yet been -given to admit women before the opening. But I knew that between Papa -and Mr. Severn the picture would be seen to inside the cloistered walls. -After lunch, off goes Papa with my pass, we following in the little open -carriage as before, holding the old picture before us with straining -arms and knitted brows, very much jolted and bumped. We are stopped at -the cloisters, and told to drive out again, and there we pull up, our -faces turned in the opposite direction. The hood of the carriage -suddenly collapses, and we are revealed, unable to let go the picture, -with the soldiers collected about the place grinning. Papa arrives, and -he and two _facchini_ come to the rescue, and then disappear with the -picture amongst the forbidden regions enclosed in the gloomy ruins of -Diocletian's Baths. Papa, on returning home, told me how charmed old -Severn, who was there, was with the picture, and even Podesti, the -judge, after some criticisms, and in no way ready to give it a good -place, said to Severn he had expected the signorina's picture to be -rubbish (_porcheria_). I suppose because it was a woman's work. He -retracted, and said he would like to see me. - -"_February 14th._--I began another picture to-day, after all my -resolutions to the contrary, the subject, two Roman shepherds playing at -'_Morra_', sitting on a fallen pillar, a third _contadino_, in a cloak, -looking on. I posed my first model, putting a light background to him, -the effect being capital, he coming rich and dusky against it. He soon -understood I wanted energy thrown into the action. I shall delight in -this subject, because the hands figure so conspicuously in the game. - -"_February 15th._--I went up alone to the Trinità to choose the other -young man for my 'Morra,' and, after a little inspection of the group of -lolling Romagnoli, gave the apple to one with a finely-cut profile and -black hair, the other models, male and female, clustering round to hear, -and many bystanders and the Zouave sentry, hard by, looking on." - -On one evening in this eventful Roman period I had the opportunity of -seeing the famous race of the riderless horses (the _barberi_), which -closed the Carnival doings. The impression remains with me quite vividly -to this day. The colour, the movement; the fast-deepening twilight; the -historic associations of that vast Piazza del Popolo, where I see the -great obelisk retaining, on its upper part, the last flush from the -west; the impetuous waters of the fountains at its base in cool shadow; -St. Peter's dome away to the left--this is the setting. Then I hear the -clatter of the dragoon's horses as the detachment forms up for clearing -the course. The stands, at the foot of the obelisk, are full, some of -the crowd in carnival costume and with masks. A sharp word of command -rings out in the chilly air. Away go the dragoons, down the narrow Corso -and back, at full gallop, splitting the surging crowd with theatrical -effect. The line is clear. Now comes the moment of expectancy! At that -unique starting post, the obelisk upon which Moses in Egypt may have -looked as upon an interesting monument of antiquity in pre-Exodus days, -there appear eleven highly-nervous barbs, tricked out with plumes and -painted with white spots and stripes. The convicts who lead them in -(each man, one may say, carrying his life in his hand) are trying, with -iron grip, to keep their horses quiet, for the spiked balls and other -irritants are now unfastened and dangling loose from the horses' backs. -But one terrified beast comes on "kicking against the pricks" already. -The whole pack become wild. The more they plunge, the more the balls -bang and prick. One furious creature, wrenching itself free, whirls -round in the wrong direction. But there is no time to lose; the -restraining rope must be cut. A gun booms; there is a shout and clapping -of hands. Ten of the horses, with heads down, get off in a bunch, -shooting straight as arrows for the Corso; the eleventh slips on the -cobbles, rolls over and, recovering itself, tears after its pals, -straining every nerve. I hear a voice shout "_E capace di vincere!_" -("He is fit to win!") and in an instant the lot are engulfed in that -dark, narrow street, the squibs on their backs going off like pistol -shots, and the crackling bits of metallic tinsel, getting detached, fly -back in a shower of light. The sparks from the iron heels splash out in -red fire through the dusk. The course is just one mile--the whole length -of the straight street. At the winning post a great sheet is stretched -across the way, through which some of the horses burst, to be captured -some days afterwards while roaming about the open spaces of the -Campagna. It is the dense crowd, forming two walls along the course, -that forces the horses to keep the centre. This was the last of the -_barberi_. They were more frightened than hurt, yet I am not sorry that -these races have been abolished. - -Here follow records of expeditions in weather of spring freshness--to -catacombs, along the Via Appia, to the wild Campagna, and all the -delights of that Roman time when the lark inspires the poet. I got on -well with my "Morra" picture, which wasn't bad, and which has a niche in -my art career, because it turned out to be the first picture I sold, -which joyful event happened in London. - -"_March 25th_.--A brilliant day, full of colour. This is a great feast, -the Annunciation, and I gave up work to see the Pope come in grand -procession to the Church of the Minerva with his Cross Bearer on a white -mule, and all the cardinals, bishops, ambassadors and officials in -carriages of antique magnificence, a spectacle of great pomp, and -nowhere else to be seen. We did it in this wise. At nine we drove to the -Minerva, the sun very brilliant and the air very cold, and soon posted -ourselves on the steps of the church in the midst of a tight crowd, I -quite helpless in a knot of French soldiers of the Legion, who chaffed -each other good-humouredly over my head. The piazza, in the midst of -which rises the funny little obelisk on the elephant's back, swarmed -with people, black being quite the exception in that motley crowd. -Zouaves and the Legion formed a square to keep the piazza open, and -dragoons pranced officiously about, as is their wont. Every balcony was -thronged with gay ladies and full-dressed officers (some most gallant -and smart Austrians were at a window near us), and crimson cloth and -brocade flapped from every window, here in powerful sunshine, there in -effective shadow. Some dark, Florentine-coloured houses opposite, mostly -in shade, as they were between us and the sun, had a strong effect -against the bright sky, their crimson cloths and gaily dressed ladies -relieving their dark masses, and their beautiful roofs and chimneys -making a lovely sky line. - -"Presently the gilt and painted coaches of the cardinals began to -arrive, huge, high-swung vehicles drawn by very fat black horses dressed -out with gold and crimson trappings, but the servants and coachmen, in -spite of their extra full get-up, having that inimitable shabby-genteel -appearance which belongs exclusively to them. The Prior of the -Dominicans, to which order this church belongs, stood outside the -archway through which the Pope and all went into the church after -alighting from their coaches. He was there to welcome them, and, oh! the -number of bows he must have made, and his mouth must have ached again -with all those wide smiles. Near him also stood the Noble Guards and all -the general officers, plastered over with orders; and all these, too, -saluted and salaamed as each ecclesiastical bigwig grandly and -courteously swept by under the archway, glowing in his scarlet and -shining in his purple. The carriages pulled up at the spot of all others -best suited to us. Everything was filled with light, the cardinals -glowing like rubies inside their coaches, even their faces all aglow -with the red reflections thrown up from their ardent robes. But there -presently came a sight which I could hardly stand; it was eloquent of -the olden time and filled the mind with a strange feeling of awe and -solemnity, as though long ages had rolled back and by a miracle the dead -time had been revived and shown to us for a brief and precious moment. -On a sleek white mule came a prelate, all in pure lilac, his grey head -bare to the sunshine and carrying in his right hand the gold and -jewelled Cross. The trappings of the mule were black and gold, a large -black, square cloth thrown over its back in the mediæval fashion. The -Cross, which was large and must have weighed considerably, was very -conspicuous. The beauty of the colour of mule and rider, the black and -gold housings of that white beast, the lilac of the rider's robes, and -the tender glory of the embossed Cross--how these things enchant me! An -attendant took the Cross as the priest dismounted. Then a flourish of -modern Zouave bugles and a sharp roll of the drum intruded the forgotten -present day on our notice, and soon on came the gallant _gendarmerie_ -and dragoons, and then the coach of His Holiness, seeming to bubble over -with molten gold in the sunshine. Its six black horses ambled fatly -along, all but the wheelers trailing their long, red traces almost on -the ground, as seems to be the ecclesiastical fashion in harness (only -the wheelers really pull), and guided by bedizened postillions in wigs -decidedly like those worn by English Q.C.'s. Flowers were showered down -on this coach from the windows, and much cheering rang in the fresh, -clear air. I see now in my mind's eye the out-thrust chins and long, -bare necks of a clump of enthusiastic Zouaves shouting with all their -hearts under the Pope's carriage windows in divers tongues. But the -English 'Long live the Pope King,' though given with a will, did not -travel as far as the open '_Viva il Papa Rè_' or '_Vive le Pape Roi_.' I -put in my British 'Hurrah!' as did Papa, splendidly, just as three old -and very fat cardinals had painfully got down from His Holiness's high -coach and he himself had begun to emerge. We could see him quite well in -the coach, because the sides were more glass than gilding, and very -assiduously did the kind-looking old man bless the people right and left -as he drove up. He had on his head, not the skull cap I have hitherto -seen him in, which allows his silver locks to be seen, but the -old-lady-like headgear so familiar to me from pictures, notably several -portraits of Leo X. at Florence, which covers the ears and is bound with -ermine. It makes the lower part of the face look very large, and is not -becoming. After getting down he stood a long time receiving homage from -many grandees, and smiled and beamed with kindness on everybody. Then we -all bundled into the church, but as every one there was standing on, -instead of sitting on, the chairs, we could see nothing of the -ceremonies. We struggled out, after listening a little to the singing, -and Papa and I strolled delightedly to St. Peter's, on whose great -piazza we awaited the return of the procession. It was very beautiful, -winding along towards us, with my white mule and all, over that vast -space." - -Remember, Reader, that these things can never more be seen, and that is -why I give these extracts _in extenso_. Merely as history they are -precious. How we would like to have some word pictures of Rome in the -seventeenth, sixteenth and fifteenth centuries, but we don't get them. -The chronicles tell us of magnificence, numbers, illustrious people, -dress, and so forth; but, somehow, we would like something more intimate -and descriptive of local colour--effects of weather, etc.--to help us to -realise life as it was in the olden time. I think in this age of -ugliness we prize the picturesque and the artistic all the more for -their rarer charm. - -After "Morra" I did a life-size oil study of the head of the celebrated -model, Francesco, which was a great advance in freedom of brush work. -But the walks were not abandoned, and many a delightful round we made -with our father, who was very happy in Rome. The Colosseum was rich in -flowers and trees, which clothed with colour its hideous stages of -seats. The same abundant foliage beautified the brickwork of Caracalla's -Baths, but those beautiful veils were, unfortunately, slowly helping -further to demolish the ruins, and had to be all cleared away later on. -I have several times managed to wander over those eerie ruins in later -years by full moon, but I have never again enjoyed the awe-inspiring -sensation produced by the first visit, when those trees waved and -sighed, and the owls hooted, as in Byron's time. And then the loneliness -of the Colosseum was more impressive, and helped one to detach oneself -in thought from the present day more easily. Now the town is creeping -out that way. - -"_April 3rd._--Our goal was Santa Croce to-day, beyond the Lateran, for -there the Pope was to come to bless the 'Agnus Dei.' This ceremony -takes place only once in seven years. Everything was _en petite tenue_, -the quietest carriages, the seediest servants, but oh! how glorious it -all was in that fervent sunlight. We stood outside the church, I greatly -enjoying the amusing crowd, full of such varied types. The effect of the -Pope's two carriages and the horsemen coming trotting along the -straight, long road from St. John's to this church, the luminous dust -rising in clouds in the wind, was very pretty. The shouting and cheering -and waving of handkerchiefs were quite frantic, more hearty even than at -the Minerva. People seemed to feel more easy and jolly here, with no -grandeur to awe them. His Holiness looked much more spry than when I -last saw him. We lost poor little Mamma and, in despair, returned -without her, and she didn't turn up till 7 o'clock!" - -The Roman Diary of 1870 must end with the last Easter Benediction given -under the temporal power, _Urbi et Orbi_. - -"_Easter Sunday, April 17th_.--What a day, brimming over with rich -eye-feasts, with pomp and splendour! What can the eye see nowadays to -come anywhere near what I saw to-day, except on this anniversary here in -unique Rome? Of course, all the world knows that the splendour of this -great ceremony outshines that of any other here or in the whole world. -Mamma and I reserved ourselves for the benediction alone, so did not -start for St. Peter's till ten o'clock, and got there long before the -troops. On getting out of the carriage we strolled leisurely to the -steps leading up to the church, where we took up our stand, enjoying the -delicious sunshine and fresh, clear air, and also the interesting people -that were gradually filling the piazza, amongst whom were pilgrims with -long staves, many being Neapolitans, the women in new costumes of the -brightest dyes and with snowy _tovaglie_ artistically folded. Some of -these women carried the family luggage on their heads, this luggage -being great bundles wrapped in rugs of red, black, and yellow stripes, -some with the big coloured umbrella passed through and cleverly -balanced. All these people had trudged on foot all the way. Their shoes -hung at their waists, and also their water flasks. As the troops came -pouring in we were requested by the sappers to range ourselves and not -to encroach beyond the bottom step. Here was a position to see from! We -watched the different corps forming to the stirring bugle and trumpet -sounds, the officers mounting their horses, all splendid in velvet -housings, the officers in the fullest of full dress. There was no -pushing in the crowd, and we were as comfortable as possible. But there -was a scene to our left, up on the terrace that runs along the upper -part of the piazza and is part of the Vatican, which was worth to me all -the rest; it was, pictorially, the most beautiful sight of all. Along -this terrace, the balustrade of which was hung with mellow old faded -tapestry, and bears those dark-toned, effective statues standing out so -well against the blue sky, were collected in a long line, I should say, -nearly all the bishops who are gathered here in Rome for the Council, in -their white and silver vestments, and wearing their snowy mitres, a few -dark-dressed ladies in veils and an officer in bright colour here and -there supporting most artistically those long masses of white. Above the -heads of this assembly stretched the long white awning, through which -the strong sun sent a glowing shade, and above that the clear sky, with -the Papal white and yellow flags and standards in great quantities -fluttering in the breeze! My delighted eyes kept wandering up to that -terrace away from the coarser military picturesqueness in front. Up -there was a real bit of the olden time. There was a feeling as of lilies -about those white-robed pontiffs. At last a sign from a little balcony -high up on the façade was given, and all the troops sprang to attention, -and then the gentle-faced old Pope glided into view there, borne on his -chair and wearing the triple crown. Clang go the rifles and sabres in a -general salute, and a few '_evvivas_' burst from the crowd, which are -immediately suppressed by a general 'sh-sh-sh,' and amidst a most -imposing silence, the silence of a great multitude, the Pope begins to -read from a crimson book held before him with the voice of a strong -young man. Curiously enough, in this stillness all the horses began to -neigh, but their voices could not drown the single one of Pio Nono. -After the reading the Pope rose, and down went, on their knees, the mass -of people and soldiers, 'like one man,' and the old Pope pressed his -hands together a moment and then flung open his arms upwards with an -action full of electrifying fervour as he pronounced the grand words of -the blessing which rang out, it seemed, to the ends of the Earth. - -"In the evening we saw the famous illumination of the dome of St. -Peter's from the Pincian. The wind rather spoiled the first or silver -one, but the next, the golden, was a grand sight, beginning with the -cross at the top and running down in streams over the dome. As I looked, -I heard a funny bit of Latin from an English tourist, who asked a priest -'_Quis est illuminatio, olio o gas?_' '_Olio, olio_,' answered the -priest good-naturedly." - -And so our Papal Rome on May 2nd, 1870, retreated into my very -appreciative memory, and we returned for a few days to Florence, and -thence to Padua and Venice and Verona on our way to England through the -Tyrol and Bavaria. What a downward slope in art it is from Italy into -Germany! We girls felt a great irritation at the change, and were too -recalcitrant to attend to the German sights properly. - -But I filled the Diary with very searching notes of the wonderful things -I saw in Venice, thanks to Veronese, Titian, Tintoretto, Palma Vecchio -and others, who filled me with all that an artist can desire in the way -of colour. I was anxious to improve my weak point, and here was a -lesson! - -It is curious, however, to watch through the succeeding years how I was -gradually inducted by circumstances into that line of painting which is -so far removed from what inspired me just then. It was the Franco-German -War and a return to the Isle of Wight that sent me back on the military -road with ever diminishing digressions. Well, perhaps my father's fear, -which I have already mentioned in my early 'teens, that I was joining in -a "tremendous ruck" in taking the field would have been justified had I -not taken up a line of painting almost non-exploited by English artists. -The statement of a French art critic when writing of one of my war -pictures, "_L'Angleterre n'a guère qu'un peintre militaire, c'est une -femme_," shows the position. I wish I could have another life here below -to share the joys of those who paint what I studied in Italy, if only -for the love of such work, though I am very certain I should be quite -indistinguishable in _that_ "ruck." - - - - -CHAPTER VII - -WAR. BATTLE PAINTINGS - - -Padua I greatly enjoyed--its academic quiet, its Shakespearean -atmosphere; and still more did Shakespearean Verona enchant me. I had a -good study of the modern French school at the Paris Salon, and on -getting back to London rejoined the South Kensington schools till the -end of the summer session. Then a studio and practice from the living -model. In July we were all absorbed in the great Franco-German War, -declared in the middle of that month. It seems so absurd to us to-day -that we should have been pro-German in England. This little entry in the -Diary shows how Bismarck's dishonest manoeuvres had hoodwinked the -world. "France _will_ fight, so Prussia _must_, and all for nothing but -jealousy--a pretty spectacle!" We all believed it was France that was -the guilty party. I call to mind how some one came running upstairs to -find me and, subsiding on the top step with _The Times_ in her hand, -announced the surrender of MacMahon's army and the Emperor. I wrote "the -Germans are pro-di-gious!" and I have lived to see them prostrate. Such -is history. - -I was asked, as the war developed, if I had been inspired by it, and -this caused me to turn my attention pictorially that way. Once I began -on that line I went at a gallop, in water-colour at first, and many a -subject did I send to the "Dudley Gallery" and to Manchester, all the -drawings selling quickly, but I never relaxed that serious practice in -oil painting which was my solid foundation. I sent the poor "Magnificat" -to the Royal Academy in the spring of 1871. It was rejected, and -returned to me with a large hole in it. - -That summer, which we spent at well-loved Henley-on-Thames, was marred -by the awful doings of the Commune in Paris. _The Times_ had a -stereotyped heading for a long time: "The Destruction of Paris." What -horrible suspense there was while we feared the destruction of the -Louvre and Notre Dame. I see in the Diary: "_May 28th, 1871_.--Oh! that -to-morrow's papers may bring a decided contradiction of the oft-repeated -report that the great Louvre pictures are lost and that Notre Dame no -longer stands intact. As yet all is confusion and dismay, and one -clings, therefore, to the hope that little by little we may hear that -some fragments, at least, may be spared to bereaved humanity and that -all that beauty is not annihilated." - -In August, 1871, we were off again. From London back to Ventnor! There I -kept my hand in by painting in oils life-sized portraits of friends and -relations and some Italian ecclesiastical subjects, such as young -Franciscan monks, disciples of him who loved the birds, feeding their -doves in a cloister; an old friar teaching schoolboys, _al fresco_, -outside a church, as I had seen one doing in Rome. For this friar I -commandeered our landlord as a model, for he had just the white beard -and portly figure I required. Yet he was one of the most _furibond_ -dissenters I ever met--a Congregationalist--but very obliging. Also a -candlelight effect in the Church of San Pietro in Vincoli, in Rome; a -large altar-piece for our little Church of St. Wilfrid, and so on, a -mixture of the ecclesiastical and the military. The dances, theatricals, -croquet parties, rides--all the old ways were linked up again at -Ventnor, and I have a very bright memory of our second dwelling there -and reunion with our old friends. In the spring of 1872 I sent one of -the many Roman subjects I was painting to the Academy, a water-colour of -a Papal Zouave saluting two bishops in a Roman street. It was rejected, -but this time without a hole. This year was full of promise, and I very -nearly reached the top of my long hill climb, for in it I began what -proved to be my first Academy picture. - -What proved of great importance to me, this year of 1872, was my -introduction, if I may put it so, to the British Army! I then saw the -British soldier as I never had had the opportunity of seeing him before. -My father took me to see something of the autumn manoeuvres near -Southampton. Subjects for water-colour drawings appeared in abundance to -my delighted observation. One of the generals who was to be an umpire at -these manoeuvres, Sir F. C., had become greatly interested in me, as a -mutual friend had described my battle scenes to him, and said he would -speak about me to Sir Charles Staveley, one of the commanders in the -impending "war," so that I might have facilities for seeing the -interesting movements. He hoped that, if I saw the manoeuvres, I would -"give the British soldiers a turn," which I did with alacrity. I sent -some of the sketches to Manchester and to my old friend the "Dudley." -One of them, "Soldiers Watering Horses," found a purchaser in a Mr. -Galloway, of Manchester, who asked through an agent if I would paint him -an oil picture. I said "Yes," and in time painted him "The Roll Call." -Meanwhile, in the spring of 1873, I sent my first really large war -picture in oils to the Academy. It was accepted, but "skyed," well -noticed in the Press and, to my great delight, sold. The subject was, of -course, from the war which was still uppermost in our thoughts: a -wounded French colonel (for whom my father sat), riding a spent horse, -and a young subaltern of Cuirassiers, walking alongside (studied from a -young Irish officer friend), "missing" after one of the French defeats, -making their way over a forlorn landscape. The Cameron Highlanders were -quartered at Parkhurst, near Ventnor, about this time, and I was able to -make a good many sketches of these splendid troops, so essentially -pictorial. I have ever since then liked to make Highlanders subjects for -my brush. - -In this same year of 1873 my sister and I, now both belonging to the old -faith, whither our mother had preceded us, joined the first pilgrimage -to leave the shores of England since the Reformation. I had arranged -with the _Graphic_ to make pen-and-ink sketches of the pilgrimage, which -was arousing an extraordinary amount of public interest. Our goal was -the primitive little town of Paray-le-Monial, deep in the heart of -France, where Margaret Mary Alacoque received our Lord's message. I -cannot convey to my readers who are not "of us" the fresh and exultant -impressions we received on that visit. There was a mixture of religious -and national patriotism in our minds which produced feelings of the -purest happiness. The steamer that took us English pilgrims from -Newhaven to Dieppe on September 2nd flew the standard of the Sacred -Heart at the main and the Union Jack at the peak, seeming thus to -symbolise the whole character of the enterprise. Those _Graphic_ -sketches proved a very great burden to me. Nowadays one of the pilgrims -would have done all by "snapshots." I tried to sketch as I walked in the -processions at Paray and to sing the hymn at the same time. There was -hardly a moment's rest for us, except for a few intervals of sleep. The -long ceremonies and prescribed devotions, the processions, the stirring -hymns and the journey there and back, all crowded into a week from start -to finish, called for all one's strength. But how joyfully given! - -I can never forget the hearty, well-mannered welcome the French gave us, -lay and clerical. The place itself was lovely and the weather kind. It -is good to have had such an experience as this in our weary world. The -Bishop of Salford, the future Cardinal Vaughan, led us, and our clergy -mustered in great force. The dear French people never showed so well as -during their welcome of us. It suited their courteous and hospitable -natures. Most of our hosts were peasants and owners of little -picturesque shops in this jewel of a little town. We two were billeted -at a shoemaker's. The urbanity of the French clergy in receiving our own -may be imagined. I love to think back on the truly beautiful sights and -sounds of Paray, with the dominant note of the church bells vibrating -over all. They gave us a graceful send-off, pleased to have the -assurance of our approval of our reception. Many compliments on our -_solide piété_, with regrets as to their own "_légèreté_," and so forth. -"_Vive l'Angleterre!_" "_Vive la France!_" "_Adieu!_" - - - - -CHAPTER VIII - -"THE ROLL CALL" - - -I had quite a large number of commissions for military water-colours to -get through on my return home, and an oil of French artillery on the -march to paint, in my little glass studio under St. Boniface Down. But -after my not inconsiderable success with "Missing" at the Academy, I -became more and more convinced that a London studio _must_ be my destiny -for the coming winter. Of course, my father demurred. He couldn't bear -to part with me. Still, it must be done, and to London I went, with his -sad consent. I had long been turning "The Roll Call" in my mind. My -father shook his head; the Crimea was "forgotten." My mother rather -shivered at the idea of the snow. It was no use; they saw I was bent on -that subject. My dear mother and our devoted family doctor in London -(Dr. Pollard[4]), who would do anything in his power to help me, between -them got me the studio, No. 76, Fulham Road, where I painted the picture -which brought me such utterly unexpected celebrity. - -Mr. Burchett, still headmaster at South Kensington, was delighted to see -me with all the necessary facilities for carrying out my work, and he -sent me the best models in London, nearly all ex-soldiers. One in -particular, who had been in the Crimea, was invaluable. He stood for -the sergeant who calls the roll. I engaged my models for five hours each -day, but often asked them to give me an extra half-hour. Towards the -end, as always happens, I had to put on pressure, and had them for six -hours. My preliminary expeditions for the old uniforms of the Crimean -epoch were directed by my kind Dr. Pollard, who rooted about Chelsea -back streets to find what I required among the Jews. One, Mr. Abrahams, -found me a good customer. I say in my Diary: - -"Dr. Pollard and I had a delightful time at Mr. Abrahams' dingy little -pawnshop in a hideous Chelsea slum, and, indeed, I enjoyed it _far_ more -than I should have enjoyed the same length of time at a West End -milliner's. I got nearly all the old accoutrements I had so much longed -for, and in the evening my Jew turned up at Dr. Pollard's after a long -tramp in the city for more accoutrements, helmets, coatees, haversacks, -etc., and I sallied forth with the 'Ole Clo!' in the rain to my boarding -house under our mutual umbrella, and he under his great bag as well. We -chatted about the trade '_chemin faisant_.'" - -[Illustration: CRIMEAN IDEAS.] - -I called Saturday, December 13th, 1873, a "red-letter day," for I then -began my picture at the London studio. Having made a little water-colour -sketch previously, very carefully, of every attitude of the figures, I -had none of those alterations to make in the course of my work which -waste so much time. Each figure was drawn in first without the great -coat, my models posing in a tight "shell jacket," so as to get the -figure well drawn first. How easily then could the thick, less shapely -great coat be painted on the well-secured foundation. No matter how its -heavy folds, the cross-belts, haversacks, water-bottles, and -everything else broke the lines, they were there, safe and sound, -underneath. An artist remarked, "What an absurdly easy picture!" Yes, no -doubt it was, but it was all the more so owing to the care taken at the -beginning. This may be useful to young painters, though, really, it -seems to me just now that sound drawing is at a discount. It will come -by its own again. Some people might say I was too anxious to be correct -in minor military details, but I feared making the least mistake in -these technical matters, and gave myself some unnecessary trouble. For -instance, on one of my last days at the picture I became anxious as to -the correct letters that should appear stamped on the Guards' -haversacks. I sought professional advice. Dr. Pollard sent me the beery -old Crimean pensioner who used to stand at the Museum gate wearing a -gold-laced hat, to answer my urgent inquiry as to this matter. Up comes -the puffing old gentleman, redolent of rum. I, full of expectation, ask -him the question: "What should the letters be?" "B. O.!" he roars -out--"Board of Ordnance!" Then, after a congested stare, he calls out, -correcting himself, "W. D.--War Deportment!" "Oh!" I say, faintly, "War -Department; thank you." Then he mixes up the two together and roars, "W. -O.!" And that was all I got. He mopped his rubicund face and, to my -relief, stumped away down my stairs. Another Crimean hero came to tell -me whether I was right in having put a grenade on the pouches. "Well, -miss, the natural _hinference_ would be that it _was_ a grenade, but it -was something like my 'and." Desperation! I got the thing "like his -hand" just in time to put it in before "The Roll Call" left--a brass -badge lent me by the War Office--and obliterated the much more -effective grenade. - -On March 29th and 30th, 1874, came my first "Studio Sunday" and Monday, -and on the Tuesday the poor old "Roll Call" was sent in. I watched the -men take it down my narrow stairs and said "_Au revoir_," for I was -disappointed with it, and apprehensive of its rejection and speedy -return. So it always is with artists. We never feel we have fulfilled -our hopes. - -The two show days were very tiring. Somehow the studio, after church -time on the Sunday, was crowded. Good Dr. Pollard hired a "Buttons" for -me, to open the door, and busied himself with the people, and enjoyed -it. So did I, though so tired. It was "the thing" in those days to make -the round of the studios on the eve of "sending-in day." - -Mr. Galloway's agent came, and, to my intense relief, told me the -picture went far beyond his expectations. He had been nervous about it, -as it was through him the owner had bought it, without ever seeing it. -On receiving the agent's report, Mr. Galloway sent me a cheque at -once--£126--being more than the hundred agreed to. The copyright was -mine. - -The days that followed felt quite strange. Not a dab with a brush, and -my time my own. It was the end of Lent, and then Easter brought such -church ceremonial as our poor little Ventnor St. Wilfrid's could not -aspire to. A little more Diary: - -"_Saturday, April 11th._--A charming morning, for Dr. Pollard had a fine -piece of news to tell me. First, Elmore, R.A., had burst out to him -yesterday about my picture at the Academy, saying that all the -Academicians are in quite a commotion about it, and Elmore wants to -make my acquaintance very much. He told Dr. P. I might get £500 for 'The -Roll Call'! I little expected to have such early and gratifying news of -the picture which I sent in with such forebodings. After Dr. P. had -delivered this broadside of Elmore's compliments he brought the -following battery of heavy guns to bear upon me which compelled me to -sink into a chair. It is a note from Herbert, R.A., in answer to a few -lines which kind Father Bagshawe had volunteered to write to him, as a -friend, to ask him, as one of the Selecting Committee, just simply to -let me know, as soon as convenient, whether my picture was accepted or -rejected. The note is as follows: - - 'DEAR MISS THOMPSON,--I have just received a note from Father - Bagshawe of the Oratory in which he wished me to address a few - lines to you on the subject of your picture in the R.A. To tell the - truth I desired to do so a day or two since but did not for two - reasons: the first being that as a custom the doings of the R.A. - are for a time kept secret; the second that I felt I was a stranger - to you and you would hear what I wished to say from some - friend--but Father Bagshawe's note, and the decision being over, I - may tell you with what pleasure I greeted the picture and the - painter of it when it came before us for judgment. It was simply - this: I was so struck by the excellent work in it that I proposed - we should lift our hats and give it and you, though, as I thought, - unknown to me, a round of huzzahs, which was generally done. You - now know my feeling with regard to your work, and may be sure that - I shall do everything as one of the hangers that it shall be - _perfectly seen_ on our walls. - - I am tired and hurried, and ask you to excuse this very hasty note, - but _accept my hearty congratulations_, and - - Believe me to be, dear Miss Thompson, - - Most faithfully yours, - - J. R. HERBERT.' - -I trotted off at once to show Father Bagshawe the note, and then left -for home with my brilliant news." - -While at home at Ventnor I received from many sources most extraordinary -rumours of the stir the picture was making in London amongst those who -were behind the scenes. How it was "the talk of the clubs" and spoken of -as the "coming picture of the year," "the hit of the season," and all -that kind of thing. Friends wrote to me to give me this pleasant news -from different quarters. Ventnor society rejoiced most kindly. I went to -London to what I call in the Diary "the scene of my possible triumphs," -having taken rooms at a boarding house. I had better let the Diary -speak: - -"_'Varnishing Day,' Tuesday, April 28th._--My real feelings as, laden -like last year, with palette, brushes and paint box, I ascended the -great staircase, all alone, though meeting and being overtaken by -hurrying men similarly equipped to myself, were not happy ones. Before -reaching the top stairs I sighed to myself, 'After all your working -extra hours through the winter, what has it been for? That you may have -a cause of mortification in having an unsatisfactory picture on the -Academy walls for people to stare at.' I tried to feel indifferent, but -had not to make the effort for long, for I soon espied my dark battalion -in Room _II. on the line_, with a knot of artists before it. Then began -my ovation (!) (which, meaning a second-class triumph, is _not_ quite -the word). I never expected anything so perfectly satisfactory and so -like the realisation of a castle in the air as the events of this day. -It would be impossible to say all that was said to me by the swells. -Millais, R.A., talked and talked, so did Calderon, R.A., and Val -Prinsep, asking me questions as to where I studied, and praising this -figure and that. Herbert, R.A., hung about me all day, and introduced -me to his two sons. Du Maurier told me how highly Tom Taylor had spoken -to him of the picture. Mr. S., our Roman friend, cleaned the picture for -me beautifully, insisting on doing so lest I should spoil my new -velveteen frock. At lunchtime I returned to the boarding house to fetch -a sketch of a better Russian helmet I had done at Ventnor, to replace -the bad one I had been obliged to put in the foreground from a Prussian -one for want of a better. I sent a gleeful telegram home to say the -picture was on the line. I could hardly do the little helmet alterations -necessary, so crowded was I by congratulating and questioning artists -and starers. I by no means disliked it all. Delightful is it to be an -object of interest to so many people. I am sure I cannot have looked -very glum that day. In the most distant rooms people steered towards me -to felicitate me most cordially. 'Only send as _good_ a picture next -year' was Millais' answer to my expressed hope that next year I should -do better. This was after overhearing Mr. C. tell me I might be elected -A.R.A. if I kept up to the mark next year. O'Neil, R.A., seemed rather -to deprecate all the applause I had to-day and, shaking his head, warned -me of the dangers of sudden popularity. I know all about _that_, I -think. - -"_Thursday, April 30th._--The Royalties' private view. The Prince of -Wales wants 'The Roll Call.' It is not mine to let him have, and -Galloway won't give it up. - -"_Friday, May 1st._--The to-me-glorious private view of 1874. I insert -here my letter to Papa about it: - - 'DEAREST ----, I feel as though I were undertaking a really - difficult work in attempting to describe to you the events of this - most memorable day. I don't suppose I ever can have another such - day, because, however great my future successes may be, they can - never partake of the character of this one. It is my first great - success. As Tom Taylor told me to-day, I have suddenly burst into - fame, and this _first time_ can never come again. It has a - character peculiar to all _first things_ and to them alone. You - know that "the _élite_ of London society" goes to the Private View. - Well, the greater part of the _élite_ have been presented to me - this day, all with the same hearty words of congratulation on their - lips and the same warm shake of the hand ready to follow the - introductory bow. I was not at all disconcerted by all these - bigwigs. The Duke of Westminster invited me to come and see the - pictures at Grosvenor House, and the old Duchess of Beaufort was so - delighted with "The Roll Call" that she asked me to tell her the - history of each soldier, which I did, the knot of people which, by - the bye, is always before the picture swelling into a little crowd - to see me and, if possible, catch what I was saying. Galloway's - tall figure was almost a fixture near the painting. That poor man, - he was sadly distracted about this Prince of Wales affair, but the - last I heard from him was that he _couldn't_ part with it. - - Some one at the Academy offered him £1,000 for it, and T. Agnew - told him he would give him anything he asked, but he refused those - offers without a moment's hesitation. He has telegraphed to his - wife at Manchester, as he says women can decide so much better than - men on the spur of the moment. The Prince gives him till the dinner - to-morrow to make up his mind. The Duchess of Beaufort introduced - Lord Raglan's daughters to me, who were pleased with the interest I - took in their father. Old Kinglake was also introduced, and we had - a comparatively long talk in that huge assembly where you are - perpetually interrupted in your conversation by fresh arrivals of - friends or new introductions. Do you remember joking with me, when - I was a child, about the exaggerations of popularity? How strange - it felt to-day to be realizing, in actual experience, what you - warned me of, in fun, when looking at my drawings. You need not be - afraid that I shall forget. What I _do_ feel is great pleasure at - having "arrived," at last. The great banker Bunbury has invited me - and a friend to the ball at the Goldsmiths' Hall on Wednesday - night. He is one of the wardens. Oh! if you could only come up in - time to take me. Col. Lloyd Lindsay, of Alma fame, and his wife - were wild to have "The Roll Call." She shyly told me she had cried - before the picture. But, for enthusiasm, William Agnew beat them - all. He came up to be introduced, and spoke in such expressions of - admiration that his voice positively shook, and he said that, - having missed purchasing this work, he would feel "proud and happy" - if I would paint him one, the time, subject and price, whatever it - might be, being left entirely to me. Sir Richard Airey, the man who - wrote the fatally misconstrued order on his holster and handed it - to Nolan on the 25th October, 1854, was very cordial, and showed - that he took a keen pleasure in the picture. I told him I valued a - Crimean man's praise more than anybody else's, and I repeated the - observation later to old Sir William Codrington under similar - circumstances, and to other Crimean officers. One of them, whose - father was killed at the assault on the Redan, pressed me very hard - to consent to paint him two Crimean subjects, but I cannot promise - anything more till I have worked out my already too numerous - commissions, old ones, at the horrible old prices. - - Sir Henry Thompson, a great surgeon, I understand, was very polite, - and introduced his little daughter who paints. Lady Salisbury had a - long chat with me and showed a great intelligence on art matters. - Many others were introduced, or I to them, but most of them exist - as ghosts in my memory. I have forgotten some of their names and, - as some only wrote their addresses on my catalogue, I don't know - who is who. The others gave me their cards, so that is all right. - Horsley, R.A., is such a genial, hearty sort of man. He says he - shouldn't wonder if my name was mentioned in the Royal speeches at - the dinner. Lady Somebody introduced me to Miss Florence - Nightingale's sister, who wanted to know if there was any - possibility of my "most kindly" letting the picture be taken, at - the close of the exhibition, to her poor sister to see. Miss - Nightingale, you know, is now bedridden. Now I must stop. More - to-morrow....' - -I remember how on the following Sunday my good friend Dr. Pollard, who -lived close to my boarding house, waylaid me on my way to mass at the -Oratory, and from his front garden called me in stentorian tones, waving -the _Observer_ over his head. On crossing over I learnt of the speeches -of the Prince of Wales and the Duke of Cambridge at the Academy banquet -the evening before, in which most surprising words were uttered about me -and the picture. - -"_Monday, May 4th_.--The opening day of the Royal Academy. A dense crowd -before my grenadiers. I fear that fully half of that crowd have been -sent there by the royal speeches on Saturday. I may say that I awoke -this morning and found myself famous. Great fun at the Academy, where -were some of my dear fellow students rejoicing in the fulfilment of -their prophecies in the old days. Overwhelmed with congratulations on -all sides; and as to the papers, it is impossible to copy their -magnificent critiques, from _The Times_ downwards. - -"_Wednesday, May 6th_.--The Queen had my picture abstracted from the -R.A. last night to gaze at, at Buckingham Palace! It is now, of course, -in its place again. Went with Papa to the brilliant Goldsmiths' Ball, -where I danced. I was a bit of a lion there, or shall I say lioness? Sir -William Ferguson was introduced to me; and he, in his turn, introduced -his daughter and drank to my further success at the supper. Sir F. -Chapman also was presented, and expressed his astonishment at the -accuracy of the military details in my picture. He is a Crimean man. The -King of the Goldsmiths was brought up to me to express his thanks at my -'honouring' their ball with my presence. The engravers are already at me -to buy the copyright, but my dear counsellor and friend, Seymour Haden, -says I am to accept nothing short of £1,000, and get still more if I -can! - -"_May 10th_.--The Dowager Lady Westmoreland, who is about 80, and who -has lost pleasure in seeing new faces, when she heard of my Crimean -picture, expressed a great wish to see me, and to-day I went to dine at -her house, meeting there the present earl and countess, an old Waterloo -lord, and Henry Weigall and his wife, Lady Rose. The dear old lady was -so sweet. She was the Duke of Wellington's favourite niece, and his -Grace's portraits deck the walls of more than one room. Her pleasure was -in talking of the Florence of the old pre-Austrian days, where she lived -sixteen years, but my great pleasure was talking with the earl and the -Waterloo lord, who were most loquacious. Lord Westmoreland was on Lord -Raglan's staff in the Crimea. - -"_May 11th_.--Received cheque for the 'San Pietro in Vincoli' and -'Children of St. Francis.' My popularity has _levered_ those two poor -little pictures off. Messrs. Dickinson & Co. have bought my copyright -for £1,200!!!" - -There follows a good deal in the Diary concerning the trouble with Mr. -Galloway, who made hard conditions regarding his ceding "The Roll Call" -to the Queen, who wished to have it. He felt he was bound to let it go -to his Sovereign, but only on condition that I should paint him my next -Academy picture for the same price as he had given for the one he was -ceding, and that the Queen should sign with her own hand six of the -artist's proofs when the engraving of her picture came out. I had set my -heart on painting the 28th Regiment in square receiving the last charge -of the French Cuirassiers at Quatre Bras, but as that picture would -necessitate far more work than "The Roll Call," I could not paint it for -that little £126--so very puny now! So I most reluctantly suggested a -subject I had long had _in petto_, "The Dawn of Sedan," French -Cuirassiers watching by their horses in the historic fog of that -fateful morning--a very simple composition. To cut a very long story -short, he finally consented to have "Quatre Bras" at my own price, -£1,126, the copyright remaining his. All this talk went on for a long -time, and meanwhile, all through the London society doings, I made oil -studies of all the grey horses for "Sedan." The General Omnibus Company -sent me all shades of grey _percherons_ for this purpose. I also made -life-size oil studies of hands for "Quatre Bras," where hands were to be -very strong points, gripping "Brown Besses." So I took time by the -forelock for either subject. I was very fortunate in having the help of -wise business heads to grapple with the business part of my work, for I -have not been favoured that way myself. - -There is no mention in the Diary of the policeman who, a few days after -the opening of the Academy, had to be posted, poor hot man, in my corner -to keep the crowd from too closely approaching the picture and to ask -the people to "move on." That policeman was there instead of the brass -bar which, as a child, I had pleased myself by imagining in front of one -of my works, _à la_ Frith's "Derby Day." The R.A.'s told me the bar -created so much jealousy, when used, that it had been decided never to -use it again. But I think a live policeman quite as much calculated to -produce the undesirable result. I learnt later that his services were -quite as necessary for the protection of two lovely little pictures of -Leighton's, past which the people _scraped_ to get at mine, they being, -unfortunately, hung at right angles to mine in its corner. What an -unfortunate arrangement of the hangers! Horsley told me that they went -every evening after the closing, with a lantern, to see if the two gems -had been scratched. They were never seen. I wonder if Leighton had any -feelings of dislike towards "that girl." She who in her 'teens records -her prostrations of worship before his earlier works, ere he became so -coldly classical. - -It is a curious condition of the mind between gratitude for the -appreciation of one's work by those who know, and the uncomfortable -sense of an exaggerated popularity with the crowd. The exaggeration is -unavoidable, and, no doubt, passes, but the fact that counts is the -power of touching the people's heart, an "organ" which remains the same -through all the changing fashions in art. I remember an argument I once -had with Alma Tadema on this matter of touching the heart. He laughed at -me, and didn't believe in it at all. - -"_Tuesday, May 12th._--Mr. Charles Manning and his wife have been so -very nice to me, and this morning Mrs. M. bore me off to be presented to -His Grace of Westminster, with whom I had a long interview. What a face! -all spirit and no flesh. After that, to the School of Art Needlework to -meet Lady Marion Alford and other Catholic ladies. I ordered there a -pretty screen for my studio on the strength of my £1,200! Thence I -proceeded on a round of calls, going first to the Desanges, where I -lunched. There they told me the Prince of Wales was coming at four -o'clock to see the Ashanti picture Desanges is just finishing. They -begged me to come back a little before then, so as to be ready to be -presented when the moment should arrive. I returned accordingly, and -found the place crowded with people who had come to see the picture. As -soon as H.R.H. was announced, all the people were sent below to the -drawing-room and kept under hatches until Royalty should take its -departure; but I alone was to remain in the back studio, to be handy. -All this was much against my will, as I hate being thrust forward. But, -as it turned out, there was no thrusting forward on this occasion, and -all was very nice and natural. The Prince soon came in to where I was, -Mr. Desanges saying 'Here she is' in answer to a question. His first -remark to me was, of course, about the picture, saying he had hoped to -be its possessor, etc., etc., and he asked me how I had got the correct -details for the uniforms, and so on, having quite a little chat. He -spoke very frankly, and has a most clear, audible voice." - -Of course, the photographers began bothering. The idea of my portraits -being published in the shop windows was repugnant to me. Nowadays one is -snapshotted whether one likes it or not, but it wasn't so bad in those -days; one's own consent was asked, at any rate. I refused. However, it -had to come to that at last. My grandfather simply walked into the shop -of the first people that had asked me, in Regent Street, and calmly made -the appointment. I was so cross on being dragged there that the result -was as I expected--a rather harassed and coerced young woman, and the -worst of it was that this particular photograph was the one most widely -published. Indeed, one of my Aunts, passing along a street in Chelsea, -was astonished to see her rueful niece on a costermonger's barrow -amongst some bananas! - - - - -CHAPTER IX - -ECHOES OF "THE ROLL CALL" - - -On May 14th I lunched at Lady Raglan's. Kinglake was there to meet me, -and we talked Crimea. I had read and re-read his much too prolix -history, which I thought overburdened with detail, giving one an -impression of the two Balaclava charges as lasting hours rather than -minutes. But I had learnt much that was of the utmost value from this -very superabundance of detail. Then on the next day I rose early, and -was off by seven with the Horsleys to Aldershot at the invitation of Sir -Hope Grant, of Indian celebrity, commanding, who travelled down with us. -"Lady Grant received us at the house, where we found a nice breakfast, -and where I got dried, being drenched by a torrential downpour. Would -that it had continued longer, if only to lay the hideous sand in the -Long Valley, which made the field day something very like a fiasco. I -tried to sketch, but my book was nearly blown out of my hand, my -umbrella was turned inside out and my arms benumbed by the cold. M., -most luckily, was on the field, and Mrs. Horsley and I were soon -comfortably ensconced in his hansom cab and trying to feel more -comfortable and jolly. When the sham fight began we had to keep shifting -our standpoint, and Mrs. H. and I had repeatedly to jump out of the -hansom, as we were threatened by an upset every minute over those -sandhills. As to the two charges of cavalry, which Sir Hope had on -purpose for me, I could hardly see them, what with the dust storms half -swallowing them up in dense dun-coloured sheets and my eyes being full -of sand. However, I made the most of the situation, and hope I have got -some good hints. I ought to have so much of this sort of thing, and hope -to now, with all those 'friends in court!' When the march past began Sir -Hope sent to ask me if I would like to stand by his charger at the -saluting base, which I did, and saw, of course, beautifully. I felt -extraordinarily situated, standing there, half liking and half not -liking the situation, with an enormous mounted staff of utterly unknown, -gorgeous officers curvetting and jingling behind me and the general. As -one regiment passed, marching, as I thought, just as splendidly as the -others, I heard Sir Hope snap at them 'Very bad, very bad. Don't, -don't!' And I felt for them so much, trusting they didn't see me or mind -my having heard." - -Three days later, at a charming lunch at Lady Herbert's, I met her son, -Lord Pembroke, and Dr. Kingsley, Charles's brother--"The Earl and the -Doctor." It was interesting to see the originals of the title they gave -their book. The next day people came to the Academy to find, in place of -"The Roll Call," a placard--"This picture has been temporarily removed -by command of Her Majesty." She had it taken to Windsor to look at -before her departure for Scotland, and to show to the Czar, who was on a -visit. - -Calderon, the R.A., whom I met that evening, told me the Academy had -never been receiving so many daily shillings before, and that it ought -to present me with a diamond necklace. And so forth, and so forth--all -noted in the faithful Diary, wherein many extravagances of the moment in -my regard are safely tucked away. Two days later I see: "_May -20th._--The Woolwich review was quite glorious. I went with Lady -Herbert, the Lane Foxes, Lord Denbigh and Capt. Slade. We posted there -and back with two jolly greys and a postboy in a sky-blue jacket. This -was quite after my own heart. Lord Denbigh talked art and war all the -way, interesting me beyond expression. We were in the forefront of -everything on arrival, next the Saluting Point, round which were grouped -the most brilliant sons of Mars I ever saw gathered together, and of -various nations. The Czar Alexander II. headed these, flanked by my two -friends, the Prince of Wales and the Duke of Cambridge. The artillery -manoeuvres were effective, and I sketched as much as I could, getting -up on the box, Lord Denbigh holding my parasol over my head, as the sun -was strong. I suppose people like spoiling me just now, or _trying_ to." - -Then, two days later, I note that I dined at Lady Rose Weigall's, my -left-hand neighbour at table the Archbishop of York, Dr. Thomson, who -took in the hostess. He and I seem to have talked an immense deal about -all sorts of things. He confided to me that his private opinion was that -the Irish Church should never have been disestablished. In the course of -further conversation I thought it better to let him know I was a -Catholic by a passing remark. I said I thought the Neapolitans did not -make such solid Catholics as the English. He stared, none too pleased! -The next night I met at the Westmorelands', at dinner, Lord George -Paget, Colonel Kingscote, and Henry Weigall, my host of the previous -evening. Lord George was drawn out during dinner about Balaclava, and I -listened to his loud cavalry soldier's talk with the keenest interest. -He protested that we were making him say too much, but we were -insatiable. Lord George was a man I had tried to picture; he was almost -the last to ride back from the light cavalry charge. His manner and -speech were _soldatesque_, his expressions requiring at times a "saving -your presence" to the ladies, as a prefix. For me time flew in listening -to this interesting Balaclava hero, and it was very late when I made up -my mind to go, a wiser but by no means a sadder girl. - -At a dinner at Lady Georgiana Fullerton's my sister and I met Aubrey de -Vere, who delighted Alice with his conversation. The general company, -however, seem to have chiefly amused themselves with the long and, on -the whole, silly controversy which was appearing in _The Times_ -regarding the sequence of the horse's steps as he walks. It began by my -horse's walk in "The Roll Call" having been criticised by those who held -to the old conventional idea. How many hours I had moved alongside -horses to see for myself exactly how a horse puts his feet down in the -walk! I had told many people to go down on all fours themselves and -walk, noting the sequence with their own hands and knees, which was sure -to be correct instinctively. At this same dinner Lady Lothian told me -she had followed my advice, and the idea of that sedate _grande dame_, -with grey hair combed under a white lace cap, pacing round her room on -all fours I thought delightful. Since those days I have been vindicated -by the snap-shot. - -I find many Diary pages chiefly devoted to preparations for "Quatre -Bras" and the doing of several pen-and-ink reminiscences of what I had -seen at Woolwich and Aldershot, and exhibited at the "Dudley." Some were -bought by the picture dealer Gambart, and some by Agnew. One of those -pen-and-inks was the "Halt!"--those Scots Greys I only half saw through -the dust storm at Aldershot pulling up in the midst of a tremendous -charge, very close to us. Gambart had come to my studio to see if he -could get anything, and when I told him of this "Halt!" which I had just -sent to the "Dudley," he there and then wrote me a cheque for it, -without seeing it. When he went there to claim it, behold! it had -already been sold, before the opening. He was very angry, and threatened -law against the "Dudley" for what he called "skimming" the show before -the public got a chance. But the possessor was, like Mr. Galloway, a -_Maanchester maan_, and these are very firm on what they call "our -rights." It was no use. I had to make Gambart a compensation drawing. -This introduces Mr. Whitehead, for whom I was to paint "Balaclava." He -had the "Halt!" tight. - -On Corpus Christi Day that year Alice and I, having received our -invitations from the Bishop of Salford, of happy pilgrimage memory, to -join in the services and procession in honour of the Blessed Sacrament -at the Missionary College, Mill Hill, we went thither that glorious -midsummer day. At page 127 of the Diary I have put down certain -sentiments about the practice of the Catholic faith in England, and I -express a longing to see the Host carried through English fields. I -little thought in one year to see my hope realised; yet so it was at -Mill Hill. After vespers in the little church, the procession was -formed, and I shall long remember the choristers, in their purple -cassocks, passing along a field of golden buttercups and the white and -gold banners at the head of the procession floating out against a -typical English sky as their bearers passed over a little hillock which -commands a lovely view of the rich landscape. The bishop bore the Host, -and six favoured men held the canopy. Franciscan nuns in the procession -sang the hymns. - -The early days of that July had their pleasant festivities, such as a -dinner, with Alice, at Lady Londonderry's (she who was our mother's -godmother on the occasion of her reception into the Catholic Church) and -the Academy _soirée_, where Mrs. Tait invited me and Dr. Pollard to a -large garden party at Lambeth Palace. There I note: "The Royalties were -in full force, the _Waleses_, as I have heard the Prince and Princess -called, and many others. It was amusing and very pleasant in the -gardens, though provokingly windy. I had a curiously uncomfortable and -oppressed feeling, though, in that headquarters of the--what shall I -call it?--Opposition? The Archbishop and Mrs. Archbishop, particularly -Mrs., rather appalled me. But dear Dr. Pollard, that stout Protestant, -must have been very gratified." - -On July 4th Colonel Browne, C.B., R.E., who took the keenest interest in -my "Quatre Bras," and did all in his power to help me with the military -part of it, had a day at Chatham for me. He, Mrs. B. and daughters -called for me in the morning, and we set forth for Chatham, where some -300 men of the Royal Engineers were awaiting us on the "Lines." Colonel -Browne had ordered them beforehand, and had them in full dress, with -knapsacks, as I desired. - -They first formed the old-fashioned four-deep square for me, and not -only that, but the beautiful parade dressing was broken and _accidenté_ -by my directions, so as to have a little more the appearance of the real -thing. They fired in sections, too, as I wished, but, unfortunately, the -wind was so strong that the smoke was whisked away in a twinkling, and -what I chiefly wished to study was unobtainable, _i.e._, masses of men -seen through smoke. After they had fired away all their ammunition, the -whole body of men were drawn up in line, and, the rear rank having been -distanced from the front rank, I, attended by Colonel Browne and a -sergeant, walked down them both, slowly, picking out here and there a -man I thought would do for a "Quatre Bras" model (beardless), and the -sergeant took down the name of each man as I pointed him out very -unobtrusively, Colonel Browne promising to have these men up at -Brompton, quartered there for the time I wanted them. So I write: "I -shall not want for soldierly faces, what with those sappers and the -Scots Fusilier Guards, of whom I am sure I can have the pick, through -Colonel Hepburn's courtesy. After this interesting 'choosing a model' -was ended, we all repaired to Colonel Galway's quarters, where we -lunched. After that I went to the guard-room to see the men I had chosen -in the morning, so as to write down their personal descriptions in my -book. Each man was marched in by the sergeant and stood at attention -with every vestige of expression discharged from his countenance whilst -I wrote down his personal peculiarities. I had chosen eight out of the -300 in the morning, but only five were brought now by the sergeant, as I -had managed to pitch upon three bad characters out of the eight, and -these could not be sent me. We spent the rest of the day very pleasantly -listening to the band, going over the museum, etc. I ought to see as -much of military life as possible, and I must go down to Aldershot as -often as I can. - -"_July 16th._--Mamma and I went to Henley-on-Thames in search of a rye -field for my 'Quatre Bras.' Eagerly I looked at the harvest fields as we -sped to our goal to see how advanced they were. We had a great -difficulty in finding any rye at Henley, it having all been cut, except -a little patch which we at length discovered by the direction of a -farmer. I bought a piece of it, and then immediately trampled it down -with the aid of a lot of children. Mamma and I then went to work, but, -oh! horror, my oil brushes were missing. I had left them in the chaise, -which had returned to Henley. So Mamma went frantically to work with two -slimy water-colour brushes to get down tints whilst I drew down forms in -pencil. We laughed a good deal and worked on into the darkness, two -regular 'Pre-Raphaelite Brethren,' to all appearances, bending over a -patch of trampled rye." - -I seem to have felt to the utmost the exhilaration produced by the -following episode. Let the young Diary speak: "The grand and glorious -Lord Mayor's banquet to the stars of literature and art came off to-day, -July 21st, and it was to me such a delightful thing that I felt all the -time in a pleasant sort of dream. I was mentioned in two speeches, Lord -Houghton's ('Monckton Milnes') and Sir Francis Grant's, P.R.A. As the -President spoke of me, he said his eye rested with pleasure on me at -that moment! Papa came with me. Above all the display of civic -splendour one felt the dominant spirit of hospitality in that -ever-to-me-delightful Mansion House. It was a unique thing because such -aristocrats as were there were those of merit and genius. The few lords -were only there because they represented literature, being authors. -Patti was there. She wished to have a talk with me, and went through -little Italian dramatic compliments, like Neilson. Old Cruikshank was a -strange-looking old man, a wonder to me as the illustrator of 'Oliver -Twist' and others of Dickens's works--a unique genius. He said many nice -things about me to Papa. I wished the evening could have lasted a week." - -The next entries are connected with the "Quatre Bras" cartoon: "Dreadful -misgivings about a vital point. I have made my front rank men sitting on -their heels in the kneeling position. Not so the drill book. After my -model went, most luckily came Colonel Browne. Shakes his head at the -attitudes. Will telegraph to Chatham about the heel and let me know in -the morning. - -"_July 23rd._--Colonel Browne came, and with him a smart sergeant-major, -instructor of musketry. Alas! this man and telegram from Chatham dead -against me. Sergeant says the men at Chatham must have been sitting on -their heels to rest and steady themselves. He showed me the exact -position when at the 'ready' to receive cavalry. To my delight I may -have him to-morrow as a model, but it is no end of a bore, this wasted -time." - -"_July 24th._--The musketry instructor, contrary to my sad expectations, -was by no means the automaton one expects a soldier to be, but a -thoroughly intelligent model, and his attitudes combined perfect -drill-book correctness with great life and action. He was splendid. I -can feel certain of everything being right in the attitudes, and will -have no misgivings. It is extraordinary what a well-studied position -that kneeling to resist cavalry is. I dread to think what blunders I -might have committed. No civilian would have detected them, but the -military would have been down upon me. I feel, of course, rather -fettered at having to observe rules so strict and imperative concerning -the poses of my figures, which, I hope, will have much action. I have to -combine the drill book and the fierce fray! I told an artist the other -day, very seriously, that I wished to show what an English square looks -like viewed quite close at the end of two hours' action, when about to -receive a last charge. A cool speech, seeing I have never seen the -thing! And yet I seem to have seen it--the hot, blackened faces, the set -teeth or gasping mouths, the bloodshot eyes and the mocking laughter, -the stern, cool, calculating look here and there; the unimpressionable, -dogged stare! Oh! that I could put on canvas what I have in my mind! - -"_July 25th._--A glorious day at Chatham, where again the Engineers were -put through field exercises, and I studied them with all my faculties. I -got splendid hints to-day. Went with Colonel Browne and Papa. - -"_July 28th._--My dear musketry instructor for a few more attitudes. He -has put me through the process of loading the 'Brown Bess'--a -flint-lock--so that I shall have my soldiers handling their arms -properly. Galloway has sold the copyright of this picture to Messrs. -Dickenson for £2,000! They must have faith in my doing it well." - -On August 11th I see I took a much-needed holiday at home, at Ventnor; -and, as I say, "gave myself up to fresh air, exercise, a little -out-of-door painting, and Napier's 'Peninsular War,' in six volumes." -Shortly before I left for home I received from Queen Victoria a very -splendid bracelet set with pearls and a large emerald. My mother and -good friend Dr. Pollard were with me in the studio when the messenger -brought it, and we formed a jubilant trio. - -It was pleasant to be amongst my old Ventnor friends who had known me -since I was little more than a child. But on September 10th I had to bid -them and the old place goodbye, and on September 11th I re-entered my -beloved studio. - -"_September 12th._--An eventful day, for my 'Quatre Bras' canvas was -tackled. The sergeant-major and Colonel Browne arrived. The latter, good -man, has had the whole Waterloo uniform made for me at the Government -clothing factory at Pimlico. It has been made to fit the sergeant-major, -who put on the whole thing for me to see. We had a dress rehearsal, and -very delighted I was. They have even had the coat dyed the old -'brick-dust' red and made of the baize cloth of those days! Times are -changed for me. It will be my fault if the picture is a fiasco." - -During the painting of "Quatre Bras" I was elected a member of the Royal -Institute of Painters in Water Colour, and I contributed to the Winter -Exhibition that large sketch of a sowar of the 10th Bengal Lancers which -I called "Missed!" and which the _Graphic_ bought and published in -colours. This reproduction sold to such an extent that the _Graphic_ -must have been pleased! The sowar at "tent-pegging" has missed his peg -and pulls at his horse at full gallop. I had never seen tent-pegging at -that time, but I did this from description, by an Anglo-Indian officer -of the 10th, who put the thing vividly before me. How many, many -tent-peggings I have seen since, and what a number of subjects they have -given me for my brush and pencil! Those captivating and pictorial -movements of men and horses are inexhaustible in their variety. - -I had more models sent to me than I could put into the big -picture--Guardsmen, Engineers and Policemen--the latter being useful as, -in those days, the police did not wear the moustache, and I had -difficulty in finding heads suitable for the Waterloo time. Not a head -in the picture is repeated. I had a welcome opportunity of showing -varieties of types such as gave me so much pleasure in the old -Florentine days when I enjoyed the Andrea del Sartos, Masaccios, Francia -Bigios, and other works so full of characteristic heads. - -On November 7th my sister and I went for a weekend to Birmingham, where -the people who had bought "The Roll Call" copyright were exhibiting that -picture. They particularly wished me to go. We were very agreeably -entertained at Birmingham, where I was curious to meet the buyer of my -first picture sold, that "Morra" which I painted in Rome. Unfortunately -I inquired everywhere for "Mr. Glass," and had to leave Birmingham -without seeing him and the early work. No one had heard of him! His name -was Chance, the great Birmingham _glass_ manufacturer. - -"_November 27th._--In the morning off with Dr. Pollard to Sanger's -Circus, where arrangements had been made for me to see two horses go -through their performances of lying down, floundering on the ground, -and rearing for my 'Quatre Bras' foreground horses. It was a funny -experience behind the scenes, and I sketched as I followed the horses in -their movements over the arena with many members of the troupe looking -on, the young ladies with their hair in curl-papers against the -evening's performance. I am now ripe to go to Paris." - -So to Paris I went, with my father. We were guests of my father's old -friends, Mr. and Mrs. Talmadge, Boulevard Haussmann, and a complete -change of scene it was. It gave my work the desired fillip and the fresh -impulse of emulation, for we visited the best studios, where I met my -most admired French painters. The Paris Diary says: - -"_December 3rd._--Our first lion was Bonnat in his studio. A little man, -strong and wiry; I didn't care for his pictures. His colouring is -dreadful. What good light those Parisians get while we are muddling in -our smoky art centre. We next went to Gérôme, and it was an epoch in my -life when I saw him. He was at work but did not mind being interrupted. -He is a much smaller man than I expected, with wide open, quick black -eyes, yet with deep lids, the eyes opening wide only when he talks. He -talked a great deal and knew me by name and '_l'Appel,_' which he -politely said he heard was '_digne_' of the celebrity it had gained. We -went to see an exhibition of horrors--Carolus Duran's productions, now -on view at the _Cercle Artistique_. The talk is all about this man, just -now the vogue. He illustrates a very disagreeable present phase of -French Art. At Goupil's we saw De Neuville's 'Combat on the Roof of a -House,' and I feasted my eyes on some pickings from the most celebrated -artists of the Continent. I am having a great treat and a great lesson. - -"_December 4th._--Had a _supposed_ great opportunity in being invited to -join a party of very _mondaines Parisiennes_ to go over the Grand Opera, -which is just being finished. Oh, the chatter of those women in the -carriage going there! They vied with each other in frivolous outpourings -which continued all the time we explored that dreadful building. It is a -pile of ostentation which oppressed me by the extravagant display of -gilding, marbles and bronze, and silver, and mosaic, and brocade, heaped -up over each other in a gorged kind of way. How truly weary I felt; and -the bedizened dressing-rooms of the actresses and _danseuses_ were the -last straw. Ugh! and all really tasteless." - -However, I recovered from the Grand Opera, and really enjoyed the lively -dinners where conversation was not limited to couples, but flowed with -great _ésprit_ across the table and round and round. Still, in time, my -sleep suffered, for I seemed to hear those voices in the night. How -graceful were the French equivalents to the compliments I received in -London. They thought I would like to know that the fame of "_l'Appel_" -had reached Paris, and so I did. - -We visited Detaille's beautiful studio. He was my greatest admiration at -that time. Also Henriette Browne's and others, and, of course, the -Luxembourg, so I drew much profit from my little visit. But what a -change I saw in the army! I who could remember the Empire of my -childhood, with its endless variety of uniforms, its buglings, and -drummings, and trumpetings; its _chic_ and glitter and swagger: 1870 was -over it all now. Well, never mind, I have lived to see it in the "_bleu -d'horizon_" of a new and glorious day. My Paris Diary winds up with: -"_December 14th._--Papa and I returned home from our Paris visit. My eye -has been very much sharpened, and very severe was that organ as it -rested on my 'Quatre Bras' for the first time since a fortnight ago. Ye -Gods! what a deal I have to do to that picture before it will be fit to -look at! I continue to receive droll letters and poems (!). One I must -quote the opening line of: - - 'Go on, go on, thou glorious girl!' - -Very cheering." - - - - -CHAPTER X - -MORE WORK AND PLAY - - -So I worked steadily at the big picture, finding the red coats very -trying. What would I have thought, when studying at Florence, if I had -been told to paint a mass of men in one colour, and that "brick-dust"? -However, my Aldershot observations had been of immense value in showing -me how the British red coat becomes blackish-purple here, pale salmon -colour there, and so forth, under the influence of the weather and wear -and tear. I have all the days noted down, with the amount of work done, -for future guidance, and lamentations over the fogs of that winter of -1874-5. I gave nicknames in the Diary to the figures in my picture, -which I was amused to find, later on, was also the habit of Meissonier; -one of my figures I called the "_Gamin_" and he, too, actually had a -"_Gamin_." Those fogs retarded my work cruelly, and towards the end I -had to begin at the studio at 9.30 instead of 10, and work on till very -late. The porter at No. 76 told me mine was the first fire to be lit in -the morning of all in The Avenue. - -[Illustration: PRACTISING FOR "QUATRE BRAS."] - -One day the Horse Guards, directed by their surgeon, had a magnificent -black charger thrown down in the riding school at Knightsbridge (on deep -sawdust) for me to see, and get hints from, for the fallen horse in my -foreground. The riding master strapped up one of the furious animal's -forelegs and then let him go. What a commotion before he fell! How he -plunged and snorted in clouds of dust till the final plunge, when the -riding master and a trooper threw themselves on him to keep him down -while I made a frantic sketch. "What must it be," I ask, "when a horse -is wounded in battle, if this painless proceeding can put him into such -a state?" - -The spring of 1875 was full of experiences for me. I note that "at the -Horse Guards' riding school a charger was again 'put down' for me, but -more gently this time, and without the risk, as the riding master said, -of breaking the horse's neck, as last time. I was favoured with a -charge, two troopers riding full tilt at me and pulling up at within two -yards of where I stood, covering me with the sawdust. I stood it bravely -the _second_ time, but the first I got out of the way. With 'Quatre -Bras' in my head, I tried to fancy myself one of my young fellows being -charged, but I fear my expression was much too feminine and pacific." -March 22nd gave me a long day's tussle with the grey, bounding horse -shot in mid-career. I say: "This _is_ a teaser. I was tired out and -faint when I got home." If that was a black day, the next was a white -one: "The sculptor, Boehm, came in, and gave me the very hints I wanted -to complete my bounding horse. Galloway also came. He says 'Quatre Bras' -beats 'The Roll Call' into a cocked hat! He gave me £500 on account. Oh! -the nice and strange feeling of easiness of mind and slackening of -speed; it is beginning to refresh me at last, and my seven months' task -is nearly accomplished." Another visitor was the Duke of Cambridge, who, -it appears, gave each soldier in my square a long scrutiny and showed -how well he understood the points. - -On "Studio Monday" the crowds came, so that I could do very little in -the morning. The novelty, which amused me at first, had worn off, and I -was vexed that such numbers arrived, and tried to put in a touch here -and there whenever I could. Millais' visit, however, I record as "nice, -for he was most sincerely pleased with the picture, going over it with -great _gusto_. It is the drawing, character, and expression he most -dwells on, which is a comfort. But I must now try to improve my _tone_, -I know. And what about '_quality_'? To-day, Sending-in Day, Mrs. Millais -came, and told me what her husband had been saying. He considers me, she -said, an even stronger artist than Rosa Bonheur, and is greatly pleased -with my _drawing_. _That_ (the 'drawing') pleased me more than anything. -But I think it is a pity to make comparisons between artists. I _may_ be -equal to Rosa Bonheur in power, but how widely apart lie our courses! I -was so put out in the morning, when I arrived early to get a little -painting, to find the wretched photographers in possession. I showed my -vexation most unmistakably, and at last bundled the men out. They were -working for Messrs. Dickinson. So much of my time had been taken from me -that I was actually dabbing at the picture when the men came to take it -away; I dabbing in front and they tapping at the nails behind. How -disagreeable!" - -After doing a water colour of a Scots Grey orderly for the "Institute," -which Agnew bought, I was free at last to take my holiday. So my Mother -and I were off to Canterbury to be present at the opening of St. -Thomas's Church there. - -"_April 11th, Canterbury._--To Mass in the wretched barn over a stable -wherein a hen, having laid an egg, cackled all through the service. And -this has been our only church since the mission was first begun six -years ago, up till now, in the city of the great English Martyr. But -this state of things comes to an end on Tuesday." - -This opening of St. Thomas's Church was the first public act of Cardinal -Manning as Cardinal, and it went off most successfully. There were rows -of Bishops and Canons and Monsignori and mitred Abbots, and monks and -secular priests, all beautifully disposed in the Sanctuary. The sun -shone nearly the whole time on the Cardinal as he sat on his throne. -After Mass came the luncheon at which much cheering and laughter were -indulged in. Later on Benediction, and a visit to the Cathedral. I -rather winced when a group of men went down on their knees and kissed -the place where the blood of St. Thomas à Becket is supposed to still -stain the flags. The Anglican verger stared and did _not_ understand. - -On Varnishing Day at the Academy I was evidently not enchanted with the -position of my picture. "It is in what is called 'the Black Hole'--the -only dark room, the light of which looks quite blue by contrast with the -golden sun-glow in the others. However, the artists seemed to think it a -most enviable position. The big picture is conspicuous, forming the -centre of the line on that wall. One academician told me that on account -of the rush there would be to see it they felt they must put it there. -This 'Lecture Room' I don't think was originally meant for pictures and -acts on the principle of a lobster pot. You may go round and round the -galleries and never find your way into it! I had the gratification of -being told by R.A. after R.A. that my picture was in some respects an -advance on last year's, and I was much congratulated on having done what -was generally believed more than doubtful--that is, sending any -important picture this year with the load and responsibility of my -'almost overwhelming success,' as they called it, of last year on my -mind. And that I should send such a difficult one, with so much more in -it than the other, they all consider 'very plucky.' I was not very happy -myself, although I know 'Quatre Bras' to be to 'The Roll Call' as a -mountain to a hill. However, it was all very gratifying, and I stayed -there to the end. My picture was crowded, and I could see how it was -being pulled to pieces and unmercifully criticised. I returned to the -studio, where I found a champagne lunch spread and a family gathering -awaiting me, all anxiety as to the position of my _magnum opus_. After -that hilarious meal I sped back to the fascination of Burlington House. -I don't think, though, that Mamma will ever forgive the R.A.'s for the -'Black Hole.' - -"_April 30th._--The private view, to which Papa and I went. It is very -seldom that an 'outsider' gets invited, but they make a pet of me at the -Academy. Again this day contrasted very soberly with the dazzling P.V. -of '74. There were fewer great guns, and I was not torn to pieces to be -introduced here, there, and everywhere, most of the people being the -same as last year, and knowing me already. The same _furore_ cannot be -repeated; the first time, as I said, can never be a second. Papa and I -and lots of others lunched over the way at the Penders' in Arlington -Street, our hosts of last night, and it was all very friendly and nice, -and we returned in a body to the R.A. afterwards. I was surprised, at -the big 'At Home' last night, to find myself a centre again, and people -all so anxious to hear my answers to their questions. Last year I felt -all this more keenly, as it had all the fascination of novelty. This -year just the faintest atom of zest is gone. - -"_May 3rd._--To the Academy on this, the opening day. A dense, surging -multitude before my picture. The whole place was crowded so that before -'Quatre Bras' the jammed people numbered in dozens and the picture was -most completely and satisfactorily rendered invisible. It was chaos, for -there was no policeman, as last year, to make people move one way. They -clashed in front of that canvas and, in struggling to wriggle out, -lunged right against it. Dear little Mamma, who was there nearly all the -time of our visit, told me this, for I could not stay there as, to my -regret, I find I get recognised (I suppose from my latest photos, which -are more like me than the first horror) and the report soon spreads that -I am present. So I wander about in other rooms. I don't know why I feel -so irritated at starers. One can have a little too much popularity. Not -one single thing in this world is without its drawbacks. I see I am in -for minute and severe criticism in the papers, which actually give me -their first notices of the R.A. The _Telegraph_ gives me its entire -article. _The Times_ leads off with me because it says 'Quatre Bras' -will be the picture the public will want to hear about most. It seems to -be discussed from every point of view in a way not usual with battle -pieces. But that is as it should be, for I hope my military pictures -will have moral and artistic qualities not generally thought necessary -to military _genre_. - -"_May 4th._--All of us and friends to the Academy, where we had a -lively lunch, Mamma nearly all the time in 'my crowd,' half delighted -with the success and half terrified at the danger the picture was in -from the eagerness of the curious multitude. I just furtively glanced -between the people, and could only see a head of a soldier at a time. A -nice notion the public must have of the _tout ensemble_ of my -production!" - -I was afloat on the London season again, sometimes with my father, or -with Dr. Pollard. My dear mother did not now go out in the evenings, -being too fatigued from her most regrettable sleeplessness. There was a -dinner or At Home nearly every day, and occasionally a dance or a ball. -At one of the latter my partner informed me that Miss Thompson was to be -there that evening. All this was fun for the time. At a crowded -afternoon At Home at the Campanas', where all the singers from the opera -were herded, and nearly cracked the too-narrow walls of those tiny rooms -by the concussion of the sound issuing from their wonderful throats, I -met Salvini. "Having his 'Otello,' which we saw the other night, fresh -in my mind, I tried to _enthuse_ about it to him, but became so -tongue-tied with nervousness that I could only feebly say _'Quasi, quasi -piangevo!' 'O! non bisogna piangere,'_ poor Salvini kindly answered. To -tell him I nearly cried! To tell the truth, I was much too painfully -impressed by the terrific realism of the murder of Desdemona and of -Othello's suicide to _cry_. I have been told that, when Othello is -chasing Desdemona round the room and finally catches her for the murder, -women in the audience have been known to cry out 'Don't!' And I told him -I _nearly_ cried! Ugh!" - -After this I went to Great Marlow for fresh air with my mother, and -worked up an oil picture of a scout of the 3rd Dragoon Guards whom I saw -at Aldershot, getting the landscape at Marlow. It has since been -engraved. - -By the middle of June I was at work in the studio once more. The -evenings brought their diversions. Under Mrs. Owen Lewis's chaperonage I -went to Lady Petre's At Home one evening, where 600 guests were -assembled "to meet H.E. the Cardinal."[5] I record that "I enjoyed it -very much, though people did nothing but talk at the top of their voices -as they wriggled about in the dense crowd which they helped to swell. -They say it is a characteristic of these Catholic parties that the talk -is so loud, as everybody knows everybody intimately! I met many people I -knew, and my dear chaperon introduced lots of people to me. I had a -longish talk with H.E., who scolded me, half seriously, for not having -come to see him. I was aware of an extra interest in me in those -orthodox rooms, and was much amused at an enthusiastic woman asking, -repeatedly, whether I was there. These fleeting experiences instruct one -as they fly. Now I know what it feels like to be 'the fashion.'" Other -festivities have their record: "I went to a very nice garden party at -the house of the great engineer, Mr. Fowler, where the usual sort of -thing concerning me went on--introductions of 'grateful' people in large -numbers who, most of them, poured out their heartfelt(!) feelings about -me and my work. I can stand a surprising amount of this, and am by no -means _blasée_ yet. Mr. Fowler has a very choice collection of modern -pictures, which I much enjoyed." Again: "The dinner at the Millais' was -nice, but its great attraction was Heilbuth's being there, one of my -greatest admirations as regards his particular line--characteristic -scenes of Roman ecclesiastical life such as I so much enjoyed in Rome. I -told Millais I had had Heilbuth's photograph in my album for years. 'Do -you hear that, Heilbuth?' he shouted. To my disgust he was portioned off -to some one else to go in to dinner, but I had de Nittis, a very clever -Neapolitan artist, and, what with him and Heilbuth and Hallé and Tissot, -we talked more French and Italian than English that evening. Millais was -so genial and cordial, and in seeing me into the carriage he hinted very -broadly that I was soon to have what I 'most _t_'oroughly -deserved'--that is, my election as A.R.A. He pronounced the '_th_' like -that, and with great emphasis. Was that the Jersey touch?" - -In July I saw de Neuville's remarkable "Street Combat," which made a -deep impression on me. I went also to see the field day at Aldershot, a -great success, with splendid weather. After the "battle," Captain Cardew -took us over several camps, and showed us the stables and many things -which interested me greatly and gave me many ideas. The entry for July -17th says: - -"Arranging the composition for my 'Balaclava' in the morning, and at -1.30 came my dear hussar,[6] who has sat on his fiery chestnut for me -already, on a fine bay, for my left-hand horse in the new picture. I -have been leading such a life amongst the jarring accounts of the -Crimean men I have had in my studio to consult. Some contradict each -other flatly. When Col. C. saw my rough charcoal sketch on the wall, he -said _no_ dress caps were worn in that charge, and coolly rubbed them -off, and with a piece of charcoal put mean little forage caps on all the -heads (on the wrong side, too!), and contentedly marched out of the -door. In comes an old 17th Lancer sergeant, and I tell him what has been -done to my cartoon. 'Well, miss,' says he, 'all I can tell you is that -my dress cap went into the charge and my dress cap came out of it!' On -went the dress caps again and up went my spirits, so dashed by Col. C. -To my delight this lancer veteran has kept his very uniform--somewhat -moth-eaten, but the real original, and he will lend it to me. I can get -the splendid headdress of the 17th, the 'Death or Glory Boys,' of that -period at a military tailor's." - -The Lord Mayor's splendid banquet to the Royal Academicians and -distinguished "outsiders" was in many respects a repetition of the last -but with the difference that the assembly was almost entirely composed -of artists. "I went with Papa, and I must say, as my name was shouted -out and we passed through the lane of people to where the Lord Mayor and -Lady Mayoress were standing to receive their guests, I felt a momentary -stroke of nervousness, for people were standing there to see who was -arriving, and every eye was upon me. I was mentioned in three or four -speeches. The Lord Mayor, looking at me, said that he was honoured to -have amongst his guests Miss Thompson (cheers), and Major Knollys -brought in 'The Roll Call' and 'Quatre Bras' amidst clamour, while Sir -Henry Cole's allusion to my possible election as an A.R.A. was equally -well received. I felt very glad as I sat there and heard my present -work cheered; for in that hall, last year, I had still the great ordeal -to go through of painting, and painting successfully, my next picture, -and that was now a _fait accompli_." - -A rainy July sadly hindered me from seeing as much as I had hoped to see -of the Aldershot manoeuvres. On one lovely day, however, Papa and I -went down in the special train with the Prince of Wales, the Duke of -Cambridge, and all the "cocked hats." In our compartment was Lord -Dufferin, who, on hearing my name, asked to be introduced and proved a -most charming companion, and what he said about "Quatre Bras" was nice. -He was only in England on a short furlough from Canada, and did not see -my "Roll Call." - -"At the station at Farnborough the picturesqueness began with the gay -groups of the escort, and other soldiers and general officers, all in -war trim, moving about in the sunshine, while in the background slowly -passed, heavily laden, the Army on the march to the scene of action. -Papa and I and Major Bethune took a carriage and slowly followed the -march, I standing up to see all I could. - -"We were soon overtaken by the brilliant staff, and saluted as it -flashed past by many of its gallant members, including the dashing Baron -de Grancey in his sky blue _Chasseurs d'Afrique_ uniform. Poor Lord -Dufferin in civilian dress--frock coat and tall hat--had to ride a -rough-trotting troop horse, as his own horse never turned up at the -station. A trooper was ordered to dismount, and the elegant Lord -Dufferin took his place in the black sheepskin saddle. He did all with -perfect grace, and I see him now, as he passed our carriage, lift his -hat with a smiling bow, as though he was riding the smoothest of Arabs. -The country was lovely. All the heather out and the fir woods aromatic. -In one village regiments were standing in the streets, others defiling -into woods and all sorts of artillery, ambulance, and engineer waggons -lumbering along with a dull roll very suggestive of real war. At this -village the two Army Corps separated to become enemies, the one -distinguished from the other by the men of one side wearing broad white -bands round their headdresses. This gave the wearers a rather savage -look which I much enjoyed. It made their already brown faces look still -grimmer. Of course, our driver took the wrong road and we saw nothing of -the actual battle, but distant puffs of smoke. However, I saw all the -march back to Aldershot, and really, what with the full ambulances, the -men lying exhausted (_sic_) by the roadside, or limping along, and the -cheers and songs of the dirty, begrimed troops, it was not so unlike -war. At the North Camp Sir Henry de Bathe was introduced, and Papa and I -stood by him as the troops came in." A day or two later I was in the -Long Valley where the most splendid military spectacle was given us, -some 22,000 being paraded in the glorious sunshine and effective cloud -shadows in one of the most striking landscapes I have seen in England. -"It was very instructive to me," I write, "to see the difference in the -appearance of the men to-day from that which they presented on Thursday. -Their very faces seemed different; clean, open and good-looking, whereas -on Thursday I wondered that British soldiers could look as they did. The -infantry in particular, on that day, seemed changed; they looked almost -savage, so distorted were their faces with powder and dirt and deep -lines caused by the glare of the sun. I was well within the limits when -I painted my 28th in square. I suppose it would not have done to be -realistic to the fullest extent. The lunch at the Welsh Fusiliers' mess -in a tent I thought very nice. Papa came down for the day. It is very -good of him. I don't think he approves of my being so much on my own -hook. But things can't help being rather abnormal." - -Here follows another fresh air holiday at my grandparents' at Worthing -(where I rode with my grandfather), finishing up with a visit which I -shall always remember with pleasure--I ought to say gratitude--not only -for its own sake, but for all the enjoyment it obtained for me in Italy. -That August I was a guest of the Higford-Burrs at Aldermaston Court, an -Elizabethan house standing in a big Berkshire park. "I arrived just as -the company were finishing dinner. I was welcomed with open arms. Mrs. -Higford-Burr embraced me, although I have only seen her twice before, -and I was made to sit down at table in my travelling dress, positively -declining to recall dishes, hating a fuss as I do. The dessert was -pleasant because every one made me feel at home, especially Mrs. Janet -Ross, daughter of the Lady Duff Gordon whose writings had made me long -to see the Nile in my childhood. There are five lakes in the Park, and -one part is a heather-covered Common, of which I have made eight oil -sketches on my little panels, so that I have had the pleasure of working -hard and enjoying the society of most delightful people. There were -always other guests at dinner besides the house party, and the average -number who sat down was eighteen. Besides Mrs. Ross were Mr. and Mrs. -Layard, he the Nineveh explorer, and now Ambassador at Madrid, the -Poynters, R.A., the Misses Duff Gordon, and others, in the house. Mrs. -Burr with her great tact allowed me to absent myself between breakfast -and tea, taking my sandwiches and paints with me to the moor." - -Days at Worthing followed, where my mother and I painted all day on the -Downs, I with my "Balaclava" in view, which required a valley and low -hills. My mother's help was of great value, as I had not had much time -to practise landscape up to then. Then came my visit, with Alice, to -Newcastle, where "Quatre Bras" was being exhibited, to be followed by -our visit at Mrs. Ross's Villa near Florence, whither she had invited us -when at Aldermaston, to see the _fêtes_ in honour of Michael Angelo. - -"We left for Newcastle by the 'Flying Scotchman' from King's Cross at 10 -a.m., and had a flying shot at Peterborough and York Cathedrals, and a -fine flying view of Durham. Newcastle impressed us very much as we -thundered over the iron bridge across the Tyne and looked down on the -smoke-shrouded, red-roofed city belching forth black and brown smoke and -jets of white steam in all directions. It rises in fine masses up from -the turbid flood of the dark river, and has a lurid grandeur quite novel -to us. I could not help admiring it, though, as it were, under protest, -for it seems to me something like a sin to obscure the light of Heaven -when it is not necessary. The laws for consuming factory smoke are quite -disregarded here. Mrs. Mawson, representing the firm at whose gallery -'Quatre Bras' is being exhibited, was awaiting our arrival, and was to -be our hostess. We were honoured and fêted in the way of the -warm-hearted North. Nothing could have been more successful than our -visit in its way. These Northerners are most hospitable, and we are -delighted with them. They have quite a _cachet_ of their own, so -cultured and well read on the top of their intense commercialism--far -more responsive in conversation than many society people I know 'down -South.' We had a day at Durham under Mrs. Mawson's wing, visiting that -finest of all English Cathedrals (to my mind), and the Bishop's palace, -etc. We rested at the Dean's, where, of course, I was asked for my -autograph. I already find how interested the people are about here, more -even than in other parts where I have been. Durham is a place I loved -before I saw it. The way that grand mass of Norman architecture rises -abruptly from the woods that slope sheer down to the calm river is a -unique thing. Of course, the smoky atmosphere makes architectural -ornament look shallow by dimming the deep shadows of carvings, etc.--a -great pity. On our return we took another lion _en passant_--my picture -at Newcastle, and most delighted I was to find it so well lighted. I may -say I have never seen it properly before, because it never looked so -well in my studio, and as to the Black Hole----! What people they are up -here for shaking hands! When some one is brought up to me the introducer -puts it in this way: 'Mr. So-and-So wishes very much to have the honour -of shaking hands with you, Miss Thompson.' There is a straight-forward -ring in their speech which I like." - -We were up one morning at 4.30 to be off to Scotland for the day. At -Berwick the rainy weather lifted and we were delighted by the look of -the old Border town on its promontory by the broad and shining Tweed. -Passing over the long bridge, which has such a fine effect spanning the -river, we were pleased to find ourselves in a country new to us. -Edinburgh struck us very much, for we had never quite believed in it, -and thought it was "all the brag of the Scotch," but we were converted. -It is so like a fine old Continental city--nothing reminds one of -England, and yet there is a _Scotchiness_ about it which gives it a -sentiment of its own. Our towns are, as a rule, so poorly situated, but -Edinburgh has the advantage of being built on steep hills and of being -back-grounded by great crags which give it a most majestic look. The -grey colour of the city is fine, and the houses, nearly all gabled and -very tall, are exceedingly picturesque, and none have those vile, black, -wriggling chimney pots which disfigure what sky lines our towns may -have. I was delighted to see so many women with white caps and tartan -shawls and the children barefoot; picturesque horse harness; plenty of -kilted soldiers. - -We did all the lions, including the garrison fortress where the Cameron -Highlanders were, and where Colonel Miller, of Parkhurst memory, came -out, very pleased to speak to me and escort us about. He had the water -colour I gave him of his charger, done at Parkhurst in the old Ventnor -days. Our return to Newcastle was made in glorious sunshine, and we -greedily devoured the peculiarly sweet and remote-looking scenes we -passed through. I shall long remember Newcastle at sunset on that -evening, Then, I will say, the smoke looked grand. They asked me to look -at my picture by gas light. The sixpenny crowd was there, the men -touching their caps as I passed. In the street they formed a lane for me -to pass to the carriage. "What nice people!" I exclaim in the Diary. - -All the morning of our departure I was employed in sitting for my -photograph, looking at productions of local artists and calling on the -Bishop and the Protestant Vicar. One man had carved a chair which was to -be dedicated to me. I was quaintly enthroned on it. All this was done on -our way to the station, where we lunched under dozens of eyes, and on -the platform a crowd was assembled. I read: "Several local dignitaries -were introduced and 'shook hands,' as also the 'Gentlemen of the local -Press.' As I said a few words to each the crowd saw me over the -barriers, which made me get quite hot and I was rather glad when the -train drew up and we could get into our carriage. The farewell -handshakings at the door may be imagined. We left in a cloud of waving -handkerchiefs and hats. I don't know that I respond sufficiently to all -this. Frankly, my picture being made so much of pleases me most -satisfactorily, but the _personal_ part of the tribute makes me -curiously uncomfortable when coming in this way." - -Ruskin wrote a pamphlet on that year's Academy in which he told the -world that he had approached "Quatre Bras" with "iniquitous prejudice" -as being the work of a woman. He had always held that no woman could -paint, and he accounted for my work being what he found it as being that -of an Amazon. I was very pleased to see myself in the character of an -Amazon. - - - - -CHAPTER XI - -TO FLORENCE AND BACK - - -We started on our most delightful journey to Florence early in September -of that year to assist at the Michael Angelo fêtes as the guests of dear -Mrs. Janet Ross and the Marchese della Stufa, who, with Mr. Ross, -inhabited in the summer the delicious old villa of Castagnolo, at Lastra -a Signa, six miles on the Pisan side of my beloved Florence. Of course, -I give page after page in the Diary to our journey across Italy under -the Alps and the Apennines. To the modern motorist it must all sound -slow, though we did travel by rail! Above all the lovely things we saw -on our way by the Turin-Bologna line, I think Parma, rising from the -banks of a shallow river, glowing in sunshine and palpitating jewel-like -shade, holds pride of place for noontide beauty. After Modena came the -deeper loveliness of the afternoon, and then Bologna, mellowed by the -rosy tints of early evening. Then the sunset and then the tender moon. - -By moonlight we crossed the Apennines, and to the sound of the droning -summer beetle--an extraordinarily penetrating sound, which I declared -makes itself heard above the railway noises, we descended into the -Garden of Italy, slowly, under powerful brakes. At ten we reached -Florence, and in the crowd on the platform a tall, distinguished-looking -man bowed to me. "Miss Thompson?" "Yes." It was the Marchese, and lo! -behind him, who should there be but my old master, Bellucci. What a -warm welcome they gave us. Of course, our luggage had stuck at the -_douane_ at Modane, and was telegraphed for. No help for it; we must do -without it for a day or two. We got into the carriage which was awaiting -us, and the Marchese into his little pony trap, and off we went flying -for a mysterious, dream-like drive in misty moonlight, we in front and -our host behind, jingle-jingling merrily with the pleasant monotony of -his lion-maned little pony's canter. We could not believe the drive was -a real one. It was too much joy to be at Florence--too good to be true. -But how tired we were! - -At last we drove up to the great towered villa, an old-fashioned -Florentine ancestral place, which has been the home of the Della Stufas -for generations, and there, in the great doorway, stood Mrs. Ross, -welcoming us most cordially to "Castagnolo." We passed through frescoed -rooms and passages, dimly lighted with oil lamps of genuine old Tuscan -patterns, and were delighted with our bedrooms--enormous, brick-paved -and airy. There we made a show of tidying ourselves, and went down to a -fruit-decked supper, though hardly able to sit up for sleep. How kind -they were to us! We felt quite at home at once. - -"_September 12th._--After Mass at the picturesque little chapel which, -with the _vicario's_ dwelling, abuts on the _fattoria_ wing of the -villa, we drove into Florence with Mrs. Ross and the Marchese, whom we -find the typical Italian patrician of the high school. We were rigged -out in Mrs. Ross's frocks, which didn't fit us at all. But what was to -be done? Provoking girls! It was a dear, hot, dusty, dazzling old -Florentine drive, bless it! and we were very pleased. Florence was _en -fête_ and all _imbandierata_ and hung with the usual coloured draperies, -and all joyous with church bells and military bands. The concert in -honour of Michael Angelo (the fêtes began to-day) was held in the -Palazzo Vecchio, and very excellent music they gave us, the audience -bursting out in applause before some of the best pieces were quite -finished in that refreshingly spontaneous way Italians have. After the -concert we loitered about the piazza looking at the ever-moving and -chattering crowd in the deep, transparent shade and dazzling sunshine. -It was a glorious sight, with the white statues of the fountain rising -into the sunlight against houses hung mostly with very beautiful yellow -draperies. I stood at the top of the steps of the Loggia de' Lanzi, and, -resting my book on the pedestal of one of the lions, I made a rough -sketch of the scene, keeping the _Graphic_ engagement in view. I -subsequently took another of the Michael Angelo procession passing the -Ponte alle Grazie on its way from Santa Croce to the new 'Piazzale -Michel Angelo,' which they have made since we were here before, on the -height of San Miniato. It was a pretty procession on account of the rich -banners. A day full of charming sights and melodious sounds." - -The great doings of the last day of the fêtes were the illuminations in -the moonlit evening. They were artistically done, and we had a feast of -them, taking a long, slow drive to the piazzale by the new zigzag. -Michael Angelo was remembered at every turn, and the places he fortified -were especially marked out by lovely lights, all more or less soft and -glowing. Not a vile gas jet to be seen anywhere. The city was not -illuminated, nor was anything, with few exceptions, save the lines of -the great man's fortifications. The old white banner of Florence, with -the _Giglio_, floated above the tricolour on the heights which Michael -Angelo defended in person. The effect, especially on the church of San -Miniato, of golden lamps making all the surfaces aglow, as if the walls -were transparent, and of the green-blue moonlight above, was a thing as -lovely as can be seen on this earth. It was a thoroughly Italian -festival. We were charmed with the people; no pushing in the crowds, -which enjoyed themselves very much. They made way for us when they saw -we were foreigners. - -We stayed at Castagnolo nearly all through the vintage, pressed from one -week to another to linger, though I made many attempts to go on account -of beginning my "Balaclava." The fascination of Castagnolo was intense, -and we had certainly a happy experience. I sketched hard every day in -the garden, the vineyards, and the old courtyard where the most -picturesque vintage incidents occurred, with the white oxen, the wine -pressing, and the bare-legged, merry _contadini_, all in an atmosphere -scented with the fermenting grapes. Everything in the _Cortile_ was dyed -with the wine in the making. I loved to lean over the great vats and -inhale that wholesome effluence, listening to the low sea-like murmur of -the fermentation. On the days when we helped to pick the grapes on the -hillside (and "helping ourselves" at the same time) we had _collazione_ -there, a little picnic, with the indispensable guitar and post-prandial -cigarette. Every one made the most of this blessed time, as such moments -should be made the most of when they are given us, I think. Young -Italians often dined at the villa, and the evenings were spent in -singing _stornelli_ and _rispetti_ until midnight to the guitar, -every one of these young fellows having a nice voice. They were merry, -pleasant creatures. - -[Illustration: ONE OF THE BALAKLAVA SIX-HUNDRED.] - -Nothing but the stern necessity of returning to work could have kept me -from seeing the vintage out. We left most regretfully on October 4th, -taking Genoa and our dear step-sister on the way. Even as it was our -lingering in Italy made me too late, as things turned out, for the -Academy! - -October 19th has this entry: "Began my 'Balaclava' cartoon to-day. -Marked all the positions of the men and horses. My trip to Italy and the -glorious and happy and healthy life I have led there, and the utter -change of scene and occupation, have done me priceless good, and at last -I feel like going at this picture _con amore_. I was in hopes this happy -result would be obtained." "Balaclava" was painted for Mr. Whitehead, of -Manchester. I had owed him a picture from the time I exhibited -"Missing." It was to be the same size, and for the same price as that -work, and I was in honour bound to fulfil my contract! So I again -brought forward the "Dawn of Sedan," although my prices were now so -enlarged that £80 had become quite out of proportion, even for a simple -subject like that. However, after long parleys, and on account of Mr. -Whitehead's repudiation of the Sedan subject, it was agreed that -"Balaclava" should be his, at the new scale altogether. The Fine Art -Society (late Dickenson & Co.) gave Mr. Whitehead £3,000 for the -copyright, and engaged the great Stacpoole, as before, to execute the -engraving. - -I was very sorry that the picture was not ready for Sending-in Day at -the Academy. No doubt the fuss that was made about it, and my having -begun a month too late, put me off; but, be that as it may, I was a -good deal disturbed towards the end, and had to exhibit "Balaclava" at -the private gallery of the purchasers of the copyright in Bond Street. -This gave me more time to finish. I had my own Private View on April -20th, 1876: "The picture is disappointing to me. In vain I call to mind -all the things that judges of art have said about this being the best -thing I have yet painted. Can one _never_ be happy when the work is -done? This day was only for our friends and was no test. Still, there -was what may be called a sensation. Virginia Gabriel, the composer, was -led out of the room by her husband in tears! One officer who had been -through the charge told a friend he would never have come if he had -known how like the real thing it was. Curiously enough, another said -that after the stress of Inkermann a soldier had come up to his horse -and leant his face against it exactly as I have the man doing to the -left of my picture. - -"_April 22nd._--An enormous number of people at the Society's Private -View and some of the morning papers blossoming out in the most beautiful -notices, ever so long, and I getting a little reassured." A day later: -"Went to lunch at Mrs. Mitchell's, who invited me at the Private View, -next door to Lady Raglan's, her great friend. Two distinguished officers -were there to meet me, and we had a pleasant chat." And this is all I -say! One of the two was Major W. F. Butler, author of "The Great Lone -Land." - -The London season went by full of society doings. Our mother had long -been "At Home" on Wednesdays, and much good music was heard at "The -Boltons," South Kensington. Ruskin came to see us there. He and our -mother were often of the same way of thinking on many subjects, and I -remember seeing him gently clapping his hands at many points she made. -He was displeased with me on one occasion when, on his asking me which -of the Italian masters I had especially studied, I named Andrea del -Sarto. "Come into the corner and let me scold you," were his -disconcerting words. Why? Of course, I was crestfallen, but, all the -same, I wondered what could be the matter with Andrea's "Cenacolo" at -San Salvi, or his frescoes at the SS. Annunziata, or his "Madonna with -St. Francis and St. John," in the Tribune of the Uffizi. The figure of -the St. John is, to me, one of the most adorable things in art. That -gentle, manly face; that dignified pose; the exquisite modelling of the -hand, and the harmonious colours of the drapery--what _could_ be the -matter with such work? I remember, at one of the artistic London "At -Homes," Frith, R.A., coming up to me with a long face to say, if I did -not send to the Academy, I should lose my chance of election. But I -think the difficulties of electing a woman were great, and much -discussion must have been the consequence amongst the R.A.'s. However, -as it turned out, in 1879 I lost my election by _two_ votes only! Since -then I think the door has been closed, and wisely. I returned to the -studio on May 18th, for I could not lay down the brush for any amount of -society doings. Besides, I soon had to make preparations for -"Inkermann." - -"_Saturday, June 10th._--Saw Genl. Darby-Griffith, to get information -about Inkermann. I returned just in time to dress for the delightful -Lord Mayor's Banquet to the Representatives of Art at the Mansion -House, a place of delightful recollections for me. Neither this year's -nor last year's banquet quite came up to the one of 'The Roll Call' year -in point of numbers and excitement, but it was most delightful and -interesting to be in that great gathering of artists and hear oneself -gracefully alluded to in The Lord Mayor's speech and others. Marcus -Stone sat on my left, and we had really a thoroughly good conversation -all through dinner such as I have seldom embarked on, and I found, when -I tried it, that I could talk pretty well. He is a fine fellow, and -simple-minded and genuine. My _vis-à-vis_ was Alma Tadema, with his -remarkable-looking wife, like a lady out of one of his own pictures; and -many well-known heads wagged all around me. After dinner and the -speeches, Du Maurier, of _Punch_, suggested to the Lord Mayor that we -should get up a quadrille, which was instantly done, and the friskier -spirits amongst us had a nice dance. Du Maurier was my partner; and on -my left I had John Tenniel, so that I may be said to have been supported -by Punch both at the beginning and end of dinner, this being Du -Maurier's simple and obvious joke, _vide_ the post-turtle indulgence -peculiar to civic banquets. After a waltz we laggards at last took our -departure in the best spirits." - -I remember that in June we went to a most memorable High Mass, to wit, -the first to be celebrated in the Old Saxon Church of St. Etheldreda -since the days of the Reformation. This church was the second place of -Christian worship erected in London, if not in England, in the old Saxon -times. We were much impressed as the Gregorian Mass sounded once more in -the grey-stoned crypt. The upper church was not to be ready for years. -Those old grey stones woke up that morning which had so long been -smothered in the London clay. - -Here follow too many descriptions in the Diary of dances, dinners and -other functions. They are superfluous. There were, however, some -_Tableaux Vivants_ at an interesting house--Mrs. Bishop's, a very -intellectual woman, much appreciated in society in general, and Catholic -society in particular--which may be recorded in this very personal -narrative, for I had a funny hand in a single-figure tableau which -showed the dazed 11th Hussar who figures in the foreground of my -"Balaclava." The man who stood for him in the tableau had been my model -for the picture, but to this day I feel the irritation caused me by that -man. In the picture I have him with his busby pushed back, as it -certainly would and should have been, off his heated brow. But, while I -was posing him for the tableau, every time I looked away he rammed it -down at the becoming "smart" angle. I got quite cross, and insisted on -the necessary push back. The wretch pretended to obey, but, just before -the curtain rose, rammed the busby down again, and utterly destroyed the -meaning of that figure! We didn't want a representation of Mr. So-and-so -in the becoming uniform of a hussar, but my battered trooper. The thing -fell very flat. But tableaux, to my mind, are a mistake, in many ways. - -I often mention my pleasure in meeting Lord and Lady Denbigh, for they -were people after my own heart. Lady Denbigh was one of those women one -always looks at with a smile; she was so _simpatica_ and true and -unworldly. - -July 18th is noted as "a memorable day for Alice, for she and I spent -the afternoon at _Tennyson's_! I say 'for Alice' because, as regards -myself, the event was not so delightful as a day at Aldershot. Tennyson -has indeed managed to shut himself off from the haunts of men, for, -arrived at Haslemere, a primitive little village, we had a six-mile -drive up, up, over a wild moor and through three gates leading to -narrow, rutty lanes before we dipped down to the big Gothic, lonely -house overlooking a vast plain, with Leith Hill in the distance. -Tennyson had invited us through Aubrey de Vere, the poet, and very -apprehensive we were, and nervous, as we neared the abode of a man -reported to be such a bear to strangers. We first saw Mrs. Tennyson, a -gentle, invalid lady lying on her back on a sofa. After some time the -poet sent down word to ask us to come up to his sanctum, where he -received us with a rather hard stare, his clay pipe and long, black, -straggling hair being quite what I expected. He got up with a little -difficulty, and when we had sat down--he, we two and his most -deferential son--he asked which was the painter and which was the poet. -After our answer, which struck me as funny, as though we ought to have -said, with a bob, 'Please, sir, I'm the painter,' and 'Please, sir, I'm -the poet,' he made a few commonplace remarks about my pictures in a most -sepulchral bass voice. But he and Alice, in whom he was more interested, -naturally, did most of the talking; there was not much of that, though, -for he evidently prefers to answer a remark by a long look, and perhaps -a slightly sneering smile, and then an averted head. All this is not -awe-inspiring, and looks rather put on. We ceased to be frightened. - -"There is no grandeur about Tennyson, no melancholy abstraction; and, if -I had made a demi-god of him, his personality would have much -disappointed me. Some of his poetry is so truly great that his manner -seems below it. The pauses in the conversation were long and frequent, -and he did not always seem to take in the meaning of a remark, so that I -was relieved when, after a good deal of staring and smiling at Alice in -a way rather trying to the patience, he acceded to her request and read -us 'The Passing of Arthur.' He was so long in finding the place, when -his son at last found him a copy of the book which suited him, and the -tone he read in so deep and monotonous, that I was much bored and longed -for the hour of our departure. He was vexed with Alice for choosing that -poem, which he seemed to think less of than of his later works, and he -took the poor child to task in a few words meant to be caustic, though -they made us smile. But the ice was melting. He seemed amused at us and -we gratefully began to laugh at some quaint phrases he levelled at us. -Then he dropped the awe-inspiring tone, and took us all over the grounds -and gave us each a rose. He pitched into us for our dresses which were -too fashionable and tight to please him. He pinned Alice against a -pillar of the entrance to the house on our re-entry from the garden to -watch my back as I walked on with his son, pointing the _walking-stick_ -of scorn at my skirt, the trimming of which particularly roused his ire. -Altogether I felt a great relief when we said goodbye to our curious -host with whom it was so difficult to carry on conversation, and to know -whether he liked us or not. Away, over the windy, twilight heath behind -the little ponies--away, away!" - -At the beginning of August I began my studies for "The Return from -Inkermann." The foreground I got at Worthing; and I had another visit -to Aldershot and many further conversations with Inkermann -survivors--officers of distinction. I am bound to say that these often -contradicted each other, and the rough sketches I made after each -interview had to be re-arranged over and over again. I read Dr. -Russell's account (_The Times_ correspondent) and sometimes I returned -to my own conception, finding it on the whole the most likely to be -true. - -I laugh even now at the recollection of two elderly _sabreurs_, one of -them a General in the Indian Army, who had a hot discussion in my -studio, _â propos_ of my "Balaclava," about the best use of the sabre. -The Indian, who was for slashing, twirled his umbrella so briskly, to -illustrate his own theory, that I feared for the picture which stood -close by his sword arm. The opposition umbrella illustrated "the point" -theory. - -Having finally clearly fixed the whole composition of "Inkermann," in -sepia on tinted paper the size of the future picture I closed the studio -on August 25th and turned my face once more to Italy. - - - - -CHAPTER XII - -AGAIN IN ITALY - - -My sister and I tarried at Genoa on our way to Castagnolo where we were -to have again the joys of a Tuscan vintage. But between Genoa and -Florence lay our well-loved Porto Fino and, having an invitation from -our old friend Monty Brown, the English Consul and his young wife, to -stay at their castello there, we spent a week at that Eden. We were -alone for part of the time and thoroughly relished the situation, with -only old Caterina, the cook, and the dog, "Bismarck," as company. Two -Marianas in a moated grange, with a difference. "He" came not, and so -allowed us to clasp to our hearts our chief delights--the sky, the sea, -the olives and the joyous vines. In those early days many of the deep -windows had no glass, and one night, when a staggering Mediterranean -thunderstorm crashed down upon us, we really didn't like it and hid the -knives under the table at dinner. Caterina was saying her Rosary very -loud in the kitchen. As we went up the winding stairs to bed I carried -the lamp, and was full of talk, when a gust of wind blew the lamp out, -and Alice laughed at my complete silence, more eloquent than any words -of alarm. We had every evening to expel curious specimens of the lizard -tribe that had come in, and turn over our pillows, remembering the -habits of the scorpion. - -But that storm was the only one, and as to the sea, which three-parts -enveloped our little Promontory, its blue utterly baffled my poor -paints. But paint I did, on those little panels that we owe to Fortuny, -so nicely fitting into the box he invented. There was a little cape, -crowned with a shrine to Our Lady--"the Madonnetta" it was called--where -I used to go daily to inhale the ozone off the sea which thundered down -below amongst the brown "pudding-stone" rocks, at the base of a sheer -precipice. The "sounding deep." Oh, the freshness, the health, the joy -of that haunt of mine! Our walks were perilous sometimes, the paths -which almost overhung the deep foaming sea being slippery with the -sheddings of the pines. At the "nasty bits" we had to hold on by shrubs -and twigs, and haul ourselves along by these always aromatic supports. - -Admirable is the industry of the peasants all over Italy. Here on the -extreme point of Porto Fino wherever there was a tiny "pocket" of clay, -a cabbage or two or a vine with its black clusters of grapes toppling -over the abyss found foot-hold. We came one day upon a pretty girl on -the very verge of destruction, "holding on by her eyelids," gathering -figs with a hooked stick, a demure pussy keeping her company by dozing -calmly on a branch of the fig tree. The walls built to support these -handfuls of clay on the face of the rock are a puzzle to me. Where did -the men stand to build them? It makes me giddy to think of it. - -Paragi, the lovely rival of Monty's robber stronghold, belonged to his -brother, and a fairer thing I never saw than Fred's loggia with the -slender white marble columns, between which one saw the coast trending -away to La Spezzia. But "goodbye," Porto Fino! On our way to -Castagnolo, at lovely Lastre a Signa, we paused at Pisa for a night. - -"Pisa is a _bald Florence_, if I may say so; beautiful, but so empty and -lifeless. There are houses there quite peculiar, however, to Pisa, most -interesting for their local style. Very broad in effect are those flat -blank surfaces without mouldings. The frescoes on them, alas! are now -merely very beautiful blotches and stains of colour. We had ample time -for a good survey of the Duomo, Baptistery, Camposanto and Leaning -Tower, all vividly remembered from when I saw them as a little child. -But I get very tired by sight-seeing and don't enjoy it much. What I -like is to sit by the hour in a place, sketching or meditating. Besides, -I had been kept nearly all night awake at the Albergo Minerva by railway -whistles, ducks, parrots, cats, dogs, cocks and hens, so that I was only -at half power and I slept most of the way to Signa. - -"At the station a carriage fitted, for the heat, with cool-looking brown -holland curtains was awaiting us on the chance of our coming, and we -were soon greeted at dear Castagnolo by Mrs. Ross. Very good of her to -show so much happy welcome seeing we had been expected the evening -before, not to say for many days, and only our luggage had turned up! -The Marchese, who had to go into Florence this morning for the day, had -gone down to meet us last evening, and returned with the disconcerting -announcement that, whereas we had arrived last year without our luggage, -this year the luggage had arrived without us. '_I bauli sono giunti ma -le bambine--Chè!_'" - -Here follows the record of the same delights as those of the year -before. We had been long expected, and Mrs. Ross told me that the -peaches had been kept back for us in a most tantalising way by the -_padrone_, and that everything was threatening over-ripeness by our -delay. The light-hearted life was in full force. There were great -numbers of doves and pigeons at Castagnolo which shared in the general -hilarity, swirling in the sunshine and swooping down on the grain -scattered for them with little cries of pleasure. I don't know whether I -should find a socialistic blight appearing here and there, if I returned -to those haunts of my youth, over that patriarchal life, but it seemed -to me that the relations between the _padrone_ and his splendid -_contadini_ showed how suitable the system obtaining in Tuscany was -then. The labourers were the _fanciulli_ (the children) of the master, -and without the least approach to servility these men stood up to him in -all the pride of their own station. But what deference they showed to -him! Always the uncovered head and the respectful and dignified attitude -when spoken to or speaking. I mustn't forget the frank smile and the -pleasant white teeth. It was a smiling life; every one caught the -smiling habit. Oh, that we could keep it up through a London winter! And -to a London winter we returned, for my friends in England were getting -fidgety about "Inkermann." One more extract, however, from the -Castagnolo Diary must find a place before the veil is drawn. The -Marchese took us to Siena for two days. - -"_September 29th._--We got up by candlelight at 5 a.m. and had a fresh -drive in the phaeton to the station, whence we took train to the -fascinating Etruscan city, whose very name is magic. The weather, as a -matter of course, was splendid, and Siena dwells in my mind all tender -brown-gold in a flood of sunshine. Small as the city is, and hard as we -worked for those two days, we could only see a portion of its treasures. -The result of my observation in the churches and picture galleries shows -me that the art there, as regards painting, is very inferior; and, -indeed, after Florence, with its most exquisite examples of painting and -drawing, these works of art are not taking. I suppose Florence has -spoilt me. Here and there one picks out a plum, such as the 'Svenimento -of St. Catherine' in San Domenico, by Sodoma, the only thing by him that -I could look at with pleasure; also, of course, the famous Perugino in -Sant' Agostino, which I beheld with delight, and a lovely gem of a Holy -Family by Palma Vecchio in the Academy--such a jewel of Venetian colour. - -"The frescoes, however, in the sacristy of the cathedral are things -apart, and such as I have never seen anywhere else, for the very dry air -of Siena has preserved them since Pinturicchio's time quite intact, and -there one sees, as one can see nowhere else, ancient frescoes as they -were when freshly painted. And very different they are from one's -notions of old frescoes; certainly not so pleasing if looked at as bits -of colour staining old walls in mellow broken tints, but intensely -interesting and beautiful as pictures. Here one sees what frescoes were -meant to be: deep in colour, exceedingly forcible, with positive -illusion in linear and aërial perspective, the latter being most -unexpected and surprising. One's usual notion of frescoes is that they -must be flat and airless, and modern artists who go in for fresco -decorative art paint accordingly, judging from the faded examples of -what were once evidently such as one sees here--forcible pictures. - -"Certainly these wall spaces, looking like apertures through which one -sees crowds of figures and gorgeous halls or airy landscapes, do not -please the eye when looking at the room _as_ a room. One would prefer to -feel the solidity of the walls; but taking each fresco and looking at it -for its own sake only, one feels the keenest pleasure. They are -magnificent pictures, full of individual character and realistic action, -unsurpassable by any modern. - -"I cannot attempt to put into words my impression of the cathedral -itself. Certainly, I never felt the beauty of a church more. It being -St. Michael's Day, we heard Mass in the midst of our wanderings, and we -were much struck by the devotion of the people, the men especially--very -unlike what we saw in Genoa. In the afternoon we had a glorious drive -through a perfect pre-Raphaelite landscape to Belcaro, a fortress-villa -about six miles outside Siena, every turn in the road giving us a new -aspect of the golden-brown city behind us on its steep hill. Perhaps the -most beautiful view of Siena is from near Belcaro, where you get the -dark pine trees in the immediate foreground. The owner of the villa took -us all over it, the Marchese gushing outrageously to him about the -beauties of the dreadful frescoes on walls and ceilings, painted by the -man himself. We had been warned, Alice and I, to express our admiration, -but I regret to say we had our hearts so scooped out of us on seeing -those things in the midst of such true loveliness that we couldn't say a -thing, but only murmured. So the poor Marchese had to do -triple-distilled gush to serve for three, and said everything was -'_portentoso_.' - -"In the evening we all three went out again and, in the bright -moonlight, strolled about the streets, the piazza, and round the -cathedral, which shone in the full light which fell upon it. The deep -sky was throbbing with stars, and all the essence of an Italian -September moonlight night was there. Oh, sweet, restful Siena dream! -Like a dream, and yet such a precious reality, to be gratefully kept in -memory to the end." - -Back at Castagnolo on October 1st. "Went for my _solita passeggiata_ up -to the hill of lavender and dwarf oak and other mountain shrubs, where I -made a study of an oak bush on the only wet day we have had, for my -'Inkermann' foreground. Mrs. Ross, a fearless rider, went on with the -breaking in of the Arab colt 'Pascià' to-day. Old Maso, one of the -_habitués_ of the villa, whooped and screamed every time the colt bucked -or reared, and he waddled away as fast as he could, groaning in terror, -only to creep back again to venture another look. And he had been an -officer in the army! I have secured some water-colour sketches of the -vintage for the 'Institute' and knocked off another panel or two, and -sketched Mrs. Ross in her Turkish dress, so I have not been idle." Janet -Ross seemed to have assimilated the sunshine of Egypt and Italy into her -buoyant nature, and to see the vigour with which she conducted the -vintage at Castagnolo acted as a tonic on us all; so did the deep -contralto voice and the guitar, and the racy talk. - -We left on October 14th, on a golden day, with the thermometer at 90 -degrees in the shade, to return to the icy smoke-twilight of London, -where we groped, as the Diary says, in sealskins and ulsters. Castagnolo -has our thanks. How could we have had the fulness of Italian delights -which our kind hosts afforded us in some pension or hotel in Florence? -And what hospitality theirs was! We tried to sing some of the -"_Stornelli_" in the hansom that took us home from Victoria Station. One -of our favourites, "_M'affaccio alla finestra e vedo Stelle_," had to be -modified, as we looked through the glass of the cab, into "_Ma non vedo -Stelle_," sung in the minor, for nothing but the murk of a foggy night -was there. What but the stern necessity of beginning "Inkermann" could -have brought me back? My dear sister cannot have rejoiced, and may have -wished to tarry, but when did she ever "put a spoke in my wheel"? - - - - -CHAPTER XIII - -A SOLDIER'S WIFE - - -Though the London winter was gloomy, on the whole, and I was handicapped -in the middle of my work by a cold which retarded the picture so much -that, to my deep disappointment, I had again to miss the Academy, the -brightest spring of my life followed, for on March 3rd I was engaged to -be married to the author of "The Great Lone Land." It may not be out of -place to give a little sketch of our rather romantic meeting. - -When the newly-promoted Major Butler was lying at Netley Hospital, just -beginning to recover from the Ashanti fever that had nearly killed him -at the close of that campaign, his sister Frances used to read to him -the papers, and they thus learnt together how, at the Royal Academy -banquet of that spring, the Prince of Wales and the Duke of Cambridge -had spoken as they did of Miss Elizabeth Thompson. As paper after paper -spoke of me and of my work, he said one day to his sister, in utter fun -under his slowly reviving spirits, "I wonder if Miss Thompson would -marry me?" Two years after that he met me for the first time, and yet -another year was to go by before the Fates said "Now!" - -When "Inkermann" was carted off to Bond Street on April 19th, what a -relief and delight it was to tell the model "Time is up." "Mamma and I -danced about the studio when the picture was gone, revelling in our -freedom to make as much dust as we liked, when hitherto one had had to -be so careful about dust." We always did this on such occasions. - -The Fine Art Society, at whose galleries in Bond Street the picture was -exhibited, bought it and the copyright together. No doubt for some the -subject of this work is too sad, but my dominant feeling in painting it -was that which Wellington gave expression to in those memorable words on -leaving the field of battle at Waterloo: "There is nothing sadder than a -victory, except a defeat." It shows the remnants of the Guards and the -20th Regiment and odds and ends of infantry returning in the grey of a -November evening from the "Soldiers' Battle," most of the men very -weary. The A.D.C. on horseback I painted from a fine young soldier, -Rupert Carrington, who kindly gave me a sitting. His mother, Lady -Carrington, sent me as a wedding present a medal taken from a dead -Russian on the field of Inkermann, set in a gold bracelet, which is one -of my treasures, her name and mine engraved on it. - -"_April 20th_.--The first Private View of 'Inkermann.' I was there a -short time, and was quite happy at the look of my picture. The other -three are in the same gallery, and very popular the whole exhibition -seems to be. They have even got my 1873 venture, 'Missing,' by itself -upstairs, and remarkably well it looks, too. The crowd was dense and I -left the good people wriggling in a cloud of dust." - -June 11th of that year, 1877, was my wedding day. Cardinal Manning -married us in the Church of the Servite Fathers; our guests were chiefly -that gallant group of soldiers who, with my husband, had won the Ashanti -War, Sir Garnet Wolseley, Redvers Buller and their comrades. My "Red -Cross" fellow students of old South Kensington days gave me the very -touching surprise of strewing our path down the church, as we came out, -with flowers. I had not known they were there. - -And now a new country opened out for my admiration and delight in days -so long before the dreadful cloud had fallen on it under which I am now -writing these Recollections--so long, so long before. It looks like -another world to me now. One might say I had had already a sufficiently -large share of the earth's beauties to enjoy, yet here opened out an -utterly new and unique experience--Ireland. Our wedding tour was chiefly -devoted to the Wild West, with a pause at Glencar, in Kerry. I have -tried in happier political times to convey to my readers in another -place[7] my impression of that Western country--its freshness, its wild -beauty, its entrancing poetry, and that sadness which, like the minor -key in music, is the most appealing quality in poetry. That note is -utterly absent from the poetry of Italy; there all is in the major, like -its national music, so that my mind received, with strange delight, a -new sensation, surprising, heart-stirring, appealing. My husband had -given me the choice of a _local_ for the wedding tour between Ireland -and the Crimea. How could I hesitate? - -My first married picture was the one I made studies for in -Glencar--"'Listed for the Connaught Rangers." I had splendid models for -the two Irish recruits who are being marched out of the glen by a -recruiting sergeant, followed by the "decoy" private and two drummer -boys of that regiment, the old 88th, with the yellow facings of that -time. The men were cousins, Foley by name, and wore their national -dress, the jacket with the long, white homespun sleeves and the -picturesque black hat which I fear is little worn now, and is largely -replaced by that quite cosmopolitan peaked cap I loathe. The deep -richness of those typical Irish days of cloud and sunshine had so -enchanted me that I was determined to try and represent the effect in -this picture, which was a departure from my former ones, the landscape -occupying an equal share with the figures, and the civilian peasant -dress forming the centre of interest. Its black, white and brown -colouring, the four red coats and the bright brass of the drum, gave me -an enjoyable combination with the blue and red-purple of the mountains -in the background, and the sunlight on the middle distance of the stony -Kerry bog-land. Here was that variety as to local colour denied me in -the other works. It was a joy to realise this subject. The picture was -for Mr. Whitehead, the owner of "Balaclava." - -The opening day of my introduction to the Wild West was on a Sunday in -that June: "From Limerick Junction to Glencar. I had my first experience -of an Irish Mass, and my impression is deepening every day that Ireland -is as much a foreign country to England as is France or Italy. The -congregation was all new to me. The peasant element had quite a _cachet_ -of its own, though in a way an exact equivalent to the Tuscan--the -rough-looking men in homespun coats in a crowd inside and outside of the -church, the women in national dress; the constabulary, equivalent to the -_gendarmes_, in full dress, mixing with the people and yet not of them. -This Limerick Junction was the nucleus of the Fenian nebula. In this -terrible Tipperary the stalwart constabulary, whom I greatly admire, -have a grave significance. I have never seen finer men than those, and -they are of a type new to me. How I enjoy new types, new countries, new -customs! The girls, looking so nice in their Bruges-like hoods, are very -fresh and comely. - -"We left at noon for the goal of our expedition, and I think I may say -that I never had a more memorable little journey. The distant mountains -I had looked at in the morning took clearer forms and colours by -degrees, and the charm of the Irish bogs with their rich black and -purple peat-earth, and bright, reedy grass, and teeming wild flowers, -developed themselves to my delighted eyes as the train whirled us -southwards. At Killarney we took a carriage and set off on my favourite -mode of travel, soon entering upon tracts of that wild nature I was most -anxious to experience. The evening was deepening, and in its solemn -tones I saw for the first time the Wild West Land, whose aspect -gradually grew wilder and more strange as we neared the mysterious -mountains that rose ahead of us. I was content. I was beginning to taste -the salt of the Wilds. What human habitations there are are so like the -stone heaps that lie over the face of the land that they are scarcely -distinguishable from them; but my 'contentment' was much dashed by the -sight of the dwellers in this poor land which yields them so little. -Very strange, wild figures came to the black doors to watch us pass, -with, in some cases, half-witted looks. - -"The mighty 'Carran Thual,' one of the mountain group which rises out of -Glencar and dominates the whole land of Kerry, was on fire with blazing -heather, its peaks sending up a glorious column of smoke which spread -out at the top for miles and miles, and changed its delicate smoke tints -every minute as the sun sank lower. As we reached the rocky pass that -took us by the remote Lough Acoose that sun had gone down behind an -opposite mountain, and the blazing heather glowed brighter as the -twilight deepened, and circles of fire played weirdly on the mountain -side. Our glen gave the 'Saxon bride' its grandest illumination on her -arrival. Wild, strange birds rose from the bracken as we passed, and -flew strongly away over lake and mountain torrent, and the little black -Kerry cattle all watched us go by with ears pricked and heads -inquiringly raised. The last stage of the journey had a brilliant -_finale_. A herd of young horses was in our way in the narrow road, and -the creatures careered before us, unable or too stupid to turn aside -into the ditches by the roadside to let us through. We could not head -them, and for fully a mile did those shaggy, wild things caper and jump -ahead, their manes flying out wildly, with the glow from the west -shining through them. Some imbecile cows soon joined them in the -stampede, for no imaginable reason, unless they enjoyed the fright of -being pursued, and the ungainly progress of those recruits was a sight -to behold--tails in the air and horns in the dust. With this escort we -entered Glencar." - -Nothing that I have seen in my travels since that golden time has in the -least dimmed my recollections of that Glencar existence; nor could -anything jar against a thing so unique. I have fully recorded in my -former book how we made different excursions, always on ponies, every -day, not returning till the evening. What impressed me most during these -rides was the depth and richness of the Irish landscape colouring. The -moisture of the ocean air brings out all its glossy depth. Even without -the help of actual sunshine, so essential to the landscape beauty of -Italy, the local colour is powerful. In describing to me the same deep -colouring in Scotland Millais used the simile of the wet pebble. Take a -grey, dry pebble on the seashore and dip it in the water. It will show -many lovely tints. Our inn was in the centre of the glen, delightfully -rough, and impregnated with that scent of turf smoke which has ever -since been to me the subtlest and most touching reminder of those days. -Yet with that roughness there was in the primitive little inn a very -pleasant provision of such sustenance as old campaigners and fishermen -know how to establish in the haunts they visit. - -The coast of Clare came next in our journey, where the Atlantic hurls -itself full tilt at the iron cliffs, and the west wind, which I learnt -to love, comes, without once touching land since it left the coast of -Labrador, to fill one with a sense of salt and freshness and health as -it rushes into one's lungs from off the foam. I was interested in making -comparisons between that sea and the other "sounding deep" that washes -the rocks of Porto Fino as I looked down on the thundering waves below -the cliffs of Moher. Here was the simplest and severest colouring--dark -green, almost amounting to black; light green, cold and pure; foam so -pure that its whiteness had over it a rosy tinge, merely by contrast -with the green of the waves, and that was all; whereas the sea around -Porto Fino baffles both painter and word-painter with its infinite -variety of blues, purples, and greens. These are contrasts that I -delight in. How the west wind rushed at us, full of spray! How the ocean -roared! It was a revel of wind where we stood at the very edge of those -sheer cliffs. Across their black faces sea birds incessantly circled and -wheeled, crying with a shrill clamour. That and the booming of the waves -many fathoms below, as they leap into the immense caverns, were the only -sounds that pierced the wind. The black rocks had ledges of greyer rock, -and along these ledges, tier above tier, sat myriads of white-headed -gulls, their white heads looking like illumination lamps on the faces of -titanic buildings. The Isles of Arran and the mountains of Connemara -spread out before us on the ocean, which sparkled in one place with the -gold beams of the faint, spray-shrouded sun. - -Then good-bye to Erin for the present on July 15th and the establishment -of ourselves in London till our return to the Land that held a magnet -for us on September 21st. There we paid a visit to the Knight of Kerry, -at Valentia Island. What a delightful home! The size of the fuchsia -trees told of the mild climate; the scenery was of the remotest and -freshest, most pleasing to the senses, and the ever-welcome scent of -turf smoke would not be denied in the big house where the sods glowed in -the great fireplaces. My surprise, when strolling on one of the innocent -little strands by the sea, was great at seeing the Atlantic cable -emerging, quite simply, from the water between the pebbles, as though it -was nothing in particular. Following it, we reached a very up-to-date -building, so out of keeping with the primitive scene, filled with busy -clerks transmitting goodness knows what cosmopolitan corruption from the -New World to the Old, and _vice versâ_. - -[Illustration: In Western Ireland. - -A "Jarvey" and "Biddy."] - -I would not have missed the Valentia pig for anything. A taller, leaner, -gaunter specimen has not his match anywhere, not even in the little -black hog of Monte Cassino, whose salient hips are so unexpected. There -is something particularly arresting in a pig with visible hips.[8] All -the animals in the west seemed to me free-and-easy creatures that live -with the peasants as members of the family, having a much better time -than the humans. They frisk irresponsibly in and out of the cabins--no -"by your leave" or "with your leave"--and, altogether, enjoy life to the -top of their own highest level. The poorer the people, the greater -appears the contrast caused by this inverted state of things. - -The next time we left England was to go in the opposite direction--to -the Pyrenees. Rapid travel is fast levelling down the different -countries, and a carriage journey through the Pyrenean country is a -bygone pleasure. We have to go to Thibet or the Great Wall of China for -our trips if we want to write anything original about our travels. A -flight by air to the North Pole would, at first, prove very readable and -novel, if well described. This, however, does not take from the pleasure -of going over the inner circle in memory. In the year 1878 we could -still find much that was new and refreshing in a tour through the south -of France! Some friends of mine went up to Khartoum from Cairo not long -ago, with return tickets, by rail, and all they could say was that the -journey was so dusty that they had to draw the blinds of their -compartment and play bridge all the way. Poor dears, how arid! - -This little tour of ours was well advised. The loss of our firstborn, -Mary Patricia, brought our first sorrow with it, and we went to Lourdes -and made a wide _détour_ from there through the Pyrenees to Switzerland. -There is nothing like travel for restoring the aching mind to -usefulness. But, undoubtedly, the send-off from Lourdes gave me the -initial impetus towards recovery of which, though I say little, I am -very sensible. We drove to St. Sauveur after our visit to the Grotto -where such striking cures have happened, and each day brought more fully -back to me that zest for natural beauty which has been with me such an -invigorator. - -St. Sauveur was bracing and beautiful, but too full of invalids. It was -rather saddening to see them around the Hontalade Sulphur Springs. At -Lourdes they were clustering round the cascade that flows from the -Grotto where the statue of Our Lady stands, exactly reproducing the -figure as seen by the little Shepherdess. Poor humanity, reaching out -hopeful arms in its pain, here for physical help, there for spiritual. -The Gave rushes through both Lourdes and St. Sauveur, with a very sharp -noise in the rocky gorge of the latter, too harsh to be a soothing -sound. I looked forward to getting yet another experience of _vetturino_ -travel which I had never thought could be enjoyed again, and which -proved to be still possible. The journey was a success, and, besides the -beauty of that very majestic mountain scenery, the little incidents of -the road were picturesque. Our driver was proud to tell us he was known -as "_L'ancien chien des Pyrénées_," and a characteristic "old dog" he -was, one-eyed and weatherbeaten, wearing the national blue _béret_ and -very voluble in local _patois_. His horses' bells jingled in the old -familiar way of my childhood; two absurd little dogs of his accompanied -us all the way who, in the noonday heat, sat in the wayside streams for -a moment to cool, and emerged little dripping rags. The first day's -ascent was over the Pass of the Tourmalet, the second over that of the -Col d'Aspin, and the third and final climb was that of the Col de -Peyresourde. Then Bagnères de Luchon appeared deep down in the valley -where our drive came to an end. What would we have seen of the Pyrenees -if we had burrowed in tunnels under those _Cols?_ Luchon was not -embellished by the invalids there, whose principal ailment amongst the -female patients was evidently a condition of _embonpoint_ so remarkable -that the suggestion of overfeeding could not possibly be ignored. - -We had refreshing "_ascensions_" on horseback; a wide view of Spain from -Super-Bagnère, wherein the backbone of the Pyrenees, with the savage -"Maladetta," rising supreme, 11,000 feet above sea level, has its -origin. Many very pleasant excursions we had besides. I tried a hurried -sketch of one of these views from the saddle, the only precious chance I -had, but a little Frenchman in tourist helmet and blue veil (and such -boots and spurs!), who was riding in our direction with a party, threw -himself off his pony into my foreground and, hoping to be included in -the view which he was pretending to admire, posed there, right in my -way, his comrades calling him in vain to rejoin them. - -On leaving Luchon we journeyed _viâ_ Toulouse to Cette, following the -course of the Garonne, which famous river we had seen in its little -muddy infancy near Arreau and in its culminating grandeur at Bordeaux. -Toulouse looked majestic, a fair city as I remember it. There I was -interested to see that famous canal which carries on the traffic from -the great river to the Mediterranean. A noteworthy feature in the -landscape as we journeyed on to Cette in the dreary, dun-coloured -gloaming was the mediæval city of Carcassonne. To come suddenly upon a -complete restoration to life of an old-world city, full of towers and -wrapped in its unbroken walls, gives one a strange sensation. One seems -to be suddenly deposited in the heart of the Middle Ages. That dark -evening there was something indescribably gloomy in the aspect of that -cinder-coloured mass against an ashen sky, and set on a hill high above -the fields cultivated in prim rows and patches, looking like a town in -the background of some hunting scene, so often shown in old tapestry. -All was darkening before an approaching storm. In writing of it at the -time I was not aware that we owed this most precious old city to -Viollet-le-Duc, who has restored it stone by stone. - -Cette looked so bleared and blind the next morning in a sea mist that I -have preserved a dejected impression of those low shores, grey -tamarisks, and lagunes, and waste places, seen as though in a dismal -dream. I was coaxed back to cheerfulness by the sunshine of Nismes, -where we spent several hours, on our way to our halt for the night, -strolling in the warm-tinted Roman ruins, and I finally relaxed in the -delight of our arriving once more at one of my most beloved cities, -splendid Avignon. Good travelling. This closed the day. Under my -parents' _régime_, and chiefly on account of my mother, who hated night -travel, and on account of our general easy-going ways, we gave nearly a -fortnight to reach Genoa from England, with pauses here and there. - -My redundant Diary carries me on now, like the rapid Rhone itself, to my -native Lake Leman. I see it now as I saw it that day, August 8th, -1878--a blue opal. There is always something sacred about a place in -which one came into the world. We visited "Claremont," a lovely dwelling -overlooking the lake, and facing the snowy ridges of the Dents du Midi. -Looking at that house "all my mother came into my eyes" as I thought of -her that November night, long ago, and of our dear, faithful nurse whom -I captured there to our service till death, with a smile! - -And now for the dear old Rhine once more. We got to Bâle next day, and -very scenic the old town looked on our arrival in the evening. On either -side of the swift-flowing river the gabled houses were full of lights, -which were reflected in the water, all looking red-gold by contrast with -the green-gold of the moon. On August 10th from Bâle to Heidelberg, the -rose-coloured city of the great Tun! Other tuns are also shown, not -quite so capacious; but what swilling they suggest on the part of the -old electors, who gathered all that hock in tithes! - -I was mortified when trying to impress my husband with the charms of the -Rhine as we dropped down to Cologne. My early Diary tells of my -enchantment on that fondly-remembered river. But, alas! this time the -weather was rainy and ugly all the way, and as we came to the best part, -the romantic Gorge, he shut himself up in a deck cabin, out of which I -could not entice him. I suspect the natives on board drove him in there -rather than his resentment at the "come down" from the glowing -descriptions one reads in travel books. These natives were a most -irritating foreground to the blurred views. All day long, and into the -night, meals were perpetually breaking out all over the deck and, do -what one could, the feeding of those Teutons obtruded itself on one's -attention _ad nauseam_. I have a sketch, taken _sub rosa_, of an obese -and terrible _frau_, seated behind her rather smart officer husband at -one of the little tables. She had emptied her capacious mug of beer, and -was asking him for more, to which demand he was paying no attention. But -"Gustav! Gustav!" she persisted, poking him in the back with her empty -tankard. The "Gustav!" and the prods were getting too much to be ignored -by the long-suffering back, and she got her refill. What General Gordon -calls the "German visage" in contrast with the "Italian countenance" -never appeared so surprisingly ugly as it did to us that day on the -crowded deck of the _Queen of Prussia_. - -My Diary says: "At Mayence, Will and I, always on the look-out for -soldiers, had a good opportunity of seeing German infantry, as we -stopped here a long time and two line battalions crossed the bridge near -us. From the deck of the steamer the men looked big enough, but when -Will ran on shore and overhauled them to have a nearer look, I could -gauge their height by his six-foot-two. He showed a clear head and -shoulders above their _pickelhauben_. They were short, chiefly by reason -of the stumpy legs, which carry a long back--a very unbeautiful -arrangement." - -The next day we had a rather dull start from Cologne along a dismal -stretch of river as far as Düsseldorf. Killing time at Düsseldorf is not -lively. At the café where we had tea two young subalterns of hussars -came gaily in to have their coffee, and, just as they were sitting down -with a cavalry swagger, there came in a major of some other corps, and -the two immediately got up, saluted, and left the room. Here was -discipline! On our returning to the steamer Will found an epauletted -disciple of Bismarck in my place at supper. He told the epauletted one -of his mistake, much to the latter's manifest astonishment, who didn't -move. I suppose there came something into the British soldier's eye, -but, anyway, the sabre-rattler eventually got up and went elsewhere: -things felt electric. - -August 14th found us nearly all day on board the boat. "A very -interesting day, showing me a phase of Rhine scenery familiar to me in -Dutch pictures by the score, but never seen by me till then in reality. -The strong wind blew from the sea and tossed the green-yellow river into -tumultuous waves, over which came bounding the blunt-bowed craft from -Holland, taking merchandise up stream, and differing in no way from the -boats beloved of the old Dutch masters. On either side of the river were -low banks waving with rushes, and beyond stretched sunken marshy -meadows, and here and there quaint little towns glided by with windmills -whirring, and clusters of ships' masts appearing above the grey willows -and sedges. Dordrecht formed a perfect picture _à la_ Rembrandt, with a -host of windmills on the skyline, telling dark against the brightness, -at the confluence of the Maes and Rhine. Here Cuyp was born, the painter -of sunlit cows. Rotterdam pleased us greatly, and we strolled about in -the evening, coming upon the statue of Erasmus, which I place amongst -the most admirable statues I have seen. Rotterdam possesses in rich -abundance the peculiar charm of a seaport. A place of this kind has for -me a very strong attraction. The varied shipping, the bustle on land -and water, the colour, the noise, the mixture of human types, the bustle -of men and animals; all these things have always filled me with pleasure -at a great seaport." A visit to Holland ("the dustless" land, as my -husband called it truly), a revel amongst the Amsterdam galleries, then -Antwerp, where we embarked for Harwich, closed our trip. Invigorated and -restored, I set to work on an 8-foot canvas, whereon I painted a subject -which had been in my mind since childhood. - - - - -CHAPTER XIV - -QUEEN VICTORIA - - -It must have been at Villa de' Franchi that my father related to me a -tragedy which had profoundly moved England in the year 1842, and he -laughingly encouraged me to paint it when I should be grown up. The -Diary says: "We are now at war with poor Shere Ali, and this new Afghan -War revived for me the idea of the tragedy of '42, namely, Dr. Brydon -reaching Jellalabad, weary and fainting, on his dying horse, the sole -survivor, as was then thought, from our disaster in the Cabul passes.... -Here I am, on 1st March, 1879, not doing badly with the picture. I think -it is well painted, and I hope poetical. But I have had the darkest -winter I can remember, and lost nearly all January by the succession of -fogs which have accompanied this long frost. Will sailed under orders -for the Cape last Friday, February 28th. Our terrible defeat at Isandula -has caused the greatest commotion here, and regiments are being poured -out of England to Zululand in a fleet of transports; and now staff -officers are being selected for posts of great responsibility out there, -and amongst these is Colonel Butler, A.A.G. to General Clifford. - -"_March 16th, 1879._--I am beginning to show my picture. Scarcely -anything is talked of still but the fighting in Zululand and the -incapacity of that poor unfortunate Lord Chelmsford, whom Government -keeps telling they will continue to trust in his supreme post of -Commander-in-Chief, though he would evidently be thankful to be relieved -of an anxiety which his nervous temperament and susceptible nature must -make unbearable. What magnificent subjects for pictures the 'Defence of -Rorke's Drift' will furnish. When we get full details I shall be much -tempted to paint some episode of that courageous achievement which has -shed balm on the aching wound of Isandula. But the temptation will have -to be very strong to make me break my rule of not painting contemporary -subjects. I like to mature my themes. - -"Studio Sunday. At last, at last! After three years of disappointment -another Academy Studio Show has come, and that very brightly and -successfully. I have called the Afghan picture 'The Remnants of an -Army.' I had the Irish picture to show also, by permission of Whitehead, -''Listed for the Connaught Rangers.' From one till six to-day people -poured in. My studio was got up quite charmingly with curtains and -screens, and with wild beast skins disposed on the floor, and my arms -and armour furbished up. The two pictures came out well, and both -appeared to 'take.' However, not much value can be attached to to-day's -praises to my face. But I must not let Elmore's (R.A.) tribute to the -'Remnants of an Army' go unrecorded. 'It is impossible to look at that -man's face unmoved,' and his eyes were positively dimmed! I have heard -it said that no one was ever known to shed tears before a picture. On -reading a book, on hearing music, yes, but not on seeing a painting. -Well! that is not true, as I have proved more than once. I can't resist -telling here of a pathetic man who came to me to say, 'I had a wet eye -when I saw your picture!' He had one eye brown and the other blue, and -I almost asked, 'Which, the brown or the blue?' It is often so difficult -to know what to answer appreciatively to enthusiastic and unexpected -praise! - -"Varnishing Day. A long and cheery day in those rooms of happy memory at -Burlington House. Both my pictures are well hung and look well, and -congratulations flowed in." A few days later: "Alice and I to the -Private View at that fascinating Burlington House, so fascinating when -one's works are well placed! The Press is treating me very well. No -subsidised puffs _here_, so I enjoy these critiques. The Academy has -received me back with open arms, and the members are very nice to me, -some of them expressing their hope that I am pleased with the positions -of my pictures, and several of them speaking quite openly about their -determination to vote for me at the next election." - -The Fine Art Society bought the Afghan subject of which they published a -very faithful engraving, and it is now at the Tate Gallery. It is a -comfort to me to know that nearly all my principal works are either in -the keeping of my Sovereign or in public galleries, and not changing -hands among private collectors. - -I spent much of a cool, if rainy, summer at Edenbridge, in Kent, taking -a rose bower of a cottage there, my parents with me. There we heard in -the papers the dreadful news of the Prince Imperial's death. Then -followed a hasty line from my husband, written in a fury of indignation -from Natal, at the sacrifice of "the last of the Napoleons." When he -returned at long last from the deplorable Zulu War, followed by the -Sekukuni Campaign, the poor Empress Eugénie sent for him to Camden -Place, and during a long and most painful interview she asked for all -details, her tears flowing all the time, and in her open way letting all -her sorrow loose in paroxysms of grief. He had managed the funeral and -embarkation at Durban. The pall was covered with artificial violets -which he had asked the nuns there to make, at high pressure, and he -subsequently described to me the impressive sight of the _cortège_ as it -wound down the hill to the port off Durban, in the afternoon sunshine. - -At little Edenbridge I was busy making studies of any grey horses I -could find, as I had already begun my charge of the Scots Greys at -Waterloo at my studio. That charge I called "Scotland for Ever," and I -owe the subject to an impulse I received that season from the Private -View at the Grosvenor Gallery, now extinct. The Grosvenor was the home -of the "Æsthetes" of the period, whose sometimes unwholesome productions -preceded those of our modern "Impressionists." I felt myself getting -more and more annoyed while perambulating those rooms, and to such a -point of exasperation was I impelled that I fairly fled and, breathing -the honest air of Bond Street, took a hansom to my studio. There I -pinned a 7-foot sheet of brown paper on an old canvas and, with a piece -of charcoal and a piece of white chalk, flung the charge of "The Greys" -upon it. Dr. Pollard, who still looked in during my husband's absences -as he used to do in my maiden days to see that all was well with me, -found me in a surprising mood. - -On returning from my _villeggiatura_ in Kent with my parents I took up -again the painting of this charge, and one day the Keeper of the Queen's -Privy Purse, Sir Henry Ponsonby, called at the studio to ask me if I -would paint a picture for Her Majesty, the subject to be taken from a -war of her own reign. - -Of course, I said "Yes," and gladly welcomed the honour, but being a -slow worker, I saw that "Scotland for Ever!" must be put aside if the -Queen's picture was to be ready for the next Academy. - -Every one was still hurrahing over the defence of "Rorke's Drift" in -Zululand as though it had been a second Waterloo. My friends (not my -parents) urged and urged. I demurred, because it was against my -principles to paint a conflict. In the "Greys" the enemy was not shown, -here our men would have to be represented at grips with the foe. No, I -put that subject aside and proposed one that I felt and saw in my mind's -eye most vividly. I proposed this to the Queen--the finding of the dead -Prince Imperial and the bearing of his body from the scene of his heroic -death on the lances of the 17th Lancers. Her Majesty sent me word that -she approved, to my great relief. I began planning that most impressive -composition. Then I got a message to say the Queen thought it better not -to paint the subject. What was to be done? The Crimea was exhausted. -Afghanistan? But I was compelled by clamour to choose the popular -Rorke's Drift; so, characteristically, when I yielded I threw all my -energies into the undertaking. - -When the 24th Regiment, now the South Wales Borderers, who in that fight -saved Natal, came home, some of the principal heroes were first summoned -to Windsor and then sent on to me, and as soon as I could get down to -Portsmouth, where the 24th were quartered, I undertook to make all the -studies from life necessary for the big picture there. Nothing that the -officers of that regiment and the staff could possibly do to help me was -neglected. They even had a representation of the fight acted by the men -who took part in it, dressed in the uniforms they wore on that awful -night. Of course, the result was that I reproduced the event as nearly -to the life as possible, but from the soldier's point of view--I may say -the _private's_ point of view--not mine, as the principal witnesses were -from the ranks. To be as true to facts as possible I purposely withdrew -my own view of the thing. What caused the great difficulty I had to -grapple with was the fact that the whole mass of those fighting figures -was illuminated by firelight from the burning hospital. Firelight -transforms colours in an extraordinary way which you hardly realise till -you have to reproduce the thing in paint. - -The Zulus were a great difficulty. I had them in the composition in dark -masses, rather swallowed up in the shade, but for one salient figure -grasping a soldier's bayonet to twist it off the rifle, as was done by -many of those heroic savages. My excellent Dr. Pollard got me a sort of -Zulu as model from a show in London. It was unfortunate that a fog came -down the day he was brought to my studio, so that at one time I could -see nothing of my dusky savage but the whites of his eyes and his teeth. -I hope I may never have to go through such troubles again! - -When the picture was in its pale, shallow, early stage, the Queen, who -was deeply interested in its progress, wished to see it, and me. So to -Windsor I took it. The Ponsonbys escorted me to the Great Gallery, where -I beheld my production, looking its palest, meanest, and flattest, -installed on an easel, with two lords bending over it--one of them Lord -Beaconsfield. - -Exeunt the two lords, right, through a dark side door. Enter the Queen, -left. Prince Leopold, Duchess of Argyll, Princess Beatrice and others -grouped round the easel, centre. The Queen came up to me and placed her -plump little hand in mine after I had curtseyed, and I was counselled to -give Her Majesty the description of every figure. She spoke very kindly -in a very deep, guttural voice, and showed so much emotion that I -thought her all too kind, shrinking now and then as I spoke of the -wounds, etc. She told me how she had found my husband lying at Netley -Hospital after Ashanti, apparently near his end, and spoke with warmth -of his services in that campaign. She did not leave us until I had -explained every figure, even the most distant. She knew all by name, for -I had managed to show, in that scuffle, all the V.C.'s and other -conspicuous actors in the drama, the survivors having already been -presented to her. Majors Chard and Bromhead were sufficiently -recognisable in the centre, for I had had them both for their portraits. - -The Academicians put "The Defence of Rorke's Drift" in the Lecture Room -of unhappy "Quatre Bras" memory, no doubt for the same reason they gave -in the case of that picture. Yes, there was a great crush before it, but -I was not satisfied as to its effect in that poor light. It is now with -"The Roll Call" at St. James's Palace. I learnt later how very, very -pleased the Queen was with her commission, and that one day at Windsor, -wishing to show it to some friends, the twilight deepening, she showed -so much appreciation that she took a pair of candlesticks and held them -up at the full stretch of her arms to light the picture. I like to see -in my mind's eye that Rembrandtesque effect, with the principal figure -in the group our Queen. She wanted me to paint her two other subjects, -but, somehow, that never came off. - - - - -CHAPTER XV - -OFFICIAL LIFE--THE EAST - - -In 1880 my husband was offered the post of Adjutant-General at Plymouth, -and thither we went in time, with the pretty little infant Elizabeth -Frances, who came to fill the place of the sister who was gone. There -three more of our children were born. - -I took up "Scotland for Ever!" again, and in the bright light of our -house on the Hoe, with never a brown fog to hinder me, and with any -amount of grey army horses as models, I finished that work. It was -exhibited alone. It is quite unnecessary to burden my readers with the -reason of this. I was very sorry, as I expected rather a bright effect -with all those white and grey galloping _hippogriffes_ bounding out of -the Academy walls. There was a law suit in question, and there let the -matter rest. Messrs. Hildesheimer bought the copyright from me, and the -picture I sold, later on, to a private purchaser, who has presented it -to the city of Leeds. By a happy chance I had a supply of very brilliant -Spanish white (_blanco de plata_) for those horses, and though I have -ever since used the finest _blanc d'argent_, made in Paris, I don't -think the Spanish white has a rival. Perhaps its maker took the secret -with her to the Elysian Fields. It was an old widow of Seville. - -On May 11th of that year our beloved father died, comforted with the -heartening rites of the Church. He had been received not long before the -end. - -Life at "pleasant Plymouth" was very interesting in its way, and the -charm of the West Country found in me the heartiest appreciation. But -the climate is relaxing, and conducive to lotus eating. One seems to -live in a mental Devonshire cream of pleasant days spent in excursions -on land and water, trips up the many lovely rivers, or across the -beautiful Sound to various picnic rendezvous on the coast. There was -much festivity: balls in the winter and long excursions in summer, -frequently to the wilds of Dartmoor. Particularly pleasant were the -receptions at Government House under the auspices of the -Pakenhams--perfect hosts--and at the Admiralty, with its very -distinguished host and hostess, Sir Houston and Lady Stewart. Over -Dartmoor there spread the charm of the unbounded hospitality of the -Mortimer Colliers, who lived on the verge of the moor, and this was a -thing ever to be fondly remembered. No pleasanter house could offer one -a welcome than "Foxhams," and how hearty a welcome that always was! - -Riding was our principal pleasure. I never spent more enjoyable days in -the saddle elsewhere. My husband and I had a riding tour through -Cornwall--just the thing I liked most. But he was from time to time -called away. To Egypt in 1882, for Tel-el-Kebir; twice to Canada, the -second time on Government business; and in 1884 to the great Gordon -Relief Expedition, that terrible tragedy, made possible by the maddening -delays at home. I illustrated the book he wrote[9] on that colossal -enterprise, so wantonly turned into failure from quite feasible success. - -My next picture was on a smaller scale than its predecessors, and was -exhibited at the Academy in 1882. The Boer War, with its terrible Majuba -Hill disaster, had attracted all our sorrowful attention the year before -to South Africa, and I chose the attack on Laing's Nek for my subject. -The two Eton boys whom I show, Elwes and Monck, went forward (Elwes to -his death) with the cry of "_Floreat Etona!_" and I gave the picture -those words for its title. - -Yet another Lord Mayor's Banquet at the Mansion House, in honour of the -Royal Academicians, saw me late in 1881 a guest once more in those -gilded halls, this time by my husband's side. He responded for the Army, -and joined Arts and Arms in a bright little speech, composed -_impromptu_. "We were a highly honoured couple," I read in the Diary, -"and very glad that we came up. We must have sat at that festive board -over three hours. The music all through was exceedingly good and, -indeed, so was the fare. The homely tone of civic hospitality is so -characteristic, dressed as it is with gold and silver magnificence, -rivalling that of Royalty itself! One of the waiters tried to press me -to have a second helping of whitebait by whispering in my ear the -seductive words, '_Devilled_, ma'am.' It was a fiery edition of the -former recipe. I resisted." - -The departure of my husband with Lord Wolseley (then Sir Garnet) and -Staff for Egypt on August 5th, 1882, to suppress poor old Arabi and his -"rebels" was the most trying to me of all the many partings, because of -its dramatic setting. One bears up well on a crowded railway platform, -but when it comes to watching a ship putting off to sea, as I did that -time at Liverpool, to the sound of farewell cheering and "Auld Lang -Syne," one would sooner read of its pathos than suffer it in person. -Soldiers' wives in war time have to feel the sickening sensation on -waking some morning when news of a fight is expected of saying to -themselves, "I may be a widow." Not only have I gone through that, but -have had a second period of trial with two sons under fire in the World -War. - -I gave a long period of my precious time to making preparations for a -large picture representing Wolseley and his Staff reaching the bridge -across the canal at the close of the battle of Tel-el-Kebir, followed by -his Staff, wherein figured my husband. The latter had not been very -enthusiastic about the subject. To beat those poor _fellaheen_ soldiers -was not a matter for exultation, he said; and he told me that the -capture of Arabi's earthworks had been like "going through brown paper." -He thought the theme unworthy, and hoped I would drop the idea. But I -wouldn't; and, seeing me bent on it, he did all he could to help me to -realise the scene I had chosen. Lord Wolseley gave me a fidgety sitting -at their house in London, his wife trying to keep him quiet on her knee -like a good boy. I had crowds of Highlanders to represent, and went in -for the minutest rendering of the equipment then in use. Well, I never -was so long over a work. Depend upon it, if you do not "see" the thing -vividly before you begin, but have to build it up as you go along, the -picture will not be one of your best. Nor was this one! It was exhibited -in the Academy of 1885, and had a moderate success. It was well -engraved. - -In the September of 1884 my husband left for the Gordon Expedition, -having finished his work of getting boats ready for the cataracts, boats -to carry the whole Army. In the following June he came home on leave, -well in health, in spite of rending wear and tear, but deeply hurt at -the failure of what might have been one of the greatest campaigns in -modern history. How he had urged and urged, and fumed at the delays! He -told me the campaign was lost _three times over_. Gordon was simply -sacrificed to ineptitude in high quarters at home. In this connection, I -ask, can praise be too great for the British rank and file who did -_their_ best in this unparalleled effort? You saw Lifeguardsmen plying -their oars in the boats, oars they had never handled before this call; -marines mounted on camels--more than "horse-marines," as a camel in his -movements is five horses rolled into one; everything he was called upon -to do the British soldier did to the best of his capacity. - -We spent most of my husband's precious leave in Glencar. What better -haven to come to from the feverish toil on river and in desert, ending -in bitter disappointment? We went to Court functions, also. How these -functions amused me, and how I revelled in their colour, in their -variety of types brought together, all these guests in national uniform -or costume. And I must be allowed to add how proud I was of my -six-foot-two soldier in all his splendour. The Queen's aide-de-camp -uniform, which he wore at the time of which I am writing, till he was -promoted major-general, was particularly well designed, both for "dress" -and "undress." I frankly own I loved these Court receptions. No, I was -never bored by them, I am thankful to say; and I don't believe any woman -is who has the luck to go there, whatever she may say. - - - - -CHAPTER XVI - -TO THE EAST - - -I followed my husband to Egypt, where he had returned, in command at -Wady Halfa on the expiration of his leave, on November 14th, 1885. I -went with our eldest little boy and girl. A new experience for me--the -East! One of my longings in childhood was to see the East. There it was -for me. - -Cairo in 1885 still retained much of its Oriental aspect in the European -quarter. (I don't suppose the old, true Cairo will ever change.) I was -just in time. The Shepheard's Hotel of that day had a terrace in front -of it where we used to sit and watch the life of the street below, an -occupation very pleasing to myself. The building was overrun with a -wealth of flowering creepers of all sorts of loveliness, and surrounded -with a garden. When next we visited Cairo the creepers were being torn -down, and the terrace demolished. Then a huge hotel was run up in -avaricious haste to reap the next season's harvest from the thronging -visitors, and now stands flush with the street to echo the trams. - -It is difficult for me now to revive in memory the exquisite surprise I -felt when first I saw the life of the East. I could hardly believe the -thing was real, everyday life. Though I have often returned to Egypt -since, that first-time feeling never was renewed, though my enjoyment of -Oriental beauty and picturesqueness never, I am glad to say, faded in -the least. Oh, you who enjoy the zest of life, be thankful that you -possess it! It is a thing not to be acquired, but to be born with. I -think artists keep it the longest, for it enters the heart by the eye. -The long letters I wrote to my mother on the spot and at the moment I -incorporated later in the little book already referred to. Oh, the -pleasures of memory, streaked with sadness though they must be, and with -ugly things of all kinds, too! Still, how intensely precious a -possession they are when _weeded_. To me, after Italy and, of course, -the Holy Land, give me the Nile. - -I and the children remained in Cairo till I got my husband's message -from the front that the way was clear enough for our journey as far as -Luxor. There I and the children remained until the fight at Giniss was -won and all danger was over further up stream. At Luxor began the most -enjoyable of all modes of travel--by houseboat. The _dahabiyeh Fostat_ -was sent down from Wady Halfa to take us up to Assouan, where my husband -awaited us. We had reached Luxor from Cairo by the commonplace post -boat. The Assouan Dam was, of course, not in existence, and our -_dahabiyeh_ had to be hauled in the old way through the first cataract, -while we transferred ourselves to another _dahabiyeh_ moored off the now -submerged island of Philæ. - -This cut-and-dried chronicle includes one of the most enchanting -experiences of my life. Above Philæ we entered Nubia, before whose -intensified colouring the lower desert pales. Time being very precious -to my husband, our slow, dreamy sailing houseboat had to be towed by a -little steamer for the rest of the way to Wady Halfa, where we lived -till the heat of March warned us that I and the children must prudently -go into northern coolness. And to Plymouth we returned, leaving the -General to drag out the burning summer at Wady Halfa in such heat as I -never had had to suffer. While at Halfa I made many sketches in oil for -my picture, "A Desert Grave," out in the desert across the river. It is -very trying painting in the desert on account of the wind, which blows -the sand perpetually into your eyes. With that and the glare, I took two -inflamed eyes back with me to Europe. The picture should have been more -poetical than it turned out to be, and I wish I could repaint it now. It -was well placed at the Academy. The Upper Nile had these graves of -British officers and men all along its banks during that terrible toll -taken in the course of the Gordon Expedition and after, some in single -loneliness, far apart, and some in twos and threes. These graves had to -be made exactly in the same way as those of the enemy, lest a cross or -some other Christian mark should invite desecration. - -The World War has thrown a dreadful cloud between us and those old war -days, but the cloud in time will spread out thinner and let us look -through to those past times. - -My next experience was Brittany. Thither we went for a rest, and to give -the children the habit of talking French. At Dinan, in an old farmhouse, -we ruralised amidst orchards and amongst the Breton peasantry. Very nice -and quiet and healthy. There our youngest boy was born, Martin William, -who was immediately inscribed on the army books as liable for service in -the French Army if he reached the age of eighteen on French soil. During -that part of our stay at Dinan I painted the 24th Dragoons, who were -stationed there, leaving the town by the old Porte St. Malo for the -front, a great crowd of people seeing them off. I had mounted dragoons -and peasants for the asking as models. - -My husband was knighted--K.C.B.--in this interval, at Windsor. We went -to live in Ireland from Dinan, in 1888, under the Wicklow Mountains, -where the children continued their healthy country life in its fulness. -The picture I had painted of the departing dragoons went to the Academy -in 1889, and in 1890 I exhibited "An Eviction in Ireland," which Lord -Salisbury was pleased to be facetious about in his speech at the -banquet, remarking on the "breezy beauty" of the landscape, which almost -made him wish he could take part in an eviction himself. How like a -Cecil! - -The 'eighties had seen our Government do some dreadful things in the way -of evictions in Ireland. Being at Glendalough at the end of that decade, -and hearing one day that an eviction was to take place some nine miles -distant from where we were staying for my husband's shooting, I got an -outside car and drove off to the scene, armed with my paints. I met the -police returning from their distasteful "job," armed to the teeth and -very flushed. On getting there I found the ruins of the cabin -smouldering, the ground quite hot under my feet, and I set up my easel -there. The evicted woman came to search amongst the ashes of her home to -try and find some of her belongings intact. She was very philosophical, -and did not rise to the level of my indignation as an ardent English -sympathiser. However, I studied her well, and on returning home at -Delgany I set up the big picture which commemorates a typical eviction -in the black 'eighties. I seldom can say I am pleased with my work when -done, but I _am_ complacent about this picture; it has the true Irish -atmosphere, and I was glad to turn out that landscape successfully which -I had made all my studies for, on the spot, at Glendalough. What storms -of wind and rain, and what dazzling sunbursts I struggled in, one day -the paints being blown out of my box and nearly whirled into the lake -far below my mountain perch! My canvas, acting like a sail, once nearly -sent me down there too. I did not see this picture at all at the -Academy, but I am very certain it cannot have been very "popular" in -England. Before it was finished my husband was appointed to the command -at Alexandria, and as soon as I had packed off the "Eviction," I -followed, on March 24th, and saw again the fascinating East. - -My journey took me _viâ_ Venice, where the P.& O. boat _Hydaspes_ was -waiting. Can any journey to Egypt be more charming than this one, right -across Italy? - -Oh! you who do not think a journey a mere means of getting to your -destination as quickly as possible, say, if you have taken the -Milan-Verona-Padua line, is there anything in all Italy to surpass that -burst on the view of the Lago di Garda after you emerge from the Lonato -tunnel? On a blue day, say in spring? If you have not gone that way yet, -I beg you to be on the look-out on your left when you do go. This -wonderful surprise is suddenly revealed, and almost as quickly lost. -Waste not a second. I put up at the "Angleterre" at Venice, on the Riva, -because from there one sees the lagunes and glimpses of the open sea -beyond, and the air is open and fresh. - -"_March 28th._--Took gondola for the big P. & O. S.S. which is to be my -home for the next six days. I at once saw the ship was one of their -smartest boats, and all looked very festive on board. Luncheon was -served immediately after my arrival, and I found a bright company -thereat assembled, with Sir Henry and Lady Layard at their head; some -come to see friends off and others to go on. We amalgamated very -pleasantly, and great was the waving of handkerchiefs as we slowly -steamed past the Dogana and the Riva, our returning friends having gone -on shore in gondolas whose sable sides were hidden in brilliant -draperies. The sashes of the gondoliers' liveries flashed in coloured -silks and gold fringes; the sea sparkled. I rejoiced. The Montalba girls -gave us a salvo of pocket handkerchiefs from their balcony on the -Giudecca. What a gay scene! Lady Layard, on leaving, introduced Mrs. H. -M., who was to join her husband at Brindisi for a long trip in the big -liner from England, and I was very happy at the prospect of her pleasant -and intellectual companionship thus far." - -And so we passed out into the early night on the dim Adriatic, after a -sunset farewell to Venice, which remains to me as one of the tenderest -visions of the past. That voyage to Alexandria is more enjoyable, given -fair weather, than most voyages, because one is hardly ever out of sight -of land, and such classic land, too! The Ionian Islands, "Morea's -Hills," Candia. But what a pleasure it is to see on the day before the -arrival the signs that the landing is near at hand. The General in -Command will be waiting at sunrise on the landing stage, perhaps the -light catching the gold lace on his cap, appearing above the turbans of -the native crowd. Of course every one who has been to Egypt knows the -feeling of disappointment at the first sight of its shores, low-lying -and fringed with those incongruous windmills which the Great Napoleon -vainly planted there to teach the natives how better to make flour. In -vain. And so were his wheelbarrows. The natives preferred carrying the -mud in their hands. And the city, how it fails to give you the Oriental -impression you are longing for, with its pseudo-Italian architecture, -its hard paved streets, and dusty boulevards and squares. Government -House on the Boulevard de Ramleh was comfortable, roomy and airy, but I -missed the imagined garden and palm trees of the Cairo official -residence. - -"_April 3rd._--We have a view of Cleopatra's Tomb (so called) to the -right, jutting out into the intensely blue sea, but the other arm of the -bay (the old Roman harbour) to our left, covered with native houses and -minarets, is partly hidden by an abomination which hurts me to -exasperation, one of those amorphous buildings of tenth-rate Italian -vulgarity and dreariness which are being run up here in such quantities, -and rears its gaunt expanse close behind this house. To cap this -erection it has received the title of 'Bombay Castle.' Never mind, I -shall soon, in my happy way, cease to notice what I don't like to see, -and shall enjoy all that is left here of the original East and its -fascinating barbaric beauty. Will took me for a most interesting drive, -first to Ras-el-Tin, during which we threaded a conglomeration of East -and West which was bewildering. There were nightmarish Italian -'_palazzi_' loaded with cheap, bluntly-moulded stucco; glaring streets, -cafés, dusty gardens, over-dressed Jewish and Levantine women driving -about in exaggerated hats, frocks and figures; and there also appeared -the dark narrow bazaars and original streets, the latticed windows, the -finely-coloured robes of the natives, the weird goats, the wolfish dogs, -straying about in all directions. Mounds of rubbish everywhere; some -only the leavings of newly-built houses, some the remains of the -bombardment's havoc, others the dust of a once beautiful city whose -loveliness in old Roman times must have been supreme. - -"Only here and there was I reminded of the charm of Cairo--a tree by a -yellow wall, a group of natives eating sugar cane, a water-seller with -his tinkling brass cups and a rose behind his ear, and so on. We then -had a really enjoyable drive along the Mahmoudieh Canal, which was balm -to my mind and eyes. All along the placid water on the opposite bank ran -Arab villages with their accompaniments of palms, buffaloes, goats, -water jars, native men and women in scriptural robes; water wheels; -square-shaped, almost window-less mud dwellings, so appropriate under -that intense light. On our bank were the remnants of Pashadom in the -shape of gimcrack palaces closed and let go to ruin, on account of -fashion having betaken itself to the suburb of Ramleh. These dwellings -were, however, so hidden in deep tropical gardens of great and rich -beauty that they did not offend. - -"Beyond the Arab villages on the other bank appeared Lake Mareotis, and -there was a poetical feeling about all that region. It was so strange to -have on one side of a narrow band of water old Egypt and the life of the -East going on just as it has been for ages past, and on the other the -ephemeral tokens of the sham and fleeting life of to-day, and this all -the way along a drive of some two miles. This is the fashionable drive, -and to see young Egypt on horseback, and old Jewry in carriages, passing -and repassing up and down this cosmopolitan Rotten Row is decidedly -trying. My admired friends, the running syces, though, redeem the thing -to me. Their dress is one of the most perfect in shape, colour and -material ever devised. The air was rich with the scent of strange -flowers, some of which billowed over entrance gates in magnificent -purple masses." - -I must be excused for having shown irritation in my Diary at starting. I -soon adapted myself to the entourage, and I hope I "did my manners" as -became my official responsibilities. I liked the Greeks best of -all--nay, I got very fond of these handsome, sunny people. - -It was a curiously cosmopolitan society, and I, who am never good at -remembering the little feuds that are always simmering in this kind of -mixed company, must have sometimes made mistakes. I heard a Greek woman, -who had dined with us the previous evening, informing her friends in a -voice fraught with meaning, _"Imaginez, hier au soir chez le Général -Monsieur Gariopulo a donné le bras à Madame Buzzato!"_ The recipients of -this information were filled with mirth. What _had_ I done in pairing -off these two for the procession to dinner? - -The British were entrenched at Ramleh. The little stations on the -railway there gave me quite a turn at first sight. One was "Bulkley," -the next "Fleming," then "Sydney O. Schutz," and finally San Stefano at -railhead, and a casino with a corrugated iron roof under that scorching -sun. Oh, that I should see such a thing in Egypt! Cheek by jowl with the -little villas one saw weird Bedouin tents and wild Arabs and their -animals, carrying on their existence as if the Briton had never come -there. - -The incongruities of Alexandria became to me positively enjoyable; and -the desert air, as ever, was life-giving. My little Syrian horse, -"Minnow," carried me many a mile alongside my husband's charger, over -that pleasant desert sand. But an occasional khamseen wind gave me a -taste of the disagreeable phase of Egyptian weather. I name, with the -vivid recollection of the khamseen's irritating qualities, the -experience of paying calls (in a nice toilette) under its suffocating -puffs. And how the flies swarm; how they settle in black masses on the -sweetmeats sold in the streets, and hang in tassels from the native -children's eyes. Oh, yes, there is a seamy side to all things, but it -isn't my way to turn it up more than is necessary. Here may follow a bit -of Diary: - -"_May 22nd._--We had a memorable picnic at Rosetta to-day, with thirty -of the English colony. I had long wished to visit this ancient city, -brick-built and half deserted, a once opulent place, but now mournful in -its decay. I longed to see old Nile once more. We chartered a special -train and left Moharram Bey Station at 8 a.m. I was much pleased with -the seaside desert and the effects of mirage over Aboukir Bay. The -ancient town of Edkou struck me very much. It was built of the small -brown Rosetta brick, and was placed on a hill, giving it a different -aspect from the usual Arab pale-walled villages which are usually built -on level ground. It had thus a peculiar character. Shortly before -reaching Rosetta the land becomes richly cultivated. There is a subtle -beauty about the cultivated regions of this fascinating land of Egypt -which I feel very much. It is the beauty of abundance and richness as -well as of vivid colour. - -"At Rosetta dense crowds of natives awaited us and some police were -detailed to escort us through the town. I heard some of the women of our -party wishing they could pick the blue tiles off the minarets, but for -my part I prefer them under their lovely sky and sunshine, rather than -ornamenting mantelpieces in a Kensington fog. A little _musharabieh_ -lattice is still left here in the windows and has not yet been taken to -grace the British drawing-rooms of Ramleh. We strolled about the bazaars -and into the old ramshackle mosques, and, altogether, exhausted the -sights. Everywhere in Rosetta you see beautiful little Corinthian marble -columns incorporated with the Arab buildings, and supporting the -ceilings and pulpits of the mosques. They are daubed over with red -plaster. Very often a rich Corinthian capital is used as a base to a -pillar by being turned upside down, so that the shaft, crowned with its -own capital, possesses two--one at each end--an arrangement evidently -satisfactory to the barbarian Arabs who succeeded the classic builders -of the old city. Almost every angle of a house has a Greek column acting -as corner stone. But the brown brickwork is very dismal, and but for the -vivid colours of the people's dresses the monotony of tone would be -displeasing. This is Bairam, and the people during the three days' feast -succeeding the dismal Ramadan Fast are in their most radiant dresses, -and revelry and feasting are going on everywhere. Such a mass of moving -colour as was the market place of Rosetta to-day these eyes, that have -seen so much, never looked upon before. - -"At last, when we had climbed into enough mosques and poked about into -houses, and through all the bazaars (the fish bazaar was trying), we -went down to the landing stage and took boat for the trysting place, -about a mile up the broad, wind-lashed Nile. Will and the Bishop of -Clifton, sole remaining straggler from the late pilgrimage to the Holy -Land, and half our party had gone on before us; and, after a quick sail -along the palm-fringed bank, we arrived at the pretty landing place -chosen for our picnic. We found a tent pitched and the servants busy -laying the cloth under a dense sycamore, close to an old mosque whose -onion-shaped dome and Arab minaret gave me great pleasure as we came in -sight of them. I was impatient to make a sketch. I lost no time, and -went off and established myself in a palm grove with my water colours. -The usual Egyptian drawbacks, however, were there--flies, and puffs of -sand blown into one's eyes and powdering one's paints. On the Mahmoudieh -Canal I am exempt from the sand nuisance, and nothing can be pleasanter -than my experience there, sitting in an open carriage with the hood up, -and not a soul to bother me. - -"Our return to Rosetta was lively. As we were then going against the -wind, we had to be towed from the shore, and it was very interesting to -watch the agility of our crew dodging in and out of the boats moored -under the bank and deftly disengaging the tow-rope from the spars and -rigging of these vessels. A tall Circassian _effendi_ of police cantered -on his little Arab along the bank to see that all went well with us. The -other half of our party chose to sail and progress by laborious tacking -from one side of the wide river to the other, and arrived long after we -did. We all met at the house of the Syrian postmaster, where he and his -pretty little wife received us with native politeness, and gave us -coffee and sweets. Our return journey was most pleasant, and we got to -Alexandria at 8 p.m. Twelve charming hours. - -"_May 24th._--The Queen's birthday. Trooping of the colour at 5 p.m. on -the Moharrem Bey Ground. Most successful. Will, mounted on a powerful -chestnut, did look a commanding figure as he raised his plumed helmet -and led the ringing cheers for the Queen which brought the pretty -ceremony to a close. The sun was near setting behind the height of -Komeldik, and lit up the roses in the men's helmets and garlanded round -the standard. In the evening a dull and solemn dinner to the heads of -departments and their wives. A difficult function. We had the band of -the Suffolks playing outside the windows, which were wide open on the -sea. I went out sketching in the morning, very early. I should have been -at my post all day on such an occasion, I confess. Will said I was like -Nero, fiddling while Rome was burning. - -"_May 29th._--The Mediterranean Fleet is here. Great interchange of -cards, firing of salutes, etc., etc. All very ceremonious, but -productive of picturesqueness and colour and effect, so I like it very -much. The Khedive Tewfik, too, has arrived, with the Khediviah, for the -hot season from Cairo. Will, of course, had to be present at the station -this morning for the reception of our puppet, and it was not nice to see -the Union Jack down in the dust as the guard of honour of the Suffolks -gave the salute. Our dinner to-night was to the admiral and officers of -the newly-arrived British squadron. - -"_June 2nd._--To the Khediviah's first reception at the harem of the -Ras-el-Tin Palace. I had two Englishwomen to present, rather an -unmanageable pair, as seniority appeared to be claimed erroneously at -the last moment by the junior. This reception has become a most dull -affair now that Oriental ways are done away with. Dancing girls no -longer amuse the guests, nor handmaidens cater to them with sweetmeats -during the audience, and there is nothing left but absolute emptiness. -The Vice-Reine sits, in European dress, on a divan at the end of a vast -hall, and the visitors sit in a semi-circle before her on hard European -chairs reflected in a polished _parquet_, speaking to each other in -whispers and furtively sipping coffee. She addresses a few remarks to -those nearest her, and the pauses are articulated by the click of the -ever-moving fans of the assembly. The ladies-in-waiting and girl slaves -move about in a mooning way in the funniest frocks, supposed to be -European, but some of them absolutely frumpish. Melancholy eunuchs of -the bluest black, in glossy frock coats, rise and bow as one passes -along the passages to or from the presence, and it is a relief to get -out through the jealously-walled garden into the outer world. - -"I find it difficult to converse in a harem, being so bad at small talk. -I upset the Vice-Reine's equanimity by telling her (which was quite -true) that I had heard she was taking lessons in painting. '_Moi, -madame?!! Oh! je n'aurais pas le courage!_' It was as bad as when I told -her, in Cairo, how much I liked poking about the bazaars. '_Vous allez -dans les bazaars, madame?!!_' So I relapsed into talking of illnesses, -which subject I have always found touches the proper note in a harem. -They say the Vice-Reine delights in these audiences, as they are -amongst the great events of her days. She is a beautiful woman, a -Circassian, and of lovely whiteness. - -"Finished the delicate sketch of the loveliest bit of the canal, where -the pink minaret and the black cypress are. I wish I could do just one -more reach of that lovely waterway before I leave! There is a particular -group of oleanders nodding with heavy pink blossom by the water's edge -against a soft blurred background of tamarisk, where women and girls in -dark blue, brilliant orange, and rose-coloured robes come down to fetch -water in their amphoræ. There is another reach lined for the whole -length of the picture with tall waving canebrakes, above whose tender -green tops appears the delicate distance of the lagoons of Mareotis; -there is--but ah! each bend of that canal reveals fresh beauties, and -often as Will has driven me there, I am as eager as ever to miss no -point in the lovely sequence. - -"_June 14th._--All my days now I am sketching more continuously, as the -arduous work of paying calls has relaxed greatly. This evening we drove -again far beyond Ramleh on the old route followed by Napoleon to reach -Aboukir, and I finished the sketch there." - -And so on, till my departure a few days later. I had wisely left my oils -at home at Delgany, and thus got together a much larger number of -subjects, the handier medium of water-colour being better suited to the -official life I had to attend to. - - - - -CHAPTER XVII - -MORE OF THE EAST - - -My return voyage was made on board the Messageries boat to Marseilles. -This gave me the Straits of Messina as well as those of Bonifacio. On -passing Ajaccio I don't think a single French passenger gave a thought -to Napoleon. I was intent on taking in every detail of that place, as -far as I could see it through a morning mist. Corsica looked very grand, -crowned with great snow-capped mountains. - -I lost no time in getting home to the children, and passed the rest of -the summer in the green loveliness of Ireland, returning to Egypt, in -the following October, _viâ_ Venice again. Every soldier's wife knows -what it is to be torn in two between the husband far away abroad and the -children one must leave at home. The trial is great, no doubt of it. -Then there is this perplexity: whether it would be well to take one of -the children with one and risk the dangers of the journey and the -climate at the other end. Parents pay heavily for our far-flung Empire! - -On the morning of my departure from Venice I woke to the call of the -sunbeams pouring into my room, and, behold, as I went to the window, the -dome of the "Salute" taking the salute, as we say in the Army, of the -sunrise! And the Dogana's gilded globe responding, too. Joy! our start -at least will be calm. Till midday I had Venice to myself, and I could -stroll about the Piazza and little streets, and recollect myself in -peaceful meditation in St. Mark's. What delicate loveliness is that of -Venice! Those russet reds and creamy whites and tender yellows, and here -and there bits of deep indigo blue to give emphasis to the colour -scheme. And that tender opalesque sky, and the gilded statues on domes -and towers, and the rich mosaics twinkling in the hazy light! These -things make one feel a love for Venice which is full of gratitude for so -beautiful a thing. - -At 12.30 I took gondola and was rowed to my old friend the _Hydaspes_ -lying in the Giudecca, and was just in time to sit down to a truly -Hydaspian luncheon, which was crowded. To my indescribable relief the -captain told me I should have a cabin all to myself as last time. At two -o'clock we cast off, and that effective passage all along the front of -the city was again made which so impressed me the preceding spring; and -then we turned off seawards, winding through the channel marked out by -those white posts with black heads which, even in their humble way, are -so harmonious in tone and are beloved by painters, carrying out as they -do the whole artistic scheme. Every fishing boat we met or overtook gave -one a study of harmonies. Now it was an orange sail with a red upper -corner in soft sunlight against the flat blue-purple of the distant -mountains and the vivid green of the Lido; now, composing with a line of -rosy, snowy mountain tops that lay like massive clouds on the horizon, -would rise a pale cool grey-white sail, well in the foreground, with its -upper part tinted a soft mouse-grey and its lower border deep -terra-cotta red. The sea, pale blue; the sky thinly veiled with clouds -of a rosy dove-grey. Nowhere does one see such delicacy of colouring as -here. Then the market boats looked well, full of vegetables, whose cool -green came just where it should for the completion of the colour study. -To think that the Local Board, or whatever those modern vulgarians are -called, of Venice are advocating the complete suppression of those -coloured sails, to be replaced by plain white ones all round. Hands off, -_mascalzoni!_ All this enchantment gradually faded away in the mists of -evening and of distance, and we were soon well out to sea. - -"_Sunday._--At 9 a.m. Brindisi in bright, low sunshine," says the Diary. -"To Missa Cantata; much pleasant strolling. What animation all day with -the loading and unloading, the coming and going of passengers, the cries -and laughter of the population thronging the quays! The _Britannia_ from -London was already in, and I watched the transfer of my heavy luggage -from her to the _Hydaspes_ with a hawk's eye. I had a genuine compliment -on landing paid to my accent. Those pests, the little beggar boys, who -hang on to the English and can't be shaken off, attacked me at first -till I turned on them and shouted, '_Via, birrrrichini!_' One of them -pulled the others away: 'Come away, don't you see she is not English!' -The Italians still think _Gl' Inglesi_ are all millionaires and made of -_scudi_. - -"_November 12th._--What indescribable joy this afternoon to see the crew -busy with the preparations for our arrival to-morrow morning! - -"_November 13th._--Of course I began to get ready at 3 a.m. and peer out -of the porthole on the waste of starlit waters as I felt the ship -stopping off the distant lighthouse. We lay to a long time waiting for -the dawn before proceeding to enter the harbour. The sun rose behind the -city just as we turned into the port. I looked towards the distant -landing stage. Half a mile off, with my wonderful sight, I saw Will, -though the sun was right in my eyes. I knew him not only by his height, -but by the shining gold band round his cap. We were a long time coming -in and swinging round alongside, and, before the gangway was well down, -Will sprang on to it and, in spite of the warning shouts of the sailors, -was the first to board the _Hydaspes_." - -I was back in Egypt; to be there once more was bliss. The now brimming -Mahmoudieh saw me haunting it again; the predominating red of the -flowering trees and creepers that I noted before had made place for -enchanting variations of yellow, and all the vegetation had deepened. -The heat was great at first. I was particularly struck by the enhanced -beauty of the date palms, whose golden and deep purple fruit now hung in -clusters under the graceful branches. But all too soon came a good deal -of rain, to my indignation. Rain in Egypt! The natives say we have -brought it with us. I never saw any in Cairo nor upstream. - -The Governor of the city had invited us to make use of a little -_dahabiyeh_, the _Rose_, for a cruise on the Lower Nile, and on November -20th we started. My husband had already welcomed on their arrival, in a -worthy manner, the officers of the French fleet, with whom he was in -perfect sympathy; but my Diary records the happy necessity for our -departure by the scheduled time on board the _Rose_ on that very -November 20th. That morning the German squadron arrived and the thunder -of its guns gave us an unintentional send-off! They were duly honoured, -of course, but the General himself was away. - -It was a nine days' cruise to the mouth of the Nile and back. Quite a -different reading of the Nile from the one I have recorded in my letters -to my mother, and reproduced in "From Sketch Book and Diary." Very few -tourists or even serious travellers have come so far down, so that one -is less afraid of being forestalled by abler writers in recording one's -impressions there. It was pretty to see the big Turkish flag fluttering -at our helm, and a beautifully disproportionate pennon streaming in -crimson magnificence from the point of the little vessel's curved -felucca spar. But our first days were damping: "_November 22nd._--Oh, -the rain! Alas! that I should know Egypt under such deluges, and see in -this land the deepest, ugliest mud in the world. We had to moor off the -residence of the Bey, to whom this _dahabiyeh_ belongs, last night, as -we wished to pay him our respects and tender him our thanks this -morning. He made us stay to luncheon, and a very excellent Arab repast -it was. I got on well with him as he spoke excellent French, but his -mother! Oh! it was heavy, as she could only talk Turkish, and my -translated remarks didn't even get a smile out of her. I must say the -Mohammedan women are deadly. - -"We proceeded on our voyage very late in the day, on account of this -visit which common civility made necessary. The weather brightened up at -sunset and nothing more weird have I ever seen than the mud villages, -cemeteries, lonely tombs, goats, buffaloes and wild human beings that -loomed on the banks as we glided by, brown and black against that sky -full of racing clouds that seemed red-hot from the great fiery globe -that had just sunk below the palm-fringed horizon. These canal banks -might give many people the horrors. I certainly think them in this -weather the most uncanny bits of manipulated nature I have ever seen. I -was fortunate in getting down in colour such a telling thing, a goatherd -in a Bedouin's burnous, which was wildly flapping in the hot wind -against the red glow in the west, driving a herd of those goats I find -so effective, with their long, pendant ears, and kids skipping in impish -gambols in front. 'Apocalyptic' apparition, caught, as we left it -astern, in that portentous gloaming! I shall make something of this. As -to the inhabitants of those regions, to contemplate their life is too -depressing. As darkness comes on you see them creeping into their -unlighted mud hovels like their animals. On the Upper Nile, at least, -the fellaheen have glorious air, the sun, the clean, dry sand, but here -in that mud----! - -"_November 23rd_.--No more rain. At Atfeh we left the canal at last, by -a lock, and I gave a sigh of relief and contentment, for we were on the -broad bosom of Old Nile. After a delay at this mud town to buy -provisions we pushed out into the current and with eight immensely long -'sweeps' (the wind was against sailing) we made a good run to Rosetta, -on whose mud bank we thumped by the light of a pale moon. The rhythmic -sound of those splashing oars and of the chant of the oarsmen in the -minor key, with barbaric 'intervals' unknown to our music, continued to -echo in my ears--it all seemed wild and strange and haunting. - -"_November 24th_.--Began this morning a sketch of Rosetta to finish on -our return from rounding up our outward voyage at the western mouth of -the great river where we saw it emerge into a very desolate, grey -Mediterranean. I may now say I have a very good idea of the mighty -river for upward of a thousand miles of its course--a good bit further, -both below and above stream, than the authoress of 'A Thousand Miles up -the Nile' knew it, whom in my early days I longed to emulate and, if -possible, surpass! An old-fashioned book, now, I suppose, but all the -more interesting for that. Furling sail, for the wind had been fair -to-day, we turned and were towed back to Fort St. Julian, where we -moored for the night. - -"_November 25th_.--After a nice little sketch of the Fort St. Julian, -celebrated in Napoleonic annals, we started off, and reached Rosetta in -good time, so that I was able most satisfactorily to finish my large -water-colour of the place. I was rather bothered where I sat at the -water's edge by the small boys and a very persistent pelican, which kept -flying from the river into the fish market and returning with stolen -fish, to souse them in the water before filling its pouch, in time to -avoid capture by the pursuing brats. - -"_November 26th_.--From Rosetta we glided pleasantly to Metubis, one of -the many shining cities, as seen from afar, that become heaps of squalid -dwellings when viewed at close quarters. But the minarets of those -phantom cities remain erect in all their beauty, and this city in -particular was transfigured by the most magnificent sunset I have ever -seen, even here." - -The wild town of Syndioor was our mooring place for the next night, and -at sunrise we were off homewards. Syndioor and the opposite city of -Deyrout were veiled in a soft mist, out of which rose their tall -minarets in stately beauty, radiant in the level light. The effect on -the mind of these ruined places, once magnificent centres of commerce -and luxury, is quite extraordinary. They are now, all of them, -derelicts. And so in time we slipped back into the canal, landing under -the oleanders of our starting place. The crew kissed hands, the _reis_ -made his obeisance, and we returned to the hard stones and rattle of the -Boulevard de Ramleh, refreshed. The Germans were gone. - -Balls, picnics, gymkhanas and dinners were varied by intervals of -water-colour sketching in the desert. One picnic, out at Mex, to the -west of Alexandria, was distinguished by a great camel ride we all had -on the soft-paced, mouse-coloured mounts of the Camel Corps, the -Englishwomen looking so nice in their well-cut riding habits, sitting -easily on their tall steeds. I managed to secure several sketches that -day of the men and camels of the corps, and have one sketch of ourselves -starting for our turn in the desert. Our ponies took us back home. The -sort of day I liked. As I record, the completeness of my enjoyment was -caused by my having been able to put some useful work in, as usual. I -had a Camel Corps picture _in petto_ at this time. - -"_February 13th_, 1891.--We had the Duke of Cambridge to luncheon. He -arrived yesterday on board the _Surprise_ from Malta, and Will, of -course, received him officially, but not royally, as he is travelling -incog., and he came here to tea. To-day we had a large party to meet -him, and a very genial luncheon it was, not to say rollicking. The day -was exquisite, and out of the open windows the sea sparkled, blue and -calm. H.R.H. seemed to me rather feeble, but in the best of humours; a -wonderful old man to come to Egypt for the first time at seventy-two, -braving this burning sun and with such a high colour to begin with! One -felt as though one was talking to George III. to hear the 'What, what, -what? Who, who, who? Why, why, why?' Col. Lane, one of his suite, said -he had never seen him in better spirits. I was gratified at his praise -of our cook--very loud praise, literally, as he is not only rather deaf -himself, but speaks to people as though they also were a 'little hard of -hearing.' 'Very good cook, my dear' (to me). 'Very good cook, Butler' -(across the table to Will). 'Very good cook, eh, Sykes?' (very loud to -Christopher Sykes, further off). 'You are a _gourmet_, you know better -about these things than I do, eh?' C. S.: 'I ought to have learnt -something about it at Gloucester House, sir!' H.R.H. (to me): 'Your -health, my dear.' 'Butler, your very good health!' Aside to me: 'What's -the Consul's name?' I: 'Sir Charles Cookson.' 'Sir Charles, your -health!' When I hand the salt to H.R.H. he stops my hand: 'I wouldn't -quarrel with her for the world, Butler.' And so the feast goes on, our -august guest plying me with questions about the relationship and -antecedents of every one at the table; about the manners and customs of -the populace of Alexandria; the state of commerce; the climate. I answer -to the best of my ability with the most unsatisfactory information. He -started at four for Cairo, leaving a most kindly impression on my -memory. The last of the old Georgian type! 'Your mutton was good, my -dear; not at all _goaty_,' were his valedictory words." - -Mutton _is_ goaty in Egypt unless well selected. I advise travellers to -confine themselves to the good poultry, and to leave meat alone. What I -would have done without our dear, good old Magro, the major domo who did -my housekeeping out there, I dread to think. His name, denoting a lean -habit of body, was a misnomer, for he was rotund. A good, honest -Maltese, his devotion to "Sair William" was really touching. I was only -as the moon is to the sun, and to serve the sun he would, I am -convinced, have risked his life. I came in for his devotion to myself by -reason of my reflected glory. One morning he came hurtling towards me, -through the rooms, waving aloft what at first looked like a red -republican flag, but it proved to be a sirloin or other portion of -bovine anatomy which he had had the luck to purchase in the market (good -beef being so rare). "Look, miladi, you will not often meet such beef -walking in the street!" He laid it out for my admiration. This is the -way he used to ask me for the daily orders: "What will miladi command -for dinner?" "Cutlets?" (patting his ribs); "a loin?" (indications of -lumbago); "or a leg?" (advancing that limb); "or, for a delicate -_entrée_, brains?" (laying a finger on his perspiring forehead). "Oh, -for goodness' sake, Magro, not brains!" When the day's work was done he -would retire to what we called the "Ah!-poor-me-room"--his -boudoir--where, repeating aloud those words so dear to his nationality, -he would take up his cigar. Government gave him £250 a year for all this -expenditure of zeal. - -While on the subject of Oriental housekeeping, I must record the -following. Our predecessors of a former time had what to me would have -been an experience difficult to recover from. They were giving a large -Christmas dinner, and the cook, proud of the pudding he had mastered the -intricacies of, insisted on bringing it in himself, all ablaze. It was -only a few steps from the kitchen to the dining-room. Holding the great -dish well up before him, he unfortunately set fire to his beard, and the -effect of his dusky face approaching in the subdued light of the door, -illuminated in that way by blue flames, must have been satanic. - -"_March 14th_.--Lord Charles Beresford, who has relieved the other ship -with the _Undaunted_, invited us all to luncheon on board, but Will and -I could not stay to luncheon as we had guests; nevertheless, we had a -very interesting morning on board. On arriving at the Marina we found -Lady Charles, Lady Edmund Talbot, Colonel Kitchener,[10] whose light, -rather tiger-like eyes in that sunburnt face slightly frightened me, and -others waiting to go with us to the _Undaunted_ in the ship's barge and -a steam launch. Lord Charles received us with his usual sailor-like -welcome, and we had a tremendous inspection of the ship, one of our -latest experiments in naval machinery--a belted cruiser. She will -probably cruise to the bottom if ever the real test comes. A torpedo was -fired for us, but it gambolled away like a porpoise, ending by plunging -into a mudbank. I wish they would diverge their direction like that in -war, detestable inventions! - -"_April 1st_, 1891.--I am now quite in the full swing of Egyptian -enjoyment. No more Egyptian rain! Excellent accounts from home, and my -intention of going back is rendered unnecessary. How thankful I am, on -the eve of our departure for Palestine, for the 'all well' from home!" - -My entries in the Diary during that unique journey, and my letters to my -mother, are published in my book, "Letters from the Holy Land." I -illustrated it with the water colours I made during our pilgrimage, and -I was most delighted to find the little book had an utterly unexpected -success. It was nice to find myself among the writers! To have ridden -through this land from end to end is to have experienced a pleasure such -as no other part of the earth can give us. Had I had no more joy in -store for me, that would have been enough. - -As the railway was not opened till the following year the mind was not -disturbed, and could concentrate on the scenes before it with all the -recollection it required. I called our progress "riding through the -Bible." Many a local allusion in both Testaments, which had seemed vague -or difficult to appreciate before, opened out, so to say, before one's -happy vision, and gave a substance, a vitality to the Scripture -narrative which produced a satisfaction delightful to experience. -Perhaps the strongest longing in my childhood's mind had been to do this -journey. To do it as we did, just our two selves, and in the fresh -spring weather, was a happy circumstance. - -As I look back to that time which we spent amidst the scenes of Our -Lord's revealed life on earth, no portion of it produces such a sense of -mental peace as does the night of our arrival on the shores of the Sea -of Galilee. _There_ there were no crowds, no distractions, not a thing -to jar on the mind. Before and around one, as one sat on the pebbly -strand, appeared the very outlines of the hills His eyes had rested on, -and far from modern life encroaching on one's sensitiveness, the cities -that lined those sacred shores in His time had disappeared like one of -the fleeting cloud shadows which the moon was casting all along their -ruined sites. His words came back with a poignant force, "Woe unto -thee, Chorazin! Woe unto thee, Bethsaida!... and thou, Capernaum, which -art exalted unto heaven...." Where were they? And the high waves raced -foaming and breaking on the shingle, blown by a strong though mild wind -that came across from the dark cliffs of the country of the Gadarenes. -One seemed to feel His approach where He had so often walked. One can -hardly speak of the awe which that feeling brought to the mind. He was -quite near! - -Undoubtedly the effect of a journey through the Holy Land _does_ -permanently impress itself upon one's life. It is a tremendous -experience to be brought thus face to face with the Gospel narrative. We -returned to the modern world on May 1st. This time I left Alexandria in -company with my husband on June 3rd, and on landing at Venice we at once -went on to Verona, where he was anxious to visit the battlefield of -Arcole. - - - - -CHAPTER XVIII - -THE LAST OF EGYPT - - -Here at Verona was Italy in her richest dress, her abundant and varied -crops filling the landscape, one might say, to overflowing; not a space -of soil left untilled, and, all the way along our road to San Bonifacio -for Arcole, the snow-capped Alps were shimmering in the blue atmosphere -on one hand, and a great teeming plain stretched away to the horizon on -the other. - -I noticed the fine physique of the peasantry, and their nice ways. Every -peasant man we met on the road raised his hat to us as we passed. At San -Bonifacio we got out of the carriage and, turning to the right, we -walked to Arcole, becoming exclusively Napoleonic on reaching the famous -marsh. History says that a soldier saved Napoleon from drowning early in -the battle by pulling him out of the water in that marsh, "by the hair!" -I pondered this _bald_ statement, and came to the conclusion that the -thing must have happened in this wise. Young Bonaparte in those early -days wore his hair very long, and gathered up into a queue. Had he been -close-cropped, as his later experience in Egypt compelled him to be, the -history of the world might have been very different. As I looked into -the water from the famous little bridge, I saw the place where the young -conqueror slipped and plunged in. The soldier must have caught hold of -the pigtail, and with the good grip it afforded him pulled his drowning -general out. Between the little bridge and the spot where he sank -Napoleon raised the obelisk which we see to-day. Thus do I like to -realise interesting events in history. - -Our driver on the way back became a dreadful bore, for ever turning on -the box to chatter. First he informed us that Arcole was called after -Hercules, "a very strong man" (great thumping of biceps to illustrate -his meaning), which we knew before. Then, when within sight of the -battlefield of Custozza, where our dear Italians got such a "dusting" -from the Austrians, he informed us that he had been in the battle, and -that the Italians had _blasted_ the enemy. "_Li abbiamo fulminati_." -"Oh, shut up, do! _Basta, caro!_" - -Our afternoon stroll all over Verona merged into a moonlight one which -takes first rank in my Italian chronicles. The effect of a roaring -Alpine torrent (for such is the Adige at this season of melting snows) -rushing and swirling through the heart of that ancient city, between -embankments bordered with domed churches, with towers and palaces, I -found quite unique. Mysterious, too, it all felt in the lights and -profound shades of the moonlight. Above rose the hills with very -striking serrated outlines, crowned with fortresses. - -The rest of the summer saw me at home at Delgany. I must say the "Green -Isle" for summer, following Egypt for winter, makes a very pleasant -combination. My husband had returned to Alexandria on August 23rd, and I -and a wee child followed in November. I had half accomplished my next -Academy picture at home, and I took it out to finish in Egypt--"Halt on -a Forced March: Retreat to Corunna." A study of an artillery team this -time, giving the look of the spent horses, "lean unto war." It was very -well placed at the Academy in the fresh first room, and well received, -but it was too sad a subject, perhaps, so I have it still. There were no -half-starved horses in all Wicklow, I am happy to say, look where I -would for models. I had well-to-do ones to get tone and colour from, but -I bided my time. In Egypt I had plenty of choice, and had I not been -able to put the finishing touches to my team _there_, the picture would -never have been so strong--an instance of my favourite definition when I -am asked, "What is the secret of success?" "_Seize opportunities_." - -So on December 10th, 1891, I, with the little child I had safely brought -out with me, landed once more at Alexandria. The big charger and the -grey Syrian pony had now a black donkey alongside for the desert rides, -which were the chief pleasure of our life out there. - -But the winter grew sad. On January 7th, 1892, the Khedive Tewfik died -rather mysteriously, it was said, but his death was announced as the -result of that plague we call the "flu," which reached even to the East. -Just eight days later poor Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence, fell a -victim to it, and in the same way died Cardinal Manning. Also some of -our own friends at Alexandria went down. And yet never was there more -brilliant weather, so softly brilliant that one could hardly realise the -presence of danger. All the balls and other festivities were stopped, of -course. I had ample time to finish my "Halt on a Forced March" in this -long interval, so boring and depressing to Alexandrian society. Soon -things returned to pleasantly normal conditions, however, and being -free from the studio on sending my picture off, I went in -whole-heartedly for the amenities of my official position. The Private -View at the far-away Royal Academy was in my mind on the occasion of my -giving away the prizes at some athletic sports, for I knew it was just -then in full blast, April 29th, 1892. I knew my quiet picture could not -make anything of a stir, and I chaffed myself by suggesting that the -"three cheers and one cheer more" proposed by the English consul at the -end of the prize-giving, which rent the sunset air in that dusty plain -in my honour, should be all I ought to expect. It would be a _little_ -too much to receive applause in two quarters of the globe at the same -moment, allowing for difference of time! - -I call upon my Diary again: "_May 18th_.--We joined a picnic in the very -palm grove through which the Turks fled from the French pursuit under -Bonaparte to find death in the surf of Aboukir Bay. We were shaded by -clumps of pomegranate trees in flower as well as by the waving, rustling -palms, and a cool wind blew round us most pleasantly, while the white -and grey donkeys that brought us rested in groups, their drivers and the -villagers squatting about them in those unconsciously graceful attitudes -I love to jot down in my sketch book. The moving shadows of the palm -branches on the sand always capture my observation; no other tree -shadows produce that effect of ever-interlacing forms. Far away in the -radiant light lay the region where the terrible naval battle took place -later, to our credit. Altogether our party was surrounded by frightful -reminiscences, in the midst of which the picnic went its usual picnicky -way. We rode back to Alexandria by the light of the stars. - -"_May 23rd_.--A wonderful day, full of colour, movement and interest. -Young Abbas II., the new Khedive, was received here on his arrival from -Cairo, the whole population, swelled by strange wild Asiatics from -distant parts, filling the streets and squares through which he was to -pass. Will, of course, had to receive him at the station. The crowd -alone was a pleasure to look at. The Khedive seemed a squat young man -with a round pink and white painted face. They say he loves not the -English. What I enjoyed above all was the drive we took soon after, all -the length of the line of reception, to Ras-el-Tin. Oh, those narrow -streets of the old quarter, filled with numberless varieties of Oriental -costumes. Now and then the crowd was threaded by troops, some on -horseback, some perched on camels, and, to give the finishing touch of -variety, the native fire brigade went by, wearing the brass helmets of -their London _confrères_, very surprising headgear bonneting their black -and brown faces." - -I, with the little child, left for home on June 7th, _viâ_ Genoa, well -provided with a good stock of studies of camels and Camel Corps -troopers. These were for my 8-foot picture, destined for the next -Academy. Many a camel had I stalked about the Ramleh desert to watch its -mannerisms in movement. I got quite to revel in camels. Usually that -interesting beast is made utterly uninteresting in pictures, whereas if -you know him personally he is full of surprises and one never gets to -the end of him. - -The voyage to my dear old Genoa was full of beautiful sights, with one -exception. I don't know what old Naples was like--I know it was -frightfully dirty--but I saw it modernised into a very horrid town, a -smudge of ugliness on one of the ideal beauties of the world. It gave me -a shock on beholding it as we entered the harbour, and so I leave the -town itself severely alone, with its new, barrack-like buildings looking -gaunt and gritty in the burning June sunshine. The cloisters of the -Certosa at Sant' Elmo are very beautiful, and I much enjoyed the church -and the splendid "Descent from the Cross" of Spagnoletto. There was just -time for a dash up there before leaving at 12 noon. As we steamed out -towards Ischia I got the oft-painted (and, alas! oleographed) view of -Vesuvius across the whole extent of the bay from off Posilipo. Certainly -nowhere on earth can a fairer scene be beheld, and greater grace of -coast and mountain outline. Then the fair scene melted away into the -tender haze of the June afternoon--blue and tender grey, the volcanic -islands one by one disappeared and the day of my first sight of the Bay -of Naples closed. - -June 12th was a most memorable day, a day of deepest, sweetest, and -saddest impressions and memories for me. In the afternoon I made ready -for our approach to that part of the world where the brightest years of -my childhood were spent--the Gulf of Genoa. In order not to lose one -moment away from the contemplation of what we were approaching, I packed -up all our things before three o'clock, did all the _fin de voyage_ -paying and tipping, and then, my mind free for concentration, I -stationed myself at the starboard bulwark, binocular in hand. At long -last I saw in the haze of the lovely afternoon a shadowy outline of -rocky mountain which my heart, rather than my eyes, told me was Porto -Fino, for never had I seen it before from out at sea, at that angle. But -I knew where to look for it, and while to the other passengers we seemed -still out of sight of land I saw the shadowy form. Then little by little -the whole coast grew out of the haze and I saw again, one after the -other, the houses we lived in from Ruta to Albaro. With the powerful -glass I had I could see Villa de' Franchi and its sundial, and see how -many windows were open or shut at Villa Quartara as we passed Albaro, -and see the old, well-loved pine tree and cypress avenue of the latter -_palazzo_. - -"The sight of Genoa in the lurid sunset glow, with its steep, conical -mountains behind it, crowned with forts, half shrouded in dark grey -clouds, was very impressive. 'La Superba' looked her proudest thus seen -full face from the sea, seated on her rocky throne. By the by, when -_will_ people give up translating 'superba' by 'superb'? It is rather -trying. 'Genoa the Superb'! Ugh!" - -[Illustration: THE EGYPTIAN CAMEL-CORPS AND THE BERSAGLIERI.] - -I worked away well in the pleasant seclusion of Delgany, at my 8-foot -canvas whereon I carried very far forward my "Review of the Native Camel -Corps at Cairo." I had already a water-colour drawing of this subject, -which I had made while the scene was fresh in my mind's eye. I had been -indebted to the then General commanding at Cairo for the facilities -afforded me to see, at close quarters, a charge of the native Camel -Corps, which impressed me indelibly. I had driven out of Cairo to the -desert, where the manoeuvres were taking place, and, getting out of -the carriage opposite the saluting base, I placed myself in front of the -advancing squadrons, so timing things that I got well clear at the right -moment. I wanted as much of a full-face view as possible. The -attitudes of the men, wielding their whips, the movements of the camels, -the whole rush of the thing gave me such a sensation of advancing force -that, as soon as the "Halt!" was sounded, and the 300 animals had flung -themselves on their knees with the roar and snarl peculiar to those -creatures when required to exert themselves, I hastened back to -Shepheard's and marked down the salient points. The men were of all -shades, from _fellaheen_ yellow to the bluest black of Nubia, and it was -a striking moment when they all leapt off their saddles (as the camels -collapsed), panting, and beginning to re-set their disordered -accoutrements. In those days the saddles were covered with red morocco -leather, with fringed strips that flew out in the wind, adding, for the -artist, a welcome aid to the representation of motion. Now, of course, -that precious bit of colour is gone, and the necessity for khaki -invisibility reaches even to the camel saddle, which is now a stiff and -unattractive dun-coloured object. - -For my last and most brilliant visit to Egypt I took out our eldest -little girl, and a very enjoyable trip we had, _viâ_ Genoa. Of course, I -took out the picture to finish it on its native sands. I had the richest -choice of military camels, arms and accoutrements, and a native trooper -or two, as models, but only for studies. I was careful to have no posed -model to paint from in the studio, otherwise good-bye to movement. These -graceful Orientals become the stupidest, stiff lay figures the moment -you ask them to pose as models. Besides, the sincere Mohammedans refuse -to be painted at all. I have never used a Kodak myself, finding -snapshots of little value, but quick sketches done unbeknown to the -_sketchee_ and a good memory serve much better. The picture, I grieve to -say, was hung not very kindly at the Academy, but at the Paris Salon it -was received with all the appreciation I could desire. - -What pleased me particularly in this last sojourn in Egypt was our visit -to Cairo, where I was so happy during my first experience, when I -described my sensations as being comparable to swimming in Oriental -colour, light, and picturesqueness. The only thing that jarred was the -tyranny of Cairo society, which compelled one to appear at the -diversions, whether one liked it or not. Nevertheless, I gained a very -thorough knowledge of the wondrously beautiful mosques, having the -advantage of the guidance of one who knew them all intimately--Dean -Butcher. It was a true pleasure to have him as _cicerone_, and I am -grateful to him for his most kindly giving up his time for little C. and -me. My husband had long ago been acquainted with every nook and corner -of Cairo, but Dean Butcher had made a special study of these mosques, -and I think he was pleased with the way we took in the fascinating -information he gave me and the child. - -It's a far cry from Cairo to Aldershot! On November 1st, 1893, my -husband's command of the 2nd Infantry Brigade began there. Much as I -loved Egypt, it was a great delight for me to know that the parting from -the children was not to be repeated. I had had Egypt to my heart's -content. - -After returning home from Egypt, at Delgany, on June 17th, 1893, I set -up my next big picture, "The Réveil in the Bivouac of the Scots Greys on -the Morning of Waterloo--Early Dawn." I was able to make all my -twilight studies at home, all out of doors; not a thing painted in the -studio. I pressed many people into my service as models, and I think I -got the light on their fine Irish faces very true to nature. I even -caught an Irish dragoon home on leave in the village, whose splendid -profile I saw at once would be very telling. - - - - -CHAPTER XIX - -ALDERSHOT - - -And now our Irish home under the glorious Wicklow Mountains broke up, -and I was to become acquainted with life in the great English camp. The -huts for officers were still standing at that time, wooden bungalows of -the quaintest fashion, all the more pleasing to me for being unlike -ordinary houses. The old court-martial hut became my studio, four -skylights having been placed in it, and I was quite happy there. I -worked hard at "The Réveil," and finished it in that unconventional -workshop. - -To say that Aldershot society was brilliant would be very wide of the -mark. How could it be? But to us there was a very great attraction close -by, at Farnborough. There lived a woman who was and ever will be a very -remarkable figure in history, the Empress Eugénie. She hadn't forgotten -my husband's connection with her beloved son's tragic story out in South -Africa, nor her interview with him at Camden Place, and his management -of the Prince's funeral at Durban. We often took tea with her on Sundays -during our Aldershot period, her "At Home" day for intimate friends and -relatives, at the big house on the hill. She became very fond of talking -politics with _Sair William_, and always in English, and she used to sit -in that confidential way foreign politicians have, expressive of the -whispered divulgence of tremendous secrets and of occult plots and -plans in various parts of the world. She talked incessantly with him, -but was a bad listener; and if a subject came up in conversation which -did not interest her, a sharp snap or two of her fan would soon bring -things to a stop. - -[Illustration: ALDERSHOT MANOEUVRES. - -THE ENEMY IN SIGHT.] - -Entries from the Aldershot Diary: - -"_January 9th_, 1894.--We went to the memorial service at the Empress's -church in commemoration of the death of Napoleon III. After Mass we went -down to the crypt, where another short service was chanted and the tombs -of the Emperor and Prince Imperial were incensed. Between the two lies -the one awaiting the pathetic widow who was kneeling there shrouded with -black, a motionless, solitary figure, for whom one felt a very deep -respect. - -"_March 14th_.--Delightful dinner at Government House, where the Duke -and Duchess of Connaught proved most cheery host and hostess. He took me -to dinner, and we talked other than banalities. All the other generals' -wives and the generals and heads of departments were there to the number -of twenty-two. - -"_March 25th_.--To a brilliant dinner at Government House to meet the -Duke of Cambridge. Good old George was in splendid form, and asked me if -I remembered the lunch we gave him at Alexandria. It was a most cheery -evening. We sat down about twenty-eight, of whom only six were ladies. -Grenfell, our old friend of Genoese days, and Evelyn Wood were there. - -"_May 17th_.--A glorious day for the Queen's Review, which was certainly -a dazzling spectacle. Dear old Queen, it is many a long year since she -reviewed the Aldershot Division; nor would she have come but that her -son is now in supreme command here. Old people say it was like old -times, only that she has shrunk into a tinier woman than ever she was, -and by the side of the towering Duchess of Coburg in that spacious -carriage she looked indeed tiny, and nearly extinguished under a large -grey sunshade. A good place was reserved for my little carriage close to -the Royal Enclosure, and I enjoyed the congenial scene to the utmost. -Was I not in my element? The review took place on Laffan's Plain, a -glorious sweep of intense green turf which I often take little Martin to -for our morning walk, and no Aldershot dust annoyed us. I was very proud -of the general commanding the 2nd Brigade riding past the saluting base -at the head of his troops on that mighty charger, 'Heart of Oak,' that -fine golden bay, set off to the utmost advantage by the ceremonial -saddle-cloth and housings of blue and gold. That general gives the -salute with a very free sweep of the sword arm. The march past took a -long time. As to the crowd of officers behind the Queen's carriage, my -eyes positively ached with the sight of all that scarlet and gold. I -must say this scarlet is pushed too far to my mind. It must have now -reached the highest pitch of dyeing powers. It was a duller tone at -Waterloo; and certainly still more artistic when Cromwell first ordered -his men to wear it. But I may be wrong, and it is certainly very -splendid. The Duke of Cambridge and Prince of Wales were on huge black -chargers, and wore field marshals' uniforms. It was pretty to see the -Duke of Connaught--who, at the head of his staff, in front of the -division drawn up in line, had sat awaiting the Queen's arrival--canter -up to his mother and salute her as her carriage drove into the -enclosure. Then he cantered back to his place, a very graceful rider, -and the review began. I managed to do good work at 'The Réveil' in -forenoon. What a contrast and rest to the eyes that picture is after -such glittering spectacles as to-day's. War _versus_ Parade! It was -pathetic to see the Queen to-day with her soldiers. She cannot pass them -in review many more times. - -"The Empress Eugénie has returned, and we had a long interview with her -the other day at her beautiful home at Farnborough. She is by no means -the wreck and shadow some people are pleased to describe her as being, -but has the remains of a certain masculine power which I suppose was -very masterful in the great old days of her splendour. She is not too -tall, and has a fine, upright figure. She lives apparently altogether in -the memory of her son, and is surrounded by his portraits and relics, -including drawings showing him making his heroic stand, alone, forsaken, -against the savage enemy. I feel, as an Englishwoman, very uneasy and -remorseful while listening to that poor mother, with her tearful eyes, -as she speaks of her dead boy, who need not have been sacrificed. There -is no trace in her words of anger or reproach or contempt, only most -appealing grief. She has one window in the hall full to a height of many -feet of the tall grass which grows on the spot where her treasured son -was done to death by seventeen assegai wounds, all received full in -front. I remember his taking us over some artillery stables, I think, at -Woolwich once. He had a charming face. The Empress rightly described to -us the quality of the blue of his eyes--'the blue sky seen in water.' - -"We often go to her beautiful church these fine summer days. Her only -infirmity appears to be her rheumatism, which necessitates some one -giving her his arm to ascend or descend the sanctuary steps when she -goes to or comes from her _prie-Dieu_ to the right of the altar. -Sometimes it is M. Franceschini Pietri, sometimes it is the faithful old -servant Uhlmann who performs this duty. - -"_August 13th._--We have had the Queen down again for another review in -splendid (Queen's) weather. The night before the review Her Majesty gave -a dinner at the Pavilion to her generals, and for the first time in her -life sat down at table with them. Will gave me a most interesting -account. In the night there was a great military tattoo, which I -witnessed with C. from General Utterson's grounds. Very effective, if a -little too spun out. Will and the others were standing about the Queen's -and the Empress Eugénie's carriages all the time, in the grass soaked -with the heavy night dew, and felt all rather blue and bored. In the -Queen's carriage all was glum, while the Empress with her party chatted -helpfully in hers to fill up the time. It was pitch dark but for the -torches carried by long lines of troops in the distance. - -"To-day was made memorable by the review held of our brilliant little -division by the German Emperor on Laffan's Plain, in perfect weather. He -wore the uniform of our Royal Dragoons, of which regiment he is honorary -colonel, and rode a bay horse as finely trained as a circus horse (and -rather suggestive of one, as are his others, too, that are here), with -the curb reins passing somewhere towards the rider's knees, which supply -the place of the left hand, half the size of the right and apparently -almost powerless. The poor fellow's shoulders are padded, too, and one -sees a _hiatus_ between the false, square shoulder and the real one, -which is very sloping. But the general appearance was gallant, and the -young man seemed full of gaiety and martial spirit. He took the salute, -of course, and was a striking figure under the Union Jack which waved -over his British helmet. Then followed a little episode which, if rather -theatrical, was enlivening, and a pretty surprise. As the Royal -Dragoons' turn came to pass the saluting base the Kaiser drew his sword -and, darting away from his post, placed himself at the head of his -British regiment, the Duke of Connaught replacing him at the flagstaff -_pro tem_. The Kaiser couldn't salute himself, of course, so saluted the -Duke, and, when the Dragoons were clear, back he came at a circus canter -to resume his post and continue to receive the salute of the passing -legions, as before. We all clapped him for this graceful compliment. It -was smartly done. The detachment (seventy-five in number) had been sent -over from Dublin on purpose for this little display. In the evening Will -dined at Government House in a nest of Germans, who seemed afraid to sit -well upon their chairs in the august presence of their Emperor, and sat -on the very edge. One particularly corpulent general was very nearly -slipping off. I went to the evening reception, no wives being asked to -the dinner, as the dining-room is so small and the German suite so -voluminous. - -"I was at once presented to H.I.M., who talked to me, like a good boy, -about my painting and about the army, which he said he greatly admired -for its appearance. He is just now a keen Anglo-maniac (_sic_)! We shall -have him dressing one of his regiments in kilts next. He is not at all -as hard-looking as I expected, but not at all healthy. His face, seen -near, is unwholesome in its colour and texture, and the eyes have that -_boiled_ look which suggests a want of clarity in the system, it seems -to me. He is nice and natural in his manner and in the expression of his -face, with light brown moustache brushed up on his cheeks. He wore the -mess dress of the Royal Dragoons, and his right hand was twinkling with -very 'loud' rings on every finger, coiled serpents with jewelled eyes. - -"_August 14th._--A glorious sham fight in the Long Valley and heights -for the Kaiser. I shall always remember his appearance as, at the head -of a large and brilliant staff of Germans and English, he came suddenly -galloping up to the mound where I was standing with the children, -riding, this time, a white horse and wearing his silver English Dragoon -helmet without the plume. He seemed joyous as his eye took in the lovely -landscape and he sat some minutes looking down on the scene, -gesticulating as he brightly spoke to the deferential _pickelhauben_ -that bent down around him. He then dashed off down the hill and crested -another, with, if you please, C. on her father's huge grey second -charger careering after the gallant band, and escaping for an anxious -(to me) half-hour from my surveillance. The child looked like a fly on -that enormous animal which overtopped the crowd of staff horses. Adieu -to the old gunpowder smoke. It has cleared away for ever. One sees too -much nowadays, and that mystery of effect, so awful and so grand, caused -by the lurid smoke, is gone. How much writers and painters owe to the -old black powder of the days gone by! - -"_September 23rd._--Had a delightful evening, for we dined with the -Empress Eugénie. I seemed to be basking in the 'Napoleonic Idea' as I -sat at that table and saw my glass engraved with the Imperial 'N,' and -was aware of the historical portraits of the Bonaparte Era that hung -round the room. The Empress was full of bright conversation and chaff; -and I find, as I see her oftener, that she has plenty of humour and -enjoys a joke greatly. We didn't go in arm in arm, men and women, but -_Sa Majesté_ signed to me and another woman to go in on either side of -her. She called to Will to come and sit on her right. I was very happy -and in my element. Oh! how the mind feels relieved and expanded in that -atmosphere. We had music after dinner, and I had long talks on Egypt -with the Empress, whose recollections of that bright land are -particularly brilliant, she having been there during the jubilant -ceremonies in connection with the opening of the Suez Canal. One year -before the great calamities to her and her husband! She told me that -just for a freak she walked several times in and out between the two -pillars on the Piazzetta at Venice, that time, to brave Fate, who, it -was said, punished those who dared to do this. 'Then _les évènements_ -followed,' she added. Well might she say that life is an up and down -existence. She waved her hand up and down, very high and very low, as -she said it, with a very weary sigh. Her face is often very beautiful; -those eyes drooping at the outer corners look particularly lovely as -they are bent downwards, and her white hair is arranged most gracefully. -She is always in black. - -"Will has accepted the extension of his command here to my great -pleasure; the chief charm to us in this place is the neighbourhood of -the Empress. That makes Farnborough unique. Not only is she so -interesting, but now and then there are visitors at her house whose very -names are sonorous memories. The other day as we came into her presence -she went up to Will and asked him to let Prince Murat, Ney (Prince de la -Moscowa) and Masséna (duc de Rivoli), see some of the regiments in his -brigade at their barracks. When the inspection was over these three -illustrious Names came to lunch with us, and I sat between Murat and -Masséna, with _le Brave des Braves_ opposite. What's in a name? -Everything, sometimes. I thought myself a very favoured creature last -Sunday as I sat by Eugénie at her tea table and she sprinkled my muffin -with salt out of her little muffineer. I am glad to know she likes me -and she is very fond of Will. One Sunday she and I and the Marquise de -Gallifet were sitting together, and the Empress was talking to the -latter about 'The Roll Call,' pronouncing the name in English, but -Madame, who looked somewhat stony and unsympathetic, could not pronounce -the name when the Empress asked her to, and made a very funny thing out -of it. The Empress tried to teach her, making fun of her attempts which -became more and more comic, combined with her frigid expression. At last -the Empress turned to me and asked me to show how it ought to be said in -the proper way; but, as she had just given me an enormous chocolate -cream, I was for the moment unable to pronounce anything with this thing -in my cheek, and she went into fits of laughter as I made several -attempts to say the unfortunate name. So it was never pronounced, and -Madame la Marquise looked on as though she thought we were both rather -childish, which made the Empress laugh the more. The least thing, if it -is at all comical, sends her into one of her laughing fits which are -very catching--except by Gallifets. - -"Talking of camel riding (and they say she rode like a Bedouin in the -desert) I sent her into another fit which brought the tears to her eyes -by saying I always forgot '_quel bout de mon chameau se lève le -premier_' at starting. But she sent me into one of my own particular -fits the other day. I was telling her, in answer to her enquiry as to -insuring pictures on sending them by sea, that I thought only their -total loss would be paid for, and what the artist considered an injury -of a grave nature amounting to total loss might not be so considered by -the insurance company. 'And if,' she said, 'you have a portrait and a -hole is made right through one of the eyes?' Here she slowly closed her -left eye and looked at me stolidly with the right, to represent the -injured effigy, 'would you not get compensation?' The one-eyed portrait -continued to look at me out of the forlorn single eye with every vestige -of expression gone, and I laughed so much that I begged her to become -herself again, but she wouldn't, for a long time. - -"There has been a great deal of pheasant shooting, particularly at the -De Worms' at Henley Park, where a _chef_ at £500 a year has made that -hospitable house very attractive; but there has been one shoot at -Farnboro' made memorable by Franceschini Pietri distinguishing himself -with his erratic gunnery. Suddenly he was seen on a shutter, screaming, -as the servants bore him to the house. Every one thought he was wounded, -but it turned out he was sure he had hit somebody else, which happily -wasn't true. People are shy of having him, after that, at their shoots, -especially Baron de Worms, who showed me how he accoutred himself by -padding and goggles, one day, bullet-proof against that excitable little -southerner, who was a member of the party at Henley Park." - -After one of the Empress's dinners at Farnboro' Hill, a small dinner of -intimate friends, we had fun over a lottery which she had arranged, -making everything go off in the most sprightly French way. What easy, -pleasant society it was! One admired the courage which put on this -brightness, though all knew that the dead weight on the poor heart was -there, so that others should not feel depressed. Even with these kind -semblances of cheeriness no one could be unmindful of the abiding sorrow -in that woman's face. - -"_January 9th, 1895._--The anniversary of the Emperor Napoleon's death -come round again. There was quite a little stir during the service in -the church. The catafalque, heaped up with flowers, was surrounded with -scores of lighted tapers as it lay before the altar. A young priest, in -a laced _cotta_, went up to it to set a leaf or flower or something in -its place, when instantly one of his lace sleeves blazed. Almost -simultaneously the General, in full uniform, springing up the altar -steps without the smallest click of his sword, was at the priest's side, -beating out the fire. Not another soul in that crowded place had seen -anything. That was like Will! We laid wreaths on the tombs in the -crypt." - -An entry in March of that year records good progress with "The Dawn of -Waterloo," and mentions that we had the honour of receiving the Empress -Frederick and her hosts, the Connaughts, and their suites, who came to -see the picture. I found the Empress still more like her mother than -when I first saw her, when she and the Crown Prince Frederick dined at -the Goschens'--a memorable dinner, when the fine, serious-looking and -bearded Frederick told my husband he would desire nothing better for his -sons than that they should follow in his footsteps. The Empress was -beaming--that is exactly the word--and a few minutes after coming into -the drawing-room she showed that she was anxious to get on to the -studio, to save the light. So out we sallied, walking two and two, a -formidable procession, and we were nearly half an hour in the little -court-martial hut. They all had tea with us afterwards, quite filling -the tiny drawing-room. The Empress was very small, and as she talked to -me, looking up into my face, I thought her the most taking little woman -I ever saw. She had what I call the "Victoria charm," which all her -sisters shared with her--absolutely unstudied, homely, and exceedingly -friendly. At least it so appeared to me in a high degree in her that -day. But what a sorrow she had had to bear! - -The picture was taken to the Club House, there to be shown for three -days to the division before Sending-in Day. The idea was Will's, but I -got the thanks--undeserved, as I had been reluctant to brave the dust on -the wet paint. Crowds went to see it, from the generals down to the -traditional last drummer. - -I thought the Academicians were again unkind in the placing of my -picture, and a trip to Paris was all the more welcome as a diversion, -for there I was able to seek consolation in the treat of a plunge into -the best art in the "City of Light." One interesting day in May found us -at Malmaison, the country house of Napoleon and Josephine. There is -always something mournful in a house no longer tenanted which once -echoed the talk, the laughter, the comings and goings, the pleasant and -arresting sounds of voices that are long silent. But _this_ house, of -all houses! It was absolutely stripped of everything but Napoleon's -billiard table, and the worm-eaten bookshelves in his little musty study -the only "fixtures" left. The ceilings we found in holes; that garden, -once so much admired and enjoyed, choked with dusty nettles. We went -into every room--the one where poor derelict Josephine died; the guests' -bedrooms; the dining-room where Napoleon took his hurried meals; the -library where he studied; the billiard-room, where he himself often took -part in a game surrounded by "fair women and brave men" in the glitter -of gorgeous uniforms and radiant _toilettes_. One lends one's mind's ear -to the daily and nightly sounds outside--the clatter of horses' hoofs as -the staff ride in and out of the courtyards with momentous despatches; -the sharp words of command; the announcement of urgent arrivals -demanding instant hearing. We found our minds revelling in suchlike -imaginings. The chapel, the coach-houses, the great iron gates were all -there, but seen as in a dream. - -We were back at Aldershot on May 30th. "The Queen's Ball, at Buckingham -Palace, brilliant as ever. The Shahzada, the Ameer of Afghanistan's son, -was the guest of the evening, as it is our policy just now to do him -particular honour, after having made his father 'sit up.' A pale, -wretched-looking Oriental, bored to tears! The usual delightful medley -of men of every nationality, civilised and semi-civilised, was there in -full splendour, but the rush of that crowd for the supper-room, in the -wake of royalty, was most unseemly. Every one got jammed, and it was -most unpleasant to have steel cartridge boxes and sword hilts sticking -into one's bare arms in the pressure. I think there was something wrong -this time with the doors. I was much complimented that night on my 'Dawn -of Waterloo,' but that was an inadequate salve to my wounded feelings. - -"_June 15th._--A great review here in honour of the young Shahzada, who -is being so highly honoured this season. I don't think I ever saw such a -large staff as surrounded that pallid princeling as he rode on to the -field. The whole thing was a long affair, and our bored visitor -refreshed himself occasionally with consolatory snuff. The whole of the -cavalry finished up, as usual, with a charge 'stem on,' and as the -formidable onrush neared the weedy youth he began to turn his horse -round, possibly suspecting deep-laid treachery." - -My husband and I were present when Cardinals Vaughan and Logue laid the -foundation stone of Westminster Cathedral. The luncheon that followed -was enlivened by some excellent speeches, especially Cardinal Logue's, -whose rich brogue rolled out some well-turned phrases. - -A week later we were at dinner at Farnborough Hill. "There was a large -house-party, including Princes Victor and Louis Napoleon, the elder a -taciturn, shy, dark man about thirty-three, and the younger an alert, -intelligent officer of thirty-one, who is a colonel in the Russian -cavalry, and is the hope and darling of the Bonapartists. I call him -Napoleon IV. Victor went in with the Empress to dinner and Louis with -me, but on taking our seats the two brothers exchanged places, so that I -sat on Victor's right. I had an uphill task to talk with the studious, -silent Victor, and found my right-hand neighbour much more pleasant -company, Sir Mackenzie Wallace. I had not caught his name and his accent -was so perfect and his idioms and turns of speech so irreproachable that -I never questioned his being a Frenchman. Away we went in the liveliest -manner with our French till suddenly we lapsed into English, why I don't -know. This gave the Empress her chance. She began chuckling behind her -toothpick and asked me in French if he had a good accent in speaking -English. 'Yes, madame, very good!' 'Ah? _really_ good?' (chuckle). -'Really good, madame.' 'Ah, that is well' (chuckle). I saw in Will's -face I was being chaffed and guessed the truth. Much laughter, -especially from Louis. He told Will, across the Empress, that he had -seen an engraving of 'Scotland for Ever' in a shop window in Moscow, and -had presented it to the mess of his own cavalry regiment, the Czar being -now colonel of the Scots Greys, and that he little expected so soon to -meet the painter of that picture. The dinner was very bright and -sparkling, so unlike a purely English one. How gratefully Will and I -conformed to the spirit of the thing. His Irish heart beats in harmony -with it. I didn't quite recover from my _faux pas_ at table, and, on our -taking leave, brought everything into line once more by wishing Prince -Louis '_Felicissima Sera!_' in a way denoting a bewilderment of mind -amidst such a confusion of tongues. I left amidst applause. - -"_July 8th._--There was a sham fight on the Fox Hills to-day to which -the two French princes went. Will mounted Victor on steady 'Roly Poly,' -and sent H. on 'Heart of Oak' to attend on His Imperial Highness -throughout the day. Louis was mounted by the Duke. My General loves to -honour a Napoleon, so, when he was riding home with Louis after the -fight, and the Guards were preparing to give the General the usual -salute, he begged the Imperial Colonel to take the salute himself. 'But, -General, I am not even in uniform!' answered Louis. 'One of your name, -sir, is always in uniform,' was the ready reply. So Louis took it. On -his way back to the Empress he stopped at our hut, and after a glass of -iced claret cup on this grilling day, he looked at my sketches, and at -the little oil picture I am painting for Miss S.--'Right Wheel!'--the -Scots Greys at manoeuvres. I wonder if he has it in him to make a bid -for the French Throne! - -"_July 12th._--The Queen came down to-day, and there was a very fine -display of the picked athletes of the army at the new gymnasium in the -afternoon, before Her Majesty, who did not leave her carriage. She -looked pleased and in great good humour. She gave a dinner to her -generals in the evening at the Pavilion as she did last year. Will sat -near her, and she kept nodding and smiling to him at intervals as he -carried on a lively conversation with Princesses Louise and Beatrice. -Her Majesty expanded into full contentment when nine pipers, supplied by -the three Highland Regiments of the Division, entered the room at the -close of dinner in full blast. They tell me that each regiment jealously -adhered to its own key for its skirls, or whatever the right word is, -and so in three different keys did the pibrochs bray, but this detail -was not particularly noticeable in the general hurly-burly. The Queen -stood it well, though in that confined space it must have tried her -nerves. Give me the bagpipes on the mountain side or in the desert, -where I have heard them and loved them. - -"_July 13th._--At a very fine review for the Queen, who brought her -usual weather with her. She looked well pleased, especially with the -stirring light cavalry charge at the close, when Brabazon pulled up his -line at full charging pace within about 12 yards (it seemed to me) of -the royal carriage. Really, for a moment, I thought, as the dark mass of -men and horses rolled towards us, that he had forgotten all about -'Halt!' It was a tremendous _tour de force_, and a bit of swagger on the -part of this dashing hussar. That group of the Queen in her carriage, -with the four white horses and scarlet coated servants; the Prince of -Wales and the rest of the glittering Staff; Prince Victor Napoleon in -civilian dress, his heavy face shaded by his tall black hat as he -uneasily sat his excited horse; the other carriages resplendent in red -and gold; the Empress's more sober equipage full of French _élégantes_, -and the wave of dark hussars bursting in a cloud of dust almost in -amongst the group, all the leaders of the charging squadrons with sabres -flung up and heads thrown back--what a sight to please me! I feel a -physical sensation of refreshment on such occasions. What discipline and -training this performance showed! Had one horse got out of hand he might -have flopped right into the Queen's lap. I saw one of the squadron -leaders give a little shiver when all was over. On getting home I was -doing something to the bearskins of my Scots Greys in 'Right Wheel,' -showing the way the wind blew the hair back, as I had just seen it at -the review, while fresh in my mind, when a servant came to tell me -Princess Louise was at the Hut. I had got into my painting dress with -sleeves turned up for coolness. I ran in, changed in half a minute, and -had a nice interview, the Duchess of Connaught being there also, and we -had one of those 'shoppy' art talks which the Duchess of Argyll likes. - -"_August 16th._--My 'At Home' day was made memorable by the appearance -of the Empress Eugénie, who brought a remedy for little Eileen's cold. -It was a plaster, which she showed me how to use. I cannot say how -touched we were by this act, so thoughtful and kind--that poor childless -widow! She seems to have a particularly tender feeling for Eileen, -indeed Mdlle. d'Allonville has told me so." - -The rest of the Aldershot Diary is filled with military activities up to -the date of the expiration of my husband's time there, and his -appointment to the command of the South Eastern District with Dover -Castle as our home. But between the two commands came an interlude -filled with a tour through some parts of Italy I had not seen before, -and a visit to the Villa Cyrnos at Cap Martin, whither the Empress had -invited us. - - - - -CHAPTER XX - -ITALY AGAIN - - -In January, 1896, we left Aldershot on a raw foggy day, with the usual -winter brown-paper sky, the essence of dreariness, on leave for the land -I love best. At Turin our train for Genoa was filled with poor young -soldiers off to Abyssinia, the Italian Government having followed our -example in the policy of "expansion"; with what success was soon seen. -An Italian told us that "good coffee" was to be had from there, amongst -other desirable commodities. So the poor young conscripts were being -sent to fetch the good coffee, etc. They were singing in a chorus of -tenor voices as they went, after affectionately kissing the comrades who -had come to see them off. - -At sunrise we arrived at Naples, Vesuvius looking like a great amethyst, -transparent in the golden haze from the sun which rose just behind it. I -must say the Neapolitan population struck me as very wretched; the men -were no better than the poor creatures one might see in Whitechapel any -day, and dressed, like them, in shoddy clothing. The poor skeleton mules -and horses were covered with picturesque brass-mounted harness instead -of flesh, and I saw no red-sashed, brown-limbed _lazzaroni_ such as were -supposed to dance _tarantelle_ on the shore. Certainly there is not much -dancing and singing in their hungry-looking descendants. - -January 17th was a memorable day, spent at Pompeii. One must see the -place for oneself. Familiar with it though you may be through books and -paintings, Pompeii takes you by surprise. The suddenness of that -entrance into the City of the Dead _is_ a surprise to a newcomer, such -as I was. To come into the city at once by the "Street of Tombs," which -carries you steeply upwards into the interior--no turnstiles at the -gate, no ticket collectors, no leave-your-umbrella-at-the-door; this -natural way of entering gave me a strange sensation as if I were walking -into the past. The present day was non-existent. Though we were three -and a half hours circulating about those theatres, baths, villas, shops, -through the narrow streets, with their deep ruts and stepping stones, I -was so absorbed in the fascination of realising the life of those days -that I never needed to rest for a moment, and the day had grown very -hot. One rather drags oneself through a museum, but we were here under -the sky, and Vesuvius, the author of this destruction, was there in very -truth, looking down on us as we wandered through the remnants of his -victim. - -As to beauty of colour there is here a great feast for the painter. What -could surpass, on a day like that, the simple beauty of those positive -reds and yellows and blues of walls and pillars in that light, -back-grounded by the tender blue of mountains delicately crested with -the white of their snows? The positive strong foreground colours -emphasised by the delicacy of the background! The absolute silence of -the place was impressive and very welcome. - -The Diary had better "carry on" here: "_Sunday, January 19th._--To Capri -and Sorrento on our way to Amalfi. There is a string of names! I feel I -can't pronounce them to myself with adequate relish. To Mass at 8, and -then at 9 by steamer to Capri, touching at Sorrento on our way. Three -hours' passage over a very dark blue sea, which was flecked with foam -off Castellamare. Capri is all I expected, a mass of orange and lemon -groves in its lower part, with wonderful crags soaring abruptly, in -places, out of the clear green water. Tiberius's villa is perched on the -edge of a fearful precipice that has memories connected with his -cruelties which one tries to smother. Indeed, all around one, in those -scenes of Nature's loveliness, the detestable doings of man against man -are but too persistently obtruding themselves on the mind which is -seeking only restful pleasure. - -"We were driven to the Hotel Quisisana ('Here one gets well'), very high -up on a steep ridge, where the village is, and were sorry to find our -pleasure marred by being set down to _déjeuner_ with as repulsive a -company of Teutons as one could see. The perspective of those feeding -faces, along the edge of the table, tried me horribly. They say the -Germans are outnumbering the British as tourists in Italy now. Nowhere -do their loud voices and rude manners jar upon our sensibility so -painfully as in Italy. The _Frau_ next to me actually sniffed at four -bottles out of the cruet in succession, poking them into her nose before -she satisfied herself that she had found the right sauce for her chop! -What's to be done with such people? - -"We had not much time to give to the lovely island, for the little -steamer had to take us to Sorrento at two o'clock. We put up there at -the Hotel Tramontano, and had a stroll at sunset, with views of the -coast and Vesuvius that spread out beyond the reach of my well-meaning, -but inadequate, pen. I can't help the impulse of recording the things of -beauty I have seen. It is owing to a wish to preserve such precious -things in my memory, to waste nothing of them, and to record my -gratitude as well." - -At Amalfi came the culmination to our long series of experiences of the -Neapolitan Riviera. The names of Amalfi, Ravello, Salerno and Pæstum -will be with me to the end, in a halo of enchantment. - -On returning to Naples, of course, we paid our respects to Vesuvius. Our -climb to the highest point allowable of the erupting cone was not at all -enchanting, and left my mind in a most perturbed condition. There was -much food for meditation when our visit was over, but at the time one -had only leisure to receive impressions, and very disconcerting -impressions at that. A keen north wind blew the fumes from the crater -straight down my throat as I panted upwards through the sulphur, ankle -deep, and I could only think of my discomfort and probable collapse. I -disdained a litter. I perceived several fat Germans in litters. - -An even deeper impression was made on my mind than that produced by the -eruption proper on our coming, after much staggering over cold lava, -near a great, crawling river of liquid fire oozing out of the mountain's -side. Above our heads the great maw of the crater was throwing up bursts -of rock fragments with rumblings and growls from the cruel monster. I -wonder when that wild beast will make its next pounce? And down there, -far, far below, in the plain lay little Pompeii, its poor, tiny, -insignificant victim! Yes, for a thoughtful climber there was more than -the sulphurous north wind to make him pause. - -The little funicular railway had brought us up to the foot of the cone, -crunching laboriously over the shoulder of the mountain, and I could not -but think--"If the chain broke?" At one point the open truck seemed to -dangle over space. We were sitting with our faces turned towards the sea -and away from the cone, and (were we never to be rid of them?) two -corpulent Teutons faced us, hideously conspicuous, as having apparently -nothing but blue air behind them. There was no horizon at all to the -sea, the pale haze merging sea and sky into one. Then, when we alighted, -we found ourselves in a restaurant with Messrs. Cook & Co.'s waiters -running about. Certainly it was no time for meditating or moralising in -that medley of the prehistoric and the _fin de siècle_. - -I found Rome very much changed after the lapse of all those years since -I was there with our family during the last months of the Temporal -Power. I shall never forget the shock I felt when, to lead off, on our -arrival, I conducted my husband to the great balustrade on the Pincian -overlooking the city, promising him my favourite view. It was a truly -striking one in the far-off days, and quite beautiful. Instead of the -reposeful vineyards of the area facing us beyond the Tiber, fitting -middle distance between us and St. Peter's, gaunt buildings bordering -wide, straight, staring streets glistening with tramlines seemed to jeer -at me in vulgar triumph, and I am not sure that I did not shed tears in -private when we got back to our hotel. One fact, however, brought a -sense of mental expansion as I surveyed that view, which should have -made amends for the sensitive contraction of my artist's mind. That -great basilica yonder was mine now! A return to Rome had another touch -of sadness for me. Our father had been so happy there in introducing his -girls to the city he loved. He seemed now to be ever by my side as the -well-remembered haunts that were left unchanged were seen again. Leo -XIII. was now Pope. On one particular occasion in the Sistine Chapel, at -Mass, I was struck by the extraordinary effect of his white, utterly -ethereal face and fragile figure as he stood at the altar, relieved -against the background of Michael Angelo's exceedingly muscular "Last -Judgment." And, now, what of this "Last Judgment"? The action of our -Lord, splendidly rendered as giving the powerful realisation of the push -which that heavy arm is giving in menace to the condemned souls towards -the Abyss on His left (I had almost said the _shove!_), is realistic and -strong. But what a gross conception! Our modern minds cannot be -impressed by this fleshly rendering of such a subject, a rendering -suitable to the coarser fibre of the Middle Ages. I could positively -hate this fresco, were I not lured, as a painter, to admire its -technical power. - -Our visit to the Empress at Cap Martin followed, on our way home to -Aldershot. She received us with her usual genial grace. The place, of -course, ideal, and the typical blue weather. We were made very much at -home. Madame le Breton told me I was to wear a _table d'hôte_ frock at -dinner, and Pietri told Sir William a black tie to the evening suit was -the order of the day. - -"_February 13th._--The Villa Cyrnos is in a wood of stone pines, -overhanging the sea on a promontory between Mentone and Monte Carlo. It -is in the French Riviera style, all very white--no Italian fresco -colouring. Plentiful striped awnings to keep off the intense sunlight. -Cool marble rooms, polished parquets, flowers in masses--a sense of -grateful freshness with reminders of the heat outside in the dancing -reflections from the sea. Indeed, this is a charming retreat. Madame -d'Arcos and her sister, Mrs. Vaughan, were there, who having just -arrived from England, were full of accounts of the arrival of the -remains of Prince Henry of Battenberg from Ashanti, and the funeral, at -which Madame d'Arcos had represented the Empress. The different episodes -were minutely described by her of this, the last act of the latest -tragedy in our Royal Family. She had a sympathetic listener in the poor -Empress. - -"_February 14th._--A sunny day marred, to me, by a visit to Monte Carlo, -where the gambling is in fullest activity. The Empress wanted us all to -go for a little cruise in a yacht, but though the sea was calm enough I -preferred _terra firma_, and her ladies drove me to Monte Carlo. Hateful -place! The lovely mountains were radiant in the low sunshine of that -afternoon and the sea sparkling with light, but a crowd of overdressed -riff-raff was circulating about the casino and pigeon-shooting place, -from which came the ceaseless crack of the cowardly, unsportsmanlike -guns. I record, with loathing, one fellow I saw who came on the green, -protected from the gentle air by a fur-lined coat which his valet took -charge of while his master maimed his allotted number of clipped -victims, and carefully replaced as soon as all the birds were down. A -black dog ran out to fetch each fluttering thing as it fell. I was glad -to see this hero was not an Englishman. Inside the casino the people -were massed round the gaming tables, the hard light from the circular -openings above each table bringing into relief the ugly lines of their -perspiring faces. The atmosphere was dusty and stifling, and the hands -of these horribly absorbed people were black with clawing in their gains -across the grimy green baize. I drank in the pure, cool air of the -sunset loveliness outside when I got free, with a very certain -persuasion that I would never pay a second visit, except under polite -compulsion, to the gambling palace of Monte Carlo. - -"_February 15th._--The Empress took us quite a long walk to see the -corps of the '_Alpins_' at the Mentone barracks and back by the rocky -paths along the shore. She is very active, and is looking beautiful. - -"_Sunday, February 16th._--All of us to Mass at the little Mentone -church. The dear Empress gave me a little holy picture during the -service and said, 'I want you to keep this.' There is at times something -very touching about her." - -I sent a small picture this year to the "New Gallery," instead of the -Academy, feeling still the effects of their unkindness in placing "The -Dawn of Waterloo" where they did the preceding year. - - - - -CHAPTER XXI - -THE DOVER COMMAND - - -And now Dover Castle rises into prominence above the horizon as I travel -onward. My husband was offered Colchester or Dover. He left the choice -to me. How could there be a doubt in my mind? The Castle was the very -ideal, to me, of a residence. Here was History, picturesqueness, a wide -view of the silver sea, and the line of the French coast to free the -mind of insularity. So to Dover we went, children, furniture, horses, -servants, dogs and all, from the Aldershot bungalow. As usual, I was -spared by Sir William all the trouble of the move, and while I was -comfortably harboured by my ever kind and hospitable friends, the -Sweetmans, in Queen's Gate, my husband was managing all the tiresome -work of the move. - -It was a pleasure to give dances at the Constables' Tower, and the -dinners were like feasts in the feudal times under that vaulted ceiling -of the Banqueting Hall. Our boys' bedroom in the older part of this -Constables' Tower had witnessed the death of King Stephen, and a winding -staircase conducted the unappreciative London servants by a rope to -their remote domiciles. The modernised part held the drawing-rooms, -morning-room, library, and chief bedrooms, while in the garden, walled -round by the ramparts, stood the tower whence Queen Mary is said to have -gazed upon her lost Calais. My studio had a balcony which overhung the -moat and drawbridge. What could I have better than that? No wonder I -accomplished a creditable picture there, for I had many advantages. I -place "Steady, the Drums and Fifes!" amongst those of my works with -which I am the least dissatisfied. The Academy treated me well this -time, and gave the picture a place of honour. These drummer-boys of the -old 57th Regiment, now the Middlesex, are waiting, under fire, for the -order to sound the advance, at the Battle of Albuera. That order was -long delayed, and they and the regiment had to bear the supreme test of -endurance, the keeping motionless under fire. A difficult subject, -excellent for literature, very trying for painting. I had had the vision -of those drummer-boys for many years before my mind's eye, and it is a -very obvious fact that what you see strongly in that way means a -successful realisation in paint. Circumstances were favourable at Dover. -The Gordon Boys' Home there gave me a variety of models in its -well-drilled lads, and my own boys were sufficiently grown to be of -great use, though, for obvious reasons, I could not include their dear -faces in so painful a scene. The yellow coatees, too, were a tremendous -relief to me after that red which is so hard to manage. I remember -asking Detaille if he ever thought of giving our army a turn. "I would -like to," he said, "but the red frightens us." The bandsmen of the -Peninsular War days wore coatees of the colour of the regimental -facings. After long and patient researches I found out this fact, and -the facings of the 57th, being canary yellow, I had an unexpected treat. -I remember how the Duke of York[11] at an Aldershot dinner had -characteristically caught up this fact with great interest when I told -him all about my preparations for this picture. I am glad to know this -work belongs to the old 57th, the "Die Hards," who won that title at -Albuera. "Die hard, men, die hard!" was their colonel's order on that -tremendous day. - -Many interesting events punctuated our official life at Dover: - -"_August 15th, 1896._--Great doings to-day. We had a busy time of it. -Lord Salisbury was installed Lord Warden in the place of Lord Dufferin. -Will had the direction, not only of the military part of the ceremonies -but of the social (in conjunction with me), as far as the Constables' -Tower was concerned. Everything went well. Lord and Lady Salisbury drove -in a carriage and four from Walmer up to our Tower, and, while the -procession was forming outside to escort them down to the town, they -rested in our drawing-room for about half an hour, and Lord Dufferin -also came in. - -"I had to converse with these exalted personages whilst officers in full -uniform and women in full toilettes came and went with clatter of sabre -and rustle of silk. To fill up the rather trying half-hour and being -expected to devote my attention chiefly to the new Lord Warden, I -bethought myself of conducting him to a window which gave a bird's-eye -view of the smoky little town below. I moralised, _à la_ Ruskin, on the -ugliness of the coal smoke which was smudging that view in particular, -and spoiling England in general. On reconducting the weighty Salisbury -to a rather fragile settee I morally and very nearly physically knocked -him over by this felicitous remark: 'Well, I have the consolation of -knowing that the coalfields of England are finite!' 'What?' he shouted, -with a bound which nearly broke the back of that settee. I don't think -he said anything more to me that day. Of course, I meant that smokeless -methods would have to be discovered for working our industries, but I -left that unsaid, feeling very small. It is my misfortune that I have -not the knack of small talk, so useful to official people, and that I am -obliged to propel myself into conversation by pronouncements of that -kind. Shall I ever forget the catastrophe at the L----s' dinner at -Aldershot, when I announced, during a pause in the general conversation, -to an old gentleman who had taken me in, and whose name I hadn't caught, -that there was one word I would inscribe on the tombstone of the Irish -nation, and that word was--Whisky. The old gentleman was John Jameson. - -"But to return to to-day's doings. I had to consign to C.,[12] as my -deputy, the head of the table for such of the people as were remaining -at the Castle for luncheon as I myself had to appear at that function at -the Town Hall. The procession, military, civil and civic--especially -civic--started at 12 for the 'Court of Shepway,' where much antique -ceremonial took place. When they all reached the Town Hall after that, -Lord Salisbury first unveiled a full-length portrait of the outgoing -Lord Warden, at the entrance to the Banqueting Hall, and complimented -him on so excellent a likeness with a genial pat on the back. We were -all in good humour which increased as we filed in to luncheon and -continued to increase during that civic feast, enlivened by a band. -Trumpets sounded before each speech, and the sharp clapping of hands -called, I think, 'Kentish Fire,' gave a local touch which was pleasingly -original. I am glad, always, to find the county spirit still so strong -in England, and nowhere is it stronger than in Kent. It must work well -in war with the county regiments. - -"I am afraid Lady Salisbury must have got rather knocked out of time -coming to the Castle, by all the saluting, trumpeting and general -prancing of the guard of honour. She was nervous crossing our drawbridge -with four 'jumpy' horses which she told me had never been with troops -before! Altogether I don't think this was a day to suit her at all. I -heard the postillion riding the near leader shout back to the coachman -on the box as they started homeward from our door, 'Put on both brakes -_hard!_' Away went the open carriage which had very low sides and no -hood, and Lord Salisbury, being very wide, rather bulged over the side. -Wearing a military cape, lent him by my General, the day turning chilly, -he had a rather top-heavy appearance, and we only breathed freely when -that ticklish drawbridge, and the very steep drop of the hill beyond it, -were passed. So now let them rest at Walmer. Will will do all he can to -secure peace for them there." - -On August 20th I went to poor Sir John Millais' funeral in St. Paul's. -The ceremony was touching to me when I thought of the kind, enthusiastic -friend of my early days and his hearty encouragement and praise. They -had placed his palette and a sheaf of his brushes on the coffin. Lord -Wolseley, Irving, the actor, Holman Hunt and Lord Rosebery were the -pall-bearers. The ceremony struck me as gloomy after being accustomed to -Catholic ritual, and the undertaker element was too pronounced, but the -music was exquisite. So good-bye to a truly great and sincere artist. -What a successful life he had, rounded by so terribly painful a death! - -One of the most interesting of the Dover episodes was our hiring of -"Broome Hall" for the South-Eastern District manoeuvres in the -following September. The Castle was too far away for working them from -there, so this fine old Elizabethan mansion, being in the very centre of -the theatre of "war," became our headquarters. There we entertained Lord -Wolseley and his staff as the house-party. Other warriors and many -civilians whose lovely country houses were dotted about that beautiful -Kentish region came in from outside each day, and for four days what -felt to me like a roaring kind of hospitality went on which proved an -astonishing feat of housekeeping on my part. True, I was liberally -helped, but to this day I marvel that things went so successfully. -Everything had to be brought from the Castle--servants in an omnibus, -_batterie de cuisine_, plate, linen and all sorts of necessary things, -in military waggons, for the house had not been inhabited for a long -while. All the food was sent out from Dover fresh every day, by road--no -village near. The house had been palatially furnished in the old days, -but its glory was much faded and so ancestral was it that it possessed a -ghost. A pathetic interest attaches to "Broome" to-day, and I should not -know it again in its renovated beauty. Lord Kitchener restored it to -more than its pristine lustre, I am told. - -The morning start each day of all these generals (Sir Evelyn Wood was -one of them) from the front door for the "battle" was a pleasing sight -for me, with the strong cavalry escort following. After the gallant -cavalcade had got clear I would follow in the little victoria with -friends, hoping in my innermost heart that I was leaving everything well -in hand behind me for the hungry "Cocked Hats" on their return. - -On March 30th, 1897, I had a glimpse of Gladstone. We were on the pier -to receive a Royalty, and the "Grand Old Man" was also on board the -Calais boat. He was the last to land and was accompanied by his wife. He -came up the gangway with some difficulty, and struck me as very much -aged, with his face showing signs of pain. I had not seen him since he -sat beside me at a dinner at the Ripons' in 1880, when his keen eye had -rather overawed me. He was now eighty-eight! The crowd cheered him well, -but the old couple were past that sort of thing, and only anxious to -seek their rest at "Betteshanger," a few miles distant, whither Lord -Northbourne's carriage whirled them away from public view. - -And now comes the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria. I think my fresh -impressions written down at the time should be inserted here as I find -them. Too much national sorrow and suffering brought to us by the Great -War, and too many changes have since blurred that bright picture to -allow of posthumous enthusiasm for its chronicling to-day. Were I to -tone down that picture to the appearance it has to me at the present -time it would hardly be worth showing. - -"_June 22nd, 1897._--Jubilee Day. I never expected to be so touched by -what I have seen of these pageants and rejoicings, and to feel so much -personal affection for the Queen as I have done through this wonderful -week. Thinking of other nations, we cannot help being impressed with the -way in which the English have comported themselves on this occasion--the -unanimity of the crowds; the willingness of every one concerned; all -resulting in those huge pageants passing off without a single jar. My -place was in the courtyard of the Horse Guards; Will's place was on his -big grey before St. Paul's, at Queen Anne's statue, to keep an eye on -things. I had an effective view of the procession making the bend from -Whitehall into the courtyard, and out by the archway into the parade -ground. This gave me time to enjoy the varied types of all those -nationalities whose warriors represented them, as they filed past at -close quarters. But we had five hours of waiting. These hours were well -filled up for me, so continually interested in watching the movements of -the troops as they took up their positions for receiving the procession -and saluting the Queen. I think in the way of perfect dress and of -superfine, thoroughbred horseflesh, Lord Lonsdale's troop of Cumberland -Hussars was as memorable a group as any that day. They wore the 'sling -jacket,' only known to me in pictures and old prints of the pre-Crimean -days, and to see these gallant-looking crimson pelisses in reality was -quite a delightful surprise. - -"The sun burst through the clouds just as the guns announced to us that -the Queen had started from Buckingham Palace on her great round by St. -Paul's at 11.15. So we waited, waited. Presently some one called out, -'Here's Captain Ames,' and, knowing he was the leader, we nimbly ran up -to our seats. It seemed hardly credible that the journey to St. Paul's -and the ceremony there, and the journey homewards could have occupied -so comparatively brief an interval. I think the part of the procession -which most delighted me was the cohort of Indian cavalry, and then the -gorgeous bunch of thirty-six princes, each in his national dress or -uniform. These rode in triplets. You saw a blue-coated Prussian riding -with a Montenegrin on one side and an Italian bonneted by the absurd -general's helmet now in vogue on the other. Then came another triplet of -a Persian, whose breast was a galaxy of diamonds flashing in the sun, an -Austrian with fur pelisse and busby (poor man, in that heat), and the -brother of the Khedive, wearing the familiar _tarboosh_, riding a little -white Arab. Then followed an English Admiral in the person of the Duke -of York, a Japanese mannikin on his right, and a huge Russian on his -left, and so on, and so on--types and dresses from all the quarters of -the globe in close proximity, so that one could compare them at a -glance. The dignified Indian cavalry were superb as to dress and -_puggarees_, but the faces were stolid, very unlike the keen, clean-cut -Arab types which so charmed me in Egypt and Palestine. There certainly -were too many carriages filled with small Germans. Then came the -colonial escort to the Queen's carriage. As they came on and passed -before us I do not exaggerate when I say that there seemed to pass over -them an ever-deepening cloud-shadow, as it were, from the white -Canadians riding in front, through ever-deepening shades of brown down -to the blackest of negroes, who rode last. What an epitome of our -Colonial Empire! Then, finally, before the supreme moment, came Lord -Wolseley, the immediate forerunner of the Royal carriage. He looked well -and gallant and youthful. Then round the curve into the courtyard the -eight cream-coloured horses in rich gala harness of Garter-blue and -gold! So quick was the pace that I dared not dwell too long on their -beauty for I was too absorbed in the Queen during that precious minute. -There she was, the centre of all this! A little woman, seated by herself -(I had not time to see who sat facing her) with an expressionless pink -face, preoccupied in settling her bonnet, which had got a little -crooked, as though nothing unusual was going on, and that was the last I -saw of her as she passed under the dark archway, facing homeward. - -"_June 26th._--Off from Dover at 2 a.m. for Southampton, by way of -London, to see the culminating glory of the Jubilee--the greatest naval -review ever witnessed. At eight we left Waterloo in one of the -'specials' that took holders of invitation cards for the various ocean -liners that had been chartered for the occasion. Our ship was the P. and -O. _Paramatta_, and very pleased I was on beholding her vast -proportions, for I feared qualms on any smaller vessel. There were -meetings on board with friends and a great luncheon, and general good -humour and complacency at being Britons. The day cleared up at 10.30, -and only a slight haze thinly veiled the mighty host of the Channel -Fleet as we slowly steamed towards it along the Solent. Gradually the -sun shone fully out and the day settled into steady brilliance. - -"Well, I have been so inflated with national pride since beholding our -naval power this day that if I don't get a prick of some sort I shall go -off like a balloon. Let us be exultant just for a week! We won't think -of the ugly look of India just now and all the nasty warnings of the -bumptious Kaiser and the rest of it. We can't while looking at Britannia -ruling the waves, as we are doing to-day. Five miles of ships of war -five lines deep! When all these ships fired each twenty-one guns by -divisions as the Prince of Wales steamed up and down the lines, and the -crews of each vessel in turn gave such cheers as only Jack Tar can give, -it was not the moment to threaten us with anything. I shall never forget -the aspect of this fleet of ours, black hulls and yellow funnels and -'fighting tops' stretching to east and west as far as the eye could -reach and beyond, the mellow sunlight full upon them and the -slowly-rolling clouds of smoke that wrapped them round with mystery as -their countless guns thundered the salute! Myriads of flags fluttered in -the breeze, the sea sparkled, and in and out of those motionless -battleships all manner of steam and sailing craft moved incessantly, -deepening by the contrast of their hurry the sense one had of the -majestic power contained in those reposing monsters.... Every one is -saying, 'And to think that not a single ship has been recalled from -abroad to make up this display!' We are all very pleased, and have the -good old Nelson feeling about us." On June 28th the Queen held her -Jubilee Garden Party in the Buckingham Palace grounds. There we looked -our last on her. - -I took four of the children, in August, to Bruges, that old city so much -enjoyed by me in my early years. I was charmed to see how carefully all -the old houses had been preserved, and, indeed, I noticed that a few of -them, vulgarly modernised then, were now restored to their original -beauty. How well the Belgians understand these things! Seventeen years -after this date the eldest of the two schoolboys I had with me was to -ride through that same old Bruges as A.D.C. to the general commanding -"The Immortal 7th Division," which, retiring before the German hordes, -was to turn and help to rend them at Ypres. - -In 1898 I exhibited a smaller picture than usual--"The Morrow of -Talavera," which was very kindly placed at the Academy--and I began a -large Crimean subject, "The Colours," for the succeeding year. I had -some fine models at Dover for this picture. In making the studies for it -I had an interesting experience. I wanted to show the colour party of -the Scots Guards advancing up the hill of the Alma in their full parade -dress--the last time British troops wore it in action--Lieutenant Lloyd -Lindsay carrying the Queen's colour. It was then he won the V.C. Lord -Wantage (that same Lloyd Lindsay), now an old man, but full of energy, -when he heard of my project, conducted me to the Guards' Chapel in -London, and there and then had the old, dusty, moth-eaten Alma colours -taken down from their place on the walls, and held the Queen's colour -once more in his hand for me to see. I made careful studies at the -chapel, and restored the fresh tints which he told me they had on that -far-away day, when I came to put them into the picture. I was in South -Africa when the Academy opened in the following spring. - -On September 11th, 1898, we received the terrible news of the -assassination of the Empress of Austria. I had seen her every Sunday and -feast day at our little Ventnor church, at Mass, during her residence at -Steep Hill Castle. She had the tiniest waist I ever saw--indeed, no -woman could have lived with a tinier one. She was beautiful, but so -frigid in her manner; she seemed made of stone, yet she rode splendidly -to hounds--altogether an enigma. - -October 27th, 1898, I thoroughly enjoyed. It was a day after my own -heart--picturesque, historical, stirring, amusing. Sir Herbert -Kitchener, _the_ Sirdar _par excellence_, was received at Dover on his -arrival from the captured Khartoum with all the prestige of his new-won -honours shining around him. My husband had decided that the regulation -military honours "to be accorded to distinguished persons" were -applicable to the man who was coming, and so a guard of honour -(Highlanders) with the regimental colour was drawn up at the pier head, -the regimental officers in red and the staff in blue. The crowd on the -upper part of the pier was immense and densely packed all along the -parapet, and the Lower Pier, reserved for special people, was crowded, -too. It was a calm, grey, yet bright day, and the absence of wind made -things pleasant. Great gathering of Cocked Hats at the entrance gates, -and we all walked to the landing stage. There was a dense smudge of -black smoke on the horizon. I knew that meant Kitchener. Keeping my eye -on that smudge, I took but a distracted part in the small talk and -frequent introductions of distinguished persons come from afar to -welcome the man of the hour, "the Avenger of Gordon." I was conducted to -the head of the landing steps, together with such of the staff as were -not to go on board the boat with the General. Then the smudge got hidden -behind the pier end, but I could see the ever-increasing swish and swirl -of the water on the starboard side of the hidden steamer, and soon she -swept alongside; a few vague cheers began, no one in the crowd knowing -the Sirdar by sight. When, however, the General went on board and shook -hands, this proclaimed at once where the man was, and cheer upon cheer -thundered out. I have never, before or since, seen such spontaneous -enthusiasm in England. After a little talk (my husband and he were long -together on the Nile) and after the delivery of letters (one from the -Queen) and telegrams, during which the hurrahs went on in a great roar -and multitudinous pocket handkerchiefs fluttered in a long perspective, -the big, solid, stolid, sunburnt Briton stepped on English soil once -more. While shaking hands with me he seemed astonished and amused at all -that was going on and, looking over my head at the masses of people -above, he lifted his hat, and thenceforth kept it in his hand as he was -escorted to the Lord Warden Hotel. He had asked his A.D.C., on first -catching sight of the reception awaiting him, "What is all this about?" - -Then there was an Address at the hotel to which he listened with an -ox-like patience, and after that the enormous company of invited guests -went to lunch. In his speech my husband paid the Sirdar the compliment -of saying that the traditional Field Marshal's baton would be found in -his trunk when the customs officers opened it at Victoria. Kitchener -spoke so low I could not hear him. Had he been less immovable one could -have plainly seen how utterly he hated having to make a speech. His -travelling dress looked most interestingly incongruous amidst the rich -uniforms and the glossy frock-coats as he stood up to say what he had to -say. As we all bulged out of the hotel door the cheers began again from -the crowds. I took care to look at the people that day, and I was struck -by their _unanimity_. All ranks were there, and yet on every face, well -bred or unwashed, I saw the same identical expression--one of broad, -laughing delight. Such were my impressions, which I noted down, as -usual, at the moment, and I have lived to see that remarkable man work -out his life, and end it with a tragedy that will hold its place in -history; my husband's prophecy, put in those playful words at Dover, -fulfilled; a threatening disaster to the Empire turned into victory with -the aid of that extraordinary mind and physical endurance; and the -burning fire of that personality quenched, untimely, in the icy depths -of a northern sea. - - - - -CHAPTER XXII - -THE CAPE AND DEVONPORT - - -On November 12th, 1898, my husband sailed for South Africa, there to -take up the military command, and to act as High Commissioner in place -of Sir Alfred Milner, home on leave. His staff at Dover loved him. Their -send-off brought tears to his eyes. I, C. and the A.D.C. saw him off -from Southampton, to rejoin him in the process of time at the Cape. We -little knew what a dark period in his life awaited him out there, -brought about by the malice of those in power there and at home. It is -too sacred and too painful a subject for me to record it here further -than I have done. The facts will be found in his "Autobiography." I left -England on February 18th, 1899, with three of the children, leaving the -two eldest boys at college. It was a very painful leave-taking at the -Waterloo Station. My mother was there and all the dear ones, whom I did -not expect to see again for two or three years--my mother perhaps ever -again. Yet in a few months we were back there! My theory that one should -try and not fret about the future, which is an absolutely unknown -quantity, proved justified. I have chronicled our voyage out in my -former little book, and described one night at Madeira--a night of -enchantment under the moon. - -I need not go over the days on the "blue water" again, nor our strange -life beyond the Equator, where, though I was filled with admiration for -the beauty of our surroundings, I never felt the happiness which Italy, -Egypt or Palestine had given me. Very absurd, no doubt, and sentimental, -but my love of the old haunts made me feel resentful of the topsy-turvy -state of things I found down there. The crescent moon on what (to me) -was the wrong side of the sunset, the hot north wind, the cold blast -from the south, the shadows all inverted--no, I did not enjoy this -contradiction to my well-beloved traditions. There was, besides, a local -melancholy in that strange beauty I cannot describe. All this may be put -down to sentimentality, but a very real melancholy attaches to South -Africa in my mind in connection with my husband, who suffered there for -his honesty and devotion to the honour of the Empire he served. The -authorities accepted his resignation of the Cape command which he -tendered for fear of embarrassing the Government, and he accepted the -command of the Western District in its place, which meant Devonport. So -on August 22nd we all embarked for Home. - -There we found the campaign of calumny, originated in South Africa -against Sir William, in its acutest phase. The Press was letting loose -all the poison with which it was being supplied, and I consequently went -through, at first, the bitter pain of daily trying to intercept the -vilest anonymous letters, many of them beer-stained missives couched in -ill-spelt language from the slums. Not all the reparation offered to my -husband later on--the bestowal of the Grand Cross of the Bath, his -election to the dignity of Privy Councillor, his selection as the safest -judge to investigate the South African war stores scandals, not to name -other acts conveying the _amende honorable_--ever healed the wound. - -His offence had been a frank admission of sympathy for a people -tenacious of their independence and, knowing the Boers as he did, he -knew what their resistance would mean in case of attack. He was appalled -at the prospect of a war, not against an army but against a people, -involving the farm-burnings and all the horrors which our armies would -have to resort to. He would fain have seen violence avoided and -diplomacy used instead, knowing, as he did, that the old intransigent -Dopper element would die out in time, and the new generation of Boers, -many of whom were educated at our universities, intermarrying with the -English, as they were already doing, would have brought about that very -union of the two races within the Empire which has been reached to-day -through all that suffering. In case, however, war should be decided on -he employed the utmost vigour allowed to official language to warn those -in power of the necessity for enormous forces in order to ensure -success. Some of his despatches were suppressed. The idea at -Headquarters was an easy march to Pretoria. What I have alluded to as -the malice which prompted the campaign of calumny had caused the report -to be spread that our initial defeats were owing to his wilful neglect -in not warning the directing powers of the gravity of their undertaking. - -The chief interest I found in our new appointment was caused by the -frequent arrivals of foreign men-of-war, whose captains were received -officially and socially, and there were admirals, too, when squadrons -came. It was interesting and amusing. Lord and Lady Charles Scott were -at the Admiralty and, later, Sir Edward Seymour, during our appointment. -The foreign sailors prevented the official functions from becoming -monotonous, and we got a certain amount of pleasure out of this -Devonport phase of our experiences. I carried my painting "through thick -and thin," and did well, on the whole, at the Academy. I had the -"consuming zeal"--a very necessary possession. One year it was a big -tent-pegging picture (I don't know where its purchaser is now), which -was well lighted at Burlington House. Then a Boer War subject, "Within -Sound of the Guns"--well placed; followed by an Afghan subject, "Rescue -of Wounded," which to my great pleasure was given an excellent place in -the _Salle d'Honneur_. I also accomplished other smaller works and -exhibited a great number of water colours. It is a medium I like much. I -also prepared for the Press my "Letters from the Holy Land" there which -I have already mentioned. My publishers, Messrs. A. and C. Black, -reproduced the water-colour illustrations very faithfully. - -Our French sailor guests were always bright, so were the Italians, but -the Japanese were very heavy in hand, and conversation was uphill work. -It was mainly carried on by repeated smiles and nods on their part. When -their big ships came in on one occasion the Admiralty gave them the -first dinner, of course, and at the end the bandmaster had the happy -thought of giving a few bars out of Arthur Sullivan's "Mikado" before -the Emperor's health was drunk, the National Air not being in his -repertory. Some one asked the Jap admiral if he recognised it. "Ah! no, -no, no!" came the usual smiling and nodding answer. At the Port -Admirals' I was to learn that in the navy you mustn't stand up for our -Sovereign's health, by order of William IV. This resulted one evening in -our sitting for "The King" and standing up for "The Kaiser." There were -the German admiral and officers present. I thought that very -unfortunate.[13] - -Well, Devonport in summer was very delightful, but Devonport in winter -had long periods of fog and gloom. I had the blessing of another trip to -Italy, this time with our eldest daughter, starting on a dark wintry day -in early March, 1900. Sir William's work prevented his coming with us. -_Viâ_ Genoa to Rome lay our happy way. Of course, it wasn't the Rome I -first knew, but the shock I received when revisiting it four years -before this present visit had already introduced me into the new order, -and I now knew what to see, enjoy, and avoid. There were several new -things to enjoy: above all, the Forum, now all open to the sky! In the -dear old days that space was a rather dreary expanse of waste land where -some poor old paupers were to be daily seen, leisurely labouring under -the delusion that they were excavating. They grubbed up the tufts of -grass and scraped the dust with pocket-knives, and the treasures below -remained comfortably tucked away from public view. Then the much-abused -Embankment. The dignified sweep of its lines leads the eye up, as it -follows the flow of the stream, to the dignity of St. Peter's, whereas, -formerly, in its place, unbeautiful masses of mouldering houses tottered -over the Tiber and gave that long-suffering river the reflections of -their drainpipes. Then, the two end arches of that most estimable Ponte -Sant' Angelo are now cleared of the old mud which blocked them up -malodorously and docked the lovely thing of its symmetry. Then, finally, -Rome is clean! - -We had the good fortune to be present at two very striking Papal -functions, striking as bringing together Catholics from a wide-flung -circle embracing some remote nationalities unknown by sight to me. The -first was the Pope's Benediction in St. Peter's on March 18th. We were -standing altogether about three hours in the crowd at the Tomb, well -placed for seeing the Holy Father. He was taken round the vast basilica -in his _sedia gestatoria_, and blessed a wildly cheering crowd. I never -saw a human being so like a spirit as Leo XIII. He looked as white as -his mitre as he leant forward and stretched his arm out in benediction -from side to side, borne high above the helmets of the Noble Guard. One -heard cheers in all languages, and a curious effect was produced by the -whirling handkerchiefs, which made a white haze above the dark crowd. I -have often heard secular monarchs cheered, and that very heartily, but -for a Pope it seems that more than ordinary loyalty prompts the -cheerers. The people seem to give out their whole being in their voices -and gestures. - -The Diary says: "I am glad I have seen that old man's face and his look, -as though it came to us from beyond the grave. At times the cheers went -up to the highest pitch of both men's and women's voices. A strange -sound to hear in a church." - -A spring day spent at the well-known Hadrian's Villa, under Tivoli, is -not to be allowed to pass without a grateful record. It is a most -exquisite place of old ruins, cypresses, olives and, at this time, -flowering peach trees, violets and anemones. It is an enchanting site -for a country house. Hadrian chose well. From there you see the -delicately-pencilled dome of St. Peter's on the rim of the horizon to -the west, and behind you, to the north, rise the steep foot-hills of the -mountains, some crowned with old cities. The ruins of the villa are all -_minus_ the lovely outer coating which used to hide the brickwork, and -poor Hadrian would have felt very woeful had he foreseen that all the -white loveliness of his villa was to come to this. But as bits of warm -colour and lovely surface those brick spaces take the sun and shadow -beautifully between the dark masses of the cypresses and feathery grey -cloudiness of the olives. Nowhere is the "touch and go" nature of life -more strikingly put before the mind than in dead Rome, where so much -magnificence in stone and marble and mosaic and bronze has fallen into -lumps of crumbling brick. - -On March 26th we attended the Papal Benediction in the Sistine Chapel, -which is a remarkable thing to see. It was a memorable morning. The -floor of the chapel was packed with pilgrims, some of them rough men and -women from remote regions of the north-east, whose outlandish costumes -were especially remarkable for the heavy Cossack boots, reaching to the -knee, worn by both sexes. One wondered how these people journeyed to -Rome. What a gathering of the faithful we looked down on from our -gallery! The same ecstatic cheering we had heard in St. Peter's -announced the entrance of Leo XIII. There he was, the holy creature, -blessing right and left with that thin alabaster hand, half covered with -a white mitten. With all their hoarse barbaric cheering, I noticed how -those peasants, who had so particularly attracted me, remembered to bend -their heads and most devoutly make the sign of the cross as he passed. -They almost monopolised my study of the motley crowd, but I was aware of -the many nationalities present, and the same enthusiasm came from them -all. At such times a great consolation eases the mind, saddened, as it -often is, by the general atmosphere of declining faith in which one has -to live one's ordinary life in the world. After the Mass came the -presentation of the pilgrims at the altar steps. The Pope had kind words -for all, bending down to hear and to speak to them, and often stroking -the men's heads. One huge Muscovite peasant knelt long at his feet, and -the Pope kept patting the rough man's cheek and speaking to him and -blessing him over and over again. At the sight of this a wild -"_hourah_!" broke from his fellow villagers. Where in the world was -their village? In the mists of remoteness, but here in heart, -unmistakably. Following the swarthy giant three sandy-haired German -students, carrying their plumed caps in their hands and girt with -rapiers, presented some college documents to receive the Papal -benediction, and a great many men and women knelt and passed on, but the -Pope seemed in no way fatigued. As he was borne out again he waved us an -upward blessing with his white and most friendly countenance turned up -to us. - -Our Roman wanderings included a visit to the Holy Father's Vatican -gardens, which are part of the little temporal kingdom a Pope still -possesses, and to his tiny "country house" therein, where he goes for -change of air(!) in the summer, about two stonethrows from the Vatican. -I note: "There are well-trimmed vineyards there; there are pet birds and -beasts in a little 'zoological gardens'; there is the arbour where he -has his meals on hot days; and, finally, we were conducted to his little -villa bedroom from whose window one of the finest views of Rome is seen, -dominated by the Quirinal, within (let us hope) shaking hands distance." -We heard the "Miserere" at St. Peter's on Good Friday--very impressive, -that twilight service in the apse of the great basilica! The -unaccompanied voices of boys sounded in sweetest music--one hardly knew -whence it came--and the air seemed to thrill with the thin angelic sound -in the waning light as one by one the candles at the altar were put out. -At the last Psalm the last light was extinguished, and the vast crowd -with its wan faces remained lighted only by the faint glimmer that came -down from the pale sky through the high windows. Then good-bye to Rome. -We left for Perugia on April 22nd. I certainly ought to be grateful for -having had yet another reception by my Umbrian Hills! And such a -reception that April afternoon, with the low sun gilding everything into -fullest beauty! I did my best to secure that moment in miserably -inadequate paint from the hotel window immediately on arrival. Better -than nothing. But no more of Perugia, nor of dear old Florence on our -way to academic Padua; no more of Verona. I have much yet to record on -getting home, and after! - - - - -CHAPTER XXIII - -A NEW REIGN - - -Sir William was asked by Lord Wolseley to take up the Aldershot command -in the absence of Sir Redvers Buller, who was struggling very -desperately to retrieve our fortunes in the Boer War; so to Aldershot we -went from Devonport, where my husband's command ran concurrently. How -intensely England had hoped for the turning of the tide when Buller was -given the tremendous task of directing our armies! We forget the horrors -the nation went through in those days because the late War has made us -pass through the same apprehensions multiplied by millions, but there -the fact remains in our history that we nearly suffered a terrible -catastrophe at the time of which I am writing. Buller, on leaving for -the Cape, had said to my husband how fervently he wished he possessed -his gift of imagination, and, indeed, that is a very precious gift to a -commander. This truly awful state of things--our terrible losses, and -the temporary lowering of our military prestige (thank heaven, so -gloriously recovered and enhanced in the World War!)--were the answer to -the repeated assertion made, when we were at the Cape, by those who -ought to have known, that "the Boers won't fight." How this used to -enrage my husband, whose "gift of imagination" made him see so clearly -the danger ahead. Well, all this is of the long ago, and, as I have -already noted, it is better to say little now; but the sense of -injustice lives! - -[Illustration: A DESPATCH-BEARER, BOER WAR, AND THE HORSE-GUNNERS.] - -Buller had a great reception at Aldershot on his return from South -Africa. I never saw a more radiantly happy face on a woman than poor -Lady Audrey's, who had been in a state of most tense anxiety during her -dear Redvers' absence. As the train steamed into the station the band -struck up "See the Conquering Hero comes!" The horses of his carriage -were unharnessed, and the triumphal car was drawn by a team of firemen -to Government House. At the entrance gate a group of school children -sang "Home, sweet Home"; my husband hauled down his flag and Buller's -was run up, and so that episode closed. - -We had inhabited a suburban-looking villa on the road to Farnborough -during the absence of Sir Redvers, not wishing to disturb the anxious -watcher at Government House, and very often we saw the Empress, just as -in the old days. She told us the dear Queen was very ill, far worse than -the world was allowed to know. My husband had always said the war would -kill her, for she had taken our losses cruelly to heart, and so it -happened on January 22nd, 1901. The resumed Devonport Diary says: - -"A day ever to be marked in English history as a day of mourning. Our -Queen is dead. At dinner S. brought us the news that she passed away at -6.30 this afternoon. We were prepared for it, but it seems like a dream. -To us who have been born and have lived all our lives under her -sovereignty it is difficult to realise that she is gone. - -"_January 23rd, 1901._--A dull gloomy day, punctuated by 81 minute guns, -which began booming at noon. All the royal standards and flags hanging -half-mast in the fog, on land and afloat. - -"_January 24th._--At noon-day all standards and flags were run up to the -masthead, and a quick thunder of guns proclaimed the accession of Edward -VII. At the end the band on board the guardship _Nile_ struck up 'God -Save the King.' The flags will all be lowered again until the day after -Queen Victoria is laid to rest. Edward VII.! How strange it sounds, and -how events and changes are rolling down upon us every hour now. Albert -Edward will be a greater man as Edward VII. - -"_February 5th._--The Queen was buried to-day beside her husband at -Frogmore. It is inexpressibly touching to think of them side by side -again. Model wife and mother, how many of your women subjects have -strayed away, of late, from those virtues which you were true to to the -last! - -"_February 16th._--There is great indignation amongst us Catholics at -Edward VII. having been called upon to take the oath at the opening of -Parliament which savours so much of the darkest days of 'No Popery' -bigotry. I think it might have been modified by this time, and the lies -about 'idolatry' and the 'worship' of the Virgin Mary eliminated. Could -not the King have had strength of mind enough to refuse to insult his -Catholic subjects? I know he must have deeply disliked to pronounce -those words. - -"_August 6th._--Again the flags to-day are at half-mast, and so is the -royal standard, and this time, on the men-of-war, it is the German flag! -The Empress Frederick died yesterday." I never mentioned at the time of -our visit to the Connaughts at Bagshot, when we were first at Aldershot, -a touching incident concerning her. Sir William sat next to her at -dinner, and, _à propos_ of a really fine still-life picture painted by -her, which hung over the dining-room door in the hall, he asked her -whether she still kept up her painting. "No," she said, "I have cried -myself blind!" What with one Empress crying as though her heart would -break in speaking to him that time at Camden Place and this Empress -telling him she had cried herself blind----! The illness and death of -the Kaiser Frederick must have been a period of great anguish. - -During this summer I was very busy with my picture of the "10th Bengal -Lancers at Tent Pegging," a subject requiring much sunshine study, which -I have already mentioned. - -In September, Lord Roberts--"the miniature Field Marshal," as I call him -in the Diary--came down on inspection, and great were the doings in his -honour. "How will this little figure stand in history? Will's -well-planned defence against a night attack from the sea came off very -well this dark still night, though the navy were nearly an hour late. -There was too much waiting, but when, at last, the enemy torpedo boats -and destroyers appeared, the whole Sound was bordered with such a zone -of fire that, had it been real war, not a rivet of the invader's -flotilla would have been left in possession of its hold. 'Bobs' must -have been gratified at to-night's display, which he reviewed from -Stonehouse. - -"Our Roberts dinner was of twenty-two covers, and the only women were -Lady Charles Scott, myself and C. A guard of honour was at the front -door, and presented arms as the Field Marshal arrived, the band playing. -He certainly is diminutive. A nice face, soldierlike, and a natural -manner. With him that too jocose Evelyn Wood and others. 'Bobs,' of -course, took me in to dinner, and, on my left, Lord Charles Scott took -in C. Will took in Lady Charles. The others--Lord Mount Edgcumbe, H.S.H. -Prince Louis of Battenberg (in command of the _Implacable_), Admiral -Jackson, and so forth--subsided into their places according to -seniority. Every man in blue or red except one rifleman. Soft music -during dinner and two bars of the National Anthem before the still -unfamiliar 'The King, God bless him!' at dessert. Will still feels a -little--I don't know how to express it--of the mental hesitation before -changing 'the Queen' which he felt so strongly at first. He was very -truly attached to her. I was back in the drawing-room in good time to -receive the crowd, who came in a continuous flow, all with an expectant -smile, to pay homage to the Lion. I don't think I forgot anybody's name -(coached by the A.D.C.) in all those introductions, but that item of my -duties is a thing I dread. I never saw people in such good humour at any -social function before. We certainly _do_ love to honour our soldiers. -But, all the time, things are not going too well with us in the war! - -"_September 14th._--Again the flags half-mast! Now it is the 'Stars and -Stripes.' Poor President McKinley succumbed to-day to his horrible -wound. The surgeons wouldn't let him die for a long while, though he -asked them to. They did their best. - -"_March 7th, 1902._--And now for the royal visit, the principal occasion -for which is the launching of the great battleship the _Queen_, by Queen -Alexandra. Will was responsible for all matters ashore, as the admiral -was for those afloat. Lady Charles and I had to be on the platform at -North Road to receive Their Majesties, the only other women there being -Lady Morley and the Plymouth Mayor's daughter, bearing a bouquet for -presentation. The royal train had an engine decorated in front of its -funnel with an enormous gilt crown, and I was pleased, as it -majestically glided into the station, to see that it is possible even in -railway prose to have a little dash of poetry. The band struck up, the -guard of honour presented arms with a clang. First, out sprang lacqueys -carrying bags and wraps who scurried to the royal carriages waiting -outside, and out sprang various admirals and diplomats in hot haste, all -with rather anxious faces veneered with smiles. And then, leisurely, the -ever lovely and self-possessed Queen and her kindly and kingly consort, -wearing, over his full-dress admiral's uniform, a caped overcoat. -Salutes, bows, curtseys, smiles, handshakes. Will presents the great -silver Key of the Citadel, which Charles II. had made for locking the -Great Gate against the refractory people. Edward VII. touches it and the -General Commanding returns it to the R.A. officer, who has charge of it. -We all kiss the King's hand as seeing him for the first time to speak to -since his accession. The Queen withdraws her hand quickly before any -officer can salute it in like manner, which looks a little ungracious. -Whilst the General and Admiral are introducing their respective staffs -to the King, the Queen has a little chat with me and asks after my -painting and so forth. She is very fond of that water colour I did for -her album at Dover of a trooper of her 'own' 19th Hussars at -tent-pegging. Lady Charles and I did not join in the procession through -the Three Towns to the dockyard, but hastened home to avoid the crowd. - -"In the evening we dined with Their Majesties on board the royal yacht -over part of which floating palace C. and I had been conducted in the -morning. Whatever the yacht's sailing value may be she certainly cuts -out the Kaiser's _Hohenzollern_ in her internal splendour. When it comes -to washstand tops of onyx and alabaster; and carpets of unfathomable -depth of pile, and hangings in bedrooms of every shade of delicate -colour, 'toning,' as the milliners say, with each particular set of -furniture; and the most elaborately beautiful arrangements for lighting -and warming electrically, and so on, and so on--one rather wonders why -so much luxury was piled on luxury in this new yacht which the King, I -am told, does not like on the high seas. Her lines are not as graceful -as those of the old _Victoria and Albert_, and it is said she 'rolls -awful'! - -"Well, to dinner! As we drove up to the yacht, which is moored right -opposite the Port Admiral's house and is the habitation of the King and -Queen during their sojourn here, we saw her outlined against the pitch -black sky by coloured electric lamps, which was pretty. Equerries, -secretaries and Miss Knollys received us at the top of the gangway, and -the ladies of the Queen soon filed into the ante-chamber (or cabin) -where they and we, the guests, awaited Their Majesties. Full uniform was -ordered for the men, and we ladies were requested to come in 'high, thin -dresses,' as, it appears, is the etiquette on board royal yachts. There -were the Admiral and Lady Charles, the Duke and Duchess of Buccleugh, -Lord and Lady St. Germans, Lord Walter Kerr, Lord Mount Edgcumbe ('the -Hearl,' as he is known to Plymothians), the Bishop of Exeter, Lady -Lytton and others up to about thirty-six in number. The King, still -dressed as an admiral, and the Queen in a charming black and white -semi-transparent frock, with many ropes of pearls, soon came in, and, -the curtseying over, we filed into the great dining saloon brilliantly -lighted and splendid. The King led in his daughter, Princess Victoria. -Buccleugh led in the Queen, and so on. How unlike the painfully solemn, -whispered dinners of dear old Queen Victoria was this banquet. We -shouted of necessity, as the band played all the time. The King and -Queen seem to me to have acquired an _expanded_ dignity since they have -come to the Throne. Will and I could not do justice to the dinner as it -was Friday, but that didn't matter. After the sweets the head servant -(what Goliaths in red liveries they all are!) handed the King a _snuff -box_! I was so fascinated by the sight of the descendant of the Georges -engaged in the very Georgian act of taking a pinch that my eyes were -riveted on him. I love history and am always trying to revive the past -in imagination. It is true that 'a cat may look at a King,' but then I -am _not_ a cat (at least I hope not). I only trust His Majesty didn't -mind, but he certainly saw me! - -"After dinner we women went down with the Queen to her boudoir, where an -Egyptian-looking servant wearing a _tarboosh_ handed us coffee of -surpassing aroma, and Her Majesty showed us her beloved little Japanese -dog and some of the pretty things about the room. She then asked us to -see her bedroom (which I had already seen that morning) and the little -dog's basket where he sleeps near her bed. She is still extremely -beautiful. Her figure is youthful and shapely, and all her movements are -queenly. The King had quite a long talk with Will about this dreadful -Boer War which is causing us all so much anxiety, after we went up -again. He then came over to me, and after a few commonplaces he came -nearer and in a confidential tone began about Will. I think he is fond -of him. What he said was kind, and I knew he wanted me to repeat his -sympathetic words to my husband afterwards. He spoke of him as a -'splendid soldier.' I know he had in his mind the painful trial Will had -gone through. It was late when Their Majesties bade us good-night. - -"_March 8th._--The great day of the launch of H.M.S. _Queen_. I wonder -if the hearts of the sailors beat anxiously to-day at all! A quieter, -more unemotional-looking set of men than those naval bigwigs could -nowhere be seen in the world. But, first of all, there was the -medal-giving at the R.N. Barracks, where Ladies Poore and Charles Scott, -Mrs. Jackson and myself had to receive the King and Queen by the side of -our respective husbands on a raised daïs in the centre of the huge -parade ground. It was very cold, and the Queen told me she envied me my -fur-lined coat. Will said I missed an opportunity of making a pendant to -Sir Walter Raleigh! The function was very long, for the King had to give -a medal to each one of the three hundred bluejackets and marines who -passed before him in single file. At the launching place we all -assembled on a great platform, and there in front of us stood the huge -hull of the battleship, the ram projecting over the little table on -which the Queen was to cut the ropes. That red-painted ram was garlanded -with flowers, and the bottle hung from the garland, completely hidden -under a covering of roses. It contained red Australian wine, a very -sensible change from the French champagne of former times. Down below an -immense crowd of workmen waited, some of them right under the ship, and -all round, in the different stands, were dense masses of people. We were -soon joined by three German naval grandees and two Japanese -_leprechauns_, one an admiral, a toadlike-looking creature in a uniform -entirely copied from ours. Our new allies are not handsome. Then came -the Bishop of Exeter, in robes and cap and with a peaked beard, a living -Holbein in the dress of Cranmer. How could I, a painter, not delight in -that figure? I told a friend that bishop had no business to be alive, -but ought to be a painting by Holbein, on panel. What does she do but -whisk off straight to him and Mrs. Bishop and tell them! Our privileged -group kept swelling with additions of officers in full glory and smart -women in lovely frocks, and bouquets were brought in, and everything was -to me perfectly charming. Monarchy calls much beauty into existence. -Long may it endure! - -"At last there was a stir; the monarchs came up the inclined approach -and the band struck up. They took their places facing the ship's bows, -and Cranmer on panel by Holbein blessed the ship in as nearly a Catholic -way as was possible, with the sign of the cross left out. A subordinate -held his crozier before him. A hymn had previously been sung and a -psalm, followed by the Lord's Prayer. Then came the 'christening' -(strange word), a picturesque Pagan ceremony. The Queen brightened up -after the last 'Amen' and, nearing the table, reached over to the -flower-decked bottle; then, stepping back, swung it from her against the -monstrous ram, saying, 'God bless this ship and all that sail in her.' I -heard a little crack, and only a few red drops trickled down. This -wouldn't do, for she immediately seized the bottle again and, stepping -well back this time and holding the bottle as high over her head as the -ropes would allow, flung it with such violence that it smashed all to -pieces and the red wine gushed over her hands and sleeves and poured out -its last drops on the table. A great cheer rang out at this, and the -King laughingly seemed to say to her, 'You did it this time with a -vengeance!' She flushed up, looking as though she enjoyed the fun. Then -came the great moment of the cutting by the Queen of the little ropes -that held the monster bound as by silken threads. Six good taps with the -mallet, severing the six strands across a 'turtle back' in the centre of -the table, and away flew the two ropes down amongst the cheering crowd -of workmen and, automatically, down came the two last supports on either -side of the yet impassive hull. Still impassive--not a hair's breadth of -movement! A painful pause. Some men below were pumping the hydraulic -apparatus for all they were worth. I kept my eye on the nose of the ram, -gauging it by some object behind. Firm as a rock! At last a tiny -movement, no more than the starting of a snail across a cabbage leaf. -'She's off!' A hurricane of cheers, and with the most admirable and -dignified acceleration of speed the great ship, seeming to come into -life, glided down the slips and, ploughing through the parting and -surging waters, floated off far into the Hamoaze to the strains of 'Rule -Britannia.' Queen Alexandra, in her elation, made motions with her arms -as though she was shoving the ship off herself. Scarcely had the -battleship _Queen_ passed into the water than the blocks displaced by -her passage were rolled back, still hot as it were from the friction, -into the position they had occupied before she moved, and the King, -stepping forward, turned a little electric handle at the table, and lo! -the keel plate of the _Edward VII_. slowly moved forward and stopped in -its position on the blocks as the germ of the new battleship. The King, -in a loud voice, proclaimed that the keel plate of the _Edward VII_. was -'well and truly laid,' and a great cheer arose and 'God Save the King,' -and all was over. A new battleship was born.[14] We met Their Majesties -at the Port Admiral's at tea, and Will dined with them, together with -some of his staff. - -"_March 10th_.--Saw Their Majesties off. I wonder if they were getting -tired of seeing always the same set of faces and smiles? I am going to -present C. at Court on the 14th, and my function twin, Lady Charles, is -going there, too, so I shall feel it will be a case of 'Here we are -again,' when I meet the royal eye that night. In the evening the news of -Methuen's defeat and capture by Delarey. To think this horror was going -on the day we received the King and Queen at North Road Station! - -"_March 14th_.--The King's Court was much better arranged than formerly, -as we had only to make two curtseys--nothing more--instead of having to -run the gauntlet of a long row of princes and princesses who were -abreast of Queen Victoria (or her representative), and who used to -inspect one from head to foot. These were now grouped behind the -monarchs, and formed a rich, subdued background to the two regal -figures on their thrones. (What a blessing to the aforesaid princes and -princesses to be spared the necessity of passing all those nervous women -in review, and by daylight, too!) Altogether the music and the generally -more festive character of the function struck one as a great and happy -improvement on the old dispensation. The King and Queen didn't exactly -say, 'How do you do again?' as I appeared, but looked it as I met their -smiling eyes. This is the first Court of the King's reign. - -"_March 27th_.--Cecil Rhodes died yesterday. I am glad I saw him at the -Cape. One morning just at sunrise I and the children were driving to -Mass during the mission and, as we passed over the railway line, we saw -people riding down from 'Grootschuur.' The foremost horseman was Cecil -Rhodes, looking very big and with a wide red face. He gave me a -searching look or stare as if trying to make out who I was in the shade -of the carriage hood. So I saw his face well. - -"_April 3rd_.--Will and I are invited by the King and Queen to see them -crowned at Westminster. I am to wear 'court dress with plumes but -without train.' But what if the nightmare war still is dragging on in -June? The time is getting short! We hear the King is getting anxious. -Lord Wolseley's trip to the Cape (for his health!) is supposed to have -really to do with bringing about peace. But ''ware politics' for me. -They are not in my line. What a wet blanket would be spread as a pall -over all the purple canopies in Westminster Abbey if war was still -brooding over us all! Imagine news of a new Methuen disaster on the -morning of June 26th!" - -On Varnishing Day that spring at the Royal Academy I found that my -tent-pegging picture could not look to greater advantage, but it was in -the last room, where the public looks with "lack-lustre eyes," being -tired. - -On June 21st I left to attend the Coronation of Edward VII., spending -two days at Dick's monastery at Downside on the way, high up in the -Mendip Hills. I note: "I had a bright little room at the guest house -just outside the precincts. That night the full moon, that emblem of -serenity, rose opposite my window, and I felt as though lifted up above -that world into which I was about to plunge for my participation in the -pomp of the Coronation in a few hours. It is inexpressibly touching to -me to see my son where he is. A hard probation, for the Benedictine test -is long and severe, as indeed the test is, necessarily, throughout the -Religious Orders. - -"_June 24th_.--Memorable day! I was passing along Buckingham Palace Road -at 12.30 when I saw a poster: 'Coronation Postponed'! Groups of people -were buying up the papers. Of course, no one believed the news at first, -and people were rather amusedly perplexed. No one had heard that the -King was ill. On getting to Piccadilly I saw the official posters and -the explanation. An operation just performed! and only yesterday Knollys -telling the world there was 'not a word of truth in the alarming rumours -of the King's health.' I and Mrs. C. went to a dismal afternoon concert -at 2.30 to which we were pledged, and which the promoters were in two -minds about postponing, and we left in the middle to stroll about the -crowded streets and watch the effect of the disastrous news. There was -something very dramatic in the scene in front of the palace--the huge -crowd waiting and watching, the royal standard drooping on the roof -(not half-mast yet?), and the sense of brooding sorrow over the great -building, which held the, perhaps, dying King. What a change in two or -three hours! - -"_June 26th_.--This was to have been the Coronation Day. General -dismantling. Those dead laurel wreaths still lying in the gutters are -said to be the same that were used at the funeral of King Humbert. What -a weird thought! The crowds are thinning, but still, at night, they gaze -at the little clumps of illuminations which some people exhibit, as the -King is going on well. '_Vivat Rex_' flares in great brilliancy here and -there. The words have a deeper meaning than usual. May he live! - -"_June 27th_.--This was to have been the day of the royal procession. -Where is that rose-colour-lined coach I so looked forward to? Lying idle -in its cover. Every one is moralising. Even the clubmen, Will tells me, -are furbishing up little religious platitudes and texts; many are -curiously superstitious, which is strange." - -On our return home I was very busy in the studio. There was much -galloping and trotting of horses up and down in the Government House -grounds for my studies of movement for my next Academy picture (dealing -with Boer War yeomanry) and others. - -"_August 9th_.--King Edward VII. was crowned to-day. At about 12.40 the -guns firing in the Sound and batteries announced that, at last, the -Coronation was consummated. We were asked to the ceremony, but could not -go up this time." - -A little tour in France, with my husband and our two girls, made in -September, 1902, gave us sunny days in Anjou on the Loire. The majestic -rivers of France are her chief attraction for the painter, and to us -English Turner's charm is inseparably blended with their slowly flowing -waters. We were visitors at a _château_ at Savonnières, near Angers, for -most of the time, and our hosts took care that we should miss none of -the lovely things around their domain. The German "Ocean Greyhounds" of -the Hamburg-Amerika line used to call at Plymouth in those days, huge, -three-funnel monsters which, I think, we have since appropriated, and -one of these, the _Augusta Marie_, bore us off to Cherbourg in all the -pride of her gorgeous saloons, flower-decked tables, band, and -extraordinary bombastic oleographs from allegorical pictures by the -Kaiser William II. As we boarded her the band played "God Save the -King," the captain receiving Sir William with finished regulation -attention, and hardly had the great twin engines swung the ship into the -Sound to receive her passengers, than with another swing forward, which -made the masts wriggle to their very tops, she was off. It was the -"Marseillaise" as we reached France. That band played us nearly the -whole way over. A really pretty idea, this, of playing the national air -of each country where the ship touched. - -It was vintage time at Savonnières, which was a French "Castagnolo," a -most delightful translation into French of that Italian patriarchal -home. There were stone terraces garlanded with vines bearing--not the -big black grapes of Tuscany, but small yellow ones of surpassing -sugariness. We were in a typical and beautiful bit of France, peaceful, -plenteous, and full of dignity. They lead the simple life here such as I -love, which is not to be found in the big English country houses, as -far as I know. I was truly pleased at the sight of the peasantry at Mass -on the Sunday. The women in particular had that dignity which is so -marked in their class, and the white lace coifs they wore had many -varieties of shape, all most beautiful, and were very _soignées_ and -neatly worn. Not an untidy woman or girl amongst these daughters of the -soil. - -I was anxious to see "Angers la Noire," where we stayed on our way from -Savonnières to Amboise. But the black slate houses which gave it that -name are being turned into white stone ones, and so its grim -characteristic is passing away. Give me character, good or bad; -characterless things are odious. I don't suppose a more perfect old -Angevin town exists than Amboise. It fulfilled all I required and -expected of it. How Turner understood these towns on the broad, majestic -Loire! He occasionally exaggerated, but his exaggerations were always in -the right direction, emphasising thus the dominant beauties of each -place and their local sentiment. Which recalls the deep charm of the -rivers of France more subtly to the mind, Turner's series or an album of -photographs? Turner's mind saw more truly than the camera. The castle of -Amboise is superb and its creamy white stone a glory. Then came Blois, -with a quite different reading of a castle, where plenty of colour and -gilding and Gothic richness gave the character--not so restful to eye -and mind as Amboise. Through both the _châteaux_ we were marshalled -along by a guide. I would sooner learn less of a place, by myself, than -be told all by a tiresome man in a _cicerone's_ livery. Plenty of -horrors were supplied us at both places, vitiating my otherwise simple -pleasure as a painter in the sight of so much beauty. - -We returned to Plymouth Sound on a lovely day, and there our blue -launch, with that bright brass funnel I had so long agitated for, was -awaiting us, and we landed at the steps of Mount Wise as though we had -merely been for a trip to Penlee Point. - -I found my picture of the yeomanry cantering through a "spruit" in the -Boer War, "Within Sound of the Guns," admirably placed this time at -Burlington House, in the spring of 1903. I had greatly improved in tone -by this time. Millais' remark once upon a time, "She draws better than -any of us, but I wish her _tone_ was better," had sunk deep. - -On July 14th, 1903, the Princess Henry of Battenberg (as the title was -then), with a suite of six, paid us a visit of two days at Government -House, and we had, of course, a big reception, which was inevitable. Our -guest hated the ordeal of all those presentations, being very retiring, -and I sympathised. I heard her murmur to her lady, Miss Bulteel, "I -shall die," as the first arrival was announced. And there she had to -stand till I and the A.D.C. had finished terrifying her with about 250 -people in succession. What a tax royalty has to pay! There was the -laying of a foundation stone, a trip in the launch up the Tamar, and -something to be done each day, but with as many rests as we could -squeeze in for our very _simpatica_ princess. The drive through the -streets of Plymouth showed me what the crowd looks like from royalty's -point of view as I sat by her side in the carriage. I remarked to her -what bad teeth the people had. "They are nothing to those in the north," -the poor dear said. How often royalty has to run that gauntlet of an -unlovely and cheering crowd! - -I was now to go through the great ordeal of witnessing our dear -Dick's[15] taking his vows. This was on September 4th, 1903, at Belmont -Minster, Hereford. - -On July 10th, 1904, a German squadron of eighteen men-of-war came -thundering into the Sound, and on the 12th we assembled a Garden Party -of about three hundred guests to give the three admirals and their -officers a very proper welcome. Eighteen beautiful ships, but all -untried. I lunched on board the flagship, the _Kaiser Wilhelm II._, on -the previous day, and anything to equal the dandified "get up" of that -war vessel could not be found afloat. Wherever there was an excuse for a -gold Imperial crown, there it was, relieved by the spotless whiteness of -its surroundings. The fair-haired bluejackets were extremely clean and -comely, but struck me as being drilled too much like soldiers, and -wanting the natural manner of our men. The impression on my mind at the -time was that immense care and pains had been taken to show off these -brand-new ships and to rival ours, but that they were not a bit like -their models. The General dined in state on board that evening. Oh! the -veneer of politeness shown to us these days; the bowings, the clicking -of heels, the well-drilled salutes; and all the time we were joking -amongst ourselves about the certainty we had that they were taking -soundings of our great harbour. As usual, they were allowed to do just -as they liked there. It is a tremendous thought to me that I have lived -to hear of the surrender of Germany's entire navy. How often in those -days we allowed ourselves to imagine a modern _possible_ Trafalgar, but -such a cataclysm as this was outside the bounds of any one's -imagination. - -I devoted a great deal of my time to getting up a "one-man-show," my -first of many, composed of water colours, and in accomplishing the -Afghan picture I have already mentioned as being so much honoured by the -Hanging Committee at the Academy in the spring of 1904. My husband's -command of the Western District terminated on January 31st, 1905, and -with it his career in the army, as he had reached the retiring age. The -Liberal Party was very keen on having him as an M.P., representing East -Leeds. I am glad the idea did not materialise. I know what would have -happened. He would have set out full of honest and worthy enthusiasm to -serve the _Patria_. Then, little by little, he would have found what -political life really is, and thrown the thing up in disgust. An old -story. _Non Patria sed Party!_ So utterly outside my own life had -politics been that I had an amused sensation when I saw the -Parliamentary world opening before me, like a gulf! - -"_January 31st_, 1905.--Will is to stand for East Leeds. It is all very -sudden. Liberals so eager that he has almost been (courteously) hustled -into the great enterprise. Herbert Gladstone, Campbell-Bannerman and -other leaders have written almost irresistible letters to him, pleading. -When he goes to the election at Leeds he is to be 'put to no expense -whatever,' and they are confident of a 'handsome majority.' We shall -see! Besides all this he is given a most momentous commission at the War -Office to investigate certain ugly-looking matters connected with the -Boer War stores scandal that require clearing up. I am glad they have -done him the 'poetical justice' of selecting him for this. - -"_February 13th_.--We went to a very brilliant and (to me) novel -gathering at the Campbell-Bannermans'. All the leaders of the Liberal -Party there, an interesting if not very noble study. All so cordial to -Will. Tremendous crush, but nice when we got down to the more airy tea -room. The snatches of conversation I got in the general hubbub all -sounded somewhat 'shoppy.' Winston Churchill, a ruddy young man, with a -roguish twinkle in his eye, Herbert Gladstone and his lovely wife, our -bluff, rosy host and other 'leaders' were very interesting, and we met -many friends, all on the 'congratulate.' All these M.P.'s seem to relish -their life. I suppose it _has_ a great fascination, this working to get -your side in, as at a football match." - -The general election in course of time swept over England and brought in -the Liberal Party with an overwhelming majority. My husband did not -stand for East Leeds. He had to abandon the idea, as a Catholic, on -account of the religious difficulties connected with the Education Act. - -Our life in the glorious west of Ireland, which followed our retirement -from Devonport, has been so fully described by this pen of mine in "From -Sketch-book and Diary" that I give but a slight sketch of it here. Those -were days when one could give one's whole heart, so to speak, to Erin, -before the dreadful cloud had fallen on her which, as I write, has lent -her her present forbidding gloom. That will pass, please God! - -To come straight through from London and its noise and superfluous fuss -and turmoil into the absolute peace and purity of County Mayo in perfect -summer weather was such a relief to mind and body that one felt it as an -emancipation. Health, good sleep, enjoyment of pure air and noble -scenery; kindly, unsophisticated peasantry--all these things were there, -and the flocks and herds and the sea birds. In the midst of all that -appealing poetry, so peculiar to Ireland, I had a funny object lesson of -a prosaic kind at romantic Mulranny, on Clewe Bay. In the little station -I saw a big heap in sackcloth lying on the platform--"_Hog-product from -Chicago_"--and the country able to "cure" the matchless Irish pig! I -went on to get some darning wool in the hamlet--"_Made in England_"--and -all those sheep around us! Outside the shop door a horse had the usual -big nose-bag--_"Made in Austria"!_ All these things, with a little -energy, should have come out of the place itself, surely? I thought to -encourage native industry, when found, by ordering woollen hose at the -convent school. No two stockings of the same pair were of equal length. -The bay was rich in fish, and one day came a little fleet of fishing -boats--_from France!_ There was Ireland to-day in a nutshell. What of -to-morrow? Is this really Ireland's heavy sleep before the dawn? - -I have seen some of the most impressive beauties of our world, but never -have I been more impressed than by the solemn grandeur of the mountain -across Clewe Bay they call Croagh Patrick, as we saw it on the evening -of our arrival at Mulranny. The last flush of the after-glow lingered on -its dark slopes and the red planet Mars flamed above its cone, all this -solemn beauty reflected in the sleeping waters. At Mulranny I spent -nearly all my days making studies of sheep and landscape for the next -picture I sent to the Academy--"A Cistercian Shepherd." This gave me a -period of the most exquisitely reposeful work. The building up of this -picture was in itself an idyll. But the public didn't want idylls from -me at all. "Give us soldiers and horses, but pastoral idylls--no!" -People had a slightly reproachful tone in their comments after seeing my -poor pastoral on the Academy walls. Some one said, "How are the mighty -fallen!" - -We made our home in the heart of Tipperary, under the Galtee Mountains. -It seemed time for us to seek a dignified repose, "the world forgetting, -by the world forgot," but we did not succeed in our intention. In 1906 -my husband went on a great round of observation through Cape Colony and -the (former) Boer Republics on a literary mission. I and E. went off to -Italy, meanwhile; Rome as our goal. There I had the great pleasure of -the companionship of my sister, and it may be imagined with what -feelings we re-trod the old haunts in and about that city together. - -"_April 9th, 1906_.--We had a charming stroll through the Villa d'Este -gardens, where the oldest, hoariest cypresses are to be seen, and -fountains and water conduits of graceful and fantastic shape, wherever -one turns, all gushing with impetuous waters. The architects of these -gardens revelled in their fanciful designs and sported with the -responsive flood. Cascades spout in all directions from the rocks on -which Tivoli is built. We had _déjeuner_ under a pergola at the inn -right over one of these waterfalls, where, far below us, birds flew to -and fro in the mist of the spray. Nature and art have joined in play at -Tivoli. I always have had a healthy dislike of burrowing in tombs and -catacombs. The sepulchral, bat-scented air of such places in Egypt--the -land, of all others, of limpid air and sunshine and dryness--is not in -any way attractive to me, and I greatly dislike diving into the Roman -catacombs out of the sunny Appian Way. On former occasions I went -through them all, so this time I kept above ground. I learnt all that -the catacombs teach in my early years, and am not likely to lose that -tremendous impression. - -"_April 10th_.--A true Campagna day, as Italianised as I could make it. -We had a frugal _colazione_ under the pergola of an Appian Way-side inn, -watched by half a dozen hungry cats, that unattractive, wild, malignant -kind of cat peculiar to Italy. The girl who waited on us drew our white -wine in a decanter from what looked like a well in the garden. It had, -apparently, not 'been cool'd a long age in _that_ deep-delved earth,' -but it did very well. I was perfectly happy. This old-fashioned _al -fresco_ entertainment had the local colour which I look for when I -travel and which is getting rarer year by year. Our Colosseum moonlight -was more weird than ever. At eleven we had our moon. It was a large, -battered, woeful, waning old moon, that looked in at us through the -broken arch. An opportune owl, which had been screeching like a cat in -the shade, flitted across its sloping disc just at the supreme moment." - -To receive Holy Communion at the hands of the Holy Father is a privilege -for which we should be very thankful. It was mine and E.'s on Easter -morning that year, at his private Mass in the Sistine Chapel. There I -saw Pius X. for the first time. Goodness and compassion shine from that -sad and gentle face. It is the general custom to kiss the 'Fisherman's -ring' on the Pope's hand before receiving, but Pius X. very markedly -prevents this. One can understand! Our audience with the Holy Father -took place on the eve of our departure. There was a never-absent look -with him of what I may call the submissive sense of a too-heavy burden -of responsibility. No photographs convey the right impression of this -Pope. He was very pale, very spiritual, very kind and a little weary; -most gentle and touching in his manner. The World War at its outset -broke that tender heart. I sent him my "Letters from the Holy Land," for -which I received very urbane thanks from one of the cardinals. I don't -think the Holy Father knows a single word of English, and I wonder what -he made of it. - -As to our tour homeward, taking Florence and Venice on the way, I think -we will take that as read. I revel in the Diary in all the dear old -Italian details, marred only by the change I noticed in Venice as -regards her broken silence. The hurry of modern life has invaded even -the "silent city," and there is too much electric glare in the lighting -now, at night, for the old enjoyment of her moonlights. It annoyed me to -see the moon looking quite shabby above the incandescent globes on the -Riva. - -From Venice to the Dublin Castle season is a big jump. We had an average -of twenty-one balls in six weeks in each of the two seasons 1907--1908. -Little did I think that it would be quite an unmixed pleasure to me to -do _chaperon_ for some five hours at a stretch; but so it turned out. It -all depends what sort of daughter you have on the scene! The Aberdeens -were then in power. - -Lady Aberdeen was untiring in her endeavours to trace and combat the -dire disease which seemed to fasten on the Irish in an especial manner. -She went about lecturing to the people with a tuberculosis "caravan." -She brought it to Cashel, and my husband made the opening speech at her -exhibition there. But her addresses came to nothing. The lungs exhibited -in the "caravan" in spirits of wine appealed in vain. She actually asked -the people that day to go back to their discarded oatmeal "stir-about"! -They prefer their stewed tea and their artificially whitened, so-called -bread, with the resultant loss of their teeth. My experiences at the -different Dublin horse shows were sociable and pleasant. There you see -the finest horses and the most beautiful women in the world, and Dublin -gives you that hospitality which is the most admirable quality in the -Irish nature. - -Sir William spent the remaining days of his life in trying, by addresses -to the people in different parts of the country, to quicken their sense -of the necessity for industry, sobriety, and a more serious view of -existence. They did not seem to like it, and he was apparently only -beating the air. I remember one particularly strong appeal he made in -Meath at a huge open-air meeting. I thought to myself that such -warnings, given in his vivid and friendly Irish style, touched with -humour to leaven the severity, would have impressed his hearers. The -applause disappointed me. Well, he did his best to the very last for the -country and the people he loved. He had vainly longed all his life for -Home Rule within the Empire. Was this, then, all that was wanting? - -I recall in this connection an episode which was eloquent of the hearty -appreciation of his worth, quite irrespective of politics. At a banquet -given in Dublin to welcome Lord and Lady Granard, after their marriage, -he was called upon to respond for "the Guests." For fully one minute the -cheers were so persistent when he rose that he had to wait before his -opening words could be heard. The company were nearly all Unionists. - -After all the misunderstandings connected with Sir William's association -with the Boer War and its antecedents had been righted at last, these -words of a distinguished general at Headquarters were spoken: "Butler -stands a head and shoulders above us all." - -The year 1910 is one which in our family remains for ever sacred. My -dear mother died on March 13th. - -On June 7th a very brave soldier, who feared none but God, was called to -his reward. Here my Diary stops for nearly a year.[16] - - - - -CHAPTER XXIV - -MOSTLY A ROMAN DIARY - - -Palm Sunday, 1911, found me in Rome, on the eve of my son's ordination -as priest. One of those extraordinary occurrences which have happened in -my life took place that day. Four of us joined at the appointed place -and hour: I and Eileen from Ireland (Dick, already in Rome) and Patrick, -just landed, in the nick of time, from India! We three met at the foot -of the Aventine and went up to Sant' Anselmo, where we knew we should -see _the other one_ during the Palm Sunday Mass, though not to speak to -till after the long service was ended. He intoned the Gospel as deacon, -and when his deep voice reached us in the gallery we looked at each -other with a smile. None of us had seen him for a more or less long -time. - -"Holy Saturday. The great day. Dick assumed the chasuble, and is -officially known now as Father Urban, though 'Dick' he will ever remain -with us. The weather was Romanly brilliant, but I was anxious, knowing -that these young deacons were to be on their knees in the great Lateran -Church, fasting, from 7 a.m. We three waited a long time in the piazza -of the Lateran for the pealing of the bells which should announce the -beginning of the Easter time, and which was to be the signal for our -entry into the great basilica at 9.15. We had places in two balconies, -right over the altar. Below us stood about forty deacons, with our -particular one in their midst, each holding his folded chasuble across -his arms ready for the vesting. The sight of these young fellows, in -their white and gold deacons' vestments, was very touching. Each one was -called up by name in turn, and ascended the altar steps, where sat the -consecrating bishop, who looked more like a spirit than a mere human -creature. When Urbano Butler (pronounced _Boutler_, of course, by the -Italian voice) was called, how we craned forward! To me the whole thing -was poignant. What those boys give up! ('Well,' answers a voice, 'they -give up the world, and a good thing too!') - -"We went, when the ceremony was completed, into a side chapel to receive -the newly-made young priests' first blessing. These young fellows ran -out of the sacristy towards the crowd of expectant parents and friends, -their newly-acquired chasubles flying behind them as they ran, with -outstretched hands, for the kisses of that kneeling crowd that awaited -them. What a sight! Can any one paint it and do it justice? Old and -young, gentlefolk and peasants, smiling through tears, kissing the young -hands that blessed them. Dick came to his mother first, then to his -soldier brother, then to his sister, and I saw him lifting an aged -prelate to his feet after blessing him. Strangers knelt to him and to -the others, and I saw, in its perfection, what is meant by 'laughing for -joy' on those young and holy faces. There was one exception. A poor -young Irish boy, somehow, had no relative to bless--no one--he seemed -left out in his corner, and he was crying. Perhaps his mother was -'beyond the beyond' in far Connemara? I heard of this afterwards. Had I -seen him, I would certainly have asked his blessing too. So it -is--always some shadow, even here. - -"As soon as we could get hold of Dick, in his plain habit, we hurried -him to a little _trattoria_ across the piazza, where his dear friend and -chum, John Collins,[17] treated him to a good cup of chocolate to break -his long fast." - -It was quite a necessary anti-climax for me when we and our friends all -met again at the hotel and sat down, to the number of fifteen, to a -bright luncheon I gave in honour of the day. A very celebrated English -cardinal honoured me with his presence there. - -"_Easter Sunday_.--Patrick, Eileen and I received Holy Communion in the -crypt of Sant' Anselmo from Dick's hands at his first Mass. These few -words contain the culmination of all. - -"_April 17th_.--In the afternoon we were all off, piloted by Dick, to -the celebrated Benedictine monastery of Monte Cassino, a long way down -towards Naples, to spend a few days, Patrick as guest within the -precincts, and E. and I lodging at the guest-house, which forms part of -the monastic farm, poised on the edge of a great precipice. The sheer -rock plunges down to the base of the mountain whereon stands the -wonderful monastery. It is something to see a great domed church on the -top of such a mountain, and a building of such vast proportions, -containing one of the greatest libraries in the world. A mule path was -all the monks intended for communication between the two worlds, but now -a great carriage road takes us up by an easy zigzag. - -"_April 18th_.--Every hour of our visit to Monte Cassino must be lived. -I made a sketch of the monastery and the abyss into which one peers -from that great height, with angry red clouds gathering over the tops of -the snowy mountains. But my sketches are too didactic; and, indeed, who -but Turner could convey to the beholder the awful spirit of that scene? -The tempest sent us in and we had the experience of a good thunderstorm -amidst those severe mountains that have the appearance of a petrified -chaos. Last night E. woke up to find the room full of a surprising blue -light, which at first she took to be the dawn because, through the open -windows, she heard the whole land thrilling with the song of birds. But -such a _blue_ light for dawn? She got up to see. The light was that of -the full moon and the birds were nightingales. - -"I was enchanted to see the beautiful dress of the peasant women here. -Their white _tovaglie_ are looped back in a more graceful line than the -Roman. The queerest little thin black hogs, like poor relations of the -tall, pink Valentia variety which I have already signalised, browse on -the steep ascent to this great stronghold, and everything still looks -wild, in spite of the carriage road. I should have preferred coming up -here on a mule. Our suppers at the guest-house were Spartan. Rather -dismal, having to pump conversation with the Italian guests at this -festive(!) board. Our intellectual food, however, was rich. The abbot -and his monks did the honours of far-famed Monte Cassino for us with the -kindest attention, showing very markedly their satisfaction in -possessing Brother Urban, whose father's name they held in great -esteem." - -On April 22nd we had the long-expected audience with Pio Decimo. It was -only semi-private and there were crowds, including eleven English naval -officers, to be presented. I had my little speech ready, but when we -came into the Pope's presence we found him standing instead of restfully -seated, and he looked so fatigued and so aged since I last saw him that -I knew I must keep him listening as short a time as possible. First I -presented "_Mio figlio primogenito, ufficiale_;" then "_mio figlio -Benedettino_" and then "_mia figlia_." He spoke a little while to Dick -in Latin, and then we knelt and received his blessing and departed, to -see him no more. - -It is a great thing to have seen Leo XIII. and Pius X., as I have had -the opportunity of seeing them. Both have left a deep impression on -modern life, especially the former, who was a great statesman. To see -the fragile scabbard of the flesh one wondered how the keen sword of the -spirit could be held at all within it. It was his diplomatic tact that -smoothed away many of the difficulties that obtruded themselves between -the Vatican and the Quirinal, and that tact kept the Papacy on good -terms with France and her Republic, to which he called on all French -Catholics to give their support. It was he who forced "the man of blood -and iron" to relax the ferocious laws against the Church in Germany, and -to allow the evicted bishops to return to their Sees. Diplomatic -relations with Germany were renewed, and the Church's laws regarding -marriage and education had to be re-admitted by the Government. Even the -dark "Orthodox" intolerance of Russia bent sufficiently to his influence -to allow of the establishment of Catholic episcopal Sees in that -country, and the cessation of the imprisonment of priests. The -episcopate in Scotland, too, was restored. We owe to him that spread of -Catholicism in the United States which has long been such a surprise to -the onlooker. Then there are his great encyclicals on the Social -Question, setting forth the Christian teaching on the relations between -capital and labour; establishing the social movement on Christian lines. -How clearly he saw the threat of a great European war at no very distant -date from his time unless armaments were reduced. That refined mind -inclined him to the advancement of the cause of the Arts and of -learning. Students thank him for opening the Vatican archives to them, -which he did with the words, "The Church has nothing to fear from the -publication of the Truth." His is the Vatican observatory--one of the -most famous in the world. It makes one smile to remember his remarks on -the then young Kaiser William II., who seems to have struck the Holy -Father as somewhat bumptious on the occasion of his historic visit. -"That young man," as he called him, evidently impressed the Pope as one -having much to learn. - -What a contrast Pius X. presents to his predecessor! The son of a -postman at Rieti, a little town in Venetia. I remember when a deputation -of young men came to pay him their respects at the Vatican, arriving on -their bicycles, that he told them how much he would have liked a bike -himself when, as a bare-legged boy, he had to trudge every day seven -miles to school and back. Needless to say, he had no diplomatic or -political training, but he led the truly simple life, very saintly and -apostolic. He devoted his energies chiefly to the purely pastoral side -of his office. We are grateful to him for his reform of Church music -(and it needed it in Italy!). He was very emphatic in urging frequent -communion and early communion for children. His condemnation of -"modernism" is fresh in all our minds, and we are glad he removed the -prohibition on Catholics from standing for the Italian Parliament, -thereby allowing them to obtain influential positions in public life. He -took a firm stand with regard to the advancing encroachment of the -French Government on the liberties of the Church in his day. His policy -is being amply justified under our very eyes. - -We joined the big garden party, after the Papal audience, at the British -Embassy. A great crush in that lovely remnant of the once glorious, -far-spreading gardens I can remember, nearly all turned to-day into -deadly streets on which a gridiron of tram lines has been screwed down. -Prince Arthur of Connaught brought in the Queen-Mother, Margherita, to -the lawn where the dancing took place. The Rennell-Rodd children as -little fairies were pretty and danced charmingly, but I felt for the -professional dancer who, poor thing, was not in her first youth, and -unkindly dealt with by the searching daylight. To have to caper airily -on that grass was no joke. It was heavy going for her and made me -melancholy, in conjunction with my memories of the old Ludovisi gardens -and the vanished pines. - -On October 26th my youngest daughter, Eileen, was married to Lord -Gormanston, at the Brompton Oratory, the church so loved by our mother, -and where I was received. Our dear Dick married them. I had the -reception in Lowndes Square in the beautiful house lent by a friend. - -Ireland has many historic ancestral dwellings, and one of these became -my daughter's new home in Meath. Shakespeare's "cloud-capp'd towers" -seemed not so much the "baseless fabric" of the poet's vision when I -saw, one day, the low-lying trail of a bright Irish mist brush the high -tops of the towers of Gormanston. A thing of visions, too, is realised -there in a cloister carved so solidly out of the dense foliage of the -yew that never monastic cloister of stone gave a more restful -"contiguity of shade." - -I spent the winter of 1911--12 in London, and worked hard at water -colours, of which I was able to exhibit a goodly number at a "one-man -show" in the spring. The King lent my good old "Roll Call," and the -whole thing was a success. I showed many landscapes there as well as -military subjects; many Italian and Egyptian drawings made during my -travels, and scenes in Ireland. These exhibitions in a well-lighted -gallery are pleasant, and the private view day a social rendezvous for -one's friends. - -Through my sister, with whom I revisited Rome early in 1913, I had the -pleasure of knowing many Americans there. How refreshing they are, and -responsive (I don't mean the mere tourist!), whereas my dear compatriots -are very heavy in hand sometimes. American women are particularly well -read and cultivated and full of life. They don't travel in Europe for -nothing. I have had some dull experiences in the English world when -embarking, at our solemn British dinners, on cosmopolitan subjects for -conversation. What was I to say to a man who, having lately returned -from Florence, gave it as his opinion that it was only "a second-rate -Cheltenham"? I tried that unlucky Florentine subject on another. He: -"Florence? Oh, yes, I liked that--that--_minaret thing_ by the side of -the--the--er----" I: "The Duomo?" He: "Oh, yes, the Duomo." I (in -gloomy despair): "Do you mean Giotto's Tower?" Collapse of our -conversation. - -Very probably I bade my last farewell to St. Peter's that year. I had -more than once bidden a provisional "good-bye" at sundown on leaving -Rome to that dome which I always loved to see against the western glory -from the familiar terrace on Monte Pincio, only to return, on a further -visit, and see it again with the old, fresh feeling of thankfulness. My -initial enthusiasm, crudely chronicled as it is in my early Diary on -first coming in sight of St. Peter's, was a young artist's emotion, but -to the maturer mind what a miracle that Sermon in Stone reveals! The -tomb of one Simon, no better, before his call, than any ordinary -fisherman one may see to-day on our coasts--and now? "TU ES PETRUS...." - - - - -CHAPTER XXV - -THE GREAT WAR - - -I was very busy with oil brush and water-colour brush during the summer -of 1913, and the succeeding winter, in Ireland, accomplishing a large -oil, "The Cuirassier's Last _Reveil_, Morning of Waterloo," and a number -of drawings, all of that inexhaustible battle, for my next "one-man -show" held on its centenary, 1915. I left no stone unturned to get true -studies of dawn twilight for that _reveil_, and I got them. At the -pretty house of my friends, the Egerton Castles, on a steep Surrey hill, -I had my chance. The house faced the east. It was midsummer; an alarm -clock roused me each morning at 2.30. I had modelled a little grey horse -and a man, and set them up on my balcony, facing in the right direction, -and there I waited, with palette spread, for the dawn. Time was short; -the first ray of sunrise would spoil all, so I could only dab down the -tones, anyhow; but they were all-important dabs, and made the big -picture run without a hitch. Nothing delays a picture more than the -searching for the true relations of tone without sufficient data. But -this is a truism. - -The Waterloo water colours were most interesting to work out. I had any -amount of books for reference, records of old uniforms to get from -contemporary paintings; and I utilised the many studies of horses I had -made for years, chiefly on the chance of their coming in useful some -day. The result was the best "show" I had yet had at the Leicester -Galleries. But ere that exhibition opened, the World War burst upon us! -First my soldier son went off, and then the Benedictine donned khaki, as -chaplain to the forces. He went, one may say, from the cloister to the -cannon. I had to pass through the ordeal which became the lot of so many -mothers of sons throughout the Empire. - -"_Lyndhurst, New Forest, September 22nd, 1914._--I must keep up the old -Diary during this most eventful time, when the biggest war the world has -ever been stricken with is raging. To think that I have lived to see it! -It was always said a war would be too terrible now to run the risk of, -and that nations would fear too much to hazard such a peril. Lo! here we -are pouring soldiers into the great jaws of death in hundreds of -thousands, and sending poor human flesh and blood to face the new -'scientific' warfare--the same flesh and blood and nervous system of the -days of bows and arrows. Patrick is off as A.D.C. to General Capper, -commanding the 7th Division. Martin, who was the first to be ordered to -the front, attached to the 2nd Royal Irish, has been transferred to the -wireless military station at Valentia. That regiment has been utterly -shattered in the Mons retreat, so I have reason to be thankful for the -change. I am here, at Patrick's suggestion, that I may see an army under -war conditions and have priceless opportunities of studying 'the real -thing.' The 7th Division[18] is now nearly complete, and by October 3rd -should be on the sea. I arrived at Southampton to-day, and my good old -son in his new Staff uniform was at the station ready to motor me up to -Lyndhurst where the Staff are, and all the division, under canvas. I was -very proud of the red tabs on Patrick's collar, meaning so much. I saw -at once, on arriving, the difference between this and my Aldershot -impressions. This is _war_, and there is no doubt the bearing of the men -is different. They were always smart, always cheery, _but not like -this_. There is a quiet seriousness quite new to me. They are going to -look death straight in the face. - -"_September 23rd._--I had a most striking lesson in the appearance of -men after a very long march, _plus_ that look which is quite absent on -peace manoeuvres, however hot and trying the conditions. What -surprises and telling 'bits' one sees which could never be imagined with -such a convincing power. A team of eight mammoth shire horses drawing a -great gun is a sight never to be forgotten; shapely, superb cart horses -with coats as satiny as any thoroughbred's, in polished artillery -harness, with the mild eyes of their breed--I must do that amongst many -most _real_ subjects. But I see the German shells ploughing through -these teams of willing beasts. They will suffer terribly. - -"_September 25th._--Getting hotter every day and not a cloud. I brought -this weather with me. Patrick waits on me whenever he is off duty for an -hour or so, and it is a charming experience to have him riding by the -side of the carriage to direct the driver and explain to me every -necessary detail. The place swarms with troops for ever in movement, and -the roll of guns and drums, and the notes of the cheery pipes and fifes -go on all day. The Gordons have arrived. - -[Illustration: NOTES ON THE EVE OF THE GREAT WAR.] - -"_September 26th._--Signs of pressure. They may now be off any hour. -The ammunition has all arrived, and there wants but one battery of -artillery to complete the division. General Capper won't wait much -longer and will be off without it if it delays and make up a battery _en -route_ somehow. It is sad to see so many mere boys arriving at the hotel -fresh from Sandhurst. They are given companies to command, captains -being killed, wounded or missing in such numbers. As to Patrick's -regiment, the old Royal Irish seem to have been so shattered that they -are all _hors de combat_ for the present. - -"_September 27th._--What a precious Sunday this has been! First, Patrick -accompanied me to Mass, said by Father Bernard Vaughan, in a secluded -part of the camp, where the heather had not been ploughed up by men, -horses and guns, as elsewhere, and where the altar was erected in a -wooded glen. The Grenadier and Scots Guards were all on their knees as -we arrived, and the bright green and gold vestments of the priest were -relieved very vividly in the sunshine against the darker green -background of the forest beyond. Quite a little crowd of stalwart -guardsmen received Holy Communion, and two of them were sheltering with -their careful hands the candles from the soft warm breeze, one at each -end of the altar. We sit out in the leafy garden of the hotel and have -tea there, we parents and relatives, with our boys by us at all spare -moments. To-day, being Sunday, there have been extra crowds of relatives -and friends who have motored over from afar. There is pathos here, very -real pathos. How many of these husbands and sons and brothers I see -sitting close to their dear ones, for the last time, perhaps! Who knows? -The voices are low and quiet--very quiet. Patrick and I were -photographed together by M. E. These little snapshots will be precious. -We were nearly all day together to-day as there was a rest. All this -quiet time here our brave soldiers are being shattered on the banks of -the Aisne. Just now must be a tremendously important period of the -fighting. We may get great news to-morrow. Many names I know beginning -to appear in the casualty lists. - -"_September 28th, 1914._--Had a good motor run with the R.'s right -through the field of 'battle' in the midst of the great forest--a -rolling height covered with heather and bracken. Our soldiers certainly -have learnt, at last, how to take cover. One can easily realise how it -is that the proportion of officers killed is so high. Kneeling or -standing up to give directions they are very conspicuous, whereas of the -men one catches only a glimpse of their presence now and then through a -tell-tale knapsack or the round top of a cap in the bracken; yet the -ground is packed with men--quite uncanny. The Gordons were a beautiful -sight as they sprang up to reach a fresh position. I noticed how the -breeze, as they ran, blew the khaki aprons aside and the revealed tartan -kilts gave a welcome bit of colour and touched up the drab most -effectively. One 'gay Gordon' sergeant told us, 'We are a grand -diveesion, all old warriors, and when we get out 'twill make a -deeference.'" - -The most impressive episode to me of that well-remembered day was when -Patrick took me up to the high ground at sunset and we looked down on -the camp. The mellow, very red sun was setting and the white moon was -already well up over the camp, which looked mysterious, lightly veiled -by the thin grey wood-smoke of the fires. Thousands of troops were -massed or moving, shadowy, far away; others in the middle distance -received the blood-red glow on the men's faces with an extraordinary -effect. They showed as ruddy, vaporous lines of colour over the scarcely -perceptible tones of the dusky uniforms. Horses stood up dark on the -sky-line. The bugles sounded the "Retreat"; these doomed legions, -shadow-like, moved to and fro. It was the prologue to a great tragedy. - -"_September 30th._--There was a field day of the whole of one brigade. -The regiments in it are 'The Queen's,' the Welsh Fusiliers, Staffords, -and Warwicks, with the monstrous 4·7 guns drawn by my well-loved mighty -mammoths. The guns are made impossible to the artist of modern war by -being daubed in blue and red blotches which make them absolutely -formless and, of course, no glint of light on the hidden metal is seen. -Still, there is much that is very striking, though the colour, the -sparkle, the gallant plumage, the glinting of gold and silver, have -given way to universal grimness. After all, why dress up grim war in all -that splendour? My idea of war subjects has always been anti-sparkle. - -"As I sat in the motor in the centre of the far-flung 'battle,' in a -hollow road, lo! the Headquarter Staff came along, a gallant group, _à -la_ Meissonier, Patrick, on his skittish brown mare 'Dawn,' riding -behind the General, who rode a big black (_very_ effective), with the -chief of the Staff nearly alongside. The escort consisted of a strong -detachment of the fine Northumberland Hussars, mounted on their own -hunters. They are to be the bodyguard of the General at the Front. -Several drivers of the artillery are men who were wounded at Mons and -elsewhere, and, being well again, are returning with this division to -the Front. All the horses here are superb. Poor beasts, poor beasts! One -daily, hourly, reminds oneself that the very dittoes of these men and -animals are suffering, fighting, dying over there in France. Kitchener -tells our General that the 7th Division will 'probably arrive after the -first phase is over,' which looks as though he fully expects the -favourable and early end of the present one. - -"_October 2nd._--The whole division was out to-day. I was motored into -the very thick of the operations on the high lands, and watched the men -entrenching themselves, a thing I had never yet seen. Most picturesque -and telling. And the murderous guns were being embedded in the yellow -earth and covered with heather against aeroplanes, especially, and their -wheels masked with horse blankets. There they lay, black, hump-backed -objects, with just their mouths protruding, and as each gun section -finished their work with the pick and shovel, they lay flat down to hide -themselves. How war is waged now! Great news allowed to be published -to-day in the papers. The Indian Army has arrived, and is now at the -_Front!_ It landed long ago at Marseilles, but how well the secret has -been kept! How mighty are the events daily occurring. Late in the -afternoon I saw the Northumberland Hussars, on a high ridge, _practising -the sword exercise!_ With the idea that the sword was obsolete -(engendered by the Boer War experience), no yeomanry has, of late, been -armed with sabres, but, seeing what use our Scots Greys, Lancers, -Dragoon Guards and Hussars have lately been making of the steel, General -Capper has insisted on these, his own yeomen, being thus armed. I felt -stirred with the pathos of this sight--men learning how to use a new -arm on the eve of battle. They were mounted and drawn up in a long, -two-deep line on that brown heath, with a heavy bank of dark clouds like -mine in 'Scotland for Ever!' behind their heads--a fine subject. - -[Illustration: THE SHIRE HORSES: WHEELERS OF A 4·7, - -A HUSSAR SCOUT OF 1917.] - -"Who will look at my 'Waterloos' now? I have but one more of that series -to do. Then I shall stop and turn all my attention and energy to this -stupendous war. I shall call up my Indian sowars again, but _not_ at -play this time. - -"_October 3rd_.--Sketched Patrick's three beautiful chargers' heads in -water colour. Still the word 'Go!' is suspended over our heads. - -"_October 4th_.--The word 'Go!' has just sounded. In ten minutes Patrick -had to run and get his handbag, great coat and sword and be off with his -General to London. They pass through here to-morrow on their way to -embark. - -"_October 5th_, 1914.--I was down at seven, and as they did not finally -leave till 8.15 I had a golden half-hour's respite. Then came the -parting...." - -I left Lyndhurst at once. It will ever remain with me in a halo of -physical and spiritual sunshine seen through a mist of sadness. - -On November 2nd, 1914, my son Patrick was severely wounded during the -terrible, prolonged first Battle of Ypres, and was sent home to be -nursed back to health and fighting power at Guy's Hospital, where I saw -him. He told me that as he lay on the field his General and Staff passed -by, and all the General said was, "Hullo, Butler! is that you? -Good-bye!"[19] General Capper was as brave a soldier as ever lived, -but, I think, too fond for a General of being, as he said he wished to -be, _in the vanguard_. Thus he met his death (riding on horseback, I -understand) at Loos. Patrick's brother A.D.C., Captain Isaac, whom I -daily used to see at Lyndhurst, was killed early in the War. The poor -fellow, to calm my apprehensions regarding my own son, had tried to -assure me that, as A.D.C., he would be as safe as in Piccadilly. - -Towards the end of 1914 London had become intensely interesting in its -tragic aspect, and so very unlike itself. Soldiers of all ranks formed -the majority of the male population. In fact, wherever I looked now -there was some new sight of absorbing interest, telling me we were at -war, and such a war! Bands were playing at recruiting stations; flags of -all the Allies fluttered in the breeze in gaudy bunches; "pom-pom" guns -began to appear, pointing skywards from their platforms in the parks, -awaiting "Taubes" or "Zeppelins." I went daily to watch the recruits -drilling in the parks--such strangely varied types of men they were, and -most of them appearing the veriest civilians, from top to toe. Yet these -very shop-boys had come forward to offer their all for England, and the -good fellows bowed to the terrible, shouting drill-sergeants as never -they had bowed to any man before. What enraged me was the giggling of -the shop-girls who looked on--a far harder ordeal for the boys even than -the yells of the sergeants. One of the squads in the Green Park was -supremely interesting to me one day, in (I am bound to say) a semi-comic -way. These recruits were members and associates of the Royal Academy. -They were mostly somewhat podgy, others somewhat bald. When resting, -having piled arms, they played leap-frog, which was very funny, and -showed how light-heartedly my brothers of the brush were going to meet -the Boche. Of the maimed and blind men one met at every turn I can -scarcely write. I find that when I am most deeply moved my pen lags too -far behind my brush. - -On getting home to Ireland I set to work upon a series of khaki water -colours of the War for my next "one-man show," which opened with most -satisfactory _éclat_ in May, 1917. One of the principal subjects was -done under the impulse of a great indignation, for Nurse Cavell had been -executed. I called the drawing "The Avengers." Also I exhibited at the -Academy, at the same time, "The Charge of the Dorset Yeomanry at Agagia, -Egypt." This was a large oil painting, commissioned by Colonel Goodden -and presented by him to his county of Dorset. That charge of the British -yeomen the year before had sealed the fate of the combined Turks and -Senussi, who had contemplated an attack on Egypt. One of the most -difficult things in painting a war subject is the having to introduce, -as often happens, portraits of particular characters in the drama. Their -own mothers would not know the men in the heat, dust, and excitement of -a charge, or with the haggard pallor on them of a night watch. In the -Dorset charge all the officers were portraits, and I brought as many in -as possible without too much disobeying the "distance" regulation. The -Enemy (of the Senussi tribe) wore flowing _burnouses_, which helped the -movement, but at their machine guns I, rather reluctantly, had to place -the necessary Turkish officers. I had studies for those figures and for -the desert, which I had made long ago in the East. It is well to keep -one's sketches; they often come in very useful. - -The previous year, 1916, had been a hard one. Our struggles in the War, -the Sinn Fein rebellion in Dublin, and one dreadful day in that year -when the first report of the Battle of Jutland was published--these were -great trials. I certainly would not like to go through another phase -like that. But I was hard at work in the studio at home in Tipperary, -and this kept my mind in a healthy condition, as always, through -trouble. Let all who have congenial work to do bless their stars! - -On July 31st my second son, the chaplain, had a narrow escape. It was at -the great Battle of Flanders, where we seem to have made a good -_beginning_ at last. Father Knapp and Dick were tending the wounded and -dying under a rain of shells, when the old priest told Dick to go and -get a few minutes' rest. On returning to his sorrowful work Dick met the -fine old Carmelite as he was borne on a stretcher, dying of a shell that -had exploded just where my son had been standing a few minutes before. - -I see in the Diary: "_December 11th, 1917_.--To-day our army is to make -its formal entry into Jerusalem. I can scarcely write for excitement. -How vividly I see it all, knowing every yard of that holy ground! Dick -writes from before Cambrai that, if he had to go through another such -day as that of the 30th November last, he would go mad with grief. He -lost all his dearest friends in the Grenadier Guards, and he says -England little knows how near she was to a great disaster when the enemy -surprised us on that terrible Friday." - -Men who have gone through the horrors of war say little about them, but -I have learnt many strange things from rare remarks here and there. To -show how human life becomes of no account as the fighting grows, here is -an instance. A soldier was executed at dawn one day for "cowardice." An -officer who had acted at the court-martial met a private of the same -regiment as the dead man's that day, who remarked to his officer that -all he could say about his dead "pal" was that he had seen him perform -an act of bravery three times which would have deserved the V.C. "My -good man," said the officer, "why didn't you come forward at the trial -and say this?" "Well, I didn't think of it, sir." After all, to die one -way or another had become quite immaterial. - -One of the most important of my water colours at the second khaki -exhibition, held in London in May, 1919, was of the memorable charge of -the Warwick and Worcester Yeomanry at Huj, near Jerusalem, which charge -outshone the old Balaclava one we love to remember, and which differed -from the Crimean exploit in that we not only captured all the enemy -guns, but _held_ them. I had had all details--ground plans, description -of the weather on that memorable day, position of the sun, etc., -etc.--supplied me by an eye-witness who had a singularly quick eye and -precise perception.[20] I called it "Jerusalem delivered," for that -charge opened the gates of the Holy City to us. "The Canadian Bombers on -Vimy Ridge" was another of the more conspicuous subjects, and this one -went to Canada. - -But I must look back a little: "_Monday, November 11th, -1918_.--Armistice Day! I have been fortunate in seeing London on this -day of days. I arrived at Victoria into a London of laughter, flags, -joy-rides on every conceivable and inconceivable vehicle. I had hints on -the way to London by eruptions of Union Jacks growing thicker and -thicker along the railway, but I could not let myself believe that it -was the end of all our long-drawn-out trial that I would find on -arrival. But so it was. I went alone for a good stroll through Oxford -Street, Bond Street, and Piccadilly. People meeting, though strangers, -were smiling at each other. _I_ smiled to strange faces that were -smiling at me. What a novel sensation! The streets were thronged with -the _true_ happiness in the people's eyes, and there was no -"_mafficking_" no horse-play, but such _fun_. The matter was too great -for rowdyism and drunkenness. The crowd was allowed to do just as it -pleased for once, yet I saw no accidents. The police just looked on, and -would have beamed also, I am sure, if they had not been on duty. They -had, apparently, thrown the reins on the public's neck. I saw some sad -faces, but, of course, such as these kept mostly away." - -In deepest gratitude I felt I could be amongst the smilers that day, for -both my own sons, who faced death to the very end in so many of the -theatres of war to which our armies were sent, had survived. - -The boat that took me back to Ireland eventually had no protecting -airship serpentining above us. We could breathe freely now! - -[Illustration: A POST-CARD, FOUND ON A GERMAN PRISONER, WITH "SCOTLAND -FOR EVER" TURNED INTO PRUSSIAN CAVALRY, TYPIFYING THE VICTORIOUS ON-RUSH -OF THE GERMAN ARMY IN THE NEW YEAR, 1915.] - - - - -INDEX - - -Abbas II., Khedive, 228. - -Aberdeen, Marchioness of, 308. - -Agostino (cook), 5. - -Aix-la-Chapelle, Germany, 29. - -Albaro, Italy, 6, 54, 230. - -Aldershot, review at, 236. - -Alexandra, Queen, launches _Queen_, 288 _seq._ - -Alexandria, Egypt, 202 _seq._ - -Alma Tadema, Sir L., 154. - -Amalfi, Italy, 255. - -Amboise, France, 300. - -Amélie (nurse), 2, 3, 5, 10. - -"An Eviction in Ireland," 199. - -Angers, France, 300. - -Antonelli, Cardinal, 74. - -Arcole, Italy, 224. - -Armistice Day, 1918, 332. - -Atfeh, Egypt, 216. - -Avignon, France, 178. - - -Bagshawe, Father, 105. - -"Balaclava," composition, 138; - copyright sold, 151; - exhibited, 152. - -Bâle, Switzerland, 179. - -_Barberi_ races, 85. - -Beatrice, Princess, 301. - -Bellucci, Giuseppe, 60, 66, 148. - -Beresford, Lord Charles, 221. - -Birmingham, 126. - -Blois, France, 300. - -Bonchurch, Isle of Wight, 12. - -Bonn, Germany, 19. - -Boppart, Germany, 24. - -Broome Hall, Kent, 265. - -Browne, Colonel, 120. - -Bruges, Belgium, 16, 270. - -Brussels, Belgium, 31. - -Buller, Sir Redvers, 284. - -Burchett, Mr., 39, 41, 42, 44, 48, 50, 101. - -Butcher, Dean, 232. - -Butler, Elizabeth, Lady, birth and education, 1; - visits to Italy, 3, 54 _seq._, 147 _seq._, 159 _seq._, 252 seq., - 279 _seq._, 306, 311 _seq._; - taste for drawing, 4; - early sketches, 7; - commences Diary, 7; - artistic training, 10, 14, 39 _seq._, 60 _seq._, 77; - German experiences, 19 _seq._, 179 seq.; - visits Waterloo, 31; - taste for military subjects, 46; - early exhibits, 50; - sells water-colours, 96; - first military drawings, 98; - conversion to Catholicism, 99; - first Academy picture, 99; - photographs, 114; - at Lord Mayor's banquets, 122, 139, 153, 193; - present from Queen Victoria, 125; - visits Paris, 127 _seq._; - proposed election as R.A., 153; - marriage, 168, Irish experiences, 169 _seq._, 199, 304; - tour in Pyrenees, 175; - paints "Rorke's Drift" for Queen Victoria, 187 _seq._; - life at Plymouth, 191; - Tel-el-Kebir picture, 194; - residence in Egypt, 196, 202 _seq._; - in Brittany, 198; - paints 24th Dragoons, 199; - tour in Palestine, 221; - Aldershot life, 234 _seq._; - residence at Dover, 260; - in South Africa, 275; - at Devonport, 277; - tour in France, 298; - "one-man" shows, 303, 318, 321, 329, 331. - -----, Martin, 321. - -----, Patrick, 321 _seq._ - -----, Richard (Urban), at Downside, 297; - enters Benedictine Order, 302; - ordained as priest, 311; - presented to Pius X., 315; - as army chaplain, 321; - war experiences, 330. - -Butler, General Sir William, marriage, 168; - German tour, 179 _seq._; - Zulu War, 183; - friendship with Empress Eugénie, 185, 241, 257; - at Plymouth, 191; - at Lord Mayor's banquet, 193; - Egyptian campaign (1882), 193; - Gordon expedition, 194; - Wady Halfa command, 196; - receives K.C.B., 199; - Alexandria command, 200; - Aldershot command, 234, 284; - Dover command, 260; - South African command, 275; - attacks on, 276; - Devonport command, 277; - tour in France, 298; - asked to stand for Parliament, 303; - on Royal Commission, 303; - speeches in Ireland, 309; - death, 310. - - -CAIRO, Egypt, 196. - -Cambridge, Duke of, 131, 218, 235. - -"Canadian Bombers on Vimy Ridge," 331. - -Canterbury, opening of church in, 132. - -Cap Martin, France, 251, 257. - -Capper, General, 327. - -Capri, Italy, 254. - -Carcassonne, France, 178. - -Castagnolo, Italy, 161. - -Cette, France, 177. - -Chapman, Sir F., 110. - -"Charge of the Dorset Yeomanry at Agagia, Egypt," 329. - -Chatham, Kent, 120. - -"Cistercian Shepherd," 305. - -Coblenz, Germany, 21. - -Collier, Mortimer, 192. - -Cologne, Germany, 19. - -Connaught, Duke of, 235. - -Corpus Christi procession, 119. - -Cruikshank, George, 123. - -"Cuirassier's Last Réveil, Morning of Waterloo," 320. - - -D'ARCOS, Madame, 258. - -"Dawn of Sedan," 111. - -"Dawn of Waterloo," 244. - -"Defence of Rorke's Drift," 187 _seq._ - -Delgany, Ireland, 199, 225. - -Denbigh, Earl of, 117. - -"Desert Grave," 198. - -Devonport, 277. - -Deyrout, Egypt, 217. - -Diamond Jubilee, 1897, 266. - -Dickens, Charles, 9. - -Dinan, France, 198. - -Dordrecht, Holland, 181. - -Dover, Kent, 38, 260. - -Du Maurier, George, 107, 154. - -Dufferin, Marquis of, 140. - -Durham, 144. - -Düsseldorf, Germany, 180. - - -EDENBRIDGE, Kent, 4, 185. - -Edinburgh, 145. - -Edkou, Egypt, 205. - -Edward VII., King (formerly Albert Edward, Prince of Wales), - approves of "Roll Call," 113; - accession, 286; - at launch of _Queen_, 289 _seq._; - lays keel of battleship, 295; - postponed coronation, 297. - -_Edward VII._ (battleship), 295. - -Elizabeth, Empress of Austria, 271. - -Eugénie, Empress, interview with General Butler, 185; - friendship with the Butlers, 234, 251; - devotion to her son, 237; - recollections of Egypt, 241; - at Cap Martin, 257. - - -FARNBOROUGH, Hants., 235. - -Ferguson, Sir William, 110. - -"Floreat Etona!" 193. - -Florence, Italy, 57 _seq._, 147 _seq._, 161. - -Fort St. Julian, Egypt, 217. - -Frederick, Emperor, 245. - -----, Empress. _See_ Victoria, Empress Frederick. - - -GABRIEL, Virginia, 152. - -Gallifet, Marquise de, 242. - -Galloway, Mr., 111, 131. - -Garibaldi, Giuseppe, 6. - -Gave, River, 176. - -Genoa, Italy, 5, 54, 230. - -George V., King, 261. - -Gladstone, W. E., 266. - -Glendalough, Ireland, 199. - -Gormanston, Viscountess (formerly Miss Eileen Butler), 317. - -Gormanston, Ireland, 318. - -Grant, Sir Hope, 115, 116. - -_Graphic_, 99, 125. - - -HADEN, Seymour, 110. - -Hadrian's Villa, Rome, 280. - -"Halt!" 119. - -"Halt on a Forced March: Retreat to Corunna," 225. - -Hastings, Sussex, 9. - -Heidelberg, Germany, 179. - -Henley-on-Thames, 15, 97. - -Henry of Battenberg, Princess. _See_ Beatrice, Princess. - -Herbert, J. R., 105. - - -IMPERIAL, Prince. _See_ Napoleon, Prince Imperial. - - -"Jerusalem Delivered," 331. - - -KITCHENER, Lord, 221, 272 _seq._ - -Koenigswinter, Germany, 19. - - -LANE, Richard, 11, 42. - -Le Breton, Madame, 257. - -Leman, Lake (Lake of Geneva), 179. - -Leo XIII., Pope, 257, 280, 281, 315. - -_Letters from the Holy Land_, 278. - -"'Listed for the Connaught Rangers," 169, 184. - -Lothian, Marchioness of, 118. - -Louis Napoleon, Prince, 247. - -Louise, Princess, Duchess of Argyll, 250. - -Lourdes, France, 176. - -Luchon, Bagnères de, France, 177. - -Luxor, Egypt, 197. - -Lyndhurst, Hants., 321. - - -MCKINLEY, William, 288. - -"Magnificat," 83, 97. - -Magro (cook), 219. - -Mahmoudich Canal, Egypt, 207. - -Malmaison, France, 245. - -Manning, Cardinal, 113, 133, 137. - -Mareotis, Lake, 203. - -Mayence, Germany, 180. - -Medmenham Abbey, 15. - -Metubis, Egypt, 217. - -Meynell, Mrs., 10, 51, 79, 99, 119, 155. - -Millais, Sir J. E., 11, 106, 107, 132, 138, 264. - -"Missed!" 125. - -"Missing," 168. - -Missionary College, Mill Hill, 119. - -Monte Carlo, 258. - -Monte Cassino, Monastery, 313. - -"Morrow of Talavera," 271. - -Mulranny, Ireland, 305. - -Mundy, Sergeant-Major, 31. - - -NAPLES, Italy, 229, 252. - -Napoleon, Prince Imperial, 185, 237. - -Naval Review, 1897, 269. - -Nervi, Italy, 2, 4. - -Newcastle-on-Tyne, 143. - -_Newcomes_, illustrations to, 45. - -Nîmes, France, 178. - - -OECUMENICAL COUNCIL, opening of, 79. - - -PAGET, Lord George, 118. - -Paray-le-Monial, pilgrimage to, 99. - -Patti, Adelina, 123. - -Perugia, Italy, 70, 283. - -Pietri, Franceschini, 243, 257. - -Pisa, Italy, 161. - -Pius IX., Pope, 76, 82, 90, 92, 94. - ----- X., Pope, 307, 314, 316. - -Podesti, Signor, 85. - -Pollard, Dr., 101, 102, 104, 120, 186. - -Pompeii, Italy, 253. - -Porto Fino, Italy, 159, 230. - - -"QUATRE BRAS," studies for, 112, 130; - models for, 120; - copyright sold, 124; - correctness of uniforms, 125; - where hung, 133; - success of, 135; - Ruskin's approval, 146. - -_Queen_, launching of, 288 _seq._ - - -RAMLEH, Egypt, 204. - -Ras-el-Tin, Egypt, 228. - -"Remnants of an Army," 184. - -"Rescue of Wounded," 278. - -"Return from Inkermann," preparations for, 153, 157, 165; - exhibited, 168. - -"Réveil in the Bivouac of the Scots Greys on the Morning of Waterloo," 232. - -"Review of the Native Camel Corps at Cairo," 230. - -Rhodes, Cecil, 296. - -_Riding Together_, illustrations to, 48. - -"Right Wheel," 250. - -Ristori, Adelaide, 7. - -Roberts, Earl, 287. - "Roll Call," models for, 101; - methods of work, 102; - attention to details in, 103; - success of, 104; - private view, 107; - sale of copyright, 111; - bought by Queen Victoria, 111; - taken to Windsor, 116; - question of horse's steps in, 118. - -Rome, Lady Butler's visits to, 71 _seq._, 256, 279, 306, 311 _seq._ - -Rosetta, Egypt, 205, 216. - -Ross, Mrs. Janet, 148, 161, 165. - -Rotterdam, Holland, 181. - -Ruskin, John, 51, 146, 153. - -Ruta, Italy, 3, 230. - - -ST. ETHELDREDA'S Church, London, High Mass in, 154. - -St. Peter's, Rome, functions in, 75, 280, 283. - -St. Sauveur, France, 176. - -Salisbury, Marquis of, 199, 262 _seq._ - -Salvini, Tommaso, 136. - -Savennières, France, 299. - -"Scotland for Ever," 186, 187, 191. - -Sestri Levante, Italy, 56. - -Severn, Joseph, 78, 84, 107. - -Shahzada of Afghanistan, 246. - -Siena, Italy, 162. - -Sistine Chapel, Rome, 281, 307. - -Sori, Italy, 3. - -Sorrento, Italy, 254. - -South Kensington Art School, 10. - -"Steady, the Drums and Fifes!" 261. - -Stone, Marcus, 154. - -Strettell, Rev. Alfred, 6. - -Stufa, Marchese delle, 147, 161. - -Super-Bagnère, France, 177. - -Syndioor, Egypt, 217. - - -TENNYSON, Alfred, Lord, 155 _seq._ - -"Tenth Bengal Lancers at Tent-pegging," 278, 287, 297. - -Tewfik, Khedive, 208, 226. - -"The Avengers," 239. - -"The Colours," 271. - -Thompson, Miss Alice. _See_ Meynell, Mrs. - -----, Miss Elizabeth. _See_ Butler, Elizabeth, Lady. - -----, Mr. T. J., 1, 2, 14, 49, 84, 191. - -----, Mrs. T. J., 2, 3, 9, 12, 51, 58, 83, 84, 143, 310. - -Thomson, Dr., Archbishop of York, 117. - -Toulouse, France, 177. - - -VALENTIA Island, 174. - -Vatican Gardens, Rome, 282. - -Vecchii, Colonel, 6. - -Venice, Italy, 200, 211, 308. - -Ventnor, Isle of Wight, 12, 97. - -Verona, Italy, 224. - -Vesuvius, Mount, ascent of, 255. - -Victor Emmanuel, King of Italy, 6. - -Victor Napoleon, Prince, 247. - -Victoria, Queen, buys "Roll Call," 111; - commissions "Rorke's Drift," 187; - reviews troops at Aldershot, 235, 250; - death, 285. - -----, Empress Frederick, 244, 286. - -Vyvyan, Miss, 42. - - -WADY Halfa, Egypt, 197. - -Wallace, Sir D. Mackenzie, 248. - -Waterloo, field of, 31. - -Wellington, Duke of, 33. - -Westmoreland, Countess of, 110. - -William II., German Emperor, 238. - -"Within Sound of the Guns," 278, 301. - -Wolseley, Viscount, 194, 265. - -Woolwich, review at, 117. - - -PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN BY THE WHITEFRIARS PRESS LTD. LONDON AND -TONBRIDGE. - - -Since I closed these Memoirs my sister, Alice Meynell, has passed away. - -I feel that it is not out of place to record here the fact of her desire -that I should reduce the mention of her name throughout the book. In the -original text it had figured much oftener alongside of my own. Her wish -to keep her personality always retired prevailed upon me to delete many -an allusion to her which would have graced the text, greatly to its -advantage. - -ELIZ^{TH.} BUTLER. - -_31st December, 1922._ - - - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[1] The cattle plague was raging in England. - -[2] William I., afterwards German Emperor. - -[3] The severe Lady Superintendent. - -[4] Whose son, Mr. Alfred Pollard, C.B., became the head of the British -Museum Printed Book Department. - -[5] Manning. - -[6] Poor young Inman, who was killed at the fight of Laing's Nek, S. -Africa. - -[7] "From Sketch-Book and Diary," A. & C. Black. - -[8] I have just been told by an Irishman that the Valentia breed are -trained for _racing!_ - -[9] "The Campaign of the Cataracts." - -[10] The late Lord Kitchener. - -[11] Now King George V. - -[12] Our eldest daughter Elizabeth, now Mrs. Kingscote. - -[13] Some one has explained to me, with what authority I cannot tell, -that "The Sailor King" gave this order to his officers with Royal tact, -being well aware that they could no more stand, at that period of the -dinner, than he could himself. So we sit. - -[14] To die during the World War.--E. B., 1921. - -[15] Our second son. - -[16] My daughter, Lady Gormanston, who completed and edited her father's -autobiography, has recorded in the After-word the circumstances of his -passing. - -[17] Since dead. - -[18] Only a few survivors of the original division which I saw are left. -(1916.) - -[19] In his little book, "A Galloper at Ypres" (Fisher Unwin), my son -gives a clear account of his own experience of that battle. - -[20] Colonel the Hon. Richard Preston, whose book, "The Desert Mounted -Corps," is a masterpiece. - - * * * * * - -Typographical error corrected by the etext transcriber: - -Italian friend in a duett=> Italian friend in a duet {pg 3} - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of An Autobiography, by Elizabeth Butler - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY *** - -***** This file should be named 41638-8.txt or 41638-8.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/4/1/6/3/41638/ - -Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images available at The Internet Archive) -Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team -at http://www.pgdp.net - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions -will be renamed. - -Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no -one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation -(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without -permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license - - -Title: An Autobiography - -Author: Elizabeth Butler - -Release Date: December 16, 2012 [EBook #41638] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY *** - - - - -Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images available at The Internet Archive) -Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team -at http://www.pgdp.net - - - - - - -</pre> - -<hr class="full" /> - -<p class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/cover_lg.jpg"> -<img src="images/cover.jpg" width="312" height="500" alt="image of the book's cover" -title="image of the book's cover" /></a> -</p> - -<p class="figcenter"> -<a name="fronts" id="fronts"></a> -<a href="images/frontispiece_lg.jpg"> -<img src="images/frontispiece_sml.jpg" width="250" height="357" alt="“Got It. Bravo!â€" -title="“Got It. Bravo!â€" /></a> -<br /> -<span class="caption">“Got It. Bravo!â€</span> -</p> - -<h1>AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY</h1> - -<p class="cb">BY<br /> -ELIZABETH BUTLER<br /><br /> -<i>With Illustrations from Sketches by -THE AUTHOR.</i><br /><br /><br /> -CONSTABLE & CO. LTD.<br /> -LONDON BOMBAY SYDNEY -1922</p> - -<p> </p> -<p> </p> - -<p class="c"><small>PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN BY THE WHITEFRIARS PRESS, LTD.,<br /> -LONDON AND TONBRIDGE.</small></p> - -<p> </p> -<p> </p> - -<p class="c"> -<span class="eng">To</span><br /> -MY CHILDREN<br /> -</p> - -<p> </p> -<p> </p> - -<h2><a name="FOREWORD" id="FOREWORD"></a>FOREWORD</h2> - -<p>T<small>HE</small> memoirs of a great artist must inevitably evoke the interest and -appreciation of the initiated. But this book makes a wider appeal, -written as it is by a woman whose career, apart from her art, has been -varied and adventurous, who has travelled widely and associated, not -only with the masters of her own craft, but with the great and eminent -in many fields. It is, moreover, the revelation of a personality apart, -at once feminine and virile, endued with the force engendered by -unswerving adherence to lofty aims.</p> - -<p>In this age of insistent ugliness, when the term “realism†is used to -cloak every form of grossness and degeneracy, it is a privilege to -commune with one who speaks of her “experiences of the world’s -loveliness†and describes herself as “full of interest in mankind.†-These two phrases, taken at random from the opening pages of “From -Sketch Book and Diary,†seem to me eminently characteristic of Lady -Butler and her work. She is a worshipper of Beauty in its spiritual as -well as its concrete form, and all her life she has envisaged mankind in -its nobler aspect.</p> - -<p>At seven years old little Elizabeth Thompson was already drawing -miniature battles, at seventeen she was lamenting that as yet she had -achieved nothing great, and a very few years later the world was ringing -with the fame of the painter of “The Roll Call.â€</p> - -<p>Through the accumulated interests of changeful years, charged for her -with intense joy and sorrow, she has kept her valiant standard flying, -in her art as in her life remaining faithful to her belief in humanity, -using her power and insight for its uplifting. Not only has she depicted -for us great events and strenuous action, with a sureness all her own, -she has caught and materialised the qualities which inspire heroic -deeds—courage, endurance, fidelity to a life’s ideal even in the moment -of death. And all without shirking the dreadful details of the -battlefield; amid blood and grime and misery, in loneliness and neglect, -in the desperate steadfastness of a lost cause, her figures stand out -true to themselves and to the highest traditions of their country.</p> - -<p>During the recent world-upheaval Lady Butler devoted herself in -characteristic fashion to the pursuance of her aims. Many of the -subjects painted and exhibited during those terrible years still -preached her gospel. She worked, moreover, with a twofold motive. Widow -of a great soldier, she devoted the proceeds of her labours to her less -fortunate sisters left impoverished, and even destitute, by the War.</p> - -<p>“<i>L’artiste donne de soi</i>,†said M. Paderewski once.</p> - -<p>Lady Butler has always given generously of her best, and perhaps this -book of memories, intimate and characteristic, this record of wide -interests and high endeavour, full of picturesque incident and touched -with delicate humour, is as valuable a gift as any that she has yet -bestowed.</p> - -<p class="r"> -<span class="smcap">M. E. Francis.</span><br /> -</p> - -<h2><a name="CONTENTS" id="CONTENTS"></a>CONTENTS</h2> - -<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary=""> -<tr><td><small>CHAP. </small></td> <td> </td> <td><small>PAGE</small></td></tr> - -<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#CHAPTER_I">I.</a></td><td><span class="smcap">First Impressions</span></td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_001">1</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#CHAPTER_II">II.</a></td><td><span class="smcap">Early Youth</span></td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_010">10</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#CHAPTER_III">III.</a></td><td><span class="smcap">More Travel</span></td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_019">19</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">IV.</a></td><td><span class="smcap">In the Art Schools</span></td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_038">38</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#CHAPTER_V">V.</a></td><td><span class="smcap">Study in Florence</span></td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_054">54</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">VI.</a></td><td><span class="smcap">Rome</span></td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_069">69</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">VII.</a></td><td><span class="smcap">War. Battle Paintings</span></td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_096">96</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">VIII.</a></td><td>“<span class="smcap">The Roll Call</span>â€</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_101">101</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">IX.</a></td><td><span class="smcap">Echoes of “the Roll Call</span>â€</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_115">115</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#CHAPTER_X">X.</a></td><td><span class="smcap">More Work and Play</span></td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_130">130</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#CHAPTER_XI">XI.</a></td><td><span class="smcap">To Florence and Back</span></td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_147">147</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#CHAPTER_XII">XII.</a></td><td><span class="smcap">Again in Italy</span></td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_159">159</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">XIII.</a></td><td><span class="smcap">A Soldier’s Wife</span></td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_167">167</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">XIV.</a></td><td><span class="smcap">Queen Victoria</span></td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_183">183</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#CHAPTER_XV">XV.</a></td><td><span class="smcap">Official Life—The East</span></td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_191">191</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">XVI.</a></td><td><span class="smcap">To the East</span></td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_196">196</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVII">XVII.</a></td><td><span class="smcap">More of the East</span></td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_211">211</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVIII">XVIII.</a></td><td><span class="smcap">The Last of Egypt</span></td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_224">224</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIX">XIX.</a></td><td><span class="smcap">Aldershot</span></td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_234">234</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#CHAPTER_XX">XX.</a></td><td><span class="smcap">Italy Again</span></td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_252">252</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXI">XXI.</a></td><td><span class="smcap">The Dover Command</span></td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_260">260</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXII">XXII.</a></td><td> <span class="smcap">The Cape and Devonport</span></td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_275">275</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIII">XXIII.</a></td><td><span class="smcap">A New Reign</span></td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_284">284</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIV">XXIV.</a></td><td><span class="smcap">Mostly a Roman Diary</span></td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_311">311</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td align="right" valign="top"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXV">XXV.</a></td><td><span class="smcap">The Great War</span></td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_320">320</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td> </td><td><span class="smcap">Index</span></td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_333">333</a></td></tr> -</table> - -<h2><a name="LIST_OF_ILLUSTRATIONS" id="LIST_OF_ILLUSTRATIONS"></a>LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS</h2> - -<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary=""> - -<tr><td align="right" colspan="2"><small>PAGE</small></td></tr> - -<tr><td>“<span class="smcap">Got It, Bravo!</span>â€</td><td align="right"><i><a href="#fronts">Frontispiece</a></i></td></tr> - -<tr><td><span class="smcap">A Leaf from a very early Sketch-book</span></td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_012">12</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td><span class="smcap">Flying Shots in Belgium and Rhineland in 1865</span></td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_019">19</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td><span class="smcap">In Florence during my Studies in 1869</span></td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_058">58</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td><span class="smcap">The Last of the Riderless Horse-races, and a Wet Trudge to the Vatican Council</span></td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_080">80</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td><span class="smcap">Crimean Ideas</span></td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_103">103</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td><span class="smcap">Practising for “Quatre Brasâ€</span></td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_130">130</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td><span class="smcap">One of the Balaclava Six Hundred</span></td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_151">151</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td><span class="smcap">In Western Ireland: a “Jarvey†and “Biddyâ€</span></td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_174">174</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td><span class="smcap">The Egyptian Camel Corps and the Bersaglieri</span></td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_230">230</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td><span class="smcap">Aldershot ManÅ“uvres: the Enemy in Sight</span></td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_234">234</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td><span class="smcap">A Despatch Bearer, Boer War, and the Horse Gunners</span></td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_284">284</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td><span class="smcap">Notes on the Eve of the Great War</span></td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_323">323</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td><span class="smcap">The Shire Horses: Wheelers of a 4·7. A Hussar Scout of 1917</span></td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_327">327</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td><span class="smcap">A Postcard, found on a German Prisoner, with “Scotland -for Ever†turned into Prussian Cavalry, typifying -the Victorious Onrush of the German Army in the -New Year, 1915</span></td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_332">332</a></td></tr> -</table> - -<p><a name="page_001" id="page_001"></a></p> - -<h1><a name="AN_AUTOBIOGRAPHY" id="AN_AUTOBIOGRAPHY"></a>AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY<br /><br /> -<small>ELIZABETH BUTLER</small></h1> - -<p><span class="smcap">My Friends</span>: You must write your memoirs.</p> - -<p>I: Every one writes his or her memoirs nowadays. Rather a plethora, -don’t you think? An exceedingly difficult thing to do without too much -of the Ego.</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">My Friends</span>: Oh! but yours has been such an interesting life, so varied, -and you can bring in much outside yourself. Besides, you have kept a -diary, you say, ever since you were twelve, and you have such an -unusually long memory. A pity to waste all that. You simply <i>must</i>!</p> - -<p>I: Very well, but remember that I am writing while the world is still -knocked off its balance by the Great War, and few minds will care to -attune themselves to the Victorian and Edwardian stability of my time.</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">My Friends</span>: There will come a reaction.</p> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I<br /><br /> -<small>FIRST IMPRESSIONS</small></h2> - -<p>I <small>WAS</small> born at the pretty “Villa Claremont,†just outside Lausanne and -overlooking Lake Leman. I made a good start with the parents Providence -gave me. My father, cultured, good, patient, after he left Cambridge set -out on the “Grand Tour,†and after his unsuccessful attempt to enter -Parliament devoted his leisure to my and my younger sister’s education. -Yes, he began with our first strokes, our “pot-hooks and hangers,†our -two-and-two make four; nor did his tuition really cease till, entering -on matrimony, we left the paternal roof. He adopted, in giving us our -lessons, the principle of “a little and<a name="page_002" id="page_002"></a> often,†so that we had two -hours in the morning and no lessons in the afternoon, only bits of -history, poetry, the collect for the Sunday and dialogues in divers -languages to learn overnight by heart to be repeated to him next -morning. We had no regular holidays: a day off occasionally, especially -when travelling; and we travelled much. He believed that intelligent -travel was a great educator. He brought us up tremendous English -patriots, but our deepest contentment lay in our Italian life, because -we loved the sun—all of us.</p> - -<p>So we oscillated between our Ligurian Riviera and the home counties of -Kent and Surrey, but were never long at a time in any resting place. Our -father’s daughter by his first wife had married, at seventeen, an -Italian officer whose family we met at Nervi, and she settled in Italy, -becoming one of our attractions to the beloved Land. That officer later -on joined Garibaldi, and was killed at the Battle of the Volturno. She -never left the country of her adoption, and that bright lure for us -remained.</p> - -<p>Although we were very strictly ruled during lessons, we ran rather wild -after, and, looking back, I only wonder that no illness or accident ever -befell us. Our dear Swiss nurse was often scandalised at our escapades, -but our mother, bright and beautiful, loving music and landscape -painting, and practising both with an amateur’s enthusiasm, allowed us -what she considered very salutary freedom after study. Still, I don’t -think she would have liked some of our wild doings and our consortings -with Genoese peasant children and Surrey ploughboys, had she known of -them. But, careful as she was of our physical and spiritual health, she -trusted us and thought us unique.<a name="page_003" id="page_003"></a></p> - -<p>My memory goes back to the time when I was just able to walk and we -dwelt in a typically English village near Cheltenham. I see myself -pretending to mind two big cart-horses during hay-making, while the fun -of the rake and the pitchfork was engaging others not so interested in -horses as I already was myself. Then I see the <i>Albergo</i>, with -vine-covered porch, at Ruta, on the “saddle†of Porto Fino, that -promontory which has been called the “Queen of the Mediterranean,†where -we began our lessons, and, I may say, our worship of Italy.</p> - -<p>Then comes Villa de’ Franchi for two exquisite years, a little nearer -Genoa, at Sori, a <i>palazzo</i> of rose-coloured plaster and white stucco, -with flights of stone steps through the vineyards right down to the sea. -That sea was a joy to me in all its moods. We had our lessons in the -balcony in the summer, and our mother’s piano sent bright melody out of -the open windows of the drawing-room when she wasn’t painting the -mountains, the sea, the flowers. She had the “semi-grand†piano brought -out into the balcony one fullmoon night and played Beethoven’s -“Moonlight Sonata†under those silver beams, while the sea, her -audience, in its reflected glory, murmured its applause.</p> - -<p>Often, after the babes were in bed, I cried my heart out when, through -the open windows, I could hear my mother’s light soprano drowned by the -strong tenor of some Italian friend in a duet, during those musical -evenings so dear to the music-loving children of the South. It seemed -typical of her extinction, and I felt a rage against that tenor. Our -dear nurse, Amélie, would come to me with lemonade, and mamma, when -apprised of the state of things, would also come to the<a name="page_004" id="page_004"></a> rescue, her -face, still bright from the singing, becoming sad and puckered.</p> - -<p>A stay at Edenbridge, in Kent, found me very happy riding in big waggons -during hay-making and hanging about the farm stables belonging to the -house, making friends with those splendid cart-horses which contrasted -with the mules of Genoa in so interesting a way. How the cuckoos sang -that summer; a note never heard in Italy. I began writing verse about -that time. Thus:</p> - -<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">The gates of Heaven open to the lovely season,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">And all the meadows sweet they lie in peace.<br /></span> -</div></div> - -<p>We children loved the Kentish beauty of our dear England. Poetry -filtered into our two little hearts wherever we abode, to blossom forth -in my little large-eyed, thoughtful sister in the process of time. To -Nervi we went again, taking Switzerland on the way this time, into Italy -by the Simplon and the Lago Maggiore.</p> - -<p>A nice couple of children we were sometimes! At this same Nervi, one -day, we little girls found the village people celebrating a <i>festa</i> at -Sant’ Ilario, high up on the foothills of the mountains behind our -house. We mixed in the crowd outside, as the church emptied, and armed -ourselves with branches. Rounding up the children, who were in swarms, -we gave chase. Down, down, through the zone of chestnut trees, down -through the olive woods, down through the vineyards, down to the little -town the throng fled, till, landing them in the street, we went home, -remarking on the evident superior power of the Anglo-Saxon race over the -Latin.</p> - -<p>As time went on my drawing-books began to show<a name="page_005" id="page_005"></a> some promise, so that my -father gave me great historical subjects for treatment, but warning me, -in that amused way he had, that an artist must never get spoilt by -celebrity, keeping in mind the fluctuations of popularity. I took all -this seriously. I think that, having no boys to bring up, he tried to -put all the tuition suitable to both boys and girls into us. One result -was that as a child I had the ambition to be a writer as well as a -painter. We children were fanatically devoted to the worship of -Charlotte Brontë, since our father had read us “Jane Eyre†(with -omissions). Rather strong meat for babes! We began sending poetry and -prose to divers periodicals and cut our teeth on rejected MSS.</p> - -<p>We went back to Genoa, <i>viâ</i> Jersey (as a little <i>détour</i>!) Poor old -Agostino, our inevitable cook, saw us as we drove from the station, on -our arrival, through the Via Carlo Felice. Worse luck, for he had become -too blind for his work. In days gone by he had done very well and we had -not the heart to cast him off. He ran after our carriage, kissing our -hands as he capered sideways alongside, at the peril of being run over. -So we were in for him again, but it was the last time. On our next visit -a friend told us, “Agostino is dead, thank goodness!†He and our dear -nurse, Amélie, used to have the most desperate rows, principally over -religion, he a devout Catholic and she a Protestant of the true Swiss -fibre. They always ended by wrangling themselves at the highest pitch of -their voices into papa’s presence for judgment. But he never gave it, -only begging them to be quiet. She declared to Agostino that if he got -no wages at all he would still make a fortune out of us by his -perquisites; and, indeed, considering we left all purchases in his<a name="page_006" id="page_006"></a> -hands, I don’t think she exaggerated. The war against Austria had been -won. Magenta, Solferino, Montebello—dear me, how those names resounded! -One day as we were running along the road in our pinafores near the -Zerbino palace, above Genoa, along came Victor Emmanuel in an open -carriage looking very red and blotchy in the heat, with big, ungloved -hands, one of which he raised to his hat in saluting us little imps who -were shouting “Long live the King of Italy!†in English with all our -might. We were only a <i>little</i> previous (!) Then the next year came the -Garibaldi enthusiasm, and we, like all the children about us, became -highly exalted <i>Garibaldians</i>. I saw the Liberator the day before he -sailed from Quarto for his historical landing in Sicily, at the Villa -Spinola, in the grounds of which we were, on a visit at the English -consul’s. He was sitting in a little arbour overlooking the sea, talking -to the gardener. In the following autumn, when his fame had increased a -thousandfold, I made a pen and ink memory sketch of him which my father -told me to keep for future times. I vividly remember, though at the time -not able to understand the extraordinary meaning of the words, hearing -one of Garibaldi’s adoring comrades (one Colonel Vecchii) a year or two -later on exclaim to my father, with hands raised to heaven, -“<i>Garibaldi!! C’est le Christ le revolver à la main!</i>â€</p> - -<p>Our life at old Albaro was resumed, and I recall the pleasant English -colony at Genoa in those days, headed by the very popular consul, -“Monty†Brown, and the nice Church of England chaplain, the Rev. Alfred -Strettell. Ah! those primitive picnics on Porto Fino, when Mr. Strettell -and our father used to read aloud to the little company, including our<a name="page_007" id="page_007"></a> -precocious selves, Shakespeare, Wordsworth, Keats, Tennyson, under the -vines and olives, between whose branches, far below the cultivated -terraces which we chose for our repose, appeared the deep blue waters of -the Sea of seas. My early sketch books are full of incidents in Genoese -peasant life: carnival revels in the streets, so suited to the child’s -idea of fun; charges of Garibaldian cavalry on discomfited Neapolitan -troops (the despised <i>Borbonici</i>), and waving of tricolours by bellicose -patriots. I was taken to the Carlo Felice Theatre to see Ristori in -“Maria Stuarda,†and became overwhelmed with adoration of that mighty -creature. One night she came on the stage waving a great red, white, and -green tricolour, and recited to a delirious audience a fine patriotic -poem to united Italy ending in the words “<i>E sii Regina Ancor!</i>†I see -her now in an immense crinoline.</p> - -<p>A charming autumn sojourn on the lakes of Orta and Maggiore filled our -young minds with beauty. Early autumn is the time for the Italian lakes, -while the vintage is “on†and the golden Indian corn is stored in the -open loggias of the farms, hanging in rich bunches in sun and luminous -shade amongst the flower pots and all the homely odds and ends of these -picturesque dwellings. The following spring was clouded by our return to -England and London in particularly cold and foggy weather, dark with the -London smoke, and our temporary installation in a dismal abode hastily -hired for us by our mother’s father, where we could be close to his -pretty little dwelling at Fulham. My Diary was begun there. Poor little -“Mimi†(as I was called), the pages descriptive of our leaving Albaro at -that time are spotted with the mementos of her tears. The journey<a name="page_008" id="page_008"></a> -itself was a distraction, for we returned by the long Cornice Route -which then was followed by the <i>Malle Poste</i> and Diligence, the railway -being only in course of construction. It was very interesting to go in -that fashion, especially to me, who loved the horses and watched the -changing of our teams at the end of the “stages†with the intensest -zest. I made little sketches whenever halts allowed, and, as usual, my -irrepressible head was out of the Diligence window most of the time. The -Riviera is now known to everybody, and very delightful in its way. I -have not long returned from a very pleasant visit there; everything very -luxurious and up-to-date, but the local sentiment is lessened. The -reason is obvious, and has been laboured enough. One can still go off -the beaten paths and find the true Italy. I have found one funny little -sketch showing our <i>Malle Poste</i> stopping to pick up the mail bag at a -village (San Remo, perhaps), which bag is being handed out of a top -window, at night, by the old postmistress. The <i>Malle Poste</i> evidently -went “like the wind,†for I invariably show the horses at a gallop all -along the route.</p> - -<p>My misery at the view of our approach to London through that wilderness -of slums that ushers us into the Great Metropolis is all chronicled, -and, what with one thing and another, the Diary sinks for a while into -despondency. But not for long. I cheer up soon.</p> - -<p>In London I took in all the amusing details of the London streets, so -new to me, coming from Italy. I seem, by my entries in the Diary, to -have been particularly diverted by the colour of those Dundreary -whiskers that the English “swell†of the period affected. I constantly -come upon “Saw no end of red whiskers.†Then I read, “Mamma and I paid<a name="page_009" id="page_009"></a> -calls, one on Dickens (<i>sic</i>)—out, thank goodness.†Charles Dickens, -whom I dismiss in this offhand manner, had been a close friend of my -father’s, and it was he who introduced my father to the beautiful Miss -Weller (amusing coincidence in names!) at an amateur concert where she -played. The result was rapid. My vivid memory can just recall Charles -Dickens’s laugh. I never heard it echoed by any other man’s till I heard -Lord Wolseley’s. The volunteer movement was in full swing, and I became -even more enthusiastic over the citizen soldiers than I had been over -the <i>Garibaldini</i>. Then there are pages and pages filled with -descriptions of the pictures at the Royal Academy; of the Zoological -Gardens, describing nearly every bird, beast, reptile and fish. Laments -over the fogs and the cold of that dreadful London April and May, and -untiring outbursts in verse of regret for my lost Italy. But I stuffed -my sketch books with British volunteers in every conceivable uniform, -each corps dressed after its own taste. There was a very short-lived -corps called the Six-foot Guards! I sent a design for a uniform to the -<i>Illustrated London News</i>, which was returned with thanks. I felt hurt. -Grandpapa attached himself to the St. George’s Rifles, and went, later -on, through storm and rain and sun in several sham fights. Well, <i>Punch</i> -made fun of those good men and true, but I have lived to know that the -“Territorials,†as they came to be called, were destined in the -following century to lend their strong arm in saving the nation. We next -had a breezy and refreshing experience of Hastings and the joy of rides -on the downs with the riding master. London fog and smoke were blown off -us by the briny breezes.<a name="page_010" id="page_010"></a></p> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II<br /><br /> -<small>EARLY YOUTH</small></h2> - -<p>I<small>N</small> December we migrated back to London, and shortly before Christmas our -dear, faithful nurse died. That was Alice’s and my first sense of -sorrow, and, even now, I can’t bear to go over those dreadful days. Our -father told us we would never forgive ourselves if we did not take our -last look at her. He said we were very young for looking on death, but -“go, my children,†he said, “it is right.†I cannot read those -heartbroken words with which I fill page after page of my Diary even now -without tears. She had at first intended to remain at home at Lausanne -when my parents were leaving for England, shortly after my birth, but as -she was going I smiled at her from my cradle. “<i>Ah! Mademoiselle Mimi, -ce sourire!</i>†brought her back irresistibly, and with us she remained to -the end.</p> - -<p>As we girls grew apace we had a Parisian mistress to try and parisianise -our Swiss French and an Italian master to try and tuscanise our Genoese -Italian, and every Saturday a certain Mr. Standish gave me two hours’ -drill in oil painting. How grand I felt! He gave me his own copies of -Landseer’s horses’ heads and dogs as models. This wasn’t very much, but -it was a beginning. My lessons in the elementary class at the S. -Kensington School of Art are not worth mentioning. The masters gave me -hateful scrolls and patterns to copy, and I relieved my feelings by<a name="page_011" id="page_011"></a> -ornamenting the margins of my drawing paper with angry scribblings of -horses and soldiers in every variety of fury. That did not last long. -This entry in the Diary speaks for itself:—</p> - -<p>“<i>Sunday, March 16th, 1862.</i>—We went to Mr. Lane’s house preparatory to -going to see Millais in his studio. Mr. Richard Lane is an old friend of -papa’s. The middle Miss Lane is a favourite model of Millais’ and very -pretty. We entered his studio, which is hung with rich pre-Raphaelite -tapestry and pre-Raphaelite everything. The smell of cigar smoke -prepared me for what was to come. Millais, a tall, strapping, careless, -blunt, frank, young Englishman, was smoking with two villainous friends, -both with beards—red, of course. Instead of coming to be introduced -they sat looking at Millais’ graceful drawings calling them ‘jolly’ and -‘stunning,’ the creatures! Millais would be handsome but for his eyes, -which are too small, and his hair is colourless and stands up in curls -over his large head but not encroaching upon his splendid forehead. He -seems to know what a universal favourite he is.†I naturally did not -record in this precious piece of writing a rather humiliating little -detail. I wanted the company to see that I was a bit of a judge of -painting, ahem! In fact, a painter myself, and, approaching very near to -the wet picture of “The Ransom†(I think), I began to scrutinise. Mr. -Lane took me gently, but firmly, by the shoulders and placed me in a -distant chair. Had I been told by a seer that in 1875—the year I -painted “Quatre Bras‗this same Millais, after entertaining me at -dinner in that very house, would escort me down those very steps, and, -in shaking hands, was to say, “Good night, Miss Thompson, I shall soon -have the<a name="page_012" id="page_012"></a> pleasure of congratulating you on your election to the -Academy, an honour which you will <i>t’oroughly</i> deserve‗had I been told -this!</p> - -<p>Our next halt was in the Isle of Wight, at Ventnor, and then at -Bonchurch, and our house was “The Dell.†Bonchurch was a beautiful -dwelling-place. But, alas! for what I may call the Oxford primness of -the society! It took long to get ourselves attuned to it. However, we -got to be fond of this society when the ice thawed. The Miss Sewells -were especially charming, sisters of the then Warden of New College. -Each family took a pride in the beauty of its house and gardens, the -result being a rivalry in loveliness, enriching Bonchurch with flowers, -woods and ornamental waters that filled us with delight. Mamma had “The -Dell†further beautified to come up to the high level of the others. She -made a little garden herself at the highest point of the grounds, with -grass steps, bordered with tall white lilies, and called it “the -Celestial Garden.†The cherry trees she planted up there for the use of -the blackbirds came to nothing. The water-colours she painted at “The -Dell†are amongst her loveliest.</p> - -<p class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/ill_pg_012_lg.jpg"> -<img src="images/ill_pg_012_sml.jpg" width="269" height="388" alt="A leaf from a very early sketch-book." -title="A leaf from a very early sketch-book." /></a> -<br /> -<span class="caption">A leaf from a very early sketch-book.</span> -</p> - -<p>Ventnor was fond of dances, At Homes, and diversions generally, but I -shall never forget my poor mother’s initial trials at the musical -parties where the conversation raged during her playing, rising and -sinking with the <i>crescendos</i> and <i>diminuendos</i> (and this after the -worship of her playing in Italy!), and once she actually stopped dead in -the middle of a Mozart and silence reigned. She then tried the catching -“Saltarello,†with the same result exactly. “The English appreciate -painting with their ears and music with their eyes,†said Benjamin West -(if I am not mistaken),<a name="page_013" id="page_013"></a> the American painter, who became President of -our Royal Academy. This hard saying had much truth in it, at least in -his day. Even in ours they had to be <i>told</i> of the merits of a picture, -and the <i>sight</i> of a pianist crossing his hands when performing was the -signal for exchanges of knowing smiles and nods amongst the audience, -who, talking, hadn’t heard a note. For vocal music, however, silence was -the convention. How we used inwardly to laugh when, after a song piped -by some timid damsel, the music was handed round so that the words and -music might be seen in black and white by the guests assembled. I -thankfully record the fact that as time went on my mother’s playing -seemed at last to command attention, and it being whispered that silence -was better suited to such music, it became quite the thing to stop -talking.</p> - -<p>Though Bonchurch was inclined to a moderate High Church tone, its rector -was of a pungent Low-Churchism, and he wrote us and the other girls who -sang in his choir a very severe letter one day ordering us to -discontinue turning to the east in the Creed. We all liked the much more -genial and very beautiful services at Holy Trinity Church, midway to -Ventnor, where we used to go for evensong. The Rev. Mr. G., of -Bonchurch, gave us very long sermons in the mornings, prophesying dismal -and alarming things to come, and we took refuge finally in the Rev. A. -L. B. Peile’s more heartening discourses.</p> - -<p>The Ventnor dances were thoroughly enjoyable, and the croquet parties -and the rides with friends, and all the rest of it. Yes, it was a nice -life, but the morning lessons never broke off. No doubt we were -precocious, but we like to dwell on the fact of the shortness of our -childhood and the consequent length<a name="page_014" id="page_014"></a> of our youth. I now and then come -upon funny juvenile sketch books where I find my Ventnor partners at -these dances clashing with charges of Garibaldian cavalry. There they -are, the desirable ones and the undesirable; the drawling “heavy swell†-and the raw stripling; the handsome and the ugly. The girls, too, are -there; the flirt and the wallflower. They all went in.</p> - -<p>These festive Ventnor doings were all very well, but it became more and -more borne in upon me that, if I intended to be a “great artist†(oh! -seductive words), my young ’teens were the right time for study. “Very -well, then—attention!—miss!†No sooner did my father perceive that I -meant business than he got me books on anatomy, architecture, costume, -arms and armour, Ruskin’s inspiring writings, and everything he thought -the most appropriate for my training. But I longed for regular training -in some academy. I chafed, as my Diaries show. For some time yet I was -to learn in this irregular way, petitioning for real severe study till -my dear parents satisfied me at last. “You will be entering into a -tremendous ruck of painters, though, my child,†my father said one day, -with a shake of his head. I answered, “I will single myself out of it.â€</p> - -<p>So, then, the lovely “Dell†was given up, and soon there began the -happiest period of my girlhood—my life as an art student at South -Kensington; <i>not</i> in the elementary class of unpleasant memory, but in -the “antique†and the “life.â€</p> - -<p>But our father wanted first to show us Bruges and the Rhine, so we were -off again on our travels in the summer. Two new countries for us girls, -hurrah!<a name="page_015" id="page_015"></a> and a little glimpse of a part of our own by the way. I find an -entry made at Henley.</p> - -<p>“<i>Henley, May 31st.</i>—Before to-day I could not boast with justice of -knowing more than a fraction of England! This afternoon I saw her in one -of her loveliest phases on a row to Medmenham Abbey. Skies of the most -telling effects, ever changing as we rowed on, every reach we came to -revealing fresh beauties of a kind so new to me. The banks of long grass -full of flowers, the farmsteads gliding by, the willows allowed to grow -according to Nature’s intention into exquisitely graceful trees, the -garden lawns sloping to the water’s edge as a delicious contrast to the -predominating rural loveliness, and then that unruffled river! I have -seen the Thames! At Medmenham Abbey we had tea, and one of the most -beautiful parts of the river and meadowland, flowery to overflowing, was -seen before us through the arcades, the sky just there being of the most -delicious dappled warm greys, and further on the storm clouds towered, -red in the low sun. What pictures wherever you turn; and turn and turn -and turn we did, until my eyes ached, on our smooth row back. The -evening effects put the afternoon ones out of my head. I imagined a -score of pictures, peopling the rich, sweet banks with men and women of -the olden time. The skies received double glory and poetry from the -perfectly motionless water, which reflected all things as in a -mirror—as if it wasn’t enough to see that overwhelming beauty without -seeing it doubled! At last I could look no more at the effects nor hear -the blackbirds and thrushes that sang all the way, and, to Mamma’s -sympathetic amusement, I covered my eyes and ears with a shawl. Alas! -for the artist, there is<a name="page_016" id="page_016"></a> no peace for him. He cannot gaze and -peacefully admire; he frets because he cannot ‘get the thing down’ in -paint. Having finished my row in that Paradise, let me also descend from -the poetic heights, and record the victory of the Frenchman. Yes, -‘Gladiateur’ has carried off the blue ribbon of the turf. Upon my word, -these Frenchmen!†It was the first time a French horse had won the -Derby.</p> - -<p>Bruges was after my own heart. Mediæval without being mouldy, kept -bright and clean by loving restorations done with care and knowledge. No -beautiful old building allowed to crumble away or be demolished to make -room for some dreary hideosity, but kept whole and wholesome for modern -use in all its own beauty. Would that the Italians possessed that same -spirit. My Diary records our daily walks through the beautiful, bright -streets with their curious signs named in Flemish and French, and the -charm of a certain <i>place</i> planted with trees and surrounded by gabled -houses. Above every building or tree, go where you would, you always saw -rising up either the wondrous tower of the Halle (the <i>Beffroi</i>), dark -against the bright sky, or the beautiful red spire on the top of the -enormous grey brick tower of Notre Dame, a spire, I should say, -unequalled in the world not only for its lovely shape and proportions, -but for its exquisite style and colour: a delicious red for its upper -part, most refined and delicate, with white lines across, and as -delicate a yellow lower down. Or else you had the grey tower of the -cathedral, plain and imposing, made of small bricks like that of Notre -Dame, having a massive effect one would not expect from the material. -Over the little river, which runs nearly round the town, are -oft-recurring draw-bridges<a name="page_017" id="page_017"></a> with ponderous grey gates, flanked by two -strong, round, tower-like wings. Most effective. On this river glided -barges pulled painfully by men, who trudged along like animals. I record -with horror that one barge was pulled by a woman! “It was quite painful -to see her bent forward doing an English horse’s work, with the band -across her chest, casting sullen upward glances at us as we passed, and -the perspiration running down her face. From the river diverge canals -into the town, and nothing can describe the beauty of those water -streets reflecting the picturesque houses whose bases those waters wash, -as at Venice. When it comes to seeing two towers of the Halle, two -spires of Notre Dame, two towers of the cathedral, etc., etc., the -duplicate slightly quivering downwards in the calm water! Here and -there, as we crossed some canal or other, one special bit would come -upon us and startle us with its beauty. Such combinations of gables and -corner turrets and figures of saints and little water-side gardens with -trees, and always two or more of the towers and spires rising up, hazy -in the golden flood of the evening sun!â€</p> - -<p>In our month at Bruges I made the most of every hour. It is one of the -few towns one loves with a personal love. I don’t know what it looks -like to-day, after the blight of war that passed over Belgium, but I -trust not much harm was done there. How one trembled for the old -<i>beffroi</i>, which one heard was mined by the Huns when they were in -possession.</p> - -<p>“<i>August 24th.</i>—Dear, exquisite, lovely, sunny, smiling Bruges, -good-bye! Good-bye, fair city of happy, ever happy, recollections. -Bright, gabled Bruges, we shall not look upon thy like again.â€</p> - -<p>I will make extracts from my German Diary, as<a name="page_018" id="page_018"></a> Germany in those days was -still a land of kindly people whom we liked much before they became -spoilt by the Prussianism only then beginning to assert itself over the -civil population. The Rhine, too, was still unspoilt. That part of -Germany was agricultural; not yet industrialised out of its charm. I -also think these extracts, though so crude and “green,†may show young -readers how we can enjoy travel by being interested in all we see. I may -become tiresome to older ones who have passed the Golden Gates, and for -some of whom Rhine or Nile or Seine or Loire has run somewhat dry.<a name="page_019" id="page_019"></a></p> - -<p class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/ill_pg_019_lg.jpg"> -<img src="images/ill_pg_019_sml.jpg" width="256" height="417" alt="Flying Shots in Belgium and Rhineland in /65." -title="Flying Shots in Belgium and Rhineland in /65." /></a> -<br /> -<span class="caption">Flying Shots in Belgium and Rhineland in /65.</span> -</p> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III<br /><br /> -<small>MORE TRAVEL</small></h2> - -<p>“A<small>LAS</small>! for railway travellers one approach to a place is like another. -Fancy arriving at Cologne through ragged factory outskirts and being -deposited under a glazed shed from which nothing but the railway objects -can be seen! We made a dash to the cathedral, I on the way remarking the -badly-dressed Düppel heroes (!) with their cook’s caps and tight -trousers; and oh dear! the officers are of a very different mould here -from what they are in Belgium. Big-whiskered fellows with waists enough -to make the Belgians faint. But I am trifling. We went into the -cathedral by a most glorious old portal covered with rich Gothic -mouldings. Happy am I to be able to say I have seen Cologne Cathedral. -Now, hurrah for the Rhine! that river I have so longed, for years, to -see.â€</p> - -<p>We don’t seem to have cared much for Bonn, though I intensely enjoyed -watching the swift river from the hotel garden and the Seven Mountains -beyond. The people, too, amused and interested me very much, and the -long porcelain pipe dangling from every male mouth gave me much matter -for sketching.</p> - -<p>My Diary on board the <i>Germania</i>: “Koenigswinter at the foot of the -Dragenfels began that series of exquisite towns at the foot of ruined -castles of which we have had more than a sufficient feast—that is, to<a name="page_020" id="page_020"></a> -be able to do them all the justice which their excessive beauty calls -loudly for. We rounded the Dragenfels and saw it ‘frowning’ more -Byronically than on the Bonn side, and altogether more impressive. And -soon began the vines in all their sweet abundance on the smiling hill -slopes. Romantic Rolandsec expanded on our right as we neared it, and -there stood the fragment of the ruined castle peering down, as its -builder is said to have done, upon the Convent amidst the trees on its -island below. And then how fine looked the Seven Mountains as we looked -back upon them, closing in the river as though it were a lake, and away -we sped from them and left them growing mistier, and passed russet roofs -and white-walled houses with black beams across, and passed lovely -Unkel, picturesque to the core, bordering the water, and containing a -most delicious old church. Opposite rose curious hills, wild and round, -half vine-clad, half bare, and so on to Apollinarisberg on our right, -with its new four-pinnacled church on the hill, above Remagen and its -old church below. The last sight of the Dragenfels was a very happy one, -in misty sunlight, as it finally disappeared behind the near hills. On, -on we went, and passed the dark Erpeler Lei and the round, blasted and -dismal ruin of Okenfels; and Ling, with a cloud-capped mountain frowning -over it. As we glided by the fine restored <i>château</i> of Argenfels and -the village of Hönningen the sky was red with the reflection of the -sunset which we could not see, and was reflected in the swirling river. -We did our Rhine pretty conscientiously by going first aft, then -forward, and then to starboard, and then to port, and glories were -always before us, look which way we would. So the Rhine has <i>not</i> been -too much cried up, say what you will,<a name="page_021" id="page_021"></a> Messrs. Blasé and Bore. The views -were constantly interrupted by the heads of the lack-lustre people on -board, who, just like the visitors at the R.A., hide the beauties they -can’t appreciate from those who long to see them. But it soon began to -grow dark.</p> - -<p>“As we glided by Neuwied and stopped to take and discharge passengers a -band was playing the ‘Düppel March,’ so called because the Prussians -played it before Düppel. They are so blatantly proud of having beaten -the Danes and getting Schleswig-Holstein. Fireworks were spluttering, -and, altogether, a great deal of festivity was going on. It was quite -black on the afterdeck by this time, <i>minus</i> lanterns. To go below to -the stuffy, lighted cabin was not to be thought of, so we walked up and -down, sometimes coming in contact with our fellow-man, or, rather, -woman, for the men carried lights at the fore (<i>i.e.</i>, at the ends of -their cigars). At last, by the number of lights ahead, we knew we were -approaching Coblenz. We went to the “Giant†Hotel, close to the landing. -It was most tantalising to know that Ehrenbreitstein was towering -opposite, invisible, and that such masses of picturesqueness must be all -around. Papa and I had supper in the <i>Speise-saal</i>, and then I gladly -sought my couch, in my sweet room which looked on the front, after a -very enjoyable day.</p> - -<p>“Most glorious of glorious days! The theory held so drearily by Messrs. -Blasé and Bore about the mist and rain of the Rhine is knocked on the -head. We were off to Bingen, to my regret, for it was hard to leave such -a place as Coblenz, although greater beauties awaited us further up, -perhaps, than we had yet seen. But I must begin with the morning and -record the glorious sight before us as we looked out of<a name="page_022" id="page_022"></a> our windows. -Strong Ehrenbreitstein against the pearly, hot, morning sky, the -furrowed rock laid bare in many places, and precipitous, sun-tinted and -shadow-stained; the bright little town just opposite, the hill behind -thickly clothed in rich vines athwart which the sun shone deliciously. -The green of the river, too, was beautifully soft. After breakfast we -took that charming invention, an open carriage, and went up to the -Chartreuse, the proper thing to do, as this hill overlooks one of <i>the</i> -views of the world. We went first through part of the town, by the large -and rather ugly King’s Palace, passing much picturesqueness. The women -have very pleasing headdresses about here of various patterns. Of -course, the place is full of soldiers and everything seems fortified. On -our ascent we passed great forts of immense strength, hard nuts for the -French to crack, if they ever have the wickedness (<i>sic</i>) to put their -pet notion of the Rhine being France’s boundary into execution. What a -view we had all the way up; to our left, the winding Rhine disappearing -in the distance into the gorge, its beautiful valley smiling below, and -the vine-clad hills rising on either side, with their exquisite -surfaces. Purple shadows, and golden vines, and walnut trees, that -contrast which so often has enchanted my eyes on the Genoese Riviera, -the Italian lakes, and my own dear Lake Leman, gladdened them once more. -And then the really clear sky (no factory chimneys here) and those -intense white clouds casting shadows on the hills of lovely purple. We -went across the wide plateau on the top, a magnificent exercise ground -for the soldiers, health itself, and then we beheld, winding below us in -its sweet valley and by two picturesque villages, the little Moselle, by -no means ‘blue,’ as the<a name="page_023" id="page_023"></a> song says, but of a pinky brown and apparently -very shallow. We were at a great height, and having got out of the -carriage we stood on the very verge of a sheer precipice, at the -far-down base of which wound the high road. Sweet little Moselle! I was -so loth to leave that view behind. It really does seem such a shame to -say so little of it. The air up there was full of the scent of wild -thyme, and mountain flowers grew thick in that hot sun, and the short -mountain grass was brown.</p> - -<p>“We descended by another road and were taken right through the town to -the old Moselle bridge which crosses that river near its confluence with -the green Rhine. What turreted corners, what gable ends, what exquisite -David Roberts ‘bits’ at every turn! The bridge and its old gate were a -picture in themselves, and the view from the middle of the bridge of the -walls, the old buildings, church towers and spires, and boats and rafts -moored below, was the essence of the picturesque. Market women and -<i>pelotons</i> of soldiers with glittering helmets and bayonets make -excellent foreground groups. How unlike nearly-deserted Bruges is this -busy, thronged city! Oxen are as much used about here as horses, and add -much to the artist’s joy. But I must hurry on; there is all the glorious -Rhine to Bingen to ascend. What a feast of beauty we have been partaking -of since leaving Failure Bonn!</p> - -<p>“Lots of people at 1 o’clock <i>table d’hôte</i>: staring Prooshan officers -in ‘wings’ and whiskers, more or less tightly clad, talking loud and -clattering their swords unnecessarily; swarms of English and a great -many honeymoon couples of all nations. It was very hot when we left to -dive into that glorious region we<a name="page_024" id="page_024"></a> had seen from the Chartreuse. Those -were golden hours on board the <i>Lorelei</i>. But more ‘spoons’; more -English; more Ya-ing natives and small boys always in the way, and so we -paddled away from beautiful Coblenz, and very fine did the ‘Broadstone -of Honour’ look as we left it gradually behind. And now we began again -the castles and the villages, the former more numerous than below -stream. Happy Mr. Moriarty to possess such a castle as Lahneck; and then -the beautiful town below, and the gorgeous wooded steep hills and the -beautiful tints on the water. Golden walnut trees on the banks and old -church towers—such rich loveliness gliding by perpetually. The towns -are certainly half the battle; they add immensely to the scene. Rhense -was the oldest town we had yet seen, and the old dark walls are -crumbling down. Such bits of archways, such corner bits, such old -age-tinted roofs! I <i>must</i> not pass over Marksburg, the most perfect old -castle on the Rhine, quite unaltered and not quite ruinous, as it is -garrisoned by a corps of Invalides. It therefore looks stronger and -grander than the others. Below the cone which it crowns nestled the -inevitable picturesque town (Braubach) upon the shore.</p> - -<p>“Soon after passing this beautiful part we rounded another old village -and church on our right, for the river takes a great bend here. Of -course, new beauties appeared ahead as we swept round, soft purple -mountains, one behind the other, and hillsides golden with vines and -walnut trees. And then we came to Boppart, in the midst of the gorge, -one of the most enchanting old walled towns we had yet seen, with a -large water-cure establishment above it upon the orchard slopes of the -hill. Then the old castle called ‘The Mouse’<a name="page_025" id="page_025"></a> drew our attention to the -left again, and then to the right appeared, after we had passed the twin -castles of Sternberg and Liebenstein, or the ‘Brothers,’ the magnificent -ruin of Rheinfels above the town of St. Goar in the shadow of the steep -hill. How splendidly those blasted arches come out against the sunny -sky! Then ‘The Cat’ appeared on our left, supposed to be watching ‘The -Mouse’ round the corner; then, with the last gleam of the sun upon it, -appeared the castle of ‘Schönberg’ after we had passed the Lorelei rock, -tunnelled through by the railway, and hills glowing in autumn tints. -Sunset colour began to add new charm to mountains, hills, and river. Two -guns were fired in this part of the gorge for the echo. It rolled away -like thunder very satisfactorily. Gutenfels on its rock was splendid in -the sunset, with the town of Caub at its feet, and the curious old tower -called the Pfalz in mid-stream, where poor Louis le Débonnaire came to -die. I can hardly individualise the towns and their over-looking castles -that followed. There was Bacharach, with its curious three-sided towers -and church of St. Werner; then more castles, getting dimmer and dimmer -in the deepening twilight. The last was swallowed up in the night.â€</p> - -<p>I need not dwell on Bingen. I see us, happy wanderers, dropping down to -Boppart, to halt there for very fondly-remembered days at the water-cure -of “Marienberg,†which we made our habitation for want of an hotel. -Being there I did the “cure†for nothing in particular, but was none the -worse for it. At any rate it passed me as “sound†after the ordeal by -water. The ordeal was severe, and so was the Spartan food. To any one -who wasn’t going through the water ordeal the Spartan food ordeal -seemed<a name="page_026" id="page_026"></a> impossible. But soon one got to like the whole thing and delight -in the freshness of that life in the warm sunny weather. We both -accepted the “Grape Cure†with unmixed feelings—2 lbs. each of grapes a -day; and even the cold, deep plate of sour milk (<i>dicke milch</i>), -sprinkled with brown breadcrumbs, and that <i>kraut</i> preserve which so -dashed us at our first breakfast, became rather fascinating. We took our -pre-breakfast walk on four glasses of cold water, though, to <i>wet</i> our -appetites. I see now, in memory, the swimming baths, with the blue water -rushing through them from the hills, and feel the exhilaration of the -six-in-the-morning plunge. Oh! <i>la jeunesse! La joie de vivre!</i></p> - -<p>They had dancing every Thursday evening in what was the great vaulted -refectory of the monks before that monastery was secularised. One gala -evening many people came in from outside. The young ladies were in -muslin frocks, which they, no doubt, had washed themselves, and the -ballroom was redolent of soap. The gentlemen went into the drawing-room -after each dance and combed their blond hair and beards at the -looking-glass over the mantelpiece, having brought brush and comb with -them. The next morning I was very elaborately saluted by a man in a -blouse, driving oxen, and I recognised in him one of my partners of the -evening before who had worn the correct <i>frac</i> and white tie. What a -strange amalgamation of democracy and aristocracy we found in Germany! -The Diary tells of the music we had every evening till 10 o’clock and -“lights out.†My mother and one or two typical German musical -geniuses—women patients—kept the piano in constant request, and the -evenings were really very bright and the tone<a name="page_027" id="page_027"></a> so homely and kind. -Kindness was the prevailing spirit which we noticed amongst the Germans -in those far-away days. How they complimented us all on our halting -German; how the women admired our frocks, especially the buttons! I hope -they didn’t expect us to go into equal ecstasies over their own -costumes. We sang and were in great voice, perhaps on account of the -“plunge baths,†or was it the “sour milkâ€?</p> - -<p>A big Saxon cavalry officer who was doing the cure for a kick from a -horse and, being in mufti, had put off his “jack-boot†manners, was full -of enthusiasm about our voices. He expressed himself in graceful -pantomime after each of my songs by pointing to his ear and running his -finger down to his heart, for he spoke neither English nor French, and -worshipfully paid homage to Mamma’s pianoforte playing. She played -indeed superbly. He was a big man. We called him “the Athlete.†We had -nicknames for all the patients. There was “the <i>Sauer-kraut</i>,†there was -the “Flighty,†the funniest little shrivelled creature, a truly -wonderful musical genius, who, having heard me practising one morning, -flew to Mamma, telling her she had heard me go up to <i>Si</i> and that I -must make my name as a <i>prima donna</i>—no less. That Mendelssohn had -proposed to her was a treasured memory. Her mother, with true German -pride of birth, forbade the union. There was a very great dame doing the -cure, the “<i>Incog</i>,†who confided her card to Mamma with an Imperial -embrace before leaving, which revealed her as Marie, Prinzessin zu -Hohenzollern Hechingen. Then there was a most interesting and ugly -duellist, who a short time previously had killed a prince. His wife wore -blue<a name="page_028" id="page_028"></a> spectacles, having cried herself blind over the regrettable -incident. And so on, and so on.</p> - -<p>The vintage began, and we visited many a vineyard on both banks of the -rapid, eddying river, watching the peasants at their wholesome work in -the mellowing sunlight. Whenever we bought grapes of these pleasant -people, they insisted on giving us extra bunches <i>gratis</i> in that -old-fashioned way so prevalent in Italy. I record in the Diary one -classic-looking youth, with the sunset gold behind his serious, handsome -face, bent slightly over the vine he was picking, on the hillside where -we sat. He seemed the personification of the sanctity of labour. All -this sounds very sentimental to us war-weary ones of the twentieth -century, but we need refreshment in the pleasures of memory; memory of -more secure times. The Diary says:—</p> - -<p>“When we left Boppart, Mamma and we two girls were half hidden in -bouquets, and our Marienberg friends clustered at the railway carriage -door and on the step—the ‘<i>Sauer-kraut</i>,’ the ‘Flighty,’ the ‘Athlete’ -and all, and, as we started, the salutations were repeated for the -twentieth time, the ‘Athlete’ taking a long sniff of my bouquet, then -quickly blocking his nose hard to keep the scent in, after going through -the pantomime of the ear, the finger, and the heart. As Papa said, ‘One -gets quite reconciled to the two-legged creature when meeting such -people as these.’ Good-bye, lovely Boppart, of ever sweet -recollections!â€</p> - -<p>We tarried at Cologne on our way to England. I see, together with -admiring and elaborate descriptions of the cathedral, a note on the -kindly manners of the Germans, so curiously at variance with the<a name="page_029" id="page_029"></a> -impression left on the present generation by the episodes of the late -war. At the <i>table d’hôte</i> one evening the two guests who happened to -sit opposite our parents, on opening their champagne at dessert, first -insisted on filling the two glasses of their English <i>vis-à -vis</i> before -proceeding to fill their own. German manners then! The military class -kept, however, very much aloof, and were very irritating to us with -their wilfully offensive attitude. That unfortunate spirit had already -taken a further step forward after the conquest of Schleswig-Holstein, -and was to go further still after the knock-down blow to Austria; then -in 1870 comes more arrogance, and so on to its own undoing in our time.</p> - -<p>“<i>Aix la Chapelle.</i>—Good-bye, Cologne, ever to remain bright by the -remembrance of its cathedral and that museum containing pictures which -have so inspired my mind. And so good-bye, dear, familiar Rhine; not the -Rhine of the hurried tourist and his John Murray Red Book, but the -glorious river about whose banks we have so often wandered at our -leisure.</p> - -<p>“And now ‘<i>Vorwärts</i>, <i>marsch</i>!’ Northwards, to the Land of Roast Beef -plus Rinderpest.<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> But first, Aachen. Ineffable poetry surrounds this -evening of our arrival, for from the three churches which stand out -sharp against the bright moonlight sky in front of the hotel there peal -forth many mellow bells, filling my mind with that sort of sadness so -familiar to me. This is All Hallows’ Eve.</p> - -<p>“<i>November 1st.</i>—We saw the magnificent frescoes in the long, low, -arched hall of the Rathhaus, which is being magnificently restored, as -is the case with all the fine things of the Prussia we have seen. We -only<a name="page_030" id="page_030"></a> just skimmed these great works of art, for the horses were waiting -in the pelting rain.... The first four frescoes we saw were by Rethel, -the first representing the finding of the body of Charlemagne sitting in -his tomb on his throne, crowned and robed, holding the ball and sceptre; -a very impressive subject, treated with all its requisite poetry and -feeling. The next fresco represents in a forcible manner Charlemagne -ordering a Saxon idol to be broken; the third is a superb episode from -the Battle of Cordova, where Charlemagne is wresting the standard from -the Infidel. The horses are all blindfolded, not to be frightened by the -masks which the enemy had prepared to frighten them with. The great -white bulls which draw the chariot are magnificently conceived. The -fourth fresco represents the entry of the great emperor—whose face, by -the by, lends itself well to the grand style of art—into Pavia; a -superb composition, as, indeed, they all are. After painting this the -artist lost his senses. No doubt such efforts as these may have caused -his mind to fail at last. He had supplied the compositions for the other -four frescoes which Kehren has painted, without the genius of the -originator. We were shown the narrow little old stone staircase up which -all those many German emperors came to the hall. I could almost fancy I -saw an emperor’s head coming bobbing up round the bend, and a figure in -Imperial purple appear. Strange that such a steep little winding -staircase should be the only approach to such a splendid hall. The new -staircase, up which a different sort of monarch from the old German -emperors came a few days ago, in tight blue and silver uniform, is -indeed in keeping with the hall, and should have been trodden by the<a name="page_031" id="page_031"></a> -emperors, whereas this old cad of a king<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> (<i>sic</i>) would get his due -were he to descend the little old worn stair head foremost.â€</p> - -<p>At Brussels my entry runs: “<i>November 3rd.</i>—My birthday. I feel too -much buoyed up with the promise of doing something this year to feel as -wretched as I might have felt at the thought of my precious ‘teens -dribbling away. Never say die; never, never, never! This birthday is -ever to be marked by our visit to Waterloo, which has impressed me so -deeply. The day was most enjoyable, but what an inexpressibly sad -feeling was mixed with my pleasure; what thoughts came crowding into my -mind on that awful field, smiling in the sunshine, and how, even now, my -whole mind is overshadowed with sadness as I think of those slaughtered -legions, dead half a century ago, lying in heaps of mouldering bones -under that undulating plain. We had not driven far out of Brussels when -a fine old man with a long white beard, and having a stout stick for -scarcely-needed support, and from whose waistcoat dangled a blue and red -ribbon with a silver medal attached bearing the words ‘Wellington’ and -‘Waterloo,’ stopped the carriage and asked whether we were not going to -the Field and offering his services as guide, which we readily accepted, -and he mounted the box. This was Sergeant-Major Mundy of the 7th -Hussars, who was twenty-seven when he fought on that memorable 18th -June, 1815. In time we got into the old road, that road which the -British trod on their way to Quatre Bras, ten miles beyond Waterloo, on -the 16th. We passed the forest of Soignies, which is fast being cleared, -and at no very distant period,<a name="page_032" id="page_032"></a> I suppose, merely the name will remain. -What a road was this, bearing a history of thousands of sad incidents! -We visited the church at Waterloo where are the many tablets on the -walls to the memory of British officers and men who died in the great -fight. Touching inscriptions are on them. An old woman of eighty-eight -told us that she had tended the wounded after the battle. Is it -possible! There she was, she who at thirty-eight had beheld those men -just half a century ago! It was overpowering to my young mind. The old -lady seems steadier than the serjeant-major, eleven years her junior, -and wears a brown wig. Thanks to the old sergeant, we had no bothering -vendors of ‘relics.’ He says they have sold enough bullets to supply a -dozen battles.</p> - -<p>“We then resumed our way, now upon more historic ground than ever, the -field of the battle proper. The Lion Mound soon appeared, that much -abused monument. Certainly, as a monument to mark where the Prince of -Orange was wounded in the left shoulder it is much to be censured, -particularly with that Belgian lion on the top with its paw on Belgium, -looking defiance towards France, whose soldiers, as the truthful old -sergeant expressed himself, ‘could any day, before breakfast, come and -make short work of the Belgians’ (<i>sic</i>). But I look upon this pyramid -as marking the field of the fifteenth decisive battle of the world. In a -hundred years the original field may have been changed or built upon, -and then the mound will be more useful than ever as marking the centre -of the battlefield that was. To make it much ground has been cut away -and the surface of one part of the field materially lowered. On being -shown the plan for this ‘Lion Mound,<a name="page_033" id="page_033"></a>’ Wellington exclaimed, ‘Well, if -they make it, I shall never come here again,’ or something to that -effect, and, as old Mundy said, ‘the Duke was not one to break his word, -and he never did come again.’ Do you know that, Sir Edwin Landseer, who -have it in the background of your picture of Wellington revisiting the -field? We drove up to the little Hotel du Musée, kept by the sergeant’s -daughter, a dejected sort of person with a glib tongue and herself -rather grey. We just looked over Sergeant Cotton’s museum, a collection -of the most pathetic old shakos and casques and blundering muskets, with -pans and flints, belonging to friend and foe; rusty bullets and cannon -balls, mouldering bits of accoutrements of men and horses, evil-smelling -bits of uniforms and even hair, under glass cases; skulls perforated -with balls, leg and arm bones in a heap in a wooden box; extracts from -newspapers of that sensational time, most interesting; rusty swords and -breastplates; medals and crosses, etc., etc., a dismal collection of -relics of the dead and gone. Those mouldy relics! Let us get out into -the sunshine. Not until, however, the positive old soldier had -marshalled us around him and explained to us, map in hand, the ground -and the leading features of the battle he was going to show us.</p> - -<p>“We then went, first, a short way up the mound, and the old warrior in -our midst began his most interesting talk, full of stirring and touching -anecdotes. What a story was that he was telling us, with the scenes of -that story before our eyes! I, all eagerness to learn from the lips of -one who took part in the fight, the story of that great victory of my -country, was always throughout that long day by the side of the old -hussar, and drank in the stirring narrative with<a name="page_034" id="page_034"></a> avidity. There lay -before us the farm of La Haie Sainte—‘lerhigh saint’ as he called -it—restored to what it was before the battle, where the gallant Germans -held out so bravely, fighting only with the bayonet, for when they came -to load their firearms, oh, horror! the ammunition was found to be too -large for the muskets, and was, therefore, useless. There the great Life -Guard charge took place, there is the grave of the mighty Shaw, and on -the skyline the several hedges and knolls that mark this and that, and -where Napoleon took up his first position. And there lies La Belle -Alliance where Wellington and Blücher did <i>not</i> meet—oh, Mr. -Maclise!—and a hundred other landmarks, all pointed out by the notched -stick of old Mundy. The stories attached to them were all clearly -related to us. After standing a long time on the mound until the man of -discipline had quite done his regulation story, with its stirring and -amusing touches and its minute details, we descended and set off on our -way to Hougoumont. What a walk was that! On that space raged most of the -battle; it was a walk through ghosts with agonised faces and distorted -bodies, crying noiselessly.</p> - -<p>“Our guide stopped us very often as we reached certain spots of leading -interest, one of them—the most important of all—being the place where -the last fearful tussle was made and the Old Guard broke and ran. There -was the field, planted with turnips, where our Guards lay down, and I -could not believe that the seemingly insignificant little bank of the -road, which sloped down to it, could have served to hide all those men -until I went down and stooped, and then I understood, for only just the -blades of the grass near me could I see against the sky. Our Guards -must<a name="page_035" id="page_035"></a> indeed have seemed to start out of the ground to the bewildered -French, who were, by the by, just then deploying. That dreadful V formed -by our soldiers, with its two sides and point pouring in volley after -volley into the deploying Imperial Guard, must have indeed been a -‘staggerer,’ and so Napoleon’s best soldiers turned tail, yelling -‘<i>Sauve qui peut!</i>’ and ran down that now peaceful undulation on the -other side of the road.</p> - -<p>“Many another spot with its grim story attached did I gaze at, and my -thoughts became more and more overpowering. And there stood a survivor -before us, relating this tale of a battle which, to me, seems to belong -to the olden time. But what made the deepest impression on my mind was -the sergeant’s pointing out to us the place where he lay all night after -the battle, wounded, ‘just a few yards from that hedge, there.’ I repeat -this to myself often, and always wonder. We then left that historic -rutted road and, following a little path, soon came, after many more -stoppages, to the outer orchard of Hougoumont. Victor Hugo’s thoughts -upon this awful place came crowding into my mind also. Yet the place did -look so sweet and happy: the sun shining on the rich, velvety grass, -chequered with the shade of the bare apple trees, and the contented cows -grazing on the grass which, on the fearful day fifty years ago, was not -<i>green</i> between the heaps of dead and dying wretches.</p> - -<p>“Ah! the wall with the loopholes. I knew all about it and hastened to -look at it. Again all the wonderful stratagems and deeds of valour, -etc., etc., were related, and I have learnt the importance, not only of -a little hedge, but of the slightest depression<a name="page_036" id="page_036"></a> on a battlefield. -Riddled with shot is this old brick wall and the walls of the farm, too. -Oh! this place of slaughter, of burning, of burying alive, this place of -concentrated horror! It was there that I most felt the sickening terror -of war, and that I looked upon it from the dark side, a thing I have -seldom had so strong an impulse to do before. The farm is peaceful again -and the pigs and poultry grunt and cluck amongst the straw, but there -are ruins inside. There’s the door so bravely defended by that British -officer and sergeant, hanging on its hinges; there’s the well which -served as a grave for living as well as dead, where Sergeant Mundy was -the last to fill his canteen; and there’s the little chapel which served -as an oven to roast a lot of poor fellows who were pent up there by the -fire raging outside. We went into the terror-fraught inner orchard, -heard more interesting and saddening talk from the old soldier who says -there is nothing so nice as fighting one’s battles over again, and then -we went out and returned to the inn and dined. After that we streamed -after our mentor to the Charleroi road, just to glance at the left part -of the field which the sergeant said he always liked going over the -best. ‘Oh!’ he said, looking lovingly at his pet, ‘this was the -strongest position, except Hougoumont.’ It was in this region that -Wellington was moved to tears at the loss of so many of his friends as -he rode off the field. Papa told me his memorable words on that -occasion: ‘A defeat is the only thing sadder than a victory.’ What a -scene of carnage it was! We looked at poor Gordon’s monument and then -got into our carriage and left that great, immortal place, with the sun -shedding its last gleams upon it. I feel virtuous in having written this -much, seeing<a name="page_037" id="page_037"></a> what I have done since. We drove back, in the clear night, -I a wiser and a sadder girl.â€</p> - -<p>About this same Battle of Waterloo. Before the Great War it always -loomed large to me, as it were from the very summit of military history, -indeed of all history. During the terrible years of the late War I -thought my Waterloo would diminish in grandeur by comparison, and that -the awful glamour so peculiar to it would be obliterated in the fumes of -a later terror. But no, there it remains, that lurid glamour glows -around it as before, and for the writer and for the painter its colour, -its great form, its deep tones, remain. We see through its blood-red -veil of smoke Napoleon fall. There never will be a fall like that again: -it is he who makes Waterloo colossal.<a name="page_038" id="page_038"></a></p> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV<br /><br /> -<small>IN THE ART SCHOOLS</small></h2> - -<p>A<small>FTER</small> tarrying in Brussels, doing the galleries thoroughly, we went to -Dover. I had been anything but in love with the exuberant Rubenses -gathered together in one surfeited room, but imbibed enthusiastic -stimulus from some of the moderns. I write: “Oh! that I had time to tell -of my admiration of Ambroise Thomas’ ‘Judas Iscariot,’ of Charles -Verlat’s wonderful ‘Siege of Jerusalem by Godfrey of Bouillon,’ with its -strikingly terrible incidents, given with wonderful vividness, so free -from coarseness; of Tshaggeny’s ‘Malle Poste,’ with its capital horses. -There was not much study to be done in the time, but enthusiasm to be -caught, and I caught it.â€</p> - -<p>At Dover I find myself saying: “Still at my drawing of the soldiers -working at the new fort on the cliff, just outside the castle, which -forms the background of the scene. I am sending it to the <i>Illustrated -London News</i>.†Then, a few days later: “Woe is me! my drawing is -returned with the usual apologies. Well, never mind, the world will hear -of me yet.†And there, above my “diminished head,†right over No. 2, -Sydney Villas, our temporary resting-place, stood that very castle, -biding its time when it should receive me as its official <i>châtelaine</i>, -and all through that art which I was so bent on.</p> - -<p>At Brompton I said “good-bye†to a year to me very bright and full of -adventure; a year rich in<a name="page_039" id="page_039"></a> changes, full of varied scenes and emotions. -I say: “Enter, 1866, bearing for me happy promise for my future, for -to-day I had the interview with Mr. Burchett, the Headmaster of the -South Kensington School of Art, and everything proved satisfactory and -sunny. First, Papa and I trotted off to Mr. Burchett’s office and saw -him, a bearded, velvet-skull-capped and cold-searching-eyed man. After a -little talk, we galloped off home, packed the drawings and the oil, -then, Mamma with us, we returned, and came into The Presence once more. -The office being at the end of the passage of the male schools, I could -see, and envy, the students going about. So the drawings were -scrutinised by <i>that Eye</i>, and I must say I never expected things to go -so well. Of course, this austere, rigid master is not one to say much, -but, on the contrary, to dwell upon the shortcomings and weaknesses; to -have no pity. He looked longer at my soldiers at work at Dover Castle -and some hands that I had done yesterday, saying they showed much -feeling. He said he did not know whether I only wished to make my -studies superficial, but strongly advised me to become an artist. I -scarcely needed such advice, I think, but it was very gratifying. I told -him I wished for severe study, and that I did <i>not</i> wish to begin at the -wrong end. We were a long time talking, and he was very kind, and told -me off to the Life School after preliminary work in the Antique. I join -to-morrow. I now really feel as though fairly launched. Ah! they shall -hear of me some day. But, believe me, my ambition is of the right sort.</p> - -<p>“<i>January 2nd.</i>—A very pleasant day for me. At ten marched off, with -board, paper, chalk, etc.,<a name="page_040" id="page_040"></a> etc., to the schools, and signed my name and -went through all the rest of the formalities, and was put to do a huge -eye in chalk. I felt very raw indeed, never having drawn from a cast -before. Everything was strange to me. I worked away until twenty minutes -to two, when I sped home to have my lunch. Five hours’ work would be too -long were I not to break the time by this charming spin home and back in -the open air, which makes me set to work again with redoubled energy and -spirits sky-high. A man comes round at a certain time to the rooms to -see by the thermometer whether the temperature is according to rule, -which is a very excellent precaution; 65° seems to be the fixed degree. -Of course, I did not make any friends to-day; besides, we sit far apart, -on our own hooks, and not on forms. Much twining about of arms and -<i>darling-ing</i>, etc., went on, however, but we all seem to work here so -much more in earnest than over those dreary scrolls in the Elementary. -One girl in our room was a capital hit, short hair brushed back from a -clever forehead and a double eyeglass on an out-thrust nose. Then there -is a dear little pale girl, with a pretty head and large eyes, who is -struggling with that tremendous ‘Fighting Gladiator.’ She and he make a -charming <i>motif</i> for a sketch. But I am too intent on my work to notice -much. The skeleton behind me seems, with outstretched arm, to encourage -me in my work, and smiles (we won’t say <i>grins</i>) upon me, whilst behind -him—it?—the <i>écorché</i> man seems to be digging his grave, for he is in -the attitude of using a spade. But enough for to-day. I was very much -excited all day afterwards. And no wonder, seeing that my prayer for a -beginning of my real study has now<a name="page_041" id="page_041"></a> been granted and that I am at length -on the high road. Oh, joy, joy!</p> - -<p>“<i>January 15th.</i>—Did very well at the schools. Upon my word, I am -getting on very smoothly. I peeped into the Life room for the first time -whilst work was going on, and beheld a splendid halberdier standing -above the girls’ heads and looking very uncomfortable. He had a steel -headpiece and his hands were crossed upon the hilt of his sword in -front, and his face, excessively picturesque with its grizzly moustache, -was a tantalising sight for me!</p> - -<p>“<i>January 16th.</i>—Oh, how I am getting on! I can’t bear to look at my -old things. Was much encouraged by Mr. Burchett, who talked to me a good -deal, the mistress standing deferentially and smilingly by. He said, -‘Ah! you seem to get over your difficulties very well,’ and said with -what immense satisfaction I shall look back upon this work I’m doing. -Altogether it was very encouraging, and he said this last thing of mine -was excellent. He remarked that my early education in those matters had -been neglected, but I console myself with the thought that I have not -wasted my time so utterly, for all the travel I have had all my life has -put crowds of ideas into my head, and now I am learning how to bring -those ideas to good account.</p> - -<p>“<i>January 24th.</i>—I shall soon have done the big head and shall soon -reach a full-length statue, and I shall go in for anatomy rather than -give so much time to this shading which the students waste so much time -over. I don’t believe in carrying it so far. The little pale girl I -like, on the completion of her gladiator, has been promoted to the Life -class. A girl made friends with me, a big grenadier of a girl, who says<a name="page_042" id="page_042"></a> -she wants to know ‘all about the joints and muscles’ and seems a -‘thoroughgoer’ like myself.â€</p> - -<p>This is how I write of dear Miss Vyvyan, a fine, rosy specimen of a -well-bred English girl, who became one of my dearest fellow -students—and drew well. In writing of me after I had come out in the -art world, she records this meeting in words all the more deserving of -remembrance for being those of a voice that is still. Of my other -fellow-students the Diary will have more to say, left to its own -diction.</p> - -<p>“<i>February 13th.</i>—It is very pleasant at the schools—oh, charming! In -coming home at the end of my work I fell in with Mr. Lane, my friend in -the truest sense of the word. He was coming over to us. His first -inquiry was about me and my work. He was very much disappointed that I -was not in the Life class, fully expecting that I should be there, -seeing how highly Mr. Burchett twice spoke of my drawings to Mr. Lane, -and that I was quite ready for the Life. But, of course, Mr. B. is -desirous of putting me as much through the regular course as possible. -Mr. Lane shares Millais’ opinion that ‘the antique is all very well, but -that there is nothing like the living model, and that they are too fond -of black and white at the Museum.’ I was enrolled as a member of the -Sketching Club this morning, and have only a week to do ‘On the Watch’ -in, the title they have given us to illustrate. <i>Only</i> a week, Mimi? -That’s an age to do a sketch in! Ah! yes, my dear, but I shall have five -hours in the schools every day except Saturdays. I have chosen for -subject a freebooter in a morion and cloak upon a bony horse, watching -the plain below him as night comes on, with his blunderbus ready -cocked.<a name="page_043" id="page_043"></a> Wind is blowing, and makes the horse’s mane and tail to stream -out.â€</p> - -<p>There follow pages and pages describing the daily doings at the schools: -the commotion amongst girls at the drawings I used to bring to show them -of battle scenes; the Sketching Club competitions, and all the work and -the play of an art school. At last I was promoted to the Life class.</p> - -<p>“<i>March 19th.</i>—Oh, joyous day! oh, white! oh, snowy Monday! or should I -say <i>golden</i> Monday? I entered the Life this joyous morn, and, what’s -more, acquitted myself there not only to my satisfaction (for how could -I be satisfied if the masters weren’t?), but to Mr. Denby’s and the oil -master’s <i>par excellence</i>, Mr. Collinson’s. I own I was rather -diffident, feeling such a greenhorn in that room, but I may joyfully say -‘So far, so good,’ and do my very best of bests, and I can’t fail to -progress. How willingly I would write down all the pleasant incidents -that occur every day, and those, above all, of to-day, which make this -delightful student life I am leading so bright and happy and amusing. -However, I shall write down all that my spare moments will allow me. -Little ‘Pale Face’ took me in hand and got me a nice position quite near -the sitter, as I am only to do his head. There was a good deal of -struggling as the number of girls increased, and late comers tried -amicably to badger me out of my good position. We waited more than half -an hour for the sitter, and beguiled the time as we are wont. Three -semi-circles surround the sitter and his platform. The inner and smaller -circle is for us who do his head only, and is formed by desks and low -chairs; the next is formed by small fixed easels, and the outer one by -the loose-easel<a name="page_044" id="page_044"></a> brigade, so there are lots of us at work. At length the -martyr issued from the curtained closet where Messrs. Burchett, Denby -and Collinson had been helping the unhappy victim to make a lobster of -his upper self with heavy plates of armour. He became sadly modern below -the waist, for his nether part was not wanted. To see Mr. Denby pinning -on the man’s refractory Puritan starched collar was rich. The model is a -small man, perfectly clean shaven with a most picturesque face; quite a -study. Very finely-chiselled mouth, with thin lips and well-marked chin -and jaw. The poor fellow was dreadfully nervous. He was posed standing, -morion on head, with a book in one hand, the other raised as though he -were discoursing to some fellow soldiers—may-be Covenanters—in a camp. -I never saw a man in such agony as he evinced, his nervousness seeming -at times to overpower him, and the weight of the armour and of the huge -morion (too big for him) told upon him in a painfully evident manner. He -was, consequently, allowed frequent rests, when down his trembling arm -would clatter and the instrument of torture on his heated forehead come -down with a great thump on the table. Mr. Denby was much pleased with my -drawing in, and Mr. Collinson commended my carefulness. This pleases me -more than anything else, for I know that carefulness is the most -essential quality in a student.</p> - -<p>“<i>March 27th.</i>—Mr. Burchett showed me how to proceed with the finishing -of the face. He liked the way I had done the morion, which astonished -me, as I had done it all unaided. I am now a friend of more girls than I -can individualise, and they seem all to like me. ‘Little Pale Face’ is -very charming with me<a name="page_045" id="page_045"></a> indeed. One girl told me a dream she had had of -me, and Mrs. C., wife of the <i>Athenæum</i> art critic, clapped me on the -back very cordially.â€</p> - -<p>I give these extracts just to launch the Memoirs into that student life -which was of such importance to me. Till the Easter vacation I did all I -could to retrieve what I considered a good deal of leeway in my art -training. There were Sketching Club competitions of intense effort on my -part, and how joyful I felt at such events as my illustrations to -Thackeray’s “Newcomes†coming through marked “Best†by the judges.</p> - -<p>“<i>May 9th.</i>—<i>Veni</i>, <i>vidi</i>, <i>vici</i>! My re-entry into the schools after -the vacation has been a triumphal one, for my ‘Newcomes’ have been -returned ‘The Best.’ The girls were so glad to see me back. I have -chosen, as there is not to be a model till next Monday week, a beautiful -headpiece of elaborate design on whose surface the red drapery near it -is reflected. Some time after lunch Mrs. C. came running to me from the -Antique triumphantly waving a bunch of lilac above her head and crying -out that my ‘Newcomes’ had won! I jumped up, overjoyed, and went to see -the sketches, around which a crowd of students was buzzing. Mr. Denby, -who couldn’t help knowing whose the ‘Best’ were, gave me a nod of -approbation. I was very happy. Returning to Fulham, I told the glad -tidings to Papa, Mamma, Grandpapa and Grandmamma as they each came in. -So this has been a charming day indeed.â€</p> - -<p>Page after page, closely written, describes the student life, than which -there cannot be a happier one for a boy or girl; thorough searchings -through the Royal Academy rooms for everything I could find<a name="page_046" id="page_046"></a> for -instruction, admiration and criticism. I joined a class in Bolsover -Street for the study of the “undraped†female model, and worked very -hard there on alternate days. This necessitated long omnibus rides to -that dismal locality, but I always managed to post myself near the -omnibus door, so as to study the horses in motion in the crowded streets -from that coign of vantage. I also joined a painting class in Conduit -Street, but that venture was not a success. I went in about the same -time for very thorough artistic anatomy at the schools. I gave sketches -to nearly all my fellow students—fights round standards, cavalry -charges, thundering guns. I wonder where they are all now! I had always -had a great liking for the representation of movement, but at the same -time a deep well of melancholy existed in my nature, and caused me to -draw from its depths some very sad subjects for my sketches and plans -for future pictures. How strange it seems that I should have been so -impregnated, if I may use the word, with the warrior spirit in art, -seeing that we had had no soldiers in either my father’s or mother’s -family! My father had a deep admiration for the great captains of war, -but my mother detested war, though respecting deeply the heroism of the -soldier. Though she and I had much in common, yet, as regards the -military idea, we were somewhat far asunder; my dear and devoted mother -wished to see me lean towards other phases of art as well, especially -the religious phase, and my Italian studies in days to come very much -inclined me to sacred subjects. But as time went on circumstances -conducted me to the <i>genre militaire</i>, and there I have remained, as -regards my principal oil paintings, with few exceptions. My own reading -of war—that<a name="page_047" id="page_047"></a> mysteriously inevitable recurrence throughout the -sorrowful history of our world—is that it calls forth the noblest and -the basest impulses of human nature. The painter should be careful to -keep himself at a distance, lest the ignoble and vile details under his -eyes should blind him irretrievably to the noble things that rise -beyond. To see the mountain tops we must not approach the base, where -the foot-hills mask the summits. Wellington’s answer to enthusiastic -artists and writers seeking information concerning the details of his -crowning victory was full of meaning: “The best thing you can do for the -Battle of Waterloo is to leave it alone.†He had passed along the -dreadful foot-hills which blocked his vision of the Alps.</p> - -<p>I worked hard at the schools and in the country throughout 1867, and, -with many ups and downs, progressed in the Life class. My fellow -students were a great delight to me, so enthusiastically did they watch -my progress and foretell great things for me. We formed a little club of -four or five students—kindred spirits—for mutual help and all sorts of -good deeds, the badge being a red cross and the motto “Thorough.†I -remember a money-box into which we were, by the rules, to drop what -coins we could spare for the Poor. We were to read a chapter of the New -Testament every day, and a chapter of Thomas à Kempis, and all our works -were to be signed with the red cross and the club monogram. Seeing this -little sign in the corner of “The Roll Call†over my name set one of -those absurd stories circulating in the Press with which the public was -amused in 1874, namely, that I had been a Red Cross nurse in the Crimea. -As a counterpoise to this more “copy†was obtained for the papers by -paragraphs representing<a name="page_048" id="page_048"></a> me as an infant prodigy, which I thank my stars -I was <i>not</i>!</p> - -<p>One day in this year 1867 I had, with great trepidation, asked Mr. -Burchett to accept two pen and ink illustrations I had made to Morris’s -poem, “Riding together.†Great commotion amongst the students. Some -preferred the drawing for the gay and happy first verse:</p> - -<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">Our spears stood bright and thick together,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Straight out the banners streamed behind,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">As we galloped on in the sunny weather,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">With our faces turned towards the wind.<br /></span> -</div></div> - -<p class="nind">and others the tragic sequel:</p> - -<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">They bound my blood-stained hands together,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">They bound his corpse to nod by my side,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Then on we rode in the bright March weather,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">With clash of cymbal did we ride.<br /></span> -</div></div> - -<p>The Diary says: “Mr. Burchett, surrounded by my dear fellow red crosses, -Va., B., and Vy., talked about the drawings in a way which pleased me -very much. When he was gone, Va. and B. disappeared and soon reappeared, -Va. with a crown of leaves to crown me with and B. with a comb and some -paper on which to play ‘See the Conquering Hero comes’ whilst Va. and -Vy. should carry me along the great corridor in a dandy chair. They had -great trouble to crown me, and then to get me to mount. It was a most -uncomfortable triumphal progress, Vy. being nearly six foot and Va. -rather short. They just put me down in time, for, had we gone an inch -further on, we should have confronted Miss Truelock,<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> who swooped -round the corner. I cannot describe the homage these three pay me, Va.’s -in particular—Vy.’s<a name="page_049" id="page_049"></a> is measured, and not humble like Va.’s or -radiantly enthusiastic like B.’s. I am glad that I stand proof against -all this, but it is hard to do so, as I know it is so thoroughly -sincere, and that they say even more out of my hearing than to my face.â€</p> - -<p>The Sultan Abdul Aziz and the Khedive Ismail paid a visit to London that -year. We were in the midst of the festivities; and such church-bell -ringing, fireworks, musical uproar, especially at the Crystal Palace, -where the “Hallelujah,†“Moses in Egypt,†and other Biblical choruses -vied with the cheering of the crowds in expressions of exultation, -seldom had London known. This fills pages and pages of the Diary. As we -looked on from Willis and Sotheran’s shop window, out of which all the -books had been cleared for us, in Trafalgar Square, at the arrival of -the “Father of the Faithful,†it seemed a strange thing for the bells of -our churches to be pealing forth their joyous welcome. But how vain all -these political doings appear as time goes by! What sort of reception -would we give the present Sultan I wonder? We have even <i>abolished</i> -Khedives. Much more reasonable and sane was the mob’s welcome to the -Belgian volunteers, who were also England’s guests that year. We English -were very courteous to the Belgians. Papa took us to the great Belgian -ball, where we appeared wearing red, black, and yellow sashes. He -offered to hold a Belgian officer’s sword for him while he (the Belgian) -waltzed me round the hall. A silver medal was struck to commemorate this -visit, and every Belgian was presented with this decoration. On it were -engraved the words “<i>Vive La Belge</i>.†No one could tell who the lady -was.</p> - -<p>This year saw my meek beginning in the showing<a name="page_050" id="page_050"></a> of an oil picture -(“Horses in Sunshineâ€) at the Women Artists’ Exhibition, and then -followed a water colour, “Bavarian Artillery going into Action,†at the -Dudley Gallery—that delightful gallery which is now no more and which -<i>The Times</i> designated the “nursery of young reputations.†I continued -exhibiting water colours and black-and-whites for some years there. I -had the rare sensation of walking on air when my father, meeting me on -parting with Tom Taylor, the critic of <i>The Times</i>, told me the latter -had just come from the Dudley’s press view and seen my “Bavarian -Artillery†on its walls. I had begun!</p> - -<p>In the latter part of this year’s work at South Kensington Mr. Burchett -stirred us up by giving us “time†and “memory†drawing to do from the -antique, and many things which required quickness, imagination and -concentration, all of which suited me well. Charcoal studies on tinted -paper delighted me. I was always at home in such things. We often had -“time†drawings to do on very rough paper, using charcoal with the hog’s -hair paint brush. What a good change from the dawdling chalk work -formerly in vogue when I joined. I had by this time painted my way in -oils through many models, male and female, with all the ups and downs -recorded elaborately, the encouragements and depressions, and the happy, -though slow, progress in the management of the brush. I had won a medal -for two life-size female heads in oils, and through all the ups and -downs the devotion of my dear “Red Cross†fellow students never -fluctuated.</p> - -<p>The year 1868 saw me steadily working away at the Schools and doing a -great many drawings for sketching clubs and various competitions during -this period,<a name="page_051" id="page_051"></a> till we were off once more to Italy in October. On March -19th of that year I wrote in the Diary: “Ruskin has invited himself to -tea here on Monday!!!†Then: “Memorable Monday. On thee I was introduced -to Ruskin! Punctually at six came the great man. If I had been disposed -to be nervous with him, his cold formal bow and closing of the eyes, his -somewhat supercilious under-lip and sensitive nostrils would not have -put me at my ease. But, fortunately, I felt quite normal—unlike Mamma -and Alice, the latter of whom had reason for quaking, seeing that one of -her young poems, sent him by a friend, had been scanned by that eye and -pondered by that greatest of living minds.</p> - -<p>“He sat talking a little, not commonplaces at all; on the contrary, he -immediately began on great topics, Mamma and he coinciding all through, -particularly on the subject of modern ugliness, railways, factory -chimneys, backs of English houses, sash windows, etc., etc. Then he -directed his talk to me, and we sat talking together about art, of -course, and I showed him two life studies, which he expressed himself as -exceedingly pleased with in a very emphatic manner. But here we went -down to tea. After tea I showed him my imaginative drawings, which he -criticised a good deal. He said there was no reason why I should not -become a great artist (!), that I was ‘destined to do great things.’ But -he remarked, after this too kindly beginning, that it was evident I had -not studied enough from nature in those drawings, the light and shade -being incorrect and the relations of tones, etc., etc. He told me to -beware of sensational subjects, as yet, <i>à propos</i> of the Lancelot and -Guinevere drawing; that such were dangerous, leading<a name="page_052" id="page_052"></a> me to think I had -quite succeeded by virtue of the strength of my subject and to overlook -the consideration of minor points. He said, ‘Do fewer of these things, -but what you do <i>do right</i> and never mind the subject.’ I did not like -that; my great idea is that an artist should choose a worthy subject and -concentrate his attention on the chief point. But Ruskin is a lover of -landscape art and loves to see every blade of grass in a foreground -lovingly dwelt upon. I cannot write down all he said as he and I leant -over the piano where my drawings were. But it was with my artillery -water colour, ‘The Crest of the Hill,’ that he was most pleased. He -knelt down before it where it hung low down and held a candle before it -the better to see it, and exclaimed ‘Wonderful!’ two or three times, and -said it had ‘immense power.’ Thank you, Dudley Gallery, for not hanging -it where Ruskin would never have seen it!</p> - -<p>“He listened to Mamma’s playing and Alice’s singing of Mamma’s ‘Ave -Maria’ with perfectly absorbed attention, and seemed to enjoy the lovely -sounds. He had many kind things to say to Alice about her poem, saying -that he knew she was forced to write it; but was she always obliged to -write so sadly? Then he spied out Mamma’s pictures, and insisted on -seeing lots of her water colours, which I know he must have enjoyed more -than my imaginative things, seeing with what humble lovingness Mamma -paints her landscapes. In fact, we showed him our paces all the evening. -Papa says he (P.) was like the circus man, standing in the middle with -the long whip, touching us up as we were trotted out before the great -man. He seems, by the by, to have a great contempt for the modern French -school, as I expected.<a name="page_053" id="page_053"></a>â€</p> - -<p>Daily records follow of steady work, much more to the purpose than in -the humdrum old days. Mr. Burchett continued the new system with -increasing energy. He seemed to have taken it up in our Life class with -real pleasure latterly. In July the session ended, and I was not to -re-enter the schools till after my Italian art training had brought me a -long way forward.<a name="page_054" id="page_054"></a></p> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V<br /><br /> -<small>STUDY IN FLORENCE</small></h2> - -<p>I<small>TALY</small> once more! Again the old palazzo at Albaro and the old friends -surrounding us! My work never relaxed, for I set up a little studio and -went in for life-size heads, and got more and more facility with the -brush. The kindly peasants let me paint them, and I victimised my -obliging friends and had professional models out from Genoa. That was a -very greatly enjoyed autumn, winter and spring, and the gaieties of the -English Colony, the private theatricals, the concerts at Villa -Novello—all those things did me good. The childish carnival revels had -still power over me—yea, <i>more</i>—though I <i>was</i> grown up, and, to tell -the truth, I got all the fun out of them that was possible within -bounds. “The Red Cross Sketch Book,†which I filled with illustrations -of our journey out and of life at Genoa, I dedicated to the club and -sent to them when we left for Florence.</p> - -<p>We found Genoa just as we had left it, still the brilliantly picturesque -city of the sea, its populace brightly clad in their Ligurian national -dress, the women still wearing the pezzotto, and the men the red cap I -loved; the port all delightful with oriental character, its shouting -muleteers and <i>facchini</i>, its fruit and flower sellers in the narrow -streets and entrances to the palaces—all the old local colour. Alas! I -was there only the other day, and found all the local charm had -gone—modernised away!<a name="page_055" id="page_055"></a></p> - -<p>When we left Genoa in April my father tried to get a <i>vetturino</i> to take -us as far as Pisa by road on our way to Florence, for auld lang syne, -but Antonio—he who used to drive us into Genoa in the old days—said -that was now impossible on account of the railway—“<i>Non ci conviene, -signore</i>!‗but he would take us as far as Spezzia. So, to our delight, -we were able once more to experience the pleasures of the road and avoid -that truly horrible series of suffocating tunnels that tries us so much -on that portion of the coastline. At Sestri Levante I wrote: “I sit down -at this pleasant hotel, with the silent sea glimmering in the early -night before me outside the open window, to note down our journey thus -far. The day has been truly glorious, the sea without even the thinnest -rim of white along the coast, and such exquisite combinations of clouds. -We left Villa Quartara at ten, with Madame Vittorina and the servants in -tears. Majolina comes with us; she is such a good little maid. We had -three good horses, but for the Bracco Pass we shall have an extra one. -There is no way of travelling like this, in an open carriage; it is so -placid; there is no hurrying to catch trains and struggling in crowds, -no waiting in dismal <i>salles d’attente</i>. And then compare the entry into -the towns by the high road and through the principal streets, perhaps -through a city gate, the horse’s hoofs clattering and the whip cracking -so merrily and the people standing about in groups watching us pass, to -sneaking into a station, one of which is just like the other, which -hasn’t the slightest <i>couleur locale</i> about it, and is sure to have -unsightly surroundings.</p> - -<p>“Away we went merrily, I feeling very jolly. The colour all along was -ravishing, as may be imagined,<a name="page_056" id="page_056"></a> seeing what a perfect day it was and -that this is the loveliest season of the year. We dined at dear old -Ruta, where also the horses had a good rest and where I was able to -sketch something down. From Ruta to Sestri I rode by Majolina on the -box, by far the best position of all, and didn’t I enjoy it! The horses’ -bells jingled so cheerily and those three sturdy horses took us along so -well. Rapallo and Chiavari! Dear old friends, what delicious -picturesqueness they had, what lovely approaches to them by roads -bordered with trees! The views were simply distracting. Sestri is a gem. -Why don’t water-colour painters come here in shoals? What colouring the -mountains had at sunset, and I had only a pencil and wretched little -sketch book.</p> - -<p>“<i>Spezzia, April 28th, 1869.</i>—A repetition of yesterday in point of -weather. I feel as though I had been steeped all day in some balmy -liquid of gold, purple, and blue. I have a Titianesque feeling hovering -about me produced by the style of landscape we have passed through and -the faces of the people who are working in the patches of cultivation -under the mulberries and vines, and that intense, deep blue sky with -massive white clouds floating over it. We exclaimed as much at the -beauty of the women as at the purple of the mountains and the green of -the budding mulberries and poplars. And the men and boys; what perfect -types; such fine figures and handsome faces, such healthy colour! We -left the hotel at Sestri, with its avenue of orange trees in flower, at -ten o’clock, and, of course, crossed the Bracco to-day. We dined at a -little place called Bogliasco, in whose street, under our windows, -handsome youths with bare legs and arms were playing at a game of ball -which called<a name="page_057" id="page_057"></a> forth fine action. I did not know at first whether to look -well at them all or sketch them down one by one, but did both, and I -hope to make a regular drawing of the group from the sketch I took and -from memory. We stopped at the top of the hill, from which is seen La -Spezzia lying below, with its beautiful bay and the Carara Mountains -beyond. Here ends our drive, for to-morrow we take the train for -Florence.</p> - -<p>“<i>Florence, April 29th.</i>—Magnificent, cloudless weather. But, oh! what -a wearisome journey we had, the train crawling from one station to -another and stopping at each such a time, whilst we baked in the -cushioned carriage and couldn’t even have lovely things to look at, -surrounded by the usual railway eyesores. We passed close by the Pisan -Campo Santo, and had a very good view of the Leaning Tower and the -Duomo. Such hurrying and struggling at the Pisa station to get into the -train for Florence, having, of course, to carry all our small baggage -ourselves. Railway travelling in Italy is odious. It was very lovely to -see Florence in the distance, with those domes and towers I know so well -by heart from pictures, but we were very limp indeed, the wearisome -train having taken all our enthusiasm away. Everything as we arrived -struck us as small, and I am still so dazzled by the splendour of Genoa -that my eyes cannot, as it were, comprehend the brown, grey and white -tones of this quiet-coloured little city. I must <i>Florentine</i> myself as -fast as I can. This hotel is on the Lung’ Arno, and charming was it to -look out of the windows in the lovely evening and see the river below -and the dome of the Carmine and tower of Santo Spirito against the clear -sky with, further off, the hills with their convents (alas! empty now) -and clusters<a name="page_058" id="page_058"></a> of cypresses. No greater contrast to Genoa could be than -Florence in every way. Oh! may this city of the arts see me begin (and -finish) my first regular picture. <i>April 30th.</i>—I and Papa strolled -about the streets to get a general impression of ‘<i>Firenze la gentile</i>,’ -and looked into the Duomo, which is indeed bare and sad-coloured inside -except in its delicious painted windows over the altars, the harmonious -richness of which I should think could not be exceeded by any earthly -means. The outside is very gay and cheerful, but some of the marble has -browned itself into an appearance of wood. Oh! dear Giotto’s Tower, -could elegance go beyond this? Is not this an example of the complete -<i>savoir faire</i> of those true-born artists of old? And the ‘Gates of -Paradise’! The delight of seeing these from the street is great, instead -of in a museum. But Michael Angelo’s enthusiastic exclamation in their -praise rather makes one smile, for we know that it must have been in -admiration of their purely technical beauties, as the gates are by no -means large and grand <i>as</i> gates, and the bronze is rather dark for an -entrance into Paradise! I reverently saluted the Palazzo Vecchio, and am -quite ready to get very much attached to the brown stone of Florence in -time.</p> - -<p>“<i>Villa Lamporecchi, May 1st.</i>—We two and Papa had a good spell at the -Uffizi in the morning, and in the afternoon we took possession of this -pleasing house, which is so cool and has far-spreading views, one of -Florence from a terrace leading out of what I shall make my studio. A -garden and vineyards sloping down to the valley where Brunelleschi’s -brown dome shows above the olives.â€</p> - -<p class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/ill_pg_058_lg.jpg"> -<img src="images/ill_pg_058_sml.jpg" width="260" height="402" alt="In Florence during my studies in /69." -title="In Florence during my studies in /69." /></a> -<br /> -<span class="caption">In Florence during my studies in /69.</span> -</p> - -<p>Our mother did many lovely water colours, one<a name="page_059" id="page_059"></a> especially exquisite -one of Fiesole seen in a shimmering blue midsummer light. That, and one -done on the Lung’ Arno, to which Shelley’s line</p> - -<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">“The purple noon’s transparent mightâ€<br /></span> -</div></div> - -<p class="nind">could justly be applied, are treasured by me. She understood sunshine -and how to paint it.</p> - -<p>“<i>May 3rd.</i>—I already feel Florence growing upon me. I begin to -understand the love English people of culture and taste get for this -most interesting and gentle city. The ground one treads on is all -historic, but it is in the artistic side of its history that I naturally -feel the greatest interest, and it is a delightful thing to go about -those streets and be reminded at every turn of the great Painters, -Architects, Sculptors I have read so much of. Here a palace designed by -Raphael, there a glorious row of windows carved by Michael Angelo, there -some exquisite ironwork wrought by some other born genius. I think the -style of architecture of the Strozzi Palace, the Ricardi, and others, is -perfection in its way, though at first, with the brilliant whites, -yellows and pinks of Genoa still in my eye, I felt rather depressed by -the uniform brown of the huge stones of which they are built. No wonder -I haunt the well-known gallery which runs over the Ponte Vecchio, lined -with the sketches, studies, and first thoughts of most of the great -masters. One delights almost more in these than in many of the finished -pictures. They bring one much more in contact, as it were, with the -great dead, and make one familiar with their methods of work. One sees -what little slips they made, how they modified their first thoughts, -over and over again, before finally fixing their choice. Very -encouraging to the struggling beginner to see these evidences of their -troubles!<a name="page_060" id="page_060"></a></p> - -<p>“I have never, before I came here where so many of them have lived, -realised the old masters as our comrades; I have never been so near them -and felt them to be mortals exactly like ourselves. This city and its -environs are so little changed, the greater part of them not at all, -since those grand old Michael Angelesque days that one feels brought -quite close to the old painters, seeing what they saw and walking on the -very same old pavement as they walked on, passing the houses where they -lived, and so forth.â€</p> - -<p>I was at that time bent on achieving my first “great picture,†to be -taken from Keats’s poem “The Pot of Basilâ€; Lorenzo riding to his death -between the two brothers:</p> - -<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">So the two brothers and their murdered man<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Rode past fair Florence,<br /></span> -</div></div> - -<p class="nind">but, fortunately, I resolved instead to put in further training before -attacking such a canvas, and I became the pupil of a very fine academic -draughtsman, though no great colourist, Giuseppe Bellucci. On alternate -days to those spent in his studio I copied in careful pencil some of the -exquisite figures in Andrea del Sarto’s frescoes in the cloisters of the -SS. Annunziata.</p> - -<p>The heat was so great that, as it became more intense, I had to be at -Bellucci’s, in the Via Santa Reparata, at eight o’clock instead of 8.30, -getting there in the comparative cool of the morning, after a salutary -walk into Florence, accompanied by little Majolina, no <i>signorina</i> being -at liberty to walk alone. What heat! The sound of the ceaseless hiss of -the <i>cicale</i> gave one the impression of the country’s undergoing the -ordeal of being <i>frizzled</i> by the sun. I record the appearance of my -first fire-fly on the night of<a name="page_061" id="page_061"></a> May 6th. What more pleasing rest could -one have, after the heat and work of the day, than by a stroll through -the vineyards in the early night escorted by these little creatures with -their golden lamps?</p> - -<p>The cloisters were always cool, and I enjoyed my lonely hours there, but -the Bellucci studio became at last too much of a furnace. My master had -already several times suggested a rest, mopping his brow, when I also -began to doze over my work at last, and the model wouldn’t keep his eyes -open. I record mine as “rolling in my head.â€</p> - -<p>I see in memory the blinding street outside, and hear the fretful -stamping of some tethered mule teased with the flies. The very Members -of Parliament in the Palazzo Vecchio had departed out of the impossible -Chamber, and, all things considered, I allowed Bellucci to persuade me -to take a little month of rest—“<i>un mesetto di riposo</i>‗at home during -part of July and August. That little month of rest was very nice. I did -a water colour of the white oxen ploughing in our <i>podere</i>; I helped (?) -the <i>contadini</i> to cut the wheat with my sickle, and sketched them while -they went through the elaborate process of threshing, enlivened with -that rough innocent romping peculiar to young peasants, which gave me -delightful groups in movement. I love and respect the Italian peasant. -He has high ideas of religion, simplicity of living, honour. I can’t say -I feel the same towards his <i>betters</i> (?) in the Italian social scale.</p> - -<p>The grapes ripened. The scorched <i>cicale</i> became silent, having, as the -country people declared, returned to the earth whence they sprang. The -heat had passed even <i>cicala</i> pitch. I went back to the studio when the -“little month†had run out and the<a name="page_062" id="page_062"></a> heat had sensibly cooled, and worked -very well there. I find this record of a birthday expedition:</p> - -<p>“I suggested a visit to the convent of San Salvi out at the Porta alla -Croce, where is to be seen Andrea del Sarto’s ‘Cenacolo.’ This we did in -the forenoon, and in the afternoon visited Careggi. Enough isn’t said -about Andrea. What volumes of praise have been written, what endless -talk goes on, about Raphael, and how little do people seem to appreciate -the quiet truth and soberness and subtlety of Andrea. This great fresco -is very striking as one enters the vaulted whitewashed refectory and -sees it facing the entrance at the further end. The great point in this -composition is the wonderful way in which this master has disposed the -hands of all those figures as they sit at the long table. In the row of -heads Andrea has revelled in his love of variety, and each is stamped, -as usual, with strong individuality. This beautifully coloured fresco -has impressed me with another great fact, viz., the wonderful value of -<i>bright yellow</i> as well as white in a composition to light it up. The -second Apostle on our Saviour’s left, who is slightly leaning forward on -his elbow and loosely clasping one hand in the other, has his shoulders -wrapped round with yellow drapery, the horizontally disposed folds of -which are the <i>ne plus ultra</i> of artistic arrangement. There is -something very realistic in these figures and their attitudes. Some -people are down on me when they hear me going on about the rendering of -individual character being the most admirable of artistic qualities.</p> - -<p>“At 3.30 we went for such a drive to Careggi, once Lorenzo de’ Medici’s -villa—where, indeed, he died—and now belonging to Mr. Sloane, a -‘bloated capitalist’<a name="page_063" id="page_063"></a> of distant England. The ‘keepsake’ beauty of the -views thence was perfect. A combination of garden kept in English order -and lovely Italian landscape is indeed a rich feast for the eye. I was -in ecstasies all along. We made a great <i>détour</i> on our return and -reached home in the after-glow, which cast a light on the houses as of a -second sun.</p> - -<p>“<i>October 18th.</i>—Went with Papa and Alice to see Raphael’s ‘Last -Supper’ at the Egyptian Museum, long ago a convent. It is not perfectly -sure that Raphael painted it, but, be that as it may, its excellence is -there, evident to all true artists. It seems to me, considering that it -is an early work, that none but one of the first-class men could have -painted it. It offers a very instructive contrast with del Sarto’s at -San Salvi. The latter immediately strikes the spectator with its effect, -and makes him exclaim with admiration at the very first moment—at -least, I am speaking for myself. The former (Raphael’s) grew upon me in -an extraordinary way after I had come close up to it and dwelt long on -the heads, separately; but on entering the room the rigidity and -formality of the figures, whose aureoles of solid metal are all on one -level, the want of connection of these figures one with the other, and -the uniform light over them all had an unprepossessing effect. -Artistically considered this fresco is not to be mentioned with -Andrea’s, but then del Sarto was a ripe and experienced artist when he -painted the San Salvi fresco, whereas they conjecture Raphael to have -been only twenty-two when he painted this. There is more spiritual -feeling in Raphael’s, more dignity and ideality altogether; no doubt a -higher conception, and some feel more satisfied with it than with -Andrea’s.<a name="page_064" id="page_064"></a> The refinement and melancholy look of St. Matthew is a thing -to be thought of through life. St. Andrew’s face, with the long, -double-peaked white beard, is glorious, and is a contrast to the other -old man’s head next to it, St. Peter’s, which is of a harder kind, but -not less wonderful. St. Bartholomew, with his dark complexion and black -beard, is strongly marked from the others, who are either fair or -grey-headed. The profile of St. Philip, with a pointed white beard, gave -me great delight, and I wish I could have been left an hour there to -solitary contemplation. St. James Major, a beardless youth, is a true -Perugino type, a very familiar face. Judas is a miserable little figure, -smaller than the others, though on the spectator’s side of the table in -the foreground. He seems not to have been taken from life at all.</p> - -<p>“On one of the walls of the room are hung some little chalk studies of -hands, etc., for the fresco, most exquisitely drawn, and seeming, some -of them, better modelled than in the finished work; notably St. Peter’s -hand which holds the knife. Is there no Modern who can give us a ‘Last -Supper’ to rank with this, Andrea’s and Leonardo’s?â€</p> - -<p>This entry in my Diary of student days leads my thoughts to poor -Leonardo da Vinci. A painter must sympathise with him through his -recorded struggles to accomplish, in his “Cenacolo,†what may be called -the almost superhuman achievement of worthily representing the Saviour’s -face. Had he but been content to use the study which we see in the Brera -gallery! But, no! he must try to do better at Santa Maria delle -Grazie—and fails. How many sleepless nights and nerve-racking days he -must have suffered during this supreme attempt, ending in<a name="page_065" id="page_065"></a> complete -discouragement. I think the Brera study one of the very few satisfactory -representations of the divine Countenance left us in art. To me it is -supreme in its infinite pathos. But it is always the way with the truly -great geniuses; they never feel that they have reached the heights they -hoped to win.</p> - -<p>Ruskin tells us that Albert Dürer, on finishing one of his own works, -felt absolutely satisfied. “It could not be done better,†was the -complacent German’s verdict. Ruskin praises him for this, because the -verdict was true. So it was, as regarding a piece of mere handicraft. -But to return to the Diary.</p> - -<p>“We went then to pay a call on Michael Angelo at his apartment in the -Via Ghibellina. I do not put it in those words as a silly joke, but -because it expresses the feeling I had at the moment. To go to his -house, up his staircase to his flat, and ring at his door produced in my -mind a vivid impression that he was alive and, living there, would -receive us in his drawing-room. Everything is well nigh as it was in his -time, but restored and made to look like new, the place being far more -as he saw it than if it were half ruinous and going to decay. Even the -furniture is the same, but new velveted and varnished. It is a pretty -apartment, such as one can see any day in nice modern houses. I touched -his little slippers, which are preserved, together with his two walking -sticks, in a tiny cabinet where he used to write, and where I wondered -how he found space to stretch his legs. The slippers are very small and -of a peculiar, rather Eastern, shape, and very little worn. Altogether, -I could not realise the lapse of time between his date and ours. The -little sketches round the walls of the room, which is furnished with -yellow<a name="page_066" id="page_066"></a> satin chairs and sofa, are very admirable and free. The Titian -hung here is a very splendid bit of colour. This was a very impressive -visit. The bronze bust of M. A. by Giovanni da Bologna is magnificent; -it gives immense character, and must be the image of the man.â€</p> - -<p>On October 21st I bade good-bye to Bellucci. His system forbade praise -for the pupil, which was rather depressing, but he relaxed sufficiently -to tell my father at parting that I would do things (<i>Farà delle cose</i>) -and that I was untiring (<i>istancabile</i>), taking study seriously, not -like the others (<i>le altre</i>). With this I had to be content. He had -drilled me in drawing more severely than I could have been drilled in -England. For that purpose he had kept me a good deal to painting in -monochrome, so as to have my attention absorbed by the drawing and -modelling and <i>chiaroscuro</i> of an object without the distraction of -colour. He also said to me I could now walk alone (<i>può camminare da -sè</i>), and with this valedictory good-bye we parted. Being free, I spent -the remaining time at Florence in visits to the churches and galleries -with my father and sister, seeing works I had not had time to study up -till then.</p> - -<p>“<i>October 22nd.</i>—We first went to see the Ghirlandajos at Santa -Trinità , which I had not yet seen. They are fading, as, indeed, most of -the grand old frescoes are doing, but the heads are full of character, -and the grand old costumes are still plainly visible. From thence we -went to the small cloister called <i>dello Scalzo</i>, where are the -exquisite monochromes of Andrea del Sarto. Would that this cloister had -been roofed in long ago, for the weather has made sad havoc of these -precious things. Being in monochrome and<a name="page_067" id="page_067"></a> much washed out, they have a -faded look indeed; but how the drawing tells! What a master of anatomy -was he, and yet how unexaggerated, how true: he was content to limit -himself to Nature; <i>knew where to draw the line</i>, had, in fact, the -reticence which Michael Angelo couldn’t recognise; could stop at the -limit of truth and good taste through which the great sculptor burst -with coarse violence. There are some backs of legs in those frescoes -which are simply perfect. These works illustrate the events in the life -of John the Baptist. Here, again, how marvellous and admirable are all -the hands, not only in drawing, but in action, how touching the heads, -how grand and thoroughly artistic the draperies and the poses of the -figures. A splendid lesson in the management of drapery is, especially, -the fresco to the right of the entrance, the ‘Vision of Zacharias.’ -There are four figures, two immediately in the foreground and at either -extremity of the composition; the two others, seen between them, further -off. The nearest ones are in draperies of the grandest and largest -folds, with such masses of light and dark, of the most satisfying -breadth; and the two more distant ones have folds of a slightly more -complex nature, if such a word can be used with regard to such a -thoroughly broadly treated work. This gives such contrast and relief -between the near and distant figures, and the absence of the aid of -colour makes the science of art all the more simply perceived. Most -beautiful is the fresco representing the birth of St. John, though the -lower part is quite lost. What consummate drapery arrangements! The nude -figure <i>vue de dos</i> in the fresco of St. John baptising his disciples is -a masterly bit of drawing. Though the paint has fallen off many parts of -these frescoes, one<a name="page_068" id="page_068"></a> can trace the drawing by the incision which was -made on the wet plaster to mark all the outlines preparatory to -beginning the painting.â€</p> - -<p>These are but a few of my art student’s impressions of this -fondly-remembered Florentine epoch, which are recorded at great length -in the Diary for my own study. And now away to Rome!<a name="page_069" id="page_069"></a></p> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI<br /><br /> -<small>ROME</small></h2> - -<p>T<small>HAT</small> was a memorable journey to Rome by Perugia. I have travelled more -than once by that line, and the more direct one as well, since then, and -I feel as though I could never have enough of either, though to be on -the road again, as we now can be by motor, would be still greater bliss. -But the original journey took place so long ago that it has positively -an old-world glamour about it, and a certain roughness in the flavour, -so difficult to enjoy in these times of Pulman cars and Palace Hotels, -which make all places taste so much alike. The old towns on the -foothills of the Apennines drew me to the left, and the great sunlit -plains to the right, of the carriage in an <i>embarras de choix</i> as we -sped along. Cortona, Arezzo, Castiglione—Fiorentin—each little old -city putting out its predecessor, as it seemed to me, as more perfect in -its picturesque effect than the one last seen. It was the story of the -Rhine castles and villages over again. The Lake of Trasimene appeared on -our right towards sundown, a sheet of still water so tender in its tints -and so lonely; no town on its malaria-stricken banks; a boat or two, -water-fowl among the rushes and, as we proceeded, the great, magnified -globe of the sun sinking behind the rim of the lake. We were going deep -into the Umbrian Hills, deep into old Italy; the deeper the better. We -neared Perugia, where we passed the night, before dark, and saw the old -brown city tinged<a name="page_070" id="page_070"></a> faintly with the after-glow, afar off on its hill. A -massive castle stood there in those days which I have not regretted -since, as it symbolised the old time of foreign tyranny. It is gone now, -but how mediæval it looked, frowning on the world that darkening -evening. Hills stood behind the city in deep blue masses against a sky -singularly red, where a great planet was shining. There was a Perugino -picture come to life for us! Even the little spindly trees tracing their -slender branches on the red sky were in the true <i>naïf</i> Perugino spirit! -How pleased we were! We rumbled in the four-horse station ’bus under two -echoing gateways piercing the massive outer and inner city walls and -along the silent streets, lit with rare oil lamps. Not a gas jet, aha! -But we were to feel still more deeply mediæval, whether we liked it or -not, for on reaching the Hotel de la Poste we found it was full, and had -to wander off to seek what hostel could take us in through very dark, -ancient streets. I will let the Diary speak:</p> - -<p>“The <i>facchino</i> of the hotel conducted us to a place little better than -a <i>cabaret</i>, belonging, no doubt, to a chum. I wouldn’t have minded -putting up there, but Mamma knew better, and, rewarding the woman of the -<i>cabaret</i> with two francs, much against her protestations, we went off -up the steep street again and made for the ‘Corona,’ a shade better, -close to the market place. My bedroom was as though it had once been a -dungeon, so massive were the walls and deep the vaulting of the low -ceiling. We went to bed almost immediately after our dinner, which was -enlivened by the conversation of men who were eating at a neighbouring -table, all, except a priest, with their hats on. One was very -loquacious, shouting politics.<a name="page_071" id="page_071"></a> He held forth about ‘<i>Il Mastai</i>,’ as he -called His Holiness Pope Pius the Ninth, and flourished renegade <i>Padre -Giacinto</i> in the priest’s face, the courteous and laconic priest’s -eyebrows remaining at high-water mark all the time. The shouter went on -to say that English was ‘<i>una lingua povera e meschina</i>’ (‘Poor and -mean’!)â€</p> - -<p>The next morning before leaving we saw all that time allowed us of -Perugia, the bronze statue of Pope Julius III. impressing me deeply. -Indeed, there is no statue more eloquent than this one. Alas! the -Italians have removed it from its right place, and when I revisited the -city in 1900 I found the tram terminus in place of the Pope.</p> - -<p>“<i>October 27th.</i>—After the morning’s doings in sunshine the day became -sad, and from Foligno, where we had a long wait, the story is but of -rain and dusk and night. We became more and more apathetic and bored, -though we were roused up at the frontier station, where I saw the Papal -<i>gendarmes</i> and gave the alarm. Mamma went on her knees in the carriage -and cried, ‘<i>Viva Il Papa Rè!</i>’ We all joined in, drinking his health in -some very flat ‘red <i>grignolino</i>’ we had with us. I became more and more -excited as we neared the centre of the earth, the capital of -Christendom, the highest city in the world. In the rainy darkness we ran -into the Roman station, which might have been that of Brighton for aught -we could see. I strained my eyes right and left for Papal uniforms, and -was rewarded by Zouaves and others, and lots of French (of the Legion) -into the bargain.</p> - -<p>Then a long wait, in the ’bus of the Anglo-American Hotel, for our -luggage; and at last we rattled over the pavement, which, with its -cobble stones, was a<a name="page_072" id="page_072"></a> great contrast to the large flat flags of -Florence, along very dark and gloomy streets. An apartment all crimson -damask was ready prepared for us, which looked cheery and revived us.</p> - -<p>“<i>October 28th</i>, 56, <i>Via del Babuino.</i>—The day began rather -dismally—looking for apartments in the rain! The coming of the -Å’cumenical Council has greatly inflated the prices; Rome is crammed. -At last we took this attractive one for six months, ‘<i>esposto a -mezzogiorno</i>.’ Facing due south, fortunately.</p> - -<p>“The sun came out then, and all things were bright and joyous as we -rattled off in a little victoria to feast our eyes (we two for the first -time) on St. Peter’s. Papa, knowing Rome already, knew what to do and -how best to give us our first impressions. An epoch in my life, never to -be forgotten, a moment in my existence too solemn and beyond my power of -writing to allow of my describing it! I have seen St. Peter’s. No, -indeed, no descriptions have ever given me an adequate idea of what I -have just seen. The sensation of seeing the real thing one has gazed at -in pictures and photographs with longing is one of peculiar delight.</p> - -<p>“To find myself really on the Ponte Sant’ Angelo! No dream this. There -is the huge castle and the angel with outstretched wings, and there is -St. Peter’s in very truth. The sight of it made the tears rise and my -throat tighten, so greatly was I overcome by that soul-moving sight. The -dome is perfect; the whole, with its great piazza and colonnade, is -perfect; I am utterly overpowered and, as to writing, it is too -inadequate, and I do so merely because I must do my duty by this -journal.</p> - -<p>“What a state I was in, though exteriorly so quiet.<a name="page_073" id="page_073"></a> And all around us -other beauties—the yellow Tiber, the old houses, the great -fortress-tomb—oh, Mimi, the artist, is not all the enthusiasm in you at -full power? We got out of the carriage at the bottom of the piazza and -walked up to the basilica on foot. The two familiar fountains—so -familiar, yet seen for the first time in reality—were sending up their -spray in such magnificent abundance, which the wind took and sent in -cascade-like forms far out over the reflecting pavement. The interior of -St. Peter’s, which impresses different people in such various ways, was -a radiant revelation to me. We had but a preliminary taste to-day. We -drove thence to the Piazza del Popolo, and then had an entrancing walk -on Monte Pincio. We came down by the French Academy, with its row of -clipped ilexes, under which you see one of the most exquisite views of -silvery Rome, St. Peter’s in the middle. We dipped down by the steps of -the Trinità , where the models congregate, flecking the wide grey steps -with all the colours of the rainbow.</p> - -<p>“<i>October 29th.</i>—Papa would not let us linger in the Colosseum too -long, for to-day he wanted us to have only a general idea of things. -Those bits of distance seen through triumphal arches, between old -pillars, through gaps in ancient walls, how they please! As we were -climbing the Palatine hill a Black Franciscan came up to us for alms, -and in return offered us his snuff-box, out of which Alice and I took a -pinch, and we went sneezing over the ruins. On to the Capitol, and down -thence homeward through streets full of priests, monks and soldiers. All -the afternoon given to being tossed about, with poor Papa, by the Dogana -from the railway station to the custom-house in the Baths of Diocletian, -and from there to the artist commissioned<a name="page_074" id="page_074"></a> by the Government to examine -incoming works of art. They would not let me have my box of studies, -calling them ‘modern pictures’ on which we must pay duty.â€</p> - -<p>Rome under the Temporal Power was so unlike Rome, capital of Italy, as -we see it to-day, that I think it just as well to draw largely from the -Diary, which is crammed with descriptions of men and things belonging to -the old order which can never be seen again. I love to recall it all. We -were in Rome just in time. We left it in May and the Italians entered it -in September. Though I was not a Catholic then, and found delight in -Rome almost entirely as an artist, the power and vitality of the Church -could not but impress me there.</p> - -<p>“<i>October 30th.</i>—This has been one of the most perfectly enjoyable days -of my life. Papa and I drove to the Vatican through that bright light -air which gives one such energy. The Vatican! What a place wherein to -revel. We climbed one of the mighty staircases guarded by the -interesting Papal Guards, halberd on shoulder, until we got to the top -loggia and went into the picture gallery, I to enchant my eyes with the -grandest pictures that men have conceived. But I will not touch on them -till I go there to study. And so on from one glory to another. We turned -into St. Peter’s and there strolled a long time. Before we went in, and -as we were standing at the bottom of the Scala Regia enjoying the -clearness of the sunshine on the city, we saw the <i>gendarmes</i>, the -Zouaves and others standing at attention, and, looking back, we saw the -red, black, and yellow Swiss running with operatic effect to seize their -halberds, and Cardinal Antonelli came down to get into his carriage, -almost stumbling over me, who didn’t know he was so<a name="page_075" id="page_075"></a> near. Before he got -into his great old-fashioned coach, harnessed to those heavy black -horses with the trailing scarlet traces, a picturesque incident -occurred. A girl-faced young priest tremulously accosted the Cardinal, -hat in hand, no doubt begging some favour of the great man. The Cardinal -spoke a little time to him with grand kindness, and then the priest fell -on one knee, kissed the Cardinal’s ring, and got up blushing pink all -over his beautiful young face, and passed on, gracefully and modestly, -as he had done the rest. Then off rattled the carriage, the Zouaves -presented arms, salutes were made, hats lifted, and Antonelli was gone.</p> - -<p>“In St. Peter’s were crowds of priests in different colours, forming -masses of black, purple, and scarlet of great beauty. Two Oriental -bishops were making the round, one, a Dominican, having with him a sort -of Malay for a chaplain in turban and robe. Two others had Chinamen with -pigtails in attendance, these two emaciated prelates bearing signs of -recent torture endured in China, living martyrs out of Florentine -frescoes. Yonder comes a bearded Oriental with mild, beautiful face, and -following him a scarlet-clad German with yellow hair, projecting ears, -coarse mouth, and spectacles over his little eyes; and then a -sharp-visaged Jesuit, or a spiritual, wan Franciscan and a burly Roman -secular. No end of types. One very young Italian monk had the face of a -saint, all ready made for a fresco. I looked at him in unspeakable -admiration as he stood looking up at some inscription, probably -translating it in his own mind. On our way home, to crown all, we met -the Pope. His outrider in cocked hat and feathers came clattering along -the narrow street in advance,<a name="page_076" id="page_076"></a> then a red-and-gold coach, black prancing -horses—all shadowy to me, as I was intent only on catching a view of -the Holy Father. We got out of the carriage, as in duty bound, and bent -the knee like the rest as he passed by. I saw his profile well, with -that well-known smile on his kind face. As we looked after the carriages -and horsemen the effect was touching of the people kneeling in masses -along the way. The sight of Italian men kneeling is novel to me in the -extreme.</p> - -<p>“<i>October 31st.</i>—I went first, with Mamma and Alice, to St. Peter’s, -where I studied types, attitudes and costumes. The sight of a Zouave -officer kneeling, booted and spurred, his sword by his side, and his -face shaded with his hand, is indeed striking, and one knows all those -have enrolled themselves for a sacred cause they have at heart—higher -even than for love of any particular country. The difference of types -among these Zouaves is most interesting. The Belgian and Dutch decidedly -predominate. Papa and I went thence for a fascinating stroll of many -hours, finding it hard to turn back. We went up to Sant’ Onofrio and -then round by the great Farnese Palace. The view from Sant’ Onofrio over -Rome is—well, my language is utterly annihilated here. How invigorated -I felt, and not a bit tired.â€</p> - -<p>I have never been able to call up enthusiasm over the Pantheon, -low-lying, black and pagan in every line. Why does Byron lash himself -into calling it “Pride of Romeâ€? For the same reason, I suppose, that he -laments and sighs over the disappearance of Dodona’s “aged grove and -oracle divine.†As if any one cares! The view of Rome from Monte Mario, -being <i>the</i> view, should have a place here as we saw it one of those -richly-coloured days.<a name="page_077" id="page_077"></a></p> - -<p>“<i>November 3rd.</i>—My birthday, marked by the customary birthday -expedition, this time to Monte Mario. Nothing could be more splendid -than looked the Capital of the World as it lay below us when we reached -the top of that commanding height. The Campagna lay beyond it, ending in -that direction with the Sabine and Alban Mountains, the furthest all -white with snow. Buildings, cypresses, pines, formed foreground groups -to the silver city as they only can do to such perfection in these -parts. In another direction we could see the Campagna with its straight -horizon like a calm rosy-brown sea meeting the limpid sky. We drove a -long way on the high road across the Campagna Florence-wards. No high -walls as in the Florentine drives were here to shut out the views, which -unfolded themselves on all sides as we trotted on. We got out of the -carriage on the Campagna and strolled about on the brown grass, enjoying -the sweet free breeze and the great sweep of country stretching away to -the luminous horizon towards the sun, and to the lilac mountains in the -other direction. These mountains became tender pink as we went -Romewards, and when the city again appeared it was in a richly-coloured -light, the Campagna beyond in warm shadow from large chocolate-coloured -clouds which were rising heaped up into the sky. A superb effect.â€</p> - -<p>Here follow many days chiefly given up to studio hunting and “property†-seeking for my work, soon to be set up. Models there were in plenty, of -course, as Rome was then still the artists’ headquarters. How things -have changed!</p> - -<p>I began with a <i>ciociara</i> spinning with a distaff in the well-known and -very much used-up costume, just<a name="page_078" id="page_078"></a> for practice, and another peasant girl. -Then I painted, at my dear mother’s earnest desire, “The -Magnificat‗Mary’s visit to Elizabeth—and on off days my father and I -“did†all the pictures contained in various palaces, the Vatican, and -the Villa Borghese, filling pages and pages of notes in the old Diary. I -felt the value of every day in Rome. Many people might think I ought not -to have worked so much in a studio, but I think I divided the time well. -I felt I must keep my hand in, and practise with the brush, though how -often I was tempted to join the others on some fascinating ramble may be -imagined. Soon, however, the rains of a Roman December set in, and Rome -became very wet indeed. Our father read us Roman history every evening -when there were no visitors. We had a good many, our mother and her -music and brightness soon attracting all that was nice in the English -and American colonies. Dear old Mr. Severn, he in whose arms Keats died, -often took tea with us (we kept our way of having dinner early and tea -in the evening), and there was an antiquarian who took interest in -nothing whatever except the old Roman walls, and he used to come and -hold forth about the “Agger of Servius Tullius†till my head went round. -He kept his own on, it seemed to me, by pressing his hand on the bald -top of it as he explained to us about that bit of “agger†which he had -discovered, and the herring-bone brick of which it was built. Often as I -have revisited Rome, I cannot become enthusiastic over the discovery of -some old Roman sewer, or bit of hot-water pipe, or horrible stone basin -with a hole in the bottom for draining off the blood of sacrificial -oxen. I always long to get back into the sunshine and fresh air from the -mouldy<a name="page_079" id="page_079"></a> depths of Pagan Rome when I get caught in a party to whom the -antiquarian enthusiasts like to hold forth below the surface of the -earth. Alice listens, deferential and controlled, while I fidget, -supporting myself on my umbrella, with such a face! Here is a little bit -of Papal Rome impossible to-day:</p> - -<p>“<i>November 29th.</i>—In the course of our long ramble after my work Papa -and I, in the soft evening, came upon a scene which I shall not forget, -made by a young priest preaching to a little crowd in the street before -the side door of Santa Maria Sopra Minerva, a Rembrandtesque effect -being produced by the two lamps held by a priest at either side of the -platform on which the preacher stood. One of these held the large -crucifix to which the preacher turned at times, with gestures of rapture -such as only an Italian could use in so natural a way. To see him, -lighted from below, in his black habit and hear his impassioned voice! -All the men were bareheaded, and such as passed by took their hats off. -Penetrating as the priest’s voice was, it was now and then quite drowned -by the street noises, especially the rattling of wheels on the rough -stones.â€</p> - -<p>The days that follow are filled with my work on “The Visitation,†with -few intervals of sight-seeing. Then comes the great ecclesiastical event -to be marked in history, which brought all the world to Rome.</p> - -<p>“<i>Opening of the Å’cumenical Council, December 8th.</i>—A memorable day, -this! We got up by candlelight, as at a quarter past seven we were to -drive to St. Peter’s. The dreary raining dawn was announced, just as it -broke, by the heavy cannon of Castel Sant’ Angelo, the flash of which -was reflected in the blue-grey sky long before the sound reached us, and -the<a name="page_080" id="page_080"></a> cannon on the Aventine echoed those of the Castel. How dreary it -felt, yet how imposing for any one who has got into the right feeling -about this solemn event. On our way we overtook scores of priests on -foot, trying to walk clear of the puddles in those thin, buckled shoes -of theirs. It must have been trying for the old ones. There were bishops -amongst them, too poor to afford a cab. We have seen them day after day -thus going to the Vatican meetings. One great blessing the rain brought: -it kept hundreds of people from coming to the church, and thus saved -many crushings to death, for it is terrible to contemplate, seeing what -a crowd there actually was, what it might have been had the building -been crammed. Entrance and egress were both at one end of the church. -That thought must console me for the terrible toning down and darkening -of what, otherwise, would have been a great pageant. So many thousands -of wet feet brought something like a lake half way up the floor; so -slippery was it that, had the crowd swayed in a panic, it wouldn’t have -been very nice.</p> - -<p>“Papa and I insinuated ourselves into the hedge of people kept back by -Zouaves and Palatine Guards, as we came opposite the statue of St. -Peter, and I eventually got fixed three rows back from the soldiers, and -was lucky to get in so far. I was jammed between a monk and a short -youth of the ‘horsey’ kind. The atmosphere in that warm, wet crowd was -trying. I could see into the Council Hall opposite.</p> - -<p class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/ill_pg_080_lg.jpg"> -<img src="images/ill_pg_080_sml.jpg" width="260" height="395" alt="Roman Impressions in 1870. - -The Last of the Riderless Horse-races, and a Wet Trudge - -To the Vatican Council." -title="Roman Impressions in 1870. - -The Last of the Riderless Horse-races, and a Wet Trudge - -To the Vatican Council." /></a> -<br /> -<span class="caption">Roman Impressions in 1870.<br /> -The Last of the Riderless Horse-races, and a Wet Trudge<br /> -To the Vatican Council.</span> -</p> - -<p>“The passage kept clear for the great procession was very wide. On the -other side I could see rows of English and American girls and elderly -females in the best places, as usual, right to the front, as bold as -brass, and didn’t they eye the bishops over through<a name="page_081" id="page_081"></a> their -<i>pince-nez!</i> We must have been waiting two hours before the procession -entered the church. I ought to have mentioned that the sacred dark -bronze statue of St. Peter was robed in gorgeous golden vestments with a -splendid triple crown on its head, making it look like a black Pope, and -very life-like from where I saw it. It seemed very strange.</p> - -<p>“At last there was a buzz as people perceived the slowly-moving -<i>silhouette</i> of the procession as it passed along in a far-off gallery, -veiled from us by pink curtains, against the light and very high up, -over the entrance. We could see the prelates had all vested by the -outlines of the mitres and the high-shouldered look of the figures in -stiff copes. As the procession entered the church the ‘Veni Creator’ -swelled up majestically and floated through the immense space. The -effect of the procession to me was <i>nil</i>; all I could do was to catch a -glimpse of each bishop as he passed between the bobbing heads of the men -in front of me. All the European and United States Bishops were in white -and silver, but now and then there passed Oriental Patriarchs in rich -vestments, their picturesque dark faces (two were quite brown) telling -so strikingly amongst the pale or rosy Europeans. Each had his solemn -secretary, with imperturbable Eastern face, bearing his jewelled crown, -something in shape like the dome of a mosque. One Oriental wore a jewel -on his dusky forehead, another a black cowl over his head, shading his -keen, dark face, the coarse cowl contrasting in a startling way with the -delicate splendour of the gold and pink and amber vestments worn over -the rough monk’s habit. Still, all this could not be imposing to me, -having to squint and crane as I did, seldom being able to see with both -eyes<a name="page_082" id="page_082"></a> at once. I could at intervals see the silvery prelates, most of -them with snowy heads, and the dark Easterns mount into their seats in -the Council Chamber, our Archbishop Manning amongst them. I had a quite -good glimpse of Cardinal Bonaparte, very like the great Napoleon. Of the -Pope I saw nothing. He was closely surrounded, as he walked past, by the -high-helmeted Noble Guard, and, of course, at that supreme moment every -one in front of me strove to get a better sight of him. Then Papa and I -gladly struggled our way out of the great crowd and went to seek Mamma, -who, very wisely, had not attempted to get a place, but was meekly -sitting on the steps of a confessional in a quiet chapel. Mamma then -went home, and we went into the crowd again to try and see the Council -from a point opposite. We saw it pretty well, the two white banks of -mitred bishops on each side and, far back, the little red Pope in the -middle. Mass was being sung, all Gregorian, but it was faintly heard -from our great distance.</p> - -<p>“No council business was being done to-day; it was only the Mass to open -the meeting. The crowd was most interesting. Surely every nation was -represented in it. An officer of the 42nd Highlanders had an excellent -effect. What shall I do in London, with its dead level of monotony? Oh! -dear, oh! dear. I was quite loth to go home. And so the council is -opened. God speed!â€</p> - -<p>The Ghetto was in existence in those days, so I have even experienced -the sight of <i>that</i>. Very horrible, packed with “red-haired, blear-eyed -creatures, with loose lips and long, baggy noses.†Thus I describe them -in this warren, during our drive one day. What a “<i>sventramento</i>†that -must have been when the<a name="page_083" id="page_083"></a> Italians cleared away and cleaned up all that -congested horror. Wide, wind-swept spaces and a shining, though hideous, -synagogue met my astonished gaze when next I went there and couldn’t -find the Ghetto.</p> - -<p>At the end of the year La Signorina Elizabetta Thompson had to apply to -his Eminenza Riverendissima Cardinal Berardi, Minister of Public Works, -to announce her intention of sending the “Magnificat†to the Pope’s -international exhibition. At that picture I worked hard, my mother being -my model for Our Lady, and an old <i>ciociara</i> from the Trinità steps for -St. Elizabeth. How it rained that December! But we had radiant sunshine -in between the days when the streets were all running with red-brown -rivulets, through which the horses splashed as if fording a stream.</p> - -<p>“<i>January 25th, 1870.</i>—I finished my ‘Magnificat’ to-day. Yet ought I -to say I ceased to paint at it, for ‘finish’ suggests something far -beyond what this picture is. Well, I shall enjoy being on the loose now. -To stroll about Rome after having passed through a picture is perfect -enjoyment. I should feel very uncomfortable at the present time if I -had, up till now, done nothing but lionise. I have no hope of my picture -being accepted now, but still it is pleasant to think that I have worked -hard.</p> - -<p>“<i>February 3rd.</i>—I took my picture to the Calcografia place, as warned -to do. There, in dusty horror, it awaits the selecting committee’s -review, which takes place to-morrow. Mamma and I held it manfully in the -little open carriage to keep it from tumbling out, our arms stretched to -their utmost. Lots of men were shuffling about in that dusty place with -pictures<a name="page_084" id="page_084"></a> of all sizes. But, oh! what a scene of horror was that -collection of daubs. Oh! mercy on us.</p> - -<p>“<i>February 5th.</i>—My ‘Magnificat’ is accepted. First, off goes Mamma -with Celestina to the Calcografia to learn the fate of the picture, and -bring it back triumphant, she and the maid holding it steady in the -little open carriage. Soon after, off we go to the Palazzo Poli to see -nice Mr. Severn, who says he is so proud of me, and will do all he can -to help me in art matters, to see whether he could make the exhibition -people hang my picture well, as we were told the artists had to see to -that themselves if they wanted it well done. I, for my part, would leave -it to them and rather shirk a place on the line, for my picture is -depressingly unsatisfactory to me, but Mamma, for whom I have painted -it, loves it, and wants it well placed ‘so that the Pope may see it’! -From thence off we go to the abode of the Minister of Commerce, Cardinal -B., for my pass. We were there told, to our dismay, that we could not -take the picture ourselves to the exhibition, as it was held in the -cloisters of Sta. Maria degli Angeli, and no permission had yet been -given to admit women before the opening. But I knew that between Papa -and Mr. Severn the picture would be seen to inside the cloistered walls. -After lunch, off goes Papa with my pass, we following in the little open -carriage as before, holding the old picture before us with straining -arms and knitted brows, very much jolted and bumped. We are stopped at -the cloisters, and told to drive out again, and there we pull up, our -faces turned in the opposite direction. The hood of the carriage -suddenly collapses, and we are revealed, unable to let go the picture, -with the soldiers collected about the place<a name="page_085" id="page_085"></a> grinning. Papa arrives, and -he and two <i>facchini</i> come to the rescue, and then disappear with the -picture amongst the forbidden regions enclosed in the gloomy ruins of -Diocletian’s Baths. Papa, on returning home, told me how charmed old -Severn, who was there, was with the picture, and even Podesti, the -judge, after some criticisms, and in no way ready to give it a good -place, said to Severn he had expected the signorina’s picture to be -rubbish (<i>porcheria</i>). I suppose because it was a woman’s work. He -retracted, and said he would like to see me.</p> - -<p>“<i>February 14th.</i>—I began another picture to-day, after all my -resolutions to the contrary, the subject, two Roman shepherds playing at -‘<i>Morra</i>’, sitting on a fallen pillar, a third <i>contadino</i>, in a cloak, -looking on. I posed my first model, putting a light background to him, -the effect being capital, he coming rich and dusky against it. He soon -understood I wanted energy thrown into the action. I shall delight in -this subject, because the hands figure so conspicuously in the game.</p> - -<p>“<i>February 15th.</i>—I went up alone to the Trinità to choose the other -young man for my ‘Morra,’ and, after a little inspection of the group of -lolling Romagnoli, gave the apple to one with a finely-cut profile and -black hair, the other models, male and female, clustering round to hear, -and many bystanders and the Zouave sentry, hard by, looking on.â€</p> - -<p>On one evening in this eventful Roman period I had the opportunity of -seeing the famous race of the riderless horses (the <i>barberi</i>), which -closed the Carnival doings. The impression remains with me quite vividly -to this day. The colour, the movement; the fast-deepening twilight; the -historic associations of that vast Piazza del Popolo, where I see the -great<a name="page_086" id="page_086"></a> obelisk retaining, on its upper part, the last flush from the -west; the impetuous waters of the fountains at its base in cool shadow; -St. Peter’s dome away to the left—this is the setting. Then I hear the -clatter of the dragoon’s horses as the detachment forms up for clearing -the course. The stands, at the foot of the obelisk, are full, some of -the crowd in carnival costume and with masks. A sharp word of command -rings out in the chilly air. Away go the dragoons, down the narrow Corso -and back, at full gallop, splitting the surging crowd with theatrical -effect. The line is clear. Now comes the moment of expectancy! At that -unique starting post, the obelisk upon which Moses in Egypt may have -looked as upon an interesting monument of antiquity in pre-Exodus days, -there appear eleven highly-nervous barbs, tricked out with plumes and -painted with white spots and stripes. The convicts who lead them in -(each man, one may say, carrying his life in his hand) are trying, with -iron grip, to keep their horses quiet, for the spiked balls and other -irritants are now unfastened and dangling loose from the horses’ backs. -But one terrified beast comes on “kicking against the pricks†already. -The whole pack become wild. The more they plunge, the more the balls -bang and prick. One furious creature, wrenching itself free, whirls -round in the wrong direction. But there is no time to lose; the -restraining rope must be cut. A gun booms; there is a shout and clapping -of hands. Ten of the horses, with heads down, get off in a bunch, -shooting straight as arrows for the Corso; the eleventh slips on the -cobbles, rolls over and, recovering itself, tears after its pals, -straining every nerve. I hear a voice shout “<i>E capace di vincere!</i>†-(“He is fit to<a name="page_087" id="page_087"></a> win!â€) and in an instant the lot are engulfed in that -dark, narrow street, the squibs on their backs going off like pistol -shots, and the crackling bits of metallic tinsel, getting detached, fly -back in a shower of light. The sparks from the iron heels splash out in -red fire through the dusk. The course is just one mile—the whole length -of the straight street. At the winning post a great sheet is stretched -across the way, through which some of the horses burst, to be captured -some days afterwards while roaming about the open spaces of the -Campagna. It is the dense crowd, forming two walls along the course, -that forces the horses to keep the centre. This was the last of the -<i>barberi</i>. They were more frightened than hurt, yet I am not sorry that -these races have been abolished.</p> - -<p>Here follow records of expeditions in weather of spring freshness—to -catacombs, along the Via Appia, to the wild Campagna, and all the -delights of that Roman time when the lark inspires the poet. I got on -well with my “Morra†picture, which wasn’t bad, and which has a niche in -my art career, because it turned out to be the first picture I sold, -which joyful event happened in London.</p> - -<p>“<i>March 25th</i>.—A brilliant day, full of colour. This is a great feast, -the Annunciation, and I gave up work to see the Pope come in grand -procession to the Church of the Minerva with his Cross Bearer on a white -mule, and all the cardinals, bishops, ambassadors and officials in -carriages of antique magnificence, a spectacle of great pomp, and -nowhere else to be seen. We did it in this wise. At nine we drove to the -Minerva, the sun very brilliant and the air very cold, and soon posted -ourselves on the steps of the church in the midst of a tight crowd, I -quite helpless in a knot<a name="page_088" id="page_088"></a> of French soldiers of the Legion, who chaffed -each other good-humouredly over my head. The piazza, in the midst of -which rises the funny little obelisk on the elephant’s back, swarmed -with people, black being quite the exception in that motley crowd. -Zouaves and the Legion formed a square to keep the piazza open, and -dragoons pranced officiously about, as is their wont. Every balcony was -thronged with gay ladies and full-dressed officers (some most gallant -and smart Austrians were at a window near us), and crimson cloth and -brocade flapped from every window, here in powerful sunshine, there in -effective shadow. Some dark, Florentine-coloured houses opposite, mostly -in shade, as they were between us and the sun, had a strong effect -against the bright sky, their crimson cloths and gaily dressed ladies -relieving their dark masses, and their beautiful roofs and chimneys -making a lovely sky line.</p> - -<p>“Presently the gilt and painted coaches of the cardinals began to -arrive, huge, high-swung vehicles drawn by very fat black horses dressed -out with gold and crimson trappings, but the servants and coachmen, in -spite of their extra full get-up, having that inimitable shabby-genteel -appearance which belongs exclusively to them. The Prior of the -Dominicans, to which order this church belongs, stood outside the -archway through which the Pope and all went into the church after -alighting from their coaches. He was there to welcome them, and, oh! the -number of bows he must have made, and his mouth must have ached again -with all those wide smiles. Near him also stood the Noble Guards and all -the general officers, plastered over with orders; and all these, too, -saluted and salaamed as each ecclesiastical bigwig<a name="page_089" id="page_089"></a> grandly and -courteously swept by under the archway, glowing in his scarlet and -shining in his purple. The carriages pulled up at the spot of all others -best suited to us. Everything was filled with light, the cardinals -glowing like rubies inside their coaches, even their faces all aglow -with the red reflections thrown up from their ardent robes. But there -presently came a sight which I could hardly stand; it was eloquent of -the olden time and filled the mind with a strange feeling of awe and -solemnity, as though long ages had rolled back and by a miracle the dead -time had been revived and shown to us for a brief and precious moment. -On a sleek white mule came a prelate, all in pure lilac, his grey head -bare to the sunshine and carrying in his right hand the gold and -jewelled Cross. The trappings of the mule were black and gold, a large -black, square cloth thrown over its back in the mediæval fashion. The -Cross, which was large and must have weighed considerably, was very -conspicuous. The beauty of the colour of mule and rider, the black and -gold housings of that white beast, the lilac of the rider’s robes, and -the tender glory of the embossed Cross—how these things enchant me! An -attendant took the Cross as the priest dismounted. Then a flourish of -modern Zouave bugles and a sharp roll of the drum intruded the forgotten -present day on our notice, and soon on came the gallant <i>gendarmerie</i> -and dragoons, and then the coach of His Holiness, seeming to bubble over -with molten gold in the sunshine. Its six black horses ambled fatly -along, all but the wheelers trailing their long, red traces almost on -the ground, as seems to be the ecclesiastical fashion in harness (only -the wheelers really pull), and guided by bedizened postillions in wigs -decidedly<a name="page_090" id="page_090"></a> like those worn by English Q.C.’s. Flowers were showered down -on this coach from the windows, and much cheering rang in the fresh, -clear air. I see now in my mind’s eye the out-thrust chins and long, -bare necks of a clump of enthusiastic Zouaves shouting with all their -hearts under the Pope’s carriage windows in divers tongues. But the -English ‘Long live the Pope King,’ though given with a will, did not -travel as far as the open ‘<i>Viva il Papa Rè</i>’ or ‘<i>Vive le Pape Roi</i>.’ I -put in my British ‘Hurrah!’ as did Papa, splendidly, just as three old -and very fat cardinals had painfully got down from His Holiness’s high -coach and he himself had begun to emerge. We could see him quite well in -the coach, because the sides were more glass than gilding, and very -assiduously did the kind-looking old man bless the people right and left -as he drove up. He had on his head, not the skull cap I have hitherto -seen him in, which allows his silver locks to be seen, but the -old-lady-like headgear so familiar to me from pictures, notably several -portraits of Leo X. at Florence, which covers the ears and is bound with -ermine. It makes the lower part of the face look very large, and is not -becoming. After getting down he stood a long time receiving homage from -many grandees, and smiled and beamed with kindness on everybody. Then we -all bundled into the church, but as every one there was standing on, -instead of sitting on, the chairs, we could see nothing of the -ceremonies. We struggled out, after listening a little to the singing, -and Papa and I strolled delightedly to St. Peter’s, on whose great -piazza we awaited the return of the procession. It was very beautiful, -winding along towards us, with my white mule and all, over that vast -space.<a name="page_091" id="page_091"></a>â€</p> - -<p>Remember, Reader, that these things can never more be seen, and that is -why I give these extracts <i>in extenso</i>. Merely as history they are -precious. How we would like to have some word pictures of Rome in the -seventeenth, sixteenth and fifteenth centuries, but we don’t get them. -The chronicles tell us of magnificence, numbers, illustrious people, -dress, and so forth; but, somehow, we would like something more intimate -and descriptive of local colour—effects of weather, etc.—to help us to -realise life as it was in the olden time. I think in this age of -ugliness we prize the picturesque and the artistic all the more for -their rarer charm.</p> - -<p>After “Morra†I did a life-size oil study of the head of the celebrated -model, Francesco, which was a great advance in freedom of brush work. -But the walks were not abandoned, and many a delightful round we made -with our father, who was very happy in Rome. The Colosseum was rich in -flowers and trees, which clothed with colour its hideous stages of -seats. The same abundant foliage beautified the brickwork of Caracalla’s -Baths, but those beautiful veils were, unfortunately, slowly helping -further to demolish the ruins, and had to be all cleared away later on. -I have several times managed to wander over those eerie ruins in later -years by full moon, but I have never again enjoyed the awe-inspiring -sensation produced by the first visit, when those trees waved and -sighed, and the owls hooted, as in Byron’s time. And then the loneliness -of the Colosseum was more impressive, and helped one to detach oneself -in thought from the present day more easily. Now the town is creeping -out that way.</p> - -<p>“<i>April 3rd.</i>—Our goal was Santa Croce to-day, beyond the Lateran, for -there the Pope was to come<a name="page_092" id="page_092"></a> to bless the ‘Agnus Dei.’ This ceremony -takes place only once in seven years. Everything was <i>en petite tenue</i>, -the quietest carriages, the seediest servants, but oh! how glorious it -all was in that fervent sunlight. We stood outside the church, I greatly -enjoying the amusing crowd, full of such varied types. The effect of the -Pope’s two carriages and the horsemen coming trotting along the -straight, long road from St. John’s to this church, the luminous dust -rising in clouds in the wind, was very pretty. The shouting and cheering -and waving of handkerchiefs were quite frantic, more hearty even than at -the Minerva. People seemed to feel more easy and jolly here, with no -grandeur to awe them. His Holiness looked much more spry than when I -last saw him. We lost poor little Mamma and, in despair, returned -without her, and she didn’t turn up till 7 o’clock!â€</p> - -<p>The Roman Diary of 1870 must end with the last Easter Benediction given -under the temporal power, <i>Urbi et Orbi</i>.</p> - -<p>“<i>Easter Sunday, April 17th</i>.—What a day, brimming over with rich -eye-feasts, with pomp and splendour! What can the eye see nowadays to -come anywhere near what I saw to-day, except on this anniversary here in -unique Rome? Of course, all the world knows that the splendour of this -great ceremony outshines that of any other here or in the whole world. -Mamma and I reserved ourselves for the benediction alone, so did not -start for St. Peter’s till ten o’clock, and got there long before the -troops. On getting out of the carriage we strolled leisurely to the -steps leading up to the church, where we took up our stand, enjoying the -delicious sunshine and fresh, clear air, and also the interesting people -that<a name="page_093" id="page_093"></a> were gradually filling the piazza, amongst whom were pilgrims with -long staves, many being Neapolitans, the women in new costumes of the -brightest dyes and with snowy <i>tovaglie</i> artistically folded. Some of -these women carried the family luggage on their heads, this luggage -being great bundles wrapped in rugs of red, black, and yellow stripes, -some with the big coloured umbrella passed through and cleverly -balanced. All these people had trudged on foot all the way. Their shoes -hung at their waists, and also their water flasks. As the troops came -pouring in we were requested by the sappers to range ourselves and not -to encroach beyond the bottom step. Here was a position to see from! We -watched the different corps forming to the stirring bugle and trumpet -sounds, the officers mounting their horses, all splendid in velvet -housings, the officers in the fullest of full dress. There was no -pushing in the crowd, and we were as comfortable as possible. But there -was a scene to our left, up on the terrace that runs along the upper -part of the piazza and is part of the Vatican, which was worth to me all -the rest; it was, pictorially, the most beautiful sight of all. Along -this terrace, the balustrade of which was hung with mellow old faded -tapestry, and bears those dark-toned, effective statues standing out so -well against the blue sky, were collected in a long line, I should say, -nearly all the bishops who are gathered here in Rome for the Council, in -their white and silver vestments, and wearing their snowy mitres, a few -dark-dressed ladies in veils and an officer in bright colour here and -there supporting most artistically those long masses of white. Above the -heads of this assembly stretched the long white awning, through which -the strong sun<a name="page_094" id="page_094"></a> sent a glowing shade, and above that the clear sky, with -the Papal white and yellow flags and standards in great quantities -fluttering in the breeze! My delighted eyes kept wandering up to that -terrace away from the coarser military picturesqueness in front. Up -there was a real bit of the olden time. There was a feeling as of lilies -about those white-robed pontiffs. At last a sign from a little balcony -high up on the façade was given, and all the troops sprang to attention, -and then the gentle-faced old Pope glided into view there, borne on his -chair and wearing the triple crown. Clang go the rifles and sabres in a -general salute, and a few ‘<i>evvivas</i>’ burst from the crowd, which are -immediately suppressed by a general ‘sh-sh-sh,’ and amidst a most -imposing silence, the silence of a great multitude, the Pope begins to -read from a crimson book held before him with the voice of a strong -young man. Curiously enough, in this stillness all the horses began to -neigh, but their voices could not drown the single one of Pio Nono. -After the reading the Pope rose, and down went, on their knees, the mass -of people and soldiers, ‘like one man,’ and the old Pope pressed his -hands together a moment and then flung open his arms upwards with an -action full of electrifying fervour as he pronounced the grand words of -the blessing which rang out, it seemed, to the ends of the Earth.</p> - -<p>“In the evening we saw the famous illumination of the dome of St. -Peter’s from the Pincian. The wind rather spoiled the first or silver -one, but the next, the golden, was a grand sight, beginning with the -cross at the top and running down in streams over the dome. As I looked, -I heard a funny bit of Latin from an English tourist, who asked a priest -‘<i>Quis est<a name="page_095" id="page_095"></a> illuminatio, olio o gas?</i>’ ‘<i>Olio, olio</i>,’ answered the -priest good-naturedly.â€</p> - -<p>And so our Papal Rome on May 2nd, 1870, retreated into my very -appreciative memory, and we returned for a few days to Florence, and -thence to Padua and Venice and Verona on our way to England through the -Tyrol and Bavaria. What a downward slope in art it is from Italy into -Germany! We girls felt a great irritation at the change, and were too -recalcitrant to attend to the German sights properly.</p> - -<p>But I filled the Diary with very searching notes of the wonderful things -I saw in Venice, thanks to Veronese, Titian, Tintoretto, Palma Vecchio -and others, who filled me with all that an artist can desire in the way -of colour. I was anxious to improve my weak point, and here was a -lesson!</p> - -<p>It is curious, however, to watch through the succeeding years how I was -gradually inducted by circumstances into that line of painting which is -so far removed from what inspired me just then. It was the Franco-German -War and a return to the Isle of Wight that sent me back on the military -road with ever diminishing digressions. Well, perhaps my father’s fear, -which I have already mentioned in my early ‘teens, that I was joining in -a “tremendous ruck†in taking the field would have been justified had I -not taken up a line of painting almost non-exploited by English artists. -The statement of a French art critic when writing of one of my war -pictures, “<i>L’Angleterre n’a guère qu’un peintre militaire, c’est une -femme</i>,†shows the position. I wish I could have another life here below -to share the joys of those who paint what I studied in Italy, if only -for the love of such work, though I am very certain I should be quite -indistinguishable in <i>that</i> “ruck.<a name="page_096" id="page_096"></a>â€</p> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII<br /><br /> -<small>WAR. BATTLE PAINTINGS</small></h2> - -<p>P<small>ADUA</small> I greatly enjoyed—its academic quiet, its Shakespearean -atmosphere; and still more did Shakespearean Verona enchant me. I had a -good study of the modern French school at the Paris Salon, and on -getting back to London rejoined the South Kensington schools till the -end of the summer session. Then a studio and practice from the living -model. In July we were all absorbed in the great Franco-German War, -declared in the middle of that month. It seems so absurd to us to-day -that we should have been pro-German in England. This little entry in the -Diary shows how Bismarck’s dishonest manÅ“uvres had hoodwinked the -world. “France <i>will</i> fight, so Prussia <i>must</i>, and all for nothing but -jealousy—a pretty spectacle!†We all believed it was France that was -the guilty party. I call to mind how some one came running upstairs to -find me and, subsiding on the top step with <i>The Times</i> in her hand, -announced the surrender of MacMahon’s army and the Emperor. I wrote “the -Germans are pro-di-gious!†and I have lived to see them prostrate. Such -is history.</p> - -<p>I was asked, as the war developed, if I had been inspired by it, and -this caused me to turn my attention pictorially that way. Once I began -on that line I went at a gallop, in water-colour at first, and many a -subject did I send to the “Dudley Gallery†and to Manchester, all the -drawings selling quickly, but I<a name="page_097" id="page_097"></a> never relaxed that serious practice in -oil painting which was my solid foundation. I sent the poor “Magnificat†-to the Royal Academy in the spring of 1871. It was rejected, and -returned to me with a large hole in it.</p> - -<p>That summer, which we spent at well-loved Henley-on-Thames, was marred -by the awful doings of the Commune in Paris. <i>The Times</i> had a -stereotyped heading for a long time: “The Destruction of Paris.†What -horrible suspense there was while we feared the destruction of the -Louvre and Notre Dame. I see in the Diary: “<i>May 28th, 1871</i>.—Oh! that -to-morrow’s papers may bring a decided contradiction of the oft-repeated -report that the great Louvre pictures are lost and that Notre Dame no -longer stands intact. As yet all is confusion and dismay, and one -clings, therefore, to the hope that little by little we may hear that -some fragments, at least, may be spared to bereaved humanity and that -all that beauty is not annihilated.â€</p> - -<p>In August, 1871, we were off again. From London back to Ventnor! There I -kept my hand in by painting in oils life-sized portraits of friends and -relations and some Italian ecclesiastical subjects, such as young -Franciscan monks, disciples of him who loved the birds, feeding their -doves in a cloister; an old friar teaching schoolboys, <i>al fresco</i>, -outside a church, as I had seen one doing in Rome. For this friar I -commandeered our landlord as a model, for he had just the white beard -and portly figure I required. Yet he was one of the most <i>furibond</i> -dissenters I ever met—a Congregationalist—but very obliging. Also a -candlelight effect in the Church of San Pietro in Vincoli, in Rome; a -large altar-piece for<a name="page_098" id="page_098"></a> our little Church of St. Wilfrid, and so on, a -mixture of the ecclesiastical and the military. The dances, theatricals, -croquet parties, rides—all the old ways were linked up again at -Ventnor, and I have a very bright memory of our second dwelling there -and reunion with our old friends. In the spring of 1872 I sent one of -the many Roman subjects I was painting to the Academy, a water-colour of -a Papal Zouave saluting two bishops in a Roman street. It was rejected, -but this time without a hole. This year was full of promise, and I very -nearly reached the top of my long hill climb, for in it I began what -proved to be my first Academy picture.</p> - -<p>What proved of great importance to me, this year of 1872, was my -introduction, if I may put it so, to the British Army! I then saw the -British soldier as I never had had the opportunity of seeing him before. -My father took me to see something of the autumn manÅ“uvres near -Southampton. Subjects for water-colour drawings appeared in abundance to -my delighted observation. One of the generals who was to be an umpire at -these manÅ“uvres, Sir F. C., had become greatly interested in me, as a -mutual friend had described my battle scenes to him, and said he would -speak about me to Sir Charles Staveley, one of the commanders in the -impending “war,†so that I might have facilities for seeing the -interesting movements. He hoped that, if I saw the manÅ“uvres, I would -“give the British soldiers a turn,†which I did with alacrity. I sent -some of the sketches to Manchester and to my old friend the “Dudley.†-One of them, “Soldiers Watering Horses,†found a purchaser in a Mr. -Galloway, of Manchester, who asked through an agent if I would paint him -an oil<a name="page_099" id="page_099"></a> picture. I said “Yes,†and in time painted him “The Roll Call.†-Meanwhile, in the spring of 1873, I sent my first really large war -picture in oils to the Academy. It was accepted, but “skyed,†well -noticed in the Press and, to my great delight, sold. The subject was, of -course, from the war which was still uppermost in our thoughts: a -wounded French colonel (for whom my father sat), riding a spent horse, -and a young subaltern of Cuirassiers, walking alongside (studied from a -young Irish officer friend), “missing†after one of the French defeats, -making their way over a forlorn landscape. The Cameron Highlanders were -quartered at Parkhurst, near Ventnor, about this time, and I was able to -make a good many sketches of these splendid troops, so essentially -pictorial. I have ever since then liked to make Highlanders subjects for -my brush.</p> - -<p>In this same year of 1873 my sister and I, now both belonging to the old -faith, whither our mother had preceded us, joined the first pilgrimage -to leave the shores of England since the Reformation. I had arranged -with the <i>Graphic</i> to make pen-and-ink sketches of the pilgrimage, which -was arousing an extraordinary amount of public interest. Our goal was -the primitive little town of Paray-le-Monial, deep in the heart of -France, where Margaret Mary Alacoque received our Lord’s message. I -cannot convey to my readers who are not “of us†the fresh and exultant -impressions we received on that visit. There was a mixture of religious -and national patriotism in our minds which produced feelings of the -purest happiness. The steamer that took us English pilgrims from -Newhaven to Dieppe on September 2nd flew the standard of the Sacred -Heart at the main and the<a name="page_100" id="page_100"></a> Union Jack at the peak, seeming thus to -symbolise the whole character of the enterprise. Those <i>Graphic</i> -sketches proved a very great burden to me. Nowadays one of the pilgrims -would have done all by “snapshots.†I tried to sketch as I walked in the -processions at Paray and to sing the hymn at the same time. There was -hardly a moment’s rest for us, except for a few intervals of sleep. The -long ceremonies and prescribed devotions, the processions, the stirring -hymns and the journey there and back, all crowded into a week from start -to finish, called for all one’s strength. But how joyfully given!</p> - -<p>I can never forget the hearty, well-mannered welcome the French gave us, -lay and clerical. The place itself was lovely and the weather kind. It -is good to have had such an experience as this in our weary world. The -Bishop of Salford, the future Cardinal Vaughan, led us, and our clergy -mustered in great force. The dear French people never showed so well as -during their welcome of us. It suited their courteous and hospitable -natures. Most of our hosts were peasants and owners of little -picturesque shops in this jewel of a little town. We two were billeted -at a shoemaker’s. The urbanity of the French clergy in receiving our own -may be imagined. I love to think back on the truly beautiful sights and -sounds of Paray, with the dominant note of the church bells vibrating -over all. They gave us a graceful send-off, pleased to have the -assurance of our approval of our reception. Many compliments on our -<i>solide piété</i>, with regrets as to their own “<i>légèreté</i>,†and so forth. -“<i>Vive l’Angleterre!</i>†“<i>Vive la France!</i>†“<i>Adieu!</i><a name="page_101" id="page_101"></a>â€</p> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII<br /><br /> -<small>“THE ROLL CALLâ€</small></h2> - -<p>I <small>HAD</small> quite a large number of commissions for military water-colours to -get through on my return home, and an oil of French artillery on the -march to paint, in my little glass studio under St. Boniface Down. But -after my not inconsiderable success with “Missing†at the Academy, I -became more and more convinced that a London studio <i>must</i> be my destiny -for the coming winter. Of course, my father demurred. He couldn’t bear -to part with me. Still, it must be done, and to London I went, with his -sad consent. I had long been turning “The Roll Call†in my mind. My -father shook his head; the Crimea was “forgotten.†My mother rather -shivered at the idea of the snow. It was no use; they saw I was bent on -that subject. My dear mother and our devoted family doctor in London -(Dr. Pollard<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a>), who would do anything in his power to help me, between -them got me the studio, No. 76, Fulham Road, where I painted the picture -which brought me such utterly unexpected celebrity.</p> - -<p>Mr. Burchett, still headmaster at South Kensington, was delighted to see -me with all the necessary facilities for carrying out my work, and he -sent me the best models in London, nearly all ex-soldiers. One in -particular, who had been in the Crimea, was invaluable.<a name="page_102" id="page_102"></a> He stood for -the sergeant who calls the roll. I engaged my models for five hours each -day, but often asked them to give me an extra half-hour. Towards the -end, as always happens, I had to put on pressure, and had them for six -hours. My preliminary expeditions for the old uniforms of the Crimean -epoch were directed by my kind Dr. Pollard, who rooted about Chelsea -back streets to find what I required among the Jews. One, Mr. Abrahams, -found me a good customer. I say in my Diary:</p> - -<p>“Dr. Pollard and I had a delightful time at Mr. Abrahams’ dingy little -pawnshop in a hideous Chelsea slum, and, indeed, I enjoyed it <i>far</i> more -than I should have enjoyed the same length of time at a West End -milliner’s. I got nearly all the old accoutrements I had so much longed -for, and in the evening my Jew turned up at Dr. Pollard’s after a long -tramp in the city for more accoutrements, helmets, coatees, haversacks, -etc., and I sallied forth with the ‘Ole Clo!’ in the rain to my boarding -house under our mutual umbrella, and he under his great bag as well. We -chatted about the trade ‘<i>chemin faisant</i>.’â€</p> - -<p class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/ill_pg_103_lg.jpg"> -<img src="images/ill_pg_103_sml.jpg" width="265" height="392" alt="Crimean ideas." -title="Crimean ideas." /></a> -<br /> -<span class="caption">Crimean ideas.</span> -</p> - -<p>I called Saturday, December 13th, 1873, a “red-letter day,†for I then -began my picture at the London studio. Having made a little water-colour -sketch previously, very carefully, of every attitude of the figures, I -had none of those alterations to make in the course of my work which -waste so much time. Each figure was drawn in first without the great -coat, my models posing in a tight “shell jacket,†so as to get the -figure well drawn first. How easily then could the thick, less shapely -great coat be painted on the well-secured foundation. No matter how its -heavy folds, the cross-belts, haversacks, water-bottles,<a name="page_103" id="page_103"></a> and -everything else broke the lines, they were there, safe and sound, -underneath. An artist remarked, “What an absurdly easy picture!†Yes, no -doubt it was, but it was all the more so owing to the care taken at the -beginning. This may be useful to young painters, though, really, it -seems to me just now that sound drawing is at a discount. It will come -by its own again. Some people might say I was too anxious to be correct -in minor military details, but I feared making the least mistake in -these technical matters, and gave myself some unnecessary trouble. For -instance, on one of my last days at the picture I became anxious as to -the correct letters that should appear stamped on the Guards’ -haversacks. I sought professional advice. Dr. Pollard sent me the beery -old Crimean pensioner who used to stand at the Museum gate wearing a -gold-laced hat, to answer my urgent inquiry as to this matter. Up comes -the puffing old gentleman, redolent of rum. I, full of expectation, ask -him the question: “What should the letters be?†“B. O.!†he roars -out—“Board of Ordnance!†Then, after a congested stare, he calls out, -correcting himself, “W. D.—War Deportment!†“Oh!†I say, faintly, “War -Department; thank you.†Then he mixes up the two together and roars, “W. -O.!†And that was all I got. He mopped his rubicund face and, to my -relief, stumped away down my stairs. Another Crimean hero came to tell -me whether I was right in having put a grenade on the pouches. “Well, -miss, the natural <i>hinference</i> would be that it <i>was</i> a grenade, but it -was something like my ‘and.†Desperation! I got the thing “like his -hand†just in time to put it in before “The Roll Call†left—a brass -badge lent me by the War<a name="page_104" id="page_104"></a> Office—and obliterated the much more -effective grenade.</p> - -<p>On March 29th and 30th, 1874, came my first “Studio Sunday†and Monday, -and on the Tuesday the poor old “Roll Call†was sent in. I watched the -men take it down my narrow stairs and said “<i>Au revoir</i>,†for I was -disappointed with it, and apprehensive of its rejection and speedy -return. So it always is with artists. We never feel we have fulfilled -our hopes.</p> - -<p>The two show days were very tiring. Somehow the studio, after church -time on the Sunday, was crowded. Good Dr. Pollard hired a “Buttons†for -me, to open the door, and busied himself with the people, and enjoyed -it. So did I, though so tired. It was “the thing†in those days to make -the round of the studios on the eve of “sending-in day.â€</p> - -<p>Mr. Galloway’s agent came, and, to my intense relief, told me the -picture went far beyond his expectations. He had been nervous about it, -as it was through him the owner had bought it, without ever seeing it. -On receiving the agent’s report, Mr. Galloway sent me a cheque at -once—£126—being more than the hundred agreed to. The copyright was -mine.</p> - -<p>The days that followed felt quite strange. Not a dab with a brush, and -my time my own. It was the end of Lent, and then Easter brought such -church ceremonial as our poor little Ventnor St. Wilfrid’s could not -aspire to. A little more Diary:</p> - -<p>“<i>Saturday, April 11th.</i>—A charming morning, for Dr. Pollard had a fine -piece of news to tell me. First, Elmore, R.A., had burst out to him -yesterday about my picture at the Academy, saying that all the -Academicians are in quite a commotion about it, and<a name="page_105" id="page_105"></a> Elmore wants to -make my acquaintance very much. He told Dr. P. I might get £500 for ‘The -Roll Call’! I little expected to have such early and gratifying news of -the picture which I sent in with such forebodings. After Dr. P. had -delivered this broadside of Elmore’s compliments he brought the -following battery of heavy guns to bear upon me which compelled me to -sink into a chair. It is a note from Herbert, R.A., in answer to a few -lines which kind Father Bagshawe had volunteered to write to him, as a -friend, to ask him, as one of the Selecting Committee, just simply to -let me know, as soon as convenient, whether my picture was accepted or -rejected. The note is as follows:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"><p>‘<span class="smcap">Dear Miss Thompson</span>,—I have just received a note from Father -Bagshawe of the Oratory in which he wished me to address a few -lines to you on the subject of your picture in the R.A. To tell the -truth I desired to do so a day or two since but did not for two -reasons: the first being that as a custom the doings of the R.A. -are for a time kept secret; the second that I felt I was a stranger -to you and you would hear what I wished to say from some -friend—but Father Bagshawe’s note, and the decision being over, I -may tell you with what pleasure I greeted the picture and the -painter of it when it came before us for judgment. It was simply -this: I was so struck by the excellent work in it that I proposed -we should lift our hats and give it and you, though, as I thought, -unknown to me, a round of huzzahs, which was generally done. You -now know my feeling with regard to your work, and may be sure that -I shall do everything as one of the hangers that it shall be -<i>perfectly seen</i> on our walls.</p> - -<p>I am tired and hurried, and ask you to excuse this very hasty note, -but <i>accept my hearty congratulations</i>, and</p> - -<p class="r">Believe me to be, dear Miss Thompson, <br /> -Most faithfully yours, <br /> -<span class="smcap">J. R. Herbert</span>.’</p></div> - -<p class="nind">I trotted off at once to show Father Bagshawe the note, and then left -for home with my brilliant news.<a name="page_106" id="page_106"></a>â€</p> - -<p>While at home at Ventnor I received from many sources most extraordinary -rumours of the stir the picture was making in London amongst those who -were behind the scenes. How it was “the talk of the clubs†and spoken of -as the “coming picture of the year,†“the hit of the season,†and all -that kind of thing. Friends wrote to me to give me this pleasant news -from different quarters. Ventnor society rejoiced most kindly. I went to -London to what I call in the Diary “the scene of my possible triumphs,†-having taken rooms at a boarding house. I had better let the Diary -speak:</p> - -<p>“<i>‘Varnishing Day,’ Tuesday, April 28th.</i>—My real feelings as, laden -like last year, with palette, brushes and paint box, I ascended the -great staircase, all alone, though meeting and being overtaken by -hurrying men similarly equipped to myself, were not happy ones. Before -reaching the top stairs I sighed to myself, ‘After all your working -extra hours through the winter, what has it been for? That you may have -a cause of mortification in having an unsatisfactory picture on the -Academy walls for people to stare at.’ I tried to feel indifferent, but -had not to make the effort for long, for I soon espied my dark battalion -in Room <i>II. on the line</i>, with a knot of artists before it. Then began -my ovation (!) (which, meaning a second-class triumph, is <i>not</i> quite -the word). I never expected anything so perfectly satisfactory and so -like the realisation of a castle in the air as the events of this day. -It would be impossible to say all that was said to me by the swells. -Millais, R.A., talked and talked, so did Calderon, R.A., and Val -Prinsep, asking me questions as to where I studied, and praising this -figure and that. Herbert, R.A., hung about me all<a name="page_107" id="page_107"></a> day, and introduced -me to his two sons. Du Maurier told me how highly Tom Taylor had spoken -to him of the picture. Mr. S., our Roman friend, cleaned the picture for -me beautifully, insisting on doing so lest I should spoil my new -velveteen frock. At lunchtime I returned to the boarding house to fetch -a sketch of a better Russian helmet I had done at Ventnor, to replace -the bad one I had been obliged to put in the foreground from a Prussian -one for want of a better. I sent a gleeful telegram home to say the -picture was on the line. I could hardly do the little helmet alterations -necessary, so crowded was I by congratulating and questioning artists -and starers. I by no means disliked it all. Delightful is it to be an -object of interest to so many people. I am sure I cannot have looked -very glum that day. In the most distant rooms people steered towards me -to felicitate me most cordially. ‘Only send as <i>good</i> a picture next -year’ was Millais’ answer to my expressed hope that next year I should -do better. This was after overhearing Mr. C. tell me I might be elected -A.R.A. if I kept up to the mark next year. O’Neil, R.A., seemed rather -to deprecate all the applause I had to-day and, shaking his head, warned -me of the dangers of sudden popularity. I know all about <i>that</i>, I -think.</p> - -<p>“<i>Thursday, April 30th.</i>—The Royalties’ private view. The Prince of -Wales wants ‘The Roll Call.’ It is not mine to let him have, and -Galloway won’t give it up.</p> - -<p>“<i>Friday, May 1st.</i>—The to-me-glorious private view of 1874. I insert -here my letter to Papa about it:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"><p>‘<span class="smcap">Dearest</span> ——, I feel as though I were undertaking a really -difficult work in attempting to describe to you the events of<a name="page_108" id="page_108"></a> this -most memorable day. I don’t suppose I ever can have another such -day, because, however great my future successes may be, they can -never partake of the character of this one. It is my first great -success. As Tom Taylor told me to-day, I have suddenly burst into -fame, and this <i>first time</i> can never come again. It has a -character peculiar to all <i>first things</i> and to them alone. You -know that “the <i>élite</i> of London society†goes to the Private View. -Well, the greater part of the <i>élite</i> have been presented to me -this day, all with the same hearty words of congratulation on their -lips and the same warm shake of the hand ready to follow the -introductory bow. I was not at all disconcerted by all these -bigwigs. The Duke of Westminster invited me to come and see the -pictures at Grosvenor House, and the old Duchess of Beaufort was so -delighted with “The Roll Call†that she asked me to tell her the -history of each soldier, which I did, the knot of people which, by -the bye, is always before the picture swelling into a little crowd -to see me and, if possible, catch what I was saying. Galloway’s -tall figure was almost a fixture near the painting. That poor man, -he was sadly distracted about this Prince of Wales affair, but the -last I heard from him was that he <i>couldn’t</i> part with it.</p> - -<p>Some one at the Academy offered him £1,000 for it, and T. Agnew -told him he would give him anything he asked, but he refused those -offers without a moment’s hesitation. He has telegraphed to his -wife at Manchester, as he says women can decide so much better than -men on the spur of the moment. The Prince gives him till the dinner -to-morrow to make up his mind. The Duchess of Beaufort introduced -Lord Raglan’s daughters to me, who were pleased with the interest I -took in their father. Old Kinglake was also introduced, and we had -a comparatively long talk in that huge assembly where you are -perpetually interrupted in your conversation by fresh arrivals of -friends or new introductions. Do you remember joking with me, when -I was a child, about the exaggerations of popularity? How strange -it felt to-day to be realizing, in actual experience, what you -warned me of, in fun, when looking at my drawings. You need not be -afraid that I shall forget. What I <i>do</i> feel is great pleasure at -having “arrived,†at last. The great banker Bunbury has invited me -and a friend to the ball at the Goldsmiths’ Hall on Wednesday -night. He is one of the wardens. Oh! if you could only come up in -time to take me. Col. Lloyd Lindsay, of Alma fame, and his wife -were wild to have “The Roll Call.†She shyly told me she had cried -before the picture.<a name="page_109" id="page_109"></a> But, for enthusiasm, William Agnew beat them -all. He came up to be introduced, and spoke in such expressions of -admiration that his voice positively shook, and he said that, -having missed purchasing this work, he would feel “proud and happy†-if I would paint him one, the time, subject and price, whatever it -might be, being left entirely to me. Sir Richard Airey, the man who -wrote the fatally misconstrued order on his holster and handed it -to Nolan on the 25th October, 1854, was very cordial, and showed -that he took a keen pleasure in the picture. I told him I valued a -Crimean man’s praise more than anybody else’s, and I repeated the -observation later to old Sir William Codrington under similar -circumstances, and to other Crimean officers. One of them, whose -father was killed at the assault on the Redan, pressed me very hard -to consent to paint him two Crimean subjects, but I cannot promise -anything more till I have worked out my already too numerous -commissions, old ones, at the horrible old prices.</p> - -<p>Sir Henry Thompson, a great surgeon, I understand, was very polite, -and introduced his little daughter who paints. Lady Salisbury had a -long chat with me and showed a great intelligence on art matters. -Many others were introduced, or I to them, but most of them exist -as ghosts in my memory. I have forgotten some of their names and, -as some only wrote their addresses on my catalogue, I don’t know -who is who. The others gave me their cards, so that is all right. -Horsley, R.A., is such a genial, hearty sort of man. He says he -shouldn’t wonder if my name was mentioned in the Royal speeches at -the dinner. Lady Somebody introduced me to Miss Florence -Nightingale’s sister, who wanted to know if there was any -possibility of my “most kindly†letting the picture be taken, at -the close of the exhibition, to her poor sister to see. Miss -Nightingale, you know, is now bedridden. Now I must stop. More -to-morrow....’</p></div> - -<p>I remember how on the following Sunday my good friend Dr. Pollard, who -lived close to my boarding house, waylaid me on my way to mass at the -Oratory, and from his front garden called me in stentorian tones, waving -the <i>Observer</i> over his head. On crossing over I learnt of the speeches -of the Prince of Wales and the Duke of Cambridge at the Academy<a name="page_110" id="page_110"></a> banquet -the evening before, in which most surprising words were uttered about me -and the picture.</p> - -<p>“<i>Monday, May 4th</i>.—The opening day of the Royal Academy. A dense crowd -before my grenadiers. I fear that fully half of that crowd have been -sent there by the royal speeches on Saturday. I may say that I awoke -this morning and found myself famous. Great fun at the Academy, where -were some of my dear fellow students rejoicing in the fulfilment of -their prophecies in the old days. Overwhelmed with congratulations on -all sides; and as to the papers, it is impossible to copy their -magnificent critiques, from <i>The Times</i> downwards.</p> - -<p>“<i>Wednesday, May 6th</i>.—The Queen had my picture abstracted from the -R.A. last night to gaze at, at Buckingham Palace! It is now, of course, -in its place again. Went with Papa to the brilliant Goldsmiths’ Ball, -where I danced. I was a bit of a lion there, or shall I say lioness? Sir -William Ferguson was introduced to me; and he, in his turn, introduced -his daughter and drank to my further success at the supper. Sir F. -Chapman also was presented, and expressed his astonishment at the -accuracy of the military details in my picture. He is a Crimean man. The -King of the Goldsmiths was brought up to me to express his thanks at my -‘honouring’ their ball with my presence. The engravers are already at me -to buy the copyright, but my dear counsellor and friend, Seymour Haden, -says I am to accept nothing short of £1,000, and get still more if I -can!</p> - -<p>“<i>May 10th</i>.—The Dowager Lady Westmoreland, who is about 80, and who -has lost pleasure in seeing new faces, when she heard of my Crimean -picture, expressed a great wish to see me, and to-day I went to<a name="page_111" id="page_111"></a> dine at -her house, meeting there the present earl and countess, an old Waterloo -lord, and Henry Weigall and his wife, Lady Rose. The dear old lady was -so sweet. She was the Duke of Wellington’s favourite niece, and his -Grace’s portraits deck the walls of more than one room. Her pleasure was -in talking of the Florence of the old pre-Austrian days, where she lived -sixteen years, but my great pleasure was talking with the earl and the -Waterloo lord, who were most loquacious. Lord Westmoreland was on Lord -Raglan’s staff in the Crimea.</p> - -<p>“<i>May 11th</i>.—Received cheque for the ‘San Pietro in Vincoli’ and -‘Children of St. Francis.’ My popularity has <i>levered</i> those two poor -little pictures off. Messrs. Dickinson & Co. have bought my copyright -for £1,200!!!â€</p> - -<p>There follows a good deal in the Diary concerning the trouble with Mr. -Galloway, who made hard conditions regarding his ceding “The Roll Call†-to the Queen, who wished to have it. He felt he was bound to let it go -to his Sovereign, but only on condition that I should paint him my next -Academy picture for the same price as he had given for the one he was -ceding, and that the Queen should sign with her own hand six of the -artist’s proofs when the engraving of her picture came out. I had set my -heart on painting the 28th Regiment in square receiving the last charge -of the French Cuirassiers at Quatre Bras, but as that picture would -necessitate far more work than “The Roll Call,†I could not paint it for -that little £126—so very puny now! So I most reluctantly suggested a -subject I had long had <i>in petto</i>, “The Dawn of Sedan,†French -Cuirassiers watching by their horses in the historic fog of that<a name="page_112" id="page_112"></a> -fateful morning—a very simple composition. To cut a very long story -short, he finally consented to have “Quatre Bras†at my own price, -£1,126, the copyright remaining his. All this talk went on for a long -time, and meanwhile, all through the London society doings, I made oil -studies of all the grey horses for “Sedan.†The General Omnibus Company -sent me all shades of grey <i>percherons</i> for this purpose. I also made -life-size oil studies of hands for “Quatre Bras,†where hands were to be -very strong points, gripping “Brown Besses.†So I took time by the -forelock for either subject. I was very fortunate in having the help of -wise business heads to grapple with the business part of my work, for I -have not been favoured that way myself.</p> - -<p>There is no mention in the Diary of the policeman who, a few days after -the opening of the Academy, had to be posted, poor hot man, in my corner -to keep the crowd from too closely approaching the picture and to ask -the people to “move on.†That policeman was there instead of the brass -bar which, as a child, I had pleased myself by imagining in front of one -of my works, <i>à la</i> Frith’s “Derby Day.†The R.A.’s told me the bar -created so much jealousy, when used, that it had been decided never to -use it again. But I think a live policeman quite as much calculated to -produce the undesirable result. I learnt later that his services were -quite as necessary for the protection of two lovely little pictures of -Leighton’s, past which the people <i>scraped</i> to get at mine, they being, -unfortunately, hung at right angles to mine in its corner. What an -unfortunate arrangement of the hangers! Horsley told me that they went -every evening after the closing, with a lantern, to see if the<a name="page_113" id="page_113"></a> two gems -had been scratched. They were never seen. I wonder if Leighton had any -feelings of dislike towards “that girl.†She who in her ‘teens records -her prostrations of worship before his earlier works, ere he became so -coldly classical.</p> - -<p>It is a curious condition of the mind between gratitude for the -appreciation of one’s work by those who know, and the uncomfortable -sense of an exaggerated popularity with the crowd. The exaggeration is -unavoidable, and, no doubt, passes, but the fact that counts is the -power of touching the people’s heart, an “organ†which remains the same -through all the changing fashions in art. I remember an argument I once -had with Alma Tadema on this matter of touching the heart. He laughed at -me, and didn’t believe in it at all.</p> - -<p>“<i>Tuesday, May 12th.</i>—Mr. Charles Manning and his wife have been so -very nice to me, and this morning Mrs. M. bore me off to be presented to -His Grace of Westminster, with whom I had a long interview. What a face! -all spirit and no flesh. After that, to the School of Art Needlework to -meet Lady Marion Alford and other Catholic ladies. I ordered there a -pretty screen for my studio on the strength of my £1,200! Thence I -proceeded on a round of calls, going first to the Desanges, where I -lunched. There they told me the Prince of Wales was coming at four -o’clock to see the Ashanti picture Desanges is just finishing. They -begged me to come back a little before then, so as to be ready to be -presented when the moment should arrive. I returned accordingly, and -found the place crowded with people who had come to see the picture. As -soon as H.R.H. was announced, all the people were sent below to the<a name="page_114" id="page_114"></a> -drawing-room and kept under hatches until Royalty should take its -departure; but I alone was to remain in the back studio, to be handy. -All this was much against my will, as I hate being thrust forward. But, -as it turned out, there was no thrusting forward on this occasion, and -all was very nice and natural. The Prince soon came in to where I was, -Mr. Desanges saying ‘Here she is’ in answer to a question. His first -remark to me was, of course, about the picture, saying he had hoped to -be its possessor, etc., etc., and he asked me how I had got the correct -details for the uniforms, and so on, having quite a little chat. He -spoke very frankly, and has a most clear, audible voice.â€</p> - -<p>Of course, the photographers began bothering. The idea of my portraits -being published in the shop windows was repugnant to me. Nowadays one is -snapshotted whether one likes it or not, but it wasn’t so bad in those -days; one’s own consent was asked, at any rate. I refused. However, it -had to come to that at last. My grandfather simply walked into the shop -of the first people that had asked me, in Regent Street, and calmly made -the appointment. I was so cross on being dragged there that the result -was as I expected—a rather harassed and coerced young woman, and the -worst of it was that this particular photograph was the one most widely -published. Indeed, one of my Aunts, passing along a street in Chelsea, -was astonished to see her rueful niece on a costermonger’s barrow -amongst some bananas!<a name="page_115" id="page_115"></a></p> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX<br /><br /> -<small>ECHOES OF “THE ROLL CALLâ€</small></h2> - -<p>O<small>N</small> May 14th I lunched at Lady Raglan’s. Kinglake was there to meet me, -and we talked Crimea. I had read and re-read his much too prolix -history, which I thought overburdened with detail, giving one an -impression of the two Balaclava charges as lasting hours rather than -minutes. But I had learnt much that was of the utmost value from this -very superabundance of detail. Then on the next day I rose early, and -was off by seven with the Horsleys to Aldershot at the invitation of Sir -Hope Grant, of Indian celebrity, commanding, who travelled down with us. -“Lady Grant received us at the house, where we found a nice breakfast, -and where I got dried, being drenched by a torrential downpour. Would -that it had continued longer, if only to lay the hideous sand in the -Long Valley, which made the field day something very like a fiasco. I -tried to sketch, but my book was nearly blown out of my hand, my -umbrella was turned inside out and my arms benumbed by the cold. M., -most luckily, was on the field, and Mrs. Horsley and I were soon -comfortably ensconced in his hansom cab and trying to feel more -comfortable and jolly. When the sham fight began we had to keep shifting -our standpoint, and Mrs. H. and I had repeatedly to jump out of the -hansom, as we were threatened by an upset every minute over those -sandhills. As to the two charges of cavalry,<a name="page_116" id="page_116"></a> which Sir Hope had on -purpose for me, I could hardly see them, what with the dust storms half -swallowing them up in dense dun-coloured sheets and my eyes being full -of sand. However, I made the most of the situation, and hope I have got -some good hints. I ought to have so much of this sort of thing, and hope -to now, with all those ‘friends in court!’ When the march past began Sir -Hope sent to ask me if I would like to stand by his charger at the -saluting base, which I did, and saw, of course, beautifully. I felt -extraordinarily situated, standing there, half liking and half not -liking the situation, with an enormous mounted staff of utterly unknown, -gorgeous officers curvetting and jingling behind me and the general. As -one regiment passed, marching, as I thought, just as splendidly as the -others, I heard Sir Hope snap at them ‘Very bad, very bad. Don’t, -don’t!’ And I felt for them so much, trusting they didn’t see me or mind -my having heard.â€</p> - -<p>Three days later, at a charming lunch at Lady Herbert’s, I met her son, -Lord Pembroke, and Dr. Kingsley, Charles’s brother—“The Earl and the -Doctor.†It was interesting to see the originals of the title they gave -their book. The next day people came to the Academy to find, in place of -“The Roll Call,†a placard—“This picture has been temporarily removed -by command of Her Majesty.†She had it taken to Windsor to look at -before her departure for Scotland, and to show to the Czar, who was on a -visit.</p> - -<p>Calderon, the R.A., whom I met that evening, told me the Academy had -never been receiving so many daily shillings before, and that it ought -to present me with a diamond necklace. And so forth,<a name="page_117" id="page_117"></a> and so forth—all -noted in the faithful Diary, wherein many extravagances of the moment in -my regard are safely tucked away. Two days later I see: “<i>May -20th.</i>—The Woolwich review was quite glorious. I went with Lady -Herbert, the Lane Foxes, Lord Denbigh and Capt. Slade. We posted there -and back with two jolly greys and a postboy in a sky-blue jacket. This -was quite after my own heart. Lord Denbigh talked art and war all the -way, interesting me beyond expression. We were in the forefront of -everything on arrival, next the Saluting Point, round which were grouped -the most brilliant sons of Mars I ever saw gathered together, and of -various nations. The Czar Alexander II. headed these, flanked by my two -friends, the Prince of Wales and the Duke of Cambridge. The artillery -manÅ“uvres were effective, and I sketched as much as I could, getting -up on the box, Lord Denbigh holding my parasol over my head, as the sun -was strong. I suppose people like spoiling me just now, or <i>trying</i> to.â€</p> - -<p>Then, two days later, I note that I dined at Lady Rose Weigall’s, my -left-hand neighbour at table the Archbishop of York, Dr. Thomson, who -took in the hostess. He and I seem to have talked an immense deal about -all sorts of things. He confided to me that his private opinion was that -the Irish Church should never have been disestablished. In the course of -further conversation I thought it better to let him know I was a -Catholic by a passing remark. I said I thought the Neapolitans did not -make such solid Catholics as the English. He stared, none too pleased! -The next night I met at the Westmorelands’, at dinner, Lord George -Paget, Colonel Kingscote, and Henry Weigall, my host of the previous<a name="page_118" id="page_118"></a> -evening. Lord George was drawn out during dinner about Balaclava, and I -listened to his loud cavalry soldier’s talk with the keenest interest. -He protested that we were making him say too much, but we were -insatiable. Lord George was a man I had tried to picture; he was almost -the last to ride back from the light cavalry charge. His manner and -speech were <i>soldatesque</i>, his expressions requiring at times a “saving -your presence†to the ladies, as a prefix. For me time flew in listening -to this interesting Balaclava hero, and it was very late when I made up -my mind to go, a wiser but by no means a sadder girl.</p> - -<p>At a dinner at Lady Georgiana Fullerton’s my sister and I met Aubrey de -Vere, who delighted Alice with his conversation. The general company, -however, seem to have chiefly amused themselves with the long and, on -the whole, silly controversy which was appearing in <i>The Times</i> -regarding the sequence of the horse’s steps as he walks. It began by my -horse’s walk in “The Roll Call†having been criticised by those who held -to the old conventional idea. How many hours I had moved alongside -horses to see for myself exactly how a horse puts his feet down in the -walk! I had told many people to go down on all fours themselves and -walk, noting the sequence with their own hands and knees, which was sure -to be correct instinctively. At this same dinner Lady Lothian told me -she had followed my advice, and the idea of that sedate <i>grande dame</i>, -with grey hair combed under a white lace cap, pacing round her room on -all fours I thought delightful. Since those days I have been vindicated -by the snap-shot.</p> - -<p>I find many Diary pages chiefly devoted to preparations<a name="page_119" id="page_119"></a> for “Quatre -Bras†and the doing of several pen-and-ink reminiscences of what I had -seen at Woolwich and Aldershot, and exhibited at the “Dudley.†Some were -bought by the picture dealer Gambart, and some by Agnew. One of those -pen-and-inks was the “Halt!‗those Scots Greys I only half saw through -the dust storm at Aldershot pulling up in the midst of a tremendous -charge, very close to us. Gambart had come to my studio to see if he -could get anything, and when I told him of this “Halt!†which I had just -sent to the “Dudley,†he there and then wrote me a cheque for it, -without seeing it. When he went there to claim it, behold! it had -already been sold, before the opening. He was very angry, and threatened -law against the “Dudley†for what he called “skimming†the show before -the public got a chance. But the possessor was, like Mr. Galloway, a -<i>Maanchester maan</i>, and these are very firm on what they call “our -rights.†It was no use. I had to make Gambart a compensation drawing. -This introduces Mr. Whitehead, for whom I was to paint “Balaclava.†He -had the “Halt!†tight.</p> - -<p>On Corpus Christi Day that year Alice and I, having received our -invitations from the Bishop of Salford, of happy pilgrimage memory, to -join in the services and procession in honour of the Blessed Sacrament -at the Missionary College, Mill Hill, we went thither that glorious -midsummer day. At page 127 of the Diary I have put down certain -sentiments about the practice of the Catholic faith in England, and I -express a longing to see the Host carried through English fields. I -little thought in one year to see my hope realised; yet so it was at -Mill Hill. After vespers in the little church, the<a name="page_120" id="page_120"></a> procession was -formed, and I shall long remember the choristers, in their purple -cassocks, passing along a field of golden buttercups and the white and -gold banners at the head of the procession floating out against a -typical English sky as their bearers passed over a little hillock which -commands a lovely view of the rich landscape. The bishop bore the Host, -and six favoured men held the canopy. Franciscan nuns in the procession -sang the hymns.</p> - -<p>The early days of that July had their pleasant festivities, such as a -dinner, with Alice, at Lady Londonderry’s (she who was our mother’s -godmother on the occasion of her reception into the Catholic Church) and -the Academy <i>soirée</i>, where Mrs. Tait invited me and Dr. Pollard to a -large garden party at Lambeth Palace. There I note: “The Royalties were -in full force, the <i>Waleses</i>, as I have heard the Prince and Princess -called, and many others. It was amusing and very pleasant in the -gardens, though provokingly windy. I had a curiously uncomfortable and -oppressed feeling, though, in that headquarters of the—what shall I -call it?—Opposition? The Archbishop and Mrs. Archbishop, particularly -Mrs., rather appalled me. But dear Dr. Pollard, that stout Protestant, -must have been very gratified.â€</p> - -<p>On July 4th Colonel Browne, C.B., R.E., who took the keenest interest in -my “Quatre Bras,†and did all in his power to help me with the military -part of it, had a day at Chatham for me. He, Mrs. B. and daughters -called for me in the morning, and we set forth for Chatham, where some -300 men of the Royal Engineers were awaiting us on the “Lines.†Colonel -Browne had ordered them beforehand, and had them in full dress, with -knapsacks, as I desired.<a name="page_121" id="page_121"></a></p> - -<p>They first formed the old-fashioned four-deep square for me, and not -only that, but the beautiful parade dressing was broken and <i>accidenté</i> -by my directions, so as to have a little more the appearance of the real -thing. They fired in sections, too, as I wished, but, unfortunately, the -wind was so strong that the smoke was whisked away in a twinkling, and -what I chiefly wished to study was unobtainable, <i>i.e.</i>, masses of men -seen through smoke. After they had fired away all their ammunition, the -whole body of men were drawn up in line, and, the rear rank having been -distanced from the front rank, I, attended by Colonel Browne and a -sergeant, walked down them both, slowly, picking out here and there a -man I thought would do for a “Quatre Bras†model (beardless), and the -sergeant took down the name of each man as I pointed him out very -unobtrusively, Colonel Browne promising to have these men up at -Brompton, quartered there for the time I wanted them. So I write: “I -shall not want for soldierly faces, what with those sappers and the -Scots Fusilier Guards, of whom I am sure I can have the pick, through -Colonel Hepburn’s courtesy. After this interesting ‘choosing a model’ -was ended, we all repaired to Colonel Galway’s quarters, where we -lunched. After that I went to the guard-room to see the men I had chosen -in the morning, so as to write down their personal descriptions in my -book. Each man was marched in by the sergeant and stood at attention -with every vestige of expression discharged from his countenance whilst -I wrote down his personal peculiarities. I had chosen eight out of the -300 in the morning, but only five were brought now by the sergeant, as I -had managed to pitch upon three bad<a name="page_122" id="page_122"></a> characters out of the eight, and -these could not be sent me. We spent the rest of the day very pleasantly -listening to the band, going over the museum, etc. I ought to see as -much of military life as possible, and I must go down to Aldershot as -often as I can.</p> - -<p>“<i>July 16th.</i>—Mamma and I went to Henley-on-Thames in search of a rye -field for my ‘Quatre Bras.’ Eagerly I looked at the harvest fields as we -sped to our goal to see how advanced they were. We had a great -difficulty in finding any rye at Henley, it having all been cut, except -a little patch which we at length discovered by the direction of a -farmer. I bought a piece of it, and then immediately trampled it down -with the aid of a lot of children. Mamma and I then went to work, but, -oh! horror, my oil brushes were missing. I had left them in the chaise, -which had returned to Henley. So Mamma went frantically to work with two -slimy water-colour brushes to get down tints whilst I drew down forms in -pencil. We laughed a good deal and worked on into the darkness, two -regular ‘Pre-Raphaelite Brethren,’ to all appearances, bending over a -patch of trampled rye.â€</p> - -<p>I seem to have felt to the utmost the exhilaration produced by the -following episode. Let the young Diary speak: “The grand and glorious -Lord Mayor’s banquet to the stars of literature and art came off to-day, -July 21st, and it was to me such a delightful thing that I felt all the -time in a pleasant sort of dream. I was mentioned in two speeches, Lord -Houghton’s (‘Monckton Milnes’) and Sir Francis Grant’s, P.R.A. As the -President spoke of me, he said his eye rested with pleasure on me at -that moment! Papa came with me. Above all the display of civic -splendour<a name="page_123" id="page_123"></a> one felt the dominant spirit of hospitality in that -ever-to-me-delightful Mansion House. It was a unique thing because such -aristocrats as were there were those of merit and genius. The few lords -were only there because they represented literature, being authors. -Patti was there. She wished to have a talk with me, and went through -little Italian dramatic compliments, like Neilson. Old Cruikshank was a -strange-looking old man, a wonder to me as the illustrator of ‘Oliver -Twist’ and others of Dickens’s works—a unique genius. He said many nice -things about me to Papa. I wished the evening could have lasted a week.â€</p> - -<p>The next entries are connected with the “Quatre Bras†cartoon: “Dreadful -misgivings about a vital point. I have made my front rank men sitting on -their heels in the kneeling position. Not so the drill book. After my -model went, most luckily came Colonel Browne. Shakes his head at the -attitudes. Will telegraph to Chatham about the heel and let me know in -the morning.</p> - -<p>“<i>July 23rd.</i>—Colonel Browne came, and with him a smart sergeant-major, -instructor of musketry. Alas! this man and telegram from Chatham dead -against me. Sergeant says the men at Chatham must have been sitting on -their heels to rest and steady themselves. He showed me the exact -position when at the ‘ready’ to receive cavalry. To my delight I may -have him to-morrow as a model, but it is no end of a bore, this wasted -time.â€</p> - -<p>“<i>July 24th.</i>—The musketry instructor, contrary to my sad expectations, -was by no means the automaton one expects a soldier to be, but a -thoroughly intelligent model, and his attitudes combined perfect -drill-book<a name="page_124" id="page_124"></a> correctness with great life and action. He was splendid. I -can feel certain of everything being right in the attitudes, and will -have no misgivings. It is extraordinary what a well-studied position -that kneeling to resist cavalry is. I dread to think what blunders I -might have committed. No civilian would have detected them, but the -military would have been down upon me. I feel, of course, rather -fettered at having to observe rules so strict and imperative concerning -the poses of my figures, which, I hope, will have much action. I have to -combine the drill book and the fierce fray! I told an artist the other -day, very seriously, that I wished to show what an English square looks -like viewed quite close at the end of two hours’ action, when about to -receive a last charge. A cool speech, seeing I have never seen the -thing! And yet I seem to have seen it—the hot, blackened faces, the set -teeth or gasping mouths, the bloodshot eyes and the mocking laughter, -the stern, cool, calculating look here and there; the unimpressionable, -dogged stare! Oh! that I could put on canvas what I have in my mind!</p> - -<p>“<i>July 25th.</i>—A glorious day at Chatham, where again the Engineers were -put through field exercises, and I studied them with all my faculties. I -got splendid hints to-day. Went with Colonel Browne and Papa.</p> - -<p>“<i>July 28th.</i>—My dear musketry instructor for a few more attitudes. He -has put me through the process of loading the ‘Brown Bess’—a -flint-lock—so that I shall have my soldiers handling their arms -properly. Galloway has sold the copyright of this picture to Messrs. -Dickenson for £2,000! They must have faith in my doing it well.<a name="page_125" id="page_125"></a>â€</p> - -<p>On August 11th I see I took a much-needed holiday at home, at Ventnor; -and, as I say, “gave myself up to fresh air, exercise, a little -out-of-door painting, and Napier’s ‘Peninsular War,’ in six volumes.†-Shortly before I left for home I received from Queen Victoria a very -splendid bracelet set with pearls and a large emerald. My mother and -good friend Dr. Pollard were with me in the studio when the messenger -brought it, and we formed a jubilant trio.</p> - -<p>It was pleasant to be amongst my old Ventnor friends who had known me -since I was little more than a child. But on September 10th I had to bid -them and the old place goodbye, and on September 11th I re-entered my -beloved studio.</p> - -<p>“<i>September 12th.</i>—An eventful day, for my ‘Quatre Bras’ canvas was -tackled. The sergeant-major and Colonel Browne arrived. The latter, good -man, has had the whole Waterloo uniform made for me at the Government -clothing factory at Pimlico. It has been made to fit the sergeant-major, -who put on the whole thing for me to see. We had a dress rehearsal, and -very delighted I was. They have even had the coat dyed the old -‘brick-dust’ red and made of the baize cloth of those days! Times are -changed for me. It will be my fault if the picture is a fiasco.â€</p> - -<p>During the painting of “Quatre Bras†I was elected a member of the Royal -Institute of Painters in Water Colour, and I contributed to the Winter -Exhibition that large sketch of a sowar of the 10th Bengal Lancers which -I called “Missed!†and which the <i>Graphic</i> bought and published in -colours. This reproduction sold to such an extent that the <i>Graphic</i> -must have been pleased! The sowar at “tent-pegging†has missed his<a name="page_126" id="page_126"></a> peg -and pulls at his horse at full gallop. I had never seen tent-pegging at -that time, but I did this from description, by an Anglo-Indian officer -of the 10th, who put the thing vividly before me. How many, many -tent-peggings I have seen since, and what a number of subjects they have -given me for my brush and pencil! Those captivating and pictorial -movements of men and horses are inexhaustible in their variety.</p> - -<p>I had more models sent to me than I could put into the big -picture—Guardsmen, Engineers and Policemen—the latter being useful as, -in those days, the police did not wear the moustache, and I had -difficulty in finding heads suitable for the Waterloo time. Not a head -in the picture is repeated. I had a welcome opportunity of showing -varieties of types such as gave me so much pleasure in the old -Florentine days when I enjoyed the Andrea del Sartos, Masaccios, Francia -Bigios, and other works so full of characteristic heads.</p> - -<p>On November 7th my sister and I went for a weekend to Birmingham, where -the people who had bought “The Roll Call†copyright were exhibiting that -picture. They particularly wished me to go. We were very agreeably -entertained at Birmingham, where I was curious to meet the buyer of my -first picture sold, that “Morra†which I painted in Rome. Unfortunately -I inquired everywhere for “Mr. Glass,†and had to leave Birmingham -without seeing him and the early work. No one had heard of him! His name -was Chance, the great Birmingham <i>glass</i> manufacturer.</p> - -<p>“<i>November 27th.</i>—In the morning off with Dr. Pollard to Sanger’s -Circus, where arrangements had been made for me to see two horses go -through<a name="page_127" id="page_127"></a> their performances of lying down, floundering on the ground, -and rearing for my ‘Quatre Bras’ foreground horses. It was a funny -experience behind the scenes, and I sketched as I followed the horses in -their movements over the arena with many members of the troupe looking -on, the young ladies with their hair in curl-papers against the -evening’s performance. I am now ripe to go to Paris.â€</p> - -<p>So to Paris I went, with my father. We were guests of my father’s old -friends, Mr. and Mrs. Talmadge, Boulevard Haussmann, and a complete -change of scene it was. It gave my work the desired fillip and the fresh -impulse of emulation, for we visited the best studios, where I met my -most admired French painters. The Paris Diary says:</p> - -<p>“<i>December 3rd.</i>—Our first lion was Bonnat in his studio. A little man, -strong and wiry; I didn’t care for his pictures. His colouring is -dreadful. What good light those Parisians get while we are muddling in -our smoky art centre. We next went to Gérôme, and it was an epoch in my -life when I saw him. He was at work but did not mind being interrupted. -He is a much smaller man than I expected, with wide open, quick black -eyes, yet with deep lids, the eyes opening wide only when he talks. He -talked a great deal and knew me by name and ‘<i>l’Appel,</i>’ which he -politely said he heard was ‘<i>digne</i>’ of the celebrity it had gained. We -went to see an exhibition of horrors—Carolus Duran’s productions, now -on view at the <i>Cercle Artistique</i>. The talk is all about this man, just -now the vogue. He illustrates a very disagreeable present phase of -French Art. At Goupil’s we saw De Neuville’s ‘Combat on the Roof of a -House,’ and I feasted my eyes on some pickings from the most<a name="page_128" id="page_128"></a> celebrated -artists of the Continent. I am having a great treat and a great lesson.</p> - -<p>“<i>December 4th.</i>—Had a <i>supposed</i> great opportunity in being invited to -join a party of very <i>mondaines Parisiennes</i> to go over the Grand Opera, -which is just being finished. Oh, the chatter of those women in the -carriage going there! They vied with each other in frivolous outpourings -which continued all the time we explored that dreadful building. It is a -pile of ostentation which oppressed me by the extravagant display of -gilding, marbles and bronze, and silver, and mosaic, and brocade, heaped -up over each other in a gorged kind of way. How truly weary I felt; and -the bedizened dressing-rooms of the actresses and <i>danseuses</i> were the -last straw. Ugh! and all really tasteless.â€</p> - -<p>However, I recovered from the Grand Opera, and really enjoyed the lively -dinners where conversation was not limited to couples, but flowed with -great <i>ésprit</i> across the table and round and round. Still, in time, my -sleep suffered, for I seemed to hear those voices in the night. How -graceful were the French equivalents to the compliments I received in -London. They thought I would like to know that the fame of “<i>l’Appel</i>†-had reached Paris, and so I did.</p> - -<p>We visited Detaille’s beautiful studio. He was my greatest admiration at -that time. Also Henriette Browne’s and others, and, of course, the -Luxembourg, so I drew much profit from my little visit. But what a -change I saw in the army! I who could remember the Empire of my -childhood, with its endless variety of uniforms, its buglings, and -drummings, and trumpetings; its <i>chic</i> and glitter and swagger: 1870 was -over it all now. Well, never mind, I have lived<a name="page_129" id="page_129"></a> to see it in the “<i>bleu -d’horizon</i>†of a new and glorious day. My Paris Diary winds up with: -“<i>December 14th.</i>—Papa and I returned home from our Paris visit. My eye -has been very much sharpened, and very severe was that organ as it -rested on my ‘Quatre Bras’ for the first time since a fortnight ago. Ye -Gods! what a deal I have to do to that picture before it will be fit to -look at! I continue to receive droll letters and poems (!). One I must -quote the opening line of:</p> - -<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">‘Go on, go on, thou glorious girl!’<br /></span> -</div></div> - -<p class="nind">Very cheering.<a name="page_130" id="page_130"></a>â€</p> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X<br /><br /> -<small>MORE WORK AND PLAY</small></h2> - -<p>S<small>O</small> I worked steadily at the big picture, finding the red coats very -trying. What would I have thought, when studying at Florence, if I had -been told to paint a mass of men in one colour, and that “brick-dustâ€? -However, my Aldershot observations had been of immense value in showing -me how the British red coat becomes blackish-purple here, pale salmon -colour there, and so forth, under the influence of the weather and wear -and tear. I have all the days noted down, with the amount of work done, -for future guidance, and lamentations over the fogs of that winter of -1874-5. I gave nicknames in the Diary to the figures in my picture, -which I was amused to find, later on, was also the habit of Meissonier; -one of my figures I called the “<i>Gamin</i>†and he, too, actually had a -“<i>Gamin</i>.†Those fogs retarded my work cruelly, and towards the end I -had to begin at the studio at 9.30 instead of 10, and work on till very -late. The porter at No. 76 told me mine was the first fire to be lit in -the morning of all in The Avenue.</p> - -<p class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/ill_pg_130_lg.jpg"> -<img src="images/ill_pg_130_sml.jpg" width="252" height="360" alt="Practising for “Quatre Bras.â€" -title="Practising for “Quatre Bras.â€" /></a> -<br /> -<span class="caption">Practising for “Quatre Bras.â€</span> -</p> - -<p>One day the Horse Guards, directed by their surgeon, had a magnificent -black charger thrown down in the riding school at Knightsbridge (on deep -sawdust) for me to see, and get hints from, for the fallen horse in my -foreground. The riding master strapped up one of the furious animal’s -forelegs and then let him go. What a commotion before he fell!<a name="page_131" id="page_131"></a> How he -plunged and snorted in clouds of dust till the final plunge, when the -riding master and a trooper threw themselves on him to keep him down -while I made a frantic sketch. “What must it be,†I ask, “when a horse -is wounded in battle, if this painless proceeding can put him into such -a state?â€</p> - -<p>The spring of 1875 was full of experiences for me. I note that “at the -Horse Guards’ riding school a charger was again ‘put down’ for me, but -more gently this time, and without the risk, as the riding master said, -of breaking the horse’s neck, as last time. I was favoured with a -charge, two troopers riding full tilt at me and pulling up at within two -yards of where I stood, covering me with the sawdust. I stood it bravely -the <i>second</i> time, but the first I got out of the way. With ‘Quatre -Bras’ in my head, I tried to fancy myself one of my young fellows being -charged, but I fear my expression was much too feminine and pacific.†-March 22nd gave me a long day’s tussle with the grey, bounding horse -shot in mid-career. I say: “This <i>is</i> a teaser. I was tired out and -faint when I got home.†If that was a black day, the next was a white -one: “The sculptor, Boehm, came in, and gave me the very hints I wanted -to complete my bounding horse. Galloway also came. He says ‘Quatre Bras’ -beats ‘The Roll Call’ into a cocked hat! He gave me £500 on account. Oh! -the nice and strange feeling of easiness of mind and slackening of -speed; it is beginning to refresh me at last, and my seven months’ task -is nearly accomplished.†Another visitor was the Duke of Cambridge, who, -it appears, gave each soldier in my square a long scrutiny and showed -how well he understood the points.<a name="page_132" id="page_132"></a></p> - -<p>On “Studio Monday†the crowds came, so that I could do very little in -the morning. The novelty, which amused me at first, had worn off, and I -was vexed that such numbers arrived, and tried to put in a touch here -and there whenever I could. Millais’ visit, however, I record as “nice, -for he was most sincerely pleased with the picture, going over it with -great <i>gusto</i>. It is the drawing, character, and expression he most -dwells on, which is a comfort. But I must now try to improve my <i>tone</i>, -I know. And what about ‘<i>quality</i>’? To-day, Sending-in Day, Mrs. Millais -came, and told me what her husband had been saying. He considers me, she -said, an even stronger artist than Rosa Bonheur, and is greatly pleased -with my <i>drawing</i>. <i>That</i> (the ‘drawing’) pleased me more than anything. -But I think it is a pity to make comparisons between artists. I <i>may</i> be -equal to Rosa Bonheur in power, but how widely apart lie our courses! I -was so put out in the morning, when I arrived early to get a little -painting, to find the wretched photographers in possession. I showed my -vexation most unmistakably, and at last bundled the men out. They were -working for Messrs. Dickinson. So much of my time had been taken from me -that I was actually dabbing at the picture when the men came to take it -away; I dabbing in front and they tapping at the nails behind. How -disagreeable!â€</p> - -<p>After doing a water colour of a Scots Grey orderly for the “Institute,†-which Agnew bought, I was free at last to take my holiday. So my Mother -and I were off to Canterbury to be present at the opening of St. -Thomas’s Church there.</p> - -<p>“<i>April 11th, Canterbury.</i>—To Mass in the wretched barn over a stable -wherein a hen, having laid an egg,<a name="page_133" id="page_133"></a> cackled all through the service. And -this has been our only church since the mission was first begun six -years ago, up till now, in the city of the great English Martyr. But -this state of things comes to an end on Tuesday.â€</p> - -<p>This opening of St. Thomas’s Church was the first public act of Cardinal -Manning as Cardinal, and it went off most successfully. There were rows -of Bishops and Canons and Monsignori and mitred Abbots, and monks and -secular priests, all beautifully disposed in the Sanctuary. The sun -shone nearly the whole time on the Cardinal as he sat on his throne. -After Mass came the luncheon at which much cheering and laughter were -indulged in. Later on Benediction, and a visit to the Cathedral. I -rather winced when a group of men went down on their knees and kissed -the place where the blood of St. Thomas à Becket is supposed to still -stain the flags. The Anglican verger stared and did <i>not</i> understand.</p> - -<p>On Varnishing Day at the Academy I was evidently not enchanted with the -position of my picture. “It is in what is called ‘the Black Hole’—the -only dark room, the light of which looks quite blue by contrast with the -golden sun-glow in the others. However, the artists seemed to think it a -most enviable position. The big picture is conspicuous, forming the -centre of the line on that wall. One academician told me that on account -of the rush there would be to see it they felt they must put it there. -This ‘Lecture Room’ I don’t think was originally meant for pictures and -acts on the principle of a lobster pot. You may go round and round the -galleries and never find your way into it! I had the gratification of -being told by R.A. after R.A. that my picture was in some respects an<a name="page_134" id="page_134"></a> -advance on last year’s, and I was much congratulated on having done what -was generally believed more than doubtful—that is, sending any -important picture this year with the load and responsibility of my -‘almost overwhelming success,’ as they called it, of last year on my -mind. And that I should send such a difficult one, with so much more in -it than the other, they all consider ‘very plucky.’ I was not very happy -myself, although I know ‘Quatre Bras’ to be to ‘The Roll Call’ as a -mountain to a hill. However, it was all very gratifying, and I stayed -there to the end. My picture was crowded, and I could see how it was -being pulled to pieces and unmercifully criticised. I returned to the -studio, where I found a champagne lunch spread and a family gathering -awaiting me, all anxiety as to the position of my <i>magnum opus</i>. After -that hilarious meal I sped back to the fascination of Burlington House. -I don’t think, though, that Mamma will ever forgive the R.A.’s for the -‘Black Hole.’</p> - -<p>“<i>April 30th.</i>—The private view, to which Papa and I went. It is very -seldom that an ‘outsider’ gets invited, but they make a pet of me at the -Academy. Again this day contrasted very soberly with the dazzling P.V. -of ‘74. There were fewer great guns, and I was not torn to pieces to be -introduced here, there, and everywhere, most of the people being the -same as last year, and knowing me already. The same <i>furore</i> cannot be -repeated; the first time, as I said, can never be a second. Papa and I -and lots of others lunched over the way at the Penders’ in Arlington -Street, our hosts of last night, and it was all very friendly and nice, -and we returned in a body to the R.A. afterwards. I was surprised, at -the big ‘At<a name="page_135" id="page_135"></a> Home’ last night, to find myself a centre again, and people -all so anxious to hear my answers to their questions. Last year I felt -all this more keenly, as it had all the fascination of novelty. This -year just the faintest atom of zest is gone.</p> - -<p>“<i>May 3rd.</i>—To the Academy on this, the opening day. A dense, surging -multitude before my picture. The whole place was crowded so that before -‘Quatre Bras’ the jammed people numbered in dozens and the picture was -most completely and satisfactorily rendered invisible. It was chaos, for -there was no policeman, as last year, to make people move one way. They -clashed in front of that canvas and, in struggling to wriggle out, -lunged right against it. Dear little Mamma, who was there nearly all the -time of our visit, told me this, for I could not stay there as, to my -regret, I find I get recognised (I suppose from my latest photos, which -are more like me than the first horror) and the report soon spreads that -I am present. So I wander about in other rooms. I don’t know why I feel -so irritated at starers. One can have a little too much popularity. Not -one single thing in this world is without its drawbacks. I see I am in -for minute and severe criticism in the papers, which actually give me -their first notices of the R.A. The <i>Telegraph</i> gives me its entire -article. <i>The Times</i> leads off with me because it says ‘Quatre Bras’ -will be the picture the public will want to hear about most. It seems to -be discussed from every point of view in a way not usual with battle -pieces. But that is as it should be, for I hope my military pictures -will have moral and artistic qualities not generally thought necessary -to military <i>genre</i>.</p> - -<p>“<i>May 4th.</i>—All of us and friends to the Academy,<a name="page_136" id="page_136"></a> where we had a -lively lunch, Mamma nearly all the time in ‘my crowd,’ half delighted -with the success and half terrified at the danger the picture was in -from the eagerness of the curious multitude. I just furtively glanced -between the people, and could only see a head of a soldier at a time. A -nice notion the public must have of the <i>tout ensemble</i> of my -production!â€</p> - -<p>I was afloat on the London season again, sometimes with my father, or -with Dr. Pollard. My dear mother did not now go out in the evenings, -being too fatigued from her most regrettable sleeplessness. There was a -dinner or At Home nearly every day, and occasionally a dance or a ball. -At one of the latter my partner informed me that Miss Thompson was to be -there that evening. All this was fun for the time. At a crowded -afternoon At Home at the Campanas’, where all the singers from the opera -were herded, and nearly cracked the too-narrow walls of those tiny rooms -by the concussion of the sound issuing from their wonderful throats, I -met Salvini. “Having his ‘Otello,’ which we saw the other night, fresh -in my mind, I tried to <i>enthuse</i> about it to him, but became so -tongue-tied with nervousness that I could only feebly say <i>‘Quasi, quasi -piangevo!’ ‘O! non bisogna piangere,’</i> poor Salvini kindly answered. To -tell him I nearly cried! To tell the truth, I was much too painfully -impressed by the terrific realism of the murder of Desdemona and of -Othello’s suicide to <i>cry</i>. I have been told that, when Othello is -chasing Desdemona round the room and finally catches her for the murder, -women in the audience have been known to cry out ‘Don’t!’ And I told him -I <i>nearly</i> cried! Ugh!<a name="page_137" id="page_137"></a>â€</p> - -<p>After this I went to Great Marlow for fresh air with my mother, and -worked up an oil picture of a scout of the 3rd Dragoon Guards whom I saw -at Aldershot, getting the landscape at Marlow. It has since been -engraved.</p> - -<p>By the middle of June I was at work in the studio once more. The -evenings brought their diversions. Under Mrs. Owen Lewis’s chaperonage I -went to Lady Petre’s At Home one evening, where 600 guests were -assembled “to meet H.E. the Cardinal.â€<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> I record that “I enjoyed it -very much, though people did nothing but talk at the top of their voices -as they wriggled about in the dense crowd which they helped to swell. -They say it is a characteristic of these Catholic parties that the talk -is so loud, as everybody knows everybody intimately! I met many people I -knew, and my dear chaperon introduced lots of people to me. I had a -longish talk with H.E., who scolded me, half seriously, for not having -come to see him. I was aware of an extra interest in me in those -orthodox rooms, and was much amused at an enthusiastic woman asking, -repeatedly, whether I was there. These fleeting experiences instruct one -as they fly. Now I know what it feels like to be ‘the fashion.’†Other -festivities have their record: “I went to a very nice garden party at -the house of the great engineer, Mr. Fowler, where the usual sort of -thing concerning me went on—introductions of ‘grateful’ people in large -numbers who, most of them, poured out their heartfelt(!) feelings about -me and my work. I can stand a surprising amount of this, and am by no -means <i>blasée</i> yet. Mr. Fowler has a very choice collection of modern -pictures, which I<a name="page_138" id="page_138"></a> much enjoyed.†Again: “The dinner at the Millais’ was -nice, but its great attraction was Heilbuth’s being there, one of my -greatest admirations as regards his particular line—characteristic -scenes of Roman ecclesiastical life such as I so much enjoyed in Rome. I -told Millais I had had Heilbuth’s photograph in my album for years. ‘Do -you hear that, Heilbuth?’ he shouted. To my disgust he was portioned off -to some one else to go in to dinner, but I had de Nittis, a very clever -Neapolitan artist, and, what with him and Heilbuth and Hallé and Tissot, -we talked more French and Italian than English that evening. Millais was -so genial and cordial, and in seeing me into the carriage he hinted very -broadly that I was soon to have what I ‘most <i>t</i>’oroughly -deserved’—that is, my election as A.R.A. He pronounced the ‘<i>th</i>’ like -that, and with great emphasis. Was that the Jersey touch?â€</p> - -<p>In July I saw de Neuville’s remarkable “Street Combat,†which made a -deep impression on me. I went also to see the field day at Aldershot, a -great success, with splendid weather. After the “battle,†Captain Cardew -took us over several camps, and showed us the stables and many things -which interested me greatly and gave me many ideas. The entry for July -17th says:</p> - -<p>“Arranging the composition for my ‘Balaclava’ in the morning, and at -1.30 came my dear hussar,<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> who has sat on his fiery chestnut for me -already, on a fine bay, for my left-hand horse in the new picture. I -have been leading such a life amongst the jarring accounts of the -Crimean men I have had in my studio<a name="page_139" id="page_139"></a> to consult. Some contradict each -other flatly. When Col. C. saw my rough charcoal sketch on the wall, he -said <i>no</i> dress caps were worn in that charge, and coolly rubbed them -off, and with a piece of charcoal put mean little forage caps on all the -heads (on the wrong side, too!), and contentedly marched out of the -door. In comes an old 17th Lancer sergeant, and I tell him what has been -done to my cartoon. ‘Well, miss,’ says he, ‘all I can tell you is that -my dress cap went into the charge and my dress cap came out of it!’ On -went the dress caps again and up went my spirits, so dashed by Col. C. -To my delight this lancer veteran has kept his very uniform—somewhat -moth-eaten, but the real original, and he will lend it to me. I can get -the splendid headdress of the 17th, the ‘Death or Glory Boys,’ of that -period at a military tailor’s.â€</p> - -<p>The Lord Mayor’s splendid banquet to the Royal Academicians and -distinguished “outsiders†was in many respects a repetition of the last -but with the difference that the assembly was almost entirely composed -of artists. “I went with Papa, and I must say, as my name was shouted -out and we passed through the lane of people to where the Lord Mayor and -Lady Mayoress were standing to receive their guests, I felt a momentary -stroke of nervousness, for people were standing there to see who was -arriving, and every eye was upon me. I was mentioned in three or four -speeches. The Lord Mayor, looking at me, said that he was honoured to -have amongst his guests Miss Thompson (cheers), and Major Knollys -brought in ‘The Roll Call’ and ‘Quatre Bras’ amidst clamour, while Sir -Henry Cole’s allusion to my possible election as an A.R.A. was equally -well received. I felt very<a name="page_140" id="page_140"></a> glad as I sat there and heard my present -work cheered; for in that hall, last year, I had still the great ordeal -to go through of painting, and painting successfully, my next picture, -and that was now a <i>fait accompli</i>.â€</p> - -<p>A rainy July sadly hindered me from seeing as much as I had hoped to see -of the Aldershot manÅ“uvres. On one lovely day, however, Papa and I -went down in the special train with the Prince of Wales, the Duke of -Cambridge, and all the “cocked hats.†In our compartment was Lord -Dufferin, who, on hearing my name, asked to be introduced and proved a -most charming companion, and what he said about “Quatre Bras†was nice. -He was only in England on a short furlough from Canada, and did not see -my “Roll Call.â€</p> - -<p>“At the station at Farnborough the picturesqueness began with the gay -groups of the escort, and other soldiers and general officers, all in -war trim, moving about in the sunshine, while in the background slowly -passed, heavily laden, the Army on the march to the scene of action. -Papa and I and Major Bethune took a carriage and slowly followed the -march, I standing up to see all I could.</p> - -<p>“We were soon overtaken by the brilliant staff, and saluted as it -flashed past by many of its gallant members, including the dashing Baron -de Grancey in his sky blue <i>Chasseurs d’Afrique</i> uniform. Poor Lord -Dufferin in civilian dress—frock coat and tall hat—had to ride a -rough-trotting troop horse, as his own horse never turned up at the -station. A trooper was ordered to dismount, and the elegant Lord -Dufferin took his place in the black sheepskin saddle. He did all with -perfect grace, and I see him now, as he passed our carriage, lift his -hat with a smiling bow, as though he was riding the smoothest of Arabs. -The country<a name="page_141" id="page_141"></a> was lovely. All the heather out and the fir woods aromatic. -In one village regiments were standing in the streets, others defiling -into woods and all sorts of artillery, ambulance, and engineer waggons -lumbering along with a dull roll very suggestive of real war. At this -village the two Army Corps separated to become enemies, the one -distinguished from the other by the men of one side wearing broad white -bands round their headdresses. This gave the wearers a rather savage -look which I much enjoyed. It made their already brown faces look still -grimmer. Of course, our driver took the wrong road and we saw nothing of -the actual battle, but distant puffs of smoke. However, I saw all the -march back to Aldershot, and really, what with the full ambulances, the -men lying exhausted (<i>sic</i>) by the roadside, or limping along, and the -cheers and songs of the dirty, begrimed troops, it was not so unlike -war. At the North Camp Sir Henry de Bathe was introduced, and Papa and I -stood by him as the troops came in.†A day or two later I was in the -Long Valley where the most splendid military spectacle was given us, -some 22,000 being paraded in the glorious sunshine and effective cloud -shadows in one of the most striking landscapes I have seen in England. -“It was very instructive to me,†I write, “to see the difference in the -appearance of the men to-day from that which they presented on Thursday. -Their very faces seemed different; clean, open and good-looking, whereas -on Thursday I wondered that British soldiers could look as they did. The -infantry in particular, on that day, seemed changed; they looked almost -savage, so distorted were their faces with powder and dirt and deep -lines caused by the glare of the sun. I was well within the<a name="page_142" id="page_142"></a> limits when -I painted my 28th in square. I suppose it would not have done to be -realistic to the fullest extent. The lunch at the Welsh Fusiliers’ mess -in a tent I thought very nice. Papa came down for the day. It is very -good of him. I don’t think he approves of my being so much on my own -hook. But things can’t help being rather abnormal.â€</p> - -<p>Here follows another fresh air holiday at my grandparents’ at Worthing -(where I rode with my grandfather), finishing up with a visit which I -shall always remember with pleasure—I ought to say gratitude—not only -for its own sake, but for all the enjoyment it obtained for me in Italy. -That August I was a guest of the Higford-Burrs at Aldermaston Court, an -Elizabethan house standing in a big Berkshire park. “I arrived just as -the company were finishing dinner. I was welcomed with open arms. Mrs. -Higford-Burr embraced me, although I have only seen her twice before, -and I was made to sit down at table in my travelling dress, positively -declining to recall dishes, hating a fuss as I do. The dessert was -pleasant because every one made me feel at home, especially Mrs. Janet -Ross, daughter of the Lady Duff Gordon whose writings had made me long -to see the Nile in my childhood. There are five lakes in the Park, and -one part is a heather-covered Common, of which I have made eight oil -sketches on my little panels, so that I have had the pleasure of working -hard and enjoying the society of most delightful people. There were -always other guests at dinner besides the house party, and the average -number who sat down was eighteen. Besides Mrs. Ross were Mr. and Mrs. -Layard, he the Nineveh explorer, and now Ambassador at Madrid, the -Poynters, R.A., the Misses Duff Gordon,<a name="page_143" id="page_143"></a> and others, in the house. Mrs. -Burr with her great tact allowed me to absent myself between breakfast -and tea, taking my sandwiches and paints with me to the moor.â€</p> - -<p>Days at Worthing followed, where my mother and I painted all day on the -Downs, I with my “Balaclava†in view, which required a valley and low -hills. My mother’s help was of great value, as I had not had much time -to practise landscape up to then. Then came my visit, with Alice, to -Newcastle, where “Quatre Bras†was being exhibited, to be followed by -our visit at Mrs. Ross’s Villa near Florence, whither she had invited us -when at Aldermaston, to see the <i>fêtes</i> in honour of Michael Angelo.</p> - -<p>“We left for Newcastle by the ‘Flying Scotchman’ from King’s Cross at 10 -a.m., and had a flying shot at Peterborough and York Cathedrals, and a -fine flying view of Durham. Newcastle impressed us very much as we -thundered over the iron bridge across the Tyne and looked down on the -smoke-shrouded, red-roofed city belching forth black and brown smoke and -jets of white steam in all directions. It rises in fine masses up from -the turbid flood of the dark river, and has a lurid grandeur quite novel -to us. I could not help admiring it, though, as it were, under protest, -for it seems to me something like a sin to obscure the light of Heaven -when it is not necessary. The laws for consuming factory smoke are quite -disregarded here. Mrs. Mawson, representing the firm at whose gallery -‘Quatre Bras’ is being exhibited, was awaiting our arrival, and was to -be our hostess. We were honoured and fêted in the way of the -warm-hearted North. Nothing could have been more successful than our -visit in its way. These Northerners are<a name="page_144" id="page_144"></a> most hospitable, and we are -delighted with them. They have quite a <i>cachet</i> of their own, so -cultured and well read on the top of their intense commercialism—far -more responsive in conversation than many society people I know ‘down -South.’ We had a day at Durham under Mrs. Mawson’s wing, visiting that -finest of all English Cathedrals (to my mind), and the Bishop’s palace, -etc. We rested at the Dean’s, where, of course, I was asked for my -autograph. I already find how interested the people are about here, more -even than in other parts where I have been. Durham is a place I loved -before I saw it. The way that grand mass of Norman architecture rises -abruptly from the woods that slope sheer down to the calm river is a -unique thing. Of course, the smoky atmosphere makes architectural -ornament look shallow by dimming the deep shadows of carvings, etc.—a -great pity. On our return we took another lion <i>en passant</i>—my picture -at Newcastle, and most delighted I was to find it so well lighted. I may -say I have never seen it properly before, because it never looked so -well in my studio, and as to the Black Hole——! What people they are up -here for shaking hands! When some one is brought up to me the introducer -puts it in this way: ‘Mr. So-and-So wishes very much to have the honour -of shaking hands with you, Miss Thompson.’ There is a straight-forward -ring in their speech which I like.â€</p> - -<p>We were up one morning at 4.30 to be off to Scotland for the day. At -Berwick the rainy weather lifted and we were delighted by the look of -the old Border town on its promontory by the broad and shining Tweed. -Passing over the long bridge, which has such a fine effect spanning the -river, we were pleased to<a name="page_145" id="page_145"></a> find ourselves in a country new to us. -Edinburgh struck us very much, for we had never quite believed in it, -and thought it was “all the brag of the Scotch,†but we were converted. -It is so like a fine old Continental city—nothing reminds one of -England, and yet there is a <i>Scotchiness</i> about it which gives it a -sentiment of its own. Our towns are, as a rule, so poorly situated, but -Edinburgh has the advantage of being built on steep hills and of being -back-grounded by great crags which give it a most majestic look. The -grey colour of the city is fine, and the houses, nearly all gabled and -very tall, are exceedingly picturesque, and none have those vile, black, -wriggling chimney pots which disfigure what sky lines our towns may -have. I was delighted to see so many women with white caps and tartan -shawls and the children barefoot; picturesque horse harness; plenty of -kilted soldiers.</p> - -<p>We did all the lions, including the garrison fortress where the Cameron -Highlanders were, and where Colonel Miller, of Parkhurst memory, came -out, very pleased to speak to me and escort us about. He had the water -colour I gave him of his charger, done at Parkhurst in the old Ventnor -days. Our return to Newcastle was made in glorious sunshine, and we -greedily devoured the peculiarly sweet and remote-looking scenes we -passed through. I shall long remember Newcastle at sunset on that -evening, Then, I will say, the smoke looked grand. They asked me to look -at my picture by gas light. The sixpenny crowd was there, the men -touching their caps as I passed. In the street they formed a lane for me -to pass to the carriage. “What nice people!†I exclaim in the Diary.<a name="page_146" id="page_146"></a></p> - -<p>All the morning of our departure I was employed in sitting for my -photograph, looking at productions of local artists and calling on the -Bishop and the Protestant Vicar. One man had carved a chair which was to -be dedicated to me. I was quaintly enthroned on it. All this was done on -our way to the station, where we lunched under dozens of eyes, and on -the platform a crowd was assembled. I read: “Several local dignitaries -were introduced and ‘shook hands,’ as also the ‘Gentlemen of the local -Press.’ As I said a few words to each the crowd saw me over the -barriers, which made me get quite hot and I was rather glad when the -train drew up and we could get into our carriage. The farewell -handshakings at the door may be imagined. We left in a cloud of waving -handkerchiefs and hats. I don’t know that I respond sufficiently to all -this. Frankly, my picture being made so much of pleases me most -satisfactorily, but the <i>personal</i> part of the tribute makes me -curiously uncomfortable when coming in this way.â€</p> - -<p>Ruskin wrote a pamphlet on that year’s Academy in which he told the -world that he had approached “Quatre Bras†with “iniquitous prejudice†-as being the work of a woman. He had always held that no woman could -paint, and he accounted for my work being what he found it as being that -of an Amazon. I was very pleased to see myself in the character of an -Amazon.<a name="page_147" id="page_147"></a></p> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI<br /><br /> -<small>TO FLORENCE AND BACK</small></h2> - -<p>W<small>E</small> started on our most delightful journey to Florence early in September -of that year to assist at the Michael Angelo fêtes as the guests of dear -Mrs. Janet Ross and the Marchese della Stufa, who, with Mr. Ross, -inhabited in the summer the delicious old villa of Castagnolo, at Lastra -a Signa, six miles on the Pisan side of my beloved Florence. Of course, -I give page after page in the Diary to our journey across Italy under -the Alps and the Apennines. To the modern motorist it must all sound -slow, though we did travel by rail! Above all the lovely things we saw -on our way by the Turin-Bologna line, I think Parma, rising from the -banks of a shallow river, glowing in sunshine and palpitating jewel-like -shade, holds pride of place for noontide beauty. After Modena came the -deeper loveliness of the afternoon, and then Bologna, mellowed by the -rosy tints of early evening. Then the sunset and then the tender moon.</p> - -<p>By moonlight we crossed the Apennines, and to the sound of the droning -summer beetle—an extraordinarily penetrating sound, which I declared -makes itself heard above the railway noises, we descended into the -Garden of Italy, slowly, under powerful brakes. At ten we reached -Florence, and in the crowd on the platform a tall, distinguished-looking -man bowed to me. “Miss Thompson?†“Yes.†It was the Marchese, and lo! -behind him, who<a name="page_148" id="page_148"></a> should there be but my old master, Bellucci. What a -warm welcome they gave us. Of course, our luggage had stuck at the -<i>douane</i> at Modane, and was telegraphed for. No help for it; we must do -without it for a day or two. We got into the carriage which was awaiting -us, and the Marchese into his little pony trap, and off we went flying -for a mysterious, dream-like drive in misty moonlight, we in front and -our host behind, jingle-jingling merrily with the pleasant monotony of -his lion-maned little pony’s canter. We could not believe the drive was -a real one. It was too much joy to be at Florence—too good to be true. -But how tired we were!</p> - -<p>At last we drove up to the great towered villa, an old-fashioned -Florentine ancestral place, which has been the home of the Della Stufas -for generations, and there, in the great doorway, stood Mrs. Ross, -welcoming us most cordially to “Castagnolo.†We passed through frescoed -rooms and passages, dimly lighted with oil lamps of genuine old Tuscan -patterns, and were delighted with our bedrooms—enormous, brick-paved -and airy. There we made a show of tidying ourselves, and went down to a -fruit-decked supper, though hardly able to sit up for sleep. How kind -they were to us! We felt quite at home at once.</p> - -<p>“<i>September 12th.</i>—After Mass at the picturesque little chapel which, -with the <i>vicario’s</i> dwelling, abuts on the <i>fattoria</i> wing of the -villa, we drove into Florence with Mrs. Ross and the Marchese, whom we -find the typical Italian patrician of the high school. We were rigged -out in Mrs. Ross’s frocks, which didn’t fit us at all. But what was to -be done? Provoking girls! It was a dear, hot, dusty, dazzling old -Florentine drive, bless it! and we were very pleased.<a name="page_149" id="page_149"></a> Florence was <i>en -fête</i> and all <i>imbandierata</i> and hung with the usual coloured draperies, -and all joyous with church bells and military bands. The concert in -honour of Michael Angelo (the fêtes began to-day) was held in the -Palazzo Vecchio, and very excellent music they gave us, the audience -bursting out in applause before some of the best pieces were quite -finished in that refreshingly spontaneous way Italians have. After the -concert we loitered about the piazza looking at the ever-moving and -chattering crowd in the deep, transparent shade and dazzling sunshine. -It was a glorious sight, with the white statues of the fountain rising -into the sunlight against houses hung mostly with very beautiful yellow -draperies. I stood at the top of the steps of the Loggia de’ Lanzi, and, -resting my book on the pedestal of one of the lions, I made a rough -sketch of the scene, keeping the <i>Graphic</i> engagement in view. I -subsequently took another of the Michael Angelo procession passing the -Ponte alle Grazie on its way from Santa Croce to the new ‘Piazzale -Michel Angelo,’ which they have made since we were here before, on the -height of San Miniato. It was a pretty procession on account of the rich -banners. A day full of charming sights and melodious sounds.â€</p> - -<p>The great doings of the last day of the fêtes were the illuminations in -the moonlit evening. They were artistically done, and we had a feast of -them, taking a long, slow drive to the piazzale by the new zigzag. -Michael Angelo was remembered at every turn, and the places he fortified -were especially marked out by lovely lights, all more or less soft and -glowing. Not a vile gas jet to be seen anywhere. The city was not -illuminated, nor was anything, with few exceptions,<a name="page_150" id="page_150"></a> save the lines of -the great man’s fortifications. The old white banner of Florence, with -the <i>Giglio</i>, floated above the tricolour on the heights which Michael -Angelo defended in person. The effect, especially on the church of San -Miniato, of golden lamps making all the surfaces aglow, as if the walls -were transparent, and of the green-blue moonlight above, was a thing as -lovely as can be seen on this earth. It was a thoroughly Italian -festival. We were charmed with the people; no pushing in the crowds, -which enjoyed themselves very much. They made way for us when they saw -we were foreigners.</p> - -<p>We stayed at Castagnolo nearly all through the vintage, pressed from one -week to another to linger, though I made many attempts to go on account -of beginning my “Balaclava.†The fascination of Castagnolo was intense, -and we had certainly a happy experience. I sketched hard every day in -the garden, the vineyards, and the old courtyard where the most -picturesque vintage incidents occurred, with the white oxen, the wine -pressing, and the bare-legged, merry <i>contadini</i>, all in an atmosphere -scented with the fermenting grapes. Everything in the <i>Cortile</i> was dyed -with the wine in the making. I loved to lean over the great vats and -inhale that wholesome effluence, listening to the low sea-like murmur of -the fermentation. On the days when we helped to pick the grapes on the -hillside (and “helping ourselves†at the same time) we had <i>collazione</i> -there, a little picnic, with the indispensable guitar and post-prandial -cigarette. Every one made the most of this blessed time, as such moments -should be made the most of when they are given us, I think. Young -Italians often dined at the villa, and the evenings were spent in -singing <i>stornelli</i><a name="page_151" id="page_151"></a> and <i>rispetti</i> until midnight to the guitar, -every one of these young fellows having a nice voice. They were merry, -pleasant creatures.</p> - -<p class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/ill_pg_151_lg.jpg"> -<img src="images/ill_pg_151_sml.jpg" width="278" height="418" alt="One of the Balaklava Six-hundred." -title="One of the Balaklava Six-hundred." /></a> -<br /> -<span class="caption">One of the Balaklava Six-hundred.</span> -</p> - -<p>Nothing but the stern necessity of returning to work could have kept me -from seeing the vintage out. We left most regretfully on October 4th, -taking Genoa and our dear step-sister on the way. Even as it was our -lingering in Italy made me too late, as things turned out, for the -Academy!</p> - -<p>October 19th has this entry: “Began my ‘Balaclava’ cartoon to-day. -Marked all the positions of the men and horses. My trip to Italy and the -glorious and happy and healthy life I have led there, and the utter -change of scene and occupation, have done me priceless good, and at last -I feel like going at this picture <i>con amore</i>. I was in hopes this happy -result would be obtained.†“Balaclava†was painted for Mr. Whitehead, of -Manchester. I had owed him a picture from the time I exhibited -“Missing.†It was to be the same size, and for the same price as that -work, and I was in honour bound to fulfil my contract! So I again -brought forward the “Dawn of Sedan,†although my prices were now so -enlarged that £80 had become quite out of proportion, even for a simple -subject like that. However, after long parleys, and on account of Mr. -Whitehead’s repudiation of the Sedan subject, it was agreed that -“Balaclava†should be his, at the new scale altogether. The Fine Art -Society (late Dickenson & Co.) gave Mr. Whitehead £3,000 for the -copyright, and engaged the great Stacpoole, as before, to execute the -engraving.</p> - -<p>I was very sorry that the picture was not ready for Sending-in Day at -the Academy. No doubt the fuss that was made about it, and my having -begun a<a name="page_152" id="page_152"></a> month too late, put me off; but, be that as it may, I was a -good deal disturbed towards the end, and had to exhibit “Balaclava†at -the private gallery of the purchasers of the copyright in Bond Street. -This gave me more time to finish. I had my own Private View on April -20th, 1876: “The picture is disappointing to me. In vain I call to mind -all the things that judges of art have said about this being the best -thing I have yet painted. Can one <i>never</i> be happy when the work is -done? This day was only for our friends and was no test. Still, there -was what may be called a sensation. Virginia Gabriel, the composer, was -led out of the room by her husband in tears! One officer who had been -through the charge told a friend he would never have come if he had -known how like the real thing it was. Curiously enough, another said -that after the stress of Inkermann a soldier had come up to his horse -and leant his face against it exactly as I have the man doing to the -left of my picture.</p> - -<p>“<i>April 22nd.</i>—An enormous number of people at the Society’s Private -View and some of the morning papers blossoming out in the most beautiful -notices, ever so long, and I getting a little reassured.†A day later: -“Went to lunch at Mrs. Mitchell’s, who invited me at the Private View, -next door to Lady Raglan’s, her great friend. Two distinguished officers -were there to meet me, and we had a pleasant chat.†And this is all I -say! One of the two was Major W. F. Butler, author of “The Great Lone -Land.â€</p> - -<p>The London season went by full of society doings. Our mother had long -been “At Home†on Wednesdays, and much good music was heard at “The -Boltons,†South Kensington. Ruskin came to see<a name="page_153" id="page_153"></a> us there. He and our -mother were often of the same way of thinking on many subjects, and I -remember seeing him gently clapping his hands at many points she made. -He was displeased with me on one occasion when, on his asking me which -of the Italian masters I had especially studied, I named Andrea del -Sarto. “Come into the corner and let me scold you,†were his -disconcerting words. Why? Of course, I was crestfallen, but, all the -same, I wondered what could be the matter with Andrea’s “Cenacolo†at -San Salvi, or his frescoes at the SS. Annunziata, or his “Madonna with -St. Francis and St. John,†in the Tribune of the Uffizi. The figure of -the St. John is, to me, one of the most adorable things in art. That -gentle, manly face; that dignified pose; the exquisite modelling of the -hand, and the harmonious colours of the drapery—what <i>could</i> be the -matter with such work? I remember, at one of the artistic London “At -Homes,†Frith, R.A., coming up to me with a long face to say, if I did -not send to the Academy, I should lose my chance of election. But I -think the difficulties of electing a woman were great, and much -discussion must have been the consequence amongst the R.A.’s. However, -as it turned out, in 1879 I lost my election by <i>two</i> votes only! Since -then I think the door has been closed, and wisely. I returned to the -studio on May 18th, for I could not lay down the brush for any amount of -society doings. Besides, I soon had to make preparations for -“Inkermann.â€</p> - -<p>“<i>Saturday, June 10th.</i>—Saw Genl. Darby-Griffith, to get information -about Inkermann. I returned just in time to dress for the delightful -Lord Mayor’s Banquet to the Representatives of Art at the Mansion<a name="page_154" id="page_154"></a> -House, a place of delightful recollections for me. Neither this year’s -nor last year’s banquet quite came up to the one of ‘The Roll Call’ year -in point of numbers and excitement, but it was most delightful and -interesting to be in that great gathering of artists and hear oneself -gracefully alluded to in The Lord Mayor’s speech and others. Marcus -Stone sat on my left, and we had really a thoroughly good conversation -all through dinner such as I have seldom embarked on, and I found, when -I tried it, that I could talk pretty well. He is a fine fellow, and -simple-minded and genuine. My <i>vis-à -vis</i> was Alma Tadema, with his -remarkable-looking wife, like a lady out of one of his own pictures; and -many well-known heads wagged all around me. After dinner and the -speeches, Du Maurier, of <i>Punch</i>, suggested to the Lord Mayor that we -should get up a quadrille, which was instantly done, and the friskier -spirits amongst us had a nice dance. Du Maurier was my partner; and on -my left I had John Tenniel, so that I may be said to have been supported -by Punch both at the beginning and end of dinner, this being Du -Maurier’s simple and obvious joke, <i>vide</i> the post-turtle indulgence -peculiar to civic banquets. After a waltz we laggards at last took our -departure in the best spirits.â€</p> - -<p>I remember that in June we went to a most memorable High Mass, to wit, -the first to be celebrated in the Old Saxon Church of St. Etheldreda -since the days of the Reformation. This church was the second place of -Christian worship erected in London, if not in England, in the old Saxon -times. We were much impressed as the Gregorian Mass sounded once more in -the grey-stoned crypt. The upper church was not to be ready for years. -Those old grey stones<a name="page_155" id="page_155"></a> woke up that morning which had so long been -smothered in the London clay.</p> - -<p>Here follow too many descriptions in the Diary of dances, dinners and -other functions. They are superfluous. There were, however, some -<i>Tableaux Vivants</i> at an interesting house—Mrs. Bishop’s, a very -intellectual woman, much appreciated in society in general, and Catholic -society in particular—which may be recorded in this very personal -narrative, for I had a funny hand in a single-figure tableau which -showed the dazed 11th Hussar who figures in the foreground of my -“Balaclava.†The man who stood for him in the tableau had been my model -for the picture, but to this day I feel the irritation caused me by that -man. In the picture I have him with his busby pushed back, as it -certainly would and should have been, off his heated brow. But, while I -was posing him for the tableau, every time I looked away he rammed it -down at the becoming “smart†angle. I got quite cross, and insisted on -the necessary push back. The wretch pretended to obey, but, just before -the curtain rose, rammed the busby down again, and utterly destroyed the -meaning of that figure! We didn’t want a representation of Mr. So-and-so -in the becoming uniform of a hussar, but my battered trooper. The thing -fell very flat. But tableaux, to my mind, are a mistake, in many ways.</p> - -<p>I often mention my pleasure in meeting Lord and Lady Denbigh, for they -were people after my own heart. Lady Denbigh was one of those women one -always looks at with a smile; she was so <i>simpatica</i> and true and -unworldly.</p> - -<p>July 18th is noted as “a memorable day for Alice, for she and I spent -the afternoon at <i>Tennyson’s</i>!<a name="page_156" id="page_156"></a> I say ‘for Alice’ because, as regards -myself, the event was not so delightful as a day at Aldershot. Tennyson -has indeed managed to shut himself off from the haunts of men, for, -arrived at Haslemere, a primitive little village, we had a six-mile -drive up, up, over a wild moor and through three gates leading to -narrow, rutty lanes before we dipped down to the big Gothic, lonely -house overlooking a vast plain, with Leith Hill in the distance. -Tennyson had invited us through Aubrey de Vere, the poet, and very -apprehensive we were, and nervous, as we neared the abode of a man -reported to be such a bear to strangers. We first saw Mrs. Tennyson, a -gentle, invalid lady lying on her back on a sofa. After some time the -poet sent down word to ask us to come up to his sanctum, where he -received us with a rather hard stare, his clay pipe and long, black, -straggling hair being quite what I expected. He got up with a little -difficulty, and when we had sat down—he, we two and his most -deferential son—he asked which was the painter and which was the poet. -After our answer, which struck me as funny, as though we ought to have -said, with a bob, ‘Please, sir, I’m the painter,’ and ‘Please, sir, I’m -the poet,’ he made a few commonplace remarks about my pictures in a most -sepulchral bass voice. But he and Alice, in whom he was more interested, -naturally, did most of the talking; there was not much of that, though, -for he evidently prefers to answer a remark by a long look, and perhaps -a slightly sneering smile, and then an averted head. All this is not -awe-inspiring, and looks rather put on. We ceased to be frightened.</p> - -<p>“There is no grandeur about Tennyson, no melancholy abstraction; and, if -I had made a demi-god of<a name="page_157" id="page_157"></a> him, his personality would have much -disappointed me. Some of his poetry is so truly great that his manner -seems below it. The pauses in the conversation were long and frequent, -and he did not always seem to take in the meaning of a remark, so that I -was relieved when, after a good deal of staring and smiling at Alice in -a way rather trying to the patience, he acceded to her request and read -us ‘The Passing of Arthur.’ He was so long in finding the place, when -his son at last found him a copy of the book which suited him, and the -tone he read in so deep and monotonous, that I was much bored and longed -for the hour of our departure. He was vexed with Alice for choosing that -poem, which he seemed to think less of than of his later works, and he -took the poor child to task in a few words meant to be caustic, though -they made us smile. But the ice was melting. He seemed amused at us and -we gratefully began to laugh at some quaint phrases he levelled at us. -Then he dropped the awe-inspiring tone, and took us all over the grounds -and gave us each a rose. He pitched into us for our dresses which were -too fashionable and tight to please him. He pinned Alice against a -pillar of the entrance to the house on our re-entry from the garden to -watch my back as I walked on with his son, pointing the <i>walking-stick</i> -of scorn at my skirt, the trimming of which particularly roused his ire. -Altogether I felt a great relief when we said goodbye to our curious -host with whom it was so difficult to carry on conversation, and to know -whether he liked us or not. Away, over the windy, twilight heath behind -the little ponies—away, away!â€</p> - -<p>At the beginning of August I began my studies for “The Return from -Inkermann.†The foreground I<a name="page_158" id="page_158"></a> got at Worthing; and I had another visit -to Aldershot and many further conversations with Inkermann -survivors—officers of distinction. I am bound to say that these often -contradicted each other, and the rough sketches I made after each -interview had to be re-arranged over and over again. I read Dr. -Russell’s account (<i>The Times</i> correspondent) and sometimes I returned -to my own conception, finding it on the whole the most likely to be -true.</p> - -<p>I laugh even now at the recollection of two elderly <i>sabreurs</i>, one of -them a General in the Indian Army, who had a hot discussion in my -studio, <i>â propos</i> of my “Balaclava,†about the best use of the sabre. -The Indian, who was for slashing, twirled his umbrella so briskly, to -illustrate his own theory, that I feared for the picture which stood -close by his sword arm. The opposition umbrella illustrated “the point†-theory.</p> - -<p>Having finally clearly fixed the whole composition of “Inkermann,†in -sepia on tinted paper the size of the future picture I closed the studio -on August 25th and turned my face once more to Italy.<a name="page_159" id="page_159"></a></p> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII<br /><br /> -<small>AGAIN IN ITALY</small></h2> - -<p>M<small>Y</small> sister and I tarried at Genoa on our way to Castagnolo where we were -to have again the joys of a Tuscan vintage. But between Genoa and -Florence lay our well-loved Porto Fino and, having an invitation from -our old friend Monty Brown, the English Consul and his young wife, to -stay at their castello there, we spent a week at that Eden. We were -alone for part of the time and thoroughly relished the situation, with -only old Caterina, the cook, and the dog, “Bismarck,†as company. Two -Marianas in a moated grange, with a difference. “He†came not, and so -allowed us to clasp to our hearts our chief delights—the sky, the sea, -the olives and the joyous vines. In those early days many of the deep -windows had no glass, and one night, when a staggering Mediterranean -thunderstorm crashed down upon us, we really didn’t like it and hid the -knives under the table at dinner. Caterina was saying her Rosary very -loud in the kitchen. As we went up the winding stairs to bed I carried -the lamp, and was full of talk, when a gust of wind blew the lamp out, -and Alice laughed at my complete silence, more eloquent than any words -of alarm. We had every evening to expel curious specimens of the lizard -tribe that had come in, and turn over our pillows, remembering the -habits of the scorpion.</p> - -<p>But that storm was the only one, and as to the sea,<a name="page_160" id="page_160"></a> which three-parts -enveloped our little Promontory, its blue utterly baffled my poor -paints. But paint I did, on those little panels that we owe to Fortuny, -so nicely fitting into the box he invented. There was a little cape, -crowned with a shrine to Our Lady—“the Madonnetta†it was called—where -I used to go daily to inhale the ozone off the sea which thundered down -below amongst the brown “pudding-stone†rocks, at the base of a sheer -precipice. The “sounding deep.†Oh, the freshness, the health, the joy -of that haunt of mine! Our walks were perilous sometimes, the paths -which almost overhung the deep foaming sea being slippery with the -sheddings of the pines. At the “nasty bits†we had to hold on by shrubs -and twigs, and haul ourselves along by these always aromatic supports.</p> - -<p>Admirable is the industry of the peasants all over Italy. Here on the -extreme point of Porto Fino wherever there was a tiny “pocket†of clay, -a cabbage or two or a vine with its black clusters of grapes toppling -over the abyss found foot-hold. We came one day upon a pretty girl on -the very verge of destruction, “holding on by her eyelids,†gathering -figs with a hooked stick, a demure pussy keeping her company by dozing -calmly on a branch of the fig tree. The walls built to support these -handfuls of clay on the face of the rock are a puzzle to me. Where did -the men stand to build them? It makes me giddy to think of it.</p> - -<p>Paragi, the lovely rival of Monty’s robber stronghold, belonged to his -brother, and a fairer thing I never saw than Fred’s loggia with the -slender white marble columns, between which one saw the coast trending -away to La Spezzia. But “goodbye,<a name="page_161" id="page_161"></a>†Porto Fino! On our way to -Castagnolo, at lovely Lastre a Signa, we paused at Pisa for a night.</p> - -<p>“Pisa is a <i>bald Florence</i>, if I may say so; beautiful, but so empty and -lifeless. There are houses there quite peculiar, however, to Pisa, most -interesting for their local style. Very broad in effect are those flat -blank surfaces without mouldings. The frescoes on them, alas! are now -merely very beautiful blotches and stains of colour. We had ample time -for a good survey of the Duomo, Baptistery, Camposanto and Leaning -Tower, all vividly remembered from when I saw them as a little child. -But I get very tired by sight-seeing and don’t enjoy it much. What I -like is to sit by the hour in a place, sketching or meditating. Besides, -I had been kept nearly all night awake at the Albergo Minerva by railway -whistles, ducks, parrots, cats, dogs, cocks and hens, so that I was only -at half power and I slept most of the way to Signa.</p> - -<p>“At the station a carriage fitted, for the heat, with cool-looking brown -holland curtains was awaiting us on the chance of our coming, and we -were soon greeted at dear Castagnolo by Mrs. Ross. Very good of her to -show so much happy welcome seeing we had been expected the evening -before, not to say for many days, and only our luggage had turned up! -The Marchese, who had to go into Florence this morning for the day, had -gone down to meet us last evening, and returned with the disconcerting -announcement that, whereas we had arrived last year without our luggage, -this year the luggage had arrived without us. ‘<i>I bauli sono giunti ma -le bambine—Chè!</i>’â€</p> - -<p>Here follows the record of the same delights as those of the year -before. We had been long expected, and Mrs. Ross told me that the -peaches had been kept back<a name="page_162" id="page_162"></a> for us in a most tantalising way by the -<i>padrone</i>, and that everything was threatening over-ripeness by our -delay. The light-hearted life was in full force. There were great -numbers of doves and pigeons at Castagnolo which shared in the general -hilarity, swirling in the sunshine and swooping down on the grain -scattered for them with little cries of pleasure. I don’t know whether I -should find a socialistic blight appearing here and there, if I returned -to those haunts of my youth, over that patriarchal life, but it seemed -to me that the relations between the <i>padrone</i> and his splendid -<i>contadini</i> showed how suitable the system obtaining in Tuscany was -then. The labourers were the <i>fanciulli</i> (the children) of the master, -and without the least approach to servility these men stood up to him in -all the pride of their own station. But what deference they showed to -him! Always the uncovered head and the respectful and dignified attitude -when spoken to or speaking. I mustn’t forget the frank smile and the -pleasant white teeth. It was a smiling life; every one caught the -smiling habit. Oh, that we could keep it up through a London winter! And -to a London winter we returned, for my friends in England were getting -fidgety about “Inkermann.†One more extract, however, from the -Castagnolo Diary must find a place before the veil is drawn. The -Marchese took us to Siena for two days.</p> - -<p>“<i>September 29th.</i>—We got up by candlelight at 5 a.m. and had a fresh -drive in the phaeton to the station, whence we took train to the -fascinating Etruscan city, whose very name is magic. The weather, as a -matter of course, was splendid, and Siena dwells in my mind all tender -brown-gold in a flood of sunshine. Small as the city is, and hard as<a name="page_163" id="page_163"></a> we -worked for those two days, we could only see a portion of its treasures. -The result of my observation in the churches and picture galleries shows -me that the art there, as regards painting, is very inferior; and, -indeed, after Florence, with its most exquisite examples of painting and -drawing, these works of art are not taking. I suppose Florence has -spoilt me. Here and there one picks out a plum, such as the ‘Svenimento -of St. Catherine’ in San Domenico, by Sodoma, the only thing by him that -I could look at with pleasure; also, of course, the famous Perugino in -Sant’ Agostino, which I beheld with delight, and a lovely gem of a Holy -Family by Palma Vecchio in the Academy—such a jewel of Venetian colour.</p> - -<p>“The frescoes, however, in the sacristy of the cathedral are things -apart, and such as I have never seen anywhere else, for the very dry air -of Siena has preserved them since Pinturicchio’s time quite intact, and -there one sees, as one can see nowhere else, ancient frescoes as they -were when freshly painted. And very different they are from one’s -notions of old frescoes; certainly not so pleasing if looked at as bits -of colour staining old walls in mellow broken tints, but intensely -interesting and beautiful as pictures. Here one sees what frescoes were -meant to be: deep in colour, exceedingly forcible, with positive -illusion in linear and aërial perspective, the latter being most -unexpected and surprising. One’s usual notion of frescoes is that they -must be flat and airless, and modern artists who go in for fresco -decorative art paint accordingly, judging from the faded examples of -what were once evidently such as one sees here—forcible pictures.</p> - -<p>“Certainly these wall spaces, looking like apertures<a name="page_164" id="page_164"></a> through which one -sees crowds of figures and gorgeous halls or airy landscapes, do not -please the eye when looking at the room <i>as</i> a room. One would prefer to -feel the solidity of the walls; but taking each fresco and looking at it -for its own sake only, one feels the keenest pleasure. They are -magnificent pictures, full of individual character and realistic action, -unsurpassable by any modern.</p> - -<p>“I cannot attempt to put into words my impression of the cathedral -itself. Certainly, I never felt the beauty of a church more. It being -St. Michael’s Day, we heard Mass in the midst of our wanderings, and we -were much struck by the devotion of the people, the men especially—very -unlike what we saw in Genoa. In the afternoon we had a glorious drive -through a perfect pre-Raphaelite landscape to Belcaro, a fortress-villa -about six miles outside Siena, every turn in the road giving us a new -aspect of the golden-brown city behind us on its steep hill. Perhaps the -most beautiful view of Siena is from near Belcaro, where you get the -dark pine trees in the immediate foreground. The owner of the villa took -us all over it, the Marchese gushing outrageously to him about the -beauties of the dreadful frescoes on walls and ceilings, painted by the -man himself. We had been warned, Alice and I, to express our admiration, -but I regret to say we had our hearts so scooped out of us on seeing -those things in the midst of such true loveliness that we couldn’t say a -thing, but only murmured. So the poor Marchese had to do -triple-distilled gush to serve for three, and said everything was -‘<i>portentoso</i>.’</p> - -<p>“In the evening we all three went out again and, in the bright -moonlight, strolled about the streets, the<a name="page_165" id="page_165"></a> piazza, and round the -cathedral, which shone in the full light which fell upon it. The deep -sky was throbbing with stars, and all the essence of an Italian -September moonlight night was there. Oh, sweet, restful Siena dream! -Like a dream, and yet such a precious reality, to be gratefully kept in -memory to the end.â€</p> - -<p>Back at Castagnolo on October 1st. “Went for my <i>solita passeggiata</i> up -to the hill of lavender and dwarf oak and other mountain shrubs, where I -made a study of an oak bush on the only wet day we have had, for my -‘Inkermann’ foreground. Mrs. Ross, a fearless rider, went on with the -breaking in of the Arab colt ‘Pascià ’ to-day. Old Maso, one of the -<i>habitués</i> of the villa, whooped and screamed every time the colt bucked -or reared, and he waddled away as fast as he could, groaning in terror, -only to creep back again to venture another look. And he had been an -officer in the army! I have secured some water-colour sketches of the -vintage for the ‘Institute’ and knocked off another panel or two, and -sketched Mrs. Ross in her Turkish dress, so I have not been idle.†Janet -Ross seemed to have assimilated the sunshine of Egypt and Italy into her -buoyant nature, and to see the vigour with which she conducted the -vintage at Castagnolo acted as a tonic on us all; so did the deep -contralto voice and the guitar, and the racy talk.</p> - -<p>We left on October 14th, on a golden day, with the thermometer at 90 -degrees in the shade, to return to the icy smoke-twilight of London, -where we groped, as the Diary says, in sealskins and ulsters. Castagnolo -has our thanks. How could we have had the fulness of Italian delights -which our kind hosts afforded us in some pension or hotel in Florence? -And what<a name="page_166" id="page_166"></a> hospitality theirs was! We tried to sing some of the -“<i>Stornelli</i>†in the hansom that took us home from Victoria Station. One -of our favourites, “<i>M’affaccio alla finestra e vedo Stelle</i>,†had to be -modified, as we looked through the glass of the cab, into “<i>Ma non vedo -Stelle</i>,†sung in the minor, for nothing but the murk of a foggy night -was there. What but the stern necessity of beginning “Inkermann†could -have brought me back? My dear sister cannot have rejoiced, and may have -wished to tarry, but when did she ever “put a spoke in my wheel<a name="page_167" id="page_167"></a>â€?</p> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII<br /><br /> -<small>A SOLDIER’S WIFE</small></h2> - -<p>T<small>HOUGH</small> the London winter was gloomy, on the whole, and I was handicapped -in the middle of my work by a cold which retarded the picture so much -that, to my deep disappointment, I had again to miss the Academy, the -brightest spring of my life followed, for on March 3rd I was engaged to -be married to the author of “The Great Lone Land.†It may not be out of -place to give a little sketch of our rather romantic meeting.</p> - -<p>When the newly-promoted Major Butler was lying at Netley Hospital, just -beginning to recover from the Ashanti fever that had nearly killed him -at the close of that campaign, his sister Frances used to read to him -the papers, and they thus learnt together how, at the Royal Academy -banquet of that spring, the Prince of Wales and the Duke of Cambridge -had spoken as they did of Miss Elizabeth Thompson. As paper after paper -spoke of me and of my work, he said one day to his sister, in utter fun -under his slowly reviving spirits, “I wonder if Miss Thompson would -marry me?†Two years after that he met me for the first time, and yet -another year was to go by before the Fates said “Now!â€</p> - -<p>When “Inkermann†was carted off to Bond Street on April 19th, what a -relief and delight it was to tell the model “Time is up.†“Mamma and I -danced about the studio when the picture was gone, revelling<a name="page_168" id="page_168"></a> in our -freedom to make as much dust as we liked, when hitherto one had had to -be so careful about dust.†We always did this on such occasions.</p> - -<p>The Fine Art Society, at whose galleries in Bond Street the picture was -exhibited, bought it and the copyright together. No doubt for some the -subject of this work is too sad, but my dominant feeling in painting it -was that which Wellington gave expression to in those memorable words on -leaving the field of battle at Waterloo: “There is nothing sadder than a -victory, except a defeat.†It shows the remnants of the Guards and the -20th Regiment and odds and ends of infantry returning in the grey of a -November evening from the “Soldiers’ Battle,†most of the men very -weary. The A.D.C. on horseback I painted from a fine young soldier, -Rupert Carrington, who kindly gave me a sitting. His mother, Lady -Carrington, sent me as a wedding present a medal taken from a dead -Russian on the field of Inkermann, set in a gold bracelet, which is one -of my treasures, her name and mine engraved on it.</p> - -<p>“<i>April 20th</i>.—The first Private View of ‘Inkermann.’ I was there a -short time, and was quite happy at the look of my picture. The other -three are in the same gallery, and very popular the whole exhibition -seems to be. They have even got my 1873 venture, ‘Missing,’ by itself -upstairs, and remarkably well it looks, too. The crowd was dense and I -left the good people wriggling in a cloud of dust.â€</p> - -<p>June 11th of that year, 1877, was my wedding day. Cardinal Manning -married us in the Church of the Servite Fathers; our guests were chiefly -that gallant group of soldiers who, with my husband, had won the Ashanti -War, Sir Garnet Wolseley, Redvers Buller and<a name="page_169" id="page_169"></a> their comrades. My “Red -Cross†fellow students of old South Kensington days gave me the very -touching surprise of strewing our path down the church, as we came out, -with flowers. I had not known they were there.</p> - -<p>And now a new country opened out for my admiration and delight in days -so long before the dreadful cloud had fallen on it under which I am now -writing these Recollections—so long, so long before. It looks like -another world to me now. One might say I had had already a sufficiently -large share of the earth’s beauties to enjoy, yet here opened out an -utterly new and unique experience—Ireland. Our wedding tour was chiefly -devoted to the Wild West, with a pause at Glencar, in Kerry. I have -tried in happier political times to convey to my readers in another -place<a name="FNanchor_7_7" id="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> my impression of that Western country—its freshness, its wild -beauty, its entrancing poetry, and that sadness which, like the minor -key in music, is the most appealing quality in poetry. That note is -utterly absent from the poetry of Italy; there all is in the major, like -its national music, so that my mind received, with strange delight, a -new sensation, surprising, heart-stirring, appealing. My husband had -given me the choice of a <i>local</i> for the wedding tour between Ireland -and the Crimea. How could I hesitate?</p> - -<p>My first married picture was the one I made studies for in -Glencar—“‘Listed for the Connaught Rangers.†I had splendid models for -the two Irish recruits who are being marched out of the glen by a -recruiting sergeant, followed by the “decoy†private and two drummer -boys of that regiment, the old 88th, with<a name="page_170" id="page_170"></a> the yellow facings of that -time. The men were cousins, Foley by name, and wore their national -dress, the jacket with the long, white homespun sleeves and the -picturesque black hat which I fear is little worn now, and is largely -replaced by that quite cosmopolitan peaked cap I loathe. The deep -richness of those typical Irish days of cloud and sunshine had so -enchanted me that I was determined to try and represent the effect in -this picture, which was a departure from my former ones, the landscape -occupying an equal share with the figures, and the civilian peasant -dress forming the centre of interest. Its black, white and brown -colouring, the four red coats and the bright brass of the drum, gave me -an enjoyable combination with the blue and red-purple of the mountains -in the background, and the sunlight on the middle distance of the stony -Kerry bog-land. Here was that variety as to local colour denied me in -the other works. It was a joy to realise this subject. The picture was -for Mr. Whitehead, the owner of “Balaclava.â€</p> - -<p>The opening day of my introduction to the Wild West was on a Sunday in -that June: “From Limerick Junction to Glencar. I had my first experience -of an Irish Mass, and my impression is deepening every day that Ireland -is as much a foreign country to England as is France or Italy. The -congregation was all new to me. The peasant element had quite a <i>cachet</i> -of its own, though in a way an exact equivalent to the Tuscan—the -rough-looking men in homespun coats in a crowd inside and outside of the -church, the women in national dress; the constabulary, equivalent to the -<i>gendarmes</i>, in full dress, mixing with the people and yet not of them. -This Limerick Junction was the nucleus of the Fenian nebula. In this -terrible<a name="page_171" id="page_171"></a> Tipperary the stalwart constabulary, whom I greatly admire, -have a grave significance. I have never seen finer men than those, and -they are of a type new to me. How I enjoy new types, new countries, new -customs! The girls, looking so nice in their Bruges-like hoods, are very -fresh and comely.</p> - -<p>“We left at noon for the goal of our expedition, and I think I may say -that I never had a more memorable little journey. The distant mountains -I had looked at in the morning took clearer forms and colours by -degrees, and the charm of the Irish bogs with their rich black and -purple peat-earth, and bright, reedy grass, and teeming wild flowers, -developed themselves to my delighted eyes as the train whirled us -southwards. At Killarney we took a carriage and set off on my favourite -mode of travel, soon entering upon tracts of that wild nature I was most -anxious to experience. The evening was deepening, and in its solemn -tones I saw for the first time the Wild West Land, whose aspect -gradually grew wilder and more strange as we neared the mysterious -mountains that rose ahead of us. I was content. I was beginning to taste -the salt of the Wilds. What human habitations there are are so like the -stone heaps that lie over the face of the land that they are scarcely -distinguishable from them; but my ‘contentment’ was much dashed by the -sight of the dwellers in this poor land which yields them so little. -Very strange, wild figures came to the black doors to watch us pass, -with, in some cases, half-witted looks.</p> - -<p>“The mighty ‘Carran Thual,’ one of the mountain group which rises out of -Glencar and dominates the whole land of Kerry, was on fire with blazing -heather, its peaks sending up a glorious column of smoke<a name="page_172" id="page_172"></a> which spread -out at the top for miles and miles, and changed its delicate smoke tints -every minute as the sun sank lower. As we reached the rocky pass that -took us by the remote Lough Acoose that sun had gone down behind an -opposite mountain, and the blazing heather glowed brighter as the -twilight deepened, and circles of fire played weirdly on the mountain -side. Our glen gave the ‘Saxon bride’ its grandest illumination on her -arrival. Wild, strange birds rose from the bracken as we passed, and -flew strongly away over lake and mountain torrent, and the little black -Kerry cattle all watched us go by with ears pricked and heads -inquiringly raised. The last stage of the journey had a brilliant -<i>finale</i>. A herd of young horses was in our way in the narrow road, and -the creatures careered before us, unable or too stupid to turn aside -into the ditches by the roadside to let us through. We could not head -them, and for fully a mile did those shaggy, wild things caper and jump -ahead, their manes flying out wildly, with the glow from the west -shining through them. Some imbecile cows soon joined them in the -stampede, for no imaginable reason, unless they enjoyed the fright of -being pursued, and the ungainly progress of those recruits was a sight -to behold—tails in the air and horns in the dust. With this escort we -entered Glencar.â€</p> - -<p>Nothing that I have seen in my travels since that golden time has in the -least dimmed my recollections of that Glencar existence; nor could -anything jar against a thing so unique. I have fully recorded in my -former book how we made different excursions, always on ponies, every -day, not returning till the evening. What impressed me most during these -rides was the depth and richness of the Irish landscape<a name="page_173" id="page_173"></a> colouring. The -moisture of the ocean air brings out all its glossy depth. Even without -the help of actual sunshine, so essential to the landscape beauty of -Italy, the local colour is powerful. In describing to me the same deep -colouring in Scotland Millais used the simile of the wet pebble. Take a -grey, dry pebble on the seashore and dip it in the water. It will show -many lovely tints. Our inn was in the centre of the glen, delightfully -rough, and impregnated with that scent of turf smoke which has ever -since been to me the subtlest and most touching reminder of those days. -Yet with that roughness there was in the primitive little inn a very -pleasant provision of such sustenance as old campaigners and fishermen -know how to establish in the haunts they visit.</p> - -<p>The coast of Clare came next in our journey, where the Atlantic hurls -itself full tilt at the iron cliffs, and the west wind, which I learnt -to love, comes, without once touching land since it left the coast of -Labrador, to fill one with a sense of salt and freshness and health as -it rushes into one’s lungs from off the foam. I was interested in making -comparisons between that sea and the other “sounding deep†that washes -the rocks of Porto Fino as I looked down on the thundering waves below -the cliffs of Moher. Here was the simplest and severest colouring—dark -green, almost amounting to black; light green, cold and pure; foam so -pure that its whiteness had over it a rosy tinge, merely by contrast -with the green of the waves, and that was all; whereas the sea around -Porto Fino baffles both painter and word-painter with its infinite -variety of blues, purples, and greens. These are contrasts that I -delight in. How the west wind rushed at us, full of spray! How the ocean -roared!<a name="page_174" id="page_174"></a> It was a revel of wind where we stood at the very edge of those -sheer cliffs. Across their black faces sea birds incessantly circled and -wheeled, crying with a shrill clamour. That and the booming of the waves -many fathoms below, as they leap into the immense caverns, were the only -sounds that pierced the wind. The black rocks had ledges of greyer rock, -and along these ledges, tier above tier, sat myriads of white-headed -gulls, their white heads looking like illumination lamps on the faces of -titanic buildings. The Isles of Arran and the mountains of Connemara -spread out before us on the ocean, which sparkled in one place with the -gold beams of the faint, spray-shrouded sun.</p> - -<p>Then good-bye to Erin for the present on July 15th and the establishment -of ourselves in London till our return to the Land that held a magnet -for us on September 21st. There we paid a visit to the Knight of Kerry, -at Valentia Island. What a delightful home! The size of the fuchsia -trees told of the mild climate; the scenery was of the remotest and -freshest, most pleasing to the senses, and the ever-welcome scent of -turf smoke would not be denied in the big house where the sods glowed in -the great fireplaces. My surprise, when strolling on one of the innocent -little strands by the sea, was great at seeing the Atlantic cable -emerging, quite simply, from the water between the pebbles, as though it -was nothing in particular. Following it, we reached a very up-to-date -building, so out of keeping with the primitive scene, filled with busy -clerks transmitting goodness knows what cosmopolitan corruption from the -New World to the Old, and <i>vice versâ</i>.</p> - -<p class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/ill_pg_174_lg.jpg"> -<img src="images/ill_pg_174_sml.jpg" width="242" height="422" alt="In Western Ireland. -A “Jarvey†and “Biddy.â€" -title="In Western Ireland. -A “Jarvey†and “Biddy.â€" /></a> -<br /> -<span class="caption">In Western Ireland.<br /> -A “Jarvey†and “Biddy.â€</span> -</p> - -<p>I would not have missed the Valentia pig for anything. A taller, leaner, -gaunter specimen has not<a name="page_175" id="page_175"></a> his match anywhere, not even in the little -black hog of Monte Cassino, whose salient hips are so unexpected. There -is something particularly arresting in a pig with visible hips.<a name="FNanchor_8_8" id="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> All -the animals in the west seemed to me free-and-easy creatures that live -with the peasants as members of the family, having a much better time -than the humans. They frisk irresponsibly in and out of the cabins—no -“by your leave†or “with your leave‗and, altogether, enjoy life to the -top of their own highest level. The poorer the people, the greater -appears the contrast caused by this inverted state of things.</p> - -<p>The next time we left England was to go in the opposite direction—to -the Pyrenees. Rapid travel is fast levelling down the different -countries, and a carriage journey through the Pyrenean country is a -bygone pleasure. We have to go to Thibet or the Great Wall of China for -our trips if we want to write anything original about our travels. A -flight by air to the North Pole would, at first, prove very readable and -novel, if well described. This, however, does not take from the pleasure -of going over the inner circle in memory. In the year 1878 we could -still find much that was new and refreshing in a tour through the south -of France! Some friends of mine went up to Khartoum from Cairo not long -ago, with return tickets, by rail, and all they could say was that the -journey was so dusty that they had to draw the blinds of their -compartment and play bridge all the way. Poor dears, how arid!</p> - -<p>This little tour of ours was well advised. The loss of our firstborn, -Mary Patricia, brought our first<a name="page_176" id="page_176"></a> sorrow with it, and we went to Lourdes -and made a wide <i>détour</i> from there through the Pyrenees to Switzerland. -There is nothing like travel for restoring the aching mind to -usefulness. But, undoubtedly, the send-off from Lourdes gave me the -initial impetus towards recovery of which, though I say little, I am -very sensible. We drove to St. Sauveur after our visit to the Grotto -where such striking cures have happened, and each day brought more fully -back to me that zest for natural beauty which has been with me such an -invigorator.</p> - -<p>St. Sauveur was bracing and beautiful, but too full of invalids. It was -rather saddening to see them around the Hontalade Sulphur Springs. At -Lourdes they were clustering round the cascade that flows from the -Grotto where the statue of Our Lady stands, exactly reproducing the -figure as seen by the little Shepherdess. Poor humanity, reaching out -hopeful arms in its pain, here for physical help, there for spiritual. -The Gave rushes through both Lourdes and St. Sauveur, with a very sharp -noise in the rocky gorge of the latter, too harsh to be a soothing -sound. I looked forward to getting yet another experience of <i>vetturino</i> -travel which I had never thought could be enjoyed again, and which -proved to be still possible. The journey was a success, and, besides the -beauty of that very majestic mountain scenery, the little incidents of -the road were picturesque. Our driver was proud to tell us he was known -as “<i>L’ancien chien des Pyrénées</i>,†and a characteristic “old dog†he -was, one-eyed and weatherbeaten, wearing the national blue <i>béret</i> and -very voluble in local <i>patois</i>. His horses’ bells jingled in the old -familiar way of my childhood; two absurd little dogs of his accompanied<a name="page_177" id="page_177"></a> -us all the way who, in the noonday heat, sat in the wayside streams for -a moment to cool, and emerged little dripping rags. The first day’s -ascent was over the Pass of the Tourmalet, the second over that of the -Col d’Aspin, and the third and final climb was that of the Col de -Peyresourde. Then Bagnères de Luchon appeared deep down in the valley -where our drive came to an end. What would we have seen of the Pyrenees -if we had burrowed in tunnels under those <i>Cols?</i> Luchon was not -embellished by the invalids there, whose principal ailment amongst the -female patients was evidently a condition of <i>embonpoint</i> so remarkable -that the suggestion of overfeeding could not possibly be ignored.</p> - -<p>We had refreshing “<i>ascensions</i>†on horseback; a wide view of Spain from -Super-Bagnère, wherein the backbone of the Pyrenees, with the savage -“Maladetta,†rising supreme, 11,000 feet above sea level, has its -origin. Many very pleasant excursions we had besides. I tried a hurried -sketch of one of these views from the saddle, the only precious chance I -had, but a little Frenchman in tourist helmet and blue veil (and such -boots and spurs!), who was riding in our direction with a party, threw -himself off his pony into my foreground and, hoping to be included in -the view which he was pretending to admire, posed there, right in my -way, his comrades calling him in vain to rejoin them.</p> - -<p>On leaving Luchon we journeyed <i>viâ</i> Toulouse to Cette, following the -course of the Garonne, which famous river we had seen in its little -muddy infancy near Arreau and in its culminating grandeur at Bordeaux. -Toulouse looked majestic, a fair city as I remember it. There I was -interested to see that<a name="page_178" id="page_178"></a> famous canal which carries on the traffic from -the great river to the Mediterranean. A noteworthy feature in the -landscape as we journeyed on to Cette in the dreary, dun-coloured -gloaming was the mediæval city of Carcassonne. To come suddenly upon a -complete restoration to life of an old-world city, full of towers and -wrapped in its unbroken walls, gives one a strange sensation. One seems -to be suddenly deposited in the heart of the Middle Ages. That dark -evening there was something indescribably gloomy in the aspect of that -cinder-coloured mass against an ashen sky, and set on a hill high above -the fields cultivated in prim rows and patches, looking like a town in -the background of some hunting scene, so often shown in old tapestry. -All was darkening before an approaching storm. In writing of it at the -time I was not aware that we owed this most precious old city to -Viollet-le-Duc, who has restored it stone by stone.</p> - -<p>Cette looked so bleared and blind the next morning in a sea mist that I -have preserved a dejected impression of those low shores, grey -tamarisks, and lagunes, and waste places, seen as though in a dismal -dream. I was coaxed back to cheerfulness by the sunshine of Nismes, -where we spent several hours, on our way to our halt for the night, -strolling in the warm-tinted Roman ruins, and I finally relaxed in the -delight of our arriving once more at one of my most beloved cities, -splendid Avignon. Good travelling. This closed the day. Under my -parents’ <i>régime</i>, and chiefly on account of my mother, who hated night -travel, and on account of our general easy-going ways, we gave nearly a -fortnight to reach Genoa from England, with pauses here and there.<a name="page_179" id="page_179"></a></p> - -<p>My redundant Diary carries me on now, like the rapid Rhone itself, to my -native Lake Leman. I see it now as I saw it that day, August 8th, -1878—a blue opal. There is always something sacred about a place in -which one came into the world. We visited “Claremont,†a lovely dwelling -overlooking the lake, and facing the snowy ridges of the Dents du Midi. -Looking at that house “all my mother came into my eyes†as I thought of -her that November night, long ago, and of our dear, faithful nurse whom -I captured there to our service till death, with a smile!</p> - -<p>And now for the dear old Rhine once more. We got to Bâle next day, and -very scenic the old town looked on our arrival in the evening. On either -side of the swift-flowing river the gabled houses were full of lights, -which were reflected in the water, all looking red-gold by contrast with -the green-gold of the moon. On August 10th from Bâle to Heidelberg, the -rose-coloured city of the great Tun! Other tuns are also shown, not -quite so capacious; but what swilling they suggest on the part of the -old electors, who gathered all that hock in tithes!</p> - -<p>I was mortified when trying to impress my husband with the charms of the -Rhine as we dropped down to Cologne. My early Diary tells of my -enchantment on that fondly-remembered river. But, alas! this time the -weather was rainy and ugly all the way, and as we came to the best part, -the romantic Gorge, he shut himself up in a deck cabin, out of which I -could not entice him. I suspect the natives on board drove him in there -rather than his resentment at the “come down†from the glowing -descriptions one reads in travel books. These natives were a most -irritating foreground to the blurred views. All day long, and<a name="page_180" id="page_180"></a> into the -night, meals were perpetually breaking out all over the deck and, do -what one could, the feeding of those Teutons obtruded itself on one’s -attention <i>ad nauseam</i>. I have a sketch, taken <i>sub rosa</i>, of an obese -and terrible <i>frau</i>, seated behind her rather smart officer husband at -one of the little tables. She had emptied her capacious mug of beer, and -was asking him for more, to which demand he was paying no attention. But -“Gustav! Gustav!†she persisted, poking him in the back with her empty -tankard. The “Gustav!†and the prods were getting too much to be ignored -by the long-suffering back, and she got her refill. What General Gordon -calls the “German visage†in contrast with the “Italian countenance†-never appeared so surprisingly ugly as it did to us that day on the -crowded deck of the <i>Queen of Prussia</i>.</p> - -<p>My Diary says: “At Mayence, Will and I, always on the look-out for -soldiers, had a good opportunity of seeing German infantry, as we -stopped here a long time and two line battalions crossed the bridge near -us. From the deck of the steamer the men looked big enough, but when -Will ran on shore and overhauled them to have a nearer look, I could -gauge their height by his six-foot-two. He showed a clear head and -shoulders above their <i>pickelhauben</i>. They were short, chiefly by reason -of the stumpy legs, which carry a long back—a very unbeautiful -arrangement.â€</p> - -<p>The next day we had a rather dull start from Cologne along a dismal -stretch of river as far as Düsseldorf. Killing time at Düsseldorf is not -lively. At the café where we had tea two young subalterns of hussars -came gaily in to have their coffee, and, just as they were sitting down -with a cavalry swagger, there came in a major of some other corps, and -the<a name="page_181" id="page_181"></a> two immediately got up, saluted, and left the room. Here was -discipline! On our returning to the steamer Will found an epauletted -disciple of Bismarck in my place at supper. He told the epauletted one -of his mistake, much to the latter’s manifest astonishment, who didn’t -move. I suppose there came something into the British soldier’s eye, -but, anyway, the sabre-rattler eventually got up and went elsewhere: -things felt electric.</p> - -<p>August 14th found us nearly all day on board the boat. “A very -interesting day, showing me a phase of Rhine scenery familiar to me in -Dutch pictures by the score, but never seen by me till then in reality. -The strong wind blew from the sea and tossed the green-yellow river into -tumultuous waves, over which came bounding the blunt-bowed craft from -Holland, taking merchandise up stream, and differing in no way from the -boats beloved of the old Dutch masters. On either side of the river were -low banks waving with rushes, and beyond stretched sunken marshy -meadows, and here and there quaint little towns glided by with windmills -whirring, and clusters of ships’ masts appearing above the grey willows -and sedges. Dordrecht formed a perfect picture <i>à la</i> Rembrandt, with a -host of windmills on the skyline, telling dark against the brightness, -at the confluence of the Maes and Rhine. Here Cuyp was born, the painter -of sunlit cows. Rotterdam pleased us greatly, and we strolled about in -the evening, coming upon the statue of Erasmus, which I place amongst -the most admirable statues I have seen. Rotterdam possesses in rich -abundance the peculiar charm of a seaport. A place of this kind has for -me a very strong attraction. The varied shipping, the<a name="page_182" id="page_182"></a> bustle on land -and water, the colour, the noise, the mixture of human types, the bustle -of men and animals; all these things have always filled me with pleasure -at a great seaport.†A visit to Holland (“the dustless†land, as my -husband called it truly), a revel amongst the Amsterdam galleries, then -Antwerp, where we embarked for Harwich, closed our trip. Invigorated and -restored, I set to work on an 8-foot canvas, whereon I painted a subject -which had been in my mind since childhood.<a name="page_183" id="page_183"></a></p> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV<br /><br /> -<small>QUEEN VICTORIA</small></h2> - -<p>I<small>T</small> must have been at Villa de’ Franchi that my father related to me a -tragedy which had profoundly moved England in the year 1842, and he -laughingly encouraged me to paint it when I should be grown up. The -Diary says: “We are now at war with poor Shere Ali, and this new Afghan -War revived for me the idea of the tragedy of ‘42, namely, Dr. Brydon -reaching Jellalabad, weary and fainting, on his dying horse, the sole -survivor, as was then thought, from our disaster in the Cabul passes.... -Here I am, on 1st March, 1879, not doing badly with the picture. I think -it is well painted, and I hope poetical. But I have had the darkest -winter I can remember, and lost nearly all January by the succession of -fogs which have accompanied this long frost. Will sailed under orders -for the Cape last Friday, February 28th. Our terrible defeat at Isandula -has caused the greatest commotion here, and regiments are being poured -out of England to Zululand in a fleet of transports; and now staff -officers are being selected for posts of great responsibility out there, -and amongst these is Colonel Butler, A.A.G. to General Clifford.</p> - -<p>“<i>March 16th, 1879.</i>—I am beginning to show my picture. Scarcely -anything is talked of still but the fighting in Zululand and the -incapacity of that poor unfortunate Lord Chelmsford, whom Government -keeps telling they will continue to trust in his supreme post<a name="page_184" id="page_184"></a> of -Commander-in-Chief, though he would evidently be thankful to be relieved -of an anxiety which his nervous temperament and susceptible nature must -make unbearable. What magnificent subjects for pictures the ‘Defence of -Rorke’s Drift’ will furnish. When we get full details I shall be much -tempted to paint some episode of that courageous achievement which has -shed balm on the aching wound of Isandula. But the temptation will have -to be very strong to make me break my rule of not painting contemporary -subjects. I like to mature my themes.</p> - -<p>“Studio Sunday. At last, at last! After three years of disappointment -another Academy Studio Show has come, and that very brightly and -successfully. I have called the Afghan picture ‘The Remnants of an -Army.’ I had the Irish picture to show also, by permission of Whitehead, -‘’Listed for the Connaught Rangers.’ From one till six to-day people -poured in. My studio was got up quite charmingly with curtains and -screens, and with wild beast skins disposed on the floor, and my arms -and armour furbished up. The two pictures came out well, and both -appeared to ‘take.’ However, not much value can be attached to to-day’s -praises to my face. But I must not let Elmore’s (R.A.) tribute to the -‘Remnants of an Army’ go unrecorded. ‘It is impossible to look at that -man’s face unmoved,’ and his eyes were positively dimmed! I have heard -it said that no one was ever known to shed tears before a picture. On -reading a book, on hearing music, yes, but not on seeing a painting. -Well! that is not true, as I have proved more than once. I can’t resist -telling here of a pathetic man who came to me to say, ‘I had a wet eye -when I saw your picture!’ He had one eye<a name="page_185" id="page_185"></a> brown and the other blue, and -I almost asked, ‘Which, the brown or the blue?’ It is often so difficult -to know what to answer appreciatively to enthusiastic and unexpected -praise!</p> - -<p>“Varnishing Day. A long and cheery day in those rooms of happy memory at -Burlington House. Both my pictures are well hung and look well, and -congratulations flowed in.†A few days later: “Alice and I to the -Private View at that fascinating Burlington House, so fascinating when -one’s works are well placed! The Press is treating me very well. No -subsidised puffs <i>here</i>, so I enjoy these critiques. The Academy has -received me back with open arms, and the members are very nice to me, -some of them expressing their hope that I am pleased with the positions -of my pictures, and several of them speaking quite openly about their -determination to vote for me at the next election.â€</p> - -<p>The Fine Art Society bought the Afghan subject of which they published a -very faithful engraving, and it is now at the Tate Gallery. It is a -comfort to me to know that nearly all my principal works are either in -the keeping of my Sovereign or in public galleries, and not changing -hands among private collectors.</p> - -<p>I spent much of a cool, if rainy, summer at Edenbridge, in Kent, taking -a rose bower of a cottage there, my parents with me. There we heard in -the papers the dreadful news of the Prince Imperial’s death. Then -followed a hasty line from my husband, written in a fury of indignation -from Natal, at the sacrifice of “the last of the Napoleons.†When he -returned at long last from the deplorable Zulu War, followed by the -Sekukuni Campaign, the poor Empress Eugénie<a name="page_186" id="page_186"></a> sent for him to Camden -Place, and during a long and most painful interview she asked for all -details, her tears flowing all the time, and in her open way letting all -her sorrow loose in paroxysms of grief. He had managed the funeral and -embarkation at Durban. The pall was covered with artificial violets -which he had asked the nuns there to make, at high pressure, and he -subsequently described to me the impressive sight of the <i>cortège</i> as it -wound down the hill to the port off Durban, in the afternoon sunshine.</p> - -<p>At little Edenbridge I was busy making studies of any grey horses I -could find, as I had already begun my charge of the Scots Greys at -Waterloo at my studio. That charge I called “Scotland for Ever,†and I -owe the subject to an impulse I received that season from the Private -View at the Grosvenor Gallery, now extinct. The Grosvenor was the home -of the “Æsthetes†of the period, whose sometimes unwholesome productions -preceded those of our modern “Impressionists.†I felt myself getting -more and more annoyed while perambulating those rooms, and to such a -point of exasperation was I impelled that I fairly fled and, breathing -the honest air of Bond Street, took a hansom to my studio. There I -pinned a 7-foot sheet of brown paper on an old canvas and, with a piece -of charcoal and a piece of white chalk, flung the charge of “The Greys†-upon it. Dr. Pollard, who still looked in during my husband’s absences -as he used to do in my maiden days to see that all was well with me, -found me in a surprising mood.</p> - -<p>On returning from my <i>villeggiatura</i> in Kent with my parents I took up -again the painting of this charge, and one day the Keeper of the Queen’s -Privy Purse, Sir Henry Ponsonby, called at the studio to ask me<a name="page_187" id="page_187"></a> if I -would paint a picture for Her Majesty, the subject to be taken from a -war of her own reign.</p> - -<p>Of course, I said “Yes,†and gladly welcomed the honour, but being a -slow worker, I saw that “Scotland for Ever!†must be put aside if the -Queen’s picture was to be ready for the next Academy.</p> - -<p>Every one was still hurrahing over the defence of “Rorke’s Drift†in -Zululand as though it had been a second Waterloo. My friends (not my -parents) urged and urged. I demurred, because it was against my -principles to paint a conflict. In the “Greys†the enemy was not shown, -here our men would have to be represented at grips with the foe. No, I -put that subject aside and proposed one that I felt and saw in my mind’s -eye most vividly. I proposed this to the Queen—the finding of the dead -Prince Imperial and the bearing of his body from the scene of his heroic -death on the lances of the 17th Lancers. Her Majesty sent me word that -she approved, to my great relief. I began planning that most impressive -composition. Then I got a message to say the Queen thought it better not -to paint the subject. What was to be done? The Crimea was exhausted. -Afghanistan? But I was compelled by clamour to choose the popular -Rorke’s Drift; so, characteristically, when I yielded I threw all my -energies into the undertaking.</p> - -<p>When the 24th Regiment, now the South Wales Borderers, who in that fight -saved Natal, came home, some of the principal heroes were first summoned -to Windsor and then sent on to me, and as soon as I could get down to -Portsmouth, where the 24th were quartered, I undertook to make all the -studies from life necessary for the big picture there. Nothing<a name="page_188" id="page_188"></a> that the -officers of that regiment and the staff could possibly do to help me was -neglected. They even had a representation of the fight acted by the men -who took part in it, dressed in the uniforms they wore on that awful -night. Of course, the result was that I reproduced the event as nearly -to the life as possible, but from the soldier’s point of view—I may say -the <i>private’s</i> point of view—not mine, as the principal witnesses were -from the ranks. To be as true to facts as possible I purposely withdrew -my own view of the thing. What caused the great difficulty I had to -grapple with was the fact that the whole mass of those fighting figures -was illuminated by firelight from the burning hospital. Firelight -transforms colours in an extraordinary way which you hardly realise till -you have to reproduce the thing in paint.</p> - -<p>The Zulus were a great difficulty. I had them in the composition in dark -masses, rather swallowed up in the shade, but for one salient figure -grasping a soldier’s bayonet to twist it off the rifle, as was done by -many of those heroic savages. My excellent Dr. Pollard got me a sort of -Zulu as model from a show in London. It was unfortunate that a fog came -down the day he was brought to my studio, so that at one time I could -see nothing of my dusky savage but the whites of his eyes and his teeth. -I hope I may never have to go through such troubles again!</p> - -<p>When the picture was in its pale, shallow, early stage, the Queen, who -was deeply interested in its progress, wished to see it, and me. So to -Windsor I took it. The Ponsonbys escorted me to the Great Gallery, where -I beheld my production, looking its palest, meanest, and flattest, -installed on an easel,<a name="page_189" id="page_189"></a> with two lords bending over it—one of them Lord -Beaconsfield.</p> - -<p>Exeunt the two lords, right, through a dark side door. Enter the Queen, -left. Prince Leopold, Duchess of Argyll, Princess Beatrice and others -grouped round the easel, centre. The Queen came up to me and placed her -plump little hand in mine after I had curtseyed, and I was counselled to -give Her Majesty the description of every figure. She spoke very kindly -in a very deep, guttural voice, and showed so much emotion that I -thought her all too kind, shrinking now and then as I spoke of the -wounds, etc. She told me how she had found my husband lying at Netley -Hospital after Ashanti, apparently near his end, and spoke with warmth -of his services in that campaign. She did not leave us until I had -explained every figure, even the most distant. She knew all by name, for -I had managed to show, in that scuffle, all the V.C.’s and other -conspicuous actors in the drama, the survivors having already been -presented to her. Majors Chard and Bromhead were sufficiently -recognisable in the centre, for I had had them both for their portraits.</p> - -<p>The Academicians put “The Defence of Rorke’s Drift†in the Lecture Room -of unhappy “Quatre Bras†memory, no doubt for the same reason they gave -in the case of that picture. Yes, there was a great crush before it, but -I was not satisfied as to its effect in that poor light. It is now with -“The Roll Call†at St. James’s Palace. I learnt later how very, very -pleased the Queen was with her commission, and that one day at Windsor, -wishing to show it to some friends, the twilight deepening, she showed -so much appreciation that she took a pair of candlesticks<a name="page_190" id="page_190"></a> and held them -up at the full stretch of her arms to light the picture. I like to see -in my mind’s eye that Rembrandtesque effect, with the principal figure -in the group our Queen. She wanted me to paint her two other subjects, -but, somehow, that never came off.<a name="page_191" id="page_191"></a></p> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV"></a>CHAPTER XV<br /><br /> -<small>OFFICIAL LIFE—THE EAST</small></h2> - -<p>I<small>N</small> 1880 my husband was offered the post of Adjutant-General at Plymouth, -and thither we went in time, with the pretty little infant Elizabeth -Frances, who came to fill the place of the sister who was gone. There -three more of our children were born.</p> - -<p>I took up “Scotland for Ever!†again, and in the bright light of our -house on the Hoe, with never a brown fog to hinder me, and with any -amount of grey army horses as models, I finished that work. It was -exhibited alone. It is quite unnecessary to burden my readers with the -reason of this. I was very sorry, as I expected rather a bright effect -with all those white and grey galloping <i>hippogriffes</i> bounding out of -the Academy walls. There was a law suit in question, and there let the -matter rest. Messrs. Hildesheimer bought the copyright from me, and the -picture I sold, later on, to a private purchaser, who has presented it -to the city of Leeds. By a happy chance I had a supply of very brilliant -Spanish white (<i>blanco de plata</i>) for those horses, and though I have -ever since used the finest <i>blanc d’argent</i>, made in Paris, I don’t -think the Spanish white has a rival. Perhaps its maker took the secret -with her to the Elysian Fields. It was an old widow of Seville.</p> - -<p>On May 11th of that year our beloved father died, comforted with the -heartening rites of the Church. He had been received not long before the -end.<a name="page_192" id="page_192"></a></p> - -<p>Life at “pleasant Plymouth†was very interesting in its way, and the -charm of the West Country found in me the heartiest appreciation. But -the climate is relaxing, and conducive to lotus eating. One seems to -live in a mental Devonshire cream of pleasant days spent in excursions -on land and water, trips up the many lovely rivers, or across the -beautiful Sound to various picnic rendezvous on the coast. There was -much festivity: balls in the winter and long excursions in summer, -frequently to the wilds of Dartmoor. Particularly pleasant were the -receptions at Government House under the auspices of the -Pakenhams—perfect hosts—and at the Admiralty, with its very -distinguished host and hostess, Sir Houston and Lady Stewart. Over -Dartmoor there spread the charm of the unbounded hospitality of the -Mortimer Colliers, who lived on the verge of the moor, and this was a -thing ever to be fondly remembered. No pleasanter house could offer one -a welcome than “Foxhams,†and how hearty a welcome that always was!</p> - -<p>Riding was our principal pleasure. I never spent more enjoyable days in -the saddle elsewhere. My husband and I had a riding tour through -Cornwall—just the thing I liked most. But he was from time to time -called away. To Egypt in 1882, for Tel-el-Kebir; twice to Canada, the -second time on Government business; and in 1884 to the great Gordon -Relief Expedition, that terrible tragedy, made possible by the maddening -delays at home. I illustrated the book he wrote<a name="FNanchor_9_9" id="FNanchor_9_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a> on that colossal -enterprise, so wantonly turned into failure from quite feasible success.</p> - -<p>My next picture was on a smaller scale than its<a name="page_193" id="page_193"></a> predecessors, and was -exhibited at the Academy in 1882. The Boer War, with its terrible Majuba -Hill disaster, had attracted all our sorrowful attention the year before -to South Africa, and I chose the attack on Laing’s Nek for my subject. -The two Eton boys whom I show, Elwes and Monck, went forward (Elwes to -his death) with the cry of “<i>Floreat Etona!</i>†and I gave the picture -those words for its title.</p> - -<p>Yet another Lord Mayor’s Banquet at the Mansion House, in honour of the -Royal Academicians, saw me late in 1881 a guest once more in those -gilded halls, this time by my husband’s side. He responded for the Army, -and joined Arts and Arms in a bright little speech, composed -<i>impromptu</i>. “We were a highly honoured couple,†I read in the Diary, -“and very glad that we came up. We must have sat at that festive board -over three hours. The music all through was exceedingly good and, -indeed, so was the fare. The homely tone of civic hospitality is so -characteristic, dressed as it is with gold and silver magnificence, -rivalling that of Royalty itself! One of the waiters tried to press me -to have a second helping of whitebait by whispering in my ear the -seductive words, ‘<i>Devilled</i>, ma’am.’ It was a fiery edition of the -former recipe. I resisted.â€</p> - -<p>The departure of my husband with Lord Wolseley (then Sir Garnet) and -Staff for Egypt on August 5th, 1882, to suppress poor old Arabi and his -“rebels†was the most trying to me of all the many partings, because of -its dramatic setting. One bears up well on a crowded railway platform, -but when it comes to watching a ship putting off to sea, as I did that -time at Liverpool, to the sound of farewell cheering and “Auld Lang -Syne,†one would sooner read of its<a name="page_194" id="page_194"></a> pathos than suffer it in person. -Soldiers’ wives in war time have to feel the sickening sensation on -waking some morning when news of a fight is expected of saying to -themselves, “I may be a widow.†Not only have I gone through that, but -have had a second period of trial with two sons under fire in the World -War.</p> - -<p>I gave a long period of my precious time to making preparations for a -large picture representing Wolseley and his Staff reaching the bridge -across the canal at the close of the battle of Tel-el-Kebir, followed by -his Staff, wherein figured my husband. The latter had not been very -enthusiastic about the subject. To beat those poor <i>fellaheen</i> soldiers -was not a matter for exultation, he said; and he told me that the -capture of Arabi’s earthworks had been like “going through brown paper.†-He thought the theme unworthy, and hoped I would drop the idea. But I -wouldn’t; and, seeing me bent on it, he did all he could to help me to -realise the scene I had chosen. Lord Wolseley gave me a fidgety sitting -at their house in London, his wife trying to keep him quiet on her knee -like a good boy. I had crowds of Highlanders to represent, and went in -for the minutest rendering of the equipment then in use. Well, I never -was so long over a work. Depend upon it, if you do not “see†the thing -vividly before you begin, but have to build it up as you go along, the -picture will not be one of your best. Nor was this one! It was exhibited -in the Academy of 1885, and had a moderate success. It was well -engraved.</p> - -<p>In the September of 1884 my husband left for the Gordon Expedition, -having finished his work of getting boats ready for the cataracts, boats -to carry<a name="page_195" id="page_195"></a> the whole Army. In the following June he came home on leave, -well in health, in spite of rending wear and tear, but deeply hurt at -the failure of what might have been one of the greatest campaigns in -modern history. How he had urged and urged, and fumed at the delays! He -told me the campaign was lost <i>three times over</i>. Gordon was simply -sacrificed to ineptitude in high quarters at home. In this connection, I -ask, can praise be too great for the British rank and file who did -<i>their</i> best in this unparalleled effort? You saw Lifeguardsmen plying -their oars in the boats, oars they had never handled before this call; -marines mounted on camels—more than “horse-marines,†as a camel in his -movements is five horses rolled into one; everything he was called upon -to do the British soldier did to the best of his capacity.</p> - -<p>We spent most of my husband’s precious leave in Glencar. What better -haven to come to from the feverish toil on river and in desert, ending -in bitter disappointment? We went to Court functions, also. How these -functions amused me, and how I revelled in their colour, in their -variety of types brought together, all these guests in national uniform -or costume. And I must be allowed to add how proud I was of my -six-foot-two soldier in all his splendour. The Queen’s aide-de-camp -uniform, which he wore at the time of which I am writing, till he was -promoted major-general, was particularly well designed, both for “dress†-and “undress.†I frankly own I loved these Court receptions. No, I was -never bored by them, I am thankful to say; and I don’t believe any woman -is who has the luck to go there, whatever she may say.<a name="page_196" id="page_196"></a></p> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVI" id="CHAPTER_XVI"></a>CHAPTER XVI<br /><br /> -<small>TO THE EAST</small></h2> - -<p>I <small>FOLLOWED</small> my husband to Egypt, where he had returned, in command at -Wady Halfa on the expiration of his leave, on November 14th, 1885. I -went with our eldest little boy and girl. A new experience for me—the -East! One of my longings in childhood was to see the East. There it was -for me.</p> - -<p>Cairo in 1885 still retained much of its Oriental aspect in the European -quarter. (I don’t suppose the old, true Cairo will ever change.) I was -just in time. The Shepheard’s Hotel of that day had a terrace in front -of it where we used to sit and watch the life of the street below, an -occupation very pleasing to myself. The building was overrun with a -wealth of flowering creepers of all sorts of loveliness, and surrounded -with a garden. When next we visited Cairo the creepers were being torn -down, and the terrace demolished. Then a huge hotel was run up in -avaricious haste to reap the next season’s harvest from the thronging -visitors, and now stands flush with the street to echo the trams.</p> - -<p>It is difficult for me now to revive in memory the exquisite surprise I -felt when first I saw the life of the East. I could hardly believe the -thing was real, everyday life. Though I have often returned to Egypt -since, that first-time feeling never was renewed, though my enjoyment of -Oriental beauty and picturesqueness never, I am glad to say, faded in -the<a name="page_197" id="page_197"></a> least. Oh, you who enjoy the zest of life, be thankful that you -possess it! It is a thing not to be acquired, but to be born with. I -think artists keep it the longest, for it enters the heart by the eye. -The long letters I wrote to my mother on the spot and at the moment I -incorporated later in the little book already referred to. Oh, the -pleasures of memory, streaked with sadness though they must be, and with -ugly things of all kinds, too! Still, how intensely precious a -possession they are when <i>weeded</i>. To me, after Italy and, of course, -the Holy Land, give me the Nile.</p> - -<p>I and the children remained in Cairo till I got my husband’s message -from the front that the way was clear enough for our journey as far as -Luxor. There I and the children remained until the fight at Giniss was -won and all danger was over further up stream. At Luxor began the most -enjoyable of all modes of travel—by houseboat. The <i>dahabiyeh Fostat</i> -was sent down from Wady Halfa to take us up to Assouan, where my husband -awaited us. We had reached Luxor from Cairo by the commonplace post -boat. The Assouan Dam was, of course, not in existence, and our -<i>dahabiyeh</i> had to be hauled in the old way through the first cataract, -while we transferred ourselves to another <i>dahabiyeh</i> moored off the now -submerged island of Philæ.</p> - -<p>This cut-and-dried chronicle includes one of the most enchanting -experiences of my life. Above Philæ we entered Nubia, before whose -intensified colouring the lower desert pales. Time being very precious -to my husband, our slow, dreamy sailing houseboat had to be towed by a -little steamer for the rest of the way to Wady Halfa, where we lived -till<a name="page_198" id="page_198"></a> the heat of March warned us that I and the children must prudently -go into northern coolness. And to Plymouth we returned, leaving the -General to drag out the burning summer at Wady Halfa in such heat as I -never had had to suffer. While at Halfa I made many sketches in oil for -my picture, “A Desert Grave,†out in the desert across the river. It is -very trying painting in the desert on account of the wind, which blows -the sand perpetually into your eyes. With that and the glare, I took two -inflamed eyes back with me to Europe. The picture should have been more -poetical than it turned out to be, and I wish I could repaint it now. It -was well placed at the Academy. The Upper Nile had these graves of -British officers and men all along its banks during that terrible toll -taken in the course of the Gordon Expedition and after, some in single -loneliness, far apart, and some in twos and threes. These graves had to -be made exactly in the same way as those of the enemy, lest a cross or -some other Christian mark should invite desecration.</p> - -<p>The World War has thrown a dreadful cloud between us and those old war -days, but the cloud in time will spread out thinner and let us look -through to those past times.</p> - -<p>My next experience was Brittany. Thither we went for a rest, and to give -the children the habit of talking French. At Dinan, in an old farmhouse, -we ruralised amidst orchards and amongst the Breton peasantry. Very nice -and quiet and healthy. There our youngest boy was born, Martin William, -who was immediately inscribed on the army books as liable for service in -the French Army if he reached the age of eighteen on French soil. During -that part of our<a name="page_199" id="page_199"></a> stay at Dinan I painted the 24th Dragoons, who were -stationed there, leaving the town by the old Porte St. Malo for the -front, a great crowd of people seeing them off. I had mounted dragoons -and peasants for the asking as models.</p> - -<p>My husband was knighted—K.C.B.—in this interval, at Windsor. We went -to live in Ireland from Dinan, in 1888, under the Wicklow Mountains, -where the children continued their healthy country life in its fulness. -The picture I had painted of the departing dragoons went to the Academy -in 1889, and in 1890 I exhibited “An Eviction in Ireland,†which Lord -Salisbury was pleased to be facetious about in his speech at the -banquet, remarking on the “breezy beauty†of the landscape, which almost -made him wish he could take part in an eviction himself. How like a -Cecil!</p> - -<p>The ‘eighties had seen our Government do some dreadful things in the way -of evictions in Ireland. Being at Glendalough at the end of that decade, -and hearing one day that an eviction was to take place some nine miles -distant from where we were staying for my husband’s shooting, I got an -outside car and drove off to the scene, armed with my paints. I met the -police returning from their distasteful “job,†armed to the teeth and -very flushed. On getting there I found the ruins of the cabin -smouldering, the ground quite hot under my feet, and I set up my easel -there. The evicted woman came to search amongst the ashes of her home to -try and find some of her belongings intact. She was very philosophical, -and did not rise to the level of my indignation as an ardent English -sympathiser. However, I studied her well, and on returning home at -Delgany I set up<a name="page_200" id="page_200"></a> the big picture which commemorates a typical eviction -in the black ‘eighties. I seldom can say I am pleased with my work when -done, but I <i>am</i> complacent about this picture; it has the true Irish -atmosphere, and I was glad to turn out that landscape successfully which -I had made all my studies for, on the spot, at Glendalough. What storms -of wind and rain, and what dazzling sunbursts I struggled in, one day -the paints being blown out of my box and nearly whirled into the lake -far below my mountain perch! My canvas, acting like a sail, once nearly -sent me down there too. I did not see this picture at all at the -Academy, but I am very certain it cannot have been very “popular†in -England. Before it was finished my husband was appointed to the command -at Alexandria, and as soon as I had packed off the “Eviction,†I -followed, on March 24th, and saw again the fascinating East.</p> - -<p>My journey took me <i>viâ</i> Venice, where the P.& O. boat <i>Hydaspes</i> was -waiting. Can any journey to Egypt be more charming than this one, right -across Italy?</p> - -<p>Oh! you who do not think a journey a mere means of getting to your -destination as quickly as possible, say, if you have taken the -Milan-Verona-Padua line, is there anything in all Italy to surpass that -burst on the view of the Lago di Garda after you emerge from the Lonato -tunnel? On a blue day, say in spring? If you have not gone that way yet, -I beg you to be on the look-out on your left when you do go. This -wonderful surprise is suddenly revealed, and almost as quickly lost. -Waste not a second. I put up at the “Angleterre†at Venice, on the Riva, -because from there one sees the lagunes and glimpses of the open sea -beyond, and the air is open and fresh.<a name="page_201" id="page_201"></a></p> - -<p>“<i>March 28th.</i>—Took gondola for the big P. & O. S.S. which is to be my -home for the next six days. I at once saw the ship was one of their -smartest boats, and all looked very festive on board. Luncheon was -served immediately after my arrival, and I found a bright company -thereat assembled, with Sir Henry and Lady Layard at their head; some -come to see friends off and others to go on. We amalgamated very -pleasantly, and great was the waving of handkerchiefs as we slowly -steamed past the Dogana and the Riva, our returning friends having gone -on shore in gondolas whose sable sides were hidden in brilliant -draperies. The sashes of the gondoliers’ liveries flashed in coloured -silks and gold fringes; the sea sparkled. I rejoiced. The Montalba girls -gave us a salvo of pocket handkerchiefs from their balcony on the -Giudecca. What a gay scene! Lady Layard, on leaving, introduced Mrs. H. -M., who was to join her husband at Brindisi for a long trip in the big -liner from England, and I was very happy at the prospect of her pleasant -and intellectual companionship thus far.â€</p> - -<p>And so we passed out into the early night on the dim Adriatic, after a -sunset farewell to Venice, which remains to me as one of the tenderest -visions of the past. That voyage to Alexandria is more enjoyable, given -fair weather, than most voyages, because one is hardly ever out of sight -of land, and such classic land, too! The Ionian Islands, “Morea’s -Hills,†Candia. But what a pleasure it is to see on the day before the -arrival the signs that the landing is near at hand. The General in -Command will be waiting at sunrise on the landing stage, perhaps the -light catching the gold lace on his cap, appearing above the turbans of -the native<a name="page_202" id="page_202"></a> crowd. Of course every one who has been to Egypt knows the -feeling of disappointment at the first sight of its shores, low-lying -and fringed with those incongruous windmills which the Great Napoleon -vainly planted there to teach the natives how better to make flour. In -vain. And so were his wheelbarrows. The natives preferred carrying the -mud in their hands. And the city, how it fails to give you the Oriental -impression you are longing for, with its pseudo-Italian architecture, -its hard paved streets, and dusty boulevards and squares. Government -House on the Boulevard de Ramleh was comfortable, roomy and airy, but I -missed the imagined garden and palm trees of the Cairo official -residence.</p> - -<p>“<i>April 3rd.</i>—We have a view of Cleopatra’s Tomb (so called) to the -right, jutting out into the intensely blue sea, but the other arm of the -bay (the old Roman harbour) to our left, covered with native houses and -minarets, is partly hidden by an abomination which hurts me to -exasperation, one of those amorphous buildings of tenth-rate Italian -vulgarity and dreariness which are being run up here in such quantities, -and rears its gaunt expanse close behind this house. To cap this -erection it has received the title of ‘Bombay Castle.’ Never mind, I -shall soon, in my happy way, cease to notice what I don’t like to see, -and shall enjoy all that is left here of the original East and its -fascinating barbaric beauty. Will took me for a most interesting drive, -first to Ras-el-Tin, during which we threaded a conglomeration of East -and West which was bewildering. There were nightmarish Italian -‘<i>palazzi</i>’ loaded with cheap, bluntly-moulded stucco; glaring streets, -cafés, dusty gardens, over-dressed Jewish and Levantine women driving -about in<a name="page_203" id="page_203"></a> exaggerated hats, frocks and figures; and there also appeared -the dark narrow bazaars and original streets, the latticed windows, the -finely-coloured robes of the natives, the weird goats, the wolfish dogs, -straying about in all directions. Mounds of rubbish everywhere; some -only the leavings of newly-built houses, some the remains of the -bombardment’s havoc, others the dust of a once beautiful city whose -loveliness in old Roman times must have been supreme.</p> - -<p>“Only here and there was I reminded of the charm of Cairo—a tree by a -yellow wall, a group of natives eating sugar cane, a water-seller with -his tinkling brass cups and a rose behind his ear, and so on. We then -had a really enjoyable drive along the Mahmoudieh Canal, which was balm -to my mind and eyes. All along the placid water on the opposite bank ran -Arab villages with their accompaniments of palms, buffaloes, goats, -water jars, native men and women in scriptural robes; water wheels; -square-shaped, almost window-less mud dwellings, so appropriate under -that intense light. On our bank were the remnants of Pashadom in the -shape of gimcrack palaces closed and let go to ruin, on account of -fashion having betaken itself to the suburb of Ramleh. These dwellings -were, however, so hidden in deep tropical gardens of great and rich -beauty that they did not offend.</p> - -<p>“Beyond the Arab villages on the other bank appeared Lake Mareotis, and -there was a poetical feeling about all that region. It was so strange to -have on one side of a narrow band of water old Egypt and the life of the -East going on just as it has been for ages past, and on the other the -ephemeral tokens of the sham and fleeting life of to-day, and this all -the way along a drive of some two miles. This is the<a name="page_204" id="page_204"></a> fashionable drive, -and to see young Egypt on horseback, and old Jewry in carriages, passing -and repassing up and down this cosmopolitan Rotten Row is decidedly -trying. My admired friends, the running syces, though, redeem the thing -to me. Their dress is one of the most perfect in shape, colour and -material ever devised. The air was rich with the scent of strange -flowers, some of which billowed over entrance gates in magnificent -purple masses.â€</p> - -<p>I must be excused for having shown irritation in my Diary at starting. I -soon adapted myself to the entourage, and I hope I “did my manners†as -became my official responsibilities. I liked the Greeks best of -all—nay, I got very fond of these handsome, sunny people.</p> - -<p>It was a curiously cosmopolitan society, and I, who am never good at -remembering the little feuds that are always simmering in this kind of -mixed company, must have sometimes made mistakes. I heard a Greek woman, -who had dined with us the previous evening, informing her friends in a -voice fraught with meaning, <i>â€Imaginez, hier au soir chez le Général -Monsieur Gariopulo a donné le bras à Madame Buzzato!â€</i> The recipients of -this information were filled with mirth. What <i>had</i> I done in pairing -off these two for the procession to dinner?</p> - -<p>The British were entrenched at Ramleh. The little stations on the -railway there gave me quite a turn at first sight. One was “Bulkley,†-the next “Fleming,†then “Sydney O. Schutz,†and finally San Stefano at -railhead, and a casino with a corrugated iron roof under that scorching -sun. Oh, that I should see such a thing in Egypt! Cheek by jowl with the -little villas one saw weird Bedouin tents and wild Arabs and<a name="page_205" id="page_205"></a> their -animals, carrying on their existence as if the Briton had never come -there.</p> - -<p>The incongruities of Alexandria became to me positively enjoyable; and -the desert air, as ever, was life-giving. My little Syrian horse, -“Minnow,†carried me many a mile alongside my husband’s charger, over -that pleasant desert sand. But an occasional khamseen wind gave me a -taste of the disagreeable phase of Egyptian weather. I name, with the -vivid recollection of the khamseen’s irritating qualities, the -experience of paying calls (in a nice toilette) under its suffocating -puffs. And how the flies swarm; how they settle in black masses on the -sweetmeats sold in the streets, and hang in tassels from the native -children’s eyes. Oh, yes, there is a seamy side to all things, but it -isn’t my way to turn it up more than is necessary. Here may follow a bit -of Diary:</p> - -<p>“<i>May 22nd.</i>—We had a memorable picnic at Rosetta to-day, with thirty -of the English colony. I had long wished to visit this ancient city, -brick-built and half deserted, a once opulent place, but now mournful in -its decay. I longed to see old Nile once more. We chartered a special -train and left Moharram Bey Station at 8 a.m. I was much pleased with -the seaside desert and the effects of mirage over Aboukir Bay. The -ancient town of Edkou struck me very much. It was built of the small -brown Rosetta brick, and was placed on a hill, giving it a different -aspect from the usual Arab pale-walled villages which are usually built -on level ground. It had thus a peculiar character. Shortly before -reaching Rosetta the land becomes richly cultivated. There is a subtle -beauty about the cultivated regions of this fascinating land of Egypt -which I feel very much. It is the beauty<a name="page_206" id="page_206"></a> of abundance and richness as -well as of vivid colour.</p> - -<p>“At Rosetta dense crowds of natives awaited us and some police were -detailed to escort us through the town. I heard some of the women of our -party wishing they could pick the blue tiles off the minarets, but for -my part I prefer them under their lovely sky and sunshine, rather than -ornamenting mantelpieces in a Kensington fog. A little <i>musharabieh</i> -lattice is still left here in the windows and has not yet been taken to -grace the British drawing-rooms of Ramleh. We strolled about the bazaars -and into the old ramshackle mosques, and, altogether, exhausted the -sights. Everywhere in Rosetta you see beautiful little Corinthian marble -columns incorporated with the Arab buildings, and supporting the -ceilings and pulpits of the mosques. They are daubed over with red -plaster. Very often a rich Corinthian capital is used as a base to a -pillar by being turned upside down, so that the shaft, crowned with its -own capital, possesses two—one at each end—an arrangement evidently -satisfactory to the barbarian Arabs who succeeded the classic builders -of the old city. Almost every angle of a house has a Greek column acting -as corner stone. But the brown brickwork is very dismal, and but for the -vivid colours of the people’s dresses the monotony of tone would be -displeasing. This is Bairam, and the people during the three days’ feast -succeeding the dismal Ramadan Fast are in their most radiant dresses, -and revelry and feasting are going on everywhere. Such a mass of moving -colour as was the market place of Rosetta to-day these eyes, that have -seen so much, never looked upon before.</p> - -<p>“At last, when we had climbed into enough mosques<a name="page_207" id="page_207"></a> and poked about into -houses, and through all the bazaars (the fish bazaar was trying), we -went down to the landing stage and took boat for the trysting place, -about a mile up the broad, wind-lashed Nile. Will and the Bishop of -Clifton, sole remaining straggler from the late pilgrimage to the Holy -Land, and half our party had gone on before us; and, after a quick sail -along the palm-fringed bank, we arrived at the pretty landing place -chosen for our picnic. We found a tent pitched and the servants busy -laying the cloth under a dense sycamore, close to an old mosque whose -onion-shaped dome and Arab minaret gave me great pleasure as we came in -sight of them. I was impatient to make a sketch. I lost no time, and -went off and established myself in a palm grove with my water colours. -The usual Egyptian drawbacks, however, were there—flies, and puffs of -sand blown into one’s eyes and powdering one’s paints. On the Mahmoudieh -Canal I am exempt from the sand nuisance, and nothing can be pleasanter -than my experience there, sitting in an open carriage with the hood up, -and not a soul to bother me.</p> - -<p>“Our return to Rosetta was lively. As we were then going against the -wind, we had to be towed from the shore, and it was very interesting to -watch the agility of our crew dodging in and out of the boats moored -under the bank and deftly disengaging the tow-rope from the spars and -rigging of these vessels. A tall Circassian <i>effendi</i> of police cantered -on his little Arab along the bank to see that all went well with us. The -other half of our party chose to sail and progress by laborious tacking -from one side of the wide river to the other, and arrived long after we -did. We all met at the house of the Syrian postmaster, where he<a name="page_208" id="page_208"></a> and his -pretty little wife received us with native politeness, and gave us -coffee and sweets. Our return journey was most pleasant, and we got to -Alexandria at 8 p.m. Twelve charming hours.</p> - -<p>“<i>May 24th.</i>—The Queen’s birthday. Trooping of the colour at 5 p.m. on -the Moharrem Bey Ground. Most successful. Will, mounted on a powerful -chestnut, did look a commanding figure as he raised his plumed helmet -and led the ringing cheers for the Queen which brought the pretty -ceremony to a close. The sun was near setting behind the height of -Komeldik, and lit up the roses in the men’s helmets and garlanded round -the standard. In the evening a dull and solemn dinner to the heads of -departments and their wives. A difficult function. We had the band of -the Suffolks playing outside the windows, which were wide open on the -sea. I went out sketching in the morning, very early. I should have been -at my post all day on such an occasion, I confess. Will said I was like -Nero, fiddling while Rome was burning.</p> - -<p>“<i>May 29th.</i>—The Mediterranean Fleet is here. Great interchange of -cards, firing of salutes, etc., etc. All very ceremonious, but -productive of picturesqueness and colour and effect, so I like it very -much. The Khedive Tewfik, too, has arrived, with the Khediviah, for the -hot season from Cairo. Will, of course, had to be present at the station -this morning for the reception of our puppet, and it was not nice to see -the Union Jack down in the dust as the guard of honour of the Suffolks -gave the salute. Our dinner to-night was to the admiral and officers of -the newly-arrived British squadron.</p> - -<p>“<i>June 2nd.</i>—To the Khediviah’s first reception<a name="page_209" id="page_209"></a> at the harem of the -Ras-el-Tin Palace. I had two Englishwomen to present, rather an -unmanageable pair, as seniority appeared to be claimed erroneously at -the last moment by the junior. This reception has become a most dull -affair now that Oriental ways are done away with. Dancing girls no -longer amuse the guests, nor handmaidens cater to them with sweetmeats -during the audience, and there is nothing left but absolute emptiness. -The Vice-Reine sits, in European dress, on a divan at the end of a vast -hall, and the visitors sit in a semi-circle before her on hard European -chairs reflected in a polished <i>parquet</i>, speaking to each other in -whispers and furtively sipping coffee. She addresses a few remarks to -those nearest her, and the pauses are articulated by the click of the -ever-moving fans of the assembly. The ladies-in-waiting and girl slaves -move about in a mooning way in the funniest frocks, supposed to be -European, but some of them absolutely frumpish. Melancholy eunuchs of -the bluest black, in glossy frock coats, rise and bow as one passes -along the passages to or from the presence, and it is a relief to get -out through the jealously-walled garden into the outer world.</p> - -<p>“I find it difficult to converse in a harem, being so bad at small talk. -I upset the Vice-Reine’s equanimity by telling her (which was quite -true) that I had heard she was taking lessons in painting. ‘<i>Moi, -madame?!! Oh! je n’aurais pas le courage!</i>’ It was as bad as when I told -her, in Cairo, how much I liked poking about the bazaars. ‘<i>Vous allez -dans les bazaars, madame?!!</i>’ So I relapsed into talking of illnesses, -which subject I have always found touches the proper note in a harem. -They say the Vice-Reine<a name="page_210" id="page_210"></a> delights in these audiences, as they are -amongst the great events of her days. She is a beautiful woman, a -Circassian, and of lovely whiteness.</p> - -<p>“Finished the delicate sketch of the loveliest bit of the canal, where -the pink minaret and the black cypress are. I wish I could do just one -more reach of that lovely waterway before I leave! There is a particular -group of oleanders nodding with heavy pink blossom by the water’s edge -against a soft blurred background of tamarisk, where women and girls in -dark blue, brilliant orange, and rose-coloured robes come down to fetch -water in their amphoræ. There is another reach lined for the whole -length of the picture with tall waving canebrakes, above whose tender -green tops appears the delicate distance of the lagoons of Mareotis; -there is—but ah! each bend of that canal reveals fresh beauties, and -often as Will has driven me there, I am as eager as ever to miss no -point in the lovely sequence.</p> - -<p>“<i>June 14th.</i>—All my days now I am sketching more continuously, as the -arduous work of paying calls has relaxed greatly. This evening we drove -again far beyond Ramleh on the old route followed by Napoleon to reach -Aboukir, and I finished the sketch there.â€</p> - -<p>And so on, till my departure a few days later. I had wisely left my oils -at home at Delgany, and thus got together a much larger number of -subjects, the handier medium of water-colour being better suited to the -official life I had to attend to.<a name="page_211" id="page_211"></a></p> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVII" id="CHAPTER_XVII"></a>CHAPTER XVII<br /><br /> -<small>MORE OF THE EAST</small></h2> - -<p>M<small>Y</small> return voyage was made on board the Messageries boat to Marseilles. -This gave me the Straits of Messina as well as those of Bonifacio. On -passing Ajaccio I don’t think a single French passenger gave a thought -to Napoleon. I was intent on taking in every detail of that place, as -far as I could see it through a morning mist. Corsica looked very grand, -crowned with great snow-capped mountains.</p> - -<p>I lost no time in getting home to the children, and passed the rest of -the summer in the green loveliness of Ireland, returning to Egypt, in -the following October, <i>viâ</i> Venice again. Every soldier’s wife knows -what it is to be torn in two between the husband far away abroad and the -children one must leave at home. The trial is great, no doubt of it. -Then there is this perplexity: whether it would be well to take one of -the children with one and risk the dangers of the journey and the -climate at the other end. Parents pay heavily for our far-flung Empire!</p> - -<p>On the morning of my departure from Venice I woke to the call of the -sunbeams pouring into my room, and, behold, as I went to the window, the -dome of the “Salute†taking the salute, as we say in the Army, of the -sunrise! And the Dogana’s gilded globe responding, too. Joy! our start -at least will be calm. Till midday I had Venice to myself, and I could -stroll about the Piazza and little streets, and<a name="page_212" id="page_212"></a> recollect myself in -peaceful meditation in St. Mark’s. What delicate loveliness is that of -Venice! Those russet reds and creamy whites and tender yellows, and here -and there bits of deep indigo blue to give emphasis to the colour -scheme. And that tender opalesque sky, and the gilded statues on domes -and towers, and the rich mosaics twinkling in the hazy light! These -things make one feel a love for Venice which is full of gratitude for so -beautiful a thing.</p> - -<p>At 12.30 I took gondola and was rowed to my old friend the <i>Hydaspes</i> -lying in the Giudecca, and was just in time to sit down to a truly -Hydaspian luncheon, which was crowded. To my indescribable relief the -captain told me I should have a cabin all to myself as last time. At two -o’clock we cast off, and that effective passage all along the front of -the city was again made which so impressed me the preceding spring; and -then we turned off seawards, winding through the channel marked out by -those white posts with black heads which, even in their humble way, are -so harmonious in tone and are beloved by painters, carrying out as they -do the whole artistic scheme. Every fishing boat we met or overtook gave -one a study of harmonies. Now it was an orange sail with a red upper -corner in soft sunlight against the flat blue-purple of the distant -mountains and the vivid green of the Lido; now, composing with a line of -rosy, snowy mountain tops that lay like massive clouds on the horizon, -would rise a pale cool grey-white sail, well in the foreground, with its -upper part tinted a soft mouse-grey and its lower border deep -terra-cotta red. The sea, pale blue; the sky thinly veiled with clouds -of a rosy dove-grey. Nowhere does one see such delicacy of colouring as -here. Then the market boats looked<a name="page_213" id="page_213"></a> well, full of vegetables, whose cool -green came just where it should for the completion of the colour study. -To think that the Local Board, or whatever those modern vulgarians are -called, of Venice are advocating the complete suppression of those -coloured sails, to be replaced by plain white ones all round. Hands off, -<i>mascalzoni!</i> All this enchantment gradually faded away in the mists of -evening and of distance, and we were soon well out to sea.</p> - -<p>“<i>Sunday.</i>—At 9 a.m. Brindisi in bright, low sunshine,†says the Diary. -“To Missa Cantata; much pleasant strolling. What animation all day with -the loading and unloading, the coming and going of passengers, the cries -and laughter of the population thronging the quays! The <i>Britannia</i> from -London was already in, and I watched the transfer of my heavy luggage -from her to the <i>Hydaspes</i> with a hawk’s eye. I had a genuine compliment -on landing paid to my accent. Those pests, the little beggar boys, who -hang on to the English and can’t be shaken off, attacked me at first -till I turned on them and shouted, ‘<i>Via, birrrrichini!</i>’ One of them -pulled the others away: ‘Come away, don’t you see she is not English!’ -The Italians still think <i>Gl’ Inglesi</i> are all millionaires and made of -<i>scudi</i>.</p> - -<p>“<i>November 12th.</i>—What indescribable joy this afternoon to see the crew -busy with the preparations for our arrival to-morrow morning!</p> - -<p>“<i>November 13th.</i>—Of course I began to get ready at 3 a.m. and peer out -of the porthole on the waste of starlit waters as I felt the ship -stopping off the distant lighthouse. We lay to a long time waiting for -the dawn before proceeding to enter the harbour. The sun rose behind the -city just as we turned into the<a name="page_214" id="page_214"></a> port. I looked towards the distant -landing stage. Half a mile off, with my wonderful sight, I saw Will, -though the sun was right in my eyes. I knew him not only by his height, -but by the shining gold band round his cap. We were a long time coming -in and swinging round alongside, and, before the gangway was well down, -Will sprang on to it and, in spite of the warning shouts of the sailors, -was the first to board the <i>Hydaspes</i>.â€</p> - -<p>I was back in Egypt; to be there once more was bliss. The now brimming -Mahmoudieh saw me haunting it again; the predominating red of the -flowering trees and creepers that I noted before had made place for -enchanting variations of yellow, and all the vegetation had deepened. -The heat was great at first. I was particularly struck by the enhanced -beauty of the date palms, whose golden and deep purple fruit now hung in -clusters under the graceful branches. But all too soon came a good deal -of rain, to my indignation. Rain in Egypt! The natives say we have -brought it with us. I never saw any in Cairo nor upstream.</p> - -<p>The Governor of the city had invited us to make use of a little -<i>dahabiyeh</i>, the <i>Rose</i>, for a cruise on the Lower Nile, and on November -20th we started. My husband had already welcomed on their arrival, in a -worthy manner, the officers of the French fleet, with whom he was in -perfect sympathy; but my Diary records the happy necessity for our -departure by the scheduled time on board the <i>Rose</i> on that very -November 20th. That morning the German squadron arrived and the thunder -of its guns gave us an unintentional send-off! They were duly honoured, -of course, but the General himself was away.<a name="page_215" id="page_215"></a></p> - -<p>It was a nine days’ cruise to the mouth of the Nile and back. Quite a -different reading of the Nile from the one I have recorded in my letters -to my mother, and reproduced in “From Sketch Book and Diary.†Very few -tourists or even serious travellers have come so far down, so that one -is less afraid of being forestalled by abler writers in recording one’s -impressions there. It was pretty to see the big Turkish flag fluttering -at our helm, and a beautifully disproportionate pennon streaming in -crimson magnificence from the point of the little vessel’s curved -felucca spar. But our first days were damping: “<i>November 22nd.</i>—Oh, -the rain! Alas! that I should know Egypt under such deluges, and see in -this land the deepest, ugliest mud in the world. We had to moor off the -residence of the Bey, to whom this <i>dahabiyeh</i> belongs, last night, as -we wished to pay him our respects and tender him our thanks this -morning. He made us stay to luncheon, and a very excellent Arab repast -it was. I got on well with him as he spoke excellent French, but his -mother! Oh! it was heavy, as she could only talk Turkish, and my -translated remarks didn’t even get a smile out of her. I must say the -Mohammedan women are deadly.</p> - -<p>“We proceeded on our voyage very late in the day, on account of this -visit which common civility made necessary. The weather brightened up at -sunset and nothing more weird have I ever seen than the mud villages, -cemeteries, lonely tombs, goats, buffaloes and wild human beings that -loomed on the banks as we glided by, brown and black against that sky -full of racing clouds that seemed red-hot from the great fiery globe -that had just sunk below the palm-fringed horizon. These canal banks -might give many people<a name="page_216" id="page_216"></a> the horrors. I certainly think them in this -weather the most uncanny bits of manipulated nature I have ever seen. I -was fortunate in getting down in colour such a telling thing, a goatherd -in a Bedouin’s burnous, which was wildly flapping in the hot wind -against the red glow in the west, driving a herd of those goats I find -so effective, with their long, pendant ears, and kids skipping in impish -gambols in front. ‘Apocalyptic’ apparition, caught, as we left it -astern, in that portentous gloaming! I shall make something of this. As -to the inhabitants of those regions, to contemplate their life is too -depressing. As darkness comes on you see them creeping into their -unlighted mud hovels like their animals. On the Upper Nile, at least, -the fellaheen have glorious air, the sun, the clean, dry sand, but here -in that mud——!</p> - -<p>“<i>November 23rd</i>.—No more rain. At Atfeh we left the canal at last, by -a lock, and I gave a sigh of relief and contentment, for we were on the -broad bosom of Old Nile. After a delay at this mud town to buy -provisions we pushed out into the current and with eight immensely long -‘sweeps’ (the wind was against sailing) we made a good run to Rosetta, -on whose mud bank we thumped by the light of a pale moon. The rhythmic -sound of those splashing oars and of the chant of the oarsmen in the -minor key, with barbaric ‘intervals’ unknown to our music, continued to -echo in my ears—it all seemed wild and strange and haunting.</p> - -<p>“<i>November 24th</i>.—Began this morning a sketch of Rosetta to finish on -our return from rounding up our outward voyage at the western mouth of -the great river where we saw it emerge into a very desolate, grey -Mediterranean. I may now say I have a very<a name="page_217" id="page_217"></a> good idea of the mighty -river for upward of a thousand miles of its course—a good bit further, -both below and above stream, than the authoress of ‘A Thousand Miles up -the Nile’ knew it, whom in my early days I longed to emulate and, if -possible, surpass! An old-fashioned book, now, I suppose, but all the -more interesting for that. Furling sail, for the wind had been fair -to-day, we turned and were towed back to Fort St. Julian, where we -moored for the night.</p> - -<p>“<i>November 25th</i>.—After a nice little sketch of the Fort St. Julian, -celebrated in Napoleonic annals, we started off, and reached Rosetta in -good time, so that I was able most satisfactorily to finish my large -water-colour of the place. I was rather bothered where I sat at the -water’s edge by the small boys and a very persistent pelican, which kept -flying from the river into the fish market and returning with stolen -fish, to souse them in the water before filling its pouch, in time to -avoid capture by the pursuing brats.</p> - -<p>“<i>November 26th</i>.—From Rosetta we glided pleasantly to Metubis, one of -the many shining cities, as seen from afar, that become heaps of squalid -dwellings when viewed at close quarters. But the minarets of those -phantom cities remain erect in all their beauty, and this city in -particular was transfigured by the most magnificent sunset I have ever -seen, even here.â€</p> - -<p>The wild town of Syndioor was our mooring place for the next night, and -at sunrise we were off homewards. Syndioor and the opposite city of -Deyrout were veiled in a soft mist, out of which rose their tall -minarets in stately beauty, radiant in the level light. The effect on -the mind of these ruined places, once magnificent centres of commerce -and luxury, is quite<a name="page_218" id="page_218"></a> extraordinary. They are now, all of them, -derelicts. And so in time we slipped back into the canal, landing under -the oleanders of our starting place. The crew kissed hands, the <i>reis</i> -made his obeisance, and we returned to the hard stones and rattle of the -Boulevard de Ramleh, refreshed. The Germans were gone.</p> - -<p>Balls, picnics, gymkhanas and dinners were varied by intervals of -water-colour sketching in the desert. One picnic, out at Mex, to the -west of Alexandria, was distinguished by a great camel ride we all had -on the soft-paced, mouse-coloured mounts of the Camel Corps, the -Englishwomen looking so nice in their well-cut riding habits, sitting -easily on their tall steeds. I managed to secure several sketches that -day of the men and camels of the corps, and have one sketch of ourselves -starting for our turn in the desert. Our ponies took us back home. The -sort of day I liked. As I record, the completeness of my enjoyment was -caused by my having been able to put some useful work in, as usual. I -had a Camel Corps picture <i>in petto</i> at this time.</p> - -<p>“<i>February 13th</i>, 1891.—We had the Duke of Cambridge to luncheon. He -arrived yesterday on board the <i>Surprise</i> from Malta, and Will, of -course, received him officially, but not royally, as he is travelling -incog., and he came here to tea. To-day we had a large party to meet -him, and a very genial luncheon it was, not to say rollicking. The day -was exquisite, and out of the open windows the sea sparkled, blue and -calm. H.R.H. seemed to me rather feeble, but in the best of humours; a -wonderful old man to come to Egypt for the first time at seventy-two, -braving this burning sun and with such a high colour to begin with! One -felt as though one was<a name="page_219" id="page_219"></a> talking to George III. to hear the ‘What, what, -what? Who, who, who? Why, why, why?’ Col. Lane, one of his suite, said -he had never seen him in better spirits. I was gratified at his praise -of our cook—very loud praise, literally, as he is not only rather deaf -himself, but speaks to people as though they also were a ‘little hard of -hearing.’ ‘Very good cook, my dear’ (to me). ‘Very good cook, Butler’ -(across the table to Will). ‘Very good cook, eh, Sykes?’ (very loud to -Christopher Sykes, further off). ‘You are a <i>gourmet</i>, you know better -about these things than I do, eh?’ C. S.: ‘I ought to have learnt -something about it at Gloucester House, sir!’ H.R.H. (to me): ‘Your -health, my dear.’ ‘Butler, your very good health!’ Aside to me: ‘What’s -the Consul’s name?’ I: ‘Sir Charles Cookson.’ ‘Sir Charles, your -health!’ When I hand the salt to H.R.H. he stops my hand: ‘I wouldn’t -quarrel with her for the world, Butler.’ And so the feast goes on, our -august guest plying me with questions about the relationship and -antecedents of every one at the table; about the manners and customs of -the populace of Alexandria; the state of commerce; the climate. I answer -to the best of my ability with the most unsatisfactory information. He -started at four for Cairo, leaving a most kindly impression on my -memory. The last of the old Georgian type! ‘Your mutton was good, my -dear; not at all <i>goaty</i>,’ were his valedictory words.â€</p> - -<p>Mutton <i>is</i> goaty in Egypt unless well selected. I advise travellers to -confine themselves to the good poultry, and to leave meat alone. What I -would have done without our dear, good old Magro, the major domo who did -my housekeeping out there, I dread to<a name="page_220" id="page_220"></a> think. His name, denoting a lean -habit of body, was a misnomer, for he was rotund. A good, honest -Maltese, his devotion to “Sair William†was really touching. I was only -as the moon is to the sun, and to serve the sun he would, I am -convinced, have risked his life. I came in for his devotion to myself by -reason of my reflected glory. One morning he came hurtling towards me, -through the rooms, waving aloft what at first looked like a red -republican flag, but it proved to be a sirloin or other portion of -bovine anatomy which he had had the luck to purchase in the market (good -beef being so rare). “Look, miladi, you will not often meet such beef -walking in the street!†He laid it out for my admiration. This is the -way he used to ask me for the daily orders: “What will miladi command -for dinner?†“Cutlets?†(patting his ribs); “a loin?†(indications of -lumbago); “or a leg?†(advancing that limb); “or, for a delicate -<i>entrée</i>, brains?†(laying a finger on his perspiring forehead). “Oh, -for goodness’ sake, Magro, not brains!†When the day’s work was done he -would retire to what we called the “Ah!-poor-me-room‗his -boudoir—where, repeating aloud those words so dear to his nationality, -he would take up his cigar. Government gave him £250 a year for all this -expenditure of zeal.</p> - -<p>While on the subject of Oriental housekeeping, I must record the -following. Our predecessors of a former time had what to me would have -been an experience difficult to recover from. They were giving a large -Christmas dinner, and the cook, proud of the pudding he had mastered the -intricacies of, insisted on bringing it in himself, all ablaze. It was -only a few steps from the kitchen to the dining-room.<a name="page_221" id="page_221"></a> Holding the great -dish well up before him, he unfortunately set fire to his beard, and the -effect of his dusky face approaching in the subdued light of the door, -illuminated in that way by blue flames, must have been satanic.</p> - -<p>“<i>March 14th</i>.—Lord Charles Beresford, who has relieved the other ship -with the <i>Undaunted</i>, invited us all to luncheon on board, but Will and -I could not stay to luncheon as we had guests; nevertheless, we had a -very interesting morning on board. On arriving at the Marina we found -Lady Charles, Lady Edmund Talbot, Colonel Kitchener,<a name="FNanchor_10_10" id="FNanchor_10_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a> whose light, -rather tiger-like eyes in that sunburnt face slightly frightened me, and -others waiting to go with us to the <i>Undaunted</i> in the ship’s barge and -a steam launch. Lord Charles received us with his usual sailor-like -welcome, and we had a tremendous inspection of the ship, one of our -latest experiments in naval machinery—a belted cruiser. She will -probably cruise to the bottom if ever the real test comes. A torpedo was -fired for us, but it gambolled away like a porpoise, ending by plunging -into a mudbank. I wish they would diverge their direction like that in -war, detestable inventions!</p> - -<p>“<i>April 1st</i>, 1891.—I am now quite in the full swing of Egyptian -enjoyment. No more Egyptian rain! Excellent accounts from home, and my -intention of going back is rendered unnecessary. How thankful I am, on -the eve of our departure for Palestine, for the ‘all well’ from home!â€</p> - -<p>My entries in the Diary during that unique journey, and my letters to my -mother, are published in my <a name="page_222" id="page_222"></a>book, “Letters from the Holy Land.†I -illustrated it with the water colours I made during our pilgrimage, and -I was most delighted to find the little book had an utterly unexpected -success. It was nice to find myself among the writers! To have ridden -through this land from end to end is to have experienced a pleasure such -as no other part of the earth can give us. Had I had no more joy in -store for me, that would have been enough.</p> - -<p>As the railway was not opened till the following year the mind was not -disturbed, and could concentrate on the scenes before it with all the -recollection it required. I called our progress “riding through the -Bible.†Many a local allusion in both Testaments, which had seemed vague -or difficult to appreciate before, opened out, so to say, before one’s -happy vision, and gave a substance, a vitality to the Scripture -narrative which produced a satisfaction delightful to experience. -Perhaps the strongest longing in my childhood’s mind had been to do this -journey. To do it as we did, just our two selves, and in the fresh -spring weather, was a happy circumstance.</p> - -<p>As I look back to that time which we spent amidst the scenes of Our -Lord’s revealed life on earth, no portion of it produces such a sense of -mental peace as does the night of our arrival on the shores of the Sea -of Galilee. <i>There</i> there were no crowds, no distractions, not a thing -to jar on the mind. Before and around one, as one sat on the pebbly -strand, appeared the very outlines of the hills His eyes had rested on, -and far from modern life encroaching on one’s sensitiveness, the cities -that lined those sacred shores in His time had disappeared like one of -the fleeting cloud shadows which the moon was casting all along their -ruined sites. His words came back with a poignant<a name="page_223" id="page_223"></a> force, “Woe unto -thee, Chorazin! Woe unto thee, Bethsaida!... and thou, Capernaum, which -art exalted unto heaven....†Where were they? And the high waves raced -foaming and breaking on the shingle, blown by a strong though mild wind -that came across from the dark cliffs of the country of the Gadarenes. -One seemed to feel His approach where He had so often walked. One can -hardly speak of the awe which that feeling brought to the mind. He was -quite near!</p> - -<p>Undoubtedly the effect of a journey through the Holy Land <i>does</i> -permanently impress itself upon one’s life. It is a tremendous -experience to be brought thus face to face with the Gospel narrative. We -returned to the modern world on May 1st. This time I left Alexandria in -company with my husband on June 3rd, and on landing at Venice we at once -went on to Verona, where he was anxious to visit the battlefield of -Arcole.<a name="page_224" id="page_224"></a></p> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVIII" id="CHAPTER_XVIII"></a>CHAPTER XVIII<br /><br /> -<small>THE LAST OF EGYPT</small></h2> - -<p>H<small>ERE</small> at Verona was Italy in her richest dress, her abundant and varied -crops filling the landscape, one might say, to overflowing; not a space -of soil left untilled, and, all the way along our road to San Bonifacio -for Arcole, the snow-capped Alps were shimmering in the blue atmosphere -on one hand, and a great teeming plain stretched away to the horizon on -the other.</p> - -<p>I noticed the fine physique of the peasantry, and their nice ways. Every -peasant man we met on the road raised his hat to us as we passed. At San -Bonifacio we got out of the carriage and, turning to the right, we -walked to Arcole, becoming exclusively Napoleonic on reaching the famous -marsh. History says that a soldier saved Napoleon from drowning early in -the battle by pulling him out of the water in that marsh, “by the hair!†-I pondered this <i>bald</i> statement, and came to the conclusion that the -thing must have happened in this wise. Young Bonaparte in those early -days wore his hair very long, and gathered up into a queue. Had he been -close-cropped, as his later experience in Egypt compelled him to be, the -history of the world might have been very different. As I looked into -the water from the famous little bridge, I saw the place where the young -conqueror slipped and plunged in. The soldier must have caught hold of -the pigtail, and with the good grip it<a name="page_225" id="page_225"></a> afforded him pulled his drowning -general out. Between the little bridge and the spot where he sank -Napoleon raised the obelisk which we see to-day. Thus do I like to -realise interesting events in history.</p> - -<p>Our driver on the way back became a dreadful bore, for ever turning on -the box to chatter. First he informed us that Arcole was called after -Hercules, “a very strong man†(great thumping of biceps to illustrate -his meaning), which we knew before. Then, when within sight of the -battlefield of Custozza, where our dear Italians got such a “dusting†-from the Austrians, he informed us that he had been in the battle, and -that the Italians had <i>blasted</i> the enemy. “<i>Li abbiamo fulminati</i>.†-“Oh, shut up, do! <i>Basta, caro!</i>â€</p> - -<p>Our afternoon stroll all over Verona merged into a moonlight one which -takes first rank in my Italian chronicles. The effect of a roaring -Alpine torrent (for such is the Adige at this season of melting snows) -rushing and swirling through the heart of that ancient city, between -embankments bordered with domed churches, with towers and palaces, I -found quite unique. Mysterious, too, it all felt in the lights and -profound shades of the moonlight. Above rose the hills with very -striking serrated outlines, crowned with fortresses.</p> - -<p>The rest of the summer saw me at home at Delgany. I must say the “Green -Isle†for summer, following Egypt for winter, makes a very pleasant -combination. My husband had returned to Alexandria on August 23rd, and I -and a wee child followed in November. I had half accomplished my next -Academy picture at home, and I took it out to finish in Egypt—“Halt on -a Forced March: Retreat to<a name="page_226" id="page_226"></a> Corunna.†A study of an artillery team this -time, giving the look of the spent horses, “lean unto war.†It was very -well placed at the Academy in the fresh first room, and well received, -but it was too sad a subject, perhaps, so I have it still. There were no -half-starved horses in all Wicklow, I am happy to say, look where I -would for models. I had well-to-do ones to get tone and colour from, but -I bided my time. In Egypt I had plenty of choice, and had I not been -able to put the finishing touches to my team <i>there</i>, the picture would -never have been so strong—an instance of my favourite definition when I -am asked, “What is the secret of success?†“<i>Seize opportunities</i>.â€</p> - -<p>So on December 10th, 1891, I, with the little child I had safely brought -out with me, landed once more at Alexandria. The big charger and the -grey Syrian pony had now a black donkey alongside for the desert rides, -which were the chief pleasure of our life out there.</p> - -<p>But the winter grew sad. On January 7th, 1892, the Khedive Tewfik died -rather mysteriously, it was said, but his death was announced as the -result of that plague we call the “flu,†which reached even to the East. -Just eight days later poor Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence, fell a -victim to it, and in the same way died Cardinal Manning. Also some of -our own friends at Alexandria went down. And yet never was there more -brilliant weather, so softly brilliant that one could hardly realise the -presence of danger. All the balls and other festivities were stopped, of -course. I had ample time to finish my “Halt on a Forced March†in this -long interval, so boring and depressing to Alexandrian society. Soon -things returned to<a name="page_227" id="page_227"></a> pleasantly normal conditions, however, and being -free from the studio on sending my picture off, I went in -whole-heartedly for the amenities of my official position. The Private -View at the far-away Royal Academy was in my mind on the occasion of my -giving away the prizes at some athletic sports, for I knew it was just -then in full blast, April 29th, 1892. I knew my quiet picture could not -make anything of a stir, and I chaffed myself by suggesting that the -“three cheers and one cheer more†proposed by the English consul at the -end of the prize-giving, which rent the sunset air in that dusty plain -in my honour, should be all I ought to expect. It would be a <i>little</i> -too much to receive applause in two quarters of the globe at the same -moment, allowing for difference of time!</p> - -<p>I call upon my Diary again: “<i>May 18th</i>.—We joined a picnic in the very -palm grove through which the Turks fled from the French pursuit under -Bonaparte to find death in the surf of Aboukir Bay. We were shaded by -clumps of pomegranate trees in flower as well as by the waving, rustling -palms, and a cool wind blew round us most pleasantly, while the white -and grey donkeys that brought us rested in groups, their drivers and the -villagers squatting about them in those unconsciously graceful attitudes -I love to jot down in my sketch book. The moving shadows of the palm -branches on the sand always capture my observation; no other tree -shadows produce that effect of ever-interlacing forms. Far away in the -radiant light lay the region where the terrible naval battle took place -later, to our credit. Altogether our party was surrounded by frightful -reminiscences, in the midst of which the picnic went its usual picnicky<a name="page_228" id="page_228"></a> -way. We rode back to Alexandria by the light of the stars.</p> - -<p>“<i>May 23rd</i>.—A wonderful day, full of colour, movement and interest. -Young Abbas II., the new Khedive, was received here on his arrival from -Cairo, the whole population, swelled by strange wild Asiatics from -distant parts, filling the streets and squares through which he was to -pass. Will, of course, had to receive him at the station. The crowd -alone was a pleasure to look at. The Khedive seemed a squat young man -with a round pink and white painted face. They say he loves not the -English. What I enjoyed above all was the drive we took soon after, all -the length of the line of reception, to Ras-el-Tin. Oh, those narrow -streets of the old quarter, filled with numberless varieties of Oriental -costumes. Now and then the crowd was threaded by troops, some on -horseback, some perched on camels, and, to give the finishing touch of -variety, the native fire brigade went by, wearing the brass helmets of -their London <i>confrères</i>, very surprising headgear bonneting their black -and brown faces.â€</p> - -<p>I, with the little child, left for home on June 7th, <i>viâ</i> Genoa, well -provided with a good stock of studies of camels and Camel Corps -troopers. These were for my 8-foot picture, destined for the next -Academy. Many a camel had I stalked about the Ramleh desert to watch its -mannerisms in movement. I got quite to revel in camels. Usually that -interesting beast is made utterly uninteresting in pictures, whereas if -you know him personally he is full of surprises and one never gets to -the end of him.</p> - -<p>The voyage to my dear old Genoa was full of beautiful sights, with one -exception. I don’t know<a name="page_229" id="page_229"></a> what old Naples was like—I know it was -frightfully dirty—but I saw it modernised into a very horrid town, a -smudge of ugliness on one of the ideal beauties of the world. It gave me -a shock on beholding it as we entered the harbour, and so I leave the -town itself severely alone, with its new, barrack-like buildings looking -gaunt and gritty in the burning June sunshine. The cloisters of the -Certosa at Sant’ Elmo are very beautiful, and I much enjoyed the church -and the splendid “Descent from the Cross†of Spagnoletto. There was just -time for a dash up there before leaving at 12 noon. As we steamed out -towards Ischia I got the oft-painted (and, alas! oleographed) view of -Vesuvius across the whole extent of the bay from off Posilipo. Certainly -nowhere on earth can a fairer scene be beheld, and greater grace of -coast and mountain outline. Then the fair scene melted away into the -tender haze of the June afternoon—blue and tender grey, the volcanic -islands one by one disappeared and the day of my first sight of the Bay -of Naples closed.</p> - -<p>June 12th was a most memorable day, a day of deepest, sweetest, and -saddest impressions and memories for me. In the afternoon I made ready -for our approach to that part of the world where the brightest years of -my childhood were spent—the Gulf of Genoa. In order not to lose one -moment away from the contemplation of what we were approaching, I packed -up all our things before three o’clock, did all the <i>fin de voyage</i> -paying and tipping, and then, my mind free for concentration, I -stationed myself at the starboard bulwark, binocular in hand. At long -last I saw in the haze of the lovely afternoon a shadowy outline of -rocky mountain which my heart, rather<a name="page_230" id="page_230"></a> than my eyes, told me was Porto -Fino, for never had I seen it before from out at sea, at that angle. But -I knew where to look for it, and while to the other passengers we seemed -still out of sight of land I saw the shadowy form. Then little by little -the whole coast grew out of the haze and I saw again, one after the -other, the houses we lived in from Ruta to Albaro. With the powerful -glass I had I could see Villa de’ Franchi and its sundial, and see how -many windows were open or shut at Villa Quartara as we passed Albaro, -and see the old, well-loved pine tree and cypress avenue of the latter -<i>palazzo</i>.</p> - -<p>“The sight of Genoa in the lurid sunset glow, with its steep, conical -mountains behind it, crowned with forts, half shrouded in dark grey -clouds, was very impressive. ‘La Superba’ looked her proudest thus seen -full face from the sea, seated on her rocky throne. By the by, when -<i>will</i> people give up translating ‘superba’ by ‘superb’? It is rather -trying. ‘Genoa the Superb’! Ugh!â€</p> - -<p class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/ill_pg_230_lg.jpg"> -<img src="images/ill_pg_230_sml.jpg" width="280" height="407" alt="The Egyptian Camel-Corps and the Bersaglieri." -title="The Egyptian Camel-Corps and the Bersaglieri." /></a> -<span class="caption">The Egyptian Camel-Corps and the Bersaglieri.</span> -</p> - -<p>I worked away well in the pleasant seclusion of Delgany, at my 8-foot -canvas whereon I carried very far forward my “Review of the Native Camel -Corps at Cairo.†I had already a water-colour drawing of this subject, -which I had made while the scene was fresh in my mind’s eye. I had been -indebted to the then General commanding at Cairo for the facilities -afforded me to see, at close quarters, a charge of the native Camel -Corps, which impressed me indelibly. I had driven out of Cairo to the -desert, where the manÅ“uvres were taking place, and, getting out of -the carriage opposite the saluting base, I placed myself in front of the -advancing squadrons, so timing things that I got well clear at the right -moment. I wanted<a name="page_231" id="page_231"></a> as much of a full-face view as possible. The -attitudes of the men, wielding their whips, the movements of the camels, -the whole rush of the thing gave me such a sensation of advancing force -that, as soon as the “Halt!†was sounded, and the 300 animals had flung -themselves on their knees with the roar and snarl peculiar to those -creatures when required to exert themselves, I hastened back to -Shepheard’s and marked down the salient points. The men were of all -shades, from <i>fellaheen</i> yellow to the bluest black of Nubia, and it was -a striking moment when they all leapt off their saddles (as the camels -collapsed), panting, and beginning to re-set their disordered -accoutrements. In those days the saddles were covered with red morocco -leather, with fringed strips that flew out in the wind, adding, for the -artist, a welcome aid to the representation of motion. Now, of course, -that precious bit of colour is gone, and the necessity for khaki -invisibility reaches even to the camel saddle, which is now a stiff and -unattractive dun-coloured object.</p> - -<p>For my last and most brilliant visit to Egypt I took out our eldest -little girl, and a very enjoyable trip we had, <i>viâ</i> Genoa. Of course, I -took out the picture to finish it on its native sands. I had the richest -choice of military camels, arms and accoutrements, and a native trooper -or two, as models, but only for studies. I was careful to have no posed -model to paint from in the studio, otherwise good-bye to movement. These -graceful Orientals become the stupidest, stiff lay figures the moment -you ask them to pose as models. Besides, the sincere Mohammedans refuse -to be painted at all. I have never used a Kodak myself, finding -snapshots of little value, but quick<a name="page_232" id="page_232"></a> sketches done unbeknown to the -<i>sketchee</i> and a good memory serve much better. The picture, I grieve to -say, was hung not very kindly at the Academy, but at the Paris Salon it -was received with all the appreciation I could desire.</p> - -<p>What pleased me particularly in this last sojourn in Egypt was our visit -to Cairo, where I was so happy during my first experience, when I -described my sensations as being comparable to swimming in Oriental -colour, light, and picturesqueness. The only thing that jarred was the -tyranny of Cairo society, which compelled one to appear at the -diversions, whether one liked it or not. Nevertheless, I gained a very -thorough knowledge of the wondrously beautiful mosques, having the -advantage of the guidance of one who knew them all intimately—Dean -Butcher. It was a true pleasure to have him as <i>cicerone</i>, and I am -grateful to him for his most kindly giving up his time for little C. and -me. My husband had long ago been acquainted with every nook and corner -of Cairo, but Dean Butcher had made a special study of these mosques, -and I think he was pleased with the way we took in the fascinating -information he gave me and the child.</p> - -<p>It’s a far cry from Cairo to Aldershot! On November 1st, 1893, my -husband’s command of the 2nd Infantry Brigade began there. Much as I -loved Egypt, it was a great delight for me to know that the parting from -the children was not to be repeated. I had had Egypt to my heart’s -content.</p> - -<p>After returning home from Egypt, at Delgany, on June 17th, 1893, I set -up my next big picture, “The Réveil in the Bivouac of the Scots Greys on -the Morning of Waterloo—Early Dawn.†I was able to<a name="page_233" id="page_233"></a> make all my -twilight studies at home, all out of doors; not a thing painted in the -studio. I pressed many people into my service as models, and I think I -got the light on their fine Irish faces very true to nature. I even -caught an Irish dragoon home on leave in the village, whose splendid -profile I saw at once would be very telling.<a name="page_234" id="page_234"></a></p> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIX" id="CHAPTER_XIX"></a>CHAPTER XIX<br /><br /> -<small>ALDERSHOT</small></h2> - -<p>A<small>ND</small> now our Irish home under the glorious Wicklow Mountains broke up, -and I was to become acquainted with life in the great English camp. The -huts for officers were still standing at that time, wooden bungalows of -the quaintest fashion, all the more pleasing to me for being unlike -ordinary houses. The old court-martial hut became my studio, four -skylights having been placed in it, and I was quite happy there. I -worked hard at “The Réveil,†and finished it in that unconventional -workshop.</p> - -<p>To say that Aldershot society was brilliant would be very wide of the -mark. How could it be? But to us there was a very great attraction close -by, at Farnborough. There lived a woman who was and ever will be a very -remarkable figure in history, the Empress Eugénie. She hadn’t forgotten -my husband’s connection with her beloved son’s tragic story out in South -Africa, nor her interview with him at Camden Place, and his management -of the Prince’s funeral at Durban. We often took tea with her on Sundays -during our Aldershot period, her “At Home†day for intimate friends and -relatives, at the big house on the hill. She became very fond of talking -politics with <i>Sair William</i>, and always in English, and she used to sit -in that confidential way foreign politicians have, expressive of the -whispered divulgence of tremendous secrets and of occult plots<a name="page_235" id="page_235"></a> and -plans in various parts of the world. She talked incessantly with him, -but was a bad listener; and if a subject came up in conversation which -did not interest her, a sharp snap or two of her fan would soon bring -things to a stop.</p> - -<p class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/ill_pg_234_lg.jpg"> -<img src="images/ill_pg_234_sml.jpg" width="263" height="394" alt="Aldershot ManÅ“uvres. -The Enemy in sight." -title="Aldershot ManÅ“uvres. -The Enemy in sight." /></a> - -<span class="caption">Aldershot ManÅ“uvres.<br /> -The Enemy in sight.</span> -</p> - -<p>Entries from the Aldershot Diary:</p> - -<p>“<i>January 9th</i>, 1894.—We went to the memorial service at the Empress’s -church in commemoration of the death of Napoleon III. After Mass we went -down to the crypt, where another short service was chanted and the tombs -of the Emperor and Prince Imperial were incensed. Between the two lies -the one awaiting the pathetic widow who was kneeling there shrouded with -black, a motionless, solitary figure, for whom one felt a very deep -respect.</p> - -<p>“<i>March 14th</i>.—Delightful dinner at Government House, where the Duke -and Duchess of Connaught proved most cheery host and hostess. He took me -to dinner, and we talked other than banalities. All the other generals’ -wives and the generals and heads of departments were there to the number -of twenty-two.</p> - -<p>“<i>March 25th</i>.—To a brilliant dinner at Government House to meet the -Duke of Cambridge. Good old George was in splendid form, and asked me if -I remembered the lunch we gave him at Alexandria. It was a most cheery -evening. We sat down about twenty-eight, of whom only six were ladies. -Grenfell, our old friend of Genoese days, and Evelyn Wood were there.</p> - -<p>“<i>May 17th</i>.—A glorious day for the Queen’s Review, which was certainly -a dazzling spectacle. Dear old Queen, it is many a long year since she -reviewed the Aldershot Division; nor would she have<a name="page_236" id="page_236"></a> come but that her -son is now in supreme command here. Old people say it was like old -times, only that she has shrunk into a tinier woman than ever she was, -and by the side of the towering Duchess of Coburg in that spacious -carriage she looked indeed tiny, and nearly extinguished under a large -grey sunshade. A good place was reserved for my little carriage close to -the Royal Enclosure, and I enjoyed the congenial scene to the utmost. -Was I not in my element? The review took place on Laffan’s Plain, a -glorious sweep of intense green turf which I often take little Martin to -for our morning walk, and no Aldershot dust annoyed us. I was very proud -of the general commanding the 2nd Brigade riding past the saluting base -at the head of his troops on that mighty charger, ‘Heart of Oak,’ that -fine golden bay, set off to the utmost advantage by the ceremonial -saddle-cloth and housings of blue and gold. That general gives the -salute with a very free sweep of the sword arm. The march past took a -long time. As to the crowd of officers behind the Queen’s carriage, my -eyes positively ached with the sight of all that scarlet and gold. I -must say this scarlet is pushed too far to my mind. It must have now -reached the highest pitch of dyeing powers. It was a duller tone at -Waterloo; and certainly still more artistic when Cromwell first ordered -his men to wear it. But I may be wrong, and it is certainly very -splendid. The Duke of Cambridge and Prince of Wales were on huge black -chargers, and wore field marshals’ uniforms. It was pretty to see the -Duke of Connaught—who, at the head of his staff, in front of the -division drawn up in line, had sat awaiting the Queen’s arrival—canter -up to his mother and salute her as her carriage drove into the -enclosure.<a name="page_237" id="page_237"></a> Then he cantered back to his place, a very graceful rider, -and the review began. I managed to do good work at ‘The Réveil’ in -forenoon. What a contrast and rest to the eyes that picture is after -such glittering spectacles as to-day’s. War <i>versus</i> Parade! It was -pathetic to see the Queen to-day with her soldiers. She cannot pass them -in review many more times.</p> - -<p>“The Empress Eugénie has returned, and we had a long interview with her -the other day at her beautiful home at Farnborough. She is by no means -the wreck and shadow some people are pleased to describe her as being, -but has the remains of a certain masculine power which I suppose was -very masterful in the great old days of her splendour. She is not too -tall, and has a fine, upright figure. She lives apparently altogether in -the memory of her son, and is surrounded by his portraits and relics, -including drawings showing him making his heroic stand, alone, forsaken, -against the savage enemy. I feel, as an Englishwoman, very uneasy and -remorseful while listening to that poor mother, with her tearful eyes, -as she speaks of her dead boy, who need not have been sacrificed. There -is no trace in her words of anger or reproach or contempt, only most -appealing grief. She has one window in the hall full to a height of many -feet of the tall grass which grows on the spot where her treasured son -was done to death by seventeen assegai wounds, all received full in -front. I remember his taking us over some artillery stables, I think, at -Woolwich once. He had a charming face. The Empress rightly described to -us the quality of the blue of his eyes—‘the blue sky seen in water.’</p> - -<p>“We often go to her beautiful church these fine<a name="page_238" id="page_238"></a> summer days. Her only -infirmity appears to be her rheumatism, which necessitates some one -giving her his arm to ascend or descend the sanctuary steps when she -goes to or comes from her <i>prie-Dieu</i> to the right of the altar. -Sometimes it is M. Franceschini Pietri, sometimes it is the faithful old -servant Uhlmann who performs this duty.</p> - -<p>“<i>August 13th.</i>—We have had the Queen down again for another review in -splendid (Queen’s) weather. The night before the review Her Majesty gave -a dinner at the Pavilion to her generals, and for the first time in her -life sat down at table with them. Will gave me a most interesting -account. In the night there was a great military tattoo, which I -witnessed with C. from General Utterson’s grounds. Very effective, if a -little too spun out. Will and the others were standing about the Queen’s -and the Empress Eugénie’s carriages all the time, in the grass soaked -with the heavy night dew, and felt all rather blue and bored. In the -Queen’s carriage all was glum, while the Empress with her party chatted -helpfully in hers to fill up the time. It was pitch dark but for the -torches carried by long lines of troops in the distance.</p> - -<p>“To-day was made memorable by the review held of our brilliant little -division by the German Emperor on Laffan’s Plain, in perfect weather. He -wore the uniform of our Royal Dragoons, of which regiment he is honorary -colonel, and rode a bay horse as finely trained as a circus horse (and -rather suggestive of one, as are his others, too, that are here), with -the curb reins passing somewhere towards the rider’s knees, which supply -the place of the left hand, half the size of the right and apparently -almost powerless. The<a name="page_239" id="page_239"></a> poor fellow’s shoulders are padded, too, and one -sees a <i>hiatus</i> between the false, square shoulder and the real one, -which is very sloping. But the general appearance was gallant, and the -young man seemed full of gaiety and martial spirit. He took the salute, -of course, and was a striking figure under the Union Jack which waved -over his British helmet. Then followed a little episode which, if rather -theatrical, was enlivening, and a pretty surprise. As the Royal -Dragoons’ turn came to pass the saluting base the Kaiser drew his sword -and, darting away from his post, placed himself at the head of his -British regiment, the Duke of Connaught replacing him at the flagstaff -<i>pro tem</i>. The Kaiser couldn’t salute himself, of course, so saluted the -Duke, and, when the Dragoons were clear, back he came at a circus canter -to resume his post and continue to receive the salute of the passing -legions, as before. We all clapped him for this graceful compliment. It -was smartly done. The detachment (seventy-five in number) had been sent -over from Dublin on purpose for this little display. In the evening Will -dined at Government House in a nest of Germans, who seemed afraid to sit -well upon their chairs in the august presence of their Emperor, and sat -on the very edge. One particularly corpulent general was very nearly -slipping off. I went to the evening reception, no wives being asked to -the dinner, as the dining-room is so small and the German suite so -voluminous.</p> - -<p>“I was at once presented to H.I.M., who talked to me, like a good boy, -about my painting and about the army, which he said he greatly admired -for its appearance. He is just now a keen Anglo-maniac (<i>sic</i>)! We shall -have him dressing one of his regiments in<a name="page_240" id="page_240"></a> kilts next. He is not at all -as hard-looking as I expected, but not at all healthy. His face, seen -near, is unwholesome in its colour and texture, and the eyes have that -<i>boiled</i> look which suggests a want of clarity in the system, it seems -to me. He is nice and natural in his manner and in the expression of his -face, with light brown moustache brushed up on his cheeks. He wore the -mess dress of the Royal Dragoons, and his right hand was twinkling with -very ‘loud’ rings on every finger, coiled serpents with jewelled eyes.</p> - -<p>“<i>August 14th.</i>—A glorious sham fight in the Long Valley and heights -for the Kaiser. I shall always remember his appearance as, at the head -of a large and brilliant staff of Germans and English, he came suddenly -galloping up to the mound where I was standing with the children, -riding, this time, a white horse and wearing his silver English Dragoon -helmet without the plume. He seemed joyous as his eye took in the lovely -landscape and he sat some minutes looking down on the scene, -gesticulating as he brightly spoke to the deferential <i>pickelhauben</i> -that bent down around him. He then dashed off down the hill and crested -another, with, if you please, C. on her father’s huge grey second -charger careering after the gallant band, and escaping for an anxious -(to me) half-hour from my surveillance. The child looked like a fly on -that enormous animal which overtopped the crowd of staff horses. Adieu -to the old gunpowder smoke. It has cleared away for ever. One sees too -much nowadays, and that mystery of effect, so awful and so grand, caused -by the lurid smoke, is gone. How much writers and painters owe to the -old black powder of the days gone by!</p> - -<p>“<i>September 23rd.</i>—Had a delightful evening, for<a name="page_241" id="page_241"></a> we dined with the -Empress Eugénie. I seemed to be basking in the ‘Napoleonic Idea’ as I -sat at that table and saw my glass engraved with the Imperial ‘N,’ and -was aware of the historical portraits of the Bonaparte Era that hung -round the room. The Empress was full of bright conversation and chaff; -and I find, as I see her oftener, that she has plenty of humour and -enjoys a joke greatly. We didn’t go in arm in arm, men and women, but -<i>Sa Majesté</i> signed to me and another woman to go in on either side of -her. She called to Will to come and sit on her right. I was very happy -and in my element. Oh! how the mind feels relieved and expanded in that -atmosphere. We had music after dinner, and I had long talks on Egypt -with the Empress, whose recollections of that bright land are -particularly brilliant, she having been there during the jubilant -ceremonies in connection with the opening of the Suez Canal. One year -before the great calamities to her and her husband! She told me that -just for a freak she walked several times in and out between the two -pillars on the Piazzetta at Venice, that time, to brave Fate, who, it -was said, punished those who dared to do this. ‘Then <i>les évènements</i> -followed,’ she added. Well might she say that life is an up and down -existence. She waved her hand up and down, very high and very low, as -she said it, with a very weary sigh. Her face is often very beautiful; -those eyes drooping at the outer corners look particularly lovely as -they are bent downwards, and her white hair is arranged most gracefully. -She is always in black.</p> - -<p>“Will has accepted the extension of his command here to my great -pleasure; the chief charm to us in this place is the neighbourhood of -the Empress. That<a name="page_242" id="page_242"></a> makes Farnborough unique. Not only is she so -interesting, but now and then there are visitors at her house whose very -names are sonorous memories. The other day as we came into her presence -she went up to Will and asked him to let Prince Murat, Ney (Prince de la -Moscowa) and Masséna (duc de Rivoli), see some of the regiments in his -brigade at their barracks. When the inspection was over these three -illustrious Names came to lunch with us, and I sat between Murat and -Masséna, with <i>le Brave des Braves</i> opposite. What’s in a name? -Everything, sometimes. I thought myself a very favoured creature last -Sunday as I sat by Eugénie at her tea table and she sprinkled my muffin -with salt out of her little muffineer. I am glad to know she likes me -and she is very fond of Will. One Sunday she and I and the Marquise de -Gallifet were sitting together, and the Empress was talking to the -latter about ‘The Roll Call,’ pronouncing the name in English, but -Madame, who looked somewhat stony and unsympathetic, could not pronounce -the name when the Empress asked her to, and made a very funny thing out -of it. The Empress tried to teach her, making fun of her attempts which -became more and more comic, combined with her frigid expression. At last -the Empress turned to me and asked me to show how it ought to be said in -the proper way; but, as she had just given me an enormous chocolate -cream, I was for the moment unable to pronounce anything with this thing -in my cheek, and she went into fits of laughter as I made several -attempts to say the unfortunate name. So it was never pronounced, and -Madame la Marquise looked on as though she thought we were both rather -childish, which made the Empress laugh the more.<a name="page_243" id="page_243"></a> The least thing, if it -is at all comical, sends her into one of her laughing fits which are -very catching—except by Gallifets.</p> - -<p>“Talking of camel riding (and they say she rode like a Bedouin in the -desert) I sent her into another fit which brought the tears to her eyes -by saying I always forgot ‘<i>quel bout de mon chameau se lève le -premier</i>’ at starting. But she sent me into one of my own particular -fits the other day. I was telling her, in answer to her enquiry as to -insuring pictures on sending them by sea, that I thought only their -total loss would be paid for, and what the artist considered an injury -of a grave nature amounting to total loss might not be so considered by -the insurance company. ‘And if,’ she said, ‘you have a portrait and a -hole is made right through one of the eyes?’ Here she slowly closed her -left eye and looked at me stolidly with the right, to represent the -injured effigy, ‘would you not get compensation?’ The one-eyed portrait -continued to look at me out of the forlorn single eye with every vestige -of expression gone, and I laughed so much that I begged her to become -herself again, but she wouldn’t, for a long time.</p> - -<p>“There has been a great deal of pheasant shooting, particularly at the -De Worms’ at Henley Park, where a <i>chef</i> at £500 a year has made that -hospitable house very attractive; but there has been one shoot at -Farnboro’ made memorable by Franceschini Pietri distinguishing himself -with his erratic gunnery. Suddenly he was seen on a shutter, screaming, -as the servants bore him to the house. Every one thought he was wounded, -but it turned out he was sure he had hit somebody else, which happily -wasn’t true. People are shy of having him, after that, at their shoots,<a name="page_244" id="page_244"></a> -especially Baron de Worms, who showed me how he accoutred himself by -padding and goggles, one day, bullet-proof against that excitable little -southerner, who was a member of the party at Henley Park.â€</p> - -<p>After one of the Empress’s dinners at Farnboro’ Hill, a small dinner of -intimate friends, we had fun over a lottery which she had arranged, -making everything go off in the most sprightly French way. What easy, -pleasant society it was! One admired the courage which put on this -brightness, though all knew that the dead weight on the poor heart was -there, so that others should not feel depressed. Even with these kind -semblances of cheeriness no one could be unmindful of the abiding sorrow -in that woman’s face.</p> - -<p>“<i>January 9th, 1895.</i>—The anniversary of the Emperor Napoleon’s death -come round again. There was quite a little stir during the service in -the church. The catafalque, heaped up with flowers, was surrounded with -scores of lighted tapers as it lay before the altar. A young priest, in -a laced <i>cotta</i>, went up to it to set a leaf or flower or something in -its place, when instantly one of his lace sleeves blazed. Almost -simultaneously the General, in full uniform, springing up the altar -steps without the smallest click of his sword, was at the priest’s side, -beating out the fire. Not another soul in that crowded place had seen -anything. That was like Will! We laid wreaths on the tombs in the -crypt.â€</p> - -<p>An entry in March of that year records good progress with “The Dawn of -Waterloo,†and mentions that we had the honour of receiving the Empress -Frederick and her hosts, the Connaughts, and their suites, who came to -see the picture. I found the<a name="page_245" id="page_245"></a> Empress still more like her mother than -when I first saw her, when she and the Crown Prince Frederick dined at -the Goschens’—a memorable dinner, when the fine, serious-looking and -bearded Frederick told my husband he would desire nothing better for his -sons than that they should follow in his footsteps. The Empress was -beaming—that is exactly the word—and a few minutes after coming into -the drawing-room she showed that she was anxious to get on to the -studio, to save the light. So out we sallied, walking two and two, a -formidable procession, and we were nearly half an hour in the little -court-martial hut. They all had tea with us afterwards, quite filling -the tiny drawing-room. The Empress was very small, and as she talked to -me, looking up into my face, I thought her the most taking little woman -I ever saw. She had what I call the “Victoria charm,†which all her -sisters shared with her—absolutely unstudied, homely, and exceedingly -friendly. At least it so appeared to me in a high degree in her that -day. But what a sorrow she had had to bear!</p> - -<p>The picture was taken to the Club House, there to be shown for three -days to the division before Sending-in Day. The idea was Will’s, but I -got the thanks—undeserved, as I had been reluctant to brave the dust on -the wet paint. Crowds went to see it, from the generals down to the -traditional last drummer.</p> - -<p>I thought the Academicians were again unkind in the placing of my -picture, and a trip to Paris was all the more welcome as a diversion, -for there I was able to seek consolation in the treat of a plunge into -the best art in the “City of Light.†One interesting day in May found us -at Malmaison, the country<a name="page_246" id="page_246"></a> house of Napoleon and Josephine. There is -always something mournful in a house no longer tenanted which once -echoed the talk, the laughter, the comings and goings, the pleasant and -arresting sounds of voices that are long silent. But <i>this</i> house, of -all houses! It was absolutely stripped of everything but Napoleon’s -billiard table, and the worm-eaten bookshelves in his little musty study -the only “fixtures†left. The ceilings we found in holes; that garden, -once so much admired and enjoyed, choked with dusty nettles. We went -into every room—the one where poor derelict Josephine died; the guests’ -bedrooms; the dining-room where Napoleon took his hurried meals; the -library where he studied; the billiard-room, where he himself often took -part in a game surrounded by “fair women and brave men†in the glitter -of gorgeous uniforms and radiant <i>toilettes</i>. One lends one’s mind’s ear -to the daily and nightly sounds outside—the clatter of horses’ hoofs as -the staff ride in and out of the courtyards with momentous despatches; -the sharp words of command; the announcement of urgent arrivals -demanding instant hearing. We found our minds revelling in suchlike -imaginings. The chapel, the coach-houses, the great iron gates were all -there, but seen as in a dream.</p> - -<p>We were back at Aldershot on May 30th. “The Queen’s Ball, at Buckingham -Palace, brilliant as ever. The Shahzada, the Ameer of Afghanistan’s son, -was the guest of the evening, as it is our policy just now to do him -particular honour, after having made his father ‘sit up.’ A pale, -wretched-looking Oriental, bored to tears! The usual delightful medley -of men of every nationality, civilised and semi-civilised, was there in -full splendour, but the rush of<a name="page_247" id="page_247"></a> that crowd for the supper-room, in the -wake of royalty, was most unseemly. Every one got jammed, and it was -most unpleasant to have steel cartridge boxes and sword hilts sticking -into one’s bare arms in the pressure. I think there was something wrong -this time with the doors. I was much complimented that night on my ‘Dawn -of Waterloo,’ but that was an inadequate salve to my wounded feelings.</p> - -<p>“<i>June 15th.</i>—A great review here in honour of the young Shahzada, who -is being so highly honoured this season. I don’t think I ever saw such a -large staff as surrounded that pallid princeling as he rode on to the -field. The whole thing was a long affair, and our bored visitor -refreshed himself occasionally with consolatory snuff. The whole of the -cavalry finished up, as usual, with a charge ‘stem on,’ and as the -formidable onrush neared the weedy youth he began to turn his horse -round, possibly suspecting deep-laid treachery.â€</p> - -<p>My husband and I were present when Cardinals Vaughan and Logue laid the -foundation stone of Westminster Cathedral. The luncheon that followed -was enlivened by some excellent speeches, especially Cardinal Logue’s, -whose rich brogue rolled out some well-turned phrases.</p> - -<p>A week later we were at dinner at Farnborough Hill. “There was a large -house-party, including Princes Victor and Louis Napoleon, the elder a -taciturn, shy, dark man about thirty-three, and the younger an alert, -intelligent officer of thirty-one, who is a colonel in the Russian -cavalry, and is the hope and darling of the Bonapartists. I call him -Napoleon IV. Victor went in with the Empress to dinner and Louis with -me, but on taking our seats the two brothers exchanged places, so that I -sat on Victor’s<a name="page_248" id="page_248"></a> right. I had an uphill task to talk with the studious, -silent Victor, and found my right-hand neighbour much more pleasant -company, Sir Mackenzie Wallace. I had not caught his name and his accent -was so perfect and his idioms and turns of speech so irreproachable that -I never questioned his being a Frenchman. Away we went in the liveliest -manner with our French till suddenly we lapsed into English, why I don’t -know. This gave the Empress her chance. She began chuckling behind her -toothpick and asked me in French if he had a good accent in speaking -English. ‘Yes, madame, very good!’ ‘Ah? <i>really</i> good?’ (chuckle). -‘Really good, madame.’ ‘Ah, that is well’ (chuckle). I saw in Will’s -face I was being chaffed and guessed the truth. Much laughter, -especially from Louis. He told Will, across the Empress, that he had -seen an engraving of ‘Scotland for Ever’ in a shop window in Moscow, and -had presented it to the mess of his own cavalry regiment, the Czar being -now colonel of the Scots Greys, and that he little expected so soon to -meet the painter of that picture. The dinner was very bright and -sparkling, so unlike a purely English one. How gratefully Will and I -conformed to the spirit of the thing. His Irish heart beats in harmony -with it. I didn’t quite recover from my <i>faux pas</i> at table, and, on our -taking leave, brought everything into line once more by wishing Prince -Louis ‘<i>Felicissima Sera!</i>’ in a way denoting a bewilderment of mind -amidst such a confusion of tongues. I left amidst applause.</p> - -<p>“<i>July 8th.</i>—There was a sham fight on the Fox Hills to-day to which -the two French princes went. Will mounted Victor on steady ‘Roly Poly,’ -and sent H. on ‘Heart of Oak’ to attend on His Imperial<a name="page_249" id="page_249"></a> Highness -throughout the day. Louis was mounted by the Duke. My General loves to -honour a Napoleon, so, when he was riding home with Louis after the -fight, and the Guards were preparing to give the General the usual -salute, he begged the Imperial Colonel to take the salute himself. ‘But, -General, I am not even in uniform!’ answered Louis. ‘One of your name, -sir, is always in uniform,’ was the ready reply. So Louis took it. On -his way back to the Empress he stopped at our hut, and after a glass of -iced claret cup on this grilling day, he looked at my sketches, and at -the little oil picture I am painting for Miss S.—‘Right Wheel!’—the -Scots Greys at manÅ“uvres. I wonder if he has it in him to make a bid -for the French Throne!</p> - -<p>“<i>July 12th.</i>—The Queen came down to-day, and there was a very fine -display of the picked athletes of the army at the new gymnasium in the -afternoon, before Her Majesty, who did not leave her carriage. She -looked pleased and in great good humour. She gave a dinner to her -generals in the evening at the Pavilion as she did last year. Will sat -near her, and she kept nodding and smiling to him at intervals as he -carried on a lively conversation with Princesses Louise and Beatrice. -Her Majesty expanded into full contentment when nine pipers, supplied by -the three Highland Regiments of the Division, entered the room at the -close of dinner in full blast. They tell me that each regiment jealously -adhered to its own key for its skirls, or whatever the right word is, -and so in three different keys did the pibrochs bray, but this detail -was not particularly noticeable in the general hurly-burly. The Queen -stood it well, though in that confined space it must have tried her -nerves. Give<a name="page_250" id="page_250"></a> me the bagpipes on the mountain side or in the desert, -where I have heard them and loved them.</p> - -<p>“<i>July 13th.</i>—At a very fine review for the Queen, who brought her -usual weather with her. She looked well pleased, especially with the -stirring light cavalry charge at the close, when Brabazon pulled up his -line at full charging pace within about 12 yards (it seemed to me) of -the royal carriage. Really, for a moment, I thought, as the dark mass of -men and horses rolled towards us, that he had forgotten all about -‘Halt!’ It was a tremendous <i>tour de force</i>, and a bit of swagger on the -part of this dashing hussar. That group of the Queen in her carriage, -with the four white horses and scarlet coated servants; the Prince of -Wales and the rest of the glittering Staff; Prince Victor Napoleon in -civilian dress, his heavy face shaded by his tall black hat as he -uneasily sat his excited horse; the other carriages resplendent in red -and gold; the Empress’s more sober equipage full of French <i>élégantes</i>, -and the wave of dark hussars bursting in a cloud of dust almost in -amongst the group, all the leaders of the charging squadrons with sabres -flung up and heads thrown back—what a sight to please me! I feel a -physical sensation of refreshment on such occasions. What discipline and -training this performance showed! Had one horse got out of hand he might -have flopped right into the Queen’s lap. I saw one of the squadron -leaders give a little shiver when all was over. On getting home I was -doing something to the bearskins of my Scots Greys in ‘Right Wheel,’ -showing the way the wind blew the hair back, as I had just seen it at -the review, while fresh in my mind, when a servant came to tell me -Princess Louise was at the Hut. I had got into my painting dress with -sleeves turned up for<a name="page_251" id="page_251"></a> coolness. I ran in, changed in half a minute, and -had a nice interview, the Duchess of Connaught being there also, and we -had one of those ‘shoppy’ art talks which the Duchess of Argyll likes.</p> - -<p>“<i>August 16th.</i>—My ‘At Home’ day was made memorable by the appearance -of the Empress Eugénie, who brought a remedy for little Eileen’s cold. -It was a plaster, which she showed me how to use. I cannot say how -touched we were by this act, so thoughtful and kind—that poor childless -widow! She seems to have a particularly tender feeling for Eileen, -indeed Mdlle. d’Allonville has told me so.â€</p> - -<p>The rest of the Aldershot Diary is filled with military activities up to -the date of the expiration of my husband’s time there, and his -appointment to the command of the South Eastern District with Dover -Castle as our home. But between the two commands came an interlude -filled with a tour through some parts of Italy I had not seen before, -and a visit to the Villa Cyrnos at Cap Martin, whither the Empress had -invited us.<a name="page_252" id="page_252"></a></p> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XX" id="CHAPTER_XX"></a>CHAPTER XX<br /><br /> -<small>ITALY AGAIN</small></h2> - -<p>I<small>N</small> January, 1896, we left Aldershot on a raw foggy day, with the usual -winter brown-paper sky, the essence of dreariness, on leave for the land -I love best. At Turin our train for Genoa was filled with poor young -soldiers off to Abyssinia, the Italian Government having followed our -example in the policy of “expansionâ€; with what success was soon seen. -An Italian told us that “good coffee†was to be had from there, amongst -other desirable commodities. So the poor young conscripts were being -sent to fetch the good coffee, etc. They were singing in a chorus of -tenor voices as they went, after affectionately kissing the comrades who -had come to see them off.</p> - -<p>At sunrise we arrived at Naples, Vesuvius looking like a great amethyst, -transparent in the golden haze from the sun which rose just behind it. I -must say the Neapolitan population struck me as very wretched; the men -were no better than the poor creatures one might see in Whitechapel any -day, and dressed, like them, in shoddy clothing. The poor skeleton mules -and horses were covered with picturesque brass-mounted harness instead -of flesh, and I saw no red-sashed, brown-limbed <i>lazzaroni</i> such as were -supposed to dance <i>tarantelle</i> on the shore. Certainly there is not much -dancing and singing in their hungry-looking descendants.</p> - -<p>January 17th was a memorable day, spent at<a name="page_253" id="page_253"></a> Pompeii. One must see the -place for oneself. Familiar with it though you may be through books and -paintings, Pompeii takes you by surprise. The suddenness of that -entrance into the City of the Dead <i>is</i> a surprise to a newcomer, such -as I was. To come into the city at once by the “Street of Tombs,†which -carries you steeply upwards into the interior—no turnstiles at the -gate, no ticket collectors, no leave-your-umbrella-at-the-door; this -natural way of entering gave me a strange sensation as if I were walking -into the past. The present day was non-existent. Though we were three -and a half hours circulating about those theatres, baths, villas, shops, -through the narrow streets, with their deep ruts and stepping stones, I -was so absorbed in the fascination of realising the life of those days -that I never needed to rest for a moment, and the day had grown very -hot. One rather drags oneself through a museum, but we were here under -the sky, and Vesuvius, the author of this destruction, was there in very -truth, looking down on us as we wandered through the remnants of his -victim.</p> - -<p>As to beauty of colour there is here a great feast for the painter. What -could surpass, on a day like that, the simple beauty of those positive -reds and yellows and blues of walls and pillars in that light, -back-grounded by the tender blue of mountains delicately crested with -the white of their snows? The positive strong foreground colours -emphasised by the delicacy of the background! The absolute silence of -the place was impressive and very welcome.</p> - -<p>The Diary had better “carry on†here: “<i>Sunday, January 19th.</i>—To Capri -and Sorrento on our way to Amalfi. There is a string of names! I feel I -can’t pronounce them to myself with adequate relish.<a name="page_254" id="page_254"></a> To Mass at 8, and -then at 9 by steamer to Capri, touching at Sorrento on our way. Three -hours’ passage over a very dark blue sea, which was flecked with foam -off Castellamare. Capri is all I expected, a mass of orange and lemon -groves in its lower part, with wonderful crags soaring abruptly, in -places, out of the clear green water. Tiberius’s villa is perched on the -edge of a fearful precipice that has memories connected with his -cruelties which one tries to smother. Indeed, all around one, in those -scenes of Nature’s loveliness, the detestable doings of man against man -are but too persistently obtruding themselves on the mind which is -seeking only restful pleasure.</p> - -<p>“We were driven to the Hotel Quisisana (‘Here one gets well’), very high -up on a steep ridge, where the village is, and were sorry to find our -pleasure marred by being set down to <i>déjeuner</i> with as repulsive a -company of Teutons as one could see. The perspective of those feeding -faces, along the edge of the table, tried me horribly. They say the -Germans are outnumbering the British as tourists in Italy now. Nowhere -do their loud voices and rude manners jar upon our sensibility so -painfully as in Italy. The <i>Frau</i> next to me actually sniffed at four -bottles out of the cruet in succession, poking them into her nose before -she satisfied herself that she had found the right sauce for her chop! -What’s to be done with such people?</p> - -<p>“We had not much time to give to the lovely island, for the little -steamer had to take us to Sorrento at two o’clock. We put up there at -the Hotel Tramontano, and had a stroll at sunset, with views of the -coast and Vesuvius that spread out beyond the<a name="page_255" id="page_255"></a> reach of my well-meaning, -but inadequate, pen. I can’t help the impulse of recording the things of -beauty I have seen. It is owing to a wish to preserve such precious -things in my memory, to waste nothing of them, and to record my -gratitude as well.â€</p> - -<p>At Amalfi came the culmination to our long series of experiences of the -Neapolitan Riviera. The names of Amalfi, Ravello, Salerno and Pæstum -will be with me to the end, in a halo of enchantment.</p> - -<p>On returning to Naples, of course, we paid our respects to Vesuvius. Our -climb to the highest point allowable of the erupting cone was not at all -enchanting, and left my mind in a most perturbed condition. There was -much food for meditation when our visit was over, but at the time one -had only leisure to receive impressions, and very disconcerting -impressions at that. A keen north wind blew the fumes from the crater -straight down my throat as I panted upwards through the sulphur, ankle -deep, and I could only think of my discomfort and probable collapse. I -disdained a litter. I perceived several fat Germans in litters.</p> - -<p>An even deeper impression was made on my mind than that produced by the -eruption proper on our coming, after much staggering over cold lava, -near a great, crawling river of liquid fire oozing out of the mountain’s -side. Above our heads the great maw of the crater was throwing up bursts -of rock fragments with rumblings and growls from the cruel monster. I -wonder when that wild beast will make its next pounce? And down there, -far, far below, in the plain lay little Pompeii, its poor, tiny, -insignificant victim! Yes, for a thoughtful climber there was more than -the sulphurous north wind to make him pause.<a name="page_256" id="page_256"></a></p> - -<p>The little funicular railway had brought us up to the foot of the cone, -crunching laboriously over the shoulder of the mountain, and I could not -but think—“If the chain broke?†At one point the open truck seemed to -dangle over space. We were sitting with our faces turned towards the sea -and away from the cone, and (were we never to be rid of them?) two -corpulent Teutons faced us, hideously conspicuous, as having apparently -nothing but blue air behind them. There was no horizon at all to the -sea, the pale haze merging sea and sky into one. Then, when we alighted, -we found ourselves in a restaurant with Messrs. Cook & Co.’s waiters -running about. Certainly it was no time for meditating or moralising in -that medley of the prehistoric and the <i>fin de siècle</i>.</p> - -<p>I found Rome very much changed after the lapse of all those years since -I was there with our family during the last months of the Temporal -Power. I shall never forget the shock I felt when, to lead off, on our -arrival, I conducted my husband to the great balustrade on the Pincian -overlooking the city, promising him my favourite view. It was a truly -striking one in the far-off days, and quite beautiful. Instead of the -reposeful vineyards of the area facing us beyond the Tiber, fitting -middle distance between us and St. Peter’s, gaunt buildings bordering -wide, straight, staring streets glistening with tramlines seemed to jeer -at me in vulgar triumph, and I am not sure that I did not shed tears in -private when we got back to our hotel. One fact, however, brought a -sense of mental expansion as I surveyed that view, which should have -made amends for the sensitive contraction of my artist’s mind. That -great basilica yonder was mine now! A return to Rome had<a name="page_257" id="page_257"></a> another touch -of sadness for me. Our father had been so happy there in introducing his -girls to the city he loved. He seemed now to be ever by my side as the -well-remembered haunts that were left unchanged were seen again. Leo -XIII. was now Pope. On one particular occasion in the Sistine Chapel, at -Mass, I was struck by the extraordinary effect of his white, utterly -ethereal face and fragile figure as he stood at the altar, relieved -against the background of Michael Angelo’s exceedingly muscular “Last -Judgment.†And, now, what of this “Last Judgmentâ€? The action of our -Lord, splendidly rendered as giving the powerful realisation of the push -which that heavy arm is giving in menace to the condemned souls towards -the Abyss on His left (I had almost said the <i>shove!</i>), is realistic and -strong. But what a gross conception! Our modern minds cannot be -impressed by this fleshly rendering of such a subject, a rendering -suitable to the coarser fibre of the Middle Ages. I could positively -hate this fresco, were I not lured, as a painter, to admire its -technical power.</p> - -<p>Our visit to the Empress at Cap Martin followed, on our way home to -Aldershot. She received us with her usual genial grace. The place, of -course, ideal, and the typical blue weather. We were made very much at -home. Madame le Breton told me I was to wear a <i>table d’hôte</i> frock at -dinner, and Pietri told Sir William a black tie to the evening suit was -the order of the day.</p> - -<p>“<i>February 13th.</i>—The Villa Cyrnos is in a wood of stone pines, -overhanging the sea on a promontory between Mentone and Monte Carlo. It -is in the French Riviera style, all very white—no Italian fresco<a name="page_258" id="page_258"></a> -colouring. Plentiful striped awnings to keep off the intense sunlight. -Cool marble rooms, polished parquets, flowers in masses—a sense of -grateful freshness with reminders of the heat outside in the dancing -reflections from the sea. Indeed, this is a charming retreat. Madame -d’Arcos and her sister, Mrs. Vaughan, were there, who having just -arrived from England, were full of accounts of the arrival of the -remains of Prince Henry of Battenberg from Ashanti, and the funeral, at -which Madame d’Arcos had represented the Empress. The different episodes -were minutely described by her of this, the last act of the latest -tragedy in our Royal Family. She had a sympathetic listener in the poor -Empress.</p> - -<p>“<i>February 14th.</i>—A sunny day marred, to me, by a visit to Monte Carlo, -where the gambling is in fullest activity. The Empress wanted us all to -go for a little cruise in a yacht, but though the sea was calm enough I -preferred <i>terra firma</i>, and her ladies drove me to Monte Carlo. Hateful -place! The lovely mountains were radiant in the low sunshine of that -afternoon and the sea sparkling with light, but a crowd of overdressed -riff-raff was circulating about the casino and pigeon-shooting place, -from which came the ceaseless crack of the cowardly, unsportsmanlike -guns. I record, with loathing, one fellow I saw who came on the green, -protected from the gentle air by a fur-lined coat which his valet took -charge of while his master maimed his allotted number of clipped -victims, and carefully replaced as soon as all the birds were down. A -black dog ran out to fetch each fluttering thing as it fell. I was glad -to see this hero was not an Englishman. Inside the casino the people -were massed round the gaming tables, the hard light from the circular<a name="page_259" id="page_259"></a> -openings above each table bringing into relief the ugly lines of their -perspiring faces. The atmosphere was dusty and stifling, and the hands -of these horribly absorbed people were black with clawing in their gains -across the grimy green baize. I drank in the pure, cool air of the -sunset loveliness outside when I got free, with a very certain -persuasion that I would never pay a second visit, except under polite -compulsion, to the gambling palace of Monte Carlo.</p> - -<p>“<i>February 15th.</i>—The Empress took us quite a long walk to see the -corps of the ‘<i>Alpins</i>’ at the Mentone barracks and back by the rocky -paths along the shore. She is very active, and is looking beautiful.</p> - -<p>“<i>Sunday, February 16th.</i>—All of us to Mass at the little Mentone -church. The dear Empress gave me a little holy picture during the -service and said, ‘I want you to keep this.’ There is at times something -very touching about her.â€</p> - -<p>I sent a small picture this year to the “New Gallery,†instead of the -Academy, feeling still the effects of their unkindness in placing “The -Dawn of Waterloo†where they did the preceding year.<a name="page_260" id="page_260"></a></p> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXI" id="CHAPTER_XXI"></a>CHAPTER XXI<br /><br /> -<small>THE DOVER COMMAND</small></h2> - -<p>A<small>ND</small> now Dover Castle rises into prominence above the horizon as I travel -onward. My husband was offered Colchester or Dover. He left the choice -to me. How could there be a doubt in my mind? The Castle was the very -ideal, to me, of a residence. Here was History, picturesqueness, a wide -view of the silver sea, and the line of the French coast to free the -mind of insularity. So to Dover we went, children, furniture, horses, -servants, dogs and all, from the Aldershot bungalow. As usual, I was -spared by Sir William all the trouble of the move, and while I was -comfortably harboured by my ever kind and hospitable friends, the -Sweetmans, in Queen’s Gate, my husband was managing all the tiresome -work of the move.</p> - -<p>It was a pleasure to give dances at the Constables’ Tower, and the -dinners were like feasts in the feudal times under that vaulted ceiling -of the Banqueting Hall. Our boys’ bedroom in the older part of this -Constables’ Tower had witnessed the death of King Stephen, and a winding -staircase conducted the unappreciative London servants by a rope to -their remote domiciles. The modernised part held the drawing-rooms, -morning-room, library, and chief bedrooms, while in the garden, walled -round by the ramparts, stood the tower whence Queen Mary is said to have -gazed upon her lost Calais. My studio had a<a name="page_261" id="page_261"></a> balcony which overhung the -moat and drawbridge. What could I have better than that? No wonder I -accomplished a creditable picture there, for I had many advantages. I -place “Steady, the Drums and Fifes!†amongst those of my works with -which I am the least dissatisfied. The Academy treated me well this -time, and gave the picture a place of honour. These drummer-boys of the -old 57th Regiment, now the Middlesex, are waiting, under fire, for the -order to sound the advance, at the Battle of Albuera. That order was -long delayed, and they and the regiment had to bear the supreme test of -endurance, the keeping motionless under fire. A difficult subject, -excellent for literature, very trying for painting. I had had the vision -of those drummer-boys for many years before my mind’s eye, and it is a -very obvious fact that what you see strongly in that way means a -successful realisation in paint. Circumstances were favourable at Dover. -The Gordon Boys’ Home there gave me a variety of models in its -well-drilled lads, and my own boys were sufficiently grown to be of -great use, though, for obvious reasons, I could not include their dear -faces in so painful a scene. The yellow coatees, too, were a tremendous -relief to me after that red which is so hard to manage. I remember -asking Detaille if he ever thought of giving our army a turn. “I would -like to,†he said, “but the red frightens us.†The bandsmen of the -Peninsular War days wore coatees of the colour of the regimental -facings. After long and patient researches I found out this fact, and -the facings of the 57th, being canary yellow, I had an unexpected treat. -I remember how the Duke of York<a name="FNanchor_11_11" id="FNanchor_11_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a> at an Aldershot dinner had<a name="page_262" id="page_262"></a> -characteristically caught up this fact with great interest when I told -him all about my preparations for this picture. I am glad to know this -work belongs to the old 57th, the “Die Hards,†who won that title at -Albuera. “Die hard, men, die hard!†was their colonel’s order on that -tremendous day.</p> - -<p>Many interesting events punctuated our official life at Dover:</p> - -<p>“<i>August 15th, 1896.</i>—Great doings to-day. We had a busy time of it. -Lord Salisbury was installed Lord Warden in the place of Lord Dufferin. -Will had the direction, not only of the military part of the ceremonies -but of the social (in conjunction with me), as far as the Constables’ -Tower was concerned. Everything went well. Lord and Lady Salisbury drove -in a carriage and four from Walmer up to our Tower, and, while the -procession was forming outside to escort them down to the town, they -rested in our drawing-room for about half an hour, and Lord Dufferin -also came in.</p> - -<p>“I had to converse with these exalted personages whilst officers in full -uniform and women in full toilettes came and went with clatter of sabre -and rustle of silk. To fill up the rather trying half-hour and being -expected to devote my attention chiefly to the new Lord Warden, I -bethought myself of conducting him to a window which gave a bird’s-eye -view of the smoky little town below. I moralised, <i>à la</i> Ruskin, on the -ugliness of the coal smoke which was smudging that view in particular, -and spoiling England in general. On reconducting the weighty Salisbury -to a rather fragile settee I morally and very nearly physically knocked -him over by this felicitous remark: ‘Well, I have the consolation of -knowing that the<a name="page_263" id="page_263"></a> coalfields of England are finite!’ ‘What?’ he shouted, -with a bound which nearly broke the back of that settee. I don’t think -he said anything more to me that day. Of course, I meant that smokeless -methods would have to be discovered for working our industries, but I -left that unsaid, feeling very small. It is my misfortune that I have -not the knack of small talk, so useful to official people, and that I am -obliged to propel myself into conversation by pronouncements of that -kind. Shall I ever forget the catastrophe at the L——s’ dinner at -Aldershot, when I announced, during a pause in the general conversation, -to an old gentleman who had taken me in, and whose name I hadn’t caught, -that there was one word I would inscribe on the tombstone of the Irish -nation, and that word was—Whisky. The old gentleman was John Jameson.</p> - -<p>“But to return to to-day’s doings. I had to consign to C.,<a name="FNanchor_12_12" id="FNanchor_12_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a> as my -deputy, the head of the table for such of the people as were remaining -at the Castle for luncheon as I myself had to appear at that function at -the Town Hall. The procession, military, civil and civic—especially -civic—started at 12 for the ‘Court of Shepway,’ where much antique -ceremonial took place. When they all reached the Town Hall after that, -Lord Salisbury first unveiled a full-length portrait of the outgoing -Lord Warden, at the entrance to the Banqueting Hall, and complimented -him on so excellent a likeness with a genial pat on the back. We were -all in good humour which increased as we filed in to luncheon and -continued to increase during that civic feast, enlivened by a band. -Trumpets sounded before each speech, and the sharp clapping<a name="page_264" id="page_264"></a> of hands -called, I think, ‘Kentish Fire,’ gave a local touch which was pleasingly -original. I am glad, always, to find the county spirit still so strong -in England, and nowhere is it stronger than in Kent. It must work well -in war with the county regiments.</p> - -<p>“I am afraid Lady Salisbury must have got rather knocked out of time -coming to the Castle, by all the saluting, trumpeting and general -prancing of the guard of honour. She was nervous crossing our drawbridge -with four ‘jumpy’ horses which she told me had never been with troops -before! Altogether I don’t think this was a day to suit her at all. I -heard the postillion riding the near leader shout back to the coachman -on the box as they started homeward from our door, ‘Put on both brakes -<i>hard!</i>’ Away went the open carriage which had very low sides and no -hood, and Lord Salisbury, being very wide, rather bulged over the side. -Wearing a military cape, lent him by my General, the day turning chilly, -he had a rather top-heavy appearance, and we only breathed freely when -that ticklish drawbridge, and the very steep drop of the hill beyond it, -were passed. So now let them rest at Walmer. Will will do all he can to -secure peace for them there.â€</p> - -<p>On August 20th I went to poor Sir John Millais’ funeral in St. Paul’s. -The ceremony was touching to me when I thought of the kind, enthusiastic -friend of my early days and his hearty encouragement and praise. They -had placed his palette and a sheaf of his brushes on the coffin. Lord -Wolseley, Irving, the actor, Holman Hunt and Lord Rosebery were the -pall-bearers. The ceremony struck me as gloomy after being accustomed to -Catholic ritual, and the undertaker element was too pronounced, but the<a name="page_265" id="page_265"></a> -music was exquisite. So good-bye to a truly great and sincere artist. -What a successful life he had, rounded by so terribly painful a death!</p> - -<p>One of the most interesting of the Dover episodes was our hiring of -“Broome Hall†for the South-Eastern District manÅ“uvres in the -following September. The Castle was too far away for working them from -there, so this fine old Elizabethan mansion, being in the very centre of -the theatre of “war,†became our headquarters. There we entertained Lord -Wolseley and his staff as the house-party. Other warriors and many -civilians whose lovely country houses were dotted about that beautiful -Kentish region came in from outside each day, and for four days what -felt to me like a roaring kind of hospitality went on which proved an -astonishing feat of housekeeping on my part. True, I was liberally -helped, but to this day I marvel that things went so successfully. -Everything had to be brought from the Castle—servants in an omnibus, -<i>batterie de cuisine</i>, plate, linen and all sorts of necessary things, -in military waggons, for the house had not been inhabited for a long -while. All the food was sent out from Dover fresh every day, by road—no -village near. The house had been palatially furnished in the old days, -but its glory was much faded and so ancestral was it that it possessed a -ghost. A pathetic interest attaches to “Broome†to-day, and I should not -know it again in its renovated beauty. Lord Kitchener restored it to -more than its pristine lustre, I am told.</p> - -<p>The morning start each day of all these generals (Sir Evelyn Wood was -one of them) from the front door for the “battle†was a pleasing sight -for me,<a name="page_266" id="page_266"></a> with the strong cavalry escort following. After the gallant -cavalcade had got clear I would follow in the little victoria with -friends, hoping in my innermost heart that I was leaving everything well -in hand behind me for the hungry “Cocked Hats†on their return.</p> - -<p>On March 30th, 1897, I had a glimpse of Gladstone. We were on the pier -to receive a Royalty, and the “Grand Old Man†was also on board the -Calais boat. He was the last to land and was accompanied by his wife. He -came up the gangway with some difficulty, and struck me as very much -aged, with his face showing signs of pain. I had not seen him since he -sat beside me at a dinner at the Ripons’ in 1880, when his keen eye had -rather overawed me. He was now eighty-eight! The crowd cheered him well, -but the old couple were past that sort of thing, and only anxious to -seek their rest at “Betteshanger,†a few miles distant, whither Lord -Northbourne’s carriage whirled them away from public view.</p> - -<p>And now comes the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria. I think my fresh -impressions written down at the time should be inserted here as I find -them. Too much national sorrow and suffering brought to us by the Great -War, and too many changes have since blurred that bright picture to -allow of posthumous enthusiasm for its chronicling to-day. Were I to -tone down that picture to the appearance it has to me at the present -time it would hardly be worth showing.</p> - -<p>“<i>June 22nd, 1897.</i>—Jubilee Day. I never expected to be so touched by -what I have seen of these pageants and rejoicings, and to feel so much -personal affection for the Queen as I have done through this wonderful<a name="page_267" id="page_267"></a> -week. Thinking of other nations, we cannot help being impressed with the -way in which the English have comported themselves on this occasion—the -unanimity of the crowds; the willingness of every one concerned; all -resulting in those huge pageants passing off without a single jar. My -place was in the courtyard of the Horse Guards; Will’s place was on his -big grey before St. Paul’s, at Queen Anne’s statue, to keep an eye on -things. I had an effective view of the procession making the bend from -Whitehall into the courtyard, and out by the archway into the parade -ground. This gave me time to enjoy the varied types of all those -nationalities whose warriors represented them, as they filed past at -close quarters. But we had five hours of waiting. These hours were well -filled up for me, so continually interested in watching the movements of -the troops as they took up their positions for receiving the procession -and saluting the Queen. I think in the way of perfect dress and of -superfine, thoroughbred horseflesh, Lord Lonsdale’s troop of Cumberland -Hussars was as memorable a group as any that day. They wore the ‘sling -jacket,’ only known to me in pictures and old prints of the pre-Crimean -days, and to see these gallant-looking crimson pelisses in reality was -quite a delightful surprise.</p> - -<p>“The sun burst through the clouds just as the guns announced to us that -the Queen had started from Buckingham Palace on her great round by St. -Paul’s at 11.15. So we waited, waited. Presently some one called out, -‘Here’s Captain Ames,’ and, knowing he was the leader, we nimbly ran up -to our seats. It seemed hardly credible that the journey to St. Paul’s -and the ceremony there, and the journey homewards<a name="page_268" id="page_268"></a> could have occupied -so comparatively brief an interval. I think the part of the procession -which most delighted me was the cohort of Indian cavalry, and then the -gorgeous bunch of thirty-six princes, each in his national dress or -uniform. These rode in triplets. You saw a blue-coated Prussian riding -with a Montenegrin on one side and an Italian bonneted by the absurd -general’s helmet now in vogue on the other. Then came another triplet of -a Persian, whose breast was a galaxy of diamonds flashing in the sun, an -Austrian with fur pelisse and busby (poor man, in that heat), and the -brother of the Khedive, wearing the familiar <i>tarboosh</i>, riding a little -white Arab. Then followed an English Admiral in the person of the Duke -of York, a Japanese mannikin on his right, and a huge Russian on his -left, and so on, and so on—types and dresses from all the quarters of -the globe in close proximity, so that one could compare them at a -glance. The dignified Indian cavalry were superb as to dress and -<i>puggarees</i>, but the faces were stolid, very unlike the keen, clean-cut -Arab types which so charmed me in Egypt and Palestine. There certainly -were too many carriages filled with small Germans. Then came the -colonial escort to the Queen’s carriage. As they came on and passed -before us I do not exaggerate when I say that there seemed to pass over -them an ever-deepening cloud-shadow, as it were, from the white -Canadians riding in front, through ever-deepening shades of brown down -to the blackest of negroes, who rode last. What an epitome of our -Colonial Empire! Then, finally, before the supreme moment, came Lord -Wolseley, the immediate forerunner of the Royal carriage. He looked well -and gallant and youthful. Then round the curve into<a name="page_269" id="page_269"></a> the courtyard the -eight cream-coloured horses in rich gala harness of Garter-blue and -gold! So quick was the pace that I dared not dwell too long on their -beauty for I was too absorbed in the Queen during that precious minute. -There she was, the centre of all this! A little woman, seated by herself -(I had not time to see who sat facing her) with an expressionless pink -face, preoccupied in settling her bonnet, which had got a little -crooked, as though nothing unusual was going on, and that was the last I -saw of her as she passed under the dark archway, facing homeward.</p> - -<p>“<i>June 26th.</i>—Off from Dover at 2 a.m. for Southampton, by way of -London, to see the culminating glory of the Jubilee—the greatest naval -review ever witnessed. At eight we left Waterloo in one of the -‘specials’ that took holders of invitation cards for the various ocean -liners that had been chartered for the occasion. Our ship was the P. and -O. <i>Paramatta</i>, and very pleased I was on beholding her vast -proportions, for I feared qualms on any smaller vessel. There were -meetings on board with friends and a great luncheon, and general good -humour and complacency at being Britons. The day cleared up at 10.30, -and only a slight haze thinly veiled the mighty host of the Channel -Fleet as we slowly steamed towards it along the Solent. Gradually the -sun shone fully out and the day settled into steady brilliance.</p> - -<p>“Well, I have been so inflated with national pride since beholding our -naval power this day that if I don’t get a prick of some sort I shall go -off like a balloon. Let us be exultant just for a week! We won’t think -of the ugly look of India just now and all the nasty warnings of the -bumptious Kaiser and the rest of it. We can’t while looking at Britannia -ruling<a name="page_270" id="page_270"></a> the waves, as we are doing to-day. Five miles of ships of war -five lines deep! When all these ships fired each twenty-one guns by -divisions as the Prince of Wales steamed up and down the lines, and the -crews of each vessel in turn gave such cheers as only Jack Tar can give, -it was not the moment to threaten us with anything. I shall never forget -the aspect of this fleet of ours, black hulls and yellow funnels and -‘fighting tops’ stretching to east and west as far as the eye could -reach and beyond, the mellow sunlight full upon them and the -slowly-rolling clouds of smoke that wrapped them round with mystery as -their countless guns thundered the salute! Myriads of flags fluttered in -the breeze, the sea sparkled, and in and out of those motionless -battleships all manner of steam and sailing craft moved incessantly, -deepening by the contrast of their hurry the sense one had of the -majestic power contained in those reposing monsters.... Every one is -saying, ‘And to think that not a single ship has been recalled from -abroad to make up this display!’ We are all very pleased, and have the -good old Nelson feeling about us.†On June 28th the Queen held her -Jubilee Garden Party in the Buckingham Palace grounds. There we looked -our last on her.</p> - -<p>I took four of the children, in August, to Bruges, that old city so much -enjoyed by me in my early years. I was charmed to see how carefully all -the old houses had been preserved, and, indeed, I noticed that a few of -them, vulgarly modernised then, were now restored to their original -beauty. How well the Belgians understand these things! Seventeen years -after this date the eldest of the two schoolboys I had with me was to -ride through that same old Bruges<a name="page_271" id="page_271"></a> as A.D.C. to the general commanding -“The Immortal 7th Division,†which, retiring before the German hordes, -was to turn and help to rend them at Ypres.</p> - -<p>In 1898 I exhibited a smaller picture than usual—“The Morrow of -Talavera,†which was very kindly placed at the Academy—and I began a -large Crimean subject, “The Colours,†for the succeeding year. I had -some fine models at Dover for this picture. In making the studies for it -I had an interesting experience. I wanted to show the colour party of -the Scots Guards advancing up the hill of the Alma in their full parade -dress—the last time British troops wore it in action—Lieutenant Lloyd -Lindsay carrying the Queen’s colour. It was then he won the V.C. Lord -Wantage (that same Lloyd Lindsay), now an old man, but full of energy, -when he heard of my project, conducted me to the Guards’ Chapel in -London, and there and then had the old, dusty, moth-eaten Alma colours -taken down from their place on the walls, and held the Queen’s colour -once more in his hand for me to see. I made careful studies at the -chapel, and restored the fresh tints which he told me they had on that -far-away day, when I came to put them into the picture. I was in South -Africa when the Academy opened in the following spring.</p> - -<p>On September 11th, 1898, we received the terrible news of the -assassination of the Empress of Austria. I had seen her every Sunday and -feast day at our little Ventnor church, at Mass, during her residence at -Steep Hill Castle. She had the tiniest waist I ever saw—indeed, no -woman could have lived with a tinier one. She was beautiful, but so -frigid in<a name="page_272" id="page_272"></a> her manner; she seemed made of stone, yet she rode splendidly -to hounds—altogether an enigma.</p> - -<p>October 27th, 1898, I thoroughly enjoyed. It was a day after my own -heart—picturesque, historical, stirring, amusing. Sir Herbert -Kitchener, <i>the</i> Sirdar <i>par excellence</i>, was received at Dover on his -arrival from the captured Khartoum with all the prestige of his new-won -honours shining around him. My husband had decided that the regulation -military honours “to be accorded to distinguished persons†were -applicable to the man who was coming, and so a guard of honour -(Highlanders) with the regimental colour was drawn up at the pier head, -the regimental officers in red and the staff in blue. The crowd on the -upper part of the pier was immense and densely packed all along the -parapet, and the Lower Pier, reserved for special people, was crowded, -too. It was a calm, grey, yet bright day, and the absence of wind made -things pleasant. Great gathering of Cocked Hats at the entrance gates, -and we all walked to the landing stage. There was a dense smudge of -black smoke on the horizon. I knew that meant Kitchener. Keeping my eye -on that smudge, I took but a distracted part in the small talk and -frequent introductions of distinguished persons come from afar to -welcome the man of the hour, “the Avenger of Gordon.†I was conducted to -the head of the landing steps, together with such of the staff as were -not to go on board the boat with the General. Then the smudge got hidden -behind the pier end, but I could see the ever-increasing swish and swirl -of the water on the starboard side of the hidden steamer, and soon she -swept alongside; a few vague cheers began, no one in the crowd knowing -the Sirdar by sight. When,<a name="page_273" id="page_273"></a> however, the General went on board and shook -hands, this proclaimed at once where the man was, and cheer upon cheer -thundered out. I have never, before or since, seen such spontaneous -enthusiasm in England. After a little talk (my husband and he were long -together on the Nile) and after the delivery of letters (one from the -Queen) and telegrams, during which the hurrahs went on in a great roar -and multitudinous pocket handkerchiefs fluttered in a long perspective, -the big, solid, stolid, sunburnt Briton stepped on English soil once -more. While shaking hands with me he seemed astonished and amused at all -that was going on and, looking over my head at the masses of people -above, he lifted his hat, and thenceforth kept it in his hand as he was -escorted to the Lord Warden Hotel. He had asked his A.D.C., on first -catching sight of the reception awaiting him, “What is all this about?â€</p> - -<p>Then there was an Address at the hotel to which he listened with an -ox-like patience, and after that the enormous company of invited guests -went to lunch. In his speech my husband paid the Sirdar the compliment -of saying that the traditional Field Marshal’s baton would be found in -his trunk when the customs officers opened it at Victoria. Kitchener -spoke so low I could not hear him. Had he been less immovable one could -have plainly seen how utterly he hated having to make a speech. His -travelling dress looked most interestingly incongruous amidst the rich -uniforms and the glossy frock-coats as he stood up to say what he had to -say. As we all bulged out of the hotel door the cheers began again from -the crowds. I took care to look at the people that day, and I was struck -by their <i>unanimity</i>. All ranks were<a name="page_274" id="page_274"></a> there, and yet on every face, well -bred or unwashed, I saw the same identical expression—one of broad, -laughing delight. Such were my impressions, which I noted down, as -usual, at the moment, and I have lived to see that remarkable man work -out his life, and end it with a tragedy that will hold its place in -history; my husband’s prophecy, put in those playful words at Dover, -fulfilled; a threatening disaster to the Empire turned into victory with -the aid of that extraordinary mind and physical endurance; and the -burning fire of that personality quenched, untimely, in the icy depths -of a northern sea.<a name="page_275" id="page_275"></a></p> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXII" id="CHAPTER_XXII"></a>CHAPTER XXII<br /><br /> -<small>THE CAPE AND DEVONPORT</small></h2> - -<p>O<small>N</small> November 12th, 1898, my husband sailed for South Africa, there to -take up the military command, and to act as High Commissioner in place -of Sir Alfred Milner, home on leave. His staff at Dover loved him. Their -send-off brought tears to his eyes. I, C. and the A.D.C. saw him off -from Southampton, to rejoin him in the process of time at the Cape. We -little knew what a dark period in his life awaited him out there, -brought about by the malice of those in power there and at home. It is -too sacred and too painful a subject for me to record it here further -than I have done. The facts will be found in his “Autobiography.†I left -England on February 18th, 1899, with three of the children, leaving the -two eldest boys at college. It was a very painful leave-taking at the -Waterloo Station. My mother was there and all the dear ones, whom I did -not expect to see again for two or three years—my mother perhaps ever -again. Yet in a few months we were back there! My theory that one should -try and not fret about the future, which is an absolutely unknown -quantity, proved justified. I have chronicled our voyage out in my -former little book, and described one night at Madeira—a night of -enchantment under the moon.</p> - -<p>I need not go over the days on the “blue water†again, nor our strange -life beyond the Equator, where, though I was filled with admiration for -the<a name="page_276" id="page_276"></a> beauty of our surroundings, I never felt the happiness which Italy, -Egypt or Palestine had given me. Very absurd, no doubt, and sentimental, -but my love of the old haunts made me feel resentful of the topsy-turvy -state of things I found down there. The crescent moon on what (to me) -was the wrong side of the sunset, the hot north wind, the cold blast -from the south, the shadows all inverted—no, I did not enjoy this -contradiction to my well-beloved traditions. There was, besides, a local -melancholy in that strange beauty I cannot describe. All this may be put -down to sentimentality, but a very real melancholy attaches to South -Africa in my mind in connection with my husband, who suffered there for -his honesty and devotion to the honour of the Empire he served. The -authorities accepted his resignation of the Cape command which he -tendered for fear of embarrassing the Government, and he accepted the -command of the Western District in its place, which meant Devonport. So -on August 22nd we all embarked for Home.</p> - -<p>There we found the campaign of calumny, originated in South Africa -against Sir William, in its acutest phase. The Press was letting loose -all the poison with which it was being supplied, and I consequently went -through, at first, the bitter pain of daily trying to intercept the -vilest anonymous letters, many of them beer-stained missives couched in -ill-spelt language from the slums. Not all the reparation offered to my -husband later on—the bestowal of the Grand Cross of the Bath, his -election to the dignity of Privy Councillor, his selection as the safest -judge to investigate the South African war stores scandals, not to name -other acts conveying the <i>amende honorable</i>—ever healed the wound.<a name="page_277" id="page_277"></a></p> - -<p>His offence had been a frank admission of sympathy for a people -tenacious of their independence and, knowing the Boers as he did, he -knew what their resistance would mean in case of attack. He was appalled -at the prospect of a war, not against an army but against a people, -involving the farm-burnings and all the horrors which our armies would -have to resort to. He would fain have seen violence avoided and -diplomacy used instead, knowing, as he did, that the old intransigent -Dopper element would die out in time, and the new generation of Boers, -many of whom were educated at our universities, intermarrying with the -English, as they were already doing, would have brought about that very -union of the two races within the Empire which has been reached to-day -through all that suffering. In case, however, war should be decided on -he employed the utmost vigour allowed to official language to warn those -in power of the necessity for enormous forces in order to ensure -success. Some of his despatches were suppressed. The idea at -Headquarters was an easy march to Pretoria. What I have alluded to as -the malice which prompted the campaign of calumny had caused the report -to be spread that our initial defeats were owing to his wilful neglect -in not warning the directing powers of the gravity of their undertaking.</p> - -<p>The chief interest I found in our new appointment was caused by the -frequent arrivals of foreign men-of-war, whose captains were received -officially and socially, and there were admirals, too, when squadrons -came. It was interesting and amusing. Lord and Lady Charles Scott were -at the Admiralty and, later, Sir Edward Seymour, during our appointment. -The foreign sailors prevented the official functions from<a name="page_278" id="page_278"></a> becoming -monotonous, and we got a certain amount of pleasure out of this -Devonport phase of our experiences. I carried my painting “through thick -and thin,†and did well, on the whole, at the Academy. I had the -“consuming zeal‗a very necessary possession. One year it was a big -tent-pegging picture (I don’t know where its purchaser is now), which -was well lighted at Burlington House. Then a Boer War subject, “Within -Sound of the Guns‗well placed; followed by an Afghan subject, “Rescue -of Wounded,†which to my great pleasure was given an excellent place in -the <i>Salle d’Honneur</i>. I also accomplished other smaller works and -exhibited a great number of water colours. It is a medium I like much. I -also prepared for the Press my “Letters from the Holy Land†there which -I have already mentioned. My publishers, Messrs. A. and C. Black, -reproduced the water-colour illustrations very faithfully.</p> - -<p>Our French sailor guests were always bright, so were the Italians, but -the Japanese were very heavy in hand, and conversation was uphill work. -It was mainly carried on by repeated smiles and nods on their part. When -their big ships came in on one occasion the Admiralty gave them the -first dinner, of course, and at the end the bandmaster had the happy -thought of giving a few bars out of Arthur Sullivan’s “Mikado†before -the Emperor’s health was drunk, the National Air not being in his -repertory. Some one asked the Jap admiral if he recognised it. “Ah! no, -no, no!†came the usual smiling and nodding answer. At the Port -Admirals’ I was to learn that in the navy you mustn’t stand up for our -Sovereign’s health, by order of William IV. This resulted one evening in -our sitting for “The King<a name="page_279" id="page_279"></a>†and standing up for “The Kaiser.†There were -the German admiral and officers present. I thought that very -unfortunate.<a name="FNanchor_13_13" id="FNanchor_13_13"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a></p> - -<p>Well, Devonport in summer was very delightful, but Devonport in winter -had long periods of fog and gloom. I had the blessing of another trip to -Italy, this time with our eldest daughter, starting on a dark wintry day -in early March, 1900. Sir William’s work prevented his coming with us. -<i>Viâ</i> Genoa to Rome lay our happy way. Of course, it wasn’t the Rome I -first knew, but the shock I received when revisiting it four years -before this present visit had already introduced me into the new order, -and I now knew what to see, enjoy, and avoid. There were several new -things to enjoy: above all, the Forum, now all open to the sky! In the -dear old days that space was a rather dreary expanse of waste land where -some poor old paupers were to be daily seen, leisurely labouring under -the delusion that they were excavating. They grubbed up the tufts of -grass and scraped the dust with pocket-knives, and the treasures below -remained comfortably tucked away from public view. Then the much-abused -Embankment. The dignified sweep of its lines leads the eye up, as it -follows the flow of the stream, to the dignity of St. Peter’s, whereas, -formerly, in its place, unbeautiful masses of mouldering houses tottered -over the Tiber and gave that long-suffering river the reflections of -their drainpipes. Then, the two end arches of that most estimable Ponte -Sant’ Angelo are now cleared of the old mud which blocked them up<a name="page_280" id="page_280"></a> -malodorously and docked the lovely thing of its symmetry. Then, finally, -Rome is clean!</p> - -<p>We had the good fortune to be present at two very striking Papal -functions, striking as bringing together Catholics from a wide-flung -circle embracing some remote nationalities unknown by sight to me. The -first was the Pope’s Benediction in St. Peter’s on March 18th. We were -standing altogether about three hours in the crowd at the Tomb, well -placed for seeing the Holy Father. He was taken round the vast basilica -in his <i>sedia gestatoria</i>, and blessed a wildly cheering crowd. I never -saw a human being so like a spirit as Leo XIII. He looked as white as -his mitre as he leant forward and stretched his arm out in benediction -from side to side, borne high above the helmets of the Noble Guard. One -heard cheers in all languages, and a curious effect was produced by the -whirling handkerchiefs, which made a white haze above the dark crowd. I -have often heard secular monarchs cheered, and that very heartily, but -for a Pope it seems that more than ordinary loyalty prompts the -cheerers. The people seem to give out their whole being in their voices -and gestures.</p> - -<p>The Diary says: “I am glad I have seen that old man’s face and his look, -as though it came to us from beyond the grave. At times the cheers went -up to the highest pitch of both men’s and women’s voices. A strange -sound to hear in a church.â€</p> - -<p>A spring day spent at the well-known Hadrian’s Villa, under Tivoli, is -not to be allowed to pass without a grateful record. It is a most -exquisite place of old ruins, cypresses, olives and, at this time, -flowering peach trees, violets and anemones. It is an enchanting site -for a country house. Hadrian chose well.<a name="page_281" id="page_281"></a> From there you see the -delicately-pencilled dome of St. Peter’s on the rim of the horizon to -the west, and behind you, to the north, rise the steep foot-hills of the -mountains, some crowned with old cities. The ruins of the villa are all -<i>minus</i> the lovely outer coating which used to hide the brickwork, and -poor Hadrian would have felt very woeful had he foreseen that all the -white loveliness of his villa was to come to this. But as bits of warm -colour and lovely surface those brick spaces take the sun and shadow -beautifully between the dark masses of the cypresses and feathery grey -cloudiness of the olives. Nowhere is the “touch and go†nature of life -more strikingly put before the mind than in dead Rome, where so much -magnificence in stone and marble and mosaic and bronze has fallen into -lumps of crumbling brick.</p> - -<p>On March 26th we attended the Papal Benediction in the Sistine Chapel, -which is a remarkable thing to see. It was a memorable morning. The -floor of the chapel was packed with pilgrims, some of them rough men and -women from remote regions of the north-east, whose outlandish costumes -were especially remarkable for the heavy Cossack boots, reaching to the -knee, worn by both sexes. One wondered how these people journeyed to -Rome. What a gathering of the faithful we looked down on from our -gallery! The same ecstatic cheering we had heard in St. Peter’s -announced the entrance of Leo XIII. There he was, the holy creature, -blessing right and left with that thin alabaster hand, half covered with -a white mitten. With all their hoarse barbaric cheering, I noticed how -those peasants, who had so particularly attracted me, remembered to bend -their heads and most devoutly make the sign<a name="page_282" id="page_282"></a> of the cross as he passed. -They almost monopolised my study of the motley crowd, but I was aware of -the many nationalities present, and the same enthusiasm came from them -all. At such times a great consolation eases the mind, saddened, as it -often is, by the general atmosphere of declining faith in which one has -to live one’s ordinary life in the world. After the Mass came the -presentation of the pilgrims at the altar steps. The Pope had kind words -for all, bending down to hear and to speak to them, and often stroking -the men’s heads. One huge Muscovite peasant knelt long at his feet, and -the Pope kept patting the rough man’s cheek and speaking to him and -blessing him over and over again. At the sight of this a wild -“<i>hourah</i>!†broke from his fellow villagers. Where in the world was -their village? In the mists of remoteness, but here in heart, -unmistakably. Following the swarthy giant three sandy-haired German -students, carrying their plumed caps in their hands and girt with -rapiers, presented some college documents to receive the Papal -benediction, and a great many men and women knelt and passed on, but the -Pope seemed in no way fatigued. As he was borne out again he waved us an -upward blessing with his white and most friendly countenance turned up -to us.</p> - -<p>Our Roman wanderings included a visit to the Holy Father’s Vatican -gardens, which are part of the little temporal kingdom a Pope still -possesses, and to his tiny “country house†therein, where he goes for -change of air(!) in the summer, about two stonethrows from the Vatican. -I note: “There are well-trimmed vineyards there; there are pet birds and -beasts in a little ‘zoological gardens’; there is the<a name="page_283" id="page_283"></a> arbour where he -has his meals on hot days; and, finally, we were conducted to his little -villa bedroom from whose window one of the finest views of Rome is seen, -dominated by the Quirinal, within (let us hope) shaking hands distance.†-We heard the “Miserere†at St. Peter’s on Good Friday—very impressive, -that twilight service in the apse of the great basilica! The -unaccompanied voices of boys sounded in sweetest music—one hardly knew -whence it came—and the air seemed to thrill with the thin angelic sound -in the waning light as one by one the candles at the altar were put out. -At the last Psalm the last light was extinguished, and the vast crowd -with its wan faces remained lighted only by the faint glimmer that came -down from the pale sky through the high windows. Then good-bye to Rome. -We left for Perugia on April 22nd. I certainly ought to be grateful for -having had yet another reception by my Umbrian Hills! And such a -reception that April afternoon, with the low sun gilding everything into -fullest beauty! I did my best to secure that moment in miserably -inadequate paint from the hotel window immediately on arrival. Better -than nothing. But no more of Perugia, nor of dear old Florence on our -way to academic Padua; no more of Verona. I have much yet to record on -getting home, and after!<a name="page_284" id="page_284"></a></p> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXIII" id="CHAPTER_XXIII"></a>CHAPTER XXIII<br /><br /> -<small>A NEW REIGN</small></h2> - -<p>S<small>IR</small> William was asked by Lord Wolseley to take up the Aldershot command -in the absence of Sir Redvers Buller, who was struggling very -desperately to retrieve our fortunes in the Boer War; so to Aldershot we -went from Devonport, where my husband’s command ran concurrently. How -intensely England had hoped for the turning of the tide when Buller was -given the tremendous task of directing our armies! We forget the horrors -the nation went through in those days because the late War has made us -pass through the same apprehensions multiplied by millions, but there -the fact remains in our history that we nearly suffered a terrible -catastrophe at the time of which I am writing. Buller, on leaving for -the Cape, had said to my husband how fervently he wished he possessed -his gift of imagination, and, indeed, that is a very precious gift to a -commander. This truly awful state of things—our terrible losses, and -the temporary lowering of our military prestige (thank heaven, so -gloriously recovered and enhanced in the World War!)—were the answer to -the repeated assertion made, when we were at the Cape, by those who -ought to have known, that “the Boers won’t fight.†How this used to -enrage my husband, whose “gift of imagination†made him see so clearly -the danger ahead. Well, all this is of the long ago, and, as I have<a name="page_285" id="page_285"></a> -already noted, it is better to say little now; but the sense of -injustice lives!</p> - -<p class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/ill_pg_284_lg.jpg"> -<img src="images/ill_pg_284_sml.jpg" width="259" height="409" alt="A Despatch-Bearer, Boer War, and the Horse-Gunners." -title="A Despatch-Bearer, Boer War, and the Horse-Gunners." /></a> -<br /> -<span class="caption">A Despatch-Bearer, Boer War, and the Horse-Gunners.</span> -</p> - -<p>Buller had a great reception at Aldershot on his return from South -Africa. I never saw a more radiantly happy face on a woman than poor -Lady Audrey’s, who had been in a state of most tense anxiety during her -dear Redvers’ absence. As the train steamed into the station the band -struck up “See the Conquering Hero comes!†The horses of his carriage -were unharnessed, and the triumphal car was drawn by a team of firemen -to Government House. At the entrance gate a group of school children -sang “Home, sweet Homeâ€; my husband hauled down his flag and Buller’s -was run up, and so that episode closed.</p> - -<p>We had inhabited a suburban-looking villa on the road to Farnborough -during the absence of Sir Redvers, not wishing to disturb the anxious -watcher at Government House, and very often we saw the Empress, just as -in the old days. She told us the dear Queen was very ill, far worse than -the world was allowed to know. My husband had always said the war would -kill her, for she had taken our losses cruelly to heart, and so it -happened on January 22nd, 1901. The resumed Devonport Diary says:</p> - -<p>“A day ever to be marked in English history as a day of mourning. Our -Queen is dead. At dinner S. brought us the news that she passed away at -6.30 this afternoon. We were prepared for it, but it seems like a dream. -To us who have been born and have lived all our lives under her -sovereignty it is difficult to realise that she is gone.</p> - -<p>“<i>January 23rd, 1901.</i>—A dull gloomy day, punctuated by 81 minute guns, -which began booming at<a name="page_286" id="page_286"></a> noon. All the royal standards and flags hanging -half-mast in the fog, on land and afloat.</p> - -<p>“<i>January 24th.</i>—At noon-day all standards and flags were run up to the -masthead, and a quick thunder of guns proclaimed the accession of Edward -VII. At the end the band on board the guardship <i>Nile</i> struck up ‘God -Save the King.’ The flags will all be lowered again until the day after -Queen Victoria is laid to rest. Edward VII.! How strange it sounds, and -how events and changes are rolling down upon us every hour now. Albert -Edward will be a greater man as Edward VII.</p> - -<p>“<i>February 5th.</i>—The Queen was buried to-day beside her husband at -Frogmore. It is inexpressibly touching to think of them side by side -again. Model wife and mother, how many of your women subjects have -strayed away, of late, from those virtues which you were true to to the -last!</p> - -<p>“<i>February 16th.</i>—There is great indignation amongst us Catholics at -Edward VII. having been called upon to take the oath at the opening of -Parliament which savours so much of the darkest days of ‘No Popery’ -bigotry. I think it might have been modified by this time, and the lies -about ‘idolatry’ and the ‘worship’ of the Virgin Mary eliminated. Could -not the King have had strength of mind enough to refuse to insult his -Catholic subjects? I know he must have deeply disliked to pronounce -those words.</p> - -<p>“<i>August 6th.</i>—Again the flags to-day are at half-mast, and so is the -royal standard, and this time, on the men-of-war, it is the German flag! -The Empress Frederick died yesterday.†I never mentioned at the time of -our visit to the Connaughts at Bagshot, when we were first at Aldershot, -a touching incident concerning<a name="page_287" id="page_287"></a> her. Sir William sat next to her at -dinner, and, <i>à propos</i> of a really fine still-life picture painted by -her, which hung over the dining-room door in the hall, he asked her -whether she still kept up her painting. “No,†she said, “I have cried -myself blind!†What with one Empress crying as though her heart would -break in speaking to him that time at Camden Place and this Empress -telling him she had cried herself blind——! The illness and death of -the Kaiser Frederick must have been a period of great anguish.</p> - -<p>During this summer I was very busy with my picture of the “10th Bengal -Lancers at Tent Pegging,†a subject requiring much sunshine study, which -I have already mentioned.</p> - -<p>In September, Lord Roberts—“the miniature Field Marshal,†as I call him -in the Diary—came down on inspection, and great were the doings in his -honour. “How will this little figure stand in history? Will’s -well-planned defence against a night attack from the sea came off very -well this dark still night, though the navy were nearly an hour late. -There was too much waiting, but when, at last, the enemy torpedo boats -and destroyers appeared, the whole Sound was bordered with such a zone -of fire that, had it been real war, not a rivet of the invader’s -flotilla would have been left in possession of its hold. ‘Bobs’ must -have been gratified at to-night’s display, which he reviewed from -Stonehouse.</p> - -<p>“Our Roberts dinner was of twenty-two covers, and the only women were -Lady Charles Scott, myself and C. A guard of honour was at the front -door, and presented arms as the Field Marshal arrived, the band playing. -He certainly is diminutive. A nice face,<a name="page_288" id="page_288"></a> soldierlike, and a natural -manner. With him that too jocose Evelyn Wood and others. ‘Bobs,’ of -course, took me in to dinner, and, on my left, Lord Charles Scott took -in C. Will took in Lady Charles. The others—Lord Mount Edgcumbe, H.S.H. -Prince Louis of Battenberg (in command of the <i>Implacable</i>), Admiral -Jackson, and so forth—subsided into their places according to -seniority. Every man in blue or red except one rifleman. Soft music -during dinner and two bars of the National Anthem before the still -unfamiliar ‘The King, God bless him!’ at dessert. Will still feels a -little—I don’t know how to express it—of the mental hesitation before -changing ‘the Queen’ which he felt so strongly at first. He was very -truly attached to her. I was back in the drawing-room in good time to -receive the crowd, who came in a continuous flow, all with an expectant -smile, to pay homage to the Lion. I don’t think I forgot anybody’s name -(coached by the A.D.C.) in all those introductions, but that item of my -duties is a thing I dread. I never saw people in such good humour at any -social function before. We certainly <i>do</i> love to honour our soldiers. -But, all the time, things are not going too well with us in the war!</p> - -<p>“<i>September 14th.</i>—Again the flags half-mast! Now it is the ‘Stars and -Stripes.’ Poor President McKinley succumbed to-day to his horrible -wound. The surgeons wouldn’t let him die for a long while, though he -asked them to. They did their best.</p> - -<p>“<i>March 7th, 1902.</i>—And now for the royal visit, the principal occasion -for which is the launching of the great battleship the <i>Queen</i>, by Queen -Alexandra. Will was responsible for all matters ashore, as the admiral -was for those afloat. Lady Charles and I<a name="page_289" id="page_289"></a> had to be on the platform at -North Road to receive Their Majesties, the only other women there being -Lady Morley and the Plymouth Mayor’s daughter, bearing a bouquet for -presentation. The royal train had an engine decorated in front of its -funnel with an enormous gilt crown, and I was pleased, as it -majestically glided into the station, to see that it is possible even in -railway prose to have a little dash of poetry. The band struck up, the -guard of honour presented arms with a clang. First, out sprang lacqueys -carrying bags and wraps who scurried to the royal carriages waiting -outside, and out sprang various admirals and diplomats in hot haste, all -with rather anxious faces veneered with smiles. And then, leisurely, the -ever lovely and self-possessed Queen and her kindly and kingly consort, -wearing, over his full-dress admiral’s uniform, a caped overcoat. -Salutes, bows, curtseys, smiles, handshakes. Will presents the great -silver Key of the Citadel, which Charles II. had made for locking the -Great Gate against the refractory people. Edward VII. touches it and the -General Commanding returns it to the R.A. officer, who has charge of it. -We all kiss the King’s hand as seeing him for the first time to speak to -since his accession. The Queen withdraws her hand quickly before any -officer can salute it in like manner, which looks a little ungracious. -Whilst the General and Admiral are introducing their respective staffs -to the King, the Queen has a little chat with me and asks after my -painting and so forth. She is very fond of that water colour I did for -her album at Dover of a trooper of her ‘own’ 19th Hussars at -tent-pegging. Lady Charles and I did not join in the procession through -the Three Towns<a name="page_290" id="page_290"></a> to the dockyard, but hastened home to avoid the crowd.</p> - -<p>“In the evening we dined with Their Majesties on board the royal yacht -over part of which floating palace C. and I had been conducted in the -morning. Whatever the yacht’s sailing value may be she certainly cuts -out the Kaiser’s <i>Hohenzollern</i> in her internal splendour. When it comes -to washstand tops of onyx and alabaster; and carpets of unfathomable -depth of pile, and hangings in bedrooms of every shade of delicate -colour, ‘toning,’ as the milliners say, with each particular set of -furniture; and the most elaborately beautiful arrangements for lighting -and warming electrically, and so on, and so on—one rather wonders why -so much luxury was piled on luxury in this new yacht which the King, I -am told, does not like on the high seas. Her lines are not as graceful -as those of the old <i>Victoria and Albert</i>, and it is said she ‘rolls -awful’!</p> - -<p>“Well, to dinner! As we drove up to the yacht, which is moored right -opposite the Port Admiral’s house and is the habitation of the King and -Queen during their sojourn here, we saw her outlined against the pitch -black sky by coloured electric lamps, which was pretty. Equerries, -secretaries and Miss Knollys received us at the top of the gangway, and -the ladies of the Queen soon filed into the ante-chamber (or cabin) -where they and we, the guests, awaited Their Majesties. Full uniform was -ordered for the men, and we ladies were requested to come in ‘high, thin -dresses,’ as, it appears, is the etiquette on board royal yachts. There -were the Admiral and Lady Charles, the Duke and Duchess of Buccleugh, -Lord and Lady St. Germans, Lord Walter Kerr, Lord Mount Edgcumbe<a name="page_291" id="page_291"></a> (‘the -Hearl,’ as he is known to Plymothians), the Bishop of Exeter, Lady -Lytton and others up to about thirty-six in number. The King, still -dressed as an admiral, and the Queen in a charming black and white -semi-transparent frock, with many ropes of pearls, soon came in, and, -the curtseying over, we filed into the great dining saloon brilliantly -lighted and splendid. The King led in his daughter, Princess Victoria. -Buccleugh led in the Queen, and so on. How unlike the painfully solemn, -whispered dinners of dear old Queen Victoria was this banquet. We -shouted of necessity, as the band played all the time. The King and -Queen seem to me to have acquired an <i>expanded</i> dignity since they have -come to the Throne. Will and I could not do justice to the dinner as it -was Friday, but that didn’t matter. After the sweets the head servant -(what Goliaths in red liveries they all are!) handed the King a <i>snuff -box</i>! I was so fascinated by the sight of the descendant of the Georges -engaged in the very Georgian act of taking a pinch that my eyes were -riveted on him. I love history and am always trying to revive the past -in imagination. It is true that ‘a cat may look at a King,’ but then I -am <i>not</i> a cat (at least I hope not). I only trust His Majesty didn’t -mind, but he certainly saw me!</p> - -<p>“After dinner we women went down with the Queen to her boudoir, where an -Egyptian-looking servant wearing a <i>tarboosh</i> handed us coffee of -surpassing aroma, and Her Majesty showed us her beloved little Japanese -dog and some of the pretty things about the room. She then asked us to -see her bedroom (which I had already seen that morning) and the little -dog’s basket where he sleeps near her<a name="page_292" id="page_292"></a> bed. She is still extremely -beautiful. Her figure is youthful and shapely, and all her movements are -queenly. The King had quite a long talk with Will about this dreadful -Boer War which is causing us all so much anxiety, after we went up -again. He then came over to me, and after a few commonplaces he came -nearer and in a confidential tone began about Will. I think he is fond -of him. What he said was kind, and I knew he wanted me to repeat his -sympathetic words to my husband afterwards. He spoke of him as a -‘splendid soldier.’ I know he had in his mind the painful trial Will had -gone through. It was late when Their Majesties bade us good-night.</p> - -<p>“<i>March 8th.</i>—The great day of the launch of H.M.S. <i>Queen</i>. I wonder -if the hearts of the sailors beat anxiously to-day at all! A quieter, -more unemotional-looking set of men than those naval bigwigs could -nowhere be seen in the world. But, first of all, there was the -medal-giving at the R.N. Barracks, where Ladies Poore and Charles Scott, -Mrs. Jackson and myself had to receive the King and Queen by the side of -our respective husbands on a raised daïs in the centre of the huge -parade ground. It was very cold, and the Queen told me she envied me my -fur-lined coat. Will said I missed an opportunity of making a pendant to -Sir Walter Raleigh! The function was very long, for the King had to give -a medal to each one of the three hundred bluejackets and marines who -passed before him in single file. At the launching place we all -assembled on a great platform, and there in front of us stood the huge -hull of the battleship, the ram projecting over the little table on -which the Queen was to cut the ropes. That red-painted ram was garlanded -with flowers, and the<a name="page_293" id="page_293"></a> bottle hung from the garland, completely hidden -under a covering of roses. It contained red Australian wine, a very -sensible change from the French champagne of former times. Down below an -immense crowd of workmen waited, some of them right under the ship, and -all round, in the different stands, were dense masses of people. We were -soon joined by three German naval grandees and two Japanese -<i>leprechauns</i>, one an admiral, a toadlike-looking creature in a uniform -entirely copied from ours. Our new allies are not handsome. Then came -the Bishop of Exeter, in robes and cap and with a peaked beard, a living -Holbein in the dress of Cranmer. How could I, a painter, not delight in -that figure? I told a friend that bishop had no business to be alive, -but ought to be a painting by Holbein, on panel. What does she do but -whisk off straight to him and Mrs. Bishop and tell them! Our privileged -group kept swelling with additions of officers in full glory and smart -women in lovely frocks, and bouquets were brought in, and everything was -to me perfectly charming. Monarchy calls much beauty into existence. -Long may it endure!</p> - -<p>“At last there was a stir; the monarchs came up the inclined approach -and the band struck up. They took their places facing the ship’s bows, -and Cranmer on panel by Holbein blessed the ship in as nearly a Catholic -way as was possible, with the sign of the cross left out. A subordinate -held his crozier before him. A hymn had previously been sung and a -psalm, followed by the Lord’s Prayer. Then came the ‘christening’ -(strange word), a picturesque Pagan ceremony. The Queen brightened up -after the last ‘Amen’ and, nearing the table, reached over to the<a name="page_294" id="page_294"></a> -flower-decked bottle; then, stepping back, swung it from her against the -monstrous ram, saying, ‘God bless this ship and all that sail in her.’ I -heard a little crack, and only a few red drops trickled down. This -wouldn’t do, for she immediately seized the bottle again and, stepping -well back this time and holding the bottle as high over her head as the -ropes would allow, flung it with such violence that it smashed all to -pieces and the red wine gushed over her hands and sleeves and poured out -its last drops on the table. A great cheer rang out at this, and the -King laughingly seemed to say to her, ‘You did it this time with a -vengeance!’ She flushed up, looking as though she enjoyed the fun. Then -came the great moment of the cutting by the Queen of the little ropes -that held the monster bound as by silken threads. Six good taps with the -mallet, severing the six strands across a ‘turtle back’ in the centre of -the table, and away flew the two ropes down amongst the cheering crowd -of workmen and, automatically, down came the two last supports on either -side of the yet impassive hull. Still impassive—not a hair’s breadth of -movement! A painful pause. Some men below were pumping the hydraulic -apparatus for all they were worth. I kept my eye on the nose of the ram, -gauging it by some object behind. Firm as a rock! At last a tiny -movement, no more than the starting of a snail across a cabbage leaf. -‘She’s off!’ A hurricane of cheers, and with the most admirable and -dignified acceleration of speed the great ship, seeming to come into -life, glided down the slips and, ploughing through the parting and -surging waters, floated off far into the Hamoaze to the strains of ‘Rule -Britannia.’ Queen Alexandra, in her elation, made motions with her arms<a name="page_295" id="page_295"></a> -as though she was shoving the ship off herself. Scarcely had the -battleship <i>Queen</i> passed into the water than the blocks displaced by -her passage were rolled back, still hot as it were from the friction, -into the position they had occupied before she moved, and the King, -stepping forward, turned a little electric handle at the table, and lo! -the keel plate of the <i>Edward VII</i>. slowly moved forward and stopped in -its position on the blocks as the germ of the new battleship. The King, -in a loud voice, proclaimed that the keel plate of the <i>Edward VII</i>. was -‘well and truly laid,’ and a great cheer arose and ‘God Save the King,’ -and all was over. A new battleship was born.<a name="FNanchor_14_14" id="FNanchor_14_14"></a><a href="#Footnote_14_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a> We met Their Majesties -at the Port Admiral’s at tea, and Will dined with them, together with -some of his staff.</p> - -<p>“<i>March 10th</i>.—Saw Their Majesties off. I wonder if they were getting -tired of seeing always the same set of faces and smiles? I am going to -present C. at Court on the 14th, and my function twin, Lady Charles, is -going there, too, so I shall feel it will be a case of ‘Here we are -again,’ when I meet the royal eye that night. In the evening the news of -Methuen’s defeat and capture by Delarey. To think this horror was going -on the day we received the King and Queen at North Road Station!</p> - -<p>“<i>March 14th</i>.—The King’s Court was much better arranged than formerly, -as we had only to make two curtseys—nothing more—instead of having to -run the gauntlet of a long row of princes and princesses who were -abreast of Queen Victoria (or her representative), and who used to -inspect one from head to foot. These were now grouped behind the -monarchs, and<a name="page_296" id="page_296"></a> formed a rich, subdued background to the two regal -figures on their thrones. (What a blessing to the aforesaid princes and -princesses to be spared the necessity of passing all those nervous women -in review, and by daylight, too!) Altogether the music and the generally -more festive character of the function struck one as a great and happy -improvement on the old dispensation. The King and Queen didn’t exactly -say, ‘How do you do again?’ as I appeared, but looked it as I met their -smiling eyes. This is the first Court of the King’s reign.</p> - -<p>“<i>March 27th</i>.—Cecil Rhodes died yesterday. I am glad I saw him at the -Cape. One morning just at sunrise I and the children were driving to -Mass during the mission and, as we passed over the railway line, we saw -people riding down from ‘Grootschuur.’ The foremost horseman was Cecil -Rhodes, looking very big and with a wide red face. He gave me a -searching look or stare as if trying to make out who I was in the shade -of the carriage hood. So I saw his face well.</p> - -<p>“<i>April 3rd</i>.—Will and I are invited by the King and Queen to see them -crowned at Westminster. I am to wear ‘court dress with plumes but -without train.’ But what if the nightmare war still is dragging on in -June? The time is getting short! We hear the King is getting anxious. -Lord Wolseley’s trip to the Cape (for his health!) is supposed to have -really to do with bringing about peace. But ‘’ware politics’ for me. -They are not in my line. What a wet blanket would be spread as a pall -over all the purple canopies in Westminster Abbey if war was still -brooding over us all! Imagine news of a new Methuen disaster on the -morning of June 26th!â€</p> - -<p><a name="page_297" id="page_297"></a>On Varnishing Day that spring at the Royal Academy I found that my -tent-pegging picture could not look to greater advantage, but it was in -the last room, where the public looks with “lack-lustre eyes,†being -tired.</p> - -<p>On June 21st I left to attend the Coronation of Edward VII., spending -two days at Dick’s monastery at Downside on the way, high up in the -Mendip Hills. I note: “I had a bright little room at the guest house -just outside the precincts. That night the full moon, that emblem of -serenity, rose opposite my window, and I felt as though lifted up above -that world into which I was about to plunge for my participation in the -pomp of the Coronation in a few hours. It is inexpressibly touching to -me to see my son where he is. A hard probation, for the Benedictine test -is long and severe, as indeed the test is, necessarily, throughout the -Religious Orders.</p> - -<p>“<i>June 24th</i>.—Memorable day! I was passing along Buckingham Palace Road -at 12.30 when I saw a poster: ‘Coronation Postponed’! Groups of people -were buying up the papers. Of course, no one believed the news at first, -and people were rather amusedly perplexed. No one had heard that the -King was ill. On getting to Piccadilly I saw the official posters and -the explanation. An operation just performed! and only yesterday Knollys -telling the world there was ‘not a word of truth in the alarming rumours -of the King’s health.’ I and Mrs. C. went to a dismal afternoon concert -at 2.30 to which we were pledged, and which the promoters were in two -minds about postponing, and we left in the middle to stroll about the -crowded streets and watch the effect of the disastrous news. There was -something very dramatic in the scene in front of the palace—the huge -crowd waiting<a name="page_298" id="page_298"></a> and watching, the royal standard drooping on the roof -(not half-mast yet?), and the sense of brooding sorrow over the great -building, which held the, perhaps, dying King. What a change in two or -three hours!</p> - -<p>“<i>June 26th</i>.—This was to have been the Coronation Day. General -dismantling. Those dead laurel wreaths still lying in the gutters are -said to be the same that were used at the funeral of King Humbert. What -a weird thought! The crowds are thinning, but still, at night, they gaze -at the little clumps of illuminations which some people exhibit, as the -King is going on well. ‘<i>Vivat Rex</i>’ flares in great brilliancy here and -there. The words have a deeper meaning than usual. May he live!</p> - -<p>“<i>June 27th</i>.—This was to have been the day of the royal procession. -Where is that rose-colour-lined coach I so looked forward to? Lying idle -in its cover. Every one is moralising. Even the clubmen, Will tells me, -are furbishing up little religious platitudes and texts; many are -curiously superstitious, which is strange.â€</p> - -<p>On our return home I was very busy in the studio. There was much -galloping and trotting of horses up and down in the Government House -grounds for my studies of movement for my next Academy picture (dealing -with Boer War yeomanry) and others.</p> - -<p>“<i>August 9th</i>.—King Edward VII. was crowned to-day. At about 12.40 the -guns firing in the Sound and batteries announced that, at last, the -Coronation was consummated. We were asked to the ceremony, but could not -go up this time.â€</p> - -<p>A little tour in France, with my husband and our two girls, made in -September, 1902, gave us sunny<a name="page_299" id="page_299"></a> days in Anjou on the Loire. The majestic -rivers of France are her chief attraction for the painter, and to us -English Turner’s charm is inseparably blended with their slowly flowing -waters. We were visitors at a <i>château</i> at Savonnières, near Angers, for -most of the time, and our hosts took care that we should miss none of -the lovely things around their domain. The German “Ocean Greyhounds†of -the Hamburg-Amerika line used to call at Plymouth in those days, huge, -three-funnel monsters which, I think, we have since appropriated, and -one of these, the <i>Augusta Marie</i>, bore us off to Cherbourg in all the -pride of her gorgeous saloons, flower-decked tables, band, and -extraordinary bombastic oleographs from allegorical pictures by the -Kaiser William II. As we boarded her the band played “God Save the -King,†the captain receiving Sir William with finished regulation -attention, and hardly had the great twin engines swung the ship into the -Sound to receive her passengers, than with another swing forward, which -made the masts wriggle to their very tops, she was off. It was the -“Marseillaise†as we reached France. That band played us nearly the -whole way over. A really pretty idea, this, of playing the national air -of each country where the ship touched.</p> - -<p>It was vintage time at Savonnières, which was a French “Castagnolo,†a -most delightful translation into French of that Italian patriarchal -home. There were stone terraces garlanded with vines bearing—not the -big black grapes of Tuscany, but small yellow ones of surpassing -sugariness. We were in a typical and beautiful bit of France, peaceful, -plenteous, and full of dignity. They lead the simple life here such as I -love, which is not to be found in the big English<a name="page_300" id="page_300"></a> country houses, as -far as I know. I was truly pleased at the sight of the peasantry at Mass -on the Sunday. The women in particular had that dignity which is so -marked in their class, and the white lace coifs they wore had many -varieties of shape, all most beautiful, and were very <i>soignées</i> and -neatly worn. Not an untidy woman or girl amongst these daughters of the -soil.</p> - -<p>I was anxious to see “Angers la Noire,†where we stayed on our way from -Savonnières to Amboise. But the black slate houses which gave it that -name are being turned into white stone ones, and so its grim -characteristic is passing away. Give me character, good or bad; -characterless things are odious. I don’t suppose a more perfect old -Angevin town exists than Amboise. It fulfilled all I required and -expected of it. How Turner understood these towns on the broad, majestic -Loire! He occasionally exaggerated, but his exaggerations were always in -the right direction, emphasising thus the dominant beauties of each -place and their local sentiment. Which recalls the deep charm of the -rivers of France more subtly to the mind, Turner’s series or an album of -photographs? Turner’s mind saw more truly than the camera. The castle of -Amboise is superb and its creamy white stone a glory. Then came Blois, -with a quite different reading of a castle, where plenty of colour and -gilding and Gothic richness gave the character—not so restful to eye -and mind as Amboise. Through both the <i>châteaux</i> we were marshalled -along by a guide. I would sooner learn less of a place, by myself, than -be told all by a tiresome man in a <i>cicerone’s</i> livery. Plenty of -horrors were supplied us at both places, vitiating my otherwise simple -pleasure as a painter in the sight of so much beauty.<a name="page_301" id="page_301"></a></p> - -<p>We returned to Plymouth Sound on a lovely day, and there our blue -launch, with that bright brass funnel I had so long agitated for, was -awaiting us, and we landed at the steps of Mount Wise as though we had -merely been for a trip to Penlee Point.</p> - -<p>I found my picture of the yeomanry cantering through a “spruit†in the -Boer War, “Within Sound of the Guns,†admirably placed this time at -Burlington House, in the spring of 1903. I had greatly improved in tone -by this time. Millais’ remark once upon a time, “She draws better than -any of us, but I wish her <i>tone</i> was better,†had sunk deep.</p> - -<p>On July 14th, 1903, the Princess Henry of Battenberg (as the title was -then), with a suite of six, paid us a visit of two days at Government -House, and we had, of course, a big reception, which was inevitable. Our -guest hated the ordeal of all those presentations, being very retiring, -and I sympathised. I heard her murmur to her lady, Miss Bulteel, “I -shall die,†as the first arrival was announced. And there she had to -stand till I and the A.D.C. had finished terrifying her with about 250 -people in succession. What a tax royalty has to pay! There was the -laying of a foundation stone, a trip in the launch up the Tamar, and -something to be done each day, but with as many rests as we could -squeeze in for our very <i>simpatica</i> princess. The drive through the -streets of Plymouth showed me what the crowd looks like from royalty’s -point of view as I sat by her side in the carriage. I remarked to her -what bad teeth the people had. “They are nothing to those in the north,†-the poor dear said. How often royalty has to run that gauntlet of an -unlovely and cheering crowd!</p> - -<p>I was now to go through the great ordeal of witnessing<a name="page_302" id="page_302"></a> our dear -Dick’s<a name="FNanchor_15_15" id="FNanchor_15_15"></a><a href="#Footnote_15_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a> taking his vows. This was on September 4th, 1903, at Belmont -Minster, Hereford.</p> - -<p>On July 10th, 1904, a German squadron of eighteen men-of-war came -thundering into the Sound, and on the 12th we assembled a Garden Party -of about three hundred guests to give the three admirals and their -officers a very proper welcome. Eighteen beautiful ships, but all -untried. I lunched on board the flagship, the <i>Kaiser Wilhelm II.</i>, on -the previous day, and anything to equal the dandified “get up†of that -war vessel could not be found afloat. Wherever there was an excuse for a -gold Imperial crown, there it was, relieved by the spotless whiteness of -its surroundings. The fair-haired bluejackets were extremely clean and -comely, but struck me as being drilled too much like soldiers, and -wanting the natural manner of our men. The impression on my mind at the -time was that immense care and pains had been taken to show off these -brand-new ships and to rival ours, but that they were not a bit like -their models. The General dined in state on board that evening. Oh! the -veneer of politeness shown to us these days; the bowings, the clicking -of heels, the well-drilled salutes; and all the time we were joking -amongst ourselves about the certainty we had that they were taking -soundings of our great harbour. As usual, they were allowed to do just -as they liked there. It is a tremendous thought to me that I have lived -to hear of the surrender of Germany’s entire navy. How often in those -days we allowed ourselves to imagine a modern <i>possible</i> Trafalgar, but -such a cataclysm as this was outside the bounds of any one’s -imagination.<a name="page_303" id="page_303"></a></p> - -<p>I devoted a great deal of my time to getting up a “one-man-show,†my -first of many, composed of water colours, and in accomplishing the -Afghan picture I have already mentioned as being so much honoured by the -Hanging Committee at the Academy in the spring of 1904. My husband’s -command of the Western District terminated on January 31st, 1905, and -with it his career in the army, as he had reached the retiring age. The -Liberal Party was very keen on having him as an M.P., representing East -Leeds. I am glad the idea did not materialise. I know what would have -happened. He would have set out full of honest and worthy enthusiasm to -serve the <i>Patria</i>. Then, little by little, he would have found what -political life really is, and thrown the thing up in disgust. An old -story. <i>Non Patria sed Party!</i> So utterly outside my own life had -politics been that I had an amused sensation when I saw the -Parliamentary world opening before me, like a gulf!</p> - -<p>“<i>January 31st</i>, 1905.—Will is to stand for East Leeds. It is all very -sudden. Liberals so eager that he has almost been (courteously) hustled -into the great enterprise. Herbert Gladstone, Campbell-Bannerman and -other leaders have written almost irresistible letters to him, pleading. -When he goes to the election at Leeds he is to be ‘put to no expense -whatever,’ and they are confident of a ‘handsome majority.’ We shall -see! Besides all this he is given a most momentous commission at the War -Office to investigate certain ugly-looking matters connected with the -Boer War stores scandal that require clearing up. I am glad they have -done him the ‘poetical justice’ of selecting him for this.</p> - -<p>“<i>February 13th</i>.—We went to a very brilliant and<a name="page_304" id="page_304"></a> (to me) novel -gathering at the Campbell-Bannermans’. All the leaders of the Liberal -Party there, an interesting if not very noble study. All so cordial to -Will. Tremendous crush, but nice when we got down to the more airy tea -room. The snatches of conversation I got in the general hubbub all -sounded somewhat ‘shoppy.’ Winston Churchill, a ruddy young man, with a -roguish twinkle in his eye, Herbert Gladstone and his lovely wife, our -bluff, rosy host and other ‘leaders’ were very interesting, and we met -many friends, all on the ‘congratulate.’ All these M.P.’s seem to relish -their life. I suppose it <i>has</i> a great fascination, this working to get -your side in, as at a football match.â€</p> - -<p>The general election in course of time swept over England and brought in -the Liberal Party with an overwhelming majority. My husband did not -stand for East Leeds. He had to abandon the idea, as a Catholic, on -account of the religious difficulties connected with the Education Act.</p> - -<p>Our life in the glorious west of Ireland, which followed our retirement -from Devonport, has been so fully described by this pen of mine in “From -Sketch-book and Diary†that I give but a slight sketch of it here. Those -were days when one could give one’s whole heart, so to speak, to Erin, -before the dreadful cloud had fallen on her which, as I write, has lent -her her present forbidding gloom. That will pass, please God!</p> - -<p>To come straight through from London and its noise and superfluous fuss -and turmoil into the absolute peace and purity of County Mayo in perfect -summer weather was such a relief to mind and body that one felt it as an -emancipation. Health, good<a name="page_305" id="page_305"></a> sleep, enjoyment of pure air and noble -scenery; kindly, unsophisticated peasantry—all these things were there, -and the flocks and herds and the sea birds. In the midst of all that -appealing poetry, so peculiar to Ireland, I had a funny object lesson of -a prosaic kind at romantic Mulranny, on Clewe Bay. In the little station -I saw a big heap in sackcloth lying on the platform—“<i>Hog-product from -Chicago</i>‗and the country able to “cure†the matchless Irish pig! I -went on to get some darning wool in the hamlet—“<i>Made in England</i>‗and -all those sheep around us! Outside the shop door a horse had the usual -big nose-bag—<i>â€Made in Austriaâ€!</i> All these things, with a little -energy, should have come out of the place itself, surely? I thought to -encourage native industry, when found, by ordering woollen hose at the -convent school. No two stockings of the same pair were of equal length. -The bay was rich in fish, and one day came a little fleet of fishing -boats—<i>from France!</i> There was Ireland to-day in a nutshell. What of -to-morrow? Is this really Ireland’s heavy sleep before the dawn?</p> - -<p>I have seen some of the most impressive beauties of our world, but never -have I been more impressed than by the solemn grandeur of the mountain -across Clewe Bay they call Croagh Patrick, as we saw it on the evening -of our arrival at Mulranny. The last flush of the after-glow lingered on -its dark slopes and the red planet Mars flamed above its cone, all this -solemn beauty reflected in the sleeping waters. At Mulranny I spent -nearly all my days making studies of sheep and landscape for the next -picture I sent to the Academy—“A Cistercian Shepherd.†This gave me a -period of the most exquisitely reposeful<a name="page_306" id="page_306"></a> work. The building up of this -picture was in itself an idyll. But the public didn’t want idylls from -me at all. “Give us soldiers and horses, but pastoral idylls—no!†-People had a slightly reproachful tone in their comments after seeing my -poor pastoral on the Academy walls. Some one said, “How are the mighty -fallen!â€</p> - -<p>We made our home in the heart of Tipperary, under the Galtee Mountains. -It seemed time for us to seek a dignified repose, “the world forgetting, -by the world forgot,†but we did not succeed in our intention. In 1906 -my husband went on a great round of observation through Cape Colony and -the (former) Boer Republics on a literary mission. I and E. went off to -Italy, meanwhile; Rome as our goal. There I had the great pleasure of -the companionship of my sister, and it may be imagined with what -feelings we re-trod the old haunts in and about that city together.</p> - -<p>“<i>April 9th, 1906</i>.—We had a charming stroll through the Villa d’Este -gardens, where the oldest, hoariest cypresses are to be seen, and -fountains and water conduits of graceful and fantastic shape, wherever -one turns, all gushing with impetuous waters. The architects of these -gardens revelled in their fanciful designs and sported with the -responsive flood. Cascades spout in all directions from the rocks on -which Tivoli is built. We had <i>déjeuner</i> under a pergola at the inn -right over one of these waterfalls, where, far below us, birds flew to -and fro in the mist of the spray. Nature and art have joined in play at -Tivoli. I always have had a healthy dislike of burrowing in tombs and -catacombs. The sepulchral, bat-scented air of such places in Egypt—the -land, of<a name="page_307" id="page_307"></a> all others, of limpid air and sunshine and dryness—is not in -any way attractive to me, and I greatly dislike diving into the Roman -catacombs out of the sunny Appian Way. On former occasions I went -through them all, so this time I kept above ground. I learnt all that -the catacombs teach in my early years, and am not likely to lose that -tremendous impression.</p> - -<p>“<i>April 10th</i>.—A true Campagna day, as Italianised as I could make it. -We had a frugal <i>colazione</i> under the pergola of an Appian Way-side inn, -watched by half a dozen hungry cats, that unattractive, wild, malignant -kind of cat peculiar to Italy. The girl who waited on us drew our white -wine in a decanter from what looked like a well in the garden. It had, -apparently, not ‘been cool’d a long age in <i>that</i> deep-delved earth,’ -but it did very well. I was perfectly happy. This old-fashioned <i>al -fresco</i> entertainment had the local colour which I look for when I -travel and which is getting rarer year by year. Our Colosseum moonlight -was more weird than ever. At eleven we had our moon. It was a large, -battered, woeful, waning old moon, that looked in at us through the -broken arch. An opportune owl, which had been screeching like a cat in -the shade, flitted across its sloping disc just at the supreme moment.â€</p> - -<p>To receive Holy Communion at the hands of the Holy Father is a privilege -for which we should be very thankful. It was mine and E.’s on Easter -morning that year, at his private Mass in the Sistine Chapel. There I -saw Pius X. for the first time. Goodness and compassion shine from that -sad and gentle face. It is the general custom to kiss the ‘Fisherman’s -ring’ on the Pope’s hand before<a name="page_308" id="page_308"></a> receiving, but Pius X. very markedly -prevents this. One can understand! Our audience with the Holy Father -took place on the eve of our departure. There was a never-absent look -with him of what I may call the submissive sense of a too-heavy burden -of responsibility. No photographs convey the right impression of this -Pope. He was very pale, very spiritual, very kind and a little weary; -most gentle and touching in his manner. The World War at its outset -broke that tender heart. I sent him my “Letters from the Holy Land,†for -which I received very urbane thanks from one of the cardinals. I don’t -think the Holy Father knows a single word of English, and I wonder what -he made of it.</p> - -<p>As to our tour homeward, taking Florence and Venice on the way, I think -we will take that as read. I revel in the Diary in all the dear old -Italian details, marred only by the change I noticed in Venice as -regards her broken silence. The hurry of modern life has invaded even -the “silent city,†and there is too much electric glare in the lighting -now, at night, for the old enjoyment of her moonlights. It annoyed me to -see the moon looking quite shabby above the incandescent globes on the -Riva.</p> - -<p>From Venice to the Dublin Castle season is a big jump. We had an average -of twenty-one balls in six weeks in each of the two seasons 1907—1908. -Little did I think that it would be quite an unmixed pleasure to me to -do <i>chaperon</i> for some five hours at a stretch; but so it turned out. It -all depends what sort of daughter you have on the scene! The Aberdeens -were then in power.</p> - -<p>Lady Aberdeen was untiring in her endeavours to trace and combat the -dire disease which seemed to<a name="page_309" id="page_309"></a> fasten on the Irish in an especial manner. -She went about lecturing to the people with a tuberculosis “caravan.†-She brought it to Cashel, and my husband made the opening speech at her -exhibition there. But her addresses came to nothing. The lungs exhibited -in the “caravan†in spirits of wine appealed in vain. She actually asked -the people that day to go back to their discarded oatmeal “stir-aboutâ€! -They prefer their stewed tea and their artificially whitened, so-called -bread, with the resultant loss of their teeth. My experiences at the -different Dublin horse shows were sociable and pleasant. There you see -the finest horses and the most beautiful women in the world, and Dublin -gives you that hospitality which is the most admirable quality in the -Irish nature.</p> - -<p>Sir William spent the remaining days of his life in trying, by addresses -to the people in different parts of the country, to quicken their sense -of the necessity for industry, sobriety, and a more serious view of -existence. They did not seem to like it, and he was apparently only -beating the air. I remember one particularly strong appeal he made in -Meath at a huge open-air meeting. I thought to myself that such -warnings, given in his vivid and friendly Irish style, touched with -humour to leaven the severity, would have impressed his hearers. The -applause disappointed me. Well, he did his best to the very last for the -country and the people he loved. He had vainly longed all his life for -Home Rule within the Empire. Was this, then, all that was wanting?</p> - -<p>I recall in this connection an episode which was eloquent of the hearty -appreciation of his worth, quite irrespective of politics. At a banquet -given<a name="page_310" id="page_310"></a> in Dublin to welcome Lord and Lady Granard, after their marriage, -he was called upon to respond for “the Guests.†For fully one minute the -cheers were so persistent when he rose that he had to wait before his -opening words could be heard. The company were nearly all Unionists.</p> - -<p>After all the misunderstandings connected with Sir William’s association -with the Boer War and its antecedents had been righted at last, these -words of a distinguished general at Headquarters were spoken: “Butler -stands a head and shoulders above us all.â€</p> - -<p>The year 1910 is one which in our family remains for ever sacred. My -dear mother died on March 13th.</p> - -<p>On June 7th a very brave soldier, who feared none but God, was called to -his reward. Here my Diary stops for nearly a year.<a name="FNanchor_16_16" id="FNanchor_16_16"></a><a href="#Footnote_16_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a><a name="page_311" id="page_311"></a></p> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXIV" id="CHAPTER_XXIV"></a>CHAPTER XXIV<br /><br /> -<small>MOSTLY A ROMAN DIARY</small></h2> - -<p>P<small>ALM</small> Sunday, 1911, found me in Rome, on the eve of my son’s ordination -as priest. One of those extraordinary occurrences which have happened in -my life took place that day. Four of us joined at the appointed place -and hour: I and Eileen from Ireland (Dick, already in Rome) and Patrick, -just landed, in the nick of time, from India! We three met at the foot -of the Aventine and went up to Sant’ Anselmo, where we knew we should -see <i>the other one</i> during the Palm Sunday Mass, though not to speak to -till after the long service was ended. He intoned the Gospel as deacon, -and when his deep voice reached us in the gallery we looked at each -other with a smile. None of us had seen him for a more or less long -time.</p> - -<p>“Holy Saturday. The great day. Dick assumed the chasuble, and is -officially known now as Father Urban, though ‘Dick’ he will ever remain -with us. The weather was Romanly brilliant, but I was anxious, knowing -that these young deacons were to be on their knees in the great Lateran -Church, fasting, from 7 a.m. We three waited a long time in the piazza -of the Lateran for the pealing of the bells which should announce the -beginning of the Easter time, and which was to be the signal for our -entry into the great basilica at 9.15. We had places in two balconies, -right over the altar. Below us stood about forty<a name="page_312" id="page_312"></a> deacons, with our -particular one in their midst, each holding his folded chasuble across -his arms ready for the vesting. The sight of these young fellows, in -their white and gold deacons’ vestments, was very touching. Each one was -called up by name in turn, and ascended the altar steps, where sat the -consecrating bishop, who looked more like a spirit than a mere human -creature. When Urbano Butler (pronounced <i>Boutler</i>, of course, by the -Italian voice) was called, how we craned forward! To me the whole thing -was poignant. What those boys give up! (‘Well,’ answers a voice, ‘they -give up the world, and a good thing too!’)</p> - -<p>“We went, when the ceremony was completed, into a side chapel to receive -the newly-made young priests’ first blessing. These young fellows ran -out of the sacristy towards the crowd of expectant parents and friends, -their newly-acquired chasubles flying behind them as they ran, with -outstretched hands, for the kisses of that kneeling crowd that awaited -them. What a sight! Can any one paint it and do it justice? Old and -young, gentlefolk and peasants, smiling through tears, kissing the young -hands that blessed them. Dick came to his mother first, then to his -soldier brother, then to his sister, and I saw him lifting an aged -prelate to his feet after blessing him. Strangers knelt to him and to -the others, and I saw, in its perfection, what is meant by ‘laughing for -joy’ on those young and holy faces. There was one exception. A poor -young Irish boy, somehow, had no relative to bless—no one—he seemed -left out in his corner, and he was crying. Perhaps his mother was -‘beyond the beyond’ in far Connemara? I heard of this afterwards. Had I -seen him, I would<a name="page_313" id="page_313"></a> certainly have asked his blessing too. So it -is—always some shadow, even here.</p> - -<p>“As soon as we could get hold of Dick, in his plain habit, we hurried -him to a little <i>trattoria</i> across the piazza, where his dear friend and -chum, John Collins,<a name="FNanchor_17_17" id="FNanchor_17_17"></a><a href="#Footnote_17_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a> treated him to a good cup of chocolate to break -his long fast.â€</p> - -<p>It was quite a necessary anti-climax for me when we and our friends all -met again at the hotel and sat down, to the number of fifteen, to a -bright luncheon I gave in honour of the day. A very celebrated English -cardinal honoured me with his presence there.</p> - -<p>“<i>Easter Sunday</i>.—Patrick, Eileen and I received Holy Communion in the -crypt of Sant’ Anselmo from Dick’s hands at his first Mass. These few -words contain the culmination of all.</p> - -<p>“<i>April 17th</i>.—In the afternoon we were all off, piloted by Dick, to -the celebrated Benedictine monastery of Monte Cassino, a long way down -towards Naples, to spend a few days, Patrick as guest within the -precincts, and E. and I lodging at the guest-house, which forms part of -the monastic farm, poised on the edge of a great precipice. The sheer -rock plunges down to the base of the mountain whereon stands the -wonderful monastery. It is something to see a great domed church on the -top of such a mountain, and a building of such vast proportions, -containing one of the greatest libraries in the world. A mule path was -all the monks intended for communication between the two worlds, but now -a great carriage road takes us up by an easy zigzag.</p> - -<p>“<i>April 18th</i>.—Every hour of our visit to Monte Cassino must be lived. -I made a sketch of the monastery<a name="page_314" id="page_314"></a> and the abyss into which one peers -from that great height, with angry red clouds gathering over the tops of -the snowy mountains. But my sketches are too didactic; and, indeed, who -but Turner could convey to the beholder the awful spirit of that scene? -The tempest sent us in and we had the experience of a good thunderstorm -amidst those severe mountains that have the appearance of a petrified -chaos. Last night E. woke up to find the room full of a surprising blue -light, which at first she took to be the dawn because, through the open -windows, she heard the whole land thrilling with the song of birds. But -such a <i>blue</i> light for dawn? She got up to see. The light was that of -the full moon and the birds were nightingales.</p> - -<p>“I was enchanted to see the beautiful dress of the peasant women here. -Their white <i>tovaglie</i> are looped back in a more graceful line than the -Roman. The queerest little thin black hogs, like poor relations of the -tall, pink Valentia variety which I have already signalised, browse on -the steep ascent to this great stronghold, and everything still looks -wild, in spite of the carriage road. I should have preferred coming up -here on a mule. Our suppers at the guest-house were Spartan. Rather -dismal, having to pump conversation with the Italian guests at this -festive(!) board. Our intellectual food, however, was rich. The abbot -and his monks did the honours of far-famed Monte Cassino for us with the -kindest attention, showing very markedly their satisfaction in -possessing Brother Urban, whose father’s name they held in great -esteem.â€</p> - -<p>On April 22nd we had the long-expected audience with Pio Decimo. It was -only semi-private and there<a name="page_315" id="page_315"></a> were crowds, including eleven English naval -officers, to be presented. I had my little speech ready, but when we -came into the Pope’s presence we found him standing instead of restfully -seated, and he looked so fatigued and so aged since I last saw him that -I knew I must keep him listening as short a time as possible. First I -presented “<i>Mio figlio primogenito, ufficiale</i>;†then “<i>mio figlio -Benedettino</i>†and then “<i>mia figlia</i>.†He spoke a little while to Dick -in Latin, and then we knelt and received his blessing and departed, to -see him no more.</p> - -<p>It is a great thing to have seen Leo XIII. and Pius X., as I have had -the opportunity of seeing them. Both have left a deep impression on -modern life, especially the former, who was a great statesman. To see -the fragile scabbard of the flesh one wondered how the keen sword of the -spirit could be held at all within it. It was his diplomatic tact that -smoothed away many of the difficulties that obtruded themselves between -the Vatican and the Quirinal, and that tact kept the Papacy on good -terms with France and her Republic, to which he called on all French -Catholics to give their support. It was he who forced “the man of blood -and iron†to relax the ferocious laws against the Church in Germany, and -to allow the evicted bishops to return to their Sees. Diplomatic -relations with Germany were renewed, and the Church’s laws regarding -marriage and education had to be re-admitted by the Government. Even the -dark “Orthodox†intolerance of Russia bent sufficiently to his influence -to allow of the establishment of Catholic episcopal Sees in that -country, and the cessation of the imprisonment of priests. The -episcopate in Scotland, too, was restored. We owe to<a name="page_316" id="page_316"></a> him that spread of -Catholicism in the United States which has long been such a surprise to -the onlooker. Then there are his great encyclicals on the Social -Question, setting forth the Christian teaching on the relations between -capital and labour; establishing the social movement on Christian lines. -How clearly he saw the threat of a great European war at no very distant -date from his time unless armaments were reduced. That refined mind -inclined him to the advancement of the cause of the Arts and of -learning. Students thank him for opening the Vatican archives to them, -which he did with the words, “The Church has nothing to fear from the -publication of the Truth.†His is the Vatican observatory—one of the -most famous in the world. It makes one smile to remember his remarks on -the then young Kaiser William II., who seems to have struck the Holy -Father as somewhat bumptious on the occasion of his historic visit. -“That young man,†as he called him, evidently impressed the Pope as one -having much to learn.</p> - -<p>What a contrast Pius X. presents to his predecessor! The son of a -postman at Rieti, a little town in Venetia. I remember when a deputation -of young men came to pay him their respects at the Vatican, arriving on -their bicycles, that he told them how much he would have liked a bike -himself when, as a bare-legged boy, he had to trudge every day seven -miles to school and back. Needless to say, he had no diplomatic or -political training, but he led the truly simple life, very saintly and -apostolic. He devoted his energies chiefly to the purely pastoral side -of his office. We are grateful to him for his reform of Church music -(and it needed it in Italy!). He was very emphatic in urging frequent -communion and early communion<a name="page_317" id="page_317"></a> for children. His condemnation of -“modernism†is fresh in all our minds, and we are glad he removed the -prohibition on Catholics from standing for the Italian Parliament, -thereby allowing them to obtain influential positions in public life. He -took a firm stand with regard to the advancing encroachment of the -French Government on the liberties of the Church in his day. His policy -is being amply justified under our very eyes.</p> - -<p>We joined the big garden party, after the Papal audience, at the British -Embassy. A great crush in that lovely remnant of the once glorious, -far-spreading gardens I can remember, nearly all turned to-day into -deadly streets on which a gridiron of tram lines has been screwed down. -Prince Arthur of Connaught brought in the Queen-Mother, Margherita, to -the lawn where the dancing took place. The Rennell-Rodd children as -little fairies were pretty and danced charmingly, but I felt for the -professional dancer who, poor thing, was not in her first youth, and -unkindly dealt with by the searching daylight. To have to caper airily -on that grass was no joke. It was heavy going for her and made me -melancholy, in conjunction with my memories of the old Ludovisi gardens -and the vanished pines.</p> - -<p>On October 26th my youngest daughter, Eileen, was married to Lord -Gormanston, at the Brompton Oratory, the church so loved by our mother, -and where I was received. Our dear Dick married them. I had the -reception in Lowndes Square in the beautiful house lent by a friend.</p> - -<p>Ireland has many historic ancestral dwellings, and one of these became -my daughter’s new home in Meath. Shakespeare’s “cloud-capp’d towers†-seemed<a name="page_318" id="page_318"></a> not so much the “baseless fabric†of the poet’s vision when I -saw, one day, the low-lying trail of a bright Irish mist brush the high -tops of the towers of Gormanston. A thing of visions, too, is realised -there in a cloister carved so solidly out of the dense foliage of the -yew that never monastic cloister of stone gave a more restful -“contiguity of shade.â€</p> - -<p>I spent the winter of 1911—12 in London, and worked hard at water -colours, of which I was able to exhibit a goodly number at a “one-man -show†in the spring. The King lent my good old “Roll Call,†and the -whole thing was a success. I showed many landscapes there as well as -military subjects; many Italian and Egyptian drawings made during my -travels, and scenes in Ireland. These exhibitions in a well-lighted -gallery are pleasant, and the private view day a social rendezvous for -one’s friends.</p> - -<p>Through my sister, with whom I revisited Rome early in 1913, I had the -pleasure of knowing many Americans there. How refreshing they are, and -responsive (I don’t mean the mere tourist!), whereas my dear compatriots -are very heavy in hand sometimes. American women are particularly well -read and cultivated and full of life. They don’t travel in Europe for -nothing. I have had some dull experiences in the English world when -embarking, at our solemn British dinners, on cosmopolitan subjects for -conversation. What was I to say to a man who, having lately returned -from Florence, gave it as his opinion that it was only “a second-rate -Cheltenhamâ€? I tried that unlucky Florentine subject on another. He: -“Florence? Oh, yes, I liked that—that—<i>minaret thing</i> by the side of -the—the—er——“ I: “The Duomo?†He: “Oh, yes, the Duomo.†I (in<a name="page_319" id="page_319"></a> -gloomy despair): “Do you mean Giotto’s Tower?†Collapse of our -conversation.</p> - -<p>Very probably I bade my last farewell to St. Peter’s that year. I had -more than once bidden a provisional “good-bye†at sundown on leaving -Rome to that dome which I always loved to see against the western glory -from the familiar terrace on Monte Pincio, only to return, on a further -visit, and see it again with the old, fresh feeling of thankfulness. My -initial enthusiasm, crudely chronicled as it is in my early Diary on -first coming in sight of St. Peter’s, was a young artist’s emotion, but -to the maturer mind what a miracle that Sermon in Stone reveals! The -tomb of one Simon, no better, before his call, than any ordinary -fisherman one may see to-day on our coasts—and now? “TU ES PETRUS....<a name="page_320" id="page_320"></a>â€</p> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXV" id="CHAPTER_XXV"></a>CHAPTER XXV<br /><br /> -<small>THE GREAT WAR</small></h2> - -<p>I <small>WAS</small> very busy with oil brush and water-colour brush during the summer -of 1913, and the succeeding winter, in Ireland, accomplishing a large -oil, “The Cuirassier’s Last <i>Reveil</i>, Morning of Waterloo,†and a number -of drawings, all of that inexhaustible battle, for my next “one-man -show†held on its centenary, 1915. I left no stone unturned to get true -studies of dawn twilight for that <i>reveil</i>, and I got them. At the -pretty house of my friends, the Egerton Castles, on a steep Surrey hill, -I had my chance. The house faced the east. It was midsummer; an alarm -clock roused me each morning at 2.30. I had modelled a little grey horse -and a man, and set them up on my balcony, facing in the right direction, -and there I waited, with palette spread, for the dawn. Time was short; -the first ray of sunrise would spoil all, so I could only dab down the -tones, anyhow; but they were all-important dabs, and made the big -picture run without a hitch. Nothing delays a picture more than the -searching for the true relations of tone without sufficient data. But -this is a truism.</p> - -<p>The Waterloo water colours were most interesting to work out. I had any -amount of books for reference, records of old uniforms to get from -contemporary paintings; and I utilised the many studies of horses I had -made for years, chiefly on the chance of their<a name="page_321" id="page_321"></a> coming in useful some -day. The result was the best “show†I had yet had at the Leicester -Galleries. But ere that exhibition opened, the World War burst upon us! -First my soldier son went off, and then the Benedictine donned khaki, as -chaplain to the forces. He went, one may say, from the cloister to the -cannon. I had to pass through the ordeal which became the lot of so many -mothers of sons throughout the Empire.</p> - -<p>“<i>Lyndhurst, New Forest, September 22nd, 1914.</i>—I must keep up the old -Diary during this most eventful time, when the biggest war the world has -ever been stricken with is raging. To think that I have lived to see it! -It was always said a war would be too terrible now to run the risk of, -and that nations would fear too much to hazard such a peril. Lo! here we -are pouring soldiers into the great jaws of death in hundreds of -thousands, and sending poor human flesh and blood to face the new -‘scientific’ warfare—the same flesh and blood and nervous system of the -days of bows and arrows. Patrick is off as A.D.C. to General Capper, -commanding the 7th Division. Martin, who was the first to be ordered to -the front, attached to the 2nd Royal Irish, has been transferred to the -wireless military station at Valentia. That regiment has been utterly -shattered in the Mons retreat, so I have reason to be thankful for the -change. I am here, at Patrick’s suggestion, that I may see an army under -war conditions and have priceless opportunities of studying ‘the real -thing.’ The 7th Division<a name="FNanchor_18_18" id="FNanchor_18_18"></a><a href="#Footnote_18_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a> is now nearly complete, and by October 3rd -should be on the sea. I arrived at Southampton to-day, and my good old -son in his new Staff uniform was at the<a name="page_322" id="page_322"></a> station ready to motor me up to -Lyndhurst where the Staff are, and all the division, under canvas. I was -very proud of the red tabs on Patrick’s collar, meaning so much. I saw -at once, on arriving, the difference between this and my Aldershot -impressions. This is <i>war</i>, and there is no doubt the bearing of the men -is different. They were always smart, always cheery, <i>but not like -this</i>. There is a quiet seriousness quite new to me. They are going to -look death straight in the face.</p> - -<p>“<i>September 23rd.</i>—I had a most striking lesson in the appearance of -men after a very long march, <i>plus</i> that look which is quite absent on -peace manÅ“uvres, however hot and trying the conditions. What -surprises and telling ‘bits’ one sees which could never be imagined with -such a convincing power. A team of eight mammoth shire horses drawing a -great gun is a sight never to be forgotten; shapely, superb cart horses -with coats as satiny as any thoroughbred’s, in polished artillery -harness, with the mild eyes of their breed—I must do that amongst many -most <i>real</i> subjects. But I see the German shells ploughing through -these teams of willing beasts. They will suffer terribly.</p> - -<p>“<i>September 25th.</i>—Getting hotter every day and not a cloud. I brought -this weather with me. Patrick waits on me whenever he is off duty for an -hour or so, and it is a charming experience to have him riding by the -side of the carriage to direct the driver and explain to me every -necessary detail. The place swarms with troops for ever in movement, and -the roll of guns and drums, and the notes of the cheery pipes and fifes -go on all day. The Gordons have arrived.</p> - -<p class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/ill_pg_323_lg.jpg"> -<img src="images/ill_pg_323_sml.jpg" width="264" height="410" alt="Notes on the eve of the Great War." -title="Notes on the eve of the Great War." /></a> -<br /> -<span class="caption">Notes on the eve of the Great War.</span> -</p> - -<p>“<i>September 26th.</i>—Signs of pressure. They may<a name="page_323" id="page_323"></a> now be off any hour. -The ammunition has all arrived, and there wants but one battery of -artillery to complete the division. General Capper won’t wait much -longer and will be off without it if it delays and make up a battery <i>en -route</i> somehow. It is sad to see so many mere boys arriving at the hotel -fresh from Sandhurst. They are given companies to command, captains -being killed, wounded or missing in such numbers. As to Patrick’s -regiment, the old Royal Irish seem to have been so shattered that they -are all <i>hors de combat</i> for the present.</p> - -<p>“<i>September 27th.</i>—What a precious Sunday this has been! First, Patrick -accompanied me to Mass, said by Father Bernard Vaughan, in a secluded -part of the camp, where the heather had not been ploughed up by men, -horses and guns, as elsewhere, and where the altar was erected in a -wooded glen. The Grenadier and Scots Guards were all on their knees as -we arrived, and the bright green and gold vestments of the priest were -relieved very vividly in the sunshine against the darker green -background of the forest beyond. Quite a little crowd of stalwart -guardsmen received Holy Communion, and two of them were sheltering with -their careful hands the candles from the soft warm breeze, one at each -end of the altar. We sit out in the leafy garden of the hotel and have -tea there, we parents and relatives, with our boys by us at all spare -moments. To-day, being Sunday, there have been extra crowds of relatives -and friends who have motored over from afar. There is pathos here, very -real pathos. How many of these husbands and sons and brothers I see -sitting close to their dear ones, for the last time, perhaps! Who knows? -The voices are low and quiet—very quiet. Patrick and I were -photographed<a name="page_324" id="page_324"></a> together by M. E. These little snapshots will be precious. -We were nearly all day together to-day as there was a rest. All this -quiet time here our brave soldiers are being shattered on the banks of -the Aisne. Just now must be a tremendously important period of the -fighting. We may get great news to-morrow. Many names I know beginning -to appear in the casualty lists.</p> - -<p>“<i>September 28th, 1914.</i>—Had a good motor run with the R.’s right -through the field of ‘battle’ in the midst of the great forest—a -rolling height covered with heather and bracken. Our soldiers certainly -have learnt, at last, how to take cover. One can easily realise how it -is that the proportion of officers killed is so high. Kneeling or -standing up to give directions they are very conspicuous, whereas of the -men one catches only a glimpse of their presence now and then through a -tell-tale knapsack or the round top of a cap in the bracken; yet the -ground is packed with men—quite uncanny. The Gordons were a beautiful -sight as they sprang up to reach a fresh position. I noticed how the -breeze, as they ran, blew the khaki aprons aside and the revealed tartan -kilts gave a welcome bit of colour and touched up the drab most -effectively. One ‘gay Gordon’ sergeant told us, ‘We are a grand -diveesion, all old warriors, and when we get out ‘twill make a -deeference.’â€</p> - -<p>The most impressive episode to me of that well-remembered day was when -Patrick took me up to the high ground at sunset and we looked down on -the camp. The mellow, very red sun was setting and the white moon was -already well up over the camp, which looked mysterious, lightly veiled -by the thin grey wood-smoke of the fires. Thousands of troops were<a name="page_325" id="page_325"></a> -massed or moving, shadowy, far away; others in the middle distance -received the blood-red glow on the men’s faces with an extraordinary -effect. They showed as ruddy, vaporous lines of colour over the scarcely -perceptible tones of the dusky uniforms. Horses stood up dark on the -sky-line. The bugles sounded the “Retreatâ€; these doomed legions, -shadow-like, moved to and fro. It was the prologue to a great tragedy.</p> - -<p>“<i>September 30th.</i>—There was a field day of the whole of one brigade. -The regiments in it are ‘The Queen’s,’ the Welsh Fusiliers, Staffords, -and Warwicks, with the monstrous 4·7 guns drawn by my well-loved mighty -mammoths. The guns are made impossible to the artist of modern war by -being daubed in blue and red blotches which make them absolutely -formless and, of course, no glint of light on the hidden metal is seen. -Still, there is much that is very striking, though the colour, the -sparkle, the gallant plumage, the glinting of gold and silver, have -given way to universal grimness. After all, why dress up grim war in all -that splendour? My idea of war subjects has always been anti-sparkle.</p> - -<p>“As I sat in the motor in the centre of the far-flung ‘battle,’ in a -hollow road, lo! the Headquarter Staff came along, a gallant group, <i>à -la</i> Meissonier, Patrick, on his skittish brown mare ‘Dawn,’ riding -behind the General, who rode a big black (<i>very</i> effective), with the -chief of the Staff nearly alongside. The escort consisted of a strong -detachment of the fine Northumberland Hussars, mounted on their own -hunters. They are to be the bodyguard of the General at the Front. -Several drivers of the artillery are men who were wounded at Mons and -elsewhere,<a name="page_326" id="page_326"></a> and, being well again, are returning with this division to -the Front. All the horses here are superb. Poor beasts, poor beasts! One -daily, hourly, reminds oneself that the very dittoes of these men and -animals are suffering, fighting, dying over there in France. Kitchener -tells our General that the 7th Division will ‘probably arrive after the -first phase is over,’ which looks as though he fully expects the -favourable and early end of the present one.</p> - -<p>“<i>October 2nd.</i>—The whole division was out to-day. I was motored into -the very thick of the operations on the high lands, and watched the men -entrenching themselves, a thing I had never yet seen. Most picturesque -and telling. And the murderous guns were being embedded in the yellow -earth and covered with heather against aeroplanes, especially, and their -wheels masked with horse blankets. There they lay, black, hump-backed -objects, with just their mouths protruding, and as each gun section -finished their work with the pick and shovel, they lay flat down to hide -themselves. How war is waged now! Great news allowed to be published -to-day in the papers. The Indian Army has arrived, and is now at the -<i>Front!</i> It landed long ago at Marseilles, but how well the secret has -been kept! How mighty are the events daily occurring. Late in the -afternoon I saw the Northumberland Hussars, on a high ridge, <i>practising -the sword exercise!</i> With the idea that the sword was obsolete -(engendered by the Boer War experience), no yeomanry has, of late, been -armed with sabres, but, seeing what use our Scots Greys, Lancers, -Dragoon Guards and Hussars have lately been making of the steel, General -Capper has insisted on these, his own yeomen, being thus armed. I felt -stirred<a name="page_327" id="page_327"></a> with the pathos of this sight—men learning how to use a new -arm on the eve of battle. They were mounted and drawn up in a long, -two-deep line on that brown heath, with a heavy bank of dark clouds like -mine in ‘Scotland for Ever!’ behind their heads—a fine subject.</p> - -<p class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/ill_pg_327_lg.jpg"> -<img src="images/ill_pg_327_sml.jpg" width="250" height="252" alt="The Shire Horses: Wheelers of a 4·7, -A Hussar Scout of 1917." -title="The Shire Horses: Wheelers of a 4·7, -A Hussar Scout of 1917." /></a> -<br /> -<span class="caption">The Shire Horses: Wheelers of a 4·7,<br /> -A Hussar Scout of 1917.</span> -</p> - -<p>“Who will look at my ‘Waterloos’ now? I have but one more of that series -to do. Then I shall stop and turn all my attention and energy to this -stupendous war. I shall call up my Indian sowars again, but <i>not</i> at -play this time.</p> - -<p>“<i>October 3rd</i>.—Sketched Patrick’s three beautiful chargers’ heads in -water colour. Still the word ‘Go!’ is suspended over our heads.</p> - -<p>“<i>October 4th</i>.—The word ‘Go!’ has just sounded. In ten minutes Patrick -had to run and get his handbag, great coat and sword and be off with his -General to London. They pass through here to-morrow on their way to -embark.</p> - -<p>“<i>October 5th</i>, 1914.—I was down at seven, and as they did not finally -leave till 8.15 I had a golden half-hour’s respite. Then came the -parting....â€</p> - -<p>I left Lyndhurst at once. It will ever remain with me in a halo of -physical and spiritual sunshine seen through a mist of sadness.</p> - -<p>On November 2nd, 1914, my son Patrick was severely wounded during the -terrible, prolonged first Battle of Ypres, and was sent home to be -nursed back to health and fighting power at Guy’s Hospital, where I saw -him. He told me that as he lay on the field his General and Staff passed -by, and all the General said was, “Hullo, Butler! is that you? -Good-bye!â€<a name="FNanchor_19_19" id="FNanchor_19_19"></a><a href="#Footnote_19_19" class="fnanchor">[19]</a> General Capper was as brave a soldier<a name="page_328" id="page_328"></a> as ever lived, -but, I think, too fond for a General of being, as he said he wished to -be, <i>in the vanguard</i>. Thus he met his death (riding on horseback, I -understand) at Loos. Patrick’s brother A.D.C., Captain Isaac, whom I -daily used to see at Lyndhurst, was killed early in the War. The poor -fellow, to calm my apprehensions regarding my own son, had tried to -assure me that, as A.D.C., he would be as safe as in Piccadilly.</p> - -<p>Towards the end of 1914 London had become intensely interesting in its -tragic aspect, and so very unlike itself. Soldiers of all ranks formed -the majority of the male population. In fact, wherever I looked now -there was some new sight of absorbing interest, telling me we were at -war, and such a war! Bands were playing at recruiting stations; flags of -all the Allies fluttered in the breeze in gaudy bunches; “pom-pom†guns -began to appear, pointing skywards from their platforms in the parks, -awaiting “Taubes†or “Zeppelins.†I went daily to watch the recruits -drilling in the parks—such strangely varied types of men they were, and -most of them appearing the veriest civilians, from top to toe. Yet these -very shop-boys had come forward to offer their all for England, and the -good fellows bowed to the terrible, shouting drill-sergeants as never -they had bowed to any man before. What enraged me was the giggling of -the shop-girls who looked on—a far harder ordeal for the boys even than -the yells of the sergeants. One of the squads in the Green Park was -supremely interesting to me one day, in (I am bound to say) a semi-comic -way. These recruits were members and associates of the Royal Academy. -They were mostly somewhat podgy, others somewhat bald. When<a name="page_329" id="page_329"></a> resting, -having piled arms, they played leap-frog, which was very funny, and -showed how light-heartedly my brothers of the brush were going to meet -the Boche. Of the maimed and blind men one met at every turn I can -scarcely write. I find that when I am most deeply moved my pen lags too -far behind my brush.</p> - -<p>On getting home to Ireland I set to work upon a series of khaki water -colours of the War for my next “one-man show,†which opened with most -satisfactory <i>éclat</i> in May, 1917. One of the principal subjects was -done under the impulse of a great indignation, for Nurse Cavell had been -executed. I called the drawing “The Avengers.†Also I exhibited at the -Academy, at the same time, “The Charge of the Dorset Yeomanry at Agagia, -Egypt.†This was a large oil painting, commissioned by Colonel Goodden -and presented by him to his county of Dorset. That charge of the British -yeomen the year before had sealed the fate of the combined Turks and -Senussi, who had contemplated an attack on Egypt. One of the most -difficult things in painting a war subject is the having to introduce, -as often happens, portraits of particular characters in the drama. Their -own mothers would not know the men in the heat, dust, and excitement of -a charge, or with the haggard pallor on them of a night watch. In the -Dorset charge all the officers were portraits, and I brought as many in -as possible without too much disobeying the “distance†regulation. The -Enemy (of the Senussi tribe) wore flowing <i>burnouses</i>, which helped the -movement, but at their machine guns I, rather reluctantly, had to place -the necessary Turkish officers. I had studies for those figures and for -the desert, which I<a name="page_330" id="page_330"></a> had made long ago in the East. It is well to keep -one’s sketches; they often come in very useful.</p> - -<p>The previous year, 1916, had been a hard one. Our struggles in the War, -the Sinn Fein rebellion in Dublin, and one dreadful day in that year -when the first report of the Battle of Jutland was published—these were -great trials. I certainly would not like to go through another phase -like that. But I was hard at work in the studio at home in Tipperary, -and this kept my mind in a healthy condition, as always, through -trouble. Let all who have congenial work to do bless their stars!</p> - -<p>On July 31st my second son, the chaplain, had a narrow escape. It was at -the great Battle of Flanders, where we seem to have made a good -<i>beginning</i> at last. Father Knapp and Dick were tending the wounded and -dying under a rain of shells, when the old priest told Dick to go and -get a few minutes’ rest. On returning to his sorrowful work Dick met the -fine old Carmelite as he was borne on a stretcher, dying of a shell that -had exploded just where my son had been standing a few minutes before.</p> - -<p>I see in the Diary: “<i>December 11th, 1917</i>.—To-day our army is to make -its formal entry into Jerusalem. I can scarcely write for excitement. -How vividly I see it all, knowing every yard of that holy ground! Dick -writes from before Cambrai that, if he had to go through another such -day as that of the 30th November last, he would go mad with grief. He -lost all his dearest friends in the Grenadier Guards, and he says -England little knows how near she was to a great disaster when the enemy -surprised us on that terrible Friday.<a name="page_331" id="page_331"></a>â€</p> - -<p>Men who have gone through the horrors of war say little about them, but -I have learnt many strange things from rare remarks here and there. To -show how human life becomes of no account as the fighting grows, here is -an instance. A soldier was executed at dawn one day for “cowardice.†An -officer who had acted at the court-martial met a private of the same -regiment as the dead man’s that day, who remarked to his officer that -all he could say about his dead “pal†was that he had seen him perform -an act of bravery three times which would have deserved the V.C. “My -good man,†said the officer, “why didn’t you come forward at the trial -and say this?†“Well, I didn’t think of it, sir.†After all, to die one -way or another had become quite immaterial.</p> - -<p>One of the most important of my water colours at the second khaki -exhibition, held in London in May, 1919, was of the memorable charge of -the Warwick and Worcester Yeomanry at Huj, near Jerusalem, which charge -outshone the old Balaclava one we love to remember, and which differed -from the Crimean exploit in that we not only captured all the enemy -guns, but <i>held</i> them. I had had all details—ground plans, description -of the weather on that memorable day, position of the sun, etc., -etc.—supplied me by an eye-witness who had a singularly quick eye and -precise perception.<a name="FNanchor_20_20" id="FNanchor_20_20"></a><a href="#Footnote_20_20" class="fnanchor">[20]</a> I called it “Jerusalem delivered,†for that -charge opened the gates of the Holy City to us. “The Canadian Bombers on -Vimy Ridge†was another of the more conspicuous subjects, and this one -went to Canada.</p> - -<p>But I must look back a little: “<i>Monday, <a name="page_332" id="page_332"></a>November 11th, -1918</i>.—Armistice Day! I have been fortunate in seeing London on this -day of days. I arrived at Victoria into a London of laughter, flags, -joy-rides on every conceivable and inconceivable vehicle. I had hints on -the way to London by eruptions of Union Jacks growing thicker and -thicker along the railway, but I could not let myself believe that it -was the end of all our long-drawn-out trial that I would find on -arrival. But so it was. I went alone for a good stroll through Oxford -Street, Bond Street, and Piccadilly. People meeting, though strangers, -were smiling at each other. <i>I</i> smiled to strange faces that were -smiling at me. What a novel sensation! The streets were thronged with -the <i>true</i> happiness in the people’s eyes, and there was no -“<i>mafficking</i>†no horse-play, but such <i>fun</i>. The matter was too great -for rowdyism and drunkenness. The crowd was allowed to do just as it -pleased for once, yet I saw no accidents. The police just looked on, and -would have beamed also, I am sure, if they had not been on duty. They -had, apparently, thrown the reins on the public’s neck. I saw some sad -faces, but, of course, such as these kept mostly away.â€</p> - -<p>In deepest gratitude I felt I could be amongst the smilers that day, for -both my own sons, who faced death to the very end in so many of the -theatres of war to which our armies were sent, had survived.</p> - -<p>The boat that took me back to Ireland eventually had no protecting -airship serpentining above us. We could breathe freely now!<a name="page_333" id="page_333"></a></p> - -<p class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/ill_pg_332_lg.jpg"> -<img src="images/ill_pg_332_sml.jpg" width="252" height="168" alt="A post-card, found on a German prisoner, with “Scotland -for Ever†turned into Prussian cavalry, typifying the victorious on-rush -of the German Army in the New Year, 1915." title="A post-card, found on a German prisoner, with “Scotland -for Ever†turned into Prussian cavalry, typifying the victorious on-rush -of the German Army in the New Year, 1915." /></a> -<br /> -<span class="caption">A post-card, found on a German prisoner, with “Scotland -for Ever†turned into Prussian cavalry, typifying the victorious on-rush -of the German Army in the New Year, 1915.</span> -</p> - -<h2><a name="INDEX" id="INDEX"></a>INDEX</h2> - -<p class="cb"><a href="#A">A</a>, -<a href="#B">B</a>, -<a href="#C">C</a>, -<a href="#D">D</a>, -<a href="#E">E</a>, -<a href="#F">F</a>, -<a href="#G">G</a>, -<a href="#H">H</a>, -<a href="#I">I</a>, -<a href="#J">J</a>, -<a href="#K">K</a>, -<a href="#L">L</a>, -<a href="#M">M</a>, -<a href="#N">N</a>, -<a href="#OE">Å’</a>, -<a href="#P">P</a>, -<a href="#R">R</a>, -<a href="#S">S</a>, -<a href="#T">T</a>, -<a href="#V">V</a>, -<a href="#W">W</a>.</p> - -<p class="nind"> -<span class="smcap"><a name="A" id="A"></a>Abbas</span> II., Khedive, <a href="#page_228">228</a>.<br /> -Aberdeen, Marchioness of, <a href="#page_308">308</a>.<br /> -Agostino (cook), <a href="#page_005">5</a>.<br /> -Aix-la-Chapelle, Germany, <a href="#page_029">29</a>.<br /> -Albaro, Italy, <a href="#page_006">6</a>, <a href="#page_054">54</a>, <a href="#page_230">230</a>.<br /> -Aldershot, review at, <a href="#page_236">236</a>.<br /> -Alexandra, Queen, launches <i>Queen</i>, <a href="#page_288">288</a> <i>seq.</i><br /> -Alexandria, Egypt, <a href="#page_202">202</a> <i>seq.</i><br /> -Alma Tadema, Sir L., <a href="#page_154">154</a>.<br /> -Amalfi, Italy, <a href="#page_255">255</a>.<br /> -Amboise, France, <a href="#page_300">300</a>.<br /> -Amélie (nurse), <a href="#page_002">2</a>, <a href="#page_003">3</a>, <a href="#page_005">5</a>, <a href="#page_010">10</a>.<br /> -“An Eviction in Ireland,†<a href="#page_199">199</a>.<br /> -Angers, France, <a href="#page_300">300</a>.<br /> -Antonelli, Cardinal, <a href="#page_074">74</a>.<br /> -Arcole, Italy, <a href="#page_224">224</a>.<br /> -Armistice Day, 1918, <a href="#page_332">332</a>.<br /> -Atfeh, Egypt, <a href="#page_216">216</a>.<br /> -Avignon, France, <a href="#page_178">178</a>.<br /> -<br /> -<a name="B" id="B"></a><span class="smcap">Bagshawe</span>, Father, <a href="#page_105">105</a>.<br /> -“Balaclava,†composition, <a href="#page_138">138</a>;<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">copyright sold, <a href="#page_151">151</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">exhibited, <a href="#page_152">152</a>.</span><br /> -Bâle, Switzerland, <a href="#page_179">179</a>.<br /> -<i>Barberi</i> races, <a href="#page_085">85</a>.<br /> -Beatrice, Princess, <a href="#page_301">301</a>.<br /> -Bellucci, Giuseppe, <a href="#page_060">60</a>, <a href="#page_066">66</a>, <a href="#page_148">148</a>.<br /> -Beresford, Lord Charles, <a href="#page_221">221</a>.<br /> -Birmingham, <a href="#page_126">126</a>.<br /> -Blois, France, <a href="#page_300">300</a>.<br /> -Bonchurch, Isle of Wight, <a href="#page_012">12</a>.<br /> -Bonn, Germany, <a href="#page_019">19</a>.<br /> -Boppart, Germany, <a href="#page_024">24</a>.<br /> -Broome Hall, Kent, <a href="#page_265">265</a>.<br /> -Browne, Colonel, <a href="#page_120">120</a>.<br /> -Bruges, Belgium, <a href="#page_016">16</a>, <a href="#page_270">270</a>.<br /> -Brussels, Belgium, <a href="#page_031">31</a>.<br /> -Buller, Sir Redvers, <a href="#page_284">284</a>.<br /> -Burchett, Mr., <a href="#page_039">39</a>, <a href="#page_041">41</a>, <a href="#page_042">42</a>, <a href="#page_044">44</a>, <a href="#page_048">48</a>, <a href="#page_050">50</a>, <a href="#page_101">101</a>.<br /> -Butcher, Dean, <a href="#page_232">232</a>.<br /> -Butler, Elizabeth, Lady, birth and education, <a href="#page_001">1</a>;<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">visits to Italy, <a href="#page_003">3</a>, <a href="#page_054">54</a> <i>seq.</i>, <a href="#page_147">147</a> <i>seq.</i>, <a href="#page_159">159</a> <i>seq.</i>, 252 seq., <a href="#page_279">279</a> <i>seq.</i>, <a href="#page_306">306</a>, <a href="#page_311">311</a> <i>seq.</i>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">taste for drawing, <a href="#page_004">4</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">early sketches, <a href="#page_007">7</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">commences Diary, <a href="#page_007">7</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">artistic training, <a href="#page_010">10</a>, <a href="#page_014">14</a>, <a href="#page_039">39</a> <i>seq.</i>, <a href="#page_060">60</a> <i>seq.</i>, <a href="#page_077">77</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">German experiences, <a href="#page_019">19</a> <i>seq.</i>, 179 seq.;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">visits Waterloo, <a href="#page_031">31</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">taste for military subjects, <a href="#page_046">46</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">early exhibits, <a href="#page_050">50</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sells water-colours, <a href="#page_096">96</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">first military drawings, <a href="#page_098">98</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">conversion to Catholicism, <a href="#page_099">99</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">first Academy picture, <a href="#page_099">99</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">photographs, <a href="#page_114">114</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Lord Mayor’s banquets, <a href="#page_122">122</a>, <a href="#page_139">139</a>, <a href="#page_153">153</a>, <a href="#page_193">193</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">present from Queen Victoria, <a href="#page_125">125</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">visits Paris, <a href="#page_127">127</a> <i>seq.</i>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">proposed election as R.A., <a href="#page_153">153</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">marriage, <a href="#page_168">168</a>, Irish experiences, <a href="#page_169">169</a> <i>seq.</i>, <a href="#page_199">199</a>, <a href="#page_304">304</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">tour in Pyrenees, <a href="#page_175">175</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">paints “Rorke’s Drift†for Queen Victoria, <a href="#page_187">187</a> <i>seq.</i>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">life at Plymouth, <a href="#page_191">191</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Tel-el-Kebir picture, <a href="#page_194">194</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">residence in Egypt, <a href="#page_196">196</a>, <a href="#page_202">202</a> <i>seq.</i>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Brittany, <a href="#page_198">198</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">paints 24th Dragoons, <a href="#page_199">199</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">tour in Palestine, <a href="#page_221">221</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Aldershot life, <a href="#page_234">234</a> <i>seq.</i>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">residence at Dover, <a href="#page_260">260</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in South Africa, <a href="#page_275">275</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Devonport, <a href="#page_277">277</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">tour in France, <a href="#page_298">298</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">“one-man†shows, <a href="#page_303">303</a>, <a href="#page_318">318</a>, <a href="#page_321">321</a>, <a href="#page_329">329</a>, <a href="#page_331">331</a>.</span><br /> -——, Martin, <a href="#page_321">321</a>.<br /> -——, Patrick, <a href="#page_321">321</a> <i>seq.</i><br /> -——, Richard (Urban), at Downside, <a href="#page_297">297</a>;<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">enters Benedictine Order, <a href="#page_302">302</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ordained as priest, <a href="#page_311">311</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">presented to Pius X., <a href="#page_315">315</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">as army chaplain, <a href="#page_321">321</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">war experiences, <a href="#page_330">330</a>.<a name="page_334" id="page_334"></a></span><br /> -Butler, General Sir William, marriage, <a href="#page_168">168</a>;<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">German tour, <a href="#page_179">179</a> <i>seq.</i>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Zulu War, <a href="#page_183">183</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">friendship with Empress Eugénie, <a href="#page_185">185</a>, <a href="#page_241">241</a>, <a href="#page_257">257</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Plymouth, <a href="#page_191">191</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Lord Mayor’s banquet, <a href="#page_193">193</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Egyptian campaign (1882), <a href="#page_193">193</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Gordon expedition, <a href="#page_194">194</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Wady Halfa command, <a href="#page_196">196</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">receives K.C.B., <a href="#page_199">199</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Alexandria command, <a href="#page_200">200</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Aldershot command, <a href="#page_234">234</a>, <a href="#page_284">284</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dover command, <a href="#page_260">260</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">South African command, <a href="#page_275">275</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">attacks on, <a href="#page_276">276</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Devonport command, <a href="#page_277">277</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">tour in France, <a href="#page_298">298</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">asked to stand for Parliament, <a href="#page_303">303</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on Royal Commission, <a href="#page_303">303</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">speeches in Ireland, <a href="#page_309">309</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death, <a href="#page_310">310</a>.</span><br /> -<br /> -<a name="C" id="C"></a><span class="smcap">Cairo</span>, Egypt, <a href="#page_196">196</a>.<br /> -Cambridge, Duke of, <a href="#page_131">131</a>, <a href="#page_218">218</a>, <a href="#page_235">235</a>.<br /> -“Canadian Bombers on Vimy Ridge,†<a href="#page_331">331</a>.<br /> -Canterbury, opening of church in, <a href="#page_132">132</a>.<br /> -Cap Martin, France, <a href="#page_251">251</a>, <a href="#page_257">257</a>.<br /> -Capper, General, <a href="#page_327">327</a>.<br /> -Capri, Italy, <a href="#page_254">254</a>.<br /> -Carcassonne, France, <a href="#page_178">178</a>.<br /> -Castagnolo, Italy, <a href="#page_161">161</a>.<br /> -Cette, France, <a href="#page_177">177</a>.<br /> -Chapman, Sir F., <a href="#page_110">110</a>.<br /> -“Charge of the Dorset Yeomanry at Agagia, Egypt,†<a href="#page_329">329</a>.<br /> -Chatham, Kent, <a href="#page_120">120</a>.<br /> -“Cistercian Shepherd,†<a href="#page_305">305</a>.<br /> -Coblenz, Germany, <a href="#page_021">21</a>.<br /> -Collier, Mortimer, <a href="#page_192">192</a>.<br /> -Cologne, Germany, <a href="#page_019">19</a>.<br /> -Connaught, Duke of, <a href="#page_235">235</a>.<br /> -Corpus Christi procession, <a href="#page_119">119</a>.<br /> -Cruikshank, George, <a href="#page_123">123</a>.<br /> -“Cuirassier’s Last Réveil, Morning of Waterloo,†<a href="#page_320">320</a>.<br /> -<br /> -<span class="smcap">d’Arcos</span>, Madame, <a href="#page_258">258</a>.<br /> -“<a name="D" id="D"></a>Dawn of Sedan,†<a href="#page_111">111</a>.<br /> -“Dawn of Waterloo,†<a href="#page_244">244</a>.<br /> -“Defence of Rorke’s Drift,†<a href="#page_187">187</a> <i>seq.</i><br /> -Delgany, Ireland, <a href="#page_199">199</a>, <a href="#page_225">225</a>.<br /> -Denbigh, Earl of, <a href="#page_117">117</a>.<br /> -“Desert Grave,†<a href="#page_198">198</a>.<br /> -Devonport, <a href="#page_277">277</a>.<br /> -Deyrout, Egypt, <a href="#page_217">217</a>.<br /> -Diamond Jubilee, 1897, <a href="#page_266">266</a>.<br /> -Dickens, Charles, <a href="#page_009">9</a>.<br /> -Dinan, France, <a href="#page_198">198</a>.<br /> -Dordrecht, Holland, <a href="#page_181">181</a>.<br /> -Dover, Kent, <a href="#page_038">38</a>, <a href="#page_260">260</a>.<br /> -Du Maurier, George, <a href="#page_107">107</a>, <a href="#page_154">154</a>.<br /> -Dufferin, Marquis of, <a href="#page_140">140</a>.<br /> -Durham, <a href="#page_144">144</a>.<br /> -Düsseldorf, Germany, <a href="#page_180">180</a>.<br /> -<br /> -<a name="E" id="E"></a><span class="smcap">Edenbridge</span>, Kent, <a href="#page_004">4</a>, <a href="#page_185">185</a>.<br /> -Edinburgh, <a href="#page_145">145</a>.<br /> -Edkou, Egypt, <a href="#page_205">205</a>.<br /> -Edward VII., King (formerly Albert Edward, Prince of Wales), approves of “Roll Call,†<a href="#page_113">113</a>;<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">accession, <a href="#page_286">286</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at launch of <i>Queen</i>, <a href="#page_289">289</a> <i>seq.</i>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">lays keel of battleship, <a href="#page_295">295</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">postponed coronation, <a href="#page_297">297</a>.</span><br /> -<i>Edward VII.</i> (battleship), <a href="#page_295">295</a>.<br /> -Elizabeth, Empress of Austria, <a href="#page_271">271</a>.<br /> -Eugénie, Empress, interview with General Butler, <a href="#page_185">185</a>;<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">friendship with the Butlers, <a href="#page_234">234</a>, <a href="#page_251">251</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">devotion to her son, <a href="#page_237">237</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">recollections of Egypt, <a href="#page_241">241</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Cap Martin, <a href="#page_257">257</a>.</span><br /> -<br /> -<a name="F" id="F"></a><span class="smcap">Farnborough</span>, Hants., <a href="#page_235">235</a>.<br /> -Ferguson, Sir William, <a href="#page_110">110</a>.<br /> -“Floreat Etona!†<a href="#page_193">193</a>.<br /> -Florence, Italy, <a href="#page_057">57</a> <i>seq.</i>, <a href="#page_147">147</a> <i>seq.</i>, <a href="#page_161">161</a>.<br /> -Fort St. Julian, Egypt, <a href="#page_217">217</a>.<br /> -Frederick, Emperor, <a href="#page_245">245</a>.<br /> -——, Empress. <i>See</i> Victoria, Empress Frederick.<br /> -<br /> -<a name="G" id="G"></a><span class="smcap">Gabriel</span>, Virginia, <a href="#page_152">152</a>.<br /> -Gallifet, Marquise de, <a href="#page_242">242</a>.<br /> -Galloway, Mr., <a href="#page_111">111</a>, <a href="#page_131">131</a>.<br /> -Garibaldi, Giuseppe, <a href="#page_006">6</a>.<br /> -Gave, River, <a href="#page_176">176</a>.<br /> -Genoa, Italy, <a href="#page_005">5</a>, <a href="#page_054">54</a>, <a href="#page_230">230</a>.<br /> -George V., King, <a href="#page_261">261</a>.<br /> -Gladstone, W. E., <a href="#page_266">266</a>.<br /> -Glendalough, Ireland, <a href="#page_199">199</a>.<br /> -Gormanston, Viscountess (formerly Miss Eileen Butler), <a href="#page_317">317</a>.<br /> -Gormanston, Ireland, <a href="#page_318">318</a>.<br /> -Grant, Sir Hope, <a href="#page_115">115</a>, <a href="#page_116">116</a>.<br /> -<i>Graphic</i>, <a href="#page_099">99</a>, <a href="#page_125">125</a>.<a name="page_335" id="page_335"></a><br /> -<br /> -<a name="H" id="H"></a><span class="smcap">Haden</span>, Seymour, <a href="#page_110">110</a>.<br /> -Hadrian’s Villa, Rome, <a href="#page_280">280</a>.<br /> -“Halt!†<a href="#page_119">119</a>.<br /> -“Halt on a Forced March: Retreat to Corunna,†<a href="#page_225">225</a>.<br /> -Hastings, Sussex, <a href="#page_009">9</a>.<br /> -Heidelberg, Germany, <a href="#page_179">179</a>.<br /> -Henley-on-Thames, <a href="#page_015">15</a>, <a href="#page_097">97</a>.<br /> -Henry of Battenberg, Princess. <i>See</i> Beatrice, Princess.<br /> -Herbert, J. R., <a href="#page_105">105</a>.<br /> -<br /> -<a name="I" id="I"></a><span class="smcap">Imperial</span>, Prince. <i>See</i> Napoleon, Prince Imperial.<br /> -<br /> -<span class="smcap">“<a name="J" id="J"></a>Jerusalem Delivered,â€</span> <a href="#page_331">331</a>.<br /> -<br /> -<a name="K" id="K"></a><span class="smcap">Kitchener</span>, Lord, <a href="#page_221">221</a>, <a href="#page_272">272</a> <i>seq.</i><br /> -Koenigswinter, Germany, <a href="#page_019">19</a>.<br /> -<br /> -<a name="L" id="L"></a><span class="smcap">Lane</span>, Richard, <a href="#page_011">11</a>, <a href="#page_042">42</a>.<br /> -Le Breton, Madame, <a href="#page_257">257</a>.<br /> -Leman, Lake (Lake of Geneva), <a href="#page_179">179</a>.<br /> -Leo XIII., Pope, <a href="#page_257">257</a>, <a href="#page_280">280</a>, <a href="#page_281">281</a>, <a href="#page_315">315</a>.<br /> -<i>Letters from the Holy Land</i>, <a href="#page_278">278</a>.<br /> -“‘Listed for the Connaught Rangers,†<a href="#page_169">169</a>, <a href="#page_184">184</a>.<br /> -Lothian, Marchioness of, <a href="#page_118">118</a>.<br /> -Louis Napoleon, Prince, <a href="#page_247">247</a>.<br /> -Louise, Princess, Duchess of Argyll, <a href="#page_250">250</a>.<br /> -Lourdes, France, <a href="#page_176">176</a>.<br /> -Luchon, Bagnères de, France, <a href="#page_177">177</a>.<br /> -Luxor, Egypt, <a href="#page_197">197</a>.<br /> -Lyndhurst, Hants., <a href="#page_321">321</a>.<br /> -<br /> -<a name="M" id="M"></a><span class="smcap">McKinley</span>, William, <a href="#page_288">288</a>.<br /> -“Magnificat,†<a href="#page_083">83</a>, <a href="#page_097">97</a>.<br /> -Magro (cook), <a href="#page_219">219</a>.<br /> -Mahmoudich Canal, Egypt, <a href="#page_207">207</a>.<br /> -Malmaison, France, <a href="#page_245">245</a>.<br /> -Manning, Cardinal, <a href="#page_113">113</a>, <a href="#page_133">133</a>, <a href="#page_137">137</a>.<br /> -Mareotis, Lake, <a href="#page_203">203</a>.<br /> -Mayence, Germany, <a href="#page_180">180</a>.<br /> -Medmenham Abbey, <a href="#page_015">15</a>.<br /> -Metubis, Egypt, <a href="#page_217">217</a>.<br /> -Meynell, Mrs., <a href="#page_010">10</a>, <a href="#page_051">51</a>, <a href="#page_079">79</a>, <a href="#page_099">99</a>, <a href="#page_119">119</a>, <a href="#page_155">155</a>.<br /> -Millais, Sir J. E., <a href="#page_011">11</a>, <a href="#page_106">106</a>, <a href="#page_107">107</a>, <a href="#page_132">132</a>, <a href="#page_138">138</a>, <a href="#page_264">264</a>.<br /> -“Missed!†<a href="#page_125">125</a>.<br /> -“Missing,†<a href="#page_168">168</a>.<br /> -Missionary College, Mill Hill, <a href="#page_119">119</a>.<br /> -Monte Carlo, <a href="#page_258">258</a>.<br /> -Monte Cassino, Monastery, <a href="#page_313">313</a>.<br /> -“Morrow of Talavera,†<a href="#page_271">271</a>.<br /> -Mulranny, Ireland, <a href="#page_305">305</a>.<br /> -Mundy, Sergeant-Major, <a href="#page_031">31</a>.<br /> -<br /> -<a name="N" id="N"></a><span class="smcap">Naples</span>, Italy, <a href="#page_229">229</a>, <a href="#page_252">252</a>.<br /> -Napoleon, Prince Imperial, <a href="#page_185">185</a>, <a href="#page_237">237</a>.<br /> -Naval Review, 1897, <a href="#page_269">269</a>.<br /> -Nervi, Italy, <a href="#page_002">2</a>, <a href="#page_004">4</a>.<br /> -Newcastle-on-Tyne, <a href="#page_143">143</a>.<br /> -<i>Newcomes</i>, illustrations to, <a href="#page_045">45</a>.<br /> -Nîmes, France, <a href="#page_178">178</a>.<br /> -<br /> -<span class="smcap"><a name="OE" id="OE"></a>Å’cumenical Council</span>, opening of, <a href="#page_079">79</a>.<br /> -<br /> -<a name="P" id="P"></a><span class="smcap">Paget</span>, Lord George, <a href="#page_118">118</a>.<br /> -Paray-le-Monial, pilgrimage to, <a href="#page_099">99</a>.<br /> -Patti, Adelina, <a href="#page_123">123</a>.<br /> -Perugia, Italy, <a href="#page_070">70</a>, <a href="#page_283">283</a>.<br /> -Pietri, Franceschini, <a href="#page_243">243</a>, <a href="#page_257">257</a>.<br /> -Pisa, Italy, <a href="#page_161">161</a>.<br /> -Pius IX., Pope, <a href="#page_076">76</a>, <a href="#page_082">82</a>, <a href="#page_090">90</a>, <a href="#page_092">92</a>, <a href="#page_094">94</a>.<br /> -—— X., Pope, <a href="#page_307">307</a>, <a href="#page_314">314</a>, <a href="#page_316">316</a>.<br /> -Podesti, Signor, <a href="#page_085">85</a>.<br /> -Pollard, Dr., <a href="#page_101">101</a>, <a href="#page_102">102</a>, <a href="#page_104">104</a>, <a href="#page_120">120</a>, <a href="#page_186">186</a>.<br /> -Pompeii, Italy, <a href="#page_253">253</a>.<br /> -Porto Fino, Italy, <a href="#page_159">159</a>, <a href="#page_230">230</a>.<br /> -<br /> -<span class="smcap">â€Quatre Bras,â€</span> studies for, <a href="#page_112">112</a>, <a href="#page_130">130</a>;<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">models for, <a href="#page_120">120</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">copyright sold, <a href="#page_124">124</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">correctness of uniforms, <a href="#page_125">125</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">where hung, <a href="#page_133">133</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">success of, <a href="#page_135">135</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Ruskin’s approval, <a href="#page_146">146</a>.</span><br /> -<i>Queen</i>, launching of, <a href="#page_288">288</a> <i>seq.</i><br /> -<br /> -<a name="R" id="R"></a><span class="smcap">Ramleh</span>, Egypt, <a href="#page_204">204</a>.<br /> -Ras-el-Tin, Egypt, <a href="#page_228">228</a>.<br /> -“Remnants of an Army,†<a href="#page_184">184</a>.<br /> -“Rescue of Wounded,†<a href="#page_278">278</a>.<br /> -“Return from Inkermann,†preparations for, <a href="#page_153">153</a>, <a href="#page_157">157</a>, <a href="#page_165">165</a>;<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">exhibited, <a href="#page_168">168</a>.</span><br /> -“Réveil in the Bivouac of the Scots Greys on the Morning of Waterloo,†<a href="#page_232">232</a>.<br /> -“Review of the Native Camel Corps at Cairo,†<a href="#page_230">230</a>.<br /> -Rhodes, Cecil, <a href="#page_296">296</a>.<br /> -<i>Riding Together</i>, illustrations to, <a href="#page_048">48</a>.<br /> -“Right Wheel,†<a href="#page_250">250</a>.<br /> -Ristori, Adelaide, <a href="#page_007">7</a>.<br /> -Roberts, Earl, <a href="#page_287">287</a>.<a name="page_336" id="page_336"></a><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">“Roll Call,†models for, <a href="#page_101">101</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">methods of work, <a href="#page_102">102</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">attention to details in, <a href="#page_103">103</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">success of, <a href="#page_104">104</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">private view, <a href="#page_107">107</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sale of copyright, <a href="#page_111">111</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">bought by Queen Victoria, <a href="#page_111">111</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">taken to Windsor, <a href="#page_116">116</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">question of horse’s steps in, <a href="#page_118">118</a>.</span><br /> -Rome, Lady Butler’s visits to, <a href="#page_071">71</a> <i>seq.</i>, <a href="#page_256">256</a>, <a href="#page_279">279</a>, <a href="#page_306">306</a>, <a href="#page_311">311</a> <i>seq.</i><br /> -Rosetta, Egypt, <a href="#page_205">205</a>, <a href="#page_216">216</a>.<br /> -Ross, Mrs. Janet, <a href="#page_148">148</a>, <a href="#page_161">161</a>, <a href="#page_165">165</a>.<br /> -Rotterdam, Holland, <a href="#page_181">181</a>.<br /> -Ruskin, John, <a href="#page_051">51</a>, <a href="#page_146">146</a>, <a href="#page_153">153</a>.<br /> -Ruta, Italy, <a href="#page_003">3</a>, <a href="#page_230">230</a>.<br /> -<br /> -<a name="S" id="S"></a><span class="smcap">St. Etheldreda’s</span> Church, London, High Mass in, <a href="#page_154">154</a>.<br /> -St. Peter’s, Rome, functions in, <a href="#page_075">75</a>, <a href="#page_280">280</a>, <a href="#page_283">283</a>.<br /> -St. Sauveur, France, <a href="#page_176">176</a>.<br /> -Salisbury, Marquis of, <a href="#page_199">199</a>, <a href="#page_262">262</a> <i>seq.</i><br /> -Salvini, Tommaso, <a href="#page_136">136</a>.<br /> -Savennières, France, <a href="#page_299">299</a>.<br /> -“Scotland for Ever,†<a href="#page_186">186</a>, <a href="#page_187">187</a>, <a href="#page_191">191</a>.<br /> -Sestri Levante, Italy, <a href="#page_056">56</a>.<br /> -Severn, Joseph, <a href="#page_078">78</a>, <a href="#page_084">84</a>, <a href="#page_107">107</a>.<br /> -Shahzada of Afghanistan, <a href="#page_246">246</a>.<br /> -Siena, Italy, <a href="#page_162">162</a>.<br /> -Sistine Chapel, Rome, <a href="#page_281">281</a>, <a href="#page_307">307</a>.<br /> -Sori, Italy, <a href="#page_003">3</a>.<br /> -Sorrento, Italy, <a href="#page_254">254</a>.<br /> -South Kensington Art School, <a href="#page_010">10</a>.<br /> -“Steady, the Drums and Fifes!†<a href="#page_261">261</a>.<br /> -Stone, Marcus, <a href="#page_154">154</a>.<br /> -Strettell, Rev. Alfred, <a href="#page_006">6</a>.<br /> -Stufa, Marchese delle, <a href="#page_147">147</a>, <a href="#page_161">161</a>.<br /> -Super-Bagnère, France, <a href="#page_177">177</a>.<br /> -Syndioor, Egypt, <a href="#page_217">217</a>.<br /> -<br /> -<a name="T" id="T"></a><span class="smcap">Tennyson</span>, Alfred, Lord, <a href="#page_155">155</a> <i>seq.</i><br /> -“Tenth Bengal Lancers at Tent-pegging,†<a href="#page_278">278</a>, <a href="#page_287">287</a>, <a href="#page_297">297</a>.<br /> -Tewfik, Khedive, <a href="#page_208">208</a>, <a href="#page_226">226</a>.<br /> -“The Avengers,†<a href="#page_239">239</a>.<br /> -“The Colours,†<a href="#page_271">271</a>.<br /> -Thompson, Miss Alice. <i>See</i> Meynell, Mrs.<br /> -——, Miss Elizabeth. <i>See</i> Butler, Elizabeth, Lady.<br /> -——, Mr. T. J., <a href="#page_001">1</a>, <a href="#page_002">2</a>, <a href="#page_014">14</a>, <a href="#page_049">49</a>, <a href="#page_084">84</a>, <a href="#page_191">191</a>.<br /> -——, Mrs. T. J., <a href="#page_002">2</a>, <a href="#page_003">3</a>, <a href="#page_009">9</a>, <a href="#page_012">12</a>, <a href="#page_051">51</a>, <a href="#page_058">58</a>, <a href="#page_083">83</a>, <a href="#page_084">84</a>, <a href="#page_143">143</a>, <a href="#page_310">310</a>.<br /> -Thomson, Dr., Archbishop of York, <a href="#page_117">117</a>.<br /> -Toulouse, France, <a href="#page_177">177</a>.<br /> -<br /> -<a name="V" id="V"></a><span class="smcap">Valentia</span> Island, <a href="#page_174">174</a>.<br /> -Vatican Gardens, Rome, <a href="#page_282">282</a>.<br /> -Vecchii, Colonel, <a href="#page_006">6</a>.<br /> -Venice, Italy, <a href="#page_200">200</a>, <a href="#page_211">211</a>, <a href="#page_308">308</a>.<br /> -Ventnor, Isle of Wight, <a href="#page_012">12</a>, <a href="#page_097">97</a>.<br /> -Verona, Italy, <a href="#page_224">224</a>.<br /> -Vesuvius, Mount, ascent of, <a href="#page_255">255</a>.<br /> -Victor Emmanuel, King of Italy, <a href="#page_006">6</a>.<br /> -Victor Napoleon, Prince, <a href="#page_247">247</a>.<br /> -Victoria, Queen, buys “Roll Call,†<a href="#page_111">111</a>;<br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">commissions “Rorke’s Drift,†<a href="#page_187">187</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reviews troops at Aldershot, <a href="#page_235">235</a>, <a href="#page_250">250</a>;</span><br /> -<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death, <a href="#page_285">285</a>.</span><br /> -——, Empress Frederick, <a href="#page_244">244</a>, <a href="#page_286">286</a>.<br /> -Vyvyan, Miss, <a href="#page_042">42</a>.<br /> -<br /> -<a name="W" id="W"></a><span class="smcap">Wady</span> Halfa, Egypt, <a href="#page_197">197</a>.<br /> -Wallace, Sir D. Mackenzie, <a href="#page_248">248</a>.<br /> -Waterloo, field of, <a href="#page_031">31</a>.<br /> -Wellington, Duke of, <a href="#page_033">33</a>.<br /> -Westmoreland, Countess of, <a href="#page_110">110</a>.<br /> -William II., German Emperor, <a href="#page_238">238</a>.<br /> -“Within Sound of the Guns,†<a href="#page_278">278</a>, <a href="#page_301">301</a>.<br /> -Wolseley, Viscount, <a href="#page_194">194</a>, <a href="#page_265">265</a>.<br /> -Woolwich, review at, <a href="#page_117">117</a>.<br /> -</p> - -<p> </p> - -<p class="c"><small>PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN BY THE WHITEFRIARS PRESS LTD. LONDON AND -TONBRIDGE.</small></p> - -<p><br /><a name="page_337" id="page_337"></a><br /> </p> - -<div class="dewd"> -<p>Since I closed these Memoirs my sister, Alice Meynell, has passed away.</p> - -<p>I feel that it is not out of place to record here the fact of her desire -that I should reduce the mention of her name throughout the book. In the -original text it had figured much oftener alongside of my own. Her wish -to keep her personality always retired prevailed upon me to delete many -an allusion to her which would have graced the text, greatly to its -advantage.</p> - -<p class="r">ELIZ<sup>TH.</sup> BUTLER.<br /> -</p> - -<p><i>31st December, 1922.</i></p> -</div> - -<div class="footnotes"> - -<p class="cb"><a name="FOOTNOTES" id="FOOTNOTES"></a>FOOTNOTES:</p> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> The cattle plague was raging in England.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> William I., afterwards German Emperor.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> The severe Lady Superintendent.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> Whose son, Mr. Alfred Pollard, C.B., became the head of the -British Museum Printed Book Department.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> Manning.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> Poor young Inman, who was killed at the fight of Laing’s -Nek, S. Africa.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_7" id="Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> “From Sketch-Book and Diary,†A. & C. Black.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8_8" id="Footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> I have just been told by an Irishman that the Valentia -breed are trained for <i>racing!</i></p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9_9" id="Footnote_9_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> “The Campaign of the Cataracts.â€</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_10_10" id="Footnote_10_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> The late Lord Kitchener.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_11_11" id="Footnote_11_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> Now King George V.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_12_12" id="Footnote_12_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_12"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> Our eldest daughter Elizabeth, now Mrs. Kingscote.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_13_13" id="Footnote_13_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_13"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> Some one has explained to me, with what authority I cannot -tell, that “The Sailor King†gave this order to his officers with Royal -tact, being well aware that they could no more stand, at that period of -the dinner, than he could himself. So we sit.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_14_14" id="Footnote_14_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14_14"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> To die during the World War.—E. B., 1921.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_15_15" id="Footnote_15_15"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15_15"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> Our second son.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_16_16" id="Footnote_16_16"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16_16"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> My daughter, Lady Gormanston, who completed and edited her -father’s autobiography, has recorded in the After-word the circumstances -of his passing.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_17_17" id="Footnote_17_17"></a><a href="#FNanchor_17_17"><span class="label">[17]</span></a> Since dead.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_18_18" id="Footnote_18_18"></a><a href="#FNanchor_18_18"><span class="label">[18]</span></a> Only a few survivors of the original division which I saw -are left. (1916.)</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_19_19" id="Footnote_19_19"></a><a href="#FNanchor_19_19"><span class="label">[19]</span></a> In his little book, “A Galloper at Ypres†(Fisher Unwin), -my son gives a clear account of his own experience of that battle.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_20_20" id="Footnote_20_20"></a><a href="#FNanchor_20_20"><span class="label">[20]</span></a> Colonel the Hon. Richard Preston, whose book, “The Desert -Mounted Corps,†is a masterpiece.</p></div> -</div> - -<hr style="width: 45%;" /> - -<p class="c">Typographical error corrected by the etext transcriber:<br /> -Italian friend in a duett=> Italian friend in a duet {pg 3}</p> - -<hr class="full" /> - - - - - - - -<pre> - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of An Autobiography, by Elizabeth Butler - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY *** - -***** This file should be named 41638-h.htm or 41638-h.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/4/1/6/3/41638/ - -Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images available at The Internet Archive) -Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team -at http://www.pgdp.net - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions -will be renamed. - -Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no -one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation -(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without -permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license - - -Title: An Autobiography - -Author: Elizabeth Butler - -Release Date: December 16, 2012 [EBook #41638] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ASCII - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY *** - - - - -Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images available at The Internet Archive) -Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team -at http://www.pgdp.net - - - - - - - -[Illustration: "GOT IT. BRAVO!"] - - - - -AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY - -BY - -ELIZABETH BUTLER - -_With Illustrations from Sketches by -THE AUTHOR._ - -CONSTABLE & CO. LTD. -LONDON BOMBAY SYDNEY -1922 - -PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN BY THE WHITEFRIARS PRESS, LTD., -LONDON AND TONBRIDGE. - - -To -MY CHILDREN - - - - -FOREWORD - - -The memoirs of a great artist must inevitably evoke the interest and -appreciation of the initiated. But this book makes a wider appeal, -written as it is by a woman whose career, apart from her art, has been -varied and adventurous, who has travelled widely and associated, not -only with the masters of her own craft, but with the great and eminent -in many fields. It is, moreover, the revelation of a personality apart, -at once feminine and virile, endued with the force engendered by -unswerving adherence to lofty aims. - -In this age of insistent ugliness, when the term "realism" is used to -cloak every form of grossness and degeneracy, it is a privilege to -commune with one who speaks of her "experiences of the world's -loveliness" and describes herself as "full of interest in mankind." -These two phrases, taken at random from the opening pages of "From -Sketch Book and Diary," seem to me eminently characteristic of Lady -Butler and her work. She is a worshipper of Beauty in its spiritual as -well as its concrete form, and all her life she has envisaged mankind in -its nobler aspect. - -At seven years old little Elizabeth Thompson was already drawing -miniature battles, at seventeen she was lamenting that as yet she had -achieved nothing great, and a very few years later the world was ringing -with the fame of the painter of "The Roll Call." - -Through the accumulated interests of changeful years, charged for her -with intense joy and sorrow, she has kept her valiant standard flying, -in her art as in her life remaining faithful to her belief in humanity, -using her power and insight for its uplifting. Not only has she depicted -for us great events and strenuous action, with a sureness all her own, -she has caught and materialised the qualities which inspire heroic -deeds--courage, endurance, fidelity to a life's ideal even in the moment -of death. And all without shirking the dreadful details of the -battlefield; amid blood and grime and misery, in loneliness and neglect, -in the desperate steadfastness of a lost cause, her figures stand out -true to themselves and to the highest traditions of their country. - -During the recent world-upheaval Lady Butler devoted herself in -characteristic fashion to the pursuance of her aims. Many of the -subjects painted and exhibited during those terrible years still -preached her gospel. She worked, moreover, with a twofold motive. Widow -of a great soldier, she devoted the proceeds of her labours to her less -fortunate sisters left impoverished, and even destitute, by the War. - -"_L'artiste donne de soi_," said M. Paderewski once. - -Lady Butler has always given generously of her best, and perhaps this -book of memories, intimate and characteristic, this record of wide -interests and high endeavour, full of picturesque incident and touched -with delicate humour, is as valuable a gift as any that she has yet -bestowed. - -M. E. FRANCIS. - - - - -CONTENTS - - -CHAP. PAGE - -I. FIRST IMPRESSIONS 1 - -II. EARLY YOUTH 10 - -III. MORE TRAVEL 19 - -IV. IN THE ART SCHOOLS 38 - -V. STUDY IN FLORENCE 54 - -VI. ROME 69 - -VII. WAR. BATTLE PAINTINGS 96 - -VIII. "THE ROLL CALL" 101 - -IX. ECHOES OF "THE ROLL CALL" 115 - -X. MORE WORK AND PLAY 130 - -XI. TO FLORENCE AND BACK 147 - -XII. AGAIN IN ITALY 159 - -XIII. A SOLDIER'S WIFE 167 - -XIV. QUEEN VICTORIA 183 - -XV. OFFICIAL LIFE--THE EAST 191 - -XVI. TO THE EAST 196 - -XVII. MORE OF THE EAST 211 - -XVIII. THE LAST OF EGYPT 224 - -XIX. ALDERSHOT 234 - -XX. ITALY AGAIN 252 - -XXI. THE DOVER COMMAND 260 - -XXII. THE CAPE AND DEVONPORT 275 - -XXIII. A NEW REIGN 284 - -XXIV. MOSTLY A ROMAN DIARY 311 - -XXV. THE GREAT WAR 320 - -INDEX 333 - - - - -LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS - - - PAGE - -"GOT IT, BRAVO!" _Frontispiece_ - -A LEAF FROM A VERY EARLY SKETCH-BOOK 12 - -FLYING SHOTS IN BELGIUM AND RHINELAND IN 1865 19 - -IN FLORENCE DURING MY STUDIES IN 1869 58 - -THE LAST OF THE RIDERLESS HORSE-RACES, AND A WET TRUDGE -TO THE VATICAN COUNCIL 80 - -CRIMEAN IDEAS 103 - -PRACTISING FOR "QUATRE BRAS" 130 - -ONE OF THE BALACLAVA SIX HUNDRED 151 - -IN WESTERN IRELAND: A "JARVEY" AND "BIDDY" 174 - -THE EGYPTIAN CAMEL CORPS AND THE BERSAGLIERI 230 - -ALDERSHOT MANOEUVRES: THE ENEMY IN SIGHT 234 - -A DESPATCH BEARER, BOER WAR, AND THE HORSE GUNNERS 284 - -NOTES ON THE EVE OF THE GREAT WAR 323 - -THE SHIRE HORSES: WHEELERS OF A 4.7. A HUSSAR SCOUT OF 1917 327 - -A POSTCARD, FOUND ON A GERMAN PRISONER, WITH "SCOTLAND -FOR EVER" TURNED INTO PRUSSIAN CAVALRY, TYPIFYING -THE VICTORIOUS ONRUSH OF THE GERMAN ARMY IN THE -NEW YEAR, 1915 332 - - - - -AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY - -ELIZABETH BUTLER - - -MY FRIENDS: You must write your memoirs. - -I: Every one writes his or her memoirs nowadays. Rather a plethora, -don't you think? An exceedingly difficult thing to do without too much -of the Ego. - -MY FRIENDS: Oh! but yours has been such an interesting life, so varied, -and you can bring in much outside yourself. Besides, you have kept a -diary, you say, ever since you were twelve, and you have such an -unusually long memory. A pity to waste all that. You simply _must_! - -I: Very well, but remember that I am writing while the world is still -knocked off its balance by the Great War, and few minds will care to -attune themselves to the Victorian and Edwardian stability of my time. - -MY FRIENDS: There will come a reaction. - - - - -CHAPTER I - -FIRST IMPRESSIONS - - -I was born at the pretty "Villa Claremont," just outside Lausanne and -overlooking Lake Leman. I made a good start with the parents Providence -gave me. My father, cultured, good, patient, after he left Cambridge set -out on the "Grand Tour," and after his unsuccessful attempt to enter -Parliament devoted his leisure to my and my younger sister's education. -Yes, he began with our first strokes, our "pot-hooks and hangers," our -two-and-two make four; nor did his tuition really cease till, entering -on matrimony, we left the paternal roof. He adopted, in giving us our -lessons, the principle of "a little and often," so that we had two -hours in the morning and no lessons in the afternoon, only bits of -history, poetry, the collect for the Sunday and dialogues in divers -languages to learn overnight by heart to be repeated to him next -morning. We had no regular holidays: a day off occasionally, especially -when travelling; and we travelled much. He believed that intelligent -travel was a great educator. He brought us up tremendous English -patriots, but our deepest contentment lay in our Italian life, because -we loved the sun--all of us. - -So we oscillated between our Ligurian Riviera and the home counties of -Kent and Surrey, but were never long at a time in any resting place. Our -father's daughter by his first wife had married, at seventeen, an -Italian officer whose family we met at Nervi, and she settled in Italy, -becoming one of our attractions to the beloved Land. That officer later -on joined Garibaldi, and was killed at the Battle of the Volturno. She -never left the country of her adoption, and that bright lure for us -remained. - -Although we were very strictly ruled during lessons, we ran rather wild -after, and, looking back, I only wonder that no illness or accident ever -befell us. Our dear Swiss nurse was often scandalised at our escapades, -but our mother, bright and beautiful, loving music and landscape -painting, and practising both with an amateur's enthusiasm, allowed us -what she considered very salutary freedom after study. Still, I don't -think she would have liked some of our wild doings and our consortings -with Genoese peasant children and Surrey ploughboys, had she known of -them. But, careful as she was of our physical and spiritual health, she -trusted us and thought us unique. - -My memory goes back to the time when I was just able to walk and we -dwelt in a typically English village near Cheltenham. I see myself -pretending to mind two big cart-horses during hay-making, while the fun -of the rake and the pitchfork was engaging others not so interested in -horses as I already was myself. Then I see the _Albergo_, with -vine-covered porch, at Ruta, on the "saddle" of Porto Fino, that -promontory which has been called the "Queen of the Mediterranean," where -we began our lessons, and, I may say, our worship of Italy. - -Then comes Villa de' Franchi for two exquisite years, a little nearer -Genoa, at Sori, a _palazzo_ of rose-coloured plaster and white stucco, -with flights of stone steps through the vineyards right down to the sea. -That sea was a joy to me in all its moods. We had our lessons in the -balcony in the summer, and our mother's piano sent bright melody out of -the open windows of the drawing-room when she wasn't painting the -mountains, the sea, the flowers. She had the "semi-grand" piano brought -out into the balcony one fullmoon night and played Beethoven's -"Moonlight Sonata" under those silver beams, while the sea, her -audience, in its reflected glory, murmured its applause. - -Often, after the babes were in bed, I cried my heart out when, through -the open windows, I could hear my mother's light soprano drowned by the -strong tenor of some Italian friend in a duet, during those musical -evenings so dear to the music-loving children of the South. It seemed -typical of her extinction, and I felt a rage against that tenor. Our -dear nurse, Amelie, would come to me with lemonade, and mamma, when -apprised of the state of things, would also come to the rescue, her -face, still bright from the singing, becoming sad and puckered. - -A stay at Edenbridge, in Kent, found me very happy riding in big waggons -during hay-making and hanging about the farm stables belonging to the -house, making friends with those splendid cart-horses which contrasted -with the mules of Genoa in so interesting a way. How the cuckoos sang -that summer; a note never heard in Italy. I began writing verse about -that time. Thus: - - The gates of Heaven open to the lovely season, - And all the meadows sweet they lie in peace. - -We children loved the Kentish beauty of our dear England. Poetry -filtered into our two little hearts wherever we abode, to blossom forth -in my little large-eyed, thoughtful sister in the process of time. To -Nervi we went again, taking Switzerland on the way this time, into Italy -by the Simplon and the Lago Maggiore. - -A nice couple of children we were sometimes! At this same Nervi, one -day, we little girls found the village people celebrating a _festa_ at -Sant' Ilario, high up on the foothills of the mountains behind our -house. We mixed in the crowd outside, as the church emptied, and armed -ourselves with branches. Rounding up the children, who were in swarms, -we gave chase. Down, down, through the zone of chestnut trees, down -through the olive woods, down through the vineyards, down to the little -town the throng fled, till, landing them in the street, we went home, -remarking on the evident superior power of the Anglo-Saxon race over the -Latin. - -As time went on my drawing-books began to show some promise, so that my -father gave me great historical subjects for treatment, but warning me, -in that amused way he had, that an artist must never get spoilt by -celebrity, keeping in mind the fluctuations of popularity. I took all -this seriously. I think that, having no boys to bring up, he tried to -put all the tuition suitable to both boys and girls into us. One result -was that as a child I had the ambition to be a writer as well as a -painter. We children were fanatically devoted to the worship of -Charlotte Bronte, since our father had read us "Jane Eyre" (with -omissions). Rather strong meat for babes! We began sending poetry and -prose to divers periodicals and cut our teeth on rejected MSS. - -We went back to Genoa, _via_ Jersey (as a little _detour_!) Poor old -Agostino, our inevitable cook, saw us as we drove from the station, on -our arrival, through the Via Carlo Felice. Worse luck, for he had become -too blind for his work. In days gone by he had done very well and we had -not the heart to cast him off. He ran after our carriage, kissing our -hands as he capered sideways alongside, at the peril of being run over. -So we were in for him again, but it was the last time. On our next visit -a friend told us, "Agostino is dead, thank goodness!" He and our dear -nurse, Amelie, used to have the most desperate rows, principally over -religion, he a devout Catholic and she a Protestant of the true Swiss -fibre. They always ended by wrangling themselves at the highest pitch of -their voices into papa's presence for judgment. But he never gave it, -only begging them to be quiet. She declared to Agostino that if he got -no wages at all he would still make a fortune out of us by his -perquisites; and, indeed, considering we left all purchases in his -hands, I don't think she exaggerated. The war against Austria had been -won. Magenta, Solferino, Montebello--dear me, how those names resounded! -One day as we were running along the road in our pinafores near the -Zerbino palace, above Genoa, along came Victor Emmanuel in an open -carriage looking very red and blotchy in the heat, with big, ungloved -hands, one of which he raised to his hat in saluting us little imps who -were shouting "Long live the King of Italy!" in English with all our -might. We were only a _little_ previous (!) Then the next year came the -Garibaldi enthusiasm, and we, like all the children about us, became -highly exalted _Garibaldians_. I saw the Liberator the day before he -sailed from Quarto for his historical landing in Sicily, at the Villa -Spinola, in the grounds of which we were, on a visit at the English -consul's. He was sitting in a little arbour overlooking the sea, talking -to the gardener. In the following autumn, when his fame had increased a -thousandfold, I made a pen and ink memory sketch of him which my father -told me to keep for future times. I vividly remember, though at the time -not able to understand the extraordinary meaning of the words, hearing -one of Garibaldi's adoring comrades (one Colonel Vecchii) a year or two -later on exclaim to my father, with hands raised to heaven, -"_Garibaldi!! C'est le Christ le revolver a la main!_" - -Our life at old Albaro was resumed, and I recall the pleasant English -colony at Genoa in those days, headed by the very popular consul, -"Monty" Brown, and the nice Church of England chaplain, the Rev. Alfred -Strettell. Ah! those primitive picnics on Porto Fino, when Mr. Strettell -and our father used to read aloud to the little company, including our -precocious selves, Shakespeare, Wordsworth, Keats, Tennyson, under the -vines and olives, between whose branches, far below the cultivated -terraces which we chose for our repose, appeared the deep blue waters of -the Sea of seas. My early sketch books are full of incidents in Genoese -peasant life: carnival revels in the streets, so suited to the child's -idea of fun; charges of Garibaldian cavalry on discomfited Neapolitan -troops (the despised _Borbonici_), and waving of tricolours by bellicose -patriots. I was taken to the Carlo Felice Theatre to see Ristori in -"Maria Stuarda," and became overwhelmed with adoration of that mighty -creature. One night she came on the stage waving a great red, white, and -green tricolour, and recited to a delirious audience a fine patriotic -poem to united Italy ending in the words "_E sii Regina Ancor!_" I see -her now in an immense crinoline. - -A charming autumn sojourn on the lakes of Orta and Maggiore filled our -young minds with beauty. Early autumn is the time for the Italian lakes, -while the vintage is "on" and the golden Indian corn is stored in the -open loggias of the farms, hanging in rich bunches in sun and luminous -shade amongst the flower pots and all the homely odds and ends of these -picturesque dwellings. The following spring was clouded by our return to -England and London in particularly cold and foggy weather, dark with the -London smoke, and our temporary installation in a dismal abode hastily -hired for us by our mother's father, where we could be close to his -pretty little dwelling at Fulham. My Diary was begun there. Poor little -"Mimi" (as I was called), the pages descriptive of our leaving Albaro at -that time are spotted with the mementos of her tears. The journey -itself was a distraction, for we returned by the long Cornice Route -which then was followed by the _Malle Poste_ and Diligence, the railway -being only in course of construction. It was very interesting to go in -that fashion, especially to me, who loved the horses and watched the -changing of our teams at the end of the "stages" with the intensest -zest. I made little sketches whenever halts allowed, and, as usual, my -irrepressible head was out of the Diligence window most of the time. The -Riviera is now known to everybody, and very delightful in its way. I -have not long returned from a very pleasant visit there; everything very -luxurious and up-to-date, but the local sentiment is lessened. The -reason is obvious, and has been laboured enough. One can still go off -the beaten paths and find the true Italy. I have found one funny little -sketch showing our _Malle Poste_ stopping to pick up the mail bag at a -village (San Remo, perhaps), which bag is being handed out of a top -window, at night, by the old postmistress. The _Malle Poste_ evidently -went "like the wind," for I invariably show the horses at a gallop all -along the route. - -My misery at the view of our approach to London through that wilderness -of slums that ushers us into the Great Metropolis is all chronicled, -and, what with one thing and another, the Diary sinks for a while into -despondency. But not for long. I cheer up soon. - -In London I took in all the amusing details of the London streets, so -new to me, coming from Italy. I seem, by my entries in the Diary, to -have been particularly diverted by the colour of those Dundreary -whiskers that the English "swell" of the period affected. I constantly -come upon "Saw no end of red whiskers." Then I read, "Mamma and I paid -calls, one on Dickens (_sic_)--out, thank goodness." Charles Dickens, -whom I dismiss in this offhand manner, had been a close friend of my -father's, and it was he who introduced my father to the beautiful Miss -Weller (amusing coincidence in names!) at an amateur concert where she -played. The result was rapid. My vivid memory can just recall Charles -Dickens's laugh. I never heard it echoed by any other man's till I heard -Lord Wolseley's. The volunteer movement was in full swing, and I became -even more enthusiastic over the citizen soldiers than I had been over -the _Garibaldini_. Then there are pages and pages filled with -descriptions of the pictures at the Royal Academy; of the Zoological -Gardens, describing nearly every bird, beast, reptile and fish. Laments -over the fogs and the cold of that dreadful London April and May, and -untiring outbursts in verse of regret for my lost Italy. But I stuffed -my sketch books with British volunteers in every conceivable uniform, -each corps dressed after its own taste. There was a very short-lived -corps called the Six-foot Guards! I sent a design for a uniform to the -_Illustrated London News_, which was returned with thanks. I felt hurt. -Grandpapa attached himself to the St. George's Rifles, and went, later -on, through storm and rain and sun in several sham fights. Well, _Punch_ -made fun of those good men and true, but I have lived to know that the -"Territorials," as they came to be called, were destined in the -following century to lend their strong arm in saving the nation. We next -had a breezy and refreshing experience of Hastings and the joy of rides -on the downs with the riding master. London fog and smoke were blown off -us by the briny breezes. - - - - -CHAPTER II - -EARLY YOUTH - - -In December we migrated back to London, and shortly before Christmas our -dear, faithful nurse died. That was Alice's and my first sense of -sorrow, and, even now, I can't bear to go over those dreadful days. Our -father told us we would never forgive ourselves if we did not take our -last look at her. He said we were very young for looking on death, but -"go, my children," he said, "it is right." I cannot read those -heartbroken words with which I fill page after page of my Diary even now -without tears. She had at first intended to remain at home at Lausanne -when my parents were leaving for England, shortly after my birth, but as -she was going I smiled at her from my cradle. "_Ah! Mademoiselle Mimi, -ce sourire!_" brought her back irresistibly, and with us she remained to -the end. - -As we girls grew apace we had a Parisian mistress to try and parisianise -our Swiss French and an Italian master to try and tuscanise our Genoese -Italian, and every Saturday a certain Mr. Standish gave me two hours' -drill in oil painting. How grand I felt! He gave me his own copies of -Landseer's horses' heads and dogs as models. This wasn't very much, but -it was a beginning. My lessons in the elementary class at the S. -Kensington School of Art are not worth mentioning. The masters gave me -hateful scrolls and patterns to copy, and I relieved my feelings by -ornamenting the margins of my drawing paper with angry scribblings of -horses and soldiers in every variety of fury. That did not last long. -This entry in the Diary speaks for itself:-- - -"_Sunday, March 16th, 1862._--We went to Mr. Lane's house preparatory to -going to see Millais in his studio. Mr. Richard Lane is an old friend of -papa's. The middle Miss Lane is a favourite model of Millais' and very -pretty. We entered his studio, which is hung with rich pre-Raphaelite -tapestry and pre-Raphaelite everything. The smell of cigar smoke -prepared me for what was to come. Millais, a tall, strapping, careless, -blunt, frank, young Englishman, was smoking with two villainous friends, -both with beards--red, of course. Instead of coming to be introduced -they sat looking at Millais' graceful drawings calling them 'jolly' and -'stunning,' the creatures! Millais would be handsome but for his eyes, -which are too small, and his hair is colourless and stands up in curls -over his large head but not encroaching upon his splendid forehead. He -seems to know what a universal favourite he is." I naturally did not -record in this precious piece of writing a rather humiliating little -detail. I wanted the company to see that I was a bit of a judge of -painting, ahem! In fact, a painter myself, and, approaching very near to -the wet picture of "The Ransom" (I think), I began to scrutinise. Mr. -Lane took me gently, but firmly, by the shoulders and placed me in a -distant chair. Had I been told by a seer that in 1875--the year I -painted "Quatre Bras"--this same Millais, after entertaining me at -dinner in that very house, would escort me down those very steps, and, -in shaking hands, was to say, "Good night, Miss Thompson, I shall soon -have the pleasure of congratulating you on your election to the -Academy, an honour which you will _t'oroughly_ deserve"--had I been told -this! - -Our next halt was in the Isle of Wight, at Ventnor, and then at -Bonchurch, and our house was "The Dell." Bonchurch was a beautiful -dwelling-place. But, alas! for what I may call the Oxford primness of -the society! It took long to get ourselves attuned to it. However, we -got to be fond of this society when the ice thawed. The Miss Sewells -were especially charming, sisters of the then Warden of New College. -Each family took a pride in the beauty of its house and gardens, the -result being a rivalry in loveliness, enriching Bonchurch with flowers, -woods and ornamental waters that filled us with delight. Mamma had "The -Dell" further beautified to come up to the high level of the others. She -made a little garden herself at the highest point of the grounds, with -grass steps, bordered with tall white lilies, and called it "the -Celestial Garden." The cherry trees she planted up there for the use of -the blackbirds came to nothing. The water-colours she painted at "The -Dell" are amongst her loveliest. - -[Illustration: A LEAF FROM A VERY EARLY SKETCH-BOOK.] - -Ventnor was fond of dances, At Homes, and diversions generally, but I -shall never forget my poor mother's initial trials at the musical -parties where the conversation raged during her playing, rising and -sinking with the _crescendos_ and _diminuendos_ (and this after the -worship of her playing in Italy!), and once she actually stopped dead in -the middle of a Mozart and silence reigned. She then tried the catching -"Saltarello," with the same result exactly. "The English appreciate -painting with their ears and music with their eyes," said Benjamin West -(if I am not mistaken), the American painter, who became President of -our Royal Academy. This hard saying had much truth in it, at least in -his day. Even in ours they had to be _told_ of the merits of a picture, -and the _sight_ of a pianist crossing his hands when performing was the -signal for exchanges of knowing smiles and nods amongst the audience, -who, talking, hadn't heard a note. For vocal music, however, silence was -the convention. How we used inwardly to laugh when, after a song piped -by some timid damsel, the music was handed round so that the words and -music might be seen in black and white by the guests assembled. I -thankfully record the fact that as time went on my mother's playing -seemed at last to command attention, and it being whispered that silence -was better suited to such music, it became quite the thing to stop -talking. - -Though Bonchurch was inclined to a moderate High Church tone, its rector -was of a pungent Low-Churchism, and he wrote us and the other girls who -sang in his choir a very severe letter one day ordering us to -discontinue turning to the east in the Creed. We all liked the much more -genial and very beautiful services at Holy Trinity Church, midway to -Ventnor, where we used to go for evensong. The Rev. Mr. G., of -Bonchurch, gave us very long sermons in the mornings, prophesying dismal -and alarming things to come, and we took refuge finally in the Rev. A. -L. B. Peile's more heartening discourses. - -The Ventnor dances were thoroughly enjoyable, and the croquet parties -and the rides with friends, and all the rest of it. Yes, it was a nice -life, but the morning lessons never broke off. No doubt we were -precocious, but we like to dwell on the fact of the shortness of our -childhood and the consequent length of our youth. I now and then come -upon funny juvenile sketch books where I find my Ventnor partners at -these dances clashing with charges of Garibaldian cavalry. There they -are, the desirable ones and the undesirable; the drawling "heavy swell" -and the raw stripling; the handsome and the ugly. The girls, too, are -there; the flirt and the wallflower. They all went in. - -These festive Ventnor doings were all very well, but it became more and -more borne in upon me that, if I intended to be a "great artist" (oh! -seductive words), my young 'teens were the right time for study. "Very -well, then--attention!--miss!" No sooner did my father perceive that I -meant business than he got me books on anatomy, architecture, costume, -arms and armour, Ruskin's inspiring writings, and everything he thought -the most appropriate for my training. But I longed for regular training -in some academy. I chafed, as my Diaries show. For some time yet I was -to learn in this irregular way, petitioning for real severe study till -my dear parents satisfied me at last. "You will be entering into a -tremendous ruck of painters, though, my child," my father said one day, -with a shake of his head. I answered, "I will single myself out of it." - -So, then, the lovely "Dell" was given up, and soon there began the -happiest period of my girlhood--my life as an art student at South -Kensington; _not_ in the elementary class of unpleasant memory, but in -the "antique" and the "life." - -But our father wanted first to show us Bruges and the Rhine, so we were -off again on our travels in the summer. Two new countries for us girls, -hurrah! and a little glimpse of a part of our own by the way. I find an -entry made at Henley. - -"_Henley, May 31st._--Before to-day I could not boast with justice of -knowing more than a fraction of England! This afternoon I saw her in one -of her loveliest phases on a row to Medmenham Abbey. Skies of the most -telling effects, ever changing as we rowed on, every reach we came to -revealing fresh beauties of a kind so new to me. The banks of long grass -full of flowers, the farmsteads gliding by, the willows allowed to grow -according to Nature's intention into exquisitely graceful trees, the -garden lawns sloping to the water's edge as a delicious contrast to the -predominating rural loveliness, and then that unruffled river! I have -seen the Thames! At Medmenham Abbey we had tea, and one of the most -beautiful parts of the river and meadowland, flowery to overflowing, was -seen before us through the arcades, the sky just there being of the most -delicious dappled warm greys, and further on the storm clouds towered, -red in the low sun. What pictures wherever you turn; and turn and turn -and turn we did, until my eyes ached, on our smooth row back. The -evening effects put the afternoon ones out of my head. I imagined a -score of pictures, peopling the rich, sweet banks with men and women of -the olden time. The skies received double glory and poetry from the -perfectly motionless water, which reflected all things as in a -mirror--as if it wasn't enough to see that overwhelming beauty without -seeing it doubled! At last I could look no more at the effects nor hear -the blackbirds and thrushes that sang all the way, and, to Mamma's -sympathetic amusement, I covered my eyes and ears with a shawl. Alas! -for the artist, there is no peace for him. He cannot gaze and -peacefully admire; he frets because he cannot 'get the thing down' in -paint. Having finished my row in that Paradise, let me also descend from -the poetic heights, and record the victory of the Frenchman. Yes, -'Gladiateur' has carried off the blue ribbon of the turf. Upon my word, -these Frenchmen!" It was the first time a French horse had won the -Derby. - -Bruges was after my own heart. Mediaeval without being mouldy, kept -bright and clean by loving restorations done with care and knowledge. No -beautiful old building allowed to crumble away or be demolished to make -room for some dreary hideosity, but kept whole and wholesome for modern -use in all its own beauty. Would that the Italians possessed that same -spirit. My Diary records our daily walks through the beautiful, bright -streets with their curious signs named in Flemish and French, and the -charm of a certain _place_ planted with trees and surrounded by gabled -houses. Above every building or tree, go where you would, you always saw -rising up either the wondrous tower of the Halle (the _Beffroi_), dark -against the bright sky, or the beautiful red spire on the top of the -enormous grey brick tower of Notre Dame, a spire, I should say, -unequalled in the world not only for its lovely shape and proportions, -but for its exquisite style and colour: a delicious red for its upper -part, most refined and delicate, with white lines across, and as -delicate a yellow lower down. Or else you had the grey tower of the -cathedral, plain and imposing, made of small bricks like that of Notre -Dame, having a massive effect one would not expect from the material. -Over the little river, which runs nearly round the town, are -oft-recurring draw-bridges with ponderous grey gates, flanked by two -strong, round, tower-like wings. Most effective. On this river glided -barges pulled painfully by men, who trudged along like animals. I record -with horror that one barge was pulled by a woman! "It was quite painful -to see her bent forward doing an English horse's work, with the band -across her chest, casting sullen upward glances at us as we passed, and -the perspiration running down her face. From the river diverge canals -into the town, and nothing can describe the beauty of those water -streets reflecting the picturesque houses whose bases those waters wash, -as at Venice. When it comes to seeing two towers of the Halle, two -spires of Notre Dame, two towers of the cathedral, etc., etc., the -duplicate slightly quivering downwards in the calm water! Here and -there, as we crossed some canal or other, one special bit would come -upon us and startle us with its beauty. Such combinations of gables and -corner turrets and figures of saints and little water-side gardens with -trees, and always two or more of the towers and spires rising up, hazy -in the golden flood of the evening sun!" - -In our month at Bruges I made the most of every hour. It is one of the -few towns one loves with a personal love. I don't know what it looks -like to-day, after the blight of war that passed over Belgium, but I -trust not much harm was done there. How one trembled for the old -_beffroi_, which one heard was mined by the Huns when they were in -possession. - -"_August 24th._--Dear, exquisite, lovely, sunny, smiling Bruges, -good-bye! Good-bye, fair city of happy, ever happy, recollections. -Bright, gabled Bruges, we shall not look upon thy like again." - -I will make extracts from my German Diary, as Germany in those days was -still a land of kindly people whom we liked much before they became -spoilt by the Prussianism only then beginning to assert itself over the -civil population. The Rhine, too, was still unspoilt. That part of -Germany was agricultural; not yet industrialised out of its charm. I -also think these extracts, though so crude and "green," may show young -readers how we can enjoy travel by being interested in all we see. I may -become tiresome to older ones who have passed the Golden Gates, and for -some of whom Rhine or Nile or Seine or Loire has run somewhat dry. - -[Illustration: FLYING SHOTS IN BELGIUM AND RHINELAND IN /65.] - - - - -CHAPTER III - -MORE TRAVEL - - -"Alas! for railway travellers one approach to a place is like another. -Fancy arriving at Cologne through ragged factory outskirts and being -deposited under a glazed shed from which nothing but the railway objects -can be seen! We made a dash to the cathedral, I on the way remarking the -badly-dressed Dueppel heroes (!) with their cook's caps and tight -trousers; and oh dear! the officers are of a very different mould here -from what they are in Belgium. Big-whiskered fellows with waists enough -to make the Belgians faint. But I am trifling. We went into the -cathedral by a most glorious old portal covered with rich Gothic -mouldings. Happy am I to be able to say I have seen Cologne Cathedral. -Now, hurrah for the Rhine! that river I have so longed, for years, to -see." - -We don't seem to have cared much for Bonn, though I intensely enjoyed -watching the swift river from the hotel garden and the Seven Mountains -beyond. The people, too, amused and interested me very much, and the -long porcelain pipe dangling from every male mouth gave me much matter -for sketching. - -My Diary on board the _Germania_: "Koenigswinter at the foot of the -Dragenfels began that series of exquisite towns at the foot of ruined -castles of which we have had more than a sufficient feast--that is, to -be able to do them all the justice which their excessive beauty calls -loudly for. We rounded the Dragenfels and saw it 'frowning' more -Byronically than on the Bonn side, and altogether more impressive. And -soon began the vines in all their sweet abundance on the smiling hill -slopes. Romantic Rolandsec expanded on our right as we neared it, and -there stood the fragment of the ruined castle peering down, as its -builder is said to have done, upon the Convent amidst the trees on its -island below. And then how fine looked the Seven Mountains as we looked -back upon them, closing in the river as though it were a lake, and away -we sped from them and left them growing mistier, and passed russet roofs -and white-walled houses with black beams across, and passed lovely -Unkel, picturesque to the core, bordering the water, and containing a -most delicious old church. Opposite rose curious hills, wild and round, -half vine-clad, half bare, and so on to Apollinarisberg on our right, -with its new four-pinnacled church on the hill, above Remagen and its -old church below. The last sight of the Dragenfels was a very happy one, -in misty sunlight, as it finally disappeared behind the near hills. On, -on we went, and passed the dark Erpeler Lei and the round, blasted and -dismal ruin of Okenfels; and Ling, with a cloud-capped mountain frowning -over it. As we glided by the fine restored _chateau_ of Argenfels and -the village of Hoenningen the sky was red with the reflection of the -sunset which we could not see, and was reflected in the swirling river. -We did our Rhine pretty conscientiously by going first aft, then -forward, and then to starboard, and then to port, and glories were -always before us, look which way we would. So the Rhine has _not_ been -too much cried up, say what you will, Messrs. Blase and Bore. The views -were constantly interrupted by the heads of the lack-lustre people on -board, who, just like the visitors at the R.A., hide the beauties they -can't appreciate from those who long to see them. But it soon began to -grow dark. - -"As we glided by Neuwied and stopped to take and discharge passengers a -band was playing the 'Dueppel March,' so called because the Prussians -played it before Dueppel. They are so blatantly proud of having beaten -the Danes and getting Schleswig-Holstein. Fireworks were spluttering, -and, altogether, a great deal of festivity was going on. It was quite -black on the afterdeck by this time, _minus_ lanterns. To go below to -the stuffy, lighted cabin was not to be thought of, so we walked up and -down, sometimes coming in contact with our fellow-man, or, rather, -woman, for the men carried lights at the fore (_i.e._, at the ends of -their cigars). At last, by the number of lights ahead, we knew we were -approaching Coblenz. We went to the "Giant" Hotel, close to the landing. -It was most tantalising to know that Ehrenbreitstein was towering -opposite, invisible, and that such masses of picturesqueness must be all -around. Papa and I had supper in the _Speise-saal_, and then I gladly -sought my couch, in my sweet room which looked on the front, after a -very enjoyable day. - -"Most glorious of glorious days! The theory held so drearily by Messrs. -Blase and Bore about the mist and rain of the Rhine is knocked on the -head. We were off to Bingen, to my regret, for it was hard to leave such -a place as Coblenz, although greater beauties awaited us further up, -perhaps, than we had yet seen. But I must begin with the morning and -record the glorious sight before us as we looked out of our windows. -Strong Ehrenbreitstein against the pearly, hot, morning sky, the -furrowed rock laid bare in many places, and precipitous, sun-tinted and -shadow-stained; the bright little town just opposite, the hill behind -thickly clothed in rich vines athwart which the sun shone deliciously. -The green of the river, too, was beautifully soft. After breakfast we -took that charming invention, an open carriage, and went up to the -Chartreuse, the proper thing to do, as this hill overlooks one of _the_ -views of the world. We went first through part of the town, by the large -and rather ugly King's Palace, passing much picturesqueness. The women -have very pleasing headdresses about here of various patterns. Of -course, the place is full of soldiers and everything seems fortified. On -our ascent we passed great forts of immense strength, hard nuts for the -French to crack, if they ever have the wickedness (_sic_) to put their -pet notion of the Rhine being France's boundary into execution. What a -view we had all the way up; to our left, the winding Rhine disappearing -in the distance into the gorge, its beautiful valley smiling below, and -the vine-clad hills rising on either side, with their exquisite -surfaces. Purple shadows, and golden vines, and walnut trees, that -contrast which so often has enchanted my eyes on the Genoese Riviera, -the Italian lakes, and my own dear Lake Leman, gladdened them once more. -And then the really clear sky (no factory chimneys here) and those -intense white clouds casting shadows on the hills of lovely purple. We -went across the wide plateau on the top, a magnificent exercise ground -for the soldiers, health itself, and then we beheld, winding below us in -its sweet valley and by two picturesque villages, the little Moselle, by -no means 'blue,' as the song says, but of a pinky brown and apparently -very shallow. We were at a great height, and having got out of the -carriage we stood on the very verge of a sheer precipice, at the -far-down base of which wound the high road. Sweet little Moselle! I was -so loth to leave that view behind. It really does seem such a shame to -say so little of it. The air up there was full of the scent of wild -thyme, and mountain flowers grew thick in that hot sun, and the short -mountain grass was brown. - -"We descended by another road and were taken right through the town to -the old Moselle bridge which crosses that river near its confluence with -the green Rhine. What turreted corners, what gable ends, what exquisite -David Roberts 'bits' at every turn! The bridge and its old gate were a -picture in themselves, and the view from the middle of the bridge of the -walls, the old buildings, church towers and spires, and boats and rafts -moored below, was the essence of the picturesque. Market women and -_pelotons_ of soldiers with glittering helmets and bayonets make -excellent foreground groups. How unlike nearly-deserted Bruges is this -busy, thronged city! Oxen are as much used about here as horses, and add -much to the artist's joy. But I must hurry on; there is all the glorious -Rhine to Bingen to ascend. What a feast of beauty we have been partaking -of since leaving Failure Bonn! - -"Lots of people at 1 o'clock _table d'hote_: staring Prooshan officers -in 'wings' and whiskers, more or less tightly clad, talking loud and -clattering their swords unnecessarily; swarms of English and a great -many honeymoon couples of all nations. It was very hot when we left to -dive into that glorious region we had seen from the Chartreuse. Those -were golden hours on board the _Lorelei_. But more 'spoons'; more -English; more Ya-ing natives and small boys always in the way, and so we -paddled away from beautiful Coblenz, and very fine did the 'Broadstone -of Honour' look as we left it gradually behind. And now we began again -the castles and the villages, the former more numerous than below -stream. Happy Mr. Moriarty to possess such a castle as Lahneck; and then -the beautiful town below, and the gorgeous wooded steep hills and the -beautiful tints on the water. Golden walnut trees on the banks and old -church towers--such rich loveliness gliding by perpetually. The towns -are certainly half the battle; they add immensely to the scene. Rhense -was the oldest town we had yet seen, and the old dark walls are -crumbling down. Such bits of archways, such corner bits, such old -age-tinted roofs! I _must_ not pass over Marksburg, the most perfect old -castle on the Rhine, quite unaltered and not quite ruinous, as it is -garrisoned by a corps of Invalides. It therefore looks stronger and -grander than the others. Below the cone which it crowns nestled the -inevitable picturesque town (Braubach) upon the shore. - -"Soon after passing this beautiful part we rounded another old village -and church on our right, for the river takes a great bend here. Of -course, new beauties appeared ahead as we swept round, soft purple -mountains, one behind the other, and hillsides golden with vines and -walnut trees. And then we came to Boppart, in the midst of the gorge, -one of the most enchanting old walled towns we had yet seen, with a -large water-cure establishment above it upon the orchard slopes of the -hill. Then the old castle called 'The Mouse' drew our attention to the -left again, and then to the right appeared, after we had passed the twin -castles of Sternberg and Liebenstein, or the 'Brothers,' the magnificent -ruin of Rheinfels above the town of St. Goar in the shadow of the steep -hill. How splendidly those blasted arches come out against the sunny -sky! Then 'The Cat' appeared on our left, supposed to be watching 'The -Mouse' round the corner; then, with the last gleam of the sun upon it, -appeared the castle of 'Schoenberg' after we had passed the Lorelei rock, -tunnelled through by the railway, and hills glowing in autumn tints. -Sunset colour began to add new charm to mountains, hills, and river. Two -guns were fired in this part of the gorge for the echo. It rolled away -like thunder very satisfactorily. Gutenfels on its rock was splendid in -the sunset, with the town of Caub at its feet, and the curious old tower -called the Pfalz in mid-stream, where poor Louis le Debonnaire came to -die. I can hardly individualise the towns and their over-looking castles -that followed. There was Bacharach, with its curious three-sided towers -and church of St. Werner; then more castles, getting dimmer and dimmer -in the deepening twilight. The last was swallowed up in the night." - -I need not dwell on Bingen. I see us, happy wanderers, dropping down to -Boppart, to halt there for very fondly-remembered days at the water-cure -of "Marienberg," which we made our habitation for want of an hotel. -Being there I did the "cure" for nothing in particular, but was none the -worse for it. At any rate it passed me as "sound" after the ordeal by -water. The ordeal was severe, and so was the Spartan food. To any one -who wasn't going through the water ordeal the Spartan food ordeal -seemed impossible. But soon one got to like the whole thing and delight -in the freshness of that life in the warm sunny weather. We both -accepted the "Grape Cure" with unmixed feelings--2 lbs. each of grapes a -day; and even the cold, deep plate of sour milk (_dicke milch_), -sprinkled with brown breadcrumbs, and that _kraut_ preserve which so -dashed us at our first breakfast, became rather fascinating. We took our -pre-breakfast walk on four glasses of cold water, though, to _wet_ our -appetites. I see now, in memory, the swimming baths, with the blue water -rushing through them from the hills, and feel the exhilaration of the -six-in-the-morning plunge. Oh! _la jeunesse! La joie de vivre!_ - -They had dancing every Thursday evening in what was the great vaulted -refectory of the monks before that monastery was secularised. One gala -evening many people came in from outside. The young ladies were in -muslin frocks, which they, no doubt, had washed themselves, and the -ballroom was redolent of soap. The gentlemen went into the drawing-room -after each dance and combed their blond hair and beards at the -looking-glass over the mantelpiece, having brought brush and comb with -them. The next morning I was very elaborately saluted by a man in a -blouse, driving oxen, and I recognised in him one of my partners of the -evening before who had worn the correct _frac_ and white tie. What a -strange amalgamation of democracy and aristocracy we found in Germany! -The Diary tells of the music we had every evening till 10 o'clock and -"lights out." My mother and one or two typical German musical -geniuses--women patients--kept the piano in constant request, and the -evenings were really very bright and the tone so homely and kind. -Kindness was the prevailing spirit which we noticed amongst the Germans -in those far-away days. How they complimented us all on our halting -German; how the women admired our frocks, especially the buttons! I hope -they didn't expect us to go into equal ecstasies over their own -costumes. We sang and were in great voice, perhaps on account of the -"plunge baths," or was it the "sour milk"? - -A big Saxon cavalry officer who was doing the cure for a kick from a -horse and, being in mufti, had put off his "jack-boot" manners, was full -of enthusiasm about our voices. He expressed himself in graceful -pantomime after each of my songs by pointing to his ear and running his -finger down to his heart, for he spoke neither English nor French, and -worshipfully paid homage to Mamma's pianoforte playing. She played -indeed superbly. He was a big man. We called him "the Athlete." We had -nicknames for all the patients. There was "the _Sauer-kraut_," there was -the "Flighty," the funniest little shrivelled creature, a truly -wonderful musical genius, who, having heard me practising one morning, -flew to Mamma, telling her she had heard me go up to _Si_ and that I -must make my name as a _prima donna_--no less. That Mendelssohn had -proposed to her was a treasured memory. Her mother, with true German -pride of birth, forbade the union. There was a very great dame doing the -cure, the "_Incog_," who confided her card to Mamma with an Imperial -embrace before leaving, which revealed her as Marie, Prinzessin zu -Hohenzollern Hechingen. Then there was a most interesting and ugly -duellist, who a short time previously had killed a prince. His wife wore -blue spectacles, having cried herself blind over the regrettable -incident. And so on, and so on. - -The vintage began, and we visited many a vineyard on both banks of the -rapid, eddying river, watching the peasants at their wholesome work in -the mellowing sunlight. Whenever we bought grapes of these pleasant -people, they insisted on giving us extra bunches _gratis_ in that -old-fashioned way so prevalent in Italy. I record in the Diary one -classic-looking youth, with the sunset gold behind his serious, handsome -face, bent slightly over the vine he was picking, on the hillside where -we sat. He seemed the personification of the sanctity of labour. All -this sounds very sentimental to us war-weary ones of the twentieth -century, but we need refreshment in the pleasures of memory; memory of -more secure times. The Diary says:-- - -"When we left Boppart, Mamma and we two girls were half hidden in -bouquets, and our Marienberg friends clustered at the railway carriage -door and on the step--the '_Sauer-kraut_,' the 'Flighty,' the 'Athlete' -and all, and, as we started, the salutations were repeated for the -twentieth time, the 'Athlete' taking a long sniff of my bouquet, then -quickly blocking his nose hard to keep the scent in, after going through -the pantomime of the ear, the finger, and the heart. As Papa said, 'One -gets quite reconciled to the two-legged creature when meeting such -people as these.' Good-bye, lovely Boppart, of ever sweet -recollections!" - -We tarried at Cologne on our way to England. I see, together with -admiring and elaborate descriptions of the cathedral, a note on the -kindly manners of the Germans, so curiously at variance with the -impression left on the present generation by the episodes of the late -war. At the _table d'hote_ one evening the two guests who happened to -sit opposite our parents, on opening their champagne at dessert, first -insisted on filling the two glasses of their English _vis-a-vis_ before -proceeding to fill their own. German manners then! The military class -kept, however, very much aloof, and were very irritating to us with -their wilfully offensive attitude. That unfortunate spirit had already -taken a further step forward after the conquest of Schleswig-Holstein, -and was to go further still after the knock-down blow to Austria; then -in 1870 comes more arrogance, and so on to its own undoing in our time. - -"_Aix la Chapelle._--Good-bye, Cologne, ever to remain bright by the -remembrance of its cathedral and that museum containing pictures which -have so inspired my mind. And so good-bye, dear, familiar Rhine; not the -Rhine of the hurried tourist and his John Murray Red Book, but the -glorious river about whose banks we have so often wandered at our -leisure. - -"And now '_Vorwaerts_, _marsch_!' Northwards, to the Land of Roast Beef -plus Rinderpest.[1] But first, Aachen. Ineffable poetry surrounds this -evening of our arrival, for from the three churches which stand out -sharp against the bright moonlight sky in front of the hotel there peal -forth many mellow bells, filling my mind with that sort of sadness so -familiar to me. This is All Hallows' Eve. - -"_November 1st._--We saw the magnificent frescoes in the long, low, -arched hall of the Rathhaus, which is being magnificently restored, as -is the case with all the fine things of the Prussia we have seen. We -only just skimmed these great works of art, for the horses were waiting -in the pelting rain.... The first four frescoes we saw were by Rethel, -the first representing the finding of the body of Charlemagne sitting in -his tomb on his throne, crowned and robed, holding the ball and sceptre; -a very impressive subject, treated with all its requisite poetry and -feeling. The next fresco represents in a forcible manner Charlemagne -ordering a Saxon idol to be broken; the third is a superb episode from -the Battle of Cordova, where Charlemagne is wresting the standard from -the Infidel. The horses are all blindfolded, not to be frightened by the -masks which the enemy had prepared to frighten them with. The great -white bulls which draw the chariot are magnificently conceived. The -fourth fresco represents the entry of the great emperor--whose face, by -the by, lends itself well to the grand style of art--into Pavia; a -superb composition, as, indeed, they all are. After painting this the -artist lost his senses. No doubt such efforts as these may have caused -his mind to fail at last. He had supplied the compositions for the other -four frescoes which Kehren has painted, without the genius of the -originator. We were shown the narrow little old stone staircase up which -all those many German emperors came to the hall. I could almost fancy I -saw an emperor's head coming bobbing up round the bend, and a figure in -Imperial purple appear. Strange that such a steep little winding -staircase should be the only approach to such a splendid hall. The new -staircase, up which a different sort of monarch from the old German -emperors came a few days ago, in tight blue and silver uniform, is -indeed in keeping with the hall, and should have been trodden by the -emperors, whereas this old cad of a king[2] (_sic_) would get his due -were he to descend the little old worn stair head foremost." - -At Brussels my entry runs: "_November 3rd._--My birthday. I feel too -much buoyed up with the promise of doing something this year to feel as -wretched as I might have felt at the thought of my precious 'teens -dribbling away. Never say die; never, never, never! This birthday is -ever to be marked by our visit to Waterloo, which has impressed me so -deeply. The day was most enjoyable, but what an inexpressibly sad -feeling was mixed with my pleasure; what thoughts came crowding into my -mind on that awful field, smiling in the sunshine, and how, even now, my -whole mind is overshadowed with sadness as I think of those slaughtered -legions, dead half a century ago, lying in heaps of mouldering bones -under that undulating plain. We had not driven far out of Brussels when -a fine old man with a long white beard, and having a stout stick for -scarcely-needed support, and from whose waistcoat dangled a blue and red -ribbon with a silver medal attached bearing the words 'Wellington' and -'Waterloo,' stopped the carriage and asked whether we were not going to -the Field and offering his services as guide, which we readily accepted, -and he mounted the box. This was Sergeant-Major Mundy of the 7th -Hussars, who was twenty-seven when he fought on that memorable 18th -June, 1815. In time we got into the old road, that road which the -British trod on their way to Quatre Bras, ten miles beyond Waterloo, on -the 16th. We passed the forest of Soignies, which is fast being cleared, -and at no very distant period, I suppose, merely the name will remain. -What a road was this, bearing a history of thousands of sad incidents! -We visited the church at Waterloo where are the many tablets on the -walls to the memory of British officers and men who died in the great -fight. Touching inscriptions are on them. An old woman of eighty-eight -told us that she had tended the wounded after the battle. Is it -possible! There she was, she who at thirty-eight had beheld those men -just half a century ago! It was overpowering to my young mind. The old -lady seems steadier than the serjeant-major, eleven years her junior, -and wears a brown wig. Thanks to the old sergeant, we had no bothering -vendors of 'relics.' He says they have sold enough bullets to supply a -dozen battles. - -"We then resumed our way, now upon more historic ground than ever, the -field of the battle proper. The Lion Mound soon appeared, that much -abused monument. Certainly, as a monument to mark where the Prince of -Orange was wounded in the left shoulder it is much to be censured, -particularly with that Belgian lion on the top with its paw on Belgium, -looking defiance towards France, whose soldiers, as the truthful old -sergeant expressed himself, 'could any day, before breakfast, come and -make short work of the Belgians' (_sic_). But I look upon this pyramid -as marking the field of the fifteenth decisive battle of the world. In a -hundred years the original field may have been changed or built upon, -and then the mound will be more useful than ever as marking the centre -of the battlefield that was. To make it much ground has been cut away -and the surface of one part of the field materially lowered. On being -shown the plan for this 'Lion Mound,' Wellington exclaimed, 'Well, if -they make it, I shall never come here again,' or something to that -effect, and, as old Mundy said, 'the Duke was not one to break his word, -and he never did come again.' Do you know that, Sir Edwin Landseer, who -have it in the background of your picture of Wellington revisiting the -field? We drove up to the little Hotel du Musee, kept by the sergeant's -daughter, a dejected sort of person with a glib tongue and herself -rather grey. We just looked over Sergeant Cotton's museum, a collection -of the most pathetic old shakos and casques and blundering muskets, with -pans and flints, belonging to friend and foe; rusty bullets and cannon -balls, mouldering bits of accoutrements of men and horses, evil-smelling -bits of uniforms and even hair, under glass cases; skulls perforated -with balls, leg and arm bones in a heap in a wooden box; extracts from -newspapers of that sensational time, most interesting; rusty swords and -breastplates; medals and crosses, etc., etc., a dismal collection of -relics of the dead and gone. Those mouldy relics! Let us get out into -the sunshine. Not until, however, the positive old soldier had -marshalled us around him and explained to us, map in hand, the ground -and the leading features of the battle he was going to show us. - -"We then went, first, a short way up the mound, and the old warrior in -our midst began his most interesting talk, full of stirring and touching -anecdotes. What a story was that he was telling us, with the scenes of -that story before our eyes! I, all eagerness to learn from the lips of -one who took part in the fight, the story of that great victory of my -country, was always throughout that long day by the side of the old -hussar, and drank in the stirring narrative with avidity. There lay -before us the farm of La Haie Sainte--'lerhigh saint' as he called -it--restored to what it was before the battle, where the gallant Germans -held out so bravely, fighting only with the bayonet, for when they came -to load their firearms, oh, horror! the ammunition was found to be too -large for the muskets, and was, therefore, useless. There the great Life -Guard charge took place, there is the grave of the mighty Shaw, and on -the skyline the several hedges and knolls that mark this and that, and -where Napoleon took up his first position. And there lies La Belle -Alliance where Wellington and Bluecher did _not_ meet--oh, Mr. -Maclise!--and a hundred other landmarks, all pointed out by the notched -stick of old Mundy. The stories attached to them were all clearly -related to us. After standing a long time on the mound until the man of -discipline had quite done his regulation story, with its stirring and -amusing touches and its minute details, we descended and set off on our -way to Hougoumont. What a walk was that! On that space raged most of the -battle; it was a walk through ghosts with agonised faces and distorted -bodies, crying noiselessly. - -"Our guide stopped us very often as we reached certain spots of leading -interest, one of them--the most important of all--being the place where -the last fearful tussle was made and the Old Guard broke and ran. There -was the field, planted with turnips, where our Guards lay down, and I -could not believe that the seemingly insignificant little bank of the -road, which sloped down to it, could have served to hide all those men -until I went down and stooped, and then I understood, for only just the -blades of the grass near me could I see against the sky. Our Guards -must indeed have seemed to start out of the ground to the bewildered -French, who were, by the by, just then deploying. That dreadful V formed -by our soldiers, with its two sides and point pouring in volley after -volley into the deploying Imperial Guard, must have indeed been a -'staggerer,' and so Napoleon's best soldiers turned tail, yelling -'_Sauve qui peut!_' and ran down that now peaceful undulation on the -other side of the road. - -"Many another spot with its grim story attached did I gaze at, and my -thoughts became more and more overpowering. And there stood a survivor -before us, relating this tale of a battle which, to me, seems to belong -to the olden time. But what made the deepest impression on my mind was -the sergeant's pointing out to us the place where he lay all night after -the battle, wounded, 'just a few yards from that hedge, there.' I repeat -this to myself often, and always wonder. We then left that historic -rutted road and, following a little path, soon came, after many more -stoppages, to the outer orchard of Hougoumont. Victor Hugo's thoughts -upon this awful place came crowding into my mind also. Yet the place did -look so sweet and happy: the sun shining on the rich, velvety grass, -chequered with the shade of the bare apple trees, and the contented cows -grazing on the grass which, on the fearful day fifty years ago, was not -_green_ between the heaps of dead and dying wretches. - -"Ah! the wall with the loopholes. I knew all about it and hastened to -look at it. Again all the wonderful stratagems and deeds of valour, -etc., etc., were related, and I have learnt the importance, not only of -a little hedge, but of the slightest depression on a battlefield. -Riddled with shot is this old brick wall and the walls of the farm, too. -Oh! this place of slaughter, of burning, of burying alive, this place of -concentrated horror! It was there that I most felt the sickening terror -of war, and that I looked upon it from the dark side, a thing I have -seldom had so strong an impulse to do before. The farm is peaceful again -and the pigs and poultry grunt and cluck amongst the straw, but there -are ruins inside. There's the door so bravely defended by that British -officer and sergeant, hanging on its hinges; there's the well which -served as a grave for living as well as dead, where Sergeant Mundy was -the last to fill his canteen; and there's the little chapel which served -as an oven to roast a lot of poor fellows who were pent up there by the -fire raging outside. We went into the terror-fraught inner orchard, -heard more interesting and saddening talk from the old soldier who says -there is nothing so nice as fighting one's battles over again, and then -we went out and returned to the inn and dined. After that we streamed -after our mentor to the Charleroi road, just to glance at the left part -of the field which the sergeant said he always liked going over the -best. 'Oh!' he said, looking lovingly at his pet, 'this was the -strongest position, except Hougoumont.' It was in this region that -Wellington was moved to tears at the loss of so many of his friends as -he rode off the field. Papa told me his memorable words on that -occasion: 'A defeat is the only thing sadder than a victory.' What a -scene of carnage it was! We looked at poor Gordon's monument and then -got into our carriage and left that great, immortal place, with the sun -shedding its last gleams upon it. I feel virtuous in having written this -much, seeing what I have done since. We drove back, in the clear night, -I a wiser and a sadder girl." - -About this same Battle of Waterloo. Before the Great War it always -loomed large to me, as it were from the very summit of military history, -indeed of all history. During the terrible years of the late War I -thought my Waterloo would diminish in grandeur by comparison, and that -the awful glamour so peculiar to it would be obliterated in the fumes of -a later terror. But no, there it remains, that lurid glamour glows -around it as before, and for the writer and for the painter its colour, -its great form, its deep tones, remain. We see through its blood-red -veil of smoke Napoleon fall. There never will be a fall like that again: -it is he who makes Waterloo colossal. - - - - -CHAPTER IV - -IN THE ART SCHOOLS - - -After tarrying in Brussels, doing the galleries thoroughly, we went to -Dover. I had been anything but in love with the exuberant Rubenses -gathered together in one surfeited room, but imbibed enthusiastic -stimulus from some of the moderns. I write: "Oh! that I had time to tell -of my admiration of Ambroise Thomas' 'Judas Iscariot,' of Charles -Verlat's wonderful 'Siege of Jerusalem by Godfrey of Bouillon,' with its -strikingly terrible incidents, given with wonderful vividness, so free -from coarseness; of Tshaggeny's 'Malle Poste,' with its capital horses. -There was not much study to be done in the time, but enthusiasm to be -caught, and I caught it." - -At Dover I find myself saying: "Still at my drawing of the soldiers -working at the new fort on the cliff, just outside the castle, which -forms the background of the scene. I am sending it to the _Illustrated -London News_." Then, a few days later: "Woe is me! my drawing is -returned with the usual apologies. Well, never mind, the world will hear -of me yet." And there, above my "diminished head," right over No. 2, -Sydney Villas, our temporary resting-place, stood that very castle, -biding its time when it should receive me as its official _chatelaine_, -and all through that art which I was so bent on. - -At Brompton I said "good-bye" to a year to me very bright and full of -adventure; a year rich in changes, full of varied scenes and emotions. -I say: "Enter, 1866, bearing for me happy promise for my future, for -to-day I had the interview with Mr. Burchett, the Headmaster of the -South Kensington School of Art, and everything proved satisfactory and -sunny. First, Papa and I trotted off to Mr. Burchett's office and saw -him, a bearded, velvet-skull-capped and cold-searching-eyed man. After a -little talk, we galloped off home, packed the drawings and the oil, -then, Mamma with us, we returned, and came into The Presence once more. -The office being at the end of the passage of the male schools, I could -see, and envy, the students going about. So the drawings were -scrutinised by _that Eye_, and I must say I never expected things to go -so well. Of course, this austere, rigid master is not one to say much, -but, on the contrary, to dwell upon the shortcomings and weaknesses; to -have no pity. He looked longer at my soldiers at work at Dover Castle -and some hands that I had done yesterday, saying they showed much -feeling. He said he did not know whether I only wished to make my -studies superficial, but strongly advised me to become an artist. I -scarcely needed such advice, I think, but it was very gratifying. I told -him I wished for severe study, and that I did _not_ wish to begin at the -wrong end. We were a long time talking, and he was very kind, and told -me off to the Life School after preliminary work in the Antique. I join -to-morrow. I now really feel as though fairly launched. Ah! they shall -hear of me some day. But, believe me, my ambition is of the right sort. - -"_January 2nd._--A very pleasant day for me. At ten marched off, with -board, paper, chalk, etc., etc., to the schools, and signed my name and -went through all the rest of the formalities, and was put to do a huge -eye in chalk. I felt very raw indeed, never having drawn from a cast -before. Everything was strange to me. I worked away until twenty minutes -to two, when I sped home to have my lunch. Five hours' work would be too -long were I not to break the time by this charming spin home and back in -the open air, which makes me set to work again with redoubled energy and -spirits sky-high. A man comes round at a certain time to the rooms to -see by the thermometer whether the temperature is according to rule, -which is a very excellent precaution; 65 deg. seems to be the fixed degree. -Of course, I did not make any friends to-day; besides, we sit far apart, -on our own hooks, and not on forms. Much twining about of arms and -_darling-ing_, etc., went on, however, but we all seem to work here so -much more in earnest than over those dreary scrolls in the Elementary. -One girl in our room was a capital hit, short hair brushed back from a -clever forehead and a double eyeglass on an out-thrust nose. Then there -is a dear little pale girl, with a pretty head and large eyes, who is -struggling with that tremendous 'Fighting Gladiator.' She and he make a -charming _motif_ for a sketch. But I am too intent on my work to notice -much. The skeleton behind me seems, with outstretched arm, to encourage -me in my work, and smiles (we won't say _grins_) upon me, whilst behind -him--it?--the _ecorche_ man seems to be digging his grave, for he is in -the attitude of using a spade. But enough for to-day. I was very much -excited all day afterwards. And no wonder, seeing that my prayer for a -beginning of my real study has now been granted and that I am at length -on the high road. Oh, joy, joy! - -"_January 15th._--Did very well at the schools. Upon my word, I am -getting on very smoothly. I peeped into the Life room for the first time -whilst work was going on, and beheld a splendid halberdier standing -above the girls' heads and looking very uncomfortable. He had a steel -headpiece and his hands were crossed upon the hilt of his sword in -front, and his face, excessively picturesque with its grizzly moustache, -was a tantalising sight for me! - -"_January 16th._--Oh, how I am getting on! I can't bear to look at my -old things. Was much encouraged by Mr. Burchett, who talked to me a good -deal, the mistress standing deferentially and smilingly by. He said, -'Ah! you seem to get over your difficulties very well,' and said with -what immense satisfaction I shall look back upon this work I'm doing. -Altogether it was very encouraging, and he said this last thing of mine -was excellent. He remarked that my early education in those matters had -been neglected, but I console myself with the thought that I have not -wasted my time so utterly, for all the travel I have had all my life has -put crowds of ideas into my head, and now I am learning how to bring -those ideas to good account. - -"_January 24th._--I shall soon have done the big head and shall soon -reach a full-length statue, and I shall go in for anatomy rather than -give so much time to this shading which the students waste so much time -over. I don't believe in carrying it so far. The little pale girl I -like, on the completion of her gladiator, has been promoted to the Life -class. A girl made friends with me, a big grenadier of a girl, who says -she wants to know 'all about the joints and muscles' and seems a -'thoroughgoer' like myself." - -This is how I write of dear Miss Vyvyan, a fine, rosy specimen of a -well-bred English girl, who became one of my dearest fellow -students--and drew well. In writing of me after I had come out in the -art world, she records this meeting in words all the more deserving of -remembrance for being those of a voice that is still. Of my other -fellow-students the Diary will have more to say, left to its own -diction. - -"_February 13th._--It is very pleasant at the schools--oh, charming! In -coming home at the end of my work I fell in with Mr. Lane, my friend in -the truest sense of the word. He was coming over to us. His first -inquiry was about me and my work. He was very much disappointed that I -was not in the Life class, fully expecting that I should be there, -seeing how highly Mr. Burchett twice spoke of my drawings to Mr. Lane, -and that I was quite ready for the Life. But, of course, Mr. B. is -desirous of putting me as much through the regular course as possible. -Mr. Lane shares Millais' opinion that 'the antique is all very well, but -that there is nothing like the living model, and that they are too fond -of black and white at the Museum.' I was enrolled as a member of the -Sketching Club this morning, and have only a week to do 'On the Watch' -in, the title they have given us to illustrate. _Only_ a week, Mimi? -That's an age to do a sketch in! Ah! yes, my dear, but I shall have five -hours in the schools every day except Saturdays. I have chosen for -subject a freebooter in a morion and cloak upon a bony horse, watching -the plain below him as night comes on, with his blunderbus ready -cocked. Wind is blowing, and makes the horse's mane and tail to stream -out." - -There follow pages and pages describing the daily doings at the schools: -the commotion amongst girls at the drawings I used to bring to show them -of battle scenes; the Sketching Club competitions, and all the work and -the play of an art school. At last I was promoted to the Life class. - -"_March 19th._--Oh, joyous day! oh, white! oh, snowy Monday! or should I -say _golden_ Monday? I entered the Life this joyous morn, and, what's -more, acquitted myself there not only to my satisfaction (for how could -I be satisfied if the masters weren't?), but to Mr. Denby's and the oil -master's _par excellence_, Mr. Collinson's. I own I was rather -diffident, feeling such a greenhorn in that room, but I may joyfully say -'So far, so good,' and do my very best of bests, and I can't fail to -progress. How willingly I would write down all the pleasant incidents -that occur every day, and those, above all, of to-day, which make this -delightful student life I am leading so bright and happy and amusing. -However, I shall write down all that my spare moments will allow me. -Little 'Pale Face' took me in hand and got me a nice position quite near -the sitter, as I am only to do his head. There was a good deal of -struggling as the number of girls increased, and late comers tried -amicably to badger me out of my good position. We waited more than half -an hour for the sitter, and beguiled the time as we are wont. Three -semi-circles surround the sitter and his platform. The inner and smaller -circle is for us who do his head only, and is formed by desks and low -chairs; the next is formed by small fixed easels, and the outer one by -the loose-easel brigade, so there are lots of us at work. At length the -martyr issued from the curtained closet where Messrs. Burchett, Denby -and Collinson had been helping the unhappy victim to make a lobster of -his upper self with heavy plates of armour. He became sadly modern below -the waist, for his nether part was not wanted. To see Mr. Denby pinning -on the man's refractory Puritan starched collar was rich. The model is a -small man, perfectly clean shaven with a most picturesque face; quite a -study. Very finely-chiselled mouth, with thin lips and well-marked chin -and jaw. The poor fellow was dreadfully nervous. He was posed standing, -morion on head, with a book in one hand, the other raised as though he -were discoursing to some fellow soldiers--may-be Covenanters--in a camp. -I never saw a man in such agony as he evinced, his nervousness seeming -at times to overpower him, and the weight of the armour and of the huge -morion (too big for him) told upon him in a painfully evident manner. He -was, consequently, allowed frequent rests, when down his trembling arm -would clatter and the instrument of torture on his heated forehead come -down with a great thump on the table. Mr. Denby was much pleased with my -drawing in, and Mr. Collinson commended my carefulness. This pleases me -more than anything else, for I know that carefulness is the most -essential quality in a student. - -"_March 27th._--Mr. Burchett showed me how to proceed with the finishing -of the face. He liked the way I had done the morion, which astonished -me, as I had done it all unaided. I am now a friend of more girls than I -can individualise, and they seem all to like me. 'Little Pale Face' is -very charming with me indeed. One girl told me a dream she had had of -me, and Mrs. C., wife of the _Athenaeum_ art critic, clapped me on the -back very cordially." - -I give these extracts just to launch the Memoirs into that student life -which was of such importance to me. Till the Easter vacation I did all I -could to retrieve what I considered a good deal of leeway in my art -training. There were Sketching Club competitions of intense effort on my -part, and how joyful I felt at such events as my illustrations to -Thackeray's "Newcomes" coming through marked "Best" by the judges. - -"_May 9th._--_Veni_, _vidi_, _vici_! My re-entry into the schools after -the vacation has been a triumphal one, for my 'Newcomes' have been -returned 'The Best.' The girls were so glad to see me back. I have -chosen, as there is not to be a model till next Monday week, a beautiful -headpiece of elaborate design on whose surface the red drapery near it -is reflected. Some time after lunch Mrs. C. came running to me from the -Antique triumphantly waving a bunch of lilac above her head and crying -out that my 'Newcomes' had won! I jumped up, overjoyed, and went to see -the sketches, around which a crowd of students was buzzing. Mr. Denby, -who couldn't help knowing whose the 'Best' were, gave me a nod of -approbation. I was very happy. Returning to Fulham, I told the glad -tidings to Papa, Mamma, Grandpapa and Grandmamma as they each came in. -So this has been a charming day indeed." - -Page after page, closely written, describes the student life, than which -there cannot be a happier one for a boy or girl; thorough searchings -through the Royal Academy rooms for everything I could find for -instruction, admiration and criticism. I joined a class in Bolsover -Street for the study of the "undraped" female model, and worked very -hard there on alternate days. This necessitated long omnibus rides to -that dismal locality, but I always managed to post myself near the -omnibus door, so as to study the horses in motion in the crowded streets -from that coign of vantage. I also joined a painting class in Conduit -Street, but that venture was not a success. I went in about the same -time for very thorough artistic anatomy at the schools. I gave sketches -to nearly all my fellow students--fights round standards, cavalry -charges, thundering guns. I wonder where they are all now! I had always -had a great liking for the representation of movement, but at the same -time a deep well of melancholy existed in my nature, and caused me to -draw from its depths some very sad subjects for my sketches and plans -for future pictures. How strange it seems that I should have been so -impregnated, if I may use the word, with the warrior spirit in art, -seeing that we had had no soldiers in either my father's or mother's -family! My father had a deep admiration for the great captains of war, -but my mother detested war, though respecting deeply the heroism of the -soldier. Though she and I had much in common, yet, as regards the -military idea, we were somewhat far asunder; my dear and devoted mother -wished to see me lean towards other phases of art as well, especially -the religious phase, and my Italian studies in days to come very much -inclined me to sacred subjects. But as time went on circumstances -conducted me to the _genre militaire_, and there I have remained, as -regards my principal oil paintings, with few exceptions. My own reading -of war--that mysteriously inevitable recurrence throughout the -sorrowful history of our world--is that it calls forth the noblest and -the basest impulses of human nature. The painter should be careful to -keep himself at a distance, lest the ignoble and vile details under his -eyes should blind him irretrievably to the noble things that rise -beyond. To see the mountain tops we must not approach the base, where -the foot-hills mask the summits. Wellington's answer to enthusiastic -artists and writers seeking information concerning the details of his -crowning victory was full of meaning: "The best thing you can do for the -Battle of Waterloo is to leave it alone." He had passed along the -dreadful foot-hills which blocked his vision of the Alps. - -I worked hard at the schools and in the country throughout 1867, and, -with many ups and downs, progressed in the Life class. My fellow -students were a great delight to me, so enthusiastically did they watch -my progress and foretell great things for me. We formed a little club of -four or five students--kindred spirits--for mutual help and all sorts of -good deeds, the badge being a red cross and the motto "Thorough." I -remember a money-box into which we were, by the rules, to drop what -coins we could spare for the Poor. We were to read a chapter of the New -Testament every day, and a chapter of Thomas a Kempis, and all our works -were to be signed with the red cross and the club monogram. Seeing this -little sign in the corner of "The Roll Call" over my name set one of -those absurd stories circulating in the Press with which the public was -amused in 1874, namely, that I had been a Red Cross nurse in the Crimea. -As a counterpoise to this more "copy" was obtained for the papers by -paragraphs representing me as an infant prodigy, which I thank my stars -I was _not_! - -One day in this year 1867 I had, with great trepidation, asked Mr. -Burchett to accept two pen and ink illustrations I had made to Morris's -poem, "Riding together." Great commotion amongst the students. Some -preferred the drawing for the gay and happy first verse: - - Our spears stood bright and thick together, - Straight out the banners streamed behind, - As we galloped on in the sunny weather, - With our faces turned towards the wind. - -and others the tragic sequel: - - They bound my blood-stained hands together, - They bound his corpse to nod by my side, - Then on we rode in the bright March weather, - With clash of cymbal did we ride. - -The Diary says: "Mr. Burchett, surrounded by my dear fellow red crosses, -Va., B., and Vy., talked about the drawings in a way which pleased me -very much. When he was gone, Va. and B. disappeared and soon reappeared, -Va. with a crown of leaves to crown me with and B. with a comb and some -paper on which to play 'See the Conquering Hero comes' whilst Va. and -Vy. should carry me along the great corridor in a dandy chair. They had -great trouble to crown me, and then to get me to mount. It was a most -uncomfortable triumphal progress, Vy. being nearly six foot and Va. -rather short. They just put me down in time, for, had we gone an inch -further on, we should have confronted Miss Truelock,[3] who swooped -round the corner. I cannot describe the homage these three pay me, Va.'s -in particular--Vy.'s is measured, and not humble like Va.'s or -radiantly enthusiastic like B.'s. I am glad that I stand proof against -all this, but it is hard to do so, as I know it is so thoroughly -sincere, and that they say even more out of my hearing than to my face." - -The Sultan Abdul Aziz and the Khedive Ismail paid a visit to London that -year. We were in the midst of the festivities; and such church-bell -ringing, fireworks, musical uproar, especially at the Crystal Palace, -where the "Hallelujah," "Moses in Egypt," and other Biblical choruses -vied with the cheering of the crowds in expressions of exultation, -seldom had London known. This fills pages and pages of the Diary. As we -looked on from Willis and Sotheran's shop window, out of which all the -books had been cleared for us, in Trafalgar Square, at the arrival of -the "Father of the Faithful," it seemed a strange thing for the bells of -our churches to be pealing forth their joyous welcome. But how vain all -these political doings appear as time goes by! What sort of reception -would we give the present Sultan I wonder? We have even _abolished_ -Khedives. Much more reasonable and sane was the mob's welcome to the -Belgian volunteers, who were also England's guests that year. We English -were very courteous to the Belgians. Papa took us to the great Belgian -ball, where we appeared wearing red, black, and yellow sashes. He -offered to hold a Belgian officer's sword for him while he (the Belgian) -waltzed me round the hall. A silver medal was struck to commemorate this -visit, and every Belgian was presented with this decoration. On it were -engraved the words "_Vive La Belge_." No one could tell who the lady -was. - -This year saw my meek beginning in the showing of an oil picture -("Horses in Sunshine") at the Women Artists' Exhibition, and then -followed a water colour, "Bavarian Artillery going into Action," at the -Dudley Gallery--that delightful gallery which is now no more and which -_The Times_ designated the "nursery of young reputations." I continued -exhibiting water colours and black-and-whites for some years there. I -had the rare sensation of walking on air when my father, meeting me on -parting with Tom Taylor, the critic of _The Times_, told me the latter -had just come from the Dudley's press view and seen my "Bavarian -Artillery" on its walls. I had begun! - -In the latter part of this year's work at South Kensington Mr. Burchett -stirred us up by giving us "time" and "memory" drawing to do from the -antique, and many things which required quickness, imagination and -concentration, all of which suited me well. Charcoal studies on tinted -paper delighted me. I was always at home in such things. We often had -"time" drawings to do on very rough paper, using charcoal with the hog's -hair paint brush. What a good change from the dawdling chalk work -formerly in vogue when I joined. I had by this time painted my way in -oils through many models, male and female, with all the ups and downs -recorded elaborately, the encouragements and depressions, and the happy, -though slow, progress in the management of the brush. I had won a medal -for two life-size female heads in oils, and through all the ups and -downs the devotion of my dear "Red Cross" fellow students never -fluctuated. - -The year 1868 saw me steadily working away at the Schools and doing a -great many drawings for sketching clubs and various competitions during -this period, till we were off once more to Italy in October. On March -19th of that year I wrote in the Diary: "Ruskin has invited himself to -tea here on Monday!!!" Then: "Memorable Monday. On thee I was introduced -to Ruskin! Punctually at six came the great man. If I had been disposed -to be nervous with him, his cold formal bow and closing of the eyes, his -somewhat supercilious under-lip and sensitive nostrils would not have -put me at my ease. But, fortunately, I felt quite normal--unlike Mamma -and Alice, the latter of whom had reason for quaking, seeing that one of -her young poems, sent him by a friend, had been scanned by that eye and -pondered by that greatest of living minds. - -"He sat talking a little, not commonplaces at all; on the contrary, he -immediately began on great topics, Mamma and he coinciding all through, -particularly on the subject of modern ugliness, railways, factory -chimneys, backs of English houses, sash windows, etc., etc. Then he -directed his talk to me, and we sat talking together about art, of -course, and I showed him two life studies, which he expressed himself as -exceedingly pleased with in a very emphatic manner. But here we went -down to tea. After tea I showed him my imaginative drawings, which he -criticised a good deal. He said there was no reason why I should not -become a great artist (!), that I was 'destined to do great things.' But -he remarked, after this too kindly beginning, that it was evident I had -not studied enough from nature in those drawings, the light and shade -being incorrect and the relations of tones, etc., etc. He told me to -beware of sensational subjects, as yet, _a propos_ of the Lancelot and -Guinevere drawing; that such were dangerous, leading me to think I had -quite succeeded by virtue of the strength of my subject and to overlook -the consideration of minor points. He said, 'Do fewer of these things, -but what you do _do right_ and never mind the subject.' I did not like -that; my great idea is that an artist should choose a worthy subject and -concentrate his attention on the chief point. But Ruskin is a lover of -landscape art and loves to see every blade of grass in a foreground -lovingly dwelt upon. I cannot write down all he said as he and I leant -over the piano where my drawings were. But it was with my artillery -water colour, 'The Crest of the Hill,' that he was most pleased. He -knelt down before it where it hung low down and held a candle before it -the better to see it, and exclaimed 'Wonderful!' two or three times, and -said it had 'immense power.' Thank you, Dudley Gallery, for not hanging -it where Ruskin would never have seen it! - -"He listened to Mamma's playing and Alice's singing of Mamma's 'Ave -Maria' with perfectly absorbed attention, and seemed to enjoy the lovely -sounds. He had many kind things to say to Alice about her poem, saying -that he knew she was forced to write it; but was she always obliged to -write so sadly? Then he spied out Mamma's pictures, and insisted on -seeing lots of her water colours, which I know he must have enjoyed more -than my imaginative things, seeing with what humble lovingness Mamma -paints her landscapes. In fact, we showed him our paces all the evening. -Papa says he (P.) was like the circus man, standing in the middle with -the long whip, touching us up as we were trotted out before the great -man. He seems, by the by, to have a great contempt for the modern French -school, as I expected." - -Daily records follow of steady work, much more to the purpose than in -the humdrum old days. Mr. Burchett continued the new system with -increasing energy. He seemed to have taken it up in our Life class with -real pleasure latterly. In July the session ended, and I was not to -re-enter the schools till after my Italian art training had brought me a -long way forward. - - - - -CHAPTER V - -STUDY IN FLORENCE - - -Italy once more! Again the old palazzo at Albaro and the old friends -surrounding us! My work never relaxed, for I set up a little studio and -went in for life-size heads, and got more and more facility with the -brush. The kindly peasants let me paint them, and I victimised my -obliging friends and had professional models out from Genoa. That was a -very greatly enjoyed autumn, winter and spring, and the gaieties of the -English Colony, the private theatricals, the concerts at Villa -Novello--all those things did me good. The childish carnival revels had -still power over me--yea, _more_--though I _was_ grown up, and, to tell -the truth, I got all the fun out of them that was possible within -bounds. "The Red Cross Sketch Book," which I filled with illustrations -of our journey out and of life at Genoa, I dedicated to the club and -sent to them when we left for Florence. - -We found Genoa just as we had left it, still the brilliantly picturesque -city of the sea, its populace brightly clad in their Ligurian national -dress, the women still wearing the pezzotto, and the men the red cap I -loved; the port all delightful with oriental character, its shouting -muleteers and _facchini_, its fruit and flower sellers in the narrow -streets and entrances to the palaces--all the old local colour. Alas! I -was there only the other day, and found all the local charm had -gone--modernised away! - -When we left Genoa in April my father tried to get a _vetturino_ to take -us as far as Pisa by road on our way to Florence, for auld lang syne, -but Antonio--he who used to drive us into Genoa in the old days--said -that was now impossible on account of the railway--"_Non ci conviene, -signore_!"--but he would take us as far as Spezzia. So, to our delight, -we were able once more to experience the pleasures of the road and avoid -that truly horrible series of suffocating tunnels that tries us so much -on that portion of the coastline. At Sestri Levante I wrote: "I sit down -at this pleasant hotel, with the silent sea glimmering in the early -night before me outside the open window, to note down our journey thus -far. The day has been truly glorious, the sea without even the thinnest -rim of white along the coast, and such exquisite combinations of clouds. -We left Villa Quartara at ten, with Madame Vittorina and the servants in -tears. Majolina comes with us; she is such a good little maid. We had -three good horses, but for the Bracco Pass we shall have an extra one. -There is no way of travelling like this, in an open carriage; it is so -placid; there is no hurrying to catch trains and struggling in crowds, -no waiting in dismal _salles d'attente_. And then compare the entry into -the towns by the high road and through the principal streets, perhaps -through a city gate, the horse's hoofs clattering and the whip cracking -so merrily and the people standing about in groups watching us pass, to -sneaking into a station, one of which is just like the other, which -hasn't the slightest _couleur locale_ about it, and is sure to have -unsightly surroundings. - -"Away we went merrily, I feeling very jolly. The colour all along was -ravishing, as may be imagined, seeing what a perfect day it was and -that this is the loveliest season of the year. We dined at dear old -Ruta, where also the horses had a good rest and where I was able to -sketch something down. From Ruta to Sestri I rode by Majolina on the -box, by far the best position of all, and didn't I enjoy it! The horses' -bells jingled so cheerily and those three sturdy horses took us along so -well. Rapallo and Chiavari! Dear old friends, what delicious -picturesqueness they had, what lovely approaches to them by roads -bordered with trees! The views were simply distracting. Sestri is a gem. -Why don't water-colour painters come here in shoals? What colouring the -mountains had at sunset, and I had only a pencil and wretched little -sketch book. - -"_Spezzia, April 28th, 1869._--A repetition of yesterday in point of -weather. I feel as though I had been steeped all day in some balmy -liquid of gold, purple, and blue. I have a Titianesque feeling hovering -about me produced by the style of landscape we have passed through and -the faces of the people who are working in the patches of cultivation -under the mulberries and vines, and that intense, deep blue sky with -massive white clouds floating over it. We exclaimed as much at the -beauty of the women as at the purple of the mountains and the green of -the budding mulberries and poplars. And the men and boys; what perfect -types; such fine figures and handsome faces, such healthy colour! We -left the hotel at Sestri, with its avenue of orange trees in flower, at -ten o'clock, and, of course, crossed the Bracco to-day. We dined at a -little place called Bogliasco, in whose street, under our windows, -handsome youths with bare legs and arms were playing at a game of ball -which called forth fine action. I did not know at first whether to look -well at them all or sketch them down one by one, but did both, and I -hope to make a regular drawing of the group from the sketch I took and -from memory. We stopped at the top of the hill, from which is seen La -Spezzia lying below, with its beautiful bay and the Carara Mountains -beyond. Here ends our drive, for to-morrow we take the train for -Florence. - -"_Florence, April 29th._--Magnificent, cloudless weather. But, oh! what -a wearisome journey we had, the train crawling from one station to -another and stopping at each such a time, whilst we baked in the -cushioned carriage and couldn't even have lovely things to look at, -surrounded by the usual railway eyesores. We passed close by the Pisan -Campo Santo, and had a very good view of the Leaning Tower and the -Duomo. Such hurrying and struggling at the Pisa station to get into the -train for Florence, having, of course, to carry all our small baggage -ourselves. Railway travelling in Italy is odious. It was very lovely to -see Florence in the distance, with those domes and towers I know so well -by heart from pictures, but we were very limp indeed, the wearisome -train having taken all our enthusiasm away. Everything as we arrived -struck us as small, and I am still so dazzled by the splendour of Genoa -that my eyes cannot, as it were, comprehend the brown, grey and white -tones of this quiet-coloured little city. I must _Florentine_ myself as -fast as I can. This hotel is on the Lung' Arno, and charming was it to -look out of the windows in the lovely evening and see the river below -and the dome of the Carmine and tower of Santo Spirito against the clear -sky with, further off, the hills with their convents (alas! empty now) -and clusters of cypresses. No greater contrast to Genoa could be than -Florence in every way. Oh! may this city of the arts see me begin (and -finish) my first regular picture. _April 30th._--I and Papa strolled -about the streets to get a general impression of '_Firenze la gentile_,' -and looked into the Duomo, which is indeed bare and sad-coloured inside -except in its delicious painted windows over the altars, the harmonious -richness of which I should think could not be exceeded by any earthly -means. The outside is very gay and cheerful, but some of the marble has -browned itself into an appearance of wood. Oh! dear Giotto's Tower, -could elegance go beyond this? Is not this an example of the complete -_savoir faire_ of those true-born artists of old? And the 'Gates of -Paradise'! The delight of seeing these from the street is great, instead -of in a museum. But Michael Angelo's enthusiastic exclamation in their -praise rather makes one smile, for we know that it must have been in -admiration of their purely technical beauties, as the gates are by no -means large and grand _as_ gates, and the bronze is rather dark for an -entrance into Paradise! I reverently saluted the Palazzo Vecchio, and am -quite ready to get very much attached to the brown stone of Florence in -time. - -"_Villa Lamporecchi, May 1st._--We two and Papa had a good spell at the -Uffizi in the morning, and in the afternoon we took possession of this -pleasing house, which is so cool and has far-spreading views, one of -Florence from a terrace leading out of what I shall make my studio. A -garden and vineyards sloping down to the valley where Brunelleschi's -brown dome shows above the olives." - -[Illustration: IN FLORENCE DURING MY STUDIES IN /69.] - -Our mother did many lovely water colours, one especially exquisite -one of Fiesole seen in a shimmering blue midsummer light. That, and one -done on the Lung' Arno, to which Shelley's line - - "The purple noon's transparent might" - -could justly be applied, are treasured by me. She understood sunshine -and how to paint it. - -"_May 3rd._--I already feel Florence growing upon me. I begin to -understand the love English people of culture and taste get for this -most interesting and gentle city. The ground one treads on is all -historic, but it is in the artistic side of its history that I naturally -feel the greatest interest, and it is a delightful thing to go about -those streets and be reminded at every turn of the great Painters, -Architects, Sculptors I have read so much of. Here a palace designed by -Raphael, there a glorious row of windows carved by Michael Angelo, there -some exquisite ironwork wrought by some other born genius. I think the -style of architecture of the Strozzi Palace, the Ricardi, and others, is -perfection in its way, though at first, with the brilliant whites, -yellows and pinks of Genoa still in my eye, I felt rather depressed by -the uniform brown of the huge stones of which they are built. No wonder -I haunt the well-known gallery which runs over the Ponte Vecchio, lined -with the sketches, studies, and first thoughts of most of the great -masters. One delights almost more in these than in many of the finished -pictures. They bring one much more in contact, as it were, with the -great dead, and make one familiar with their methods of work. One sees -what little slips they made, how they modified their first thoughts, -over and over again, before finally fixing their choice. Very -encouraging to the struggling beginner to see these evidences of their -troubles! - -"I have never, before I came here where so many of them have lived, -realised the old masters as our comrades; I have never been so near them -and felt them to be mortals exactly like ourselves. This city and its -environs are so little changed, the greater part of them not at all, -since those grand old Michael Angelesque days that one feels brought -quite close to the old painters, seeing what they saw and walking on the -very same old pavement as they walked on, passing the houses where they -lived, and so forth." - -I was at that time bent on achieving my first "great picture," to be -taken from Keats's poem "The Pot of Basil"; Lorenzo riding to his death -between the two brothers: - - So the two brothers and their murdered man - Rode past fair Florence, - -but, fortunately, I resolved instead to put in further training before -attacking such a canvas, and I became the pupil of a very fine academic -draughtsman, though no great colourist, Giuseppe Bellucci. On alternate -days to those spent in his studio I copied in careful pencil some of the -exquisite figures in Andrea del Sarto's frescoes in the cloisters of the -SS. Annunziata. - -The heat was so great that, as it became more intense, I had to be at -Bellucci's, in the Via Santa Reparata, at eight o'clock instead of 8.30, -getting there in the comparative cool of the morning, after a salutary -walk into Florence, accompanied by little Majolina, no _signorina_ being -at liberty to walk alone. What heat! The sound of the ceaseless hiss of -the _cicale_ gave one the impression of the country's undergoing the -ordeal of being _frizzled_ by the sun. I record the appearance of my -first fire-fly on the night of May 6th. What more pleasing rest could -one have, after the heat and work of the day, than by a stroll through -the vineyards in the early night escorted by these little creatures with -their golden lamps? - -The cloisters were always cool, and I enjoyed my lonely hours there, but -the Bellucci studio became at last too much of a furnace. My master had -already several times suggested a rest, mopping his brow, when I also -began to doze over my work at last, and the model wouldn't keep his eyes -open. I record mine as "rolling in my head." - -I see in memory the blinding street outside, and hear the fretful -stamping of some tethered mule teased with the flies. The very Members -of Parliament in the Palazzo Vecchio had departed out of the impossible -Chamber, and, all things considered, I allowed Bellucci to persuade me -to take a little month of rest--"_un mesetto di riposo_"--at home during -part of July and August. That little month of rest was very nice. I did -a water colour of the white oxen ploughing in our _podere_; I helped (?) -the _contadini_ to cut the wheat with my sickle, and sketched them while -they went through the elaborate process of threshing, enlivened with -that rough innocent romping peculiar to young peasants, which gave me -delightful groups in movement. I love and respect the Italian peasant. -He has high ideas of religion, simplicity of living, honour. I can't say -I feel the same towards his _betters_ (?) in the Italian social scale. - -The grapes ripened. The scorched _cicale_ became silent, having, as the -country people declared, returned to the earth whence they sprang. The -heat had passed even _cicala_ pitch. I went back to the studio when the -"little month" had run out and the heat had sensibly cooled, and worked -very well there. I find this record of a birthday expedition: - -"I suggested a visit to the convent of San Salvi out at the Porta alla -Croce, where is to be seen Andrea del Sarto's 'Cenacolo.' This we did in -the forenoon, and in the afternoon visited Careggi. Enough isn't said -about Andrea. What volumes of praise have been written, what endless -talk goes on, about Raphael, and how little do people seem to appreciate -the quiet truth and soberness and subtlety of Andrea. This great fresco -is very striking as one enters the vaulted whitewashed refectory and -sees it facing the entrance at the further end. The great point in this -composition is the wonderful way in which this master has disposed the -hands of all those figures as they sit at the long table. In the row of -heads Andrea has revelled in his love of variety, and each is stamped, -as usual, with strong individuality. This beautifully coloured fresco -has impressed me with another great fact, viz., the wonderful value of -_bright yellow_ as well as white in a composition to light it up. The -second Apostle on our Saviour's left, who is slightly leaning forward on -his elbow and loosely clasping one hand in the other, has his shoulders -wrapped round with yellow drapery, the horizontally disposed folds of -which are the _ne plus ultra_ of artistic arrangement. There is -something very realistic in these figures and their attitudes. Some -people are down on me when they hear me going on about the rendering of -individual character being the most admirable of artistic qualities. - -"At 3.30 we went for such a drive to Careggi, once Lorenzo de' Medici's -villa--where, indeed, he died--and now belonging to Mr. Sloane, a -'bloated capitalist' of distant England. The 'keepsake' beauty of the -views thence was perfect. A combination of garden kept in English order -and lovely Italian landscape is indeed a rich feast for the eye. I was -in ecstasies all along. We made a great _detour_ on our return and -reached home in the after-glow, which cast a light on the houses as of a -second sun. - -"_October 18th._--Went with Papa and Alice to see Raphael's 'Last -Supper' at the Egyptian Museum, long ago a convent. It is not perfectly -sure that Raphael painted it, but, be that as it may, its excellence is -there, evident to all true artists. It seems to me, considering that it -is an early work, that none but one of the first-class men could have -painted it. It offers a very instructive contrast with del Sarto's at -San Salvi. The latter immediately strikes the spectator with its effect, -and makes him exclaim with admiration at the very first moment--at -least, I am speaking for myself. The former (Raphael's) grew upon me in -an extraordinary way after I had come close up to it and dwelt long on -the heads, separately; but on entering the room the rigidity and -formality of the figures, whose aureoles of solid metal are all on one -level, the want of connection of these figures one with the other, and -the uniform light over them all had an unprepossessing effect. -Artistically considered this fresco is not to be mentioned with -Andrea's, but then del Sarto was a ripe and experienced artist when he -painted the San Salvi fresco, whereas they conjecture Raphael to have -been only twenty-two when he painted this. There is more spiritual -feeling in Raphael's, more dignity and ideality altogether; no doubt a -higher conception, and some feel more satisfied with it than with -Andrea's. The refinement and melancholy look of St. Matthew is a thing -to be thought of through life. St. Andrew's face, with the long, -double-peaked white beard, is glorious, and is a contrast to the other -old man's head next to it, St. Peter's, which is of a harder kind, but -not less wonderful. St. Bartholomew, with his dark complexion and black -beard, is strongly marked from the others, who are either fair or -grey-headed. The profile of St. Philip, with a pointed white beard, gave -me great delight, and I wish I could have been left an hour there to -solitary contemplation. St. James Major, a beardless youth, is a true -Perugino type, a very familiar face. Judas is a miserable little figure, -smaller than the others, though on the spectator's side of the table in -the foreground. He seems not to have been taken from life at all. - -"On one of the walls of the room are hung some little chalk studies of -hands, etc., for the fresco, most exquisitely drawn, and seeming, some -of them, better modelled than in the finished work; notably St. Peter's -hand which holds the knife. Is there no Modern who can give us a 'Last -Supper' to rank with this, Andrea's and Leonardo's?" - -This entry in my Diary of student days leads my thoughts to poor -Leonardo da Vinci. A painter must sympathise with him through his -recorded struggles to accomplish, in his "Cenacolo," what may be called -the almost superhuman achievement of worthily representing the Saviour's -face. Had he but been content to use the study which we see in the Brera -gallery! But, no! he must try to do better at Santa Maria delle -Grazie--and fails. How many sleepless nights and nerve-racking days he -must have suffered during this supreme attempt, ending in complete -discouragement. I think the Brera study one of the very few satisfactory -representations of the divine Countenance left us in art. To me it is -supreme in its infinite pathos. But it is always the way with the truly -great geniuses; they never feel that they have reached the heights they -hoped to win. - -Ruskin tells us that Albert Duerer, on finishing one of his own works, -felt absolutely satisfied. "It could not be done better," was the -complacent German's verdict. Ruskin praises him for this, because the -verdict was true. So it was, as regarding a piece of mere handicraft. -But to return to the Diary. - -"We went then to pay a call on Michael Angelo at his apartment in the -Via Ghibellina. I do not put it in those words as a silly joke, but -because it expresses the feeling I had at the moment. To go to his -house, up his staircase to his flat, and ring at his door produced in my -mind a vivid impression that he was alive and, living there, would -receive us in his drawing-room. Everything is well nigh as it was in his -time, but restored and made to look like new, the place being far more -as he saw it than if it were half ruinous and going to decay. Even the -furniture is the same, but new velveted and varnished. It is a pretty -apartment, such as one can see any day in nice modern houses. I touched -his little slippers, which are preserved, together with his two walking -sticks, in a tiny cabinet where he used to write, and where I wondered -how he found space to stretch his legs. The slippers are very small and -of a peculiar, rather Eastern, shape, and very little worn. Altogether, -I could not realise the lapse of time between his date and ours. The -little sketches round the walls of the room, which is furnished with -yellow satin chairs and sofa, are very admirable and free. The Titian -hung here is a very splendid bit of colour. This was a very impressive -visit. The bronze bust of M. A. by Giovanni da Bologna is magnificent; -it gives immense character, and must be the image of the man." - -On October 21st I bade good-bye to Bellucci. His system forbade praise -for the pupil, which was rather depressing, but he relaxed sufficiently -to tell my father at parting that I would do things (_Fara delle cose_) -and that I was untiring (_istancabile_), taking study seriously, not -like the others (_le altre_). With this I had to be content. He had -drilled me in drawing more severely than I could have been drilled in -England. For that purpose he had kept me a good deal to painting in -monochrome, so as to have my attention absorbed by the drawing and -modelling and _chiaroscuro_ of an object without the distraction of -colour. He also said to me I could now walk alone (_puo camminare da -se_), and with this valedictory good-bye we parted. Being free, I spent -the remaining time at Florence in visits to the churches and galleries -with my father and sister, seeing works I had not had time to study up -till then. - -"_October 22nd._--We first went to see the Ghirlandajos at Santa -Trinita, which I had not yet seen. They are fading, as, indeed, most of -the grand old frescoes are doing, but the heads are full of character, -and the grand old costumes are still plainly visible. From thence we -went to the small cloister called _dello Scalzo_, where are the -exquisite monochromes of Andrea del Sarto. Would that this cloister had -been roofed in long ago, for the weather has made sad havoc of these -precious things. Being in monochrome and much washed out, they have a -faded look indeed; but how the drawing tells! What a master of anatomy -was he, and yet how unexaggerated, how true: he was content to limit -himself to Nature; _knew where to draw the line_, had, in fact, the -reticence which Michael Angelo couldn't recognise; could stop at the -limit of truth and good taste through which the great sculptor burst -with coarse violence. There are some backs of legs in those frescoes -which are simply perfect. These works illustrate the events in the life -of John the Baptist. Here, again, how marvellous and admirable are all -the hands, not only in drawing, but in action, how touching the heads, -how grand and thoroughly artistic the draperies and the poses of the -figures. A splendid lesson in the management of drapery is, especially, -the fresco to the right of the entrance, the 'Vision of Zacharias.' -There are four figures, two immediately in the foreground and at either -extremity of the composition; the two others, seen between them, further -off. The nearest ones are in draperies of the grandest and largest -folds, with such masses of light and dark, of the most satisfying -breadth; and the two more distant ones have folds of a slightly more -complex nature, if such a word can be used with regard to such a -thoroughly broadly treated work. This gives such contrast and relief -between the near and distant figures, and the absence of the aid of -colour makes the science of art all the more simply perceived. Most -beautiful is the fresco representing the birth of St. John, though the -lower part is quite lost. What consummate drapery arrangements! The nude -figure _vue de dos_ in the fresco of St. John baptising his disciples is -a masterly bit of drawing. Though the paint has fallen off many parts of -these frescoes, one can trace the drawing by the incision which was -made on the wet plaster to mark all the outlines preparatory to -beginning the painting." - -These are but a few of my art student's impressions of this -fondly-remembered Florentine epoch, which are recorded at great length -in the Diary for my own study. And now away to Rome! - - - - -CHAPTER VI - -ROME - - -That was a memorable journey to Rome by Perugia. I have travelled more -than once by that line, and the more direct one as well, since then, and -I feel as though I could never have enough of either, though to be on -the road again, as we now can be by motor, would be still greater bliss. -But the original journey took place so long ago that it has positively -an old-world glamour about it, and a certain roughness in the flavour, -so difficult to enjoy in these times of Pulman cars and Palace Hotels, -which make all places taste so much alike. The old towns on the -foothills of the Apennines drew me to the left, and the great sunlit -plains to the right, of the carriage in an _embarras de choix_ as we -sped along. Cortona, Arezzo, Castiglione--Fiorentin--each little old -city putting out its predecessor, as it seemed to me, as more perfect in -its picturesque effect than the one last seen. It was the story of the -Rhine castles and villages over again. The Lake of Trasimene appeared on -our right towards sundown, a sheet of still water so tender in its tints -and so lonely; no town on its malaria-stricken banks; a boat or two, -water-fowl among the rushes and, as we proceeded, the great, magnified -globe of the sun sinking behind the rim of the lake. We were going deep -into the Umbrian Hills, deep into old Italy; the deeper the better. We -neared Perugia, where we passed the night, before dark, and saw the old -brown city tinged faintly with the after-glow, afar off on its hill. A -massive castle stood there in those days which I have not regretted -since, as it symbolised the old time of foreign tyranny. It is gone now, -but how mediaeval it looked, frowning on the world that darkening -evening. Hills stood behind the city in deep blue masses against a sky -singularly red, where a great planet was shining. There was a Perugino -picture come to life for us! Even the little spindly trees tracing their -slender branches on the red sky were in the true _naif_ Perugino spirit! -How pleased we were! We rumbled in the four-horse station 'bus under two -echoing gateways piercing the massive outer and inner city walls and -along the silent streets, lit with rare oil lamps. Not a gas jet, aha! -But we were to feel still more deeply mediaeval, whether we liked it or -not, for on reaching the Hotel de la Poste we found it was full, and had -to wander off to seek what hostel could take us in through very dark, -ancient streets. I will let the Diary speak: - -"The _facchino_ of the hotel conducted us to a place little better than -a _cabaret_, belonging, no doubt, to a chum. I wouldn't have minded -putting up there, but Mamma knew better, and, rewarding the woman of the -_cabaret_ with two francs, much against her protestations, we went off -up the steep street again and made for the 'Corona,' a shade better, -close to the market place. My bedroom was as though it had once been a -dungeon, so massive were the walls and deep the vaulting of the low -ceiling. We went to bed almost immediately after our dinner, which was -enlivened by the conversation of men who were eating at a neighbouring -table, all, except a priest, with their hats on. One was very -loquacious, shouting politics. He held forth about '_Il Mastai_,' as he -called His Holiness Pope Pius the Ninth, and flourished renegade _Padre -Giacinto_ in the priest's face, the courteous and laconic priest's -eyebrows remaining at high-water mark all the time. The shouter went on -to say that English was '_una lingua povera e meschina_' ('Poor and -mean'!)" - -The next morning before leaving we saw all that time allowed us of -Perugia, the bronze statue of Pope Julius III. impressing me deeply. -Indeed, there is no statue more eloquent than this one. Alas! the -Italians have removed it from its right place, and when I revisited the -city in 1900 I found the tram terminus in place of the Pope. - -"_October 27th._--After the morning's doings in sunshine the day became -sad, and from Foligno, where we had a long wait, the story is but of -rain and dusk and night. We became more and more apathetic and bored, -though we were roused up at the frontier station, where I saw the Papal -_gendarmes_ and gave the alarm. Mamma went on her knees in the carriage -and cried, '_Viva Il Papa Re!_' We all joined in, drinking his health in -some very flat 'red _grignolino_' we had with us. I became more and more -excited as we neared the centre of the earth, the capital of -Christendom, the highest city in the world. In the rainy darkness we ran -into the Roman station, which might have been that of Brighton for aught -we could see. I strained my eyes right and left for Papal uniforms, and -was rewarded by Zouaves and others, and lots of French (of the Legion) -into the bargain. - -Then a long wait, in the 'bus of the Anglo-American Hotel, for our -luggage; and at last we rattled over the pavement, which, with its -cobble stones, was a great contrast to the large flat flags of -Florence, along very dark and gloomy streets. An apartment all crimson -damask was ready prepared for us, which looked cheery and revived us. - -"_October 28th_, 56, _Via del Babuino._--The day began rather -dismally--looking for apartments in the rain! The coming of the -OEcumenical Council has greatly inflated the prices; Rome is crammed. -At last we took this attractive one for six months, '_esposto a -mezzogiorno_.' Facing due south, fortunately. - -"The sun came out then, and all things were bright and joyous as we -rattled off in a little victoria to feast our eyes (we two for the first -time) on St. Peter's. Papa, knowing Rome already, knew what to do and -how best to give us our first impressions. An epoch in my life, never to -be forgotten, a moment in my existence too solemn and beyond my power of -writing to allow of my describing it! I have seen St. Peter's. No, -indeed, no descriptions have ever given me an adequate idea of what I -have just seen. The sensation of seeing the real thing one has gazed at -in pictures and photographs with longing is one of peculiar delight. - -"To find myself really on the Ponte Sant' Angelo! No dream this. There -is the huge castle and the angel with outstretched wings, and there is -St. Peter's in very truth. The sight of it made the tears rise and my -throat tighten, so greatly was I overcome by that soul-moving sight. The -dome is perfect; the whole, with its great piazza and colonnade, is -perfect; I am utterly overpowered and, as to writing, it is too -inadequate, and I do so merely because I must do my duty by this -journal. - -"What a state I was in, though exteriorly so quiet. And all around us -other beauties--the yellow Tiber, the old houses, the great -fortress-tomb--oh, Mimi, the artist, is not all the enthusiasm in you at -full power? We got out of the carriage at the bottom of the piazza and -walked up to the basilica on foot. The two familiar fountains--so -familiar, yet seen for the first time in reality--were sending up their -spray in such magnificent abundance, which the wind took and sent in -cascade-like forms far out over the reflecting pavement. The interior of -St. Peter's, which impresses different people in such various ways, was -a radiant revelation to me. We had but a preliminary taste to-day. We -drove thence to the Piazza del Popolo, and then had an entrancing walk -on Monte Pincio. We came down by the French Academy, with its row of -clipped ilexes, under which you see one of the most exquisite views of -silvery Rome, St. Peter's in the middle. We dipped down by the steps of -the Trinita, where the models congregate, flecking the wide grey steps -with all the colours of the rainbow. - -"_October 29th._--Papa would not let us linger in the Colosseum too -long, for to-day he wanted us to have only a general idea of things. -Those bits of distance seen through triumphal arches, between old -pillars, through gaps in ancient walls, how they please! As we were -climbing the Palatine hill a Black Franciscan came up to us for alms, -and in return offered us his snuff-box, out of which Alice and I took a -pinch, and we went sneezing over the ruins. On to the Capitol, and down -thence homeward through streets full of priests, monks and soldiers. All -the afternoon given to being tossed about, with poor Papa, by the Dogana -from the railway station to the custom-house in the Baths of Diocletian, -and from there to the artist commissioned by the Government to examine -incoming works of art. They would not let me have my box of studies, -calling them 'modern pictures' on which we must pay duty." - -Rome under the Temporal Power was so unlike Rome, capital of Italy, as -we see it to-day, that I think it just as well to draw largely from the -Diary, which is crammed with descriptions of men and things belonging to -the old order which can never be seen again. I love to recall it all. We -were in Rome just in time. We left it in May and the Italians entered it -in September. Though I was not a Catholic then, and found delight in -Rome almost entirely as an artist, the power and vitality of the Church -could not but impress me there. - -"_October 30th._--This has been one of the most perfectly enjoyable days -of my life. Papa and I drove to the Vatican through that bright light -air which gives one such energy. The Vatican! What a place wherein to -revel. We climbed one of the mighty staircases guarded by the -interesting Papal Guards, halberd on shoulder, until we got to the top -loggia and went into the picture gallery, I to enchant my eyes with the -grandest pictures that men have conceived. But I will not touch on them -till I go there to study. And so on from one glory to another. We turned -into St. Peter's and there strolled a long time. Before we went in, and -as we were standing at the bottom of the Scala Regia enjoying the -clearness of the sunshine on the city, we saw the _gendarmes_, the -Zouaves and others standing at attention, and, looking back, we saw the -red, black, and yellow Swiss running with operatic effect to seize their -halberds, and Cardinal Antonelli came down to get into his carriage, -almost stumbling over me, who didn't know he was so near. Before he got -into his great old-fashioned coach, harnessed to those heavy black -horses with the trailing scarlet traces, a picturesque incident -occurred. A girl-faced young priest tremulously accosted the Cardinal, -hat in hand, no doubt begging some favour of the great man. The Cardinal -spoke a little time to him with grand kindness, and then the priest fell -on one knee, kissed the Cardinal's ring, and got up blushing pink all -over his beautiful young face, and passed on, gracefully and modestly, -as he had done the rest. Then off rattled the carriage, the Zouaves -presented arms, salutes were made, hats lifted, and Antonelli was gone. - -"In St. Peter's were crowds of priests in different colours, forming -masses of black, purple, and scarlet of great beauty. Two Oriental -bishops were making the round, one, a Dominican, having with him a sort -of Malay for a chaplain in turban and robe. Two others had Chinamen with -pigtails in attendance, these two emaciated prelates bearing signs of -recent torture endured in China, living martyrs out of Florentine -frescoes. Yonder comes a bearded Oriental with mild, beautiful face, and -following him a scarlet-clad German with yellow hair, projecting ears, -coarse mouth, and spectacles over his little eyes; and then a -sharp-visaged Jesuit, or a spiritual, wan Franciscan and a burly Roman -secular. No end of types. One very young Italian monk had the face of a -saint, all ready made for a fresco. I looked at him in unspeakable -admiration as he stood looking up at some inscription, probably -translating it in his own mind. On our way home, to crown all, we met -the Pope. His outrider in cocked hat and feathers came clattering along -the narrow street in advance, then a red-and-gold coach, black prancing -horses--all shadowy to me, as I was intent only on catching a view of -the Holy Father. We got out of the carriage, as in duty bound, and bent -the knee like the rest as he passed by. I saw his profile well, with -that well-known smile on his kind face. As we looked after the carriages -and horsemen the effect was touching of the people kneeling in masses -along the way. The sight of Italian men kneeling is novel to me in the -extreme. - -"_October 31st._--I went first, with Mamma and Alice, to St. Peter's, -where I studied types, attitudes and costumes. The sight of a Zouave -officer kneeling, booted and spurred, his sword by his side, and his -face shaded with his hand, is indeed striking, and one knows all those -have enrolled themselves for a sacred cause they have at heart--higher -even than for love of any particular country. The difference of types -among these Zouaves is most interesting. The Belgian and Dutch decidedly -predominate. Papa and I went thence for a fascinating stroll of many -hours, finding it hard to turn back. We went up to Sant' Onofrio and -then round by the great Farnese Palace. The view from Sant' Onofrio over -Rome is--well, my language is utterly annihilated here. How invigorated -I felt, and not a bit tired." - -I have never been able to call up enthusiasm over the Pantheon, -low-lying, black and pagan in every line. Why does Byron lash himself -into calling it "Pride of Rome"? For the same reason, I suppose, that he -laments and sighs over the disappearance of Dodona's "aged grove and -oracle divine." As if any one cares! The view of Rome from Monte Mario, -being _the_ view, should have a place here as we saw it one of those -richly-coloured days. - -"_November 3rd._--My birthday, marked by the customary birthday -expedition, this time to Monte Mario. Nothing could be more splendid -than looked the Capital of the World as it lay below us when we reached -the top of that commanding height. The Campagna lay beyond it, ending in -that direction with the Sabine and Alban Mountains, the furthest all -white with snow. Buildings, cypresses, pines, formed foreground groups -to the silver city as they only can do to such perfection in these -parts. In another direction we could see the Campagna with its straight -horizon like a calm rosy-brown sea meeting the limpid sky. We drove a -long way on the high road across the Campagna Florence-wards. No high -walls as in the Florentine drives were here to shut out the views, which -unfolded themselves on all sides as we trotted on. We got out of the -carriage on the Campagna and strolled about on the brown grass, enjoying -the sweet free breeze and the great sweep of country stretching away to -the luminous horizon towards the sun, and to the lilac mountains in the -other direction. These mountains became tender pink as we went -Romewards, and when the city again appeared it was in a richly-coloured -light, the Campagna beyond in warm shadow from large chocolate-coloured -clouds which were rising heaped up into the sky. A superb effect." - -Here follow many days chiefly given up to studio hunting and "property" -seeking for my work, soon to be set up. Models there were in plenty, of -course, as Rome was then still the artists' headquarters. How things -have changed! - -I began with a _ciociara_ spinning with a distaff in the well-known and -very much used-up costume, just for practice, and another peasant girl. -Then I painted, at my dear mother's earnest desire, "The -Magnificat"--Mary's visit to Elizabeth--and on off days my father and I -"did" all the pictures contained in various palaces, the Vatican, and -the Villa Borghese, filling pages and pages of notes in the old Diary. I -felt the value of every day in Rome. Many people might think I ought not -to have worked so much in a studio, but I think I divided the time well. -I felt I must keep my hand in, and practise with the brush, though how -often I was tempted to join the others on some fascinating ramble may be -imagined. Soon, however, the rains of a Roman December set in, and Rome -became very wet indeed. Our father read us Roman history every evening -when there were no visitors. We had a good many, our mother and her -music and brightness soon attracting all that was nice in the English -and American colonies. Dear old Mr. Severn, he in whose arms Keats died, -often took tea with us (we kept our way of having dinner early and tea -in the evening), and there was an antiquarian who took interest in -nothing whatever except the old Roman walls, and he used to come and -hold forth about the "Agger of Servius Tullius" till my head went round. -He kept his own on, it seemed to me, by pressing his hand on the bald -top of it as he explained to us about that bit of "agger" which he had -discovered, and the herring-bone brick of which it was built. Often as I -have revisited Rome, I cannot become enthusiastic over the discovery of -some old Roman sewer, or bit of hot-water pipe, or horrible stone basin -with a hole in the bottom for draining off the blood of sacrificial -oxen. I always long to get back into the sunshine and fresh air from the -mouldy depths of Pagan Rome when I get caught in a party to whom the -antiquarian enthusiasts like to hold forth below the surface of the -earth. Alice listens, deferential and controlled, while I fidget, -supporting myself on my umbrella, with such a face! Here is a little bit -of Papal Rome impossible to-day: - -"_November 29th._--In the course of our long ramble after my work Papa -and I, in the soft evening, came upon a scene which I shall not forget, -made by a young priest preaching to a little crowd in the street before -the side door of Santa Maria Sopra Minerva, a Rembrandtesque effect -being produced by the two lamps held by a priest at either side of the -platform on which the preacher stood. One of these held the large -crucifix to which the preacher turned at times, with gestures of rapture -such as only an Italian could use in so natural a way. To see him, -lighted from below, in his black habit and hear his impassioned voice! -All the men were bareheaded, and such as passed by took their hats off. -Penetrating as the priest's voice was, it was now and then quite drowned -by the street noises, especially the rattling of wheels on the rough -stones." - -The days that follow are filled with my work on "The Visitation," with -few intervals of sight-seeing. Then comes the great ecclesiastical event -to be marked in history, which brought all the world to Rome. - -"_Opening of the OEcumenical Council, December 8th._--A memorable day, -this! We got up by candlelight, as at a quarter past seven we were to -drive to St. Peter's. The dreary raining dawn was announced, just as it -broke, by the heavy cannon of Castel Sant' Angelo, the flash of which -was reflected in the blue-grey sky long before the sound reached us, and -the cannon on the Aventine echoed those of the Castel. How dreary it -felt, yet how imposing for any one who has got into the right feeling -about this solemn event. On our way we overtook scores of priests on -foot, trying to walk clear of the puddles in those thin, buckled shoes -of theirs. It must have been trying for the old ones. There were bishops -amongst them, too poor to afford a cab. We have seen them day after day -thus going to the Vatican meetings. One great blessing the rain brought: -it kept hundreds of people from coming to the church, and thus saved -many crushings to death, for it is terrible to contemplate, seeing what -a crowd there actually was, what it might have been had the building -been crammed. Entrance and egress were both at one end of the church. -That thought must console me for the terrible toning down and darkening -of what, otherwise, would have been a great pageant. So many thousands -of wet feet brought something like a lake half way up the floor; so -slippery was it that, had the crowd swayed in a panic, it wouldn't have -been very nice. - -"Papa and I insinuated ourselves into the hedge of people kept back by -Zouaves and Palatine Guards, as we came opposite the statue of St. -Peter, and I eventually got fixed three rows back from the soldiers, and -was lucky to get in so far. I was jammed between a monk and a short -youth of the 'horsey' kind. The atmosphere in that warm, wet crowd was -trying. I could see into the Council Hall opposite. - -[Illustration: ROMAN IMPRESSIONS IN 1870. - -THE LAST OF THE RIDERLESS HORSE-RACES, AND A WET TRUDGE - -TO THE VATICAN COUNCIL.] - -"The passage kept clear for the great procession was very wide. On the -other side I could see rows of English and American girls and elderly -females in the best places, as usual, right to the front, as bold as -brass, and didn't they eye the bishops over through their -_pince-nez!_ We must have been waiting two hours before the procession -entered the church. I ought to have mentioned that the sacred dark -bronze statue of St. Peter was robed in gorgeous golden vestments with a -splendid triple crown on its head, making it look like a black Pope, and -very life-like from where I saw it. It seemed very strange. - -"At last there was a buzz as people perceived the slowly-moving -_silhouette_ of the procession as it passed along in a far-off gallery, -veiled from us by pink curtains, against the light and very high up, -over the entrance. We could see the prelates had all vested by the -outlines of the mitres and the high-shouldered look of the figures in -stiff copes. As the procession entered the church the 'Veni Creator' -swelled up majestically and floated through the immense space. The -effect of the procession to me was _nil_; all I could do was to catch a -glimpse of each bishop as he passed between the bobbing heads of the men -in front of me. All the European and United States Bishops were in white -and silver, but now and then there passed Oriental Patriarchs in rich -vestments, their picturesque dark faces (two were quite brown) telling -so strikingly amongst the pale or rosy Europeans. Each had his solemn -secretary, with imperturbable Eastern face, bearing his jewelled crown, -something in shape like the dome of a mosque. One Oriental wore a jewel -on his dusky forehead, another a black cowl over his head, shading his -keen, dark face, the coarse cowl contrasting in a startling way with the -delicate splendour of the gold and pink and amber vestments worn over -the rough monk's habit. Still, all this could not be imposing to me, -having to squint and crane as I did, seldom being able to see with both -eyes at once. I could at intervals see the silvery prelates, most of -them with snowy heads, and the dark Easterns mount into their seats in -the Council Chamber, our Archbishop Manning amongst them. I had a quite -good glimpse of Cardinal Bonaparte, very like the great Napoleon. Of the -Pope I saw nothing. He was closely surrounded, as he walked past, by the -high-helmeted Noble Guard, and, of course, at that supreme moment every -one in front of me strove to get a better sight of him. Then Papa and I -gladly struggled our way out of the great crowd and went to seek Mamma, -who, very wisely, had not attempted to get a place, but was meekly -sitting on the steps of a confessional in a quiet chapel. Mamma then -went home, and we went into the crowd again to try and see the Council -from a point opposite. We saw it pretty well, the two white banks of -mitred bishops on each side and, far back, the little red Pope in the -middle. Mass was being sung, all Gregorian, but it was faintly heard -from our great distance. - -"No council business was being done to-day; it was only the Mass to open -the meeting. The crowd was most interesting. Surely every nation was -represented in it. An officer of the 42nd Highlanders had an excellent -effect. What shall I do in London, with its dead level of monotony? Oh! -dear, oh! dear. I was quite loth to go home. And so the council is -opened. God speed!" - -The Ghetto was in existence in those days, so I have even experienced -the sight of _that_. Very horrible, packed with "red-haired, blear-eyed -creatures, with loose lips and long, baggy noses." Thus I describe them -in this warren, during our drive one day. What a "_sventramento_" that -must have been when the Italians cleared away and cleaned up all that -congested horror. Wide, wind-swept spaces and a shining, though hideous, -synagogue met my astonished gaze when next I went there and couldn't -find the Ghetto. - -At the end of the year La Signorina Elizabetta Thompson had to apply to -his Eminenza Riverendissima Cardinal Berardi, Minister of Public Works, -to announce her intention of sending the "Magnificat" to the Pope's -international exhibition. At that picture I worked hard, my mother being -my model for Our Lady, and an old _ciociara_ from the Trinita steps for -St. Elizabeth. How it rained that December! But we had radiant sunshine -in between the days when the streets were all running with red-brown -rivulets, through which the horses splashed as if fording a stream. - -"_January 25th, 1870._--I finished my 'Magnificat' to-day. Yet ought I -to say I ceased to paint at it, for 'finish' suggests something far -beyond what this picture is. Well, I shall enjoy being on the loose now. -To stroll about Rome after having passed through a picture is perfect -enjoyment. I should feel very uncomfortable at the present time if I -had, up till now, done nothing but lionise. I have no hope of my picture -being accepted now, but still it is pleasant to think that I have worked -hard. - -"_February 3rd._--I took my picture to the Calcografia place, as warned -to do. There, in dusty horror, it awaits the selecting committee's -review, which takes place to-morrow. Mamma and I held it manfully in the -little open carriage to keep it from tumbling out, our arms stretched to -their utmost. Lots of men were shuffling about in that dusty place with -pictures of all sizes. But, oh! what a scene of horror was that -collection of daubs. Oh! mercy on us. - -"_February 5th._--My 'Magnificat' is accepted. First, off goes Mamma -with Celestina to the Calcografia to learn the fate of the picture, and -bring it back triumphant, she and the maid holding it steady in the -little open carriage. Soon after, off we go to the Palazzo Poli to see -nice Mr. Severn, who says he is so proud of me, and will do all he can -to help me in art matters, to see whether he could make the exhibition -people hang my picture well, as we were told the artists had to see to -that themselves if they wanted it well done. I, for my part, would leave -it to them and rather shirk a place on the line, for my picture is -depressingly unsatisfactory to me, but Mamma, for whom I have painted -it, loves it, and wants it well placed 'so that the Pope may see it'! -From thence off we go to the abode of the Minister of Commerce, Cardinal -B., for my pass. We were there told, to our dismay, that we could not -take the picture ourselves to the exhibition, as it was held in the -cloisters of Sta. Maria degli Angeli, and no permission had yet been -given to admit women before the opening. But I knew that between Papa -and Mr. Severn the picture would be seen to inside the cloistered walls. -After lunch, off goes Papa with my pass, we following in the little open -carriage as before, holding the old picture before us with straining -arms and knitted brows, very much jolted and bumped. We are stopped at -the cloisters, and told to drive out again, and there we pull up, our -faces turned in the opposite direction. The hood of the carriage -suddenly collapses, and we are revealed, unable to let go the picture, -with the soldiers collected about the place grinning. Papa arrives, and -he and two _facchini_ come to the rescue, and then disappear with the -picture amongst the forbidden regions enclosed in the gloomy ruins of -Diocletian's Baths. Papa, on returning home, told me how charmed old -Severn, who was there, was with the picture, and even Podesti, the -judge, after some criticisms, and in no way ready to give it a good -place, said to Severn he had expected the signorina's picture to be -rubbish (_porcheria_). I suppose because it was a woman's work. He -retracted, and said he would like to see me. - -"_February 14th._--I began another picture to-day, after all my -resolutions to the contrary, the subject, two Roman shepherds playing at -'_Morra_', sitting on a fallen pillar, a third _contadino_, in a cloak, -looking on. I posed my first model, putting a light background to him, -the effect being capital, he coming rich and dusky against it. He soon -understood I wanted energy thrown into the action. I shall delight in -this subject, because the hands figure so conspicuously in the game. - -"_February 15th._--I went up alone to the Trinita to choose the other -young man for my 'Morra,' and, after a little inspection of the group of -lolling Romagnoli, gave the apple to one with a finely-cut profile and -black hair, the other models, male and female, clustering round to hear, -and many bystanders and the Zouave sentry, hard by, looking on." - -On one evening in this eventful Roman period I had the opportunity of -seeing the famous race of the riderless horses (the _barberi_), which -closed the Carnival doings. The impression remains with me quite vividly -to this day. The colour, the movement; the fast-deepening twilight; the -historic associations of that vast Piazza del Popolo, where I see the -great obelisk retaining, on its upper part, the last flush from the -west; the impetuous waters of the fountains at its base in cool shadow; -St. Peter's dome away to the left--this is the setting. Then I hear the -clatter of the dragoon's horses as the detachment forms up for clearing -the course. The stands, at the foot of the obelisk, are full, some of -the crowd in carnival costume and with masks. A sharp word of command -rings out in the chilly air. Away go the dragoons, down the narrow Corso -and back, at full gallop, splitting the surging crowd with theatrical -effect. The line is clear. Now comes the moment of expectancy! At that -unique starting post, the obelisk upon which Moses in Egypt may have -looked as upon an interesting monument of antiquity in pre-Exodus days, -there appear eleven highly-nervous barbs, tricked out with plumes and -painted with white spots and stripes. The convicts who lead them in -(each man, one may say, carrying his life in his hand) are trying, with -iron grip, to keep their horses quiet, for the spiked balls and other -irritants are now unfastened and dangling loose from the horses' backs. -But one terrified beast comes on "kicking against the pricks" already. -The whole pack become wild. The more they plunge, the more the balls -bang and prick. One furious creature, wrenching itself free, whirls -round in the wrong direction. But there is no time to lose; the -restraining rope must be cut. A gun booms; there is a shout and clapping -of hands. Ten of the horses, with heads down, get off in a bunch, -shooting straight as arrows for the Corso; the eleventh slips on the -cobbles, rolls over and, recovering itself, tears after its pals, -straining every nerve. I hear a voice shout "_E capace di vincere!_" -("He is fit to win!") and in an instant the lot are engulfed in that -dark, narrow street, the squibs on their backs going off like pistol -shots, and the crackling bits of metallic tinsel, getting detached, fly -back in a shower of light. The sparks from the iron heels splash out in -red fire through the dusk. The course is just one mile--the whole length -of the straight street. At the winning post a great sheet is stretched -across the way, through which some of the horses burst, to be captured -some days afterwards while roaming about the open spaces of the -Campagna. It is the dense crowd, forming two walls along the course, -that forces the horses to keep the centre. This was the last of the -_barberi_. They were more frightened than hurt, yet I am not sorry that -these races have been abolished. - -Here follow records of expeditions in weather of spring freshness--to -catacombs, along the Via Appia, to the wild Campagna, and all the -delights of that Roman time when the lark inspires the poet. I got on -well with my "Morra" picture, which wasn't bad, and which has a niche in -my art career, because it turned out to be the first picture I sold, -which joyful event happened in London. - -"_March 25th_.--A brilliant day, full of colour. This is a great feast, -the Annunciation, and I gave up work to see the Pope come in grand -procession to the Church of the Minerva with his Cross Bearer on a white -mule, and all the cardinals, bishops, ambassadors and officials in -carriages of antique magnificence, a spectacle of great pomp, and -nowhere else to be seen. We did it in this wise. At nine we drove to the -Minerva, the sun very brilliant and the air very cold, and soon posted -ourselves on the steps of the church in the midst of a tight crowd, I -quite helpless in a knot of French soldiers of the Legion, who chaffed -each other good-humouredly over my head. The piazza, in the midst of -which rises the funny little obelisk on the elephant's back, swarmed -with people, black being quite the exception in that motley crowd. -Zouaves and the Legion formed a square to keep the piazza open, and -dragoons pranced officiously about, as is their wont. Every balcony was -thronged with gay ladies and full-dressed officers (some most gallant -and smart Austrians were at a window near us), and crimson cloth and -brocade flapped from every window, here in powerful sunshine, there in -effective shadow. Some dark, Florentine-coloured houses opposite, mostly -in shade, as they were between us and the sun, had a strong effect -against the bright sky, their crimson cloths and gaily dressed ladies -relieving their dark masses, and their beautiful roofs and chimneys -making a lovely sky line. - -"Presently the gilt and painted coaches of the cardinals began to -arrive, huge, high-swung vehicles drawn by very fat black horses dressed -out with gold and crimson trappings, but the servants and coachmen, in -spite of their extra full get-up, having that inimitable shabby-genteel -appearance which belongs exclusively to them. The Prior of the -Dominicans, to which order this church belongs, stood outside the -archway through which the Pope and all went into the church after -alighting from their coaches. He was there to welcome them, and, oh! the -number of bows he must have made, and his mouth must have ached again -with all those wide smiles. Near him also stood the Noble Guards and all -the general officers, plastered over with orders; and all these, too, -saluted and salaamed as each ecclesiastical bigwig grandly and -courteously swept by under the archway, glowing in his scarlet and -shining in his purple. The carriages pulled up at the spot of all others -best suited to us. Everything was filled with light, the cardinals -glowing like rubies inside their coaches, even their faces all aglow -with the red reflections thrown up from their ardent robes. But there -presently came a sight which I could hardly stand; it was eloquent of -the olden time and filled the mind with a strange feeling of awe and -solemnity, as though long ages had rolled back and by a miracle the dead -time had been revived and shown to us for a brief and precious moment. -On a sleek white mule came a prelate, all in pure lilac, his grey head -bare to the sunshine and carrying in his right hand the gold and -jewelled Cross. The trappings of the mule were black and gold, a large -black, square cloth thrown over its back in the mediaeval fashion. The -Cross, which was large and must have weighed considerably, was very -conspicuous. The beauty of the colour of mule and rider, the black and -gold housings of that white beast, the lilac of the rider's robes, and -the tender glory of the embossed Cross--how these things enchant me! An -attendant took the Cross as the priest dismounted. Then a flourish of -modern Zouave bugles and a sharp roll of the drum intruded the forgotten -present day on our notice, and soon on came the gallant _gendarmerie_ -and dragoons, and then the coach of His Holiness, seeming to bubble over -with molten gold in the sunshine. Its six black horses ambled fatly -along, all but the wheelers trailing their long, red traces almost on -the ground, as seems to be the ecclesiastical fashion in harness (only -the wheelers really pull), and guided by bedizened postillions in wigs -decidedly like those worn by English Q.C.'s. Flowers were showered down -on this coach from the windows, and much cheering rang in the fresh, -clear air. I see now in my mind's eye the out-thrust chins and long, -bare necks of a clump of enthusiastic Zouaves shouting with all their -hearts under the Pope's carriage windows in divers tongues. But the -English 'Long live the Pope King,' though given with a will, did not -travel as far as the open '_Viva il Papa Re_' or '_Vive le Pape Roi_.' I -put in my British 'Hurrah!' as did Papa, splendidly, just as three old -and very fat cardinals had painfully got down from His Holiness's high -coach and he himself had begun to emerge. We could see him quite well in -the coach, because the sides were more glass than gilding, and very -assiduously did the kind-looking old man bless the people right and left -as he drove up. He had on his head, not the skull cap I have hitherto -seen him in, which allows his silver locks to be seen, but the -old-lady-like headgear so familiar to me from pictures, notably several -portraits of Leo X. at Florence, which covers the ears and is bound with -ermine. It makes the lower part of the face look very large, and is not -becoming. After getting down he stood a long time receiving homage from -many grandees, and smiled and beamed with kindness on everybody. Then we -all bundled into the church, but as every one there was standing on, -instead of sitting on, the chairs, we could see nothing of the -ceremonies. We struggled out, after listening a little to the singing, -and Papa and I strolled delightedly to St. Peter's, on whose great -piazza we awaited the return of the procession. It was very beautiful, -winding along towards us, with my white mule and all, over that vast -space." - -Remember, Reader, that these things can never more be seen, and that is -why I give these extracts _in extenso_. Merely as history they are -precious. How we would like to have some word pictures of Rome in the -seventeenth, sixteenth and fifteenth centuries, but we don't get them. -The chronicles tell us of magnificence, numbers, illustrious people, -dress, and so forth; but, somehow, we would like something more intimate -and descriptive of local colour--effects of weather, etc.--to help us to -realise life as it was in the olden time. I think in this age of -ugliness we prize the picturesque and the artistic all the more for -their rarer charm. - -After "Morra" I did a life-size oil study of the head of the celebrated -model, Francesco, which was a great advance in freedom of brush work. -But the walks were not abandoned, and many a delightful round we made -with our father, who was very happy in Rome. The Colosseum was rich in -flowers and trees, which clothed with colour its hideous stages of -seats. The same abundant foliage beautified the brickwork of Caracalla's -Baths, but those beautiful veils were, unfortunately, slowly helping -further to demolish the ruins, and had to be all cleared away later on. -I have several times managed to wander over those eerie ruins in later -years by full moon, but I have never again enjoyed the awe-inspiring -sensation produced by the first visit, when those trees waved and -sighed, and the owls hooted, as in Byron's time. And then the loneliness -of the Colosseum was more impressive, and helped one to detach oneself -in thought from the present day more easily. Now the town is creeping -out that way. - -"_April 3rd._--Our goal was Santa Croce to-day, beyond the Lateran, for -there the Pope was to come to bless the 'Agnus Dei.' This ceremony -takes place only once in seven years. Everything was _en petite tenue_, -the quietest carriages, the seediest servants, but oh! how glorious it -all was in that fervent sunlight. We stood outside the church, I greatly -enjoying the amusing crowd, full of such varied types. The effect of the -Pope's two carriages and the horsemen coming trotting along the -straight, long road from St. John's to this church, the luminous dust -rising in clouds in the wind, was very pretty. The shouting and cheering -and waving of handkerchiefs were quite frantic, more hearty even than at -the Minerva. People seemed to feel more easy and jolly here, with no -grandeur to awe them. His Holiness looked much more spry than when I -last saw him. We lost poor little Mamma and, in despair, returned -without her, and she didn't turn up till 7 o'clock!" - -The Roman Diary of 1870 must end with the last Easter Benediction given -under the temporal power, _Urbi et Orbi_. - -"_Easter Sunday, April 17th_.--What a day, brimming over with rich -eye-feasts, with pomp and splendour! What can the eye see nowadays to -come anywhere near what I saw to-day, except on this anniversary here in -unique Rome? Of course, all the world knows that the splendour of this -great ceremony outshines that of any other here or in the whole world. -Mamma and I reserved ourselves for the benediction alone, so did not -start for St. Peter's till ten o'clock, and got there long before the -troops. On getting out of the carriage we strolled leisurely to the -steps leading up to the church, where we took up our stand, enjoying the -delicious sunshine and fresh, clear air, and also the interesting people -that were gradually filling the piazza, amongst whom were pilgrims with -long staves, many being Neapolitans, the women in new costumes of the -brightest dyes and with snowy _tovaglie_ artistically folded. Some of -these women carried the family luggage on their heads, this luggage -being great bundles wrapped in rugs of red, black, and yellow stripes, -some with the big coloured umbrella passed through and cleverly -balanced. All these people had trudged on foot all the way. Their shoes -hung at their waists, and also their water flasks. As the troops came -pouring in we were requested by the sappers to range ourselves and not -to encroach beyond the bottom step. Here was a position to see from! We -watched the different corps forming to the stirring bugle and trumpet -sounds, the officers mounting their horses, all splendid in velvet -housings, the officers in the fullest of full dress. There was no -pushing in the crowd, and we were as comfortable as possible. But there -was a scene to our left, up on the terrace that runs along the upper -part of the piazza and is part of the Vatican, which was worth to me all -the rest; it was, pictorially, the most beautiful sight of all. Along -this terrace, the balustrade of which was hung with mellow old faded -tapestry, and bears those dark-toned, effective statues standing out so -well against the blue sky, were collected in a long line, I should say, -nearly all the bishops who are gathered here in Rome for the Council, in -their white and silver vestments, and wearing their snowy mitres, a few -dark-dressed ladies in veils and an officer in bright colour here and -there supporting most artistically those long masses of white. Above the -heads of this assembly stretched the long white awning, through which -the strong sun sent a glowing shade, and above that the clear sky, with -the Papal white and yellow flags and standards in great quantities -fluttering in the breeze! My delighted eyes kept wandering up to that -terrace away from the coarser military picturesqueness in front. Up -there was a real bit of the olden time. There was a feeling as of lilies -about those white-robed pontiffs. At last a sign from a little balcony -high up on the facade was given, and all the troops sprang to attention, -and then the gentle-faced old Pope glided into view there, borne on his -chair and wearing the triple crown. Clang go the rifles and sabres in a -general salute, and a few '_evvivas_' burst from the crowd, which are -immediately suppressed by a general 'sh-sh-sh,' and amidst a most -imposing silence, the silence of a great multitude, the Pope begins to -read from a crimson book held before him with the voice of a strong -young man. Curiously enough, in this stillness all the horses began to -neigh, but their voices could not drown the single one of Pio Nono. -After the reading the Pope rose, and down went, on their knees, the mass -of people and soldiers, 'like one man,' and the old Pope pressed his -hands together a moment and then flung open his arms upwards with an -action full of electrifying fervour as he pronounced the grand words of -the blessing which rang out, it seemed, to the ends of the Earth. - -"In the evening we saw the famous illumination of the dome of St. -Peter's from the Pincian. The wind rather spoiled the first or silver -one, but the next, the golden, was a grand sight, beginning with the -cross at the top and running down in streams over the dome. As I looked, -I heard a funny bit of Latin from an English tourist, who asked a priest -'_Quis est illuminatio, olio o gas?_' '_Olio, olio_,' answered the -priest good-naturedly." - -And so our Papal Rome on May 2nd, 1870, retreated into my very -appreciative memory, and we returned for a few days to Florence, and -thence to Padua and Venice and Verona on our way to England through the -Tyrol and Bavaria. What a downward slope in art it is from Italy into -Germany! We girls felt a great irritation at the change, and were too -recalcitrant to attend to the German sights properly. - -But I filled the Diary with very searching notes of the wonderful things -I saw in Venice, thanks to Veronese, Titian, Tintoretto, Palma Vecchio -and others, who filled me with all that an artist can desire in the way -of colour. I was anxious to improve my weak point, and here was a -lesson! - -It is curious, however, to watch through the succeeding years how I was -gradually inducted by circumstances into that line of painting which is -so far removed from what inspired me just then. It was the Franco-German -War and a return to the Isle of Wight that sent me back on the military -road with ever diminishing digressions. Well, perhaps my father's fear, -which I have already mentioned in my early 'teens, that I was joining in -a "tremendous ruck" in taking the field would have been justified had I -not taken up a line of painting almost non-exploited by English artists. -The statement of a French art critic when writing of one of my war -pictures, "_L'Angleterre n'a guere qu'un peintre militaire, c'est une -femme_," shows the position. I wish I could have another life here below -to share the joys of those who paint what I studied in Italy, if only -for the love of such work, though I am very certain I should be quite -indistinguishable in _that_ "ruck." - - - - -CHAPTER VII - -WAR. BATTLE PAINTINGS - - -Padua I greatly enjoyed--its academic quiet, its Shakespearean -atmosphere; and still more did Shakespearean Verona enchant me. I had a -good study of the modern French school at the Paris Salon, and on -getting back to London rejoined the South Kensington schools till the -end of the summer session. Then a studio and practice from the living -model. In July we were all absorbed in the great Franco-German War, -declared in the middle of that month. It seems so absurd to us to-day -that we should have been pro-German in England. This little entry in the -Diary shows how Bismarck's dishonest manoeuvres had hoodwinked the -world. "France _will_ fight, so Prussia _must_, and all for nothing but -jealousy--a pretty spectacle!" We all believed it was France that was -the guilty party. I call to mind how some one came running upstairs to -find me and, subsiding on the top step with _The Times_ in her hand, -announced the surrender of MacMahon's army and the Emperor. I wrote "the -Germans are pro-di-gious!" and I have lived to see them prostrate. Such -is history. - -I was asked, as the war developed, if I had been inspired by it, and -this caused me to turn my attention pictorially that way. Once I began -on that line I went at a gallop, in water-colour at first, and many a -subject did I send to the "Dudley Gallery" and to Manchester, all the -drawings selling quickly, but I never relaxed that serious practice in -oil painting which was my solid foundation. I sent the poor "Magnificat" -to the Royal Academy in the spring of 1871. It was rejected, and -returned to me with a large hole in it. - -That summer, which we spent at well-loved Henley-on-Thames, was marred -by the awful doings of the Commune in Paris. _The Times_ had a -stereotyped heading for a long time: "The Destruction of Paris." What -horrible suspense there was while we feared the destruction of the -Louvre and Notre Dame. I see in the Diary: "_May 28th, 1871_.--Oh! that -to-morrow's papers may bring a decided contradiction of the oft-repeated -report that the great Louvre pictures are lost and that Notre Dame no -longer stands intact. As yet all is confusion and dismay, and one -clings, therefore, to the hope that little by little we may hear that -some fragments, at least, may be spared to bereaved humanity and that -all that beauty is not annihilated." - -In August, 1871, we were off again. From London back to Ventnor! There I -kept my hand in by painting in oils life-sized portraits of friends and -relations and some Italian ecclesiastical subjects, such as young -Franciscan monks, disciples of him who loved the birds, feeding their -doves in a cloister; an old friar teaching schoolboys, _al fresco_, -outside a church, as I had seen one doing in Rome. For this friar I -commandeered our landlord as a model, for he had just the white beard -and portly figure I required. Yet he was one of the most _furibond_ -dissenters I ever met--a Congregationalist--but very obliging. Also a -candlelight effect in the Church of San Pietro in Vincoli, in Rome; a -large altar-piece for our little Church of St. Wilfrid, and so on, a -mixture of the ecclesiastical and the military. The dances, theatricals, -croquet parties, rides--all the old ways were linked up again at -Ventnor, and I have a very bright memory of our second dwelling there -and reunion with our old friends. In the spring of 1872 I sent one of -the many Roman subjects I was painting to the Academy, a water-colour of -a Papal Zouave saluting two bishops in a Roman street. It was rejected, -but this time without a hole. This year was full of promise, and I very -nearly reached the top of my long hill climb, for in it I began what -proved to be my first Academy picture. - -What proved of great importance to me, this year of 1872, was my -introduction, if I may put it so, to the British Army! I then saw the -British soldier as I never had had the opportunity of seeing him before. -My father took me to see something of the autumn manoeuvres near -Southampton. Subjects for water-colour drawings appeared in abundance to -my delighted observation. One of the generals who was to be an umpire at -these manoeuvres, Sir F. C., had become greatly interested in me, as a -mutual friend had described my battle scenes to him, and said he would -speak about me to Sir Charles Staveley, one of the commanders in the -impending "war," so that I might have facilities for seeing the -interesting movements. He hoped that, if I saw the manoeuvres, I would -"give the British soldiers a turn," which I did with alacrity. I sent -some of the sketches to Manchester and to my old friend the "Dudley." -One of them, "Soldiers Watering Horses," found a purchaser in a Mr. -Galloway, of Manchester, who asked through an agent if I would paint him -an oil picture. I said "Yes," and in time painted him "The Roll Call." -Meanwhile, in the spring of 1873, I sent my first really large war -picture in oils to the Academy. It was accepted, but "skyed," well -noticed in the Press and, to my great delight, sold. The subject was, of -course, from the war which was still uppermost in our thoughts: a -wounded French colonel (for whom my father sat), riding a spent horse, -and a young subaltern of Cuirassiers, walking alongside (studied from a -young Irish officer friend), "missing" after one of the French defeats, -making their way over a forlorn landscape. The Cameron Highlanders were -quartered at Parkhurst, near Ventnor, about this time, and I was able to -make a good many sketches of these splendid troops, so essentially -pictorial. I have ever since then liked to make Highlanders subjects for -my brush. - -In this same year of 1873 my sister and I, now both belonging to the old -faith, whither our mother had preceded us, joined the first pilgrimage -to leave the shores of England since the Reformation. I had arranged -with the _Graphic_ to make pen-and-ink sketches of the pilgrimage, which -was arousing an extraordinary amount of public interest. Our goal was -the primitive little town of Paray-le-Monial, deep in the heart of -France, where Margaret Mary Alacoque received our Lord's message. I -cannot convey to my readers who are not "of us" the fresh and exultant -impressions we received on that visit. There was a mixture of religious -and national patriotism in our minds which produced feelings of the -purest happiness. The steamer that took us English pilgrims from -Newhaven to Dieppe on September 2nd flew the standard of the Sacred -Heart at the main and the Union Jack at the peak, seeming thus to -symbolise the whole character of the enterprise. Those _Graphic_ -sketches proved a very great burden to me. Nowadays one of the pilgrims -would have done all by "snapshots." I tried to sketch as I walked in the -processions at Paray and to sing the hymn at the same time. There was -hardly a moment's rest for us, except for a few intervals of sleep. The -long ceremonies and prescribed devotions, the processions, the stirring -hymns and the journey there and back, all crowded into a week from start -to finish, called for all one's strength. But how joyfully given! - -I can never forget the hearty, well-mannered welcome the French gave us, -lay and clerical. The place itself was lovely and the weather kind. It -is good to have had such an experience as this in our weary world. The -Bishop of Salford, the future Cardinal Vaughan, led us, and our clergy -mustered in great force. The dear French people never showed so well as -during their welcome of us. It suited their courteous and hospitable -natures. Most of our hosts were peasants and owners of little -picturesque shops in this jewel of a little town. We two were billeted -at a shoemaker's. The urbanity of the French clergy in receiving our own -may be imagined. I love to think back on the truly beautiful sights and -sounds of Paray, with the dominant note of the church bells vibrating -over all. They gave us a graceful send-off, pleased to have the -assurance of our approval of our reception. Many compliments on our -_solide piete_, with regrets as to their own "_legerete_," and so forth. -"_Vive l'Angleterre!_" "_Vive la France!_" "_Adieu!_" - - - - -CHAPTER VIII - -"THE ROLL CALL" - - -I had quite a large number of commissions for military water-colours to -get through on my return home, and an oil of French artillery on the -march to paint, in my little glass studio under St. Boniface Down. But -after my not inconsiderable success with "Missing" at the Academy, I -became more and more convinced that a London studio _must_ be my destiny -for the coming winter. Of course, my father demurred. He couldn't bear -to part with me. Still, it must be done, and to London I went, with his -sad consent. I had long been turning "The Roll Call" in my mind. My -father shook his head; the Crimea was "forgotten." My mother rather -shivered at the idea of the snow. It was no use; they saw I was bent on -that subject. My dear mother and our devoted family doctor in London -(Dr. Pollard[4]), who would do anything in his power to help me, between -them got me the studio, No. 76, Fulham Road, where I painted the picture -which brought me such utterly unexpected celebrity. - -Mr. Burchett, still headmaster at South Kensington, was delighted to see -me with all the necessary facilities for carrying out my work, and he -sent me the best models in London, nearly all ex-soldiers. One in -particular, who had been in the Crimea, was invaluable. He stood for -the sergeant who calls the roll. I engaged my models for five hours each -day, but often asked them to give me an extra half-hour. Towards the -end, as always happens, I had to put on pressure, and had them for six -hours. My preliminary expeditions for the old uniforms of the Crimean -epoch were directed by my kind Dr. Pollard, who rooted about Chelsea -back streets to find what I required among the Jews. One, Mr. Abrahams, -found me a good customer. I say in my Diary: - -"Dr. Pollard and I had a delightful time at Mr. Abrahams' dingy little -pawnshop in a hideous Chelsea slum, and, indeed, I enjoyed it _far_ more -than I should have enjoyed the same length of time at a West End -milliner's. I got nearly all the old accoutrements I had so much longed -for, and in the evening my Jew turned up at Dr. Pollard's after a long -tramp in the city for more accoutrements, helmets, coatees, haversacks, -etc., and I sallied forth with the 'Ole Clo!' in the rain to my boarding -house under our mutual umbrella, and he under his great bag as well. We -chatted about the trade '_chemin faisant_.'" - -[Illustration: CRIMEAN IDEAS.] - -I called Saturday, December 13th, 1873, a "red-letter day," for I then -began my picture at the London studio. Having made a little water-colour -sketch previously, very carefully, of every attitude of the figures, I -had none of those alterations to make in the course of my work which -waste so much time. Each figure was drawn in first without the great -coat, my models posing in a tight "shell jacket," so as to get the -figure well drawn first. How easily then could the thick, less shapely -great coat be painted on the well-secured foundation. No matter how its -heavy folds, the cross-belts, haversacks, water-bottles, and -everything else broke the lines, they were there, safe and sound, -underneath. An artist remarked, "What an absurdly easy picture!" Yes, no -doubt it was, but it was all the more so owing to the care taken at the -beginning. This may be useful to young painters, though, really, it -seems to me just now that sound drawing is at a discount. It will come -by its own again. Some people might say I was too anxious to be correct -in minor military details, but I feared making the least mistake in -these technical matters, and gave myself some unnecessary trouble. For -instance, on one of my last days at the picture I became anxious as to -the correct letters that should appear stamped on the Guards' -haversacks. I sought professional advice. Dr. Pollard sent me the beery -old Crimean pensioner who used to stand at the Museum gate wearing a -gold-laced hat, to answer my urgent inquiry as to this matter. Up comes -the puffing old gentleman, redolent of rum. I, full of expectation, ask -him the question: "What should the letters be?" "B. O.!" he roars -out--"Board of Ordnance!" Then, after a congested stare, he calls out, -correcting himself, "W. D.--War Deportment!" "Oh!" I say, faintly, "War -Department; thank you." Then he mixes up the two together and roars, "W. -O.!" And that was all I got. He mopped his rubicund face and, to my -relief, stumped away down my stairs. Another Crimean hero came to tell -me whether I was right in having put a grenade on the pouches. "Well, -miss, the natural _hinference_ would be that it _was_ a grenade, but it -was something like my 'and." Desperation! I got the thing "like his -hand" just in time to put it in before "The Roll Call" left--a brass -badge lent me by the War Office--and obliterated the much more -effective grenade. - -On March 29th and 30th, 1874, came my first "Studio Sunday" and Monday, -and on the Tuesday the poor old "Roll Call" was sent in. I watched the -men take it down my narrow stairs and said "_Au revoir_," for I was -disappointed with it, and apprehensive of its rejection and speedy -return. So it always is with artists. We never feel we have fulfilled -our hopes. - -The two show days were very tiring. Somehow the studio, after church -time on the Sunday, was crowded. Good Dr. Pollard hired a "Buttons" for -me, to open the door, and busied himself with the people, and enjoyed -it. So did I, though so tired. It was "the thing" in those days to make -the round of the studios on the eve of "sending-in day." - -Mr. Galloway's agent came, and, to my intense relief, told me the -picture went far beyond his expectations. He had been nervous about it, -as it was through him the owner had bought it, without ever seeing it. -On receiving the agent's report, Mr. Galloway sent me a cheque at -once--L126--being more than the hundred agreed to. The copyright was -mine. - -The days that followed felt quite strange. Not a dab with a brush, and -my time my own. It was the end of Lent, and then Easter brought such -church ceremonial as our poor little Ventnor St. Wilfrid's could not -aspire to. A little more Diary: - -"_Saturday, April 11th._--A charming morning, for Dr. Pollard had a fine -piece of news to tell me. First, Elmore, R.A., had burst out to him -yesterday about my picture at the Academy, saying that all the -Academicians are in quite a commotion about it, and Elmore wants to -make my acquaintance very much. He told Dr. P. I might get L500 for 'The -Roll Call'! I little expected to have such early and gratifying news of -the picture which I sent in with such forebodings. After Dr. P. had -delivered this broadside of Elmore's compliments he brought the -following battery of heavy guns to bear upon me which compelled me to -sink into a chair. It is a note from Herbert, R.A., in answer to a few -lines which kind Father Bagshawe had volunteered to write to him, as a -friend, to ask him, as one of the Selecting Committee, just simply to -let me know, as soon as convenient, whether my picture was accepted or -rejected. The note is as follows: - - 'DEAR MISS THOMPSON,--I have just received a note from Father - Bagshawe of the Oratory in which he wished me to address a few - lines to you on the subject of your picture in the R.A. To tell the - truth I desired to do so a day or two since but did not for two - reasons: the first being that as a custom the doings of the R.A. - are for a time kept secret; the second that I felt I was a stranger - to you and you would hear what I wished to say from some - friend--but Father Bagshawe's note, and the decision being over, I - may tell you with what pleasure I greeted the picture and the - painter of it when it came before us for judgment. It was simply - this: I was so struck by the excellent work in it that I proposed - we should lift our hats and give it and you, though, as I thought, - unknown to me, a round of huzzahs, which was generally done. You - now know my feeling with regard to your work, and may be sure that - I shall do everything as one of the hangers that it shall be - _perfectly seen_ on our walls. - - I am tired and hurried, and ask you to excuse this very hasty note, - but _accept my hearty congratulations_, and - - Believe me to be, dear Miss Thompson, - - Most faithfully yours, - - J. R. HERBERT.' - -I trotted off at once to show Father Bagshawe the note, and then left -for home with my brilliant news." - -While at home at Ventnor I received from many sources most extraordinary -rumours of the stir the picture was making in London amongst those who -were behind the scenes. How it was "the talk of the clubs" and spoken of -as the "coming picture of the year," "the hit of the season," and all -that kind of thing. Friends wrote to me to give me this pleasant news -from different quarters. Ventnor society rejoiced most kindly. I went to -London to what I call in the Diary "the scene of my possible triumphs," -having taken rooms at a boarding house. I had better let the Diary -speak: - -"_'Varnishing Day,' Tuesday, April 28th._--My real feelings as, laden -like last year, with palette, brushes and paint box, I ascended the -great staircase, all alone, though meeting and being overtaken by -hurrying men similarly equipped to myself, were not happy ones. Before -reaching the top stairs I sighed to myself, 'After all your working -extra hours through the winter, what has it been for? That you may have -a cause of mortification in having an unsatisfactory picture on the -Academy walls for people to stare at.' I tried to feel indifferent, but -had not to make the effort for long, for I soon espied my dark battalion -in Room _II. on the line_, with a knot of artists before it. Then began -my ovation (!) (which, meaning a second-class triumph, is _not_ quite -the word). I never expected anything so perfectly satisfactory and so -like the realisation of a castle in the air as the events of this day. -It would be impossible to say all that was said to me by the swells. -Millais, R.A., talked and talked, so did Calderon, R.A., and Val -Prinsep, asking me questions as to where I studied, and praising this -figure and that. Herbert, R.A., hung about me all day, and introduced -me to his two sons. Du Maurier told me how highly Tom Taylor had spoken -to him of the picture. Mr. S., our Roman friend, cleaned the picture for -me beautifully, insisting on doing so lest I should spoil my new -velveteen frock. At lunchtime I returned to the boarding house to fetch -a sketch of a better Russian helmet I had done at Ventnor, to replace -the bad one I had been obliged to put in the foreground from a Prussian -one for want of a better. I sent a gleeful telegram home to say the -picture was on the line. I could hardly do the little helmet alterations -necessary, so crowded was I by congratulating and questioning artists -and starers. I by no means disliked it all. Delightful is it to be an -object of interest to so many people. I am sure I cannot have looked -very glum that day. In the most distant rooms people steered towards me -to felicitate me most cordially. 'Only send as _good_ a picture next -year' was Millais' answer to my expressed hope that next year I should -do better. This was after overhearing Mr. C. tell me I might be elected -A.R.A. if I kept up to the mark next year. O'Neil, R.A., seemed rather -to deprecate all the applause I had to-day and, shaking his head, warned -me of the dangers of sudden popularity. I know all about _that_, I -think. - -"_Thursday, April 30th._--The Royalties' private view. The Prince of -Wales wants 'The Roll Call.' It is not mine to let him have, and -Galloway won't give it up. - -"_Friday, May 1st._--The to-me-glorious private view of 1874. I insert -here my letter to Papa about it: - - 'DEAREST ----, I feel as though I were undertaking a really - difficult work in attempting to describe to you the events of this - most memorable day. I don't suppose I ever can have another such - day, because, however great my future successes may be, they can - never partake of the character of this one. It is my first great - success. As Tom Taylor told me to-day, I have suddenly burst into - fame, and this _first time_ can never come again. It has a - character peculiar to all _first things_ and to them alone. You - know that "the _elite_ of London society" goes to the Private View. - Well, the greater part of the _elite_ have been presented to me - this day, all with the same hearty words of congratulation on their - lips and the same warm shake of the hand ready to follow the - introductory bow. I was not at all disconcerted by all these - bigwigs. The Duke of Westminster invited me to come and see the - pictures at Grosvenor House, and the old Duchess of Beaufort was so - delighted with "The Roll Call" that she asked me to tell her the - history of each soldier, which I did, the knot of people which, by - the bye, is always before the picture swelling into a little crowd - to see me and, if possible, catch what I was saying. Galloway's - tall figure was almost a fixture near the painting. That poor man, - he was sadly distracted about this Prince of Wales affair, but the - last I heard from him was that he _couldn't_ part with it. - - Some one at the Academy offered him L1,000 for it, and T. Agnew - told him he would give him anything he asked, but he refused those - offers without a moment's hesitation. He has telegraphed to his - wife at Manchester, as he says women can decide so much better than - men on the spur of the moment. The Prince gives him till the dinner - to-morrow to make up his mind. The Duchess of Beaufort introduced - Lord Raglan's daughters to me, who were pleased with the interest I - took in their father. Old Kinglake was also introduced, and we had - a comparatively long talk in that huge assembly where you are - perpetually interrupted in your conversation by fresh arrivals of - friends or new introductions. Do you remember joking with me, when - I was a child, about the exaggerations of popularity? How strange - it felt to-day to be realizing, in actual experience, what you - warned me of, in fun, when looking at my drawings. You need not be - afraid that I shall forget. What I _do_ feel is great pleasure at - having "arrived," at last. The great banker Bunbury has invited me - and a friend to the ball at the Goldsmiths' Hall on Wednesday - night. He is one of the wardens. Oh! if you could only come up in - time to take me. Col. Lloyd Lindsay, of Alma fame, and his wife - were wild to have "The Roll Call." She shyly told me she had cried - before the picture. But, for enthusiasm, William Agnew beat them - all. He came up to be introduced, and spoke in such expressions of - admiration that his voice positively shook, and he said that, - having missed purchasing this work, he would feel "proud and happy" - if I would paint him one, the time, subject and price, whatever it - might be, being left entirely to me. Sir Richard Airey, the man who - wrote the fatally misconstrued order on his holster and handed it - to Nolan on the 25th October, 1854, was very cordial, and showed - that he took a keen pleasure in the picture. I told him I valued a - Crimean man's praise more than anybody else's, and I repeated the - observation later to old Sir William Codrington under similar - circumstances, and to other Crimean officers. One of them, whose - father was killed at the assault on the Redan, pressed me very hard - to consent to paint him two Crimean subjects, but I cannot promise - anything more till I have worked out my already too numerous - commissions, old ones, at the horrible old prices. - - Sir Henry Thompson, a great surgeon, I understand, was very polite, - and introduced his little daughter who paints. Lady Salisbury had a - long chat with me and showed a great intelligence on art matters. - Many others were introduced, or I to them, but most of them exist - as ghosts in my memory. I have forgotten some of their names and, - as some only wrote their addresses on my catalogue, I don't know - who is who. The others gave me their cards, so that is all right. - Horsley, R.A., is such a genial, hearty sort of man. He says he - shouldn't wonder if my name was mentioned in the Royal speeches at - the dinner. Lady Somebody introduced me to Miss Florence - Nightingale's sister, who wanted to know if there was any - possibility of my "most kindly" letting the picture be taken, at - the close of the exhibition, to her poor sister to see. Miss - Nightingale, you know, is now bedridden. Now I must stop. More - to-morrow....' - -I remember how on the following Sunday my good friend Dr. Pollard, who -lived close to my boarding house, waylaid me on my way to mass at the -Oratory, and from his front garden called me in stentorian tones, waving -the _Observer_ over his head. On crossing over I learnt of the speeches -of the Prince of Wales and the Duke of Cambridge at the Academy banquet -the evening before, in which most surprising words were uttered about me -and the picture. - -"_Monday, May 4th_.--The opening day of the Royal Academy. A dense crowd -before my grenadiers. I fear that fully half of that crowd have been -sent there by the royal speeches on Saturday. I may say that I awoke -this morning and found myself famous. Great fun at the Academy, where -were some of my dear fellow students rejoicing in the fulfilment of -their prophecies in the old days. Overwhelmed with congratulations on -all sides; and as to the papers, it is impossible to copy their -magnificent critiques, from _The Times_ downwards. - -"_Wednesday, May 6th_.--The Queen had my picture abstracted from the -R.A. last night to gaze at, at Buckingham Palace! It is now, of course, -in its place again. Went with Papa to the brilliant Goldsmiths' Ball, -where I danced. I was a bit of a lion there, or shall I say lioness? Sir -William Ferguson was introduced to me; and he, in his turn, introduced -his daughter and drank to my further success at the supper. Sir F. -Chapman also was presented, and expressed his astonishment at the -accuracy of the military details in my picture. He is a Crimean man. The -King of the Goldsmiths was brought up to me to express his thanks at my -'honouring' their ball with my presence. The engravers are already at me -to buy the copyright, but my dear counsellor and friend, Seymour Haden, -says I am to accept nothing short of L1,000, and get still more if I -can! - -"_May 10th_.--The Dowager Lady Westmoreland, who is about 80, and who -has lost pleasure in seeing new faces, when she heard of my Crimean -picture, expressed a great wish to see me, and to-day I went to dine at -her house, meeting there the present earl and countess, an old Waterloo -lord, and Henry Weigall and his wife, Lady Rose. The dear old lady was -so sweet. She was the Duke of Wellington's favourite niece, and his -Grace's portraits deck the walls of more than one room. Her pleasure was -in talking of the Florence of the old pre-Austrian days, where she lived -sixteen years, but my great pleasure was talking with the earl and the -Waterloo lord, who were most loquacious. Lord Westmoreland was on Lord -Raglan's staff in the Crimea. - -"_May 11th_.--Received cheque for the 'San Pietro in Vincoli' and -'Children of St. Francis.' My popularity has _levered_ those two poor -little pictures off. Messrs. Dickinson & Co. have bought my copyright -for L1,200!!!" - -There follows a good deal in the Diary concerning the trouble with Mr. -Galloway, who made hard conditions regarding his ceding "The Roll Call" -to the Queen, who wished to have it. He felt he was bound to let it go -to his Sovereign, but only on condition that I should paint him my next -Academy picture for the same price as he had given for the one he was -ceding, and that the Queen should sign with her own hand six of the -artist's proofs when the engraving of her picture came out. I had set my -heart on painting the 28th Regiment in square receiving the last charge -of the French Cuirassiers at Quatre Bras, but as that picture would -necessitate far more work than "The Roll Call," I could not paint it for -that little L126--so very puny now! So I most reluctantly suggested a -subject I had long had _in petto_, "The Dawn of Sedan," French -Cuirassiers watching by their horses in the historic fog of that -fateful morning--a very simple composition. To cut a very long story -short, he finally consented to have "Quatre Bras" at my own price, -L1,126, the copyright remaining his. All this talk went on for a long -time, and meanwhile, all through the London society doings, I made oil -studies of all the grey horses for "Sedan." The General Omnibus Company -sent me all shades of grey _percherons_ for this purpose. I also made -life-size oil studies of hands for "Quatre Bras," where hands were to be -very strong points, gripping "Brown Besses." So I took time by the -forelock for either subject. I was very fortunate in having the help of -wise business heads to grapple with the business part of my work, for I -have not been favoured that way myself. - -There is no mention in the Diary of the policeman who, a few days after -the opening of the Academy, had to be posted, poor hot man, in my corner -to keep the crowd from too closely approaching the picture and to ask -the people to "move on." That policeman was there instead of the brass -bar which, as a child, I had pleased myself by imagining in front of one -of my works, _a la_ Frith's "Derby Day." The R.A.'s told me the bar -created so much jealousy, when used, that it had been decided never to -use it again. But I think a live policeman quite as much calculated to -produce the undesirable result. I learnt later that his services were -quite as necessary for the protection of two lovely little pictures of -Leighton's, past which the people _scraped_ to get at mine, they being, -unfortunately, hung at right angles to mine in its corner. What an -unfortunate arrangement of the hangers! Horsley told me that they went -every evening after the closing, with a lantern, to see if the two gems -had been scratched. They were never seen. I wonder if Leighton had any -feelings of dislike towards "that girl." She who in her 'teens records -her prostrations of worship before his earlier works, ere he became so -coldly classical. - -It is a curious condition of the mind between gratitude for the -appreciation of one's work by those who know, and the uncomfortable -sense of an exaggerated popularity with the crowd. The exaggeration is -unavoidable, and, no doubt, passes, but the fact that counts is the -power of touching the people's heart, an "organ" which remains the same -through all the changing fashions in art. I remember an argument I once -had with Alma Tadema on this matter of touching the heart. He laughed at -me, and didn't believe in it at all. - -"_Tuesday, May 12th._--Mr. Charles Manning and his wife have been so -very nice to me, and this morning Mrs. M. bore me off to be presented to -His Grace of Westminster, with whom I had a long interview. What a face! -all spirit and no flesh. After that, to the School of Art Needlework to -meet Lady Marion Alford and other Catholic ladies. I ordered there a -pretty screen for my studio on the strength of my L1,200! Thence I -proceeded on a round of calls, going first to the Desanges, where I -lunched. There they told me the Prince of Wales was coming at four -o'clock to see the Ashanti picture Desanges is just finishing. They -begged me to come back a little before then, so as to be ready to be -presented when the moment should arrive. I returned accordingly, and -found the place crowded with people who had come to see the picture. As -soon as H.R.H. was announced, all the people were sent below to the -drawing-room and kept under hatches until Royalty should take its -departure; but I alone was to remain in the back studio, to be handy. -All this was much against my will, as I hate being thrust forward. But, -as it turned out, there was no thrusting forward on this occasion, and -all was very nice and natural. The Prince soon came in to where I was, -Mr. Desanges saying 'Here she is' in answer to a question. His first -remark to me was, of course, about the picture, saying he had hoped to -be its possessor, etc., etc., and he asked me how I had got the correct -details for the uniforms, and so on, having quite a little chat. He -spoke very frankly, and has a most clear, audible voice." - -Of course, the photographers began bothering. The idea of my portraits -being published in the shop windows was repugnant to me. Nowadays one is -snapshotted whether one likes it or not, but it wasn't so bad in those -days; one's own consent was asked, at any rate. I refused. However, it -had to come to that at last. My grandfather simply walked into the shop -of the first people that had asked me, in Regent Street, and calmly made -the appointment. I was so cross on being dragged there that the result -was as I expected--a rather harassed and coerced young woman, and the -worst of it was that this particular photograph was the one most widely -published. Indeed, one of my Aunts, passing along a street in Chelsea, -was astonished to see her rueful niece on a costermonger's barrow -amongst some bananas! - - - - -CHAPTER IX - -ECHOES OF "THE ROLL CALL" - - -On May 14th I lunched at Lady Raglan's. Kinglake was there to meet me, -and we talked Crimea. I had read and re-read his much too prolix -history, which I thought overburdened with detail, giving one an -impression of the two Balaclava charges as lasting hours rather than -minutes. But I had learnt much that was of the utmost value from this -very superabundance of detail. Then on the next day I rose early, and -was off by seven with the Horsleys to Aldershot at the invitation of Sir -Hope Grant, of Indian celebrity, commanding, who travelled down with us. -"Lady Grant received us at the house, where we found a nice breakfast, -and where I got dried, being drenched by a torrential downpour. Would -that it had continued longer, if only to lay the hideous sand in the -Long Valley, which made the field day something very like a fiasco. I -tried to sketch, but my book was nearly blown out of my hand, my -umbrella was turned inside out and my arms benumbed by the cold. M., -most luckily, was on the field, and Mrs. Horsley and I were soon -comfortably ensconced in his hansom cab and trying to feel more -comfortable and jolly. When the sham fight began we had to keep shifting -our standpoint, and Mrs. H. and I had repeatedly to jump out of the -hansom, as we were threatened by an upset every minute over those -sandhills. As to the two charges of cavalry, which Sir Hope had on -purpose for me, I could hardly see them, what with the dust storms half -swallowing them up in dense dun-coloured sheets and my eyes being full -of sand. However, I made the most of the situation, and hope I have got -some good hints. I ought to have so much of this sort of thing, and hope -to now, with all those 'friends in court!' When the march past began Sir -Hope sent to ask me if I would like to stand by his charger at the -saluting base, which I did, and saw, of course, beautifully. I felt -extraordinarily situated, standing there, half liking and half not -liking the situation, with an enormous mounted staff of utterly unknown, -gorgeous officers curvetting and jingling behind me and the general. As -one regiment passed, marching, as I thought, just as splendidly as the -others, I heard Sir Hope snap at them 'Very bad, very bad. Don't, -don't!' And I felt for them so much, trusting they didn't see me or mind -my having heard." - -Three days later, at a charming lunch at Lady Herbert's, I met her son, -Lord Pembroke, and Dr. Kingsley, Charles's brother--"The Earl and the -Doctor." It was interesting to see the originals of the title they gave -their book. The next day people came to the Academy to find, in place of -"The Roll Call," a placard--"This picture has been temporarily removed -by command of Her Majesty." She had it taken to Windsor to look at -before her departure for Scotland, and to show to the Czar, who was on a -visit. - -Calderon, the R.A., whom I met that evening, told me the Academy had -never been receiving so many daily shillings before, and that it ought -to present me with a diamond necklace. And so forth, and so forth--all -noted in the faithful Diary, wherein many extravagances of the moment in -my regard are safely tucked away. Two days later I see: "_May -20th._--The Woolwich review was quite glorious. I went with Lady -Herbert, the Lane Foxes, Lord Denbigh and Capt. Slade. We posted there -and back with two jolly greys and a postboy in a sky-blue jacket. This -was quite after my own heart. Lord Denbigh talked art and war all the -way, interesting me beyond expression. We were in the forefront of -everything on arrival, next the Saluting Point, round which were grouped -the most brilliant sons of Mars I ever saw gathered together, and of -various nations. The Czar Alexander II. headed these, flanked by my two -friends, the Prince of Wales and the Duke of Cambridge. The artillery -manoeuvres were effective, and I sketched as much as I could, getting -up on the box, Lord Denbigh holding my parasol over my head, as the sun -was strong. I suppose people like spoiling me just now, or _trying_ to." - -Then, two days later, I note that I dined at Lady Rose Weigall's, my -left-hand neighbour at table the Archbishop of York, Dr. Thomson, who -took in the hostess. He and I seem to have talked an immense deal about -all sorts of things. He confided to me that his private opinion was that -the Irish Church should never have been disestablished. In the course of -further conversation I thought it better to let him know I was a -Catholic by a passing remark. I said I thought the Neapolitans did not -make such solid Catholics as the English. He stared, none too pleased! -The next night I met at the Westmorelands', at dinner, Lord George -Paget, Colonel Kingscote, and Henry Weigall, my host of the previous -evening. Lord George was drawn out during dinner about Balaclava, and I -listened to his loud cavalry soldier's talk with the keenest interest. -He protested that we were making him say too much, but we were -insatiable. Lord George was a man I had tried to picture; he was almost -the last to ride back from the light cavalry charge. His manner and -speech were _soldatesque_, his expressions requiring at times a "saving -your presence" to the ladies, as a prefix. For me time flew in listening -to this interesting Balaclava hero, and it was very late when I made up -my mind to go, a wiser but by no means a sadder girl. - -At a dinner at Lady Georgiana Fullerton's my sister and I met Aubrey de -Vere, who delighted Alice with his conversation. The general company, -however, seem to have chiefly amused themselves with the long and, on -the whole, silly controversy which was appearing in _The Times_ -regarding the sequence of the horse's steps as he walks. It began by my -horse's walk in "The Roll Call" having been criticised by those who held -to the old conventional idea. How many hours I had moved alongside -horses to see for myself exactly how a horse puts his feet down in the -walk! I had told many people to go down on all fours themselves and -walk, noting the sequence with their own hands and knees, which was sure -to be correct instinctively. At this same dinner Lady Lothian told me -she had followed my advice, and the idea of that sedate _grande dame_, -with grey hair combed under a white lace cap, pacing round her room on -all fours I thought delightful. Since those days I have been vindicated -by the snap-shot. - -I find many Diary pages chiefly devoted to preparations for "Quatre -Bras" and the doing of several pen-and-ink reminiscences of what I had -seen at Woolwich and Aldershot, and exhibited at the "Dudley." Some were -bought by the picture dealer Gambart, and some by Agnew. One of those -pen-and-inks was the "Halt!"--those Scots Greys I only half saw through -the dust storm at Aldershot pulling up in the midst of a tremendous -charge, very close to us. Gambart had come to my studio to see if he -could get anything, and when I told him of this "Halt!" which I had just -sent to the "Dudley," he there and then wrote me a cheque for it, -without seeing it. When he went there to claim it, behold! it had -already been sold, before the opening. He was very angry, and threatened -law against the "Dudley" for what he called "skimming" the show before -the public got a chance. But the possessor was, like Mr. Galloway, a -_Maanchester maan_, and these are very firm on what they call "our -rights." It was no use. I had to make Gambart a compensation drawing. -This introduces Mr. Whitehead, for whom I was to paint "Balaclava." He -had the "Halt!" tight. - -On Corpus Christi Day that year Alice and I, having received our -invitations from the Bishop of Salford, of happy pilgrimage memory, to -join in the services and procession in honour of the Blessed Sacrament -at the Missionary College, Mill Hill, we went thither that glorious -midsummer day. At page 127 of the Diary I have put down certain -sentiments about the practice of the Catholic faith in England, and I -express a longing to see the Host carried through English fields. I -little thought in one year to see my hope realised; yet so it was at -Mill Hill. After vespers in the little church, the procession was -formed, and I shall long remember the choristers, in their purple -cassocks, passing along a field of golden buttercups and the white and -gold banners at the head of the procession floating out against a -typical English sky as their bearers passed over a little hillock which -commands a lovely view of the rich landscape. The bishop bore the Host, -and six favoured men held the canopy. Franciscan nuns in the procession -sang the hymns. - -The early days of that July had their pleasant festivities, such as a -dinner, with Alice, at Lady Londonderry's (she who was our mother's -godmother on the occasion of her reception into the Catholic Church) and -the Academy _soiree_, where Mrs. Tait invited me and Dr. Pollard to a -large garden party at Lambeth Palace. There I note: "The Royalties were -in full force, the _Waleses_, as I have heard the Prince and Princess -called, and many others. It was amusing and very pleasant in the -gardens, though provokingly windy. I had a curiously uncomfortable and -oppressed feeling, though, in that headquarters of the--what shall I -call it?--Opposition? The Archbishop and Mrs. Archbishop, particularly -Mrs., rather appalled me. But dear Dr. Pollard, that stout Protestant, -must have been very gratified." - -On July 4th Colonel Browne, C.B., R.E., who took the keenest interest in -my "Quatre Bras," and did all in his power to help me with the military -part of it, had a day at Chatham for me. He, Mrs. B. and daughters -called for me in the morning, and we set forth for Chatham, where some -300 men of the Royal Engineers were awaiting us on the "Lines." Colonel -Browne had ordered them beforehand, and had them in full dress, with -knapsacks, as I desired. - -They first formed the old-fashioned four-deep square for me, and not -only that, but the beautiful parade dressing was broken and _accidente_ -by my directions, so as to have a little more the appearance of the real -thing. They fired in sections, too, as I wished, but, unfortunately, the -wind was so strong that the smoke was whisked away in a twinkling, and -what I chiefly wished to study was unobtainable, _i.e._, masses of men -seen through smoke. After they had fired away all their ammunition, the -whole body of men were drawn up in line, and, the rear rank having been -distanced from the front rank, I, attended by Colonel Browne and a -sergeant, walked down them both, slowly, picking out here and there a -man I thought would do for a "Quatre Bras" model (beardless), and the -sergeant took down the name of each man as I pointed him out very -unobtrusively, Colonel Browne promising to have these men up at -Brompton, quartered there for the time I wanted them. So I write: "I -shall not want for soldierly faces, what with those sappers and the -Scots Fusilier Guards, of whom I am sure I can have the pick, through -Colonel Hepburn's courtesy. After this interesting 'choosing a model' -was ended, we all repaired to Colonel Galway's quarters, where we -lunched. After that I went to the guard-room to see the men I had chosen -in the morning, so as to write down their personal descriptions in my -book. Each man was marched in by the sergeant and stood at attention -with every vestige of expression discharged from his countenance whilst -I wrote down his personal peculiarities. I had chosen eight out of the -300 in the morning, but only five were brought now by the sergeant, as I -had managed to pitch upon three bad characters out of the eight, and -these could not be sent me. We spent the rest of the day very pleasantly -listening to the band, going over the museum, etc. I ought to see as -much of military life as possible, and I must go down to Aldershot as -often as I can. - -"_July 16th._--Mamma and I went to Henley-on-Thames in search of a rye -field for my 'Quatre Bras.' Eagerly I looked at the harvest fields as we -sped to our goal to see how advanced they were. We had a great -difficulty in finding any rye at Henley, it having all been cut, except -a little patch which we at length discovered by the direction of a -farmer. I bought a piece of it, and then immediately trampled it down -with the aid of a lot of children. Mamma and I then went to work, but, -oh! horror, my oil brushes were missing. I had left them in the chaise, -which had returned to Henley. So Mamma went frantically to work with two -slimy water-colour brushes to get down tints whilst I drew down forms in -pencil. We laughed a good deal and worked on into the darkness, two -regular 'Pre-Raphaelite Brethren,' to all appearances, bending over a -patch of trampled rye." - -I seem to have felt to the utmost the exhilaration produced by the -following episode. Let the young Diary speak: "The grand and glorious -Lord Mayor's banquet to the stars of literature and art came off to-day, -July 21st, and it was to me such a delightful thing that I felt all the -time in a pleasant sort of dream. I was mentioned in two speeches, Lord -Houghton's ('Monckton Milnes') and Sir Francis Grant's, P.R.A. As the -President spoke of me, he said his eye rested with pleasure on me at -that moment! Papa came with me. Above all the display of civic -splendour one felt the dominant spirit of hospitality in that -ever-to-me-delightful Mansion House. It was a unique thing because such -aristocrats as were there were those of merit and genius. The few lords -were only there because they represented literature, being authors. -Patti was there. She wished to have a talk with me, and went through -little Italian dramatic compliments, like Neilson. Old Cruikshank was a -strange-looking old man, a wonder to me as the illustrator of 'Oliver -Twist' and others of Dickens's works--a unique genius. He said many nice -things about me to Papa. I wished the evening could have lasted a week." - -The next entries are connected with the "Quatre Bras" cartoon: "Dreadful -misgivings about a vital point. I have made my front rank men sitting on -their heels in the kneeling position. Not so the drill book. After my -model went, most luckily came Colonel Browne. Shakes his head at the -attitudes. Will telegraph to Chatham about the heel and let me know in -the morning. - -"_July 23rd._--Colonel Browne came, and with him a smart sergeant-major, -instructor of musketry. Alas! this man and telegram from Chatham dead -against me. Sergeant says the men at Chatham must have been sitting on -their heels to rest and steady themselves. He showed me the exact -position when at the 'ready' to receive cavalry. To my delight I may -have him to-morrow as a model, but it is no end of a bore, this wasted -time." - -"_July 24th._--The musketry instructor, contrary to my sad expectations, -was by no means the automaton one expects a soldier to be, but a -thoroughly intelligent model, and his attitudes combined perfect -drill-book correctness with great life and action. He was splendid. I -can feel certain of everything being right in the attitudes, and will -have no misgivings. It is extraordinary what a well-studied position -that kneeling to resist cavalry is. I dread to think what blunders I -might have committed. No civilian would have detected them, but the -military would have been down upon me. I feel, of course, rather -fettered at having to observe rules so strict and imperative concerning -the poses of my figures, which, I hope, will have much action. I have to -combine the drill book and the fierce fray! I told an artist the other -day, very seriously, that I wished to show what an English square looks -like viewed quite close at the end of two hours' action, when about to -receive a last charge. A cool speech, seeing I have never seen the -thing! And yet I seem to have seen it--the hot, blackened faces, the set -teeth or gasping mouths, the bloodshot eyes and the mocking laughter, -the stern, cool, calculating look here and there; the unimpressionable, -dogged stare! Oh! that I could put on canvas what I have in my mind! - -"_July 25th._--A glorious day at Chatham, where again the Engineers were -put through field exercises, and I studied them with all my faculties. I -got splendid hints to-day. Went with Colonel Browne and Papa. - -"_July 28th._--My dear musketry instructor for a few more attitudes. He -has put me through the process of loading the 'Brown Bess'--a -flint-lock--so that I shall have my soldiers handling their arms -properly. Galloway has sold the copyright of this picture to Messrs. -Dickenson for L2,000! They must have faith in my doing it well." - -On August 11th I see I took a much-needed holiday at home, at Ventnor; -and, as I say, "gave myself up to fresh air, exercise, a little -out-of-door painting, and Napier's 'Peninsular War,' in six volumes." -Shortly before I left for home I received from Queen Victoria a very -splendid bracelet set with pearls and a large emerald. My mother and -good friend Dr. Pollard were with me in the studio when the messenger -brought it, and we formed a jubilant trio. - -It was pleasant to be amongst my old Ventnor friends who had known me -since I was little more than a child. But on September 10th I had to bid -them and the old place goodbye, and on September 11th I re-entered my -beloved studio. - -"_September 12th._--An eventful day, for my 'Quatre Bras' canvas was -tackled. The sergeant-major and Colonel Browne arrived. The latter, good -man, has had the whole Waterloo uniform made for me at the Government -clothing factory at Pimlico. It has been made to fit the sergeant-major, -who put on the whole thing for me to see. We had a dress rehearsal, and -very delighted I was. They have even had the coat dyed the old -'brick-dust' red and made of the baize cloth of those days! Times are -changed for me. It will be my fault if the picture is a fiasco." - -During the painting of "Quatre Bras" I was elected a member of the Royal -Institute of Painters in Water Colour, and I contributed to the Winter -Exhibition that large sketch of a sowar of the 10th Bengal Lancers which -I called "Missed!" and which the _Graphic_ bought and published in -colours. This reproduction sold to such an extent that the _Graphic_ -must have been pleased! The sowar at "tent-pegging" has missed his peg -and pulls at his horse at full gallop. I had never seen tent-pegging at -that time, but I did this from description, by an Anglo-Indian officer -of the 10th, who put the thing vividly before me. How many, many -tent-peggings I have seen since, and what a number of subjects they have -given me for my brush and pencil! Those captivating and pictorial -movements of men and horses are inexhaustible in their variety. - -I had more models sent to me than I could put into the big -picture--Guardsmen, Engineers and Policemen--the latter being useful as, -in those days, the police did not wear the moustache, and I had -difficulty in finding heads suitable for the Waterloo time. Not a head -in the picture is repeated. I had a welcome opportunity of showing -varieties of types such as gave me so much pleasure in the old -Florentine days when I enjoyed the Andrea del Sartos, Masaccios, Francia -Bigios, and other works so full of characteristic heads. - -On November 7th my sister and I went for a weekend to Birmingham, where -the people who had bought "The Roll Call" copyright were exhibiting that -picture. They particularly wished me to go. We were very agreeably -entertained at Birmingham, where I was curious to meet the buyer of my -first picture sold, that "Morra" which I painted in Rome. Unfortunately -I inquired everywhere for "Mr. Glass," and had to leave Birmingham -without seeing him and the early work. No one had heard of him! His name -was Chance, the great Birmingham _glass_ manufacturer. - -"_November 27th._--In the morning off with Dr. Pollard to Sanger's -Circus, where arrangements had been made for me to see two horses go -through their performances of lying down, floundering on the ground, -and rearing for my 'Quatre Bras' foreground horses. It was a funny -experience behind the scenes, and I sketched as I followed the horses in -their movements over the arena with many members of the troupe looking -on, the young ladies with their hair in curl-papers against the -evening's performance. I am now ripe to go to Paris." - -So to Paris I went, with my father. We were guests of my father's old -friends, Mr. and Mrs. Talmadge, Boulevard Haussmann, and a complete -change of scene it was. It gave my work the desired fillip and the fresh -impulse of emulation, for we visited the best studios, where I met my -most admired French painters. The Paris Diary says: - -"_December 3rd._--Our first lion was Bonnat in his studio. A little man, -strong and wiry; I didn't care for his pictures. His colouring is -dreadful. What good light those Parisians get while we are muddling in -our smoky art centre. We next went to Gerome, and it was an epoch in my -life when I saw him. He was at work but did not mind being interrupted. -He is a much smaller man than I expected, with wide open, quick black -eyes, yet with deep lids, the eyes opening wide only when he talks. He -talked a great deal and knew me by name and '_l'Appel,_' which he -politely said he heard was '_digne_' of the celebrity it had gained. We -went to see an exhibition of horrors--Carolus Duran's productions, now -on view at the _Cercle Artistique_. The talk is all about this man, just -now the vogue. He illustrates a very disagreeable present phase of -French Art. At Goupil's we saw De Neuville's 'Combat on the Roof of a -House,' and I feasted my eyes on some pickings from the most celebrated -artists of the Continent. I am having a great treat and a great lesson. - -"_December 4th._--Had a _supposed_ great opportunity in being invited to -join a party of very _mondaines Parisiennes_ to go over the Grand Opera, -which is just being finished. Oh, the chatter of those women in the -carriage going there! They vied with each other in frivolous outpourings -which continued all the time we explored that dreadful building. It is a -pile of ostentation which oppressed me by the extravagant display of -gilding, marbles and bronze, and silver, and mosaic, and brocade, heaped -up over each other in a gorged kind of way. How truly weary I felt; and -the bedizened dressing-rooms of the actresses and _danseuses_ were the -last straw. Ugh! and all really tasteless." - -However, I recovered from the Grand Opera, and really enjoyed the lively -dinners where conversation was not limited to couples, but flowed with -great _esprit_ across the table and round and round. Still, in time, my -sleep suffered, for I seemed to hear those voices in the night. How -graceful were the French equivalents to the compliments I received in -London. They thought I would like to know that the fame of "_l'Appel_" -had reached Paris, and so I did. - -We visited Detaille's beautiful studio. He was my greatest admiration at -that time. Also Henriette Browne's and others, and, of course, the -Luxembourg, so I drew much profit from my little visit. But what a -change I saw in the army! I who could remember the Empire of my -childhood, with its endless variety of uniforms, its buglings, and -drummings, and trumpetings; its _chic_ and glitter and swagger: 1870 was -over it all now. Well, never mind, I have lived to see it in the "_bleu -d'horizon_" of a new and glorious day. My Paris Diary winds up with: -"_December 14th._--Papa and I returned home from our Paris visit. My eye -has been very much sharpened, and very severe was that organ as it -rested on my 'Quatre Bras' for the first time since a fortnight ago. Ye -Gods! what a deal I have to do to that picture before it will be fit to -look at! I continue to receive droll letters and poems (!). One I must -quote the opening line of: - - 'Go on, go on, thou glorious girl!' - -Very cheering." - - - - -CHAPTER X - -MORE WORK AND PLAY - - -So I worked steadily at the big picture, finding the red coats very -trying. What would I have thought, when studying at Florence, if I had -been told to paint a mass of men in one colour, and that "brick-dust"? -However, my Aldershot observations had been of immense value in showing -me how the British red coat becomes blackish-purple here, pale salmon -colour there, and so forth, under the influence of the weather and wear -and tear. I have all the days noted down, with the amount of work done, -for future guidance, and lamentations over the fogs of that winter of -1874-5. I gave nicknames in the Diary to the figures in my picture, -which I was amused to find, later on, was also the habit of Meissonier; -one of my figures I called the "_Gamin_" and he, too, actually had a -"_Gamin_." Those fogs retarded my work cruelly, and towards the end I -had to begin at the studio at 9.30 instead of 10, and work on till very -late. The porter at No. 76 told me mine was the first fire to be lit in -the morning of all in The Avenue. - -[Illustration: PRACTISING FOR "QUATRE BRAS."] - -One day the Horse Guards, directed by their surgeon, had a magnificent -black charger thrown down in the riding school at Knightsbridge (on deep -sawdust) for me to see, and get hints from, for the fallen horse in my -foreground. The riding master strapped up one of the furious animal's -forelegs and then let him go. What a commotion before he fell! How he -plunged and snorted in clouds of dust till the final plunge, when the -riding master and a trooper threw themselves on him to keep him down -while I made a frantic sketch. "What must it be," I ask, "when a horse -is wounded in battle, if this painless proceeding can put him into such -a state?" - -The spring of 1875 was full of experiences for me. I note that "at the -Horse Guards' riding school a charger was again 'put down' for me, but -more gently this time, and without the risk, as the riding master said, -of breaking the horse's neck, as last time. I was favoured with a -charge, two troopers riding full tilt at me and pulling up at within two -yards of where I stood, covering me with the sawdust. I stood it bravely -the _second_ time, but the first I got out of the way. With 'Quatre -Bras' in my head, I tried to fancy myself one of my young fellows being -charged, but I fear my expression was much too feminine and pacific." -March 22nd gave me a long day's tussle with the grey, bounding horse -shot in mid-career. I say: "This _is_ a teaser. I was tired out and -faint when I got home." If that was a black day, the next was a white -one: "The sculptor, Boehm, came in, and gave me the very hints I wanted -to complete my bounding horse. Galloway also came. He says 'Quatre Bras' -beats 'The Roll Call' into a cocked hat! He gave me L500 on account. Oh! -the nice and strange feeling of easiness of mind and slackening of -speed; it is beginning to refresh me at last, and my seven months' task -is nearly accomplished." Another visitor was the Duke of Cambridge, who, -it appears, gave each soldier in my square a long scrutiny and showed -how well he understood the points. - -On "Studio Monday" the crowds came, so that I could do very little in -the morning. The novelty, which amused me at first, had worn off, and I -was vexed that such numbers arrived, and tried to put in a touch here -and there whenever I could. Millais' visit, however, I record as "nice, -for he was most sincerely pleased with the picture, going over it with -great _gusto_. It is the drawing, character, and expression he most -dwells on, which is a comfort. But I must now try to improve my _tone_, -I know. And what about '_quality_'? To-day, Sending-in Day, Mrs. Millais -came, and told me what her husband had been saying. He considers me, she -said, an even stronger artist than Rosa Bonheur, and is greatly pleased -with my _drawing_. _That_ (the 'drawing') pleased me more than anything. -But I think it is a pity to make comparisons between artists. I _may_ be -equal to Rosa Bonheur in power, but how widely apart lie our courses! I -was so put out in the morning, when I arrived early to get a little -painting, to find the wretched photographers in possession. I showed my -vexation most unmistakably, and at last bundled the men out. They were -working for Messrs. Dickinson. So much of my time had been taken from me -that I was actually dabbing at the picture when the men came to take it -away; I dabbing in front and they tapping at the nails behind. How -disagreeable!" - -After doing a water colour of a Scots Grey orderly for the "Institute," -which Agnew bought, I was free at last to take my holiday. So my Mother -and I were off to Canterbury to be present at the opening of St. -Thomas's Church there. - -"_April 11th, Canterbury._--To Mass in the wretched barn over a stable -wherein a hen, having laid an egg, cackled all through the service. And -this has been our only church since the mission was first begun six -years ago, up till now, in the city of the great English Martyr. But -this state of things comes to an end on Tuesday." - -This opening of St. Thomas's Church was the first public act of Cardinal -Manning as Cardinal, and it went off most successfully. There were rows -of Bishops and Canons and Monsignori and mitred Abbots, and monks and -secular priests, all beautifully disposed in the Sanctuary. The sun -shone nearly the whole time on the Cardinal as he sat on his throne. -After Mass came the luncheon at which much cheering and laughter were -indulged in. Later on Benediction, and a visit to the Cathedral. I -rather winced when a group of men went down on their knees and kissed -the place where the blood of St. Thomas a Becket is supposed to still -stain the flags. The Anglican verger stared and did _not_ understand. - -On Varnishing Day at the Academy I was evidently not enchanted with the -position of my picture. "It is in what is called 'the Black Hole'--the -only dark room, the light of which looks quite blue by contrast with the -golden sun-glow in the others. However, the artists seemed to think it a -most enviable position. The big picture is conspicuous, forming the -centre of the line on that wall. One academician told me that on account -of the rush there would be to see it they felt they must put it there. -This 'Lecture Room' I don't think was originally meant for pictures and -acts on the principle of a lobster pot. You may go round and round the -galleries and never find your way into it! I had the gratification of -being told by R.A. after R.A. that my picture was in some respects an -advance on last year's, and I was much congratulated on having done what -was generally believed more than doubtful--that is, sending any -important picture this year with the load and responsibility of my -'almost overwhelming success,' as they called it, of last year on my -mind. And that I should send such a difficult one, with so much more in -it than the other, they all consider 'very plucky.' I was not very happy -myself, although I know 'Quatre Bras' to be to 'The Roll Call' as a -mountain to a hill. However, it was all very gratifying, and I stayed -there to the end. My picture was crowded, and I could see how it was -being pulled to pieces and unmercifully criticised. I returned to the -studio, where I found a champagne lunch spread and a family gathering -awaiting me, all anxiety as to the position of my _magnum opus_. After -that hilarious meal I sped back to the fascination of Burlington House. -I don't think, though, that Mamma will ever forgive the R.A.'s for the -'Black Hole.' - -"_April 30th._--The private view, to which Papa and I went. It is very -seldom that an 'outsider' gets invited, but they make a pet of me at the -Academy. Again this day contrasted very soberly with the dazzling P.V. -of '74. There were fewer great guns, and I was not torn to pieces to be -introduced here, there, and everywhere, most of the people being the -same as last year, and knowing me already. The same _furore_ cannot be -repeated; the first time, as I said, can never be a second. Papa and I -and lots of others lunched over the way at the Penders' in Arlington -Street, our hosts of last night, and it was all very friendly and nice, -and we returned in a body to the R.A. afterwards. I was surprised, at -the big 'At Home' last night, to find myself a centre again, and people -all so anxious to hear my answers to their questions. Last year I felt -all this more keenly, as it had all the fascination of novelty. This -year just the faintest atom of zest is gone. - -"_May 3rd._--To the Academy on this, the opening day. A dense, surging -multitude before my picture. The whole place was crowded so that before -'Quatre Bras' the jammed people numbered in dozens and the picture was -most completely and satisfactorily rendered invisible. It was chaos, for -there was no policeman, as last year, to make people move one way. They -clashed in front of that canvas and, in struggling to wriggle out, -lunged right against it. Dear little Mamma, who was there nearly all the -time of our visit, told me this, for I could not stay there as, to my -regret, I find I get recognised (I suppose from my latest photos, which -are more like me than the first horror) and the report soon spreads that -I am present. So I wander about in other rooms. I don't know why I feel -so irritated at starers. One can have a little too much popularity. Not -one single thing in this world is without its drawbacks. I see I am in -for minute and severe criticism in the papers, which actually give me -their first notices of the R.A. The _Telegraph_ gives me its entire -article. _The Times_ leads off with me because it says 'Quatre Bras' -will be the picture the public will want to hear about most. It seems to -be discussed from every point of view in a way not usual with battle -pieces. But that is as it should be, for I hope my military pictures -will have moral and artistic qualities not generally thought necessary -to military _genre_. - -"_May 4th._--All of us and friends to the Academy, where we had a -lively lunch, Mamma nearly all the time in 'my crowd,' half delighted -with the success and half terrified at the danger the picture was in -from the eagerness of the curious multitude. I just furtively glanced -between the people, and could only see a head of a soldier at a time. A -nice notion the public must have of the _tout ensemble_ of my -production!" - -I was afloat on the London season again, sometimes with my father, or -with Dr. Pollard. My dear mother did not now go out in the evenings, -being too fatigued from her most regrettable sleeplessness. There was a -dinner or At Home nearly every day, and occasionally a dance or a ball. -At one of the latter my partner informed me that Miss Thompson was to be -there that evening. All this was fun for the time. At a crowded -afternoon At Home at the Campanas', where all the singers from the opera -were herded, and nearly cracked the too-narrow walls of those tiny rooms -by the concussion of the sound issuing from their wonderful throats, I -met Salvini. "Having his 'Otello,' which we saw the other night, fresh -in my mind, I tried to _enthuse_ about it to him, but became so -tongue-tied with nervousness that I could only feebly say _'Quasi, quasi -piangevo!' 'O! non bisogna piangere,'_ poor Salvini kindly answered. To -tell him I nearly cried! To tell the truth, I was much too painfully -impressed by the terrific realism of the murder of Desdemona and of -Othello's suicide to _cry_. I have been told that, when Othello is -chasing Desdemona round the room and finally catches her for the murder, -women in the audience have been known to cry out 'Don't!' And I told him -I _nearly_ cried! Ugh!" - -After this I went to Great Marlow for fresh air with my mother, and -worked up an oil picture of a scout of the 3rd Dragoon Guards whom I saw -at Aldershot, getting the landscape at Marlow. It has since been -engraved. - -By the middle of June I was at work in the studio once more. The -evenings brought their diversions. Under Mrs. Owen Lewis's chaperonage I -went to Lady Petre's At Home one evening, where 600 guests were -assembled "to meet H.E. the Cardinal."[5] I record that "I enjoyed it -very much, though people did nothing but talk at the top of their voices -as they wriggled about in the dense crowd which they helped to swell. -They say it is a characteristic of these Catholic parties that the talk -is so loud, as everybody knows everybody intimately! I met many people I -knew, and my dear chaperon introduced lots of people to me. I had a -longish talk with H.E., who scolded me, half seriously, for not having -come to see him. I was aware of an extra interest in me in those -orthodox rooms, and was much amused at an enthusiastic woman asking, -repeatedly, whether I was there. These fleeting experiences instruct one -as they fly. Now I know what it feels like to be 'the fashion.'" Other -festivities have their record: "I went to a very nice garden party at -the house of the great engineer, Mr. Fowler, where the usual sort of -thing concerning me went on--introductions of 'grateful' people in large -numbers who, most of them, poured out their heartfelt(!) feelings about -me and my work. I can stand a surprising amount of this, and am by no -means _blasee_ yet. Mr. Fowler has a very choice collection of modern -pictures, which I much enjoyed." Again: "The dinner at the Millais' was -nice, but its great attraction was Heilbuth's being there, one of my -greatest admirations as regards his particular line--characteristic -scenes of Roman ecclesiastical life such as I so much enjoyed in Rome. I -told Millais I had had Heilbuth's photograph in my album for years. 'Do -you hear that, Heilbuth?' he shouted. To my disgust he was portioned off -to some one else to go in to dinner, but I had de Nittis, a very clever -Neapolitan artist, and, what with him and Heilbuth and Halle and Tissot, -we talked more French and Italian than English that evening. Millais was -so genial and cordial, and in seeing me into the carriage he hinted very -broadly that I was soon to have what I 'most _t_'oroughly -deserved'--that is, my election as A.R.A. He pronounced the '_th_' like -that, and with great emphasis. Was that the Jersey touch?" - -In July I saw de Neuville's remarkable "Street Combat," which made a -deep impression on me. I went also to see the field day at Aldershot, a -great success, with splendid weather. After the "battle," Captain Cardew -took us over several camps, and showed us the stables and many things -which interested me greatly and gave me many ideas. The entry for July -17th says: - -"Arranging the composition for my 'Balaclava' in the morning, and at -1.30 came my dear hussar,[6] who has sat on his fiery chestnut for me -already, on a fine bay, for my left-hand horse in the new picture. I -have been leading such a life amongst the jarring accounts of the -Crimean men I have had in my studio to consult. Some contradict each -other flatly. When Col. C. saw my rough charcoal sketch on the wall, he -said _no_ dress caps were worn in that charge, and coolly rubbed them -off, and with a piece of charcoal put mean little forage caps on all the -heads (on the wrong side, too!), and contentedly marched out of the -door. In comes an old 17th Lancer sergeant, and I tell him what has been -done to my cartoon. 'Well, miss,' says he, 'all I can tell you is that -my dress cap went into the charge and my dress cap came out of it!' On -went the dress caps again and up went my spirits, so dashed by Col. C. -To my delight this lancer veteran has kept his very uniform--somewhat -moth-eaten, but the real original, and he will lend it to me. I can get -the splendid headdress of the 17th, the 'Death or Glory Boys,' of that -period at a military tailor's." - -The Lord Mayor's splendid banquet to the Royal Academicians and -distinguished "outsiders" was in many respects a repetition of the last -but with the difference that the assembly was almost entirely composed -of artists. "I went with Papa, and I must say, as my name was shouted -out and we passed through the lane of people to where the Lord Mayor and -Lady Mayoress were standing to receive their guests, I felt a momentary -stroke of nervousness, for people were standing there to see who was -arriving, and every eye was upon me. I was mentioned in three or four -speeches. The Lord Mayor, looking at me, said that he was honoured to -have amongst his guests Miss Thompson (cheers), and Major Knollys -brought in 'The Roll Call' and 'Quatre Bras' amidst clamour, while Sir -Henry Cole's allusion to my possible election as an A.R.A. was equally -well received. I felt very glad as I sat there and heard my present -work cheered; for in that hall, last year, I had still the great ordeal -to go through of painting, and painting successfully, my next picture, -and that was now a _fait accompli_." - -A rainy July sadly hindered me from seeing as much as I had hoped to see -of the Aldershot manoeuvres. On one lovely day, however, Papa and I -went down in the special train with the Prince of Wales, the Duke of -Cambridge, and all the "cocked hats." In our compartment was Lord -Dufferin, who, on hearing my name, asked to be introduced and proved a -most charming companion, and what he said about "Quatre Bras" was nice. -He was only in England on a short furlough from Canada, and did not see -my "Roll Call." - -"At the station at Farnborough the picturesqueness began with the gay -groups of the escort, and other soldiers and general officers, all in -war trim, moving about in the sunshine, while in the background slowly -passed, heavily laden, the Army on the march to the scene of action. -Papa and I and Major Bethune took a carriage and slowly followed the -march, I standing up to see all I could. - -"We were soon overtaken by the brilliant staff, and saluted as it -flashed past by many of its gallant members, including the dashing Baron -de Grancey in his sky blue _Chasseurs d'Afrique_ uniform. Poor Lord -Dufferin in civilian dress--frock coat and tall hat--had to ride a -rough-trotting troop horse, as his own horse never turned up at the -station. A trooper was ordered to dismount, and the elegant Lord -Dufferin took his place in the black sheepskin saddle. He did all with -perfect grace, and I see him now, as he passed our carriage, lift his -hat with a smiling bow, as though he was riding the smoothest of Arabs. -The country was lovely. All the heather out and the fir woods aromatic. -In one village regiments were standing in the streets, others defiling -into woods and all sorts of artillery, ambulance, and engineer waggons -lumbering along with a dull roll very suggestive of real war. At this -village the two Army Corps separated to become enemies, the one -distinguished from the other by the men of one side wearing broad white -bands round their headdresses. This gave the wearers a rather savage -look which I much enjoyed. It made their already brown faces look still -grimmer. Of course, our driver took the wrong road and we saw nothing of -the actual battle, but distant puffs of smoke. However, I saw all the -march back to Aldershot, and really, what with the full ambulances, the -men lying exhausted (_sic_) by the roadside, or limping along, and the -cheers and songs of the dirty, begrimed troops, it was not so unlike -war. At the North Camp Sir Henry de Bathe was introduced, and Papa and I -stood by him as the troops came in." A day or two later I was in the -Long Valley where the most splendid military spectacle was given us, -some 22,000 being paraded in the glorious sunshine and effective cloud -shadows in one of the most striking landscapes I have seen in England. -"It was very instructive to me," I write, "to see the difference in the -appearance of the men to-day from that which they presented on Thursday. -Their very faces seemed different; clean, open and good-looking, whereas -on Thursday I wondered that British soldiers could look as they did. The -infantry in particular, on that day, seemed changed; they looked almost -savage, so distorted were their faces with powder and dirt and deep -lines caused by the glare of the sun. I was well within the limits when -I painted my 28th in square. I suppose it would not have done to be -realistic to the fullest extent. The lunch at the Welsh Fusiliers' mess -in a tent I thought very nice. Papa came down for the day. It is very -good of him. I don't think he approves of my being so much on my own -hook. But things can't help being rather abnormal." - -Here follows another fresh air holiday at my grandparents' at Worthing -(where I rode with my grandfather), finishing up with a visit which I -shall always remember with pleasure--I ought to say gratitude--not only -for its own sake, but for all the enjoyment it obtained for me in Italy. -That August I was a guest of the Higford-Burrs at Aldermaston Court, an -Elizabethan house standing in a big Berkshire park. "I arrived just as -the company were finishing dinner. I was welcomed with open arms. Mrs. -Higford-Burr embraced me, although I have only seen her twice before, -and I was made to sit down at table in my travelling dress, positively -declining to recall dishes, hating a fuss as I do. The dessert was -pleasant because every one made me feel at home, especially Mrs. Janet -Ross, daughter of the Lady Duff Gordon whose writings had made me long -to see the Nile in my childhood. There are five lakes in the Park, and -one part is a heather-covered Common, of which I have made eight oil -sketches on my little panels, so that I have had the pleasure of working -hard and enjoying the society of most delightful people. There were -always other guests at dinner besides the house party, and the average -number who sat down was eighteen. Besides Mrs. Ross were Mr. and Mrs. -Layard, he the Nineveh explorer, and now Ambassador at Madrid, the -Poynters, R.A., the Misses Duff Gordon, and others, in the house. Mrs. -Burr with her great tact allowed me to absent myself between breakfast -and tea, taking my sandwiches and paints with me to the moor." - -Days at Worthing followed, where my mother and I painted all day on the -Downs, I with my "Balaclava" in view, which required a valley and low -hills. My mother's help was of great value, as I had not had much time -to practise landscape up to then. Then came my visit, with Alice, to -Newcastle, where "Quatre Bras" was being exhibited, to be followed by -our visit at Mrs. Ross's Villa near Florence, whither she had invited us -when at Aldermaston, to see the _fetes_ in honour of Michael Angelo. - -"We left for Newcastle by the 'Flying Scotchman' from King's Cross at 10 -a.m., and had a flying shot at Peterborough and York Cathedrals, and a -fine flying view of Durham. Newcastle impressed us very much as we -thundered over the iron bridge across the Tyne and looked down on the -smoke-shrouded, red-roofed city belching forth black and brown smoke and -jets of white steam in all directions. It rises in fine masses up from -the turbid flood of the dark river, and has a lurid grandeur quite novel -to us. I could not help admiring it, though, as it were, under protest, -for it seems to me something like a sin to obscure the light of Heaven -when it is not necessary. The laws for consuming factory smoke are quite -disregarded here. Mrs. Mawson, representing the firm at whose gallery -'Quatre Bras' is being exhibited, was awaiting our arrival, and was to -be our hostess. We were honoured and feted in the way of the -warm-hearted North. Nothing could have been more successful than our -visit in its way. These Northerners are most hospitable, and we are -delighted with them. They have quite a _cachet_ of their own, so -cultured and well read on the top of their intense commercialism--far -more responsive in conversation than many society people I know 'down -South.' We had a day at Durham under Mrs. Mawson's wing, visiting that -finest of all English Cathedrals (to my mind), and the Bishop's palace, -etc. We rested at the Dean's, where, of course, I was asked for my -autograph. I already find how interested the people are about here, more -even than in other parts where I have been. Durham is a place I loved -before I saw it. The way that grand mass of Norman architecture rises -abruptly from the woods that slope sheer down to the calm river is a -unique thing. Of course, the smoky atmosphere makes architectural -ornament look shallow by dimming the deep shadows of carvings, etc.--a -great pity. On our return we took another lion _en passant_--my picture -at Newcastle, and most delighted I was to find it so well lighted. I may -say I have never seen it properly before, because it never looked so -well in my studio, and as to the Black Hole----! What people they are up -here for shaking hands! When some one is brought up to me the introducer -puts it in this way: 'Mr. So-and-So wishes very much to have the honour -of shaking hands with you, Miss Thompson.' There is a straight-forward -ring in their speech which I like." - -We were up one morning at 4.30 to be off to Scotland for the day. At -Berwick the rainy weather lifted and we were delighted by the look of -the old Border town on its promontory by the broad and shining Tweed. -Passing over the long bridge, which has such a fine effect spanning the -river, we were pleased to find ourselves in a country new to us. -Edinburgh struck us very much, for we had never quite believed in it, -and thought it was "all the brag of the Scotch," but we were converted. -It is so like a fine old Continental city--nothing reminds one of -England, and yet there is a _Scotchiness_ about it which gives it a -sentiment of its own. Our towns are, as a rule, so poorly situated, but -Edinburgh has the advantage of being built on steep hills and of being -back-grounded by great crags which give it a most majestic look. The -grey colour of the city is fine, and the houses, nearly all gabled and -very tall, are exceedingly picturesque, and none have those vile, black, -wriggling chimney pots which disfigure what sky lines our towns may -have. I was delighted to see so many women with white caps and tartan -shawls and the children barefoot; picturesque horse harness; plenty of -kilted soldiers. - -We did all the lions, including the garrison fortress where the Cameron -Highlanders were, and where Colonel Miller, of Parkhurst memory, came -out, very pleased to speak to me and escort us about. He had the water -colour I gave him of his charger, done at Parkhurst in the old Ventnor -days. Our return to Newcastle was made in glorious sunshine, and we -greedily devoured the peculiarly sweet and remote-looking scenes we -passed through. I shall long remember Newcastle at sunset on that -evening, Then, I will say, the smoke looked grand. They asked me to look -at my picture by gas light. The sixpenny crowd was there, the men -touching their caps as I passed. In the street they formed a lane for me -to pass to the carriage. "What nice people!" I exclaim in the Diary. - -All the morning of our departure I was employed in sitting for my -photograph, looking at productions of local artists and calling on the -Bishop and the Protestant Vicar. One man had carved a chair which was to -be dedicated to me. I was quaintly enthroned on it. All this was done on -our way to the station, where we lunched under dozens of eyes, and on -the platform a crowd was assembled. I read: "Several local dignitaries -were introduced and 'shook hands,' as also the 'Gentlemen of the local -Press.' As I said a few words to each the crowd saw me over the -barriers, which made me get quite hot and I was rather glad when the -train drew up and we could get into our carriage. The farewell -handshakings at the door may be imagined. We left in a cloud of waving -handkerchiefs and hats. I don't know that I respond sufficiently to all -this. Frankly, my picture being made so much of pleases me most -satisfactorily, but the _personal_ part of the tribute makes me -curiously uncomfortable when coming in this way." - -Ruskin wrote a pamphlet on that year's Academy in which he told the -world that he had approached "Quatre Bras" with "iniquitous prejudice" -as being the work of a woman. He had always held that no woman could -paint, and he accounted for my work being what he found it as being that -of an Amazon. I was very pleased to see myself in the character of an -Amazon. - - - - -CHAPTER XI - -TO FLORENCE AND BACK - - -We started on our most delightful journey to Florence early in September -of that year to assist at the Michael Angelo fetes as the guests of dear -Mrs. Janet Ross and the Marchese della Stufa, who, with Mr. Ross, -inhabited in the summer the delicious old villa of Castagnolo, at Lastra -a Signa, six miles on the Pisan side of my beloved Florence. Of course, -I give page after page in the Diary to our journey across Italy under -the Alps and the Apennines. To the modern motorist it must all sound -slow, though we did travel by rail! Above all the lovely things we saw -on our way by the Turin-Bologna line, I think Parma, rising from the -banks of a shallow river, glowing in sunshine and palpitating jewel-like -shade, holds pride of place for noontide beauty. After Modena came the -deeper loveliness of the afternoon, and then Bologna, mellowed by the -rosy tints of early evening. Then the sunset and then the tender moon. - -By moonlight we crossed the Apennines, and to the sound of the droning -summer beetle--an extraordinarily penetrating sound, which I declared -makes itself heard above the railway noises, we descended into the -Garden of Italy, slowly, under powerful brakes. At ten we reached -Florence, and in the crowd on the platform a tall, distinguished-looking -man bowed to me. "Miss Thompson?" "Yes." It was the Marchese, and lo! -behind him, who should there be but my old master, Bellucci. What a -warm welcome they gave us. Of course, our luggage had stuck at the -_douane_ at Modane, and was telegraphed for. No help for it; we must do -without it for a day or two. We got into the carriage which was awaiting -us, and the Marchese into his little pony trap, and off we went flying -for a mysterious, dream-like drive in misty moonlight, we in front and -our host behind, jingle-jingling merrily with the pleasant monotony of -his lion-maned little pony's canter. We could not believe the drive was -a real one. It was too much joy to be at Florence--too good to be true. -But how tired we were! - -At last we drove up to the great towered villa, an old-fashioned -Florentine ancestral place, which has been the home of the Della Stufas -for generations, and there, in the great doorway, stood Mrs. Ross, -welcoming us most cordially to "Castagnolo." We passed through frescoed -rooms and passages, dimly lighted with oil lamps of genuine old Tuscan -patterns, and were delighted with our bedrooms--enormous, brick-paved -and airy. There we made a show of tidying ourselves, and went down to a -fruit-decked supper, though hardly able to sit up for sleep. How kind -they were to us! We felt quite at home at once. - -"_September 12th._--After Mass at the picturesque little chapel which, -with the _vicario's_ dwelling, abuts on the _fattoria_ wing of the -villa, we drove into Florence with Mrs. Ross and the Marchese, whom we -find the typical Italian patrician of the high school. We were rigged -out in Mrs. Ross's frocks, which didn't fit us at all. But what was to -be done? Provoking girls! It was a dear, hot, dusty, dazzling old -Florentine drive, bless it! and we were very pleased. Florence was _en -fete_ and all _imbandierata_ and hung with the usual coloured draperies, -and all joyous with church bells and military bands. The concert in -honour of Michael Angelo (the fetes began to-day) was held in the -Palazzo Vecchio, and very excellent music they gave us, the audience -bursting out in applause before some of the best pieces were quite -finished in that refreshingly spontaneous way Italians have. After the -concert we loitered about the piazza looking at the ever-moving and -chattering crowd in the deep, transparent shade and dazzling sunshine. -It was a glorious sight, with the white statues of the fountain rising -into the sunlight against houses hung mostly with very beautiful yellow -draperies. I stood at the top of the steps of the Loggia de' Lanzi, and, -resting my book on the pedestal of one of the lions, I made a rough -sketch of the scene, keeping the _Graphic_ engagement in view. I -subsequently took another of the Michael Angelo procession passing the -Ponte alle Grazie on its way from Santa Croce to the new 'Piazzale -Michel Angelo,' which they have made since we were here before, on the -height of San Miniato. It was a pretty procession on account of the rich -banners. A day full of charming sights and melodious sounds." - -The great doings of the last day of the fetes were the illuminations in -the moonlit evening. They were artistically done, and we had a feast of -them, taking a long, slow drive to the piazzale by the new zigzag. -Michael Angelo was remembered at every turn, and the places he fortified -were especially marked out by lovely lights, all more or less soft and -glowing. Not a vile gas jet to be seen anywhere. The city was not -illuminated, nor was anything, with few exceptions, save the lines of -the great man's fortifications. The old white banner of Florence, with -the _Giglio_, floated above the tricolour on the heights which Michael -Angelo defended in person. The effect, especially on the church of San -Miniato, of golden lamps making all the surfaces aglow, as if the walls -were transparent, and of the green-blue moonlight above, was a thing as -lovely as can be seen on this earth. It was a thoroughly Italian -festival. We were charmed with the people; no pushing in the crowds, -which enjoyed themselves very much. They made way for us when they saw -we were foreigners. - -We stayed at Castagnolo nearly all through the vintage, pressed from one -week to another to linger, though I made many attempts to go on account -of beginning my "Balaclava." The fascination of Castagnolo was intense, -and we had certainly a happy experience. I sketched hard every day in -the garden, the vineyards, and the old courtyard where the most -picturesque vintage incidents occurred, with the white oxen, the wine -pressing, and the bare-legged, merry _contadini_, all in an atmosphere -scented with the fermenting grapes. Everything in the _Cortile_ was dyed -with the wine in the making. I loved to lean over the great vats and -inhale that wholesome effluence, listening to the low sea-like murmur of -the fermentation. On the days when we helped to pick the grapes on the -hillside (and "helping ourselves" at the same time) we had _collazione_ -there, a little picnic, with the indispensable guitar and post-prandial -cigarette. Every one made the most of this blessed time, as such moments -should be made the most of when they are given us, I think. Young -Italians often dined at the villa, and the evenings were spent in -singing _stornelli_ and _rispetti_ until midnight to the guitar, -every one of these young fellows having a nice voice. They were merry, -pleasant creatures. - -[Illustration: ONE OF THE BALAKLAVA SIX-HUNDRED.] - -Nothing but the stern necessity of returning to work could have kept me -from seeing the vintage out. We left most regretfully on October 4th, -taking Genoa and our dear step-sister on the way. Even as it was our -lingering in Italy made me too late, as things turned out, for the -Academy! - -October 19th has this entry: "Began my 'Balaclava' cartoon to-day. -Marked all the positions of the men and horses. My trip to Italy and the -glorious and happy and healthy life I have led there, and the utter -change of scene and occupation, have done me priceless good, and at last -I feel like going at this picture _con amore_. I was in hopes this happy -result would be obtained." "Balaclava" was painted for Mr. Whitehead, of -Manchester. I had owed him a picture from the time I exhibited -"Missing." It was to be the same size, and for the same price as that -work, and I was in honour bound to fulfil my contract! So I again -brought forward the "Dawn of Sedan," although my prices were now so -enlarged that L80 had become quite out of proportion, even for a simple -subject like that. However, after long parleys, and on account of Mr. -Whitehead's repudiation of the Sedan subject, it was agreed that -"Balaclava" should be his, at the new scale altogether. The Fine Art -Society (late Dickenson & Co.) gave Mr. Whitehead L3,000 for the -copyright, and engaged the great Stacpoole, as before, to execute the -engraving. - -I was very sorry that the picture was not ready for Sending-in Day at -the Academy. No doubt the fuss that was made about it, and my having -begun a month too late, put me off; but, be that as it may, I was a -good deal disturbed towards the end, and had to exhibit "Balaclava" at -the private gallery of the purchasers of the copyright in Bond Street. -This gave me more time to finish. I had my own Private View on April -20th, 1876: "The picture is disappointing to me. In vain I call to mind -all the things that judges of art have said about this being the best -thing I have yet painted. Can one _never_ be happy when the work is -done? This day was only for our friends and was no test. Still, there -was what may be called a sensation. Virginia Gabriel, the composer, was -led out of the room by her husband in tears! One officer who had been -through the charge told a friend he would never have come if he had -known how like the real thing it was. Curiously enough, another said -that after the stress of Inkermann a soldier had come up to his horse -and leant his face against it exactly as I have the man doing to the -left of my picture. - -"_April 22nd._--An enormous number of people at the Society's Private -View and some of the morning papers blossoming out in the most beautiful -notices, ever so long, and I getting a little reassured." A day later: -"Went to lunch at Mrs. Mitchell's, who invited me at the Private View, -next door to Lady Raglan's, her great friend. Two distinguished officers -were there to meet me, and we had a pleasant chat." And this is all I -say! One of the two was Major W. F. Butler, author of "The Great Lone -Land." - -The London season went by full of society doings. Our mother had long -been "At Home" on Wednesdays, and much good music was heard at "The -Boltons," South Kensington. Ruskin came to see us there. He and our -mother were often of the same way of thinking on many subjects, and I -remember seeing him gently clapping his hands at many points she made. -He was displeased with me on one occasion when, on his asking me which -of the Italian masters I had especially studied, I named Andrea del -Sarto. "Come into the corner and let me scold you," were his -disconcerting words. Why? Of course, I was crestfallen, but, all the -same, I wondered what could be the matter with Andrea's "Cenacolo" at -San Salvi, or his frescoes at the SS. Annunziata, or his "Madonna with -St. Francis and St. John," in the Tribune of the Uffizi. The figure of -the St. John is, to me, one of the most adorable things in art. That -gentle, manly face; that dignified pose; the exquisite modelling of the -hand, and the harmonious colours of the drapery--what _could_ be the -matter with such work? I remember, at one of the artistic London "At -Homes," Frith, R.A., coming up to me with a long face to say, if I did -not send to the Academy, I should lose my chance of election. But I -think the difficulties of electing a woman were great, and much -discussion must have been the consequence amongst the R.A.'s. However, -as it turned out, in 1879 I lost my election by _two_ votes only! Since -then I think the door has been closed, and wisely. I returned to the -studio on May 18th, for I could not lay down the brush for any amount of -society doings. Besides, I soon had to make preparations for -"Inkermann." - -"_Saturday, June 10th._--Saw Genl. Darby-Griffith, to get information -about Inkermann. I returned just in time to dress for the delightful -Lord Mayor's Banquet to the Representatives of Art at the Mansion -House, a place of delightful recollections for me. Neither this year's -nor last year's banquet quite came up to the one of 'The Roll Call' year -in point of numbers and excitement, but it was most delightful and -interesting to be in that great gathering of artists and hear oneself -gracefully alluded to in The Lord Mayor's speech and others. Marcus -Stone sat on my left, and we had really a thoroughly good conversation -all through dinner such as I have seldom embarked on, and I found, when -I tried it, that I could talk pretty well. He is a fine fellow, and -simple-minded and genuine. My _vis-a-vis_ was Alma Tadema, with his -remarkable-looking wife, like a lady out of one of his own pictures; and -many well-known heads wagged all around me. After dinner and the -speeches, Du Maurier, of _Punch_, suggested to the Lord Mayor that we -should get up a quadrille, which was instantly done, and the friskier -spirits amongst us had a nice dance. Du Maurier was my partner; and on -my left I had John Tenniel, so that I may be said to have been supported -by Punch both at the beginning and end of dinner, this being Du -Maurier's simple and obvious joke, _vide_ the post-turtle indulgence -peculiar to civic banquets. After a waltz we laggards at last took our -departure in the best spirits." - -I remember that in June we went to a most memorable High Mass, to wit, -the first to be celebrated in the Old Saxon Church of St. Etheldreda -since the days of the Reformation. This church was the second place of -Christian worship erected in London, if not in England, in the old Saxon -times. We were much impressed as the Gregorian Mass sounded once more in -the grey-stoned crypt. The upper church was not to be ready for years. -Those old grey stones woke up that morning which had so long been -smothered in the London clay. - -Here follow too many descriptions in the Diary of dances, dinners and -other functions. They are superfluous. There were, however, some -_Tableaux Vivants_ at an interesting house--Mrs. Bishop's, a very -intellectual woman, much appreciated in society in general, and Catholic -society in particular--which may be recorded in this very personal -narrative, for I had a funny hand in a single-figure tableau which -showed the dazed 11th Hussar who figures in the foreground of my -"Balaclava." The man who stood for him in the tableau had been my model -for the picture, but to this day I feel the irritation caused me by that -man. In the picture I have him with his busby pushed back, as it -certainly would and should have been, off his heated brow. But, while I -was posing him for the tableau, every time I looked away he rammed it -down at the becoming "smart" angle. I got quite cross, and insisted on -the necessary push back. The wretch pretended to obey, but, just before -the curtain rose, rammed the busby down again, and utterly destroyed the -meaning of that figure! We didn't want a representation of Mr. So-and-so -in the becoming uniform of a hussar, but my battered trooper. The thing -fell very flat. But tableaux, to my mind, are a mistake, in many ways. - -I often mention my pleasure in meeting Lord and Lady Denbigh, for they -were people after my own heart. Lady Denbigh was one of those women one -always looks at with a smile; she was so _simpatica_ and true and -unworldly. - -July 18th is noted as "a memorable day for Alice, for she and I spent -the afternoon at _Tennyson's_! I say 'for Alice' because, as regards -myself, the event was not so delightful as a day at Aldershot. Tennyson -has indeed managed to shut himself off from the haunts of men, for, -arrived at Haslemere, a primitive little village, we had a six-mile -drive up, up, over a wild moor and through three gates leading to -narrow, rutty lanes before we dipped down to the big Gothic, lonely -house overlooking a vast plain, with Leith Hill in the distance. -Tennyson had invited us through Aubrey de Vere, the poet, and very -apprehensive we were, and nervous, as we neared the abode of a man -reported to be such a bear to strangers. We first saw Mrs. Tennyson, a -gentle, invalid lady lying on her back on a sofa. After some time the -poet sent down word to ask us to come up to his sanctum, where he -received us with a rather hard stare, his clay pipe and long, black, -straggling hair being quite what I expected. He got up with a little -difficulty, and when we had sat down--he, we two and his most -deferential son--he asked which was the painter and which was the poet. -After our answer, which struck me as funny, as though we ought to have -said, with a bob, 'Please, sir, I'm the painter,' and 'Please, sir, I'm -the poet,' he made a few commonplace remarks about my pictures in a most -sepulchral bass voice. But he and Alice, in whom he was more interested, -naturally, did most of the talking; there was not much of that, though, -for he evidently prefers to answer a remark by a long look, and perhaps -a slightly sneering smile, and then an averted head. All this is not -awe-inspiring, and looks rather put on. We ceased to be frightened. - -"There is no grandeur about Tennyson, no melancholy abstraction; and, if -I had made a demi-god of him, his personality would have much -disappointed me. Some of his poetry is so truly great that his manner -seems below it. The pauses in the conversation were long and frequent, -and he did not always seem to take in the meaning of a remark, so that I -was relieved when, after a good deal of staring and smiling at Alice in -a way rather trying to the patience, he acceded to her request and read -us 'The Passing of Arthur.' He was so long in finding the place, when -his son at last found him a copy of the book which suited him, and the -tone he read in so deep and monotonous, that I was much bored and longed -for the hour of our departure. He was vexed with Alice for choosing that -poem, which he seemed to think less of than of his later works, and he -took the poor child to task in a few words meant to be caustic, though -they made us smile. But the ice was melting. He seemed amused at us and -we gratefully began to laugh at some quaint phrases he levelled at us. -Then he dropped the awe-inspiring tone, and took us all over the grounds -and gave us each a rose. He pitched into us for our dresses which were -too fashionable and tight to please him. He pinned Alice against a -pillar of the entrance to the house on our re-entry from the garden to -watch my back as I walked on with his son, pointing the _walking-stick_ -of scorn at my skirt, the trimming of which particularly roused his ire. -Altogether I felt a great relief when we said goodbye to our curious -host with whom it was so difficult to carry on conversation, and to know -whether he liked us or not. Away, over the windy, twilight heath behind -the little ponies--away, away!" - -At the beginning of August I began my studies for "The Return from -Inkermann." The foreground I got at Worthing; and I had another visit -to Aldershot and many further conversations with Inkermann -survivors--officers of distinction. I am bound to say that these often -contradicted each other, and the rough sketches I made after each -interview had to be re-arranged over and over again. I read Dr. -Russell's account (_The Times_ correspondent) and sometimes I returned -to my own conception, finding it on the whole the most likely to be -true. - -I laugh even now at the recollection of two elderly _sabreurs_, one of -them a General in the Indian Army, who had a hot discussion in my -studio, _a propos_ of my "Balaclava," about the best use of the sabre. -The Indian, who was for slashing, twirled his umbrella so briskly, to -illustrate his own theory, that I feared for the picture which stood -close by his sword arm. The opposition umbrella illustrated "the point" -theory. - -Having finally clearly fixed the whole composition of "Inkermann," in -sepia on tinted paper the size of the future picture I closed the studio -on August 25th and turned my face once more to Italy. - - - - -CHAPTER XII - -AGAIN IN ITALY - - -My sister and I tarried at Genoa on our way to Castagnolo where we were -to have again the joys of a Tuscan vintage. But between Genoa and -Florence lay our well-loved Porto Fino and, having an invitation from -our old friend Monty Brown, the English Consul and his young wife, to -stay at their castello there, we spent a week at that Eden. We were -alone for part of the time and thoroughly relished the situation, with -only old Caterina, the cook, and the dog, "Bismarck," as company. Two -Marianas in a moated grange, with a difference. "He" came not, and so -allowed us to clasp to our hearts our chief delights--the sky, the sea, -the olives and the joyous vines. In those early days many of the deep -windows had no glass, and one night, when a staggering Mediterranean -thunderstorm crashed down upon us, we really didn't like it and hid the -knives under the table at dinner. Caterina was saying her Rosary very -loud in the kitchen. As we went up the winding stairs to bed I carried -the lamp, and was full of talk, when a gust of wind blew the lamp out, -and Alice laughed at my complete silence, more eloquent than any words -of alarm. We had every evening to expel curious specimens of the lizard -tribe that had come in, and turn over our pillows, remembering the -habits of the scorpion. - -But that storm was the only one, and as to the sea, which three-parts -enveloped our little Promontory, its blue utterly baffled my poor -paints. But paint I did, on those little panels that we owe to Fortuny, -so nicely fitting into the box he invented. There was a little cape, -crowned with a shrine to Our Lady--"the Madonnetta" it was called--where -I used to go daily to inhale the ozone off the sea which thundered down -below amongst the brown "pudding-stone" rocks, at the base of a sheer -precipice. The "sounding deep." Oh, the freshness, the health, the joy -of that haunt of mine! Our walks were perilous sometimes, the paths -which almost overhung the deep foaming sea being slippery with the -sheddings of the pines. At the "nasty bits" we had to hold on by shrubs -and twigs, and haul ourselves along by these always aromatic supports. - -Admirable is the industry of the peasants all over Italy. Here on the -extreme point of Porto Fino wherever there was a tiny "pocket" of clay, -a cabbage or two or a vine with its black clusters of grapes toppling -over the abyss found foot-hold. We came one day upon a pretty girl on -the very verge of destruction, "holding on by her eyelids," gathering -figs with a hooked stick, a demure pussy keeping her company by dozing -calmly on a branch of the fig tree. The walls built to support these -handfuls of clay on the face of the rock are a puzzle to me. Where did -the men stand to build them? It makes me giddy to think of it. - -Paragi, the lovely rival of Monty's robber stronghold, belonged to his -brother, and a fairer thing I never saw than Fred's loggia with the -slender white marble columns, between which one saw the coast trending -away to La Spezzia. But "goodbye," Porto Fino! On our way to -Castagnolo, at lovely Lastre a Signa, we paused at Pisa for a night. - -"Pisa is a _bald Florence_, if I may say so; beautiful, but so empty and -lifeless. There are houses there quite peculiar, however, to Pisa, most -interesting for their local style. Very broad in effect are those flat -blank surfaces without mouldings. The frescoes on them, alas! are now -merely very beautiful blotches and stains of colour. We had ample time -for a good survey of the Duomo, Baptistery, Camposanto and Leaning -Tower, all vividly remembered from when I saw them as a little child. -But I get very tired by sight-seeing and don't enjoy it much. What I -like is to sit by the hour in a place, sketching or meditating. Besides, -I had been kept nearly all night awake at the Albergo Minerva by railway -whistles, ducks, parrots, cats, dogs, cocks and hens, so that I was only -at half power and I slept most of the way to Signa. - -"At the station a carriage fitted, for the heat, with cool-looking brown -holland curtains was awaiting us on the chance of our coming, and we -were soon greeted at dear Castagnolo by Mrs. Ross. Very good of her to -show so much happy welcome seeing we had been expected the evening -before, not to say for many days, and only our luggage had turned up! -The Marchese, who had to go into Florence this morning for the day, had -gone down to meet us last evening, and returned with the disconcerting -announcement that, whereas we had arrived last year without our luggage, -this year the luggage had arrived without us. '_I bauli sono giunti ma -le bambine--Che!_'" - -Here follows the record of the same delights as those of the year -before. We had been long expected, and Mrs. Ross told me that the -peaches had been kept back for us in a most tantalising way by the -_padrone_, and that everything was threatening over-ripeness by our -delay. The light-hearted life was in full force. There were great -numbers of doves and pigeons at Castagnolo which shared in the general -hilarity, swirling in the sunshine and swooping down on the grain -scattered for them with little cries of pleasure. I don't know whether I -should find a socialistic blight appearing here and there, if I returned -to those haunts of my youth, over that patriarchal life, but it seemed -to me that the relations between the _padrone_ and his splendid -_contadini_ showed how suitable the system obtaining in Tuscany was -then. The labourers were the _fanciulli_ (the children) of the master, -and without the least approach to servility these men stood up to him in -all the pride of their own station. But what deference they showed to -him! Always the uncovered head and the respectful and dignified attitude -when spoken to or speaking. I mustn't forget the frank smile and the -pleasant white teeth. It was a smiling life; every one caught the -smiling habit. Oh, that we could keep it up through a London winter! And -to a London winter we returned, for my friends in England were getting -fidgety about "Inkermann." One more extract, however, from the -Castagnolo Diary must find a place before the veil is drawn. The -Marchese took us to Siena for two days. - -"_September 29th._--We got up by candlelight at 5 a.m. and had a fresh -drive in the phaeton to the station, whence we took train to the -fascinating Etruscan city, whose very name is magic. The weather, as a -matter of course, was splendid, and Siena dwells in my mind all tender -brown-gold in a flood of sunshine. Small as the city is, and hard as we -worked for those two days, we could only see a portion of its treasures. -The result of my observation in the churches and picture galleries shows -me that the art there, as regards painting, is very inferior; and, -indeed, after Florence, with its most exquisite examples of painting and -drawing, these works of art are not taking. I suppose Florence has -spoilt me. Here and there one picks out a plum, such as the 'Svenimento -of St. Catherine' in San Domenico, by Sodoma, the only thing by him that -I could look at with pleasure; also, of course, the famous Perugino in -Sant' Agostino, which I beheld with delight, and a lovely gem of a Holy -Family by Palma Vecchio in the Academy--such a jewel of Venetian colour. - -"The frescoes, however, in the sacristy of the cathedral are things -apart, and such as I have never seen anywhere else, for the very dry air -of Siena has preserved them since Pinturicchio's time quite intact, and -there one sees, as one can see nowhere else, ancient frescoes as they -were when freshly painted. And very different they are from one's -notions of old frescoes; certainly not so pleasing if looked at as bits -of colour staining old walls in mellow broken tints, but intensely -interesting and beautiful as pictures. Here one sees what frescoes were -meant to be: deep in colour, exceedingly forcible, with positive -illusion in linear and aerial perspective, the latter being most -unexpected and surprising. One's usual notion of frescoes is that they -must be flat and airless, and modern artists who go in for fresco -decorative art paint accordingly, judging from the faded examples of -what were once evidently such as one sees here--forcible pictures. - -"Certainly these wall spaces, looking like apertures through which one -sees crowds of figures and gorgeous halls or airy landscapes, do not -please the eye when looking at the room _as_ a room. One would prefer to -feel the solidity of the walls; but taking each fresco and looking at it -for its own sake only, one feels the keenest pleasure. They are -magnificent pictures, full of individual character and realistic action, -unsurpassable by any modern. - -"I cannot attempt to put into words my impression of the cathedral -itself. Certainly, I never felt the beauty of a church more. It being -St. Michael's Day, we heard Mass in the midst of our wanderings, and we -were much struck by the devotion of the people, the men especially--very -unlike what we saw in Genoa. In the afternoon we had a glorious drive -through a perfect pre-Raphaelite landscape to Belcaro, a fortress-villa -about six miles outside Siena, every turn in the road giving us a new -aspect of the golden-brown city behind us on its steep hill. Perhaps the -most beautiful view of Siena is from near Belcaro, where you get the -dark pine trees in the immediate foreground. The owner of the villa took -us all over it, the Marchese gushing outrageously to him about the -beauties of the dreadful frescoes on walls and ceilings, painted by the -man himself. We had been warned, Alice and I, to express our admiration, -but I regret to say we had our hearts so scooped out of us on seeing -those things in the midst of such true loveliness that we couldn't say a -thing, but only murmured. So the poor Marchese had to do -triple-distilled gush to serve for three, and said everything was -'_portentoso_.' - -"In the evening we all three went out again and, in the bright -moonlight, strolled about the streets, the piazza, and round the -cathedral, which shone in the full light which fell upon it. The deep -sky was throbbing with stars, and all the essence of an Italian -September moonlight night was there. Oh, sweet, restful Siena dream! -Like a dream, and yet such a precious reality, to be gratefully kept in -memory to the end." - -Back at Castagnolo on October 1st. "Went for my _solita passeggiata_ up -to the hill of lavender and dwarf oak and other mountain shrubs, where I -made a study of an oak bush on the only wet day we have had, for my -'Inkermann' foreground. Mrs. Ross, a fearless rider, went on with the -breaking in of the Arab colt 'Pascia' to-day. Old Maso, one of the -_habitues_ of the villa, whooped and screamed every time the colt bucked -or reared, and he waddled away as fast as he could, groaning in terror, -only to creep back again to venture another look. And he had been an -officer in the army! I have secured some water-colour sketches of the -vintage for the 'Institute' and knocked off another panel or two, and -sketched Mrs. Ross in her Turkish dress, so I have not been idle." Janet -Ross seemed to have assimilated the sunshine of Egypt and Italy into her -buoyant nature, and to see the vigour with which she conducted the -vintage at Castagnolo acted as a tonic on us all; so did the deep -contralto voice and the guitar, and the racy talk. - -We left on October 14th, on a golden day, with the thermometer at 90 -degrees in the shade, to return to the icy smoke-twilight of London, -where we groped, as the Diary says, in sealskins and ulsters. Castagnolo -has our thanks. How could we have had the fulness of Italian delights -which our kind hosts afforded us in some pension or hotel in Florence? -And what hospitality theirs was! We tried to sing some of the -"_Stornelli_" in the hansom that took us home from Victoria Station. One -of our favourites, "_M'affaccio alla finestra e vedo Stelle_," had to be -modified, as we looked through the glass of the cab, into "_Ma non vedo -Stelle_," sung in the minor, for nothing but the murk of a foggy night -was there. What but the stern necessity of beginning "Inkermann" could -have brought me back? My dear sister cannot have rejoiced, and may have -wished to tarry, but when did she ever "put a spoke in my wheel"? - - - - -CHAPTER XIII - -A SOLDIER'S WIFE - - -Though the London winter was gloomy, on the whole, and I was handicapped -in the middle of my work by a cold which retarded the picture so much -that, to my deep disappointment, I had again to miss the Academy, the -brightest spring of my life followed, for on March 3rd I was engaged to -be married to the author of "The Great Lone Land." It may not be out of -place to give a little sketch of our rather romantic meeting. - -When the newly-promoted Major Butler was lying at Netley Hospital, just -beginning to recover from the Ashanti fever that had nearly killed him -at the close of that campaign, his sister Frances used to read to him -the papers, and they thus learnt together how, at the Royal Academy -banquet of that spring, the Prince of Wales and the Duke of Cambridge -had spoken as they did of Miss Elizabeth Thompson. As paper after paper -spoke of me and of my work, he said one day to his sister, in utter fun -under his slowly reviving spirits, "I wonder if Miss Thompson would -marry me?" Two years after that he met me for the first time, and yet -another year was to go by before the Fates said "Now!" - -When "Inkermann" was carted off to Bond Street on April 19th, what a -relief and delight it was to tell the model "Time is up." "Mamma and I -danced about the studio when the picture was gone, revelling in our -freedom to make as much dust as we liked, when hitherto one had had to -be so careful about dust." We always did this on such occasions. - -The Fine Art Society, at whose galleries in Bond Street the picture was -exhibited, bought it and the copyright together. No doubt for some the -subject of this work is too sad, but my dominant feeling in painting it -was that which Wellington gave expression to in those memorable words on -leaving the field of battle at Waterloo: "There is nothing sadder than a -victory, except a defeat." It shows the remnants of the Guards and the -20th Regiment and odds and ends of infantry returning in the grey of a -November evening from the "Soldiers' Battle," most of the men very -weary. The A.D.C. on horseback I painted from a fine young soldier, -Rupert Carrington, who kindly gave me a sitting. His mother, Lady -Carrington, sent me as a wedding present a medal taken from a dead -Russian on the field of Inkermann, set in a gold bracelet, which is one -of my treasures, her name and mine engraved on it. - -"_April 20th_.--The first Private View of 'Inkermann.' I was there a -short time, and was quite happy at the look of my picture. The other -three are in the same gallery, and very popular the whole exhibition -seems to be. They have even got my 1873 venture, 'Missing,' by itself -upstairs, and remarkably well it looks, too. The crowd was dense and I -left the good people wriggling in a cloud of dust." - -June 11th of that year, 1877, was my wedding day. Cardinal Manning -married us in the Church of the Servite Fathers; our guests were chiefly -that gallant group of soldiers who, with my husband, had won the Ashanti -War, Sir Garnet Wolseley, Redvers Buller and their comrades. My "Red -Cross" fellow students of old South Kensington days gave me the very -touching surprise of strewing our path down the church, as we came out, -with flowers. I had not known they were there. - -And now a new country opened out for my admiration and delight in days -so long before the dreadful cloud had fallen on it under which I am now -writing these Recollections--so long, so long before. It looks like -another world to me now. One might say I had had already a sufficiently -large share of the earth's beauties to enjoy, yet here opened out an -utterly new and unique experience--Ireland. Our wedding tour was chiefly -devoted to the Wild West, with a pause at Glencar, in Kerry. I have -tried in happier political times to convey to my readers in another -place[7] my impression of that Western country--its freshness, its wild -beauty, its entrancing poetry, and that sadness which, like the minor -key in music, is the most appealing quality in poetry. That note is -utterly absent from the poetry of Italy; there all is in the major, like -its national music, so that my mind received, with strange delight, a -new sensation, surprising, heart-stirring, appealing. My husband had -given me the choice of a _local_ for the wedding tour between Ireland -and the Crimea. How could I hesitate? - -My first married picture was the one I made studies for in -Glencar--"'Listed for the Connaught Rangers." I had splendid models for -the two Irish recruits who are being marched out of the glen by a -recruiting sergeant, followed by the "decoy" private and two drummer -boys of that regiment, the old 88th, with the yellow facings of that -time. The men were cousins, Foley by name, and wore their national -dress, the jacket with the long, white homespun sleeves and the -picturesque black hat which I fear is little worn now, and is largely -replaced by that quite cosmopolitan peaked cap I loathe. The deep -richness of those typical Irish days of cloud and sunshine had so -enchanted me that I was determined to try and represent the effect in -this picture, which was a departure from my former ones, the landscape -occupying an equal share with the figures, and the civilian peasant -dress forming the centre of interest. Its black, white and brown -colouring, the four red coats and the bright brass of the drum, gave me -an enjoyable combination with the blue and red-purple of the mountains -in the background, and the sunlight on the middle distance of the stony -Kerry bog-land. Here was that variety as to local colour denied me in -the other works. It was a joy to realise this subject. The picture was -for Mr. Whitehead, the owner of "Balaclava." - -The opening day of my introduction to the Wild West was on a Sunday in -that June: "From Limerick Junction to Glencar. I had my first experience -of an Irish Mass, and my impression is deepening every day that Ireland -is as much a foreign country to England as is France or Italy. The -congregation was all new to me. The peasant element had quite a _cachet_ -of its own, though in a way an exact equivalent to the Tuscan--the -rough-looking men in homespun coats in a crowd inside and outside of the -church, the women in national dress; the constabulary, equivalent to the -_gendarmes_, in full dress, mixing with the people and yet not of them. -This Limerick Junction was the nucleus of the Fenian nebula. In this -terrible Tipperary the stalwart constabulary, whom I greatly admire, -have a grave significance. I have never seen finer men than those, and -they are of a type new to me. How I enjoy new types, new countries, new -customs! The girls, looking so nice in their Bruges-like hoods, are very -fresh and comely. - -"We left at noon for the goal of our expedition, and I think I may say -that I never had a more memorable little journey. The distant mountains -I had looked at in the morning took clearer forms and colours by -degrees, and the charm of the Irish bogs with their rich black and -purple peat-earth, and bright, reedy grass, and teeming wild flowers, -developed themselves to my delighted eyes as the train whirled us -southwards. At Killarney we took a carriage and set off on my favourite -mode of travel, soon entering upon tracts of that wild nature I was most -anxious to experience. The evening was deepening, and in its solemn -tones I saw for the first time the Wild West Land, whose aspect -gradually grew wilder and more strange as we neared the mysterious -mountains that rose ahead of us. I was content. I was beginning to taste -the salt of the Wilds. What human habitations there are are so like the -stone heaps that lie over the face of the land that they are scarcely -distinguishable from them; but my 'contentment' was much dashed by the -sight of the dwellers in this poor land which yields them so little. -Very strange, wild figures came to the black doors to watch us pass, -with, in some cases, half-witted looks. - -"The mighty 'Carran Thual,' one of the mountain group which rises out of -Glencar and dominates the whole land of Kerry, was on fire with blazing -heather, its peaks sending up a glorious column of smoke which spread -out at the top for miles and miles, and changed its delicate smoke tints -every minute as the sun sank lower. As we reached the rocky pass that -took us by the remote Lough Acoose that sun had gone down behind an -opposite mountain, and the blazing heather glowed brighter as the -twilight deepened, and circles of fire played weirdly on the mountain -side. Our glen gave the 'Saxon bride' its grandest illumination on her -arrival. Wild, strange birds rose from the bracken as we passed, and -flew strongly away over lake and mountain torrent, and the little black -Kerry cattle all watched us go by with ears pricked and heads -inquiringly raised. The last stage of the journey had a brilliant -_finale_. A herd of young horses was in our way in the narrow road, and -the creatures careered before us, unable or too stupid to turn aside -into the ditches by the roadside to let us through. We could not head -them, and for fully a mile did those shaggy, wild things caper and jump -ahead, their manes flying out wildly, with the glow from the west -shining through them. Some imbecile cows soon joined them in the -stampede, for no imaginable reason, unless they enjoyed the fright of -being pursued, and the ungainly progress of those recruits was a sight -to behold--tails in the air and horns in the dust. With this escort we -entered Glencar." - -Nothing that I have seen in my travels since that golden time has in the -least dimmed my recollections of that Glencar existence; nor could -anything jar against a thing so unique. I have fully recorded in my -former book how we made different excursions, always on ponies, every -day, not returning till the evening. What impressed me most during these -rides was the depth and richness of the Irish landscape colouring. The -moisture of the ocean air brings out all its glossy depth. Even without -the help of actual sunshine, so essential to the landscape beauty of -Italy, the local colour is powerful. In describing to me the same deep -colouring in Scotland Millais used the simile of the wet pebble. Take a -grey, dry pebble on the seashore and dip it in the water. It will show -many lovely tints. Our inn was in the centre of the glen, delightfully -rough, and impregnated with that scent of turf smoke which has ever -since been to me the subtlest and most touching reminder of those days. -Yet with that roughness there was in the primitive little inn a very -pleasant provision of such sustenance as old campaigners and fishermen -know how to establish in the haunts they visit. - -The coast of Clare came next in our journey, where the Atlantic hurls -itself full tilt at the iron cliffs, and the west wind, which I learnt -to love, comes, without once touching land since it left the coast of -Labrador, to fill one with a sense of salt and freshness and health as -it rushes into one's lungs from off the foam. I was interested in making -comparisons between that sea and the other "sounding deep" that washes -the rocks of Porto Fino as I looked down on the thundering waves below -the cliffs of Moher. Here was the simplest and severest colouring--dark -green, almost amounting to black; light green, cold and pure; foam so -pure that its whiteness had over it a rosy tinge, merely by contrast -with the green of the waves, and that was all; whereas the sea around -Porto Fino baffles both painter and word-painter with its infinite -variety of blues, purples, and greens. These are contrasts that I -delight in. How the west wind rushed at us, full of spray! How the ocean -roared! It was a revel of wind where we stood at the very edge of those -sheer cliffs. Across their black faces sea birds incessantly circled and -wheeled, crying with a shrill clamour. That and the booming of the waves -many fathoms below, as they leap into the immense caverns, were the only -sounds that pierced the wind. The black rocks had ledges of greyer rock, -and along these ledges, tier above tier, sat myriads of white-headed -gulls, their white heads looking like illumination lamps on the faces of -titanic buildings. The Isles of Arran and the mountains of Connemara -spread out before us on the ocean, which sparkled in one place with the -gold beams of the faint, spray-shrouded sun. - -Then good-bye to Erin for the present on July 15th and the establishment -of ourselves in London till our return to the Land that held a magnet -for us on September 21st. There we paid a visit to the Knight of Kerry, -at Valentia Island. What a delightful home! The size of the fuchsia -trees told of the mild climate; the scenery was of the remotest and -freshest, most pleasing to the senses, and the ever-welcome scent of -turf smoke would not be denied in the big house where the sods glowed in -the great fireplaces. My surprise, when strolling on one of the innocent -little strands by the sea, was great at seeing the Atlantic cable -emerging, quite simply, from the water between the pebbles, as though it -was nothing in particular. Following it, we reached a very up-to-date -building, so out of keeping with the primitive scene, filled with busy -clerks transmitting goodness knows what cosmopolitan corruption from the -New World to the Old, and _vice versa_. - -[Illustration: In Western Ireland. - -A "Jarvey" and "Biddy."] - -I would not have missed the Valentia pig for anything. A taller, leaner, -gaunter specimen has not his match anywhere, not even in the little -black hog of Monte Cassino, whose salient hips are so unexpected. There -is something particularly arresting in a pig with visible hips.[8] All -the animals in the west seemed to me free-and-easy creatures that live -with the peasants as members of the family, having a much better time -than the humans. They frisk irresponsibly in and out of the cabins--no -"by your leave" or "with your leave"--and, altogether, enjoy life to the -top of their own highest level. The poorer the people, the greater -appears the contrast caused by this inverted state of things. - -The next time we left England was to go in the opposite direction--to -the Pyrenees. Rapid travel is fast levelling down the different -countries, and a carriage journey through the Pyrenean country is a -bygone pleasure. We have to go to Thibet or the Great Wall of China for -our trips if we want to write anything original about our travels. A -flight by air to the North Pole would, at first, prove very readable and -novel, if well described. This, however, does not take from the pleasure -of going over the inner circle in memory. In the year 1878 we could -still find much that was new and refreshing in a tour through the south -of France! Some friends of mine went up to Khartoum from Cairo not long -ago, with return tickets, by rail, and all they could say was that the -journey was so dusty that they had to draw the blinds of their -compartment and play bridge all the way. Poor dears, how arid! - -This little tour of ours was well advised. The loss of our firstborn, -Mary Patricia, brought our first sorrow with it, and we went to Lourdes -and made a wide _detour_ from there through the Pyrenees to Switzerland. -There is nothing like travel for restoring the aching mind to -usefulness. But, undoubtedly, the send-off from Lourdes gave me the -initial impetus towards recovery of which, though I say little, I am -very sensible. We drove to St. Sauveur after our visit to the Grotto -where such striking cures have happened, and each day brought more fully -back to me that zest for natural beauty which has been with me such an -invigorator. - -St. Sauveur was bracing and beautiful, but too full of invalids. It was -rather saddening to see them around the Hontalade Sulphur Springs. At -Lourdes they were clustering round the cascade that flows from the -Grotto where the statue of Our Lady stands, exactly reproducing the -figure as seen by the little Shepherdess. Poor humanity, reaching out -hopeful arms in its pain, here for physical help, there for spiritual. -The Gave rushes through both Lourdes and St. Sauveur, with a very sharp -noise in the rocky gorge of the latter, too harsh to be a soothing -sound. I looked forward to getting yet another experience of _vetturino_ -travel which I had never thought could be enjoyed again, and which -proved to be still possible. The journey was a success, and, besides the -beauty of that very majestic mountain scenery, the little incidents of -the road were picturesque. Our driver was proud to tell us he was known -as "_L'ancien chien des Pyrenees_," and a characteristic "old dog" he -was, one-eyed and weatherbeaten, wearing the national blue _beret_ and -very voluble in local _patois_. His horses' bells jingled in the old -familiar way of my childhood; two absurd little dogs of his accompanied -us all the way who, in the noonday heat, sat in the wayside streams for -a moment to cool, and emerged little dripping rags. The first day's -ascent was over the Pass of the Tourmalet, the second over that of the -Col d'Aspin, and the third and final climb was that of the Col de -Peyresourde. Then Bagneres de Luchon appeared deep down in the valley -where our drive came to an end. What would we have seen of the Pyrenees -if we had burrowed in tunnels under those _Cols?_ Luchon was not -embellished by the invalids there, whose principal ailment amongst the -female patients was evidently a condition of _embonpoint_ so remarkable -that the suggestion of overfeeding could not possibly be ignored. - -We had refreshing "_ascensions_" on horseback; a wide view of Spain from -Super-Bagnere, wherein the backbone of the Pyrenees, with the savage -"Maladetta," rising supreme, 11,000 feet above sea level, has its -origin. Many very pleasant excursions we had besides. I tried a hurried -sketch of one of these views from the saddle, the only precious chance I -had, but a little Frenchman in tourist helmet and blue veil (and such -boots and spurs!), who was riding in our direction with a party, threw -himself off his pony into my foreground and, hoping to be included in -the view which he was pretending to admire, posed there, right in my -way, his comrades calling him in vain to rejoin them. - -On leaving Luchon we journeyed _via_ Toulouse to Cette, following the -course of the Garonne, which famous river we had seen in its little -muddy infancy near Arreau and in its culminating grandeur at Bordeaux. -Toulouse looked majestic, a fair city as I remember it. There I was -interested to see that famous canal which carries on the traffic from -the great river to the Mediterranean. A noteworthy feature in the -landscape as we journeyed on to Cette in the dreary, dun-coloured -gloaming was the mediaeval city of Carcassonne. To come suddenly upon a -complete restoration to life of an old-world city, full of towers and -wrapped in its unbroken walls, gives one a strange sensation. One seems -to be suddenly deposited in the heart of the Middle Ages. That dark -evening there was something indescribably gloomy in the aspect of that -cinder-coloured mass against an ashen sky, and set on a hill high above -the fields cultivated in prim rows and patches, looking like a town in -the background of some hunting scene, so often shown in old tapestry. -All was darkening before an approaching storm. In writing of it at the -time I was not aware that we owed this most precious old city to -Viollet-le-Duc, who has restored it stone by stone. - -Cette looked so bleared and blind the next morning in a sea mist that I -have preserved a dejected impression of those low shores, grey -tamarisks, and lagunes, and waste places, seen as though in a dismal -dream. I was coaxed back to cheerfulness by the sunshine of Nismes, -where we spent several hours, on our way to our halt for the night, -strolling in the warm-tinted Roman ruins, and I finally relaxed in the -delight of our arriving once more at one of my most beloved cities, -splendid Avignon. Good travelling. This closed the day. Under my -parents' _regime_, and chiefly on account of my mother, who hated night -travel, and on account of our general easy-going ways, we gave nearly a -fortnight to reach Genoa from England, with pauses here and there. - -My redundant Diary carries me on now, like the rapid Rhone itself, to my -native Lake Leman. I see it now as I saw it that day, August 8th, -1878--a blue opal. There is always something sacred about a place in -which one came into the world. We visited "Claremont," a lovely dwelling -overlooking the lake, and facing the snowy ridges of the Dents du Midi. -Looking at that house "all my mother came into my eyes" as I thought of -her that November night, long ago, and of our dear, faithful nurse whom -I captured there to our service till death, with a smile! - -And now for the dear old Rhine once more. We got to Bale next day, and -very scenic the old town looked on our arrival in the evening. On either -side of the swift-flowing river the gabled houses were full of lights, -which were reflected in the water, all looking red-gold by contrast with -the green-gold of the moon. On August 10th from Bale to Heidelberg, the -rose-coloured city of the great Tun! Other tuns are also shown, not -quite so capacious; but what swilling they suggest on the part of the -old electors, who gathered all that hock in tithes! - -I was mortified when trying to impress my husband with the charms of the -Rhine as we dropped down to Cologne. My early Diary tells of my -enchantment on that fondly-remembered river. But, alas! this time the -weather was rainy and ugly all the way, and as we came to the best part, -the romantic Gorge, he shut himself up in a deck cabin, out of which I -could not entice him. I suspect the natives on board drove him in there -rather than his resentment at the "come down" from the glowing -descriptions one reads in travel books. These natives were a most -irritating foreground to the blurred views. All day long, and into the -night, meals were perpetually breaking out all over the deck and, do -what one could, the feeding of those Teutons obtruded itself on one's -attention _ad nauseam_. I have a sketch, taken _sub rosa_, of an obese -and terrible _frau_, seated behind her rather smart officer husband at -one of the little tables. She had emptied her capacious mug of beer, and -was asking him for more, to which demand he was paying no attention. But -"Gustav! Gustav!" she persisted, poking him in the back with her empty -tankard. The "Gustav!" and the prods were getting too much to be ignored -by the long-suffering back, and she got her refill. What General Gordon -calls the "German visage" in contrast with the "Italian countenance" -never appeared so surprisingly ugly as it did to us that day on the -crowded deck of the _Queen of Prussia_. - -My Diary says: "At Mayence, Will and I, always on the look-out for -soldiers, had a good opportunity of seeing German infantry, as we -stopped here a long time and two line battalions crossed the bridge near -us. From the deck of the steamer the men looked big enough, but when -Will ran on shore and overhauled them to have a nearer look, I could -gauge their height by his six-foot-two. He showed a clear head and -shoulders above their _pickelhauben_. They were short, chiefly by reason -of the stumpy legs, which carry a long back--a very unbeautiful -arrangement." - -The next day we had a rather dull start from Cologne along a dismal -stretch of river as far as Duesseldorf. Killing time at Duesseldorf is not -lively. At the cafe where we had tea two young subalterns of hussars -came gaily in to have their coffee, and, just as they were sitting down -with a cavalry swagger, there came in a major of some other corps, and -the two immediately got up, saluted, and left the room. Here was -discipline! On our returning to the steamer Will found an epauletted -disciple of Bismarck in my place at supper. He told the epauletted one -of his mistake, much to the latter's manifest astonishment, who didn't -move. I suppose there came something into the British soldier's eye, -but, anyway, the sabre-rattler eventually got up and went elsewhere: -things felt electric. - -August 14th found us nearly all day on board the boat. "A very -interesting day, showing me a phase of Rhine scenery familiar to me in -Dutch pictures by the score, but never seen by me till then in reality. -The strong wind blew from the sea and tossed the green-yellow river into -tumultuous waves, over which came bounding the blunt-bowed craft from -Holland, taking merchandise up stream, and differing in no way from the -boats beloved of the old Dutch masters. On either side of the river were -low banks waving with rushes, and beyond stretched sunken marshy -meadows, and here and there quaint little towns glided by with windmills -whirring, and clusters of ships' masts appearing above the grey willows -and sedges. Dordrecht formed a perfect picture _a la_ Rembrandt, with a -host of windmills on the skyline, telling dark against the brightness, -at the confluence of the Maes and Rhine. Here Cuyp was born, the painter -of sunlit cows. Rotterdam pleased us greatly, and we strolled about in -the evening, coming upon the statue of Erasmus, which I place amongst -the most admirable statues I have seen. Rotterdam possesses in rich -abundance the peculiar charm of a seaport. A place of this kind has for -me a very strong attraction. The varied shipping, the bustle on land -and water, the colour, the noise, the mixture of human types, the bustle -of men and animals; all these things have always filled me with pleasure -at a great seaport." A visit to Holland ("the dustless" land, as my -husband called it truly), a revel amongst the Amsterdam galleries, then -Antwerp, where we embarked for Harwich, closed our trip. Invigorated and -restored, I set to work on an 8-foot canvas, whereon I painted a subject -which had been in my mind since childhood. - - - - -CHAPTER XIV - -QUEEN VICTORIA - - -It must have been at Villa de' Franchi that my father related to me a -tragedy which had profoundly moved England in the year 1842, and he -laughingly encouraged me to paint it when I should be grown up. The -Diary says: "We are now at war with poor Shere Ali, and this new Afghan -War revived for me the idea of the tragedy of '42, namely, Dr. Brydon -reaching Jellalabad, weary and fainting, on his dying horse, the sole -survivor, as was then thought, from our disaster in the Cabul passes.... -Here I am, on 1st March, 1879, not doing badly with the picture. I think -it is well painted, and I hope poetical. But I have had the darkest -winter I can remember, and lost nearly all January by the succession of -fogs which have accompanied this long frost. Will sailed under orders -for the Cape last Friday, February 28th. Our terrible defeat at Isandula -has caused the greatest commotion here, and regiments are being poured -out of England to Zululand in a fleet of transports; and now staff -officers are being selected for posts of great responsibility out there, -and amongst these is Colonel Butler, A.A.G. to General Clifford. - -"_March 16th, 1879._--I am beginning to show my picture. Scarcely -anything is talked of still but the fighting in Zululand and the -incapacity of that poor unfortunate Lord Chelmsford, whom Government -keeps telling they will continue to trust in his supreme post of -Commander-in-Chief, though he would evidently be thankful to be relieved -of an anxiety which his nervous temperament and susceptible nature must -make unbearable. What magnificent subjects for pictures the 'Defence of -Rorke's Drift' will furnish. When we get full details I shall be much -tempted to paint some episode of that courageous achievement which has -shed balm on the aching wound of Isandula. But the temptation will have -to be very strong to make me break my rule of not painting contemporary -subjects. I like to mature my themes. - -"Studio Sunday. At last, at last! After three years of disappointment -another Academy Studio Show has come, and that very brightly and -successfully. I have called the Afghan picture 'The Remnants of an -Army.' I had the Irish picture to show also, by permission of Whitehead, -''Listed for the Connaught Rangers.' From one till six to-day people -poured in. My studio was got up quite charmingly with curtains and -screens, and with wild beast skins disposed on the floor, and my arms -and armour furbished up. The two pictures came out well, and both -appeared to 'take.' However, not much value can be attached to to-day's -praises to my face. But I must not let Elmore's (R.A.) tribute to the -'Remnants of an Army' go unrecorded. 'It is impossible to look at that -man's face unmoved,' and his eyes were positively dimmed! I have heard -it said that no one was ever known to shed tears before a picture. On -reading a book, on hearing music, yes, but not on seeing a painting. -Well! that is not true, as I have proved more than once. I can't resist -telling here of a pathetic man who came to me to say, 'I had a wet eye -when I saw your picture!' He had one eye brown and the other blue, and -I almost asked, 'Which, the brown or the blue?' It is often so difficult -to know what to answer appreciatively to enthusiastic and unexpected -praise! - -"Varnishing Day. A long and cheery day in those rooms of happy memory at -Burlington House. Both my pictures are well hung and look well, and -congratulations flowed in." A few days later: "Alice and I to the -Private View at that fascinating Burlington House, so fascinating when -one's works are well placed! The Press is treating me very well. No -subsidised puffs _here_, so I enjoy these critiques. The Academy has -received me back with open arms, and the members are very nice to me, -some of them expressing their hope that I am pleased with the positions -of my pictures, and several of them speaking quite openly about their -determination to vote for me at the next election." - -The Fine Art Society bought the Afghan subject of which they published a -very faithful engraving, and it is now at the Tate Gallery. It is a -comfort to me to know that nearly all my principal works are either in -the keeping of my Sovereign or in public galleries, and not changing -hands among private collectors. - -I spent much of a cool, if rainy, summer at Edenbridge, in Kent, taking -a rose bower of a cottage there, my parents with me. There we heard in -the papers the dreadful news of the Prince Imperial's death. Then -followed a hasty line from my husband, written in a fury of indignation -from Natal, at the sacrifice of "the last of the Napoleons." When he -returned at long last from the deplorable Zulu War, followed by the -Sekukuni Campaign, the poor Empress Eugenie sent for him to Camden -Place, and during a long and most painful interview she asked for all -details, her tears flowing all the time, and in her open way letting all -her sorrow loose in paroxysms of grief. He had managed the funeral and -embarkation at Durban. The pall was covered with artificial violets -which he had asked the nuns there to make, at high pressure, and he -subsequently described to me the impressive sight of the _cortege_ as it -wound down the hill to the port off Durban, in the afternoon sunshine. - -At little Edenbridge I was busy making studies of any grey horses I -could find, as I had already begun my charge of the Scots Greys at -Waterloo at my studio. That charge I called "Scotland for Ever," and I -owe the subject to an impulse I received that season from the Private -View at the Grosvenor Gallery, now extinct. The Grosvenor was the home -of the "AEsthetes" of the period, whose sometimes unwholesome productions -preceded those of our modern "Impressionists." I felt myself getting -more and more annoyed while perambulating those rooms, and to such a -point of exasperation was I impelled that I fairly fled and, breathing -the honest air of Bond Street, took a hansom to my studio. There I -pinned a 7-foot sheet of brown paper on an old canvas and, with a piece -of charcoal and a piece of white chalk, flung the charge of "The Greys" -upon it. Dr. Pollard, who still looked in during my husband's absences -as he used to do in my maiden days to see that all was well with me, -found me in a surprising mood. - -On returning from my _villeggiatura_ in Kent with my parents I took up -again the painting of this charge, and one day the Keeper of the Queen's -Privy Purse, Sir Henry Ponsonby, called at the studio to ask me if I -would paint a picture for Her Majesty, the subject to be taken from a -war of her own reign. - -Of course, I said "Yes," and gladly welcomed the honour, but being a -slow worker, I saw that "Scotland for Ever!" must be put aside if the -Queen's picture was to be ready for the next Academy. - -Every one was still hurrahing over the defence of "Rorke's Drift" in -Zululand as though it had been a second Waterloo. My friends (not my -parents) urged and urged. I demurred, because it was against my -principles to paint a conflict. In the "Greys" the enemy was not shown, -here our men would have to be represented at grips with the foe. No, I -put that subject aside and proposed one that I felt and saw in my mind's -eye most vividly. I proposed this to the Queen--the finding of the dead -Prince Imperial and the bearing of his body from the scene of his heroic -death on the lances of the 17th Lancers. Her Majesty sent me word that -she approved, to my great relief. I began planning that most impressive -composition. Then I got a message to say the Queen thought it better not -to paint the subject. What was to be done? The Crimea was exhausted. -Afghanistan? But I was compelled by clamour to choose the popular -Rorke's Drift; so, characteristically, when I yielded I threw all my -energies into the undertaking. - -When the 24th Regiment, now the South Wales Borderers, who in that fight -saved Natal, came home, some of the principal heroes were first summoned -to Windsor and then sent on to me, and as soon as I could get down to -Portsmouth, where the 24th were quartered, I undertook to make all the -studies from life necessary for the big picture there. Nothing that the -officers of that regiment and the staff could possibly do to help me was -neglected. They even had a representation of the fight acted by the men -who took part in it, dressed in the uniforms they wore on that awful -night. Of course, the result was that I reproduced the event as nearly -to the life as possible, but from the soldier's point of view--I may say -the _private's_ point of view--not mine, as the principal witnesses were -from the ranks. To be as true to facts as possible I purposely withdrew -my own view of the thing. What caused the great difficulty I had to -grapple with was the fact that the whole mass of those fighting figures -was illuminated by firelight from the burning hospital. Firelight -transforms colours in an extraordinary way which you hardly realise till -you have to reproduce the thing in paint. - -The Zulus were a great difficulty. I had them in the composition in dark -masses, rather swallowed up in the shade, but for one salient figure -grasping a soldier's bayonet to twist it off the rifle, as was done by -many of those heroic savages. My excellent Dr. Pollard got me a sort of -Zulu as model from a show in London. It was unfortunate that a fog came -down the day he was brought to my studio, so that at one time I could -see nothing of my dusky savage but the whites of his eyes and his teeth. -I hope I may never have to go through such troubles again! - -When the picture was in its pale, shallow, early stage, the Queen, who -was deeply interested in its progress, wished to see it, and me. So to -Windsor I took it. The Ponsonbys escorted me to the Great Gallery, where -I beheld my production, looking its palest, meanest, and flattest, -installed on an easel, with two lords bending over it--one of them Lord -Beaconsfield. - -Exeunt the two lords, right, through a dark side door. Enter the Queen, -left. Prince Leopold, Duchess of Argyll, Princess Beatrice and others -grouped round the easel, centre. The Queen came up to me and placed her -plump little hand in mine after I had curtseyed, and I was counselled to -give Her Majesty the description of every figure. She spoke very kindly -in a very deep, guttural voice, and showed so much emotion that I -thought her all too kind, shrinking now and then as I spoke of the -wounds, etc. She told me how she had found my husband lying at Netley -Hospital after Ashanti, apparently near his end, and spoke with warmth -of his services in that campaign. She did not leave us until I had -explained every figure, even the most distant. She knew all by name, for -I had managed to show, in that scuffle, all the V.C.'s and other -conspicuous actors in the drama, the survivors having already been -presented to her. Majors Chard and Bromhead were sufficiently -recognisable in the centre, for I had had them both for their portraits. - -The Academicians put "The Defence of Rorke's Drift" in the Lecture Room -of unhappy "Quatre Bras" memory, no doubt for the same reason they gave -in the case of that picture. Yes, there was a great crush before it, but -I was not satisfied as to its effect in that poor light. It is now with -"The Roll Call" at St. James's Palace. I learnt later how very, very -pleased the Queen was with her commission, and that one day at Windsor, -wishing to show it to some friends, the twilight deepening, she showed -so much appreciation that she took a pair of candlesticks and held them -up at the full stretch of her arms to light the picture. I like to see -in my mind's eye that Rembrandtesque effect, with the principal figure -in the group our Queen. She wanted me to paint her two other subjects, -but, somehow, that never came off. - - - - -CHAPTER XV - -OFFICIAL LIFE--THE EAST - - -In 1880 my husband was offered the post of Adjutant-General at Plymouth, -and thither we went in time, with the pretty little infant Elizabeth -Frances, who came to fill the place of the sister who was gone. There -three more of our children were born. - -I took up "Scotland for Ever!" again, and in the bright light of our -house on the Hoe, with never a brown fog to hinder me, and with any -amount of grey army horses as models, I finished that work. It was -exhibited alone. It is quite unnecessary to burden my readers with the -reason of this. I was very sorry, as I expected rather a bright effect -with all those white and grey galloping _hippogriffes_ bounding out of -the Academy walls. There was a law suit in question, and there let the -matter rest. Messrs. Hildesheimer bought the copyright from me, and the -picture I sold, later on, to a private purchaser, who has presented it -to the city of Leeds. By a happy chance I had a supply of very brilliant -Spanish white (_blanco de plata_) for those horses, and though I have -ever since used the finest _blanc d'argent_, made in Paris, I don't -think the Spanish white has a rival. Perhaps its maker took the secret -with her to the Elysian Fields. It was an old widow of Seville. - -On May 11th of that year our beloved father died, comforted with the -heartening rites of the Church. He had been received not long before the -end. - -Life at "pleasant Plymouth" was very interesting in its way, and the -charm of the West Country found in me the heartiest appreciation. But -the climate is relaxing, and conducive to lotus eating. One seems to -live in a mental Devonshire cream of pleasant days spent in excursions -on land and water, trips up the many lovely rivers, or across the -beautiful Sound to various picnic rendezvous on the coast. There was -much festivity: balls in the winter and long excursions in summer, -frequently to the wilds of Dartmoor. Particularly pleasant were the -receptions at Government House under the auspices of the -Pakenhams--perfect hosts--and at the Admiralty, with its very -distinguished host and hostess, Sir Houston and Lady Stewart. Over -Dartmoor there spread the charm of the unbounded hospitality of the -Mortimer Colliers, who lived on the verge of the moor, and this was a -thing ever to be fondly remembered. No pleasanter house could offer one -a welcome than "Foxhams," and how hearty a welcome that always was! - -Riding was our principal pleasure. I never spent more enjoyable days in -the saddle elsewhere. My husband and I had a riding tour through -Cornwall--just the thing I liked most. But he was from time to time -called away. To Egypt in 1882, for Tel-el-Kebir; twice to Canada, the -second time on Government business; and in 1884 to the great Gordon -Relief Expedition, that terrible tragedy, made possible by the maddening -delays at home. I illustrated the book he wrote[9] on that colossal -enterprise, so wantonly turned into failure from quite feasible success. - -My next picture was on a smaller scale than its predecessors, and was -exhibited at the Academy in 1882. The Boer War, with its terrible Majuba -Hill disaster, had attracted all our sorrowful attention the year before -to South Africa, and I chose the attack on Laing's Nek for my subject. -The two Eton boys whom I show, Elwes and Monck, went forward (Elwes to -his death) with the cry of "_Floreat Etona!_" and I gave the picture -those words for its title. - -Yet another Lord Mayor's Banquet at the Mansion House, in honour of the -Royal Academicians, saw me late in 1881 a guest once more in those -gilded halls, this time by my husband's side. He responded for the Army, -and joined Arts and Arms in a bright little speech, composed -_impromptu_. "We were a highly honoured couple," I read in the Diary, -"and very glad that we came up. We must have sat at that festive board -over three hours. The music all through was exceedingly good and, -indeed, so was the fare. The homely tone of civic hospitality is so -characteristic, dressed as it is with gold and silver magnificence, -rivalling that of Royalty itself! One of the waiters tried to press me -to have a second helping of whitebait by whispering in my ear the -seductive words, '_Devilled_, ma'am.' It was a fiery edition of the -former recipe. I resisted." - -The departure of my husband with Lord Wolseley (then Sir Garnet) and -Staff for Egypt on August 5th, 1882, to suppress poor old Arabi and his -"rebels" was the most trying to me of all the many partings, because of -its dramatic setting. One bears up well on a crowded railway platform, -but when it comes to watching a ship putting off to sea, as I did that -time at Liverpool, to the sound of farewell cheering and "Auld Lang -Syne," one would sooner read of its pathos than suffer it in person. -Soldiers' wives in war time have to feel the sickening sensation on -waking some morning when news of a fight is expected of saying to -themselves, "I may be a widow." Not only have I gone through that, but -have had a second period of trial with two sons under fire in the World -War. - -I gave a long period of my precious time to making preparations for a -large picture representing Wolseley and his Staff reaching the bridge -across the canal at the close of the battle of Tel-el-Kebir, followed by -his Staff, wherein figured my husband. The latter had not been very -enthusiastic about the subject. To beat those poor _fellaheen_ soldiers -was not a matter for exultation, he said; and he told me that the -capture of Arabi's earthworks had been like "going through brown paper." -He thought the theme unworthy, and hoped I would drop the idea. But I -wouldn't; and, seeing me bent on it, he did all he could to help me to -realise the scene I had chosen. Lord Wolseley gave me a fidgety sitting -at their house in London, his wife trying to keep him quiet on her knee -like a good boy. I had crowds of Highlanders to represent, and went in -for the minutest rendering of the equipment then in use. Well, I never -was so long over a work. Depend upon it, if you do not "see" the thing -vividly before you begin, but have to build it up as you go along, the -picture will not be one of your best. Nor was this one! It was exhibited -in the Academy of 1885, and had a moderate success. It was well -engraved. - -In the September of 1884 my husband left for the Gordon Expedition, -having finished his work of getting boats ready for the cataracts, boats -to carry the whole Army. In the following June he came home on leave, -well in health, in spite of rending wear and tear, but deeply hurt at -the failure of what might have been one of the greatest campaigns in -modern history. How he had urged and urged, and fumed at the delays! He -told me the campaign was lost _three times over_. Gordon was simply -sacrificed to ineptitude in high quarters at home. In this connection, I -ask, can praise be too great for the British rank and file who did -_their_ best in this unparalleled effort? You saw Lifeguardsmen plying -their oars in the boats, oars they had never handled before this call; -marines mounted on camels--more than "horse-marines," as a camel in his -movements is five horses rolled into one; everything he was called upon -to do the British soldier did to the best of his capacity. - -We spent most of my husband's precious leave in Glencar. What better -haven to come to from the feverish toil on river and in desert, ending -in bitter disappointment? We went to Court functions, also. How these -functions amused me, and how I revelled in their colour, in their -variety of types brought together, all these guests in national uniform -or costume. And I must be allowed to add how proud I was of my -six-foot-two soldier in all his splendour. The Queen's aide-de-camp -uniform, which he wore at the time of which I am writing, till he was -promoted major-general, was particularly well designed, both for "dress" -and "undress." I frankly own I loved these Court receptions. No, I was -never bored by them, I am thankful to say; and I don't believe any woman -is who has the luck to go there, whatever she may say. - - - - -CHAPTER XVI - -TO THE EAST - - -I followed my husband to Egypt, where he had returned, in command at -Wady Halfa on the expiration of his leave, on November 14th, 1885. I -went with our eldest little boy and girl. A new experience for me--the -East! One of my longings in childhood was to see the East. There it was -for me. - -Cairo in 1885 still retained much of its Oriental aspect in the European -quarter. (I don't suppose the old, true Cairo will ever change.) I was -just in time. The Shepheard's Hotel of that day had a terrace in front -of it where we used to sit and watch the life of the street below, an -occupation very pleasing to myself. The building was overrun with a -wealth of flowering creepers of all sorts of loveliness, and surrounded -with a garden. When next we visited Cairo the creepers were being torn -down, and the terrace demolished. Then a huge hotel was run up in -avaricious haste to reap the next season's harvest from the thronging -visitors, and now stands flush with the street to echo the trams. - -It is difficult for me now to revive in memory the exquisite surprise I -felt when first I saw the life of the East. I could hardly believe the -thing was real, everyday life. Though I have often returned to Egypt -since, that first-time feeling never was renewed, though my enjoyment of -Oriental beauty and picturesqueness never, I am glad to say, faded in -the least. Oh, you who enjoy the zest of life, be thankful that you -possess it! It is a thing not to be acquired, but to be born with. I -think artists keep it the longest, for it enters the heart by the eye. -The long letters I wrote to my mother on the spot and at the moment I -incorporated later in the little book already referred to. Oh, the -pleasures of memory, streaked with sadness though they must be, and with -ugly things of all kinds, too! Still, how intensely precious a -possession they are when _weeded_. To me, after Italy and, of course, -the Holy Land, give me the Nile. - -I and the children remained in Cairo till I got my husband's message -from the front that the way was clear enough for our journey as far as -Luxor. There I and the children remained until the fight at Giniss was -won and all danger was over further up stream. At Luxor began the most -enjoyable of all modes of travel--by houseboat. The _dahabiyeh Fostat_ -was sent down from Wady Halfa to take us up to Assouan, where my husband -awaited us. We had reached Luxor from Cairo by the commonplace post -boat. The Assouan Dam was, of course, not in existence, and our -_dahabiyeh_ had to be hauled in the old way through the first cataract, -while we transferred ourselves to another _dahabiyeh_ moored off the now -submerged island of Philae. - -This cut-and-dried chronicle includes one of the most enchanting -experiences of my life. Above Philae we entered Nubia, before whose -intensified colouring the lower desert pales. Time being very precious -to my husband, our slow, dreamy sailing houseboat had to be towed by a -little steamer for the rest of the way to Wady Halfa, where we lived -till the heat of March warned us that I and the children must prudently -go into northern coolness. And to Plymouth we returned, leaving the -General to drag out the burning summer at Wady Halfa in such heat as I -never had had to suffer. While at Halfa I made many sketches in oil for -my picture, "A Desert Grave," out in the desert across the river. It is -very trying painting in the desert on account of the wind, which blows -the sand perpetually into your eyes. With that and the glare, I took two -inflamed eyes back with me to Europe. The picture should have been more -poetical than it turned out to be, and I wish I could repaint it now. It -was well placed at the Academy. The Upper Nile had these graves of -British officers and men all along its banks during that terrible toll -taken in the course of the Gordon Expedition and after, some in single -loneliness, far apart, and some in twos and threes. These graves had to -be made exactly in the same way as those of the enemy, lest a cross or -some other Christian mark should invite desecration. - -The World War has thrown a dreadful cloud between us and those old war -days, but the cloud in time will spread out thinner and let us look -through to those past times. - -My next experience was Brittany. Thither we went for a rest, and to give -the children the habit of talking French. At Dinan, in an old farmhouse, -we ruralised amidst orchards and amongst the Breton peasantry. Very nice -and quiet and healthy. There our youngest boy was born, Martin William, -who was immediately inscribed on the army books as liable for service in -the French Army if he reached the age of eighteen on French soil. During -that part of our stay at Dinan I painted the 24th Dragoons, who were -stationed there, leaving the town by the old Porte St. Malo for the -front, a great crowd of people seeing them off. I had mounted dragoons -and peasants for the asking as models. - -My husband was knighted--K.C.B.--in this interval, at Windsor. We went -to live in Ireland from Dinan, in 1888, under the Wicklow Mountains, -where the children continued their healthy country life in its fulness. -The picture I had painted of the departing dragoons went to the Academy -in 1889, and in 1890 I exhibited "An Eviction in Ireland," which Lord -Salisbury was pleased to be facetious about in his speech at the -banquet, remarking on the "breezy beauty" of the landscape, which almost -made him wish he could take part in an eviction himself. How like a -Cecil! - -The 'eighties had seen our Government do some dreadful things in the way -of evictions in Ireland. Being at Glendalough at the end of that decade, -and hearing one day that an eviction was to take place some nine miles -distant from where we were staying for my husband's shooting, I got an -outside car and drove off to the scene, armed with my paints. I met the -police returning from their distasteful "job," armed to the teeth and -very flushed. On getting there I found the ruins of the cabin -smouldering, the ground quite hot under my feet, and I set up my easel -there. The evicted woman came to search amongst the ashes of her home to -try and find some of her belongings intact. She was very philosophical, -and did not rise to the level of my indignation as an ardent English -sympathiser. However, I studied her well, and on returning home at -Delgany I set up the big picture which commemorates a typical eviction -in the black 'eighties. I seldom can say I am pleased with my work when -done, but I _am_ complacent about this picture; it has the true Irish -atmosphere, and I was glad to turn out that landscape successfully which -I had made all my studies for, on the spot, at Glendalough. What storms -of wind and rain, and what dazzling sunbursts I struggled in, one day -the paints being blown out of my box and nearly whirled into the lake -far below my mountain perch! My canvas, acting like a sail, once nearly -sent me down there too. I did not see this picture at all at the -Academy, but I am very certain it cannot have been very "popular" in -England. Before it was finished my husband was appointed to the command -at Alexandria, and as soon as I had packed off the "Eviction," I -followed, on March 24th, and saw again the fascinating East. - -My journey took me _via_ Venice, where the P.& O. boat _Hydaspes_ was -waiting. Can any journey to Egypt be more charming than this one, right -across Italy? - -Oh! you who do not think a journey a mere means of getting to your -destination as quickly as possible, say, if you have taken the -Milan-Verona-Padua line, is there anything in all Italy to surpass that -burst on the view of the Lago di Garda after you emerge from the Lonato -tunnel? On a blue day, say in spring? If you have not gone that way yet, -I beg you to be on the look-out on your left when you do go. This -wonderful surprise is suddenly revealed, and almost as quickly lost. -Waste not a second. I put up at the "Angleterre" at Venice, on the Riva, -because from there one sees the lagunes and glimpses of the open sea -beyond, and the air is open and fresh. - -"_March 28th._--Took gondola for the big P. & O. S.S. which is to be my -home for the next six days. I at once saw the ship was one of their -smartest boats, and all looked very festive on board. Luncheon was -served immediately after my arrival, and I found a bright company -thereat assembled, with Sir Henry and Lady Layard at their head; some -come to see friends off and others to go on. We amalgamated very -pleasantly, and great was the waving of handkerchiefs as we slowly -steamed past the Dogana and the Riva, our returning friends having gone -on shore in gondolas whose sable sides were hidden in brilliant -draperies. The sashes of the gondoliers' liveries flashed in coloured -silks and gold fringes; the sea sparkled. I rejoiced. The Montalba girls -gave us a salvo of pocket handkerchiefs from their balcony on the -Giudecca. What a gay scene! Lady Layard, on leaving, introduced Mrs. H. -M., who was to join her husband at Brindisi for a long trip in the big -liner from England, and I was very happy at the prospect of her pleasant -and intellectual companionship thus far." - -And so we passed out into the early night on the dim Adriatic, after a -sunset farewell to Venice, which remains to me as one of the tenderest -visions of the past. That voyage to Alexandria is more enjoyable, given -fair weather, than most voyages, because one is hardly ever out of sight -of land, and such classic land, too! The Ionian Islands, "Morea's -Hills," Candia. But what a pleasure it is to see on the day before the -arrival the signs that the landing is near at hand. The General in -Command will be waiting at sunrise on the landing stage, perhaps the -light catching the gold lace on his cap, appearing above the turbans of -the native crowd. Of course every one who has been to Egypt knows the -feeling of disappointment at the first sight of its shores, low-lying -and fringed with those incongruous windmills which the Great Napoleon -vainly planted there to teach the natives how better to make flour. In -vain. And so were his wheelbarrows. The natives preferred carrying the -mud in their hands. And the city, how it fails to give you the Oriental -impression you are longing for, with its pseudo-Italian architecture, -its hard paved streets, and dusty boulevards and squares. Government -House on the Boulevard de Ramleh was comfortable, roomy and airy, but I -missed the imagined garden and palm trees of the Cairo official -residence. - -"_April 3rd._--We have a view of Cleopatra's Tomb (so called) to the -right, jutting out into the intensely blue sea, but the other arm of the -bay (the old Roman harbour) to our left, covered with native houses and -minarets, is partly hidden by an abomination which hurts me to -exasperation, one of those amorphous buildings of tenth-rate Italian -vulgarity and dreariness which are being run up here in such quantities, -and rears its gaunt expanse close behind this house. To cap this -erection it has received the title of 'Bombay Castle.' Never mind, I -shall soon, in my happy way, cease to notice what I don't like to see, -and shall enjoy all that is left here of the original East and its -fascinating barbaric beauty. Will took me for a most interesting drive, -first to Ras-el-Tin, during which we threaded a conglomeration of East -and West which was bewildering. There were nightmarish Italian -'_palazzi_' loaded with cheap, bluntly-moulded stucco; glaring streets, -cafes, dusty gardens, over-dressed Jewish and Levantine women driving -about in exaggerated hats, frocks and figures; and there also appeared -the dark narrow bazaars and original streets, the latticed windows, the -finely-coloured robes of the natives, the weird goats, the wolfish dogs, -straying about in all directions. Mounds of rubbish everywhere; some -only the leavings of newly-built houses, some the remains of the -bombardment's havoc, others the dust of a once beautiful city whose -loveliness in old Roman times must have been supreme. - -"Only here and there was I reminded of the charm of Cairo--a tree by a -yellow wall, a group of natives eating sugar cane, a water-seller with -his tinkling brass cups and a rose behind his ear, and so on. We then -had a really enjoyable drive along the Mahmoudieh Canal, which was balm -to my mind and eyes. All along the placid water on the opposite bank ran -Arab villages with their accompaniments of palms, buffaloes, goats, -water jars, native men and women in scriptural robes; water wheels; -square-shaped, almost window-less mud dwellings, so appropriate under -that intense light. On our bank were the remnants of Pashadom in the -shape of gimcrack palaces closed and let go to ruin, on account of -fashion having betaken itself to the suburb of Ramleh. These dwellings -were, however, so hidden in deep tropical gardens of great and rich -beauty that they did not offend. - -"Beyond the Arab villages on the other bank appeared Lake Mareotis, and -there was a poetical feeling about all that region. It was so strange to -have on one side of a narrow band of water old Egypt and the life of the -East going on just as it has been for ages past, and on the other the -ephemeral tokens of the sham and fleeting life of to-day, and this all -the way along a drive of some two miles. This is the fashionable drive, -and to see young Egypt on horseback, and old Jewry in carriages, passing -and repassing up and down this cosmopolitan Rotten Row is decidedly -trying. My admired friends, the running syces, though, redeem the thing -to me. Their dress is one of the most perfect in shape, colour and -material ever devised. The air was rich with the scent of strange -flowers, some of which billowed over entrance gates in magnificent -purple masses." - -I must be excused for having shown irritation in my Diary at starting. I -soon adapted myself to the entourage, and I hope I "did my manners" as -became my official responsibilities. I liked the Greeks best of -all--nay, I got very fond of these handsome, sunny people. - -It was a curiously cosmopolitan society, and I, who am never good at -remembering the little feuds that are always simmering in this kind of -mixed company, must have sometimes made mistakes. I heard a Greek woman, -who had dined with us the previous evening, informing her friends in a -voice fraught with meaning, _"Imaginez, hier au soir chez le General -Monsieur Gariopulo a donne le bras a Madame Buzzato!"_ The recipients of -this information were filled with mirth. What _had_ I done in pairing -off these two for the procession to dinner? - -The British were entrenched at Ramleh. The little stations on the -railway there gave me quite a turn at first sight. One was "Bulkley," -the next "Fleming," then "Sydney O. Schutz," and finally San Stefano at -railhead, and a casino with a corrugated iron roof under that scorching -sun. Oh, that I should see such a thing in Egypt! Cheek by jowl with the -little villas one saw weird Bedouin tents and wild Arabs and their -animals, carrying on their existence as if the Briton had never come -there. - -The incongruities of Alexandria became to me positively enjoyable; and -the desert air, as ever, was life-giving. My little Syrian horse, -"Minnow," carried me many a mile alongside my husband's charger, over -that pleasant desert sand. But an occasional khamseen wind gave me a -taste of the disagreeable phase of Egyptian weather. I name, with the -vivid recollection of the khamseen's irritating qualities, the -experience of paying calls (in a nice toilette) under its suffocating -puffs. And how the flies swarm; how they settle in black masses on the -sweetmeats sold in the streets, and hang in tassels from the native -children's eyes. Oh, yes, there is a seamy side to all things, but it -isn't my way to turn it up more than is necessary. Here may follow a bit -of Diary: - -"_May 22nd._--We had a memorable picnic at Rosetta to-day, with thirty -of the English colony. I had long wished to visit this ancient city, -brick-built and half deserted, a once opulent place, but now mournful in -its decay. I longed to see old Nile once more. We chartered a special -train and left Moharram Bey Station at 8 a.m. I was much pleased with -the seaside desert and the effects of mirage over Aboukir Bay. The -ancient town of Edkou struck me very much. It was built of the small -brown Rosetta brick, and was placed on a hill, giving it a different -aspect from the usual Arab pale-walled villages which are usually built -on level ground. It had thus a peculiar character. Shortly before -reaching Rosetta the land becomes richly cultivated. There is a subtle -beauty about the cultivated regions of this fascinating land of Egypt -which I feel very much. It is the beauty of abundance and richness as -well as of vivid colour. - -"At Rosetta dense crowds of natives awaited us and some police were -detailed to escort us through the town. I heard some of the women of our -party wishing they could pick the blue tiles off the minarets, but for -my part I prefer them under their lovely sky and sunshine, rather than -ornamenting mantelpieces in a Kensington fog. A little _musharabieh_ -lattice is still left here in the windows and has not yet been taken to -grace the British drawing-rooms of Ramleh. We strolled about the bazaars -and into the old ramshackle mosques, and, altogether, exhausted the -sights. Everywhere in Rosetta you see beautiful little Corinthian marble -columns incorporated with the Arab buildings, and supporting the -ceilings and pulpits of the mosques. They are daubed over with red -plaster. Very often a rich Corinthian capital is used as a base to a -pillar by being turned upside down, so that the shaft, crowned with its -own capital, possesses two--one at each end--an arrangement evidently -satisfactory to the barbarian Arabs who succeeded the classic builders -of the old city. Almost every angle of a house has a Greek column acting -as corner stone. But the brown brickwork is very dismal, and but for the -vivid colours of the people's dresses the monotony of tone would be -displeasing. This is Bairam, and the people during the three days' feast -succeeding the dismal Ramadan Fast are in their most radiant dresses, -and revelry and feasting are going on everywhere. Such a mass of moving -colour as was the market place of Rosetta to-day these eyes, that have -seen so much, never looked upon before. - -"At last, when we had climbed into enough mosques and poked about into -houses, and through all the bazaars (the fish bazaar was trying), we -went down to the landing stage and took boat for the trysting place, -about a mile up the broad, wind-lashed Nile. Will and the Bishop of -Clifton, sole remaining straggler from the late pilgrimage to the Holy -Land, and half our party had gone on before us; and, after a quick sail -along the palm-fringed bank, we arrived at the pretty landing place -chosen for our picnic. We found a tent pitched and the servants busy -laying the cloth under a dense sycamore, close to an old mosque whose -onion-shaped dome and Arab minaret gave me great pleasure as we came in -sight of them. I was impatient to make a sketch. I lost no time, and -went off and established myself in a palm grove with my water colours. -The usual Egyptian drawbacks, however, were there--flies, and puffs of -sand blown into one's eyes and powdering one's paints. On the Mahmoudieh -Canal I am exempt from the sand nuisance, and nothing can be pleasanter -than my experience there, sitting in an open carriage with the hood up, -and not a soul to bother me. - -"Our return to Rosetta was lively. As we were then going against the -wind, we had to be towed from the shore, and it was very interesting to -watch the agility of our crew dodging in and out of the boats moored -under the bank and deftly disengaging the tow-rope from the spars and -rigging of these vessels. A tall Circassian _effendi_ of police cantered -on his little Arab along the bank to see that all went well with us. The -other half of our party chose to sail and progress by laborious tacking -from one side of the wide river to the other, and arrived long after we -did. We all met at the house of the Syrian postmaster, where he and his -pretty little wife received us with native politeness, and gave us -coffee and sweets. Our return journey was most pleasant, and we got to -Alexandria at 8 p.m. Twelve charming hours. - -"_May 24th._--The Queen's birthday. Trooping of the colour at 5 p.m. on -the Moharrem Bey Ground. Most successful. Will, mounted on a powerful -chestnut, did look a commanding figure as he raised his plumed helmet -and led the ringing cheers for the Queen which brought the pretty -ceremony to a close. The sun was near setting behind the height of -Komeldik, and lit up the roses in the men's helmets and garlanded round -the standard. In the evening a dull and solemn dinner to the heads of -departments and their wives. A difficult function. We had the band of -the Suffolks playing outside the windows, which were wide open on the -sea. I went out sketching in the morning, very early. I should have been -at my post all day on such an occasion, I confess. Will said I was like -Nero, fiddling while Rome was burning. - -"_May 29th._--The Mediterranean Fleet is here. Great interchange of -cards, firing of salutes, etc., etc. All very ceremonious, but -productive of picturesqueness and colour and effect, so I like it very -much. The Khedive Tewfik, too, has arrived, with the Khediviah, for the -hot season from Cairo. Will, of course, had to be present at the station -this morning for the reception of our puppet, and it was not nice to see -the Union Jack down in the dust as the guard of honour of the Suffolks -gave the salute. Our dinner to-night was to the admiral and officers of -the newly-arrived British squadron. - -"_June 2nd._--To the Khediviah's first reception at the harem of the -Ras-el-Tin Palace. I had two Englishwomen to present, rather an -unmanageable pair, as seniority appeared to be claimed erroneously at -the last moment by the junior. This reception has become a most dull -affair now that Oriental ways are done away with. Dancing girls no -longer amuse the guests, nor handmaidens cater to them with sweetmeats -during the audience, and there is nothing left but absolute emptiness. -The Vice-Reine sits, in European dress, on a divan at the end of a vast -hall, and the visitors sit in a semi-circle before her on hard European -chairs reflected in a polished _parquet_, speaking to each other in -whispers and furtively sipping coffee. She addresses a few remarks to -those nearest her, and the pauses are articulated by the click of the -ever-moving fans of the assembly. The ladies-in-waiting and girl slaves -move about in a mooning way in the funniest frocks, supposed to be -European, but some of them absolutely frumpish. Melancholy eunuchs of -the bluest black, in glossy frock coats, rise and bow as one passes -along the passages to or from the presence, and it is a relief to get -out through the jealously-walled garden into the outer world. - -"I find it difficult to converse in a harem, being so bad at small talk. -I upset the Vice-Reine's equanimity by telling her (which was quite -true) that I had heard she was taking lessons in painting. '_Moi, -madame?!! Oh! je n'aurais pas le courage!_' It was as bad as when I told -her, in Cairo, how much I liked poking about the bazaars. '_Vous allez -dans les bazaars, madame?!!_' So I relapsed into talking of illnesses, -which subject I have always found touches the proper note in a harem. -They say the Vice-Reine delights in these audiences, as they are -amongst the great events of her days. She is a beautiful woman, a -Circassian, and of lovely whiteness. - -"Finished the delicate sketch of the loveliest bit of the canal, where -the pink minaret and the black cypress are. I wish I could do just one -more reach of that lovely waterway before I leave! There is a particular -group of oleanders nodding with heavy pink blossom by the water's edge -against a soft blurred background of tamarisk, where women and girls in -dark blue, brilliant orange, and rose-coloured robes come down to fetch -water in their amphorae. There is another reach lined for the whole -length of the picture with tall waving canebrakes, above whose tender -green tops appears the delicate distance of the lagoons of Mareotis; -there is--but ah! each bend of that canal reveals fresh beauties, and -often as Will has driven me there, I am as eager as ever to miss no -point in the lovely sequence. - -"_June 14th._--All my days now I am sketching more continuously, as the -arduous work of paying calls has relaxed greatly. This evening we drove -again far beyond Ramleh on the old route followed by Napoleon to reach -Aboukir, and I finished the sketch there." - -And so on, till my departure a few days later. I had wisely left my oils -at home at Delgany, and thus got together a much larger number of -subjects, the handier medium of water-colour being better suited to the -official life I had to attend to. - - - - -CHAPTER XVII - -MORE OF THE EAST - - -My return voyage was made on board the Messageries boat to Marseilles. -This gave me the Straits of Messina as well as those of Bonifacio. On -passing Ajaccio I don't think a single French passenger gave a thought -to Napoleon. I was intent on taking in every detail of that place, as -far as I could see it through a morning mist. Corsica looked very grand, -crowned with great snow-capped mountains. - -I lost no time in getting home to the children, and passed the rest of -the summer in the green loveliness of Ireland, returning to Egypt, in -the following October, _via_ Venice again. Every soldier's wife knows -what it is to be torn in two between the husband far away abroad and the -children one must leave at home. The trial is great, no doubt of it. -Then there is this perplexity: whether it would be well to take one of -the children with one and risk the dangers of the journey and the -climate at the other end. Parents pay heavily for our far-flung Empire! - -On the morning of my departure from Venice I woke to the call of the -sunbeams pouring into my room, and, behold, as I went to the window, the -dome of the "Salute" taking the salute, as we say in the Army, of the -sunrise! And the Dogana's gilded globe responding, too. Joy! our start -at least will be calm. Till midday I had Venice to myself, and I could -stroll about the Piazza and little streets, and recollect myself in -peaceful meditation in St. Mark's. What delicate loveliness is that of -Venice! Those russet reds and creamy whites and tender yellows, and here -and there bits of deep indigo blue to give emphasis to the colour -scheme. And that tender opalesque sky, and the gilded statues on domes -and towers, and the rich mosaics twinkling in the hazy light! These -things make one feel a love for Venice which is full of gratitude for so -beautiful a thing. - -At 12.30 I took gondola and was rowed to my old friend the _Hydaspes_ -lying in the Giudecca, and was just in time to sit down to a truly -Hydaspian luncheon, which was crowded. To my indescribable relief the -captain told me I should have a cabin all to myself as last time. At two -o'clock we cast off, and that effective passage all along the front of -the city was again made which so impressed me the preceding spring; and -then we turned off seawards, winding through the channel marked out by -those white posts with black heads which, even in their humble way, are -so harmonious in tone and are beloved by painters, carrying out as they -do the whole artistic scheme. Every fishing boat we met or overtook gave -one a study of harmonies. Now it was an orange sail with a red upper -corner in soft sunlight against the flat blue-purple of the distant -mountains and the vivid green of the Lido; now, composing with a line of -rosy, snowy mountain tops that lay like massive clouds on the horizon, -would rise a pale cool grey-white sail, well in the foreground, with its -upper part tinted a soft mouse-grey and its lower border deep -terra-cotta red. The sea, pale blue; the sky thinly veiled with clouds -of a rosy dove-grey. Nowhere does one see such delicacy of colouring as -here. Then the market boats looked well, full of vegetables, whose cool -green came just where it should for the completion of the colour study. -To think that the Local Board, or whatever those modern vulgarians are -called, of Venice are advocating the complete suppression of those -coloured sails, to be replaced by plain white ones all round. Hands off, -_mascalzoni!_ All this enchantment gradually faded away in the mists of -evening and of distance, and we were soon well out to sea. - -"_Sunday._--At 9 a.m. Brindisi in bright, low sunshine," says the Diary. -"To Missa Cantata; much pleasant strolling. What animation all day with -the loading and unloading, the coming and going of passengers, the cries -and laughter of the population thronging the quays! The _Britannia_ from -London was already in, and I watched the transfer of my heavy luggage -from her to the _Hydaspes_ with a hawk's eye. I had a genuine compliment -on landing paid to my accent. Those pests, the little beggar boys, who -hang on to the English and can't be shaken off, attacked me at first -till I turned on them and shouted, '_Via, birrrrichini!_' One of them -pulled the others away: 'Come away, don't you see she is not English!' -The Italians still think _Gl' Inglesi_ are all millionaires and made of -_scudi_. - -"_November 12th._--What indescribable joy this afternoon to see the crew -busy with the preparations for our arrival to-morrow morning! - -"_November 13th._--Of course I began to get ready at 3 a.m. and peer out -of the porthole on the waste of starlit waters as I felt the ship -stopping off the distant lighthouse. We lay to a long time waiting for -the dawn before proceeding to enter the harbour. The sun rose behind the -city just as we turned into the port. I looked towards the distant -landing stage. Half a mile off, with my wonderful sight, I saw Will, -though the sun was right in my eyes. I knew him not only by his height, -but by the shining gold band round his cap. We were a long time coming -in and swinging round alongside, and, before the gangway was well down, -Will sprang on to it and, in spite of the warning shouts of the sailors, -was the first to board the _Hydaspes_." - -I was back in Egypt; to be there once more was bliss. The now brimming -Mahmoudieh saw me haunting it again; the predominating red of the -flowering trees and creepers that I noted before had made place for -enchanting variations of yellow, and all the vegetation had deepened. -The heat was great at first. I was particularly struck by the enhanced -beauty of the date palms, whose golden and deep purple fruit now hung in -clusters under the graceful branches. But all too soon came a good deal -of rain, to my indignation. Rain in Egypt! The natives say we have -brought it with us. I never saw any in Cairo nor upstream. - -The Governor of the city had invited us to make use of a little -_dahabiyeh_, the _Rose_, for a cruise on the Lower Nile, and on November -20th we started. My husband had already welcomed on their arrival, in a -worthy manner, the officers of the French fleet, with whom he was in -perfect sympathy; but my Diary records the happy necessity for our -departure by the scheduled time on board the _Rose_ on that very -November 20th. That morning the German squadron arrived and the thunder -of its guns gave us an unintentional send-off! They were duly honoured, -of course, but the General himself was away. - -It was a nine days' cruise to the mouth of the Nile and back. Quite a -different reading of the Nile from the one I have recorded in my letters -to my mother, and reproduced in "From Sketch Book and Diary." Very few -tourists or even serious travellers have come so far down, so that one -is less afraid of being forestalled by abler writers in recording one's -impressions there. It was pretty to see the big Turkish flag fluttering -at our helm, and a beautifully disproportionate pennon streaming in -crimson magnificence from the point of the little vessel's curved -felucca spar. But our first days were damping: "_November 22nd._--Oh, -the rain! Alas! that I should know Egypt under such deluges, and see in -this land the deepest, ugliest mud in the world. We had to moor off the -residence of the Bey, to whom this _dahabiyeh_ belongs, last night, as -we wished to pay him our respects and tender him our thanks this -morning. He made us stay to luncheon, and a very excellent Arab repast -it was. I got on well with him as he spoke excellent French, but his -mother! Oh! it was heavy, as she could only talk Turkish, and my -translated remarks didn't even get a smile out of her. I must say the -Mohammedan women are deadly. - -"We proceeded on our voyage very late in the day, on account of this -visit which common civility made necessary. The weather brightened up at -sunset and nothing more weird have I ever seen than the mud villages, -cemeteries, lonely tombs, goats, buffaloes and wild human beings that -loomed on the banks as we glided by, brown and black against that sky -full of racing clouds that seemed red-hot from the great fiery globe -that had just sunk below the palm-fringed horizon. These canal banks -might give many people the horrors. I certainly think them in this -weather the most uncanny bits of manipulated nature I have ever seen. I -was fortunate in getting down in colour such a telling thing, a goatherd -in a Bedouin's burnous, which was wildly flapping in the hot wind -against the red glow in the west, driving a herd of those goats I find -so effective, with their long, pendant ears, and kids skipping in impish -gambols in front. 'Apocalyptic' apparition, caught, as we left it -astern, in that portentous gloaming! I shall make something of this. As -to the inhabitants of those regions, to contemplate their life is too -depressing. As darkness comes on you see them creeping into their -unlighted mud hovels like their animals. On the Upper Nile, at least, -the fellaheen have glorious air, the sun, the clean, dry sand, but here -in that mud----! - -"_November 23rd_.--No more rain. At Atfeh we left the canal at last, by -a lock, and I gave a sigh of relief and contentment, for we were on the -broad bosom of Old Nile. After a delay at this mud town to buy -provisions we pushed out into the current and with eight immensely long -'sweeps' (the wind was against sailing) we made a good run to Rosetta, -on whose mud bank we thumped by the light of a pale moon. The rhythmic -sound of those splashing oars and of the chant of the oarsmen in the -minor key, with barbaric 'intervals' unknown to our music, continued to -echo in my ears--it all seemed wild and strange and haunting. - -"_November 24th_.--Began this morning a sketch of Rosetta to finish on -our return from rounding up our outward voyage at the western mouth of -the great river where we saw it emerge into a very desolate, grey -Mediterranean. I may now say I have a very good idea of the mighty -river for upward of a thousand miles of its course--a good bit further, -both below and above stream, than the authoress of 'A Thousand Miles up -the Nile' knew it, whom in my early days I longed to emulate and, if -possible, surpass! An old-fashioned book, now, I suppose, but all the -more interesting for that. Furling sail, for the wind had been fair -to-day, we turned and were towed back to Fort St. Julian, where we -moored for the night. - -"_November 25th_.--After a nice little sketch of the Fort St. Julian, -celebrated in Napoleonic annals, we started off, and reached Rosetta in -good time, so that I was able most satisfactorily to finish my large -water-colour of the place. I was rather bothered where I sat at the -water's edge by the small boys and a very persistent pelican, which kept -flying from the river into the fish market and returning with stolen -fish, to souse them in the water before filling its pouch, in time to -avoid capture by the pursuing brats. - -"_November 26th_.--From Rosetta we glided pleasantly to Metubis, one of -the many shining cities, as seen from afar, that become heaps of squalid -dwellings when viewed at close quarters. But the minarets of those -phantom cities remain erect in all their beauty, and this city in -particular was transfigured by the most magnificent sunset I have ever -seen, even here." - -The wild town of Syndioor was our mooring place for the next night, and -at sunrise we were off homewards. Syndioor and the opposite city of -Deyrout were veiled in a soft mist, out of which rose their tall -minarets in stately beauty, radiant in the level light. The effect on -the mind of these ruined places, once magnificent centres of commerce -and luxury, is quite extraordinary. They are now, all of them, -derelicts. And so in time we slipped back into the canal, landing under -the oleanders of our starting place. The crew kissed hands, the _reis_ -made his obeisance, and we returned to the hard stones and rattle of the -Boulevard de Ramleh, refreshed. The Germans were gone. - -Balls, picnics, gymkhanas and dinners were varied by intervals of -water-colour sketching in the desert. One picnic, out at Mex, to the -west of Alexandria, was distinguished by a great camel ride we all had -on the soft-paced, mouse-coloured mounts of the Camel Corps, the -Englishwomen looking so nice in their well-cut riding habits, sitting -easily on their tall steeds. I managed to secure several sketches that -day of the men and camels of the corps, and have one sketch of ourselves -starting for our turn in the desert. Our ponies took us back home. The -sort of day I liked. As I record, the completeness of my enjoyment was -caused by my having been able to put some useful work in, as usual. I -had a Camel Corps picture _in petto_ at this time. - -"_February 13th_, 1891.--We had the Duke of Cambridge to luncheon. He -arrived yesterday on board the _Surprise_ from Malta, and Will, of -course, received him officially, but not royally, as he is travelling -incog., and he came here to tea. To-day we had a large party to meet -him, and a very genial luncheon it was, not to say rollicking. The day -was exquisite, and out of the open windows the sea sparkled, blue and -calm. H.R.H. seemed to me rather feeble, but in the best of humours; a -wonderful old man to come to Egypt for the first time at seventy-two, -braving this burning sun and with such a high colour to begin with! One -felt as though one was talking to George III. to hear the 'What, what, -what? Who, who, who? Why, why, why?' Col. Lane, one of his suite, said -he had never seen him in better spirits. I was gratified at his praise -of our cook--very loud praise, literally, as he is not only rather deaf -himself, but speaks to people as though they also were a 'little hard of -hearing.' 'Very good cook, my dear' (to me). 'Very good cook, Butler' -(across the table to Will). 'Very good cook, eh, Sykes?' (very loud to -Christopher Sykes, further off). 'You are a _gourmet_, you know better -about these things than I do, eh?' C. S.: 'I ought to have learnt -something about it at Gloucester House, sir!' H.R.H. (to me): 'Your -health, my dear.' 'Butler, your very good health!' Aside to me: 'What's -the Consul's name?' I: 'Sir Charles Cookson.' 'Sir Charles, your -health!' When I hand the salt to H.R.H. he stops my hand: 'I wouldn't -quarrel with her for the world, Butler.' And so the feast goes on, our -august guest plying me with questions about the relationship and -antecedents of every one at the table; about the manners and customs of -the populace of Alexandria; the state of commerce; the climate. I answer -to the best of my ability with the most unsatisfactory information. He -started at four for Cairo, leaving a most kindly impression on my -memory. The last of the old Georgian type! 'Your mutton was good, my -dear; not at all _goaty_,' were his valedictory words." - -Mutton _is_ goaty in Egypt unless well selected. I advise travellers to -confine themselves to the good poultry, and to leave meat alone. What I -would have done without our dear, good old Magro, the major domo who did -my housekeeping out there, I dread to think. His name, denoting a lean -habit of body, was a misnomer, for he was rotund. A good, honest -Maltese, his devotion to "Sair William" was really touching. I was only -as the moon is to the sun, and to serve the sun he would, I am -convinced, have risked his life. I came in for his devotion to myself by -reason of my reflected glory. One morning he came hurtling towards me, -through the rooms, waving aloft what at first looked like a red -republican flag, but it proved to be a sirloin or other portion of -bovine anatomy which he had had the luck to purchase in the market (good -beef being so rare). "Look, miladi, you will not often meet such beef -walking in the street!" He laid it out for my admiration. This is the -way he used to ask me for the daily orders: "What will miladi command -for dinner?" "Cutlets?" (patting his ribs); "a loin?" (indications of -lumbago); "or a leg?" (advancing that limb); "or, for a delicate -_entree_, brains?" (laying a finger on his perspiring forehead). "Oh, -for goodness' sake, Magro, not brains!" When the day's work was done he -would retire to what we called the "Ah!-poor-me-room"--his -boudoir--where, repeating aloud those words so dear to his nationality, -he would take up his cigar. Government gave him L250 a year for all this -expenditure of zeal. - -While on the subject of Oriental housekeeping, I must record the -following. Our predecessors of a former time had what to me would have -been an experience difficult to recover from. They were giving a large -Christmas dinner, and the cook, proud of the pudding he had mastered the -intricacies of, insisted on bringing it in himself, all ablaze. It was -only a few steps from the kitchen to the dining-room. Holding the great -dish well up before him, he unfortunately set fire to his beard, and the -effect of his dusky face approaching in the subdued light of the door, -illuminated in that way by blue flames, must have been satanic. - -"_March 14th_.--Lord Charles Beresford, who has relieved the other ship -with the _Undaunted_, invited us all to luncheon on board, but Will and -I could not stay to luncheon as we had guests; nevertheless, we had a -very interesting morning on board. On arriving at the Marina we found -Lady Charles, Lady Edmund Talbot, Colonel Kitchener,[10] whose light, -rather tiger-like eyes in that sunburnt face slightly frightened me, and -others waiting to go with us to the _Undaunted_ in the ship's barge and -a steam launch. Lord Charles received us with his usual sailor-like -welcome, and we had a tremendous inspection of the ship, one of our -latest experiments in naval machinery--a belted cruiser. She will -probably cruise to the bottom if ever the real test comes. A torpedo was -fired for us, but it gambolled away like a porpoise, ending by plunging -into a mudbank. I wish they would diverge their direction like that in -war, detestable inventions! - -"_April 1st_, 1891.--I am now quite in the full swing of Egyptian -enjoyment. No more Egyptian rain! Excellent accounts from home, and my -intention of going back is rendered unnecessary. How thankful I am, on -the eve of our departure for Palestine, for the 'all well' from home!" - -My entries in the Diary during that unique journey, and my letters to my -mother, are published in my book, "Letters from the Holy Land." I -illustrated it with the water colours I made during our pilgrimage, and -I was most delighted to find the little book had an utterly unexpected -success. It was nice to find myself among the writers! To have ridden -through this land from end to end is to have experienced a pleasure such -as no other part of the earth can give us. Had I had no more joy in -store for me, that would have been enough. - -As the railway was not opened till the following year the mind was not -disturbed, and could concentrate on the scenes before it with all the -recollection it required. I called our progress "riding through the -Bible." Many a local allusion in both Testaments, which had seemed vague -or difficult to appreciate before, opened out, so to say, before one's -happy vision, and gave a substance, a vitality to the Scripture -narrative which produced a satisfaction delightful to experience. -Perhaps the strongest longing in my childhood's mind had been to do this -journey. To do it as we did, just our two selves, and in the fresh -spring weather, was a happy circumstance. - -As I look back to that time which we spent amidst the scenes of Our -Lord's revealed life on earth, no portion of it produces such a sense of -mental peace as does the night of our arrival on the shores of the Sea -of Galilee. _There_ there were no crowds, no distractions, not a thing -to jar on the mind. Before and around one, as one sat on the pebbly -strand, appeared the very outlines of the hills His eyes had rested on, -and far from modern life encroaching on one's sensitiveness, the cities -that lined those sacred shores in His time had disappeared like one of -the fleeting cloud shadows which the moon was casting all along their -ruined sites. His words came back with a poignant force, "Woe unto -thee, Chorazin! Woe unto thee, Bethsaida!... and thou, Capernaum, which -art exalted unto heaven...." Where were they? And the high waves raced -foaming and breaking on the shingle, blown by a strong though mild wind -that came across from the dark cliffs of the country of the Gadarenes. -One seemed to feel His approach where He had so often walked. One can -hardly speak of the awe which that feeling brought to the mind. He was -quite near! - -Undoubtedly the effect of a journey through the Holy Land _does_ -permanently impress itself upon one's life. It is a tremendous -experience to be brought thus face to face with the Gospel narrative. We -returned to the modern world on May 1st. This time I left Alexandria in -company with my husband on June 3rd, and on landing at Venice we at once -went on to Verona, where he was anxious to visit the battlefield of -Arcole. - - - - -CHAPTER XVIII - -THE LAST OF EGYPT - - -Here at Verona was Italy in her richest dress, her abundant and varied -crops filling the landscape, one might say, to overflowing; not a space -of soil left untilled, and, all the way along our road to San Bonifacio -for Arcole, the snow-capped Alps were shimmering in the blue atmosphere -on one hand, and a great teeming plain stretched away to the horizon on -the other. - -I noticed the fine physique of the peasantry, and their nice ways. Every -peasant man we met on the road raised his hat to us as we passed. At San -Bonifacio we got out of the carriage and, turning to the right, we -walked to Arcole, becoming exclusively Napoleonic on reaching the famous -marsh. History says that a soldier saved Napoleon from drowning early in -the battle by pulling him out of the water in that marsh, "by the hair!" -I pondered this _bald_ statement, and came to the conclusion that the -thing must have happened in this wise. Young Bonaparte in those early -days wore his hair very long, and gathered up into a queue. Had he been -close-cropped, as his later experience in Egypt compelled him to be, the -history of the world might have been very different. As I looked into -the water from the famous little bridge, I saw the place where the young -conqueror slipped and plunged in. The soldier must have caught hold of -the pigtail, and with the good grip it afforded him pulled his drowning -general out. Between the little bridge and the spot where he sank -Napoleon raised the obelisk which we see to-day. Thus do I like to -realise interesting events in history. - -Our driver on the way back became a dreadful bore, for ever turning on -the box to chatter. First he informed us that Arcole was called after -Hercules, "a very strong man" (great thumping of biceps to illustrate -his meaning), which we knew before. Then, when within sight of the -battlefield of Custozza, where our dear Italians got such a "dusting" -from the Austrians, he informed us that he had been in the battle, and -that the Italians had _blasted_ the enemy. "_Li abbiamo fulminati_." -"Oh, shut up, do! _Basta, caro!_" - -Our afternoon stroll all over Verona merged into a moonlight one which -takes first rank in my Italian chronicles. The effect of a roaring -Alpine torrent (for such is the Adige at this season of melting snows) -rushing and swirling through the heart of that ancient city, between -embankments bordered with domed churches, with towers and palaces, I -found quite unique. Mysterious, too, it all felt in the lights and -profound shades of the moonlight. Above rose the hills with very -striking serrated outlines, crowned with fortresses. - -The rest of the summer saw me at home at Delgany. I must say the "Green -Isle" for summer, following Egypt for winter, makes a very pleasant -combination. My husband had returned to Alexandria on August 23rd, and I -and a wee child followed in November. I had half accomplished my next -Academy picture at home, and I took it out to finish in Egypt--"Halt on -a Forced March: Retreat to Corunna." A study of an artillery team this -time, giving the look of the spent horses, "lean unto war." It was very -well placed at the Academy in the fresh first room, and well received, -but it was too sad a subject, perhaps, so I have it still. There were no -half-starved horses in all Wicklow, I am happy to say, look where I -would for models. I had well-to-do ones to get tone and colour from, but -I bided my time. In Egypt I had plenty of choice, and had I not been -able to put the finishing touches to my team _there_, the picture would -never have been so strong--an instance of my favourite definition when I -am asked, "What is the secret of success?" "_Seize opportunities_." - -So on December 10th, 1891, I, with the little child I had safely brought -out with me, landed once more at Alexandria. The big charger and the -grey Syrian pony had now a black donkey alongside for the desert rides, -which were the chief pleasure of our life out there. - -But the winter grew sad. On January 7th, 1892, the Khedive Tewfik died -rather mysteriously, it was said, but his death was announced as the -result of that plague we call the "flu," which reached even to the East. -Just eight days later poor Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence, fell a -victim to it, and in the same way died Cardinal Manning. Also some of -our own friends at Alexandria went down. And yet never was there more -brilliant weather, so softly brilliant that one could hardly realise the -presence of danger. All the balls and other festivities were stopped, of -course. I had ample time to finish my "Halt on a Forced March" in this -long interval, so boring and depressing to Alexandrian society. Soon -things returned to pleasantly normal conditions, however, and being -free from the studio on sending my picture off, I went in -whole-heartedly for the amenities of my official position. The Private -View at the far-away Royal Academy was in my mind on the occasion of my -giving away the prizes at some athletic sports, for I knew it was just -then in full blast, April 29th, 1892. I knew my quiet picture could not -make anything of a stir, and I chaffed myself by suggesting that the -"three cheers and one cheer more" proposed by the English consul at the -end of the prize-giving, which rent the sunset air in that dusty plain -in my honour, should be all I ought to expect. It would be a _little_ -too much to receive applause in two quarters of the globe at the same -moment, allowing for difference of time! - -I call upon my Diary again: "_May 18th_.--We joined a picnic in the very -palm grove through which the Turks fled from the French pursuit under -Bonaparte to find death in the surf of Aboukir Bay. We were shaded by -clumps of pomegranate trees in flower as well as by the waving, rustling -palms, and a cool wind blew round us most pleasantly, while the white -and grey donkeys that brought us rested in groups, their drivers and the -villagers squatting about them in those unconsciously graceful attitudes -I love to jot down in my sketch book. The moving shadows of the palm -branches on the sand always capture my observation; no other tree -shadows produce that effect of ever-interlacing forms. Far away in the -radiant light lay the region where the terrible naval battle took place -later, to our credit. Altogether our party was surrounded by frightful -reminiscences, in the midst of which the picnic went its usual picnicky -way. We rode back to Alexandria by the light of the stars. - -"_May 23rd_.--A wonderful day, full of colour, movement and interest. -Young Abbas II., the new Khedive, was received here on his arrival from -Cairo, the whole population, swelled by strange wild Asiatics from -distant parts, filling the streets and squares through which he was to -pass. Will, of course, had to receive him at the station. The crowd -alone was a pleasure to look at. The Khedive seemed a squat young man -with a round pink and white painted face. They say he loves not the -English. What I enjoyed above all was the drive we took soon after, all -the length of the line of reception, to Ras-el-Tin. Oh, those narrow -streets of the old quarter, filled with numberless varieties of Oriental -costumes. Now and then the crowd was threaded by troops, some on -horseback, some perched on camels, and, to give the finishing touch of -variety, the native fire brigade went by, wearing the brass helmets of -their London _confreres_, very surprising headgear bonneting their black -and brown faces." - -I, with the little child, left for home on June 7th, _via_ Genoa, well -provided with a good stock of studies of camels and Camel Corps -troopers. These were for my 8-foot picture, destined for the next -Academy. Many a camel had I stalked about the Ramleh desert to watch its -mannerisms in movement. I got quite to revel in camels. Usually that -interesting beast is made utterly uninteresting in pictures, whereas if -you know him personally he is full of surprises and one never gets to -the end of him. - -The voyage to my dear old Genoa was full of beautiful sights, with one -exception. I don't know what old Naples was like--I know it was -frightfully dirty--but I saw it modernised into a very horrid town, a -smudge of ugliness on one of the ideal beauties of the world. It gave me -a shock on beholding it as we entered the harbour, and so I leave the -town itself severely alone, with its new, barrack-like buildings looking -gaunt and gritty in the burning June sunshine. The cloisters of the -Certosa at Sant' Elmo are very beautiful, and I much enjoyed the church -and the splendid "Descent from the Cross" of Spagnoletto. There was just -time for a dash up there before leaving at 12 noon. As we steamed out -towards Ischia I got the oft-painted (and, alas! oleographed) view of -Vesuvius across the whole extent of the bay from off Posilipo. Certainly -nowhere on earth can a fairer scene be beheld, and greater grace of -coast and mountain outline. Then the fair scene melted away into the -tender haze of the June afternoon--blue and tender grey, the volcanic -islands one by one disappeared and the day of my first sight of the Bay -of Naples closed. - -June 12th was a most memorable day, a day of deepest, sweetest, and -saddest impressions and memories for me. In the afternoon I made ready -for our approach to that part of the world where the brightest years of -my childhood were spent--the Gulf of Genoa. In order not to lose one -moment away from the contemplation of what we were approaching, I packed -up all our things before three o'clock, did all the _fin de voyage_ -paying and tipping, and then, my mind free for concentration, I -stationed myself at the starboard bulwark, binocular in hand. At long -last I saw in the haze of the lovely afternoon a shadowy outline of -rocky mountain which my heart, rather than my eyes, told me was Porto -Fino, for never had I seen it before from out at sea, at that angle. But -I knew where to look for it, and while to the other passengers we seemed -still out of sight of land I saw the shadowy form. Then little by little -the whole coast grew out of the haze and I saw again, one after the -other, the houses we lived in from Ruta to Albaro. With the powerful -glass I had I could see Villa de' Franchi and its sundial, and see how -many windows were open or shut at Villa Quartara as we passed Albaro, -and see the old, well-loved pine tree and cypress avenue of the latter -_palazzo_. - -"The sight of Genoa in the lurid sunset glow, with its steep, conical -mountains behind it, crowned with forts, half shrouded in dark grey -clouds, was very impressive. 'La Superba' looked her proudest thus seen -full face from the sea, seated on her rocky throne. By the by, when -_will_ people give up translating 'superba' by 'superb'? It is rather -trying. 'Genoa the Superb'! Ugh!" - -[Illustration: THE EGYPTIAN CAMEL-CORPS AND THE BERSAGLIERI.] - -I worked away well in the pleasant seclusion of Delgany, at my 8-foot -canvas whereon I carried very far forward my "Review of the Native Camel -Corps at Cairo." I had already a water-colour drawing of this subject, -which I had made while the scene was fresh in my mind's eye. I had been -indebted to the then General commanding at Cairo for the facilities -afforded me to see, at close quarters, a charge of the native Camel -Corps, which impressed me indelibly. I had driven out of Cairo to the -desert, where the manoeuvres were taking place, and, getting out of -the carriage opposite the saluting base, I placed myself in front of the -advancing squadrons, so timing things that I got well clear at the right -moment. I wanted as much of a full-face view as possible. The -attitudes of the men, wielding their whips, the movements of the camels, -the whole rush of the thing gave me such a sensation of advancing force -that, as soon as the "Halt!" was sounded, and the 300 animals had flung -themselves on their knees with the roar and snarl peculiar to those -creatures when required to exert themselves, I hastened back to -Shepheard's and marked down the salient points. The men were of all -shades, from _fellaheen_ yellow to the bluest black of Nubia, and it was -a striking moment when they all leapt off their saddles (as the camels -collapsed), panting, and beginning to re-set their disordered -accoutrements. In those days the saddles were covered with red morocco -leather, with fringed strips that flew out in the wind, adding, for the -artist, a welcome aid to the representation of motion. Now, of course, -that precious bit of colour is gone, and the necessity for khaki -invisibility reaches even to the camel saddle, which is now a stiff and -unattractive dun-coloured object. - -For my last and most brilliant visit to Egypt I took out our eldest -little girl, and a very enjoyable trip we had, _via_ Genoa. Of course, I -took out the picture to finish it on its native sands. I had the richest -choice of military camels, arms and accoutrements, and a native trooper -or two, as models, but only for studies. I was careful to have no posed -model to paint from in the studio, otherwise good-bye to movement. These -graceful Orientals become the stupidest, stiff lay figures the moment -you ask them to pose as models. Besides, the sincere Mohammedans refuse -to be painted at all. I have never used a Kodak myself, finding -snapshots of little value, but quick sketches done unbeknown to the -_sketchee_ and a good memory serve much better. The picture, I grieve to -say, was hung not very kindly at the Academy, but at the Paris Salon it -was received with all the appreciation I could desire. - -What pleased me particularly in this last sojourn in Egypt was our visit -to Cairo, where I was so happy during my first experience, when I -described my sensations as being comparable to swimming in Oriental -colour, light, and picturesqueness. The only thing that jarred was the -tyranny of Cairo society, which compelled one to appear at the -diversions, whether one liked it or not. Nevertheless, I gained a very -thorough knowledge of the wondrously beautiful mosques, having the -advantage of the guidance of one who knew them all intimately--Dean -Butcher. It was a true pleasure to have him as _cicerone_, and I am -grateful to him for his most kindly giving up his time for little C. and -me. My husband had long ago been acquainted with every nook and corner -of Cairo, but Dean Butcher had made a special study of these mosques, -and I think he was pleased with the way we took in the fascinating -information he gave me and the child. - -It's a far cry from Cairo to Aldershot! On November 1st, 1893, my -husband's command of the 2nd Infantry Brigade began there. Much as I -loved Egypt, it was a great delight for me to know that the parting from -the children was not to be repeated. I had had Egypt to my heart's -content. - -After returning home from Egypt, at Delgany, on June 17th, 1893, I set -up my next big picture, "The Reveil in the Bivouac of the Scots Greys on -the Morning of Waterloo--Early Dawn." I was able to make all my -twilight studies at home, all out of doors; not a thing painted in the -studio. I pressed many people into my service as models, and I think I -got the light on their fine Irish faces very true to nature. I even -caught an Irish dragoon home on leave in the village, whose splendid -profile I saw at once would be very telling. - - - - -CHAPTER XIX - -ALDERSHOT - - -And now our Irish home under the glorious Wicklow Mountains broke up, -and I was to become acquainted with life in the great English camp. The -huts for officers were still standing at that time, wooden bungalows of -the quaintest fashion, all the more pleasing to me for being unlike -ordinary houses. The old court-martial hut became my studio, four -skylights having been placed in it, and I was quite happy there. I -worked hard at "The Reveil," and finished it in that unconventional -workshop. - -To say that Aldershot society was brilliant would be very wide of the -mark. How could it be? But to us there was a very great attraction close -by, at Farnborough. There lived a woman who was and ever will be a very -remarkable figure in history, the Empress Eugenie. She hadn't forgotten -my husband's connection with her beloved son's tragic story out in South -Africa, nor her interview with him at Camden Place, and his management -of the Prince's funeral at Durban. We often took tea with her on Sundays -during our Aldershot period, her "At Home" day for intimate friends and -relatives, at the big house on the hill. She became very fond of talking -politics with _Sair William_, and always in English, and she used to sit -in that confidential way foreign politicians have, expressive of the -whispered divulgence of tremendous secrets and of occult plots and -plans in various parts of the world. She talked incessantly with him, -but was a bad listener; and if a subject came up in conversation which -did not interest her, a sharp snap or two of her fan would soon bring -things to a stop. - -[Illustration: ALDERSHOT MANOEUVRES. - -THE ENEMY IN SIGHT.] - -Entries from the Aldershot Diary: - -"_January 9th_, 1894.--We went to the memorial service at the Empress's -church in commemoration of the death of Napoleon III. After Mass we went -down to the crypt, where another short service was chanted and the tombs -of the Emperor and Prince Imperial were incensed. Between the two lies -the one awaiting the pathetic widow who was kneeling there shrouded with -black, a motionless, solitary figure, for whom one felt a very deep -respect. - -"_March 14th_.--Delightful dinner at Government House, where the Duke -and Duchess of Connaught proved most cheery host and hostess. He took me -to dinner, and we talked other than banalities. All the other generals' -wives and the generals and heads of departments were there to the number -of twenty-two. - -"_March 25th_.--To a brilliant dinner at Government House to meet the -Duke of Cambridge. Good old George was in splendid form, and asked me if -I remembered the lunch we gave him at Alexandria. It was a most cheery -evening. We sat down about twenty-eight, of whom only six were ladies. -Grenfell, our old friend of Genoese days, and Evelyn Wood were there. - -"_May 17th_.--A glorious day for the Queen's Review, which was certainly -a dazzling spectacle. Dear old Queen, it is many a long year since she -reviewed the Aldershot Division; nor would she have come but that her -son is now in supreme command here. Old people say it was like old -times, only that she has shrunk into a tinier woman than ever she was, -and by the side of the towering Duchess of Coburg in that spacious -carriage she looked indeed tiny, and nearly extinguished under a large -grey sunshade. A good place was reserved for my little carriage close to -the Royal Enclosure, and I enjoyed the congenial scene to the utmost. -Was I not in my element? The review took place on Laffan's Plain, a -glorious sweep of intense green turf which I often take little Martin to -for our morning walk, and no Aldershot dust annoyed us. I was very proud -of the general commanding the 2nd Brigade riding past the saluting base -at the head of his troops on that mighty charger, 'Heart of Oak,' that -fine golden bay, set off to the utmost advantage by the ceremonial -saddle-cloth and housings of blue and gold. That general gives the -salute with a very free sweep of the sword arm. The march past took a -long time. As to the crowd of officers behind the Queen's carriage, my -eyes positively ached with the sight of all that scarlet and gold. I -must say this scarlet is pushed too far to my mind. It must have now -reached the highest pitch of dyeing powers. It was a duller tone at -Waterloo; and certainly still more artistic when Cromwell first ordered -his men to wear it. But I may be wrong, and it is certainly very -splendid. The Duke of Cambridge and Prince of Wales were on huge black -chargers, and wore field marshals' uniforms. It was pretty to see the -Duke of Connaught--who, at the head of his staff, in front of the -division drawn up in line, had sat awaiting the Queen's arrival--canter -up to his mother and salute her as her carriage drove into the -enclosure. Then he cantered back to his place, a very graceful rider, -and the review began. I managed to do good work at 'The Reveil' in -forenoon. What a contrast and rest to the eyes that picture is after -such glittering spectacles as to-day's. War _versus_ Parade! It was -pathetic to see the Queen to-day with her soldiers. She cannot pass them -in review many more times. - -"The Empress Eugenie has returned, and we had a long interview with her -the other day at her beautiful home at Farnborough. She is by no means -the wreck and shadow some people are pleased to describe her as being, -but has the remains of a certain masculine power which I suppose was -very masterful in the great old days of her splendour. She is not too -tall, and has a fine, upright figure. She lives apparently altogether in -the memory of her son, and is surrounded by his portraits and relics, -including drawings showing him making his heroic stand, alone, forsaken, -against the savage enemy. I feel, as an Englishwoman, very uneasy and -remorseful while listening to that poor mother, with her tearful eyes, -as she speaks of her dead boy, who need not have been sacrificed. There -is no trace in her words of anger or reproach or contempt, only most -appealing grief. She has one window in the hall full to a height of many -feet of the tall grass which grows on the spot where her treasured son -was done to death by seventeen assegai wounds, all received full in -front. I remember his taking us over some artillery stables, I think, at -Woolwich once. He had a charming face. The Empress rightly described to -us the quality of the blue of his eyes--'the blue sky seen in water.' - -"We often go to her beautiful church these fine summer days. Her only -infirmity appears to be her rheumatism, which necessitates some one -giving her his arm to ascend or descend the sanctuary steps when she -goes to or comes from her _prie-Dieu_ to the right of the altar. -Sometimes it is M. Franceschini Pietri, sometimes it is the faithful old -servant Uhlmann who performs this duty. - -"_August 13th._--We have had the Queen down again for another review in -splendid (Queen's) weather. The night before the review Her Majesty gave -a dinner at the Pavilion to her generals, and for the first time in her -life sat down at table with them. Will gave me a most interesting -account. In the night there was a great military tattoo, which I -witnessed with C. from General Utterson's grounds. Very effective, if a -little too spun out. Will and the others were standing about the Queen's -and the Empress Eugenie's carriages all the time, in the grass soaked -with the heavy night dew, and felt all rather blue and bored. In the -Queen's carriage all was glum, while the Empress with her party chatted -helpfully in hers to fill up the time. It was pitch dark but for the -torches carried by long lines of troops in the distance. - -"To-day was made memorable by the review held of our brilliant little -division by the German Emperor on Laffan's Plain, in perfect weather. He -wore the uniform of our Royal Dragoons, of which regiment he is honorary -colonel, and rode a bay horse as finely trained as a circus horse (and -rather suggestive of one, as are his others, too, that are here), with -the curb reins passing somewhere towards the rider's knees, which supply -the place of the left hand, half the size of the right and apparently -almost powerless. The poor fellow's shoulders are padded, too, and one -sees a _hiatus_ between the false, square shoulder and the real one, -which is very sloping. But the general appearance was gallant, and the -young man seemed full of gaiety and martial spirit. He took the salute, -of course, and was a striking figure under the Union Jack which waved -over his British helmet. Then followed a little episode which, if rather -theatrical, was enlivening, and a pretty surprise. As the Royal -Dragoons' turn came to pass the saluting base the Kaiser drew his sword -and, darting away from his post, placed himself at the head of his -British regiment, the Duke of Connaught replacing him at the flagstaff -_pro tem_. The Kaiser couldn't salute himself, of course, so saluted the -Duke, and, when the Dragoons were clear, back he came at a circus canter -to resume his post and continue to receive the salute of the passing -legions, as before. We all clapped him for this graceful compliment. It -was smartly done. The detachment (seventy-five in number) had been sent -over from Dublin on purpose for this little display. In the evening Will -dined at Government House in a nest of Germans, who seemed afraid to sit -well upon their chairs in the august presence of their Emperor, and sat -on the very edge. One particularly corpulent general was very nearly -slipping off. I went to the evening reception, no wives being asked to -the dinner, as the dining-room is so small and the German suite so -voluminous. - -"I was at once presented to H.I.M., who talked to me, like a good boy, -about my painting and about the army, which he said he greatly admired -for its appearance. He is just now a keen Anglo-maniac (_sic_)! We shall -have him dressing one of his regiments in kilts next. He is not at all -as hard-looking as I expected, but not at all healthy. His face, seen -near, is unwholesome in its colour and texture, and the eyes have that -_boiled_ look which suggests a want of clarity in the system, it seems -to me. He is nice and natural in his manner and in the expression of his -face, with light brown moustache brushed up on his cheeks. He wore the -mess dress of the Royal Dragoons, and his right hand was twinkling with -very 'loud' rings on every finger, coiled serpents with jewelled eyes. - -"_August 14th._--A glorious sham fight in the Long Valley and heights -for the Kaiser. I shall always remember his appearance as, at the head -of a large and brilliant staff of Germans and English, he came suddenly -galloping up to the mound where I was standing with the children, -riding, this time, a white horse and wearing his silver English Dragoon -helmet without the plume. He seemed joyous as his eye took in the lovely -landscape and he sat some minutes looking down on the scene, -gesticulating as he brightly spoke to the deferential _pickelhauben_ -that bent down around him. He then dashed off down the hill and crested -another, with, if you please, C. on her father's huge grey second -charger careering after the gallant band, and escaping for an anxious -(to me) half-hour from my surveillance. The child looked like a fly on -that enormous animal which overtopped the crowd of staff horses. Adieu -to the old gunpowder smoke. It has cleared away for ever. One sees too -much nowadays, and that mystery of effect, so awful and so grand, caused -by the lurid smoke, is gone. How much writers and painters owe to the -old black powder of the days gone by! - -"_September 23rd._--Had a delightful evening, for we dined with the -Empress Eugenie. I seemed to be basking in the 'Napoleonic Idea' as I -sat at that table and saw my glass engraved with the Imperial 'N,' and -was aware of the historical portraits of the Bonaparte Era that hung -round the room. The Empress was full of bright conversation and chaff; -and I find, as I see her oftener, that she has plenty of humour and -enjoys a joke greatly. We didn't go in arm in arm, men and women, but -_Sa Majeste_ signed to me and another woman to go in on either side of -her. She called to Will to come and sit on her right. I was very happy -and in my element. Oh! how the mind feels relieved and expanded in that -atmosphere. We had music after dinner, and I had long talks on Egypt -with the Empress, whose recollections of that bright land are -particularly brilliant, she having been there during the jubilant -ceremonies in connection with the opening of the Suez Canal. One year -before the great calamities to her and her husband! She told me that -just for a freak she walked several times in and out between the two -pillars on the Piazzetta at Venice, that time, to brave Fate, who, it -was said, punished those who dared to do this. 'Then _les evenements_ -followed,' she added. Well might she say that life is an up and down -existence. She waved her hand up and down, very high and very low, as -she said it, with a very weary sigh. Her face is often very beautiful; -those eyes drooping at the outer corners look particularly lovely as -they are bent downwards, and her white hair is arranged most gracefully. -She is always in black. - -"Will has accepted the extension of his command here to my great -pleasure; the chief charm to us in this place is the neighbourhood of -the Empress. That makes Farnborough unique. Not only is she so -interesting, but now and then there are visitors at her house whose very -names are sonorous memories. The other day as we came into her presence -she went up to Will and asked him to let Prince Murat, Ney (Prince de la -Moscowa) and Massena (duc de Rivoli), see some of the regiments in his -brigade at their barracks. When the inspection was over these three -illustrious Names came to lunch with us, and I sat between Murat and -Massena, with _le Brave des Braves_ opposite. What's in a name? -Everything, sometimes. I thought myself a very favoured creature last -Sunday as I sat by Eugenie at her tea table and she sprinkled my muffin -with salt out of her little muffineer. I am glad to know she likes me -and she is very fond of Will. One Sunday she and I and the Marquise de -Gallifet were sitting together, and the Empress was talking to the -latter about 'The Roll Call,' pronouncing the name in English, but -Madame, who looked somewhat stony and unsympathetic, could not pronounce -the name when the Empress asked her to, and made a very funny thing out -of it. The Empress tried to teach her, making fun of her attempts which -became more and more comic, combined with her frigid expression. At last -the Empress turned to me and asked me to show how it ought to be said in -the proper way; but, as she had just given me an enormous chocolate -cream, I was for the moment unable to pronounce anything with this thing -in my cheek, and she went into fits of laughter as I made several -attempts to say the unfortunate name. So it was never pronounced, and -Madame la Marquise looked on as though she thought we were both rather -childish, which made the Empress laugh the more. The least thing, if it -is at all comical, sends her into one of her laughing fits which are -very catching--except by Gallifets. - -"Talking of camel riding (and they say she rode like a Bedouin in the -desert) I sent her into another fit which brought the tears to her eyes -by saying I always forgot '_quel bout de mon chameau se leve le -premier_' at starting. But she sent me into one of my own particular -fits the other day. I was telling her, in answer to her enquiry as to -insuring pictures on sending them by sea, that I thought only their -total loss would be paid for, and what the artist considered an injury -of a grave nature amounting to total loss might not be so considered by -the insurance company. 'And if,' she said, 'you have a portrait and a -hole is made right through one of the eyes?' Here she slowly closed her -left eye and looked at me stolidly with the right, to represent the -injured effigy, 'would you not get compensation?' The one-eyed portrait -continued to look at me out of the forlorn single eye with every vestige -of expression gone, and I laughed so much that I begged her to become -herself again, but she wouldn't, for a long time. - -"There has been a great deal of pheasant shooting, particularly at the -De Worms' at Henley Park, where a _chef_ at L500 a year has made that -hospitable house very attractive; but there has been one shoot at -Farnboro' made memorable by Franceschini Pietri distinguishing himself -with his erratic gunnery. Suddenly he was seen on a shutter, screaming, -as the servants bore him to the house. Every one thought he was wounded, -but it turned out he was sure he had hit somebody else, which happily -wasn't true. People are shy of having him, after that, at their shoots, -especially Baron de Worms, who showed me how he accoutred himself by -padding and goggles, one day, bullet-proof against that excitable little -southerner, who was a member of the party at Henley Park." - -After one of the Empress's dinners at Farnboro' Hill, a small dinner of -intimate friends, we had fun over a lottery which she had arranged, -making everything go off in the most sprightly French way. What easy, -pleasant society it was! One admired the courage which put on this -brightness, though all knew that the dead weight on the poor heart was -there, so that others should not feel depressed. Even with these kind -semblances of cheeriness no one could be unmindful of the abiding sorrow -in that woman's face. - -"_January 9th, 1895._--The anniversary of the Emperor Napoleon's death -come round again. There was quite a little stir during the service in -the church. The catafalque, heaped up with flowers, was surrounded with -scores of lighted tapers as it lay before the altar. A young priest, in -a laced _cotta_, went up to it to set a leaf or flower or something in -its place, when instantly one of his lace sleeves blazed. Almost -simultaneously the General, in full uniform, springing up the altar -steps without the smallest click of his sword, was at the priest's side, -beating out the fire. Not another soul in that crowded place had seen -anything. That was like Will! We laid wreaths on the tombs in the -crypt." - -An entry in March of that year records good progress with "The Dawn of -Waterloo," and mentions that we had the honour of receiving the Empress -Frederick and her hosts, the Connaughts, and their suites, who came to -see the picture. I found the Empress still more like her mother than -when I first saw her, when she and the Crown Prince Frederick dined at -the Goschens'--a memorable dinner, when the fine, serious-looking and -bearded Frederick told my husband he would desire nothing better for his -sons than that they should follow in his footsteps. The Empress was -beaming--that is exactly the word--and a few minutes after coming into -the drawing-room she showed that she was anxious to get on to the -studio, to save the light. So out we sallied, walking two and two, a -formidable procession, and we were nearly half an hour in the little -court-martial hut. They all had tea with us afterwards, quite filling -the tiny drawing-room. The Empress was very small, and as she talked to -me, looking up into my face, I thought her the most taking little woman -I ever saw. She had what I call the "Victoria charm," which all her -sisters shared with her--absolutely unstudied, homely, and exceedingly -friendly. At least it so appeared to me in a high degree in her that -day. But what a sorrow she had had to bear! - -The picture was taken to the Club House, there to be shown for three -days to the division before Sending-in Day. The idea was Will's, but I -got the thanks--undeserved, as I had been reluctant to brave the dust on -the wet paint. Crowds went to see it, from the generals down to the -traditional last drummer. - -I thought the Academicians were again unkind in the placing of my -picture, and a trip to Paris was all the more welcome as a diversion, -for there I was able to seek consolation in the treat of a plunge into -the best art in the "City of Light." One interesting day in May found us -at Malmaison, the country house of Napoleon and Josephine. There is -always something mournful in a house no longer tenanted which once -echoed the talk, the laughter, the comings and goings, the pleasant and -arresting sounds of voices that are long silent. But _this_ house, of -all houses! It was absolutely stripped of everything but Napoleon's -billiard table, and the worm-eaten bookshelves in his little musty study -the only "fixtures" left. The ceilings we found in holes; that garden, -once so much admired and enjoyed, choked with dusty nettles. We went -into every room--the one where poor derelict Josephine died; the guests' -bedrooms; the dining-room where Napoleon took his hurried meals; the -library where he studied; the billiard-room, where he himself often took -part in a game surrounded by "fair women and brave men" in the glitter -of gorgeous uniforms and radiant _toilettes_. One lends one's mind's ear -to the daily and nightly sounds outside--the clatter of horses' hoofs as -the staff ride in and out of the courtyards with momentous despatches; -the sharp words of command; the announcement of urgent arrivals -demanding instant hearing. We found our minds revelling in suchlike -imaginings. The chapel, the coach-houses, the great iron gates were all -there, but seen as in a dream. - -We were back at Aldershot on May 30th. "The Queen's Ball, at Buckingham -Palace, brilliant as ever. The Shahzada, the Ameer of Afghanistan's son, -was the guest of the evening, as it is our policy just now to do him -particular honour, after having made his father 'sit up.' A pale, -wretched-looking Oriental, bored to tears! The usual delightful medley -of men of every nationality, civilised and semi-civilised, was there in -full splendour, but the rush of that crowd for the supper-room, in the -wake of royalty, was most unseemly. Every one got jammed, and it was -most unpleasant to have steel cartridge boxes and sword hilts sticking -into one's bare arms in the pressure. I think there was something wrong -this time with the doors. I was much complimented that night on my 'Dawn -of Waterloo,' but that was an inadequate salve to my wounded feelings. - -"_June 15th._--A great review here in honour of the young Shahzada, who -is being so highly honoured this season. I don't think I ever saw such a -large staff as surrounded that pallid princeling as he rode on to the -field. The whole thing was a long affair, and our bored visitor -refreshed himself occasionally with consolatory snuff. The whole of the -cavalry finished up, as usual, with a charge 'stem on,' and as the -formidable onrush neared the weedy youth he began to turn his horse -round, possibly suspecting deep-laid treachery." - -My husband and I were present when Cardinals Vaughan and Logue laid the -foundation stone of Westminster Cathedral. The luncheon that followed -was enlivened by some excellent speeches, especially Cardinal Logue's, -whose rich brogue rolled out some well-turned phrases. - -A week later we were at dinner at Farnborough Hill. "There was a large -house-party, including Princes Victor and Louis Napoleon, the elder a -taciturn, shy, dark man about thirty-three, and the younger an alert, -intelligent officer of thirty-one, who is a colonel in the Russian -cavalry, and is the hope and darling of the Bonapartists. I call him -Napoleon IV. Victor went in with the Empress to dinner and Louis with -me, but on taking our seats the two brothers exchanged places, so that I -sat on Victor's right. I had an uphill task to talk with the studious, -silent Victor, and found my right-hand neighbour much more pleasant -company, Sir Mackenzie Wallace. I had not caught his name and his accent -was so perfect and his idioms and turns of speech so irreproachable that -I never questioned his being a Frenchman. Away we went in the liveliest -manner with our French till suddenly we lapsed into English, why I don't -know. This gave the Empress her chance. She began chuckling behind her -toothpick and asked me in French if he had a good accent in speaking -English. 'Yes, madame, very good!' 'Ah? _really_ good?' (chuckle). -'Really good, madame.' 'Ah, that is well' (chuckle). I saw in Will's -face I was being chaffed and guessed the truth. Much laughter, -especially from Louis. He told Will, across the Empress, that he had -seen an engraving of 'Scotland for Ever' in a shop window in Moscow, and -had presented it to the mess of his own cavalry regiment, the Czar being -now colonel of the Scots Greys, and that he little expected so soon to -meet the painter of that picture. The dinner was very bright and -sparkling, so unlike a purely English one. How gratefully Will and I -conformed to the spirit of the thing. His Irish heart beats in harmony -with it. I didn't quite recover from my _faux pas_ at table, and, on our -taking leave, brought everything into line once more by wishing Prince -Louis '_Felicissima Sera!_' in a way denoting a bewilderment of mind -amidst such a confusion of tongues. I left amidst applause. - -"_July 8th._--There was a sham fight on the Fox Hills to-day to which -the two French princes went. Will mounted Victor on steady 'Roly Poly,' -and sent H. on 'Heart of Oak' to attend on His Imperial Highness -throughout the day. Louis was mounted by the Duke. My General loves to -honour a Napoleon, so, when he was riding home with Louis after the -fight, and the Guards were preparing to give the General the usual -salute, he begged the Imperial Colonel to take the salute himself. 'But, -General, I am not even in uniform!' answered Louis. 'One of your name, -sir, is always in uniform,' was the ready reply. So Louis took it. On -his way back to the Empress he stopped at our hut, and after a glass of -iced claret cup on this grilling day, he looked at my sketches, and at -the little oil picture I am painting for Miss S.--'Right Wheel!'--the -Scots Greys at manoeuvres. I wonder if he has it in him to make a bid -for the French Throne! - -"_July 12th._--The Queen came down to-day, and there was a very fine -display of the picked athletes of the army at the new gymnasium in the -afternoon, before Her Majesty, who did not leave her carriage. She -looked pleased and in great good humour. She gave a dinner to her -generals in the evening at the Pavilion as she did last year. Will sat -near her, and she kept nodding and smiling to him at intervals as he -carried on a lively conversation with Princesses Louise and Beatrice. -Her Majesty expanded into full contentment when nine pipers, supplied by -the three Highland Regiments of the Division, entered the room at the -close of dinner in full blast. They tell me that each regiment jealously -adhered to its own key for its skirls, or whatever the right word is, -and so in three different keys did the pibrochs bray, but this detail -was not particularly noticeable in the general hurly-burly. The Queen -stood it well, though in that confined space it must have tried her -nerves. Give me the bagpipes on the mountain side or in the desert, -where I have heard them and loved them. - -"_July 13th._--At a very fine review for the Queen, who brought her -usual weather with her. She looked well pleased, especially with the -stirring light cavalry charge at the close, when Brabazon pulled up his -line at full charging pace within about 12 yards (it seemed to me) of -the royal carriage. Really, for a moment, I thought, as the dark mass of -men and horses rolled towards us, that he had forgotten all about -'Halt!' It was a tremendous _tour de force_, and a bit of swagger on the -part of this dashing hussar. That group of the Queen in her carriage, -with the four white horses and scarlet coated servants; the Prince of -Wales and the rest of the glittering Staff; Prince Victor Napoleon in -civilian dress, his heavy face shaded by his tall black hat as he -uneasily sat his excited horse; the other carriages resplendent in red -and gold; the Empress's more sober equipage full of French _elegantes_, -and the wave of dark hussars bursting in a cloud of dust almost in -amongst the group, all the leaders of the charging squadrons with sabres -flung up and heads thrown back--what a sight to please me! I feel a -physical sensation of refreshment on such occasions. What discipline and -training this performance showed! Had one horse got out of hand he might -have flopped right into the Queen's lap. I saw one of the squadron -leaders give a little shiver when all was over. On getting home I was -doing something to the bearskins of my Scots Greys in 'Right Wheel,' -showing the way the wind blew the hair back, as I had just seen it at -the review, while fresh in my mind, when a servant came to tell me -Princess Louise was at the Hut. I had got into my painting dress with -sleeves turned up for coolness. I ran in, changed in half a minute, and -had a nice interview, the Duchess of Connaught being there also, and we -had one of those 'shoppy' art talks which the Duchess of Argyll likes. - -"_August 16th._--My 'At Home' day was made memorable by the appearance -of the Empress Eugenie, who brought a remedy for little Eileen's cold. -It was a plaster, which she showed me how to use. I cannot say how -touched we were by this act, so thoughtful and kind--that poor childless -widow! She seems to have a particularly tender feeling for Eileen, -indeed Mdlle. d'Allonville has told me so." - -The rest of the Aldershot Diary is filled with military activities up to -the date of the expiration of my husband's time there, and his -appointment to the command of the South Eastern District with Dover -Castle as our home. But between the two commands came an interlude -filled with a tour through some parts of Italy I had not seen before, -and a visit to the Villa Cyrnos at Cap Martin, whither the Empress had -invited us. - - - - -CHAPTER XX - -ITALY AGAIN - - -In January, 1896, we left Aldershot on a raw foggy day, with the usual -winter brown-paper sky, the essence of dreariness, on leave for the land -I love best. At Turin our train for Genoa was filled with poor young -soldiers off to Abyssinia, the Italian Government having followed our -example in the policy of "expansion"; with what success was soon seen. -An Italian told us that "good coffee" was to be had from there, amongst -other desirable commodities. So the poor young conscripts were being -sent to fetch the good coffee, etc. They were singing in a chorus of -tenor voices as they went, after affectionately kissing the comrades who -had come to see them off. - -At sunrise we arrived at Naples, Vesuvius looking like a great amethyst, -transparent in the golden haze from the sun which rose just behind it. I -must say the Neapolitan population struck me as very wretched; the men -were no better than the poor creatures one might see in Whitechapel any -day, and dressed, like them, in shoddy clothing. The poor skeleton mules -and horses were covered with picturesque brass-mounted harness instead -of flesh, and I saw no red-sashed, brown-limbed _lazzaroni_ such as were -supposed to dance _tarantelle_ on the shore. Certainly there is not much -dancing and singing in their hungry-looking descendants. - -January 17th was a memorable day, spent at Pompeii. One must see the -place for oneself. Familiar with it though you may be through books and -paintings, Pompeii takes you by surprise. The suddenness of that -entrance into the City of the Dead _is_ a surprise to a newcomer, such -as I was. To come into the city at once by the "Street of Tombs," which -carries you steeply upwards into the interior--no turnstiles at the -gate, no ticket collectors, no leave-your-umbrella-at-the-door; this -natural way of entering gave me a strange sensation as if I were walking -into the past. The present day was non-existent. Though we were three -and a half hours circulating about those theatres, baths, villas, shops, -through the narrow streets, with their deep ruts and stepping stones, I -was so absorbed in the fascination of realising the life of those days -that I never needed to rest for a moment, and the day had grown very -hot. One rather drags oneself through a museum, but we were here under -the sky, and Vesuvius, the author of this destruction, was there in very -truth, looking down on us as we wandered through the remnants of his -victim. - -As to beauty of colour there is here a great feast for the painter. What -could surpass, on a day like that, the simple beauty of those positive -reds and yellows and blues of walls and pillars in that light, -back-grounded by the tender blue of mountains delicately crested with -the white of their snows? The positive strong foreground colours -emphasised by the delicacy of the background! The absolute silence of -the place was impressive and very welcome. - -The Diary had better "carry on" here: "_Sunday, January 19th._--To Capri -and Sorrento on our way to Amalfi. There is a string of names! I feel I -can't pronounce them to myself with adequate relish. To Mass at 8, and -then at 9 by steamer to Capri, touching at Sorrento on our way. Three -hours' passage over a very dark blue sea, which was flecked with foam -off Castellamare. Capri is all I expected, a mass of orange and lemon -groves in its lower part, with wonderful crags soaring abruptly, in -places, out of the clear green water. Tiberius's villa is perched on the -edge of a fearful precipice that has memories connected with his -cruelties which one tries to smother. Indeed, all around one, in those -scenes of Nature's loveliness, the detestable doings of man against man -are but too persistently obtruding themselves on the mind which is -seeking only restful pleasure. - -"We were driven to the Hotel Quisisana ('Here one gets well'), very high -up on a steep ridge, where the village is, and were sorry to find our -pleasure marred by being set down to _dejeuner_ with as repulsive a -company of Teutons as one could see. The perspective of those feeding -faces, along the edge of the table, tried me horribly. They say the -Germans are outnumbering the British as tourists in Italy now. Nowhere -do their loud voices and rude manners jar upon our sensibility so -painfully as in Italy. The _Frau_ next to me actually sniffed at four -bottles out of the cruet in succession, poking them into her nose before -she satisfied herself that she had found the right sauce for her chop! -What's to be done with such people? - -"We had not much time to give to the lovely island, for the little -steamer had to take us to Sorrento at two o'clock. We put up there at -the Hotel Tramontano, and had a stroll at sunset, with views of the -coast and Vesuvius that spread out beyond the reach of my well-meaning, -but inadequate, pen. I can't help the impulse of recording the things of -beauty I have seen. It is owing to a wish to preserve such precious -things in my memory, to waste nothing of them, and to record my -gratitude as well." - -At Amalfi came the culmination to our long series of experiences of the -Neapolitan Riviera. The names of Amalfi, Ravello, Salerno and Paestum -will be with me to the end, in a halo of enchantment. - -On returning to Naples, of course, we paid our respects to Vesuvius. Our -climb to the highest point allowable of the erupting cone was not at all -enchanting, and left my mind in a most perturbed condition. There was -much food for meditation when our visit was over, but at the time one -had only leisure to receive impressions, and very disconcerting -impressions at that. A keen north wind blew the fumes from the crater -straight down my throat as I panted upwards through the sulphur, ankle -deep, and I could only think of my discomfort and probable collapse. I -disdained a litter. I perceived several fat Germans in litters. - -An even deeper impression was made on my mind than that produced by the -eruption proper on our coming, after much staggering over cold lava, -near a great, crawling river of liquid fire oozing out of the mountain's -side. Above our heads the great maw of the crater was throwing up bursts -of rock fragments with rumblings and growls from the cruel monster. I -wonder when that wild beast will make its next pounce? And down there, -far, far below, in the plain lay little Pompeii, its poor, tiny, -insignificant victim! Yes, for a thoughtful climber there was more than -the sulphurous north wind to make him pause. - -The little funicular railway had brought us up to the foot of the cone, -crunching laboriously over the shoulder of the mountain, and I could not -but think--"If the chain broke?" At one point the open truck seemed to -dangle over space. We were sitting with our faces turned towards the sea -and away from the cone, and (were we never to be rid of them?) two -corpulent Teutons faced us, hideously conspicuous, as having apparently -nothing but blue air behind them. There was no horizon at all to the -sea, the pale haze merging sea and sky into one. Then, when we alighted, -we found ourselves in a restaurant with Messrs. Cook & Co.'s waiters -running about. Certainly it was no time for meditating or moralising in -that medley of the prehistoric and the _fin de siecle_. - -I found Rome very much changed after the lapse of all those years since -I was there with our family during the last months of the Temporal -Power. I shall never forget the shock I felt when, to lead off, on our -arrival, I conducted my husband to the great balustrade on the Pincian -overlooking the city, promising him my favourite view. It was a truly -striking one in the far-off days, and quite beautiful. Instead of the -reposeful vineyards of the area facing us beyond the Tiber, fitting -middle distance between us and St. Peter's, gaunt buildings bordering -wide, straight, staring streets glistening with tramlines seemed to jeer -at me in vulgar triumph, and I am not sure that I did not shed tears in -private when we got back to our hotel. One fact, however, brought a -sense of mental expansion as I surveyed that view, which should have -made amends for the sensitive contraction of my artist's mind. That -great basilica yonder was mine now! A return to Rome had another touch -of sadness for me. Our father had been so happy there in introducing his -girls to the city he loved. He seemed now to be ever by my side as the -well-remembered haunts that were left unchanged were seen again. Leo -XIII. was now Pope. On one particular occasion in the Sistine Chapel, at -Mass, I was struck by the extraordinary effect of his white, utterly -ethereal face and fragile figure as he stood at the altar, relieved -against the background of Michael Angelo's exceedingly muscular "Last -Judgment." And, now, what of this "Last Judgment"? The action of our -Lord, splendidly rendered as giving the powerful realisation of the push -which that heavy arm is giving in menace to the condemned souls towards -the Abyss on His left (I had almost said the _shove!_), is realistic and -strong. But what a gross conception! Our modern minds cannot be -impressed by this fleshly rendering of such a subject, a rendering -suitable to the coarser fibre of the Middle Ages. I could positively -hate this fresco, were I not lured, as a painter, to admire its -technical power. - -Our visit to the Empress at Cap Martin followed, on our way home to -Aldershot. She received us with her usual genial grace. The place, of -course, ideal, and the typical blue weather. We were made very much at -home. Madame le Breton told me I was to wear a _table d'hote_ frock at -dinner, and Pietri told Sir William a black tie to the evening suit was -the order of the day. - -"_February 13th._--The Villa Cyrnos is in a wood of stone pines, -overhanging the sea on a promontory between Mentone and Monte Carlo. It -is in the French Riviera style, all very white--no Italian fresco -colouring. Plentiful striped awnings to keep off the intense sunlight. -Cool marble rooms, polished parquets, flowers in masses--a sense of -grateful freshness with reminders of the heat outside in the dancing -reflections from the sea. Indeed, this is a charming retreat. Madame -d'Arcos and her sister, Mrs. Vaughan, were there, who having just -arrived from England, were full of accounts of the arrival of the -remains of Prince Henry of Battenberg from Ashanti, and the funeral, at -which Madame d'Arcos had represented the Empress. The different episodes -were minutely described by her of this, the last act of the latest -tragedy in our Royal Family. She had a sympathetic listener in the poor -Empress. - -"_February 14th._--A sunny day marred, to me, by a visit to Monte Carlo, -where the gambling is in fullest activity. The Empress wanted us all to -go for a little cruise in a yacht, but though the sea was calm enough I -preferred _terra firma_, and her ladies drove me to Monte Carlo. Hateful -place! The lovely mountains were radiant in the low sunshine of that -afternoon and the sea sparkling with light, but a crowd of overdressed -riff-raff was circulating about the casino and pigeon-shooting place, -from which came the ceaseless crack of the cowardly, unsportsmanlike -guns. I record, with loathing, one fellow I saw who came on the green, -protected from the gentle air by a fur-lined coat which his valet took -charge of while his master maimed his allotted number of clipped -victims, and carefully replaced as soon as all the birds were down. A -black dog ran out to fetch each fluttering thing as it fell. I was glad -to see this hero was not an Englishman. Inside the casino the people -were massed round the gaming tables, the hard light from the circular -openings above each table bringing into relief the ugly lines of their -perspiring faces. The atmosphere was dusty and stifling, and the hands -of these horribly absorbed people were black with clawing in their gains -across the grimy green baize. I drank in the pure, cool air of the -sunset loveliness outside when I got free, with a very certain -persuasion that I would never pay a second visit, except under polite -compulsion, to the gambling palace of Monte Carlo. - -"_February 15th._--The Empress took us quite a long walk to see the -corps of the '_Alpins_' at the Mentone barracks and back by the rocky -paths along the shore. She is very active, and is looking beautiful. - -"_Sunday, February 16th._--All of us to Mass at the little Mentone -church. The dear Empress gave me a little holy picture during the -service and said, 'I want you to keep this.' There is at times something -very touching about her." - -I sent a small picture this year to the "New Gallery," instead of the -Academy, feeling still the effects of their unkindness in placing "The -Dawn of Waterloo" where they did the preceding year. - - - - -CHAPTER XXI - -THE DOVER COMMAND - - -And now Dover Castle rises into prominence above the horizon as I travel -onward. My husband was offered Colchester or Dover. He left the choice -to me. How could there be a doubt in my mind? The Castle was the very -ideal, to me, of a residence. Here was History, picturesqueness, a wide -view of the silver sea, and the line of the French coast to free the -mind of insularity. So to Dover we went, children, furniture, horses, -servants, dogs and all, from the Aldershot bungalow. As usual, I was -spared by Sir William all the trouble of the move, and while I was -comfortably harboured by my ever kind and hospitable friends, the -Sweetmans, in Queen's Gate, my husband was managing all the tiresome -work of the move. - -It was a pleasure to give dances at the Constables' Tower, and the -dinners were like feasts in the feudal times under that vaulted ceiling -of the Banqueting Hall. Our boys' bedroom in the older part of this -Constables' Tower had witnessed the death of King Stephen, and a winding -staircase conducted the unappreciative London servants by a rope to -their remote domiciles. The modernised part held the drawing-rooms, -morning-room, library, and chief bedrooms, while in the garden, walled -round by the ramparts, stood the tower whence Queen Mary is said to have -gazed upon her lost Calais. My studio had a balcony which overhung the -moat and drawbridge. What could I have better than that? No wonder I -accomplished a creditable picture there, for I had many advantages. I -place "Steady, the Drums and Fifes!" amongst those of my works with -which I am the least dissatisfied. The Academy treated me well this -time, and gave the picture a place of honour. These drummer-boys of the -old 57th Regiment, now the Middlesex, are waiting, under fire, for the -order to sound the advance, at the Battle of Albuera. That order was -long delayed, and they and the regiment had to bear the supreme test of -endurance, the keeping motionless under fire. A difficult subject, -excellent for literature, very trying for painting. I had had the vision -of those drummer-boys for many years before my mind's eye, and it is a -very obvious fact that what you see strongly in that way means a -successful realisation in paint. Circumstances were favourable at Dover. -The Gordon Boys' Home there gave me a variety of models in its -well-drilled lads, and my own boys were sufficiently grown to be of -great use, though, for obvious reasons, I could not include their dear -faces in so painful a scene. The yellow coatees, too, were a tremendous -relief to me after that red which is so hard to manage. I remember -asking Detaille if he ever thought of giving our army a turn. "I would -like to," he said, "but the red frightens us." The bandsmen of the -Peninsular War days wore coatees of the colour of the regimental -facings. After long and patient researches I found out this fact, and -the facings of the 57th, being canary yellow, I had an unexpected treat. -I remember how the Duke of York[11] at an Aldershot dinner had -characteristically caught up this fact with great interest when I told -him all about my preparations for this picture. I am glad to know this -work belongs to the old 57th, the "Die Hards," who won that title at -Albuera. "Die hard, men, die hard!" was their colonel's order on that -tremendous day. - -Many interesting events punctuated our official life at Dover: - -"_August 15th, 1896._--Great doings to-day. We had a busy time of it. -Lord Salisbury was installed Lord Warden in the place of Lord Dufferin. -Will had the direction, not only of the military part of the ceremonies -but of the social (in conjunction with me), as far as the Constables' -Tower was concerned. Everything went well. Lord and Lady Salisbury drove -in a carriage and four from Walmer up to our Tower, and, while the -procession was forming outside to escort them down to the town, they -rested in our drawing-room for about half an hour, and Lord Dufferin -also came in. - -"I had to converse with these exalted personages whilst officers in full -uniform and women in full toilettes came and went with clatter of sabre -and rustle of silk. To fill up the rather trying half-hour and being -expected to devote my attention chiefly to the new Lord Warden, I -bethought myself of conducting him to a window which gave a bird's-eye -view of the smoky little town below. I moralised, _a la_ Ruskin, on the -ugliness of the coal smoke which was smudging that view in particular, -and spoiling England in general. On reconducting the weighty Salisbury -to a rather fragile settee I morally and very nearly physically knocked -him over by this felicitous remark: 'Well, I have the consolation of -knowing that the coalfields of England are finite!' 'What?' he shouted, -with a bound which nearly broke the back of that settee. I don't think -he said anything more to me that day. Of course, I meant that smokeless -methods would have to be discovered for working our industries, but I -left that unsaid, feeling very small. It is my misfortune that I have -not the knack of small talk, so useful to official people, and that I am -obliged to propel myself into conversation by pronouncements of that -kind. Shall I ever forget the catastrophe at the L----s' dinner at -Aldershot, when I announced, during a pause in the general conversation, -to an old gentleman who had taken me in, and whose name I hadn't caught, -that there was one word I would inscribe on the tombstone of the Irish -nation, and that word was--Whisky. The old gentleman was John Jameson. - -"But to return to to-day's doings. I had to consign to C.,[12] as my -deputy, the head of the table for such of the people as were remaining -at the Castle for luncheon as I myself had to appear at that function at -the Town Hall. The procession, military, civil and civic--especially -civic--started at 12 for the 'Court of Shepway,' where much antique -ceremonial took place. When they all reached the Town Hall after that, -Lord Salisbury first unveiled a full-length portrait of the outgoing -Lord Warden, at the entrance to the Banqueting Hall, and complimented -him on so excellent a likeness with a genial pat on the back. We were -all in good humour which increased as we filed in to luncheon and -continued to increase during that civic feast, enlivened by a band. -Trumpets sounded before each speech, and the sharp clapping of hands -called, I think, 'Kentish Fire,' gave a local touch which was pleasingly -original. I am glad, always, to find the county spirit still so strong -in England, and nowhere is it stronger than in Kent. It must work well -in war with the county regiments. - -"I am afraid Lady Salisbury must have got rather knocked out of time -coming to the Castle, by all the saluting, trumpeting and general -prancing of the guard of honour. She was nervous crossing our drawbridge -with four 'jumpy' horses which she told me had never been with troops -before! Altogether I don't think this was a day to suit her at all. I -heard the postillion riding the near leader shout back to the coachman -on the box as they started homeward from our door, 'Put on both brakes -_hard!_' Away went the open carriage which had very low sides and no -hood, and Lord Salisbury, being very wide, rather bulged over the side. -Wearing a military cape, lent him by my General, the day turning chilly, -he had a rather top-heavy appearance, and we only breathed freely when -that ticklish drawbridge, and the very steep drop of the hill beyond it, -were passed. So now let them rest at Walmer. Will will do all he can to -secure peace for them there." - -On August 20th I went to poor Sir John Millais' funeral in St. Paul's. -The ceremony was touching to me when I thought of the kind, enthusiastic -friend of my early days and his hearty encouragement and praise. They -had placed his palette and a sheaf of his brushes on the coffin. Lord -Wolseley, Irving, the actor, Holman Hunt and Lord Rosebery were the -pall-bearers. The ceremony struck me as gloomy after being accustomed to -Catholic ritual, and the undertaker element was too pronounced, but the -music was exquisite. So good-bye to a truly great and sincere artist. -What a successful life he had, rounded by so terribly painful a death! - -One of the most interesting of the Dover episodes was our hiring of -"Broome Hall" for the South-Eastern District manoeuvres in the -following September. The Castle was too far away for working them from -there, so this fine old Elizabethan mansion, being in the very centre of -the theatre of "war," became our headquarters. There we entertained Lord -Wolseley and his staff as the house-party. Other warriors and many -civilians whose lovely country houses were dotted about that beautiful -Kentish region came in from outside each day, and for four days what -felt to me like a roaring kind of hospitality went on which proved an -astonishing feat of housekeeping on my part. True, I was liberally -helped, but to this day I marvel that things went so successfully. -Everything had to be brought from the Castle--servants in an omnibus, -_batterie de cuisine_, plate, linen and all sorts of necessary things, -in military waggons, for the house had not been inhabited for a long -while. All the food was sent out from Dover fresh every day, by road--no -village near. The house had been palatially furnished in the old days, -but its glory was much faded and so ancestral was it that it possessed a -ghost. A pathetic interest attaches to "Broome" to-day, and I should not -know it again in its renovated beauty. Lord Kitchener restored it to -more than its pristine lustre, I am told. - -The morning start each day of all these generals (Sir Evelyn Wood was -one of them) from the front door for the "battle" was a pleasing sight -for me, with the strong cavalry escort following. After the gallant -cavalcade had got clear I would follow in the little victoria with -friends, hoping in my innermost heart that I was leaving everything well -in hand behind me for the hungry "Cocked Hats" on their return. - -On March 30th, 1897, I had a glimpse of Gladstone. We were on the pier -to receive a Royalty, and the "Grand Old Man" was also on board the -Calais boat. He was the last to land and was accompanied by his wife. He -came up the gangway with some difficulty, and struck me as very much -aged, with his face showing signs of pain. I had not seen him since he -sat beside me at a dinner at the Ripons' in 1880, when his keen eye had -rather overawed me. He was now eighty-eight! The crowd cheered him well, -but the old couple were past that sort of thing, and only anxious to -seek their rest at "Betteshanger," a few miles distant, whither Lord -Northbourne's carriage whirled them away from public view. - -And now comes the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria. I think my fresh -impressions written down at the time should be inserted here as I find -them. Too much national sorrow and suffering brought to us by the Great -War, and too many changes have since blurred that bright picture to -allow of posthumous enthusiasm for its chronicling to-day. Were I to -tone down that picture to the appearance it has to me at the present -time it would hardly be worth showing. - -"_June 22nd, 1897._--Jubilee Day. I never expected to be so touched by -what I have seen of these pageants and rejoicings, and to feel so much -personal affection for the Queen as I have done through this wonderful -week. Thinking of other nations, we cannot help being impressed with the -way in which the English have comported themselves on this occasion--the -unanimity of the crowds; the willingness of every one concerned; all -resulting in those huge pageants passing off without a single jar. My -place was in the courtyard of the Horse Guards; Will's place was on his -big grey before St. Paul's, at Queen Anne's statue, to keep an eye on -things. I had an effective view of the procession making the bend from -Whitehall into the courtyard, and out by the archway into the parade -ground. This gave me time to enjoy the varied types of all those -nationalities whose warriors represented them, as they filed past at -close quarters. But we had five hours of waiting. These hours were well -filled up for me, so continually interested in watching the movements of -the troops as they took up their positions for receiving the procession -and saluting the Queen. I think in the way of perfect dress and of -superfine, thoroughbred horseflesh, Lord Lonsdale's troop of Cumberland -Hussars was as memorable a group as any that day. They wore the 'sling -jacket,' only known to me in pictures and old prints of the pre-Crimean -days, and to see these gallant-looking crimson pelisses in reality was -quite a delightful surprise. - -"The sun burst through the clouds just as the guns announced to us that -the Queen had started from Buckingham Palace on her great round by St. -Paul's at 11.15. So we waited, waited. Presently some one called out, -'Here's Captain Ames,' and, knowing he was the leader, we nimbly ran up -to our seats. It seemed hardly credible that the journey to St. Paul's -and the ceremony there, and the journey homewards could have occupied -so comparatively brief an interval. I think the part of the procession -which most delighted me was the cohort of Indian cavalry, and then the -gorgeous bunch of thirty-six princes, each in his national dress or -uniform. These rode in triplets. You saw a blue-coated Prussian riding -with a Montenegrin on one side and an Italian bonneted by the absurd -general's helmet now in vogue on the other. Then came another triplet of -a Persian, whose breast was a galaxy of diamonds flashing in the sun, an -Austrian with fur pelisse and busby (poor man, in that heat), and the -brother of the Khedive, wearing the familiar _tarboosh_, riding a little -white Arab. Then followed an English Admiral in the person of the Duke -of York, a Japanese mannikin on his right, and a huge Russian on his -left, and so on, and so on--types and dresses from all the quarters of -the globe in close proximity, so that one could compare them at a -glance. The dignified Indian cavalry were superb as to dress and -_puggarees_, but the faces were stolid, very unlike the keen, clean-cut -Arab types which so charmed me in Egypt and Palestine. There certainly -were too many carriages filled with small Germans. Then came the -colonial escort to the Queen's carriage. As they came on and passed -before us I do not exaggerate when I say that there seemed to pass over -them an ever-deepening cloud-shadow, as it were, from the white -Canadians riding in front, through ever-deepening shades of brown down -to the blackest of negroes, who rode last. What an epitome of our -Colonial Empire! Then, finally, before the supreme moment, came Lord -Wolseley, the immediate forerunner of the Royal carriage. He looked well -and gallant and youthful. Then round the curve into the courtyard the -eight cream-coloured horses in rich gala harness of Garter-blue and -gold! So quick was the pace that I dared not dwell too long on their -beauty for I was too absorbed in the Queen during that precious minute. -There she was, the centre of all this! A little woman, seated by herself -(I had not time to see who sat facing her) with an expressionless pink -face, preoccupied in settling her bonnet, which had got a little -crooked, as though nothing unusual was going on, and that was the last I -saw of her as she passed under the dark archway, facing homeward. - -"_June 26th._--Off from Dover at 2 a.m. for Southampton, by way of -London, to see the culminating glory of the Jubilee--the greatest naval -review ever witnessed. At eight we left Waterloo in one of the -'specials' that took holders of invitation cards for the various ocean -liners that had been chartered for the occasion. Our ship was the P. and -O. _Paramatta_, and very pleased I was on beholding her vast -proportions, for I feared qualms on any smaller vessel. There were -meetings on board with friends and a great luncheon, and general good -humour and complacency at being Britons. The day cleared up at 10.30, -and only a slight haze thinly veiled the mighty host of the Channel -Fleet as we slowly steamed towards it along the Solent. Gradually the -sun shone fully out and the day settled into steady brilliance. - -"Well, I have been so inflated with national pride since beholding our -naval power this day that if I don't get a prick of some sort I shall go -off like a balloon. Let us be exultant just for a week! We won't think -of the ugly look of India just now and all the nasty warnings of the -bumptious Kaiser and the rest of it. We can't while looking at Britannia -ruling the waves, as we are doing to-day. Five miles of ships of war -five lines deep! When all these ships fired each twenty-one guns by -divisions as the Prince of Wales steamed up and down the lines, and the -crews of each vessel in turn gave such cheers as only Jack Tar can give, -it was not the moment to threaten us with anything. I shall never forget -the aspect of this fleet of ours, black hulls and yellow funnels and -'fighting tops' stretching to east and west as far as the eye could -reach and beyond, the mellow sunlight full upon them and the -slowly-rolling clouds of smoke that wrapped them round with mystery as -their countless guns thundered the salute! Myriads of flags fluttered in -the breeze, the sea sparkled, and in and out of those motionless -battleships all manner of steam and sailing craft moved incessantly, -deepening by the contrast of their hurry the sense one had of the -majestic power contained in those reposing monsters.... Every one is -saying, 'And to think that not a single ship has been recalled from -abroad to make up this display!' We are all very pleased, and have the -good old Nelson feeling about us." On June 28th the Queen held her -Jubilee Garden Party in the Buckingham Palace grounds. There we looked -our last on her. - -I took four of the children, in August, to Bruges, that old city so much -enjoyed by me in my early years. I was charmed to see how carefully all -the old houses had been preserved, and, indeed, I noticed that a few of -them, vulgarly modernised then, were now restored to their original -beauty. How well the Belgians understand these things! Seventeen years -after this date the eldest of the two schoolboys I had with me was to -ride through that same old Bruges as A.D.C. to the general commanding -"The Immortal 7th Division," which, retiring before the German hordes, -was to turn and help to rend them at Ypres. - -In 1898 I exhibited a smaller picture than usual--"The Morrow of -Talavera," which was very kindly placed at the Academy--and I began a -large Crimean subject, "The Colours," for the succeeding year. I had -some fine models at Dover for this picture. In making the studies for it -I had an interesting experience. I wanted to show the colour party of -the Scots Guards advancing up the hill of the Alma in their full parade -dress--the last time British troops wore it in action--Lieutenant Lloyd -Lindsay carrying the Queen's colour. It was then he won the V.C. Lord -Wantage (that same Lloyd Lindsay), now an old man, but full of energy, -when he heard of my project, conducted me to the Guards' Chapel in -London, and there and then had the old, dusty, moth-eaten Alma colours -taken down from their place on the walls, and held the Queen's colour -once more in his hand for me to see. I made careful studies at the -chapel, and restored the fresh tints which he told me they had on that -far-away day, when I came to put them into the picture. I was in South -Africa when the Academy opened in the following spring. - -On September 11th, 1898, we received the terrible news of the -assassination of the Empress of Austria. I had seen her every Sunday and -feast day at our little Ventnor church, at Mass, during her residence at -Steep Hill Castle. She had the tiniest waist I ever saw--indeed, no -woman could have lived with a tinier one. She was beautiful, but so -frigid in her manner; she seemed made of stone, yet she rode splendidly -to hounds--altogether an enigma. - -October 27th, 1898, I thoroughly enjoyed. It was a day after my own -heart--picturesque, historical, stirring, amusing. Sir Herbert -Kitchener, _the_ Sirdar _par excellence_, was received at Dover on his -arrival from the captured Khartoum with all the prestige of his new-won -honours shining around him. My husband had decided that the regulation -military honours "to be accorded to distinguished persons" were -applicable to the man who was coming, and so a guard of honour -(Highlanders) with the regimental colour was drawn up at the pier head, -the regimental officers in red and the staff in blue. The crowd on the -upper part of the pier was immense and densely packed all along the -parapet, and the Lower Pier, reserved for special people, was crowded, -too. It was a calm, grey, yet bright day, and the absence of wind made -things pleasant. Great gathering of Cocked Hats at the entrance gates, -and we all walked to the landing stage. There was a dense smudge of -black smoke on the horizon. I knew that meant Kitchener. Keeping my eye -on that smudge, I took but a distracted part in the small talk and -frequent introductions of distinguished persons come from afar to -welcome the man of the hour, "the Avenger of Gordon." I was conducted to -the head of the landing steps, together with such of the staff as were -not to go on board the boat with the General. Then the smudge got hidden -behind the pier end, but I could see the ever-increasing swish and swirl -of the water on the starboard side of the hidden steamer, and soon she -swept alongside; a few vague cheers began, no one in the crowd knowing -the Sirdar by sight. When, however, the General went on board and shook -hands, this proclaimed at once where the man was, and cheer upon cheer -thundered out. I have never, before or since, seen such spontaneous -enthusiasm in England. After a little talk (my husband and he were long -together on the Nile) and after the delivery of letters (one from the -Queen) and telegrams, during which the hurrahs went on in a great roar -and multitudinous pocket handkerchiefs fluttered in a long perspective, -the big, solid, stolid, sunburnt Briton stepped on English soil once -more. While shaking hands with me he seemed astonished and amused at all -that was going on and, looking over my head at the masses of people -above, he lifted his hat, and thenceforth kept it in his hand as he was -escorted to the Lord Warden Hotel. He had asked his A.D.C., on first -catching sight of the reception awaiting him, "What is all this about?" - -Then there was an Address at the hotel to which he listened with an -ox-like patience, and after that the enormous company of invited guests -went to lunch. In his speech my husband paid the Sirdar the compliment -of saying that the traditional Field Marshal's baton would be found in -his trunk when the customs officers opened it at Victoria. Kitchener -spoke so low I could not hear him. Had he been less immovable one could -have plainly seen how utterly he hated having to make a speech. His -travelling dress looked most interestingly incongruous amidst the rich -uniforms and the glossy frock-coats as he stood up to say what he had to -say. As we all bulged out of the hotel door the cheers began again from -the crowds. I took care to look at the people that day, and I was struck -by their _unanimity_. All ranks were there, and yet on every face, well -bred or unwashed, I saw the same identical expression--one of broad, -laughing delight. Such were my impressions, which I noted down, as -usual, at the moment, and I have lived to see that remarkable man work -out his life, and end it with a tragedy that will hold its place in -history; my husband's prophecy, put in those playful words at Dover, -fulfilled; a threatening disaster to the Empire turned into victory with -the aid of that extraordinary mind and physical endurance; and the -burning fire of that personality quenched, untimely, in the icy depths -of a northern sea. - - - - -CHAPTER XXII - -THE CAPE AND DEVONPORT - - -On November 12th, 1898, my husband sailed for South Africa, there to -take up the military command, and to act as High Commissioner in place -of Sir Alfred Milner, home on leave. His staff at Dover loved him. Their -send-off brought tears to his eyes. I, C. and the A.D.C. saw him off -from Southampton, to rejoin him in the process of time at the Cape. We -little knew what a dark period in his life awaited him out there, -brought about by the malice of those in power there and at home. It is -too sacred and too painful a subject for me to record it here further -than I have done. The facts will be found in his "Autobiography." I left -England on February 18th, 1899, with three of the children, leaving the -two eldest boys at college. It was a very painful leave-taking at the -Waterloo Station. My mother was there and all the dear ones, whom I did -not expect to see again for two or three years--my mother perhaps ever -again. Yet in a few months we were back there! My theory that one should -try and not fret about the future, which is an absolutely unknown -quantity, proved justified. I have chronicled our voyage out in my -former little book, and described one night at Madeira--a night of -enchantment under the moon. - -I need not go over the days on the "blue water" again, nor our strange -life beyond the Equator, where, though I was filled with admiration for -the beauty of our surroundings, I never felt the happiness which Italy, -Egypt or Palestine had given me. Very absurd, no doubt, and sentimental, -but my love of the old haunts made me feel resentful of the topsy-turvy -state of things I found down there. The crescent moon on what (to me) -was the wrong side of the sunset, the hot north wind, the cold blast -from the south, the shadows all inverted--no, I did not enjoy this -contradiction to my well-beloved traditions. There was, besides, a local -melancholy in that strange beauty I cannot describe. All this may be put -down to sentimentality, but a very real melancholy attaches to South -Africa in my mind in connection with my husband, who suffered there for -his honesty and devotion to the honour of the Empire he served. The -authorities accepted his resignation of the Cape command which he -tendered for fear of embarrassing the Government, and he accepted the -command of the Western District in its place, which meant Devonport. So -on August 22nd we all embarked for Home. - -There we found the campaign of calumny, originated in South Africa -against Sir William, in its acutest phase. The Press was letting loose -all the poison with which it was being supplied, and I consequently went -through, at first, the bitter pain of daily trying to intercept the -vilest anonymous letters, many of them beer-stained missives couched in -ill-spelt language from the slums. Not all the reparation offered to my -husband later on--the bestowal of the Grand Cross of the Bath, his -election to the dignity of Privy Councillor, his selection as the safest -judge to investigate the South African war stores scandals, not to name -other acts conveying the _amende honorable_--ever healed the wound. - -His offence had been a frank admission of sympathy for a people -tenacious of their independence and, knowing the Boers as he did, he -knew what their resistance would mean in case of attack. He was appalled -at the prospect of a war, not against an army but against a people, -involving the farm-burnings and all the horrors which our armies would -have to resort to. He would fain have seen violence avoided and -diplomacy used instead, knowing, as he did, that the old intransigent -Dopper element would die out in time, and the new generation of Boers, -many of whom were educated at our universities, intermarrying with the -English, as they were already doing, would have brought about that very -union of the two races within the Empire which has been reached to-day -through all that suffering. In case, however, war should be decided on -he employed the utmost vigour allowed to official language to warn those -in power of the necessity for enormous forces in order to ensure -success. Some of his despatches were suppressed. The idea at -Headquarters was an easy march to Pretoria. What I have alluded to as -the malice which prompted the campaign of calumny had caused the report -to be spread that our initial defeats were owing to his wilful neglect -in not warning the directing powers of the gravity of their undertaking. - -The chief interest I found in our new appointment was caused by the -frequent arrivals of foreign men-of-war, whose captains were received -officially and socially, and there were admirals, too, when squadrons -came. It was interesting and amusing. Lord and Lady Charles Scott were -at the Admiralty and, later, Sir Edward Seymour, during our appointment. -The foreign sailors prevented the official functions from becoming -monotonous, and we got a certain amount of pleasure out of this -Devonport phase of our experiences. I carried my painting "through thick -and thin," and did well, on the whole, at the Academy. I had the -"consuming zeal"--a very necessary possession. One year it was a big -tent-pegging picture (I don't know where its purchaser is now), which -was well lighted at Burlington House. Then a Boer War subject, "Within -Sound of the Guns"--well placed; followed by an Afghan subject, "Rescue -of Wounded," which to my great pleasure was given an excellent place in -the _Salle d'Honneur_. I also accomplished other smaller works and -exhibited a great number of water colours. It is a medium I like much. I -also prepared for the Press my "Letters from the Holy Land" there which -I have already mentioned. My publishers, Messrs. A. and C. Black, -reproduced the water-colour illustrations very faithfully. - -Our French sailor guests were always bright, so were the Italians, but -the Japanese were very heavy in hand, and conversation was uphill work. -It was mainly carried on by repeated smiles and nods on their part. When -their big ships came in on one occasion the Admiralty gave them the -first dinner, of course, and at the end the bandmaster had the happy -thought of giving a few bars out of Arthur Sullivan's "Mikado" before -the Emperor's health was drunk, the National Air not being in his -repertory. Some one asked the Jap admiral if he recognised it. "Ah! no, -no, no!" came the usual smiling and nodding answer. At the Port -Admirals' I was to learn that in the navy you mustn't stand up for our -Sovereign's health, by order of William IV. This resulted one evening in -our sitting for "The King" and standing up for "The Kaiser." There were -the German admiral and officers present. I thought that very -unfortunate.[13] - -Well, Devonport in summer was very delightful, but Devonport in winter -had long periods of fog and gloom. I had the blessing of another trip to -Italy, this time with our eldest daughter, starting on a dark wintry day -in early March, 1900. Sir William's work prevented his coming with us. -_Via_ Genoa to Rome lay our happy way. Of course, it wasn't the Rome I -first knew, but the shock I received when revisiting it four years -before this present visit had already introduced me into the new order, -and I now knew what to see, enjoy, and avoid. There were several new -things to enjoy: above all, the Forum, now all open to the sky! In the -dear old days that space was a rather dreary expanse of waste land where -some poor old paupers were to be daily seen, leisurely labouring under -the delusion that they were excavating. They grubbed up the tufts of -grass and scraped the dust with pocket-knives, and the treasures below -remained comfortably tucked away from public view. Then the much-abused -Embankment. The dignified sweep of its lines leads the eye up, as it -follows the flow of the stream, to the dignity of St. Peter's, whereas, -formerly, in its place, unbeautiful masses of mouldering houses tottered -over the Tiber and gave that long-suffering river the reflections of -their drainpipes. Then, the two end arches of that most estimable Ponte -Sant' Angelo are now cleared of the old mud which blocked them up -malodorously and docked the lovely thing of its symmetry. Then, finally, -Rome is clean! - -We had the good fortune to be present at two very striking Papal -functions, striking as bringing together Catholics from a wide-flung -circle embracing some remote nationalities unknown by sight to me. The -first was the Pope's Benediction in St. Peter's on March 18th. We were -standing altogether about three hours in the crowd at the Tomb, well -placed for seeing the Holy Father. He was taken round the vast basilica -in his _sedia gestatoria_, and blessed a wildly cheering crowd. I never -saw a human being so like a spirit as Leo XIII. He looked as white as -his mitre as he leant forward and stretched his arm out in benediction -from side to side, borne high above the helmets of the Noble Guard. One -heard cheers in all languages, and a curious effect was produced by the -whirling handkerchiefs, which made a white haze above the dark crowd. I -have often heard secular monarchs cheered, and that very heartily, but -for a Pope it seems that more than ordinary loyalty prompts the -cheerers. The people seem to give out their whole being in their voices -and gestures. - -The Diary says: "I am glad I have seen that old man's face and his look, -as though it came to us from beyond the grave. At times the cheers went -up to the highest pitch of both men's and women's voices. A strange -sound to hear in a church." - -A spring day spent at the well-known Hadrian's Villa, under Tivoli, is -not to be allowed to pass without a grateful record. It is a most -exquisite place of old ruins, cypresses, olives and, at this time, -flowering peach trees, violets and anemones. It is an enchanting site -for a country house. Hadrian chose well. From there you see the -delicately-pencilled dome of St. Peter's on the rim of the horizon to -the west, and behind you, to the north, rise the steep foot-hills of the -mountains, some crowned with old cities. The ruins of the villa are all -_minus_ the lovely outer coating which used to hide the brickwork, and -poor Hadrian would have felt very woeful had he foreseen that all the -white loveliness of his villa was to come to this. But as bits of warm -colour and lovely surface those brick spaces take the sun and shadow -beautifully between the dark masses of the cypresses and feathery grey -cloudiness of the olives. Nowhere is the "touch and go" nature of life -more strikingly put before the mind than in dead Rome, where so much -magnificence in stone and marble and mosaic and bronze has fallen into -lumps of crumbling brick. - -On March 26th we attended the Papal Benediction in the Sistine Chapel, -which is a remarkable thing to see. It was a memorable morning. The -floor of the chapel was packed with pilgrims, some of them rough men and -women from remote regions of the north-east, whose outlandish costumes -were especially remarkable for the heavy Cossack boots, reaching to the -knee, worn by both sexes. One wondered how these people journeyed to -Rome. What a gathering of the faithful we looked down on from our -gallery! The same ecstatic cheering we had heard in St. Peter's -announced the entrance of Leo XIII. There he was, the holy creature, -blessing right and left with that thin alabaster hand, half covered with -a white mitten. With all their hoarse barbaric cheering, I noticed how -those peasants, who had so particularly attracted me, remembered to bend -their heads and most devoutly make the sign of the cross as he passed. -They almost monopolised my study of the motley crowd, but I was aware of -the many nationalities present, and the same enthusiasm came from them -all. At such times a great consolation eases the mind, saddened, as it -often is, by the general atmosphere of declining faith in which one has -to live one's ordinary life in the world. After the Mass came the -presentation of the pilgrims at the altar steps. The Pope had kind words -for all, bending down to hear and to speak to them, and often stroking -the men's heads. One huge Muscovite peasant knelt long at his feet, and -the Pope kept patting the rough man's cheek and speaking to him and -blessing him over and over again. At the sight of this a wild -"_hourah_!" broke from his fellow villagers. Where in the world was -their village? In the mists of remoteness, but here in heart, -unmistakably. Following the swarthy giant three sandy-haired German -students, carrying their plumed caps in their hands and girt with -rapiers, presented some college documents to receive the Papal -benediction, and a great many men and women knelt and passed on, but the -Pope seemed in no way fatigued. As he was borne out again he waved us an -upward blessing with his white and most friendly countenance turned up -to us. - -Our Roman wanderings included a visit to the Holy Father's Vatican -gardens, which are part of the little temporal kingdom a Pope still -possesses, and to his tiny "country house" therein, where he goes for -change of air(!) in the summer, about two stonethrows from the Vatican. -I note: "There are well-trimmed vineyards there; there are pet birds and -beasts in a little 'zoological gardens'; there is the arbour where he -has his meals on hot days; and, finally, we were conducted to his little -villa bedroom from whose window one of the finest views of Rome is seen, -dominated by the Quirinal, within (let us hope) shaking hands distance." -We heard the "Miserere" at St. Peter's on Good Friday--very impressive, -that twilight service in the apse of the great basilica! The -unaccompanied voices of boys sounded in sweetest music--one hardly knew -whence it came--and the air seemed to thrill with the thin angelic sound -in the waning light as one by one the candles at the altar were put out. -At the last Psalm the last light was extinguished, and the vast crowd -with its wan faces remained lighted only by the faint glimmer that came -down from the pale sky through the high windows. Then good-bye to Rome. -We left for Perugia on April 22nd. I certainly ought to be grateful for -having had yet another reception by my Umbrian Hills! And such a -reception that April afternoon, with the low sun gilding everything into -fullest beauty! I did my best to secure that moment in miserably -inadequate paint from the hotel window immediately on arrival. Better -than nothing. But no more of Perugia, nor of dear old Florence on our -way to academic Padua; no more of Verona. I have much yet to record on -getting home, and after! - - - - -CHAPTER XXIII - -A NEW REIGN - - -Sir William was asked by Lord Wolseley to take up the Aldershot command -in the absence of Sir Redvers Buller, who was struggling very -desperately to retrieve our fortunes in the Boer War; so to Aldershot we -went from Devonport, where my husband's command ran concurrently. How -intensely England had hoped for the turning of the tide when Buller was -given the tremendous task of directing our armies! We forget the horrors -the nation went through in those days because the late War has made us -pass through the same apprehensions multiplied by millions, but there -the fact remains in our history that we nearly suffered a terrible -catastrophe at the time of which I am writing. Buller, on leaving for -the Cape, had said to my husband how fervently he wished he possessed -his gift of imagination, and, indeed, that is a very precious gift to a -commander. This truly awful state of things--our terrible losses, and -the temporary lowering of our military prestige (thank heaven, so -gloriously recovered and enhanced in the World War!)--were the answer to -the repeated assertion made, when we were at the Cape, by those who -ought to have known, that "the Boers won't fight." How this used to -enrage my husband, whose "gift of imagination" made him see so clearly -the danger ahead. Well, all this is of the long ago, and, as I have -already noted, it is better to say little now; but the sense of -injustice lives! - -[Illustration: A DESPATCH-BEARER, BOER WAR, AND THE HORSE-GUNNERS.] - -Buller had a great reception at Aldershot on his return from South -Africa. I never saw a more radiantly happy face on a woman than poor -Lady Audrey's, who had been in a state of most tense anxiety during her -dear Redvers' absence. As the train steamed into the station the band -struck up "See the Conquering Hero comes!" The horses of his carriage -were unharnessed, and the triumphal car was drawn by a team of firemen -to Government House. At the entrance gate a group of school children -sang "Home, sweet Home"; my husband hauled down his flag and Buller's -was run up, and so that episode closed. - -We had inhabited a suburban-looking villa on the road to Farnborough -during the absence of Sir Redvers, not wishing to disturb the anxious -watcher at Government House, and very often we saw the Empress, just as -in the old days. She told us the dear Queen was very ill, far worse than -the world was allowed to know. My husband had always said the war would -kill her, for she had taken our losses cruelly to heart, and so it -happened on January 22nd, 1901. The resumed Devonport Diary says: - -"A day ever to be marked in English history as a day of mourning. Our -Queen is dead. At dinner S. brought us the news that she passed away at -6.30 this afternoon. We were prepared for it, but it seems like a dream. -To us who have been born and have lived all our lives under her -sovereignty it is difficult to realise that she is gone. - -"_January 23rd, 1901._--A dull gloomy day, punctuated by 81 minute guns, -which began booming at noon. All the royal standards and flags hanging -half-mast in the fog, on land and afloat. - -"_January 24th._--At noon-day all standards and flags were run up to the -masthead, and a quick thunder of guns proclaimed the accession of Edward -VII. At the end the band on board the guardship _Nile_ struck up 'God -Save the King.' The flags will all be lowered again until the day after -Queen Victoria is laid to rest. Edward VII.! How strange it sounds, and -how events and changes are rolling down upon us every hour now. Albert -Edward will be a greater man as Edward VII. - -"_February 5th._--The Queen was buried to-day beside her husband at -Frogmore. It is inexpressibly touching to think of them side by side -again. Model wife and mother, how many of your women subjects have -strayed away, of late, from those virtues which you were true to to the -last! - -"_February 16th._--There is great indignation amongst us Catholics at -Edward VII. having been called upon to take the oath at the opening of -Parliament which savours so much of the darkest days of 'No Popery' -bigotry. I think it might have been modified by this time, and the lies -about 'idolatry' and the 'worship' of the Virgin Mary eliminated. Could -not the King have had strength of mind enough to refuse to insult his -Catholic subjects? I know he must have deeply disliked to pronounce -those words. - -"_August 6th._--Again the flags to-day are at half-mast, and so is the -royal standard, and this time, on the men-of-war, it is the German flag! -The Empress Frederick died yesterday." I never mentioned at the time of -our visit to the Connaughts at Bagshot, when we were first at Aldershot, -a touching incident concerning her. Sir William sat next to her at -dinner, and, _a propos_ of a really fine still-life picture painted by -her, which hung over the dining-room door in the hall, he asked her -whether she still kept up her painting. "No," she said, "I have cried -myself blind!" What with one Empress crying as though her heart would -break in speaking to him that time at Camden Place and this Empress -telling him she had cried herself blind----! The illness and death of -the Kaiser Frederick must have been a period of great anguish. - -During this summer I was very busy with my picture of the "10th Bengal -Lancers at Tent Pegging," a subject requiring much sunshine study, which -I have already mentioned. - -In September, Lord Roberts--"the miniature Field Marshal," as I call him -in the Diary--came down on inspection, and great were the doings in his -honour. "How will this little figure stand in history? Will's -well-planned defence against a night attack from the sea came off very -well this dark still night, though the navy were nearly an hour late. -There was too much waiting, but when, at last, the enemy torpedo boats -and destroyers appeared, the whole Sound was bordered with such a zone -of fire that, had it been real war, not a rivet of the invader's -flotilla would have been left in possession of its hold. 'Bobs' must -have been gratified at to-night's display, which he reviewed from -Stonehouse. - -"Our Roberts dinner was of twenty-two covers, and the only women were -Lady Charles Scott, myself and C. A guard of honour was at the front -door, and presented arms as the Field Marshal arrived, the band playing. -He certainly is diminutive. A nice face, soldierlike, and a natural -manner. With him that too jocose Evelyn Wood and others. 'Bobs,' of -course, took me in to dinner, and, on my left, Lord Charles Scott took -in C. Will took in Lady Charles. The others--Lord Mount Edgcumbe, H.S.H. -Prince Louis of Battenberg (in command of the _Implacable_), Admiral -Jackson, and so forth--subsided into their places according to -seniority. Every man in blue or red except one rifleman. Soft music -during dinner and two bars of the National Anthem before the still -unfamiliar 'The King, God bless him!' at dessert. Will still feels a -little--I don't know how to express it--of the mental hesitation before -changing 'the Queen' which he felt so strongly at first. He was very -truly attached to her. I was back in the drawing-room in good time to -receive the crowd, who came in a continuous flow, all with an expectant -smile, to pay homage to the Lion. I don't think I forgot anybody's name -(coached by the A.D.C.) in all those introductions, but that item of my -duties is a thing I dread. I never saw people in such good humour at any -social function before. We certainly _do_ love to honour our soldiers. -But, all the time, things are not going too well with us in the war! - -"_September 14th._--Again the flags half-mast! Now it is the 'Stars and -Stripes.' Poor President McKinley succumbed to-day to his horrible -wound. The surgeons wouldn't let him die for a long while, though he -asked them to. They did their best. - -"_March 7th, 1902._--And now for the royal visit, the principal occasion -for which is the launching of the great battleship the _Queen_, by Queen -Alexandra. Will was responsible for all matters ashore, as the admiral -was for those afloat. Lady Charles and I had to be on the platform at -North Road to receive Their Majesties, the only other women there being -Lady Morley and the Plymouth Mayor's daughter, bearing a bouquet for -presentation. The royal train had an engine decorated in front of its -funnel with an enormous gilt crown, and I was pleased, as it -majestically glided into the station, to see that it is possible even in -railway prose to have a little dash of poetry. The band struck up, the -guard of honour presented arms with a clang. First, out sprang lacqueys -carrying bags and wraps who scurried to the royal carriages waiting -outside, and out sprang various admirals and diplomats in hot haste, all -with rather anxious faces veneered with smiles. And then, leisurely, the -ever lovely and self-possessed Queen and her kindly and kingly consort, -wearing, over his full-dress admiral's uniform, a caped overcoat. -Salutes, bows, curtseys, smiles, handshakes. Will presents the great -silver Key of the Citadel, which Charles II. had made for locking the -Great Gate against the refractory people. Edward VII. touches it and the -General Commanding returns it to the R.A. officer, who has charge of it. -We all kiss the King's hand as seeing him for the first time to speak to -since his accession. The Queen withdraws her hand quickly before any -officer can salute it in like manner, which looks a little ungracious. -Whilst the General and Admiral are introducing their respective staffs -to the King, the Queen has a little chat with me and asks after my -painting and so forth. She is very fond of that water colour I did for -her album at Dover of a trooper of her 'own' 19th Hussars at -tent-pegging. Lady Charles and I did not join in the procession through -the Three Towns to the dockyard, but hastened home to avoid the crowd. - -"In the evening we dined with Their Majesties on board the royal yacht -over part of which floating palace C. and I had been conducted in the -morning. Whatever the yacht's sailing value may be she certainly cuts -out the Kaiser's _Hohenzollern_ in her internal splendour. When it comes -to washstand tops of onyx and alabaster; and carpets of unfathomable -depth of pile, and hangings in bedrooms of every shade of delicate -colour, 'toning,' as the milliners say, with each particular set of -furniture; and the most elaborately beautiful arrangements for lighting -and warming electrically, and so on, and so on--one rather wonders why -so much luxury was piled on luxury in this new yacht which the King, I -am told, does not like on the high seas. Her lines are not as graceful -as those of the old _Victoria and Albert_, and it is said she 'rolls -awful'! - -"Well, to dinner! As we drove up to the yacht, which is moored right -opposite the Port Admiral's house and is the habitation of the King and -Queen during their sojourn here, we saw her outlined against the pitch -black sky by coloured electric lamps, which was pretty. Equerries, -secretaries and Miss Knollys received us at the top of the gangway, and -the ladies of the Queen soon filed into the ante-chamber (or cabin) -where they and we, the guests, awaited Their Majesties. Full uniform was -ordered for the men, and we ladies were requested to come in 'high, thin -dresses,' as, it appears, is the etiquette on board royal yachts. There -were the Admiral and Lady Charles, the Duke and Duchess of Buccleugh, -Lord and Lady St. Germans, Lord Walter Kerr, Lord Mount Edgcumbe ('the -Hearl,' as he is known to Plymothians), the Bishop of Exeter, Lady -Lytton and others up to about thirty-six in number. The King, still -dressed as an admiral, and the Queen in a charming black and white -semi-transparent frock, with many ropes of pearls, soon came in, and, -the curtseying over, we filed into the great dining saloon brilliantly -lighted and splendid. The King led in his daughter, Princess Victoria. -Buccleugh led in the Queen, and so on. How unlike the painfully solemn, -whispered dinners of dear old Queen Victoria was this banquet. We -shouted of necessity, as the band played all the time. The King and -Queen seem to me to have acquired an _expanded_ dignity since they have -come to the Throne. Will and I could not do justice to the dinner as it -was Friday, but that didn't matter. After the sweets the head servant -(what Goliaths in red liveries they all are!) handed the King a _snuff -box_! I was so fascinated by the sight of the descendant of the Georges -engaged in the very Georgian act of taking a pinch that my eyes were -riveted on him. I love history and am always trying to revive the past -in imagination. It is true that 'a cat may look at a King,' but then I -am _not_ a cat (at least I hope not). I only trust His Majesty didn't -mind, but he certainly saw me! - -"After dinner we women went down with the Queen to her boudoir, where an -Egyptian-looking servant wearing a _tarboosh_ handed us coffee of -surpassing aroma, and Her Majesty showed us her beloved little Japanese -dog and some of the pretty things about the room. She then asked us to -see her bedroom (which I had already seen that morning) and the little -dog's basket where he sleeps near her bed. She is still extremely -beautiful. Her figure is youthful and shapely, and all her movements are -queenly. The King had quite a long talk with Will about this dreadful -Boer War which is causing us all so much anxiety, after we went up -again. He then came over to me, and after a few commonplaces he came -nearer and in a confidential tone began about Will. I think he is fond -of him. What he said was kind, and I knew he wanted me to repeat his -sympathetic words to my husband afterwards. He spoke of him as a -'splendid soldier.' I know he had in his mind the painful trial Will had -gone through. It was late when Their Majesties bade us good-night. - -"_March 8th._--The great day of the launch of H.M.S. _Queen_. I wonder -if the hearts of the sailors beat anxiously to-day at all! A quieter, -more unemotional-looking set of men than those naval bigwigs could -nowhere be seen in the world. But, first of all, there was the -medal-giving at the R.N. Barracks, where Ladies Poore and Charles Scott, -Mrs. Jackson and myself had to receive the King and Queen by the side of -our respective husbands on a raised dais in the centre of the huge -parade ground. It was very cold, and the Queen told me she envied me my -fur-lined coat. Will said I missed an opportunity of making a pendant to -Sir Walter Raleigh! The function was very long, for the King had to give -a medal to each one of the three hundred bluejackets and marines who -passed before him in single file. At the launching place we all -assembled on a great platform, and there in front of us stood the huge -hull of the battleship, the ram projecting over the little table on -which the Queen was to cut the ropes. That red-painted ram was garlanded -with flowers, and the bottle hung from the garland, completely hidden -under a covering of roses. It contained red Australian wine, a very -sensible change from the French champagne of former times. Down below an -immense crowd of workmen waited, some of them right under the ship, and -all round, in the different stands, were dense masses of people. We were -soon joined by three German naval grandees and two Japanese -_leprechauns_, one an admiral, a toadlike-looking creature in a uniform -entirely copied from ours. Our new allies are not handsome. Then came -the Bishop of Exeter, in robes and cap and with a peaked beard, a living -Holbein in the dress of Cranmer. How could I, a painter, not delight in -that figure? I told a friend that bishop had no business to be alive, -but ought to be a painting by Holbein, on panel. What does she do but -whisk off straight to him and Mrs. Bishop and tell them! Our privileged -group kept swelling with additions of officers in full glory and smart -women in lovely frocks, and bouquets were brought in, and everything was -to me perfectly charming. Monarchy calls much beauty into existence. -Long may it endure! - -"At last there was a stir; the monarchs came up the inclined approach -and the band struck up. They took their places facing the ship's bows, -and Cranmer on panel by Holbein blessed the ship in as nearly a Catholic -way as was possible, with the sign of the cross left out. A subordinate -held his crozier before him. A hymn had previously been sung and a -psalm, followed by the Lord's Prayer. Then came the 'christening' -(strange word), a picturesque Pagan ceremony. The Queen brightened up -after the last 'Amen' and, nearing the table, reached over to the -flower-decked bottle; then, stepping back, swung it from her against the -monstrous ram, saying, 'God bless this ship and all that sail in her.' I -heard a little crack, and only a few red drops trickled down. This -wouldn't do, for she immediately seized the bottle again and, stepping -well back this time and holding the bottle as high over her head as the -ropes would allow, flung it with such violence that it smashed all to -pieces and the red wine gushed over her hands and sleeves and poured out -its last drops on the table. A great cheer rang out at this, and the -King laughingly seemed to say to her, 'You did it this time with a -vengeance!' She flushed up, looking as though she enjoyed the fun. Then -came the great moment of the cutting by the Queen of the little ropes -that held the monster bound as by silken threads. Six good taps with the -mallet, severing the six strands across a 'turtle back' in the centre of -the table, and away flew the two ropes down amongst the cheering crowd -of workmen and, automatically, down came the two last supports on either -side of the yet impassive hull. Still impassive--not a hair's breadth of -movement! A painful pause. Some men below were pumping the hydraulic -apparatus for all they were worth. I kept my eye on the nose of the ram, -gauging it by some object behind. Firm as a rock! At last a tiny -movement, no more than the starting of a snail across a cabbage leaf. -'She's off!' A hurricane of cheers, and with the most admirable and -dignified acceleration of speed the great ship, seeming to come into -life, glided down the slips and, ploughing through the parting and -surging waters, floated off far into the Hamoaze to the strains of 'Rule -Britannia.' Queen Alexandra, in her elation, made motions with her arms -as though she was shoving the ship off herself. Scarcely had the -battleship _Queen_ passed into the water than the blocks displaced by -her passage were rolled back, still hot as it were from the friction, -into the position they had occupied before she moved, and the King, -stepping forward, turned a little electric handle at the table, and lo! -the keel plate of the _Edward VII_. slowly moved forward and stopped in -its position on the blocks as the germ of the new battleship. The King, -in a loud voice, proclaimed that the keel plate of the _Edward VII_. was -'well and truly laid,' and a great cheer arose and 'God Save the King,' -and all was over. A new battleship was born.[14] We met Their Majesties -at the Port Admiral's at tea, and Will dined with them, together with -some of his staff. - -"_March 10th_.--Saw Their Majesties off. I wonder if they were getting -tired of seeing always the same set of faces and smiles? I am going to -present C. at Court on the 14th, and my function twin, Lady Charles, is -going there, too, so I shall feel it will be a case of 'Here we are -again,' when I meet the royal eye that night. In the evening the news of -Methuen's defeat and capture by Delarey. To think this horror was going -on the day we received the King and Queen at North Road Station! - -"_March 14th_.--The King's Court was much better arranged than formerly, -as we had only to make two curtseys--nothing more--instead of having to -run the gauntlet of a long row of princes and princesses who were -abreast of Queen Victoria (or her representative), and who used to -inspect one from head to foot. These were now grouped behind the -monarchs, and formed a rich, subdued background to the two regal -figures on their thrones. (What a blessing to the aforesaid princes and -princesses to be spared the necessity of passing all those nervous women -in review, and by daylight, too!) Altogether the music and the generally -more festive character of the function struck one as a great and happy -improvement on the old dispensation. The King and Queen didn't exactly -say, 'How do you do again?' as I appeared, but looked it as I met their -smiling eyes. This is the first Court of the King's reign. - -"_March 27th_.--Cecil Rhodes died yesterday. I am glad I saw him at the -Cape. One morning just at sunrise I and the children were driving to -Mass during the mission and, as we passed over the railway line, we saw -people riding down from 'Grootschuur.' The foremost horseman was Cecil -Rhodes, looking very big and with a wide red face. He gave me a -searching look or stare as if trying to make out who I was in the shade -of the carriage hood. So I saw his face well. - -"_April 3rd_.--Will and I are invited by the King and Queen to see them -crowned at Westminster. I am to wear 'court dress with plumes but -without train.' But what if the nightmare war still is dragging on in -June? The time is getting short! We hear the King is getting anxious. -Lord Wolseley's trip to the Cape (for his health!) is supposed to have -really to do with bringing about peace. But ''ware politics' for me. -They are not in my line. What a wet blanket would be spread as a pall -over all the purple canopies in Westminster Abbey if war was still -brooding over us all! Imagine news of a new Methuen disaster on the -morning of June 26th!" - -On Varnishing Day that spring at the Royal Academy I found that my -tent-pegging picture could not look to greater advantage, but it was in -the last room, where the public looks with "lack-lustre eyes," being -tired. - -On June 21st I left to attend the Coronation of Edward VII., spending -two days at Dick's monastery at Downside on the way, high up in the -Mendip Hills. I note: "I had a bright little room at the guest house -just outside the precincts. That night the full moon, that emblem of -serenity, rose opposite my window, and I felt as though lifted up above -that world into which I was about to plunge for my participation in the -pomp of the Coronation in a few hours. It is inexpressibly touching to -me to see my son where he is. A hard probation, for the Benedictine test -is long and severe, as indeed the test is, necessarily, throughout the -Religious Orders. - -"_June 24th_.--Memorable day! I was passing along Buckingham Palace Road -at 12.30 when I saw a poster: 'Coronation Postponed'! Groups of people -were buying up the papers. Of course, no one believed the news at first, -and people were rather amusedly perplexed. No one had heard that the -King was ill. On getting to Piccadilly I saw the official posters and -the explanation. An operation just performed! and only yesterday Knollys -telling the world there was 'not a word of truth in the alarming rumours -of the King's health.' I and Mrs. C. went to a dismal afternoon concert -at 2.30 to which we were pledged, and which the promoters were in two -minds about postponing, and we left in the middle to stroll about the -crowded streets and watch the effect of the disastrous news. There was -something very dramatic in the scene in front of the palace--the huge -crowd waiting and watching, the royal standard drooping on the roof -(not half-mast yet?), and the sense of brooding sorrow over the great -building, which held the, perhaps, dying King. What a change in two or -three hours! - -"_June 26th_.--This was to have been the Coronation Day. General -dismantling. Those dead laurel wreaths still lying in the gutters are -said to be the same that were used at the funeral of King Humbert. What -a weird thought! The crowds are thinning, but still, at night, they gaze -at the little clumps of illuminations which some people exhibit, as the -King is going on well. '_Vivat Rex_' flares in great brilliancy here and -there. The words have a deeper meaning than usual. May he live! - -"_June 27th_.--This was to have been the day of the royal procession. -Where is that rose-colour-lined coach I so looked forward to? Lying idle -in its cover. Every one is moralising. Even the clubmen, Will tells me, -are furbishing up little religious platitudes and texts; many are -curiously superstitious, which is strange." - -On our return home I was very busy in the studio. There was much -galloping and trotting of horses up and down in the Government House -grounds for my studies of movement for my next Academy picture (dealing -with Boer War yeomanry) and others. - -"_August 9th_.--King Edward VII. was crowned to-day. At about 12.40 the -guns firing in the Sound and batteries announced that, at last, the -Coronation was consummated. We were asked to the ceremony, but could not -go up this time." - -A little tour in France, with my husband and our two girls, made in -September, 1902, gave us sunny days in Anjou on the Loire. The majestic -rivers of France are her chief attraction for the painter, and to us -English Turner's charm is inseparably blended with their slowly flowing -waters. We were visitors at a _chateau_ at Savonnieres, near Angers, for -most of the time, and our hosts took care that we should miss none of -the lovely things around their domain. The German "Ocean Greyhounds" of -the Hamburg-Amerika line used to call at Plymouth in those days, huge, -three-funnel monsters which, I think, we have since appropriated, and -one of these, the _Augusta Marie_, bore us off to Cherbourg in all the -pride of her gorgeous saloons, flower-decked tables, band, and -extraordinary bombastic oleographs from allegorical pictures by the -Kaiser William II. As we boarded her the band played "God Save the -King," the captain receiving Sir William with finished regulation -attention, and hardly had the great twin engines swung the ship into the -Sound to receive her passengers, than with another swing forward, which -made the masts wriggle to their very tops, she was off. It was the -"Marseillaise" as we reached France. That band played us nearly the -whole way over. A really pretty idea, this, of playing the national air -of each country where the ship touched. - -It was vintage time at Savonnieres, which was a French "Castagnolo," a -most delightful translation into French of that Italian patriarchal -home. There were stone terraces garlanded with vines bearing--not the -big black grapes of Tuscany, but small yellow ones of surpassing -sugariness. We were in a typical and beautiful bit of France, peaceful, -plenteous, and full of dignity. They lead the simple life here such as I -love, which is not to be found in the big English country houses, as -far as I know. I was truly pleased at the sight of the peasantry at Mass -on the Sunday. The women in particular had that dignity which is so -marked in their class, and the white lace coifs they wore had many -varieties of shape, all most beautiful, and were very _soignees_ and -neatly worn. Not an untidy woman or girl amongst these daughters of the -soil. - -I was anxious to see "Angers la Noire," where we stayed on our way from -Savonnieres to Amboise. But the black slate houses which gave it that -name are being turned into white stone ones, and so its grim -characteristic is passing away. Give me character, good or bad; -characterless things are odious. I don't suppose a more perfect old -Angevin town exists than Amboise. It fulfilled all I required and -expected of it. How Turner understood these towns on the broad, majestic -Loire! He occasionally exaggerated, but his exaggerations were always in -the right direction, emphasising thus the dominant beauties of each -place and their local sentiment. Which recalls the deep charm of the -rivers of France more subtly to the mind, Turner's series or an album of -photographs? Turner's mind saw more truly than the camera. The castle of -Amboise is superb and its creamy white stone a glory. Then came Blois, -with a quite different reading of a castle, where plenty of colour and -gilding and Gothic richness gave the character--not so restful to eye -and mind as Amboise. Through both the _chateaux_ we were marshalled -along by a guide. I would sooner learn less of a place, by myself, than -be told all by a tiresome man in a _cicerone's_ livery. Plenty of -horrors were supplied us at both places, vitiating my otherwise simple -pleasure as a painter in the sight of so much beauty. - -We returned to Plymouth Sound on a lovely day, and there our blue -launch, with that bright brass funnel I had so long agitated for, was -awaiting us, and we landed at the steps of Mount Wise as though we had -merely been for a trip to Penlee Point. - -I found my picture of the yeomanry cantering through a "spruit" in the -Boer War, "Within Sound of the Guns," admirably placed this time at -Burlington House, in the spring of 1903. I had greatly improved in tone -by this time. Millais' remark once upon a time, "She draws better than -any of us, but I wish her _tone_ was better," had sunk deep. - -On July 14th, 1903, the Princess Henry of Battenberg (as the title was -then), with a suite of six, paid us a visit of two days at Government -House, and we had, of course, a big reception, which was inevitable. Our -guest hated the ordeal of all those presentations, being very retiring, -and I sympathised. I heard her murmur to her lady, Miss Bulteel, "I -shall die," as the first arrival was announced. And there she had to -stand till I and the A.D.C. had finished terrifying her with about 250 -people in succession. What a tax royalty has to pay! There was the -laying of a foundation stone, a trip in the launch up the Tamar, and -something to be done each day, but with as many rests as we could -squeeze in for our very _simpatica_ princess. The drive through the -streets of Plymouth showed me what the crowd looks like from royalty's -point of view as I sat by her side in the carriage. I remarked to her -what bad teeth the people had. "They are nothing to those in the north," -the poor dear said. How often royalty has to run that gauntlet of an -unlovely and cheering crowd! - -I was now to go through the great ordeal of witnessing our dear -Dick's[15] taking his vows. This was on September 4th, 1903, at Belmont -Minster, Hereford. - -On July 10th, 1904, a German squadron of eighteen men-of-war came -thundering into the Sound, and on the 12th we assembled a Garden Party -of about three hundred guests to give the three admirals and their -officers a very proper welcome. Eighteen beautiful ships, but all -untried. I lunched on board the flagship, the _Kaiser Wilhelm II._, on -the previous day, and anything to equal the dandified "get up" of that -war vessel could not be found afloat. Wherever there was an excuse for a -gold Imperial crown, there it was, relieved by the spotless whiteness of -its surroundings. The fair-haired bluejackets were extremely clean and -comely, but struck me as being drilled too much like soldiers, and -wanting the natural manner of our men. The impression on my mind at the -time was that immense care and pains had been taken to show off these -brand-new ships and to rival ours, but that they were not a bit like -their models. The General dined in state on board that evening. Oh! the -veneer of politeness shown to us these days; the bowings, the clicking -of heels, the well-drilled salutes; and all the time we were joking -amongst ourselves about the certainty we had that they were taking -soundings of our great harbour. As usual, they were allowed to do just -as they liked there. It is a tremendous thought to me that I have lived -to hear of the surrender of Germany's entire navy. How often in those -days we allowed ourselves to imagine a modern _possible_ Trafalgar, but -such a cataclysm as this was outside the bounds of any one's -imagination. - -I devoted a great deal of my time to getting up a "one-man-show," my -first of many, composed of water colours, and in accomplishing the -Afghan picture I have already mentioned as being so much honoured by the -Hanging Committee at the Academy in the spring of 1904. My husband's -command of the Western District terminated on January 31st, 1905, and -with it his career in the army, as he had reached the retiring age. The -Liberal Party was very keen on having him as an M.P., representing East -Leeds. I am glad the idea did not materialise. I know what would have -happened. He would have set out full of honest and worthy enthusiasm to -serve the _Patria_. Then, little by little, he would have found what -political life really is, and thrown the thing up in disgust. An old -story. _Non Patria sed Party!_ So utterly outside my own life had -politics been that I had an amused sensation when I saw the -Parliamentary world opening before me, like a gulf! - -"_January 31st_, 1905.--Will is to stand for East Leeds. It is all very -sudden. Liberals so eager that he has almost been (courteously) hustled -into the great enterprise. Herbert Gladstone, Campbell-Bannerman and -other leaders have written almost irresistible letters to him, pleading. -When he goes to the election at Leeds he is to be 'put to no expense -whatever,' and they are confident of a 'handsome majority.' We shall -see! Besides all this he is given a most momentous commission at the War -Office to investigate certain ugly-looking matters connected with the -Boer War stores scandal that require clearing up. I am glad they have -done him the 'poetical justice' of selecting him for this. - -"_February 13th_.--We went to a very brilliant and (to me) novel -gathering at the Campbell-Bannermans'. All the leaders of the Liberal -Party there, an interesting if not very noble study. All so cordial to -Will. Tremendous crush, but nice when we got down to the more airy tea -room. The snatches of conversation I got in the general hubbub all -sounded somewhat 'shoppy.' Winston Churchill, a ruddy young man, with a -roguish twinkle in his eye, Herbert Gladstone and his lovely wife, our -bluff, rosy host and other 'leaders' were very interesting, and we met -many friends, all on the 'congratulate.' All these M.P.'s seem to relish -their life. I suppose it _has_ a great fascination, this working to get -your side in, as at a football match." - -The general election in course of time swept over England and brought in -the Liberal Party with an overwhelming majority. My husband did not -stand for East Leeds. He had to abandon the idea, as a Catholic, on -account of the religious difficulties connected with the Education Act. - -Our life in the glorious west of Ireland, which followed our retirement -from Devonport, has been so fully described by this pen of mine in "From -Sketch-book and Diary" that I give but a slight sketch of it here. Those -were days when one could give one's whole heart, so to speak, to Erin, -before the dreadful cloud had fallen on her which, as I write, has lent -her her present forbidding gloom. That will pass, please God! - -To come straight through from London and its noise and superfluous fuss -and turmoil into the absolute peace and purity of County Mayo in perfect -summer weather was such a relief to mind and body that one felt it as an -emancipation. Health, good sleep, enjoyment of pure air and noble -scenery; kindly, unsophisticated peasantry--all these things were there, -and the flocks and herds and the sea birds. In the midst of all that -appealing poetry, so peculiar to Ireland, I had a funny object lesson of -a prosaic kind at romantic Mulranny, on Clewe Bay. In the little station -I saw a big heap in sackcloth lying on the platform--"_Hog-product from -Chicago_"--and the country able to "cure" the matchless Irish pig! I -went on to get some darning wool in the hamlet--"_Made in England_"--and -all those sheep around us! Outside the shop door a horse had the usual -big nose-bag--_"Made in Austria"!_ All these things, with a little -energy, should have come out of the place itself, surely? I thought to -encourage native industry, when found, by ordering woollen hose at the -convent school. No two stockings of the same pair were of equal length. -The bay was rich in fish, and one day came a little fleet of fishing -boats--_from France!_ There was Ireland to-day in a nutshell. What of -to-morrow? Is this really Ireland's heavy sleep before the dawn? - -I have seen some of the most impressive beauties of our world, but never -have I been more impressed than by the solemn grandeur of the mountain -across Clewe Bay they call Croagh Patrick, as we saw it on the evening -of our arrival at Mulranny. The last flush of the after-glow lingered on -its dark slopes and the red planet Mars flamed above its cone, all this -solemn beauty reflected in the sleeping waters. At Mulranny I spent -nearly all my days making studies of sheep and landscape for the next -picture I sent to the Academy--"A Cistercian Shepherd." This gave me a -period of the most exquisitely reposeful work. The building up of this -picture was in itself an idyll. But the public didn't want idylls from -me at all. "Give us soldiers and horses, but pastoral idylls--no!" -People had a slightly reproachful tone in their comments after seeing my -poor pastoral on the Academy walls. Some one said, "How are the mighty -fallen!" - -We made our home in the heart of Tipperary, under the Galtee Mountains. -It seemed time for us to seek a dignified repose, "the world forgetting, -by the world forgot," but we did not succeed in our intention. In 1906 -my husband went on a great round of observation through Cape Colony and -the (former) Boer Republics on a literary mission. I and E. went off to -Italy, meanwhile; Rome as our goal. There I had the great pleasure of -the companionship of my sister, and it may be imagined with what -feelings we re-trod the old haunts in and about that city together. - -"_April 9th, 1906_.--We had a charming stroll through the Villa d'Este -gardens, where the oldest, hoariest cypresses are to be seen, and -fountains and water conduits of graceful and fantastic shape, wherever -one turns, all gushing with impetuous waters. The architects of these -gardens revelled in their fanciful designs and sported with the -responsive flood. Cascades spout in all directions from the rocks on -which Tivoli is built. We had _dejeuner_ under a pergola at the inn -right over one of these waterfalls, where, far below us, birds flew to -and fro in the mist of the spray. Nature and art have joined in play at -Tivoli. I always have had a healthy dislike of burrowing in tombs and -catacombs. The sepulchral, bat-scented air of such places in Egypt--the -land, of all others, of limpid air and sunshine and dryness--is not in -any way attractive to me, and I greatly dislike diving into the Roman -catacombs out of the sunny Appian Way. On former occasions I went -through them all, so this time I kept above ground. I learnt all that -the catacombs teach in my early years, and am not likely to lose that -tremendous impression. - -"_April 10th_.--A true Campagna day, as Italianised as I could make it. -We had a frugal _colazione_ under the pergola of an Appian Way-side inn, -watched by half a dozen hungry cats, that unattractive, wild, malignant -kind of cat peculiar to Italy. The girl who waited on us drew our white -wine in a decanter from what looked like a well in the garden. It had, -apparently, not 'been cool'd a long age in _that_ deep-delved earth,' -but it did very well. I was perfectly happy. This old-fashioned _al -fresco_ entertainment had the local colour which I look for when I -travel and which is getting rarer year by year. Our Colosseum moonlight -was more weird than ever. At eleven we had our moon. It was a large, -battered, woeful, waning old moon, that looked in at us through the -broken arch. An opportune owl, which had been screeching like a cat in -the shade, flitted across its sloping disc just at the supreme moment." - -To receive Holy Communion at the hands of the Holy Father is a privilege -for which we should be very thankful. It was mine and E.'s on Easter -morning that year, at his private Mass in the Sistine Chapel. There I -saw Pius X. for the first time. Goodness and compassion shine from that -sad and gentle face. It is the general custom to kiss the 'Fisherman's -ring' on the Pope's hand before receiving, but Pius X. very markedly -prevents this. One can understand! Our audience with the Holy Father -took place on the eve of our departure. There was a never-absent look -with him of what I may call the submissive sense of a too-heavy burden -of responsibility. No photographs convey the right impression of this -Pope. He was very pale, very spiritual, very kind and a little weary; -most gentle and touching in his manner. The World War at its outset -broke that tender heart. I sent him my "Letters from the Holy Land," for -which I received very urbane thanks from one of the cardinals. I don't -think the Holy Father knows a single word of English, and I wonder what -he made of it. - -As to our tour homeward, taking Florence and Venice on the way, I think -we will take that as read. I revel in the Diary in all the dear old -Italian details, marred only by the change I noticed in Venice as -regards her broken silence. The hurry of modern life has invaded even -the "silent city," and there is too much electric glare in the lighting -now, at night, for the old enjoyment of her moonlights. It annoyed me to -see the moon looking quite shabby above the incandescent globes on the -Riva. - -From Venice to the Dublin Castle season is a big jump. We had an average -of twenty-one balls in six weeks in each of the two seasons 1907--1908. -Little did I think that it would be quite an unmixed pleasure to me to -do _chaperon_ for some five hours at a stretch; but so it turned out. It -all depends what sort of daughter you have on the scene! The Aberdeens -were then in power. - -Lady Aberdeen was untiring in her endeavours to trace and combat the -dire disease which seemed to fasten on the Irish in an especial manner. -She went about lecturing to the people with a tuberculosis "caravan." -She brought it to Cashel, and my husband made the opening speech at her -exhibition there. But her addresses came to nothing. The lungs exhibited -in the "caravan" in spirits of wine appealed in vain. She actually asked -the people that day to go back to their discarded oatmeal "stir-about"! -They prefer their stewed tea and their artificially whitened, so-called -bread, with the resultant loss of their teeth. My experiences at the -different Dublin horse shows were sociable and pleasant. There you see -the finest horses and the most beautiful women in the world, and Dublin -gives you that hospitality which is the most admirable quality in the -Irish nature. - -Sir William spent the remaining days of his life in trying, by addresses -to the people in different parts of the country, to quicken their sense -of the necessity for industry, sobriety, and a more serious view of -existence. They did not seem to like it, and he was apparently only -beating the air. I remember one particularly strong appeal he made in -Meath at a huge open-air meeting. I thought to myself that such -warnings, given in his vivid and friendly Irish style, touched with -humour to leaven the severity, would have impressed his hearers. The -applause disappointed me. Well, he did his best to the very last for the -country and the people he loved. He had vainly longed all his life for -Home Rule within the Empire. Was this, then, all that was wanting? - -I recall in this connection an episode which was eloquent of the hearty -appreciation of his worth, quite irrespective of politics. At a banquet -given in Dublin to welcome Lord and Lady Granard, after their marriage, -he was called upon to respond for "the Guests." For fully one minute the -cheers were so persistent when he rose that he had to wait before his -opening words could be heard. The company were nearly all Unionists. - -After all the misunderstandings connected with Sir William's association -with the Boer War and its antecedents had been righted at last, these -words of a distinguished general at Headquarters were spoken: "Butler -stands a head and shoulders above us all." - -The year 1910 is one which in our family remains for ever sacred. My -dear mother died on March 13th. - -On June 7th a very brave soldier, who feared none but God, was called to -his reward. Here my Diary stops for nearly a year.[16] - - - - -CHAPTER XXIV - -MOSTLY A ROMAN DIARY - - -Palm Sunday, 1911, found me in Rome, on the eve of my son's ordination -as priest. One of those extraordinary occurrences which have happened in -my life took place that day. Four of us joined at the appointed place -and hour: I and Eileen from Ireland (Dick, already in Rome) and Patrick, -just landed, in the nick of time, from India! We three met at the foot -of the Aventine and went up to Sant' Anselmo, where we knew we should -see _the other one_ during the Palm Sunday Mass, though not to speak to -till after the long service was ended. He intoned the Gospel as deacon, -and when his deep voice reached us in the gallery we looked at each -other with a smile. None of us had seen him for a more or less long -time. - -"Holy Saturday. The great day. Dick assumed the chasuble, and is -officially known now as Father Urban, though 'Dick' he will ever remain -with us. The weather was Romanly brilliant, but I was anxious, knowing -that these young deacons were to be on their knees in the great Lateran -Church, fasting, from 7 a.m. We three waited a long time in the piazza -of the Lateran for the pealing of the bells which should announce the -beginning of the Easter time, and which was to be the signal for our -entry into the great basilica at 9.15. We had places in two balconies, -right over the altar. Below us stood about forty deacons, with our -particular one in their midst, each holding his folded chasuble across -his arms ready for the vesting. The sight of these young fellows, in -their white and gold deacons' vestments, was very touching. Each one was -called up by name in turn, and ascended the altar steps, where sat the -consecrating bishop, who looked more like a spirit than a mere human -creature. When Urbano Butler (pronounced _Boutler_, of course, by the -Italian voice) was called, how we craned forward! To me the whole thing -was poignant. What those boys give up! ('Well,' answers a voice, 'they -give up the world, and a good thing too!') - -"We went, when the ceremony was completed, into a side chapel to receive -the newly-made young priests' first blessing. These young fellows ran -out of the sacristy towards the crowd of expectant parents and friends, -their newly-acquired chasubles flying behind them as they ran, with -outstretched hands, for the kisses of that kneeling crowd that awaited -them. What a sight! Can any one paint it and do it justice? Old and -young, gentlefolk and peasants, smiling through tears, kissing the young -hands that blessed them. Dick came to his mother first, then to his -soldier brother, then to his sister, and I saw him lifting an aged -prelate to his feet after blessing him. Strangers knelt to him and to -the others, and I saw, in its perfection, what is meant by 'laughing for -joy' on those young and holy faces. There was one exception. A poor -young Irish boy, somehow, had no relative to bless--no one--he seemed -left out in his corner, and he was crying. Perhaps his mother was -'beyond the beyond' in far Connemara? I heard of this afterwards. Had I -seen him, I would certainly have asked his blessing too. So it -is--always some shadow, even here. - -"As soon as we could get hold of Dick, in his plain habit, we hurried -him to a little _trattoria_ across the piazza, where his dear friend and -chum, John Collins,[17] treated him to a good cup of chocolate to break -his long fast." - -It was quite a necessary anti-climax for me when we and our friends all -met again at the hotel and sat down, to the number of fifteen, to a -bright luncheon I gave in honour of the day. A very celebrated English -cardinal honoured me with his presence there. - -"_Easter Sunday_.--Patrick, Eileen and I received Holy Communion in the -crypt of Sant' Anselmo from Dick's hands at his first Mass. These few -words contain the culmination of all. - -"_April 17th_.--In the afternoon we were all off, piloted by Dick, to -the celebrated Benedictine monastery of Monte Cassino, a long way down -towards Naples, to spend a few days, Patrick as guest within the -precincts, and E. and I lodging at the guest-house, which forms part of -the monastic farm, poised on the edge of a great precipice. The sheer -rock plunges down to the base of the mountain whereon stands the -wonderful monastery. It is something to see a great domed church on the -top of such a mountain, and a building of such vast proportions, -containing one of the greatest libraries in the world. A mule path was -all the monks intended for communication between the two worlds, but now -a great carriage road takes us up by an easy zigzag. - -"_April 18th_.--Every hour of our visit to Monte Cassino must be lived. -I made a sketch of the monastery and the abyss into which one peers -from that great height, with angry red clouds gathering over the tops of -the snowy mountains. But my sketches are too didactic; and, indeed, who -but Turner could convey to the beholder the awful spirit of that scene? -The tempest sent us in and we had the experience of a good thunderstorm -amidst those severe mountains that have the appearance of a petrified -chaos. Last night E. woke up to find the room full of a surprising blue -light, which at first she took to be the dawn because, through the open -windows, she heard the whole land thrilling with the song of birds. But -such a _blue_ light for dawn? She got up to see. The light was that of -the full moon and the birds were nightingales. - -"I was enchanted to see the beautiful dress of the peasant women here. -Their white _tovaglie_ are looped back in a more graceful line than the -Roman. The queerest little thin black hogs, like poor relations of the -tall, pink Valentia variety which I have already signalised, browse on -the steep ascent to this great stronghold, and everything still looks -wild, in spite of the carriage road. I should have preferred coming up -here on a mule. Our suppers at the guest-house were Spartan. Rather -dismal, having to pump conversation with the Italian guests at this -festive(!) board. Our intellectual food, however, was rich. The abbot -and his monks did the honours of far-famed Monte Cassino for us with the -kindest attention, showing very markedly their satisfaction in -possessing Brother Urban, whose father's name they held in great -esteem." - -On April 22nd we had the long-expected audience with Pio Decimo. It was -only semi-private and there were crowds, including eleven English naval -officers, to be presented. I had my little speech ready, but when we -came into the Pope's presence we found him standing instead of restfully -seated, and he looked so fatigued and so aged since I last saw him that -I knew I must keep him listening as short a time as possible. First I -presented "_Mio figlio primogenito, ufficiale_;" then "_mio figlio -Benedettino_" and then "_mia figlia_." He spoke a little while to Dick -in Latin, and then we knelt and received his blessing and departed, to -see him no more. - -It is a great thing to have seen Leo XIII. and Pius X., as I have had -the opportunity of seeing them. Both have left a deep impression on -modern life, especially the former, who was a great statesman. To see -the fragile scabbard of the flesh one wondered how the keen sword of the -spirit could be held at all within it. It was his diplomatic tact that -smoothed away many of the difficulties that obtruded themselves between -the Vatican and the Quirinal, and that tact kept the Papacy on good -terms with France and her Republic, to which he called on all French -Catholics to give their support. It was he who forced "the man of blood -and iron" to relax the ferocious laws against the Church in Germany, and -to allow the evicted bishops to return to their Sees. Diplomatic -relations with Germany were renewed, and the Church's laws regarding -marriage and education had to be re-admitted by the Government. Even the -dark "Orthodox" intolerance of Russia bent sufficiently to his influence -to allow of the establishment of Catholic episcopal Sees in that -country, and the cessation of the imprisonment of priests. The -episcopate in Scotland, too, was restored. We owe to him that spread of -Catholicism in the United States which has long been such a surprise to -the onlooker. Then there are his great encyclicals on the Social -Question, setting forth the Christian teaching on the relations between -capital and labour; establishing the social movement on Christian lines. -How clearly he saw the threat of a great European war at no very distant -date from his time unless armaments were reduced. That refined mind -inclined him to the advancement of the cause of the Arts and of -learning. Students thank him for opening the Vatican archives to them, -which he did with the words, "The Church has nothing to fear from the -publication of the Truth." His is the Vatican observatory--one of the -most famous in the world. It makes one smile to remember his remarks on -the then young Kaiser William II., who seems to have struck the Holy -Father as somewhat bumptious on the occasion of his historic visit. -"That young man," as he called him, evidently impressed the Pope as one -having much to learn. - -What a contrast Pius X. presents to his predecessor! The son of a -postman at Rieti, a little town in Venetia. I remember when a deputation -of young men came to pay him their respects at the Vatican, arriving on -their bicycles, that he told them how much he would have liked a bike -himself when, as a bare-legged boy, he had to trudge every day seven -miles to school and back. Needless to say, he had no diplomatic or -political training, but he led the truly simple life, very saintly and -apostolic. He devoted his energies chiefly to the purely pastoral side -of his office. We are grateful to him for his reform of Church music -(and it needed it in Italy!). He was very emphatic in urging frequent -communion and early communion for children. His condemnation of -"modernism" is fresh in all our minds, and we are glad he removed the -prohibition on Catholics from standing for the Italian Parliament, -thereby allowing them to obtain influential positions in public life. He -took a firm stand with regard to the advancing encroachment of the -French Government on the liberties of the Church in his day. His policy -is being amply justified under our very eyes. - -We joined the big garden party, after the Papal audience, at the British -Embassy. A great crush in that lovely remnant of the once glorious, -far-spreading gardens I can remember, nearly all turned to-day into -deadly streets on which a gridiron of tram lines has been screwed down. -Prince Arthur of Connaught brought in the Queen-Mother, Margherita, to -the lawn where the dancing took place. The Rennell-Rodd children as -little fairies were pretty and danced charmingly, but I felt for the -professional dancer who, poor thing, was not in her first youth, and -unkindly dealt with by the searching daylight. To have to caper airily -on that grass was no joke. It was heavy going for her and made me -melancholy, in conjunction with my memories of the old Ludovisi gardens -and the vanished pines. - -On October 26th my youngest daughter, Eileen, was married to Lord -Gormanston, at the Brompton Oratory, the church so loved by our mother, -and where I was received. Our dear Dick married them. I had the -reception in Lowndes Square in the beautiful house lent by a friend. - -Ireland has many historic ancestral dwellings, and one of these became -my daughter's new home in Meath. Shakespeare's "cloud-capp'd towers" -seemed not so much the "baseless fabric" of the poet's vision when I -saw, one day, the low-lying trail of a bright Irish mist brush the high -tops of the towers of Gormanston. A thing of visions, too, is realised -there in a cloister carved so solidly out of the dense foliage of the -yew that never monastic cloister of stone gave a more restful -"contiguity of shade." - -I spent the winter of 1911--12 in London, and worked hard at water -colours, of which I was able to exhibit a goodly number at a "one-man -show" in the spring. The King lent my good old "Roll Call," and the -whole thing was a success. I showed many landscapes there as well as -military subjects; many Italian and Egyptian drawings made during my -travels, and scenes in Ireland. These exhibitions in a well-lighted -gallery are pleasant, and the private view day a social rendezvous for -one's friends. - -Through my sister, with whom I revisited Rome early in 1913, I had the -pleasure of knowing many Americans there. How refreshing they are, and -responsive (I don't mean the mere tourist!), whereas my dear compatriots -are very heavy in hand sometimes. American women are particularly well -read and cultivated and full of life. They don't travel in Europe for -nothing. I have had some dull experiences in the English world when -embarking, at our solemn British dinners, on cosmopolitan subjects for -conversation. What was I to say to a man who, having lately returned -from Florence, gave it as his opinion that it was only "a second-rate -Cheltenham"? I tried that unlucky Florentine subject on another. He: -"Florence? Oh, yes, I liked that--that--_minaret thing_ by the side of -the--the--er----" I: "The Duomo?" He: "Oh, yes, the Duomo." I (in -gloomy despair): "Do you mean Giotto's Tower?" Collapse of our -conversation. - -Very probably I bade my last farewell to St. Peter's that year. I had -more than once bidden a provisional "good-bye" at sundown on leaving -Rome to that dome which I always loved to see against the western glory -from the familiar terrace on Monte Pincio, only to return, on a further -visit, and see it again with the old, fresh feeling of thankfulness. My -initial enthusiasm, crudely chronicled as it is in my early Diary on -first coming in sight of St. Peter's, was a young artist's emotion, but -to the maturer mind what a miracle that Sermon in Stone reveals! The -tomb of one Simon, no better, before his call, than any ordinary -fisherman one may see to-day on our coasts--and now? "TU ES PETRUS...." - - - - -CHAPTER XXV - -THE GREAT WAR - - -I was very busy with oil brush and water-colour brush during the summer -of 1913, and the succeeding winter, in Ireland, accomplishing a large -oil, "The Cuirassier's Last _Reveil_, Morning of Waterloo," and a number -of drawings, all of that inexhaustible battle, for my next "one-man -show" held on its centenary, 1915. I left no stone unturned to get true -studies of dawn twilight for that _reveil_, and I got them. At the -pretty house of my friends, the Egerton Castles, on a steep Surrey hill, -I had my chance. The house faced the east. It was midsummer; an alarm -clock roused me each morning at 2.30. I had modelled a little grey horse -and a man, and set them up on my balcony, facing in the right direction, -and there I waited, with palette spread, for the dawn. Time was short; -the first ray of sunrise would spoil all, so I could only dab down the -tones, anyhow; but they were all-important dabs, and made the big -picture run without a hitch. Nothing delays a picture more than the -searching for the true relations of tone without sufficient data. But -this is a truism. - -The Waterloo water colours were most interesting to work out. I had any -amount of books for reference, records of old uniforms to get from -contemporary paintings; and I utilised the many studies of horses I had -made for years, chiefly on the chance of their coming in useful some -day. The result was the best "show" I had yet had at the Leicester -Galleries. But ere that exhibition opened, the World War burst upon us! -First my soldier son went off, and then the Benedictine donned khaki, as -chaplain to the forces. He went, one may say, from the cloister to the -cannon. I had to pass through the ordeal which became the lot of so many -mothers of sons throughout the Empire. - -"_Lyndhurst, New Forest, September 22nd, 1914._--I must keep up the old -Diary during this most eventful time, when the biggest war the world has -ever been stricken with is raging. To think that I have lived to see it! -It was always said a war would be too terrible now to run the risk of, -and that nations would fear too much to hazard such a peril. Lo! here we -are pouring soldiers into the great jaws of death in hundreds of -thousands, and sending poor human flesh and blood to face the new -'scientific' warfare--the same flesh and blood and nervous system of the -days of bows and arrows. Patrick is off as A.D.C. to General Capper, -commanding the 7th Division. Martin, who was the first to be ordered to -the front, attached to the 2nd Royal Irish, has been transferred to the -wireless military station at Valentia. That regiment has been utterly -shattered in the Mons retreat, so I have reason to be thankful for the -change. I am here, at Patrick's suggestion, that I may see an army under -war conditions and have priceless opportunities of studying 'the real -thing.' The 7th Division[18] is now nearly complete, and by October 3rd -should be on the sea. I arrived at Southampton to-day, and my good old -son in his new Staff uniform was at the station ready to motor me up to -Lyndhurst where the Staff are, and all the division, under canvas. I was -very proud of the red tabs on Patrick's collar, meaning so much. I saw -at once, on arriving, the difference between this and my Aldershot -impressions. This is _war_, and there is no doubt the bearing of the men -is different. They were always smart, always cheery, _but not like -this_. There is a quiet seriousness quite new to me. They are going to -look death straight in the face. - -"_September 23rd._--I had a most striking lesson in the appearance of -men after a very long march, _plus_ that look which is quite absent on -peace manoeuvres, however hot and trying the conditions. What -surprises and telling 'bits' one sees which could never be imagined with -such a convincing power. A team of eight mammoth shire horses drawing a -great gun is a sight never to be forgotten; shapely, superb cart horses -with coats as satiny as any thoroughbred's, in polished artillery -harness, with the mild eyes of their breed--I must do that amongst many -most _real_ subjects. But I see the German shells ploughing through -these teams of willing beasts. They will suffer terribly. - -"_September 25th._--Getting hotter every day and not a cloud. I brought -this weather with me. Patrick waits on me whenever he is off duty for an -hour or so, and it is a charming experience to have him riding by the -side of the carriage to direct the driver and explain to me every -necessary detail. The place swarms with troops for ever in movement, and -the roll of guns and drums, and the notes of the cheery pipes and fifes -go on all day. The Gordons have arrived. - -[Illustration: NOTES ON THE EVE OF THE GREAT WAR.] - -"_September 26th._--Signs of pressure. They may now be off any hour. -The ammunition has all arrived, and there wants but one battery of -artillery to complete the division. General Capper won't wait much -longer and will be off without it if it delays and make up a battery _en -route_ somehow. It is sad to see so many mere boys arriving at the hotel -fresh from Sandhurst. They are given companies to command, captains -being killed, wounded or missing in such numbers. As to Patrick's -regiment, the old Royal Irish seem to have been so shattered that they -are all _hors de combat_ for the present. - -"_September 27th._--What a precious Sunday this has been! First, Patrick -accompanied me to Mass, said by Father Bernard Vaughan, in a secluded -part of the camp, where the heather had not been ploughed up by men, -horses and guns, as elsewhere, and where the altar was erected in a -wooded glen. The Grenadier and Scots Guards were all on their knees as -we arrived, and the bright green and gold vestments of the priest were -relieved very vividly in the sunshine against the darker green -background of the forest beyond. Quite a little crowd of stalwart -guardsmen received Holy Communion, and two of them were sheltering with -their careful hands the candles from the soft warm breeze, one at each -end of the altar. We sit out in the leafy garden of the hotel and have -tea there, we parents and relatives, with our boys by us at all spare -moments. To-day, being Sunday, there have been extra crowds of relatives -and friends who have motored over from afar. There is pathos here, very -real pathos. How many of these husbands and sons and brothers I see -sitting close to their dear ones, for the last time, perhaps! Who knows? -The voices are low and quiet--very quiet. Patrick and I were -photographed together by M. E. These little snapshots will be precious. -We were nearly all day together to-day as there was a rest. All this -quiet time here our brave soldiers are being shattered on the banks of -the Aisne. Just now must be a tremendously important period of the -fighting. We may get great news to-morrow. Many names I know beginning -to appear in the casualty lists. - -"_September 28th, 1914._--Had a good motor run with the R.'s right -through the field of 'battle' in the midst of the great forest--a -rolling height covered with heather and bracken. Our soldiers certainly -have learnt, at last, how to take cover. One can easily realise how it -is that the proportion of officers killed is so high. Kneeling or -standing up to give directions they are very conspicuous, whereas of the -men one catches only a glimpse of their presence now and then through a -tell-tale knapsack or the round top of a cap in the bracken; yet the -ground is packed with men--quite uncanny. The Gordons were a beautiful -sight as they sprang up to reach a fresh position. I noticed how the -breeze, as they ran, blew the khaki aprons aside and the revealed tartan -kilts gave a welcome bit of colour and touched up the drab most -effectively. One 'gay Gordon' sergeant told us, 'We are a grand -diveesion, all old warriors, and when we get out 'twill make a -deeference.'" - -The most impressive episode to me of that well-remembered day was when -Patrick took me up to the high ground at sunset and we looked down on -the camp. The mellow, very red sun was setting and the white moon was -already well up over the camp, which looked mysterious, lightly veiled -by the thin grey wood-smoke of the fires. Thousands of troops were -massed or moving, shadowy, far away; others in the middle distance -received the blood-red glow on the men's faces with an extraordinary -effect. They showed as ruddy, vaporous lines of colour over the scarcely -perceptible tones of the dusky uniforms. Horses stood up dark on the -sky-line. The bugles sounded the "Retreat"; these doomed legions, -shadow-like, moved to and fro. It was the prologue to a great tragedy. - -"_September 30th._--There was a field day of the whole of one brigade. -The regiments in it are 'The Queen's,' the Welsh Fusiliers, Staffords, -and Warwicks, with the monstrous 4.7 guns drawn by my well-loved mighty -mammoths. The guns are made impossible to the artist of modern war by -being daubed in blue and red blotches which make them absolutely -formless and, of course, no glint of light on the hidden metal is seen. -Still, there is much that is very striking, though the colour, the -sparkle, the gallant plumage, the glinting of gold and silver, have -given way to universal grimness. After all, why dress up grim war in all -that splendour? My idea of war subjects has always been anti-sparkle. - -"As I sat in the motor in the centre of the far-flung 'battle,' in a -hollow road, lo! the Headquarter Staff came along, a gallant group, _a -la_ Meissonier, Patrick, on his skittish brown mare 'Dawn,' riding -behind the General, who rode a big black (_very_ effective), with the -chief of the Staff nearly alongside. The escort consisted of a strong -detachment of the fine Northumberland Hussars, mounted on their own -hunters. They are to be the bodyguard of the General at the Front. -Several drivers of the artillery are men who were wounded at Mons and -elsewhere, and, being well again, are returning with this division to -the Front. All the horses here are superb. Poor beasts, poor beasts! One -daily, hourly, reminds oneself that the very dittoes of these men and -animals are suffering, fighting, dying over there in France. Kitchener -tells our General that the 7th Division will 'probably arrive after the -first phase is over,' which looks as though he fully expects the -favourable and early end of the present one. - -"_October 2nd._--The whole division was out to-day. I was motored into -the very thick of the operations on the high lands, and watched the men -entrenching themselves, a thing I had never yet seen. Most picturesque -and telling. And the murderous guns were being embedded in the yellow -earth and covered with heather against aeroplanes, especially, and their -wheels masked with horse blankets. There they lay, black, hump-backed -objects, with just their mouths protruding, and as each gun section -finished their work with the pick and shovel, they lay flat down to hide -themselves. How war is waged now! Great news allowed to be published -to-day in the papers. The Indian Army has arrived, and is now at the -_Front!_ It landed long ago at Marseilles, but how well the secret has -been kept! How mighty are the events daily occurring. Late in the -afternoon I saw the Northumberland Hussars, on a high ridge, _practising -the sword exercise!_ With the idea that the sword was obsolete -(engendered by the Boer War experience), no yeomanry has, of late, been -armed with sabres, but, seeing what use our Scots Greys, Lancers, -Dragoon Guards and Hussars have lately been making of the steel, General -Capper has insisted on these, his own yeomen, being thus armed. I felt -stirred with the pathos of this sight--men learning how to use a new -arm on the eve of battle. They were mounted and drawn up in a long, -two-deep line on that brown heath, with a heavy bank of dark clouds like -mine in 'Scotland for Ever!' behind their heads--a fine subject. - -[Illustration: THE SHIRE HORSES: WHEELERS OF A 4.7, - -A HUSSAR SCOUT OF 1917.] - -"Who will look at my 'Waterloos' now? I have but one more of that series -to do. Then I shall stop and turn all my attention and energy to this -stupendous war. I shall call up my Indian sowars again, but _not_ at -play this time. - -"_October 3rd_.--Sketched Patrick's three beautiful chargers' heads in -water colour. Still the word 'Go!' is suspended over our heads. - -"_October 4th_.--The word 'Go!' has just sounded. In ten minutes Patrick -had to run and get his handbag, great coat and sword and be off with his -General to London. They pass through here to-morrow on their way to -embark. - -"_October 5th_, 1914.--I was down at seven, and as they did not finally -leave till 8.15 I had a golden half-hour's respite. Then came the -parting...." - -I left Lyndhurst at once. It will ever remain with me in a halo of -physical and spiritual sunshine seen through a mist of sadness. - -On November 2nd, 1914, my son Patrick was severely wounded during the -terrible, prolonged first Battle of Ypres, and was sent home to be -nursed back to health and fighting power at Guy's Hospital, where I saw -him. He told me that as he lay on the field his General and Staff passed -by, and all the General said was, "Hullo, Butler! is that you? -Good-bye!"[19] General Capper was as brave a soldier as ever lived, -but, I think, too fond for a General of being, as he said he wished to -be, _in the vanguard_. Thus he met his death (riding on horseback, I -understand) at Loos. Patrick's brother A.D.C., Captain Isaac, whom I -daily used to see at Lyndhurst, was killed early in the War. The poor -fellow, to calm my apprehensions regarding my own son, had tried to -assure me that, as A.D.C., he would be as safe as in Piccadilly. - -Towards the end of 1914 London had become intensely interesting in its -tragic aspect, and so very unlike itself. Soldiers of all ranks formed -the majority of the male population. In fact, wherever I looked now -there was some new sight of absorbing interest, telling me we were at -war, and such a war! Bands were playing at recruiting stations; flags of -all the Allies fluttered in the breeze in gaudy bunches; "pom-pom" guns -began to appear, pointing skywards from their platforms in the parks, -awaiting "Taubes" or "Zeppelins." I went daily to watch the recruits -drilling in the parks--such strangely varied types of men they were, and -most of them appearing the veriest civilians, from top to toe. Yet these -very shop-boys had come forward to offer their all for England, and the -good fellows bowed to the terrible, shouting drill-sergeants as never -they had bowed to any man before. What enraged me was the giggling of -the shop-girls who looked on--a far harder ordeal for the boys even than -the yells of the sergeants. One of the squads in the Green Park was -supremely interesting to me one day, in (I am bound to say) a semi-comic -way. These recruits were members and associates of the Royal Academy. -They were mostly somewhat podgy, others somewhat bald. When resting, -having piled arms, they played leap-frog, which was very funny, and -showed how light-heartedly my brothers of the brush were going to meet -the Boche. Of the maimed and blind men one met at every turn I can -scarcely write. I find that when I am most deeply moved my pen lags too -far behind my brush. - -On getting home to Ireland I set to work upon a series of khaki water -colours of the War for my next "one-man show," which opened with most -satisfactory _eclat_ in May, 1917. One of the principal subjects was -done under the impulse of a great indignation, for Nurse Cavell had been -executed. I called the drawing "The Avengers." Also I exhibited at the -Academy, at the same time, "The Charge of the Dorset Yeomanry at Agagia, -Egypt." This was a large oil painting, commissioned by Colonel Goodden -and presented by him to his county of Dorset. That charge of the British -yeomen the year before had sealed the fate of the combined Turks and -Senussi, who had contemplated an attack on Egypt. One of the most -difficult things in painting a war subject is the having to introduce, -as often happens, portraits of particular characters in the drama. Their -own mothers would not know the men in the heat, dust, and excitement of -a charge, or with the haggard pallor on them of a night watch. In the -Dorset charge all the officers were portraits, and I brought as many in -as possible without too much disobeying the "distance" regulation. The -Enemy (of the Senussi tribe) wore flowing _burnouses_, which helped the -movement, but at their machine guns I, rather reluctantly, had to place -the necessary Turkish officers. I had studies for those figures and for -the desert, which I had made long ago in the East. It is well to keep -one's sketches; they often come in very useful. - -The previous year, 1916, had been a hard one. Our struggles in the War, -the Sinn Fein rebellion in Dublin, and one dreadful day in that year -when the first report of the Battle of Jutland was published--these were -great trials. I certainly would not like to go through another phase -like that. But I was hard at work in the studio at home in Tipperary, -and this kept my mind in a healthy condition, as always, through -trouble. Let all who have congenial work to do bless their stars! - -On July 31st my second son, the chaplain, had a narrow escape. It was at -the great Battle of Flanders, where we seem to have made a good -_beginning_ at last. Father Knapp and Dick were tending the wounded and -dying under a rain of shells, when the old priest told Dick to go and -get a few minutes' rest. On returning to his sorrowful work Dick met the -fine old Carmelite as he was borne on a stretcher, dying of a shell that -had exploded just where my son had been standing a few minutes before. - -I see in the Diary: "_December 11th, 1917_.--To-day our army is to make -its formal entry into Jerusalem. I can scarcely write for excitement. -How vividly I see it all, knowing every yard of that holy ground! Dick -writes from before Cambrai that, if he had to go through another such -day as that of the 30th November last, he would go mad with grief. He -lost all his dearest friends in the Grenadier Guards, and he says -England little knows how near she was to a great disaster when the enemy -surprised us on that terrible Friday." - -Men who have gone through the horrors of war say little about them, but -I have learnt many strange things from rare remarks here and there. To -show how human life becomes of no account as the fighting grows, here is -an instance. A soldier was executed at dawn one day for "cowardice." An -officer who had acted at the court-martial met a private of the same -regiment as the dead man's that day, who remarked to his officer that -all he could say about his dead "pal" was that he had seen him perform -an act of bravery three times which would have deserved the V.C. "My -good man," said the officer, "why didn't you come forward at the trial -and say this?" "Well, I didn't think of it, sir." After all, to die one -way or another had become quite immaterial. - -One of the most important of my water colours at the second khaki -exhibition, held in London in May, 1919, was of the memorable charge of -the Warwick and Worcester Yeomanry at Huj, near Jerusalem, which charge -outshone the old Balaclava one we love to remember, and which differed -from the Crimean exploit in that we not only captured all the enemy -guns, but _held_ them. I had had all details--ground plans, description -of the weather on that memorable day, position of the sun, etc., -etc.--supplied me by an eye-witness who had a singularly quick eye and -precise perception.[20] I called it "Jerusalem delivered," for that -charge opened the gates of the Holy City to us. "The Canadian Bombers on -Vimy Ridge" was another of the more conspicuous subjects, and this one -went to Canada. - -But I must look back a little: "_Monday, November 11th, -1918_.--Armistice Day! I have been fortunate in seeing London on this -day of days. I arrived at Victoria into a London of laughter, flags, -joy-rides on every conceivable and inconceivable vehicle. I had hints on -the way to London by eruptions of Union Jacks growing thicker and -thicker along the railway, but I could not let myself believe that it -was the end of all our long-drawn-out trial that I would find on -arrival. But so it was. I went alone for a good stroll through Oxford -Street, Bond Street, and Piccadilly. People meeting, though strangers, -were smiling at each other. _I_ smiled to strange faces that were -smiling at me. What a novel sensation! The streets were thronged with -the _true_ happiness in the people's eyes, and there was no -"_mafficking_" no horse-play, but such _fun_. The matter was too great -for rowdyism and drunkenness. The crowd was allowed to do just as it -pleased for once, yet I saw no accidents. The police just looked on, and -would have beamed also, I am sure, if they had not been on duty. They -had, apparently, thrown the reins on the public's neck. I saw some sad -faces, but, of course, such as these kept mostly away." - -In deepest gratitude I felt I could be amongst the smilers that day, for -both my own sons, who faced death to the very end in so many of the -theatres of war to which our armies were sent, had survived. - -The boat that took me back to Ireland eventually had no protecting -airship serpentining above us. We could breathe freely now! - -[Illustration: A POST-CARD, FOUND ON A GERMAN PRISONER, WITH "SCOTLAND -FOR EVER" TURNED INTO PRUSSIAN CAVALRY, TYPIFYING THE VICTORIOUS ON-RUSH -OF THE GERMAN ARMY IN THE NEW YEAR, 1915.] - - - - -INDEX - - -Abbas II., Khedive, 228. - -Aberdeen, Marchioness of, 308. - -Agostino (cook), 5. - -Aix-la-Chapelle, Germany, 29. - -Albaro, Italy, 6, 54, 230. - -Aldershot, review at, 236. - -Alexandra, Queen, launches _Queen_, 288 _seq._ - -Alexandria, Egypt, 202 _seq._ - -Alma Tadema, Sir L., 154. - -Amalfi, Italy, 255. - -Amboise, France, 300. - -Amelie (nurse), 2, 3, 5, 10. - -"An Eviction in Ireland," 199. - -Angers, France, 300. - -Antonelli, Cardinal, 74. - -Arcole, Italy, 224. - -Armistice Day, 1918, 332. - -Atfeh, Egypt, 216. - -Avignon, France, 178. - - -Bagshawe, Father, 105. - -"Balaclava," composition, 138; - copyright sold, 151; - exhibited, 152. - -Bale, Switzerland, 179. - -_Barberi_ races, 85. - -Beatrice, Princess, 301. - -Bellucci, Giuseppe, 60, 66, 148. - -Beresford, Lord Charles, 221. - -Birmingham, 126. - -Blois, France, 300. - -Bonchurch, Isle of Wight, 12. - -Bonn, Germany, 19. - -Boppart, Germany, 24. - -Broome Hall, Kent, 265. - -Browne, Colonel, 120. - -Bruges, Belgium, 16, 270. - -Brussels, Belgium, 31. - -Buller, Sir Redvers, 284. - -Burchett, Mr., 39, 41, 42, 44, 48, 50, 101. - -Butcher, Dean, 232. - -Butler, Elizabeth, Lady, birth and education, 1; - visits to Italy, 3, 54 _seq._, 147 _seq._, 159 _seq._, 252 seq., - 279 _seq._, 306, 311 _seq._; - taste for drawing, 4; - early sketches, 7; - commences Diary, 7; - artistic training, 10, 14, 39 _seq._, 60 _seq._, 77; - German experiences, 19 _seq._, 179 seq.; - visits Waterloo, 31; - taste for military subjects, 46; - early exhibits, 50; - sells water-colours, 96; - first military drawings, 98; - conversion to Catholicism, 99; - first Academy picture, 99; - photographs, 114; - at Lord Mayor's banquets, 122, 139, 153, 193; - present from Queen Victoria, 125; - visits Paris, 127 _seq._; - proposed election as R.A., 153; - marriage, 168, Irish experiences, 169 _seq._, 199, 304; - tour in Pyrenees, 175; - paints "Rorke's Drift" for Queen Victoria, 187 _seq._; - life at Plymouth, 191; - Tel-el-Kebir picture, 194; - residence in Egypt, 196, 202 _seq._; - in Brittany, 198; - paints 24th Dragoons, 199; - tour in Palestine, 221; - Aldershot life, 234 _seq._; - residence at Dover, 260; - in South Africa, 275; - at Devonport, 277; - tour in France, 298; - "one-man" shows, 303, 318, 321, 329, 331. - -----, Martin, 321. - -----, Patrick, 321 _seq._ - -----, Richard (Urban), at Downside, 297; - enters Benedictine Order, 302; - ordained as priest, 311; - presented to Pius X., 315; - as army chaplain, 321; - war experiences, 330. - -Butler, General Sir William, marriage, 168; - German tour, 179 _seq._; - Zulu War, 183; - friendship with Empress Eugenie, 185, 241, 257; - at Plymouth, 191; - at Lord Mayor's banquet, 193; - Egyptian campaign (1882), 193; - Gordon expedition, 194; - Wady Halfa command, 196; - receives K.C.B., 199; - Alexandria command, 200; - Aldershot command, 234, 284; - Dover command, 260; - South African command, 275; - attacks on, 276; - Devonport command, 277; - tour in France, 298; - asked to stand for Parliament, 303; - on Royal Commission, 303; - speeches in Ireland, 309; - death, 310. - - -CAIRO, Egypt, 196. - -Cambridge, Duke of, 131, 218, 235. - -"Canadian Bombers on Vimy Ridge," 331. - -Canterbury, opening of church in, 132. - -Cap Martin, France, 251, 257. - -Capper, General, 327. - -Capri, Italy, 254. - -Carcassonne, France, 178. - -Castagnolo, Italy, 161. - -Cette, France, 177. - -Chapman, Sir F., 110. - -"Charge of the Dorset Yeomanry at Agagia, Egypt," 329. - -Chatham, Kent, 120. - -"Cistercian Shepherd," 305. - -Coblenz, Germany, 21. - -Collier, Mortimer, 192. - -Cologne, Germany, 19. - -Connaught, Duke of, 235. - -Corpus Christi procession, 119. - -Cruikshank, George, 123. - -"Cuirassier's Last Reveil, Morning of Waterloo," 320. - - -D'ARCOS, Madame, 258. - -"Dawn of Sedan," 111. - -"Dawn of Waterloo," 244. - -"Defence of Rorke's Drift," 187 _seq._ - -Delgany, Ireland, 199, 225. - -Denbigh, Earl of, 117. - -"Desert Grave," 198. - -Devonport, 277. - -Deyrout, Egypt, 217. - -Diamond Jubilee, 1897, 266. - -Dickens, Charles, 9. - -Dinan, France, 198. - -Dordrecht, Holland, 181. - -Dover, Kent, 38, 260. - -Du Maurier, George, 107, 154. - -Dufferin, Marquis of, 140. - -Durham, 144. - -Duesseldorf, Germany, 180. - - -EDENBRIDGE, Kent, 4, 185. - -Edinburgh, 145. - -Edkou, Egypt, 205. - -Edward VII., King (formerly Albert Edward, Prince of Wales), - approves of "Roll Call," 113; - accession, 286; - at launch of _Queen_, 289 _seq._; - lays keel of battleship, 295; - postponed coronation, 297. - -_Edward VII._ (battleship), 295. - -Elizabeth, Empress of Austria, 271. - -Eugenie, Empress, interview with General Butler, 185; - friendship with the Butlers, 234, 251; - devotion to her son, 237; - recollections of Egypt, 241; - at Cap Martin, 257. - - -FARNBOROUGH, Hants., 235. - -Ferguson, Sir William, 110. - -"Floreat Etona!" 193. - -Florence, Italy, 57 _seq._, 147 _seq._, 161. - -Fort St. Julian, Egypt, 217. - -Frederick, Emperor, 245. - -----, Empress. _See_ Victoria, Empress Frederick. - - -GABRIEL, Virginia, 152. - -Gallifet, Marquise de, 242. - -Galloway, Mr., 111, 131. - -Garibaldi, Giuseppe, 6. - -Gave, River, 176. - -Genoa, Italy, 5, 54, 230. - -George V., King, 261. - -Gladstone, W. E., 266. - -Glendalough, Ireland, 199. - -Gormanston, Viscountess (formerly Miss Eileen Butler), 317. - -Gormanston, Ireland, 318. - -Grant, Sir Hope, 115, 116. - -_Graphic_, 99, 125. - - -HADEN, Seymour, 110. - -Hadrian's Villa, Rome, 280. - -"Halt!" 119. - -"Halt on a Forced March: Retreat to Corunna," 225. - -Hastings, Sussex, 9. - -Heidelberg, Germany, 179. - -Henley-on-Thames, 15, 97. - -Henry of Battenberg, Princess. _See_ Beatrice, Princess. - -Herbert, J. R., 105. - - -IMPERIAL, Prince. _See_ Napoleon, Prince Imperial. - - -"Jerusalem Delivered," 331. - - -KITCHENER, Lord, 221, 272 _seq._ - -Koenigswinter, Germany, 19. - - -LANE, Richard, 11, 42. - -Le Breton, Madame, 257. - -Leman, Lake (Lake of Geneva), 179. - -Leo XIII., Pope, 257, 280, 281, 315. - -_Letters from the Holy Land_, 278. - -"'Listed for the Connaught Rangers," 169, 184. - -Lothian, Marchioness of, 118. - -Louis Napoleon, Prince, 247. - -Louise, Princess, Duchess of Argyll, 250. - -Lourdes, France, 176. - -Luchon, Bagneres de, France, 177. - -Luxor, Egypt, 197. - -Lyndhurst, Hants., 321. - - -MCKINLEY, William, 288. - -"Magnificat," 83, 97. - -Magro (cook), 219. - -Mahmoudich Canal, Egypt, 207. - -Malmaison, France, 245. - -Manning, Cardinal, 113, 133, 137. - -Mareotis, Lake, 203. - -Mayence, Germany, 180. - -Medmenham Abbey, 15. - -Metubis, Egypt, 217. - -Meynell, Mrs., 10, 51, 79, 99, 119, 155. - -Millais, Sir J. E., 11, 106, 107, 132, 138, 264. - -"Missed!" 125. - -"Missing," 168. - -Missionary College, Mill Hill, 119. - -Monte Carlo, 258. - -Monte Cassino, Monastery, 313. - -"Morrow of Talavera," 271. - -Mulranny, Ireland, 305. - -Mundy, Sergeant-Major, 31. - - -NAPLES, Italy, 229, 252. - -Napoleon, Prince Imperial, 185, 237. - -Naval Review, 1897, 269. - -Nervi, Italy, 2, 4. - -Newcastle-on-Tyne, 143. - -_Newcomes_, illustrations to, 45. - -Nimes, France, 178. - - -OECUMENICAL COUNCIL, opening of, 79. - - -PAGET, Lord George, 118. - -Paray-le-Monial, pilgrimage to, 99. - -Patti, Adelina, 123. - -Perugia, Italy, 70, 283. - -Pietri, Franceschini, 243, 257. - -Pisa, Italy, 161. - -Pius IX., Pope, 76, 82, 90, 92, 94. - ----- X., Pope, 307, 314, 316. - -Podesti, Signor, 85. - -Pollard, Dr., 101, 102, 104, 120, 186. - -Pompeii, Italy, 253. - -Porto Fino, Italy, 159, 230. - - -"QUATRE BRAS," studies for, 112, 130; - models for, 120; - copyright sold, 124; - correctness of uniforms, 125; - where hung, 133; - success of, 135; - Ruskin's approval, 146. - -_Queen_, launching of, 288 _seq._ - - -RAMLEH, Egypt, 204. - -Ras-el-Tin, Egypt, 228. - -"Remnants of an Army," 184. - -"Rescue of Wounded," 278. - -"Return from Inkermann," preparations for, 153, 157, 165; - exhibited, 168. - -"Reveil in the Bivouac of the Scots Greys on the Morning of Waterloo," 232. - -"Review of the Native Camel Corps at Cairo," 230. - -Rhodes, Cecil, 296. - -_Riding Together_, illustrations to, 48. - -"Right Wheel," 250. - -Ristori, Adelaide, 7. - -Roberts, Earl, 287. - "Roll Call," models for, 101; - methods of work, 102; - attention to details in, 103; - success of, 104; - private view, 107; - sale of copyright, 111; - bought by Queen Victoria, 111; - taken to Windsor, 116; - question of horse's steps in, 118. - -Rome, Lady Butler's visits to, 71 _seq._, 256, 279, 306, 311 _seq._ - -Rosetta, Egypt, 205, 216. - -Ross, Mrs. Janet, 148, 161, 165. - -Rotterdam, Holland, 181. - -Ruskin, John, 51, 146, 153. - -Ruta, Italy, 3, 230. - - -ST. ETHELDREDA'S Church, London, High Mass in, 154. - -St. Peter's, Rome, functions in, 75, 280, 283. - -St. Sauveur, France, 176. - -Salisbury, Marquis of, 199, 262 _seq._ - -Salvini, Tommaso, 136. - -Savennieres, France, 299. - -"Scotland for Ever," 186, 187, 191. - -Sestri Levante, Italy, 56. - -Severn, Joseph, 78, 84, 107. - -Shahzada of Afghanistan, 246. - -Siena, Italy, 162. - -Sistine Chapel, Rome, 281, 307. - -Sori, Italy, 3. - -Sorrento, Italy, 254. - -South Kensington Art School, 10. - -"Steady, the Drums and Fifes!" 261. - -Stone, Marcus, 154. - -Strettell, Rev. Alfred, 6. - -Stufa, Marchese delle, 147, 161. - -Super-Bagnere, France, 177. - -Syndioor, Egypt, 217. - - -TENNYSON, Alfred, Lord, 155 _seq._ - -"Tenth Bengal Lancers at Tent-pegging," 278, 287, 297. - -Tewfik, Khedive, 208, 226. - -"The Avengers," 239. - -"The Colours," 271. - -Thompson, Miss Alice. _See_ Meynell, Mrs. - -----, Miss Elizabeth. _See_ Butler, Elizabeth, Lady. - -----, Mr. T. J., 1, 2, 14, 49, 84, 191. - -----, Mrs. T. J., 2, 3, 9, 12, 51, 58, 83, 84, 143, 310. - -Thomson, Dr., Archbishop of York, 117. - -Toulouse, France, 177. - - -VALENTIA Island, 174. - -Vatican Gardens, Rome, 282. - -Vecchii, Colonel, 6. - -Venice, Italy, 200, 211, 308. - -Ventnor, Isle of Wight, 12, 97. - -Verona, Italy, 224. - -Vesuvius, Mount, ascent of, 255. - -Victor Emmanuel, King of Italy, 6. - -Victor Napoleon, Prince, 247. - -Victoria, Queen, buys "Roll Call," 111; - commissions "Rorke's Drift," 187; - reviews troops at Aldershot, 235, 250; - death, 285. - -----, Empress Frederick, 244, 286. - -Vyvyan, Miss, 42. - - -WADY Halfa, Egypt, 197. - -Wallace, Sir D. Mackenzie, 248. - -Waterloo, field of, 31. - -Wellington, Duke of, 33. - -Westmoreland, Countess of, 110. - -William II., German Emperor, 238. - -"Within Sound of the Guns," 278, 301. - -Wolseley, Viscount, 194, 265. - -Woolwich, review at, 117. - - -PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN BY THE WHITEFRIARS PRESS LTD. LONDON AND -TONBRIDGE. - - -Since I closed these Memoirs my sister, Alice Meynell, has passed away. - -I feel that it is not out of place to record here the fact of her desire -that I should reduce the mention of her name throughout the book. In the -original text it had figured much oftener alongside of my own. Her wish -to keep her personality always retired prevailed upon me to delete many -an allusion to her which would have graced the text, greatly to its -advantage. - -ELIZ^{TH.} BUTLER. - -_31st December, 1922._ - - - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[1] The cattle plague was raging in England. - -[2] William I., afterwards German Emperor. - -[3] The severe Lady Superintendent. - -[4] Whose son, Mr. Alfred Pollard, C.B., became the head of the British -Museum Printed Book Department. - -[5] Manning. - -[6] Poor young Inman, who was killed at the fight of Laing's Nek, S. -Africa. - -[7] "From Sketch-Book and Diary," A. & C. Black. - -[8] I have just been told by an Irishman that the Valentia breed are -trained for _racing!_ - -[9] "The Campaign of the Cataracts." - -[10] The late Lord Kitchener. - -[11] Now King George V. - -[12] Our eldest daughter Elizabeth, now Mrs. Kingscote. - -[13] Some one has explained to me, with what authority I cannot tell, -that "The Sailor King" gave this order to his officers with Royal tact, -being well aware that they could no more stand, at that period of the -dinner, than he could himself. So we sit. - -[14] To die during the World War.--E. B., 1921. - -[15] Our second son. - -[16] My daughter, Lady Gormanston, who completed and edited her father's -autobiography, has recorded in the After-word the circumstances of his -passing. - -[17] Since dead. - -[18] Only a few survivors of the original division which I saw are left. -(1916.) - -[19] In his little book, "A Galloper at Ypres" (Fisher Unwin), my son -gives a clear account of his own experience of that battle. - -[20] Colonel the Hon. Richard Preston, whose book, "The Desert Mounted -Corps," is a masterpiece. - - * * * * * - -Typographical error corrected by the etext transcriber: - -Italian friend in a duett=> Italian friend in a duet {pg 3} - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of An Autobiography, by Elizabeth Butler - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY *** - -***** This file should be named 41638.txt or 41638.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/4/1/6/3/41638/ - -Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images available at The Internet Archive) -Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team -at http://www.pgdp.net - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions -will be renamed. - -Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no -one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation -(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without -permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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