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diff --git a/75853-0.txt b/75853-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..38923a7 --- /dev/null +++ b/75853-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10581 @@ + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 75853 *** + + + + + +_Memories of an Old Etonian 1860-1912_ + + + + +[Illustration: The Rev. D. Hornby, Provost of Eton. + +[_Frontispiece._] + + + + + _MEMORIES OF AN OLD + ETONIAN :: 1860-1912_ + + _By George Greville :: Author of “Society Recollections + in Paris and Vienna” and “More Society Recollections.”_ + + [Illustration] + + _WITH 22 ILLUSTRATIONS + ON ART PAPER_ + + _LONDON: HUTCHINSON & CO._ + _:: :: PATERNOSTER ROW :: ::_ + + + + +CONTENTS + + + PAGE + + CHAPTER I. 1 + + Early Recollections—Thackeray—The Princess Liegnitz—The + Austrian Bandmaster—Society at Homburg—Frankfurt—Goethe and + Beethoven—A Racing Coincidence + + CHAPTER II. 18 + + An Adventure in the Oden Wald—The Coiners of the Black + Forest—Kirchhofer’s School + + CHAPTER III. 27 + + Brussels—Ostend—General Sir John Douglas—Spa—“Captain + Arthy”—Boulogne + + CHAPTER IV. 40 + + A Painting by Romney—Hunter’s School at Kineton—Corporal + Punishment—A Sporting Parson—My Schoolfellows at Kineton—The + Warre-Malets—Lord Charleville + + CHAPTER V. 54 + + My Mother’s Recollections—The Cercle des Patineurs—Patti—Our + _Appartement_ in the Rue d’Albe + + CHAPTER VI. 63 + + I go to Eton—New Boy Baiting—My House Master—Mr. James’s + “Jokes”—My Room at Eton—Some Eton Masters—A Disorderly + Form—Lacaita’s Silk Hat—“Billy” Portman + + CHAPTER VII. 80 + + An Amusing Incident—Lady Caroline Murray—An Anecdote of Queen + Victoria—Lord Rossmore’s Wager—The Match at the Wall—Practical + Jokes—Some Boys at James’s + + CHAPTER VIII. 94 + + Athletic Sports at Eton—A “Scrap”—Lord Newlands—An Old Boy on + Eton of To-day + + CHAPTER IX. 103 + + Lady Grace Stopford—Tipperary in 1870—Robbed at Punchestown + Races—I get my own back + + CHAPTER X. 110 + + Dieppe under Prussian Rule—A Toilette by Worth—A Confirmed + Gambler + + CHAPTER XI. 116 + + The Princess von Metternich—The Lady of the Luxembourg Gardens + + CHAPTER XII. 123 + + Bonn—An Anecdote of Beethoven—The King’s Hussars—The Howard + Vyses—A German Professor on England—Domesticated Habits of + German Girls—Professor Delbrück + + CHAPTER XIII. 136 + + The Countess Czerwinska—The Countess Broel Plater—Mlle. + de Laval—The Duchesse de Grammont—An Absent-Minded + Gentleman—Dusauty, the Fencing Master—The Marquis of + Anglesey—Charming Venezuelans—Miss Fanny Parnell + + CHAPTER XIV. 155 + + Captain Howard Vyse—An Anecdote of Paganini—New Hats for Old + Ones—Albert Bingham—Baron Alphonse de Rothschild—Madame Alice + Kernave—Gambetta + + CHAPTER XV. 168 + + My First Night at Mess—Life at Shorncliffe—The Charltons + + CHAPTER XVI. 175 + + An N.C.O. of the Old School—Major Blewett—Captain + Byron—Sandhurst + + CHAPTER XVII. 183 + + I sail for India—Kandy—Dangerous Playmates—I arrive at Murree + + CHAPTER XVIII. 190 + + My Brother-Officers—“The Oyster”—In High Society—Our Menagerie + + CHAPTER XIX. 198 + + A Subalterns’ Court-Martial—A Terrible Experience—High + Mess-bills + + CHAPTER XX. 205 + + Sialkote—Amateur Theatricals—An Ingenious Thief—Death of Albert + Phipps—Agra—Voyage to England + + CHAPTER XXI. 217 + + Baroness James Édouard de Rothschild—At Carlsbad—Transferred to + the 3rd Battalion + + CHAPTER XXII. 222 + + My Brother-Officers—A _Mésalliance_—Christy Minstrels and + Tobogganing + + CHAPTER XXIII. 229 + + Sarah Bernhardt in _Phèdre_—Vienna and Buda-Pesth + + CHAPTER XXIV. 233 + + Percy Hope-Johnstone—A “Special” to Aldershot—A Costume-Ball at + Folkestone + + CHAPTER XXV. 238 + + The Oppenheims—St. James’s and Winchester—The Colonel and + Beauclerk + + CHAPTER XXVI. 244 + + Paris Again—Eccentricities of Captain “Rabelais”—A Fire in + Barracks—A Trying Inspection + + CHAPTER XXVII. 252 + + Madrid and Cordova—Seville—General von Goeben and the + Bull-fight—A View from the Alhambra—I rejoin my Regiment + + CHAPTER XXVIII. 262 + + I meet Byron Again—I endeavour to Exchange—Basil Montgomery—My + Illness—Why I was not Placed on Half-pay + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + + PAGE + + The Rev. D. Hornby, Provost of Eton _Frontispiece_ + + Mrs. Ronalds _Facing p._ 2 + + Mrs. R. C. Kemys-Tynte, of Halswell (now Mrs. Rawlins, + mother of Lord Wharton) ” 3 + + The Author’s Father ” 6 + + The Author’s Mother ” 12 + + The Author’s Daughter ” 20 + + The Author’s Mother ” 40 + + C. D. Williamson, at Eton with the Author ” 50 + + Miss Mabel Warre-Malet ” 51 + + The Author ” 62 + + Charles Balfour, at Eton with the Author ” 80 + + Miss Minnie Balfour, sister of Hilda, Lady de Clifford ” 81 + + W. H. Onslow, aged 13, afterwards Lord Onslow ” 82 + + The Hon. Emily Cathcart, Maid of Honour to Queen Victoria ” 83 + + Henry Hooker Walker, at Eton with the Author ” 90 + + The Hon. J. W. Lowther, present Speaker of the House of + Commons ” 91 + + The Duke of Rutland ” 98 + + The Author’s Father ” 144 + + Madame Alice Kernave ” 164 + + The late Earl of Berkeley ” 165 + + Miss Augusta Charlton ” 172 + + Miss Ida Charlton ” 173 + + + + +MEMORIES OF AN OLD ETONIAN, 1860-1912 + + + + +CHAPTER I + + Early Recollections—Thackeray—The Princess Liegnitz—The + Austrian Bandmaster—Society at Homburg—Frankfurt—Goethe and + Beethoven—A Racing Coincidence + + +It happened so long ago, and I was so very young at the time—not more +than five or six years old—that I should be almost tempted to believe +that it was all a dream, were it not for certain incidents which made an +unforgettable impression upon my childish imagination. The scene was the +Hôtel de Russie at Frankfurt-on-the-Main; the occasion the birthday of +King William I. of Prussia, afterwards Emperor of Germany. The spacious +grand staircase of the hôtel was brilliantly lighted, and a red velvet +carpet was laid down on the steps leading to the first floor. Up these +steps came a succession of Ministers and generals, some in scarlet and +gold lace, with the attila, heavily embroidered with gold lace and +edged with brown fur, falling loosely over the left shoulder. Whenever +an Austrian general, in his white uniform with scarlet facings and red +trousers with deep gold lace stripe down the side, appeared, my heart, +for some unknown reason, seemed to beat with delight. How I came to be +there I don’t quite know, but I can remember my surprise when I saw the +big chandelier which hung over the staircase being lighted in broad +daylight, and the red blinds near the entrance being drawn down, which +gave me a curious impression, making me feel almost as though I were +present at a funeral. It was, however, merely done to create a more +imposing effect. + +A great silence pervaded the whole of the Hôtel de Russie; no one but +royal servants stood by the front door; and the only sound which I can +recollect was the clinking of the sword worn by a general in full uniform +as he mounted the red-carpeted stairs. On approaching a door on the first +floor, the general or Minister gave his name in a mysterious whisper, +when, after a few seconds, the door was opened, and I heard a kind of +buzzing noise, as of several persons talking at once in low tones. Then +I can remember that, after a long interval, which seemed hours to me, +the mysterious folding-doors were thrown wide open, and a veritable +kaleidoscope of colour presented itself to my wondering eyes. It was the +effect of the various uniforms worn by the Ministers and generals, as +they emerged _en masse_ from the room and began to descend the staircase, +talking loudly as they passed. + +Soon afterwards, when they had all taken their departure, the brilliant +lights were lowered, and silence again descended on the hôtel. That +is all I can remember, and of what became of me afterwards I have no +recollection. That afternoon remains in my memory like a fairy-tale, +and so comical did it appear to me, that I have often thought of it +since. There was something so mysterious about the way each Minister and +general entered that door after whispering his name; and then the buzz +of conversation, which was distinctly audible during the few seconds the +door stood open, to be succeeded by an almost death-like silence. + +[Illustration: Mrs. Ronalds. + +[_To face p. 2._] + +[Illustration: Mrs. R. C. Kemys-Tynte, of Halswell (now Mrs. Rawlins, +mother of Lord Wharton). + +[_To face p. 3._] + +I can remember, just about this time, being alone in an immense salon +with six windows, all of which overlooked the Zeil, one of the principal +streets in Frankfurt. At either extremity of this room stood a big stove +of white porcelain, and its walls were decorated with large pictures. +One of these pictures represented the capture of Troy. The town was in +flames, and a huge, grey wooden horse stood in the foreground, with +a hole in its side from which soldiers were emerging and descending a +ladder supported against the horse’s flank. This was one of my favourite +pictures in the room. Another represented the Cyclopes, with their one +eye in the centre of their forehead, engaged in heating an iron bar in a +furnace. I remember that I used frequently to contemplate this picture +and wonder what it all meant, and if the Cyclopes really existed and +where they lived. At night, it used rather to frighten me, particularly +when I was left alone in the room, which frequently happened at this +time. Another picture represented Venus, with Cupid aiming one of his +arrows at her. This rather pleased me. I did not know then the mischief +wrought by Cupid’s arrows, and, in my innocence, was simple enough to +believe that Venus was an angel of love; and I pitied her for being +struck by one of Cupid’s arrows, which, in another picture in the room, +had penetrated her bosom, causing a stream of blood to trickle down the +alabaster whiteness of her body. The room had two large chandeliers, but +when I was alone in it, only one of them was lighted. + +I can remember once, during the daytime, while looking out of the window, +I saw some Prussian Hussars, in their dark-blue uniforms trimmed with +silver lace, riding past. One of the horses shied at something, and its +rider fell heavily, which caused a great crowd to assemble. I don’t know +what happened afterwards; it was just one of those things that I saw as +though in a dream. + +I recollect on one occasion occupying the bedroom and sleeping in the bed +used by the King of Prussia when he visited Frankfurt. This room was very +gorgeously furnished, the walls being draped with dark-blue satin, while +the bed had a canopy surrounded by heavy curtains of blue silk. + +So far as I can remember, it must have been some months after this that +I spent an evening in the room where the King of Prussia’s birthday-fête +had been held. It was then occupied by the late Mrs. Ronalds, a lovely +woman, quite young, with the most glorious smile one could possibly +imagine and most beautiful teeth. Her face was perfectly divine in its +loveliness; her features small and exquisitely regular. Her hair was +of a dark shade of brown—_châtain foncé_—and very abundant. I was in +Mrs. Ronalds’s care on this occasion, and I can still see her before +me as she was then, and remember that she spoke with a slight American +accent. The late Captain Frederick Dorrien, of the 1st Life Guards, an +old Etonian and a very handsome man, whom Queen Victoria called “her +handsome lieutenant,” after inquiring his name when he rode beside her +carriage one day in full uniform, came to pay Mrs. Ronalds a visit that +evening; and I can still remember her singing in a very beautiful voice, +which everyone praised enthusiastically, and also a tiny watch set in +brilliants, and always very much admired, which she wore on her finger. + +I used to be taken occasionally to the Zoological Gardens at Frankfurt, +where a Prussian military band played on Sunday afternoons, and I took +a fancy to what I thought was a large dog. I used to stroke it, and it +often licked my hand after I had fed it with biscuits and seemed to know +me. One day, however, to my surprise, I saw it put into the same cage as +the wolves, and learned that it was a wolf, which had been placed for a +time in a cage by itself. I still felt a great wish to stroke it, but was +not allowed to do so. + +Whether it was some months later or some months earlier than this I +cannot say, for, with a child, such things as time and space are of +no account, which brings a child nearer to the Divinity than grown-up +people. I can only recall giving my hand, when at Homburg vor der Höhe, +to what seemed to me an elderly gentleman, who often took me across +the garden of the Kurhaus and up the steps of the Kursaal into the +restaurant, where, seated at a buffet, was a stout, pleasant-looking +old lady, who always greeted me affectionately and gave me, at the +gentleman’s request, my favourite fruit, nectarines and _amandes vertes_. +I can remember how kind this gentleman always was to me, taking me +constantly for walks in the garden of the Kurhaus, and always holding +me by the hand. The name of the pleasant old lady was Madame Chevet, +a Parisienne, to whom the restaurant at the Kurhaus belonged, and the +gentleman, who was a great friend of my parents, was Thackeray, the +author of “Vanity Fair.” I can remember nothing else about him, except +that he appeared to be very devoted to me.[1] + +I used to wear white frocks with lace and embroidery, some of which had +been given to my mother for me by H.R.H. the Duchess of Gloucester, when +my mother’s aunt, Lady Caroline Murray, was lady-in-waiting to Her Royal +Highness.[2] I used at that time to be dressed like a girl, with my +hair in long, dark-brown ringlets, and on one occasion my mother took +me up to a very plain English lady in the grounds of the Kursaal, when +the latter exclaimed: “What a pretty boy? He is more like a girl!” Then, +turning to me, she said: “My dear, will you allow me to kiss you?” “Yes,” +I answered, and, holding up my bare arm, I added: “Kiss my elbow.” My +mother tried to persuade me to allow the lady to kiss me, but I only +cried and said: “Oh! not my face, only my elbow!” + +One day, I remember, I was playing in the grounds of the Kursaal with a +large india-rubber ball with two little girls, when a lady called them +away, saying to the little girls, who were her daughters: “You must +not play with a boy when you don’t know who he is.” That same evening, +the Countess of Desart, who was lady-in-waiting to Queen Victoria, was +dining at Madame Chevet’s restaurant at the Kurhaus with my parents, and, +happening to hear of what had occurred to me in the morning, said to my +mother: “I will pay that woman out for her insolence. She is a nobody, +and only the wife of a Law lord.” When Lady C——, the mother of the two +little girls, arrived for dinner at the Kurhaus, the countess purposely +did not rise to enter the dining-room for a very long time, which annoyed +Lady C—— immensely, as she dared not enter the dining-room until the +countess had risen from her seat to do so. At dinner the countess said +to Lady C: “I can understand how careful you have to be about whom your +girls play with, as you don’t quite know how to discriminate between +common children and others.” Lady C—— blushed crimson, but did not +venture to make any reply.[3] The Countess of Desart maintained quite a +princely establishment at Homburg, having a French chef at her villa and +a number of English servants, with carriages and horses besides. + +[Illustration: The Author’s Father. + +[_To face p. 6._] + +Among my father’s friends then at Homburg was Sir Edward Hutchinson, whom +the Prince Consort said was the handsomest man in England. His brother, +General Coote Hutchinson, was also at Homburg. He had been a colonel +at six-and-twenty, and was for many years the youngest general in the +English Army. + +At Homburg we lived in a villa on the Unter Promenade, in which the +Princess Liegnitz, the morganatic wife of Frederick III. of Prussia, +also resided. I can remember so well a box of toys representing various +animals which the Princess gave me, and also the Princess and her +daughter driving up to the villa one day when I was walking with my +father, when he made me go and speak to them. My father afterwards gave +me a beautiful bouquet of red roses, which I took to Princess Liegnitz’s +salon, at which she seemed pleased, and, when she thanked me for them, +gave me a kiss. King William of Prussia often visited his father’s widow +at the villa, where the Princess held a regular Court, and was treated as +though she were Queen of Prussia, even by the King. When he met me in the +grounds, His Majesty often gave me bonbons, and usually kissed me. I had +at that time a very pretty English nurse, and King William was well known +to be a great admirer of pretty faces. My pride was somewhat wounded when +I was told that His Majesty’s attentions to me may have been due in a +very great measure to the attractions of my nurse. + +When the Princess Liegnitz left Homburg, great preparations were made at +the villa for the Duc de Morny, who intended to come and stay there. +But before he left Paris for Homburg he was suddenly taken ill and died. +His death caused a great sensation everywhere, and his servants, who had +already arrived at the villa, went away at once and returned to Paris. + +Once a fortnight, on Sunday, an Austrian military band used to come from +Rastatt to play in the grounds of the Kursaal. It played both in the +afternoon and evening, and people sat on the lawns, enjoying the very +fine music. Sometimes the Prussian military band came from Frankfurt, on +which occasions I invariably used to cry. I sometimes sat with my parents +on a Sunday on the lawns. Count Perponcher, Oberst-Hofmeister to the +King of Prussia,[4] the Countess of Desart, Sir Frederick Slade and his +family, or other friends, generally sat with them. Count Perponcher was +a most agreeable and distinguished-looking man, and a great admirer of +the Countess of Desart. The latter was not only a great beauty, but had +a certain “grand air” about her, which is, as a rule, only to be found +amongst the old nobility. + +One day, when the Austrian military band was playing, my nurse and I had +our early dinner at the Hôtel de l’Europe. Opposite to us, sitting at +the _table d’hôte_, was the bandmaster Jeschko, with a very pretty woman +seated on either side of him. I noticed that he was making love to both +of them, and said to my nurse: + +“Look at the Austrian bandmaster: he has two such pretty wives!” + +“You silly boy, why do you talk such nonsense?” answered my nurse. + +“But he is making love to both, and so they are to him,” I persisted. + +“You should not look at people you don’t know; they may be his sisters.” + +“I am sure they are not, for look at papa and his sisters.” + +“Well, whatever they may be, it is not for a child like you to ask about +them. I’ve no doubt that one is the gentleman’s wife and the other his +sister.” + +“Couldn’t they both be his wives?” + +“No; such a thing would not be allowed.” + +I continued to gaze at this handsome man, with his very long, fair +moustache, highly curled. He seemed so good-looking in his white uniform +with its pink facings, and the two ladies kept stroking his hands on the +table and looking with admiration into his blue eyes. They both addressed +him as “_Du_,” and appeared so very fond of him, that I said to myself +that I could quite understand these girls being in love with him, as he +was so handsome. The white uniform and the fine military appearance of +this Austrian bandmaster at table no doubt greatly impressed my childish +imagination, as I had never seen any one like him before, while his fair +companions were both excessively pretty and dressed in the most charming +confections imaginable. It was a sight which, when I grew older, never +faded from my memory, while many other events, perhaps of far greater +importance, were entirely obliterated. Stilgebauer, a very celebrated +modern German author, who wrote “Love’s Inferno,” says: “Only that which +we do not wish to, or may not, remember is over; everything else is ours +and never over or lost to us.” + +At Homburg, when the Austrian military band played, the grounds at night +were illuminated with red, white and blue lights, and the fireworks +were the admiration of the whole world, as M. Blanc spared no expense +whatever. This, indeed, he could well afford to do, in view of the +immense profits he derived from the gaming-tables. + +There was at Homburg in those days a young French girl of noble family, +who was about thirteen years of age and very lovely, with a beautiful +complexion. She was always exquisitely dressed, usually in white tulle +with a great deal of lace, and was admired by everyone. This youthful +beauty used to play a game of forfeits in a ring with some boys, who +always arranged as a forfeit for the girl that she should kiss them. +One day, when I was about seven years old, the children invited me to +play with them. I did so, and was kissed by the little girl, at which I +was much ashamed, as, though I rather liked being kissed by her, I was +decidedly bashful when the operation was performed in the presence of +so many people. And so, when I was asked to play again, I refused. This +young lady often got her lovely white dress torn to shreds by the rough +boys who played with her, but she went on playing every day all the same. + +I remember once travelling by train with my father from Homburg to +Frankfurt, when Goldschmid, a wealthy Jewish banker with red hair, who +was in the same compartment, went fast to sleep. My father told me he +was going to have some fun with him, and was pretending to take away his +watch and chain, when Goldschmid suddenly woke up and exclaimed:— + +“_Gott, wirklich ich dachte Sie hätten meine Uhr weggenommen!_” + +He was evidently under the impression that my father had evil intentions, +and it was not for some time afterwards that he could understand that it +was only a joke. Goldschmid, many years afterwards, was ruined by his own +brother, and committed suicide by drowning himself in the Main. They were +cent. per cent. Jew moneylenders and bankers, who helped to ruin many +English people in those days at Homburg. + +I can well recollect seeing my father on one occasion in conversation +with Garcia, a dark, good-looking Italian, who had several times broken +the bank at Homburg by his high play. He had begun his gambling +operations when quite a poor man. I can also recollect Madame Kisilieff, +who was a great gambler in those days, and was a good deal with my +parents at Homburg. She was an immensely wealthy Russian lady of noble +birth, who lived there _en grand luxe_. + +The English colony at Homburg during the gambling days was very different +from what it is now. There was more youth and beauty to be seen there +and more of the aristocracy; whereas to-day more old people and wealthy +_parvenus_ go to Homburg during the season. Chevet’s Restaurant, though +dreadfully expensive, was excellent; while the modern German one, though +also dear, is not especially good. + +I cannot recollect what year it was, but I can remember the Railway King, +Hudson, taking another boy named Jeffreys and myself, whom I afterwards +met at Eton, to dine with him at Chevet’s Restaurant, where he regaled us +with every kind of luxury that the place could provide. My mother once +told me a story about Mrs. Hudson, which she had heard from her father:— + +Mrs. Hudson one day received a visit from the Duke of Wellington, +whom she saw arrive, accompanied by a well-dressed and very +distinguished-looking man, who remained outside when the Duke entered the +house. Presently it came on to rain heavily. + +“I will ask your friend up out of the rain,” said Mrs. Hudson to the Duke. + +The Duke replied that the man was his servant; but Mrs. Hudson, who could +not bring herself to believe that such an aristocratic-looking person +could be the servant even of the Duke of Wellington, and thought that the +latter was joking, insisted on the man being shown upstairs. + +My grandfather’s brother-in-law, General the Hon. Sir George +Cathcart, was A.D.C. to the Duke of Wellington at Waterloo, and was +second-in-command to Lord Raglan in the Crimea, where he was killed at +Inkermann. He was my godfather, and I often heard my father say that he +always had a cigar in his mouth, even in action. Once he was asked by +the authorities at the War Office how long he required to get ready +for active service. His answer was that he was ready to go anywhere at +twenty-four hours’ notice. + +My parents, one year, lived at the Hôtel de Russie at Frankfurt, going to +Homburg in the evenings. There was a Baron von Neii, an Austrian major of +dragoons, staying at the “Russie.” He was married to an Englishwoman, but +they had no children, and, taking a great fancy to me, he wanted to adopt +me and give me the right to bear his name and title, which is frequently +done in Austria. He and his wife lived afterwards at Beaulieu, near Nice, +where they had a charming villa with a beautiful rose-garden, where I +have been to see them in more recent years. + +Baron von Neii told me that there was once an Englishman, a Major +Isaacson, in his regiment, who could not speak two words of the Hungarian +language. Nevertheless, he contrived to retain his place in the regiment +for many years, being always prompted when he had to give orders by +a sergeant. One day, however, during an inspection by a general, the +sergeant happened to be away, with the consequence that the poor officer +was perfectly helpless, and, after calling out several wrong words of +command, was detected and placed on half-pay. + +There were at this time at Homburg two Misses Lee Willing, nieces of the +famous General Lee, of the Southerners. One was a great beauty, who, it +was reported, had received innumerable offers of marriage, from a prince +downwards, but had refused them all. She was called the “Destroying +Angel,” because she had been the cause of so many duels being fought on +her account. She was constantly in the company of my parents, and, many +years later, we met her again in Paris. So far as I can remember, she +could never decide to take a husband, and died in Paris while still a +great beauty. + +[Illustration: The Author’s Mother. + +[_To face p. 12._] + +Her cousin, Willing Lee Magruder, had been with the Emperor Maximilian of +Mexico at the time he was shot by his revolted subjects, and only escaped +a similar fate by the skin of his teeth. His sister was lady-in-waiting +to the Empress Charlotte of Mexico, and, after the Emperor’s death, the +brother and sister occasionally dined with us in Paris, and we often met +them in later years in Paris society. When leaving Mexico, Magruder and +his sister were shipwrecked, and he told me that they passed several +hours in the sea clinging to a plank. At night they were rescued by a +passing ship, almost exhausted by hunger, thirst and fatigue. His sister +never quite recovered from the shock to her system, and suffered much +from a nervous complaint ever afterwards. + +I can remember that, while at the Hôtel de Russie, my mother used +constantly to be reading French novels, which, during her absences +at Homburg, my French nurse used to get hold of. I was particularly +interested in _la Reine Margot_ and _le Chevalier de Maison Rouge_, by +Alexandre Dumas _père_, which delighted me more than any other books. I +read “Joseph Andrews,” which my father bought for me, but he told me that +he thought I was not quite old enough to appreciate or even to understand +most of it. + +I used always to be much interested in the Eschenheimer Thor at +Frankfurt, as at the top of it there was a tiny iron flag, in which nine +holes were pierced, representing the figure nine. The story about this +flag is that a certain poacher, who had been arrested and condemned to +death for shooting deer, was offered a pardon, if he could put nine +bullets into the flag in such a way as to form the figure nine. This he +succeeded in doing, and was set at liberty. + +When you looked at the flag this seemed hardly credible; it was so tiny, +and the nine was so wonderfully pierced. The Eschenheimer Thor has since +disappeared to make room for the so-called improvements of Frankfurt. + +I can remember being taken to the celebrated Römer at Frankfurt, where +the Emperors of Germany were formerly crowned. The Kaisersaal, where +the coronation used to take place, was an immense room, containing +portraits of the different Emperors. I was much interested in Karl I., +and still more in Rudolph von Hapsburg, the ancestor of the present +Emperor of Austria, and I also took particular note of those of Günther +von Schwarzburg and Maximilian I., as I was very fond of German history. +The coronation room was beautifully decorated, the walls and doors being +sumptuously gilded. On the latter were represented several children, +wearing royal crowns and garments of gold, which pleased me very much. + +Another time, I was taken by my French nurse, so far as I can remember, +to see Dannecker’s celebrated statue of Ariadne, and was somewhat +startled at finding myself in a perfectly dark room, in which you could +only see a red velvet curtain facing you. Soon, however, the curtain was +drawn back, when a perfectly white statue of a nude woman riding upon +a lion appeared before us. The woman was exquisitely formed, and was +reclining indolently upon the animal’s back. A rose-coloured light was +thrown upon the statue, which made its hue all the more dazzling, and +it revolved slowly on its axis, so as to display the lovely form of the +woman to better advantage. I was glad that it was dark, for I fancied +that I should have felt more awkward if anyone had seen me. As it was, I +blushed crimson, and was pleased to get into the street. All the same, +I have never forgotten this lovely statue and the rose-coloured light +employed to show off its beauty. + +I went to the Jewish quarter, where the old tumbledown house in which +the Rothschilds had once lived[5] was pointed out to me, but it was such +a dirty quarter of the town that I never returned there. I once visited +the Synagogue, and was surprised to see all the men wearing their hats. +It made me think of the time of Christ, and that with certain Jews +very little had altered since those days. I wondered why such men as +Goldschmid at Homburg were allowed to carry on their villainous trade +with Christians. + +The new theatre at Frankfurt is a very fine building, in which there is +a statue of Goethe, which is greatly admired. An amusing anecdote is +related of Goethe, who was born at Frankfurt. One day he and Beethoven +were walking together, and many people who met them raised their +hats. “How tiresome it often is to be recognized by so many persons!” +complained Goethe. To which Beethoven replied somewhat maliciously: +“Perhaps it is me they are greeting.” + +Speaking of Goethe, the celebrated Austrian poet Grillparzer says:— + +“_Schiller geht nach oben, Goethe kommt von oben._ His characters +usually say everything beautiful that can be said about a subject, and +for nothing in the world would I care to miss any of the beautiful +speeches in _Tasso_ and _Iphigenia_, but they are not dramatic. That is +why Goethe’s plays are so charming to read and so bad to act. However +much we may think of Goethe, the fact remains that his _Wanderjahre_ +is no work, the second part of _Faust_ no poem, the maxims of the last +period no lyrics. Goethe may be a greater poet, and no doubt is; but +Schiller is a greater possession for the nation, which requires vivid +impressions in our sickly times. Goethe’s Wilhelm Meister and Philine +Sarto and the Countess have all distinct and artistically well-formed +characters, though they are all in danger of being condemned as +without any character. This fate they share with Hamlet and Phèdre, +with King Lear and Richard II.; perhaps also with Macbeth and Othello. +The _Wahlverwandtschaften_ is a great masterpiece. In knowledge of +humanity, wisdom, sentiment and poetic strain it has not its equal in any +literature. With the exception of those produced by Goethe in his youth, +his works were not popular with the nation, and the great respect shown +him was the result of the admiration which his masterpieces of the past +had aroused.” + +Frederick the Great said of Goethe: “His early works are too natural, +and his late ones too artificial. Besides, he is an immoral poet. Fallen +girls are his favourite characters.” A very true saying of Frederick the +Great is: “A court of justice which pronounces an unjust sentence is +worse than a band of murderers.” Frederick was always a great admirer +of Voltaire, and one of his famous sayings is: “_Unsere Unsterblichkeit +ist, den Menschen Wohlthaten zu erweisen_.” (“Our immortality consists in +performing good deeds to mankind.”) + +In recent years I went to the celebrated Palmen Garden in Frankfurt, +where the palm-trees are all from the late Duke of Nassau’s beautiful +palace at Biebrich. I went there with an English lady to an afternoon +concert. My companion remarked how ordinary all the people looked +compared with those one saw at a concert at Vienna, and drew my attention +to a table at which sat four men dressed in very shabby, old-fashioned +clothes. I was anxious to remain and hear the concert out, but was afraid +the lady might decide to leave early, owing to the little interest she +appeared to find in the audience. So I said at random:— + +“You are quite right, but with regard to the men sitting at that table, I +should not be surprised if they were millionaires.” + +She laughed and seemed to be much amused at the idea, and a waiter coming +up just at that moment with some coffee and cakes we had ordered, I asked +him if he knew who the four men were. He replied at once:— + +“They are four millionaires.” + +I may mention that I had never seen these men before in my life, and was +only staying at Frankfurt two days. + +At Franzenbad, from which I had just come, I had a singular experience. +On entering the Kursaal one Saturday afternoon a programme of the music +was handed me. The piece which was being played was a polka, by Edward +Strauss, called _Con Amore_, and I noticed that each of the eight pieces +on the programme contained a letter of this name. I took this as a kind +of presentiment, and the same day telegraphed to a bookmaker named +Hörner, in the Krugerstrasse at Vienna, to back the horse of this name +running in the principal event in the Baden races the following Sunday. +He duly executed my commission, and the horse won, though it did not +start favourite. I won very little, however, as the odds were not as long +as I had expected. The programme of the concert at Franzensbad was as +follows:— + + Saturday, 25th June, 1904. Kurhaus, 4 p.m. + + 1. Wiedermann Marsch Oelschlegel. + 2. Ouverture, Oberon Weber. + 3. Ballerinen Walzer Weinberger. + 4. Potpourri aus Obersteiger Zeller. + 5. Con Amore Polka Ed. Strauss. + 6. Ouverture, Belagerung von Corinth Rossini. + 7. Am Spinnrad Eilenberg. + 8. Frisch heran Galop Johann Strauss. + +The Hôtel de Russie, in those days, occupied the site of the present +Post Office. It was originally a palace, and the rooms were magnificent, +particularly those reserved for the King of Prussia, which my parents +occupied for a time, as did Mrs. Ronalds. Otherwise, this suite of +rooms was always kept for the King of Prussia when he cared to visit +Frankfurt, which His Majesty often did, staying there usually some +time. The proprietor of the Hôtel de Russie was a certain Herr Ried, +and, on his death, it was purchased by the Drexel brothers, who are now +wine-merchants of some celebrity in Frankfurt. + + + + +CHAPTER II + + An Adventure in the Oden Wald—The Coiners of the Black + Forest—Kirchhofer’s School + + +When I was seven years old, my parents left me at a school in Frankfurt, +kept by Herr Kirchhofer, a good-looking, fair-haired man of thirty-five. +He was married and had an only son named August, who in later years +entered the Austrian Army, and got terribly into debt when a lieutenant. +His father paid his debts, but after he married he got into further +trouble, and ended by shooting himself, while still quite young. +During my stay at this school I spoke nothing but German all day, with +the exception of a little French occasionally, and, in consequence, +completely forgot the English language for the time being. + +One day, Herr Kirchhofer told one of the assistant masters, Herr Wolf, a +young man of five-and-twenty, that he might take six of the boys, of whom +I was one, for a three days’ excursion in the Oden Wald. We started at +five o’clock in the morning and walked for some hours, when I became so +tired that I could go no farther. So Close, an English boy of eighteen, +who was going into the Austrian Army, and another boy, a German, carried +me on a kind of camp-stool a long way. + +When we got to the Oden Wald, we wandered about collecting plants, which +Herr Wolf required for his lessons in botany. Then, after dining at an +inn, we started again, with the intention of reaching a village which +the master knew by name. On the way we passed a small village, where a +man offered to take charge of me, and I was very much afraid our master +would leave me with him. I begged him not to do so, and was greatly +relieved when he said: + +“You don’t think I should be so foolish? Why, the man might run off with +you.” + +Some time afterwards, it began to grow quite dark, and Herr Wolf became +much alarmed, as we had completely lost our way in the forest. However, +we saw some lights in the distance, and walked on until we came to a +small village, where there was a house which purported to be an inn, +though all its windows were broken and mended with pieces of newspaper. + +Herr Wolf entered this uninviting hostelry and inquired if we could +have one large room to sleep in, as he told Close and another big boy, +a German, that he was afraid that we might possibly be murdered in the +night, if we were separated. I may here mention that, in those days, some +parts of the Oden Wald were infested by gangs of robbers, and instances +were known of people being given beds which revolved in the night and +precipitated their unfortunate occupants into pits beneath the floor. + +The inn-keeper, a sinister-looking personage, with his face almost +entirely covered with hair, said that he had not a room large enough to +accommodate our whole party, but that we could have two rooms. Herr Wolf +asked if they were near each other, to which the man replied that one was +upstairs, but the other on the ground floor. The master, looking much +annoyed, asked to see the rooms, and, after inspecting them, inquired +if Close had a revolver with him. The latter said he had not, though he +had brought a sword-stick. But another boy, an American, called Sydney +Chapin, exclaimed:— + +“I have a loaded revolver with me.” + +“That’s famous!” replied Herr Wolf. “Then you must give it me, for I will +occupy the room on the ground floor with George, and you others must +sleep upstairs.” + +The master then took the revolver, and told Close that he must take +charge of the other boys in the room upstairs. + +When this had been arranged, we all entered the so-called dining-room, +a large room, with whitewashed walls. Its windows, like all the rest in +the house, were broken and patched with newspapers; the ceiling was so +low that you could almost touch it with your hands, and crossed by large +beams. In one part of this room, four rough-looking men were playing +cards and drinking beer out of mugs. They were in their shirt sleeves, +with sleeves tucked up to the elbow, displaying very muscular arms, while +their shirts, open at the neck, showed their naked chests covered with +hair. Although it was summer and excessively hot, all of them wore fur +caps. + +They were playing by the glimmer of a solitary tallow candle, which was +the only light in the room, and when we took our seats with our master +at another table, we found ourselves almost in the dark. Presently, our +supper was brought us, consisting of cold meat and mugs of beer, and Herr +Wolf asked for a candle. The inn-keeper muttered sullenly that he had +none. + +“What! Have you no light of any description?” asked the master. + +“No, I have just told you so,” was the reply. + +Herr Wolf was visibly alarmed, but Close whispered to him:— + +“I have a box of matches.” + +“_Gott sei dank!_” exclaimed the other. + +After some whispered instructions to Close, the master rose from the +table, when I observed the card-players casting surreptitious glances in +our direction, although they pretended to be absorbed in their game. Herr +Wolf then took me through the darkness into the bedroom on the ground +floor, the gloom of which was partially relieved by a slight glimmer from +the moon, which penetrated through the broken window. He struck a match, +and, having shown me my bed, which stood near the window, told me to +undress and go to bed. I did as he told me, and he then said that he was +going upstairs to see after the other boys. + +[Illustration: The Author’s Daughter. + +[_To face p. 20._] + +While I lay in bed, I heard some noisy women passing the window. One +of them put her head through one of the broken panes, and, on seeing me +in bed, burst out laughing. Afterwards there was a dead silence, only +interrupted occasionally by the loud oaths of the men playing cards in +the dining-room, who appeared to be disputing about some money which had +changed hands. The noise they made was becoming louder and louder, when I +heard the door open, and Herr Wolf entered and inquired if I were asleep. +He then went out again, saying that he would return later. The noise made +by the gamblers then appeared to cease, and my weariness overcoming my +fears, I suddenly dropped off to sleep. + +Early in the morning I awoke, and saw Herr Wolf dressing himself. I +hardly knew where I was, when, on seeing that I was awake, he said:— + +“_Du bist famos geschlafen, George._” + +After I had dressed, he told me to come with him into the dining-room, +where all the others were gathered, and, after taking some coffee and +black bread, we left the inn. Soon afterwards, Herr Wolf told the boys +that he had never been so alarmed in his life, and that he was quite +positive that if the men at the inn had not known that some of the boys +were armed, we should most probably have been murdered for the sake of +our clothes and the money we had about us. He added that he had not +slept a wink all night, as he knew what sort of men he had to deal with, +and that they were of the very lowest type imaginable and capable of +committing any crime to obtain a few groschen. + +At the time of which I am speaking, there were so many murders +perpetrated near Homburg, owing to the gambling which went on there, that +the police never knew whether they had really to deal with a suicide or +a murder. The Oden Wald had then quite as bad a reputation as the Black +Forest, which was infested by whole gangs of robbers and murderers. Herr +Wolf told us a story of a man who, having lost his way in the Oden Wald, +put up for the night at a small inn near a village, where they gave +him some coffee before he went to bed. He could not sleep, and in the +middle of the night he got up, lighted a candle and began examining a +picture opposite his bed, which represented a man wearing a Rembrandt +hat with a long feather. Gradually, it seemed to him that the feather +was becoming shorter; soon he could see only a part of the hat, and +then merely the face. The man, thinking that there must be something +wrong with him, jumped out of bed and approached the picture, which he +found was exactly as when he had first seen it. But, on looking at his +bed, he perceived that the baldachin over the four-poster was suspended +by a chain from above the ceiling, and was gradually working its way +downwards. An examination of the moving baldachin revealed the fact that +it was made of massive iron, beneath which he would infallibly have been +crushed to death. Dressing in all haste, and holding a pistol which he +had about him ready to fire in case of need, the destined victim left the +room and stealthily descended the stairs. By good fortune he met no one, +and letting himself out of the house, made his way to Homburg, where he +informed the police of the murderous trap which had been laid for him. +It was evident that the coffee which he had drank overnight had been +drugged; but, most providentially for him, the drug had had the contrary +effect to that intended, and had kept him awake, instead of sending him +to sleep. + +Herr Wolf told us other stories of the Black Forest, in which there were +inns with revolving beds, which upset the persons who occupied them into +pits beneath the floor, where the heavy fall generally killed them at +once; and Baron Vogelsang, a good-looking Bavarian boy, with blue eyes +and curly brown hair, related the following anecdote: + +During the time of the great Napoleon,[6] the Emperor sent on one of +his aides-de-camp to Germany with important despatches. This A.D.C. had +to traverse the Black Forest, and on arriving as evening was falling +at a certain country house, asked if he could be accommodated for the +night. A room was given him, but, at the same time, he was warned that +the house was haunted, and, sure enough, in the middle of the night a +ghost duly put in an appearance. The Frenchman, who had no belief in +the supernatural, promptly snatched up a pistol and levelled it at the +spectre, who thereupon vanished. The A.D.C. then hurried to the spot +where the ghost had first appeared, when the floor suddenly gave way +beneath him, and he fell what seemed a great distance. For the moment he +was stunned by the fall, and, on recovering his senses, found himself +surrounded by a number of men, who were debating whether they should kill +him. He, however, explained who he was, and showed them the despatches +from Napoleon of which he was the bearer; and the men, fearing the +vengeance of the Emperor, should the crime they were meditating ever be +discovered, agreed to set him at liberty, on condition that he would +take an oath to say nothing of what had happened to him in that house. +They then told him that they were coiners, and that they killed everyone +who slept at the house, but that they usually frightened so many away +by tales that very few people cared to stop there. The Frenchman took +the oath demanded of him, and was set at liberty so soon as day came. +Years afterwards, he received a magnificent pistol, set with brilliants +and rubies, with the following inscription engraved upon it: “From those +whose secret you have so generously kept.” The gift was accompanied by a +letter, informing him that the coiners, having now succeeded in amassing +an immense fortune, had retired from business. + +The day after our adventure at the inn was passed by our party in walking +leisurely through the forest homewards, through a most glorious country +and in most lovely weather. When we reached Frankfurt, Herr Kirchhofer +congratulated Herr Wolf on our escape, and told him that it was very +lucky that we had returned at all. + +Herr Wolf saw me in after days at Frankfurt, when he kissed me in German +fashion, saying: “_Kannst Du Dich erinnern von damals im Oden Walde, +George?_” I thought it was our last day upon earth, and that we were +going to be murdered there, like many others have been there before and +even since those days. But I pretended not to be alarmed at the time, and +made the best of it. + +The time—rather more than a year and a half—I spent at this school at +Frankfurt was one of the happiest periods of my life; indeed, when my +parents wanted me to stay at the Hôtel de Russie, I cried and begged not +to be taken away from the school. Herr Kirchhofer was a very pleasant, +kind and good-hearted man, and a fine orator, one of the best I have ever +heard; and the lectures which he used to give on ancient Greek history +were always extremely interesting. His lectures were always extempore, as +his excellent memory made it unnecessary for him to refer to a book, and +the way he declaimed was a pleasure to listen to, so well did he raise or +lower his voice to suit the occasion. At times he became very dramatic, +putting you in mind of some celebrated actor on the stage, as he walked +up and down the room, reciting from the classics and quite carrying away +his audience. The only punishment inflicted on boys at this school was to +shake them and smack their faces, which Herr Kirchhofer did himself, as +well as the other masters, of whom there were eight or nine, although the +school consisted only of ten boarders and fifty day-boarders. + +German and Austrian boys find more pleasure in taking long walks in +the woods, making excursions, and running about than they do in games +like football and cricket, for which few, if any, have any taste. In +fact, I never knew any boys in Germany who cared much for any outdoor +games at all. However, I have not the slightest doubt they enjoy their +school-days quite as much as English boys, if not more; and there is +much more friendship between master and boys in Germany than there ever +can be in England. In the former country, the master devotes more time +to ascertaining the tastes of individual boys, and addresses them +more like a friend than a master. When, afterwards, I was sent to an +English school, I noticed the difference almost at once. At the school +at Frankfurt I was most interested in the history of ancient Greece; I +was also fond of German history. Latin was not taught there, for which +I was by no means sorry. I had no great fancy for botany, though I +tried to like it; but natural science rather piqued my curiosity. As +for arithmetic, I hated it, and never knew the value of money; in fact, +I don’t remember ever having any at that time, nor ever asking for +any, as I had everything I required bought for me. I had a fancy for +collecting stamps, and, in those days, there was a regular stamp market +at Frankfurt, where they were sold in the street. I went there on one +occasion, but was not very favourably impressed by the Jew dealers who +hawked them about. + +I was passionately fond of tin soldiers, and used to play with them with +a boy named Louis Krebs, who had a fine collection of both Austrian and +Prussian ones. He had a pretty little sister called Klara, who always +wore pink coral earrings and would often play with us. + +One day, Herr Kirchhofer told me that my parents were going to England +and that they had arranged to take me with them. At first, I was quite +unable to realize it, but when I learned that the news was true I was +greatly distressed, and nearly cried my eyes out at having to leave +Frankfurt and the school. I tried to prevail upon my parents to leave me +behind, but my father would not hear of it, saying that I should have to +go to a preparatory school for Eton, and that he had one in view, which +my aunt, Lady Caroline Murray, had recommended. So I was forced, _malgré +moi_, to submit to my parents’ wishes. + +In recent years I met Krebs, the boy of whom I have just spoken, at +Frankfurt, when he gave me a great deal of information about those who +had been at school with us. He himself had become a millionaire; but he +was the only one who had made money. Most of the others had been far from +successful in life, and one of the wealthiest, Baron Vogelsang, had +lost almost the whole of his immense fortune. Many had died quite young. +Herr Kirchhofer had only lived a few months after the suicide of his son +August, and Herr Wolf had also died while still quite a young man. + + + + +CHAPTER III + + Brussels—Ostend—General Sir John Douglas—Spa—“Captain + Arthy”—Boulogne + + +On leaving Frankfurt, we went to Brussels, where we lived in a large +house on the Boulevard de Waterloo, which looked out on to a very fine +avenue of trees. Captain Dorrien came with us on a visit to my parents +and stayed for some months. Captain Dorrien, in after years, lost his +whole fortune, when the late Earl of Sheffield, who had been at Eton with +him, insisted on his going to live at his fine house in Portland Place, +where he was given full authority over all the servants, lived free of +all cost to himself, and received a cheque for £500, while the Earl +went for a six months’ cruise in his yacht. This was told me by Captain +Dorrien himself, at a time when he was in far better circumstances. + +Lord Howard de Walden was then the English Minister at Brussels, and my +parents were on very friendly terms with him and his family. Two of the +sons came often to our house; one was in the Royal Navy, and the other in +the 60th Rifles. The eldest son, who afterwards succeeded to the title, +was then in the 4th Hussars, but I never met him. Many years afterwards, +I met Lady Howard de Walden, then a widow, in India, at Murree, in the +Himalayas, where she dined at our mess with her daughter, Miss Ellis. +The two ladies were about to start on a journey to Kashmir, on ponies, +as Lady Howard de Walden said that it was her intention to see as much +of the world as she could before she died. She was then seventy. She +added that it was a singular coincidence that the two regiments in which +her sons had served—the 4th Hussars and the 60th Rifles—both of which +she visited, should be quartered quite near Kashmir, the Hussars at +Rawal Pindi, and the 2nd Battalion, 60th Rifles, at Murree. Lady Howard +de Walden accomplished the difficult journey to Kashmir and returned in +safety. + +We were on friendly terms with the Baron de Taintegnies, who was in +attendance on Leopold II., King of the Belgians, and also with his +three lovely daughters, who, with their cousins, the daughters of Baron +Danetan, were considered the most beautiful girls in Brussels society at +that time. One of the former married, in later years, Captain Stewart +Muirhead, of the Blues, a friend of my father and of Captain Dorrien. + +Frederick Milbanke, of the Blues, an old Etonian, who was a great friend +of my father, was at that time a good deal in Brussels, and married +a Belgian actress there. Milbanke was heir to some of the Duke of +Cleveland’s estates, but he died before coming into this property. The +last time I saw him was at the Alexandra Hôtel, in London, where he and +his wife had a very fine suite of rooms, when my father took me there to +pay them a visit. Milbanke was a very handsome, fair man, and his wife +a great beauty. I met the latter in after years at the Grosvenor Hôtel, +where she was staying with her son, a nice-looking boy, who had come back +from Eton for the holidays. + +The winter at Brussels was rather a severe one, and there was plenty of +good skating to be had. I remember learning to skate in the Bois de la +Cambre, to which I went with my father. One day I was knocked down by +some lady skaters, and had great difficulty in extricating myself from +their petticoats. I fell very softly, but I was well-nigh smothered. I +was glad when my parents left Brussels, as I had no companions there at +all. + +There was then at Ostend a Mrs. Clifton, who had an exceedingly pretty +daughter. Mrs. Clifton was a widow, and afterwards contracted a second +marriage with a brother of Sir Walter Carew. When I was at school at +Kineton, in Warwickshire, the mother and daughter paid me a visit, as +they had an estate not far from the school. + +One day, on the Digue at Ostend, I suddenly caught sight of my little +friend, Baron Vogelsang, who, leaving his father and mother, who were +with him, ran up to me at once and kissed me on both cheeks. I saw a good +deal of Vogelsang while I was at Ostend, going often on to the sands with +him, and meeting him in the evening at the children’s dance at the Casino. + +The Baron de Taintegnies’s daughter used to attend those dances, to +which the Duc de Sequeira, a young boy I knew, generally went. Marie, +the Baron’s eldest daughter, who was a lovely girl, afterwards became +the Baronne Le Clément de Taintegnies. She lives at Minehead, where she +has a fine estate and hunts with the Devon and Somerset Staghounds. +I heard from her quite recently. Her sister Isa, who married Captain +Stewart Muirhead, is now a widow, her husband having died in Paris in +1906. She also hunts with the staghounds in Devonshire, and both sisters +are well-known horsewomen. Aline, the youngest sister, who was called +“Bébé,” and whom I admired very much when a child at Brussels and Ostend, +married, in 1871, Baron de Hérissem, and, after his death, went to Italy, +where she married again and lived for several years. She died at Ancona +in March, 1906. + +There was a racing man at Ostend, named Captain Riddell, who won all +the principal steeplechases that were run there. Mrs. Ind, the wife of +the well-known brewer, was his sister. Riddell met with a very serious +accident in a steeplechase at Ostend, injuring his spine. The horse +which he was riding on that occasion was once ridden by my father on +the sands, and he told me that he was a perfect devil to hold. When a +young man, my father once rode a hundred miles in twelve hours on the +same horse for a bet at Taunton, in Somerset, and won his wager easily, +with plenty of time to spare. He and Charles Kinglake, a brother of the +author of “Eöthen,” were the only persons who were willing to go up in a +balloon at Taunton, when the first one came there, which was considered +rather venturesome at the time. This reminds me that one of the oldest +inhabitants of Bristol told me lately that he remembered when the first +iron ship was launched at that port, and how all the residents declared: +“The idea of iron floating is too absurd to entertain for one instant; +the ship is bound to sink, for iron can never be made to keep above +water.” + +The King and Queen of Würtemberg were both then at Ostend. Queen Olga, +who was a Russian Grand Duchess by birth, was said to be the handsomest +woman in Europe. She had very regular features, but was at that time +excessively pale and thin. Her niece, the Grand Duchess Olga, was the +first proposed _fiancée_ of Ludwig II., King of Bavaria. His Majesty, +however, refused to marry her. This is not generally known. The Grand +Duchess Olga afterwards married the late King George of Greece. + +King Leopold II. and Queen Henriette were at Ostend at that time with +their children, who used to drive on the sands in a small carriage drawn +by four cream-coloured ponies. Baron de Taintegnies was usually on the +Digue of an afternoon with the King, sitting down or walking about. + +Among my father’s friends at Ostend were Lord Orford and Lord Brownlow +Cecil. The latter was very fond of music, and married a lady there who +was a magnificent pianist. One day I can remember my father sitting in +the Casino with Henry Labouchere, an old Etonian, who had formerly been +in the Diplomatic Service. Labouchere was smoking a big cigar, and he +and my father had a long conversation. What it was about, I cannot say, +though they were continually laughing; and my father told me afterwards +that Labouchere was very amusing, and, though sarcastic, witty, and that +he rather liked him.[7] + +General Sir John Douglas, K.C.B., Commander of the Forces in Scotland, +and his wife, Lady Elizabeth Douglas, daughter of Earl Cathcart, were a +good deal with my parents at Ostend. The General used to take long walks +with my father, and he put my name down for his old regiment, the 79th +Highlanders, and for the Scots Guards. Sir John Douglas was extremely +kind to me in after years, and invited me to stay with him at Edinburgh; +but I could not get leave from my colonel at the time, and consequently +was obliged, to my great regret, to decline his kind invitation. + +My parents used very often to spend the summer months at Ostend, and +one year they occupied the apartments at the Hôtel de Prusse which +the Russian Ambassador, Prince Orloff, had just vacated. One day, +after washing my hands in my bedroom, I emptied the water out of the +window, for some unaccountable reason. Later in the day, the Princess +de Caraman-Chimay sent up her lady’s maid to say that a dress which the +Princess had intended wearing the following evening at a Court ball at +Brussels had been completely spoiled by the water. I was well scolded by +my mother for being the cause of this misfortune. + +The English clergyman at Ostend was a Mr. Jukes. He had a very +good-looking son, a boy about my own age. He told me that he was in the +habit of walking in his sleep, and showed me his bedroom window, which +had a padlock on it. When I asked him where the key of it was, he said +that they would not tell him, in case he might get up in the night, +unlock it, and walk on the roof of the house, which, he said, he had done +before. His father once met me with mine in the street, and when told +that I was going into the British Army, said that he entirely disapproved +of soldiers, and thought that the time was near at hand when there would +be no more wars and every dispute would be settled by arbitration. I +fancied at that time that Mr. Jukes’s prophecy might come true, but, as +subsequent events proved, we were very far indeed from its realisation. + +Both the King and Queen of the Belgians were very popular with the +inhabitants of Ostend. They used to walk on the Digue quite unattended, +and seemed in no way inconvenienced by the crowd, who always treated them +with the greatest respect. The King wore plain clothes, usually a dark +suit with a tall white hat, and never appeared there in uniform. A very +good story is told of Leopold II., who, some years ago, during the summer +months, was at Luchon, in the Pyrenees. The day after he arrived there, +the King sent for a hairdresser, and directed him to trim his silvery +beard. When the operation was over, His Majesty inquired what he had to +pay. + +“It will be twenty francs, Your Majesty,” replied the hairdresser without +hesitation. + +The King pulled out a two-franc piece, which he handed to this too +facetious Figaro. + +“I am accustomed,” said he, “to pay very well. Here is a two-franc piece. +It is a new Belgian coin, and you will see my head on it, as you wished +to pay yourself for it.” (“_Vous y verrez ma tête, puisque vous avez +voulu vous la payer._”) + +It is said that the hairdresser left without asking for the rest of the +money, and that, since this adventure, he placed over his shop a fine +board, inscribed: “Furnisher of H.M. the King of the Belgians.” + +My mother spent a summer at Spa, where she took a house with a garden +attached to it. I liked the place very much, and often went for rides on +a pony in the woods with the late Captain Lennox Berkeley, who afterwards +became Earl of Berkeley. The country round Spa is mountainous and very +charming. Spa itself is an exceedingly pretty place, situated in a valley +entirely surrounded by hills and woods, and the Ardennes are not far off. +But in the summer months the heat is intense, and, when the sun once gets +into the valley, there is often not a breath of air. The promenade, where +the band plays morning and evening, is charming, and it is very pleasant +to sit beneath the shady trees and listen to the excellent orchestra. I +often used to go there with my mother, particularly of a morning, when +all the _monde élégant_ used to forgather to listen to the music. The +gambling-rooms were then open for roulette and trente-et-quarante, and +Captain Berkeley used often to try his luck at them, but, unfortunately, +he was not successful. I can remember his giving me “Japhet in Search of +a Father,” by Captain Marryat, and recommending me to read it. I did so, +and it amused me very much. + +Another of my father’s friends, the late Captain Bromley, an old Etonian, +and a son of Sir Thomas Bromley, was at Spa at the same time. One day, +when I happened to tell him that I was going into the Army, he smiled, +and said that he never could hit off with his colonel. The latter +complained that he was always late for parade, and asked him if he did +not hear the bugles sound. He answered:— + +“Yes, sir—I hear the bugles, but there must be something wrong with +them, for they don’t sound the right note.” The Colonel soon found him +incorrigible, and he himself that he was never made for a soldier. + +Bromley told me that, when a boy, he was accustomed to dine off gold +plates and that everything he used at table was of gold. Suddenly, his +father died, and his elder brother inherited the title and estates, while +he was obliged to live on a few hundreds a year. This, he said, was the +fault of our law of primogeniture, which ought only to take effect in the +case of ducal houses, where the bearer of the title should be made to pay +an “appanage” to the other members of the family, as is the rule on the +Continent. + +It has often been asserted by authors of great authority that women are +much meaner than men; but I have known some instances to the contrary. +Once, during our stay at Spa, a gentleman called on my mother, and told +her that he had lost all he possessed, and asked her to lend him £50, +as he was anxious to rejoin his wife. My mother, who had known him for +years, said that she would give him all she had in the house—nearly +£40—for which he was very grateful, both at the time and when we met him +and his wife in later years. + +Once I was staying with my father at Desseins Hôtel, at Calais,[8] when +he told me that he had made the acquaintance of an Englishman, a certain +Captain Arthy, who was rather a singular character, indeed, highly +eccentric. It appeared that he had just lost his wife, and that he was so +distressed at her death that he wore all the trinkets which had belonged +to her on his watch-chain, to show his affection for her. He had not, +however, gone into mourning, and always affected a red tie, saying that +he wore the mourning in his heart, upon which he used to lay his hand as +he spoke. I was introduced to Captain Arthy, who was a bald-headed man, +with black side-whiskers and rather a red face, dressed in a light suit +of clothes. The quantity of charms on his watch-chain would have almost +filled the window of a jeweller’s shop, while numerous rings adorned his +fingers. He was perpetually smiling, displaying a set of very fine teeth +when he did so. + +He invited my father and me to see his rooms, which were full of gold and +silver cups, which he told us, had belonged to his late wife. The late +Mrs. Winsloe, whose husband was a friend of my father, was staying at +this hôtel. Mr. Winsloe was a well-known man in Somersetshire, but he had +recently gone out of his mind. His wife had been a great beauty, but she +was then terribly made up, with fair dyed hair. + +Mrs. Winsloe, who lived in very luxurious fashion, and occupied a very +fine set of rooms at Desseins Hôtel, said that Arthy was a cousin of her +husband, and showed us a cutting from the _Times_ about the death of Mrs. +Arthy, which had occurred in rather a tragic manner. One evening, when my +father and I were in her salon, she said to Arthy:— + +“I wish you would give one of your lockets to that little boy, as a +keepsake from me.” Arthy thereupon took off his watch-chain, and, after +hunting amongst his innumerable lockets, at length chose one, which he +unfastened, saying:— + +“Here is a nice gold locket that will do. Will you give him your photo to +put inside it?” + +“I haven’t got one,” replied Mrs. Winsloe. “Give him one of yours +instead.” So he cut round one of his photos and, inserting it in the +locket, handed it to me. “Now kiss Mrs. Winsloe,” said he, “for it is her +present to you.” I kissed the paint off her face, and she kissed me, and +I felt sure that she left a coloured impression on my face. But I was so +pleased with the locket, which I attached to my chain, that I did not +care in the least. + +Arthy drank champagne with Mrs. Winsloe, and the latter seemed rather +infatuated with him, which was not surprising, as he was a fine-looking +man, though his baldness detracted from his good looks. However, the lady +could not afford to be very _difficile_, being only an artificial beauty, +whose youth was but a memory. Formerly, she had had beautiful hair, +and it still reached to her waist. My father complimented her upon it, +observing:— + +“I never saw such lovely hair in my life, or such a perfect colour.” + +She looked pleased, and replied, smiling:— + +“Yes, I don’t think there are many women who have such fine hair.” + +“No, I am sure there are not,” remarked Arthy, who appeared to be +thinking of the gold locket which he had given away, for he looked at his +chain as he spoke. + +“He doesn’t half admire you,” said my father, laughing. + +“I am sure I do; I think my cousin the loveliest woman possible,” replied +the other, who appeared annoyed at my father’s remark. + +Mrs. Winsloe looked at Arthy and smiled, being evidently under the +impression that he was jealous, as he appeared angry with my father. + +The fact was that Arthy was anxious to ingratiate himself with Mrs. +Winsloe, as she was very wealthy. Accordingly, he pretended to admire +her, though it needed only half a glance to see that in reality he +considered her very far from beautiful. Mrs. Winsloe not only paid for +her own rooms at the hôtel, but all the expensive dinners which she and +Arthy had together were entered to her account. The latter had a great +partiality for naval officers, and as an American warship, the _Alabama_, +of the Confederate Navy, happened to be lying at Calais at this time, +he invited some of the officers to dine with him and Mrs. Winsloe. They +accepted, and were most sumptuously entertained, champagne flowing like +water. + +After staying six weeks with his cousin, Arthy left for England. Soon +afterwards, the officers of a British warship at Portsmouth received an +invitation from the Duke of St. Albans to dine with him at an hôtel. The +captain of the ship happened to be away, and, on his return, the other +officers told him what a good dinner he had missed and loudly praised the +ducal hospitality. + +“The Duke of St. Albans!” exclaimed the captain, in astonishment. “How +can you possibly have dined with him that evening? Why, the very same day +I was shooting quite near the duke’s property, and I happened to see +him! I will go to the hôtel and find out who it can be.” + +The captain lost no time in instituting inquiries, with the result that +the supposed duke was laid by the heels just as he was preparing to leave +Portsmouth, and turned out to be none other than the man who had passed +as Captain Arthy at Calais. It was subsequently ascertained that he was a +certain Comte d’Aubigny, a member of a very old and noble French family, +and that he had deceived several people in the same way. My father, on +hearing of this, remarked:— + +“It is the first time that I have been taken in by a man, but I am glad I +am not the only one he deceived.” + +The enterprising gentleman was afterwards brought to trial and sentenced +to seven years’ penal servitude. + +My parents sometimes spent the summer months at Boulogne, one year taking +a large house at some little distance from the sea, overlooking a public +garden. The late Captain Elwes, a nephew of the Duchess of Wellington, +who was Vice-Consul at Boulogne, was a friend of my parents. He was +devoted to painting, and, many years later, painted a miniature of an +American lady for his cousin, the Marquis of Anglesey. It was beautifully +painted, but, unfortunately, when it was finished, the Marquis had fallen +in love with another Transatlantic belle, so he did not appreciate the +miniature quite as much as he might have done, if his affections had not +been diverted from the original. Elwes hoped to be appointed Consul at +Boulogne, but whether he ever obtained that post, I cannot say. The last +time I met him was in Paris, many years later, at a dinner given by the +Marquis of Anglesey, at the Hôtel d’Albe, in the Champs Elysées. + +Lord Henry Paget, afterwards Marquis of Anglesey, was very fond of +Boulogne, and lived there with his first wife. The latter died at +Boulogne, quite suddenly, but the Marquis continued to visit the place, +and my father saw a good deal of him. + +George Lawrence, the author of “Guy Livingstone,” son of Lady Emily +Lawrence, was frequently at Boulogne, and often with my parents. I can +remember my father relating how one day he went with him to see one of +the lovely daughters of the Baron de Taintegnies off to Paris, and how +Lawrence was so infatuated with the young lady, that he jumped into the +train, without any luggage, merely to have the pleasure of travelling +with her all the way to Paris, a journey of about five hours. On reaching +Paris, he saw Mlle. de Taintegnies safely to her destination, and then +took the train back to Boulogne. + +My parents were particularly fond of Lawrence, who was good-humoured, +clever, and very amusing. I heard that he had a quarrel with Tom Hohler, +who married the Duchess of Newcastle, on account of having introduced +him into one of his novels, called “Breaking a Butterfly.” Hohler was +very friendly with my father in later years in Paris. We had a white +Pomeranian dog, and Tom Hohler asked my father to show it to the Duke of +Newcastle, who was then a child, living with his mother in the Avenue +d’Antin. The dog took such a fancy to the young Duke that it forsook +us for him entirely. I heard recently from the Duke of Newcastle, who +was kind enough to be interested in this book, that he remembered this +Pomeranian dog quite well, and told me its name—“Loulou”—which I had +entirely forgotten. The name recalled many things to my recollection. It +is strange how at times we forget a name, and then, when it is mentioned, +associations and incidents connected with it are suddenly recalled to our +memory and flash before us as in a dream. + +Tom Hohler sang for a time at Her Majesty’s Theatre. I never heard him +sing in operas, but I have been told that he had a very pleasing voice, +though it was not a very powerful one. It was said that when he sang in +private houses, he was paid £40 for every song. + +Harry Slade, a son of Sir Frederick Slade, stayed for a time at Boulogne +with his mother, of whom we saw a good deal; and, after Lady Slade’s +death, her son stayed for a long time at the Hôtel du Nord, where my +father and I often went to see him. He was a good talker and always very +entertaining. + +Mrs. Joe Riggs, an American lady, who afterwards became Princess Ruspoli, +was extremely fond of Boulogne, and generally spent the summer at the +Hôtel Impérial; but this was in later years. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + + A Painting by Romney—Hunter’s School at Kineton—Corporal + Punishment—A Sporting Parson—My Schoolfellows at Kineton—The + Warre-Malets—Lord Charleville. + + +Before going to school in England, I was taken to Richmond to see my +mother’s aunt, Lady Caroline Murray, who was now an old lady and lived in +a house near the Thames, for, as the Duchess of Gloucester, to whom she +had been lady-in-waiting, had been dead some years, she was no longer at +Court. In her younger days, Lady Caroline had been a good horsewoman and +had ridden very well to hounds. But, at this time, she was leading a very +quiet life, receiving only her relatives and friends. + +I can remember that in Lady Caroline’s drawing-room at Richmond there was +a most beautiful picture of her mother, Viscountess Stormont, British +Ambassadress to France and Austria, painted by Romney. It represented +the Countess in her own right, as she afterwards became, sitting beneath +a large tree and wearing a kind of loose _peignoir_ of a pale yellow +colour, like the colour of the sea just before a storm. The _peignoir_ +was fastened at the shoulder by a brooch, in which was a large yellow +stone. Her hair was dressed high above the head, in the style of Marie +Antoinette, in whose days her husband was Ambassador in France, and over +it she had a Scottish plaid of the clan to which she belonged. One leg +was crossed over the other, and her arms were folded. She was painted in +profile; her _peignoir_, open at the front, displaying a perfect bosom +and a beautiful, swan-like neck. Her hair possessed that glorious auburn +tint with shades of gold in it, which made it appear as though the sun +were shedding its full rays upon the gold tresses, one of which had +escaped from the rest and hung loose. Her face was of a tender oval, with +expressive eyes of a peculiar shade of green, like that of the sea when +the sun falls upon it, or as it is in Böcklin’s pictures. Her nose was +straight and delicate, with nostrils like those of a Greek statue. Her +mouth was unusually small, with a tiny upper lip, slightly curved; her +chin short and classical. The expression on the face was of pride, of +audacity, of childish innocence, of sentimentality, and it possessed a +marvellous charm and attraction. + +[Illustration: The Author’s Mother. + +[_To face p. 40._] + +This beautiful portrait, which Lady Caroline bequeathed to Earl Cathcart, +as he was the head of her mother’s family, was once seen by a wealthy +American, who said to the Earl, into whose possession it had then come:— + +“Have you ever seen such a lovely woman as this in all your life?” + +“No, I have not,” the Earl answered. + +“Well, I guess you haven’t,” rejoined the other, “and I don’t think there +ever was such a lovely woman on earth.” + +And he offered Lord Cathcart £20,000 down for the picture, which the +latter, though not a rich man, refused. The American then promised the +Earl’s son, Viscount Greenock, £500, if he could persuade his father to +accept the offer; but it was all of no avail. + +I showed Mr. Noseda, the well-known print-seller in the Strand, the +engraving of this picture by J. R. Smith, which had belonged to my +grandfather, when Mr. Noseda told me that he very much preferred the +engraving to the painting, as the latter had been so much touched up, +whereas the former was so beautifully executed in every detail that he +considered it finer than Romney’s portrait. This was after I had told him +about the offer of £20,000 which the American had made for the original +painting. + +Viscountess Stormont had been Ranger of Richmond Park, and was allotted, +as her official residence, the house which is now the Queen’s Hôtel. +An old gentleman whom I met at Richmond in later years told me that +he thought the hôtel ought to have been named after the Countess of +Mansfield, as Lady Stormont became later, instead of being called the +“Queen’s.” He remembered Lady Caroline Murray, and remarked that she was +one of those ladies of the old nobility who were scarce nowadays. + +Viscount Greenock afterwards became Earl Cathcart, and died in London +in 1911. He was at Eton with me, and afterwards joined the 23rd Welsh +Fusiliers, from which he was transferred to the Scots Guards. When at +Eton, he often came to my tutor’s house to see his cousin, Charles +Douglas, whose father had placed him there to be with me. The Hon. +Reginald Cathcart, a younger brother of Lord Cathcart, was in the 60th +Rifles, and I recollect giving him a letter to his colonel, Godfrey +Astell, in India,[9] when he first joined the regiment. Reginald +Cathcart, who was a very nice young man, tall, dark, and handsome, was +one of those unhappily killed in the Boer War. + +The school to which I was sent was at Kineton, near Warwick. It had been +recommended to my father by Lady Caroline Murray, who had heard of it +from the Duke of Buccleuch, and a cousin of mine, Greville Finch-Hatton, +was being educated there. When my father and I arrived, we were shown +into a sitting-room, looking out on to a garden, where we were received +by Mrs. Hunter, the headmaster’s wife. Mrs. Hunter was an old lady, whose +age, I afterwards ascertained, was about seventy. To guess it would have +been a difficult task, so terribly made up was she. Everything about her +was false: false teeth, false hair, and a false bust, giving her somewhat +the appearance of a wax figure at Madame Tussaud’s. She had, however, +very pretty white hands, with pointed fingers. She was dressed in black +satin, with a large gold brooch at her throat, and a long gold chain +round her neck, a costume which she always wore. + +“This, I presume, is your little son, whom you are leaving with us?” +said Mrs. Hunter to my father. “Will you tell me whether you belong to +the High or Low Church, as it is my province to look after the boys’ +religious instruction, and I am always interested to know.” + +The question was rather a poser for my father, who, I do not think, had +entered a church since he left England. So he turned to me and said:— + +“Tell the lady to what church you go with your mother.” + +I said that at Ostend I always went to the English Protestant Church. +Upon which Mrs. Hunter observed:— + +“I see, you have been living on the Continent, and foreigners have very +little religion. However, I will take care that your son has the proper +religious instruction.” + +Suddenly, the door opened, and an immensely stout man, of about +sixty-five, with mutton-chop whiskers and spectacles, entered the room, +and introduced himself as Mr. Hunter, the headmaster. + +In his youth Mr. Hunter had probably been an exceedingly handsome man, +and was still, apart from his corpulence, decidedly good-looking, with +a fine forehead, a small mouth with thin lips and very good teeth, and +regular features. + +After showing us over the school, Mr. Hunter sent for Greville +Finch-Hatton, telling my father that I should occupy a dormitory with my +cousin and two other boys. At eight o’clock, supper was served in a large +dining-room, where the presence of a new boy provoked a good deal of +talking amongst the other boys. Mrs. Hunter sat at one end of the table, +her husband at the other; and the meal was a cold one, carved on the +table, and consisting of cold meat, followed by bread and cheese, washed +down by draught beer. + +As soon as supper was over, we were sent to our dormitories, where I had +not been long in bed when my cousin leant over from his and asked if I +were asleep. On finding that I was awake, he told me that we must talk in +a very low voice, as talking was forbidden, and Mrs. Hunter occasionally +paid us a visit to see whether this regulation was being observed. The +two other boys in the room also began talking in low tones. Later on, +when they considered themselves pretty safe from detection, they talked +louder and carried on a long conversation about cricket, discussing who +were the best bowlers in the school and whether fast bowling was more +effective than slow. + +I could not sleep, and, for some unaccountable reason, felt very +miserable. At last I began to cry, at first quietly, but soon I was +unable to restrain my sobs. My cousin, hearing me, tried to console me, +saying that he, too, had found it hard to leave his parents at first. I +felt inclined to tell him that it was not that which made me cry, but I +thought better of it. Soon afterwards I fell asleep, and dreamed that I +was at Kirchhofer’s school at Frankfurt, and that Vogelsang was talking +to me. I even fancied that he kissed me, when I awoke suddenly, in +despair at finding where I was. + +Mr. Hunter was a very pleasant man, when he cared to be, which was by +no means always the case. He was most severe with everyone, and had no +particular favourites. Some boys he disliked, particularly those who +did not learn quickly, and those who were inclined to be noisy. He was +full of fun when he played football with us; making jokes and chaffing +different boys in turn. He was, however, quite a different kind of man in +school from what he was in the playground. + +On Sundays, we, of course, attended church. The clergyman who preached, +a Mr. Miller, had two voices: a very squeaky voice and a very gruff +one. When he preached in his squeaky voice, most of us would fall +asleep in the high pews, which screened us from the observation of the +headmaster; but when Mr. Miller altered his tone, and his deep, gruff +voice was suddenly heard, coming, as it were, out of a vault, we would +be disagreeably startled from our slumbers. The sermons, I am inclined +to believe, were bought ones, for Mr. Miller used sometimes to lose his +place in the midst of his discourse and come to a stop, and when he +continued, it was on quite a different subject. But it mattered little, +so far as we were concerned, for most of the boys were usually asleep, +and those who tried to listen could not follow the squeaky voice of the +preacher—which had all the disagreeable sounds of a clarionet played +badly—even by straining their ears, which few of them were disposed to do. + +Our French master, who was obliged to accompany us, used sometimes to +unfold the Paris _Figaro_ at full length and read it during the sermon. +Mr. Hunter, owing to the height of the pews, could not, of course, see +him, or he would most certainly have taken very strong exception to such +an irregular proceeding. One Sunday, when Monsieur happened to have +forgotten his _Figaro_, he passed the time of the sermon in an animated +conversation with Rush, the captain of the Eleven. Unfortunately for +the latter, Mr. Hunter happened to detect them; and, after church, he +sent for Rush, and, refusing to listen to his appeals, took him to the +schoolroom and, making him bend down, gave him a severe caning. + +When I first came to the school, I was chaffed about my pronunciation, +and Rush said:— + +“If you pronounce Themistocles like you do, I wouldn’t be in your shoes.” +Then he used to ask me questions about my German school, which at first +he laughed at. Soon, however, he took a great interest in it, making me +tell him about the boys there, what they were like and what they did. + +“It must be very much jollier than here,” said he, “and none of that +beastly caning and flogging, as there is at Kineton.” + +Mr. Hunter was certainly a devout believer in the precept: “Spare +the rod, and spoil the child;” indeed, he seemed to have a perfect +passion for caning the boys, and at times performed this operation with +astonishing zest. Sometimes, of an evening, in my dormitory, we would +play at being Mr. Hunter, each of us taking it in turns to personate the +master and beat the other boys with a hairbrush, in place of a cane. One +night, one of us happened to remark:— + +“I think it is a pleasure that would grow upon one, as it evidently does +upon old Hunter.” + +Scarcely had he said this, when, to our consternation, the door suddenly +opened, and the master appeared. The boys bolted into bed as fast as they +could, but it was too late, and we were told to come to Mr. Hunter’s +study after prayers the following morning. There, after we had been duly +admonished, we were all severely caned. + +Rush and other boys used to put hairs in the canes to split them; but Mr. +Hunter found this out, for one day, he broke six canes one after another. +He then rang for his whalebone whip, and we received a fearful thrashing, +with no time to prepare for it by padding our clothes with books. + +One day, the Duchess of Marlborough, who was a friend of Lady Caroline +Murray, called, and asked to see my cousin and myself. She was +accompanied by her son, Lord Randolph Churchill, and her visit to the +school was due to the fact that she thought of placing him there. But +Lord Randolph became too ill to go to school just then, and had a private +tutor at home instead, until he was old enough to be sent to Eton.[10] + +We often went for picnics to the charming woods of Compton Verney, +belonging to Lady Willoughby de Broke. That lady, who was always very +pleasant and full of fun, would sometimes come and talk to us and to Mr. +Hunter. The latter had formerly been private tutor to her eldest son, +and the school was on Lord Willoughby de Broke’s property.[11] The late +Hon. Rainald Verney, Lord Willoughby’s younger brother, was at school at +Hunter’s, before going to Eton, and often came to the school when I was +there, before he joined the 52nd Light Infantry. + +Mr. Hunter had a young and rather pretty niece, a girl of eighteen, with +black hair, who stayed for a time with him. She used to go into the boys’ +dormitories at night, when she would give them bonbons and generally kiss +them. But her stay at Kineton was so short that her presence there was +more like an angel’s visit than anything else. + +One day, the Rev. William and Mrs. Finch-Hatton called to see their son +and also asked to see me. Mrs. Finch-Hatton, who was at that time known +as the “Rose of Kent,” was a lovely woman, with very black hair and +regular features. She was a sister of Sir Percy Oxenden. She told me that +both she and her husband were struck by my great resemblance to their +son Greville; and Mr. Finch-Hatton very kindly gave me half a sovereign, +which I never forgot, as I rarely received any money from anyone. Mr. +Newenham, who had married a daughter of the Earl of Mount Cashell, and +was a clergyman in Ireland, also came to see his son. He played football +with us, and afterwards told us the following story:— + +“I was once asked to see an old woman in Cork who was dying. She asked +me to read the Bible to her, but as I was unprepared to find her so ill, +I had not brought one with me, nor had she one in the house. So I pulled +out a copy of _Bell’s Life_ which I happened to have in my pocket, and +read her an article from it, which, as she happened to be deaf, had +precisely the same effect upon her as the Bible would have had.” + +Mr. Newenham was a regular sporting parson, with, however, a good deal +more of the sportsman than the parson about him, but full of fun and very +agreeable. + +There was a boy named Charles Taylor at the school, who afterwards went +to Eton. His father, who had himself been at Eton, was a famous cricketer +and had played in the All-England Eleven. He was, however, somewhat +eccentric, having the most intense dislike of being asked his age; in +fact, when one put this question to him, he invariably answered that he +neither knew it nor wished to know it. He had also a strong objection to +anything of a violet colour, and if a person called to see him wearing +a tie or a dress of that colour, he always picked a quarrel with his +unfortunate visitor. + +Another boy at Kineton, whom I shall call L——, had the misfortune to be +afflicted with kleptomania, and would take everything he could lay his +hands on. Mr. Hunter used to break so many canes upon his back that he +said to him one day:— + +“I shall send the bill for all the canes I have broken in trying to +correct you to your mother, for you get worse and worse every day.” + +The school colours were scarlet and white, but they were only worn by the +cricket Eleven. As I was in the Eleven, I had this coveted privilege. +My cousin did not much care for cricket, and was fonder of riding and +shooting, at both of which he excelled. Mr. Hunter kept a pony for the +boys to ride. When he drove to Warwick, Leamington or Banbury, he would +take two of us with him, one boy riding the pony, while the other sat in +the pony-trap with the master. I can remember once riding to Warwick and +then to Stratford-on-Avon on the pony, which Finch-Hatton rode back to +Kineton. Most of the boys could ride well, and those who could not were +never taken by Mr. Hunter, save on one occasion, when I recollect that +the boy he took with him reminded me of certain Frenchmen whom one sees +riding in the Bois de Boulogne, who are afraid to let their horses go +beyond a walk. As my father used to say in Paris:— + +“They praise the Lord on their knees every time they come home safely and +are out of the saddle.” + +Greville Finch-Hatton was rather delicate, and, after making a voyage to +Australia, died quite young. + +Aubrey Birch Reynardson, who also slept in my dormitory, had a gift for +story-telling. One night he related to us the story of “Eric, or Little +by Little,” with which, I can remember, we were delighted. + +Mr. Hunter always wore spectacles. At times, by gaslight, when the gas +fell upon them, it looked as if his eyes were two flames, and that he +was an ogre ready to devour one of us, particularly when he took up his +cane, and glared at the culprit, through his spectacles, with fiery eyes. +But, taken on the whole, Mr. Hunter was a very good fellow, who would +never have done anyone an injury, apart from perhaps giving him a dose of +the cane. + +Among the boys who were at Hunter’s with me was Charles Home-Purves, who +was the head of the school. He afterwards went to Eton and took Lower +School instead of Fourth Form, at which Mr. Hunter was much disappointed. +His father, Colonel Home-Purves, was in attendance on the Duchess of +Cambridge, and was accidentally killed by the overturning of a carriage +in which he was driving with Her Royal Highness. He was so terribly +cut about the face by the glass of the carriage-window that he died +almost immediately. His son was offered a commission in the Guards, but +preferred entering the Rifle Brigade. However, he left the regiment +shortly afterwards, and died when very young. + +The late Earl of Lonsdale, before he succeeded his uncle in the title, +was also at Kineton with me. On one occasion, he ordered a lot of toys +from Cremer’s toy-shop, but when they arrived, Mr. Hunter was so startled +at the bill, which amounted to a considerable sum, that he had them at +once sent back to where they came from, telling Lowther, as he was then, +that he must make a better use of his money. He found life at Hunter’s +too restricted and not lively enough for him, so he only remained one +half, and then asked to leave the school. I met him at Eton with his +brother, the present Earl of Lonsdale. The latter was attached to the +Rifle Brigade, and was a very keen sportsman, I remember, when we were +both stationed at Winchester. + +One day, at Kineton, I was playing with Newenham, who happened to have +a pocket-knife open in his hand, and, by accident, I got a very ugly +stab in the back. Indeed, the doctor declared that, if the wound had +been one-eighth of an inch deeper, it would have been fatal. Newenham +was once mistaken for me by an uncle of mine at the Great Western Hotel, +Paddington, which amused both of them very much, particularly as I was +then at the same school as Newenham. He retired from the Army with the +rank of Major, and lives in County Kerry, for which he is a magistrate. + +Once, on the anniversary of Shakespeare’s birth,[12] Mr. Hunter took +us to Stratford-on-Avon, to show us the house where the poet was born +and to visit the theatre. Mr. Hunter was a good amateur actor, and +would sometimes get up plays for us to act. On one occasion, we played +“A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” Lady Willoughby de Broke, Lord and Lady +North, Sir Charles Mordaunt, and all the neighbouring county families +were invited to the performance, which went off fairly well. “Making up” +afforded us great amusement. One of the boys had learned this art from +his sister, and proved himself quite an adept at darkening the others’ +eyebrows and rouging their cheeks and lips. + +I happened to meet recently the Rev. Henry Knightley, brother of Sir +Charles Knightley. He had been at Kineton with me, but it was forty +years since we had met. From him I learned that Mr. Hunter had died at +Leamington after giving up his school, and that Rush had died quite early +in life, as well as several others who were there with us. It was quite a +pleasure for me, and, I think, also for him, to recall our school-days, +and even the canings I looked back upon with some regret, feeling that I +would willingly submit to them again, could I but return to those times. +We both agreed that we had not learned much at Kineton, but that, on the +whole, our life there with our schoolfellows had been a pleasant one. I +found that Knightley was under the impression that Greville Finch-Hatton +had inherited the title of Winchilsea, but I told him that my cousin was +dead, and that the present Earl of Winchilsea and Nottingham had been at +Eton with me, and was kind enough to interest himself in my book about +our school life. + +[Illustration: C. D. Williamson, at Eton with the Author. + +[_To face p. 50._] + +[Illustration: Miss Mabel Warre-Malet. + +[_To face p. 51._] + +The chief prize I got at this school was a copy of Longfellow’s poems, +beautifully bound and illustrated. I was very pleased at receiving it, +as Longfellow was at that time my favourite lyrical poet in the English +language. + +Most of the boys remained at Kineton until they were fourteen, when they +left for Harrow, Eton, Winchester, or some other public school. Greville +Finch-Hatton went to Wellington, Rush to Cheltenham, and Knightley to +Marlborough. + +During my holidays, I sometimes went to Taunton, to stay with an aunt +of mine, whose husband, a very kind man, was extremely fond of me. His +daughter’s chief friends were some children of the name of Warre-Malet, +nieces of the Ambassador, Sir Alexander Warre-Malet. The eldest girl, +Mabel, who was about thirteen, the same age as myself, was very pretty, +with brown hair, a lovely complexion and eyes of a deep blue. One +Christmas Eve, Mrs. Warre-Malet had a large Christmas tree, with numerous +presents attached to its branches, and we were invited to her house. +Every one of the children received a beautiful present from the tree, +which was illuminated by a great number of candles. Afterwards we played +at forfeits, and I was told to kiss Mabel Warre-Malet as a forfeit, an +act which I felt very shy about performing. “_Si jeunesse savait, si +vieillesse pouvait._” Another friend of ours was a girl whose name was +Amy; who was also about thirteen. She, too, was a very attractive little +lady, with long brown hair, hazel eyes with black lashes, an oval face, +and a small mouth with pearly white teeth. She had a cousin, the Earl of +Charleville, some years older than herself, who was staying at that time +with her people. One day she came with him to see my cousins, and said to +me: + +“Charleville can tell you all about Eton, if you want to know anything, +as he went to school there.” + +Lord Charleville had to go away before his companion, who remained to +tea. Afterwards, one of my cousins and I accompanied her part of the way +home, and, while we were crossing some fields, she suddenly exclaimed:— + +“Good gracious! my petticoat is coming down!” + +And she burst out laughing. + +My cousin Florence, a girl of thirteen, told me to walk on, while she +pinned up Amy’s petticoat. But this proved a more difficult task than she +had bargained for, as a string fastening had been broken, and it ended in +Amy being obliged to take her petticoat off and carry it as a parcel. The +two girls laughed consumedly at this mishap and its victim said to me:— + +“Don’t you tell anyone that you saw me take my petticoat off, or I will +never forgive you.” + +I assured her that on no consideration would I breathe so much as a +syllable, and, on leaving us, she said:— + +“As you are going away, you may give me a kiss, if you like.” + +Which I did right gladly, as you may suppose. + +A few days later, I met Charleville at an evening party in Taunton, at +which he paid marked attention to the daughter of the house, a very +pretty girl. I recollect meeting at this party two of the daughters of +the vicar of Taunton, Elsie and Audrey Clark, the elder of whom was +thirteen, while her sister was three years younger, and was much struck +by their beauty, which was quite out of the common. One of them had the +most lovely hair, of the same exquisite colour as that which one sees +in Titian’s paintings; the other’s hair was also very beautiful, but of +a more auburn shade; and both sisters had the most charming complexion. +I danced repeatedly with one of them; _mais mon cœur balançait entre +les deux_, so far as their attractions were concerned. The girl with +the Titian hair afterwards married the fourteenth Lord Petre, while her +sister married his uncle. + +Lord Charleville was a tall, good-looking youth, with wavy brown hair +and regular features, but he was very delicate, being consumptive. After +serving for a year in the Rifle Brigade, his health obliged him to resign +his commission. He then went for a voyage in his yacht, but derived +little benefit from it, and died before reaching his majority. + +The late Mrs. O. Warre-Malet told me that, when she was quite a young +girl, she and her sister went to Ascot races on foot and disguised as +boys for a joke, and that they got a good deal of money from people +who were driving to the course. Her sister married the Hon. Humble +Dudley-Ward, and after her husband’s death, the late Duke of Richmond +made her an offer of marriage. This she refused, but accepted Mr. Gerard +Leigh, who was an immensely wealthy man. After his death she became the +wife of Monsieur de Falbe, and died some years ago. + + + + +CHAPTER V + + My Mother’s Recollections—The Cercle des Patineurs—Patti—Our + _Appartement_ in the Rue d’Albe + + +My parents were at this time living in Paris, in a small hôtel in the +Avenue d’Antin, which was so shut in by the houses that surrounded it, +that the rooms were very dark, and, as it was winter, this made the house +seem more gloomy than it would have done at another season of the year. + +I was quite enchanted with Paris; everything about it delighted me, so +different was it from any city I had ever seen. The only thing that +displeased me was the hôtel in which we lived. Not only was it gloomy, +but nothing could be seen from the windows, except a kind of courtyard, +resembling a _patio_ in Spain. This courtyard was filled with flowers, +very prettily arranged; nevertheless, it was depressing to be unable to +see anything else when you looked out of the window. + +I remember being taken to a box at the Théâtre des Italiens to hear +Adelina Patti, in _La Gazza ladra_, by Rossini. It was the first time +that I had heard her sing, and I was, of course, delighted with her +voice; but my mother was disappointed, and I recall what she said at the +time:— + +“After having heard Grisi, Malibran, and even Jenny Lind, I do not +think Patti is to be compared with them, neither so far as her voice is +concerned, nor as an actress. She reminds me at times of Jenny Lind, yet +I prefer the latter infinitely.” + +My mother always had her own box at Her Majesty’s in the days when +Grisi, Lablache, Malibran, and the dancers Taglioni, Fanny Elssler and +Cerrito were enchanting the audience. One evening, during the visit of +the Tsar Nicholas I. of Russia to England, my mother was invited by the +Duke of Sussex and Mlle. d’Este to a box at the Opera facing that which +the Tsar and Queen Victoria occupied. The Duke of Sussex paid £500 for +this box. + +My mother told me that the two finest sights she ever beheld in her +life were the Coronation of Queen Victoria, when the peeresses all put +on their coronets, sparkling with diamonds, emeralds and rubies, at the +moment Her Majesty was crowned in Westminster Abbey; and at the Queen’s +accession, when hundreds of schoolchildren, dressed in white and light +blue, knelt down and recited the Lord’s Prayer by St. Paul’s, after which +the Benediction was pronounced by the Archbishop of Canterbury. + +My mother often met Disraeli in London society; and she told me that, +in his youth, he always wore several diamond rings over his white kid +gloves, and that she thought him a most affected and conceited young +man. The two Greek countesses described in “Lothair” were the Countesses +Zancarol. One married Colonel Lemesurier, of the Royal Horse Artillery; +the other Major Geary, R.A. The latter married couple often dined with us +in Paris, where Mrs. Geary was considered a great beauty. Major Geary and +his brother, Sir Henry Le Quay Geary, K.C.B., were lifelong friends of my +parents. + +My maternal grandfather, Lieut.-General the Hon. George Murray, to whom +George III. and his Queen were godfather and godmother, commanded the 2nd +Life Guards. For ten years he refused to accept his pay, on account of a +quarrel which he had with the Duke of York. So far as I can recollect, +the cause of the quarrel was as follows:— + +During the Peninsular War, an outward-bound troopship, having some troops +on board commanded by my grandfather, and a great quantity of heavy +luggage belonging to the Duke of York, encountered very bad weather, and +was in danger of foundering. In order to lighten the vessel, the captain +wanted to throw all the horses overboard. But this my grandfather would +not allow, and proposed that the Duke’s luggage should be sacrificed +instead, which was accordingly done, to the intense indignation of His +Royal Highness, when he heard of it afterwards. + +The statue to the Duke of York, erected in London, was reported to +have been built so high in order to place him beyond the reach of his +creditors, whose name was legion. + +My grandfather used to say that he never could understand how the Duchess +of Sutherland, with her £365,000 a year, could bring herself to stand +the whole evening at the Opera behind the Prince Consort, who was only +an insignificant German prince, with a tiny principality. His opinion of +George IV. was that it would puzzle anyone who knew him to discover a +good quality that he possessed. + +It was about this time, when my parents were living in the Avenue +d’Antin, that I first saw Hortense Schneider in _les Voyages de +Gulliver_, at the Châtelet Théâtre, which all Paris rushed to see. The +play was a charming one, and the children were particularly delighted +when the Liliputians, represented by tiny little wooden figures, moved +about the stage. Hortense Schneider, of course, represented Gulliver, and +sang some very pretty songs in the course of the play. + +The late Arthur Post, a young American living with his family in Paris, +fell desperately in love at this time with Hortense Schneider, though +she was very much older than himself. He drove about the Bois with +her, accompanied her to theatres, and, in fact, was always with her. +His infatuation greatly distressed his parents, and was the subject of +universal comment. However, he did not marry her, though that was not his +fault, as Hortense Schneider had several royal and other princes ready +to lay their fortunes at her feet; and it was not until several years +afterwards that she chose a very wealthy banker for her husband. + +Fioretti was then the _première danseuse_ at the Grand Opéra. Her +dancing always gave me greater pleasure than anything else there. She +was, besides, very beautiful, and King Ludwig II. of Bavaria was so +captivated by her graceful dancing and personal attraction, that he +induced her to leave Paris for Munich, to dance there instead. + +I went also to the Palais-Royal, and saw _le Train de Minuit_, a play +in which a railway-carriage is by accident left behind in the middle +of the night at a station, and the people awake and find themselves +at some miserable little village, instead of in Paris, as they had +expected. They, of course, cannot obtain what they require in the way of +refreshments, and are nearly perishing with cold, as it is the depth of +winter, and the carriage is no longer heated; and the complications that +ensue are very amusing. + +One day, I went with my parents to Saint-Germain, to visit Captain +and Mrs. Lennox Berkeley, who were living there. Their son, Hastings, +a good-looking boy, told us that his father was learning to play the +zither, which Captain Berkeley showed us, though he could not be +persuaded to let us hear him play it. Saint-Germain, with its charming +woods and pretty walks, is delightful in summer, the country all around +being lovely. When we returned to Paris, I did not give my father any +peace until he had bought a zither for me. It was not easy to obtain +one, and I remember that we wandered about half Paris, until at length +we discovered what we wanted in the Rue de Rivoli. I had also great +difficulty in finding a master, until finally I discovered a German who +played the instrument very well. + +In the winter months, I went several times with my father to the Cercle +des Patineurs. This was a very exclusive and very expensive resort, +where, to secure admittance for yourself and family, you had to be a +member of the Jockey Club, while each person had to pay twenty francs in +the afternoon and forty francs in the morning and evening. There were +some Americans who skated marvellously, amongst them being Mrs. Ronalds, +who was a very fine skater. I was told that Napoleon III. and the Empress +Eugénie admired her graceful skating so much that they complimented +her on several occasions at the Cercle des Patineurs, and she became a +frequent guest at the Tuileries. The Princess Metternich, the Austrian +Ambassadress, was also an _habituée_; in fact, the place was patronized +by all the _beau monde_ of those days. + +I frequently went at that time to Musards’ concerts, which on fine +summer evenings were given out of doors, in a garden, and always enjoyed +them immensely. Sometimes I went with my mother to meet friends there; +but when I went alone, I usually sat with the Piétris, near relatives +of the Préfet de Police, who was so much attached to the Emperor and +Empress. Their daughter, Julie, was a lovely girl of thirteen, and +when I had learned to play the zither better, we often performed duets +together, as she was a most accomplished pianist. I can remember we +often played Schubert’s _Ständchen_, which sounded very well, as it +is rather melancholy. Sad airs, in my opinion, are best suited to the +zither, particularly when it is accompanied by the piano. When the German +who was teaching me the zither left Paris, I took lessons from a Mlle. +Reichemberg, who, at that time, was also teaching Adelina Patti, and +learned a Polish romance which the latter was very fond of playing. Patti +became extremely fond of the zither, which she played a good deal in her +leisure hours, though she never sang to it, I was told. + +Hofrath Hanslick, the late celebrated critic of the Austrian _Neue Freie +Presse_, said of Patti:— + +“She appears to me to be most perfect in rôles like Zerlina, in _Don +Juan_, Norina, in _Don Pasquale_, Rosina, in the _Barbiere di Seviglia_. +What a fresh, youthful voice, which in its range from the tenor C to +F in alt, moves about with such wonderful ease! The most perfect and +delightful, though, were the lively rôles of Patti, principally the one +of Zerlina, in _Don Juan_. She gave us the true ideal of Zerlina. With +these advantages, and especially, too, in the development of dazzling +virtuosity, Patti shines as Rosina in Rossini’s _Barbiere_, and as +Norina in Donizetti’s graceful opera, _Don Pasquale_. In the _Barbiere_ +one can judge best, perhaps, of her marvellous art in singing. Of her +later rôles, in Leonora, in Verdi’s _Trovatore_, she attained almost the +highest pitch. The _Traviata_, which is decidedly a far better opera, +shows Patti to more advantage dramatically. I always disliked _Dinorah_, +almost as much as I did formerly the _Traviata_, which I saw the first +time badly performed. Two rôles of Patti which I cannot praise as much as +the two before-mentioned are Valentine, in the _Huguenots_, and Gretchen, +in the _Faust_ of Gounod. In the valse of Venzano, she sings a roulade +of seventeen bars in one breath, smiling, as if it were child’s play. +There is no doubt that the Valentine of Pauline Lucca and the Marguerite +of Christine Nilsson surpass the performance of Patti in these rôles. +A clever writer once called Italy the conservatoire of God. In this +conservatoire Adelina Patti has without doubt taken away the first prize.” + +One Sunday evening, I went with Captain Berkeley to see some fine +illuminations in the Champs-Elysées. I recollect telling him how much I +disliked a crowd, to which he replied:— + +“It is the only day on which the poor people can enjoy themselves, and +they have as much right to do so as the rich. I am always so delighted to +see the poor creatures happy.” One day, a beggar came up to him and asked +for some coppers, upon which he said to him:— + +“_Mon cher ami, c’est défendu de mendier, mais voici un franc; ne le +faites plus._” + +I called one day with my father at an hôtel in the Champs-Elysées. As +the lady we had come to see happened to be out, we were asked to wait in +a salon, where an English lady sat, reading. My father made some casual +remark about its being fine weather to be out of doors, to which the lady +answered that she had only just arrived in Paris and intended to have a +rest. My father then said that he supposed she would go out the next day. + +“No,” was the answer. “I told you, I have come here for a rest.” + +He asked how long she intended resting, when she replied: + +“Six months.” + +My father was so astonished at this reply that he was quite unable to +refrain from laughing, which rather annoyed the lady. On our leaving the +hôtel soon afterwards, he said to me: + +“That old woman is mad with her rest, and to come to Paris, of all +places, to have it. She must be out of her mind.” + +I frequently went to the galleries of the Louvre and the Luxembourg, +and always had a great liking for Greuze’s paintings, particularly the +_Cruche Cassée_ and _l’Accordée du Village_. The former I have often seen +in engravings by Masard and other engravers, but no reproduction has ever +come up to the beautiful face of the original. There is always _quelque +chose à désirer_ in the copies, and even in the photographs from the +picture itself; it is something in the expression, and not alone in the +colouring. + +At the time of which I am speaking, there was a Spaniard in Paris, a +friend of some acquaintances of ours, who built a large hôtel and a +theatre for himself attached to it. The former was heated to a certain +temperature, and his doctor called upon him every day, receiving a +napoleon for each visit, and on certain fête days a hundred francs. The +doctor used merely to feel his patient’s pulse, when he was not ill. This +Spaniard had two lady friends, a brunette and a blonde, each of whom +was in the habit of spending certain fixed days in the week with him. +Notwithstanding the very regular life he led, he did not attain the age +of forty, but died of fever almost suddenly. He was an immensely wealthy +man, but of a very nervous temperament. During the winter he never went +out of doors, from fear of taking cold. + +Lord Lyons, who was then British Ambassador in Paris, was celebrated for +two things particularly, apart from his diplomatic capabilities: his +horses and the excellent dinners he gave. An old Englishman, of over +seventy, with whom we were well acquainted, used to look forward to +dining at the British Embassy for weeks in advance. But his wife said she +positively dreaded his going there, as he was invariably laid up for a +fortnight after partaking of one of these too-appetizing banquets. + +In the following summer, my parents left the Avenue d’Antin and lived +for a time in the Avenue Joséphine, until an _appartement_ which my +mother had taken unfurnished in the Rue d’Albe, in the Champs-Elysées, +had been got ready for us. I recollect she ordered the furniture from +the celebrated Maison Krieger, in the Faubourg Saint-Antoine. The salon +was furnished in Louis Quinze style, with some tiny chairs with gilt +backs and the seats in satin with designs of various birds of gorgeous +plumage in different colours, all worked in silk by hand. The sides +of the fauteuils were of gilt, while the backs and the seats were all +in Aubusson tapestry, representing roses on a white foundation. The +sofa was in Aubusson to match the fauteuils, the curtains as well. The +carpet, which covered the middle of the room only, as the floor was a +parquet, was a lovely design with a white foundation, the edges of which +and the centre represented clusters of red and pink roses. The carpet +was in Aubusson tapestry, and rather a small one, though my mother had +paid 7,500 francs for it. Dr. Bishop, brother-in-law of the late Lord +Iddesleigh, declared that the carpet was so lovely that he was really +afraid to walk on it. He was a very tall, stout man, and he always sat +on the delicate chairs in preference to the others. This made my mother +feel very uneasy, less because she feared that the chair might get +broken than because she was afraid that he might have a severe fall. +The tables in the salon were Louis Quinze style, in marqueterie, all +inlaid with tortoiseshell and mother-of-pearl in Boule style, and on the +chimney-piece stood a clock and various figures and lamps in old Sèvres +porcelain. The walls were white, with gold decorations, and were adorned +with numerous mirrors. I asked my mother to have my bedroom furnished in +yellow and black satin, which she had done. I was extremely fond of the +Austrian national colours, and, besides, they were the same as those of a +room which I had occupied some little time before when on a visit to Mrs. +Reynolds, formerly Miss Lethbridge, at Poundsford Park, near Taunton. + +As I was about to go to Eton, my mother was anxious that I should have +the correct Eton collar. No one in Paris knew what it was like, so Lady +Caroline Murray sent her the pattern of a collar worn by one of the twin +brothers Lambton, who were both then at Eton. The elder is now Earl of +Durham. The Eton jacket was also a bit of a puzzle, and, though I had it +made as near the correct thing as possible, I found, when I got to Eton, +that, to be quite in the mode, I must get my jackets made by Manley, of +Windsor. This I did all the time I was at Eton, as well as other clothes +I wore there. + +[Illustration: The Author. + +Aged 9. Aged 14. Aged 16. + +[_To face p. 62._] + + + + +CHAPTER VI + + I go to Eton—New Boy Baiting—My House Master—Mr. James’s + “Jokes”—My Room at Eton—Some Eton Masters—A Disorderly + Form—Lacaita’s Silk Hat—“Billy” Portman + + +There was a certain _cachet_ attached to an Etonian in those days which I +have not found with boys of any other school, assuredly not in England. +I may almost say not in Europe, except, perhaps, with those of the +Theresianum, in Vienna. I might almost repeat what the well-known German +Socialist, Ferdinand Lassalle, wrote to a Russian lady, in comparing the +German women of the middle class with those of the aristocracy, which +latter class might stand for Etonians of those days in comparison with +boys of other schools: “The women have not that aroma of amiability, that +_cachet_ of good manners, which is indispensable for every woman who has +lived in aristocratic circles. There are certainly exceptions, but they +are very rare.” + +In the autumn of 1866 my father took me to Windsor, where we put up +at the White Hart Hotel. Then we walked to Eton and entered the first +master’s house we came to, that of the Rev. C. C. James. It stood near +the wall of a cemetery, which some of the rooms overlooked. My father +informed the master that he had come to place me at the school, but +really did not know one house from another, and that, if Mr. James would +care to take me into his house, he would be very glad to leave me in +his charge. Mr. James replied that it was unusual for him to take a boy +of whom he knew nothing, without having his name entered beforehand, or +without some recommendation. But whether it was that my father contrived +to talk him over, or that he thought he would run the risk of my turning +out a bad bargain, after Mr. James had asked my age and where I had been +to school, it was decided that I should stay at his house. My father, I +think, was the most pleased, for, from what Mr. James had said, he had +been anticipating some difficulty in finding a house for me at all, as at +certain masters’ houses a boy’s name had to be entered years beforehand. +But my father generally trusted to chance in everything, and what seemed +impossible to most people was for him often an easy matter. + +Mr. James showed us over the boys’ rooms, and, though I should have +much preferred having one looking out on Windsor, with a fine view of +the Castle, I had to be content with the end room in the front of the +house, which had a view of the college chapel, and was quite close to +the cemetery. My father told him that he did not think I was afraid of +ghosts, when Mr. James told him that the cemetery was of very ancient +date, and no longer used for burial purposes. He then showed us the beds, +which were closed up in the daytime, in such a way as to present the +appearance of cupboards, and said that he would get me a bureau similar +to that which every boy had there. + +My father soon took his departure and went back to the “White Hart,” +upon which I was handed over to the housekeeper, who invited me to sit +in her room, and gave me some tea. I remained there until the evening, +when some of the boys began to arrive. As might be expected, I was far +from being at ease, and felt like someone entering on a new existence, +in a completely different world from the one in which he had lived. The +housekeeper inquired whether I did not know some of the boys at James’s, +and told me their names. To which I replied that I did not know even one +of them, though I knew some boys at other houses. At what houses they +were, however, I could not say. She said that the boys I mentioned were +higher in the school than I was likely to be placed, and that they would +not condescend to speak to so humble a person as myself, and that I must +make acquaintances of my own age, which I would soon do. + +I had not long to wait before some of the boys arrived, and presently +came into the housekeeper’s room. But I do not recollect one of them +speaking to me then, and shortly afterwards I set out for Windsor, as my +father had got permission for me to dine with him at the “White Hart,” +before he left for London, on his way back to Paris. + +When I returned to James’s alone, I went into the housekeeper’s room, +in which I found several boys, who regarded me with a curiosity which +I found decidedly embarrassing. The first who spoke to me was a very +nice-looking boy of sixteen, named Gaskell, who was in the Remove. He +asked me my name, and whether I thought I should pass into the Fourth +Form. I replied that I did not feel at all sure of doing so. At that +moment another new boy, named Temple, with fair hair and a very plain +face, entered the room, to whom Gaskell put the same questions as he had +to me. Temple did not appear over-burdened by modesty, and had no doubt +whatever about passing into the Fourth Form. + +“Of course I shall,” he declared confidently, putting his hands in his +trousers pockets and looking very important. + +Suddenly some other boys came in. + +“Here are some new fellows,” said Gaskell. + +“What are they like?” asked the others. “Let’s have a look at them.” + +“This chap here—Temple his name is—seems devilish confident about +himself; expects to get into the Fourth Form at once.” + +“I say,” exclaimed a fair, good-looking boy, who was bigger than Gaskell +and taller, and whose name was John H. Locke, “so you expect to pass +easily? Where do you come from?” + +“From London,” replied Temple, colouring slightly. + +“From what school?” + +“I was educated at home by a tutor.” + +“Indeed! Well, you give yourself airs of importance that won’t do here, I +can tell you. We’ll soon knock them out of you.” + +Temple put his hands in his trousers pockets and shrugged his shoulders, +while his not very prepossessing countenance assumed an expression that +was almost diabolical. + +“You look like the devil,” said Locke, laughing. + +“So he does,” exclaimed some of the others; and one boy added:— + +“I say, Satan, what an ugly mug you have!” + +Temple darted a glance of withering scorn at the speaker, but could not +trust himself to reply. + +“That’s a good name for him,” remarked Locke. “Mug, I say, Mug, mind you +pass your exam. well, and don’t look so fiendish when one speaks to you, +for it won’t pay.” + +Saying which he took his departure, leaving Temple to digest the advice +he had given. + +The exam. came off in due course, when Temple failed to qualify for the +Fourth Form, and was put into the Lower School; while I passed into the +Lower Fourth, which was more than I expected to do. All the boys at +James’s were pleased, for they had taken a great dislike to Temple. The +latter, however, was not in the least disheartened at not taking the +Fourth Form, but put his hands in his pockets, shrugged his shoulders, +and looked at the other boys as contemptuously as before. He was at once +given to Alexander, the Captain of the Oppidans, as a fag, while I was +allotted to Locke. Alexander never spoke to Lower boys, except to fag +them, so Temple had merely to do what he was told. I had a very easy time +of it with Locke, who had other fags besides. Sometimes Locke would ask +me to sit down in his room and talk to him, when he would often give me +fruit and bonbons. He was about eighteen, in the Sixth Form, and rowed in +the _Monarch_; but C. R. Alexander was Captain of the House and Head of +the School, or what is termed Captain of the Oppidans, to distinguish him +from the Captain of the Collegers, nicknamed Tugs, who are boys on the +foundation and obliged always to wear a gown. + +A boy named James Doyne, who became a great friend of mine, messed with +me, that is to say, we took our breakfast and tea together in his room, +as it was larger than mine. I often did his French lessons for him out +of school, and helped him with others, as he was in the Lower School. +Sometimes, he bought beefsteaks for breakfast, and I would cook them +downstairs while he was in school, as he was often kept behind by his +master. So occasionally, when I happened to be very hungry, I would not +only eat my own steak, but a part of his as well, which used to make him +very angry. + +Doyne told me once that his father knew a gentleman who, on being +introduced to another, said:— + +“You are the son of a tailor, I believe, are you not?” + +“Yes,” was the reply, “and I will take your measure.” + +The tailor’s son never rested until he had ruined the other. + +It seems a great pity that duelling is not allowed in England, as it +would oblige some men in this country to mend their manners, even if the +duel were restricted to the use of the _épée_ alone, and were to cease at +the first sign of blood. Anyway, it would be better than the senseless +actions for libel, which cost a great deal of money, and are quite +unknown in other civilized countries. + +I had very little to do with my tutor, Mr. James, being up to another +master in school. He was a Mr. Luxmoore, a young, rather good-looking +and very pleasant man. My tutor only took the Fifth Form pupils of his +own division, but at times he would see how the boys in his house were +progressing in their studies. Mr. James was a rather tall and thin man, +about thirty-seven, with a long, fair, almost reddish beard and no +moustache. His eyes were blue, and he had a habit of looking away from +people while he talked, and when he became nervous he used to stammer, +but not very perceptibly. Although he could not be called handsome, +he was by no means bad-looking, having a very pleasant expression and +beautiful teeth. + +We had to be in school at 7 a.m. in the summer, and 7.30 a.m. in the +winter, and the lesson lasted an hour. Then we went back to our rooms for +breakfast, or, rather, had to go to our fagmaster and cook his breakfast +first. But Locke hardly ever required this service of me, as he generally +made another of his fags do it for him. At 9.15 we all had to attend +Chapel, which lasted half an hour. Then school again till 10.30, and from +11.15 till 12. The two hours after this were called, “after twelve,” +which one usually spent in one’s tutor’s pupil-room. Dinner was at 2 +p.m., then school again from 2.45 till 3.30, and then from 5 to 6. After +this the boys were free till the time for “lock-up,” which changes with +the time of year. In the summer it was at 8.45. A half-holiday was just +the same until dinner, but in the afternoon “absence” was called at 3 +p.m. in the winter and at 6 p.m. in the summer. “Absence” is a call-over +of the names, which takes place in the school yard. Its object was to +prevent boys from going too far away, and ensuring that they should be +back in time for “lock-up.” When a master did not come for “absence,” it +was termed a “call”; and the boys only waited five or six minutes for him. + +In addition to the work done in school and pupil-room, we had work to do +in our own rooms, especially on a Sunday, when we had Sunday Questions to +write out. The half-holidays were on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, +and on Sundays, besides attending Chapel, we had the Sunday Questions to +answer. This usually occupied us several hours. + +There was a boy at James’s who was then in the Remove, called Craven, a +tall, dark, good-looking fellow, who dressed well and had an umbrella +with a death’s-head handle carved in ivory, which he never opened, even +when it poured with rain, from fear that he would not be able to fold it +again so neatly as it was then done up. He always wore the most expensive +silk hats he could buy, and habitually scented himself with patchouli. +One rainy day, when all James’s Lower boys were in his pupil-room, in the +house, Mr. James called up Craven, and said to him:— + +“Craven, why don’t you sign your name in full: Fulwar John Colquilt +Craven?” + +“I do, sir,” answered Craven. + +“But you don’t—merely Fulwar Craven. Don’t you own the John Colquilt?” + +All the boys began to titter, and Craven laughed and said:— + +“I suppose I don’t, sir.” + +“Why do you stupid boys giggle?” exclaimed Mr. James. “There is nothing +to laugh at because Craven won’t own his name, John Colquilt, which is a +very nice one.” + +The boys went on laughing all the more, at which the master was furious, +and cried: + +“I will make you all write out a book of the _Iliad_ if you don’t stop +giggling at once.” + +This threat had the desired effect, and gravity was restored; but it did +not last very long. A good-looking boy named Ady, who was at Miss Evans’s +Dame’s house, but was a pupil of my tutor, and who wore a lot of gold +charms on his watch-chain, came up to Mr. James to ask some questions, +when the latter said:— + +“Ady, I wonder you don’t wear bracelets with all those jingling things; +you are more like a girl.” + +Thereupon all the boys began to titter again, while Ady blushed, but did +not make any reply. On returning to his seat, however, he put out his +tongue at Mr. James, who happened to be looking in another direction, and +then smiled, when the boys began to laugh with a vengeance. + +“Stop that laughter,” screamed the exasperated master, his eyes sparkling +with wrath, “or I’ll have all of you swished in turn. I won’t stand this +nonsense any longer. First of all with Craven, who is scented like a fast +lady, and then with Ady, who is covered with jewellery like another; I +might just as well keep a girls’ school.” + +The giggling now became downright laughter, which the boys were quite +unable to restrain. At last, Mr. James began to see that he had made a +joke, which flattered his vanity, so he smiled, and said:— + +“Yes, even the boys are laughing at you both.” + +This was too much for his audience, who roared with laughter, until, +after a while, the master said:— + +“Now, I think, we have laughed enough; I hope it will be a lesson to them +both.” + +Craven and Ady nearly split their sides with laughing, as well as the +others. + +“I see I can do nothing with you to-day,” remarked Mr. James, “these +laughing moods are very distressing; it upsets the whole of the lessons. +I must be more serious with you, and not permit myself even a joke. I see +it plainly more and more every time.” + +At last the merriment subsided, but presently some of the boys began +laughing again. + +“What is the joke now?” exclaimed the master. “Tell me, for I should like +to know. I can see nothing whatever to laugh at now.” + +“Please, sir,” answered Craven, “you make a joke, and you won’t even +allow us to laugh at it.” + +“Oh, well! if it is that that you are laughing at, I suppose it is all +right,” said Mr. James, who was gradually regaining his good-humour, and +presently the boys were dismissed. Afterwards there was great fun made at +his expense, Craven and Ady being highly amused. + +Mr. James was nicknamed “Stiggins” by the boys who had been with him +at Eton, and, although unpopular out of his house, he was not so in +it. There were much more disagreeable tutors at Eton at the time of +which I am speaking, some of them perfect horrors. Mr. James was a +good-hearted man, and was very kind at times, though he was very brusque +in his manner, and in the habit of speaking his mind without the least +reservation. He had no particular favourites, but, on the other hand, +he did not take any violent dislikes, and was just enough, apart from +occasional sallies against certain boys. These he indulged in under +the impression that he was being witty, and not infrequently the jokes +he made were at his own expense. He had a good memory and could recite +innumerable verses from Greek and Latin poets, but he was a poor orator. +He was a good chess-player, and often played with the boys, giving them a +queen and sometimes a rook as well, and generally beating them. Sometimes +he played with another master, Mr. Wayte, a middle-aged man, with a +grey beard, who could play twenty-five games of chess at the same time +blindfolded, and win most of them. Mr. James once beat Mr. Wayte, after +which he would never play with him again, wishing to be able to say that +the last time he played with him he had succeeded in gaining the victory. +I often played chess with my tutor, on which occasions he usually gave +me a queen. Sometimes I managed to beat him, and once when I had been +successful, he said to me:— + +“You have beaten me, and I have beaten Wayte, who is one of the finest +players in Europe. So, in winning the game to-day, you have something to +be proud of.” + +We always tried to make our rooms at James’s as comfortable as possible. +I had a fancy at that time for pictures of horses, and bought a set +of steeplechase ones, by Alken, printed in colours and published by +Ackermann. I had also a picture of Hermit, the Derby winner of 1865, by +Harry Hall, which was also printed in colours. In the summer, like the +other boys, I had geraniums and other flowers in a large green wooden +box, which was made to cover the length of my window-sill. I spent, +however, more of my time in Doyne’s room, which was nearer the road, and +farther away from the cemetery. It was a more cheerful room, containing +several arm-chairs. Besides, we always messed together and took our meals +there, and so I looked on the room almost as being my own. Alexander and +Locke had two rooms each. The latter had quite a collection of silver +cups, which he had won at Eton, and his sitting-room was decorated with +numerous trophies of the Boats, arranged against the wall, from the light +blue of the _Victory_ and the dark blue of the _Monarch_ to the cerise +of the _Prince of Wales_ and the blue of the _Britannia_. I can only +remember entering Alexander’s room once. It was also adorned with the +colours of the Eleven and silver cups won at cricket and racquets, as he +was Captain of the Eleven and President of “Pop.” “Pop” is the name given +to the Eton Society, to which only boys in the Sixth Form and the Upper +Fifth can belong. + +The occasion on which I entered Alexander’s room was on a Sunday. He +opened his door, and called: “Lower boy!” and, as I happened to be on +the landing, he said that he must send me to make a copy of his Sunday +Questions, which were always written up outside St. George’s Chapel at +Windsor. It was a dreary walk, for, as it was Sunday afternoon, all the +shops were, of course, closed. I made a copy of the Questions in pencil, +and, on my return, left them in Alexander’s room. At eleven o’clock that +night, he came and woke me up, to ask if I could read some word I had +copied, which I had to confess I could not. He went away, but returned to +my room an hour later, and, waking me up again, said he thought he could +make a guess at the word we had been unable to make out, and asked me if +it were not correct. I then suddenly remembered that it was the right +word, when he laughed and went out. This was the only time I was ever +sent to copy out Sunday Questions, as Alexander always, as a rule, sent +his own fags to do this, and Locke, whose fag I was, hardly ever gave +me anything to do. I was, in consequence, very sorry when he left Eton, +which he did very shortly afterwards for Trinity College, Cambridge. +Alexander went up to King’s. + +One half I was up to a master called Austin Leigh, who was in the habit +of speaking so softly that we could scarcely hear a word he said in +school. So when he spoke, I always had to guess what he said. One day +he asked me to construe a passage, which I did, when he corrected me, +saying:— + +“I told you what to say.” + +“Please, sir, I could not hear exactly.” + +“Are you deaf?” + +“No, sir, but I did not hear exactly.” + +“Then, for not listening, you will please write out the lesson as a +punishment. Do you hear now?” + +“Yes, sir.” + +I hated being up to Austin Leigh, for I never could hear, as he always +spoke in a whisper somewhat like the hissing of a serpent. + +There was another master, who thought himself rather good-looking, as +he had regular features; but he had yellowish hair, was inclined to +baldness, and his figure was lanky and awkward. This master was fond of +making very tame jokes in school. If we laughed at them, it was all +right, but the boys who ignored his jokes he punished. He insisted on +calling Lord Edward Somerset by the name of Samson, but once when he +called upon “Samson” to stand up, no one rose. He then turned to Lord +Edward Somerset, and said:— + +“Why did you not stand up when I told you to do so?” + +“Because you never told me, sir.” + +“I did; your name is Samson, isn’t it?” + +“No, sir; it’s Somerset.” + +“Well, anyhow, you knew that I meant you.” + +Somerset made no reply, and the master said:— + +“For disobedience you will write me out this chapter of ‘Xenophon!’” + +“Very well, sir.” + +Among the numerous masters at Eton with whom I had little or nothing to +do, those whom I remember best are: Mr. Stephen Hawtrey, who was a very +agreeable man; Mr. Hale, a mathematical master, nicknamed, on account of +his whitish hair, “the Badger,” who was also very pleasant; the Rev. W. +Dalton, another mathematical master, who had very full lips and a reddish +face, and went by the _sobriquet_ of “Piggy”; the Rev. Joynes, who had +somewhat the appearance of a weasel, and had great difficulty in keeping +his division in order; Mr. Cornish, a fair-haired man, who was rather +disagreeable at times; and Mr. Cockshot, also a mathematical master, who +was bright and pleasant. The Rev. Durnford, nicknamed “Judy,” I only knew +by sight, and the same was the case with Mr. Arthur James, my tutor’s +brother, who was an exceptionally pleasant man. + +All the masters had some peculiarity, and it took some time to get used +to their ways, as they were all so different from one another. Just, +however, as a boy was beginning to understand a master the half came to +an end, and, after the holidays, he would probably be sent up to quite a +different kind of man. For each master took a separate division, and was +promoted like the boys from one division to another. + +The most popular master was the Rev. Edmund Warre, afterwards Head +Master and Provost of Eton. He was a good-looking, fair man, who wore +spectacles, and, besides being one of the cleverest of the masters, was +a very fine oar, and always superintended the coaching of the Eight. He +used to try to interest the boys up to him in school in a subject, as +Herr Kirchhofer did at Frankfurt. I remember once, during a lesson in +geography, he said that Austria-Hungary was a nation which would one day +break up, since it consisted of too many nationalities, the link between +which was not sufficiently strong to be permanent. Upon another occasion, +he recommended us to read “The Last of the Barons,” by Lord Lytton, +which he said was one of the best historical novels ever written, and I +remember that some of us followed his advice. + +There was a good deal of jealousy amongst certain masters, who did +not pull together. Mr. Oscar Browning was unpopular with some of his +colleagues, though he was very much liked by the boys at his house and +those up to him in school. There can be little doubt that the dislike +entertained by certain masters for Mr. Browning was due to jealousy, as +he was cleverer than the majority of them, and he was certainly very +witty, and at times rather sarcastic. I was up to him in school one half, +and I think, on the whole, he was the pleasantest master I was ever up +to, since he used to enliven the tedium of school hours by his witty +remarks, occasionally making fun of some of us, but in such a nice, +pleasant way, that we all enjoyed the joke, even those who were the cause +of the merriment. It was almost impossible to be late for school with +Mr. Browning, as he generally arrived late on the scene himself. Now and +again, however, he reversed the usual order of things, and then those who +had counted on his late arrival were caught and punished. + +Mr. R. A. H. Mitchell, the famous cricketer, was a master of the Lower +School. My friend Jim Doyne was up to him, and said that he was very +popular with the boys. + +There was another master, Mr. St. John Thackeray, who had no authority +whatever over the boys up to him in school, who invariably made fun +of him, and jeered at him all the time. I was up to him one half, when +I found it quite impossible to learn anything, owing to the constant +disturbance, which was quite overpowering. I used to come in late +continually when up to Mr. Thackeray, as I knew it did not much matter. +One day, however, he said to me:— + +“You are half an hour late this morning!” + +“Please, sir, I overslept myself.” + +“But you always oversleep yourself.” + +“Please, sir, I couldn’t help it; I was so tired.” + +“What made you so tired...?” + +Here the other boys began to laugh, and someone said aloud:— + +“He’s always so slack.” + +“Which boy spoke?” asked Mr. Thackeray angrily. A dead silence ensued. + +“I _will_ know which boy spoke just now. If the boy doesn’t come forward +at once, I shall punish all the division.” Upon this two or three boys +said:— + +“It was I, sir.” + +“Which of you was it?” asked Mr. Thackeray. + +“I, sir,” sounded from different parts of the room. + +“It’s really too bad; the whole division shall be punished then,” said +the master. + +While he was occupied in making a note of this, a book was hurled across +the room, at which there was great laughter. Mr. Thackeray was furious. + +“I shall have to report the whole division for bad conduct if I don’t +know at once who threw that book,” he cried. + +“It was I,” said one boy. + +Then, a moment afterwards, another voice said:— + +“It was I, sir.” + +“But it could not have been both of you. Which of you was it?” + +“Me, sir,” said the first boy who had spoken. + +“Then you will please write out the chapter we are reading”—then, +correcting himself—“or, rather, which we ought to be reading.” + +For a few minutes the lesson proceeded quietly, though on the least +pretext there would be shouts of laughter. Mr. Thackeray entirely forgot +to punish the other boy and myself; only the one who had hurled the +book was punished. Every day with Mr. Thackeray was similar to this +one, sometimes more amusing, sometimes less so, but always very noisy +indeed. He spoilt the boys for other masters, as, being accustomed to do +as they liked with him, they would come late into school when they were +up to others, who would send them up to be swished on a repetition of +the offence. I was never swished at Eton during all the four years I was +there. + +The late Earl Grosvenor, who, when Viscount Belgrave, was at Eton with +me, was a very good-looking boy, with fair hair, but he wore jackets that +were sometimes too short for him, and it was the same with his trousers, +as he had grown out of them. One day, when he sat in school on a form in +front of me, during a lesson by Mr. Henry Tarver, the French master, a +boy sitting next me, seeing Belgrave’s shirt, which was plainly visible +between his jacket and trousers, pulled it right out altogether. Belgrave +turned round angrily, thinking at first that it was I who had taken this +liberty with his shirt, when he saw that the culprit was a boy whom he +knew well. Nevertheless, he was very confused and had great trouble in +adjusting his protruding garment, as it was necessary to do it in such a +way as not to attract the attention of Mr. Tarver, who would certainly +have inquired into the matter and meted out condign punishment to the +offender. + +There is a French saying that small events often interest great minds. I +hope that this may be so, in which event there will be some excuse for +my mentioning this incident, which struck me at the time as being rather +ludicrous, though I cannot say whether others may be of the same opinion. +Lord Grosvenor, after he left Eton, was fond of driving an engine, and +I am told that he often drove the train between London and Holyhead for +pleasure. + +His name reminds me of a good story that I once heard at Eton about his +grandfather, the Duke of Westminster. The latter, one day, was told by +his groom of the chamber that the dress-coat that he wore was getting +very shabby. The Duke asked to see it, and then told the man that he +might order a new one for himself. “But,” added the thrifty nobleman, +“you may let me have this old coat; it will do quite well for me to +wear.” The Duke of Atholl, who was a first cousin of my grandfather, had +also rather a contempt for dress, and my mother was told by the latter +that, when an old man, he was often mistaken in the street for a beggar, +and had pence offered him. + +There was a boy named Lacaita at Eton, who, when he first came, wore a +most extraordinary hat. The lower part was much broader than the upper, +so that the hat was not unlike a loaf of sugar. I think he must have +imported it from Italy. However, if I remember rightly, it was very +speedily battered out of any shape at all, for it was an innovation which +pleased none of the boys, who were only too ready to make a football of +it, as they generally did of anything they happened to take a dislike to, +and particularly a silk hat. + +Doyne used frequently to invite boys from other houses to tea with us +in his room. They were mostly those whom he knew “at home,” that is to +say, away from Eton, and who were friends of his people. The Hon. John +FitzWilliam, who was in the same division as myself, often came, as he +was a relative of his, as well as Lord Trafalgar, who was in the Lower +School, and Lord Mandeville, who afterwards became Duke of Manchester. +The last-named was a very good-looking boy, with very dark, curly hair; +he was full of fun, and I liked him very much, though I only met him +when he came to tea with us, as he was lower down in the school and at a +different tutor’s house from myself. + +A boy named Charles Rice Hodgson, in the same division as I was, was my +greatest friend at first. He was at Vidal’s, a Dame’s house. He was a +very handsome boy, with rather fair hair and blue eyes, nearly perfect +features, and a beautiful complexion. He used to dress very well and +always wore a button-hole—a rose or a carnation in summer—and usually +scented himself. He was very clever and had a good deal of swagger, and +was a favourite with the bigger boys at Vidal’s, who often used to walk +with him, which was strongly disapproved of by some of the masters. I +often helped him out of a difficulty; and sometimes, when he had not +learned his lesson over night, I would prompt him in a low voice to +construe it, as I always sat next to him in school. He left Eton very +suddenly, at which I was quite distressed, as he had always been so much +with me, and I liked him more than any other boy, and had been in his +company the day before he left. A more charming boy than Hodgson I have +never known; but he was conceited about his looks, for he was one of the +best-looking boys, if not the best-looking, at Eton in those days. + +Another boy at the same Dame’s house as Hodgson was Charles D. Robertson +Williamson, who was considered to be the best-looking boy then at Eton. +He was higher up in the school than I was, and, though his tutor, Mr. +Johnson (Cory, the author of “Ionica”), liked him very much, some of the +other masters did not approve of his putting on so much side and being +so often with bigger boys. At Lord’s, during the Eton and Harrow match, +I happened quite accidentally to make the acquaintance of Williamson’s +aunt. She was only eighteen, and bore a most extraordinary resemblance +to her nephew, with the same beautiful face, the same short upper lip, +the same large, round, hazel eyes, the same beautifully shaped mouth, the +same delicate nose, slightly, in fact almost imperceptibly, tilted, and +the same brown hair; and she was of the same height as he was. She spoke +to me without knowing me at all, saying:— + +“I want to keep my nephew with me a day or two longer. Do you think I can +do so?” + +“You must ask his tutor; no doubt he will allow you to do so,” I +answered, thinking that he could not possibly refuse her. + +“Well, I will try.” + +With which, Williamson’s aunt went off in search of Mr. Johnson, and +presently returned, looking very pleased, and said:— + +“Mr. Johnson has given the permission I wanted. I am so happy!” And she +clapped her hands together with delight. + +I did not know Williamson to speak to before then, not being so high in +the school as he was, and I met him for the first time when he came later +in the day to meet his aunt in the Grand Stand at Lord’s. + +Once, when Doyne and I were driving in a hansom from Lord’s after the +Eton and Harrow match, he caught sight of the Hon. E. W. B. Portman, and +said to me:— + +“Do you mind giving Billy Portman a lift?” + +We made room for him between us, which was an easy enough matter in those +days, though in years to come it would have been quite impossible, for +he grew so stout that he weighed seventeen stone, and I rather fancy Jim +Doyne was even heavier. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + + An Amusing Incident—Lady Caroline Murray—An Anecdote of Queen + Victoria—Lord Rossmore’s Wager—The Match at the Wall—Practical + Jokes—Some Boys at James’s + + +Boys at Eton rarely made friends outside their respective houses. +Therefore, when Hodgson left, I spent most of my spare time with Doyne, +who even then was very stout, and, though older than I, below me in the +school. When he left Eton, my chief companion was a boy named Harry +Gridley, with whom I messed for a short time, and with whom I often went +for walks on a Sunday along the playing-fields by the river. + +Gridley, who was in the Fifth Form, was a dark-haired boy, very kind and +good-natured. He was in the Boats, and a capital oar, and rowed later +in the _Monarch_, the ten-oared Upper boat. Sometimes I would go to +Windsor with him to play billiards, notwithstanding that this was against +the rules. One day, whilst we were playing, I, by way of a joke, began +ordering him about and calling him “Peter,” and then, to tease him, told +him that some man who was in the room thought he was my fag. He flew into +a rage, and, when the man had left the room, rushed at me and caught me +by the throat, as though he would strangle me. However, we soon made +friends again, but, strange to say, this nickname of “Peter,” which I +had given him for the first time in the billiard-room at Windsor, always +stuck to him, even in the 5th Lancers, which he joined later. He was +very fond of reading, and one day took up “Adam Bede,” by George Eliot; +but he told me that he could not finish it, as the hero was a very ugly, +red-haired man, and he disliked reading about ugly people. He quite set +me against the book, for I never read it after he said this. + +[Illustration: Charles Balfour, at Eton with the Author. + +[_To face p. 80._] + +[Illustration: Miss Minnie Balfour, sister of Hilda, Lady de Clifford. + +[_To face p. 81._] + +Alexander, the Captain of the Oppidans, was a very good-looking boy +of eighteen; dark, with black, curly hair. His memory was quite +extraordinary, and he could repeat the whole of the _Odyssey_, in the +original Greek. Once he had read a book and mastered its contents, he +never forgot it. Even Mr. James was astounded at Alexander’s marvellous +gift for remembering things. Locke was also clever, but in a different +way from Alexander. + +Some time after I went to Eton, my tutor got his cousin, Mrs. Bower, to +look after the boys instead of the housekeeper, which was a pleasant +change for us. She was about thirty-five and a very nice woman, and, +having taken rather a fancy to me, used often to invite me to her room at +five o’clock and give me tea and cake. + +One day some friends of Doyne—a baronet and his three daughters—came +from London to see him. As it was a Sunday, I did not get up until late, +when I ran into Doyne’s room, clad only in my night-shirt, and with my +water-jug in my hand, to get some water to wash with. To my horror, I +suddenly found myself confronted by three ladies, who, on catching sight +of me, uttered a scream, and then, as I turned round and incontinently +fled, burst into fits of laughter. Doyne told me afterwards that his +friends were highly amused at this incident, and declared that they +should never forget their visit to Eton. + +A boy named Charles Balfour was my fag when I was in the Fifth Form. +Doyne, who was still in the Lower School, found my having a fag very +convenient, as the latter had to cook the steaks and chops for our +breakfast. Balfour was a good-looking boy, and I liked him very much; +but he could not bear doing anything for Doyne, as the latter was lower +down in the school than he was. I met the late Charles Balfour, with his +father and family, at Wiesbaden in after years. His sister Hilda, a very +pretty girl, subsequently married Lord de Clifford. + +With Balfour I met another old schoolfellow, Baldock, who was with his +sister at Wiesbaden. He was twelfth man for the Eton Eleven one year, +when I was there and Keeper of “Sixpenny,” and was a general favourite +with the lower boys. Later on, in town, I recollect going to a ball at +his house in Grosvenor Place. He was made a C.B. by King Edward VII., +having served thirty-six years in the Yeomanry and reached the rank of +colonel. + +The present Lord Harris, G.C.S.I., the well-known cricketer, was in the +Eton Eleven in my time and afterwards Captain of it. I can recollect +him perfectly—a tall, fair-haired and remarkably handsome boy, with +merry blue eyes, who always looked the picture of health. Amongst those +who made their mark at cricket and football, and, at the same time, +distinguished themselves in school, were the late Earl of Pembroke and +Montgomery, then the Hon. Sidney Herbert, who was a good-looking boy, +with blue eyes and black hair, and the late Earl of Onslow. The latter +was at one time in the same division as myself. + +Sir Hubert Parry, so famous as a composer, was at Eton with me, but much +higher up in the school than I was. He was at Vidal’s, and a boy in his +house told me that he played the violin beautifully. I can remember that +he was a good football player, and that I thought him a very fine-looking +fellow, but I only knew him by sight. + +Craven, when in the Fifth Form, kept his fags dancing attendance on him +all their spare time, and used to send them on long errands to Windsor. +“Mug” was his fag for one half, and had a very lively time of it at +first; but afterwards Craven treated him very much better. I was John +Lister-Kaye’s fag at one time, and found him more exacting than Locke, +with whom I had had a very easy time; but he became a friend of mine +when I was higher up in the school. “Mug” was his fag at the same time, +and liked fagging for him very much, as he treated him very kindly. His +younger brother, Cecil Lister-Kaye, was a friend of mine from the very +first. Both brothers were very good-looking boys, with fair hair. The +elder, afterwards Sir John Lister-Kaye, who rowed in the _Victory_ at +Eton, subsequently entered the “Blues.” On one occasion, the Lister-Kayes +and myself were invited to dine at Upton Park, with Mrs. Adair, a very +lovely woman, who, I recollect, was dressed in black velvet, which set +off her superb figure and dazzling skin to great advantage. She was a +grand-daughter of the Duchess of Roxburghe and a great friend of my +cousin, the Hon. Emily Cathcart, maid-of-honour to Queen Victoria. + +[Illustration: W. H. Onslow, aged 13, afterwards Lord Onslow. + +[_To face p. 82._] + +[Illustration: The Hon. Emily Cathcart, Maid of Honour to Queen Victoria. + +[_To face p. 83._] + +One day, the Hon. Charles Finch, afterwards Earl of Aylesford, who was in +the same division as myself, told me that he had stopped my cousin while +she was walking with a lady in Eton, and that a few days later, when he +happened to meet her again, she said to him:— + +“I have a bone to pick with you. Do you know whom you kept waiting when +you spoke to me the other day? It was the Princess Louise (afterwards +Duchess of Argyll)!” The Earl of Aylesford, like myself, was a cousin of +Emily Cathcart. + +While at Eton, I used occasionally to spend the day with my great-aunt, +Lady Georgiana Cathcart. She lived near Ascot, and once when I was +driving with her and her daughter we called on the Ladies Murray, who had +a fine house in the neighbourhood, and Lady Caroline told us that if we +had come some minutes earlier, we should have met Queen Victoria, who had +lunched with them in quite an informal way, saying:— + +“Give me what you have ready, nothing else.” + +Lady Caroline told me that, owing to bearing the same name, she had +frequently been mistaken for my mother’s aunt at Richmond, who had +recently died. She showed me an oak-tree which her brother, the Earl of +Mansfield, had planted in his garden the last time he had come to see +her. In her younger days, she had been lady-in-waiting to the Duchess of +Kent, at which time she was considered a great beauty. + +One day, when I was dining at Ascot, I met my cousin Emily, who was +wearing a lovely dress of violet velvet, trimmed with white lace, and +said:— + +“Her Majesty said I was not to wear this dress at Court, and I have only +worn it once before, although it cost me a good deal of money.” + +Queen Victoria, it seems, would often take a dislike to some dress worn +by one of her maids-of-honour. + +I frequently went to Windsor Castle to see my cousin. On one occasion, +I mistook the room, and had to wait for some time in a drawing-room. +Presently, a lady came in, who was very charming in her manner towards +me, and had some tea and muffins brought to me by a man-servant in the +scarlet livery of the Palace. This lady I afterwards learned was the +Countess of Erroll. Once, when I called at the Castle I was received by +the Hon. Harriet Phipps, who told me that my cousin had left Windsor and +that she had taken her place in waiting. She invited me to have some tea, +which was brought in in a solid silver teapot, and served in very fine +porcelain cups, on both of which was the Royal crown, and was very kind +and amiable. + +One day, my cousin Emily asked me to bring the late Lord Alexander +Kennedy, son of the Marquis of Ailsa, who was in my division at Eton, to +the Castle to tea, which I did. He and I smoked cigarettes in her room, +and, when we heard her coming, threw them out of the window. However, she +smelt the smoke and said:— + +“I hope you have not thrown the cigarettes out of the window, for ‘H.M.’ +is coming this way, and I shall get into trouble if she sees them.” + +We tried to calm her, but she appeared to be rather annoyed at the time. + +Emily Cathcart was very good-looking, with dark eyes and black hair and +a fine figure. In her general appearance, she always reminded me very +much of the late Empress of Austria. Her manner was charming, and she was +always very amiable, and had so pleasant a smile that it seemed as though +it would be impossible for her to be angry with anyone. I remember her +telling me once that at Windsor she rarely ever spoke English, having +to receive so many foreign guests for Her Majesty. On the occasion that +Kennedy and I went there, we saw the Duc d’Aumale walking away from the +Castle as we arrived. + +Queen Victoria liked to be read to by her maids-of-honour, which was +sometimes a very trying experience for them, particularly by night. A boy +at Eton was one of her pages-of-honour, and, as he was late in coming out +of school one day that his services were required, he did not stop to +wash his hands, but hurried off to the Castle, in order to be in time for +some ceremony. Afterwards, the train which he had to hold was found to +have dirty spots on it, so he was immediately dismissed from his office +by Her Majesty. This story was told me by Mr. James. + +My mother told me that Queen Victoria was once lunching at the house of +the Duke of Sussex, and, on being asked if the mutton cutlets were to her +liking, replied carelessly:— + +“Oh! the chops are not bad.” She also related that once, in her younger +days, the Queen was visiting the country-seat of a certain nobleman, +where everything imaginable in and out of season had been procured for +Her Majesty’s delectation, no matter at what cost. However, on the +Queen being asked what she would be pleased to take, to the horror and +amazement of her host, she named the only thing which was not in the +house, and which there was no possibility of procuring. It was whispered +that the Queen had asked for this particular _plat_, which was one of a +simple but unusual kind, purposely, as she appeared to be amused at the +consternation her request had aroused. + +Just after I left Eton, Emily invited me to the Haymarket Theatre, +telling me to inquire for the Queen’s box. I arrived, and was duly +ushered into the Royal box, which, however, was untenanted. So I sat +there in solitary state, to the no small curiosity of the audience, +who perhaps imagined that I must be some quite important person, +until presently my cousin arrived, accompanied by a very handsome and +exquisitely dressed woman, who, I learned, was Lady Churchill. The +latter, who was lady-in-waiting to the Queen, was most fascinating, and +had all the distinction of a _très grande dame_. She was most kind and +gracious to me, even going out of her way to draw me out, so that I was +soon quite at my ease in her company. + +In winter, if we happened to have a frost hard enough to make Virginia +Water safe for skaters, we used to be taken there by Mr. James to skate +and play hockey on the ice, a game in which my tutor always took part +himself. Windsor Steeplechases were an event always looked forward to by +the boys, for, though we were forbidden to go to them, we went all the +same. Sometimes we would be attacked by roughs, who tried to prevent us +crossing certain ditches to get to the race-course, and on one occasion +a man tried to stop me. But I pushed him aside, managed to jump a ditch, +and got safely to the course. Windsor Fair was at one time forbidden to +the boys, but this did not prevent them all going there. I went once with +Craven and saw a circus without paying anything, the man at the entrance +having overlooked us as we rushed in. Afterwards, Mr. James happened +to mention the Fair, when we all laughed and began to talk about the +different shows we had seen. The master took it in good part, merely +remarking:— + +“It’s lucky for you I did not catch you there.” + +The Christopher Inn at Eton was also out of bounds, but at times some of +the big boys would invite the smaller ones there. If, however, one of the +masters happened to catch sight of them coming out, there would be the +devil to pay. I don’t remember ever going to the “Christopher,” though I +did most things that were forbidden. + +The elder son of General Sir John Douglas, Captain Niel Douglas, who +was an Old Etonian and an officer in the Scots Guards, then stationed +at Windsor, invited me to lunch at the barracks, where I was introduced +to Lord Mark Innes-Ker, who used to ride his own horses in the Windsor +Steeplechases. I enjoyed my lunch very much, as it was quite a novelty +for me. Eton boys were often invited to the barracks to lunch with +officers of the Household Brigade whom they knew, as so many Old Etonians +went into the Guards. I remember Blane, who was a pupil of my tutor, once +coming down to Eton just after he had left the school, and telling me +that he was about to join the Scots Guards, who were then stationed at +Windsor. Lord Rossmore, whom I knew very well at Eton, entered the 1st +Life Guards, and was killed riding in a steeplechase over the Windsor +course in 1874. By a singular coincidence he had fallen at the same jump, +while riding the same horse, the previous year. Rossmore, who was in +the same division with me, was very popular at Eton. He was perpetually +playing practical jokes, and I can recollect that on one occasion he made +a bet that he would drive a trap through Eton. He won it, too, by driving +through the town on a cart, disguised as a waterman, so that the masters +did not recognize him. If one of them had happened to penetrate his +disguise, he would perhaps have been expelled. + +Gridley and I once went for a bicycle ride in the country, and, happening +to be seen, were sent up to the Head Master, Dr. Hornby, who said:— + +“It is too grave an offence for me to swish you, so each of you must +write out a book of the _Iliad_, with accents, stops and breathings.” + +Fortunately for us, Mrs. Bower made Mr. James persuade the Head Master to +let us off when we had done a quarter of the work. + +When I first went to Eton, the Head Master was Dr. Balston, a very +handsome, stately and severe-looking man, whom the masters and boys +liked—at a distance. When Dr. Hornby succeeded him, it was feared that +he would introduce a great many reforms, which the masters dreaded as +much as the boys; but these apprehensions proved to be groundless. While +I was at Eton, Dr. Hornby was very much liked by the boys; but I cannot +say that his popularity extended to his colleagues, some of whom, I know, +regarded him with far from friendly feelings. + +There was a “sock”-shop, called Brown’s, near James’s house in those +days, where excellent buttered buns were sold. An Old Etonian, Theobald, +Viscount Dillon, told me that, on his return to Eton when past sixty, he +tried the buns again, and exclaimed:— + +“Goodness! how these buns have altered; they aren’t half as good as they +used to be!” Then, looking round at the boys, who seemed to be enjoying +them just as much as he and his contemporaries had done in days of yore, +he added regretfully:— + +“After all, it isn’t the buns that have altered. It is simply that I have +lost my taste for them.” + +I used often to go to Brown’s, generally of a morning, to eat a buttered +bun, which I enjoyed immensely. There was another “sock”-shop, called +Webber’s, where in summer we used to indulge in strawberry messes. +Marmalade was in favour with most of us for breakfast, and I recollect +how Craven used always to send for eighteenpenny pots at a time, saying +that the others were too small for his appetite. + +One Fourth of June my father came down to Eton, and asked at my tutor’s +for Charles Douglas, the younger son of General Sir John Douglas, and +William Kinglake, who was in a different house and whom I did not then +know. We all walked down to the river to see the boats. It was a very +pretty sight, and prettier still in the evening, when the fireworks +began. I saw several lovely young girls, beautifully dressed, drinking +champagne with their brothers, and envied the latter having such pretty +sisters. William Kinglake was a nephew of the author of “Eöthen,” who was +a first cousin of my father. He was in the Boats the following year, but +died soon after he left Eton. Charles Douglas, after leaving Eton, joined +his father’s old regiment, the 79th Highlanders, but soon retired from +the Service, while still a lieutenant. + +I passed my “exam.” in swimming before Mr. Warre at my first try, and +often went on the river. But I was a “dry bob,” and generally preferred +playing cricket in “Sixpenny,” some of the fields by the river, which in +winter were used for football matches. Doyne never went on the river, +since, as he was not allowed to bathe, he could not pass the necessary +“exam.,” and so was forcibly a “dry bob.” At James’s, only Alexander +and one or two others were “dry bobs,” and, as the house was a small +one, we had no cricket eleven, like other houses. James’s football +colours were a combination of reds of different shades with violet and +black, which were not by any means pretty colours. Yonge’s were red and +black; Day’s, black and white; Evans’s, scarlet with a black skull and +cross-bones; Warre’s, a combination of red, yellow and other colours; +and Vidal’s, yellow and black. The well-known cricketer, C. I. Thornton, +was at Vidal’s, and was a great friend of Williamson, while the latter +was there. Thornton was a tremendously hard hitter at cricket, and I can +remember many of his wonderful hits beyond the ropes when he was playing +for Eton against Harrow at Lord’s. The colours of the Second Eleven or +Twenty-two at cricket were blue and black; the Eton Eleven, of course, +wore light blue, as did the Eton Eight. + +On St. Andrew’s Day a football match—the game at the Wall—was played +between Oppidans and Collegers, in which the latter were generally +successful, so far as I can recollect. This match always drew a large +crowd, but, for a spectator, I cannot imagine anything more tedious to +watch, unless he be interested in the final result, and even then he must +be gifted with an uncommon stock of patience to be able to watch it from +start to finish. For those engaged in it it is, of course, different, as +some players prefer the wall to the field game, and I have heard that it +affords them more excitement, besides being a far greater strain on the +nerves and muscles. A lady who would enjoy watching the game at the Wall +would in all probability find pleasure in a Spanish bull-fight, though +both would be distasteful to a really nervous, sensitive girl. A young +Spanish lady once told me at Seville that to look at a girl performing +on the trapeze made her feel faint, whereas she never failed to attend +a bull-fight on a Sunday, in which she took a keener pleasure than in +any other form of amusement. This shows how strangely one’s nerves are +constituted, and that this kind of thing is, after all, merely a matter +of habit. + +In the summer, Mr. James would often take us with Mrs. Bower on the +river, when we would bring our dinner with us, and would often go as far +as Monkey Island, or even to Maidenhead, returning at night by moonlight. +We all rowed in turn and had dinner in the beautiful woods of Cliveden, +which was at that time the property of the Duke of Sutherland, but now +belongs to Lord Astor, whose father subsequently bought the estate. The +late Duke of Sutherland, who was then the Marquis of Stafford, was with +me at Eton, but higher up in the school, and I can remember him very +well. He was a good-looking boy with fair hair. + +Lord Astor (formerly Mr. Waldorf Astor), the present owner of Cliveden, +was at Eton also, though very many years after my time, where he was +Captain of the Boats, and gained the Prince Consort’s Prize for French +one year. His father belonged to one of the best families in the United +States, and the son became a naturalized Englishman. + +These river excursions were most enjoyable, and, when coming home, we +sang songs in chorus, which sounded well in the stillness of the summer +night. I was nearly always taken by Mr. James, as I was one of Mrs. +Bower’s favourites, and she insisted on my being invited. A boy named H. +B. Walker, who was then high up in the school, was also generally one of +the party. Walker was very amusing, and used to chaff me to annoy Mrs. +Bower, but all in jest, as we were very good friends. Mr. James was very +pleasant during these outings, and would sometimes indulge his propensity +for making jokes, which at times the boys would appreciate, though at +others they found the wit a trifle strained. One day, Walker said:— + +“That joke you made I think I could improve upon, sir.” + +“I did not mean it for one; you always see a joke where I cannot see +anything,” replied Mr. James. + +“Charles, you know you meant it for a joke,” exclaimed Mrs. Bower. + +“Well, if I did, I apologize,” said her cousin, laughing; “but you boys +always appreciate my jokes better in school hours.” + +“Because there is generally more point in them, sir,” remarked Walker. + +“But the best of it is I never can see any joke in some of the things +I say which provoke fits of laughter, and that always annoys me +considerably.” + +“It’s quite a habit of yours, Charles, to make these jokes,” said Mrs. +Bower; “I confess I don’t care for them at any time.” + +“Ladies never do,” retorted Mr. James. + +And he laughed and looked very pleased at his remark, to which Mrs. Bower +vouchsafed no reply. + +[Illustration: Henry Hooker Walker, at Eton with the Author. + +[_To face p. 90._] + +[Illustration: The Hon. J. W. Lowther, present Speaker of the House of +Commons. + +[_To face p. 91._] + +Another boy who often went on these river excursions was a nephew of +Mrs. Bower, named Holdsworth. He was a fine-looking fellow, older than +I was and much higher up in the school. He was a very good oar, rowing +in the _Victory_ and also in the Eight; but he over-exerted himself in +the latter and died shortly after leaving Eton. His father was a wealthy +man, and his mother was called at one time the “Pocket Venus.” He had a +sister, a pretty, fair-haired girl, who in after years married the late +Sir James Dimsdale, Lord Mayor of London, who was also an Etonian. + +Walker also died shortly after leaving school, when he was barely +eighteen. He died of a brain disease at his mother’s house in Palmeira +Square, Brighton. I happened to be at Brighton a few weeks before, and he +came to see me. + +One First of April, at Eton, I delivered a message to Walker, which +was supposed to have come from Lord Rossmore, asking him to lunch at +the “Christopher” at one o’clock. Rossmore, who had been very friendly +with Walker at school, had lately joined the 1st Life Guards, who were +stationed at Windsor Barracks, and often invited Walker there. And so +the latter, suspecting nothing, went to the “Christopher,” and waited +there for some time for Rossmore, with the result that he was not only +disappointed of his expected lunch, but missed his dinner at James’s. He +was very angry with me at the time, but he often laughed afterwards at +this practical joke. + +I also wrote a note to a boy named Lewin C. Cholmeley, purporting to +come from a person living in a street at the farther end of Windsor, +where I had never been, to say that if he called there he would hear of +something to his advantage. He, too, fell into the trap, went to the +street mentioned, and hunted a long time for the house, but was unable to +find it, as there was no such number there. When he got back to James’s +he found that dinner was over, and I don’t think he ever quite forgave +me for the joke I had played upon him; certainly he never forgot it. +Cholmeley was lower in school than I was at that time. When in the Fifth +Form, he was in the Boats. I heard that, after I left Eton, he fell out +with my tutor one Fourth of June, and was one of those who nearly drowned +him in Chalvey. This affair might have entailed serious consequences for +Cholmeley, had not Mr. James forgiven him and interceded in his favour +with the Head Master. Cholmeley is now a wealthy solicitor in London. + +When I had nothing better to do of an evening, I often used to go to +Leyton’s, at Windsor, which was famous for its pastry, and where a good +many Eton boys were always to be found. My companion on these occasions +was usually Lord Edward Somerset, who was in my division. On leaving +Eton, Lord Edward Somerset entered the 23rd Welsh Fusiliers, from which +he subsequently exchanged into the “Blues.” He died soon after his +marriage, while still quite young. + +The German master at Eton was Herr Griebel, from whom I took private +lessons at the same time as Count Bentinck. We read together Goethe’s +_Die Leiden des jungen Werthers_ and Auerbach’s _Das Landhaus am Rhein_. +Herr Griebel told me that after he had been in England some time he +forgot German entirely. Then he went back to Germany, and entirely forgot +English. “But now,” he added, “I shall never forget either language, as +I am far too old.” I was in the select one year for the Prince Consort’s +German Prize, and the year following next in marks to the boy who won it. +For the French Prize I was also rather high up in marks. Mr. Frank Tarver +and his brother were the French masters at Eton then. One half the former +got up a performance of Molière’s _le Bourgeois Gentilhomme_, which was +acted by the boys and himself. Molière is said to have portrayed himself +in _le Misanthrope_. It is well known that he used to read his comedies, +first of all, to his old housekeeper, and when she smiled at certain +passages, he felt sure that they would amuse the public also. + +Gridley’s younger brother, Reginald Gridley, after I had left Eton, rowed +in the _Victory_ and the Eight, and was a well-known oar at Cambridge, +where he rowed for the University Eight against Oxford. Gridley himself, +after holding a commission in the 5th Lancers and subsequently in the +78th Highlanders, was called to the Bar, but died soon afterwards. +George Baird, who rowed in the Eight in 1873, was also at James’s, and +was my fag for a short time. When he was in the Fifth Form, Arthur +Cavendish-Bentinck, now Duke of Portland, fagged for him. George Baird, +after leaving Eton, joined the 16th Lancers, and is now a colonel. I +saw a good deal of him at my tutor’s, but all I remember about him is +that he was a very nice fellow and that he messed with Blagrove. He had +a cousin, Douglas Baird, who was also at James’s. Craven, on leaving +Eton, entered the Grenadier Guards, from which he retired as captain. He +married soon afterwards, and died at twenty-two. Holdsworth messed with +Thomas Wood, who was also in the Boats (the _Thetis_), and distinguished +himself in school. I met him in after years at Aldershot, where he was in +the Grenadier Guards, and I remember that he behaved very generously to +Temple—“Mug,” as we used to call him at Eton—when he was in bad health +and poor circumstances, assisting him and seeing that he had the best +medical advice in his illness, of which, however, he died when he was +barely twenty years old. + +Two other boys who were with me at James’s were Percy Aylmer and Augustus +Ralli. Aylmer, who was a very good-looking and exceedingly nice fellow, +travelled with Colvin in after years, and now resides on his property +in Durham. Ralli was a bright-looking boy, with very dark eyes, and was +very popular in the house. Unhappily, he died of rheumatic fever at Eton +in March 1872. There were, of course, many other boys at James’s besides +those whom I have mentioned, but I cannot now recall anything about them +worth recording here. Doyne left Eton long before I did, and died of +influenza some years ago in Ireland. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + + Athletic Sports at Eton—A “Scrap”—Lord Newlands—An Old Boy on + Eton of To-day + + +Henley Regatta was an event which was always eagerly looked forward to +by us boys. I used to go there with Mr. James and Mrs. Bower and some +of the boys in our house. Sometimes we went by river all the way; at +others by rail. One year, while sitting in the Grand Stand, I overheard a +conversation between a boy named Kirklinton-Saul and his mother. Said the +latter:— + +“I don’t always expect to hear from you, my dear, but when you want +money, be sure and write, won’t you?” + +To which request the young gentleman gave the answer which might be +expected. + +I could not help thinking at the time: “What a nice mamma! I wonder +if there are many such mammas about?” The dinner at Henley used to +consist of duck and green peas with beer, which the boys used to enjoy +greatly; but there was such a crowd at the regatta, that there was always +a tremendous scramble to get to the tables. Mr. James did not take +dinner with him when we went to Henley, as it was so far from Eton. The +toilettes of the ladies were very elaborate, though hardly equal to those +one saw at the Eton and Harrow match at Lord’s. Nevertheless, there were +some very pretty dresses, and—what was still more important—some very +pretty faces. For many young girls came with their mothers to see their +friends and relatives compete for the Ladies’ Plate, which in those days +Eton used to win year after year in succession.[13] The light blue of +Eton was worn by the boys and by the pretty girls who accompanied them. + +The Athletic Sports at Eton were always interesting to watch. The +steeplechase course was a most severe one, some very big natural jumps +having to be negotiated, ending with the brook, which was the biggest +jump of all. H. M. Ridley was the fastest runner at Eton in my time. + +I recollect one day having a try at the brook in the “field,” which I +succeeded in jumping. The late Lord Lonsdale and his brother, the present +Earl, were standing some way off, and must have thought I could not do +it, for the former shouted out when I landed safely on the further bank:— + +“Well done, Black-eyed Susan!” _Black-eyed Susan_, I may mention, was +the name of a popular burlesque, by Douglas Jerrold, which had a great +run at that time at the Strand Theatre. One morning, before breakfast, I +ran John Lister-Kaye one hundred yards for a bet of five shillings, he +giving me five yards start, and managed to win, though he had felt very +confident about beating me. I ran one year in the Hundred Yards for boys +under sixteen at the Sports, and Holdsworth, who was acting as umpire, +told me afterwards that I might have won it, had I not stopped a yard +short, through mistaking the boundary line. He often asked me why I had +done so, but the only reason I could give was that I was so short-sighted. + +We had a play-room at James’s, where we used to practise the high jump, +and there were some boys who could clear a jump higher than themselves. +In this room stood a large blackboard, upon which all the names of the +boys who had been at James’s were carved, with the year they came and the +year they left. + +The cricket match between Eton and Winchester was played in alternate +years at either school. When the match took place at Eton, the band of +the Life Guards or the “Blues” would play on the ground, where there +was always a large attendance of visitors, including a great number of +ladies. But it was never so fine a sight as the Eton and Harrow match +at Lord’s. At one Winchester match I remember seeing Miss Evans (George +Eliot), who had come as the guest of one of the masters, and whose +presence created quite a sensation. + +Once at Lord’s, during the Eton and Harrow match, I was invited on to +the drag of a friend of mine named C. N. Ridley, who was in my own +division, where I had an excellent lunch, washed down by champagne. +Ridley was a good-looking boy, with fair, curly hair and blue eyes, and +his two sisters, who were exquisitely dressed on this occasion in light +blue satin dresses with white lace, were considered remarkable beauties +in London. They were quite young and very fair, like their brother, +with the most lovely blue eyes of the shade of the myosotis. They might +often be seen in the season riding in the Park, and were greatly admired +by the Prince of Wales, afterwards King Edward VII., who invited them +to Marlborough House. Unhappily, both these beautiful girls and their +brother were consumptive, and I heard that they all three died of +consumption not very long afterwards. + +In those days, the Eton and Harrow match at Lord’s was a far more +pleasant function than it has since become. Only people interested in +Eton or Harrow were there, and a good view of the game could easily be +obtained. Nowadays people go who do not know one school from the other, +and the whole space is reserved for the M.C.C., so that if you do not +happen to be a member, you cannot see the game at all. One constantly +hears people say at Lord’s now:— + +“I don’t know anything about cricket and care less, but I have come to +see the ladies’ toilettes.” + +In the old days this was not so. Lord’s has certainly not improved +since.[14] + +The boys at James’s used often to go into the pantry, where William, the +butler, would give them a glass of claret, and water Mr. James’s wine +well for him afterwards. Often the butler would exclaim: “Ha! spider up +there!” and while we were looking for it, he watered the claret. It was +in the butler’s pantry that I had the only fight I ever had at Eton, the +day before I left for good. My opponent was the Hon., afterwards Lord, +Henry Vane-Tempest, a son of the Marquis of Londonderry, who was a little +lower down in the school than I was. I don’t think either of us really +wanted to fight, but we were egged on by others whose respective parts we +had taken in a quarrel, and after a very short “scrap,” which I got the +best of, we shook hands and made friends. When I went down to Eton again, +I met Vane-Tempest at my tutor’s, and he told me that he was then leaving +to enter the “Blues.” He has since joined the majority, quite young in +life. + +Of the boys at James’s, I may mention that Sir John Lister-Kaye married +Miss Yznaga, an American lady, one of two sisters celebrated for their +beauty and toilettes in Paris, where I often met them in society. Sir +John was a gentleman in attendance on the late King Edward VII. Lord +Mandeville, who was in the Grenadier Guards, and afterwards became Duke +of Manchester, married the other sister. Cecil Lister-Kaye married +the sister of the Duke of Newcastle, who was himself at Eton. Cecil +Lister-Kaye told me recently that his son was at Eton, and that he often +went down to see him. He, no doubt, on these occasions, thinks with some +regret of the happy days of his youth at James’s. I have come across +some of those who were with me at Eton in quite unexpected places. For +instance, I met the present Earl of Northbrook in Bombay. He was on his +way to visit his uncle, then Viceroy of India, and had come to Bombay, he +told me, to buy Arab horses. He was in the same division with me at Eton, +and afterwards served in the Rifle Brigade and Grenadier Guards. Although +I may have forgotten many of my schoolfellows at Eton, I can never forget +those who were in my division. Among them was Henry de Vere Vane, then a +very clever, fair-haired boy, whom I remember envying because he learned +everything so quickly. He was the late Lord Barnard, and inherited the +Cleveland estates on succeeding to this title. I had been told that in +the hall of Raby Castle, his country-seat, a fire had been lighted two +hundred years ago and had never been extinguished since. But Lord Barnard +informed me that this is a legend, and sent me an account of a similar +one:— + + “_Fire kept in for two hundred years._ + + “One of the loneliest spots in England, where there are + only four cottages in an area of thirty thousand acres, + was described at Brampton (Cumberland) Revision Court. The + Conservative agent, Mr. Mawson, said he had visited the farm, + which was situated on a remote fell between Bewcastle and + Haltwhistle, on the border of Northumberland. Members of the + farmer’s family had lived in this particular cottage for six + hundred years, and there was a tradition that the kitchen fire + had never been out for two hundred years. The claimant slept in + a bedroom eight feet square. There was a child there that had + not seen another child for two years.” + +[Illustration: The Duke of Rutland + +[_To face p. 98._] + +Another who was in my division was the Hon. V. A. Parnell, a good-looking +boy, with black hair with a blueish reflection in it, and fine eyes. He +was a good cricketer and clever in school. At times, when we were up +to Mr. Thackeray, Parnell, as he reminded me recently, would, _faute +de mieux à faire_, be engaged in shinning matches with a boy who sat +next to him called Dobson. The latter was a very good-humoured fellow, +who retaliated without losing his temper, though at times he could with +difficulty refrain from betraying the pain which he endured so stoically +with a smiling face. + +The present Duke of Rutland, then Henry F. B. Manners, was at Eton with +me, but higher up in the school, and if my memory does not deceive me, +was in the Boats when in the Fifth Form. + +The present Lord Newlands, then known as J. H. C. Hozier, was very high +up in the school, and I can remember when he was in my tutor’s division, +as the latter used to say how clever he was, and he frequently came to +the pupil-room at James’s. Mr. James would often tell us about those who +were up to him, but it was rarely that he bestowed praise on any boy. + +When Doyne left Eton, I had his room, which commanded a view of the +fine lime-trees, which in the summer looked very charming. On the wall +hard by the boys used to stand or sit to criticize all the people who +passed along the road running through Eton. This must have been a rather +trying ordeal for some of the latter, for I remember that I used to +find it a very trying experience when I happened to be late for chapel, +particularly when I first came to Eton, to be obliged to run the gauntlet +of a double row of boys, who never failed to pass remarks on everyone. +The choir at Eton, which was the same as that of St. George’s Chapel at +Windsor, was a very good one, and one of the boys who sang in it, named +Hancock, was paid, I was told, one hundred and fifty pounds a year. +Hancock sang occasionally the solo part in Mendelssohn’s anthem, “O, +for the wings of a dove,” in a marvellous manner, his high notes being +wonderfully clear; but his voice lacked expression, and, as boys and +girls generally regard certain things purely from an æsthetic point of +view, the impression it made upon us was one rather of surprise than of +admiration. Some of us used to go on Sundays to St. George’s, Windsor, +and sit in the organ loft, where Dr. Elvey, who was a remarkably fine +organist, played most beautifully. + +After Dr. Hornby became Head Master, the custom of giving leaving books +was abolished. Personally, I regretted this innovation, not because I did +not receive any, but because I liked to make presents to my friends who +were leaving Eton; and the expense was a small one, to which, I am sure, +none of our parents objected. + +Most of us look back upon our school days as the happiest part of our +lives, for, to the schoolboy, the cares and anxieties which weigh upon +us as we grow older are unknown, and, given good health, an Eton boy’s +life ought to be _par excellence_ the very sum of earthly happiness. +Lord Rathdonnell, late of the Scots Greys, who, when at Eton, as +McClintock-Bunbury, stroked the Eight at Henley, and excelled at football +and at most games, besides being very high up in the school and very +popular, wrote to me some years ago, saying that the years he spent at +Eton were by far the happiest of his life, and that he always looked back +to them with intense pleasure. The Captain of the Boats at that time +was Edwards-Moss, now a baronet. Horace Ricardo (now Colonel Ricardo, +C.V.O.), whom I remember quite well, was then in the _Monarch_, and his +brother Cecil rowed in the _Victory_ and was Captain of the Boats in +1871. After leaving Eton, both brothers entered the Grenadier Guards, and +each of them commanded a battalion before retiring from the Service. I +remember that Doyne, who was never high up in the school and for whom +Latin and Greek were somewhat of a torture, telling me years afterwards +that he looked back with regret to the happy days he had spent at Eton, +which, all things considered, were perhaps the happiest of his life. Yet +Doyne was not one of those who had any trouble in after life; on the +contrary, he had everything which a man could possibly desire, besides +enjoying good health. But the joyous, irresponsible days of school life +were gone for ever, and, as he confessed to me, he would only too gladly +have returned to them and lived them over again. + +In regard to Eton at the present day, I heard not long ago from an old +schoolfellow, the late Colonel Sir Josceline Bagot, a distinguished +officer of the Guards and author, who had had a boy there, and who wrote +as follows:— + + “It all seems much the same, though, to my mind, not improved + in some ways. They have got more room certainly, but, for such + a big place as it has become, I think the traditional freedom + of the boys is overdone altogether. Much too much importance + is given to boys in ‘Pop,’ and allowing them and Captains of + Houses to smack boys with canes for certain offences more or + less officially is, to my mind, a great mistake, and starts + the rotten system of many public schools of ‘monitors,’ + ‘prefects,’ etc. No boys should have that power, and it is much + worse for them to have it than for the boys who get smacked. + It all comes from the masters thinking themselves too grand + to swish boys as in the old days; and the Head Master smacks + them on rare occasions with a stick, whereupon they put on two + pairs of trousers, etc., and merely laugh at it and him, and + they barely touch their hats at all to the masters. They all + smoke now to a great extent, far more than we ever did, and, + though the Head Master is wild about it, he is powerless to do + anything sensible to stop it; and some of these rich Jew boys + and foreigners have far too much money and spoil things. If I + were Head Master, I wouldn’t have them at the school at all. I + was next to Lyttelton in school for a year or so, and like him, + but he has no respect and control at all for such a position. + Still, if drawbacks have crept in, it is still the best school + in the world.” + +As time goes on, one hears everywhere, and always in a louder whisper, +the serious, dangerous word, “decadence.” But let us allow the evil +question whether our culture is really going to ground to rest, and +rather attempt a very naïve example: Suppose a true son of classical +Greece—Socrates, for instance—were conducted in a dream into the midst of +our modern culture. He would look with amazement at the marvellous means +of locomotion, the production of the factories, the luxurious comfort of +private houses, the magnificence of our theatres and so forth; but the +question whether we ought to be proud and happy he would answer in his +usual way:— + +“In my country I knew Pericles and heard the dramas of Sophocles. I knew +Alcibiades and saw Phidias at work, and my pupil was Plato. Now show me +your living masters.” + +The next day Socrates would relate:— + +“I dreamt this night I was in Persia. Everything is greater there +than you can imagine. Immensely great are the treasures, the armies +and navies, the towns and houses, the machinery employed. In short, +everything is inconceivably great; only the people are very small....” + + + + +CHAPTER IX + + Lady Grace Stopford—Tipperary in 1870—Robbed at Punchestown + Races—I get my own back + + +Just after I left Eton, in 1870, I went over to Ireland to stay with my +friend Doyne, who lived in County Wexford, and had a fine estate near +the sea, about half an hour’s walk from the beach. His mother and sister +lived with him, and he and I rode about his property and amused ourselves +very well, though he had no near neighbours, except the Earl of Courtown +and his family. The eldest son, Viscount Stopford, who had been with us +at Eton, was away at the time, though his sister, Lady Grace Stopford, +was there. One day we called, and were received by Lady Grace, who was +the only one of the family at home. After shaking hands with her, Doyne +said:— + +“I wanted to show my friend the fairest young lady in the county.” + +At which compliment she blushed and replied:— + +“I am afraid he will be much disappointed.” + +“On the contrary,” I observed, “I am agreeably surprised.” + +She then inquired if I knew her brother, and I told her that we were at +Eton together. Lady Grace was a girl of about sixteen, with a lovely +complexion, blue eyes and regular features. Her hair was of a reddish +tint, similar to that which one sees in certain pictures by Correggio, +and particularly in one in the Liechtenstein Gallery in Vienna, the face +of which also bore a resemblance to hers. In her manner she appeared +somewhat stiff, and more like the English than the Irish, who are +generally so free and easy. But then Lady Grace always spent the season +in London, and lived most of her time in England. Her brother, Lord +Stopford, now Earl of Courtown, was in the Grenadier Guards, and had +lately joined his regiment. + +Mrs. Doyne was a charming old lady, and her daughters had delightful +manners and were exceedingly pleasant in every way. While I was with +them, Mrs. Doyne told me that she and her family had received an +invitation to Killarney, and asked me to go with them, which I did with +great pleasure. The house we stayed at was a fine one, very prettily +situated near the Lake of Killarney, and the weather being beautiful and +very hot, it was very pleasant to go on the lake and visit the different +sights in the neighbourhood. I was delighted with the scenery of the +lake and the various waterfalls in the woods, some of the views being +exquisitely lovely. One day, when Doyne and I were riding on donkeys on +the rugged hills near the lake, a bare-footed Irish girl came up and +spoke to us in Irish, showing her beautiful teeth. She had very black +eyes and black hair falling loosely over her shoulders, and her legs, +like her feet, were bare. She could not speak a word of English, but +Doyne made her understand him somehow by means of gestures. + +Killarney gave me the impression that I was in Italy. There were so many +bare-legged boys and girls walking about, and the scenery was more like +that of the south of Europe than the British Isles; while the almost +tropical heat we were experiencing just then completed the illusion. One +day it rained very heavily, so Doyne and I went to the Hôtel Victoria, +where an American, who was playing billiards, said to us:— + +“I guess I shall have to say that I have seen the Lake of Killarney from +this billiard-room window, as I am leaving early to-morrow morning.” + +The tutor of a young fellow staying at the hôtel told me that I must +have Scottish blood in my veins, because I walked so carefully, as if +calculating every step I took, while an Irishman walked without the +least hesitation. I noticed that the good looks of the Irish people +were found more in the lower classes than in those above them. Some +of the bare-legged girls whom I saw were quite pretty, with something +of the Spanish type of beauty about them. Their hands and feet were +usually small, whereas those of some of the women of the upper classes +were of very generous proportions. Everywhere I went I met with a +“_gemüthlichkeit_,” which is not to be found in England, go where one +may; the Irish are so friendly and jolly, even if one does not know them. + +On leaving Killarney, we went to Tipperary, and stayed at Cashel, +with the Dean, Dr. MacDonnell, who told me that there were sixteen +roads leading to the town, on each of which a murder had recently been +committed. These crimes had, however, been committed for political +reasons, for if a man did not meddle with politics, he might travel along +these same roads at night with his pockets bulging with gold in perfect +safety. The Dean, who afterwards became a Canon of Peterborough,[15] had +a pretty daughter, a very amiable and clever girl, who is now the wife of +Sir Shirley Salt. + +I also stayed at Wells, an estate belonging to Mr. Mervyn Doyne, my +friend’s elder brother, who had married Lady Frances Fitzwilliam, the +eldest daughter of Earl Fitzwilliam. The house was a very imposing one, +built in the Elizabethan style and standing in the midst of extensive +grounds. Lady Francis Doyne was a nice-looking and extremely pleasant +woman. At dinner one evening she told me the following rather interesting +story:— + +“I happened to dream one night in town, just before we were leaving for +Ireland, that I had lost my dressing-case. Therefore, before starting, I +told my maid to take particular care of it during the journey. However, +when we arrived in Dublin, I left her in charge of the dressing-case for +two or three minutes at the station, and somehow she must have put it +down for an instant, since, on my returning to her, she exclaimed: ‘Oh, +my lady, the dressing-case is gone!’ My husband had all the cars which +were leaving the station stopped, but my dressing-case was nowhere to be +found. He telegraphed to Scotland Yard, in London, but with no success +whatever, and I have never recovered it to this day. I had at the time +eight thousand pounds’ worth of jewellery in it, besides valuable stones +belonging to my ancestors, which can never be replaced.” + +Speaking of London, Lady Fanny said:— + +“We had a house in Mount Street for the season, and one evening, when we +were giving a dinner-party, a band began playing outside our house. It +played rather well, so I sent my footman out to the conductor to ask him +to continue playing all the time we were at dinner, and to give him a +sovereign if he would do so. But the footman brought back the sovereign, +and told me that the conductor refused to play under five pounds.” + +Lady Fanny also said:— + +“People soon forget one in London. As a young girl, I lived with my +father in Grosvenor Square, but after my marriage I was not in London for +two years. When I returned to town, I found that everyone had forgotten +me entirely.” + +Earl Fitzwilliam, Lady Fanny’s father, used to give two big dinners in +town to his tenants, to each of which fifty guests were invited. At +one of these dinners the service was entirely of silver; at the other +entirely of gold. + +I was invited with Jim Doyne to stay at the Shelbourne Hotel, as the +guest of Earl Fitzwilliam, for the Punchestown Races. The first day of +the races it poured with rain, and Jim and I went to the course on an +Irish car. On the way he chaffed a man and a girl on our car whom he had +never seen before, who were engaged in a flirtation, and said to the girl +aloud:— + +“Don’t listen to the tales he is telling you; they are all lies.” + +The girl blushed, and the man, looking very much annoyed, answered:— + +“She knows I am telling her the truth.” + +There was a great rush to get into the stand, and Jim and I got +separated. I tendered an English five-pound note for admission, but the +man issuing the tickets said:— + +“I don’t take English notes, only Irish ones.” + +I told him I had a ticket for the Marquis of Drogheda’s private stand, +but he said that I must first pay the sovereign entrance to the other. +Suddenly, a man came forward and said:— + +“I will change your note, if you will give it me or come with me.” + +I followed him through the pouring rain to a tent, where he showed me +three cards, which he threw on a table, saying:— + +“I’ll bet you a fiver you don’t name the court card.” + +“But I don’t wish to bet,” I replied. + +“You must play,” rejoined he, “or I’ll keep your money.” + +I looked round for a policeman, but there was not one anywhere near, and, +while my eyes were off him, the man disappeared. I tried to find him all +day, but without success. + +In the evening, when I returned to the Shelbourne Hotel, Lord +Fitzwilliam’s sons, Thomas[16] and Charles Fitzwilliam, Lord Aberdour, +Jim and myself dined together in a private room. Lord Aberdour, who is +now Earl of Morton, said:—“I was making a bet with a man when someone +nearly knocked me down and took away my watch and chain, and in the +confusion of the moment I could not discover who it was.” + +“I did not come off any better,” remarked Charles Fitzwilliam, who had +been at Eton and was now in the “Blues,” “for I was paid a bet with half +a five-pound and half a ten-pound note pinned together.” + +The next day, when it rained again, I went to the races, and walked +about, keeping a sharp look-out for the man who had stolen my “fiver.” +Presently I caught sight of him, and going up to a constable, inquired +if he could arrest a man on suspicion, which he said he could. The +fellow was performing the three-card trick at the time, and was promptly +arrested. He, of course, loudly protested his innocence, saying:— + +“It was not me, but the Scotsman who did it, and he ain’t here to-day. I +don’t know the young gentleman at all.” + +The constable asked me if I were quite sure that this was the man, to +which I replied in the affirmative. He was then marched off, and a +head constable came and took down my affirmation, which I signed. The +three-card gentleman called out to me:— + +“I’ll give you twenty pounds if you’ll let me off,” and the constable, +overhearing this, said:— + +“Now he has confessed to taking the note; I see it’s all right.” + +During dinner at the “Shelbourne” that night I told my friends of my +adventure, when they all said:— + +“You must prosecute the man for the good of the public.” + +I decided to follow their advice, and, about a month later, I went with +Jim to Naas, where the fellow was to be tried, and where, as Jim happened +to know the county court judge, Baron de Robeck, we were given seats on +the Bench. When the prisoner was brought in, he at once pleaded guilty, +upon which the judge sentenced him to repay the five pounds, which he +did, and to three months’ hard labour. He was also ordered to pay the +costs of the prosecution, which came to as much as five pounds, but these +I refused to accept. + +At Naas we lunched with the Duke of Leinster, who had been at Eton with +us, and was then with his militia regiment. He was much interested in my +adventure, and glad to hear of the result. At the station a man came up +to me, and telling me he was the prisoner’s solicitor, asked me to give +him some money for persuading his client to plead guilty. But when I +spoke to Jim about it, he answered:—“Tell him to go to the devil.” + +And the man of law, overhearing the remark, took himself off without more +ado. + +I stayed some weeks longer with Jim Doyne,[17] when I went to London for +my “exam.” for the Army. + + + + +CHAPTER X + + Dieppe under Prussian Rule—A Toilette by Worth—A Confirmed + Gambler + + +During the Franco-German War, while I was at Eton, my parents remained +in Paris, and though my father left the city during the Commune, my +mother stayed until the very last, when she was persuaded to follow him. +Towards the end of the war I joined my parents at Dieppe, and saw the +Prussians enter the town, when eighteen soldiers were billeted on the +owner of the house we lived in. Madame Gaillard, an American lady, the +young wife of General Gaillard, who was afterwards appointed to look +after Maréchal Bazaine when a prisoner, was with us at Dieppe. She was a +very pretty woman, and she and the Baronne van Havre usually went with +my mother to the afternoon concerts. I took lessons on the violin from +the chief violinist, whose name was Lamoury. His brother was one of the +first violoncello players in France, and played in the orchestra at the +Conservatoire in Paris. Lamoury told me that he had begun to learn the +violin too late in life to be a virtuoso on that instrument, as he had +not begun to play it until he was fourteen, whereas you ought to start +playing at the age of seven in order to be anything remarkable as a +violinist. + +The English Consul at Dieppe was a Mr. Chapman, and there were several +English residents. Among them were Edward Blount, a friend of my father, +who had been at school with Gambetta and spoke French almost better than +he did English, and a Major Boland, from Bath, who had married a French +lady, the sister of Jules Simon, one of the Ministers then in power in +Paris. Boland was in the habit of depreciating the French Army and +praising the Prussians in every way. Owing to his having lived in the +same house as his brother-in-law for many years before the war, he had +had, although an Englishman, opportunities for ascertaining the real +condition of the French Army. + +“I knew from the first,” he would observe, “that the French would be +defeated, and that Bazaine was a traitor, who was playing into the hands +of the Prussians all along.” + +Jules Simon seemed to share his opinion of the state to which the Empire +had reduced France by embarking in this disastrous war, for which she was +unprepared, whereas Prussia had been preparing for it for many years. + +Dieppe is a very charming seaside resort in the summer months, and it was +very pleasant to go to the Casino, where the band played of an afternoon, +and listen to the orchestra, which in those days was excellent, as most +of the performers came from Paris. The Casino was near the sea, and to +sit there and watch the sea sparkling under the rays of the sun and the +snow-white sails in the distance, bathed, as evening approached, in a +rosy light, was to me a never-failing source of pleasure. At such an +hour as this Time and Space seem to be eliminated. The incoming tide +approaches with a gentle murmur. It encircles first one spot on the +sands, then another; rests for a moment, and then continues its advance. +The sea is a symbol for us of Eternity and of our passing away. + +When the Uhlans entered Dieppe, followed by the Prussian infantry, the +town was in a ferment, since no one knew what was going to follow. All +kinds of rumours were afloat, and some people believed that a warship +would bombard the town, if the invaders met with any resistance. The +Germans requisitioned many things, with which the inhabitants were +very reluctant to supply them, and ordered that all lights should be +extinguished at 8 p.m., and that after 10 p.m. no one should leave his +house. This condition of affairs naturally did not suit my father, and +he determined to leave Dieppe at once. But this was a difficult matter, +as to go by rail was nearly impossible, and by sea altogether out of +the question. Finally we decided to hire a carriage and to start before +daybreak, although we were very much afraid lest we should be stopped by +the Prussians. We succeeded, however, in escaping detection and reached +Dunkerque, where we took the train for Calais, and thence made our way to +Boulogne. Here we stayed for some days at the Hôtel des Bains, and then +embarked for Folkestone, from which we proceeded to Brighton. + +At Brighton, where my parents took a house facing the sea, and not far +from the Old Pier, we found Captain and Mrs. Berkeley, who had taken +a house for the season in Regency Square; Mrs. Charles Woodforde, an +aunt of my father, who was staying there with her daughter, and Sophia +Kinglake, a sister of the author of “Eöthen,” whom Thackeray once +described as the cleverest woman he had ever met in his life. One day, I +remember calling with my mother upon her, when she told us that she was +knitting a scarf for John Ardagh, who afterwards became General Sir John +Ardagh, and died some years ago. Shortly after we arrived, a very pretty, +graceful and beautifully-dressed girl entered the room. She was a Miss +Gordon, daughter of a General Gordon, and, in the course of conversation, +said to me:— + +“I always get my dresses from Worth, and sometimes I go and stay with his +family at their country-place in France. I generally stop with them from +three weeks to a month, and return to England with a fine lot of dresses. +Worth would be horrified were he to see me to-day, because I am wearing +gloves which do not match my dress. Once I put on grey gloves with a +costume of an unusual colour, upon which he told me that if I ever did +so again, he would make for me no more. So, you see, I have to study his +taste in the matter of toilettes most carefully.” + +I inquired whether Worth charged very high prices for his confections. + +“It is according to what you consider high,” she replied. “He charges +from forty pounds for a dress, and will not make one under that price; +but it is always perfectly finished and lined with silk. For ball-dresses +he charges more. I get both my morning-gowns and ball-toilettes from him, +for I consider that he is the only man who can make dresses which are +worth wearing.” + +I asked if Laferrière were not very good, as I had heard so much about +him in Paris. + +“Yes, he is,” she said, “but Worth I consider still better.” + +Miss Gordon was a girl of about eighteen, with a wonderfully clear +complexion, brown hair, blue eyes, and rather good features. She had also +a beautiful figure, for which reason it must have been quite a pleasure +for a dressmaker to make for her. She was wearing on this occasion a +blue costume, with a good deal of _passementerie_ on it, and very pretty +buttons in enamel, a white petticoat with flounces of lace, stockings _à +jour_, and shoes with Louis Quinze heels. Her hat matched her dress, and +the _ensemble_ would have been a dream, had not her gloves, which were +brown, spoiled—as she herself admitted—an otherwise perfect toilette. + +While at Brighton, I used frequently to go on the Pier with my mother to +listen to the band, which, however, played very badly. Captain and Mrs. +Berkeley often came there too, and would sit with us until my father came +to fetch us to lunch. Captain Dorrien was also at Brighton at this time, +and occasionally some of the old society of Homburg would meet on the +Pier, and talk over their experiences at roulette and trente-et-quarante. + +“I say, Fred,” inquired Dorrien one day of my father, “how about your +infallible system? What was it? Let me see: one louis _à cheval_ between +zero and two, one between twelve and fifteen, one between twenty-six and +twenty-nine, and one between thirty-two and thirty-five. Isn’t that it?” + +“Yes, my dear fellow,” answered my father, “and you double the amount if +you lose.” + +“Oh!” exclaimed Berkeley, “that game is a martingale, and it nearly broke +me.” + +“Then, old fellow,” said my father, “you didn’t play it the right way.” + +“Oh, yes, I did, and in very much the right way, for I lost all I had....” + +“I wish I were at Homburg to try it again,” continued my father. + +“You would only lose again,” said Berkeley. + +“I am sorry that I ever played there at all,” said Dorrien. + +“So am I,” exclaimed Berkeley, “but there is an attraction there that +somehow one cannot resist.” + +“I feel I should win if I played at Monte Carlo,” said my father. + +“You always felt like that at Homburg,” remarked Dorrien. “You said, +if you remember, one evening, that you felt like winning, and you lost +heavily.” + +“But I won afterwards—three hundred louis.” + +“My dear fellow, you forget how much you lost. You can talk like that +to people who know nothing about the game, but as for me, who have lost +thirty thousand pounds at it, you cannot make me believe that white is +black.” + +“Can’t I?” said my father, laughing. + +“No, you can’t, and you are foolish to try to make yourself believe that +you can ever win at that game.” + +“I agree with you entirely,” observed Berkeley. + +“I always hope to win back what I have lost,” said my father. + +“That you will never do at roulette and trente-et-quarante,” said Dorrien. + +“Don’t you play at all now then?” asked my father. + +“Yes, at baccarat and the Stock Exchange.” + +“That is as bad,” remarked my father. + +“I am not sure it isn’t worse,” said Dorrien, laughing. + +“Quite as bad,” exclaimed Berkeley, “but I do the same thing.” + +“I shall have a try this winter at Monte Carlo,” said my father. + +“You have had one lesson; why do you want to burn your fingers again?” +asked Dorrien. + +“If you do,” remarked Berkeley, “_vous y perdrez vos pas, mon cher ami_.” + +And then they talked about other things. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + + The Princess von Metternich—The Lady of the Luxembourg Gardens + + +Paris was very dull in the way of entertainments and parties after the +Commune, and people spoke of hardly anything but the siege. Mrs. Healy, +an aunt of Viscount Dillon, who lived in the same house as my parents in +the Rue d’Albe, her _appartement_ being on the _entresol_, had remained +there throughout the siege and the Commune, and told us that she had +always contrived to get everything she wanted in the way of eatables, +though she had had to pay an enormously high price for them; twenty +francs a pound, for instance, for butter, which she obtained as well as +eggs and meat, and consequently was never obliged to dine off a mouse +or any delicacy of that description, like most of the people in Paris. +Theobald, Lord Dillon, often came to see his aunt, and one day he related +to us how he had become acquainted with Sims Reeves, and how he had been +the means of the latter continuing his studies at Milan as a singer. It +was entirely through Lord Dillon’s generosity that Sims Reeves became so +well known, as he had advanced him a large sum of money. Albani was also +first brought into notice in England by Lord Dillon, who was so enchanted +with her beautiful voice that he soon made known to everybody the +“star” he had discovered. Albani was a frequent guest at his beautiful +country-seat, Ditchley Park, for he and Lady Dillon not only admired her +most exquisite voice, but her very charming personality as well. + +The last time I met Lord Dillon was on the pier at Brighton, when I +happened to be on leave from Aldershot, where my regiment was then +stationed; and, I remember, I introduced Lord Headley to him, at the +former’s request. The two noblemen discussed politics, upon which subject +they did not agree. Later the same day, I introduced two young officers +to Lord Dillon, as he told me he was very fond of young men, he himself +being then an old man. The officers in question were both Old Etonians +and attached to my regiment. One was Richard Sutton, a son of Sir Richard +Sutton, who died before his father; the other, the present Sir Charles E. +C. Hartopp, a nephew of the Duke of Norfolk, who had just been staying at +Arundel with his uncle. + +I happened to meet Whitehead, a correspondent of the _Daily Telegraph_, +who had remained in Paris during the siege. I asked him whether he was +not at all alarmed at the time, to which he replied that he did not know +what fear meant, and had never been afraid of anything in his life. + +I was still at Eton, but came to Paris for my holidays, and one evening +went to a ball, at which I recollect the Princess von Metternich, wife of +the Austrian Ambassador, was present, and that she left after remaining +only half an hour. Sir Edward Malet, who was then First Secretary at the +British Embassy, led the cotillion. It was a terribly dull affair, and I +was quite glad to get away. Evidently, the Princess von Metternich saw at +a glance what it was like, and only waited until her carriage returned, +or no doubt she would have left even sooner. The Princess spoke English +just like an Englishwoman, and when she spoke in German interlarded every +sentence with French words, as all the Austrian nobility do. She had +plenty of _esprit_, and when I saw her in recent years in Vienna, she +always used to make use of the late Baron Nathan de Rothschild to assist +her in collecting money for the poor of the city, and—some people were +malicious enough to say—for herself as well. She had such a way of asking +for charitable contributions that she scarcely ever met with a refusal, +and never indeed from “her little Jew,” as she was accustomed to call +Baron Nathan. + +After I left Eton, I returned to Paris, and, as it was summer, I often +walked in the Luxembourg Gardens, where it was very pleasant to sit +beneath the trees and read a book. One day, I happened to be sitting near +a fountain which contained some gold fish. On the same seat sat a young +girl with fair hair, who appeared entirely absorbed in a book which she +was reading, and from which she did not raise her eyes for a moment. I +asked her what was the name of the novel in which she was so interested. +She answered that it was not a novel at all, but a serious modern French +work on philosophy. And she handed it to me. I was not a little curious +to know why she read such books, and questioned her on the matter, when +she replied that they were the only ones capable of distracting her +thoughts, and that, as her own life had been like a novel, she avoided +such stories, for they usually reminded her of her own experiences, and +made her sadder than ever. I inquired if she would mind letting me know +her own history, and, at the same time, studied her more attentively than +before. She was a fair girl, with blue eyes with long black eyelashes, +a very clear complexion and long wavy hair. Her features were small and +rather regular, and she had very fine teeth and a beautiful figure. +She was dressed in deep mourning, and her petticoat was trimmed with +Valenciennes lace, of which I could just catch a glimpse when she raised +her tiny foot occasionally. She acceded to my request, and related to me +the following story:— + +“I was living with my parents in the country, when an aunt of mine asked +me to come to Paris, saying that she would have me taught dressmaking. On +my arrival in Paris, I went to live with my aunt and became an apprentice +at a dressmaker’s shop, which had a number of customers among the ladies +of the Faubourg Saint-Germain. One morning, when I was on my way to +business, I noticed that a gentleman was following me, but it was not +until some days later that I made his acquaintance, when he told me that +he had fallen in love with me, and offered to furnish an _appartement_ +for me, and to give me three louis a day to spend as I pleased. Soon +afterwards I left my aunt, and not only did this gentleman carry out his +promise, but gave me my own servants and carriage and horses. As I had +not received very much education, I had various masters, one to teach +me to speak and write French correctly, another for the piano, a third +for singing. As for reading, I never had any taste for the rubbish which +most girls affect, but studied the works of Racine, Corneille, Rousseau +and Voltaire.[18] I gradually developed a passion for philosophy, and +can say that I have read most of the works of the great philosophers, +both ancient and modern, in French. I enjoyed my life thoroughly, and, +as I was only sixteen and quite without experience of the world, I was +foolish enough to believe that my good fortune would continue; and it +is needless to say that I took no thought for the future, but lived +only for the present. My friend was a very wealthy Mexican and quite +young; perhaps a little older than you are, but not very much. He seemed +perfectly devoted to me, satisfying all my caprices and spending a great +deal of money on me, quite apart from what he gave me for myself. I was +very fond of going to the Théâtre-Français, where he would always take +a box and accompany me. We also went very often to the Grand Opéra, +and occasionally to the smaller theatres, for the latter of which, +however, I had but little taste. On Sundays, generally after I had been +to Mass—for, notwithstanding my predilection for philosophy, I still +retained a remnant of faith in the Catholic religion—I drove in the +Bois de Boulogne, sometimes alone, at others accompanied by my friend. +In every respect, my life was most enjoyable, and I had no cares of any +kind. This state of affairs lasted for a year, during which my friend +was most devoted to me, and we never had an angry word with each other. +He was kindness itself in every conceivable way, while I was perfectly +devoted to him. Suddenly, one day, when I had been out alone shopping, I +saw on my return home a note addressed to me lying on the table in the +salon. Recognizing my friend’s handwriting, I tore it open immediately. +It contained only a few lines, which, however, I shall never forget so +long as I live. Indeed, so engraven on my mind are they, that, were I to +forget everything else, I should never forget them!” + +On saying this, she suddenly burst into tears, and sobbed so violently +that it was not for some little time that she was able to continue. Then +she said:— + +“You will forgive me, for my grief is almost too great for me to endure. +Imagine my astonishment and dismay when I read this note, which had been +hurriedly written:— + + “‘_Ma chérie,—Je suis forcé de partir immédiatement pour la + Mexique; je n’ai pas même le temps de venir te dire àdieu._’[19] + +“I could scarcely believe my own eyes, and read those lines again and +again, sobbing all the while, and incapable of realizing what had +happened. I had only a few hundred francs left, all the rest having been +spent; and, to make a long story short, I had very soon to leave my +_appartement_ and return to my aunt. I have been with her now a week, and +I need not tell you how very hard I find it to return to work, for which +I feel I am no longer fit. Besides, my aunt is continually reproaching +me, and treats me much worse than she did before. I cannot stand it any +longer....” + +At this point, she stopped and was silent for a while. Then she suddenly +asked me if I could assist her as her friend had done, adding that she +was not one of those girls who could love several men. I told her how I +was situated, and she said she would come to a restaurant in the Quartier +Latin with me and take some refreshment. We went, I remember, to some +restaurant near the Luxembourg Gardens, and, when we were alone, she told +me that it was a pity that I could not afford to make her my _maîtresse +attitrée_, as she thought I might perhaps succeed in making her forget +her Mexican. Although I did not aspire to have such warm blood in my +veins, yet perhaps she liked the contrast. She wept bitterly, and when +she left me, said:— + +“_Vous avez beaucoup de cœur_; and, if I meet you again, it will be in +three days’ time in the Luxembourg Gardens. If I do not come, you will +know that I have done as I told you before I should do—put an end to my +existence. There is nothing else for me to do, and _le bon Dieu me le +pardonnera_.” + +I went to the Luxembourg Gardens three days later, and sat on the same +seat, but, though I waited until it grew dark, there was no sign of her. +I returned to the Gardens every day for weeks and weeks afterwards, more +out of habit than for any other reason, and thought of her and wondered +what had become of her all the time I was there. I did not even know her +Christian name, but I rather fancied it was Mariette. The consequence was +that I was seized with a sudden fit of melancholy, which I was imprudent +enough to give way to, and was continually reading Goethe’s _Die Leiden +des jungen Werthers_, until I felt convinced that I should end my life +in the same way as she had done. For, though I never heard anything more +about her, I made quite sure that she had acted as she had threatened she +would. + +Shortly after this, I decided to go to Bonn on the Rhine, to study at the +University; and Miss Kathleen O’Meara, the author of “The Salon of Madame +Mohl,” who was a young girl at that time, gave me a letter to the wife of +Professor Dr. Binz, a sister of General Salis-Schwabe. I was then very +anxious to enter the Austrian Army, and tried very hard to do so. Through +the kindness of Mr. Somerset Beaumont, of the Foreign Office, my request +was put before Prince Richard von Metternich and Baron von Hübner; and +the latter, who was at that time Ambassador in Paris, informed me, when I +saw him at the Embassy, that I should have to become an Austrian subject. +This was easy enough; but the examination was not, as since the War of +1866 it had been made much more severe. It was in pursuance of this +intention to enter the Austrian Army that I made up my mind to study at +the University at Bonn. My father was very much against my doing so, but +I eventually prevailed upon him to let me go, though he warned me that I +must put up with any evil consequences that might result from this _coup +de tête_ of mine. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + + Bonn—An Anecdote of Beethoven—The King’s Hussars—The Howard + Vyses—A German Professor on England—Domesticated Habits of + German Girls—Professor Delbrück + + +On my arrival at Bonn, I stayed at the Hôtel Rheineck, which commanded +a splendid view of the distant mountains. Here I made the acquaintance +of the late Mr. Ranyard, the celebrated astronomer, who told me that +the well-known author “A. L. O. E.” was his aunt. Mr. Ranyard was also +stopping at the “Rheineck,” and at the midday _table d’hôte_ sat next +to a Frau Phillip, a German lady from Frankfurt, who was rather stout, +but good-looking. He made love to her, and, though he spoke German very +badly, she appeared to understand him. At four o’clock we used to sit out +on the verandah of the hôtel, which overlooked the Rhine, and take our +coffee there, with an excellent _Kuchen_, for which Germany is famous. +Some days after my arrival at Bonn, Ranyard, who was flirting with Frau +Phillip, quite forgot that he had to catch the boat to Cologne, and +missed it. He was quite in despair at this, as he had not enough money +with him to stay any longer at Bonn. However, the proprietor of the hotel +said he would lend him some, which he could repay him when he arrived +in England. Ranyard accordingly arranged to stay on a day or two longer +at Bonn, as the hotel-keeper was confiding enough to advance him £5. I +mention this incident to show how kind Germans are at times, though, of +course, there are exceptions everywhere. + +I called on Professor Dr. Binz and his wife, who lived in a pretty villa +with a delightful garden attached to it. The latter’s sister, Miss +Salis-Schwabe, and her brother, who was an officer in the 7th Dragoon +Guards, were staying with her on a visit, and I went for several +rides with them. Miss Salis-Schwabe was a nice-looking girl, with a +considerable fortune of her own, and lived chiefly in England. She +afterwards married the late Sir Frank Lockwood, the well-known Q.C.; and +I was told by the Hon. Mrs. Henry Orde-Powlett, who knew her, that she +was always very disappointed if her husband did not come home every day +with fifty guineas as “refreshers” in his pocket. + +Frau Professor Binz told me that she knew of a Professor Dr. Andrä, who +had a pretty daughter, so that his house would be just the very one for +me to live at; and I accordingly made arrangements to take rooms there, +with board. + +Fräulein Margarethe Andrä was a rather pretty girl, a blonde, with blue +eyes, but she was, I thought, somewhat insipid, and very strait-laced. +She was well read and a free-thinker, like her father, who never went +to any church. Professor Dr. Andrä was very clever, and, indeed, some +people said he was the cleverest of the professors at Bonn University. I +remember him telling me about his wife, whom he had recently lost. She +knew, according to him, exactly what he was going to say before he opened +his mouth, and had also foretold many events before there was a chance of +their happening, in a marvellous manner. I asked Andrä if he would not +like to see his wife again. + +“No,” he replied. “I loved her very much, but I have no desire to live +again, and, what is more, I am sure that after this existence there is no +other. And it is much better so.” + +He lectured on Anthropology and Mineralogy, two sciences in which I took +no interest. I attended the lectures of Geheimrath von Sybel, the famous +historian, who, Dr. Andrä said, was a Republican at heart, but pretended +not to be, in order to keep in with Bismarck, who since 1870 had been all +powerful in Germany. Von Sybel was one of the finest lecturers I ever +heard. He contrived to make his subject most interesting, however dry it +might otherwise have appeared; and his lectures were always crowded with +students, whereas those of some of the other professors were attended by +very few, as it was entirely optional which lectures the students at the +University attended. + +Bonn is the birthplace of Beethoven, a fine statue of whom was erected +in 1845 on the Poppelsdorfer Allee. Grillparzer writes in his diary for +1843:— + +“The windows of my grandmother’s house faced the courtyard of the +dwelling of a peasant called Flehberger, who bore a bad name. This +Flehberger had a very pretty daughter, called Lisa, whose reputation was +also not of the best. Beethoven appeared to be much interested in the +girl, and I can see him as he came up the little street, dragging his +white handkerchief after him, until he came to a stop at Flehberger’s +house, where the frivolous beauty was standing on a wagon filled with +hay, working with a pitchfork, and laughing the while. Beethoven stood +silent and looked at her, until the girl, whose taste lay more in the +direction of peasant boys, made him angry by rude words or by obstinately +ignoring his presence. Then he walked away, but did not fail, the next +time he passed that way, to stop and look into the courtyard. Indeed, +his interest in the girl went so far that, when her father was arrested +and put in prison for being concerned in a drunken brawl in the village, +Beethoven endeavoured to rescue him, and narrowly escaped having to share +the captivity of the man whom he had so unwisely protected.” + +It is said that Beethoven wept when his “Overture to Leonora” was first +played at Vienna, where it met with no success. He only passed his youth +at Bonn, and then went to Vienna, where the Archduke Rudolf, Prince +Kinsky and Prince Lobkowitz gave him an annuity of 4,000 florins (nearly +£350) for life, in order that he might devote his time entirely to music, +free from all financial cares. The fact that the same provision was never +made for Mozart, who was an Austrian by birth, makes one think of the +proverb: “_Nemo propheta in patria_.” Grillparzer, Austria’s greatest +poet, wrote the funeral speech read at Beethoven’s tomb in Vienna on +March 27th, 1827, and on May 1st, 1880, a statue to his memory was +erected there, near the garden of the Hof Burg, on the Ringstrasse. + +Captain Horrocks, whom my father knew very well, was then living at Bonn +with his family. His brother held an appointment at the Court of the +Grand Duke of Hesse. Captain Horrocks once wrote a three-volume novel, +which my mother tried to read, but said that she never could get beyond +the first volume. She lent the first volume of the book to several of her +friends, but not one of them ever asked for the second and third. When I +mentioned Captain Horrocks’s name to my mother, she said:— + +“When I think of him, I cannot imagine how he could have written such a +dull book. I have never yet come across any one who has had the courage +to read the whole of his novel.” + +Horrocks was, nevertheless, an amusing man, who had a great deal of +dry wit. He had several very pretty daughters, the eldest one being +considered the belle of Bonn at that time. I remember his remarking to me +once that a poor man could never dress well, as he always bought cheap +clothes, and they never lasted any time. “Depend upon it, whatever is +cheap is bad,” he always used to say. + +The regiment stationed at Bonn was the King’s Hussars. It was commanded +by Prince Reuss, and there were seven princes amongst its officers. I +knew the two Princes Bentheim, and Counts von der Goltz, Metternich, +Moltke and Bernstorff. The last-named was a gay young officer, who spoke +English like an Englishman. I saw a good deal of him. His father had +been Prussian Ambassador in England, and he had a brother serving in +the Garde Kürassier Regiment in Berlin. Prince Reuss was very severe +with his officers, and insisted that, when they attended a ball, they +should wear their swords the whole time, except when actually dancing. +On one occasion, an officer, who had omitted to replace his sword after +a dance, was put under arrest for a week and confined to his quarters. +Bernstorff, so he told me, once entered a tavern of bad reputation in +Cologne in plain clothes, as he did not like to go to such a place in +uniform, and on his return to Bonn was placed under arrest for a week. +Notwithstanding the severity of the punishment meted out for minor +offences against discipline, very little, if any, notice was taken when +officers in uniform became intoxicated at balls. I can remember attending +a ball at the Royal Hôtel at Bonn, at which several officers of the +King’s Hussars were present wearing their dark blue uniform with gold +lace, as they were never allowed to attend dances in plain clothes. One +of them insisted on dancing, though he was so intoxicated that he could +scarcely stand, and the others were highly amused at his efforts to dance +with a lady, who must have been in entire ignorance of the state her +partner was in. + +When the King’s Hussars gave a ball at Bonn, which they did once every +winter, they only invited the officers of the 7th Kürassiers from +Cologne, and not a single infantry officer from the Line regiments at +either place. Some of the English at Bonn were invited to this ball, +but I cannot say that it came up to one’s expectations. In the first +place, it was a terribly stiff affair. The officers stood in one part of +the ball-room; the ladies, mostly seated, occupied the other part, and +at the end of a dance, an officer generally conducted his partner back +to her seat and left her with her lady friends. The supper was not at +all a bad one, and there was plenty of champagne, but the guests had to +pay for what they ate and drank. However, it was considered so great an +honour to be invited to this ball that no one grumbled; in fact, they +appeared to think it quite natural that they should have to pay for their +refreshments. + +The King’s Hussars was regarded as one of the crack Prussian regiments, +and undoubtedly some of its officers were of very high social standing. +But by no means all of these officers were wealthy, and I was told that +the Princes Bentheim had only £150 a year each, besides their pay. The +officers generally rode in the Poppelsdorfer Allee of a morning, making +their horses perform _la haute école_, as though they were at a circus. +Only one corps of students mixed at all with the officers. This was the +well-known Borussia Corps, the members of which—the _Borussen_—wore a +white cap somewhat similar in shape to that worn by French officers. This +corps was composed entirely of members of the Prussian nobility, most +of them being counts and barons, and they did not associate at all with +any of the other student corps. They fought duels with the _Schläger_, +and got cut about the face, but the more they were disfigured, the more +pleased they appeared to be. Some of the _Borussen_ joined the King’s +Hussars afterwards, but what became of their scars I do not know, for, +strange to say, I have never seen any officers with these ugly marks on +their faces. Perhaps, after a time, the scars disappear; I can think of +no other explanation, for all the corps students are forced to fight +duels. + +I can remember Dr. Andrä once showing me a tiny shop at Bonn, above which +the royal arms of a certain country were displayed, and when I inquired +the reason of this, he told me the following story, which I give in his +own words:— + +“When the heir to a certain principality was a student at Bonn, he +happened to enter this shop, in which there was a very pretty girl +serving. The latter, who pretended ignorance of his identity, invited +the Prince to come and see her one evening. The Prince went, and a +violent flirtation was in progress, when the door opened, and the owner +of the shop entered. This person affected the utmost astonishment and +indignation, and, informing the Prince that the girl was his wife, +threatened that, unless the would-be destroyer of his domestic happiness +were prepared to write him out there and then a cheque for several +thousand thalers, he would make the affair public. The Prince, anxious +to avoid a scandal, complied with his demand, and, moreover, gave him +permission to display the arms of his country over his shop-front as +supplying His Highness with goods. After the Prince had left Bonn, the +cunning rascal sent the girl, who was not his wife at all, back to +Cologne, from which she had come, it was said, for the express purpose of +assisting the shopkeeper to entrap the Prince.” + +I used to go to the “Kneipe,” where the corps students assembled, with +a young American named Howard Vyse and his younger brother.[20] We +always went of an evening, when songs, principally “Studenten Lieder,” +were sung, and there was heavy drinking. On one occasion, the younger +Vyse, on coming out into the night air, after attending one of these +entertainments, told me that he felt so queer that he could not find his +way home, and asked if I could put him up for the night. I took him to +Dr. Andrä’s house, and he slept in my sitting-room. Next morning, the +professor inquired why I had brought Vyse home with me, and I told him +the reason, quoting, at the same time, the words of Nietzsche:— + +“_Alles ist erlaubt, nichts ist verboten._” + +To which he replied that such were not his views; that he considered +that everyone ought to lead a very moral life; that it was wrong to get +intoxicated, and that, although he never entered a church, he lived as +moral a life as many religious people, who often professed to be better +than they really were. + +Professor Andrä was an intimate friend of the famous author, Berthold +Auerbach, and once, when he was staying with Auerbach, the latter was +engaged in writing his celebrated novel, _Das Landhaus am Rhein_. One +day, Andrä asked him to walk to Poppelsdorf, where the professor was +going to lecture. But he declined, saying that to do so would put some +of his ideas for his novel out of his head, as it was essential for him +to keep constantly in mind what he intended to write about. Andrä showed +me the house on the Rhine which Auerbach had described in his novel, and +one day took me there to visit a retired merchant, who, after making a +fortune in America, had bought this beautiful villa in the Koblentzer +Strasse, which had a very fine garden leading down to the Rhine. Andrä +told me that he detested novels; nevertheless, one day, when I happened +to be reading _Auf der Höhe_, by Auerbach, he asked me to lend it him, +and, after reading it, said + +“After all, it is very well written, and I am pleased with it; some of +the ideas are uncommonly good, and the plot is ingenious.” + +Excellenz von Dechen, Minister of the Rhine Provinces, told me that +Andrä might have occupied Bismarck’s position,[21] but that he was too +honest a man to change his opinions. Andrä told me that Germany was far +more fitted than France for a republican form of government, and that, +if the War of 1870 had had a different issue, Germany would have been a +republic, as France is now. He entertained a poor opinion of England and +the English, whom he considered the most selfish and self-opinionated +nation in Europe, and years behind Germany in intelligence. He held that +Darwin, whose works he had read, had merely been the first to publish the +ideas of a well-known German professor; and he himself had lectured upon +Darwin’s theory,[22] in which he was a firm believer, long before he had +ever heard of him. + +Andrä told me that at all the dinners which he attended, as a professor +of the University, he took precedence of all the officers of the +King’s Hussars and of any titled person who had not some higher State +appointment than he held. When I told him that this would not have been +the case in England, he smiled and said:— + +“In your country, with your antiquated laws, how can you expect so much +civilization as in Germany? The English have a great deal to learn, and +it will be a very long while before their barbarous customs are knocked +on the head. So far as civilization is concerned, England is in a worse +condition than France, and, Heaven knows, France has yet a good deal to +learn.” + +In his opinion, Bismarck was a man of great intellect, but without any +conscience whatever. Moltke, he told me, was quite positive that Germany +would defeat France before the war had begun, and he was a man “_welcher +schweigt in sieben Sprachen_,” as he rarely ever spoke. Moltke’s son, +afterwards Field-Marshal Count von Moltke, was then in the King’s Hussars +at Bonn, and I knew him very well, but, save for indulging in some +amorous escapades and getting very much into debt, he did not distinguish +himself, though I have no doubt he deserved the Iron Cross which he +obtained in the War of 1870, with most of the officers of the King’s +Hussars. Of Field-Marshal Freiherr von der Goltz it was said:— + + “Freiherr von der Goltz, + Von seiner Dummheit ist er stoltz.”[23] + +I often would ask Andrä what books I ought to read, and one of the first +he recommended was Hauff’s _Lichtenstein_, a charming romance in the +style of Sir Walter Scott. Heine was a great favourite with Andrä, and he +could repeat his _Lieder_ off by heart.[24] Goethe he ranked far above +Schiller, and considered the first part of _Faust_ vastly superior to +the second. He had a very high opinion of Lessing’s works in general. +Of modern authors, he recommended Karl von Holtei’s _Die Vagabunden_, +which was, he told me, quite a classic, and I have read it again and +again with pleasure. It is somewhat in the style of _la Vie de Bohème_, +by Mürger, but I prefer it to the French work. In comparing Lesage with +Scott, Victor Hugo seems to think more highly of the latter; but Andrä +considered that _Gil Blas_ would outlive all Scott’s novels, which was +also the opinion of Grillparzer. It was through Andrä that I became a +supporting member of the “Verein zur Verbreitung naturwissenschaftlicher +Kenntnisse in Wien,” which I have been for many years. The ill-fated +Crown Prince Rudolf was formerly the Protector of this society, a +position which was held recently by the late Archduke Franz Ferdinand, +the heir to the Austrian throne. + +Andrä had held a post in Siebenbürgen, in Hungary, under the Archduke +Johann, for some years before his appointment to be a professor at Bonn. +He was very fond of the Hungarians and told me that he and some friends +were one evening at a restaurant in a village in Hungary, where three or +four musicians played so delightfully that his party kept giving them +money to continue, and that he was sure that they went on playing until +about five o’clock the following morning. He was passionately fond of +music, and I would often ask him to play me some Austrian marches and +waltzes on the piano, which he did with the true Austrian spirit. His +daughter never played the piano, telling me that unless you can play +exceptionally well, it is better to leave it alone. I wish all English +girls were of her opinion. + +German girls are as a rule very clever, and have a good deal to say +for themselves. They are highly sentimental, far more so than English +girls, and can generally read French and English books easily enough, +though I found that they could speak very little of these languages, as +they had very little practice and few occasions to do so. Every girl in +Germany can do the most difficult needlework, embroidery and knitting +wonderfully well, in addition to which she thoroughly understands how to +cook a good dinner. Fräulein Andrä generally cooked the dinner herself, +though she had servants, one of whom was a sort of cook. I remember that, +in more recent years, at the Hôtel Neckar at Heidelberg, I caught sight +of a pretty, graceful young girl wearing an apron going into the hôtel +kitchen, and, on my asking who she was, I was told that she was the +daughter of a count, and engaged to be married to a young count of high +family, but before her marriage she was required to learn cooking for six +months at this hôtel. + +There were at this time several English families whom I knew residing at +Bonn, among them being Captain and Mrs. Bean, who were living there to +educate their children, and to whose house I was often invited to tea. I +recollect once Mrs. Bean telling me and some other friends of hers that +she intended going to a masked ball dressed as a gipsy fortune-teller, +with packs of cards and bells sewn over her costume. On my arrival at the +ball, I had no difficulty in recognizing this dress, but the voice of the +wearer seemed very different from that of Mrs. Bean, and it transpired +that the fortune-teller was Captain Bean, who, as his wife found herself +unable to go to the ball, owing to a severe cold, had assumed her costume +and come instead. He intrigued a great many people who were there, +telling them their fortunes and more about themselves than they cared to +know, and got a good deal of amusement out of his impersonation, no one +but myself having the least idea who he was the whole time. + +There were also two sons of Peabody, the millionaire, at Bonn. The name +they were known by was George, and one of them was married and had two +very pretty daughters. The Georges were quite unaware who their father +was until after Peabody’s death, when they were angry at only being left +two thousand pounds a year each, the bulk of Peabody’s enormous fortune +having been bequeathed to charities. + +The Carnival was very amusing for young people, as everyone had to be +disguised and masked during the three days it lasted, and this custom +afforded a good deal of fun. Besides, every house was thrown open, and +we entered the houses of different people whom we knew with our masks +on, and partook of tea and cakes without being recognized. The students, +and, indeed, most young men, wore a blue blouse and white kid gloves, and +a mask, over which a blue cap with a red tassel was worn. Some of the +English girls at Bonn asked me to get up a ball, but only the bachelors +would have anything to do with it. I arranged with the proprietor of the +Rheineck Hotel that the ball should be given there, and he prepared his +large dining-room for the dancing and a room adjoining it for the supper. +The supper was to be provided at so much a head, wine being extra, as is +the general custom in Germany. The members of the committee wore red, +white and blue rosettes in their buttonholes. About sixty or seventy +people came to this ball, including the officers of the King’s Hussars, +who, of course, were present in uniform, and it went off very well, as it +was conducted on English lines, and was a much more free and easy affair +than the average German ball. The supper was a very passable one, and +a great deal of wine was consumed, particularly sparkling Moselle and +champagne, so the company was pretty merry. Miss Edith Horrocks was the +belle of the ball. She danced chiefly with a young Baron von Plessen, an +officer in the King’s Hussars, whom she afterwards married, though, as +there was not much money on either side, the young officer’s father, who +was a general of cavalry, at first made some difficulties. It was five +o’clock in the morning before the last guests had taken their departure. + +During the winter several small dances were given by different English +families, and these I generally attended. I also went to some German +balls, but, as there were no English present except myself, and they were +conducted in a very stiff and formal manner, I cannot say that I derived +much pleasure from them, apart from the dancing itself, of which I was +then very fond. + +At Von Sybel’s lectures I made the acquaintance of a young man named +Hans Delbrück, whom I liked very much indeed. He afterwards became a +university professor, and was imprisoned some years ago for having +expressed certain political views which were not in accordance with those +of the “All Highest.” He is now Professor of History at the University +of Berlin. Some little time before the War he was interviewed by the +correspondent of the _Daily Mail_, when he gave his opinion about the +possibility of a war between Great Britain and Germany. + +During the spring and summer there was very little going on at Bonn, +with the exception of steam-boat excursions up and down the Rhine. For +the residents, the winter is the season, but the climate at that time +of year is no better than in England; indeed, it is perhaps even worse +than in some English towns, as in the morning there are often thick fogs +rising from the river. Living at Bonn is cheap—cheaper than at Wiesbaden +or Frankfurt, to say nothing of Homburg, which is far more expensive and +much more pleasant in summer. But there are many worse places than Bonn +in the winter, so far as amusements are concerned. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + + The Countess Czerwinska—The Countess Broel Plater—Mlle. + de Laval—The Duchesse de Grammont—An Absent-Minded + Gentleman—Dusauty, the Fencing Master—The Marquis of + Anglesey—Charming Venezuelans—Miss Fanny Parnell + + +After finishing my studies at Bonn, I returned to Paris and rejoined my +parents. I was very happy in Paris, of which I have always been very +fond; but what I missed there chiefly at that time was the companionship +of young fellows of my own age. This reminds me of what Jim Doyne once +said to me when he came to visit me there:— + +“I should like Paris better than London, if I could only fill the place +with my English friends, and send some of these Frenchmen to London +instead.” + +I often experienced this very same feeling in Paris. It was very rarely +that I met a Frenchman of my own age that I cared for, as I did for some +English and Americans. Once at the Opéra Comique I happened to sit in +the stalls next a young Frenchman, who was very pleasant, and whom I got +to know well afterwards. This was the Vicomte Frédéric de Kilmaine, who, +though of Irish extraction, could not speak a single word of English. A +few days after I had made the Vicomte’s acquaintance I went for a drive +with him in his pretty victoria to the Bois de Boulogne, where we had +some refreshments at one of the cafés there before returning to Paris. +He often afterwards came to take me for a drive, and we became very good +friends. The Vicomte de Kilmaine, however, was an exception so far as +young Frenchmen were concerned, for I never became very intimate with any +of them. M. de Lesquier d’Attainville, grandson of the Prince de Rivoli, +Duc de Masséna, was a very nice fellow, and I liked him exceedingly; but +he was older than myself, and I did not see him very often except at the +different houses which I visited of an afternoon or evening. I also liked +Prince Jean Radziwill, who was a Pole, but I saw even less of him than I +did of M. de Lesquier d’Attainville, and, besides, he was much older than +I was, and a few years make a world of difference when one is very young. + +In after years, at Franzensbad, in Bohemia, I made the acquaintance of +the Countess Broel Plater and her son and daughter-in-law. The Countess, +by her first marriage, was the Princess Lubomirska, and Prince Jean +Radziwill was her son-in-law. The Countess was delighted to hear that I +had known Prince Jean so well in former years, and told me many things +about him. I often used to meet the Prince at Baroness Adelsdorfer’s +hôtel in Paris, and also at the Countess Czerwinska’s, _née_ Countess +Czajkowska, and I remember him telling me that he was best man at the +last-named lady’s marriage. It was a marriage of affection, and a son +was born a year or so later; but subsequently the pair had a quarrel +and refused to live together any more. The husband was afterwards quite +willing to make it up, but the Countess absolutely declined to do so, +though Prince Radziwill said he did everything he could to persuade +her to be reconciled. The Countess had the right to keep her little +son Stanislaus, who was a boy seven years old. At the time I knew her +in Paris, according to Russian law, in the event of a separation or a +divorce, the mother has always the custody of the sons, and the father +that of the daughters. This ought to be the rule in England, but, as we +are an eccentric nation, our laws quite naturally differ from those of +all others. + +The Countess Czerwinska was a very good-looking, fair young woman, of +about four-and-twenty. She was extremely well read and very intellectual, +and appeared perfectly to idolize her son. She was very fond of the poet +Mickiewicz, whose poems she often recited to me in Polish, afterwards +giving me her own translation of them in French. It was said that +she was employed by the Russian Government to find out political +secrets, and the salon at her hôtel in the Rue Chaillot was always +filled with men from the Ministère des Affaires Etrangères, like M. de +Lesquier d’Attainville, and also with representatives of the various +embassies.[25] She asked me once to procure her an invitation to a +private masked ball given by the millionaire Ménier, who had made his +fortune with the famous chocolate of that name, which I did, and escorted +her also to the Concours Hippique at the Palais de l’Industrie. + +The Countess Broel Plater was an old lady, who in her younger days had +been, she told me, lady-in-waiting to the Empress of Russia, consort of +Nicholas I. She also informed me that she had been brought up in the +Palace at St. Petersburg, and that she was really a daughter of the +Tsar, as everyone at the Court knew. One day, when we were taking coffee +and listening to the band in the Kur Park at Franzensbad, she piqued my +curiosity not a little by telling me that there were so many secrets +at the Russian Court, that to reveal them would make one’s blood run +cold, and that, to her knowledge, three cold-blooded murders had been +perpetrated at the Palace at Petersburg during the time she was living +there. She mentioned all the details of these crimes, which had been +committed at the instigation of those in power at that time, and even +the names of the victims, observing that at the time of their occurrence +she was pledged to secrecy, failing which, she would have been poisoned +herself. “No one,” she concluded, “can possibly realize, unless they have +lived, as I have, at the Russian Court, what fearful things have happened +there, simply in order to satisfy the caprice of a sovereign. Whether it +was the destruction of a girl, man or woman, it mattered not, so long +as the removal of the person served to conceal something which the Tsar +desired should not be made public.” + +While relating these events, the Countess became quite excited, and her +recital of them was so dramatic that one could almost imagine that she +had actually taken part in them. She gave me, in fact, quite a creepy +feeling, so that I was really relieved when she came to an end of her +accounts of these tragic episodes. She afterwards told me that she was +going to Nice with her son, whom I frequently met at Franzensbad with his +lovely young wife, and I used to sit in the Kur and talk to them. The +Countess Broel Plater had a charming villa, in which she had an aviary +containing all kinds of rare birds, and it was her delight to sit near +this aviary, admiring the gorgeous plumage of her beautiful birds and +listening to them sing, while she thought how fortunate she was to have +finished with the Russian Court and its dark tragedies. She told me that +she knew the family of Count Branicki at Nice, and also the Countess +Zamoyska, a very lovely woman, who had only very recently married, and +was at that time the greatest heiress in Poland. Liszt says of Polish +women: “_Ce qu’elles veulent, c’est l’attachement; ce qu’elles espèrent, +c’est le dévouement; ce qu’elles exigent, c’est l’honneur, le regret et +l’amour de la patrie, ce qui faisait dire à l’Empereur Nicholas I.: ‘Je +pourrais en finir des Polonais, si je venais à bout des Polonaises.’_” + +The Countess invited me to stay with her at Nice in the winter, if I +were able to go there, but, for some reason, I was prevented from doing +so. She took a great fancy to my little girl, Xenia, who was with me at +the time and was then seven years old, saying that she reminded her of a +near relative of her own, who also bore the Russian name of Xenia, which +increased not a little the Countess’s interest in my daughter. + +In Paris I always attended the “_jours_” of the Countess Dzialyńska, +sister of Prince Czartoryski. Her daughter, Countess Hélène Dzialyńska, +spoke English fluently, and told me she could learn any language in a +fortnight. She wrote a book in French against capital punishment, called +_Sur la peine de mort_, which had a large circulation. The Princess +Czartoryska was a royal princess, a Bourbon, and lived at the Maison +Lambert. Among their friends was a Swedish officer attached to the +Embassy, who was a frequent guest at their soirées. He was no longer +young, but always wore a corset and lavender kid gloves, and never took +his gloves off even to eat his supper. In his younger days he had been +dubbed, “_la fille du régiment_,” and this nickname still clung to +him. I met him there frequently, and he still considered himself quite +irresistible _auprès des dames_. + +I used to go about a good deal in Paris at this time with Cecil Slade, a +boy of fourteen, the son of a friend of my father, General Sir William +Slade. He usually called for me of an afternoon, and we took long walks +on the Boulevards. A girl friend whom I made was Mlle. Julie Piétri, +who was about fourteen. I often called at her father’s house in the +Champs-Elysées, and one day I said to Madame Piétri, before her daughter, +that I wondered why French girls were not allowed the same liberty with +boys which English girls enjoyed. Madame Piétri answered that it might +be all right with English girls, but if French ones were allowed to be +alone with gentlemen, the consequences might be disastrous, as French +girls could not control their feelings. I thought this a strange thing +to say before her daughter, and I observed that Mlle. Julie looked +rather confused at her mother’s remark and blushed, but she did not say +anything in reply. About this time, I made the acquaintance of a young +girl called Isabelle, about whom I have already written in “Society +Recollections in Paris and Vienna.” Isabelle was allowed more freedom +than Mlle. Piétri, and was not always with her mother, and I found out +that Madame Piétri may have been right in her conjectures. Nevertheless, +I cannot help thinking that French girls are treated rather too severely +in this respect, and that if they were permitted a little more liberty, +they would not suffer so much as their mothers suppose. + +In Paris, at this time, I had many friends among girls, but few among +young fellows of my own age. I cannot say that I was in love with any of +the former; indeed, I felt quite indifferent towards them. I certainly +admired Isabelle very much at first, but only for a time, and was almost +glad when our flirtation came to an end. Such, however, is the perversity +of human nature, that no sooner had I lost her than I began to regret +her. After some weeks had passed I saw her again, when I believed that +she had deceived me with an American, and was not worthy of my regret. +She informed me that this American had made her certain proposals, which +she had refused; but I had a strong suspicion that this was not the case, +and that her admirer had afterwards left Paris. I never met her again. +She suddenly disappeared, and, though I was very curious to learn what +had become of her, I was never able to find out. She vanished like some +fantastic apparition, leaving no trace whatever behind, or like a pebble +cast into the water, which leaves only a momentary impression on the +surface to indicate the spot where it has disappeared. + +Some time afterwards I made the acquaintance of a Mlle. de Laval, who was +poor, but of a very noble family. Her ancestors had been Ducs de Laval, +and she was related to some of the old noblesse of the time of Louis XVI. +They had almost all been guillotined, and but few members of her family +remained. She frequently told me stories about her ancestors, some of +whom had been reduced to poverty. Mlle. de Laval was an intimate friend +of a Mlle. Gabrielle de Tercin, a very pretty actress, who played at the +Porte Saint-Martin Theatre. I was a good deal in the company of these +girls, and used often to sup with them after the theatre. Mlle. de Tercin +had a friend who was very wealthy, and had furnished a fine _appartement_ +for her, to which I sometimes went with Mlle. de Laval. + +Another acquaintance of mine was a certain baroness, the widow of an +attaché in Paris. She was at one time considered a very lovely woman, and +certainly possessed very fine auburn hair and a very good complexion. She +had a pretty hôtel in the Rue Lord Byron, where she received a great many +visitors in the evening, chiefly of the sterner sex. She told me once +that the old Duc de Persigny had called upon her when she was alone and +handed her an envelope. + +“_Qu’est-ce que c’est que cela?_” she asked. + +To which he replied in trembling tones:— + +“_Oh, Madame, ce n’est qu’une petite fleur, rien qu’une petite fleur ... +que je viens vous offrir._” + +She opened the envelope and found that it contained fourteen thousand +francs in banknotes. She at once threw the notes in the ducal donor’s +face, saying:— + +“_Sortez, Monsieur, à l’instant de chez moi; je ne veux ni de vous ni de +votre petite fleur non plus._” + +The Duke entreated her to listen to him, but she only added:— + +“_Entendez-vous, je veux que vous sortiez d’ici._” + +Whereupon he withdrew, and she never set eyes on him again, so she told +me. I met her years afterwards in Vienna, when she was not so rich, and, +though nearly sixty, was dressed more like sixteen and painted up to her +eyes. She told me that Austrians were not so generous as Frenchmen, but +that she preferred Englishmen to all others. She was now inclined to +regret her treatment of the Duc de Persigny, though she laughed at the +recollection of it still. Prince Rudolf von Liechtenstein called upon her +in Vienna and sent her some beautiful flowers, when she remarked to me:— + +“To think that I have to content myself in Vienna with flowers! But the +Austrians are all so terribly mean.” + +Amongst my mother’s friends in Paris society at this time was Madame +Leleu, whom she saw very frequently. Madame Leleu was a widow, and lived +in a large _appartement_ close to the Madeleine. When her husband was +alive, she was very fond of dining with him at different restaurants, +but since his death she had lived very quietly, and merely invited a +few friends like ourselves to tea with her at five o’clock. Before her +marriage she had been a Miss Beauclerk, and the Duke of St. Albans was +her grandfather. She had at one time been engaged to Lord Cantelupe, but +on her wedding day, while she was actually waiting in her bridal dress at +the altar, she was informed that Lord Cantelupe had died quite suddenly. +She told me about this sad event herself one day when she was visiting +her aunt, Mrs. Healey, in the Rue d’Albe, but I don’t remember what was +the cause of Lord Cantelupe’s death. + +My mother also saw a good deal of the Duchesse de Grammont, who was a +daughter of The MacKinnon of MacKinnon. She was very clever, though +somewhat stiff in her manner, and while her husband was living gave some +very smart dinner-parties. The Duchess had a fine house at Folkestone, a +place of which she was very fond; but after her husband’s death she would +sometimes let this house for the season at forty guineas a week. Her +son, the present Duc de Grammont, married a daughter of Baron James de +Rothschild, one of the Paris family of that name. The Hon. Mrs. Graves, +a first cousin of the Duchess, who always stayed with her when in Paris, +was a very great friend of my mother, and often dined with us in the Rue +d’Albe. + +The Duchesse de Caracciolo, an American by birth, who was remarkably +good-looking and very “_spirituelle_,” was a great deal in Paris at this +time, and frequently came to see my mother, who was very fond of her. My +mother always told me that the Duchess was just the kind of lady I should +have admired; but, as Fate would have it, I was not fortunate enough to +meet her in Paris. + +Mrs. Goldsmid, a Roman Catholic and the daughter of a baronet, who lived +with her son in the Avenue des Champs-Elysées, was also a friend of +my parents, and she was very intimate with the Duchesse de Grammont, +whom, with her sons, the Duc de Guiche and the Comte de Grammont, I met +sometimes of an evening at her house. I met them more frequently after +Mrs. Goldsmid’s son married a very beautiful English girl, when the +Duchess frequently dined there. After dinner we used to play cards, of +which Goldsmid was very fond. He was at one time a great friend of my +father, and they used to attend races together near Paris. He and his +mother knew all the best people in the Faubourg Saint-Germain, as well as +in the American colony. The son, before his marriage, which ended most +disastrously for the wife, chiefly frequented the society of Americans, +while his mother, who was a most intelligent woman, was fonder of the +French. The conversation at their house, when guests happened to be +present, was always carried on in French, as both mother and son spoke +the language perfectly. + +One day, when we were walking in the Champs-Elysées, my father pointed +a man out to me whom, he said, he would not care to know at any price. +He was a tall, well-built, fine-looking man, with a long fair beard. His +name was Baron de Malortie, and he was a first cousin of Bismarck. I +asked my father why he would not care to know him, to which he replied:— + +“Because he is always fighting duels; he has fought about thirty in +Paris, and has always killed or wounded his adversary.” + +Some months later, I happened to be again in the Champs-Elysées, when +I saw my father in the distance, walking arm-in-arm with a man whom I +thought resembled Malortie. In the evening I asked him with whom he was +walking in so friendly a fashion in the Champs-Elysées that afternoon. + +“It was Malortie,” he answered. “He is such a nice fellow; I don’t know +anyone I like better!” + +On one occasion my father was walking with two friends of his in Paris, +when he turned to one of them, a Mr. Segrave, and said:— + +“I don’t think you know my friend....” + +When the gentleman addressed promptly replied in a loud voice:— + +“No, and I have no wish to know him either.” + +My father told me that ever since then he had avoided introducing men to +each other, as one never knew whether they had not had some quarrel, as +was the case in this instance. + +[Illustration: The Author’s Father. + +[_To face p. 144._] + +My father was subject to frequent fits of absent-mindedness, and I +recollect once in Paris telling him a long story, and asking his opinion +from time to time. He answered merely in monosyllables, and when I came +to the end, and inquired what conclusion he had arrived at about the +whole affair, he observed:— + +“I was not listening to what you said, and have not the faintest idea +what you were telling me about.” + +Once, in Paris, he invited some people to dine at our house, but forgot +to tell my mother about it, so that when the guests arrived, there was +no dinner prepared for them, and everything had to be sent for from a +restaurant, which, of course, entailed great delay. On another occasion, +there were seven or eight people dining with us, amongst whom was General +Sir John Douglas, Lady Elizabeth Douglas, Captain and Mrs. Berkeley, the +Marquise Brian de Bois-Guilbert and Mrs. Joe Riggs. When the soup, which +my father was supposed to serve, was put on the table, he was so engaged +in conversation with Lady Elizabeth Douglas, that he unconsciously helped +himself to it, and began calmly to eat, talking all the while. My mother, +having drawn Captain Berkeley’s attention to what the host was doing, the +latter said, laughing:— + +“I say, old fellow, I hope you are enjoying the soup, but all this time +you are keeping us waiting, and we should like to enjoy it as well.” + +My father then realized what he had done, apologized and said:— + +“Upon my word, I am so absent-minded that I did not know what I was +doing.” + +In later years, while in India, I made the acquaintance of the Vicomte +Arthur d’Assailly, and, meeting him afterwards in Paris, was invited to +call upon him at his hôtel in the Rue Las Cases. I happened to mention +this to my father, when he told me that I should be careful about the +people whom I called on, as there were so many adventurers in Paris. Some +months later, I went with my father to a club, where someone slapped +him on the back, and, to my great surprise, it was none other than +d’Assailly. My father then told me that he had known him for years, and +that he was an excellent fellow, but that he must have been thinking of +something else when I asked whether I should call on him, and so did +not catch the name I had mentioned, and thought I had come across some +adventurer or other. + +The Baroness Adelsdorfer gave my father one day, when he happened to +call upon her, a very important letter to post, which he promised to put +into the letter-box as he was going out. She told him that she wanted +an immediate answer to this letter, so that he was to post it at once. +He carried this letter about with him for a whole week, when, in my +presence, he suddenly discovered it in his pocket. On his returning to +the Baroness, she asked him about this letter, to which she was still +awaiting a reply. + +“Oh! I posted it all right, depend upon it,” he replied, laughing. “There +has been some delay somewhere.” + +The Baroness, however, knew him of old, and exclaimed:— + +“I know you must have forgotten to post it; I should not be surprised if +you still have it in your pocket.” + +I met the Baroness Adelsdorfer once at Longchamps, near the entrance +to the Grand Stand, just before the races began, when, stepping out of +her carriage—a very fine turn-out—she came up to me very excitedly, and +exclaimed:— + +“It is really too bad of your father. I have been waiting here for him +for half an hour, as he promised to get me a ticket for the Jockey Club +Stand, and I don’t see the least sign of him.” + +My father, as a matter of fact, had forgotten all about the poor +Baroness, and did not put in an appearance at Longchamps that day. +However, the lady fortunately managed to get the ticket she wanted from +some other member of the club. + +At this time, my father used to be always with Captain Lennox Berkeley +(afterwards Earl of Berkeley), and I recollect his saying to me on +several occasions:— + +“Whenever I have a difficult business letter to write, I always ask +Berkeley’s advice. I never met anyone who could write such a good +business letter as he can.” + +Once, when Berkeley was away from Paris, he said to me: + +“I wish Berkeley were here; I have such a bothering letter to write and +he could do it so well for me.” + +I offered to try my hand at this letter, and composed one which he said +would answer the purpose. But I discovered afterwards that he had torn it +up, and, later, he admitted having done so, saying:— + +“You cannot write like Berkeley; I don’t know anybody else who can.” + +While on the subject of letter-writing, I may mention that my mother +frequently expressed regret that she had not kept the letters written to +her by her aunt, Lady Caroline Murray, observing that they were so well +written and so beautifully expressed that they were quite equal in every +respect to those of Madame de Sévigné. + +I took lessons in fencing at this time from Dusauty, who had been in +the “Cent Gardes” during the Empire, though Sir Edward Cunninghame, a +well-known duellist in Paris, had advised my learning from Pons, who had +been his instructor. I liked the way Dusauty taught me very much. He was +one of the finest fencers whom I had ever seen, and taught some of the +most redoubtable duellists, who often came to fence with him just before +a duel. I fenced with some of them when Dusauty happened to be engaged +in giving another lesson, which was a great pleasure to me. Dusauty was +quite young, only seven-and-twenty, a very fine-looking, dark man, six +feet, two inches in height. Unhappily, he died not long afterwards. His +death, it was said, was attributable to the constant shouting and the +amount of dust which he was obliged to inhale while engaged in giving +his fencing lessons, which caused him to contract the lung disease which +proved fatal. I learned to fence with both hands, and preferred fencing +with my left hand to my right. In after years, I lost the use of my right +arm, and Colonel Crawley, an Old Etonian, who was then in my regiment, +though he afterwards exchanged into the Coldstream Guards, and with whom +I often used to fence, remarked that it seemed as though I had foreseen +that I should one day lose the use of that arm. + +When Captain Berkeley went to live at Fontainebleau with his wife and +family, my father was mostly with Lord Henry Paget, who afterwards +became Marquis of Anglesey. Lord Henry’s only son, who, when his father +succeeded to the marquisate, became Earl of Uxbridge, was a charming +little boy, with very pleasing manners, who was generally dressed as a +British sailor. He lived at this time almost entirely with the Boyds, +and his aunt, Mrs. Yorke, had charge of him until he went to Eton. My +father and I used frequently to meet him in the Champs-Elysées with his +governess, when he would always run up to us to have a chat. His father, +the Marquis of Anglesey, was very fond of horses, as was my father, and +their tastes were pretty much the same. They were both greatly attached +to Paris, though neither of them could really speak French, their +knowledge of which was confined to a few words. Lord Anglesey, indeed, +never even tried to speak the language, and avoided French people who +could not talk English. My father, on the other hand, rather liked to +meet them, and contrived somehow to make himself understood. The racing +in the neighbourhood of Paris was a great attraction to both Lord +Anglesey and my father, but I do not think the former ever made a bet. I +cannot say the same for the latter, who sometimes betted rather heavily. +Lord Anglesey was particularly fond of dining at restaurants, where he +and my father in later years often dined together, sometimes inviting +other friends. After dinner, as they both detested theatres, they played +billiards, of which they were very fond, as they both played a very good +game. Neither of them cared for balls and parties, and they both, as a +rule, hated all kinds of ceremony. After dinner they liked to smoke a +pipe, though they were at times fond of a good Havana cigar. This was +somewhat difficult to procure in Paris, but M. de Francisco-Martin, of +the Guatemala Legation, would often make my father a present of a box +of cigars, which he received direct from Havana free of any duty, as he +belonged to the Corps Diplomatique. The society which they preferred +was that which attached little importance to matters of etiquette and +ceremonial, except on certain occasions, as, for instance, when Lord +Lyons, the British Ambassador, dined with Lord Anglesey. Then everything +was carried to the other extreme, the Marquis priding himself on making +a very great display in the way of silver plate and beautiful flowers, +while the very best dinner which Madame Chevet, of the Palais-Royal, +could supply, together with the choicest wines and liqueurs, was +provided. An American lady, whom the Marquis admired very much, was +usually invited to preside and entertain the Ambassador. + +There was an Englishman in Paris whose name was Field, and at one time +Lord Anglesey was on rather friendly terms with him; but one day the +Marquis told my father that he gave himself airs, so that he intended +to drop his acquaintance. Field was a very short, dark, clean-shaven +man, more like an American than an Englishman. He used to receive every +afternoon, when he was with the Marquis, my father and myself, various +lavender-coloured notes, highly perfumed, on receiving which he would +exclaim: + +“Another letter from —— ——!” mentioning the name of a celebrated actress. + +I asked him once, when he had given me the note to read, if she often +wrote to him in that style, to which he replied that sometimes he +received such notes from her every hour in the day. After Lord Anglesey +had quarrelled with him I never met him again in Paris. I think he must +have gone away, or perhaps he used to avoid the spot in the Champs +Elysées where the Marquis and my father generally sat from five to six in +the afternoon, to watch the carriages go by. + +Lord Anglesey occupied a very fine _appartement_ in the Avenue Kléber, +which he rented when he was still Lord Henry Paget. I recollect my father +and I meeting him in the Champs-Elysées just after his half-brother’s +death, when the former congratulated him on having succeeded to the +title, and the new Marquis said:— + +“I shall only have about £80,000 a year at present, I think, but perhaps +more later, as my brother was heavily insured.” + +Some days afterwards, my father asked him whether he intended to put his +servants into powder, when he replied:— + +“I am afraid I can’t afford that yet, as I should have to keep at least +twelve footmen, six in powder, and the other six to relieve them; but +later on I may be able to manage it; at least, I hope so.” + +The windows of Lord Anglesey’s _appartement_ facing the street were +furnished with very conspicuous pink-coloured blinds, adorned on the +outside with very large coronets, which caused a good deal of comment. +I remember asking Lord Conyers, who was a friend of the Marquis, why +the latter was so fond of displaying these large coronets on almost +everything he used, and that Lord Conyers answered that Lord Anglesey +had inherited this taste, which was a purely French one, from the French +Kings, Louis XIV. and Louis XV., to whom his ancestors were related, but +that in other respects his habits and ways were entirely English. + +Folliot Duff and his wife and daughters were then living in Paris. He +was a brother of Billy Duff, whose widow also resided there. Folliot +Duff was a good boxer, and in Paris he conceived a great passion for +fencing. I often called on the Duffs, when he invariably used to turn the +conversation to his favourite hobby. He was a very agreeable man, but I +never remember seeing him without his giving me a lecture on fencing, or +occasionally, by way of a change, on boxing. Mrs. Folliot Duff was a very +great friend of my mother, and, after her husband’s death, she used often +to come and dine with us. + +M. de Francisco-Martin, son of the Minister for Guatemala, and +brother-in-law of the Marquis de San Carlos, formerly Spanish Ambassador +in Paris, was also a great friend of the Duffs. He lived in a very fine +hôtel in the Rue Fortin, which he sold to the Marquis of Anglesey for +£40,000. The latter, however, only lived there a month with his last +wife. Francisco-Martin often used to pay us a visit of an evening, when +his conversation ran mainly on horses and racing, for which he shared my +father’s partiality. + +I used occasionally to visit the daughters of the Minister for Venezuela, +who lived in a very fine _appartement_ on the Avenue d’Iéna. One of them, +who was then about sixteen, was an exceedingly pretty girl, with blue +eyes, jet black hair, small but beautiful features, and very white teeth, +and the way in which she spoke Spanish was charming to listen to, so soft +did it sound. I often went to her _appartement_, when she would invite +me to take tea, and sometimes I found her alone, as her sister, who was +engaged to be married, was generally with her _fiancé_. The younger +sister, whose name was Mercèdes, made me speak Spanish to her at times; +at others we spoke French, and the time I spent with her seemed to pass +very quickly—too quickly, indeed, to please me. + +I recollect calling one day on Madame de Passy and meeting there the +Marchioness de Peñafiel, whose husband afterwards succeeded the Count de +San Miguel as Portuguese Minister in Paris. The Marchioness was wearing +that day a very pretty hat covered with white flowers, for which, she +told Madame de Passy, she had just given 300 francs. As she was on the +point of leaving, it began to rain, and although the Marchioness’s +gorgeous equipage was waiting at the door for her, she was so fearful +lest her mew hat should be spoiled, that, with Madame de Passy’s help, +she covered it entirely over with a lace handkerchief, and then advanced +bravely to her carriage, escorted by a footman, holding an umbrella over +her head. The Marchioness de Peñafiel was a great friend of the Minister +for Venezuela and his lovely daughters, of whom I have just spoken. + +One day, when I happened to be visiting the Shards, who lived in the +same house as Madame de Passy, I was telling the second daughter, Sophie +Shard, a good-looking young girl, what trouble I had to get a good valet, +when she said:— + +“Why don’t you take a pretty girl and dress her in a page’s costume? I +am sure she would suit you much better than a boy. I should do this if +I were you, and I know you will be grateful to me for the advice I have +given you, if you only follow it.” + +I thought her idea, which reminded me of Goethe’s Wilhelm Meister, +excellent, but, as I was not my own master, I could not quite see my way +to carry it out. + +About this time, I made the acquaintance of Madame Saba, who lived in +the same _appartement_ as Mlle. Daram, of the Grand Opéra. The latter +was a very pretty girl, with an exquisite figure, who possessed a fine +contralto voice. She made it a rule to get up at seven o’clock every +morning to practice her singing, and never broke it. She always played +page’s parts, for which she was paid 18,000 francs a year, and, though +she had a friend, a French marquis, who had about £16,000 a year, and +wanted her to give up the stage, she refused to do so, saying that she +wished to be quite independent. The _appartement_ in which these two +ladies lived was furnished with every comfort and convenience one could +possibly wish for, including a good library; and one day when they +happened to be out when I called, I was given Labiche’s plays to read to +amuse me until their return. + +There was an Irish lady residing in Paris, who used to give a dance +once a fortnight during the winter. I recollect that amongst her guests +on one occasion was a French countess, who wore a gown which was very +_décolletée_ indeed, so much so that several English ladies commented +upon it. The lady of the house mentioned this to a young French count, +who observed:— + +“_On aime à voir ces choses, mais on n’aime pas qu’on vous les fasse +voir._” Saying which, he borrowed a shawl from his hostess, and, stepping +up to the countess, put it over her shoulders, telling her that all the +ladies were so much afraid lest she should take cold. The countess, who +was watching a game of whist at the time, thanked him for the attention +without taking her eyes off the cards, and then pulled the shawl tighter +round her shoulders. + +Miss Fanny Parnell, who was half Irish and half American, was then one of +the loveliest girls in Paris. She was also one of the best dressed and +most attractive in every way. She was a severe critic of her own sex, +and her opinion of English girls was not a high one. On one occasion she +wrote to me:— + +“_I think, as you do, that English girls are, many of them, very fast. +They seem to be so anxious to get rid of their reputation for being dull +and stiff that they set no bounds to their liveliness._” + +On another occasion, when I told her that I was going to Folkestone, she +observed: + +“The girls in Kent, what I saw of them, were each one uglier than the +other. So your fate is, I fear, not to be envied, knowing as I do your +strong _penchant_ for pretty faces.” + +Miss Fanny Parnell died very young, quite in the flower of her youth, in +the United States; but the report I read in a newspaper to the effect +that Mrs. Parnell died there afterwards in poverty was, I am pleased to +say, incorrect, for her daughter, Mrs. Paget, informed me some years ago +that when Mrs. Parnell died she was with her in Ireland, and that she was +surrounded by every possible luxury. + +Miss Minnie Warren, an American from Boston, who afterwards married a +Vanderbilt, was one of the loveliest young girls I ever met. She was +then living with her parents in an hôtel on the Boulevard Haussmann, +and I used frequently to meet her at parties and balls given by wealthy +Americans. One afternoon I went to tea at her house, as I always did +by invitation two or three times a week, and found her father sitting +down reading _The Times_. He never so much as looked at me, but went on +reading, while I sat silent and feeling far from comfortable, until Mrs. +Warren came in and said:— + +“I suppose you have come to see my daughters; they will be home soon.” + +I felt very much relieved when, a few minutes after, I was shown into the +charming daughters’ salon, where I felt, as I always did, “_au septième +ciel_.” + +Another remarkably pretty girl whom I knew was Mlle. Waterlot, whose +acquaintance I made through the Marquise Brian de Bois Guilbert. I +introduced her to Miss Parnell, as she wanted to go to some American +balls. She found, however, her inability to speak English a great +drawback at these functions, as American young men did not care to talk +French, which entailed too much mental exertion to please them. Mlle. +Waterlot married some time afterwards the Comte de Lesseps, a son of the +famous engineer of the Suez Canal. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + + Captain Howard Vyse—An Anecdote of Paganini—New Hats for Old + Ones—Albert Bingham—Baron Alphonse de Rothschild—Madame Alice + Kernave—Gambetta + + +During the winter months, I was very fond of going on Sundays to +Pasdeloup’s concerts, which were held in the Cirque d’Hiver. One Sunday, +I met the Vicomte d’Assailly there, who told me that he preferred these +concerts to those at the Conservatoire, as at the latter people did not +cease to talk the whole time, which was very trying for those who, like +himself, really cared for music. He was passionately fond of it. On +one occasion, I went to Pasdeloup’s concert with Captain Howard Vyse, +formerly of the “Blues,” an Old Etonian, and a friend of my father, who +was nicknamed “Punch.” He was placed in a seat near the kettledrums, +while I sat some little distance away, as there were very few vacant +seats. After the concert I asked Vyse how he had enjoyed it, when he told +me that he had never slept better in his life, and had not once heard +the kettledrums. He could speak very little French, but he thoroughly +enjoyed going to the Palais-Royal Theatre, and would often tell me of a +play there which was worth seeing, such as _le Réveillon_, by Meilhac and +Halévy, of which he related to me the plot. He was always very lively, +and sometimes rather amusing, and at times he would invite himself to +dine with us, where he was always very welcome. Once, for some reason or +other, my mother did not want him to stay to dinner, and told him that +she was afraid she had nothing to give him. However, he asked her what +there was, and, on being told, said:— + +“If I had ordered the dinner myself, I could not have anything I like +better.” + +So he remained and dined with us, notwithstanding the excuses my mother +had made for the dinner. My father introduced him to the late Lady Louisa +Meux, sister of the Marquis of Ailesbury, who lived in quite a palace in +the Bois de Boulogne, and had very smart “turn-outs.” She used to give +very good dinners and once invited Howard Vyse to dine with her. Whenever +afterwards my father wanted to annoy him, he would say that he was sure +that Lady Louisa Meux would be pleased to see him at dinner. To which +Vyse would answer angrily:— + +“However badly I might want a dinner, I would not go there for anything.” + +The explanation of this was a secret between my father and Howard Vyse, +and evidently an amusing one, since they always laughed heartily over it. + +Lady Louisa Meux was very rich and highly eccentric. Her husband was in a +lunatic asylum, and she herself was very queer at times. I never knew her +myself, but my father said she occasionally reminded him of a sister of +his, whom he also considered rather eccentric. + +Signor Campobello, whose real name was Campbell, used to sing at a house +to which I was sometimes invited of an afternoon. One day, when he had +just sung a song, the lady of the house went up to him and asked him, in +my hearing, to sing again. He replied: + +“You are aware of my charges—five hundred francs each song.” To which she +rejoined:— + +“I am perfectly well aware of it.” + +Campobello’s wife was Madame Sinico, who was also an operatic singer and +often sang at Covent Garden. + +The Marquise Brian de Bois-Guilbert, a very pretty and +distinguished-looking woman, when dining with us one evening, happened +to remark how badly professional singers were treated by some people, +and related a story of a man and his wife who were invited to dinner by +some rich people in Paris on purpose to avoid paying them for singing +afterwards. However, after these two singers had had their dinner, they +put a louis each on their plates in payment for it, and immediately +afterwards left the house, much to the disgust and disappointment of +their host and hostess, who had invited them expressly to sing to the +other guests. The Marquise herself sang most beautifully and quite like a +professional, having learned of the celebrated Professor Duprez (formerly +of the Grand Opéra), one of whose very best pupils she was; and when she +did so, always insisted that there should be no talking in the room, +otherwise she would leave off singing at once. This was no idle threat, +as I once saw her carry it out myself. + +Captain Berkeley, who was very fond of hearing her sing, would often +remark that English people, as a rule, always begin to talk when anyone +sings or plays, and he once told a story, which, though I have no doubt +it is a very old one, I may as well repeat, for the benefit of those +unacquainted with it: + +On one occasion, when Paganini was playing a violin solo, and had reached +the most pathetic part, he was suddenly interrupted by a certain English +peer, who touched his arm and said:— + +“_Pardon, Monsieur, mais j’ai besoin de causer avec une dame._” + +It appeared that, in order to reach the lady in question, the Englishman +had to pass Paganini, and the bow of the violin happened to be in his way. + +“_Si ce ri est pas vrai, c’est très bien trouvé_,” as Captain Berkeley +observed at the time he told me the story. Let us hope that the lady was +worthy of the interruption. Possibly she was a Venus, in which case there +may have been some excuse for this infatuated peer, whoever he may have +been. + +The Marquise de Brian de Bois-Guilbert used to pay frequent visits to +the Duchesse d’Abrantès at her fine Château de Bailleul, where the +latter’s sister-in-law, the Comtesse de Faverney, painted a portrait of +the Marquise, which she showed me. It was a very fine one, and, unlike +most amateur productions, really resembled the original. The Duchesse +d’Abrantès was then a lovely young blonde, and one of the best portraits +that I ever saw of her was one which she gave to the Marquise. She was +taken in her garden, standing by a favourite horse, with her arm round +the animal’s neck. + +In reference to the Duchesse d’Abrantès, the Marquise once observed, in +the course of a letter to me:— + + “_Her whole family is greatly respected at Versailles, not only + because it is illustrious, but because it is very pious and + very charitable. What kindness of heart, perfect courtesy, and + exquisite and truly Christian benevolence do we find in these + illustrious families! I repeat: nothing is comparable to the + courtesy and perfect breeding of the French nobility, which is + doubly kind when one happens to have fallen into misfortune. + Its soul is as lofty as its rank is elevated; its heart is + excellent. The greatest nobility resides at Versailles, for it + is in greater security there than anywhere else._” + +And she added: + + “_On m’a surnommée ici la rose blanche, puis la blanche + apparition, et j’ai de grand succès de beauté, distinction, + chose rare parmi les femmes; pour mon talent, on est en + extase._” + +I went, in later years, to a very smart ball given by the Marquise de +Blocqueville, at which I met the Comtesse de la Taille des Essarts and +her daughter Gabrielle. The latter, with whom I danced, was a fair girl, +who afterwards married the Marquis de Gabriac. I took the Comtesse, who +was an English lady and a friend of my mother’s, in to supper. When I +left the ball, I looked for my opera-hat, which was quite new, and found +a very old one in its place. They told me at the _vestiaire_ that they +thought the Marquis de Rey had taken mine. I accordingly sent him the hat +with a note, asking the return of mine, and received an answer, saying +that he was not the person who had left this old hat, as his was quite +new, and he would have no particular desire to exchange it. + + “_Je regrette_,” he wrote, “_d’avoir à vous annoncer que le + chapeau que vous m’avez fait remettre hier n’est pas à moi; + l’échange que vous supposez n’est pas de mon fait; MON chapeau + étant entre mes mains.... Ayez donc la bonté de le faire + reprendre chez mon concierge, numéro 11, rue des Saints-Pères, + etc., etc._” + +At the same time, the Marquis expressed the hope that I should find my +own hat, but this I never did. + +The above incident reminds me of a story I heard about General Ronald +Lane, of the Rifle Brigade, who was at one time Equerry to the Duke of +Connaught. The gallant officer in question went, many years ago, to a +ball in London, wearing a perfectly new hat, and, on leaving, found, as I +had done, an old one in its place. He must evidently have determined to +pay someone out for the loss of his hat, for the next time he went to a +ball, which he did soon afterwards, he took this old hat with him, and, +leaving the house early, had time to select the newest of the hats in the +cloak-room and one that fitted him perfectly. + +“You can see for yourself,” said he to the attendant, “that this old hat +can’t possibly belong to me. I must look for it, and I shall soon find +it.” + +In this way, he secured an almost better hat than the one he had lost, +and, of course, he left the old hat in its place. + +At a ball given by an American in Paris, the celebrated composer +Waldteufel was conducting one of his own very delightful waltzes, which +he used at times to play in rather slow time, putting always a great deal +of expression into them, when the master of the house came up to him and +asked if he would mind playing the waltz a trifle faster, since it would +suit the dancers better. Waldteufel, whose _amour-propre_ was wounded by +this request, immediately afterwards struck up the “Dead March in Saul,” +and since then no one dared to interfere with him when he was conducting +his orchestra, which he did at all the principal balls, though his fee +was £150 for the night. It was very interesting to watch him conduct his +orchestra, which was excellent, though by no means numerous. At times, he +played the violin and led the orchestra somewhat in the manner of Edward +Strauss, though he went through more peculiar movements with his arms +and legs than even the latter does. Edward Strauss always seems to dance +himself when he conducts his orchestra and plays waltzes and polkas, +and looks pleasant; but Waldteufel always looked furious. I remember at +balls, when I was dancing a cotillion or a waltz, I used to be rather +afraid of him, as one never knew at any time what eccentricity he might +not be prompted to indulge in. Sometimes, he would stop his orchestra +in the middle of a dance; at others, he would play an overture when you +were expecting a waltz. In fact, with him one had to be prepared for +anything. But the Americans in Paris were such beautiful dancers that +these eccentricities rather pleased them, and, besides, they could dance +to almost any _tempo._ + +The Marquis de Grandmaison used often to dine with us in the Rue d’Albe. +He was a very strongly-built, clean-shaven man, and wore his hair very +short; so much so, indeed, that one day, when he had given a photograph +of himself to my father, the latter said:— + +“You look, my dear fellow, as if you had undergone ten years’ penal +servitude!” + +Grandmaison laughed, as he always enjoyed a joke, even when it was at his +own expense. Generally, he would retaliate, and my father and he used to +make fun of one another. The Marquis, who belonged to one of the noblest +families in France, and was a very wealthy man, owned a beautiful hôtel +in Paris. He had lived in the United States and spoke English like an +American. He was very fond of practical jokes, and would make us all +laugh at the tricks he had played on various people. My mother rather +liked him, but at times he was almost too noisy; in fact, very like a +schoolboy, as he was up to all kinds of fun. He belonged to the Jockey +Club, and generally drove a fine four-in-hand to the races at Longchamps, +and he was very fond of racing. + +The Marquis de Bois-Hébert, the husband of the well-known author, used +also to drive a very fine four-in-hand in Paris at this time. I knew him +very well and have mentioned him in my book, “Society Recollections in +Paris and Vienna.” + +The late Hon. Albert Bingham, brother of Lord Clanmorris, who drew the +pictures in Lady Brassey’s well-known book, used often to dine with +us in the Rue d’Albe, and sometimes brought with him a little pug-dog +called Félice, who was a great favourite, particularly with the ladies. +Bingham was a very pleasant man, with plenty of conversation, and was +most popular in Paris. He was very nice-looking and a good draughtsman, +besides being clever in other ways. I remember him getting me an +invitation to dine with the Naylor-Leylands, who had a fine hôtel in the +Avenue d’Antin, in which the kitchen was at the top of the house. The +Naylor-Leylands had as their secretary a man who had formerly been a +captain in the Rifle Brigade. I was at Eton with Albert Bingham’s nephew, +Lord Clanmorris, who entered the Rifle Brigade. I met him afterwards in +town and also in Paris. He married soon after the last time I saw him. He +has recently died. + +The Piétris sometimes came to see us in the Rue d’Albe, and, on the +marriage of the eldest daughter, Marie, I was invited to the wedding, +at which the two younger sisters acted as bridesmaids, and also to the +ball given just before the married couple started on their honeymoon. +About two hundred people were present at this ball, and the supper was +an excellent one, with champagne. I danced with Mlle. Julie Piétri, who +was a beautiful dancer, and looked very pretty that evening in a dress of +pink tulle, with pearls as ornaments. + +When Captain Hubert de Burgh, formerly of the 11th Hussars, who was an +Old Etonian and a nephew of the Earl of Cardigan, dined with us, as he +often did, my mother always said that she felt sure that he would break +a wine-glass; and he invariably did so. This was previous to his being +attacked by the sad spinal complaint from which he died. One day, in +the Champs-Elysées, he fell in love at sight with a German lady whom my +father knew, and she told him that she had also fallen in love with de +Burgh. My father introduced them to each other, and de Burgh afterwards +left the lady his entire fortune. At one time my father always went with +him to the different race-meetings round Paris. + +In later years, Mr. Tugwell, a banker from Bath, who was on a visit to +Paris, was very anxious to see Ferrières, the magnificent country-seat +of the late Baron Alphonse de Rothschild. Accordingly, having obtained +permission from the Baron himself, who happened to be in Paris at the +time, we went there by train. + +Ferrières is one of the most beautiful properties in the world, and +enjoys quite a European reputation for its magnificence. We went all over +the château itself, entering nearly every room. On our arrival at the top +of the house, I recollect seeing some very elaborate coffins, covered +with gold, standing up against the outside walls of certain rooms. The +servant who showed us over the house explained to us about these coffins, +and said whose they were; but I was only too pleased to go down the +staircase again and see them no more. The servant showed us some of the +beautiful _objets d’art_ and paintings which adorned the walls, and told +us that the house contained _objets d’art_ to the value of nearly one +hundred million francs. Baron Alphonse was the wealthiest of all the +Rothschilds, and all the most remarkable _objets d’art_ which had been +amassed by the family in years gone by had been collected and placed in +the Château de Ferrières. We were told that Rothschild rarely ever gave +permission for visitors to see the inside of the château, as he did not +wish journalists and others to describe the interior of this splendid +house and the wealth it contained, which, we were assured, exceeded +that of any other in Europe. Tugwell, who could not speak French, was +delighted to find that one of the gardeners had lived as head gardener +on his estate near Bath, and had also been a gardener in the service of +the Prince of Wales, afterwards King Edward VII. This man showed us over +the greenhouses, and told us that he was one of twenty-seven gardeners +employed at Ferrières, and that the collection of orchids was the finest +in Europe; and Tugwell, who had a very fine collection himself, admitted, +after seeing them, that such must be the case. + +Baron Alphonse de Rothschild was a fair man with a long beard. He used, +at one time, to ride a very fine chestnut horse, and to go every morning, +accompanied by his daughter, also on horseback, to the Bois de Boulogne, +returning to his hôtel in time for _déjeuner_ at twelve o’clock. Mlle. de +Rothschild died quite young, and the Baron, who never seemed to get over +her death, died himself not long afterwards. + +On one occasion, I went to the Chantilly and to le Vésinet races, and was +shown over the splendid estate of the Duc d’Aumale. Colonel McCall, a +friend of my father, was Equerry to the Duke, and his son, who was an Old +Etonian, served in my regiment, which he commanded in later years. The +Duc d’Aumale bequeathed this splendid property to the French nation. Le +Vésinet races were not of much account, and were only kept going by the +support of the royal owner of Chantilly. + +I went, of course, to Versailles to see the magnificent château and +the beautiful gardens, which are laid out in the most charming manner +imaginable, and, though often imitated, have never been equalled. Le +Petit Trianon, with its splendid collection of roses of every possible +_nuance_—the “Souvenir à la Malmaison,” “Prince Noir,” “La France,” +“Niphetos,” “Boule de Neige,” and so forth—greatly enhance the charm +of that part of the gardens; and when the great fountains are playing, +the view from the terrace is quite fairy-like in its wonderful beauty, +and the château looks like one of those magic palaces described in the +“Arabian Nights.” When there is a display of fireworks and the fountains +are lit up by various coloured lights, you may almost imagine yourself +in fairyland or living in the days of the Caliph Haroun Alrashid, +particularly if one happens to be in the company of a fair lady, as I was +in that of Mlle. Renée Leclerc. + +I went once to Enghien with my mother and the Marquise Brian de +Bois-Guilbert, where we listened to a fine Prussian military band, which +played, as the Marquise observed, better than most French military bands. +It was, however, depressing to reflect that the Prussians were then +in occupation and so near Paris. Enghien is a nice little place, with +an artificial lake and some fine houses, and the public garden, where +the band plays of an afternoon, is a very pretty one. The Marquise de +Bois-Guilbert stayed there during the War, and for some time afterwards, +before returning to Paris, where she usually lived. + +I once visited the Fair of Saint-Germain with some friends. In one of +the shows a woman conjuror singled me out, and asked me to hold a gold +coin in my hand. Then, telling me to keep my hand tightly closed, she +went away to a considerable distance, counted up to three and fired off +a pistol. Afterwards, she asked me to open my hand and to count aloud in +French the pieces it contained, which I found numbered over thirty. How +the trick was performed I have never had the slightest idea to this day. + +I was once at the Cirque d’Hiver, in Paris, when a woman was blindfolded +on the stage; after which her husband came up to me and asked if I had a +foreign bank-note about me. I gave him an Austrian one, which he held in +his hand, and the woman immediately cried out: + +“Austrian ten-florin note, Number 178150.” + +I never was able to discover how this was done. + +I went once with Madame Saint-Hilaire, who wrote some interesting novels, +published by Dentu, of the Palais Royal, and her pretty daughter, Madame +Alice Kernave, who had been an actress in St. Petersburg, to a _séance_ +of spirit-rapping and table-turning, in which they both firmly believed. +But, to tell the truth, I did not think much of it, though the _séances_ +were always very well attended. I did not mind being kept in the dark +when I sat near Madame Alice Kernave, but when I went there alone with +her mother on one occasion I felt rather nervous. I never went again, but +frequently visited the daughter, whom I admired at that time. She had +received, while in St. Petersburg, very handsome presents from a Russian +gentleman, who, she told me, had recently died. She was looking for a +good engagement in _la haute comédie_, in which she was very clever. +I met her some years afterwards at Nice, where she was acting at the +theatre, when she told me that she had lived in great luxury while her +Russian friend was alive, but since then had been obliged to live more +economically in Paris. + +[Illustration: Madame Alice Kernave. + +[_To face p. 164._] + +[Illustration: The late Earl of Berkeley. + +[_To face p. 165._] + +I remember that once the Baron de Vay, a Russian, who lived during the +summer at a villa he owned at Vévey, in Switzerland, called on my mother, +in the Rue d’Albe, with his daughter, a pretty little girl of fourteen. +In the course of conversation, the Baron mentioned that he made a rule +of never knowing certain people for more than a fortnight, after which +he always dropped their acquaintance, if he possibly could, for, as he +explained, in that space of time he learned all their good qualities and +none of their faults. I could not help thinking at the time, and I am +still of the same opinion, that he was a most fortunate man to be able to +do so. The Baron only spoke French and Russian, and did not know a word +of English. + +In later years, when the Earl of Berkeley was living with his +wife and his sister-in-law, the Baronne van Havre, in the Rue de +Saint-Pétersbourg, he took a fancy to the streich melodion (or viola +zither), which is somewhat like the streich zither, and Sighicelli, +the famous violinist of the Grand Opéra, came every evening to give us +lessons, when we all three played together. The streich melodion is a +favourite instrument in Vienna, where thirty or forty of them are at +times played together by young girls in society at the Musik Vereins +Saal, and the effect is quite charming. Some evenings, Taffanel, the +flute-player of the Grand Opéra, brought his silver flute, and really +enchanted all whom Berkeley invited to his house. I remember that, one +evening, Captain Francis Lowther, the father of Miss Toupie Lowther, the +well-known lawn-tennis player, came there. He was a son of the Earl of +Lonsdale and a friend of my father. He told Berkeley how well he spoke +foreign languages, particularly French, when the latter replied that +there was very little merit in his being able to do so, as he had spoken +them all his life. + +At the house of some American friends of ours I had the privilege +of meeting the same evening two of the greatest men of their time: +General Grant and Gambetta. General Grant appeared to me to be a short, +stoutly-built and rather stern-looking man. On being presented to him, I +happened to remark that the day had been a fine one, to which he replied:— + +“I beg to differ from you, sir; the wind was a bitterly cold one from the +North.” + +I afterwards spoke in praise of Paris, and said how much I preferred it +to London, so far as its theatres and other amusements were concerned. +The General replied that he was much pleased with what he had seen of +Paris, but that London and the English interested him far more. He then +asked me several questions about England and the British Army, which I +answered to the best of my ability. My answers seemed to please him, +since he asked me to give him my address, and called on me with his +son the very next day; but I happened most unfortunately to be out. My +impression of Grant was that he was a very kind-hearted man, but that he +did not carry his heart on his sleeve. + +Gambetta shook hands with me like the General, but, instead of letting +go of my hand, kept it in his, the while he made a very long speech +in French, which was so florid that I was quite carried away by his +eloquence, and forgot almost where I was. He did not seem to expect +a reply; anyway, he contented himself with one or two monosyllables +from me, and praised England, the English, and the English Army in the +most high-flown language. My impression of Gambetta was that he was a +passionate, warm-hearted son of the Midi, who certainly wore his heart on +his sleeve. His appearance was not in his favour, as he was excessively +stout and had a bad figure, but his attractive, captivating manner more +than atoned for his physical defects. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + + My First Night at Mess—Life at Shorncliffe—The Charltons + + +It was not until two years after I had passed my examination for the +Army, in 1872, that I obtained my commission, when I was gazetted +as a sub-lieutenant to the 2nd Battalion of the 10th (Lincolnshire) +Regiment. My regiment was at that time serving in India, but, since it +was under orders to return home, I was posted to the regimental depôt at +Shorncliffe, which was attached temporarily to the 2nd Battalion of the +9th (Norfolk) Regiment. + +On my arrival at Shorncliffe, I reported to Lieutenant Richard Southey, +the officer temporarily commanding the depôt, the senior officer, Captain +Byron, being then on leave. He was a tall, good-looking man, with very +pleasant manners, and I felt at once at my ease with him. He showed me +the hut which was to serve as my quarters, and offered to do anything +for me that he could, even placing his soldier servant at my disposal, +until I had time to choose one from the depôt. My hut, which was similar +to those occupied by other officers, contained two small rooms leading +into one another; while the furniture, which I had had sent down from +London, was of the kind usually found in barracks, consisting of a bed +which could be easily taken to pieces, a chest of drawers separated into +two parts, but which could be put together for use, a green and black +Brussels carpet, and curtains to match. I also had an oak bureau, forming +a chest of drawers and writing-table, which I had had all the time I was +at Eton. The furniture supplied to officers by the War Office consisted +merely of a table and two or three ordinary chairs; but, with my own +arm-chair, tablecloth, various knick-knacks and a number of pictures +which I had had at Eton, I managed to make the rooms look habitable, if +nothing else. + +At half-past six a bugle sounded for the officers to dress for mess, +which was at seven o’clock. I confess that I felt not a little nervous on +entering the ante-room in my new uniform, which was scarlet with yellow +facings; but Southey was already there and introduced me to most of the +officers, who greeted me very cordially. + +The president at dinner was a captain named Dunn, who sat at the head +of the table; the vice-president was a lieutenant. The president and +vice-president hold office for a week, and are then replaced by other +officers of the same rank. The conversation at table was very animated, +mainly on general topics; indeed, military matters seemed to be more +or less tabooed. The string band of the regiment played during dinner, +and, I thought, tolerably well, though, as I had just come from Paris, +where I was accustomed to hear some of the best military bands, I was +perhaps rather difficult to please. After the band had played “God save +the Queen,” and Her Majesty’s health had been proposed by the president, +all the officers standing to drink it, we left the table, the president +and the vice-president being the last to leave. Most of the officers +then adjourned to the ante-room, where I got into conversation with a +lieutenant named Bethell, who had just joined the 9th (Norfolk) Regiment, +and whom I had known as a boy in Somersetshire. Bethell was a very clever +fellow, and in his examination for the Army had passed first out of three +hundred. He was an excellent rifle-shot and a good all-round sportsman. +Some years later he succeeded to the title of Lord Westbury, when he was +transferred to the Guards. + +In the course of the evening the adjutant, Lieutenant Maltby, came up to +me and told me that I must put in an appearance next morning at early +drill. Maltby was an exceedingly nice fellow, and a thorough soldier. +He was very particular about his dress, and even in mufti was always +_tiré à quatre épingles_. The following morning I found him on the +parade ground, when he handed me over to a corporal for instruction in +the goose step. After I had been practising this engaging exercise for +about an hour, the adjutant came up, watch in hand, and told the corporal +that that would do for the day, and asked me to accompany him to the +mess-room, where we ordered breakfast. With the exception of the orderly +officer, who was obliged to attend early parade with the adjutant and who +came in shortly afterwards, we had the room to ourselves, as the other +officers did not as a rule breakfast until nine o’clock or later. + +After breakfast, Maltby took me to the orderly room, to introduce me to +the colonel, telling me that I must always address him and the majors +as “Sir,” but that this was only customary with other superior officers +when on parade. The colonel, Lieut.-Colonel Knox, who came in shortly +afterwards, was a tall, well-built man of about sixty, with grey hair and +moustache and whiskers almost white, which gave him the appearance of +being older than he was. He was very pleasant to me, and said:— + +“I am very pleased to have you in my regiment, and am only sorry that you +do not belong to it, as you are an Etonian, and I am very fond of Eton +boys.” + +He then said I must come to his house, when he would present me to his +wife and daughter. + +At lunch, which was at half-past one, I was introduced to a lieutenant +named Lovell, a good-looking fellow about five-and-twenty, with fair +hair and moustache, whom I had not seen the previous evening, and with +whom I became very friendly. He asked me to come with him for a walk to +Folkestone, which was quite near, to which I readily consented. We had a +pleasant walk along the cliffs, and I was quite charmed with Folkestone, +with its green lawns facing the sea and its fine houses, standing for +the most part in the midst of trim, little gardens, gay with summer +flowers. During our walk Lovell explained to me many things about the +Service, and told me many curious incidents which had happened while +the regiment was at Yokohama, where it had been stationed for several +years, before being sent to Shorncliffe. He said that the regiment was +very sorry to leave Japan, and that it was never likely to have such a +charming station again. After a short time in England, it would probably +be ordered to India, and that, in that case, he should exchange into +a cavalry regiment, which he subsequently did. He was, however, very +devoted to his present regiment, and said that the chief was an excellent +man, and everything that one could wish for in a colonel, and that it was +a rare thing to find all the officers pull so well together as they did. +Unfortunately, the colonel would have to retire soon, though Daunt, the +senior major, who would probably succeed to the command, would not make a +bad chief. + +A day or two later, I called at the colonel’s house, where I was +introduced to his wife and daughter. The latter was a tall, dark girl, in +the early twenties, with very charming manners. The colonel asked me a +number of questions about Eton and also about Paris, of which city he was +very fond, though he had not been there for some years; and when I left, +walked part of the way back to camp with me. + +I found my life very easy with the 9th Regiment. I had to attend parade +from seven till eight, and again from eleven till half-past twelve; but +of an afternoon I was generally free to do as I pleased, as it was only +occasionally that I had to attend afternoon parade, which, however, +was over by four o’clock. After my duties for the day were over and I +had changed my clothes, I usually went into Folkestone, returning in +time for mess. At first the only people I knew in Folkestone were a +retired colonel and his wife, who were friends of my parents; but Lovell +introduced me to several of his friends. Among them was a certain Miss +Burnett, who was very much in love with a lieutenant of the 9th Regiment, +named Seaton, and at no pains to conceal the fact, which occasioned +me no little amusement. Unfortunately, Seaton did not reciprocate the +attachment with which he had inspired her. More to my taste than this +lovelorn damsel was a lively young lady of some fifteen summers, who was +known to her intimates as “Vic.” She was a general favourite with the +subalterns of the regiment, as she was very fond of horses and dogs, and +rather amusing in her conversation, in which she used slang expressions +with considerable freedom. Miss “Vic” used to drive a very smart turn-out +about Folkestone, and was quite an accomplished whip. + +The 9th Regiment used to give “Penny Readings” once a fortnight, at +which a good many people from Folkestone and Sandgate were generally +present. At the first of these entertainments which I attended Lovell +read some of “Artemus Ward,” and in such an amusing manner that everyone +was delighted. As I had the reputation of being a good performer on the +zither, I was asked to play something on that instrument, which was quite +a novelty. It was very well received, and next day I received a note from +a lady unknown to me, who, I was told, was the mother of an officer in +the “Blues,” inviting me to dinner and asking me to bring my zither with +me. I showed the letter to Maltby, who advised me not to accept it, as it +would, in his opinion, be making myself too cheap. So I declined, with +many thanks. + +A subaltern of the 10th Regiment, named Richard Southey, went on leave +about this time and left me his black servant. I found the fellow very +attentive, but I soon began to miss things. Among them was a pearl stud, +for finding which I promised him a shilling. As, however, it was not +forthcoming, I offered him half-a-crown, and the next day he produced +it, to my great satisfaction. But, as I soon found that this system of +offering rewards for “lost” articles was a trifle too expensive, and I +could not get rid of him till Southey returned, I was forced to protect +myself by putting everything of value under lock and key. Nevertheless, +he generally succeeded in discovering some means of relieving me of +anything to which he happened to take a fancy. + +[Illustration: Miss Augusta Charlton. + +[_To face p. 172._] + +[Illustration: Miss Ida Charlton. + +[_To face p. 173._] + +Captain John Byron, a grandson of Lord Byron, who commanded the depôt +of my regiment, returned about this time from leave. He was a rather +handsome and very distinguished-looking man of forty, but inclined +to be very arrogant in his manner towards those whom he did not like. +Fortunately, he condescended to take a great fancy to me from the first, +and made quite a friend of me, notwithstanding that I was so much younger +than he was. + +Soon after this, another sub-lieutenant, named Arthur Dillon, joined my +regiment, so that I now had a companion at morning drill. Dillon was the +son of an Irish baronet, who was also a Count of the Holy Roman Empire, +though no one would have imagined that he hailed from the Emerald Isle, +as he spoke without the faintest trace of an Irish accent, and was a very +nice young fellow indeed. + +One day I took Dillon over to Dover to call upon some people named +Charlton, whose acquaintance I had made when a boy at Ostend, and who +were now living in Victoria Park. Mr. Charlton had formerly served in the +Queen’s Bays, though he had sold out of the Service while still a cornet; +his wife was a very handsome woman, and they had six children, five +girls and a boy, the two elder girls, Augusta and Ida, being remarkably +pretty. Mrs. Charlton invited us to stay to supper, an invitation which +we readily accepted, the more so that we were both at a susceptible age +and the charms of our hostess’s daughters had not been without their +effect upon us. During supper Mrs. Charlton told us that a very smart +ball was to be given shortly at Dover, to which they were going, and +suggested that we should join them and bring two or three other young +officers, saying that she could manage to put us all up for the night. +Needless to say, we gladly accepted her kind offer, and on the day of +the ball went over to Dover, with Bethell and another subaltern of the +9th named Townsend. As the ball was a military one, we all had to appear +in uniform, and at the entrance to the ball-room were asked our names +and regiments. Townsend gave his own and my name, and when they asked my +rank, coolly replied: “Colonel, 10th Regiment.” Next day, in the local +newspaper, in the list of those present at the ball, I duly appeared as +such. + +After the ball, which was a great success, and at which the Misses +Charlton, who had recently returned from a visit to the Continent and +wore dresses of the very latest Paris fashion, were immensely admired, we +drove back to Victoria Park, where we spent what little remained of the +night, and after an early breakfast returned to Shorncliffe. + +Dillon and I found our life at Shorncliffe very monotonous when winter +came on, for Folkestone was almost empty, and had it not been for the +kindness of our friends at Dover, at whose house we were always assured +of a warm welcome, we should have had a precious dull time of it. The +only event of interest was the arrival from India of the 3rd Battalion +of the 60th Rifles, all the officers of which were made honorary members +of the 9th Regiment’s mess, until their own mess was in order. I made +the acquaintance of several of the new-comers, who seemed very nice +fellows indeed. One of them, Captain Bingham, told me, _à propos_ of +the ball to which I had been at Dover, that once the 1st Rifle Brigade, +when stationed there, had been invited to a ball given by the Buffs, +but that when the “Green Jackets,” in their turn, gave a ball, they did +not condescend to invite any of the officers of the Buffs, nor any of +the Dover ladies, all the guests coming down from London, which greatly +disgusted everybody at Dover, and created a very bad feeling between the +two regiments. + +Not long after this, Captain Byron received news that our regiment was +shortly expected from India, and would be stationed at Chatham. This, of +course, necessitated the immediate removal of the depôt to Chatham, to +the great regret of both Dillon and myself, for, on the whole, we had +been very happy at Shorncliffe, and feared that we might not enjoy nearly +so much liberty as we had had with the 9th Regiment. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + + An N.C.O. of the Old School—Major Blewett—Captain + Byron—Sandhurst + + +On our arrival at Chatham Barracks, I was allotted a single room in the +officers’ quarters, which was much smaller and less comfortable than +either of the two rooms which I had occupied at Shorncliffe. Dillon was +given a similar one, but Byron, being a captain, had better accommodation. + +Dillon and I found our life at Chatham very different from that at +Shorncliffe, and not nearly so pleasant. We had to attend early drill +with the recruits under a sergeant, who was very severe, and made us +drill exactly the same as the men. Some mornings it was so cold that our +hands became quite numbed, and we could scarcely hold our rifles. But +this martinet of a sergeant had no pity, and made us “carry on” until we +were ready to drop with fatigue and cold. The recruits he bullied most +unmercifully. One morning, a recruit arrived late for parade, whereupon +the sergeant gave him several kicks on his shins, and pulled him by the +ears, until the poor fellow almost yelled with the pain. His tormentor, +however, soon silenced him. + +“I won’t have any of your blubbering,” cried he. “If you don’t stop at +once, I’ll give you three days’ extra drill.” This sort of thing he +could do with impunity, as the adjutant was rarely on the parade-ground +during early morning drill. He appeared at afternoon parade, but paid +very little attention to the recruits, occupying himself mainly with +company drill. So matters continued until our regiment arrived, and even +then there was not much improvement, for, so long as we remained in +Chatham Barracks, the luckless recruits were always drilled by the same +sergeant, none of them daring to complain, from fear lest worse things +should befall them. + +The 2nd Battalion of the 10th Regiment was at that time commanded by +Lieut.-Colonel Annesley, an amiable old gentleman, with a wife and +family, who appeared to engross a good deal more of his attention than +did his regiment. For of much that was going on he seemed quite ignorant, +and it was purposely kept from him. In fact, the battalion was really +commanded by the senior major, Major Blewitt, the colonel seldom putting +in an appearance except on field days. Major Blewitt was a very smart +officer, and though at times inclined to severity, exceedingly just. +He was very particular about etiquette, and scarcely ever spoke to a +subaltern, except to give him advice or to reprimand him, even in the +ante-room. I recollect about the only occasion on which he condescended +to address me. + +There was a sub-lieutenant of a West India Regiment, whom I will call +H——, attached at that time to the 10th. This young gentleman was very +fond of écarté, and often induced me to play with him after mess. We +played for half-a-crown a game, and I found that I generally lost, as +H—— had a perfectly wonderful way of turning up the king almost every +time he dealt. One evening, we were playing in the ante-room, where Major +Blewitt was sitting, reading a newspaper. Presently, the major looked +over the top of his paper, and observed that it was a pity that we could +not find some better way of passing the time than playing cards; adding +that, if he thought we were playing for money, he would stop us at once. +Soon afterwards, we finished our rubber, and H—— left the room, upon +which Major Blewitt called me to him and told me that he did not like to +see me playing cards. On one occasion, he said, he was present when two +young officers were playing écarté. One of them lost persistently the +whole evening, but since they both assured him that they were playing for +love, he did not interfere, though the way the luck continued to run in +one direction was extremely suspicious. Subsequently, he discovered that +they had actually been playing for five hundred pounds a game, and that +the loser had been completely ruined. The major added that, from what he +had seen of H——’s play, he should be very sorry to sit down to cards with +him, and to play with him for anything like high stakes would be simply +madness. The warning he gave me on this occasion was certainly well +justified, for a lieutenant of the Lincoln’s, named Glass, afterwards +lost considerable sums to H—— at écarté. + +The captains of the regiment did not like Major Blewitt, who treated +them off parade with a certain haughtiness, as though he were showing +them condescension in speaking to them at all; while the N.C.O.’s, and +particularly the sergeants, were all afraid of him, as he seemed to be +aware of everything that was going on, and was very severe upon them if +they did not treat the men properly. + +One day on parade, when Major Blewitt was in command, he gave some +extraordinary orders, which it was quite impossible for the regiment to +carry out, and later, in the ante-room, he behaved in a very strange +manner. It was then ascertained that his mind was affected, the result of +a sunstroke which he had had in India. He went away on sick leave, but +six months later had to retire from the Service, as it was found that he +was never likely to recover. + +The next officer in seniority was Major Hudson, who told me that he +had served under my uncle and godfather, General the Hon. Sir George +Cathcart, when the latter was Governor of the Cape. The major was a very +pleasant man, but he had certain eccentricities, one of which was a +partiality for white kid gloves and patent-leather boots, which he wore +on parade, even in winter. He had little control over the captains, who +did very much as they liked. One of them was almost perpetually drunk, +and led his wife, a rather pretty woman and very well off, a miserable +life, even going so far as to beat her, it was said. Some of the +subalterns also drank a great deal more than was good for them, and there +was one who was drunk on parade on at least one occasion. + +Little, the senior lieutenant and adjutant, was, however, a very nice +fellow, as well as a good soldier, and the same could be said for two +other subalterns, Archibald Glen and De Houghton. The former was six feet +seven in height, and reputed to be the tallest man in the Army. I liked +him exceedingly, but, unfortunately, he soon left the regiment for the +Staff College. De Houghton, who afterwards became a baronet, had received +the Gold Medal of the Royal Humane Society for saving life at sea. + +There was a subaltern in the 10th who prided himself on his knowledge +of French. Once, when the regiment was stationed at Malta, a French +warship happened to call there, and the officers were invited by the 10th +to dinner. This lieutenant, being the best French scholar, was placed +between the captain of the warship and another French officer. Presently, +the captain asked him in French how long he had been at Malta, to which +he replied, without hesitation, while everybody pricked up their ears to +listen:— + +“_Je suis un âne ici._” (“I am an ass here.”) + +The French captain tried to look serious, but the other French officers +burst into fits of laughter. One of them spoke a little English and +explained to the company what the joke was, when they all joined in the +merriment. Needless to say, this misadventure remained ever afterwards a +standing joke against the unfortunate lieutenant. + +Life at Chatham was very monotonous. Of society there was practically +none, and, as the married ladies of the regiment were not on good terms +with one another, there was little or no entertaining among the 10th. +There was no theatre and only a couple of low-class music-halls. I went +once to one of them, where there was a box reserved for the officers of +the garrison, but did not feel inclined to repeat the visit. + +While I was at Chatham, a big ball was given in the officers’ mess-room +at the barracks by the regiments forming the garrison. A good many people +came down from London, and were conveyed back by a special train after +the ball was over. I invited my friends from Dover, and the two elder +girls, Augusta and Ida, were, as usual, much admired. The affair was a +great success, and the supper was on the most lavish scale, with plovers’ +eggs and every imaginable delicacy and champagne flowing like water. + +In due course, Dillon and I were put to company drill. On one occasion +I got my company into a hopeless position, up against a wall, and not +knowing what to do, told them calmly “to stand at ease,” to the great +amusement of everyone, including the adjutant, who told the story against +me at mess that night, observing that I must evidently be a person of +resource, as anyone else would have been at a loss how to act. + +A good many field-days took place at Chatham, of which the escalading of +some high walls was a feature. I had sometimes to carry the colours in +escalading these walls, a task which I did not much relish, as it was by +no means an easy one. + +I was growing so tired of Chatham that I was quite glad when I was sent +with the rest of my company to Gravesend, to go through a six weeks’ +musketry course. I was constantly with Captain Byron, whom I very much +liked, indeed, I preferred him to anyone else in the regiment, even +to Dillon. Byron used to tell me that I was very foolish to leave the +regiment, for one day he would, he thought, be in command, and then I +should have a very good time of it. But my relatives were anxious for me +to serve in one of the regiments for which my name had been put down on +the Prince of Wales’s private list, so I thought I was bound to accept +the transfer when the offer came, which I was sure would be very soon. + +While at Gravesend, I went up to town to see Aimée Desclée act in _Diane +de Lys_, by Alexandre Dumas _fils_. I thought her the finest actress +I had ever seen, with the exception, perhaps, of Sarah Bernhardt. She +played the part with so much delicacy and refinement, her voice was so +pleasing and her attitudes so graceful, that I was altogether charmed +with her. Poor woman! She died very soon afterwards from a chest +complaint, while quite young. I was much pleased with an American actor, +J. K. Emmett, at the St. James’s Theatre, who played with a little child, +singing a song in which the refrain was: “Schneider, how you vas.” I also +paid more than one visit to the Opera at Covent Garden, where Adelina +Patti and Scalchi and the tenor Gayarré were delighting the audience. + +On my return to Chatham I found the work very hard. The most trying part +of it was being on guard at the barracks, where I was obliged to be on +duty once a week for the whole twenty-four hours. The guard used to be +turned out two or three times during the day, and also in the middle of +the night, by the field-officer of the week, who sometimes made his round +at one or two o’clock in the morning, when the subaltern on duty had to +turn out the guard, besides having to go his round of the sentries. The +officer on guard was not allowed to go to bed or take his clothes off, +even after the field-officer had made his round of inspection, or he +might get into the most serious trouble. There were other guards at some +distance from Chatham, to look after the convicts, but this was during +the day, and not nearly so trying as to be on guard at the barracks. + +Not long after my return to Chatham, Dillon and I were sent to Sandhurst, +for a six months’ course of instruction. But before going, at my +relatives’ suggestion, I went up to town to see the Military Secretary of +the War Office, who was then General Cartwright, to inquire what chance I +had of being transferred to the Rifle Brigade. He asked me what influence +I had, when I mentioned the Adjutant-General, Lord Airey, who had already +presented me at a levée to the Prince of Wales, while I was stationed +at Shorncliffe. General Cartwright then inquired if I had not any other +interest, remarking that the Scots Guards were more easy to enter than +either the Rifle Brigade or the 60th Rifles, and that, unless I had +someone else behind me, he feared my chance would be but a poor one. I +then told him that my cousin, the Hon. Emily Cathcart, maid of honour to +Queen Victoria, had had my name put down for both the Rifle regiments, +by General Ponsonby, on the Prince of Wales’s private list, upon which he +smiled and said:— + +“She could get you into either of these; in fact, she could get you into +anything she pleased. If you had mentioned her name before, I could have +told you so at once.” + +I found life at Sandhurst very much like being at school again, with more +restrictions than there were at Eton. There was a great deal of “ragging” +going on, and some fellows had their furniture and everything in their +rooms broken. I was fortunate in being, for some unaccountable reason, +rather popular with the ringleaders—not that I assisted them in any way, +for this sort of horse-play did not appeal to me—and so escaped being one +of their victims. Dillon was not so lucky, as at first he showed fight, +but he soon recognized that the wisest course was to assume indifference. +There were several sub-lieutenants of the Guards and cavalry regiments at +Sandhurst, one or two of whom had been at Eton with me, and I made many +friendships, one with a young fellow in the 78th Highlanders, with whom +I often took long walks into the pretty country around Sandhurst. Apart +from the instruction, I rather enjoyed my time at the college, as I got +on well with nearly everyone. I had to go through the riding-school and +ride horses over jumps without stirrups, which rather amused me, although +there were some officers who disliked this part of the curriculum very +much. + +After I had been about a month at Sandhurst, the Military Governor of +the College, General Sir A. Alison, sent for me and told me that I had +been transferred to the 2nd Battalion of the 60th Rifles, stationed in +India. I must confess that I was at first rather disappointed, as it was +not the regiment I had asked for, and I did not much like the idea of +going to India. I asked General Alison what I had better do, when he said +that he would telegraph to the War Office, and that I ought to finish my +course of instruction at Sandhurst. I anxiously awaited the reply; and +the following day he sent for me again, and told me that I must leave at +once and get ready to sail for India, but that he thought the War Office +would allow me a month to procure my outfit. + +Next day I left Sandhurst for London, and, having obtained a month’s +leave, proceeded to Paris to visit my parents in the Rue d’Albe, +Champs-Elysées. They, and my father in particular, told me that I had +better accept the transfer, as I might have to wait a long time for +the Rifle Brigade, and the Military Secretary had told me that I was +appointed to the first vacancy that had occurred, as there was no vacancy +in the Rifle Brigade then. + +During my stay in Paris, I often rode in the Bois with my father on a +fiery thoroughbred chestnut, whom I found a very different kind of mount +from the horses at Sandhurst, as he started at the least touch of my +heel, whereas the others had required both whip and spur. I made the most +of my time, going often to the Théâtre-Français, where I saw Delaunay in +plays by Alfred de Musset and Alexandre Dumas _fils_, and was delighted +with his acting. He was the best _jeune premier_ whom I ever saw, and +always excellent in the art of stage love-making. I went to several balls +and indulged in some flirtations with both French and American damsels, +and was sorry when the day arrived that I had to take my departure for +London to purchase my outfit for India. My mother was distressed at my +having to go to India, particularly as the battalion had to stay out +there for some years, and she was in very delicate health at that time. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + + I sail for India—Kandy—Dangerous Playmates—I arrive at Murree + + +My father accompanied me to Portsmouth in the winter of 1873, where the +troopship in which I was to sail for India was lying. We had first to +touch at Queenstown, to embark a line regiment which had been ordered +to Ceylon, and had a very unpleasant crossing, nearly everyone on board +being ill. I had to share a cabin with two other sub-lieutenants, who +joined the ship at Queenstown. One of them, named Basil Montgomery, was +in my own regiment, having recently been transferred from the Highland +Light Infantry. He was very tall, for which reason he was nicknamed +“Longfellow” on board. The name of the other sub-lieutenant, who belonged +to the 16th Lancers, was Babington, which, owing to his somewhat youthful +appearance, was promptly abbreviated to “Baby.” I myself duly received +the sobriquet of “Julie,” as Montgomery declared I was in the habit of +murmuring this name in my dreams. It was that of a young lady whom I have +mentioned in my book, “Society Recollections in Paris and Vienna,” and +whom I had lately met frequently in society in Paris. + +The cabin we occupied was very small, and contained only one wash-basin, +so we had to dress and wash one at a time; but we soon got used to this +inconvenience. + +Montgomery and Babington were both excellent fellows, and I was soon on +very friendly terms with them, as I was also with another sub-lieutenant +of the 16th Lancers, named Taaffe. Taaffe was very musical, having a +good voice and playing the concertina capitally. The daughter of the +colonel of the line regiment we had on board, an extremely pretty and +very impressionable damsel of seventeen, fell very much in love with him, +and they used to sing duets together, to the accompaniment of Taaffe’s +concertina. + +We had fine weather in the Bay of Biscay, where it is usually so rough, +for which we were thankful. At Gibraltar we merely stopped for an hour +to coal, but at Malta we stayed long enough for everyone to go on shore. +Many of us dined at the Club and went to the Opera afterwards, which I +thought very fair. The climate of Malta seemed delightful, but the town +did not strike me as pretty. + +Not long after leaving Malta, bad weather and a dense fog came on, and +something went wrong with the machinery, so that the captain did not know +where we were. He was so alarmed that he ordered the chaplain to read the +prayers for those in peril at sea, as at any moment he thought the ship +might run on a rock. Happily, the machinery was repaired, and at the end +of three days the weather improved, and the danger was over. + +At Port Said most of the officers went ashore, and some of them visited +a gambling-house which bore a very evil reputation, an officer belonging +to the 16th Lancers having been stabbed there the year before. Taaffe +and I were among those who went, though Taaffe confessed to me that he +felt rather nervous, fearing that some of the natives might recognize his +uniform as that of the unfortunate officer’s regiment. + +At Ismailia we caught sight of M. de Lesseps, who sent an invitation to +the ship, inviting six of us to visit him. Many of the officers thought +that I ought to go, as I was the only one who could speak French; but +this suggestion was overruled, and it was decided that the six must +be chosen by seniority. As not one of them could speak French, and M. +de Lesseps did not understand English, the interview must have proved +a somewhat comic affair; at any rate, the six maintained a suspicious +silence about it on their return. + +Soon after we had passed through the Red Sea, which did not prove nearly +so hot as we had expected, I fell ill with scurvy, and the doctor who +attended me advised me to sleep in the passage near the ladies’ saloon, +as the air was purer. However, an old dame objected to my sleeping so +near the ladies, so the doctor got me a cabin to myself. On our arrival +at Colombo, where the line regiment was disembarked, he obtained leave +for me to go to Kandy and remain there until the ship sailed for Bombay. + +While at Kandy, I went with Taaffe, who had joined me there, and two +ladies to see the beautiful garden of Paradhenia, which is said to be +the original garden of Paradise. We were all amazed at its beauty; the +tropical plants and the vegetation being indescribably lovely. While +walking in the high grass, one of the ladies was bitten by leeches, which +crawled up her legs and frightened her terribly. She was fortunate, +however, not to have been bitten by something much more objectionable, +as we afterwards learned that it was very dangerous to walk in the high +grass, as it was infested by snakes, some of which were most venomous. + +The grandeur of the scenery at Kandy and the wonderful vegetation +enchanted us, as we had never seen anything to compare with it; it was +indeed quite a paradise upon earth. The climate was also delicious, and +even in the middle of the day the heat could not be called oppressive, +while the mornings and evenings were truly delightful. The residents, +however, told us that it was very trying to the health, as it never +varied in the least, summer or winter. The scenery between Colombo and +Kandy was in parts most exquisite, and the brilliant colouring of the +flowers, which were of every imaginable hue, made one almost believe +oneself in fairyland. + +Having embarked the infantry battalion which had been relieved by the one +we had brought from England, we sailed from Colombo, but after proceeding +some little way along the coast, the troopship stopped for half an hour, +to enable an officer who had to join his regiment to embark in a launch +which came out to fetch him. This officer took with him by mistake a +lady’s trunk containing her dresses and underclothing, instead of his +own, packed with his kit, which he left for the lady. The latter was in +despair, particularly when informed that she was unlikely to receive any +news of her property for six weeks at least. + +After a voyage of six weeks, we reached Bombay, and, after a little +trouble at the Custom House over some Turkish cigarettes which I had +brought with me, and upon which, to my surprise, I was obliged to +pay duty, proceeded, with some other officers, to Watson’s Hotel. At +“Watson’s,” which I found very expensive indeed, I met Viscount Baring, +of the Rifle Brigade, who had been at Eton with me. He told me that he +was now on the Viceroy’s Staff, and had come to Bombay to purchase some +Arab horses for Lord Northbrook. Although it was winter, the heat was +very great in Bombay, which I found very uninteresting, and, after a +stay of two or three days, I set out for Murree, in the hills in the +North-West Provinces, where my regiment was stationed. + +I had as a travelling companion for the first part of the journey a +Staff-officer named Parker, who, on our arrival at Mean Meer, invited +me to accompany him to the house of his brother-in-law, a judge, where +I was most hospitably entertained, and tasted for the first time a real +Indian curry, which I thought delicious. From Mean Meer I took the train +to Rawal Pindi, in the Punjab. On my arrival, I went to the dâk bungalow, +where soon afterwards I received a visit from a lieutenant in my regiment +named Beauclerk, a son of Lord Amelius Beauclerk. He was an exceedingly +good-looking young man, with fair hair and moustache and a very pleasant +manner, and was most kind, offering me a room which he had at his +disposal and inviting me to dine with him in the evening. After dinner I +was rather astonished at seeing his syce walking in front of his master’s +pony with a long stick, having at the end of it several bells, which he +moved about in the grass. I asked the reason of this, when I was told +that it was to frighten away the snakes, of which there were a great many +poisonous ones hereabouts. Beauclerk told me that, a few nights earlier, +he was dining with a Mrs. Kinloch, the wife of a captain in our regiment, +when he saw a cobra quite close to her. She was playing the piano at the +time, and the snake was evidently quite fascinated by the music. Fearing +lest, if she moved, the snake might bite her, he told her to continue +playing, and then, picking up a stick which happened to be near him, +hit the cobra on the head and killed it. He said that there was another +very dangerous snake called a kerite, which, though very small, was most +venomous, and that Mrs. Kinloch had found one quite recently in her bed. +Happily, she discovered it before it had a chance to bite her. + +Beauclerk told me that I ought to call upon Captain Kinloch, who, +having passed through the Staff College, was at that time Acting Deputy +Assistant Adjutant-General at Rawal Pindi. I did so, and was informed +that Mrs. Kinloch only was at home. On being shown into the drawing-room, +I was somewhat astonished to find a little girl there, playing with two +panther-cubs, who snarled and showed their teeth at me. I asked the child +whether she were not afraid of them, to which she answered:— + +“Oh, no, not at all!” and, opening the mouth of one of the cubs, thrust +her hand into it. + +I began to feel quite alarmed for her safety, and was not a little +relieved when her mother made her appearance upon the scene. + +Mrs. Kinloch was a very pretty young woman, with auburn hair and eyes +of a greyish-blue colour. She told me that the panther-cubs had been +captured by her husband a few days before, after he had shot the mother. + +“Are they not lovely?” she exclaimed enthusiastically. “So beautifully +marked in reddish-yellow and black, with such fascinating yellow and +brown eyes. It is delightful to watch them.” + +I replied that they were certainly very handsome and graceful animals, +but that, nevertheless, I could not understand her allowing her daughter +to have such dangerous playmates. + +To this she rejoined that she did not consider there was the slightest +danger, so long as you were not afraid of them, adding:— + +“My little girl is not the least afraid.” + +The little girl was caressing the cubs at the time, while the animals +were snarling and showing their long, pointed teeth, though whether in +play or not I could not say, as I was not sufficiently acquainted with +their ways. + +Captain Alexander Kinloch, who was a nephew of Sir Alexander Kinloch, +was, I may here remark, the most famous sportsman in India at that time, +and had written a celebrated book on big game shooting in India and +Tibet, which was considered to be the standard work on the subject. When +I met him afterwards, he told me many interesting things about Tibet, +from which he had brought a fine collection of sporting trophies. Amongst +them were several specimens of the ibex, which is found on the summits +of the highest mountains, and to “bag” one of which is considered the +greatest feat a sportsman can accomplish in India, since to approach +within rifle-shot of it often entails the greatest risk to life. + +During the few days I remained at Rawal Pindi, I made the acquaintance of +Colonel Montgomery-Moore, then commanding the 4th Hussars, and his wife, +the Hon. Mrs. Montgomery-Moore, a daughter of Lord Seaton, to whom I had +brought an introduction from my cousin, Emily Cathcart. They invited me +to dinner, when they were most anxious to hear all the latest news from +England, as they had been in India for some time. They were most kind and +agreeable, and the colonel gave me some valuable information about Murree. + +There was no railway to Murree, and travellers generally made the first +part of the journey from Rawal Pindi by carriage, and the rest in a +_jampan_ (a kind of sedan-chair) as the road through the mountains was +far too narrow and precipitate to admit of wheel traffic. I accordingly +hired a carriage, and set off, but at a dâk bungalow, where I stopped +to dine, I met a man, who, on hearing that I was on my way to Murree, +offered to lend me a grey Arab which he was riding, observing that it +would be a more pleasant way of making the journey than by _jampan_, and +promising to send my luggage after me. I thanked him and accepted his +offer, though, as he was a complete stranger to me, I could not help +feeling some misgivings as to his intentions, for, if he had a mind to +make off with my luggage, there was nothing to prevent him. + +The road which I had to traverse was very steep and in places almost +impassable, but the Arab appeared well accustomed to the country and +as sure-footed as a goat. I had, however, a few decidedly unpleasant +moments, when, at a very narrow part of the road, where there was a +precipice on one side, we met some buffaloes, as I thought they might +take into their heads to charge us. But they happened to be quite +peaceably disposed, and we got safely past them. It was late in the +evening when I reached Murree, which I found covered with snow, as it +stands 7,500 feet above sea level, and no greater contrast with the +plains and Rawal Pindi, where the weather had been quite like summer, +could be conceived. I made my way to the officers’ quarters, where I was +given a room, and my horse well looked after. I had received instructions +from the Arab’s owner to send him back to the dâk bungalow. This I did +the following day, in the course of which my luggage arrived quite +safely, not a little, I must frankly admit, to my relief. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + + My Brother-Officers—“The Oyster”—In High Society—Our Menagerie + + +Murree is a very charming town. The houses, which bear some resemblance +to those of Switzerland, but are mostly constructed of wood and have +rarely more than two storeys, are built on the summit and sides of a +ridge, and command magnificent views over forests, cultivated fields, +hills and deep valleys, with the snow-capped peaks of the Himalayas in +the distance. There was a fairly good club at Murree, containing a number +of bedrooms for the convenience of the members when they happened to +require them. + +In the summer months my battalion was not actually stationed at Murree, +but two miles off in the country, at Kooldunah. The officers lived in +houses and villas very like Swiss cottages, and the men’s quarters +were at the top of a very steep hill, about ten minutes’ walk from the +mess. The battalion was at this time commanded by Lieut.-Colonel H. P. +Montgomery, who had a brother in the Rifle Brigade. Colonel Montgomery, +who was a fine-looking man of about fifty-five and wore a pointed beard +which was beginning to turn grey, was universally popular, as he was +a thorough soldier and devoted to his profession. He did everything +possible to make his battalion as efficient as any in the Service, and +prided himself upon its smart appearance and perfect discipline. He +had the eye of a hawk for mistakes on parade, but would correct those +responsible for them in a good-humoured, kindly manner, very different +from some less experienced C.O.’s, who would often lose their tempers and +swear when anything happened to go wrong. + +The senior major, Major Ashburnham, the son of a baronet, was of somewhat +striking appearance, having red hair and a red beard. Like his chief, he +was a first-rate soldier and a thorough gentleman both on and off parade, +and held in high esteem by the officers and men under him. He was known +to his intimates by the nickname of “Brittles,” about which he used to +relate an amusing story:— + +Once, when returning to India after being on leave in England, he +happened to meet on board the P. and O., a man whose acquaintance he +had made on the voyage home, when he had been accompanied by some +brother-officers, who had, of course, always addressed him as “Brittles.” +This man, who was bringing his wife out with him, asked permission to +present Ashburnham to the lady, and gravely introduced him as “Major +Brittles,” under the impression that such was really his name. + +The junior major, whose name was Algar, was a very plain man, rather +badly marked with the small-pox, and was by no means so popular as +Ashburnham. He was a very keen sportsman, and when off duty was seldom +to be seen without a rifle in his hand. One day I met him near Murree, +when he told me that he had just seen a tiger, but that it had made off, +adding that a tiger would nearly always run away from a man, unless he +first attacked it. + +The captains were nearly all very nice fellows. Captain Pauli, into whose +company I was put, was a tall and very muscular man, with a pointed +beard, which gave him a somewhat foreign appearance. He was a great +sportsman, but kept very much to himself, and, except at mess, the other +officers saw little of him. + +The adjutant, Sydenham-Clarke, was a very good-looking fellow and always +so beautifully turned out, whether in uniform or plain clothes, that he +looked as if he had just come out of a band-box. He was very kind to the +young officers at their drill and took the greatest pains with them. +He was also much liked by the men, and did not bully them or allow the +sergeants to do so, as was unfortunately the case in so many regiments at +that time. In a word, he was the right man in the right place, and how +rarely this happens in the Service few people would imagine. + +When I first came to Murree, I occupied a room in the officers’ quarters. +There was a large room on the ground floor which was unoccupied, and, as +it was so intensely cold, the subalterns amused themselves by playing +a game of battledore and shuttle-cock across a net. Hubert Lovett, +a sub-lieutenant who joined the battalion a week after I did, and +myself were the first to think of this game, which somewhat resembled +lawn-tennis in the way we served. It was taken up afterwards by many +officers who dined at our mess, and is said to have given the idea of +lawn-tennis to the inventor. + +Soon after my arrival at Murree, I fell ill with dysentery, owing, the +doctor who attended me told me, to the sudden change of climate. I was +laid up for some time, but when it began to grow warmer I gradually +recovered. + +The winter was a very severe one at Murree, and those who were fond +of skating had excellent opportunities for indulging in this pastime. +Fiennes-Dickenson, a lieutenant who had been transferred from the first +battalion of the regiment, which was then stationed in Canada, was a +most accomplished performer on the ice, cutting figures and the letters +of the alphabet as well, and MacCall, a captain, who had also come from +the first battalion, was but little inferior to him. Dickenson told me +that life at Quebec and Montreal was uncommonly pleasant, and that they +scarcely felt the intense cold there at all, as the climate was so dry, +and there was so little wind. He said that it was the custom there for +every officer to have a girl “chum,” who went tobogganing and skating +with him and shared all his amusements. But he never married this young +lady, who always ended by marrying someone else. This “chum” was a girl +usually belonging to society, and was invited to all the balls and +parties given by the regiment and considered quite _comme il faut_. +Dickenson added that he much preferred the life out in Canada to the life +in India, though Murree was the very best station, which was generally +only given to a crack regiment. Dickenson was a lieutenant of some +years’ standing and very well off, having succeeded to a fine property +of his uncle, Lord Saye and Sele, called Syston Court, near Bristol, +although his father, with whom he was not on the best of terms, had the +right of residing there during his lifetime. He was a great talker and +his conversation was often very amusing. + +When summer came, the battalion moved to Kooldunah, where I occupied +rooms in a small villa with a garden attached, in which Lovett and +another sub-lieutenant named Sanford also had their quarters. Later on, +we were joined by a young officer named Wilson, who had been transferred +from a line regiment. We got on pretty well together, particularly Lovett +and myself, who soon became great friends, and were constantly together. +Lovett was a strongly-built young fellow, with black, curly hair, very +white teeth, and a good-humoured expression. He was clean-shaven, which +was rare at that time for a soldier. He had a very loud voice, and when +he laughed he did it so heartily that everyone in the room used to turn +round. He was quite colour-blind and never could distinguish one colour +from another. Once he had to paint a river for a plan which he was +required to draw, and would have painted it red instead of blue, if I had +not been helping him. + +Sanford was quite a boy, without any hair on his face, tall and fair, +with rather a large mouth, for which reason he was called “The Oyster.” +One day, when he happened to be on duty, a rifleman was overheard by +Lovett to say to another: + +“Who is on duty to-day: Lovett or Wilson?” + +“Neither,” was the answer, “it’s ‘The Oyster.’” + +Much to Sanford’s annoyance, Lovett, roaring, as usual, with laughter, +told the story at mess that night, and remarked:— + +“Why, even all the riflemen call him ‘The Oyster’ now!” + +Sanford did not like me at all, because he suspected that it was I who +had been the first to bestow this nickname upon him, and it is quite +possible that his suspicions may have been correct, though I cannot be +certain. + +Wilson, the remaining occupant of our villa, was a rather good-looking +and very smart young fellow, who spoke Hindustani very fluently. But he +was very conceited, and imagined himself a much greater sportsman than he +was. Once, when he had been on leave to Kashmir, he returned with such +a wonderful collection of big game trophies that none of us could bring +himself to believe that they had all fallen to his own rifle, and MacCall +said to him at mess:—“Wilson, I tell you what it is—you have bought all +that big game from some _shikarri_ in Kashmir!” At this remark Wilson +became furious, and next morning, in the orderly-room, reported the +incident to the Colonel, when MacCall was put under arrest until he had +apologized to his aggrieved brother-officer. This, however, did not cause +him to change his opinion on the subject. + +MacCall, whose father was Equerry to the Duc d’Aumale, spoke French +perfectly, wore an imperial with his moustache, and might easily have +been mistaken for a Frenchman. He shared a villa with a sub-lieutenant +named Arthur Powys Vaughan, an exceedingly nice fellow, who had been at +Harrow and had taken his degree at Oxford before entering the Service. + +With the exception of our medico, Surgeon-Major Macnamara, the +quartermaster, Fitzherbert, and the junior major, whose wife was in +England, all the officers were bachelors. Consequently, we were very +badly off in the matter of ladies’ society, so far as the battalion was +concerned. Mrs. Macnamara, who was a sister of Sir Howard Elphinstone, +Equerry to the Duke of Edinburgh, was a very charming elderly lady, and +I often used to go and take tea with her and her husband. She was partly +Russian by birth and extremely musical, and took a great interest in the +regimental band, in regard to which she was frequently consulted. I was +put on the band committee and often attended the rehearsals of a morning. + +Lovett and I used to pay visits to ladies whom we thought we would care +to know, as is the custom in India. One day, we called on two ladies who +had a charming villa, beautifully furnished, and whom we rather admired, +though we knew nothing whatever about them. They received us very coldly, +at which we were surprised, until Mrs. Macnamara told us that they were +two very fast ladies, who were protected by some well-known officers in +Murree, holding very high positions on the Staff. + +When I was alone one day, I noticed a very pretty woman, upon whom +I left my card. A few days later, I received a very friendly note +from her, asking me to dine with her on a certain evening. However, +in the meantime, I sprained my ankle, and was put on the sick list, +and therefore not allowed to go out. But, I thought that, as it would +probably be a _tête-à-tête_ dinner, which I should not like to miss, I +would go in a _jampan_, carried by two men, and no one would be any the +wiser. I hesitated whether to go in plain clothes or in mess uniform, +but finally decided for the latter. I had not made any special effort +to be punctual, and, in point of fact, arrived half an hour late. On +entering the drawing-room, I found quite a number of people impatiently +awaiting the advent of the belated guest, amongst whom I recognized, to +my consternation, the General commanding the troops in the Punjab; and +I was still more taken aback when I learned that I was dining with the +Secretary of State for India, and that my hostess was his wife! However, +these great people were very nice to me, and the General, who did not +seem at all to resent my having kept him waiting for his dinner, asked me +several questions about my colonel and regiment, as, though there were +several other officers present, I was the only “Greenjacket.” For this I +was duly thankful, since if one of the senior officers of my battalion +had happened to be there, I should have got into trouble for going out to +dine when I was on the sick list. + +It was the custom to take your _khitmagar_ with you when you dined out, +and I did so on this occasion. The next evening at mess, I noticed my +_khitmagar_ opening a bottle of Château-Laffitte for me, and asked him +where he got it from. + +“I saw last night that _Sahib_ liked this wine the best,” he replied, +“so I brought half a dozen bottles of it away from the dinner-party for +_Sahib_!” + +I burst out laughing, thinking to myself that I could not well scold my +servant for looking after me so attentively. + +_À propos_ of native servants, when I first joined the battalion, I +had a Christian “bearer,” whom I had brought from Bombay, and who +spoke English. But at the end of my first month at Murree, when I saw +my mess-bill, I discovered that a quantity of brandies and sodas were +charged for which I had never had. When I called my “bearer’s” attention +to this, he incontinently bolted from Murree, taking some of my property +with him. However, he was eventually laid by the heels, and I had to ask +for leave off parade to go down to the Law Courts at Murree to prosecute +him. This taught me that it is better not to engage “bearers” who talk +English and call themselves Christians. + +Among the senior lieutenants in the battalion was Albert Phipps, a +brother of the Hon. Harriet Phipps, maid of honour to Queen Victoria, +with whom, as I have mentioned elsewhere, I once took tea at Windsor +Castle in my Eton days. Phipps, who was fair and rather stout and always +wore an eyeglass, was a godson of the Prince Consort, the only one who +was still alive. He once told me that Queen Victoria had written a letter +in her own hand, recommending him for an appointment with the Viceroy, +but that the officer who was specially charged with its delivery had the +misfortune to lose it. Rather than permit this officer to be punished +for his negligence, as he undoubtedly would have been, Phipps refused to +allow his sister to mention the matter to Her Majesty, and suffered in +silence the loss of an appointment which was not only a very agreeable +one, but would have meant a great increase of pay. How many men would +have acted as nobly as he did? Very few, I am afraid. + +One night, while riding home after mess, along a very dark road, Phipps’s +horse fell with him. He was not hurt, but his eyeglass was broken in two, +and as he could not get another one in India, he wore half an eyeglass +for about three months, until a fresh supply was sent from England. + +At the villa where I lived in the summer months we kept several animals, +including a wild cat, which was very savage and nearly as big as a +wolf, a bear, which we tried to tame, a hyena and a monkey. These +animals belonged to Wilson, who one day let the bear loose, and we had +considerable trouble in recapturing it. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + + A Subalterns’ Court-Martial—A Terrible Experience—High + Mess-bills + + +Amongst our amusements at Murree were balls, which were given +periodically at the Club by the officers of the battalion. Although +the majority of the fair guests were married women, there was always a +sprinkling of unmarried ones amongst them, most of whom had come out to +India in the hope of finding husbands. The band of the regiment furnished +the music, and there was always a very good supper, with an abundance +of champagne and other wines, so that they were very enjoyable affairs +indeed. After one of these balls a most unpleasant incident occurred. + +It happened that I had danced with a Miss W——, a very pretty and +attractive girl, whom, later in the evening, I saw dancing with a young +officer whom I will call Eugene, and who, I noticed, appeared very much +_épris_ with the damsel. Next day, to my profound astonishment, I was +placed under arrest, and told that I must appear before the Colonel. When +I did so, he informed me that Eugene had told him that this Miss W—— +had complained to him that I had insulted her. I indignantly protested +my innocence, but the Colonel told me that, though he did not doubt my +word, I must, nevertheless, write a letter to the young lady, asking her +pardon, if I had unintentionally given offence. I wrote the letter and +sent it to Miss W——, but received no reply. + +At a garden-party given by the battalion a few days later, I saw the lady +whom I was supposed to have insulted. I hesitated whether to speak to her +or not, but finally decided that it was best to do so and inquire why +she had not answered my letter. + +“I don’t know why you wrote to me,” said she, “and, to tell you the +truth, I don’t in the least understand what you meant in your letter.” + +I then explained everything to her, when she exclaimed:— + +“I am extremely angry with Eugene. He must have invented what he told +your Colonel, and so soon as I go home, I shall write to Colonel +Montgomery, and tell him that the whole matter is a mere fabrication of +Eugene. I am sorry that you should have suffered through the abominable +untruths of a silly boy.” + +Miss W—— was as good as her word, and the Colonel read her letter to +Eugene and myself, in the presence of all the other officers. He said +that Eugene had acted in a most ungentlemanly manner, and deserved to be +severely punished for spreading about false reports calculated to injure +a brother-officer. He concluded by hinting that the subalterns would best +know how to deal with him. + +The hint, needless to say, was not lost upon these young gentlemen, +and after mess Eugene was informed that he must appear before a +court-martial that evening, in the villa where I lived. The president of +the court-martial was a sub-lieutenant named Basil Montgomery, who was no +relation of the Colonel, but the son of a Scottish baronet. Wilson acted +as prosecutor, while Lovett defended the prisoner. + +Eugene was brought in between two subalterns, and the charges against +him were read to the Court. The principal charge was: “Conduct not +befitting an officer and a gentleman, in having accused a brother-officer +wrongfully, thus subjecting him to arrest and further possible +inconvenience”; but there were several others. The Court found the +prisoner “Guilty,” with no extenuating circumstances, and sentenced +him to receive ten strokes with a cane on his bare back from each +sub-lieutenant, to be sent to Coventry for one month, and not to be +allowed to attend any balls or garden-parties during that period. Eugene +took his punishment very well. The corporal part of it was probably less +hard to endure than the deprivation of all social amusements and the +ostracism to which he was subjected. It had, however, a very beneficial +effect upon him, and he showed afterwards a very noticeable improvement +in every respect. Eugene, I may mention, was a very good horseman, and +rode in steeplechases, both in England and in India. + +Montgomery, who was the president of the court-martial upon Eugene, had +come out to India by the same troopship as myself, but he did not join +the battalion until much later, as he was taken ill at Bombay, where he +had to remain for some weeks. He suffered a good deal, as I had done, +from the change of climate when he first came to Murree. He was a very +fine young fellow, about 6 feet 2 inches in height, and a most perfect +gentleman, though perhaps he put on a little too much “side” at times. A +good many years later, he succeeded to the baronetcy, his brother, who +was in the Guards, having met with an accident which proved fatal. + +After a ball at the Murree Club one night, just as I was preparing to +ride back to my quarters, a tremendous thunderstorm came on. I waited +for some little time, but, as there seemed no immediate prospect of the +storm abating, I decided to face it, but told my syce, who was waiting +for me with my pony, that I would take a short cut home, instead of going +by the usual road. The syce walked in front of me, carrying a lantern to +light up the way, as it was a very dangerous path, with a most fearsome +abyss on one side, and in places so narrow that there was only just room +for a pony to walk along it. Suddenly, the lantern which the syce carried +went out, and, as neither of us had any matches with which to relight +it, we were plunged into total darkness, only relieved from time to time +by flashes of lightning. The pony all of a sudden stood stock still and +refused to go on, and, on dismounting, I saw through a flash of lightning +a tree lying right across the path. I therefore thought it safer to +proceed on foot, leading the pony, while my syce went in front; and we +continued thus for nearly a mile, not knowing whether the next step +would not plunge us into Eternity. But providentially at intervals came +flashes of lightning, which made it easier for us to advance. At last +we reached the end of the path, and made our way to the villa, drenched +to the skin, but heartily thankful to find ourselves in safety. We had, +indeed, had a terrible experience, and when I told Lovett that I had come +home by the short cut, he would hardly believe it possible, as the night +was so dark and the path so narrow. + +During the rainy season Murree was anything but a pleasant spot, for it +rained without intermission for days and nights together, until the place +resembled a wide river. All parades were suspended during the rains, +but the officers had to go out to perform their duties and to mess and +back; and, though we were protected by india-rubber coats and goloshes, +it was very disagreeable. The men’s quarters were, as I have mentioned, +situated at the top of a very steep hill, and although, since Colonel H. +P. Montgomery had been in command of our battalion, he had a zigzag road +constructed, so that the ascent might be made gradually, it was always +rather an undertaking for the orderly officer to ascend the hill after +mess to turn out the guard, and in wet weather it was simply detestable. +The descent, too, was very dangerous, as the road was terribly slippery, +and several accidents happened to both men and officers. + +The officers’ mess was at the foot of this hill, and on a clear day the +view from it was one of the grandest one can possibly imagine, for the +air is so rarefied that it enables one to see further than one could +otherwise. The towering peaks of the Himalayas, plainly visible, despite +the immense distance, the dazzling whiteness of the snow, and the deep +blue of the heavens, made a wonderful picture. But grand as the view is, +I almost prefer that from the Kurhaus, at Ischl, though it is on a much +smaller scale. It is almost like comparing the beauty of an orchid to a +rose, which, though less sublime in its appearance, captivates the senses +far more. There is something foreign in this Oriental scenery, which +appeals less to an Englishman than the exquisite beauty of Switzerland +or the Salzkammergut, in Austria. + +The General at that time commanding the troops in the Punjab was an +extremely popular general and a friend of Royalty, but he had made a +_mésalliance_, having married the divorced wife of a doctor. It was +for this reason that he had been given a command in India, instead of +in England. Lieut.-Colonel Montgomery-Moore, who commanded the 4th +Hussars at Rawal Pindi, and who spent the summer months with his wife at +Murree, did not call on the General’s wife, nor did most of the officers +of that regiment, and, as I had been introduced by my cousin to the +Montgomery-Moores, I felt that I could not well visit the General’s wife. +Several of the officers of my battalion also did not call, though others +were frequent visitors at her house. + +When the General inspected us, our Colonel ordered the band to play _Die +Wacht am Rhein_, which they played the whole time out of deference to the +Colonel, who was a great admirer of all things German. Not that he cared +for the air, for as he himself once said, he could only distinguish two +tunes. One was “God save the Queen,” and the other was any other air, as +he had no ear for music at all. + +At this inspection all the officers were called upon singly to show their +ability in taking command, some of the entire battalion, others of a +company. They nearly all acquitted themselves well, and the General, who +was himself an old Rifleman, complimented the Colonel on the efficiency +and smartness of his battalion, and praised all the officers, N.C.O.’s +and men. + +Our Colonel, as I have said, was a most excellent commanding officer. At +times he would take command of half of the battalion, while the senior +major commanded the other, and imitate the tactics employed in war, in +order to teach the officers and men how they should conduct themselves +in actual warfare. On several of these occasions, I acted as his A.D.C., +and, mounted on my pony, carried his orders to the junior major and +captains, which I much enjoyed. + +The mess-bills of the officers of the battalion were so high during +the year that the War Office complained that they were higher than any +cavalry regiment, averaging £20 to £30 a month. The Colonel therefore +requested the officers to see that they were reduced in future, as it +was not pleasant for him to be accused of encouraging extravagance. +The officers afterwards paid for what they required, and asked that +no champagne should be put down on their mess-bills. A great deal of +champagne was usually drunk at dinner, particularly by the subalterns, +and it cost from fifteen shillings to a sovereign a bottle. Spirits +were very little drunk, and, taken on the whole, the officers were very +temperate, rarely taking more than was good for them. Among the men there +was very little drunkenness compared with other regiments, and not a +single case of desertion; in fact, there were scarcely any prisoners at +all. + +Lovett and I, who were both anxious to see something of Kashmir, obtained +three days’ leave and set off on horseback. The country through which we +rode was very pretty, the fields being beautifully green and besprinkled +with scarlet poppies, while the hedges were covered with white roses. We +passed the first night at a dâk bungalow, and starting at four o’clock +the following morning, in order to avoid the heat of the sun, rode until +midday, and then rested at another dâk bungalow until evening. Resuming +our journey, we presently entered a lovely valley, with a river flowing +through it. This river, the Jhelum, separated British India from Kashmir, +and the view from the dâk bungalow at Kohala, on the Indian side, to +which we made our way, after refreshing ourselves by a swim in the cool +water, was very beautiful. The heat in the bungalow was intense, though +they employed _punkahs_ to relieve the discomfort we suffered, and +towards midnight a terrific storm burst, the crashes of thunder being the +loudest I had ever heard, while the lightning was so vivid that it lit up +the whole of the surrounding country. + +We spent the next day in bathing and fishing in the river Jhelum, and, +after dining at the bungalow at Kohala, walked across the bridge which +spanned the river. On the Kashmir side we found two sentries posted, +who had been placed there by the Maharajah of Kashmir to prevent anyone +unprovided with a pass entering his dominions. These sentries raised +all sorts of difficulties to our entering Kashmir, but we crossed over +all the same, and took a long walk in the country, which was very hilly +and rugged, with very narrow paths. When night came on, we returned to +the bungalow, but, having observed that the two sentries had their beds +placed on the bridge, we determined to get even with them for the trouble +they had given us. Accordingly, we returned to the bridge, carrying two +big buckets full of water, and, finding both the sentries wrapped in +peaceful slumber, dashed the water over them, and then, having thrown +the buckets into the river, ran for our lives. The luckless sentries, +startled out of their sleep, snatched up their rifles and pursued us. +But they failed to overtake us, and we reached the bungalow in safety. +We were somewhat uneasy lest inquiries should be made about us at the +bungalow, but nothing happened during the rest of the night, and in the +early morning we set off on our journey back to Murree. + +On our return to Murree, we decided to say nothing of our escapade in +Kashmir, as if the Colonel got to know of it he would have us placed +under arrest. Phipps, whom I told about it sometime afterwards, remarked +that it might possibly end in officers’ leave to Kashmir being stopped, +but, fortunately, as no one knew who had played the trick upon the +sentries, his fears were not realized. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + + Sialkote—Amateur Theatricals—An Ingenious Thief—Death of Albert + Phipps—Agra—Voyage to England + + +In the autumn of 1874 the other sub-lieutenants and myself had to go +through a course of instruction at Sialkote, in order to qualify as +lieutenants. At Rawal Pindi I called on Mrs. Kinloch, my acquaintance +with whom had been renewed at Murree, where she had been staying. Not +long afterwards, I was shocked to hear that she had gone out of her mind. +She died without recovering her reason. + +Sialkote is by no means a pretty place, being very flat, with few trees +to temper the rays of the sun. Its ugliness was, however, relieved to +some extent by a view of the distant mountains. Although it was autumn, +the heat was intense, and in the daytime almost intolerable. + +Lovett, Montgomery and myself occupied a house, which, though it had +one storey, was very large. We were attached during our stay to the +Royal Horse Artillery (“A” Battery, “A” Brigade) and messed with them. +Our instruction took place in the mornings under Lieutenant Hart, of +the R.E., who put us through a course of surveying, fortification +and tactics. Most of the instruction took place out of doors. Of an +afternoon we generally prepared our work for the following day, and in +the evening we dined at the R.H.A. mess, which was about ten minutes’ +walk from our house. The officers of “A” Battery were very nice fellows, +particularly Captain Hobart, who commanded it, Lieutenant Armytage, and +Veterinary-Surgeon Batchelor, and did all they could to make things +pleasant for us. The evenings at mess, however, were rather dull, as +so few members dined there, though at times they were enlivened by the +presence of guests, generally officers from the 5th Lancers, who, with +two infantry battalions and a regiment of Bengal cavalry, were also +stationed at Sialkote. + +The 5th Lancers were a very lively lot, and their mess was very amusing. +On one occasion, after mess, they dragged a lieutenant over the billiard +table, with the result that the cloth was cut all to pieces by his spurs, +and, not content with this, smashed all the crockery and glass in the +mess-room. One morning, on parade, another lieutenant, who rode very +badly, fell off his horse, whereupon his brother subalterns “ragged” his +room and broke everything they could lay their hands on. The unfortunate +owner, who had not the sweetest of tempers, took their behaviour in very +ill part, and shortly afterwards exchanged into a Highland regiment +stationed at Gibraltar. + +Some of the 5th Lancers were, however, very nice fellows, particularly +two sub-lieutenants named Russell and Beaumont, who were very friendly +with Montgomery and myself, and we often dined all together. + +One evening the sub-lieutenants of my battalion invited Beaumont and +Russell to dine at the R.H.A. mess, and afterwards we all proceeded +to our house, where we had prepared a _nautch_ for them, having sent +to the bazaar for a number of dancing women. These women danced most +fantastic dances, and wound up the entertainment by dancing with some +of the subalterns, who were wearing their white Indian mess uniforms. +The officers of my battalion, I may mention, had adopted a pink silk +sash round the waist, which we wore instead of a waistcoat, owing to the +intense heat. + +The colonel of the 5th Lancers, Lieut.-Colonel Massey, was popular with +all ranks, and one of the captains, Benyon by name, was a most charming +man. C——, another captain, a very ugly, red-haired man, was most clever +and amusing, but much disliked both by his brother-officers and the men +of the regiment. He often dined at the R.H.A. mess, where he entertained +everyone with his stories after dinner. One story which he told was of +a young fellow who was staying at a nobleman’s country house, where a +lady, with whom he was in love, gave him an assignation, and agreed to +put a flower in the keyhole of her door when she retired for the night. +Someone, with a predilection for practical jokes, catching sight of the +flower, removed it and placed it in the keyhole of another door, with the +result that the luckless young fellow invaded the privacy of a judge and +his wife. There was a terrible scandal the next day, and the victim of +this misadventure had to leave the house at once. + +C—— was very fond of botany, and I remember that once, when I happened to +meet him, he showed me a mimosa, which was so sensitive to the touch that +the moment one handled it it drew in its leaves. He came to a tragic end +in South Africa, where he was shot by one of the men of his troop, not, +it was generally believed, accidentally. + +Armytage, the lieutenant in the R.H.A. whom I have already mentioned, +was the son of a baronet and a very pleasant fellow. He had a pet dog +which he used always to bring into the mess-room, and which would perform +tricks. He related how once, when he had been ordered on foreign service, +the captain of the troopship, hearing that he had a dog, objected to his +bringing it on board, as he had made a rule against it. When, however, +Armytage showed him the little dog and made it perform its tricks, the +captain was so amused by them that he said he would make an exception +in this case. Armytage was a good actor, and used to organize amateur +theatricals. One evening, he got up a play, in which he took the leading +part, and acted very well in the comic style. The other parts were taken +by men of “A” Battery, and the performance, to which a good many people +came, was a distinct success. Afterwards, a dance was given in the +mess-room, but, as there were about twenty officers to each lady, it was +more pleasant for the ladies than for us. The sub-lieutenants, indeed, +went away as soon as they could, not being at all attracted by our fair +guests, who were mostly past their first youth, while the few girls +present were very plain. + +There was an excellent polo-ground at Sialkote, and many of the officers +played of an afternoon. There was also a croquet and lawn-tennis ground, +and these games were played a good deal by ladies in very old-fashioned +dresses, as ladies in India, as a rule, dress very badly and quite out of +date. + +The officers rode home from mess of an evening; and I used sometimes to +make my pony “Chang” mount the steps of our house, and enter my room, +after which he would go off alone to the stables. Once at Murree, for a +bet, I rode “Chang” up a long flight of steps to a church and down again, +and he never put a foot wrong. Batchelor, the “vet” of the R.H.A., had a +horse which sometimes, on his reaching the mess-room, he would tell to go +home, when the horse would find its way back to the stables, which were +some distance away. + +Two new sub-lieutenants came to Sialkote to go through the course. One, +named Marsham, an Old Etonian and a very nice fellow, was in my regiment; +the other, whose name was Wood, belonged to the 4th Hussars. He was +nicknamed “Lakri” (“wood”), as he was of rather swarthy complexion. Wood +had a very nice chestnut pony, which he often lent me, and one day Lovett +remarked that I never looked so well as on this pony, which seemed to be +made for me. He had another pony, a smaller one, and this he sold to me. +But it had a very nasty temper, and would sometimes turn its head and try +and bite my feet; while it was continually rearing and kicking, and, in +short, was a regular devil. One evening, when I went to dine at the mess +of a Line regiment, I tied it up to a tree, but it managed to get rid of +its bridle and bolted. It was only with difficulty caught, when I rode it +home again. + +“Eugene,” who had behaved so badly to me over the affair of Miss W——, +was not at Sialkote, having been sent to another station for his course. +While at Murree, he had fallen desperately in love with a Miss B——, and +had proposed to, and been accepted by, her. But, as he was so very young, +and the lady was not considered a desirable match, the Colonel took +the matter up, and the affair was broken off. At the station he went to +he fell in love with another lady, but this did not come to anything +either; and he nearly broke, not his heart, but his neck, there in riding +a steeplechase. However, eventually he recovered from his “smash” and +rejoined the battalion. + +I became very unwell at Sialkote, from what the doctor said was a liver +complaint. However, it did not much interfere with my studies, though I +was confined to the house for some time. During this period a curious +incident occurred. + +One morning, I noticed that a candle, which I had placed by my bedside +and blown out just before I fell asleep, was much shorter than when I had +extinguished it. The following night I carefully noted the length of the +candle before I blew it out, and next morning it was again much shorter. +I could find no explanation of this, as I had locked my bedroom door +before going to bed, until I remembered that there was a small opening at +the bottom of the door, just large enough to permit a person to wriggle +through. But this did not account for the thief having been able to pass +through my sitting-room, which led to the bedroom, and the door of which +I had also locked. I talked the matter over with Lovett, who offered to +lend me his dog, which he said was a very good watch-dog and could sleep +on my bed. I accepted his offer, but the animal had so many fleas that +I was kept awake all night, and decided to dispense with its company in +future. The following night I determined to watch myself, and presently +heard someone crawling through the opening of the door. I at once struck +a light, upon which the intruder promptly crawled back again. Then +everything appeared clear to me. The thief was none other than my bearer, +who had a key to my sitting-room, which he opened, and then, crawling +through the opening in the bedroom-door, made for my candle, which he +abstracted and replaced by a much smaller piece. The natives are great +pilferers, who will not stop at robbing one even of a piece of candle. + +One day, as I was sitting in my room, reading a book by Jean Paul, it +seemed to me that suddenly the room began to swing to and fro. It proved +to be an earthquake, which, however, did no damage to the town, though it +gave everyone a bad fright. + +Soon after I was able to get about again there was an interval of three +weeks in our course at Sialkote, and all the sub-lieutenants went away +on leave. Montgomery went to Murree, while Lovett and Marsham started +off on a shooting-expedition. The battalion, which was taking part in +the autumn manœuvres, was under canvas near Rawal Pindi, and I accepted +an invitation to stay with Surgeon-Major Macnamara and his wife in their +tent. The first evening I dined with them I noticed that I was served +with precisely the dishes I liked, whilst those I did not care for were +not handed to me at all. I inquired of Mrs. Macnamara the reason of this, +when she replied:— + +“I asked your _khitmagar_ when you arrived what you liked for dinner, and +what you did not like. Therefore, you see, I know now exactly what your +taste is.” + +Indeed, nothing could exceed the Macnamaras’ kindness to me during the +whole time I was with them. + +A couple of days later, Phipps invited me to go for a drive with him, +during which he told me that he was returning to England on leave, when +he would get his promotion, and he doubted whether he would ever come out +to India again. That evening, after dining at mess, I was taken ill, when +Surgeon-Major Macnamara, who attended me, said that I was suffering from +jaundice, and should have to stay in bed some time. During my illness I +received visits from one of the senior lieutenants named Hope, a grandson +of Lord Hopetoun, who brought me several books to read, amongst them +being “Cranford,” by Mrs. Gaskell, which he particularly recommended to +me, and with which I was delighted. Lloyd, another senior lieutenant, +with the local rank of captain, often came to see me. He was a very +dark, wiry fellow, of about thirty, and was a great sportsman. He was +going into the Indian Staff Corps, as he spoke several native languages +fluently. Lloyd was a particular friend of mine, and corresponded with me +regularly for years afterwards. + +One morning, I had a visit from Macnamara, who told me that Phipps +had been taken seriously ill with congestion of the lungs, the result +apparently of a chill which he had caught on the day I went for a drive +with him. A few days later, I learned from Lloyd that Phipps had died +during the night. When I next saw Macnamara, he remarked:— + +“Phipps was so stout; I knew I could not save him. He died from +suffocation, as he had such a short neck.” + +When I was well enough to dine at mess again, I heard from the Colonel +that, shortly before Phipps was taken ill, he had been told by the chief +that his tunic was looking rather shabby, to which he had replied:— + +“Oh, sir, it’s good enough to bury me in!” + +He had laughed as he said this, which was a habit of his when he made any +remark which was at all strange. + +A cable was sent to Queen Victoria, as well as to Phipps’s sister, +announcing his death. Her Majesty cabled at once to the Colonel, asking +for all particulars about the sad event, at which she appears to have +been genuinely grieved. + +I was much cut up by Phipps’s death, and I felt it all the more keenly, +as I had been with him so recently. I remember how on that occasion he +had kept talking of his approaching return to England, and had observed:— + +“I should have liked it very much in years gone by, but now I do not look +forward to it with half the pleasure I did then; it may be because I have +all my friends out here. I am so used to living out here with all the +fellows, and they are all so nice, that I don’t think I should go home +now if I had not to do so.” + +Poor Phipps was buried in his old tunic, as he had foretold in a jesting +way to the Colonel. He was barely thirty years of age. + +After I had quite recovered from jaundice, I returned to Sialkote, +which I did with regret, as I would have much preferred remaining with +my regiment. At Sialkote things went on very much as before, the only +incident worth recording being an accident to my pony “Chang.” + +This pony, which I had bought soon after coming to Murree from Sydenham +Clarke, the adjutant of our battalion, had the reputation of being the +best polo-pony in India, and one day Lovett begged me to lend him to him +for a match in which he was to play. I replied that “Chang” was not up to +his weight, and that he would probably lame him; but, eventually, on his +promising most solemnly to ride him carefully, I consented, though with +many misgivings. Some hours later Lovett came into my room, looking very +crestfallen. I knew at once what had happened, and exclaimed:— + +“You have lamed “Chang!” + +“Yes,” he answered; “I am frightfully sorry; I could not help it.” + +I ran out of the room to see the pony, who was so lame that there was no +chance of his being of much service afterwards. However, it was no use +blaming Lovett, since it was my own fault for being so weak as to allow a +valuable animal to be ridden by a man too heavy for him. + +After this mishap, I was obliged to ride my little devil of a pony when I +required a mount at Sialkote, though at times Lovett lent me his horse, +while at others Wood lent me his good-looking chestnut pony. I made Wood +an offer for this pony, but he declined to part with it at any price. + +I continued to suffer from liver complaint, and was attended by +Surgeon-Major Clarke, of the R.H.A., who advised me to try and get sent +to England. I subsequently saw the senior medical officer at Sialkote, +who said that I ought to obtain leave either to the hills or to England. +I appeared before a medical board, who certified in writing that my +illness was caused in and by the Service. + +The Chief Resident at Sialkote offered me the Maharajah of Kashmir’s +shooting, which was usually reserved for royal personages, and which the +Prince of Wales had when in India; but Montgomery urged me strongly +to go to England, and I followed his advice. I had afterwards, as the +ensuing pages will show, good cause to regret my decision. + +Before leaving Sialkote, I made arrangements to sell the things I did +not want; but, on showing the list I had made out to Batchelor, of +the R.H.A., he told me that I ought to have described them far more +elaborately, so as to enhance their apparent value. I asked if he would +describe them for me, which he did, and, greatly to my amusement, made +everything appear infinitely better than it really was. However, he said +that they would make much better prices that way, which I found to be the +case when the sale took place. My pony “Chang” I sold to Montgomery, as +he had partially recovered from his lameness. + +On leaving Sialkote, I went by rail to Delhi, where I visited the Palace, +which I thought very beautiful. At Delhi I called on the officers of a +Line regiment stationed there, and was invited to make use of their mess +during my stay in the city, where great preparations were being made for +an approaching Durbar. I left a few days later for Cawnpore, and visited +the places by the river where the British were massacred during the +Mutiny. On my way from Cawnpore to Agra, I made the acquaintance of a +French cavalry officer, the Vicomte Arthur d’Assailly, of the Chasseurs +à Cheval, a very smart-looking fellow, more like an Englishman than a +Frenchman, who spoke English perfectly. The Vicomte told me that at +Cawnpore he had paid several hundred rupees for a _nautch_ in his room, +which he had strewn with rose-leaves. On reaching Agra, we drove to our +hotel through the Bazaar, and in the evening went to visit the Taj, with +which we were quite enchanted. It was the most magnificent building I +had ever seen. The marble of which it was constructed was of the purest +white, and seen by moonlight, which enhanced the whiteness of the marble, +it was indescribably beautiful; while the deep blue of the starlit +heavens formed a delightful contrast. It was, in fact, just like a palace +of “The Arabian Nights”; and while strolling about the charming gardens +we could almost imagine ourselves living in the days of the Khalif +Haroun Alraschid. + +In the train going to Bombay I met an officer of the Rifle Brigade, named +Captain Crompton, a man of about thirty-five, with grey hair, who was +going home on sick leave. But as, he told me, he was rather doubtful +about being able to pass the medical board at Bombay, he intended to +appear before them just as he was, without going to his hôtel to change +and wash, considering that he would look more like an invalid in that +travel-stained condition. + +He was as good as his word, and obtained six months’ sick leave without +any trouble. As for myself, I went to Watson’s Hotel, where I was glad +to have a bath and change my clothes, as the journey had been a most +unpleasant one, and I was begrimed with dirt. On appearing before the +board, the senior medical officer asked me various questions, to which +I must have answered too laconically to please him, for presently he +inquired sarcastically:— + +“And what may your rank be; I suppose general or colonel at the least?” + +“No,” I replied; “I am only a sub-lieutenant.” + +“Oh, indeed! I thought from your manner that you were at least in command +of a regiment.” + +However, after a brief examination, I was informed that I could go, and +that I had been granted six months’ leave to England, as my illness was +caused in and by the Service. + +At Watson’s Hotel I met d’Assailly again, who told me a good deal about +himself. It appeared that he was a rich man, having an income of some +£6,000 a year, and was amusing himself by travelling round the world. +He had already visited Japan, Ceylon and Java, the last of which he +considered by far the most beautiful of the three countries, and, as +regards vegetation, truly marvellous. He admitted that Ceylon was lovely, +but, in his opinion, it could not compare with Java, the natives of which +he also preferred to the Cingalese. + +I was very glad to leave Bombay in 1875, though, as I disliked the sea +very much, I was not looking forward to the voyage to England with any +pleasurable anticipations. Among the passengers on board the troopship +were Captain Crompton, a Lieutenant Howard, who belonged to the Rifle +Brigade, and Viscount Campden, of the 10th Hussars, whose younger +brother, the Hon. H. Noel, was in the same battalion of the Rifle Brigade +as Crompton and Howard. Lord Campden, who was an amiable young man, with +a slight figure and reddish hair, occupied himself during the voyage by +reading Darwin’s “Natural Selection,” which was seldom out of his hand, +and did not talk much with anyone, with the exception of Crompton. + +There was a battalion of infantry on board, under the command of a +Lieutenant-Colonel Rose, who had his wife and daughter with him. The +latter, who was a charming little girl of thirteen, with golden hair and +blue eyes, took such a violent fancy to Howard that the other officers +used to chaff him and inquire whether he intended to wait until she grew +up to marry her. Howard was a tall, good-looking fellow, with a fair +moustache, and he seemed rather pleased than otherwise by the little +lady’s infatuation. + +The captain of the ship complained of Crompton dining in evening clothes, +and requested him to appear in uniform in future. Crompton answered +that he had no uniform on board, as he had come out to India to work as +a civil engineer. But the captain would take no excuse, and insisted +on his wearing uniform at dinner and also on deck. Crompton thereupon +asked me if I could lend him part of my uniform, as it only differed +in the facings, the facings of one regiment’s mess-jacket being black +velvet, and those of the other scarlet, braided with black lace, like the +Hussars. The uniform of both regiments was the same, supposed to be a +dark green, but really black. I therefore lent him part of my uniform, as +I had more than I required on board; but when he appeared in it at mess +and on deck, the captain at first believed that it was his own, and that +he had purposely avoided wearing it, and he had to explain that he had +been obliged to borrow from me. + +During the voyage I was a good deal with Crompton, and had many +interesting talks with him on all kinds of topics. He told me that +his mother, who was dead, had published a translation of the poems of +Heinrich Heine, which was considered to be the best that had appeared +up to that time. She had held that this life was but a preparation for +the one to come, and that whatever we cultivated in this existence, we +should excel in in the next, and said that he was firmly convinced of the +truth of this. He was a very clever man and had invented an automobile +for the conveyance of troops, which he had sold to the Russian Government +for £4,000, as the War Office would not pay him the price he asked. His +knowledge, too, was astonishingly varied. Thus, when we touched at Malta, +some of the ladies on board showed him the lace they had bought and told +him the price they had paid for it, upon which he said that they had been +imposed upon. For it appeared that he knew more about lace and how to +make it than any lady on the ship, and I saw him showing them stitches +which were quite new to them. + +There were, of course, a number of invalids on board, some of whom were +very ill indeed. I occupied a cabin with a lieutenant of the 11th Hussars +named Reid, who was in rapid consumption. He was a good-looking young +fellow, with, dark-brown curly hair, and very much liked by everyone. He +survived the voyage, as did a sergeant-major of the R.H.A., whom no one +had expected to live until we reached England; but several other persons +died, and were buried at sea. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + + Baroness James Édouard de Rothschild—At Carlsbad—Transferred to + the 3rd Battalion + + +At Portsmouth, I was met by my father and Ernest Berkeley, a son of Lord +Berkeley, who some time afterwards obtained a commission in my regiment, +and with them I travelled to Paris and stayed for a few days with my +parents in the Champs-Elysées. I then started for Carlsbad, where I had +been recommended to take the waters for my complaint. On leaving Paris, +I found myself in the same carriage with an elderly English lady, a +Mrs. Michell, and her daughter, whose acquaintance I made. They were on +their way to Marienbad, as the mother was abnormally stout and anxious +to reduce her weight, life, she told me, being a torment to her. At +Nüremberg, a rather nice-looking woman entered our carriage, with a very +smart footman in attendance, who carried an immense bouquet of flowers, +which he deposited beside his mistress. This lady, it transpired, was the +Baroness James Édouard de Rothschild, who had been spending the night at +Nüremberg, and was also _en route_ for Marienbad. The Baroness entered +into conversation with us, and was very pleasant. She spoke English +almost perfectly, having spent nearly half her life in England, though +she was now living with her family in Paris. She had, she told us, been +ordered to take the waters at Marienbad, as she was inclined to be very +stout, and had sent on fourteen servants from Paris to get everything +ready for her. + +I got out at Carlsbad and drove to the Hôtel Goldenes Schild, which was +in those days the principal hôtel. Next morning I consulted Dr. Ritter +von Hochberg, the doctor of the German Emperor, who was a very nice old +man, and who told me to drink two full glasses of the Schloss Brunn +waters and then walk for half an hour in the country every morning before +breakfast. I followed his instructions and, after drinking the waters, +walked out to the Posthof, where I breakfasted in the open air at a +very good restaurant, being served by a pretty young Austrian girl, who +was very tastefully dressed, with her hair arranged in quite the latest +fashion. The walk back to my hôtel, along the banks of a river, which +flowed through a delightfully picturesque valley, I enjoyed immensely. + +While dining one evening at the Hôtel König von Hannover, I made the +acquaintance of a Mrs. Andrews, an elderly American lady, who was very +rich and lived in an apartment in the English quarter of Carlsbad. She +asked me to come and see her at her rooms, which were very comfortable, +and where she gave me a cup of English tea. Mrs. Andrews was very fond of +taking drives into the country, and often invited me to accompany her. +One day she introduced me to Freiherr von Klenck, the son of Baron von +Klenck, who had been a great favourite of the late King of Hanover and +always with him. Klenck, who was in a Hanoverian cavalry regiment, was a +man of about thirty, with a fair moustache. He detested Prussians, and +once, when I asked him if he would care to meet an officer in a Prussian +Line regiment whose acquaintance I had made, he replied:— + +“It is all very well for you to know him, as you are not a German. But I +could not be seen with him. First of all, he is a Prussian, and then he +is in a Line regiment, so that I could not go about with him, since I am +in a cavalry regiment, as you know.” + +I usually met Mrs. Andrews and Klenck at the Hôtel König von Hannover, +where we would engage a small table and dine together, going after to +Sans-Souci or the Posthof to hear the military concert, which was very +fine indeed. The band which played there was that of the 35th Regiment +König von Hannover, an Austrian military band, which had won the first +prize at Brussels in the competition for military bands of all nations. +It was composed of fifty men, and played the most difficult music of +Wagner in the most brilliant manner, besides playing lighter music in a +way which quite delighted me. In fact, it put all the military bands, +English, French and German, that I had ever heard completely in the +shade. A principal feature was that there were two men who played the +cymbals, and that the big drum was an insignificant item, the side-drum +being far more used. Sometimes, the band would play at Pupp’s Café of an +afternoon, while the people were taking their coffee at little tables. On +these occasions, a fee of fifty kreuzers was charged for admission, and +there was always great difficulty in securing seats. + +The Kurkapelle, or string band, which played on most days of the week, +under the direction of the famous bandmaster, Auguste Labitzky, was one +of the finest string bands in Europe. Every Friday afternoon Labitzky +organized a classical concert at Posthof, for which an admission fee of +fifty kreuzers was charged. One day was consecrated to Wagner, another +to Mozart, a third to Beethoven, and on a fourth a programme of mixed +classical music was performed. + +The places where afternoon coffee was taken were all in the country, +people sitting at little tables under the trees. At Pupp’s Café the +waitresses had their Christian names, Mizzi, Fanni, Resi, and so forth, +pinned on to their dresses. These girls were for the most part very +pretty and pleasant-mannered. One gentleman, after having finished his +cure at Carlsbad, received about twenty bouquets of beautiful flowers, +which were all placed on his breakfast-table at Pupp’s by the girls +serving there. People said that it must have cost him at least a hundred +florins in _douceurs_ to the waitresses. + +When I asked my doctor how much I was in his debt, he told me that he +left the matter entirely to me. So I put forty florins in an envelope, +which the doctor declined even to open in my presence, saying that he +felt sure that I had remunerated his services sufficiently. + +After a cure of three weeks, I left Carlsbad for Franzensbad, for the +after-cure, which my doctor had advised my taking. Here I secured very +comfortable rooms in a villa with a beautiful garden behind it, agreeing +to pay a fixed price per week for board and lodging. Shortly afterwards, +the proprietress informed me that, had she but known that I was an +Englishman, she would have asked me very much more than she had. She +appeared very much annoyed, and, I am afraid, never forgave me for not +having acquainted her with my nationality at our first interview. + +I thought Franzensbad a very charming place, with its pretty villas with +gardens attached to them; but the walks could not compare with those +around Carlsbad. I was so tired after taking the waters at Carlsbad that +I rested the whole time I was at Franzensbad, merely taking iron baths, +which I found perfectly delightful. It was like bathing in champagne, +as the water sparkled and gave one a tickling kind of sensation. The +visitors at Franzensbad were chiefly ladies, but I made the acquaintance +of a young Bavarian officer, Freiherr von Rüdt, who was very musical and +played the violin beautifully, and used to meet him nearly every day at +the concert in the Kurpark. The Kurkapelle used to play at one or other +of the hôtels during supper, and I often went to these concerts. The +bandmaster, Tomaschek, was a very good conductor and a great favourite +with the ladies, who often sent him presents. + +During my stay at Franzensbad I paid a visit to Marienbad, where I +renewed my acquaintance with Mrs. Michell and her daughter. I thought +Marienbad even more beautiful than Carlsbad, surrounded as it was by +woods and hills. The walks around it were really exquisite, and nothing +could be more pleasant than to take a walk in the woods on a summer’s day +and have coffee and listen to the band at one of the cafés. + +On my return to Franzensbad I took a few more baths, and then left for +Paris, where I received a letter from the War Office, informing me that +I had been transferred to the 3rd Battalion of my regiment, which was +stationed at Chatham. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + + My Brother-Officers—A _Mésalliance_—Christy Minstrels and + Tobogganing + + +It was through the influence of the Adjutant-General, Lord Airey, that I +had been transferred to the 3rd Battalion of the 60th Rifles, in June, +1875. On joining, I went into the officers’ ante-room, where a short, +stout officer, wearing an eyeglass, addressed me, and inquired how I had +managed to get transferred. I told him that it was through the A.-G., +when he remarked: + +“How is it that I was not consulted?” + +“I really cannot tell you,” I answered. + +“H’m!” said he, transfixing me with his monocle. + +A few minutes afterwards, when he had left the room, another officer came +up to me, and said:— + +“Do you know who that is?” + +“No.” + +“That is our chief, Lieutenant-Colonel W. Leigh-Pemberton.” + +“Is it really?” said I. “I should never have thought it, for he looks too +young for a colonel.” + +“You have put your foot into it, evidently,” replied the officer, who +appeared highly amused at what had happened. His name, he told me, was +Corbet Stapleton-Cotton, and he was a lieutenant of some years’ service. + +I had a room in barracks close to Cotton’s, and, after my things had +been unpacked, I dressed for mess. During mess I again exchanged a few +words with the Colonel, who evidently looked upon me as an intruder, +since he addressed me in a very distant manner. I was introduced to the +acting adjutant, E. O. H. Wilkinson (the adjutant, Lieutenant Bagot, +had been suspended from that post by the Colonel), whom I had known at +Eton, but had never cared for much. Wilkinson, who was a tall, dark man, +with a slight squint, a long body and very short legs, imparted to me +the pleasing information that I should have to begin my drill all over +again from the commencement, at seven o’clock the following morning, +so that I was likely to be kept well employed for some little time to +come. I also made the acquaintance of my captain, Cramer, who was a +middle-aged man with grey hair. He had little to say for himself, and was +not remarkable for his amiability, but was very musical, and played the +piano wonderfully well, though entirely by ear. Amongst other officers +with whom I spoke that evening were a sub-lieutenant named Robert Gunning +and a lieutenant called Allfrey. Gunning, who, like Cramer, in whose +company he was, had been at Eton with me, though I had only known him +very slightly there, was a rather good-looking little fellow, and a great +favourite of the Colonel, who called him “Cupid,” and often invited him +to his quarters. Allfrey was a tall, burly man, with dark curly hair, who +was very loud in both his dress and conversation, which was usually about +horses. He was a great admirer of Thackeray’s works, and declared that +“Vanity Fair” was the best novel in the English language, and that he had +read it over and over again without growing tired of it. + +Allfrey was a particular friend of Cotton, and I soon discovered that +these two officers were the _bêtes-noires_ of the Colonel, who, it was +said, could not even endure the sound of their voices, and would give +anything in the world to get rid of them both. Our chief’s dislike, +however, was by no means confined to Cotton and Allfrey. Two senior +lieutenants, named Holled-Smith and Allen, and a captain called Robinson, +had also the misfortune to be objects of his antipathy, a fact which he +was never at any pains to disguise. + +Holled-Smith was a fine-looking man, clever and entertaining, but with +a somewhat brusque manner. He had a very good baritone voice, which he +cultivated by taking singing lessons, and he sang some songs very well. +Allen and Robinson were both singular characters. The former, who was +expecting his company, was a queer-looking fellow, with a partially-bald +head and a peculiarly vacant expression. He was always highly perfumed, +so that you knew when he happened to be near you, before you saw him. +His dress was very eccentric, and his manner too. He was perpetually +muttering to himself, and would gesticulate in the most weird fashion +when no one was talking to him. Robinson, who was nicknamed “Rabelais,” +as he was always reading that author’s works, was a kind of Hercules, +and was the eldest son of a baronet and the grandson of an Irish earl. +He was very eccentric, and would suddenly—for no apparent reason—throw +himself into the most violent passions, and indulge in language at which +even a private soldier would be horrified. Strangely enough, he appeared +to have little or no idea of the effect of these outbursts upon those who +had the misfortune to be present: probably, he hardly knew what he was +saying. It was related that, upon one occasion, he used this terrible +language before a lady, who incontinently took to flight. “Rabelais” +inquired afterwards why the lady had left so abruptly, and, on being +told, remarked that she must have been uncommonly prudish. + +These two strange creatures disliked each other even more than the +Colonel did them. One evening at mess, soon after I joined the battalion, +I noticed that, though they were sitting next each other, they never +exchanged a word the whole evening. I remarked upon this to one of the +other officers, when I was told that they had not spoken to one another +for years. + +The senior major, Northey, was a very tall, dark man, who was an +excellent soldier and understood his work thoroughly; but, unfortunately, +his hands were tied by the Colonel, who seldom condescended to approve +of anything he did. He was married to the daughter of a Polish nobleman, +a refugee, whom he had met when the battalion was stationed in Canada. +Major Northey was popular with the men, and liked by the officers, but +he had no influence at all. + +The junior major, Collins, who was stout and wore an eyeglass, was also a +married man. His wife was a sister of a bishop, and it was she who held +the ribbons. Collins would have made a much better bishop than he did +a field-officer, for he was a bad rider, who always felt uncomfortable +on horseback, and, what is more, looked so. He seldom ventured on any +observation concerning military matters before the Colonel, as when he +did so, he generally got snubbed. The major took a great fancy to me, and +often invited me to his house, where I sometimes met the bishop, who was +delighted with my zither and paid me many compliments on my playing. + +Tufnell, the senior captain, was a gentleman who entertained a +superlatively high opinion of himself. He must have been very handsome +when young, but was now somewhat “_fané_.” He was very much in love with +a girl named Miss Finis, the daughter of a butcher in Chatham, who, +some years before, had been in love with my friend, Arthur Dillon. Poor +Dillon, alas! was no more, having been thrown out of a Ralli car and +killed while stationed at Colchester. “He was such a good fellow, and a +very promising officer,” said Captain Byron, in the letter he wrote to me +in India, to inform me of the sad event. + +Tufnell was so infatuated with Miss Finis that it was generally believed +that he would end by marrying her. Nor was he the only officer in the +battalion who was contemplating a _mésalliance_. There was another +captain, called Carpenter, who was desperately in love with a pretty +little shop-girl, who was only about sixteen. At first, the Colonel +objected to Carpenter going about with this damsel, but when he learned +that he was determined to marry her, he said nothing more, as Carpenter +was a great friend of his. Carpenter retired some months afterwards, and +married his little girl, who, I was told, made him a very good wife. His +retirement was much regretted, as he was very popular with both officers +and men. + +The nicest captain in the battalion was de Robeck, who had been on the +Staff of the Earl of Mayo, when Viceroy of India. He was a brother of +Baron de Robeck, whom I already knew. De Robeck was a rather shy man, +and dreadfully afraid of offending the Colonel. As time seemed only to +accentuate the bad impression which I had been so unfortunate as to make +upon our chief at our first meeting, partly owing to the fact that I was +obliged to be a good deal in the company of Cotton and Holled-Smith, +whose quarters adjoined my own, I told de Robeck that I thought it would +be best for me to exchange into another battalion. He, however, advised +me not to do so, observing:— + +“The Colonel cannot stay with us very much longer, and in the 1st +Battalion, into which you wish to exchange, they have a Colonel, Colonel +Gordon, who, I am told, is much worse than ours. I hear that he has been +the cause of no less than ten officers leaving the battalion, and the +cases of desertion among the riflemen can hardly be counted.” + +I told him that the Colonel of the 1st was soon retiring, while our chief +would remain with us for another three years, which had to be taken into +consideration. + +“No,” he replied, “he has only two years more, thank God!” + +I was always much influenced by what de Robeck told me, and generally +followed his advice. I did so in this instance, but had I acted +otherwise, it would have been much better for me. + +Among the senior lieutenants was one named Wylie, an absurdly pompous +individual, who was disliked by both officers and men. One day, when +I happened to be orderly officer, I had just come off parade and was +standing by the officers’ mess, when Wylie passed by. I wished him +good-morning, but, because I did not salute him at the same time, +though it was off the parade-ground, he reported me to the Colonel, who +reprimanded me. Wylie was married to the sister of a recently-created +peer, who, on the strength of this relationship, gave herself ridiculous +airs, and was almost as pompous as her husband. + +Arthur Greville Bagot, an old Etonian, who was adjutant of the battalion +by appointment, though, as I mentioned, suspended, was a very different +kind of officer from Wylie. He was highly connected, being the cousin of +a duke and the nephew of a peer, and was a thorough gentleman in every +way. He was a very good-looking man, and when not in uniform, always +dressed very smartly in the latest fashion. An excellent soldier, he kept +the men in first-rate order, which Wilkinson never could do, and, as he +was rather a friend of mine, he invariably took my part with the Colonel, +with whom he was on pretty good terms. + +As there was very little going on at Chatham at any time in the way +of amusement, Bagot organized from the battalion a troupe of Christy +Minstrels, he himself taking the part of “Bones.” I was asked to do my +share, to which I willingly consented. We gave a performance in Chatham, +which turned out a great success, a number of people having to be refused +admission. The officers and men blackened their faces, and when I wished +to re-enter Chatham Barracks, the sentry refused to let me pass, until +I told him who I was. We gave a second performance at Chatham, which +was so well attended that we agreed to engage the theatre at Gravesend +and give an entertainment there. The result exceeded our most sanguine +expectations, the theatre being crammed, while over four hundred people +were turned away from the doors. Bagot made most amusing jokes, and sang +several very good comic songs; Carpenter gave a solo on the concertina, +besides singing in the chorus, and my performance on the zither was +warmly applauded, and I got an encore. The _ensemble_ was excellent for +that style of entertainment; quite as good as any professional troupe, +and the singing was above the average. + +During the winter we had a heavy fall of snow, and, as most of the +officers of the battalion had served in Canada, and had done a great +deal of tobogganing there, this amusement was indulged in down the hill +close to the mess. The toboggans were made to contain two persons, one +sitting behind, and the other between his legs in front; and many of the +officers would place a lady in front of them on their toboggans, and come +down the hill at a terrific pace, the ladies sometimes giving vent to +piercing shrieks, from fear of getting a spill. Now and again a toboggan +would upset, and send its occupants flying; but, as they usually fell +into the snow banked up on either side of the track, it was very rarely +that they were in the least hurt. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + + Sarah Bernhardt in _Phèdre_—Vienna and Buda-Pesth + + +When I got my winter’s leave, I started for Paris, to see my parents; +intending afterwards to visit Vienna and Buda-Pesth. On the last evening +of my stay in Paris, I went to the Théâtre-Français, to see Sarah +Bernhardt and Mounet Sully in _Phèdre_. The latter’s acting was very +fine, but Sarah Bernhardt was simply magnificent. The way in which she +recited Racine’s lines in her charming, musical voice, with its pretty +timbre, was a real pleasure to listen to; while in the last scene she +rose to the supreme heights of tragedy. I do not think I was ever more +delighted in my life with a theatrical performance than I was with the +splendid acting that night at the Théâtre-Français, as it surpassed all +my expectations. + +On my journey to Vienna next day, I had as a travelling companion an +Austrian gentleman called Herr Neuss, who, on my happening to mention my +visit to the Théâtre-Français the previous evening, observed that, in his +opinion, the Burg Theatre, in Vienna, was the first theatre in Europe, +and invited me to accompany him one evening to see a play of Shakespeare +acted there. Herr Neuss told me that, from the way I spoke German, he +had at first taken me for a German student, and that he was surprised to +learn that I was an officer of the British Army. + +On my arrival in Vienna, which was enveloped in a white mantle of snow, +I went to the Hôtel Matschakerhof, which had been recommended to me, +and which I found very comfortable. I lost no time in calling on Herr +Neuss, who presented me to his wife and their three young and pretty +daughters, who were quite charming. I was invited to return to supper, +and afterwards two of the girls played on two grand pianos which stood in +the drawing-room. They both played beautifully, and had evidently been +most admirably taught. An evening or two later, I went with Herr Neuss +to the Burg Theatre, to witness a performance of _Romeo and Juliet_, +which was wonderfully well staged. The part of Juliet was played by +Fräulein Frank, a very good-looking brunette, who acted well, though in +the very tragic scenes she occasionally showed too much emotion. Another +evening I saw Fräulein Frank in the _Jungfrau von Orléans_, a part which +suited her infinitely better than that of Juliet; and in which she was +truly marvellous. I also saw the celebrated Charlotte Wolter in _Richard +III._, in which play Lewinsky took the part of the King. I was very +much impressed by the latter’s acting, but I was decidedly disappointed +with Charlotte Wolter, whom I considered inferior to Fräulein Frank, +though the public thought otherwise. Wolter, indeed, in the opinion of +the Viennese, was an ideal actress, and, in certain plays, they even +preferred her to Sarah Bernhardt. + +I was charmed with the military concerts at Vienna. Of an afternoon I +several times went to the Volksgarten, where the people sat at little +tables sipping coffee and smoking cigarettes. The military band, the Hoch +and Deutschmeister, which played, was a string band, and the solo players +were all very good. I was quite delighted with the way the band played +a march, so differently from the sleepy fashion in which our English +military bands played one. As is always the practice with an Austrian +military band, when playing marches, a great deal of use was made of +the cymbals in forte parts. They also played waltzes delightfully, and +polkas with the proper rhythm, which so seldom happens. The Hoch and +Deutschmeister played the most difficult music from the _Nibelungen +Ring_, of Wagner, equally well, but their chief success was with light +music, in which they were unrivalled. + +On Sundays Johann Strauss’s band played in the Musikverein’s Saal, under +its accomplished conductor, who always charmed the audience with its +beautiful waltzes and inspiriting polkas. Yet everyone said that his +band was very inferior to the string bands of the regiments stationed in +Vienna. I heard Johann Strauss’s band play more than once, and though I +was pleased with it, the military band had far more attraction for me. + +I paid a visit one evening to Schwender’s, a dancing-hall, where, to the +strains of a military band, people danced till the small hours of the +morning, and was struck with the orderly manner in which those present +conducted themselves. It was a great contrast to the scenes witnessed at +similar resorts in England in those days, where drunkenness amongst both +sexes was a common feature. + +The Opera House, whose orchestra was quite the finest in Europe, had, of +course, a great fascination for me. Wagner was then directing his operas, +_Tannhäuser_ and _Lohengrin_, and they were admirably rendered. Fräulein +Ehnn and Frau Materna created the chief women’s rôles, and Winkelmann +and Ritter were the leading tenors. A great feature at the Opera was +the ballet, in which the _première danseuse_, Bertha Linda, delighted +everyone with her graceful dancing, while the _corps de ballet_ was +excellent. Bertha Linda married the celebrated artist Makart, at that +time the greatest painter in Austria. + +From Vienna I went to Buda-Pesth, where I stayed at the Hôtel Königin +von England. On the evening of my arrival, a gipsy band began playing +during dinner, and continued until long past midnight. They played in a +really wonderful manner, and collected a great deal of money. I visited +the “Nepsinház” and other theatres in Pesth, and one evening went to a +dancing-hall, where I saw the Csárdas danced most beautifully, and made +the acquaintance of a young girl of fourteen or fifteen, named Tournay +Wilma, a pupil at the theatre, who had a lovely contralto voice. She +accompanied me back to my hôtel, and sang to me until the small hours of +the morning. + +I thought Buda-Pesth beautifully situated, with the Emperor’s castle at +Buda, and the Danube flowing between the two towns, but I would have +infinitely preferred to live in Vienna, which is a far finer city. On my +return there, I went several times to the Opera to hear _Manfred_, _Don +Juan_ and _Figaro’s Hochzeit_, and then, after calling on Herr Neuss and +his family, bade farewell to this most charming of capitals. + +I may mention that, during my stay in Vienna, I took lessons on the +zither from the celebrated Paschinger, who was quite a brilliant +performer on that instrument, besides being a good violinist, and played +the violin and occasionally the zither at one of the principal theatres, +where he was first violinist. I also invested in a zither-table, which I +purchased at Kiendl’s, who made the best zithers in Europe. + +While in Vienna and Buda-Pesth, I was much impressed by the appearance +of the troops I saw. Among the cavalry, which was then considered the +finest in Europe, the Hussars struck me as being remarkably well mounted, +while the officers’ uniform was very smart. The Dragoons, whose officers +were mostly of the nobility, as were those of the Lancers, were also well +mounted; while the Arciren Guards, who corresponded to our Life Guards, +were a fine body of men, in green uniforms with red facings. There were +at this time, in the Austrian Army, sixteen regiments of Hussars, the +same number of Lancer regiments, and twelve regiments of Dragoons. The +Hussars were all Hungarians, the Dragoons Austrians, and the Lancers +Bohemians and Poles. The infantry was also very fine, and the uniform of +the officers, though they wore no gold lace at all, very smart. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + + Percy Hope-Johnstone—A “Special” to Aldershot—A Costume-Ball at + Folkestone + + +Soon after my return to Chatham, my company had to go to Gravesend +for a course of musketry. The officers who went were Cramer, Gunning +and myself. We had to superintend the shooting of the men, though the +musketry instructor, a lieutenant named Hope-Johnstone, was also present. +Percy Hope-Johnstone, who was very popular with everyone, was a fine, +powerfully-built man, and a very good shot, both with gun and rifle. +He took great interest in the men’s shooting, and was a most capable +instructor. He was the heir to a baronetcy, and in later years laid claim +to the peerage of Annandale, but his claim was not successful. + +One day, Hope-Johnstone lent me his horse on the range, and the animal, +not being accustomed to so light a weight, bolted with me, and set off +at a furious gallop through the town. Fortunately, however, he soon ran +himself out, and stopped of his own accord. + +Hope-Johnstone often went with Gunning and myself for walks in the +country around Gravesend. On one occasion, when we were sitting by the +Thames, he said to us:— + +“Supposing neither of you had any money at all. What would you do to +learn a living?” + +Gunning replied that he should become an actor; and they both said that +they were sure that I could play the zither at concerts, and make a good +deal of money by this. Then Hope-Johnstone remarked:— + +“I know what I should do. I am a very fine fellow, well-built, rather +imposing in appearance. Therefore, I should be a footman, which is a +devilish easy life, nothing to do and plenty to eat and drink.” + +Hope-Johnstone told me that he had a younger brother in the Guards, who +had told him that he was not allowed to recognize in London officers of +other regiments whom he had met in the country, unless he were introduced +to them in town, and the same rule applied to civilians whom an officer +of the Guards had met in the country. Hope-Johnstone said he much +preferred life in a Rifle regiment, as he was far more free to do as he +liked, and could obtain more leave than a subaltern in the Guards. He +intended retiring from the Service so soon as he got his company, as he +was very well off. + +Allen, whose eccentricities I have mentioned elsewhere, came to Gravesend +with his company, and used to walk about the town with his pockets full +of sweets, which he would give to any pretty children whom he happened to +meet. He brought with him a rather smart dog-cart and some fine horses, +and sometimes took me for a drive, during which he used to entertain me +with an account of the charms of a young flower-girl at Folkestone, whom +he had known since she was quite a child, and whom he intended to marry, +although she was only sixteen and he was forty. He did marry her, in +fact, not long afterwards, when the Colonel insisted on his exchanging +into another battalion, stationed in India. The officers’ wives called +upon her, out of compassion, it would seem, for the miserable life which +she led. For Allen was so fearfully jealous that he even went to the +length of locking the poor girl up in the house whenever he went out. He +was subsequently transferred to another regiment, but his jealousy of his +wife continued down to the time of his death, which occurred soon after +he had been promoted major. + +When the musketry-course was over, I returned with my company to Chatham. +One day, I went with Cotton to Southend, and we missed the last train +back. Cotton said that he must get back that night, as he was on duty +next morning, and asked the station-master if he could have a special +train, when that official said that, if we would keep quiet, he would put +us in a luggage-train, which was just on the point of starting. We were +put into a van, which was half-filled with coal, and had anything but a +pleasant journey, as there was nothing but the floor—and the coal—to sit +upon. However, we reached our destination in the early morning, in time +for Cotton to assume his duties as orderly officer. + +Cotton told me that once, when stationed at Aldershot, he went up to town +for the day, and missed the last train back. A lieutenant in the Rifle +Brigade, named Crofton, who was in a like predicament, asked Cotton if he +would come with him in a “special,” which he had just ordered, and the +latter, of course, gladly consented. When they were nearing Aldershot, +Crofton said:— + +“I will send you your half of the bill for the ‘special’ as soon as I get +it. It will be a matter of forty pounds.” + +Cotton, however, did not see the force of this, as he had quite +understood that Crofton, who was a very rich man, had invited him to come +with him. Consequently, he refused to pay any part of the bill. + +It was no wonder that Cotton occasionally missed trains, for he was +constantly late for parade, for mess, and, indeed, for everything. One +day, the Colonel, between whom and Cotton there was little love lost, +remarked:— + +“Cotton, you are always late; I am sure you will be late for your own +funeral!” + +Cotton, who was a grandson of Viscount Combermere, and whose father, the +Hon. Sir C. Stapleton-Cotton, was a general of cavalry, died after the +Zulu War of fever. + +Cotton and I often dined together at a small hôtel at Rochester, which, +if I am not mistaken, was the one where Mr. Pickwick stayed on the +night of the ball at Rochester, described by Dickens. Occasionally we +would converse in French, which Cotton spoke well, though, singularly +enough, he had never been in France. At this hôtel, we occasionally met +two officers of the Rifle Brigade, Viscount Bennet, son of the Earl of +Tankerville, and Lord Torphichen, the last-named officer an old Etonian, +who would join us at dinner. Lord Bennet’s mother was a French lady, and +he used to make very clever jokes in French, which, however, lost by +being repeated in English, on account of the _jeu de mots_. + +Not long after my return from Gravesend, I was sent with Gunning to +Dover, to go through a final course of instruction there, before sitting +for my lieutenant’s examination, and attached to the 104th Regiment +at the Shaft Barracks. I was allotted a very comfortable room in the +barracks, and Colonel Græme, who was then commanding the 104th, was very +pleasant to me, as was a captain named Hunter, with whom I soon became +very friendly. Our instruction, which was conducted by a Captain Savile, +of the Staff College, occupied most of the morning and part of the +afternoon, but by four o’clock we were generally free. My friends, the +Charltons, were still living in Victoria Park, and naturally I lost no +time in calling upon them. They were very pleased to see me again, and +talked a great deal about poor Dillon, to whom, it appeared, Augusta, the +eldest daughter, had become engaged to be married just before he met with +his fatal accident. Ida, the second girl, who seemed even prettier than +when I had last seen her, told me that she was engaged to a lieutenant in +the 12th Lancers named Beck, a very nice young fellow, who had been with +me at Sandhurst, and whom I had liked very much there. + +Mrs. Charlton, as hospitable as ever, told me that I must come to supper +the following Sunday, and bring a friend with me, as I used to do when +poor Dillon was alive. I gladly accepted her invitation, and asked +Gunning to come with me. But he excused himself, explaining that he was +related to the Charltons, but that, owing to some family quarrel, his +parents were not on good terms with them. I then asked a lieutenant of +the 7th Fusiliers, named Foley, who was only too pleased to go. He fell +in love with Augusta at first sight, and he and I used to go every Sunday +evening to supper in Victoria Park. + +Foley, who was a nephew of Lord Foley, was a very nice fellow indeed +and a great friend of mine. He was very witty and amusing, and not +infrequently exercised his wit at the expense of Gunning, who, though +he rather fancied himself at repartee, and could more than hold his own +against most people, invariably got the worst of it when he crossed +swords with Foley. + +While I was at Dover, a big fancy-dress ball took place at Folkestone, +to which Robartes, of the 11th Hussars, and I went with the Charltons. +It was a very smart affair indeed, a number of people coming down from +London for it, and some of the costumes were very fine. One lady, the +Hon. Mrs. Yorke, whose husband was an officer in the Guards, wore a +Greek peasant girl’s costume, which was much admired. Mrs. Yorke had, I +think, the smallest feet for an Englishwoman that I have ever seen, which +the white trousers she wore enabled her to display to advantage. Mrs. +Charlton wore some magnificent lace, which a lady with whom I danced told +me must be worth at least two or three hundred pounds. When I happened +later in the evening to mention this to Mrs. Charlton, she exclaimed:— + +“Two or three hundred! The lace on my dress is worth nearer three +thousand. It is of Charles II.’s time.” + +It was nearly four o’clock in the morning before we left the ball-room, +having all enjoyed ourselves thoroughly. Robartes and I were photographed +with the girls a few days later at Dover, they in the fancy dresses they +had worn at the ball, and we in our uniform. + +When our examination for the rank of lieutenant took place, Foley and +myself passed very well in the first class and had our commissions +ante-dated two years; Robartes, of the 11th Hussars, and Gunning only +succeeded in getting a “second.” The examination was a very stiff one, +and a major of the 104th remarked that it ought almost to have qualified +us for generals instead of lieutenants. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + + The Oppenheims—St. James’s and Winchester—The Colonel and + Beauclerk + + +Shortly after I had passed my lieutenant’s examination, I was sent to +Woolwich, where a detachment of my battalion was to do duty for the +Horse Artillery. The room I was given, which belonged to an officer of +the R.H.A., was a much better one than I had had in other barracks, +and was furnished with some attempt at luxury. In the evening, I dined +at the Royal Artillery mess, where their very fine string band played +an excellent selection of music, under the direction of its Austrian +bandmaster, Ritter von Zauerthal. I was often on guard at Woolwich, which +I found very tiresome, as the guard was turned out at night as well as by +day, and, as my turn to be on guard came round three times a week, it was +pretty stiff work. + +While I was at Woolwich, a very smart ball was given at the barracks, +which was highly successful, the great variety of uniforms and the +toilettes of the ladies combining to make an unusually pretty scene, and +an excellent supper being provided. To this ball I invited my old Eton +friend, Jim Doyne, who, seeing all the men in uniform, mistook an officer +who had come in evening dress for a waiter, and asked him to fetch an ice +for a lady. The officer, however, took the mistake in very good part, and +did as he was asked, remarking as he handed the ice to the lady, whom he +happened to know:— + +“I am very pleased to make myself useful, and, as I have come in evening +clothes instead of in uniform, I can quite understand your partner taking +me for a waiter.” + +During my visit to Vienna, Herr Neuss had given me a letter of +introduction to Frau Oppenheim, the wife of a wealthy wine-merchant in +London, who, before her marriage, when she was known as Louise Epstein, +had been an actress at the Burg Theatre, and had been considered the most +beautiful woman in the Austrian capital. I called upon her and found +her very charming, though few traces of the beauty which had captivated +so many hearts, including, it was said, that of a British Ambassador, +now remained. Her husband, an immensely stout man, invited me to dinner +and gave me a most excellent one, _arrosé_ with his choicest wines. +In return, I invited the Oppenheims to lunch with me at Woolwich, and +asked a lieutenant of my battalion named Featherstone to meet them. +Featherstone, I am afraid, was somewhat disappointed with Madame’s looks, +as he had been expecting to see a much younger woman. + +After lunch, which was served in a private room at the mess, Herr +Oppenheim expressed a wish to see the 80-ton gun fired for the first +time, but I told him that it was impossible, as he was a foreigner. +However, he protested that he had lived so many years in England that +he had almost come to look upon himself as an Englishman, and at length +he persuaded me to take him. When the great gun was fired, the worthy +wine-merchant was so alarmed that he staggered backwards, exclaiming: +“_Ach, du lieber Gott!_” And had it not been for a man standing by, who +supported him in his arms, and whom his weight nearly upset, he would +have fallen down. + +When I invited a friend to dine with me at the Artillery mess, as I +frequently did, I was obliged to be there to receive him; otherwise, he +would not be admitted. On my inquiring the reason for this rule, I was +told that one evening a man presented himself at the mess, saying that +he had been asked to dine by a certain officer, whose name he gave. The +officer in question did not put in an appearance, and when dinner was +announced, his supposed friend was invited to sit down to table, which he +did. Presently, the attention of one of the mess-waiters was attracted by +the singular behaviour of this individual, who was calmly pocketing as +many spoons and forks as he could lay his hands on, whenever he fancied +that he was unobserved. The mess-waiter reported these proceedings to +the mess-president, and the man was at once given in charge, when it was +discovered that he was a well-known thief. The Artillery mess was a very +large one, from two hundred to three hundred officers sitting down to +table, many of whom brought guests with them. Consequently, they had to +be very careful, as there was always so much silver lying about. + +As it was summer, I frequently went up to London by steam-boat, which +was a very pleasant way of making the journey. My companion on these +river-trips was a lieutenant of my battalion, named Ernest Hovell +Thurlow, an exceedingly nice fellow, who wore an eyeglass and appeared to +take life in a very philosophical manner, as he never allowed himself to +be put out by anything. He was a grandson of Lord Thurlow, and his mother +had been a Miss Lethbridge. He was married, but his wife, a very pretty +woman with wavy, golden hair, was staying in town for the season. + +After we had been some months at Woolwich, our detachment received orders +to relieve the Grenadier Guards at St. James’s Palace. We detrained at +Waterloo Station and marched to the Palace, in front of which the band +of the Grenadiers was playing while the guard was being mounted. Our +Colonel, who had come up to town expressly for this ceremony, and was +in plain clothes, sent me to tell the Grenadiers’ band to stop playing, +at which the bandmaster, Dan Godfrey, appeared to be rather surprised. +However, he obeyed the order, when the band of our battalion played in +its turn, after which the guard was relieved. + +I had a very comfortable room in St. James’s Palace, where I slept while +I was on guard there, and, with the other officers, was made an honorary +member of the Guards’ Club. I found the duties rather fatiguing, as the +sentries to be visited were so far apart. The officers of the Guards +always visited them in hansom-cabs, but Captain Tufton, who was in +command of our detachment, would not allow me this luxury, and I had to +go on foot. + +I invited Jim Doyne to dine with me one evening at the Palace. The dinner +was excellent, and was provided free of cost to the officers, though +they had to pay 15s. for each guest. The champagne was very good and +the liqueurs as well, and a bottle of brandy was opened which was of +the year of the Battle of Waterloo. Amongst the guests was a Lieutenant +Childe-Pemberton, who was formerly in our regiment, but was then in the +“Blues.” + +After I had been a short time at St. James’s Palace, my battalion was +ordered to the Tower. But the Colonel, who had a good deal of influence +at the War Office, persuaded them to countermand this order and send it +to Winchester instead, where the detachment from St. James’s joined it. + +I had very comfortable quarters at Winchester, and life there was very +pleasant, as the country round was very pretty, and we were invited +to all the best houses in the neighbourhood. One of the most pleasant +houses to which I went was that of Lady Frederick. It was a charming old +residence, standing in the midst of beautiful grounds, and Lady Frederick +and her son were most kind and hospitable. + +The depôt of the Rifle Brigade was also at Winchester, and the officers, +some of whom were very nice fellows indeed, frequently dined at our mess. +Amongst them was a Lieutenant F. Howard, whose acquaintance I had made on +the troopship returning from India, and whom I was very pleased to meet +again. He told me that he was now married and invited me to dine with +him and his wife. I did so, and had a most pleasant evening, as both the +Howards were very musical, Mrs. Howard having a very good voice, while +her husband was quite an accomplished pianist. + +Sir George Nares, the Arctic explorer, was living at Winchester at +the time with his wife and daughters. I made their acquaintance at a +dance, and was often invited to tea at their house, after which I used +to play tennis or croquet with the two girls, both of whom were very +good-looking, or go with them for a country-walk. Sometimes when I +called Sir George Nares would ask me to have a glass of madeira, from one +of the remaining bottles of a case of that wine which had made the voyage +with him. He did not show any traces of the privations which he had +endured in the Arctic; but he was a very quiet man, who did not talk much +and kept a good deal to himself. Not long after I came to Winchester, the +family removed to a house near Surbiton, where they invited me to visit +them. While I was there, the elder daughter met with a very sad accident. +She was running downstairs, when the heel of her shoe caught in a +stair-rod and she fell on her back, injuring her spine so badly that she +died six months later. She was only eighteen. Her younger sister married +a missionary some years later, and went out to South Africa. + +Several officers from the 2nd Battalion, with which I had served in +India, were at the depôt, including Surgeon-Major Macnamara, Beauclerk, +Lovett, and a captain named Brownrigg. Brownrigg was a fine-looking man, +though with a tendency to _embonpoint_, and a very nice fellow as well, +but he had an unfortunate weakness for liqueurs. He used to mix two or +three together, and whenever anyone came to see him would invite them to +have “a two-bottle trick” or “a three-bottle trick” with him. Brownrigg +married not long afterwards and left the Service, but died suddenly, six +months later. Probably, the two and three bottle tricks in which he was +so fond of indulging had undermined his health. + +It was rarely that the officers went up to town from Winchester, as the +journey was rather too long, and there was plenty of amusement to be +found in and around Winchester. The music at the cathedral had a great +attraction for me, and I was never tired of listening to the magnificent +playing of the organist, Dr. Arnold. I took lessons in composition from +Dr. Arnold, which interested me very much, although Howard declared +that he could not understand anyone wishing to be initiated into the +mysteries of harmony and counterpoint; which, he said, was a kind of +higher mathematics and destroyed the illusion which music produces on +the senses. + +The Colonel was his own absolute master at Winchester, as there was no +general there to look after him, and gave himself and his battalion a +rest, the parades being few and far between and the guards easy. Except +for pottering about the mess-room and his work at the orderly-room of +a morning our chief had little to do, and, from want of some better +occupation, made himself more than usually objectionable to such of the +officers as he did not happen to like. Beauclerk, who had been at the +depôt for some time, was transferred to our battalion, at which I was +very pleased, as he was a very nice fellow and a perfect gentleman, +though a little inclined to be conceited. Unfortunately, the Colonel at +once took a dislike to Beauclerk, owing to some jesting remark which the +latter let fall while playing billiards with him, which he considered was +wanting in respect, though any ordinary person would have seen nothing +offensive in it. Next day, the chief appointed him to Robinson’s company, +well knowing that Beauclerk would never tolerate the manner in which +that eccentric personage was in the habit of treating his subalterns, +whom he seldom condescended to address except to find fault with them, +which he did in not the politest of language. Sure enough, one fine day, +Beauclerk complained to the Colonel of the language which “Rabelais” had +used towards him, and when the Colonel refused to listen to him, sent in +his papers, which was, of course, just what our amiable chief wanted him +to do. He was a great loss to the regiment, and his retirement was much +regretted. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + + Paris Again—Eccentricities of Captain “Rabelais”—A Fire in + Barracks—A Trying Inspection + + +My next winter leave I spent in Paris with my parents, who now occupied +an _appartement_ at No. 65, Rue de Morny, Champs-Elysées, and, as the +winter season in the French capital was in full swing, had a very gay +time of it. Among the balls to which I went was one given by Mrs. +Hungerford, the mother of the well-known Mrs. Mackay, which was a very +grand affair indeed, and at which dancing was kept up until nearly five +in the morning. I met Mrs. Mackay shortly afterwards, when calling on +Mrs. Hungerford. She spoke Spanish quite fluently, and was at this time +very intimate with Isabella, the ex-Queen of Spain, to whose house she +was often invited. She was, as usual, beautifully dressed, and in the +most perfect taste. Another ball I attended was given by Mrs. Keogh, an +Irish lady, where I danced the cotillon with a very lovely young Russian +girl, a cousin of the Empress of Russia, who, together with her sister, +was made a great deal of at that time in Paris society. I also went to a +_bal-masqué_ at the Opéra with an American friend named Willing. There +was a great crowd there, all the women being, of course, masked and in +fancy costumes. I went into Baron Alphonse de Rothschild’s box to pay +my respects to Madame Adelsdorfer, a great friend of Lady Holland, with +whom she stayed when in London, and she invited me to accompany her on +the following evening to the “Italiens,” where we heard Albani sing in +_La Sonnambula_. I was delighted with Albani’s voice and also with her +acting. + +Another evening, I went to see Salvini in _La Morte civile_, by +Giacometti. Mlle. Masini, a young girl, played the part of the daughter, +whom Salvini tries to kiss when he dies. She offers up a prayer for him +on her knees, which so affected the audience that nearly the whole house +was in tears. I saw Salvini on two other occasions: in _Il Gladiatore_, +when I sat next to a very pretty girl, who pointed out to me a +middle-aged man with a grey beard, whom she told me was Alphonse Daudet, +the celebrated novelist, and again in _Othello_, when Mlle. Checchi Bozzo +played Desdemona. She and Salvini acted magnificently and delighted +everyone. Mlle. Checchi Bozzo died suddenly two days after I had seen +her in _Othello_; she was only twenty-two, and her death caused a great +sensation in Paris. + +Amongst other plays which I saw were Madame de Girardin’s _la Joie fait +Peur_, Alfred de Musset’s _Il ne faut jurer de rien_, and Augier’s +_Philiberte_, at the Théâtre-Français, in all of which the acting was +admirable, and a very amusing piece called _la Boule_, by Meilhac and +Halévy, at the Théâtre-du Palais-Royal. + +One Sunday afternoon I went to Pasdeloup’s concert, where they played +the _Septuor_ of Beethoven beautifully. The greatest attraction there +was Sivori, who performed a violin solo in the most wonderful manner. +Sivori was Paganini’s best pupil, and Lord Berkeley used to say that +he preferred Sivori to any violinist he had ever heard, as he always +played with so much feeling, and eschewed those complicated pieces which +resemble gymnastic exercises for the fingers, and serve no better purpose +than to enable the violinist to display his execution. + +At the Grand Opéra I heard _l’Africaine_, of Meyerbeer, which was +marvellously well-staged. Madame Krauss sang the title-part. She was an +Austrian, from Vienna, but sang at the Paris Opéra for years, and was +quite famous there. I also heard _Robert le Diable_—or rather part of it, +for my father, who was with me, could not sit it out. So we adjourned to +Thorpe’s, where we met Tom Hohler, whom I have mentioned earlier in this +volume, and remained talking to him for some time. Tom Hohler was now +married to Henrietta, Duchess of Newcastle, and they lived in the Avenue +d’Antin. + +While in Paris, I visited a great many old friends, including Eugénie +de Lavaile and Gabrielle Tercin, with whom I went one evening to the +Scala and supped with them afterwards at a neighbouring restaurant. +Another evening, I went with the former to the Folies Dramatiques to see +_les Cloches de Cornéville_, in which Juliette Girard acted and sang +remarkably well and was very graceful. I also renewed my acquaintance +with Mrs. Michell and her daughter, whom I had not seen since I was +at Marienbad, and whom I came across one day while walking on the +Boulevards, and with the Vicomte Arthur d’Assailly, whom I had met in +India. The Vicomte lived in the Rue Las Cases, and was a member of the +Jockey Club, but he preferred les Mirlitons, he told me, as they gave +many evening entertainments, and he was passionately fond of music. + + * * * * * + +When my leave was up, I rejoined my battalion at Aldershot, to which it +had been transferred from Winchester. It had originally been ordered to +the Tower of London, but the Colonel, as on a previous occasion, had +used his influence at the War Office to get this order countermanded, +to the great disgust of most of the officers. However, our chief rarely +condescended to consult the wishes of anyone but himself in such matters. + +On my arrival at Aldershot, I was summoned to the orderly-room by the +Colonel, who told me that I had somewhat exceeded my leave, to which I +merely replied:— + +“Indeed, sir!” + +The other officers present, amused at this laconic answer, burst out +laughing, at which the Colonel looked very black indeed. His temper, +I soon learned, had not improved since the battalion had removed to +Aldershot, as he found things there very far from what he had expected. +He was not nearly so much his own master as he had been at Winchester; +the constant parades irritated him, and he lived in perfect dread +of the field-days, as he was constantly being reprimanded by the +Brigadier-General in command, for not knowing his work. These reprimands +he endeavoured to pass off on to the majors and captains, telling them +that they did not attend sufficiently to their duties; but everyone knew +with whom the fault lay. + +Much to the Colonel’s annoyance, both Allen and Smith had now got +their companies. Thanks to the former’s fidelity to his Folkestone +beauty, he succeeded in getting rid of him, telling him that it would +be simply impossible for him to remain in the battalion after making +such a _mésalliance_. But he had no excuse for getting rid of Smith, +and so was obliged to put up with him, though he lost no opportunity +of showing his dislike; and it was remarked that when offenders from +Smith’s company were brought before him, they were always more severely +punished than those from other companies. Smith, however, took it all +very philosophically, observing that, as the Colonel could not remain +in command for ever, he did not intend to gratify him by leaving the +battalion. + +Neither could our chief succeed in ridding himself of Robinson, whose +eccentricities caused him great annoyance. Since the arrival of the +battalion at Aldershot, “Rabelais” had taken to sitting out of doors +on warm days, arrayed in a flaming red dressing-gown, with feet and +legs quite bare save for a pair of slippers, much to the disgust of +some ladies, who had frequently to pass by his quarters. The matter was +reported to the Colonel, who exclaimed angrily:— + +“Confound that Robinson! What can I do with such a creature? He is a +disgrace to my battalion!” + +Nevertheless, he did not dare to interfere with him personally, but +deputed the adjutant to remonstrate with him. “Rabelais,” however, +received that officer with such a volley of oaths that he beat a +precipitate retreat. + +Whenever Robinson wrote to me or anyone, he did so on note-paper in the +corner of which was a picture of the devil in bright red, with black +wings, seated upon a swing, and the same device adorned the envelope. +Like Ludwig of Bavaria, he would only speak to some people from behind a +screen in his sitting-room. His sergeants, his subalterns and even the +adjutant, he would receive in this way, unless one of them happened to +come on some important business, when he would occasionally condescend +to reveal himself. His unfortunate subalterns, if they were not to +his liking, positively trembled before him, and generally ended, like +Beauclerk, by sending in their papers. + +One of his subalterns, whom I recollect “Rabelais” treated particularly +badly, was a very nice fellow named Crawley, who had lately joined. +Crawley, however, put up with it, though when the battalion was ordered +to South Africa on active service, he exchanged into the Coldstream +Guards with an officer who was killed in the first engagement. In after +years, Crawley commanded a battalion of the Coldstreams, and died of +wounds received in the Boer War. + +There was a good deal of society in and around Aldershot, and the +officers of my battalion were invited out a great deal, but our duties +soon grew so heavy that we were obliged to decline nearly all the +invitations we received. Colonel Wellesley, the governor of the military +prison, and his wife used to give very pleasant garden-parties, at which, +as we had not far to go, we were generally able to be present. The +Colonel, who was then an old man, was an uncle of the Duke of Wellington, +and Mrs. Wellesley was a most charming woman. They had several daughters, +who were very good-looking girls, and an only son, Cecil Wellesley, a +little boy about eleven years old. + +A General Smythe, a retired officer of the Artillery, who lived with his +wife and daughter in a large house at Aldershot, with extensive grounds +attached to it, also used to give garden-parties, which were always +well attended. The Smythes were very hospitable people, and everything +was admirably arranged, including the refreshment department, of which +the champagne-cup was a feature. Their daughter was a remarkably fine +tennis-player, and could, as a rule, beat any officer who opposed her. +She played in a short skirt reaching just below the knee, and wore a +collar and tie and a man’s cap—a costume which suited her very well, +as she had a good figure and beautifully-shaped legs, but was, in those +days, considered a rather bold one for a woman to adopt. Miss Smythe was +not only a fine tennis-player, but a most accomplished musician. When +quite a young girl, she had studied singing and composition at Dresden, +under the direction of Madame Schumann, who declared that she had never +had a pupil with so wonderful an ear for music, as she could sing the +scales without a piano in every possible key, without the slightest +fault. She was also an excellent horsewoman and a very bold one, and +Holled-Smith, who used often to go for rides with her, told me that she +would put her horse at jumps that made him even think twice before he +ventured upon them, although he followed the hounds regularly when his +duties permitted. Some people thought that he and Miss Smythe would make +a match of it, as they were so much together, but they remained merely +friends, and Holled-Smith eventually married another lady. + + * * * * * + +One night, I was awakened by Cotton, who told me that the fire-bugle had +sounded. Pulling our great-coats over our night-shirts, we ran towards +the place where the fire had broken out, and found that it was in the +stables, which were soon almost gutted. Two of Allfrey’s hunters were +burned to death, for though we endeavoured to save the unfortunate +animals, it was quite impossible. Indeed, we had all our work cut out to +prevent the fire from spreading to the adjacent buildings, but, with the +aid of some men with the fire-hose, we succeeded in doing this. + +During Ascot week Bagot drove our coach from Aldershot to Ascot and +back, while I sat on the box-seat and occasionally took a turn with the +ribbons. Bagot was a first-rate whip and the best in the battalion, +though Allfrey and Cotton were by no means to be despised. We lunched +at the Greenjackets’ tent, which was for the members of both Rifle +regiments, where I entertained my father and Sir George Wombwell and his +party. Among the party was the Hon. Mrs. Crichton, whom I had met at +Dover, and I was pleased at seeing again Savile Lumley, afterwards Lord +Savile, who had been at Eton with me. + +Among the Line regiments stationed at Aldershot was one commanded by +Lieut.-Colonel Deane, brother-in-law of Lord Falmouth, who frequently +used to dine at our mess, as a guest of our chief. Lord Falmouth owned +some of the best racehorses in England, and had won both the Derby and +St. Leger. But he disliked betting, and Colonel Deane told us that +the only bet he had ever had in his life was one of sixpence with his +housekeeper. He lost, and, in payment of the bet, gave her the sixpence +set in brilliants for a brooch. + +There were several cavalry regiments at Aldershot, including the 8th +Hussars and the 16th and 17th Lancers. The 16th Lancers had a circus, +composed of officers and men, which used to give performances which were +highly successful; in fact, it was almost as good as a professional +circus. Taaffe, whom I had met on my way out to India, was with the 16th +at Aldershot, and we used frequently to dine at one another’s messes. + +When in town, I constantly met old Eton friends and acquaintances, +chiefly officers in the Guards. The Hon. Alfred Egerton, who was at that +time a lieutenant in the Grenadier Guards, was a particular friend of +mine and I saw a good deal of him. Egerton told me that his colonel, +Prince Edward of Saxe-Weimar, had refused to allow his battalion to +comply with a senseless order during the manœuvres at Aldershot on a day +of almost tropical heat. Other commanding officers, however, had not the +courage to follow his example, with the result that a great number of men +got sunstroke. In those days, the Aldershot manœuvres took place in the +height of summer, instead of, as now, in the autumn. Several battalions +of the Guards and the “Blues” were sent to Aldershot for the manœuvres, +and amongst the Eton friends whom I met was Lord Edward Somerset, who had +exchanged from the 23rd Royal Welsh Fusiliers into the “Blues,” where he +was very popular. + +The day the troops were inspected by the Duke of Cambridge rain fell in +torrents. The troops had to assemble on parade in the early morning in +full uniform without overcoats, and to wait, standing at ease, for fully +two hours in the midst of the most drenching rain until the Duke arrived. +Many men suffered afterwards from the effects of that deluge. I was one +of them, as shortly afterwards, I was laid up with a severe attack of +rheumatic fever, which has affected my heart ever since. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + + Madrid and Cordova—Seville—General von Goeben and the + Bull-fight—A View from the Alhambra—I rejoin my Regiment + + +I spent my winter leave in Paris, where I suffered more or less all the +time from rheumatism of the heart, for which I took a good many Turkish +baths, without, however, obtaining much relief. My doctor told me that it +would be unwise to return to Aldershot when my leave was up, and advised +me to spend the rest of the winter in Spain. Accordingly, I went before +a medical board in London, one of the members of which was Surgeon-Major +Clarke, of the Royal Horse Artillery, whom I had known in India, and was +granted three months’ sick leave. I returned to Paris with my father, who +had accompanied me to London, and Lord Henry Paget (afterwards Marquis +of Anglesey), and on the following evening left the Gare d’Orléans for +Madrid. + +After two nights and a day in the train, I reached Madrid, which, as it +was carnival time, was very gay. I took a room at the Hôtel de Paris, +and after breakfast called on Doña Queñones de Léon, who lived in a huge +house like a palace, and who received me in a drawing-room, in the centre +of which a small fountain was playing. In the evening, I visited the +Opera, but was not very favourably impressed by, the performance. The +following day, through the good offices of the Marquis de San Carlos, I +was able to visit the Royal Stables and the Armeria, with which I was +quite delighted. Afterwards I walked in the Prado, which was crowded with +carriages, all the occupants of which were masked. Some of the carriages +were drawn by mules, and a few by donkeys. In the evening, I dined with +the Marquis de San Carlos, when I met Doña Queñones de Léon and two +daughters of Queen Christina and a daughter of the Marquis. The next day +I visited the Museum, and then went again to the Prado, where I saw the +King and princesses in an open carriage. The crush was so great that +one could hardly move. After dinner, I visited Señora Queñones de Léon, +with whom I found the Marquis de San Carlos and his sons, and, at their +request, played some airs on the zither. + +From Madrid I went to Cordova, where I stayed at the Hôtel Suiza. +Cordova is an interesting town, containing, as it does, so much Moorish +architecture. Some of the streets are so narrow that there is barely room +for two people to walk abreast, and it is infested by hordes of beggars, +mostly children in an almost nude condition. The smallness of their hands +and feet betray their Moorish origin. + +After spending a couple of days at Cordova and visiting the Cathedral, +with its pillars of porphyry, I took the train for Seville, where I put +up at the Hôtel des Quatre Nations. At dinner that evening I sat next +to a young man who, I afterwards learned, was a son of the President of +Brazil. As I intended to remain for some time at Seville, I looked out +for a _casa de huespedes_ (boarding-house), which I found in the Plaza +Nueva. The Plaza Nueva is the finest square in Seville, and contains a +great number of orange-trees, which at night and early morning throw out +the most delicious fragrance imaginable. My rooms overlooked the Plaza, +and at times the perfume of the orange-blossoms, which the Spaniards call +“_azahár_,” was so overpowering that one felt almost intoxicated. + +The _casa de huespedes_ was kept by three young girls—sisters—of the +name of De Larriva, who told me that they would teach me Spanish. +The youngest, who was called Manuela, was a very pretty brunette of +seventeen, with jet-black hair, beautiful white teeth, and those peculiar +black eyes which are rarely seen except in the South. She it was who +gave me the most instruction, for, though her two sisters spoke French +fairly well, while Manuela spoke no language but her own, she was by far +the prettiest of the trio, and I not unnaturally preferred being taught +by her. She began by telling me the names of the parts of the face, and +gradually taught me to pay all kinds of compliments. By her advice, I +took some lessons, besides, from a professional teacher of the language. + +Life at this _casa de huespedes_ was very pleasant, apart from the food, +which, to an English palate, was detestable, for every dish was prepared +with olive-oil, and even the poached eggs tasted of it. The butter was +imported from Holland and the milk condensed. I lived chiefly on oranges, +for I found nearly everything else unpleasant to the taste. We used to +sit down twenty-five to dinner, as a number of Artillery officers from +the garrison were in the habit of dining there. + +Among my fellow-guests was an Englishman of seventy, a Mr. Heaviside, +who had come to Seville on purpose to learn to read “Don Quixote” in +the original old Spanish. Manuela used to tease him, by encouraging him +to speak Spanish, of which he knew very little. I often went with him +to a café of an evening to hear the _bandhurria_ played with the piano, +and occasionally I went for a walk with the sisters De Larriva in the +fine gardens of the Paseo, where there were many tropical plants growing +out in the open air, and lemon and orange trees perfumed the atmosphere +deliciously. + +An officer whom I knew, Surgeon-Major Orton, happened to be spending +his leave at Seville, and with him I went to visit the Museum, with +its lovely pictures by Murillo, and the Alcazar, with which we were +delighted, the walls being covered with beautiful designs in the style +of the Alhambra. I also visited the Giralda, the view from which is +very fine, the Carridad, where there were many pictures by Murillo and +exquisite wood-carvings by Rollas, and the cathedral, which is one of the +largest in the world. + +During the winter the _patio_, or courtyard, of the houses in Seville +is but little used, but when spring comes, people spend a great part of +their time there. When Spaniards get together they invariably dance +with castanet accompaniments. Sometimes they dance the Seguidillas, the +Sevillana, or the Fandango, which is very pretty to watch, as both men +and women dance with so much _élan_. This is very much the custom, even +in aristocratic houses, the looker-on applauding and exclaiming: “_Ollé, +graziosa, muy bien, ollé, ollé!_” when one of the girls attempts some +unusual feat. + +One evening I went with some of the people at the boarding-house to the +Calle Trajano to see the dancing there. An exceedingly pretty little +girl, of ten or eleven, though she appeared much older, with black hair, +dressed like a Spanish woman, with a number of curls round the face, +danced with a man dancer the “_torrero y la Malagueña_.” In which dance +she displayed all the marvellous art of a _première danseuse_, dancing on +her points and executing the most difficult _entrechats_, _battements_ +and _pas de chat_, which would have done credit to a dancer double her +age. Then, suddenly, she darted across the room, with her handkerchief +in her hand, and before I had time to realize what had happened she had +thrown the handkerchief into my lap and rushed away again. Somewhat +embarrassed, I inquired of those sitting near me what I was supposed to +do, and was told that I was expected to put some money into it, and that +the little _danseuse_ would come and fetch it. After the performance, I +spoke to the little girl, who told me that her name was Salud, and asked +me to come and see her. I went the following day, when she danced for me +and gave me her photograph. Afterwards, I often went to the Calle Trajano +of an evening, where I sometimes danced with the Spanish girls, and on +one occasion danced a polka-mazurka with Salud. + +During Holy Week and the “Feria,” which followed it, Seville was crowded +with visitors, and the prices at the hôtels and _casas de huespedes_ +were all increased. Among the visitors who came to my boarding-house +was General von Goeben, who commanded a division of the German Army in +the Franco-German War of 1870, and after whom the notorious battleship +of Dardanelles fame was named, and the Marquis de Rampa, an immensely +wealthy Spanish nobleman, and his daughter. I sat next to the daughter, +who was quite a young girl, at table, and was obliged to make what play I +could with my Spanish, as she spoke no other language. + +The processions which took place day and night during Holy Week were very +imposing. Images of the Virgin Mary figured in all of them. The trains of +the dresses, which were of immense length and generally of blue or violet +velvet, must have cost thousands of pounds, as they were most exquisitely +embroidered with gold and silver lace, diamonds, rubies, emeralds and +pearls. They were carried by young girls. On Palm Sunday, the people +who took part in the procession were dressed in black, with their faces +covered, and palm-branches in their hands. On Holy Thursday, I went to +the Cathedral to see the Archbishop of Seville wash the feet of the poor. +There was a tremendous crush, and Baron von Münchhausen, a Bavarian +nobleman, who was with me, had his gold watch stolen. + +The “Feria” was a very pretty sight. All the principal families in +Seville took part in it, each having a separate tent, in which they +entertained their friends and sold various objects, somewhat after the +fashion of our charity bazaars. In some of these tents the saleswomen +were young girls, gorgeously dressed in red and yellow satin embroidered +with white lace and wearing white lace mantillas. To most of the tents +you had to receive an invitation before you were allowed to enter, when +you were offered chocolate or coffee, and, in those belonging to rich +families, champagne and other wines, the buffets being laid out with a +great display of silver plate and flowers. In the evening, the different +families visited each other’s tents, and the dancing of Fandangos, +Boleros and Seguidillas was kept up until past midnight. + +The Carrerras de Caballos (Horse Show) was held in another part of the +grounds. Here I met Lord Torphichen, of the Rifle Brigade, who had come +from Gibraltar, where his battalion was stationed. He was very surprised +to see me, as few British officers ever visited Seville. + +One of the chief attractions of the “Feria” was the bull-fight, to +which all the ladies of Seville went, wearing white mantillas and their +choicest jewels. I went with Baron von Münchhausen and General von +Goeben. But the latter took his departure very early, observing that, +though he had seen a great deal of bloodshed during the Franco-German +War, he felt quite faint and could not possibly stand any more of such +a disgusting spectacle. On my return to the boarding-house, Manuela +inquired if I had not been delighted with the bull-fight, saying that +it was the grandest sight in Spain and that nothing gave her so much +pleasure. I told her that I thought it very cruel to the unfortunate +horses, when she rejoined that, “they were old screws and no longer of +any use.” I remarked that that did not prevent them suffering, upon which +she said that hunting was equally cruel, and that it was a matter of +prejudice and nothing else. + +“Besides,” added she, “racing is cruel on the horses, some people say.” + +After that I saw that it was useless to pursue the argument further. + +During the “Feria,” the ladies of Seville dressed in colours, but at +other times most women and girls wore black. There were some very pretty +women in Seville, but the beauties were generally to be found among the +lower classes, most of whom have Moorish blood in their veins, which +gives them a darker complexion, but also smaller features and very tiny +hands and feet. Théophile Gautier observes that there is nothing more +charming than the foot of an Andalusian woman, which makes even that of a +Frenchwoman appear large. + +During my stay at Seville, I paid a visit to Cadiz. The approach to +Cadiz is perfectly lovely and has often been compared to the approach to +Constantinople. Seen from a distance, the town appears to be built of the +most exquisitely white marble; while the sea, which seems to surround +it, is of a beautiful sapphire, which rivals in loveliness the heavens +above, though, as it was early morning, the colour of the sky was more +like that of the turquoise. This illusion is destroyed, however, when one +enters Cadiz, as many of the houses are very far from being of the snowy +whiteness which distance had lent to them. + +At Cadiz, where I put up at the Hôtel des Quatre Nations, I came across +a Mr. Rueff, whom I had met at Cordova, and in his company explored +the town and visited several of the churches, where Mr. Rueff was +much interested in the wood-carving, some of which was of exquisite +workmanship. The day before returning to Seville, I went with Mr. Rueff +by rail to Jerez, where we visited the wine cellars of Señor Misa, who +supplied my own and most of the best regiments in England with wine. +Señor Misa invited us to taste some of his best wines, including one +which was bottled in the year of the Battle of Waterloo. He told us that +it was sold at £3 the bottle, but it never left the country. + +Mr. Rueff accompanied me back to Seville, and together we visited the +Fondacion, where the cannons are made, and the Casa de Pilatus, the +supposed house of Pontius Pilate. A few days later, I paid a visit to +Granada, where the red hills and grey rocks and the elm trees with +their massive foliage formed an agreeable contrast to the flat and +barren country around Seville. On entering the Alhambra, I was fortunate +enough to make the acquaintance of two English ladies, one of whom was +married to a Portuguese nobleman and lived in the Alhambra. These ladies +very kindly volunteered to show me all over the Alhambra and explain +everything to me, an offer which I gladly accepted. The Alhambra reminded +me to some extent of the Alcazar at Seville, as it is built in the same +style of Moorish architecture, though on a much larger and grander scale. +The Court of Lions and the adjacent rooms are exquisitely constructed, +and the marvellous decoration of the walls, with their blending of +colours and intricate designs, impart a magnificence to the “_tout +ensemble_” almost impossible to describe. + +One of the most exquisite views I can remember, I had when the sun was +setting from one of the windows of the Alhambra, from which I could see +the mountains of the Sierra Nevada, with their summits covered in snow. +The colours which the sun’s declining rays imparted to the clouds were of +all the various shades of the opal, making some of the tiny clouds appear +like roses in the heavens, and the heavens themselves as though on fire. +Then gradually the colours became more subdued, and every shade melted +away, from the deepest red to the most delicate violet, leaving here +and there a bunch of roses, which resembled in their pale _nuance_ the +Souvenir à la Malmaison or Blanche Laffitte. This was the effect of the +after-glow. + +The next day, the two ladies took me to see the Cartuja and the +Cathedral, and on the following afternoon I went with them for a drive +into the country, during which I had a splendid view of the Sierra +Nevada. After dinner, I went again to the Alhambra to take leave of my +kind friends, and heard the nightingales sing as I had never heard before +or since in my life. + +Early next morning I left Granada for Seville. At a lonely spot beyond +Antequeria the train came to a stop, owing to the line being blocked by +a broken-down engine, and we were told that it might be some time before +we should be able to proceed. Many of the passengers appeared greatly +alarmed, and, on inquiring the reason, I was informed that this part of +the country was infested by brigands, who might at any moment come down +upon us. However, we saw nothing of these gentry, and at the end of a +couple of hours the engine which barred our way was got off the rails, +and we continued our journey. + +Towards the end of April, the weather became intolerably hot at +Seville, and I reluctantly decided to bring my stay there to a close. I +accordingly bade farewell to Manuela and my other friends at the _casa +de huespedes_ and took the train for Madrid, where I again put up at the +Hôtel de Paris. I stayed for some days at Madrid, visited two or three of +the principal theatres and dined with Doña Queñones de Léon, the Marquis +de San Carlos, and other people whom I knew. I also went several times to +the Museum, where I made the acquaintance of a Señorita Hélène de España, +a wonderfully pretty girl of seventeen, who was engaged in copying a +painting by Van Dyck. This Señorita Hélène de España was a blonde with +blue eyes and fair hair, a type of beauty not often met with in Spain, +but it appeared that she was of English descent on her mother’s side, +though she could not speak English. She seemed to be a young lady of a +rather romantic temperament, for, after a very short acquaintance, she +told me that I might serenade her by night beneath her window. But I did +not avail myself of this permission, which I often regretted since not +having done. + +Before leaving Madrid, I spent a day at Toledo, where, under the wing of +a guide, I visited the Cathedral of San Juan de los Reyes, the Jewish +synagogue, and the royal manufactory of steel weapons. This manufactory +is one of the best in Europe, and the way in which the upper part of +the blades of the swords and daggers made here is inlaid in gold and +silver gives them a very costly as well as a very charming appearance. +Some of the weapons were for sale, and I purchased a very fine dagger, +beautifully inlaid with gold arabesque designs. These daggers are of so +fine a steel that they will easily pierce a silver coin without breaking. +Toledo is one of the oldest towns in Spain, and the last place in which +the Jews were allowed to reside before they were banished from Spain. +This accounts for its inhabitants having a Jewish cast of countenance. + +I arrived in Paris on my birthday, May 5th. The Exhibition had now begun, +and I visited it on several occasions with my father and other friends. I +was much interested in the prize zithers sent by Anton Kiendl of Vienna, +which were truly beautiful instruments, and very delighted with the +playing of a Hungarian gipsy band in the Austro-Hungarian section of the +Exhibition. At the Grand Opéra I heard _l’Africaine_ for the second time, +and also went to the Théâtre de la Renaissance to see _le Petit Duc_, in +which Mlle. Granier and Emil Meyer sang, and to the “Français,” where +I saw Got, Coquelin and Mlles. Reichemberg, Agar and Croizette in _les +Fourchambault_. I attended a race-meeting at Longchamps with my father, +where we met the Hon. Albert Bingham and Howard Vyse, who returned with +us to Paris, and in the evening we went to Musard’s Concert, at which the +Prince of Wales was present. Altogether, I had a very pleasant time, but +my three months’ sick leave was now on the point of expiring, and I was +obliged to return to England to rejoin my regiment. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + + I meet Byron Again—I endeavour to Exchange—Basil Montgomery—My + Illness—Why I was not Placed on Half-pay + + +My Colonel appeared anything but pleased at my return. He had, it seems, +been hopeful that my application for sick leave was but a preliminary +step to my resigning my commission, when he had intended to replace me +by a friend of his from the 4th Battalion; and was, therefore, naturally +disappointed at my reappearance upon the scene. + +_À propos_ of colonels and the way in which they treated officers to whom +they happened to have taken a dislike, there was, just about this time, a +great scandal in another battalion of my regiment. + +Among the subalterns of this battalion was a certain Lieutenant Gilbert, +who was very popular with his brother-officers; but his Colonel, who was +a terrible martinet, persecuted him to a shameful degree and lost no +opportunity of making his life a burden to him. One day, during a parade +in which this officer was right guide of his company, the Colonel bullied +him in a way which disgusted everyone. Suddenly, after being sworn at +in the most disgraceful manner, the poor young fellow, his powers of +self-control exhausted, threw down his sword. The Colonel at once ordered +the Adjutant to place him under arrest, and he was subsequently tried by +court-martial, found guilty of insubordination on parade and cashiered. +At the same time, the Colonel was told that he must retire from the +Service at once. It was said that, had Gilbert not thrown down his +sword, matters would have turned out very differently, for the Colonel +had behaved so outrageously that he would have been cashiered himself, +that is to say, if anyone had had the courage to bring his conduct to +the notice of his superiors; and, as the battalion was on the point of +mutiny, this would probably have been done. + +The 2nd Battalion, 10th Regiment, to the command of which my friend +Byron had recently succeeded, had just arrived at Aldershot, and I was +naturally delighted to see him again. He invited me to dine at the 10th’s +mess, where I spent a most pleasant evening. During dinner, Byron said:— + +“You were very foolish to leave us. If you had stayed, as you may +remember I advised you to do, you would have had me for your C.O., and +would have had a very easy time of it, and have been able to do as you +pleased.” + +He added that, in his opinion, there was no comparison between the two +Rifle regiments, so far as the social position of officers serving in +them was concerned, and that, from what he had heard, as his brother was +a major in my regiment, but in a different battalion (He later commanded +the 2nd Battalion), I was not only in the inferior regiment, but in its +worst battalion, commanded by a chief about whom few people seemed to +have a good word to say. + +All this was only too true, and I could only reply that, had I been able +to see a little into the future, I would certainly have remained with the +10th Regiment. It was unfortunate, too, my not being able to remain with +the 2nd Battalion of the Rifles in India, as I liked them all very much. + +In May, the German Crown Prince, who was on a visit to England, came down +to Aldershot to inspect the troops. We could well have dispensed with +the honour he did us, as it was a pouring wet day and bitterly cold, +and by the time we got back to camp we were drenched to the skin. This +experience, as may be supposed, did not do me any good, although I felt +no ill effects at the time. + +I was in town a good deal during the season, and went several times +to the Opera, where I heard Patti in _Il Barbiere de Seviglia_, _Don +Giovanni_, _Aïda_ and _Semiramide_, Albani in _Atala_, the Spanish tenor +Gayarré in _Lucrezia Borgia_ and Jean de Reszke in _les Huguenots_. +Early in July, my father came over to England, and I went with him to the +Eton and Harrow match at Lord’s, where we lunched on Tom Hohler’s drag. +Jim Doyne was in town, and I saw a good deal of him, and we often lunched +and dined together. In fact, on my visits to London I generally contrived +to have a very good time; but at Aldershot things were not so pleasant, +and matters came to a head on the day my battalion was inspected by +Brigadier-General Anderson. + +The inspection passed off pretty satisfactorily. Each officer in +succession was called up by the Brigadier and told to put his men through +certain movements. The Brigadier found fault with two of the officers, +and complained about them to the Colonel, who, however, assured him that +on ordinary occasions their work was quite satisfactory. I was now in +command of Allen’s company, and when my turn came, I had no difficulty +in performing all the requisite movements, and was complimented by the +Brigadier, who then turned to the Colonel and remarked:— + +“I can find no fault with this officer; he knows his work better than +some of the others.” + +“I don’t know how it is, Sir,” replied the Chief, with difficulty +concealing his annoyance, “but to-day he seems smarter than usual.” + +The Colonel, it appeared, had made a very bad report on me to the +General, which would have been sent to the War Office if the latter had +confirmed it; but this the Brigadier told him he was quite unable to do. +The Colonel then said that it was in looking after my company that I +was deficient, to which his superior replied that he would see into the +matter and send for us both in a day or two. + +I had written to General Sir John Douglas, K.C.B., who commanded the +Forces in Scotland, and had married a daughter of Earl Cathcart, +complaining of my Chief’s treatment of me; and Sir John had written to +Brigadier-General Anderson about me. It was owing to this that the latter +watched me so carefully, in order to see if I were really so ignorant of +my work as my Chief had represented, and, having satisfied himself to +the contrary, he had decided to investigate my case further. + +However, the Colonel, having got rid of Beauclerk and Allen, had now made +up his mind to get rid of me also. Accordingly, he sent Major Northey to +advise me to exchange into another battalion, as he was determined that +I should not remain in his. The Major said that it was no good my trying +to resist so obstinate a man as the Chief, and named an officer whom +the Colonel was anxious to have in his battalion, who would probably be +willing to exchange with me. + +“You know what he is when he has once taken a dislike to anyone,” he +added. “Remember Beauclerk’s case. If you will take my advice, you will +communicate with the officer I have mentioned at once.” + +I said that I would do as Major Northey advised, and wrote to the officer +in question, who replied that, as he was short of money, he would only +exchange in consideration of my paying him the sum of £300. He pointed +out that his battalion was remaining in England, while mine would shortly +be going on foreign service, and perhaps even on active service. + +I may mention that some time before this I had been told by my cousin, +Emily Cathcart, that I had a very good chance of being chosen as private +secretary to the Duke of Argyll, who was then Governor of Canada; but +eventually a relative of his was offered the post. + +The Colonel, in the belief that I was about to exchange, now became quite +amiable towards me. At times he would send Wilkinson, the Adjutant, to +ascertain how matters were progressing, and I was not a little amused by +the way in which Wilkinson, who did not wish me to suspect the object of +his visit, would lead up to the subject. + +The eccentricities of our Chief at this time caused the whole battalion +great annoyance. It was an unusually hot summer, and he used to inspect +us of a morning wearing mufti and holding a huge white umbrella over +his head, a precaution which he explained by saying that he had had +a touch of sun whilst serving in India. If this were really the +case, it probably accounted for his constant outbursts of temper. At +these inspections, he was accustomed to display the most exasperating +solicitude about the men’s uniform, inspecting each man separately, and +fingering every button to ascertain whether it were loose or not. This +sort of thing, which could, of course, have been very well undertaken by +the company commanders in barracks, instead of by the C.O. on parade, +under a broiling sun, used sometimes to occupy hours, and was naturally +very trying indeed to everyone. + +One morning, towards the end of July, I was playing at single-stick with +Holled-Smith, when I received rather a severe hit on the side, which made +me feel so ill that I went to bed and sent for our surgeon, who told me +that my liver, from which I had suffered so much in India, was affected. +He made me remain in bed for several days, at the end of which I was well +enough to return to duty. + +A day or two later, I was told by the Adjutant that I had to go with him +to Brigadier-General Anderson, and that the Colonel would be there. The +General asked me several questions on military matters, all of which I +answered correctly, and then requested the Colonel to tell him in what he +found fault with me. + +“I find that he does not pay sufficient attention to his duty,” answered +my Chief. + +“But,” observed the General, “you said first of all that he does not know +his work, which I find not to be the case. Now you say that he does not +pay sufficient attention to his duty; but I have inspected his company, +and I do not find it in any way less well looked after than the other +companies in your battalion. I really cannot agree with you in your +opinion, and must make notes upon the report you have forwarded to me.” + +The General then dismissed us, and I returned to my quarters, very +relieved at the result of the interview. + +The other officers were naturally very anxious to know what had happened, +and, when I told them, all advised me to remain in the battalion, and +not to exchange, saying that the Chief had shown himself to be in the +wrong, and that the General, who was a first-rate officer, must have seen +at once that it was nothing but spite on his part, for which he would no +doubt severely reprimand him. Captain de Robeck, whose advice was nearly +always worth following, said to me:— + +“If you exchange, it will cost you £300, and I don’t think it is worth +it. I should brave it out, were I in your place.” + +The other officers told me the same, and declared that it would show +great weakness on my part if I left the battalion. + +As events turned out, I had no option in the matter, since my father, +to whom I had written asking for the £300 I required to purchase my +exchange, could not see his way just then to let me have the money, as +he had been so robbed by a lawyer, a trustee. And so I had to “brave it +out,” _bon gré, mal gré_, and to derive what consolation I might from +the reflection that, after what had happened, I should probably have an +easier time of it, and should no longer have to endure all the extra +parades which the Chief had been in the habit of inflicting upon me. + +Vain illusion! So far from being allowed a rest, I found that I had, if +possible, more to do than ever, the Adjutant having apparently received +orders from the Chief to give me all the extra work he could possibly +find for me to do. And, even without these extra parades, the work in the +hottest weeks of an exceptionally hot summer would have been quite heavy +enough. Thorne, an old Etonian, an excellent young man, one of the nicest +lieutenants in the regiment, advised me to ask for a Court of Inquiry, +which he felt sure the General would approve of, and would very likely +ask for himself, without my applying for one. + +One night, Basil Montgomery, who had been in the 2nd Battalion with me in +India, dined at our mess. He told me that he was on the point of going +out to India again, as private secretary to his brother-in-law, the Duke +of Buckingham, who was Governor of Madras. He added that he disliked +India, and would prefer to be a crossing-sweeper in England than a +prince out there, but that he was obliged to accept the post that had +been offered him. However, he only remained about six months in India, +as he did not hit it off with the Duke, who was a very difficult person +indeed to get on with. + +Towards the end of the season (through my cousin, Miss Anne Cathcart), +I was asked by Herr Schultz, from whom the Princess of Wales was then +taking lessons on the zither, to play at a concert which was to be given +shortly at Marlborough House. I willingly consented and went up to town +several times to practise for the concert, which, unhappily, I was to be +prevented from taking part in. + +For some time I had again been suffering from rheumatism, which affected +my heart. I consulted Sir William Jenner, who warned me not to exert +myself too much. But this advice I was unable to follow, as though the +regimental surgeon made an application to the Chief for me to be excused +some of the parades, it was at once refused. + +One intensely hot day, we were kept on parade for a long while with +nothing but our forage-caps to protect us from the scorching sun. +Suddenly, I experienced the most excruciating pains in the head, and felt +as if everything about me was turning round. This giddiness soon passed, +but on coming off parade I felt very unwell. However, as I was orderly +officer of the day, I performed everything that was required of me. + +That evening at mess, where I was acting as vice-president, I suddenly +turned to the officer on my left, one of the senior lieutenants, Thorne, +and said:— + +“I have lost the use of my right hand and foot!” + +Thorne poured me out some brandy and told me to drink it off, but on +trying afterwards to rise from my seat, I fell down. Thorne and another +officer assisted me to my quarters, where, remembering that I had to turn +out the guard, I tried to buckle on my sword, only to fall again. They +then put me to bed, and sent for Surgeon Comerford, who at once declared +that I was suffering from sunstroke. My father was telegraphed for, and, +on his arrival, asked Surgeon-Major McCormack to visit me. The latter +took so serious a view of the case, saying that I had but a few hours to +live, that my father lost no time in calling in a London specialist, who +said that my heart was in a bad way and that I must have had a sunstroke +on parade. When I grew a little better, my father wished to take me to +Paris, but the London doctor advised my not being moved for several weeks. + +The Colonel, who was perhaps experiencing some twinges of remorse for the +manner in which he had treated me, came to visit me and was very kind, +sending me fruit and game. He had, however, previously dispatched Gunning +to ascertain if I intended to resign my commission, as, in the event of +my being placed on half-pay, the Colonel said the battalion might have a +year or two to wait for my place to be filled up, and we were very short +of officers. Besides this, Gunning was anxious himself to obtain my step +in promotion, though he did not say so on this occasion. + +I had several visitors while I was confined to my quarters, apart from +my brother-officers. One day, Mrs. William Adair and her daughter came +to see me, and were very surprised at finding me so ill, as only a few +days before I had walked over from Aldershot to spend the day at their +house at Whiteways End, a distance of six miles. Mrs. Adair, who was a +grand-daughter of the Duke of Roxburghe, was considered one of the most +beautiful women in England. Her daughter, who was then sixteen, was also +extremely pretty, though of a very different type of beauty from her +mother, being very fair. Mrs. Wellesley sent her little son “Cissy” to +cheer me up several times, in which task he was very successful, as he +was always most pleasant company. + +It was some weeks before I was able to leave Aldershot, as I had almost +entirely lost the use of my right arm and leg. The Colonel wanted me +to be examined there by a Medical Board, consisting of Surgeon-Major +McCormack and Surgeon Comerford, and, though several officers in my +regiment advised me to have the Board held in London, he got his way in +the matter. No one was supposed to know the result of the Board until it +had been approved of by the War Office. + +So soon as I was well enough to stand the journey, I went up to London, +accompanied by my father and my soldier-servant, Spearing. On the advice +of Dr. Russell-Reynolds, my father took me to Paris to consult Professor +Charcot and Dr. Brown-Séquard, who at first held out some hopes of my +recovery. The War Office had granted me three months’ leave, and, when +it expired, as I had not recovered the use of my limbs, they refused to +place me on half-pay, and on the 1st of January 1879, I was obliged to +resign my commission. The reason they gave was that the Medical Board at +Aldershot had stated that my illness was not caused in and by the Service. + +The Earl of Berkeley, who wrote my letter of resignation from Paris for +me, as I was unable to do so myself, said in this:— + + “_In conformity with the instructions I received from the + War Office, I have forwarded my resignation to the officer + in command of my battalion. I had ventured to hope that a + certificate I forwarded to the Colonel of the regiment from one + of the most eminent consulting physicians in Paris, stating + that my illness was the result of sunstroke, might have pleaded + my cause with H.R.H. the Commander-in-Chief. I have another + certificate which I have not under the circumstances taken the + liberty of forwarding to you, but I would gladly do so, if I + thought my case might be pleaded with H.R.H._” + +A further letter, also written for me by Lord Berkeley, was sent to my +Colonel:— + + “_Although I have the opinion of the most eminent physicians + that my unfortunate illness was the result of sunstroke + sustained when on duty, I yield to the decision of the + Field-Marshal Commander-in-Chief, and hereby tender my + resignation of H.M. Service._” + +General Sir John Douglas, then commanding the Forces in Scotland, wrote +to me: + + “_I have found out, through General Taylor (79th Highlanders), + at the War Office, that it is through your Colonel’s influence + that they have refused to place you on half-pay, and it is + quite impossible to overcome this influence._” + +A year or two afterwards, I happened to meet Surgeon Comerford in +London, when I reproached him for not mentioning my sunstroke at the +Medical Board at Aldershot. He assured me that he was prepared to swear +on the Bible that he had done so, adding that my Colonel could not have +forwarded his report correctly to the War Office, or else I should have +been placed on half-pay. He had fully expected that I should have been, +and was surprised that such was not the case. + +I may here mention that there were only two medical officers on the +Board: Surgeon-Major McCormack and Surgeon Comerford. The former had only +seen me once before in his life, so I presume the report must have been +written by Surgeon Comerford; but, as I have never seen the report, I +cannot be quite certain. + +Captain Howard Vyse, late of the “Blues,” said to me in Paris, when I +showed him a letter which I had received from the War Office:— + +“Thank God! such a thing could not happen with the Household troops. The +officers would not allow it either. To lose one’s health in the Service, +and then to receive no compensation whatever! I never heard of such a +case; it is simply disgraceful!” + +In recent years—in 1909—several officers who had served with me, +including my Colonel, the late General Sir W. Leigh-Pemberton, forwarded +letters to the War Office, stating that they remembered my sunstroke at +Aldershot as being the cause of my paralysis,[26] and I forwarded medical +certificates to prove that my paralysis was the result of sunstroke while +on duty there. The reply received by General Sir H. Geary, K.C.B., was +that the Army Council had made an inquiry, and that “no evidence can be +traced to show that he sustained a sunstroke while on duty at Aldershot +in August, 1878. In any case, it would seem practically impossible to +prove that his present disability was the outcome of illness contracted +in and by the Service more than thirty years ago. Not only the absence +of confirmatory records, but the whole procedure at the time is out of +keeping with the theory that his resignation was due to illness caused by +military duty.” + +Sir William Gull, under whose treatment I was for some years, in the +early eighties, told me that my paralysis was caused by embolism, owing +to the sunstroke at Aldershot in 1878, adding that he had a very bad +opinion of Army doctors in general, who were constantly making dreadful +mistakes, and indeed, were no better than the doctors mentioned by Lesage +in _Gil Blas_. + +In 1918, Field-Marshal Lord Grenfell, who was formerly in the 1st +Battalion of my old regiment, had great hopes of obtaining a pension or +retired pay for me from the War Office, but so far his most kind efforts +on my behalf have been fruitless. It would appear that philosophy is not +at all studied at the War Office, for they persist in maintaining that it +is possible for the same thing to be and not to be, which is contrary to +the ideas of the most abstruse philosophers. With regard to the Ministry +of Pensions (whose Secretary is Sir Matthew Nathan), above its portals +ought to be written “Lasciate ogni Speranza.” It is to be hoped that with +Mr. Winston Churchill, the author of “Savrola,” as Secretary of State for +War, some ideas of justice may be imparted to both of them. I hope so, +not only for my own sake, but for that of the whole Army. + + +THE END + + + + +FOOTNOTES + + +[1] I heard from the late Lady Ritchie, Thackeray’s daughter, some little +time before her death. She was kind enough to be interested in this book, +but told me that she was a young girl when her father was at Homburg +and had scarcely any recollection of those days. My father used often +to observe that Thackeray was one of the most charming and amusing men +he ever knew, and seemed surprised when I told him that I remembered so +little of him at Homburg, saying that he was nearly always with us at the +Kursaal or in the grounds of the Kurhaus and was exceedingly fond of me. + +[2] Henry Greville writes in his diary, under date October 12th, 1846: +“Came to Worsley with Slade, found here party assembled to meet the +Duchess of Gloucester. Lady Caroline Murray was in attendance on the +Duchess, who is the most amiable and least troublesome Princess it is +possible to see.” + +One day a very nervous lady called on the Duchess of Gloucester, a +daughter of George III., and remained a long time, being under the +impression that Her Royal Highness would give the signal when she wished +her to withdraw, and fearing to commit a breach of etiquette if she rose +before the duchess. However, after a very long time, Her Royal Highness +rose and left the room, upon which the lady retired. The latter was in +great distress when she was subsequently told of the mistake she had +made. This incident was related to me by my mother, who was acquainted +with the lady at the time. + +I may perhaps mention here an incident about Queen Adelaide, wife +of William IV., who had a very slight acquaintance with the English +language. One of the first sentences she learned by heart was: “How are +you off for soap?” Her Majesty was so pleased at being able to speak +a little English that she asked this question of every lady whom she +happened to address, smiling amiably the while. Some of them were rather +astounded, but there was a certain fascination in this phrase which took +Her Majesty’s fancy, and it may be that the look of surprise on the faces +of some of the old dowagers added to her delight and made her repeat it +all the more. This anecdote was told me by a lady who had known Queen +Adelaide personally and was often with her. + +[3] In after years, at Aldershot, I knew the late General Lord C——, +son of the above mentioned Lady C——, very well. Once, at a concert, I +played a piece of music on the zither, for which I received an encore, +but a string of the instrument having broken, had to be replaced before +I could take it. Lord C—— was kind enough to make a short speech for me +and explain to the large audience what had happened, as I did not feel +equal to doing so myself. He was a most kind and affable man and a good +general, though the War Office, with their usual _manque de tact_, blamed +him in the Zulu War for the faults of others as well, whose errors they +wished to conceal. But, as General von Goeben, the celebrated Prussian +general of division in the Franco-German War of 1870, said to me at +Seville, where I lived in the same _casa de huespedes_ with him for some +weeks, _à propos_ of an affair of another kind: “What can you expect from +a Secretary of State for War, who is a civilian. You might just as well +have an old washerwoman (_Wäscherin_) at the head of your War Office. She +might perhaps even be more useful.” + +[4] Count Perponcher always selected the ballet dancers for the Opera in +Berlin. Many years ago I made the acquaintance at Milan of a lovely, fair +Polish girl, Marie Urbanska by name, who was studying dancing there, and +danced occasionally in the ballet at La Scala. She was then sixteen, and +during her stay at Milan, all her expenses were paid by Count Perponcher. +The Emperor William always called her “the little Countess” (_die Kleine +Gräfin_), as her father was a Polish count, and she was still second +_danseuse_ at the Berlin Opera twelve years ago. One night, as she was +ascending the stairs at the Villa Manzoni, where I too was staying, she +was seized and gagged and conveyed to the house of a gentleman, who told +her that he was in love with her. But she insisted on leaving the house, +which he allowed her to do. The man in question, who was a German, was +obliged to leave Milan, in consequence of this affair, which, however, +was hushed up, as he came of a well-known family in Germany. + +[5] The late Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild told a young English girl of +sixteen whom I knew that, if he could by some means regain his youth, +like Faust in Goethe’s play, and be the same age as she was, he would +willingly give up his entire fortune. He was then about fifty-four years +of age. When the young lady in question repeated this to a late member +of the Turf Club in my presence, the latter observed: “Ferdy must have +set a high value on his youth, for I asked him to let me have £200 lately +for a common friend who was at school with us and is now ruined, which he +refused to do. Consequently, I have quarrelled with him for ever.” + +[6] _À propos_ of Napoleon, it is strange how great was his fondness for +music. A person whose voice flattered his ear rarely displeased him. +But, if a name had a harsh sound, he muttered it between his teeth, and +never uttered it aloud. Grillparzer says of Napoleon: “Er war zu gross, +weil seine Zeit zu klein.” (“He was too great, because the age in which +he lived was too little.”) Napoleon imagined that he would have made +Corneille a prince if he had lived in his time, but it is more likely +that he would have imprisoned him for life. + +[7] The late Henry Labouchere’s grandfather was, as a young man, a clerk +in a bank in Somersetshire, and in receipt of a salary of about £80 a +year, when he fell in love with Sir Francis Baring’s daughter. As, in +ordinary circumstances, he had not the smallest chance of obtaining the +consent of the lady’s father, he conceived the following ingenious plan +of overcoming the difficulty. + +Presenting himself before the senior partner of the bank in which he was +employed, he inquired whether it would be possible for him to become +a partner forthwith. The banker burst out laughing. “What, you!” he +exclaimed. “Why, you are only a junior clerk. How can you ever think of +such a thing? The idea is simply ridiculous.” “But supposing,” rejoined +Labouchere, with perfect aplomb, “that I had already received the consent +of Sir Francis Baring to marry his daughter?” “Oh, that alters the case +entirely. If what you say is true, then you could, of course, easily +become a partner.” Labouchere then approached Sir Francis Baring and +asked him for his daughter’s hand. That important personage was even +more indignant at the young man’s presumption than the banker had been, +and told him what he thought of it very plainly. “But supposing,” said +Labouchere, not a whit disconcerted, “that I am not what you think I +am, but a partner of the bank.” The baronet’s manner changed. “If,” he +answered, “you are a partner of the bank, as you tell me, I will talk +the matter over with my daughter.” In the result, Labouchere married +Sir Francis Baring’s daughter and became, at the same time, a partner +in the Somersetshire bank. His son was created Lord Taunton, and Henry +Labouchere would have been heir to the title, but, as it was only a life +peerage, it did not descend to him. This anecdote was related to me by an +uncle of mine by marriage, who was Clerk of the Peace for the county of +Somerset. I have heard it also related by others. + +[8] Desseins Hôtel has been demolished in recent years. It was a most +luxurious hôtel, and is mentioned in the works of Sterne, Thackeray and +Dickens. + +[9] Godfrey Astell told me a rather amusing story about himself when I +was in the regiment with him. He had been invited to shoot over a large +estate in Scotland, and one of the gamekeepers looked particularly well +after him all day, pointing out where the best beats and coverts were, +and exclaiming every time a pheasant rose: “Godfrey, now’s your chance!” +It subsequently transpired that the man, on hearing Astell called Godfrey +by his friends, was under the impression that this was some high title he +possessed, having no idea that it was only his Christian name. + +[10] I had a letter before the war from Mr. Winston Churchill, Lord +Randolph’s son, in answer to one in which I had told him that, in certain +respects, he reminded me of Mirabeau, and that I was convinced that he +would become Prime Minister before very long. + +[11] I heard from Lord Willoughby de Broke, the son of the one mentioned +here, some years ago. He was then _en route_ for the Caucasus, and he +told me that he had read my book on Paris and Vienna with pleasure and +interest, though he was not aware at the time by whom it was written. He +is one of the most energetic members of the House of Lords, and it is to +be hoped that he will do everything in his power to recover for it its +lost prestige. + +[12] Grillparzer says that it has often struck him that Shakespeare took +some of his ideas from Lope de Vega’s plays. Shakespeare’s Miranda, he +says, could be compared with the character it resembles in _Los tres +diamantes_, and the love-scenes in the latter are quite on a par with +those in “Romeo and Juliet.” The plot of “The Merry Wives of Windsor” +is similar to that of _Los ferias de Madrid_. As for _Los pleitos de +Inglaterra_, he regards this play as incomparable, and the love-scenes +in “Romeo and Juliet” appear almost to pale in comparison. “I wish,” he +continues, “Lessing had known Calderon and Lope de Vega. He would perhaps +have found that there was more connection with the German _esprit_ than +in the far too gigantic Shakespeare. Perhaps “Macbeth” is Shakespeare’s +greatest work; it is without doubt the most realistic.” + +[13] During the four years I was at Eton, we won the “Ladies’” at Henley +every time. The winning crews were composed as follows:— + +1867: W. D. Benson (captain), A. G. P. Lewis (stroke), T. +McClintock-Bunbury, W. G. Calvert, J. H. Ridley, R. W. Morehouse, G. H. +Woodhouse, J. E. Edwards-Moss, F. H. Elliot (cox). + +1868: T. McClintock-Bunbury (captain and stroke), W. C. Calvert, J. +E. Edwards-Moss, F. A. Currey, J. Goldie (K.S.), F. Johnstone, J. W. +McClintock-Bunbury, W. Farrer, F. E. Elliot (cox). + +1869: J. E. Edwards-Moss (captain), F. A. Currey, F. Johnstone, J. W. +McClintock-Bunbury (stroke), F. C. Ricardo, J. S. Follett, F. E. H. +Elliot, M. G. Farrer, W. C. Cartwright (cox). + +1870: F. A. Currey (captain), J. W. McClintock-Bunbury (stroke), F. C +Ricardo, J. S. Follett, A. W. Mulholland, C. W. Benson, R. E. Naylor, A. +C. Yarborough, W. C. Cartwright (cox). + +[14] The Eton Eleven, during the four years I was there, was composed as +follows: + +1867: C. R. Alexander (captain), C. I. Thornton, W. H. Walrond, H. M. +Walter, W. C. Higgins, C. J. Ottaway, W. F. Tritton, M. Horner, W. H. +Hay, E. Wormald, P. Currey. Match drawn. + +1868: C. I. Thornton (captain), H. M. Walter, W. C. Higgins, C. J. +Ottaway, W. F. Tritton, W. H. Hay, P. Currey, Hon. G. Harris, J. Maude, +S. E. Butler, G. H. Longman. Harrow beat Eton by seven wickets. + +1869: W. C. Higgins (captain), G. H. Longman, A. S. Tabor, F. W. Rhodes, +F. Pickering, J. P. Rodger, Lord Clifton, C. J. Ottaway, M. Maude, Hon. +G. Harris, E. Butler. Eton won by an innings and nineteen runs. + +1870: Hon. G. Harris (captain), G. H. Longman, A. S. Tabor, F. W. +Rhodes, F. Pickering, J. P. Rodger, Lord Clifton, G. H. Cammell, M. A. +Tollemache, A. F. Ridley, Hon. A. Lyttelton. Eton won by twenty-one runs. + +[15] _À propos_ of Peterborough, I once heard a good story about a Bishop +of Peterborough—Dr. Magee, I think—which was told me by my tutor at Eton. +Some people, who had never seen him, were very anxious to hear him preach +and therefore went early in the morning to the cathedral to secure good +seats. A man showed them over the cathedral, where they retained the +best seats they could find, and, on leaving, one of the party gave their +cicerone, whom they took for the verger, five shillings. The latter put +the money in his pocket, and then to their astonishment said: “I am not +the verger, but the Bishop of Peterborough himself. However, I shall keep +the five shillings all the same, for I have found you a good pew, and +what I have received I shall give to the poor.” + +[16] The Hon. Thomas Fitzwilliam, who was then in the 10th Hussars, +married Elgiva Kinglake, whose brother was at Eton with me. She was very +pretty and a remarkably good rider, but she died quite early in life, and +her husband did not long survive her. She was a great friend of Mary, +Duchess of Hamilton, and I remember once, at a meet of the Devon and +Somerset Staghounds on the Exmoor hills, being much struck by the beauty +of the Duchess, who was present with Elgiva Fitzwilliam, for they always +hunted with these hounds in those days. + +[17] Jim Doyne, in later years, bore some resemblance to the late King +Edward VII., then Prince of Wales, and at Pratt’s, one evening, the late +Duke of Beaufort walked up to him, and, holding out his hand, said: “I +wish you good evening, sir.” Doyne felt very flattered at the mistake, +which, however, the Duke at once discovered. Nevertheless, when meeting +my friend afterwards, he would always address him as “Sir” for amusement, +and Doyne, who had a gift for repartee, would give an appropriate reply. + +[18] Voltaire believed sincerely in God, but no one nowadays even thinks +of reading his correspondence, which shows us all his faults, his +kindheartedness, his charity, and his other good qualities. One of the +strongest features in Voltaire’s character was his sense of friendship. +Génonville, who took away his mistress, Mlle. Livy, from him, remained +his friend, and Voltaire laments his death in a poem of marvellous +beauty, with all the warmth of truth. This poem and the one which follows +it, _les Vous et le Tu_, in which also Mlle. Livy is referred to, are two +of his most beautiful poems. Of Rousseau, Grillparzer says: “I read _les +Confessions_ and am terrified to recognize myself in them.” How Rousseau +would have been surprised if someone had called him the most perfect +egoist. He lived with the woman who was so devoted to him and never +married her, although it would have been a great happiness to her to bear +his name. Corneille, according to Grillparzer, was an excellent poet, and +his first works were admirable, but his later ones show a steady decline +from his early standard, which is difficult to explain, except perhaps +after reading his tragedy, _Feodora_. In Grillparzer’s opinion, Racine +was as great a poet as ever lived. + +[19] “My darling,—I am obliged to start immediately for Mexico; I have +not even time to come to bid thee good-bye.” + +[20] Mr. Howard Vyse, the father of these young men, came to see me +in Paris after I had left Bonn. He dined with us, I recollect, and +we afterwards went to a theatre, and from there to various places of +amusement, so that it was nearly daybreak before we reached the Hôtel +Bristol, in the Place Vendôme, where he was staying, and where he +insisted on my passing what remained of the night. As he offered me an +exceedingly comfortable bedroom, I did not refuse. I dined a few days +later with him and his wife at the “Bristol,” where they had a suite of +apartments usually reserved for royal personages, which the late King +Edward VII. had occupied just previously. While we were at dinner a +courier came into the room to inquire if everything were satisfactory. +This man’s services, it appeared, had been exclusively engaged by Mr. +Howard Vyse, and he was accustomed to order dinner and settle the +accounts. Mr. Howard Vyse told me that he was obliged to remain three +months at the Hôtel Bristol owing to his wife’s state of health, as the +doctor would not allow her to travel to Nice, where he intended spending +the winter. He was a very wealthy banker from New York, and the two sons +who were at Bonn with me were his only children. + +[21] The sister of Sir Howard Elphinstone, at one time Equerry to the +late Duke of Edinburgh, related to me that, when she was in Germany with +her brother, they went one day to secure places for some ceremony in +which a good many royal persons were interested. When they entered the +room, a man showed Sir Howard Elphinstone the places reserved for him and +his family, and as this person wore a kind of dress coat with gold lace, +Sir Howard took him for a man-servant, and, on going away, slipped a +thaler into his hand, which he accepted without making any remark. Later +in the evening, Sir Howard and his sister discovered that the man whom +they had tipped was Bismarck, who at that time, of course, was not so +celebrated as he subsequently became. + +[22] Darwin’s theory has of recent years been disproved by men of +science, such as Professor Dr. von Wettstein, Warning, Henslow, and +others. Only in certain instances can Darwin’s theory be accepted; but +it has been discovered recently that the new formation of species among +plants and animals is possible in different ways, and not only in the +manner Darwin implies. His theory of descent, which was firmly believed +in by men of science in the sixties and seventies of the last century, +is now pronounced to be a theory altogether out of date, and has been +superseded by those of Moriz Wagner, Karl von Nägeli, Henslow, A. von +Kerner and Professor A. Weissmann. “The Origin of Plant Structures by +Self-Adaptation to the Environment,” by Henslow, published in 1895, and +Warning’s “Geography of Plants,” published in the following year, are +well-known English books on this subject which may be recommended to +those interested in it. + +[23] Baron von der Goltz is proud of his stupidity. + +[24] Grillparzer says of Heine that his first verses in the _Reise +Bilder_ and some of his last poems are of great merit, while those of the +intermediate period must be considered decidedly bad. + +[25] Another lady employed by the Russian Government to worm out State +secrets was the Countess Stadnicka, whose acquaintance I made in recent +years in Vienna, and she would often ask me the most difficult questions, +which I never attempted to answer. She told me that for information of a +certain nature she was often paid very large sums. The Countess Stadnicka +had very lovely blue eyes, which were universally admired, and a fine +figure, but she was no longer in her first youth. She was the mother of +Graf von Metternich, who was the owner of vast estates and a minor, and +the Countess had a lawsuit in Vienna to obtain control over her son’s +property during his minority. She was a wonderful linguist, speaking +English, French, German, Italian and Russian fluently, and could tell one +more about the Austrian nobility than anyone else I ever met in Vienna, +as she was a Viennese by birth, and her father, who was one of the old +nobility himself, had occupied a high position. She seemed to know +everyone, but though a woman of wonderful intelligence, she had a rather +spiteful tongue, and was therefore feared by some people. She always +spoke to me in French and often said: “_Vous êtes drôle, vous, car vous +n’aimez que le fruit pas mûr, ce qui est d’abord très fade et n’a point +de goût_.” + +[26] The names of these officers were: The late Lieut.-General Sir +W. Leigh-Pemberton, K.C.B.; Major-General Sir Charles Holled-Smith, +K.C.M.G.; Colonel Ernest Hovell Thurlow; Major C. H. B. Thorne, J.P.; +Lieut. Horace Neville; Colonel Alfred Clarke, M.D., and Major C. de +Robeck. + + + + +INDEX + + + Aberdour, Lord, 108. + + Adair, Mrs. William, 269. + + Adelaide, Queen, 5 (_note_). + + Adelsdorfer, Baroness, 146. + + Adelsdorfer, Madame, 244. + + Airey, Lord, 222. + + Albani, 116, 244, 263. + + Aldershot, 246. + + Allfrey, Lieutenant, 223. + + Algar, Major, 191. + + Alhambra, The, Granada, 258. + + Alexander, C. R., 66, 81. + + Alison, General Sir A., 181. + + Allen, Lieutenant, 223, 234, 247. + + Anderson, Brigadier-General, 264, 266. + + Andrä, Professor Dr., 124, 128. + + Andrews, Mrs., 218. + + Anglesey, Marquis of, 148. + + Annesley, Lieutenant-Colonel, 176. + + Armytage, Lieutenant, 205, 207. + + Arnold, Dr., 242. + + Arthy, Captain, 34. + + Ashburnham, Major, 191. + + Astor, Lord, 90. + + Auerbach, Berthold, 129. + + Aylmer, Percy, 93. + + + Babington, Sub-Lieutenant, 183. + + Bagot, Colonel Sir Josceline, 101. + + Bagot, Adjutant A. G., 227, 247. + + Baird, George, 93. + + Baldock, Colonel, 82. + + Balfour, Charles, 81. + + Balfour, Miss Hilda, 81. + + Baring, Viscount, 182, 242. + + Barnard, Lord, 98. + + Batchelor, Veterinary-Surgeon, 205, 208, 213. + + Bean, Capt. and Mrs., 133. + + Beauclerk, Lieutenant, 186. + + Beauclerk, Miss, 143. + + Beaumont, Sub-Lieutenant, 206. + + Beck, Lieutenant, 236. + + Belgrave, Viscount, 76. + + _Bell’s Life_ substitute for Bible, 47. + + Bennett, Viscount, 235. + + Bentheim, The Princes, 127. + + Benyon, Captain, 206. + + Berkeley, Earl of, 165. + + Berkeley, Lord, 245. + + Berkeley, Captain Lennox, 57, 59, 112, 113, 147, 157. + + Bernhardt, Sarah, 229. + + Bernstorff, Count, 126. + + Bethell, Lieutenant, 169. + + Bingham, Hon. Albert, 161, 260. + + Binz, Professor Dr., 123. + + Black Forest Adventures, 22. + + Blane, M., 9. + + Blewitt, Major, 176. + + Blocqueville, Marquise de, 158. + + Blount, Edward, 110. + + Bois-Hébert, Marquis de, 161, 164. + + Boland, Major, 110. + + Bonn, 123. + + Boulogne, 37. + + Bozzo, Mademoiselle Checchi, 245. + + Bromley, Capt., 33. + + Brown-Séquard, Dr., 270. + + Browning, Oscar, 74. + + Brownrigg, Capt., 242. + + Burgh, Capt. Hubert de, 161. + + Byron, Capt. John, 172, 179, 263. + + + Cambridge, Duke of, 250. + + Campden, Viscount, 215. + + Campobello, Signor, 156. + + Candle, The diminishing, 209. + + Cantelupe, Lord, 143. + + Caracciolo, Duchesse de, 143. + + Card playing, 176. + + Carpenter, Captain, 225. + + Cartwright, General, 180. + + Cathcart, Lady Georgina, 83. + + Cathcart, Hon. Emily, 83, 84, 265. + + Cavendish-Bentinck, Arthur, 93. + + Cercle des Patineurs, 57. + + Chantilly, 163. + + Charcot, Professor, 270. + + Charleville, Lord, 51. + + Charltons, The, 173, 179, 236. + + Chatham Barracks, 175. + + Childe-Pemberton, Lieutenant, 241. + + “Christopher Inn,” 86. + + Christy Minstrels at Chatham, 227. + + Churchill, Lady, 85. + + Churchill, Lord Randolph, 46. + + Clanmorris, Lord, 161. + + Clarke, Sydenham, 191, 212. + + Clarke, Surgeon-Major, 250. + + Cockshot, Mr., 73. + + Collins, Major, 225. + + Combermere, Viscount, 235. + + Comerford, Surgeon, 268. + + Cotton, Lieutenant C. S., 222, 234, 249. + + Cramer, Captain, 223. + + Craven, Fulwar J. C., 68, 82, 93. + + Crawford, Colonel, 148. + + Crichton, Hon. Mrs., 249. + + Crofton, Lieutenant, 235. + + Crompton, Captain, 214, 215. + + Czartoryski, Princess, 140. + + Czerwinska, Countess, 137. + + + d’Abrantès, Duchesse, 157. + + Dalton, Rev. W., 73. + + Dannecker’s statue, 14. + + Daram, Mademoiselle, 152. + + Darwin’s theory disproved, 131. + + d’Assailly, Vicomte Arthur, 146, 213, 246. + + d’Attainville, M. de Lesquier, 137. + + D’Aubigny, Comte, 37. + + Daudet, Alphonse, 245. + + d’Aumale, Duc, 163. + + Deane, Lieutenant-Colonel, 250. + + de Houghton, 178. + + Delaunay, 182. + + Delbrück, Hans, 135. + + Desart, Countess of, 6. + + Desclée, Aimée, 179. + + Dickenson, Lieutenant Fiennes, 192. + + Dillon, Lord, 116. + + Dillon, Sub-Lieutenant A., 173, 179, 181, 225. + + Disraeli, 55. + + Dorrien, Captain Frederick, 4, 27, 113. + + Douglas, General Sir John, 31, 264. + + Douglas, Captain Niel, 86, 264. + + Douglas, Charles, 88. + + Doyne, Lady Frances, 105. + + Doyne, James, 66, 74, 77, 79, 80, 81, 88, 93, 101, 103, 109, 136, + 238, 241. + + Doyne, Mrs., 104. + + Doyne, Mr. Mervyn, 105. + + Drexel Brothers, 17. + + “Dry bobs,” 88. + + Duff, Folliot, 150. + + Dunn, Captain, 169. + + Durnford, Rev., 73. + + Dusauty, 147. + + + Earning a living, 233. + + Edwards-Moss, 100. + + Egerton, Hon. Alfred, 250. + + Ehnn, Fräulein, 231. + + Elwes, Captain, 37. + + Erroll, Countess of, 84. + + Eschenheimer Thor, The, 13. + + Eton, Happy days at, 65 _et seq._ + + Etonian _cachet_, 63. + + Eugene, 199, 208. + + + Falmouth, Lord, 250. + + Faverney, Comtesse de, 157. + + Featherstone, Lieutenant, 239. + + Ferrières, Château de, 162. + + Finch, Hon. Charles, 83. + + Finch-Hatton, Rev. William, 47. + + Finch-Hatton, Greville, 42, 48. + + Finis, Miss, 225. + + Fire burning for two hundred years, 98. + + Firing the eighty-ton gun, 239. + + FitzWilliam, Earl, 106. + + FitzWilliam, Charles, 107. + + FitzWilliam, Hon. John, 77. + + FitzWilliam, Hon. Thomas, 107. + + Foley, Lieutenant, 236. + + Football “colours,” 88. + + Four millionaires, 16. + + Francisco-Martin, M. de, 151. + + Franco-German War, 110. + + Frankfurt-on-the-Main, 1, 12. + + Frederick, Lady, 241. + + French girls and English girls, 140. + + + Gambetta, 166. + + Gayarré, 263. + + Geary, General Sir H., 271 + + German Crown Prince, 263. + + German girls, 133. + + Gilbert, Lieutenant, 262. + + Girard, Juliette, 246. + + Glen, Archibald, 178. + + Godfrey, Dan, 240. + + Goeben, General von, 255. + + Goethe, 15. + + Goldschmid, 10, 15. + + Goldsmid, Mrs., 143. + + Goltz, von der, 132. + + Gordon, Miss, 112. + + Græme, Colonel, 236. + + Grammont, Duchesse de, 143. + + Grandmaison, Marquis de, 160. + + Grant, General, 166. + + Graves, Hon. Mrs., 143. + + Greenock, Viscount, 42. + + Grenfell, Lord, 272. + + Greuze’s paintings, 60. + + Gridley, Harry, 80, 87. + + Gridley, Reginald, 93. + + Griebel, Herr, 92. + + Grosvenor, Earl, 76. + + Guilbert, Marquise Brian de Bois, 156, 157. + + Gull, Sir William, 272. + + Gunning, Sub-Lieutenant Robert, 223, 237. + + + Hale, Mr., 73. + + Harris, Lord, 82. + + Hart, Lieutenant, 205. + + Hartopp, Sir Charles E. C., 117. + + Havre, Baron van, 165. + + Hawtrey, Mr. Stephen, 73. + + Headley, Lord, 117. + + Healy, Mrs., 116. + + Heaviside, Mr., 254. + + Hélène de España, Señorita, 259. + + Henley Regatta, 94. + + Herbert, Hon. Sidney, 82. + + Hobart, Captain, 205. + + Hochberg, Dr. Ritter von, 218. + + Hodgson, Charles Rice, 77. + + Hohler, Tom, 38, 245. + + Holled-Smith, Lieutenant, 223. + + Homburg, 4. + + Home-Purves, Colonel, 49. + + Hope, Lieutenant, 210. + + Hope-Johnstone, Lieutenant P., 233. + + Hornby, Dr., 87, 100. + + Horrocks, Capt., 126. + + Horrocks, Miss Edith, 134. + + Houghton, de, 178. + + Howard, Lieut. F., 241. + + Hozier, J. H. C., 99. + + Hudson, Major, 177. + + Hudson, Mrs., 11. + + Hungerford, Mrs., 244. + + Hunter, Captain, 236. + + Hunter’s, Mr., school, 42 _et seq._ + + Hutchinson, Sir Edward, 7. + + Hutchinson, General Coote, 7. + + + Ind, Mrs., 29. + + Innes-Ker, Lord Mark, 86. + + Isabella, ex-Queen of Spain, 244. + + Isabelle, 141. + + + James, Rev. C. C., 63. + + Jenner, Sir William, 269. + + Joynes, Rev., 73. + + + Kennedy, Lord Alexander, 84. + + Keogh, Mrs., 244. + + Kernave, Madame Alice, 164. + + Killarney, 104. + + Kilmaine, Vicomte Frédéric de, 136. + + Kineton School, 28, 42. + + King (Leopold) of Belgians, 32. + + King William I. of Prussia, 1, 3, 7. + + Kinglake, William, 88. + + Kinglake, Sophia, 112. + + Kinloch, Captain A., 187-8. + + Kinloch, Mrs., 187, 205. + + Kirchhofer’s, Herr, School, 18. + + Kisilieff, Madame, 11. + + Klenck, Freiherr von, 218. + + Knightley, Rev. Henry, 50. + + Knox, Lieutenant-Colonel, 170. + + Krauss, Madame, 245. + + + Labitzky, Auguste, 219. + + Labouchere, Henry, 30. + + Lamoury (violinist), 110. + + Lane, General Ronald, 159. + + Lassalle, Ferdinand, and German women, 63. + + Laval, Mademoiselle de, 141. + + Lavaile, Eugénie de, 246. + + Lawn tennis, Origin of, 192. + + Lawrence, George, 37. + + Leigh, Austin, 72. + + Leigh-Pemberton, Lieutenant-Colonel W., 222, 271. + + Leinster, Duke of, 109. + + Leleu, Madame, 143. + + Leopold II. and his hairdresser, 32. + + Lesseps, M. de, 184. + + Lewinsky, 230. + + Leyton’s at Windsor, 92. + + Liegnitz, Princess, 7. + + Linda, Bertha, 231. + + Lister-Kaye, Cecil, 82, 98. + + Lister-Kaye, John, 82, 95, 98. + + Little, Lieutenant, 210. + + Lloyd, Lieutenant, 178. + + Lockwood, Sir Frank, 124. + + Lonsdale, Earl of, 49. + + “Lord’s,” 96. + + Lovell, Lieutenant, 170-172. + + Lovett, Hubert, 192, 194, 199, 203, 210, 212, 242. + + Lowther, Captain Francis, 166. + + Lumley, Savile, 250. + + Luxmoore, Mr., 67. + + Lyons, Lord, 60. + + + McCall, Colonel, 163. + + McClintock-Bunbury, 100. + + McCormack, Surgeon-Major, 268. + + MacDonnell, Dr., 105. + + Macnamara, Surgeon-Major, 194, 210, 242. + + Magruder, Willing Lee, 12. + + Makart, 231. + + Malet, Sir Edward, 117. + + Malortie, Baron de, 144. + + Maltby, Lieutenant, 169. + + Mandeville, Lord, 77, 98. + + Manners, Henry F. B., 99. + + Marsham, Sub-Lieutenant, 208. + + Masini, Mademoiselle, 245. + + Massey, Lieutenant-Colonel, 206. + + Materna, Frau, 231. + + Ménier, 138. + + Metternich, Princess von, 117. + + Meux, Lady Louisa, 156. + + Milbanke, Frederick, 28. + + Misa, Señor, 258. + + Mitchell, R. A. H., 74. + + Moltke, Count von, 131. + + Montgomery, Colonel H. P., 190. + + Montgomery, Basil, 183, 267. + + Moore, Colonel Montgomery, 188, 202. + + Morny, Duc de, 7. + + Münchhausen, Baron von, 256. + + Murray, Lady Caroline, 5, 40. + + Murray, Lieutenant-General Hon. George, 55. + + Murree and Ischl compared, 201. + + Musard’s concerts, 58. + + + Nares, Sir George, 241. + + Naylor-Leylands, 161. + + Neii, Baron von, 12. + + Neuss, Herr, 229, 230. + + New hats for old, 158. + + Newcastle, Duke of, 38. + + Newcastle, Duchess of, 246. + + Newenham, Mr. (“Sporting Parson”), 47, 49. + + Newlands, Lord, 99. + + Northey, Major, 224, 265. + + + Oden Wald, The, 18. + + Olga, Grand Duchess, and Ludwig II., 30. + + Onslow, Earl of, 82. + + Oppenheim, Frau, 239. + + Orloff, Princess, 31. + + Orton, Surgeon-Major, 254. + + Ostend, 28, 31. + + Oyster, The, 193. + + + Paganini, 157. + + Paget, Lord Henry, 37, 148, 252. + + Paradhenia, Garden of, 185. + + Paris, 116. + + Parnell, Hon. V. A., 99. + + Parnell, Miss Fanny, 153. + + Parry, Sir Hubert, 82. + + Paschinger, 232. + + Patti, Adelina, 54, 58, 263. + + Pauli, Captain, 191. + + Peabody Georges, 134. + + Pembroke and Montgomery, Earl of, 82. + + Peñafiel, Marchioness de, 151. + + “Penny Readings,” 172. + + Perponcher, Count, 8. + + Peterborough’s, Bishop of, “tip,” 107. + + Phipps, Hon. Harriet, 84. + + Phipps, Lieutenant Albert, 196, 210, 211. + + Piétri, Madame, 140. + + Piétris, The, 161. + + Plater, Countess Broel, 138. + + Plessen, Baron von, 135. + + Portman, Hon. E. W. B., 79. + + Prince Consort and Duchess of Sutherland, 56. + + Prussia, King of, 1, 3, 7, 17. + + + Queñones de Léon, Doña, 250. + + + Radziwill, Prince Jean, 137. + + Ralli, Augustus, 93. + + Rampa, Marquis de, 256. + + Rathdonnell, Lord, 100. + + Ranyard, Mr. (astronomer), 123 + + Reeves, Sims, 116. + + Reid, Lieutenant, 216. + + Reszke, Jean de, 264. + + Reuss, Prince, 126. + + Rey, Marquis de, 158. + + Reynardson, Aubrey Birch, 48 + + Ricardo, Horace, 100. + + Riddell, Captain, 29. + + Ridley, C. N., 96. + + Ridley, H. M., 95. + + Riggs, Mrs. Joe, 39. + + Ritter, 231. + + Robartes (11th Hussars), 237. + + Robeck, Captain de, 226. + + Robinson, Captain, 223, 243, 247. + + Ronalds, Mrs., 3, 17. + + Rossmore, Lord, 86. + + Rothschild, Baron F. de, 14. + + Rothschild, Baroness I. E. de, 217. + + Rothschild, Alphonse de, 162. + + Rueff, Mr., 258. + + Ruspoli, Princess, 39. + + Russell, Sub-Lieutenant, 206. + + Russell-Reynolds, Dr., 270. + + Russian Court secrets, 138. + + Rutland, Duke of, 99. + + + Saba, Madame, 152. + + St. James’s Palace, 240. + + Saint Hilaire, Madame, 164. + + Salis Schwabe, Miss, 123. + + Salud, 255. + + Salvini, 244. + + San Carlos, Marquis de, 252. + + Sanford, Sub-Lieutenant, 193. + + Savile, Captain, 236. + + Seville, Archbishop of, 256. + + Saxe-Weimar, Prince Edward of, 250. + + Schiller, 14. + + Schneider, Hortense, 56. + + Schultz, Herr, 268. + + Schwender’s Dancing Hall, 231. + + Shorncliffe, Quarters at, 168. + + Sighicelli, 165. + + Simon, Jules, 111. + + Sivori, 245. + + Slade, Cecil, 140. + + Slade, Harry, 38. + + Smythe, General, 248. + + “Sock”-shops, 87, 88. + + Somerset, Lord Edward, 73, 92, 250. + + Southey, Lieutenant Richard, 168. + + Spa, 33. + + Stafford, Lady Grace, 103. + + Stafford, Marquis of, 90. + + Stormont, Viscountess, 40. + + Strauss, Johann, 231. + + Sully, Mounet, 229. + + Sunstroke, 268. + + + Taaffe, Sub-Lieutenant, 183, 250. + + Taffanel, 165. + + Taille des Essarts, Comtesse de la, 158. + + Taintegnies, Baron de, 28, 30. + + Tarver, Mr. Henry, 76. + + Taylor, Charles, 47. + + Temple (“Mug”), 66. + + Tercin, Gabrielle, 246. + + Thackeray, 5. + + Thackeray, St. John, 74. + + The Alhambra, Granada, 258. + + The diminishing candle, 209. + + “The Oyster,” 193. + + Thorne, Lieutenant, 267. + + Thornton, C. I., 89. + + Thurlow, Lieutenant E. Hovell, 240. + + Torphichen, Lord, 256. + + Trafalgar, Lord, 77. + + Trianon, le Petit, 163. + + Tufnell, Captain, 225. + + Tufton, Captain, 240. + + Tugwell, Mr., 162. + + + Vane, Henry de Vere, 98. + + Vane-Tempest, Hon. Henry, 97. + + Vaughan, Arthur Powys, 194. + + Vay, Baron de, 165. + + Versailles, 163. + + Victoria, Queen, 83, 85. + + Vyse, Howard, 129, 155, 261, 271. + + + Wagner, 231. + + Walden, Lord Howard de, 27. + + Walden, Lady Howard de, 27. + + Waldteufel (composer), 159. + + Walker, H. B., 90. + + Warre, Rev. Edmund, 73. + + Warre-Malet, Sir A., 51. + + Warre-Malet, Miss Mabel, 51. + + Warre-Malet, Mrs., 51, 53. + + Warren, Miss Minnie, 153. + + Waterlot, Mademoiselle, 154. + + Wayte, Mr., 70, 71. + + Wellesley, Colonel, 248. + + Westminster, Duke of, 77. + + Wilkinson, Lieutenant E. O. H., 223. + + Williamson, C. D. Robertson, 78. + + Willing, Misses Lee, 12. + + Wilma, Tournay, 231. + + Winchester, 241. + + Windsor Fair, 86. + + Winkelmann, 231. + + Winsloe, Mrs., 35. + + Wolter, Charlotte, 230. + + Wombwell, Sir George, 249. + + Wood, Sub-Lieutenant, 208. + + Woodforde, Mrs. Charles, 112. + + Würtemberg, King and Queen of, 30. + + Wylie, Lieutenant, 226. + + + York, Duke of, 56. + + Yorke, Hon. Mrs., 237. + + + Zauerthal, Ritter von, 238. + + Zither, The, Lessons on, 165. + + Zither performances, 172, 227. + + PRINTED AT + THE CHAPEL RIVER PRESS, + KINGSTON, SURREY. + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 75853 *** |