oak cabinet--is very much like the gangway of a ship which leads to
the saloon cabins. Indeed, it was constructed on this principle. A
former occupier of Arlington Manor being unable to get out of doors,
and being nautically inclined, was wont to walk this hall and imagine
he was on board. The first apartment on the right is the drawing-room.
It is filled with flowers and portrait reminiscences of friends, whilst
its pictures are admirable. There are two very fine pieces of mountain
scenery by Lady Canning, a Prout, Loppe--and the old Dutch school is
represented. Three pictures, however, are specially interesting. One
is a grand Michiel van Mierevelt of Hugo Grotius, and given by him to
Oliver Cromwell. It has only been in three or four hands, and was in
the possession of an uncle of Sir Francis at the age of ninety-four,
and he received it when quite young. It owes its exceptionally fine
state of preservation to the fact that it has never been touched by the
cleaner--it actually hung in one spot for over sixty years. The other
two pictures are over the mantelpieces. One is a copy--the original
being at Brahan Castle--of Lady Jeune's great-great-grandmother a
daughter of Baron D'Aguilars, and, therefore, a Spanish Jewess, and the
other is of Lady Jeune herself, by Miss Thompson.
[Illustration: THE OUTER HALL.
_From a Photo by Elliot & Fry._]
[Illustration: THE INNER HALL.
_From a Photo by Elliot & Fry._]
The dining-room is hung with some exquisite tapestry, and in the
centre of the oaken mantel-board is a painting of the late Bishop
of Peterborough, Sir Francis Jeune's father. Sir Francis's own room
upstairs is a very pleasant corner of the house. On a table--in
very official-looking boxes, and, indeed, the only suggestion of
judicial duties about the place--are the various patents granted to
the President, and also those belonging to his father--who was Dean
of Jersey, as well as filling the Episcopal See of Peterborough. Sir
Francis merrily points out that the writ accompanying the patent making
him a judge expresses in legal phraseology an invitation to pretermit
all other business and go to Parliament.
[Illustration: THE DRAWING ROOM.
_From a Photo by Elliott & Fry._]
"But they wouldn't let me in if I went there," he said.
There are a number of beautiful studies by Raphael here. Near the
window is a book-case containing many of the prizes Sir Francis won
at school and college. We look at them together. Sir Francis takes
down from one of the shelves a small volume of "Dodd's Beauties of
Shakespeare." It was given to him by Sir George Cornwall Lewis on the
occasion of his tenth birthday.
"I value it," said Sir Francis, "because good nature is not a quality
generally attributed to Sir George Cornwall Lewis."
There is much, very much, more to look at inside Arlington Manor--and
one would like to refer at greater length to its many interior
beauties; but the desire to take full advantage of the pleasant
opportunity of having a talk with Sir Francis Jeune--and later on
with Lady Jeune--leads one to hurry away from the apartments within
and settle down in one of the wicker chairs on the veranda and listen
to the quietly told story, and the impressive observations of the
President of the Probate, Divorce, and Admiralty Division--at his
country home.
Sir Francis Jeune is tall--his bearing is erect and stately. His hair
is just turning grey--there is never a pleasant twinkle missing out
of the immediate vicinity of his eyes. To watch Sir Francis in his
court and to observe him in his home results in a conviction that
his geniality and justness are as thorough and thoughtful in the
one place as in the other. His temperament never seems to alter--he
is always kind. He talks enthusiastically and generously about
others--particularly his court officials--and quietly and modestly
about himself. He has ideas, strong ideas, regarding the law's true
administration and the best means of adapting it to the benefit of the
public. But all his views are submitted gracefully--he never seeks to
cram you with them or to say: "That's it, who can dispute what I say?"
I have sat in his court and listened--I have occupied one of the wicker
chairs on the veranda in front of the Hampshire Downs and listened,
too. It has all amounted to the same thing. He is thoughtful and
kind towards all men, both in his actions towards them and his ideas
regarding them.
His first words to me, when we settled down to talk, were gratifying
indeed.
"I have only been interviewed once before," he said, "and that was only
on a small question."
"It is a big one now, Sir Francis--your life."
"Well, it was whilst my father was Dean of Jersey that I was born--on
the 17th March, 1843. Though my early years were passed in the
atmosphere of the Church, I was never clerically inclined. I was always
intended for the Bar, and perhaps it was owing to my parentage that
I acquired a practice in ecclesiastical law almost as soon as I was
called. My first school was at Mr. Powle's, at Blackheath; then I went
to Mr. Penrose's, at Exmouth. It was a school where most Devonshire
county boys went--Sir Redvers Buller left a year before I went, though
I was there with his brother. We were admirably taught, and this was
the reason why I was placed as high as I could be when I went to
Harrow. There I remained for five years--four of which I passed under
Dr. Vaughan and the other under Dr. Butler.
"Dr. Vaughan was a man with a most gentle manner and a soft, deliberate
voice, and I never saw him agitated. But he was as firm as iron, and a
complete specimen of the pussy cat who could always show its claws when
disturbed. He was polite to a degree--even, I believe, when flogging a
boy!"
Sir Francis went into the house, and returned very shortly with another
volume of letters which he preserves. He turned over the pages, and at
last found the one he wanted. It was on blue paper, and the writing was
very bad, but its contents were good. It was a letter from the great
Lord Brougham to Sir Francis's father, and it told how Brougham had
been to Harrow on Speech Day, and seen one of the best _Shylocks_ on or
off the stage played by the President in embryo.
[Illustration: SIR FRANCIS JEUNE'S FATHER.
_From a Painting._]
Young Jeune did well at Harrow, and he is remembered there to-day,
for on every successive advancement in life that has befallen him,
the Harrow boys have had a holiday--and not a few either. Young Jeune
got many prizes, and crowned his Harrow days by winning the Balliol
Scholarship. He matriculated the day on which the Prince Consort was
buried. He was at Balliol when Jowett was in his prime.
"He had very strong characteristics," continued Sir Francis, "and his
extreme love for Boswell's 'Life of Johnson' was remarkable. He knew it
better than any man, and was always quoting it. I remember just before
I went up for my final he asked me if I was nervous. I told him rather
so. He said:--
"'Never mind--you'll do in the schools better than what you think.
Remember the story of Dr. Dodd and Dr. Johnson. When Dr. Dodd was in
prison he preached a very fine sermon on the Sunday before he was
hanged. People went to Johnson and told him they believed he had
written it. 'Depend upon it, sir,' said Johnson to one of them, 'depend
upon it that a man's faculties are considerably quickened when he is
going to be hanged!'"
[Illustration: THE DINING-ROOM.
_From a Photo by Elliott & Fry._]
[Illustration: THE STUDY.
_From a Photo by Elliot & Fry._]
Sir Francis did brilliantly at Oxford, gaining both the Stanhope Prize
and Arnold Prize. The former gave occasion to an intensely interesting
letter from Dean Stanley. Again the volume of letters was consulted,
and a few pages further on from Lord Brougham's note was the missive.
Sir Francis opened his Stanhope essay with Matthew Arnold's words:--
"I rejoice to see it," said Dr. Arnold, as he stood on one of the
arches of the Birmingham railway, and saw the train pass on through the
distant hedgerows--"I rejoice to see it, and to think that feudality is
gone for ever. It is so great a blessing to think that any one evil is
really extinct."
[Illustration: SIR FRANCIS JUENE.
_From a Sketch by Harry Furniss._]
And this was a most generous, though undoubtedly well-deserved, tribute
from Stanley--saying that it was he to whom these words of Dr. Arnold
were first addressed.
Here is the letter:--
"June 22nd, 1863.
"6, Grosvenor Crescent, London.
"MY DEAR JEUNE,--Many thanks for your essay. I have read it with much
interest, as I heard those few sentences which you delivered with so
much effect and discretion with much pleasure. There was probably no
one in the theatre to whom your opening sentences came with so much
force as to myself. It is not often that such a good fortune can fall
to anyone as to hear the chance sayings which he remembered thirty
years before falling from the lips of a dear friend, in a solitary walk
through the fields of Warwickshire, repeated with all the energy and
weight of an authoritative maxim before the most magnificent assemblage
that could have been gathered together in England or perhaps in the
world.
"Yours very faithfully,
"A. P. STANLEY."
"I left Oxford when I was twenty-one," said Sir Francis, "and proceeded
to London immediately and began to study law. Acting under the advice
of Lord Westbury, I began by reading in a conveyancer's chambers.
I went to Mr. Ebenezer Charles, brother of the present Mr. Justice
Charles, a most accomplished lawyer; and happily in the same chambers
was Mr. James, afterwards Lord Justice James. James was a brilliant
man--but lazy, physically not intellectually, and the pupils had
full leave to read his briefs, and tell him their contents and the
authorities. His remarks were worth anything to a student. My other
legal masters were the great pleaders, Mr. Bullen and the present Mr.
Justice Wills. I was called to the Bar in 1868, but previous to that I
went for a year into a solicitor's office, the firm of Baxter, Rose,
and Norton. That was worth a great deal to me--the experience gained
there was perfectly invaluable. As soon as I was called I was engaged
in one very big lawsuit that ran into several years; almost all the
great lawyers of the day were connected with it. In that way I not only
had excellent employment during my first four years at the Bar, but
also made the acquaintance of many eminent barristers."
[Illustration: SIR FRANCIS JEUNE.
_From a Photo by Elliott & Fry._]
Sir Francis Jeune was for twenty-three years at the Bar, and, when
made a judge in 1891, was raised to the Bench with a record that he
had been associated with many kinds of legal cases. He participated
in much ecclesiastical work--sometimes on one side, and sometimes on
the other--when "Ritual" raged strong in the land. He had experience
in bankruptcy proceedings, Common Law, Probate and Divorce, and
considerable Parliamentary practice fell to his lot.
He did much Privy Council work.
"I frequently held briefs for the Government of Canada, whose general
retainer I held, and also other briefs from Canada," said Sir Francis,
"and one of these gave rise to a dramatic incident. I was instructed
to apply to the Privy Council for leave to appeal on account of some
technical flaws in a trial for murder in Canada--the man having been
convicted. Whilst I was arguing and hoping to make a good impression on
the Court, a telegram was put into my hands. It read: 'So-and-so (the
criminal) was hanged by order of the Governor-General at nine o'clock
this morning'! It did not seem necessary to continue the argument after
that. I recollect my point: it was that the case had never been sent
before a grand jury!
"Ballantine! Yes. I was on several occasions associated with him.
He was the most brilliant cross-examiner I ever heard--I don't say
the best, for he never knew his brief. But his tact and readiness
were extraordinary. I remember a divorce suit in which the husband
petitioned against the wife. Ballantine and I appeared for the
petitioner. The evidence was very much in favour of the wife as given
by her maid--a very modest, unassuming girl. It came to Ballantine's
turn to cross-examine.
"'What shall I ask her?' he said to me.
"At that moment somebody at the back of the court--I never found out
who--whispered to me: 'She had an illegitimate child while in her late
mistress's service!'
"I whispered this on to Ballantine, adding that I knew of no ground
whatever for the imputation. He got up--and something like the
following took place:
"Ballantine: 'I believe something serious happened whilst you were in
your late mistress's service?'
"Maid: 'Yes, sir.'
"'Something very serious?'
"'Yes, sir.'
"'I believe you left?'
"'Yes, sir.'
"'When you left, did she mention it to your new mistress?'
"'No, sir.'
"'If she had done so, do you think you would have got your present
situation?'
"'No, sir.'
"'If she were to mention it, do you think your mistress would keep you?'
"'No, sir.'
"Ballantine sat down. Sir John Karslake, for the respondent, thought
it best not to re-examine, and Lord Hannen, in summing up, remarked
that no doubt there might be something in the matter to which Serjeant
Ballantine had referred, which might induce the girl to desire to stand
well with her mistress, and Sir John Karslake had not felt inclined
to re-examine! We won our case. The real truth, I believe, was that
something--some article or the other--had been lost, and the girl was
supposed to have been implicated in it.
[Illustration: LORD BROUGHAM'S LETTER.]
"I have had doubts since whether the tactics were perfectly
defensible--but you see the skill. Absolutely nothing was risked,
because it would have been easy to retreat if the first answer had
been unfavourable. A blundering advocate would have blurted out the
offensive suggestion, got an indignant negative, set the judge and jury
against him, and been considered a brute.
"Now," suddenly exclaimed Sir Francis, "are you good for a walk to
Donnington Castle--we can just do it before luncheon?"
So we started, looking in at the stables on our way, to admire Queen,
a purchase of Lady Jeune's, who, by-the-bye, is a capital judge of
horseflesh; and Cardinal, so named, as it was bought during the run
of "Richelieu" at the Lyceum; the riding ponies of the young ladies,
Sir Francis's cob, and a Devonshire pony, recently given to Sir
Francis's son by Lord Portsmouth. We stood for a moment at the animals'
burying-ground--about a couple of hundred yards from the house. The
greensward round the stones put up to the memory of Fox, a dog who died
on July 2, 1892, and poor old Tim, who breathed her last on April 13,
1893, was covered with primroses. Poor old Tim. She was a favourite
white cat, whom Sir Francis had had for fifteen years. She died very
peacefully in the end. She always waited for her master at the top of
the stairs, and, when her days were numbered, just lay down--under Sir
Francis's chair in the dining-room--and died.
[Illustration: DEAN STANLEY'S LETTER.]
We talked on many things on our way to the famous old castle.
The Ballantine incident led me to ask Sir Francis if he thought counsel
were generally fair. "Yes; emphatically yes," he replied. "I have known
leading counsel, over and over again, resist great pressure to put
forward points they knew were not sound, and to adopt courses of which
they did not approve. You will never get law for nothing. I strongly
suspect it is as cheap now as ever it will be. It is a great thing to
have got rid of technicalities to the extent to which this has been
accomplished. The public owe much to Lord Esher's presidency of the
Court of Appeal in this matter. You ask me if purely family cases could
not be settled at the dining-room table or over the fire. I don't think
it possible. No feelings are so bitter as family feelings, and I think
it is quite impossible that these matters should often be settled
without the decision of a court of law. They often are settled when
the cases get into court, because no litigant ever knows the weakness
and strength of his case or of his opponent's case until it is in his
counsel's hands, when he quickly becomes acquainted with the real
situation."
[Illustration: PETS' BURIAL GROUND.
_From a Photo by Elliott & Fry._]
"And divorce, Sir Francis?"
"The Divorce Court as we have it now has been in existence since 1857,
and in proportion to the population, the number of divorces has not
increased. I see a French legal writer of eminence has recently said
that the French had in five years after their Divorce Act as many
cases as we in thirty after ours. Even allowing for the difference
between the laws of the two countries, it is not unsatisfactory as
a comparison. Divorce in this country is a far easier thing than is
popularly supposed. If a man can prove he does not get a pound a week,
he is entitled to a divorce free, and there are always counsel who are
kind enough to conduct his case for him. If he does not get counsel,
the judge has often to pose as such, which is perhaps rather hard on
the judge. Only about 5 per cent. of the divorce cases come from the
upper classes--the remainder from the middle, lower, and frequently
the pauper classes. The public hear very little of them--they are
only interested in cases where the parties concerned are known and
the interests at stake are big. But, to my mind, every divorce case
in itself is sensational--be they rich or poor concerned--sensational
because it is so severely serious. A divorce court should be and is the
most serious of courts. If a person laughs, it is not so much the usher
who puts it down as the public in the gallery themselves!"
Sir Francis said that he frequently gets through twenty cases of
divorce a day, and sometimes sixty probate and divorce summonses and
motions. He knows the points of each case--more particularly in the
latter--they have been prepared for him by the registrar, and when a
counsel rises and starts what promises to be a long discussion, the
judge courteously stops him and requests him to argue the one main
point. A judge's work is very much misunderstood by the public. When
the Court rises at four, he frequently spends a couple of hours in
getting ready his notes for summing up, which may come at any time if a
case collapses. He must often spend the intervening days between Friday
and Monday in "looking into the case."
"And do you think the present divorce laws are satisfactory?" I asked.
"Yes," he replied, thoughtfully, "fairly so. Of course it is said that
men and women should be in exactly the same position, as is the case in
Scotland; but there is much to be said for our law. One matter does, I
think, require alteration. As the law stands, if a woman gets a divorce
from her husband and she is given the custody of the children, the man
need only keep them until they are sixteen. In many classes of society
children require to be educated and maintained till much later, and it
is frequently a great tax on the woman."
"And the Press--would you have divorce cases suppressed in the
newspapers?"
"I am perfectly satisfied with the Press. Their discretion is
admirable, and I have never felt disposed seriously to disapprove of a
newspaper for over-reporting. The Press is the voice of the country.
Justice is a public thing, and the administration of justice should be
given all publicity. If this were not done, how would the public ever
know that litigants were getting their rights? Newspaper reports to-day
are pretty much as they should be."
We arrived at Donnington, and Sir Francis enthusiastically went over
all the part the old pile had played in the long-ago days of rebellion.
We reached the house again, and entered it with a hearty laugh, for Sir
Francis had just told a story which would tend to prove that you will
never shape the divorce laws to suit everybody. A Frenchman applied for
a divorce, but he had no witnesses. He got them the next day, and his
application was granted. A few days afterwards Sir Francis received
a letter from him, asking if it would not be possible to curtail the
necessary six months in order to make the decree absolute, as the
Frenchman had come across a very charming widow with money, and he was
afraid that the lady might not be willing to wait six months.
"He made a strong appeal to my sympathies," said Sir Francis, "and I
did sympathize, but I could not help him."
It was a very happy evening at Arlington Manor after dinner. Lady Jeune
afforded me the opportunity I sought. Few women are better known in the
charitable world than Lady Jeune, but it is only when one has met her
that one realizes how very practical she is in her deeds of kindness.
With a head of perfect silver hair, and keen, bright eyes, she just
fixes them on you and says exactly what she thinks. There is nothing
hesitating about her--she always appears to know what is best and acts
up to it; what will succeed, and it does.
"My childhood," said Lady Jeune, "was passed in Scotland. I was brought
up very homely, in a very strict way, with two sisters and a brother. I
never came to London until I was eighteen. I cannot tell you how I came
to do the things that you suggest I do. I think, perhaps, I drifted
into them--but I have always been deeply interested in my own sex, and
for the last thirteen or fourteen years particularly so."
[Illustration: MISS MADELINE STANLEY. MASTER F. C. S. JEUNE. MISS
DOROTHY STANLEY.
_From a Photo by Elliott & Fry._]
"And children?" I hinted.
"Yes, and the little ones, too. My Holiday Fund? Oh, yes. It is about
eight years old. Mr. Labouchere had some money given him, and I told
him if he would let me have it I would take up the work. I began with
£500, and have had as much as £1,800 to spend in the summer months. We
board the children out in Essex, Berkshire, Oxfordshire--in fact, in
places within easy distance of London, and where the pure, free air is
sure. I am a manager of two groups of schools in the poorest parts of
London--Shoreditch and Bethnal Green--so that I have a very good choice
of really poor, deserving children, to whom the country meadows is like
a peep into Heaven. I make no distinction as far as denominations go.
Last year I sent away 1,200 children."
Lady Jeune is also interested in factory girls and tired mothers,
whilst her Rescue Home in the North of London contains a large laundry
business.
I gathered much of the greatest interest from Lady Jeune. The "Revolt
of the Daughters" question mystifies her. There is always a certain
proportion of young women who don't get on at home, and an outside
remedy will never be found. It must be found--if it can be found--in
the home itself. The woman of to-day is a very different sort of
person from what she was twenty-five or thirty years ago. The girl of
to-day may be more interesting, but she is certainly not so fresh--she
knows too much, attempts too much. Twenty-five years ago a woman had
no opinions until she was married. Girls of to-day start in their
teens, and Lady Jeune thinks they do themselves more harm than good.
You cannot have enough athletics for Lady Jeune--that is why the girls
of 1894 are so much better grown, taller, and "finer animals," than
were those of years ago; but she questions if their children will be
equally good-looking and physically developed. The rapidity of life and
excitement which many women lead must tell on them. She regards woman's
too great love for amusement as being at the bottom of the cause of so
many unhappy married homes. Why are there not more real friendships
between man and wife? Let that be so, and the home would be home for
both. She is a firm advocate of technical education.
"I believe in bigger girls being taught in class," said Lady Jeune;
"it does a girl good to work with other girls. Boys? Let every
boy be taught a trade at _school_--his father's trade for choice.
Opportunity--as it is to-day--is levelled for all, and whether the
boy is the son of a duke or the son of a working-man--a Board school
boy--their opportunities and chances of real and true success in life
are more equal than formerly."
"Then how would you meet the wants of your surplus boy population, Lady
Jeune," I asked---"the lads of the slums, whose family motto is 'No
work, and plenty of it'?"
"Either by emigration, or by some scheme such as the idea of the Gordon
Boys' Home carried out on a small scale, which would enable them after
training to become soldiers or sailors," replied Lady Jeune.
[Illustration: LADY JEUNE.
_From a Photo by Elliott & Fry._]
It was during the walk back over the fields from Donnington Castle that
Sir Francis Jeune paid a magnificent tribute to the abilities of the
late Lord Hannen--both as a lawyer and a man. On my return to town the
following evening the newspaper placards had the announcement of Lord
Hannen's death!
HARRY HOW.
_The Queen's Yacht_
BY MRS. M. GRIFFITH.
(_By special permission of Her Majesty the Queen._)