pale face and golden hair. She lives exclusively with her aunt, Lady
Alicia Blackwood.
“Yesterday, in the ‘Lady Chapel’ of the great church at Christ-Church, I
suddenly came upon the tomb of Mary Morgan, who died in 1796. She was
companion to my great-aunt, the unhappy Countess of Strathmore, and this
monument was dedicated ‘to the most rare of all connections, a perfect
and disinterested friend, by the Countess of Strathmore, who, conscious
of the treasure, valued its possession and mourned its loss.... To her
heroic qualities, her cool deliberate courage, and her matchless
persevering friendship, the tears of blood shed by one who despises
weakness, the records of law and justice, and perhaps even the historic
page, will bear witness to an astonished and admiring posterity.’
[Illustration: THE GARDEN TERRACE, HIGHCLIFFE.][101]
[Illustration: THE HAVEN HOUSE.][102]
“On the whole, Christ-Church is dull inside: it is so vast, and chiefly
perpendicular. The old tombs are used as pedestals for modern monuments,
and the old gravestones, stripped of their brasses, have modern epitaphs
inserted between the ancient gothic inscriptions. Outside, the position
is beautiful, on a little height above the river, near which are some
old ruins, and which winds away to the sea through flat reedy
meadow-lands, still marked by sails of boats where its outline is lost
in distance.”
* * * * *
“_June 30._--Mrs. Hamilton Hamilton came last night. She was a daughter
of Sir G. Robinson. Her father’s aide-de-camp, Captain Campbell, a poor
man, wanted to marry her, and she was attached to him; but it was not
allowed, and they were separated. She was married to Mr. Hamilton
Hamilton, but Captain Campbell never ceased to think of her, and he was
ambitious for her sake, and became Sir Colin Campbell and Lord Clyde.
Afterwards, when she was free, it was thought he would marry her. He
sent her an Indian shawl, and he wrote to her, and he came to see her,
but he never proposed; and she waited and expected, and at last she
heard he had said, ‘No, it could not be; people would say it was
absurd.’ But it would not have been absurd at all, and she would have
liked it very much.
“One always feels here as if one did not half appreciate the perfection
of each day as it goes by. It needs time to recognise and realise the
warmth and colour which a noble mind, a true heart, and an ever
heaven-aspiring soul can throw into even the commonest things of life. I
often wonder how these walks, how these rooms with their old boisserie
would appear with another inhabitant; quite unimpressive perhaps--but
now they are simply illuminated. Beautiful pictures remain with one from
everything at Highcliffe, but most of all that of the noble figure,
seated in her high tapestried chair, painting at her little table by the
light of the green lamp, and behind her a great vase filled with
colossal branches of green chestnut, mingled with tall white lilies,
such as Gabriel bore before the Virgin. As Lady Jane sings, she is
roused to call for more songs, for ‘something pathetic, full of
passion--love cannot be passionate enough.’--‘What! another?’ says Lady
Jane. ‘Another, two nothers, three nothers: I cannot have enough.’
“‘In the perfect Christian, the principal virtues which produce an
upright life and beauty of form are fervent faith and the love of our
crucified Redeemer. As faith and love deepen, so external grace and
beauty increase, until they become able to convert the hearts of men....
The soul that is beloved of God becomes beautiful in proportion as it
receives more of the Divine grace.’ These words are from Savonarola’s
Sermons, and do they not apply to our Lady?
“Lady Caroline Charteris[103] came to luncheon--plain in features, but
in mind indescribably beautiful and interesting. She brought with her a
most touching letter she had received from Dr. Brown[104] after his
wife’s death. He spoke of the wells of salvation which men came to when
they were truly thirsty, otherwise most people either passed them
altogether, or stayed an instant, gazed into them admiringly, and still
passed on. With Lady Caroline came Mrs. David Ricardo in a beautiful
pink hat, like a Gainsborough in flesh and blood.”
* * * * *
“_July 1._--A delightful morning in the library, fitful sunlight
gleaming through the stained windows and upon the orange datura flowers
in the conservatory, Lady Waterford painting at her table, Lady Jane and
Miss Lindsay and Lady Mary Lambart[105] (a noble-looking girl like a
picture by Bronzino) working around. Lady Waterford talked of the odd
mistakes of words--how an old lady always said ‘facetious’ for
‘officious’--that when she came by the railway the porters had been so
very ‘facetious,’ &c. Miss Mary Boyle condoled with an old woman at the
Ashridge almshouses on the loss of her old husband. ‘Oh, yes, ma’am,
it’s a great loss; but still, ma’am, I’m quite happy, for I know that
he’s gone to Beelzebub’s bosom.’--‘I think you must mean
Abraham.’--‘Well, yes, ma’am, since you mention it, I think that _was_
the gentleman’s name.’
[Illustration: THE LIBRARY, HIGHCLIFFE.][106]
“In the afternoon we had a delightful walk to Hoborne, across a common
on which a very rare kind of ophrys grows. Lady Waterford talked of a
visit she had had at Ford from Mr. Wayte, the new Rector of Norham, who
told her that a few nights before, his curate, Mr. Simon, had been
obliged to go to fetch some papers out of the vestry at night. When he
opened the church door, the moonlight was streaming in at the west
window, and the middle of the nave was in bright light, but the side
aisles were dark. He walked briskly down the middle of the church to the
vestry, and, as he went, was aware that a figure dressed in white was
sitting motionless in the corner of one of the pews in the aisle. He did
not stay, but went into the vestry to get his papers, and, as he
returned, he saw that the figure was still in the same place. Much
agitated, he did not go up to it, but hurried home, and waited for
daylight, when he returned at once to the church. The figure was still
there, and did not move as he approached. When he uncovered its face, he
saw that it was a dead body. The body had been found in the Tweed the
day before, and the finders had not known what to do with it, so they
had wrapped it in a sheet, and set it up in the church.”
* * * * *
“_July 3._--We drove to Ashley Clinton--a charming place. Lady Waterford
talked of the origin of words--of weeds as applied to dress. Mrs.
Hamilton said how the Queen of the Sandwich Islands always spoke of
flowers as weeds. ‘What pretty weeds there are in the cottage gardens.’
[Illustration: THE FOUNTAIN, HIGHCLIFFE.][107]
“Lady Waterford spoke of the picture of Miss Jane Warburton near her
bedroom door; how she was appointed maid of honour to Queen Caroline at
a time when maids of honour were rather fast, and how, at dinner, when
the maids proposed toasts, and one gave the Archbishop of Canterbury,
another the Dean of St. Paul’s, or some other old man, she alone had the
courage to give the smartest and handsomest man of the day, the Duke of
Argyll.[108] She was so laughed at by her companions that it made her
cry, and at the drawing-room somebody said to the Duke of Argyll, ‘That
is a young lady who has been crying for you,’ and told him the story. He
was much touched, but unfortunately he was married. Afterwards, however,
when his Duchess died, he married Miss Warburton, and, though she was
very ugly, he thought her absolute perfection. In the midst of the most
interesting conversation he would break off to ‘listen to his Jane;’ and
he had the most absolute faith in her, till once he discovered that she
had deceived him in something about a marriage for one of her daughters
with an Earl of Dalkeith, which was not quite straightforward; and it
broke his heart, and he died.”
* * * * *
“_July 5._--I came up to London with Lady Waterford on Friday, and as
usual I find what Carlyle calls ‘the immeasurable, soul-confusing uproar
of a London life’ rather delightful than otherwise. To-day I have been
with Mary Lefevre to Marylebone, to hear Mr. Haweis[109] preach. He is
like a Dominican preacher in Italy, begins without a text, acts,
crouches, springs, walks about in the pulpit--which is fortunately large
enough, and every now and then spreads out vast black wings like a bat,
and looks as if he was about to descend upon his appalled congregation.
Part of his sermon was very solemn, but in part preacher and audience
alike giggled. ‘He was converted last Sunday week: he was converted
exactly at half-past four P.M., but since then they say that he has been
seen at a theatre, at a ball, and at a racecourse, and that therefore
his conversion is doubtful. Now you know my opinion is that none of
these things are wrong in themselves. The question is not what the
places are, but with what purpose and in what spirit people go to them.
Our Saviour would not have thought it wrong to go to any of these
places. John the Baptist certainly acted altogether on a lower level and
went out as an ascetic into the wilderness. But our Saviour was both
charitable and large-hearted. When _He_ was asked to a feast, he went.
He never sacrificed Himself unnecessarily, and so the ‘religious people’
of that day abused him for eating with publicans and sinners. It is just
what ‘religious people,’ the Pharisees of our own day, say now.... Oh,
let us leave these perpetual judgments of others.’
“I went afterwards to luncheon at Lady Castletown’s; she was not come in
from church, but I went up into the drawing-room. A good-looking very
smart young lady was sitting there, with her back to the window,
evidently waiting also. After a pause, I made some stupid remark to her
about heat or cold, &c. She looked at me, and said, ‘That is a very
commonplace remark. I’ll make a remark. If a woman does not marry, she
is nobody at all, nothing at all in the world; but if a man ever marries
at all, he is an absolute fool.’ I said, ‘I know who you are; no one but
Miss Rhoda Broughton would have said that.’ And it was she.
“Mr. Browning came and sat on the other side of her at luncheon. She
said something of novels without love: I said something of black dose as
a cure for love. Mr. Browning said that Aristophanes spoke of ‘the
black-dose-loving Egyptians.’ Miss Broughton said, ‘How do you know the
word means black dose?’--‘Because there is a similar passage in
Herodotus which throws light upon the subject, with details on which it
would not be delicate to dwell.’”
* * * * *
“_July 6._--Dined with Madame du Quaire, meeting Mr. and Mrs. Wigan and
Mr. and Mrs. Preston. Mrs. Wigan talked of children’s odd sayings: of
one who, being told that God could see everywhere, asked if He could see
the top of His own head; of another, at a school-feast, who being asked
to have another bun, said, ‘Oh no, want to go home.’--‘Nonsense! have
another bun.’--‘No, want to go home;’ upon which the giver of the feast
took him up, and the child exclaimed, ‘Oh don’t, don’t _bend_ me.’”
* * * * *
“_July 8._--A drawing-party at Lambeth. Madeleine Lefevre and I went
afterwards to show our drawings to Mrs. Tait, and had luncheon in the
large cool pleasant rooms. In the afternoon I went with the Lefevres to
the camp at Wimbledon. It is an immense enclosure, with streets of
tents, lines of flags. In front of the officers’ tents are masses of
flowers in pots sunk in a substratum of tan, as by law the turf may not
be broken. Lady Ducie’s tent, whither we went, was most luxurious. We
went on afterwards to Lady Leven’s garden, which was a beautiful sight,
with brilliant groups of people. At the end, children were watching the
manœuvres of some cats, who sat quiet with garlands of mice and birds
upon their heads.”
“_July 10._--Drew in the Tower of London, and dined at Lord Castletown’s
to meet Mr. and Mrs. Godfrey Pearse (she Mario’s daughter), Madame du
Quaire, and the truly extraordinary M. Vivier.
[Illustration: GATEWAY, LAMBETH PALACE.][110]
“He talked incessantly, but expected what Lady Castletown called ‘a
gallery,’ and perfect silence and attention. ‘Je suis intéressant, moi!
La petite de C. elle n’a rien: elle chante, elle fait les oiseaux, voilà
tout. Pour entendre les oiseaux, vous ferez mieux d’aller dans vos
squares: vous les entendrez, et vous payerez rien. Mais la petite de C.
elle est moralement malsaine: moi je ne le suis pas, et je
suis--intéressant.’
“He was so surprised at the number of servants: ‘And does all _that_
sleep in the house?’ he said.
[Illustration: THE BLOODY GATE, TOWER OF LONDON.][111]
“In the evening he sang ‘Nellie,’ and his ‘Drame’--of a blind Spanish
musician with a violin, watching windows for money, a perfect passion of
avarice and expectation.”
* * * * *
“_July 11._--Luncheon with Lady Morley, meeting Miss Flora Macdonald,
who has still a reminiscence of the great beauty which brought such a
surprise to the old Duchess of Gloucester when she asked Victor Emmanuel
what he admired most in England, and he answered so promptly, ‘Miss
Flora Macdonald.’ Lady Katherine Parker described--‘because, alas! it
was discovered that we date just a little farther back than the
Leicesters,’ having to sit near ----, the most airified man in London.
She was congratulated afterwards upon his having condescended to speak
to her, but said he wouldn’t, only his neighbour on the other side was
even more insignificant than herself, and to her he did not speak at
all. He said, apropos of a dinner at Dorchester House, ‘Pray who _are_
these Holfords?’--‘Oh,’ said Lady Katherine, ‘I believe they are people
who have got a little shake-down somewhere in Park Lane.’
“I was at the ‘shake-down’ in the evening--something quite beautiful.
The staircase is that of an old Genoese palace, and was one blaze of
colour, and the broad landings behind the alabaster balustrades were
filled with people, sitting or leaning over, as in old Venetian
pictures. The dress of the time entirely lends itself to these effects.
I sat in one of the arcades with Lady Sarah Lindsay and her daughters,
then with Lady Carnarvon. We watched the amusing contrasts of the people
coming upstairs--the shrinking of some, the _dégagée_ manner of others,
the dignity of a very few--in this, no one to be compared with Princess
Mary. The Prince and Princess of Wales were close by (he very merry,
talking with much action, like a foreigner), also the Prince and
Princess of Prussia. Lady Somers looked glorious in a black dress
thickly sprinkled with green beetles’ wings and a head-dress of the
same.
“With Lady Carnarvon I had a long talk, and could not help feeling how
truly one might apply to her Edgar Poe’s lines:--
“Thou would’st be loved, oh! then thy heart
From its present pathway part not:
Being everything that now thou art,
Be nothing that thou art not.
So, with the world, thy winning ways,
Thy grace, thy more than beauty,
Shall be the theme of endless praise,
And love, and simple duty.”
* * * * *
“_July 12._--Yesterday there was a great party at Hatfield. I drove with
the Woods to King’s Cross for the special train at 4 P.M., but was
separated from them at the station, and joined Lady Darnley and Raglan
Somerset. A tremendous storm was brewing over London, but we left it
behind at first. Quantities of carriages from the house were in waiting
at the Hatfield station. The street was lined with wreaths and flowers,
and a succession of triumphal arches made the steep hill look like a
long flowery bower. In the park, the grand old limes were in full
blossom in front of the stately brick house. On the terrace on the other
side the mass of guests was assembling. I went off with Lady Braybrooke
to the labyrinth, then with Lady Darnley and the E. de Bunsens over the
house. The storm now broke with tremendous lightning and loud peals of
thunder, and in the Golden Gallery it was almost dark. Just as it began,
the royal party drove up, the Prince and Princess of Wales, Prince and
Princess of Prussia, Prince Arthur, the Tecks, the Duchess of
Manchester, and a great quantity of suite--a very pretty procession,
vehemently cheered by the people. When the storm cleared, we went out
upon the terraces; the royal party went to the labyrinth. As it
returned, I was standing with the Leghs of Lyme at the head of the
steps, when Prince Arthur came up to me, was very cordial, and talked
for some time about Rome, &c. I asked him if the Queen drew still. ‘Oh,
yes,’ he said, ‘she is quite devoted to it: and I am very fond of it
too, but then _I_ have so little time.’
“Owing to the rain, the dinner for eight hundred had to be moved into
the Armoury. The royal guests and a few others dined in the Marble Hall;
the Princess of Prussia was forgotten as they were going in, and had to
be hunted for. We all dined at little tables; I was at one with Mrs.
Stuart Wortley, Mrs. W. Lowther, and Lord Sydney. Afterwards the
terraces and house were beautifully illuminated with coloured lights, in
which, through what looked like a sea of fire and blood, the cascades of
white roses frothed up. Every one walked out. The royalties seemed to
spring up everywhere; one was always running against them by mistake.
There was a pretty procession as they went away, and immediately
afterwards I returned with Miss Thackeray, her sister, and the Master of
Napier.
“An excursion of this kind from London is delightful. _C’est
l’entr’acte!_”
[Illustration: COMPIÈGNE.][112]
* * * * *
“_July 13._--Yesterday (Sunday) I had luncheon with Lady Castletown;
young Mr. Astley was there, and Miss Trollope. Lady Castletown talked
of Vivier, of the marvellous versatility of his genius, of his absolute
refusal to go any way but his own; that except for love he never sang a
single song under three thousand francs; that when he gave a concert at
Nice he asked ‘cent francs chaque,’ and the rooms were crowded; that at
Compiègne he did some things, but he only allowed three persons to be
present--the Emperor and two others. He excluded the Empress, because,
in his Spanish scene, she had dared, Spanish-wise, to throw a bracelet
into his hat, which so offended him that he told the Emperor he should
never let her see him again. The Emperor quite delighted in him, and
could not bear him to go away. He persuaded Vivier to go with him to
Vichy, and there some of the great men of the court called to him from a
window, as he was walking in the garden, and begged him to come to them.
He was furious, and complained to the Emperor. ‘Sire, ce n’est pas comme
cela qu’il faut appeler Vivier.’ On one occasion he stopped and threw up
his whole comedy in the middle before a large audience because Lord
Houghton sneezed. It was therefore necessary carefully to select his
audience, otherwise he might take offence and never return. He has
discovered powers in a French horn which no one had any idea of before,
and he can sit close by you and play it with a degree of delicacy which
perfectly transports you--the most sublime philosophy of music.
[Illustration: HOLLAND HOUSE.][114]
“We went afterwards to Holland House. I sat in the carriage at first
under the shadow of the grand old red pile, but Lady Holland sent Mr.
Hayward out to fetch me in, which he did with a bad grace.[113] Lady
Holland is a very little woman, simply dressed, with a white cap. She
has sparkling eyes, which give her face a wonderful animation; which is
almost beauty in itself, and which, in the setting of that house and its
historic memories, makes her quite a person to remember. Mrs. Locke was
there, and Lord Tankerville, whom I was very glad to see again.
Outside, on a comfortable bench, we sat some time with the old Duc de
Richelieu. Mrs. Wingfield and I wandered about in the gardens, which
were glorious!--such blazes of flowers between the trees, such splashing
fountains, such armies of scarlet lilies looking over the clipped yew
hedges; and the house itself so rich in colour and in shadow. Then there
is a glade--a grass walk of immense length, completely shut in by trees
and forest-like tangle, so that you might think yourself in the deep
recesses of Sherwood instead of close to London.
“Everard Primrose called to us out of a window, and we went up to him in
the old library. He was in a melancholy mood, and would not come down
with us; but Mrs. Wingfield went back to him alone, and, with that
wonderful sympathy which is natural to her, she soon tamed him, and he
came to us and was as pleasant as possible.
“The picture of Marie, Princess Lichtenstein, hung, pale and sad,
looking down on us from a corner, and seemed to say, ‘Hence I am now
banished; even my portrait is put away.’”
* * * * *
“_July 14._--Dined at Lady Carnarvon’s to meet Lord Stanhope. Only the
two mothers of the house, Lady Chesterfield and Lady Carnarvon--a
charming good-humoured old lady, and a Mr. Townshend were there. Lord
Carnarvon talked much of the interests of regular work and the
unutterable weariness of interruptions. Lord Stanhope was very agreeable
at dinner, but fell asleep afterwards. The younger Lady Carnarvon, with
her hair sprinkled with diamonds, looked unspeakably lovely.”
* * * * *
_To_ MISS WRIGHT.
[Illustration: HOLMHURST, THE ROCK WALK.]
“_Holmhurst, July 19, 1874._--I know half my friends wonder how I can
like the change from the intellectual interests and luxurious life of
London to the society of the bumble-bees and butterflies in this little
hermitage; but I am sure the absolute quietude is very good for one, and
I rush into my work at once, and get through no end of it. I came away
from London, however, rather pining to stay for the party at Holland
House, because I thought it was a duty to Lea and Miss Leycester, and I
experienced the bathos, which so often comes when one is rather
conceited about a little piece of self-sacrifice, of finding they would
both much rather I had gone to the party, that they might have heard all
about it!
“Miss Leycester is very cheerful, and greatly enjoys her summer retreat
here--sitting out amid the scent of the lime-flowers: being wheeled
about in her chair amongst the baskets of geraniums: having tea upon the
terrace, &c. Another sweet old lady cousin, Miss Tatton, who cannot walk
at all, is just arriving for a fortnight, and the Hospice is quite full
of dear feeble beings.
“As to the little troubles about which you ask me, I can only reply in
the words of Delatouche to George Sand, ‘Patientez avec le temps et
l’expérience, et soyez tranquille: ces deux tristes conseilleurs
viendront assez vite.’
“I shall be very anxious to hear about your German travels.... To me, if
one is not in a fever about going on, the lingering in the wonderful old
towns by the way, so full of a past deeply written still on their
remains, is far more interesting than that part of the tour which all
the world takes, and the little glimpses of people and life which one
gets in them give one far more to think about afterwards. Würtzburg and
Ratisbon I forbid you to pass unseen: they used to be reached, toiled
after with such labour and fatigue; and now, in these railway days, they
are generally--_passed_.”
* * * * *
JOURNAL.
_“July 29._--I have been in London again for two days. On Tuesday Sir
Howard Elphinstone, the Lefevres, and I went to Holland House, where
Lady Castletown and Mrs. Wingfield joined us. We drew in the Arcade, and
then Miss Coventry came out in her Spanish hat and called us in to Lady
Holland. She was in the west room, sitting in the wide window, and, like
a queen, she sat on, moving for nobody. She was, however, very kind, and
pleased with our drawings. She talked of the royal ball, and said that
the two little Princes were so delighted with Puss in Boots that they
pulled his tail incessantly, till at last Puss said, ‘Remember I have
got teeth and claws as well as a tail,’ and then they were frightened
and left off.
[Illustration: HOLLAND HOUSE (GENERAL VIEW).][115]
“Wednesday was Victoria Liddell’s wedding-day.[116] All Fulham turned
out, and Walham Green was a succession of triumphal arches, garlands,
and mottoes. I went with Victor Williamson, and they mistook us for the
bridegroom and best man. They told us to go up and wait near the altar,
and the Wedding March struck up, but stopped abruptly as we went into a
pew.”
* * * * *