1859-1870.
Mr. Hope-Scott's Return to his Profession--Second Marriage--Lady Victoria
Howard--Mr. Hope-Scott at Hyères--Portraits of Mr. Hope-Scott--
Miscellaneous Recollections--Mr. Hope-Scott in the Highlands--Ways of
Building--Story of Second-sight at Lochshiel.
The last of the poems in the little collection which is elsewhere given,
evidently belongs to a time when Mr. Hope-Scott had regained his
tranquillity, and was about to resume, like a wise and brave man, the
ordinary duties of his profession. After his great affliction he had
interrupted them for a whole year, first staying for some time at Arundel
Castle, and then residing at Tours with his brother-in-law and sister, Lord
and Lady Henry Kerr. To those readers who expect that every life which
approaches in any way an exalted and ideal type must necessarily conform to
the rules of romance, it may appear strange that Mr. Hope-Scott did not
remain a widower for any great length of time. But in truth the same
motives which led him to return to the Bar, notwithstanding the
overwhelming calamity he had sustained, might also have led him again to
enter the married state; or rather, if under other circumstances he would
have thought it right to do so, would not have interposed any insuperable
obstacle against it now.
Mr. Hope-Scott, soon after his conversion, had become acquainted with Henry
Granville, Earl of Arundel and Surrey, afterwards Duke of Norfolk. They had
first met, I believe, at Tunbridge Wells, where, on October 2, 1852, was
born Mr. Hope-Scott's daughter Mary Monica (now the Hon. Mrs. Maxwell-
Scott), at whose baptism Lady Arundel and Surrey acted as proxy for the
Dowager Lady Lothian. The acquaintance had very soon developed into an
intimate and confidential friendship, which by this time had become still
closer, from the fear which was beginning to be felt that the Duke's life,
so precious to his family and to the Catholic world in general, was fast
drawing to its early termination. To the Duke, therefore, and to his
family, it was but natural for Mr. Hope-Scott to turn for comfort in his
extreme need. In such times sympathy soon deepens into affection, and thus
it was that an attachment sprang up between Mr. Hope-Scott and the Duke's
eldest daughter, Lady Victoria Fitzalan Howard. This was towards the end of
1860. The Duke was then in his last illness, and on November 12 in that
year the betrothed pair knelt at his bedside to receive his blessing. He
died on November 25.
Although a notice of great interest might be drawn up from materials before
me of Lady Victoria herself, and of the sweetness of character and holiness
of life which so much endeared her to all with whom she was connected; yet
the time of her departure is still so recent, that I shall better consult
the feelings and the wishes of surviving friends by merely placing before
my readers one passage from a letter relating to her. The writer was a nun
intimately acquainted with her, and describes with great truth and
simplicity the graces which especially adorned her: 'She was a person to be
observed and studied; and I do not think... I ever saw her without studying
her, and consequently without my admiration for her increasing. She was so
unworldly, so forgetful of self, and, what always struck me most, so
humble, and striving to screen herself from praise; and humility and self-
forgetfulness like what she practised, these are the virtues of saints, and
not of ordinary people.'
The marriage of Mr. Hope-Scott and Lady Victoria Howard was solemnised at
Arundel on January 7, 1861, and this too, it is needless to add, proved a
very happy union, though on the side of affliction, in the loss of two
infants, and in Lady Victoria's early death, it strangely resembled the
first marriage. Of twin daughters born June 6, 1862, Catherine and Minna-
Margaret, the first lived for but a few hours. [Footnote: Two more
daughters, Josephine Mary (born May 1864) and Theresa Anne (born September
14, 1865), were born before (again, as it were, but for an instant) a son
was granted; this was Philip James (born April 8, 1868), but who lived only
till the next day. He was placed beside his sister Catherine in the castle
vault at Arundel. Mr. Hope-Scott's last and only surviving son is James
Fitzalan Hope, born December 18, 1870.] There are, however, many days of
sunshine still to record. Abbotsford and Dorlin, as before, were the chief
retreats in which Mr. Hope-Scott found repose from the toil and harass of
his professional life. At Arundel Castle and Norfolk House he and his
family were, of course, frequent guests. From 1859 it was thought necessary
that the surviving child of his first marriage should spend every winter in
a warm climate. Hyères, in the south of France, was selected for this
purpose, which led to Mr. Hope-Scott's purchasing a property there, the
Villa Madona, on a beautiful spot near the Boulevard d'Orient. Here he
spent several winters with his family, in the years 1863-70. He added to
the property very gradually, bit by bit; first a vineyard, and then an
oliveyard, as opportunities offered, and indulged over it the same passion
for improvement which he had displayed at Abbotsford and Dorlin. He took
the most practical interest in all the culture that makes up a Provençal
farm, the wine, the oil, the almonds, the figs, not forgetting the fowls
and the rabbits. He laid out the ground and made a road, set a plantation
of pines, and adorned the bank of his boulevard with aloes and yuccas and
eucalyptus--in short, astonished his French neighbours by his perfection of
taste and regardlessness of expense. He did not, however, build more than a
bailiff's cottage in the first instance, but rented the Villa Favart in the
neighbourhood, and amused himself with his estate, intending it for his
daughter's residence in future years. At his death, however, the French law
requiring the estate to be shared, it was found necessary to sell it. He
greatly enjoyed the repose of Hyères, the strolls on the boulevard, and the
occasional excursions that charming watering-place affords--Pierrefeu, for
example, and all the beautiful belt of coast region extending between
Hyères and the Presqu'île. He was also able to enter more into society at
Hyères than latterly his health and business had permitted in London. One
of his oldest and most valued friends, the late Serjeant Bellasis, had
taken the Villa Sainte Cécile in his neighbourhood, and there was a circle
of the best French families in and around Hyères, whose names must not be
omitted when we speak of Mr. Hope-Scott's and Lady Victoria's annual
sojourn in the little capital of the Hesperides. Among these was the late
Due de Luynes, so well known for his researches into the hydrography of the
Dead Sea, Count Poniatowski, Madame Duquesne, M. de Butiny, Maire of
Hyères, M. and Madame de Walmer, and others. Cardinal Newman has noticed,
what appears also in the correspondence, to how surprising a degree Mr.
Hope-Scott was consulted by his French neighbours, even in affairs
belonging to their own law. Whenever there was a difficulty, a sort of
instinct led people to turn to him for counsel.
As it was at Hyères that I first became acquainted with Mr. Hope-Scott, I
may introduce into this chapter, perhaps as conveniently as anywhere, such
personal recollections of him as I can call to mind. They are much more
scanty than I could wish; still, where the memorials to be collected from
any sources are but few, and rapidly passing away, surviving friends may be
glad of the preservation of even these slight notices.
In 1864-5 I had the honour of being entrusted with the tuition of Henry,
Duke of Norfolk, and, as the Duke spent that winter with his relatives at
Hyères, I had several opportunities of conversing with Mr. Hope-Scott in
his domestic circle, as on other occasions afterwards.
Mr. Hope-Scott was then in his fifty-third year. He was tall, largely
built, with massive head, dark hair beginning to turn grey, sanguine,
embrowned complexion, very dark eyes, fine, soft, yet penetrating. '_Quel
bel homme! quel homme magnifique_!' the French would exclaim in talking
of him. In his features might be remarked that indefinable expression which
belongs to the practised advocate. He had an exceedingly winning smile, an
harmonious voice, and deliberate utterance. His manners, I need hardly say,
showed all that simplicity and perfection of good breeding which art may
simulate, but can never completely attain to.
I am not aware that there is any likeness of Mr. Hope-Scott in his later
years. There is an excellent one of him about the age of thirty-two,
painted by Richmond for Lady Davy, and now at Abbotsford, of which an
engraving was published by Colnaghi. Mr. Lockhart, writing to Mrs. Hope-
Scott on August 29, 1850, says: 'I called, yesterday at Mr. Richmond's to
inspect his picture of J. R. H., and was extremely pleased--a capital
likeness, and a most graceful one.... I am at a loss to say whether I think
Grant or he has been most lucky--and they are very different too.' I have
heard that the portrait by Richmond is supposed to represent his expression
when pleading. Mr. Richmond also drew (in crayon, previously to 1847) two
others, one for Lady Frances Hope, subsequently given to the Hon. Mrs. G.
W. Hope, and another for Mr. Badeley, after whose decease it was given by
Mr. Hope to the Dowager Duchess of Norfolk. There was also a small life-
portrait, done after his marriage by Mr. Frank Grant, but not thought so
pleasing a likeness as Richmond's. There is a good bust by Noble at
Abbotsford, but this was made after his death, by study of casts, &c. It
might express the age of about thirty-five or forty.
In his hospitality Mr. Hope-Scott showed great kindness and thoughtfulness.
One day, for example, he would invite to dinner the curé of Hyères and his
clergy; on another occasion, a young lady having become engaged, a party
must be given in her honour; or an English prelate passes Hyères on his way
home, and must be entertained. He was very attentive to guests, took pains
to make people feel at their ease, and dispensed with unnecessary
formality, but not with such usages as have their motive in a courteous
consideration for others. Thus, when there were French guests, he was
particular in exacting the observance of the rule that the English present
should talk to each other, as well as to the strangers, in French. He had a
thorough colloquial knowledge of the French language, marked not so much by
any French mannerism, of which there was little, as by a ready command of
the vocabulary of special subjects--for instance, agriculture.
In society Mr. Hope-Scott's table-talk was highly agreeable. There was,
however, a certain air of languor about him, caused partly by failing
health, but far more, no doubt, by that 'softened remembrance of sorrow and
pain' which my readers can by this time understand better than any of those
who then surrounded him. His conversation, therefore, when the duty of
entertaining his guests did not require him to exert himself, was liable to
lapse into silence. Some people seem to think it a duty to break a dead
silence at any price; but this, in Mr. Hope-Scott's opinion, was not always
to be followed as a rule of etiquette; so, at least, I have heard.
I cannot remember that he showed any great interest in politics. He told me
that he seldom read the leading articles of the 'Times,' which he thought
had little influence on public events. I can, however, recall an
interesting conversation on the social state of France, of which he took a
very melancholy view; and again, in 1870, when he pronounced decisively
against the chances of the permanent establishment of the Commune, on the
ground of the total change in the condition of Europe since the Middle
Ages--the old Italian republics having been alleged in favour of the
former.
His conversation seldom turned upon general literature, and at the time I
knew him he had given up the 'bibliomania.' His favourite line of reading,
for his own amusement, seemed to be glossaries, such as those of the
Provençal dialect, and the archaeology of Hyères, on which a friend of his,
the late M. Denis, had written an interesting volume. Le Play's elaborate
treatise, 'La Réforme Sociale,' strongly attracted his attention. He was
fond of statistical works, such as the 'Annuaire du Bureau des Longitudes,'
a little compilation bristling with facts. He greatly cherished, as might
be expected, the memory of Sir Walter Scott; and, had his life been
prolonged, would probably have done more for it than the republication of
the abridgment of Lockhart's Life. I recollect his mentioning that there
were in his hands unpublished MSS. of Sir Walter's which would furnish
materials for a volume. [Footnote: In a letter to Lord Henry Kerr, dated
'Norfolk House, London, S.W., July 6, 1867,' Mr. Hope-Scott says:--
'I have, because everybody seemed to think I must, become a purchaser to-
day of some of Sir Walter's MSS., viz. _Rokeby, Lord of the Isles_,
_Anne of Geierstein_, and a volume of fragments of _Waverley,
Ivanhoe, &c._ I am ashamed to say what they cost, but the _Lady of the
Lake_ alone cost _another_ purchaser more than half what I paid for
the four, and I can hardly say that it was to please myself that I bought
at all.'] 'What he chiefly valued in the character of Sir Walter Scott
(remarks a correspondent) was his _manliness_. I noticed that when Sir
Walter was praised, Mr. Hope-Scott always spoke of his manliness.' These
observations may somewhat qualify the impression of an intimate friend of
his later years, by whom I have been told that Mr. Hope-Scott 'hardly
opened a book, read scarcely at all, though he seemed to know about books.'
He certainly could not, in the ordinary sense of the word, be called a
literary man; but the active part of his life was far too busy for study,
unless study had been a passion with him; and towards its close the state
of his health made reading impossible.
Mr. Hope-Scott very rarely made mention of himself, and his conversation
accordingly supplied little or no biographical incident. Yet I have heard
him allude, more than once, to his intimacy with Mr. Gladstone. 'They had
been,' he said, 'like brothers;' and he spoke also with pleasure of visits
to the house of Sir John Gladstone, from whom he thought the Premier had
derived much of his _back_.
Everything that I saw or heard of Mr. Hope-Scott conveyed the impression
that he always acted on a plan and an idea; but this is so evident from
what I have already related of him, that I am unwilling to add trivial
anecdotes in its illustration. That tenderness of heart of which such ample
proof has also been given, I recollect once coming curiously out in a
chance expression. 'If a man wants to cry,' said Mr. Hope-Scott, '_let
him read the Police Reports_, or (checking himself with that humour by
which deep feeling is often veiled) take a cup of coffee!'
He was a thoroughly kind friend in this way, that, unasked, he thought of
openings which might be available, and, without offering direct advice,
threw out, as if incidentally, useful hints. In giving advice, he applied
his mind to the subject; and a small matter, such as the interpretation of
a route in _Bradshaw_, received as complete consideration, as far as
was needed, as he could have given to the most difficult case submitted by
a client.
As to his religious habits, I only had the opportunity of remarking his
regularity in attending mass. I recollect, too, that he was anxious that
one in whom he took an interest should not leave Hyères without visiting a
favourite place of pilgrimage in the vicinity called L'Ermitage, and heard
with pleasure that St. Paul's, in the upper town, had not been forgotten--a
church where St. Louis heard mass before setting out on his crusade, and
which rivals the Hermitage as a resort of popular devotion.
I now throw together a few scattered recollections communicated to me by
friends, for which I have not been able to find a place elsewhere.
Mr. Hope-Scott often talked of Merton College; he used to compare his
affection for it to that felt for a wife.
In his professional habits of mind he was a contrast in one respect to his
friend Mr. John Talbot. The latter (as he himself once remarked) was always
anxious about a case, and a failure was a great blow to him; but Mr. Hope-
Scott, on the other hand, did the best he could, and if he failed, he
failed; but he did not allow _that_ to wear him out. He always met the
thing in the face, never _mourned_ over it.
He never gave way to small troubles; yet he was not a calm person by
nature, but by self-command.
The only occasion on which I ever knew Mr. Hope put out (said a friend who
knew him well) was when one of his fellow-counsel, whom he had endeavoured
to supply with a complete answer to the whole difficulty in an important
case, made a mess of it. 'How hard it is,' said Mr. Hope, 'to sit by and
listen to a man speaking on one's side, and _always_ missing the
point!'
Mr. Hope-Scott was a man _run away with by good sense_. He had great
playfulness of character (by no means inconsistent with the last trait),
and was especially addicted to punning. A constant fire of puns was kept up
when he, Bishop Grant, and Mr. Badeley were together, though the Bishop
always sought a moral purpose in his jesting.
After having heard Mr. Hope-Scott's and Mr. Serjeant Wrangham's arguments
on the Thames Watermen and Lightermen's Bill (1859), the chairman of the
committee said: 'Mr. Hope-Scott, the committee have three courses--either
to throw the bill out, to pass it in its entirety, or to pass it with
alterations. Therefore we shall be glad if counsel will retire.' After
waiting for half an hour, the door opened. Mr. Hope-Scott said to Serjeant
Wrangham: 'Come along, Serjeant; now that they have disposed of their three
courses, we shall have our _dessert_.'
A speech of his at the Galashiels Mechanics' Institute gave great amusement
at the time: 'I am a worker like you,' he said; 'my head is the
_mill_, my tongue is the _clapper_, and I _spin long yarns_.'
Once, after signing a good many cheques in charity matters, he said, 'They
talk of hewers of wood and drawers of water; but I think I must be called
_a drawer of cheques_.'
He was highly genial with everybody, and even in reproving his servants
would mingle it with humour.
The last of Sir Walter Scott's old servants, John Swanston the forester
(often mentioned in _Lockhart_), seemed rather shocked when Mr. Hope-
Scott's son and heir was named Michael; upon which Mr. Hope-Scott said to
him playfully: 'Ye mauna forget, John, that there was an Archangel before
there was a Wizard; and besides, the Michael called the Wizard was, in
truth, a very good and holy Divine.'
With servants Mr. Hope-Scott was very popular. He took great interest in
people, taking them up, forwarding their views, advising, protecting, even
interfering.
He was very fond of children, and they of him. The presence of 'Uncle Jim'
was the signal for fun with his little nephews and nieces: but the case was
different with young people; they rather stood in awe of him (but another
informant thinks these were the exceptions).
He abhorred gossip and spreading of tittle-tattle; avoided speaking before
servants, or any one who would retail what was said. When there was any
danger of this, he relapsed into total silence; and was, indeed, on some
occasions over-cautious. He especially avoided talking of his good deeds,
or of himself generally. He was singularly reserved; not by nature, but
from his long habituation to be the depositary of important secrets. Sir
Thomas Acland worked a good deal with him in Puseyite days. 'Tell me what
my brother is about,' asked Lady H. K. 'I cannot tell,' was the reply; 'he
is a well too deep to get at.'
He had a determined will, though affectionate and kind-hearted. When
entertaining guests, he made all the plans day by day; used to lay out the
day for them, seeing what could be done, though he might not himself be
well enough to join the party.
He was extremely systematic in his habits, paid for everything by cheques;
and used to preserve even notes of invitation, cards of visitors, and the
envelopes of letters. [Footnote: I recollect the great importance he
attached to them as dates, and his regret at the change from the old method
of folded sheets.--W. E. G.]
Yet he had not punctuality naturally; he _drilled_ himself to it. Nor
was he naturally particular, but, when married, became over-particular.
He had great kindness and tact, and was always kind in the right way. He
was once seen, as a lad, flying to open a gate for perhaps the most
disgusting person in the parish.
It was a feature in his life's history to keep up intimacies for a certain
number of years; the intercourse ceased, but not friendliness.
'In giving me an explanation of the mass before I was received into the
Church, I remember' (said a near relative of his) 'his saying that he
delighted especially in the _Domine, non sum dignus_. "It is to me [he
remarked] the most beautiful adaptation of Scripture."'
In discussing religion with Presbyterians, he was fond of asserting the
truth, 'I, too, am a _Bible Christian_.'
In conversation once chancing to turn on the subject of one's being able to
judge of character and conduct by looking at people in the street, Mr.
Hope-Scott remarked: 'Yes, if you saw a novice of the Jesuits taking a
walk, you would see what that means.'
The following more detailed recollections appear to deserve a place by
themselves:--
When residing on his Highland property at Lochshiel, Mr. Hope-Scott
personally acquainted himself with his smaller tenantry, and entered into
all their history, going about with a keeper known by the name of 'Black
John,' who acted as his Gaelic interpreter. His frank and kindly manners
quite won their hearts. Sometimes he would ask his guests to accompany him
on such visits, and make them observe the peculiarities of the Celtic
character. On one of these occasions he and the late Duke of Norfolk went
to visit an old peasant who was blind and bedridden. After the usual
greetings, they were both considerably astonished to hear the old man
exclaim, in great excitement: 'But tell me, how is Schamyl getting on?' It
was long after the Circassian chief had been captured; but his exploits
were still clinging to the old Highlander's imagination, full of sympathy
for warfare and politics. The natural ease and politeness of the Highland
manners in this class, as contrasted with the rougher type of the Lowlands,
used always to delight Mr. Hope-Scott. Over and over again, after the
ladies had withdrawn from the dinner-table, he would send for a keeper, or
a gillie, or a boatman, and ply them with plausible questions, that his
guests might have the opportunity of witnessing the good breeding of the
Highlands. John, or Ronald, or Duncan, or whoever it might be, would stand
a few yards away from the table, and, bonnet in hand, reply with perfect
deference and self-possession, his whole behaviour free, on the one hand,
from servility, and on the other, from the slightest forwardness. As will
readily be supposed, the interview commonly ended with a dram from the
laird's own hand.
In one respect he was very strict with his people. He never would tolerate
the slightest interference on their part with the rights of property. Some
of them were in the habit of presuming on the laird's permission, and
helping themselves--no leave asked--to an oar, or a rope, or any implement
which they chanced to stand in need of, belonging to the home farm. They
indeed brought back these articles when done with; but Mr. Hope-Scott ever
insisted they should be _asked for_, and would not accept the excuse
that the things were taken without leave in order to save him the trouble
of being asked. He was very severe in repressing drunkenness and
dissipation, though no one was readier to make allowance for a little extra
merriment on market days and festive gatherings.
Mr. Hope-Scott's chief source of relaxation and pleasure, when he could
escape from his professional duties, was building. In this amusement he
followed his own ideas, sifting the plans of architects with the most rigid
scrutiny, and never hesitating to alter, and sometimes to pull to pieces,
what it had cost hours of hard brain-work to devise. No amount of entreaty
could extort his consent to what did not commend itself as clear and
faultless to his understanding. It might not be a very agreeable process to
some of those concerned, but the result was generally satisfactory to the
one who had a right to be the most interested. As for contractors, he
latterly abjured them altogether; and Dorlin House was commenced and
brought to completion under the management of a clerk of the works in whom
he had great confidence. In the kindred pursuit of planting (as has already
been noticed) Mr. Hope-Scott also took great interest, and the young
plantations which now adorn the neighbourhood of Dorlin are the result of
his care.
Strong-minded lawyer as he was, he had a firm belief in second-sight. One
case in particular, which occurred in his immediate vicinity, is remembered
to have made a deep impression on his mind. The facts were these: One
Sunday, shortly before Mr. Hope-Scott came to Lochshiel, it happened,
during service in a small country chapel close to the present site of
Dorlin House, that one of the congregation fainted, and had to be carried
out. After the service was over, the late Mr. Stewart, proprietor of
Glenuig, asked this man what was the cause of his illness. For a long time
he refused to tell, but at length, being pressed more urgently, declared
that, of the four men who were sitting on the bench before him, three
suddenly appeared to alter in every feature, and to be transported to other
places. One seemed to float, face upwards, on the surface of the sea;
another lay entangled among the long loose seaweed of the shore; and the
third lay stretched on the beach, completely covered with a white sheet.
This sight brought on the fainting fit. Somehow the story got abroad, and
the consequence was, that the fourth individual, who did not enter into the
vision at all, passed, in the course of the next four months, into a state
verging on helpless idiocy, from the fear that he was among the doomed.
But, strange to tell, the three men who were the subjects of the warning
were drowned together, a few months later on, when crossing an arm of the
sea not far from the hamlet in which they dwelt. One of the bodies was
found floating, as described above. Another was washed ashore on a sandy
part of the coast, and, on being found, was covered with a sheet supplied
by a farmer's family living close to the spot. The third was discovered at
low water, half buried under a mass of seaweed and shingle. The fourth, who
had survived to lose his senses, as we have said, died only two years ago.