RICHARD AND I MEET AGAIN.
"For life, with all its yields of joy and woe
And hope and fear,
Is just our chance o' the prize of learning love--
How love might be, hath been indeed, and is."
----ROBERT BROWNING.
"Dying is easy; keep thou steadfast.
The greater part, to live and to endure."
----MRS. HAMILTON KING, _The Disciples_.
"When Calumny's foul dart thy soul oppresses,
Think'st thou the venomed shaft could poison me?
No! the world's scorn, still more than its caresses,
Shall bind me closer, O my love, to thee.
"Should the days darken, and severe affliction
Close whelming o'er us like a stormy sea,
Love shall transform them into benedictions
Binding me closer, O my love, to thee."
* * * * *
"When truth or virtue an affront endures,
The affront is mine, my friend, and should be yours;
Mine as a friend to every worthy mind,
And mine as man who feels for all mankind."
----POPE.
Just as I was getting into despair, and thinking whether I should go
and be a Sister of Charity (May, 1859), as the appearance of Speke
alone in London was giving me the keenest anxiety, and as I heard that
Richard was staying on in Zanzibar, in the hopes of being allowed to
return into Africa, I was very sore.[1]
On May 22nd, 1859, I chanced to call upon a friend. I was told she was
gone out, but would be in to tea, and was asked if I would wait. I
said, "Yes;" and in about five minutes another ring came to the door,
and another visitor was also asked to wait. The door was opened, and
I turned round, expecting to see my friend. Judge of my feelings when
I beheld Richard. For an instant we both stood dazed, and I cannot
attempt to describe the joy that followed. He had landed the day
before, and came to London, and now he had come to call on this friend
to know where I was living, where to find me. No one will wonder if I
say that we forgot all about her and tea, and that we went downstairs
and got into a cab, and took a long drive.
I felt like one stunned; I only knew that he put me in and told the
cabman to drive. I felt like a person coming to after a fainting fit or
in a dream. It was acute pain, and for the first half-hour I found no
relief. I would have given worlds for tears or breath; neither came,
but it was absolute content, which I fancy people must feel the first
few moments after the soul is quit of the body. The first thing that
happened was, that we mutually drew each other's pictures out from our
respective pockets at the same moment, which, as we had not expected to
meet, showed how carefully they had been kept.
After that, we met constantly, and he called upon my parents. I now put
our marriage _seriously_ before them, but without success as regards my
mother.
I shall never forget Richard as he was then; he had had twenty-one
attacks of fever, had been partially paralyzed and partially blind; he
was a mere skeleton, with brown yellow skin hanging in bags, his eyes
protruding, and his lips drawn away from his teeth. I used to give him
my arm about the Botanical Gardens for fresh air, and sometimes convey
him almost fainting to our house, or friends' houses, who allowed and
encouraged our meeting, in a cab.
The Government and the Royal Geographical Society looked coldly on
him; the Indian army brought him under the reduction; he was almost
penniless, and he had only a few friends to greet him. Speke was the
hero of the hour, the Stanley of 1859-1864. This was _one_ of the
martyrdoms of that uncrowned King's life, and I think but that for me
he would have died.
He told me that all the time he had been away the greatest consolation
he had had was my fortnightly journals, in letter form, to him,
accompanied by all newspaper scraps and public and private information,
and accounts of books, such as I knew would interest him, so that when
he did get a mail, which was only in a huge batch now and then, he was
as well posted up as if he were living in London.
[Sidenote: _We try to effect a Reconciliation between Speke and
Richard._]
He never abused Speke, as a mean man would have done; he used to say,
"Jack is one of the bravest fellows in the world; if he has a fault it
is overweening vanity, and being so easily flattered; in good hands he
would be the best of men. Let him alone; he will be very sorry some
day, though that won't mend my case." It is interesting _now_ to mark
in their letters how they descend from "Dear Jack," and "Dear Dick," to
"Dear Burton," and "Dear Speke," until they become "Sir!" But I must
relate in Speke's favour that the injury once done to his friend, and
the glory won for himself, he was not happy with it.
Speke and I had a mutual friend, a lady well known in Society as Kitty
Dormer (Countess Dormer)--she would be ninety-four were she now living.
She was one of the fashionable beauties of George IV.'s time, and was
engaged to my father when they were young.
About a hundred years or more ago, a John Hanning Speke had married one
of the Arundells of Wardour, and Lord Arundell always considered the
Spekes as sort of neighbours and distant connections, so through this
lady's auspices, Speke and I met, and also exchanged many messages; and
we nearly succeeded in reconciling Richard and Speke, and would have
done so, but for the anti-influences around him. He said to me, "I am
so sorry, and I don't know how it all came about. Dick was so kind to
me; nursed me like a woman, taught me such a lot, and I used to be so
fond of him; but it would be too difficult for me to go back now." _And
upon that last sentence he always remained and acted._
Richard was looking so lank and thin. He was sadly altered; his youth,
health, spirits, and beauty were all gone for the time. He fully
justified his fevers, his paralysis and blindness, and any amount of
anxiety, peril, hardship, and privation in unhealthy latitudes. Never
did I feel the strength of my love as then. He returned poorer, and
dispirited by official rows and every species of annoyance; but he
was still, had he been ever so unsuccessful, and had every man's hand
against him, my earthly god and king, and I could have knelt at his
feet and worshipped him. I used to feel so proud of him; I used to like
to sit and look at him, and to think, "You are mine, and there is no
man on earth the least like you."
At one time, when he was at his worst, I found the following in his
journal--
"I hear the sounds I used to hear,
The laugh of joy, the groan of pain;
The sounds of childhood sound again.
Death must be near!
"Mine eye reviveth like mine ear;
As painted scenes pass o'er the stage,
I see my life from youth to age.
Ah, Death is near!
"The music of some starry sphere,
A low, melodious strain of song,
Like to the wind-harp sweeps along.
Yes, Death is near!
"A lovely sprite of smiling cheer,
Sits by my side in form of light;
Sits on my left a darker sprite.
Sure, Death is near!
"The meed for ever deemed so dear,
Repose upon the breast of Fame;
(I did but half), while lives my name.
Come then, Death, near!
"Where now thy sting? Where now thy fear?
Where now, fell power, the victory?
I have the mastery over thee.
Draw, Death, draw near!"
[Sidenote: _My Appeal to my Mother._]
I felt bitterly not having the privilege of staying with Richard and
nursing him, and he was very anxious that our marriage should take
place; so I wrote the following letter to my mother, who was still
violently opposing me, and who was absent on some visits:--
"October, 1859.
"MY DEAREST MOTHER,[2]
"I feel quite grateful to you for inviting my confidence. It is the
first time you have ever done so, and the occasion shall not be
neglected. It will be a great comfort to me to tell you all; but you
must forgive me if I say that I have one tender place too sore to be
touched, and that an unkind or slighting word might embitter all our
future lives. I know it is impossible for you, with your views for me,
both spiritual and temporal, to understand, far less sympathize with
me on the present occasion.
"I feel nothing in common with the world I live in. I dreamt of a
Companion and a Life that would suit me exactly, and I them. Like
many other people, I suppose, I found my heart yearning, and my
tastes developing towards quite opposite things to those which fall
naturally in my way. I am rather ashamed to tell you that I fell in
love with Captain Burton at Boulogne, and would have married him at
any time between this and then, if he had asked me. The moment I saw
his brigand-daredevil look, I set him up as an idol, and determined
that he was the only man I would ever marry; but he never knew it
until three years ago, before he went to Africa. From Boulogne he went
to Mecca and Medina, and then to Harar, and then to the Crimea, and
on his return home, in 1856, you may remember he came to see us, and
I saw him again, and then he fell in love with me and asked me to be
his wife, and was perfectly amazed to find that I had cared for him
all that time. He was then just going to start for Central Africa; he
could not marry me, he could not take me, but we promised to be true
to each other, and, as you well know, we met every day. When I came
home one day in an ecstasy and told you that I had found the Man and
the Life I longed for, that I clung to them with all my soul, and that
nothing would turn me, and that all other men were his inferiors,
what did you answer me? 'That he was the _only_ man you would never
consent to my marrying; that you would rather see me in my coffin.'
Did you know that you were flying in the face of God? Did you know
it was my Destiny? Do you not realize that, because it is not _your_
ideal, you want to dash mine from me? He has been away three years,
and I have waited for him, feeling sure that in the end you would
relent. You have faith in the hand of God in these matters! I called
on a friend who was not at home. I was asked to wait; five minutes
after the bell rang again, and another visitor was also asked to wait;
the door opened, and Captain Burton and I stood face to face. He had
disembarked the night before, had just arrived in town, and called
there to know where I was living. The year and eight months' silence,
which had distressed me so awfully, when you all said he had forgotten
me, that he had been eaten by jackals, that he never meant to return,
had been spent in the wildest part of the desert, where there was
no means of communication. He had had twenty-one fevers, temporary
blindness, and partial paralysis of the limbs; he has come back with
flying colours, but youth, health, good looks, and spirits temporarily
broken up from hardships, privations and dangers, and also many a
scar. It surprises me that you should consider mine an infatuation,
you who worship talent, and my father bravery and adventure, and here
they are both united. Look at his military services--India and the
Crimea! Look at his writings, his travels, his poetry, his languages
and dialects! Now Mezzofanti is dead he stands first in Europe; he is
the best horseman, swordsman, and pistol shot. He has been presented
with the gold medal, he is an F.R.G.S., and you must see in the
newspapers of his glory, and fame, and public thanks, where he is
called 'the Crichton of the day,' 'one of the Paladins of the Age,'
'the most interesting figure of the nineteenth century,' 'the man
_par excellence_ of brain and pluck.' In his wonderful explorings,
he goes where none but natives have ever trod, in hourly peril of
his life, often wounded, often without food and water. One day he is
a doctor, one day a priest, another he keeps a stall in the bazar,
sometimes he is a blacksmith. I could tell you such adventures of
him, and traits of determination, which would delight you, were you
unprejudiced. It makes me quite ill to see little men boasting of
the paltry things that they have done or seen, after this man, who
has never been known to speak of himself. He is not at all the man,
speaking of his private character, that people take him to be, or what
he sometimes, for fun, pretends to be. There is no one whom you would
more respect, or attach yourself to, for he is lovable in every way;
and what fascinates me is, that every thought, word, or deed is that
of a thorough gentleman. I wish I could say the same for all our own
acquaintances or relations. There is not a particle of pettiness or
snobbery in him; he is far superior to any man I ever met; he has the
brain, pluck, and manliness of any hundred of those I have ever seen,
united to exceeding sensitiveness, gentleness, delicacy, generosity,
and good pride. He is the only being who awes me into respect, and
to whose command I bow my head; and any evil opinions you may have
ever heard of him, arise from his recklessly setting at defiance
conventional people, talking nonsense about religion and heart
and principle, which those who do not know him unfortunately take
seriously, and he amuses himself with watching their stupid faces.
Once he is married to me, he will be the favourite of our family, and
you will all be proud of him, and have implicit confidence in him.
And let me tell you another thing: you and my father are immensely
proud of your families, and we are taught to be the same; but from
the present to the future, I believe that our proudest record will
be our alliance with Richard Burton. I want to '_Live_.' I hate the
artificial existence of London; I hate the life of a vegetable in the
country; I want a wild, roving, vagabond life. I am young, strong,
and hardy, with good nerves; I like roughing it, and I always want to
do something daring and spirited; you will certainly repent it, if
you keep me tied up. I wonder that you do not see the magnitude of
the position offered to me. His immense talent and adventurous life
must command interest. A master-mind like his exercises power and
influence over all around him; but I love him because I find in him so
much depth of feeling, and a generous heart; because, knowing him to
be as brave as a lion, he is yet so gentle, of a delicate, sensitive
nature, and the soul of honour. I am fascinated by his manners because
they are easy, dignified, simple, and yet so original; there is such
a touching forgetfulness of himself and his fame. He appears to me
a something so unique and romantic. He unites the wild and daring,
with the true gentleman in every sense of the word, and a stamp of a
man of the world of the very best sort, having seen things _without_
the artificial atmosphere _we_ live in, as well as _within_. He has
even the noble faults I love in a man, if they can be so called. He
is proud, fiery, satirical, ambitious; how could I help looking up
to him with fear and admiration? I worship ambition. Fancy achieving
a good which affects millions, making your name a national one? It
is infamous the way most men in the world live and die, and are
never missed, and, like us women, leave nothing but a tombstone. By
_ambition_ I mean men who have the will and power to change the face
of things. I wish I were a man. If I were, I would be Richard Burton;
but, being only a woman, I would be Richard Burton's wife. He has not
mere brilliancy of talent, but brains that are a rock of good sense,
and stern decision of character. I love him purely, passionately, and
respectfully; there is no void in my heart, it is at rest for ever
with him. It is part of my nature, part of myself, the basis of all my
actions, part of my religion; my whole soul is absorbed in it. I have
given my every feeling to him, and kept nothing back for myself or for
the world. I would this moment sacrifice and leave _all_ to follow his
fortunes, even if you all cast me out--if the world tabooed me, and
no compensation _could_ be given to me for _his_ loss. Whatever the
world may condemn of lawless or strong opinions, whatever he is to the
world, he is perfect to me, and I would not have him otherwise than he
is.
"That is my side of the business, and now I will turn to your few
points. You have said that 'you do not know who he is, that you do not
meet him anywhere.' I don't like to hear you say the first, because it
makes you out illiterate, and you know how clever you are; but as to
your not meeting him, considering the particular sort of society which
you seek with a view to marrying your daughters, you are not likely to
meet him there, because it bores him, and it is quite out of his line.
In these matters he is like a noble, simple savage, and has lived too
much in the desert to comprehend the snobberies of our little circles
in London. He is a world-wide man, and his life and talents open every
door to him; he is a great man all over the East, in literary circles
in London, and in great parties where you and I would be part of the
crowd, he would be remarkable as a star, also amongst scientific men
and in the clubs. Most great houses are only too glad to get him. The
only two occasions in which he came out last season it was because I
begged him to, and he was bored to death. In public life every one
knows him. As to birth, he is just as good as we are; all his people
belong to good old families. The next subject is religion. With regard
to this he _appears_ to disbelieve, pretends to self-reliance, quizzes
good, and fears no evil. He leads a good life, has a natural worship
of God, innate honour, and does unknown good. _At present_ he is
following no form; at least, none that he _owns_ to. He says there is
nothing between Agnosticism and Catholicity. He wishes to be married
in the Catholic Church, says that I must practise my own religion,
and that our children must be Catholics, and will give such a promise
in writing. I myself do not care about people _calling_ themselves
Catholics, if they are not so in actions, and Captain Burton's life is
far more Christian, more gentlemanly, more useful, and more pleasing
to God--I am sure--than many who _call_ themselves Catholics, and
whom we know. _No._ 3 point is money, and here I am before _you_,
terribly crestfallen--- there is nothing except his pay. As captain,
that is, I believe, £600 a year in India, and £300 in England. We want
to try and get the Consulship of Damascus, where we could have a life
after both our hearts, and where the vulgarity of poverty would not
make itself apparent. If you do not disinherit me, I shall settle my
portion on him, and after on any children we may have, in which case
he would insure his life. He may have expectations or not, but we
can't rely on them.
"Now, dearest mother, I think we should treat each other fairly. Let
him go to my father, and ask for me properly. Knowing you as I do,
your ideas and prejudices, I know that a man of different religion
and no means, would stand in a disagreeable position; so does he, and
I will _not_ have him insulted. I don't ask you to approve, nor to
like it; I don't expect it. I do entreat your blessing, and even a
_passive_, reluctant consent to anything that I may do. We shall never
marry any one else, and never give each other up, should we remain so
all our lives. Do not accuse me of deception, because I shall see him
and write to him whenever I get a chance, and if you drive me to it I
shall marry him in defiance, because he is by far my first object in
life, and the day he (if ever) gives me up I will go straight into a
convent. If you think your Catholic friends and relatives will blame
you, shut your eyes, give me no wedding, no trousseau, let me get
married how I can; but when it is _done_, acknowledge to yourself
that I neither _could_ nor _would_ be dishonourable enough to marry
any other man, that God made no law against _poor_ people becoming
attached to each other, that I am of an age when you can only advise
but not hinder me, that your leave once asked my duty ends, that your
life is three parts run, and mine is before me, and that if I choose
to live out of the 'World' that forms _your_ happiness, what is it to
you? how does it hurt you? I have got to live with him night and day,
for all my life. The man you would choose I should loathe. I see all
the disadvantages, and am willing to accept them with him. Why should
you object? I do not ask you to share it. You will see that I am so
set on it, that the whole creation is as nothing in comparison, that
nothing will keep me from it. Do not embitter my whole future life,
for God's sake. I would rather die a thousand times than go through
again what I have borne for the last five years. Do not quarrel with
me, or keep me away from you, and you shall not regret it. I shall
have a wide field for a useful, active life, if you do not crush me by
an unhappy coldness. When you take the 'World' into your confidence,
remember that the day will come when you will forgive and repent, and
you will feel quite hurt to find that the 'World' does _not_ forgive,
that it remembers all you said when you were angry, and that you have
debarred your own children from many pleasant things in this life.
When we are parted there will be endless regrets. I will not allude to
other marriages that you _have_ consented to, but you should rejoice
that I have got a man who knows how to protect me, and to take care
of me. Do think it all over in earnest, and if you love me as you say
you do--and I believe it well--do be generous and kind about this.
Parents hold so much power to bless or curse the future. Which will
you do for me? Let it be a blessing! I look upon him as my future
husband; I only wait a kind word from you, the appointment, and
Cardinal Wiseman's protection. Do write to me, dearest mother, but
write not with _your_ views, but entering into _mine_.
"Your fondly attached child,
"ISABEL ARUNDELL."
[Sidenote: _My Letter to my Mother--Not a Success._]
The only answer to this letter was an awful long and solemn sermon,
telling me "that Richard was not a Christian, and had no money." I
do not defend my letter to my mother; I should not wish that girls
should say or think that this is the way to write to one's mother, nor
would mothers in general like to receive such a letter. I print it
to show what Richard's character was, and the impression that a girl
would receive of it, what views, and what feelings she was capable of
entertaining for him. I only plead that I was fighting for my whole
future life, and my natural destiny; that I had waited for five years;
and that I saw that I had to force my mother's hand, or lose all that
made life worth living for. Richard used to say that my mother and I
were both gifted with "the noble firmness of the mule." Of course I can
see _now_ what an aggravating letter it must have been to a woman whose
heart was set on big matches for her daughters.
Richard now brought out the "Lake Regions of Equatorial Africa" (2
vols., 1860), and the Royal Geographical Society dedicated the whole
of Vol. XXXIII. to the same subject (Clowes and Sons, 1860). My mother
still remained obstinate, and Richard thought we should have to take
the law into our own hands. I could not bear the thoughts of going
against my mother.
One day in April, 1860, I was walking out with two friends, and a
tightening of the heart came over me that I had known before. I went
home and said to my sister, "I am not going to see Richard for some
time." She said, "Why, you will see him to-morrow." "No, I shall not,"
I said; "I don't know what is the matter." A tap came at the door, and
a note with the well-known writing was put into my hand. I knew my
fate, and with deep-drawn breath I opened it. He had left--could not
bear the pain of saying good-bye; would be absent for nine months, on a
journey to see Salt Lake City. He would then come back, and see whether
I had made up my mind to choose between him or my mother, to marry me
if I _would_; and if I had not the courage to risk it, he would go back
to India, and from thence to other explorations, and return no more. I
was to take nine months to think about it.
I was for a long time in bed, and delirious. For six weeks I was
doctored for influenza, mumps, sore throat, fever, delirium, and
everything that I had not got, when in reality I was only heartsick,
struggling for what I wanted, a last hard struggle with the suspense of
my future before me, and nothing and nobody to help me. I felt it would
be my breaking up if circumstances continued adverse, but I determined
to struggle patiently, and suffer bravely to the end.
At this juncture, as I was going to marry a poor man, and also to fit
myself for Expeditions, I went, for change of air, to a farmhouse,
where I learnt every imaginable thing that I might possibly want, so
that if we had _no_ servants, or if servants were sick or mutinous, we
should be perfectly independent.
On my return I saw the murder of a Captain Burton in the paper, and
_even_ my mother pitied me, and took me to the mail office, where a
clerk, after numberless inquiries, gave us a paper. My life seemed to
hang on a thread till he answered, and then my face beamed so that the
poor man was quite startled. It _was_ a Captain Burton, murdered by his
crew. I could scarcely feel sorry--how selfish we are!--and yet he too,
doubtless, had some one to love him.
Richard, meantime, had gone all over the United States, and made a
wonderful lot of friends; had gone to Salt Lake City to see Brigham
Young, where he stayed with the Mormons and their Prophet for six weeks
at great Salt Lake City, visiting California, where he went all over
the gold-diggings, and learnt practically to use both pick and pan.
He asked Brigham Young if he would admit him as a Mormon, but Brigham
Young shook his head, and said, "No, Captain, I think you have done
that sort of thing once before." Richard laughed, and told him he was
perfectly right.
About this time there was a meeting at the Royal Geographical
Society--November 13. I quote from the papers--
"Lord Ashburton (President) in the chair.--Captain J. Grantham, R.E.;
R. Lush, Q.C.; J. A. Lockwood, and H. Cartwright, Esqs., were elected
Fellows.--The minutes of the former meeting having been confirmed,
the Chairman said that a letter would be read from Captain Burton,
by the Secretary. It would be a matter of pleasure to all present to
know that Captain Burton was in good health. Dr. Shaw then read the
following characteristic letter, which had been addressed to him by
that officer:--
"'Salt Lake City, Deserat, Utah Territory, September 7.
"MY DEAR SHAW,
"'You'll see my whereabouts by the envelope; I reached this place
about a week ago, and am living in the odour of sanctity,--a pretty
strong one it is too,--apostles, prophets, _et hoc genus omne_.
In about another week I expect to start for Carson Valley and San
Francisco. The road is full of Indians and other scoundrels, but I've
had my hair cropped so short that my scalp is not worth having. I
hope to be in San Francisco in October, and in England somewhere in
November next. Can you put my whereabouts in some paper or other,
and thus save me the bother of writing to all my friends? Mind, I'm
travelling for my health, which has suffered in Africa, enjoying
the pure air of the prairies, and expecting to return in a state of
renovation and perfectly ready to leave a card on Muata Yanoo, or any
other tyrant of that kind.
"'Meanwhile, ever yours,
"R. F. BURTON.'
"The paper read was, 'Proposed Exploration in North-Western Australia
under Mr. F. Gregory.'--Mr. Galton read letters from Captain Speke,
in command of the East African Expedition, conveying the gratifying
intelligence that, through the kind assistance of Sir George Grey,
Governor at the Cape of Good Hope, the party had been strengthened
by the accession of a guard of twelve Hottentot soldiers and £300.
Admiral Keppel had conveyed the expedition in her Majesty's steamer
_Brisk_ to Zanzibar.--A despatch from Sir George Grey on Mr. Chapman's
and Mr. Anderson's late journeys in South Africa was read.--The
President announced that subscriptions would be received at the
Royal Geographical Society, 15, Whitehall Place, in aid of Consul
Petherick's Expedition, to co-operate with that under Captains Speke
and Grant, _viâ_ Khartoum and the Upper Nile."
Richard travelled about twenty-five thousand miles, and then he turned
his head homewards. He wrote the "City of the Saints," 1 vol., on the
Mormons, and he brought it out in 1861. It was reprinted by Messrs.
Harper of New York, and extensively reviewed, especially by the _Tour
du Monde_.
[Sidenote: _News of Richard and Subsequent Return._]
It was Christmas, 1860, that I went to stop with my relatives, Sir
Clifford and Lady Constable (his _first_ wife, _née_ Chichester), at
Burton Constable,--the father and mother of the present baronet. There
was a large party in the house, and we were singing; some one propped
up the music with the _Times_ which had just arrived, and the first
announcement that caught my eye was that "Captain R. F. Burton had
arrived from America."
I was unable, except by great resolution, to continue what I was
doing. I soon retired to my room, and _sat_ up all night, packing, and
conjecturing how I should get away,--all my numerous plans tending
to a "bolt" next morning,--should I get an affectionate letter from
him. I received two; one had been opened and read by somebody else,
and one, as it afterwards turned out, had been burked at home before
forwarding. It was not an easy matter. I was in a large country-house
in Yorkshire, with about twenty-five friends and relatives, amongst
whom was one brother, and I had heaps of luggage. We were blocked up
with snow and nine miles from the station, and (_contra miglior noler
voler mal pugna_) I had heard of his arrival only early in the evening,
and twelve hours later I had managed to get a telegram ordering me to
London, under the impression that it was of the most vital importance.
What a triumph it is to a woman's heart, when she has patiently and
courageously worked, and prayed, and suffered, and the moment is
realized that was the goal of her ambition!
[Illustration: MINIATURE PORTRAIT]
As soon as we met, and had had our talk, he said, "I have waited for
five years. The three first were inevitable on account of my journey
to Africa, but the last two were not. Our lives are being spoiled by
the unjust prejudices of your mother, and it is for you to consider
whether you have not already done your duty in sacrificing two of the
best years of your life out of respect to her. If _once_ you _really_
let me go, mind, I shall never come back, because I shall know that
you have not got the strength of character which _my_ wife must have.
Now, you must make up your mind to choose between your mother and me.
If you choose me, we marry, and I stay; if not, I go back to India and
on other Explorations, and I return no more. Is your answer ready?" I
said, "Quite. I marry you this day three weeks, let who will say nay."
When we fixed the date of our marriage, I wanted to be married on
Wednesday, the 23rd, because it was the Espousals of Our Lady and St.
Joseph, but he would not, because Wednesday, the 23rd, and Friday, the
18th, were our unlucky days; so we were married on the Vigil, Tuesday,
the 22nd of January.
We pictured to ourselves much domestic happiness, with youth, health,
courage, and talent to win honour, name, and position. We had the same
tastes, and perfect confidence in each other. No one turns away from
real happiness without some very strong temptation or delusion. I went
straight to my father and mother, and told them what had occurred. My
father said, "I consent with all my heart, if your mother consents,"
and my mother said, "_Never!_" I said, "Very well, then, mother! I
cannot sacrifice our two lives to a mere whim, and you ought not to
expect it, so I am going to marry him, whether you will or no." I asked
all my brothers and sisters, and they said they would receive him with
delight. My mother offered me a marriage with my father and brothers
present, my mother and sisters not. I felt that that was a slight upon
_him_, a slight upon his family, and a slur upon me, which I did not
deserve, and I refused it. I went to Cardinal Wiseman, and I told him
the whole case as it stood, and he asked me if my mind was absolutely
made up, and I said, "_Absolutely_." Then he said, "Leave the matter to
me." He requested Richard to call upon him, and asked him if he would
give him three promises in writing--
1. That I should be allowed the free practice of my religion.
2. That if we had any children they should be brought up Catholics.
3. That we should be married in the Catholic Church.
[Sidenote: _A Family Council decides the Matter._]
Which three promises Richard readily signed. He also amused the
Cardinal, as the family afterwards learnt, by saying sharply, "Practise
her religion indeed! I should rather think she _shall_. A man without
a religion may be excused, but a woman without a religion is not
the woman for me." The Cardinal then sent for me, promised me his
protection, said he would himself procure a special dispensation from
Rome, and that he would perform the ceremony himself. He then saw
my father, who told him how bitter my mother was about it; that she
was threatened with paralysis; that we had to consider her in every
possible way, that she might receive no shocks, no agitation, but that
all the rest quite consented to the marriage. A big family council
was then held, and it was agreed far better for Richard and me, and
for every one, to make all proper arrangements to be married, and to
be attended by _friends_, and for me to go away on a visit to some
friends, that they might not come to the wedding, nor participate in
it, in order not to have a quarrel with my mother; that they would
break it to her at a suitable time, and that the secret of their
knowing it, should be kept up as long as mother lived. "Mind," said my
father, "you must never bring a misunderstanding between mother and me,
nor between her and her children."
I passed that three weeks preparing very solemnly and earnestly for
my marriage day, but yet something differently to what many expectant
brides do. I made a very solemn religious preparation, receiving the
Sacraments. Gowns, presents, and wedding pageants had no part in it,
had no place. Richard arranged with my own lawyer and my own priest
that everything should be conducted in a strictly legal and strictly
religious way, and the whole programme of the affair was prepared. A
very solemn day to me was the eve of my marriage. The following day
I was supposed to be going to pass a few weeks with a friend in the
country.
[Sidenote: _Our Wedding._]
At nine o'clock on Tuesday, the 22nd of January, 1861, my cab was at
the door with my box on it. I had to go and wish my father and mother
good-bye before leaving. I went downstairs with a beating heart, after
I had knelt in my own room, and said a fervent prayer that they might
bless me, and if they did, I would take it as a sign. I was so nervous,
I could scarcely stand. When I went in, mother kissed me and said,
"Good-bye, child, God bless you." I went to my father's bedside, and
knelt down and said good-bye. "God bless you, my darling," he said,
and put his hand out of the bed and laid it on my head. I was too much
overcome to speak, and one or two tears ran down my cheeks, and I
remember as I passed down I kissed the door outside.
I then ran downstairs and quickly got into my cab, and drove to a
friend's house (Dr. and Miss Bird, now of 49, Welbeck Street), where I
changed my clothes--not wedding clothes (clothes which most brides of
to-day would probably laugh at)--a fawn-coloured dress, a black-lace
cloak, and a white bonnet--and they and I drove off to the Bavarian
Catholic Church, Warwick Street, London. When assembled we were
altogether a party of eight. The Registrar was there for legality, as
is customary. Richard was waiting on the doorstep for me, and as we
went in he took holy water, and made a very large sign of the Cross.
The church doors were wide open, and full of people, and many were
there who knew us. As the 10.30 Mass was about to begin, we were called
into the Sacristy, and we then found that the Cardinal in the night had
been seized with an acute attack of the illness which carried him off
four years later, and had deputed Dr. Hearne, his Vicar-general, to be
his proxy.
After the ceremony was over, and the names signed, we went back to the
house of our friend Dr. Bird and his sister Alice, who have always been
our best friends, where we had our wedding breakfast.
[Illustration: RICHARD BURTON. (PRESENTED TO HIM, WITH HIS WIFE'S
PORTRAIT, AS A WEDDING GIFT.) _By Louis Desanges._]
During the time we were breakfasting, Dr. Bird began to chaff him about
the things that were sometimes said of him, and which were not true.
"Now, Burton, tell me; how do you feel when you have killed a man?" Dr.
Bird (being a physician) had given himself away without knowing it.
Richard looked up quizzically, and drawled out, "Oh, quite jolly! How
do you?"
[Illustration: ISABEL BURTON AS A BRIDE. _By Louis Desanges._]
We then went to Richard's bachelor lodgings, where he had a bedroom,
dressing-room, and sitting-room, and we had very few pounds to bless
ourselves with, but were as happy as it is given to any mortals out of
heaven to be. The fact is that the only clandestine thing about it, and
that was quite contrary to _my_ desire, was that my poor mother, with
her health and her religious scruples, was kept in the dark, but I must
thank God that, though paralysis came on two years later, it was not I
that caused it.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
I here insert the beautiful and characteristic letter which my husband
wrote to my father on the following day, in case he should wish to give
it to my mother. For the first few days of our marriage, Richard used
to be so worried at being stared at as a bridegroom, that he always
used to say that we had been married a couple of years; but that sort
of annoyance soon wore off, and then he became rather proud of being a
married man. To say that I was happy would be to say nothing; a repose
came over me that I had never known. I felt that it was for Eternity,
an immortal repose, and I was in a bewilderment of wonder at the
goodness of God, who had almost worked miracles for me.
[Sidenote: _We are received at Home again._]
During this time my brothers visited us, keeping us up in all
that was going on. Some weeks later, two dear old aunts, Mrs.
Strickland-Standish and Monica, Lady Gerard, who lived at Portobello
House, Mortlake, nearly opposite to where I live now, and where I
had frequently passed several weeks every year (for they made a sort
of family focus), got to hear that I was seen going into a bachelor
lodging, and bowled up to London to tell my mother. She wrote in an
agony to my father, who was visiting in the country, "that a dreadful
misfortune had happened in the family; that I been seen going into
a bachelor lodging in London, and could not be at the country house
where I was supposed to be." My father telegraphed back to her, "She
is married to Dick Burton, and thank God for it;" and he wrote to her,
enclosing the letter just inserted, and desired her to send one of my
brothers for us, who knew where to find us, and to mind and receive us
properly. We were then sent for home. My mother behaved like a true
lady and a true Christian. She kissed us both, and blessed us. I shall
never forget how shy I felt going home, but I went in very calmly, I
kissed them all round, and they received Richard in the nicest way, and
then mother embarrassed us very much by asking our pardon for flying
in the face of God, and opposing what she now knew to be His will. My
husband was very much touched. It was not long before she approved of
the marriage more than anybody, and as she grew to know him, she loved
him as much as her own sons. And this is the way we came to be married.
In short, mother never could forgive herself, and was always alluding
to it either personally or by letter. It always was the same burthen of
song--"that she exposed me to such a risk, that my relations might have
abandoned me, that Society might not have received me, that I might
have been forbidden to put my name down for the Drawing-room, when I
had done nothing wrong;" and she said, "All through _me_, and God had
destined it, but I could not see it. I never thought you would have
the courage to take the law in your own hands;" and I used to answer
her, "Mother, if you had all cast me out, if Society had tabooed me,
if I had been forbidden to go to Court, it would not have kept me from
it--I could not have helped myself--I am quite content with my future
crust and tent, and I would not exchange places with the Queen; so do
not harass yourself."
However, by the goodness of God, and the justness and kindness of a
few great people, none of these catastrophes _did_ happen. We used
to entreat of her not to say anything more about it, but even on her
deathbed she persisted in doing so. I shall never forget that first
night when we went home; I went up to my room and changed my things,
and ate my dinner humbly and silently. We were a very large family and
were all afraid to speak, and as Richard was so very clever, the family
stood rather in awe of him; so there was a silence and restraint upon
us; but the children were allowed to come down to dessert for a treat,
and, with the intuition that children have, they knew that he wanted
them, and that they could do what they liked with him. One was a little
_enfant terrible_, and very fond of copying our midshipmen brothers'
slang. They crowded round my mother with their little doll-tumblers
waiting for some wine. He was so constrained that he forgot to pass the
wine at dessert as it came round to _him_, when a small voice piped out
from the end of the long table, "I say, old bottle-stopper--pass the
wine!" He burst out laughing, and that broke the ice, and we all fell
to laughing and talking. Mother punished the child by giving him no
wine, but Richard looked up and said so sweetly, "Oh, _Mother_, not on
my first night _at home!_" that her heart went out to him.
We had seven months of uninterrupted bliss. Through the kindness of
Lord John Russell, Richard obtained the Consulship of Fernando Po, in
the Bight of Biafra, West Coast of Africa, with a coast line of six or
seven hundred miles for his jurisdiction, a deadly climate, and £700 a
year. He was too glad to get his foot on the first rung of the ladder,
so, though it was called the "Foreign Office Grave," he cheerfully
accepted it. It was not quite so cheerful for me, because it was a
climate of certain death to white women, and he would not allow me to
go out in an unlimited way.
[Sidenote: _A Delightful London Season._]
We had a glorious season, and took up our position in Society. He
introduced me to all the people he knew, and I introduced him to all
the people that I knew. Lord Houghton (Monckton-Milnes), the father
of the present Lord Houghton, was very much attached to Richard, and
he settled the question of our position by asking his friend Lord
Palmerston to give a party, and to let me be the bride of the evening;
and when I arrived, Lord Palmerston gave me his arm, and he introduced
Richard and me to all the people we had not previously known, and my
relatives clustered around us as well. I was allowed to put my name
down for a Drawing-room. And Lady Russell, now the Dowager, presented
me at Court "on my marriage."
[Sidenote: _Fire at Grindlay's._]
Shortly after this, happened Grindlay's fire, where we lost all we
possessed in the world, except the few boxes we had with us. The worst
was that all his books, and his own poetry, which was beautiful,
especially one poem, called "The Curse of Vishnu," and priceless
Persian and Arabic manuscripts, that he had picked up in various
out-of-the-way places, and a room full of costumes of every nation,
were burnt. He smiled, and said in a philosophical sort of way, "Well,
it is a great bore, but I dare say that the world will be none the
worse for some of those manuscripts having been burnt" (a prophetic
speech, as I now think of it). When he went down to ask for some
compensation, he found that Grindlay was insured, but that he was
not--not, he said, that any money could repay him for the loss of the
things. As he always saw the comic side of a tragedy as well as the
pathetic, "the funniest thing was the clerk asking me if I had lost any
plate or jewellery, and on my saying, 'No,' the change in his face from
sympathy to the utter surprise that I could care so much for any other
kind of loss, was amusing."
In 1861, when the Indian army changed hands, Richard suffered, and,
as Mr. Hitchman remarked, "his enemies may be congratulated upon
their mingled malice and meanness." He just gave the official animus
a chance. It was a common thing in times of peace for Indian officers
to be allowed to take appointments and remain on the _cadre_ of their
regiment, temporarily or otherwise. Richard, in remonstrance, would not
quote names for fear of injuring other men, but any man who knew Egypt
could score off half a dozen. His knowledge of the East, and of so many
Eastern languages, would have been of incalculable service in Egypt,
upon the Red Sea, in Marocco, Persia, in any parts of the East, and
yet he, who in any other land would have been rewarded with at least a
K.C.B. and a handsome pension, was glad to get his foot on the lowest
rung of the ladder of the Consular service, called the "Foreign Office
Grave," the Consulate of Fernando Po, and we could not think enough of,
talk enough of, or be grateful enough to Lord John Russell, who gave it
him; yet the acceptance of this miserable post was made an excuse to
strike his name off the Indian army list, and the rule, which had been
allowed to lapse in a score of cases, was revived for Richard's injury
under circumstances of discourtesy so great, that it would be hard to
believe the affront unintentional. He received no notice whatever, and
he only realized, on seeing his successor gazetted, that his military
career was actually ended, and his past life become like a blank sheet
of paper. It would have been stretching no point to have granted this
appointment, and to have been retained in the army on half-pay, but it
was refused; they swept out his whole nineteen years' service as if
they had never been, without a vestige of pay or pension.
All his services in Sind had been forgotten, all his Explorations were
wiped out, and at the age of forty he found himself at home, with the
rank of Captain, no pay, no pension, plenty of fame, a newly married
wife, and a small Consulate in the most pestilential climate, with £700
a year. In vain he asked to go to Fernando Po _temporarily_ till wanted
for active service. He wrote--
"It will be an act of injustice on the part of the Bombay Government
to solicit my removal on account of my having risked health and life
in my country's service.
"They are about to treat me as a man who has been idling away my
time and shirking duty; whereas I can show that every hour has been
employed for my country's benefit, in study, writings, languages, and
explorations. Are my wounds and fevers, and perpetual risk of health
and life, not to speak of personal losses, to go for nothing?
"The Bombay Government does not take into consideration one iota of
my service, but casts the whole into oblivion. I consider the Bombay
Government to be unjustly prejudiced against me on account of the
_private piques_ of a certain half-dozen individuals. Will the Bombay
Government put all its charges against me in black and white, and
thus allow me a fair opportunity of clearing myself of my supposed
delinquencies? Other men--I will merely quote Colonel Greathed and
Lieut.-Colonel Norman--are permitted to take service in England, and
yet to retain their military service in India.
"In the time of the Court of Directors, an officer might be serving
the Foreign Office and India too, as in the case of Lieut.-Colonel
Hamerton, late Consul at Zanzibar; but since the amalgamation, the
officers of her Majesty's Indian Army hope that they may take any
appointment in any part of the world, as a small recompense for their
losses; _i.e._ supercession and inability to sell their commissions,
after having paid for steps."
At first he wanted to try me, so he pretended he did not like my going
to Confession, and I used to say, "Well, my religion teaches me that
my first duty is to obey you," and I did not bother to go; so he at
once took off this restraint, and used to send me to Mass, and remind
me of fish-days. It astonished me, the wonderful way he knew our
doctrine, and frequently explained things to me that I did not know
myself. He always wore his medal. I was very much surprised, shortly
after we were married, at my husband giving me £5. Whilst he had been
away one of my brothers had met with a sudden death; his horse had
fallen on him and crushed him in a moment. He said, "Take this and
have Masses said with it for your poor brother." I only thought then
what generosity and what good taste it was. He was always delighted
with the society of priests--not so much foreign priests, as English
ones--especially if he got hold of a highly educated, broad theologian
of a Jesuit; but in all cases he was most courteous to _any_ of them,
and protected them and their Missions whenever he was in a position to
do so. Once he went with me to a midnight Mass, and he cried all the
time. I could not understand it, and he said he could not explain it
himself. I had no idea then that he had ever been once received into
our Church in India. He _always_ bowed his head at "Hallowed be Thy
Name," and he did that to the day of his death.
[Sidenote: _Delightful Days at Country Houses._]
We passed delightful days at country houses, notably at Lord Houghton's
(Fryston), where, at his house in the country, and his house in Brook
Street, and at Lord Strangford's house in Great Cumberland Place, we
met all that was worth meeting of rank and fashion, beauty and wit, and
_especially_ all the most talented people in the world. I can shut my
eyes and mentally look round his (Lord Houghton's) large round table
even _now_, which usually held twenty-five guests. I can see Buckle,
and Carlyle, and all the Kingsleys, and Swinburne, and Froude, and all
the great men that were, and many that are, for the last thirty-two
years, and remember a great deal of the conversation. But I am not here
to describe them, but to give a description of Richard Burton. I can
remember the Due d'Aumale cheek by jowl with Louis Blanc. The present
Lord Houghton, and his two sisters, Lady Fitzgerald and the Hon. Mrs.
Henniker, were babes in the nursery. I can remember the good old times
in the country, at Fryston, where breakfast was at different little
round tables, so people came down when they liked, and sat at one or
another, and he would stroll from one table to another, with a book
in his hand. Swinburne was then a boy, and had just brought out his
"Queen Mother Rosamund," and Lord Houghton brought it up to us, saying,
"I bring you this little book, because the author is coming here this
evening, so that you may not quote him as an absurdity to himself." I
can remember Vambéry telling us Hungarian tales, and I can remember
Richard cross-legged on a cushion, reciting and reading "Omar el
Khayyám" alternately in Persian and English, and chanting the call to
prayer, "Allahhu Akbar."
My Society recollections, my happy days, are all of the pleasantest
and most interesting. The evil day came far too soon; this was a large
oasis of seven months in my life, and even if I had had no other it
would have been worth living for. We went down to Worthing to my
family, where we passed a very happy time, and he here gave me a proof
of affection which I shall never forget. He had gone to see his cousin,
Samuel Burton, at Brighton, and had promised to be back by the last
train, but he did not make his appearance. I was in a dreadful state of
mind lest anything should have happened to him. He arrived about one in
the morning, pale and worn out. He had gone to sleep in the train, and
had been carried some twenty miles away from Worthing. He could get no
kind of conveyance, being in the night; so, inquiring in what direction
Worthing lay, and settling the matter by a pocket compass, he started
across country, and between a walk and a sort of long trot, from nine
to one, he reached me, instead of waiting, as another man would have
done, till the next morning for a train back.
[Sidenote: _Richard goes to West Africa._]
I shall never forget when the time came to part, and I was to go to
Liverpool to see him off, for he would not allow me to accompany him
till he had seen what Fernando Po was like. It was in August, 1861,
when we went down to Liverpool, and we were very sad, because he
was not going to a Consulate where we could hope to remain together
as a _home_. It was a deadly climate, and we were always going to
be climate-dodging. I was to go out, not now, but later, and then,
perhaps, not to land, and to return and ply up and down between
Madeira and Teneriffe and London, and I, knowing he had Africa at his
back, was in a constant agitation for fear of his doing more of these
Explorations into unknown lands. There were about eighteen men (West
African merchants), and everybody took him away from me, and he had
made me promise that if I was allowed to go on board and see him off,
that I would not cry and unman him. It was blowing hard and raining;
there was one man who was inconsiderate enough to accompany and stick
to us the whole time, so that we could not exchange a word (how I hated
him!). I went down below and unpacked his things and settled his cabin,
and saw to the arrangement of his luggage. My whole life and soul was
in that good-bye, and I found myself on board the tug, which flew
faster and faster from the steamer. I saw a white handkerchief go up
to his face. I then drove to a spot where I could see the steamer till
she became a dot.
"Fresh as the first beam
Glittering on a sail,
Which brings our friends up
From the under world;
Sad as the last, which reddens over one,
That sinks with all we love below the verge."
Here I give Richard's description of going out, read later--
"A heart-wrench--and all is over. Unhappily I am not one of those
independents who can say, _Ce n'est que le premier pas qui coûte_.
"Then comes the first nightfall on board outward-bound, the saddest
time that the veteran wanderer knows. Saadi the Persian, one of the
best travellers,--he studied books for thirty years, did thirty of
_wanderjahre_, and for thirty wrote and lived in retirement--has
thus alluded to the depressing influence of what I suppose may
philosophically be explained by an absence of Light-stimulus or
Od-force--
'So yearns at eve's soft tide the heart,
Which the wide wolds and waters part
From all dear scenes to which the soul
Turns, as the lodestone seeks its pole.'
"We cut short the day by creeping to our berths, without even a
'nightcap,' and we do our best to forget ourselves, and everything
about us."
[1] "Aussitôt qu'un malheur nous arrive il se recontre toujours un ami
prêt à venir nous le dire et à nous fouiller le cœur avec un poignard
en nous faisant admirer le manche."--BALZAC. This friend I had, but--
"There are no tricks in plain and simple Faith."--_Julius Cæsar_, iv. ii.
I received only four lines in the well-known hand by post from
Zanzibar--no letter.
TO ISABEL.
"That brow which rose before my sight,
As on the palmers' holy shrine;
Those eyes--my life was in their light;
Those lips my sacramental wine;
That voice whose flow was wont to seem
The music of an exile's dream."
I knew then it was all right.
[2] My mother was one of the best and cleverest of women--a queenly
woman in manners and appearance (people who have been much at Courts
have told me that they always felt as if they were in Royal presence
when with her). She had a noble heart and disposition, was generous to
a fault, and was exceedingly clever. She was, at the time I write of,
still a worldly woman of strong brain, of hasty temper, bigoted, and a
Spartan with the elder half of her brood. We trembled before her, but
we adored her, and we never got over her death in 1872.