Part 7 (1/2)

This was Monckton Milnes, first Lord Houghton There was no better known figure in London society in those days than Lord Houghton But he was htful as host, _raconteur_, poet, and enerous and willing servant of those who needed help He had his foibles, his likes and his dislikes; but he was not one of those philanthropists ait to be asked for their help Where he was attracted towards anyone he was eager to aid, not only without solicitation, but at tiainst the will of the beneficiary himself I have known many kind men, many true friends, in the course of my life; I have known none whose kindness was enerous than that of Lord Houghton He had co, and he was entertained as his guest by Mr Baines, whose son, as I have already explained, was my predecessor in the editorshi+p of the _Mercury_

At the dinner-table at Mr Baines's house, Lord Houghton was as vivacious and as full of good talk as usual The conversation happened to turn upon slips of the tongue Houghton said that thea friend in the street, exclai that has happened to ood lady hton's surprise, his story was received in embarrassed silence, and someone, as he told me afterwards, trod heavily upon his foot Monckton Milnes was not a man to be easily disconcerted, and he speedily restored the party to a proper eniality; but after dinner he took so of the cold reception of his joke He received the explanation which the reader will anticipate It was because Mr Tom Baines had become a Plymouth Brother that he had been compelled to retire froreat distress of his father My name as his successor in that position was unknown until then to Lord Houghton, but he had no sooner heard it than he invited me to visit him at Fryston

When I first entered the hospitable door of Fryston, I suffered fro of trepidation It was new to hton's social rank and fame on terms of friendly intimacy, and I confess that I wasthe co years before, Tholish country-house life Carlyle has told the world, in a letter written to his wife, how much he was confounded by what seemed to him to be the splendours of a society that he had hitherto viewed only from the outside His description of his bedroorander in the letter than any bedroom that really existed at Fryston--of the servants in livery, the menu of the dinner-table, and of the valet who ation of the contents of his pockets when he intruded hi, all bespoke the absolute novice I do not think, however, that he was a greater novice in 1842 than I was in 1870 A very brief experience enables any person of ordinary intelligence to grasp the essential details of country-house life; butCarlyle and myself--would have been spared a certain spell of nervous disco those usages and customs in which country-house life differs frolish middle-classes But kindness puts an end to all difficulties of the shy guest, and certainly there never was a kinder hostess than Lady Houghton

Froood fortune to be a frequent visitor at Fryston Lord Houghton's kindness toonly increased as ti after he has passed away, Ithat I oweefforts, not merely to draw me out, but to push me forward, than to any other friend I have ever made There was a whih, attracted iven to his more sober qualities The eccentricities of his youth, embalmed by Sydney Smith and the other humorists of the 'thirties and 'forties, had disappeared when I made his acquaintance; but to the last he was absolutely careless as to public opinion, except on such points as those on which he hi that was ever said of him was said by Williahton was leaving it Soood man to trust when you're in trouble, for he'll stand by you” ”He'll do more than that,” responded Forster; ”he'll stand by a race, and I know nobody else ill” This here the finer trait in Houghton's independence of character came in He was always ready to espouse the cause of a , but happily this quality is not unco our nobler natures That which was ness to befriend a race into which he had fallen was not undeserved He could be severe--as severe as anybody I have ever known--upon vice and meanness; but if the sinner needed help he pitied him at once, and was ready to aid him to the best of his power

His talk in his own house was delightful It was altogether different from the talk that men heard when they h, it was at the breakfast-table that he talked best Most Englishmen are not roused to conversational brilliancy until the day is far spent; but Houghton was at his best at breakfast and iood that best was! He was a walking encyclopaedia, although no man was ever less of ”a book in breeches” Whenever I wished to clear up some obscure point in history or politics, in literature or in the personal life of our tiet the light I wanted As a judge of character he had no equal a the men I have known, and in the years that have flown since his death I have had the happiness of seeing his forecast of the future of not a few ly realised The first time I ever heard the name of Lord Rosebery was from his lips, in 1874 or 1875 I had seen the na more ”You don't know Lord Rosebery?” said he one day ”Then land, and, I believe, will be Prime Minister before he dies”

On another occasion he shocked me for the moment by a deliverance about Mr Gladstone It was in 1880, when the great states won the reat rival, Lord Beaconsfield, was struck down by serious illness a feeeks after he had regained power ”I ahton said to me as we sat in the library at Fryston I could hardly believesuch a sentireatest adhton, ”that if he dies noill be one of the greatest figures in English history? He has just won the greatest triumph a statesman ever enjoyed It is iht _Now_ is the tienial cynic would have been surprised if they had known that in his opinion the greatest Englishlishwoale Those ere acquainted with his poetry would not have felt this surprise There is h it now be, which deserves a high place in our national literature But in his later days--or, rather, throughout his life--the world refused to see his more serious side, and treated him as the humorist and the wit, the cynic, and the kind-hearted but eccentric peer who made it his mission in life to try to fuse the torlds of society and intellect

He certainly had wonderful success in bringing together men who stood at opposite poles both of position and opinion In the days when Mr John Morley was only known as a pro writer of the hton, and was placed next the Archbishop of Canterbury ”Who is that clever-looking youngnext the Archbishop?” asked Lord Selborne, as also at the table When he was told that it was Mr Morley, the editor of the _Fortnightly Review_ and the author of the fa,” he threw up his hands in absolute consternation But Houghton had a rare discriht people who disliked each other into juxtaposition, as so What he did was to gather round his table men of talent and worth ould have had little chance ofbut for his kindly and hospitable intervention, and un beneath his roof

One of the earliest lessons a hton's cosreat need of care in the selection of topics in addressing a stranger Most persons oneor were somebodies, and occasionally their fame was not of the kind that commends itself to everybody It was necessary, therefore, to walk delicately, like Agag, in opening a conversation with a stranger A terrible experience of my oill illustrate this fact As boy and man I had adored Thackeray, and made him the hero of my literary dreams There was one incident in his early life about which I was quite unreasonably curious I wanted to knohich of his schoolfellows it ho broke his nose and disfigured him for life, and I had made up my mind that if ever I met a man who had been at school with hi one of e Venables, the well-known Parlia there Venables was one of the ment commanded universal confidence, whilst the somewhat austere manner which veiled a war of awe During dinner I heard Venables talking about his early days at the Charterhouse, and felt at once that ly, when I alking with hi, I plucked up e, and asked him if he had been at the Charterhouse with Thackeray

”Certainly I was,” replied the ereat friends all the ti blindly uponwanted to know Who was it that broke Thackeray's nose?”

It inter, and alking in Indian file through the woods As I put this question to Venables, he suddenly stopped, and, turning round, glared at me in a manner that instantly revealed the terrible truth to lare for several seconds, and then, apparently perceiving nothing but innocent confusion, not unmixed with alarm, on my face, his own features became relaxed into a more amiable expression ”Did anybody tell you,” he said slowly, and with solemn emphasis, ”to ask me that question?” I could truthfully say that nobody had done so My answer seemed to mollify Venables at once ”Then, if nobody put you up to askingit It was _I_ who broke Thackeray's nose We were only little boys at the tiht It wasn't ured for life; it was all the fault of some wretched doctor Nowadays a boy's nose can be mended so that nobody can see that it has ever been broken Let me tell you,” he continued, ”that Thackeray never showed me any ill-will for the harm I had done him, and I do not believe he felt any” Nor, I aucherie_ which had caused me to rake up this painful episode in his career

Venables himself had been the victily than he did my indiscretion He told the story to -roonation A certain noble lord had approached hi party with an air of extraordinary deference Venables knew the peer very slightly, and was surprised by the salaaed to fury when he discovered that his lordshi+p had mistaken him for a notorious millionaire of somewhat dubious reputation who had just blossomed into a baronetcy ”Think of it!” he said with lofty scorn ”The fellow ca to ht I was that odious adventurer, and hadfro across the rooer, cried to Venables, in tones of dramatic intensity, ”Does that noble lord still live?”

It was frohtful story about our host which, years afterwards, I repeated in writing Lord Houghton's life It was the story of Carlyle's re to procure a pension for hi his pipe out of his et that pension for Alfred Tennyson?” Milnes tried to explain to Carlyle that there were difficulties in the way, and that possibly his constituents, who knew nothing about Tennyson,concerned in a job if he were to succeed in getting the desired pension for the poet

”Richard Milnes,” replied the sage, ”on the Day of Judget that pension for Alfred Tennyson, it'll no do to lay the blame on your constituents It's _you_ that'll be damned” I always had a half ihton did not like to hear that story told in his presence All the world knows, of course, that he did get the pension for the poet, and thus escaped the penalty anticipated by the philosopher

But if Lord Houghton was sensitive on so his own youthful follies and the punishet his taking me to a particular corner in that vast library at Fryston--which, like soetable parasite, seemed to have spread itself over every inch of available wall-space in the house--and taking down from the shelves a volu so was to show ent and witty letter in which Sydney S written a somewhat peppery note to ask the Canon if it was true that he had dubbed hi fool I was!” said Lord Houghton, when he had read the letter to ood it was of Sydney Smith to set me down in that fashi+on!”

Everybody knows that Lord Houghton was the most tolerant of men in all matters of faith and opinion; but he did not allow mere carelessness or idleness to serve as an excuse for the disregard of religious observances My usual ti Fryston was on Saturday, when I was free froe of my paper for four-and-twenty hours My kind friend always insisted on Sundayto church I should spend the htful company This, he would say, was necessary in the interests of my health I spent more Sundays at Fryston than I can count, but I never entered the little church hard by the park gates until the sad day when I went there to attend his funeral One Sunday evening, when there was a rather large party at the Hall--including John Morley--ere summoned by the old butler--himself a character not unworthy of cohton was good enough to intimate to Morley and myself that we should not be expected to attend, and we accordingly re-roo Yorkshi+re baronet, as also of the party, influenced by our bad example, stayed behind with us In a couple ofup to the baronet, said, ”Sir Henry, his lordshi+p is waiting for you before he begins prayers” The liberty accorded to the philosophic writer and the editor was not perht to add, in justice to Mr Morley at least, that he and I acco man to the scene of the family devotions

Irecollections of my kind and brilliant friend and benefactor No doubt I shall have more to say about him before ain the thread of my narrative

CHAPTER VIII

MY FIRST CONTINENTAL TOUR

A Generous Scot--Paris after the Commune--An Uncomfortable Journey Home--Illness of the Prince of Wales--Revived Popularity of the Throne--Death and Funeral of Napoleon III--Burial of the Prince I Bill--My Second Marriage

With the opening of 1871 came the armistice before Paris, quickly followed by the conclusion of peace Then took place the ghastly upheaval of the Commune, and the eyes of the world were once reat city which has been the theatre of so edies It shocked everybody to think that the heavy sufferings through which unhappy France had passed, instead of uniting all classes of the people together in the bonds of a common sorrow, had only intensified the conflicts of parties and social grades But in due ti itself was suppressed, and peace at last fell to the lot of distracted France

In September of this year, 1871, I went abroad for the first tiium and by the Rhine to Switzerland, I visited the Italian lakes before returning to England by way of Paris There is no need to dwell upon the incidents of a coet the delightful sense of exhilaration produced by a first experience of the living grandeur of the Alps Switzerland was not so completely hackneyed in those days as it is now, and to me, of course, as a newco, I think, fully to realise the indescribable charly by most of us with each successive visit to that land of dreams and beauty At Milan I was the victim of a not unusual incident in travel I found myself stranded at the old Hotel de la Ville for want of ed for a remittance to reach h the Alps, and Italy was, in consequence, still a long way froer to reach me than I had anticipated The result was that I spent certain miserable days in a state of alet the weary hours during which I tramped the streets, and the endless visits to the post office in search of the letter which I awaited so anxiously

But whilst in this unpleasant position, I was fortunate enough to enuine kindliness that really raised my opinion of my fellow-creatures An old Scotsman used to sit beside me at the _table d'hote_ at the Hotel de la Ville He was a ence, and I found his conversation very pleasant With the pride and sensitiveness of youth, I was, of course, resolute in my deterht at dinner he startledto leave Milan I feebly evaded the question by saying that I hts of the place ”Hoots, hts, and ye're jist wasting your ti here I ken hat it is ye're waiting for Ye're short ofto the effect that I was expecting remittances which would, no doubt, reachfellow like you lose your holiday,” said my friend, in a very positive manner, ”and ye'll just have to et away out of this hole as soon as ye can, for there are better sights to be seen than Milan” I could only prevent his forcingthat if my reenerous offer Happily, the next day relief cas on the head of that worthy old Scot, who one over to the majority! At least he nobly redeemed the character of his countrymen from the libel which makes the name of a Scotsman synonymous with e sight to the eyes of a visitor The shadow of the double ordeal of the siege and the Co still lay heavily upon it In the streets traces of the conflict between the Versaillists and the Communards were everywhere visible

Lalass s perforated by bullets, columns chipped and shattered, and the pavement ripped up for the erection of barricades, were the cohts of the streets; whilst the blackened ruins of the Tuileries, and the other public buildings destroyed by the rebels, remained to attest the desperate character of the civil war that had been waged in the capital The inhabitants had not yet recovered froe and the horrors of the Commune There were feho smiled, and there were many who could not speak of the past without tears That which was specially noticeable was the fact that all the fury of the Parisians seeainst the Co of the Prussians, referred warmly to the contrast between their conduct and that of their oless fellow-citizens

Outside Paris the traces of the siege were everywhere visible, and driving along the country roads near St Cloud--where the people were still living in tents and wooden sheds, al been destroyed--one caraves of Gerrave marked by its wooden cross with its siic character of the struggle At Versailles, where the National assereat bulk of the Coery in front of the palace Loaded cannon commanded this improvised prison, where many hundreds ofon the terrace above the orangery, I leant over the balustrade in order to look on the prisoners beneath I had to withdraw hastily, for from the miserable crowd there cae of wild ani escorted by soldiers to eance of the court- to try the the penalty of death, bore themselves with firmness, and manifestly believed that they were sufferers in a holy cause Not even the sight of the destruction they had wrought in Paris could wholly stifle one's feelings of syht