,,further ,,memories #aath ,,large ,,edition4 ,,memories ,by the ,right ,hon4 ,,lord ,,redesdale ,g4,c4,v4,o41 ,k4,c4,b4 ,in two handsome volumes1 #cbs4 net4 ,with numerous illustrations4 8,a very charming book1 written by a man who was born some months before ,queen ,victoria came to the throne1 yet it contains not a word of #8twaddle'2 its genuine modesty leaves no room for mock modesty1 and it is never for a moment dull4 ,he has been everywhere and seen everything4 ,he has travelled far and wide1 ,east and ,west3 he has known many ,courts and ,princes4 ,it is useless to attempt analogies of this vast and varied treasury1 social1 historical1 political1 personal40--,times4 8,at length this much-talked-of book is in our possession and it will cause no disappointment4 ,it is a work of genuine and serious interest1 curiously varied in its point of view1 and supremely graceful in tone and form4 ,it will be permanently studied as a contribution to literature and history40--,mr4 ,edmund ,gosse in the ,fortnightly ,review4 8,one of the best books of the last five years4 ,lord ,redesdale's #8,memories' are not merely interesting1 they are indispensable40--,daily ,telegraph4 ,london3 ,,hutchinson ,,co4 ,illustration3 ,the ,author4 ,photographed by ,furley ,lewis ,esq4 ,further ,memories4 ,by ,lord ,redesdale1 ,g4,c4,v4,o41 ,k4,c4,b4 ,with an ,introduction by ,edmund ,gosse1 ,c4,b4 ,illustrated with a portrait of the ,author in photogravure and 33 33 33 #af other plates 33 33 33 ,,london3 ,,hutchinson ,,co4 ,,paternoster ,,row 444 #aiag ,,contents ,,page ,,introduction4 ,,by ,,edmund ,,gosse1 ,c4,b4 ix ,,veluvana #a ,,buddha ,,and ,,st4 ,,francis ,,of ,,assisi ,,and ,,caste--,,the ,,aryans #df ,,the ,,commune #gh ,,trees ,,and ,,their ,,legends #if ,,queen ,,victoria ,,and ,,marie ,,theresia #abi ,,the ,,wallace ,,collection #aee ,a ,,note ,,on ,,russian ,,studies #bjc ,,verba ,,composita #bji ,,russia #bdf ,,illustrations ,,the ,,author 7photogravure7 ,frontispiece ,photographed by ,furley ,lewis1 ,esq4 ,,scene ,,in ,,the ,,author',s ,,garden ,facing p4 #f ,,rest-,,house ,,in ,,the ,,author',s ,,garden 0 #aj ,,figure ,,of ,,the ,,buddha 0 #bd ,,professor ,,max ,m,,ller 0 #eb ,from a photograph by ,elliott ,fry1 ,ltd4 ,,st4 ,,francis ,,of ,,assisi ,,preaching ,,to ,,the ,,birds 0 #eh ,from a picture by ,giotto ,,gustave ,,courbet 0 #hb ,from a picture by himself in the ,louvre ,,the ,,empress ,,marie ,,theresia 0 #acj ,from an engraving after a painting by ,mytens ,,the ,,marquis ,,of ,,hertford 0 #aeh ,from a bust in the ,wallace ,collection ,,sir ,,richard ,,wallace 0 #aib ,from a bust in the ,wallace ,collection ,,ivan ,,turgeniev 0 #bjd ,from an etching by ,e4 ,hedouin ,,friedrich ,,nietzsche 0 #bab ,,richard ,,wagner 0 #bah ,,the ,,emperor ,,paul 0 #bdh ,,the ,,emperor ,,alexander ,i4 0 #bfj ,from an engraving after a portrait by ,wolkoff ,,the ,,emperor ,,nicholas ,,ii4 0 #bhd ,from a lithograph ,,prince ,,gortchakoff 0 #bif ,,introduction ,,by ,,edmund ,,gosse1 ,c4,b4 ,the publication of ,lord ,redesdale's 8,memories0--which was one of the most successful autobiographies of recent times--familiarized thousands of readers with the principal adventures of a very remarkable man1 but1 when all was said and done1 left an incomplete impression of his tastes and occupations on the minds of those who were not familiar with his earlier writings4 ,his literary career had been a very irregular one4 ,he took up literature rather late1 and produced a book that has become a classic--8,tales of ,old ,japan40 ,he did not immediately pursue this success1 but became involved in public activities of many kinds1 which distracted his attention4 ,in his sixtieth year he brought out 8,the ,bamboo ,garden10 and from that time--until1 in his eightieth year1 he died in full intellectual energy--he constantly devoted himself to the art of writing4 ,his zeal1 his ambition1 were wonderful2 but it was impossible to overlook the disadvantage from which that ambition and that zeal suffered in the fact that for the first sixty years of his life the writer had cultivated the art but casually and sporadically4 ,he retained1 in spite of all the labour which he expended1 a certain stiffness1 an air of the amateur1 of which he himself was always acutely conscious4 ,this did not interfere with the direct and sincere appeal made to general attention by the #aiae 8,memories10 a book so full of geniality and variety1 so independent in its judgments and so winning in its ingenuousness1 that its wider popularity could be the object of no surprise4 ,but1 to those who knew ,lord ,redesdale intimately1 it must always appear that his autobiography fails to explain him from what we may call the subjective point of view4 ,it tells us of his adventures and his friendships1 of the strange lands he visited and of the unexpected confidences he received1 but it does not reveal very distinctly the character of the writer4 ,there is far more of his intellectual constitution1 of his personal tastes and mental habits1 in the volume of essays of #aiab1 called 8,a ,tragedy in ,stone10 but even here much is left unsaid and even unsuggested4 ,perhaps the most remarkable fact about ,lord ,redesdale was the redundant vitality of his character4 ,his nature swarmed with life1 like a drop of pond-water under a microscope4 ,there cannot be found room in any one nature for all the qualities1 and what he lacked in some degree was concentration4 ,but very few men who have lived in our complicated age have done well in so many directions as he1 or1 aiming widely1 have failed in so few4 ,he shrank from no labour and hesitated before no difficulty1 but pushed on with an extraordinary energy along many various lines of activity4 ,but the two lines in which he most desired and most determined to excel1 gardening and authorship1 are scarcely to be discerned1 except below the surface1 in his 8,memories40 ,next to his books1 what he regarded with most satisfaction was his wonderful garden at ,batsford1 and of this there is scarcely a word of record in the autobiography4 ,he had always intended to celebrate this garden1 and when he was preparing to return to ,batsford in #aiae he wrote to me that he was going to write an 8,apologia pro ,horto meo10 as long before he had composed one 8pro ,bambusis meis40 ,a book which should combine with the freest fancies of his intellect a picture of the exotic groves of ,batsford was what was required to round off ,lord ,redesdale's literary adventures4 ,it will be seen that he very nearly succeeded in thus setting the top-stone on his literary edifice4 ,one reason1 perhaps1 why ,batsford1 which was ever present to his thoughts1 is so very slightly and vaguely mentioned in ,lord ,redesdale's 8,memories10 may be the fact that from #aiaj onwards he was not living in it himself1 and that it was irksome to him to magnify in print horticultural beauties which were for the time being in the possession of others4 ,the outbreak of the war1 in which all his five sons were instantly engaged1 was the earliest of a series of changes which completely altered the surface of ,lord ,redesdale's life4 ,batsford came once more into his personal occupation1 and at the same time it became convenient to give up his ,london house in ,kensington ,court4 ,many things combined to transform his life in the early summer of #aiae4 ,his eldest son1 ,major the ,hon4 ,clement ,mitford1 after brilliantly distinguishing himself in battle1 was received by the ,king and decorated1 to the rapturous exultation of his father4 ,major ,mitford returned to the ,french front1 only to fall on the #acth of ,may1 #aiae4 ,at this time ,i was seeing ,lord ,redesdale very frequently1 and ,i could not but be struck by the effect of this blow upon his temperament4 ,after the first shock of sorrow1 ,i observed in him the determination not to allow himself to be crushed4 ,his dominant vitality asserted itself almost with violence1 and he seemed to clench his teeth in defiance of the blow to his individuality4 ,it required on the part of so old a man no little fortitude1 for it is easier to bear a great and heroic bereavement than to resist the wearing vexation of seeing one's system of daily occupation crumbling away4 ,lord ,redesdale was pleased to be going again to ,batsford1 which had supplied him in years past with so much sumptuous and varied entertainment1 but it was a matter of alarm with him to give up all1 or almost all1 the various ties with ,london which had meant so much to his vividly social nature4 ,meanwhile1 during the early months of #aiae in ,london1 he had plenty of employment in finishing and revising his 8,memories10 which it had taken him two years to write4 ,this was an occupation which bridged over the horrid chasm between his old active life in ,london1 with its thousand interests1 and the uncertain and partly dreaded prospect of an exile in the bamboo-gardens of a remote corner of ,gloucestershire1 where his deafness must needs exclude him from the old activities of local life4 ,he finished revising the manuscript of his 8,memories0 in ,july1 and then went down1 while the actual transference of his home took place1 to the ,royal ,yacht ,squadron ,castle1 ,cowes1 where he had been accustomed to spend some of the most enjoyable hours of his life4 ,but this scene1 habitually thronged with people1 and palpitating with gaiety1 in the midst of which ,lord ,redesdale found himself so singularly at home1 was now1 more than perhaps any other haunt of the ,english sportsman1 in complete eclipse4 ,the weather was lovely1 but there were no yachts1 no old chums1 no charming ladies4 8,it is very dull10 he wrote2 8the sole inhabitant of the ,club besides myself was ,lord ,falkland1 and now he is gone40 ,in these conditions ,lord ,redesdale became suddenly conscious that the activity of the last two or three years was over1 that the aspect of his world had changed1 and that he was in danger of losing that hold upon life to which he so resolutely clung4 ,in conditions of this kind he always turned to seek for something mentally 8craggy10 as ,byron said1 and at ,cowes he wonderfully found the writings of ,nietzsche4 ,the result is described in a remarkable letter to myself 7,july #bhth1 #aiae71 which ,i quote because it marks the earliest stage in the composition of his last unfinished book3 8,i have been trying to occupy myself with ,nietzsche1 on the theory that there must be something great about a man who exercised the immense influence that he did4 ,but ,i confess ,i am no convert to any of his various moods4 ,here and there ,i find gems of thought1 but one has to wade through a morass of blue mud to get at them4 ,here is a capital saying of his which may be new to you--in a letter to his friend ,rohde he writes3 #8,eternally we need midwives in order to be delivered of our thoughts4' ,we cannot work in solitude4 #8,woe to us who lack the sunlight of a friend's presence4' 8,how true that is6 ,when ,i come down here1 ,i think that with so much time on my hands ,i shall be able to get through a pile of work4 ,not a bit of it6 ,i find it difficult even to write a note4 ,to me it is an imperative necessity to have the sympathetic counsel of a friend40 ,the letter continued with an impassioned appeal to his correspondent to find some definite intellectual work for him to undertake4 8,you make me dare1 and that is much towards winning a game4 ,you must sharpen my wits1 which are blunt enough just now40 ,in short1 it was a cry from the island of boredom to come over the water and administer first-aid4 ,accordingly1 ,i started for ,cowes1 and was welcomed at the pier with all my host's habitual and vivacious hospitality4 ,scarcely were we seated in our wicker-chairs in face of the ,solent1 not twinkling as usual with pleasure-sails1 but sinister with strange instruments of warfare1 than he began the attack4 8,what am ,i to do with myself80 was the instant question2 8what means can ,i find of occupying this dreadful void of leisure80 ,to which the obvious reply was3 8,first of all1 you must exhibit to me the famous attractions of ,cowes60 8,there are none10 he replied in comic despair1 but we presently invented some1 and my visit1 which extended over several radiant days of a perfect ,august1 was diversified with walks and excursions by land and water1 in which my companion was as active and as ardent as though he had been nineteen instead of seventy-nine4 ,in a suit picturesquely marine1 with his beautiful silver hair escaping from a jaunty yachting cap1 he was the last expression of vivacity and gaiety4 ,the question of his intellectual occupation in the future came1 however1 incessantly to the front2 and our long talks in the strange and uncanny solitude of the ,royal ,yacht ,squadron ,castle always came back to this3 ,what task was he to take up next8 ,his large autobiography was now coming back to him from the printers in packets of proof1 with which he was closeted night and morning2 and ,i suggested that while this was going on there was no need for him to think about future enterprises4 ,to tell the truth1 ,i had regarded the 8,memories0 as likely to be the final labour of ,lord ,redesdale's busy life4 ,it seemed to me that at his advanced age he might now well withdraw into dignified repose4 ,i even hinted so much in terms as delicate as ,i could make them1 but the suggestion was not well received4 ,i became conscious that there was nothing he was so little prepared to welcome as 8repose02 that1 in fact1 the terror which possessed him was precisely the dread of having to withdraw from the stage of life4 ,his deafness1 which now began to be excessive1 closed to his eager spirit so many of the avenues of experience1 that he was more than ever anxious to keep clear those that remained to him1 and of these1 literary expression came to be almost the only one left4 ,in the absence of a definite task his path in this direction led through darkness4 ,but it was not until after several suggestions and many conversations that light was found4 ,the friend so pressingly appealed to returned to ,london1 where he was stern in rejecting several projects1 hotly flung at his head and then coldly abandoned4 ,a study of the ,empress ,maria ,theresa1 suggested by a feverish perusal of ,pechler1 was the latest and least attractive of these4 ,lord ,redesdale then frankly demanded that a subject should be found for him4 8,you have brought this upon yourself10 he said1 8by encouraging me to write40 ,what might prove the scheme of a very pleasant book then occurred to us1 and it was suggested to the fiery and impatient author1 who had by this time retired for good to ,batsford1 that he should compose a volume of essays dealing with things in general1 but bound together by a constantly repeated reference to his wild garden of bamboos and the ,buddha in his secret grove4 ,the author was to suppose himself seated with a friend on the terrace at the top of the garden1 and to let the idea of the bamboo run through the whole tissue of reflections and reminiscences like an emerald thread4 ,lord ,redesdale was enchanted1 and the idea took fire at once4 ,he replied3 8,you are ,orpheus1 with his lute moving the rocks and stones6 ,i shall work all my conceits into your plan1 and am now proceeding to my garden shrine to meditate on it4 ,i will try to make a picture of the ,,veluvana1 the bamboo garden which was the first ,vikara or monastery of ,buddha and his disciples4 ,there ,i will sit1 and1 looking on the great statue of ,buddha in meditation1 ,i shall begin to arrange all sorts of wild imaginings which may come into my crazy brain40 ,in this way was started the book1 of which1 alas6 only such fragments were composed as form the earlier part of the present volume4 ,it is1 however1 right to point out that for the too-brief remainder of his life ,lord ,redesdale was eagerly set on the scheme of which a hint has just been given4 ,the ,veluvana was to be the crowning production of his literary life1 and to sum up the wisdom of the ,east and the gaiety of the ,west4 ,he spoke of it incessantly1 in letters and conversation4 8,that will do to go into ,veluvana10 was his cry when he met with anything rare or strange4 ,for instance1 on the #aeth of ,september1 #aiae1 he wrote to me3 8,to-day1 all of a sudden ,i was struck by the idea that plants1 having many human qualities1 may also in some degree have human motives--that they are not altogether mere automata--and as ,i thought1 ,i began to imagine that ,i could detect something resembling purpose in the movements of certain plants4 ,i have jotted down a few notes1 and you will see when ,i expand them that at any rate the idea calls attention to the movements themselves1 some of which seem never to have been noticed at all1 or certainly at best very inadequately4 ,you will see that this brings in the bamboo garden and ,buddha1 and so keeps to the scheme of ,veluvana40 ,the monasteries of twelfth-century ,japanese ,buddhism1 which he had visited long before in the neighbourhood of ,kito1 now recurred to his memory1 and he proposed to describe in what a monk of ,hiyeisan differed from an ,indian ,buddhist monk4 ,this was a theme of extraordinary interest1 and wholly germane to his purpose4 ,it drove him back to his ,japanese books1 and to his friend ,sir ,ernest ,satow's famous dictionary4 ,he wrote to me3 8,no praise can be too high for the work which ,satow did in the early days of our intercourse with ,japan4 ,he was a valuable asset to ,england1 and to ,sir ,harry ,parkes1 who1 with all his energy and force of character1 would never have succeeded as he did without ,satow4 ,aston was another very strong man40 ,these reveries were strictly in accordance with the spirit of ,veluvana1 but unfortunately what ,lord ,redesdale wrote in this direction proves to be too slight for publication4 ,he met with some expressions of extremely modern ,japanese opinion which annoyed him1 and to which he was tempted to give more attention than they deserve4 ,it began to be obvious that the enterprise was one for which great concentration of effort1 and a certain serenity of purpose which was not to be secured at will1 were imperatively needed4 ,in leaving ,london1 he was not content1 and no one could have wished him to be willing1 to break abruptly all the cords of his past life4 ,he was still a ,trustee of the ,national ,gallery1 still chairman of the ,marlborough ,club1 still occupied with the administration of the ,wallace ,collection1 and he did not abate his interest in these directions4 ,they made it necessary that he should come up to town every other week4 ,this made up in some measure for the inevitable disappointment of finding that in ,gloucestershire his deafness now completely cut him off from all the neighbourly duties which had in earlier years diversified and entertained his country life4 ,he had been a great figure among the squires and farmers of the ,cotswolds1 but all this was now at an end1 paralysed by the hopeless decay of his hearing4 ,it grieved him1 too1 that he was unable to do any useful war-work in the county1 and he was forced to depend upon his pen and his flying visits to ,london for refreshment4 ,he was a remarkably good letter-writer1 and he now demanded almost pathetically to be fed with the apples of correspondence4 ,he wrote 7,november #bfth1 #aiae73 8,your letters are a consolation for being deprived of taking a part any longer in the doings of the great world4 ,the ,country ,mouse--even if the creature were able to scuttle back into the cellars of the great--would still be out of all communion with the mighty1 owing to physical infirmity4 ,and now comes the kind ,town ,mouse and tells him all that he most cares to know40 ,he had books and his garden to enjoy1 and he made the most of both4 8,i hate the autumn10 he said1 8for it means the death of the year1 but ,i try to make the death of the garden as beautiful as possible40 ,among his plants1 and up and down the high places of his bamboo-feathered rockeries1 where little cascades fell with a music which he could no longer hear into small dark pools full of many-coloured water-lilies1 his activity was like that of a boy4 ,he had the appearance1 the tastes1 the instincts of vigorous manhood prolonged far beyond the usual limit of such gifts1 and yet all were marred and rendered bankrupt for him by the one intolerable defect1 the deafness which had by this time become almost impenetrable to sound4 ,yet it seemed as though this disability actually quickened his mental force4 ,with the arrival of his eightieth year1 his activity and curiosity of intellect were certainly rather increased than abated4 ,he wrote to me from ,batsford 7,december #bhth1 #aiae73 8,i have been busy for the last two months making a close study of ,dante4 ,i have read all the ,inferno and half of the ,purgatorio4 ,it is hard work1 but the #8readings' of my old schoolfellow1 ,w4 ,w4 ,vernon1 are an incalculable help1 and now within the last week or two has appeared ,hoare's ,italian ,dictionary1 published by the ,cambridge ,university ,press4 ,a much-needed book1 for the previous dictionaries were practically useless except for courier's work4 ,how splendid ,dante is6 ,but how sickening are the ,commentators1 ,benvenuto da ,imola1 ,schartazzini and the rest of them8 ,they won't let the poet say that the sun shone or the night was dark without seeing some hidden and mystic meaning in it4 ,they always seem to chercher midi quatorze heures1 and irritate me beyond measure4 ,there is invention enough in ,dante without all their embroidery4 ,but this grubbing and grouting seems to be infectious among ,dante scholars--they all catch the disease40 ,he flung himself into these ,italian studies with all his accustomed ardour4 ,he corresponded with the eminent veteran of ,dante scholarship1 the ,honourable ,w4 ,w4 ,vernon1 whom he mentions in the passage just quoted1 and ,mr4 ,vernon's letters gave him great delight4 ,he wrote to me again3 8,this new object in life gives me huge pleasure4 ,of course1 ,i knew the catch quotations in ,dante1 but ,i never before attempted to read him4 ,the difficulty scared me40 ,now1 on the contrary1 the difficulty was an attraction4 ,he worked away for hours at a time1 braving the monotonies of the ,purgatorio without flagging1 but he broke down early in the ,paradiso4 ,he had no sympathy whatever with what is mystic and spiritual1 and he was extremely bored by the ,beatific ,vision and the ,rose of the ,empyrean4 ,i confess ,i took advantage of this to recall his attention to ,veluvana1 for which it was no longer possible to hope that the author would collect any material out of ,dante4 ,an invitation from ,cambridge to lecture there on ,russian history during the ,long ,vacation of #aiaf was a compliment to the value of the ,russian chapters of his 8,memories10 but it was another distraction4 ,it took his thoughts away from ,veluvana1 although he protested to me that he could prepare his ,cambridge address1 and yet continue to marshal his fancies for the book4 ,perhaps ,i doubted it1 and dared to disapprove1 for he wrote 7,march #agth1 #aiaf73 8,you scold me for writing too much4 ,that is the least of my troubles6 ,you must remember that debarred as ,i am from taking part in society1 the ,three ,r's alone remain to me1 and1 indeed1 of those only two--for owing to my having enjoyed an ,eton education in days when arithmetic was deemed to be no part of the intellectual panoply of a gentleman1 ,i can neither add1 subtract1 nor divide6 ,i am a gluttonous reader1 and only write from time to time40 ,he was really composing more actively than he himself realized4 ,about this time he wrote3 8,just now ,i am busy trying to whitewash ,lord ,hertford--not the ,marquess of ,steyne1 that would be impossible--but the unhappy hypochondriac recluse of the ,rue ,lafitte1 who ,i believe has been most malignantly traduced by the third-rate ,english ,colony in ,paris--all his faults exaggerated1 none of his good qualities even hinted at4 ,the good ,british public has so long been used to look upon him as a minotaur that it will perhaps startle and amuse it to be told that he had many admirable points40 ,at the beginning of last year the aspect of ,lord ,redesdale was very remarkable4 ,he had settled down into his life at ,batsford1 diversified by the frequent dashes to ,london4 ,his years seemed to sit upon him more lightly than ever4 ,his azure eyes1 his curled white head thrown back1 the almost jaunty carriage of his well-kept figure1 were the external symbols of an inner man perpetually fresh1 ready for adventure and delighted with the pageant of existence4 ,he found no fault at all with life1 save that it must leave him1 and he had squared his shoulders not to give way to weakness4 ,perhaps the only sign of weakness was just that visible determination to be strong4 ,but the features of his character had none of those mental wrinkles1 those 8rides de l'esprit10 which ,montaigne describes as proper to old age4 ,lord ,redesdale was guiltless of the old man's self-absorption or exclusive interest in the past4 ,his curiosity and sympathy were vividly exhibited to his friends1 and so1 in spite of his amusing violence in denouncing his own forgetfulness1 was his memory of passing events4 ,in the petulance of his optimism he was like a lad4 ,there was no change in the early part of last year1 although it was manifest that the incessant journeying between ,batsford and ,london was exhausting4 ,the garden occupied him more and more1 and he was distracted by the great storm of the end of ,march1 which blew down and destroyed at the head of the bridge the wonderful group of cypresses1 which he called 8the pride of my old age40 ,but1 after a gesture of despair1 he set himself energetically to repair the damage4 ,he was in his usual buoyant health when the very hot spell in ,may tempted him out on the #ahth of ,may1 with his agent1 ,mr4 ,kennedy1 to fish at ,swinbrook1 a beautiful village on his ,oxfordshire property1 of which he was particularly fond4 ,he was not successful1 and in a splenetic mood he flung himself at full length upon a bank of wet grass4 ,he was not allowed to remain there long1 but the mischief was done1 and in a few hours he was suffering from a bad cold4 ,even now1 the result might not have been serious had it not been that in a few days' time he was due to fulfil certain engagements in town4 ,nothing vexed ,lord ,redesdale more than not to keep a pledge4 ,in all such matters he prided himself on being punctual and trustworthy1 and he refused to change his plans by staying at home4 ,accordingly1 on the #bcrd of ,may he came to ,london to transact some business1 and to take the chair next day at a meeting of the ,royal ,society of ,literature1 of which he was a vice-president4 ,this meeting took place in the afternoon1 and he addressed a crowded assembly1 which greeted him with great warmth4 ,those who were present1 and saw his bright eyes and heard his ringing voice1 could have no suspicion that they would see him again no more4 ,his intimate friends alone perceived that he was making a superlative effort4 ,there followed a very bad night1 and he went down to ,batsford next day1 going straight to his bed1 from which he never rose again4 ,his condition1 at first1 gave rise to little alarm4 ,the disease1 which proved to be catarrhal jaundice1 took its course2 but for a long time his spirit and his unconsciousness of danger sustained him and filled those around him with hope4 ,there was no disturbance of mind to the very last4 ,in a shaky hand1 with his stylograph1 he continued to correspond with certain friends1 about politics1 and books1 and even about ,veluvana4 ,in the beginning of ,august there seemed to be symptoms of improvement1 but these were soon followed by a sudden and final relapse4 ,even after this1 ,lord ,redesdale's interest and curiosity were sustained4 ,in his very last letter to myself1 painfully scrawled only one week before his death1 he wrote3 8,have you seen ,ernest ,daudet's book just published1 #8,les auteurs de la guerre de #aiad'8 ,bismarck is the subject of the first volume2 the second will deal with the ,kaiser and the ,emperor ,joseph2 and the third with #8leurs complices4' ,i know ,e4 ,d42 he is a brother of ,alphonse1 and is a competent historian4 ,his book is most illuminating4 ,of course there are exaggerations1 but he is always well document1 and there is much in his work that is new4 ,i don't admire his style4 ,the abuse of the historic present is bad enough1 but what can be said in favour of the historic future with which we meet at every step8 ,it sets my teeth on edge40 ,but he grew physically weaker1 and seven days later he passed into an unconscious state1 dying peacefully at noon of the #agth of ,august1 #aiaf4 ,he was saved1 as he had wished to be1 from all consciousness of decrepitude4 ,,edmund ,,gosse4 ,august1 #aiag4 ,,further ,,memories ,,veluvana ,these chapters are simply an attempt to record the gist of some conversations and noonday thoughts1 which have arisen from time to time in idle moments spent in a garden on the ,cotswold ,hills1 where there are gathered together certain features unusual in ,western pleasances4 ,our thoughts are largely the creations of our surroundings1 and when at every step ,i am met by some work of art or a plant which has travelled perhaps twelve thousand miles to bring me a greeting from afar1 then ,i1 too1 begin to travel and am carried away beyond the seas4 ,if here and there ,i think and talk of things nearer home1 my thoughts are still those of a wanderer--still those which are suggested by the mysterious thrilling of one of those chords for which there is nothing to account1 but which never vibrate as they do in my ,veluvana1 the bamboo grove of ,buddha1 which thus becomes a temple dedicated to ,mnemosyne4 ,one thing ,i wish to disclaim4 ,i am often told that people believe that ,i have a ,japanese garden4 ,i have nothing of the kind4 ,a ,japanese garden is a mystery hard to be understood2 it is a work of art depending upon certain fixed laws and canons prescribed1 many centuries ago1 by a school of ,aesthetes1 whose lives were spent in the punctilious observance of the rules prescribed for tea-drinking and incense-burning and the writing of sonnets1 in grounds laid out upon principles1 of which the slightest violation would be an outrage upon the decencies of culture4 ,in such gardens flowers play but a small part1 but the shapes1 the position and the orientation of quaint rocks1 the introduction of miniature lakes1 and even of the similitude of rivers carried out in sand or gravel1 with stepping stones by which they may be crossed without disturbing the smooth surface1 these and many other whims are the important but sober and yet fantastic features upon which the ,japanese landscape gardener insists4 ,trees and flowering shrubs--such as cherries and plums--lianes like the ,wistaria and the ornamental vines1 are used with the utmost discretion1 as they are with us4 ,but the introduction of alien plants1 the exhibition of bronze ornaments and lanterns1 or the naturalistic arrangement of rockwork with a streamlet crossed by lacquered bridges1 no more give a garden the claim to be called ,japanese than the possession of a piece of old ,greek sculpture would liken a house to the ,acropolis of ,athens1 or than skill in the pretty and very difficult game of kicking shuttlecocks with the heel would entitle a ,pekingese boy to claim kinship with a ,rugby football player4 ,a ,japanese garden has a certain poetry and secret charm of its own4 ,to those who are adepts in its mysteries it is full of suggestion1 but it is highly artificial2 everything that you see in it is a contradiction of ,nature1 who1 poor dear6 is forced into obeying every craze and vagary of the artist1 not being allowed to see a twig or a bud take the direction which she destined for it4 ,in that it lacks the sweet simplicity and countrified untutored grace of our ,english ,edens4 ,it is not a place in which a young maiden would gather a posy bejewelled with ,may dew1 or stoop to consult the ray-florets of a daisy as to the beating of her lover's heart4 ,there are many crafts in which we ,english folk have much to learn from abroad2 in gardening that is not so--there we are not unskilled1 indeed rather copied than copiers4 ,we have our own gardens and we may rest content with them1 since they give us without stint the full joys of form and colour1 beauty and fragrance4 ,what more do we want8 ,the gardens of the ,japanese may suit the fairies of their own legends1 but the great god ,pan would surely rather see his ,dryads and ,wood-nymphs tread a measure on the velvet of a trim ,english lawn1 than picking their way among cruel stones to the torture of their rosy feet4 ,but though we may not be minded to imitate in our own homes the eccentricities and fancies of ,japanese garden experts--whims and fancies handicapped by the severities of austere tradition--there is no law to hinder us from taking a hint from some of the effects which they achieve1 nor from introducing into our gardens some great masterpiece of one of those exquisitely imaginative artists whose smaller and daintier works are gems welcomed with such warmth elsewhere4 ,some months after the above lines were written there appeared in the ,times of ,may #fth1 #aiaf1 one of those charming articles on gardening with which we are from time to time favoured1 in which the writer expresses much the same view of the ,japanese gardener's art that ,i hold4 ,only in one point ,i differ from him4 ,it is not 8a close study of nature0 which guides the ,japanese landscape maker2 on the contrary1 he follows whims and symbols hard to be understood4 ,every distorted stone which he brings at great expense from a huge distance must be so placed as to be in harmony with some cryptic principle of stheticism4 ,nature is not what he aims at4 ,the ,japanese1 who have an exquisite system of their own of natural gardening1 though of gardening in which all is designed and nothing left to chance1 are very sparing of flowers4 ,they would rather have one blossom where it will tell as a delightful surprise than a thousand where they merely make a mass of colour4 ,placing is everything to them1 but their principles of placing and grouping are got from the close study of nature1 like an artist's principles of composition4 ,we must not imitate them1 for if we do1 we shall merely parody them4 ,bamboos and stones and lanterns will not make a ,japanese garden4 ,but we can grasp the principles on which they express their love of nature in a garden2 we can see clearly what is the difference between formal and natural gardening1 and avoid the mistake of trying to combine the beauties of both4 ,one is always uncomfortable in a garden when there are a thousand flowers where a hundred would be better4 ,one may not be aware of the waste1 but it wearies one all the same4 ,the fascination of the ,east never dies4 ,but there comes a fatal time when1 to the voice of the ,siren1 sing she never so tenderly1 there is no response4 ,age and new duties have forged fetters1 sweet and soft as rose-leaves1 but so binding that not even the loadstone mountain of ,sindbad the ,sailor would avail to tear them away from us1 and so we are fain to satisfy our travel-hunger as best we may1 feeding upon memory4 ,then it is that the relics gathered together during the adventures of many years acquire a new and almost sacred value4 ,they speed the flight of our thoughts like the wings of ,pegasus4 ,the man who has chaffered with the ,jew merchants in the picturesque gloom of the bazaars of ,stamboul2 who has bathed in ,jordan and ,scamander1 and slept in the black tents of the ,bedouin2 who has wandered through the mysterious portals of the ,chen ,mn1 the frowning gate of the ,tartar city1 to sip tea with some art expert in the ,liu ,li ,chng1 the ,paternoster ,row of ,peking1 listening to stories of the dilettanti in the reign of ,chen ,lung the magnificent--such a man1 if now he can do no more than trim the silken sails of his imagination1 bound for the lands of enchantment1 must have about him many a treasure which1 if he but shut his eyes and give himself up to the luxury of dreaming day-dreams1 will bring back to the old wanderer a whiff from the birthplace of the ,sun1 a whiff sweeter in his nostrils than those cloying perfumes to which the sthetes1 according to their affected euphuist jargon1 8listened0 centuries ago in the lovely gardens of ,ginkakuji1 the ,silver ,pavilion of the sacred city of ,kito4#a ,as for me1 ,i have been all my life bitten by the collector's mania1 and so the wings of my ,pegasus have many feathers2 for my house1 and even my gardens1 are full of curious odds and ends1 the spoil of many lands4 ,on the terrace standing sentry at the entrance to the house are two huge bronze ,kylins 7in ,pekingese1 ,chih ,ling71 representations of the mystic beast which was seen last at the birth of ,confucius1 and will not reappear until ten thousand years shall have elapsed from that date4 ,illustration3 ,,scene ,,in ,,the ,,author',s ,,garden4 ,to face p4 #f4 ,the male has a single horn and is very fierce1 but not more so than his hornless mate1 which1 with her cruel tusks1 grins defiance at the world4 ,just such another pair in the ,imperial ,park of the ,ten ,thousand ,longevities at ,yuen ,ming ,yuen used to raise my wonder fifty years ago4 ,built into the wall of one of the two little gazebos which are at the east and west ends of my terrace are two bricks--the one rough and rugged1 sun-dried and splashed with the mortar of more than two thousand years since1 from the ,great ,wall of ,china at ,ku ,pei ,ku2 the other white1 smooth and richly glazed from the famous ,porcelain ,tower of ,nanking1 which was destroyed by the ,tai ,ping rebels some sixty years ago1 before they were overtaken by the ,vengeance of ,gordon and 8the ,ever-,victorious ,army40 ,shall ,i ever forget the tramp of a couple of miles under an ,august sun in #ahfe with that huge brick from the ,great ,wall seeming to bite into my aching shoulder8 ,over against the little summer-house1 guarding the entrance to the garden from the attacks of evil spirits1 are small statues of the ,ni-1 the two kings whose ugliness is enough to scare away any inauspicious demons who might be about4 ,they must miss the ritual of their own country where the pious pilgrim1 having written his prayer on to a scrap of paper1 chews it into a pellet1 and spits it at the sacred figure4 ,if it sticks1 all is well1 and the prayer will be heard2 if it falls to earth1 the fates will be unkind--so outside a fashionable temple the two gods are bespattered all over with an eruption of moist pellets4 ,here from that holy rite they are immune4 ,high up in the wildest part of the wild garden1 under the shade of a spreading oak1 there stands1 or rather sits1 turned towards the ,east1 as is fitting1 a bronze statue of ,buddha of heroic size4 ,his hand is raised in the attitude of preaching2 his features are expressive of the holy calm and noble abstraction which are traditional in the effigies of the great reformer2 the centre of the skull is slightly raised1 and between the brows is a curl1 representing the wind1 the mystic white lock4 ,these two are among the many secret birth-signs by which the soothsayers and diviners recognize in a newly-born babe the advent of ,bodhisatva1 or future ,buddha4 ,surrounding the figure are planted chusan palms from ,china and bamboos from the ,himalaya mountains1 among which a stag and a hind1 life-sized bronze representations of the small ,japanese deer1 watch over the loneliness of the thinker4 ,facing the statue is a rest-house1 flanked by two huge bronze lanterns bearing the chrysanthemum and the ,pawlonia flower1 the two crests of the ,mikado1 and on either side of the door are two small white granite elephants1 brought from ,ceylon1 ,buddhistic symbols1 full of significance4 ,a little higher up the hill a pergola leads to a tiny spring1 with a dolphin spout1 from which fitfully1 for it is often dry1 a runlet of pure water trickles into a stone basin4 ,immediately opposite is an ishi-dori1 one of those granite lanterns which you will see in every ,japanese temple4 ,lower down the hill is a grand bronze lion1 with his paws resting upon a ball of cloisonn enamel1 symbolical of the strength of ,buddha1 and in the middle of the walled garden is a dragon fountain1 spouting water into a tiny pond full of pink water-lilies and gold-fish4 ,we ,westerns are wont to talk of fiery dragons2 not so the ,orientals4 ,with them the dragon is a creature of the water1 and so is used in art for fountains just as we use the lion's head1 taking the idea from the ,egyptian1 who imagined that the rising of the ,nile took place when the ,sun was in ,leo4 ,in ,china the dragon represents the principle of good1 the tiger that of evil2 the thunderstorm is a fight between the two4 ,all these things have their meaning1 and here1 as you sit in the broad verandah of the rest-house1 represent two scenes in the life of the ,buddha2 firstly1 the preaching of the first sermon in the ,mrighadeva1 the deer forest near ,benares1 where the stags and hinds come to listen to the ,holy ,one1 and1 secondly1 the ,veluvana1 or ,bamboo grove1 which ,king ,bimbisara presented to the ,buddha and which became the first ,vihara1 monastery or meeting-place1 of the new sect's adherents and monks4 ,the story of the ,veluvana is that of ,ahab and ,naboth the ,jezreelite over again4 ,some six hundred years more or less before our era--how much more or how much less is a matter of small moment1 though the learned must needs break their heads in the vain attempt to fix the exact dates of these events--there reigned in ,maghada ,king ,bimbisara1 a monarch not a little feared4 ,before he mounted the throne he greatly had set his heart upon a certain grove1 or garden belonging to a householder who would not part with it4 ,so he determined to bide his time until he should become king1 and then to kill the man and take his land4 ,this he did1 and the lawful owner1 who after death was born again in the shape of a poisonous snake1 sought an occasion to fix his deadly fangs in the king4 ,one day the king had gone into the garden with his wives1 and fell asleep while only one of the women was by him4 ,then the snake1 crawling close to him1 was about to strike1 when some ,kalantaka birds seized it and began to scream4 ,this woke the woman1 who jumped up and killed the snake4 ,illustration3 ,,rest ,,house ,,in ,,the ,,authors ,,garden4 ,to face p4 #aj4 ,in gratitude to the birds who had saved his life1 the king caused the garden to be planted with bamboos1 which they love1 and the place became known as the ,kalantakanivasa ,veluvana1 or the ,bamboo grove of the ,kalantaka birds4 ,barthlemy ,st4 ,hilaire1 following the story of the ,chinese pilgrim ,hsan ,chwang 7of whom ,i hope to speak later71 gives a less romantic derivation to the name ,kalantakanivasa4 ,kalanta1 as he tells the tale1 was a rich merchant1 who had originally given his garden to the ,brahmans1 but having received the sublime ,law1 he took it away from them and transferred it to the ,buddha4 ,i hope that this may not be the true story1 for in that case the name would simply mean the ,bamboo grove1 or garden of ,kalanta1 and so the birds and the snake must fade into the clouds of fancy4 ,according to the more legendary version of the story1 it is written that when the ,blessed ,one1 having attained the supreme wisdom1 entered upon his ministry1 after six years of meditation1 and an asceticism which had almost starved his very life1 he came with his disciples to ,rajagriha1 where he was visited by ,bimbisara1 ,king of ,maghada4 ,this king had had five wishes3 7#a7 ,that a ,buddha might appear during his reign2 7#b7 that he might himself see him2 7#c7 that he might learn the truth from him2 7#d7 that he might understand it2 7#e7 that he might follow his commandments4 ,when the king saw the ,buddha and listened to his preaching1 he was converted with many of his people1 and invited the ,blessed ,one to come to his city1 where he set a great feast before him4 ,when the feast was over1 the king solemnly poured water over the hands of the ,blessed ,one1 saying1 8,i give the ,kalantakanivasa ,veluvana to the ,blessed ,one to dispose of as may please him40 ,and that is how it came to pass that a grove of bamboos was the first ,vihara1 or meeting-place of ,buddha and his saints4 ,full of poetry and ,indian mysticism are the legends and fairy tales which monkish superstition has woven round the life of the ,buddha1 doing him and his memory no good service thereby2 for when truth is overgrown with fables1 like some fair flower choked by weeds1 it becomes lost to sight and strangled1 and men begin to doubt whether1 indeed1 it had any existence4 ,in this way some doctors have been led to deny that such a man as the ,buddha ever lived upon earth2 men of learning have spent much profound scholarship on proving that he was merely a sun-myth2 others have explained him away as being in some sort an astronomical allegory4 ,it would be as easy to explain away ,napoleon ,buonaparte--indeed1 did not that cunning logician1 ,archbishop ,whately1 making fun out of his own science1 prove irrefutably by rule of syllogism that no such man as ,napoleon ever did or ever could have existed8 ,that ,buddha was a very real man1 inspired by the highest ideals1 is a fact which all advance in knowledge proves more and more conclusively4 ,facts cannot be swept away like cobwebs2 indeed1 cobwebs are facts1 as every housewife knows1 and though a besom may annihilate them1 their rebirth remains a demonstrable truth4 ,so it is with the ,buddha4 ,the travels of ,fa ,hsien and ,hsan ,chwang1 ,chinese pilgrims1 who in the fifth and seventh centuries of our era went to ,india to collect ,buddhist books and study the dogmas and history of the religion1 have been recorded with all the scrupulous care and minuteness peculiar to their nation1 and show the veneration in which the sites and monuments sacred to the ,buddhist story were still held in their day4 ,nor is that all4 ,within the last twenty years1 under the authority of the ,indian ,government1 researches have been carried on by a learned ,babu named ,chandra ,mukherji1 under the direction of ,mr4 ,vincent ,a4 ,smith1 and those researches1 which are of the highest interest1 corroborate the statements of the two ,chinese monks1 in whose accounts the differences are no more than what would be expected in the work of men separated by an interval of two hundred years4 ,if we must remember that ,prince ,siddartha claimed no divinity--nor even divine inspiration or revelation--then stripped of the husk of fable and vain tales with which monkish folly has overlaid and obscured it1 there is no more touching story in man's record than that of the great renunciation with which ,buddha entered upon the work to which he felt himself called4 ,brought up in the soul-stealing languor of an ,oriental court1 he left everything in order to face the hardships of a solitude and asceticism in which he was to find that peace which the world could not give to him1 but which1 if only he could attain the supreme wisdom1 he might give to the world4 ,prince ,siddartha1 the ,buddha that was to be1 was the son of ,suddhdana1 ,king of ,kapilavastu in the ,tarai of ,nepal1 under the shadow of the giant ,himalaya mountains4 ,suddhdana was the chief of the ,shakya1 a proud clan1 descended from the solar race of the ,gautama4 ,it puzzles the uninstructed reader to find the ,buddha often referred to as ,shakya ,muni1 or ,gautama ,buddha4 ,the first of these titles means the hermit or recluse of the ,shakya clan1 and ,barthlemy ,st4 ,hilaire connects the word muni with the ,greek 1 the ,french moine1 etc4 ,gautama ,buddha simply means the ,buddha of the ,gautama race1 in contradistinction to the many ,buddhas that preceded him during the countless ons in which the ,indians believe1 and to those ,buddhas that are yet to be1 the next of whom is the ,maitriya ,buddha1 the ,buddha of brotherly love1 for whom we have to wait many thousand years1 and who is often represented as lying down and laughing--a favourite subject with ,chinese sculptors and artists4 ,the ,queen of ,king ,suddhdana was the daughter of ,king ,suprabuddha1 a neighbouring monarch1 a princess of such surpassing loveliness1 wisdom and virtue1 that she was called ,maya the ,illusion1 for men could not believe that so wondrous a being could be aught but a dream1 a vision1 an unreal phantasy4 ,one night ,queen ,maya dreamt a dream3 in her sleep it seemed to her that a white elephant with six golden tusks entered her side4 ,she dreamt1 moreover1 that she was moving in heavenly space1 that she ascended a great rocky mountain1 and that a vast multitude bowed down before her4 ,when the soothsayers came to interpret her dream1 they declared that they meant that she would bring forth a son who should be marked with the thirty-two signs which indicate a great man4 ,either he would remain in his kingdom and become conqueror and monarch of the universe1 or he would forsake home and the world and receive the full light of wisdom as a perfect ,buddha4 ,now1 when the time of her delivery came near to being fulfilled1 ,maya betook herself to her father's city1 and went to the garden which he had dedicated to his ,queen ,lumbini1 and as she stood leaning against a certain tree the pains of travail came upon her--for the mother of a ,buddha must bring forth her child standing4 ,then the great god ,indra raised a mighty tempest1 and scaring away all ,maya's women1 took upon himself the disguise of an old midwife1 and prepared to receive the babe in his arms2 but the child1 pushing the god aside1 would have none of him1 but by himself took seven steps towards each of the four cardinal points of heaven4 ,to the ,east he said3 8,i will reach the highest ,nirvana40 ,to the ,south3 8,i will be the first of all creatures40 ,to the ,west3 8,this will be my last birth40 ,to the ,north3 8,i will cross the ocean of ,existence40 ,many signs and wonders followed4 ,a heavenly choir of gods and ,yakshas appeared in the sky1 hovering over the birthplace and singing hymns of gladness to celebrate the birth of a ,bodhisatva1 who after years of devotion should one day become ,buddha and attain supreme wisdom4 ,two dragons came out of the clouds1 the one spouting warm water1 the other cold1 and so the god-like babe was washed4 ,moreover1 it came to pass that when the appointed time for the child to be taken1 as was the custom among ,shakyas1 to do homage at the shrine of ,shakya ,vardana1 the statue1 instead of receiving obeisance1 bowed down in worship at the babe's feet4 ,then the king knew what manner of son this was1 and he perceived that the soothsayers had spoken truth4 ,of the two alternative futures which they had foretold for him1 the king would have preferred that he should become the monarch of the whole world4 ,but the gods knew better4 ,they knew that he was to be not the monarch of the world1 but its freer3 the sacrifice and renunciation of his life were to strike off from millions the shackles of sin and misery4 ,they knew1 moreover1 that all the king's endeavours to turn the ,blessed ,one from his purpose would be vain2 yet must the king needs try1 and so throughout the prince's youth every temptation that riches and luxury and pleasure could offer was put in his way4 ,in the life of the ,buddha it is easy to separate the wheat from the chaff1 the facts from the fairy-tales4 ,the great central truth remains untarnished in spite of all1 and so in telling the story we1 seeking to show the inspiration of ,oriental mysticism1 need hardly rob it of the mystic glamour of that poetical embroidery in which the rich imagination of ,indian priests has enwrapped it4 ,seven days after the birth of her son the beautiful ,queen ,maya died1 and the babe was given over to the care of her younger sister1 ,prajapati ,gautami1 who was also one of ,king ,suddhdana's wives4 ,it is strange that in his picturesque ,buddhist poem1 8,the ,light of ,asia10 ,sir ,edwin ,arnold should have omitted many of the legends with which he must have been familiar1 and which would well have fitted the rather sensuous character of his verse4 ,moreover1 he mixes up the stories of the two wives of ,prince ,siddartha1 ,yasdhara and ,gop1 and altogether omits any mention of the birth in the ,lumbini ,garden4 ,now the ,lumbini ,garden is one of those places connected with the ,buddhist records which have been identified with the utmost certainty4 ,the early ,chinese pilgrims were shown the spot1 and were careful with accuracy to describe the monuments which now1 after all these centuries1 the ,babu ,chandra ,mukherji has been able to verify4 ,on the spot where stood the sacred tree under which1 grasping one of its boughs1 ,maya the ,queen gave birth to her son1 contemporary piety1 or perhaps at latest that of ,king ,aska1 who lived two hundred years afterwards1 erected a chapel in which stood a sculpture portraying the nativity4 ,the ruins of the sacred building may yet be seen1 and1 much damaged1 the stone image which it enshrined--a barbaric but expressive group4 ,hard by there still runs the little stream which ,hsan ,chwang tells us was called the 8river of oil10 a name which it still bears4 ,twenty or twenty-five paces from the sacred tree is the tank in which ,maya bathed1 still full of pure water4 ,in the days of the ,chinese pilgrims there was a great stone pillar which had been erected by ,king ,aska2 but it had been struck by lightning1 and lay on the ground when they saw it1 split in the middle4 ,the pillar with a perfectly preserved inscription by ,king ,aska stands close to the temple4 ,but the most striking proof of all is in the name ,lumbini1 or ,lummini1 which is preserved to this day as ,rummin ,dei1 the initial ,r of ,sanscrit being changed into ,l in the ,magadhi language of the inscription4 ,so he who visits the ,rummin ,dei to-day knows of a certainty that he is standing on the very spot where some twenty-five centuries ago ,prince ,siddartha was born--he who was to found a religion which1 above all others1 has1 so far as numbers go1 dominated mankind4 ,for his disciples have1 indeed1 been 8as the stars of heaven and as the sand which is upon the seashore40 ,the years went on and the child grew in grace and beauty of mind and body4 ,his teachers were amazed at the precocity of his knowledge and wisdom4 ,learning seemed to come to him by instinct1 until at last one of his masters said to him3 8,it is thou that art the ,guru1 not ,i40 ,his stature and strength were phenomenal1 qualities upon which tradition was not slack in embroidering4 ,was he not sixteen1 some say eighteen1 feet tall1 and did he not toss a dead elephant over a moat with as great ease as an ordinary strong man would fling a cat across a ditch8 ,but with all this he was a child of moods4 ,at an age when other children are careless of aught save their toys and their games1 he would lose himself in the solitude of the forests and remain wrapped in thought1 deep in meditation4 ,the king1 his father1 who watched him narrowly1 perceived this1 and felt that it boded no good for his own dynastic ambition4 ,he thought of the prophecy of the soothsayers1 and had a premonition that his son's greatness would be spiritual rather than temporal4 ,he foresaw that1 however much he might try to turn the boy's thoughts towards the world1 his labour would be but vain4 ,still1 he would leave no stone unturned to win him over by the perfumed softness of ,oriental luxury to the pomp and pride of his rank4 ,three palaces did he build for him1 one for each of the three seasons of the year--spring1 summer and winter--and the plenishing of these was such as would appeal to every sthetic sense4 ,the sweetest singers1 the daintiest dancers1 were enlisted to brighten the life of the palaces4 ,but against all the spells of the enchantresses the young prince1 already almost a recluse1 was as hard as adamant4 ,soon the time came when it was fitting that he should take a wife1 and upon this the king and his councillors based their last hope of turning his mind to earthly things4 ,we are told that the prince thought long and anxiously before he could assure himself that marriage would not engross him to such an extent as to rob him of the calm which was needful for the contemplation and the search for wisdom1 to which he was minded to dedicate his life4 ,in the end he consented1 but he stipulated that the wife chosen for him should be no ordinary woman1 but such a one as might be a spiritual helpmate to him4 ,caste was not to weigh in the scale4 ,she might be a ,kshatriya1 a ,vaisiya 7householder71 or even a ,sudra 7serf74 ,that was of no account4 ,the mind alone1 or perhaps rather what we should call the soul1 must be the test4 ,it is difficult to imagine the consternation which1 if it be true1 as it probably is1 such a declaration on the part of a royal prince would arouse among the bigoted ,brahmans of his father's court4 ,there was1 however1 no need to fear a degrading marriage1 for when the maidens of the noble ,shakya clan were brought together1 ,yasdhara was chosen for her beauty and her sweet nature4 ,and greatly blessed the prince was in his choice1 for she believed in him as ,kadijah did in ,mohammed during the humble days of his life as camel driver1 and when after his long self-banishment in the wilderness1 he at last entered upon his ministration as ,buddha1 she with her young son ,rahula1 followed him as a disciple4 ,but many years were to pass--years fraught with great happenings--before that should take place4 ,it is my misfortune that ,i have no first-hand knowledge derived from the study in the originals of those books in which the ,buddhist legend is enchased4 ,i am ignorant of ,sanscrit1 ignorant of ,pali--as ignorant1 indeed1 as those holy monks and priests who drone out their texts without any spark of light as to the meaning of the words which they recite by rote4 ,but1 after all1 ,i am not attempting to write any learned treatise on the religion of ,buddha1 but simply to give some account as best ,i may of the legends which satisfy the spiritual cravings of millions of those people among whom ,i have spent several years of my life--legends which have inspired the art of the ,far ,east just as our own beautiful religion has inspired that of the ,west1 and which for old sake's sake1 ,i have tried to represent in my own ,veluvana4 ,and so ,i have to cull from a whole garden of books written by ,french and ,english scholars what flowers ,i can1 trying to weld together into some harmony of story their many dissonances4 ,the chief difficulty begins with the tales of the marriage or marriages of ,prince ,siddartha4 ,not ,sir ,edwin ,arnold alone is responsible for the tangled skein which we have to unravel4 ,barthlemy ,st4 ,hilaire1 ,rhys ,davids1 ,rockhill1 ,beal1 and many others1 have each of them their own version of the traditional events4 ,with fairy-tales that is inevitable1 but the salient facts of truth remain1 and these are the same in all the books4 ,on the day of ,prince ,siddartha's birth there had appeared a mystic tree1 which was called 8,the ,essence of ,virtue40 ,when the prince was twenty years old this tree was blown down and dammed the water which supplied ,devadeha1 which was the city of ,king ,suprabuddha4 ,in vain did the people try to remove it2 but ,chandana1 the prince's charioteer1 drove him out to a certain garden whence he could hear the cries of the people1 and he was about to go to their help when a wounded wild goose1 the ,hansa of ,indian myth1 fell at his feet4 ,the prince took it up and tended it and bound up the wound4 ,now the goose had been shot by his kinsman ,devadatta1 and this was the beginning of a great enmity between them4 ,for ,devadatta sent a messenger to the prince to demand the bird of him1 claiming it as the prize of his bow2 but the prince would not yield it up1 saying that the bird belonged to him who had saved its life rather than to him who would fain have taken it4 ,from that time forth ,devadatta hated him1 and appears throughout the whole story of the ,buddha's life1 and even in what are known as the 8,birth ,stories0 of previous existences1 as his bitter enemy4 ,then the prince left the garden1 and seizing the tree which had defied all the strength of the people1 threw it into the air so that it broke in two1 the halves falling on the two different sides of the stream4 ,as1 after having performed this feat1 he was returning home1 he saw a beautiful maiden who was looking out from the terrace in front of her father's house4 ,the prince stopped his chariot and a great love sprang up between the two4 ,the damsel was ,gop1 the daughter of ,dandapani1 a noble of the ,shakya clan4 ,when ,king ,suddhdana heard what had happened1 he was overjoyed1 and asked the father for the maid as a bride for his son4 ,but ,dandapani scorned ,siddartha as a dreamer of dreams4 ,the ,kshatriya was like the ,samurai of ,japan1 whose sword is his soul1 and full of this spirit he declared that it would bring shame upon a warrior were he to give his daughter in marriage to one who cared not a jot for those manly sports and contests which beseemed a ,kshatriya1 but spent his time in idle thought and vain imaginings4 ,if he wanted ,gop1 let him prove his mettle2 let him fight for her and win her against all comers4 ,so a great tourney was held1 of which ,gop was to be the prize4 ,illustration3 ,,figure ,,of ,,the ,,buddha ,,in ,,the ,,author',s ,,garden4 ,see p4 #h4 ,to face p4 #bd4 ,the prince and his two kinsmen1 ,ananda1 who loved him and afterwards became his disciple1 and ,devadatta1 the betrayer1 with all the young braves of the clan1 entered the lists4 ,but it mattered little who opposed him2 none could hold his own against ,prince ,siddartha4 ,disputing with the most learned ,gurus1 he was always the conqueror4 ,in manly exercises1 horsemanship1 wrestling1 archery1 and many other sports1 he defeated all rivals4 ,he alone could bend the mystic bow of the ancient ,shakyas1 and when he shot an arrow into the air and it fell to earth1 from that spot there sprang a jet of healing water1 which to this day is shown as the ,arrow ,fountain4 ,and so ,gop fell a willing prize to the bow and spear of the king's son whom she loved4 ,but ,devadatta1 beaten at all points1 went his way more than ever bearing hatred and jealousy in his heart4 ,in spite of all the charms and gentle goodness of his wives1 in spite of the arts and graces of the singing and dancing girls of his palaces1 ,prince ,siddartha was haunted by pity for the world's sin and sorrow1 which he divined but which he had not yet seen face to face4 ,the king had been very careful that all ugly and disquieting sights should be kept out of his way4 ,but it was all in vain2 sooner or later the revelation must needs come4 ,the four famous drives furnished the certainty4 ,it happened that once1 when he was in his chariot with ,chandana1 his charioteer1 on their way to the ,lumbini ,garden1 before coming to the city gate1 they met a man bowed1 decrepit1 toothless1 white-haired1 tottering feebly with the help of a stick1 stumbling at every step4 ,the prince asked ,chandana what this meant1 and ,chandana explained to him the misery of old age4 ,sadly he turned back1 unwilling to go further4 ,another time they met a leper stricken with foul disease2 a third time they were met by wailings and lamentation1 men carrying a bier1 women weeping and beating their breasts4 ,this was death4 ,yet once again they drove out1 and this time they met a bikshu--a pious mendicant--with his alms-bowl4 ,poor1 indeed1 he was and ragged1 but in his face was written the calm of holy happiness4 ,then ,prince ,siddartha knew that he had found his calling4 8,vanity of vanities10 said the ,jewish preacher some four hundred years before ,buddha's time1 8all is vanity40 ,it was in the spirit of ,king ,solomon that the prince went to his father and prayed to be relieved of all the pomp and burthen of royal state and to be allowed to fly the world in quest of wisdom4 ,but the king would not listen to him1 and1 on the contrary1 caused the gates of ,kapilavastu to be closely guarded lest by any chance his son should try to escape4 ,let me insert here a wonderful coincidence4 ,at the end of the seventh and beginning of the eighth centuries of our era there lived in the monastery of ,marsaba1 that wonderful laura in the wilderness of ,juda1 a monk of great piety and learning1 ,st4 ,john of ,damascus1 the greatest ecclesiastical writer of his age1 and so eloquent a preacher that1 like another ,john1 the famous ,patriarch of ,constantinople1 he was known as ,chrysostom1 the golden-mouthed1 or ,chrysorrhoas1 gold-flowing4 ,what1 it will be asked1 has this ,syrian monk to do with ,prince ,siddartha and the four drives8 ,listen6 ,amongst the many books which ,st4 ,john of ,damascus wrote1 or is supposed to have written1 is the story of ,barlaam and ,josaphat4 ,st4 ,john said that he received it from travellers coming from ,india1 and so firmly did he believe in its truth1 that at the end of the story he appealed to the two saints for their intercession on his behalf4 ,max ,mller sums up the tale as follows3 8,a king in ,india1 an enemy and persecutor of the ,christians1 has an only son4 ,the astrologers have predicted that he will embrace the new doctrine4 ,his father1 therefore1 tries by all means to keep him ignorant of the miseries of the world1 and to create in him a taste for pleasure and enjoyment4 ,a ,christian hermit1 however1 gains access to this prince1 and instructs him in the doctrines of the ,christian religion4 ,the young prince is not only baptized1 but resolves to give up all his earthly riches2 and1 after having converted his own father and many of his subjects1 he follows his teacher into the desert40#b ,but that is not all4 ,in the story of ,josaphat1 as told by ,st4 ,john1 we have also the tale of the drives--with this distinction3 ,whereas the ,buddhist canon1 the ,lalita ,vistara1 represents ,buddha as seeing on three successive drives1 first an old1 then a sick1 and at last a dying man1 ,st4 ,john makes ,josaphat meet two men on his first drive1 one maimed1 the other blind1 and an old man who is nearly dying on the second drive4 ,that is but a slight difference which would be accounted for by oral tradition4 ,the coincidence is striking1 and has been pointed out independently by ,english1 ,french and ,german scholars2 and1 as ,max ,mller says1 it is 8as clear as daylight0 that 8,joannes ,damascenus took the principal character of his religious novel from the ,lalita ,vistara40 ,the first ,european scholar to notice this was ,m4 ,laboulaye4 ,and now comes the strangest part of the story4 ,so popular did ,st4 ,john's tale become1 that it was translated into every ,european language4 ,barlaam and ,josaphat were canonized both in the ,eastern and ,western ,churches4 ,in the ,greek ,church the #bfth of ,august is their saints' day1 in the ,western ,church the #bgth of ,november4 8,if all that is human and personal in the life of ,st4 ,josaphat is taken from the ,lalita ,vistara1 what follows8 ,it follows 444 that ,josaphat is the ,buddha of the ,buddhist canon4 ,it follows that ,buddha has become a saint in the ,roman ,church2 it follows that1 though under a different name1 the sage of ,kapilavastu1 the founder of a religion which1 whatever we may think of its dogma1 is in the purity of its morals nearer to ,christianity than any other religion1 and which counts even now1 after an existence of #b1djj years1 #dee1jjj1jjj of believers1 has received the highest honours that the ,christian ,church can bestow4 ,and whatever we may think of the sanctity of saints1 let those who doubt the right of ,buddha to a place among them read the story of his life in the ,buddhist canon4 ,if he lived the life that is there described1 few saints have a better claim to the title than ,buddha2 and no one1 either in the ,greek or ,roman ,church1 need be ashamed of having paid to ,buddha's memory the honour that was intended for ,st4 ,josaphat1 the prince1 the hermit1 and the saint40#c ,one night1 when the palace was hushed in sleep1 the prince roused his faithful charioteer ,chandana1 and bade him to saddle his horse ,kantaka and prepare to follow him4 ,he passed through the many halls where the women1 beautiful and graceful by day1 were lying asleep in careless and ugly attitudes4 ,it was the reverse of the medal1 the repulsive side of luxury1 and the sight filled him with loathing4 ,accompanied by ,chandana1 he left the palace and entered the slumbering streets of the city4 ,by a miracle they cheated the watchfulness of the guard at the gate and rode out into the open country4 ,when they had gone some way the prince took off all his jewels and sent ,chandana back with injunctions to give them to ,prajapati ,gautami1 who had been a mother to him when her sister ,maya died4 ,then he went on alone into the wilderness4 ,by the way he met a hunter1 with whom he exchanged his stately attire for rough countryman's clothes1 and in this fashion entered upon the six years of an asceticism such as the world has perhaps never seen4 ,in his loneliness five men came and joined him as his disciples1 sharing the hardships of his self-imposed penance4 ,at the end of those six long years of starvation and wretchedness and mortification of the flesh1 when the ,blessed ,one1 resisting all the temptations of ,mara1 the evil spirit1 and his three beautiful daughters1 had reduced his body to a mere shadow1 there came a moment when it was revealed to him that not by asceticism alone could he hope to attain his goal4 ,not in that way could he destroy the power and misery of sin4 ,he determined to go back to the world1 not1 indeed1 as a warrior-prince1 a mighty conqueror1 but as a poor and humble teacher1 striving to bring help and virtue to his fellow-men4 ,a young village maiden1 whose name was ,sujata1 took pity upon his abject state1 and brought him bowls of sweet milk to comfort him and restore his wasted strength4 ,naturally enough1 legend worked upon this pretty idyll1 telling how ,sujata milked a thousand cows1 and 8with their milk fed five hundred cows1 with theirs two hundred and fifty1 and so on down to eight4 ,thus aspiring after quality and sweetness1 she did what is called working the milk in40 ,then she boiled the milk of the eight cows1 and1 to the accompaniment of many miracles1 fed the ,buddha with this restoring essence of milk4 7,rhys ,davids1 8,birth ,stories10 ,vol4 ,i41 page #ia1 etc47 ,but his five friends1 angry with him for leaving the ascetic life1 turned away from him as a renegade and left him4 ,so the ,blessed ,one departed out of the wilderness and came to ,rajagriha and entered the ,mrighadeva1 the deer forest1 hard by the city4 ,there for seven days and nights he sat in meditation under the ,bo tree 7,ficus religiosa71 until at the end of that time he became conscious that he had attained the supreme wisdom and was now ,buddha4 ,under that tree he preached the first sermon1 and the five friends who had deserted him were converted and came back4 ,countless numbers of people from the king of that country1 ,bimbisara1 downwards1 flocked to listen to his teaching4 ,among others came his own wife ,yasdhara1 bearing him no grudge for having left her1 and bringing her young son ,rahula4 ,by that name there hangs a tale4 ,when it was told to the ,blessed ,one that a son had been born to him1 he answered3 8,there has been born to me an impediment40 ,this answer was repeated to ,king ,suddhdana1 and he said1 8,let the boy be called ,rahula1 ,the ,impediment40 ,when the king heard that his grandson and his mother had gone to follow in the wake of the ,buddha1 he was sorely grieved4 ,his son had left him4 ,eight messengers whom he had sent begging him to return had failed in their mission1 and themselves remained as disciples with the ,blessed ,one2 and now he had but this child to look to for the perpetuation of his name and of his dynasty4 ,blind--and no wonder1 for who can read the future8--he could not see that this son of his would win for himself and for his father a name beside which all the glory and pride of their ,heaven-born ancestors would be but a cloud dispelled by the first ray of morning sun4 ,three influences have ruled the spirits of men since the dawn of the world--,buddha1 ,mohammed and ,one other1 the greatest of the three4 ,but that other was ,god4 ,what would have been the winning of one or more provinces1 what the slaughter of a few hundreds or even thousands of bowmen and spearmen1 compared with the conquest of the souls of billions of fellow-creatures through the length and breadth of ,asia8 ,the old king's name lives1 but it lives as that of the father of no warrior1 but of a great teacher whose doctrine has given peace and happiness to the souls of men instead of shedding the blood which clogs the footsteps of the earthly conqueror4 ,we1 holding fast the ,christian creed1 may say with confidence that of all mere men who have lived since the creation of the world ,buddha was the greatest4 ,next to him1 ,i should count ,confucius1 and after ,confucius1 ,mohammed4 ,nothing in ,buddha's life seems to me greater than the victory which he achieved over himself when he became convinced of the aimlessness of the ascetic life4 ,he had left his palaces1 his wife1 and all the pomp of his father's court1 in order to fly from the world and its temptations and lead a life of privation and meditation4 ,after six years he saw the futility of such a life4 ,his aim was to do something that should redeem the world from sin and its miseries4 ,how could solitude1 starvation and mere meditation achieve that8 ,so1 in spite of the indignation of the five men who had followed him into the ascetic life1 he determined to go back into the world and live for the good of others instead of sitting wrapped in his own thoughts4 ,he believed that he had achieved the great good1 and he realized the fact that his attitude was one of utter selfishness1 barren of all result1 and leading to nothing4 ,the disappointment and the desertion of his five followers must have been bitter4 ,but comfort came to him in time1 for they grew to know that he was right and were converted as trusty disciples to his new creed4 ,from the time that he left the shade of the ,bodhi tree his ministration began4 ,he knew that he had received the sublime gift of wisdom1 and that the gift was not for himself alone1 but for the purification and happiness of all mankind4 ,it was no doubt a great struggle to give up the illusion of six long years and the dream of many more4 ,but it was also a great triumph1 the turning-point of a life that was so full of destiny4 ,i have already told how the first ,vihara was established in the ,veluvana1 the pious gift of ,king ,bimbisara1 but the chief home of the ,buddha was another garden or grove called the ,jtavana1 which a certain minister named ,anatha ,pindaka had bought at a great price from ,jta1 the son of the ,king of ,sravasti4 ,here the ,buddha dwelt for more than twenty years1 and there he uttered the ,jtakas1 or ,birth ,stories1 which have been preserved mainly thanks to his kinsman ,ananda4 ,for it is a strange coincidence that1 as in ,christianity so in ,buddhism1 there is no written word by the ,master4 ,these ,jtakas are of the nature of parables by which the ,buddha was wont to illustrate the events of the present by stories of what had taken place in a former state of existence2 and as the ,buddha's life was one long struggle against the treacherous designs of his enemy ,devadatta1 so in the ,jtakas we find a constant reference to the feud as having existed in previous incarnations4 ,when first the ,buddha began to preach1 women were not admitted into the ,holy ,order2 but there soon came a moment when they1 too1 yearned to listen to the teaching of the ,master4 ,a certain noble of the ,shakya clan took his wife and a number of ,shakya ladies to sit at the feet of the ,blessed ,one4 ,among them it is to be inferred were ,gop and others of the ,buddha's wives4 ,but ,yasdhara was not among the very first1 for she still longed for her lost husband1 and hoped against hope that he might yet come back to her4 ,but when she saw that this could not be1 she1 too1 was converted and became a saint1 earning the praise of the ,blessed ,one for her modesty and virtue4 ,now ,devadatta1 seeing the great power of the ,tathgata 7,buddha71 had1 against his will1 for it would deprive him of all chance of sovereignty1 become a ,bhikshu1 and carrying the beggar's bowl1 had set up a ,vihara in rivalry to that of the ,buddha4 ,he1 too1 must needs convert disciples1 both men and women4 ,it chanced that among the latter there was a young married woman1 who1 though she knew it not1 was with child when she joined the sisterhood4 ,when she discovered how matters stood with her1 she made no attempt at concealment1 but told her superiors of her case4 ,upon report being made of this to ,devadatta1 he was wroth1 and declared that as she had broken her vows she must be disgraced and banished from the community4 ,in shame and sorrow she came to the ,blessed ,one and laid her case before him4 ,he was moved with pity1 but saw that it would do harm to the ,holy ,order and give offence to the weaker brethren and sisters if he were to admit a nun who had been rejected as unchaste by ,devadatta1 unless she could prove her innocence4 ,so he ordered that an inquiry should be made1 and upon the assurance of a wise woman1 named ,visakha1 that the girl's condition was not due to any violation of the rules of the order1 but was only the natural result of her marriage before she entered the sisterhood1 he accepted her1 and when the nun's child was born1 he was known as ,kassapa the ,prince1 and was brought up in royal state4 ,the ,master justified his action by the story told in the following ,jtaka1 which is given at great length by ,rhys ,davids4 ,long ages ago the ,bodhisatva came to life as a deer4 ,when he was born he was of a golden colour1 his eyes were like round jewels1 his horns were white as silver1 his mouth was red as a cluster of ,kamala flowers1 his hoofs were bright and hard as lacquer-work1 his tail as fine as the tail of a ,tibetan ox1 and his body as large as a foal's4 ,he was known as the ,banyan deer1 and lived in a forest with an attendant herd of five hundred deer1 over which he was king4 ,near him dwelt another deer1 also gold-coloured1 with a like herd of deer under him4 ,he was known as the ,monkey deer4 ,now the ,king of ,benares at that time was a mighty hunter1 and made his people neglect their work in order to go and beat for him4 ,so the people took counsel together1 and resolved to make an enclosure1 driving all the deer into it and giving them over to the king1 so that their work should be no longer hindered4 ,so the two herds were driven into the enclosure1 and when the king went there1 he saw the two gold-coloured deer and granted them their lives4 ,but he1 loving venison1 would go sometimes to shoot a deer and at other times sent his cook to kill one4 ,at last1 when the deer1 terrified and often wounded1 were in despair1 they went to the ,bodhisatva and told him of their piteous case4 ,so he made a bargain with the king of the other herd--the ,monkey deer--that the two herds should in turn each day by lot send a deer to the place of execution1 so that at the least there should be no more wounding4 ,one day it happened the lot fell upon a hind in the herd of the ,monkey deer4 ,but she being great with young1 went to the ,monkey deer and said3 8,lord6 ,i am with young4 ,when ,i have brought forth my son1 we will both take our turn4 ,order that the turn shall pass me by40 ,but the ,monkey deer refused1 saying that he could not make her lot fall upon others1 and sent her away4 ,seeing that there was no help in him1 she appealed to the ,bodhisatva1 and he took pity upon her1 and went himself and put his neck upon the block of execution and lay down4 ,when the cook came and saw that the king of the deer whose life had been promised him was there1 he went and told the king1 who1 seeing the ,bodhisatva1 said3 8,my friend1 the king of the deer6 ,did ,i not grant you your life8 ,why are you here80 ,the ,bodhisatva answered3 8,o great king6 ,a hind with young came and told me that the lot had fallen upon her4 ,how could ,i transfer her miserable lot to another8 ,so ,i1 giving my life for hers1 am lying here4 ,have no suspicion1 ,o mighty king60 ,then was the king moved to great compassion1 and saying that never1 even among men1 had he seen so great pity1 gave their lives both to him and to the hind4 ,but more than that1 after listening to the ,bodhisatva1 he decreed that no beasts or birds or fish should thenceforth be killed4 ,after that1 the deer1 sure of their lives1 began to lay waste and eat the crops of the people1 so they complained to the king1 who bade them begone1 for he might give up his kingdom1 but not his oath4 ,then the ,banyan deer called together the herds and forbade them to eat the crops2 and he sent a message to the husbandmen1 telling them that they need put up no fences1 but that it would be enough if they tied leaves round the edge of the fields as a sign4 ,but he continued to instruct the deer thus throughout his life1 and passed away with his herd according to their deeds4 ,the king also hearkened to the words of the ,bodhisatva1 and then in due time passed away according to his deeds4 ,when the ,master had finished this story of the ,banyan deer he explained its meaning to the assembled disciples4 8,he who was then the ,monkey deer was ,devadatta1 his herd was ,devadatta's following1 the hind was the ,nun1 her son was ,kassapa the ,prince1 the ,king was ,ananda1 but the royal ,banyan deer was myself40 7,rhys ,davids1 8,birth ,stories10 ,vol4 ,i41 pages #bja-baj47 ,purged of its wild extravagances1 the ,lalita ,vistara1 the story told by ,ananda1 gives much insight into the purity and sweet reasonableness of the ,blessed ,one's teaching4 ,shortly before descending upon earth to be born of ,queen ,maya1 he is seated in the ,tsushita 7,heaven7 surrounded by gods and saints1 to whom he delivers this last parting message 7,i am translating from the version of ,foucaux1 quoted by ,barthlemy ,st4 ,hilaire73 8,be careful to avoid all immodesty4 ,all the divine and pure pleasures are the fruit of good work4 ,take heed1 then1 of your deeds4 ,if you have not laid up for yourselves these previous virtues1 you are hurrying to that goal where1 far from happiness1 we experience misery and suffer every ill4 ,desire is neither lasting nor consistent2 it is even as a dream1 a mirage1 the lightning1 the foam of the sea4 ,observe the practice of the ,law2 the man who faithfully observes these holy practices meets with no evil4 ,loving tradition1 morality and charity1 be constant in patience and purity4 ,act in a spirit of mutual loving-kindness1 in a spirit of helpfulness4 ,remember the ,buddha1 the ,law and the congregation of the faithful4 ,all that you see in me of supernatural power1 of science1 and of strength is produced by the agency of virtue1 which is its cause1 and comes from tradition1 from morality and from modesty4 ,do you1 too1 practise this perfect restraint4 ,it is not by phrases1 nor by words1 nor by crying that we can attain the doctrine of virtue4 ,acquire it by deeds2 act according to your professions2 never cease in making efforts4 ,not every one who acts is rewarded1 but whoso does not act obtains nothing4 ,beware of pride1 of haughtiness1 and of arrogance2 always gentle1 and never straying from the straight path1 be diligent in following the road which leads to ,nirvana4 ,bestir yourselves in the search after the ,road of ,salvation1 and with the lamp of wisdom dispel utterly the darkness of ignorance4 ,rid yourselves of the net of sin which is accompanied by repentance4 ,but what skills it to say more8 ,the ,law is full of reason and of purity4 ,when ,i shall have obtained the supreme intelligence1 when the rain of the ,law which leads to immortality shall fall1 then come back to listen anew to the ,law which ,i shall teach you40 ,then were the ,gods consumed by sorrow at the loss of the ,blessed ,one2 but he comforted them by leaving in his place the ,bodhisatva ,maitriya1 whom he consecrated by giving him his tiara and his diadem4 ,maitriya1 then1 will become ,buddha 7vide supra71 when the corrupted world shall have lost all memory of the teaching of ,shakya ,muni4 99 99 99 99 99 ,the ,buddha's life upon earth was prolonged far beyond the span which is allotted to most men4 ,he was some thirty years old when he first began to preach1 and his ministration lasted fifty-three years4 ,surely it is not irreverent to apply to him the words of the ,hebrew ,psalmist3 8,mark the perfect man and behold the upright3 for the end of that man is peace40 ,render 8,peace0 by 8,nirvana10 no bad translation1 indeed1 and you have the ,buddha4 ,when at the last he felt that the dark mystery of death was overshadowing him1 and that the end was at hand1 he bade ,ananda go and tell the ,mallas of ,kusinr that their master would pass away at midnight1 and invited them to come to him4 ,there was at that time in ,kusinr an old and decrepit man a hundred and twenty years of age1 upon whom the people looked as a saint4 ,his name was ,subhadra4 ,this venerable man1 believing in the greatness of the ,blessed ,one1 begged of him the boon of passing away before him2 and1 this being granted1 ,subhadra gave up the ghost4 ,but when the assembled ,bhikshus1 being astonished at this favour1 inquired the reason1 the ,blessed ,one told two last ,birth ,stories4 8,bhikshus1 in days gone by there lived in a valley a deer1 the master of a thousand deer2 he was prudent1 wide-awake and of quick perception4 ,one day a hunter espied him and told the king4 ,so the king assembled his army and surrounded all the deer and their leader4 ,then the leader thought3 #8,if ,i do not protect these deer they will all be destroyed4' ,so looking about the place in which they were penned1 he perceived a torrent flowing through the valley2 but the stream was so swift that the deer feared lest it should carry them away4 ,but the leader jumped into the water1 and finding foothold in the middle1 cried to the herd3 #8,come1 jump from the bank on to my back and thence to the other bank2 it is the only means of saving your lives2 if you do not do this you will surely die6' ,the herd of deer obeyed1 and though their hoofs striking his back cut the skin and tore the flesh1 he never flinched4 ,when as it seemed all the deer had crossed the water1 he looked back1 and saw a calf that had been left behind and could not cross over4 ,then1 torn and bruised and racked with pain1 he took the calf on his back1 and crossed the stream with it4 ,all the herd had now passed over1 but the great stag knew that death was near1 and he cried3 #8,may what ,i have done to preserve the joy of life to these deer and this calf make me cast off sin1 and obtain boundless and perfect light2 may ,i become a ,buddha1 cross over the sea of regeneration to perfection and salvation1 and pass beyond all sorrow4' 444 8,what think ye1 ,bhikshus8 ,i am he who was then the leader of the herd4 ,the deer are now the five hundred ,mallas and the fawn is ,subhadra40 7,adapted from ,rockhill's 8,life of ,buddha10 page #acg et seq47 ,one more ,jtaka he uttered1 and that was the last4 ,he warned his weeping disciples not to mourn for him1 or to look upon him as lost1 for inasmuch as they had his law and his doctrine1 he would still be with them4 ,he spoke to them of the four places where pious men would rear monuments in his honour3 7#a7 ,the ,lumbini ,garden1 where he was born2 7#b7 the place under the ,sacred ,fig-tree1 where he became ,buddha2 7#c7 the ,mrighadeva1 the deer forest1 from where the first sermon was preached2 7#d7 the place where he died at ,kusinr4 ,at the last the ,blessed ,one1 uncovering his body1 said to the ,bhikshus3 8,brethren1 look well at the ,tathgata's body1 for it is as hard to find a ,tathgata as to see a flower on a fig-tree4 ,bhikshus6 never forget it3 decay is inherent to all things60 ,these were the last words of the ,tathgata4 ,and so in the fullness of time1 calm and holy1 he entered ,nirvana1 that state in which all the desires1 all the cares and all the sorrows of life have ceased to be4 ,is not that the ideal of 8,peace1 perfect peace80 99 99 99 99 99 ,there is a ,japanese proverb which says3 8,meeting is the beginning of parting40 ,pregnant1 indeed1 are those six words1 for in them are summed up all the sorrows and the one inevitable certainty of life4 ,when the parting with those who are dear to us takes place1 how we treasure some trifle which brings to life recollections of the sweet communion of the past6 ,and so it is with those relics of which ,i spoke at the beginning of this chapter4 ,when ,assheton ,smith1 the famous sportsman1 was told that he must take his ailing wife to the ,south of ,france1 he1 being a wealthy man1 answered3 8,that ,i cannot do1 but ,i can and will bring the ,south of ,france to her40 ,and so there arose that marvellous conservatory1 a glass palace1 which ,i remember well1 when nearly sixty years ago ,i used to go and stay with ,lord ,broughton1 ,byron's friend1 who rented the place4 ,in our humble way we bring home to ourselves the lands endeared to us by the careless gaiety of former days1 scenes which are peopled by the ghosts of old friends whom we conjure up1 living once more in the sunshine of happy youth4 ,is not that the chief sanity of the collector's madness8 ,,buddha ,,and ,,st4 ,,francis ,,of ,,assisi ,,and ,,caste--,,the ,,aryans ,there are few days in the year1 even in mid-winter1 or1 what is worse still1 in ,march1 when ,i cannot sit out in my ,veluvana1 a sun-trap snugly sheltered from the north and the biting east4 ,it is my thinking-place1 and on this #bhth of ,january1 for some mysterious reason1 with his image before me1 my thoughts have been held entirely by the ,buddha himself4 ,not that ,i am a ,buddhist1 or in the remotest degree likely to become one1 though we hear of convinced followers of that religion even among ,englishmen2 but1 as those who condescend to read me will have guessed1 the story of his life has a great attraction for me1 and that none the less because it is the record of one of the greatest rebellions that ever took place4 ,indeed1 there is something weirdly fascinating in the history of all revolution even where we most hate it4 ,what show-place can possess greater interest than the tragic collections of the ,muse ,carnavalet in what was once ,madame de ,svign's home in ,paris8 ,yet it is made up of relics which make men shudder1 especially those few still left who1 like myself1 long ago knew not a few people who had lived through the days of the ,terreur4 ,i have stood in that house of gruesome memories spellbound by a fascination such as that by which a snake paralyses its victim4 ,in quite another way ,i am entranced by the upheaval which was the work of the ,buddha4 ,there was not the faintest likeness between the two revolutions--indeed1 they were diametrically opposites4 ,the one all fury1 flame and murder--hatred1 the guillotine1 and the noyades of the ,loire4 ,the other1 the calm extinction of all passion1 all human desire1 all ambition2 a life spent in holy contemplation and in the wooing of that supreme wisdom which is virtue4 ,and yet ,martin ,luther himself1 when he passionately scourged the ,pope and his ,bishop for the sale of indulgences1 was not a more zealous rebel than this calm and contemplative ,buddha1 who1 renouncing all honours and titles and worldly possessions for himself1 contented1 like ,st4 ,francis1 to don the monk's robe and to carry the beggar's bowl1 entered his peaceful protest against the usurpations and pretensions of the crafty ,brahmans1 who had long since drifted away from the simple and poetically beautiful teaching of the ,rig ,veda1 albeit they acknowledged its authority as ,sruti--inspiration1 looking upon it as their one inspired sacred ,book4#d ,in that wonderful collection of hymns and prayers about which ,i wish to say a few words later there is no allusion to suttee--the awful institution under which widows are burnt with their dead husbands2 none to child-marriages1 another cruelty2 none to caste4 ,all of these were inventions of the ,brahmans1 and it was upon the doctrine of caste that they founded their claim to superiority over the kings and princes whom they had gradually supplanted4 ,so long as the king and priest were one--so long1 that is to say1 as the king conducted the ceremonies and sacrifices of religion--the authority of the king was unchallenged4#e ,but there came a moment when the kings grew weary of a tedious ritual and delegated their religious duties to substitutes4 ,that was the opportunity of the priestcraft1 who1 as the intercessors between the people and their gods--a powerful position indeed--were able to claim a rank higher than that of the king himself4 ,here was the beginning of ,caste4 ,when ,buddha entered upon his ministry there were four castes3 7#a7 ,the ,brahmans1 or priests2 7#b7 the ,kshatriya1 the warrior and governing class1 to which the kings and princes belonged--a class analogous to the ,samurai or ,bushi of ,japan2 7#c7 the ,vaisiyas--farmers1 traders1 etc4 ,these three classes1 all of ,aryan descent1 were1 and are1 8the twice-born10 whose second birth is symbolized by their being invested with the sacred cord at an age which more or less corresponds to that of confirmation with us4 7#d7 ,the ,sudras were the fourth class2 they were the lowest of all--despised as the descendants of the ,dasyu1 the enemies of the bright gods1 the aborigines who were defeated by the migration of the white ,aryan herdsmen descending upon ,india from the lofty plains of the ,pamirs4 ,we talk glibly enough of ,caste1 yet there are not many of us who have any glimmering of light as to its real meaning or origin4 ,the majority of ,europeans speak of the word as if it were of ,hindu origin1 whereas it is simply a ,portuguese word signifying race or family4 ,in its present sense1 indeed1 it is of quite modern birth1 for the old ,portuguese ,barbosa1 writing in the sixteenth century1 only uses the word casta in the sense of family1 speaking of men and women de boa casta1 of good family4 ,when he wished to indicate the mysterious divisions of ,indian society1 he used the word leis1 laws1 leis de gentios1 laws of the heathen4 7,sir ,henry ,yule's glossary47 ,apart from the word1 we are apt to speak of ,caste as if it were an institution1 respectable at any rate on account of its hoary antiquity4 ,old it certainly is1 yet it was not known to the sacred poets of the ,rig ,veda4 ,the word which comes nearest to caste in ,sanskrit is 8,varna0 7colour71 and in the early days of the ,aryan invasion of ,india there were only two classes3 the white conquerors and the 8,dasyu10 or enemies1 who were black1 and1 as the conquered people1 looked down upon4 ,what we call caste1 then1 which was originally a question of skin1 had already in the ,buddha's time1 five centuries before our era1 become far more complicated than that4 ,ethnologically1 the division between the white man and the black1 the ,arya and the ,dasyu1 the conqueror and the conquered1 was as sharp as ever4 ,but whereas the dark man remained as he was--the lowest of the castes--political reasons and the lust of power had subdivided the conquering race into three distinct classes1 and1 as ,i have said above1 it was upon that subdivision that the ,brahmans laid the 8precious corner-stone0 of their priestly tyranny4 ,when the glorious young prince1 a ,kshatriya and the heir to the throne1 the incomparable scholar and athlete1 the man whom men envied and women loved1 cast aside his royal rank and went forth into the wilderness1 taking upon himself all the burthens and privations of the poorest and meanest1 in order that for them he might work1 striving for the good of all mankind without distinction of colour or race1 the ,brahmans were forced to see in him a hostile champion1 armed to attack their stronghold4 ,he went further than this3 he denied the divine authority of the ,veda1 without which the whole structure of ,brahmanism crumbles to dust1 and so he finally was branded as a heretic4 ,what cannot fail to excite surprise is the fact that although ,buddhism 8became the state religion of ,india under ,aska1 the ,constantine of ,india1 in the middle of the third century ,b4,c40 7,max ,mller71 and was only declining in the seventh century ,a4,d41 caste should not utterly have disappeared4 ,but that was not the case--on the contrary1 it has become more and more involved1 for there are now not only the three divisions of the twice-born ,aryas1 and the outcast ,sudras1 but there are1 moreover1 the subdivisions to which professions and occupations have given rise2 the goldsmith1 for example1 looking down upon the bootmaker and leather worker1 and he1 in his turn1 refusing to hold communion with some craftsman whose superior he deems himself to be4 ,no wonder caste has been described as 8a standing puzzle to governors and the despair of all employers of labour40 ,life is1 indeed1 complicated when the shadow of a man of meaner birth falling upon a boiling pot defiles the food which it contains by an impurity which is almost worse than poison4 ,as in an ,oriental household1 perhaps even in a ,european household1 it has been said that no matter how low a menial may be1 there is always someone a step lower to whom by payment he may assign some of his duties2 so below the ,sudras there is the ,pariah1 the outcast1 who1 as the word implies1 should carry a bell to give timely warning of the approaching contamination of his shadow4 ,max ,mller1 in his 8,chips from a ,german ,workshop10 quotes a table by ,berghaus showing the relative numbers of the people professing the chief religions into which the world is divided4 ,nothing can better show the extent of the influence which ,buddhism1 with an advantage of #ejj years and more over ,christianity1 #a1ajj1 and more1 over ,mohammedanism1 has exercised upon mankind4 ,buddhists #ca4b ,christians #cj4g ,mohammedans #ae4g ,brahmanists #ac4d ,various heathens #h4g ,jews #j4c ,in a note1 ,max ,mller adds that3 8,as ,berghaus does not distinguish the ,buddhists in ,china from the following of ,confucius and ,lao ,tze1 the first place on the scale belongs really to ,christianity4 ,it is difficult in ,china to say to what religion a man belongs1 as the same person may profess two or three4 ,the ,emperor himself1 after sacrificing to the ritual of ,confucius1 visits a ,tao-ss ,temple1 and afterwards bows before an image of ,fo in a ,buddhist chapel40 ,illustration3 ,,professor ,f4 ,,max-,m,,ller4 ,after a copyright photograph by ,elliott ,fry1 ,london4 ,to face p4 #eb4 ,ex ,oriente lux4 ,we see from this table that all the chief religions of the world have their rise1 like the sun1 in the ,east4 ,i have observed with no little astonishment that certain pundits of to-day speak in somewhat offensively patronizing tones of ,max ,mller1 as if he were a thing of the past1 all very well in his day1 but not up to date1 and already superseded4 ,as to that1 whether his theories upon the subject of mythology and comparative religion were sound or not1 ,i am not competent to judge2 but ,i feel that if others have pushed his work a step further than the point at which he left it1 we may fairly ask whether1 without his great labours1 these sages would have attained their own success4 ,there is no finality in science1 and a ,newton or a ,faraday is in no way dethroned if others have built on the foundations which he laid4 ,the world does not stand still1 and it is the common fate of the pioneer that some new man should go beyond what he has reached4 ,however that may be1 the collating1 translating and editing of the sacred books of ,india1 and the editing of the thirty volumes of the sacred books of the ,east1 including ,chinese and ,arabic works1 were a colossal labour--the work of a lifetime1 which has been of national and international value4 ,all honour to the workman6 ,i first met ,max ,mller sixty years ago at the ,deanery at ,christ ,church1 where the evening parties were gatherings of all that was most distinguished in university life4 ,he was then a most attractive personality1 brilliant1 of course1 still young1 not very tall1 but extremely good-looking1 an accomplished musician1 the friend of ,mendelssohn4 ,his conversation was delightfully illuminating1 and he was generous enough not to grudge the enjoyment of it to a humble undergraduate who was only too ready to sit at his feet4 ,it was a regret to me that ,i left ,oxford to enter the ,foreign ,office without having had the chance of attending his lectures2 but his works on the ,science of ,language1 and especially his 8,chips from a ,german ,workshop10 written at the behest of the great ,bunsen1 who persuaded the directors of the old ,east ,india ,company on public grounds to defray the expense of his edition of the ,vedas1 have been to me the joy of many years1 and still continue to fill many an idle moment1 robbing it of its idleness1 for who could be idle with ,max ,mller8 99 99 99 99 99 ,a very charming book is ,sabatier's 8,life of ,st4 ,francis of ,assisi40 ,to me one of its chief attractions lies in the strong parallel between the life of the medival saint and the ,eastern reformer4 ,the points of divergence are no more than would be accounted for by the differences of time1 place and surroundings4 ,st4 ,francis was not a prince of the blood royal like the ,buddha1 but he was the son of a rich man1 one of those merchants and men of mark who travelled through the world1 visiting all the important fairs of those days1 and received as welcome guests by the great nobles4 ,indeed1 they1 too1 had a sort of patent of nobility of their own1 belonging to a guild of popularity--for in those days when newspapers were not1 the rare visits of a man who could bring the latest court gossip from ,paris or ,london1 and whose waggons were often laden with golden tribute sent from beyond the sea to the ,pope1 were looked forward to with no little pleasure4 ,so ,francis1 in his gilded youth1 became one of the leading youngsters of the town1 foremost in all mischief and riotous living1 a fighter and a daredevil1 ruffling it in all the fantastic coxcombry of weapons and dress which the ingenuity of medival tailors and armourers could devise4 ,fighting there was in plenty in the ,italian cities of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries1 and who so ready to fight as the extravagant young scapegrace1 who was as keen to throw away his life as his money8 ,after one of the local raids came imprisonment for a year--then more fighting1 followed by illness1 fever and repentance2 after that solitude1 meditation1 and the final renunciation of the world1 the flesh and the devil1 when the manifest likeness to the ,buddha first asserted itself4 ,the long1 lonely silences in the carceri1 the little natural caves on the side of ,mount ,subasio1 when the saint1 plunged in profoundest thought1 was dreaming dreams of founding an order which was to save mankind1 cannot but remind us of the royal prince starving in the wilderness1 he1 too1 dreaming of the rescue of the world from sin4 ,both founded their orders on principles which involved the giving up of everything to which men hold most firmly4 ,there was to be no property1 no house1 no home1 no family4 ,rags and beggary were no disgrace--rather the hall-mark of a spiritual nobility4 ,homeless1 their disciples were to wander forth1 trusting in ,providence and charity1 which should do something towards filling the beggar's bowl4 ,neither saw at first that these were conditions which sooner or later must break down4 ,religion needs its luxuries and will have them3 a school of absolute effacement of the world was impossible in the ,west as it had been in the ,east4 ,to venture any minute sketch of the aims of the two reformers is beyond what ,i can do here4 ,both were animated by the most perfect spirit of self-sacrifice with which they vainly endeavoured to inspire their orders1 but no founder of religion has yet succeeded in establishing principles from which their so-called disciples have not sooner or later found self-justified means of breaking away4 ,one prominent feature in the characters of these two saintly men has in it a touch of poetry which it were ill to miss4 ,both loved animals with a love that was almost holy4 ,the ,buddha held the taking of all life to be a sin1 and it is impossible to read the ,birth ,stories1 to which ,i have alluded elsewhere1 without feeling that they were inspired by the tenderest sympathy4 ,st4 ,francis preached to the birds1 and when ,buddha taught in the ,deer ,forest near ,benares1 stags and hinds stood still and listened4 8,birds1 my brethren10 said ,st4 ,francis to the birds that fluttered round him1 8it is your duty greatly to praise and love your ,creator4 ,he has given you feathers for raiment1 wings to fly1 and filled all your needs4 ,he has made you the noblest of ,his creatures2 ,he allows you to live in the pure air3 you have no need to sow or to reap1 but ,he cares for you1 protects you and directs you40 ,and the birds stretched their necks1 spread their wings1 opened their beaks and looked at him as if thanking him1 while he walked about amongst them1 caressing them with the hem of his robe4 ,then he gave them his blessing and took leave of them4 ,when he was preaching at ,alviano the swallows made such a noise with their twittering that he could not make himself heard4 ,the gentle saint rebuked them3 8,it is my turn to speak10 he said4 8,swallows1 little sisters1 listen to the ,word of ,god1 be silent and hold your peace1 until ,i shall have said my say60 ,but for all this and much more1 how ,st4 ,francis praised ,god for all ,his creatures and specially for 8,my ,lord the ,sun1 for of ,thee1 oh6 ,most ,high1 he is the symbol10#f we must turn to the pages of ,sabatier4 ,to ,st4 ,francis1 as to the ,buddha1 all ,god's creatures and the life which ,he gave them were sacred4 ,if there was much that was alike in the two men1 there was one point in which they essentially differed4 ,st4 ,francis was no scholar4 ,he knew a little ,latin1 which he had learnt from the monks of ,st4 ,george2 that was a necessity for a man in his position1 for ,latin was a sort of lingua franca in his day1 and was the language of sermons and of political discussions4 ,writing was a difficulty to him2 he rarely took a pen in his hand and could do little more than sign his name4 ,the autograph of the ,sacro ,convento1 which is held to be genuine1 gives evidence of great awkwardness4 ,for the most part1 he dictated1 and would sign his letters with a simple ,t1 the symbol of the ,holy ,cross4 ,the ,buddha1 on the contrary1 like ,st4 ,paul among the ,pharisees1 was a man of learning1 deeply versed in the classics of the ,brahmans1 and well able to hold his own in discussions with the priests upon religion and upon the interpretation of the poems of the ,rig ,veda4 ,illustration3 ,,st4 ,,francis ,,of ,,assisi ,,preaching ,,to ,,the ,,birds4 ,by ,giotto4 ,to face p4 #eh4 ,there is no ancient historical problem of so great interest as that of the ,aryas1 that mysterious people of whom we talk so much and know so little1 as has been pointed out4 ,the movements of the planets1 the orbits of comets1 have been accurately calculated2 ,nature is continually being compelled to yield many of her secrets to the patient investigations of science4 ,but of this masterful white race1 some of whom1 from the high tablelands of ,central ,asia1 swarmed down upon ,india as conquerors1 while others1 wandering by the shores of the ,caspian ,sea1 overran ,europe to become the progenitors of all that is noblest in mankind1 there is no record1 no history1 and in regard to them even fable is silent4 ,where there is no writing1 not so much as a graven stone1 there can be no ,champollion1 no ,rawlinson4 ,the migrations of the ,aryas1 which meant so much for the children of men1 were long unsuspected1 and only in recent times realized4 ,even so1 the few men of learning who gave thought to this crucial human enigma were travellers in a dense and dark forest1 until in the ,cimmerian gloom comparative philology opened out vistas--none too broad--through which they were enabled to gain glimpses of a civilization and people of whom all trace had been lost in the mist of many decades of centuries4 ,narrow as they were1 they afforded the 1 from which the investigation of the lost history was set in motion4 ,of this modern learning we must acknowledge ,max ,mller as the foremost prophet4 ,bopp1 ,schlegel1 ,humboldt1 ,grimm and ,burnouf were great men1 but ,max ,mller1 like ,saul among the ,benjamites1 8from his shoulders and upward was higher0 than any of them1 and he it was who introduced the science of language into this country4 ,to one who1 like myself1 has been a faithful believer in his teaching1 it is a matter of unceasing wonder that there should be men of undoubted scientific and literary merit who hold in opposition to him that the ,aryas were originally a ,european race1 who in remote times found their way into ,central ,asia4 ,this bold theory was started about the year #ahci by a famous ,belgian geologist and ethnologist1 ,omalius d',halloy1 and it was taken up by no less a man than ,robert ,gordon ,latham1 by ,benfey1 ,spiegel1 ,poesche1 ,penka1 ,schrader and others4 ,max ,mller appears to attribute the idea to ,benfey1 a ,jew1 who was a learned ,orientalist and professor of comparative philology at ,gttingen4 ,in ,vol4 ,,iv41 page #bbc1 of ,max ,mller's 8,chips from a ,german ,workshop10 we read3 8,we have all accustomed ourselves to look for the cradle of the ,aryan languages in ,asia1 and to imagine these dialects flowing like streams from the centre of ,asia to the south1 the west and the north4 ,i must confess that ,professor ,benfey's protest against this theory seems to me very opportune1 and his arguments in favour of a more ,northern1 if not ,european1 origin of the whole ,aryan family of speech deserve1 at all events1 far more attention than they have hitherto received40 ,in spite of this1 ,max ,mller does not seem to have bestowed that attention upon them1 for ,i can find nothing either in confirmation or contradiction of the theory4 ,he at once goes off at a tangent on the comparative inter-relations of the various ,aryan languages among themselves1 but on the supposed ,european origin of the ,aryan race he is silent4 ,i think it just possible that ,max ,mller may have wished to pay ,benfey a compliment without committing himself to an endorsement of his views4 ,benfey had been strongly recommended to him by ,bunsen1 his own great friend and patron1 for whom he cherished the most grateful affection4 ,in a letter1 dated from ,heidelberg1 ,february #bfth1 #ahee1 ,bunsen writes3 8,i wish you would take advantage of my communication to put yourself into correspondence with ,benfey4 ,he is well disposed towards you1 and has openly spoken of you as the #8apostle of ,german science in ,england4' ,and then he stands infinitely higher than the present learned men of his department40 ,the desire to please ,bunsen would account for ,max ,mller's faint praise of ,benfey's theory1 but its adoption would have seemed nothing less than the negation of all that he had so long striven to teach4 7,cf4 8,chips from a ,german ,workshop10 ,vol4 ,,iii41 page #dfi47 ,of ,omalius d',halloy1 ,latham and the rest1 ,max ,mller seems to take no heed4 ,at any rate1 ,i do not find them mentioned either in the 8,chips0 or in the lectures on the ,science of ,language4 ,i1 for my part1 should as soon accept the doctrine1 in which ,i saw the other day that there is still here and there a believer1 that the world is a flat surface1 justifying the terrors of the sailors of ,columbus lest1 when they reached the extreme west1 they should topple over1 ship and all1 into space or ,hades1 by whatever name you choose to call it4 ,to some men disputation and contradiction are an intellectual necessity--witness the beliefs that ,bacon wrote ,romeo and ,juliet1 and that ,homer was an unlimited liability company of prehistoric ballad-mongers4 ,according to the ethnological faith in which ,i have lived for the last sixty years1 there existed in times so remote that they go back beyond the birth of chronology a white folk of shepherds and husbandmen who fed their flocks and tilled the soil in the valleys of the ,highlands of ,central ,asia4 ,there they increased and multiplied until the land of their birth could no longer hold them1 and their pastures became insufficient for their flocks and herds4 ,then began their many wanderings4 ,toughened by a climate in which they had to live under most trying conditions of burning heat and extreme cold1 they were a hardy race1 having little to fear from the opposition of the weaker tribes who might seek to bar their way4 ,there is one point in regard to the theory that the ,aryas were originally a ,european race1 which1 so far as ,i know1 has not been taken into consideration4 ,the ,aryas were obviously a superior people4 ,that they proved wherever they went4 ,in every migration they came1 conquered and remained4 ,has there ever been known a case where a superior race--not a handful of men1 like the crew of the ,mayflower1 but a whole nation--has migrated1 taking all the risks and uncertainties incident to travel and climate1 and leaving the inferior race to enjoy the old well-proved home undisturbed8 ,yet that is what the ,aryas must have done if they left ,europe for the terrors and privations of the ,highlands of ,asia1 remaining to face the hardships of that inhospitable region for long centuries1 until its insufficiencies drove them to seek the kindlier soil and climate which their forbears had deserted4 ,but whether the ,aryas left ,europe for ,asia and thence again descended upon ,europe1 or whether they were originally an ,asiatic race of dominant nobility1 that is a question over which we may leave the doctors to break their learned heads1 in the confident assurance that never can they arrive at any certainty4 ,theory without a backing of facts1 without documentary evidence1 must remain valueless4 ,only one thing in regard to the ,european migration or migrations is certain1 and that is the fact that all the ,european languages1 barring those of the ,huns1 their cousins the ,finns1 the ,basques and the ,turks 7if we may call them ,europeans1 which let us hope will soon no longer be the case71 can be traced back to the speech of the old tribe which perhaps three or four thousand years ago flitted south1 east and west from the storm-vexed valleys of the ,pamirs1 conquering and civilizing1 driving the aborigines before it like chaff before the wind4 ,when ,i was a lad we used to be taught by such pedagogues as were sufficiently advanced to have heard of ,sanskrit1 that this and that ,greek or ,latin or other ,european word was 8derived from the ,sanskrit40 ,that is all changed1 and no teacher would nowadays dare to preach such nonsense4 ,we know now that ,sanskrit1 which must have been more or less a dead language in ,buddha's time1 only known at any rate by the more learned among the priests1 was the descendant1 like ,greek1 ,latin1 ,russian1 ,english1 the ,celtic tongues and others1 from a much older language which was spoken by our forefathers in the ,highlands of ,central ,asia4 ,but ,sanskrit1 albeit not our parent speech1 but rather a distant cousin of our own ,european tongues1 dead and buried though it has been for some two thousand years1 has been the key by which the learned have unlocked the door of the most secret muniment-room of ethnological lore4 ,it is not possible to realize all that the ,buddha achieved in the world unless we have some conception of the religious and social condition of ,asia at the time of his great renunciation4 ,that condition was the result of the two great inroads of the ,aryas1 the one of the south into ,persia1 the other to the south and east overrunning ,india4 ,the one was that of the fire-worshippers and ,zarathustra 7,zoroaster71 whose sacred canon was the ,zend ,avesta2 the other that of the ,brahmans1 whose inspired message was the ,rig ,veda4 ,from the former are descended the modern ,parsees and ,guebres1 and there is some justification for believing that the separation of these two streams of invasion may have been due to religious dissent2 for to the ,parsee--the believer in ,ahura ,mazda 7,ormuzd71 the one ,god1 ,creator of the ,universe--the gods of the ,brahmans are an abomination1 and no book is to a pious ,parsee so much to be abhorred as the ,rig ,veda4 ,in the ,veda the ,gods are called ,deva4 ,this word in ,sanskrit means bright1 brightness or light being one of the most general attributes shared by the various manifestations of the ,deity1 invoked in the ,veda as ,sun1 or ,sky1 or ,fire1 or ,dawn1 or ,storm4444 ,in the ,zend ,avesta the same word ,deva means evil spirit4 ,like the ,buddha1 ,zarathustra was a heretic and a dissenter1 and his sacred book1 the ,zend ,avesta1 was an attempt to replace the worship of the forces of nature by a religion--purer and more spiritual--under one ,divine ,creator1 ,ahura ,mazda1 the wise spirit4 ,it is much to be regretted that1 like our ,lord1 the ,buddha should have left no written word of his own4 ,it would have been interesting to know whether he held the ,brahmanic gods in the same contempt as did ,zarathustra and his followers4 ,inasmuch as he denied the inspiration of the ,veda1 he obviously must have repudiated them1 and in his teaching1 as it has been recorded1 they play no part4 ,but ,max ,mller certainly underestimates the respect assigned to them in the later ,buddhism of the monks when he says3 8,in ,buddhism we find these ancient ,devas1 ,indra and the rest1 as merely legendary beings carried about at shows1 as servants of ,buddha1 as goblins or fabulous heroes2 but no longer worshipped or even feared by those with whom the name of ,deva had lost every trace of its original meaning40 ,now it is impossible to deny that all over the ,east1 wherever there is a ,buddhist temple1 there the images of the old ,devas1 grim and repellent1 are devoutly worshipped and propitiated by prayer1 even by people who have no inkling of their significance4 ,moreover1 it has been for many centuries the policy of ,buddhist missionaries to claim the native saints in countries which they seek to convert as reincarnations of the ,buddha1 and therefore to be worshipped4 ,for instance1 in ,japan1 ,hachiman1 the indigenous ,god of ,war1 is adored in ,buddhist temples1 and there are many such cases1 where there is no question of 8goblins or fabulous heroes40 ,in modern times the ,jesuits adopted the same policy in ,china1 in regard to so-called ,worship of ,ancestors and of ,tien--,heaven2 thereby bringing down upon themselves the wrath of the meddling and muddling ,dominicans and ,franciscans and the interference of the ,pope1 between whom and the ,emperor-,king ,hsi there arose a controversy1 in which the former was worsted and the cause of ,christianity in ,china was set back for centuries4 ,i have spoken of the ,aryas as of 8a people of whom we know so little10 and yet1 in truth1 the wonder is that we should know so much with the almost mathematical certainty afforded by the study of language and of the ,rig ,veda1 those beautiful hymns for which the ,brahmans claim ,sruti--divine inspiration--and which are by far the oldest document of the whole ,aryan race4 ,that there should exist any writing of the age to which they belong is a physical impossibility2 the heat and damp of the ,indian climate are swift and ruthless in their work of destruction4 ,even in the ,buddha's time the very language of the ,vedas was dead and understood only by the priests4 ,but we know from the journals of the ,chinese pilgrim1 ,hsan ,chwang--as ,max ,mller points out--with what painful care the hymns were preserved orally by the ,brahmans in the seventh century ,a4,d4 ,we have also1 as he further points out1 the analogy of ,hebrew1 the ,,mss4 of the ,old ,testament1 none of which is older than the tenth century1 but of which the truth is tested by comparison with the ,septuagint4 ,we know that 8every hymn1 every verse1 every word and syllable in the ,veda were accurately counted by native scholars about five or six hundred years before ,christ40 ,it is supposed that the collection of hymns was finished some eleven or twelve hundred years ,b4,c4 ,but some of the hymns were then ancient1 some modern1 8so that we cannot well assign a date more recent than #abjj to #aejj before our era for the original composition of those simple hymns which up to the present day are regarded by the ,brahmans with the same feelings with which a ,mohammedan regards the ,koran1 a ,jew the ,old ,testament1 a ,christian his ,gospel40#g ,some of the hymns appear to me to contain passages of almost sublime beauty1 though ,max ,mller says3 8,the historical importance of the ,veda can hardly be exaggerated1 but its intrinsic merit1 and particularly the beauty or elevation of its sentiments1 have by many been rated far too high4 ,large numbers of the ,vedic hymns are childish in the extreme3 tedious1 low1 commonplace40 ,and then he goes on to show how the ,gods are invoked to grant long life1 food1 large flocks1 large families1 for which they are to be rewarded with sacrifices1 etc4 ,here ,i cannot but think that the great professor1 for whom ,i entertain such sincere respect1 is a little unfair4 ,is not the idea of looking to their ,god as the ,giver of all good things common to all primeval peoples8 ,the ,jews1 for instance1 though they were full of wise words about the vanity of riches1 still looked to ,jehovah to enable them to 8eat the riches of the ,gentiles10 and to lead them to 8a land of wheat and barley and fig trees and pomegranates3 a land of oil olive1 and honey10 and of mineral wealth4 ,again ,solomon says3 8,my son1 forget not my law1 but let thine heart keep my commandments2 for length of days1 and long life1 and peace shall they add to thee40 ,prayers for material prosperity to ,god1 under whatsoever name ,he may be worshipped1 are common to all religions1 and it is hardly just to brand the hymns of the ,veda as 8tedious1 low1 commonplace10 because the ancient herdsmen of the ,pamirs were no more disinterested in their prayers than the rest of mankind1 but addressed their material petitions to ,god just as ,king ,david and ,king ,solomon did4 ,it was natural enough that these men1 abiding in the fields1 keeping watch over their flocks and herds by day and by night1 under the eternal ice and snow of the heaven-reaching mountains1 should worship the light--all that was ,deva 7light7 was to them sacred and symbolical of the ,godhead--and so the ,deus of the ,latins was originally ,light1 and when we talk of 8divine10 8divinity10 we are looking back to the worship of our ancestors when they prayed to the ,sun1 the ,fire1 the ,sky1 the ,dawn1 which were the givers of all good things4 ,sometimes they are invoked under the names of ,varuna1 ,mitra1 ,indra4 8,in one hymn ,agni 7fire7 is called the ruler of the universe1 the lord of men1 the wise king1 the father1 the brother1 the son1 the friend of men4444 ,in another hymn1 ,indra is said to be greater than all2 the ,gods1 it is said1 do not reach ,thee1 ,indra1 nor men2 ,thou overcomest all creatures in strength4 ,another ,god1 ,soma1 is called the ,king of the ,world1 the ,king of ,heaven and ,earth1 the ,conqueror of all4 ,and what more could human language achieve in trying to express the idea of a divine and supreme power1 than what another poet says of another ,god1 ,varuna3 #8,thou art ,lord of all1 of ,heaven and earth2 thou art the ,king of all1 of those who are ,gods and of those who are men8'0 ,how beautiful is the following litany3 8,in the beginning there arose the golden child4 ,he was the one born ,lord of all that is4 ,he established the earth and this sky2 who is the ,god to ,whom we shall offer our sacrifice8 8,he who gives life1 ,he who gives strength1 ,whose command all the bright ,gods revere2 ,whose shadow is immortality2 ,whose shadow is death2 ,who is the ,god to ,whom we shall offer our sacrifice8 8,he who through ,his power is the one ,king of the breathing and awakening world2 ,he who governs all1 man and beast2 who is the ,god to ,whom we shall offer our sacrifice8 8,he ,whose greatness these snowy mountains1 ,whose greatness the seas proclaim with the distant river2 ,he ,whose regions are1 as it were1 ,his two arms2 who is the ,god to ,whom we shall offer our sacrifice8 8,he through ,whom the sky is bright and the earth firm--,he through ,whom the heaven was 'stablished1 nay1 the highest heaven--,he who measured out the light in the air2 who is the ,god to ,whom we shall offer sacrifice8 8,he to ,whom heaven and earth1 standing firm by ,his will1 look up trembling inwardly--,he over ,whom the rising sun shines forth2 who is the ,god to ,whom we shall offer our sacrifice8 8,wherever the mighty waterclouds went1 where they placed the seed and lit the fire1 thence arose ,he who is the sole life of the bright ,gods2 who is the ,god to ,whom we shall offer our sacrifice8 8,he who by ,his might looked even over the waterclouds1 the clouds which gave strength and lit the sacrifice1 ,he who alone is ,god above all ,gods2 who is the ,god to ,whom we shall offer our sacrifice8 8,may ,he not destroy us--,he1 the creator of the earth2 or ,he1 the righteous1 who created the ,heaven--,he also created the bright and mighty waters2 who is the ,god to ,whom we shall offer our sacrifice80 ,well might ,max ,mller1 who has unearthed them1 redeem his dispraise of the hymns by saying3 8,hidden in this rubbish there are precious stones60 ,right well do the hymns1 or1 at any rate1 those which he admits to be 8precious stones10 deserve their title ,rig ,veda1 the knowledge of ,praise4 ,nothing can be finer1 more masculine1 than a propitiatory hymn to the ,maruts1 the ,storm ,gods1 of which he gives us a translation3 8,they make the rocks to tremble1 they tear asunder the kings of the forest4 ,come on1 ,maruts1 like madmen1 ye ,gods1 with your whole tribe40 ,no wonder men1 whose lives had to face the terrors of the icy wilderness1 sought the favour of the unruly forces whose rage meant death to them and to their herds and flocks4 ,a hymn to ,agni 7fire71 8the son of strength1 the conqueror of horses1 the highborn10 is less striking1 but the zenith of the ,vedic poetry is reached1 as it seems to me1 in a prayer addressed to ,ushas1 the ,dawn4 ,what a picture it suggests of the old herdsman in those frozen solitudes1 falling on his knees when the stars grow pale before the first glimmer of light that stretches along the eastern horizon1 thankfully to worship the radiant ,goddess who puts to flight the dark shadows of the night and its unseen dangers4 ,listen to his song of praise3 8,she shines upon us1 like a young wife1 rousing every living being to go to his work4 ,when the fire had to be kindled by men1 she made the light by striking down darkness40 8,she rose up1 spreading far and wide1 and moving everywhere4 ,she grew in brightness1 wearing her brilliant garment4 ,the mother of the cows 7the mornings71 the leader of the days1 she shone gold-coloured1 lovely to behold40 8,she1 the fortunate1 who brings the eye of the ,gods1 who leads the white and lovely steed 7of the sun71 the ,dawn1 was seen revealed by her rays1 with brilliant treasures1 following every one4 8,thou who art a blessing where thou art near1 drive far away the unfriendly2 make the pasture wide1 give us safety6 ,scatter the enemy1 bring riches6 ,raise up wealth to the worshipper1 thou mighty ,dawn40 8,shine for us with thy best rays1 thou bright ,dawn1 thou who lengthenest our life1 thou the love of all1 who givest us food1 who givest us wealth in cows1 horses and chariots40 8,thou daughter of the sky1 thou highborn ,dawn1 whom the ,vasishthas magnify with songs1 give us riches high and wide2 all ye ,gods protect us always with your blessings40#h ,so the old shepherd prays1 and the ,goddess1 answering to his call1 spreads her rosy mantle over the sky1 and tinges the snowy peaks and ridges of the ice-bound mountains3 the sun rises in his glory1 and the peace of a new day is born to the world4 ,the piety of the old ,aryans admits of no doubt4 ,we are told that the consciousness of sin is a prominent feature in their religion4 ,the poet of the ,veda searches eagerly for his sin1 and finds it not in his will but in his condition1 which even in his dreams holds up evil before his eyes1 and at last he turns to his ,god1 the ,god of ,grace who enlightens the simple4 ,he believes in the power of the gods to take away from man the heavy burden of his sins4 8,varuna is merciful to him who has committed40 ,one more point should be noticed in any attempt1 however slight1 to give a sketch of the religion of the ,veda4 ,max ,mller tells us that it knows of no idols4 ,this is the more remarkable when we think of the innumerable idols of savage and revengeful ,gods by which ,indian1 ,chinese and ,japanese temples are degraded2 all the nightmares of later monks who knew nothing of the pure and clean-minded ,aryans1 whose ,gods1 as ,oldenberg tells us1 in contrast to others1 were bright and friendly beings without malice1 cruelty and deceit4 ,it has been well said that the highest value of the sacred poems of the ,aryans is historic1 and that value has been revealed by the comparatively recent study of ,sanskrit4 ,that is in the school in which we learn who the ,aryans were1 what was the manner of their lives1 their religion and their thoughts2 and we can1 in a measure1 trace much of what1 after many centuries1 led to the development of a ,hindu school of metaphysics1 in comparison with which the much vaunted ,pythagoreans and ,greek thinkers were as babes and sucklings4 ,the very name ,arya tells us that this ancient people was a race of husbandmen and tillers of the soil1 the root ar from which the word is derived being found again in the ,latin arare1 to plough1 aratrum1 a plough1 and in the ,greek 2 and when we talk of our 8daughters10 it is well that we should remember that our ancestors on the ,steppes1 many thousand years ago1 themselves invented the word 8duhitar10 the milk-maid1 the very word with which we ,europeans1 in one shape or another1 caress our women-children4 ,the hymns and prayers of the ,vedas abound in allusions to the herds and flocks of these old farmers1 whose best friends--and therefore the objects of their adoration--were the sun1 the stars1 the rains of heaven2 just as their enemies--therefore to be propitiated--were the storms1 the snow and the cruel winds3 these were--the life-givers and death-givers4 ,the life of the lonely watcher of the ,steppes was of its essence one of contemplation1 reflection and introspection4 ,let me give one pregnant quotation from ,max ,mller's 8,history of ,ancient ,sanskrit ,literature03 8,at the first dawn of traditional history we see these ,aryan tribes migrating across the snow of the ,himalaya southward toward the ,seven ,rivers 7the ,indus1 the five rivers of the ,punjab and the ,sarasvati71 and ever since ,india has been called their home4 ,that before that time they had been living in more northern regions1 within the same precincts1 with the ancestors of the ,greeks1 the ,italians1 ,slavonians1 ,germans1 the ,celts1 is a fact as firmly established as that the ,normans of ,william the ,conqueror were the ,northmen of ,scandinavia4 ,the evidence of language is irrefragable1 and it is the only evidence worth listening to with regard to ante-historical periods4 ,it would have been impossible to discover any traces of relationship between the swarthy natives of ,india and their conquerors1 whether ,alexander or ,clive1 but for the testimony borne by language40 78,sanskrit ,literature10 pp4 #ab1 #ac47 ,to the learned ,jew--a ,semite1 to the ,hungarian1 the ,finn1 or the ,basque1 who are ,turanian settlers in ,europe1 the history of the ,aryans is an interesting study1 linguistic or racial4 ,to us true ,europeans1 to us true ,aryans1 it has a far greater significance4 ,it has all the charm of an inquiry into a piece of remote family history--all the glamour of a pedigree1 not to be measured by a few puny centuries1 but reaching far away into the clouds of incalculable ons4 ,talking idly in a garden1 we can do no more than touch the mere fringe of a mighty problem1 even though it should be suggested by the great silent ,buddha4 ,for instance1 we have summoned as witness the one word 8daughter10 when there are so many others that we use a dozen times a day which are equally strong links in the long chain of evidence by which we prove our descent4 ,but no matter--we have started the clue3 let who will pick it up4 ,it will reward him4 ,,the ,,commune ,my ,pegasus is not always inclined to take long flights4 ,sometimes when a lazy fit is upon him he will venture no more than a trip across the ,channel1 carrying me to ,germany1 ,italy1 ,switzerland--perhaps landing me no further off than some place in ,france4 ,but of that beloved country ,i have so many recollections1 some gay1 some sad1 that ,i crave to go no further4 ,one such trip is very short but very tragic4 ,forty-six years have passed since the episode of which ,i write1 but the scenes of those few days are graven so deeply in my mind that no lapse of time can ever efface them4 ,they haunt me like the pathetic thoughts which are aroused by the solitary little pink slipper of the ,princesse de ,lamballe in the ,muse ,cluny4 ,thoughts are such obstinate vagabonds that they must needs choose their own road1 and not even the ,buddha1 in his ,veluvana1 can drive them eastward unless such be their will4 ,the final tragedy of #ahga 7from a repetition of the horror of which1 may ,heaven preserve ,france and ourselves67 is no doubt in these days eclipsed by the brutal outrages upon which ,kultur is ever improving4 ,what will forty-five more years do8 ,that mechanical invention and chemical discoveries should come into play is1 ,i suppose1 inevitable4 ,the strange thing is that the whole coarse-fibred soul of the ,german seems to be infected by the very potentialities of all these ghastly new discoveries1 which seem to urge him on to new cruelties and new crimes4 ,in #ahgj he knew how to spare4 ,witness ,paris4 ,now it is otherwise4 ,still1 to us who lived in those days what will always be known as the ,franco-,german war remains as a poignantly painful memory2 though the ravages of war and the carnage were terrible1 it was the parricidal fury of anarchy and its monads which made men's blood run cold4 ,the ,commune1 that hideous catastrophe which reversed the unnatural1 crime of ,saturn--the children murdering and devouring their own parent--ended tragically with the month of ,may1 #ahga4 ,one morning ,i got a note from the ,duke of ,sutherland1 saying that he had received information that the first train would be allowed into ,paris the next day1 and suggesting that we should go over and see whether we could be of any use4 ,we started the following morning--the ,duke1 ,george ,crawley1 ,wright1 the ,duke's secretary1 and myself2 but the train was stopped at ,creil that afternoon1 and we had to stay there rather miserably for the night4 ,the place was swarming with ,prussian soldiery1 scowling and truculent-looking1 clanking their spurs defiantly all about the station and town4 ,the people returned their evil looks with interest1 but it was of no use--they were the masters4 ,v victis6 ,it is a terrible sight to see a great people trampled on and tortured by the savagery of a victorious army2 but when that army is a ,prussian army--ask the ,belgians4 ,there was no difficulty the next day2 the train started early1 and we were in ,paris betimes4 ,there were not many cabs at the station1 but there was no great competition1 so we were soon suited4 ,i got on the box by the driver1 as ,i was curious to hear what he had to say of the siege and the ,commune4 ,strange to say1 he1 like every ,parisian with whom ,i talked1 was far more bitter against the ,commune than against the ,prussians4 ,after all1 men said1 the ,prussians spared our monuments2 the ,commune destroyed them4 ,when we arrived arrests were taking place all over the town1 and there was still some shooting of men in the streets1 though we did not see it4 ,full of pathetic suggestion were the little heaps of clothes piled up in the squares and at the corners of streets4 ,there were some uniforms1 but mostly they were made up of humble blouses and the civilian caps of what we should call street arabs--the titis of old ,paris4 ,the owners1 as the cabman said1 were all rotting in the ,fosse ,commune2 he himself was full of belated valour4 8,if there had only been ten men like me10 he protested1 8ten determined stalwarts1 a horror like the ,commune would have been impossible40 ,i asked him what he did4 8,mon ,dieu6 ,monsieur6 ,que pouvais-je faire contre tous ces brigands8 ,j'tais tout seul4 ,je me suis refugi dans la cave40 ,the next day a worthy shopkeeper held just the same language4 ,ten men such as himself could have held the ,rue de la ,paix and kept the ,communards at bay4 ,he tried to persuade his neighbours1 but they would not join with him1 so1 regretfully1 he1 too1 hid in the cellar4 ,it was strange to listen to these bourgeois who had shown such courage and determination and endurance during the siege1 when the ,prussians were battering them out of existence4 ,they could face the ,prussians gallantly2 before the ,commune they quailed4 ,the ,rue de ,rivoli was a piteous sight4 ,the ,ministre des ,finances was burnt and gutted2 the roof had fallen in1 the windows were all gaping1 and out of one of them there was a bit of charred blind fluttering dismally in the light summer air like the ghost of a flag4 ,the ,tuileries were nothing but a pile of charred stones1 hardly the skeleton of a palace left2 but the ,louvre was luckily to all intents and purposes unharmed4 ,it was enough to make a man weep to see the havoc1 the ruins1 and everywhere the signs of murder and violence4 ,the ,communards and ptroleuses had done their work thoroughly4 ,we dropped the luggage at the hotel1 dismissed the cabman1 still fully convinced of the potentiality of his own valour1 and started forth for a morning stroll on foot4 ,when we came to the ,place ,vendme1 the great column1 the bronze record of the past glories of the ,french army1 was lying prone on a bed of straw1 torn down by the sacrilege of ,gustave ,courbet1 the ,ministre des ,beaux-,arts under the ,commune4 ,it had been badly smashed1 and some small fragments had been carried away as souvenirs1 but many of these were1 ,i was told1 recovered4 ,as we drew near to look at the cruel misdeed1 a peloton of soldiers came along with a civilian in their midst1 whom they were carrying off to a guard-room hard by4 ,it was ,courbet himself1 whom ,i knew well by sight4 ,i was not the only man to recognize him4 ,an elderly gentleman with a little boy of about fourteen years was passing by4 ,when he saw the prisoner he dashed forward1 and before the guards could stop him1 knocked off ,courbet's hat1 shouting out3 8,au moins1 sclrat1 tu te dcouvriras devant la colonne que tu as fait tomber40 ,courbet1 dazed by this fury of explosive patriotism1 picked up his hat and said nothing1 while the gentleman1 well pleased with himself1 walked on with his little son1 and the guard grinned satisfaction1 but took no further notice4 ,illustration3 ,,gustave ,,courbet4 ,from a painting by himself in the ,louvre4 ,to face p4 #hb4 ,i had often seen ,courbet in former days at the ,caf ,royal1 where he used to go for his midday meal4 ,as he was something of a sommit1 a celebrity in art as elsewhere for all his rebellious proclivities1 the matre d'htel used to receive him with the greatest ceremony1 bowing to the ground and rubbing his hands3 8,bonjour1 ,monsieur ,courbet4 ,que pourrai-je offrir ,monsieur ce matin4 ,j'ai un ,chateaubriand qui est de toute confiance10 etc41 etc41 etc4 ,courbet would sit down with majestic condescension1 like a true anarchist1 deigning to be waited upon with all the adulation which was due to him4 ,well1 it so happened that after the little scene which ,i have described in the ,place ,vendme1 we went on to the ,caf ,royal1 where we were received with effusive welcome by the matre d'htel4 ,like everybody else1 he began talking about the recent tragedies and inveighing against the ,commune4 ,i told him of the arrest of ,courbet1 his old patron1 and he at once launched out into the most violent abuse of him4 8,oh6 ,monsieur1 ne me parlez pas de ce sale communeux6 ,si jamais il ose remettre les pieds ici c'est moi qu'il aura affaire60 ,i asked him why he used the word 8communeux10 ,i thought the word was communard4 8,oui1 ,monsieur10 he replied sententiously1 8mais on dit crapule1 crapuleux1 commune1 communeux1 c'est plus mritant40 ,courbet was sentenced to six months' imprisonment1 and was condemned1 moreover1 to pay a very heavy fine for the fall of the column--none too severe a punishment in all the circumstances of the case4 ,some time after the expiration of the six months ,i was again in ,paris1 and went to the ,caf ,royal for luncheon4 ,who should come in a few minutes later but the great ,courbet4 ,up rushed the matre d'htel to meet him1 and ,i anticipated a first-rate row4 ,not a bit of it6 ,to my amazement ,i heard the old welcome3 8,bonjour1 ,monsieur ,courbet6 ,qu'est-ce-qu'on peut vous offrir ce matin80 etc4 ,the old story1 the old refrain1 the obsequious bows1 the festive rubbing of hands4 ,i could not resist reminding my friend of what he had said a few months before4 ,ah6 he said1 that was all so long ago6 8,d'ailleurs10 he added1 8il ne faut pas oublier qu'il a t ministre1 et on ne sais jamais ce qui peut arriver60 ,old ,lady ,edward ,thynne used to tell a capital story of ,courbet1 whom she met a few years before #ahgj at some artistic gathering in ,paris4 ,he had been airing his political views for some minutes1 when to draw him out she said3 8,but then it seems that all this while ,i have been talking with a real red republican40 8,rouge1 ,madame10 was the answer1 8dites1 plutt1 violet10 and then he went off again at score4 8,but why10 she asked1 8do you say that you want to pull down the ,tuileries80 8,madame1 parce que tant que cette sacre maison durera il y aura toujours des coquins qui voudront venir y demeurer40 ,another notable arrest was that of ,paschal ,grousset1 the so-called ,minister of ,foreign ,affairs4 ,he was caught disguised as a woman in the ,rue ,condorcet1 which created a great sensation4 ,sir ,edward ,malet1 who as second secretary of the ,british ,embassy1 had been obliged to have some dealings with him1 told me that he was really a very pleasant little man1 who was always civil and obliging to foreigners4 8,not a bad little fellow10 ,malet used to say4 ,i saw him some years later in ,london1 when he was correspondent of ,i forget which of the ,french newspapers1 and he came to me at the ,office of ,works to ask for an admission to a volunteer review which the ,queen was to hold in ,hyde ,park4 ,he was so agreeable that ,i quite understood ,malet's verdict on him4 ,in the evening we went to dine at ,voisin's1 where ,i had heard that the members of the ,government of the ,commune had been dining and breakfasting every day during their short lease of power4 ,good old ,bellanger1 the famous sommelier1 was delighted to see us4 ,i asked after a certain old chambertin--had he any left8 8,pour ,monsieur il y en aura toujours10 was the answer4 ,but ,i said1 8,i wonder that your late patrons did not drink it all up60 8,ah6 ,monsieur1 si vous croyez que j'allais donner de ce vin l ces charapans6 ,monsieur1 lorsque j'ai su qu'ils allaient venir ici je suis descendu dans la cave et j'ai chang toutes les tiquettes4 ,ils croyaient boire les meilleurs crus--s'ils avaient su ce que je leur servais6 ,mais j'tais sr de mon affaire6 ,est-ce qu'ils s'y connaissaient ces animaux-l80 ,and then he went on grumbling3 8,ah6 mais non1 non6 ,du chambertin--jamais de la vie60 ,truly there is a comic element in every tragedy1 and a grave-digger in every ,hamlet4 99 99 99 99 99 ,of all the crimes and cruelties which disgraced the ,commune1 none excited greater horror than the murder of ,monseigneur ,darboy1 the ,archbishop of ,paris1 and the priests who with him and many others were seized as hostages4 ,the flames of the ,tuileries and other monuments1 the hell-fire orgies of the mob and the ptroleuses drunken with the lust of blood and incendiarism--when the very firemen pumped petrol instead of water on to the burning buildings--were almost forgotten in the execration of that sacrilege4 ,upwards of sixty hostages1 all innocent peaceable men1 against no one of whom could any misdeed be alleged1 were put to death4 ,they were imprisoned in ,la ,roquette1 and on the #bdth of ,may the ,archbishop and the ,abb de ,guerry1 the ,cur of the ,madeleine1 with ,monsieur ,bonjean1 the president of the ,cour de ,cassation1 and three ,jesuit priests 7,fathers ,ducondray1 ,allard and ,clair71 after a sham trial1 were led into the courtyard of the prison and shot4 ,the ,archbishop1 who was the second of the victims to suffer1 met his death like the hero and ,christian martyr that he was4 ,he stepped to the front1 and praying to ,god for the forgiveness of his murderers1 gave them his pastoral blessing4 ,two of the firing party1 less hardened than the others1 knelt down and asked his pardon4 ,when the butchery was over the ruffians stripped the ,archbishop's honoured body1 and that no degradation might be wanting1 carted it off to be thrown like the carrion of a malefactor into the ,fosse ,commune4 ,even decent burial was to be denied to him4 ,after the last desperate fight at the cemetery of ,pre la ,chaise1 in which men and women fought like tigers and tigresses1 neither giving nor asking for quarter1 all mad to kill1 and kill1 and kill1 the body was recovered and carried to the archiepiscopal palace1 where it lay in state1 with those of the other priests4 ,all ,paris flocked to do homage to one of ,god's saints1 and take a last look at the beloved old man4 ,those who could afford it were in deep mourning1 but all were weeping from the richest down to the poorest and humblest1 as ,i saw them march past the body4 ,the ,archbishop1 lying mitred and robed1 looked like a waxen image4 ,there was no sign of pain in his face1 no trace of the cruel sorrow and long suspense by which his last days must have been racked2 on it was written only that divine peace which passeth all understanding4 ,the hour-glass had been turned and the sands of the ,commune had run out4 ,the prison of ,la ,roquette1 the scene of so many horrors1 was now in the hands of the ,versaillais1 and the cells of the hostages were more fitly tenanted by the murderers who but a few days before1 when to be respectable was a deadly crime1 had ruled ,paris with a rod of terror4 ,passing by the prison1 after leaving the ,archbishop's palace1 we saw that the great gates were open1 and a crowd was gathered outside eagerly watching and craning necks to see what was going on within4 ,i asked what the people were waiting for8 ,a batch of prisoners was to be led out to the fortifications to be shot4 ,next to me was standing a rather pretty young girl of about fifteen or sixteen years1 nicely but very simply dressed1 evidently the daughter of well-to-do bourgeois parents4 ,in charge of her was a bonne1 an elderly woman wearing a linen cap1 and the typical tartan fichu pinned across her breast4 ,presently the excitement began4 ,first came three omnibuses1 their usual function1 as their placards showed1 being to take pleasure-seekers to the ,jardin des ,plantes2 they were driven by soldiers1 other soldiers or gendarmes sitting on the top and acting as conductors4 ,inside an evil-looking crew of scowling ruffians1 some of them wounded1 all dirty1 unshaven and truculent-looking--villains who knew that for them even hope was dead4 ,the omnibuses were followed by litters1 in which other soldiers were carrying men who had been seriously wounded1 some of them terribly mangled4 ,in one of the litters lay a dark1 fierce-looking man1 with a shock mass of black hair4 ,his head and face1 pale and haggard1 with a beard of three or four days' growth1 were tied up with blood-stained linen bandages4 ,his eyes were closed1 and he seemed hardly conscious1 too feeble to move1 too tired to care4 ,he was respectably1 even well dressed in a frock coat4 ,evidently a man in a superior position to that of those who had gone before4 ,as he came1 and owing to some obstruction1 his bearers paused for a minute1 the girl near me gave a piercing shriek1 and crying out3 8,papa6 ,ah1 ,papa1 c'est ,papa60 fell sobbing into the arms of her nurse4 ,she had come on the chance of one last look1 and had1 as the bystanders said1 been waiting for hours4 ,the wounded man1 hearing the cry and recognizing the dear young voice1 opened his eyes1 and pulling himself together for a supreme effort1 tried limply to wave his hand4 ,his lips moved1 and during the short halt tried to utter a few words1 but voice would not come to his bidding2 he uttered no sound1 his eyes closed again1 and quickly his bearers turned the corner and he was out of sight4 ,that dumb farewell was the last of him4 ,the final act can have been but a small matter to him1 for he was1 indeed1 little more than a corpse already4 ,the poor child stood there shaking from head to foot and weeping on the bosom of her bonne1 and the crowd dispersed4 ,it was a harrowing scene1 it was a pathetic scene1 the pathos of which could hardly be forgotten by any who witnessed it4 ,after nearly half a century ,i can still see that grim procession of death1 and the young girl's shriek of agony rings in my ears4 ,those were days of horror4 ,retribution had come with no halting foot2 shrifts were short1 and justice wasted no time over inquiries2 it was even said that a good many innocents perished with the guilty4 ,whether that is true or not is hard to say1 but it was an accusation which in the circumstances was sure to be made4 ,an outcry was raised against the four generals of the ,republican armies1 ,vinoy1 ,ladmisault1 ,cissey and ,donay1 to whom the guardianship of ,paris1 divided into four parts1 was entrusted4 ,but far more virulent than any of the attacks upon them were the charges that were brought--most unfairly1 since they only obeyed orders--against the ,marquis de ,gallifet and his dragoons4 ,those charges came from the white-livered party1 set on by such ,communists as had managed by hook or by crook to escape observation and save their skins4 ,these did not hesitate to accuse ,gallifet of wholesale murders of innocent men and women when the executions took place outside the ,arc de l',etoile4 ,from inquiries which ,i made on the spot and at the time1 ,i believe that he did no more than his duty4 ,gallifet was a most determined man1 to whom duty was something sacred1 bound to be carried out to the letter at any cost4 ,he was1 moreover1 a born soldier1 loving his men as they loved him1 and cut to the quick by the deaths of so many comrades4 ,as a cavalry leader1 all men recognized his great worth4 ,brave as the steel of his own sword1 utterly reckless of his life1 as he had shown in the disastrous ,mexican campaign and in the ,great ,war1 his courage was so infectious that his troopers would have followed him had he ordered the charge to be sounded against all the hosts of ,satan4 ,war was for him something very real1 not to be treated with half measures or milksop compromises4 ,he was a fighter1 and he fought in deadly earnest4 ,we hear much in these days from peacefully-minded lawyers of the iniquity of reprisals4 ,it would be a good thing if some of these learned gentlemen would remember the old adage1 8,inter arma silent leges20 adding to it the words1 8et juris consulti40 ,it is good to see on this #crd of ,february1 #aiaf1 that there is at least one great leader of thought left in this country who takes a saner and more masculine view of reprisals than that which is held by some bishops and semi-parsonic lawyers4 ,lord ,rosebery's letter to the ,times of this day is inexorable in its logic and in its justice4 ,we must protect our women and children4 ,this is an age of cruel inventions1 and if our enemies take advantage of them1 so must we1 unless we would wish to be as the archers of ,edward the ,third and the ,black ,prince would be if we sent them into the trenches to-day1 forbidden for chivalrous reasons to use aught but their bows against modern artillery and high explosives4 ,if ,germany uses poison gas and liquid fire1 so must we4 ,if she drops bombs from airships upon innocent civilians1 women1 and children1 we must follow suit4 ,god forbid that it should be in the spirit of revenge2 but what other deterrent is possible8 8,vous l'avez voulu1 ,georges ,dandin40 ,it is much that ,lord ,rosebery has lifted his voice in this sense4 ,gallifet did not hesitate to adopt reprisals1 and nobody can say that his methods failed4 ,he knew that the crimes with which he had to deal could not be prevented in the future by the sprinklings of rose-water and soft-sawder4 ,reprisals in the sense of cruelty to prisoners and murders such as that of ,nurse ,cavell and ,captain ,fryatt1 are1 of course1 quite another matter4 ,i could not help taking a great interest in ,gallifet's proceedings1 because1 although ,i had only had the very slightest acquaintance with him some ten years before1 he was the intimate friend of many friends of my own1 both ,english and ,french4 ,the ,prince of ,wales1 as he then was1 had great regard for him1 and never failed to send for him when he went to ,paris4 ,it must have been about the year #ahei or #ahfj that he1 with ,madame de ,gallifet1 the ,sagans and the ,pourtals's1 came over to ,london for a week or ten days in the height of the summer season1 and ,i was asked by ,madame de ,persigny1 the ,french ambassadress1 to do what ,i could to make their stay pleasant4 ,the three ladies1 with ,madame de ,metternich as a fourth1 were at that time the recognized queens of ,paris society1 or1 at any rate1 of that part of it which bowed the knee at the ,imperial ,court4 ,madame de ,gallifet was very good-looking1 and the ,princesse de ,sagan handsome and distinguished1 but neither of them could compare with the ,comtesse de ,pourtals1 who had all the subtle charm and teasing beauty of which the eighteenth century portrait painters are the celebrants4 ,madame de ,metternich1 who did not come to ,london with them1 was not a pretty woman2 indeed1 she spoke of herself as 8le singe la mode20 but she was witty and very attractive1 and so became the high priestess of that religion of which ,worth1 the famous man-milliner1 a former apprentice of ,swan and ,edgar's1 who had raised his temple in the ,rue de la ,paix1 was the ,pope1 on the hierarchy of fashion4 ,she was perhaps one degree greater than the other three ladies1 but above them all was enthroned the ,empress ,eugnie1 a divinity at whose altar all men and women were fain to fall down and worship4 ,these are strangely frivolous recollections of pretty women and smart dresses and coxcombry of men-milliners that came thrusting themselves into the midst of one of the great tragedies of history4 ,but these are the tricks which memory plays us3 the most grotesque ideas surging up in the midst of acute sorrow1 the dance of death serving to accentuate the follies of a farce--so unstable are our minds4 ,all this is conjured up by the recollection of ,gallifet1 before he became a famous cavalry general1 when he was a brilliant young officer1 the spoilt child of a court1 the favourite officer of an emperor1 popular with men and women1 idolized by his soldiers1 long before the cruel wounds of the ,mexican campaign--when he showed what the man about town was worth when brought face to face with grim war--the last man in ,europe of whom ,i should have thought that one day he would have to experience those emotions which cause the most callous judge's voice to falter when he puts on the black cap4 ,later in life1 with his closely-cropped white hair and moustache dyed black1 he was a picturesque figure in ,paris--still a beau sabreur1 still a soldier at every point--a name to conjure with had the opportunity presented itself4 ,,trees ,,and ,,their ,,legends ,solitude1 surrounded by memories of which ,i have spoken1 and by the fanciful brood of thoughts to which they give birth1 has a mystic power of banishing all trammels of time and of place4 ,the plants in the garden begin to take strange forms3 the bamboos are drawn up out of their puny ,western stature into gracefully-waving plumes of ,brobdingnagian growth1 such as we see in the ,peradeniya ,gardens of ,ceylon2 the oak under which the great ,buddha sits1 solemnly holding up a warning hand1 changes into a holy ,b-tree1 its long-stalked1 pointed leaves quivering in a gentle breeze1 laden with the heavy perfume of the sacred ,champak flower2 the fleece of clouds sails away into space and the soft ,english sky hardens into the metallic blue of the glaring ,east4 ,all of a sudden a slight chilly gust chases away the whole illusion4 ,kapilavastu1 ,rajagriha1 the deer forest1 the ,veluvana1 with its crowd of yellow-robed monks carrying their begging bowls1 fade away1 and we are sobered into the commonplace realities of life on a spur of the ,cotswold ,hills4 ,it is like the awakening after the intoxication of ,hashish1 or after the short death dealt by laughing gas4 ,the dream may have been fascinating1 but there are glorious compensations in the awakening1 for though our peaceful gardens are not so wildly fantastic1 not such an orgy of colour1 as those of the gorgeous tropics1 our woodlands in their grave dignity are matchless3 they touch the heart2 the others stir the senses4 ,it was a lovely day in early summer1 and the show of the ,royal ,horticultural ,society was in full swing in the gardens of ,chelsea ,hospital4 ,all the world was there--all the world1 and everybody else's wife4 ,a few of us were standing looking at a grand display of orchids1 when a charming lady turned round to me and said3 8,oh6 how delicate1 how beautiful and how distinguished they are6 ,surely the very aristocracy of plant life60 8,no10 ,i answered1 8they are only the nouveaux riches4 ,it is the old oaks of our parks and forests that are the aristocracy of plants40 ,surely there is nothing more proud1 nothing more wonderful in nature1 than the noble old age of those patriarchs which centuries ago chequered with their quivering shade the glades in which ,robin ,hood and ,little ,john drew the bow1 and holy ,friar ,tuck made his quarter-staff spin round his head like the sails of a windmill4 ,indeed1 all our indigenous trees are glorious4 ,the beech1 the ash1 the wych-elm1 and even the so-called ,british elm1 which1 sooth to say1 is only a naturalized alien that came to us from ,italy and has been so long among us1 living in trusty alliance with our natives1 that we have come to treat him as our own--all these1 in company with the oak1 truly make up what ,wordsworth called 8a brotherhood of venerable trees40 ,in ,britain1 and probably all over ,europe1 there is no tree which commands so much veneration as the oak4 ,we talk of hearts of oak1 and of the wooden walls of old ,england1 and we endow our hoary1 gnarled giants with all the attributes of stateliness and royal honour4 ,one squire of high degree ,i once knew who1 shortly before his death1 thanking ,god for a long life1 boasted1 not that his eighty years had been spent in the practice of piety and virtue1 as doubtless was the case1 but that he had never cut down an oak4 ,with the oaks we connect the stories of old ,british kings and the mysterious liturgies of the golden-sickled ,druids1 those ,brahmans of the ,cassiterides--the ,tin ,islands--who1 if we may believe ,csar and ,pliny1 who are our only authorities--for the priesthood1 even if they could do so1 might write down nothing--exercised power greater than those of popes4 ,woe to him who denied their authority or questioned their law6 ,for their excommunication was more terrible than that of ,rome1 making a man an outcast1 a pariah1 a social leper1 with whom no man might deal or hold intercourse2 for if he did1 he1 too1 would fall under the awful ban4 ,after a lapse of two thousand years we have heard of something of the same kind in our sister island4 ,and our beloved ,scotch fir6 ,what of that true ,briton8 ,happily there are still here and there in remote ,highland glens a few of the old primeval forests of that great tree left4 ,probably the most picturesque of these is the ,king's forest of ,ballochbine1 where you may see it in all the fullness of its nature--veterans borne down with age1 stalwarts in full vigour1 youngsters in their nonage1 babies just born from the seed4 ,their red stems1 glowing in the evening sun1 spring out of a carpet of heather1 blaeberries and ferns1 among mossy rocks and lichen-starred stones4 ,close to them are their graceful consorts1 the birches1 which ,lowell called 8the most shy and ladylike of trees10 drooping their delicate plumes over the pools and musical rills of brown peat-stained burns4 ,what a succession of pictures1 hard to beat1 does this old forest of ,ballochbine give6 ,and that is as it should be1 for is it not the ,king's own8 ,the happy union between the pine and the birch has been sung by some ,scottish poet in a simple but touching ,epithalamium3 8,the ,pine's the ,king of ,scottish glens3 ,the ,queen1 ah6 who is she8 ,the fairest tree the forest kens4 ,the bonnie birken tree60 ,we may be asked1 since we have so grand a pine of our own1 why import from abroad so many aliens1 many of which are certainly not its superiors in beauty8 ,i suppose that the answer must be that of the daily partridge which the domestically faithless ,french king brought in argument against the remonstrances of his father-confessor4 ,besides1 it can hardly be denied that many of them are exquisitely beautiful4 ,one of the lovely blue spruces from ,pike's ,peak in ,colorado1 looking as if it had been dyed in the mystic waters of the ,grotto ,azzurra of ,capri1#i strikes an altogether new note in our garden landscape2 the steeple of a tapering cypress will give that perpendicular line which is so valuable to the painter1 as we may see in ,italian gardens1 in the picturesque cemeteries of ,constantinople1 and all over the ,levant4 ,a blue cedar from the ,atlas range in ,north ,africa1 its branches feathering down to the ground in graceful profusion1 catches the slanting rays of the sun and sends them back to you as if its leaves were sprinkled with hoar-frost or wrought in some luminous metal4 ,but it is idle to compile lists and catalogues4 ,they make dull writing and duller reading4 ,suffice it to say that the intrinsic beauties of the many trees1 shrubs1 lianes and vines1 which have been added to our own lovely flora1 furnish an ample justification for their admission into our homes4 ,but apart from this there is the collector's mania to be reckoned with4 ,most men take a pride in showing their friends some gem1 some treasured rarity1 and the gardener is as proud of his collection of unique plants as the ,hertfords1 the ,rothschilds and the ,pierpont ,morgans have been of their pictures and miniatures1 their ,svres porcelain1 or the masterpieces of ,riesener1 ,gouthire and ,caffieri4 ,the plant collector has this advantage over those famous lovers of the living works of dead artists that he can gratify his whims and vanity so much more cheaply4 8,what brought ,sir ,visto's ill-got wealth to waste8 ,some ,demon whispered--,visto1 have a taste40 ,even orchids are cheap in comparison with ,rembrandts1 ,vandycks1 ,sir ,joshuas and ,gainsboroughs4 ,it stands to reason that the gathering together of such treasures as may be seen at ,westonbirt1 at ,aldenham1 at ,frensham1 and in one or two other collectors' gardens1 cannot be achieved without a considerable expenditure of money1 guided by consummate knowledge2 but1 even so1 the cost is relatively small4 ,and the owners of lesser pleasaunces with small outlay can profit by the experience and public spirit of those gardening magnates1 both professional and amateur1 who combine to send out costly expeditions to new fields of adventure and discovery in order to add to the treasure stores of horticulture4 ,if there be any who are so jealous of the honour of our ,british forests and woods that they resent any competition with their beauty1 and look upon all new-comers from over the sea as undesirable aliens1 they should1 at any rate1 allow that1 though they would be out of tune in a wild forest1 they bring lovely harmonies of colour and form into the more artificial scenes with which we adorn the immediate surroundings of our country houses4 ,they are no more foreign than the numberless flowers with which our predecessors used to furnish their beds and borders1 and they have two great advantages over these1 as ,i hope to show presently4 ,as to the question of fitness or unfitness1 that is a matter of conditions and arrangement4 ,i know a vast park in which the old oaks and beeches used to make up a sylvan scene of incomparable grandeur4 ,some years ago the owner1 fired with a new and wholly uneducated enthusiasm1 studded the stately forest with lovely little ,japanese maples1 but without any intervening masses of cultivation to make the garden blend with the primeval trees4 ,the effect was deplorably ludicrous--nay1 it was worse than ludicrous3 it was an act of desecration4 ,had my friend been more judicious1 what charming effects he might have conjured up in a suitable place with those same little crimson bushes which he condemned to play so silly a part in among his glorious secular oaks6 ,what magical scenes have been called up with their help at ,westonbirt6 ,but those pictures were produced by knowledge4 ,there was a time when in spring and summer ,i used to look forward to the autumn1 hailing its advent as the season of sport1 when every day brought some new joy4 ,now that ,i have left the autumn of life far behind me and am deep in its winter1 ,i have no love left for the shortening days1 the rustle of falling leaves1 and the cold patter of the rain on the dimmed panes of glass4 ,and yet when the sun shines1 how beautiful is the ,indian summer6 ,how lovely the dismissal of the haze floating away across the valley6 ,yes6 ,autumn has its consolations4 ,foreigners who have never been in this country generally think that we live like newts and frogs in a land of marshes and dismal morasses1 curtained by fogs through which the sun's rays never pierce1 a land sadly breeding a mysterious disease which they call 8,le spleen40 ,in the fifties1 as ,disraeli once put it1 they looked upon us as 8an insular people subject to fogs1 and possessing a powerful middle class10 both1 in their eyes1 equally objectionable4 ,all the greater was their surprise and admiration when they came to realize the soft loveliness of our landscapes4 ,sixty years ago and more ,i was sent home from ,eton for a few days' change after some trifling ailment1 and my father took me1 and a ,french friend of his who was staying with him1 to ,richmond4 ,never shall ,i forget that man's astonished enthusiasm when the view from ,richmond ,hill burst upon his sight4 ,it was1 as good luck would have it1 a rarely beautiful afternoon in ,october4 ,the trees in the park were clothed in the golden russets of autumn4 ,the sunlight was dancing upon the river running like a broad silver ribbon through the valley--a delicate blue mist threw an exquisitely diaphanous veil over the distance4 ,our friend1 brought up in the fallacies of the ,french novelists of those days1 lifted his hands in amazement and stood silent4 ,it was my first sight of ,richmond4 ,i have travelled far and wide since then1 and have seen many more startling scenes1 but the haunting beauty of that autumn evening remains one of my happiest dreams4 ,there is a mysterious charm in that landscape1 with the oaks which were veterans when ,henry the ,eighth hunted the deer under their boughs1 the lush grass1 and the ,thames1 that sacred river1 for an ,eton boy without its peer in the world4 ,it is a scene which neither ,alps nor ,rockies1 neither the ,bosphorus and the ,golden ,horn1 nor the ,great ,wall of ,china1 nor the wonders of the tropical jungle1 can efface4 ,and--it is home4 ,some thirty years ago when1 as ,i have said1 autumn was still the welcome herald of sport1 ,i1 happily inspired1 laid the foundation of what to-day robs it of some of its sadness4 ,now that the stalls in my stable are empty and the guns lie idle in the racks of the gun-room1 ,i reap the reward4 ,i sent to ,america for acorns1 ,i bought seed of the giant ,japanese vine 7,vini coignettia7 in ,tokio4 ,from ,veitch 7alas6 for the death of a noble firm67 ,i procured specimens of all the species and varieties of ,japanese maples3 ,thunberg's berberis1 the ,persian parrottia--these1 with the various forms of rhus and other choice plants1 make up a palette of colours to cheer the dool of the dying year4 ,in ,october one after another the maples begin to send up tongues of fire1 setting the hill-side in flames4 ,it is a rare treat to see the sun shining through the leaves of some trees red as the pigeon's-blood ruby2 rare to see the fretted lace-work of others clothing them in a gorgeous panoply of old gold4 ,their neighbours are gleaming like the jewels in ,oriental fable4 ,the hollies and thorns and taller trees are draped with flamboyant curtains sent down by the huge vines--red1 yellow1 tawny orange1 festoons falling in a riotous feast of colour4 ,among all these proud foreigners the more modest yet no less beautiful native spindle-tree suffers no eclipse4 ,a little later the ,american oaks begin to assert themselves4 ,these1 a little while before they turn crimson1 assume all the quality of an old ,chinese bronze which the patina of time has painted with the many hues of ,joseph's coat mysteriously blended together in an exquisite harmony4 ,when we watch all these1 we understand the poetry of the ,japanese when they talk of their mountains and forests clothed in the brocade of the maples4 ,it must be obvious that gardening1 the object of which is the production of a succession of varied pictures which1 being inspired by the observation of ,nature in her many moods1 might appeal to the artistic taste of a painter or stir the emotion of a poet1 presents difficulties undreamt of by the flower-bed manufacturers of fifty or sixty years ago4 ,their gardening was all done with compasses and straight-edge1 and the geometrical result1 the eccentric 8knottes0 worked out in alternantheras1 ecneverias1 golden feather and the like1 savoured of nothing nearer to nature than the ,tottenham ,court ,road4 ,those were the days in which the garden1 like the kitchen1 was the special province of the mistress of the house4 ,of the latter she might know something1 of the former generally nothing2 and the consequence was that it was handed over to men1 who1 though they might be most admirable cultivators1 had had no artistic training1 had not had the opportunity of learning by travel1 and were content to carry on certain rule-of-thumb traditions1 which turned out every man's garden in the likeness of that of every other man4 ,in the uniformly unrelieved brilliancy of geraniums1 verbenas and calceolarias1 of imagination or poetry there was not a trace--not even the merit of invention4 ,in his brilliant book1 8,form and ,colour10 ,mr4 ,march ,phillips divides the human mind into two great categories--the intellectual and the emotional4 ,the intellectual faculty is characteristic of the ,west1 the emotional faculty prevails in the ,east4 ,next comes the question of ,form and ,colour in ,art4 8,form10 he says1 8has dominated ,art whenever and wherever the intellectual faculty was dominant in life2 colour has dominated ,art whenever and wherever the emotional faculty has dominated life40 ,later in the book1 when speaking of the contrast between the ,art of the ,west and the ,art of the ,east1 he proceeds3 8,form1 as we were saying1 is chiefly a matter of the intellect4 ,the arts which deal with form convey ideas4 ,their appeal is to the mind4 ,colour1 on the other hand1 conveys no ideas4 ,my italics4 ,it is emotional and appeals to the senses rather than to the intellect4 ,and this being so1 it seems natural that the ,western temperament1 intellectual rather than sensuous1 should excel in form rather than in colour2 while the ,eastern1 sensuous rather than intellectual1 should excel in colour rather than in form40 ,this theory of colour and form gives us much food for thought1 and it is impossible not to be struck by the aptness with which it may be applied to the gardener's craft4 ,the gorgeous colour of the one school of gardening appeals directly to the senses1 and1 like other similar appeals where there is no relief from monotony1 it soon satiates and wearies4 ,the kaleidoscopic beds which remind us of ,pallas ,athene springing fully armed from the brain of ,zeus1 are at the outset the same as they will be four months later1 when their glory will be ignominiously wheeled away to the rubbish heap4 ,day after day you look out from your window and there is no change--nothing but an eternal ,oriental glare of scarlet and yellow4 ,how can such a garden create ideas8 ,compare with this the garden of form4 ,here there is plenty to excite ideas and fire the imagination1 for here you have life with all its changes and accidents1 from the tender birth of the bud to the vigour of the mature plant1 the loves of the flowers1 and the happy ripening of the fruit1 which is the mystery of maternity4 ,no two days are alike2 as they follow one another1 each brings with it something new1 some fresh beauty1 some intimate revelation of ,nature's secrets4 ,and when the year has nearly run its course1 when the autumn leaves fall to the ground in a shower of gold such as that which broke through ,dana's prison1 there is no death or decay of the plant1 no carting off to the fosse commune1 but just a long1 happy winter's sleep1 enviable as that of a dormouse resting in the sure hope of a glorious new birth when the first kiss of spring shall awaken the sleeping beauty in the wood4 ,colour1 then1 is of the ,east sensuous2 form is of the ,west intellectual4 ,it is1 of course1 a mere coincidence1 and not a rule capable of being laid down2 but as ,i was walking to-day in a garden of form with ,mr4 ,phillips' theory seething in my brain1 ,i could not but be struck by noting that1 besides our own native trees1 by far the greater number of those that have been naturalized here for the sake of their shape are of ,western origin2 while1 with the exception of the ,american oaks1 those that we value for their gorgeous colouring--such1 for instance1 as the ,japanese maples and vines--come to us from the ,east4 ,it is hardly worth noticing1 but it was certainly curious that1 wherever ,i looked1 there ,i saw form transported from the ,west4 ,the caravans which crossed the ,rocky ,mountains in search of gold1 not without leaving many skeletons by the way2 the orchid hunters of the ,amazon1 braving sickness1 fevers and poisoned arrows1 have enriched our pleasaunces with treasures1 not to speak of the brilliantly-coloured gems of which they were primarily in search1 which1 could our grandfathers1 and even our fathers1 come to life again1 would make them open their eyes wide with astonishment1 wondering whether some magician could have waved his wand over their cherished grounds1 changing them into fairyland4 ,the diplomatists1 who opened up ,japan in #aheh1 the pioneers of trade1 who have penetrated into the secret places of ,western ,china1 carrying their lives in their hands1 have all added to our wealth of plants1 both in form and colour1 but chiefly in colour4 ,when we see the glorious velvety shafts of ,lawson's ,cypress1 or ,libocedrous decurrens1 shooting up heavenward like church spires1 when we look upon the great ,american conifers1 so rich and so various1 or among the lowlier plants1 are startled by the huge leaves of the ,chilian ,gunneras1 we cannot but admit that for form we have to thank the ,west4 ,in a later chapter1 in the course of a fascinating disquisition on ,byzantine architecture1 ,mr4 ,phillips goes on to say3 8,we must recognize that between these ideas of colour and softness there is something more than an accidental connection 444 softness and colour go together as naturally as hardness and form40 ,these are words which might be applied with special fitness to the garden4 ,but although form is of its very essence hard1 so far as outlines are concerned1 we are not without one corrective which softens and subdues it4 ,that corrective is atmosphere4 ,i hold1 and ,i think that most fellow-craftsmen1 if ,i may dare to reckon myself among gardeners1 will agree with me1 that background is absolutely essential to success2 yet if you place a statue1 or plant a specimen tree1 immediately against the finest background that imagination could desire1 it will remain hard and shorn of much of its charm1 because it will lack the softening influence of atmosphere4 ,i know no better illustration of this than the way in which the ,venus of ,milo is shown at the ,louvre4 ,it is so skilfully placed that the air plays all round it1 and the outlines of the marble melt1 as it were1 into the surrounding atmosphere4 ,were it pressed1 as statues so often are1 close against a curtain or a dead wall1 the supreme beauty of the goddess would be cruelly sacrificed4 ,the form1 the inspiration of the sculptor1 would be there1 but the hardness of the material would be unredeemed2 it would represent death instead of life4 ,that is why so many photographic portraits fail to render beauty4 ,the model is placed immediately in front of a screen--all sense of aerial perspective is lost--and the result is1 from an artistic point of view1 a deadly failure1 even should the photograph be technically perfect1 so far as optics and chemistry are concerned4 ,no composition is good1 or even tolerable1 where aerial perspective is neglected1 and that is as true in gardening as it is in the plastic arts4 ,it is the lack of aerial perspective--in other words1 of atmosphere--which so fatally mars the very real beauty of ,oriental art4 ,in the paintings of the ,chinese artists1 and the extravagantly-admired coloured prints of the famous wood engravers of ,japan1 there is often a rare skill of colour and a firmness of hand worthy of ,giotto1 especially in the matchless drawing of flowing lines such as drapery4 ,the birds and trees and grasses of the ,kano school1 the lovely outlines of the landscape painters1 the monkeys and deer of ,chsen1 are in many respects wonderful4 ,but there is almost always something wanting4 ,for want of aerial perspective the lines remain rigid2 there is no soft atmospheric roundness1 and on that account the pictures fail to satisfy4 ,the result is like the fascinating work of very clever children4 ,compare with the vaunted eighteenth-century art of ,japan the contemporary work of the ,french painters1 ,watteau1 ,lancret1 ,fragonard1 who1 to my mind1 have never been excelled in their rendering of the mystery of atmosphere4 ,see how their woodland scenes melt into unfathomable distances like those of the great ,dutchmen1 such as ,cuyp and others4 ,there you have the poetry of nature and of gardens1 and when you are laying out your domain and combining your succession of pictures and surprises1 ask yourself this question3 ,would ,watteau have found here anything worthy of his brush8 ,to be sure you cannot have his pretty powdered dames1 and his musical courtiers1 with their viols and tabors and flutes4 ,but they were mere accessories4 ,that which so obviously gave him the greatest joy--that upon which he bestowed his supreme skill--was the scenery in which he placed them to give it life1 even though that life should have something of a meretricious and theatrical character4 ,if it be true1 according to ,phillips1 that softness and colour1 hardness and form1 go together1 we can account for the prevalence of the garden of mere colour in the days when the lady of the house ruled the gardener4 ,the garden of colour is feminine and emotional2 the garden of form masculine and intellectual--it is the garden of the master4 ,and here we come to something akin to the ,chinese doctrine of ,yang and ,yin1 the male and female principles ruling creation4 ,the garden of form belongs to ,yang1 the garden of colour to ,yin4 ,this is not intended in any way to undervalue the woman's influence4 ,it is only natural that a woman who is all softness and emotion should surround herself with effects which mirror her own sweet nature4 ,the man1 on the other hand1 strong and hard1 will be inclined to try and imitate the sterner pictures of creation4 ,he will work in what ,addison called the ,pindaric style1 8without affecting the nicer elegancies of ,art40 ,take the books which have been written upon the subject2 their name is legion4 ,the women's books1 full of delicate charm1 busy themselves for the most part with the marriage of colours1 the blending of hues1 the reconciliation of hostile shades4 ,they are very clever1 very ingenious1 very attractive2 but1 setting on one side a few of the great lady writers1 among whom ,miss ,willmott and ,miss ,jekyll are queens1 they represent no more than the millinery of plants--the stockings to match the frock4 ,set against these the rugged masculine vigour of a writer like ,william ,robinson1 the man to whom1 above all others1 is due the notable improvement which has grown in horticultural taste during the last forty years4 ,from him you will learn much1 for he knows much1 and he can teach it4 ,if you have his book1 8,the ,english ,flower ,garden10 you will need no other1 for it will give you all the knowledge which you require4 ,among the women's books1 as ,i have said1 there are1 of course1 delightful exceptions2 but of the bulk of them the best that can be said is that they are gentle and morally innocuous4 ,for all that is delicate and charming and alluring1 joined to many of the highest and robust qualities which adorn mankind1 ,i have been all my life a worshipper of the ,yin principle2 but when it comes to gardening and the writing of books on gardening1 give me the ,yang1 give me ,william ,robinson4 ,all men love trees1 and it is small wonder that the sight of objects so beautiful should have led men to think of them with awe as under the special care1 or even as the dwelling-places1 of gods and goddesses2 indeed1 the connection of trees with religion is as old as the conception of the deity itself4 ,north and south1 east and west1 we find the same idea4 ,in the ,scandinavian ,sagas the mystic ,ash ,ygdrasil is the tree of life1 of time1 and of space4 ,its branches spread over the whole world and its top reaches above the heavens4 ,its roots strike in three directions3 the one down to ,hvergelmer1 the well of the dragon ,nidhug2 the second to the fountain of ,mimer1 the source of wisdom and wit1 for a drink of which ,odin pawned his eye with ,mimer2 the third is in ,asgard1 close to the fountain of ,urd the ,norn of the ,past1 where the gods1 riding over the ,bifrodh ,bridge--the rainbow--assemble to sit in judgment4 ,here dwell the three ,norns3 ,urd the ,norn of the ,past1 ,verdande the ,norn of the ,present1 and ,skuld the ,norn of the ,future2 and here they weave the web of fate for you and me and all mankind4 ,it is strange how men have been fascinated by the rough and rugged ,icelandic mythology born of ice and snow and rocks lashed by glacial winds2 and nights that are light as day1 days that are black as night2 an existence which was one long fight against the elements1 and struggle for life with bears and wolves4 ,the ,roman poets1 on the other hand1 born in the soft1 voluptuous creed of the ,greeks1 a religion in which the gods and goddesses1 much too human1 were worshipped in temples built amid the enchanting fragrance of roseleaf islands1 shuddered at the very idea of the ,north4 ,for them there would have been nothing but terror in those strong ,sagas1 which in other countries gave birth to noble poetry and stately music4 ,as told by ,ovid1 the story of the punishment of ,erisichthon1 who mocked the gods and would not sacrifice at their altars1 illustrates the worship of trees and also the dread of the inhospitable ,north1 and yet a ,north that was no ,arctic region2 nothing1 indeed1 more terrible than the ,caucasus4 ,in ancient ,thessaly1 in the midst of a wood sacred to ,ceres1 there stood an oak1 a sturdy veteran1 a grove in itself1 covered with votive offerings1 the tokens of the honour which was paid to it4 ,round it the ,dryads1 hand in hand1 were wont to hold their choirs and dance in festive revelry4 ,it was a holy tree1 but in spite of all its sanctity1 against it ,erisichthon raised his sacrilegious axe and bade his men strike home1 swearing1 when they hesitated1 that were the tree not merely dear to the goddess1 but if it were the goddess herself1 it should lie low and kiss the earth with its topmost boughs4 ,under the stroke of the axe the sacred tree groaned2 its leaves and acorns1 and even the branches turned pale4 ,but when the impious hand inflicted the first cruel wound1 blood flowed as from a bull at a sacrifice before the altars4 ,horrified1 the men were stricken dumb1 and one1 bolder than the others1 would fain have put a stop to the crime and stayed the falling axe4 8,be this the guerdon of thy piety80 cried the ,thessalian1 turning the weapon against the man2 severed his head from his body1 and repeated his attack upon the tree4 ,from the heart of the oak there came a voice1 saying1 8,under this tree am ,i1 a nymph beloved by ,ceres1 and my dying prophecy is that thy deeds shall be punished as the consolation for my death40 ,nothing stops him from his crime2 at last1 under the many blows1 and dragged by ropes1 the tree collapses1 and with its weight breaks down much of the grove4 ,the mourning ,dryads1 stricken by their loss1 don black robes and pray to ,ceres for the punishment of ,erisichthon4 ,the goddess nods assent2 she shakes the fields heavy with crops1 and contrives for him a punishment which would be pitiable had he not forfeited pity by his deeds1 dooming him to be destroyed by pestilential hunger4 ,but since this may not be attempted by the goddess herself1 for the fates will not that ,ceres and famine should co-exist1 she charges one of the mountain nymphs to summon ,famine from the cold and bleak shores of ,scythia1 that barren land where there is neither corn nor tree--the abode of dull frost1 pallor1 shivering and hunger4 ,thus does the goddess punish the impious sinner1 and so she tortures him until he is driven to gnaw at his own limbs4 7,ovid1 ,met4 #gdj47 ,ovid's description of hunger as a distinct being called to wreak vengeance is as gruesome as anything that ,i know of in poetry4 ,the idea that trees are inhabited by supernatural beings1 spirits or lesser gods1 is common enough in the folk-lore of all countries1 and that is what has given rise to the fables of trees which bleed and utter cries if they are cruelly treated4 ,in ,japan there are endless pretty and fanciful stories1 in which the spirits of beautiful trees--often their matchless cherry trees--fall in love with and bewitch the sons or daughters of men4 ,nothing is prettier in that country1 so rich in beauty1 than the ,shinto shrines nestling in choice spots among the forest-clad mountains4 ,around each temple are planted trees which are sacred to1 and under the special protection of1 the tutelary deity of the place4 ,and in connection with them there is a custom called 8,ushi no ,toki ,mairi0 78,going to worship at the hour of the ox074#aj ,it is practised by jealous women who wish to be revenged on their faithless lovers or husbands1 and reminds us of those waxen dolls with which the witches and adepts in black magic of the ,middle ,ages1 and in ancient ,greece1 according to ,theocritus1 were wont to pretend that they could rid their patron of their enemies4 ,when the world is at rest1 at two in the morning1 the hour of which the ox is the symbol1 the woman rises2 she dons a white robe and high sandals or clogs2 her coif is a metal tripod in which are thrust three lighted candles2 round her neck she hangs a mirror1 which falls upon her bosom2 in her left hand she carries a small straw figure1 the effigy of the lover who has deserted her1 and in her right she grasps a hammer and nails1 with which she fastens the figure to one of the sacred trees which surround the shrine4 ,there she prays for the death of the traitor1 vowing that if her petition be heard she will herself pull out the nails which now offend the god by wounding the mystic tree4 ,night after night she comes to the shrine1 and each night she drives in two or more nails1 believing that every nail will shorten her lover's life1 for the god1 to save his beloved tree1 will surely strike him dead4#aa ,whether this custom still prevails1 ,i know not4 ,fifty years ago ,i was assured that it was 8very much alive40 ,habits have undergone a mighty change since then1 but superstition dies hard1 and there are many out-of-the-way places even in ,japan into which the newness of things has hardly penetrated4 ,it must have been a ghostly sight to meet a maiden thus harnessed in the grove of the god on a dark night4 ,lafcadio ,hearn1 that wayward child of the muses1 a prose poet if ever there was such an one1 who1 after wandering for many years through untold misery and suffering1 at last found rest and his soul in ,japan1 has left to us as precious legacies many a rare conceit which would fit in well here4 ,it would have been strange if he1 a mystic himself1 had not been willingly haunted by the folk-lore of the country which he loved1 a country 8fabulosa et externis miraculis adsimilata40 ,sometimes1 indeed1 he was more ,catholic than the ,pope1 living in a ,japan that was almost a dreamland of his own wild fancy4 ,and yet he was a creature of curious contradictions1 for he seems to be half in earnest1 half mocking1 when he holds us spellbound with weird tales of goblin trees1 luring men to love or to death2 of a camellia tree which listens to the prayers of lovers2 of other camellias which1 like spectres1 walk about at night1 the terror of mankind4 8,there was one in the garden of a ,matsn ,samurai which did this so much that it had to be cut down4 ,then it writhed its arms and groaned1 and blood spurted at every stroke of the axe40 ,like every other writer1 native and foreign1 ,lafcadio ,hearn is entranced by the loveliness of the cherry blossom1 the emblem of all that is bodily delicate and spiritually beautiful4 ,he quotes an old stanza1 which says3 8,if one should ask you concerning the heart of a true ,samurai1 point to the mountain cherry flower gleaming in the morning sun40 ,again3 8,as the cherry flower is first among flowers1 so should the warrior be first among men40 ,by this nature-loving people1 the highest form of female beauty and excellence is symbolized by the willow for grace1 the cherry flower for youthful charm1 the plum blossom for virtue and sweetness4 ,i should add that the oval outline of the melon seed represents in the shape of the face the type of high breeding and aristocratic distinction4 ,the poets are never weary of drawing upon the cherry flower for their metaphors4 ,a ,japanese gentleman1 looking out upon a snow-storm1 will say3 8,see how the petals of the cherries are drifting before the wind40 ,the ,yanagi--the weeping willow--is a much haunted tree4 ,here is a story told by ,lafcadio ,hearn which is worth quoting3 8,there is a rather pretty legend--recalling the old ,greek dream of ,dryads--about a willow tree which grew in the garden of a ,samurai of ,kyto4 ,owing to its weird reputation1 the tenant of the homestead desired to cut it down2 but another ,samurai dissuaded him1 saying3 #8,rather sell it to me1 that ,i may plant it in my garden4 ,that tree has a soul2 it were cruel to destroy its life4' ,thus purchased and transplanted1 the ,yanagi flourished well in its new home1 and its spirit1 out of gratitude1 took the form of a beautiful woman1 and became the wife of the ,samurai who had befriended it4 ,a charming boy was the result of this union4 ,a few years later the ,daimio to whom the ground belonged gave orders that the tree should be cut down4 ,then the wife wept bitterly1 and for the first time revealed to her husband the whole story4 #8,and now1' she added1 #8,i know that ,i must die1 but our child will live and you will always love him4 ,this thought is my only solace4' ,vainly the astonished husband sought to retain her4 ,bidding him farewell for ever1 she vanished into the tree4 ,needless to say1 that the ,samurai did everything in his power to persuade the ,daimio to forgo his purpose4 ,the prince wanted the tree for the reparation of a great ,buddhist temple1 the ,sanjiusangendo40 7,the ,temple of the #cc1ccc images of ,kwannon1 the ,goddess of ,mercy47 8,the tree was felled1 but1 having fallen1 it suddenly became so heavy that three hundred men could not move it4 ,then the child1 taking a branch in his little hand1 said #8,come1' and the tree followed him1 gliding along the ground to the court of the temple40 ,you may bless the ,yanagi for offering you a sure cure for the toothache4 ,haunted it is bound to be1 and if you suffer1 drive nails into it until the spirit of the tree1 to save its home1 relieves you of the pain4 ,are you a dreamer of dreams8 ,then if your climate be mild1 without fail1 see that you are not without a ,nanten among your shrubs4 ,hide it away in some sheltered spot1 both for its own sake and for yours1 and let it be your trusted confidant4 ,if the gods should send you evil and racking dreams1 rise early and whisper the terror to your ,nanten1 and it shall come to naught4 ,science has corrupted the ,japanese name ,nanten into ,nandina1 and1 for some reason best known to themselves1 botanists have added the altogether ridiculous and senseless suffix domestica4 ,perhaps such an outrage may have robbed the plant of its virtues2 we can but try it4 ,to go back to our cherries4 ,in the grounds of an old ,scottish castle1 rich in ghostly stories and blood-curdling legends1 there stands an old gean tree 7wild cherry74 ,it is the belief of the countryside that this old tree is haunted by the spirit of a former mistress of the castle1 a lady who1 as tradition has it1 suffered much in her life-time and cannot rest in death4 ,one day1 some forty years ago1 ,i started off from a neighbouring place to pay a visit at the castle with 8,hang-theology0 ,rogers1 the famous rector of ,st4 ,botolph's1 ,bishopsgate1 than whom no brighter companion ever cheered a long1 cold drive in a rather rickety dog-cart4 ,we arrived just as the large party in the house were gathering together in the drawing-room after luncheon4 ,we were met by long and rather pale faces4 ,obviously something had happened--nobody seemed at ease4 ,at last an old lady1 who was among the guests1 took me on one side and told me what all this meant4 ,that morning1 a visitor who was driving up to the house1 when he came to the gean tree1 saw the figure of a woman come out of it1 glide for some distance beside him1 and then vanish4 ,many of the people in the castle1 who happened to be looking out of the drawing-room window at the time1 saw the wonder1 and the old lady added that she herself1 having gone up to her bedroom to put on her bonnet1 distinctly saw the apparition from her window1 which was immediately over the drawing-room4 ,all these people were absolutely convinced that1 like the visitor in his dog-cart1 they had seen the ghost which haunted the gean tree4 ,i have told the story without addition or ornament1 exactly as ,i heard it an hour or two after its occurrence and while the witnesses were still under the spell4 ,it could not fail to remind me of the tales of ,bakmono-zakura1 the haunted cherry trees of ,japanese legend1 and it seemed worthy to be set down beside them4 ,the ancient ,egyptians1 though they worshipped onions and garlic1 for which they were handsomely ridiculed by ,juvenal1 seem to have paid little respect to trees1 probably because1 besides the palm1 so few were known to them4 ,there is1 however1 according to that wonderful book1 ,sir ,james ,fraser's 8,golden ,bough10 some evidence to show that they believed that spirits haunted trees2 at any rate1 the tamarisk was sacred to ,osiris--the god and ruler who represented the principle of good1 as his brother ,typho did that of evil4 ,the story of the death of ,osiris is curious as a contradiction of the idea of immortality with which deity is usually endowed4 ,the god1 having become ,king of ,egypt1 devoted himself to the civilization of his people1 and to further that end1 set out to travel over the world1 leaving his wife ,isis to reign in his place4 ,when he came back1 ,typho1 with other conspirators1 among whom was an ,ethiopian queen1 named ,aso1 plotted to kill his brother4 ,so1 having procured the exact measurement of ,osiris1 he caused a box to be made to fit him1 and having invited ,osiris to a feast1 he caused the box1 which was of rare workmanship1 to be brought in1 saying he would give it to any one present whom it would fit4 ,all the guests tried it in vain2 at last ,osiris laid himself down in it1 and the conspirators1 rushing forward1 fastened down the lid with nails and molten lead4 ,then the box was carried to the riverside4 ,it floated down the stream and was carried by the waves of the sea to the coast of ,byblos1 and lodged in the branches of a tamarisk bush4 ,there is much more of this fable in ,sir ,gardner ,wilkinson's great book--not all of it very edifying reading2 but that is how the tamarisk became a sacred tree4 ,while treating of the superstitions and legends belonging to trees1 it has been impossible to avoid touching upon the belief in ghosts4 ,that faith exists in every part of the world4 ,the fetichists of the ,african priests1 the totemists of ,north ,america1 the wildest savages of the ,south ,seas with their uncouth idols1 the aborigines of ,australia and ,new ,zealand--all stand in terror of ghosts4 ,i long years ago translated a collection of ,pekingese stories of haunted houses2 but in many moves and journeys the manuscript has been lost--no great matter of regret1 for these tales are always the same1 the two leading causes for apparitions being remorse or revenge4 ,the story of the ghost of ,sakura ,sgor1 perhaps the most famous ghost story of the ,far ,east1 which ,i have translated in my 8,tales of ,old ,japan10 has1 apart from its local colouring1 no feature differing from many such traditions which have been handed down in ,europe4 ,but the true interest of these superstitions1 call them fables1 myths--what you will--lies in the proof that all over the world there is implanted in man the instinctive conviction that death is not the end of all things--the mere return of dust to dust1 of ashes to ashes2 if that were so1 there could be no thought of ghosts4 ,the belief depends upon the existence of that mysterious intuitive feeling that when the thread of fate has been severed1 there still remains another life which death itself cannot kill1 and that other life is the soul4 99 99 99 99 99 ,but the fairies--where are they8 ,can it be that the ,bakmono-zakura--the haunted cherry trees of ,japan--when they were ruthlessly torn out of the soil of the country of the gods ten years ago1 indignantly burst their barken bonds1 and taking wing for refuge to the sacred groves of ,mount ,fugi1 from some wild bird's eyrie watched their beloved old homes being wafted away to new and uncertain climes across the terrors of the ,pacific ,ocean8 ,and yet often1 even here1 ,i see a merry band of flaxen-haired dwarfs playing about the enchanted trees4 ,fairy-land is rich in surprises and mystifications4 ,who knows8 ,perhaps these little sprites are themselves fairies who have chosen for their abode the forsaken dwellings of the dark eastern ,bakmono--8good folk0 sent by a kindly ,providence to shed a fleeting ray of the sunshine of poetry over the wintry prose of an octogenarian's life4 ,,queen ,,victoria ,,and ,,marie ,,theresia ,rarely1 indeed1 does the student in history come across two personalities so entirely in unison at almost all points as those of the ,austrian ,empress ,marie ,theresia and our own ,queen ,victoria4 ,both were essentially great ,sovereigns1 both essentially good women4 ,our own ,queen exercised an authority which was in one sense even more remarkable than that of the ,empress2 for whereas the latter was a commanding figure in an age when the glamour of autocracy had not yet faded away1 ,queen ,victoria1 by sheer force of character1 maintained the prestige of royalty against the flowing tide of a democracy which was becoming daily more and more self-asserting4 ,indeed1 she did more than maintain it--she summoned it from the dead2 for in the two reigns which preceded hers it had perished1 as men then thought1 without hope of resurrection4 ,in all save their outward appearance the likeness between the two august ladies was such that it almost seemed as if the one was the reincarnation of the other2 as if the soul of the mighty ,austrian had passed into the ,queen4 ,an earnest and deep piety was the foundation of both characters1 though they would have been utterly opposed in the form of its exercise4 ,marie ,theresia was the faithful daughter of the ,church of ,rome1 ,queen ,victoria the no less faithful and loving child of the ,reformation4 ,in both religion was a passion4 ,there has been a recent republication of the 8,memoirs of ,frau ,pichler10 the ,viennese poetess and authoress1 whose salon at the end of the eighteenth and during the early part of the nineteenth century was so famous that people said that there were two things which no stranger coming to ,vienna could afford to miss seeing--,st4 ,stephen's ,cathedral and ,frau ,pichler4 ,those memoirs1 admirably edited and furnished with copious notes by one ,emil ,blmml1 throw an interesting light upon the private and intimate life of ,marie ,theresia1 and as we follow these reminiscences1 we cannot but be struck by the many links in the chain of similarity of which ,i have spoken above4 ,both ,queen ,victoria and the ,empress were deeply penetrated with that sense of the ,royal ,caste which is too apt to raise an insurmountable boundary against social intercourse4 ,but if ,royalty itself stands apart1 there is also an instinctive aloofness from it in those who are of high position but yet subjects2 so that the intimacies of ,sovereigns and royal personages are found rather among their personal attendants than among the nobles and powerful officials who form their courts4 ,especially is this bound to be the case where princesses are concerned4 ,their tirewomen and dressers are far more capable than chamberlains and secretaries of state of judging their private idiosyncrasies2 so1 in order to know what manner of woman this or that queen may have been1 we are fain to climb the backstairs--where such a way is open to us1 as it is in the case of ,marie ,theresia4 ,illustration3 ,,the ,,empress ,,marie ,,theresia4 ,from an engraving after a painting by ,mytens4 ,to face p4 #acj4 ,the adoption of ,frau ,pichler's mother by the great ,empress is just such a pathetic story1 not without a pinch of the salt of romance1 as would have touched the kind heart of ,queen ,victoria1 and1 indeed1 we can well fancy her in like circumstances behaving exactly as ,marie ,theresia did4 ,in the month of ,may1 #agdd1 the ,wolfenbttel ,regiment of ,infantry was moved from ,hungary to ,vienna4 ,a poor old lieutenant1 fifty years of age1 named ,friedrich ,hieronymus1 a widower1 had contrived--with what pains and anxiety who can tell8--to take with him on the march his only child1 a little daughter aged four4 ,hardly had he reached ,vienna when he caught a chill1 inflammation of the lungs set in and he died1 full of terror for the future of his little ,charlotte1 whom he was to leave penniless and destitute in what was to him a foreign country1 among strangers professing a religion which was abhorrent to him--for he was a ,protestant4 ,his last tender words were for her4 8,poor child6 what will become of thee80 ,throughout her long life those painfully uttered words1 torn from the dying man's soul1 remained graven in her heart1 unforgettable4 ,his brother officers1 good charitable souls1 probably themselves none too well furnished with this world's goods1 took charge of the babe1 who became from thenceforth the 8fille du ,rgiment40 ,the pathetic story came to the ears of ,marie ,theresia1 who had a soft place in her heart for the ,wolfenbttel ,regiment1 which was named after the family of her mother1 the ,empress ,elizabeth4 ,she sent for the child1 but the officers of the regiment1 deeply imbued with a sense of loyalty to their dead comrade1 did all that was in their power to hinder the babe from falling into the hands of an aggressively religious ,catholic4 ,they hid her in a suburb of ,vienna1 but the ,empress's agents were too clever for them1 and the child was brought to ,court1 where1 as the ,wolfenbttlers had foreseen1 she was brought up in the strictest doctrines of the ,roman ,church1 under the charge of a ,spanish lady1 ,isabella ,duplessis1 and was specially educated with a view to entering the ,empress's service as tirewoman4 ,her life was now very different from what might have been expected for the baby that followed the drum4 ,she became the playmate of the ,imperial children1 amongst them of the unhappy ,queen ,marie ,antoinette1 and so the years went by in all the luxury of a sumptuous court4 ,little ,charlotte proved herself worthy of her good fortune2 indeed1 so quick and nimble-witted was she1 that when she had reached the age of thirteen she was already deemed fit to enter upon her duties about her great mistress1 not only as tirewoman1 but also as reader4 ,to this end she had been early handed over to the care of ,grfin ,fuchs1 the tenderly-loved nurse and governess of the ,empress1 who had such an affection for her that when she died she was buried in the vault of the ,capucins1 the last home of the ,imperial ,family4 ,in spite of the advice given by ,hippolochus to ,glaucus1 it is not always an unmixed advantage so to excel as to make oneself indispensable4 ,this little ,charlotte soon found out1 for her skill in hairdressing was such that the ,empress1 who was so particular about her hair that she would sometimes have it done and undone four or five times before she was satisfied1 could not do without her4 ,marie ,theresia1 who was without a spark of coquetry and had neither eyes nor thought for any man but her husband1 had all a woman's instinctive love of display1 and took a great delight in her beauty for its own sake4 ,none of the other tirewomen had ,charlotte's cunning fingers1 and the same thing applied to her reading4 ,german1 ,french1 ,italian and ,latin came to the child with equal facility1 and all these were found in the dispatches which she had to read aloud to the ,empress4 ,french and ,italian were the languages of the ,opera and of the elegances of the ,court4 ,on one occasion when the ,empress was expecting a baby1 she had a bet with ,count ,dietrichstein as to the sex of the infant4 ,she wagered for a girl1 he for a boy--the ,empress won4 ,the ,count sent her a piece of porcelain with a portrait of himself kneeling1 and these words written by ,metastasio1 the ,poet ,laureate of the ,court3 8,perdo1 ver1 l' augusta figlia ,a pagar m' ha condannato1 ,ma s' ver che a te somiglia ,tutto il mondo ha guadagnato40 ,a pretty compliment6 ,the babe1 ,marie ,antoinette1 born to be ,queen of ,beauty and of ,sorrow1 was worthy of it4 ,talking of languages1 it is strange to read of how small account ,german was at the ,court of ,vienna4 ,the ,emperor ,francis ,i41 as a ,lorrainer1 hardly understood it and never spoke it1 and the people of his service were mostly ,lorrainers or ,netherlanders4 ,the ,empress herself did not speak correct ,german2 she used the vulgarest ,viennese patois1 and ,frau ,pichler tells an amusing story of how a young ,saxon lady1 who had been appointed as one of her mother's colleagues1 came to her in despair one morning to beg her help4 ,the ,empress had ordered her to go and fetch 8das blabe ,buich40 ,what could her ,majesty mean8 ,charlotte laughed1 and told her to go and get 8das blaue ,buch40 ,the ,saxon girl1 ,karoline ,mercier1 would not believe her--but the blue book it was4 ,if she could not master ,german1 the ,empress1 like ,queen ,victoria1 was familiar with ,french and ,italian4 ,our ,queen was very fond of showing her fluency in ,german and ,french1 and on her drives would often stop her carriage for the joy of a chat with some poor ,italian organ-grinder in his own soft tongue4 ,latin1 which the ,empress knew intimately1 was the means of communication with her ,hungarian magnates4 ,she loved the language and them1 for so she was reminded of the day--the #aath of ,september1 #agda--when she1 threatened by half ,europe with the loss of the states which the hostile ,powers had once guaranteed1 went to ,pressburg1 met the nobles of ,hungary in their parliament1 and appealed to them for protection for herself and her child1 the future ,emperor ,joseph4 ,her cry for help was not in vain4 ,touched to the quick by the sight of the lovely weeping ,empress1 the proud ,magyars1 old and young1 the flower of a noble chivalry1 drew their swords and swore to die for the beautiful woman1 who was their ,king4 ,a universal conscription was decreed4 ,it was a triple triumph1 upon which she loved to look back--the triumph of ,virtue1 of ,right1 and last1 but not least1 of ,beauty4 ,the service of ,marie ,theresia's handmaidens was no sinecure4 ,in summer she rose at five o'clock--in winter a little later--and rang for her girls1 who had to appear fully dressed in hoop-petticoats1 and with the marvellous edifices of hair which the fashion of the day exacted4 ,to achieve this1 the young ladies had to get up in the middle of the night1 and this was especially hard upon ,charlotte1 who had night after night to read aloud for long hours after the ,empress had gone to bed4 ,but ,charlotte was so quick1 and knew the ,empress's taste so well that1 whatever happened1 she must be present at the morning toilette1 and ready to attend upon her mistress during and after supper--a light meal1 of which ,her ,majesty always partook in her private room4 ,busy worker as the ,empress was1 she seems to have depended entirely upon having her ,state papers read aloud to her1 and so ,charlotte became acquainted very early in life with many important ,state secrets4 ,but she was a discreet little soul and knew how to hold her tongue1 and so retained the confidence of her ,imperial mistress so long as that wonderful woman lived4 ,the portrait which ,frau ,pichler has left behind her of the great lady1 partly drawn from her mother's stories of her1 partly from her own memories of the days when as a little girl she used to be taken by special command to ,schnbrunn or the ,burg in ,vienna1 is fascinating4 ,in her youth the ,empress had been extremely beautiful1 and though in middle life she grew large and unwieldy1 and had to be taken up to her rooms in a lift--wafted through the air by fairies1 as it seemed to the child whom she took with her--she retained to the end that wonderful gift of grace and of what is called 8presence10 which is so keenly felt and so impossible to describe4 ,kindly she was1 too1 and of a motherly sweetness with children4 ,frau ,pichler tells us how on one occasion1 when the ,empress had sent her to an adjoining room on some small errand1 she slipped and fell1 breaking her fan1 and burst into tears4 ,the kind ,empress hurried after her1 comforted her1 and gave her a new fan--a precious relic1 to be treasured as we may well believe for a lifetime4 ,marie ,theresia was the daughter of the ,emperor ,charles the ,sixth1 who1 being without a male heir1 named her as his successor by 8pragmatic sanction0--a ,byzantine term for an ordinance issued arbitrarily by the head of an empire or kingdom4 ,she succeeded to the various thrones of her father on his death in #agdj1 and associated with herself as ,emperor her husband1 ,duke ,francis of ,lorraine1 who had been her play-fellow and whom she had married in #agcf4 ,in spite of his numerous infidelities1 she adored him4 ,albeit1 so far as politics were concerned1 he was no great help to her2 so though he bore the title of ,emperor1 she remained unaided at the helm4 ,hers was no easy task4 ,in spite of scraps of paper and guarantees1 a coalition between ,prussia1 ,france1 ,bavaria1 the ,palatinate1 ,saxony1 ,sardinia1 ,naples and ,spain--a pack of hungry war-dogs1 all tearing at her on every side1 each howling for his pound of flesh--threatened to devour her4 ,she had only ,england and ,hungary on her side2 but1 like ,abdul ,hamid in our own times1 she could count upon the quarrels between her foes4 ,prussia was the arch-enemy4 ,prussia1 which we are now told1 was the original subject of the 8,hymn of ,hate10 written1 teste the ,morning ,post1 by the revolutionary ,herweg in #ahda1 for which ,herr ,lissauer1 who substituted ,england for ,prussia1 has been decorated by a grateful ,kaiser4#ab ,prussia1 of which ,heine wrote3 8,i utterly loathe this ,prussia1 this stiff1 hypocritical1 sanctimonious ,prussia1 this ,tartuffe among the nations40#ac ,like our own ,queen1 ,marie ,theresia was essentially a woman of business4 ,she personally directed the affairs of her ,empire1 issuing her commands to her ministers1 and the little orphan ,charlotte1 as we have seen1 for many years acted as her secretary and reader4 ,the duties were no sinecure1 and although no doubt the position of a young lady of the ,court was one of great luxury in some respects and greatly coveted1 there were also some hardships with which those chosen maids had to put up4 ,the ,empress was large and corpulent2 she could not bear warmth1 and so her ladies had to perform their duties in a thorough draught1 even when snow was being driven in at the windows1 falling on to the ,state papers which ,charlotte was reading aloud to her4 ,in spite of her dread of heat1 so long as her limbs would carry her1 the ,empress1 devout and exact in all religious observances1 would on ,corpus ,christi day1 in the height of summer1 piously accompany the sacred procession on foot4 ,one broiling ,june day she came back from this ceremony violently heated and tired1 having walked half across the town under the sun1 had to be undressed1 and have her hair taken down1 and sat in a thorough draught1 eating strawberries and drinking lemonade1 while ,charlotte brushed and combed out her hair1 which was so wet that the poor girl had to keep wiping her hands4 ,how ,marie ,theresia would have enjoyed one of ,queen ,victoria's picnics on ,lochnagar in a ,november blizzard6 ,one of the difficulties with which those responsible for the management of the public ceremonials in which our ,queen took part had to deal1 was the regulation of the temperature4 ,the enduring of heat was to her as to ,marie ,theresia1 a misery and an impossibility4 ,she could put up with any other discomfort and fatigue2 but heat was unbearable4 ,the ,emperor ,joseph1 who did not inherit his mother's imperviousness to cold1 had to visit her in furs4 ,kaunitz1 a privileged minister1 was the only person who dared to shut the window4 8,how do you manage when you go to ,balmoral80 ,i once asked ,lord ,beaconsfield1 who was a chilly mortal4 8,the ,queen is very gracious10 was the answer1 8she excuses me from going there40 ,in dealing with the affairs of ,state both rulers showed themselves to be women of strong character and indefatigable industry4 ,their methods1 of necessity1 differed widely4 ,the one1 as ,i have said above1 was an autocrat2 the other1 a constitutional ,sovereign1 deeply imbued with the sense of her own limitations1 and yet such a mistress of public business1 of constitutional law and of precedent1 that she often dominated the councils of her ministers1 many of whom recognized in her their guide and instructress in cases of difficulty4 ,nowhere was this more evident than in her treatment of foreign affairs4 ,there she was no more a negligible quantity than ,marie ,theresia had been2 no matter who might be ,secretary of ,state1 there was always a very real power in the background1 and that power was the ,queen4 ,it would be easy to multiply instances1 but we need only point to two cases3 the ,danish ,duchies' question in #ahfd1 where1 in obedience to what she believed to be the wishes of her dead husband1 she took what is now shown to have been an unfortunate line2 and1 secondly1 the dispute with the ,united ,states on the ,trent question in #ahfa1 where she1 with the assistance of the ,prince ,consort1 used all her influence to hinder what would have been a disastrous war1 an unthinkable calamity4 ,the mention of the ,prince ,consort brings into strong relief two pictures1 in which it is difficult to say whether we are more startled by the likeness or puzzled by the violence of the contrasts4 ,in both cases we see a marriage of true love1 in each of which a prince of a small reigning family was raised1 not for reasons of ,state1 but by pure affection1 to share the glories of a vast empire and a throne before which countless peoples bowed4 ,there the likeness between the two husbands comes to an end4 ,in ,prince ,albert ,queen ,victoria found not only a faithful and devoted lover1 but a helpmate1 who was ever at her side1 and1 young as he was1 shared the heavy burthens which she had to bear1 and brought to her councils all the store of wisdom and statesmanship with which he had been endowed by that astute mentor1 ,baron ,stockmar4 ,not the least part of his merit was his self-effacement2 yet in spite of it he aroused unreasoning jealousies1 for which his intimacy and the ,queen's with the same old ,german physician was in no small measure accountable4 ,the ,emperor ,francis1 on the contrary1 was of no assistance to ,marie ,theresia4 ,strikingly handsome1 physically as grand a man perhaps as ,prince ,albert1 he had none of the ,prince's serious qualities4 ,he was essentially and fatally charming1 but of politics and the affairs of ,state he took no heed2 all that he cared for were his flirtations1 his bric--brac1 and his collection of coins and medals4 ,he was what is called 8a dangerous man10 and when 8a dangerous man0 is an ,emperor to boot--,well6 ,but such as he was1 his ,empress loved him with all her soul1 content to take upon her own shoulders the drudgery of sovereignty1 and leaving to him its gewgaws and the enjoyment of a brilliant idleness4 ,if she ever knew of them she forgave him his infidelities1 and1 like our ,queen1 worshipping the ground upon which her husband trod1 she never looked at another man1 nor cared for any admiration but his4 ,as ,frau ,pichler rather quaintly observes1 had she done so her maidens must have known of it4 ,we are told that no man is a hero to his valet4 ,for a woman to be virtuous to her ,abigail1 she must be as chaste as ,diana before those compromising visits to ,endymion1 of which we may be sure that her nymphs were well aware4 ,no breath of scandal ever dimmed the mirror of the ,empress's fair fame4 ,queen ,victoria herself was not more stern in the repression of anything approaching loose or unseemly talk4 ,she considered it to be the duty of persons in high places to repress any lack of decorum1 and their privilege to set an example to be followed by others4 ,to her daughter1 the ,queen of ,naples1 she wrote3 8,it is our duty to remember that a word in season or a grave look will silence those who indulge in unlicensed speech1 and have an excellent general effect40 ,nothing better nails to the counter the lies of ,frederic the ,great1 so characteristically ,prussian1 than the fact that the capital1 which up to her time had been notorious for the laxity of its morals1 was described by ,sir ,john ,moore towards the end of her reign in very laudatory language4 8,i can imagine10 he says1 8no city in ,europe where a young gentleman would see fewer examples1 or have fewer opportunities of deep gaming1 open profligacy1 or gross debauchery than in ,vienna40 ,this1 as her biographer1 ,mary ,maxwell ,moffat1 says1 is a great testimony to the uplifting influence of the ,empress-,queen4 ,that the influence was personal is proved by the relapse of ,vienna during the nineteenth century4 ,by precept and example1 she cast out the swine1 but when she was gone they came back again4 ,it was the irony of fate that neither the ,empress's virtues1 her great beauty1 her sweet disposition1 nor the prestige of her glorious position were able to clip the wings of her flighty and too attractive husband4 ,that she had some inkling of her failure is clear from the advice that she once gave to her favourite maiden ,charlotte3 8,be warned and do not marry a man who has nothing to do40 ,queen ,victoria was more fortunate4 ,her marriage remained a union of hearts1 of which time itself had no power to relax the bonds4 ,in all that concerns art ,queen ,victoria was essentially a woman of her own time1 and it is in no sense derogatory to her to say that it was certainly not a happy time4 ,in the plastic arts she had not the talent of her two brilliant daughters1 the ,empress ,frederic and ,princess ,louise4 ,it is true that her sketch-book was the constant companion of her holidays1 and illustrated the diary of her travels2 but her execution did not go much beyond the boundaries of the school-girl's album4 ,the painters whom she chose to employ as portraitists--,winterhalter1 ,landseer1 ,von ,angeli--were unluckily chosen4 ,she admired and patronized ,leighton1 but she would not hear of being painted by ,millais or ,watts4 ,music was her delight1 and so it was with ,marie ,theresia2 both ladies loved the ,italian school1 both were themselves gifted with lovely voices and had been well trained4 ,indeed1 in the ,hapsburg family the talent was hereditary2 all the older members of it were capable musicians1 and ,charles the ,sixth would himself accompany their chamber music on the harpsichord4 ,mrs4 ,moffat quotes a letter of ,marie ,theresia1 in which she writes3 8,as for dramatic music1 ,i confess that ,i would rather have the slightest ,italian thing than all the works of our composers1 ,gaisman1 ,gluck and others4 ,for instrumental music we have a certain ,haydn1 who has good ideas1 but he is just beginning to be known40 ,strange words1 coming from the ,sovereign of the capital which was to be the home1 above all others1 of the greatest composers of the world4 ,mozart she knew as a child of six1 when he sat upon her lap to play1 and1 tumbling down1 was picked up by the little ,archduchess ,marie ,antoinette1 to whom in gratitude he at once proposed marriage6 ,the tender care and loving kindness with which ,queen ,victoria treated all those1 from the highest to the humblest1 who were in any sense dependent upon her1 is a matter of common knowledge4 ,she shared in their joys1 she sympathized with their sorrows1 interesting herself in all the everyday changes and chances of their lives4 ,the unclouded happiness of her own all too brief married life had penetrated her soul with the belief that nothing could compare with the bliss of a loving union4 ,this she showed even in a case where a young man in whom she took a deep interest1 and for whom she had destined what would have been a very advantageous marriage1 disappointed her by making an unsuitable match4 ,her answer to one who spoke unkindly of this was characteristic and touching4 8,after all10 she said1 sweetly excusing him1 8perhaps they loved one another40 ,that in her mind was obviously the essential4 ,the account of the marriage of the ,austrian ,empress's favourite tirewoman is worth recording1 not only as showing a parallel to this sweetly indulgent nature of our ,queen1 but also as giving us a curious picture of the formalities of the old ,court of ,vienna4 ,upon her maidens the ,empress spent an almost motherly care4 ,when not on duty they might go out1 but must tell ,her ,majesty whither they were bound1 and then an ,imperial carriage was placed at their disposal2 when not on duty1 they were always allowed to receive visitors--even men1 but their names must be submitted to their mistress1 and the privileged swains must be of unblemished repute4 ,it was in that way1 during the ,seven ,years' ,war1 when the detested ,prussian ,drill-,sergeant ,frederic was pushing forward and yet further forward in ,moravia and was besieging ,olmtz1 that ,charlotte made the acquaintance of ,herr von ,greiner1 at that time a secretary in the ,bohemian-,austrian ,chancellerie4 ,he was accepted as a suitor1 but must wait till he could offer his wife a better position4 ,in spite of what her daughter says1 ,charlotte1 unless her portraits wickedly malign her1 was no beauty1 and she was tocherless to boot2 but she was clever and the favourite protge of the ,empress4 ,what could not a capable man of business in the public service hope from such an alliance8 ,we are told that1 doubtless in view of this advantage1 there had been many suitors for her hand1 but the ,empress had always stood in the way4 ,charlotte was in terror lest in this case also she should interfere4 ,she was too useful to her mistress to be lightly spared4 ,there was nothing for it but patience4 ,meanwhile1 in the year #agfe the ,court moved to ,innsbruck for the marriage of the second prince1 afterwards the ,emperor ,leopold ,,ii41 and there suddenly the ,emperor ,francis fell a victim to an apoplectic stroke4 ,the ,empress was stricken dumb with grief4 ,she could not weep1 but passed the night in spasmodic sobbing1 till at last in the morning the doctors1 who were alarmed at her condition1 bled her1 and then the merciful tears came and brought relief4 ,charlotte was ordered to cut off all her mistress's hair1 and in her dress1 as well as in the furniture of her apartments1 the widow put on the trappings of woe4 ,of the beauty that largely remained to her1 since her husband was no longer there to see1 she took no account4 ,on every #ahth of ,august1 the day of his death1 she remained shut up in her room1 confessed1 fasted1 and passed the day in sad remembrances1 in prayer and in pious exercises4 ,if the stones of ,windsor ,castle could prate1 they might tell just such a story4 ,now that the lovely fair hair1 that crown of glory1 had been shorn off1 and the ,empress no longer cared for her old elaborate toilette1 there was less for the favourite tirewoman to do1 and the wedding with ,herr von ,greiner was allowed4 ,the future bridegroom was presented to the great lady1 who was surprised to find in him a rather commonplace man1 and said afterwards to ,charlotte3 8,i thought that you would have chosen some gallant gentleman--a ,chevalier40 ,however1 the commonplace man was one in whom she later recognized a thoroughly honest and capable official1 whom she respected and promoted for his worth4 ,the year of mourning for the dead ,emperor was not yet at an end1 and the ,court had laid aside none of the trappings and the suits of woe4 ,but ,charlotte1 as bride that was to be1 was allowed to dress in colours4 ,the wedding was celebrated with all the ceremonies which were at that time prescribed by ,court etiquette4 ,it was still the fashion to make a special function of the betrothal1 which in ,charlotte's case was celebrated eight days before the marriage4 ,on the wedding day she had to go and show herself in her bridal attire to the ,empress1 who added several presents of jewellery to what she was wearing1 and lent her a priceless rope of pearls from the ,imperial ,treasury1 to be returned after the ceremony1 an ornament which was commonly used on such occasions4 ,the service was held in the private chapel1 and the ,mistress of the ,robes led the bride to the altar4 ,when the priest came to the place where the bride is told to answer 8,yes10 she was compelled by etiquette to curtsey to the ,mistress of the ,robes and ask her permission to do so4 ,then the ,mistress of the ,robes stood up1 turned herself round to face the chapel in which the ,empress was1 and in her turn curtsied1 and in dumb show asked ,her ,majesty's consent4 ,this was also given by signs1 and the ,mistress of the ,robes1 in the same silent way1 transmitted the pleasure of the ,empress1 who had taken upon herself the duties of mother1 upon which the bride gratefully curtsied1 turned to the priest and uttered the fateful 8,yes40 ,there is something touching in the way in which the ,empress mothered the orphan whom she had almost kidnapped from the ,wolfenbttel officers4 ,she surely did not perform her duty by halves6 ,when ,i read the account of the wedding ceremony1 my mind went back fifty-two years to another wedding1 when in ,st4 ,george's ,chapel another ,queen1 recently widowed1 sat in a little gallery and acknowledged the curtsey of her new daughter-in-law1 one of the loveliest brides that ever sun shone upon4 ,at every step in this sketch of the ,austrian ,empress we are met by something that speaks of our own great ,queen4 ,in this wise was the wedding of one of the ,imperial handmaidens celebrated in the days of ,marie ,theresia4 ,charlotte1 now ,frau von ,greiner1 entered happily upon her new life4 ,the change from the excitement and publicity of the brilliant ,austrian ,court1 to the quiet and narrower society of the upper middle-class1 for whom the ,imperial surroundings were a thing of awe and mystery1 must have been very striking4 ,but the bride found her account in it1 and1 as we shall see1 ,herr von ,greiner1 being a man of quite exceptional talent and artistic gifts1 was able to attract to his house all that was most brilliant among the literary and musical celebrities of that time4 ,in the year #agfi ,caroline--afterwards ,frau ,pichler--was born4 ,in the meantime the ,empress had by no means relaxed her friendship for her mother4 ,the von ,greiners were not 8hoffhig10 they could not go to court officially1 but ,frau von ,greiner constantly visited her old mistress privately1 and ,von ,greiner himself had1 as ,i have said1 won the great lady's favour1 and she not only kept him in her eye for advancement1 but frequently sent for him and sought his advice4 ,with a salary of four thousand gulden--two hundred pounds1 ,i suppose--and a spacious official residence1 the family was well able to maintain a good appearance1 and ,herr von ,greiner's exceptional attainments and artistic gifts as pastelist and poet made the house a trysting-place for all that was most notable in literature and music--especially music2 for at ,frau von ,greiner's weekly assemblies were frequently seen and heard ,haydn1 ,beethoven1 ,mozart1 ,paesiello and ,cimarosa4 ,painters and sculptors1 poets and authors less known to fame than those great musicians1 were welcome visitors1 and the salon became so popular that even a sprig of nobility--the condescension duly acknowledged--might now and then be found there4 ,it is curious to see what a hard and fast line ,vienna drew 7and1 to a certain extent1 still draws7 between the upper middle-class and the aristocracy--a line as deferentially recognized on the one side as it was haughtily imposed on the other4 ,we know how to this day1 in an ,austrian ballroom1 8die kleinen ,komtessen0 look with supercilious eyes upon any would-be partner who may be introduced to them unless his quarterings are fully satisfactory4 ,the favour in which ,frau von ,greiner was held in high quarters had no doubt some effect in bridging over the gulf which was fixed between the noblesse and the bourgeoisie4 ,but ,i have been straying far away from the goal which ,i set before me4 ,it would be fascinating to follow ,frau ,pichler's story1 for it is the story of a woman who lived through stirring times1 who was present during the three attacks upon ,vienna1 who tells us the one story of courteous chivalry of the young ,napoleon2 who heard ,haydn1 ,weber1 ,mozart1 ,beethoven play their own compositions1 and1 living on till near the middle of the last century1 could compare their execution with that of ,liszt and ,thalberg4 ,she knew and rather disliked ,madame de ,stal1 despising her for tricking out the charms of a woman 8fair1 fat and forty0 in a too youthful attire2 but was charmed by the music of a speaking voice1 her description of which reminds us of ,sarah ,bernhardt4 ,she corresponded at least once with ,goethe1 and was snubbed by the ,humboldts1 which rankled not a little4 ,but all this is beside the mark4 ,i am only concerned to show how to the end the lives of the two great ,queen-,empresses followed similar lines4 ,life is like a drawing in black and white1 in which1 of necessity1 the black predominates4 ,the stronger the drawing1 the darker are the shadows2 as in an etching by ,rembrandt--the more powerful the life1 the more violent the contrasts4 ,the high lights were high indeed in the early days of the two august ladies2 the deep gloom of the long night of widowhood1 which in each case followed some twenty years of ideal home sunshine1 must have weighed all the more heavily for the glory of the mornings which had ushered in their young days2 for true it is that 8the sorrow's crown of sorrow is the remembering happier things60 ,in facing the inevitable1 women sometimes show higher courage than men4 ,nothing could be more brave than the way in which these two ,queens bowed to the decrees of fate4 ,the world's work must be done1 though hearts be broken and the joy of life extinguished4 ,they felt that they had duties to their people1 and they braced themselves to harness4 ,the death of the ,prince ,consort was really a far heavier blow to the ,queen than that of the ,emperor ,francis was to ,marie ,theresia--or1 rather1 perhaps ,i should say a more searching blow1 with much further-reaching consequences4 ,the ,queen lost not only a tenderly worshipped husband and lover1 but a mainstay upon which she leant1 an adviser in all matters of ,state1 a guiding hand in trouble4 ,marie ,theresia lost a husband whom1 little as he deserved it1 she loved with all her soul2 a man who was all in all to her in her home life1 but who in her public life was a mere cypher1 playing no part in her queendom4 ,it was1 therefore1 a braver act of devotion for our great lady in that loneliest of all solitudes1 the solitude of a widowed queen1 immediately to take up the threads of her complicated statecraft without the assistance of her loving helper1 than it was for the ,empress to remain as pilot1 bereaved indeed1 but no more unaided than she had always been4 ,both laid aside their personal and poignant grief to devote themselves to their work4 ,what remained to them of life--a cruel length of years3 in the one case fifteen1 in the other forty--was given without reserve to the promotion of the welfare of the fatherland4 ,duty was to them the supreme call1 a voice that only became silent in death4 ,both are held in grateful and undying memory1 for surely no women ever went to their rest with cleaner consciences or with better claim to be hailed as good and faithful servants4 ,,the ,,wallace ,,collection ,one day1 as ,i was talking to a friend in my garden of memory1 he1 looking round at the fine bronzes by which we were surrounded1 remarked what a pity it was that ,oriental art should be so poorly represented in the ,wallace ,collection2 and how much it was to be regretted that no specimens of the work of the great ,eastern metal-workers and famous potters were to be found at ,hertford ,house4 ,as a matter of fact1 cheek by jowl with the glories of the ,english1 ,french1 ,spanish and ,dutch art1 there are only some half-dozen very poor specimens of ,chinese cloisonn enamel1 practically no pottery1 none of the grand old ,chinese bronzes1 and not a single example of the work of such masters as the ,japanese ,miyochin1 ,seimin1 ,to-un1 and others1 men as famous in their way as ,benvenuto ,cellini4 ,it is curious that three men so catholic in their tastes as the two ,lords ,hertford and ,sir ,richard ,wallace should have paid no attention to the art of the ,far ,east4 ,from the collections we naturally passed to discussing the men1 and my friend began asking me many questions about the great legacy1 of which ,i am a trustee1 eager to gather something of the truth out of the network of fable and falsehood by which it is surrounded4 ,here is what ,i told him4 ,there is1 of necessity1 some guesswork1 but guesswork not unsupported by a reasonable foundation of fact and probability4 ,the strange jumble of truth and lies is but one more proof of the danger of throwing over all those conventionalities which are but so much ballast to keep straight the family ship4 ,there are plenty of wreckers in the world1 and they are never slack in their dirty work2 but1 above all1 they love breaking up the big ships4 ,when the 'seventies were still young1 ,i1 being at the time still in the ,diplomatic ,service1 but 8,en disponibilit10 became a director of a foreign railway company1 the business of which often took me to ,paris1 where our head offices were4 ,one day1 on the return journey to ,london--in #ahgb--;,i first met ,sir ,richard ,wallace on board the steamer from ,calais4 ,the ,duke of ,sutherland1 with whom ,i was travelling1 knew him1 and so we became acquainted--,i little thinking that one day ,i should be brought into very intimate connection with the art treasures which he had inherited eighteen months earlier4 ,mr4 ,scott--afterwards ,sir ,john--then a tall1 slim1 very pleasing youth1 was with him as his secretary and confidential friend4 ,sir ,richard was at that time a strikingly handsome man1 about fifty-four years of age1 with a very attractive expression1 greyish hair1 shaved1 like his patron1 ,lord ,hertford1 more or less in the fashion set by the ,emperor of the ,french4 ,we had a good deal of talk1 and1 later1 ,i got to know him pretty well4 ,when he was ,member for ,lisburn1 he was appointed to the ,committee of the ,house of ,commons which sat under ,mr4 ,baillie ,cochrane1 afterwards ,lord ,lamington1 to consider the question of new buildings to be erected for the accommodation of the various ,government departments4 ,he used often to come and see me at the ,office of ,works1 in order to study the different plans1 and very warmly took up a scheme which ,i put forward1 and which1 if it had been adopted1 would have saved the country a huge sum of money4 ,unfortunately1 ,sir ,stafford ,northcote1 who was ,chancellor of the ,exchequer1 was afraid of submitting the first expense to the ,house of ,commons4 ,he never realized how complete was the trust which the ,house placed in him1 and so my proposals fell through1 to the great disappointment of ,sir ,richard ,wallace1 and to the vastly increased cost which the country has ultimately had to pay4 ,there has seldom been a more flagrant case of penny wisdom and pound folly4 ,the value of the land went up by leaps and bounds1 and the patient tax-payer has suffered1 as usual1 without a murmur4 ,my proposal1 briefly stated1 was to build a chain of ,public ,offices between ,trafalgar ,square and ,parliament ,square1 purchasing such land as did not already belong to the ,state4 ,drummond's ,bank was then pulled down1 and ,messrs4 ,george and ,edgar ,drummond1 as a favour to myself1 very patriotically delayed rebuilding for six months1 in order to give the ,government time to consider the question4 ,the ,public ,offices were at that time housed in a very haphazard manner1 and it was evident that some comprehensive scheme must be initiated4 ,my plan was generally approved1 but it was not adopted owing to the costly timidity of ,ministers4 ,who and what was ,sir ,richard ,wallace8 ,that is a question which excited great interest forty-five years ago1 an interest which has not altogether died out even now4 ,that he was the private secretary and me damne of ,lord ,hertford everybody knew4 ,how he came to occupy that position1 and what led his patron to alienate from his family in ,sir ,richard's favour so much of his great fortune as was in his power1 together with the whole of the art treasures which he and his father and grandfather had collected during three-quarters of a century1 at a time when beautiful things were to be had for what would now be considered an old song--that was a mystery to which no one had a clue1 and which only now can be solved with absolute accuracy4 ,much that has been suggested is undoubtedly false1 based upon conjecture without any knowledge of such facts as have been brought to light4 ,illustration3 ,,richard1 ,,marquis ,,of ,,hertford1 ,k4,g4 ,from a bust in the ,wallace ,collection4 ,to face p4 #aeh4 ,having been a trustee of the so-called ,wallace ,collections since the death of ,lady ,wallace in #ahig1 and having lived in great intimacy with ,sir ,john ,scott1 who was her heir and had been so long the fidus ,achates of ,sir ,richard1 ,i have come to the conclusion that such evidence as exists and was known to ,sir ,john1 to ,lord ,esher and others1 entirely disposes of the scandalous story that he was the illegitimate son of ,lady ,hertford1 and therefore half-brother to ,lord ,hertford4 ,the true story1 vouched for by people who were intimately acquainted with the scandals of the first half of the last century1 is that ,richard ,lord ,hertford1 when a mere boy1 had an intrigue with a ,scotch girl of low birth--,agnes ,wallace1 afterwards ,jackson4 ,the result was ,sir ,richard ,wallace4 ,as the girl was older than himself1 ,lord ,yarmouth1 as he then was1 had been rather the seduced than the seducer1 and soon tired of the whole connection4 ,he was quite willing to pay1 but he had no mind to start in life saddled with the dead weight of an uneducated mistress and a natural son4 ,lady ,hertford1 however1 got wind of the affair through ,colonel ,gurwood1 a brother officer and intimate friend of ,lord ,yarmouth4 ,she took a fancy to the child1 who responded with an affection that was almost filial4 ,lord ,hertford1 to whom his mother's slightest wish was law1 took up the boy at her bidding1 and educated him until he grew up and became entirely indispensable4 ,the lad was well known in ,paris as 8,monsieur ,richard10 ,lord ,hertford's shadow and agent1 his representative at auctions and sales of works of art4 ,the name ,richard seems to me to have some significance in confirmation of the above story4 ,is it likely that if the child had been ,lady ,hertford's1 she should have chosen the name of her eldest legitimate and deeply-loved son1 to bestow it upon an inconvenient accident8 ,to me it seems utterly incredible4 ,moreover1 would it not have been far more likely that she should have tried to smuggle away an unnecessary infant of her own than that she should have dragged the child into all the publicity of the home about which there had already been too much slanderous gossip8 ,again1 ,lady ,hertford was a woman possessed of great wealth in her own right4 ,why1 if ,sir ,richard was her son1 did she leave the whole of her fortune to her second son1 ,lord ,henry ,seymour1 and a mere trifle to the favourite to whom she was so kind a patroness8 ,obviously she relied upon ,lord ,hertford1 as his father1 to do everything for him4 ,not only the facts1 but even the whole probabilities1 are against the preposterous and malicious story that he was her son4 ,that the old lady was devotedly attached to ,sir ,richard and made a great pet of him1 and that he returned her affection with interest1 was a matter of common knowledge4 ,i have seen many letters of hers which attest the fact4 ,when she travelled1 he made all the arrangements for her1 and took entire charge of her comfort1 his bed being made outside her door when they slept at inns in the old posting days4 ,he was her devoted slave1 her most faithful watch-dog4 ,upon his services as secretary1 ,lord ,hertford1 as ,i have said1 placed entire reliance1 but his office was not altogether a bed of roses4 ,the great man1 as a patron1 was strict and sometimes severe4 ,sir ,richard1 with a taste for speculation on the ,bourse1 was sometimes in rather strait circumstances1 out of which his patron helped him1 not without reproof1 to the tune of a good many thousand pounds4 ,i have seen a document showing that ,lord ,hertford in #ahed paid twenty thousand pounds on this account through ,messrs4 ,rothschild4 ,there is in the ,wallace ,collection a certain engraved crystal tazza of ,italian workmanship1 a very lovely little gem4 ,sir ,richard1 in his poor days1 picked it up for a few francs in an old sort of rag-and-bone shop in a street in the neighbourhood of the ,temple4 ,some time afterwards1 being rather hard up1 he took it to ,lord ,hertford and asked him to buy it4 8,no10 was the answer1 8,i won't have it4 ,i will not encourage your extravagance2 you must learn to be more economical40 ,sir ,richard sold the tazza to a dealer for two hundred and fifty francs1 and a year or two later had the luck to buy it back1 but he had to pay ten times the price and more4 ,often he had hard times enough1 as he himself said when he told the story1 but when ,lord ,hertford died in #ahgj his day had come4 ,the fortune which he inherited was in those days considered colossal4 ,it would look less now compared with the huge riches of ,american plutocrats1 but in #ahgj these were yet in the making4 ,two very rich marriages1 the second and third marquesses having both married heiresses1 had1 in addition to great landed estates1 placed the ,hertfords in an altogether exceptional position4 ,the way in which the third and fourth lords elected to spend their wealth had woven round them a whole tissue of legends1 chiefly founded upon mere vulgar gossip4 ,virtuous and highly-respectable ,london delighted in crowning them with a halo of ill-fame1 and when ,lord ,yarmouth1 afterwards fourth ,marquess1 bought ,bagatelle1 it was declared to be the scene of orgies compared with which the mysteries of the ,bona ,dea were as innocent as nursery teas4 ,many of the stories were started by the rather second-class1 or even demirep1 ,english ,society which was gathered together at ,paris1 jealous at being kept out from the intimacy of a very exclusive man4 ,these stories when repeated1 we may be sure1 lost nothing in the telling1 and so ,bagatelle came to be looked upon as a sort of ,parc aux ,cerfs1 while ,bishop ,luscombe's congregation stalked with virtuously uplifted noses along the ,rue d',aguesseau1 thanking ,heaven that they were not as ,lord ,hertford4 ,such a reputation1 even if it were a mere scandalous libel1 was hardly such as would commend itself to ,general ,sir ,francis ,seymour1 the proud patrician who was to succeed to the title as fifth ,marquess4 ,indeed1 it must have been gall and wormwood to a man trained as he had been for many years in the solemn dignity of the staid ,victorian ,court4 ,there could be no sympathy1 still less affection1 between the cousins4 ,but there was more than all this to influence ,lord ,hertford when he made his will1 which left his successor practically nothing but the broad acres of ,warwickshire1 with a great costly palace to keep up1 at a moment when land was falling in value every day and agriculture was drifting no man could tell whither4 ,whatever shape ,richard ,lord ,hertford's eccentricities may have taken1 he had one redeeming virtue4 ,he was a model son1 and his love for his mother was the great passion of his life4 ,to attack her1 to be in any way wanting in respect for her1 was in his eyes the one crime for which there was no forgiveness1 and that was precisely the crime of which ,sir ,francis ,seymour was guilty4 ,it was a pity1 to say the least of it1 that the unkind things1 sure to be repeated1 of which he was so prodigal in speaking of ,lady ,hertford1 should ever have been uttered4 ,however much he might disapprove of ,lord ,hertford's way of life1 it would have been wise to remember that a man is not responsible for his grandmother's indiscretions1 and the shady parentage of ,maria ,fagnani might well have been allowed the benefit of silence4 ,at any rate1 it was not the business of ,sir ,francis to trumpet that or any other scandal about her4 ,her story was curious4 ,all the actors in the play have long been dead1 but it is so intimately connected with the history of the ,wallace ,collection that1 while there is no one left to whom its relation could give pain1 it still retains a special interest4 ,anything that can throw light upon the passing of all those treasures into the possession of the nation is worth recording2 and it is1 moreover1 an act of justice to clear the memory of a lady who has been somewhat roughly--and1 as ,i believe1 without foundation--handled in the 8,dictionary of ,national ,biography40 ,under the blessing of the law1 ,maria was the daughter of the ,marchese and ,marchesa ,fagnani1 and the adopted child of ,george ,selwyn4 ,but the ,marchesa1 who was said to have been a ballet-dancer1 must have been none too faithful to her husband2 for1 as a matter of fact1 ,george ,selwyn was said to dispute with the ,duke of ,queensberry1 the wicked 8,old ,q10 the honour of being her father4 ,as to that there seems to be no certain evidence1 but one would have thought that such a rivalry1 or partnership--whichever it might be--would have bred a jealousy between the two men4 ,not a bit of it6 ,they remained fast friends1 were constantly together1 and1 when apart1 wrote to one another in the most affectionate terms4 ,at ,george ,selwyn's death in #agia he left thirty-three thousand pounds to ,maria and the rest of his fortune to 8,old ,q40 ,when the ,duke1 in his turn1 came to an end of his stormy life1 dying in the odour of iniquity in #ahaj1 he bequeathed to ,maria1 who had married ,lord ,yarmouth in #agih1 a fortune of between three and four hundred thousand pounds1 together with the famous house opposite the ,green ,park in ,piccadilly1 in the window of which1 when he was too old to walk1 he used to sit ogling the pretty women as they passed below him4 ,that window1 with its leering old tenant1 was one of the sights of ,london4 ,the ,marchese ,fagnani 7,fagniani is a misspelling in all the ,english books7 belonged to an old ,milanese family4 ,in the sixteenth century there was a poet of the name who gained some literary fame2 others of the family were well-known lawyers1 archologists1 mathematicians and churchmen in the seventeenth century--all men of good repute2 and as ,maria was undoubtedly born in holy wedlock1 the msalliance was not so very great4 ,in spite of this there must have been some doubt as to the desirability of alliance with the ,fagnanis1 for the marriage with ,lord ,yarmouth was a hole-and-corner affair1 hustled through at ,southampton on the #ahth of ,may1 #agih4 ,southampton was then quite a small country town1 very different from what it is now1 just the sort of place where a marriage could be celebrated without fuss and in some secrecy4 ,indeed1 when ,i remember it fifty years later it was still in its infancy and very primitive1 with at least one delightful old house standing in its own grounds in the ,high ,street above ,bar4 ,altogether it was not the sort of wedding that certainly would have been arranged for the heir of the proud and royal ,seymours had the magnates of the family not disapproved of the match4 ,the ,french writers in newspapers1 who made great capital out of the whole romance at the time of ,lord ,hertford's death in #ahgj1 went out of their way to associate the ,prince ,regent with the ,fagnani mystery4 ,they hinted that the prince also claimed the paternity of ,maria1 and that he even attended the marriage4 ,but that is an utter absurdity1 for which there was no foundation4 ,immediately after the marriage ,lord and ,lady ,yarmouth made their home in ,piccadilly1 next door to 8,old ,q10 who did not die till twelve years later4 ,it is pretty clear that the marriage with ,maria did not lower ,lord ,yarmouth's social position1 otherwise ,lord ,castlereagh would hardly have chosen him as his second in his famous duel with ,mr4 ,canning1 for whom ,mr4 ,charles ,ellis1 afterwards ,lord ,seaford1 acted4 ,both men missed their first shots2 in the second shot ,mr4 ,canning was grazed in the leg4 ,a duel between the ,minister of ,war and the ,secretary of ,state for ,foreign ,affairs was a matter of too great importance to be entrusted to a gentleman who was under a cloud4 ,after ,lord ,yarmouth succeeded to the ,marquisate in #ahbb1 he received the ,garter himself1 and was sent by ,george the ,fourth as special ambassador to carry the same order to the ,emperor ,nicholas in #ahbg4 ,at the time of her marriage the bride was no longer in her first youth2 she was at least twenty-seven years old4 ,for the correspondence between ,george ,selwyn and the ,duke of ,queensberry shows that in #aggb she was already teething1 and under the care of the former at ,paris as his adopted child2 and he was fretting himself into bad health lest the mother should take the little creature--,mie ,mie1 as she was called--away from him4 ,the ,duke1 then ,lord ,march1 while abounding in good advice to his friend1 promised his good offices1 saying at the time that the ,marchesa was sure to act in opposition to his 7the ,duke's7 wishes and advice4 ,the child was taken away by her mother for a time1 but ultimately and permanently given back to her adoring guardian or father4 ,from that time forth the noble ,italian lady seems to have troubled herself about her baby no more4 ,as ,i have already said1 there is no certainty as to ,maria's parentage2 indeed1 the published letters leave the whole story in a state of confusion which is perfect4 ,robinson1 in his ,life of 8,old ,q0 7page #adc71 says3 8,jesse1 who was privileged to go over ,selwyn's correspondence1 though refusing as a false affectation of delicacy to pass over in complete silence the mysterious reports respecting the true parentage of ,selwyn's infantine charge1 asserts that although references occur in the most private papers of ,selwyn which unquestionably lead to the supposition that either ,lord ,march 7,old ,q7 or ,selwyn was1 or1 rather1 that each severally believed himself to be1 the father of the child1 yet no certain proofs exist4 ,further1 a letter addressed by ,madame ,fagnani to ,selwyn1 ,july #cast1 #aggb 7of which ,jesse gives a translation71 does not express any but the most polite feelings of friendship for the guardian of her child4 ,lest ,i may be misrepresented in alluding to a matter that a faithful record of established facts incident to my subject warrants1 ,madame ,fagnani's letter is inserted in justice to all concerned3 8#8,,my ,,very ,,dear ,,and ,,respectable ,,friend1 8#8,i cannot find terms sufficiently expressive to thank you for all your kindness1 and more particularly for the pains you take in regard to my daughter4 ,i can assure you that nothing is more sensibly felt by me than the proofs of friendship which ,i have received from you on this occasion4 ,the more ,i know the world1 the more ,i perceive the difficulty of finding a person who resembles you1 and ,i consider myself the happiest of mortals solely from the happiness ,i have had in forming your acquaintance and obtaining your friendship4 8#8,i am enchanted in learning that my daughter is in good health1 though ,i fear she will suffer much in cutting her teeth4 ,i venture to beg of you to continue to give me tidings of her1 as without your kindness in writing to me from time to time1 ,i should have been ignorant for the last three months of the fate of ma petite4 ,my lord1#ad on his part1 is a little indolent1 but ,i forgive him this little fault on account of the many good qualities of his heart which he has to counterbalance it4 8#8,i hope that your health is good4 ,pray present my compliments to ,lord ,march1 and tell him that ,i expect to hear from him4 ,preserve your friendship for me1 and do not forget the most grateful and affectionate of all your friends1 who makes it her duty and pleasure to be1 8#8,your very sincere servant and friend1 8#8,,costanza ,,fagnani4'0 ,surely that is a letter which must have been written without any idea that it would ever be published1 and it certainly gives no sunlight to clear away the clouds of the story4 ,to add to the mystery of ,maria's parentage1 ,roscoe1 in his book on ,selwyn1 publishes two letters1 one from ,dr4 ,warner1 the witty ,chaplain to the ,british ,embassy in ,paris in #aghj1 when she was nine years old1 in which1 writing to ,selwyn1 he makes no disguise of his belief in the paternity of the ,duke4 ,the letter is also interesting as giving some slight idea of the impression which the child created3 8,that freshness of complexion ,i should have great pleasure in beholding4 ,it must add to her charms1 and cannot diminish the character1 sense and shrewdness which distinguish her physiognomy1 and which she possesses in a great degree1 with a happy engrafting of a high-bred foreign air upon an ,english stock4 ,but how very pleasant to me was your honest and nave confession of the joy your heart felt at hearing her admired4 ,it is1 indeed1 most extraordinary that a certain person who has great taste 7would he had as much nature7#ae should not see her with very different eyes from what he does4 ,i can never forget that nave expression of ,madame de ,svign3 #8,je ne sais comment l'on fait de ne pas aimer sa fille4'0 ,the other letter to which ,i allude is one from ,george ,selwyn to ,lord ,carlisle1 written at a time when complaining that he was 8le jouet des autres10 and was being annoyed beyond all bearing by the way in which ,madame ,fagnani behaved to him about ,maria1 threatening to take her away from him altogether4 ,in that letter he writes3 8,hlas6 rende mi figlia mis60 ,that may have meant no more than that the child was very dear to him1 and need not necessarily imply that he believed himself to be her father4 ,that he did so believe1 however1 is pretty certain4 ,he educated her1 placed her at school with ,mrs4 ,terry at ,campden ,house in ,kensington1 then a beautiful old house almost in the country1 and having finally succeeded in getting rid of the mother's importunities1 kept her with him until his death in #agia1 introducing her into the best society4 ,gainsborough painted her portrait1 as did ,sir ,joshua ,reynolds1 but the pictures no longer exist1 or1 at any rate1 are lost4 ,of the legal father1 the ,marquis ,fagnani1 we hear very little4 ,the only notice ,i have found of him is in a letter from ,selwyn to ,lord ,carlisle dated ,june #aith1 #agha3 8,belgiojoso told me last night that he had had letters from ,milan1 by which he was informed that the ,m4 ,marquis ,fagnani was gone quite mad4 ,he has been stone blind for a considerable time1 and ,i take it for granted that both these misfortunes are come from the same cause--that is1 mercury4 ,his experiments to ease the one probably occasioned the other4 ,i never hear one syllable from any of the family4 ,i hope in ,god that ,i never shall1 nor poor ,mie ,mie either4 ,it grows every day less likely1 and yet when ,i am out of spirits1 that dragon1 among others1 comes across me and distresses me1 and the thought of what must happen to that child if ,i am not alive to protect her40 ,george ,selwyn was no further molested in the possession of the child4 ,he lived for ten years after that letter was written1 and by that time ,maria had grown to woman's estate4 ,she was twenty years of age1 and had1 under ,george ,selwyn's will1 a snug little fortune of her own1 besides expectations1 amply to be realized1 of further benefits from the ,duke of ,queensberry4 ,he doubtless took paternal care of the young lady who was to inherit all that he could alienate from the ,douglas family4 ,she became one of the greatest heiresses1 if not the greatest1 of her day4 ,in her youth ,maria ,fagnani must have been a very fascinating girl4 ,to ,george ,selwyn1 as we have seen1 she was as the apple of his eye4 ,he simply adored her4 ,if she had a cold in the head1 or an infantile ailment1 however trivial1 it was torture to him1 provoking sympathy from his correspondents1 who themselves seemed to be quite under the spell of the delightful child2 and as he apparently never destroyed a note1 there are plenty of these condolences in the budget of letters published by ,jesse4 ,to have won the heart of ,thackeray's ,marquess of ,steyne1 if that fastidious personage ever possessed such an organ1 was another feather in her cap1 and in her old age we know how tenderly her son and ,richard ,wallace both loved her4 ,in #ahjc ,lord and ,lady ,yarmouth were detained in ,france--he interned at ,verdun--when war was again declared after the rupture of the ,peace of ,amiens1 and their second son1 ,lord ,henry ,seymour1 was born in ,paris in #ahje4 ,scandal declared that he was the son of ,junot1 ,duc d',abrants1 with whom ,lady ,yarmouth was very intimate4 ,there is a note in ,roscoe1 page #h1 which says3 8,she led a life of pleasure 7#ahjb-ahjg71 travelling on the ,continent with the ,marshal ,andoche40 ,that was ,junot's ,christian name--but that he never was a marshal was his great grievance against ,napoleon4 ,this ,lord ,henry is not to be confounded1 as is commonly done1 with the ,lord ,henry ,seymour1 son of the first ,marquess1 who lived at ,norris ,castle1 near ,cowes1 and spent a fortune in building the famous sea-wall4 ,the ,lord ,henry with whom we have to deal was a very eccentric personage4 ,unlike his brother1 ,richard ,lord ,hertford1 who was a handsome man1 and in his youth a dandy of the #ajth ,hussars1 ,lord ,henry was singularly ugly1 even grotesque4 ,there was in the ,rue ,lafitte a sketch or caricature of him1 which ,i have seen1 in which he was represented as a sort of ,quilp1 stunted1 misshapen1 and of prodigious strength4 ,he was a hero of the various ,salles d',armes1 a famous fencer and athlete1 and the founder1 or1 at any rate1 one of the founders1 of the ,french ,jockey ,club4 ,a kindly man withal1 for by his will1 in which his horses appeared as legatees--never to be crossed again--he left the bulk of his fortune to the hospitals of ,paris4 ,he died in #ahei1 three years after the loss of his mother4 ,it used to be said that he never even set foot in ,england1 but that was probably only one of the many fables set afloat about the two brothers4 ,so curious a quartet as the mother1 the two sons1 and the enigma that was ,m4 ,richard1 afterwards ,sir ,richard ,wallace1 furnished fine food for eavesdroppers and gossip-mongers4 ,for twenty-eight years after the death of his father in #ahdb1 ,richard ,lord ,hertford lived practically altogether in ,paris1 passing his time between the ,rue ,lafitte and ,bagatelle1 the little toy house on the outskirts of the ,bois de ,boulogne1 which in #aghj was built by ,bellanger in a few weeks at the order of the ,comte d',artois 7,charles the ,tenth71 for a bet1 in order to entertain ,queen ,marie ,antoinette on a fixed day4 ,the repetition in one of the rooms of the decoration of peacocks with spread tails in the boudoir of the ,queen at ,versailles was probably a delicate compliment--a little surprise--addressed to her on her visit4 ,when ,i first saw it some fifteen years ago1 although the house was empty and the famous statues had been removed and sold1 it was still instinct with a certain eighteenth-century charm4 ,the daintily laid-out grounds were still beautifully kept1 and ,i should hardly have been surprised had ,i suddenly come upon one of ,fragonard's idylls1 with shepherdesses powdered and hooped1 and gentle shepherds to match1 appropriately dressed in spotless pink and blue silk4 ,in that house1 as in those idylls1 there are tears when we remember how soon so many of those pretty1 frivolous1 powdered heads were to fall into the basket of ,monsieur de ,paris4 ,although the famous 8,nelly ,o',brien0 of ,sir ,joshua1 and perhaps ,romney's 8,perdita10 were bought by the second ,marquess1 the foundation of the collection of art treasures which1 since the militant ladies three or four years ago took to fighting pictures in the ,national ,gallery1 have been stored away in the cellars of ,hertford ,house1 was laid by ,francis1 third ,lord ,hertford1 who bought the glorious 8,perseus and ,andromeda0 by ,titian1 which the keen eyes of ,sir ,claude ,phillips rescued from a bath-room1 where it had been stored away and forgotten1 a number of the ,dutch pictures and two of the ,vandycks4 ,but by far the greater part of it was acquired by his son ,richard1 the fourth ,marquess4 ,very important additions1 especially in the armoury1 were made by ,sir ,richard ,wallace1 who was himself a born collector1 and had acquired no little experience1 both on his own account1 and as ,lord ,hertford's representative at the great auction sales of ,paris4 ,his taste in ,oriental art was distinctly bad4 ,he bought a few very inferior specimens of ,chinese cloisonn enamel1 and two porcelain bowls of the ,chia ,ching reign1 #agif-ahba1 a period when the art of ,china reached almost its lowest level1 with very inferior mounts by some ,english bungler4 ,of these he was inordinately proud4 ,there are two or three very fine cladon vases1 with exquisitely chiselled ,french mounts1 in one of the glass cases1 but there is no evidence as to who bought them4 ,the reason of the fourth ,lord ,hertford's self-condemned exile in ,paris1 when he owned five palatial houses in ,london1 besides ,ragley1 ,sudbourne and other places1 is not easy to ascertain4 ,there was a story1 firmly believed in my youth1 and confirmed by ,sir ,richard ,wallace to ,sir ,john ,scott1 that his father tried to force him into a cruel marriage with the daughter of one of his mistresses1 with whom he conspired to make it appear that ,lord ,yarmouth1 as he then was1 had compromised the girl4 ,the young man deeply resented this outrage1 and took refuge in ,paris1 where his mother was living4 ,certainly he had established himself there during his father's lifetime1 for it was as ,lord ,yarmouth that he bought ,bagatelle in #ahcj1 and he did not succeed to the marquisate until twelve years later4 ,yriarte's story that he left ,london on account of a quarrel with the parish over the rates of his house in ,piccadilly1 is hardly to be accepted4 ,it is far more likely that he left ,england in order to free himself from his father1 for whom he had no love or respect1 and made ,paris his home that he might be with his mother1 whom he adored4 ,she1 with ,lord ,henry ,seymour and ,monsieur ,richard1 lived at ,no4 #a1 ,rue ,taitbout1 ,lord ,hertford's head-quarters being hard by at ,no4 #b1 ,rue ,lafitte4 ,there he lived the life of an invalid and sybarite1 hardly to be called happy in spite of his great possessions--a recluse1 the darkness of whose hypochondria was only cheered by his correspondence with ,mr4 ,s4 ,mawson1 who was his agent in ,london for the purchase1 restoration and care of pictures1 or by some brilliant triumph at ,christie's or in the ,paris auction-rooms4 ,few people saw him1 and still fewer knew him4 ,and yet he had all the qualifications which would have enabled him to shine among his fellows4 ,yriarte said of him3 8,causeur clbre1 trs spirituel1 trs lettr1 d'une politesse accomplie1 d'un raffinement rare1 ses gots personnels l'loignaient cependant de la socit1 et il a vcu toute sa vie dans un milieu infrieur4 ,il y apportait mme avec ses intimes une manire d'tre dissimule1 peu conforme avec le cant anglais1 et il affichait une sorte de cynisme que les deux ou trois amis intimes qu'il a conservs jusqu' sa mort regardaient comme son masque d'emprunt40 ,his wit1 if sometimes a little cynical1 or even a little risky1 was undeniable1 and what are called 8good stories0 of him were the joy of clubs4 ,that he suffered acutely there can be no doubt1 for ,sir ,richard ,wallace once told me that he went with him to ,contrexville--we know what that means--which fifty years ago was a very different place from what it is now1 and where all the sordid details of life at that time must have been torture to a man of his exquisite refinement4 ,with public life he had no concern4 ,as a young man he was for a few years in the ,house of ,commons1 and on succeeding to the title1 he delivered a maiden speech in the ,house of ,lords1 and that was all4 ,his one and only participation in affairs was in #ahee1 when he consented to act as one of the jury at the ,exhibition of ,paris4 ,upon this subject he wrote a characteristic letter to ,mawson3 8,only think of my being at the ,champs-,elyses every morning at nine o'clock4 ,hard work for an old fellow who has very different habits4 ,i am obliged to get up every morning between six and seven o'clock to be at the exhibition in proper time to preside over a group composed of four classes4 ,i remain there almost all day doing my work1 and as ,i am not accustomed to this sudden activity1 ,i am very tired1 and1 in consequence1 neglect my own affairs40 ,it was1 of course1 his intimacy with ,louis ,napolon which caused him to accept such a violent break in his habits1 but he owed the ,emperor some gratitude1 for it was by his friendly help that he was enabled to add to the grounds of ,bagatelle1 and again to employ ,dasson to copy the famous bureau in the ,louvre4 ,apropos to ,bagatelle1 ,mr4 ,mac,coll1 in his introduction to the catalogue of pictures at ,hertford ,house1 to which ,i owe great obligation1 has a good story4 ,it is said 8that two acquaintances asked leave to fight a duel in the grounds4 ,the ,marquess politely replied that he had not the slightest objection to their shooting one another1 but could not trust their skill so far as to risk his statues40 ,perhaps most people would have endorsed his view of the comparative value of masterpieces by ,pigalle1 ,lemoyne and ,houdon1 and the lives or limbs of the would-be ,bobadils4 ,hardly could they be worth ,houdon's famous 8,baigneuse40 ,lord ,hertford's letters to ,mawson1 which were sold to the trustees by ,mr4 ,mawson's daughter1 show how keenly he watched the great sales both in ,london and ,paris4 ,the ,english sales he1 of course1 very rarely attended1 and when he did so1 it was ,mawson who did the bidding1 guided by a code of signals given by motions of ,lord ,hertford's hat4 ,nor was he personally more active if he was present at a ,french sale2 he seems to have carried his dislike of all publicity into every phase of life1 and to have conducted all his business by agents4 ,the correspondence with ,mawson1 of which many extracts are given by ,mr4 ,mac,coll in his catalogue of the pictures1 is interesting1 not only as showing ,lord ,hertford's great personal interest in art and the extraordinary difference in prices between now and then1 but also as revealing at least one charming side in a character which1 owing to its eccentricity1 was1 ,i honestly believe1 cruelly maligned4 ,no mere selfish voluptuary1 such as ,lord ,hertford was described by the evil tongues of those who did not know him1 could have inspired the affection which was felt for him by those who did4 ,sir ,richard ,wallace more than once spoke to me of him in terms of the strongest respect and affection1 and1 on the other hand1 his gratitude to ,sir ,richard is expressed with pathetic feeling in the codicil to his will of ,june #gth1 #ahej3 8,to reward as much as ,i can ,richard ,wallace for all his care and attention to my dear mother1 and likewise for his devotedness to me during a long and painful illness ,i had in ,paris in #ahdj1 and on all other occasions1 ,i give such residue to the said ,richard ,wallace now living at the ,htel des ,bains1 ,boulogne-sur-,mer1 in ,france1 and whose domicile previous to the ,revolution of #ahdh was in my mother's house1 ,rue ,taitbout ,no4 #c1 formerly ,no4 #a1 absolutely40 ,the man who wrote those words had a heart4 ,the letters to ,mawson are often worded as if he--,mawson--were conferring the most signal favours upon his employer4 ,the most formal commissions of the earlier days of their connection soon grew to be letters of absolute affectionate gratitude4 ,lord ,hertford had the most complete confidence in the judgment1 taste and good faith of his agent4 ,well might he trust him1 for ,aladdin was not more faithfully served by the slaves of the ring and the lamp4 ,but it is only a kindly nature and sweet disposition which is capable of dealing with a subordinate without the slightest tinge of patronizing condescension4 ,two or three examples will suffice to show the nature of the intimacy between the employer and the employed4 ,the ,duke of ,buckingham's sale at ,stowe1 in #ahdh1 created an immense sensation4 ,i remember it well1 for although ,i was only eleven years old1 ,i used to hear much art talk even in those days between my father and his friends4 ,it is the subject of a characteristic letter from ,lord ,hertford to ,mawson1 quoted by ,mr4 ,mac,coll1 dated ,september #ajth1 #ahdh2 it was written from ,boulogne3 8,i intended being at ,stowe on the fifteenth1 but ,i find that it is not certain whether ,i shall be able to attend the sale on that day4 ,i think we must have the #8,unmerciful ,servant1' by ,rembrandt1 and hope the price will not be as unmerciful as the subject2 but you know that ,i place all confidence in you1 and depend upon your kindness on this occasion4 8,the ,rembrandt and the ,domenichino are my favourites1 and ,i depend upon you for doing the best4 ,pray have the kindness not to mention to anybody that you buy on my account4 ,i am very anxious my name should not appear4 ,in the event of my being in time for the sale1 you would see me there1 and my hat would play the same part it has already acted in similar circumstances40 ,on ,september #bdth1 ,lord ,hertford wrote to thank ,mr4 ,mawson for the transaction1 adding3 8,i hope and trust we have not paid our pictures much too dear4 ,i am very glad you like them1 as ,i have a very high opinion of your judgment40 ,the great ,rembrandt was bought for two thousand three hundred pounds4 ,what would it fetch to-day8 ,in ,july1 #ahee1 the contents of ,st4 ,dunstan's1 in the ,regent's ,park1 were sold1 and were the subject of the enclosed letters3 8,rue ,lafitte1 ,paris4 8,july #eth1 #ahee4 8,there are a few things ,i should like to have at the sale of my father's villa in the ,regent's ,park on the #ith inst40 99 99 99 99 99 8,paris1 ,july #fth1 #ahee4 8,in anticipation that you will have the kindness to attend the sale at the ,regent's ,park for me1 and having no time to spare1 ,i send you the list of things ,i wish to have1 and that ,i hope you will have the kindness to buy for me3 8,,pictures4 8#aah4 ,p4 ,veronese--,not more than #dj or #ej4 8#abj4 ,ruysdael--,what you think it is worth and a little more4 8#abb4 ,northcote--#8,portrait of ,george ,,iv4 when ,prince of ,wales4' ,i am anxious to have it40 99 99 99 99 99 8,paris1 ,july #bjth1 #ahee4 8,i am extremely obliged to you for having had the kindness to buy my #8caprices' at the ,regent's ,park sale4 ,you did it all beautifully and just what ,i wished4 ,i depend on your usual kindness for having the #8,prince of ,wales'' portrait repaired for me4 ,i rather regret the landscape 7i4e41 the ,ruysdael71 though an indifferent picture1 because it was in my room when ,i was a boy a few years ago4 ,what prices people give now for all these old affairs6 ,it is ridiculous60 ,only once does ,lord ,hertford sound a note of disquiet at the price paid by his commissioner1 and that was for the famous portrait by ,velasquez of 8,don ,baltasar ,carlos in ,infancy10 which fetched #a1fhj at the ,louis ,philippe sale at ,christie's in ,may1 #ahec4 ,he writes3 8,as for the ,velasquez1 ,i do not remember it at all1 ainsi je ne puis rien dire4 ,what frightens me is that it appears never to have struck me at the ,louvre1 as ,i do not remember it at all4 ,you gave a prodigious price for it1 but as ,i have great confidence in your taste and judgment1 as well as in everything else1 ,i dare say ,i shall like it1 and ,i long to have a look at it1 which ,i hope soon to be able to do40 ,it was certainly not a bad investment at the prodigious price4 ,other letters are full of the most flattering expressions3 8,april #aath1 #ahef4 8,i have only a moment to thank you a thousand times for your great kindness in giving me some details of the ,sibthorpe sale40 99 99 99 99 99 8,april #bcrd1 #ahef4 8,a thousand thanks for your kindness40 ,but these expressions are too numerous to quote2 still1 ,i will give one more because it really testifies to something like friendship4 ,writing from ,paris1 ,december #aath1 #ahfc1 ,lord ,hertford says3 8,i was in hopes that ,i should have had the pleasure of seeing you in ,brussels something like a couple of months ago4 ,there was a goodish portrait by ,rubens that ,i bought4 ,i shall be delighted to show it you some day1 and ,i hope you will like it40 ,certainly ,lord ,hertford was a great gentleman1 one whom it must have been a pleasure to serve4 ,it is easy to imagine the sava indignatio of ,lord ,hertford if he could come to life again and see 8the prices which people give now for these old affairs40 ,money could hardly have been better invested than it was by himself1 his father and his grandfather1 when they paid what were deemed wild sums for their works of art4 ,fancy ,sir ,joshua's 8,nellie ,o',brien0 being bought by the second ,marquess for #fd #as4 at the ,caleb ,whitefoord sale4 ,think of the third ,marquess buying ,vandyck's 8,young ,italian ,nobleman10 a glorious portrait of the ,genoese period1 for #dji #ajs4 ,in the second half of the nineteenth century prices went up madly1 but1 even so1 ,lord ,hertford1 when he gave #a1gie #ajs4 for 8,mrs4 ,carnac10 was purchasing gold for silver4 ,why1 the first state of the mezzotint engraving of that picture by ,j4 ,r4 ,smith was sold a few years ago1 if ,i remember aright1 for eleven hundred guineas4 ,for the 8,strawberry ,girl0 the price paid at the ,rogers sale was #b1bje4 8,no man10 said ,sir ,joshua1 8could ever produce more than half a dozen original works1 and that is one of mine40 ,lord ,hertford was delighted with the acquisition4 ,he wrote to ,mawson3 8,you have done admirably1 and ,i return you most sincere thanks for your kindness4 ,the #8,strawberry1' is dear4 ,i should be sorry to have a large basket at that price2 but it seems it is beautiful1 and in this affair1 as in others1 ,i have completely followed your good advice1 and you have added to my collection pictures ,i have never seen1 which shows1 more than words can express1 the great and friendly confidence ,i have in you4 ,i am sure ,i shall be delighted with what you have acquired4 ,i am very sorry your honourable name was not coupled with our #8,girl' when she was knocked down4 ,it is not fair that you should not enjoy the little glory of having secured in a gallant manner the gem of this interesting sale1 so you are at full liberty to use my name with yours respecting this painting4 ,was it not an immense price8 ,i don't regret it at all2 on the contrary1 ,i am delighted to have so fine a ,sir ,joshua1 as ,i am extremely fond of them1 and they cannot always be had when wanted40 ,another notable picture bought at the ,rogers sale was the 8,don ,baltasar ,carlos in the ,riding ,school10 by ,velasquez1 for which ,mawson paid #a1baj #as4 ,a wonderful bargain at the ,stowe sale was ,murillo's 8,assumption of the ,virgin10 knocked down for #eh #afs4 ,i have no space to go into details1 but we can form some idea of the value of these purchases when we see that ,lord ,hertford bought five of the very finest ,sir ,joshuas for #g1igd #es4 ,the six finest ,rembrandts cost him #e1dec #aes42 five of the best ,watteaus1 #b1jcg4 ,what superb investments--to speak of no others6 ,it is something of an anti-climax to find ,lord ,hertford giving #d1jjj1 and ,sir ,richard ,wallace #b1djj1 for works by ,ary ,scheffer4 ,well might ,lord ,hertford write to ,mawson in #ahec3 8,you know1 fancy has a great deal to do with pictures as with anything else40 #a1fhj--;a 8prodigious price0 for a ,velasquez6 #d1jjj--;given without hesitation for a picture by that most namby-pamby of artists1 ,ary ,scheffer6 ,the desire to surround himself with beautiful works of art was one of the crimes laid to the charge of ,lord ,hertford4 ,he was extravagant1 he was selfish4 ,as to the first of these accusations1 the prices which he paid were surely no more than what was permissible to a man with an income of nearly a quarter of a million sterling2 and1 as ,i have shown1 from the mere investor's point of view the money was well laid out4 ,as for the cry of selfishness1 what could be more natural than that a man endowed with the most refined taste and judgment1 debarred by health no less than by inclination1 from the more active relaxations in which rich men find pleasure--the turf1 sport of all kinds1 hunting1 and1 of late years certainly1 shooting1 should be captivated by the excitement of the auction-rooms4 ,it was in them that he found the pleasures of the chase4 ,he was deprived of much1 and it were scurvy treatment to reproach him for what harmed no living being at the time1 but has ended by giving joy to millions of his countrymen4 ,the amusement with which he solaced long days and years of physical pain1 aching under a complaint which notoriously affects the spirits perhaps more than any other1 has borne fruit for which we should be grateful1 even though it be only indirectly that we owe it to him4 ,he might fairly have written in his will like ,bacon3 8,for my name and memory1 ,i leave it to men's charitable speeches and to foreign nations1 and to the next age40 ,we are 8the next age02 it behoves us to be not only just but generous4 ,to our shame we have been neither4 ,there can be very few men now alive who knew ,richard ,lord ,hertford personally4 ,from ,lord ,esher1 who as a youth did know him1 ,i have a letter1 which he very kindly allows me to quote1 giving more than one of those little intimate touches which lend a spice to narration4 ,but it does more than that4 ,it furnishes direct evidence of the truth of what ,i have written about the calumnies by which ,lord ,hertford's character was poisoned by people for whom his chief crime was that he did not choose to know them4 ,is it likely1 is it even possible1 that two ladies in a high position like ,lord ,esher's grandmother and mother should have visited him in the ,rue ,lafitte and in the much-talked-of ,bagatelle had those vile slanders been true8 ,the story of ,sir ,richard ,wallace's birth and upbringing is conclusive4 ,let the letter speak for itself4 8,roman ,camp1 ,callander4 8,march #agth1 #aiaf4 8,,my ,,dear ,,redesdale1 8,i remember being taken1 by my grandmother1 to tea with ,richard ,marquis of ,hertford4 ,he lived at the corner of the ,rue ,lafitte1 and his fine rooms were crowded with objets d'art--although not smothered in clocks1 as they afterwards became when ,wallace and ,scott occupied them4 ,everything was most sumptuous1 but ,i recollect perfectly that when the tea was brought in by a very solemn major-domo1 whose long grey whiskers ,i can see to this day1 ,lord ,hertford went to a beautiful ,louis ,,xvi4 secrtaire1 which he unlocked1 and brought out the sugar-basin1 which he carefully put away again after tea4 7,lord ,hertford was a very handsome man1 but frail and delicate47 ,not long afterwards my mother and ,i were invited to spend an afternoon at ,bagatelle1 where ,richard ,wallace entertained us1 as ,lord ,hertford was engaged--so he sent word--in ,paris4 ,the gardens were beautiful--as they still are--but the house was not so full as the ,rue ,lafitte4 8,my grandfather1 ,colonel ,gurwood1 who had served through the ,peninsular ,war in the ,light ,division1 was given a captaincy in the #ajth ,hussars in #ahad1 and ,richard ,seymour joined the regiment when he was seventeen years old and ten years' junior to my grandfather1 who became much attached to him4 ,this friendship lasted through life4 8,i possess three volumes of bound letters to ,colonel ,gurwood from ,lord ,yarmouth1 by which name ,lord ,hertford was know from #ahbb to #ahdb1 when he succeeded his father1 ,francis1 the third ,marquess of ,steyne of #8,vanity ,fair4' 8,these letters are interesting1 as they contain many references to the collection of bric--brac which ,lord ,yarmouth and ,wallace1 his secretary1 had already commenced to form4 ,many fine things which belonged to my grandfather1 and are now the property of my sister1 were purchased by ,lord ,yarmouth and ,wallace or by their advice4 ,in return1 my grandfather always bought for ,lord ,yarmouth his riding and driving horses4 ,he used to send them to ,paris1 where ,lord ,yarmouth lived with his mother1 ,lady ,hertford1 ,maria ,fagnani4 8,many times have ,i heard my grandmother and my mother tell the story of ,sir ,richard ,wallace's adoption by ,lord ,hertford4 ,wallace was the son of ,lord ,yarmouth by a girl1 ,agnes ,jackson by name1 who was a kind of fille du rgiment of the #ajth ,hussars1 and young ,seymour made a home for her in ,paris while the liaison lasted4 ,there ,wallace was born1 and when ,seymour parted from his mistress1 the child was placed with a concierge in the ,rue de ,clichy1 where he ran wild under a porte cochre until he was about six years old4 8,my grandfather1 who had known ,agnes ,jackson and all about her short-lived liaison with ,lord ,yarmouth1 hunted up the boy1 and finding he was a smart child1 showed him to ,lady ,hertford1 ,maria ,fagnani1 and induced her to bring him up1 much against the inclination of her son4 8,there is1 and never was1 the slightest foundation for the absurd legend that ,maria ,fagnani was ,sir ,richard ,wallace's mother1 although the writer in the #8,dictionary of ,national ,biography1' who cannot possibly know anything of the facts1 adopts it4 8,one of the reasons sometimes given for assuming that ,lord ,hertford could not be ,wallace's father was that there was not more than eighteen or nineteen years between their ages4 ,on the other hand1 it was overlooked that ,maria ,fagnani was very nearly1 if not quite1 fifty years of age when ,wallace was born4 ,anyway1 ,i have no doubt whatever that the facts are as ,i have stated them4 8,they were corroborated1 as far as ,i am concerned1 by the evidence of ,madame ,o---- de ,b----1 a lady who for forty years lived on the deuxime tage of the ,rue ,lafitte and in a beautiful villa1 called ,st4 ,james1 close to ,bagatelle4 8,she was a lady of irreproachable life1 and virtue as stern as that of ,madame de ,maintenon1 whom she resembled in many ways4 ,i inherited some of the gifts which she had received from ,lord ,hertford2 among them a fine #8,garter ,george1' which belonged to ,prince ,charles ,edward1 and was acquired by ,francis1 third ,marquis1 from the collection of ,cardinal ,york4 8,it was destined for my grandfather and his children1 and ,madame ,o---- fulfilled her obligation4 8,i perfectly remember ,sir ,richard ,wallace's son1 whose liaison with a ,french girl bitterly offended ,sir ,richard1 although1 as he was told by the young man when the quarrel was irremediable1 he had only followed his father's example4 8,young ,wallace came once or twice to ,london after #ahgj4 ,he died of typhoid fever when still a young man4 ,but ,wallace would never recognize his son's children or their mother2 the former were amply provided for by ,lady ,wallace4 ,madame ,o---- de ,b---- had no children of her own1 but she showed great kindness to her connections de la main gauche4 ,i perfectly remember the advent of ,sir ,john ,scott into the ,wallace household1 and the subsequent course of a lifelong devotion to the interests of his employers that deserved and obtained its reward4 8,there is no need to enter into the story of ,lady ,wallace1 a very refined1 shy and excellent lady1 although the facts were well known to my family40 8,my ,french relations were intimate with ,lord ,hertford1 ,sir ,richard ,wallace and ,sir ,john ,scott1 over a period extending from #ahag to ,scott's death40 8,yours ever1 8,,esher40 ,illustration3 ,,sir ,,richard ,,wallace1 ,,bart41 ,k4,c4,b4 ,from a bust in the ,wallace ,collection4 ,to face p4 #aib4 ,in a further letter to me ,lord ,esher very justly calls attention to the remarkable likeness between ,lord ,hertford and ,sir ,richard ,wallace4 ,the busts at ,hertford ,house demonstrate this4 ,richard1 fourth ,marquess of ,hertford1 who never married1 died at ,paris on the #beth of ,august1 #ahgj4 ,his successor in the title1 ,sir ,francis 7or1 as his familiars called him1 8,franco07 ,seymour1 as was natural1 hurried over to ,paris1 not yet beleaguered by the ,prussians1 to look after his interests4 ,he was accompanied by his eldest son and his solicitor4 ,the fortune at stake in lands and money was great1 but1 if the value of the works of art be taken into account1 enormous even in these days of plutocratic dominion4 ,the real estate and the personalty1 taken together1 would have reached a sum 8beyond the dreams of avarice20 indeed1 by comparison1 the boilers and vats of ,mr4 ,thrale would have represented no more than a modest competence4#af ,it must have been a rude shock for the new ,lord ,hertford when the will was read at ,bagatelle after the funeral1 and he found that1 barring the settled estates1 which without the money were almost a white elephant1 there was nothing for him4 ,the wealth which had given his two predecessors such power that1 in spite of manifest drawbacks1 they were propitiated with the ,garter1 had vanished like ,alnaschar's dream1 and he was left with the unredeemed anxieties and responsibilities of a country squire4 ,equally1 it must have been a startling shock for ,sir ,richard to find that he was the heir to all that wealth4 ,with the exception of a handsome property which ,lord ,hertford bequeathed to his cousin1 ,sir ,hamilton ,seymour1 the famous ex-,ambassador1 or rather ,minister1 to ,russia1 practically everything was left to the future ,sir ,richard ,wallace4 ,sir ,richard 7,i call him 8,sir0 for convenience' sake1 though he was not created a baronet until the following year7 lost no time in turning his newly-acquired wealth to good account4 ,he was one of the most generous men that ever lived4 ,bravely he stood by ,paris and the ,french in their troubles1 started ambulances1 founded the ,hertford ,hospital for poor ,englishmen1 and set money flowing like water in aid of all sufferers by the war4 ,his charities in ,france were boundless1 and continued throughout his life1 and indeed beyond it4 ,but he felt it his duty to come to ,england1 and for thirteen years represented ,lisburn in ,parliament--,lisburn1 which he made the headquarters of his vast ,irish domain4 ,in recognition of the great services which he had rendered to the ,english in ,paris during the siege he was created a baronet in #ahga1 when he married a ,french lady1 ,mademoiselle ,castelnau1 with whom he had lived for many years1 and by whom he had one son who was an officer in the ,french ,army4 ,that son1 now long since dead1 was the great sorrow of ,sir ,richard's life4 ,the breach between them was irreparable1 and it made the father miserable4 ,he told a friend of mine1 an ,italian gentleman1 who was breakfasting with him one day and found him in a state of utter dejection1 how it irked him that people should look upon him as one of the happiest of men1 when in truth he was the most wretched4 ,the sympathy of a good son was the solitary thing wanting1 and that he never had4 ,one friend he had in ,mr4 ,scott1 afterwards ,sir ,john1 who became his private secretary1 and whose affection stood to him almost in lieu of that of a son4 ,sir ,john's father was a distinguished physician1 a great personal friend of ,sir ,richard's4 ,one day this gentleman's father-in-law1 ,mr4 ,murray1 was calling upon him1 shortly after his inheritance of ,lord ,hertford's possessions1 and he happened to say that he was badly in need of a private secretary1 and did not know whom to choose4 ,the post would require some unusual qualifications--amongst others1 a perfect knowledge of ,french4 ,mr4 ,murray said that perhaps his grandson1 a very young barrister just called1 might fulfil the conditions4 ,sir ,richard jumped at the offer1 and the young man was sent to be looked at4 ,the result was that he found favour in ,sir ,richard's eyes1 and1 after probation1 was appointed4 ,no happier choice could have been made1 no more devoted and faithful friend could have been found2 he remained with ,sir ,richard until his death at ,paris in #ahij1 and continued to keep watch over ,lady ,wallace until her end came seven years later4 ,the nation hardly knows how much it owes to the chivalrous self-effacement of ,sir ,john ,scott4 ,when ,lady ,wallace1 to whom ,sir ,richard had left everything1 was about to make her will1 she was anxious to bequeath her whole property to ,sir ,john in gratitude for the devotion with which he had managed her affairs and cared for her interests4 ,sir ,john persuaded her that it would be a good thing if she were1 at any rate1 to leave the contents of ,hertford ,house to the nation1 and1 moreover1 that if he were to inherit the entire fortune1 there might be some suspicion of undue influence4 ,if1 on the other hand1 she gave her chief art treasures to ,england1 her memory would be venerated as perhaps the country's greatest benefactress1 while he could gratefully and honourably accept whatever else she might be pleased to bequeath to him4 ,the lady followed his advice4 ,he was a large-minded and generous man1 and though1 as it turned out1 he became the heir to a great fortune1 it must never be forgotten that he might have inherited property worth at that time1 according to the late ,mr4 ,charles ,davis's computation1 at least seven millions sterling1 and now1 in view of the amazing rise in the value of all works of art1 perhaps as much more4 ,it was a most courageous and loyal piece of self-sacrifice4 ,one day1 when ,i said this to a man who was inclined to scoff1 his answer was3 8,yes1 but look at the ,death ,duties that he would have had to pay40 ,he could have met those by the sale of half a dozen pictures4 ,nothing1 to my mind1 can detract from the patriotic wisdom and generosity of ,sir ,john's conduct4 ,when the greatest collection of art treasures that ever was in any private hands became the property of the nation1 the next question was how and where to house it4 ,sir ,michael ,hicks-,beach was ,chancellor of the ,exchequer at the time1 and he appointed a ,committee1 of which he asked me to be a member1 to consider the matter4 ,lord ,lansdowne was our chairman1 and1 after careful discussion1 we came to the conclusion that the best plan to adopt would be1 if possible1 to purchase the freehold of ,hertford ,house from the ,portman ,estate1 and house the collection in its old home1 turning the bedrooms on the first floor and the stables into galleries4 ,there was an idea favoured by ,sir ,edward ,poynter that it would be wise to separate some of the pictures--the ,spanish paintings1 for example--and place them in the ,national ,gallery2 but that scheme would have been against the provisions of the will1 which insisted upon nothing being taken from1 and nothing added to1 the collection as it stood1 so the proposal could not be entertained4 ,sir ,edward would have wished the whole collection placed in a building to be erected adjoining the ,national ,gallery2 this was also overruled4 ,upon this subject ,lord ,esher writes3 8,the ,committee to which you allude was appointed under a ,treasury ,minute of the #crd of ,may1 #ahig4 8,the opponents of the ,hertford ,house scheme1 headed by ,sir ,edward ,poynter1 made a very determined resistance4 ,lord ,chilston was ,first ,commissioner of ,works1 and ,i1 as you know1 occupied the post which you had filled with so much distinction and permanent advantage to the nation4 8,we1 who were fighting for the retention of ,hertford ,house1 owe a heavy debt of gratitude to ,king ,edward1 then ,prince of ,wales1 who1 with unerring instinct in such matters1 grasped at once the historical and sthetic advantages of keeping the collections intact and in situ4 8,we were also largely indebted to ,sir ,francis ,mowatt1 then ,secretary to the ,treasury1 who afforded us unfailing and generous support4 8,the purchase of the leasehold and freehold interest in the house cost #gd1fbj4 8,the structural alterations about #bh1jjj1 and electric light1 heating and painting1 #bei #afs4 8,in ,august1 #ahih1 at your instance1 ,i took the decorative work1 to a very great extent1 out of the hands of the ,office of ,works' contractor4 ,i remember that the paper used in the large picture gallery1 the selection of which had given us a great deal of trouble1 was copied from a piece of ,italian silk which we borrowed from ,bertram1 who lived in ,dean ,street1 ,soho4 ,alfred ,rothschild then1 as always1 took a deep interest in ,hertford ,house1 and his advice was invaluable to us all40 ,a ,board of ,trustees was then appointed1 consisting of ,lord ,rosebery1 as chairman1 who gave way to ,sir ,john ,scott1 ,sir ,edward ,malet1 ,sir ,john ,stirling ,maxwell1 ,sir ,arthur ,ellis1 ,mr4 ,alfred de ,rothschild and myself4 ,mr4--now ,sir--,claude ,phillips1 that distinguished connoisseur and critic1 was appointed keeper4 ,the ,office of ,works constructed the new ,galleries according to our plan1 and a ,committee of the ,trustees undertook the arrangement of the collection4 ,sir ,john ,scott1 ,mr4 ,alfred de ,rothschild and myself1 with ,sir ,claude ,phillips1 worked day after day for many months1 evolving kosmos out of a chaos of packing-cases4 ,it was a huge task1 but when the ,galleries were finally thrown open1 we were rewarded by a chorus of approbation1 and the praise of foreign critics was no less loud than that of our own friends4 ,our leading idea was1 as far as possible1 to avoid the museum aspect1 and to show the pictures1 clocks1 furniture1 porcelain1 etc41 as the collection of a great connoisseur set out as if he were still living in the house4 ,the trustees were fortunate in securing the generous co-operation of ,sir ,guy ,laking in the arrangement and cataloguing of the armour4 ,it may readily be believed that it was no small sorrow to us when1 owing to the war1 all our work had to be undone in order to stow away our treasures in safety4 ,i1 for one1 can hardly expect to live to see the reawakening of the old glory4 ,i can only hope that when that time comes something of the former order may be restored4 ,one morning--it was the #agth of ,january1 #aiab--;,i received an urgent message by telephone1 begging me to go to ,hertford ,house at once4 ,sir ,john ,scott had died there suddenly4 ,when ,i reached ,manchester ,square1 ,i found him lying in the ,trustees' room4 ,he had been discussing business with ,mr4 ,mac,coll1 who had succeeded ,sir ,claude ,phillips as keeper1 when all of a sudden he began to have a difficulty in breathing4 ,he said it was nothing1 but he grew worse4 ,doctors were sent for1 but there was nothing to be done4 ,that large-hearted man died in the house where he had lived so long1 and surrounded by all the beautiful things which he loved and which he had been the means of securing for the nation when he might have had them for himself4 ,the ,government had made him a baronet4 ,lord ,rosebery1 with a keen appreciation of what he had done1 said to me in righteous jest3 8,they have made him a baronet when they ought to have made him a duke40 ,a ,,note ,,on ,,russian ,,studies ,a few days ago--,i am writing on the #gth of ,august1 #aiaf--;,i read in the ,times a long speech by one of our preter-pluperfect rulers1 announcing the determination of the ,government to encourage the study of ,russian1 on account of its glorious literature4 ,i think the adjective was 8glorious10 but1 at any rate1 it was some such word4 ,was there ever a better example of the danger of giving reasons8 ,had this illustrious gentleman deigned to glance at some such easily accessible book as ,mr4 ,maurice ,baring's delightful little 8,outline of ,russian ,literature10 he would have been saved from talking such nonsense4 ,we are told that upon one occasion ,dr4 ,johnson declared that he could quote by heart a whole chapter of the ,natural ,history of ,iceland from the ,danish of ,horreboro1 and immediately proceeded to show that it was no vain boast4 ,chapter ,,lxxii1 ,concerning ,snakes4 ,there are no snakes to be met with throughout the whole island4 ,at the beginning of the nineteenth century literature in ,russia was like the snakes in ,iceland4 ,nor can it be said that the new development which took place early in that century was a rinascimento such as sprang into being in ,italy1 in ,france and in ,england4 ,a new birth implies a previous state of existence1 and it cannot be said that the old chronicles which the dryasdusts of ,kiev--the old head-quarters of such monkish learning as existed--still less a few embryonic attempts at versification and dramatic writing1 could be dignified by the inspiring title of literature4 8,the ,russian language0--to quote ,mr4 ,baring--8was1 as has been said1 like an instrument waiting for a great player to play on it1 and to make use of all its possibilities40 ,the fables of ,kryloff--a playwright whose dramas have long since been forgotten--were published in #ahjf1 and these remain a classic4 ,out of the two hundred fables which he left at his death in #ahdd1 forty were translations1 or1 rather1 8recreations10 as ,mr4 ,baring puts it1 of ,la ,fontaine2 seven were suggested by ,aesop2 the remainder were original4 ,as in all fables1 these contain an element of satire2 that here and there the satire should be tinged with even a spice of political acidity did not hinder their popularity4 ,i should like to say1 in passing1 that the few pages which ,mr4 ,baring devotes to his account of ,krylov contain passages of great beauty--passages which could only have been written by a man gifted with the keenest appreciation of the poetry which is part of himself4 ,illustration3 ,,ivan ,,turgeniev4 ,from an etching by ,e4 ,hedouin4 ,to face p4 #bjd4 ,it was in #ahaf1 that with ,karamzin's monumental work1 8,the ,chronicles of ,russia10 the literature of that country burst into existence1 like ,pallas ,athene fully armed from the head of ,zeus4 8,not only were the undreamed-of riches of the ,russian language revealed to the ,russians in the style1 but the subject matter came as a surprise40 ,pushkin1 the greatest ,russian poet that ever lived1 or probably ever will live1 was the next great star that appeared upon the firmament1 and he declared that ,karamzin had revealed ,russia to the ,russians1 just as ,columbus discovered ,america4 ,to ,karamzin's glorious prose and to ,pushkin's immortal verse belong the first honours in the belles-lettres of ,russia4 ,fifty years and more have passed since ,i read ,gogol's 8,dead ,souls0 in the original4 ,the strivings and hard work of a somewhat strenuous life have swept away the little that ,i knew of ,russian authors and literature4 ,i am now obliged to walk upon the crutches of translations1 though now and then a faint memory is in some mysterious way awakened1 and the interest1 at any rate1 has not faded4 ,such names as ,turgeniev1 whom ,i once met1 ,dostoieffski1 and the two ,tolstoys1 have still a magic charm for me4 ,besides1 all the world can prate of them4 ,of the host of lesser novelists1 mostly translated by ladies1 in my judgment the less said the better4 ,the work of obviously coarse1 uninstructed men1 they often1 both in their narration and in their imagery1 deal with subjects which are unwholesome and which common consent rejects as unsuitable4 ,literature does not scramble about in midden heaps4 ,and the great ones--what is their place in the history of the world's achievements8 ,i very much doubt whether there be any among the most patriotic enthusiasts who would claim even for his beloved ,pushkin a seat on ,parnassus beside ,homer1 ,virgil1 ,dante1 ,shakespeare1 ,milton1 ,goethe1 ,voltaire4 ,that ,karamzin's prose was of the very first order is proved by ,pushkin's appreciation of him4 ,unfortunately it can only appeal to a very small public4 ,twelve volumes of chronicles1 essential to the ,russian student of his own country's story1 will hardly be faced by the average foreigner4 ,pushkin's activities were phenomenal4 ,that in the thirty-seven years of his tragically short life he should have wrought what he did1 and that he should have been so uniformly good1 invests him with a glamour which is all his own4 ,he was a meteor1 and1 like a meteor1 he appeared as it were for a moment in the sky1 and then vanished into space4 ,and yet half a century ago1 among the men who were the leaders of thought in ,petersburg1 there was far less talk of ,pushkin than there was of ,dante1 ,shakespeare1 or ,voltaire--not to speak of many other foreign authors4 ,it has taken many years to create the revival of the interest of ,russians in ,russian work4 ,it has come at last1 and now the only danger is lest1 under much flattery and patting on the back from abroad1 the true advance of public taste should not be rather hindered than furthered4 ,pushkin1 be it remembered1 was highly cultivated1 a man of wide reading4 ,he recognized the fact that in order to write well a man must read well1 and study the best models4 ,some of his criticisms of ,shakespeare and of ,byron1 under whose influence he was until ,shakespeare dethroned his idol1 are masterpieces4 ,it seems to me that the ,state encouragement of ,russian studies will be of high value as promoting facility of intercourse--especially in the case of the ,services1 naval1 military and civil4 ,a far higher1 even world-wide importance attaches to the establishment of schools of modern languages all over ,russia4 ,it is of less moment that the literature of ,russia1 in its present condition1 should travel westward than that the literature of the ,west should gradually influence the mind of the ,slav4 ,just as in music the wild barbaric outbursts of his gayer moods1 the tender sadness of his dirges1 have been enshrined in the harmonies of his own classic masters without losing one spark of their fire1 one sob of their pathos1 so the untutored writer of to-day1 chastened by study1 will be able to give us the freshness and zest of a life which is not ours1 shorn of all its crudities1 not to give them a worse name4 ,let me not be misunderstood4 ,what ,i think is of consequence is that the startling audacity1 the rough ore of the ,slav mind1 should be passed through the purifying furnace of the higher education it was in ,pushkin's case--all honour to him--and then you will have something worthy of the praise which is being rained upon the shameless translations by ladies1 themselves ill-equipped by classic culture1 of the cubism of literary art4 ,,verba ,,composita ,in the first volume of my 8,memories0 there is a print of a drawing by ,william ,evans1 of the inglenook in the picturesque dining-hall of his house at ,eton4 ,above the stone screen in which it was held was a legend in ,gothic letters3 8,favus mellis verba composita40 ,the words had disappeared for many years when ,i went to place my son with ,miss ,evans--so long that she had even forgotten their existence when ,i asked the reason why4 ,to us old boys it seemed a pity1 for the inscription had derived a certain sanctity from the scholastic storm which raged round it4 ,the learned would not accept the legend4 ,no one could say whence the quotation or proverb came4 ,dr4 ,hawtrey1 to whom the pure well of ,latin undefiled was almost a religion with which to tamper was little short of sacrilege1 declared that it was a barbarism1 a piece of dog1 or1 what was perhaps to him as bad1 monkish ,latin4 ,he maintained that it was untranslatable2 but we1 audacious monkeys1 rushing in where scholars feared to tread1 declared that if the words were obscure1 the meaning was clear as crystal3 8,sweet as the honeycomb is the talk of friends in council40 ,here ,i would fain break off for a moment to pay a slight tribute to the memory of that most generous of men1 ,william ,evans1 drawing-master and1 though one of the most masculine of mortals1 technically a 8dame40 ,he was a big1 burly man1 of a jovial and rubicund aspect1 a combination which earned for him the nickname of ,beeves4 ,he was a vigorous painter in water-colours1 a member of the old water-colour society1 and one of the best of good fellows4 ,a sportsman1 too1 for he was the friend of the late ,duke of ,atholl1 spending most of his summer holiday at ,blair1 where he was always welcome as an enthusiastic stalker4 ,indeed1 8,scrope's ,deerstalking0 was the only book that ,i remember ever to have seen him read4 ,i went to see him once as he lay in bed1 very feeble1 at the beginning of his last long illness4 ,on the wall1 at his right hand1 was hanging his dearly-loved rifle1 his powder-flask1 and the other paraphernalia of those pre-breechloader days4 ,in his youth he had been a great oarsman1 and1 indeed1 the river was his joy till quite late in life4 ,he took the greatest interest in all that concerned boating and swimming1 and it was owing to his influence1 in conjunction with that of the noble ,bishop ,selwyn1 of whom ,eton is still so proud1 that the law was passed by the authorities forbidding boys to enter a boat until they should have 8passed0 in swimming4 ,of the good bishop a story is told of the time when he was a private tutor at ,eton which is worth preserving4 ,he was sculling in a wherry amid a crowd of boats1 when he was run into by some unskilled oarsman4 ,seeing that shipwreck was inevitable1 he stood up1 and1 quoting ,ovid's description of the discreet death of ,lucretia1 exclaimed3 8,tunc quoque1 jam moriens1 ne non procumbat honeste ,respicit1 hoc etiam cura cadenti erat40 ,fasti ,,ii41 #hca4 ,and so1 with a header as graceful as the quotation was apt1 the amphibious bishop that was to be1 dived into the ,thames amid the plaudits of the multitude1 who already recognized in him the heroism of which he was to give proof in ,new ,zealand and elsewhere4 ,evans' was a very happy house1 and the good old man spared nothing for the comfort of his boys4 ,the table which he kept was excellent1 the ,sunday dinner quite a little feast1 with a glass of sherry for each boy at plum-pudding time--not altogether wise we should perhaps think nowadays1 but so kind and so hospitable4 ,rarely1 too1 would be fail to invite one or two boys to stay for dessert4 ,the traditions of the house were nobly carried on by ,miss ,jennie ,evans after her father's death in #ahgg4 ,and now she1 too1 has disappeared1 the last of the dames1 the last of one of those dear old institutions which were part of the mystery of ,eton4 ,to remember is to wander1 and when ,i begin to think of ,eton--the ,eton of seventy years ago--it is easier to ramble on than prudently to stop4 ,but to-day ,i have only to deal with 8,verba ,composita40 ,it is of them that ,i was thinking this morning as ,i sat in my ,veluvana1 and1 indeed1 there could hardly be a more pregnant thought than that of the talk of friends in council4 ,how perfect is the feeling with which1 in the company of a familiar friend of our own choice--we wander through the shaded paths and sweet groves of our sanctuary4 ,nor is it necessary that the chosen comrade should be himself a botanist or a gardener4 ,sympathy is all that is asked of him1 and that he will not deny4 ,indeed1 there is something in the worship of the great god ,pan1 and in the living1 growing temples which are raised in his honour1 which makes for all that is best in the intercourse between man and man4 ,a beautiful view1 a discreet arrangement of flowers and graceful foliage1 will rouse congenial memories of books1 of poetry1 of pictures1 and sometimes even of melody4 ,the sight of a plant recognized even by the unskilled as an old friend of some distant clime1 seen again after many years1 will excite a whole train of recollections fragrant with the perfume of half-forgotten travels and adventures4 ,so may two greybeards sit happily in some remote nook1 the home of fairies and dryads1 where the trees whisper old thoughts and call up sympathetic talk1 broken and yet stimulated afresh by 8brilliant flashes of silence40 ,illustration3 ,,friedrich ,,nietzsche4 ,from a photograph4 ,to face p4 #bab4 ,all the better is this solitude deux if there should be the tinkling music of a tiny stream1 with the electric gleam of a kingfisher darting across some idle sunlit pool4 ,all these wield that magic power which1 for the nonce charming away the wrinkles of time1 transports us across the long years back to the days when the world and we were young and life meant hope4 ,rare1 indeed1 and very precious are such dreamy talks and silences4 ,we can hardly rate their value too highly4 ,the crazy poet-philosopher ,nietzsche was not far wrong when1 in a letter to ,erwin ,rohde1 he wrote3 8,eternally we need midwives in order to be delivered of our thoughts4 ,most people go to a public-house1 or to a colleague whose mind is solely occupied with the interests of their calling1 and there1 like so many small cats1 they tumble about all their thoughts and tiny schemes4 ,but woe to us who lack the sunlight of a friend's presence60 ,it was a fine thought of his to elevate friendship to the rank of a goddess4 ,but1 alas for the inconsistencies of genius6 ,few of ,nietzsche's hot friendships had any lasting power4 ,rohde himself1 ,re and others faded out of his life4 ,but no change was so violent as that which occurred in the relations between the philosopher and the tone-poet ,wagner4 ,the historic friendship--born of an admiration for ,schopenhauer shared by both1 and of an adoration by ,nietzsche of ,wagner's music--ripened so quickly and was so beautiful1 that it ought to have lived with their lives2 but this alliance between a budding youth and an older1 already famous man came to the saddest end4 ,suddenly the fruit grew mouldy and fell from the tree1 and the love1 which had seemed to be built upon a rock1 the worship which was so full of pious conviction1 were changed into a hatred which was nothing short of venomous1 and which not even the death of ,wagner could compel to silence4 ,they had first met at ,leipsic1 at the house of ,professor ,brockhaus1 and ,wagner1 touched by the boy's enthusiasm1 took to him at once1 petted him1 and encouraged him to go and visit him1 which he did a few years later at ,triebschen1 ,wagner's retreat under the shadow of ,mount ,pilatus4 ,wonderful gatherings1 indeed1 have been held throughout the ages in groves and gardens4 ,imagine the ,baghavat1 the ,blessed ,one1 surrounded by his ,bikshus1 as poor as the first followers of ,st4 ,francis1 preaching the doctrines of truth and humility in those parables that are dear to the ,eastern1 seated in one or other of his beloved gardens4 ,think of the sages of ancient ,athens gathered together in the groves of the ,akademia discussing the deep problems of existence4 ,how much more instinct with the poetry of life must such grave and reverend companies have been than the boisterous though delightful tavern symposia in which ,christopher ,north1 ,tickler1 the ,ettrick ,shepherd and their friends slung ,doric wit and wisdom over the toddy glasses6 ,we can easily conceive how the interchange of thought between the great trio1 ,wagner1 ,frau ,cosima and ,nietzsche1 in a lovely ,swiss garden1 surrounded by the majesty of the ,alps1 must have been enshrined in such memories as those over which the philosopher mourned so long as the lamp of life burned in him4 ,when the other day ,i was reading ,dr4 ,mgge's account of the trio at ,triebschen1 ,wagner1 ,frau ,cosima and ,nietzsche1 and of their deep interest in one another's ideals1 the old motto1 8,sweet as the honeycomb is the talk of friends in council10 of which ,i had not thought for many a decade1 came back to me1 and ,i understood how ,nietzsche1 long years after he had quarrelled with ,wagner--indeed1 shortly before his death--declared that 8he would resign all human intercourse1 but at no price would he give up the pleasant memories of those days spent in ,triebschen40 ,the honey of those ,verba ,composita was still sweet in the comb4 ,for the quarrel between the two men there may be explanations and excuses2 such changes are not without precedent4 ,the first link between them was1 as ,i have said1 devotion to ,schopenhauer4 8,nietzsche called his connection with ,wagner his practical course in ,schopenhauer's philosophy40 ,when ,nietzsche began to dream of a philosophy of his own1 the tie between him and the poet-composer was weakened2 there was also perhaps some feeling that he was being made use of1 that he was being patronized and made to play second fiddle to a man whom he was beginning to look down upon as a mere play-actor--a mummer--a child of the theatre4 ,mgge throws out a hint that in breaking with ,wagner1 ,nietzsche was possibly fleeing from himself1 and he quotes a note from him to ,frau ,cosima3 8,ariadne1 ,i love you6 ,dionysus40 ,whatever may have been the cause1 or the many causes1 of the rupture1 its violence was1 at any rate on ,nietzsche's side1 maniacal4 ,his venom was not less poisonous than that which ,devadatta poured out upon the ,buddha4 ,not content with having hurled his ,jupiter1 as he called him1 from his throne on high ,olympus1 he must needs pursue him into the depths1 trampling on him1 and covering with mud the man whom he had once beslavered with the most fulsome adulation4 ,strange litanies for the high priest of the goddess of ,friendship to intone6 ,far less intelligible is the change of front in regard to ,wagner's music4 ,that the man who1 for the apotheosis of ,wagner's art1 wrote 8,the ,birth of ,tragedy in ,music10 should so completely eat his words as to the worth of the music because he had ceased to love the musician is almost unthinkable4 ,in the first period he tells us that3 8,from a novice trying his strength1 ,wagner became a thorough master of music and of the theatre4444 ,no one will any longer deny him the glory of having given us the supreme model for lofty artistic execution4 ,the renewer of the simple drama1 the discoverer of the position due to art in true ,german society1 the poetic interpreter of old views of life1 the philosopher1 the historian1 the sthete and critic1 the master of languages1 the mythologist and the myth poet1 who for the first time included all these wonderful and beautiful products of a primitive imagination in a single ,ring1 upon which he engraved the runic characters of his thoughts--what an abundance of knowledge ,wagner must have had in order to have become all that60 ,again3 8,over the coming of ,wagner there hovers a necessity which both justifies it and makes it glorious40 8,wagner1 in his capacity as supreme master of form1 points out the way1 like ,aeschylus1 to a future art40 8,in the life of this great man1 the period over which as a golden reflection there is stretched the splendour of a supreme perfection4444 ,he produces ,tristan and ,isolde1 this opus metaphysicum of all art2 the ,meistersinger of ,nrnberg2 the ,ring of the ,nibelungs2 his work of ,bayreuth40#ag ,there is much more in the same strain1 but when we come to the second period it is another ,nietzsche who speaks4 ,he now attacks his former idol with the most ferocious rancour1 for which only insanity could account2 and yet that he was not then mad is proved by other utterances of his in regard to that same art of music4 ,for instance3 8,mendelssohn was the beautiful interlude of ,german music1 quickly admired and then quickly forgotten4 ,schumann was the last who founded a school4 ,though incessantly glowing with happiness or throbbing with impersonal suffering1 he was a purely ,german event1 and not1 as ,beethoven and ,mozart had been1 a ,european phenomenon40 ,that--although ,i should not agree as to ,mendelssohn being forgotten--appears to me to be1 as regards ,schumann1 a fine piece of criticism4 ,apparently it was only when thinking of ,wagner that he was up to that time insane4 ,then he could lash himself into a fury6 ,witness3 8,i call the ,wagnerian orchestration the ,sirocco2 ,bizet's0 7of whose success ,wagner was supremely jealous7 8orchestral music is almost the sole orchestration that ,i can still endure4444 ,schopenhauer was the philosopher of decadence4 ,his art is morbid4444 ,wagner has been ruinous to music4 ,was ,wagner a musician at all8 ,he was at least something else in a higher degree--that is to say1 an unsurpassable actor4 ,wagner was1 above all1 a stage-player1 and he excels in ubiquity and nullibiety4444 ,parsifal is a candidate for divinity with a public-school education4 ,we are so far pure fools already 444 a typical telegram from ,bayreuth3 ,bereits bereut 7rued already76 ,ah6 this old thief6 ,this old magician6 ,this ,cagliostro of modernity6444 ,wagner is a ,romanist1 and he made the poor devil1 the country lad ,parsifal1 a ,roman ,catholic4 ,i despise every one who does not regard ,parsifal as an outrage on morals40 ,illustration3 ,,richard ,,wagner4 ,from a photograph4 ,to face p4 #bah4 ,perhaps ,wagner's faithful disciples were right when they ascribed all outpouring of the vials of wrath to jalousie de mtier2 for ,nietzsche1 too1 was not only poet and philosopher1 but composer1 and when he submitted an opera of his own to ,wagner1 the great man1 as the ,eastern saying is1 made sour noses at it4 ,it is dangerous to carry a book with you into a garden2 it will make your mind wander much further than your feet4 ,here have ,i been rambling on1 carried away not so much by any feeling for ,nietzsche1 who is1 after all1 not much more than a name to me1 as by the interest which attaches to all that concerns ,wagner4 ,for1 let his enemies say what they will1 he was a man of genius1 of most compelling genius1 and who that ever had speech of ,frau ,cosima could avoid being bewitched4 ,to me it has only been given to know her in her old age1 but ,i fell at once under the spell of that most sweet and dainty personality4 ,very feeble in health1 and unable to speak for long1 she had retained all the serene charm which1 in the heyday of her youth and beauty1 earned for her the name of 8the unique woman40 ,i felt how bright a part she must have played in the brilliant trio at ,triebschen1 and how sad it is that there should be no record of the symposia of the sunny days of that happy friendship before it was disturbed by mad envy and malice4 ,of ,nietzsche and his tragic end1 of the influence which his restless brain exercised upon men and upon letters1 this is not the place to speak4 ,is it he1 as his disciples maintain1 who has taught ,germany and1 through ,germany1 the world to think8 ,the great anti-moralist1 as he has been called1 is dead4 ,let him rest in peace4 ,we can leave this ,batrachomyomachia1 this battle of the frogs and mice1 the squabbles of ,german professors and philosophers1 coming back with some relief to the sweeter fragrance of our flowers4 ,it was the thought of ,triebschen and its ,verba ,composita which led us to ,nietzsche1 and his clever saying that seemed to give value to the thought of friendship in a garden4 ,days of happy talk are delightful--never more so than in a garden2 and yet it is when we are alone1 when our plants are the companions of our solitude1 that we really enter into sympathy with them4 ,then it is that we hold true communion with them1 and1 giving the reins to our imagination1 try to read the hidden secrets of their being--hidden secrets1 not those scientific arcana which your professor loves to clothe in slipshod ,latin and shabby ,greek1 but those inmost idiosyncrasies in which our fancy1 wildly playful1 seems to detect vestiges of the same characteristics and emotions which rule as tyrants in our own nature4 ,nor when we note the movements of plants1 so strangely purposeful1 does it involve any inordinate strain upon our conceptive power to see in them something more than chance1 something which resembles the exercise of a dominant will4 ,these may be thoughts at which science laughs1 and which the inexorable demon ,commonsense hounds out of court--thoughts that are no more than poor little waifs and strays1 coming to us from ,fancyland1 and yet not without their humble value if they do but make us watch and seek for things undreamt of in our philosophy4 ,that certain flowers and plants are1 as it were1 types of various qualities is an idea as old as the hills upon which they grow4 ,the strength of the oak1 the grace of the willow1 the flaunting pride of poppies1 the virginal purity of lilies1 the stateliness of hollyhocks like courtiers drawn up in a row at the leve of a mighty king1 the modesty of the violet--all these and a hundred others are images from the wallets of poets of all lands and of all time4 ,it is not of these that ,i speak1 but rather of the behaviour of plants1 often very various and capricious1 according to circumstances1 yet in which we seem to see a kinship with reasonable motive1 a suggestion that in similar conditions we might have done the same4 ,see yonder crimson water-lily queening it in all the majesty of her amazing beauty among the humbler reeds and rushes and sedges and the rest of her water-loving subjects4 ,to-day she is in the zenith of her state1 like the king's daughter all glorious within4 ,does she rejoice in the stateliness of her queenship8 ,it would almost seem so1 for to-morrow she will feel that her reign is over4 ,she will bow her lovely neck1 and1 coyly folding her petals together round the golden aureole of her stamens1 will disappear under the flood1 too proud to let herself be seen when her regal beauty is on the wane4 ,is not that something like the pride of which we read in the life of the peerless ,countess ,castiglione1 who hid herself from the gaze of men before her charms had faded1 as she knew they soon must8 ,having reigned supreme among the fair women of the world1 she would not consent to be degraded into a has-been--a thing of the past4 ,i have told in my 8,memories0 of the first time that ,i saw her on the terrace at ,holland ,house1 a miracle of loveliness1 when all ,london was crowding on tiptoe to catch a sight of the haughty queen of beauty and do homage to her majesty4 ,my nympha tempts me to repeat myself4 ,the last time was a few years later4 ,i was sitting with ,mario and ,grisi in their garden at ,fulham when she was announced4 ,she came in robed in deepest black1 her face hidden by a thick veil of sable crpe4 ,she remained a little while and talked gaily enough1 but her face remained hidden all the time2 not for one moment did she lift that funereal veil4 ,she had forsaken the world--abdicated--like my coy crimson water-lily1 and in the waters of ,lethe she hid her beauteous head4 ,have plants their friendships1 their affinities8 ,certain it is that there are some plants which seem to thrive best when familiarly associated with certain others4 ,i have heard some gardeners say1 for instance1 that lilies of the valley and ,solomon's seal are never so happy as when they are planted together4 ,that may be true1 but it probably means no more than that both need the same soil and surroundings1 and so make the bravest show when they are side by side4 ,i much doubt whether a weak clump of lilies of the valley would be strengthened by adding to it a cluster of plants of its friend1 or vice versa4 ,on the other hand1 it is a scientific fact capable of demonstration1 that there are trees which press into their service certain humbler non-flowering plants1 compelling them to furnish their roots with water and such mineral salts and foods as are needful for their well-being4 ,these become slaves1 like the hewers of wood and drawers of water working for the lords of creation4 ,many years ago ,i received a consignment of ,pinus cembra1 the ,arolla pine1 which is the common growth of the ,alps4 ,the trees arrived late in the afternoon1 and we unpacked them at once1 for the days were at their shortest1 and ,i was eager to get them all planted--there were a dozen or more--before nightfall4 ,to my dismay ,i found that the roots were all covered with a network of grey film1 the mycelium1 as the learned would call it1 of some fungus4 ,my gardener and ,i were not a little indignant with the nurseryman who sent out the plants in so filthy a condition4 ,we sent for a bucket of water and washed clean as many of the trees as we could2 mercifully there was not daylight enough left to purge them all of their dirt4 ,to our amazement1 the trees which we washed soon began to show signs of sickness2 they dwindled for three or four years and looked as if they must die2 slowly1 very slowly1 the invalids recovered4 ,their unwashed mates never flinched for a moment1 made roots gaily1 and took quite rapidly to their new home4 ,the puzzle was great1 until a few years later ,i received ,kerner's great book1 8,the ,natural ,history of ,plants10 and then the mystery was cleared up4 ,the sorrows of the washed trees were those of the planters of the ,west ,indian ,islands4 ,like ,mr4 ,wilberforce1 we had deprived them of their slaves4 ,luckily1 the humus of the plantation in which they were placed must have contained the spores necessary to the formation of the fungoid growth1 otherwise they would doubtless have died4 ,kerner's chapter on the ,symbiosis1 or social union of plants1 is curiously interesting4 ,he gives a list of flowering trees and plants which are absolutely dependent upon what he called the mycelial mantle with which fungi cover their roots for the absorption of their daily food4 ,limes1 roses1 ivy1 pinks may be propagated by cuttings which will root in pure sand4 ,no such method is possible in the case of the oak1 the beech1 firs1 broom1 rhododendron1 and a host of others1 which demand an admixture of soil containing a proportion of mycelia1 without which they are unable to feed themselves2 and so1 like babies1 with neither breast nor bottle they perish4 ,kerner's opening words on this symbiosis are worth quoting3 8,in describing the vegetation of a limited area1 botanical writers are apt to designate the various species of plants as #8denizens' of the country in question4 ,the conditions under which the plants live are likened to political institutions1 and the relations existing amongst the plants themselves are compared to the life and strife of human society40 ,he goes on to speak of the interdependence upon one another of these plants living in the same community2 he shows how necessary they are to one another2 how they sometimes fight for food1 light and air2 how some are preyed upon and oppressed by others1 8and how not infrequently quite different species join together in order to attain some mutual advantage40 ,and so he comes to the curious history of the lichens4 ,some forty or fifty years ago there arose a furious battle around the lichens1 humble little creatures enough1 plastered on almost every rock and stone and tree in creation4 ,during the 'sixties of the last century ,schwendener1 a ,swiss botanist--professor successively at ,basle1 ,tbingen and ,berlin--wrote a number of papers in scientific publications1 in which he proved to his own satisfaction that lichens are not individual plants1 but compound existences consisting of an alga and a fungus4 ,his investigations were followed up by one ,bornet1 and he had a numerous following largely attracted by the charm of novelty and the ingenuity of invention4 ,kerner went so far as to say that 8the continued study of lichens has tended only to secure for the ,schwendenerian theory a more wide and universal recognition40 ,dr4 ,cook1 however1 the great authority on cryptogamic botany1 laughs at this mystic union as a 8fairy tale40 ,he treats it with the same contempt that ,st4 ,paul1 in his letter to ,titus1 expressed for 8,jewish fables40 ,he says3 8,the high priest ,schwendener thus expressed his dream3 #8,as the result of my researches1 all these growths 7lichens7 are not simple plants1 not individuals in the ordinary sense of the word2 they are rather colonies1 which consist of hundreds and thousands of individuals1 of which1 however1 one alone plays the master1 whilst the rest1 in perpetual captivity1 prepare the nutriment for themselves and their master4 ,this master is a fungus of the class ascomyceter1 a parasite which is accustomed to live upon others' work2 its slaves are green alg1 which it has sought out1 or1 indeed1 caught hold of1 and compelled into its service4 ,it surrounds them1 as a spider its prey1 with a fibrous net of narrow meshes1 which is gradually converted into an impenetrable covering2 but whilst the spider sucks its prey and leaves it dead1 the fungus incites the alg found in its net to more rapid activity--nay1 to more vigorous increase4'0 ,dr4 ,cook goes on to say3 8,this may be all very poetical1 but it is not very explicit1 and needs a commentary20 and then he proceeds to demolish the whole theory based upon the supposition that the gonidia1 green spherical cells1 which are found in the thallus of lichens are alg4 ,lichens1 ,dr4 ,cook tells us1 consist normally of a thallus1 or vegetative system1 which is in many species a tough1 bark-like expansion1 horizontal or vertical1 attached to rocks1 stones1 wood and other substances1 but not deriving nourishment from the object to which it is attached4 ,inside this thallus are the minute green gonidia1 and1 in addition1 there is the reproductive system1 consisting of discs borne upon the thallus1 containing the reproductive organs 7asci and sporidia74 ,the ,schwendenerians contend that the thallus and reproductive system are not only fungoid1 but actual fungi1 while the green gonidia are alg upon which those fungi are parasitic4 ,one of the proofs which ,dr4 ,cook brings forward in support of his contradiction of the theorists is the permanence of lichens1 whereas the fungi are1 as we all know1 very short-lived1 many of them little more than ephemeral--here to-day and gone to-morrow4 ,to the lichens we must pay the respect due to the most venerable antiquity4 ,dr4 ,cook1 speaking with all the authority with which he is endowed1 tells us that 8some species1 growing on primitive rocks of the highest mountains of the world1 are estimated to have attained an age of at least a thousand years4 ,is it not marvellous to think of these mean little vegetable scabs feeding upon air1 outliving the monarch oaks and almost all the trees of ,creation80 ,but ,i am in danger of rushing in where the angels of science hardly dare tread4 ,let me go back to my beloved nonsense4 ,beloved8 ,yes1 for1 after all1 what is more lovable than nonsense8 ,what a joy their nonsense must have been to ,dean ,swift1 to ,lear1 or to the little dry chip of a man who was our ,cocker1 our mathematical tutor1 at ,christ ,church4 ,i wonder whether1 when ,dodgson1 that double personality1 always associated in my memory with a blackboard1 a piece of chalk and x y z1 was writing up his mystic algebraical puzzles1 his mind did not sometimes wander1 and he himself become transformed for a minute into ,lewis ,carroll seeing visions of ,alice1 the ,carpenter1 the ,mad ,hatter1 the ,walrus1 and all the crazy dramatis person of his delicious phantasy4 ,he is dead now1 and many years ago the lovely child1 for whose delectation the wonder book was invented1 was laid in an early grave in the ,christ ,church cloisters4 ,only ,alice lives1 and will live as long as the ,english language remains4 ,if your garden be upon the slope of a hill1 there is one human instinct which you will surely1 if you watch them carefully1 recognize in your plants4 ,they are so ambitious4 ,those among them which have creeping roots or rhizomes will almost invariably travel uphill4 ,they are as fain to climb as ,sir ,walter ,raleigh himself4 ,take the rhizomatous bamboos1 such species among the arundonarias as ,somoni1 ,japonica ,laykerd1 ,spathiflora and others1 ,phyllostachys fastuosa1 ,bambusa ,palmata4 ,rarely1 indeed1 will you find a new culm below the parent plant2 all the growth is upwards4 ,and so it is with many other genera4 ,i think the reason of it is pretty plain4 ,you need but to mark the trees above a railway cutting or on the high banks of a deep lane1 to see how shallow in proportion to their height are the roots even of the greatest of them4 ,there are exceptions--the vine and the laburnum1 to wit--but the oak itself loses its so-called tap-root1 which withers and rots away as soon as it has fulfilled its duty of tying the tree in its place4 ,the roots seem to remain as near as possible to the plane of the bottom of the main stem4 ,the same rule applies to plants of lesser stature4 ,now if the roots of a hillside plant were to move down-hill in the same plane as the axis of the stem1 it is manifest that they must very soon peer out into the open and be deprived of all those foods which are necessary to plant life4 ,so they choose the wise course of journeying upwards1 where they are sure1 on the contrary1 of an increasingly richer diet4 ,if on its travels the growing point of a bamboo rhizome encounters a stone or other obstacle1 it will not dive down to avoid it1 but will take a direction upwards and then down again into the earth1 forming one of those hoops1 like croquet hoops1 which are such a snare to trip up wayfarers in bamboo forests4 ,sometimes the ambitions of plants1 like those of men1 are fatal4 ,the root-stock1 originally set in the best conditions1 must needs climb higher and higher1 until it may perhaps reach some uncongenial place in which it is starved or choked4 ,then farewell1 a long farewell1 to all its greatness6 ,by degrees the parent plant becomes exhausted and dwindles away1 while the scions which should have carried on the dynasty are hoped for in vain1 and so some precious treasure is lost for ever4 ,if plants have ambition1 there is one vice closely allied to it which they do not possess4 ,jealousy is confined to animals4 ,men1 dogs1 cats and horses are jealous4 ,there is no evidence to lead us to suppose that plants are afflicted with that horror of horrors4 ,they may have their loves and their hatreds2 they will1 as we have seen1 help one another1 and they will strangle and murder one another4 ,they will even rob one another2 but the torture of jealousy seems to be unknown to them4 ,they will attack their neighbours with the pitiless savagery of the old ,rhineland robber knights4 ,no vampire could with more ruthless cruelty suck the blood of a fair maiden than certain malignant fungi1 which fasten upon great trees and shrubs1 and draw out the sap of their noble lives in order to nourish their own ignominious bodies4 ,then there are the saprophytes1 plants as unlovely as their name1 vegetable horrors1 which1 like the ghouls of the 8,arabian ,nights10 are found feasting upon death and decay4 ,non ragionam di lor6 ,ma guarda e passa4 ,in the part of the world where ,i live the old thorn trees are1 with the oaks1 the glory of the countryside4 ,one year1 to my dismay1 ,i saw that all my thorns in which ,i took so much pride were apparently dying4 ,in the middle of summer their leaves withered and wilted1 and they presented a piteous sight4 ,i wrote to ,kew for advice4 ,kew is a never-failing help in trouble4 ,the answer came back3 ,have you any savin juniper bushes8 ,if so1 examine them4 ,you will probably find them covered with a yellow slimy sort of jelly1 which is the first stage of a fungus which1 in its second stage1 fastens upon the thorn4 ,the letter went on to advise a merciless destruction and holocaust of the savin bushes1 and prophesied that the fungus on the thorns would die and not renew itself1 so that no permanent harm would ensue4 ,sure enough1 in my ignorance1 ,i had planted a number of bushes of savin1 which ,i found1 as ,kew prophesied1 to be covered with an ugly yellow mucilaginous substance4 ,my inquisition was followed by an auto da f of the junipers2 when their enemies were burnt1 the thorns recovered and ,i had no more trouble4 ,how most other plants hate the beech and the ash6 ,how resolutely they refuse to grow under their shade6 ,and yet even the best hated men have their friends1 who will smile to them and seek their company4 ,lords of beech woods wanting covert for their game should try planting ,laurus ,colchica and ,laurus rotundifolia4 ,the pheasants love their shelter1 and they are quite happy even under old-established beeches4 ,there are plants of prey just as there are beasts of prey and birds of prey4 ,these are plants which live upon animal food just as we do1 setting traps and snares for them with all the cunning shown by one of ,richard ,jefferies' phenomenal gamekeepers or poachers4 ,what1 by the by1 is the exact dividing line which separates the poacher from the keeper8 ,does the one develop into the other as does the chrysalis into the butterfly8 ,i remember a little old ,highland stalker1 a veteran of the 8hull10 as brown and rugged as a russet apple2 we had been watching deer a long way off all the morning--the wind wrong for a stalk--and he confided to me all those secrets of deer life which seemed as familiar to him as if1 like the ,buddha1 he had been himself a stag in some previous stage of existence4 8,how long have you been a stalker1 ,hughie80 ,i asked4 8,maybe twenty years10 he answered2 but then1 looking up1 his eyes twinkling with a craft worthy of ,autolycus1 he added1 8but ,i was a shepherd for many years before that40 ,there was a whole folio volume of predatory but illicit sport in the words4 ,some plants1 like the various pitchers of ,nepenthe and others1 remain still and are content to rely upon the beauty of their colours to tempt the game to its doom4 ,caught in the trap1 the victims are held tight by some glue like birdlime1 or kept from finding their way out by fingers of sharp teeth like the knives of the ,iron ,virgin of ,nrnberg4 ,others1 innocent1 humble little creatures1 look 8as if they would not hurt a fly40 ,but let the fly beware1 and keep out of their grip--8foxes in stealth1 wolves in greediness10 they are armed like the butterwort 7pinguicula7 with glands which become active at the touch1 and secure the prisoner1 or as the sundew 7drosera71 equipped with tentacles which close in upon him like a horror in one of ,edgar ,allan ,poe's stories4 ,how these creatures feed and how they digest their meat is told in ,darwin's 8,insectivorous ,plants0 and elsewhere4 ,these are facts1 not fancies4 ,but what gastronome could take offence if he were accused of being as greedy as sundew6 ,there is one human quality1 the power of enjoyment1 which1 above all others1 we seem to recognize in our plants4 ,it is impossible to look upon the daffodils in a field dancing in the sunlight of an early ,april day1 without feeling that here is the very embodiment of gladness--of the joie de vivre2 and as the months speed on and flower after flower bursts into life1 meeting the renewed glories of the sun1 we have before us a roundelay of gaiety and happiness which only quite ceases when the first grip of winter comes to choke and kill the melancholy glory of autumn4 ,then1 when the dahlias hang their stricken heads1 and the blue clouds of the ,michaelmas daisies fade and shed their seed1 we are conscious of the fact that they1 too1 have their sorrows1 though the tragedy of so many has passed unnoticed when rivals1 each one more beautiful than the last1 have been springing up to take their place4 ,a greater than ,i am has noticed the pleasure that plants take in the act of living4 ,a friend sends me these lines of ,wordsworth's3 8,the budding twigs spread out their fan ,to catch the breezy air2 ,and ,i must think1 do all ,i can1 ,that there was pleasure there40 ,and so we linger on in our ,veluvana until the sun is setting in the west4 ,there is an end of light and heat for this day1 and the plants1 like the birds1 must sleep and even dream1 if ,keats be right4#ah ,theirs is perhaps not the sleep which we know1 but nothing is more certain than the change which they undergo in darkness4 ,in some plants the leaflets curl downwards1 in others upwards2 in many the flowers close altogether1 and are folded almost as they were when buds4 ,but all green plants show one phenomenon4 ,whereas under light the leaves take up the air in the little mouths on the underside of their leaves1 and after working up the carbonic-acid gas into carbon for the building of their stems and branches1 return the rest in the shape of pure oxygen1 purifying and sweetening the air2 when night comes the process is reversed4 ,then they retain the oxygen and exhale carbonic-acid gas only1 and that is why careful nurses1 though they may not know the reason1 turn plants out of a sick-room when the night comes on4 ,it has been calculated that of those little stomates on the underside of a beech leaf1 little kitchens or laboratories in which the tree prepares its food1 there are no fewer than a million4 ,yes1 the plants must sleep--all save certain disreputable night-blooms1 which1 like owls and bats and witches1 hate the light and haunt the darkness4 ,in a few hours the first glimmer of dawn will break2 the rosy-fingered goddess will rouse her choir of birds1 and they1 with their morning hymn1 will awaken the trees and the flowers2 the blessed dew will fall1 distilling the sweet scents of woodland and gardenland1 and the joy of the world and of the plants will spring into the birth of a day4 ,if ,i were able to accept1 as do the pious ,buddhists1 the doctrine of rebirth and the transmigration of souls1 ,i1 noting what ,i have called the purposeful movements of plant-life1 should be inclined to go a step further than they do4 ,if a man may have been in a previous state of existence a stag1 a monkey1 or a snake1 why should he not equally have been a tree1 a shrub1 or a poisonous creeper8 ,the stately dignity of the oak1 the sweet virtues of the rose1 the venomous juice of the deadly nightshade1 are qualities which might be traced in many a reincarnation4 ,the image1 at any rate1 is found in ,ezekiel3 8,behold1 the ,assyrian was a cedar in ,lebanon with fair branches and with a shadowing shroud and of an high stature1 and his top was among the thick boughs0 7,ezekiel xxxi4 #c74 ,when all is said and done1 is it so very foolish1 as we sit wool-gathering and drinking in the sweetness of a summer's evening amid the fragrance of our ,veluvana1 to let our thoughts run riot among the many-coloured clouds of fancy1 tracing some faint signs of kinship between the moods of men and the moods of plants8 ,and if1 in the indulgence of these whimsies1 treating the search for knowledge1 not as we ,english are supposed to take our pleasures--moult tristement--we should chance to strike some tiny spark of truth hitherto hidden from us1 may we not call in ,horace as counsel for the defence and ask3 8----ridentem dicere verum ,quid vetat80 ,enshrined1 as it were1 in a temple of secular oaks1 and other grave and reverend trees1 there stands a small mulberry tree1 very humble and inconspicuous1 having hardly as yet reached the dignity of a shrub4 ,in the late spring and early summer it is surrounded by flaming azaleas1 white and deep purple lilacs1 and other flowering ,japanese maples1 with their coral buds bursting into crimson leaves--all the 8embroidery0 of the ,japanese forests1 which look as if they had been planted to do honour to the little waif1 the radiance of whose pedigree1 indeed1 outshines all their glory4 ,it is like the beggar-maid at the ,african ,king ,cophetua's court1 but1 like that humble maiden1 worthy of royal favour above all the flaunting beauties who surrounded that 8magnanimous and illustrate0 monarch's throne2 for that little tree1 or tree that1 by the grace of ,pomona1 shall yet be1 is an undoubted scion of the tree which ,shakespeare planted in the garden of the new home which he built for his prosperous retirement at ,stratford-on-,avon4 ,the story is complete in all its details4 ,it has been told by ,malone in his life1 and recently by ,sir ,sidney ,lee in the admirable new edition of his life of the poet1 and is confirmed by what ,dr4 ,johnson told ,boswell when they visited ,mrs4 ,gastrell4 ,in the year #aeig ,shakespeare1 minded to end his days in his native town1 as should become an ,armiger of good means1 bought ,new ,place1 which had been the most considerable house in ,stratford2 but the buildings were in ruins1 and the poet built himself a new house with three gables1 the centre of which carried a shield with the spear1 which he adopted as his coat-of-arms4 8,shakespeare paid for it10 writes ,sir ,sidney ,lee1 8with two gardens1 the then substantial sum of sixty pounds4 ,a curious incident postponed legal possession4 ,the vendor of the ,stratford ,manor ,house1 ,william ,underhill1 died suddenly of poison at another residence in the county--,fillongley1 near ,coventry--and the legal transfer to the dramatist was left at the time incomplete4 ,underhill's eldest son ,fulk died a minor at ,warwick next year1 and after his death he was proved to have murdered his father4 ,the family estates were thus in danger of forfeiture1 but they were suffered to pass to the felon's next brother ,hercules1 who1 on coming of age in #afjb1 completed in a new deed the transfer of ,new ,place to ,shakespeare40 ,sir ,sidney goes on to say that the poet does not appear to have permanently settled at ,new ,place until #afaa4 ,in the meantime1 he had been busy rebuilding the house and planning his garden4 ,and now for the history of the famous mulberry tree4 ,soon after his accession to the throne ,king ,james the ,first appears to have been fascinated by the idea of establishing the cultivation of silk in this country4 ,there was a ,frenchman1 a native of ,picardy1 of the name of ,forest1 who1 in the year #afjh1 8kept greate store of ,english silk-worms at ,greenwich1 the which the ,king1 with great pleasure1 came often to see them worke2 and of their silke he caused a piece of taffeta to be made0 7,malone's 8,life of ,shakespeare074 ,this led to the ,king's planting many hundred thousand mulberry trees in this country1 those destined for the ,midland ,counties being distributed by a ,frenchman named ,vron4 ,but the ,king also planted a number of trees south of ,hyde ,park1 at the western end of what now are ,buckingham ,palace ,gardens4 ,these trees gave the name to the famous 8,mulberry ,gardens10 of which ,i shall say a word later4 ,it seems that on his return from one of his annual excursions to ,london1 ,shakespeare brought back with him a young mulberry tree1 and with his own hands planted it in his garden1 in which tradition says that he loved to work4 ,what more natural than that the courtier-actor1 who was as much petted by ,king ,james as he had been in the previous reign1 should wish to enrich his ,eden with a specimen of the latest botanical craze8 ,after passing through various hands1 the house passed back to ,sir ,hugh ,clopton1 whose family had formerly possessed it4 ,sir ,hugh pulled down ,shakespeare's three-gabled and ugly house1 and built one more suitable to his position1 where1 in ,may1 #agdb1 ,malone tells us that he hospitably entertained ,garrick1 ,macklin and ,delane under the poet's own mulberry tree4 ,in #agij the father of ,mr4 ,davenport's clerk1 then ninety-five years old1 told ,malone that as a boy he lived in the next house to ,new ,place1 and that he had often eaten of the fruit of the tree1 some branches of which overhung his father's garden2 that it was planted by the poet1 and the first mulberry tree to be seen in the neighbourhood4 ,in #ageb ,henry ,talbot1 son-in-law and executor of ,sir ,hugh ,clopton1 sold ,new ,place to a clergyman of the name of ,gastrell1 a man of fortune and ,vicar of ,frodsham in ,cheshire1 apparently an ill-conditioned1 quarrelsome man1 who was soon in hot water with his neighbours4 ,he had a dispute with the town over assessments1 in which1 by the by1 he was utterly in the wrong1 and he so resented the desire of sightseers to be admitted to view the famous mulberry tree1 that to spite them and the townsfolk he1 in #ageh1 cut down the tree1 his wife urging him to the impious act1 as ,dr4 ,johnson told ,boswell4 ,she1 the ,lady ,macbeth of this 8withered murder10 was a daughter of ,sir ,thomas ,aston and sister to ,mrs4 ,walmesley1 the wife of ,johnson's first patron1 and to the lovely ,molly ,aston1 whose beauty so stirred the inflammable ,dr4 ,johnson that the groves and woods of ,staffordshire and ,derbyshire rang with its praises sung by an elderly ,tityrus in a bush-wig4 ,the grand old amorist never wearied of celebrating the charms of his lovely ladies4 ,even the ,island of ,skye was forced to resound with the perfections of his ,thralia ,dulcis in one of the worst ,sapphic odes that ever brought wrath upon a fifth-form boy4 ,at last the vandal parson1 irritated beyond measure by his own bilious spite1 declared that the house should pay no more assessments1 so he pulled it down and broke it up for sale of the building materials4 ,as ,shakespeare's own house had been long since destroyed by ,sir ,hugh ,clopton1 that did not signify so much1 but the murder of the sacred tree was another matter4 ,we may be sure that when ,macbeth and ,lady ,macbeth finally turned their backs upon ,stratford1 their departure was not bemoaned by their neighbours4 ,blessed are the enthusiasts4 ,it is true that they are sometimes egregious bores1 but they are never so bad as the iconoclasts1 and they do much good in the world4 ,before the murder of the famous mulberry tree ,edward ,capell1 the ,shakespearian commentator1 whose work rather fell under the cruel lash of ,dr4 ,johnson1 had managed to secure a cutting of it1 which he carried to ,troston ,hall1 his place in ,suffolk1 and planted in his garden4 ,there is no easier tree to propagate than the mulberry2 in that respect1 it is like the willow4 ,cut a branch of it and stick it in the ground1 and when the spring comes it will begin to show signs of life4 ,lurking in mysterious hiding-places in the bark are myriads of tiny unsuspected buds1 full of life and vigour1 which in due season will send down little slender fibres till they reach the soil1 whence they derive nourishment2 in time the buds will burst their prison of bark1 and before many years are past a new tree will bear fruit4 ,so ,mr4 ,capell's cutting throve amazingly and gave birth to a little colony of offshoots4 ,how or when ,i know not1 ,troston passed into the possession of ,mr4 ,lofft1 and he1 when about to let the place and disperse his collection of plants1 wrote to ,sir ,william ,thiselton ,dyer1 ,october #fth1 #ahif1 offering 8some scions of ,shakespeare's tree0 to ,kew4 ,i at once wrote1 begging for one of these scions1 that it might be planted in ,buckingham ,palace ,gardens--the site of the old mulberry plantation of ,king ,james4 ,what more appropriate home could be found for it8 ,there still stands1 by the by1 in the ,palace grounds a venerable mulberry tree which must be the one last relic of ,king ,james's attempt at silk-worm cultivation4 ,the mulberry gardens were soon converted into a pleasure resort after the manner of the ,vauxhall and ,cremorne of my youth4 ,both ,evelyn and ,pepys mention them and give them the worst of characters4 ,evelyn calls them 7,may #ajth1 #afed7 8the only place of refreshment about the town for persons of the best quality to be exceedingly cheated at1 ,cromwell and his partisans having shut up and seized on ,spring ,gardens1 which till now had been the usual rendezvous for ladies and gallants at this season40 ,pepys1 in his outspoken way1 went further in his condemnation some years later4 ,his spades were always spades--yet the sly old dog confessed to having amused himself greatly there4 ,there is in especial a very characteristic account of a dinner there1 given by ,mr4 ,sheres1 at which ,pepys was introduced to a ,spanish ,olio1 8a very noble dish1 such as ,i never saw better or any more of4 ,this and the discourse he did give us of ,spain1 and description of the ,escuriall1 was a fine treat40 ,the entertainment seems to have been managed with an eye to economy1 for after dinner they all went off to ,brentford1 ordering the waiter to set on one side what had not been eaten1 and they would come back and have it for supper4 ,what would the head waiter at the 8,ritz0 or the 8,carlton0 say to such an order as that8 ,but the evening was spoilt by the sudden indisposition of poor ,mr4 ,sheres1 the amphitryon of the ,olio1 probably the cause of the trouble--to which ,pepys appears to have returned to the 8noble dish0 with appetite1 issuing unscathed from the temptation4 ,sir ,charles ,sedley1 the profligate wit and brilliant writer1 of whom ,charles the ,second said that 8,nature had given him a patent as ,apollo's viceroy10 and that 8his style1 whether in writing or discourse1 would be the standard of the ,english tongue10 wrote a play called the ,mulberry ,garden1 which ,pepys1 a great playgoer and probably a good judge1 damned with faint praise4 ,the 8,tribullus of his age10 as ,dryden dubbed him in his dedication to 8,the ,assignation10 for once had failed to score4 ,the story of ,shakespeare's mulberry has led me far astray1 and when we get to ,evelyn and ,pepys it is difficult not to wander on4 ,but ,i must curb my prolixity4 ,i think ,i have said enough to show that the ,troston plants have a pedigree which it would defy all the sagacity and learning of the ,college of ,heralds to demolish4 ,kew1 always generous1 has continued to propagate from them1 and as ,sir ,david ,prain1 the present director1 writes to ,sir ,sidney ,lee3 8,we have sent plants to places where there are memorials of ,shakespeare1 and to people interested in matters relating to him40 ,it is to the kindness of ,sir ,william ,thiselton ,dyer that ,i owe my special treasure4 ,i do not know upon what authority is based the statement that the tree now growing in ,new ,place is a scion of the old tree--probably it is4 ,but1 in any case1 there are offshoots enough propagated by the pious care of ,kew from the ,troston stock to do away with any fear lest the dynasty should die out4 ,,russia ,the time which ,i spent in ,russia in #ahfc-fd was a transition period4 ,transition periods in history are always difficult to describe1 and still more difficult to explain4 ,it is comparatively easy to tell the story of some great concrete fact1 a world-encompassing war1 a revolution1 the upheaval of a dynasty2 but to set out the causes which1 working during a period of externally unruffled calm1 are brewing the hell-broth2 to show the hidden powers which are silently operating under the surface to bring about a mighty change--that is a task before which even those who have the best information may well hesitate4 ,every skilled newspaper correspondent will1 without much difficulty1 write a brilliant description of an earthquake with all the harrowing and soul-stirring horrors of the upheaval2 but even the most experienced seismologist hardly dares to set on paper his estimate of the mysterious hidden forces1 which1 battling in the bowels of the earth1 unseen and unsuspected1 burst out in their wrath to wreak the tragedies of ,lisbon or of ,catania4 ,so it is with transition periods in history4 ,they are generally marked by peace and prosperity4 ,there are often no outward signs to sound the alarm that there is trouble ahead4 ,the political catastrophe1 like the earthquake1 comes without warning2 like the wrecking typhoon1 it may be preceded by a dead calm4 ,it will be said with justice that these violent similes do not fit the case of ,russia4 ,there has been no great epidemic of violence1 no fierce upheaval like that of the ,french ,revolution4 ,individual murders there have been4 ,the pages of ,russian history are stained by cruelty and murder1 culminating in the barbarous tragedy of the death of the ,emperor ,alexander the ,second2 but the changes which have taken place have been wrought without disturbing the atmosphere of the world at large4 ,none the less1 the revolution here has been far-reaching4 ,the ,russia of to-day differs toto coelo from the ,russia of a hundred years ago4 ,absolutism died with the ,emperor ,nicholas1 and no ,russian ,tsar will ever again be able to rule1 or even try to rule1 without taking into account the will of his people4 ,the relations between the sovereign and his subjects are for that very reason happier than they ever were1 and the events of the last two years have shown that loyalty has not perished because autocracy has given up the ghost4 ,the strength of ,holy ,russia to-day1 in the face of the ,german war of aggression1 lies in the determined attitude of the people--in their pious love for their country1 in their almost fanatical belief in their ,church1 and in their veneration for the great ,white ,tsar who is the head of that ,church4 ,the nineteenth century opened darkly enough for ,russia4 ,the ,emperor ,paul had been on the throne for four years--a gloomy1 unhappy man1 not without ability1 not without the wish to do what was right1 until his mind was unhinged by madness4 ,the first acts of his reign were worthy of all praise4 ,he showed kindly feeling1 clemency1 and even generosity to the ,poles1 setting free those that had been imprisoned1 and making ample provision for their heroic leader1 ,kosciusko4 ,his edict enacting that the succession to the throne should be determined1 not by the will or caprice of the reigning sovereign1 but by a fixed and certain law of primogeniture1 was a wise measure1 calculated to save his country from the intrigues and bloodshed under which she had suffered so long4 ,but the early days of his reign were embittered by the knowledge conveyed to him by his ,vice-,chancellor1 ,count ,bezbarooks1 that it had been the intention of his mother1 ,catherine the ,great1 to exclude him from the succession in favour of his own son1 ,alexander4 ,apart from that1 he was a haunted man4 ,haunted by the murder of his father1 ,peter the ,third1 knowing full well that if the hand was the hand of ,orloff1 the dictating voice was the voice of his mother1 ,catherine4 ,illustration3 ,,the ,,emperor ,,paul ,i4 ,from a contemporary ,print4 ,to face p4 #bdh4 ,haunted by suspicion1 unable to trust any living soul--if a curtain rustled1 stirred by the wind1 a murderer stood hidden behind it2 if two courtiers spoke in a whisper1 it was a conspiracy2 a cough was the signal to a confederate2 once when the ,empress was talking in a low voice to a foreign ambassador1 he bade her speak up1 saying3 8,you may be prepared to play the part of ,catherine1 but ,i would have you remember that in me you will not find a ,peter the ,third40 ,a terrible speech1 showing what he knew of the past1 what he dreaded in the future6 ,his wife1 his ministers1 his officers1 were all under suspicion4 ,he looked upon his ,court as a hotbed of treason1 conspiracy and murder4 ,it was not to be wondered at that in a brain so tortured1 the seeds of hereditary madness should have been swift to germinate4 ,then came all those grotesquely savage edicts which could only be accounted for by insanity4 ,the wearing of trousers1 or of a round hat1 were crimes to be punished by the knut2 short hair without pigtails constituted a criminal offence2 ladies must stop their carriages and step out into the snow and mud to salute him when his sleigh or carriage came in sight4 ,three ladies who disobeyed the order--one of whom was hurrying to fetch a doctor to her dying husband--were seized by the police1 carried off to the guard-house1 stripped1 shaved and whipped4 ,it was clear that the man was as mad as ,bedlam1 but there were no ,anticyr for ,tsars4 ,russia took the law into her own hands4 ,a conspiracy was formed1 with ,count ,peter ,pahlen1 ,minister ,president and ,military ,governor of ,petersburg1 at its head1 to put an end to despotism--a cruel weapon in the hands of a lunatic4 ,the conspirators were men of the highest rank by birth and by virtue of office--,pahlen himself1 prime minister and the trusted friend of his ,sovereign1 who delighted in loading him with honours4 ,in the night of the #bdth of ,march they forced their way into the ,michailow ,palace1 surprised the unhappy ,emperor in his bedroom and strangled him with his own military sash4 ,he fought with the demoniac fury of a madman1 for he was of strong and muscular build1 and it was no easy matter to overpower him4 ,he tried to burst into the ,empress's apartments1 which adjoined his1 but here his distrust of her proved his undoing--he had caused the door which led to her rooms to be hermetically fastened4 ,his suspicions closed to him the one possibility of escape1 the one refuge with the wife who would not have failed him in his sore need4 ,paul's foreign policy was feeble4 ,he detested the ,french ,revolution1 and yet threw himself into the arms of ,napoleon2 at other times he was prepared to flirt with ,england4 ,the most noteworthy of his acts was the edict in regard to the succession to which ,i have alluded above4 ,its importance lay especially in the fact that it drove the first nail into the coffin of absolutism4 ,it is evident that an 8absolute0 monarch1 who has been deprived of his omnipotence in any one particular1 ceases ipso facto to be flawlessly absolute4 ,certainly1 absolutism did not finally die till fifty-five years later4 ,but a rift in the panoply of the ,tsars had been made by the ,emperor ,paul4 ,i heard much about the reign of the mad ,tsar when ,i was at ,st4 ,petersburg in #ahfc4 ,there were still some old people who could talk about those days4 ,count ,peter ,pahlen had been long dead2 after the murder he betook himself to his country place and disappeared from public life4 ,but ,i had to represent my chief at the funeral of his brother1 who commanded the cavalry against ,napoleon in #ahab1 and with a still younger brother1 ,count ,nicholas ,pahlen1 ,i was intimate in ,london for several years4 ,another link with that time was old ,countess ,rasumowski1 who had been divorced and banished from the ,court1 but forgiven and taken into favour again by ,paul4 ,it was one of his acts of clemency4 ,she was sister-in-law of ,beethoven's friend to whom he dedicated the famous quartets4 ,how old she was ,i know not1 but she was a great figurehead in ,russian society1 and on her name-day all ,st4 ,petersburg1 from the ,emperor downwards1 flocked to her house4 ,i had to go1 as my chief had a cold1 and ,i represented him4 ,the dear naughty old lady was sitting in state1 dressed all in white like a bride1 with a wreath of pink roses round her head4 ,that and the rouge with which she had plastered her poor withered cheeks made her look quite antediluvian4 ,she must certainly have been near a hundred4 ,the memory of ,count ,ribeaupierre1 who was ,grand ,maitre de la ,cour1 and with whom ,i was also acquainted1 went even further back4 ,he had been page of honour to the ,empress ,catherine1 who died in #agif4 ,these are names only worth mentioning1 in order to show that some of my impressions of the unhappy ,tsar's reign were drawn at first-hand4 ,judging from the accounts given by the few old people who themselves remembered those times1 and from the talk of younger men who had heard from their own fathers--perhaps actors in the crime--the whole history of that midnight murder1 the outrage did not arouse any excitement commensurate with the horror of the deed4 ,men had become callous2 they had grown used to seeing the rulers of the reigning dynasty disappear by violent or mysterious deaths4 ,what really would have startled them would have been to hear that a ,tsar had died a peaceful death in his bed1 for murder had come to be looked upon as the natural end of a ,romanoff4 ,on the morning of the #bdth of ,march ,st4 ,petersburg1 awakening to the gruesome news of the night1 heaved a sigh of relief1 and went about its business4 ,that business was the accession of a new ,tsar4 ,alexander has been accused of being privy to his father's murder1 but from all the evidence which ,i was able to gather1 this was a calumny4 ,there is no doubt that he was in touch with the conspirators1 and that he was a consenting party to his father's removal from the throne4 ,paul's state was such that not even a son could wish to see his father remain vested with the terrible power of the autocrat of all the ,russias4 ,but murder1 let alone parricide1 was not in his nature4 ,all the acts of his reign gave the lie to so hideous a charge4 ,the man who set free the political exiles in ,siberia1 who abolished torture from the criminal code of his country1 who made it illegal to hold sales of serfs1 who helped to extend the blessings of education by founding universities1 was a wise and humane ruler4 ,even the policy which made him countenance the conspiracy against his father was in the interests of humanity4 ,had he known the extremity to which that plot was to be pushed1 we may be sure that he would have fought rather than not interpose his authority4 ,at the outset of his reign the young ,emperor was hypnotized by the glamour of the fame of ,napoleon1 who was then ,first ,consul and seemed to be destined for the dictatorship of the world4 ,but that crime1 and worse than crime1 that mistake1 as ,talleyrand put it--the murder of the ,duc d',enghien at ,vincennes in ,march1 #ahjd--;aroused the greatest indignation in the mind of ,alexander1 and the ,russian charg d'affaires at ,paris was instructed to express that feeling in no measured terms4 ,the ,first ,consul's reply was1 in effect1 a request that the ,emperor would mind his own business4 ,a further note was sent1 recapitulating the claims and remonstrances of ,russia1 and ,m4 d',oubril asked for his passports4 ,the tragedy of ,vincennes had provoked the anger of ,alexander2 the coronation of ,napoleon as ,emperor by the ,pope summoned from ,rome to do his bidding1 on the #aith of ,november in the same year1 called up a totally different but no less hostile feeling4 ,that a ,corsican adventurer should robe himself in the ,imperial purple and pretend to equal rank with himself1 was something which the proud ,romanoff could not brook4 ,the disgust and indignation engendered by ,napoleon's cruelty and pretensions were enhanced by his territorial encroachments4 ,alexander threw himself heart and soul into the combination against the ,french1 and ,europe was once more ablaze with war until the ,peace of ,tilsit in #ahjg1 when on board a raft anchored in the river ,niemen1 the two ,emperors fell into one another's arms1 kissed1 and swore eternal friendship4 ,it would be outside of the purview of my task to dwell upon this event were it not for the interest attaching to the secret treaty entered into upon that occasion1 an instrument the conditions of which were not made public until the year #ahcd1 but which so clearly illustrated the ambitions of both nations4 ,napoleon undertook that ,russia should become possessed of ,european ,turkey1 with ,constantinople and the outlet into the ,mediterranean1 and pursue her conquests in ,asia as far as she chose1 ,india being1 of course1 understood as the objective4 ,france was to have ,egypt1 ,malta1 the assistance of the ,russian fleet in the capture of ,gibraltar--the navigation of the ,mediterranean being confined to ,french1 ,russian1 ,spanish and ,italian ships4 ,there were other provisions and much detail1 but the above were the chief points4 ,the amusing feature of this still-born treaty was that neither party honestly meant business4 ,each thought that he was jockeying the other1 with the firm intention of carrying out no more of it than was for his own advantage4 ,tomini1 who was aide-de-camp to ,napoleon1#ai wrote and told ,paris that ,alexander had been made to swallow a strong dose of opium1 which would keep him quiet for some time1 while ,boutourlin told ,st4 ,petersburg that the terms of the treaty imposed such liabilities upon ,russia that it must only be looked upon as a means of gaining time4 ,alexander was present at the meeting of the ,german princes called together by ,napoleon at ,erfurt in the following year4 ,napoleon had provided for the entertainment of what it would be irony to call his guests1 by summoning from ,paris the famous ,talma with his troupe of actors4 ,one of the plays chosen was ,voltaire's dipe1 and when the player came to the line3-- 8,l'amiti d'un grand homme est un bienfait des ,dieux10 the gigantic ,russian ,emperor leant over and theatrically seizing ,napoleon's hand1 said 8,je n'ai jamais mieux senti60 ,the stage effect missed fire1 for the great little friend was quietly dozing1 and had to be aroused to consciousness of what was happening4 ,the 8parterre de ,rois10 the 8pit of ,kings10 smiled and applauded1 but the demonstration was a fiasco4 ,the 8bienfait des ,dieux0 was not long lived4 ,in four short years after the meeting at ,erfurt ,napoleon made the greatest mistake of his life4 ,he was at ,moscow1 and there we may leave him1 standing on the ,sparrow ,hill in his favourite attitude1 his arms folded1 his brows bent1 looking upon the barbaric splendour of the fantastic pink towers and battlements of the ,kremlin1 waiting for the delivery of the keys of the citadel--the keys which never came4 ,the mystery of the burning of ,moscow will never be cleared up4 ,was the city fired by ,rostopchin8 ,did he even connive at the deed8 ,he himself denied it in a pamphlet published at ,paris in #ahbc1 but in my day nobody with whom ,i spoke on the subject believed him4 ,the general opinion was that this great act of patriotism1 which was the beginning of ,napoleon's downfall1 was indeed his work4 ,he burnt his own country house and destroyed his property1 so that nothing should fall into the hands of the enemy--what more consistent than that he should deprive them of all supplies and all communication by burning the sacred capital after removing as many of its inhabitants as was possible4 ,i have called the fire an act of patriotism4 ,i ought to have said ,russian patriotism4 ,the attachment of the ,russian to the soil is something sacred4 ,the ,mujik has two religions--the religion of ,god and the religion of the soil4 ,holy ,russia is to him not a mere jingle of words1 and ,rostopchin1 when he punished the sacrilege of the invader1 knew that he could count upon having with him the most sacred feelings of his fellow-countrymen4 ,he was1 indeed1 the typical ,russian of his time4 ,the placard which he put on the village church1 the only building on the property which he left standing1 is characteristic3 8,for eight years ,i have been embellishing this place1 and ,i have lived here happily in the bosom of my family4 ,at your approach the seventeen hundred and twenty inhabitants of this property are leaving it1 and ,i set fire to my house that it may not be polluted by your presence4 ,frenchmen6 ,i have left you my two houses in ,moscow1 with their contents worth half a million roubles2 here you will find nothing but ashes40 ,this1 of a surety1 was a brave1 a determined and patriotic man--a true ,russian4 ,he had been a great favourite of the ,emperor ,paul1 and by his sage advice saved that unhappy man from many follies4 ,it was said that had he been at ,st4 ,petersburg on the fatal #bdth of ,march1 #ahja1 the murder might not have been committed4 ,during the early years of ,alexander's reign ,rostopchin was out of favour4 ,but there came a time when the ,emperor became aware of his worth and courage1 and made him ,lord ,chamberlain and ,governor of ,moscow4 ,he was a descendant of the ,great ,mongol warrior of the twelfth century1 ,genghis ,khan1 and so he described himself in the following lines3 8,je suis n ,tatare1 ,je voulais tre ,romain4 ,les ,franais m'ont fait barbare1 ,et les ,russes ,georges ,dandin40 ,there is an excellent article on ,rostopchin in the 8,biographie ,gnrale10 the book that ,carlyle used to prize so highly4 ,the ,emperor ,alexander the ,first died in #ahbe in circumstances which gave rise to some suspicion4 ,he had left ,st4 ,petersburg in the month of ,december1 with the ,empress1 who was ailing1 his object being to take her to a warmer climate4 ,he seems to have been for some time depressed and haunted by the sinister idea that his death was not far off4 ,he was always more or less dominated by the spell of mysticism1 and1 indeed1 it was under the influence of a mystic1 a certain ,madame de ,krdener1 that he was induced to found the ,holy ,alliance4 ,before leaving ,st4 ,petersburg it is said that he went to the ,church of the ,convent of ,st4 ,alexander ,nevski and caused a funeral service to be read4 ,as he left the town he stopped his carriage to cast a last yearning look upon the city where he had been born and which he loved so well4 ,he left the ,empress at ,taganrog on the ,sea of ,azov1 and went to the ,crimea1 where he caught a fever1 hurried back to ,taganrog and died1 not before he was made aware of the discovery of a plot to murder him and the whole ,imperial ,family4 ,it is difficult to understand why any ,russian should have wished his death4 ,educated as he had been by his ,swiss tutor1 the famous ,la ,harpe1 in the most liberal principles1 in his domestic policy he devoted himself heart and soul to the good of his people4 ,early in his reign he abolished serfdom in ,esthonia1 ,livonia and ,kurland4 ,he introduced reforms into the older universities and created new ones4 ,he promoted the study of science1 and gave his active patronage to all the educational institutions in the ,empire4 ,he did away with the so-called ,secret ,tribunal1 a sort of ,star ,chamber1 for the arbitrary trial of political offences4 ,commerce and industry were special objects of his care4 ,he built new harbours and made roads1 and in #ahah extended to the peasants the right of establishing manufactories and commercial undertakings1 a privilege which up to his time had been confined to the upper classes4 ,if1 later in his reign1 he seemed rather inclined to go back upon these liberal principles1 it must be ascribed to the poor and unsympathetic return with which his endeavours were met4 ,the country was hardly ripe for his audacious programme--certainly not for parliamentary government1 which at one time he had in view4 ,his own wish was to substitute a constitution for the absolutism which had existed up to his day4 ,he was before his time4 ,napoleon might sneer at his duplicity and call him 8un ,grec du bas ,empire10 but he recognized his talent and his capacity for governing4 ,the vast majority of his people adored the handsome giant1 but treachery and treason were plotting underground1 and rebellion broke out1 as we shall see1 as soon as his soul had left his body4 ,that sorrow he was mercifully spared1 though the knowledge that it was coming arrived to embitter his last days4 ,illustration3 ,,the ,,emperor ,,alexander ,i4 ,from an engraving after a portrait by ,wolkoff4 ,to face p4 #bfj4 ,the ,emperor ,nicholas came to the throne at a moment when a political storm of the greatest violence was ready to burst4 ,more than one division of the army was known to have been tampered with and to be disaffected1 and many of the chief nobles were conspiring for a constitutional government4 ,the warning--or was it more than a warning8--received by the dead ,emperor was sufficient to prove this1 and there were at that moment special circumstances in the succession to the throne which were markedly favourable to revolution4 ,alexander1 deeply imbued1 as ,i have said1 with mysticism1 had a foreboding that he would not be long-lived4 ,he deposited with the ,council of the ,empire a packet1 the seals of which were not to be broken without his command except in the event of his death1 in which case it was to be opened at once and acted upon forthwith4 ,as he died without issue1 the ,imperial ,crown would1 in accordance with the law of succession fixed by his father ,paul1 devolve upon his next brother1 ,constantine4 ,he1 however1 was unwilling to reign4 ,he preferred to remain as he was1 governor and practically sovereign of ,poland4 ,tsar of all the ,russias he would not be4 ,the mysterious packet was found to contain a letter from him1 renouncing his claim to the throne in favour of his younger brother ,nicholas4 ,as soon as this was known1 ,nicholas most scrupulously did all in his power to induce his brother to alter his determination4 ,he even went so far as to proclaim ,constantine ,emperor4 ,the latter1 however1 in spite of repeated appeals from his brother1 held to his fixed purpose1 and ,nicholas became ,emperor against his own will and endeavours4 ,the conspirators found in these difficulties a rare opportunity for the attempt to carry out their plans4 ,the interregnum had lasted fifteen days1 and it was not till the #bdth of ,december that ,nicholas took possession of the ,imperial ,palace4 ,on the #beth of ,december he read to the council the final renunciation of the ,crown by ,constantine1 and on the following day he was proclaimed ,emperor4 ,that day the conspirators and the rebels assembled in the huge square--the ,isaac ,place--and shouted for ,constantine and 8his bride1 the ,constitution10 the soldiers believing in their innocence that 8,constitution0 was the name of the ,grand ,duke's real wife4 ,nicholas1 unarmed1 but attended by ,general ,milarodowitch1 the ,governor of ,st4 ,petersburg1 and a battalion of faithful grenadiers1 and accompanied by ,m4 de la ,ferronays1 the ,french ,ambassador1 left the ,palace and faced the rebels4 ,the general1 who was greatly beloved by the whole army1 went forward and tried to speak with them1 but he was at once bayoneted and shot4 ,the new ,emperor showed the greatest courage and patience1 and it was not until near nightfall that1 the rebels having fired the first shot1 he ordered his artillery to put an end to the trouble4 ,some two hundred men were killed by grape and canister4 ,the five ringleaders were taken prisoners1 tried and hanged some months later4 ,one of the ,princes ,troubetzkoi1 who had been foremost in his threats against the ,emperor's life1 being sent for by the ,tsar1 threw himself at his feet and implored his pardon4 8,sit down10 said ,nicholas1 8and write to your wife at my dictation40 ,the ,prince sat down and the ,tsar dictated3 8,my life is spared40 ,the ,prince was so overcome that he could write no more4 8,now seal your letter and go10 said the ,tsar2 8take your life1 and spend it in remorse and repentance40 ,the remainder of the conspirators1 men of noble family1 were sent to ,siberia--so many of them as were still alive were pardoned and set free by that generous and noble sovereign1 ,alexander the ,second1 on his accession to the throne thirty years later4 ,with the ,dekabrists1 the 8men of ,december10 as they were called1 the cry for ,constantine was a mere pretext--the seizing of a possible chance4 ,the real object was the abolition of ,royalty and the proclaiming of a constitution4 ,nicholas has sometimes been accused of taking too stern measures against the ,dekabrists4 ,with that judgment ,i cannot agree4 ,he was attacked with armed force1 his murder and that of his whole family being the object2 he did not strike the first blow4 ,he could not expect to quell a formidable revolution in the army with rose-water4 ,it was no sudden1 passionate outburst of a people aching under the sense of wrong4 ,the murderous plot1 long meditated and carefully prepared1 had been executed in cold blood4 ,his brother lay dead at ,taganrog4 ,he and his dearly-loved boy1 whom he had left entrusted to sure hands in the palace1 were to have been the next victims4 ,the whole conspiracy lay revealed as in an open book4 ,it was all the more dangerous in that it was not a mob riot1 but a conspiracy of men of high birth1 education and position1 corrupting the army itself4 ,put yourselves in his place4 ,that he was horror-stricken at the massacre was proved by the pathetic cry which he uttered to ,m4 de la ,ferronays1 the ,french ,ambassador1 who never left his side throughout that cruel day3 8,ah6 quel commencement de rgne40 ,it was to him the skeleton at the feast throughout his life4 ,shortly after his accession to the throne the ,duke of ,wellington was sent to ,russia as special ambassador1 nominally to congratulate him1 but also with the object of inducing the new ,tsar to adopt a conciliatory attitude towards the ,sultan1 between whom and the ,greeks there was much trouble4 ,the irony of ,fate made the ,duke take with him as ,secretary of ,embassy1 ,lord ,fitzroy ,somerset 7,lord ,raglan71 the general whose victories twenty-nine years later in the defence of ,turkey were to break the proud heart of that same ,tsar4 ,it was during these negotiations that ,nicholas formed his estimate of the ,duke's character1 and caused him to cherish in his heart the memory of the great soldier as of a model to be copied4 ,it was then1 too1 that he first declared that he had no higher ambition than to be a 8gentleman10 using the ,english word2 and whatever may have been his faults1 whatever his ambition1 a truthful1 honest gentleman he remained to his life's end4 ,to the ,duke of ,wellington he made no secret of his determination to allow no foreign ,power1 or ,powers1 to interfere between himself and the ,porte4 ,that was his lifelong consistent policy4 ,if ,nicholas was reactionary1 if he hated education and opposed the spread of science1 if he strained the powers of absolutism almost to the breaking point1 he did so openly1 and it was the tragedy of his accession which poisoned his many fine qualities4 ,during his reign the ship of ,state was seldom in smooth waters4 ,he sent ,prince ,mentschikoff to ,persia to announce his accession to the throne1 with instructions to enter into negotiations for the settlement of the frontier questions which were in dispute4 ,if the maintenance of peace be the proper aim of diplomacy1 ,mentschikoff was not a successful ambassador4 ,his mission to ,persia ended in war1 as did his embassy to ,turkey more than a quarter of a century later4 ,the ,russians1 under ,prince ,paskiewitch1 were victorious1 and the province of ,erivan was added to ,russia4 ,poland was the chief thorn in his side in #ahbh2 two years after his coronation at ,moscow he caused himself to be crowned ,king of ,poland at ,warsaw4 ,the ceremonial was gorgeous1 and the ,king-,emperor1 invoking the ,supreme ,majesty of ,heaven1 prayed that he might govern for the happiness of his people4 ,he also wrote to the ,pope1 thanking ,his ,holiness for the reception given to the ,tsarevitch1 promising to 8protect the well-being of his ,catholic subjects respecting their convictions10 etc4 ,that he was sincere in these undertakings admits of little doubt4 ,unfortunately he was represented at ,warsaw by his brother ,constantine1 who1 as his elder1 and as having renounced the throne in his favour1 had more influence than an ordinary governor would have had4 ,the revolution in ,poland broke out in #ahcj1 and ,prince ,sanguszko1 the head of one of the noblest families in the country1 people whom ,i afterwards knew1 was one of the leaders4 ,he was taken prisoner and degraded1 and his estates were forfeited4 ,it was said that when he was sent to ,siberia1 the ,emperor1 with his own hand1 wrote that the journey was to be made on foot4 ,when ,i was in ,russia many years later1 ,i had reason to believe that this was not true4 ,the troubles in ,poland lasted for many years--indeed1 were never extinguished--and they led to gross exaggerations4 ,i was in ,paris as a small boy in #ahde1 and ,i well remember hearing all the horrors that were hawked about there1 and all the stories of cruelty4 ,especially ,i recollect one day how when certain news came to one of the ,prince de la ,moskowa's concerts--he was the son of ,marshal ,ney and an accomplished musician and conductor--the pious ,roman ,catholics present lashed themselves into a fury of emotion over the sufferings of the nuns of ,st4 ,basil4 ,it was affirmed that they had been stripped naked1 flogged and tortured1 and that when they were starving and begged for food their mouths were filled with earthworms4 ,those were the lies by which the indignation of their co-religionists was aroused by ,polish agents4 ,the best informed people did not believe them4 ,that the ,poles were cruelly treated1 and harshly misgoverned1 was certainly to be laid to the charge of the ,grand ,duke ,constantine4 ,he had inherited the still-living hatreds and the memory of ,moscow in the beginning of the seventeenth century4 ,there were old scores to be settled1 and his doctrine was an eye for an eye1 the lex talionis in its greatest rigidity4 ,it would have been a hard matter in any case for the ,tsar to bring ,russia and ,poland into harmony4 ,with ,constantine at ,warsaw it was impossible--yet the ,grand ,duke had married a ,polish lady4 ,the affairs of ,poland were an apple of discord between ,france and ,russia4 ,the military successes of ,nicholas were really confined to the ,persian campaign1 for although in his subsequent operations on the ,danube in #ahbh 7poor ,wallachia and ,moldavia71 his troops had some success1 and even took ,varna1 the expedition served no great purpose1 while it effectually showed the ,tsar's incapacity as a leader1 for having taken the field in person1 he had to return to ,st4 ,petersburg a pronounced failure--recognized as such by his own generals4 ,a civil triumph was the codification of the ,russian law1 begun in #ahbg and finished in #ahdf1 by which the peasants greatly benefited2 was the chief feat in internal administration by which his reign was distinguished4 ,in #ahdd the ,emperor ,nicholas came to ,england and visited ,queen ,victoria at ,windsor4 ,the object of his visit was twofold4 ,the ,queen had received ,louis ,philippe1 whom he hated and despised1 and he was determined to see whether he could not counteract the wily old ,king's influence4 ,secondly1 the ,convention of ,london of #ahda placed the ,ottoman dominions under the protection of the ,powers1 and this manifestly did not suit the ,tsar's book4 ,he had his own views as to the ,sublime ,porte1 and would brook no interference between himself and the ,sultan1 whose ,christian subjects he wished to place under his own shield4 ,that was for him a principle of religion4 ,it was a momentous visit1 destined to bear bitter fruit ten years later4 ,sir ,robert ,peel was at this time ,prime ,minister1 and ,lord ,aberdeen ,secretary of ,state for ,foreign ,affairs4 ,it was only natural that the ,foreign ,secretary should have much conversation with his ,sovereign's illustrious guest1 and ,lord ,aberdeen was1 by his gentle and conciliatory manners1 the man1 above all others1 fitted to charm the ,tsar1 who to the last retained an affectionate admiration for him4 ,perhaps ,lord ,aberdeen's deportment towards the ,emperor was a little too deferential2 at any rate1 he left ,nicholas convinced that the ,russian views as to ,turkey were shared by the ,british ,government1 and it was with unfeigned joy that in #aheb the ,emperor learnt of the accession to power as ,prime ,minister of a man whom he flattered himself that he had talked over to his way of thinking1 and whose peace-loving disposition would never allow him to go to war on behalf of the autonomy of ,turkey4 ,that he honestly believed that he had had such an assurance from ,lord ,aberdeen cannot be doubted4 ,in its main features the story of the ,crimean ,war will never be forgotten4 ,the storming of the heights of the ,alma1 which ,nicholas believed to be impregnable1 the beating back of the tidal wave of ,russian infantry at ,inkermann1 when my old friend1 ,billy ,hewitt1 ordered to spike his guns and retire1 answered1 8,spike be damned60 and went on firing till they were red hot and the enemy were in retreat--just one gallant deed among many of that bloody battle2 above all1 the heroic charge of the six hundred at ,balaclava1 are feats of arms which must set men on fire as long as they have pulses to quicken4 ,but how many men are there nowadays who could give any account of the causes which led to the war8 ,the quarrels between the monks of the ,greek and ,latin churches in ,palestine seem trivial enough reason to have started so great a catastrophe4 ,the custody of the key of the ,church of the ,nativity at ,bethlehem1 the right to worship in the ,church of the ,virgin near the ,garden of ,gethsemane1 and the custody of the ,sanctuaries of ,jerusalem1 were the first pretexts of hostilities4 ,that there was in the mind of the ,emperor ,nicholas a far wider-reaching motive1 hardly suspected perhaps even by himself1 will be seen presently4 ,in the year #agdj a treaty concluded between ,louis ,,xv4 and the ,porte1 practically gave the care of the ,sacred ,places to the ,latin ,church4 ,to the ,greeks certain similar concessions had been made later on by firmans1 or edicts of the ,sultan1 which1 however1 could not technically be held to over-ride the solemn treaty with ,france4 ,louis ,napoleon took up the cause of the ,latins1 and his ambassador1 ,m4 de ,lavalette1 insisted with some violence on the exclusive rights of the ,latin monks4 ,the ,french people at large probably cared little for these squabbles between the rival creeds4 ,but to ,louis ,napoleon they furnished an opportunity for securing to himself1 as ,defender of the ,faith1 a powerful friend in the ,church4 ,he wished to arrogate to himself those sacred rights of primogeniture which had been the pride of the ,kings of ,france4 ,it was1 moreover1 an outlet for that feverish activity which his home policy had made a necessity for him4 ,in the month of ,december1 #aheb1 a silver star1 graven with the arms of ,france1 was deposited in the church at ,bethlehem with much pompous ceremonial1 attended by the ,turkish officials1 and the ,latin ,patriarch with triumphant joy received the coveted keys of the church and ,holy ,manger4 ,the fury of the ,tsar was terrible4 ,the insult to his ,church1 which he loved1 and the affront to himself1 were enhanced by the source from which they came4 ,he had a special horror of all revolutions1 pursued to his dying day by the nightmare of the conspiracy of ,december1 #ahbe1 the tragedy which had inaugurated his reign4 ,the revolutions of ,france were odious to him4 ,never would he1 in the fullest sense1 accept either ,louis ,philippe or ,louis ,napoleon as sovereigns equal with himself4 ,neither of them would he address as 8,monsieur mon frre40 ,and now behold an upstart who was buffeting and opposing him in what he looked upon as the most sacred of his ,imperial duties as head of the ,church6 ,the spiritual ambitions of the ,tsars were hereditary4 ,his father1 the ,emperor ,paul1 had been anxious even to don the priestly robes and celebrate the mass2 but his wise and brave friend ,rostopchin stopped him with a clever conceit4 8,sire10 said he1 8you have no rights as priest4 ,a priest must only marry once2 you have been twice married--you cannot be a priest40 ,the mad ,emperor was convinced and refrained4 ,on another occasion the ,metropolitan boldly stopped him when he tried to enter the ,holy of ,holies4 ,although not a priest1 the ,russian ,tsar is head of his ,church1 much as the ,english ,king is the head of ours1 and ,nicholas took the position very seriously4 ,it was1 moreover1 intolerable to him that the firmans which had been wrung from the ,porte in favour of the ,orthodox monks should be set aside as mere scraps of paper1 on account of the more binding powers of a treaty1 musty with age1 extorted more than a century previously by ,french chicane from an unwilling or callous ,sultan4 ,he was determined to resist1 and ,prince ,mentschikoff was sent on a special embassy to ,constantinople to demand compliance with the ,russian claims on behalf of the ,greek ,church4 ,deeply religious and full of zeal for his ,church1 ,nicholas was animated by the same spirit which spurred on the old ,crusaders to face dangers and hardships of which we in these days of easy transport can have no idea1 in order to wrest from the ,moslem those very shrines for the guardianship of which he was striving4 ,no one can doubt that he was honest and sincere in his pious aims4 ,but there was something more4 ,how could he divest himself of the hereditary ambition of ,russia8 ,it is true that in his conversations with ,sir ,hamilton ,seymour he spoke only of the occupation1 as distinct from the seizure1 of ,constantinople2 but if he once succeeded in establishing himself there in the guise of ,protector of the ,greek ,church throughout the ,sultan's dominions1 would his people ever allow him to give up the city upon which the covetous eyes of all the ,russians had so long been fixed8 ,would he even be willing to do so himself8 ,only think what it meant3 the ,black ,sea changed from the position of an inland lake2 access to the ,mediterranean through the ,straits of the ,bosphorus and the ,dardanelles2 the potentiality of a huge navy ready to dart out upon the world from hidden and unapproachable harbours2 a strategic base from which to attack all the maritime ,powers of ,europe4 ,the temptation would be great indeed4 ,kinglake summed up the position in a striking and eloquent passage3 8,the strife of the ,church was no fable1 but1 after all1 though near and distinct1 it was only the lesser truth4 ,a crowd of monks1 with bare foreheads1 stood quarrelling for a key at the sunny gates of a church in ,palestine2 but beyond and above1 towering high in the misty ,north1 men saw the ambition of the ,tsars40 ,it is not the first time in history that religion has been made to subserve the needs of politics4 ,martin ,luther was spiritually sincere in his attack upon the clerical abuses of the ,roman ,catholic ,church2 but the success of the movement was due to the adhesion of the semi-barbarous ,german princes1 who cared little for religion1 but caught eagerly at the chance of shaking off the temporal yoke of ,rome in their states4 ,so it was in this case4 ,nicholas was no doubt honestly eager to establish among the ,sacred ,places of ,palestine the supremacy of the ,church that he loved2 but he knew full well that even the most agnostic of his ,boyarin would be ready to draw the sword if ,constantinople was the prize dangled before his eyes4 ,one man1 the most considerable personage in the ,empire after the ,tsar himself1 cared but little for the religious side of the contention4 ,that man was ,count ,nesselrode1 the ,chancellor4 ,the squabbles between the ,greek and ,latin monks interested him in no way1 for he belonged to neither faith4 ,curiously enough1 he was a member of the ,church of ,england1 having1 in ,december1 #aghj1 been baptized in the ,bay of ,biscay on board an ,english man-of-war which had given hospitality to his parents1 his father being at the time ,russian ,minister at ,lisbon2 and in our communion he gratefully remained till his death1 continuing from time to time1 as occasion served1 never less than once a year1 as ,i have been assured1 to attend the services of the ,english ,church4 ,however indifferent he might be to the claims of ,orthodoxy1 he had1 nevertheless1 to obey the dictates of his ,imperial--and imperious--master2 and1 of course1 to him1 as to every ,russian1 ,constantinople was an irresistible lure2 still1 there is no doubt that his attitude in regard to the war was but lukewarm4 ,he would have avoided it had it been possible4 ,the historic embassy of ,prince ,mentschikoff showed the ,tsar's hand4 ,the matter at issue was no longer one confined to the custody of a key1 however sacred1 or to the position of the feet on a crucifix4 ,in the ,greek crucifix the feet are nailed separately2 in the ,latin crucifix the feet are crossed4 ,the ,greek crucifix in the church at ,gethsemane was one of the matters in dispute4 ,the ,latin monks claimed that the crucifix of the ,greeks should give place to one with the feet crossed2 but these became minor questions when1 in the most arbitrary fashion1 the prince demanded that the whole of the ,christian subjects of the ,sultan should be placed under the protectorate of the ,tsar4 ,what this meant will be understood when we remember that it was computed that there were some thirteen millions of these out of a total of thirty-six millions of people1 and thus over something approaching a third of the ,sultan's subjects the ,tsar was to be ,king4 ,the ,porte1 well advised by ,lord ,stratford de ,redcliffe1 peremptorily refused4 ,the ,turk was ready to make some concession as regarded the ,holy ,places1 but he would not renounce his sovereignty over any portion of his people4 ,foiled at every step1 ,prince ,mentschikoff left ,constantinople1 and the ,tsar had once more to see himself outwitted and bested by his old enemy1 ,lord ,stratford4 ,lord ,stratford de ,redcliffe has often been accused of having been the cause of the ,crimean ,war1 that great calamity in which1 as ,lord ,salisbury said many years afterwards1 8we backed the wrong horse40 ,nothing could be more false than this charge laid against ,lord ,stratford1 and yet probably nineteen out of every twenty ,englishmen1 imperfectly instructed as usual in foreign affairs1 believe it to this day4 ,the man really responsible for the war was the ,french ,emperor1 who1 as so often happened during the nineteen years of his reign1 was in sore need of the counter-irritant of a foreign war to calm the fever of his own subjects at home4 ,never was it more needful to him than at the moment when the affairs of ,turkey and the religious demands of the ,emperor ,nicholas began to be discussed in the chanceries of ,europe4 ,frenchmen1 and1 above all1 ,parisians 7do not forget the old saying1 8,paris c'est la ,france071 were still under the terrible impression of the massacres of the coup d'tat of the #bnd to the #dth of ,december1 #ahea4 ,nothing could better serve the purpose of allaying the smouldering indignation than such a war as that which he saw he could foment1 especially if it were carried on in concert with ,england4 ,such an alliance would immeasurably increase his prestige both at home and abroad1 and1 if he could arrange a visit to ,queen ,victoria1 for which he was intriguing1 would almost make it appear as if she approved or1 at any rate1 condoned the wholesale murders of #ahea4 ,as a matter of fact1 at the very moment when ,lord ,stratford was striving with all his might to save ,england from war1 he received instructions from home directing him to order the ,english fleet to go to ,constantinople in company with the ,french4 ,this was in obedience to the ,french ,emperor1 who seemed to have dominated the ,british ,government4 ,peace did not suit his plans2 war did4 ,from that moment ,lord ,stratford's endeavours were frustrated2 war was inevitable4 ,in the meantime the angry ,tsar had sent his army to occupy for the second time ,moldavia and ,wallachia1 those unhappy provinces1 the ,danubian ,principalities1 as they were then called1 upon which the curse of ,cain seemed to have settled for all time4 ,those who have watched the landing of a crowd of ,russian pilgrims at ,jaffa will realize the power which ,nicholas had at his back in the execution of his policy of fighting for the ,holy ,shrines4 ,i have seen the old people1 men and women1 the tears streaming from their poor tired eyes1 fall down upon their knees1 to kiss the soil1 the treading of which was the reward of long lives of grinding labour1 privation and parsimony4 ,i have seen an old peasant1 with matted hair and beard1 meanly wrapped in a sheepskin robe1 sobbing out his patient heart in an ecstasy of grief at the ,holy ,sepulchre4 ,in order to save up the money for this pious errand they must stint themselves1 they must almost starve themselves1 laying up kopeck by kopeck1 looking with surety for their reward in another1 a better and a less grinding life4 ,the ,church has promised it1 and ,god will fulfil the promises of ,his ,church4 ,half a century and more has slipped away since ,i left ,russia1 and ,i should have great hesitation in writing down my impressions of the intensely religious character of the ,russian people were it not that recent writings by well qualified observers show that those long years have wrought little change4 ,mr4 ,stephen ,graham's book1 8,the ,way of ,martha and the ,way of ,mary10 is a most charming and sympathetic study of the complex psychological question of the religion of the ,russian4 ,indeed1 the only fault with which it can be charged is that the writer is almost too enthusiastic--more ,orthodox than the ,patriarch4 ,i call it a complex question because it is so difficult to say how far it is pure religion and how far it is only mysticism1 but1 be it religion or be it mysticism1 it is deeply ingrained in the soul of the ,russian mujik2 it is part of himself1 and is revealed in a veneration for which ,i have found no parallel elsewhere4 ,but the strange part about it is its powerlessness for restraint from sin4 ,the greatest criminal will obey the harassing prescriptions of his ,church as though his very life depended upon it4 ,in ,lent he will submit to a fast which is nothing short of cruel even the ,mohammedans' fast in the month of ,ramadan is nothing to it1 for when sunset comes the pious ,moslem is free to feast as he pleases4 ,with streaming eyes1 in a frenzy of religious rapture1 the ,orthodox peasant will adore the sacred shrines and cross himself before the ikon1 the blessed picture of his patron saint4 ,but that is all4 ,piety and virtue are two things4 ,the old ,budotchnik 7night-watchman71 who had his hut upon the frozen ,neva1 would cut a hole in the ice1 into which he might throw the body of the wayfarer whom he had murdered1 to be carried down to the ,baltic2 but in the ,budotchka 7his wooden hovel7 a lamp always burned before the blessed ikon1 in the presence of which he would count his unholy spoil4 ,the toper1 reeling with the fumes of vodka1 before the days of that brave abstinence law of the present ,tsar1 would never be so drunk as to forget the marks of obeisance due to the sacred image1 whose presence he would not hesitate to pollute by any crime4 ,when ,nicholas raised the fiery cross of a holy war1 he could count upon the fierce valour of an army of fanatics4 ,death for his religion and for the soil of ,holy ,russia opens to the ,russian the gates of ,paradise4 ,if the religious fanaticism of the people and the ambition of the governing classes was great in ,russia1 here in ,england the political frenzy was no less violent4 ,for reasons which they would probably have found it difficult to explain1 the people took up the cause of the ,turk with the wildest enthusiasm1 and the shibboleth1 8,balance of ,power10 was continually in the mouths of men who were quite ignorant of its meaning4 ,in ,france the desire for war was1 as ,i have hinted1 confined to the ,emperor and his surroundings2 but it was a sad disillusion for the ,tsar when he saw the temper of ,england and of the ,government of his friend ,lord ,aberdeen1 a temper which that lover of peace was powerless to resist1 the man whom1 when he was at ,windsor in #ahdd1 he believed himself to have talked over to his views4 ,trusting to his conversations with the then ,foreign ,secretary1 the ,tsar was firmly convinced that ,england would not go to war1 in spite of ,lord ,stratford de ,redcliffe1 whom he hated more than ever for his defeat of ,mentschikoff1 in spite of ,lord ,clarendon1 and in spite of the fact that at the ,colonial ,office there was a ,minister called ,palmerston1 who1 more than any other man1 reflected the spirit of his countrymen1 and who1 by no great stretch of the imagination1 might be supposed to have some little influence in foreign affairs4 ,during his whole life the chief hobby of the ,tsar had been his army4 ,to increase its numbers1 its smartness1 and its imposing glitter was the object of his most watchful care4 ,but his military aptitudes were confined to those of the drill-sergeant4 ,company drill1 battalion drill1 a grand review were his chief joy--a shabby uniform1 a button awry1 a mistake in some detail of kit were crimes to be suitably punished2 no stricter martinet ever existed4#bj ,but of strategy1 tactics and the science of war1 he knew no more than the youngest drummer in one of his pet regiments4 ,whenever he interfered in any of the wars in which he engaged1 he only hindered and hampered his generals4 ,when it became evident that his occupation of the ,balkans was a strategic mistake1 he had to call in old ,prince ,paskiewitch1 the hero of his ,persian ,war1 to get him out of the scrape4 ,commissariat1 equipment1 munitions1 transport1 and the various subordinate necessaries for his army1 were matters into which he did not deign to inquire4 ,i do not propose to treat of the ,crimean ,war2 ,i will only say this much3 that when ,i was discussing it one day1 in #ahfc1 with a ,russian general1 he told me that the losses suffered by the ,tsar's army in the terrible marches to the ,crimea cost them more men than all the fighting put together4 ,want of food1 clothes1 boots1 medicine for the sick1 the robberies of commissariat and contractors1 killed the soldiers by tens of thousands4 ,i was bound to confess that our men were not much better off1 until my old friend ,billy ,russell roused the indignation of the people4 ,in the autumn of #ahed the ,tsar declared that he looked to 8le ,gnral ,fvrier0 to finish the war4 ,it did1 but not as he hoped4 ,in the month of ,february1 #ahee1 he died suddenly and mysteriously4 ,the stories which have been published of a lingering death lasting several days1 and of touching farewell interviews with the ,empress and the ,tsarevitch1 may be dismissed as fables2 ,i have dwelt upon this in my 8,memories40 ,however that may be1 whether he died a natural death from influenza1 or whether1 as many people believed1 he took poison1 it was a broken heart that killed him4 ,the army that he had loved1 the army that he had made and drilled1 clothed and cherished1 had failed him4 ,paskiewitch1 whom he thought invincible1 had been compelled to raise the siege of ,silistria2 the battle of ,giurgevo had been lost2 his troops1 the bugbear of ,europe1 had been driven across the ,danube by the ,turks4 ,the heights of the ,alma1 the night of ,inkermann told the same tale4 ,sevastopol was doomed4 ,the proud man was beaten2 there was nothing left to him in this life2 he laid him down and died--a man of many mistakes1 but to the last the great 8gentleman0 that he claimed to be4 ,once again the angel of death was merciful4 ,he was spared the misery of the final and supreme defeat4 ,his impregnable fortress fallen1 his button-perfect army on which he pinned his faith shattered1 the whole edifice of his hereditary ambition and his pious strivings crumbled to dust6 ,that ,nicholas was greatly feared by his people must be admitted2 at the same time1 he was admired as something more than a man2 and by those who surrounded him1 though none came so often under the stinging lash of his displeasure1 he was venerated and loved4 ,his domestic life was perfect4 ,he adored his wife--as he once said3 8,the first time ,i saw her ,i knew that ,i had met the guardian angel of my life40 ,she was the sister of that poor ,king of ,prussia who was chiefly famous for his dullness and his love of champagne--le ,roi ,cliquot1 as his ,imperial brother-in-law was wont to call him4 ,russia had every right to look forward to a happy time under the milder rule of ,alexander the ,second1 who1 as ,tsarevitch1 had greatly endeared himself to the people by travelling through the country1 taking pains personally to ascertain what were the wants and aspirations of the millions whom he was one day to rule1 and interesting himself on behalf of the political prisoners in ,siberia1 and endeavouring1 so far as in him lay1 to soften their hard lot4 ,one of his first acts on coming to the throne was to release so many of the ,dekabrists--the men of ,december--who were still living4 ,illustration3 ,,the ,,emperor ,,nicholas ,,ii4 ,from a lithograph4 ,to face p4 #bhd4 ,it has been the fashion among writers upon ,russia to depreciate ,alexander as a weak ruler4 ,they are kind enough to accredit him with a heart full of good intentions1 but they taunt him with a lack of vigour of character4 ,it is a hard matter for a ,tsar to satisfy the requirements of historical critics4 ,a ,nicholas1 with a stern hand1 puts down a poisonous rebellion which aimed at nothing less than by corrupting the army to perpetrate the murder of the whole ,imperial family4 ,he is written down and held up to execration as a bloody-minded1 revengeful tyrant4 ,then comes his son1 who at once sets about a vast number of reforms for the benefit of his people1 such as the emancipation of the ,law ,courts from the supreme power of the politicians1 the publication of an annual ,budget1 the establishment of provincial and district councils1 and1 above all1 the emancipation of the serfs1 of which ,i shall speak later4 ,all these liberal benefits are ascribed to the feebleness of the ,emperor1 who1 as they say1 had not the force to resist the persistent demands of ministers4 ,such is the injustice of men and historians4 ,nothing astonished me more when ,i was in ,russia than the freedom of speech4 ,i had been brought up in the faith that to criticize the ,emperor meant the knut and ,siberia4 ,on the contrary1 ,i found at the clubs and in ,society men talking1 praising and blaming with all the confidence of truly free citizens1 little heeding who should hear them1 and ,i soon became aware that all the fables which ,i had heard of spies and reporters were just moonshine4 ,even officials and officers in the army unsparingly criticized the measures which they had to carry out and the men whom they must obey4 ,one of the shrewdest critics of international politics that ,i ever knew was old ,count ,nicholas ,pablen1 whom ,i mentioned at the beginning of this paper4 ,a great traveller1 and an excellent speaker of modern languages1 he had been for half a century intimately associated with all the chief makers of the nineteenth century4 ,he had1 moreover1 a marvellous memory1 of which ,i may give an example4 ,one day ,i found him in a great state of mind1 fussing and fuming over some annoyance4 ,i asked what was the matter4 ,he said3 8,i am losing my memory6 ,i wanted to write down the ,knights of the ,garter--,i remembered twenty-four1 but for the life of me ,i could not recollect the twenty-fifth60 ,all of a sudden his face brightened4 8,i have it10 he said1 8the ,duke of ,westminster40 ,the honour of his memory was saved4 ,his memory for political facts never failed him1 and his judgment was not to be denied4 ,his view of the state of affairs at the end of the ,crimean ,war is given in one of those delightful letters with which ,lord ,granville used to keep ,lord ,canning posted in ,european matters whilst the latter was ,governor-,general in ,india4 ,lord ,granville wrote1 on the #crd of ,august1 #ahef 7see 8,lord ,edmond ,fitzmaurice's ,life10 vol4 ,i41 page #ahe73 8,old ,pahlen was the most irritable of all on this subject 7the ,crimean ,war74 ,he says it has done no one good2 not to the ,english1 certainly not to the ,russians--and has only been of use to one man in ,france1#ba whom he is not1 as you know1 fond of4 ,he says that in ,england they considered him as merely speaking like a ,russian parrot when he said that the ,emperor ,nicholas did not wish for war1 and that he was considered in ,russia almost a treacherous ,anglomane when he declared that our ,government did not wish it4 ,he had been right in both cases1 and yet by extraordinary bad management the war had come4 ,he thinks it will take a whole generation to efface the recollection of it4 ,he attributes the hatred of us1 and comparative forgiveness of the ,french1 not so much to the destruction in the ,baltic1 not so much to our ,press and our public speaking1 as to our having been old friends1 and their always having thought of the ,french as enemies4 ,he does not believe in any great changes in ,russia4 ,the ,emperor has good intentions1 but there have always been good intentions at the beginning of each reign4 ,he has one great advantage over his father4 ,alexander during his life told ,nicholas nothing4 ,nicholas1 since his son has been of age1 told him everything1 and the latter1 being of a very amiable disposition1 heard everything that others did not dare tell his father4 ,he is supposed not to have military tastes1 but he issued new regulations about uniforms almost before his father was buried2 and he and ,constantine appeared in new hussar jackets a day or two afterwards1 which were supposed to be foreign1 instead of a new dress which he had been in such a hurry to exhibit himself in4 ,he dismissed ,klein ,michel and another 7two great robbers72 and when his mother remonstrated on the ground of their having been his father's friends1 he made a good answer1 which he had probably previously prepared4 ,he said3 #8,i am not a great man like my father4 ,he could use such men as his tools--,i am not strong enough4' ,he 7,pahlen7 lays much stress on the absolute poverty of ,russia in able men4 ,he thinks ,gortchakoff clever1 but indiscreet1 vain1 and not successful in things which he undertakes4 7,this is confirmed by everybody47 8,tolstoi1 a great friend of the ,emperor1 by whom he is called #8milord ,tolstoi1' has no ability4 8,kisseleff1 who is named ,ambassador to ,paris1 is clever1 but has never been a diplomat and is seventy years old4 ,meyendorf1 really clever1 is done up4 ,chreptowitch is nobody4 ,orloff himself clever1 but perfectly ignorant4 ,he says that ,gortchakoff laments to everyone this dearth of men to appoint4 ,so ,bloomfield told me4 ,pahlen says that in ,england it does not signify if we want a man1 we can always pick up an intelligent man in some rank of life or other who will soon master the specialities of his business4 ,in ,russia those who are not diplomatists by profession are profoundly ignorant of all that relates to it40 ,a long quotation--but the appreciation of the state of affairs in his own country by so competent an observer as ,count ,pahlen1 recorded1 moreover1 by no less a man than ,lord ,granville1 seems to me to justify and even invite its insertion here4 ,i myself knew almost all the men whom the ,count mentioned1 and ,i can appreciate the accuracy of his estimate4 ,in two cases1 that of the new ,tsar and that of ,m4 ,tolstoi1 ,i think he was hardly fair4 ,as it turned out1 the reign of ,alexander the ,second1 if by no other measure than that of the liberation of the serfs1 marked an important step in ,russian history2 while ,m4 ,jean ,tolstoi--the 8milord0--who was ,postmaster-,general in my time1 proved to be a capable minister1 none the worse for having travelled and being an accomplished man of the world4 ,as ,ambassador to ,england1 ,count ,chreptowitch1 a delightful old gentleman1 was not an eagle2 and it was not long before the astute old ,baron ,brunnow--with the 8,baroness ,brunnow who looked like ,juno0 of the 8,ingoldsby ,legends0--appeared once more as pilot of the diplomatic ship among the rather difficult shoals of ,british waters4 ,nor at the outset of the new reign was ,english diplomacy any too strong4 ,england1 as ,count ,pablen pointed out1 was in bad odour at ,st4 ,petersburg1 and it needed all the exquisite tact of ,lord ,granville1 when he went as special ambassador for the coronation1 to conciliate the ,emperor1 while at the same time firmly giving ,his ,majesty to understand that he must insist upon being received with the courtesy and consideration due to the ,queen's personal representative4 ,lord ,granville's letters to ,lord ,canning1 quoted by ,lord ,fitzmaurice1 tell the story in the most interesting way4 ,the glove was of velvet1 but the hand was of steel4 ,it was no easy task1 for ,count ,pahlen was quite right when he warned ,lord ,granville that the ,emperor was deeply prejudiced against ,england1 and had quite thrown himself into the arms of ,france--a strange infatuation1 considering that it was ,louis ,napoleon's personal ambition and aggressive policy which raised the question of the ,holy ,places1 and was the cause of the war1 whereas ,england did her best--a bad best1 it must be admitted--to preserve the peace4 ,yet ,france was in high favour1 while for us there was as yet no forgiveness4 ,at any rate1 ,lord ,granville's special embassy was a great success1 and for years afterwards the ,russians spoke with enthusiasm of the ,english grand seigneur who had conquered force de plaire and upheld the dignity of his country4 ,if in some future decade1 century1 or on1 ,i1 on the eve of a new incarnation1 should be consulted by the gods as to the quality with which ,i should prefer to be endowed1 ,i should have little hesitation in asking to be blessed with the tact of ,lord ,granville4 ,lord ,wodehouse1 afterwards ,earl of ,kimberley1 who was our ,minister at ,st4 ,petersburg1 was a man of great ability1 singularly well read and thoroughly posted in diplomatic lore4 ,he knew his trade1 but he had not the secret of treating business with charm4 ,his talents were better fitted to the fuliginous atmosphere of ,downing ,street than to the bright sparkling air of the ,russian capital4 ,it was single-stick1 very doughty single-stick1 against the light play of the foils4 ,the contrast with that skilful fencer1 ,lord ,granville1 was great4 ,but the victories gained by the latter could only be temporary4 ,he had to go1 and ,lord ,wodehouse remained1 a brilliantly dull man--or would it be better to say a dully brilliant man8--quite out of his element in the glittering gaiety of a ,russian salon4 ,those who knew his solid worth appreciated his wisdom and scrupulous honesty4 ,but he was rather a great parliamentarian than a courtly diplomatist4 ,when he opened the flood-gates of his talk1 it was a ,niagara that issued forth1 carrying all before it1 not to be stopped or stayed1 and this deluge was made even more overwhelming by a doctoral or donnish manner1 which absolutely staggered the delightfully smart and rather cynical ,prince ,gortchakoff4 ,as for the ,emperor1 the voluble envoy frankly bored him4 ,lord ,wodehouse could earn respect for ,england1 but not affection4 ,nor was ,england much better served when his place was taken in #aheh by ,sir ,john ,crampton1 a most delightful personality1 but1 in spite of his long experience1 little fitted for such a post as ,st4 ,petersburg4 ,the truth is that he was a ,bohemian of the ,bohemians1 a man who loved his ease and to whom the donning of a fine coat and a star was little short of torture4 ,i knew him well1 for he was a contemporary of my father's in the service1 and there were few days--when he was on leave in ,london--on which he did not knock at our door4 ,he had all the gifts of the ,irish raconteur1 and his stories were enhanced by the charm of a musical speaking voice--a great1 handsome1 leonine figure1 with his silver hair and beard1 whose advent we always hailed with joy4 ,probably he was at his best in his beautiful ,irish home near ,powerscourt1 where1 with a congenial friend or two--notably old ,sharpe1 the eccentric ,dublin artist--he could sit and smoke after dinner in the same frieze coat that he had worn all day4 ,with us and very few other friends he would sit by the fire1 a great tame cat1 purring the livelong winter afternoon4 ,however great his personal attractiveness might be1 he was certainly not successful as a diplomatist4 ,when he was at ,washington1 ,president ,peirce broke off relations with him on account of his recruiting activities--when there were men wanted for the ,foreign ,legion in the ,crimean ,war4 ,it was the one case in which he overcame his constitutional indolence1 and it was not lucky4 ,he had to leave the ,united ,states1 but ,lord ,palmerston1 always the generous defender of his subordinates1 stood up for him1 and sent him as ,minister to ,hanover1 at the same time decorating him with the ,k4,c4,b41 and thence he was transferred to ,st4 ,petersburg1 a post where the members of the diplomatic body1 unless they were prepared to face all the requirements of a delightful but rather exacting society1 were bound to become mere cyphers4 ,that is what happened to ,sir ,john ,crampton1 and that1 too1 at a moment when it was very important to bury the hatchet and establish relations of cordial friendship and sympathy with the ,tsar and his ministers4 ,it was at last the tame cat nature to which ,i have alluded above brought about his retirement from ,russia in #ahfj1 and his transfer to ,spain1 where at that moment there was little urgency for activity4 ,in an unlucky moment for all concerned1 ,balfe came to ,st4 ,petersburg1 with his beautiful young daughter ,victoire1 who had been engaged at the ,opera4 ,naturally the ,irish ,minister and the ,irish composer forgathered1 and ,balfe's rooms were a delightfully congenial place1 where1 when the young lady was not singing at the theatre1 ,crampton could pass the lazy evenings1 free from the cramping fetters of a tailcoat and from all the irksome restraint and exigencies of a diplomatist's life4 ,balfe1 whom ,i knew well for many years1 was himself endowed with all the fascination of ,irish wit and bonhomie1 while his daughter was as attractive as youth1 beauty and talent could make her4 ,they must have been a delightful trio--but the lotus-eating was not to last4 ,there came a day when ,balfe1 in the character of the pre noble1 told ,sir ,john that his visits must cease--the old story1 his daughter's happiness was at stake--and so the veteran diplomatist hoisted the white flag1 surrendered unconditionally1 and ,january and ,may were united for a very brief time1 at the end of which the marriage was annulled1 and the lady married the ,duc de ,friar1 a grandee of ,spain4 ,when ,i reached ,st4 ,petersburg in #ahfc1 and went through the archives of the ,embassy1 which were in my charge1 ,i found that there was a dispatch missing4 ,no trace could be found of it and no one had ever seen it4 ,i wrote to ,london1 asking the ,foreign ,office to send out a copy4 ,when it came1 it turned out to be a severe wigging from ,lord ,russell1 scolding ,crampton for not keeping him better informed on ,russian affairs4 ,crampton had burned the dispatch6 ,it was easy for him to do this1 for the messenger arrived about ten o'clock at night1 and he was in the habit of opening the bag himself1 and only sending down its contents to the ,chancery on the following morning4 ,this particular document he kept to himself4 ,in #ahfi he left the service1 and from that time lived chiefly at his ,irish home in ,county ,wicklow1 where he died1 full of years and comfort1 in #ahhf1 greatly regretted by all of us who knew him as a dear1 kind1 affectionate old friend4 ,never was there a happier appointment than that of ,lord ,napier1 who succeeded him in ,russia in #ahfj1 with the more exalted rank of ,ambassador1 seconded by an ambassadress who seemed to have been born for the position4 ,the ,british ,embassy soon became the most popular centre of society in ,russia4 ,john ,lumley--afterwards ,lord ,savile--was ,first ,secretary 7what would now be called ,councillor71 and he was a most valuable aide-de-camp socially to his chief4 ,in these happy circumstances the prestige and influence increased every day1 until at the end1 when ,lord ,napier1 in #ahfd1 was transferred to ,berlin1 the ,emperor ,alexander wished to give him the ,order of ,st4 ,andrew1 the ,garter of ,russia1 but unfortunately in those days the acceptance of foreign ,orders was strictly forbidden4 ,queen ,victoria was like ,queen ,elizabeth1 who said that she would not allow her dogs to wear any collar but her own4 ,few men ever had a much more difficult task than that with which ,lord ,napier was confronted when he took possession of the ,embassy4 ,not only did he conjure into life a new popularity out of the ashes of the dead indifference1 and worse1 in which ,england was held1 but he succeeded in winning the personal love and affection of all with whom he came in contact2 and this he did in spite of the emasculate meddlings in ,polish affairs which were the favourite pastime of ,lord ,russell and the cynical amusement of ,prince ,gortchakoff4 ,illustration3 ,,prince ,,gortchakoff4 ,from a photograph4 ,to face p4 #bif4 ,it must not be supposed that ,lord ,napier did not himself openly condemn much that was going on in ,poland2 but he did so with tact1 as an onlooker1 and not like ,lord ,russell1 with the appearance of impertinent interference in the internal government of a friendly country4 ,there were1 as ,i have shown in my 8,memories10 many ,russians in high positions who were outspoken in their detestation of ,general ,muraieff1 whom ,prince ,suvoroff did not hesitate to call a 8hangman0 in the ,tsar's presence at a banquet at ,tsarskoe ,selo4 ,lord ,napier would have cried 8,amen0 to that4 ,but though he was an uncompromising critic1 he never forfeited the goodwill of the court to which he was accredited4 ,the honour and reputation of ,england were safe in his hands1 and he enjoyed an influence which had been vouchsafed to none of his predecessors4 ,what ,prince ,gortchakoff and all other ,russians resented in ,lord ,russell was the schoolmaster tone of his dispatches4 ,that ,prince ,suvoroff's condemnation of the cruelties of ,warsaw did not meet with an ,imperial reproof was significant enough1 and an ,english ambassador would find plenty of men who would applaud a similar reproof from him4 ,but none of them1 even of those who were loudest in their blame1 would accept ,lord ,russell's sermons and prescriptions4 ,the ,polish ,revolution was a terrible first act in the drama upon which the curtain was to fall in so tragic a fashion4 ,the liberation of the serfs in #ahfa was manifestly the greatest achievement of ,alexander's reign--indeed1 it was one of the greatest and noblest achievements in the whole history of ,society4 ,it was a great upheaval1 far more wide-reaching and searching than the abolition of negro slavery which rewarded the humane labours of ,clarkson1 ,sharp and ,wilberforce4 ,that only affected the planters of the ,west ,indies4 ,there were no negro slaves in ,london1 ,edinburgh1 or ,dublin4 ,in ,russia1 on the contrary1 serfdom was universal4 ,there were serfs even among the tradesmen of ,st4 ,petersburg1 ,moscow and ,warsaw1 and all the great towns--men who had raised themselves by industry and knowledge into a higher status than that of the drudge or labourer1 the hewer of wood and drawer of water1 but who yet remained serfs1 and had to pay a share of their gains to their lords4 ,the fortunes of rich ,boyarin were calculated in the souls of men4 ,there had been more than once talk of putting an end to this horror1 but it was left to the generous and good ,tsar to carry the reform into execution4 ,he was ably seconded by ,m4 ,valouieff1 ,minister of the ,interior1 who worked out all the details of the scheme4 ,it was no easy task to carry out so mighty a change1 for1 of course1 the vested interests were powerful and the mighty ego was on guard1 as ever2 but the ,tsar was in deadly earnest1 and in spite of all opposition1 twenty-three millions of dead souls were born again into life4 ,it was an audaciously bold piece of statesmanship4 ,even an autocrat is dependent upon the will of others for his power4 ,he cannot stand up in the ,agora1 and1 like a god1 proclaim himself 8,i am that ,i am60 ,he needs support1 and in ,russia at that time1 when the proletariat had not yet even the semblance of political existence1 the only prop upon which the ,tsar could rely was the noblesse1 and it was precisely their privileges that he was attacking4 ,it needed moral courage1 it needed physical courage1 to set such a machinery in motion4 ,remember who and what were the men who murdered the ,emperor ,paul4 ,not a gang of revolutionary carbonari--,turgnieff was not yet born and the word 8,nihilist0 had not yet been coined#bb--;but a band of powerful nobles1 headed by his own prime minister4 ,remember who were the leading ,dekabrists1 men bearing historic names1 proud of their descent from the sacred stock of ,rurik4 ,it was men of that importance who would be the most affected by the change1 and whose opposition was to be feared4 ,no weak man would have braved them4 ,it is true that emancipation had long been in the air1 and that a great number--perhaps even a large majority--of the landed aristocracy had pledged themselves to it4 ,but there was a dangerous leaven of discontent1 and none could say how far the taint might have penetrated4 ,m4 ,valouieff1 the minister who was the ,tsar's right-hand man in this difficult business1 was a remarkable personality4 ,strikingly handsome1 tall and dignified1 with all the characteristics of blue blood1 he was not dwarfed even by the mighty stature of his ,imperial master4 ,when1 two years after the liberation of the serfs in ,russia1 the measure was extended to ,poland1 ,i was present1 as ,i have related in my 8,memories10 at the reception of the ,tsar of the peasants' deputation who came to ,st4 ,petersburg to thank the ,tsar4 ,it was impossible not to be struck by the commanding aspect of the ,emperor and his minister1 both sons of ,anak1 towering above the rest of the crowd4 ,the emancipation of the serfs was1 of course1 ,valouieff's masterpiece in statesmanship1 but he had several other measures of first-class importance to his credit4 ,it was he who in #ahfd established the ,zemstvo--elected bodies for the local conduct of provincial business--and another of his achievements was the regulation of the laws relating to the ,press4 ,he1 moreover1 had something of a literary reputation as the author of two or three novels4 ,but these were rather amateurish1 and it is upon his statesmanship that his fame must rest4 ,like the ,chancellor1 ,prince ,gortchakoff1 he was very kind to me1 and whenever we met in ,society1 he always had a friendly word for me4 ,when ,i got back to ,london1 he was next to ,prince ,gortchakoff1 the ,russian statesman in whom ,i found ,lord ,palmerston and ,lord ,clarendon the most interested4 ,they fully appreciated the greatness of his work in the emancipation business1 and were glad to have some first-hand impressions of his very remarkable personality4 ,the emancipation was a colossal task4 ,it is not possible by a mere stroke of the pen to revolutionize the lives of twenty-three millions of men4 ,the serfs were to be freed--that is easily said2 but the interests of the landed aristocracy must also be taken into consideration1 and it says much for ,valouieff's statesmanship and wisdom that the measure should have been carried into effect practically without any friction4 ,it was impossible suddenly to deprive of its labour the whole of the agricultural land of that vast empire4 ,there had to be a transition period during which the peasants1 though no longer serfs1 still remained under certain obligations to their former masters2 but within the space of two years the landlords were bound to make over to them their houses with suitable allotments of land against a fair rent1 with the further privilege of purchase1 with the consent of the proprietor4 ,the obligations of the peasant and his rent were capitalized on a basis of six per cent4 ,of this capital1 twenty per cent4 was to be paid at once to the landlord1 while the ,government gave him the remaining eighty per cent4 in ,government bonds bearing five per cent4 interest1 the ,government recouping itself for this advance in forty-nine years by a payment of six per cent4 from the peasant4 ,the purchases might be effected by single individuals or by partnerships4 ,this would be facilitated by the ,russian communal system1 by which the members of each commune were able to combine for the redemption money and other expenses4 ,it was calculated that about one-third of the property of the landed aristocracy1 equal to #cij1hhf square kilometres1 was made over to the peasants4 ,this is ,brockhaus' calculation4 ,he goes on to point out that for various reasons1 chiefly the ignorance and intemperance of the peasants1 there were not a few troubles arising out of the great economic change4 ,although in some instances land soon rose in value fifty per cent4 above the estimate of #ahfa1 in others it suffered great deterioration4 ,there is one feature in this great economic change which is worthy of note4 ,if we read the lives1 memoirs and correspondence of the ministers who have ruled ,england in modern times1 it is impossible not to recognize an underlying element of personal ambition in all their contentions4 ,that1 ,i take it1 is inseparable from a constitutional ,government where the 8,outs0 are always struggling to become 8,ins40 ,here there was no such motive possible4 ,a ,tsar of ,russia could become no greater than he already was1 and even the minister who did his behest had nothing to fear or to gain from the arbitrium popularis aurae4 ,the ,emperor had1 and could have1 nothing in view but the good of his people1 and for that those who saw him at work knew that his efforts were untiring4 ,it is strange that it should have been precisely in the reign of so good a monarch1 a real benefactor of the world over which he ruled1 that the seeds of the poisonous plant of ,nihilism should have germinated1 spreading like the virus of cancer1 which1 cut out of one place by the surgeon's knife1 still travels through the system and reappears in some new spot4 ,nihilism was not confined1 as has been popularly supposed1 to the students of the universities and a few clever but discontented literary men and artists4 ,as a matter of fact1 it had invaded all classes4 ,the civil service1 the army1 the police--even the secret police--were infected4 99 99 99 99 99 ,the diplomatic negotiations which took place at ,st4 ,petersburg in the winter of #ahfc-fd were big with the fate of ,europe and of the world4 ,it was the result of the grievous blunders made by ,lord ,russell that ,prussia was enabled to take the first step in that career of plunder and aggrandisement which has wrought such terrible tragedies4 ,i have dealt with that story fully in my 8,memories40 ,i was at ,st4 ,petersburg at the time1 and owing to my confidential relations with ,lord ,napier1 and to the kindness of ,prince ,gortchakoff and other ,russian ministers1 ,i had the opportunity of being well posted1 not only in what took place publicly1 but also in the feeling which was prevalent in ,russia in regard to the ,danish war4 ,in his brilliantly fascinating fourth volume of the 8,life of ,lord ,beaconsfield10 ,mr4 ,buckle#bc revives the time-honoured fallacy that ,russia was not ready to join hands with us in defence of ,denmark4 ,that fallacy can only owe its existence to the careful handling of persons whose aim it was to whitewash ,lord ,russell4 ,it is true that his blustering and bullying in the ,polish ,revolution--followed by the eating of the leek with appetite--had made ,england very unpopular in ,russia2 but in regard to ,denmark there was another motive at work1 and a very powerful one1 in the prospective marriage of the ,princess ,dagmar to the ,tsarevitch4 ,in principle1 ,russia did not want to go to war1 but she was ready to sacrifice her wish for peace if only ,england would join in with her and cry 8,hands off60 to ,prussia and ,austria4 ,england did not want war in ,july1 #aiad1 but on the #dth of ,august war was declared4 ,the cases are exactly similar4 ,in both cases a 8scrap of paper0 was torn up by ,prussia1 who only a few months earlier had guaranteed the integrity of ,king ,christian's dominions4 ,in #aiad mercifully ,lord ,russell had been long 8resting and being thanked0 over the mischief he had wrought4 ,sterner and more chivalrous doctrines prevailed1 and this time ,england was ready to draw the sword for a principle of honour4 ,it is1 ,i know1 an absolute mistake to suppose that if we had carried out the policy indicated by ,lord ,palmerston in ,parliament at the end of the ,session of #ahfc we should have stood alone4 ,russia would have been with us4 ,our position1 supposing we had gone to war1 would have been all to our advantage--as ,lord ,john ,manners pointed out1 it would have been 8the most popular1 the easiest and the cheapest war 7for it can be managed by our navy alone7 of the century40#bd ,lord ,john ,manners was quite right4 ,we should have sent our navy to ,danish waters1 and we need not have sent out a single soldier4 ,to march upon ,berlin would have been a mere holiday task for the ,russian army1 a sort of picnic1 like our march upon ,magdala4 ,but ,i can assert that it was the firm conviction of the best informed diplomatists of ,europe that the mere knowledge that ,england and ,russia were determined to uphold the rights of ,denmark would of itself have sufficed to avert war4 ,i have written elsewhere how1 when ,lord ,napier had to tell ,prince ,gortchakoff that ,england would not join with him1 the ,prince answered3 8,alors1 milord1 je mets de ct la supposition que l',angleterre fasse jamais la guerre pour une question d'honneur40 ,that was the conviction which guided him in all his subsequent dealings with ,england1 the advances in ,central ,asia1 in defiance of all treaties1 until the gates of ,afghanistan were reached1 and in #ahgj1 when ,france was crippled1 the tearing up of the ,black ,sea ,treaty obligations of #ahef4 ,mr4 ,buckle is so clear-minded a critic of foreign politics that ,i should hesitate to differ from him were ,i not possessed of absolute knowledge not from hearsay4 ,a study of the 8,origines diplomatiques de la guerre de #ahgj0 can only confirm what ,i have said2 and that exhaustive publication proves up to the hilt my contention that since the origin of the war of #ahgj was due to the betrayal of ,denmark in #ahfc-fd1 it is to the grave political blunders then made that we must ascribe the outrage of #aiad4 ,free of ,england and ,russia1 ,bismarck was able to carry out his full programme3 7#a7 ,kiel and a navy4 7#b7 ,the crippling of ,austria4 7#c7 ,the humiliation of ,france4 7#d7 ,who can doubt what that was8 ,the destruction of ,england's sea power1 and the world under the heel of ,prussia4 ,lord ,russell's meddling and muddling in the affairs of ,poland had1 it is true1 estranged ,russia and ,france4 ,but the former ,power was1 nevertheless1 keenly in favour of ,denmark2 as regards ,france1 there was perhaps another consideration which was not without its influence4 ,it is a matter of common knowledge that ,louis ,napoleon was very ambitious to build up a navy which should be able to hold its own with ours4 ,in the 8,origines diplomatiques0 there is published a dispatch from the ,french charg d'affaires at ,st4 ,petersburg1 ,m4 de ,massignac1 a very clever man1 with whom ,i was intimate1 urging upon ,m4 ,drouyn de ,lhuys the expediency of furthering the views of ,prussia4 ,he pointed out that the success of ,prussia would give her ,kiel1 and enable her to build a navy which might1 in given circumstances1 help the other ,continental ,powers to destroy ,england's preponderant supremacy at sea6 ,i am inclined to think that this view may have had more restraining influence with ,louis ,napoleon even than the snubbing with which ,lord ,russell met his proposals for a conference or congress at ,brussels4 ,we know1 moreover1 that the ,emperor had a distinct leaning towards ,prussia1 which he looked upon as making for progress in contradistinction to ,austria1 which in his eyes was antiquated and retrograde4 ,it was1 then1 at ,st4 ,petersburg that the fate of ,denmark was sealed and the first triumph of ,bismarck's policy secured4 ,the ,danish ,duchies were stolen by ,prussia1 and1 as my old friend ,m4 de ,massignac had foreseen1 the foundations were laid of a navy which up to that time had been a dream in ,cloudcuckooland4 ,for the shameful abandonment of ,denmark we are now1 fifty years later1 paying the just penalty4 ,,the ,,end ,printed at ,the ,chapel ,river ,press1 ,kingston1 ,surrey4 ,illustration ,,footnotes #a ,see my 8,garter ,mission to ,japan10 pp4 #aic-bjc4 #b ,max ,mller1 8,chips from a ,german ,workshop10 ,,ix41 #agh4 #c ,max ,mller1 ut supra4 #d ,even the famous ,laws of ,manu were only held to be ,smriti--tradition4 #e ,see ,max ,mller's 8,ancient ,sanskrit ,literature10 pp4 #eg and #hj4 #f ,how like a passage in one of ,robert ,louis ,stevenson's prayers written at ,vailima3 8,we thank ,thee1 ,lord1 for the glory of the late days and the excellent face of ,thy ,sun40 #g 8,chips from a ,german ,workshop10 ,vol4 ,i41 p4 #ac4 #h ,max ,mller's 8,chips10 ,vol4 ,i41 pp4 #cf-cg4 #i ,picea pungens glauca4 #aj ,the ,japanese1 following the horology of the ,chinese1 used to divide the day of #bd hours into #ab periods1 each of which had its sign1 something like the sign of the ,zodiac4 ,midnight until #b a4m4 was the hour of the ,rat #b a4m4 0 #d a4m4 0 0 ,ox #d a4m4 0 #f a4m4 0 0 ,tiger #f a4m4 0 #h a4m4 0 0 ,hare #h a4m4 0 #aj a4m4 0 0 ,dragon #aj a4m4 0 #ab noon 0 0 ,snake #ab noon 0 #b p4m4 0 0 ,horse #b p4m4 0 #d p4m4 0 0 ,ram #d p4m4 0 #f p4m4 0 0 ,ape #f p4m4 0 #h p4m4 0 0 ,cock #h p4m4 0 #aj p4m4 0 0 ,hog #aj p4m4 0 midnight 0 0 ,fox #aa ,see my 8,tales of ,old ,japan3 the ,loves of ,gompachi and ,komurasaki40 #ab ,morning ,post1 ,may #hth1 #aiae4 #ac ,quoted in the ,spectator1 ,may #hth1 #aiae4 #ad ,lord ,march1 afterwards 8,old ,q40 #ae ,the ,duke of ,queensberry4 #af ,mr4 ,thrale's profits from the brewery were estimated at #cj1jjj a year4 #ag ,mgge1 pp4 #aca1 #acd4 #ah 8,as when upon a trancd summer night ,those green-robed senators of mighty woods1 ,tall oaks1 branch-chaind by the earnest stars1 ,dream1 and so dream all night without a stir40 ,,hyperion1 ,i41 #gb4 #ai ,tomini later quarrelled with ,napoleon and entered the service of ,alexander4 #bj ,the craze for absolute uniformity was exemplified in the ,kurros 7snub-nosed7 ,grenadier ,regiment of the ,emperor ,paul4 ,not only was every nose in the regiment tip-tilted1 but the meter-like brass shakos of the old pattern seen in ,hogarth's pictures--8,the ,march to ,finchley10 for example--each has a bullet-hole exactly in the same place4 ,this was to commemorate an attempt on the ,tsar's life4 ,the bullet missed him1 but found its billet in the shako of one of his guards4 ,whether the snub-noses and the shakos still exist ,i know not4 ,they were very conspicuous in my time4 #ba ,the ,emperor ,louis ,napoleon4 #bb ,the word1 8,nihilist0 first appeared in ,turgnieff's story1 8,fathers and ,sons10 in #ahfa4 #bc 8,the ,life of ,benjamin ,disraeli1 ,earl of ,beaconsfield10 ,vol4 ,,iv41 p4 #cdb4 #bd ,buckle's 8,life of ,disraeli10 ut supra1 ,vol4 ,,iv41 p4 #cdc4 ,,index ,,index ,abdul ,hamid1 ,sultan of ,turkey1 #ach1 #bgd4 ,aberdeen1 ,george ,h4 ,gordon1 #dth ,earl of1 #bfi1 #bgj4 ,abrants1 ,junot1 ,duc d'1 #agc-d4 ,addison1 ,joseph1 #aad4 ,albert1 ,prince ,consort1 #ada-b4 ,alexander ,i41 ,emperor of ,russia1 #bdg-h1 #bec et sq41 #beh et sq4 ,alexander ,,ii41 ,emperor of ,russia1 #bfd1 #bhd et sq41 #bif4 ,allard1 ,father1 #hg4 ,ananda1 #be1 #ce1 #dj1 #db4 ,anatha ,pindaka1 #ce4 ,angeli1 ,von1 #add4 ,arnold1 ,sir ,edwin1 #ah1 #bc4 ,aryans1 ,the1 #di et sq41 #ei et sq4 ,aska1 ,king1 #ah1 #ea4 ,aston1 ,molly1 #bda4 ,aston1 ,sir ,thomas1 #bda4 ,bacon1 ,francis 7,lord ,verulam71 #fb1 #ahi4 ,bagatelle1 #afb-c1 #age1 #aij-a1 #aic1 #aie4 ,balfe1 ,michael ,william1 #bid4 ,balfe1 ,victoire1 #bid-e4 8,bamboo ,garden1 ,the10 ,lord ,redesdale's1 ix4 ,barbosa1 #di4 ,baring1 ,maurice1 #bjc-d4 ,barlaam and ,josaphat1 ,the ,story of1 #bg et sq4 ,batsford1 x4 et sq41 xviii41 xix41 xxi4 ,beaconsfield1 ,benjamin ,disraeli1 ,earl of1 #cjd4 ,beal1 ,samuel1 #bc4 ,beethoven1 #aea-b1 #bah1 #bea4 ,benares1 ,king of1 #cg4 ,benfey1 ,theodor1 #fj et sq4 ,berghaus1 ,heinrich1 #eb4 ,bernhardt1 ,sarah1 #aeb4 ,bezbarooks1 ,count1 #bdh4 ,bhikshus1 ,the1 #db et sq41 #bad4 ,bimbisara1 ,king of ,maghada1 #ab1 #cb1 #ce4 ,bismarck1 ,prince1 #cjg-h4 ,bizet1 ,georges1 #bah4 ,blmml1 ,emil1 #acj4 ,bodhisatva ,maitriya1 #cg et sq4 ,bonjean1 ,m41 #hg4 ,bopp1 ,franz1 #fj4 ,boutourlin1 #bef4 ,brahmans1 ,the1 #dh et sq41 #fe1 #fh-i ,brockhaus1 ,professor1 #bad4 ,broughton1 ,john ,cam ,hobhouse1 ,lord1 #de4 ,buckingham1 ,richard ,grenville1 #bnd ,duke of1 #ahf4 ,buckle1 ,george ,earle1 #cjd1 #cjf4 ,buddha1 ,the1 #h et sq41 #df et sq41 #fe et sq41 #if1 #bcc4 ,bunsen1 ,baron1 #ed et sq4 ,burnouf1 ,jean ,louis1 #fj4 ,byron1 ,lord1 #de1 #bjg4 ,cambridge1 xx4 ,canning1 ,lord1 #bhg1 #bij4 ,canning1 ,george1 #afg4 ,capell1 ,edward1 #bdb-c4 ,carlisle1 ,lord1 #aga-b4 ,carlyle1 ,thomas1 #bei4 ,caste1 #dh et sq4 ,castiglione1 ,countess1 #bbb-ca4 ,castlereagh1 ,lord1 #afg4 ,catherine the ,great1 #bdh-i1 #beb4 ,cavell1 ,nurse1 #ic4 ,cellini1 ,benvenuto1 #aee4 ,chandana1 #bf4 ,charles ,,vi41 ,emperor1 #acg1 #ade4 ,charles ,x4 of ,france1 #age4 ,chandra ,mukherji1 #ac-ad1 #ah1 #cj4 ,chelsea ,hospital1 #ig4 ,chreptowitch1 ,count1 #bhi1 #bij4 ,christian1 ,king of ,denmark1 #cje4 ,cimarosa1 ,domenico1 #aea4 ,cissey1 ,general1 #ia4 ,clair1 ,father1 #hg4 ,clarendon1 ,george ,villiers1 ,earl of1 #cja4 ,clarkson1 ,thomas1 #bih4 ,clopton1 ,sir ,hugh1 #bdj et sq4 ,commune1 ,the1 #gh et sq4 ,confucius1 #cc1 #eb-c4 ,constantine1 ,grand ,duke1 #bfb1 #bfg-h1 #bhh4 ,cook1 ,dr41 #bbg-h4 ,courbet1 ,gustave1 #hc et sq4 ,cowes1 ,royal ,yacht ,squadron ,castle1 xii4 et sq4 ,crampton1 ,sir ,john1 #bib et sq4 ,crawley1 ,george1 #gi4 ,crimean ,war1 #bgj et sq4 ,dagmar1 ,empress of ,russia1 #cjd4 ,dandapani1 #bd4 ,dante1 xix4 et sq41 #bjf4 ,darboy1 ,monseigneur1 ,archbishop of ,paris1 #hg et sq4 ,dasson1 ,m41 #ahj4 ,daudet1 ,alphonse1 xxiii4 ,daudet1 ,ernest1 xxiii4 ,davids ,rhys1 #bc1 #ca1 #cg4 ,davis1 ,mr4 ,charles1 #aih4 ,devadatta1 #bd-e1 #ce-f1 #dj4 ,dietrichstein1 ,count1 #acd4 ,dodgson1 ,rev4 ,charles1 #bbi4 ,domenichino1 #ahc4 ,donay1 ,general1 #ia4 ,dostoieffski1 ,feodor1 #bje4 ,drummond1 ,messrs4 ,g4 ,e41 #aeh4 ,ducondray1 ,father1 #hg4 ,duplessis1 ,isabella1 #acb4 ,dyer1 ,sir ,william1 #bdc4 ,edward ,,vii41 #ic1 #bjj4 ,elizabeth1 ,empress1 #acb4 ,ellis1 ,sir ,arthur1 #bja4 ,enghien1 ,duc d'1 #bed4 ,esher1 ,reginald ,brett1 #bnd ,viscount1 #ahi et sq41 #aii4 ,eton ,college1 #bji et sq4 ,eugnie1 #id4 ,evans1 ,jennie1 #bji1 #baa4 ,evans1 ,william1 #bji et sq4 ,evelyn1 ,john1 #bdc4 ,fagnani1 ,marchese1 #afe et sq41 #agb4 ,fagnani1 ,marchesa1 #afe et sq4 ,fagnani1 ,maria4 ,see ,,lady ,,hertford4 ,fa ,hsien1 #ac4 ,faraday1 ,michael1 #ec4 ,ferronays1 ,m4 de la1 #bfc-d4 ,fitzmaurice1 ,lord ,edmond1 #bhg1 #bij4 ,fragonard1 ,jean1 #aab1 #age4 ,francis of ,assisi1 ,st41 #dg1 #ed et sq41 #bad4 ,francis ,i41 ,emperor1 #acd1 #acg-h1 #adb1 #adg4 ,fraser1 ,sir ,james1 #abe4 ,frederick the ,great1 #adc1 #adf4 ,friar1 ,duc de1 #bie4 ,fryatt1 ,captain1 #ic4 ,fuchs1 ,grfin1 #acc4 ,gainsborough1 ,sir ,thomas1 #aja1 #agb4 ,gaisman1 #ade4 ,gallifet1 ,marquis de1 #ia et sq4 ,gallifet1 ,madame de1 #ic4 ,garrick1 ,david1 #bda4 ,gastrell1 ,rev4 ,mr41 #bda-b4 ,genghis ,khan1 #beh4 ,george ,,iv41 #afg1 #ahd4 ,gluck1 ,christoph1 #ade4 ,goethe1 #aeb1 #bjf4 ,gogol1 ,nicolai1 #bje4 ,gop 7wife of the ,buddha71 #ah1 #bd-e1 #ce4 ,gortchakoff1 ,prince ,alexander1 #bhi1 #bib1 #bif-g1 #cja1 #cjf-g4 ,graham1 ,stephen1 #bgi4 ,granville1 ,lord1 #bhg et sq4 ,greiner1 ,herr von1 #adg et sq4 ,grimm1 ,jakob1 #fj4 ,grisi1 #bbc4 ,grousset1 ,paschal1 #he4 ,guerry1 ,abb de1 #hg4 ,gurwood1 ,colonel1 #aei1 #aia4 ,halloy1 ,omalius d'1 #fj1 #fb4 ,hawtrey1 ,dr41 #bjg4 ,haydn1 #ade1 #aea-b4 ,hearn1 ,lafcadio1 #abj et sq4 ,heine1 ,heinrich1 #ach4 ,hertford1 ,francis ,seymour1 #bnd ,marquis of1 #ahf4 ,hertford1 ,francis ,charles ,seymour1 #crd ,marquis of 7,thackeray's 8,lord ,steyne071 xx41 xxi41 #aee1 #aff et sq41 #agc1 #agf1 #ahf1 #aia1 #aic4 ,hertford1 ,francis ,seymour1 #eth ,marquis of1 #afc1 #aid-e4 ,hertford1 ,richard ,seymour1 #dth ,marquis of1 xx41 xxi41 #aee1 #aeg et sq41 #agc et sq4 ,hertford1 ,lady ,maria1 #aei et sq41 #aib et sq4 ,hicks-,beach4 ,see ,,st4 ,,aldwyn4 ,hieronymus1 ,lieutenant ,friedrich1 #aca-b4 ,hieronymus1 ,charlotte1 #aca et sq41 #ach et sq41 #add1 #adg et sq4 ,hogg1 ,james1 #bae4 ,homer1 #fb1 #bjf4 ,houdon1 ,jean1 #ahj4 ,hsi1 ,emperor-,king1 #fg4 ,hsan ,chwang1 #aa1 #ac1 #fh4 ,humboldt1 ,baron von1 #fj4 ,james ,i41 #bci1 #bdj1 #bdc4 ,japanese ,gardens1 #b et sq41 #ajb1 #ajf2 customs1 #aah et sq42 legends1 #aba et sq4 ,jefferies1 ,richard1 #bcc4 ,jta1 ,prince1 #ce4 ,jtavana1 #ce4 ,john of ,damascus1 ,st41 #bg et sq4 ,johnson1 ,dr41 #bjc1 #bch1 #bda et sq4 ,joseph ,,ii41 ,emperor of ,austria1 xxiii41 #ace1 #adj4 ,kalanta1 #aa4 ,karamzin1 ,nicholas1 #bje-f4 ,kassapa the ,prince1 #cg1 #dj4 ,keats1 ,john1 #bce4 ,kennedy1 ,mr41 xxii4 ,kerner1 ,andreas1 #bbe4 ,kew ,gardens1 #bdc et sq4 ,kimberley1 ,john ,wodehouse1 ,earl of1 #bia-b4 ,kisseleff1 ,sergius1 #bhi4 ,kosciusko1 #bdi4 ,krdener1 ,madame de1 #bei4 ,krylov1 ,ivan1 #bjd-e4 ,kshatriya1 ,the1 #dh4 ,kusinr1 #db1 #dd4 ,laboulaye1 ,m41 #bi4 ,ladmisault1 ,general1 #ia4 ,la ,harpe1 ,jean1 #bfj4 ,laking1 ,sir ,guy1 #bja4 ,lamington1 ,baillie ,cochrane1 ,lord1 #aeg4 ,lancret1 ,nicolas1 #aab4 ,lansdowne1 ,henry ,fitzmaurice1 #eth ,marquis of1 #bja4 ,lao ,tze1 #eb4 ,lamballe1 ,princesse de1 #gh4 ,landseer1 ,sir ,edwin1 #add4 ,latham1 ,robert ,gordon1 #fj1 #fb4 ,lavalette1 ,m4 de1 #bga4 ,lee1 ,sir ,sidney1 #bch-i1 #bde4 ,leighton1 ,sir ,frederick1 #add4 ,lemoyne1 #ahj4 ,leopold ,,ii41 #adg4 ,lhuys1 ,m4 ,drouyn de1 #cjg4 ,lissauer1 ,herr1 #ach4 ,liszt1 ,abb1 #aeb4 ,lofft1 ,mr41 #bdc4 ,louis ,,xv41 #bga4 ,louis-,philippe1 ,emperor of the ,french1 #ahd1 #bfi1 #bgb4 ,louise1 ,princess 7,duchess of ,argyll71 #add4 ,lowell1 ,john ,russell1 #ii4 ,lumbini ,garden1 #af1 #ah et sq41 #bf1 #dd4 ,luther1 ,martin1 #dg1 #bgd4 ,mac,coll1 ,mr41 #ahj et sq41 #bjb4 ,macklin1 ,charles1 #bda4 ,maintenon1 ,madame de1 #aic4 ,malet1 ,sir ,edward1 #he1 #bja4 ,malone1 ,edmund1 #bdj-a4 ,manners1 ,lord ,john1 #cje4 ,maria ,theresia1 ,empress of ,germany1 xv41 #abi4 ,mario1 ,signor1 #bbc4 ,marie ,antoinette1 ,queen1 #acc-d1 #ade1 #age4 ,marlborough ,club1 xvii4 ,massignac1 ,m4 de1 #cjg-h4 ,mawson1 ,s41 #agh et sq41 #ahg-h4 ,maxwell1 ,sir ,john ,stirling1 #bja4 ,maya1 ,queen of ,kapilavastu 7mother of the ,buddha71 #ae et sq41 #cj1 #dj4 8,memories10 ,lord ,redesdale's1 ix4 et sq41 #bhc1 #big1 #cjd4 ,mendelssohn1 #ed1 #bah4 ,mentschikoff1 ,prince1 #bff1 #bgc1 #bgf4 ,mercier1 ,karoline1 #ace4 ,metastasio1 #acd4 ,metternich1 ,madame de1 #ic-d4 ,meyendorf1 #bhi4 ,milarodowitch1 ,general1 #bfc4 ,millais1 ,sir ,john1 #add4 ,milton1 ,john1 #bjf4 ,mitford1 ,major the ,hon4 ,clement1 xi4 ,moffat1 ,mary ,maxwell1 #adc1 #ade4 ,mohammed1 #cc4 ,montaigne1 xxi4 ,moore1 ,sir ,john1 #adc4 ,moskowa1 ,prince de la1 #bfg4 ,mowatt1 ,sir ,francis1 #bjj4 ,mozart1 #ade1 #aea-b1 #bah4 ,mrighadeva1 ,the1 #cb1 #dd4 ,mgge1 ,dr41 #bae-af4 ,muraieff1 ,general1 #big4 ,murillo1 #ahh4 ,mller1 ,max1 #bg-h1 #dh1 #ea et sq41 #fj et sq41 #ff1 #fh-i1 #gb1 #ge-f4 ,murray1 ,mr41 #aig4 ,napier1 ,francis1 ,lord1 #bif-g1 #cjd1 #cjf4 ,napoleon1 #ac1 #aeb1 #bea1 #bed et sq4 ,napoleon ,,iii41 #agi1 #bga-b1 #bhg1 #bia1 #cjg-h4 ,national ,gallery1 xvii4 ,nesselrode1 ,count1 #bge4 ,newton1 ,sir ,isaac1 #ec4 ,ney1 ,marshal1 #bfg4 ,nicholas1 ,emperor of ,russia1 #afg1 #bdg1 #bfb et sq4 ,nietzsche1 xiii41 #bac et sq4 ,north1 ,christopher1 #bae4 ,northcote1 ,james1 #ahd4 ,northcote1 ,sir ,stafford1 #aeg4 ,norns1 ,the1 #aae-af4 ,orloff1 ,alexis1 #bhi4 ,oubrie1 ,m4 d'1 #bed4 ,ovid1 #aaf et sq4 ,paesiello1 #aea4 ,pahlen1 ,count ,nicholas1 #bea1 #bhf et sq4 ,pahlen1 ,count ,peter1 #bej-a4 ,palmerston1 ,henry ,temple1 ,viscount1 #bic-d1 #cja1 #cje4 ,paris1 the ,commune1 #gh et sq4 ,parkes1 ,sir ,harry1 xvii4 ,parsees1 ,the1 #fe-f4 ,paskiewitch1 ,prince1 #bfg1 #bhb-c4 ,paul ,i41 ,emperor of ,russia1 #bdh et sq41 #beh1 #bfb1 #bgb1 #bii4 ,pechler1 xv4 ,peel1 ,right ,hon4 ,sir ,robert1 #bfi4 ,peirce1 ,president1 #bic4 ,penka1 #fj4 ,pepys1 ,samuel1 #bdc et sq4 ,persigny1 ,madame de1 #ic4 ,peter ,,iii41 ,emperor of ,russia1 #bdi1 #bej4 ,phillips1 ,sir ,claude1 #agf1 #bja-b4 ,phillips1 ,march1 #ajg1 #aji1 #aaj1 #aac4 ,pichler1 ,frau1 #acj-a1 #acd1 #acf-g1 #adb1 #aej1 #aeb4 ,pigalle1 #ahj4 ,plant life1 #bba et sq4 ,poesche1 #fj4 ,poe1 ,edgar ,allan1 #bcd4 ,pourtals1 ,comtesse de1 #ic-d4 ,poynter1 ,sir ,edward1 #aii1 #bjj4 ,prain1 ,sir ,david1 #bde4 ,prajapati ,gautama1 #ah1 #cj4 ,pushkin1 ,alexandre1 #bje et sq4 ,queensberry1 ,william ,douglas1 ,duke of1 #afd1 #afg-h1 #agc4 ,raglan1 ,fitzroy ,somerset1 ,lord1 #bfe4 ,rahula 7son of the ,buddha71 #bb1 #cb4 ,rasumowski1 ,countess1 #bea-b4 ,redcliffe1 ,lord ,stratford de1 #bgf et sq4 ,rembrandt1 #aeb1 #ahb-c1 #ahh4 ,reynolds1 ,sir ,joshua1 #aja1 #agb1 #agf1 #ahf et sq4 ,rhode1 ,erwin1 xiii41 #bac4 ,ribeaupierre1 ,count1 #beb4 ,richmond1 #ajd-e4 ,robinson1 ,william1 #aad-ae4 ,rockhill1 ,william ,woodville1 #bc1 #dd4 ,rogers1 ,rev4 ,william1 #abd4 ,roscoe1 ,edward ,stanley1 #agj1 #agc-d4 ,rosebery1 ,lord1 #ic-d1 #bja-b4 ,royal ,society of ,literature1 xxii4 ,royal ,horticultural ,society1 #ig4 ,romney1 ,george1 #agf4 ,rostopchin1 ,fedor1 #beg et sq41 #bgb4 ,rothschild1 ,alfred de1 #bjj-a4 ,rubens1 #ahf4 ,russell1 ,lord ,john1 #bie et sq41 #cjd1 #cjg4 ,ruysdael1 #ahd4 ,russia1 #bdf et sq4 ,sabatier1 ,louis1 #ed1 #eh4 ,sagan1 ,princesse de1 #ic-d4 ,st4 ,aldwyn1 ,rt4 ,hon4 ,sir ,michael ,hicks-,beach1 #ast ,viscount1 #bja4 ,st4 ,hilaire ,barthlemy1 #aa1 #bc1 #dj4 ,sanguszko1 ,prince1 #bfg4 ,satow1 ,sir ,ernest1 xvii4 ,savile1 ,john ,lumley1 ,lord1 #bif4 ,scheffer1 ,ary1 #ahh4 ,schlegel1 ,august von1 #fj4 ,schopenhauer1 #bad1 #baf4 ,schrader1 ,eberhard1 #fj4 ,schumann1 #bah4 ,schwendener1 #bbf et sq4 ,scott1 ,sir ,john1 #aef1 #aei1 #agg1 #aij1 #aid1 #aig-h1 #bja-b4 ,seaford1 ,charles ,ellis1 ,lord1 #afg4 ,sedley1 ,sir ,charles1 #bdd-e4 ,selwyn1 ,george1 #afd-e1 #afg et sq4 ,selwyn1 ,bishop ,john1 #baj4 ,svign1 ,madame de1 #df1 #aga4 ,seymour1 ,sir ,hamilton1 #aie1 #bgc4 ,seymour1 ,lord ,henry1 #afj1 #agc-d1 #agg4 ,seymour1 ,lord ,henry 7son of #ast ,marquis of ,hertford71 #agd4 ,shakespeare1 #bjf-g1 #bch et sq4 ,sharp1 ,granville1 #bih4 ,siddartha1 ,prince4 ,see ,,the ,,buddha4 ,smith1 ,assheton1 #de4 ,smith1 ,j4 ,r41 #ahf4 ,spiegel1 #fj4 ,stal1 ,madame de1 #aeb4 ,stevenson1 ,robert ,louis1 #eh4 ,stockmar1 ,baron1 #adb4 ,stowe1 #ahb1 #ahh4 ,subasio1 ,mount1 #ef4 ,subhadra1 #db1 #dd4 ,suddhdana1 ,king of ,kapilavastu 7father of the ,buddha71 #ad et sq41 #bd et sq41 #cb et sq4 ,sudras1 ,the1 #di1 #ea-b4 ,sujata1 #ca4 ,suprabuddha1 ,king1 #ae1 #bc4 ,sutherland1 ,george ,leveson-,gower1 #crd ,duke of1 #gi1 #aef4 ,suvoroff1 ,prince1 #big4 ,swift1 ,dean1 #bbi4 ,swinbrook1 ,glos41 xxii4 ,talbot1 ,henry1 #bda4 8,tales of ,old ,japan10 ,lord ,redesdale's1 iv41 #abg4 ,talleyrand1 ,prince1 #bed4 ,terry1 ,mrs41 #aga4 ,thackeray1 ,w4 ,m41 #agc4 ,thalberg1 ,sigismund1 #aeb4 ,thynne1 ,lady ,edward1 #hd4 ,times1 #d1 #bjc4 ,titian1 #agf4 ,tolstoy1 ,count1 #bje1 #bhi et sq4 ,tomini1 #bee-f4 ,tragedy in ,stone1 ,a1 x4 ,troubetzkoi1 ,prince1 #bfc4 ,turgeniev1 ,ivan1 #bje-f1 #bii4 ,underhill1 ,william1 #bci4 ,vaisiyas1 ,the1 #di4 ,valouieff1 ,m41 #bii et sq4 ,vandyck1 #agf4 ,veda1 ,religion of the1 #ei1 #ff et sq4 ,velasquez1 #ahd-e1 #ahg-h4 ,vernon1 ,hon4 ,w4 ,w41 xix4 ,veronese1 ,paul1 #ahd4 ,victoria1 ,german ,empress 7,princess ,royal71 #add1 #aej4 ,victoria1 ,queen1 #abi et sq41 #ace1 #ach et sq41 #aej1 #aec-d1 #bfi1 #bgg4 ,vihara1 #ab1 #cd1 #cf4 ,vinoy1 ,general1 #ia4 ,virgil1 #bjf4 ,visakha1 #cf4 ,voltaire1 #bjf4 ,wagner1 ,richard1 #bad et sq4 ,wagner1 ,frau ,cosima1 #bae-af1 #bbj4 ,wallace1 ,agnes 7,jackson71 #aei1 #aib4 ,wallace1 ,sir ,richard1 #aee et sq41 #agc1 #age et sq41 #aha-b1 #ahh1 #aij et sq4 ,wallace1 ,lady1 #aid et sq4 ,wallace ,collection1 xvii41 #aee et sq4 ,walmesley1 ,mrs41 #bda4 ,warner1 ,dr41 #agj4 ,watteau1 ,antoine1 #aab-aac1 #ahh4 ,watts1 ,george ,frederick1 #add4 ,weber1 ,carl von1 #aeb4 ,wellington1 ,arthur ,wellesley1 ,duke of1 #bfe4 ,whately1 ,archbishop1 #ac4 ,wilberforce1 ,william1 #bih4 ,wilhelm ,,ii41 ,kaiser1 xxiii4 ,wilkinson1 ,sir ,gardner1 #abf4 ,winterhalter1 ,friedrich1 #add4 ,worth1 ,m41 #id4 ,yasdhara 7wife of the ,buddha71 #ah1 #bb1 #cb1 #ce-f4 ,yule1 ,sir ,henry1 #di4 ,york1 ,cardinal1 #aic4 ,yriarte1 #agg-h4 ,zarathustra1 #ff-g4