MY

SOCIETY

FROM 1856 ONWARDS

Y married life, which was one of uninterrupted happiness, only lasted five years, coming suddenly to an end in 1858. This is a subject which I am unwilling to dwell upon, and will therefore content myself with this simple reference to it. Of course, as a married man I went much less into society than when I was a bachelor. We made several trips abroad, but chiefly resided in London. We also paid visits to our near relations in their stately houses in the country. We had the pleasure of meeting at Chatsworth the Grand Duchess Marie of Russia, who was the daughter of the Emperor Nicholas, and the widow of the Duc de Leuchtenberg. She was very agreeable, and I had much conversation with her, as most of the other guests were ill at ease in French, which was the language she preferred. Our chief topic was the conduct of Louis Napoleon, about which we agreed. But one day she said, "We have abused him sufficiently. You must not forget that he was my husband's first cousin." I fancy however that praise of him would have been still more distasteful to her.

In the course of 1858 I took up my abode with my mother at the Chiswick villa, which my uncle with kindly thoughtfulness had left to her for life. It is, as is well known, a beautiful place. The house was built by the first Lord Burlington, who also built Burlington House and was the friend of Pope. His daughter married the fourth Duke of Devonshire. Two Prime Ministers, Fox and Canning, ended their lives there. My little boy and I lived in it with my mother during the remainder of her life. She loved him dearly, and delighted in his babble as he learnt to talk, and declared she had no more agreeable acquaintance. May I add that, in my perhaps too partial opinion, if she had lived until he had reached the age of manhood she would have retained the same favourable view of his conversational powers?

During my retirement at Chiswick I occupied myself in translating Bastiat's Harmonies Economiques, a book which Monsieur Leroy Beaulieu somewhere declares to be one of the best books of the last century, and which is not so much read as it deserves to be. It is the clearest exposition of the doctrine of political economy I know, and is both convincing and amusing. One day I took my translation to a well-known publisher. It was a rainy day, and when I entered his room splashed with mud, I had all the appearance of a poor author. My reception was not encouraging. I was not asked to take a seat, and was curtly told that translations were of no use, as nobody read them.

LADY GRANVILLE AT CHISWICK

263

Rather nettled, I observed that I was encouraged by my brother to publish mine.-" Pray, what is the name of your brother?"-" Lord Granville. -"Are you a brother of Lord Granville? I beg your pardon; pray take a seat!" And there was no longer any reluctance to discuss my proposal. On the contrary, I believe we should have come to some arrangement if it had not been that two days later a translation of the work by a Mr. Irving was announced in the newspapers. This was a curious coincidence, as ten years had elapsed since the original work had appeared in France.

Chiswick suited my mother perfectly as a residence. She occupied two small rooms in a wing of the house, leaving the rest of it to be enjoyed by her children. She dined apart, but we alternately joined her after dinner. Besides her children, she saw none but her nearest relations. Several daughters of my eldest sister, Lady Rivers, came out about that time, and for their sakes she received a good deal of company. I, too, towards the end of our residence, when I had begun again to go out into the world, gave a successful evening entertainment. It began by a large dinner at which Lady Constance Grosvenor,' then in the height of her beauty, and other charming people were present. This was followed by an evening party, to which I had invited all my acquaint

1 Daughter of the second Duke of Sutherland, and wife of the first Duke of Westminster.

ance. My friend, Lord Shelburne,1 sent me from Bowood one hundred Chinese lamps which were kept there for festivities. I bought and hired about a hundred more. With these we illuminated the beautiful Chiswick gardens. Strings were attached from one tree to another, and lamps suspended from them. There were also a band,

Bengal lights and other attractions. It was a gay and pretty sight, so much so that Lady Cowper exclaimed delightedly, "A moral Cremorne!" Cremorne was a public garden which followed Vauxhall and Ranelagh, and at which the society was far from select. My mother was at that time somewhat ill in London, and the next morning I found her in bed, when she threw her arms round my neck and said, "It is rather silly of me, but the success of your party gives me such infinite delight!"

Another large gathering of a different sort took place at the villa. The Friendly Societies in Hammersmith had requested my mother's leave to celebrate their annual holiday in the Chiswick grounds, which she, in spite of the misgivings of the gardener and the disapproval of the conservative part of the household, readily granted. Some five thousand people, men, women and children, arrived, and it enchanted my mother to peep from behind her window curtains and see so many happy faces. She was even not in the least shocked by a distant view of the popular game 1 Father of the present Marquis of Lansdowne.

DEATH OF LADY GRANVILLE

265

of "kiss in the ring." Beyond trampling down the grass this large crowd did no damage.

My mother was much beloved not only by her own relations, but by every one who approached her. To account for this, I may be allowed to quote a description of her from a private journal written by Lord Dover in 1817. He there speaks of her in the following terms: "She is really the most pure, the most angelic person I ever met. Lady G. is really perfection in a human shape. Virtuous, amiable, good, clever, agreeable-in short, everything charming and excellent." Lord Dover

was well known for his literary attainments and love of the fine arts. He was not at that time connected with my mother, but some years later he married her niece, the lovely Lady Georgiana Howard.

During our stay at Chiswick a sad loss occurred in our family. My sister-in-law, Lady Granville, died, after a lingering illness, borne with great resignation. Just before her death she begged me to promote a second marriage for her husband, which touched me much.

My beloved mother died at the end of 1862, when I had to leave Chiswick and settle in London. I took the house in South Audley Street, which I have since inhabited.

It was a great pleasure to receive in it my niece, Lady Carmarthen,' and her husband, who afterwards became Duke of Leeds, for a month or

1 Daughter of the fourth Lord Rivers.