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 PRINTED IN U.S.A. 
 
 CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY 
 
 3 1924 092 520 950 
 
Cornell University 
 Library 
 
 The original of this book is in 
 the Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924092520950 
 
MRS. BROOKFIELD 
 AND HER CIRCLE 
 
/hue CV/'f,i'/a ^'//l /■(>(>/-,:/, ,'/(/ 
 
Jane Odavia Brookfield 
 
 At the age of 30 
 From the painting by George Richmond, R.A. 
 
Mrs. BROOKFIELD 
 
 AND 
 
 HER CIRCLE 
 
 
 BY 
 
 CHARLES AND FRANCES BROOKFIELD 
 
 NEW YORK: CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 
 153-157 FIFTH AVENUE * a 1906 
 
/O 
 
 ^ i^,- o 4- 
 
 ///4^/ (n 
 
 f- 
 
To our Dear Son, 
 Peter Brookfield, 
 these Records of his Grandparents 
 are Dedicated, 
 
PREFACE 
 
 We have endeavoured in arranging for publication 
 the letters printed in this volume to let them speak 
 for themselves as far as possible, being persuaded 
 that their style and quality reveal the characters of 
 their writers and the manners of the time — better 
 than any pot-pourri made from them could possibly do. 
 
 It was our intention at first to cite their authority 
 and to form a book upon that, but the charm of the 
 documents won upon us to give them out as they 
 were written. They tell their own tale so well, and 
 with such singular and even piquant clearness 
 elucidate current events that there seems no need for 
 apology for this method of treatment. 
 
 With so large and varied a correspondence before us 
 choice was difficult, and it was not long before we found 
 it impossible, in the limits at our disposal, to reach more 
 than the inner ring of the Circle of which Mrs. Brook- 
 field was the centre, nor to take more than a portion of 
 the letters which deal with an especial few of her 
 friends ; though in this especial few we venture to 
 think the public as well as ourselves will be interested. 
 Next we proceeded to select from these those of lighter 
 vein, but, now the book is before us as a whole, we 
 hope we have not wronged their writers by suppressing 
 too rigorously the letters which give the more serious 
 side of their natures — a side they all of them possessed. 
 
 vii 
 
PREFACE 
 
 Their bright bavardage, it is true, occasionally obscures 
 the affection that lurks beneath their words, but such 
 genial chatter must not always be taken au serieux. 
 
 As letters they have been singularly pleasant to 
 deal with, most of them being written in the fairest 
 of handwritings, while their style the reader will see 
 for himself. They have not been chosen merely for 
 their felicity of expression nor for their gay banter : in 
 all cases we have given preference to those that contain 
 some sequence either of emotions or of events. The 
 quaint and variable spelling we have taken the liberty, 
 except when it was likely to interfere with the spirit 
 or the theme of the writer, to modify. 
 
 Whenever the words, " Mrs. Brookiield says, " occur, 
 it indicates we are quoting from some manuscript notes 
 in our possession written by herself at a time when 
 she thought of compiling a book of Recollections. 
 
 For permission to use various letters and family 
 papers, our grateful acknowledgments are due to 
 His Grace the Duke of Rutland, K.G., etc.. The 
 Lord Monteagle, Sir Edmund Elton, Bart., Henry 
 Taylor, Esquire, Alexander Carlyle, Esquire, and the 
 Misses Spedding. 
 
 For the use of pictures as well as of letters, we 
 heartily thank the Viscount Cobham and Sir Henry 
 A. H. F. Lennard, Bart. ; and for sketches by Thac- 
 keray and quotations from Thackeray's Letters to Mrs. 
 Brookfield, Messrs. Smith, Elder & Company. The 
 letters which appear by the kind leave of that firm 
 will be found printed in italics. For Tennyson's 
 Sonnet upon the Rev. W. H. Brookfield, we are 
 
 viii 
 
PREFACE 
 
 indebted to Messrs. Macmillan, and to all the above 
 we desire to acknowledge our high appreciation of 
 their kindness and courtesy. 
 
 The cases in which we are not able to express our 
 thanks are those where we have, after using aU 
 means in our power, failed to trace the representatives 
 of the writers ; but these we pray will extend to us 
 their gracious sanction when they discover that in no 
 instance have we entered into or used family or private 
 matter belonging to them. 
 
 CHARLES AND FRANCES BROOKFIELD. 
 
 Mitcham, 
 
 2lst September, 1905. 
 
 [See page 243) 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 Volume I 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 The Brookfields. William Henry's education. Cambridge. 
 Received by the brilliant set. Takes his degree. Tutor to Hon. G. 
 Lyttelton. Lord Spencer's memories. Character of Thackeray. 
 Brougham. "Remains " of Arthur Hallam. The Johnson 
 Club. The Miss Berrys. Leaves Hagley. Holy Orders. At 
 Southampton. Tennyson's MS. 1-26 
 
 CHAPTER H 
 
 The Eltons. Sir Charles. Landor's Letter to Southey. The 
 Hallams. Anecdote of Arthur Hallam. Princess Victoria. The 
 Bristol Riots. Jane Elton's education. Her home life. Walter 
 Savage Landor. Death of Ellen Hallam. At Southampton. 
 Meets Mr. Brookfield. Beauty and charm. Engagement. 27-63 
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 Family skeletons. Tearing oft a Knocker. A complacent lady. 
 A diplomatic act. A speech by Brougham. Monckton Milnes' 
 kindness. A breakfast with Rogers. The Prince Consort. Alfred 
 Tennyson. First meeting with Carlyle. The Duke of Cambridge. 
 " Humphrey's Clock." Henley Regatta. Sterling Club. Emily 
 Tennyson's marriage. Dr. Pusey. Wedding Bells. 64-111 
 
CONTENTS 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 Marriage. Introduction to London. Clevedon. Tunbridge 
 Wells. Emily Tennyson. Mrs. Brookfield's Humour. A Present 
 from Thackeray. Sydney Smith. At Mr. Gladstone's. Rhyming 
 Invitation from Thackeray. Rogers' Breakfasts. The Wreck of 
 an Illusion. Noble young Philanthropists. Chaunts. " Rever- 
 ence." The Artists' Dinner. Dickens. Lord Palmerston's Blunder. 
 Archdeacon Manning. The Dean's Robe. Historical Tendencies. 
 
 112-142 
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 " The Set." A Birthday Party. Compliments from Rogers. 
 London Library. Party at the Procters'. Moxon and Alfred 
 Tennyson. Rogers' Kindness. Wordsworth's presentation to the 
 Queen. A Walk. Gladstone. Kinglake and Eothen. A Country 
 Visit. Aubrey de Vere. Harry Hallam. A Dinner. Barry Corn- 
 wall's Hospitality. A Sermon. Mrs. Procter and Mrs. Brookfield. 
 Hallam and the Parrot. Accident to Thackeray. Father Prout. 
 Mrs. Norton. With Thackeray at Brighton. Tennyson's Pension. 
 
 143-181 
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 Travelling with the Hallams. Travesty of a Sermon by Wilber- 
 force. Peel. Dinners at Kensington with Titmarsh. Blunder in 
 Punch. Carlyle's Humour. Forster and Dickens. Rogers. 
 Wilberforce's Speech on the Sugar Bill humorously considered. 
 Harry Hallam. Moxon and Tennyson. Dinner at the Garrick. 
 Rules for Writing Abroad. A Fair Objector. A Preaching Mission 
 for the S.P.G. Browning's Marriage. Tennyson's Hair. 182-201 
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 Lad}' Duff-Gordon. An unique Dinner Party. Mrs. Norton. 
 Count D'Orsay. Living under the Church. Mrs. Wigan. Mrs. 
 Carlyle. Cambridge. The " Cave." Reading Shakespeare. In- 
 stallation of the Prince Consort as Chancellor. " Clever Men." 
 A Criticism on Vanity Fair. " Pride of Intellect." Price of Votes. 
 Dr. Thompson. Charles Tennyson. " Amelia " and Mrs. Brook- 
 field. Miss Cushman. Lady Duff-Gordon's Offer. Criticism on 
 " Dombey." " Frank Whitestock." Tennyson. 202-261 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 Volume II 
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 Belvoir Castle. Louis XVIII. Inspectorship. Henry Hallam 
 Thackeray's thoughtfulness. Thackeray at Clevedon Court 
 Charles BuUer. Friendship. Fredk. Maurice. Mrs. Thackeray 
 The Brookfields at Cambridge. Charlotte Wynn. " Cook's Folly." 
 The Ashburtons. Harrison Ainsworth. Thackeray's illness. 
 Charlotte Bronte. 263-305 
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 Attacks on Thackeray. Ceremony at St. Barnabas'. Harry 
 HaUam. Clerical Flirtations. Virginia Pattle's tears. Kate Perry. 
 Tennyson's " In Memoriam." Thackeray and the Penitentiary. 
 The Ashburtons and Thackeray. At the Grange. Death of Harry 
 Hallam. His funeral at Clevedon. 306-342 
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 Mr. Thackeray's joke. Edward FitzGerald. Thackeray's 
 Lectures. Hallam and Mrs. Norton. Charlotte Bronte. A Party 
 at Mrs. Procter's. Tennyson at home. Mr. Brookfield's health. 
 Departure for Madeira. 343-367 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 Lord Palmerston's dismissal. Tennyson's Patriotism. Death of 
 Miss Agnes Berry. Louis Napoleon. An elopement. Hallam and 
 Macaulay. In Seville. Christmas Day with the Carlyles. A walk 
 with Carlyle. Some anecdotes. Mrs. Beecher Stowe. At the 
 Grange. An Inspection. Carlyle and Wilberforce. 368-401 
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 Knowledge of Common Things. A canard concerning Tennyson. 
 The White Cottage. Travellers' tales. Dicky Doyle. Lady Ash- 
 burton and George Venables. Loch Luichart. Lady Byron. 
 Smoking. Mrs. Carlyle's anecdotes. Twelfth Day at the Grange. 
 Kinglake. Monckton Milnes. In Scotland. Christmas at the 
 Grange. Mrs. Carlyle. Tennyson's Maud. Guests at the 
 Grange. Carlyle. " Lady A's. Printers." Lord Shaftesbury's 
 Orthodoxy. Society at Nice. 402-447 
 
 CHAPTER XIII 
 
 At Nice. FitzGerald's wife. Mrs. Carlyle and Mrs. Procter. 
 Death of Harriet, Lady Ashburton. Mrs. Norton and Mrs. Brook- 
 field. Mr. Brookfield's Reports. Lear. Highland Life. Landseer. 
 Balmoral and the young Princes. Death of Hallam. Tennyson's 
 success. A visit to Monckton Milnes. 448-492 
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 
 The living of Somerby. A candid friend. Sermon on the death 
 of the Prince Consort. Death of Thackeray. Praise from Queen 
 Victoria. Memories of Lord Macaulay. Mrs. Cameron. A Last 
 Glimpse of Carlyle. Mrs. Brookfield's books. A dinner with Queen 
 Victoria. The Canonry of Ealdland. Somerby. William Henry 
 Brookfield. Mrs. Brookfield's Closing Years. 493-53& 
 
 Index 541-554 
 
LIST OF PHOTOGRAVURES 
 
 Jane Octavia Brookfield at the age of Thirty. {From the 
 
 fainting by George Richmond, R.A.) Frontispiece Vol. I 
 
 Facing page 
 
 William Henry Brookfield at the age of Twenty-Three . . 16 
 
 Arthur Hallam at the age of Sixteen. (From a painting at 
 
 Wickham Court) . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 
 
 Thomas Carlyle. {From the drawing by D. Maclise, R.A.) 88 
 
 George, Fourth Lord Lyttelton. {From a crayon drawing 
 
 by George Richmond, R.A.) .. .. .. .. .. 130 
 
 Mrs. Carlyle. {From a water colour by C. Hartmann) . . 158 
 
 Lord Tennyson. {From a photograph by Mrs. Cameron) 182 
 
 Henry Fitzmaurice Hallam at the age of Twenty-Two. 
 
 {From the painting by George Richmond, R.A.) .. .. 228 
 
 Drawing on a wood block of Mr. and Mrs. Brookfield. 
 
 {By Thackeray) . . . . .. . . . . . . 256 
 
 The Rev. William Henry Brookfield at the age of Forty. 
 
 {From the painting by Samuel Laurence) Frontispiece Vol. II 
 
 William Makepeace Thackeray 276 
 
 Mrs. Brookfield. {After a Drawing by Thackeray) . . . . 306 
 
 Harriet, Lady Ashburton. {From an engraving by W. 
 
 Holl) 322 
 
 Lord Ashburton. {From a photograph by J. Moffat) . . 366 
 
 Richard Monckton Milnes, M.P. (Afterwards Lord 
 
 Houghton). At the age of Thirty-Five . . . . . . 416 
 
 Mrs. Brookfield and her elder son Arthur (Col. Brook- 
 field. {From a water colour by Ludovici about 1856) . . 452 
 
CHAPTER I 
 
 The Brookfields. William Henry's education. Cambridge. 
 Received bj' the brilliant set. Takes his degree. Tutor to Hon. G. 
 Lyttelton. Lord Spencer's memories. Character of Thackeray. 
 Brougham. Remains of Arthur Hallam. The Johnson 
 Club. The Miss Berrys. Leaves Hagley. Holy Orders. At 
 Southampton. Tennyson's MS. 
 
 William Henry Brookfield was born at Sheffield, 
 August 31st, 1809. He was the second son of Charles 
 Brookfield, a solicitor well known and greatly re- 
 spected in that town and neighbourhood. His mother 
 was a lady of unusual culture and intelligence, the 
 daughter of the Rev. M. Preston, of the old Sheffield 
 Parish Church. 
 
 He was one of a large family, most of whom possessed 
 wit of a superior quality, though brought up in an 
 atmosphere of Puritanism that was perhaps strict and 
 rigid even for those days. 
 
 William Henry gave early evidence of a great 
 versatility of talents. He was educated first by a 
 clergyman at Cleckheaton, and later at the Grammar 
 school at Leeds. Until his sixteenth year he was 
 intended for the Church, but at that period it was 
 decided he should go to the Bar; and with that inten- 
 tion he was articled to a solicitor in Leeds in order to 
 
 I 
 
 2— {23091 
 
MRS. BROOKFIELD AND HER CIRCLE 
 
 gain practical experience of the working of the Law. 
 But Ufe in an office was in no way suited to his tem- 
 perament — instead of reading "Coke" he wrote poetry; 
 he yearned for a " Uterary life " and made many 
 pathetic appeals to his parents to permit him to go 
 to Cambridge. A struggle ensued — but ultimately 
 he gained his point, and, after studying for a year 
 or so with private tutors, he went up to Trinity College 
 in 1829 
 
 His mother writing to her brother on that occasion 
 says : 
 
 " The fondly cherished remembrance of our dear 
 sainted Father and Mother should bind us the closer 
 to each other. You cannot think how I miss them, 
 just now, but you can both think and feel how I miss 
 them on William's removal to Cambridge — how much 
 they would have felt interested for him, and how 
 fervently they would have prayed that he might be 
 able to escape the snares with which he will be sur- 
 rounded. I feel more than I can express my dear 
 Brother's kindness in going over to see him fixed, and 
 to introduce him to some of his own valuable friends. 
 I cannot but hope it will be a check to his forming other 
 acquaintance incompatible with that of the excellent 
 men who seem disposed to countenance him. He has lost 
 time at Mr. Hemmingway's, (where he was articled) 
 which I suppose can never be made up to him — but 
 if he has resolution to keep out of gay company, I 
 hope he may acquit himself respectably." 
 
 She did not foresee that he would at once be ad- 
 mitted into the most brilliant society of that most 
 
CAMBRIDGE FRESHMAN 
 
 brilliant time, indeed, had she been so enlightened, 
 she would probably have prayed he might be kept in 
 more conventional paths. And that he did not, in spite 
 of his new circumstances, at once lose the awe he had 
 of his own family — ^is proved by a letter to an uncle. 
 
 " I suppose that every Freshman is asked how he likes 
 the University, and if all answered with me, Cambridge 
 would have a very good report. I might amuse my- 
 self by giving you some account of the habits of the 
 place — but I remember you must already know aU 
 that can be interesting to you. The individual 
 eccentricities of the very young men {quorum unus) 
 are too idle for your notice, or the nobler peculiarities 
 of the Institution generally I should think you are 
 better acquainted with than myself. In writing to 
 one already cognoscent in University affairs, I am 
 driven from the Freshman's favourite topic, and must 
 seek in this fact an apology for a dull letter." 
 
 That his letters to his family were somewhat stilted 
 at that time is no proof that he was dull himself. The 
 letter-writer has in every age had more ease with 
 strangers than with his own people ; and from Mr. 
 Brookfield's entrance into Cambridge there is no doubt 
 but that he was gay, happy, and satisfied. 
 
 Admitted at once and apparently for the sake of 
 his own charm into the inmost ring of the circle of 
 which Thackeray, Tennyson, Arthur HaUam, King- 
 lake, Venables, Milnes, etc., were shining lights, he 
 there held his own — and formed with those giants 
 friendships which lasted their lives and his own. 
 
 He worked well, too — as, by the way, they all did 
 
 3 
 
MRS. BROOKFIELD AND HER CIRCLE 
 
 in those days ; and he took his degree, as well as the 
 Oration Prize in '32 ; while '33 found him remaining 
 in Cambridge for the benefit of some pupils he had 
 taken. It was Whewell who in '34 recommended 
 him as resident tutor to the eldest son of Lord Lyttelton 
 — for the six months between Eton and Cambridge — 
 and it is from this time we find his diaries kept 
 with regularity, and his letters of ever increasing 
 interest. 
 
 At Hagley, he was well received and weU treated, 
 and his pupil became at once to him, not only a pleasant 
 companion, but a close friend. While here he conti- 
 nued the diary keeping begun in his early youth, and 
 we get soon after his arrival : — 
 
 [Diary.] May 2nd, 1834. Hagley.' ' 
 
 My father's birthday. Wrote to him enclosing 
 notes to Mrs. Overend — my brother Charles, and to 
 Thackeray. Franked by Ld. L. 
 
 At the Sunday school fete, of that kind which one 
 affirms at the time to have been " one of the prettiest 
 sights in the world," Lord Lyttelton pointed out to 
 me an old Laundress bringing in a pudding, as he said, 
 but for my part I could not tell which was which. He 
 said he had danced with her at a ball the year before, 
 I think on the occasion of her having been fifty years 
 in the family. He also told me that Hawkins Brown, 
 who had been cured of stammering, managed to get 
 through a sentence in a speech by singing it to a certain 
 tune. If the sentence happened to be finished a few 
 bars before the end of the melody still he went through 
 
 4 
 
" WITHOUT VANITY " 
 
 the latter in order to start fair with the ensuing sen- 
 tence. The effect in the Commons was most ludicrous, 
 and some wag one day echoed the dying strain. Sheri- 
 dan called him in the House — " his melodious friend." 
 
 At dinner my lord asked if I knew anything of Mont- 
 gomery, and spoke in complimentary terms of him, 
 they had corresponded on the subject of lotteries. 
 He was surprised to hear of his having been impri- 
 soned for political offences. He enquired into whose 
 hands The Iris had now fallen. I answered that it 
 had become a low "Buckingham" paper. "Ah," 
 said he — " I will give you a fact about Buckingham. 
 Some years ago, he had the assurance to propose that 
 a ship should be provided and manned for him to in- 
 vestigate the world. Now, how George John, Earl 
 Spencer, a man clever-headed enough on most sub- 
 jects, and possessing his faculties in the most perfect 
 soundness should have subscribed £5 to this scheme 
 is a problem which I cannot solve — so however, he did 
 — ^which plunder Mr. Buckingham pocketed with many 
 other similar sums, and thence returned no more." 
 
 Of things heard at dinner at this time Mr. Brookfield 
 notes, that George Spencer had been used to say, 
 " when anybody uses the phrase ' without vanity ' 
 you must invariably understand the contrary." 
 While Lady Lyttelton spoke of that gentleman as using 
 a fly from Leamington to Althorp in great niggardliness, 
 on Wesley's maxim, " Earn all, save all, and give 
 all you can." 
 
 &h. Lord Spencer arrived to dinner. Talking 
 of the many drops of colchicum the Duchess of 
 
 5 
 
MRS. BROOKFIELD AND HER CIRCLE 
 
 B had once taken — he said, " There are cer- 
 tain drops on His Majesty's jails that would do her 
 much more good." 
 
 9th. Lord Spencer mentioned at dinner that Sir 
 H. Halford had spouted to him the Duke of Welling- 
 ton's Latin speech to the University of Oxford with 
 so much energy and gesture that his lordship said 
 " Come, that must be your own." Sir Henry answered 
 with an affirmative shrug. 
 
 Lord Spencer also spoke of Eldon as having answered 
 Brougham's enquiry as to Stowell's health in the 
 Lords one day by saying " Oh, he was quite gone — 
 no faculties left " — etc. A few days after some Bill 
 was before the Lords in opposition to which Eldon 
 was saying that he had to offer the authority of one 
 of unquestionable judgment, whose opinion their 
 lordships would hold in the highest esteem, and other- 
 wise spoke in a manner, evidently alluding to Lord 
 Stowell, against the Bill before the House. This 
 anecdote of deliberate and roguish impudence. 
 Brougham told himself to Lord Spencer. 
 
 He also told us that Bozzy (Boswell) used generally 
 to come to the Johnson Club half drunk, and was 
 loud and over-bearing in his conversation, and that 
 he talked chiefly of Johnson. 
 
 To his brother Charles, who was hving in London, 
 Mr. Brookfield wrote : 
 
 Hagley, 
 
 17th May, 1834. 
 My dear Charles, 
 
 I was very happy in receiving your letter, which I 
 
 6 
 
" THE ECHO OF THE COURT " 
 
 had thought very long in coming, but confess that I 
 had no right to complain. Do not allow yourself 
 a moment's annoyance about not having had a man- 
 darin nodding bout from Thackeray's mother. What 
 with short sight, short memory, and ignorance whether 
 one is expected to move or not, out of ten " cuts " — 
 not two have a drop of the sour milk of human un- 
 kindness in them. For Thackeray himself, he may 
 or may not call — but in any case is a man utterly 
 incapable of entertaining a moment's feeling towards 
 any being on earth, which should give pain. I only 
 asked him to call as a spontaneous wish of my own, 
 and it is not yet long since it was expressed. You 
 must learn not to confound negative and positive 
 neglects. 
 
 21st. 
 
 At breakfast the story of Norbury saying as the ass 
 brayed whilst a barrister was addressing the Court 
 " One at a time, if you please " to which the barrister 
 retorted when his lordship was interrupted by the 
 same nuisance. " It is only the echo of the Court, 
 my lord." Started at quarter to ten for Althorp. 
 In the coach and four. Lord and Lady and Miss Lyttel- 
 ton and myself. Outside George L., and a servant. 
 In the carriage and pair. Miss L. L., Mademoiselle 
 and a lady's maid. Arrived there at half-past four. 
 At six dined. Lord Spencer said that a deer had died 
 in the stall while being fed up — most likely of repletion. 
 Lord L. remarked it was not the first time that an indi- 
 vidual presented to a stall had died of apoplexy. 
 Lord Spencer stated he had commissioned somebody 
 at a late sale to bid for the first edition of Joe Miller, 
 
 7 
 
MRS. BROOKFIELD AND HER CIRCLE 
 
 but had not succeeded in being the purchaser. It 
 was remarked how waggish an edition would be with 
 Sam Rogers' notes, and how vexed Sam would be at 
 such a joke ; which led to his antipathy to Croker 
 (Bull Croker, ahas Bull Frog). Lord L. said that he 
 had once said to Grattan (one of the present Grattans) 
 how monopolizing Croker was of attention in company, 
 as for instance at a dinner to Scott in London, when 
 he would let nobody speak but himself. " Sir," 
 said Grattan, " I don't know anyone of so much 
 assurance on either side of the wather." 
 
 On the 24th, he writes to his mother from Althorp : 
 Althorp is not a fine external house, but is remark- 
 able for its library and picture gallery. The former, 
 the largest private library in Great Britain, 50,000 
 volumes and upwards, the latter with about 400 
 pictures, many of which are excellent and rare. I am 
 in the room which was Mr. George Spencer's,* I don't 
 know whether it contains any Roman Catholic 
 influences or not. I am glad you enquire about Lady 
 Lyttelton,f she is a person about whom it is agreeable 
 to answer. I at first respected her more than I liked 
 her — I hope this state of things will never be reversed, 
 but I very soon learned to like her as much as respect 
 her. She is a most excellent person ; of quick and 
 well-informed mind, and I believe of the soundest 
 principles. She is high-bred and dignified without 
 any discolouring of pride or affectation. She keeps 
 
 * The Hon. George Spencer, who became a Catholic in 1830, 
 and a priest in 1832. 
 
 t Sarah, Lady Lyttelton, daughter of Lord Spencer, afterwards 
 governess to the Princess Royal and Prince of Wales. 
 
TABLE TALK AT ALTHORP 
 
 all the accounts of the family disbursements — rises 
 at six, and spends the whole day usefully. 
 
 June Uth, 1834. 
 
 At dinner they mentioned the King's aptitude to 
 ask people to dinner unceremoniously. Lord L. said 
 he had shot an invite at Sir Charles Bagot as he was 
 passing at levee — " Sir Charles you dine with me 
 to-day," — and alluded to his having in the early days 
 of his reign used the popular expression " if you are 
 not better engaged." I remember when I heard this 
 at home I did not believe it. 
 
 They spoke of Sugden. Lord L. said he had had 
 his hair cut by Sugden's father, who was the crack 
 five shilling cutter of his day. He used to speak of 
 having sent his son to Lincoln's Inn ; and Lord Spencer 
 said that he had by him a note which Lord Eldon, 
 when Chancellor, had once sent him across the table 
 during an appeal in the Lords, " the man who is 
 speaking is the son of a Super Barber." 
 
 Such wretched seamen are the Neapolitans that it 
 seems when some English captain or other was leaving 
 Naples for a cruise in the Mediterranean, King Ferdi- 
 nand blessed him as one he should never see more. 
 This led to speaking of the superstition of Ferdinand. 
 Lord Spencer has now a bittern's claw, presented him 
 by Ferdinand when he was there, to wear as a charm 
 when out shooting. He himself always wore one. 
 Lord Spencer had it set in a little golden locket and 
 always wore it when out with the King. 
 
 This evening Lord Essex dined at Althorp. He 
 
 9 
 
MRS. BROOKFIELD AND HER CIRCLE 
 
 is just like other folks. Captain Spencer arrived 
 after dinner from town. They spoke, after coffee, 
 of the letters Wateley quoted lately on the Finsbury 
 Hustings between Lord Althorp and Brougham, of 
 which Captain Spencer gave the following account, 
 having received it from Lord Althorp : — The other 
 day Lord A., being iU, wrote a short note to B. asking 
 him. to caU on him to speak on the subject of some 
 newspaper opposition, which Lord Brougham received 
 in Court and replied begging to know on what subject 
 Lord A. wanted to speak, that he might roll it over 
 in his mind before meeting, as he should not be able to 
 see him for more than a few moments when the Court 
 broke up. To which Lord A. replied by one of the 
 notes quoted. " Shall we make war on the Times or 
 let it alone ? " These two notes were carelessly torn 
 up by Brougham, and at the rising of the Court there 
 was the usual rush " for autographs " — as they say — 
 and these notes were put together and carried to the 
 Times office. The Times was " fine," and dechned 
 having anything to do with the notes ; on which the 
 bearer carried them to Mr. Wateley, who made the 
 use of them alluded to. " Strange " said Captain 
 Spencer, " that Lord Brougham should fall into a 
 scrape of this kind, having himself been near suffering 
 from the like carelessness on Lord Althorp' s part." 
 The former once wrote a letter or two of much im- 
 port. Captain Spencer forgets on what subject, to 
 Lord Althorp. The latter tore them carelessly and 
 threw them, according to custom, into his basket. 
 They were pasted together by some painstaking lump 
 
 ID 
 
A VISIT TO LONDON 
 
 of honesty, and it was announced by the individual 
 to some one of the Ministers, that he had important 
 papers in his possession. This was treated with con- 
 tempt until the person was sent for who produced 
 Brougham's letters, who stormed and said, " So much 
 for Baskets." Lord Spencer said that when he was 
 in the Admiralty, never was a scrap of public business 
 destroyed, and there they all are now. 
 
 During this visit to Althorp the family made an 
 excursion to London, to Spencer house, on which occa- 
 sion Mr. Brookfield met many of his Cambridge friends ; 
 he seems to have done the town with Charles 
 Buller, and to have been much with Spedding as weU 
 as Alfred and Frederick Tennyson. 
 
 [Diary.] July 7th. 
 
 Came from Althorp to Hagley in the same travelling 
 order as before. I went outside for one stage. Some- 
 body said that the carriage without luggage weighed 
 22 cwt. — with — 3 tons, and that the four coach-horses 
 Lord Spencer uses are jobbed at ^^72 a pair per annum ; 
 he keeping them. 
 
 While at Spencer House he had received a precious 
 packet containing " The Remains of Arthur Hallam," 
 about which he wrote to Mr. Hallam. 
 
 Sir, 
 
 I shall always feel myself very much indebted to your 
 considerate kindness in sending me the volume which 
 I received a day or two ago. It is needless to say how 
 highly I shall ever prize so appropriate and delightful 
 a memorial of the dearest friend I ever had. During 
 
 II 
 
MRS. BROOKFIELD AND HER CIRCLE 
 
 the last year of his residence at College our intimacy 
 was one of the most unreserved confidence, and though 
 I was the familiar repository of, I believe, his most 
 secret thoughts, such was the excellent purity of his 
 mind that death itself could do little to enhance the 
 sacredness of the affection with which I regarded his 
 character, and now revere his memory. 
 
 I feel what I have lost in him and though the first 
 bitterness of that loss is past, I know that the more 
 quiet regret to which it has given place must ever 
 continue.* 
 
 I am afraid to write the little I am writing for I am 
 afraid to disturb by aggravating your grief ; but I am 
 sure you will forgive me, if I cannot be quite silent 
 about one of whom you have yourself recognised I 
 was a friend. 
 
 And I am also sure that I cannot serve the memory of 
 him that is gone better than by imploring for you 
 every comfort under your sore bereavement, that the 
 well being of the surviving members of your family 
 can supply. 
 
 I am. Sir, with great respect, 
 
 Your obliged and faithful servant, 
 
 W. H. B. 
 
 Lord Lyttelton desires me to send his kindest 
 remembrances. 
 
 9th, 1834. Hagley. 
 
 Sent the above franked by Lord L. to Mr. Hallam, 
 67 Wimpole Street. 
 nth. 
 
 It was mentioned at dinner by Lady L. how she 
 
 * On the 15th September that year he writes in his diary, " The 
 anniversary, I think, of dear Hallam's death." Only that one Hne. 
 
 12 
 
" ORDER " IN THE COMMONS 
 
 had danced with Speaker Sutton (then young) at Lady- 
 Scott's (since Lady Stowell) " on that occasion/' said 
 she, " I and my mother were the first people of any 
 rank that entered the room — there were plenty of other 
 people there. Lady Scott, who was a very odd 
 woman, came up to me and said in a very loud whisper: 
 " Will you let me introduce to you Mr. Manners Sutton, 
 son of the Archbishop of Canterbury ? I am expect- 
 ing several young men of very high rank presently." 
 
 Lord L. related how one day in the Commons he 
 got behind the Speaker's (Abbot's) chair, and, as he 
 could imitate him very well, he put his face over the chair 
 and cried out Uke Abbot, " Order, Order," and imme- 
 diately turned with his head close up against that of 
 the chair ; he immediately saw the flaps of the Speaker's 
 wig leaping round the sides of the chair, first one 
 side, then t'other, and the ubiquitous " Order, Order."— 
 
 It was said at table (by W. H. B.). 
 
 " Why do they not sometimes, by way of doing a 
 man great honour, bury him alive in Westminster 
 Abbey." 
 \Qth. 
 
 Lady L. at breakfast told me about Lady H. She 
 married first Sir G., and when in Italy became too 
 much attached to Lord H., in consequence of which 
 she was afterwards divorced. In order to secure to 
 herself her young daughter (when she knew she should 
 be divorced) she played the farce of isolating her 
 chQd, saying it had a putrid fever — and of which she 
 reported it to die — and buried a kid in pretence for 
 it, and provided almost legal evidence of its death. 
 
 13 
 
MRS. BROOKFIELD AND HER CIRCLE 
 
 When the news reached Sir G. he was heartbroken 
 and one thing or another so afflicted him that he shot 
 himself. 
 
 She is terribly afraid of death (it was the tolling of 
 the funeral bell for Mrs. Madley's infant that intro- 
 duced the conversation) and never will be alone. 
 Lord Essex remarked to Lady L. that he could not 
 ask Lady H. because it was not easy to get ladies to 
 meet her, and she could not leave table after dinner 
 to sit alone. She talks infidelity, and at fifteen 
 Gibbon said of her he had seen as pretty a little Atheist 
 as could be seen. She cut with Lord K. (who is a 
 coarse fellow) because he would talk of " John 
 Thrustout " as he caUed death. 
 
 To his father Mr. Brookfieid wrote about this time, 
 telling him he thought he might adapt the latter part 
 of Falstaff' s speech to himself. " I am the cause 
 of wit in others." 
 
 23rd. 
 
 Much talk last night and to-day with Mr. George 
 Spencer. He is an honest, kind and single minded 
 man. How truly he said that Humility and Charity 
 made the real gentleman. He talked drolly of economy 
 when I praised the sensible cut of an old great coat 
 which he was wearing — and he replied that it was for 
 economy that he wore it — and instanced people's 
 false replies on such occasions, by that generally 
 given as to travelling in or out of coaches. He said 
 how he once carried his own bag from somewhere 
 where he had slept in Northampton to the station, 
 
 14 
 
A GLIMPSE OF TENNYSON 
 
 they heard of it at Althorp and bullied him ; — he re- 
 plied he had done it at 7 a.m., but in future he should 
 do it at noon-day since there was no pleasing them. 
 
 Rather in a mess at breakfast to-day with talking 
 about monks and priests with Miss L. Uncle George, 
 whom we had forgot, sitting close by. 
 
 Talked to-day as to Rev. George Spencer. Told 
 'twas a sad nuisance to the family and continues a 
 very sore point. They were exceedingly active in 
 promoting Catholic Emancipation, and there are who 
 have held George's Conversion a Judgment. 
 
 Just now Mr. Brookfield wrote a series of letters to 
 Monteith, Venables, and Spedding. 
 
 Hagley, 
 nth August, 1834. 
 My dear Monteith, 
 
 I shall leave in October — when my youth goes to 
 Cambridge. My residence here will not have been 
 without either pleasure or advantage, but I shall be 
 glad to be released from the As and Bs as well as the 
 Ps and Qs of Tutorship. 
 
 We went in the middle of May to Althorp (Lord 
 Spencer's) for six weeks, and thence to London. I 
 saw in town Fred and Alfred Tennyson, the former 
 talked of bolting to Greece, and offered to wait for me 
 till October, if I would accompany him,— but I dare 
 not promise anything so wild. Whether he be yet gone 
 I know no more than I have known for the last six 
 months, whether you and Garden had followed each 
 other to a Malaria Charnel house. The Bishop of 
 Worcester was here a few days ago. He is a picture 
 of episcopacy. Cosy, not corpulent — rosy, not red — 
 silky, not (very) silly. 
 
 15 
 
MRS. BROOKFIELD AND HER CIRCLE 
 
 I received from Mr. Hallam a copy of " Remains of 
 A. H. H." The Memoir is by the Father, and is just 
 what it should be — and the book altogether the most 
 prizeable that any of us possess, you may have seen 
 it, but if not, it contains 400 pages, of which the 
 memoir occupies 40. The " Remains" comprise all that 
 has been separately printed before — beside an Essay on 
 " Sympathy " — " Theodicea Norissima." The Memoir 
 contains a letter from Spedding to the father after 
 the death of poor Arthur — written, I believe, for the 
 purpose, and with all the unaffected good sense that 
 you would expect from the dear fellow. 
 
 There were only 100 copies printed, of which there 
 will, of course, be two for you and Frank and which 
 for aught I know you may have gotten. 
 
 I must needs dance off to Paris last Easter for three 
 weeks, with which I was hugely gratified, but lacked 
 kindred chums, though I met several Cantabs. I 
 returned by Rouen and Havre, but all alone. What 
 would not yourselves or a Jesuit have been worth ? 
 
 We have had Mr. George Spencer (the Catholic 
 Convict) here twice, and he comes again within the 
 next fortnight. He knew a little of Milnes in Rome. 
 I have had much talk and was much pleased with his 
 exceeding humility and amiableness. He is not the least 
 bit of a convert for the picturesqueness of the thing ; as 
 might have been the case with certain duodecimals 
 that I wot of. He is quartered as a priest about 10 
 miles hence — where he chooses to live in severe but 
 quite unostentatious poverty for the sake of saving 
 for the poor. If I may speak of myself as I am, I 
 will speak of myself as one writing at this moment 
 in a chamber which enjoys the imposing name of 
 " The Damask Tower " where I am lulled by an iEolian 
 harp of my own making. 
 
 i6 
 
William Henry Brookfield 
 
 At the age of 23 
 
Sn^J-uj'iJf'aJJi.-na/i^^J^ 
 
 
 •-'•// t/if iiaf /■/ 23. 
 
IN TOWN 
 
 My dear Venables, 
 
 Notwithstanding the proverbial irregularity of the 
 English Mails and the infamous practice of Govern- 
 ment in embezzling all private letters for the King's 
 private reading, yours of the 17th eluded observation 
 at the post office so as to reach me ; and was as accept- 
 able as considering the wearisome frequency of your 
 communications lately, could possibly be expected. 
 
 My last was a scrawl from Althorp — where we 
 spent six weeks. That there are 60,000 volumes you 
 know. I read them all excepting a Pamphlet in a 
 Patois of the Sanscrit, written by a learned, but I 
 regret to add, profane Hindoo Sectarian, the blasphe- 
 mous drift of which was to prove that Bramah's locks 
 were not all patent. 
 
 We went to town to the fiddling* which it was 
 the pint *^f '^^^ ^^y 'to cry down. I was much gratified 
 by the show and altogether. I sate by the Duke of 
 Wellington who was good enough to go out to fetch 
 me a pot of porter. When " See the Conquering Hero 
 comes" was sung in Judas Maccabeus, all eyes were 
 turned upon me. I rose and bowed — but did not 
 think the place was suited for any more marked 
 acknowledgment. The King sang the Coronation 
 Anthem exceedingly well, and Princess Victoria 
 whistled the Dead March in Saul with, perhaps, rather 
 less than her usual effect. But the chef d'ceuvre was 
 confessed by all to be Macaulay in " the praise of God 
 
 * A musical festival which took place in Westminster Abbey. 
 
 t To Pill was a cant expression used a good deal by " the set," 
 meaning, apparently, to talk, either pompously or trivially. 
 It may have originated in the Glynne family, who had a language 
 of ■ their own, though Lord Lyttelton does not include it in his 
 " Dictionary of Glynness." 
 
 3— (2309) 
 
MRS. BROOKFIELD AND HER CIRCLE 
 
 and of the Second Day." I rose a wiser and I think a 
 sadder man. 
 
 Bishop of Worcester spent two days here last 
 week. He begged me with tears in his eyes to be 
 Bishop instead of him. I took a night to consider of 
 it and to examine into my fitness for such a charge — 
 but in the morning gave answer with the elaborate- 
 ness which the occasion demanded that I would see 
 him .... first. 
 
 I congratulate you on H. L.'s company, and beg 
 to be very flatteringly remembered to him. Your 
 pointing out the Argandi of Wit as burning in Brecon 
 and Cambridge will make my very soul squint with 
 gazing as I fail not to do longingly at both. — Your 
 letter amused me much and gratified me more, but I 
 wish such tokens were somewhat more rife. 
 
 My dear Spedding, 
 
 Of half a score that I should be willing and of half 
 a dozen that I am anxious to keep well with to the 
 last you are one. Perhaps if I had been a little more 
 exclusive in my Ukings I might have been less unworthy 
 of your esteem now ; — but after the long dissipation 
 of mind which you have observed with less scorn than 
 some others, I feel painfully that I have Uttle left to 
 offer you but the most kindly feelings, — which to you, 
 I know, are as plentiful as blackberries. Thy servant 
 is this day one score and five years old, but if I ask 
 myself what I am — the answer is something between 
 a quarter of a century and a quarter of a hundred 
 weight. If I enquire what I am good for — 'tis the 
 right-hand side of the general form of a quadratic ; — 
 if what I am likely to do beyond the Devil's praise- 
 worthy and cosmopolitan employment of going to 
 and fro upon the earth, the answer is stiU less distinct ;, 
 
 i8 
 
A DREAM OF LIFE 
 
 — write my dear friend to a conscious bankrupt and 
 pay me that thou owest for thy love is worth a million. 
 
 I called on Fred Tennyson the morning after I 
 saw you, and found him in a very kindly spirit ; he 
 wanted me to bolt with him to Greece ; but being peer 
 bound (such mad wags as you would call him a chain 
 pier) I was obliged to decline. By the merest chance I 
 met Alfred at twelve the same night — " a man upon 
 the Strand "— " all alone " — with his back homewards — 
 Alack ! What are we ! — We returned to Althorp 
 the next day whence after a week's stay (in which I 
 finished the last 49 of the 60,000 volumes) we came to 
 Hagley — which has been full of visitors ever since, 
 amongst others old Webb of Clare, who said he knew 
 me very well by sight and character n Cambridge — 
 luckily for the latter 'twas a lie. 
 
 I have a dream of life before me which, though 
 it be yet an unoutlined speculation, I wiU tell you. 
 'tis a naval chaplaincy ; about the facility of obtaining 
 which Captain Spencer, R.N., has written to the 
 Admiralty, but there is yet no answer. Supposing 
 me to get such an appointment I should have to be 
 ordained to a title as the Bishops do not consider a 
 ship as a title. Such an engagement would shew me 
 the world with tolerably good pay. I have not com- 
 municated this to anybody but yourself and the 
 Captain. Do you know of a title ? 
 
 I found the Memoir, etc., of dear Hallam waiting 
 me at Spencer House the evening of the day I saw 
 you. You know how I must value it. 
 
 Hagley. 31st August, 1834. W. H. B. 
 
 Sept. 1st. [Diary.] 
 
 At breakfast Lady L. designated me, L., and Boll, 
 " the Society for the Propagation of Nonsense," which 
 
 19 
 
MRS. BROOKFIELD AND HER CIRCLE 
 
 I converted into " the Society for the Suppression of 
 
 Common Sense." 
 
 6th. 
 
 At dinner sate between Lord Spencer and Lord L. 
 After dinner — ^being at length en famille, we had much 
 prate and sate up half an hour beyond Lord Spencer's 
 usual time. He talked again of the Johnson Club — 
 what a bore Bozzy was and still in his way amusing. 
 Johnson had something of the overbearing pomp 
 popularly ascribed to him, but Lord S. should be dis- 
 posed to call it affectation of a character which he knew 
 somewhat became him. Lord S. was present at a 
 party when Mrs. (or Lady) Vesey came up to present 
 the Abbe Rennault, whose book Johnson had read but 
 not liked. He only said, "Yes, I see him, Madam." 
 
 Lord S. gave two hundred guineas for the Redfern 
 Chalk Sketches for Hay don's picture, for which Lord 
 Grey gave £500 — he calls them " excellent chalks," 
 and he cited to the credit of the independence of the 
 Johnson Club that once Lord Liverpool (who was elected 
 the same day with Butler the CathoUc) went to the 
 Club, which he was very fond of doing, and had it all 
 solo. The club meets to dinner every Tuesday 
 fortnight during Parliament. 
 
 Of Lord Spencer, Mr. Brookfield says, " He is a 
 very benevolent old man, perfectly crippled by the 
 gout, which, however, seems to have confined itself 
 only to physical ravages." 
 
 IQth. 
 The only men left are myself and Bibby. Sate at 
 
 20 
 
LADY LYTTELTON AND MISS BERRY 
 
 the head of the table. Lady Lyttelton talked of Miss 
 Edgeworth as forward and dictatorial in company, 
 but unassuming in dress. She told a queer anecdote 
 of herself calling on the Miss Berrys in town when she 
 was let in. The servant, however, as usual garbled 
 the name, and Miss Agnes Berry had no idea who 
 Lady L. was, though they had been old friends. One 
 does not in town ask after members of the family — 
 and so the conversation went on without any discovery 
 either of ignorance or recognition. At last Miss Agnes 
 said, " if you would leave your card that my sister 
 and I may know your address." Lady L. sent down 
 to her carriage for a card, on receiving which Miss 
 Agnes had the tact to discover no astonishment, but 
 swallowed a great gulp — went rattling on but in quite 
 a new strain. " Aye, you let Lord L. keep you in the 
 country so that one sees nothing of you. And all those 
 nice little children, etc., etc." — till on reaching the 
 bottom of the stairs she said ; " Well, now I must 
 tell you the truth at once. I had not the least idea 
 who you were." 
 \2th. 
 
 Brought down my ^Eolian Harp this morning after 
 breakfast, the ladies having requested me to do so 
 yesterday — but there was then no wind. At breakfast 
 the Princess Victoria was talked of as a very nice 
 singer, but they had been forced to keep her music 
 under the smotherings of less delightful studies or it 
 would have run away with her. The Duchess of 
 Northumberland has no sinecure of her Governess-ship 
 but really fags with her pupil. 
 
 21 
 
MRS. BROOKFIELD AND HER CIRCLE 
 
 Mr. Brookfield described Lord Lyttelton as "a 
 man, I fancy, less known to the world than esteemed 
 by those who know him, though, I believe he ' started ' 
 some five and twenty years ago, for a celebrated man — 
 but for want of some qualities, not always the adjuncts 
 of genius and information, he did not make the figure 
 that was expected in the House of Commons. He is 
 a lively courtly gentleman amongst his friends, and a 
 very usefully kind neighbour to the poor." He told 
 Monteith that Lord L. was a " kind and amiable man 
 whose essential pill is thickly gilt with classic wit." 
 
 His six months of tutorship passed pleasantly and 
 quietly, he was at ease and happy in the society of 
 people so cheerful and cultured as the family at Hagley ; 
 and no doubt, during that period, was seriously 
 turning over in his mind what was to prove his true 
 vocation in life, and whether it was the Church. Mr. 
 Brookfield was not one who wore his heart upon his 
 sleeve, nor had he the habit of some diary writers who, 
 unrestrained by the discretion which a sense of humour 
 gives, record their innermost thoughts and most 
 sacred feelings in expressionless black and white upon 
 the pages of their journals. Certainly, as we see in 
 the letter, given above, to Mr. James Spedding, the 
 idea of a naval chaplaincy attracted him strongly. 
 It had been originally suggested by Captain Spencer 
 and was cordiadly encouraged by Lady Lyttelton. 
 She and Mr. Brookfield had many a talk together 
 upon the subject, each of which brought him nearer, 
 if not to a life upon the sea, at all events to his ultimate 
 destination, namely, holy orders. In the beginning 
 
 22 
 
ORDINATION 
 
 of September, 1834, he seems to have definitely made 
 up his mind, for he writes then to his father to thank 
 him for his prompt and kind consent to his ordination. 
 
 He left Hagley with many regrets on the fifth of 
 October. Shortly after he was ordained by the Bishop 
 of Lincoln to the Curacy of Maltby, where he preached 
 his first sermon on Christmas Day. 
 
 That his preaching attracted attention and that 
 the world had no wish to forget him, is proved by the 
 presence in that "long street on the Rotherham road" 
 from time to time, of most of his Cambridge friends. 
 Milnes, Tennyson, Venables, were amongst those who 
 early sought him out, while an old Miss Thackeray, 
 who lived near, made much of him and sent out copies 
 of his sermons to all her friends. But he found a 
 country life too tied and cramped for his tempera- 
 ment, and he was oppressed there by a dulness that 
 neither his friends' visits nor their sprightly letters 
 could alleviate. 
 
 Did not George Lyttelton write him — 
 
 Hagley, 
 
 21th Jan., 1836. 
 My dear Brookfield, 
 
 Behold ! Did not the Dobson F. T. C. exhort me 
 in many moving words last term to epistolize the 
 Curate of Maltby ? and did not I abstain from so doing 
 for no good reason but inherent laziness, and now 
 being at home I have been again reminded of the said 
 by the advent of a most delectable Derbyshire Courier 
 with grand account of Tory Eatings at Sheffield, and 
 with also a sad, short report to this effect " Mr. 
 Brookfield returned thanks." 
 
 23 
 
MRS. BROOKFIELD AND HER CIRCLE 
 
 Novelties at Cambridge there are not many. 
 Whewell will shortly emit a gigantic History of Science, 
 which will be the death of many people and the per- 
 plexity of more — but the wonderment of all. He 
 hath also been scribbling away right and left. 
 " Thoughts on the Study of Mathematics," " Re- 
 marks on Art," etc. 
 
 There appeared a short time ago at Cambridge a 
 bird known by the name of Milnes — whilome fellow- 
 commoner. He had a very fragrant memory of you 
 in your Freshman's term, and attributed to you the 
 following bong-mo. Having issued from some pot-hus 
 or other such dubious den, and being subsequently 
 upbraided thus, " Why did I see you coming out of 
 such a place t'other day ? " You answered " Because, 
 Dicky, I thought it too bad a place to stay in any 
 longer." 
 
 Is the lean Calvinist in prosperity ? Is the broken 
 fiddle mended ? ditto prospect of coming to Cambridge? 
 
 Fare thee well, 
 
 George Lyttelton. 
 
 To which, some time afterwards he replied : 
 
 Nothing changes in this most lithic spot. The 
 inventive spirit of a Times reporter would fall into 
 lethargy in five minutes from the dearth and drought 
 of notabilea. I have on the very coat you last saw 
 me in, my hair and nails grow not, the fiddle is still 
 unstrung, the only string it had when you saw it wiU 
 not vary the monotony by cracking. The lean Calvin- 
 ist is still lean and still a Calvinist — the birds hop not — 
 the fishes flop not — ^the kine crop not, and for me my 
 mind is the callous unresisting victim of a painless 
 but fatal chronic, and my wits lie aU five huddled 
 and stifled in a leathern elephantiasis of sloth — in- 
 capable and inaccessible. Oh, for. one term of Cam. 
 
 24 
 
LOST— A TENNYSON MANUSCRIPT 
 
 Oh, for one week at Trin. Oh, for one hour with that 
 bumptious but capital duo-decimo, the Apostle. Are 
 you one yet ? 
 
 It is not perhaps surprising that he sought for 
 change, and early in 1836 accepted the curacy of 
 Holyrood, Southampton. In this busy town he found 
 congenial work and congenial people, and though it 
 was not till the end of '37 that the Eltons took up 
 their residence there, it is more than probable that he 
 met Miss Jane, his future wife, when, as a girl of fifteen 
 she was visiting a married sister at Forest Lodge : for 
 in the April of '36 a friend from Maltby writes to him : 
 
 I cannot wonder you don't get along with the 
 introductions given you, for I hear you have made 
 acquaintance with some cousins of Arthur Hallam. 
 
 How delightful that must be — if they knew much 
 of him. Did you contrive to see Alfred Tennyson when 
 you were in London, or do you know how he is going 
 on ? I hope you will be pleased to hear that many of 
 the poor people here have much regretted your depar- 
 ture, and asked to hear of you whenever we did. 
 
 Close on his arrival in Southampton Mr. Brookfield 
 was dunned by Garden for the manuscript of one of 
 " Alfred's poems : for, in Cambridge days, it seems 
 they most of them had the habit of taking away their 
 friend's latest work, whatever it might be, and copying 
 it. The MS. then demanded was not to be found, and 
 nothing was heard again of it, till it was discovered 
 in 1900, together with its copy, in an old box where it 
 had lain hidden since '36, or what Garden called 
 his and Brookfield's ' M.A. Time.' ' 
 
 A little later the above correspondent again writes : 
 
 25 
 
MRS. BROOKFIELD AND HER CIRCLE 
 
 I cannot tell you how much I should like to know 
 what sermon you preached first at Southampton; if 
 it is one that v/e have heard do not forget to tell us, 
 and also if you have heard whether it was generally 
 approved or not. Your sermon on " What is man," 
 is going the round of the neighbourhood, and I think 
 not very correctly copied. Miss Lucy showed it to 
 me. Miss Thackeray borrowed it for her from a friend. 
 I believe she told Miss Lucy many of her friends had 
 copies of it. Tuesday was B.'s birthday, we kept it 
 at Roche Abbey, it was a nice day and the party 
 altogether harmonious, but you have been one of us 
 for so long now that I felt rather as if one of my sisters 
 were wanting. There were the Overend family, the 
 customary tribe of Sheffield men and the Vivians — 
 the latter nice people, particularly the Lady Mary 
 who had desired me to let Mr. Tennyson know of it, 
 and so of course we wondered all day whether he would 
 come. Doubtless you will conclude he failed, but 
 yesterday we had a very kind straightforward note 
 from him regretting his inability to do so. 
 
 I have been trying to persuade Mary to write the 
 ends of my letter but I cannot, so mine will not have 
 the usual characteristic of ladies' letters — the valuable 
 part in the postscript. 
 
 Mr. Tennyson's note is addressed to me and Mary 
 has wanted to buy it, but she thinks it worth more 
 than a pound, and she cannot afford more to spend 
 upon it. I have offered to give it, as I feel I do not 
 half value it as she does — so she has taken it upon a 
 long loan — would not that please him, do you think ? 
 
 While Mr. Charles Elton writing to his family, after 
 deciding to settle in Southampton, tells them about 
 the Church of the Holy-rood, " where a Mr. Brookfield 
 well known to the Hallams, is curate." 
 
 26 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 The Eltons. Sir Charles. Lander's Letter to Southey. The 
 Hallams. Anecdote of Arthur Hallam. Princess Victoria. The 
 Bristol Riots. Jane Elton's education. Her home life. Walter 
 Savage Landor. Death of Ellen Hallam. At Southampton. 
 Meets Mr. Brookfield. Beauty and charm. Engagement. 
 
 Jane Octavia Elton was born at Clifton on the 
 25th March, 1821, the youngest daughter of Charles 
 Elton of Clevedon Court, afterwards seventh Baronet 
 of that name. 
 
 A branch of an ancient family in Herefordshire, 
 the Eltons migrated early in the seventeenth century 
 from the neighbourhood of Ledbury to Bristol, in 
 which city they seem to have at once made some mark. 
 Possessing unusual social gifts as well as active minds 
 they managed to crown all they touched with such 
 success that at the beginning of the eighteenth century 
 the head of the house was awarded a baronetcy for 
 services he was able to render to the Crown. To the 
 fore in most things, seven Eltons were in their turn 
 Masters of the Merchant Venturers, while six were 
 Mayors of Bristol, and several members of Parliament. 
 
 The opening of the nineteenth century found the 
 family as vigorous as ever, though naturally with 
 different aims and ambitions. Sir Abraham Elton, 
 the sixth baronet, father of Charles, and grandfather 
 of Mrs. Brookfield, was a clergyman ; as a fine writer 
 and preacher of sermons he was for some time chaplain 
 to the King of Hanover ; as a lover of literature he 
 
 27 
 
MRS. BROOKFIELD AND HER CIRCLE 
 
 was the intimate friend of Hannah More and the 
 admiring acquaintance of Maria Edgeworth. His son, 
 Charles Elton, was at Eton with Henry Hallam, in days 
 when, as the son of a baronet, he was permitted to 
 wear for full dress a red coat and a sword, his hair 
 powdered and tied behind. He afterwards held a 
 commission in the forty-eighth foot and served with 
 distinction in the trenches in Holland under the Duke 
 of York in 1799. But he was not only a soldier, he 
 was more especially a poet, a scholar, and a man' 
 of letters. His translations from the Classics are well 
 enough known and his " Hesiod " is a class book still 
 in use in some of our public schools. " Boyhood," 
 a book of pleasing verse won for him the admiration of 
 his brother poets, while of an Elegy (" The Brothers," 
 written after the loss of his two eldest sons, boys of 
 twelve and fourteen, by drowning in the Bristol 
 Channel) Landor said to Southey : — 
 
 " I have been reading for the third time Charles 
 Elton's Elegy on the loss of his sons. It is not an 
 Elegy (though the structure of the verses has nothing 
 to do with the matter), but many parts strike me as 
 much as anything I ever heard of the elegiac. Tears 
 were in my eyes the first time, the second time, and 
 the third time, on reading — 
 
 ' That night the Httle chamber where they lay 
 ' Fast by our own, was silent and was still.' " 
 
 Charles Elton married one of the beautiful Miss 
 Smiths, ladies so admired for their complexions (in 
 days when almost everybody was marked by small 
 
 28 
 
MRS. BROOKFIELD'S EARLY LIFE 
 
 pox) as well as for their grace, that people climbed 
 upon chairs and tables in the pump room at Bath 
 whenever they appeared. Their father, of a good 
 merchant family of Bristol, was the relation, friend, 
 and supporter of Burke. 
 
 One of Mrs. Brookfield's earliest recollections was 
 of this lovely mother bending over her in full Court 
 dress, to say " Good-night " — before she went out to 
 some Court function in Brussels, where they were then 
 living. 
 
 Charles Elton's sister Julia married Hallam, the histo- 
 rian, in 1807, which event is recorded in the London 
 Chronicle : " On Wednesday, Henry HaUam, Esquire, 
 Commissioner of Stamps, to Miss Elton, daughter of 
 Sir Abraham Elton, Bart., of Clevedon Court ; " and 
 the gifted children of this union were thus naturally 
 the cousins of Jane Elton, afterwards Mrs. Brookfield. 
 Though only twelve years old when Arthur Hallam 
 died, she always remembered perfectly his charm 
 and his kindliness, for the Hallams often took neigh- 
 bouring houses in order to be near the Eltons and there 
 was great incessant intercourse between them. As a 
 child of seven Jane was once in Arthur Hallam' s 
 presence put to practise some elementary lesson upon 
 the pianoforte, but frightened and abashed by his 
 nearness, she was not able to proceed, and could not 
 manage to strike a note until he put away the paper 
 he was reading, and with great sweetness cheered and 
 encouraged her. Mrs. Brookfield says " Arthur and 
 Harry Hallam' s talents and charm are almost always 
 referred to as inherited from their father, but their 
 
 29 
 
MRS. BROOKFIELD AND HER CIRCLE 
 
 mother had great ability as well as sweetness, courage, 
 and self-sacrifice." 
 
 Except for three years in Brussels Mrs. Elton passed 
 her youth until her sixteenth year in Clifton and its 
 neighbourhood. She saw Queen Victoria as a child 
 in Bath, and was struck by her unaffected grace, and 
 an incident connected with that royal visit she never 
 forgot. One of her own small friends had been 
 invited to go and play with the young Princess, and 
 when the hour for parting came, turned naturally to 
 embrace her royal companion, whereupon the Duchess 
 of Kent drew away the Princess and smilingly observed 
 " No— we don't kiss." 
 
 The Bristol Riots occurred when she was just old 
 enough to go to afternoon service. Her father told 
 her at the time he should have taken all his family 
 to Clevedon, but that as a magistrate he felt it his 
 duty to remain at Clifton tiU order was restored. " It 
 was the day," she says, " when the first conflict with 
 the soldiery occurred, and there was an unusual dis- 
 turbance among the congregation. Messengers came 
 in and out. Gentlemen rose up and left the Church, 
 but the sermon stiU went on — the preacher giving his 
 secondly, thirdly, and fourthly without a tremor. My 
 two elder sisters were with me, and as we came out 
 I remember noticing their beautiful new dresses of 
 green and purple shot silk, but this frivolous interest 
 was soon dispelled by the consternation which seized 
 us all, for looking down from the hill we saw what 
 seemed to be the whole of Bristol in flames. That 
 was between four and five o'clock. We hurried home 
 
 30 
 
Arthur Hallam 
 
 At the age of 16 
 From a painting at Wickham Court 
 
. ''/id,/; r//„//,n>, 
 
 .y//'/-/lr a///- of'/fi. 
 ■ A'oill ft ////nit' nq d/' /hr^-//ffJI7 ('/v/'/t. 
 
THE BRISTOL RIOTS 
 
 to find reports continually coming in, and then as the 
 mob was understood to have threatened everyone 
 with summary vengeance if they did not illuminate 
 their houses, we with our neighbours hastily put candles 
 into our windows — for the rioters seemed for the time 
 to have it their own way. I was not sent to bed for 
 nobody thought of it. Many gentlemen came in who 
 had enlisted as special constables, and late that night 
 my father hurried myself and my two little brothers 
 out to Clevedon to our grandfather's. It was a long 
 way round, as there was no suspension bridge then,* 
 and we went away rejoicing, for as we lived in 
 what we thought a small house, we looked forward 
 to living in a big one. I took a letter to Sir Abraham, 
 of whom we stood in awe, and to whom we hardly 
 ever spoke, but our delight was dashed when he said 
 it was impossible for him, for our own safety, to receive 
 us — ' when who knew but that the mob might invade 
 Clevedon, and if they do my old house wiU be the first 
 attacked, and no safe refuge for you children.' He 
 therefore decided to send us to his steward's house by 
 the sea — or rather by the Channel — and very kind 
 that steward and his wife were to us." 
 
 According to the system of these days. Miss Jane 
 used to have her lessons lying upon a hard board with 
 a hollow for the head. It was also usual for little girls 
 to wear a " spider " from the back of the neck to the 
 
 * Before the Suspension Bridge was proposed a basket used 
 to go across the river on chains, and young Jane Elton was one of 
 the adventurous first to go over in that way. 
 
 31 
 
MRS. BROOKFIELD AND HER CIRCLE 
 
 waist ; this was a web of iron or steel covered with 
 chamois leather, and formed a sort of rigid stays. 
 
 The most important part of her education perhaps 
 was that derived from her father, who used to read 
 aloud in the evening to his family with " infinite feeling 
 and perfect intonation," and in that way led them to 
 appreciate Milton and Shakespeare, as well as the 
 modern poets. He would sometimes give them Miss 
 Austin or Miss Edgeworth, and he had, she says, very 
 largely " the gift of infecting us with his own love 
 of letters. My dear father made himself the friend 
 of his children, receiving our confidences and advising 
 us in all our difficulties. After the death of our dear 
 mother (which happened when Jane Elton was about 
 ten) we had a governess who kept up the French so 
 readily acquired in Brussels, but she was very severe, 
 and a tendency to stoop was corrected not only by the 
 ' spider ' but by a bunch of hoUy pinned under my 
 chin upon my pinafore." 
 
 There is this to be said for the stern system of phy- 
 sical education in those days, that Mrs. Brookfield 
 preserved to the end of her life a perfectly erect 
 figure and a remarkably stately bearing and carriage. 
 
 She always considered her father's extreme gentle- 
 ness and indulgence was partly the result of the strict 
 discipline of his own early life, when he and his 
 brothers and sister had always to address their parents 
 as " Sir " and " Madam," and to stand in their presence 
 until told they might sit down. 
 
 She retained a vivid memory of the watchmen in 
 their cloaks of grey or brown with many capes, and 
 
 32 
 
THE ELTON FAMILY 
 
 her pleasure when they gave out " Just twelve o'clock. 
 A bright moonlight night," whereas she would bury 
 her head in her pillows when she heard the words 
 " Thundery weather — and rain falling fast." She 
 never forgot the Welsh wives with their neat figures, 
 blue serge dresses, and high hats, who came into the 
 neighbourhood at stated seasons, to find a market for 
 their flannel. 
 
 The large family of Eltons, eight girls (Jane was 
 the youngest daughter and hence her second name 
 of Octavia) and three boys living, seems to have been 
 a particularly gay and happy one. Jane herself says 
 of her sisters that they were her first instructresses and 
 " putters-into-corners." But a close family affection 
 between them went with a fond belief in each other's 
 talents, and not without reason, for they were undoubt- 
 edly all of them of exceptional intelligence. Jane was, 
 perhaps, the darling, not merely for her beauty, but 
 for her bright wit and general sprightliness. Her elders 
 took the trouble to write her their best letters, while 
 her own, from her earliest days were received by the 
 whole family with " great applause and pleasure." 
 When she was just fourteen she wrote to Gent : Cadet 
 Arthur H. Elton, Sandhurst. 
 
 Clifton, 1835. 
 We went, Mary and I, to a missionary meeting. 
 A little lady hung on to my back for half an hour (?) 
 until with a majestic frown I shook her off. A short 
 old gentleman with a long stick next kindly made me 
 his crutch, until after having writhed in torture under 
 his heavy weight I stood on tip-toe and attracted the 
 
 33 
 
 4— (2309) 
 
MRS. BROOKFIELD AND HER CIRCLE 
 
 attention of Uncle Henry, then aided by a friend's 
 shoulder and Mr. A.'s powerful hand, I ascended to 
 the gallery, and Mary soon followed. Mr. Yate, from 
 New Zealand, spoke interestingly ; he said the children 
 there as soon as they were born were consecrated to 
 the Devil, and a stone pushed down their throats to 
 show their hearts must be made as like it as possible. 
 Mr. Yate saw a httle boy of four eat the eyes of a man ! 
 P.S. — The whole of Bristol has been in an uproar 
 with Mrs. Burdock's trial,* at which papa attended 
 three days, ending up with the execution. 
 
 Her father was the friend of Lamb, Landor, Southey, 
 Coleridge, Turner, etc., and Mrs. Brookfield says : 
 
 " I was one day bowling my hoop up and down the 
 Royal Crescent, when Mr. Landor appeared walking 
 with his friend, Southey. Southey was in an old- 
 fashioned spencer, his hair tied behind in queue style, 
 with a black ribbon. I remember quite well his eagle 
 eye and aquiline nose, and the excitement of meeting 
 the author of the ' Curse of Kehema ' in real life." 
 
 Landor's society was very congenial to Charles Elton 
 and he was a frequent visitor to their house, so frequent 
 that sometimes the young people would note that 
 " nothing occurred — only Old Landor called oftener 
 than ever." He would come in at about dinner time,, 
 six o'clock, " when he would ask leave to sit in the room„ 
 without dining, as he preferred to go home to a later 
 
 * As this Mrs. Burdock went forth to be executed it happened 
 to rain, on which she refused to move forward until an umbrella, 
 was procured for her. 
 
 34 
 
WALTER SAVAGE LANDOR 
 
 dinner. He would take an easy chair and talk delight- 
 fully without causing the least restraint or inconve- 
 nience. Often he would repeat poetry or tell us 
 amusing anecdotes. He especially delighted in reciting 
 alternate stanzas from Homer with my father. He 
 was most kind and sympathetic to us all though he 
 singled out me and my sister Mary at that early age 
 to tell us he had troubles. One day he said he had left 
 a drawer full of Southey's letters at home — letters he 
 had treasured and intended to keep, but " My wife 
 has been so good as to burn them," and he gave the 
 loudest burst of laughter I ever heard. One of my 
 sisters had written a short story about which she was 
 very diffident although she vaguely hoped it might 
 some day be printed. Landor was consulted and 
 asked to read it. He took it away and soon afterwards 
 told us Lady Blessington would publish it, and that 
 he had advised her to give £5 for it." This story ap- 
 peared in the " Book of Beauty " in 1836. He wrote 
 those charming hues " CarUno " in Mary Elton's album, 
 and would have written in Jane's only she unfortunately 
 had no album the day he came for that purpose. 
 Mrs. Brookfield also mentions that it was Walter Savage 
 Landor, who suffering from the shrieks of a parrot in a 
 neighbouring house, called in the greengrocer's boy 
 and gave him a guinea to procure a piece of parsley and 
 administer it to the bird, as parsley was supposed to be 
 fatal to parrots. 
 
 In 1837 a sorrow fell upon this merry family, which 
 they were all now old enough to appreciate. Ellen 
 Hallam died. She was twenty-one, beautiful, and of 
 
 35 
 
MRS. BROOKFIELD AND HER CIRCLE 
 
 a thoughtful and discerning mind, and the occurrence 
 seems to have shocked her cousins and companions 
 so much that Hallam and his wife in the midst of their 
 own closer grief wrote letters to console them. Mrs. 
 Brookfield says of this event : " It was my dear Aunt 
 Hallam's custom to read some Psalm every morning 
 with her daughters before they began their daily tasks. 
 Ellen had been ill, but was able for the first time to 
 commence the reading with her mother as usual in the 
 school room. They read together alternate verses of 
 the Psalm, and as Ellen closed her book she leaned 
 back and sighed gently. She had died in that easy and 
 painless manner." 
 
 Hallam, touching upon this terrible second loss (for 
 Arthur was not much older, and had died almost as 
 suddenly), says of his wife : " Julia is wonderfully 
 resigned. Her mature faith in Heaven yields to no 
 storm," and very soon " Julia " was asking her niece 
 Jane to come to Sevenoaks, where they had taken 
 a house in order for a little to be away from sad remind- 
 ers of their child. In that same year Richard Monckton 
 Milnes wrote his sympathetic lines on " Arthur and 
 Ellen Hallam," in which occurs : 
 
 " Say not, O world of short and broken sight 1 
 That these died young ; the bee and butterfly 
 Live longer in one active snnny hour 
 Than the poor tortoise in his torpid years." 
 
 About that visit to Sevenoaks Jane Elton says 
 " When I was going away Mr. Landor brought to 
 me at the coach door — where he had come to say 
 ' Good-bye ' — an amusing annual in which he had 
 
 36 
 
67 WIMPOLE STREET 
 
 written, " From her friend, Walter Savage Landor." 
 Our coach stopped at Marlboro' for dinner, and I shall 
 never forget the enormous joints and the great jugs of 
 beer provided for that meal. My aunt's maid met me 
 at the coach office in London, and took me in a hackney 
 coach, a large carriage with two horses, to sixty-seven 
 Wimpole Street, immortalized in Tennyson's ' In 
 Memoriam.' 
 
 ' Doors where my heart was used to beat.' 
 
 " It was indeed ' dark and unlovely,' dismantled 
 and empty of all its usual inmates. I only slept there 
 one night, and was taken on next morning to a 
 charming country house." 
 
 Towards the end of this year the Eltons moved 
 to Southampton, and Mary Elton wrote to Jane when 
 this was settled : " Mr. Landor says it will make him 
 melancholy to pass by our terrace, so he will not return 
 to Clifton. He says Torquay is the loveliest place, 
 next to Clifton, in all Europe." 
 
 Once settled in Southampton Mr. Brookfield became 
 a constant visitor at their house. Charles Elton 
 delighted in his society, as did his sons, his daughters, 
 and all their friends, while Miss Jane was now, as she 
 says herself, sixteen years of age, grown to her full 
 height — five foot nine — and named by her father 
 " Glumdalchtch." But she was fair and rosy, with 
 large and lustrous eyes neither blue nor grey, a sweet 
 and beautiful voice, a graceful carriage, and an irre- 
 sistible intangible charm which her sister vowed " even 
 the servants can't resist." Then her intercourse with 
 
 37 
 
MRS. BROOKFIELD AND HER CIRCLE 
 
 her father's literary friends, her close intimacy with the 
 Hallams, had helped to polish an originally bright 
 mind and enabled her, while still so young, to talk 
 with ease and spirit. It is no wonder she was promptly 
 named " Belle of Southampton," that her father's 
 doorstep was besieged, or that the album which she 
 now possessed was filled to the full with sonnets and 
 verses. She seems, however, to have borne this 
 avalanche of admiration well, for her husband tells her 
 in later years " it was her girlish modesty more than 
 her great beauty which first attracted him." 
 
 Even her sisters and brothers wrote verses to her, 
 and as a specimen of the album amateur verse of the 
 period — ^probably rather above than below the average 
 — ^may be quoted : 
 
 MY SISTER'S BIRTHDAY. 
 
 (Mary E. Elton, impromptu) 
 
 " Let the merry bells ring round " 
 Wake little Jane ! thy birthday comes — 
 And seventeen years ago. 
 On such a Sunday, love, as this, 
 I gave to thee my first fond kiss — 
 When the fat nurse's hushing sound 
 Warned me to enter soft and low ! 
 
 But now, oh, Joan ! thou dost exchange 
 For wisdom all thy naughty tricks — 
 Once thou didst lay thy curly head 
 Down on the table, running round, 
 Roaring and stamping on the ground. 
 And thou wouldst not thy History read. 
 
 38 
 
SOUTHAMPTON 
 
 " Let the merry bells ring round " 
 Childhood's troubles now are o'er, 
 Jane is now a lady quite 
 (Though to admit the honest fact 
 Liberty she never lacked). 
 Scatter snowdrops on the ground 
 Liberty is now her right. 
 
 25th March, 1838. 
 
 It is Mary* who a few weeks later writes to a cousin 
 in London : — 
 
 " I feel rather a curiosity to see Mr. Trench, and 
 his friend Mr. Brookfield will bring him to call some 
 day. Mr Brookfield is very well acquainted with the 
 Tennysons. He is very clever, plays very well, and is 
 witty, which accomplishments added to his powers 
 as a preacher are counterbalanced by some affectations 
 such as " Immensely delicious, that flower," 
 " Incredibly beautiful it is." 
 
 The Southampton home was, if anything, gayer than 
 the Clifton one. Charles Elton, now that " Jane was 
 a lady quite," apart from insisting that his children 
 should attend Church and family prayers, left them 
 pretty well to their own devices. Accordingly their 
 house was full of friends, old and young, on all 
 occasions when society did not claim them elsewhere. 
 
 Miss Jane about this time made a sUght struggle 
 to be called Miss Octavia, which assumption was kindly 
 but promptly laughed down. One day at a very full 
 table — ^the cloth being removed — a gentleman wishing 
 
 * Mary married her cousin, Frederick Elton, and was the mother 
 of Charles Elton, Q.C., the Shakespeare student. She died at an 
 early age. 
 
 39 
 
MRS. BROOKFIELD AND HER CIRCLE 
 
 to pay tribute to the colour of her eyes, took two blue 
 petals from a flower, shut his own eyes, and placing 
 the petals upon them, exclaimed, " Miss Jane." And 
 once, while rehearsing for some theatricals, when the 
 lover, in accordance with stage directions, was about 
 to kiss her, her chaperon stepped officially forward, put 
 Jane on one side, and holding up her own face, said 
 " Practise on me, if you please." 
 
 But if the young people were gay they were also 
 intellectually alert, and when not employed in social 
 duties would be found to be acquiring foreign tongues, 
 or reading and criticising Carlyle, as weU as current 
 French and German authors. 
 
 Early in 1838 Mr. Brookfield changed his curacy 
 from Holyrood to AU Saints, and about this period 
 Lord Lyttelton wrote to him : 
 
 London, 
 
 April 9ih, 1838. 
 My dear Brookfield, 
 
 I can hardly hope that your non-reading of 
 newspapers can. have extended so far as to leave you 
 still in ignorance of the result of the Chancellor's Medal 
 examination, which has now been over ten ,days, and 
 my news is, I fear, old, in which case I can but beg 
 pardon, and intreat you to invent the best excuses 
 you can for me, of which the best I will unscrupulously 
 affirm to be the true one. 
 
 In graceful sunset-metaphor, you last year hoped 
 that one of the " golden disks " might " find its occi- 
 dental bed in my breeches pocket." Even so it has, 
 and most strictly one of them — neither the first nor the 
 second, but only one of the Medals, Vaughan and I 
 
 40 
 
LORD LYTTELTON 
 
 being again equal,* a double dead-heat with divers 
 examiners being a thing incontrovertible, and consi- 
 dering that he is the pet of Arnold, and the year is 
 called a good one, it is all highly well. Now must I 
 take heed that my fair woman end not in foul fish ! 
 
 I hope thou waggest weU and Uvest pleasant. 
 A tutor is coming for Bull even as you came for me, 
 but I fear he is a dull youth, the tutor I mean. Bull 
 hath my room at Trinity next October, by the singular 
 benevolence of the Despot, or Master. 
 
 Mother and sisters come to town in May, she being 
 one of the Queen's steward-room. And so wag we. 
 
 I have not quite left Cambridge as I keep my 
 rooms next term and shall go there promiscuously, but 
 my pleasant time is nearly gone, and its memory is 
 fragrant in my soul. On this point I think we agree. 
 Much more might be said, but on one of the dog-days 
 it may be spoken vivis vocibus. 
 
 Yours truly, 
 
 Lyttelton. 
 
 W. H. Brookfield to Lord Lyttelton : 
 
 16th April, 1838. 
 
 I have known some pleasvures in my life, sensual, 
 moral, intellectual. I have read Shakespeare, I have 
 been in love, I have drunk hock and soda-water in the 
 
 * Lord Lyttelton, whose father had died in '37, had written from 
 Trinity in March to say : " The Classical Tripos came out Friday 
 evening to my great glory, for I am therein bracketed, cequalis, 
 with Vaughan, the great man who got the Craven before me and 
 Porson's, etc., without end in the first place. This had never been 
 done before, and showed the closest possible race. There is an 
 offensive man of Magdalene called May, so close to Vaughan and 
 me as to put us in a great fright about the Medals, but we will see 
 what we can do." 
 
 41 
 
MRS. BROOKFIELD AND HER CIRCLE 
 
 doggiest of the dog-days, — ^but I never knew a pleasure 
 of a broader and more jolly hearted kind than when 
 your medal sent its golden chime into the ear of my 
 soul. You quote with a good-natured memory my 
 hopes expressed last year, and let me indulge in the 
 pleasant etheriaUty of supposing that the sincere good 
 wishes of a friend even though they do not take the 
 solemn form of the " fervent prayer that availeth 
 much" are nevertheless not without a similar secret 
 influence invisibly working towards its own fulfilment, 
 and then I am not without my share in your most 
 honourable success, and may say with Handel's organ 
 blower " We played that very nicely." I suppose they 
 will elect you honorary fellow ! And what audit you 
 will drink ! 
 
 But I am to congratulate you on another event not 
 quite so meritorious but hardly less important than the 
 medal winning, to wit : your attainment of legal 
 manhood and actual peerage. I did not forget the 
 31st March, but in the wine crypts of my heart drank 
 full measure to your well doing. I hope you used your 
 new privileges moderately on that day, — though for 
 my part I should have acted just in the spirit of Jacky 
 Kemble, who, when he was first made M.A., visited 
 every place to which masters had exclusive entrance 
 that same morning, and having got bumptiously beery 
 in the afternoon proctorised many undergraduates 
 without mercy. 
 
 I should have gone to the House, — divided on 
 everything, — protested against every division, — ^per- 
 plexed everybody with untimely questions, bullied 
 the Tories for octogenarian dotards, the Whigs for 
 self-seekers whose policy was their best honesty, and 
 Radicals for bilge water shifting from side to side 
 with the motion of the ship. I have no doubt you 
 acted much more reasonably. 
 
 42 
 
" A WELL-CONDUCTED CONGREGATION " 
 
 I have not a particle of fear about your " fair 
 woman " ending after so sealy a fashion. I hope to 
 see you yet shaking the dry bones in that depressingly 
 gentlemanHke upper house. You have everything in 
 your favour. A repute to start with, lots of courage 
 and animal spirits, a great faculty for acquiring the 
 sort of knowledge and tact to use it which is needful 
 in such a sphere. I am glad you are going abroad. 
 Hugely you will enjoy it. I am glad, too, because 
 that wiU bring you here as a point of exit. I shall be 
 excessively delighted to see you. Shall our mirth be 
 stinted ? I wot not. 
 
 Thou catechist as to my mode of wagging, " How 
 waggest thou ? " quoth he. Verily my waggery is in 
 this wise. I visit paupers and dispense thereto scraps 
 of mutton, pounds of tea, and doles of bread, — or haply 
 I compose sleeping draughts for such as dissipating 
 their nights in foppery must needs seek a little 
 comfortable sleep in my Church on Sunday. I cannot 
 help saying, however, that mine, considering the great 
 size of it, is an exceedingly well-conducted congrega- 
 tion, — for really very few of them snore. I discerned 
 at the very further corner of it last Sunday your school 
 acquaintance, Creavy, who had come barristering. 
 I sought him out afterwards and had pleasant words 
 about you. Furthermore, though I am very busy 
 parochially and studiously I by no means forswear 
 certa'n kindly intercourse with my fellow creatures 
 and have a very p'easant time of it and I hope not 
 a useless one. 
 
 For any sake let me see you here, and drop me a 
 line of premonition, and I will arrange for your 
 lodgment. 
 
 So the nightingale, the bird of many sorrows, the 
 throbbing-breasted, honey-throated, mourner of the 
 grove, opvi., drvfo/iei/a, the loving, the intense, the 
 
 43 
 
MRS. BROOKFIELD AND HER CIRCLE 
 
 BULBUL taketh a tutor. I wish that tutor as much 
 happiness as I had, as much kindliness as abidest 
 between yourself and yours sincerely, 
 
 W. H. B. 
 
 Mr. Brookfield also kept up a correspondence with 
 Thackeray and Spedding. Lord Lyttelton came sev- 
 eral times to see hiim, and Alfred and Frederick 
 Tennyson, who often passed through the town of 
 Southampton, always looked him up in his lodgings. 
 Richard Chevenix Trench he had close by at Botley 
 Hill, and all these he carried with him to the Eltons' 
 hospitable board. 
 
 His engagement to Miss Elton was arranged some 
 time towards the end of '38, with the natural stipula- 
 tion that marriage must attend advancement on the 
 part of the gentleman, for they were neither of them 
 well. off. We find in Mr. Brookfield's diary at this 
 time : 
 
 Aug. 3lst. — My Birthday. I wrote to-day " I stood 
 upon the lone shore yesternight." Jane is at Forest 
 Lodge. 
 
 Sept. 1st. Jane's return. I wrote the lines after 
 dinner in her album. 
 
 2nd. In the veranda Jane told me, " Papa likes 
 
 the verses and says they are like Coleridge's. / think 
 
 them a great deal better." 
 
 A portion of the poem runs thus : 
 
 I stood upon the lone shore yesternight 
 
 When all was hushed ; — ^no buzzing night fly stirr'd. 
 
 Nor wandering wind benighted crept to ask 
 
 The wakeful aspen leaf its homeward way. 
 
 4< He H( * * 
 
 44 
 
ENGAGEMENT TO MISS ELTON 
 
 Then, with deep shame to have forgot so long, 
 
 I thought of friends that, but twelve moons before, 
 
 Had been to me but as the golden vein 
 
 Besides the miner's ken who delves apart. 
 
 I thought of thine and thee — that charmed ring 
 
 Of unsour wisdom, and untainted mirth, 
 
 Of household kindliness, and truth, and love, 
 
 Where the winged hours forget they have to die. 
 
 if * * * itt 
 
 And I thought of one 
 On whose meek innocence and maiden youth 
 I have looked till it hath grown to me, and blent 
 With my more rugged nature, softening down 
 Asperities that evil wisdom breeds. 
 
 * if * « Id 
 
 I thought of one and all who round that hearth 
 Of smiles, have many a time dispelled my gloom. 
 And chasing off care's locust swarm, have flung 
 Sweet shine and shower abroad, till many a patch 
 Of green, with here and there a flower, hath gleaned 
 Athwart this heart that had lain fallow long. 
 
 It is a remarkable fact that almost without exception 
 the companions of that wonderful " dawn-golden 
 time," as Tennyson called it, at Cambridge, wrote 
 verse of some kind or another, and Mr. Brookfield's 
 " Taking of Jerusalem, The First Crusade," is not 
 only elegant in its versification, but possesses also 
 dramatic qualities of no mean order. 
 
 In '39 he went a tour in France, during which he 
 -met and travelled with Fitzgerald. 
 
 Correspondence had now begun to be frequent 
 between the young couple, although they lived side 
 by side, and saw each other several times a day, and 
 ihey at this time developed a clairvoyante knowledge, 
 
 45 
 
MRS. BROOKFIELD AND HER CIRCLE 
 
 bred of hope, as to where and when a better curacy 
 was Ukely to befall — though perhaps more helpful 
 and powerful was the interest brought to bear upon this 
 subject by Sir Henry Dukenfield and Mr. Hallam. 
 Early in '40 the Rev. Mr. Ward, of St. James', Picca- 
 dilly, approached Mr. Brookfield for the second time, 
 and in June he went to London to be inspected, when 
 he writes : 
 
 Lincoln's Inn, 
 London, 
 
 22nd June, 1840. 
 My dearest Jenny, 
 
 Arrived in town. Dress — White Cravat ! At 12 
 to Ward's. A most friendly, honest fellow. He told 
 me, laughing, that he had proposed stealing a march 
 to Southampton on Saturday last, and so hearing 
 me unawares yesterday, but he had been prevented 
 from carrying out his plot. After much straight- 
 forward talk we adjourned into the Church, I mounted 
 the reading-desk and he went into a very far-off pew — 
 the worst for hearing in the Church — and crouched 
 himself down to the very floor while I tried my voice. 
 I read two or three stray verses, and uttered a few 
 words of my own and was just exclaiming with great 
 pomp and distinct stent onanism " Pray, sir, can you 
 hear every word I say ? " when suddenly a side door 
 opened and in marched a bevy of lovely ladies, 
 heralded by a pompous official who, seeing me holding^ 
 forth at this violent rate at so thin an auditory (for 
 Ward, my only " dearly beloved brother " present 
 was invisible), stared, retreated, advanced, laughed; 
 
 while I looked the colour of W after his 13th 
 
 tumbler Meantime Ward reappeared from his hiding 
 place, and we retired into the Vestry where I agreed 
 
 46 
 
A BREAKFAST WITH MILNES 
 
 to dine with him to-night — and he robed for a smart 
 Christening of which these bright damsels were spon- 
 sors, etc., one of them representing the Queen, who 
 was godmother to the baby — ^but I did not ask whose 
 it was — as Harry did of Mary's. If inapprehensive 
 consult Laura as to last allusion. Well, Ward and I 
 agreed, of course — ^indeed from the beginning he 
 seemed to assume that I was coming to him. Salary, 
 however, only about £190. Settled to go in October. 
 
 June 24th. Yesterday I went about seeing a few 
 old friends, Spedding, Lushington, Venables, Milnes. 
 Met Garden. Dined with Wilberforce. Robert and 
 Henry and their wives there. 
 
 I am at this moment balancing between joining the 
 Cambridge body to present an address to the Queen, 
 and going to a meeting where I should see and hear 
 Carlyle. I am almost afraid and a little ashamed to 
 say that the former may carry the day with the South- 
 ampton Clodhopper — I have at least gone so far as to 
 borrow a gown to go to the Palace in. I breakfast 
 with Milnes to-morrow morning, where we are to have 
 some exhibition of mesmerism as I understand — I 
 don't exactly know what — ^but something amusing 
 no doubt it will be. 
 
 Later. Breakfasted with Venables and Lushington, 
 at one joined deputation from Cambridge with addresses 
 to Court. At 7 to Thackeray, 13 Great Coram St. 
 
 When he went to visit his old parish of Maltby, and 
 while he was staying with Miss Thackeray, and dining 
 with Montgomery, etc.. Miss Elton wrote : 
 
 47 
 
MRS. BROOKFIELD AND HER CIRCLE 
 
 Clifton, 1840. 
 Aug. 3rd. Saturday I was rustling along the burning 
 pavement (in my silk gown very greatly refreshed 
 and furbished up into an exceeding juvenility and 
 smartness), when I beheld a familiar face the opposite 
 side of the street, and discovered Uncle Orton (Burke's 
 brother, you know, but as unlike as possible), a fid- 
 getting — most amusingly womanish — thin old bache- 
 lor, who met me with hands extended and saying 
 ■" I believe — I think — I might have ventured to give 
 you an Uncle's salute, not having seen you for so long, 
 but as we are not alone — I thought you would not like 
 it." Imagine an old man of 65 ! piquing himself on 
 wearing his own hair still untinged with grey, and 
 arranged Brutus like in crisped curls, over which he 
 stands, curling iron in hand, daily, at the glass, — an 
 alert little mincing step and speckless clothes and 
 hands, distinguish him Ukewise from E. Burke, — while 
 he is quite as good-natured in his Uttle ways, shpping 
 ^ sovereigns into one's hand unexpectedly, etc. 
 
 Back again in Southampton in order to finish up 
 things there before leaving, Mr. Brookfield records — 
 
 26th. Alfred Tennyson arrived to-day and joined 
 us at Elton's in the evening. I having fetched him 
 from the Castle Inn up thither. 
 
 27th. My father and mother arrive by rail. Dine 
 at home. While A. Tennyson dines at Elton's. In 
 the evening I go to E.'s to fetch him down and he and 
 I smoke while my father sits with us. 
 
 28th. To Elton's to fetch Jane down to call upon 
 my mother, thence to Church with Jane. In the 
 evening I and father and mother dine at Elton's. Alfred 
 
 48 
 
ST. JAMES'S, PICCADILLY 
 
 during the afternoon having accompanied my father 
 about the town, but he left at nine o'clock for Havre. 
 It was during this visit that the young poet went up 
 to Charles Elton and said, putting his hand upon his 
 host's bald head, " You must have done many a foolish 
 thing in your time with that great big bump of 
 benevolence of yours." 
 
 The departure of Mr. Brookfield from Southampton 
 was marked by meetings, speeches, etc. ; a silver 
 teapot, one hundred guineas, and a set of robes were 
 bestowed upon him, and he went away for many 
 reasons regretfully, regretted by many. 
 
 But once in London a busy satisfactory life opened 
 out before him. He was immediately set to work 
 upon Lord Lyttelton's Committee (his Lordship was 
 putting up for the High Stewardship of Cambridge) 
 and Mr. Brookfield describes his daily duties thus : 
 
 St. James' Vestry, 
 
 22 Oct., 1840. 
 Really, Jane, it becomes a serious consideration 
 whether the fact that hving together at some future 
 time will put an end to your letter writing ought not 
 to weigh against any such project. You seem to get 
 droller and more charming every time. If I were not 
 too proud (and prudent) I should confess that I was a 
 leeeetle bit disappointed not to hear yesterday. What 
 do you mean, you ugly slut, by the insulting insinua- 
 tion, " You seem to be a very grand Person, I wonder 
 what in the world you have to do ? " — Go, ask the water 
 wheel of a mill what it has to do — the horn of a fly — 
 the main spring of a watch — the rudder of a man-of- 
 war — the soul of a body — what they have to do. Why, 
 
 49 
 
 5— (2309) 
 
MRS. BROOKFIELD AND HER CIRCLE 
 
 I am Secretary of a Committee consisting of Lords 
 and Marquisses and red-fisted Baronets and old women 
 parsons — not one of whom has any more notion of 
 business than that excellent and towering Patriarch* 
 whom you so much resemble in everything but cigar 
 smoking and varicose veins. Think what I should 
 have to do in a Committee consisting exclusively of 
 such people as your Father — Harry and yourself — 
 interspersed with Male Nickleby's, whose imbecility 
 in practical work is only equalled by their fidgety 
 interruptions to those who can do something. I have 
 to discover wants and to meet them, I have to invent 
 like an orator, to write Uke a scrivener, to run about 
 like an errand boy in search of a place, and to bow and 
 scrape and button hole and smirk like Peter Dickson. 
 I haven't washed save my finger ends and a part of my 
 face about the size of a small mask this three weeks. 
 I beg your pardon for this — but " Truth is truth/' 
 etc. (Simple Susan) — Look at one day's Biography. 
 Yesterday I rose at 7. Hurried to British Coffee House 
 — thence to an eating house like that from which 
 Burke supplies his huge nieces with midday food — 
 and breakfasted and read newspapers. At 9 to 
 Vestry, married, read prayers, Christened, Churched. 
 Wrote certificates, etc., till 12^. Then to Committee 
 Room, writing, arranging, bowing, scraping, this 
 and the other, solving perplexities and arranging 
 disarrangements till 3. Then to Church again to read 
 till 3J, then to Wiltshire eating house again, munch- 
 ing and reading tiU four. This early dinner to prevent 
 my being disturbed afterwards. At four to Committee 
 again, dispatches from Cambridge to receive, act 
 upon and answer by post which closes even at the main 
 offices before 6. Fortunately Lyttelton arrived at^7^ 
 
 * Her father. 
 50 
 
THE LYTTELTON COMMITTEE 
 
 and helped me out of a difficulty; for I was just altering 
 his address (for which see to-day's Chronicle) upon my 
 own Authority ; — he, however, adopted the amend- 
 ments himself which relieved me from an uncomfort- 
 able responsibility. Well, with him I stay till 8^, 
 then he and some Committee men go off to Dinner, 
 leaving me to do the remaining work, the most labor- 
 ious of all, getting things into the Papers. Which 
 occupied me tiU 10 J. Not that I blame them — ^because 
 I was the fittest person to do that part of the work. 
 Well, at 10-2^ I step into a Tavern, order Sausages and 
 Stout (stout — a strong sort of Porter), read Evening 
 Paper ; — and so home and into Bed ; — sleep sound 
 and with the self-satisfied feeling of a " Labourer " — 
 and at 7 this morning commenced the same round 
 again. 
 
 It is a comfort having Lyttelton here — whom we 
 sent for by Post only the night before ; but still we 
 want a good old experienced guide in Committee 
 work. 
 
 I have plenty of work in me — but no experience ; 
 and my masters at Head quarters (Cambridge) are not 
 much better. I have here in Committee — Rev. Mr. 
 Hughes, a good-natured old Cambridge Twaddle, 
 Ralph Neville, a young willing hand, but " raw," as 
 Osrick says. Lord John Manners, much the same — all 
 very willing, good-natured, unaffected help-mates — 
 but none of them used to the thing ; and I have to 
 lead — to which I do not feel competent ; however, I am 
 doing my best — and this incessant work I enjoy very 
 much, and am in better health than for a long time 
 past. I have made this discovery as to letter writing, 
 which I believe others have made long before, that 
 to write a letter takes just the time that you have, 
 be the same more or less. This you may say with a 
 smile militates against my theory laid down to you 
 
 51 
 
MRS. BROOKFIELD AND HER CIRCLE 
 
 the other day. But remember that these letters of 
 which I speak, though written within a Umited time 
 and somewhat rapidly, are not therefore slovenly 
 executed, but carefully and thoughtfully though 
 promptly — as being for the eye of others who may not 
 be so indulgent as my sweetest of all possible Jennies. 
 What ! a fourth sheet ! This illustrates " The poorer 
 a man is the more he gives " for I have not a moment 
 to spare and am writing (for me) a very long letter. 
 
 I was in considerable aWm when Ld. John Man- 
 ners told me the Election of Steward would be on the 
 5th November ; — for of course I could not have voted 
 on that day without leaving South'ton the moment 
 after the Wedding was solemnized* — but Blakesley 
 writes me that — " It cannot by possibility occur before 
 the 5th, and that it is probable (but not ascertained) 
 that it may be on the 11th November," which would 
 suit me very well. 
 
 I have just looked off my paper to look at the 
 clock which ticks against the vestry wall. Doing so 
 has entirely destroyed the flow of my ideas — which 
 have had (or rather my words, for I cannot answer 
 for the ideas and have not a moment to review what 
 I have said) a pretty rush rather than flow for the last 
 thirty minutes — after marrying three couple — reading 
 morning Service and Churching a hapless daughter of 
 Eve. I shall not write to-morrow. Ever, my dear, 
 gentle, peaceable, calm, washed and clean-linened, 
 Lady in a bower — your deliquescent — squalid — 
 unwasht — unshaven — dirty flannelled — unchanged- 
 stockined Secretary. 
 
 W. H. B. 
 
 * Jane Elton's sister, Laura, was to marry Mr. Charles Grey, 
 of the family of Earl Grey, and Mr. Brookfield had promised to 
 perform the ceremony. 
 
 52 
 
A LETTER IN THE " CHRONICLE " 
 
 W. H. Brookfield to Jane 0. Elton : 
 
 St. James' Vestry, 
 
 Piccadilly, 
 
 24 Oct., 1840. 
 My darling Jenny, — 
 
 Your Father will be pleased to know that I begin 
 to think the M. Chronicle by far the best written of 
 the Morning Papers. I don't know whether you would 
 distinguish that coup de Maitre in that beautifully 
 printed article on Lord Lyttelton — written in obedience 
 to an order from Cambridge " to work the Eton prin- 
 ciple,' — i.e. to make the most of Ld. L. having been 
 an Etonian— likewise we were rather alarmed at the 
 virulent articles against Lyndhurst which might irritate 
 the Tories among whom we have many supporters, 
 and therefore that communication was written as being 
 supposed to be in better tone. The Editor, Mr. Black, 
 was very praiseful to me about it, and said that the 
 moment he read it he had sent it up " to be put in large 
 type in a conspicuous part of the Paper " — and 
 expressed himself very much obliged for it. 
 
 I cannot at all tell you the comparative chances of 
 the two Candidates. We shall not for a few days be 
 able to compare them. 
 
 As to Anne not being in Southampton, you lie. 
 Business before pleasure, as King Dick said when he 
 killed the King before smothering the Babbies — 
 Therefore reluctantly I bid thee adieu, fair child. In 
 about 9 days I shall see thee. 
 
 W. H. Brookfield to Jane O. Elton : 
 
 British Coffee House, 
 
 31 Oct., 1840. 
 My darling Jenny, 
 
 I am afraid this will again be one of those letters 
 which I am so little desirous of your imitating. In 
 
 53 
 
MRS. BROOKFIELD AND HER CIRCLE 
 
 addition to the daily calls upon me in Vestry and in 
 committee I have had to lose some time to-day in 
 attending with other members of the Senate at the 
 Duke of Northumberland's to install him as Chancellor 
 of the University. It was thought desirable that 
 Ld. L.'s committee should muster upon this neutral 
 ground — otherwise I should not have gone. I met 
 several old friends and new (election) foes, and there 
 was a very smart lunch. The Vice Chancellor (of 
 England — i.e. Shadwell) came up to me, and with very 
 bad taste (as it was neutral ground) began talking 
 about the election — and spoke of the number of their 
 (Lyndhurst's) promises — and stated a very grossly 
 exaggerated number in their favour. I replied that 
 I considered myself only an humble servant of the 
 Committee and not at liberty to talk upon the subject ; 
 at that moment the Master of Magdalen (Neville 
 Grenville), overhearing an obscure Curate assailed by 
 the Vice Chancellor, came up and began congratulating 
 me on the encouraging prospects of Lyttelton's party — 
 for which I was much obliged to him. 
 
 Ward was with the Bishop of London yesterday 
 and told me this morning that my name was mentioned 
 — but he reported nothing more important than that 
 Bishop remarked — " Well, it is a very pretty name — 
 you get Gardens and Brookfields and everything rural 
 and romantic." 
 
 Really, Jenny, I must come to a reluctant close ; 
 but a bustling committee room where great big youths 
 keep coming to look over my shoulder supposing 
 that I am writing a dispatch, and with quick eyes for 
 any ultra passionate phraseology is not the place for 
 writing as one feels. 
 
 Wherefore adieu. 
 
 Ever thine, 
 
 W. H. B. 
 54 
 
BACK AT CAMBRIDGE 
 
 W. H. Brookfield to Jane O. Elton : 
 
 Cambridge, 
 
 12 Nov., 1840. 
 My darling Jenny, 
 
 Tho' not so bewilderingly disabled by engagements 
 and want of time as yesterday, I still cannot hope to 
 get thro' anything better than a shabby note as I am 
 every moment liable to be called into active fight — ^to 
 slay a Lyndhurst or work up a wavering Lytteltonian. 
 I have, in short, to sit in harness — ^with loins girt and 
 sword upon my thigh, and in such position cannot 
 possibly write you a real letter ; nevertheless, instead 
 of grumping like an Evangelical about what we caxinot 
 do, let us, like a good Christian, make the best of what 
 moments we have and do what little we can do. 
 
 I got here in time to vote — i.e. before four — and 
 then scribbled a few hurried business letters, almost, 
 I fear, unintelligible. I then sate in Trinity HaU, a 
 terrible crowd and scramble, and I could not have 
 got any dinner if I had wanted it. To Magdalene at 
 7 — not to the Hall but to the Master's Lodge, as all 
 Masters of Colleges' residences are called, and found 
 myself in company that would have enchanted a tuft 
 hunter (I can't resist college phraseology here). There 
 was The Hon. and Rev. the Master — Lady Charlotta 
 Neville (his wife) — Lady CaroUne or Louisa (or heaven 
 knows what) Legge. Loads of Miss Nevilles — Arch- 
 deacon Brymer — The Hon. Wm. Lyttelton — and chief 
 of aU the young Lady Lyttelton, to whom I was spe- 
 cially introduced and sate next at dinner. She is 
 charming. I liked her excessively. Lyttelton came 
 in in the course of the evening and towards ten o'clock 
 I found myself once or twice talking downright non- 
 sense in a sort of eye-open sleep, and Ld. L. being in 
 similar condition of slumbrousness, we both retired — 
 he to Trinity Lodge where he sleeps — and I to a little 
 
 55 
 
MRS. BROOKFIELD AND HER CIRCLE 
 
 room I had had the luck to get in the town. I slept 
 hke the grave, and rose this morning quite refreshed 
 and very cheerful ! which you know is my disposi- 
 tion. I breakfasted with Archdeacon Thorp — then 
 with Merivale — was invited to do so at Magdalene, 
 but was too hungry to wait for 10 o'clock, and so did 
 not go at all. 
 
 Lyttelton told me that in his Sermon last Sunday 
 Ward quoted from mine of the Sunday but one before 
 — ^by memory he referred to it, saying : " As you heard 
 lately in a sermon on the duty of combining the Christ- 
 ian virtues upon the text ' Add to your faith, etc' " 
 This is very unusual nowadays, and was more of a 
 compliment than I am accustomed to from Church 
 monsters — (I only mean great men in the Church). 
 Fancy Shaddy quoting anything of mine except to 
 warn the people not to remember it. 
 
 We are being entirely beaten as we deserve, for 
 not having acted as a Committee more wisely — 
 energetically and promptly. Still, I hope that Ld. L. 
 wiU poU as many votes as Cavendish did for the repre- 
 sentation of the University in Parliament. Our minor- 
 ity wiU be highly honourable considered as against a 
 man of such stupendous accomplishments as Lynd- 
 hurst, and we don't go about with disappointed faces, 
 but helping each other to find grounds of consolation. 
 
 P.S. — Close of Poll to-day. 
 
 Lyndhurst— 923. 
 Lyttelton —457. 
 
 This comes entirely of my coming to Southamp- 
 ton ! ! ! I hope I shall never marry Laura again. 
 
 Good-bye, dearest. 
 
 56 
 
RETURN TO LONDON 
 
 W. H. Brookfield to Jane O. Elton : 
 188, Piccadilly, 
 
 (not but that I am in the 
 Vestry). 
 
 14 Nov., 1840. 
 My dearest Glum, 
 
 A few words I will wTite if no more — (though I'll 
 be hanged if I allow myself to get into a trick of daily 
 writing) just to say that I arrived last night and to 
 demand your sympathy for my sufferings outside the 
 Rocket from three to 9^ p.m. I had been invited to 
 dine at Magdalene Lodge again for yester evening — ^to 
 kiss away Lady L.'s tears — ^but I thought you might 
 be displeased so came away. Milnes having arrived, 
 who is always a great flatterer of mine, made a great 
 temptation to stay — ^but I thought it weU to secure 
 a quiet day before Sunday. I enjoyed my visit much 
 more than I exi>ected, but I could not help being 
 vexed (as far as my BUOYA^XY of spirits coupled with 
 my MATURITY of judgment would allow) at having been 
 brought up from Southampton from so much more 
 enjoyment for so Httle purpose. Lyttelton did not 
 seem much floored by his defeat, but had ^\ished very 
 much to have a minority not less than 500, whereas 
 ours was 488 against 973 — Lady L. was more dis- 
 appointed — ^but not distressingly so. I was at the 
 Lodge the morning of my coming away. 
 
 W. H. Brookfield to Jane O. Elton : 
 
 188, Piccadilly, 
 
 25 Nov., 1840. 
 My dearest Jenny, 
 
 I called yesterday afternoon on my sohtary way 
 for a walk in the Park — what hour the lamps began to 
 supersede the orb of day — ^upon the Duchess. I went 
 in my cloak, my great mark of identity, that I might 
 
 57 
 
MRS. BROOKFIELD AND HER CIRCLE 
 
 not be let in by mistake, and I left a card inscribed with 
 no dangerous legibility and pursued my walk. In the 
 evening I dined with Robinson at St. James', he being 
 on guard again. It was a very pleasant mess — there 
 were present five guardsmen and one Ufeguard. Dinner 
 excellent. Wine potent. Curate drunk. 
 
 Your letter is quite commensurate with your high 
 reputation with Arthur and myself. Easy — natural — 
 excellently expressed and amiably conceived. I wish 
 I could write half as well as you, and that you could 
 spell half as well as I. As to the " Where "* — all the 
 ingenuity of a special pleader — all the waters that ever 
 wallowed in the great deep — all the penknives that 
 were ever fashioned — all the playful smiles of the 
 sweetest of all supposeable Jenny's cannot avail to 
 efface either from the paper itself or from its duplicate 
 in my memory the superfluous aitch which in your 
 reckless liberality you bestowed upon the second person 
 of the imperfect tense number of the verb to be. 
 Prospero says to Caliban 'I'll fill thy bones with 
 aches " — which John Kemble affected to pronounce 
 " aitches " — because the rhythm demanded two syl- 
 lables. But what has the poor verb done that you 
 should treat it as the Magician threatened his recursant 
 slave ? Think not by referring to my past misfortunes 
 and disappointments to divert attention from your 
 present follies, and allow me to add that if you ever 
 come to reside amongst the cockneys you will find 
 that aitches are not so plentiful as to admit of your 
 lavishing them where there is no need of such vanity. 
 
 Mine is one of the few bay windows hereabouts — 
 and looks a long way down Piccadilly (or as Artillery 
 people say, " rakes " it) right and left. The roar of 
 
 * In her last letter she had asked him ingenuously, " Where you 
 ever in love with the Duchess ? " 
 
 58 
 
VIEWS ON OXFORD 
 
 Carriages is perpetual — ^incessant like the ocean — 
 but I got instantly used to it — and indeed do not 
 remember once to have felt any interruption from it. 
 But you well know my sweet cheerful turn of mind that 
 turns everything I touch into sunshine. By George, 
 if I would have turned anything into sunshine this 
 morning it would have been convenient — for it was so 
 dark with fog (and that not one of the real hve Egypto- 
 London fogs either) that I had candles till 11 o'clock. 
 But to return to this cheerfulness which is so often the 
 theme of your scorn — altho' I do at this moment most 
 fondly wish I were where I could puU your nose to 
 the inversely proportionate disgust and delight of 
 yourself and Edmund respectively, yet I must needs 
 be happy here and for this reason mainly — that I am 
 actively and usefully employed, — and to the ample 
 satisfaction of my employer. Let neither of us repine 
 at temporary separations which many have to endure 
 tinder far less tolerable circumstances. But let us be 
 thankful for what we have, contented for what we 
 have not, and so go on loving and hoping to our Lives' 
 end. 
 
 W. H. Brookfield to Jane O. Elton : 
 
 188, Piccadilly, 
 
 Xmas Eve, 1840. 
 My darling Jane, 
 
 Yesterday as soon as I had finished my letter 
 to you I took a pretty long frosty walk with W's 
 oxford son round Regent's Park — but if I should round 
 a desert of Arabia Petraea, it would be all the same 
 to your poor rustic wits for any idea which it can 
 give you of the direction in which I travelled. I found 
 him very oxford — which I can't for the life of me help 
 spelling with a httle o — and indeed I utterly despair 
 of ever seeing a halfpenny worth of vigorous and 
 
 59 
 
MRS. BROOKFIELD AND HER CIRCLE 
 
 apprehensive mind from that precious school of gentil- 
 ity, and I never speak to one of her graceful children 
 without thinking of Venables' (a Cambridge friend of 
 mine) modest remark — " I often wonder what we have 
 done to deserve being gifted as we are so much above 
 those cursed idiotic oxford brutes." 
 
 This nonsense is hardly congruous with Xmas eve 
 and its catholic charities — wherefore I will conclude 
 with a sincere and heartfelt desire that we had better 
 clothes and they better understandings. 
 
 In the evening I dined at a Mr. Smedley's of this 
 parish — rather correctish, or as Carohne would say, 
 " Tidy " sort of people, but though they were agreeable 
 and good natured and all that, I was not particularly 
 sorry when the evening came to a close. There were 
 half a dozen people there, all very " weU behaved " — 
 like Rogers, but not sufficiently characteristic to 
 justify description. I believe I am indebted to a lady 
 in Yorkshire for the acquaintance. 
 
 W. H. Brookfield to Jane O. Elton : 
 
 188, Piccadilly, 
 
 28 Dec, 40. 
 My dearest Jenny, 
 
 I received your twopenny at the happy hour of 
 breakfast this morning — most charming and brilliant 
 — and will form a very eclipsing contrast to this present 
 writing which will not — I forsee — emit one single 
 scintillation. I am to take as much exercise as I can 
 bear, plain diet and wine as may seem to agree. 
 So on the strength of the last instruction I think I shall 
 this evening rival the poor married Lieutenant at 
 Portsmouth (Bell knew him) who, on being asked (by 
 the Doctor) if he drank wine replied — " No — never — 
 except indeed when he was invited to dine with the 
 Mess — when he generally took a few bottles." 
 
 6o 
 
NEW YEAR'S WISHES 
 
 I am glad you liked Venables' ejaculation — but 
 I must have told it you my last visit but one, which 
 was just after he had said it to me. But it is utterly 
 impossible on paper to convey the slow utterance — 
 the characteristic lisp — the quiet unconscious good 
 faith — with which the saying was said. His mind 
 not in the least engaged with the fact of Cambridge 
 superiority — which was far too matter-of-course a 
 thing to dwell upon — but solely with speculation upon 
 the cause. " I wonder what thee Devil we've done," 
 etc. I believe that Oxford minds are not considered 
 to have any value but such as arises (as in Turnspit 
 dogs) from their extreme rarity. Arthur may have 
 met one by chance in London — but they are so exceed- 
 ingly unremarkable that he might readily have 
 overlooked it. 
 
 W. H. Brookfield to Jane O. Elton : 
 
 188, Piccadilly, 
 
 31 Dec, 1840. 
 My darling Child, 
 
 A few words I must write to-night — partly because 
 I shall have little if any opportunity to-morrow — 
 and partly because they are the last I can have with you 
 this year. Meantime, no doubt, you too have written 
 your last of 1840, and it is already on its way to me. 
 In a few ininutes we shall have entered upon another 
 year of our love. I would to God that I were permitted 
 to see plainly some more fixed and smooth course for 
 that love to travel in. My most dear child, let us 
 both try henceforward by patient acquiescence in the 
 will of Heaven — and by strenuous endeavour to do our 
 several duties to become less undeserving of what we 
 both desire. 
 
 There it goes — the dear old year — my blessing go 
 with it. Many, many happiest returns of the new 
 
 6i 
 
MRS. BROOKFIELD AND HER CIRCLE 
 
 one to you, my darling child. May God Almighty 
 bless it to you and enable us both to make the best of 
 it — and crowd it with every good and perfect gift — 
 making us grateful for them if they come and resigned 
 and humble if they do not. 
 
 My own dear Jane. I have no words that are 
 enough, but I will pray for you and myself, that we 
 may be strengthened in all goodness and share together 
 all happiness that is fit for us now and always. 
 
 God bless you, my dearest — good-night. 
 
 1 Jan., 1841. 
 
 8|- a.m. 
 
 My dear girl, you ought to be the first I speak to 
 this new year as you were the last in the old one. So 
 once more a thousand fond and affectionate wishes to 
 you. I hope that you are also up and brisk this 
 morning — beginning the year well by meeting it in the 
 face — early and " promptly " — and that you mean 
 to earn in some measure the enjoyment of it by being 
 as the Apostle says " temperate in all things." Tem- 
 perance, you know, is not abstinence, but well pro- 
 portioned use of things. So you are to take enough 
 food — enough raiment — enough exercise — enough soci- 
 ety — and little enough dreaming — little enough looking 
 at the red embers. But this is not a gracious way of 
 beginning the year on my part, sweetest girl, who owe 
 thee every tenderest and most considerate courtesy. 
 If, however, you know how I love and prize you, you 
 wiU not heed a little well meant impertinence. 
 
 It is only as compared with yourself and what you 
 easily may be that I ever find any fault in you. I 
 never compare you with others. 
 
 I am now seated at breakfast by a nice flapping 
 fire. It will be near two hours before I get your letter 
 — which I am somehow more impatient for this morning 
 
 62 
 
NEW YEAR'S DAY 
 
 than usual. Perhaps I shall find a few moments to 
 acknowledge it. So farewell Jenks — Hail muffin. 
 
 4 p.m. 
 
 Gifford preached this morning — and the moment 
 he had read his text a woman rose from the free sittings 
 in the middle aisle and exclaimed " Those words were 
 upon my mind just before you uttered them, precisely 
 those words." Folks looked astonished, but the crea- 
 ture sate down again and all proceeded quietly. 
 
 I beg to inform you that Lord John Manners is at 
 Belvoir Castle — which noble mansion was the seat of 
 his ancestors at a time when 
 
 Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob Elton, 
 
 So far from having sword or belt on 
 
 Had scarcely more clothes than a bare legg'd Celt on 
 
 And worn-out shoes that had no welt on ; 
 
 Their uncomb'd heads with no morsel of felt on ; 
 
 Vile as the dust which begging they knelt on. 
 
 Henceforth learn to respect my weak point. Don't 
 gird me about Lord John Manners. 
 
 Bless thee, a million times, my sweet love. 
 
 Good-bye, 
 
 W. H. B. 
 
 63 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 Family skeletons. Tearing off a Knocker. A complacent lady. 
 A Diplomatic act. A speech by Brougham. Monckton Milnes' 
 kindness. A breakfast with Rogers. The Prince Consort. Alfred 
 Tennyson. First meeting with Carlyle. The Duke of Cambridge. 
 " Humphrey's Clock." Henley Regatta. Sterling Club. Emily 
 Tennyson's marriage. Dr. Pusey. Wedding Bells. 
 
 Jane O. Elton to W. H. Brookfield : 
 
 Southampton, 
 
 12 Jan., 41. 
 Dearest Mr. Brookfield, 
 
 Arthur and Edmund also Harry went to the 
 Soiree last night. On Friday Arthur is going to 
 Lymington to dine and sleep at Captain WilUs's (R.N.) 
 who has a cottage there, and to go to a ball at Mrs. 
 Hare's in the neighbourhood, which is to be rather 
 a grand affair, I believe. She happens to be a distant 
 cousin of ours, by name Reid, Grandpapa's mother 
 was a Miss Reid, and had a nephew also named Reid 
 whose wife was so obUging as to poison him with 
 arsenic thereby obtaining his property and marrying 
 a footman to whom she had long been attached. We 
 had an old trial cut out of a newspaper in the house 
 once, of Mrs. Reid for the murder of her husband, but 
 — very iniquitously — she was acquitted with 1,000 
 proofs against her. I believe she was pretty and 
 cried and fainted, and so the Judge was entirely 
 " melted " — ^but it was a crying shame, worse than 
 Mme. Laffarge, that she was not duly hanged for her 
 crimes. We had this trial till very lately (that is till 
 five years ago) but when I was 14, I very naturally 
 
 64 
 
A BLOT ON THE ESCUTCHEON 
 
 took a dislike to seeing this old record of family crime 
 lying about the house — and one evening burnt it ! 
 I thought poor Papa would have gone distracted when 
 told that this valued trial was burnt. " It is quite 
 rare — seldom to be met with, was given me by Richard 
 Smith* (a favourite of Papa's, a Bristol surgeon,) 
 I would not have lost it for £100/' etc., etc. Well, I 
 have told you a long story but you see by degrees 
 you become acquainted with all the " Blots " there 
 may be upon our " Family Escutcheon." I told you 
 the story of " Andrew or the Mysteries " not long ago, and 
 here I have given you another blot in the shape of 
 Mrs. Reid, of whom may be said " Oh ! no, we never 
 mention her, her name is never heard." 
 
 W. H. Brookfield to Miss Elton : 
 
 188 Piccadilly, 
 
 31 Jan., 41. 
 Dearest Jane, 
 
 You are so charmingly encouraging in the way 
 you speak of my most scurvy and hurried letters that 
 I sit down with perfectly reckless confidence though 
 I have not got a thing to say nor, if I was doing my 
 duty, a minute to say it in. 
 
 I had a letter from Trench this morning saying 
 that his boy died yesterday. When he wrote before 
 he spoke so certainly of his being close upon the article 
 of death that I repHed in the presumption that he must 
 be gone — ^which however was not the case. I am to 
 insert it in two or three of the papers. Poor Trench 
 says " you cannot guess what a gap he has left in our 
 household. He was a very, very dear little fellow." 
 
 Your kind story would have alarmed me but that 
 
 * This Richard Smith married a sister of Maria Edgeworth. 
 
 65 
 
 6— (2309) 
 
MRS. BROOKFIELD AND HER CIRCLE 
 
 on reflection, I think that from your Grandfather's 
 Mother's Nephew's Wife — down to your Grandfather's 
 Son's 8th daughter the anti-husband propensity has had 
 time and space to lose some of its active mahgnity. 
 But I should certainly make you taste anything of 
 the broth or cake or dumpling kind before I "partook" 
 of it myself — and should insist upon your being as 
 little as possible in the kitchen. But while I am able 
 to philosophize about Mrs. Burdock-Laffarge-Elton- 
 Reid I do not find it so easy to reconcile myself to this 
 progressively horrible development of family mysteries 
 which may end I know not where. First it is cautiously 
 communicated that Harry ran away from school. 
 Then when that has subsided that you have an Uncle 
 who plays upon the clarionet. Thirdly that "it is 
 already proved and will go near to be believed shortly" 
 (vide Dogberry) that the wife of a distant connexion 
 of the family was acquitted of poisoning her spouse. 
 I shall expect next to see part of the rope in which one 
 of you thought it would be very disagreeable to hang 
 herself. Do, dear Jenny, let me know the worst at 
 once instead of leaving one upon the rack of fearful 
 conjecture. 
 
 So you are getting lazy. There is no being angry 
 at this distance — but if I were at hand I would give 
 you such a scolding as should cure you for some time 
 at least. But, seriously, Jenny you must make effort. 
 Now just tell me your hours in your next. My 
 impression has been most favourable and most 
 agreeable as to your going on since I left last. I hope 
 it was well founded. I confess myself to dishking 
 the chin scrubbing on getting up — and have just begun 
 a compromise by getting through that part before 
 getting into bed. For the cold unmitigated tubbing 
 I do not fear it much — and approach the vast rigid 
 merciless looking pan of all but frozen water pretty 
 
 66 
 
TEARING OFF A KNOCKER 
 
 much as an old hardened thief goes to the gallows. 
 But I dare not resist either scrub or tub for fear of 
 losing the charm of habit. 
 
 To-night I go to an old college acquaintance, W. 
 Pearson, who married Lady Angela somebody — the 
 daughter of a disputed peer. 
 
 W. B. 
 
 Miss Elton to W. H. Brookfield : 
 
 Southampton, 
 
 Uth Jan., 41. 
 The noise of the carriages kept me awake half the 
 night, and at half -past eight I should still have been 
 catching up my lost sleep, but that I was awakened 
 by a " Hum " (as Papa would say) of men's voices out- 
 side the window, and looking out discovered Arthur 
 and Edmund in fits of laughter with five or six men 
 in fustian and an old woman surrounding them, 
 Arthur patting the foremost man on the shoulder in 
 the most familiar manner, and soothing him down, 
 while the woman was scolding in shrill tones. We 
 called up Edmund, eager for explanation, and found 
 they had left the Day's at 6 o'clock, with the two 
 Forrests and a party of other men among whom was 
 the illustrious Crewe Reid. They went in to smoke 
 cigars at a house in Bedford Place, the lodgings of one 
 of the party and on coming out, little Bagot could not 
 resist from tearing a knocker off a house near, upon 
 which the owner of the house, one Barnes, and his 
 wife, ran out after him, and Crewe fought, with him, 
 and Arthur ran to his assistance (Barnes being a power- 
 ful man) and knocked him down twice running, offering 
 the woman half-a-crown. Then Barnes followed him 
 and Edmund home, calling every stray workman they 
 passed to join him — so there was this little crowd 
 assembled outside the house. 
 
 67 
 
MRS. BROOKFIELD AND HER CIRCLE 
 
 All Barnes wanted was five shillings for the wrenched 
 knocker — which, as they had had nothing whatever 
 to do with taking it off, and Arthur has the utmost 
 horror of anything so ungentlemanly, was hard upon 
 them ; — however the little crowd seemed to take 
 their part, and joined in the laugh against Mr. Barnes, 
 who at length became exceedingly good humoured 
 and was fully pacified by half-a-crown. If I had 
 known how much room this prosy story would have 
 taken up I should not have added it to the list of 
 family delinquencies with which from time to time I 
 have enlightened your mind — I am not conscious of 
 any darker crimes to be revealed to you since my 
 narrative of Mrs. Reid — should any occur to me I 
 will furnish you with them to put you " au courant " 
 with our family. 
 
 I cannot give any good account of myself in respect 
 to early rising, and so tardy a history I should have 
 to write down, if I told you my hours, as you request, 
 that I rather shrink from it, however, one word in 
 self defence, I must say that until I grew wakeful at 
 night, I used to get up early (not at 7 but before 8). 
 
 W. H. Brookfield to Miss Elton : 
 
 188 Piccadilly, 
 
 18/«»., 1841. 
 My dearest Jane, 
 
 Sunday I got thro' my work uncommonly well 
 and without the slightest fatigue. It was a delightful 
 day — warm — comparatively at least and free from 
 rain. York Street Chapel was much fuller ; after 
 service a card was brought into the vestry — " Mrs. 
 Stockdale " — and I directed her to be shown in. In 
 came a stout, large eyed, very self complacent looking 
 widow of sixty. She talked with a sort of slow and 
 measured volubility peculiar to religious minds of 
 
 68 
 
MRS. STOCKDALE 
 
 a certain calibre and of uncertain — because infinite — 
 self conceit and affectation — and took a chair and 
 commencing with supposable apologies for the intru- 
 sion proceeded. " You mentioned, Sir, in your sermon 
 last Sunday that it was possible there might be those 
 present who, from their earliest recollection and from 
 the dawn of responsibility had walked in the main 
 uprightly before God, and who therefore needed no 
 conversion — but that in all probability such were 
 very few. And no doubt. Sir," she continued, "they 
 are very few ; but I thought. Sir, it might be a satis- 
 faction to you to have your conjecture confirmed — 
 that there were such present — and so I thought I 
 would venture to obtrude myself upon you to tell you 
 that you see before you one of that happy few. I 
 have always been as I am and cannot remember the 
 time when I was not a true servant of God ! ! ! " And 
 she proceeded to suggest that I should preach some 
 day upon purity of heart (Heaven knows what she 
 meant) and added that perhaps I had never in my 
 life addressed a person so happy as the one I was speak- 
 ing with nor one who had known so many trials. 
 
 In the afternoon I preached for the Queen's letter.* 
 The congregation was very good — and collection £29. 
 Gifford had got £39 in the morning. Ward had 
 hinted that he did not wish me to pump much, so I 
 did not. I gave one of the most unpretending sermons 
 that I had. 
 
 Ward told me yesterday that a Lady had asked 
 him if I was not an imitator of Newman — he said he 
 believed not (assigning some reason which I don't 
 remember) and he added, in relating it to me, that the 
 idea was suggested no doubt by the plainness of my 
 
 * This was an appeal written by the Queen for funds for the 
 enlarging and building of Churches. 
 
 69 
 
 iiW 
 
 ^0^"^ 
 
MRS. BROOKFIELD AND HER CIRCLE 
 
 sermons — which I thought a comphment. At night 
 H. Bullar and I walked as far as my Brothers. On 
 our way we looked into an Evangelical Chapel where 
 a Missionary Sermon was going on, and we heard the 
 preacher (in entire good faith) refer to the pious rejec- 
 tion of human strength and the true Christian wisdom 
 of Lord William Bentinck, when Governor-General 
 of India, in reference to a certain apphcation made 
 to him by some Wesleyan Missionaries. They waited 
 upon him to express their high sense of his kindness 
 and to ask him to advise government to aid their 
 schemes to convert the natives. He replied (as the 
 preacher said, with such pious feeling — but as you 
 will see with the sly double meaning of an old diplo- 
 matist) " Why, gentlemen, if I might give you my 
 humble opinion I should advise you to leave this work 
 to the pious missionary and instead of calling in the 
 secular arm let us procure more of such devoted 
 individuals as I have the honour to address." They 
 retired highly delighted. He knew — ^the old fox — 
 that those " individuals " would never do much good 
 or mischief — and he dismissed them more gratified 
 by his refusal to call on government to interfere 
 (remember they were sectarians) than if their object 
 had been answered. 
 
 I cannot delay to say how much pleased I am at 
 your speaking of yourself as happier and more cheer- 
 ful of late and attributing this to your having exercised 
 more endeavour to improve. Be sure that this is the 
 right principle. Endeavour, Endeavour, Endeavour, 
 and you certainly will be successful and happy in 
 proportion: — always assuming that such endeavour 
 is in a right spirit of dependence upon a higher strength 
 — as hearty and honest and steadfast as it is humble ; 
 and as humble and dependent upon God as it is hearty 
 and honest and steadfast. 
 
 70 
 
AT WINCHESTER 
 
 I do heartily trust that you will experience much 
 more of this, and bring your body and your mind into 
 regular disciphne and be certain that the effect wall 
 not be lost upon either. I have but a few moments 
 left, — and must bid you good bye. Pray tell Arthur 
 about Stockdale and the Governor Genered. Lord 
 Canada is the eldest son of Earl of Sterhng, and the 
 latter is a Mr. Alexander who claims the peerage and 
 calls himself by the title : but in some trial that occurred 
 there transpired something not creditable to him — 
 but I do not accurately know what. 
 
 Bless you dearest, 
 
 W. H. B. 
 
 Miss Elton to W. H. Brookfield : 
 
 Winchester, 
 
 19th January, 1841. 
 My dearest WUham, 
 
 Yesterday dined here Mr. D., a banker of Winches- 
 ter and his wife, a pretty woman with a great quantity 
 of ringlets and of shoulder to be seen, and who keeps 
 a list of everywhere the hounds meet for each day in 
 the week, and talks of horses incessantly just Uke a 
 man — ^the whole of dinner yesterday was a repetition of 
 the morning's hunting. Arthur and I sat by bewUdered 
 — at least I was, I suppose he was more used to hearing 
 horses talked of as if they were rational, I mean human 
 beings ; and every shghtest joke about so much mud 
 on boots or how fast the fox ran received with peals 
 of laughter as if it had been the most brilliant sally 
 of wit. How dreadfully it would degenerate all one's 
 perceptions for what is clever or witty or good, if one 
 was forced for all one's Ufe to live with beings content 
 with such Uves and such conversations — ^really that 
 woman was quite enough to disgust one with women 
 entirely ; she did not seem even to have read a novel, 
 
 71 
 
MRS. BROOKFIELD AND HER CIRCLE 
 
 but to have her whole mind engrossed in horses with 
 a lucid interval of worsted work and gardening, and 
 they talked of flowers as a change in the evening just 
 as vehemently as if they had souls as weU as their 
 pretty little exteriors. 
 
 I have just sent Arthur and Maria into fits of laugh- 
 ter over Mrs. Stockdale, and also amused Arthur with 
 the Missionaries. He begs me to ask you whether it 
 is not possible the Widow Stockdale was a man dressed 
 up by way of a hoax to pretend this self sufficiency 
 or whether you are sure she was not intoxicated as 
 he can't believe it possible any human being could 
 deceive herself to such a degree. 
 
 W. H. Brookfield to Miss Elton : 
 
 188 Piccadilly, 
 
 23 Jan., 41. 
 Dearest, 
 
 It was only the neatness of the letter I got from 
 you yesterday morning which saved you from a scold- 
 ing for the blackguard sluttishness of its immediate 
 precursor — though I admit that even that was very 
 charming and witty in spite of its entire contempt of 
 orthography, etymology, syntax and prosody. I re- 
 member how vastly you improved under my premoni- 
 tions about 3 months ago — and I fancied on looking 
 at your shameful scrawl that time had arrived for 
 another jobation — as they spur horses now and then 
 (not incessantly) just to keep them in mind that they 
 have a rider. I was a good deal melted, however, by 
 the reflection that after all the letter in question was 
 quite a free gift ; written in a cold room, and as be- 
 witchingly pleasant as it was disgracefully slovenly. 
 The next day's letter, however, with its commendable 
 neatness entirely dissipated all hostile intention and 
 
 72 
 
LIFE IN LONDON 
 
 1 resolved to say nothing about the matter, and 
 consequently have said nothing about it ! ! ! ! ! 
 
 I amuse myself with thinking how dehghtfuUy 
 jealous you will be all this evening while I am dining 
 with Mrs. D., my old flirt ! ! ! Yes — I shall be there — 
 most hkely sit next her— say very, very pretty things 
 to her. Seriously I think you wiU be rather uncom- 
 fortable ! And thou shalt know how sharper than a 
 maggot's tooth it is to have a faithless love ! You know 
 she is really very pretty and " lights up " like a lustre 
 — and has such winning ways ! Ah, Jenny, sweet 
 child — they must have loveliness indeed to win the 
 eye even from your outward and poorest loveliness 
 — and winning ways they must possess that could 
 charm one's heart into forgetting your fond con- 
 fiding affectionate nature — I never see any slightest 
 approach to you in head or heart ; and I feel it a sort 
 of wrong to you to commend your beauty when praises 
 so much more honourable are your due. I fear when 
 my letters come to be printed in a breach of promise 
 case I shall be thought a great fool. 
 
 When I called at D.'s on Thursday, I was shown 
 up to the drawing room where were Dick and Mrs. D., 
 I flourished away rather perhaps in my old style — 
 such as " well, I am the-e-e happiest man in the world 
 to be let in," etc., etc. There was all along one side 
 of the room a huge bookcase with pink silk puckered 
 fronting (Uke a piano) protected by squares of glass 
 hke 500 other bookcases. In the midst of my viva- 
 cious gallantry the bookcase suddenly opened and 
 forth issued — not a volume of the Encyclopaedia 
 Britannica but Mr. D. himself — the bookcase was 
 false and only a folding door to the next room. " Good 
 gracious," I cried in alarm, " you have not been behind 
 the arras aU this while." " Yes, indade I have, and 
 I haired every wurrd ye sade." 
 
 73 
 
MRS. BROOKFIELD AND HER CIRCLE 
 
 The overture of my flirtation having so narrowly 
 escaped being eminently perilous I think Jenny you 
 are secure that the play itself wiU be kept in abeyance. 
 
 You never saw such a set of soul withering cats 
 as were at O.'s the other night — one pretty face and 
 only one. But you know " I am spoil' d for pretty 
 faces." Indeed, I have never seen a person at all 
 completely pretty since I came to London. The 
 Brides are all as plain as the way to the Parish Church— 
 the Bridesmaids rather better — but stiU disgracefully 
 hideous ; I married a bhnd man the other day and 
 thought of Walpole. By the bye I have never received 
 
 from Lord O the dibs that he owes me for that 
 
 precious charge.* 
 
 Now, good-bye. Sometimes I am in good will for 
 writing but with no creative humour. Sometimes 
 in brighter humour but no wiU to write. Sometimes 
 both, sometimes neither, to-day I think the case has 
 been the first mentioned. However, I am secure 
 of an affectionate reception so — 
 
 " Once more I bid you gentlemen good night." 
 
 Vale dulcissime — dilectissime — desideratissime . 
 
 W. H. Brookfield to Miss Elton : 
 
 188 Piccadilly, 
 
 27 Jan., 41. 
 Immediately after dispatching your letter Monday 
 Lord Lyttelton came into my room and I forthwith 
 ordered a dish of Beefsteak from the Albany " Restau- 
 rant " close by, to this was added a pot of porter, 
 bottle of Madeira, cheese and incidentals — ^but no sweet 
 —no fish— no dessert, and the Peer and the Curate dined 
 very contentedly. I had vowed to myself to have 
 
 * For some time in Southampton Mr. Brookfield had Lord Orford's 
 son under his charge. 
 
 74 
 
THE HOUSE OF LORDS 
 
 nothing fcr dinner but a "Meat Tea" in cure for my 
 cold, and tea things were actually on the table when 
 beefsteak and porter pot appeared. The latter, how- 
 ever, was too much for my gratitude — tea pot retired — 
 pewter pot advanced with flying colours — sugar and 
 tongs slung back into their caddy — milk jug — cups — 
 spoons were routed in pell mell as Madeira marched 
 forward like a stately grenadier. Ah ! but Jenny, 
 when was such battle ever waged and the country 
 where it was fought en suffered not. The consequence 
 was a wakeful coughing night followed by a sore throat 
 coughing day, which has torn one lobe of my lungs 
 into ribbons which I will send you to wear at your 
 next soiree, for they are no use to me now. I simply 
 deserved whipping — not Uke a mischievous graceless 
 boy — (who often has more grace in him than the 
 whipper) but like a downright fool. Whenever I 
 upbraid you with anything henceforth say to me no 
 more than " Beefsteak and Porter Pot " — and then go 
 mend you of your own fault. 
 
 Next day Henry came and dined with me at four 
 in order to accompany me to the House of Lords to 
 hear the debate on the address. This time I stuck 
 to tea. We heard the address most dully moved and 
 seconded by Lords Ducie and Lurgan — the latter 
 excessively tedious — ^it was like four sermons tied end 
 to end like sausages — excepting in savouriness. Then 
 came Brougham, who gave us an hour's speech, 
 some of it twaddle — some of it blarney — but then it 
 was like nobody else's twaddle or blarney. And now 
 I can partly understand why some people can listen 
 to the sermons of some preachers with so much pleasure 
 as they profess while I see no merit in them. It is 
 that they are not sufficiently acquainted with the 
 subject matter to criticise the sense of what is said — 
 and the manner of its delivery is the charm. So it 
 
 75 
 
MRS. BROOKFIELD AND HER CIRCLE 
 
 was with me listening to Brougham. I knew nothing 
 ■of the merits of the question — ^but his manner was 
 almost perfect. Lord Melbourne followed and then 
 the Duke of Wellington — and soon after 9 all was over. 
 
 Wm. Wilberforce (the eldest Brother) called on 
 me yesterday and I returned it to-day. He and his 
 wife you know were always very kind to me. 
 
 Miss Elton to W. H. Brookfield : 
 
 Southampton, 
 
 28 Jan., 41. 
 
 Poor Simpson has been dangerously ill but is 
 getting better I am glad to say (of course we have been 
 ■dutiful in enquiries at the door after him) — ^but mark 
 •one thing — his first attack came on by over indulgence 
 in eating lobster salad, and a relapse which he had 
 the other day, was brought on by taking coffee, though 
 expressly forbidden by the doctors, and though he 
 knew it was bad for him (his wife gave it to him, being 
 unable to resist his wishes for anything) therefore I 
 mention this, my dear, to point a moral and adorn a 
 tale with regard to the Porter and Beef. We have a 
 kind of moral, unevangelical, religious novel in the 
 house now, in two vols. ; " Modern Accomplishments " 
 and " Modern Society," unnatural and sometimes under- 
 bred but very amusing — don't give me a pulpit frown 
 and recommend a more useful book. I think " Lord 
 John's " Boudoir or himself cajoled you into reading 
 Henry of Guise the other day ? — and it is now a long 
 time since I read a novel. The " Flirt " was my last. 
 
 Arthur begs me to ask you candidly whether you 
 can agree with me in calling Fanny WilUs's mind 
 "rather above par," or whether you do not think her 
 name requires to be written "fanny willis" upon the 
 plan of your small o's to oxford (which idea amused 
 
 76 
 
CARLYLE AND CAPITALS 
 
 him very much). I write down this question as he 
 desires me, though I think her too good natured and 
 too kindly disposed to be cut up. I was rather pro- 
 voked with her for quarrelling with Carlyle (a volume 
 of which I was profligate enough to lend her) — because, 
 first of all, of " the enormous number of Capital letters 
 that he uses — so very many capital letters — really 
 so very many capital letters — did not you find it annoy 
 you excessively, Jane ? I did to a very great extent." 
 Can anything be more tiresome than being forced tcr 
 believe that any one would so far separate words and 
 letters from sense, in a reaUy interesting book and not 
 perceive how every Capital letter Carlyle uses is for a 
 purpose, to give prominency or greater importance to- 
 the word it belongs to, or some other reason. 
 
 Miss Elton to W. H. Brookfield : 
 
 11 Feb., 41. 
 I was momentarily softened towards " dear Joe "^ 
 by your flatteries repeated to me — but then — " when 
 I reflect "(Fagin in the condemned cell) upon the way, 
 the cruel way in which dear Joe turned aside from my 
 admiring and wistful gaze to meet the brilliancy of 
 CaroUne's gay fragments from the Beau monde which 
 she poured ceaselessly forth to him, only interspersed 
 with the duties of her office as sitter at the head of 
 the table. " Ah yes, so Rogers told me — Rogers said — 
 Fish sauce, Mr. Bullar ? — Rogers said — and indeed so 
 did Sydney — Sydney Smith, that the Queen, you know, 
 has been so dreadfully maligned. There ought to be 
 stuffing, Mr. Bullar, pray look for some. Yes, I met 
 Wordsworth at the lakes and thought him very dis- 
 agreeable — very disagreeable I own. I was at the 
 lakes with my uncle, Mr. Hallam (!) Oh, Mr. Words- 
 worth only talked of himself I thought — don't you. 
 
 77 
 
MRS. BROOKFIELD AND HER CIRCLE 
 
 drink Porter, Mr. Bullar ?* A glass of Porter for 
 Mr. Bullar. That reminds me that Rogers, etc. — I 
 am very fond of Mr. Rogers — Rogers the poet, pleasant 
 breakfasts, I often go there when I'm in town — with 
 the R-R-R-Romillys, or indeed when I'm with Mrs. 
 Wickham, my cousin Mrs. Wickham. Oh, you meet 
 all the clever people at Rogers' sss breakfasts, etc., etc. 
 I should call the Queen pretty, oh, decidedly pretty, 
 she asked Rogers (the poet) what he thought of Prince 
 Albert, and Rogers answered ' He is good looking and 
 looks good.' Rogers told me this himself ! " Joe, I 
 thought, seemed amused by it — altogether. But, my 
 dear, sweet, honoured, darling, respected Brookfield 
 what do you think happened to me yesterday ? 
 
 I CALLED ON AnNE ! ! ! 
 
 W. H. Brookfield to Miss Elton : 
 
 188 Piccadilly, 
 
 2 March, 41. 
 Dear Jane, 
 
 Your letter was overweight. That it was not 
 •discovered at the Post Office only proves that one fool 
 makes many. You had used thicker paper than usual 
 and fancied it weighed none the heavier — as perchance 
 you think yourself no heavier than my beloved Anne ! 
 Dearest Jinks, 
 
 I must get off with what fopperies I can from 
 writing a long letter to-day — for I am intending to 
 go to Greenwich. Your letter this morning made ample 
 amend for the scrubbiness of its antecedent — neatly 
 written — clever and delicious. 
 
 * The Bullars were a family of Southampton, close friends both 
 ■of the Brookfields and Thackerays. They are often mentioned 
 in Mr. Thackeray's letters to Mrs. Brookfield. 
 
 78 
 
SAMUEL ROGERS 
 
 I will answer your urgent enquiries as to my opin- 
 ion how far £800 a year wiU go when I see you next 
 week. 
 
 Milnes took me last Saturday Evening to a vast 
 soiree at Lord Northampton's. He is President of 
 the Royal Society, and gives these Levees during the 
 season to grandees and Literati. Many people were 
 in court dresses — deputy Lieutenants' uniforms and 
 so on. Three Bishops were there, Bobby Peel, Sir 
 James Graham, and a thousand starry peers. I was 
 introduced to Bishop of St. David's and to Lord 
 Monteagle. 
 
 On Thursday morning next — oh, where is Caroline ? 
 I breakfast — where ? ? ? ? ? 
 
 At the BurUngton ? No. At Lord Lansdowne's ? 
 Pooh ! With J NO ? Pshaw ! 
 
 Upon Perigord pie and omelette aux fines herbes ? 
 Du tout ! With Lord John ? When ! Bishop of 
 St. David's. Nein ! With Prince Albert ? Pish ! 
 With Rogers ? I can hardly frame my guessing lips 
 to utter — Yes ! 
 
 I hope he wiU " behave well " — that is that he will 
 not pick his teeth with my fork, etc. 
 
 It is Milnes' doing. I found his card on my table 
 yesterday morning " I have arranged for you to break- 
 fast with Rogers on Thursday, and I hope it wiU suit 
 you." It is extremely kind in Milnes, he always has 
 acted in this manner to me, and so very voluntarily. 
 
 In the evening, yesterday, Spedding, Venables, 
 Chapman, and Harry Lushington — all good men and 
 true took their tea and baccy with me. I really beg 
 pardon for this letter. Yours this morning was 
 premiere qualite. 
 
 Ever, 
 
 W.H.B. 
 
 79 
 
MRS. BROOKFIELD AND HER CIRCLE 
 
 Miss Elton to W. H. Brookfield : 
 
 Southampton, 
 3rd March, 41. 
 Dearest love, 
 
 It took me a long time, that is, till I came to the 
 4th or 5th reading over of your letter of to-day, before 
 I discovered the reason of my being honoured with 
 best, superfinest, satinest, giltest, thickest, postest 
 paper — ^instead of the ugly Uttle set of old-fashioned 
 ruled account-book leaves, on which you generally 
 write (and which, however, I become intensely used to 
 and fond of), but when I put things together, and began 
 to reflect, a hght flashed upon me, for how could 
 
 you answer all these invitations from R d 
 
 M n M s. And Lord J . . n (By the 
 
 the bye you think it disrespectful to abbreviate his 
 name) upon old copy book paper ? of course it was 
 out of the question, and that gilt edged piece on 
 which you commenced your letter of this morning 
 must be but a scrap off a quire bought expressly for 
 the purpose of answering and giving out invitations. 
 I shall sing to you, at length " They tell me thou'rt 
 the favoured guest of every fair and brilUant throng. 
 No wit Uke thine to wake the jest, no voice Uke thine 
 to breathe the song. And none could guess, so gay, 
 thou art. That thou and I, are far apart " — ^proceeding 
 you know, with " Do I thus haste to haU and bower. 
 Among the Proud and Gay to shine " — Etcetera, 
 etcetera, etcetera — (I could not stop short in my 
 quotation, for I sang it you see, in my mind, as I wrote 
 it !) I was dehghted with your letter of to-day, my 
 darling — rejoiced you are to be elected to the inestima- 
 ble privilege of " the favoured few," a breakfast with 
 Rogers, your anticipations before pronouncing whose 
 name, exceedingly amused me. There is nothing in 
 the world to tell you, here dulhty reigns around me — 
 
 8o 
 
PREACHER AT TENISON'S 
 
 with an exception of yesterday evening when my dear 
 " Anne " dined here ! We kissed at parting. Need I 
 say more ? Maria having heard of you being appointed 
 to Tenison's, wrote to me in the greatest dehght, 
 desiring her warmest congratulations to you, and beg- 
 ging me to tell her in confidence, what our plans were, 
 and that she would reveal nothing till we wished, and 
 so on — taking quite for granted that you would im- 
 mediately intend marrying. However, I am not fool- 
 ish enough to be thinking seriously of this, because 
 I think you would have mentioned it if you thought 
 it feasible. When you once say it is impossible, I shall 
 think no more about it — at least, I will try not to think 
 of it. Still, if one could do it, it would be far happier 
 even living in the greatest poverty with you than as 
 we are now — ^perhaps it may, be different with a man — 
 and especially with you — who are so strong minded, 
 but it is very miserable to live away from one another. 
 I don't know how all this about marrying looks, 
 coming after your opinion as to £800 a year ! — but I 
 suppose you meant to make exceptions in individual 
 cases ? 
 
 We have a little overhanging box to contain three 
 — in the gallery of St. Paul's Church, very uncom- 
 fortable ; but Papa having taken such a fancy to Mr. 
 Hulton, fihal piety demanded a seat to be provided 
 for him — meantime we were promised part of the 
 Ayscough's pew at All Saints', so gave up the square 
 side aisle one. But the Ayscoughs have all come back 
 and taken possession of theirs again, so I wander up 
 and down the Church, pew doors flying open to me 
 of kind-hearted strangers. 
 
 Forgive this letter, the very Quintessence of 
 prosiness. And believe me. 
 
 Yours eternally, 
 
 Jane Elton. 
 8i 
 
 7— (2309) 
 
MRS. BROOKFIELD AND HER CIRCLE 
 
 What a ridiculously good memory you have — 
 how should you remember " Rogers behaved very well." 
 Your very amusing letter (though it was hurried) 
 deserves a much More Jovial and entertaining repartee 
 on my part — but, etc. 
 
 W. H. Brookfield to Miss Elton : 
 
 188 Piccadilly, 
 
 4 March, 41. 
 Dearest Jane, 
 
 The Bishop of London has sent me a card for 
 Dinner on Monday — but I dechned on the plea of being 
 engaged to be in Southampton. I dined with the Dean 
 of Salisbury — met Sir George Staunton and Sir Benj. 
 Brodie. This morning went to Rogers — only Milnes 
 and C. BuUer (M.P. for Liskeard) there. Certainly 
 it was exceedingly pleasant. The old man very, very 
 agreeably talkative, and sa5dng very good things of 
 his own and repeating those of others. I am to go 
 there again on the same Muffin-eating errand on Satur- 
 day. I called afterward on Mrs. Chambers, Mother 
 of poor Charlie Chambers, of the Rifles, who died some 
 time ago to her immense desolation. She is a lady of 
 some consideration on the border of Yorkshire — and 
 was always flattering to me. She rather startled my 
 modesty by saying " I hope, my dear Brookfield, you 
 won't let them make a lion of you like Sydney Smith. 
 I was always anxious you should come to London, 
 but I was always a little apprehensive of you being 
 too social." She told me they had been three times in 
 rciin to St. James', and had first heard of my being in 
 London from somebody in the foreign office who had 
 been very much struck by "A Mr. Brookfield." We 
 must try if we can't change that A into a definite. 
 
 I thought I had an inordinate deal to say before 
 I began writing — but I don't know why it somehow 
 
 82 
 
LADY BRUCE 
 
 ■does not come. Perhaps it is a consciousness that I 
 shall see and feel and talk with you so soon that 
 prevents the needful effort of the mind 
 Good-bye, Friday ! Saturday ! Sunday 
 
 Always 
 
 W.H.B. 
 
 W. H. Brookfield to Miss Elton : 
 
 188 Piccadilly, 
 
 22 March, 41. 
 Dearest Jenny, 
 
 Talking of pretty girls, what do you think ? 
 Last Wednesday I saw come into Church a set of tall 
 striking looking people in new mourning (new — 
 because on Ash Wednesday I had seen part of the same 
 family in colours) ; one lady amongst them I could not 
 help being caught by more than the rest — enquired 
 of Ward as to who they could be — nothing could be 
 learned but that they came in a Coronetted Carriage. 
 Yesterday afternoon from the pulpit I saw the same 
 family — the same remarkable face — could not ascer- 
 tain who it was. It had some kindred to your own — 
 but had less vitahty — ^less soul — less capability for 
 either laughter or tears — but withal a sweet face of 
 the unimpassioned order. I had forgotten the face 
 and its owner and all the family of mourners. To-day 
 I called on the Dean of Salisbury — who happened to 
 say, " I was glad to see Lord Bruce and Sidney Herbert 
 at Church on Wednesday." The face was Lady Mary's 
 i.e. Lady Bruce's now.* 
 
 I began yesterday at Tenison's — the congregation 
 seemed pretty large, and I was sufficiently happy and 
 
 * When he next saw this lady he says he was so much struck 
 by her resemblance to his fiancee that he " was tempted to throw 
 the pulpit cushion at her." 
 
 83 
 
MRS. BROOKFIELD AND HER CIRCLE 
 
 unembarrassed. My sermon was about the ups and 
 downs of Joseph's hfe — being appropriate to the first 
 lesson of the day — but I had nothing personal about 
 myself. Knowing, however, that they had all a double 
 supply of Cambric I thought it necessary to be pathetic 
 about the Hebrew Prime Minister of Egypt yearning 
 after the scenes of boyhood in Canaan, which called, 
 forth abundant blowing of noses. To-morrow I am 
 to dine with Dean of Salisbury quite quietly, and to 
 meet the Bishop of Chester — Arthur's friend. I 
 never dined easy and in the friendly way in company 
 with an apron before. 
 
 W. H. Brookfield to Miss Elton : 
 
 188 Piccadilly, 
 
 24 March, 41. 
 Sweet Junk, 
 
 Very pleasant was your letter — and I think you 
 have gained a Uttle in piquancy by being just a httle 
 bit vaccinated with Carlyle. 
 
 At the Dean's last night all was evangelical — I sate 
 next Chester. But, oh ! how thin, affected, self-con- 
 ceited, canting, unreal, narrow-hearted was all the talk. 
 How different from the morning's breakfast. I after 
 the dinner, went to Spedding's. It is very true that 
 you sent me one stamp — but you are aware that when 
 the overweight is not prepaid, it is doubled — so that 
 your letter cost me twopence. Twopence, Twopence, 
 — for which one Victoria is but a paltry payment. — 
 You owe me a label. 
 
 My sweet darhng, it will be your birthday to-morrow,, 
 and it ought to be the most lovely festival accord- 
 ing to old Catholic notions in the year. It sounds 
 nice " Our Lady's Day." I am sorry I have no pretty 
 surprise of a book for you — but you shall have your 
 
 84 
 
BIRTHDAY GREETINGS 
 
 bracelet'. God bless you. May you be as much more 
 dear to me next birthday as you now are than last — 
 and enjoy all health of body and peace of mind. 
 Good bye thou sweet soul 
 
 Ever more thine, 
 W. H. B. 
 
 W. H. Brookfield to Miss Elton 
 
 188 Piccadilly, 
 
 25 March, 41. 
 
 Our Lady's Day. 
 Sweetest Lady, 
 
 I must write a few words, tho' never so hasty, so 
 shabby, so pithless. Yet I can say nothing that I 
 Avish to say. It is difficult to utter what lies deep — 
 and cannot be done in such hurry as I am (now almost 
 always) placed in. The day is as beautiful as day can 
 be, and is hallowed to me by the sweetest and sacredest 
 of all human appreciations. I wish I could see you. 
 You must make our honoured sire to understand that 
 being in the same room with the prince on Saturday 
 AviU be much like being in the same Church with him. 
 We shall be 3 or 400 most likely — and I the most insigni- 
 ficant. It is something to be the most anything. I 
 was reading No. 90 (the Oxford Tract which is making 
 such a row just now on account of its alleged hetero- 
 doxy) in bed this morning and came to the following 
 extract from a Father (not yours) as to what " The 
 Church " is. " The Church is the congregation of All 
 Saints." I should think Shaddy* will subscribe to 
 this. I have but a moment left — but if it were the last 
 of my Ufe I must give you my sweetest, dearest Jenny 
 10,000 blessings on this day above all others. Don't 
 mope about being a year older. You are a year dearer 
 
 * Rev. Mr. Shadwell — ^his late rector at All Saints', Southampton. 
 
 85 
 
MRS. BROOKFIELD AND HER CIRCLE 
 
 to me — and even if you do not improve as much as 
 you have done in the last 12 months will continue to 
 grow dearer to me. God bless you — and both of us, 
 and help us in all things — and chiefly in our efforts 
 to become worthier of Him and of each other. Bless 
 you my dearest, sweetest lamb — much loved and 
 really — most really much honoured also. Farewell. 
 
 Yours, 
 
 W. H.B. 
 
 W. H. Brookfield to Miss Elton : 
 
 188 Piccadilly, 
 
 2Q March, 1841. 
 Dearest Jane, 
 
 In the morning " at the late lamented Arch- 
 bishop Tenison's (as you charmingly called ' our 
 benefactor')" I preached the sermon you wrote out 
 for me from that remarkable old man's remarkable 
 MSS. You had written it most legibly, and with 
 scarcely a fault. I cut out several pages — and inserted 
 a few paragraphs of my own " to give it an air " — and 
 it came oil exceedingly well. 
 
 Saturday evening I was at the P. R. S. soiree. 
 The Prince there — ^looking certainly very nice. Dressed 
 in plain black, very nicely made. White waistcoat, 
 a good deal open in front. White cravat without 
 collars. Broad blue Ribbon across his chest over the 
 waistcoat — hair most neatly parted — altogether look- 
 ing fresh from the band-box — but mild, good natured, 
 unaffected ; in short decidedly nice looking. There 
 were many notables there — but it was not so smart 
 as on the former evening inasmuch as people were 
 all in plain clothes this time — there having been no 
 dress levee going on anywhere else from which people 
 came all in their gaudy as was the case before. 
 
 86 
 
ALBUM VERSES 
 
 I was in the National Gallery this noon alone for 
 a few minutes when in rolled Alfred Tennyson (the 
 present representation of the most reverend prelate) 
 We coalesced and evaporated. He spake of your 
 sire — how he hked him and all that. How he could 
 not help contrasting him with Mr. Hallam, whom 
 he honoured and respected as much as he could honour 
 and respect mortal man, " but he had not the geniaUty 
 of our dear charming altogether unequalled and un- 
 resembled patriarch." I think you have judged 
 wisely to have Southey — it is a very nice book — and 
 wiU lead you to read at any rate a Uttle of some old 
 poets that otherwise might have never come under 
 your notice. 
 
 I have not time to write more. I write by this 
 post the lines which I promised to Kitty. I enclose 
 you a copy. They are not meant to be very striking — 
 merely compact and true. But ask your Governor what 
 he thinks — and Don't encourage him to praise them. 
 
 I. 
 
 The voice that ask'd this simple boon 
 Must cease kind things to grant or crave ; 
 
 The grateful hand that writes wiU soon 
 Be passive in the grave. 
 
 II. 
 
 These lines design'd forsooth ! to last 
 ^\'hen hand and voice are gone away, 
 
 Will to oblivion's void have passed 
 Quicklier e'en than they. 
 
 III. 
 
 But thoughts in pure goodwill that flow 
 From soul to soul unfeigning given, 
 ^ Transplanted hence for age shall grow 
 
 The Amaranths of Heaven. 
 87 
 
MRS. BROOKFIELD AND HER CIRCLE 
 
 Miss Elton to W. H. Brookfield : 
 
 30 March, 1841. 
 Papa was much interested in your very satisfactory 
 description of the Prince. His admiration of your 
 verses did not, I own, come up to my own, in short 
 I felt rather piqued, at what perhaps you will (in 
 your humility) be satisfied with. " Very neat — yes, 
 they are pretty lines, — very fair, but I don't hke the 
 word Amaranth." Papa was pleased with Alfred 
 Tennyson's comparison, which I ventured to read to 
 him. Was I wrong ? 
 
 W. H. Brookfield to Miss Elton : 
 
 188 Piccadilly, 
 
 2 April, 1841. 
 Mild Jane, 
 
 I thought your father's mitigated praise of the 
 verses the outside of what they deserved. I was 
 afraid they had no merits at all but the negative one 
 of not being longer. — Yesterday was rather eventful 
 with me. I was off duty (being 1st of the month) 
 and was at Milnes' with my legs over the arm of a 
 chair reading aloud while he breakfasted when in stepped 
 impromptu : The Prince ? — Arthur ? — t ? — Alfred 
 Tennyson ? — Archbishop ditto ? No, No, No : 
 Father Gerard solid in his thick shoes ? — nearer — 
 Carlyle ! The form of his face is like that portrait 
 of Count d'Orsay's you have seen. But complexion 
 very coarse — and general appearance " solid in thick 
 shoes." As tail as I about — and certainly no less un- 
 gainly — a hearty laugher with discoloured teeth — 
 very broad Scotch — talks not unlike his writing — un- 
 reserved — unaffected, of course — a leetle shy and 
 awkward — but very Ukeable. We went thence, all 
 three, to Rogers' to call — found pretty ladies 
 
 88 
 
Thomas Carlyle, 
 
 From the drawing by Daniel Maclhe, R.A. 
 

 rj/iinnri-i (['aU^Me^, 
 
" A BUMP OF BENEVOLENCE " 
 
 breakfasting with him — also Harness, the Editor 
 of the Shakespeare you gave me. To him I was 
 introduced, he said he had heard of me. I have 
 been to-day hcensed to my Curacy. — Now, 
 
 and til deth, 
 
 W. H. B. 
 
 Miss Elton to W. H. Brookfield : 
 
 Southampton, 
 
 Qth April. 
 My darling love. 
 
 Your most kind and most delicious letter gave me 
 a great deal more pleasure than I can tell you and so 
 — I will not even thank you for it. I am gratified to 
 observe that you are completely conscience stricken 
 as to the utter inappropriateness of the epithet 
 " Jumps " as applied to me, and that you prudently 
 abstain from any attempt at vindication of the same. 
 Your defence of Mumbo Jumbo appears plausible, 
 and was rendered palatable by the seriousness which 
 was combined in the ingenuity of the defence. But 
 you must remember that this Mumbo Jumbo — as 
 represented probably in an immense wooden and 
 painted image, is the most hideous object that the 
 fancy of the poor swarthy worshippers could picture, 
 an object at once awe-inspiring and imposing. Don't 
 suppose I have read Carlyle, without knowing what 
 the words meant (by the bye, and in Justful wrath, I 
 xnay remark) they head a chapter on one of the Jubilee 
 days, at Paris — I think. Mrs. Arthur begged to see 
 Papa yesterday, and of course threw him into a per- 
 plexed state of half submission to her, owing to his 
 " Enormous bump of benevolence " (which Alfred 
 Tennyson said would lead him into so many foolish 
 things.) 
 
 89 
 
MRS. BROOKFIELD AND HER CIRCLE 
 
 April 5th, 1841. [Diary.] 
 
 In the afternoon the Bishop preached, and Ward 
 read, I took Baptisms afterwards. The Duke of 
 Cambridge was there to hear the Bishop, and sate in 
 the pew before me. Such a noise as he made in re- 
 sponses, psalm reading and singing, a sort of old Wal- 
 pole with eyes. I had not caught what psalm the 
 clerk had given out, and turning to look on my neigh- 
 bour's book for the page — fidgetty, restless. Royal 
 Highness turns round and bawls loud enough to drown 
 the organ, " It begins at the third verse — ^the third 
 verse." All eyes turned on Royalty speaking to in- 
 ferior clergy. I turned red as a raddish. Royalty 
 went on singing like a bull. 
 
 Miss Elton to W. H. Brookfield : 
 
 Southampton, 
 
 11 April, 1841. 
 My dear love, 
 
 I told you I should write again to-day, so I keep 
 my promise, though, having virtuously spent the time 
 I might have been writing to you in catechising 3 
 youths, Kate's proteges, who arrive just the same, 
 although she is out dinmg with the Duo in the Crescent 
 — and it appears one's duty to prevent their having 
 their walk for nothing. AU I have to teU you to-day 
 is merely this — Caroline says of Alfred Tennyson (who 
 has been at Tunbridge — ) " very far from handsome, 
 and his hair quite disturbed me — but after the first 
 sight I like him — he is agreeable and clever." I 
 wouldn't cut his hair for worlds — would you ? I went 
 to Church in a new boot lace to-day, for luck. Yester- 
 day I called on the Ogles, who were very kind and 
 
 go 
 
ULTRA-EVANGELICALS 
 
 gave me some lovely flowers and Kitty showed me a 
 black profile of the Gentleman she was once engaged 
 to. Also she made me eat a piece of bread and some 
 potted lampreys ! She kissed me, and told me my 
 upper lip was " one of the rare specimens of the Cupid 
 bow shape ! " — quite Gallant ; praised you, of course. 
 
 19th. [Diary.J 
 
 To-day I am going to dine with some ultra-ultra- 
 ultra evangelicals of aunts who believe Pusey to be the 
 Pope in disguise and Newman the head of the Jesuits. 
 By the way several people consider this sketch of 
 Newman (which is extremely ugly and quizzical) very 
 like me. If you remember I said myself after I had 
 seen him that we were not entirely dissimilar. 
 2eth. 
 
 I walked, after Church, with Lyttelton for a couple 
 of hours, and saw his wife and child. Lady L. told 
 me they were invited to dine at the Gladstone's to 
 meet me, but I have not yet received my invitation. 
 Am going this evening to the Goldsmid's, there to 
 see Mrs. Butler (Fanny Kemble) and Charles Kemble. 
 
 W. H. Brookfield to Miss Elton : 
 
 188 Piccadilly, 
 
 18 June, 1841. 
 My dearest Jane, 
 
 I am so out of practice of writing to you that it 
 seems to me almost a difficulty. Last Thursday after- 
 noon Garden called on me with whom I laugh more 
 than anybody in the world. He said he had been 
 having a long talk with Gaye about me — that Gaye 
 
 91 
 
MRS. BROOKFIELD AND HER CIRCLE 
 
 had been asking him if I were affected — that every- 
 body liked me, but some people said I was affected — 
 but that he had seen nothing of it. I believe Garden's 
 opinion was that I was no more affected than a person 
 of imitative propensities, and with certain fantastic 
 turns of mind must inevitably be — but those alone 
 would produce what ordinary observers might call 
 affectation. I hope you will make good use of your 
 time at Henley — I do not mean in the way of Hume 
 and Lord Bacon and Locke and Isaac Newton — 
 (to which of course you will do justice) — but in tak- 
 ing exercise — eating hugely — being happy — getting 
 mooney cheeks — and getting yourself (as Robbins 
 would say) into condition. 
 
 Miss Elton to W. H. Brookfield : 
 
 Henley Park, 
 
 20th June, 4L 
 It is such an immense comfort in separation from 
 you, to feel so great confidence in your affection, and 
 I believe without vanity, I may even add your esteem 
 for me, that I now feel, and to a much greater extent 
 than I used to do. Dearest, I hope your cold has left 
 you. Since I have been here I have been absorbed 
 in "La vie de Marianne " a celebrated old French 
 novel by Marivaud which Julia Hallam was reading, 
 and which my Uncle recommended. It is rather 
 lengthy, but exceedingly amusing and interesting ; a 
 nice book to have in the house with one here, as at 
 home Uncle Hallam is so silent (altho' cheerful withal) 
 that it is sometimes unearthly, everybody following 
 his example. The first three days I struggled to keep 
 up a conversation and succeeded in getting a little 
 talking, but my individual exertions grow daily 
 feebler, and the last two days I have in despair resigned 
 
HAMPTON COURT 
 
 myself, selon les autres, to total silence. This is only 
 during breakfast, luncheon and dinner, whenever I 
 am alone with Julia we talk most rapidly and agree- 
 ably as I am exceedingly fond of her and she is so very 
 affectionate and sympathetic. I generally brush my 
 hair in her room, which is next door to my own. There 
 are very pretty views here, but the first day or two 
 I admired nothing, felt perfectly genee and uncom- 
 fortable, now I have worked myself into greater con- 
 tentment ; three weeks will end, and then I hope exceed- 
 ingly to meet you at Hampton Court — besides, I know 
 it is very wrong to be discontented, and the bracing 
 air and constantly being out of doors and taking long 
 walks may tend towards the moon-like face you desire 
 to see in me 
 
 Dearest, it is quite true, what you have often told 
 me, that the more one tries to do and to think rightly, 
 the easier it becomes — I believe I have found this 
 lately, and owing to all you have said to me, it appears 
 very nice to look to you always for advice. 
 
 I am quite sufficiently all that is wrong, to feel 
 no scruple of modesty in saying I am a very little 
 improved, I am alluding to such endeavours at self- 
 denial which you have always advised as to small 
 things and as to one's thoughts. 
 
 Good-bye, for I find, suddenly, that it is time to 
 give my letter for the post. 
 
 W. H. Brookfield to Miss Elton : 
 
 188 Piccadilly, 
 
 21 June, 1841. 
 My dearest Jane, 
 
 Your letter this morning has pleased me very 
 very much, not the gossip of it, which is sufficiently 
 amusing — but not what I should single out as pleasing 
 
 93 
 
MRS. BROOKFIELD AND HER CIRCLE 
 
 me very, very much ; I mean some cheerful asstirances 
 "toward the end which I could not read without great 
 thankfulness. Go on steadfastly and perseveringly, 
 and good must be the result. 
 
 In the afternoon, Ward's throat being incompetent 
 to another discourse, he called on me at half an hour's 
 notice. Whereupon I edified them with the same I 
 used at St. Mary's last Sunday morning — for no other 
 reason than that it was plainly written, and would 
 not require any getting up. Being coughy I was 
 rather bothered, and did not deliver it as well as ought 
 to be. There were four Bishops — St. David's — Lincoln 
 — Bangor, and pompous Winchester. Afterwards I 
 •dined with Dowager Lady Lyttelton. I say with her 
 because I think the concern in Eaton Square seems 
 to be her's. Young Lady L. was gone to Hawarden, 
 Sir Stephen Glynn's place — but we had the two Miss 
 L.'s — Lord L. and Lord George Quin. Very, very 
 pleasant of course — as anything must be in which the 
 Dow. Lady is prominent. She is the most charming 
 person of her years in the world — do you hear, Jane ! — 
 the most charming person of her years in the world — and 
 I see no reason why some people, if they wiU attend 
 to what some other people say and advise — and be 
 industrious, and all that, should not be quite as 
 charming or rather as much more so when they arrive 
 at the same time of Ufe as they are now in another 
 way, being happily somewhat short of it. 
 
 I detest "Humphrey's Clock" more than I can 
 tell you — I reaUy find no genius in it. Except Swiveller 
 and Mrs. Jarley I have not found a natural character 
 in the story. (All the rest are badly selected — badly 
 conceived — badly overdrawn.) Not one of them is 
 a type of a class. And for structure, surely never 
 was a story worse. No — Dickens won't do. 
 
 94 
 
HARRY HALLAM 
 
 Miss Elton to W. H. Brookfield : 
 
 Henley Park, 
 
 25th June, 41. 
 My dearest William, 
 
 As I was with " frenetic " haste rushing through 
 the end of my dressing I just ran my eye over your 
 note, putting on my clothes the while, and was at 
 last in time for prayers, which I dread missing to a 
 degree : the other day I kept the carriage waiting 
 one minute and a half, ran down-stairs, feeUng 
 quite secure of a good reception — was greeted by 
 a knit brow (from my uncle) and, " My dear Jane, 
 you should learn to be punctual, you should be in 
 time — ^it is very easy to be ready, when you know 
 beforehand the time the carriage was ordered ! " I 
 had never been late for the carriage before then, 
 and certainly never since. I suppose you will find 
 me a pattern of punctuality after this visit ; I wish 
 it may be the case, but it is in dread of a repri- 
 mand that I am in time now. To-day I was so tired 
 when I awoke, that in a moment of infatuation, I 
 suffered myself to lie stolidly happy and revolving 
 thro' my mind all the kind, deUghtful things you have 
 •ever said to me (perfectly endless you know) suddenly 
 the knit brow appeared to my mind's eye, and it is 
 ■extraordinary in how short a time I dressed myself 
 without any curtailings. I do not think I have ever 
 received anything like crossness from Uncle H. since 
 I have been here, except on that one occasion of the 
 carriage. Julia heard to-day, from Lady Palgrave, 
 that it is quite true Mr. Whewell is engaged to be 
 married to Miss C. M. They have constantly met of 
 late in Mr. HuUah's singing class, she is a very nice 
 girl the Hallams say, and pretty, and Miss Rogers 
 vouches for the truth of the engagement. Miss Mar- 
 shall is sister to Lady Mounteagle you know. 
 
 95 
 
MRS. BROOKFIELD AND HKR CIRCIJ-: 
 
 Can it be possible that I ha\'e written half a sheet 
 with no word about "The Regatta!" I had really 
 quite looked forward to it as something to write about. 
 Harr}' Hallam being here made it much more amusint; ; 
 all the morning we were discussing what would bv the 
 best place for the carriage to oviMiook the ri\H>r, when 
 an idea occiurod to semi to IMr. Freeman's {i\\v grand 
 person of this part of the world, to whom this house 
 belongs, besides an immense place where he lives him- 
 self) and to ask permission to dri\'e into a certain 
 meadow of his, which would overlook the rt-gatta 
 beautifully. Boosey was despatched with the message, 
 and gave to Uncle H. the mere information that Mr. 
 Freeman was out, but Mr. Hughes, the steward, would 
 " send a note to his master to ask leave for us to stand 
 under a certain Marquee instead of the meadow, 
 though he would only say we asked for tlu' meadow, 
 and send a man and horse here (about two miles), 
 directly he had the answer." To Harry, howi>ver, 
 when probed, Boosey with the cheerful air of a 
 man who was giving great pleasure, further cK^posed 
 that Mr. Hughes had given up his own house, 
 PhilUs Hall, to Mr. Freeman for the day, where 
 " the Marquee was prej)are(l, and his master had 
 some company." Philhs Hall being still nearer 
 the river than Mr. Freeman's Meadow, our horror 
 was that between Mr. Hughes and Mr. l^oosey 
 we should have the effect of pushing for an invitation 
 to join the Marquee party, and as my Uncle knows 
 Mr. Freeman, he might just as wc^U have invited us 
 without our pushing. Harry's imagination was the 
 most vivid, in picturing the cold collation — Cham- 
 pagne — Marquee with streamer flying — Band of nmsic 
 — and all the County in new bonnets, standing in 
 groups, knowing each other intimately, and in relined 
 intimacy of full conversation; while our carriage. 
 
HENLEY REGATTA 
 
 perfectly loaded with ourselves and the Rushworth 
 children, etc., all as Harry said, " looking shamefully 
 dowdy " (being in deep mourning for Aunt Hallam) 
 except Jane. And all strangers, would slowly roll 
 forwards, all eyes directed to us, and Mr. Freeman 
 coming to receive us, with innumerable apologies 
 for not having sent to invite us, " but this is 
 so friendly, Mr. Hallam, in you to invite yourself. 
 I have had four more covers laid, but will order 
 some more, your party being large. Sorry the 
 Marquee will only hold twenty-one, but your 
 party shall have a table outside, I hope they've 
 brought dancing shoes to join our hop on the green, 
 this evening " — and so on. 
 
 We became so thoroughly worked up by these 
 ideas that we told Uncle H. our horrors, who 
 was thunderstruck, and we were still in conster- 
 nation, when the clatter of horses' feet was heard, 
 and Mr. Freeman himself appeared, sent for Uncle 
 H. to come to him at the door. " Too much hur- 
 ried to alight — just time to say — Phillis Hall much 
 the best place. Bring all your party, don't go to the 
 meadow, see wretchedly there, a few friends and 
 Marquee, would have sent up to invite you, but did 
 not know you were here yet," or some such excuse 
 I forget exactly " only just come home myself — you 
 must join us at Phillis Hall, great haste " and off he 
 galloped ! So with infinitely relieved consciences we 
 did go to Phillis Hall, and the lawn was covered with 
 groups of smart people certainly, so that Harry and I 
 were just agreeing our expectations were fully verified, 
 when we found the greater number of the company 
 assembled, comprised the Goldings (our own cousins, — 
 the same relation as the Bournes) who are very pretty 
 and nice girls, with their father, and Robert Palmer, 
 (another cousin) the Philimores, friends of the Hallams, 
 
 97 
 
 8— (2309) 
 
MRS. BROOKFIELD AND HER CIRCLE 
 
 and two or three Etonians, whom Harry knew, 
 besides, of all people, George Durbin, who has been 
 seven years at sea, but whom I recognised by the 
 family likeness at the first coup d'cril, and who followed 
 us, as a shadow, all day. Mr. Freeman (who is a very 
 handsome, youngish man) married a niece of Mrs. 
 Durbin's, a Miss Wirley Birch, (I don't know how to 
 spell Wirley) and George Durbin accordingly is on a 
 visit to the grand man of Henley, and seemed much 
 pleased with it — he is grown quite as broad as tall — 
 bronzed and freckled with North America and West 
 Indian alterations, and withal good natured, but he 
 bored me to so great a degree, that I hardly could 
 talk to him at last, and with Harry (who partly in 
 honour of my being smartly dressed, partly because 
 he is fond of me), remained all day by my side. I 
 continually dodged out of his way, but was sure to 
 be recaptured again ere long — the round face and large 
 light whiskers, appearing with a beam in our path 
 just as one had left it ten yards off. Further, the race 
 was so delayed that we were frequently caught in 
 showers of rain, while waiting on the river's brink, 
 and had to rush for refuge to the Marquee where, 
 instead of champagne, etc., there were a row of neat 
 maids — dispensing sponge and plum cake, cut up, 
 with tea and coffee (we had had luncheon ourselves.) 
 At length the boats appeared and we saw one very 
 good race between Cambridge, Oxford aiui London. 
 London was far behind, Oxford frec[uently ahead, 
 but in the end, of course, Cambridge beat. Such a 
 noise, hurraying and clamour. I never was at a ro 
 gatta before, so was quite unprepared what to expect 
 — I believe we are going again to-day, but the; weatlitn- 
 is doubtful, and we got so tired of all the waiting 
 yesterday, we don't wish to go, but my Uncle eiiliMS 
 with so much gusto into the whole thing, that lu^ 
 
 98 
 
THE STERLING CLUB 
 
 evidently would be much disappointed if we declined, 
 also when called upon by Mr. Freeman to join in a 
 half-crown subscription for the watermen, yesterday, 
 my Uncle gave a pound to Mr. Freeman's amaze, 
 who uttered " Oh, gracious," but pocketed it — so he 
 says he must have " at least a pound's worth of fun." 
 Is it possible that I have filled a sheet with this stupid 
 Regatta ? I must leave off, dearest. Harry went 
 back yesterday evening to Eton. 
 
 You don't like me to sign, Jenny, so I ought to 
 say Jane. 
 
 W. H. Brookfield to Miss Elton : 
 
 20th June, 1841. 
 I have just been told that I have been elected a 
 Member of the SterUng Club — a knot of about 50 men, 
 all more or less worthy and notable — who meet on 
 Tuesday in every month to dine and chat. It consists 
 chiefly of those of the Spedding and Milnes stamp. 
 Trench, Wilberforce, Bishop St. David's, Carlyle, 
 Kemble and such Uke. I was proposed when I was 
 in Southampton about a year ago and blackballed by 
 two — which was enough. Goulbourne was treated 
 with the same sauce at same time, the concern affect- 
 ing to be very exclusive It was not a thing to be 
 mortified at — but stiU I would not I think knowingly 
 have allowed myself to be proposed again, tho' of 
 course my being in London must make a difference. 
 However, unknown to myself I was elected last week, 
 and was told it only just now casually in the street, 
 and am pleased therewith. Mayhap your Uncle may 
 know the Club by name. 
 
 99 
 
MRS. BROOKFIELD AND HER CIRCLE 
 
 W. H. Brookfield to Miss Elton : 
 
 188 Vestry, 
 
 6 Oct., 41. 
 My dearest Jenny, 
 
 Your letter is exceedingly nice, though deficient 
 in cheerfulness. But after all one would hardly wish 
 you to be always cheerful. Your mind is as nearly 
 as I can judge precisely the constitution I should most 
 desire — and if some fallings short of continuous repose 
 and equanimity be a necessary condition or result 
 it can't be helped — So let it be — I would rather it 
 were so than play tricks with such a soul in trying to 
 mend it. Bless you — most dear heart — a thouscind 
 fold. 
 
 What has somewhat bewi dared me, however, 
 about your letter — and what embarrasses me so that 
 I even fear whether I shall get coherently thro' this 
 answer thereto, is how in theee wide world it comes 
 to pass that Gengy Brigstock, being married to Mr. 
 Graham, should take the name of Emma Eagles when 
 everybody else calls her Cecilia Beddoes.* Possibly 
 I may confound her with Alicia Touchet. But as it 
 has been the one subject of your ambition to perplex 
 me on this point I ask no explanation. 
 
 I wish with all manner of considerateness and even 
 submission to remind you also that in three successive 
 letters — I think successive — you have been guilty of 
 a servile imitation of K. B. in using the expression 
 " Ann Bullar and her have decided," etc.,—" disturbed 
 a tete-a-tete between Cap. Mortimer and I." " Graham 
 sat with Emma and I relating his ill-usage of his 
 parents," etc., etc., — which solecisms owe their principal 
 charm to reminding me of K. B. 
 
 * A niece of Maria Edgeworth and a friend of Jane Elton. 
 
 ICO "SSO-V 
 
THINKING OF MARRIAGE 
 
 You are so very, very seldom guilty of any incor- 
 rectness that I know, my kind child, you will forgive 
 my noting the above. 
 
 I agree with you that it would be better not to 
 haggle about the money, (Oh, this vile theme) which 
 I have being settled, propose it at once and leave any 
 modification of the settlement for after consideration. 
 I hope the interview with the Man of Ur will not be 
 long deferred, I want very much to have something 
 to proceed upon. You will write to me the same night 
 if possible. If he had any mercies he would offer us 
 Clevedon to go to for the burying.* 
 
 I took my walk with Ld. Lyttelton yesterday, f 
 We started at one — walked leisurely till half-past 
 three, when we found ourselves at Highgate Hill. 
 Here we made entry into a 4th rate tavern — ordered 
 beefsteak, potatoes — ale — enjoyed the repast much — 
 but not more than the walk which was most mirthful, 
 and not aU devoid of gravity. I revealed as we sat 
 after dinner, my hopes — at which he seemed pleased, 
 and talked encouragingly. (I always speak as if he 
 were older than I, which in normal truth he is by 
 as many years as I am older than he in historical 
 fact.) 
 
 * This was in reference to their honeymoon. The Eltons had 
 returned to Qifton by then in order to be near Sir Abraham, who 
 was now of a great age — and as the marriage of Mr. Brookfield and 
 Miss Jane Elton was to take place in November it was necessary 
 to break news of it to him. Jane managed the interview most 
 successfully, the old gentleman fell in love with her and promised 
 to portion her, and as she left the room shook her and said " Now, 
 don't let me see you again until you are married, my dear.'' 
 
 f The invitation for this walk began : " O pleasant Presbyter 
 and future Bishop, Trinity man, Preacher at Tenison's, not 
 unknown to Fame." 
 
 lOI 
 
MRS. BROOKFIELD AND HER CIRCLE 
 
 Miss Elton to W. H. Brookfield : 
 
 1th October, 
 
 Paragon, 
 1841. 
 Dearest William, 
 
 My letters to you for this long time (to-night 
 included) have been so hurried, that I do not at all 
 wonder at their not having been very correct as to 
 that most puzzling of all branches of grammar, personal 
 pronouns ; and even in writing they have of late been 
 fearfully slatternly and deservative of a reprimand 
 such as once fell from you at the time of my Rheuma- 
 tism. I think Monday will be the day for the Clevedon 
 visit, the weather has been such pouring rain ever 
 since we have been here that I could not urge poor 
 Papa to pay the visit earlier as he hates travelhng in 
 bad weather ; however, we may do it by the train I 
 think, till within five miles of Clevedon, which would 
 be much pleasanter than two hours in the coach. I 
 am quite of your opinion as to a very quiet affair being 
 desirable, and I would not (for the world) have Tom, 
 Dick and Harry to look on, but I think sisters who 
 are in the place must be invited, and Aunt Marianne 
 because she is Mamma's sister, to whom she was ex- 
 ceedingly attached, but I don't know that she would 
 come as she fears I am going to be " starved." 
 
 What do you think ? Only conceive Emily Tenny- 
 son (I really can hardly even now beUeve it) Emily 
 Tennyson is actually going to be married — and to 
 whom after such a man as Arthur HaUam. To a boy 
 in the Navy, supposed to be a Midshipman. It is a 
 state secret that Uncle H. allows Emily anything per 
 annum, so don't mention it to anyone. Is it not extra- 
 ordinary — painful — unbelievable, this intended mar- 
 riage ? Poor Julia felt it dreadfully at first — I remem- 
 ber her saying Emily would never dream of marrying 
 
 I02 
 
EMILY TENNYSON 
 
 — that she was a kind of Nun now, and that nothing 
 was more impossible than her marrying — she had felt 
 Arthur's death so much — it had even injured her 
 health ; and can you conceive anyone whom he had 
 loved, putting up with another ? I feel so distressed 
 about this, really it quite hurts me, I had such a 
 romantic admiration for her, looked at her with such 
 pity, and now all my feeling about her is bouleversed— 
 and Alfred Tennyson falls headlong into the abyss 
 with her — ^but I cannot think he would like her to 
 marry. Julia Hallam always considered her quite 
 as her own sister, and of course Uncle H. could never 
 have contemplated her marrying again (it is just 
 the same thing as marrjdng again.) She wrote and 
 told them of her intentions when they were at Brussels, 
 which cast rather a damp over their stay there. Her 
 letter was evidently written in great trepidation, 
 Caroline said,* and of course she must have felt dread- 
 fully in writing it. If the Gentleman were a man of 
 astounding talents one would try and get over it, but all 
 one hears is that he is R.N. On the Hallams returning 
 to England, their housekeeper produced a little note 
 in a strange hand addressed to her, beginning " Cir- 
 cumstances making it of the greatest importance that 
 I should know Mr. Hallam' s address, I shall be 
 much obliged by your sending it to me to my ship " 
 (this was the effect of the note, I cannot vouch for 
 each word). Now why in the world should not Emily 
 herself have written to the housekeeper whom she 
 knows well — I don't know if the engagement is to be 
 kept secret at present. 
 
 I am glad you had an enjoyable walk with Lord 
 Lyttelton, malgre the blistered foot. I must end now. 
 
 * Caroline was the one of her sisters who usually travelled with 
 the Hallams. 
 
 103 
 
MRS. BROOKFIELD AND HER CIRCLE 
 
 W. H. Brookfield to Miss Elton : 
 
 188 Piccadilly, 
 7 Oct., 41. 
 My dearest Jenny, 
 
 I wish you would not write on such blackguard 
 irregular pieces of paper. Why can't you use uniform 
 octavo sheets as I always do, and moreover date them 
 properly. 
 
 Post town. 
 Place. 
 
 Day. Year of grace. 
 This however is rather ungrateful in me — for I was 
 excessively pleased to receive your letter. 
 
 I am all impatience to know the result of this pre- 
 liminary enterprise. You are as brave as a knight, 
 and indeed ought to be knighted on the spot if you 
 succeed with the old lion. Be bold and fortunate. 
 
 I thought of you, and with more pleasant analogy 
 than I can tell, when I was reading two or three nights 
 ago of Carlyle's prime favourite, Mme. Roland, shelling 
 beans for dinner on their second floor in the Rue St. 
 Jaques. I thought, I mean, of you living in London, 
 a deep souled but poor wife, rich in most things but 
 money. A change, however, is granted to her which 
 I fear does not await you. And again a change after- 
 wards which made awful balance against such eleva- 
 tion. I fear you will never be tried with the Or Moulu 
 but I have no doubt of your getting through the 
 shelling of beans most Roland like. 
 
 Did I say that Lyttelton and I repeat our stroll 
 on Monday next in the low parts of the City — to see 
 unwonted sights. We shall go along the River side 
 towards Limehouse, etc., where all the murders are 
 committed you know ! 
 
 Tell your Father the following with my sincere 
 respect and good wishes. 
 
 104 
 
UNCLERICAL ADVICE 
 
 The new Bishop of New Zealand, in a farewell 
 and pathetic interview with his mother, after his ap- 
 pointment, was thus addressed by her in such sequence 
 as sobs and tears wovild permit. 
 
 " I suppose they will eat you my dear — I try to 
 think otherwise, but I suppose they will. Well ! — 
 We must leave it in the hands of Providence. But if 
 they do — mind, my dear, and disagree with them." 
 
 You seem to me daily more worthy of all that a 
 woman with a soul could value than before. 
 
 W. H. B. 
 
 I forgot to say that at Highgate Hill, in the 
 Tavern we found diamond scratchings on the window 
 panes — and roared to discover " Jane is lovely." Lyttel- 
 ton said it was evidently not my first visit to Highgate. 
 Tell your Father this. 
 
 Miss Elton to W. H. Brookfield : 
 
 Clifton, 
 
 10 Oct., 41. 
 .... Leaving this financial topic, in deep abasement 
 of spirit at having been compelled by the duties of 
 my position towards you, to introduce it, I feel as if 
 I should be under a cloud for the remainder of the 
 letter. 
 
 I am glad you were astonished at Emily T. I 
 have not got over it yet. She appears to have written 
 such a very " flummery " letter to Julia Hallam — to 
 be sure it was a very difficult one to write, but I dishke 
 the humbug of sapng " My beloved Mother — I feel I 
 cannot disguise it from myself — must ere very long be 
 taken from us, and I have felt much influenced in my 
 intended marriage by the thought of my future un- 
 protected state," etc., when her £300 per annum 
 was expressly intended to render her quite independent, 
 and of course, to obviate her marrying merely for a 
 
 105 
 
MRS. BROOKFIELD AND HER CIRCLE 
 
 comfortable home. Mrs. Tennyson is in excellent 
 health and not(as from Emily'sletter one wovildsuppose) 
 in a rapid consumption, so altogether the excuse was 
 a bad one. Uncle H. told Caroline he was sure E. T. 
 would not have ventured upon the marriage had my 
 Aunt been alive, — ^but that "as to her allowance, it 
 should of course, make no difference in that." The 
 Tennyson's are reckoned proud, and I suppose Emily 
 felt twinges in having to say " I must leave it, of 
 course, entirely to you whether or not you continue 
 the annuity you have so generously allowed me," and 
 then he writing himself to the housekeeper, looks as 
 if he were so very anxious for the Hallams' answer 
 about the matter. Caroline says it is to be kept secret 
 at present, this engagement. 
 
 We have been to Chfton Church to-day, not Mr. 
 Hunt's, though I met him yesterday and received a 
 beaming squeeze of the hand. 
 
 Miss Elton to W. H. Brookfield : 
 
 Clifton, 
 
 3 Paragon 
 
 Uth Oct. 
 My dearest William, 
 
 I feel quite different, except in some broad features 
 which have been with me from my birth (not outward 
 features, as mouth, eyes or nose) to what I was when 
 I lived here last — and I am afraid what is chiefly the 
 same in me are my faults — I am equally lazy as to early 
 rising, equally devoted to any glimmer of admiration 
 from any one, as I was when I was four years old ; 
 the only difference in these respects being — I am afraid 
 — that I have more sense of their folly and waste of 
 time. As to the " love of admiration " it has been in 
 abeyance for some time, but to-day I found myself 
 quite excited as I was walking out and really thinking 
 
 io5 
 
DR. PUSEY 
 
 to myself (which I assure you I very seldom do) that 
 I was looking remarkably nice and thought several 
 persons appeared to think so. On discovering this 
 folly I will do myself the justice to say I felt crushed 
 to the size of a diminutive gnat or fly. I don't think 
 there's any doubt of Grandpapa's opening your letter 
 in process of time, and it is very unlike him to leave 
 it unanswered, as he piques himself on a Courtierly 
 exactness in such gentlemanliness as acknowledging 
 the receipt of letters, and I think he would have a great 
 horror of giving any stranger a low opinion of his 
 perfect politeness. I am glad you wrote to him 
 without waiting till you had told me, for I dare say I 
 should have tried to disuade you from it, before I 
 saw what you had written. 
 
 You don't like me to say anything that I feel to- 
 wards you — and I would not for the world get into the 
 habit again, of attempting to do so — -and perhaps you 
 are right, for no words that I ever can find show what 
 I feel, while other people seem to have no difificulty 
 or if they have difficulty it does not appear, and I 
 almost envy others their power of writing such 
 gratitude stirring things. 
 
 Dr. Pusey preaches at Clifton Church next Sunday, 
 I am curious to hear him. I never heard any one I 
 liked, after your preaching, until the other day at 
 Winchester College Chapel, where I heard Dr. Moberly, 
 and was much struck by his sermon, so as to remember 
 parts of it now — which is what one does not often do. 
 
 I wonder how Dr. Pusey will please, he has pre- 
 sented a beautiful painted window to Clifton Church, 
 which was not yet finished putting up last Sunday, 
 so the window frame was covered by a huge sack-cloth 
 curtain, from ceiling to floor, and Sacrament being 
 administered at the altar where this window is, it 
 reminded me of ancient Christians receiving it in some 
 
 107 
 
MRS. BROOKFIELD AND HER CIRCLE 
 
 hidden and almost unsheltered place — for the wind 
 swayed this curtain to and fro^ and the rain was pour- 
 ing down. The Huntites are in great alarm at this 
 fostering care exhibited by Pusey^ and fear all Clifton 
 will go astray. Mrs. Henry Elton is dying to hear 
 him preach, but would not go on any account, as it would 
 seem to show she gave her countenance to such Popish 
 doctrines. 
 
 I suppose Pusey's interest at Clifton commenced 
 by his two little girls being at school here, the little 
 Stuarts are at the same school with them, and say they 
 are " poor little thin creatures, and fast regularly 
 twice a week, and have a list of rules to follow, which 
 their father wrote out for them," nothing much more 
 atrocious in all this, than that people " were so very 
 ill-natured as to say the eldest Miss Onslow was writing 
 an essay on Zinc." 
 
 I should be overjoyed to hear Newman preach, 
 but don't so much care about Pusey. Uncle HaUam's 
 description of Newman's preactung was that he 
 " mumbled as fast as he could, used no action whatever, 
 and tried to give it as little external attractiveness as 
 possible, in short came as near to a Catholic Priest 
 as he could — that's what they all do, these Oxford 
 men." 
 
 And this, on the same day that poor Julia was so 
 enraptured at having merely caught sight of him ! She 
 never says a word about her Newman passion to her 
 father, so that he talks away quite unconscious of any 
 dissentient voice being present. I beUeve he will 
 bring Julia to us either Monday or Tuesday in next 
 week — and he will sleep a couple of nights here, as 
 he has to go to Clevedon to look at monuments, I 
 fancy. 
 
 You can't think how well papa is looking now — 
 he has left off all his old clothes and come out in a style 
 
 108 
 
WEDDING BELLS 
 
 of magnificence which would quite surprise you. 
 I suppose with a view to his usual theory that every- 
 body knows him here, and knows how to spell his 
 name, etc., he must be elegant, while at Southampton 
 he concluded himself in a state of subUme seclusion. 
 
 Miss Elton to W. H. Brookfield : 
 
 3 Paragon, 
 
 2&hOct., 1841. 
 My dearest WiUiam, 
 
 The Marcets have cleared away, leaving a pleasant 
 impression, and Julia Hallam is with us, and two or 
 three dinner parties await us, Henry Elton's, Lud- 
 low's, etc. By-the-bye I have come to the conclusion 
 Mrs. H. E. is a likeable person, she is always very kind 
 to me and always maintained with some asperity on 
 all occasions that my engagement was an excellent 
 thing, you would be a very good match — such talents 
 as people said you had — and that she must say she did 
 not see how I could do better. Then she never makes 
 speeches, and she never kisses, and she does both to 
 me, and with so much frankness and cordiality, altho' 
 I know it is an unusual thing I am getting to like her 
 sincerely. She told Uncle Hallam, Saturday, that 
 she thought much of my engagement to you. " Oh 
 dear, yes ! Mr. Brookfield's sure to get on, sure to 
 get on." I shall be amused to introduce you to our 
 patroniser. 
 
 Actually I have written two pages and not said 
 how greatly delighted I shall be if you can arrange 
 to come here the 7th. I have so great a desire to see 
 you, and your voluntary offer puts to the blush my 
 yesterday's entreaties. 
 
 If you are able to come here we shall decide who 
 we must have at Church. Give me your opinion as 
 to a wedding gown. Julia Hallam amused me this 
 
 log 
 
MRS. BROOKFIELD AND HER CIRCLE 
 
 morning by saying when I was reading your letter at 
 breakfast, " So you've had a letter from your dear 
 Mr. Brookfield." She seems a little more resigned to 
 Emily Tennyson's marriage, after a letter from Miss 
 Heath to console her, with vindications of Emily on 
 the ground of there being so very few in this world 
 from whom one could hope for sympathy, and love, 
 that every cdlowance must be made, etc., etc., but 
 still Julia says if he had only been some very talented 
 and prominent person it would have been better, 
 instead of one nobody had ever heard of. 
 
 Uncle Hallam, I believe, is just going to Manchester 
 for the Literary Meeting. Papa accompUshed his 
 business at Wells very comfortably, and is regularly 
 re-oathed as magistrate. I should have multitudinous 
 millions to say to you if I were talking with you, but 
 with " this dumb pen " — as (Anne BuUar calls it) — I 
 feel shackled. 
 
 Mr. Brookfield to Miss Elton : 
 
 188 Piccadilly, 
 
 29 Oct., 41. 
 Darling, 
 
 Your semitones arrived safely in the most scanda- 
 lously short scrabble that ever was penned by blushing 
 bride. Pray let your next make some amends. I 
 am not tired of receiving nice letters from you — and 
 they do not lose their value because we are so soon 
 to meet. I believe, Jenny, that I am going to be 
 joined to the finest minded girl in England. Mind 
 you keep up the impression — " I am very particular 
 about it "—of quickest and most apprehensive wit — 
 most genuine modesty of thought and feeling — and 
 of, I think, unmatch'd affectionateness. I never 
 saw such a one — nor ever shall besides yourself. 
 
 no 
 
WEDDING BELLS 
 
 I look forward with the greatest confidence to 
 much more and better things than a pleasant life 
 with you my dear^ dear girl — " privations from narrow 
 income " notwithstanding. And this not for any cause 
 residing in myself — ^but because of your own excellent 
 nature, my good true soul. All your faults on the sur- 
 face, your virtues most of them on the surface, but all 
 of them below also. Dearest, dearest Jane, never had 
 bride so high a character to sustain as you will have 
 with me — and I have not formed my estimate in a 
 hurry — nor has it ever fluctuated, but always advanced. 
 God bless you my sweetest, gentlest, truest girl — and 
 make me more deserving such a gift. 
 
 W. H. B. 
 
 Ill 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 Marriage. Introduction to London. Clevedon. Tunbridge 
 Wells. Emily Tennyson. Mrs. Brookfield's Humour. A Present 
 from Thackeray. Sydney Smith. At Mr. Gladstone's. Rhyming 
 Invitation from Thackeray. Rogers' Breakfasts. The Wreck of 
 an Illusion. Noble young Philanthropists. Chaunts. " Rever- 
 ence." The Artists' Dinner. Dickens. Lord Palmerston's Blunder. 
 Archdeacon Manning. The Dean's Robe. Historical Tendencies. 
 
 The Brookfields were married at Clifton, November 
 18th, 1841, and Mr. Hallam journeyed from London on 
 purpose to be present at the ceremony. Their honey- 
 moon, which was spent at Weston-super-Mare, was 
 brightened by many a witty and characteristic letter 
 from their many witty friends. 
 
 They reached London about Christmas ; and, having 
 taken rooms in Jermyn Street, began at once a new 
 and delightful lite. Never before, perhaps, did a young 
 couple fall so quickly or with such ease and grace, into 
 so unique a position, surrounded as they were by a 
 bright and cultured circle of relations and friends, old 
 and new. For in addition to their own families and to 
 Mr. Brookfield's old Cambridge allies, new acquaint- 
 ances — many of them distinguished socially as well as 
 intellectually — sought their friendship, took them to 
 their hearts and combined to place them in a sphere 
 more briUiant and far more exclusive than any that 
 has existed since. Monckton Milnes, Spedding, 
 BJakesley, and Francis Garden were amongst the first 
 
 112 
 
INTRODUCTION TO LONDON SOCIETY 
 
 of their visitors. It was in one of the early months 
 of their married life that Thackeray with his genial 
 camaraderie joined them at supper one night and 
 shared their " twopenny tarts." It was to this 
 incident that he referred in some doggerel lines written 
 in '48 to Mrs. Brookfield : 
 
 " A friend I had, and at his side, the story dates from seven long 
 
 year- 
 One day I found a blushing bride, a tender lady kind and dear ! 
 They took me in, they pitied me, they gave me kindly words 
 
 and cheer, 
 A kinder welcome who shall see than yours, O friend and lady 
 
 dear ? " 
 
 Mrs. Brookfield says it was at her uncle's house in 
 Wilton Crescent that she received her first introduc- 
 tion into London society. Mr. Hallam had a particular 
 fondness for his niece. He took great pride in her 
 beauty and intelligence, and as soon as she came to 
 hve in London it was his habit to have her present 
 at his table whenever he had interesting or distinguished 
 guests. 
 
 A page from her diary in those early days runs : 
 
 April 19th, 1842. 
 
 Read British Critic in the evening till Mr. Venables 
 and A. Tennyson came in to tea. The latter talked 
 with great affection of the Hallams. I went to bed 
 early and left Wilham and his friends discussing 
 Urquhartism. 
 23rd. 
 
 Walked to Lady Lyttelton's with William, found 
 
 113 
 
 9— (2309) 
 
MRS. BROOKFIELD AND HER CIRCLE 
 
 them at home, and very agreeable and kind. I Uked 
 them extremely, but had heard so much about them 
 I felt rather dry. 
 2Qth. 
 
 At the Pearsons'. Bishops of London, Winchester, 
 and Llandaff . London sang in a glee-anthem with the 
 Dean and Miss Pearson. Mr. Hope (afterwards 
 Mr. Hope-Scott) was there, whose face is beautifully 
 intellectual. WilUam followed the Bishop's example 
 in singing. 
 
 Breakfasted at the HaUams'. Lords Lansdowne and 
 Mahon were there and Mrs. Marcet. Rogers and Lord 
 Lyttelton failed, so it was not so agreeable as it would 
 have been. Afterwards to HuUah's with JuUa, met 
 the Queen returning from the private view of the 
 exhibition to which we all afterwards went. While 
 there the Duchess of Sutherland talked to my uncle. 
 She is very handsome. 
 May \st. 
 
 Lord Lyttelton called and sat some time. The 
 dowager lady is appointed governess to the Prince 
 and Princess. In the evening we all walked to Dod- 
 worth's chapel (Margaret Street, Cavendish Square). 
 Four clergy were at the Altar and no clerk. I Uked 
 his sermon, though his face is not prepossessing nor 
 his deUvery good. 
 2Qth. 
 
 The Queen was shot at to-day ! 
 ZOth. 
 
 William dined at the SterUng, it was pleasant but not 
 
 114 
 
THE QUEEN AT THE OPERA 
 
 overflowingly mirthful. Mr. Smedley kindly took me 
 to the Opera. The Queen was there and deafeningly 
 cheered, and " God save the Queen " was twice sung 
 by all the singers. Pozzi acted in Elena da Feltre ; 
 her voice is very sweet. Cerito in the ballet one could 
 see drinking porter behind the scenes, we were so close 
 to the stage. 
 
 In the spring of this year Sir Abraham Elton died, 
 and Mr. Brookfield, visiting Clevedon Court, now in 
 the possession of Sir Charles Elton, his wife's father, 
 says to her : 
 
 I have just returned from Clevedon, and am 
 delighted with it beyond anticipation. Every delight- 
 fully old-fashioned room I saw. Every lovely bit of 
 home landskip. Every quaint romantic terrace, every 
 smooth shaven bit of delicate Lady foot grass plot. 
 I placed you there pacing along in perfect harmony 
 with all about, and thought how much more natural, 
 more everything-in-it's-right-place it would be that 
 you should be shedding calm lustre on some such home 
 than that you should be sequestered in Duke Street, 
 St. James', tied to a half begotten, quarter conceived, 
 one-eighth born, one-sixteenth brought up, one thirty- 
 second fortunate, one sixty-fourth deserving, one one- 
 hundred-and- twenty-eighth part of a curate, who at best 
 is only the one two-hundred-and-fifty-sixth part of a 
 man, — who is only the one iive-hundred-and-twelfth 
 part of what he might be — and only the one-thousand- 
 and-twenty-fourth part of what he thinks he is — thus 
 I fitted thee to the pretty spots about me. 
 
 Correspondence now necessarily ceased for a time 
 
 115 
 
MRS. BROOKFIELD AND HER CIRCLE 
 
 to be so elaborate, but when Mrs. Brookfield went in 
 the autumn on a short visit to the Hallams at 
 Tunbridge Wells, she wrote : 
 
 Wellington Place, 
 
 Tunbridge Wells, 
 
 30th Sept., 1842. 
 My dearest William, 
 
 I suppose you hardly expected to hear from me 
 to-day, and that your philosophic mind has not been 
 beset with any shadow of a doubt of my " safe arrival." 
 My Uncle looks very well and is a little awful, as usual. 
 Riding is the order of the day, and to-morrow I am 
 going out (not in a carriage you'll be surprised to hear, 
 as I've used the word riding, but) to sit on a horse 
 and drive it. Mrs. Tighe, " the Queen of Tunbridge," 
 has just paid me a visit, a clever Irish woman, and 
 a great friend of Uncle Hallam's. She has invited me 
 to join her dinner party next Friday. Harry Hallam 
 goes to Cambridge on Monday and is, I believe, to be 
 under John Heath, of which Julia is very sorry, as 
 after his conduct to M. T. of course her opinion of him 
 is quite altered, but it was settled he was to be Harry's 
 tutor long before his fracas with the Tennysons. 
 I told them about Barbadoes* (with the caution of 
 secrecy), and Uncle H. was quite excited, saying the 
 offer showed, at all events, that you would be offered 
 similar good things ere long — though he hoped not 
 abroad. 
 
 The expression " riding " was used in reference to 
 one of their friends who would persist in saying " I was 
 riding in a carriage." 
 
 * Mr. Brookfield had been offered the Bishopric of the Barbadoes. 
 
 Ii6 
 
PENSHURST 
 
 October 2nd. 
 
 We went a delightful ride yesterday through lovely 
 scenery to see Penshurst (Sir Phillip Sydney's), a 
 curious old house, but the oldest part quite neglected, 
 fine old Peter Lely and Vandyke pictures cracking and 
 smouldering on the walls, and all kinds of interlopers 
 of modern date thrust in among them. Mrs. Tighe 
 accompanied us in our expedition ; she is a nice person 
 and has anecdotes of the Queen and Prince Albert, 
 from the best authorities, with which to win my heart 
 (she is nearly connected with the Duke of Richmond 
 and many other authoritative people). I rode a nice 
 white horse which cantered deUghtfully and made me 
 feel ten years younger at the time (and a hundred years 
 older now, for I am bruised almost all over). The 
 Hallams ride nearly every day, which will be very 
 pleasant. 
 
 The Church we went to to-day is most disagreeably 
 arranged, there are free sittings, instead of pews, which 
 are placed at random almost, so that one is stared at 
 on all sides. We heard such a very very stupid sermon 
 preached by the Rector, a little red-faced, regularly 
 fubsy man, all fat and no bones, who read an Essay 
 upon Shadrach, etc., in the furnace, and said they were 
 " certainly sincere men " ! which was a starthngly 
 novel truth. 
 
 Mrs. to Mr. Brookfield : 
 
 TuNBRiDGE Wells, 
 
 1th October. 
 My dearest William, 
 
 There is to be rather a gay party at Mrs. Tighe's 
 
 117 
 
MRS. BROOKFIELD AND HER CIRCLE 
 
 to-night — Signor Nigri is to sing, and people coming 
 after our dinner party. She gives parties twice a week, 
 I believe, and has a very pretty house and a lovely 
 garden where we walk by her desire. The other day 
 she praised me to my Uncle, and corrected Mrs. Booth 
 in a belief that I was only a niece to a Baronet, and 
 in short demands my gratitude and admiration in a 
 signal manner ! Mrs. Booth declared she should have 
 been quite shocked if she had sent me out en qualite 
 de nikce instead of Daughter to Sir Charles, as she 
 is very particular about etiquette. I walked with 
 the Rices to-day in the Pantiles, a paved walk sur- 
 rounded with shops, where the band plays twice a day, 
 and where the elite of the place are expected to pro- 
 menade at 11 o'clock and at 3. I was sorry to write 
 you such a short letter yesterday, but I was so much 
 interrupted I could hardly write at all. I pitied Emily 
 Tennyson in having to introduce her husband to Uncle 
 Hallam — he was, however, very kind in his shake hands 
 to him, and she looked much pleased at our all being 
 friendly. Mr. J. is going to Caen for 3 months, to learn 
 French, and leaves his wife behind him ! which seems 
 a funny plan. Emily was dressed oddly and had 
 hair in long ringlets down her back, which looked 
 singular and elf-like, and merely worn because she 
 fancied it. He wears spectacles, has a pale good- 
 humoured face with a large mouth and rather weak 
 eyes, talks fast, and was perhaps a little flurried, as 
 yesterday was his first introduction to Uncle H., 
 without whose, etc., etc. 
 
 Mr. to Mrs. Brookfield : 
 
 8 Oct. 1842. 
 
 I don't wonder at the J 's being awkward. 
 
 I am glad you are to have the engraving of H. H. 
 I am pleased with your lively gratitude at perceiving 
 
 ii8 
 
THE SAVING SENSE OF HUMOUR 
 
 that Garden and I acquit you of being dull however 
 unconvinced we may remain of your being other than 
 a negress — an atheist and a petto. 
 
 Dear Jenny — it is great gain having such a wench 
 as thou to jest with. How different Miss Lucy, the 
 young lady I have lately left, as white as a turnip, 
 an orthodox Christian and doubtless qualified for maid 
 of honour to Diana — but alas ! no glimpse of humour, 
 thoroughly amiable and all that, even laughs as 
 hard as she can at one — but then she laughs not at 
 one's wit but at one's unusualness merely, has no 
 insight into the absurdity with which all things are as 
 rife as foolish poets say they are of beauty. Well, I 
 shall see thee on Monday — but remember not till a 
 quarter-past four when there shall be all sorts of 
 magnificence awaiting you. 
 
 Ever thine, dearest Jenny, 
 
 W. H. B. 
 
 Mr. Brookfield delighted in his wife's humour, and 
 the above refers to a conversation which took place 
 between himself and Garden. When the latter was 
 one day praising his friend's bride, Mr. Brookfield said : 
 " Ah ! I believe I could have married a humpback or 
 a black, but I could not have married a woman without 
 a sense of humour." 
 
 In writing about how to congratulate Lord Lyttelton 
 on the birth of a son and heir, he says : "I found this 
 pleasant news on my return from the inmost bowels 
 of Berkshire where I left Gyp in the keeping of her 
 sister now a Curate's ' Lady ' — for the newspapers 
 with a laudable zeal for the cehbate never allow us 
 clergy to have ' wives.' " 
 
 119 
 
MRS. BROOKFIELD AND HER CIRCLE 
 
 At Christmas Mr. Thackeray made Mrs. Brookfield 
 a present of one of his books — the first he ever sent 
 to her, to which she rephed : 
 
 My dear Mr. Thackeray, 
 
 I must thank you for your kindness in sending 
 your book, which I have been very much delighted 
 and amused with this evening. I should like to 
 expatiate further upon it, but it always appears absurd 
 presumption in me to do more than express bare 
 admiration for any kind of genius, and this sort of 
 reverence I am feeling to so awestruck a degree as 
 entirely to hinder the expression of it, or of anything 
 else, and hence an amount of stammering stupidity 
 which you see vanity makes me anxious to excuse to 
 you — though in a somewhat rigmarole way. 
 
 William was much disappointed not to see you last 
 night ; he came in only five minutes after you left. 
 About New Year's Eve I think it is best for myself, 
 at all events, to decline, and William was afraid he 
 could not manage it either, but I don't think he gave 
 me a definite message. Could you not by possibility 
 dine with us in homely fashion on that day ? 
 
 Believe me, yours most sincerely, 
 
 J. O. Brookfield. 
 
 In February, '43, she writes in her diary : "I went 
 to the Gurneys' . William went to a chop-house and 
 eveninged with Thackeray and others." Mr. Brook- 
 field at this time was going walks with Thackeray, for 
 walks in those days were regular institutions ; and even 
 Mrs. Brookfield walked. We find her meeting Mr. 
 Garden on London Bridge, who kept her talking in 
 order to tell how much the Spring Rices had admired 
 
 1 20 
 
MRS. SARTORIS AND SYDNEY SMITH 
 
 and praised her to him, and who also told how" WiUiam 
 had so much admiration expressed for him as to be 
 quite a ' snare ' to him." While " WiUiam " was 
 away on a short visit she wrote : 
 
 Mrs. to Mr. Brookfield : Wednesday, 
 
 May, 1843. 
 My dearest William, 
 
 I have been out at the Hallams' and also paying 
 visits till I have very little time to write to you left. 
 The Wilton Crescent Rout of last night I really liked 
 very much, tho' Laura thought it very dull, but there 
 were sundry notables there. Mr. Spedding talked 
 a good deal with me and he told me his smoking party 
 on Monday was quite a failure, he was dining out and 
 after getting away early to go home found he had no 
 cigars. It was pouring with rain, but he bought 
 some and then left them behind him in the cab, being so 
 busy pajdng the driver, and that he quite forgot to 
 take out his parcel ; on which the cabman will regale 
 for many a day to come, I suppose. Only Mr. Spring 
 Rice braved the elements to go to Spedding's ; he was 
 at the Hallams' and told me the Henry Taylors wish 
 to make our acquaintance and will call when we come 
 home. I shall like to know them. I talked to Mrs. 
 Sartoris [Adelaide Kemble] a little bit, and listened to 
 Sydney Smith talking to her. Lord Lansdowne was 
 there and the Romillys and Wickhams. 
 
 Mr. Parr is in Town and going with us to Drury 
 Lane to-night ; it is the Keeleys' benefit, but Macready 
 acts in the Jealous Wife. Mrs. Sartoris has a fine 
 tragic countenance and deep-toned voice. Speaking 
 of Alfred Tennyson, she said, " I am very fond of 
 Alfred, he is so simple and so good," and of Rogers, 
 " We get on very well, for he only attacks clever, 
 
 .'21 
 
MRS. BROOKFIELD AND HER CIRCLE 
 
 talented people^ and as I'm neither talented^ nor clever 
 nor anything remarkable, I get on very well with him." 
 Of course I made the requisite answer of "If that's 
 your only safeguard " — which was graciously received. 
 What a hideous, odd-looking man Sydney Smith is ! 
 with a mouth like an oyster, and three double chins. 
 I did not hear him say anything strikingly amusing. 
 
 The Miss Southebys talked to me and asked after 
 you with a sort of reverential interest (though I beheve 
 they have never seen or heard you ! ) " Ah ! his 
 arduous duties ! — and, Ah ! I hear St. James' fills so 
 much more now he is the attraction." Caroline says 
 the Romillys told her Mr. Spedding spoke so very 
 highly in your praises. 
 
 Mr. to Mrs. Brookfield : 
 
 40 Duke St., St. James, 
 London, 
 
 27 May, 43. 
 
 I dined at Lyttelton's, after a very popish celebra- 
 tion at Oakeley's (the Rev. Frederick Oakeley) . Candles 
 on the altar lighted (tho' staring day-light) and two 
 common oil lamps in the body of the church hghted 
 also to make beheve that there was any necessity for 
 it. Dinner at L.'s pleasant but informal as before. 
 
 Spencer and Caroline undressed ; and aU very 
 careless and free and easy. They dressed afterwards 
 to go to Mrs. W. E. Gladstone's, whither I accompanied 
 them. 
 
 There was a small private amateur concert. Lord 
 Compton and a Mrs. Barnes sang excellently. It was 
 a smartish assemblage. People got me introduced to 
 them, to wit. Lord Robert Grosvenor, Miss Harcourt, 
 Mrs. Milnes Gaskell — and who doth your La' ship think 
 — Lady Pembroke. In they came sailing, the fair 
 bevy of beauties — Lady Dunmore, Lady Emma Vesey, 
 
 122 
 
MR. SPRING RICE 
 
 and Lady Brrruce ! However I did not get speech 
 of the youngsters, but had a chat with the Dowager 
 who remembered me at Hagley. I left a card on her 
 to-day and on the Gaskells, the male of whom called 
 on me on Wednesday last. Lady Bruce did not 
 look nearly so well as formerly — very thin — and I 
 thought stern. She was perhaps jealous of her 
 Mother. Also I resumed acquaintance with Lady 
 Galway, who is very good natured. This morning I 
 had occasion to call on Dalton at the Bishop's about 
 a curate. Bishop came in — he looked rather keen at 
 my collar (Oh — la !) while he talked — and told me 
 that they had that morning voted me "or rather 
 Mrs. Brookfield " a key, which would be sent us, of the 
 Square Gardens. Thence to Lady Hoare's, who made 
 me lunch ; Mrs. Lethbridge's elder sister was there 
 — also very pretty but not equal to Leth — who, by 
 the way, was not at all affected to-day. 
 
 They drove me to leave the two cards above 
 mentioned and then I left them. I met Spring Rice 
 yesterday on my way to Islington, who said that he 
 should dress with the less satisfaction as you were not 
 to be there — all this time I forget that I have not 
 mentioned that he was going to dine at the Hallams'. 
 
 On returning home at night I found the following 
 invitation — of course from Titmarsh : 
 
 If j'ou like two or three 
 Of your cronies to see 
 There's a swarry 
 To-morry 
 At Mitre court B. 
 
 Lord J. Manners gives me a delightful account of 
 the neighbourhood of the Pyrenees, where he made 
 such an excursion as I project — but I can hardly ven- 
 ture upon it without BuUer. I hke Toby's honesty 
 
 123 
 
MRS. BROOKFIELD AND HER CIRCLE 
 
 about wet Sunday sermons, though I should un- 
 charitably suspect that the difference between them 
 and his dry Sunday sermons might not be considerable. 
 
 The surprise of the Bishop was at the fact that 
 Mr. Brookfield was wearing a collar instead of a 
 " stock." It was before the fashion of " Roman " 
 collars. 
 
 Some time in May the Brookfields breakfasted with 
 Rogers — " by note invitation/' Mrs. Gladstone having 
 named the breakfast party by Rogers' request. 
 Mrs. Brookfield says most people gave " breakfasts " 
 in those days, Milnes, Kinglake, everybody, — but 
 Rogers' were the best. His stories were invariably 
 lengthy and did not always possess a point though they 
 did generally contain a moral ; but his histrionic skill 
 was so great that nobody perceived this want — his 
 keen and vivacious manner kept everybody always 
 intently interested until the last word had been spoken. 
 
 Mrs. to Mr. Brookfield : 
 
 Forest Lodge, 
 
 3\st May, 1843. 
 I cannot think the lady would dare cut you, even 
 if you had given her any cause (unless you were in 
 Shorts ?) I am amused at Titmarsh's invitation. 
 I am sorry you have had another smoking bout, 
 you are not a very good patient and I don't think you 
 give Wm. BuUar a chance of doing you good, if you 
 disobey and preach 3 times too — however, of course 
 it is very difficult to avoid the latter, but I should 
 have thought Spedding resistable considering how 
 unwell you are. Don't ever again play any pranks 
 in your directions to me, at least while I am here, the 
 
 124 
 
" MR. BROOKFIELD'S WIT " 
 
 reason being that I was kept full five minutes waiting 
 for my letter in consequence, George saying " Jane, — 
 I f ound-a - letter - in - the - letter - bag - to-day - which 
 I - intend - returning - to the post - office - to - be - stuck- 
 up-at-the-Dead-Letter-Office." " Oh ! I dare say it's 
 for me, pray give it me." — " Do you-know-any-body 
 of-the-name-of-Bruce-Leth-Brookfield ? / don't, and 
 so I intend to return the letter to the post office, 
 ha, ha, ha ! " Highly facetious but an intense bore. 
 It was only by being rather testy that I got the letter, 
 and it is bad enough at any time to depend on his 
 pleasure as to when he opens the Bag and when he 
 dispenses the letters, so Beware of " Mr. Brookfield's 
 wit " whenever you write to me here. Mr. Wadding- 
 ton is arrived, but his wife had a cold and could not 
 come ; he is a fat, dumpy little man, with a thick 
 Newmarket Guttural voice, and very stiff high neck- 
 cloth, all starch — but he seems the essence of good- 
 nature, very talkative and anecdotic, with sometimes 
 quite a dash of humour. Mr. Buck is coming to-day ; 
 he is a man who " Sits down every day to a dinner 
 dressed by a first-rate man cook, but if he can't put up 
 with what we can give him, I should never wish to see 
 him at my table. Maria, I hope there'll be a good dish 
 of boiling fish — both Buck and Waddington prefer 
 Boiled Fish." I could hardly forbear bursting forth 
 to Maria Pilgrim with " How well you are looking," 
 only I thought 'twould be assuming how bad she had 
 been looking before her face was cured. Maria 
 Robbins told me she had always felt so extremely 
 grateful to you for a little thing you once said. Laura 
 was speaking of poor Mrs. D., and said she did not 
 admire her, or think her handsome, " why she has such 
 a red nose ! " " Well (you answered), surely that is 
 not fatal to beauty — ^it does not make her features 
 less pretty " — (or words to that effect), and Maria 
 
 125 
 
MRS. BROOKFIELD AND HER CIRCLE 
 
 said she really longed to thank you. Well, I think 
 I shall be interrupted if I don't " make end " at once, 
 so I bid thee adieu. 
 
 Mrs. to Mr. Brookfield : 
 
 Neighbourhood of Southampton, 
 
 2nd June, 1843. 
 Caroline sent Maria a " very fashionable " 
 " Nemours " head-dress (not Dowagery) the other day, 
 and I have been ingeniously making up an imitation 
 of the same for myself, as I had some lace by me that 
 answered the purpose. Buck (what a name ! ) seemed 
 much entertained at my millinery — it was quite a good 
 joke for him ; he is very good-natured, and not so 
 fond of boiled fish as I had expected. It seems his 
 wife ! (how truly and disgustingly atrocious) is the 
 gourmande and keeps " Her man cook," etc. Maria 
 tells me she scrapes her little pat of butter aU over 
 every morning before she will eat it, although 'tis 
 made fresh every day, by a scrupulously clean dairy 
 woman, and if anjrthing she is eating happened to 
 touch the edge of her plate, she would not eat it for 
 worlds, because the footman's thumb might have been 
 there before — and she offended Col. Robinson ex- 
 tremely, by refusing to allow him to cut her some 
 bread, merely because she would then have to fear his 
 hand might touch what she was given to eat ! added 
 to all this she dines daily on side dishes, and all the most 
 pamperingly - fastidious - ratifee - marmalade - puddings 
 that can be concocted. Very loathsome, and un- 
 worthy " my pen " or your eyes. Beware of ever 
 repeating or alluding to any anecdotes I may tell you 
 — people like well enough to abuse their own relations, 
 but I don't think they at all fancy other people's doing 
 the same, or betraying their own pet stories against 
 their relations to the rest of the community. 
 
 126 
 
GEORGE ROBBINS 
 
 George Robbins is not at all otherwise than 
 impressed with an idea that you are " Stark, 
 staring Mad," since your directions to me. To-day 
 he begged I would present his " very respectful compli- 
 ments and tell you that he thought you must really 
 be a Booby instead of the man of sense he had taken 
 you to be " — and after this speech (which, of course, he 
 did not intend me to give you as a message) I was 
 allowed to have my letter, on the direction of which 
 he has harped aU day, " Mistress Brookfield ! — well ! 
 I never really did hear anything so absurd" — "Care 
 of Capt. Robbins ! ! " In short " He (George Robbins) 
 " He harps but on one lonely string," and " Thou 
 (W. H. B.) hast many a one." Don't goad me on to 
 madness by telling me " the Men " at Spedding's 
 enquired after me ! ! ! ! !— must not " the men " have 
 
 included ? And am I not already sufficiently 
 
 au desespoir at that name ? I don't think I've any- 
 thing to telf you, you old Machiavel Circumventor 
 (with Orthodox to one " friend " and Pusey to the 
 other). But I thank you for your very nice entertain- 
 ing letter of to-day, which I have read 5 times over and 
 shall probably read 5 times again. 
 
 Mr. to Mrs. Brookfield : 
 
 40 Duke St., St. James, 
 London, 
 
 3rd June, 43. 
 Dearest Jane, 
 
 You will sympathise with me, I know, upon the 
 ruthless stifling of a few years' passion — the withering 
 of hopes that in that time however hopeless yet were 
 never utterly unhopeful — the vanishing of visions — 
 the dissipation of dreams — the wreck of sweet illu- 
 sions You have heard me speak (I think) 
 
 127 
 
MRS. BROOKFIELD AND HER CIRCLE 
 
 of Lady B. I thought when first I saw and spoke to 
 her in the bloom of mutual youth ten years ago that 
 creation had no fairer offspring 
 
 Last Thursday night I was at Dowager Lady 
 Lyttelton's. In the course of the evening Caroline L. 
 said to me laughing (not ignorant of the condition of 
 my heart), " Lady B. says she cannot catch your eye, 
 and that you have forgotten her." This, of course, 
 led to re-introduction — but the voice had lost its maiden 
 melody and had become rather loud and prompt. 
 The Bloom had left the cheek and brow, and fawn 
 freckles crowded both like buttercups in a meadow. 
 The features had become sharp and thin — and aU the 
 fond fancies that had crowded round my heart at 
 mention of her name began to take flight, and .... 
 
 Finis ! . . . 
 
 After all I do her injustice — she is very pretty — 
 but best in bonnet and at slight distance — but I feel 
 that something is gone from her in my mind since the 
 above. It was a pretty enough assemblage. It was 
 the Dowager's party. She was very gracious, enquired 
 after you. I had talk with Lady Clinton, Mrs. Spencer, 
 Bruce, John Manners, Copley Fielding, Archdeacon 
 Wilberforce, Miss Harcourt, etc., so that it was not 
 dull. Caroline borrowed last Sunday's sermon — (your 
 favourite " Arise," etc.) Spencer was flattering about 
 it, and Mrs. Spencer (separately from them) hoped it 
 would be printed but was afraid I did not write out 
 my sermons so that anybody could read them, inti- 
 mating that she would fain borrow it. I had pre- 
 viously been to the Bishop for an hour. There were 
 " Gloucester and Bristol " — " Edinburgh " — Manning — 
 Wilberforce — Dukenfield, and two or three more. 
 Yesterday I dined alone. Just after dinner a person 
 came with a begging letter not knowing that I was the 
 same person to whom he had applied in the Vestry 
 
 128 
 
ST. LUKE'S, BERWICK STREET 
 
 two days before to proselytize him from his born 
 Romish faith to the Protestant — which I soon per- 
 ceived to be sheer humbug — so I went downstairs 
 (thinking from the letter it was the same person), and 
 saying that if he would follow me I would see what 
 I could do for him. I — like a good Samaritan as I 
 am, and like Charles Surface when " justice and 
 generosity are running a race in my heart — I cannot 
 help it, but damme ! generosity always gets ahead " 
 I, I say, like C. S. and the Samaritan, con- 
 ducted him to the Police office — ^but what is to be done 
 with him I don't know. 
 
 I quite forgot that your friend's name was Buck — 
 and my small wit about Back was fatuous. 
 
 Ever thine, 
 
 W. H. B. 
 
 In July this year Mr. Brookfield received his licence 
 for St. Luke's, Berwick Street (a dependence of 
 St. James'), which ministry he seems to have maintained 
 alongside with his preachership at Tenison's, etc., 
 and a little later he is found to be preaching in a 
 " surpUce," which practice, however, he was very soon 
 persuaded to give up. 
 
 Lord Lyttelton to Mr. Brookfield : 
 
 Hagley, 
 
 5 Sept., 43. 
 Loved Incumbent, 
 
 Write ! Let me know how you are, how you have 
 been, how you are to be, when you are to be, and all 
 other tenses, moods, voices, and parts of speech relating 
 to your existence. 
 
 129 
 
 10— (2309) 
 
MRS. BROOKFIELD AND HER CIRCLE 
 
 I hope you have heard from the lady dowager 
 (between whom and the Queen Dowager now in Worces- 
 tershire there is an inextricable confusion in the minds 
 of the sons of the soil) that you are to exact marriage 
 in London between my sister and my brother-in-law, 
 an event which gives us much satisfaction. 
 
 We shall be up in town for it, and no doubt some 
 suburb will again be illuminated by one of those not 
 unremarkable dialogico-gastro-peripatetical visits of 
 the Priest and the Peer, of which some are already 
 on the page of universal History. 
 
 We are all well and hope Mrs. Brookiield is no less. 
 
 Yours ever 
 
 Lyttelton. 
 
 These walks were not the only practices that the 
 " Priest and the Peer " had in common. Mr. Brook- 
 field, in the discharge of his clerical duties was punc- 
 tilious as well as enthusiastic. He possessed a genius 
 for persuading adults who had not received Baptism 
 to seek that Sacrament ; the number of infant Bap- 
 tisms also increased greatly under his influence. A 
 letter of his to a well-known lady urging her to 
 have her children baptised is a model of kindness 
 and discretion. In getting together candidates for 
 baptism he was aided by Lord Lyttelton, who though 
 stiU young, was, in spite of the lightness of his letters, 
 of a pious and serious disposition, always assisting 
 Mr. Brookfield in parish work whenever he was near 
 to him and giving help and advice in especial cases 
 when away. 
 
 Mr. Brookfield has said how glad he was to learn 
 
 130 
 
George, fourth Lord Lyttelton 
 
 From a crayon drawing 
 by George Richmond, R.A. 
 
rJ^ot(/e., ^./^/A j:^e'tJ J'i/tt^ltf'. 
 
LORD JOHN MANNERS 
 
 from Mrs. Carlyle that his sermons had a real influence 
 on many young men of name and position, who would 
 not listen to other preachers, but it gave him a greater 
 pleasure to find earnest young men of this very class, 
 able and eager to give him practical assistance in his 
 labours when occasion offered. The hard winter of 
 '43 overwhelmed him with work, and the sufferings 
 of the poor wrung his heart, but the unobtrusive 
 assistance and encouragement given by his two young 
 friends, Lord Lyttelton and Lord John Manners, 
 lightened his days, and in a large degree made the 
 outlook more hopeful. It is pleasant to note the 
 steady philanthropic interest these young men took 
 in current events. Lord John Manners wrote to him 
 as follows : 
 
 WooLLEY Park, 
 Broseley, 
 
 23rd Oct., 1843. 
 My dear Brookfield, 
 
 I have heard nothing of you since your return 
 from foreign parts, save the fact duly recorded in the 
 Morning Post of your having married the H. Glynns. 
 Let me hear how the tour succeeded, and how you are 
 in health. 
 
 While I remember it, let me ask if they contmue 
 sending the loaves to the vestry ? If they don't will 
 you go to the shop (the corner of Bond Street and 
 Piccadilly) and teU them that you are commissioned 
 by the gentleman (they don't know me) to tell them 
 to continue sending them, and that when I return to 
 London I wiU pay them. Is any project on foot for 
 relieving the poor in London ? I like the line or rather 
 
 131 
 
MRS. BROOKFIELD AND HER CIRCLE 
 
 tone adopted by the Times in pointing out the Church 
 as the proper almsgiver, and have been thinking that 
 an appeal in favour of a distinct confraternity, written 
 by a clergyman acting in London, would be good 
 weight just now ; why should not you undertake it ? 
 Is the thing altogether impracticable ; the spirit seems 
 alive and ready ; if so — a house, a dress, a rule alone 
 are to be supplied. 
 
 Read Wiseman's letter on Catholic Unity sub 
 flnem. Pray turn this over in your thoughts ; St. 
 James' of all the London parishes would be the easiest 
 to begin with, if the Bishop and Rector would sanction 
 it, funds might, I am sure, be raised without any 
 difficulty. I believe Miss Coutts can be reckoned 
 on as willing to promote it ; and if it was once made 
 known publicly that such a plan was in active contem- 
 plation, no doubt the numbers of people who all over 
 the country are wishing for the establishment of some 
 sort of Monastic houses would willingly subscribe to 
 make so favourable a beginning. At any rate let me 
 know what you think about it ; the more I think the 
 subject over the more do I feel convinced that if the 
 Church of England is really to do anything among 
 the poor masses She must go out of her present 
 parochial system. This will be my direction for a 
 week more. With my kind regards to Mrs. Brookfield, 
 I am. 
 
 Dear B., affectly yours, 
 
 John Manners. 
 
 P.S. — In case my friend the baker should be 
 obdurate I send a cheque for £5, of which spend part 
 in defraying the cost of the dole, the rest in what 
 charitable way you think best. 
 
 132 
 
THE SOUTHEY SCHEME 
 
 Lord John Manners to Mr. Brookfield : 
 
 Belvoir Castle, 
 
 30th December, 1843. 
 My dear Brookfield, 
 
 At last my Southey scheme has marched a step. 
 The Bishop of London conditionally sanctions it, and 
 I'm now preparing for a declaration in the papers ; 
 drawing out a committee and so on ; I am ashamed, 
 knowing your multitudinous businesses, to ask you 
 to take any part in it, but a recollection of your services 
 on a former occasion makes me wish to see you on said 
 committee ; either as plain committee-man, or better 
 still secretary or treasurer, if you would be one I'd be 
 the othei 
 
 I don't want the committee to be large, but a select 
 working one, and at present propose Lyttelton, Sir J. 
 Hanmer, Dicky Milnes, Mr. Watts Russell, you and I 
 as its constituent parts. 
 
 The constitution of the Order is briefly this : the 
 Sisters are to be Churchwomen, but to relieve all 
 distressed creatures indiscriminately, they are not to 
 be bound by vows, but during their Sistership to obey 
 all the rules of the House, and their Superior is to be 
 appointed by the Bishop, and the parish priest is to 
 supervise the establishment, the Bishop being the 
 visitor and aU other rules will be referred to him before 
 they are adopted. 
 
 Now, ye anti-popery varlets, come on ! 
 
 Something like £300 is already promised, and once 
 get the vessel under sail and she'll make the port, I'll 
 be bound. Will Mr. Ward come in ? Mr. Page, of 
 Woodpit, has written a most encouraging letter, and 
 most people seem to admit the idea readily. I am so 
 taken up with this, having at present all the work 
 on my own shoulders, that I can hardly think of 
 anything else. But I must wish you all the hearty 
 
 133 
 
MRS. BROOKFIELD AND HER CIRCLE 
 
 compliments of the season, and a prosperous and 
 healthful new year. 
 
 In haste I rest 
 
 Your assured friend, 
 
 John Manners. 
 
 Mrs. Brookfield at this time did her part in making 
 clothes and soups for the poor ; but her husband never 
 encouraged her in regular district visiting. She also 
 made his " bands " for him, copied out his sermons 
 in her bold fine handwriting, and translated others 
 written by the most celebrated preachers of Europe. 
 
 Few of Mr. Brookfield's many talents were unem- 
 ployed at this busy period of his life. It is no uncom- 
 mon thing to find him, at the end of a very full day, 
 engaged in looking over the speeches of friends or in 
 drafting and writing out letters for them. In '43, 
 with a view to the improvement of congregational 
 singing, he compiled and produced a Book of 
 Chaunts metrically divided. It was probably upon 
 the strength of this that he was invited to examine 
 schools in singing and to rehearse choirs. He writes 
 thus to his wife on this subject from Marlborough 
 College : 
 
 College, 
 
 Marlboro', 
 
 3 May, 1844. 
 My dear Jane, 
 
 At twelve I had the boys into Church and found 
 that they had really nothing to learn, they did the 
 chanting so well. I shall hear them again this evening 
 with the organist. I dined in Hall, almost as at 
 
 134 
 
DINING IN HALL 
 
 Cambridge, a dinner being provided for the Masters 
 at a table separate from and placed a foot higher than 
 those at which the youngsters dine at one (when the 
 Masters lunch). Dinner over, we adjourned as at 
 Cambridge to the combination room, i.e., the room 
 where M.A.'s combine to drink wine, crack Barcelonas, 
 and talk reason seasoned with salt wit, while at the 
 meagre nursery for sickly minds in Oxfordshire they 
 are sitting in what their dialect calls a common room 
 sucking stewed prunes and mumbling indistinct eruc- 
 tations of crazy superstition. The Masters are six 
 university men, including the Apostle of Intemperance. 
 All of like age and very kind gentlemanly fellows, and 
 you may rely upon it I was not long in finding my 
 chair an easy one. When we had made facts stand 
 out in sufficiently bold relief the etiquette was to go 
 and hear Wilson whom they had got down to sing 
 Scottish songs in the Town Hall. At ten thirty 
 adjourned to combination where a shght supper was 
 furnished for Wilson (who, however, sang no more), 
 and we had a very chatty Cambridge sort of party. 
 We broke up soon after twelve. I was temperate as 
 a Nun, one glass of wine, and one of mountain dew in 
 compliment to Wilson, but a headache this morning 
 gave Oxford a momentary advantage in the perpetually 
 recurring comparison. 
 
 To which his wife replied from Clevedon Court : 
 
 I am glad you have been so gay (as people provoke 
 one with sa3dng if one has dined or tea'd otherwise 
 than at home), and I am gladder that the Marlboro' 
 boys do justice to the sweat of your brow. 
 
 I don't know whether you have grown more 
 intensely superior and intellectual or I more over- 
 poweringly duU and silly, but I can't divest myself 
 
 135 
 
MRS. l^ROOKFIin.n AND UKR ClKCKl-: 
 
 of the fear of your thinking hall' I sa\- of no vahic for 
 your reading or hearing- 
 She then proceeds at length to tell him lier friends' 
 opinions upon the religious questions of the hour. 
 
 Mr. to Mrs. Hrooklield : 
 
 '23 Gt. PULTENl'V St., 
 T.ONDON, 
 
 13 M<iy, 44. 
 My dear Jane, 
 
 I must say that the iierfectly undispided way in 
 which your ()xford friends luwe l>een allowed to lay 
 down as a ruled point that " Rex-erenee " is a \irlue 
 without subjecting it to the same rules of limitation 
 and proportion as other propensities (for it is no more) 
 is not a little careless on the part of my friiMids. Hene- 
 volence is a virtue, but not the biMiex'oIence which gi\es 
 to a canting imjioslor what is due tt) the P>ntcher and 
 Baker. Courage is a virtue but not that which rushes 
 like a vain ostentatious Irishman, " Whurra ah ! th(Mi 
 now ! pilliloo 1 arrah ! thunder and tiuM ! aghrah I " 
 into the thick of an unnecessary row ; and R(^verence 
 is a virtue, but not that reverence which refuses to 
 ask any question conni'ctcd with religion, dares not 
 dispute " My Mother told me," and Ibelieves every- 
 thing that was said " by them of old time " I met ni 
 an excellent sermon by a writer of littU^ name the otluM- 
 day upon the text "Temperate in all things," that 
 "intemperate courage, or courage in excess, is temeiity ; 
 caution in excess is cowardice, beUef in excc^ss is cro 
 dulity, firmness in excess is obstinacy, and reverence 
 in excess is superstition." To recognise tlu> pr(>S(Mice 
 and the hand of the Deity, to look carefully for a moral 
 and spiritual truth and lesson, and to treat the subject 
 tenderly and gravely seems to me the way in which 
 
 135 
 
PALMERSTON AND DICKENS 
 
 Reverence would deal with the Angel question in 
 either case you mention. To insist on or rather to 
 require others to believe in the material angel seems to 
 me superstition, obstinately to deny angelic interven- 
 tion of any kind seems to me something quite as foolish, 
 and the question whether there was or was not an 
 intermediate agency purely indifferent provided you 
 recognise the agency. 
 
 Good gracious ! three sides about this. Saturday 
 at six to the Artists' Dinner. I have been at as bad 
 but never so stupidly placed, between a twaddling 
 benevolent, self-satisfied old Cheeryble, and a pilling 
 Surgeon. Lord Palmerston's speeches were amusing 
 to me as exhibiting how a Public Man, thoro'ly accus- 
 tomed to speak, and not caring the shadow of a fraction 
 of a hang whether he succeeded or not, would handle 
 such flimsy topics. He did not excel, however, nor 
 anybody else. Dickens spoke, shortly and well enough, 
 but it had a very cut and dried air, and rather pompous 
 and shapely in its construction and delivered m a 
 rather sonorous deep voice. Not a jot of humour in 
 it. He looks like Milnes, same height and shape, still 
 longer hair, but not his demoniacal good humour 
 of expression. I was totally ignored, no Church, no 
 Chaplain, no personal Me was drunk, while the medical 
 officers were proposed, and indeed everybody else. 
 
 This was a decided blunder of theirs. Altogether 
 the dinner was much like other such — no better and 
 could not be worse. 
 
 Mr. to Mrs. Brookfield : 
 
 23 Gt. Pulteney St., Golden Sq., 
 London, 
 
 15 May, 1844. 
 My dear Jane, 
 
 The evening of the last day I wrote to you I dined 
 
 137 
 
MRS. BROOKFIELD AND HER CIRCLE 
 
 alone here and afterwards picked up Monteith, Vena- 
 bles, Lushington, and Chapman, at Oxford and Cam- 
 bridge Club. Monteith took us to Fenton's Hotel, 
 where we had a very pleasant evening. 
 
 I have no intention to dine at the Artist Malevolent 
 again. I was introduced to Lord Palmerston and 
 chatted with him a few minutes, but was not near him 
 at table. 
 
 The cruellest blow of all was, not being ranked 
 below a very modest and sensible apothecary as I was, 
 but being made inferior to Sir Wilham Ross, portrait 
 painter, a man who is not " Rather an ass " (Hallam). 
 There the owl sate opposite to me on the superior side 
 of the table grinning sweetly and patronizingly, when 
 I opened my lips, with a dreadfully mechanical face. 
 However I had a few moments of unmixed extatic 
 bliss. Lord Palmerston, in proposing the Royal 
 Academy, blundered into a most unfortunate congra- 
 tulation of the world at large that every Exhibition 
 showed fewer portraits and more of the higher and 
 more imaginative and essentially artistic works of art. 
 He began to find out his mistake (as nine-tenths of the 
 people present were sign painters and takers of profiles 
 " in this style "), and to flounder out but not till I had 
 enjoyed the gathering frown on the Knight's brow. 
 He was also good when Palmerston was pa5dng Stans- 
 feld a very well deserved compliment on a sea piece 
 (one of the best I ever saw), and facetiously proposed 
 that if we felt no qualms after contemplating that 
 most Uvely representation of a very uncomfortable 
 sight (a rough sea) we should couple his name with the 
 Royal Academy. The joke was bad enough, but also 
 good enough for after dinner, and everybody laughed 
 except the Knight, who only sneeringly remarked 
 " His lordship is rather badly off for a joke this 
 afternoon ! ! ! 
 
 138 
 
" JACK STRAW'S CASTLE " 
 
 How I am prating away^ meantime the hours gUde 
 on with eternity at their back, and the post will close 
 in five minutes. 
 
 Farewell. Kind love to all. Ever 
 Yours most affectionately, 
 
 W. H. Brookfield. 
 
 Mr. to Mrs. Brookfield : 
 
 23 Gt. Pulteney St., Golden Square, 
 
 22 May, 1844. 
 My dear Jane, 
 
 I went yesterday with Lyttelton to the Zoological 
 Gardens, where we staid near three hours, thence to 
 Hampstead, I wishing to call on the Greys. We dined 
 together very comfortably at the Inn " Jack Straw's 
 Castle," where we dined once before, stewed eels, 
 beefsteak, sparrow grass, potatoes, cheeses, salad, 
 beer, and " a comfortable glass,," five shillings each. 
 
 It may be presumed we sate down with misgiving 
 sensations. But it was exceedingly agreeable. A 
 Cambridge Puseyite against an Oxford any day. 
 I ventured to hint that a Communion might be vaUd 
 and beneficial tho' there were no credence table, he 
 did not grow red in the face at my daring profanity ; 
 and I wondered reverentially whether in aU Archdeacon 
 Manning's parsonage there was such a thing as a look- 
 ing glass. He did not call down fire from heaven upon 
 the blasphemy that assumed the possibihty of the 
 Archdeacon's consciousness of having a cravat or apron 
 or silk stockings. He told me what we both laughed 
 at violently. The Duke of Saxe Coburg (Prince 
 Albert's brother) asked the dowager (Lady Lyttelton) 
 at Court one day with very rapid utterance, " Did 
 you read 'Lost Paradise'?" for "Have you read 
 • Paradise Lost ' ? " 
 
 Oh, I forgot to tell you Maitland, the Archbishop's 
 
 139 
 
MRS. BROOKFIELD AND HER CIRCLE 
 
 chaplain and librarian, said to Lyttelton about Man- 
 ning, that he observed somehow or the other all these 
 fellows are " such excessive dandies," " Manning, for 
 instance, was here an hour ago just out of a band box." 
 I do not know whether I shall go to Mrs. Procter's 
 or not ; very likely if my cough is tolerable, tho' 
 I have not much curiosity ; and of course it is only 
 curiosity that would take one. Last Sunday at 
 St. Luke's " we observed " (Morning Post) the pretty 
 girls, the swells, the thoughtful girl, the everlastings, 
 the genteel girl, the Huffee (who has never been to 
 Communion since I made her take her glove off), the 
 Wynn, the incomprehensible, and numerous other 
 upper crust parties. 
 
 Ever most affectionately yours, 
 
 W. H. B. 
 
 Mr. to Mrs. Brookfield : 
 
 23 Gt. Pulteney St., Golden Sq., 
 London, 
 
 10 June, 1844. 
 My dear Jane, 
 
 This is sad work. I shall be very anxious to hear 
 from you day by day till you come. 
 
 I preached at St. Luke's a.m. Dean helped, and 
 the greatest loss by far which your illness entails upon 
 you is that of not having been present on this occasion. 
 The donkey in entering the desk got his robes somehow 
 or other caught in the door. This he did not discover 
 till he had begun reading, when he had not presence 
 of mind to disentangle them, but proceeded as follows, 
 I being below at the Altar. 
 
 " Dearly beloved brethren, (Mr. Brookfield, sotto 
 voce). The Scripture moveth us (Mr. Brookfield ! 
 (louder) ) in sundry places (Mr. Brookfield ! !)." I 
 looked round and perceived him literally with a face 
 
 140 
 
A DILEMMA IN CHURCH 
 
 agonized with terror as if a rat were biting at his heel ; 
 I could not see what was the matter and asked if he 
 were ill, but he went on alternately reading three 
 words, then turning round with terrified face and ges- 
 ture to his entangled hood till the tragedy worked itself 
 to this pitch, " And altho " (a terrified wink at the desk 
 door) we ought at all times (do assist me) humbly to 
 acknowledge (I'm confined, Mr. Brookfield) (in an 
 audible voice). At this I gave the door a rude pull, 
 released the unlucky vestment, turned round to bury 
 my convulsions in my surplice, and all thenceforward 
 went on smoothly, but of course I could not ask the 
 fool to preach for me at night, it would not have been safe. 
 
 I preached an old sermon with new bits, rather 
 telling, I think. The greatest compliment I ever had 
 paid me was from my old Law Master, who was there 
 and came round to meet me as I left the pulpit ; a great 
 bear who hated me when I was with him, and whom 
 I should have thought incapable of thinking anything 
 I could say or do tolerable. However, he praised very 
 much, tooked hashed mutton with me, went to St. 
 Luke's at night and praised again. 
 
 I am writing all this merriment while you are 
 suffering.* 
 
 Mr. to Mrs. Brookfield : 
 
 23 Gt. Pulteney St., Golden Sq., 
 9 Nov., 1844. 
 My dear Jane, 
 
 I only lent Leon one Sovereign. I am extremely 
 
 * While on a visit to a sister in Devonshire Mrs. Brookfield had 
 been taken suddenly ill with a malady which confined her to her bed 
 for some months during which time she wrote no letters. This 
 illness rendered her delicate and caused her to be somewhat of an 
 invalid for several years afterwards. 
 
 141 
 
MRS. BROOKFIELD AND HER CIRCLE 
 
 sorry for you, dear Jane ; but facts are facts, we cannot 
 control truth ; it is and cannot be as if it were not. 
 
 I will also say, too, wishing you most heartily 
 every support under the trial. I knew perfectly well, 
 seven days ago it will be in one single half hour. I 
 knew of Mrs. B.'s sentiments with reference to the 
 blind girl. I knew of her writing. I knew the pur- 
 port of the letter. But, my dear Jane, be calm, — the 
 historical tendency is in the family.* 
 
 Sir Charles' Roman Emperors, Hallam's Middle 
 As,es, what are they but instances, creditable instances 
 of this propensity to record in their own peculiar 
 dialect, and like yourself with their own pecviliar 
 charm, what had been known to mankind for ages. 
 
 * Mrs. Brookfield had been visiting and tending a blind girl in 
 her husband's parish and without his knowledge. She had just 
 now in a long letter confessed this act to him. 
 
 142 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 " The Set." A Birthday Party. Compliments from Rogers. 
 London Library. Party at the Procter's. Moxon and AKred 
 Tennyson. Rogers' Kindness. Wordsworth's presentation to the 
 Queen. A Walk. Gladstone. Kinglake and Eothen. A Country 
 Visit. Aubrey de Vere. Harry Hallam. A Dinner. Barry Corn- 
 wall's Hospitality. A Sermon. Mrs. Procter and Mrs. Brookfield. 
 Hallam and the Parrot. Accident to Thackeray. Father Prout. 
 Mrs. Norton. With Thackeray at Brighton. Tennyson's Pension. 
 Wilkie Collins. 
 
 Mr. Brookfield had small-pox during the first days 
 of the new year^ during which illness he walked, talked, 
 preached as usual, merely slackening a little when he 
 learned the nature of his malady to write new sermons 
 or re- write old ones, which " sport " he maintained 
 was " becoming a mania with him." 
 
 They saw a good deal of Rogers about this time, 
 and were in the habit of dining " extempore " with the 
 Hallams and others, and in fact 1845 witnessed, what 
 may be called, the consolidation of the many friend- 
 ships earlier begun. As the Brookfields were in London 
 for the whole of the first part of that year, their diaries 
 give some account of how and with whom they spent 
 their time. And the record of their doings on any given 
 day or week was then practically a history of every 
 other one ; for the actions of the " Set," as Thackeray 
 called a privileged few, became quite charmingly 
 simple directly any members of it found themselves 
 in the neighbourhood of the others. A close, constant, 
 pleasant intimacy would inevitably ensue and continue 
 
 143 
 
MRS. BROOKFIELD AND HER CIRCLE 
 
 until the hour when some of them, forced away by 
 sterner duties, were found to fly " the festive scene." 
 " Festive " describes almost accurately most of that 
 wonderful companionship ; they had no wearyings 
 whatever in one another's society, they extemporised 
 banquets, they strolled in and out of each other's 
 dwellings, they assembled the most brilliant of people 
 on the shortest of notices ; they struck their wits to- 
 gether and always emitted sparks ; they took keen 
 and often critical interest in each other's life and work, 
 and when they parted set forth stimulated to other 
 and finer achievements, which in many cases were in 
 due time brought forth to the joy and enrichment of 
 the world. 
 
 Mr. Thackeray, for instance, was in the habit of 
 breakfasting with the Brookfields every Saturday — 
 but that regular engagement in no way prevented their 
 all meeting at dinners and suppers there and in other 
 places that same day as well as on most others. And so 
 it was with most of them, they went from one to the 
 other, they met en route their choicest friends, they 
 took them home, they petted and praised them, they 
 kept them late, knowing well they were all about to 
 begin early another day of similar informal routine. 
 
 We do not quote much from the diaries in order to 
 avoid repetition, and also because they seem to grow 
 more entertaining when elaborated into letters as they 
 are later on in this year. 
 
 March 12th, 1845. [Diary.] 
 To Milnes' to breakfast. Sir William and Lady 
 
 144 
 
THACKERAY AT DINNER 
 
 Chatterton, Kenyon, Canon Roach, Mrs. and Miss 
 Procter — pleasant enough. To Hallam's after — who 
 came in in his Court dress. Walked home with Jane, 
 met Kinglake who turned with us. In evening read 
 Dickens' " Chimes," as utter trash as was ever trodden 
 under foot. 
 
 I5th. 
 
 Thackeray came in to Breakfast. While he was with 
 us Mr. BuUer came. Went with them to Baker St. 
 Bazaar. They afterwards took Jane to Miss Linwood's 
 exhibition. Dined with us to-day, Spedding, Kinglake, 
 Harley (George Harley, M.D.), Spring Rice, and in 
 the evening Merivale and H. Hallam came. Smoking 
 till one. 
 
 25th. 
 
 Jane's birthday. Laura and Grey with Thackeray 
 and H. Hallam dined with us. We had champagne 
 at dessert, on which Thackeray said " So nice of you, 
 old fellow, buying two bottles of champagne on your 
 wife's birthday." We had Gurnet for fish, and Grey 
 observed that they barked Uke a dog, at which moment 
 a dog barked, when Laura said, " That is the surviving 
 Gurnet expressing his horror at being soused," which 
 I had just said must be done with the residue. Thack- 
 eray gave Jane a Turkish shawl. He and Hallam staid 
 to smoke. 
 
 29th. 
 
 We dined at Hallam's. Bart Frere, Spedding, Tom 
 Taylor, H. Mansfield, and Spring Rice. In the evening 
 Thackeray joined the smoking. Home about two. 
 
 145 
 
 11— (2309) 
 
MRS. BROOKFIELD AND HER CIRCLE 
 
 Mr. Brookfield, after recording that he had dined 
 at Mr. Deane's and went on afterwards to Mrs. Procter's ; 
 where he found Milnes, Talford, Kinglake, Goldsmith, 
 Mrs. Montague, Kenyon, Benedict, etc., writes the 
 following chatty letter to his mother : 
 
 London, 
 
 16 April, 1845. 
 My dear Mother, 
 
 Thank you very much for your letter and the 
 encouraging reception you accord to my last attempt 
 at a gossip. Instead of a mock modest deprecation of 
 so much charitableness — tho' I confess its undeserved- 
 ness — I will at once plunge as before into the sea of 
 retrospect and swim as far as I have time for before 
 post closing — of which it lacks, however, but a bare 
 half-hour. 
 
 I have just returned from the Hallam's, whither 
 I had taken Jane to see Kate, who is up for ten days. 
 They went out in the carriage and I and H. came 
 together and called on old, old, old Sam Rogers — who 
 is as wonderful in conversation as ever. Sydney 
 Smith's death, however, must have reminded him 
 that very few people live " oUis" — they were a sort of 
 "gemini " of wit, but Sydney much the younger. We 
 are to have a domestic dinner at Hallam's on Monday 
 — and Rogers will join us. He is a warm admirer of 
 Jane's, and says many of the gallant things to her 
 which he can say so prettily. Yesterday we dined 
 with the Rector. Somehow or other I was the talker 
 of the evening. I have observed that people are prone 
 to measure the pleasantness of a party by the amount 
 in which they have been allowed to prate, and I should 
 say, therefore, we had a very pleasant evening at the 
 Rector's. You may be amused to know that a 
 
 146 
 
CHARLES KEMBLE'S READINGS 
 
 tremendous roar was produced by my telling (apropos 
 of I don't know what) of Jacky Ward pronouncing 
 that " Miss Rowbottom's were the thickest legs under 
 the table." The servants could not hold a plate steady 
 for ten minutes afterwards. I finished yesterday a 
 fortnight in the vestry, which I have been taking in the 
 present interregnum of Curate — our late one having 
 gone before a successor was found. It has put 9 
 guineas in my pocket, which will pay my entrance 
 and one year's subscription to the London Library, 
 which I wanted to belong to. On Monday evening 
 I went to hear Charles Kemble read " Much Ado 
 about Nothing." It was a very crowded room — not 
 much less than £200 I should think. And I liked the 
 reading exceedingly — so much so that I shall take Jane 
 to-night to hear " King John." I have often tried to 
 read a play — but, having never heard one read, felt 
 some difficulties which I think I could now somewhat 
 surmount — but reading is a very dehcate art and more 
 difficult than acting. It was curious to me to see in 
 the room (a large lecturing room in the city) Dr. Russell 
 (Rector of Bishopsgate), whose grammar I learned 
 when I was ten years old — and he still a comparatively 
 young man. Day before (Sunday) Bishop preached at 
 St. James', for the endowment of St. Luke's. The 
 sermon's an annual. Saturday we dined at home. 
 Friday ditto. Thursday at the Deane's (Chairman of 
 Customs — pleasantish). They are " hearers " at St. 
 James's. Same evening we were at a party at Mrs. 
 Procter's (Mr. P. is Barry Cornwall, you know), when 
 came a few remarkables — Kinglake — Milnes — Lady 
 Chatterton — and several of a somewhat smaller fry of 
 Hterature. Procter was an intimate of Lord Byron. 
 She is daughter of Basil Montague, who edited Bacon. 
 I am afraid the clock will strike before I finish my 
 paper — ^but I will write to the last breath. All the 
 
 147 
 
MRS. BROOKFIELD AND HER CIRCLE 
 
 world, of course, is talking about Maynooth (The 
 Grant) — and of course, as is natural, a considerable 
 amount of idiotic breath finds vent upon the subject. 
 
 Mr. Brookfield was evidently an apt pupil, for from 
 about this date he was acknowledged to be one of the 
 finest of Shakesperian readers. Kinglake said of him, 
 " An orator of original genius, he possessed marvellous 
 histrionic skill, which he was able to moderate in the 
 pulpit. In the reading of Shakespeare he was never 
 in his time surpassed by anyone." 
 
 April nth. [Diary .J 
 
 Dined at home. To Tom Taylor's (Temple) ; Albert 
 Smith there. They were writing a burlesque for the 
 Lyceum at Whitsuntide next. Thence to Chapman's, 
 with whom a cigar and agreeable tete-a-tete. He told 
 me that Alfred Tennyson is in Town. 
 
 Jane to Hallam's. I, after a short visit to the Vestry, 
 to Alfred Tennyson's (Charlotte St.), sat with him an 
 hour, and he engaged to dine with us. At five he came 
 to dinner. Kate and Julia Hallam were there. He 
 very agreeable. While Kate, Jane and I went to 
 Church he staid and chatted with Julia Hallam. 
 Moxon came at Alfred's invitation and staid till six, 
 while Alfred and I smoked till one a.m. I liked him 
 very much. He asked me at parting to dine next day, 
 which I could not do, being engaged ! 
 I'dth. 
 
 Thackeray and Tom Taylor breakfasted. I went 
 with them to Alfred's — where we talked very agreeably,, 
 
 148 
 
ROGERS AT DR. JOHNSON'S DOOR 
 
 Thackeray and I to Robson's and heard an organ he 
 had built for Lord Saye and Sele. Kate, TinUng, 
 Grey and Laura, Julia H. dined with us. Afterwards 
 I went to Moxon's, where was Alfred Tennyson, no 
 one else. We smoked till nearly two. A most agree- 
 able evening. Moxon told of Rogers' kindness to him 
 in lending him £500 to set him up. 
 2lst. 
 
 Breakfasted at Milnes'. Two Maynooth Priests 
 (Russell and Whytehead), Bishop of St. David's, the 
 O'Connor Don, Blake, John Manners, Rich, Cavendish, 
 Sir Walter James, Aubrey de Vere. Afterwards to 
 Hallam's with Jane. Dined at Hallam's. Rogers and 
 Chas. Spring Rice with the Tinlings. Rogers told of 
 his going to knock at Samuel Johnson's door, when his 
 heart failed, he dared not, and he went away. Also of 
 the Duke of Wellington on his announcing that Words- 
 worth had written a sonnet upon him, " Gentlemen, 
 there has been a sonnet written on me." On coming 
 away he shook me with both hands and said, " Good- 
 night, I am much obleeged to you." What for ? 
 22nd. 
 
 Wrote to Rogers that we were mistaken in thinking 
 we could breakfast with him next Tuesday, as it is 
 Confirmation. Dined at Grey's. Sir Chas. Elton and 
 the whole family in the evening. Read part of "Im- 
 provisatore," which unsettles me as aU adventurous 
 novels do. 
 25th. 
 
 Dined at the Bishop of London's. Afterwards to the 
 Hallams'. Hallam had gone to the Queen's Ball. 
 
 149 
 
MRS. BROOKFIELD AND HER CIRCLE 
 
 26th. 
 
 Thackeray to breakfast. Lyttelton called. He 
 laughed at the similarity of Sir Charles' voice to my 
 imitation of it. 
 29th. 
 
 Confirmation. About 750 confirmed. The Bishop 
 sought me to thank me for my assistance, but I was 
 out of the way. Dined at the Sterhng. Two Spring 
 Rices, Lord Ebrington, Spedding, Law, Alfred Tenny- 
 son, Venables, Merivale, T. F. Ellis, Trench. Trench 
 willingly undertook to look at some sermons of mine. 
 To Spedding's afterwards. 
 May 3rd. 
 
 Thackeray, Spedding, Aubrey de Vere, and C. Spring 
 Rice breakfasted here. To Alfred Tennyson's who is 
 dining here this evening. Kinglake and Alfred T. 
 joined us at dinner, and staid pleasantly till half-past 
 one. 
 &h. 
 
 Vestry. Jane and the rest of them go down the 
 river to Gravesend, the Steam Navigation Company 
 giving an entertainment on the occasion of a launch. 
 I dined at Moxon's, where were Wordsworth, A. 
 Tennyson, H. Lushington, Harness, Dyce, and self. 
 A. Tennyson and Lushington came home with me for 
 an hour. Wordsworth described his presentation to 
 the Queen at the Ball last Friday but one . . . and 
 speaking of the graciousness of it added, " I daresay 
 it was my years, most hkely she had not read many of 
 my works." He added that he had stipulated with the 
 Lord Chamberlain that he should not just pass through 
 
 150 
 
A NOTE TO THACKERAY 
 
 the crowd but should be noticed. I remarked that 
 the Queen had done herself good by her reception of 
 him, and that he could not have bestowed his patron- 
 age on a more depressed cause than that of Queendom 
 — ^unless the Clergy . . . which raised a great laugh. 
 I, however, begged to amend my speech and to express 
 my gratitude for his patronage of the Clergy. He said 
 he was quite content with my first compliment. 
 
 Towards the end of the season and just as Mrs. 
 Brookfield was going into the country, she wrote to 
 Mr. Thackeray, who had lent her a book : 
 
 " I am extremely obliged for Goldsmith and still 
 more for your letter. I don't like to keep your servant 
 waiting while I attempt at all a suitable reply, but you 
 are very unfeeling in burlesquing the distinguishing 
 mark of all ladies writing, and depriving one of the 
 faintest excuse for ever dashing any word to you again." 
 
 When they were staying at the Bullars' at South- 
 ampton we find that " Thackeray came over from 
 Farnham where his mother and children were, and 
 passed the day at the Bullars'." These Bullars, so 
 often mentioned in these as well as in the letters of 
 Mr. Thackeray to Mrs. Brookfield, were a cultivated, 
 interesting family, including a clergyman father, and 
 doctor and barrister sons, all of whom had a deep and 
 sincere affection for the Thackeray s and the Brookfields. 
 
 Mr. Brookfield to Mrs. Brookfield, Senr. 
 
 31 May, 1845. 
 My dear Mother, 
 
 You ask for a leaf out of my diary. I wish I had 
 
 151 
 
MRS. BROOKFIELD AND HER CIRCLE 
 
 kept it for the last fortnight, for really I cannot recall 
 what has happened since I wrote last. Indeed, I 
 forget when I did write last, but I remember mention- 
 ing dining at the Sterling Club dinner, which was a 
 month ago. The only thing notable that I can remem- 
 ber since then was a fete given by the Steam Navigation 
 Company in one of their Steamers to see a launch down 
 at Woolwich. They gave champagne dejeuner — music, 
 dancing (a little, at least), etc. Tickets had been got 
 by Charles Grey for us, and two of Jane's sisters. 
 But the evening before I got an invitation from Moxon 
 the printer (next door to where the fire was at Ragget's 
 last Tuesday) to meet Wordsworth and others, and 
 I went. Meantime Jane and her brothers-in-law and 
 sisters went gallivanting down the river. There was 
 Spring Rice (one of her lovers — ^but their name is legion) 
 —his wife, who was the christener of the new vessel — 
 and a great many queerish people that one never had 
 seen before, and it is to be hoped never will again. 
 They seemed to enjoy their excursion, and to have 
 extracted a good deal of fun from it — which is all that 
 ever can be said of miscellaneous concerns hke that. 
 I, too, was satisfied with my commutation for cham- 
 pagne at Moxon' s, where we had an exceedingly 
 pleasant, homely dinner with Tennyson, Wordsworth 
 (who had come up to be presented), Harness, Lushing- 
 ton. Dyer, and myself. I have a shuddering feehng 
 that I told you all this before. When I got home and 
 found the nautical folks supping as well as they could — 
 and laughing as well as if they were supping better. 
 On 7th May (whenever that might be) I had one of our 
 frequent summer walks with Lord Lyttelton. On these 
 occasions he caUs on me at about one. Away we stump 
 as far out into the country as we can get, weather per- 
 mitting or objecting — it makes no difference — when we 
 arrive towards 5 p.m. at any praiseworthy looking 
 
 152 
 
A GLIMPSE OF GLADSTONE 
 
 public — we get beefsteaks — or veal cutlets or what we 
 can — dine with huge glee and walk home to tea. 
 
 Mr. Brookfield to Mrs. Brookfield, senr. : 
 
 23 Gt. Pulteney St., 
 
 20 June, 1845. 
 My dear Mother, 
 
 Thank you for your letter. I had never heard 
 of the Burying Beetle. In my early days they had 
 no further connection with interments than providing 
 the shroud, " I, said the Beetle, with my thread and 
 needle ! " By the bye, they always pronounce it beedle 
 here amongst the lower sort. My Beadle lives under 
 the Church. I called one day to speak to his wife and 
 asked how they found the rooms — whether damp or 
 what. " Oh, I should get on very well," she said, " if 
 I wasn't so overrun with Beedles." I thought it a very 
 unconnubial complaint. Thank you also for the May- 
 nooth Petition of which you write, whether by slip of 
 pen or not, "which I think answerable." I can only 
 say I think so too. Wm. Gladstone divided me from 
 my wife at dinner yesterday at the Lyttelton's — but 
 I did not catechise him about his vote on Irish matters 
 — I have no doubt that whatever he has done was in 
 good faith. Consistency and sincerity are two things 
 very far indeed from identical or co-ordinate ; and 
 apparent consistency is often purchased by a sacrifice 
 of truth — and when truth in which I include all sorts 
 of integrity) is honestly pursued, there must appear in 
 our conduct a good deal of seeming inconsistency in 
 this ever shifting world of circumstance. William 
 Gladstone left the ministry before he voted ; there 
 went £5,000 a year. 
 
 As to Kingslake (about whose book you are particu- 
 lar in asking) it is always spoken of as a very clever 
 
 153 
 
MRS. BROOKFIELD AND HER CIRCLE 
 
 book — with a very fine edged wit — and this it would 
 be difficult to gainsay. " Eothen " is not a novel of 
 reverential writing certainly, but I believe people of 
 fine minds and much in the habit of reading instinct- 
 ively separate the chaff from the corn ; and in it, 
 tho' it is not free from what is objectionable, the corn 
 predominates. He is a delightful companion. He 
 sometimes comes here. We dined yesterday at the 
 I.ytteltons' . There is a saying in that family which 
 has come round to me three or four times, once thro' 
 Lady James, once thro' Mrs. Gladstone and elsewhere 
 " that Lady Lyttelton is jealous of nobody but Mr. 
 Brookfield " meaning that if Ld. L. . . is engaged to 
 walk with me on one of our excursions nothing at home 
 can get him to relinquish it, etc., etc. Well, old Lady 
 Davy — who is deaf — a gentlewoman who knows every- 
 body, told somebody that Lady Lyttelton was jealous 
 of nobody but Mrs. Brookfield — a distinction not 
 without a difference. Wednesday I was at the House 
 of Commons. DuU. Tuesday night we went to a 
 concert at Miss Herries', there were a few first-rate 
 Italian singers from the opera, and a large company, 
 but I don't remember anything good being said. 
 Monday we dined with the Milnes-Gaskells. We had 
 Ld. Jno. Manners, Morpeth, Monckton Milnes, Stafford, 
 O'Brien, and Sir F. Doyle, Lady D., Jane, Miss Wynn, 
 Miss Harcourt (Archbishop's daughter), and myself. 
 It was excessively agreeable. All people that one 
 knew and not much older or younger than oneself. 
 It is pleasant to see opposition parliament men at 
 dinner — i.e., when they are clever ones — as all the 
 above — excepting, by the bye, Doyle and Morpeth, 
 who are not in parliament — and one other gent who is 
 neither. 
 
 Ever most affectionately, 
 
 W. H. Brookfield. 
 154 
 
A RAMBLE WITIT LORD LYTTELTON 
 
 They were so much in the habit of saying and 
 hearing " good " things that they aired their surprise, 
 as above, when there came the occasion on which 
 nothing striking was said. 
 
 July 2nd. [Diary J 
 
 At three Lord Lyttelton called as agreed. We set 
 out for Hungerford Bridge, proposing to go to Putney 
 by steam. It rained so much that we went to the 
 " Cheshire Cheese " to dine, poking along the Adelphi 
 as we went to Savoy Chapel. After dinner by omnibus 
 to Surrey Gardens. Views of Edinburgh. Rock har- 
 monicon. At nine thirty I went to Thackeray's, 
 where were Father Prout (Mahoney), Morton, and 
 Wyndham. Staid till two. 
 
 5th. 
 
 Thackeray breakfasted. Letter arrives that Totty 
 Fanshawe may return to-day, which she immediately 
 prepares to do. Thackeray and I to Eraser's, where 
 he buys for her " Pride and Prejudice." He and I 
 take her down to Vauxhall to see her off to Southamp- 
 ton ; returning, we look in on Millbank Penitentiary. 
 
 August 5th. 
 
 To Hampstead to call on Wickham's at Eton Cottage, 
 thence to Colonel Elton. He was visible to me by 
 accident, but not ceremonially, so I left my card. 
 Thackeray called, so we went to Mrs. Procter's. Then 
 he dined with me but seemed quite out of sorts. To 
 his rooms, whither came Budham and Father Mahoney. 
 Home at half-past one. 
 
 155 
 
MRS. BROOKFIELD AND HER CIRCLE 
 
 In July Mrs. Brookfield had gone into Somersetshire 
 to stay with the Hallams, and letters began to pass 
 again. 
 
 Wraxall Lodge, 
 
 1845. 5 Aug. 
 My dearest William, 
 
 The poor Horse died last night — Boosey announced 
 it with a quivering voice at tea, and sorry we all were — 
 but Harry rallied sufficiently to propose taking Julia's 
 young horse in to the dead horse's stable to teach him 
 a lesson of mortality ! All yesterday till near 5 
 o'clock the Church Bell was tolling for a lady who died 
 on Saturday, I believe. Harry suggested tolling our 
 dinner bell for the horse, also pulling down the stable 
 blinds ! I was delighted by the sight of your letter 
 and thank you for finding time for so long a one on 
 a busy day. I had been sobering myself to expect just 
 a few straggling lines and your sheet was pleasantly 
 full. Why did not you open and read Aubrey De 
 Vere ? He apologises for not having sooner sent the 
 poems, owing to his time and thoughts being at his 
 father's sick bed and till he was better he had neglected 
 his present to me, and then he proceeds to remark, 
 ' ' I beUeve I ought also to apologise for sending you at 
 all what is Uttle worthy of your perusal. However, 
 I cannot make my verses better either by praising 
 them or depreciating them, so I will only say the simple 
 fact that it is on such occasions as the present that I 
 regret their being so bad." He remembers himself to 
 Brookfield, whom he hopes to meet at the Sterling 
 dinner on Wednesday, at Greenwich. You see, I do 
 not part with his autograph to send to you and I am 
 going by and bye to answer his letter with aU the airs 
 the wind can blow of gratitude, admiration, etc., 
 
 156 
 
UNCLE HALLAM 
 
 that I can allow myself to give utterance to out of 
 London, and within the bounds of conventionality. 
 Yesterday we set off for Lady Le Poer Trench and for 
 CeciUatic visiting. I was to be dropped at the latter' s 
 while the HaUams did homage to the Le Poer — but the 
 rain it raineth every day and in torrents it fell, the 
 horses' legs swayed to and fro in the clay red streams 
 we had slowly to drag thro' ; hail pattered on our 
 roof, and poor Uncle H. was distressed and perplexed, 
 but still wished to get over the civil thing to the Trench 
 Dowager. It, therefore, behooved J. O. B. to beg her 
 movements might be no clog (Ha ! ha ! ha ! clog — 
 muddy day, you recollect ?) upon the more paramount 
 plan of action, and she begged to resign her visit, 
 wherefore with speedier tread and relieved interiors 
 (the tread appUes to the horses — the interiors to the 
 trio inside the carriage, not to their individual interiors), 
 we went straight to Trench. The rain poiired down 
 as the servant bird of ill omen uttered " at home," 
 and then came one of Uncle H.'s funny CaroUnistic 
 agitations " How could Jane come in " when I did not 
 visit there ? JuHa, however, was peremptory that I 
 must not stay out in the rain, to which his benevolence 
 assented (it is perfectly usual to take any visitor in 
 your house to morning calls), and in we aU went, — the 
 Le Poeress was a little old lady with very civil manners 
 and a httle air of dignity in keeping with her high 
 estate — and the visit over, I was amused with " By 
 the bye, Juha, you did not apologise for bringing Jane 
 in, did you ? " which idea she indignantly repelled, and 
 we laughed much about it with Harry afterwards ; 
 my ogre-like appearance, or awkward manners, or 
 servant-rank, being severally suggested as accounting 
 for my Uncle's state of fidget. 
 
 157 
 
MRS. BROOKFIELD AND HER CIRCLE 
 
 Mrs. Brookfield to Aubrey de Vere : 
 
 Wraxall Lodge, 
 Nr. Bristol, 
 Dear Mr. De Vere, ^ Augt., 1845. 
 
 Your kind note was only forwarded to me to-day ; 
 if I had sooner received your Poems you would not 
 have found me so ungratefully silent as I must have 
 appeared ever since you sent them to me, and I must 
 now thank you for your book and for the pleasure I have 
 aheady had in reading the lent Copy of it which I 
 brought with me into the Country a month ago, to read 
 in a more congenial scene than Great Pulteney St. 
 I feel it is very presumptuous in me, uninitiated in 
 Wordsworth and incapable of writing or imagining how 
 others can write one Une of Poetry, to venture to praise, 
 and I must not attempt to do so. The Hymns for the 
 Canonical Hours have particularly struck me by their 
 very great sweetness and their soothing and quieting 
 tone, and there are so many thoughts throughout both 
 Volumes which I was so glad to find expressed in words. 
 I assure you your gift wiU be valued however inade- 
 quately. Mr. Brookfield returned to Town Saturday, 
 leaving me with my Uncle Mr. Hallam, I suppose, for 
 a week or two longer. I trust you have no longer any 
 cause for anxiety about your father. I only know 
 " Van Artevelde," I am sorry to say, but will try soon 
 to read " Edwin the Fair." I heard it was Ukely to 
 disappoint one after " Van Artevelde." 
 BeUeve me, 
 
 Yom-s very truly, 
 
 Jane O. Brookfield. 
 
 Mrs. to Mr. Brookfield : -it7„ . , . t 
 
 Wraxall Lodge, 
 
 8th Aug., 45. 
 
 Uncle HaUam was amusing in preparing for the 
 
 158 
 
Jane Welsh Carlyle 
 
 From an original in waUr-colours and crayon 
 by C. Hartmann in 7849 
 
isfy/f"' 
 
 
UNEXPECTED GUESTS 
 
 Gibbs' dinner by gravely and rather a shade testily 
 asseverating that on counting up the neighbours 
 there could not be more than five gentlemen to meet 
 him, and he therefore enjoined us to come at ^ past 7 
 to suit the Country and so small a party, but Julia 
 and I stuck out for ^ past eight, and punctually at 
 that hour were ushered into the drawing-room, which 
 we found filled with ladies " only" and about 6 little 
 girls, Mrs. Edward and two Miss Vaughans, and 
 sundry unknowns. Soon after the door again opened 
 and in poured a motley Group of twelve dinner Guest- 
 Gentlemen of the County, on whom Uncle H. had not 
 calculated, two Mileses, two Vaughans, no end of 
 Gibbses and Arthur ! 
 
 I had a letter the day before yesterday — it was 
 lying by the side of my plate at breakfast when Uncle 
 HaUam began " Who in the world directs to you at 
 Sir Charles Elton's without any ' Bart ' ? " and there 
 was a general scream as to who my correspondent 
 could possibly be, which at first I would not tell, as 
 I said they seemed so horrified 'twas unkind to victim- 
 ise my friend ; but Uncle Hallam, getting really 
 curious, and reiterating how much he wished to know, 
 my pride of friend gave way and I gratified him. Arthur 
 bas just been here en route for Bristol, and as we start 
 after luncheon for the Court my letter is somewhat 
 hurried, and you will not be able to compliment me 
 again on my good letters ; also my expedition to Bris- 
 tol somewhat knocked me up yesterday, and un- 
 wraxalled my mind I suppose at the same time, for no 
 wittery in reply to yours occurs to me. 
 
 Uncle Hallam and I had a good deal of talk on our 
 journey to and fro — confidential. Soh ! You dis- 
 cussed " Matrimonial irritations " and " domestic mat- 
 ters " with yourr frriend Thackeray ! I hope you may 
 «njoy the Procteress repast to-day (meant to be said 
 
 J 59 
 
MRS. BROOKFIELD AND HER CIRCLE 
 
 in a highly satirical tone). Harry knocks under about 
 the right of road dispute, he grovels at your feet, for 
 you were right after all ! How very funny you are 
 about my "imitative propensities." I believe you are 
 quite serious in your warnings and fears of my Pilling 
 when I leave the last trace of Cambridge influences 
 behind me. 
 
 Good-bye, don't be too cold shouldery in your 
 meals, fat of the land and Mrs. Procter one day, and 
 tripe and blue etceteras the next. 
 
 Mr. Brookfield, writing to his father, says : " Harry 
 Hallam, the only surviving son, joined us the first day 
 of our visit to Wraxall. He is exceedingly well gifted 
 and cultivated, not unlikely to be medalUst if he should 
 succeed in getting a Senior Optime degree in Mathe- 
 matics. He is a better scholar tho' not equal in the 
 higher regions of Philosophy to his late brother — 
 though neither of them were defective in that 
 department in which the latter excelled." 
 
 Mr. to Mrs Brookfield : 
 
 23 Gt. Pulteney St., 
 
 9 August, 45. 
 My dear Jane, 
 
 To resume our Story. We left Villiers sealing a 
 letter to his wife, who was staying with her relations, 
 the A. Lambs, at their ancestral mansion of Rex Hall, 
 once the seat of royalty, in Somersetshire. He used, 
 as was his wont, his old family signet, a mailed arm 
 and sickle with the motto " Pitch in," which had been 
 won by his knightly forefathers in the olden time. 
 Villiers was not one of those who in a paltry and sordid 
 misinterpretation of Christian humility underrated the 
 value of birth and ancestry. No one could be more 
 
 i6o 
 
MRS. PROCTER 
 
 studious to repress the vulgar obtrusiveness and fami- 
 liarity of those who vainly imagined that learning, 
 integrity, and good manners entitled them to address 
 him as an equal, and he considered that a proper ex- 
 clusiveness was part of his " duty in that state of hfe 
 to which it had pleased ... to call him." In this 
 spirit he always sealed with his family crest ! 
 
 At 7|- yesterday to the Proctrix. Only Count 
 Revel and Thackeray, and Procter and Wife and 
 daughter. Very pleasant. Procter is fearfully hos- 
 pitable. I don't wonder at fellows being so fond of him. 
 So modest, has not even the degree of impudence 
 needful for expressing himself. Everything good and 
 true about him. We left him fast asleep on the sofa. 
 One of Mr. P.'s girls (Edith) is verrrry like me. Thence 
 to Thackeray's rooms where we had a weed. 
 
 The matrimonial discussion with Thackeray was 
 only with reference to D. J. Somehow I don't get on 
 in my writing. I thought yesterday I had loads of 
 " remarks " to make. I am too generous to make 
 any comment upon Harry's discomfiture. He is dead, 
 so is my enmity, the lion preys not upon carcases. 
 The Proctrix has not one smallest sparklet of humour. 
 Witty, well informed, — or what you Uke (No, Mr. 
 Caudle, what you like if you please), but not one jot of 
 humour. It is a sad deficiency. They sail for Paris 
 next Saturday. Thackeray and Procter propose going 
 unbeknownst at the same time for a day or two. But 
 I think they will not (unbeknownst I mean to Mrs. and 
 Miss P.). 
 
 When I look back upon my letter, and see how 
 empty — vapid — meagre — humourless — newsless — - 
 every thingless it is, and compare it with yours — fluent 
 — funny — interesting — I am ashamed of the contrast. 
 Farewell, dear Jenny — be healthy and happy at Hal- 
 berton. Take care of your diet. Breathe plenty of 
 
 i6i 
 
 12— (2309) 
 
MRS. BROOKFIELD AND HER CIRCLE 
 
 fresh air. Take heed to your way going up and down 
 stairs, and don't pill — and you shall be welcome home. 
 God bless you, 
 
 Ever most affectionately, 
 
 W. H. Brookfield. 
 
 Mrs. to Mr. Brookfield : 
 
 Wraxall Lodge, 
 
 10th Aug., 45. 
 My dearest William, 
 
 Thank you much for to-day's Belle-lettre ; as usual 
 on Sunday I have only three-quarters of an hour after 
 Gorging (a thrill, lest the Gorges should oversee me 
 profaning their name) myself with a Lambic 
 luncheon and also sooth to say, joining in with Senior 
 and Junior and even Julia, in "pishes" and "shrugs" 
 and " did you evers " ? called forth by this morning's 
 sermon preached by Mr. J. V. (brother to our deaf and 
 
 roof-palateless friend), " The Mr. V. of B , you 
 
 know" — said Miss Mason whom we saw Friday at 
 Naish. He preached on the ^ text " Here I am," and 
 in so very affected a voice I have not, I think, for 
 years heard anything at all like it — our friend Rogerio 
 of Weston-Souper perhaps came near it. One expected 
 a curtain to fall amid clapping of hands when the sermon 
 ended with an abrupt burst of eloquence, the voice 
 gaining in strength and the words as much clipped as 
 possible to make him the more affectionate cofamiliar. 
 " 'Tis the voice of the Archangels — Here am I ! ! ! " — 
 and then the voice dropped again. He said we should 
 be always on tip-toe (on which a few poor boys taking 
 him literally suddenly looked very taU) ; but I can give 
 you no idea of his intonation, poor, dear man — you can 
 easily imagine it. 
 
 I shall not answer poor Madonna, I think, till I 
 hear again from you ; of course I should write with due 
 
 162 
 
A WET DAY IN A COUNTRY HOUSE 
 
 delicacy and kindness to her, though I may own to you 
 I feel a shade taken by surprise, and cannot quite make 
 out how long she has thought him attached to her or 
 thought of him herself in that light. It is perhaps 
 rather soon, but let " him that thinketh he standeth 
 take heed lest he fall." How foolishly, blindly fond 
 I am, of being liked and admired (?). If I had not the 
 restraint of very deep affection for you, and some 
 restraint of conscience, I should be, I believe, still 
 on the look out for conquest — and here I am half 
 blaming poor Madonna who is at least quite at liberty 
 to be in love ! . . . It is impossible for me ever to love 
 anyone as I do you — but others of course are differently 
 constituted and yet blameless ; there is no merit in 
 loving exorbitantly, perhaps quite the reverse." 
 
 In a preceding letter Mrs. Brookfield had apologised 
 for having " only witticisms — the poor gabble and quips 
 of the humorous kind incidental to a wet day in a 
 country house " to give to her husband. For she and 
 her " witty cousin," Harry HaUam, had found their 
 only amusement and recreation in frightening them- 
 selves and the family with ghost tales which they 
 themselves invented concerning the Gorges, the 
 former owners of Wraxall Lodge. " Madonna " was 
 a lady of Southampton, a friend of the " set," a widow 
 and middle-aged, who had made this girl of 24 her 
 confidante. 
 
 Mr. to Mrs. Brookfield : 
 
 23 Gt. Pulteney St., 
 
 11 Aug., 1845. 
 My dear Jane, 
 
 In one week I have received from you two letters, 
 
 163 
 
MRS. BROOKFIELD AND HER CIRCLE 
 
 one double stamped and the others (this morning) 
 charged for overweight, both of which might have 
 contained twice the number of words on half the 
 quantity of paper. 
 
 Before I proceed I will solemnly declare that I will 
 return the next letter that is needlessly overweight 
 or one syllable shortened to be underweight. 
 
 You left me no difficulty in realizing V. My sister 
 Caroline was in love with him once. She used to hear 
 him at Chelsea or thereabouts when she was with my 
 Aunts. As to Madonna I don't see that I can give any 
 advice. I think your view quite right and you must 
 tell her the truth as kindly as you can, which there 
 can be no manner of doubt of your doing in the best 
 way possible. The only advice I can give additional 
 is that you should write as wide as possible lest she 
 find your crabbed hand illegible ; and on as thick heavy 
 paper as you can get — as no doubt such a letter will be 
 subjected to a great deal of wear and tear being shown 
 to all her friends and acquaintances ; and also that 
 you should forget to pay the postage lest she should feel 
 hurt at your having incurred expense in such a matter. 
 For my own part, I can hardly think that W. B. can be 
 blameable — it could only be Madonna's wish that was 
 father to the thought. If she is wise, however, she will 
 leave the town. Absence is the only remedy — and 
 it soon acts. 
 
 My Father came Saturday night. On Sunday 
 night Charles Frederick and Little Gaye came in. At 
 lOJ they went — and had hardly gone when Thackeray 
 arrived. My Father was just off to bed — so we kept 
 him up |- hour and then dismissed him and betook 
 ourselves to serious debauch. We smoked and " con- 
 versed " till 1^. We flattered you a little. (Your 
 " more to pay " letter had not then arrived.) He said 
 " Funny little fact that — Mrs. Procter being so jealous 
 
 164 
 
MRS. BROOKFIELD'S CHARM 
 
 of Mrs. Brookfield." " Oh, nonsense^t's one of the 
 httle facts you invent for the fun of it." " Oh, but as 
 it's quite evident," etc. But after your horribly 
 profligate confessions in your last page but one I will 
 go no further, not but that you are quite right in making 
 excuses for Madonna. I hope you are aware that in 
 your successful anxiety to reduce the weight of your 
 letter to the lowest grain you left out a leaf more or 
 less — ^the last page begins "him by surprise to find he 
 has complete control over ;^1,000 a year " which has 
 no kind of connection with the preceding page which 
 concludes with Madonna being " at liberty to be in 
 love." I have no doubt that the next page breathed 
 a devout aspiration after similar liberty and that you 
 thought it better to suppress it. 
 
 Ever most affectionately yours, 
 
 W. H. Brookfield. 
 
 If Mrs. Procter had not been jealous of Mrs. Brook- 
 field she would scarcely have been human. She was not 
 beautiful, but she possessed a peculiarly clear mind and 
 a fine intelligence, and was moreover a brilliant and 
 attractive conversationalist. The mordant touch 
 which she sometimes added to her stories did not in any 
 degree take from their value, but perhaps attracted to 
 her her particular audience of eager listeners ; though 
 these — and this it seems was the crime — these were 
 known to turn away in a body as Mrs. Brookfield 
 entered the room, and transfer their allegiance from 
 the one side of the room to the other — with barely 
 an apology. 
 
 165 
 
MRS. BROOKFIELD AND HER CIRCLE 
 
 Mrs. to Mr. Brookfield : 
 
 Halberton Vicarage, 
 
 12th Aug., 45. 
 My dearest William, 
 
 I hope you see that I am trying to cramp my 
 writing to-day, but I am afraid it makes very little 
 difference, because it is so entirely the character of my 
 hand to be sprawling. However I need not be sulky 
 about it and at all events I know it is very tiresome 
 to find the same thing recur again and again about 
 which you have complained, I only wish you to believe 
 that I do try to alter my writing. 
 
 I left the Hallams' with the impression of having 
 had a very nice visit there indeed. Julia H. amused 
 me by saying that I had quite won Uncle H.'s heart 
 by praising her and Harry, the " sure way to his heart," 
 she said — but, of course, all I said was merely spon- 
 taneous feeling— after I had talked about them though 
 I found Uncle H. peculiarly empresse in his kindness 
 to me, calling me " My dear," not a usual term with 
 him except to his children, and giving me a little tap 
 now and then and a complimentary speech or two. 
 Talking of parrots my uncle asked me (not much worth 
 repeating), " Does not Robinson Crusoe eat parrots' 
 eggs ? " " Oh, no, I believe they were goats' eggs. 
 I mean turtles' eggs." And on Harry's talking of 
 teaching the parrot to say " Ugly Poll " for novelty 
 ('twas your idea). Uncle H.'s beautiful touch of bene- 
 volence struck us all. " No, no. Why teach a poor 
 ignorant animal to mock itself ? " 
 
 Sunday afternoon the Clergyman, who was mistaken 
 for Hensman, preached, and we behaved rather badly 
 in the long gallery-like pew, it must be confessed. 
 The Preacher took occasion to compare the human 
 race to sheep, and quoted texts in support of his doing 
 so, but then he proceeded to " mock the poor dumb 
 
 1 66 
 
MR. THACKERAY'S COOKERY BOOK 
 
 animals " b}- adding that they were " silly " — ergo we 
 are Silly, and so he repeated ^it was partly an extem- 
 poraneous sermon), " Poor Silly Sheep " — at least 3 
 or 4 times, stressing the word Sillv, till I suddenly 
 caught sight of Harry's face, and then saw Julia's 
 flower in her bonnet most suspiciously fluttering — 
 her head bowed down in the anguish of shame which 
 yet irrepressible laughter called forth — ^it was dreadful 
 how to recover oneself — ^but we did at length gird our- 
 selves up into demureness. To-morrow I hope to 
 write to thee again, and wash away the impression of 
 what I fear is the grumpiness of mv excuses for large 
 writing. 
 
 Yours most fondly, 
 
 J. O. B. 
 
 In a jMDstscript she asks to be sent ^Ir. Thackeray's 
 Cookery Book in order to take recipes for the making of 
 " Refreshing Drinks " therefrom. 
 
 Mr. to ]\Irs. Brookfield : 
 
 23, Gt. Pultexey St., 
 
 13 Aug., 45. 
 Singular good soul. 
 
 Your gnmapiness is not imbecoming, and makes 
 not the least amusing part of your letter. I would 
 admit the force of your expostulation as to its being 
 tedious, irksome, and a check to \rate close excepting 
 that I " deny the fact." Isn't the sensiblest way to 
 ascertain first how much paper goes to the ^ oz. and 
 then to ^vrite up to the edge of the precipice — crop — 
 abbreviate — close up ranks — ^interline — etc., but never 
 to pass the brink ? But of all the ungrateful black- 
 guards I ever knew that must be the worst who could 
 
 167 
 
MRS. BROOKFIELD AND HER CIRCLE 
 
 upbraid me with the spaces between my words. Does 
 any Man in England write letters so long and frequent 
 as I — did I ever put you to an extra penny expense 
 with too much paper or shorten my letter with too little? 
 No, Jane ! I hope goodness will forgive you that 
 insinuation for I never will. 
 
 I don't think I ever read a prettier little story than 
 Hallam and the parrot — it ought to go into his hfe. 
 The long-pew scene is excellent ; in short, I should 
 say that upon the whole Wraxall Church has been 
 to you all a very good substitute for the Haymarket. 
 With reference to Madonna — you must have this 
 important fact in mind as a basis to proceed upon, 
 viz. — that W. B. is not in love ; same time he is quite 
 aware of her liking for him ; I can have no doubt that 
 she has betrayed that liking, and I think he has taken 
 fright. In which he is quite right. They would be 
 wretched married. Did I forget to mention that I 
 met de Vere yesterday ? He had received your letter. 
 Stephen Spring Rice with his wife is near Newmarket 
 at his Mother's in law, and afterwards goes into the 
 North — Lakes, I suppose, for by the reverential ex- 
 pression of de Vere's face as he said " The North " — 
 it must have been where Wordsworth is. The dinner 
 at C. Hoare's was very good — I did not know a soul 
 except Bart Frere. We had a haunch of Venison — as 
 might have been expected from Mrs. H. saying before- 
 hand ' I really don't know whether you wiU get any 
 dinner or not — for everything is packed up for Waven- 
 den, and we have not a servant left in the house (there 
 were 13 in livery at dinner or numbers to that effect). 
 I sate between the Princess and the Beautiful. Really 
 the Beautiful' s expression and manner is pleasing — 
 good-natured and unaffected. And the Princess you 
 would certainly like — probably very much. She gave 
 me as I came away £3 for the poor and begged I would- 
 
 1 68 
 
TOM TAYLOR AND ALBERT SMITH 
 
 refer to her when I could do so with advantage to any 
 poor person. Both she and the Beautiful talked of 
 one's (I take for granted two's) going there sometimes 
 (I mean to Wavenden) as if it were really intended. 
 I left at 11 and finished at Thackeray's — who had 
 Morton with him. I was writing away up to the last 
 word fluently enough — but Cadwalladr had occasion 
 to call — and this has stopped my flow. I am daily 
 bowed down by conscious meanery in making such 
 poor requital for thy charming letters. 
 Love, etc., 
 
 Ever most affectionately, 
 
 W. H. Brookfield. 
 
 Mr. to Mrs. Brookfield : 
 
 23 Gt. Pulteney St., 
 
 15 Aug., 1845. 
 My dear Jane, 
 
 I have ordered a small matter of fish for to-morrow. 
 Do not look for a sturgeon or anything more than a 
 small neiborly thing. The order was " a small salmon 
 for Saturday's dinner with a lobster — and make up 
 with some other kind of fish to make a nice dish for 
 Sunday." You must tell me how the order is executed, 
 and if it arrives by early train on Saturday. 
 
 I did nothing in the world yesterday, but travel 
 into the city to get a few good cigars cheap. In 
 returning I asked Tom Taylor and his friend, Albert 
 Smith, to look in and meet Thackeray, but neither 
 came. Thack came at 11|- and sate till 1^ — and going 
 home (I find to-day) has sprained his ancle and must 
 be laid up in lavender for some days. I told him it 
 would make a capital advertisement for my Spirit 
 Merchant. "Alarming accident to the Fat Contributor. 
 Yesterday Evening, etc., late or rather early hours, 
 
 169 
 
MRS. BROOKFIELD AND HER CIRCLE 
 
 etc., from the cheerful convivialities of a Revd. Gent 
 not 100 miles from Golden Square." 
 I have no time left. 
 
 Ever most affectionately thine, 
 
 W. H. B. 
 
 This sending of packets of fish to relations is note- 
 worthy as an example of present giving that came in 
 with railways. For before their date certain kinds of 
 fish were seldom to be met with inland, and when 
 attainable were generally far from fresh. 
 
 Mr. to Mrs. Brookfield : 
 
 23 Gt. Pulteney St., 
 
 16 Aug., 45. 
 My dear Jane, 
 
 I have rather a disagreeable misgiving that my 
 fish which was sent by 7|- train this morning was a 
 thought shabby, and now that it is gone I feel as if it 
 ought to have been rather handsomer. Tell me your 
 impression when you see it — that I may judge better 
 another time. 
 
 I have looked in to see Thackeray this morning. 
 He has a box of grouse and bestows a brace upon 
 himself and me at his chambers. Perhaps the model 
 you hold out to me, Father Prout, may be there. 
 A very nice fellow — not what his name (a sobriquet 
 of his own manufacture) would indicate or at least a 
 good deal more. A clever scholar and pleasant com- 
 panion and not indecorous. I think I shall enjoy my 
 bit of game, while you are reddening with shame at 
 a salmon so short that it will not curl into an S but only 
 into a half circle. However, lay it all on the iniquitous 
 fishmonger, and boldly say that Shakespeare was 
 
 170 
 
A TEMPTING INVITATION 
 
 mistaken in saying " I would you were as honest a 
 Man." 
 
 I have got "Flower, Fruit and Thorn Pieces" — by 
 Jean Paul Richter— well translated by H. E. Noel. 
 It is charming. 
 
 Ever, my dear Jenny, 
 
 Yours most affectionately, 
 
 W. H. Brookfield. 
 
 August \Qth. [Diary.] 
 
 Dined with Thackeray. Mahony came in afterwards. 
 
 nth. 
 
 Kinglake here in the evening. Told me he had called 
 in our absence to ask us to whitebait at Greenwich to 
 meet Mrs. Norton, Lady Duff Gordon, Sidney Herbert, 
 Sir Duff Gordon and brother. 
 \Sth. 
 
 Thackeray and Milnes dined with me en gar con. 
 
 Mrs. to Mr. Brookfield : 
 
 Halberton Vicarage, 
 
 17 Aug., 1845. 
 My dearest William, 
 
 Thanks manifold for your kind letters of this 
 morning and yesterday. I am sorry to say the fish 
 has not yet arrived. The guard of the Railroad, 
 Edward says, is responsible for any losses, and ought 
 to repay the value of the iish if it should be spoilt 
 owing to his overlooking the hamper. The Church 
 Bells have been and are pealing in honour of the new 
 Vicar ; he seems a very well-intentioned young man, 
 and his wife is decidedly pretty, with a large Somerset 
 nose ; a nice person, very unaffected — a shade free 
 and easy, but it seems only the overflowing of an open 
 
 171 
 
MRS. BROOKFIELD AND HER CIRCLE 
 
 disposition. Really a kind person, a little perplexed, 
 perhaps, on some subjects of a controversial nature, 
 proclaiming herself very near a Dissenter, and yet 
 quahfying the assertion with being so entirely of one 
 mind with the Prayer Book. Mr. N. is to read the 39 
 Articles in Church to-day, and therefore intends us to 
 do without a morning sermon. Edward has an entire 
 holiday as it is the necessary form, I believe, for a new 
 Rector to swear he has performed a full service in read- 
 ing himself in. He rang the Church Bell yesterday, 
 which is also part of the necessary routine. I am 
 delighted to say the Fish has just arrived, and in a good 
 state of preservation being pronounced " Beautiful, 
 so fine," etc., and the salmon and lobster is to be dressed 
 to-day, the soles to-morrow. They beg most enthu- 
 siastic thanks for your kindness ; I have seen the 
 Salmon and must say it is a very fine one. 
 
 We have been to morning Church and heard our 
 '69 Articles and I fear I must be very short in my letter 
 as it is getting on for afternoon service time. I thought 
 Father Prout was a Roman Catholic Priest who only 
 officiated now as a boon companion and had a strong 
 Irish brogue : can I say worse of him ? Mr. N. talks 
 of his " Patroness," Lady Down, as " My Lady," and so 
 does his wife (tho' a daughter of my Lord William's), 
 perhaps it is getting the fashion, — in the same way as 
 bad grammar such as " One don't " and " Ain't it." 
 
 Well, Good-bye, my love. This is poor gabble 
 to-day, but it is the best I can do for you. 
 
 God bless you. 
 
 Your loving Wife, 
 
 Jane. 
 
 P.S. — You seem very hand in glove with Thackeray ; 
 don't become a second Father Prout. Unkind to 
 insult you with these words — but they are to be taken 
 with a lofty smile. 
 
 172 
 
" FATHER PROUT " AND KINGLAKE 
 
 Mr. to Mrs. Brookfield : 
 
 23 Gt. Pulteney St., 
 
 18 Aug., 1845. 
 My dear Wench, 
 
 " My Lady " is certainly droll. The 39 articles 
 must have been a trial, I think then if never before you 
 must have thought them 38 too many, and wished 
 them where in Lindley Murray days one wished all 
 other articles and pronouns and participles ; and you 
 must have devoutly desired that the reader of the 
 same would make haste and read himself out. While 
 I was eating my grou (for, as Thackeray expressed it, 
 we had one grouse apiece), I flattered myself that my 
 Lafarge was choking herself with Salmon bones, but 
 it seems that my pleasant conjectures on the subject 
 hung together by no string of truth. We ate our 
 birds, and a plum dumpling, then set in for serious 
 smoking — and Father Prout joined at our Scheidam — 
 but as we retired at 12, Thackeray truly remarked — 
 " Well you have neither of you been very brilliant 
 to-night." 
 
 Yesterday I did the whole at St. Luke's, preached 
 p.m. at St. James' ! and again at St. Luke's. In the 
 p.m. I saw Cockrane and his (Frederika) Bride come 
 in, but at Sermon I missed them and thought they 
 must have gone out again. There were, moreover, 
 Gladstone, Mrs. Pearson and Elhot. At six o'clock 
 who should step in but Eothen. I joined him after 
 Evening Church to call on T. but as he was out (on 
 crutches, I suppose), we came here and pilled till after 
 12. He is going to Algiers to-morrow. I suppose 
 chiefly to see a country in an actual state of war, and 
 the French army at work. He will be back before 
 November " D.V." He came in our absence to invite 
 us to eat whitebait at Greenwich, it being his party — 
 to meet Mrs. Norton, Lady Duff-Gordon, Sir Duff ditto, 
 
 173 
 
MRS. BROOKFIELD AND HER CIRCLE 
 
 Sidney Herbert (Lady Bruce' s brother), and perhaps 
 Milnes. 
 
 I should have gone to a dead certainty ; and 
 Kinglake vows that there was nothing to hinder you 
 going (for I expressed my doubt) or nothing would have 
 induced him to ask you (which of course he would not) 
 — that she visits everywhere — and he himself beUeves 
 nothing against her. Perhaps she would be described 
 as " decidedly pretty with a Somerset nose, a nice 
 person, very unaffected, and a shade free and easy, but 
 it seems only the overflowing of an open disposition." 
 Kinglake was very agreeable — ^took occasion to remark 
 that I had been very happy in my marriage (I sighed 
 like Billy Pearson and said " Ah, you don't know, 
 old fellow ") that you appeared to have a perfect tem- 
 per, and to " fall in to my batchelor ways." Thackeray 
 observed on Saturday night that you had the sweetest 
 voice he ever heard. And now, you wretch, have I 
 told you enough ? I don't know what mischief I 
 haven't done by repeating men's praises of you — a 
 thing I generally studiously avoid. They are both 
 coming to munch here at 7. The humblest dinner. 
 2 Haddocks, 2 roast pigeons, a loin of mutton, a plum 
 tart, Potatoes, and French beans, and cheese. 
 
 I have a line this morning from W. B. No 
 symptoms of low spirits. No, Madonna ! No go ! 
 God bless thee. 
 I Ever most affectionately, 
 
 W. H. Brookfield. 
 
 From H. F. Hallam to Mrs. Brookfield : 
 
 Wraxall, 
 
 1st Sept., 1845. 
 My dear Jane, 
 
 Many thanks for your yesterday's observations 
 which did equal credit to your head and heart. I 
 
 174 
 
SIR CHARLES ELTON 
 
 mention the former organ because in a numerous family 
 not, I believe, generally distinguished for mental 
 incapacity, you are the only one who has had the 
 discernment to offer your good wishes on the right 
 day, everybody else having contented themselves 
 with imprecating on me an impossibility, that is " many 
 happy returns of " the attainment of my majority. 
 The proceedings of Saturday having been detailed in 
 the Wraxall Mercury and Nailsea Free Press, I shall 
 merely copy its remarks. 
 
 " Never," says that ably conducted journal, " has it 
 been our lot to record the congregation of such a galaxy 
 of fashion as was concentrated in our town on Saturday 
 last. The spirited Capitalist who has recently settled 
 in our neighbourhood with a view to introduce into these 
 remote parts the agricultural science already diffused 
 in Knightsbridge, gave on that day an entertainment 
 to commemorate the majority of his son. From an 
 early hour the excitement prevailing in the district 
 might be called alarming. The painful loss in Mr. H.'s 
 family to which we recently had the sad duty of 
 adverting, gave additional interest to the proceedings.* 
 It was supposed that the village bells would have been 
 rung on the occasion, but on the subject being hinted 
 to the young gentleman, he replied, as we are given 
 to understand, with astonishing firmness ' that it was 
 impossible to eat one's cake and have it,' so that the 
 proposal was instantly abandoned. After dinner Sir 
 Charles Elton, a near relative of the party who attained 
 his majority, came forward in the handsomest manner 
 and proposed his health in a series of remarks which, to 
 use the words of our contemporary, the Clevedon 
 Vindicator, were ' alike honourable to the magistrate, 
 
 * The death ot the horse mentioned in Mrs. Brookfield's letter of 
 5th August. 
 
MRS. BROOKFIELD AND HER CIRCLE 
 
 the poet, and the baronet.' In the evening dancing 
 commenced, whilst Mrs. Elton presided at the piano. 
 Amidst the gay group gallant Commodore Elton was 
 generally admired for the breadth and body of colour- 
 ing by which his execution of a Polka was distinguished, 
 though in our opinion more praise was merited by the 
 chiaroscuro of the Dowager Lady Elton's movements 
 as she figured in the Cellarino. Our reporter left at 
 a late hour, when it was supposed that the son of 
 Neptune had retired with his young relative to enjoy 
 a cigar. He is said to inherit his father's passion for 
 agricultural pursuits, and should our report prove 
 true, we congratulate him on his choice." 
 
 Thus far the parochial penny-a-liner whose 
 accuracy may be relied on. 
 
 I was considerably interested in knowing that you 
 hked Richter's " Flower and Fruit," etc. To say the 
 truth, I had intended to present you a copy of it, if 
 you would have accepted it, on my going to town. If 
 you have bought it already, and not had it merely 
 from a circulating library, I shall give the copy intended 
 for you to the first person who can appreciate it. I 
 think it is worth more than an ephemeral notice. 
 It is a great favourite of mine, from its wonderful 
 humour and the vividness of character, though perhaps 
 the denouement of the plot (a husband shamming 
 death that his wife may commit bigamy) is hardly 
 up to the high-water mark of English morality. 
 
 Pray convey every expression of congratulation 
 and kind wishes pilsome and unpilsome to Brookfield, 
 who will be glad to hear that to crown all our mis- 
 fortunes, my father's new horse for which he gave 
 £40 a fortnight ago since has fallen (me riding) and 
 cut his knee so badly that he will be sold for nothing. 
 Ever your affectionate cousin, 
 
 H. F. Hallam. 
 176 
 
WITH THACKERAY AT BRIGHTON 
 Mr. to Mrs. Brookfield : 
 
 54 Grand Parade, 
 Brighton, 
 
 8 Sep., 1845. 
 My dear Jane, 
 
 It will, I know, afford you a lively pleasure, which 
 I would be the last to withhold from you, to be apprised 
 that I did not reach the coach office this morning until 
 the omnibus had retired from that scene of bustling 
 animation. I, therefore, took a Cab — for which I was 
 charged 2d. under the fare — and got off all in good time 
 and reached this scene of Royal Aquatics at 10 a.m. 
 Mr. Thackeray was drawing on wood at his window, 
 and fortunately had not yet taken that cheerful and, 
 to me, most welcome meal by which the day is usually 
 auspicated. Shrimps, whiting that but erewhile had 
 toppled in the azure deep — eggs but recently extorted 
 from the domestic fowl, and unexceptionable bread and 
 butter. A cigar — with that lucid organ of liberal 
 sentiment the Chronicle and its admirable contemporary 
 the Times, succeeded this hospitable repast, and pre- 
 pared the way for a lounge upon the beach of the blue 
 element which lips the shores of Brighthelmstone Uke 
 a lover. Mr. Thackeray occupied a few moments by 
 committing to his sketch book some of the groups which 
 throng this lively and diversified locality, and I 
 accompanied the strokes of his pencil with such observ- 
 ations as seemed appropriate. I have since then 
 perambulated the margin of the pebbly main alone 
 while Mr. T. has been earning a Uttle dinner for us by 
 his fluent pen. The multiform and important business 
 by which I have been engrossed throughout the day 
 has left me but a few moments for these hurried 
 accents ; and as we are now proceeding to partake 
 of frugal repast at the " Star and Garter " — a 3rd rate 
 
 177 
 
 13— (2309) 
 
MRS. BROOKFIELD AND HER CIRCLE 
 
 but highly respectable house of public entertainment, 
 I must bid you now farewell. 
 
 Ever, my dear Jane, 
 
 Yours most affectionately, 
 
 W. H. Brookfield. 
 
 September 30th the diary tells that " Ward called 
 p.m. to discuss the Deanery of Lincoln. Worldlier 
 talk was never heard from a stockjobber. Afterwards 
 A. Tennyson came in with a letter from Hallam 
 enclosing one from Sir Robert Peel, offering a pension 
 of £200 a year to Alfred. Alfred dined and Walpole 
 came in to smoke." 
 
 Concerning this pension everyone of the " Set " 
 wrote their satisfaction in the event to Brookfield — 
 the only dissentient being Monteith, who said, " With 
 all proper Apostolic-partizanship, aU hearty admiration 
 of Alfred's poetry, in which I do not think any could 
 go further, I have a sense of the ludicrous in his snug 
 pension of £200 per annum." This system of writing 
 to Brookfield whenever anything happened to the poet 
 dates from early college days. Tennyson's career was 
 followed closely from the start by sanguine friends who 
 never failed to extend to him their enthusiastic admira- 
 tion and encouragement ; and who, whenever a poem 
 appeared, wrote comments upon it to each other, 
 discussing it line by line, sympathetically criticising, 
 and invariably finding beauty throughout it. Mr. 
 Brookfield himself saw many of the poems while still 
 incomplete, and Tennyson brought to him the proofs of 
 the " Princess," over the punctuation of which they 
 
 1,8 
 
AT ALFRED TENNYSON'S 
 
 together worked. " What a fine thing Alfred has 
 written " was the theme of many a letter. 
 
 October 8th. [Diary .J 
 
 To Alfred Tennyson's. Wigan and his wife, Tom 
 Taylor, and Bentinck dined there. I home at six to 
 dinner. Thackeray came in to dine and stayed till 
 
 half-past ten. We were to have gone to the G 's, 
 
 but Jane was ill and Thackeray kept on with me. 
 
 Mr. to Mrs. Brookfield : 
 
 23 Gt. Pulteney St., 
 London, 
 
 30 October, 1845. 
 My dear Jane, 
 
 The enormous mail that is inclosed will render a 
 long letter from me almost as needless as it would be 
 difficult to myself, time having already with his wing 
 brushed the very edges of the letter box, which, I 
 suppose, is the very worst attempt at a poetical mode 
 of saying that it is near post time as was ever 
 employed. 
 
 Well, we dined agreeably enough at old A.'s 
 yesterday — ^but somehow there is and must be rather 
 a want of brilliancy there. However, it is very wicked 
 to say so as it is to say many other things that are 
 quite true. I sate two hours with Thackeray after- 
 wards. He brought back his poor little wife yesterday 
 — she is at Camberwell and he seems well pleased with 
 the people. I just now saw the R.C. Bishop of London 
 get out of an Omnibus in Piccadilly — seize his carpet 
 tag and trudge straight home with it to Golden Square. 
 He had a blue cloak, but it hung below the skirts, 
 
 179 
 
MRS. BROOKFIELD AND HER CIRCLE 
 
 and on he went. A very pleasing, venerable, episcopal 
 looking man, very like any other Bishop — save that 
 none of ours would touch a carpet bag with his Uttle 
 finger. 
 
 God bless you. 
 
 Ever most affectionately yours, 
 
 W. H. Brookfield. 
 
 A good Thackeray in the Times to-day from Punch 
 — called " Jeames on Time Bargains." 
 
 Mr. Brookfield no doubt also mentioned meeting 
 the R.C. Bishop to Lord Lyttelton, for that gentleman 
 writes back : 
 
 Hagley, 
 
 31 Oct., 1845. 
 Pleasant Presbyter and Future Bishop, 
 
 We wag smoothly here wife and baby and the rest, 
 which I beg you to announce at Paul's Cross. 
 
 I wish they would divide St. James' as they did 
 St. George's for many reasons. St. Luke's ought to 
 be made marriageable which I calculate would bring 
 a Jupiter Shower of gold to you to the amount of at 
 least £150 a year. I would then call it St. Luke's, 
 Gretna Green St., instead of Berwick Street, which 
 geographically I imagine would do well enough. 
 
 No doubt your carpet bag, Vicar Apostolic, is 
 joining in the Papal cackling all over England at their 
 New Man. It makes me very savage to hear their 
 exultings. I hope you spout effectually for S.P.G. 
 
 Triumphantly spout ! Spout for Hawkins and for Fagan 
 Star of the Provinces ! Sun of the Town ! 
 For the colonist distant, the uncivilized Pagan, 
 Earn peripatetic rhetorical crown ! 
 
 l8o 
 
LORD LYTTELTON'S BANTER 
 
 They have put forth a comfortable report. What 
 of Sam Sly, the Bishop ? What of Bishop Bagot of 
 Bath (B. and W.) ? What of Ward, the dean ? What 
 of Bill Brookfield, of Berwick Street ? What of his 
 wife ? What of her sister ? 
 
 Yours ever, 
 
 Lyttelton. 
 
 i8i 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 Travelling with the Hallams. Travesty of a Sermon by Wilber- 
 force. Peel. Dinners at Kensington with Titmarsh. Blunder in 
 Punch. Carlyle's Humour. Forster and Dickens. Rogers. 
 Wilberforce's Speech on the Sugar Bill humorously considered. 
 Harry Hallam. Moxon and Tennyson. Dinner at the Garrick. 
 Rules for Writing Abroad. A Fair Objector. A Preaching Mission 
 for the S.P.G. Browning's Marriage. Tennyson's Hair. 
 
 In 1846 Mrs. Brookfield took the place of her sister, 
 the one who usually accompanied the Hallams on their 
 frequent journeys abroad, and went with them the 
 Grand Tour. 
 
 Unfortunately, the sprightly letters of quite unusual 
 interest, which she then wrote were totally destroyed 
 in the fire at Clevedon Court in 1882, together with 
 many valuable books and manuscripts. (Her brother. 
 Sir Arthur Elton, had borrowed them, saying " I 
 trust in your amiability to lend them, you ever were 
 the sweetest tempered of women.") 
 
 The party, which started late in June, consisted of 
 the Historian, his daughter Julia, his son Harry, his 
 niece Jane Brookfield, a maid, a valet, and a courier ; 
 and, as Mr. Brookfield said to his wife, " It would be 
 difficult to find a party better balanced for the best 
 kind of enjoyment." 
 
 The following incident of that journey Mrs. Brook- 
 field often described. They arrived one evening at a 
 village in Switzerland where they had proposed to 
 stay the night, but found the only Inn in the place 
 
 182 
 
Alfred, Lord Tennyson .- 
 
 From a photograph by Mrs. Cameron 
 
f^yiAJre-cL , ^-Z/?;^ ^^J-f-' ?/ ri ?/'yc>ri . 
 
 /y . i//'/-/\ 
 
 i<nrif ^y-n . 
 
HALLAM AS A GOOD SAMARITAN 
 
 in flames. The postillion reassured them and told 
 them of an excellent halting-place a few miles further 
 on. They remained for a little while, however, to 
 admire the awful grandeur of the conflagration. 
 Presently they noticed, apart from the excited groups 
 of villagers, one who had the appearance of an EngUsh 
 gentleman. He was evidently in great distress, so 
 Mr. Hallam got down from the carriage, raised his hat, 
 and enquired what ailed him. " All my effects, my 
 luggage, my money, and letters of credit are consumed 
 in yonder fire," exclaimed the stranger. "It is most 
 important that I should get on to Genoa, my destina- 
 tion, but how to do this without money I cannot con- 
 ceive." Without a moment's hesitation Mr. Hallam 
 produced his note case, and in the tone of one asking 
 a favour, proffered a bank-note. "Sir," said he, " if 
 an hundred pounds is of any use to you, it is very much 
 at your service." The offer was gratefully accepted, 
 and in a few weeks the money was repaid. And every 
 Christmas afterwards until Mr. Hallam's death he 
 received from the gentleman he had assisted a large 
 Norfolk turkey in memory of his kindness. 
 
 Although generous, Mr. Hallam was somewhat of 
 a martinet, and he expected his young people to be as 
 regular in their habits as he. When they suggested 
 luncheon baskets to him, he would look at them 
 with the " large eyes " which his son Harry affirmed 
 to be the " Hallam habit " when surprised, and say, 
 " What need of luncheon baskets ? It is aU arranged. 
 We breakfast at such a place, and we dine when we 
 reach our destination at night. What can anyone 
 
 183 
 
MRS. BROOKFIELD AND HER CIRCLE 
 
 want more ? " As long as they could, the younger 
 travellers held out, but the mountain air became 
 at last too much for youthful appetites, and finally 
 Harry, with joy not unmixed with trepidation, inge- 
 niously arranged for secret meals. Some finesse was 
 naturally necessary, and while one of them was got 
 into the rumble where he or she ate what seemed 
 at the moment to be the most delicious of food, another 
 would keep the Historian's attention engaged upon 
 the prospect. Each in turn performed this ofhce 
 for the others. 
 
 The arrival of Mr. Brookfield's letters, which at that 
 time almost entirely took the form of diaries, was not 
 amongst the least joyous episodes of their travels, 
 and they run as follows : 
 
 Mr. to Mrs. Brookfield : 
 
 1st July, 1846. 
 My dear Jane, 
 
 Two things seem to me more doubtful than 
 purgatory, viz., whether I shall ever reach the end of 
 this sheet and whether this sheet will ever reach you. 
 At nine on Sunday morning I arose, schooled, preached 
 the first of the discourses begun last night, and between 
 services finished the other which I preached at night. 
 In afternoon Episcopus Sly preached. Text : "I ask 
 nothing before the time." The gist of the sermon, 
 which was as clever and adroit as possible, was this. 
 A day is coming when motives will be revealed. In 
 this life our words deceive others, our feelings, ourselves, 
 even our actions, deceive. But in the last day motives 
 will be manifested. It will then be found that our 
 calculations about character and sincerity, etc., have 
 
 184 
 
A DRY VERDICT 
 
 been utterly erroneous. That many a one whose 
 actions have borne the semblance of self-denial even 
 to martyrdom (Newman, Pusey, Keble, etc.), have 
 been actuated by spleen or vanity, or obstinacy or 
 what not, while many a one whose duty has happened 
 to run parallel with his self interest, who has appeared 
 worldly minded and insincere has in reality been solely 
 influenced by faith and love, etc. In short, though 
 you think me Sly I am no such thing, though you 
 think I Hke Champagne and Court ladies and palaces 
 and arch mitres, it is all a mistake, — these just happen- 
 ing to fall into my lap. I like none of them, and only 
 use them for the extension of reUgion. 
 
 However, it was a very able sermon and I am 
 chiefly afraid I shall be imitating his tones and looks 
 next Sunday. 
 
 Lyttelton came in after afternoon Church. By 
 the way, fancy Lady L. (the dowager) saying to me 
 the other day with her placid voice " Do you know, 
 I never could bear the Bishop of Oxford." Her "never 
 could bearing " anybody ! Sweet, kindly soul. 
 
 Monday 29th. Feast of St. Peter. Oh! Hark 
 back. On Sunday, Mrs. Abbot asked after you. I 
 replied " I daresay at this very moment she is looking 
 at the bones of the Magi in the Cathedral at Cologne." 
 She took it for banter just as if I had charged you 
 with going off with a Hungarian officer, and answered 
 laughing and shaking her head " Oh, I am sure Mrs. 
 Brookfield would not go there to-day." "Hookey!" 
 thought I. Well, St. Peter's day. . . . 
 
 Peel is out as belike you know, and (a rare thing) 
 was almost torn in pieces by acclamations of popularity 
 on leaving the house on Monday, when his resignation 
 was known. 
 
 I hope you will enjoy your touring very much, and 
 write so new a book upon old subjects as shall set 
 
 185 
 
MRS. BROOKFIllLI) AND IIICR CIRCLIC 
 
 Loudon ami Now \oik alight ; make Lady Ihirf-dordon 
 swallow poison with onvv ; mako Tonnvson, Tharkc- 
 niy, Spring Kico, Captain Codrington, ICdward Dcaii, 
 Jcrinos S]HHlding, ViMiablos, Riiiglakc, and tlio HnllcM's 
 drown tluMnselvos for distracted love, and Mrs. Wick- 
 ham siMul her carriage for von to go and dine with 
 (hem. 
 
 I do not remember (hat I eviM' p(>rl'ormed a feat 
 so creditable to my heatl or heart as this clean, neat- 
 looking letter. I wonld give anything (except the 
 mone\' and the time) to sit down with yon at some 
 Idb/c d'/i !/(■, ov ■Any other table snckU'nly. I liked yonr 
 letter nmch. ^'onr meek monks, yonr gliding priests, 
 yonr vnlgar grandees. I la! lla! 
 
 (iod bless the(<. 
 July 8lh. 
 
 At the Gurney's. A new dish to-day was a cle^r 
 jelly with two gold lish wriggling abont in it ; 
 afterwards people went oil to Vanxhall. 
 9///. 
 
 .At 1.30 Lvllelton cam(> lor a walk. I showed your 
 portrait as Richmond's. 11{> said it was nice bnt not 
 perfect. Then I nndeceived him. 
 
 II was about this pictnri> that Mr. Hrooklield said he 
 wanted the opinion u})on it " of Thackeray or some 
 other artist," but all Thackiiay said of it was " it 
 was devilish nice:, bnt not a favourable likeness." 
 It was a ]Mcture of Laurence's. 
 
 I4th. 
 
 I was interested in yonr j'roinenades, your conver- 
 sations liaits, and be hanged to yon. \'our (ieorge, 
 Prince of Wales, janms and the convent. The (iocis, 
 Herzog and the " ambling hunchback " (the best word 
 
 i86 
 
JOHN LEECH 
 
 that could have been used but I wished the letter twice 
 
 as long). 
 
 I5th. 
 
 At eight thirty I ascended a 'bus and proceeded to the 
 hospitable mansion of Mr. Titmarsh at Kensington, 
 where I had been asked to dine but was at Church 
 instead. There were Harness, Sir Carmichael Smith,* 
 Kinglake, T.'s brother-in-law, Shaw; Leech, who does 
 the large pictures in P'unch, a very gentlemanly, modest, 
 pleasing fellow. The evening was pleasant but lacked 
 fire, I think, yet altogether a very tolerable 
 conversations hatis. 
 
 nth. 
 
 While Miss Fanshawe was here yesterday Thackeray 
 came, and off we toddled to the City and dined on boiled 
 beef. Coming home, seeing acquaintances of his at 
 a window of the Garrick, we went in for half an hour. 
 
 Presently he recollected that he had made a great 
 blunder in Punch for the coming week, and must be off 
 to the office to correct it, and at eight we separated. 
 l^th. 
 
 As soon as mj' letters were written I hurried to a 
 Committee at London Library. Present Mii.man, 
 Bunsen, Forster (our host), Milnes, Lewis, somebody 
 else, and Carlyle. There was lots of fun, Carlyle being 
 the chief lever who upraised it all directly or indirectly. 
 It was very amusing, but I had to hurry away at 
 quarter to six to dress for Fagan's at six. 
 23rd. 
 
 At eleven to Miss Coutts' : " she had taken the 
 liberty to insert Mrs. Brookfield's name in the invita- 
 tion," to which what could a polite preacher say but 
 that his only consolation was that Mrs. B. could not 
 at her painful distance know the bliss she was losing 
 
 * Major Carmichael Smyth, Thackeray's step-father. 
 187 
 
IMRS. BROOKFIELD AND HER CIRCLE 
 
 by zig-zagging on the Continent with Mr. H. " Oh, 
 Mr. Hallam is gone, is he ? " As if she knew or was 
 interested in the said Historiographer. There were 
 numbers there. The Hoares, Claud Hamilton, John 
 Manners, Gladstone, and the Duke,* looking not as 
 in the street, insolent, ajid odious, but nice, kindly, 
 pleasant and very well. I expect 1 shall go again 
 next Thursday. 
 
 Write on. Nothing could be possibly better than 
 the " Jew and Jewess gorging, then sitting like ravens 
 on a perch cursing you Gentiles." 
 Aug. 6th. 
 
 Committee of London Library. 
 
 Forster told me Dickens had written him from Lau- 
 zanne that he had met Hallam's party Hallam in 
 great force. And a lady of remarkable, etc., etc. He 
 did not know her name, " but," said Forster, " I have 
 enhghtened him upon that point." 
 8th. 
 
 Andrewes ill. Began to take his duty in the House 
 of Commons. 
 
 nth. 
 
 Turned with the Goddards into the Green Park 
 after p.m. service and found old Rogers quite alone. 
 He asked immediately after you, and in the course 
 of chaff said to Mrs. G., pointing at me " Vou see what 
 an inconvenience it is to be married to an Angel before 
 his time." Alfred Tennyson and " Mester Mvixon " 
 ai"e of^ to Switzerland. I am going to dine with 
 Pollock to-night to meet the chief baron and Titmarsh, 
 whom I have not seen for nearly a month. I don't 
 think I sent you Forster's most chivalrously ex- 
 pressed remembrances to you. I dare say we shall 
 have a pleasant evening. I cannot get out of my 
 
 * The Duke of Wolliii'.-lon. 
 i88 
 
THE GILDED CHAMBER 
 
 head that Thackeray insists upon it that Mrs. X. 
 beats X. There seems a sort of droll probability in 
 the improbability. 
 
 Walking the other day with an absent-minded 
 friend, Rogers told him how a lady, half recognising 
 him the day before had asked him " Isn't your name 
 Rogers ? " " And was it ? " asked the absent one. 
 14th. 
 
 I went yesterday to the Lords. Sam had taken 
 care to give notice that he meant to pill, and a regular 
 gilt bolus was therefore to be expected. Nevertheless 
 there was no cram. He duly rose and said it was an 
 infinite bore to him to oppose any government, still 
 more the present government, for he thought they 
 might have an opportunity of sending him to Lambeth ; 
 and indeed he hoped they would still be able to do 
 so, for he thought they were most excellent conscien- 
 tious people, and he would not have said a word against 
 their sugar bill, but as his opposition would do no harm 
 (for he knew their measure would be carried), and as 
 he merely wished to say a few popular things about 
 Slavery, he hoped they would excuse him making a 
 smart speech, and not think his willingness that 
 poorer people than himself should drink their tea 
 without sugar, an objection to his being made an 
 Archbishop. He said that their making a free trade 
 in sugar would be making a free trade in Blacks, a 
 trade which would by no means be free to them. He 
 did not mention that the stimulus of Free Trade 
 accompanying and facilitating the spread of humaniz- 
 ing principles would perhaps strike out some better 
 way of producing sugar than flogging Blacks, and that 
 the impediments to the slave trade would be kept up 
 in proportionate activity, and that perhaps even the 
 Blacks would learn to stick up for themselves. In 
 fact, he merely wished to make a speech and he did 
 
 189 
 
MRS. BROOKFIELD AND HER CIRCLE 
 
 so. It fell very flat, there was not a single cheer 
 from beginning to end. It was an hour long. 
 Then up gets the Bishop of London, whose lot it 
 is always to follow. He puffed Sam and seconded 
 his amendment, but the Bill he snubbed, he 
 likewise, no less than his Right Reverend Brother, 
 being no ways unwilling that the inferior clergy 
 should go without sugar if they found it too 
 dear under the present restrictions. The Marquis 
 of Lansdowne then rose and said that Sam Wilber- 
 force had an hereditary right to be heard about niggers 
 but that he (the noble Marquis) had the honour to be 
 Godfather to a young gent who was of more value 
 than many niggers.* Their Lordships need not be 
 reminded that he alluded to a party now relaxing amid 
 the stupendous scenery of the Tyrol from the exertions 
 which had won for him the brightest decorations of 
 a University the reverse of that which enjoyed the 
 episcopal superintendence of the Right Reverend Pre- 
 late, and he was no less anxious that this academical 
 phenomenon should enjoy his eau sucre upon a more 
 reasonable scale of tariff than the Right Reverend Pre- 
 late could be, and that the negro should eat each other 
 up upon the shores of Africa instead of earning an 
 honest and secure and fat and comfortable livelihood 
 upon the cane lands of Cuba or chaunting " Buffalo 
 Gals" and " Lucy Neal " in the fertile plains of the 
 Brazils, etc. 
 
 And the BiU was passed. 
 
 Arriving at S.P.G. (lately) a quarter of an hour 
 too early for a meeting I found Robert Montgomery 
 
 * This was a playful allusion to Henry Fitzmaurice Hallam, 
 who was godson to Lord Lansdowne, and who had taken his degree 
 the previous January, being among the Senior Optimes in the 
 Mathematical Tripos, and second Chancellor's medallist. 
 
 190 
 
AT THE GARRICK CLUB 
 
 already there — alone — leaning in one of the window 
 places. I did not know him, but he soon put an end 
 to our defect of acquaintance. He gave me a good 
 deal of his persona history — and ended by telling 
 me that he had good hopes of a chapel being built 
 for him at the West End of London — adding " And 
 I can't help thinking that I could adapt the Gospel 
 to the West End." 
 18th. 
 
 I feel very great delight in thinking of you larking 
 about and taking your pastime. I don't think I have 
 ever known anyone fitter to enjoy it, I don't think 
 you could possibly have taken a more varied and 
 experimental route, and it is quite impossible that 
 you could ever have gone in more satisfactory com- 
 pany. I do not see one single thing to be wished for, 
 except for myself, viz., that I were with you. 
 
 After calling on Andrewes, who was starting for 
 Canterbury, I went to the House of Commons. Then 
 to Kensington to call on Thackeray. Returning I 
 met " Musses Muxen." Master Moxon and Alfred are 
 this day at Geneva, and as the latter, indeed both, are 
 among your seven hundred and ninety-nine lovers, I 
 should think they would be trying to meet you. . . 
 if the indolence of Alfred was not the safeguard of your 
 virtue. 
 19th. 
 
 House of Commons. Home to write sermon in 
 evening, then called on Mrs. Procter, but can't 
 remember anything that was said. They have only 
 asked me once since you went, so that I do not seem 
 in very high favour. After Church I went to the 
 Garrick (not the " Garrick's Head " where the black- 
 guard Judge and Jury is held that Harry took some 
 Bishop to) to meet Procter, Kenyon, and Browning 
 whom Thackeray had asked me to meet there. A 
 
 191 
 
MRS. BROOKFIELD AND HER CIRCLE 
 
 very pleasant evening with several " Sallies " which 
 compelled three pilling looking gents who were dining 
 at an adjoining table to pause every now and then 
 from their own stale conversation and listen devoutly 
 to ours. Home and a cigar with W. M. T. 
 2Qth. 
 
 A characteristic letter from Andrewes I send you. 
 
 My dear B. : It is only an internal feeling which 
 causeth a gulping and a funny sensation in the eyes 
 which can in any degree whatever thank you for all 
 your kindness, etc. I trust you have heard this week 
 from Mrs. Brookfield. I pray you when next you 
 write give her my kindest regards. She is one of the 
 very few lovely ones I ever knew. 
 2Ath. 
 
 Feast of St. Pipe. Rules for writing abroad. First 
 catch your goose. Then make a pen with a fine point. 
 Then get the largest sheet of paper, or weight of paper, 
 that postage will allow (usually quarter of an ounce), 
 then think for a moment what letters have to be ac- 
 knowledged and what facts recorded (sentiments will 
 come of themselves). Then answer and comment 
 upon last letter received. Then by a graceful transi- 
 tion from Tuism to Egoism refer to j'^our own last 
 written, and say where it left off. Then proceed 
 onward to describe (as no one can so well as yourself) 
 what has happened day by day, taking heed to Chrono- 
 logy and Topography ; and do not leave it to one's 
 own wit to discover whether or not the rhododendrons 
 of the Montanicet were gathered in the crags of the 
 Pfeffers or whether the adorable Carlo Dolce steered 
 the steamer through Wesen Streets on Sunday or on 
 Thursday evening after posting across the lake of 
 Wallenstadt. The alternation to the above perfect 
 rules of letter writing is journalizing day by day with- 
 out any formal beginning or ending, and commenting 
 
 192 
 
THE ART OF LETTER WRITING 
 
 on things not in artificial order but as they come. 
 This is the most easy and convenient, but least skilful 
 way. Noticing them in a mere jotting, incidental 
 fashion, sometimes gets things into confusion instead 
 of harmonizing them into mutual relief as may be the 
 case with a regular built piece of architecture of a 
 letter. The jotting down diary style is my own, at 
 present, at least, and many incongruities result which 
 would be avoided if the whole were at one sitting. 
 
 He then proceeds to tell her that such interesting 
 letters as hers should be written so that all might read 
 and enjoy them, while anything not meant for profane 
 eyes could be placed in a sort of Poets' Corner arranged 
 on purpose for them. 
 
 25th. 
 
 I was a little surprised to find that the violent, 
 calumnious, venomious, viperious Lord G. B- 
 
 (as everybody designates him) should turn out (for 
 I had not known him before by sight) to be a gentle- 
 manly looking man I have often seen listening appar- 
 ently with interest at St. James'. I met him in the 
 Lobby a day or two after I began chaplaining as I 
 rushed out and he in, he gave a little start or sort of 
 half smile as if going to speak, much the same as Mr. 
 Hallam when he caught you at half -past five a.m. at 
 Freiburg rushing to mass. " God Bless me — what 
 are you doing here." This morning as I was proceed- 
 ing to my Mass at the House, I saw the mad woman 
 who criticises the doctrine of my sermons. She was 
 waiting at the corner of Glasshouse St., and by her 
 eager eye and expectant face I saw she was timing 
 her shaft for the moment when I should pass. Unable 
 to help laughing I puckered up my face as if the sun 
 
 193 
 
 14— (2309) 
 
MRS. BROOKFIELD AND HER CIRCLE 
 
 was shining in my eyes and stalked on. The shaft 
 changed its character accordingly and instead of an 
 exception to my orthodoxy it was a reflection upon 
 my personal appearance and a shrill rather com- 
 passionate but still partly exulting voice squeaked 
 out " Aged, Aged ! " 
 
 In the Guardian lately — " On entering the Church 
 every eye was attracted to a stained widow of great 
 beauty over the Altar." 
 
 Strazza di Poltine, 23, 
 
 16 Sept., 1846. 
 My dear Person, 
 
 Your pathetic intonings about my being such a 
 bully fall upon an ear somewhat steeled and relentless. 
 I don't think my truculency has done you much harm, 
 because I don't see that it has done you much good. 
 Some effort at amendment I confess, not entirely with- 
 out success but something like the endeavour of a 
 Frenchman to say, " This is the house that Jack 
 built " — " Deeze isa youze dart jacquebill." 
 
 Your vile ingratitude in never noticing that I 
 acknowledged your letter from Interlacken to be not 
 totally unworthy of the wife of Caesar, is only equalled 
 by the audacious levity with which you have disre- 
 garded my detailed instructions in the art of polite 
 letter-writing. Since in regard to which you have, 
 like many religious people, made election of the 
 injunction you choose to obey and despise the rest. 
 
 But however, you either can't or you won't. I 
 devoutly hope the latter, meanwhile I always allow 
 both the letters and yourself to be deuced clever, it 
 is only the humdrum talent that is wanting. 
 
 Mrs. Brookfield and the Hallams got back to 
 
 T94 
 
A MISSIVE FROM CLEVEDON COURT 
 
 England towards the end of September, and Mr. 
 Brookfield early in October went, almost against his 
 will, to preach a mission in the West of England in 
 aid of the S.P.G. 
 
 Mrs. to Mr. Brookfield : 
 
 Clevedon Court, 
 
 l&h Oct., 1846. 
 My dear Deputation, 
 
 Thanks for to-day's letter and programme. I 
 .wish excessively that I could attend and hear you 
 some day, disguised as a schoolmistress or any how. 
 
 In the programme I am amused at the way in 
 which they embody the Deputation, saying " Deputa- 
 tion to preach " at such a place. I thought such a 
 mode of speaking was merely admissible as a joke and 
 that the title implied two or three individuals by rights. 
 
 Captain Beddoes is calling here (Cecilia-Ahcia's 
 husband) a most good-natured sailor, Miss Edgeworth's 
 nephew, and the original of Harry in " Harry and 
 Lucy," a nice frank-mannered man. Again an inter- 
 ruption of visitors, Clifton people, with whom I used 
 to beat my hoop on the Crescent at CUfton in years 
 gone by, eminently Pilsome ladyhke nonentities. A 
 soiree takes place this evening at Mount Elton, Lady 
 E. called yesterday to invite me and Edward to step 
 in between seven and eight, I don't think I can. 
 
 Kate is more enduring by a great deal than I am 
 of the common run of " Societe," and was spirited 
 enough to give an evening entertainment here the 
 other day (which seems the fashionable hospitaUty 
 of the place). She had a man from Bristol to cook, 
 gave a select dinner first of all, and then a most recher- 
 che supper with barley sugar towers and so forth, 
 all costing only five pounds, and knocking off all the 
 
 195 
 
MRS. BROOKFIELD AND HER CIRCLE 
 
 bearing grudges people who ought to have had more 
 attention paid them. 
 
 Harry Hallam, back at Cambridge for his last 
 term, at this period wrote a letter in which he said to 
 Mrs. Brookfield : " You might hint in a delicate 
 manner to Miss Hallam that it was a foolish fond old 
 custom in the Primitive Church for relatives to cor- 
 respond with each other, until which usage be restored 
 I must request you to be the medium of assuring her 
 of my distinguished assurance," and to Mr. Brookfield— 
 " Your parody, dear Brookfield, is the most perfect 
 testimony, within this historical period, to the favourite 
 maxim of an ancient father, that Charity is the hand- 
 maid of humour and Forebearance auxiliary to wit." 
 
 Mr. to Mrs. Brookfield : 
 
 BuTLEiGH Court, 
 
 29 Oct., 1846. 
 Octavia, 
 
 My zarviz to you. Your letter rezived this morn- 
 ing is zhart and zweet, and I think needs no special 
 answer save acknowledgment. 
 
 After I bewrote thee yesterday Mrs. Neville drove 
 Lady Charlotte, young Bagot (Clerk) and self into 
 Glastonbury. I called on old Doctor Parfitt, who I 
 think wanted to shirk Monday's Meeting, i.e. not to 
 have it, the Town Hall being occupied, but I stuck to 
 it, saying that we would have it in schoolroom. Bishop 
 had gone off to Yeovil to consecrate, and was to take 
 up his son, very nice fellow like himself, at Glaston- 
 bury on his return. It is almost impossible to get the 
 Bishop to places in time. A regular fashionable 
 incapacity for punctuality. And they only got him 
 
 196 
 
INCAPACITY FOR PUNCTUALITY 
 
 off this morning by happening to have forward clocks. 
 We merely glanced at the ruins of Glastonbury. Home 
 to four-thirty dinner. Church followed, with capital 
 chanting. We being in a great room of a pew with 
 blazing fire which the Dean kept poking while he sang 
 on out of tune like seven. Meeting. George Neville 
 opened, very sensible but not fluent, too sensible for 
 that. Dean followed, I had given him a piece of report 
 to read straight off which he did. Curate Tripp, 
 tremulous and meek in his moderate Puseyism fired 
 away in a cut and dried, very good and sensible, but he 
 had written it out and had to revert to it as it lay con- 
 cealed in a book which he had in his hand. Ralph 
 Neville followed (M.P. for Windsor) as impudent as 
 brass, and gave a very fair lay speech. The Lion 
 followed, distributed warm compliments on the state 
 of the Parish, the services, the tremulous curate speech, 
 etc., and went on for half an hour, without breaking 
 down, but it felt to him very seedy. However, it 
 came to an end. 
 
 Folks are very kind here, just what you would 
 like very much. I will not tell you which you would 
 like best. I don't know that there is exactly great 
 talent, but good breeding, good nature and good tone. 
 You would like the old lady. Perfectly unaffected 
 and kind as they all are. 
 
 To-morrow Walton, which in my secret mind I 
 rather dread. Lord John is a most excellent fellow, 
 but I have more sympathy with men of less business- 
 like minds. The Bishop for instance. 
 
 Mr. Brookfield to H. F. Hallam : 
 
 23 Gt. Pulteney St., 
 
 16 Nov., 46. 
 My dear Harry, 
 
 Much thanks for the Malt : quite as much as if 
 
 197 
 
MRS. BROOKFIELD AND HER CIRCLE 
 
 the Porters at Broxbourne were not at this identical 
 moment (4.23) swigging it to the health of all Cam- 
 bridge cousins who are green enough to send hquor 
 by rail to their relations in Town. Certes the beer 
 hath not got into our house, which militates against 
 the probability of its ever getting into our head. A 
 day or two, however, may reveal it. 
 
 Meantime a thousand thanks for a present (when 
 it does arrive) in every way acceptable to me. 
 
 I had intended a few remarks, but a sudden call 
 to bustle off to dine has thrown me on a heap. We 
 spend two pleasant days with the Purveyor of History 
 to all Mankind and the gentlest of Historian's Daugh- 
 ters at CUfton last Thursday and Friday. My Mission 
 was fertile in pleasant intercourses (oh goodness what 
 numbers of nice people Heaven does bend over), and 
 not barren of fun. Less irksome than I had expected 
 but still not satisfactory as to my own portion in the 
 bus ness. I mean the speaking. 
 
 But adieu. Jane's love, 
 
 Ever most sincerely, 
 
 W. H. Brookfield. 
 
 Mrs. Brookfield to Harry Hallam : 
 
 23 Great Pulteney St., 
 
 5 Dec, 46. 
 My dear Harry, 
 
 Your princely gift arrived yesterday and WiUiam 
 being immersed in Sermonic cogitation has acquiesced 
 in my proposal of taking his letter out of his hands 
 into these unworthy substitutes — but as he is very 
 busy to-day he could but have written a Une so I am 
 the less diffident of robbing you of that. 
 
 Very many gratitudes for your kind present and 
 eke for a welcome letter preliminaryising your beer. 
 
 198 
 
THE BROWNINGS 
 
 I indulged myself in a volume of Consuelo the other day 
 to revive Venice — how impossible that Sky and the 
 Evening's Piazza promenade appear in one's native 
 atmosphere — we breakfasted by candlehght at 9 
 o'clock to-day. 
 
 An owhshly intellected lady was one day account- 
 ing for Courvoisier's murder of his master by the 
 ' ' simple fact ' ' of his living by gaslight . In Lord William 
 Russell's house the offices were always in the dark 
 and " this must have an effect on the mind and lead 
 to gloomy and evil thoughts," etc. What would be 
 the end of St. Luke's Sunday School on this theory ? 
 for they are constantly taught by gaslight during the 
 winter, and who knows but I may have to give evidence 
 to this effect in extenuation of some future crime 
 committed by one of my own gaslighted class ? 
 
 Mr. Moxon has just cheerily bounced into the 
 room with hearty shakes of the hand, "Sir," and 
 Alfred being in Town is coming to dine with him to- 
 day — would William come and meet him ? Mr. 
 Rogers had sent them " a very fine leveret, and they 
 should have a pair of soles and no form." So William 
 goeth there to-night. Of course you know that our 
 friend Browning ran away with a sister poet the other 
 day ? Miss Barrett-Barrett ( y two Barrett's ?) who 
 has been nearly bedridden for years ; they are now in 
 Italy away from a brutish father (selon Mr. Moxon) 
 who opposed the match and entailed the necessity 
 of its being achieved in a surreptitious (gracious ! 
 what a word ! ! !) manner. Miss Wynn lent me Miss 
 Barrett's poetic effusions with a strong encomium 
 from herself. I see she has a good deal of poetry in 
 her, but her " Lady Geraldine's Courtship " is evidently 
 conceived in consequence of reading Locksley Hall, 
 and the whole poem recalls it ; though such a laboured 
 piece of 40 page? was never put together I suppose. 
 
 199 
 
MRS. BROOKFIELD AND HER CIRCLE 
 
 (Excuse a somewhat lame conclusion to my attempt 
 at a Critique.) As to your hospitable suggestions 
 about Cambridge, my Harry, nothing should I like 
 better and nothing would better please Wilham than 
 invading the Time honoured abode of Genius and 
 enio5dng a festive day there under your friendly aus- 
 pices, but I fear it must be one of the bright possi- 
 bilities of the future — a star on the Horizon but not 
 yet over our heads. Friend Thomas hath departed 
 for a Xmas holiday. New brooms are busily executing 
 their well known propensities in sweeping clean, and 
 to drop metaphor (into which I had but just stepped, 
 for I am sure the fact of Thomas's departure is any- 
 thing but a mere metaphor) the new Rector of St. 
 Jeames's keeps a vigilant eye over us all and might 
 take note in an unfavourable manner of both Curate 
 and Incumbent absenting themselves at once. Mr. 
 Chapman condescended to take care of Mrs. Garden's 
 love to me, all the way from Edinburgh and sent it 
 me by Mr. Spedding, who dined with us the other day. 
 Mr. Moxon said Alfred one day while travelling said 
 to him, " Moxon, you have made me very unhappy 
 by something you said to me at Lucerne," the un- 
 fortunate speech having been " Why Tennyson you 
 will be as bald as Spedding before long." Poor Alfred 
 brooded over this tiU on his return to England he put 
 himself under a Mrs. Parker (or some such name) who 
 rubs his head and puUs out dead hairs an hour a visit, 
 and ten shillings an hour, besides cosmetics ad libitum. 
 Your father's hair would bristle up at the idea of 
 the Queen's pension being spent in this manner, but 
 really his hair is such an integral part of his appearance 
 it would be a great pity he should lose it — and they 
 say this woman does reaUy restore hair, and she is 
 patronised by Royalty itself ! Can I say more in her 
 favour or in extenuation for A. T. 
 
 200 
 
" PLACE AUX DAMES " 
 
 The said A. T. was staying with Mr. Taylor, I 
 beUeve, but was turned out by the arrival of the fair 
 Wigan who was ill and required a room. My letter 
 is essentially gossiping ; and now to mount from the 
 ridiculous to the sublime, I thought of you when at 
 a dinner party the other day, a pilling good-natured 
 curate was telling little parochial jests and vestry 
 experiences, and named the circumstances of a party 
 bringing his (their, or her) child to be baptised by the 
 name of Hydropatha. On expostulation they were 
 firm to their choice of the name, having had great 
 benefit from the water system and wishing to memo- 
 riaUze their gratitude in the shape of their little girl. 
 
 Your affect. Jane. 
 
 20I 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 Lady Duff-Gordon. An unique Dinner Party. Mrs. Norton. 
 Count D'Orsay. Living under the Church. Mrs. Wigan. Mrs. 
 Carlyle. Cambridge. The " Cave." Reading Shakespeare. In- 
 stallation of the Prince Consort as Chancellor. " Clever Men." 
 A Criticism on Vanity Fair. " Pride of Intellect." Price of Votes. 
 Dr. Thompson. Charles Tennyson. " Amelia " and Mrs. Brook- 
 field. Miss Cushman. Lady Duff-Gordon's Offer. Criticism on 
 " Dombey." " Frank Whitestock." Tennyson. 
 
 The year 1847 found Mr. Brookfield a good deal 
 troubled by the depreciation of some railway stock he 
 had been persuaded to purchase ; and^ as preferment 
 did not seem to be coming his way, talk arose, not for 
 the first time, concerning his chance of getting an 
 Inspectorship of schools. 
 
 Early in January Mrs. Brookfield wrote to Harry 
 HaUam :— 
 
 As you left the room to-day Lady Duff-Gordon 
 and her husband came in — their first visit, very benevo- 
 lently meant — to ask us to dine and meet Lord Lans- 
 downe by way of fathering Inspectorial possibilities. 
 I feel excited, having intended to dislike Lady Duff, 
 and finding myself suddenly crushed under an obliga- 
 tion to her. She must be very good natured, but 
 meeting the arbiter of one's interests I don't take al- 
 ways to be a good measure, it's putting one's head 
 into the Uon's mouth at once. 
 
 202 
 
LADY DUFF-GORDON 
 
 But that this meeting came off is evident from the 
 following : — 
 
 23 Gt. Pulteney St., 
 London, 
 
 22 Jan., 1847. 
 My dearest Mother, 
 
 Pray offer aU the congratulations in the world to 
 Gould and Fanny on the weU doing of the latter, and 
 all those which the occasion deserves on the accession 
 to their family. If there is a moment when I feel life 
 a burden and tear my hair up by the roots it is when 
 I hear of my friends having men children and women 
 children born to them. Why, ah why, have they aU 
 the good fortune ? Blessed images of our blessed 
 selves ! How thrice favoured are the toads under such 
 quivers full of harrows ! . . . 
 
 I told you I sat next Lady Duff-Gordon at King- 
 lake's dinner. We dined with them the other evening 
 at a very little party. Lord Lansdowne, Lady Char- 
 lotte Lyndesay, a Mr. Bruce, a foreign author and our 
 two selves. The dinner was peculiar in its way. 
 The Gordons are peculiarly far from " fine." He is 
 the most gentlemanly hand at it I ever saw, and would 
 seem perfectly unconscious that such and such things 
 were considered vulgar ; she, on the other hand, would 
 seem rather as if she gloried in their very commonness : 
 but not much so — I don't mean to malign her. The 
 dinner was soup and cod's head and shoulders, followed 
 by the bouilli, of which the soup had been made ; 
 two fowls and a chap, followed by a pheasant, a tart, 
 a jelly and black puddings ; the black puddings fol- 
 lowed by an orange pie — made just like an apple pie 
 but not nearly so good ; cheese and salad ; sherry, 
 bottled ale and bottled porter, with a bottle of claret 
 after dinner. . . . Lady Gordon had dressed the 
 
 203 
 
MRS. BROOKFIELD AND HER CIRCLE 
 
 salad herself in the kitchen. But the difference with 
 which he would mention such a thing as simple matter 
 of fact — and she with just the least little tinge of 
 bravado would strike an acute observer. Now if you 
 heard Sir Alex ask whether you would eat Beccaficoes 
 a la Reine or Black puddings (if you had never heard 
 of either), you could not possibly distinguish which 
 came from the belly of a sow and which from the 
 Groves of Sardinia (if there are any Beccaficoes there). 
 Sunday I have a funny enough dinner. Lord 
 Lyttelton, Eothen and Thackeray. Lyttelton asked 
 himself, as did Thackeray, and I added Kinglake. A 
 learned, pious peer — the chief writer in Punch — and 
 Eothen. We shall go at 7 to church when I shall preach 
 for the third time and return to coffee, etc. As odd 
 a dinner as there will be in London that day. . . . 
 Ever, my dear Mother, most affectionately, 
 
 W. H. Brookfield. 
 
 As Mr. Brookfield invariably gave his mother an 
 account of anything curious he heard, he, on the 4th 
 of February, from Southampton where he was staying 
 with Mrs. Brookfield, sent her the following : 
 
 The Saturday before we came here we dined with 
 the Walter Jameses (M.P. for Hull). We had Lord and 
 Lady Lyveden (the latter used to be considered a great 
 beauty), Mr. James Wortley and wife, and one or two 
 more. Lady L. sang Scotch songs as well as possible. 
 Lord L. is the only person I ever met who had seen a 
 ■ ' Will o' the wisp." He saw one, or rather two at once, 
 tlie latter end of last year when with Edwin Landseer, 
 the animal painter, in Scotland, — but they seemed 
 two miles distant and had no deluding effect. It was 
 on a marshy moor. 
 
 204 
 
THE LITTLE MISS THACKERAYS 
 
 Leaving his wife at the Fanshawes, he wrote on the 
 15th February to her : 
 
 Thackwack came in at 9 last night, and we con- 
 versed till small hours. His remark on A.B. is that 
 " There is a volcano of voluptuousness in that girl" ! ! ! 
 and he adheres to it that she is a woman full of passions 
 and affections under control. Little Fanshawe, you 
 may assure her, was spoken of as she would have liked 
 if listening through the keyhole. You alone came in 
 for the unmeasured tempest of our abuse. He wants 
 to know when his purse will be finished. Totty is to 
 come — but no servant. 
 
 This last concerned little Miss Fanshawes usual visit 
 to the little Miss Thackerays, and Thackeray himself 
 wrote to Mrs. Brookfield about it apparently the same 
 day, for on the next she says to her husband : 
 
 Totty is looking forward with great deUght to 
 her visit but I am afraid the going without a maid 
 may prove a spoke in the wheel. I don't know if I can 
 steady my head sufficiently to answer Mr. Thackeray's 
 witty effusion to-day. 
 
 and she encloses to him his friend's letter. On which 
 Mr. Brookfield replied : 
 
 * 23 Gt. Pulteney St., 
 
 18 Feb., 1847. 
 My dear Person, 
 
 You had better come home soon — you are evidently 
 getting mad. Thackeray's letter is very good. I 
 will take care of it. . . . I am passionately in love 
 with Heritage. I had her up yesterday to consult*— 
 but finding that she was fascinating me I dismissed her 
 
 * He was giving a dinner to Thackeray and others. 
 205 
 
MRS. BROOKFIELD AND HER CIRCLE 
 
 to wrestle with the great dinner Angel in private and 
 to announce to me the result of her meditation. This 
 morning the conference was resumed. When I must 
 do you the justice to say that her imagination had not 
 been able to soar above " a nice piece of salt beef to 
 boil." I shook my head and said it was not quite 
 company enough— to which she added — verbatim — 
 " I have nothing else to suggest." Whereupon I devised 
 the carte which I inclose and of which you will perhaps 
 consume the leavings on Friday evening. 
 
 After writing to you yesterday I enjoyed my " bit 
 of fish " at 5 J in solemn solitude and at 7 to church 
 when I proche. At 9 o'clock the sublime and the 
 ridiculous developed themselves in the persons of 
 Mr. Thackeray and Mr. Spedding, who sat till 12. Soon 
 after that hour I retired to my downy and fell asleep 
 in the arms of Mr. Milman. . . . 
 
 I wish you had been here at our festival to-night — 
 at least I wish I had had it a day later — but we shall 
 have other opportunities for the exercise of your favour- 
 ite gift. And so farewell — I shall hear to-morrow 
 by what train you come, but if by chance you find any 
 reason to stay another day, as in persons full of brim- 
 stone in every pore may be the case, do not hesitate 
 to think yourself a free agent. 
 
 God bless you, love to Fanshawes — -less and least — 
 and the Bullars. 
 
 Thine most affectionately, 
 
 W. H. Brookfield. 
 
 Mrs. Brookfield was under treatment for gout and 
 taking sulphur baths ; she wrote to Thackeray : 
 
 Southampton, 
 
 \Sth February. 
 My dear Mr. Thackeray, 
 
 As I hope to be at home to-morrow it seems 
 
 2o6 
 
MRS. FANSHAWE 
 
 hardly worth while to write any more than just a few 
 lines to thank you for your letter which amused us 
 extremely and for which Mrs. Fanshawe also was 
 much obliged and desires her best thanks and respects 
 or regards. Totty could not get ready soon enough 
 to come with me, so that at all events you will not 
 expect her till next week — and further particulars I 
 may be empowered to enter into when I see you. It 
 was entirely out of my power to answer your kind letter 
 yesterday, tho' I tried hard to do so, and made several 
 beginnings. You rose grander and more awful in the 
 majesty of your authorship each time I made the feeble 
 attempt to write a few unpretending words in answer 
 to your letter, and it is only the fear of appearing rude 
 and ungrateful which has mastered my trepidation 
 to-day. The ancient doctors are still alive and have 
 been experimenting on me with hot air and sulphur 
 baths satisfactorily, setting me up to brave the airs 
 of Pulteney again. 
 
 Bishop Oaks, on an ambling Palfrey, rides by in 
 innocent self-contentment. You left a great blank 
 behind you — not to be filled up at aU. 
 Believe me. 
 
 Yours most sincerely, 
 
 J. O. Brookfield. 
 
 I beg your pardon for crossing — will you give my 
 love to the two children. 
 
 Mrs. Fanshawe, wife of the Rev. Fanshawe of South- 
 ampton, was a gifted woman, one of the brightest intelli- 
 gences of her time : she took rank with Mrs. Carlyle 
 and Mrs. Procter in intellectual attainments ; her 
 reasoning powers were exceptionally keen, and to a 
 happy lucidity of expression she added a charm which 
 neither of those ladies ever possessed. She was a 
 
 207 
 
MRS. BROOKFIELD AND HER CIRCLE 
 
 dear and true friend, both to the Thackerays and the 
 Brookfields. 
 
 Harry Hallam to Mr. Brookfield : 
 
 Wilton Crescent, 
 
 Tuesday. 
 My dear Brookfield, 
 
 I am base enough to shrink from the responsibiUties 
 of Whitechapel. The Licentiate, whose great mind 
 cannot yet fathom the object of oriental pilgrimages, 
 has it much at heart that I should do myself the honour 
 of waiting on Mrs. Robert Fillymore at a very small 
 evening party, and can suggest nothing better than that 
 I should defer any experimental acquaintance with 
 the Codger's Club till after Gully. 
 
 I shall despatch this early that you may not be 
 premature in making your arrangements for the day. 
 Pray, pray do not reward my treachery by taking 
 Mr. Thackeray to those delightful regions ; but remem- 
 ber, that in this important struggle, in which the 
 interests of the Church are so deeply at stake, of inde- 
 pendence against conventionality, of appropriativeness 
 against property, of draymen against monarchs, of 
 the Catholic East against the Erastian West, a humble 
 but faithful companion bides his time and now 
 subscribes himself with regretful affection — 
 
 John Manners. 
 
 It was part of a pose of the time to sign letters with 
 the name of a friend or with some fantastic imaginary 
 signature, while a similar buoyancy prompted them 
 also to spell phonetically, to head their notes " St You 
 and St Mee," " St Stephen Sprice," etc., and address 
 Mrs. Brookfield as "The Countess of St. Luke's," 
 
 208 
 
LORD M. AND MRS. N. 
 
 " The Rev. Mrs. Brookfield," etc., while Harry Hallam 
 would sometimes closely copy Thackeray's handwriting, 
 and then apologise for " this base imitation of the Great 
 Humourist." 
 
 At the end of a " war of wits " with his mother, 
 it is noticeable that Mr. Brookfield always changed the 
 subject by giving her the gossip of the town. On this 
 occasion Mrs. Jane Brookfield had been criticising some- 
 what sternly a certain sermon of her son's upon 
 " Baptism." Tired of the tussle, he sent her the 
 following : 
 
 23 Gt. Pulteney St., 
 
 26 March, 1847. 
 My dearest Mother, 
 
 What the juice had happened to make you so 
 uncommon cross with every body towards the close of 
 your last letter ? — poor lady Buff ! — poor lady Borgad ! 
 — (I've got such a cold id my dose I caddot write the 
 letters eb ad ed) — poor Mrs. Dortod ! As to the last 
 mentioned — your virtuous indignation is all very well 
 conceived — but entirely misplaced. Nobody thinks 
 Mrs. D. a woman of strict conventional habits, and all 
 people are free to exercise their private judgement 
 as to the desirableness of intimacy with her, because 
 she does not care a bodle for what Mrs. Grundy says, 
 and like a goodish many of her charming sect I dare say 
 she likes men better than women ; but merely their 
 talk; of course it is very bad judgement and indicates 
 a very unenviable state of mind to think that men are 
 better company than women. I don't think so, nor 
 I am sure does anybody with proper taste, but still 
 nobody in London believes a syllable of harm between 
 Lord M. and Mrs. N — nobody that is that knows any- 
 thing at all about the matter. You must remember 
 
 209 
 
 15— (2309) 
 
MRS. BROOKFIELD AND HER CIRCLE 
 
 he was acquitted, and that not in the least ambiguously 
 or discreditably. Surely it is very unfair to punish 
 people because they are accused. But still that is not 
 so conclusive as the general conviction in the minds 
 of all that know them both in their favour. After all 
 it is not individuals who are to settle what society 
 is to do in such cases. Society receives her — and does 
 not most certainly receive those who are believed to be 
 incorrect. And it would be unjustifiable to refuse to 
 meet her — and rather harsh to refuse to be introduced. 
 I enquired all about it of most competent decorumists 
 two years ago when we were asked to meet her at 
 dinner but did not go. And tho' I should not approve 
 of her as an intimate friend there is nothing against 
 a mere slight acquaintance even for the most prudent. 
 I believe her to be as entirely free from any impropriety 
 as Miss Bates or Miss Harrison or Mrs. Best, — three 
 as spotless virgins I should think as the chaste moon 
 ever sees putting on their night caps. 
 
 And if the case were not so favourable for her as 
 in the judgement of those best capable of judging it 
 really is — still — is there not an a fortiori lesson to be 
 drawn from a narrative you have met with ? 
 
 Hath any man condemned thee ? — No man. 
 Neither do I condemn thee. 
 
 That was not in the case of an innocent person, 
 whom 12 men had dehberately acquitted, and whom 
 competent members of society believed to be 
 blameless. . . . 
 
 The inauguration of Albert as chancellor took place 
 yesterday. I might have lunched at the palace, but 
 had no curiosity, all members of the Senate being 
 admissible .... 
 
 I saw Kinglake last night but forgot to ask him 
 if he was an infidel. By the bye, Warburton was there 
 too but I did not happen to speak with him. This 
 
 2IO 
 
A BIRTHDAY LETTER 
 
 was at Mrs. Milman's. I had gone alone — Count d'Orsay 
 having driven off Jane to a masquerade, he dressed as 
 Neptune, she as a sea nymph. 
 
 Good - bye. Jane's best love with mine to Sire 
 and all. 
 
 Most affectionately, 
 
 W. H. B. 
 
 P.S. — On the Carte of the Carlton Club the day 
 before yesterday (the General Fast) was to be seen these 
 words : — " The Committee, taking into consideration 
 that the observance of a General Fast has been or- 
 dained, have directed that the Coffee room dinner 
 shall be confined strictly to — Two soups. Fish. Plain 
 Joints. Spring Tarts. Omelettes and Cheese. 
 
 A Birthday letter from Mr. Brookfield to his father 
 runs : 
 
 23 Gt. Pulteney St., 
 
 2nd May, 1847, 6.30 p.m. 
 Honoured and Beloved Sire, 
 
 ... I wish I had been dining with you to-day 
 instead of preaching indifferent sermons (three in 
 number) in London. I would much rather have 
 joined you in Stanley port not indifferent and six in 
 number. I would have fallen fast asleep with you 
 over Adam Clarke, while my Mother kept awake over 
 Hannah More and wished she had a husband and son 
 of better mind. I would have said my Catechism 
 before tea — then eaten toast and drunk bohea from 
 Sidebotham's (or who ever may now sit upon his 
 grocer throne) I would have afterwards repeated 
 Watts' hymns ; strolled round the pond ; got called 
 in from the dewy grass ; slept again Uke the maids 
 over one of Cooper's practicals, and then awaked 
 to the best and merriest supper of the week, when my 
 
 211 
 
MRS. BROOKFIELD AND HER CIRCLE 
 
 mother's gravity could hold out no longer — as it 
 never could last through a whole Sunday. . . 
 
 Towards Jiine, owing to the state of the Stocks 
 and also because of Mrs. Brookfield's health, it was 
 decided they should give up their London house for 
 a time, Mr. Brookfield undertaking to Uve in the 
 vaults beneath St. Luke's Church, which he had the 
 right to do, and Mrs. Brookfield going to visit relations 
 in the West of England. They are no sooner apart 
 than correspondence begins. Harry Hallam writes 
 almost before his cousin has reached her destination : 
 
 You will be glad to hear that a depressed pubHc 
 walking along a vacant and dreary Piccadilly in moody 
 silence fell in with the creature-comfort of Spedding 
 who discoursed eloquently, feelingly and gushingly for 
 the space of two hours to his not unwilling audience 
 on the great divinity whom to name would be profana- 
 tion, but whom he has worshipped on five distinct 
 occasions after a regimental, diabolic, normal and 
 sleep-walking ritual, and is in a most proper state of 
 enthusiasm, although when pressed on the point as 
 to whether or no " he would that Grote's gay lot were 
 his," his apostolic caution induced him to say that he 
 should think it a great responsibility. She spends 
 Sunday in singing hymns in her own room to herself. 
 A most touching letter has been received from 
 Thompson in which his gracious condescension extends 
 to me and all clerical relations the use of my old 
 rooms to be had and held for our common benefit 
 during the period of our Prince his installation. 
 
 F. Lushington came up to town in the most oppor- 
 tune manner just in time to be hooked for the dinner. 
 
 212 
 
A ROMANTIC ATTACHMENT 
 
 After some guarded fencing, and preliminary beating 
 about the bush, I drew the grand fact that the Teimy- 
 son habit of coming unwashed and staying unbidden 
 was, is, and will be the great burthen and calamity 
 of the Lushington existence, socially considered. They 
 actually groan under M., who they expect will stay to 
 keep up the establishment, when the original family 
 retires to Malta. I did not venture to touch upon 
 the delicate ground of E., but I expect they labour 
 under undefined but not ungrounded alarms that 
 Mr. J. may be a permanent fixture. 
 
 I have hired myself to a party signing himself 
 W. H. B. as secretary for S.P.G. communications in 
 consideration of a breakfast to be given under St. 
 Luke's. 
 
 Adieu, my dear Linda, time flies, cabs rumble in 
 the distance to whirl me to operas, and audacity con- 
 scious of having written a dull letter without any 
 reasonable excuse — quails at its own presumption. 
 Julia, I believe, returns Monday, the Licentiate 
 probably not till Tuesday. 
 
 H. F. H. 
 
 The " divinity " alluded to above was probably 
 Jenny Lind, between whom and Harry Hallam there 
 was jokingly supposed to be a romantic attachment. 
 
 Mrs. Brookfield, after duly bemoaning that her 
 husband should be relegated to so " monastic a cell," 
 teUs him : 
 
 ROCKBEARE HoUSE, 
 
 Exeter, 
 
 30th June, 47. 
 ... I am amused at the difference of our grand 
 events which we have to communicate to each other — 
 
 213 
 
MRS. BROOKFIELD AND HER CIRCLE 
 
 yours comprising Consecrations, S.P.G. meetings, and 
 all the usual bewhirlings of the Great Babal, and mine 
 being such very petty events to narrate, but (equally) 
 in default of anything more stirring, narratable 
 somehow or other. . . . 
 
 The blow was given to the intended dinner of 
 to-day by Clericus Sanders sending over a man and 
 horse to mention the death of an aunt, which obliged 
 him to give up dining with us and so the Salmon from 
 Exeter and the green-pea soup and the chickens and 
 jellies have to be eaten at an early dinner to-day — a 
 " Comble de richesse," the hot weather not permitting 
 delays. . . . 
 
 Julia was telling me that a friend of Mrs. Joy's 
 had seen Mrs. B. at St. Bennett's Church lately. He 
 was so much struck by her interesting appearance 
 and melancholy expression that she said she could not 
 help feeling more leniently towards her. " Pray how 
 was she dressed ? " asked Mrs. Joy. " Oh, beautifully 
 dressed — a white lace bonnet with blush roses," etc. 
 " Well, then, I don't pity her," said Mrs. Joy, " for if 
 she were penitent she would wear a slouch bonnet and 
 print dress so as to attract as little attention as pos- 
 sible." It seems that after the scene between Mrs. B. 
 and Mr. W. was discovered, she had a long conversa- 
 tion with her husband beginning (by her saying), " I 
 may as well tell you all my history," and confessing 
 (to him) several other similar adventures, but conclud- 
 ing by declaring that all along Mr. B. was the only 
 person she ever really loved. Perhaps she confesses 
 to Mr. Bennett and may be reformed under his auspices, 
 and made publicly to confess her sins before the con- 
 gregation according to the Rubric. Some Americans, 
 Mr. and Miss Joy (cousins to the late Mr. Joy) were 
 staying here before I came, and Mrs. Wilson told me 
 their servant amused her so much by his free and 
 
 214 
 
JENNY LIND 
 
 easiness ; he never waited at table or appeared with 
 the other servants in the house, but one evening 
 Mrs. Wilson was going to walk out with Miss Joy when 
 a fashionably dressed man with a slight bow joined 
 them, and walking beside Miss Joy, discussed the 
 various shrubs and talked quite at his ease, and this 
 turned out to be the servant. . . 
 
 Mr. to Mrs. Brookfield : 
 
 St. Lewkes, Berwick St., 
 
 1st July, 1847. 
 
 True, there may be a slight difference in the shape 
 of topics relating to Babylon and Rockbeare. But 
 after all what difference in magnitude ? Who knows 
 how to measure such magnitude ? (I have only ten 
 minutes), and for my own part I think the spoiling of 
 a pudding quite as important as the Queen choosing 
 to ride to Regent's Park instead of up Rotten Row, 
 or the consecration of a dozen pilsters to an office 
 that will multiply 50 fold their pilsomeness and their 
 conceit. 
 
 I was in the Chancel close by the rails with about 
 150 clergy. Robed. It was good to see Bennett 
 utterly neglecting his prayer to watch the rubrical 
 movements as cat watches mouse. No doubt my 
 neighbour thought it good me neglecting mine to 
 watch Bennett. I went last night to the Duffs'.* 
 Lind was to have been there, but the Queen had secured 
 her. There were Bishops, actors, Wigan and wife, 
 Hans Anderson, Milmans, EUiots, Monteagles, Proc- 
 ters, and I don't know who. I am going to dine at 
 the Chilvers', and then to Mrs. Gladstone's. I daresay 
 Thackeray will be here for an hour to-night. Mrs. 
 Wigan told me last night she had had a triumph. 
 
 * The Duff-Gordons. 
 215 
 
MRS. BROOKFIELD AND HER CIRCLE 
 
 She had always said I was like Schiller — which Tom 
 Taylor denied. She had taken a bust of Schiller to 
 Duff and asked her which of her guests it was like, 
 and Duff at once said me — and that another had also 
 found it. I recollect thinking something of the sort 
 myself. Well, I shall be really " too late " if I do not 
 close. Mrs. Carlyle said to me last night that every- 
 body told her what a charming person you are. Miss 
 Wynn had told me that she said so to her. 
 
 Most affectionately yours, 
 
 W H. Brookfield. 
 
 Mr. Brookfield and Harry Hallam went up to Cam- 
 bridge at about this time in order to assist at the Prince 
 Consort's Installation as Chancellor, which visit gave 
 occasion for the following series of letters. First of all 
 he mentions the lines current at the time : 
 
 " A prince is on this side — a peer is on that ; 
 We do not ask which is the brighter ; 
 But we give up the boy who invented the hat 
 For the man who protected the Mitre." 
 
 Trinity College, 
 
 Cambridge, 
 Saturday, 4.45 p.m. 3rd July, 1847. 
 
 We have only just arrived — weather perfect — 
 the place none the better for frivolous preparations. 
 We are too late for Hall (dinner), the train very full 
 and slow — 
 
 We are just ordering dinner in this apartment. 
 Sunday morn, 4th July. 
 
 It was to no purpose posting this last night — 
 as it would only have remained in London all to-day — 
 reaching you no sooner than it will now. I don't 
 
 2l6 
 
HIGH JINKS AT TRINITY 
 
 remember if I told you in yesterday's letter to direct 
 to me here — ^if not, I shall hardly hear from you till — 
 bless me — ^Thursday — as we are two days removed, 
 the great gulph of London roaring between. Well, 
 we had our dinner at 7 yesterday from the College 
 kitchens. Soup a la bonne femme — -soles a la mauvaise 
 femme — neck of mutton a la death* — quarter of lamb 
 a la deuce knows what — croquettes and cutlets — 
 champagne, claret and sherry. 
 
 They are all very nice fellows but not equal to Harry. 
 This morning we were up at 7, at chapel at 8. Harry 
 read the first lesson — ^not very like a curate of Ben- 
 nett's. It was pleasant to sit under his ministry. 
 Bentinck — Gibbs — Sergeant — Lushington — Grey — 
 Maine — are aU breakfasting here. The oldest of them 
 10 years younger than myself. I don't Uke the place 
 half so well as in full term. It i? full of strangers 
 and masters of arts — but it is the students that give 
 the character to it. Great numbers are coming up 
 to-day and to-morrow. Tuesday wiU be the great day. 
 The Queen wiU dine that day in our Hall — ^when 
 admission is to be only by ticket of invitation — and 
 I beheve I shall not get one — they are obhged to draw 
 some hne — and I fancy the hne is under those who 
 have been fellows or are persons either of title or of 
 decided distinction — in none of which classes do I find 
 a place. 
 
 But it is not the great doings that would afford me 
 pleasiue here — ^but the common everyday doings. 
 Coming up yesterday the joke was to pretend we were 
 not Cambridge men. And after various remarks made 
 in the character of aliens — such as " \\^hat is going on 
 at Cambridge ? Is Goulburn or Lefevre, Chancellor ? 
 Shall we be able to get on to Huntingdon to-night ? 
 
 * Death was the name of the Cambridge butcher. 
 217 
 
MRS. BROOKFIELD AND HER CIRCLE 
 
 &c., and other equally facetious buffooneries from 
 Harry, Lush, and self — without much effect on our 
 fellow-passengers, Harry felt called upon to enquire 
 of Lush : if parties were allowed to see King's College 
 Chapel (which is, you know, the lion of Cambridge), 
 and if so whether one purchased tickets — to which 
 I repUed, " You noodle, King's College Chapel is 
 at Windsor." This drew the small collegian, and he 
 eagerly broke in to assure me that I was wrong — and 
 that there would be no difficulty in seeing it without 
 payment, &c., &c., &c., which Harry received with 
 tolerable gravity — but I was obliged to find in the 
 Number of Dombey in my hand an apology for 
 laughing. 
 
 The place is rather saddening. Things are just 
 the same as on a broad hot summer's day, 16 years ago. 
 The same pigeons hovering about the ever-murmuring 
 fountain, living nobody knows how, wild yet quite 
 tame — having nests somewhere about the holes and 
 corners ; the same bells ringing the same chimes, 
 the same customs and observances, everything but 
 the same faces, for even those that stand on the 
 same shoulders are grown older. Which is not 
 exhilarating. God bless you. 
 
 Trinity College, 
 
 Cambridge, 
 
 5th July, 1847. 
 My blunder about the letter has placed me in a 
 position of the most questionable veracity. I have 
 nothing to answer ; — and besides feel aU my wits 
 stodged and stupefied by the enormous quantities of 
 humble pie which in consequence of that fatal step 
 I have been compelled to masticate. I have never 
 been my own man since I found that unblessed letter 
 on my table here ; everybody says that I am altered — 
 
 2l8 
 
" TWELFTH NIGHT " 
 
 and H. F. H. has locked up my razors, and I shall never 
 cease to deplore that I did not fling it into the Cam 
 and deny that I knew anything about it. Perhaps 
 the agony that I have suffered may in some measure 
 atone for a fault which if I had the recklessness to 
 commit I had not the baseness to conceal. 
 
 Well, I dined in Hall yesterday, not so nice as if 
 the place were in its normal condition. I sate next 
 Dandy Ellison and Pranose Ellison of Smedleyan 
 connection — and Bay ley who writes for the Times. 
 We laughed a good deal. After Hall, Chapel, which 
 I did not like very, very much. Then the Shake- 
 speare — ^the Cave as they call it. " Twelfth Night " 
 was read. Sir Toby was Bentinck's part, I fancy, 
 and so it was given to him. Harry read Viola un- 
 commonly well — as did Lushington the clown — won- 
 derfully. All was exceedingly well read — much better 
 than we did it in my time. I had Malvolio, which I 
 could make nothing of, Sir Toby was the part for me — 
 nevertheless, all went off well. Venables, Chapman 
 and Merivale, with myself were the only oldsters, 
 and were charmed with the youngsters. We all 
 thought it if not the best — one of the very best evenings 
 we had ever known. We were thirteen or fourteen. 
 I can give you no conception of Harry's quiet absurd- 
 ity. So different for instance from mine, which was 
 always bustling and noisy. 
 
 We retired to our beds by the grey light of 2.59. 
 At 8.45 I rose and rushed to breakfast with Kay 
 Shuttleworth, who had invited me overnight. Harness 
 there. Very pleasant. Since then, all the uproar has 
 been going on. Our great court full of folks walking 
 about and waiting for the Queen's arrival. A few 
 ladies — but comparatively few — mostly M.A.'s (I do 
 not mean persons standing in any maternal relation 
 to fUial parties but graduates in the position of Masters 
 
 219 
 
MRS. BROOKFIELD AND HER CIRCLE 
 
 of those Arts which at once soften and adorn society. 
 A troop of dismounted Horse Guards turned into the 
 court looked incongruous. At about 12.30 the 
 old duke came pacing across the court in his scarlet 
 doctor's gown on a full dress black suit and a doctor's 
 hat. You can guess what a locomotive mob of gowns 
 surrounded and accompanied him. It was worth 
 seeing. The Queen came at 1.30. Well received. 
 
 Our rooms are in the great court and command 
 everything. It happened that the Queen's particular 
 carriage with gorgeous red coachman was drawn up 
 (empty) just under our window — and as Harry and 
 others were looking out as I happened to cross the court 
 — I felt it my duty as I passed so finely dressed a party 
 as that coachman to take off my hat with all the 
 gravity I could, upon which the splendacious func- 
 tionary with no less command of countenance removed 
 his own, to the infinite joy of the youngsters in the 
 window. The best of it was Milnes maintained that 
 there was no joke in it — as the Queen's own coachman 
 is by office an Esquire ! 
 
 I am not quite sure after aU that there is much to 
 regret in your not being here at this time. There is a 
 great deal of nonsense which is ten times better done 
 in London, and I would a great deal rather you were 
 here in the middle of term if it could ever be managed. 
 To-night I am invited to the Nevilles' at Magdalen. 
 I must to Hall. I am to have no ticket for the dinner 
 to-morrow — a very slight privation indeed. I shall 
 have a much pleasanter with Venables in Jesus Hall. 
 Many persons with stronger claims than myself are 
 excluded. It would, after all, be only like a dinner in 
 Freemasons' Hall, so that I really do not care tho' 
 I had brought down those shorts which you so much 
 admire. I have tickets for the Senate House like 
 every other M.A. — that for to-day remains idle in my 
 
 220 
 
WORDSWORTH, THE POET, AND ANOTHER 
 
 pocket, and I suspect that for to-morrow is not unlikely 
 to do the same. It will be rather good to have come 
 down to the installation without witnessing it. Every- 
 body goes away Wednesday, H. F. H., for example, 
 I shall stay for three quiet days, which I think I shall 
 like very much. 
 
 Mr. Ait chef ait ch has just entered and desires 
 his love— he is imprecating final dissolution upon all his 
 stars for the besotted state of mind which permitted 
 him to commit going to the Senate House to see 
 the Albert doings. He commends the common sense 
 no less than the sense of epistolary duty which detained 
 me in my room. 
 
 I must now leave you for Hall festivities — so 
 good-bye. 
 
 Mr. Brookfield to Mrs. Brookfield : 
 
 Trinity College, Cambridge, 
 
 &h July, 1847. 
 My dearest Jane, 
 
 After writing yesterday I done in Hall — sate near 
 some special pilsters — one of whom asked what relation 
 Wordsworth the poet was to the great Wordsworth 
 (meaning the late Master of Trinity) ? It was a 
 singularly dull Hall, Sir Harry Smith was there — 
 his health proposed by Sedgwick and very rapturously 
 received ; and it followed of course that the youngsters 
 deride him as a humbug without any pretentions to 
 miUtary renown. After Hall I went to Magdalene. 
 There was tea drinking on the grass. Bishops Oxford 
 and London, Sir R. and Lady Peel, Coutts, Rogers, 
 &c., there. 
 
 I soon retired, there being a " cave " here. I 
 found them reading " 2 gents of Verona." Same 
 party as night before with Milnes. Harry and I retired 
 at 2.30, and at 9 I rose to go to breakfast with the 
 
 221 
 
MRS. BROOKFIELD AND HER CIRCLE 
 
 Nevilles — everybody had done — but it was that kind 
 of breakfast which admits of idlers carrying it to any 
 length. 
 
 Then came the great business of Installation, to 
 which I did not go. A great horticultural fete followed, 
 to which I did not go. And this evening will be the 
 banquet in Trinity, to which I cannot go. I got a 
 ticket for my uncle Preston who, I believe, came up 
 to-day on purpose, having gone down yesterday. 
 To-morrow comes the great dejeuner in Trinity — al 
 fresco — with dancing, &c., in the walks of St. John's — 
 to which I shall not go. Then I fancy every one goes 
 home. 
 
 The cave derives its name in one of those indistinct 
 ways which do lead to names. The word is connected 
 with the melodramatic business — in which a cave is as 
 necessary as a dungeon is for the authoress of the 
 Mysteries of Udolpho. They got to call themselves, 
 therefore, a cave of bandits — whence — &c. 
 
 I cannot help thinking that I have been hardly 
 treated by Harry. As after I have kindly permitted 
 him to use one of my rooms he has been perpetually 
 employed in introducing Juice and Paphists in various 
 disguises — they may differ in non-essentials and in 
 speculative points of doctrine but they are equally 
 offensive to me and pleasing to themselves. It is 
 supposed that an attachment which I fear will be 
 highly disagreeable to Mr. Hallam's phelins has grown 
 up between H. F. H. and the celebrated contralto. 
 I allude to Alboni. He insisted, in spite of Thompson's 
 remonstrances, in introducing her to our cave last night. 
 The great T— instantly saw through the flimsy dis- 
 guise of the scarlet habiliments of a Dr. of Seville Law 
 in which he vainly endeavoured to conceal her. Every 
 day when we go into 'all H. F. retires to take a petit 
 diner at her lodgings — and returns at a late hour 
 
 222 
 
"A FIT OF DOLEFULNESS " 
 
 of the evening reeking with champagne and singing 
 " catches " of her favourite hairs. I cannot say for 
 my own part that I see this in a very bad Hght. They 
 are well suited. His strong attachment to mewsic 
 and his excellent tenor voice have made rapid progress 
 and he executed a fugue from Purcell's " Macbeth " 
 with a precision which would draw three souls out of 
 one Weaver. 
 
 I need not say that every syllable of this paragraph 
 must be true as I have written it down from the verbal 
 dictation of the gent, himself. 
 
 Mrs. to Mr. Brookfield : 
 
 ROCKBEARE HOUSE, 
 
 NEAR Exeter. 
 My dearest William, 
 
 I can't help fancying there is a tinge of sadness 
 running through each one of your Trinity letters, and 
 I feel somewhat of the same myself, and as if I could 
 not fill a letter ; your letter was eminently " worth 
 sending," but I don't fancy I have anything to say, 
 except that I was seized with a fit of dolefulness last 
 night about being with you again, and not having any 
 pied a terre in London or anywhere else at present, 
 gives one a Citizen of the World, Wandering Jew, 
 sensation. 
 
 The event of a country house, the going in to 
 the nearest town, has been talked of for to-day, so 
 that I may be interrupted to get ready for Exeter. 
 
 Do you recollect Fanshawe putting it to his wife 
 during one of her bursts of extolment of the masculine 
 persuasion, whether she would rather apply to young 
 Slavery for advice than to a sensible female ? I have 
 been reminded of that by the sensation of mockery 
 and sell, conveyed by the presence of a coat and 
 
 223 
 
MRS. BROOKFIELD AND HER CIRCLE 
 
 trousered individual bearing the exterior of a man 
 and occupjdng a place in the house just such an one 
 as might be so far otherwise and sublimely filled. 
 I sit in inward chafement and ill-natured indignation 
 while the pill goes on of " What we do at Oxford." Who 
 in the world cares what is done at such a place ? 
 And so I have to school myself into Christian toleration 
 and benevolence, but one is so little accustomed to 
 be much with any but clever men, that one forgets that 
 all is not gold that glitters, or man, Uke that wears the 
 garb of man, and that there are very worthy well- 
 informed individuals giving their opinions, and presum- 
 ing to profess opinions, who are so totally and utterly 
 different to the " clever men " to whom I allude ; that 
 they might just as well be Bushmen or Baboons at 
 once, for any glimmer of understanding even of one's 
 ordinary home dialect it would be vain to look for. 
 Mr. Parr is enlightened and unbigoted, at all events, 
 and I like to get him to talk, but the " young Oxford 
 man," with a dash of the wit of George Ward about him, 
 you can fancy being slightly provoking, good-natured, 
 and otherwise inoffensive as he is. 
 
 I feel wrathful at Bentinck for not giving you 
 Sir Toby, but should like to have listened to the 
 whole thing behind the door, — -and should like to 
 have seen your boy's play with Her Majesty's coach- 
 man. Chapman I should have feared might have 
 been a somewhat ver juicy ingredient among the rest 
 in the Cave. The last No. of " Vanity Fair " is ex- 
 ceedingly good, I think, but I begin to wish he would 
 give Amelia a few more brains. Julia read it and rates 
 it (even on such a mere scrap of it) much above Dickens. 
 
 I don't suppose the Licentiate would spare Harry 
 to come, pleasant as it would be to iis to have him, 
 indeed to me the next best thing to having you, as 
 he would come redolent of you and Cambridge 
 
 224 
 
FRANK LUSHINGTON 
 
 Mr. Brookfield to Mrs. Brookfield : 
 
 Trinity College, 
 
 Cambridge, 
 
 1th July, 1847. 
 My dearest Desdemona, 
 
 Leisure fails this and every day, but I must thank 
 you for this afternoon's letter which was duly funny. 
 Unhappily, Harry could enjoy no portion of it as he did 
 of yesterday's— for he had fled an hour before it came. 
 
 Yesterday I dined in Jesus Hall. Venables my 
 host. There were ladies. I never saw that persuasion 
 in any Hall before. The dinner was good and suffi- 
 ciently pleasant. All was over by 8 o'clock (we dined 
 at 6), and Ven. and I and Tom Lushington walked 
 in the walks, mdl^ddd in the walks^s^s^s. Then into 
 Trinity where parties accumulated — this having been 
 the rendezvous of the wise and good. Milnes and I 
 sang. Horace Mansfield had stolen an enormous pine 
 from the Hall dinner (the Queen's dinner) which was 
 the object of much witticism — the best being Frank 
 Lushington's " A poor thing. Sir — but mine own." 
 (Touchstone). A reception was going on at the 
 Queen's rooms in the Lodge (which means the Master's 
 House in the College). This enlivened the Court, 
 but you would be struck with the utter indifference 
 of all the kind of men in our rooms to this sort of 
 business. By about 12 most had gone. We had had 
 Merivale, Blakesley, Stanley (who wrote Arnold's life), 
 Signor Conaro of Venice, Mansfield, Gray, Frank Lush- 
 ington, Harry, Self, Venables and others. Only five 
 remained when I proposed reading part of a play, 
 each one taking the part that came successively, read- 
 ing in a ring — so that, for instance, I began — ^next 
 party that spoke would be Harry — next Lushington, 
 &c., straight away round and round so that one man 
 in his time played many parts. The absurdity of this 
 
 225 
 
 16— (2309) 
 
MRS. BROOKFIELD AND HER CIRCLE 
 
 I cannot describe — we laughed into fits — but the 
 remarkable thing is the gravity of these youngsters 
 when there is need of it. Thus Harry would be reading 
 Polonius, Laertes, or Ophelia with the most shameless 
 attempts at propriety, while we were all splitting 
 around — and he was equally convulsed when others 
 than himself were reading. At length we were obhged 
 to give it up. At 3 we retired. This morning Prince 
 Albert held a levee I was eligible to that, but of 
 course did not go. So that I have been absolutely 
 to nothing. Monday's Senate House, Tuesday's In- 
 stallation, Levee, nothing have I been to, but such 
 fun with these fellows of whom even if Harry is the 
 best — the rest are reaUy worthy of him. Very good 
 indeed. We oldsters are quite of one mind about that 
 — and I like them excessively. To-morrow they will 
 all be gone, but I wish to see the place at quiet. 
 
 God bless thee, wretch. Evermore thine most 
 affectionately. 
 
 W. H. Brookfield. 
 
 Mr. Brookfield to Mrs. Brookfield : 
 
 Trinity College, Cambridge, 
 
 Sth July, 1847. 
 My dearest Person, 
 
 I don't quite recollect where I left off last night. 
 Most likely before the evening meet, which was 
 very good, in my rooms. Merivale, Thompson, Bayly, 
 Lush, Mansfield, Gray, Maine, &c. &c., &c., the very 
 cream of Society. Lots of good things said, but it 
 was a little funny to see the decided line between the 
 old (my) and new (H. F. H.'s) generation ; the latter 
 scarcely speaking, though not a jot inferior birds. 
 I told stories — so Venables. One was of a gyp whom 
 I had met in the street yesterday and who greeted me 
 " La, sir, I knew you again first moment you came 
 
 226 
 
A GRACEFUL COMPLIMENT 
 
 into the Court. Many a time I have laughed out when 
 you have been at table ! No doubt you are a good 
 deal altered from what you was." " Not at all, Plea- 
 sance (that is his quaint name), there was nothing in 
 me to alter." " Oh, no, sir — I only mean you are a 
 little dried down from what you was." 
 
 The only thing I have seen here worthy of you 
 is the Cave. By George ! what a good Bandit you 
 would make. A complete Bandit epistle yours of to- 
 day. That wretched Oxford daisy. My goodness ! 
 why don't you make him into soup for the poor ? I 
 met Mrs. Fisher in our anti-chapel this morning who 
 " presumed that you lived so much in that state of 
 divorce, &c., not without benefit to the Jane Elton 
 bloom which was still celebrated." 
 
 And, by Jove, I must say that tho' I have seen 
 numberless gracefuls here, I have not seen one a 
 quarter so good-looking. 
 
 Your humble 
 
 W. H. Brookfield. 
 
 Harry Hallam to Mrs. Brookfield : 
 
 Trin. Col., Cam., 
 
 9th July, 1847. 
 My dear Jane, 
 
 I must make an elaborate apology to his reverence 
 in cooUy assuming the ownership of the apartment 
 and opening a general Cremorne Gardens for all my 
 friends, a var3dng number of whom, from six to fifteen 
 at a time, poured in and played off their bear pranks 
 from ten in the morning till three in the morning 
 inclusive, — the other seven hours being allotted to 
 rapid slumber. The experiment was a hazardous one, 
 based upon unlimited faith in the tolerance of his 
 ApostoUc disposition, but unless his practice belies 
 his preaching, and he relapsed into the (imputed) 
 
 227 
 
MRS. BROOKFIELD AND HER CIRCLE 
 
 black blood habit of sacrificing veracity to kindness, 
 he managed to extract some amusement from my 
 audacious brutality of conduct. However, I was far 
 too pleased at getting him down to mix with the real 
 modern cave not to be determined at any risk to be 
 exhibited in the privilegical character of a real lion- 
 keeper, and he roared most good-naturedly and 
 effectually till the wild unpolished hearts of the young 
 Bandit-brethren were overpowered with their emotions 
 and longed to embrace him in affectionate brotherhood. 
 I fear his first evening was dull for him, a select 
 party of youths being obstinately bent in discussing 
 the chances of Lefevre's election, and you are too well 
 aware of the helpless inventive jackery of the Idiotry 
 who presided at the dish covers, to suppose that though 
 disgusted at their folly, he had the wit or tact to turn 
 the conversation into a more genial channel. At 12 
 we dispersed, and walked melanchololily in the clois- 
 ters, wishing for you to see the Court by moonUght, to 
 hear the plashing of the fountain, and to enjoy your 
 midnight weed under the piazza. Sunday morning 
 having secured by a decent attendance on the eccle- 
 siastical ritual an immunity for the profaner enjoy- 
 ments of the rest of the day, at about 10 o'clock 
 commenced that singularly well-defined and punctual 
 meal, a Cambridge breakfast, lasting with changes of 
 parties breakfasting till 4 o'clock, when the majority 
 of the world being Fellows and Masters of Arts retired 
 into their College HaU, and I meekly retired to a small 
 college to eat peas and rice pudding, the only dinner 
 I thought it prudent to take during three days of such 
 intense, and protracted debauchery. • Parties of the 
 orderly persuasion having again satisfied their pro- 
 fessional cravings by hearing vespers, after chapel, 
 a collection of gents, books, cigars, and bottles, slowly 
 wended its way to my room, and preparations were 
 
Henry Fitzmaurice Hallam. 
 
 At the age of 22. 
 From the painting by George Richmond, R.A. 
 

 .^ 
 
BROOKFIELD AS " MALVOLIO " 
 
 made for holding a cave. Considerable quarrelling as 
 to the choice of a play having subsided, a general 
 feeling to hear an artistic representation of Malvolio 
 gained ground. How successfully has no doubt been 
 elaborately concealed by the party from whom alone 
 it was hitherto possible for you to have received your 
 information, but public feeling and sympathy ran high 
 on that occasion. There is no one quality of the 
 accomplished dramatic artist, which was not sepa- 
 rately recognised by someone of the audience. Mans- 
 field pointed out to me in a whisper, the breadth and 
 brilliancy of the colouring. Venables, in a low tone, 
 bade Lushington remark the elegant distribution of 
 light and shade, while Milnes swore he should never 
 forget the scientific interpretation in a minor key 
 of some of the less remarkable passages, or the flavour 
 which, as a whole, this chef d'oeuvre had left with him. 
 In perfect seriousness, MalvoUo (Mr. Brookfield) and 
 Clown (Mr. Lushington) were read as well as it is 
 possible to hear them. Mr. Bentinck was thought 
 by a good, though possibly a severe critic, not quite 
 up to Sir Toby. Mr. Hallam's interpretation of Viola's 
 character was original, and it may be doubted if it 
 was correct, but there is no doubt that assuming it to 
 be true, he threw himself in a very natural manner, 
 and with great spirit, into the vapid stolidity which he 
 imputed to her. After supper, Locke's music to 
 Macbeth was performed by the whole strength of the 
 company. I am afraid that the older members were 
 not sufficiently impressed by this brilliant performance. 
 I regret to say that Brookfield displayed a lack of 
 information on the subject (attributing several times 
 a' d in a most obstinate manner the authorship to 
 Purcell and not to Locke), which considering his 
 ministerial capacity, and the well-known fact that 
 Purcell is the author of several anthems, does honour 
 
 229 
 
MRS. BROOKFIELD AND HER CIRCLE 
 
 neither to his head nor his heart. I beg most parti 
 cularly that you will never allude to this confusion of 
 his by word or letter, as I happen to know that he is 
 particularly sore upon the point, as well he may be. 
 At least I can only add, had I made such a mistake, 
 I should hardly venture to look — " the finger of scorn 
 in the face again." 
 
 Can I venture to allude to what followed, or can I 
 not ? How am I to know whether your principle is 
 that it is only on the boards of the theatres of Catholic 
 countries, as for instance, La Scala at Milan, that 
 dramatic art is ancillary to revelation, or that Terpsi- 
 chore can throw hght upon the Hebrew institutions. 
 Remember you did see " Mose in Egitto," and learn 
 that the story of Job has been experimentally proved 
 to have still greater opportunities for representation in 
 a ballet of action, than even the fortune and reverses 
 of the prudent legislator of the Jews. Further I shall 
 draw a veil over our proceedings, trusting that if 
 dragged to the light of your pious censure, it may be 
 through the eUte medium of one of two priests who 
 were present on the occasion. 
 
 Next morning, Job (Mr. Bentinck), returned to his 
 forensic occupation in his native metropoUs, leaving 
 me in sole charge of a benighted foreigner, called 
 Carnaro, nobile Veneziano, ultimo delta famigtia ducate 
 dei Carnari, e ancora amico del euro mio Cheney, e del 
 diletto Conte Brown. Vous concevez, ma chere Jenni, 
 combien cette intimite honorable, m'a valu de felicita- 
 tions et meme d'envie de la part de toute la cave, et 
 notamment de ton mari. At all our subsequent orgies 
 this noble stranger was an assiduous though possibly 
 an astonished spectator. At least his face betrayed 
 a slight expression of amazement at seeing gents eat 
 pine-apples with their fingers and thumb, and stick 
 candles in empty bottles. 
 
 230 
 
SHAKESPEARE AGAIN 
 
 On the evening of Monday, we read the " Two 
 Gents " Cornaro present and " bien fatigue." It is to 
 be observed that his acquaintance with Enghsh is, to 
 say the most for it, hmited. The play did not go off 
 quite as sprightly as the first night, though Brookfield's 
 " Speed" was a rich mellow piece of finished and mature 
 Art. But about 1.30 a.m. the greatest event of all 
 and the climax of our happiness occurred. Thompson, 
 himself, condescended to look in upon us. I was 
 dehghted that Brookfield should have an opportunity 
 of recognising with his own eyes the kindness and 
 condescension for which he hardly gives him credit. 
 He stayed for an hour, smoking, but it was long before 
 I could command my feelings enough to listen to the 
 inspired conversation of a Being, to be seen in such 
 familiar intercourse with Whom gave me a constant 
 glow of pride and happiness. I am afraid that your 
 reverent connection, who is influenced by unworthy 
 feelings against the great god of my idolatry may be 
 tempted to conceal or explain away the affability and 
 condescension of Thompson, and the unrestrained 
 character of our familiar intercourse with him, and 
 thereupon I think it right to make these statements. 
 
 On Tuesday I thought it my duty cautiously to 
 abstain from any expression of loyalty to our beloved 
 Queen and her Consort, and I passed the whole day 
 in similar intellectual and sensual enjoyments to those 
 which had marked Sunday and Monday. An evening 
 of the (to me) most fascinating description was sig- 
 nalized by the kind consent of the clerical occupant of 
 the rooms to intone a chant in the Somersetshire accent, 
 which was rapturously encored, and to execute a 
 cavatina on an incident which happened at the Court 
 of the Great Mogul, which would have been encored 
 up to this moment had there been any chance that 
 the public ever could by such a course of action have 
 
 231 
 
MRS. BROOKFIELD AND HER CIRCLE 
 
 satisfied its desire to hear it again. At about 2.15 
 a.m. in the midst of a heavy thunderstorm with vivid 
 lightning, the guests, thinned, and epurcs by the 
 lateness of the hour, rushed impetuously at their 
 Shakespeares and read the 4th Act and grave-digger 
 scene of Hamlet, not in parts, but (Uke boys at a na- 
 tional school perusing the Holy Scriptures in public) 
 speech by speech in turn ; whereby the laughter and 
 enjoyment of the public was wrought up to its highest 
 pitch. The red glow of the morning sun gilded the 
 clouds above the Chapel, as his reverence and myself 
 retired reluctantly to bed ; thereby concluding my 
 brief career of vice and enjoyment ; and the stern 
 visage of Gully rose pointing to a shroud as the speedy 
 consequence of his violated precepts. 
 
 It is very well for you, dear Jane, that you have been 
 following the peaceful habits of the Parr menage 
 tumbling in hay, and keeping in health, whereat the 
 hearts of them who heard thereof rejoiced, and doth 
 rejoice j — but had it been possible to introduce you 
 in perfect health and the garb of the gentish persuasion 
 to the Cambridge orgies, the delight of parties concerned 
 in them would have risen to a giddy height, and been 
 quoted at an enormously high figure. I think you 
 would have enjoyed it all amazingly, for the Catholic 
 greatness of your disposition involves the composition 
 of a Bandit gent. 
 
 It must be amusing to your peacefulness, if you get 
 accounts from the two parties who tenanted one room 
 on that occasion wholly dissonant and discordant in 
 their natures : whether Brookfield was pleased I know 
 not, but I can only depose to the immense popularity 
 achieved by him among the younger members of the 
 Cave, and I, as the acknowledged medium of the 
 acquaintance with him, received the most touching 
 felicitations for his success on those boards. 
 
 232 
 
" PUSS IN THE CORNER " 
 
 Ne te tourmente plus, ma chhe Genevieve, au sujet de 
 la Lind. Personne ne I'a vu a Cambridge, et d'ailleurs, 
 si elle y ctait venue, et que nous I'eussions adoree, le 
 culte de son nom, n'est-il pas joint au culte du tien, et 
 le souvenir de ses perfections aux souvenirs de ceux 
 qui I'ont premier ement admiree ensemble ? My head is 
 running on French phrases, having been assiduously 
 plying the Italian with the best I know, and I think 
 that for elegance and unmeaningness the above may 
 vie with G. Sand. 
 
 Ton tres devoue et affectionne. 
 
 H. F. H. 
 
 Mrs. to Mr. Brookfield : 
 
 Neighbourhood of Exeter 
 
 \Oth July, 1847. 
 My dearest, 
 
 .... I was egregiously pleased with your note of 
 to-day as somehow I had the sort of impression that 
 I should be out of favour with you since writing to 
 bore you to say when should we 2 meet again (Dolce 
 far niente) I do not doubt but that I could remain 
 obtruding myself upon Rockbeare endurance for a 
 fortnight longer. . . . 
 
 I was much amused with your Gyp anecdote and 
 wish you were here and giving me the benefit of all you 
 can recall of your Bandit proceedings which will have 
 dried down out of mind, I am afraid, if I don't see 
 you for 3 weeks. . . . Last night, duets with 
 Mrs. Wilson were prefaced by a game at " Puss in the 
 Corner " with the young gent, from Oxford and the 
 children during which much uproariousness took place 
 — ^the said youth stands somewhat in awe of me, and 
 does not venture to begin a remark, but looks sensible 
 of receiving a favour if I open fire upon him^ which 
 
 233 
 
MRS. BROOKFIELD AND HER CIRCLE 
 
 I occasionally attempt. He and Mrs. Wilson pull 
 together in their walks, and apart in their sentiments. 
 The young man has just come from Harrow, where 
 is a sort of training school for Colonial Clergy, so he 
 describes it. They all wear a garb of cassock Uke calibre, 
 have matins and nones and a good education gratis, 
 the major part of them being taken from the farmer 
 or still humbler walks of life. Owen deposes to their 
 being very devout and very happy in their minds and 
 not finding the number of services per diem at all 
 burdensome. Mrs. Wilson disputes the point and I 
 stand neuter with majestic mien, but am held up (by 
 Mrs. Wilson) as being the right person for Owen to 
 talk to as we should agree in our views. 
 
 Mr. Buller told me in his letter that Mr. Cayley 
 Shadwell told him a Romanist friend of his had sent in 
 his name to the Church at Paris where the conversion 
 of the English is continually prayed for and where 
 special cases are brought forward by name. I should 
 be in alarm, if I were Mr. Cayley, and if I wished very 
 much to keep in a Protesting attitude, "the prayer 
 of a righteous man," &c. 
 
 After all, I have come to the PiUing reflection (which 
 I beg you to enclose to your Aunts at IsUngton imme- 
 diately) that you and H. F. H. and all the Bandits 
 dwell a deal too much in the " Pride of Intellect, 
 William," and it goes for almost a synonymous term 
 with you that a man if a genius is f parts Beatified 
 already, and if a Fool, unworthy the name of either 
 man or demon — and I think it may be a " snare " 
 to you really in earnest. 
 
 I must close my hasty letter, which won't reach 
 you till Monday. 
 
 God bless you. 
 
 234 
 
" DOUBLE POSTAGE " 
 
 Mr. to Mrs. Brookfield : 
 
 St. Luke's, Berwick St., Oxford St., 
 
 \OJuly, 1847. 
 My dearest Jane, 
 
 Your brilliant letter of to-day did equal, "&c." 
 Harry's is also delightfully clever — ^but you are not to 
 swallow his flummery about me. 
 
 I knew, of course, perfectly well what I was doing — 
 had plenty of stamps lying about the table — was re- 
 minded by parties (as if it could possibly have escaped 
 my attention) that the letter was not labelled, and 
 that Her Majesty had deemed it prudent to enforce 
 double postage on the receiver when such an omission 
 had been perpetrated by the sender ; but I know 
 my dear Jane that nothing could afford you such happi- 
 ness at your remote seclusion than the Laffage feeling 
 that I was committing the precise vices (for I will 
 not trifle with morality by designating such atrocious 
 blunders foibles) for which I blame others and that 
 nothing could shed such a flood of sunshine on your 
 letter writing hour as the proud consciousness that you 
 could sell me cheap. 
 
 " When in London Tavern reeking 
 Moody bandits sit alone, 
 Each one in his neibor seeking 
 Some green spot to plant upon, 
 Then you'll sigh and sadly ponder 
 On the friends 'twas safe to sell, 
 Absence makes the heart grow fonder. 
 Cave of Bandits fare thee well." 
 
 Such is an extract from an ode penned by the immortal 
 Tom as a formula of regret on separating after an 
 evening's festivity such as has been so graphically 
 described by Mr. Aitchphaitch. And it is admitted 
 that you are worthy to be the wife of an outlaw. " My 
 
 235 
 
MRS. BR00K1<11<:LD and IIKR CIKCIJ': 
 
 Saphphii'i! alone can be his Whyph." 1 imist explain 
 that to phuit is to jin or sell a person. And it is im- 
 possible to the jiiesent race of brit;an(,ls in fewer words 
 than as " friends 'lis safe to sell." 
 
 But yeslertlay il all eame inlo a eiose. The biidt^e 
 that had spanned VI years (true 1 have saitl this before) 
 fel) into sliapeless ruin, and 1 fell with it into deep 
 waters. 
 
 I walked alone in tlu^ eountry about Cambridgi>, 
 found names of slret>ts I had lorgotten all that lime, 
 saw rooms of men that are dead, and was more 
 miserable than most. 
 
 I eventuated in Merry Vale's rooms where we had 
 sober cigar and pill. I left at II, at 12 l<> betl, so 
 stifling hot that 1 could not sleep, rose at 5.30 and at 
 (S.45 was under way for the station. Reaehed I^ondon 
 10 o'clock. Read your letter and Harry's, which was 
 not the work of a momink. 
 
 You are quite right, the Cave is not so healthy 
 as the Temperance of St. Luke's, antl I am lor the 
 moment tired of excitiMuent. 
 
 Bride of Bandit fare thee well. With love to 
 the tamer citizens around you (why do you not cut 
 their throats and bring the money to your outlaw. 
 I am. 
 
 Yours most affectionately, 
 
 AnGICLO Gu.tC'.IARDINI. 
 
 In August there was another election at Cambridge 
 for which Mr. Brookfield's vote was desired, so he went 
 up to record it and wrote afterwards concerning it : 
 
 St. Luke's Church, Berwick St., Oxford St. 
 
 3 Aug., 47. 
 Jean Octavia Relton^ 
 
 I started for Cambridge at 9.30. Read 
 
 236 
 
" BROOKFIELD, WILL YOU TAKE A WALK ? " 
 
 newspapers all the way. Arrived 12.40. Found Le- 
 fevre had a respectable minority but no chance. 
 Goulburn and Fielding neck and neck with alternate 
 majorities of one — which however soon yielded to a 
 gradual improvement on the part of Goulburn which 
 (as we learn by telegraph) has kept up till 12 this day 
 and at 2 the poll closes. No doubt Goulburn and Law 
 are the Members. I voted for Goulburn and Lefevre, 
 at Lefevre's own request, since it was impossible to 
 get the latter in and it became an object to keep out 
 Fielding. Goulburn gave me £11 17s. for my vote. I 
 could have got £12 ten minutes sooner when Fielding 
 was 1 ahead. 
 
 .... I saw several old birds, Spedding was 
 ensconced in H. F. H.'s old rooms. He left before 
 Hall. In Hall I sat between Alfred and Merivale, 
 Thompson and H. Lushington being near at hand. 
 Joe Romilly squeaked out miserably thin jokes — which 
 however passed current. Tell Harry with my humble 
 duty that Larky Thompson (as he was always called — 
 because he never did lark) was infinitely less downish, 
 having none but cotems. around him. He even de- 
 graded himself so far as to put his 'ed out of the com- 
 bination room (which I had just left) and call out, not 
 only in the hearing of Mrs. Haddock (Harry's favourite 
 sultana) and all other Bedmaking and Gypping infer- 
 ior? — but even in the immediate presence of several 
 Masters of Arts, quite loudly into the Court " Brook- 
 field, will you take a walk ? " I coloured — stam- 
 mered — scraped my feet — glittered about the eyes — 
 muttered something incoherent about " honour — 
 happiness — taking up his time — familiarity — what 
 would be thought of it in the college — not for me to 
 bandy compliments, etc., etc.," but it ended in our 
 walking behind the colleges. He was quite affable — 
 and if it had not been that the excitement of a great 
 
 237 
 
MRS. BROOKFIELD AND HER CIRCLE 
 
 honour conferred always rather interferes with enjoy- 
 ment I should have thought it quite a pleasant walk. 
 Of course one never initiates subjects .... and as 
 he introduced plenty of remark, and as there was 
 nothink to laf at I got on very well." 
 
 It was in speaking of this meeting in Spedding's 
 rooms that Dr. Thompson said of Mr. Brookfield, 
 " He was by far the most amusing man I ever met, 
 or shall ever meet. It is not likely I shall ever see 
 again a whole party, all grave and learned men, lying 
 on the floor for the purpose of unrestrained laughter, 
 while one of their members poured forth, with a per- 
 fectly grave face, a succession of imaginary dialogues 
 between characters real and fictitious, one exceeding 
 the other in humour and drollery." 
 
 Clevedon Court, 
 
 Ath August. 
 My dearest William, 
 
 I own to the impeachment as to my first two 
 letters, I was somehow out of the writing vein and 
 destitute of facts, could not take refuge in fiction and 
 fancy (or any other alliteration) wherewith to fill my 
 letters. 
 
 .... At 6 last night the Weatherlys and Ceteras 
 arrived, Mrs. Weatherly turned out to be a Miss Ford 
 whom up to my grand climacteric year of 15 I used 
 daily to see at CUfton without ever knowing her to 
 speak to. . . .At the end of the evening she sat 
 between me and Papa, and now and then between a 
 sigh and a bleat brought out her Uttle remarks. " Ah ! 
 yes, how many changes to be sure, since we were both 
 young and girls and unmarried together at CUfton. 
 
 238 
 
GENIAL CRITICISM 
 
 Ah ! but you look just the same as ever Mrs. Brook- 
 field, I knew you directly, not at all altered. I think 
 we must be about the same age," etc. (I believe she 
 must be considerably my senior, but this by the way) 
 a well meaning, innocent Uttle body, but rather 
 depressing. . . She is a favourite with Papa in her 
 white muslin frock and an immense silver cross on her 
 breast which Aggy, with cruel want of reverence, dragged 
 off with chubby clench and held up to pubUc view. 
 Harry has been excessively amused with your account 
 of the Thompson interview which I let him have — 
 and declares you write inimitably. I may as well 
 send you this by him, instead of post, as he will see 
 you to-night I suppose, without fail. 
 
 On this letter W. H. B. gracefully comments : 
 
 " My blowing up has done you good — this morning's 
 was even better than the one before. Mrs. Weatherly 
 is capital. Aggy clutching the cross was perfectly 
 graphic. Between a sigh and a bleat ? By George, 
 you must write a book. This afternoon I have called 
 on C. Turner and Mary Tennyson. I am going to 
 drive with them in half an hour. I only sat a few 
 minutes, and going away C. said in his short, true- 
 passing-observation way '' We used to be wits, 
 now we're going off, I think, nothing but languid 
 commonplaces . ' ' 
 
 To which Mrs. Brookfield replies indignantly : 
 
 " As for C. Turner, let him speak of his own Kettled 
 wit if he will but leave the Pot to its untarnished 
 brightness. Interruptions have occurred and I fear 
 this won't be a good letter, nor fit answer to yours 
 of this morning. The pending trial about Papa 
 
 239 
 
MRS. BROOKFIELD AND HER CIRCLE 
 
 haunts one, and like a nightmare weighs one down 
 whenever one thinks of it. Could you find out what 
 means are used to buy up Reporters ? it would be 
 easily done in Bristol, but how to keep the Tiinrs and 
 other papers silent ? . . . I am so very sorry you missed 
 H. F. H., it was an odd mistake, but it is a consolatory 
 thought to my ruffled mind that one of the male persua- 
 sion should have fallen into a blunder over a railway 
 paper — they all took greatly to him here and were 
 very glad he came. Arthur praising him with a 
 spontaneous warmth the evening after he left and 
 then pedantically (as I told him) checking himself 
 with an "as least as far as I can judge on so short a 
 time, I am too apt to make i^ash judgments, and take 
 sudden fancies to people, but still he does seem a very 
 nice fellow." 
 
 You would have been amused with Papa, the night 
 of the party, while sitting next Weatherly and near 
 me, suddenly giving vent to a loud groan, just such 
 an one as he gives when he wishes to express " Never 
 was so tired in my life," or " Is Arthur never going to 
 have prayers," " Uncommon dull, in short — Knobbed 
 Evening " or any other of his wonted phrases in private 
 life. Arthur, from the other end of the Drawing-room, 
 heard the groan, but neither he nor I could catch the 
 explanatory whisper which followed and was delivered 
 into Mrs. Weatherly's ear. Comparing notes after- 
 wards we feared that he had confided to one of his 
 guests how uncommonly dull they all were. I begged 
 for an explanation next day and singularly enough 
 he recollected the circumstance — had been trying for 
 20 minutes to ask Rhoda a question, but each time 
 he attempted it she was engrossed in the "most flippant, 
 brilliant conversation with Harry," as fast as one stopped 
 the other began and Papa could not get in his question 
 which was to ask Rhoda whether she ought not to call 
 
 240 
 
LIFE AT CLEVEDON 
 
 on a certain Mrs. Cave who had accidentally been 
 mentioned by the fair Weatherly. 
 
 Harry Hallam to Mrs. Brookfield : 
 
 Ryde, 
 
 I2th August, 1847. 
 My dearest Jane, 
 
 The Licentiate is staying with his Premier and 
 does not arrive till the afternoon, and it is imagined 
 that as he dislikes large houses he will be out of temper 
 at finding himself lost in a barracks. 
 
 I imagine you, I hope not delusively, stronger 
 under the combined influence of cooler weather and 
 Rhoda's example of early hours. As usua], not a 
 syllable breathed either to the Jewess* or me as to 
 whether you had not been a martyr to daily headache. 
 It is true that we habitually jeer at your sufferings, 
 but you might occasionally brave our cold unsympathy 
 by giving a faint outline of your state of strength 
 and painlessness. The regular tenor of Clevedon life 
 renders it possible to trace your course and think of 
 you praying at 9 o'clock, hamming at 9.30, letter- 
 writing till 1 o'clock, given over to Aggolatoryf till 
 3.0, driving on the beach till 5 o'clock, watching the 
 grass mown till 5.30, reading Sharp's Magazine till 
 bed-time, and stealing Dombey to sit up with. 
 
 A steamer containing the author of my days and 
 the Middle Ages is slowly wending across the Channel, 
 filial duty sternly sanctions the claims of the post-man, 
 and PoU observes, " Seal up your note." 
 
 Ever your most affectionate 
 
 H. F. H. 
 
 * His sister Julia, 
 t Worship of Arthur Elton's baby Agnes. 
 241 
 
 17— (2309> 
 
MRS. BROOKFIELD AND HER CIRCLE 
 
 It was a tiresome law case in which Sir Charles Elton 
 was involved which brought forth from his daughter 
 her ingenuous question concerning Reporters — while in 
 a letter of the same date she said " How I wish that 
 someone, Mr. Thackeray for instance, would just let 
 Cockburn know the facts of this plot against Papa." 
 
 At this time Mr. Brookfield was seeing a great deal 
 of Mr. Thackeray, who almost daily sought him out 
 in his vaults. And after the case had been tried in 
 Bristol (Mr. Brookfield being present "to the great 
 comfort of all concerned ") he wrote to his wife : 
 
 L'horrible bouge, 
 
 26/7* Aug., 1847. 
 Dearest Madam, 
 
 The Godfather to whom my present abode is 
 indebted for the above designation sits beside me-^ 
 brewing Vanity — in a dreadful fright lest the month 
 of Sept. should arrive before No. next. I encountered 
 him in Piccadilly on his way to my subterranean 
 Palace ; he had asked me to dine, and was coming 
 to say that he meant it to be at the Garrick and not 
 at Kensington. Where it will now be I do not quite 
 know — but we talk of a walk as soon as I have finished 
 this. 
 
 I arrived at 4.30, we were overtaken at Didcot 
 by express. 6d. additional (sixpence — twelve sous 
 additional) transferred me to that reckless train, and 
 brought me into London an hour sooner. John 
 Bullar called at the vault and insisted on my going 
 up to chops with him en gar^on. Went up in a tup- 
 penny buster. . . . John of course discussed the topic 
 with me. Had conceived the exactly true view of it — 
 
 242 
 
A SKETCH BY THACKEPIAY 
 
 and had written to his Father to that effect. Said that 
 Wylde has towards Cockbum much the same feelings 
 of devotion which a certain potentate has towards holy 
 water ; [a sketch of the Devil and a Font by himself] 
 and that did us no harm. Little Gaye I met this morn- 
 ing ; who spoke very kindly about it (not tiU I led to 
 the subject). Of course he at once saw Sir C. was a 
 mere victim of design. 
 
 I wish very much we could have had Wylde's 
 simiming up. But^ however, we need not wish. The 
 thing has eventuated as well as it could and better 
 than at one time we dared to hope. 
 
 I think a proper letter to G. would be as follows : — 
 
 My dear G., 
 
 I cannot possibly say an5rthing harsh to you or 
 xmjust to my husband. I have therefore no resource 
 but silence. 
 
 Yours ever affectionately, 
 Jane. 
 
 I am the only one to whom G. would have acted 
 in so extraordinary a way. But it is no use raking 
 into the matter again. I can only refer to Thackeray's 
 pencil again for lustration of his luidisguised feeUngs 
 towards me [Sketch of the Devil and Font by Thack- 
 eray*]. I must draw this very disjointed letter to a 
 close. It is now agreed that T. shall go ofiE and ^mte 
 mi 8, and then we partake a sUght repast at the Garrick. 
 Adoo. 
 
 Ever most affectionately, 
 
 W. H. Brookfield. 
 
 * For this sketch see the Preface. 
 243 
 
MRS. BROOKFIELD AND HER CIRCLE 
 
 Mr. to Mrs. Brookfield : 
 
 St. Luke's Church, Berwick St., 
 
 21th August, 47. 
 
 Young Miss, 
 
 At eight last night I proceeded to the Garrick 
 where Mr. Thackeray had been writing, dinner con- 
 sisted of oysters following stewed sammon, beef fillets 
 with olives ensued, a grouse and cheese concluded, 
 while champagne and claret accompanied. We then 
 adjourned to another house in company with an old 
 medical gentleman who had been at Waterloo. Thac- 
 keray wishing to get some hints for his forthcoming 
 No. We smoked a Uttle and parted friends at about 
 twelve. By the bye, I should mention that Mr. T., 
 on my naming that we were going to Sheffield, proposed 
 to go himself, as he has a call to Derby on that Monday 
 to some great meeting that is to be held, and wondered 
 if we could make a party to Chatsworth and Matlock. 
 I am going to meet him at the Procters'. 
 
 September finds Mrs. Brookfield staying at South- 
 ampton, from whence she writes to Harry Hallam : 
 
 22nd September, 47. 
 At the R. Catholic Church yesterday, the check 
 upon my performing any strictly orthodox evolutions 
 such as Holy water, crossing oneself, etc., — was the 
 sight of Mr. Elliot just before me, also I suppose, 
 come to gaze and not as a real convert. The cate- 
 chising from the altar was very entertciining . . cool 
 contempt inculcated for protestants and for their 
 present turn of setting up crosses on their Churches, 
 etc., as a " mere return to antiquity, a passing fashion, 
 without attaching to them the solemn thoughts that 
 
 244 
 
THE RELIGIOUS MOVEMENT 
 
 we attach to the sacred emblem," etc., and the collo- 
 quial style was amusing. "Suppose one of your 
 children had a picture of your mother you would not 
 feel the same honour towards it as if it really was your 
 mother, but as it reminded you of her what should you 
 feel if another child came and spat upon it ? You 
 woiild be angry. . . Very well . . . that is the answer 
 I should give if accused of honouring the picture of 
 our Blessed Lord idolatrously." 
 
 He also instanced the picture over our Altars of 
 a Crown, a Lion and a Unicom, and asked if that was 
 more suitable than a Crucifix ? 
 
 The influence of the reUgious movement of the day 
 is shown in the acts of Mrs. Brookfield and her cousin 
 as well as in their letters (in which a large part is taken 
 up with criticisms upon the questions that arose and 
 the persons most interested in them). When abroad 
 these two seem to have attended Mass with some regu- 
 larity, and when at home to have sought out different 
 churches in the hope of getting difficult questions 
 solved. Harry Hallam says about this time " The 
 Cathohc world is devoid of interest. I invested, at 
 the expense of much personal humiUation at reveahng 
 my Parliamentary ignorance, in a work called ' The 
 Stranger's Guide to High Mass,' which satisfactorily 
 explains the parts where bells are rung, a mystery 
 which I never fathomed as Cathohc MissaJs disdain 
 the facts : so now I hope to come out very strong at 
 the first opporttmity. I have visions of Sundays 
 involving early ParUamentary Rituals, without ser- 
 mons, to be followed by Sunday schools belonging to 
 parties, and then real Mass at Warwick Street." 
 
 245 
 
MRS. BROOKFIELD AND HER CIRCLE 
 
 Mrs. to Mr. Brookfield : 
 
 Southampton, St. Michael's Day, 
 
 1847. 
 My dearest William, 
 
 I am sorry for the odious shares, but 
 
 Dr. Wm. says the last call has now been made which 
 when met, will leave the shareholders at liberty to look 
 out and hope for profits. Anne has just enquired if 
 I am writing to you and if so if I will express how much 
 disappointment you wiU cause if you don't come, 
 she begs I will put this in a thoroughly comfortable 
 form ... as being heartily felt. She admires the 
 present length of your hair and complains of your 
 threatening to have it cut directly it is praised — and 
 that you know no medium between the close shave 
 and the luxuriant flow. 
 
 I met Mr. L. to-day, as radiant as ever with his 
 white teeth. He asked three separate times " And 
 how's Brookfield ? " escorted me up the Town talking 
 all the while, with the most palpably wide deviation 
 from truth in his account of Adora and her proceedings 
 this summer, " Been yachting, stopping at various 
 watering places for a ball here and a ball there, very 
 gay; but the curious part was they had no ladies' maid 
 on the yacht and so the gentlemen made a point of 
 dressing the ladies . . . upon my word, I was never 
 so much amused . . . Doe wrote me word she had a 
 married man to hook her gown and lace her stays and 
 all that, and so of course as he was a married man there 
 was no harm . . .in point of fact he married the 
 sister of the Hon. Mrs. K. . . Adora had two or three 
 proposals . . . refused a man with £1500 a year the 
 other day, upon my word ; he did not suit her fancy 
 she said, and in point of fact she declares she prefers 
 Capt. C, of the Dragoon Guards, to any one she ever 
 saw, and he has only £200 a year . . . now that's 
 
 246 
 
" VANITY FAIR " 
 
 unfortunate isn't it ? . . . . and pray tell me how's 
 Brookfield ? and are you still in .... St. ? Ah, 
 gloomy St. it was, but dear me, where ever you were 
 must look pretty, never saw you look so well, upon my 
 word," etc. 
 
 Mrs. Brookfield to Harry Hallam : 
 
 2nd October, Southampton. 
 My dearest Harry, 
 
 I have had a letter from Rhoda most strongly con- 
 demning the wearing of caps and declaring it spoileth 
 the colour of the hair, and that it robs one's youth and 
 one will look back with a sigh and a tear 20 years hence 
 to the time when one could wear hair without a cap 
 and did not do so. Meantime the Southampton hair- 
 dresser solemnly warned me 2 days ago I should have 
 to come to shaving eventually and I had better do it 
 at once and allow him to make me " a neat front " 
 forthwith. 
 
 Declined with dignity. 
 
 I have been getting up at 7 every day and 
 rushing in to morning prayers at 8, a thing I never 
 achieved here before, and which I contrive to com- 
 patiblate with sitting up till 12 with Mrs. F. At 10 
 the Lady Anne and the Patriarch retire to their peace- 
 ful couches and as soon as their retirement is achieved, 
 I fling on a plaid and a bonnet and emerge into moon- 
 light with one of the Doctors to escort me over the way. 
 (Have you " Gone over " means here not Romanising 
 but Fanshawising) where the httle F. and a bright fire 
 and either tea or negus are discussed, the Drs. always 
 leaving us for tete-a-tete while they get a pipe at home. . 
 
 . . . There is a New " Vanity " not good — except 
 the wicked ones — Mr. Thackeray has now got a 2nd 
 Amelia, Lady Jane Sheepshanks. I wish he had made 
 Ameha more exciting especially as the remark is he 
 
 247 
 
MRS. BROOKFIELD AND HER CIRCLE 
 
 has thought of me in her character. And on the plan 
 of 2 negatives making one affirmative, I suppose I may 
 take the 2 dull ones of the book to make one Mrs. B. 
 You know he told William that though Ameha was not 
 a copy of me he should not have conceived the charac- 
 ter if he had not known me — and though she has the 
 right amount of antiphlegm and affectionateness she 
 is really an uncommonly dull and a selfish character, 
 and very apathetic to the only person who cares for her, 
 the quaint Capt. Dobbin. 
 
 Harry Hallam to Mrs. Brookfield : 
 
 The Cave, 
 
 Sunday, 3 Oct., 1847. 
 My dearest Jane, 
 
 I write in a rapid interval between Hall and the per- 
 formance of an Operatic Anthem and other parts of 
 the Parliamentary ritual, which I hope to hear at 6.15 
 p.m. 
 
 ... I have finished the Thimple Thtory and was 
 amazingly interested and moved, though I cannot take 
 so much credit to myself as if I had not seen large 
 moral signposts planted in my mind from your remarks 
 pointing out the afflicting passages . . . but I believe 
 I should have jumped to the same conclusions by the 
 light of Nature. ... " Vanity Fair " I have also 
 read, being 2 nos. in arrear, Pitt Crawley is very like 
 my friend Campbell, but the notion that Lady Sheep- 
 shanks had any right to her name was indignantly 
 rejected and sympathy is felt for the wholly negative 
 character of Ameha. Dombey if possible, viler than 
 usual. . . 
 
 To-day I enjoyed the privilege of sitting at the 
 feet of the Great man* and partook of a cheerful meal 
 
 * Dr. Thompson. 
 
 248 
 
DR. THOMPSON 
 
 at which he condescended to talk about Venise axid 
 A. Brown from which he is just returned, and about 
 George Sand's novels, and I even thought he some- 
 times stooped to smile when we lott at his humour. 
 
 . . . The College servants are up in arms against 
 me and make my life a burden. I was much amused 
 by a conversation reported to me by Mrs. Attack, 
 my bed-maker, purporting to have taken place between 
 herself and the head porter, a venerable , obese, clerical 
 party of immense dignity, who never touches his hat 
 to anything below the Master or Mrs. 
 
 " Well, Mrs. Attack, so your master is not going in 
 after all more shame for him." 
 
 " Yes, Sir," says I. " Isn't he a naughty boy, Mr. 
 Freeman ? " 
 
 " Well," said he, " I tell you what, Mrs. A., you ought 
 to flog him and make him go in." 
 
 " Well," said I, " I don't know what flogging would 
 do, but I think he wants something a doing to him, 
 I do." 
 
 All which duly reported as I was sitting at dinner, 
 made the gratin of souls stick in my throat from shame 
 and vexacion. My natural horror at its being known 
 why the Licentiate really professed not to let me go 
 in was considerably increased by the awful manner in 
 which Thompson, as if he blushed for his species, 
 remarked, " Your father almost spoke as if he regarded 
 the College as something in the light of an eleemosynary 
 foundation. I can hardly suppose that is a general 
 opinion ; I can only say if it ever becomes so, I shall 
 be very sorry," so that one's black blood rushed to 
 the tips of one's fingers and I burst into incoherent 
 falsehoods. 
 
 Gypes are roaring for the letter. (Forgive idiotcy). 
 Ever your most affectionate 
 
 H. F. H. 
 249 
 
MRS. BROOKFIELD AND HER CIRCLE 
 
 witch, please providence, I don't mean to change for 
 another name as yet. 
 
 Mr. to Mrs. Brookfield : 
 
 St. Luke's Church, Berwick St., Soho, 
 
 3 Nov. 47. 
 
 At 6.0 I began to wash — to dress — ^boots thinner 
 and brighter than ordinary enveloped a foot not so 
 huge and shapeless as in my daily shoes. A shirt as 
 clean and stiff fronted as Mrs. P. could make it gave 
 my person an appearance of comparative nattiness. 
 A cravat, broad and starched, creased itself into a 
 shape of picturesque negligence. Hair brushed into the 
 glossiness of a thoroughbred brown and straps gave a 
 finish to the figure which at 6.30 emanated from the 
 sewer of Berwick St. Meantime a regular London fog 
 had set in — ^the 2nd only that I had ever seen — if seeing 
 it could be called when you saw nothing. 'One lamp 
 in advance as you went along the streets was only just 
 dimly visible. Link boys were rushing about. I, 
 however, found my way to Chorley's — No smell of 
 sauces — no unusual fights — no briskness of butlers in 
 the door — no prompt starched waiters — ^it was the 
 wrong day ! Chorley only regretted that I had not 
 come an half hour earlier, dinner had just gone down — 
 / should have ordered it up again if it had been me. 
 But he did not ; and felicitating ourselves that my 
 blunder was on the right side of the real day (Friday 
 next) I retired and amused myself by strolling thro' 
 the fog. 
 
 This morning has produced no adventures, save that 
 after Litany I behoved to push on to Kensington and 
 found Thack. droring for his new Annual which is to be 
 called " Our Street." He has engaged a Governess — 
 a young person from Richmond. He invites us to go 
 there for two or three weeks. What think you ? i.e., 
 
 250 
 
AN INVITATION TO HAGLEY 
 
 after Governidge and babes are arrived. He invited 
 me for Friday but I am booked for Chorley. He goes 
 to-night with the Gordons to see White's new plav at 
 the SadJers Wells'. 
 
 At this time Lord Lyttelton is urging Mr. Brookfield 
 to leave London for a change and at the end of a 
 felicitous letter breaks into verse. 
 
 Perfidious Brookfield, enemy to visit, 
 
 Why never think of Hagley, but to quiz it ? 
 
 Yet entertainment both for man and beast, 
 
 At Hagley would'st thou find, perfidious priest. 
 
 Fare thou not well but ill, and in thy dungeon 
 
 Into parochial matters dully plunge on, 
 
 Pill wise — though late, perfidious cavern-dweller. 
 
 For Glent Hill thou wilt leave Black Berwick cellar. 
 
 Mr. to Mrs. Brookfield : 
 
 St. Luke's Church, Berwick St., Soho, 
 
 6th November, 1847. 
 My dearest Jane, 
 
 Dinner at Chorley's very pleasant of course. Actresses, 
 Mrs. Jamison, Mrs. Alfred Shaw. Old Kenyon, Maule, 
 Miss Chorley and a Mrs. Arnold filled the octagon, 
 which was covered with careful dinner. Artichoke 
 soup, Brill and smelts, Turkey with white truffles 
 (a great dainty), stewed beef. Plovers, Damascenes of 
 unspeakable quality, Wines from Hartz Forest ; Cham- 
 pagne, Southern Spain; Ripe Western Portugal. A 
 shaddock as large as a celestial globe, &c., &c. In the 
 evening the two Miss Cushmans came — hot from the 
 Princesses. The younger is in fact a widow and going 
 to be married again. She talked about preachers 
 more than anything else. She has considerable pretti- 
 ness. The elder, the one, talked without reserve about 
 acting. Mrs. Shaw is very jolly and unaffected, not 
 pretty but good-natured looking ; I should not have 
 
 251 
 
MRS. BROOKFIELD AND HER CIRCLE 
 
 found her out to have been in silks and short doubtlet 
 as a man at Drury Lane. Her husband is where " you 
 Jane " will be — in a maddus. 
 
 Mr. to Mrs. Brookfield : 
 
 St. Luke's, Berwick St., Soho, 
 Vigil of the Solemnization of Matrimony, 
 
 1847. 
 My dearest Jenny, 
 
 While I was writing who should come here but Lord 
 and Lady Duff-Gordon ; I sent word that I was busy 
 and could not see parties more than a minute or two, 
 when in rushed both of them wth their usual unem- 
 barrassed good nature, they came to propose " What 
 does your La'ship think ? " 
 
 That we should take part of their house as Lodgers. 
 
 Now the first blush of getting rid of our bothers 
 about Lodgings flusters one a little too much to see 
 clearly the pros and cons. I entirely take for granted 
 that we should pay half the rent, but again I think 
 their rooms are furnished ; they talked of our having 
 the ground floor (which would make a dining and 
 drawing room) with a bed and dressing room. Rather 
 scanty this. But as Lady Gordon suggested a pro- 
 visionary arrangement by way of experiment there is 
 opportunity of looking before we leap. H. F. H. came 
 in while we were laughing and discussing the thing. I 
 said I would call to-morrow and speak of the matter 
 more coolly. Meantime what do you think of it ? 
 I know you will be rather excited at first — I own I am — 
 because it would reheve one from so much bother and 
 they are people I always had rather a weakness for. 
 I am decidedly of opinion that there ought not to be too 
 much matter of course intercourse — or we should all 
 quarrel in three weeks : — but what do you think of 
 paying half the rent — taking half the house and being 
 
 252 
 
" LADY BUFF " 
 
 nearish neibors ? They seemed in high good nature, 
 enquired much after you and Lady Buff thought she 
 should be able to coddle you advantageously. . . . 
 
 Mrs. to Mr. Brookfield 
 
 Southampton, 
 
 November, 1847. 
 
 Thank you, my dear, for your kind letter to-day, 
 I value it very much. I hope this may be our only 
 wedding day spent asunder. . . . But what do I think 
 of the Duff-Gordon plan ? 
 
 I think it exceedingly kind of course — hut that it 
 would be exceedingly imprudent on many accounts to 
 accept the offer. I quite felt with you at first, how 
 convenient and easy it would be to step into comfort- 
 able lodgings all ready for one, and either to use them 
 for a month or so while seeking permanency or stay for 
 good if all suited — and the house is old fashioned and 
 quite to your taste, I know — so that I had the feeUng 
 of disUking to say to you that I did not think it would 
 answer — ^because afraid you would be disappointed. 
 
 I could cordially like Lady Duff-Gordon for a mere 
 acquaintance and feel admiration for all her good 
 quahties, but it would go against me to be so much 
 mixed up with her as to be living together. I can't 
 help thinking that when you have thought it aU over 
 you will agree with me — that you wrote off on the spur 
 of the moment while the kindness and convenience 
 of the offer was yet fresh in your mind. The only possi- 
 ble way of arranging it, of course, would have been 
 as you say, to be entirely distinct families, but I should 
 feel a nervous presentiment of its leading to no good. 
 Consider how very little we know of the Gordons in 
 private life, what their ways are, as to reUgious observ- 
 ances for instance — and if " Birds of a feather flock 
 together " should not we be careful to know, at all 
 
 253 
 
MRS. BROOKFIELD AND HER CIRCLE 
 
 events beforehand what their ways are, before we lay 
 ourselves open to be set down as doing the like ourselves 
 and to cause any " weak brother to stumble ? " Cannot 
 you call up visions of cosy little Sunday dinners with 
 Mrs. Norton, Mr. Thackeray, and Mr. and Mrs. Wigan ? 
 — and I would not vouch for your or my virtuous sense 
 of congruities restraining our joining in such delasse- 
 ments as long as there was no intrinsic wrong in them. 
 And besides all this, I don't fancy Queen's Square, 
 Westminster, would be the healthiest place one could 
 hit upon. 
 
 My idea for lodgings would be very decidedly to 
 seek some as near your work as is compatible with a 
 freer air and lower rent . . . Margaret St., for instance, 
 or the end of Piccadilly looking over the Green Park 
 but, tho' they are small houses they be also dear. . . . 
 Harry made my hair stand on end by mentioning 
 Chelsea the other day, unless he called the Helps' 
 neighbourhood, Chelsea (which, of course, one would 
 not shriek at), but recollecting the pilgrimage it used 
 to be for us to go and call on your Aunts at Chelsea, 
 buried alive was the idea it suggested to one's mind. 
 
 Harry Hallam to Mrs. Brookfield : 
 
 My dear Jenny, 
 
 Thanks for your note of this morning. The convic- 
 tion increases upon me that in the giddy vortex of 
 Ogle's and Bourne's you will run out two or three 
 weeks more so that I shall be off to Malvern before 
 you return. The Gordon excitement is at its height, 
 I have been living in her society as unremittingly 
 since my letter to you as before. The Harrises dined 
 here yesterday. Mrs. H. made me the present of 
 a plaid wrapper to keep myself warm at nights (fact, 
 I assure you) likewise has sent me a heap of Socinian 
 
 254 
 
THE MELTING MOOD 
 
 books to read. Everybody is pretending that the 
 death of Paul Dombey is the most beautiful thing ever 
 written. Milnes, Thackeray, and your Uncle own to 
 tears. I am so hardened as to be unable to look on it 
 in any light but pure " business." I hope you are 
 getting up a stock of health in spite of the Sno*. 
 
 H. F. H. 
 
 Mr. to Mrs. Brookfield : 
 
 St. Luke's, 
 
 22nd Nov., 47. 
 My dearest Jane, 
 
 I looked in on Mr. Hallam whom I accompanied to 
 Mr. Venables, where cheerful and charitable Chapman 
 was. We staid till twelve and retired. 
 
 The following day introduced me to labours which 
 have been enumerated on pre\dous occasions. . . . 
 After evening service I " cleaned myself " and went by 
 10 to Duff-Gordon's. Found Tackeridge — Higginge — 
 Haywarge — Tom Taylorge — Wige (M.P., Ireland) — 
 Kinglake, etc. Duff looked very handsome — said 
 nothing in the least queer. Thack says she is very 
 much improved. Would it be any way less or more 
 than right that you should write a few plain good- 
 natured unhumbugging (and all the better if shghtly 
 droll) words to Buff (8 Queen's Sq.) thanking for the 
 notion being entertained. It really was very good- 
 naturedly done even considering also that they intended 
 to benefit themselves slightly at same time. The 
 subject was not referred to. Then we proceeded to 
 Bentinck's where were Horace and Benjamin Gray 
 and young Holland — and H. F. H. of course. A few 
 humourous remarks were made, but time carried us 
 to bed. . , . 
 
 Towards the end of November Mrs. Brookfield 
 
 255 
 
MRS. BROOKFIELD AND HER CIRCLE 
 
 had one of her " wise " teeth out with — " the new 
 invention," chloroform. After pages of praise of the 
 anaesthetic she ends : 
 
 I suppose you are the Frank Whitestock who 
 figures in Punches' travels ? 
 
 St. Luke's Church, 
 
 Berwick St., Soho, 
 
 27 Nov., 1847. 
 My dearest Jane, 
 
 . . . This evening we have a cave at Mansfield's — 
 Troilus and Cressida. To-morrow Jackson eases my 
 shoulder by preaching at night the first of 4 advent 
 sermons. And as I only preach a.m. it will be quite 
 a vacation to me. Marry — read — preach — read — ^bap- 
 tize — read — baptize. Monday I partake a httle 
 homely fare with Mr. Thackeray. Leech, Tom Taylor, 
 and Alfred Montgomery to be there. . . . Wednesday 
 Mr. Hallam kindly invited me to celebrate the birth 
 of Miss Hallam, the 1st December having been the 
 1st of her existence. I was obliged to excuse myself 
 by reason of previous engagement to parties desirous 
 of hearing their native scriptures expounded and 
 enforced at St. Luke's — but begged leave to go after- 
 wards. As the Palgraves and Phillimores are to be 
 there you may judge my feelings. . . . 
 
 I suppose you will write to-morrow. But, mark me, 
 I will have no such letters as the last four or five. 
 You wrote very differently when you were in fear of 
 Buff. It is the same principle as sick piety. 
 
 The Whitestock story is literally true — rather too 
 literal to be very amusing. The children were 3 little 
 Bowens in Bentinck St. 
 
 256 
 
Drawing on a wood block of Mr. & Mrs. Brookfield 
 
 By W. M. Thackeray introducing his own portrait 
 

 
 ^ 
 
 * 
 ^ 
 V 
 t 
 
 Sr 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 ^ 
 
 * 
 
 SL 
 
 > 
 
 ^ 
 
 C 
 
 ^ 
 
 ^ 
 
 (nj 
 
 V 
 
 ■5^ 
 
 ";5^- 
 
BRIGHTER PROSPECTS 
 
 About this time Mr. Brookfield received an intima- 
 tion that the next Clerical Inspectorship would be 
 given to him, and as this would improve their prospects 
 Mrs. Brookfield was to return to London and new 
 plans were to be made. 
 
 Mr. to Mrs. Brookfield : 
 
 St. Luke's Church, 
 Berwick St., Soho, 
 
 30 Nov., 47. 
 My dearest Jane, 
 
 I write this (as I opened yours this morning) entirely 
 under protest and only because I have occasion to do so 
 with reference to your return (which must be Saturday) 
 — and Uke my mother when she is forced to write a 
 letter on Sunday shall be terse and brief. I believe 
 I shall have taken Ebury St. lodgings. They are 
 nice enough — discovered by Harry — the tip 37s. 
 including kitchen fire, plate, hning and attendance. 
 Do not fall into the error that the above correct spelling 
 of the vulgar " Linen " means Hning of the inward 
 Jane with victuals — but simply lining the bed with 
 sheets and the table with cloths, etc. The apartments 
 are 4, airy and reputable. I and H. accompanied 
 by Maria and Julia went to-day to see them. 
 
 At Thackeray's last night Leech, A Merivale (the 
 third), Alfred Montgomery, a very nice, pretty, good- 
 natured dandy, sung Uttle sentimental songs without 
 any sense of pill. Merivale also. A Mr. Strachey and 
 self — all very pleasant. But I must conclude. . . . 
 God bless you, my dear. 
 
 Most affectionately yours, 
 
 W. H. Brookfield. 
 
 257 
 
 17ar-(2309) 
 
MRS. BROOKFIELD AND HER CIRCLE 
 
 Mr. to Mrs. Brookfield : 
 
 St. Luke's Church, 
 Berwick St., Soho, 
 
 3 Dec, 1847. 
 My dearest Jane, 
 
 This is a great bore and I am very much disap- 
 pointed — but ... I shall not now go in myself till 
 Monday as it is more convenient for me to be here. 
 Alfred Tennyson has this day taken a lodging some 
 50 yards off — one of my discarded ones. Only for a 
 week or two. . . . Harry and I left at 10 o'clock 
 and found Spedding and Venables at Alfred's rooms 
 at the Prince of Wales'. This morning I have spent 
 chiefly with the same parties, and am about to close 
 the day with a little innocent festivity in the shape 
 of dinner at Lady Newbolt's. I have seen Maria and 
 Juha to-day who mourn over your delay. I am afraid 
 you will be disappointed with the distance from 
 Ebury St. to W. Crescent. It is \ mile I should think. 
 ... W. H. Brookfield. 
 
 Mrs. Brookfield, who could not travel because of 
 illness, finally arrived in Ebury St., where, with Alfred 
 Tennyson as their opposite neighbour, a very happy 
 time was spent. 
 
 Harry Hallam to Mr. Brookfield : 
 
 Clevedon, 
 Vigil of St. Steeven, 1847. 
 My dear Brookfield, 
 
 I do not need any stirring up to wish Venables sitting 
 on the two pill-consecrated chairs of Poetry and 
 History. How far the Licentiate can be wrought upon 
 to do anythiog, I do not know ; it must be very 
 indirectly, and by the most artful beebeeery that he 
 
 258 
 
VENABLES VERSUS WHEWELL 
 
 must be attacked ; by proper impregnation of praise 
 he may be induced to tell Lord Lansdowne that 
 Venables is spoken of in well-informed quarters as 
 likely to succeed his present lamented friend and 
 pilster, and that the appointment will probably give 
 universal satisfaction ; but he certainly will never do 
 more : in fact, when to lose no opportunity, I plunged 
 into the subject at breakfast, I got nothing for my 
 pains but nose-bitings and snub. 1st of all he " very 
 much doubted whether Smythe was iU." Then, 
 " that they might appoint whom they felt disposed, 
 but that he hoped there might be better claimants 
 than V." " Then that he thought Whewell ought to 
 have it." After making this cUmacks, he began to 
 mollify and ultimately " hoped Venables might get it, 
 though the world would ask what he had written for 
 it." I was obliged elaborately to prevent the suspicion 
 arising in his mind that he could do anything, and 
 particularly that we wanted him to do anything ; 
 but I think that by early and repeated mention of his 
 name it may be associated usefully with the L.'s 
 current of ideas on the subjick. 
 
 Campbell, the pilling M.P. for Cambridge, is sup- 
 posed to have got Maine his Civil Law professorship 
 by a well-timed threat of voting against the Ministry. 
 I will try his influence, which I really believe to be 
 something ; but I cannot well do it by letter or without 
 seeing him. Milnes and Spedding (via Lord Grey) 
 wiD be useful ; and I don't see anyone likely to start, 
 but one of the Apostolic Set, nor any Apostle who 
 would compete with Venables. 
 
 I believe we are boring everybody to death here, 
 which will be the only fruit of my mad desire to desert 
 my metropoUs and my Alfred for the base desire of 
 grubbing turkey here. 
 
 Dinner bell. Adieu. H. F. H. 
 
 259 
 
MRS. BROOKFIELD AND HER CIRCLE 
 
 Harry HaUam to Mrs. Brookfield : 
 
 Clevedon Court, 
 
 ,, J T Christmas niM. 11.5 p.m. 
 
 My dear Jane, " ' ^ 
 
 I want to indite a few lines and fear that if I wait 
 till to-morrow my project may be marred by the 
 happy inconveniences of Mr. Pedder's ecclesiastical 
 arrangements. We have been spending an evening of 
 creditable though not overwhelming exhilaration at 
 Blindman's Buff with the Bairds and a gent of the 
 name of Charles Young of Shakespeare reputation. 
 
 The common awe of the Licentiate works its usual 
 effect of producing silence, which was by no means 
 successfully dispelled the first day at dinner by the 
 interposition of Mr. D. of Twickenham, who after 
 several ineffectual attempts on my part to ehcit his 
 stupendous learning (vide report by Rhoda) betrayed 
 himself into an expression of opinion on the epistles 
 of St. Ignatius — only to bring about a withering set- 
 down from the Inventor of History. 
 
 I was amused at the Licentiate's undertaking to 
 give an account of Alfred's poem to Sir Charles, his 
 fixed idea being that it was tremendously comic and 
 that the merit turned on the quaint conceits of the 
 plot. ... I mean to carry my point and sleep at 
 Baber's at a late hour on Tuesday, hoping to find the 
 world stiU rife with poets and dinners. . . . 
 
 By the way it is rather good to see the Licentiate 
 falling into the spirit of the thing so completely — its 
 having been proposed that Arthur should lead the way 
 into the Drawing room from the hall, and that every- 
 one in a line should copy his proceedings — divers 
 forms of hopping, etc., took place and the Author 
 of the 9th to the 14th centuries inclusive was to be seen 
 crawUng on all fours all along the passage. . ,. 
 
 H. 
 
 260 
 
TENNYSON'S HOSPITALITY 
 
 Harry Hallam came to London and joined the 
 friendly coterie in Ebury Street. He was present at 
 the party which Tennyson gave and he gave one 
 himself the Sunday after his arrival to the " Eminent 
 bard and to parties of the Church -going persuasion." 
 Of the Poet's party Mrs. Brookfield says : 
 
 He consulted us as to a dinner he wished to give 
 to a few intimate friends, ourselves amongst the num- 
 ber — my cousin Harry Hallam, also there. The invita- 
 tions had al] been accepted, and the day for the dinner 
 had arrived, when, in the early part of the afternoon, 
 my husband found Alfred Tennyson at his lodging, 
 superintending the dismantling of his bedroom, with 
 workmen taking down his bedstead ; it had occurred 
 to him that there was no drawing room for the ladies 
 he had invited, and that we should all have to meet 
 together in his one sitting room and remain there 
 throughout the whole evening. My husband succeeded 
 in persuading him to give up this chivalrous intention, 
 and assured him we should enjoy the novelty of 
 remaining in the dining room. We had a most agree- 
 able evening, and Alfred's hospitable anxiety on our 
 behalf was entirely relieved, after all this perturbation, 
 by the landlady placing her own private sitting room 
 at our service for the special occasion. I believe we 
 were aU surprised to find how perfectly everything 
 had been arranged for this party of seven or eight 
 guests. The dinner was excellent, the waiting admir- 
 able, and we found that Alfred had quietly secured 
 the best possible assistance from outside resources. 
 
 261