DA 
 
 1^3 
 
 ©irntell Ifwwwitg Jtatg 
 
 BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME 
 FROM THE 
 
 SAGE ENDOWMENT FUND 
 
 THE GIFT OF 
 
 189X 
 
Cornell University Library 
 
 DA 562.R82 1893 
 
 Three generations of Eni 
 
 3 1924 028 287 823 
 
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/cletails/cu31924028287823 
 
/ _" 
 
 
 j-y 
 
 ; -'3|-r,,y 
 
THREE GENERATIONS 
 
 OF 
 
 ENGLISH WOMEN 
 
 MEMOIRS AND CORRESPONDENCE OF 
 SUSANNAH TAYLOR, SARAH AUSTIN, 
 \ AND LADY DUFF GORDON 
 
 JANET ROSS 
 
 AUTHOR OF "ITALIAN SKETCHES," "LAND OF MANFRED," " EARLY DAYS RECALLEB" 
 
 WITH PORTRAITS 
 
 A NEW, REVISED, AND ENLARGED EDITION 
 
 T. FISHER UNWIN 
 
 PATERNOSTER SQUARE 
 
 MDCCCXCIII 
 
A-H-^2.3 
 
 
 -^LIBRAB 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Mrs. John Taylor, the first subject of these Memoirs, was a 
 remarkable woman, whose house at Norwich was the resort of 
 rnany of the most cultivated men and women of her day, whose ' 
 friendship was prized and valued by them. People used to say 
 it was worth a, journey to Norwich to spend an evening with 
 her.' She brought up her children with an unflinching love: of 
 truth and a horror of debt. Not ashamed of being poor, she 
 attended to all the small details of ,daily life, in the midst of 
 which she found time to ,read and appreciate philosophy and 
 poetry, and to think for herself. The Taylor family for several 
 igerieratiohs has produced men and women distinguished by ' 
 literary and scientific ability : they and their forbears belonged 
 to- the Presbyteriari party, and disliked the Independents almost 
 as ;much as the Tories. It is a saying in Norfolk, that if a 
 cplleetion were made of the works of the Taylors of Norwich, _ 
 it would form a respectable library. 
 
 Of Mrs. Taylor's seven children, Sarah Austin was perhaps- 
 the- handsomest and the most gifted ; the extraordinary vigour ' 
 of, her mind and body was occasionally almost oyerpoweririg^-^ 
 but it stood her in good stead during a long and not oyer-:- 
 prosperous . life, arid was tempered by an excellent judgment: 
 
iv INTRODUCTION. 
 
 and a very kind heart ■ No one ever app^ajed to hep in vain ; 
 and in her , old age children always flqcked round her withv 
 delight to hear " Puss in boots," or one of Grimm's fairy-tales, 
 , so well and graphically told. I have made aselection among 
 tjie mass of her correspondence, but I fear that (in the Frerich 
 .letters particularly) ifnucl^ has' be^n lost by translation. All 
 krs. Austin's letters to M. B. St. Hijaire are in French, those 
 to M. Guizot, are in English! ' , » , . 
 
 Many have spoken of my -grandfather Mr. John Austin's 
 eloquence — I remember it well. To the end he always 
 preserved the upright, carriage his early soldier life -had given' 
 him, and when we lived at Esher I cannot forget how he used 
 to stride over the commons which divided us from Weybridge. 
 
 "Here," says my grandmother, in her preface to his' work 
 on Jurisprudence — "here he entered upon thelast^ and happiest 
 period of his life— the only portion during which he was free 
 from carking cares and ever-recurring disappointments. The 
 battle' of life was not oiily over, but had hardly left a scar. He 
 had neither vanity nor arnbition, nor any desires beyond what 
 hi«" srnall income sufficed ,to satisfy. He had no regrets or 
 repining^ at his' own poverty and obscurity, contrasted with 
 the successes of other men. fLe was insatiable in the pursuit 
 of knowledge and truth for their own sake ;, and during the 
 long daily walks which were almost the sole recreation he 
 coveted or enjc^ed, his mind was constantly kept in a state of 
 serene elevation and harmony by the -aspects of nature, which 
 he contemplated with ever-increasing delight, and described in 
 his own felicitous and picturesque language, and by meditation 
 on the' sublimest theines that can occupy the mind of man. He 
 wanted no excitement and no audience. Though he welcomed 
 the occasional visits of his friends with affectionate cordiality, 
 and delighted them by the vigour and charm of his conversa- 
 tion, he never expressed the smallest desire for society. He 
 Was content to pour qut the treasures of, his knowledge, wisdom, 
 
INTRODUCTION. v 
 
 and genius to the companion whose hfe was (to use the expres- 
 sion of one who knew him well) 'enfolded in his.' Thus passed 
 twelve years of retirement, rarely interrupted, and never unin- 
 teresting or wearisome. His health was greatly improved. 
 The place he had chosen and his mode of life suited him. The 
 simplicity of his taste and habits would have rendered a more 
 showy and luxurious way of living disagreeable and oppressive 
 to him. Yet none of the small pleasures or humble comforts 
 provided for him ever escaped his grateful notice. He loved 
 to be surrounded by homely and familiar objects, and nothing 
 pleased him so much in his garden as the flowers he had 
 gathered in his childhood. He had a disinterested hatred of 
 expense and of pretension, and though very generous and quite 
 indifferent to gain, he was habitually frugal, and respected 
 frugality in others, as the guardian of many virtues." 
 
 Of Mrs. Austin's remarkable talents I need not speak ; her 
 letters will show what she was, and how her judgment and 
 advice were sought by many of the eminent men of her time. 
 
 Her devoted friend, M. Barthelemy St. Hilaire, has been good 
 enough to write down for me his recollections of her, which \ 
 here translate : — • 
 
 " It was in 1840 that I first knew Mrs. Austin, to whom M. 
 Victor Cousin presented me. She was still extremely hand- 
 some, and her complexion, which she preserved till the day of 
 her death, was dazzling. Her vigour was extraordinary, and 
 she was calm, although full of life and gaiety. Her conversa- 
 tion was delightful, intelligent, and abounding in solid good 
 sense. At that time she was accompanied by her only daughter. 
 Lady Duff Gordon, and her son-in-law, Sir Alexander, both 
 extremely handsome. 
 
 "At Paris Mrs. Austin had a salon, which she kept admirably : 
 as she was poor, intellect alone was the attraction and the orna- 
 ment of the house, and all that was most eminent among the 
 foreigners who passed through Paris eagerly sought to be 
 
 I* 
 
vi INTRODUCTION. 
 
 received in her humble apartment. There also the most 
 illustrious Frenchmen of both the Conservative and the Liberal 
 parties met together, and, thanks to the mistress of the house, 
 the most diverse opinions were discussed without acerbity, and 
 to the profit of all. If any obtained admittance who were 
 unworthy of these pleasant and useful reunions, they were 
 eliminated without harshness ; and I have seen executions of 
 this kind done with perfect tact', yet with a moral vigour which, 
 without any fuss, was most efficacious. The salon of Mrs. 
 Austin was a centre where France, England, Germany, and 
 Italy met, and learned to know and appreciate each other. 
 Mrs. Austin spoke all four languages. Her power of work was 
 wonderful, quite virile. She was an excellent Latin scholar, 
 which stood her in good stead when she published the 
 posthumous work of her husband on Roman Law. Her mind 
 was perfectly balanced and fortified by serious, hard study ; 
 and to everything she did she brought an attention and a 
 maturity of judgment which few men possess in so large a 
 measure. Mrs. Austin was intimate with all the remarkable 
 intellects in England. She presented me, among others, to 
 Lord Lansdowne, Mr. Layard, Mr. J. Stuart Mill, Grote (Mr. 
 and Mrs.), &c. I went with her to see the Misses Berry, then 
 very old ladies, witty, and delighted to talk with a Frenchman 
 who reminded them, particularly by his pronunciation, of the 
 society of the eighteenth century, in which they had shone in 
 their youth. I also recollect a visit to Mr. C. Greville, then 
 crippled by gout, but whose conversation sparkled with intelli- 
 gence and admirable taste. Mrs. Austin knew the Duchess of 
 Orleans, who consulted her about the education of her two 
 sons ; and in 1864 I saw the young Princes at her house at 
 Weybridge, after their return from America. They treated 
 her with filial respect. 
 
 "Mrs. Austin did me a great service — she taught me to know 
 England. In 1840 she found me imbued with all those inter- 
 
INTRODUCTION. vii 
 
 national prejudices so damaging to both sides. When I knew 
 her better, she often made me blush ; and, to cure me of my 
 folly, she invited me to visit England and judge with my own 
 eyes. In 1849 I went to Weybridge and enjoyed her cordial 
 hospitality. My conversion was rapid, and I returned charmed 
 with, and full of admiration for, England, and repeated my visit 
 nearly every year. 
 
 " Mr. Austin was worthy of his wife, but his qualities were 
 entirely opposed. Intensely nervous and often ill, he loved 
 solitude, and even in his own house no one saw him until 
 dinner, at which he did not always assist. Sad by nature, and 
 a deep thinker, he spoke little, but when he did it was with 
 extraordinary vehemence and eloquence. A pupil of Bentham, 
 and intimate with all the friends of his master, he began by 
 embracing all Bentham's doctrines, even his irreligion ; but 
 later he modified his opinions, though he always preserved the 
 most entire liberty of thought. When he first went to Wey- 
 bridge, he considered it right to tell the clergyman that he 
 would never see him at church. He did this to avoid any 
 appearance of scandal, and to preserve his own independence ; 
 but he took his share in all the charities and charges of the 
 parish. Deeply versed in law, he was for some time Professor 
 at the University of London, and became known by a remark- 
 able work on the connection of Morals and Jurisprudence. He 
 was a corresponding member of the Institute of France and of 
 the Academy of Moral and Political Sciences. When he died, 
 he left a mass of valuable documents collected for his lectures 
 at the University. Mrs. Austin arranged and published all the 
 manuscripts left by her husband, aided by the advice of his 
 legal friends. This publication redounded to the honour of the 
 author, and of her who assumed the difficult task of editing a 
 work bristling with diflEculties and learned quotations. 
 
 " When Mr. Austin was sent to Malta on a mission by his 
 Government, Mrs. Austin occupied herself with the education 
 
viii INTRODUCTION. 
 
 of Maltese women, and did immense good. She often talked 
 of her scholastic occupations, and of their success. Returning 
 home, Mr. Austin's health being very indifferent, they with- 
 drew to Weybridge, where Mrs. Austin eked out their small 
 means by her pen. From prudence she confined herself to 
 translating, though she had all the faculties that go to produce 
 original work. But, as she often told me, she feared by pub- 
 lishing anything of her own to expose herself to criticism, and 
 she always considered it improper in a woman to provoke a 
 possible polemic, which generally ends in a manner disagreeable 
 to herself. 
 
 "The last years of Mrs. Austin's life were devoted to the 
 publication of her husband's book. She worked with vigour 
 and method, and a scrupulous attention which allowed no fault 
 to escape her. The learned friends she consulted had, I am 
 sure, few corrections to make. She died of heart disease, at the 
 age of seventy-three, preserving the freshness and beauty of her 
 complexion to the end of her life. The expression of her face 
 when dead had something sublime and angelic. The calm of 
 death often produces this effect, but I never saw it so marked 
 as in her." 
 
 Lucie Duff Gordon, the only child of John and Sarah Austin, 
 inherited the talents of her parents. Of her beauty I should 
 not be considered a fair judge, but one who knew her well, and 
 whose recent death leaves a void never to be filled, A. W. 
 Kinglake, writes to me : — 
 
 " Can I, how can I trust myself to speak of your dear mother's 
 beauty in the phase it had reached when first 1 saw her ? The 
 classic form of her features, the noble poise of her head and 
 neck, her stately height, her uncoloured yet pure complexion, 
 caused some of the beholders at first to call her beauty statu- 
 esque, and others to call it majestic, some pronouncing it to be 
 even imperious. But she was so intellectual, so keen, so 
 autocratic, sometimes even so impassioned in speech, that 
 
INTRODUCTION. ix 
 
 nobody, feeling her powers, could well go on feebly comparing 
 her to a statue or a mere queen or empress." 
 
 Forced by illness to leave the home she loved and the society 
 she shone in, the last years of her life were passed in Egypt. 
 My mother's generous spirit and sympathy for everything 
 and everybody oppressed or suffering won the hearts of the 
 Arabs in an extraordinary way. Her own letters will tell the 
 rest. 
 
 It remains for me to thank H.R.H. the Comte de Paris, 
 Madame Guizot de Witt, Mr. Gladstone, M. St. Hilaire, Colonel 
 Gatt, Mrs. Simpson, and others, for allowing my grandmother's 
 letters to their parents or themselves to be published, and for 
 permission to print their own letters. I must also express the 
 obligation I am under to Mr. Macmillan for allowing me to 
 reprint extracts of my mother's "Letters from the Cape" and 
 " Letters from Egypt " ; and to Mr. Longman for his per- 
 mission to reprint some of the Rev. Sydney Smith's letters to 
 Mrs. Austin. Last, but not least, I must record the great help 
 my grandmother's old friend, the late Mr. John Murray, was 
 good enough to give me, and his son's kindness in letting me 
 use some of the blocks of the first edition of this book. 
 
 Janet Ross. 
 December, 1892. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 SUSANNAH TAYLOR. 
 
 Norfolk and its illustrious names — Dr. John Taylor — ^John Taylor and 
 Susannah Cook — Her Letters to Judith Dixon — Susannah Taylor and her 
 friends — John Taylor a poet — Death of Mrs. Martineau — Mrs. Barbauld's 
 " Tribute " Page 1-23 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 Susannah Taylor's Letters to Dr. Reeve — Commencement of 7'ke Edinburgh 
 Review — Criticism of it — Visit to Cambridge — Susannah Taylor's Letters 
 to her daughters — Sarah Taylor's visit to Mrs. Barbauld — The formation of 
 Character — Abolition of the Slave Trade — Susannah Taylor's 52nd birth- 
 day — Death of Mr. Opie 24-37 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 Marriage of Dr. Reeve and Susan Taylor — Dr. James Martineau's Recollections 
 of Susannah Taylor — Her visits to London — Uses of such visits — Uses 
 of Vanity and Emulation — Bath — Tavistock — Recollections of Susannah 
 Taylor by Mrs. Wilde^Susannah Taylor's conversational powers — 
 Meeting of Taylor and Martineau families — Sarah Taylor's engagement 
 to John Austin — Death of Susannah Taylor^Basil Montagu on Susannah 
 Taylor — Sons of John and Susannah Taylor .... 38-53 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 SARAH AUSTIN. 
 
 Sarah Taylor — Books read as a girl — Her engagement to John Austin — Mrs. 
 Barbauld's lines to Sarah Taylor — Mr. Fox on John Austin — ^John Austin 
 called to (he Bar — Marriage — Letter from Amelia Opie on " Don Juan " 
 and Lord and Lady Byron — Skit on Jeremy Bentham . . 54-60 
 
xii CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 Birth of Lucie Austin— J. S. Mill's character of John Austin— Sarah 
 Austin and the Italian refugees — Letter from Chev. de Santa Rosa — The 
 Grotes— Jeremy Bentham— M. C. Comte— John Austin selected to fill 
 the Chair of Jurisprudence at the London University — Death of John 
 Taylor— Letter of M. J. B. Say Page 61-66 
 
 CHAPTER VL 
 Letter from John Austin to Mr. Grote on London University Professorship — 
 Residence at Bonn — Schlegel — Niebuhr and German society . 67-73 
 
 CHAPTER Vn. 
 
 The Austins return to London — German influence on John Austin — ^J. S. 
 Mill's opinion — Letter from M. Say to Sarah Austin — Letter from M. de 
 Beyle on peculiarities of Englishmen — Sarah Austin on the advantage of 
 learning German — Opinion of the London University — Charles Villiers — 
 Contributions to the New Monthly — Invitation from Jeremy Bentham — 
 John Austin's lectures published — Death of Jeremy Bentham . 74-84 
 
 CHAPTER Via. 
 
 John Sterling on Sarah Austin's translation of Prince Piickler-Muskau, and 
 on Miss Martineau — ^John Austin publishes his "Jurisprudence Deter- 
 mined," and is appointed a member of the Criminal Lavv" Commission 
 — Sketch of John Austin — Letters from Sarah Austin to M. Victor 
 Cousin — Letters from Thomas Carlyle on the state of Politics and 
 Literature 85-105 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Sir W. Hamilton on Popular Education — Insufficiency of English legal educa- 
 tion — ^John Austin lectures at the Temple — Thomas Carlyle on British 
 Reviewing, on house-hunting — Prof. F. W. Carove, author of " The Story 
 without an End" — Robert Southey on Sarah Austin's translation of 
 Cousin on Instruction in Prussia — The Provost of Eton to Sarah Austin — 
 Charles Buller to Sarah Austin ...... 106-115 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 The Austins go to Boulogne — Lord Jeffrey on Sarah Austin's prospects — 
 Rev. Sydney Smith to Sarah Austin — Wreck of the Amphitrite- — Rev. 
 Sydney Smith on living in Paris — M. de Tocqueville on French Manners, 
 &c. — John Austin appointed Royal Commissioner to Malta — Lord Jeffrey 
 to Sarah Austin ......... 116-125 
 
CONTENTS. xiii 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 Letters to Susan Reeve from Malta — Rev. Sydney Smith to Sarah Austin — 
 Sarah Austin to Mr. Nassau Senior — Rev. Sydney Smith to Sarah Austin 
 — Cholera and its ravages — Mrs. Jameson's opinions of America — Sarah 
 Austin to Mrs. Senior on the action of the Government — Sarah Austin to 
 M. Victor Cousin on Malta Page 126-140 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 The Austins return to London— Letter to M. Victor Cousin on education in 
 England — Translation of Ranke's Popes — Correspondence with Mr. 
 Gladstone and M. Victor Cousin on popular education — ^J. B. Macaulay's 
 review of the translation of Ranke — Sarah Austin on the change of 
 Ministry, and her daughter's engs^ement .... 141-148 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 Correspondence with Mr. Gladstone on National Education — Prof. v. Ranke 
 on the translation of his book — Poland and the Greek Church — M. 
 Michel Chevalier to Sarah Austin 149-156 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 Sarah Austin's "Fragments from German Prose Writers "- Letters to M. 
 Guizot on behalf of some inhabitants of Boulogne — Rev. Sydney Smith's 
 opinion of Guizot's "Washington" — M. A. de Vigny to Sarah Austin 
 — Prof. V. Ranke to Sarah Austin — Sarah Austin to Mrs. Grote — Rev. 
 Sydney Smith on Mrs. Grote 157-166 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 Diary of Sarah Austin in 1841 — The Rhine — Dresden — Anecdotes of the 
 Emperor Paul — Second Sight — Letter to M. Guizot on the Affairs of 
 Europe — Sarah Austin to Mr. Murray — Sarah Austin to M. Victor Cousin 
 — Sarah Austin to Mrs. Grote on Life in Dresden — Mr. Gladstone on the 
 condition of English industry and trade — Rev. Sydney Smith to Sarah 
 Austin 167-183 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 Diary of Sarah Austin in 1842 and 1843 — Dresden — Berlin — Literary Society 
 there — The Grimms — Ranke^Anecdotes of Berlin Society — of Niebuhr 
 — Mr. Grote to John Austin 184-191 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 Letters from Sarah Austin to M. Guizot on the State of Germany — Sarah Austin 
 
 to Mrs. Grote — ^John Austin elected to the Institute — Revision of the 
 
 " Province of Jurisprudence" — The Austins settle in Paris — ^John Austin 
 
 to Sir W. Erie — Rev. Sydney Smith to Sarah Austin . . 192-202 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 M. Comte on Women and Social Philosophy — Baron Alexander v. Hum- 
 boldt to Sarah Austin— M. Comte and his Official Position— Madame 
 Sophie Germain— J. S. Mill on A. Comte, Guizot, and the Edinburgh 
 Review — Grammar and Plain Needlework — T. B. Macaulay to Sarah 
 Austin Page 20^-212 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 Letter from M. A. de Vigny to Sarah Austin — Education in France — Small 
 Waists— Contempt for the King — Letter from Sir Robert Peel to Sarah 
 Austin — An Article on Germany — Belgium — Mrs. Hudson, the "Railway 
 Queen" 213-218 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 The French Revolution of 1848— M. B. St. Hilaire on the Aspect of Paris — 
 Letter from Rev. Dr. Whewell to Sarah Austin on the French Revolution 
 — Her Answer — ^M. B. St. Hilaire at the Luxembourg— Fighting in Paris — 
 MM. Cavaignac and de la Villemarque — M. Victor Cousin and M. B. St. 
 Hilaire — A Working Man's Library at Bow .... 219-225 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 Decree against MM-. Louis Blanc and Caussidiere — Mr. Hallam's forecast 
 about Prince Louis Napoleon — M. J. J. Ampere on the Republic — 
 Madame Recamier — The National Assembly and the President- — Letter 
 from Sarah Austin to Dr. Sciortino — M. B. St. Hilaire on M. Guizot and 
 M. Thiers' Books — Letter from Sarah Austin to M. Victor Cousin on the 
 Principles of the French Revolution 226-231 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 The President — Italy and Austria — M. J. W. Decaisne on Madame Recamier 
 and M. Lamartine — Rome and the Holy See — Public Instruction in 
 France — Sarah Austin is given a Pension by the Queen^ Visitors at Wey- 
 bridge — Madame de Maintenon — Letter from Miss Berry to Sarah Austin 
 on Madame Recamier — England a suggestive Country — Letter from M. 
 B. St. Hilaire to Sarah Austin — Letter from Sarah Austin to M. Victor 
 Cousin comparing English and Frepch writers . . . 232-240 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 Letter from Mr. H. Crabb Robinson to Sarah Austin on Mrs. Opie's Memoirs 
 — Sarah Austin to Rev. Dr. W. Whewell on the " fatal facilities of the 
 French Language " — Letter from Sarah Austin to M. Guizot on finishing 
 the Translation of his Book— Elections in Paris — Sarah Austin's Estimate 
 
CONTENTS. xv 
 
 of Lord Palmerston— Letter from M. B. St. Hilaire to Sarah Austin on 
 the electoral law — Speeches by Mr. Cobden, Sir W. Molesworth, and 
 Sir R. Peel— Death of Sir R. Peel— Lord Palmerston, Prince Metter- 
 nich, Princess Lieven, and M. Guizot .... Page 241-249 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 Sarah Austin on John Locke's Tomb — Shakespeare and Locke— M. B. St. 
 Hilaire's Admiration of England — A Critic's Pleasure — State of Ger- 
 many—The Durham Letter — Sir James Stephen — M. B. St. Hilaire on the 
 Protestant Demonstrations — Note of the 18th of January, 1851 250-259 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 Letter from Sarah Austin to Rev. Dr. W. Whewell on his Translation of 
 Auerbach's " Professorin " — His Answer — Letter from M. B. St. Hilaire 
 on the Accession of the Tories to Power — Letter from Sarah Austin to M. 
 Guizot — M. B. St. Hilaire on the State of France, on the policy of 
 the President, Louis Napoleon ; announces his own imprisonment in 
 Mazas . 260-268 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 Letter from Sarah Austin to M. Guizot on the State of Affairs in France and 
 at Vienna — Mrs. Grote's visit to Paris — Letter from M. B. St. Hilaire 
 about the Paris University — Letter from Sarah Austin to Rev. Dr. W. 
 Whewell on the threatened Expulsion of M. Cousin from the Sorbonne — 
 His Answer ■ 269-277 
 
 ch:apter XXVII. 
 
 Qualities of French and English men and women — M. B. St. Hilaire refuses 
 to take the Oath and withdraws from Paris — Letters from Sarah Austin to 
 M. Guizot on the Volunteer Movement — M. B. St. Hilaire a Gardener — 
 Correspondence with Mr. Gladstone on National Education 278-287 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 M. B. St. Hilaire on the New Ministry in England — Scene at M. Pasquier's — ■ 
 M. Littre on M. Comte — M. Remusat on Burke — M. A. Thomas' Lectures 
 — Letter from Sarah Austin to Rev. Dr. W. Whewell — "French invasion" 
 of Weybridge — Sarah Austin on Novels 288-295 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 Letter from Sarah Austin to M. B. St. Hilaire on the Emperor Napoleon — M. 
 Guizot's " History of the English Republic and of Cromwell " — Rev. 
 Sydney Smith's Oaths — " Germany from 1760-1840 " — Union of England 
 and France — Napoleon I. and the Queen of Prussia — Letter from Sarah 
 Austin to Rev. Dr. W. Whewell— Lord Raglan's Despatches 296-303 
 
xvi CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 "Memoirs of the Rev. Sydney Smith "—German Hatred of Russians— Florence 
 Nightingale— Ugo Foscolo— "The Aristotelian bonnet" — Letters from 
 Sarah Austin to M. Guizot Page 304-312 
 
 CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 Letter from M. B. St. Hilaire to Sarah Austin about the Secretaryship of the 
 Suez Canal — Sarah Austin asks M. Guizot for Information about Lord 
 Raglan from French Soldiers— Education at Lozfere — Rev. Dr. W.Whewell 
 on the Vice-Chancellorship — Letter from Sarah Austin to Rev. Dr. W. 
 Whewell — Letter from Sarah Austin to Mr. Hayward — Letter from Sarah 
 Austin to M. B. St. Hilaire on the Suez Canal — His answer — A Taylor 
 Gathering 313-321 
 
 CHAPTER XXXII. 
 The State of Germany — Rev. Dr. W. Whewell named a Memberof the Acad^mie 
 — Princess Lieven — Letter from Sarah Austin to M. Guizot on the " Pro- 
 vince of Jurisprudence " — Mr. Gladstone on Sir R. Peel and Employment 
 for Women — Rev. Dr. W. Whewell lectures on Plato . . 322-329 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIII. 
 Mr. Hudson Gurney and French Society in 1802 — Trinity Lodge —The Deccan 
 — Parliamentary Debates on the East India Company — Lord Grey's book 
 — ^Rev. Dr. W. Whewell to Sarah Austin on Mr. Buckle's Lecture on the 
 Influence of Women, &c. — Letter from Sarah Austin to M. Guizot on 
 his book and cheap newspapers— Rev. Dr. W. Whewell on Mr. Lewes as 
 a Critic, and Goethe 330-337 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIV. 
 
 Character of H.R.H. the Duchess of Orleans — Letter from Sarah Austin to the 
 Duchess on her Sons' Education — Sarah Austin to M. B. St. Hilaire on 
 her Death — Ketteringham — Mr. Elwin at Booton — Sarah Austin to M. 
 Guizot on the birth of a Grandchild — M. de Cavour and opening of 
 French Chambers — Sarah Austin to M. B. St. Hilaire on the " Life of the 
 Duchess of Orleans " 338-347 
 
 CHAPTER XXXV. 
 
 Letters from Sarah Austin to M. B. St. Hilaire on a French Monthly Review — 
 The New Ministry — Lord Howden, Lord Lyndhurst, and M. de Cavour — 
 Sarah Austin to M. B. St. Hilaire on Italian Independence — Sarah Austin 
 to M. Guizot on Madame R&amier's " Memoirs " and the late Duke of 
 Devonshire .......... 348-356 
 
CONTENTS. xvii 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVl. 
 
 John Austin's Illness and Death — Letter from M. Guizot to Sarah Austin — 
 Her Answer — Sarah Austin returns to Weybridge — Letter from Sarah 
 Austin to Rev. Dr. W. Whewell — Mrs. Grote and old Letters— Sarah 
 Austin's Illness , . Page 357-364 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVII. 
 
 Letters from Sarah Austin to the Rev. Dr. W. Whewell on the " Province of 
 Jurisprudence " — Dr. Hawlrey at Mapledurham — Garibaldi and the Em- 
 peror Napoleon — Accident to the Comte de Paris — Marriage of Miss Duff 
 Gordon — Lord Brougham on the Chair of Jurisprudence at Oxford — 
 Letter from Sarah Austin to M. Guizot on Family Matters and John 
 Austin's Book 365-373 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVIII. 
 
 Completion of First Volume of the "Province of Jurisprudence" — M. A. 
 Barbier to Sarah Austin on her Preface to her Husband's Book — Lady 
 Duff Gordon goes to the Cape of Good Hope — Lord Jeffrey — Baron 
 V. Humboldt — Lord Lansdowne's Munificence — Rome as Capital of 
 Italy 374-380 
 
 - CHAPTER XXXIX. 
 
 Jeremy Bentham and his Friends — ^John Austin's relations to Jeremy Bentham 
 — " Discours" on Mr. Hallam, by M. Mignet — Letter from Sarah Austin 
 to Rev. Dr. W. Whewell on her own Work and M. Mignet — Modesty of 
 Mr. Hallam 381-388 
 
 CHAPTER XL. 
 
 Good News from the Cape — Dr. Milman, Dean of St. Paul's, to Sarah Austin 
 on the Inscription on John Austin's Tomb — Illness of Dr. Hawtrey — 
 Climate of the Cape — The Exhibition — The Queen — Sarah Austin to 
 Miss Senior on Reasonable Dress for Hot Weather — Lord Brougham's 
 Speech 389-395 
 
 CHAPTER XLI. 
 
 Lady Duff Gordon goes to Egypt— Illness of Mr. Ross — Birth of a Great- 
 grandson — American Policy of England according to M. P. Paradol— - 
 Break up of the Esher Home— Letter to Mrs. Grote on "Domestic 
 Morals " — " Province of Jurisprudence " used as an Examination Book at 
 Oxford and Cambridge 396-401 
 
xviii CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XLII. 
 Marriage of H.R.H. the Prince of Wales— Death of Sir G. C. Lewis— Con- 
 dolences from M. Guizot — Mr. Bright at Woburn Abbey — O'Connell and 
 Repeal — Sarah Austin to Mr. Gladstone on Italian Unity and Liberty in 
 France — The German Part of France .... Page 402-409 
 
 CHAPTER XLHI. 
 
 Death of Mr. N. Senior— Marriage of H.R.H. the Comte de Paris — Fourth 
 Edition of " Ranke," and New Edition of the " Province of Jurispru- 
 dence " — People no longer enjoy Things — M. P. Paradol on Lady Duff 
 Gordon — Letter from Sarah Austin to Mrs. Grote . . 410-416 
 
 CHAPTER XLIV. 
 
 Letter from Sarah Austin to M. Guizot about her Daughter — Thomas Carlyle 
 on Letters of Condolence and Smollett's House — Sarah Austin to M. B. 
 St. Hilaire on Prussia and Austria — Sarah Austin to Lady William Russell 
 — Letters on. M. Cousin's Death from M. B. St. Hilaire to Sarah Austin 
 — Her Answer — Last Letters from Sarah Austin to M. B. St. Hilaire — 
 Her Death — The Times on Sarah Austin — Letter from M. Guizot to Sir 
 Alexander Duff Gordon on her death ..... 417-430 
 
 CHAPTER XLV. 
 
 LAUY DUFF GORDON. 
 
 Birth of Lucie Austin — Her Childhood — ^J. S. Mill her Playmate — Goes to 
 Germany — Rev. Sydney Smith's Advice not to tear her Frock, to learn 
 Arithmetic — Meeting with Heinrich Heine at Boulogne — Lucie Austin 
 sent to School — Her Friends among the Fishermen at Boulogne — 
 Visit of Miss Shuttleworth to Bromley — Letters from Lucie Austin to 
 Mrs. Grote . . 431-438 
 
 CHAPTER XLVI. 
 
 Letters from Lucie Austin to Miss Shuttleworth — Death of Lady Nasmyth — 
 Consolation of Christian Religion — Letter from Lucie Austin to Mrs. 
 Grote on her Baptism — Reminiscences of Lucie Austin by Miss Marianne 
 North 439-444 
 
 CHAPTER XLVIL 
 
 Return of John and Sarah Austin from Malta— Sir Alexander Duff Gordon 
 
 and Lucie Austin— Their Marriage— 8, Queen Square, Westminster— M. 
 
 Guizot's first Dinner in England in 1848— Visit to Atelier of Kaulbach 
 
 in Augsburg— Translatiop of " Amber Witch " and Hon. Mrs. Norton's 
 
CONTENTS. xix 
 
 Criticisms— " The French in Algiers " — " Remarkable Criminal Trials " — 
 Sir A. Duff Gordon has Cholera — Letter from Lady Duff Gordon to Sarah 
 Austin from Richmond — Eothen and Ford's "Spain " — Hassan-el-Bakkeet 
 — The Chartist Riots . . . . . . . Page 445-453 
 
 CHAPTER XLVIII. 
 
 " Village Tales from Alsatia " — Ranke's "Memoirs of the House of Branden- 
 burg " — Residence at Weybridge — Hon. Mrs. Norton on Lisbon Society — 
 'Stella and Vanessa"— Mr. C. J. Bayley, "The Thunderer of The 
 Times" — Working Men's Library at Weybridge — Letters from Mr. 
 Richard Doyle to Lady Duff Gordon — Sir R. Peel— "Big Higgins" — 
 Sir J. Graham — The Italian Opera — The Whig Ministry and Madame 
 Tussaud 454-464 
 
 CHAPTER XLIX. 
 
 Lady Duff Gordon's Illness — Moves to Esher — Hon. Mrs. Norton on Red 
 Pots and Straight Noses — Letters from Lady Duff Gordon to Mr. C. J. 
 Bayley — Letter to Mrs. Grote 465-470 
 
 CHAPTER L. 
 
 The Old House at Esher, " Gordon Arms " — Boating on the Mole — The Due 
 d'Aumale's Harriers — The "Village Doctor" and Ranke's "Ferdinand 
 and Maximilian of Austria " — Paris — Reminiscences of and Letter from 
 Heinrich Heine 471-476 
 
 CHAPTER LI. 
 
 Illness of Lady Duff Gordon — Ventnor — Voyage to the Cape — Life on board 
 Ship — A Collision and a Gale — Lands at Cape Town — A Mussulman 
 Burial — Malay "poison"- — Drive to Caledon — Going on Toch — 
 Gnadenthal — The Moravian Missionaries — The last Hottentot — Wor- 
 cester — The Baviaans — Cape Town 477-496 
 
 CHAPTER LII. 
 
 Lady Duff Gordon returns to England — Eaux Bonnes — Egypt — Hekekian 
 Bey — ^Omar — The Bazaar — Her Crew — Bibeh — Slave Merchants at Aswan 
 — St. Simon Stylites — Death of Marquis of Lansdowne — The Mahmal — 
 Muslim Piety — The Christian Dyer — Herodotus — Lady Duff Gordon to 
 Tom Taylor . 497-508 
 
 CHAPTER LIII. 
 Lady Duff Gordon returns to England, but is compelled to go back to Egypt 
 -r^The "Maison de France" at Luxor — H.R.H. of Darfoor — Visit to 
 
XX CONTENTS. 
 
 Tomb of Sheykh Abu-'l-Hajjaj— Death of Sheykh Yoosuf's brother— Life 
 very Biblical— Character of Sheykh Yoosuf— The Maohn's Slave-girl^ 
 — Letter from Lady Duff Gordon to Tom Taylor describing Life at 
 Luxor Pagt 509-520 
 
 CHAPTER LIV. 
 
 Arab Opinion of English Ilareem — Harvesting — Sitti Noor-ala-Noor — Lady 
 Duff Gordon as Doctor — The words of Ruth in the Nineteenth Century — 
 Arab and Egyptian types — Christian and Muslim morality — Ill-treatment 
 of the Fellaheen — An Arab Deborah — Patriarchal Feelings in the East — 
 Reception at Luxor — Death of the dragoman Mohammah Er-Rasheedee — 
 Gratitude of the People — Letters from M. P. Paradol to Lady Duff Gordon 
 — A Fellah's blessing — " Sheykh" Stanley — Lady Duff Gordon visits the 
 Cadi at Keneh — Miss North's visit to Luxor — Mr. Gifford Palgrave at 
 Luxor — -The Maohn's children at Benisouef .... 521-S4S 
 
 CHAPTER LV. 
 
 Lady Duff Gordon at Boolak — Her popularity — Re-building her boat — 
 Returns to Luxor^Inventory of contents of dahabieh — The Arabian sage 
 — Sick brought from Edfou — Lady Duff Gordon " chaired " — A runaway 
 match — My journey up the Nile to see my mother — Our dinner with 
 Selim Effendi — Going to Philoe — Nubian trader offers his boat — Presents 
 — Keneh — Lady Duff Gordon at Cairo and her painter — She goes up into 
 Nubia with her son — Beyroot — Returns to Luxor — Visit of Prince and 
 Princess of Wales — Lady Duff Gordon's last letter — Her death 549-560 
 
THREE GENERATIONS OF 
 ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 SUSANNAH TAYLOR. 
 
 Norfolk and its illustrious names — Dr. John Taylor — Mr. J. Taylor and 
 Miss Susannah Cook — Her Letters to Miss Dixon — Mrs. J. Taylor and her 
 friends — Mr. J. Taylor a poet — Death of Mrs. Martineau — Mrs. Barbauld's 
 "Tribute." 
 
 It has been said, " I have seen more of the county of Norfolk 
 than of its inhabitants, but of that county I may remark, that, 
 to the best of my recollection, it contains more churches, more 
 flints, more turkeys, more turnips, more wheat, more cultiva- 
 tion, more commons, more cross-roads, and, from that token, 
 probably more inhabitants than any county I have ever visited. 
 It has another distinguishing and paradoxical feature — if what 
 I hear is true — it is said to be more illiterate than any other 
 part of England ; and yet I doubt if any county of like extent 
 has produced an equal number of famous men." 
 
 The mental activity which distinguished Norwich during the 
 latter half of the last century and the beginning of this, was 
 very remarkable ; and although provincial, and occasionally 
 affected, was certainly far above the average of country towns. 
 
2 THREE GENERA TIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 William Taylor, the German scholar, to whom Mrs. Barbauld 
 wrote — " Do you know that you made Walter Scott a poet ? 
 So he told me the other day. It was, he says, your ballad of 
 ' Lenore ' that inspired him ; " Dr. Sayers, the Martineaus, 
 the John Taylors, Mr. Amyot, Dr. Rigby, Dr. Reeve, Dr. 
 Alderson, and his daughter Amelia Opie, the Stevensons, the 
 Gurneys, and Dr. Enfield, make up a goodly list of talent ; 
 and this slight but imperfect record of some of the names of 
 which Norwich is justly proud, may be supplemented by an 
 extract from a speech of the late Lord Houghton at a Social 
 Science Congress in that town :■ — 
 
 " I know no provincial city adorned with so many illustrious 
 names in literature, the professions, and public life ; those of 
 Taylor, Martineau, Austin, Alderson, Opie, come first to my 
 recollection, and there are many more behind ; and there is 
 this additional peculiarity of distinction, that these are for the 
 most part not the designation of individuals, but of families 
 numbering each men and women conspicuous in various walks 
 in life." 
 
 My ancestor, Dr. John Taylor, was born in 1694, near 
 Lancaster. His father, a timber-merchant, was a member 
 of the Church of England ; his mother, a Protestant Dissenter. - 
 John Taylor adopted her religious opinions, and is described 
 by Dr. Parr as a " defender of simple and uncorrupted 
 religion." 
 
 In 1733, he was elected to the charge of the Presbyterian 
 congregation in Norwich, and some years later he published 
 his controversial work, "The Scripture Doctrine of Original 
 Sin," which called forth violent answers from Drs. Watts and 
 Jennings. Dr. Taylor replied in a " Supplement." In 1745, 
 appeared his " Paraphrase to the Epistle to the Romans," and 
 soon afterwards he published one of the first collections of 
 sacred tunes, with an introduction on the art of singing. In 
 
SUSANNAH TA YLOR. 3 
 
 1754, Dr. Taylor brought out his great work, "The Hebrew 
 Concordance." Two years later, the University of Glasgow 
 conferred on him the degree of D.D. In i7S7, Dr. Taylor was 
 named divinity tutor at Warrington, where he died in 176 1. 
 
 Richard, the eldest son of Dr. John Taylor, married Margaret, 
 daughter of Philip Meadows, Mayor of Norwich, in 1734. Her 
 sister Sarah married David Martineau, grandson of Gaston 
 Martineau, who fled from France at the time of the Edict of 
 Nantes. Both sisters were left widows at an early age, and 
 one had eight, the other seven children, to whose training 
 they devoted themselves. Harriet Martineau was a grand- 
 daughter of Mrs. David Martineau. A daughter of Dr. 
 John Taylor, Sarah, who was very beautiful, married John 
 Rigby, a Lancashire man, who was educated at Dr. Priestley's 
 school at Warrington, and afterwards studied medicine under 
 Mr. Norgate at Norwich, where he settled. Their son. Dr. 
 Edward Rigby, a good classic scholar, a naturalist, and an 
 enthusiastic and practical farmer, was the father of Lady 
 Eastlake. 
 
 The second son of Mrs. Richard Taylor, named John, after 
 his grandfather, was put to school at Dr. Akers's, at Hindol- 
 veston, whence he was removed on the death of his father in 
 1762, in order — though only twelve years of age — to help his 
 mother in business. Three years later he was apprenticed to 
 Messrs. Martin and Wingfield, manufacturers in Norwich, and 
 in 1 771 he entered, as clerk, the banking-house of Messrs. 
 Dimsdale, Archer, and Byde, in London, where he spent two 
 years, and during that time occasionally wrote poetry in the 
 Morning Chronicle. On returning to Norwich, he became 
 a yarn-maker, in partnership with his brother Richard. In 
 April, 1777, he married Susannah, youngest daughter of Mr. 
 John Cook, of Norwich — a handsome and gifted woman, 
 whose energetic - character and liberal opinions, joined with 
 great kindness of heart, made her a centre of the circle of 
 
4 THREE GENERA TIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 remarkable people who frequented the provincial Athens. She 
 possessed the pen of a ready writer, and her literary faculty 
 was inherited by her daughter, Mrs. Austin, and her grand- 
 daughter, Lady Duff Gordon. 
 
 In 1776 Miss Susannah Cook went with a party of friends 
 to London, and travelled through a great part of England and 
 Scotland. She wrote a series of letters to her young friend, 
 Miss Judith Dixon, which show the powers of observation 
 and appreciation which distinguished her in after life. The 
 yellow pages covered with neat pretty writing, still seem 
 tinted with the bright anticipations of those bygone youthful 
 shining mornings and evenings. 
 
 Susannah Cook to Judith Dixon. 
 
 " Stourbridge, _/««e 17, 1776. 
 " I believe, my dear Judith, it is customary to say something 
 handsome at the beginning of a correspondence, and to usher 
 the first letter into the presence of one's friend with a great 
 deal of pomp and ceremony. Ours, I may venture to pro- 
 nounce, will not commence in quite so stately a manner, but 
 trust me when I assure you that I feel the sincerest pleasure 
 in my present employment, and that though I am rather apt 
 to be impatient, I never found myself more so than I have 
 lately been for an opportunity to write to you — wonderfully 
 busy have I been, my dear girl, since we parted. A traveller 
 both by land and by water, and though I cannot relate any 
 marvellous adventures or hairbreadth escapes, yet I do assure 
 you that the jaunt has been extremely entertaining. Never 
 was any time more completely or agreeably filled up than that 
 which I passed in London. Engagements without number 
 crowded upon us the moment we made our appearance, and 
 as it was impossible to comply with them all, our principal 
 care was to make a judicious selection. The many visits we 
 were under a necessity of paying prevented our devoting much 
 time to public diversions. We had, however, one glorious 
 evening at Vauxhall. Our party consisted of my friend Miss 
 
SUSANNAH TAYLOR. S 
 
 Townley, and her three sisters — a set of the most amiable girls 
 I ever met with. Their brother, a lively young divine, his 
 wife, with a Mr. and Mrs. Dickinson, Mr. Russell, and myself, 
 completed the collection, and I think a parcel of happier 
 people it would have been difficult to find. We heard several 
 of the new catches which are at present reigning favourites, 
 and Mrs. Weichsel sung a most delightful cantata. As the day 
 had been remarkably hot the evening was beautiful beyond 
 expression, and greatly as I always admired Vauxhall, it 
 appeared then more enchanting than ever. It would be in- 
 excusable not to tell you that I had the good fortune to 
 see the ' Duenria.' Nay, don't congratulate, but pity me, 
 for Garrick played 'Hamlet' the same night. We might 
 as well have attempted to remove St. Paul's as to get in 
 at Drury Lane. The crowd was inconceivable, and I had 
 the assurance to go to Covent Garden murmuring at my 
 ill fortune. That syren Leoni soon reconciled me to my 
 fate, and I returned home not only satisfied but delighted. 
 His voice is so totally diiferent to anything I had ever 
 heard, or could conceive, that all the time he was singing 
 the first air I remained in a state of silent astonishment. 
 Kitty Townley, who was with me, and who had heard him 
 before, enjoyed my surprise very much. The first use I made 
 of my returning reason was to wish for you^ which I really did 
 most ardently. Indeed, my dear Judith, you would be greatly 
 charmed with him ; the songs are in general pretty, but every 
 other voice appeared trifling and insignificant. We spent a 
 day with Mrs. Home at her house upon Epping Forest, and, 
 besides the family, had a Mr. and Mrs. Wright, who pleased 
 me extremely. Mrs. Wright is a perfect mistress of all that 
 easy politeness which renders the possessor more captivating 
 than almost any other endowment ; she is very sensible and 
 entertaining, and we soon became well acquainted : before we 
 parted we made an appointment for the next morning, which 
 was passed in a virtuoso-like manner. We went first to 
 Wedgewoods, and saw some copies of various figures dug out 
 of the ruins of Herculaneam, which were lent him by Sir 
 William Hamilton, and which appear to be very nicely 
 imitated. From thence we repaired to the Exhibition, where 
 
6 THREE GENERA TIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 Mrs. Wright and I diverted the gentlemen by delivering our 
 opinions with all the arrogance of two first-rate connoisseurs. 
 I believe the pictures were not very capital, and as it is always 
 easy to find fault, we thought our criticisms mightily ingenious. 
 But I must take leave of London in order to give you some 
 little account of our journey from thence to Stourbridge, which 
 really proved agreeable beyond expectation. How often in the 
 course of it did I long to take you by the hand and wander 
 over those spots which appeared most delightful to me ; not 
 only you did I wish for, but your papa, mamma, and a little 
 hundred besides. Our first day's journey was to Guildford. 
 Surrey is really a fine county, for though the road in many 
 parts lies over a brown barren heath, yet this is sweetly con- 
 trasted by continual views of the distant cultivated country 
 through which flows the Thames in silent majesty. We got 
 to Portsmouth the next day, and the following morning set 
 sail in a small half-decked vessel for the Isle of Wight. We 
 had a most droll voyage indeed. The wind was extremely 
 rough, and as there happened to be what the sailors call a 
 ' great swell,' the waves were continually dashing over the 
 sides of the vessel. The view was enchanting. At the same 
 instant we saw the fleet lying off Spithead, the town and docks 
 with the country beyond swelling into gentle hills, and a range 
 of rocks to terminate the view. On the other hand was the 
 ocean, briskly agitated by the gales that then prevailed, and 
 at the extremity of the prospect the green shores of the Isle of 
 Wight rising like a garden from amidst the dashing waves. 
 It was impossible to keep under deck with such a scene before 
 us. I was continually coming up, and had no sooner made my 
 appearance than a spiteful blast drove the water all over me, 
 and I returned into the cabin half drowned for my curiosity. 
 Notwithstanding this, I frequently repeated the experiment, 
 and was every time served in the same provoking manner. 
 At length we landed at Ryde, and I went dripping on shore, 
 where Mr. Russell inquired whether we could have a chaise to 
 convey us to Newport. We were told they had no chaises, 
 but good saddle horses and a post coach. The post coach 
 was immediately ordered to carry ourselves and baggage. We 
 had a considerable way to walk after landing before we arrived 
 
SUSANNAH TAYLOR. 1 
 
 at the house where we made this inquiry, and in the space of 
 about ten minutes experienced almost the greatest vicissitudes 
 of heat and cold. We had been chilled amazingly whilst upon 
 the sea but we no sooner landed than we found the sun in- 
 tensely hot. The men who followed with our trunks wanted 
 frequently to rest, and we took these opportunities of looking 
 about us charmed with the appearance of this lovely and 
 fertile spot. We reached Newport in time for dinner, which 
 is the principal town upon the island. In the afternoon we 
 went to view Carisbrook Castle, a most venerable pile of ruins 
 indeed. Had you been with me, my dear Judith, I am certain 
 we could have composed a story which for terrors should have 
 claimed the pre-eminence over Sir Bertrand himself. It was 
 the very spot for such a purpose — 
 
 " ' High o'er the pines that with their dark'ning shade 
 Surround yon craggy bank, the castle rears 
 Its crumbling turrets — still its towery head 
 A warlike mien a sullen grandeur wears.' 
 
 This once magnificent structure inspired at the same time 
 sublime ideas and melancholy pleasure ; I want to describe it 
 more particularly but my paper says ' No.' I would have 
 taken a larger sheet, but my time has been so engaged in 
 writing since I came to Stourbridge, that the good folks below 
 stairs are quite abusive. They tell me my company is all 
 engrossed by my correspondents, and, indeed, I am continually 
 stealing into my own apartment and snatching up my pen ; 
 but the saucy creatures would only afford me this little scrap 
 of paper. I must, therefore, postpone the remainder of my 
 travels till I have the pleasure of writing to you again. I will 
 give you the outlines, by informing you that we sailed in the 
 packet boat to Southampton, from thence went to Salisbury, 
 Bath, Bristol, Gloucester, and Worcester, and from Worcester 
 to Stourbridge, and finish the picture at my first opportunity. 
 
 " Adieu, my dear friend. Once more I repeat, that I think 
 of you continually, and always am, with the sincerest affection, 
 
 "Yours entirely, 
 
 " Susannah Cook." 
 
8 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 Susannah Cook to Judith Dixon. 
 
 " STOURBRIDGEjyw/y 20, 1776. 
 
 "If I was inclined to be superstitious I should be apt to 
 imagine myself endued with the gift of prescience. I had been 
 just indulging the agreeable idea of hearing from my dear 
 Judith, when her welcome letter was popped into my hand. 
 However great the pleasure might be in expectation, it was 
 much greater in reality, and if all my wishes are as happily 
 fulfilled, I shall have some reason to praise my propitious stars. 
 Think not, my sweet friend, that I am so unreasonable as to 
 expect they will. If I was I should deserve to be disappointed. 
 Your mamma's excellent doctrine of moderation is never more 
 necessary than in our desires after happiness, which are apt 
 to be too ardent, and, if not frequently repressed, occasion 
 great trouble and uneasiness. Next Wednesday we shall start 
 for our great and mighty ramble into the north. Could you 
 be of the party how perfect would be my satisfaction ! Those 
 transports which you so finely describe would yield me high 
 entertainment, and when I thought you in danger of suffering 
 from their violence I should endeavour to give them a gentle 
 check ; but, alas ! these wishes are so fruitless as not to be 
 accompanied by the least hope of gratification. I must, there- 
 fore, make a virtue of necessity, and console myself with the 
 pleasing thought of transmitting to you by letter an account of 
 some of those objects that afford me the highest pleasure. This 
 you may depend upon receiving, and believe at the same time 
 that my own enjoyments are doubled by having to communicate 
 them to my friends. I have been endeavouring to recollect 
 at what part of my last narrative I was obliged to break off. 
 Carisbrook Castle, I think, was the place where I was under 
 the necessity of saying adieu. No wonder that I left you and 
 myself upon a spot with which I was so greatly delighted. It 
 is a strange fancy, but I was so enchanted with this and several 
 other remains of ancient magnificence which my late journey 
 afforded me a sight of, that I have scarcely done anything but 
 read elegies written amongst piles of ruins ever since. It is 
 a fine subject for the moral muse, and well adapted to that 
 
S USA NNA H TAYLOR. g 
 
 kind of solemn melancholy so prevalent amongst a certain 
 class of poets. The print you mention would give you a very 
 good idea of its form and situation. From the highest part of 
 the building you have a most glorious prospect indeed — the 
 whole island at one view ; beyond this the ocean, and farther 
 still this Island of Albion, some of whose hills present them- 
 selves very agreeably to terminate the wide-extended scene. 
 We were obliged to ascend to this elevated part by a long 
 flight of stone steps, so broken and mouldered away that I was 
 under no small apprehensions for the fate of my neck. Our 
 guide mounted with the utmost agility, and as I was not 
 willing to be outdone in dexterity of this kind, I proceeded as 
 fast as possible, and at length gained the summit. During 
 our ascent I could not help reflecting that perhaps hundreds 
 of gallant knights, the heroes of distant ages, had trod upon 
 those very stones which then sustained my feet. I was struck, 
 as I often am, with my own insignificance, and looked upon 
 the scattered fragments with an awful veneration. My busy 
 curiosity left no part unexplored, and whilst I was peeping into 
 some of the most unfrequented corners, a sudden flight of bats 
 and ravens frequently made me start back in a very precipitate 
 manner. The ivy, with which the walls are almost entirely 
 covered, is of itself a remarkable object ; instead of creeping 
 along upon a slender stalk it grows upon very large branches, 
 and so profusely as to form a thick shade, which is chiefly 
 inhabited by those two species of birds, and adds very much 
 to the natural gloom of the building. I forget whether I 
 mentioned our voyage to Southampton ; it was delightfully 
 pleasant, and free from all those dashing difficulties which had 
 before tormented me. I had not a single drop of salt water 
 thrown upon me during our passage, and amidst a variety of 
 objects was treated with an outside view of Calshot Castle, 
 which stands upon a point of land projecting into the sea. I 
 gave you a sketch of our route, which, as far as Salisbury, was 
 entirely new to me. After our departure from thence, upon 
 entering the high West Road, I began to recollect myself. 
 At Bath I seemed to be at home, but was disappointed of one 
 pleasure with which I had been flattered, that of meeting an 
 intimate friend. Though it is only four years since I was 
 
lo THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 there, Bath is much altered ; it is daily increasing in size, and 
 many houses of a stupendous height seem to be sprung up as 
 if by enchantment ; it was never known to be so full as last 
 winter. 
 
 " The Duchesses of Cumberland and Ancaster formed rival 
 parties, whose whole study seemed to be to spite each other. 
 All the ladies that were in high favour at Court resorted to 
 the routes of the latter and neglected her Royal Highness, 
 whose company chiefly consisted of those that were in disgrace 
 like herself. Perhaps you will not thank me for entering upon 
 such a subject, but now I am talking of the heau monde I 
 must give you an anecdote upon the article of dress which 
 made quite a bustle when I was in London. Lady Harriet 
 Foley appeared at Court when she was presented after her 
 marriage in a suit of white lutestring trimmed with large 
 bunches of acorns. The cups of these acorns really grew upon 
 an oak, and though the other part was artificial, yet the imita- 
 tion was nice enough to deceive all beholders. The hint was 
 immediately catched, the fashion adopted, and the dresses for 
 a masquerade at Carlisle House which followed soon after, 
 were whimsical and ridiculous in the highest degree. A lady 
 who was present gave me a history of them which I would 
 preserve in my mind for the entertainment of my friends, and 
 to prove to what extremities of folly fashion will carry her 
 votaries. This is a strange digression, my dear Judith, and if 
 I proceed in the same manner much longer I shall never arrive 
 at the end of my tale, nor bring myself safely to Stourbridge. 
 You remember Sancho's method of telling a story and may 
 possibly think I am following his example. Now then I'll 
 proceed with my journey. 
 
 " The road from Bristol to Gloucester affords several fine 
 prospects. One, where the river Severn joins the sea, is par- 
 ticularly beautiful. I had before gazed at it with great pleasure, 
 and now found my satisfaction very little lessened from its 
 having lost the charm of novelty which, however, I acknow- 
 ledge to be very powerful. From Gloucester to Worcester is 
 a pleasant ride, and Malvern Hills, which you have in view 
 most part of the way add a sort of grandeur to the prospect. 
 Wc are to ascend these hills the first convenient opportunity. 
 
SUSANNAH TAYLOR. ii 
 
 There is a celebrated spring at the top of one of them ; a 
 treatise was pubhshed upon its virtues some years ago and a 
 great deal of company resort in the season to drink the waters. 
 I always thought Worcester an agreeable place, it is a well- 
 built handsome town and celebrated for its fine women. We 
 were to have been there this very day but so many employ- 
 ments at present engage our attention previous to the long 
 journey I have already mentioned, that this little trip was 
 obliged to be postponed. Our time has really been spent in 
 a most agreeable manner since I came to Stourbridge — jovial 
 parties and various diversions have contributed to our amuse- 
 ment. We have been once within sight of the house Mr. 
 Home is building in our road to Birmingham, but as we were 
 upon a grand expedition to see Miss Younge play Almeria, 
 and expected a very crowded theatre, we had not a moment to 
 spare ; it was crowded indeed, and the play most admirably 
 performed. I hope we shall take Birmingham in our road 
 northwards and have an opportunity of seeing her again. 
 There is a man plays upon the hautboy — I had almost said 
 divinely ; at the end of the fourth act we had a miscellaneous 
 quartette for the violin, hautboy, tenor, and violoncello. I 
 could not suppose such sounds could ever have been extracted 
 from a hautboy as I then heard. I almost believed myself in 
 the region of spirits and that I was listening to their aerial 
 music. A silence strikingly profound, reigned throughout the 
 house, not a breath, not a sound was heard ; but as soon as 
 the piece was finished such a clap succeeded to this -silence 
 that every corner re-echoed with the applauses of the delighted 
 audience. I was much pleased with their taste which they 
 testified throughout the play in a very judicious manner. The 
 Birmingham people are very fond of public diversions and 
 promote them with great spirit. They spare no expense to 
 procure agreeable amusements for their hours of relaxation. 
 We shall be absent from Stourbridge several weeks. I hope, 
 my dear Judith, to find a letter from you at my return. 
 " Believe me always, with the sincerest affection, 
 
 " Your faithful friend, 
 
 " Susannah Cook." 
 
12 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 Susannah Cook to Judith Dixon. 
 
 "Stourbridge, November 23, 1776. 
 "... How greatly am I obliged to my dear Judith for her last 
 affectionate letter ! To deserve reproaches and chidings, and 
 meet with nothing but thanks and praises, was indeed a very 
 delightful disappointment. I remember leaving the description 
 of our northern tour unfinished. The subject of journeying 
 is become rather stale, and I am afraid begins to lose its powers 
 of pleasing, as all other topics do when too often repeated, but 
 as I was obliged to take my leave of you in Scotland, I may 
 possibly be accused of cruelty in exposing you at this time to 
 the bleak winds of the north without exerting my endeavours 
 to bring you back into a less rigorous climate. I cannot help 
 shuddering when I reflect upon some of the miserable dwellings 
 we there beheld, and the situation of their poor inhabitants at 
 this inhospitable season. Many of them are situated upon the 
 edges of bleak, barren mountains, and (to borrow an expression 
 of Mrs. Barbauld's), 
 
 " ' Seem like an eagle's nest aerial built.' 
 
 The road from Kilmarnock to Sanquhar and Dumfries lies 
 for many miles through solitary vales, with ridges of high 
 black rocks on either side, and a gushing river below, which is 
 rendered extremely rapid by the torrents that rush down the 
 precipices. No traces of population are visible but the habita- 
 tions just mentioned, and they add if possible to the gloominess 
 of the prospect. In the midst of these dismal glens we per- 
 ceived at a distance a gentleman on horseback, who upon a 
 nearer approach we discovered to be an acquaintance of Mr. 
 Russell's, and who had actually been at his house not many 
 weeks before. Such a meeting in this solitary, romantic place 
 could not fail of being highly agreeable, but as we were 
 travelling different roads, a few minutes' conversation was all 
 we could enjoy of each other's company. Dumfries is a pretty 
 town, and the people quite in the English style, which is not 
 the case with many other places equally near the borders, that, 
 notwithstanding their vicinity to South Britain still preserve 
 
SUSANNAH TAYLOR. 13 
 
 the old national customs as strongly as the interior inhabitants. 
 I have already expatiated so largely upon the wonders of 
 Cumberland in my letters to Sally Taylor, that you are well 
 acquainted with the eifect they had upon my imagination. 
 After leaving Lancaster, Preston, Manchester, and Chester, 
 we passed through a small part of North Wales. 
 
 It is an opinion pretty generally received that the Scotch 
 and Welsh were originally one people. However this may be 
 there is a similitude in the face of the countries. We visited 
 a fine ancient building in Denbighshire called Chirk Castle. 
 It is the seat of a Mr. Middleton, Member for Denbigh, and 
 the situation is truly delightful. From hence we proceeded to 
 Shrewsbury, and before we quitted Shropshire took a view of 
 that celebrated slip of the earth, which about four years ago 
 attracted universal attention. This is a phenomenon for which 
 the learned have not even attempted to account — a plain proof 
 that it is entirely unaccountable. I trod upon the land that 
 had undergone such a strange removal, and viewed the chasm 
 it had left with a mixture of astonishment and horror ; what- 
 ever happens out of the usual course of nature has an alarming 
 effect upon the imagination. Fancy — always busy in exagge- 
 rating every circumstance — seems in such cases to have ample 
 room to display her powers, and adds to what was always 
 marvellous a thousand new wonders of her own creation. 
 From Shrewsbury to Stourbridge is but a day's ride ; we were 
 absent exactly a month, having set out upon the 24th of July, 
 and returned upon the 24th of August. It is impossible to 
 conceive a more agreeable jaunt, and I am sure I enjoyed it in 
 the highest degree. Our two last excursions demand no par- 
 ticular notice. Most of the places I had seen before, and those 
 I had not were not distinguished by anything very extra- 
 ordinary. 
 
 " Your account of the ball aiforded me high entertainment. 
 I wonder at none of your extasies, for the occasion might well 
 be expected to inspire them. It was a fortunate circumstance 
 that your feather was so well fixed upon its ' ostensible place of 
 residence^ for I have seen many ridiculous distresses occasioned 
 by these fluttering embellishments. Two ladies at Worcester 
 who happened to sit next each other unfortunately forgot that 
 
14 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 a perpendicular position is absolutely necessary according to 
 the present system of head-dressing — by some fatal accident 
 their heads met, and were immediately entangled. The 
 attempts they made to extricate themselves only increased 
 the difficulty, and O cruel Fate ! the lofty fabrics that erst 
 had towered in conscious superiority over a gazing multitude, 
 were now demolished, laid low, and become the objects of 
 derision. Another lady in the midst of a cotillon as she was 
 displaying all her airs and graces, lost the whole superstructure, 
 and a majestic one it was, but for want of being properly 
 secured it fell backwards, and left her in the utmost confusion. 
 The rest of the company beheld the impending danger, and 
 (I suppose for fear of being crushed in the ruins) wisely re- 
 treated to a convenient distance. I heard that Miss Linley 
 has been at Norwich. I wish you could have heard her sing ; 
 she is an enchanting creature. Was she thought handsome at 
 Norwich ? I think her extremely so. 
 
 " Adieu, my dear Judith. Whenever you favour me with 
 a thought let me be regarded as 
 
 " Your faithful and aifectionate friend, 
 
 " Susannah Cook." 
 
 A few shorter letters contain significant allusions to a friend 
 who escorts her on horseback along moonlit lanes, and although 
 Miss Susannah still declares that serenity of mind is necessary 
 to improvement, her " dear Judith " must have had a shrewd 
 suspicion of the announcement contained in the following 
 epistle : — 
 
 Susannah Cook to Judith Dixon. 
 
 "Stourbridge, April lo, 1777. 
 " This letter, my dear Judith, will seem but as the fore- 
 runner of myself. I am returning to the society of many truly 
 dear and amiable friends. I am going to receive the caresses 
 of those who long have loved me. This alone, without any 
 additional circumstance, is sufficient to produce the most 
 pleasing agitation ; but think, my dear Judith, how greatly 
 
SUSANNAH TA YLOR. 15 
 
 this agitation is increased when I reflect upon the excellent 
 young man to whom I am soon to be indissolubly united ! 
 — when I consider that my state in life is shortly to undergo a 
 total alteration, and that new duties are coming upon me 
 which require my most serious and constant attention. You 
 are too well acquainted with Mr. Taylor's merit to render any 
 encomium needful. You also will perceive, without my point- 
 ing them out, the many agreeable circumstances attending this 
 affair. At these^I know you kindly rejoice, and I cannot help 
 expressing my satisfaction at being the means of bringing you 
 acquainted with a family so completely amiable, and so worthy 
 of your esteem. May we all continue united by the sweet ties 
 of friendship, and to the last period of our lives rejoice at the 
 remembrance of those happy days which first taught us to 
 love and seek the society of each other. I can easily conceive 
 how much you were delighted with the company of Mr. and 
 Mrs. Barbauld. They are indeed a most wonderful pair, and 
 could not fail to render your visit at Thorpe completely agree- 
 able ; if perfect happiness is ever to be found in this comical 
 world, it must certainly be in such society. I am glad the. old 
 shrieking story was of such singular service ; the effect pro- 
 duced by it was doubtless very diverting. This is quite a land 
 of story-tellers. Every droll incident is treasured up and 
 turned into a tale, and by means of the various embellishments 
 added by the ingenuity of the relator, they are many of them 
 highly curious. As I have now but a few days to spend with 
 my friends at Stourbridge, those few are busy beyond descrip- 
 tion. Soon, very soon, my dear Judith, shall I have an oppor- 
 tunity of conversing with you in a more satisfactory manner 
 and of assuring you in person how sincerely I am and ever 
 will be, 
 
 " Your affectionate and faithful friend, 
 
 " Susannah Cook." 
 
 After Susannah Cook's marriage to John Taylor they 
 settled among their friends and kinsfolk at Norwich, and in 
 her sensible sententious way she writes in February, 1780, to 
 her friend who was " seeing the gay world " in London ; — 
 
1 6 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 Susannah Taylor to Judith Dixon. 
 
 "... My time, you know, has of late been so much en- 
 grossed by domestic cares and employments, that very little of 
 it has been devoted to literary pursuits. Satisfied, however, 
 with reflecting that it is better to be useful than accomplished, 
 I endeavour to fulfil, in the best manner I am able, the various 
 duties that lie before me, and in the meanwhile enjoy, with 
 double relish, an interval of leisure. My heart thanks you 
 much more than any words can do for the interest you take in 
 the welfare of that little creature who engages so much of my 
 attention ; but you are ever kindly solicitous about all the 
 concerns of my friends. Nay, more than this, you seem to 
 enter into the exquisite feelings that actuate the mind of a 
 parent. Indeed, my dear Judith, they are exquisite ; and 
 while we regard in the present helpless object of our cares, 
 both the companion of our riper years, and the support of 
 declining age, it is no wonder if we are thankful for the 
 inestimable gift. Perhaps he may not prove what our sanguine 
 hopes presage ; but as I see no harm in it, I indulge the agree- 
 able idea. He is at present quite well, and very entertaining at 
 home, but from being so much of a domestic lately he behaves 
 very ill to strangers. I hope he will mend his manners before 
 you return to Norwich. Adieu my dear girl, I hope I need 
 not say how happy I shall be to hear from you, or how much I 
 am yours, 
 
 " Susannah Taylor." 
 
 In the following year Mr. John Taylor went over to Ireland 
 for his business, and the young wife writes to her " sweet 
 friend," who is staying with Dr. and Mrs. Barbauld at Pal- 
 grave : — 
 
 Susannah Taylor to Judith Dixon. 
 
 " August 17, 1781. 
 "... It is not to every one that I would expose my weak- 
 ness in making a trip to Ireland a matter of such consequence ; 
 
SUSANNAH TA YLOR. 17 
 
 but in these situations it is not so much the degree of danger 
 that affects us, as the value of what is exposed ; when the 
 treasure is immense it signifies but little that the hazard is 
 trifling, for the mind magnifies bare possibility and dwells upon 
 those ideas which it ought to avoid. I am sure of meeting 
 with every indulgence from you, and therefore freely own that 
 I have felt fears which in another I should have laughed at. 
 You are enjoying the choicest of pleasures, my dear Judith, and 
 you know how to prize them. If ever one might acknowledge 
 being envious without a blush, it would be for such society as 
 Mr. and Mrs. Barbauld ; but I don't envy you, I wish only to 
 be a joint partaker in your enjoyment. Give my most aifec- 
 tionate respects to them both. Your good father and mother 
 are so kind and attentive to me that my thoughts are turned 
 from my domestic loss to the comfort I feel in good friends ; 
 scarcely a day has passed without one of them calling upon me, 
 and they have felt the same anxious impatience for a letter, and 
 the same benevolent pleasure when it was received, which they 
 always do at every event in which I am so much interested. 
 They told me they should send a parcel to you to-morrow. I 
 am desirous of taking the opportunity to convey to you the 
 promised account ; therefore in defiance of my son John's im- 
 portunities, who is begging me to let him write, and the more 
 earnest supplications of little Richard to be nursed, as he lies 
 by my side, I persist in my employment. I must tell you the 
 reason for John's earnestness to take the pen from me. His 
 father begged that when I wrote to Dublin, his darling might 
 make a scrawl at the bottom of the letter. (I think I see you 
 smile) but John has been so fond of writing, as he calls it, ever 
 since, that it is with difficulty I keep him from it. How 
 delightful to see the workings of paternal fondness in one 
 of the best of hearts ! and what sweet follies it produces ! I 
 quit with reluctance (as I always do) the pleasure of talking to 
 my amiable friend, but I must submit to necessity. I shall 
 rejoice to hear from you, but let not this employment take up 
 the place of any that would assure you more pleasure. To 
 know you are happy will at all times give the sincerest delight 
 to " Your true and faithful friend, 
 
 " S. Taylor." 
 3 
 
1 8 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 Susannah Taylor to Judith Dixon. 
 
 "Norwich, March 12, 1782. 
 " I hope you will go several times to the opera. It must be 
 such a delightful treat that I shall rejoice to hear you partake 
 of it frequently. The papers are full of the praises of AUe- 
 grante, as they generally are of the reigning favourite at the 
 Haymarket. I must join with you, my dear Judith, in con- 
 demning the censures which are indiscriminately cast upon the 
 opera. These censures spring from several causes, one of 
 which is certainly a want of taste, but the defects of the 
 Italian opera, when considered as a dramatic piece, must 
 strongly influence those who cannot enjoy the music, and 
 then the 'extravagant and affected raptures of many who in 
 reality feel nothing, is a powerful reason for ridiculing both 
 the thing itself and the admirers of it. The world is always 
 ready to combat affectation, whatever shape it assumes, and 
 yet there is scarcely one person in a thousand who is entirely 
 free from it. The grave philosopher who would turn away 
 with scorn and contempt from the airs and graces of a Court 
 beauty, will frequently depart as far from nature as she, and is 
 I think, much more despicable. Mr. Taylor desires his kind 
 love, and bids me tell you that he hopes you will bring home 
 a few new things in the musical way. Glees are the great 
 favourites with him at present ; he is gone to meet a singing 
 party this evening as he generally does twice in a week. Mr. 
 Philip Martineau received a letter yesterday from Edinburgh 
 from the celebrated Dr. Blacklock upon the subject of little 
 Crotch, who has been confined with his mother in prison for 
 many months ; she is very deep in debt, but the ingenious 
 people at Edinburgh are exceedingly desirous of procuring his 
 enlargement, and speak in the highest terms of his uncommon 
 genius, which they say is by no means confined to music, but 
 displays itself in everything he attempts. It is a pity he 
 cannot be taken from under the management of a woman who 
 is so extremely ignorant. 
 
 " I am, at all times, and in all places, 
 
 " Your obliged and affectionate, 
 
 "S. Taylor." 
 
SUSANNAH TA YLOR. 19 
 
 Mrs. Taylor went to visit her husband's relations at Diss in 
 September, 1783, and relates how — 
 
 " Mrs. Barbauld drank tea with us. She is in good spirits, 
 and her conversation as charming as usual. Mrs. Barbauld 
 told me she had received a letter from you, and we agreed that 
 you had no occasion to fear being too romantic — there is too 
 large a portion of discretion and of solid judgment in your 
 composition to suffer your imagination to be led astray. I 
 have frequently been disappointed in the character of women 
 on this account. Those who are capable of enjoying the plea- 
 sure of knowledge are apt to be intoxicated with it, and to 
 transplant the high-wrought ideas which they acquire into 
 situations where they have no business. This is a great error, 
 for we must frequently change both our modes of thinking and 
 acting, and adapt them to our circumstances. For this reason 
 a romantic woman is a troublesome friend, as she expects you 
 to be as imprudent as herself, and is mortified at what she calls 
 coldness and insensibility. I foresee, my dear Judith, that these 
 are misconstructions we shall never be liable to ; we can both be 
 extremely fond of each other's society without expecting every- 
 thing to give way to that fondness, and when our minds cease 
 to furnish us with sufficient amusement, we can apply to the 
 minds of others who are wiser, and enjoy the new ideas we 
 acquire together. 
 
 " Your faithful friend, 
 
 " S. Taylor." 
 
 In 1784 a third son, Edward, was born, who inherited his 
 father's taste for music and his fine voice. The following year 
 Judith Dixon married Mr. Beecroft, and Mrs. Taylor writes to 
 congratulate her young friend. 
 
 Susannah Taylor to Judith Beecroft, 
 
 •' Norwich, A^rzt 11, 1785. 
 " The steadiness and uniformity of your friendship for me has 
 been proved in many instances^in no one more, my dear Mrs. 
 
20 THREE GENERA TIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 Beecroft, than in turning your attention upon me at this time 
 when it is both natural and reasonable that one beloved object 
 should engross every thought. The experience I have had of 
 those feelings which now actuate your affectionate heart, makes 
 your situation doubly interesting to me. It is not sufficient 
 that the friends dearest to us are happy, we wish their happi- 
 ness to be of the same kind with our own, particularly when 
 reason assures us that we are enjoying the highest we can 
 expect to attain. I have long felt this conviction with regard 
 to the conjugal state, it is in that intimate union alone that a 
 woman feels herself safe, respectable, and happy ; and she finds 
 that the constant desire of giving pleasure to her husband 
 makes even trifling affairs of some importance. This affords 
 that stimulus which is so necessary to keep the active mind 
 from weariness and lassitude, and, when evils come, arms it 
 with additional fortitude to resist their power. I feel too 
 much on your account, my beloved friend, to salute you with 
 the usual forms of congratulation. May as much happiness be 
 yours as this life can afford ! and may those pleasing expecta- 
 tions which now fill your mind be realised to their full extent ! 
 They are not extravagant, and therefore likely to be so. 
 The qualities you prize in Mr. Beecroft are the only ones 
 capable of answering those expectations, and the plan of 
 life you mean to pursue is so congenial with his wishes and 
 your own, that there appears to be no avenue for disappoint- 
 ment or chagrin to enter. It is in the peaceful walks of life 
 that Mr. Taylor and myself have constantly wished to tread. 
 Our plan is now an established one, and we have found it 
 productive of all the enjoyment we could expect or desire. To 
 see you, my beloved friend, travelling the same road, sharing 
 the same pleasures, and to have an opportunity sometimes of 
 comparing and communicating our pursuits will afford me one 
 of the highest gratifications, and it is one which I am likely to 
 enjoy. My husband has desired me to say so much for him 
 that I believe it will be best to say nothing ; you know how 
 sincerely he loves you, and can guess what his affection would 
 dictate. Remember us both to Mr. Beecroft, to Mr. and Mrs. 
 Dixon, and Mrs. Raven. I cannot be satisfied to let a post 
 escape without writing to you. Accept my beloved friend 
 
SUSANNAH TAYLOR. 21 
 
 what this letter was chiefly intended to convey — the tenderest 
 wishes, the sincerest love of your ever faithful, 
 
 "S. Taylor." 
 
 In the old-fashioned parlour in St. George's, Colegate, might 
 be heard the most brilliant conversation, for eminent people 
 of every opinion gathered round the hospitable, unpretentious 
 fireside. Mr. John Taylor, though strongly attached to the 
 faith of his forefathers, and a staunch Whig, was of so kindly 
 and genial a temper that party spirit or religious prejudices 
 never interfered with his friendships. There might be seen 
 Sir James Mackintosh, the most brilliant and popular man of 
 the day, to whom Madame de Stael wrote, " II n'y a pas de 
 societe sans vous." " C'est tres ennuyeux de diner sans vous ; 
 la society ne va pas quand vous n'etes pas la." Sir James 
 Smith, the botanist ; Mr. Crabb Robinson, the philosopher ot 
 the Unitarians, and the cherished friend of all the distinguished 
 people of the last century, and the first half of this ; Dr. Southey, 
 Wm. Wyndham, Sir Thomas Beevor, the Gurneys, Dr. Enfield 
 and Dr. Rigby, Dr. Alderson and his charming daughter 
 Amelia Opie, and Mrs. Barbauld, who " prized and valued 
 Susannah Taylor's affection beyond all others." Dr. Sayers, 
 who lived in an old house near by, in the Lower Close ; and 
 the Sewards, Dr. Parr, and Mr. Smith (grandfather of Miss F. 
 Nightingale), were constant visitors. His eldest daughter, 
 talking of the excitement prevailing in Norwich when the 
 news of the fall of the Bastille was first known, said to the 
 present Mr. Henry Reeve, " Don't I remember your glorious 
 grandmother dancing round the tree of liberty at Norwich with 
 Dr. Parr ! " 
 
 Mrs. John Taylor was called, by her intimate friends, 
 "Madame Roland of Norwich," from her likeness to the 
 portraits of the handsome and unfortunate Frenchwoman ; 
 and Miss Lucy Aikin describes how she darned her boy's 
 grey worsted stockings while holding her own with Southey, 
 
22 THREE GENERA TIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 Brougham, or Mackintosh. The latter had a great admiration 
 for the quiet Norwich housewife, and writes to her : 
 
 " I know the value of your letters. They rouse my mind on 
 subjects which interest us in common : friends, children, litera- 
 ture, and life. Their moral tone cheers and braces me. I 
 ought to be made permanently better by contemplating a mind 
 like yours, which seems more exclusively to derive its gratifica- 
 tions from its duties than almost any other. Your active kind- 
 ness is a constant source of cheerfulness, and your character is so 
 happily constituted that even the misfortunes of those who are 
 dear to you, by exciting the activity of your affection, almost 
 heal the wounds which they would otherwise have inflicted." 
 
 He dwells aflfectionately upon her goodness, her fidelity in 
 friendship, and her " industrious benevolence, which requires a 
 vigorous understanding, and a decisive character." 
 
 In 1786, another son, Philip, was born, and two years later 
 the first girl, Susan, was hailed with great delight. In 1790, 
 the last son, Arthur, came into the world, and three years after- 
 wards, Sarah, the youngest child. 
 
 Every family event was celebrated by John Taylor with 
 a poem, for amid his manifold occupations he found leisure to 
 exercise his poetical talents. One of the most stirring songs I 
 know celebrating the dawn of the French Revolution was 
 written by him on the back of a letter announcing the fall of 
 the Bastille in July, 1789. " The Triumph of Liberty" was not 
 acceptable to the Tory Ministers of the day, but the Duke of 
 Sussex made Mr. Taylor sing it at a great dinner over which 
 he presided at Norwich. Party spirit ran high in the old 
 town in 1796, when Mr. Windham, who had been returned six 
 years before as a supporter of Whig principles, became the 
 friend and coadjutor of Burke, and both Mr. and Mrs. Taylor 
 took an active part in trying to deprive him of his seat in 
 favour of Bartlett Gurney. 
 
SUSANNAH TAYLOR. 23 
 
 In 1798, Mr. Taylor's aunt, Mrs. Martineau, died ; he was 
 much attached to her, and wrote to a friend : — 
 
 " My aunt was a woman whose head and heart procured her 
 the respect and esteem of all her family and friends. She 
 possessed a strong discrimination of character, and there were 
 few persons whose soundness of judgment better qualified them 
 to give advice. Her affections were warm, and her piety fervent, 
 yet rational." 
 
 Mrs. Barbauld, on this occasion, wrote " A Tribute to my 
 honoured Friends of the Families of Martineau and Taylor," 
 from which I extract the following characteristic lines : — 
 
 " No bitter drop 'midst nature's kind relief, 
 Sheds gall into the fountain of your grief ; 
 No tears you shed for patient love abused, 
 And counsel scorned, and kind restraints refused. 
 Not yours the pang the conscious bosom wrings 
 When late remorse inflicts her fruitless stings. 
 
 Living you honour'd her, you mourn her, dead ; 
 Her God you worship, and her path you tread ; 
 Your sighs shall aid reflection's serious hour. 
 And cherish'd virtues bless the kindly shower ; 
 On the loved theme your lips unblamed shall dwell ; 
 Your lives, more eloquent, her worth shall tell. 
 
 For me, as o'er the frequent grave I bend. 
 
 And pensive down the vale of years descend, 
 
 Companions, parents, kindred called to mourn, 
 
 Dropt from my side, or from my bosom torn, 
 
 A boding voice, methinks, in fancy's ear 
 
 Speaks from the tomb, and cries, ' Thy friends are here ! ' " 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 SUSANNAH TAYLOR {continued). 
 
 Mrs. J. Taylor's Letters to Dr. Reeve— Commencement of the Edinburgh 
 Review —CtS&cam of it— Visit to Cambridge— Mrs. J. Taylor's Letters 
 to her daughters — Sarah's visit to Mrs. Barbauld — The formation of 
 Character — Abolition of the Slave Trade— Mrs. Taylor's 52nd birthday 
 — Death of Mr. Opie. 
 
 Mrs. John Taylor bore a great affection to her young friend 
 Henry Reeve, and missed him sadly when he went to study 
 at Edinburgh. He was almost an adopted son in the house 
 before his engagement to her eldest daughter Susan. She 
 writes : — 
 
 " I rather envy Mr. Frenshaw when I see him mending pens, 
 and pouring over small print ; my eyes are somewhat more 
 bedimmed than usual, for they overflow now and then in 
 spite of myself Cowper says, in his address to his mother's 
 picture : — 
 
 " ' Where thoii art gone, 
 Adieus and farewells are a sound unknown.' 
 
 " In this odd world they seem to be. the most common of all 
 words. To be sure, partings and meetings give variety to our 
 existence, but I am now grown so dull as not to want variety. 
 If I could wish for any, I must be contented to have it all 
 secondhand. And so, when you have seen London, and the 
 Lakes and Edinburgh, all of which I know, and have seen in 
 former days, you may tell me what you think of them," 
 
SUSANNAH TA YLOR. 25 
 
 In another letter she says : — 
 
 " Nothing at present suits my taste so well as Susan's Latin 
 lessons, and her philosophical old master. . . . When we get 
 to Cicero's discussions on the nature of the soul, or Virgil's 
 fine descriptions, my mind is filled up. Life is either a dull 
 round of eating, drinking, and sleeping, or a spark of ethereal 
 fire just kindled. 
 
 ."There is no surer way of becoming acquainted with our 
 own mind than by the effect produced upon it by the conduct 
 of others ; if we can tolerate vice and folly, we may grow fond 
 of them in time. Perhaps you can bear witness to the truth 
 of another remark, that people generally wrap themselves up 
 in a solemn kind of reserve, and particularly those who have 
 taken upon themselves the task of enlightening the world. It 
 is to be accounted for from the jealousy and fear of losing a 
 reputation once acquired, by the unguarded frankness of 
 colloquial intercourse. Be it ours, my dear friend, merrily to 
 philosophise, sweetly to play the fool. Strange counsel to a 
 young man in a grave university ! " 
 
 In 1802, the Edinburgh Review first appeared ; Jeffrey, 
 Brougham, and Sydney Smith were its founders, and Dr. 
 Reeve, who had just taken his degree at Edinburgh, con- 
 tributed to the first numbers. Mrs. John Taylor took great 
 interest in the Whig review, and in the midst of her many 
 household duties finds time to review the reviewer. She 
 writes : — 
 
 " Mr. Hayley's style wants that majestic simplicity with 
 which such a character as Cowper's could have been portrayed. 
 He thinks it necessary, too, as Mr. Jeffrey observes, to praise 
 everybody. This is so like the misses who call all their insipid 
 acquaintances ' sweet,' and ' interesting,' that it makes me 
 rather sick. A biographer is good for nothing who does not 
 give those touches, those lights and shadows, which identify 
 his characters. On this account I do not like a remark of the 
 reviewer that Mrs. Unwin's little jealousies of Lady Austen 
 
26 THREE GENERA TIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 might as well have been passed over in silence. If the weak- 
 nesses of excellent people are to be concealed, how shall we 
 form an accurate impression of human nature ? " 
 
 Again she writes to Dr. Reeve : — 
 
 "Nothing can operate more powerfully against the attain- 
 ment of excellence in every species of composition, than the 
 indiscriminate praise and false tenderness which prevent those 
 writers who are capable of higher degrees of improvement 
 from endeavouring sedulously to aim at greater perfection, or 
 which lead those who are incapable to trouble the public at all. 
 I have been witness to such extravagant praises bestowed upon 
 inferior compositions, especially in London, that I rejoice in 
 the more hardy criticism of our northern metropolis, not from 
 a desire to depreciate, but from a conviction that the more 
 completely both books and characters find their proper stations, 
 the better it will be for society. I think the Edinburgh 
 Review contains just, but not ill-natured, criticism. 
 
 " If I were inclined to make an appeal for any person who 
 has fallen under the lash, it would be for Robert Southey, 
 whose experiments in poetry I acknowledge to be, many of 
 them, fantastic and extravagant ; but they are the experiments 
 of a man of genius. ... I think we ought to be grateful to 
 literary pioneers." 
 
 Mrs. John Taylor was desirous that her daughter Susan 
 should not be made acquainted with the ardent feelings of Dr. 
 Reeves, and wrote to him : — 
 
 " She is but sixteen, and must go on with her lessons and 
 practise housekeeping and the culinary arts, that she may not 
 from mere inexperience make mistakes which her husband 
 would not like." 
 
 " Prove," continues the wise and kindly woman, " that you 
 can, as you said to me, command your feelings. The way to 
 allow mind and body to come to perfection is to suffer them to 
 ripen by degrees. 
 
5 USA NNA H TAYLOR. 27 
 
 "If you knew what harm it would do to substitute con- 
 strained manners for innocent frankness, and to carry forward 
 Susan's attention to distant objects, instead of bestowing the 
 whole force of her mind upon present subjects." 
 
 She also wished her future son-in-law to settle in Norwich. 
 
 " Dr. Alderson," she writes, "after reading me some letters 
 of Mrs. Opie's, which completely prove that the whole 
 fraternity of authors, artists, lecturers, and public people get 
 such an insatiable appetite for praise, that nothing but the 
 greatest adulation can prevent their being miserable, came to 
 this sentence : ' Dr. Reeve, like a sensible man, prefers London 
 to Norwich.' ' Is that a proof of sense,' said I, ' to reject what 
 you allow is an extraordinary chance of settling to advantage in 
 a place because it contains but 40,000 inhabitants ! ' " 
 
 Soon afterwards Dr. Reeve made up his mind to settle in 
 Norwich, with the inevitable result that he became formally 
 engaged to Susan Taylor. 
 
 The following long letter to Dr. Reeve in London shows 
 how attached she was to him, in spite of her anxious dis- 
 approval of his early engagement to her daughter : — 
 
 " Norwich, _/z^?ze i, 1804. 
 " My dear Doctor, — As you are determined to style your- 
 self a grave personage, it is incumbent upon me to treat you 
 with due respect, though with all my disposition to be serious 
 I must confess it is rather difficult, for if even that great 
 saddener of human life — parting — cannot make us melancholy, 
 what should we care for ? It was not very civil to suffer you 
 to bid us adieu in the open air, but it was certainly better for 
 us all, instead of prolonging our misery, gayly to say ' Good- 
 night.' The morning brought us plenty of business, first 
 depositing our trunks, and then ourselves, in a stage-coach, 
 with two ordinary-looking women and a crying child, instead 
 of Montagu's polite friend Mr. Cripps, who had taken a place 
 in the ' Telegraph ' for the sake of accompanying us. This was 
 
28 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 not my only cause of regret, for I knew Mr. Smyth,' the friend 
 of Mr. Whishan, as well as of Mr. Montagu,^ would expect us 
 in the earliest coach. When we arrived at Cambridge, and 
 found that he had not only been in waiting, but provided a 
 dinner at Peter House, and invited just such a party as I 
 wished for to meet us, I was really distressed. A note brought 
 him flying to us, and we passed two delicious hours in those 
 ' brown o'er-arching groves,' where not only ' willowy Camus,' 
 but surely every living soul, must ' linger with delight.' Our 
 companion, with the most refined politeness, led us to his 
 rooms after our ramble, where tea equal to nectar was made 
 for us by himself. After tea he went to see whether the 
 Montagus were arrived, leaving Susan and me enchanted with 
 being shut up in a college surrounded with books, and looking 
 upon nothing but ' antique towers ' and ' venerable walls,' 
 repeating, as Mrs. Barbauld has beautifully expressed it, only 
 ' learned echoes.' The contrast afforded by this situation to 
 the bustle of London heightened its effect : but a different 
 scene awaited us, for Mr. Smyth soon returned in a carriage 
 because a few drops of rain were falling, to convey us to Jesus 
 Lane. There we found Montagu, absolutely intoxicated with 
 delight to find that we were at length assembled at Cam- 
 bridge, which to him really appears, not only the seat of 
 learning, but of happiness. His wife is full of genuine 
 sweetness and simplicity, and as soon as the children were 
 safe in bed we all adjourned to Jesus College, where an 
 elegant repast was provided for us by Dr. Clarke 3 and Mr. 
 Smyth ; Mr. Cripps and another gownsman or two supped 
 with us. The plan of the following day was settled, and one 
 very important part of the plan was that Porson * should dine 
 with us. The first thing we saw in the morning was the 
 mutilated statue of Ceres and various fragments of antiquity 
 which were brought by Dr. Clarke and Mr. Cripps from 
 
 ' Professor Smyth, whose lectures on modern history are celebrated. 
 
 " Mr. Basil Montagu, Q.C., editor of Bacon. 
 
 3 Dr. Clarke and Mr. Cripps had recently returned from a tour in Greece 
 and the Levant, and had brought back marbles which form part of the Cam- 
 bridge Museum. 
 
 ^ The celebrated Professor of Greek. 
 
SUSANNAH TA YLOR. 29 
 
 Athens. We heard numerous consultations of where and 
 how they should stand, and then we visited colleges and 
 libraries in succession till the hour of four, when the learned 
 professor was to meet us. Several other accomplished men 
 were of the party, and Porson took a moderate share in the 
 conversation like any other sensible man. Still my com- 
 panions were not satisfied ; they wanted me to see him blaze 
 out, as he does sometimes. We went to tea. More gownsmen 
 flew in and fiew out. Mrs. Montagu's harp was sent for, and 
 there she sat, playing touching airs till (like Timotheus) she 
 made Porson shed tears. We had a cold collation, and then, 
 between ten and eleven o'clock, this singular being began to dis- 
 play himself. Never did I make such a sacrifice to prudence as 
 by tearing myself away from this company, where every impor- 
 tunity was made use of to detain me. But I thought of Mrs. 
 Montagu's infant. I saw Susan was tired, and Montagu had 
 exhausted himself with his feelings ; for my own part, I should 
 most willingly have sat up all night, but away we went before 
 midnight, and the next morning Susan and I were in King's 
 College chapel for the early service, and we ascended the roof 
 and viewed all its parts before breakfast. My impatience to 
 be at home overcame all temptations, and after flying about 
 till two o'clock, we stepped into the Bury coach and reached 
 Newmarket before five ; there we had nothing to see but 
 volunteers and gingerbread-stalls, excepting the famous rooms 
 where the desperate gambler, in the agonies of despair, has 
 left his deep marks upon the unconscious hazard-table. When 
 I thought of the men who frequented this spot and those I had 
 just left ' wooing fair science in her cloisters pale,' they ap- 
 peared to my mind like a different race of beings. But enough 
 of narrative ; you can easily conceive the return home after 
 the dread of being left at such a barren scene as Newmarket 
 for want of room in the coaches, the rousing Susan from her 
 slumbers at three o'clock in the morning, our meeting Mr. 
 and Mrs. Wm. Barnard in the ' Expedition ' ' at that early hour, 
 and the remainder of our notable adventures. 
 
 ' The "Expedition" was a slow and heavy coach (six inside) from Norwich 
 to London, vid Newmarket. 
 
30 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 " Your interview with Mr. Martineau must have been very 
 interesting, but I am incHned to think neither of you would 
 abuse London if you were driving your carriage about its 
 busthng streets with a hundred patients upon your hst. 
 Houses and groimds are certainly our friend Philip's passion, 
 but for a man who can only scamper up to London once in 
 three or four years, for three or four days, to be sauntering in 
 shady walks instead of hunting for subjects of curious research 
 seems to me rather stupid, but every one to their taste. You 
 must have really an appetite for verdant lawns and shady 
 groves after living in London six or eight months ; besides, 
 certain associations connected with such objects may make 
 them more interesting. I think you and I are upon the best 
 footing we can be, considering what I regard as a misfortune 
 to you, because we conceal nothing from each other.' I 
 chiefly wish you would make the same vigorous use of your 
 faculties that you were so early accustomed to do, and that you 
 would not lose the most precious period of life in anticipation 
 of something better. . . . 
 
 " It is time I should thank you for all your kind attentions 
 in the busy scenes of London. I am sorry for all we omitted, 
 but we did as much as we could, and I have always found I 
 must leave something undone : if I do not mind I shall number 
 among these omissions that of telling you how sincerely and 
 affectionately I am yours, 
 
 " S. Taylor." 
 
 In 1805 Susan Taylor went to London to stay with Mrs. 
 Barbauld, and her mother wrote a gently scolding letter of 
 admirable advice — like most advice, very difficult to follow : — 
 
 " Dear Susan, — ... It would have been better if Reeve 
 had not accompanied you to Stoke Newington ; we must not 
 only mind our P's and Q's, but our R's. You know how freely 
 
 ' She refers to Dr. Reeve's engagement to her daughter, who was then 
 only sixteen. 
 
SUSANNAH TAYLOR. 31 
 
 I like to talk to you about everything. Do not show a kind 
 of weakness, which in the end never fails to lower a woman, 
 even in the estimation of a lover ! Men may be gratified at first 
 by possessing unbounded influence over the mind of a woman, 
 but they generally despise her for it in the end. One of the 
 great evils in contracting engagements of this sort at such an 
 early age as yours is the full disclosure of affections, owing to 
 the innocent simplicity of youth, which a woman at a more 
 advanced period, from a due sense of propriety, would cer- 
 tainly in some measure have concealed. For the future show 
 Reeve that you, like him, can bear absence when absence is 
 necessary, and that the only way to be fit for the duties of life 
 hereafter is to perform them with the utmost zeal and alacrity 
 now. . . ." 
 
 Various admonitions as to respectful behaviour follow, and 
 stringent injunctions about paying small debts and distributing 
 half-crowns to servants. Very motherly are the concludmg 
 sentences : — 
 
 "... Now I have written this letter, I have a great mind to 
 burn it, I am so unwilling to give you a moment's pain ; but if 
 you take it as a proof of love, and determine to profit by it, it 
 will rather give you pleasure. 
 
 " When you are absent it is a great effort to think of faults. 
 I could rather sit down and cry for your company. ..." 
 
 In February, 1807, Mrs. Barbauld invited the younger 
 sister to stay with her, and Mrs. John Taylor wrote a series 
 of admirable letters, sensible, thoughtful, and motherly, to 
 " dear Sally." 
 
 "... If I was to write to you as often as I think of you, it 
 would be almost every hour. Even at your early age, the great 
 points of moral conduct must be understood, and I think I 
 may safely trust that they will in no instance be deviated 
 from by you either in thought, word, or deed, But a character 
 
32 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 may in this respect be irreproachable, and yet fail to be amiable. 
 Now, as the world in general cannot search to the bottom of 
 our hearts, they must judge by external appearances, and 
 therefore obliging, attentive manners must be added to rational 
 acquirements, if we wish to obtain the good opinion of those 
 with whom we associate. Perhaps as effectual a way as any to 
 acquire these manners is to think (what is really true) that you 
 are under an obligation to all who take notice of you ; and if 
 you feel gratified by their attentions, you have it in your 
 power to gratify others by acting in the same manner towards 
 them. Don't think that you are to receive all and give 
 nothing ; this would not appear fair dealing if it was applied 
 to the little presents by which girls prove their goodwill to 
 each other ; and it cannot be so in the general intercourse of 
 life. Nothing leads more to this partial offensive behaviour 
 than the general tendency there is in young people to talk only 
 to young people, to be dumb and stupid with those who could 
 teU them something valuable, and flippant and noisy with 
 others from whom they can learn nothing. A bad style of 
 conversation, too, is acquired by this practice, for girls deal too 
 much in forcible expressions which bear no proportion to the 
 object they relate to, and which, delivered with the emphasis 
 with which they are accompanied, become quite ridiculous. 
 How often have I observed the young describer of some 
 insignificant circumstance at a loss for words to finish a detail, 
 merely because every powerful expression was exhausted in the 
 beginning of the recital. Yet perhaps a more interesting 
 account from another person, or even a sublime passage from 
 the finest author, will scarcely excite a languid remark. These 
 strong expressions used upon common occasions, and the fre- 
 quent exclamations which accompany them, are among the 
 leading faults in the conversation of girls. Another great 
 source of offence is a love of contradiction — not a love of 
 discussion, which is the great pleasure and privilege of a 
 rational being, nor yet the wish to set another person right — 
 for this is very laudable — and you have sense and discrimina- 
 tion enough to see the difference. One good effect which I 
 promise myself from your present situation is, that you will 
 be less with girls of your own age, and that you must 
 
SUSANNAH TA YLOR. 33 
 
 occasionally hear admirable conversation. I hope that with- 
 out teasing Mrs. Barbauld you will avail yourself of the high 
 privilege of being in the same house with her, where a mind so 
 exquisite as hers must sometimes give out hidden treasure ; 
 but they will not be bestowed upon the insensible, the 
 indolent, or the ungrateful. Pray improve your Italian and 
 your French by every means in your power, and extend your 
 acquaintance with English authors as much as possible. . . ." 
 
 The following letter contains quite a political treatise to her 
 daughter of fourteen : — 
 
 "Norwich, March 5, 1807. 
 " My dear Sally, — With what can I begin my letter better 
 than with congratulations upon the late triumph so delightful 
 to the friends of humanity from the abolition of the slave 
 trade ? I rejoice also at your being in a house whose dear 
 inhabitants feel and have ever felt upon this subject in a 
 manner so worthy of themselves. Ask Mrs. Barbauld to per- 
 mit you to read those fine lines addressed to Mr. Wilberforce 
 when some of our senators, instead of feeling that glow of 
 virtuous indignation which is now so predominant, laughed at 
 the recital of cruelties and ridiculed the advocates of the 
 oppressed negroes. Nothing is so gratifying as the idea that 
 virtue and philanthropy are becoming fashionable, and I am 
 almost tempted to hope that this is now the case. The day 
 after I read the noble speech of Lord Howick, Mr. Fawkes, the 
 Solicitor-General, Mr. Roscoe, Mr. Wilberforce, &c., I could 
 not rest without embracing those friends who were most likely 
 to feel as I did. It is strange, and it is lamentable, that people 
 should ever be reduced to such shifts for conversation as to 
 slander each other when there are so many noble and interest- 
 ing subjects to be found. I often think with great satisfaction 
 of your answer to Miss Tasker's remark about scandal, and I 
 hear with peculiar pleasure that you seem to enjoy and take 
 a share in the choice society with whom you have now the 
 happiness to converse. Among your other readings you should 
 from time to time read some of Mrs. Barbauld's works, and 
 
 4 
 
34 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 you would be the more sensible of the high privilege you 
 enjoy ; for indeed, my dear child, to have free access to a mind 
 which has produced so many fine and exquisite thoughts may 
 well be called so. How kind she is to suffer you to read with 
 her, and how much will it contribute to form your taste ! The 
 employments of school, of the needle, and various interruptions 
 have hitherto prevented that regular attention to the English 
 classics (with us) which I have so much wished for. A com- 
 parison of the French and the English is still better, and 
 therefore to read Boileau and Pope with Mrs. Barbauld is just 
 what I should have chosen. The character of girls must depend 
 upon their reading as much as upon the company they keep. 
 Besides the intrinsic pleasure to be derived from solid know- 
 ledge, a woman ought to consider it as her best resource 
 against poverty. I went- to Mr. Thomas Martineau's yesterday 
 to see the two Mr. Cokes, Sir Jacob Astley, and Mr. Windham 
 pass by. When the first part of the procession had reached 
 this spot, the last had not entered Magdalen gates — so you may 
 judge of its length ; indeed, the unseating of our old members 
 has been much more like a triumph than a defeat to the Whig 
 party, for the accusations of ministerial influence were dis- 
 proved, and the treating was as much on one side as the other ; 
 but Mr. Windham has again lost the favour he was regaining 
 amongst us by the part he has taken about the slave trade. 
 Mr. Coke's open, benevolent countenance had an expression of 
 drollery in it when he waving his hat for his brother, as much 
 as to say. This is quite new and diverting. To add to the 
 effect, their bare heads were all covered with the snow, which 
 fell very thick just at the time of the chairing. I could not 
 squeeze into the Shire Hall to hear the speeches, which was a 
 great disappointment to me. ..." 
 
 On the 29th of March, 1807, Mrs. Taylor writes in answer to 
 a birthday letter from her dear Sally : — 
 
 "... I have this day lived fifty-two years in the world. The 
 principal difference between my feelings on the day that gave me 
 birth and yours, are that you look forward and I look backward ; 
 but, my dear child, you will one day look back as I do, if your 
 life is preserved as long, and then what will contribute most to 
 
SUSANNAH TA YLOR. 35 
 
 your comfort ? Certainly not the things which have adminis- 
 tered to the decoration of the body and the gratification of the 
 senses, though all these are innocent in a certain degree, but 
 the stores which the mind has treasured up, the kind actions 
 we have performed, and the just ideas we have acquired as to 
 the real end and business of this life and its reference to another. 
 I have nothing to expect on the score of merit, having never 
 come near my own ideas on the subject of duty — but I bless God 
 that I feel every year an increasing interest and pleasure in the 
 happiness of my fellow-creatures, and a growing desire for in- 
 formation of every kind. My question about N°. One has 
 indeed brought out something — in the first place an answer, 
 which, as you say, for ingenuity is worthy of Mrs. Barbauld, and 
 those four lines so like herself, and in their application to you 
 the most satisfactory to me of anything that could be said of 
 you, because no quality that could be ascribed to you can be so 
 valuable as the kindness and absence of selfish feeling which 
 those lines imply. Preserve and cultivate such dispositions, and 
 you will be a comfort to me indeed ! Even intellectual im- 
 provement, that great distinction of a rational being, stands 
 second in the catalogue of what your tender mother wishes her 
 dear child to be remarkable for — may general kindness be the 
 first. I told Reeve of your construing the Ode of Horace 
 after Mr. Barbauld ; he says it was a great feat, and I am very 
 proud of you for it. You will do yourself much good by com- 
 mitting some to memory, and upon the whole I think your 
 time has been admirably employed. I have . not yet read the 
 ' Curfew,' but I intend it very soon. Dr. Alderson showed me 
 Mrs. Opie's ' Epilogue.' Of the ' Prologue ' I shall take par- 
 ticular notice. I rejoice at the opportunity you had of a 
 personal knowledge of Miss Baillie ; how much I have wished 
 for that pleasure ! 
 
 " And now let me thank you for a very entertaining letter 
 which gives me the pleasing conviction that the society you 
 enjoy is not lost upon you — that your time is really filled up 
 with rational pleasures and elegant studies, and that our dear 
 friends express themselves in such terms about you. May this 
 make you doubly grateful and attentive ! . . ." 
 
36 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 After staying with Mr. and Mrs. Barbauld, Sarah Taylor 
 went to spend some weeks with Dr. and Mrs. Aikin, whose 
 daughter Lucy was a great friend of Mrs. John Taylor. After 
 some motherly advice about clothes and the careful payment of 
 small bills she writes to her daughter : — 
 
 " Norwich, April 25, 1807. 
 
 " It gives me much comfort and satisfaction, my dear child, 
 to learn from your sister that our friends in general are so well 
 pleased with you — this I mention not to make you vain or care- 
 less of your behaviour, but grateful and cautious to keep up 
 such favourable impressions. There is a kind of intoxication 
 produced by being an object of attention which is apt to lead us 
 into little follies, and in some girls it degenerates into rudeness 
 by directing all their attentions to those who flatter them by 
 their notice. There is nothing which I should admire more to 
 see in you than a sort of tenderness for the feelings of every 
 one. The natural preference with which we regard those who 
 by superior attainments or more pleasing manners engage our 
 hearts is quite consistent with that general good will which 
 makes us wish to see all around us happy, and of all the tastes 
 which I wish you to acquire, this taste for happiness is the most 
 important. 
 
 " What is it that makes the return of spring so peculiarly 
 delightful ? It is not only that our own senses are regaled by 
 sweet odours, sounds, and colours, but because we feel that the 
 same gratifications are extended to thousands and millions of 
 beings. Were they confined to us we could not enjoy them, 
 and yet sometimes the very person who can rejoice to see others 
 partaking of the common blessings of Providence, will mortify 
 and hurt their feelings by foolish ebullitions of vanity or 
 selfishness. Now I am speaking of the spring I cannot help 
 thinking how highly you may, and ought to enjoy this spring in 
 particular. It is not only the spring of the year, but the spring 
 of life with you, and that can come but once, therefore prize it ; 
 not so as to leave regret for its being passed away, but in tasting 
 and treasuring up the ideas and sensations that will delight upon 
 retrospection. The poetical images that strike your imagina- 
 
SUSANNAH TA YLOR. 37 
 
 tion now will remain there for life, if I may judge by my own 
 recollections, and you are in a situation where the best of these 
 beauties may be presented to your mind, and selected for your 
 notice. But be sure, as La Roche says to the philosopher, to 
 add the pleasures of sentiment to those of sensation in every- 
 thing you enjoy by keeping up an habitual feeling of gratitude 
 to the Giver of all. You will constantly accompany Mrs. A'ikin 
 to meeting ; upon this subject I need not say much to any child 
 of mine, I know what their ideas are. I have said nothing upon 
 the death of Mr. Opie. You know what I feel for my dear 
 friend, what will be its effect upon her I can scarcely guess, but 
 I think quite overpowering for a long time. 
 
 " I have been looking into Mr. Beloe's ' Anecdotes of Litera- 
 ture,' and among the maxims of one Elizabeth Grymeston, I 
 find the following : ' There be foure good Mothers have foure 
 bad daughters. Trueth hath hatred. Prosperity hath pride. 
 Security hath peril, and Familiarity hath contempt.' The 
 following I think is a good one : ' Let thy will be thy friend, 
 thy minde thy companion, thy tongue thy servant.' . . ." 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 SUSANNAH TAYLOR (continued). 
 
 Marriage of Dr. Reeve and Susan Taylor — Dr. James Martineau's Recollec- 
 tions of Mrs. J. Taylor— Sarah Taylor's visit to London — Uses of such 
 visits — Uses of Vanity and Emulation — Bath — Tavistock — Recollections 
 of Mrs. J. Taylor by Mrs. Wilde — Mrs. Taylor's conversational powers — 
 Meeting of Taylor and Martineau families — Sarah's engagement to John 
 Austin— Mrs. J. Taylor's last letter— Her death— Basil Montagu on Mrs. 
 Taylor— Sons of Mr. and Mrs. J. Taylor. 
 
 Sarah Taylor returned home in June, and soon afterwards her 
 sister Susan was married to Dr. Reeve, and the young couple 
 settled in Norwich. In August of the same year Mr. Taylor, 
 whose family affections were very warm, assembled thirty-five 
 members of the Martineau and Taylor families under his roof ; 
 and, although suffering severely from gout, contributed his 
 usual song in honour of the occasion. Apropos of these gather- 
 ings. Dr. James Martineau writes to me : — 
 
 " I retain a vivid remembrance of your great-grandmother, 
 Mrs. John Taylor, as a very remarkable woman. She was, I 
 believe, one of the contributors to the budget read at the meet- 
 ings, held at intervals of a few years, of the Taylor and Marti- 
 neau families, the descendants of two sisters, who at last were 
 upwards of seventy in number. These papers consisted of 
 essays, poems, and dramas, the latter being acted by the younger 
 members of the two families, and I well remember taking a 
 part when a boy. 
 
 " An amusing picture rises before me as I think of your 
 
 38 
 
SUSANNAH TAYLOR. 39 
 
 great-grandmother. It was the duty of every materfamihas, in 
 those days, to sally forth on market days, before breakfast, and , 
 lay in the needful stores for the larder. My mother used to 
 take me with her to help with the porterage of her purchases. 
 We went pretty early, but on the way were almost sure to meet 
 Mrs. John Taylor on her return from the market-place, bravely 
 struggling with her own load, without any boy to help her. 
 Yet she would never pass us without stopping for a friendly 
 chat, often running up into grave and stirring themes. And I 
 remember how my boyish sense of humour was touched by the 
 effect of so much eloquent discourse from the lips of the old 
 lady, weighted by her huge basket, with the shank of a leg of 
 mutton thrust out to .betray its contents. So vivid is their 
 remembrance, that, if I were an artist, I could draw the group, 
 and even fix the very spot where I have seen it stand." 
 
 In 1809, Sarah went to stay with her brother Richard in 
 London, and Mrs. Taylor writes : — 
 
 "... I hope you and your brothers really do enjoy each other's 
 ■ society, and that you can get a little study, and a little literary 
 talk ; from both of them you may always be gaining curious and 
 critical information. When this taste is once acquired, it gives 
 one a new feeling about books — converting many which would 
 appear dry to the general reader, into sources of the greatest 
 entertainment. Why are the readers of those works which 
 make their appeal only to the imagination and the feelings so 
 destitute of resources in the decline of life ? Because the 
 imagination and the feelings undergo changes or diminutions, 
 while the understanding (as long as our faculties continue) is 
 always acquiring a stronger desire, and a higher relish for 
 intellectual food. . . ." 
 
 A few days afterwards Mrs. Taylor announces to her daughter 
 the death of Dr. Beckwith, a schoolmaster at Norwich, and 
 adds : — 
 
 "... A well-educated young woman may always provide for 
 herself, while girls that are but half instructed have too much 
 
40 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 cultivation for one sort of life and too little for another. Besides 
 that the stiff aristocratical carriage produced by the idea that 
 they are born to be young ladies and to spend their time in 
 frivolous occupations is an impediment to everything valuable, 
 for we must mix kindly and cordially with our fellow creatures 
 in order to be useful to them or to make them useful to us. . . ." 
 
 In 1811 Sarah Taylor was again in Shoe Lane, and her 
 mother writes : — 
 
 ''Feb. 23, 1811. 
 "... What I am most anxious to know is, whether you steer 
 clear of scrapes and difficulties : whether upon an impartial 
 review of yourself there is a tolerable degree of satisfaction in 
 what you have said and done ? I am not afraid for you in those 
 cool moments when nothing occurs to drive reason from her 
 throne, but in periods of excitation, which are so frequent in 
 youth {that being the peculiar season of excitation), then, if 
 possible, consider ! I always compassionate all girls who have 
 had their vanity fostered 'as much as I condemn them. To 
 make this same principle of vanity not only harmless, but to 
 turn it to the useful purposes for which it was implanted in the 
 mind, it is only necessary to examine its nature and conse- 
 quences. Like curiosity, it is wanted as a stimulus to exertion, 
 for indolence would certainly get the better of us if it were not 
 for these two powerful principles. Personal vanity is the anti- 
 dote to slovenliness ; but if it leads only to a love of decoration 
 without inducing a habit of attention to the good order and 
 neatness of our garments, it does not answer its genuine pur- 
 pose. With regard to the mind, nothing is more admirable 
 than the way in which a feeling contemptible in itself is made 
 to answer the noblest ends. Superior acquirements are a pass- 
 port to superior company ; but while we are taking measures to 
 introduce ourselves to the notice and favour of those who are 
 placed upon an eminence in society, we are insensibly laying in 
 a store of gratification when the pleasures of society diminish, 
 and our resources for happiness must depend chiefly upon our- 
 selves. As soon, however, as we begin to feel more jealousy 
 than delight in being surpassed, we must call in question the 
 
SUSANNAH TAYLOR. 41 
 
 nature of our feelings ; we must convince ourselves that it is 
 only by being surpassed that we shall avoid being stationary ; 
 and that mind must always grovel in the dirt (whatever its 
 natural powers may be) which takes more pleasure in looking 
 down than in looking up, or for the poor ambition of being at 
 the top of inferior associates, sacrifices the noble desire of profit- 
 ing by the example of superior ones. Mrs. Southwell lent me 
 ' Sketches of Character.' I suppose many of them are portraits ; 
 but if such is fashionable life, how contemptibly insipid ! The 
 Grimshaws must be fancy pieces, for there are no citizens' 
 wives and daughters now-a-days. Indeed, I think it is among 
 the middle classes everywhere that true elegance, as well as in- 
 formation, are to be found. The one cannot exist without the 
 other ; but certainly the Cockneighs are notoriously devoid of 
 both. . . ." 
 
 "Norwich, March 13, 1811. 
 
 " My dear Sally, — As I was inspecting the Morning 
 Chronicle of yesterday I observed an address to the public by 
 Mr. Pope, announcing his benefit for the ist of April at the 
 King's Theatre, and the promise of Mrs. Siddons performing 
 Margaret of Anjou, and Madame Catalani singing something, 
 I forget what. However, as these two-great guns are both to be 
 fired at once, you must not miss such an opportunity upon any 
 account. Indeed I have been quite mortified with the appre- 
 hension of your not seeing Mrs. Siddons at all. I hope you are 
 now a little seasoned to crowds — on such an occasion you must 
 expect a good squeeze, do but go early enough however and I 
 hope you will get in. 
 
 " You should see the Panorama of Flushing for the sake of 
 our French-Irish-Polish friends. Any expense of sights I will 
 gladly pay your brothers, for themselves as well as you. It will 
 be a fine celebration of your birthday if you can but see Mrs. 
 Siddons : I dare say in time you will enter fully into my feel- 
 ings, and learn to lay a great stress upon seeing and hearing 
 what is most eminent, or whatever will increase one's stock of 
 ideas, and very Httle upon those amusements which have no 
 tendency of this kind. Time is so much more valuable than 
 mere dissipation that we soon begin to ask this question when 
 
42 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 we are going to part from a portion of it — Shall I have 
 any equivalent for what I give up ? Systematic visiting is a 
 great consumer of time, and in general it affords but little 
 recompense. The art is not to estrange oneself from society, 
 and yet not to pay too dear for it. We have hitherto been so 
 happy with our pursuits and our confidential conversations that 
 I hope they will never lose their relish. The experience you 
 have had is considerable for your age, by a more rigid plan with 
 you I might have spared both you and myself some pain, but 
 you would have known much less of the human heart. The 
 way to stand well with people is not to make them feel your 
 consequence, but their own, and when you are conversing with 
 them to take an interest in whatever interests them. By many 
 little innocent and even laudable methods we may gain good- 
 will without ruining ourselves by expensive entertainments or 
 giving up too much valuable time. Never sacrifice this desir- 
 able thing, goodwill, for the sake of admiration — the one is a 
 gaudy flower, the other a useful evergreen. ..." 
 
 On the 22 nd of March the anxious mother again writes about 
 Mr. Pope's benefit, begging " dear Sally " to be at the theatre 
 before the doors are open, in order to secure a good seat, and 
 continues : — 
 
 "... Perhaps you will smile at my anxiety on such a subject, but 
 whatever my plans are I like to accomplish them, and you know 
 my desire to see with my own eyes whatever is most eminent in 
 its way ; this is the great use of a journey to London, not to 
 beget a fastidious indifference or dislike to the degrees of in- 
 feriority which we observe elsewhere, but to judge between 
 them, and make out a standard for ourselves. I have seen the 
 most excellent actors, I have heard the most eminent musicians, 
 I have associated with the most ingenious and cultivated people, 
 and the ideas I have acquired from them are treasured up for 
 ever in my mind. I do not repine that I cannot continually do 
 the same, but I do repine when I miss an opportunity from 
 negligence, indolence, want of decision, or of energy. I hope 
 this visit to London will have entertained and improved 
 
SUSANNAH TA YLOR. 43 
 
 you ; it is almost as pleasant to think and talk over the 
 adventures as to have been actually engaged in them, because 
 there are many little sufferings and inconveniences to be 
 endured for extraordinary gratifications which upon recollection 
 rather enhance the pleasures of remembrance. We are never 
 more satisfied with ourselves than when we have surmounted 
 difficulties. To return home after giving up ourselves to amuse- 
 ment and being indulged as visitors always are, and flattered as 
 is the custom of the world, particularly of London, is always a 
 trial. If a person has more vanity than enthusiasm they cannot 
 relish these pleasures. The great objection to villages and small 
 towns is the contracted sort of inquisitiveness which they pro- 
 duce. Curiosity well directed is the source of everything great, 
 when misapplied it is the parent of mischief. It is best however 
 to have human beings about us in some degree of abundance — 
 the distant view of them keeps the mind awake, and we have 
 the great privilege of selecting not only the best, but those that 
 suit us the best. 
 
 " And now, my dear, if all my moralising can but give you 
 right views and feelings. Teach you at the time you are enjoy- 
 ing the morning of life to consider that there will be a noon, an 
 afternoon, and an evening— that all these have their uses and 
 comforts if they are properly provided for — but, above all, that 
 after the night in which we shall rest from our labours, a more 
 glorious morning will dawn upon us if we do not disqualify our- 
 selves for the enjoyment of it — these ideas steadily kept in mind 
 will, I hope, guide you safe through the mazes of human life. . . ." 
 
 Again the affectionate mother writes : — 
 
 " . . .1 send a register of events to encourage you to do the 
 same. I gave my concert tickets this evening to the girls in Surrey 
 Street, feeling no inclination to go without you. How I wish 
 to know what you have been doing, but I hope I shall hear to- 
 morrow, and whether you feel as if you could enjoy yourself. 
 Mrs. Opie treated me with her company three hours last night. 
 She read me some charming songs she had been writing, and 
 was quite herself. I have been wishing since you went away 
 that you had taken more silver with you — it is so difficult to 
 
44 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 procure change in London. I think I shall send by Mr. John 
 Staff all the shillings I happen to have. They will be accept- 
 able, I am sure. . . ." 
 
 In March, 1812, Sarah Taylor went to stay with her cousin, 
 Peter Martineau, at Bath, and her mother writes : — 
 
 "... There is a probability that we shall lose Captain Cockburn. 
 He has offered to go to the Isle of France, for fear he should be 
 sent to the West Indies, or to any station disagreeable and un- 
 healthy. I hope means will be found to provide for the dear 
 little boys of our family without making soldiers and sailors of 
 them. Let them be chemists and mechanics, or carpenters and 
 masons, anything but destroyers of mankind. This is not very 
 chivalrous, but I hope it is something better. Arthur has pro- 
 mised me a letter as soon as he could ' unpack his memory.' 
 What an admirable one I have had from Lucy Aikin about the 
 society of Edinburgh ! ..." 
 
 From Bath, Sarah went to Tavistock with her brother John 
 and his wife, he having undertaken the management of various 
 mines in Cornwall and Devonshire. Mrs. Taylor writes a gentle 
 remonstrance to accompany a " scolding letter " from her hus- 
 band for Sally's remissness in writing : — 
 
 ^^ April 16, 1812. 
 " Dear Sal, — Nothing would have prevented my writing to 
 you sooner except the daily expectation of hearing from you ; 
 but as your letter to Susan has relieved my mind from the 
 anxiety I felt lest Nanny or you, or something or somebody, 
 was not well, I can sit down with composure to tell you how we 
 are here. It is curious to observe what different views we some- 
 times take of the same thing. You do not express any con- 
 sciousness of having been deficient in your epistolary duties, 
 while we were wondering and fretting and exclaiming to all in- 
 quiring friends, ' What can the matter be ! ' However, as I am 
 afraid your father has written you a scolding letter, I will not 
 fill my paper with matter so unwelcome, only premising that, 
 according to the rules of Aristotle or Longinus, the mind of the 
 
SUSANNAH TA YLOR. 45 
 
 reader requires (in all important narratives) a beginning, a middle, 
 and an end. I have had your beginning and your middle, but 
 the end (which relates to your crossing Dartmoor, probably in 
 storms and hurricanes) is still to come. You must give Henry 
 Staff some good advice when you come home. I have no influ- 
 ence over young people who do not love reading. The character 
 of Mrs. W. Taylor in the Norwich paper I send, was written by 
 Dr. Sayers. I hope you will not lose your relish for reading. 
 Nothing else will serve through life, and nothing will obtain us 
 so much credit, even with those who cannot avail themselves 
 of its advantages. Make my grateful acknowledgments to Mr. 
 and Mrs. Harness for all their kindness to you. . . ." 
 
 Mrs. Wilde, a daughter of Peter Martineau, has been so 
 good as to send me her reminiscences of Mrs. John Taylor 
 about this time. She says : — 
 
 "... When I was seventeen I was again at Norwich, and then it 
 was that I was so much struck with her wonderful conversational 
 powers. One day I was sent to her with some message from 
 my mother. It was a Saturday — market-day — I was shown 
 into the humble sitting-room. Two farmers were talking 
 earnestly to her, whilst she was industriously at work. I sat 
 quietly by, but soon got interested in the talk — such conversa- 
 tion as I seldom had heard before. When they were gone, I 
 found that it was to Mr. Coke of Holkham and Lord Albemarle 
 that I had been listening so attentively. It was their habit on 
 a market-day to indulge themselves with a talk with the clever 
 old lady. Then on a Sunday she used to excite our envy ; we 
 used to see her nodding all through Mr. Madge's good sermons, 
 when afterwards she would criticise every part, whilst we who 
 had been listening with eyes and ears open, could remember so 
 very little. ..." 
 
 In August, 1 814, there was another large meeting of the 
 Taylor and Martineau families ; forty-four members assembled 
 at Bracondale, the residence of P. Meadows Martineau, but 
 the joyous song with which John Taylor celebrated the event 
 
46 THREE GENERA TIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 was soon turned to mourning by the death of his son-in-law, 
 Di-. Reeve. 
 
 To Sarah, his youngest daughter, this was an eventful year. 
 She had for some time been attached to John Austin, and 
 at length her engagement to him was sanctioned, after con- 
 siderable opposition from her parents. 
 
 The two following letters were written by' Mrs. Taylor to 
 her, while staying at Creeting-all-Saints with the parents of 
 John Austin, her affianced lover : — 
 
 '■^November 13, 1814. 
 "... Mr. Madge is better, and, now that we are generally 
 alone, conversations fit for rational beings constantly occur. One 
 afternoon he and Mr. Houghton met. The latter said he had 
 had a rich treat, for the merits of Wordsworth and others were 
 discussed, passages read, and fairly appreciated. I am glad you 
 have the life of Sydney, as I think no book would suit you 
 better. In him the chivalrous character appears in its brightest 
 perfection. What a contrast to the libertinism of the French 
 Court, or to that of our own in the time of the profligate 
 Grammont ! . . ." 
 
 After detailing some local gossip about the daughter of a lady 
 who lived in Norwich, which was proved to be untrue, she 
 adds : — 
 
 " . . .Is not this a proof of what I constantly maintain about 
 writing or talking over the reports of the day ? — but some do 
 not like wise letters, nor critical letters, so you must have 
 something to fill the sheet. Nature abhors a vacuum, and so 
 do female correspondents — though sometimes the page is empty 
 in one sense if not in another. Those who like no letters but 
 what are called easy, will of course object to Miss Seward's, 
 which were reviewed this month ; but I, who wish to read 
 about something, must prefer such compositions to those which 
 contain words without ideas. 
 
 "You must find the comfort of having no painful reserves 
 
SUSANNAH TA YLOR. 47 
 
 in your conversations. Remember you are not now paying a 
 common visit or forming a common acquaintance — you ought 
 to be laying the foundation of that intimacy which will support 
 you both in the various trials of life, many of which you may 
 be doomed to share together. A considerable portion of esteem 
 is absolutely necessary to make such an intimacy durable and 
 complete, but even this will not be sufficient unless the temper 
 is so regulated that no harsh and hasty expression shall check 
 and disturb the flow of mutual affection. If a knife or any 
 sharp instrument was offered to your acceptance for the sake of 
 stabbing your greatest enemy every time you received the least 
 provocation or felt your own mind out of tune, would you not 
 reject it with horror ? Yet we may frequently hear the tongue 
 inflicting more cruel wounds upon the very persons who not 
 only ought to be loved and honoured, but really are so. No 
 habit is such a fruitful source of unhappiness, except those 
 which lead to vice and profligacy, as the habit of speaking so 
 as to wound the feelings of others ; and when people give way 
 to this habit, they soon become unconscious of the pain they 
 give. I have not had time to read a page since you went 
 away ; sewing, writing, and visits of condolence have engrossed 
 all my time. You must not be surprised if I forbear to write — 
 it is not fair that I should never read when it is my greatest 
 pleasure. ..." 
 
 November 30, 1 8 14. 
 ' "... Of your being happy I could scarcely doubt, for if there 
 is one thing finer than all others in this mortal state, it is the 
 conviction of being preferred by the person whom we prefer to 
 every one, and that there are such solid grounds of preference 
 as to bid defiance to time and circumstances. In the description 
 of fictitious attachment, the termination of difficulties is the 
 termination of interest— to you may it bring only additional 
 ties ! We are all proud of being agreeable to Mr. Austin, and 
 I have no fear of continuing so, for our attractions (if we have 
 any) are not hoUday suits, just as upon gala days, but the usual 
 appearance of our characters, as you know— who certainly ought 
 to know us best. Mr. Staff and Mr. Roscoe drank tea with us, 
 and the latter poured forth a stream of entertainment and 
 
48 THREE GENERA TIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 friendliness, of taste, literature, and politics which I heartily 
 wished both you and Mr. John Austin could have enjoyed 
 with us. I have been hearing to-day real eloquence, though 
 of a peculiar kind, as you may suppose, being from Mark 
 Wilks at the funeral of Jonathan Davey. It produced the 
 proper effect of eloquence — that of riveting the attention of 
 fifteen hundred people. As I have not written to Mrs. 
 Barbauld since the death of Reeve, I will send my accustomed 
 present of dried apples and a letter this week, that I may 
 apprise her of what has taken place. I have left it to Susan to 
 answer you upon the subject of coming home. Your sister 
 shows such disinterested affection and triumph over her own 
 feelings for your sake, yet I think being much exposed to a 
 sight of happiness which she has tasted and which she can no 
 longer partake is too much for her while her own loss is so 
 recent. You will let me know what day to expect you. My 
 affectionate regards to Mr. and Mrs. Austin, to John what you 
 please, and everything you please, and to yourself your father's 
 blessing as well as that of your ever affectionate mother, 
 
 "S. Taylor." 
 
 In 1 819 there was a great family meeting, for which 
 John Taylor's eldest brother Philip came over expressly from 
 Dublin. The muster was so large that the Hall Concert- 
 room was borrowed for the occasion. Sixty-five Martineaus 
 and Taylors sat down to dinner, and old Philip Taylor read an 
 address, exulting in the " firm union of hearts which now 
 obtains among us. Had our early moral discipline been neg- 
 lected, had envy, selfishness, or inordinate ambition been allowed 
 to grow up among us, and especially had we been suffered to 
 learn the polite lesson of not knowing our own relations, except 
 when perfectly convenient, we should have been scattered 
 asunder like chaff before the wind." 
 
 Mrs. Austin married the same year, and went to live in Queen 
 Square, next door to Jeremy Bentham. In April, 1821, her 
 jnother wrote ; — 
 
SUSANNAH TA YLOR. 49 
 
 .... Did you see the Quarterly Review on ' Huntingdon's 
 Works and Life ' with 'this passage : ' Perhaps some of our 
 readers may think that in the days of Alderman Wood, Jeremy 
 Bentham, and Dr. Eady (whose fame is written in chalk upon 
 all the walls), we have bestowed too much attention upon an 
 inferior " quack " ' ? It is a fine thing to know a man like Mr. 
 Bentham, who will speak out and expose such a farrago of 
 mystery and absurdity as the Church Catechism, and all its 
 foolish formularies. We have lost our friend and neighbour, 
 Crome, after a few days' illness ; his pictures and his pupils are 
 in high estimation, and will rise in value now he can paint no 
 more. . . ." 
 
 Early in 1822, Mrs. Taylor writes to tell Mrs. Austin how 
 ill her father had been, and continues :— 
 
 " .... It is great comfort to hear of your animated little 
 being. If she should keep up to her present measure of health 
 and activity, she will begin to walk by the time you visit Nor- 
 wich. I am glad, too, that you do not find a life of economy 
 such an insuperable bar to good society as some people imagine. 
 I have not found it so ; but perhaps opinions differ upon the 
 term good society. If things go on in this present course, lavish 
 expenditure will go out of fashion, and retrenchment, both 
 public and private, must be the order of the day. Men who 
 are really superior to common prejudices seem always glad to 
 find women who can understand them and feel with them. 
 Your house must be eminently useful to your husband's 
 brothers — they are all to be admired. No part of my past life 
 gives me more pleasure on reflection than those hours which 
 were devoted to the company of young men just entering into 
 life, many of whom have expressed the warmest gratitude for 
 impressions made during our confidential intercourse. What 
 say you to the marriages of Lord Albemarle and Mr. Coke ? 
 The former, we understand, has made choice of a lady who 
 enters into his plans of retrenchment, which he says shall not 
 induce him to follow the fashion of abandoning his county ; 
 but to take the more manly course of shutting up the super- 
 fluous rooms at Quiddenham, and discharging all his servants 
 
 S 
 
so THREE GENERA TIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 save one man and two women, living in the meantime upon 
 the mutton and other produce of his farm. But what, you will 
 say, could induce Mr. Coke to marry a blooming girl of twenty ? 
 Just what induces many men to marry. The conviction that 
 he had inspired her with an attachment to him which young 
 and very amiable men had in vain sought to produce in her 
 mind : it is not in human nature to be insensible to so flatter- 
 ing a distinction, especially at an age when the probability of 
 making such impressions grows weaker. ..." 
 
 The last letter written by Mrs. Taylor to her daughter was 
 in February, 1823. She says : — 
 
 " .... I should be very ungrateful if I did not thank you 
 for your kind communications, as they keep up the idea of our 
 darling's progress, besides so much interesting matter respecting 
 those martyrs to the cause of freedom, for whom one must feel 
 such powerful sympathy. This winter is an unfortunate one for 
 Italian constitutions, and illness must be a bad aggravation of 
 their other sufferings. No wonder they are eager to be with 
 one who can both converse with them and feel for them. You 
 know how desirous I was of your being accustomed to speak 
 those languages which are now so useful. I rejoiced that you 
 accomplished it so well. Those billets of Santa Rosa show his 
 heart and mind. The English ones prove what difficulty 
 attends the expression of ideas in a strange tongue, and I 
 observe the similarity of his attempts and other foreigners with 
 whom I was formerly acquainted. The mortification of being 
 with such people and having no access to their minds is very 
 great. It would now exclude you from some of your greatest 
 enjoyments. You inquire about Cucchi ; the only intelligence I 
 have had is from Mrs. Opie. She Hkes him and will endeavour to 
 procure him pupils ; she thinks him more fit for the world than 
 poor Radice, who is too sensitive and delicate. Little Henry's ' 
 longings to be with Darling are natural ; children are very 
 sociable beings. Enjoy your precious child, dear Sally, while 
 trifles amuse her. I learned from experience to regret the 
 
 " The present Mr. Henry Reeve. 
 
SUSANNAH TAYLOR. 51. 
 
 growing up of children. With their infantine pleasures I knew 
 what to do, but when they begin to long for more elaborate 
 enjoyments I have been often puzzled to know what to grant 
 and what to deny. I suffered when a child from too strict a 
 regimen. It led in some instances to concealment, which is 
 always dangerous. I wonder what Darling would think of 
 Mrs. Barbauld's story of the robin, whose ' poor little heart was 
 almost frozen to death,' and came into the room 'shiver, shiver.' 
 Her remembrance of me must be owing to the idea of me being 
 associated with the Ditties, who are always bringing up the 
 recollection. Your account of her is very delightful ; but she 
 can never be more so than she was when she was here. Bless 
 her, says 
 
 " Your affectionate mother 
 
 " Susannah Taylor." 
 
 In June, 1823, Mrs. John Taylor died. Always regardless 
 of her own comfort when she could promote that of others, she 
 pursued the even tenor of her way, doing what she conceived to 
 be her duty. No regard for her own ease, no pain or illness, 
 could subdue her resolute spirit. Mrs. Barbauld wrote, " Su- 
 sannah Taylor is not to be forgotten by those who knew her." 
 
 Basil Montagu says of her in the Life of Sir James 
 Mackintosh : — ■ 
 
 " Norwich was always a haven of rest to us from the literary 
 society with which that city abounded. I think there was a 
 Dr. Sayers whom we used to visit, and I well remember the 
 high-minded, intelligent William Taylor ; but our chief delight 
 was in the society of Mrs. John Taylor, a most intelligent, ex- 
 cellent woman. She was the wife of a shopkeeper in that city. 
 Mild and unassuming, quiet and meek, sitting amidst her large 
 family, occupied with her needle and domestic occupations, but 
 always assisting, by her great knowledge, the advancement of 
 kind and dignified sentiment and conduct. 
 
 " Manly wisdom and feminine gentleness were in her united 
 jvith such attractive manners that she was universally . loved 
 
S2 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 and respected. In ' high thoughts and gentle deeds ' she greatly 
 resembled the admirable Lucy Hutchinson, and in troubled 
 times would have been equally distinguished for firmness in 
 what she thought right. In her society we passed every 
 moment we could rescue from the Courts." 
 
 Her sons were all distinguished in their various lines. John, 
 the eldest (born 1779), whose boyish taste for mechanical pur- 
 suits had been encouraged by his mother's birthday present of 
 mathematical instruments and a turning lathe, was appointed 
 manager, at the early age of nineteen, of the Wheal Friendship 
 mine, near Tavistock. The first tunnel excavated in England, 
 through Morvel Down, for the Tavistock Canal, in 1806, was 
 made under his direction. Uniting a remarkable power of 
 governing bodies of men and attaching them to him, he was 
 perfectly just and scrupulously veracious. One of the most 
 indulgent of men, he had a great dislike of gossip, detraction, 
 and angry discussion, and though through life he remained 
 constant to the religious and political opinions which were 
 hereditary in his family, he was without any intolerance or 
 narrow-mindedness. He died in 1863, at the age of eighty- 
 three. 
 
 Richard, born in 1781, became a printer. He had literary 
 and scientific tastes, and was largely employed in printing 
 works in dead languages and on scientific subjects. As editor 
 of the Philosophical Magazine he was known to most men of 
 science in Europe. Punch alluded to his size : — 
 
 " When Corporal Taylor stalks the streets 
 A walking corporation." 
 
 He died in 1851. 
 
 Edward, the third son, was born in 1784. He inherited his 
 father's love of music, and became Gresham Professor of Music 
 in 1837, holding the post until he died in 1863. Mendelssohn 
 
SUSANNAH TA YLOR. 53 
 
 and Spohr were his intimate friends, and it was at his solicita- 
 tion that the latter wrote " The Fall of Babylon," in 1830. 
 
 The fourth son, Philip, born in 1786, was an inventive genius 
 of a high order, his process of using oil as a substance from 
 which gas for illumination could be easily prepared, was erected 
 in Covent Garden Theatre, in several large factories and brew- 
 eries, and in the Imperial Library at St. Petersburg. In 181 8 
 he took out a patent for the application of high-pressure steam 
 for evaporating processes. His house at Bromley was a centre 
 for scientific men of all nations. J. B. Say, Clement Desormes, 
 the eminent chemist, Biot the biologist. Gay Lussac, Mallet of 
 the Fonts et Chaussees, Paul Seguin (who made the first rail- 
 way in France), Baron von Humboldt, Brunei, MacAdam the 
 road-maker, Michael Faraday, Rennie, Maudslay, and Charles 
 Macintosh were constant visitors. Philip Taylor died in 1870, 
 at Marseilles, where, in 1836, he had founded the Cie. des Forges 
 et Chantiers de la Mediterranee. 
 
 Arthur, the last son, born in 1790, became printer to the 
 City of London. His favourite study was archaeology, and he 
 was a member of the Society of Antiquaries. 
 
 Of the Taylor family, the Duke of Sussex said that they 
 reversed the ordinary saying that it takes nine tailors to make 
 a man.' 
 
 ' Generally attributed to Sydney Smith ; but Canon Howes of Norwith was 
 present when the Duke said it, and I have it on the authority of his daughter, 
 Miss L. Howes. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 SARAH AUSTIN. 
 
 Sarah Taylor — Books read as a girl — Her engagement to John Austin-^-Mrs. 
 Barbauld's lines to Sarah Taylor — Mr. Fox on John Austin — ^John Austin 
 called to the Bar — Marriage — Letter from Amelia Opie on " Don Juan " 
 and Lord and Lady Byron — Skit on Jeremy Bentham. 
 
 Sarah Taylor was born in 1793, and received a liberal and 
 thorough education ; Latin, French, Italian, and German, she 
 learnt as a girl, and she enjoyed the advantage of hearing excel- 
 lent conversation at her father's house. Mrs. John Taylor was 
 fond of collecting young people about her, regaling them with 
 tea and cake, and making them play games. A contemporary 
 of her daughter writes to me : "I always felt an ignoramus 
 amongst those clever girls, and remember to this day Sally 
 Taylor presiding over the historical commerce, and my horror 
 lest I should mismatch my kings and queens." 
 
 Mrs. Opie, Mrs. Barbauld, and Miss Aikin, all took great 
 interest in " Sally," the daughter of their dear friend, Mrs. 
 Taylor. She must have made good use of her time at school, 
 for I have before me a tiny note-book, inscribed, " My reading 
 between leaving school and marriage," which will show how 
 the foundation was laid for the forcible style and varied know- 
 ledge which distinguished her in after life. 
 
 In a small flowing hand, the ink faded and yellow, is 
 written : — 
 
SARAH AUSTIN. 55 
 
 " Books read in the year 
 
 " 1815. Alison on 'Taste' ; Tacitus, 'Vita Agric' and 'His- 
 tory ' ; Stewart, ' Philosophy of the Human Mind ' ; first vol. of 
 Malthus on ' Population ' ; Stewart, ' Philosophical Essays ' ; 
 Smith, ' Moral Sentiments ' ; Condorcet, ' Life of Turgot.' 
 
 "1816. Bentham, 'Trait6 de Legislation'; Beccaria, 'Dei 
 Delitti, &c. ; Macchiavelli, ' Istorie Florentine ' ; Blackstone, 
 ' Comment. ' ; part of Tacitus. 
 
 " 1817. Sir J. Smith, ' Commonwealth of England ' ; Home 
 Tooke, ' Diversions of Purley ' ; Bentham, ' Des Peines,' &c. ; 
 Bentham on ' Parliamentary Reform.' Finished Tacitus, 
 Macchiavelli, ' Discorsi su T. Livio,' Lord Bacon's works 
 entire ; Middleton's ' Life of Cicero.' 
 
 "1818. MacchiaveUi, 'II Principe'; Bishop Butler, 'Ser- 
 mons ' ; Csesar, ' De Bello Civili ' ; Sallust, ' Bell. Catilin. ' ; 
 Goethe, 'Iphigenie auf Tauris ' ; Bentham, ' Defence of Usury,' 
 also his ' Church of Englandism.' 
 
 " 1819. Hume's 'Essays'; Bridge, 'Algebra to Simple 
 Equations ' ; Bentham on ' Judicial Establishments ' ; Cicero ; 
 Meyer, ' Esprit, &c., des Institutions Judiciaires ' ; Bentham's 
 ' Letters to Lord Pelham,' and ' Introduction to Rationale of 
 Evidence.' 
 
 " 1820. Bentham, ' Fragment on Government ' ; ' Memoirs of 
 Cardinal de Retz ' ; part of ' Rudimenta Artis Logica.' Began 
 Mill's ' British India.' 
 
 " 1 82 1 . Finished Mill's pamphlet on ' Parliamentary Reform ' ; 
 Helvetius, ' De I'Homme.' " 
 
 No doubt a good deal of this stiff reading was due to the 
 influence of John Austin, with whom the high-spirited, hand- 
 some girl fell passionately in love. 
 
 Her beauty must have been very great ; for Mrs. Wilde tells 
 me that, in 181 2, when Sally Taylor, on her way to Tavistock 
 with her brother Arthur, was taken ill at Bath — 
 
 "... My mother and I started off to the White Hart Inn, 
 put her into a sedan chair and took her to our lodgings. 
 
 " She was with us about ten days, lying on the sofa, with no 
 
S6 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 dress but a riding-habit ; and I remember well how our drawing- 
 room was besieged by the young beaux of Bath, anxious to see 
 the recumbent beauty. . . ." 
 
 Sarah Taylor was permitted to engage herself to John 
 Austin in 1814, and she announces the event to a favourite 
 cousin as follows : — 
 
 " The clock strikes eleven as I sit down to scrawl a few lines 
 to you. Forgive a short letter. After some weeks of a suspense 
 and anxiety which have prevented my writing on this most 
 interesting subject sooner, I am enabled, thank God ! to tell 
 you that my doom is most happily sealed. I know you will 
 rejoice for me and with me, when I assure you that my heart 
 and my judgment are equally satisfied with the man of my 
 choice, that he is all and more than I ever imagined, that he 
 loves me dearly, and finally that I am the happiest girl in the 
 world. John is studying for the Bar, where I hope to see him 
 distinguish himself. He has confessedly superb talents, and 
 will, I know, study hard for my sake ; but it must be some time 
 before he can maintain a wife. 
 
 " This will be no affliction to me ; I have no idea of impa- 
 tience to be married, and I can imagine no greater happiness 
 than to possess his affection, to write to him, and occasionally 
 to see him. 
 
 " I have great doubts, dear Mary, whether he will entirely 
 please you, as he is certainly stern, but I am sure you would 
 admire his lofty and delicate feelings of honour towards our 
 sex. At any rate, if you don't like him, never tell me so — you 
 know I love you very dearly, and it would give me pain. So, 
 dear, let him be all perfection, will you ? If you tell me he is 
 not, I shall doubt your word, or your penetration, for the first 
 time in my life." 
 
 Mrs. Barbauld, to whom Sarah Taylor also announced her 
 engagement, says : "I have had the pleasure of seeing Mr. 
 Austin, and though prejudiced in his favour, I was not dis- 
 appointed. After tea the conversation warmed, and we had 
 
SARAH AUSTIN. 57 
 
 some very pleasant argumentation on moral and metaphysical 
 subjects." Sarah was then staying with her widowed sister, 
 Mrs. Reeve, and Mrs. Barbauld sent her the following verses, 
 " suggested by the contrast of your situations " :— 
 
 To Sarah Taylor. 
 
 " Sweet are the thoughts that stir the virgin's breast, 
 When Love first enters there a timid guest ; 
 Before her dazzled eyes gay visions shine, 
 And laughing Cupids wreaths of roses twine ; 
 And conscious Beauty hastens to employ 
 Her span of empire and her hour of joy. 
 
 Sarah, not thus to thee his power is shown. 
 
 More stern he greets thee from his awful throne ; 
 
 Free called to bid thy cheering converse flow, 
 
 And shed thy sweetness in the house of woe ; 
 
 The solemn sympathies of grief to share. 
 
 And, sadly smiling, soothe a sister's care. 
 
 O'er her young hopes the sable pall is spread : 
 
 Her wedded heart holds converse with the dead. 
 
 To ties no longer earthly, fondly true, 
 
 Each thought that breathes of love, must breathe of heaven too. 
 
 Thus, Sarah, Love thy nobler mind prepares. 
 Shows thee his dangers, duties, sorrows, cares ; 
 Thus with severer lessons schools thy heart. 
 And, pleased his happiest influence to impart, 
 For thee, dismissing from his chastened train 
 Each motley form of fickle, light or vain. 
 Builds the strong fabric of that love sublime, 
 Which conquers Death, and triumphs over Time." 
 
 A. L. Barbauld. 
 
 Mr. Fox, the eminent Unitarian clergyman, afterwards 
 M.P. for Oldham, mentions dining at John Taylor's, jun., in 
 May, 1816 ; "Amongst the party was a Mr. Austin, a young 
 man preparing for the Bar, of very strong and original mind. 
 ' Who is he ? ' I asked of Richard Taylor. ' He is likely to 
 become our brother-in-law.' Alas ! thought I, thou art a false 
 prophet in predicting that Sally Taylor's triumphs are at an 
 end." Later on in the same book (Mrs. Eliza Fox's " Memoirs"), 
 
58 THREE GENERA TIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 he writes: "I have just seen Sally Taylor, but alas ! how 
 changed — from the extreme of display and flirtation, from all 
 that was dazzling, attractive, and imposing, she has become the 
 most demure, reserved, and decorous creature in existence. Mr. 
 Austin has wrought miracles, for which he is blessed by the 
 ladies, and cursed by the gentlemen, and wondered at by all. 
 The majority say, it is not natural, and cannot last. Some 
 abuse the weakness which makes her, they say, the complete 
 slave of her lover : others praise the strength of mind by which 
 she has so totally transformed her manners and habits." 
 
 In 1818, John Austin was called to the Bar, having left the 
 Army, which he entered at a very early age, and in which he 
 served for five years, chiefly in Malta and Sicily, under Lord 
 William Bentinck. The following year he married Sarah 
 Taylor, and the young couple took the upper part of No. i. 
 Queen Square, Westminster, next door to Mr. James Mill, and 
 close to Mr. Jeremy Bentham. Two people more unlike it 
 would have been difficult to find — John Austin, habitually grave 
 and despondent ; his wife, brilliantly handsome, fond of society, 
 in which she shone, and with an almost superabundance of 
 energy and animal spirits. Life opened brightly, and in 
 answer to a happy letter of thanks from the young bride 
 for a wedding present, her mother's old friend, Mrs. Opie, 
 writes : — 
 
 "... Before I perform my other duties of the day (praying 
 and washing excepted) I will fulfil the pleasing duty of writing 
 to you. . . . 
 
 " I wonder I have written so proper and virtuous a letter, as I 
 have just been reading ' Don Juan ' through (that being, not 
 one of the duties, but of the intended sins of the day). I have 
 long made up my mind to read it, if it fell in my way, and also 
 to own I have read it ; as I should think it a greater vice to 
 tell a lie about it, than to read it — if it were worse than it is. 
 And when I heard some highly virtuous and modest women 
 tell me they had read it, and were ' not ashamed,' and when I 
 
SARAH AUSTIN. 59 
 
 recollected that I had read Prior, Pope, Dryden and Grimm, I 
 thought I would e'en add to my list of offences that of reading 
 ' Don Juan.' I must say that the account of its wickedness is 
 most exaggerated. Wit and satire it abounds in, with here and 
 there tenderness, pathos, and poetry worthy its distinguished 
 author. To be sure. Donna Inez does seem meant for his wife, 
 but I almost excuse this bitterness, though the creature should 
 not have published it. She^ I think, did more than becomes a 
 wife, whatever her provocation — to undraw the veil a wife ought 
 to throw over the frailties of her husband, and I think, too, she 
 had little temptation to do it. The world's feeling would of 
 course have been with Lord Byron's forsaken wife. Why then 
 enter into details of his guilt which could only serve to blacken 
 the fame of her child's father, and were not wanted to avenge 
 her. She was excused — every one knew the character of Lord 
 Byron. Why then did she, as if in self-justification, make 
 every one in her circle acquainted with his most secret 
 depravity ? I never can excuse Lady Byron's conduct, though 
 I can make allowances for her as a spoiled child, and a flattered 
 woman, who never knew contradiction till she became a wife. 
 
 "Let me, dear Austina mia, hear from you. I could not 
 give you a greater proof of my affection than writing you this 
 long scrawl, when I am writing sometimes eight or ten hours a 
 day. I know a circumstance now often written and talked of, 
 but which I never knew really happened before. Rosalind 
 was wrong. For I know a lovely girl who has ' died for 
 love.' Aye ! a letter came from her lover in India, saying he 
 could not marry her, because he loved her no longer. Three 
 days she pined, was restless, miserable. She then suddenly 
 put her hand to her head, and exclaimed, ' Ah ! my brain ! my 
 brain is on fire ! ' To this succeeded deafness, blindness, 
 delirium and insensibility. 
 
 "On the third night she died, blood gushing from her 
 nostrils. Poor thing ! she fell a victim, in ' the flower of youth 
 and beauty's pride,' to man's perfidy. 
 " God bless you, dear. 
 
 " Ever yours affectionately, 
 
 " A. Opie." 
 
6o THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 Many diaries and letters of that time mention Mrs. Austin. 
 She is " My best and brightest " to Lord Jeffrey ; " Dear, fair 
 and wise " to Sydney Smith ; " My great ally " to Sir James 
 Stephen ; " Sunlight through waste weltering chaos " to 
 Thomas Carlyle (while he needed her aid) ; " La petite mere 
 du genre humain " to Michel Chevalier ; " Liebes Mutterlein " 
 to John Stuart Mill, and " My own Professorin " to Charles 
 BuUer, to whom she taught German, as well as to the sons of 
 Mr. James Mill. 
 
 The following skit upon Jeremy Bentham was written about 
 this time by Charles Austin, brother-in-law of Sarah Austin, 
 who had just left the University where he shone as a man of 
 intellect, and a brilliant orator and converser : — 
 
 "A CARD. 
 " Original Idea Warehouse, 
 " Queen Square, Westminster. 
 
 " Jeremy Bentham, Codifier and Legislator to the French 
 and Spanish nations, and the world in general, condescendingly 
 informsiMankind and Reformists in particular, that he continues 
 to carry on business as usual at his Hermitage, Westminster, 
 for reputation only. Executes orders with everything but 
 despatch. All sorts of Political Plans, Projects and Schemes, 
 built. Old Plans fresh cast, corrected and re-modelled, equal 
 to new. Words coined. Motives analysed. Intrinsic Values 
 examined, and Moral Prejudices decomposed, and carefully 
 weighed. Jeremy Bentham will not be answerable for any 
 articles unless bearing the unequivocal marks of his workman- 
 ship : Originality, Unconsecutiveness, Ruggedness, and Elabo- 
 rate Classification. All others are counterfeit. 
 
 " N.B. — No credit given (but as much taken as can be 
 obtained)." 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 SARAH AUSTIN (continued). 
 
 Birth of Lucie Austin — Mr. J. S. Mill's character of John Austin— Mrs. 
 Austin and the Italian Refugees — Letter from Chev. de Santa Rosa — The 
 Grotes — M. C. Cotnte— Mr. Austin selected to fill the Chair of Jurispru- 
 dence at the London University — Death of Mr. ij. Taylor — Letter of 
 M. J. B. Say. 
 
 In June, 1821, Mrs. Austin's only child Lucie was born. The 
 bright hopes of the young wife were rapidly fading ; John 
 Austin was physically unfitted for the profession he had 
 chosen. Sensitive and nervous in the highest degree, he could 
 do nothing rapidly or imperfectly, he distrusted himself and 
 was deficient in readiness and self-reliance. Absolutely 
 intolerant of any imperfection, he recast and polished a phrase 
 until he could no longer find a fault. I think that J. S. 
 Mill in his " Autobiography " has given an excellent and a fair 
 estimate of my grandfather, though no words can describe his 
 extraordinary eloquence when talking on any subject that in- 
 terested him. Mr. Mill writes : — 
 
 "During the winter of 1821-22 Mr. John Austin kindly 
 allowed me to read ' Roman Law ' with him. These readings 
 with Mr. Austin, who had made Bentham's ideas his own, and 
 added much to them from other sources and from his own 
 mind, were not only a valuable introduction to legal studies, 
 but an important portion of general education. He was a man 
 of great intellectual powers, which in conversation appeared at 
 
62 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 their very best ; from the vigour and richness of expression 
 with which, under the excitement of discussion, he was accus- 
 tomed to maintain some view or other of most general subjects ; 
 and from an appearance of not only strong, but deliberate and 
 collected will ; mixed with a certain bitterness, partly derived 
 from temperament, and partly from the general cast of his 
 feelings and reflections. The dissatisfaction with life and the 
 world, felt more or less in the present state of society and in- 
 tellect by every discerning and highly conscientious mind, gave 
 in his case a rather melancholy tinge to the character ; very 
 natural to those whose passive moral susceptibilities are more 
 than proportioned to their active energies. For it must be 
 said, that the strength of will of which his manner seemed to 
 give such strong assurance, expended itself principally in 
 manner. With great zeal for human improvement, a strong 
 sense of duty, and capacities and acquirements the extent of 
 which is proved by the writings he has left, he hardly ever 
 completed any intellectual task of magnitude. He had so high 
 a standard of what ought to be done, so exaggerated a sense of 
 difficulties in his own performances, and was so unable to con- 
 tent himself with the amount of elaboration sufficient for the 
 occasion and the purpose, that he not only spoilt much of his 
 work for ordinary use by overlabouring it, but spent so much 
 time and exertion in superfluous study and thought, that when 
 his task ought to have been completed, he had generally worked 
 himself into an illness. From this mental infirmity (of which 
 he is not the sole example among the accomplished and able 
 men I have known), combined with liability to frequent attacks 
 of disabling, though not dangerous, ill-health, he accomplished, 
 through life, little in comparison with what he seemed capable 
 of ; but what he did produce is held in the very highest esti- 
 mation by the most competent judges. . . . There was in his 
 conversation and demeanour a tone of high-mindedness, which 
 did not show itself so much, if the quality existed as much, 
 in any of the other persons with whom I at that time asso- 
 ciated." 
 
 Though the Austins were poor, the learning and glowing 
 eloquence of John Austin and the talents and beauty of his wife 
 
SARAH AUSTIN. 63 
 
 made their house a resort of the most remarkable and culti- 
 vated people of that time. The knowledge, rare in those days, 
 that Mrs. Austin possessed of Italian, and her kindness and 
 helpfulness, made her house the great centre of the Italian 
 refugees. These were the men who in 1821 helped Charles Felix 
 of Savoy to turn out his brother ; and the first use he made of 
 his power was to persecute his instruments. The Chevalier de 
 Santa Rosa, Prandi, Radice, Cucchi, Floresi (Marquis de Boyl), 
 Ugo Foscolo, Vecelli (lineal descendant of the great painter 
 Titian), and G. Pecchio, were some of them. The latter writes 
 to her : — " I shall preserve sincere gratitude and an everlasting 
 memory of you, the protecting saint of the refugees, a saint as 
 beautiful as any Raphael has painted." Mrs. Austin exerted 
 herself to help them in different ways. Cucchi and Radice she 
 sent to Norwich, and interested her own family and Mrs. Opie 
 to find them Italian lessons. I give a very quaint letter from 
 Santa Rosa, who was exceedingly liked and respected by all 
 who knew him, in what he truly calls his " outlandish 
 English "— 
 
 '■^December 26, 1822. 
 
 " Dear Madam, — I like you because you are good, and 
 because your gentle, beautiful face express faithfully your good- 
 ness. I could not easily close the list of because . . . but I 
 won't omit this. I like you because you are most affectionate 
 in the world to your fireside. Let, let foolish people open a 
 large yawning when they must remain at home one whole day. 
 I pity them, almost I despise. I know a country-man of mine, 
 gentle and pretty creature, who one day tell so to his friend : 
 ' Alas ! I give handsome present to people who will be able to 
 learn me to use the twenty-four hours of every day.' Shock- 
 ing ! twenty-four hours in every day. This gentleman, how- 
 ever, is presently a outlaw. Who would guess it ! 
 
 " I am a little tired of the dinner I was present to yester- 
 day, yet that meeting was much pleasing to me. I was sitting 
 near to Ugoni, and at the left side sweet Arrivabene stood with 
 
64 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 much calmness. The first don't forget to talk of your radicalism. 
 The second increased very much in my favour. // entre de 
 plus en plus en grace auprks de moi, telling scripturally, and 
 for useful interpretation, of my bad English. 
 
 " I received yesterday a very dear letter from one my friend, 
 whom I like heartily, from where we were yet at nineteenth 
 year of life. He is a physician, very fond of his profession, 
 humane, disinterested towards his sicks ; perseverant, prudent 
 friend ; he likes children of mine as well as they should be 
 proper things of him. His letter gives me a diligent account 
 of those unfortunate children — diligent and favourable, much 
 favourable ; you know I wish only two things in the world. 
 My country's deliverance ; and obscure, private life amongst 
 my wife, my tender wife, and my children. A glory ; I think 
 it vaporous dream. Affections enjoyed in peace ; dreams, per- 
 haps, but clear and delicious dreams. 
 
 " I hope to see you to-morrow at two hours afternoon. Let 
 you remember that I will be very much angry with you if you 
 shall wait for me only one minute. 
 
 " Let forgive my outlandish English, and believe me, 
 
 " Your faithful friend, 
 
 " Santa Rosa." 
 
 Through her father's position as one of the prominent Whig 
 leaders in Norwich, Sarah Austin became acquainted with the 
 leaders of that party in London ; the life-long friendship with 
 Mr. and Mrs. Grote must also have begun as soon as they 
 settled there, for I find frequent references to visits to Thread- 
 needle Street. Jeremy Bentham was much attached to Sarah 
 Austin, whom he called his great-grandchild. 
 
 The old sage introduced Charles Comte, son-in-law of 
 Jean Baptiste Say, to the Austins. He had been condemned 
 to prison under the Bourbons for his bold political writings in 
 the Censeur Europien, but by his wife's help escaped to 
 Switzerland. At Lausanne he was named Professor of Law, 
 when the French Government objected to his nomination, and 
 even threatened the Swiss Federal Council. Becoming aware 
 
SARAH AUSTIN. 65 
 
 of this, and not wishing to be the cause of annoyance to 
 Switzerland, M. Comte went to England in 1823 ; he was then 
 writing his " Traite de Legislation," while John Austin was 
 beginning his work on "Jurisprudence." In 1825, J. B. 
 Say went to England to see his daughter, and put his son to 
 learn engineering with Sarah Austin's brother, PhiHp Taylor. 
 
 In 1826 was started the project of creating a London 
 University, where a general system of education should be 
 established independent of all religious teaching. The pro- 
 moters of the scheme were chiefly members of the various dis- 
 senting bodies, and Liberals in politics. John Austin had, after 
 a long struggle, in which his health and spirits suffered severely, 
 given up practice at the Bar, and he was selected to fill the 
 chair of Jurisprudence, which it was proposed to found at the 
 new University. His wife was writing for many of the 
 periodicals of that time, and was too busy to go down to 
 Norwich to see her father, whose last letter to her was in May, 
 1826 :— 
 
 " The last number of the ' Retrospective ' is not yet in our 
 library ; I shall soon have it, and search for your articles. 
 You do not point out your papers in the ' London.' You'll 
 think me squeamish, but I had rather you had let alone the 
 review of the memoirs of the detestable Madame de Pompa- 
 dour and all her vile satellites. 
 
 "Give my love to your husband ; tell him I rejoice in the 
 fame he has gotten by his paper upon Joint Stock Companies. 
 Give a kiss to dear Lucie. ..." 
 
 The following month John Taylor left Norwich, intending to 
 pay a long-promised visit to his eldest brother in DubHn. At 
 Birmingham his son Philip met him, and on the way to his 
 house at Corngreaves the horse ran away down a steep hill. 
 The reins broke, the carriage was upset, and all the occupants 
 more or less hurt. John Taylor was carried senseless into 
 the house of Mr. Brewin, near the scene of the accident, where 
 
 6 
 
66 THREE GENERA TIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 he died on June 23, 1826, aged 76. Few men were more 
 missed or more deeply mourned. Simple and unostentatious, 
 a trusty friend and exemplary parent, his integrity and excellent 
 understanding had given him a high position in his native city. 
 Some of John Austin's friends — Messrs. Bingham, Macculloch, 
 Strutt, C. Austin, and others — had started an annual review of 
 Parliamentary proceedings, which did not live many years ; 
 for that he wrote the article on Joint Stock Companies to 
 which John Taylor alludes, and which is mentioned in 
 the following letter from Jean Baptiste Say : — 
 
 (Translation.) 
 
 ".Pakis, April 26, 1826. 
 " I have received, dear madame and friend, the ' Parlia- 
 mentary History and Review,' with a letter from Mr. Bingham. 
 I immediately had a notice of the work inserted in the ' Revue 
 Encyclopedique,' which occupies itself chiefly with serious sub- 
 jects, and is the only journal which has any circulation in foreign 
 countries. I have announced it in the way I think most likely 
 to draw attention here, for English affairs are judged differently 
 out of your island. I do not hope for many readers in France 
 except in Paris, or in Switzerland save in Geneva. Perhaps we 
 may get more in Holland and in Brussels ; certainly in the 
 United States, where the language will facilitate matters. For 
 my part, I read Mr. Austin's article on the Joint Stock Com- 
 panies with the greatest satisfaction, and I am entirely of his 
 opinion. Comte also read it with extreme interest. It is an 
 excellent idea to have preceded the Parliamentary debates with 
 an abridged sketch of Bentham's political sophisms. . . . The 
 misfortunes of the Greeks arouse great sympathy in France ; 
 we are indignant with our infamous Government, which pro- 
 tects the Turks. The truth is, kings, nobles, and priests are 
 doing their best to make themselves obnoxious, and are suc- 
 ceeding admirably. We are raising subscriptions for the un- 
 fortunate Greeks, and have already collected 100,000 francs, a 
 great deal when you consider that the feeling of the Government 
 is entirely the other way, and that in our country the adminis- 
 tration has a thousand ways of annoying individuals. . . ." 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 SARAH AUSTIN {continued). 
 
 Letter from Mr. Austin to Mr. Grote on London University Professorship- 
 Residence at Bonn — Schlegel — Niebuhr and German society. 
 
 The first stone of London University (now University College) 
 was laid in April, 1827, with great solemnity, by the Duke of 
 Sussex ; and Mr. Austin determined to go to Germany, in order 
 to prepare himself by studying what was done by the great 
 jurists in that country. 
 
 The following extracts from a letter of his to Mr. Grote will 
 show with what ardour he threw himself into his work, and 
 how conscientiously he carried out the task he had set him- 
 self :— 
 
 John Austin to George Grote. 
 
 ^'■December 9, 1827. 
 " Dear Grote, — Since my return to Bonn in the beginning 
 of October I have been busily engaged with my lectures, and 
 in consequence of a great improvement in the state of my 
 health, I have of late pursued, and am now pursuing, the work 
 with hope and ardour, as well as with my wonted assiduity. 
 Unless I be crippled by a return of my old disease, or by the 
 intrusion of some unexpected cause of anxiety, I shall be ready 
 (I am confident) at the opening of the London University. The 
 following is the manner in which I pass my day : — From eight 
 to twelve, work ; from twelve to two, exercise ; from two to 
 four (or half-past), dinner, rest, and reading some light book ; 
 
 67 
 
68 THREE GENERA TIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 from thence to ten or eleven, work. Consequently I have 
 already made a considerable progress towards the attainment 
 of it. Taking the ' Institutes of Gains ' (a clear, concise, and 
 elegant exposition of the Roman Law), not as my guide to the 
 rationale of Jurisprudence, but for the purpose of helping my 
 memory to the subjects with which it is conversant, I have 
 nearly completed a review of it in its whole extent, settled the 
 departments under which it could be distributed, with the order 
 in which they could be arranged, prepared a set of loci for the 
 reception of thoughts and quotations, and reduced a great 
 number of the distinctions, the most difficult to express, to a 
 form which I think they may retain. With my subject com- 
 pletely conceived and distinctly divided, with its details collected 
 and arranged, and with enough of it expressed to serve me for 
 a month or two in advance, I could enter upon my course with- 
 out hesitation. And I trust that the impulse which I have now 
 gotten will carry me onward to this point, at the least, before 
 the opening of the University. It is only at the outset, if ever, 
 that my lectures will be attended by hearers not students in the 
 University. Although, therefore, at the outset I shall try to 
 make an impression by manner as well as by matter, it is only 
 at the outset that I shall be nice about style. After a time 
 I shall even venture upon extempore elocution, introducing 
 it at first with reserve, and only in the less important places, 
 but gradually extending the use of it as I wax in boldness and 
 fluency. Nor could I do my duty the worse for doing it less 
 laboriously. Extemporaneous lectures are not only more flexible 
 than written ones, and therefore better fitted to enter the ap- 
 prehension of the student, but are also more likely to rouse and 
 fix his attention by the greater earnestness and animation with 
 which they are naturally delivered. I am so satisfied of this, 
 that if I were not afraid of breaking down for want of the habit 
 of extemporising, I would certainly begin my course with nothing 
 prepared but matter and method. Even as it is, I shall not 
 write out at length beyond the extent which I have mentioned, 
 nor shall I begin to write out at all till within two or three 
 months of the opening lecture. If I began earlier, I fear that 
 I should be tempted to polish the expression at the expense of 
 more important objects — just ideas, and clear, compact manage- 
 
SARAH A USTIN. 69 
 
 ment. . . . For my own sake, and for the good of the London 
 University, I wish to obtain a better knowledge of the routine 
 pursued here than it has yet been possible for me to acquire. 
 As my imperfect knowledge of the language would have dis- 
 abled me from following the professors, and my attendance 
 upon their lectures would have been time thrown away, I have 
 as yet heard none. At present, however, I am almost in a state 
 to hear them with advantage, and shall soon begin to attend 
 them. I was present last Saturday evening at a sort of lecture 
 (followed by tea, coffee, and conversation) which W. v. Schlegel 
 gives once a week at his own house to the beau monde of Bonn ; 
 and, difficult as the language is, I understood almost everything 
 that fell from him. But though I have attended no lectures, a 
 young Doctor of Law, who is a privatem docens {i.e., a professor, 
 but not formally appointed or salaried by the Government), 
 attends me four times a week, for an hour each time, and reads 
 law with me. He is a friend of Mr. Niebuhr, and as good a 
 subject as I could have hit upon. He has studied at Gottingen 
 under Hugo, and at Berlin under Von Savigny. On the whole, 
 I think my residence here will be of great use to me. Though 
 the Philosophy of Law is in a backward state amongst the 
 Germans, such of their expository books (particularly on the 
 Roman Law) as I have run through appear to me to be 
 models of arrangement, and to abound with learning. . . ." 
 
 Mrs. Austin describes the manners and customs of Bonn to 
 her sister Mrs. Reeve and to Mrs. Grote in the following 
 letters : — 
 
 Sarah Austin to Susan Reeve. 
 
 " Bonn, January 2, 1828. 
 "Life here glides along; they smoke and eat, walk and 
 dance ; the studious men pore over researches which have 
 neither object nor excitement to a busy, active spirit ; the 
 women cook, and knit, and higgle for ' pfennigs,' but one 
 does not see the strife and the struggle, the carking care, the 
 soul-consuming efforts to get and to spend that are the pride 
 and the curse of England. Alas ! we English pay dearly for 
 
70 THREE GENERA TIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 our boasted energy, industry, activity, and so forth. Life is a 
 toil and a conflict. 
 
 " The absence of all that we know (to our cost) under the name 
 oi patronage here is truly wonderful, and accounts for the great 
 attachment of the people of all classes to their King. It is 
 really attachment, for they have nothing to hope or to gain 
 from favouritism. 
 
 " On Christmas Eve we dined at Von Schlegel's, where I met 
 the only woman I have seen in Germany who made any im- 
 pression on me — Madame Mendelssohn, wife of a grandson of 
 the philosopher of that name. She is a lovely and sweet- 
 mannered, gracious creature, such as one would love to see 
 anywhere. They are Berliners, and are here only for the 
 winter. She knows but few people, and like me is not much 
 attracted by those she does know. My husband is raving about 
 her, and says if Jurisprudence was not his helle passion he 
 should fall in love with her. I sat on Schlegel's right, she on 
 his left ; next to me the old President Jacobi, a distinguished 
 lawyer. Professor Welcker, a very agreeable man, and Mr. 
 Beer, a rich and accomplished Jew, and a poet, made up our 
 very pleasant party. Schlegel, like Niebuhr, loves to talk 
 English. My Lucie is quite well and in great favour with 
 men, women, and children. Last week she had a party of 
 ten children, and we had great romps, teaching them English 
 games. Of all the people I know there is only Rittmeister 
 Laroche who speaks nothing but German, and as he can ride 
 and fight much better than he can judge of language, I am not 
 very scrupulous about my bad German with him. You would 
 be greatly amused at him — such a genuine, rough old Teuton. 
 My husband laughs till he can't sit at his naivete and bluntness, 
 which cover a fond of kindness, generosity, and gentlemanly 
 feeling. One reads such characters in novels, but I never saw 
 one till now. ..." 
 
 Sarah Austin to Harriet Grote. 
 
 " 'Boyi^, January 26, 1828. 
 " My dear Mrs. Grote, — You can form but a very inade- 
 quate notion of the pleasure even the sight of the handwriting 
 
SARAH AUSTIN. 71 
 
 of a high-spirited, sensible, and accomphshed Englishwoman 
 was calculated to give me in this land of dowdiness, insipidity, 
 and slavish, base prejudice as to all that regards our sex. We 
 are apt to think we are worse treated by our natural legislators 
 than any of our continental sisters, but ' come here a bit ' (that 
 is German) and you shall see. My glorious man lays on to them 
 with all the force he can muster in a strange tongue, but the 
 Hercules is in chains, and he feels it, and grows very angry 
 sometimes. What eternal talk must ensue between you and 
 me before the vials of my wrath are at all spent ! God will, 
 my dearest Mrs. Grote, that you may be in a condition to en- 
 counter this charge of tongues without physical detriment ! 
 
 " By the by, my husband told you, did he not, of his soirees 
 at W. V. Schlegel's ? They are pleasant enough, and to hear 
 him speak his language is, be the matter what it may, pleasure 
 and profit to a learner. They say there is only one man in 
 Germany who speaks it so well, and that is Tieck. Among the 
 countless feuds which divide this little town is one (I perceive) 
 between the partisans of Niebuhr and of Schlegel, the two most 
 distinguished men here. We have perhaps offended both by 
 taking part with neither. I speak this only conjecturally, for 
 Niebuhr has been as attentive to us as he is to anybody ; and 
 Schlegel, considering we had no letter, more so than we had 
 any right to expect. Niebuhr came to wish me a Happy New 
 Year, and brought me his life of his father, which is interesting 
 from the rooted spirit of democratical pride and determination 
 it betrays. The tone in which he speaks of his ancestors, free 
 yeomen (so to speak) of Friesland, will please Mr. Grote. 
 
 " I am delighted with him, and only wish it were possible to 
 see more of him. He has strong rapports with our friend Mr. 
 Mill. Schlegel is as different as a man can well be — profoundly 
 indifferent, apparently, to public affairs, but eminently agreeable 
 and well bred. Niebuhr is complained of here as hard and dog- 
 matical. I need not say that he interests us the most, but 
 Schlegel is excellent company. He speaks French like a 
 Frenchman, and English extremely well, even elegantly. He 
 has a young Norwegian hving with him and assisting him in 
 his Oriental researches. The Government has taken a sur 
 prising affection for Oriental history and antiquities. Mr 
 
72 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 Weber, a very clever, well-informed young bookseller here, 
 ,and a good Liberal, says this is the latest thing hit upon to 
 divert the attention of people who have leisure to think, from 
 matters of public importance. What is grievous in Germany 
 is that, with a few such exceptions as Niebuhr (to whom all 
 honour for his courage), the Governments can always command 
 the time, talents, and pens of the vast body oi gelehrte into any 
 frivolous unprofitable channel they will. Accordingly the 
 history of letters affords nothing like the mass of useless labour 
 and research which the German press is always putting forth. 
 This is peculiarly striking in regard to a subject it seems 
 difficult to treat without a regard had to the end — i.e., juris- 
 prudence. This difficulty, however, my husband assures me, 
 the German jurists labour, with no trifling success, to overcome; 
 and he says many of their books appear rather more to belong 
 to the department of Bibliography — histories of Editions, Codes, 
 etc. Nevertheless, he is quite satisfied with what his studies 
 here have produced to himself. He goes on with the utmost 
 steadiness and with unvarying cheerfulness and satisfaction. 
 I believe with all my heart, my dear and most valued friend, 
 that you will rejoice to see his excellencies come to view and 
 my anxieties cease. If his health does but stand, I fear nothing. 
 Our dear child is a great joy to us. She grows wonderfully, 
 and is the happiest thing in the world. Her German is very 
 pretty — she interprets for her father with great joy and naivete. 
 God forbid that I should bring up a daughter here ! but at her 
 present age I am most glad to have her here and to send her 
 to a school where she learns, well, writing, arithmetic, sewing, 
 knitting, geography, and, as a matter of course, German. 
 
 " We are in a state of blissful ignorance of all that can grieve 
 Whig or Liberal hearts. My family write to me, but they say 
 not much of such matters. 
 
 " In God's name, therefore, write, my dear Mrs. Grote ! not 
 to mention that all people who write, do not write like yourself. 
 Mr. Mill, I suppose, is not to be thought of ; but if you know 
 ever a good Christian who would — Eyton Tooke for instance — 
 I should be humbly obliged. 
 
 "Our theatre closes after one more representation. I pay 
 about a guinea for the whole season, and have had a very good 
 
SARAH AUSTIN. 73 
 
 pennyworth of pleasure and improvement. The subscription to 
 four balls for us both is three thalers. But forgive my demands 
 on your ' precious sight.' When you can, do write again, and 
 believe me, with the most cordial affection and esteem, 
 
 " Yours, 
 
 " Sarah Austin." 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 SARAH AUSTIN (continued'). 
 
 The Austins return to London — German influence on Mr. Austin — ^Mr. J. S. 
 Mill's opinion — Letter from M. Say to Mrs. Austin — Letter from M. de 
 Beyle on peculiarities of Englishmen — Mrs. Austin on the advantage of 
 learning German — Opinion of the London University — Charles Villiers — 
 Contributions to the New Monthly — Invitation from Jeremy Bentham — 
 John Austin's lectures published — Death of Jeremy Bentham. 
 
 In 1828 the Austins returned to London, and John Austin's 
 Lectures opened with a class which exceeded his expectations. 
 Mr. J. S. Mill writes : ' 
 
 " The influences of German literature and of the German 
 character and state of society had made a very perceptible 
 change in Mr. Austin's views of life. His personal disposition 
 was much softened ; he was less militant and polemic ; his 
 tastes had begun to turn themselves towards the poetic and 
 contemplative. He attached much less importance than 
 formerly to outward changes, unless accompanied by a better 
 cultivation of the inward nature. He had a strong distaste 
 for the general meanness of English life, the absence of 
 enlarged thoughts and unselfish desires, the low objects on 
 which the faculties of all classes of the English are intent. 
 Even the kind of public interests which Englishmen care for, 
 he held in very little esteem. He thought that there was 
 more practical good government, and (which is true enough) 
 infinitely more care for the education and mental improvement 
 
 ' "Autobiography," J. S. Mill. 
 74 
 
. SARAH AUSTIN. 75 
 
 of the people, under the Prussian Monarchy, than under the 
 EngHsh representative government ; and he held with the 
 French ' Economistes,' that the real security for good govern- 
 ment is ' un peuple eclaire,' which is not always the fruit of 
 popular institutions, and which, if it could be had without 
 them, would do their work better than they. Though he 
 approved of the Reform Bill, he predicted, what in fact 
 occurred, that it would not produce the great immediate 
 improvements in government which many predicted from it. . . 
 He never ceased to be a utilitarian, and with all his love for 
 the Germans, and enjoyment of their literature, never became 
 in the smallest degree reconciled to the innate-principle 
 metaphysics. . . . He professed great disrespect for what he 
 called ' the universal principles of human nature of the political 
 economists,' and insisted on the evidence which history and 
 daily experience afford of the ' extraordinary pliability of 
 human nature ; ' nor did he think it possible to get any 
 positive bounds to the moral capabilities which might unfold 
 themselves in mankind under an enlightened direction of 
 social and educational influences." 
 
 'Mrs.~ Austin from the first had thrown herself into all her 
 husband's pursuits, and in spite of her many literary occupa- 
 tions she had an extensive correspondence, both for herself 
 and for Mr. Austin. In April, 1828, M. J. B. Say writes to 
 her from Paris : — 
 
 J. B. Say to Sarah Austin. 
 
 [Translation.] 
 
 " Madam and dear Friend, — I take advantage of my eldest 
 son's visit to London to send you the first volume of'Cours 
 d'Economie Politique,' which is just out. There will be six 
 vols., and if it please God, or the Devil, they will be pubHshed 
 in the course of this year and the next. It will be seen in this 
 volume, and still more in the following ones, that I consider 
 my subject in conjunction with Social Science in its entirety. 
 For the economy of society consists of a continued interchange 
 
nt THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 of good offices of which Pohtical Economy rates at their proper 
 value ; appraising the things of which we may have need, and 
 the conditions on which we may obtain them. I submit these 
 views to Mr. Austin. 
 
 " All this does not prevent me from being very angry with 
 you for not having come to Paris now, during the season, and 
 seeing in what our studies of Jurisprudence consist. Instead 
 of this, you are coming ( if you come) in August, when every 
 one is overwhelmed with heat and dust, when all the schools 
 are closed — when — when — in short, your project lacks common 
 sense. 
 
 " Yours ever, 
 
 " J. B. Say." 
 
 A very different letter is the following from that spirituel 
 writer, M. de Beyle (Stendhal), which is full of what Miss 
 Aikin calls " airy French grace " : — 
 
 M. de Beyle to Sarah Austin. 
 
 [Translation.] 
 
 1828. 
 
 " Mister Translator, — I beg you to cut out any repetitions 
 and to suppress what may appear improper. I am discontented 
 with myself, I am serious and lengthy, a caricature of the style 
 of Tacitus. There are too few words for each idea ; in the 
 Edinburgh Review there are never more than four ideas in a 
 page. Recounting takes up a deal of space ; I wanted to show 
 what it is that makes us laugh in the ' Sous-chef,' but I read 
 my two first pages to an Englishman and he did not under- 
 stand a word. Do try and lengthen my two pages into three. 
 Shakespeare does not know how to laugh like Molifere ; I love 
 Rosalind, and I am touched by the tender Jaques in the 
 forest of Arden — it is gold, it is diamonds, but it is not 
 laughter. Have you ever remarked the wonderful art in ' Le 
 
 Medecin malgre lui ' ? I advise you to read it. M. T 
 
 rewrote his Julien six times, iive different versions were 
 rejected by the Censor. Very likely M. Joubert wrote his 
 delightful ' Sous-chef ' three or four times. Those four 
 
SARAH AUSTIN. jj 
 
 peasants dressed in decent clothes, which they wear so ill, and 
 who for twenty minutes, during all the last part of the book, 
 gravely turn over the pages of their fat account book, instead 
 of listening to what is said, are inimitable. Do you think my 
 readers will understand that ? It seems to me that except 
 when they read Shakespeare, Byron, or Sterne, no Enghshman 
 understands ' nuances ' ; we adore them. A fool says to a 
 woman, ' I love you ' ; the words mean nothing, he might as 
 well say, ' OUi Batachor ' ; it is the nuance which gives force 
 to the meaning. Read the memoirs of Cosse, then you will 
 understand the French faculty for laughing. Do you know 
 Le Dictionnaire du Bas Langage ? You cannot understand 
 Moliere and the ' langage parle de I'High Life ' without it ; 
 but the word low language, what horror it would cause in a 
 country of aristocrats ! There you will find ab hoc et ab hac, 
 which means ' by chance,' ' a thing not to be attended to,' 
 ' to attach no importance to.' When I tell an Englishman 
 anything funny or odd, I am obliged to explain for a quarter 
 of an hour (what a pleasure !) to prove that I have told the 
 truth. No Frenchman can keep a secret ; we are only 
 agreeable when we talk ; we must talk : as soon as a French- 
 man of good society has nothing more to say, out come the 
 secrets. 
 
 " You ask about a meeting at Granada ? M. de Chateau- 
 briand was once desperately in love with Madame de Noailles. 
 She said to him, ' What are you doing in Paris ? A man 
 like you shrivels up in a salon. Go to Jerusalem, return by 
 Barbary and Spain, and I swear that you shall find me in the 
 ruins of the Alhambra at Granada.' It came to pass, and 
 Madame de Noailles did not at all lose her reputation. She 
 died some time ago, and M. de Chateaubriand wrote down the 
 anecdote. His present mistress told me that it is in his best 
 style. Forgive my rambling nonsense, as I don't even know 
 your name, I write as though I had known you for ten years." 
 
 To her sister Mrs. Reeve, who was then living at Geneva for 
 the education of her son, the present editor of the Edinburgh 
 Review, Mrs. Austin writes in 1829 : — 
 
78 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 Sarah Austin to Susan Reeve. 
 
 " London. 
 "... My husband has been better and worse, and better, 
 and so on. He has now passed two months or more without 
 an attack. This appears but a pittance of time for a man 
 engaged in the most extensive and difficult of all studies, to re- 
 arrange all his dissipated ideas and to collect the scattered and 
 mutilated fragments of long and nearly perfected chains of 
 thought and arrangement. Yet this is a longer reprieve than 
 he has had for a considerable time. He is now going on 
 with spirit. Many times, however, since I wrote last, he has 
 entirely despaired of being able to commence his public 
 career, and I have held myself in a state of constant prepara- 
 tion for any decision he might take, and have accustomed 
 myself to look steadily at the abandonment of all our prospects 
 here for ever. Indeed, those who know what a life of pro- 
 longed uncertainty and suspense is, will not wonder at me for 
 wishing that the worst were come and nothing left to hope 
 or fear. Not that I do not see the terrible consequences to a 
 hypochondriacal man of living without a fixed employment. 
 This has embittered my gardening — otherwise such a pleasure. 
 In gardening all is prospective. The flower seeds to be raised 
 for next year's blooming, the strawberry runners to be laid 
 down for next spring, the fruit trees to be pruned for next 
 year's bearing — all are done, for I did not like him to perceive 
 anything like giving icp. Another year, if affairs go well, I 
 shall make my garden much prettier to receive you in. My 
 darling child is now returned from a visit to her grandmamma. 
 She is quite well — grown a great girl, but just the same 
 ' herzliches Kind ' (Henry will translate) — honest, simple and 
 energetic. Her Latin, which I have kept in my own hands, 
 goes on very fairly. She reads De viris illustrihus nicely, and 
 parses well. German she keeps up, reading, writing, and 
 speaking it constantly. Above all, her own insatiable love of 
 reading keeps her little mind always active ; and her original 
 way of thinking will save her, I hope, from a trivial or vulgar 
 taste in reading. We have had a visit from my dear Mr. Mill, 
 who I lament to say is a good deal broken and aged by 
 two bad attacks of gout. He is most kind and affectionate. 
 
SARAH AUSTIN. 79 
 
 Have you seen his admirable book ? Henry will oblige me 
 and serve himself by reading it with the attention it deserves. 
 Tell him particularly to observe the part on Naming, on 
 Abstract Terms, Relative Terms, etc. Victor Cousin has sent 
 me his ' Cours de Philosophie.' This is a very different sort 
 of book, but, though not so mucli to my taste, I love and 
 respect the author's mind and intentions with all my heart. 
 My prince of pupils, John Romilly, has recommenced his 
 lessons. We are reading an easy sketch of the History of the 
 Roman Law — very interesting to me. I hope Henry is 
 learning German. I am more and more convinced that 
 en fait de langage it is the most important acquisition 
 an Englishman can make. The characteristics of German 
 literature are dispassionateness of inquiry and reality of 
 knowledge, and these are singularly valuable to the native of a 
 country where everything is impatiently pushed forward to 
 answer the ends of immediate gain. . . ." 
 
 Sarah Austin to Susan Reeve. ■ 
 
 "Park Road, London, Aj>ri7 12, 1830. 
 "... My last account of the University, of its prospects and 
 of ours as connected with it, was full of gloomy forebodings. I 
 cannot say that, looking at the institution at large and for any 
 permanent futurity, these are much removed. It is the 
 opinion of many, I almost fear of most, that it contains within 
 itself the seeds of dissolution. The expenditure has been 
 lavish, the plans are ill-digested, and vibrating, like all things 
 in which the Whigs have a hand, between the desire of being 
 popular and the fear of being unfashionable, so as of course to 
 satisfy neither class whom they seek to conciliate by cowardly 
 half-measures. The Council are not united, and the Professors 
 as a body are openly at war with the Council. With neither 
 body would my husband ever have anything to do. Most 
 wisely he has kept utterly aloof, having to do, as he says, 
 solely with his class. With them he is upon the most delight- 
 ful terms, and at variance with nobody. This is quite worthy 
 of him. Since I wrote, he has received the agreeable notice 
 
8o THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 that his guarantee will be continued another year, so that for 
 another year, beginning from next Michaelmas, we are secure 
 of the means of living. His fees for this year have amounted 
 to £120^ so that the University has not, as in the case of 
 several of the Professors of modern languages who have 
 literally no classes, to make good the whole sum. These 
 guarantees, which will have lasted for two years, will be 
 discontinued at the end of this session. The Latin, Greek 
 and Mathematics do very well, and pay sufficiently. My 
 husband thinks that even if the University were to fail, he 
 should by that time have established a reputation as a teacher 
 of Law which would always enable him to get a class somewhere. 
 I think there is good ground to believe this. Romilly and 
 John Mill both assure me that they know of several who do 
 not enter now, only because the course is so far advanced, and 
 who will undoubtedly enter another year. He has, since I 
 wrote, two new pupils, one a Mr. Tuffnell, the other a son of 
 Mr. Frankland Lewis, who you know is in the Ministry. A 
 good-natured lad who comes often to see me, and is the dandy 
 of the class (a son of Sir Alexander Johnston), says it is really 
 very agreeable to attend Mr. Austin's class — it is such a 
 gentlemanly one ! There is the handsome and fashionable 
 Charles Villiers, the young M.P. Charles BuUer, and the three 
 Romillys, Mr. Tuffnell, Mr. Lewis, and so on. This will 
 enable us to fetch up our leeway, for the two last years were 
 cruel ones, and put us sadly back in everything. We shall 
 now get afloat again, and then, come what may, shall start 
 clear. I am now translating monthly a certain portion of 
 scraps for the New Monthly^ from my favourite German prose 
 authors. The first number they appeared in was that for 
 April. These bits were done only for the private edification of 
 my friend John Sterling, but he thought them worth giving 
 to the editor. I have now, too, undertaken another trade, 
 namely, giving lessons in Latin. My aunt Lizzie wrote to ask 
 me whether I would consent to give lessons to the only 
 daughter of her old friend Mr. Minskull. So Lucie and I trot 
 down to Bentinck Street with our bag of books, and quite 
 enjoy it. I do not fancy myself at all degraded by thus 
 agreeably earning a guinea a week, and if anybody else does, he 
 
SARAH AUSTIN. 8i 
 
 or she is quite welcome to avoid my society, as I inevitatly 
 should his or hers. I have had two or three pleasant evenings 
 after lecture. My young friend Charles Buller's father and 
 mother have come three times to tea, and I have had the 
 Bellenden Kers, John Mill, John Sterling, Charles Austin, 
 Miss Goldsmid and her brother, Mr. Wishaw, Mr. Tuffnell, Mr. 
 P. Johnson, Charles Romilly, and Mr. Otway Cave, M.P., in 
 three brigades to meet them. The latter, who sits for 
 Leicester, and has great Irish property, is a constant visitor, 
 and has a perfect furore for bringing people. Yesterday he 
 walked in, ushering Sir Francis Burdett ;. now he asks my 
 leave to bring O'Connell. Of course I let him, and am only 
 amused at the whim. He is a violent Liberal, and having 
 nothing to do, likes, I suppose, to sit and talk politics for 
 ever and ever. Au reste he is very good-natured, and a 
 prodigious puifer of my husband, which may have its use. 
 John Mill is ever my dearest child and friend, and he really 
 doats on Lucie, and can do anything with her. She is a 
 monstrous great girl but, though she has admirable qualities, 
 I am not satisfied with her. She is too wild, undisciplined, and 
 independent ; and though she knows a great deal, it is in a 
 strange, wild way. She reads everything ; composes German 
 verses, has imagined and put together a fairy world, dress, 
 language, music, everything, and talks to them in the garden ; 
 but she is sadly negligent of her own appearance, and is, as 
 Sterling calls her, Miss Orson. 
 
 Jeremy Bentham writes to Mrs. Austin in August, 1830, 
 when Mr. Austin had gone to see his sister : — 
 
 Jeremy Bentham to Sarah Austin. 
 
 " August 25, 1830. 
 " Odd as it is, I am still alive. Are we ever to see one 
 another again ? If yes, I propose, or name, a distant day- 
 next Wednesday — to make the surer — or any day hereafter 
 (the nearer best) that you will name. You are a widow 
 bewitched. To return in the evening to your own abode 
 
 7 
 
82 THREE GENERA TIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 would not be (practically speaking) possible. Myrmidons for 
 escorting you back I have none. The bed-chamber your 
 mother once occupied is vacant ; should that not quadrate with 
 your notion of propriety, in Bell Yard, within twenty feet of 
 ray street door, is a bed-chamber, in which you would be under 
 the care of the wife of a tenant of mine, a perfectly decent 
 woman. I never saw it, but it has been occupied, with marks 
 of satisfaction, at various times, by guests of mine, more than 
 once. 
 
 " Your loving great-grandpapa, 
 
 "J. B." 
 
 Sarah Austin to Susan Reeve. 
 
 " London, April 12, 1831. 
 " Dear Sister, — That which ought to be the greatest con- 
 solation and pleasure to me — writing to you — is become a pain. 
 Often in the midst of some depressing event I have felt irre- 
 sistibly prompted to sit down and vent all my despondency to 
 you — then again I have said to myself, why afflict her ? I 
 have heard that you are well and happy, grown fat and hand- 
 some, rajeunie de dix ans. I knew that the good news I sent 
 you of my husband's health would give you great satisfaction, 
 knowing, as you do, that that is the mainspring of good and 
 evil to me. Would I could confirm it now ! I think you do 
 not know that when he was to begin his lectures in November, 
 he actually had no class, so that they were deferred till 
 January, and he now lectures to eight. At first he bore this 
 shock wonderfully, considering what it must be to a man who 
 has devoted the whole of such a mind as his, and all its stores, 
 to that one object. He did not flag or despond in the least. 
 He merely said what was sufficiently evident, that it was now 
 decided that we could not live here ; that he would go through 
 his course as well as if his class were ever so numerous, and at 
 the end of it send in his resignation. In all this I acquiesced ; 
 but as I could not endure that he should quit the University 
 and England, and leave no proof of what a man the institution 
 and the country were sending forth, for want of all encourage- 
 ment, or even the most humble means of subsistence, I 
 
SARAH AUSTIN. 83 
 
 entreated him to publish the earher part of his course, contain- 
 ing the basis of Jurisprudence, which I knew to be separable 
 from the less generally interesting details. At first he quite 
 rejected the idea ; but on my placing before him many argu- 
 ments which appeared to me weighty, he consented, only 
 saying that he could incur no risk, neither could he send for a 
 publisher, but that if I would find one and negotiate everything, 
 he would print them. You may imagine I was not slow to 
 undertake nor to accomplish this. After two interviews, Bald- 
 win undertook the business, and but for several untoward 
 things they would now be out. I cannot express to you the 
 approbation this move of mine has received from all his and 
 my friends ; the Romillys, Street, Booth, Mill, Duckworth, 
 Empson, Erie, and many others have told me it was the best 
 thing I ever did, and could not fail to establish his reputation. 
 A passage from one lecture has appeared in the Examiner .^ and 
 been copied into several provincial papers with great approba- 
 tion. But what avails all this while everything here is pur- 
 sued, not as a science, but merely as a craft ? We cannot live 
 on air, but must go somewhere where our little means will 
 support us. Plan we have none. You know how much my 
 inclinations are with Germany. He at present seems rather to 
 think of Paris, where he says he would devote himself entirely 
 to constructing a complete Corpus Juris — such an one as might 
 live for ever and be a text-book for all future codifiers. You 
 may imagine that I could willingly make any and every sacri- 
 fice to so noble a project. I have had an immense deal to do 
 — Lucie's entire education, nursing John, needlework, writing, 
 &c. Lucie now goes to a Dr. Biber, who has five other pupils 
 (boys), and his own little child. The being relieved from the 
 constant wear and fret of seeing my dear child not half-educated 
 is an immense thing. She seems chiefly to take to Greek, 
 with which her father is very anxious to have her thoroughly 
 imbued. As this scheme, even if we stay in England, cannot 
 last many years, I am quite willing to forego all the feminine 
 parts of her education for the present. The main thing is to 
 secure her independence ; both with relation to her own mind 
 and outward circumstances. She is handsome, striking, and 
 full of vigour and animation," 
 
84 THREE GENERA TJONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 In 1832, just when the Reform Bill had been carried, Jeremy 
 Bentham died. Mrs. Austin saw him a fortnight before, and 
 he gave her a ring, which I now have, with his portrait and 
 some of his hair let in behind, and " Memento for Mrs. John 
 Austin. Jeremy Bentham's Hair and Profile," engraved on it. 
 He kissed her affectionately and said, " There, my dear, it is the 
 only ring I ever gave to a woman." 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 SARAH AUSTIN (continued). 
 
 Mr. John Sterling on Mrs. Austin's translation of Prince Piickler-Muskau, and 
 on Miss Martineau — Mr. Austin publishes his "Jurisprudence Deter- 
 mined," and is appointed a member of the Criminal Law Commission — 
 Sketch of John Austin— Letters from Mrs. Austin to M. Victor Cousin — 
 Letters from Mr. Thomas Carlyle on the state of Politics and Literature. 
 
 In 1 83 1 Mrs. Austin translated Prince Piickler-Muskau's book, 
 " Tour in England, Ireland, and France," which was pub- 
 lished the following year, and is alluded to in the following 
 letter by John Sterling, written from Colonaria, Cape St. 
 Vincent : — 
 
 John Sterling to Sarah Austin. 
 
 July 9, 1832. 
 " My dear Friend, — Since that evening when John Mill 
 took me to your house and introduced me to you, I think I 
 have never been so long as of late without either writing or 
 speaking to you. In the meantime you must have been 
 abundantly busy as well as myself, and I trust you are little 
 likely to suppose that my silence proceeded from forgetfulness. 
 Indeed, I have been in some sort conversing with you, for I 
 have been reading the travels of that Prince Prettyman, to 
 whose book you have shown so much more favour than you 
 would have bestowed on the author ; and I have been also 
 reconsidering in an old number or two of the iV^. M. Magazine 
 the specimens of German genius, Avhich I like much better. I 
 do not deny that your protege., the Prince, is rather lively, and 
 
 8s 
 
86 THREE GENERA TIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 perhaps as things go in Germany, a good deal of a gentleman, 
 in spite of his bad waltzing ; but his utter ignorance of the 
 literature, morals, politics, and religion of England, is ill-com- 
 pensated by some dashing sketches of scenery, and by his 
 wearisome descriptions of the manners of a small knot of 
 people who, so far as I ever saw, were despicable and ridiculous 
 in the eyes of the great body of their more decent countrymen. 
 The most disgraceful part of the business is Goethe's praise of 
 the Tourist. You do not admire or respect him, but the ablest 
 German since Luther, or at least since Leibnitz, does both ; 
 and I can only regard the fact as one among many evidences 
 of the mischief of attempting to realise in life the theory, 
 striking and seductive as it is, which all Goethe's works (so far 
 as they are translated into English) so exquisitely inculcate. 
 Of course the falseness of his doctrine does not, in my opinion, 
 depend for proof on the consequences of the endeavour to put 
 it in practice, but this is the kind of evidence which will always 
 be most powerful with the multitudes. Long ere this you will 
 have received a budget of my MS. It is possible that Murray 
 (of whom my father knows something) might publish it— or 
 perhaps a man of the name of Moxon, who seems to aifect a 
 conscience, and deserves encouragement for that decorous 
 hypocrisy. The preface and the motto ought, I think, to con- 
 vince my readers — even without a portrait — that my mus- 
 tachios are in truth at least as formidable as Prince Piickler- 
 Muskau's ! It would be great fun if you were to edit me after 
 translating him ; but if you think my book a botch, pray do 
 not soil your fingers with it. In principle I am still far more 
 inclined to Coleridge than to any other writer I know, and I 
 read him with ever new delight. If I had not feared to dis- 
 grace him by the homage, I would have dedicated my novel to 
 him, as to my greatest intellectual and moral benefactor. I 
 heartily long that ycu, dearest friend, and all others whom I 
 value, could join me in the common ground of love and reve- 
 rence for that wise old man. Of what I have lately read I will 
 say nothing, except that I am sorry to see Buller (in the N. M. 
 M.) stationary at the point at which he stood when I first knew 
 him — now, alas ! some seven years (how spent by both of us) 
 agone — and that Miss Martineau, with all her extraordinary 
 
SARAH AUSTIN. 87 
 
 zeal and talents, has given a very absurd picture of the West 
 Indies. If, as I believe, she has no semblance of authority for 
 the incident of the bloodhound, her delineation is positively 
 wicked. She is ridiculously wrong as to the mode of cultiva- 
 tion pursued here, and her representation of the negroes' wish 
 for the ruin of their owners is, I believe, quite erroneous, saying 
 nothing as to whether it would be really beneficial to the 
 slaves or not. At all events, I have seen negroes after a hurri- 
 cane and she has not, and I know that it both is a calamity to 
 them, and that they feel it to be so. 
 
 " God keep you from the follies and misery of all around. 
 " Ever, my dear Friend, yours sincerely, 
 
 " John Sterling." 
 
 In June, 1832, Mr. Austin gave his last lecture, and pub- 
 lished his " Province of Jurisprudence Determined." In the 
 following year he was appointed by Lord Brougham, then 
 Lord Chancellor, member of the Criminal Law Commission. 
 Though this turned him to a narrower field than that he had 
 marked out for himself, he entered upon it with conscientious 
 devotion, and carried into it profound and comprehensive 
 views. He, however, soon found that the powers granted to 
 the Commission did not authorise the fundamental reforms he 
 conceived necessary, and that his opinions differed from those 
 of his colleagues. Every meeting left him disheartened and 
 agitated, and his health suffered considerably. 
 
 I have often been asked what my grandfather was like, and 
 what prevented John Austin from achieving the success that 
 seemingly ought to have been his. A short sketch of him 
 may prove of interest, and explain the passionate love he 
 inspired in his wife and daughter. 
 
 He was the eldest son of Jonathan Austin, a substantial 
 miller and corn merchant, who had mills at Creeting and 
 Ipswich, in Suffolk, and at Longford, in Essex. All his 
 children were distinguished by force of character and brilliant 
 intellectual qualities. I have heard that his grandmother. 
 
88 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 Annie Adkins, had gipsy blood in her veins. Mrs. Fleeming 
 Jenkin tells me that years ago she went with her father to 
 Foxearth, where the Austins of five generations ago lie buried. 
 There they found an old woman who remembered Annie 
 Adkins, and gave them a striking description of her vivacity 
 and her ringing laugh, her large dark eyes and her high 
 temper. Her husband, Giles Austin, was not an easy man to 
 live with. On her tombstone these few pregnant words are 
 inscribed : " She died of a broken heart." 
 
 Her son Jonathan married Anne Redhouse, only daughter 
 of a small gentleman farmer, or yeoman, who, being left an 
 orphan, was brought up by a rich uncle as his heiress. He, 
 however, married late in life, and had children of his own. 
 Well educated, gently nurtured, and possessed of exceptional 
 abilities, she evidently inspired her husband with her love for 
 learning. His education had been neglected, but he was 
 always fond of reading, and acquired a great deal of knowledge, 
 both of history and political economy. He had a very exact 
 mind, and particularly disliked any kind of exaggeration ; to 
 an acute sense of fun was joined considerable enthusiasm, a 
 touching story or a noble action moved him deeply. Even as 
 quite an old man he was strikingly handsome, with silver- 
 white hair. His wife was deeply religious, though in no narrow 
 way. She was charitable and helpful, but a deep tinge of 
 melancholy, probably increased by delicate health and fits of 
 nervous depression, overshadowed her whole life. This she 
 transmitted to several of her children, tempered with the 
 Austin family characteristic of wit and fun. Her sense of duty 
 was exceptionally high, and above all things she hated a lie. 
 She died at about sixty, with the name of her second son 
 Joseph on her lips, whose loss she never recovered. The boy 
 insisted, to her sorrow, on going to sea, and served as a mid- 
 shipman under Admirals Stopford and Cochrane (afterwards 
 Lord Dundonald). When only fourteen he cut out an 
 
SARAH AUSTIN. 89 
 
 enemy's boat under heavy fire, behaving with such gallantry 
 that the Admiral took off his own sword, and, passing the belt 
 twice round, buckled it on the handsome, fair-haired boy's shm 
 waist. He died at seventeen of yellow fever in the Scipio off 
 Java. 
 
 The wit came out strongest in Charles Austin, the eminent 
 Parliamentary counsel, the " great converser," as Mrs. Grote 
 called him ; while Mr. J. S. Mill says, " The effect he produced 
 on his contemporaries deserves to be accounted an historical 
 event. ... It is seldom that men produce so great an imme- 
 diate effect by speech-" Many memoirs of that time contain 
 reference to Charles Austin's wonderfully brilliant and witty 
 conversation, and I have always heard that his success at the 
 Bar was beyond any of his contemporaries. Alfred, the fourth 
 brother, was Assistant Poor Law Commissioner, and then for 
 many years Secretary to the Board of Works. He was highly 
 educated, and a delightful companion. The youngest, George, 
 lived chiefly at Freiburg. He was a great student of languages 
 and a Saxon scholar, an insatiable reader, and extremely witty 
 and amusing. The two daughters, Anne (Mrs. Staff) and 
 Charlotte, who died unmarried, were clever and well-read 
 women, but, like their mother, melancholy. 
 
 John Austin inherited his mother's delicate health and 
 nervous organisation. She must have imbued him with her 
 deep religious feehng, for at three years old he would kneel 
 before a chair with the Bible laid upon it and read aloud to 
 her. Later, as a boy of seven, he was found by his eldest sister 
 on his knees in the garden, praying earnestly for a bow and 
 arrows he had long coveted. The gift of eloquence he 
 possessed when a child, and turned it to better account than in 
 after life, for he used to sit by his father at dinner and so 
 engage him in talk that the worthy miller never noticed that 
 John drank up his glass of beer. 
 
 Born on the 3rd of March, 1 790, John Austin entered the army 
 
90 THREE GENERA TIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 before he was sixteen, serving under Lord William Bentinck 
 at Malta and in Sicily. There is in my possession a mutilated 
 diary which the young officer kept during the year 1812, and 
 from these pages we may glean hints which to some extent 
 explain the problem of his comparative failure in after life. 
 The diary shows him at the age of twenty- two to have been 
 endowed with an introspective and critical temper, haughty in 
 his intellectual attitude, and almost morbidly conscious of his 
 inert temperament. He speaks of " indolence, always the pro- 
 minent vice of my character," "this lethargy of the faculties," 
 " the listlessness of indolence and ennui." He complains that, 
 while sharing in the sports and follies of his comrades, he finds 
 but little pleasure in that " relaxation which none but the 
 industrious can relish." It does not appear that these expres- 
 sions are merely the outcome of a passing mood of melancholy. 
 The tone of the diary is grey, austere, and inelastic. The 
 passages in which the writer seems to have felt the greatest 
 warmth and spring of energy are those dedicated to the 
 analysis of philosophical works which he was studying — 
 Dugald Stewart's " Essays," Enfield's " History of Philosophy," 
 and Drummond's " Academical Questions." Of the preface to 
 the last-mentioned book the young soldier remarks : " Though 
 tainted with a little schoolboy pedantry, it is the most energetic 
 and eloquent apology for the study of metaphysics that I 
 recollect to have seen." Enfield's " History " he notes as " an 
 abstract freely drawn from Brucker's work on the same subject. 
 The book is not characterised by much philosophical depth, 
 but the author displays a mild and liberal spirit truly edifying 
 in a theologian. He now and then discovers the cloven foot in 
 his attempts to enforce Dr. Priestley's modification of Christ- 
 ianity, but in a manner very different from that of his arrogant 
 principal. I was much pleased with the clear statement given 
 of the sceptical doctrines advanced by Pyrrho and his followers." 
 Critical in his judgment of others, he was still more severe 
 
SARAH AUSTIN. 91 
 
 upon himself. After composing certain reports, he observes : 
 " The style of these papers, though laboured with great care, 
 was stiff and monotonous. Indeed, whatever I write is waqting 
 in copiousness and simplicity. The only excellences of my 
 style are clearness and precision." 
 
 These early memoirs show that John Austin's vital energy 
 was insufficient for the rough work of the world. Later on in 
 life the physical troubles which must, even in youth, have been 
 dormant in his constitution, manifested their presence in 
 chronic depression and hyper-sensibility. Making enormous 
 demands upon himself and others, refusing to acknowledge any 
 work except of the most perfect quality, he exhausted his 
 nervous strength in preparations, and stumbled repeatedly 
 upon the very threshold of great undertakings. The travail 
 of the brain reacted on the digestive organs, produced sickness 
 and fever, and culminated in excruciating headaches which laid 
 the powerful thinker and eloquent orator prostrate, before the 
 thoughts with which his mind was teeming found their channel 
 of relief in expression. 
 
 On the death of his second brother in 181 2, John Austin 
 obeyed the earnest request of his parents and resigned his 
 commission. Friends had already strongly urged him to quit 
 the military profession for one more suited to his studious 
 tastes, and after due reflection he determined to study for the 
 Bar. Till the end of his life my grandfather retained a strong 
 love and respect for the military character ; as his wife says : 
 " The high and punctilious sense of honour, the chivalrous 
 tenderness for the weak, the generous ardour mixed with 
 reverence for authority and discipline, the frankness and 
 loyalty which were, he thought, the distinguishing charac- 
 teristic of a true soldier, were also his own ; perhaps even more 
 pre-eminently than the intellectual gifts for which he was so 
 remarkable." ' 
 
 ' Preface to the " Province of Jurisprudence Determined," p. v. 
 
92 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 Lord Brougham, Sir S. Romilly, and Sir W. Erie have all 
 told me that the eminent lawyers under whom John Austin 
 studied, as well as his fellow-students, were astonished by the 
 force and clearness of his mind, by his retentive memory, and 
 the scholarly aptness of his language. All were confident that 
 he would attain the highest place in the profession. In 1818 
 he was called to the Bar, being probably spurred on to con- 
 siderable effort by his passionate attachment to Sarah Taylor, 
 who became his wife in the following year. 
 
 After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Austin inhabited part of 
 a house in Queen's Square, Westminster, for some years. The 
 windows looked into Mr. Bentham's garden, and just round 
 the corner lived Mr. James Mill. This close neighbourhood, 
 and a strong congeniality of tastes and opinions, led to a 
 great intimacy between Bentham, the Mills, and the Austins. 
 J. S. Mill became as one of their own family, reading Roman 
 law with John Austin and learning German from his wife. 
 Of my grandfather J. S. Mill writes : " On me his influence 
 was most salutary. It was moral in the best sense. . . . There 
 was in his conversation and demeanour a tone of high- 
 mindedness which did not show itself as much, if the quality 
 existed as much, in any of the other persons with whom at that 
 time I associated. My intercourse with him was the more 
 beneficial, owing to his being of a different mental type from 
 all other intellectual men whom I frequented, and he from the 
 first set himself decidedly against the prejudices and narrow- 
 ness which are almost sure to be found in a young man 
 formed by a particular mode of thought or a particular social 
 circle." ' 
 
 This coterie was the foundation of the Westminster School 
 of Utilitarian Philosophy, which afterwards led to important 
 results. 
 
 After John Austin was called to the Bar he went the Norfolk 
 
 ' J. S. Mill, " Autobiography," p. 75. 
 
SARAH A USTJN. 93 
 
 Circuit, but I never heard that he held a brief. The attorneys 
 were afraid of him, and he was apt to be too late for a con- 
 sultation. The singular thing was that the extraordinary 
 eloquence which he displayed in private deserted him in public, 
 and he felt great difficulty in addressing the court. 
 
 I imagine that the legal studies to which he dedicated his 
 powers when he left the army were injurious to a man of his 
 peculiar temperament. They rendered him even more fas- 
 tidious about the exact poise and verbal nicety of phrases, still 
 more scrupulous in searching after that " clearness and pre- 
 cision" which he recognised to be the leading qualities of his 
 style. Of this he seems to have been conscious, for he wrote 
 as follows to his future wife about the influence of his training 
 in a lawyer's chambers : " I almost apprehend that the habit of 
 drawing will in no short time give me so exclusive and in- 
 tolerant a taste (as far, I mean, as relates to my own produc- 
 tions) for perspicuity and precision, that I shall hardly venture 
 on sending a letter of much purpose, even to you, unless it be 
 laboured with the accuracy and circumspection which are 
 requisite in a deed of conveyance." This precision of expres- 
 sion gives to his style something of an archaic and severe 
 tinge ; but his command of vigorous and apt language is re- 
 markable, and the very reiteration to which some might object 
 tends to impress his meaning on the mind of his reader. 
 
 His habitually calm and dispassionate judgment was allied 
 to a naturally enthusiastic character, which found vent in 
 severe blame or in generous admiration, and even veneration. 
 As when he speaks of Locke to praise " that matchless power 
 of precise and just thinking, with that religious regard for 
 general utility and truth, which marked the incomparable man 
 who emancipated human reason from the yoke of mystery and 
 jargon ; " ' and again in the masterly vindication of Hobbe.^ 
 
 ' "The Province of Jurisprudence Determined," vol. i. p. 150. 
 " Ibid., vol. i. p. 448, note. 
 
94 THREE GENERA TIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 John Austin was as intolerant of confused habits of thinking, 
 or of unmeaning expression, in himself as in others, for we find 
 him referring in one of his lectures to something he had stated 
 in a former lecture, and which J. S. Mill (who was one of 
 his class) had questioned. " I find that a negative servitude 
 might he jus in rem., if it were possible for any but the owner, 
 or other occupant, to violate the right. But that remark was 
 absurd. For as Mr. Mill very truly observed," &c., &c.' Again, 
 with characteristic self-refutation he remarks : "I said in a 
 former lecture that an obligation to will is impossible. Why I 
 said so I am somewhat at a loss to see. For it is quite certain 
 that the proposition is grossly false, and is not consistent with 
 my own deliberate opinion." 
 
 The legitimate hopes entertained by all who knew John 
 Austin were soon doomed to disappointment, for the constitu- 
 tional peculiarities which lay at the root of the maladjustment 
 between niental faculties of the highest order and their natural 
 outcome in action or expression, assumed in middle life the 
 form of a real, though apparently intangible, malady. The 
 pride and lofty standard which he cherished as an ideal ren- 
 dered him incapable of doing rough and ready work, and after 
 a painful struggle he gave up practice at the Bar in 1825. 
 
 At this time the foundation of the London University occa- 
 sioned the opening of a School of Jurisprudence, and by com- 
 mon consent John Austin was chosen to fill the chair. He 
 determined to spend the interval between his appointment and 
 the commencement of his duties in improving his knowledge 
 of Roman law and jurisprudence by some months' study among 
 the German lawyers. For this purpose he resided for a time 
 at Bonn. There was probably no man in England at that time 
 who had studied Roman law with so much care as John Austin ; 
 he was a master of the science. This German visit made him 
 acquainted with the works of Von Savigny and Mittermair ; 
 ' " The Province of Jurisprudence Determined," vol. iii. p. 128, 
 
SARAH AUSTIN. 95 
 
 the former afterwards became a personal friend. It also led to 
 the warm interest taken by Mr. and Mrs. Austin in German 
 literature which they contributed to make known in England. 
 
 In the Law Magazine (May, i860) Lord Brougham wrote : 
 " For a teacher his (John Austin's) qualifications were most 
 eminent ; profound learning, great reach and force of mind, 
 and a wonderful faculty of exposition. . . . His lectures were 
 admired by all, but mostly by those whose knowledge and sagacity 
 made their approval of greatest value. ; and everything seemed 
 to promise a continuation of the success with which his labours 
 began, and which conferred upon the college a reputation in 
 this department even beyond expectation. But in spite of the 
 brilliant commencement of his career as a professor, it soon 
 became evident that this country could not afford such a suc- 
 cession of students of jurisprudence as would suffice to niaintain 
 a chair, and as there was no other provision for the teachers 
 than the students' fees, it followed of necessity that no man 
 could continue to hold that office unless he had a private for- 
 tune, or Combined some gainful occupation with his professor- 
 ship. Mr. Austin, who had no fortune, and who regarded the 
 study and exposition of his science as more than sufficient to 
 occupy his whole life, and who knew that it would never be in 
 demand amongst that immense majority of law students who 
 regard their profession only as a means of making money, 
 found himself under the necessity of resigning his chair in 1832." 
 
 The " Province of Jurisprudence Determined " was published 
 in the same year, and gradually became a recognised text- 
 book on law. 
 
 In 1833 John Austin was appointed a member of the Criminal 
 Law Commission, " but," to quote again from Lord Brougham, 
 " it soon appeared to his colleagues that his views were too 
 abstract and scientific, they desiring to prepare a more prac- 
 tical report. Further, he differed from his colleagues as to the 
 mode in which they were attempting to perform their duties ; 
 
96 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 and the opinion, indeed, of Mr. Austin has been justified by 
 the event. It is deeply to be regretted that an arrangement 
 could not have been made for his forming a complete map of 
 the whole field of criminal law. He was, of all others, the man 
 most capable to do this." 
 
 From every meeting of the Commission he returned agitated 
 by the notion that he was receiving public money for work 
 which would be of no public utility. To his wife he said : 
 " If they would give me X^oo a year for two years I would 
 shut myself up in a garret, and at the end of that time I 
 would produce a complete map of the whole field of crime, 
 and a draft of a Criminal Code. Then let them appoint a 
 Commission to pull it to pieces." 
 
 A few blotted and much-corrected sheets in my grandfather's 
 bold handwriting, and the beginning of a Criminal Code, which 
 are among his papers in my possession, show the painful 
 struggle that was going on in his mind between a lofty sense 
 of duty to the nation and a natural disinclination to sacrifice 
 the well-being of his wife and child. Duty won the day, and 
 he resigned his place. 
 
 The Society of the Inner Temple had for some time desired 
 to make an attempt to teach the principles and history of 
 Jurisprudence, and in 1 834 John Austin was engaged to deliver 
 a course of lectures. This appointment could only be regarded 
 as an experiment ; the demand for anything like scientific 
 legal education had to be created, and he was by nature dis- 
 qualified from tentative or temporary work. Depressed by 
 failure, bestowing an amount of labour hard to be appreciated 
 on all he did, and harassed by anxiety about the future of his 
 family, his health broke down completely, and he determined 
 to abandon a conflict in which he had met with nothing but 
 defeat. " I was born out of time and place. I ought to have 
 been a schoolman of the twelfth century — or a German pro- 
 fessor ! " he exclaimed. 
 
SARAH AUSTIN. 97 
 
 The Austins had been living at Boulogne for a year and a 
 half when he was appointed a Royal Commissioner to inquire 
 into the grievances of the Maltese. Sir George C. Lewis (then 
 Mr. Lewis), who had been his pupil at London University, 
 went with him as Second Commissioner. To this day his 
 name is revered in the island ; justice and humanity were in- 
 herent parts of his nature ; he had small sympathy with the 
 insolence of a dominant race, and at the same time was too 
 sagacious to be imposed upon by groundless complaints. Every 
 measure he proposed was adopted, and Sir James Stephen 
 used to say that the reform of the tariff which was accepted 
 by the Government on John Austin's recommendation was the 
 most successful piece of legislation he had seen in his time. 
 Mr. Lewis having been recalled to England, my grandfather 
 was about to apply himself to legal and judicial reform when 
 he was abruptly recalled. He had been appointed when Lord 
 Glenelg was Colonial Secretary, whose removal was as' abrupt 
 as his own, and whose successor probably thought that the 
 termination of the Commission was the most acceptable report 
 he could give of it to the House of Commons. 
 
 Residence at Malta had not improved John Austin's health, 
 and he was advised to try the waters of Carlsbad. From 1840 
 till 1844 he passed the summers there, and the intervening 
 winters at Dresden and Berlin. He used to tell with great 
 gusto how once, when travelling in Germany with his wife, 
 they came to a country inn. Mrs. Austin felt tired, and went 
 early to bed, setting, as is the custom, her shoes outside the 
 door. (She had very small and beautiful feet.) John Austin 
 went out for a walk, and on his return found that a party of 
 students had arrived. As he entered the dining-room they 
 were at supper, and drinking with many " Hochs " and great 
 enthusiasm the health of the unknown owner of a little shoe 
 which one of them had picked up in the passage and was hold- 
 ing aloft. 
 
98 THREE GENERA TfONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 In 1844 the Austins settled in Paris, where shortly after- 
 wards he was elected by the Institute a corresponding member 
 of the Moral and Political Class. During the revolution of 
 1 848 my grandfather was in Paris, and in a long letter to his 
 daughter, Lady Duff Gordon, I find a remarkable passage : — 
 
 " It is important to recollect that the present revolutionary 
 tendencies are social rather than political ; aiming at equality 
 of possessions, or an equal distribution of the national revenue, 
 rather than the mere establishment of democratical constitu- 
 tions. This is the alarming feature in the present condition of 
 France. In England, socialist opinions and feelings have not, 
 as yet, a definite shape ; they are rather dispositions, or ten- 
 dencies, than distinct theories ox formulas. But in consequence 
 of the vast inequalities of our social positions, these dispositions, 
 though yet latent, are probably more strong and general than 
 in France ; for in this last country a large proportion of the 
 people are small landowners, and have a visible and urgent 
 motive to respect the properties of the rich. The only remedy 
 is the education of the people, especially the diffusing amongst 
 them a knowledge of the natural causes which determine the 
 distribution of the products of labour and capital. This know- 
 ledge, if diffused amongst them, would cut up revolutionary 
 tendencies by the roots ; for this last revolution has proved 
 (what I always believed) that they arise from popular ignorance 
 and not from popular envy. . . ." 
 
 Convinced that permanent tranquillity was not to be looked 
 for in France, Mr. and Mrs. Austin took a cottage at Wey- 
 bridge, and there the last ten years of my grandfather's life 
 were passed in retirement and content. 
 
 I am not sure that I have not unwittingly painted him in too 
 sombre colours. The few people still left who knew him dwell 
 on his extraordinary eloquence. One writes, " It was beyond 
 anything I ever heard, and it was of all kinds. A touching 
 incident — a humorous situation — a satirical description — all 
 were equally good," 
 
SARAH AUSTIN. 99 
 
 Phrases which struck my fancy when as a child I walked by 
 my grandfather's side over the purple heather, still recur to 
 my mind, and I seem to see his erect figure, his white hair, 
 and his large dark eyes, as with his musical rich voice he told 
 me that it was most important to think distinctly and to speak 
 my thoughts with meaning. Edmund Burke and Jeremy 
 Bentham were names I learnt to revere as a very small girl — 
 long before I knew who they were ; indeed I have an idea I 
 thought they had something to do with the Bible. 
 
 It is very difficult to present a fair and accurate view of such 
 men as John Austin ; the unintelligent bystander is apt to 
 blame as a fault in them that which was the trial of a high 
 and noble character, and because we cannot see the physical 
 disorder which unnerved them for action, we are only too 
 ready to dismiss it with some flippant phrase expressing dis- 
 belief in their having been distinguished by more than average 
 ability. 
 
 Mrs. Austin brought out her " Characteristics of Goethe " 
 in 1833, and " Selections from the Old Testament," besides 
 writing articles for various periodicals ; as she said to a friend, 
 " I think 1 am the busiest woman in the world." 
 
 The chief interest of her life was Popular Education ; she 
 had been for some years collecting facts about the primary 
 schools in other countries, and she wrote to her friend Victor 
 Cousin : — 
 
 Sarah Austin to Victor Cousin. 
 
 [Translation.] 
 
 " 26, Park Road, March 5, 1833. 
 "Very dear Friend, — Your reports will I hope be a 
 blessing for England as well as for France. My husband and 
 I are always talking of them. I almost cried when I read them, 
 to the infinite amusement of my friend Jeffrey (the Lord Ad- 
 vocate), who is enraged at my being touched by a report. Oh 
 
loo THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 no, my dear friend, I am not a Radical, far from it ; but read 
 the description of our factory children— unfortunate victims of 
 our commercial greatness — and then mock at me if you dare, 
 for being dissatisfied with a Government who permits so many 
 innocent creatures to be condemned to nothing but suifering. 
 Mr. Babbage, our great mathematician, quietly told me the 
 other day, that calculations showed that in the manufacturing 
 towns a whole population exists who are ' worked out ' before 
 attaining thirty years of age ! Such words make me shudder. 
 Is it possible to speak thus of our brothers ; of human beings 
 born with brains, hearts, and souls ? But I am persuaded that 
 the remedy will not, cannot come from the people. How many 
 and what cultivated intellects it needs to throw some light on 
 this question ! To return to the reports. Can you send me a 
 few more copies ? It is important to get The Times to notice 
 them. I have lent all mine to members of Parliament, who 
 promise me that they will mention them in the House. I have 
 spoken to a publisher, and we intend to bring out a translation 
 — a cheap one — so that the people may see what is being done 
 elsewhere. 
 
 "I write in great haste ; my husband is ill and I am over- 
 worked, but always 
 
 " Your affectionate, 
 
 " S. Austin," 
 
 Sarah Austin to Victor Cousin. 
 
 [Translation.] 
 
 '^ April 2, 1833. 
 " You are an ingrat not to write to me and send me copies 
 of your Reports. If you did but know how I am working for 
 your glory ! ist. There will be a slight notice of them in a 
 note in the next Edinburgh. 2nd. I have met Barnes, the 
 omnipotent editor of The Times, and have preached to him ; 
 ditto the editor of the Examiner. 3rd. I have written an 
 urgent letter to Edward Strutt, M.P. for Derby. Bickersteth, 
 Empson, and Romilly, all the men of any note that I know and 
 have mentioned it to, say there cannot be a better man that 
 Strutt. He has my copy of the ' Prussia ; ' after him it goes 
 
SARAH AUSTIN. loi 
 
 to Empson ; then to Sir W. Molesworth, the young member 
 for Cornwall, whom I have converted — not to Radicalism, but 
 the reverse— to the opinion that the people must be instructed, 
 guided — in short, governed. 
 
 " We still think of going to reside at Bonn. People all 
 exclaim and regret, and are au desespoir, and I am quite ' the 
 fashion ' — but that will not enable us to live. Did you see 
 Charlatan Brougham's speech throwing up National Education 
 entirely. I told his friend Jeffrey what I thought of it. God 
 bless you, my dear friend, for your good works ! certainly the 
 education of the people is the one all-important duty of rulers. 
 Brougham's reputation is sinking faster than it ever rose. Ten 
 thousand pities — he had such capabilities, everything but — 
 sincere earnestness. 
 
 " We are all well, write and tell me how you are, and believe 
 me ever 
 
 " Affectionately yours, 
 
 " S. Austin." 
 
 Thomas Carlyle, whom she had known before through the 
 BuUers, and introduced to several of her friends, writes : — 
 
 Thomas Carlyle to Sarah Austin. 
 
 " Craigenputtock, _/?««£ 13, 1833. 
 " My dear Mrs. Austin, — A hurried word is all I can send 
 you in return for your kind, good letter, which spoke to us, as 
 all your letters do, like the voice of a Friend. Many things 
 remind us of you ; to rny Wife I believe you are literally the 
 best of all womankind ; neither for me is there any figure in 
 that huge city whom I can remember with purer satisfaction. 
 This, if it be a comfort to you in your brave life-fight, is a quite 
 genuine one. Continue to bear yourself like a brave, true 
 woman, and know always that friendly eyes and hearts are 
 upon you. On my own side, too, I will say that the interest 
 you take in my poor, small, and so sorely hampered toils is a 
 great encouragement, a great increase of strength to me. It is 
 something surely that the words out of my heart speak some- 
 times into such a heart, and find response there ; that you find 
 
102 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 them not utterly vain, and my little Life a kind of Reality and 
 no Chimaera. Could I one day so much as resemble that Por- 
 trait you possess of me, and persist in calling like ! But alas ! 
 alas ! However we will be content ; alle Frauen, says Jean 
 Paul, sind gehorene Dtchtennnen, bless them for it, most of all, 
 when their art comes our own way ! 
 
 "Your Falk, which has long been expected, will prove a 
 most welcome present ; the extracts I see in the Newspapers 
 whet my curiosity., I might have had the original in Edin- 
 burgh ; but waited for your English with the Notes. 
 
 " We have heard often of your purpose to leave England, a 
 thing sad to think of, to hear confirmed as near at hand. Yet 
 how shall one gainsay it ? Your view of the case is most 
 probably just and accurate ; your resolution on it the best. 
 Let us not add lead to the bravely buoyant ; rather than think 
 of you as lost, I will lay schemes how we may cross the 
 Channel ourselves, and pass some winter beside you ! Were 
 that not a scheme ? After all, more unlikely things have 
 come to pass. We shall see ; we shall hope, and to the last 
 keep hoping. Der Meiisch, says F. Schlegel almost pathetically, 
 in dieser Erde ist eigentlich auf Hoffnimg gestellt ; this is 
 called the Place of Hope. Will you then, in that case, under- 
 take to ' do the hoping ' for us all ? 
 
 "My own course is utterly dubious at this moment; the 
 signs of the times are quite despicable in England, nothing 
 but a hollow, barren, jarring of Radicalism and Toryism for 
 unmeasured periods, likely enough to issue in confusion and 
 broken crowns ; in which struggle I as one feel hitherto no 
 call to spend or be spent. Alas ! it is but a sowing of the 
 wind, a reaping of the whirlwind. The stern destiny and 
 duty of this and the next generation ; for which duty, how- 
 ever, there is enough and more than enough volunteering to 
 do. Meanwhile Literature, one's sole craft and staff of life, 
 lies broken in abeyance ; what room for music amid the 
 braying of innumerable jackasses, the howling of innumerable 
 hyaenas whetting the tooth to eat them up ? Alas for it ! it 
 is a sick disjointed time ; neither shall we ever mend it ; at 
 best let us hope to mend ourselves. I declare I sometimes 
 think of throwing down the Pen altogether as a worthless 
 
SARAH AUSTIN. 103 
 
 weapon ; and leading out a colony of these poor starving 
 Drudges to the waste places of their old Mother Earth, when 
 for the sweat of their brow bread will rise for them ; it were 
 perhaps the worthiest service that at this moment could be 
 rendered our old world to throw open for it the doors of the 
 New. Thither must they come at last, ' bursts of eloquence ' 
 will do nothing ; men are starving and will try many things 
 before they die. But poor I, ach Gott ! I am no Hengist or 
 Alaric ; only a writer of Articles in bad prose ; stick to thy 
 last, O Tutor ; the Pen is not worthless, it is omnipotent to 
 those who have Faith. ' Cast thy bread upon the waters, thou 
 shalt find it after many days.' And so we look into this waste 
 fermenting Chaos without shuddering ; and trust to find our 
 way through it better or worse. 
 
 " In any case, fail not to tell us what you decide on, consider 
 us as deeply interested in whatever befalls you. On the whole 
 I have still a hope that somehow you will not go ; at least not 
 till we have met again. 
 
 " The Faust, second part, had reached Edinburgh before 
 I left ; I read it there with such interest as you may fancy. 
 Several years ago I had occasion to study Helena, and particu- 
 larly noted that Chorus you mention. I consider the whole 
 Play now completed as a thing wide, wide before me, and 
 deep ; into which I have not seen half way. Some new 
 scenes bear traces of feebleness, many are very beautiful ; 
 happily the Plan, the noble Idea, can be deciphered there, not 
 feeble or old, but young for ever. 
 
 " Charles Buller is the Free-carrier of this letter ; pray tell 
 me of him and his, for he never writes. And now, dear 
 Friend, Gott befohlen ! My wife joins me in all kind saluta- 
 tions to Lucykin and to Mr. A. and you. 
 
 " Ever your affectionate, 
 
 "T. Carlyle." 
 
 Thomas Carlyle to Sarah Austin. 
 
 " CraigenputtocKiT'z^/}' 18, 1833. 
 "My dear Mrs. Austin",— Your three beautiful Volumes 
 were here sooner by your conveyance than they could have 
 
104 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 been by mine.' We have all read them, with pleasure, with 
 eagerness ; for me, I could not skip even what I knew in 
 German already, but must have it taste for me a second time 
 in your iine clear-flowing English. 
 
 " A Book more honestly put together I have not met with 
 for many years. A discreet gentle feminine tone runs through 
 it, with quiet lockings nevertheless into much, much that lies 
 beyond the English horizon ; no compromise with error, yet 
 no over-loud assertion of the truth ; unwearied inquiry, faithful 
 elaboration ; in a word, the thing done that is pretended to be 
 done : what other praise could I wish to give you ? 
 
 " I perceive that Falk has been the root or nucleus of the 
 whole, yet so much better than Falk have you made it, I 
 almost regret you had not left him out altogether : a dull 
 uiidiaphanousi semi-diaphanous kind of man ; one cannot see 
 Goethe through him, only see a huge singularity. Some of 
 the speeches, especially that about Schulze, I must endeavour 
 to consider as mis-reported not a little. However, you, with 
 your appendages and fringings, have done wonders, and actually 
 almost (with such a deft, assiduous needle) worked a silk-purse 
 out of what the Proverb says will never make one. Had but 
 a Boswell stood in Falk's shoes, there had been a task worthy 
 of you ! 
 
 " Leaving Falk (which was worth turning into English too), 
 I find nothing else that is not instructive, much that is grace- 
 fully so ; of your doing, nothing, as I said, that is not well 
 done. You have fairly and clearly (and in your case almost 
 heroically) stated the true principle of Translation ; and what 
 is more, acted on it ; I hear the fine silver music of Goethe 
 sound through your voice, through your heart ; you can 
 actually translate Goethe.^ which (quietly, I reckon) is what 
 hardly three people in England can. And so let me heartily 
 wish you all manner of success ; and scientifically promise you 
 as much as in these strange days almost any Book merely 
 artistic in character can hope for. Finally, I said several times 
 in words, and here again say in ink, that you may find a higher 
 task one day, than Translating ; though I praise and honour 
 
 ' " Characteristics of Goethe, from the German of Fall<, with Notes." 
 
SARAH A USTJN. 105 
 
 you much for adhering to that as you now stand, and keeping 
 far from you all ambition, but the highest, that of living faith- 
 fully. Das wetter e wird sich gehen. Stand by that ; there 
 is nothing else will abide any wearing, let the voice of the 
 Reviewer be high orlow, and millions of caps or none at all 
 leap into the air at your name. 
 
 " I have very little time this evening ; and no business to 
 devote so much of it even to you ; but the Pen must on. We 
 shall eagerly expect news within those three weeks ; Jane says, 
 the Letter is to be hers. She farther declares, with that 
 promptitude which so well beseems the female intellect, that 
 you ought to come hither ! There is an excellent house and 
 garden to be let (for almost nothing) within few miles of us ; 
 and no cheaper country can be found in the whole world. 
 Then there is such abundant room in this house of ours ; and 
 it were so easy for you to come and investigate the whole 
 matter and see us to boot. In this latter part of the pro- 
 position, I too must heartily give assent and encouragement ; 
 it is all literally true about room ; about the welcome there is 
 still less doubt ; and then the journey were no unpleasant 
 thing ; the rather if you held John Mill to his word, who has 
 as good as promised to see us here this autumn. After all, 
 what if you should really take thought of it ? 
 
 " In the meantime, again accept my thanks and friendliest 
 wishes ; may all Good be with you and Lucykin and the heart 
 to conquer all Evil ! 
 
 " Ever affectionately, 
 
 "T. Carlyle." 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 SARAH AUSTIN {continued). 
 
 Sir W. Hamilton on Popular Education — Insufficiency of English legal educa- 
 tion — Mr. Austin lectures at the Temple — Mr. Carlyle on British Review- 
 ing, on house-hunting — Prof. F. W. Carove, author of " The Story 
 without an End " — Mr. R. Southey on Mrs. Austin's translation of 
 Cousin on Instruction in Prussia — The Provost of Eton to Mrs. 
 Austin — Mr. Charles BuUer to Mrs. Austin. 
 
 Sir William Hamilton, whom Mrs. Austin had asked for 
 books and annotations on popular education, writes : 
 
 Sir Wm. Hamilton to Sarah Austin. 
 
 " Edinburgh, _/«K. 14, 1834. 
 "My dear Madam, — I expect some books from Hamburgh 
 on the primary education of different countries of Germany, 
 but from the rapidity with which it will be obviously proper 
 that you bring the Rapport out, there is little probability of 
 their being here in time to be of any use. The Elbe will be 
 frozen for some time yet. My stock of pedagogical works 
 apply chiefly to the higher departments — the learned schools 
 and Universities of Germany. In regard to my co-operation, 
 you may command any little assistance I can lend. But I am 
 sensible that it must be too unimportant to allow me to take 
 advantage of your prepossessions in my favour. If anything 
 I can do is worth mention at all, a word in your preface will 
 be honour enough. In fact I do not recollect any topic on 
 which I could say anything in the way of annotation, unless it 
 be a few pages on the history of popular education. Even on 
 
 io6 
 
SARAH AUSTIN. 107 
 
 that subject I am not well prepared ; and I do not know where 
 any good account is to be found. I know, however, the ordinary 
 sources, and have a few _notes taken in my reading. These I 
 will either send you (who would do this far better) or work 
 them into a kind of narrative myself. Perhaps, however, M. 
 Cousin is to perform this — that would be best of all. If, 
 therefore, you persevere in your plan, you may depend on 
 anything I can do. I quite agree with you in thinking that 
 your translation should be made a cheap book ; nothing goes 
 down now that is dear, and it is in the present case desirable 
 that the public should be as generally interested in the question 
 as possible. The subject has already apparently taken hold of 
 attention, and nothing can ensure success so much as the 
 diifusion of such information and reasoning as the Rapport 
 contains. Believe me, my dear madam, with much regard, 
 
 " Ever truly yours, 
 
 " W. Hamilton." 
 
 The insufficiency of the legal education of the country had 
 for some time attracted the attention of the more enlightened 
 part of the profession ; and it was determined in 1834, by the 
 Society of the Inner Temple, that the principles and history 
 of Jurisprudente should be taught. Among the most earnest 
 promoters of this scheme was my grandfather's friend, Mr. 
 Bickersteth, afterwards Lord Langdale.' John Austin was 
 engaged to deliver a series of lectures on Jurisprudence at the 
 Inner Temple. Had this appointment been made under dif- 
 ferent conditions it was one he would have preferred to any 
 other, however distinguished or however lucrative. Unfortu- 
 nately it was not of a kind to give him the security and 
 confidence he wanted. He was invited to undertake the dis- 
 
 ' See " Greville Memoirs," vol. iii. p. 138. "Melbourne said, 'Bickersteth 
 was a Benthamite, and they were all fools.' I said, ' The Austins were not 
 
 fools.' 'Austin? Oh, a d d fool; did you ever read his book on 
 
 " Jurisprudence " ? ' I said I had read the greater part of it, and that it did 
 not appear to be the work of a fool. He said he had read it all, and that it 
 was the dullest book he had ever read, and full of truisms elaborately set 
 forth. Melbourne is very fond of being slashing and paradoxical." 
 
lo8 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 couraging task of trying to establish a new order of things, 
 without the certain, even if distant, prospect which usually 
 cheers the pioneer in such an enterprise. The uncertainty 
 weighed upon him from the first. He was disqualified by 
 nature from all work of a passing and temporary sort ; and in 
 order to labour with courage and animation, he needed to see 
 before him a long period of persistent study, and security from 
 harassing anxiety. His precarious health and depressed spirits 
 required support ; and he was but too easily disheartened at 
 what he thought the want of confidence in the scheme, or in 
 him, evinced in a merely tentative appointment. The severe 
 feverish attacks to which he had always been subject, became 
 more frequent, and at length his wife induced him to abandon 
 his lectures and go to Hastings to try and recruit. 
 
 During the winter, Sarah Austin published her translation of 
 Carove's charming " Story without an End," dedicated to her 
 daughter, whose favourite book it was. 
 
 Thomas Carlyle to Sarah Austin. 
 
 " CRAIGENPUTT0CK,y<2:«. 21, 1834. 
 
 " Many thanks, my dear Mrs. Austin, for your kind messages 
 and memorials : two Notes, through the Advocate, then the 
 dainty little book,' with another Note ; all of which have now 
 arrived safe, the last only this day week. It is an allerliehstes 
 Buchlein.1 graceful in spirit as in embodiment and decoration '; 
 and we all participate in Lucie's love of it ; but fancy there 
 will be children enough (of six feet high and lower statures) 
 in this "envy of surrounding nations " to ask : What does it 
 prove, then ? 
 
 " I have learned lately, by various cheering symptoms, that 
 British Reviewing had as good as died a natural death, and the 
 Lie lied itself out ; that the most harmonious diapason from 
 the united throat of universal British Criticism would hardly 
 pay its own expenses. Rejoice, my dear Friend, that you can 
 
 ' " The Story without an End." 
 
SARAH AUSTIN. 109 
 
 now sit apart from the distracted gulph of abominations ; and 
 pray for those that must still swim for their life there. 
 
 " We learned long ago through Mill with the truest satis- 
 faction what turn affairs had taken with you ; that the 
 Labourer, at length, was found worthy at least of some hire. 
 The greater is now our regret and apprehension when Jeffrey 
 informs us that Mr. Austin's health again threatens to fail. 
 Your own health too, it seems, is bad ; you have to complain 
 of disspiritment, now when you have need of all your strength. 
 ' Rise, noble Talbot, this is not a time to faint and sink : force 
 faltering Nature by your strength of soul,' &c. Alas ! it is so 
 much easier said than done ; and yet in Life one must often 
 try to do it. For on the whole, my dear Heroine, there is no 
 Rest for us in this world, which subsists by toil. ' Rest ? ' 
 said the stern old Arnauld, ' shall I not have all Eternity to 
 rest in ? ' 
 
 " You speak playfully of coming hither to see us. Would it 
 were in earnest ! I think there were few faces welcomer here 
 to all parties interested. If the Sun were north again, and the 
 days bright, what if you should actually put it in practice ! I 
 do not think you ever in your life saw such a solitude as this : 
 the everlasting skies and the everlasting moors ; the hum of 
 the world all mute as Death, so distant is it — till Wednesday 
 nights arrive, and the Letters and Newspapers, and we find 
 it is all going on as distractedly as ever. Come and see it and 
 try it. 
 
 " As for myself I think I have arrived at a kind of pause in 
 my History, so singular is the course of things without me and 
 within me. I have written very little for a year ; less than for 
 any of the last seven. I stand as if earnestly looking out, in 
 the most labyrinthic country, till I catch the right track again. 
 A kind of Enfant Perdu., I believe, at any rate, yet who would 
 so fain not perish and leave the breach unwon ! We shall do 
 our best. 
 
 " Write to us soon ; my wife says you still owe her a long 
 
 letter : there is so much we need to hear. And so good-night, 
 
 dear Friend, 
 
 " Yours affectionately, 
 
 " T. Carlyle." 
 
no THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 Thomas Carlyle to Sarah Austin. 
 
 " Craigenputtock, March 20, 1 834. 
 
 " My dear Mrs. Austin, — My date, you perceive, is the 
 20th, and your letter did not reach us till late in the evening 
 of the appointed 1 9th. We have at the utmost only two Post- 
 days weekly here — in general, only one (the Wednesday, which 
 answers to your London Monday) ; and though last week, as 
 it chanced, both Post-days did their duty, your Express un- 
 happily fell between them ; and so here we are. My whole 
 soul grows sick in the business of house-seeking ; I get to 
 think, with a kind of comfort, of the grim house six feet by 
 three which will need no seeking. In return, I ought to pro- 
 fess myself humble in my requisitions as to that matter. I must 
 have air to breathe, I must have sleep also, for which latter 
 object, prociiJ, O procul este, ye accursed tribes of Bugs, ye 
 loud-bawling Watchmen, that awaken the world every half 
 hour only to say what o'clock it is ! Other indispensable 
 requisition I have none. 
 
 " The house which Lucykin and you describe so hopefully 
 seems as if it had been expressly built for us. Our answer is at 
 once, secure it for Whit-Sunday, if it be still attainable. Till 
 we hear otherwise, we will still have a kind of hope that it may. 
 If you do so prosper, there will be various other inquiries to 
 trouble you with, various minor arrangements to tax your kind 
 discretion with. For example, what are the fixtures, beyond 
 grates ? We have window-curtains, Venetian blinds, &c. &c., 
 which will be useless here, which might chance to fit them. 
 The measured dimensions of all the rooms and windows (if you 
 can procure them) will bring the whole matter before us. The 
 general outline of the Housekin I already have, by assurance 
 of Imagination ; a sunk story, three raised ones, the little bed- 
 quilt of garden before the house or behind it, as it shall please 
 the Fates. You must, on the whole, consent to consider us as 
 a Brother and Sister in this matter ; and pray lend us your 
 head as well as yo.ur affection. 
 
 " My Dame bids me say that as to carpets (since those here, 
 not indeed of great value, will go waste if left) nothing can be 
 decided till we know the sizes, and, according to your judgment. 
 
SARAH AUSTIN. in 
 
 the quality and cheapness. The only thing that will be certain 
 of that sort is, perhaps, a fixture already — some sort of wax- 
 cloth for a lobby. 
 
 " I look to London with bodings of a huge, dim, most vexed 
 character. Never shall, with my whole heart, have as much of 
 the ' Hoping to do yourself ' as you can undertake. In me is 
 little Hope, or only Hope of a kind that I call ' desperate ' — a 
 Hope that recognises all earthly things to be Lug tend Trug ; 
 and yet under them, and symbollically hid in them, are Ewiges 
 und Wahres ; of this same desperate Hope I have for many years 
 (God be thanked for it !) never been bereft, nay, on the whole, 
 grown full and fuller of it. For the present, I lie quite becalmed. 
 Not calm., alas ! that is a very different matter. I am doing, 
 and can set at doing, nothing, or as good as that. No line have 
 I written for months ; only reading whole heaps of Books, with 
 little profit. In any case, befall what may, I see it to be the 
 hest of the Unseen Guide that I shall come to you, so I come 
 getrosten Mtithes. You, my dear Friend, and your kind, hope- 
 ful, and helpful words, fall like sunlight through the waste 
 weltering chaos. May the Heavens bless you for it ! 
 
 " And so with all manner of good wishes, and as much of 
 Hope, ' desperate ' and other, as may be, 
 
 " Ever yours affectionately, 
 
 " T. Carlyle. 
 
 " My wife, full of cares, tumults, and headaches, and I doubt 
 also of indolence, bribes me to write this letter, not unwillingly, 
 which you are to take as hers, and her love with it." 
 
 Carove, the author of the " Story without an End," to whom 
 Mrs. Austin sent a copy of her translation, wrote her a very 
 characteristic letter, full of high-flown German sentiment, which 
 it is difficult to render in English. 
 
 Prof. F. W. Carove to Sarah Austin. 
 [Translation.] 
 
 "Frankfurt, May 23, 1834. 
 "Most honoured Lady, — The beautiful little book which 
 you have so kindly sent me was a most agreeable surprise, 
 
112 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 The ' Story without an End ' is one of the few wild flowers 
 which I have been able to pluck in a pleasant oasis in my 
 journey through life. I almost blush to see it so daintily 
 adorned, as a lily of the valley would hang its head if it were 
 transported into a richly-gilt vase. But when I read your 
 touching and charming dedication to your child, when I see the 
 kindly words you address to the writer of the little tale, 
 I envied the wild flower. To be plucked by such hands and 
 planted by the love of a mother in the pure heart of a child : 
 it has attained its highest and best destiny. To encourage 
 children's hearts to love the beautiful and the good, to feed 
 them on the flowers which fall on starlit nights like manna 
 from the skies, caught by gentle, poetical hands and distributed 
 to children by the light of day — this is the task you have set 
 yourself, and it is worthy of a true and happy mother. The 
 stars are reflected undimmed and brilliant in the crystal hearts 
 of children ; they assimilate beautiful and noble things 
 into their very being : later, they would only receive more or 
 less deep impressions. I feel proud that you thought my story 
 worthy of translation into your language. I have compared 
 your work with the original, and see with delight that by your 
 art my tale has had the same good fortune as Goethe's ' Faust,' 
 translated by Mr. Hayward. One is tempted to think the 
 translations are originals, and if placed side by side, they might 
 be hailed as twins. 
 
 " Your ever devoted, 
 
 " F. W. Carov£." 
 
 The same year Mrs. Austin published " Reports on the 
 State of Public Instruction in Prussia," translated from Victor 
 Cousin, with a Preface. Sir W. Hamilton writes : " The exe- 
 cution of your task has done justice to its paramount import- 
 ance. You must be altogether sick and surfeited with praise, 
 but just let me say that I am entirely of your opinion in every- 
 thing you say in your Preface," 
 
SARAH AUSTIN. 113 
 
 Robert Southey to Sarah Austin. 
 
 " Keswick, _/?/«(?, 1834. 
 
 " Dear Mrs. Austin, — I have just received your translation 
 of M. Cousin's Report, and with it your note. Our wishes 
 and views on the momentous subject seem to be entirely accor- 
 dant. I shall enter upon it fully ere long in writing the life of 
 my poor old friend Dr. Bell. 
 
 " Would that I could see how it were possible to restore the 
 sense of duty, and the principle of religious contentment, in 
 this distracted and corrupted nation, where the whole tendency 
 of public life (in its widest sense) is to counteract the best prin- 
 ciples that can be inculcated on education ! Would I could see 
 what is to save a nation from destruction, when the prevailing 
 opinion is that our duty to God and to our neighbour may be 
 dispensed with, and that every one's duty is only to himself ! 
 
 " I shall read your book with great interest. I have never 
 been in Prussia, but what I have seen of the Prussians im- 
 pressed me much in their favour. There was a national feeling 
 about them which promised well for the strength and stability 
 of their country ; and their government, according to all that I 
 have been able to learn concerning it, seems to have the welfare 
 of the people at heart, and to be doing everything for their 
 improvement that circumstances render possible. 
 
 " You, I trust, will live to see something done by our Govern- 
 ment in the same spirit. But there must first be more regard 
 to religion and morality in its counsels, and then there must be 
 men in authority who know that it is folly, or worse than folly, 
 to erect an edifice upon the sand. 
 
 " Farewell, dear madam, and believe me, with sincere respect, 
 
 " Yours, 
 
 " Robert Southey." 
 
 The followii5g letter from the Provost of Eton relates to the 
 translation from the German of a book, which Mrs. Austin 
 undertook at his suggestion. She alludes to this book in 
 writing to Mr. Murray (Dec. 26, 1834), as " Grecian Antiquities, 
 or Illustrations of the Religious, Moral, Civil, and Domestic 
 
 9 
 
114 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 History and Manners of the Greeks, for the use of Schools, by 
 Dr. Heinrich Hase ; " and to Rev. Mr. Howes (translator of 
 Horace, Persius, &c.) she writes : — 
 
 " I have not put my name to it, but have no objection to tell 
 my friends that it is mine. For the Greek T am not responsible. 
 The proofs have all gone through Dr. Hawtrey's hands, as well 
 as those of my friend Dr. Rosen. The original is written in 
 the worst of bad German styles ; I hope I have succeeded in 
 making it more readable." 
 
 Rev. E. Hawtrey to Sarah Austin. 
 
 "Eton College, May 26, 1835. 
 
 " Dear Mrs. Austin, — I quite approve of your and Hase's 
 idea about the burning, and have inserted your alteration in the 
 proofs, which I had from Murray. 
 
 " The only thing in the book which I am out of conceit with 
 is my translation of the ' Swallow.' I do not say this to draw 
 you into giving it praise which it does not merit, but merely 
 because it seems to me to be put forward in too naked a way 
 where its presence is not excused by the insertion of any other 
 translations. It is too late now to leave it out, without can- 
 celling a sheet. I should have kept it for the end, had I not 
 thought Mr. Sotheby's translation of ' the Home ' were to be 
 inserted. I have seen a great deal of M. de Beaumont, and 
 think him more like a gentleman than any Frenchman I ever 
 met. Generally speaking, I think the French (except the good 
 old aile de pigeon noblesse and abMs) are as unlike gentlemen 
 as possible. 
 
 " I hope you like Coleridge's ' Table Talk.' Henry Coleridge 
 seems to have done his work very well ; but if the judge had 
 had the same opportunities, he would have done it better. It 
 is surprising to read so much sound practical sense from a man 
 who was all his life the victim of capricious and over-indulged 
 sensibility. 
 
 " I am just now going to Cambridge to endeavour to per- 
 suade my college to give me a living, to which I have all the 
 claim which seniority, and the established custom of giving 
 
SARAH AUSTIN. nS 
 
 those which fall vacant to the next in rotation, can give. But 
 it seems that twenty years' hard work at Eton, instead of the 
 same number of years doing nothing in college, is considered 
 an objection. 
 
 " The narrow-mindedness of college idlers perhaps exceeds 
 that of any other class of men existing. 
 
 "I shall send for Cochrane's review, and read it with great 
 interest. 
 
 " Pray make my best compliments to Mr. Austin, who, I 
 hope, finds Hastings as beneficial as at first. My sister sends 
 her kindest regards to you and Lucie, and I am, 
 "Dear Mrs. Austin, 
 
 " Yours very sincerely, 
 
 " E. Hawtrey." 
 
 Charles Buller to Sarah Ausim. 
 
 "London, J^tme ii, 1835. 
 
 "My dear Professorin, — My speech on the Ballot was 
 indeed most successful. The rascally reporters burked me — 
 merely through indolence, I believe — so that I have not got 
 my due credit in the country ; but in the House the effect 
 was most favourable, and will do me permanent good there. 
 Molesworth's speech was singular, but the House liked its 
 manliness very much. Grote's was capital, in his cold, correct 
 style. Ward's and Strutt's were also good. Nothing could be 
 worse than our opponents' — all of them, especially Lord John's, 
 Stanley's, and Peel's. 
 
 " When Mr. Austin comes to town, I hope he will come and 
 see us. I don't say now that we can offer him a bed ; but the 
 old Cove dines every day at three, and Mr. Austin will every day 
 be welcome. I am very sorry to hear from you so bad an ac- 
 count of his health. Do you think Hastings agrees with him ? 
 I wish these d — d Whigs would give him a pension, or some 
 good appointment ; but they are a spiritless, heartless canaille. 
 " Believe me, 
 
 " Yours most dutifully, 
 
 " Charles Buller, Jun." 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 SARAH AUSTIN {continued). 
 
 The Austins go to Boulogne — Lord Jeffrey on Mrs. Austin's Prospects — 
 Rev. Sydney Smith on Sir James Mackintosh's Life — Wreck of the 
 Aniphitrite — Rev. Sydney Smith on Paris — M. de Tocqueville on French 
 Manners, &c. — Mr. Austin appointed Royal Commissioner to Malta — 
 Lord Jeffrey to Mrs. Austin. 
 
 Mr. Austin had for some time determined to leave England, 
 and seek an obscure and tranquil retreat on the Continent, 
 where they might live upon their very small means. Boulogne 
 was selected, and there the Austins lived for more than a year, 
 Mrs. Austin busily occupied translating Von Raumer's " England 
 in 1835," which came out the following year. 
 
 Lord Jeffrey to Sarah Austin. 
 
 ''July, 1835. 
 
 " I take offence at you, my best and brightest ! You do not 
 think it possible, and you know that it is not. I have never felt 
 anything for you but thankfulness for your kindness, and admir- 
 ation for excellencies which it did me good to think of. If I 
 spoke too lightly of your trials, it was but in a mistaken pur- 
 pose of comfort, and partly in hope of making you think 
 lightly of them too. One of the cures for despondency is to 
 look on life as but a poor play, and it is a remedy, or at least an 
 ingredient in the remedy, and no way dangerous to those whose 
 temperament is not misanthropical. Rest assured, my most 
 dear Chit, that before you are threescore years of age, and have 
 bowed under the load of the successive bereavements which 
 must be encountered in such a course, aye, and have risen again 
 
 116 
 
SARAH A USTIN. 1 1 7 
 
 from the blow, and felt the inextinguishable spirit of love and 
 humanity reviving in the crushed heart, and looking ahead with 
 its old affections on a new earth and a new heaven, you will 
 learn to smile, though more in pity than in scorn, at this un- 
 substantial pageant of existence ; and feel how much a deep 
 and habitual sense of its nothingness can soften the sense of its 
 ills. Have you not health and a great intellect, and a good 
 conscience, and a kind heart, and devoted friends, and a fair 
 measure of fame and admiration, and a generous disposition, 
 and a pure taste, and a relish for all pure and elegant enjoy- 
 ments : and a power of engaging love and respect wherever 
 you go, and of valuing the sentiments you inspire ? How dull 
 this writing is ! I think I could talk soothingly to you, if we 
 were sitting in the clear sun on the green downs near Hastings, 
 or in the soft shade of my dear Kensington, for then I could 
 see your deep grand eyes and your moving lips, and know 
 when to stop or how to go on. But now I may be distressing 
 you, or at all events tiring you to death. Pray forgive me — I 
 have done. 
 
 " I wish anything to prosper in which you take an interest. 
 But no radical publication or radical scheme will prosper in this 
 generation. In mere numbers and physical strength they are 
 far weaker than their opponents (at least as long as wages are 
 tolerable), and taking the wealth, union, and intelligence of the 
 other party into view, the disparity is incalculable. Even in 
 reasoning I think they are the weakest, whatever such dogma- 
 tists as your Mill and Roebuck may pretend. For my part I 
 think the Quakers are better political reasoners than they are, 
 and yet nobody, I suppose, seriously expects that we shall all 
 become Quakers. They all forget that one man's political 
 happiness is not another's, and .when the Benthamites say that 
 it is mere ignorance and prejudice that prevents their standard 
 from being universally adopted, they forget that some dozen of 
 other more numerous sects say the same thing, and are quite as 
 sincere and confident that theirs is the great truth, and that it 
 alone must prevail. As to the desirableness of meat, clothes, 
 and fire, they are all agreed, but differ widely enough as to the 
 best means of making them easily accessible, and will diifer, as 
 well as to the relative value of the higher elements of enjoy- 
 
ii8 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 ment for five thousand years to come. You think all this very 
 poor and shallow, and I dare say it is, but it is not the less true 
 that the Radicals are in a great minority, especially among the 
 reading classes, and consequently that no Radical review will 
 prosper or be able to pay its contributors from natural resources 
 for five quarters. 
 
 "You know I am a little heretical about education, or 
 sceptical rather, for I do not disapprove of most of your 
 practical views — I only distrust their effects, especially on the 
 morality, good order, and manageableness of society. I agree, 
 however, that education should be as much extended and as 
 much improved as possible. Not because I believe it will pro- 
 mote those objects — for I rather apprehend its effect will be the 
 reverse — but because I believe it will increase the range of 
 enjoyment of individuals, far more than it will endanger those 
 objects. 
 
 " Ever most affectionately yours, 
 
 " F. Jeffrey. 
 
 " P.S. — Which of your many portraits had most success in 
 the Exhibition ? I must have mine back by and by." 
 
 My grandmother had asked Mrs. Sydney Smith to get her 
 an English maid, which elicited the following characteristic 
 note from Mr. Sydney Smith. 
 
 Rev. Sydney Smith to Sarah Austin. 
 
 " Combe Florey, Augitst 28, 1835. 
 
 " Dear Mrs Austin, — Many thanks. The damsel will not 
 take to the water, but we have found another in the house who 
 has long been accustomed to the water, being no other than 
 our laundry-maid. She had some little dread of a ship, but as 
 I have assured her it is like a tub, she is comforted. 
 
 ",I think you will like Sir James Mackintosh's Life ; it is 
 full of his own thoughts upon men, books, and events, and I 
 derived from it the greatest pleasure. He makes most honour- 
 able mention of your mother — whom I only know by one of 
 her productions — enough to secure my admiration. By the by, 
 
SARAH AUSTIN. 119 
 
 what an atrocious attack upon Mackintosh is made by Mill. 
 Cannot Bentham and Utility be defended with urbanity ? Can 
 it be generally useful to speak with indecent contempt of a man 
 whom so many of sense admired, and who is no longer in the 
 land of the living ? It is impossible to read this violent 
 pamphlet without siding with the accused against the accuser. 
 
 " Hay ward came to stay here for a day ; you know he is very 
 black — and as he lives at Lyme, I gave him the name of Carbo- 
 nate of Lime. Pray excuse the liberty taken with the personal 
 charms of your beau. I should not scruple to draw upon your 
 good nature if I had any occasion to do so, but as to my French 
 journey, the only use you can be to me is to be as amiable and 
 agreeable when I see you at Boulogne as I have found you on 
 this side of the water. But at Boulogne I can only say a few 
 winged words and leave you a flying benediction, as I am going 
 by Rouen and mean to see a good deal in a little time. Oh 
 yes, I want to find a good sleeping-place between Rouen and 
 Paris, as I want to arrive at Paris in the day, to have time 
 enough to find good quarters. 
 
 " Love to Liicie. God bless you, dear Mrs. Austin, my best 
 wishes attend you always. 
 
 " Sydney Smith." 
 
 At Boulogne Mrs. Austin made many friends among the 
 fishermen and their wives. From the first " la belle Anglaise " 
 was extremely popular, but her gallant conduct when the 
 Ampkitrite was wrecked one stormy night on the Boulogne 
 sands made the whole matelote population adore her. The 
 Ampkitrite was going to Botany Bay with female convicts, and 
 Mrs. Austin, with the extraordinary energy and determination 
 which always distinguished her, stood the whole night wet 
 through on the beach, receiving the few survivors, and seeing 
 that they were cared for. She saved one woman's life by 
 dashing into the sea and pulling her to land. One of the 
 pilots, "Henin," greatly distinguished himself, and when he 
 went to Paris to receive the Cross of the Legion d'Honneur 
 from the King for his gallantry, Mrs. Austin gave him a letter 
 
I20 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 to the Says. There Henin could talk of nothing but " la belle 
 Anglaise " and her dear little girl and their courage. The 
 Royal Humane Society gave Mrs. Austin a diploma ' for 
 saving life, and one of the poor convicts presented her with a 
 book which was washed up from the wreck and found on the 
 sands. A curious book it is to have been in a convict ship, 
 " The Mirrour of Magistrates." It was sadly torn and battered, 
 but has been pieced together as skilfully as could be managed. 
 
 Rev. Sydney Smith to Sarah Austin. 
 
 " Hotel de Londres, Place Vendome, 
 
 " October ii, 1835. 
 
 " Dear Mrs. Austin, — We lost a day in coming from 
 London by a refractory wheel, and another day at Dover by losing 
 the first day. We were delighted with the Hotel of Dessein, 
 and admired the waiter and chambermaid "as two of the best- 
 bred people we had ever seen. The next sensation was at 
 Rouen. Nothing (as you know) can be finer. Ships, moun- 
 tains, trees, churches, antiquities, commerce. Everything 
 which makes life interesting and agreeable. I thank you for 
 your advice which sent me by the lower road to Paris. My 
 general plan in life has been to avoid low roads and to walk in 
 high places — but from Rouen to Paris is an exception. 
 
 " We are well lodged in an hotel with a bad kitchen. I 
 
 ' " At a Committee, holden September, 1833, Benjamin Hawes,'Esq., F.S.A., 
 in the chair. 
 
 ' ' It was unanimously resolved — That the grateful and sincere thanks of this 
 Committee are justly due, and are hereby presented, inscribed on vellum, to 
 Mrs. Austin, for the lively solicitude which she manifested for the fulfilment of 
 the important objects of this Institution, on the occasion of the calamitous 
 wreck of the British convict ship Amfhitrite, off the port of Boulogne-sur-Mer, 
 on the night of the 31st August last ; when, by her presence of mind, perse- 
 verance, and humanity, in conjunction with that of Mrs. John Curtis, she had 
 the happiness, under Divine Providence, to recover three of the mariners of the 
 above vessel, who were washed on shore by the violence of the gale, and taken 
 to the Marine Hotel in a state of insensibility. 
 
 " (Signed) Northumberland (President). 
 "Benjamin Hawes {Chairman)." 
 
 The "Humane Society's Report" for 1834, page 79. 
 
SARAH AUSTIN. 121 
 
 agree in the common praise of French hving. Light wines, 
 and meat thoroughly subdued by human skill, are more agree- 
 able to me than the barbarous Stone-Henge masses of meat 
 with which we feed ourselves. Paris is very full. I look at it 
 with some attention, as I am not sure I may not end my days 
 in it. I suspect the fifth act of life should be in great cities ; 
 it is there in the long deaths of old age that a man most 
 forgets himself and his infirmities, receives the greatest conso- 
 lation from friends and the greatest diversions from external 
 circumstances. 
 
 " Pray tell me how often the steamboats go from Boulogne, 
 and when will the tides best answer so as to go from harbour to 
 harbour in the week beginning Sunday, 25th October ? Pray 
 excuse the trouble ; I have always compunctions in asking you 
 to do anything useful. It is as if one was to use Blonde lace for 
 a napkin — or to drink toast and water out of a ruby cup. A 
 clownish confusion of what is splendid and what is serviceable. 
 Love to Lucie. I remain always, dear Mrs. Austin, sincerely 
 and respectfully yours, 
 
 " Sydney Smith." 
 
 Alexis de Tocqueville to Sarah Austin. 
 
 [Translation.] 
 
 " Chateau de Baujy, Nov. 26, 1835. 
 " I should be inexcusable, dear madam, not to have answered 
 your charming letter before, but it waited at Paris for my 
 return from a short journey. I now hasten to reply and to say 
 how much I wish to present Madame de Tocqueville to you. I 
 hope with her to enjoy two things not easily found united in 
 this world — a busy intellectual and a tranquil calm home-life. 
 Such is my dream ; and in order to make it a reality, I have had 
 the audacity to choose my wife for myself. Now that the thing 
 is done, a good many people think I acted wisely. But I do 
 ■not aspire to revolutionise our habits ; many a year %vill pass 
 by ere marriage, generally speaking, will cease to be anything 
 but an ' affaire,^ 
 
122 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 " What you say about M. R. and men of his condition is per- 
 fectly true. In France, simple and elegant manners are only 
 found among the scions of old families. Others are either 
 vulgar or too particular and careful. This comes, I fancy, from 
 the state of revolution, which still endures ; it is a crisis we 
 must pass through. In the confusion which subsists, new men 
 do not know how to distinguish themselves. Some conceive 
 that rudeness and pushing will make them remarkable ; others, 
 that minute attention to the smallest detail will cloak their low 
 origin. Both are uneasy about the results of their attempts, 
 and their uneasiness is betrayed by affected assurance. Men 
 who are born and brought up with the habit of being by rtghi 
 in the first society, do not think of these things ; they have a 
 natural ease of manner, and, without thinking, attain the goal 
 the others strive for in vain. But I trust that a time will come 
 when a model will be established of good manners and good 
 taste, to which you will see all well-educated people conform, 
 just as among the aristocracy there is a certain code to which 
 all bow without discussion, and I may say, without being aware 
 of it. 
 
 " You see, dear madam, that I preserve my democratic ten- 
 dencies in spite of your observations. I am an adherent of 
 democracy without being blind to its defects and its dangers ; I 
 may say I am so because I see them clearly. I am thoroughly 
 convinced that nothing will prevent its ultimate triumph, and 
 that it is only by going with the current, and trying to direct 
 it is as far as possible towards progress, that the evils may be 
 diminished and the possible good be developed. 
 
 " I must ask your forgiveness for turning a letter into a dull 
 lecture of political philosophy, but it was you who first started 
 the subject, and you must take the consequences. However, 
 let the world go as it pleases, and let me talk a little of our- 
 selves. You say you are not coming to Paris ; I am sorry and 
 surprised. Do you really mean to spend the winter on the 
 sands of Boulogne ? Do you not know that a provincial town 
 is the most impossible place in the world, and that there is no 
 medium between a capital city and a desert ? The clim.ate of 
 London does not suit Mr. Austin, dulness will drive him from 
 Boulogne, and wherever you go you must pass through Paris. 
 
SARAH AUSTIN. 123 
 
 So I shall expect you, dear madam, and hope soon to tell you 
 de vive voix that I am always 
 
 " Yours sincerely, 
 
 " Alexis de Tocqueville." 
 
 In 1836 a proposal was made to Mr. Austin, as I have 
 already mentioned in the short sketch of his life, to go 
 to Malta as a Royal Commissioner, to inquire into the nature 
 and extent of the grievances of which the natives of that 
 island complained. He accepted an appointment for which 
 he was peculiarly fitted, and returned to London to prepare 
 for sailing to Malta. It was not thought advisable to take 
 a young girl to so hot a climate, and Lucie Austin was entrusted 
 to the care of a Miss Shepherd, who kept a school at Bromley 
 Common. 
 
 I have heard that my grandmother's personal merits were 
 taken into account in this nomination ; she is not forgotten yet 
 in Malta, for a well-known and popular Maltese, Sir Adrian 
 Dingli, writes to me : — 
 
 " Your grandmother was very popular with my countrymen, 
 and contributed largely with Mr. Austin and Mr. Lewis to 
 break down a barrier raised by a clique of old English residents 
 who had for many years successfully worked to keep the natives 
 at a distance from the Government and from the so-called 
 society. She took a leading part in the reform of the primary 
 schools, and is still regarded here as a friend." 
 
 Lord Jeffrey wrote, on hearing of the appointment to 
 Malta :— 
 
 Lord Jeffrey to Sarah Austin. 
 
 "Edinburgh, August -^i., 1836. 
 
 " My very dear Mrs. Austin, — I am so sorry you are going 
 
 to such a distance ! We thought it bad enough when you 
 
 spent a summer at Boulogne, and now you are embarking for 
 
 Malta ! It is difficult to get over that — and I saw so little of 
 
124 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 yoti this spring ! And where or what shall I be by the time 
 you return ? Yet, if you like it, it is folly to repine, and if you 
 think it your duty, ought we not all to cheer and applaud you ? 
 Yes, we shall all come right, if you will only give pledges that 
 you will be safe, and not stay away too long. I have not yet 
 heard how long you expect to be ; and what is short at your 
 age, may well be long at mine. But do let me know, and 
 assure me (of what I do not doubt), that neither Turks nor 
 Grecians, nor Knights Templars nor Corsairs, nor Italy nor 
 Egypt or Palestine shall ever divide you from the love of your 
 own dear England, or make you forget those who there love 
 and remember you. No, no ; you are not of that order of 
 beings, though I've basely doubted you of late, and feel this 
 desertion as a sort of judgment on my little faith. As I must 
 be forgiven before you go, I am bound to confess my transgres- 
 sions, and shall therefore state that I have been murmuring to 
 Empson against you, and trying to seduce him from his allegi- 
 ance, by insinuating that you were leaving your true friends for 
 lords and ladies, and giving up your heart (though large) to 
 vanities and vexations of the spirit — nay, saying in my jealous 
 bitterness, ' Let her go to her President of the Council, her 
 canons residentiary, her dandy pedagogues, her wits, flatterers, 
 and keepers of human menageries, and see what comes thereof 
 in the end ! ' It was worse, and I am bound to add that Emp- 
 son resisted the infection, assured me I was mistaken, or at all 
 events that we were sure to have you back again when the 
 little experimental course was over, and that I tried to believe 
 him, and had in good faith succeeded, when this fatal 
 Maltese dispensation came entirely to humble my pride, and 
 open my eyes to what I ought always to have seen. Pray 
 pardon me therefore, and let this be penance and humiliation 
 enough. I shall never again relapse into such a heresy. 
 
 " I have not yet seen your Greek book, and our Boeotian 
 booksellers cannot tell me whether it is published or not. I 
 should have liked better to have something more characteristic 
 of you, to look back to in your absence — your account of the 
 Boulogne sailors, for example ; but that interesting little sketch 
 is thrown aside, I fear, in the fever and bustle of your present 
 preparations. At all events I have your picture, and I cannot 
 
SARAH AUSTIN. 125 
 
 tell you how much I prize it. I wish you had something more 
 worthy of you to do than these translations. I shall be curious 
 to see your ' v. Raumer,' though I have a notion that he knows 
 more of past times than of present, and has been too little in 
 England. Do not forget us. Empson and I shall help each 
 other to keep you in dear remembrance, and so farewell. 
 Brightest and Best. 
 
 " Faithfully yours, 
 
 " F. Jeffrey." 
 
CHAPTER XI. 
 
 SARAH AUSTIN {continued). 
 
 Letters to Mrs. Reeve from Malta — Rev. Sydney Smith to Mrs. Austin — 
 Mrs. Austin to Mr. Nassau Senior — Cholera and its ravages — Rev. Sydney 
 Smith on Constitutions — Mrs. Jameson's opinions of America — Mrs. 
 Austin to Mrs. Senior on the action of the Government — Mrs. Austin to 
 M. Victor Cousin on Malta. 
 
 The following letters, written during Mrs. Austin's sojourn in 
 Malta, to Mr. and Mrs. Senior, and to her sister Mrs. Reeve, 
 will tell of her life better than I can : — 
 
 Sarah Austin to Susan Reeve. 
 
 "Lazaretto, Malta, Oct., 1836. 
 " Dear Sister, — Nothing can be more improving, animating, 
 beautiful, and unlike the rest of existence, than the first sight 
 of the interior of an English man-of-war ; the first day or two 
 passed in her in the midst of all her pomp and glory, her orderly 
 tumult, her difficulties and her power ; but the weariness that 
 comes on after some days is indescribable. Accordingly, after a 
 ten days' passage from Marseilles on board the magnificent fri- 
 gate Vernon, nothing could exceed our impatience at the calm 
 which kept us hanging off the coast of Malta, nor the joy with 
 which we saw the steam-frigate Medea coming out of the har- 
 bour to tow us in. I shall never forget the eifect which her 
 rapid undeviating course had upon me, after ten days of tack- 
 ing, watching, longing for winds that would not blow. It was 
 like the course of a man who asks no help but of his own judg- 
 ment and his own inflexible will, compared with that of a weak 
 and dependent woman shaping her way by every changing 
 
SARAH AUSTIN. 127 
 
 mood. In an hour from the time she took our towing rope we 
 were in the great harbour of Valletta. No description, and I 
 think no painting, can do justice to the wonderful aspect. In 
 the first place the many harbours, the way in which the rocky 
 points throw themselves out into the sea ; then the colouring, 
 the points a rich yellow white, the bays deep blue, and both 
 lying under a sky which renders every object sharp, and every 
 shadow deep and defined. The fortifications which grow out 
 of all these headlands are so engrafted on the rocks, that you 
 cannot see where the one begins and the other ends. The 
 high massive walls overlap and intersect at so many points, 
 that there can be no monotony. In the bright sunlight the 
 shadows of all these angles cut the earth or the sea just as 
 variously as the solid walls do the sky. Above all rose the city 
 with its many churches. The most striking objects seen from 
 the port are the splendid Albergo di Castiglia, the lighthouse 
 on Fort St. Elmo, and the Barracca, a row of arches standing 
 on a lofty point and surrounded with trees — the only ones 
 visible. Imagine these walls and bastions, this Barracca, and 
 every balcony overlooking the harbour crowded with people, 
 whose cheers as we entered the harbour rang across the waves 
 and re-echoed from side to side, with an effect that to me, who 
 expected nothing, was quite overpowering. Till this moment 
 I had hardly been conscious of the awful task committed to my 
 husband ; I felt those cheers, eager and vehement as they were, 
 as the voice of the suffering calling for help and for justice. 
 While the officers around me were gaily congratulating me on 
 a reception so flattering, I could say nothing, and turned away 
 to hide my tears. 
 
 "Innumerable Maltese boats were flitthig about the harbour, 
 all painted bright green and red. Their build is peculiar ; the 
 prow rises like a, swan's neck. Most of them have a little flag, 
 those belonging to the Lazaretto being distinguished by a 
 yellow one. They are rowed by two men standing, who at 
 every stroke bend forward and throw their weight upon the 
 oar. Most of them wear the long red woollen shawl, which 
 they get from Tripoli, girded round the loins ; their dress is a 
 blue jacket and blue or white trowsers, and the flat straw hat of 
 our sailors. Nothing can be gayer than the appearance of 
 
128 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 these boats, while darting through them might be seen all the 
 varieties of man-of-war's boats, with all the characteristics of 
 their nation about them — steadiness, precision, order, prompti- 
 tude, neatness, and quietness. 
 
 " As the sun sank in the cloudless sky, the guns from all the 
 ships were fired, and the bells and hum of the city were dis- 
 tinctly audible. The Vernoii's barge took us into the Quaran- 
 tine harbour, which lies on the other side of the tongue of land 
 on which stands Valletta. At the Lazaretto we found Mr. 
 Greig, the superintendent of Quarantine, waiting to introduce 
 us to our rooms, for we are supposed to be infected, as the 
 Vernon came from the Levant to fetch us at Marseilles. The 
 stillness of this very comfortable prison contrasted strongly 
 with the scene we had left, and was a great relief to wearied 
 travellers. 
 
 Sarah Austin to Susan Reeve. 
 
 " Valletta, Nov. 4, 1836. 
 
 " Dear Sister, — If you see Lucie, she can give you a de- 
 scription of our entry — triumphant, I might call it, were it not 
 rather the result of expectation of what is to be done than of 
 satisfaction at any results. Indeed, we all felt it to be very 
 affecting and even oppressive. 
 
 " I greatly fear that all this popularity will vanish when the 
 poor Maltese find the Commissioners don't make bread cheap 
 and give them work ; but we shall see. Their first act was 
 yesterday to send for the leaders of the complainants. 
 
 " I have already a strong persuasion that much of the disgust 
 and discontent arises from the insolence, prejudice, and want of 
 breeding of the English. If they bully where they are on 
 sufferance (as on the Continent), what will they do where, as 
 the Marchese di Piro said to me, chaque petit employi se croit 
 un rot. The result is that the noble Maltese families, poor and 
 proud, depressed and insulted, have entirely retired from the 
 society of the English, and the most complete hatred and 
 iloignement prevail. Such are the elements out of which I 
 have to make my society. 
 
 "The English have all left their cards, because they must. 
 
SARAH AUSTIN. 139 
 
 The Commissioners are the third persons in the island, having 
 precedence of all but the Governor (when he comes) and the 
 Archbishop. As Sir H. Bouverie has no wife, I take prece- 
 dence, if I choose to claim it, of every woman in the island ; 
 and though you may believe I shall never assert this, yet I 
 suspect th-e great ladies know it, and like me accordingly. 
 The Maltese, with few exceptions, stay away, because, as the 
 Marchese di Piro said, they tremble at the thought of being 
 repulsed. I have told Sir Ignatius Bonavia, the intelligent 
 judge, to be my mediator with them, and to assure them how 
 flattered I shall be by their visits or how happy to visit them. 
 He and the di Piro family declare that they will be honoured, 
 delighted, touched, &c. ; all which I believe, because they are 
 used to such different conduct. But then how will the English 
 ladies bear this — so strong a censure, though a tacit one, on 
 their conduct ? Very likely there are causes of disgust on both 
 sides ; but I suspect intolerance of all foreign manners and 
 habits, combined with the prepotenza of masters, have been 
 carried to great lengths, and have done as much mischief as 
 any acts or system of misgovernment. You may imagine that 
 I am not on roses. I regard my Maltese servants as (probably) 
 spies. I know that every word we utter, and every act we do, 
 is watched and reported with the intense interest of hope and 
 fear. So, my dear sister, my grandeurs have their usual con- 
 comitant of gine and anxiety. I hope by implicit civility, 
 caution, and kindness, to get through my difficult task ; but it 
 is difficult." 
 
 Rev. Sydney Smith to Sarah Austin. 
 
 " 33, Charles Street, Nov. 30, 1836. 
 
 " My dear Mrs. Austin, — Your reception at Malta was 
 just what it ought to be everywhere, for I have no doubt all 
 the vivats were intended for you and not for the philosophers. 
 Doubtless the two disciples of Bentham thought that the 
 Maltese were hailing Liberal principles and transcendental 
 Benthamism, whereas it was the joy at seeing Donna Amabile 
 Inglese. 
 
 " You may depend upon it all lives out of London are mis- 
 
 10 
 
130 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 takes, more or less grievous — but mistakes. I have been here 
 the whole of November, dining out as usual every day. No 
 political news ; the Whigs have had bad luck in Spain and 
 Portugal, but I see no probability of a change. We had a 
 great run at Combe Florey this year of the learned and the 
 fair, and I passed not a disagreeable summer ; but nobody is 
 more agreeable than you, so pray come home as soon as you 
 can, and don't ruin your constitution in order to give a Con- 
 stitution to Malta. The Maltese can live without Liberty, but 
 how can I live without you ? So come, or I positively will 
 book myself for Malta, and perspire with you for a couple of 
 months, as I would freeze with you under the pole. What 
 more of gallantry can an aged priest add ? 
 
 " Yours affectionately, 
 
 " Sydney Smith." 
 
 Sarah Austin to Nassau Senior. 
 
 '■'■VKL'SVtK, Jan. 12, 1837. 
 " Dear Mr. Senior, — We should be very glad to afford two 
 or three intelligent, inquiring men here an opportunity of 
 referring to some of the English Parliamentary Reports, par- 
 ticularly any on Pauperism or Education, or any of the sub- 
 jects from which they can expect useful suggestions. You will 
 do Malta aad the Commissioners a great service. Mr. Lewis 
 has lent Dr. Sciortino, a very clever advocate and leading 
 Liberal., your ' Preface to the Foreign Reports.' No country 
 can stand in greater need of enlightenment than this, where 
 marriage is so criminally and disgustingly early and so dread- 
 fully prolific. I have seen a husband of fifteen ; mothers, 
 under tiventy, of four or five children are not rare ; and the 
 recklessness seems to increase with the misery. One cause 
 seems to me that domestic servants are almost all men ; in our 
 house, five out of six are men, and I cannot help it. As the 
 cotton spinning and weaving has so greatly declined, there is 
 no employment for girls, and mothers strive to marry their 
 daughters at all events. One said to m&.,Ma che farl delle mie 
 zitelle ? Con un marito mangiano un pezzo di pane., bianco, 
 
SARAH AUSTIN. 131 
 
 nero. Se no, prenderanno la cattiva strada.^ All this is 
 true except ih^ pezzo di pane, which even nero is not always to 
 be got, especially for eight or ten new-comers. I was told to- 
 day that a boy of fourteen who was going to be married had 
 given it up on hearing that the Commissioners had made a law 
 against marrying under twenty. I said, 'I hope you didn't 
 undeceive him.' 
 
 "Tell Mr. Stephen I received his wife's kind note, and thank 
 both him and her cordially. Tell him I am assured by several 
 Maltese gentlemen that they think the people would not refuse 
 to emigrate if they could be sure that they would have priests, 
 doctors, &c., with them, and live under the same government 
 and protection as here. It seems they have always imagined 
 they were to be abandoned to their fate. Even these gentle- 
 men seem to have no other notion of colonizing. They call 
 emigrating leaving wife and children for an indefinite time, 
 and going to Egypt or Greece to find work. They are so quiet, 
 sober, frugal and docile, that I should think they would make 
 excellent settlers, if willing. 
 
 " Such a state of extreme and hopeless destitution can hardly 
 be conceived. The failure of the cotton manufacture — partly 
 caused by the exclusion of Malta cotton from Spain, partly 
 by the introduction of English here — has taken from the 
 people of the Cazals their only means of living, save agricul- 
 ture ; and how insufficient that must be, you may guess. 
 Lewis and I had half a mind to write to some influential or 
 rich men in England to get up a subscription with a view to 
 allay the present intense suffering. It would have a very good 
 effect on the minds of the people here, as a proof of sympathy ; 
 but Sir H. Bouverie, when I spoke to him, objected, certainly 
 on the soundest principles, to do anything to keep up the habit 
 of depending on Government or others for aid. I still think, 
 however, a voluntary subscription would do little harm in this 
 way, the Government always steadily refusing succour, as it 
 ought. 
 
 " " But what am I to do with my girls ? With a husband they will at any 
 rate eat a bit of bread, either white or black. Otherwise, they will go to the 
 bad." 
 
132 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 " A Maltese told me the other day he did not believe it pos- 
 sible that any Englishman could have gained the confidence of 
 the people to the degree Mr. Austin had gained it. I allow 
 for flattery ; but yet it is clear they have confidence in the 
 Commission. 
 
 " The moral and intellectual destitution of the people is 
 dreadful. No schools in the Cazals, no tolerable education for 
 the middling classes ; an university whose first professor re- 
 ceives ^25 a year, and to which no attention is paid by the 
 Government ; no press, no place for discussion, no intercourse 
 with the English of an amicable and instructive kind — what 
 wonder if they are ignorant and childish ? 
 
 " The only thing I cannot understand is how life is sustained 
 under such circumstances. What I remark is this. When it is 
 a question of laughing at the Maltese, no words can be found 
 contemptuous enough for their poverty. When it is a question 
 to inquire seriously into their state — to give at least pity, at- 
 tention, reflection, if not aid, then it is all exaggeration ; they 
 are not worse off than the Irish, perhaps not than some of the 
 English. Their landlords ought to help them. The Maltese 
 gentry won't support their poor — reasons for stopping the ear 
 and steeling the heart. I am afraid it is too true that many of 
 the pretty, graceful girls we see about are very insufficiently 
 fed. I find many striking resemblances to the Irish ; there is 
 one great difference — all will suffer any privation to appear 
 decently dressed at church and in the streets ; and this laudable 
 feeling disguises their poverty. 
 
 "I ventured to send through my sister a petition to Mrs. 
 Senior on behalf of some of the poor girls who make lace. I 
 hope by another packet to send her a little specimen of their 
 embroidery, the beauty and cheapness of which may recom- 
 mend it. It is chiefly done by daughters of decayed families. 
 Pray give my kindest regards to her. Let us hear of you all, 
 and don't forget your little knot of friends here. Can you tell 
 me anything of John Mill ? Remember how precious news of 
 our friends is to us. Our very best regards to Mr. and Mrs. 
 Stephen. 
 
 "Yours ever, 
 
 " Sarah Austin." 
 
SARAH A USTIN. 1 33 
 
 Sarah Austin to Susan Reeve. 
 
 " Sliema, Malta, August 9, 1837. 
 " Dear Susan, — Heat interruptions, but above all a shock 
 that really unfitted me for anything, have kept me from writing. 
 I must tell you this tragical history. One of the persons whom 
 I know the best and Hke the best here is a Mrs. Sammut, wife 
 of a Dr. Sammut, whom I never saw, he having, for the sake of 
 securing a small pension, gone on board an English man-of-war 
 as surgeon two years ago. They had just lost a beautiful little 
 girl when we came, and Mrs. Sammut only began to recover 
 enough to go out. She had eight children. The two eldest 
 daughters, both married, had been the most admired girls in 
 Malta ; the grown-up single daughter was an excellent and 
 charming girl. From the first appearance of cholera, poor 
 Mrs. Sammut was overwhelmed with terror ; her daughter, 
 Mrs. Dedminno, and she came together to see me one evening, 
 looking like spectres, and I said then, 'If they are attacked, 
 they will die.' The daughter was attacked, struggled a week, 
 and died, leaving a baby. Last Monday, what was my horror 
 (knowing the mother) at hearing that Carmela was attacked 
 and dying. On Wednesday morning she died. But imagine 
 that on Tuesday, the father — the most doting of fathers — 
 returned, after his two years' exile from his family ! I had sent 
 on Tuesday to ask Mrs. Sammut to send me her two little 
 children, and I cannot describe to you how aifecting it was to 
 hear them talk of the presents papa had brought from England 
 for mamma and Carmela. Poor Carmela said on Tuesday, ' As 
 soon as I am up again, I shall take papa to see Mrs. Austin.' 
 From the first, I have endeavoured to make my large house and 
 fine situation useful to convalescents, and thus I have had two 
 young men who had just escaped, and several poor girls, who 
 had been passing the last two months under the combined 
 influence of rigorous confinement to the house, insufficient food, 
 and incessant fear and gloom. This feeble, abject terror, this 
 inability to look death in the face, was always despicable to me ; 
 it is now odious. Under its influence I have seen mothers 
 refuse to go near their children, husbands their wives. I have 
 seen one of eight brothers (in the upper classes), not one of 
 
134 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 whom would approach their father's death-bed. In short, every 
 variety of atrocious selfishness. These are the people who die. 
 For myself I never feared ; I am not very solicitous to live, nor 
 do I think myself very obnoxious to this sort of complaint. As 
 to cure, it is anything, everything, nothing. Nobody knows. 
 Everything succeeds — everything fails. I have kept on my 
 course, eating the same, riding in the much-dreaded sereno 
 every evening, bathing in the sea (prohibited most emphatically, 
 I cannot guess why) every day — in short, altering nothing ; 
 and but for the dreadful heat I should be perfectly well. To-day 
 is terrific. You have not the faintest idea what sun means. 
 The rocks in my little bay where I bathe, if only a hand's- 
 breadth is out of the water, are so hot you cannot touch them. 
 Yet it is seldom stifling as in London. You sit still, and the 
 perspiration runs off in a continued stream. Then the sea- 
 breeze comes, rustling the leaves and rippling the sea, and you 
 are refreshed. The trying days are those of the scirocco or the 
 Itbeccio ; and once in a few years they are reminded that Malta 
 is in Africa by a blast of the simoom. 
 
 '■'•August 15. 
 "I add a word to say that we are all alive. We have lost 
 about four thousand people off our little rock ; you may think 
 how thankful I am Lucie is not here — God help her ! I trust 
 she is gone, or going, to Coed Dhu. The thought of the wood 
 and the river makes me thirsty. But I must not forget our 
 oranges, figs, melons, water-melons, peaches, nectarines, grapes, 
 all so fine, so plentiful — and our boats on the blue sea. If 
 made the most of, Malta might have many attractions. This 
 is a sad letter ; pray send me something cheerful." 
 
 Rev. Sydney Smith to Sarah Austin. 
 
 " 33, Charles Street, Nov. 9, 1837. 
 " Ah, dear lady, is it you, and do I see again your hand- 
 writing ? — and when shall I see myself, as the Irish say ? I am 
 alone in London, without Mrs. Smith, upon duty at St. Paul's. 
 London, however, is full from one of these eternal dissolutions 
 and reassemblings of parliaments, with which these latter days 
 have abounded. 
 
SARAH AUSTIN. 13S 
 
 "I wish you were back again. Nobody is so agreeable, so 
 frank, so loyal, so good-hearted. The Whigs will remain in ; 
 they are in no present danger. Is the code of laws nearly 
 finished ? They say the Isles of Sark, Alderney, and Man, are 
 jealous of the legislative opulence bestowed upon Malta, and 
 are determined to have a constitution from Austin, Lewis, and 
 Co. Have you any little constitutions to spare ? 
 
 " I do not think I have made any new female friends since I 
 saw you, but have been faithful to you. I have not seen your 
 friend Jeffrey for these two years ; he did not come to town 
 last year. I hear with pleasure of his fame as a Judge. I am 
 going back to Combe Florey the end of this month till the 
 beginning of March, and then in London for some months, 
 when I sincerely hope to see you. If I do not I will not sur- 
 vive it, but fling myself from the top of an omnibus on the 
 pavement below, crying out, ' Austin ! Austin ! Malta ! Malta ! ' 
 " Ever affectionately yours, 
 
 " Sydney Smith." 
 
 The following letter from Mrs. Jameson, who was an inti- 
 mate friend of Mrs. Austin, is interesting : — 
 
 Anna Jameson to Sarah Austin. 
 
 " Philadelphia, Dec. 27, 1837. 
 " This, my dearest friend, is the third letter I have written 
 to you since I received yours, dated last March. Now until I 
 reach England I have no chance of hearing from you or of you, 
 or where you are or how you are. The hope that when I 
 arrive in London I may meet you there, comes over me some- 
 times with a feeling of delight which makes me dread disap- 
 pointment. I must not give way to such a hope, for which, in 
 truth, I have no foundation, except the expression in your 
 letter that it was not likely you would spend another winter in 
 Malta. How much we shall have to tell each other — what his- 
 tories ! My budget is full of all manner of things in my way — 
 and yours ? Your path is among deeper waters : I go paddling 
 about among sunny shallows, afraid of venturing beyond my 
 
136 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 depth ; and you launch into the wide sea of human interests, 
 poUtics and governments, fearless and assured in principle, and 
 when earth is left behind, looking to the stars of heaven. What 
 have you been doing — you who are never idle, and who con- 
 tinue to crowd into a given time more good to others and your- 
 self than any one I have ever known ? Wherever you are, 
 however you be, and whatever you do, how I wish I were with 
 you ! I am preparing to cross that wide, dark, wintry Atlantic, 
 and shiver a little at the thought ; but the thought of home, 
 my own dear people who make my home, and dear familiar 
 faces and firesides, and hearts on which the aching head can 
 rest itself — all these rise up before me, and the voyage, with all 
 its manifold miseries, seems but a step across a summer brook. 
 I left Toronto before the breaking out of the disturbances, 
 luckily ; for though I think the lamentable folly of the people 
 in being led by a few men into premature resistance could end 
 no otherwise, yet I have sympathies with them. There has 
 been much error and misrule on the part of our Government, 
 and the magnificent capabilities of Canada seem, as yet, little 
 understood. If any one can do good, it will be Sir Francis 
 Head, a truth-telling, large-minded, strong-headed man, the 
 first, I apprehend, whom they have had in the Upper Country 
 that united liberality and decision. Sir John Colborne, whom 
 I also know, I admired as a fine, true-hearted soldier ; as for 
 Lord Gosford, I must own I rather wondered how the deuce he 
 got there. 
 
 " After all, Harriet Martineau has left little to say ; her book, 
 as far as I can judge, is the truest of books, though I do not 
 always agree with her views — which may, indeed, proceed from 
 my own ignorance. There are people here who would willingly 
 roast her before a slow fire and eat her up afterwards, I believe ; 
 but among candid and intelligent people there is but one 
 opinion — that the book is a fair book, though containing some 
 mistakes in facts. I have no idea myself of writing anything, 
 except on the only subject I do understand, ?'.«., the state of art 
 in this country, which is more interesting than you could easily 
 imagine. This, and my tour among the Indians, will be the 
 subject of my next perpetration. I am now staying with Fanny 
 Butler, who is certainly the most gifted creature it has ever been 
 
SARAH AUSTIN. 137 
 
 my lot to meet with, take her altogether. Health and strength, 
 intellect and genius, the most robust temperament, the most 
 fearless, uncompromising love of truth. Put these together, 
 with youth, riches, happiness : don't you think this is a group 
 of bright ideas ? That there may be some little flaws, that in 
 this ' siiperflu d^dme et de vie ' there should be, at times, a little 
 too muchness — all this, though it makes me tremble a little for 
 her future, takes nothing from the admiration with which I 
 regard her, for thus in the consistent, complete human being, 
 it must be, and ought to be, and it will be 2^ fined down in due 
 time. Her child, though fair, has a Kemble face, and is a little 
 curiosity — doted upon, of course, and not less admirably 
 managed. This is all I will allow myself to say at present, for 
 I feel as if I were talking to you, and pour all out as if my paper 
 were boundless and my time infinite. My dear, dear friend, 
 how I wish I could but know how you fare ! But however 
 that may be, you love me still, and do not forget me — of that I 
 am as certain as of my own existence and my true affection for 
 you. God bless you and keep you, my dear and good friend ! 
 
 " I am, 
 
 " Yours affectionately, 
 
 " Anna." 
 
 Sarah Austin to Mrs. Senior. 
 
 " Valletta, March 7, 1838. 
 
 " Dear Mrs. Senior, — My commissions for silk and mittens 
 are so numerous and business so thriving that I need not 
 encumber you with anything more unless you wish it. The 
 Queen's commission for eight dozen pairs long and eight dozen 
 pairs short mits, is more than I can get executed with the per- 
 fection I wish while I am here. Lady Lansdowne and others 
 are always writing for them. As to the turban. Lady L. 
 admires hers so much that she has written to order a dress for 
 Lady Louisa. That, with a scarf for the Queen, will keep my 
 best hands occupied. 
 
 "Mr. Senior's letter was a great treat. You can have no 
 idea how barren society here is of all that makes society worth 
 having. I shall find myself ages behind in everything relating 
 
138 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 to books and news when I come among you. But I hope we 
 are of some use, and that is the best thing. 
 
 " Tell Mr. Senior our revenue is very flourishing. I send 
 him an answer to an attack on the Commissioners, which 
 appeared in The Times, and was reprinted here. This answer 
 is by Dr. Sciortino,' an advocate, altogether the ablest and best 
 man we have found here. He was one of the leaders of the 
 extreme gauche. He, even in England, would pass for a man 
 of great ability, of course cramped by want of advantages. 
 
 " I cannot understand the course adopted by ' our friends the 
 Radicals ' in England. Above all, I wonder at Mr. Grote. I 
 cannot imagine what Molesworth can mean by his motion about 
 Lord Glenelg. Is it to please Lord Brougham ? At this 
 distance it looks like madness — particularly to us. A Maltese 
 ultra- Liberal.! to whom I mentioned it, said if it were carried 
 it would be the greatest calamity for Malta, for that Lord 
 Glenelg was the first Colonial Minister who had shown a dis- 
 interested regard to the good of the island. 
 
 " I want to get something in the way of a statistical table, as 
 I have a notion of getting the village schoolmasters to keep a 
 kind of register. Births, deaths, and marriages are registered ; 
 but I want to see the number who emigrate, who go to school, 
 &c. If Mr. Senior has anything that would serve as a pattern, 
 I should be very thankful for it. The Commissioners are too 
 busy. 
 
 " Ask Mr. Senior to tell Mr. Stephen (to whom I have not 
 time to write to-day) that i,ioo Maltese have emigrated since 
 last November, all, or nearly all, I imagine, to the opposite 
 coast. The people are much more occupied, beggars dimi- 
 nished, the island generally more cheerful. Governor's Carni- 
 val Ball the fullest ever known. I am very busy (as usual) 
 with schools, workpeople, artists, &c. 
 
 " I bore you with Malta, but what can I say else, except that 
 I am always, 
 
 " Yours faithfully attached, 
 
 " Sarah Austin." 
 
 " Sir W. Reid (when Governor of Malta) said, " I know no society in 
 which Sciortino would not be a distinguished man." 
 
SARAH A USTIN. 1 39 
 
 Sarah Austin to Victor Cousin. 
 [Translation.] 
 
 " Valletta, April 25, 1838. 
 
 " Dear M. Cousin, — I take advantage of Mr. Lewis's depar- 
 ture for London to break a silence which has lasted far too long. 
 He will tell you of us, and of our little island, which owes so 
 much to him, and of our reforms ; but he also wants to hear 
 you talk of Plato and Greek literature, of philosophy and 
 politics. Make him tell you about his translations of Miiller's 
 ' History of the Dorians,' and Boeckh's ' Athenian Public 
 Economy.' If you want to know about the political and 
 administrative reforms my husband and his colleague have 
 effected here, you must ask Lewis ; I shall only mention my 
 Fach (speciality), which is, as you know, my dear and venerated 
 master, public instruction. It did not exist at Malta. There 
 was one school for boys and one for girls in the town of Valletta. 
 In obedience to the recommendations of the Commissioners, 
 twelve more are to be established in the villages, six for each sex. 
 Your famous book serves as our guide,' but we follow humbly at 
 a distance. I am occupied in making an abridged translation 
 (into Italian) al uso di Malta, Alas, what concessions we are 
 forced to make ; it is impossible to make the Maltese pay a 
 grano " a week ; they would not send their children to school. 
 The remedy for this — compulsion — is not to be thought of. 
 As to the obvious and economic system of sending young 
 children of the two sexes to the same village school, equally 
 impossible. You must know Malta to understand what il 
 nostra decoro means. It is an obstacle to everything except 
 vice. 
 
 " Then, my dear Councillor of State, image the condition of 
 a people forced to learn four languages — (i) Maltese, a kind of 
 bastard Arabic, which has never been reduced to any system or 
 written down, so they conceived the brilliant idea of teaching 
 children to read in a foreign language (Italian), and the conse- 
 
 ' " Report on the State of Public Instruction in Prussia," by M. V. Cousin, 
 translated by Mrs. Austin (with a Preface). 
 ' Three granos make one farthing. 
 
140 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 quence is a whole generation who read fluently without under- 
 standing a word. (2) Italian, the written language used in the 
 courts, the pulpit, the theatre, &c. (3) English, the language 
 of the governing class ; I need not tell you how necessary a 
 knowledge of this is to all who are not absolutely independent 
 of us. (4) Arabic. This island swarms with inhabitants, and 
 emigration is perpetual. The opposite coast of Africa and the 
 Levant offer the easiest and most profitable outlet, for though 
 the poor Maltese are far behind us in civilisation, yet they are 
 in advance of Africa or Asia. 
 
 " So you see what we have to do. But I have never been 
 discouraged ; the Maltese are very docile, sharp and intelligent. 
 How much there is to say about this little half-Arab nation — 
 corrupted and degraded to the last degree by the worst govern- 
 ment in the world, that of the Order ; neglected and despised 
 by the English, ignorant, superstitious, and devoured by every 
 kind of prejudice ! They must not be left in such a condition. 
 Good-bye, my dear friend and master. 
 
 " Ever yours, 
 
 " S. Austin." 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 SARAH AUSTIN {continued'). 
 
 The Austins return to London— Letter to M. Victor Cousin on education in 
 England — Translation of Ranke's Popes — Mr. Gladstone on popular 
 education — Mr. Macaulay's review of the translation of Ranke — Mrs. 
 Austin on the change of Ministry, and her daughter's engagement. 
 
 In July, 1838, Mr. and Mrs. Austin left Malta, the Commission 
 having been brought suddenly to a close by Lord Glenelg's 
 successor. No reason was assigned, nor was Mr. Austin's 
 abrupt dismissal accompanied with a single word of recog- 
 nition for his services. He had, however, the satisfaction of 
 seeing every measure he recommended adopted by the Colonial 
 Office,' and he always looked back with great satisfaction to 
 his connection with two men for whom he entertained so 
 sincere a respect as Lord Glenelg and Sir. James Stephen. 
 
 Sarah Austin to Victor Cousin. 
 
 [Translation.] 
 
 " 4, Queen Street, Mayfair, 
 
 ^'•December 31, 1838. 
 " It is a great pleasure to me, my dear friend, to see those 
 pattes de mouches which I have missed for so long. Another 
 pleasure has been reading your admirable speeches in the 
 
 ' Sir W. Reid (when Governor of Malta) said, " All that is valuable in the 
 code of Law here was done by Austin and Lewis." 
 
 141 
 
142 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 Morning Chronicle of to-day. I recognise you, and I recog- 
 nise all the sentiments that I am so proud to share with you. 
 It is in vain, dear friend, to try and uphold religion, her own 
 ministers are her assassins. To find oneself between bigots or 
 atheists provokes despair, and one does not know which to hate 
 the most. Let us talk about schools. You know that an 
 absence of two years has broken the thread of my knowledge 
 of schools here. But I do know that there is a remarkable 
 movement to which I want to call your attention. There is a 
 certain party of young men (clergymen and others), all Tories 
 and High Churchmen, who have, it seems, had the sense to see 
 that the schools of the National School Society (which as you 
 know have long represented the bigoted party) are bad enough 
 and ridiculous enough to discredit their supporters. From what 
 I hear they are going to try and reform the church schools, to 
 insist upon better instruction, and to try and place them on a 
 par with the best liberal schools ; always retaining religion 
 (Anglican of course) as the principal thing. These gentlemen 
 appear to me to have faith in their religion, and not to be afraid 
 of a little secular teaching. The man who is at the head of this 
 movement is Mr. Gladstone, a Member of Parliament, who is 
 regarded as the probable successor of Peel, i.e. the leader of the 
 Tory party. I believe that he and I shall suit one another. 
 But I have a strong idea that this is only part of a whole. 
 The Radical party is evidently effete — not two of them are of 
 the same mind — they all want to act according to their own 
 private notions — they will accomplish nothing. But by inces- 
 santly menacing the Tories they will, through them., attain 
 what they would have been powerless to do by themselves — 
 and what the Tories never would have done without their 
 threats. By the first opportunity I shall send you the last 
 report of the Poor Law Commissioners. You will find two 
 interesting papers ; one by Dr. S. Smith on the causes of fever 
 in large towns, and one by Dr. Kay, on the workhouse schools. 
 I believe that they will become the best schools in England, for 
 the evident reason that their managing board has not to attend 
 to the recommendations of a parcel of idiots. As to my little 
 island ; there it was not a question of writing, but of acting. 
 And I acted. I will not tell you how I worked, but the fact is 
 
SARAH AUSTIN. 143 
 
 that there are now ten village schools, where there was not one. 
 I believe things would have remained as they were, had I not 
 searched for and found the masters, and opened the schools in 
 person. My poor little Saraccni ! we could only smile and 
 gesticulate to one another. Since my return I have been trying 
 to get a professor of English for the Liceo., and have insisted on 
 his being a Catholic. I gained the complete confidence of the 
 Maltese as soon as they found that I did not aim at converting 
 them. They generally distrust Protestants, and I must confess 
 they are not far wrong. 
 
 " At this moment I am translating Ranke's ' History of the 
 Popes.' It has been done so badly into French that Ranke was 
 forced to disavow it. I suppose the translator was an ultra- 
 Catholic, but he cuts a poor figure. 
 
 " Good-bye, dear friend, keep well for the good of humanity. 
 
 I " Your faithful friend, 
 
 "S. Austin." 
 
 During the winter of 1838-39, Mr. Austin was very ill. Mrs. 
 Austin was busy in collecting facts concerning Education. 
 She wrote to Mr. Gladstone, asking for documents ; and he 
 answered : — 
 
 W. E. Gladstone to Sarah Austin. 
 
 ''6, Carlton Gardens, 
 
 ^'■February 16, 1839. 
 " Dear Mrs. Austin, — Together with Mr. Horner's trans- 
 lation of Cousin's ' Report on Holland,' for which I beg to offer 
 my best thanks, I send to you two sets of papers which will 
 show a good deal of light on our recent proceedings with regard 
 to popular education. One of them I thought you might wish 
 to forward to M. Cousin. I have to regret that a paper on 
 Diocesan Training Seminaries is out of print, and that I am 
 therefore unable to forward copies. 
 
 " Allow me to request your continued and, if possible, active 
 interest in furtherance of these designs. 
 
 " I remain, dear Mrs. Austin, 
 
 " Your faithful Servant, 
 
 "W. E. Gladstone." 
 
144 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 Sarah Atistt'n to W. E. Gladstone. 
 
 " February 18, 1839. 
 
 " Dear Sir, — I am extremely obliged to you for the docu- 
 ments you have sent me, and yet more for accepting the 
 sympathy and good wishes — in default of better things — of 
 so humble a fellow-labourer in ' la sainte cause,'' as Cousin 
 always and truly calls it. If my co-operation were worth any- 
 thing, it might not be loss of time to try to convince you to how 
 great an extent you might count upon it, and where I should 
 hesitate, and why. But these would be fruitless discussions. 
 All I can do (and that belongs to my sex) is this, To try to 
 persuade some who think differently from you, and who fancy 
 that you are parted from each other by walls of adamant and 
 not by slender and partial partitions, to give an attentive, re- 
 spectful, and grateful ear to your projects, and to see whether 
 it is really demanded by the cause of rational education to reject 
 so much zeal, charity, and knowledge. 
 
 " I had the pleasure of making two inexorable Liberals waver, 
 and at last confess that, indeed, there was a great deal that was 
 good in the scheme. 
 
 "My fear is, my dear Mr. Gladstone, that your own earnest 
 and, to me, affecting view of the duties and rights attached to 
 the character of Christian teacher, leads you to over-estimate, 
 and, alas ! greatly, the aid we have to expect from the clergy. 
 Shall I say more ? — that they will thwart you — not all, God 
 forbid, but many. Having lived much among Radicals and 
 ' Liberals ' of all sorts, I shall find it difficult to persuade you 
 how sincerely it has long been my conviction that a Church, 
 such as you conceive it, is really the nursing-mother of all its 
 children, and its clergy the natural, inevitable, and desirable 
 heads of instruction ; but have we not seen them at work ? 
 and after that, can we trust them ? If you are strong enough 
 to provide motives and checks, you may do two blessed acts — 
 reform your clergy and teach your people. As it is, how few of 
 them conceive what it is to teach a people. 
 
 " With regard to the thing which makes the great clamour — 
 the exclusion of Dissidents — I think little of that ; that is not 
 your affair, or the Church's. If the State gives money, that is 
 
SARAH AUSTIN. MS 
 
 another thing. It must give to all, and for all, from whose 
 pockets it is taken. That is just. The time was over too long 
 before you or (even) I were born, when the spirit of faith had 
 given place to the spirit of questioning, for us in our day to find 
 any remedy. And the remedy will not be found, at any rate, 
 in the sort of ignorance which now lies at the lowest bottom of 
 our society. All must be taught. But I am preaching a sermon 
 to you — of all things the least needed. The subject is most 
 tempting. 
 
 " You must think of the poor girls — and pity them. I think 
 a girl can hardly, save by a miracle, escape destruction from 
 bad training ; a boy may struggle through it. If either wants 
 to be specially sheltered and fortified and restrained, it is those 
 who are weak. You must lay this matter to heart. Pray 
 excuse me. 
 
 " Most truly yours, 
 
 "Sarah Austin." 
 
 Sarah Austin to Victor Cousin. 
 [Translation.] 
 
 " London, February, 1839. 
 
 " Dear Friend and Master, — There is not time to collect 
 all I should like to send you by M. C, but here is a book that 
 will interest you, and above all a report by Dr. Kay. He is a 
 most useful man about public instruction. I think I told you 
 that I went with him to one of the workhouse schools. There 
 were 1,100 of these poor little creatures very well lodged, and 
 taught by five Scotch masters, who seemed to me to do their 
 work admirably. It is well worth seeing. 
 
 " My schools at Malta are flourishing, about 1,000 boys and 
 506 girls are being taught, where before our arrival there was 
 not one. This is consoling. And in truth I need consolation. 
 My husband's health is worse than ever, and I cannot describe 
 my life to you, never an instant of repose. I am surrounded 
 by friends and acquaintances who esteem me, and I have my 
 daughter, a handsome and talented girl ; but I dare not think 
 of the future. 
 
 II 
 
146 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 " Do send me your ' Abelard.' Have you seen the notice in 
 the London and Westminster Review ? I send you the speech 
 of Lord J. Russell (last night's debates). It will interest you. 
 I have seen young Gladstone, a distinguished Tory who wants 
 to re-establish education based on the Church in quite a 
 Catholic form. 
 
 "He has, however, clear ideas, zeal and conscientiousness. 
 We get on extremely well together ; he was with me for two 
 hours, for I am regarded as quite an authority about public in- 
 struction, and am friends with all who take that subject to heart. 
 Send tne everything you can about your normal schools. Lord 
 Granville will forward the packet. 
 
 " Ever yours, 
 
 " S. Austin." 
 
 Besides writing on Education, Mrs. Austin was hard at work 
 translating L. v. Ranke's " History of the Popes," which had 
 been so badly done into French that, as she says in her Preface, 
 it " is not only full of particular inaccuracies arising from igno- 
 rance or carelessness, but is infected with the sectarian spirit 
 from which the original is so remarkably and so laudably 
 exempt." Professor Ranke wrote to Mrs. Austin : — 
 
 " My book heeds' to be set right in the eyes of all but German 
 readers, after the unconscientious treatment it has received at 
 the hands of a Catholicising French translator. I look to 
 England to redress the wrong done to me in France." 
 
 Macaulay, who was to review the original book, asked Mrs. 
 Austin to let him have her sheets to read. 
 
 "lam," he says, " prompted purely by selfish motives. 
 Being but indifferently skilled in German, I wished, in re- 
 viewing a most important German work, to have the h«lp of 
 a very good translation. I shall be exceedingly obliged to you 
 for the sheets whenever it may be quite convenient to you. I 
 am very slowly reading Ranke's book a second time, at the rate 
 of ten or fifteen pages a morning while I dress. The movement 
 
■ - SARAH AUSTIN. . - 147, 
 
 and din of this strange whirlpool, London, allows me no more 
 time for German, and having once got some hold on the 
 language, I do not choose to let it go." 
 
 The following letter is written to a Maltese lawyer for whom 
 both Mr. and Mrs. Austin entertained a great friendship :— 
 
 "■May 10, 1839. 
 " Dear Dr. Sciortino, — I was going to condole with you 
 on the change of Ministry and on the appointment of Lord 
 Stanley as Colonial Secretary. Now all is changed again, or 
 rather all is in suspense and confusion. Before this reaches 
 you, you will know the result by the French post. My notion 
 is that the country will not like to see the Queen, poor child ! 
 oppressed, and that she will show the firmness that is in her 
 blood. Perhaps this may end in a re-organization of a Whig 
 Ministry. Certainly some change is wanted. . I am now inter- 
 rupted by the entrance of Lewis's cousin, Sir Alexander Duff 
 Gordon, to tell me that one of my anxieties is over — that my 
 husband is paid. The sum fixed is_^i,5oo a year, consequently 
 ;^3,ooo ; and this is paid by England, my dear friend, as it 
 ought to be. Without this, though in my conscience I think 
 Malta might well have thought it due to him, I could not have 
 enjoyed it ; for poor Malta is very near my heart, and I could 
 ill bear any good fortune at her expense. So the Commission 
 has cost you, dear people, only . our expenses ; and how 
 moderate they were I need not tell you. I must tell you how 
 new and strong a motive I have for some little aid to our small 
 means. This same Alexander Gordon has fallen in love with 
 my dear child, and Alexander has nothing but a small impiego^ 
 his handsome person, excellent and sweet character, and his 
 title (a great misfortune). This jf 3,000 will enable us to help 
 them when they marry. Now you will understand my anxiety 
 when I heard the Tories were coming in — the Tories who hate 
 all such men and such reformers as my husband. On the 
 occasion of Lord Brougham's attack on my husband, the 
 ferocity of which I cannot describe to you, I went (my husband 
 being ill) to Lord Glenelg, to talk to him about the social and 
 
148 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 religious state of Malta. He behaved like a true man of con- 
 science, humanity, and enlarged sympathies, and confirmed me 
 in all I thought of him. Lord Normanby, too, behaved very 
 well, and my excellent friends. Lord and Lady Lansdowne, of 
 course. He studied the Ordinance, and comprehended the 
 whole case. In short, I had great consolations. But my poor 
 husband was made so ill he could not leave his bed, and I had 
 to do strange things for a woman, contro tl nostra decoro (against 
 our decorum), certainly ; but a woman fighting for her husband 
 is always in the right." 
 
CHAPTER XCII. 
 
 SARAH AUSTIN {continued). 
 
 Correspondence with Mr. Gladstone on National Education — Prof. v. Ranke 
 on the translation of his book — Poland and the Greek Church — M. 
 Michel Chevalier to Mrs. Austin. 
 
 The following letter to Mr. Gladstone preceded the publication 
 of the pamphlet " On National Education." Mrs. Austin never 
 cared about appearing before the public in her own person, and 
 although often pressed to " give us something of your own " by 
 her many friends, was generally content to translate. 
 
 Sarah Austin to W. E. Gladstone. 
 
 '^May 27, 1839. 
 " Dear Mr. Gladstone,-^! am going to take the strangest 
 liberty with you, which, however, if you can understand the 
 feeling that prompts it, will not, I trust, displease you. About 
 four years ago I received from Paris a quantity of official docu- 
 ments relating to public instruction, which, being both unpub- 
 lished and extremely unattractive, appeared to me most unlikely 
 to reach the eye of any English readers. I was therefore 
 tempted to give such an aperfti of them as I could, in the form 
 of an article in a review. The review in question {' Cochrane's 
 Foreign Quarterly ') died at its birth, and my article was buried 
 with it. Some people interested in the subject have from time 
 to time urged me to reprint it separately, a suggestion I never 
 attended to till very lately ; when, on looking it over again, it 
 seemed to be that there were suggestions in it worth preserving, 
 
 149 
 
ISO THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 and that the result of the deliberations of the French Chamber 
 was a thing to be regarded, if not imitated. 
 
 " I therefore gave it to Mr. Murray, and have been adding a 
 few notes. But now, seeing the violence and bitterness with 
 which the subject is, I will not say discussed, but handled, by 
 the Press, I take fright. I have always shrunk from appearing 
 before the public in my own person or behalf, as the author or 
 champion of any opinions whatever. 
 
 " It is, I truly assure you, no feigned humility when I say 
 that I never felt that I had the least pretension to instruct the 
 world, nor the least call to amuse it. On the subject of the 
 education of the people, I did indeed once venture on a few 
 words, but only under cover of a great name. If I spoke then, 
 it was out of a heart filled with sympathy for those on whom 
 lies the burden of the heat of the day, with indignation at all 
 who neglect, at all who delude them, and seeing no remedy but 
 this. I think for the same cause I would bear martyrdom if it 
 would do any good ; but I am, after all, a woman ; and I can- 
 not bear, without a good reason, the coarse and disgusting hands 
 of the daily press to be laid upon me. I feel that I am not a 
 partisan, nor a bigot, nor an infidel, but I may and must express 
 opinions which may be misstated and distorted to any or all of 
 these forms of evil, and my courage is tottering. In this state 
 of mind I can think of nothing but the comfort it would be to 
 me to have one word of advice from you. You will not agree 
 with all I have ventured to say, but you will, I trust, find little 
 to object to, and that little not offensively urged. Will you 
 read the few pages which I will ask Mr. Murray to send you ? 
 Will you tell me whether the party to which you in a wide 
 sense belong are likely to attack me with the sort of rancour I 
 see and hear now so much afloat on all sides. God forbid 
 I should confound you with those who use such poisoned 
 weapons. I judge you as I wish to be judged by you, and I look 
 to you and the small knot of friends with whom you act with 
 an anxious hope you can hardly imagine. But you will know 
 better than I what may provoke less candid judgments than 
 yours. 
 
 "You will see a sort of prophetic longing for that very 
 movement in the Church which you have excited, and, if I do 
 
SARAH AUSTIN. 151 
 
 not flatter myself, some notions of the duties of a minister of 
 religion not wholly unlike your own. 
 
 "Forgive me, dear sir, for this (I repeat) strange appeal to 
 your kindness. After it, need I say with what sentiments 'and 
 respect and trust 
 
 " I am yours, 
 . "Sarah Austin." 
 
 W. E. Gladstone to Sarah Austin. 
 
 " 6, Carlton Gardens, _/?<«« 18, 1839. 
 
 " Dear Mrs. Austin, — I much regret the delay which has 
 taken place in returning your proof sheets. Those up to page 
 112 came to me almost immediately after your note, and I read 
 them immediately, and waited for the remainder. I received' 
 them only last evening. 
 
 " Let me now make a remark on the note, in which you have 
 alluded to suggestions made by me, in very kind and flattering 
 terms. I fear it would be of little use if I were to remark that 
 they are much beyond my merits ; but on one particular point 
 I am about to suggest a modification. As the admission of 
 candidates into holy orders is the sacred and sole prerogative 
 of the governors of the Church, we, or any inferior agency, can 
 hardly be said to look to procuring their entrance : but this 
 we hope, to raise men to such proficiency and merit that the 
 bishops may lind them fit for the ministry. 
 
 " After this observation let me say that I find your point 
 of view upon the whole subject is different in a considerable 
 degree from mine, and that perhaps the chief part of my duty 
 towards you consists in saying whether you have , so handled 
 your subject, in your own sense, as to entitle you to the most 
 delicate and respectful treatment. To such a question I can 
 have no hesitation in replying-»affirmatively. 
 
 " I cannot quite prevail" on ffiyself here to close my letter 
 without adverting to the general subject ; and yet, besides my 
 general dread of its controverted parts, I am at present more 
 than ever disqualified from doing justice either to you or to my 
 own impressions. But the very great sympathy with which I 
 receive most of your sentiments induces me to say a word. 
 
152 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 You are for pressing and urging the people to their profit 
 against their inclination : so am I. You set little value upon 
 all merely technical instruction, upon all that fails to touch the 
 inner nature of man : so do I. And here I find ground of 
 union broad and deep-laid, and I should indeed rejoice to see a 
 portion of your benevolent energies lent, as I am sure they 
 would freely be, to aid in the work of popular education within 
 the bosom of the Church. 
 
 "As to that subtle and ulterior question which respects the 
 duty of the State at a moment when it seems to be losing in 
 great measure the capacity and even the idea of duty properly 
 so-called, I can tremble and hope, but little more. I more than 
 doubt whether your idea, namely that of raising man to social 
 . suificiency and morality, can be accornplished, except through 
 the ancient religion of Christ ; or whether, overlooking what 
 severs professing Christians, we can secure a residue such as 
 shall produce an adequate effect upon the heart and aifections 
 of man ; or whether, the principles of eclecticism are legiti- 
 mately applicable to the Gospel ; or whether, if we find our- 
 selves in a state of incapacity to work through the Church, we 
 can remedy the defect by the adoption of principles contrary to 
 hers. On these questions, or forms of the same question, I am 
 quite unable to fix myself in the affirmative conclusion. 
 
 " But indeed I am most unfit to pursue the subject ; private 
 circumstances of no common interest are upon me, as I have 
 become very recently engaged to be married to Miss Glynne, 
 and I hope your recollections will enable you in some degree to 
 excuse me, and 
 
 " Believe me, with much regard, most truly yours, 
 
 " W. E. Gladstone." 
 
 L. V. Ranke to Sarah Austin. 
 
 [Translation.] 
 
 "Berlin, Oc/., 1839. 
 " Honoured Madam, — I must thank you for sending me the 
 sheets. I have now all but the Introduction. The great care 
 
SARAH AUSTIN. 153 
 
 with which you have translated my book gives me the greatest 
 satisfaction. I hear myself speak English much better than I 
 could ever have learnt it. I see that you have used the latest 
 edition. Of course I have not yet been able to compare every- 
 thing, but wherever I have opened the pages I perceive care 
 and conscientiousness, and I am well satisfied. My journey to 
 Brussels and Paris has delayed the publication of the third 
 volume of the new edition, but it will appear almost immedi- 
 ately. I beg you to observe this, as I have added a good deal 
 in the third volume. I send you the academic treatise which 
 you have heard about : it will probably be too long to add to 
 the Appendix, already very bulky ; but perhaps may be turned 
 to some other purpose. At the end you will see that I touch 
 upon the debated question of Tasso's relations to Leonora 
 d'Este. Since then some pamphlets by Count Alberti have 
 appeared, dealing with this subject, which may lead to other 
 results. As far as I have yet seen, in those that have reached 
 me, I perceive nothing which changes my opinion in the least. 
 Pray thank Mr. Milman and Mr. Hallam for their kind mes- 
 sages, and accept my best thanks and high esteem. 
 
 " Ever yours, 
 
 " L. v. Ranke." 
 
 Sarah Austin to Dr. Sciortino. 
 
 " Carlsbad, August 19, 1840. 
 " Dear Dr. Sciortino, — We have made some interesting 
 acquaintances here, among them General Leysser, the President 
 Speaker of the Lower Chamber of Saxony, who, on occasion of 
 the little revolution of Dresden, took the command of the 
 insurgent peasants, kept them in order, and mediated with 
 the Government. In short, preserved the public peace. He 
 is an enlightened, humane man, and much attached to his 
 admirable little country and its mild rulers. It grieves one 
 to see such a country so utterly at the mercy of its powerful 
 neighbours, especially that country which all others abhor in 
 proportion as they know it — Russia. I never believed, as you 
 know, that the Maltese could desire to transfer themselves to 
 
154 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 Russia, but now that I know more of both, the idea would 
 drive me mad. You know, dear friend, whether I was blind 
 to the misconduct of my country and countrymen ! But I 
 assure you the worst of us are angels compared to these re- 
 morseless savages, who have no idea of truth, honour, or 
 humanity. Here I have had an opportunity of hearing details 
 from Austrians, Russians, Saxons, and above all from their 
 victims, the wretched Poles. Countess Potocka, a most noble 
 woman, who reminds me of a Roman matron, said to me, 
 'The most cruel thing is that their barbarities so far exceed 
 the imaginations of civilised people, that the simplest relation 
 of our woes seems falsehood and exaggeration. You cannot 
 believe us.' 1 give you one example. The Emperor is forcing 
 the Greek Church on the Poles, who are fervent Catholics. 
 The poor women who refused to conform have been prevented 
 from giving suck to their infants till they would go to the 
 Greek Church ! Just analyse the head and heart that could 
 conceive this infernal measure. Education studiously with- 
 held and prohibited, all the Polish universities shut up, young 
 boys suddenly seized and carried off to remote parts of Russia, 
 leaving not a trace. There are many mothers of the first 
 families in Poland who have thus been robbed of their sons, 
 and cannot gain the smallest tidings where they are. Name, 
 language, religion — all changed. 
 
 "The people- here have the mild, good-natured, and some- 
 what indifferent (molle) character of their nation — very honest, 
 dull, and without aspirations. The censorship on books is 
 complete ; that is, all are forbidden except those specially 
 allowed — an index expurgatorius reversed. But foreigners 
 can get permission for any ; and the Allgemeine Zeitung, a 
 most excellent paper, circulates freely. The truth is, there is 
 no demand for more than the Government grants. General 
 Leysser told me that occasionally, when Austrians come to 
 Dresden, he has proposed to them to go to hear the debates in 
 the Chamber. They said, ' That must be excessively dull ; are 
 there no gambling-houses here ?'..," 
 
SARAH AUSTIN. 15.5 
 
 Michel Chevalier to Sarah Atistin. 
 [Translation.] 
 
 Paris, Nov. 15, 1840. 
 
 " Dear Madam, — I have returned to Paris. I adore this 
 Babylon for the sake of its inhabitants, the 'elite of France, who 
 after all are so charming, although they have cut off their lace 
 ruffles and cuffs, and diminished their high red heels. Your 
 letter awaited me, a charming letter such as only a French- 
 woman can pen, and which has delighted me by proving that 
 I am right in claiming you as a countrywoman. You say you 
 are attracted by suffering, that feeling was the loadstone to my 
 heart. Men, generally speaking, are not attracted by sorrow ; 
 that is reserved to your sex ; that it is that converts noble 
 women into humble sisters of charity, and makes of you la 
 petite mire of humanity. In this also the Frenchwoman is 
 superior to all others — another reason for your being one. 
 
 " But allow me to say, that from the first time I saw you, I 
 was drawn to you by an unconquerable instinct which attracts 
 me towards superior natures, towards those angels who occa- 
 sionally descend to our earth. This has been, madam, a source 
 of great and pure pleasure to me, but it has also caused me 
 much pain and raised me many enemies. This very love, this 
 search for privileged nature is, in me, inseparable from a con- 
 tempt for the vulgar and common herd. I wish them well, I 
 work to promote their interests ; in France I even pass for a 
 democrat. The little I have written bears the stamp of devo- 
 tion to the cause of the amelioration of the people. But on 
 the understanding that the populace should have nothing to 
 do with my life, and that mediocre men (and women) should 
 not annoy me by their contact. That class of people are to 
 me as though they did not exist, and I let them see it. I 
 admit that this is a fault, and one I have in vain sought to 
 subdue. But when I see a really fine character, I not only 
 esteem, I adore. You see now what made me seek to know 
 you, and why I was so happy in your company ; I confess this 
 fault in my character which has made me so many enemies, 
 and will make me many more. One must confess to somebody. 
 
156 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 Catholicism was far-seeing in instituting such a practice. Con- 
 fession lightens many a burden and makes life easier, but the 
 only confessor I admit is a woman ; and when the canons of 
 the Church refused to you ladies the right of exercising this 
 function, they showed a singular misconception of human 
 nature. Do you remember that I told you at Carlsbad we 
 should not have war ? I still think so ; only Lord Palmerston 
 must not send us any more notes like that of the 2nd Novem- 
 ber. The English Cabinet should not pour oil on the fire 
 when we try to throw water. The note of the 2nd is the work 
 of a fool or a madman. 
 
 " Ever yours from my heart, 
 
 " Michel Chevalier." 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 SARAH AUSTIN {continued). 
 
 Mrs. Austin's " Fragments from German Prose Writers " — Letters to M. 
 Guizot on behalf of some inhabitants of Boulogne — Sydney Smith's 
 opinion of Guizot's "Washington" — M. A. de Vigny to Mrs. Austin 
 — Mrs. Austin undertakes translation of Ranke's " History of the 
 Reformation." 
 
 Mrs. Austin was all the autumn preparing her book, " Frag- 
 ments from German Prose Writers : with Notes." Her husband, 
 who derived considerable benefit from the Carlsbad waters, went 
 to Dresden, and she, in February, to London, to see her daughter. 
 
 Sarah Austin to M. Guizot. 
 
 3, Pont Street, Belgrave Square, 
 
 Jan. 29, 1 841. 
 
 " I should hardly venture to trouble you again, dear M. 
 Guizot, but I have a petition to present. And now, perhaps, 
 my excuse is worse than none. But you shall hear, and you 
 will forgive me. 
 
 " When I lived in your city of Boulogne, my only friends 
 were my poor neighbours on the port, the matelote population, 
 pilots, fishermen, and their wives. I was admitted into all 
 their y?fe.f de famille, and into all their sorrows, and it is enough 
 to say that I found in their admirable qualities and in their 
 cordial attachment, compensation for what we call civilised 
 society. I have just received a touching proof that neither 
 years of absence, nor all the bad efforts of bad or evil men 
 
 I5Z 
 
iS8 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 to make us believe we are born to hate and injure each other, 
 can efface from the heart of one woman the memory of the 
 tears another had shed with her and for her. One of the 
 most unhappy and forlorn of wives and mothers has recollected 
 her old friend in England. You saw the account of the sad 
 accident at Boulogne, by which eight persons out of a boat's 
 crew of eleven perished. The boat belonged to a man named 
 Delpierre (but always called Caton), the doyen of the pilots, a 
 man upwards of sixty (I think), dtcort for his many services, 
 lame in consequence of having broken his leg in the per- 
 formance of his duty, brave, quiet, sober, good-natured, an 
 excellent husband and father. Even when I was there (in '35) 
 he was almost worn out in the service, and, at his earnest 
 request, I had the impertinence to add my poor solicitations 
 to M. Cousin to try to get him a debit de tabac as a retraite. 
 Alas, poor fellow, he has found rest in the element he had 
 braved so long. He and his son, a fine, brave, handsome boy 
 of nineteen, perished together. I cannot tell you with what 
 anguish I think of the wretched wife and mother. She was so 
 passionately devoted to them. I remember once standing with 
 her alone at the end of the pier, when her husband and this 
 very son, then a child, went off to Dover with despatches, in a 
 frightful sea, just at sunset in a December evening. I stayed 
 by her to watch the little boat as long as we could descry a 
 trace of it on the dark and stormy waters, and her face is 
 before me now, as she turned away and said to me, ' C'est tout 
 ce que j'ai au monde.' I was so alarmed at her state that I 
 went home and stayed with her almost all night. The other 
 pilots' wives whom I begged to go to her only said, ' Madame 
 Caton ne sait pas se faire une raison. Elle est toujours a se 
 tourmenter.' And now all her blackest misgivings are verified. 
 Strange how these dark shadows rest for years on the soul ! 
 She was the only woman I saw possessed by these terrors. 
 
 " But, dear sir, what am I doing ? — Writing as if you had 
 nothing to do but to read my womanish letters. Well, what I 
 want to say is, that she sends to ask me if I have any friend at 
 Paris who would solicit for a pension for her. She is very ill 
 and quite forlorn. I do not think, with her passionate temper, 
 she can live long. 
 
SARAH AUSTIN. 159 
 
 Can it be ? and can you spare one minute from graver 
 things to recollect it ? She would think it a homage to the 
 virtues of ' Monsieur Caton,' as she always called him, with 
 a sort of veneration I honoured in her. I used to show that 
 m'enage with such pride to all my English friends— the pretty, 
 neat cottage, and the decorations and medals under a glass 
 case, carefully displayed by the wife. And as if death had not 
 weapons enough in his armoury to strike us and those we love, 
 we must forge them for him ! 
 
 " I hope you are satisfied with Sir Robert Peel's speeches, 
 and, tolerably, with the Duke's. I can assure you they have 
 excited unutterable joy and satisfaction here. Depend upon 
 it. Sir Robert speaks the language of the whole middle class 
 of England— of nearly all England. Nobody but partisans, 
 bound hand and foot, ever attempted to defend the Note of 
 the 2nd November. Miss Berry, who sees everybody of all 
 parties, told me she had heard but one opinion — one feeling of 
 indignation. We all pray for you, revere you, and love you. 
 That is the real English sentiment. Will you believe me ? 
 You know I do not flatter my countrymen ; but there is, I am 
 confident, no rancour against France here ; and if that dear, 
 naughty child, the" French nation, would have made a little 
 less noise, this would have been more evident. 
 
 "In Germany, indeed— «^, c'estune autre affaire— hut even 
 that will wear out. The French can conciliate any people if 
 they will. 
 
 " Forgive me, dear sir, this torment of impertinence. At 
 least let me not add to it, or allow you to think that you are 
 bound to take the least notice of it, except for my poor 
 suppliant's sake ; and even for her, if I have trespassed too 
 ■ far, forgive me, for the sake of my loyal attachment to France, 
 and allow me to add of my affectionate and profound respect 
 for her best son and citizen. 
 
 " Sarah Austin." 
 
 Sarah Austin to M. Guizot. 
 
 " Feb. 19, 1841. ' 
 . " Dear Monsieur Guizot, — The benefit you have conferred 
 on the sorrowing wife and mother is so great that it seems 
 
i6o THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 almost impertinent to say anything about the unspeakable 
 pleasure you have given me. And yet I must thank you for 
 myself as well as for her. How often have I lamented as you 
 do, how often declaimed with even female impatience on that 
 fatal ignorance of each other which renders nations obnoxious 
 to all sorts of exasperating influences and mischievous preju- 
 dices ! But, alas ! we must wait. The great stream of know- 
 ledge will not roll on the quicker for our regrets, be they ever 
 so passionate ; for our labours it will. Do not laugh at my 
 ' our.' I mean it to comprehend, not only the best and wisest 
 of statesmen and the person who would form a very ridiculous 
 dual with him, but the humbler creature that cherishes a 
 kindly feeling to his ' foreigner ' brother, that tries to allay an 
 evil passion, or to clear away a noxious prejudice. 
 
 " God be praised ! we have some such brethren and fellow- 
 workers, and in time shall have many more. The periodical 
 Press, that awful engine, will in time find its level ; at present 
 its authority is wholly factitious, exaggerated, and false. The 
 Press is so imposing ; men naturally believe in it implicitly for 
 a long time. But they find it out. Nothing but truth stands. 
 There remains, however, with nations as with individuals, the 
 great difficulty, the passions. There are states of mind, or 
 rather of temper, in which truth cannot be heard ; even facts 
 are not seen, not looked at ; and here the demons of the Press 
 attendent les homines ; into these burning hearts they pour 
 their infernal combustibles. However, we have made great 
 progress. The old idea of a Frenchman is really extinct, and 
 though we see that they have some faults, and perhaps believe 
 they have more, we all recognise their grand and charming 
 qualities. Your jeunesse seems to me difficult to put into 
 harness. It seems to me (if it is not presumptuous to say 
 so) that it does not make any rational estimate of life. What 
 life is for ? What it can and what it cannot give ? What to 
 aim at ? What to acquiesce in ? Your young heaven-stormers 
 do not settle these points with themselves so well or so soon as 
 our less vivacious and less ambitious youth. So it seems to 
 me ; and here is a great element of disquiet. 
 
 " Poor Madame Caton and I will pray for you ; and you will 
 not disdain her prayers, though they should be addressed to 
 
SARAH AUSTIN. i6i 
 
 the Mother of Mercy. Thank you for your kind expressions 
 to myself If the most cordial and respectful attachment can 
 deserve them, I do. 
 
 "Yours, dear sir, 
 
 " S. A." 
 
 Sarah Austin to M. Guizot. 
 
 ^^ Feb. 22, 1841. 
 
 " Dear Monsieur Guizot, — I have sometimes been inchned 
 to retort upon you your ' Oest une mkprise^^ and to tell you 
 you were an Englishman. But on se Irahit, and the grace with 
 which you added a delicate kindness to a substantial benefit, 
 forces me to renounce all claim to you as a countryman. I 
 need not attempt to describe the pleasure you gave me, because 
 you understood it when you wrote those few most kind lines 
 which arrived after I had sent my letter. Of course, I sent off 
 the letter to Boulogne instantly. 
 
 " Now I must give you a message from that jovial son of the 
 Anglican Church, Sydney Smith. He said with great earnest- 
 ness and emphasis, ' Tell M. Guizot that I have just read his 
 " Washington," and that in my life I never read anything 
 evincing more taste, tact, sense, judgment ; and that is pre- 
 cisely Lord Grey's opinion.' I don't know if this is worth 
 much to you, but they are fastidious critics, and you may like 
 to hear their opinions. I dined on Saturday at Lord Lang- 
 dale's. I had seen him last at the House of Lords, where I 
 heard the Queen's Speech, and we looked with blank astonish- 
 ment at each other at the omission.^ He spoke of it again on 
 Saturday with great contempt. We talked of you, and he said, 
 ' Tell M. Guizot it is not the fortifying Paris — nobody would 
 care about that — it is the armament, the seeing France put on 
 a war establishment. That is what makes people uneasy, and 
 will keep them so.' I tell you this, dear sir, because you may 
 like to know what is thought by friends of peace and of good 
 
 ' Lord Brougham in the Upper House, and Messrs. Grote and Hume in 
 the Lower, referred to the omission of all mention of France in the Queen's 
 Speech, and censured the manner in which that Power had been treated by 
 our Government during the late complications. See W. N. Molesworth's 
 " History of England," vol. ii. p. 43. 
 
 12 
 
1 62 THREE GENERA TlONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 government. But nobody accuses you — nobody thinks you a 
 ' harhare' Everybody sees that it would be impossible to 
 govern the chafing, impatient courser without allowing him 
 some rein. I assure you that there is the most universal con- 
 fidence in your intentions and in your wisdom, and that the 
 extreme calmness of the English people rests mainly on that 
 confidence. Everybody believes that you will do the best you 
 can. As to the character of those you have to manage, people 
 diifer widely according to the strength of their prejudices. 
 You may like to know that my brother, Philip Taylor, who 
 has long been established as an engineer at Marseilles, writes 
 that every opinion he hears is pacific, and that the citizens of 
 Marseilles complain bitterly of being misrepresented by the 
 Press. All his workmen are Frenchmen, and even Provenfaiix 
 (I hope you accept the compliment), and it is impossible to 
 find greater harmony and attachment. I am sorry M. Cousin 
 talks about ' le bas empire^ All that is nonsense. Who can 
 find the least shred of analogy ? Who does not see that 
 France cannot move hand or foot without shaking Europe 
 from end to end ? Who doubts her enormous power to do 
 mischief to all her neighbours ? I dislike these attempts to 
 pique the amour propre of individuals or nations by allusions 
 and phrases, especially when they are false and absurd. Pardon : 
 these are hard words for a woman ; but when the welfare of 
 millions is at stake, I am subject to emportements, which are 
 not pretty. Again and again accept my most cordial thanks, 
 and beheve me, with the most respectful attachment, 
 
 " Yours, 
 
 "S. Austin." 
 
 Rev. Sydney Smith to Sarah Austin. 
 
 56, Green Street, Grosvenor Square, 
 
 March 5, 1841. 
 " . . . . But will you come to a Philosophical breakfast on 
 Saturday, ten o'clock punctually. Nothing taken for granted. 
 Everything (except the Thirty-Nine Articles) called in question 
 — real Philosophers. 
 
 " God bless you, affectionately yours, 
 
 " Sydney Smith." 
 
SARAH AUSTIN. 163 
 
 The author of " Cinq-Mars " writes one of those inimitable 
 French billets which are so hard to render into any other 
 language : — 
 
 Comte A. de Vigny to Sarah Austin. 
 [Translation.] 
 
 "Paris, March 26, 1841. 
 
 " Most assuredly, Madame, it is impossible to find more 
 charming coquetry than that of England as represented by 
 you, and there is no Syria one would not abandon with delight 
 for a person who becomes so amiable after succeeding in all 
 her desires. She exactly resembles that lovely lady of the 
 Court of Louis XIV., who sent a message to her lover, ' Let 
 him understand that I have been unfaithful to him, but I do 
 not bear him any malice.' 
 
 " It has taken time to find the coat-of-arms of Bayard. They 
 were only discovered in the Royal Library the day before 
 yesterday ; and I wished to draw them for you myself. As an 
 artist I am not, like Bayard, sans peur et sans reproche, but 
 you will not be able to reproach my exactness. Mr. Reeve will 
 tell you that Barbier, whom he will see at my house this 
 evening, is ever your true and loyal friend. I always see your 
 portrait hung above any other in his room, and we often talk 
 of the absent one it represents. 
 
 "Your devoted 
 
 " A. DE Vigny." 
 
 Mrs. Austin wrote to Professor Ranke, intimating a desire 
 to translate his " History of the Reformation." He answers : — ■ 
 
 Prof. V. Ranke to Sarah Austin. 
 [Translation.] 
 
 "Berlin, April., 1841. 
 "Honoured Madam, — When, last summer, I had your 
 translation of my book on the Popes lying before me, I 
 undertook to compare it with the original, and to write fully 
 
1 64 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 to you on the subject. I read the end last, that being fresher 
 in my memory, and was delighted to hear my thoughts speak 
 in the ringing tones of the purest English. This change, for 
 which I must thank you, caused me a kind of illusion. It 
 appeared to me almost as though I had written it myself. I 
 did not carry out my intention. It has been said with truth 
 that it is my English self; and who cares to study himself, 
 when the world for so many centuries offers so much that is 
 infinitely greater ? Again, my University labours, and the new 
 and large work I am engaged in, engrosses all my powers and 
 all my attention. 
 
 " In the meantime, the notices I have seen, and particularly 
 the intention of Mr. Murray, which you tell me of in your 
 last letter, give me extreme pleasure. I am as glad as though 
 the reception were personal to myself, and shall for ever remain 
 grateful to you, my honoured friend, who have been the means 
 of procuring such a reception of my book. I admire the courage 
 which prompts you to desire to translate the book on the 
 Reformation. You will have to face five, perhaps six, volumes, 
 in which German interests are entirely preponderant. But I 
 cannot deny that I should like you to undertake it. Everything 
 must be studied from its source. If the great development of 
 the Reformation is to be understood, people must be at the 
 pains to study the conditions of Germany at that time, without 
 which it would never have been accomplished. This includes 
 an appreciation of the whole history of that period which 
 reacted upon the conditions of Germany." 
 
 Sarah Austin to Harriet Grote. 
 
 " Carlsbad, Bohemia, Aug. 24, 1841. 
 " . . . . Our visit at my beloved Tetschen afforded us many 
 opportunities of learning something of the statistiques and 
 condition of the country. To judge from Count Thun's own 
 dominions, one would be inclined to judge very favourably of 
 the state of the country. The cottages are better, cleaner, and 
 more adorned than in almost any part of Germany I have seen ; 
 the roads good, and great appearance of activity. But they all 
 
SARAH A USTIN. 165 
 
 tell you, and wherever you go you hear, that ' Unser Graf 
 stands alone.' He hardly ever goes near Vienna, lives among 
 and for his Unterthanen (subjects), and you meet him miles 
 from the castle, in all weathers, on foot, wearing a blouse and 
 bareheaded, yet looking always a most . imposing r titer Itch 
 (knightly) man. His son, my dear Francis, is still more be- 
 loved — indeed adored ; and no wonder. Combined with his 
 father's sense of what is due to his dependents, he has a truly 
 Christian or, if you will, democratic feeling of brotherhood 
 with the meanest — a persuasion that they are not where and 
 what they ought to be ; and this gives to his manner to them 
 an ineffable sweetness and benignity. His mother said to me, 
 ' If there is a child or a dog in the house, it will not quit 
 Franz.' 
 
 " The younger son, Leo, struck my husband extremely. As 
 he is in the judicial career, he and the Professor ' cottoned ' 
 together, much to their common satisfaction. Countess Thun 
 told me that Leo wrote about Austin with unwonted satis- 
 faction. This is one of the many occasions which make me 
 feel bitterly what a great teacher is lost to the world. To see 
 that noble-minded young man, full of knowledge and of high 
 aspirations towards a useful career, drinking in his words, was 
 to me nearly as melancholy as agreeable. A few — and how 
 few ! — will know, and when it is too late will say, what it was 
 to hear him expound. His audience here is of the feminine 
 gender — Lady William Russell, Mademoiselle Schopenhauer, 
 and Mrs. Hamilton Gray. Cummer, dear, we are certainly 
 looking up ! These women have beaten ail the men who have 
 been here out of the field for general knowledge and powers 
 of thought and conversation. Mademoiselle Schopenhauer and 
 my husband discussed the light questions of the ' existence of 
 evil ' and the ' eternity of the world,' as soon as they met ; 
 last night came Lady William to ask him to throw light on 
 the Schelling and Hegel controversy, which she is looking 
 into. 
 
 " What you say, dear Cummer, is very true : life is, to most, 
 an uneasy pursuit. I, however, have been so disciplined in 
 living ail. jour la journee that I have not even a place to 
 hanker after ; I go where the winds and the waves drive, and 
 
1 66 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 try to make the best of the spot where I am. Generally 
 speaking, I succeed pretty well. I am glad you like my book.' 
 It has great success in Germany. 
 
 " Your ever affectionate 
 
 S. A. 
 
 The Rev. Sydney Smith to Sarah Austin. 
 
 " 56, Green Street, Oct. 23, 1841. 
 
 " My dear Mrs. Austin, — It grieves me to think you will 
 not be in England this winter. The privations of winter are 
 numerous enough without this. The absence of leaves and 
 flowers I could endure and am accustomed to, but the absence 
 of amiable and enlightened women I have not hitherto con- 
 nected with the approach of winter, and I do not approve of it. 
 
 " Great forgeries of Exchequer Bills in England, and all the 
 world up in arms. ... I am a holder of Exchequer Bills to 
 some little amount, and am quaking with fear. 
 
 " Mrs. Grote is, I presume, abroad, collecting at Rome for 
 Roebuck and others anecdotes of Catiline and the Gracchi. 
 She came to Combe Florey again this year, which was very 
 kind and flattering. I have a high opinion of, and a real 
 affection for her. She has an excellent head and a honest 
 and kind heart. I am living in London this November, quite 
 alone and dinnerless. No members — at least, no Whig mem- 
 bers and Lady Holland at Brighton. Pity me, and keep for 
 me a little portion of remembrance and regard. 
 
 " Your affectionate friend, 
 
 " Sydney Smith." 
 
 ' " Fragments of German Authors." 
 
CHAPTER XV. 
 
 SARAH AUSTIN (continued). 
 
 Diary of Mrs. Austin in 1841 — The Rhine — Dresden — Anecdotes of the 
 Emperor Paul— Second Sight — Letter to M. Guizot on the Affairs of 
 Europe — Mrs. Austin to M. Victor Cousin. 
 
 In Germany Mrs. Austin began to keep a diary for the 
 amusement of her daughter, Lady Duff Gordon. Unfor- 
 tunately she did not continue it for any time, or at all 
 regularly. Part of the diary appeared in Macmillan^s Maga- 
 zine in 1877 (" German Society Forty Years Ago "). 
 
 "June, 1841.^ — In the steamer from Mainz to Bonn was — 
 inter alios — an individual of the genus Rath. He sat opposite 
 to us at dinner on the deck, and first attracted my attention 
 by the following reply to his neighbour, a man who appeared 
 to entertain the profoundest admiration for him : ' Oh, yes, 
 there are lots of theorists in the world, only too many. I 
 represent den gesunden Menschenver stand ' (sound common 
 sense). Delighted at this declaration, I raised my eyes, and 
 saw a face beaming with the most undoubting self-complacency. 
 He went on to detail certain schemes of his for the good of 
 his country — Oldenburg, as it seemed. My husband began to 
 interrogate him about Oldenburg, and I said all I knew of it 
 was from Justus Moser. The worthy Rath looked at me 
 amazed, and said this was the first time he ever heard Justus 
 Moser mentioned by a lady. I said so much the worse ; there 
 is an infinity of good sense in his writings. Yes, but he never 
 expected to hear of his being read by a lady, and that I was 
 
 167 
 
1 68 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 evidently the second representative of sound common sense in 
 ihe world, ' worthy to be my disciple,' added he with emphasis. 
 
 '■'■Sept. 1841.— In Di-esden I met the Grand Duke of Saxe 
 Weimar, who told me the following anecdote on the autho- 
 rity of .his mother-in-law the Empress of Russia : — When 
 Paul and his wife went to Paris, they were called, as is well 
 known, le Comte and la Comtesse du Nord. The Comtesse du 
 Nord accompanied Marie Antoinette to the theatre at Versailles. 
 Marie Antoinette pointed out, behind her fan, aussi honnHement 
 que possible^ all the distinguished persons in the house. In 
 doing this she had her head bent forward. All of a sudden 
 she drew back with such an expression of terror and horror 
 that the Comtesse said, ' Pardon, madame, mais je suis sure 
 que vous avez vu quelque chose qui vous agite.' The Queen, 
 after she had recovered herself, told her that there was about 
 the Court, but not of right belonging to it, a woman who 
 professed to read fortunes on cards. One evening she had 
 been displaying her skill to several ladies, and at length the 
 Queen desired to have her own destiny told. The cards were 
 arranged in the usual manner, but when the woman had to 
 read the result, she looked horror-struck, and stammered out 
 some generalities. The Queen insisted on her saying what she 
 saw, but she declared she could not. ' From that time,' said 
 Marie Antoinette, ' the sight of that woman produces in me a 
 feeling I cannot describe, of aversion and horror, and she seems 
 studiously to throw herself in my way ! ' 
 
 " The Grand Duke told very curious stories about a sort of 
 
 second sight ; especially of a Princess of S , who was, I 
 
 believe, connected with the House of Saxony. It is the custom 
 among them to allow the bodies of their deceased relations to 
 lie in state, and all the members of the family go to look at 
 them. The Princess was a single woman, and not young. She 
 had the faculty, or the curse, of always seeing, not the body 
 actually exposed, but the next member of the family who was 
 to die. On one occasion a child died ; she went to the bedside 
 and said, 'I thought I came to look at a branch, but I see the 
 tree.' In less than three weeks the father was dead. The 
 Grand Duke told me several other instances of the same kind. 
 But this faculty was not confined to deaths. A gentleman 
 
SARAH AUSTIN. 169 
 
 whom the Grand Duke knew and named to me, went one day 
 to visit the Princess ; as soon as she saw him she said, ' I am 
 delighted to see you, but why have you your leg bound up ? ' 
 
 ' Oh,' said her sister. Princess M , ' it is not bound up ; 
 
 what are you talking of ? ' ' 7 see that it is,' she said. . On his 
 way home his carriage was upset and his leg broken. 
 
 ^^ Nov. 1 841, Dresden. — I went to see Figaro's HochzM, 
 not Le Nozze di Figaro. If you have a mind to understand 
 why the Italians can never be reconciled to Austrians rulers go 
 to see Figaro's Hochzett. A Herr Dettmer, from Frankfurt, 
 did Figaro, a good singer, I have no doubt, and not a bad, ?>., 
 an absurd, actor. But Figaro, the incarnation of Southern 
 vivacity, espilglerie and joyous grace ! Imagine a square, 
 thick-set man, with blond hair and a broad face, and that 
 peculiar manner of standing and walking with the knees in, the 
 heels stuck into the earth and the toes in the air, which one 
 sees only in Germany. I thought of Piuco, a young Maltese, 
 never, I believe, off his tiny island, whom I last saw in that 
 part. I saw before me his klanck and supple figure, his small 
 head clustered round with coal-black hair, his delicately turned 
 jetty moustache, his truly Spanish costume, the sharp knee just 
 covered by the breeches tied with gay ribbons, and the elastic 
 step of the springing foot and high-bounding instep. What 
 a contrast ! — and what can Art do against Nature in such a 
 case ? Then the women ; I have seen Ronzi de Begnis in the 
 Countess. What a Countess ! What a type of Southern 
 voluptuous grace, of high and stately beauty and indolent 
 charm ! Imagine a long-faced, lackadaisical-looking German 
 woman, lean and high-shouldered, and with that peculiar con- 
 struction of body which German women now affect. An 
 enormously long waist laced in to an absurd degree, and owing 
 its equally extravagant rotundity below to the tailor. 'Happy 
 we,' says Countess Hahn-Hahn, ' who, with so many ells of 
 muslin or silk, can have a beautiful figure.' 
 
 " Now as a set-off I must say what Germans can do ; and 
 what I am sure we cannot in this our day. I went to see 
 Schiller's Braut von Messina. I expected little. The piece is 
 especially lyric rather than dramatic. The long speeches, 
 thought I, will be dull, the choruses absurd, The sentiments 
 
170 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 are pagan. What have Spanish Sicilian nobles to do with a 
 Nemesis, with oracles, with a curse like that on the House of 
 Athens, with sustained speeches, the whole purport of which 
 is incusare deos. Well, I was wrong. In the opening scene, 
 Mdlle. Berg has to stand for a quarter of an hour between two 
 straight lines of senators and to make a speech — rien que cela. 
 Can anything be more difficult ? Yet such was the beauty of 
 her declamation of Schiller's majestic verse, such the solemnity, 
 propriety, grace, and dignity of her action, that at every 
 moment one's interest rose. I cannot at this moment recollect 
 ever to have seen an actress who could have done it so well. 
 Rachel, with all her vast talents as a declaimer, would have 
 been too hard for the heart-stricken mother. Emil Devrient's 
 Don Cesar was quite as good. His acting in the last scene, 
 where Beatrice entreats him to live, was frightfully good. The 
 attempts at paternal tenderness, instantly relapsing into the 
 fatal passion ignorantly conceived, made one's heart stand still. 
 One saw before one the youth vainly struggling with the here- 
 ditary curse of his house — the doomed victim and instrument 
 of the vengeance of an implacable destiny. Anything more 
 thoroughly heathenish than the play I cannot conceive, and I 
 question whether an English audience would sit it out. We 
 should find it our duty to be shocked. The audience last night 
 were probably attracted by Schiller's name, and knew that such 
 ' horrid opinions ' once existed in Greece, and that a poet imi- 
 tating Greek tragedy might represent Greek modes of thinking. 
 In short, we did not feel ourselves the least compromised by 
 the Queen of Sicily's attack upon the gods. The chorus is, as 
 in duty bound, a pacificator ; the amount of comfort, it is true, 
 often is, ' It can't be helped ; ' but this is so nobly and beauti- 
 fully expressed that one is satisfied." 
 
 Sarah Austm- to M. Guizot. 
 
 " Dresden, December 20, 1841. 
 
 " Dear M. Guizot, — Never were men gifted with the spirit 
 
 of large and enlightened humanity more wanted than now. 
 
 Men's hands are at peace, but their hearts are full of bitter 
 
 hate, jealousy, rancour, and envy. The explosion of last year 
 
SARAH AUSTIN. 171 
 
 was but an explosion. The combustible materials were all there. 
 The war-cry of Germany surprised some people in France ; it 
 surprised not me, who could have predicted it exactly. I have 
 ventured formerly to say what I knew of the temper of Germans 
 towards France — to some Frenchmen. They took it as an 
 oiFence offered by an Englishwoman. What can one do but 
 hold one's tongue ? M. Thiers will not tell you, nor anybody, 
 all he saw and heard, nor how he was repulsed, nor the im- 
 measurable humihations he had to undergo. Even the account 
 of his interview with the King of Prussia, which I have read 
 in the Revue de Part's, though not flattering, is a very different 
 version from what I had from a lady nearly connected with the 
 Royal Family of Prussia. That the Princes of Germany have 
 made the most of this Deutsch and anti-French enthusiasm, 
 was to be expected, and the Rheinlied and all that is become 
 tiresome and absurd. But if the feeling had not been intense 
 and universal, the Princes could have made nothing of it, and 
 the Rheinlied would have appeared to everybody a very poor 
 song. No, dear sir, years of moderation, of forbearance must 
 efface the fatal impressions left by a government of conquerors, 
 not worse, perhaps, than any other such ; but all such are bad, 
 or at least galling and offensive, and that, as Princess Hohen- 
 zollern said to me, is what men never forget, though they do 
 the physical sufferings of war. But if such are the sentiments 
 of Germany towards France, they are not an atom more 
 friendly towards England. The only difference is, that the 
 hostility towards us is more one of locality and class ; being 
 directed against our commercial preponderancy, it rages in the 
 manufacturing districts and classes. In Austria one hears little 
 of it, nor in what is called good society anywhere, rather the 
 reverse. But the journals sufficiently show the bitter jealousy 
 and animosity of the middling and industrial classes. They, 
 for their misfortune and ours, are now taking up, with all the 
 zeal of discoverers or proselytes, the anti-social doctrines on 
 trade, which the majority in England so long professed and 
 acted on, and which the ruling class still acts on. All 
 the most perverse views on the relations of nations are 
 put forth here as a sort of religion, and are called patriotism. 
 The beautiful cosmopolitanism which so distinguished Ger- 
 
172 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 many from the national bullies of France or England is 
 decried as mean and abject. Every calamity that happens in 
 France or England is enlarged upon with a sort of delight ; 
 prophecies, in which ' the wish ' was evidently ' father to 
 the thought,' of decline and dissolution are continually put 
 forth, and, as relates to England, are mixed up with the 
 abundant exaggerations of her actual power and wealth. All 
 this saddens the heart. Malignity and evil passions are bad 
 enough, but the hopeless thing is to see the reason in such a 
 state that an accumulation of capital and skill, which it must 
 ever require ages to produce, should be regarded as a thing 
 which men are interested in destroying ! As if they were not 
 there for the world ! As if the very prosperity of a manufac- 
 turing country did not prove the wide diffusion of productions 
 which all desire to have ! . Alas, alas ! My husband is writing 
 (to my infinite joy) an article for the Edinburgh Review^ on a 
 book by a Dr. List, which has made a great noise here. He is 
 the apostle of the exclusive or, as it is called, protective system. 
 To be sure we can only cry, ' Mea culpa, mea culpa ! ' So 
 much more easy is it to propagate falsehood than truth ; so 
 much more easy to excite bad feelings than good ones. I write 
 to you — and that is the charm — as if France and England 
 were one country, persuaded as I am that they have one 
 ■ interest, and that, whatever your countrymen may think, the 
 English are the only people at the present time capable of ap- 
 preciating them, simply because they are equals, and look 
 neither up nor down. This constitutes an enormous difference 
 from all other countries. Germany possesses a class of men 
 superior in mental culture, on a given point., to all others. But 
 not only is the range of each man limited, the diffusion of 
 knowledge is not comparable to that with us. Above all (you 
 will not laugh), the condition of women, their intellectual and 
 moral station, is so immeasurably lower, that it must take a 
 long time to bring them up to our level. Of course I use 
 ' our ' for our two countries. Imagine that here, in this courtly 
 little capital, it is the universal custom in what they call society 
 for the men to go into a separate room, or if there is none, to 
 assemble in a corner, while the women sit round the table or in 
 a circle. No man thinks of talking to a lady. I have told 
 
SARAH AUSTIN. .173 
 
 them that I am not accustomed to be insulted in this way, and 
 that after such men as M. Guizot have not disdained to speak 
 to me as if I were not quite a fool, I will not take such an as- 
 sumption of superiority at the hands of little chamberlains, &c. 
 Not that I want to value their conversation, but my English 
 blood boils at seeing myself so degraded. We in England are 
 oppressed.^ but not condemned. The advantages attending 
 these small states, this intimate and really paternal relation 
 between princes and people, are many and striking : the 
 harmony, for instance, between this good King of Saxony and 
 his people is edifying ; but the vast and expansive life of Paris 
 and London is wholly wanting, and with it, how much is 
 wanting ! We, the advanced guard on the march of civilisa- 
 tion, have all the rough work to do. Among us the fearful 
 struggle of suffering man with the world, which he thinks he 
 can alter so as to suit it to himself, is going on, and must go 
 on, till the matter is worked out by reason and experiment, and 
 till he finds what he can change and what he must endure. In 
 Germany, this is to come ; but it will come to all in turn. 
 Meanwhile how fearful are its appearances with both of us ! 
 Yet even for this, I repeat, we can better understand and ap- 
 preciate each other. France and England are men of the same 
 growth and strength. How much of the future destiny of the 
 world depends on them and on their amity ! Here I feel it. 
 In almost all companies and parts of Germany, I, ' the natural 
 enemy ' of France, find myself her defender — scolded and 
 wondered at for being so. In Berlin, whither we mean to go, 
 I expect to find even more of this, judging from the numerous 
 Berliners I know. Prussia is a new power (relatively to us), and 
 has the susceptibilite of a parvenu. They have a perfect right 
 to estimate themselves very highly ; but they set no bounds 
 to their pretensions, and are qffiisques at those of all other 
 nations. Their enthusiasm for their King has sadly declined. 
 He committed the great blunder of talking too much, exciting 
 vague and large hopes, and now they say he does nothing. 
 They call him the redselig, as opposed to his father the 
 hochsehg. In Berlin this sort of Wortwitz is universal ; their 
 calemhourgs are poor and blunt attempts at imitations of 
 French mots., which nobody can imitate. There is an ecclesi- 
 
174 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 astical movement which will do the King no good. Bunsen is 
 sent to England to concoct an Established Church, hierarchy, 
 or something like it. It is a great pity, for everybody believes 
 the King to be both good and plein d' esprit., but not wise nor 
 firm. The poor Poles seem to hope something from him. 
 What, they hardly can tell you. But they are in a state to 
 catch at straws. 
 
 " I sometimes cannot help admitting to myself that, consider- 
 ing my husband's vast and peculiar powers, some way of making 
 them useful to the public might have been found by a Govern- 
 ment discerning of true and rare merit, though his health did 
 not allow him to keep time in the routine of official business. 
 These little princes, whom we call ' beggarly,' &c., &c., are in- 
 genious in providing harbours of refuge where such men can 
 work for the world, in whose vortex they cannot live. He 
 would have been satisfied with the merest subsistence if he had 
 been treated with the respect and deference he deserves. But 
 which of those men of expedients, to whom philosophy is 
 ridiculous, could be expected to imagine such a thing ? What 
 is to come I know not, but I think any change good that 
 delivers the country from sneering sceptics of all that is too 
 high and too great for them, like Lord Melbourne and Lord 
 Palmerston. I hope you have reason to be better pleased with 
 the present people. Lord John closed his career with honour. 
 He is a loss. 
 
 " Farewell, dear sir, with every sentiment of affection and 
 respect, 
 
 " Yours, 
 
 " Sarah Austin." 
 
 Sarah Austin to John Murray. 
 
 " Dresden, March 22, 1842. 
 "My dear Mr. Murray, — . . . You may perhaps have 
 heard that a letter dated Weimar (as a blind), which appeared 
 in the Times., and, I am told, attracted a good deal of atten- 
 tion in London, was written by me. If you have not heard it, 
 I entreat you not to speak of it ; I have no inclination to figure 
 as a newspaper writer. But as several people guessed it, it may 
 
SARAH AUSTIN. 175 
 
 perhaps have reached your ears. I have had very high com- 
 pHments upon it. I have myself never seen it in print, but I 
 hope a copy is kept for me. That, and many other things, will 
 perhaps one day see the light in a more permanent form. I am 
 much urged by the Germans to write upon Germany. This is 
 a high compliment from them, for they are much dissatisfied 
 with all that has been written, especially in France — more 
 perhaps with the praise than the censure. M. de Brunnow, 
 brother of the Russian Ambassador in London, and himself a 
 writer, is very urgent with me. 
 
 " A few remarks on the Gallery which I sent to the Athe- 
 iiceum, and which people have guessed to be mine, were im- 
 mediately translated, and inserted in one of the most consider- 
 able journals. In short, I am very conscious that my opinion 
 has a weight here which it does not deserve. It would be 
 more to my purpose if the exaggeration were as great in 
 England. As I declined going to Court — my husband too un- 
 well — the Queen sent for me. I had a private audience of two 
 hours, and have seldom had a more agreeable conversation. 
 Her kind and cordial manner put me in a moment at my ease, 
 and her sense and iniorvaaXion forced me to listen and to talk 
 with interest. As I sat on the sofa by her side, discussing 
 every kind of subject, I forgot all except that she was a very 
 agreeable and sensible woman. 
 
 " Tieck and I are great friends. Pray remember me to Mr. 
 Griiner ; tell him he promised to write. 
 
 " In the next number of the British and Foreign Review 
 you will see an article of mine (if you care to see it), some of 
 which will, I think, amuse you. I am pretty far advanced 
 with one for the Edinburgh Review on changes in manners in 
 Germany. -As to translating the 'Rome in 1833,' the idea was 
 suggested to me by an exceedingly clever man, who lived there 
 four years and married a natural daughter of Prince Henry of 
 Prussia, who permanently resides there. He assured me that 
 it was the only faithful and lively picture of actual living 
 Rome. Of this I cannot possibly judge, but I can judge of Dr. 
 Franck's capacity, and of that I think most highly ; it is 
 certain the English never get behind the scenes. It is a very 
 small book, and my idea was to unite to it a new and much 
 
176 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 admired work on Venice, called ' Sospiri,' and one on Naples 
 and the Neapolitans by Dr. K. A. Mayer (2 vols.), also just 
 published and greatly praised. One of the best journals says 
 of the last, ' it introduces us into the varied life of the people, 
 the Neapolitans, in their most peculiar and intimate ways of 
 thinking and living, and contains information concerning 
 preachers, churches, popular festivals, theatres,' &c. The 
 author lived there many years. The three might make 3 vols. 
 But I conceive the sort of disgust at the name of Italy, however 
 good and however new the matter. 
 
 "Lastly, Dr. Liepmann, ci-devant historical tutor to the 
 Czarewitch, came to me the other day to say that a Dr. 
 Echtermeyer, of whom he thinks very highly, had a project 
 of writing a history of German literature, expressly for England 
 — at least, for foreigners (z'.e. non-Germans) — and wished to 
 consult me. I let him come, and gave him this advice : To 
 write a view of his scheme, together with some account of his 
 pretensions and former pursuits, and I promised that I would 
 forward it to you. Perhaps it may accompany this. I have 
 inquired about him ; he is a young man, but there is a great 
 persuasion of his capacity. Everybody to whom I have spoken 
 says he would do it well — and he is not a Dresden man. If 
 you agree about it, and it is good, I would, if you like, trans- 
 late it. 
 
 " I have set a' friend of mine (a lady) upon writing down 
 her recollections of what she saw of the scenes of war in 
 Dresden, especially in 1813. The anecdotes of Napoleon and 
 his troops, of the King, &c., which she sat telling me one 
 evening, made me feel that we islanders never have any idea of 
 what passed under the eyes of these people, and I exclaimed : 
 ' Why don't you write all this ? ' She said, ' Oh, no ; she 
 never thought of such a thing.' But two days after, she called 
 and said she had resolved to do it, and to call the book ' Ein 
 Kriegsjahr in Dresden.' I shall see what it turns out, and, if 
 you like, will keep an eye on it for you. I thought of it for a 
 magazine, but nous verrons. 
 
 "I must conclude this long scrawl. I am hoping to see my 
 dear children and grandchild on the Rhine, which cheers me 
 much. We are all in admiration of Sir Robert Peel. ' Staats 
 
SARAH AUSTIN. 177 
 
 Minister ' v. Lindenau made me a long visit yesterday, and we 
 talked over English affairs, in which he is greatly interested. 
 He is a truly admirable man, and worthy to estimate Peel, 
 whom he greatly reveres. M. de Lindenau is very kind, and 
 gives me every sort of information and documents about 
 Saxony. I am going to have the wages and expenditure of 
 labourers in every district of the kingdom. 
 
 " Pray regard this letter as strictly private, at least all about 
 myself. What I tell you as a friend kind enough to be in- 
 terested for me, would be ridiculous self-glorification to others. 
 Best regards to Mrs. Murray and your family. 
 
 " Yours most truly, 
 
 " S. Austin." 
 
 Sarah Austin to Victor Cousin. 
 
 [Translation.] 
 
 "Bonn, June 5, 1842. 
 " We ought to have been here in April but — there is always 
 a but in my life ; I think I told you ray husband intended to 
 write a reply to a book which has obtained a great success in 
 Germany, ' Uber die National Oekonomie,' by Dr. List — a book 
 containing everything that was most false, most anti-social, 
 and detestable about the commercial relations of nations. Mr. 
 Austin had commenced an article for the Edinburgh Review ; 
 it was announced and expected. The three first months of the 
 year passed by (like so many others) in attacks of illness and 
 fruitless attempts at work, so that at the moment when we 
 ought to have started, he was obliged to work almost night 
 and day, and I also, for I copied every word. However, here 
 we are, though we only left Dresden on the 21st of May. We 
 go to Carlsbad in August, and if my husband proposes to 
 return to Dresden, I really think, for the first time in my life, 
 I shall oppose his project. Is life so long that one can afford 
 to throw away years? To vegetate, without any sphere of 
 usefulness, any interchange of ideas, any society ? Mr. Austin 
 needs a different atmosphere. He talks of Berlin ; and we 
 have received very flattering invitations from there. But I 
 
 13 
 
178 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 have a great dislike of the disparaging intellect and the bad 
 puns that pass for wit in Berlin. How are you ? Have you 
 seen Mr. Grote ? Write to me, and accept the best love of 
 
 " Grossmutterchen. 
 " (Little Grandmother)." 
 
 Sarah Austin to Harriet Grote. 
 
 ^^July, 1842. 
 
 "Dear Friend and Cummer,' — Thank you for your 
 beautiful little " Andenken^ and more for thinking of me so 
 far off and so long asunder. 
 
 " But I cannot accept any gift as indemnity for a letter, 
 which I still look for with eagerness. I know how little a letter 
 can contain of all you have to say, but that little will be very 
 precious to your old friend. When we may meet again seems 
 wholly uncertain. My husband will not hear of attempting to 
 live in London on our present income, and though I long so 
 much for a home and a resting-place that I would willingly 
 try a cottage in the country in England, I fear it would not 
 suit him, and I am not quite sure if, after all, it would- suit me. 
 Pleasures one cannot reach are better at a distance which make 
 them wholly out of the question, and if I felt I could get at 
 my children and my friends, perhaps my longing would be 
 more painful, at least more irritating and less stumpf than it 
 is now, when seas and mountains are between us. Mrs. 
 Jameson made my mouth water by the mention of a cottage 
 at Ealing for ;^22 a year. I wonder what it is like. We have 
 been paying three times that for lodgings at Dresden, and not 
 good ones — indeed, there are few good. Still I cannot deny 
 the enormous diiferences on the whole, arising partly from the 
 cheapness of things, and yet more from the habits of the 
 people. I was there perfectly on a level with anybody you 
 please — visited and received as well as the ladies of princely 
 houses and royal alliances, and what did it cost ? The. whole 
 winter not the price of one London dinner ! Their blood and 
 connections signify nothing, it is true, but I mean that as to 
 
 ■ " Cummer," a Scolch word, from the French commire, used by the two 
 ladies in writing to each other as a familiar sign of intimacy. 
 
SARAH AUSTIN. 179 
 
 society, one could go no higher, and some of them were 
 charming, distinguished, accomplished women. The Queen, 
 who was extremely kind to me, not the least so ; Princess 
 Reuss, a cousin of the Duchess of Kent, who lived exactly as I 
 did, extremely lively, amusing, inquiring, and full of anecdotes ; 
 Madame de Liittichau above all, a woman of incomparable 
 nobleness, grace, and expansion of mind, and a heart full of all 
 goodness. She is an acquisition for life and death, for there 
 cannot come a time in which I shall not feel the better for 
 having known her, loved her, and lived with her as I did. She 
 has dreadful health — the fate of so many I love. But Dresden 
 is utterly barren of public interests and of the sort of society 
 they create. For my husband, there would have been abso- 
 lutely nothing but for the accident of a very clever Prussian, 
 Dr. Franck, being there ; with him he walked and talked. 
 
 " M. de Lindenau is a Turgot, stunted and checked by want 
 of space and of vital air ; but he is hardly to be got at, and his 
 calls on me were considered miracles. I have great hopes of 
 seeing him here ; he half promised me to come if he can get a 
 holiday. We shall stay to the latest day consistent with my 
 husband's taking the waters — of Carlsbad, I suppose. It is not 
 certain, for Cousin has been taking enormous pains to persuade 
 us that Emms or Plombieres are as good. But my husband 
 means to consult an eminent physician here about Plombieres. 
 Cousin wants to meet us there, and of course it would be a 
 great pleasure to meet him, and a great advantage to be spared 
 crossing Germany again now that we are on the Rhine ; but 
 it would be absurd to give up the unquestionable good of 
 Carlsbad for a chance. If George Lewis could have gone 
 there with us, as he intended, my husband would not have 
 hesitated. I shall find there two of the people I love and 
 honour the most — the Archbishop of Erlau and Lady William 
 Russell — at least, I trust she may still be there, and he has 
 written to me to ask me our time, that he may not miss us. 
 
 " Cousin's unwearying and uncooled friendship is extremely 
 touching, and I have lived long enough to know all its rarity. 
 Fourteen years ago we met here by chance, and since that time 
 never has he varied from the most cordial attachment. Our 
 adversity and absence from England has enabled me to take 
 
l8o THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 the standard of many friendships, and this standard will abide 
 with me. 
 
 " Among those who have come like the purest gold out of 
 the furnace, I must mention my dear John Mill, and the 
 excellent and unprofessing Lewis. I don't mean to say they 
 are alone, but they are pre-eminent. 
 
 " I hope Mr. Grote will read my husband's article on List's 
 book, and you, too, dearest Cummer, spite of petticoats, which 
 in this country extinguish the idea of such inquiries. He 
 wishes much to review John Mill's book when it comes out. I 
 want him first to write an article, such as he, and only he, could, 
 on Prussia. In this case, however, he says he must go and spend 
 the winter at Berlin ; and this I cannot, spite of all invitations, 
 compliments, and cajoleries, bear the thought of. Everybody 
 (Germans included) hates Berlin, as the abode of every sort of 
 false and arrogant pretension. Nevertheless there are so many 
 really eminent men that there must be some good society. 
 
 " Your affectionate 
 
 "S. Austin." 
 
 W. E. Gladstone to Sarah Aiistin. 
 
 " Whitehall, July 25, 1842. 
 
 " Dear Mrs. Austin, — I regret exceedingly the cause which, 
 as you give me to understand, has occasioned your residence 
 on the Continent, though I should have reason to rejoice, so 
 far as the public interests of this department are concerned, if 
 one of the effects should be to lead you to become, or rather 
 continue, an observer of the course and tendencies of feeling 
 with regard to commercial policy abroad, and to give us the 
 benefit of your information. 
 
 " As soon as I was able, after the appearance of the last 
 number of the Edinburgh Review, I read the article on List, 
 which you had been so good as to point out, and I am much 
 obliged to you for having led me thus to become acquainted 
 with the interesting matter which it contains. I am very 
 reluctant to press anything upon Sir Robert Peel, but if an 
 opportunity should offer after the prorogation which is now 
 
SARAH AUSTIN. i8i 
 
 near at hand, I should be very glad to use it, and to recom- 
 mend his perusing that article. 
 
 "It is truly lamentable to receive from such a witness as. 
 yourself statements so strong with respect to a jealousy and 
 hatred of England now prevailing on the Continent, and even 
 in Germany. It cannot be accounted for by reference to any- 
 thing recently done by this country ; it may partly be founded 
 on portions of our legislation in former times now more con- 
 sidered and better understood abroad than at the periods when 
 they took effect, but I fear it is chiefly owing to the sense of 
 rivalry and the colHsion of material interests. We may be put 
 to great inconvenience by the consequences to which such 
 sentiments may lead. I believe that England and common 
 sense ihave allies in the men composing the government of 
 Prussia ; and yet I am far from feeling easy as to what the 
 conference at Stuttgardt may produce. I hope, however, that 
 we shall be enabled and allowed to proceed steadily and con- 
 sistently in the course which Sir Robert Peel has taken ; and I 
 cannot but feel the most confident belief, that with anything 
 like fair play our industry, in all its great branches, will long 
 continue to show that it has lost none of its energy or its power 
 to compete with that of other nations. In the meantime we 
 have great cause for thankfulness in the prospect of that great 
 national mercy — a good harvest. Together with the antici- 
 pation of abundance of our own growth, we have a very con- 
 siderable stock of foreign grain in the country, so that there is 
 now almost a certainty of plenty and comparative cheapness 
 through the winter. Opinions differ as to the perceptibility of 
 the symptoms of revival in trade. The Anti-Corn Law League 
 men contend that matters go from bad to worse, and will con- 
 tinue to do so ; but I think the voice of the public press in 
 general, however affected in its politics, testifies that there is a 
 real, though as yet a limited, improvement ; and some persons 
 of no mean authority contend that we have arrived at the 
 commencement of a new period of prosperity. I should look 
 forward with a lighter heart if we could get rid of our wretched 
 Eastern wars, in which we ought certainly to be cowards if 
 conscience could make us so. 
 
 "You will perhaps easily understand that I am too much 
 
1 82 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 jaded by the work of the Session to be qualified at this time, 
 even duly to thank you for the other very interesting parts of 
 your letter which refer to education, to the Saxon Court, a 
 beautiful picture indeed as you (doubtless truly) draw it, and to 
 the position of Sir Robert Peel here. I should close with your 
 most kind offer to send any information at any time, by saying 
 that I shall feel myself deeply your debtor, for I shall be de- 
 lighted to receive all information at all times — nor am I least 
 obliged by your invoking the guidance of God upon the 
 persons who bear the immense responsibilities of the Govern- 
 ment of this country, and your remembering among them even 
 one who can have but a secondary part, though more than 
 enough for his measure and capacity, either in their honours 
 or their cares. 
 
 " Believe me, dear Mrs. Austin, 
 
 " Most sincerely yours, 
 
 "W. E. Gladstone." 
 
 Rev. Sydney Smith to Sarah Austin. 
 
 " Combe Florey, Oct. 13, 1842. 
 
 " My dear Mrs. Austin, — You lay heavy upon my con- 
 science, unaccustomed to bear any weight at all. What can 
 a country parson say to a travelled and travelling lady who 
 neither knows nor cares anything for wheat, oats, and barley ? 
 It is this reflection which keeps me silent. Still she has a fine 
 heart, and likes to be cared for, even by me. 
 
 " You must have had great pleasure in meeting Lucie and 
 the new creation. A first act of this kind Malthus himself was 
 always willing to look over. What did you think of Lucie's 
 daughter ? I wonder whether we agree. I suspect she will 
 turn out a very sensible, agreeable person, but I am not sure 
 of it. 
 
 "Mrs. Sydney and I are in very tolerable health, both better 
 than we were when you lived in England. But there is much 
 more of us — so that you were only half acquainted with us. I 
 wish I could add that the intellectual faculties had expanded in 
 proportion to the augmentation of flesh and blood. I am afraid 
 you have no good news to give me of Mr. Austin's improved 
 
SARAH A US TIN. 183 
 
 health. Have you any chance of coming home, or rather I 
 should say, have we any chance of seeing you at home ? 
 " God bless you ! 
 
 " Yours affectionately, 
 
 " Sydney Smith." 
 
CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 SARAH AUSTIN {continued). 
 
 Diary of Mrs. Austin in 1842 and 1843 — Dresden — Berlin — Literary Society 
 there — The Grimms — Ranke — Anecdotes of Berlin Society — of Niebuhr — 
 Mr. Grote to Mr. Austin. 
 
 Another entry in Mrs. Austin's diary in Dresden is a funny 
 illustration of German manners : — 
 
 "Feb. 1842. — Two days before we left Dresden, as I was 
 dressing to go out, Nannie, my maid, came into my room and 
 said two ladies wanted to see me. She said she had never seen 
 them — they said I did not know them. I sent to say that I 
 
 was sorry but I could not receive them as Madame de S 
 
 was already waiting for me. Nannie came back with the 
 answer that they would wait in the anteroom — they only 
 wanted to speak to me for a moment. Annoyed at being 
 forced to commit a rudeness, I hurried on my gown and went 
 out. In the anteroom were a middle-aged lady and a young 
 one. I broke out into apologies, &c. ; upon which the elder " 
 lady said in German, ' Pardon me for being so pressing. I only 
 wished to give my daughter strength for the battle of life.' I 
 was literally confounded at the oddness of this address, and 
 remained dumb. It seemed her daughter wished to translate 
 from the English. After a short explanation she turned to her 
 daughter, and, pointing to me, said, ' Now, my dear, you have 
 seen the mistress, so we will not keep her any longer.' And 
 so they went. I threw myself into a chair, and, alone as 
 
 I was, burst into an uncontrollable fit of laughter. This is as 
 
 184 
 
SARAH AUSTIN. 185 
 
 good a piece of Germanism as is to be found in any novel. 
 Even my Dresden friends thought it quite amazing." 
 
 In November, 1842, she writes at Berlin in her diary — 
 
 " 22nd. — Tea at Schellings', a very agreeable party. Two 
 Grimms and Mdme. Grimm, Ranke, StefFens, Countess Bohlen, 
 Perz and wife, De Savigny, and others. I was more struck 
 with the Grimms than with anybody. I talked to Wilhelm, 
 taking him for Jacob. He told me of my mistake, and I said 
 it did not signify, the brothers Grimm were one thing. Presently 
 Jacob came and sat by me ; I told him I had been forewarned 
 that he would run away from a stranger and a woman — an 
 Englishwoman. On the contrary, he was polite, cordial, and 
 willing to talk. He told me he was preparing a new edition of 
 the German Mythology, and was especially occupied about 
 spells. I mentioned to him the Indian spells given in Meadows 
 Taylor's novels. His exterior is striking and engaging. He 
 has the shyness and simplicity of a German man of letters, but 
 without any of the awkward, uncouth, ungentlemanlike air 
 which lis so common among them. His is a noble and refined 
 head, full of intelligence, thought, and benevolence. Wilhelm 
 is also a fine-looking man, younger, less imposing, less refined, 
 but with a charming air of good nature and sense. His wife 
 is very pleasing. Ranke is a little, insignificant- looking man, 
 very like a Frenchman — small, vivacious, and a little conceited- 
 looking. It seems the audience expected a scene — we were to 
 fall into each other's arms. On the contrary, we appeared to 
 be of one mind — viz., to meet with the utmost coolness and 
 indifference. Mdme. Schelling said he was, what he seldom is, 
 abashed. He thought people were looking at him, and there- 
 fore he hardly spoke to me. Schelling was a most polite and 
 effective host, and his wife did the honours better than any 
 German woman I have seen. We women were not entrenched 
 behind tables — fixtures against the walls, as is usual, while the 
 men huddle into corners to talk. I was less plagued about my 
 authorship than I expected : altogether it was pleasant, cordial, 
 and promised agreeable things. 
 
1 86 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 " z/i,th. — Dr. Julius called. He is evidently extremely dis- 
 gusted with Berlin and with all in it except the King, of whom 
 he says the Berliners are not worthy. 
 
 " My maid Nannie told me a curious illustration of the 
 position of servants here. The maid of our landlord has, it 
 seems, a habit of running out and being gone for hours without 
 leave. On Sunday evening last she had leave. Monday and 
 Tuesday, ditto. Wednesday she took leave, and did not 
 return till after ten. Her mistress asked where she had been, 
 and she refused to answer : ' If I won't tell you, you can't hang 
 me for it.' Another day, the master, who is lame, came down 
 into the kitchen and asked her to run upstairs and fetch his 
 spectacles for him. ' Oh, I am washing dishes,' said she. The 
 droll thing is, that they say they are only too glad to have 
 this steady and obliging person because she is honest — a thing 
 almost unique here, as it seems. 
 
 " y^th. — Ranke called to talk to me about the translation of 
 his ' Reformation in Germany.' Strenuously resisted all idea 
 of abridgment. His articulation is bad, his manner not 
 pleasant nor gentlemanlike. He is not so good as his books. 
 Some people are better. 
 
 '•'■Dec. i']th. — Went to Savigny's. Nobody was there but 
 W. Grimm and his wife and a few men. Grimm told me he 
 had received two volumes of Norwegian fairy-tales, and that 
 they were delightful. Talking of them, I said, ' Your children 
 appear to me the happiest in the world ; they live in the midst 
 of fairy-tales.' ' Ah,' said he, ' I must tell you about that. 
 When we were at Gottingen, somebody spoke to my little son 
 about his " Mahrchen." He had read them, but never thought 
 of their being mine. He came running to me, and said with 
 an offended air, " Father, they say you wrote those fairy-tales ; 
 surely you never invented such silly rubbish ? " He thought 
 it below my dignity.' 
 
 " Another story of Grimm's : — 
 
 " ' When I was a young man, I was walking one day and saw 
 an officer in the old-fashioned uniform. It was under the old 
 Elector. The officers still wore pigtails, cocked hats set over 
 one eye, high neck-cloths, and coats buttoned back. As he was 
 walking stifHy along, a groom came by riding a horse, which be 
 
SARAH AUSTIN. 187 
 
 appeared to be breaking in. " What mare is that you are 
 riding ? " called out the major with an authoritative, disdainful 
 air. "She belongs to Prince George," answered the groom. 
 
 " Ah h ! " said the major, raising his hand reverently to his 
 
 hat with a military salute, and bowing low to the mare. I told 
 this story,' continued Grimm, ' to Prince B., thinking to make 
 him laugh. But he looked grave, and said, with quite a tragic 
 tone of voice, " Ah, that feeling is no longer to be found ! " ' 
 
 " Savigny told a Volksmdhrchen too : — 
 
 " ' St. Anselm was grown old and infirm, and lay on the 
 ground among thorns and thistles. Der b'ebe Gott said to him, 
 " You are very badly lodged there ; why don't you build your- 
 self a house ? " " Before I take the trouble," said Anselm, " I 
 should like to know how long I have to live." " About thirty 
 years," replied Der liebe Gott. "Oh, for so short a time," 
 replied he. " it's not worth while," and turned himself round 
 among the thistles.' 
 
 "y«7z., 1843. — Berlin is too large and too small, too new and 
 too old, too bustling and too quiet, dull and not venerable. I 
 could go on multiplying these contradictions, but it is better to 
 make them intelligible. It is large enough to make the dis- 
 tances inconvenient and costly in time and money. You cannot, 
 as in Dresden,'run all over the town in an hour. The distances, 
 too, are wearisome — long, straight streets of shabby, mono- 
 tonous houses. It is large enough to contain such a population 
 as to furnish incessant interruptions and distraction — eternal 
 visiting, a host of lions, all sorts of devoirs sociaux, &c., &c. 
 On the other hand, it does not afford that most precious of 
 heaven's gifts — liberty. If you have the smallest pretension to 
 be vornehm (fine), you can only live Unter den Linden, or in 
 the Wilhelms Strasse. 
 
 " Social life does not exist in Berlin, though people are 
 always in company, and one is, as Ranke said, gehetzt (hunted). 
 In the fashionable parties one always sees the same faces — faces 
 possessed by ennui. The great matter is for the men to show 
 their decorations and the women their gowns, and to be called 
 Excellency. Generally speaking, it strikes me that the Prus- 
 sians have no confidence in their own individual power of 
 commanding respect. Much as they hold to all the old ideas 
 
1 88 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 and distinctions about birth, even that does not enable them to 
 assume an upright, independent attitude, not even when com- 
 bined with wealth. Count G , a man of old Saxon nobility, 
 
 with large estates and the notions and feelings of an English 
 aristocrat, tells me that he is completely shouldered in Berlin 
 society, because he neither has nor will have any official title, 
 wears no orders, and, in short, stands upon his own personal 
 distinctions. The idea of going about the world stark naked 
 as to one's mere name, Mr. Pitt, Mr. Fox, Mr. Canning — a 
 German would be ashamed! 
 
 " Till a man is accrochi on the Court by some title, order, 
 office, or what not, he may be fairly said not to exist. The 
 Germans are becoming clamorous for freer institutions ; but 
 how much might they emancipate themselves ! A vast deal 
 of this servility is perfectly voluntary, but it seems in the 
 blood. They dislike the King of Hanover as much as we do ; 
 
 but when Madame de L whispered to me at a ball, ' Voila 
 
 voire Prince et Seigneur^ and I replied in no whisper, ' Prince 
 oui, mais, grace a Dieu, Seigneur non^ she looked frightened, 
 and so did all the ladies round her — and why ? He could do 
 them no more harm than me. 
 
 " The other day I went up three pair of stairs to call on a 
 nice little Professor's wife. Arrived at the top, I rang the bell, 
 and out comes a great hulking maid, who looks down upon me 
 from a height of three or four steps. ' Is Madame G — ■ — at 
 home ? ' Answer (stereotype), ' I don't know ; ' after a pause — 
 
 ' Do you mean the Frau Professorin ? ' ' Yes, Madame G .' 
 
 On this out rushes a second maid, looks half stupid, half indig- 
 nant — ' What, do you mean the Frau Geheimrathin ? ' The 
 joke was now too good to drop. I said again, ' I mean Madame 
 
 G , as it seems you do not hear distinctly ; take my card to 
 
 Madame G- .' I was admitted with the usual words, ' Most 
 
 agreeable,' and found the very pleasant Frau Professorin Geheim- 
 rathin, for she is both, whose servants seem ashamed of her 
 name. Yet it is a name very illustrious in learning. 
 
 '■'■Jan. i9itk. — At a dinner-party we talked of Niebuhr, Varn- 
 hagen von Ense's article, &c. Von Raumer said, ' I went to 
 his house one evening at Rome, and we nearly succeeded in 
 boiling some water for tea, but not quite.' Niebuhr told him 
 
SARAH A US TIN. 1 89 
 
 that it was a serious thing to associate with Amati, the keeper 
 of the Chigi Library and a great archaeologist, because he fre- 
 quented a wine-shop, the Sabina, where the wine was very 
 dear. 
 
 " When the late King was at Rome, Niebuhr did the honours 
 so badly that the King was quite impatient. He showed him 
 little fragments of things in which he could take no interest, 
 and none of the great objects. One day Niebuhr spoke of 
 Palestrina. ' What is that ? ' said the King. ' What ! your 
 Majesty does not know that ? ' exclaimed Niebuhr in a tone of 
 astonishment. The King was extremely annoyed, and turning 
 round to some one, said, ' Stuff and nonsense ; it's bad enough 
 never to have learnt anything, without having it proclaimed 
 aloud.' 
 
 " ' Niebuhr's ideas about his own importance and his exces- 
 sive cowardice were such,' said B — ■ — , ' that at the time of 
 the Carbonari affairs, he actually wrote home to the Prussian 
 Government that the whole of this conspiracy was directed 
 against himself.' 
 
 " Dr. Franck told me a story of which I never heard before. 
 Voltaire had for some reason or other taken a grudge against 
 the prophet Habakkuk, and affected to find in him things he 
 never wrote. Somebody took the Bible and began to demon- 
 strate to him that he was mistaken. ' L^est igal,^ he said 
 impatiently, ^Habakkuk etait capable de tout I ^ 
 
 " Bettina von Arnim called, and we had a Ute-a-tete of two 
 hours. Her conversation is that of a clever woman, with some 
 originality, great conceit, and vast unconscious ignorance. 
 Her sentiments have a bold and noble character. We 
 talked about crime, punishment, prisons, education, law of 
 divorce, &c., &c. Gleams of truth and sense, clouds of non- 
 sense — all tumbled out with equally undoubting confidence. 
 Occasional great fidelity of expression. Talking of the so-called 
 happiness and security of ordinary marriages in Germany, she 
 said, ' Qu'est-ce que cela me fait ? Est-ce que je me soucie de 
 ces nids qu^on arrange pour propager ? ' I laughed out : one 
 must admit that the expression is most happy. She talked of 
 the Ministers with great contempt, and said, ' There is not a 
 man in Germany : have you seen one for whom you feel any 
 
igo THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 enthusiasm ? They are all like frogs in a big pond — well, 
 well, let them splash their best, what have we to do with their 
 croaking ? ' Some things she said about the folly of attacking 
 full-grown, habitual vice b}- legislation, prison discipline, &c., 
 were very true, and showed a great capacity for just thought. 
 But what rfz'i^she mean, or what did Schleiermacher mean, for 
 she quoted him, by saying, ' Le peche est une gr&ce de Dieu ' ? 
 These are things said to make people stare. She read me an 
 extract out of a letter of his, speaking of two people who had 
 what one would call a criminal attachment for each other. 
 He wrote, ' As I have always held that those whom God has 
 joined, man should not keep asunder ; ' taking these words in 
 the completely opposite to what we do, z>., that persons who 
 don't love each other are joined by the world only, but those 
 who do, by God. If this were known in England ! And he so 
 pious, so eloquent a divine ! 
 
 "Jan. 20th. — M. and Mme. de Savigny came in, and the con- 
 versation fell on the Italians. Mme. de Savigny spoke highly 
 of them, saying they were not more given to cheating than 
 their neighbours, and had a fund of inexhaustible good-nature 
 and obligingness, and sehr gewandt (very clever). M. de 
 Savigny also said they found means to accomplish everything 
 they desired. She spoke of a young Abbate who had been 
 much with them at Rome, and of his serviceableness. Savigny 
 said he had studied theology at the ' Sapienza,' and had the 
 best- testimonials to his assiduity and progress. His learning 
 may be judged of by the fact that he believed the whole Bible 
 to have been written by St. John. Somehow the Abbate got 
 sent to Venice. He was enchanted at this ; his curiosity was 
 awakened, and he thought he would see the world. So he 
 wrote to M. de Savigny to say he wished to come to Berlin. 
 After making many inquiries about the relative dearness and 
 cheapness of things, and many other particulars, he asked, ' E 
 la prego di domandare al Vescovo di questa cittci, se trovero 
 mezzo divivere allegramente dalle messe per i defuntif^ (And 
 I beg of you to inquire from the Bishop of that city whether I 
 shall be able to live jovially on the proceeds of masses for the 
 dead.) 
 
 " This strikes me as a charming story." 
 
SARAH AUSTIN. 191 
 
 1842-43 was a busy year for Mrs. Austin. She wrote an 
 article on H. StefFen's "Autobiography" in the British and 
 Foreign Review ; one " On Changes in German Manners," for 
 the Edinburgh Review ; many letters to the AthencBum, and 
 one to the Times on Germany ; an article on Ritter von 
 Lang's " Memoirs," and one " On the State of Germany from 
 the French Revolution to 1815." "Stories of the Gods and 
 Heroes of Greece " (by Niebuhr), came out in 1843 under Mrs. 
 Austin's name, but they were translated by her daughter. Lady 
 Duff Gordon. 
 
 Mr. Grote writes to Mr. Austin from London : — 
 
 "London, February, 1843. 
 
 " Dear Austin, — I am very glad to hear that you are 
 employed upon an article in the Edinburgh on the subject of 
 Prussia. The English public is greatly misinformed upon the 
 subject now, and you have the best opportunities for collecting 
 such matter as will improve and rectify their views. I presume 
 you will derive much assistance in the way of suggestions from 
 this recent French publication which has appeared, so very 
 virulent against the Government ; it is a perfect Prusso-mastix. 
 The difficulty in a country where the Press is fettered, must 
 consist in finding out what can justly be objected to in the 
 working of the Government. I have no doubt that the French 
 book is very unduly vituperative. 
 
 " I have resumed my History, and find it the greatest object 
 of interest and delight now remaining to me. The prospect of 
 public matters, as far as present progress is concerned, presents 
 little which interests me, and still less which I contemplate 
 with any satisfaction, either in England or abroad. Intellectual 
 curiosity and activity is now the great pleasure and occupation 
 of my life, and is likely to become more and more so. In July 
 next, I have determined to leave business altogether, and I 
 shall then devote myself exclusively to the prosecution of my 
 History, which I find a very long, though a very interesting, 
 business, 
 
 " G, Grote," 
 
CHAPTER XVII. 
 SARAH AUSTIN {continued). 
 
 Letters from Mrs. Austin to M. Guizot on the state of Germany — Mrs. Austin 
 to Mrs. Crete — Mr. Austin elected to the Institute — Revision of the 
 " Province of Jurisprudence " — The Austins settle in Paris — Mr. Austin to 
 Sir W. Erie — Rev. Sydney Smith to Mrs. Austin. 
 
 Sarah Austin to M. Guizot. 
 
 " Carlsbad, April 20, 1843. 
 " I COULD hardly believe my eyes, dear sir, when I read, in 
 Henry Reeve's letter from Paris, that you wished to hear from 
 me. 
 
 " He may perhaps have told you something of our wandering 
 and chequered life; I often come before myself., as the Germans 
 say, as if I were constantly acting Cinderella, alternating 
 between our poverty and the privations it occasions, and the 
 society of kings and queens. Court fetes, and the strange neces- 
 sity of being a sort of personage : ridiculous contrast ! But I 
 cannot help it. The Germans lay a sort of claim to me, and I 
 cannot without affectation refuse their civilities. One thing at 
 least I have gained — an insight into German opinions, habits, 
 and character such as, I believe, few foreigners, and, indeed, 
 few Germans, possess. I say/ew Germans ; for, in spite of all 
 the talk about German unity, one member of this vast family 
 does in fact know very little and cares very little, except where 
 his own interests are threatened, about the other. Dresden and 
 Berlin are connected by a railroad — in ten hours you pass from 
 one to the other. They are both members of the Zollverein., 
 
 192 
 
SARAH AUSTIN. 193 
 
 both Protestant, both northern (which is much) ; well, you 
 would never believe how totally ignorant I found such men as 
 Savigny, Eichhorn, and other politicians of the character of the 
 public men of Saxony ; of the relation of the King to his 
 people'; of the character and training of the young Princes. 
 Everything I told them seemed new ; and the only time I 
 ever heard a remark on what was going on in the neighbour 
 country, was when Savigny said to me, ' Voyez-vous ce qui se 
 passe en Saxe ? Les Chambres se forment.^ ' Si, je le vols,' 
 said I, ' avec la plus grande satisfaction.' In Berlin this might 
 be imputed to the arrogant pretensions and scornful character 
 of the people, who affect to look down upon the rest of Ger- 
 many as centuries behind them (and upon none more than 
 some of their own fellow-subjects, the Westphalians for 
 example) ; but it is not confined to Berlin. The subjects of 
 each State, however small, have their eyes pretty much turned 
 to their own Court and their own institutions. Not to talk of 
 Austria, 1 am convinced that if I went to Stuttgart, all I have 
 to tell about Berlin would be quite as new to nine people out of 
 ten as if it were about London or Paris. Indeed, more so ; and 
 for obvious reasons. The only ground on which the German 
 periodical Press enjoys any freedom is the foreign. From our 
 papers and yours they extract largely ; but very little informa-- 
 tion as to what passes at home is to be got from them. You 
 have no doubt seen and deplored the strange and contradictory 
 proceedings of the King of Prussia about the Press. These are 
 indeed the ' fantastic tricks ' which ' make the angels weep.' 
 That one man should imagine he can play with the mind of a 
 great nation as a boy plays with a bird he has tied to a string, 
 now let it flutter a little way, then pull it back again, now toss 
 it into the air, then bring it down to the ground ! I accuse you 
 in my heart of the downfall of Savigny. He saw that a man 
 who had attained to the highest eminence in science and 
 letters had become a consummate statesman, an unequalled 
 minister. He mistook his vocation, and now, with the usual 
 injustice of mankind, his great past merits are entirely forgotten 
 in his present degradation. One of the evils of this sort of 
 government is the bandying about of the blame attached to an 
 unpopular measure. Every one of the ministers who signed 
 
 14 
 
194 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 that Ordonnance^ in private washed his hands of it. Is this 
 loyal to their master ? I trow not. But he will have all the 
 power and all the merit — so there is no help. Enough, 
 enough. I am sure you hear all this better from M. de 
 Bresson. Only don't imagine I think the King ill disposed. 
 I believe him to be kind-hearted, good-natured, impressionable, 
 spirituel — in short, like a clever, excitable, amiable, vain woman. 
 If you like to hear more, I will empty the whole sack at your 
 feet next winter. The state of the public mind in Prussia is 
 deeply interesting, especially in the provinces. 
 
 "We passed through Dresden a fortnight ago. We heard a 
 debate on the Press in the Lower Chamber. It's the fashion 
 to laugh at these miniature Parliaments. I looked at this one 
 with great respect and a sort of motherly (English) tenderness. 
 What is more, I ventured to speak up for it to one of the most 
 excellent and judicious women in the world, the Princess Johann, 
 mother of the future King. I had a long tete-a-tete with her, 
 and one with the Queen. They are anxious, as well they may, 
 for they must feel the contrc coup of every shot in Prussia. I 
 love and honour them and their husbands enough to feel it 
 impossible not to speak out the truth. The Chambers are not 
 always right, as you may suppose. ' Je le crois bien, Madame,' 
 said I, ' raais enfin le peuple veut etre ecoute — la question est, 
 Ou et comment on les ecoutera. Puisque je vous aime, je benis 
 Dieu que la Saxe ait une constitution. Elle a moins de chemin. 
 a faire.' I was surprised at my own audacity, but it is all true. 
 I do love them. I am convinced that changes are coming, 
 perhaps storms. I do think that those will fare best who have 
 already a legal arena for discussion. Will you believe the end ? 
 I kissed her hand and begged her pardon, and she thanked me 
 with tears in her eyes. With the Queen it was nearly the same. 
 Good people, they desire nothing but to do right. But how is 
 one to convince them that a King is no longer a father of a 
 family of children — or a schoolmaster ? 
 
 " I am just returned from hearing Mass and Te Deum sung 
 in honour of the Emperor's birthday. Here indeed unser 
 Kaiser has heaiL jeu. The devotion to the blood of Hapsburg, 
 or rather to the progeny of Maria Theresa, is as unquestioning 
 as their religious faith. There is something {convenons en) 
 
SARAii AUSTIN. f95 
 
 touching, generous, self-forgetting in this canine attachment. 
 The trifle that the Emperor is a helpless idiot makes no differ- 
 ence. Not that the people don't know it. But what then ? 
 He is ' unser artner Herr^ I have had a surfeit of Aufkldrtmg, 
 dear sir, and am refreshing my spirit in the midst of Austrian 
 good-nature, credulity, innocence, folly, and honesty. Do you 
 not sigh for a dose ? When I think what it is to govern restive 
 English and restless French, who would not be Metternich ? 
 Ah, rather, who would ? To have no better comfort at the 
 close of such a life than to say, ^Aprhs moi le diluge ' 1 What 
 an empty, barren heart ! what a yet unfledged soul ! On what 
 wings is it to reach Heaven ? One word more about statesmen. 
 I did not see an approach to one in Berlin. Gesckdftsmdnner 
 as many as you please — able and sufficient. Out of England 
 (which I always except for fear of partiality) I have seen three 
 men who struck me as endowed, in a greater or less degree, 
 with the sort of mind and character which are required in a 
 statesman. Their names are Woronzow, Lindenau, Guizot. 
 You must not be offended that I mention two comparatively 
 obscure men with one so illustrious. By your side they are a 
 sort of ' village Hampdens ; ' for what is a Governor of the 
 Crimea, or a Minister of poor, weak, cramped Saxony, in 
 comparison with the Minister of France ? But these two 
 men have the large liberal curiosity, the profound interest in 
 all that is going on everywhere that can affect the progress 
 of mankind ; they have the unprejudiced view, the impartial 
 judgment, which reminded me oi parts of yourself — I say parts, 
 for my dear M. de Lindenau is timid. However, such as he is, 
 I saw nothing comparable to him at Berlin. ^ 
 
 " We are coming to try if we can live at Paris. I am not 
 without fears as to the result of the experiment. M. Cousin is 
 encouraging ; M. Chevalier represents Paris as very costly. I 
 must try. I have never wanted luxuries, and now I want them 
 less than ever. What I know is, that I had rather live ill at 
 Paris than well anywhere else, except London. If it will not 
 do, then I shall propose some place not far from England — 
 perhaps in my favourite Normandy. Berlin is a ville de 
 province — a very remarkable one, if you please, but nothing 
 more. Where do you see Rhineland, Westphalian, or even 
 
19^ THREE GENEkAtlO'NS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 Silesian nobles ? They go to Dusseldorf, to Miinster, to Breslau, 
 not to Berlin, unless they have special business. 
 
 " Farewell, dear Monsieur Guizot — l-ieber Excellenz, as we 
 say. With the most affectionate respect, 
 
 " Yours faithfully, 
 
 " S. Austin." 
 
 Sarah Austin to M. Guizot. 
 
 " Boulogne, yi/«c 7, 1843. 
 
 " Dear Monsieur Guizot, — You won't be affronted when I 
 tell you who is the important personage that has constantly 
 prevented my writing to you — my little granddaughter. I am 
 the most foolish of grandmothers, and am never so happy as 
 when all my schemes are disconcerted and all my things thrown 
 into confusion by this little creature. I have not yet finished 
 the last of some letters which I have sent lately to the 
 Athenaum.! in the humble hope of clearing away a few national 
 prejudices. I cannot — that is to say, I will not — write a book 
 about Germany, because I could not ignore all the great social 
 questions which that country suggests in such abundance, and 
 I do not choose to betray or offend. But one subject is, in all 
 countries, open, and in all, to my mind, far more interesting 
 than any other — the condition, habits, and character of the 
 people. More and more do I find all my sympathies going over 
 to those upon whom the burthen of life rests so heavily ; and 
 not only in spite of their ignorance and their faults, but because 
 of them. The absence of real active sympathy between the 
 different classes of society in England must come to an end 
 What that end will be — good or bad — He Avho can turn and 
 soften hearts only knows. I find the same cordial welcome as 
 ever from my ' Matelot ' friends — rough hands held out, shouts 
 from the boats, and, more than all, the touching confidence 
 with which the bereaved and the unhappy came instantly to 
 claim my sorrow and pity. They are a fine, energetic race, and 
 appear doubly so after my good Germans, who are somewhat 
 sleepy, it must be owned. 
 
 "As to the life you lead, I have the most lively conceptions 
 of all its disgusts, which are. a thousand times worse than its 
 
SARAH AUSTIN. 197 
 
 fatigues. But I have such a profound persuasion that there is 
 nothing which can give so much value to hfe as the fulfilment 
 of great duties, the conscious obedience to a high vocation, that 
 I can hardly regret it for you. It seems to me that Sir Robert 
 Peel's position is much worse. I am sure you sympathise with 
 him. How can men so placed not feel the deepest interest in 
 each other ? 1 am persuaded the difficulty of governing will 
 go on to increase, both in extent and in intensity. How can it 
 be otherwise ? Traditional authority is gone, and Reason, which 
 should replace it, alas ! alas ! how feeble is it still ! Can you 
 explain the sort of epidemy of nationality which now reigns ? 
 The Irish have almost ceased to talk of religion. The quarrel 
 is Celtic and Saxon, as it seems. I am just come from reading 
 and hearing a great deal about the various branches of Slavonic 
 nationality, which are making themselves heard in the Austrian 
 Empire — after centuries of dead silence. A new journal, pub- 
 lished at Leipzig, Vierteljahrschrtft aus undfiir Ungarn, gives 
 one a curious insight into the conflicting Magyar and Slavonic 
 nationalities there, their mutual hatred, and common hatred 
 of their German masters. To what does all this lead ? To 
 improvement ? or to new discords, wars, and consequently 
 barbarism ? I rather hope the former. It is, at all events, 
 extremely interesting., France is perhaps the only country so 
 perfectly incorporated as to have no fermentation of the kind to 
 go through. 
 
 " With the most affectionate respect, 
 
 " Yours, 
 
 " S. Austin." 
 
 Sarah Atisttn to Harriet Grote. 
 
 " Boulogne, yi«?e 10, 1843." 
 " Your handwriting and your welcome, dearest Cummer, 
 were the first that greeted me on my arrival at this threshold 
 of England, and gave me a home feeling I have long been a 
 stranger to. • How vividly the past came back to me ! and how 
 much and agreeably I was touched that this first welcome to 
 very old haunts should come from you ! I should have written 
 instantly, before I slept, but, as usual, I was entangled in other 
 
1 98 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEA. 
 
 things, and did not like to write only a line to say 'Thank 
 you.' My husband is delighted to be again in France, which is 
 after all his pays de pr'edilection. I suppose we shall remain 
 here till late in the autumn. I hope so, for I am in no hurry 
 to undertake another move, and it is a great comfort to me to 
 feel myself so near to England. You know more of Paris than 
 I do ; my mind is in a state of utter suspense and doubt as to 
 what it will turn out as a residence for poor people. I hear the 
 most contradictory accounts, but there remains the fact that 
 Guizot, Villemain, &c., lived upon 10,000 francs a year, or less ; 
 married, and with children. By the by, I have had the kindest 
 of letters from M. Guizot, to whom I had never written since 
 our going to Paris was decreed, because I had a horror of 
 seeming to lay claim to his recollection and attentions. The 
 more charming was the cordiality with which he offered them. 
 But of course one can see little of a man who has to manage 
 France. My own wishes, however, point much more to rest 
 and a cottage in England than to new experiments on society, 
 new ground to take up in life. I have been not unlucky in that 
 way, and am far from sharing my dear partner's disgust with 
 mankind, odious as many sides of them are ; but I have had 
 enough. As to my coming to England, matters stand thus. I 
 shall certainly not leave Lucie, and she will probably stay here 
 till the end of July. At all events I shall find you at Burnham 
 or somewhere. What you say of reviewing the phases and the 
 progress of one's own mind often comes home to me. How 
 much should we have to interchange on this most interesting 
 of all subjects ! knowing as we do each other's points de depart^ 
 and all that has since occurred to modify our opinions. Mine 
 are greatly modified, partly by ' objective,' and partly by 
 ' subjective,' causes. I remain, however, true to that intense 
 sympathy with the obscure and suffering classes from which 
 I have never in any moment varied. If I do not deceive 
 myself, that is evident even in the slightest trifle I write, and 
 gives, indeed, their only value to such things. . . . 
 
 " Your most aifectionate, 
 
 " S, Austin," 
 
SARAH AUSTIN. 199 
 
 Sarah Austin to Harriet Grote. 
 
 "London, Oct. 25, 1843. 
 "... I have had various treaties with booksellers on the 
 carpet, which have ended in one, ratified with Longman, for a 
 translation of Ranke's ' Reformation.' This is an awful under- 
 taking, and I could doubtless gain much more money and fame 
 by lighter work. But you know my dislike to encounter the 
 public in my own person, my distrust of myself, and my liking 
 for steady respectable work. I have therefore put my head into 
 the yoke very willingly. I welcome the forced absorption in 
 drudgery as a potent reason against painful meditations. My 
 nouns and adverbs keep me out of myself, and the honest pride 
 of earning is also a resource against the worst pictures of poverty, 
 though indeed I feel them little in my own person. My views 
 of life, dear friend, are very much carried out of and beyond 
 this world — not indeed with any very defined dogmatic faith, 
 but with a sort of reliance that encourages me in a thorny and 
 weary path. How natural it is to take refuge somewhere from 
 the world ! Farewell, dear friend. Let us not forget all the 
 thoughts and feelings we have shared, nor lose the hope of a 
 tranquil retrospect of them together. . . . 
 
 " Your truly attached Cummer, 
 " S. A." 
 
 In 1844, Mr. Austin was elected by the Institute a corres- 
 ponding member of the Moral and Political Class. Earnest 
 appeals were again made to him at this time to publish a 
 second edition of "The Province of Jurisprudence." Letters 
 from friends, and even from strangers, arrived, lamenting the 
 impossibility of getting a copy, and setting forth the ever- 
 increasing reputation of the book. To give a mere reprint 
 would have been easy enough, and it is what any one else so 
 encouraged would probably have done ; but Mr. Austin had 
 discovered defects in it which had escaped the criticism of 
 others, and with that fastidious taste and scrupulous conscience 
 which it was impossible to satisfy, he refused to republish what 
 appeared to him imperfections. 
 
3O0 THREE GENERA TIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 " It belonged to the nature of his mind to grapple with a 
 question with difficulty, almost with reluctance. It seemed as 
 if he had a sort of dread of the labour and tension to which, 
 when it had once taken hold on him, it would inevitably subject 
 him. He was frequently urged to write on matters which he 
 had studied with an earnestness second only to that which he 
 had devoted to his own peculiar science — such as Philosophy, 
 Political Economy, and Political Science generally. He usually 
 evaded these applications ; but to the person with whom he had 
 no reserves he used to say, ' I cannot work so ; I can do nothing 
 in a perfunctory manner.' He knew perfectly his strength and 
 his weakness. He could work out a subject requiring the 
 utmost stretch of the human faculties with a clearness and 
 completeness that have rarely been equalled. But he had no 
 mental agility. When he gave himself up to an inquiry, it 
 mastered him like an overwhelming passion. Even as early as 
 the year 1816 he spoke to me, in a letter, of ' the difficulty he 
 found in turning his faculties from any object whereon they 
 have been long and intently employed to any other object.' 
 And for the same reason, when his mind had once loosened its 
 grasp of a subject, it could with difficulty recover its hold. 
 
 " At the time when a second edition of his book was first 
 demanded, he was occupied in the business of the public, to 
 which it was with him a matter of conscience to consecrate 
 his undivided attention. That he had long meditated a book 
 embracing a far wider field I well knew, but I feared that this 
 great work would never be accomplished, and would have 
 gladly compounded for something far less perfect than his 
 conceptions. But I saw that nothing could shake his resolu- 
 tion, and I never wilhngly adverted to the subject. Whenever 
 it was mentioned, he said that the book must be entirely recast 
 and rewritten, and that there must be at least another volume. 
 His opinion of the necessity of an entire refonte of his book 
 arose in great measure from the conviction, which had con- 
 
SARAH AUSTIN. 201 
 
 tinually been gaining strength in his mind, that until the 
 ethical notions of men were more clear and consistent, no 
 considerable improvement could be hoped for in legal or 
 political science, nor, consequently, in legal or political insti- 
 tutions." ' 
 
 That my grandfather entertained the project of recasting his 
 great work is apparent frOm part of a letter written in 1844, 
 to Sir William Erie, the companion of his early studies, the 
 beloved and faithful friend of every period of his life : — 
 
 "... I shall now set to work in good earnest, and, if my 
 unlucky stars will allow me a little peace, I hope I shall turn 
 out something of considerable utility. I intend to show the 
 relations of positive morality and law (rnos and jus)^ and of 
 both, to their common standard or test ; to show that there 
 are principles and distinctions common to all systems of law 
 (or that law is the subject of an abstract science) ; to show the 
 possibility and conditions of codification ; to exhibit a short 
 scheme of a body of law arranged in a natural order ; and to 
 show that the English Law, in spite of its great peculiarities, 
 might be made to conform to that order much more closely 
 than is imagined. The questions involved in this scheme are 
 so numerous and difficult, that what I shall produce will be 
 very imperfect. I think, however, that the subject is one 
 which will necessarily attract attention before many years are 
 over, and I believe that my suggestions will be of consider- 
 able use to those who, under happier auspices, will pursue 
 the inquiry. There are points upon which I shall ask your 
 advice. 
 
 " Yours most truly, 
 
 "John Austin." 
 
 The Austins took an apartment in Avenue Marboeuf, and 
 soon collected all that was most remarkable in Paris round 
 them. Yet she writes to a friend : " I shall never feel at 
 home in Paris — not even so much as in Germany. I see a 
 
 • Preface by Sarah Awstin to " The Province of Jurisprudence determined." 
 
202 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH IVOMEN. 
 
 vast number of eminent men, and, as far as that goes, it is 
 interesting and amusing. But I shall never learn to breathe 
 freely in the moral atmosphere of France. One main thing 
 is the want of veracity, of which they all accuse one another 
 — I fear, with reason. I never heard anything like what the 
 public men say of each other. In all this Guizot stands alone. 
 I see him often and intimately, with only his mother and 
 children, and I respect and love him more and more. But 
 how they abuse him ! " 
 
 Rev, Sydney Smith to Sarah Austin, 
 
 " Combe FLOREY,_/a'??. 23, 1844. 
 
 " Many thanks, dear Mrs. Austin, for your agreeable letter. 
 You seem to be leading a happy life, making a pleasing 
 exception to the generality of mankind who are miserable. 
 Your list of French visitors is very splendid, but I am so 
 ignorant of French society that they are, most of them, un- 
 known to me. I should like more of a mixture. You seem 
 to have too much talent in your drawing-room. Guizot seems 
 to be a very able man and a great minister. . . . 
 
 " I am tolerably well, but intolerably old. Mrs. Sydney is 
 also in better health than I have seen her for some time. 
 Jeffrey is laid up with a bad leg, which is getting rather 
 severe ; have you seen his publication in four volumes and 
 dedication to me ? I told him it was the greatest compliment 
 I had ever received in my life. I receive every day letters of 
 abuse and of congratulation from America for my three 
 epistles. I continue to think they will never pay, and I 
 continue to love you very much, and I am very glad Mr. 
 Austin is better. I beg you to accept my affectionate bene- 
 diction. 
 
 " Sydney Smith." 
 
CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 SARAH AUSTIN {continued). 
 
 A. Comte on Women and Social Philosophy — Baron Alexander v. Hum- 
 boldt to Mrs. Austin — A. Comte and his Official Position — Madame 
 Sophie Germain — ^J. S. Mill on A. Comte, Guizot, and the Edinburgh 
 Review — Grammar and Plain Needlework — T. B. Macaulay to Mrs, 
 Austin. 
 
 Among the eminent men who frequented Mrs. Austin's .j«/o« 
 was the founder of the doctrine of Positivism, M. Auguste 
 Comte. In 1832 he was officially attached to the Polytechnic 
 School, and afterwards filled the post of examiner of candidates 
 for admission. He was dismissed in 1844, and Mrs. Austin 
 used her influence with M. Guizot to try and get him replaced. 
 He writes to her : — 
 
 Auguste Comte to Sarah Austin. 
 [Translation.] 
 
 " Paris, March 4, 1844. 
 
 " Madam, — On returning home late last night, I found the 
 charming letter, a payment for my little packet which I 
 certainly did not expect.' The attention which you promise 
 to bestow on this work only augments my gratitude for your 
 assiduity at my initial lectures. 
 
 " The important observation contained in your letter gives 
 me, madam, an opportunity of clearing myself of a half. 
 
 ' " Discours sur I'Esprit Positif," Fevr. 1844, 
 
204 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 reproach, which would grieve me if I thought I had deserved 
 it — my supposed tendency to an insufficient appreciation of 
 the value of women in general and yourself in particular. 
 Although I am firmly convinced that the social status of your 
 sex is essentially different from ours, for the eventual happiness 
 of both, I nevertheless believe that I have rendered with the 
 keenest satisfaction full justice to the moral as well as the 
 intellectual qualities which are purely feminine. This subject, 
 I may remark, will be more fully mentioned in the great special 
 treatise on Social Philosophy which I am going to begin this 
 year. The general condition of women in modern society, 
 coupled with their peculiar organisation, renders them, in 
 many respects, specially apt to appreciate a complete philo- 
 sophical revolution. Indeed, one would be inclined to be 
 extremely suspicious of any system of philosophy, particularly 
 social, which was not profoundly sympathetic to women. 
 Without going back farther than to our great Descartes, lean 
 never forget that, in spite of the abstract and austere character 
 of his leading conceptions, which do not sufficiently touch 
 upon social questions, women were really the first to under- 
 stand and to protect him. This arose from their being 
 fortunately placed in a position at once impartial and less 
 hampered with philosophic prejudices. Perhaps one ought 
 not to count the celebrated Christina among these generous 
 patrons, her conduct was probably determined by her rank as 
 a sovereign ; but there can be no doubt about the constant 
 zeal and the disinterestedness of the amiable Princess Palatine, 
 who from the first fully appreciated the great mental revolu- 
 tion inaugurated by Descartes. As to myself, madam, I can 
 honestly say that among the fifty persons, more or less, in 
 Europe whose sympathy I have during twenty years been 
 striving to obtain, as the principal guarantee and the noblest 
 recompense of my philosophical labours, I have always counted 
 on a large proportion of women. Besides this kind of general 
 confession, I must tell you how much honoured and touched 
 I am by the decisive approbation which you have thought fit 
 to accord me, in spite of inevitable divergences of opinion. 
 Although I have not had the pleasure of conversing with you 
 as much as I should wish, I trust that. you credit me with 
 
sArah Austin. 205- 
 
 enough taste and discernment to have already understood your 
 eminent moral and intellectual qualities. I have thanked our 
 dear friend, John Mill, for procuring me such a pleasant 
 acquaintance, which has resulted in a noble and cordial ex- 
 change of thought and sentiments, at least on my part, with 
 you and your illustrious husband. In spite of my very solitary 
 life, I have had various opportunities of knowing some extremely 
 distinguished women, but till now you are the only one, 
 madam, in whom moral delicacy and mental elevation are so 
 happily united. Hitherto the women whose intellectual 
 superiority placed them above the rank of blue stockmgs, had 
 a deplorable tendency towards the aberrations oi femmes lihres. 
 Allow me, madam, to express the intense satisfaction it gives 
 me to see the happy union of two qualities I regard as abso- 
 lutely indispensable, but which to-day are always in contrast. 
 This unfortunate alternative between two kinds of eccentri- 
 cities, each equally repugnant, and arising from the conditions 
 of our present social position, renders me the more disposed to 
 admire that happy disposition which, without affectation, is 
 free from either, 
 
 "Accept, madam, the assurance of the sincere and affectionate 
 respect of your devoted servant, 
 
 "A. COMTE." 
 
 Baron v. Humboldt, the old friend of Mrs. Austin's brothers, 
 to whom she had written from Boulogne, on her way to pay a 
 short visit to her daughter in London, answered her suggestion 
 of a translation of his " Ansichten der Natur," in the following 
 whimsical letter : — 
 
 Baron Alex. v. Humholdt to Sarah Austin. 
 
 [Translation.] 
 
 " Sans Sovci^June 7, 1844. 
 
 "I am extremely culpable, madam ! While on your way 
 
 through France, on your arrival at Bologne, you wrote me a 
 
 most charming letter, as is your wont — without even being 
 
 aware of it—a letter full of kindness for the antediluvian 
 
2o6 TtikEk GENERATIONS OP ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 traveller, who tells of the rocks whose formation he watched. 
 You must think me a savage of the Orinoco, an inhabitant of 
 those Asiatic steppes which I imagined I had described before 
 I saw them. I have not answered your kind note before, 
 because, in the first place, notwithstanding the celebrity of 
 your name — of which you seem to be unaware — I did not 
 wish my answer to be lost for want of a precise address. 
 Secondly, because, after so much hesitation, I felt I deserved 
 your anger. So I wrapped myself in silence, a stratagem 
 which has the advantage of bestowing an appearance of 
 graceful timidity. This subterfuge of old age availed me 
 nothing ; your indulgent kindness has recalled me to the 
 paths of virtue, and I need not even have recourse to the 
 commonplace excuses of hard work, or allege the disappoint- 
 ment of not having seen you in Paris. I will not invoke the 
 mighty shade that they say still occasionally pays nocturnal 
 visits to the tomb of the faithful dogs on the summit of the 
 historical hill where I dwell. You know, madam, how to 
 make life sweeter ; I have your pardon, that great word has 
 been pronounced by you in a letter written to the excellent 
 Madame Alex. Mendelssohn. I am happy to be able to oifer 
 you my thanks and the affectionate devotion, which will only 
 end with my life. As though the trouble which His non- 
 puritanical but anti-papistical Holiness Von Ranke gives you 
 was not sufficient, you want to plunge into my Savannahs, 
 into my foaming cataracts, into the catacombs of that Indian 
 nation whose language has only been preserved in the mouth 
 of some old parrot or Aturis. Our historian, Ranke, since 
 he has espoused a virgin of the Thames, has given up our 
 language, without having made much progress in yours. 
 This no doubt contributes to his domestic happiness. Honest 
 Raumer, whose political tendencies agree better with mine, 
 has landed safely in the land of Troll. I hope he arrived in 
 time to enjoy the tremendous riot at Philadelphia, and to profit 
 by the religious liberty proclaimed by the flare of incendiary 
 torches. 
 
 " After Ranke should come ' Ansichten der Natur.' You 
 will never find a book oifering the same advantages, notes 
 longer than the text, information how in the tropics rain is 
 
SARAH AUSTIN, iol 
 
 followed by fine weather, and sentiment induced by the sight 
 of sand, rocks, river-foam, palm-trees, and wild sheep. This 
 Teutonic sentimentality, which has stood me in such good 
 stead in my own country, would be ridiculous in the land of 
 Positive Philosophy. I cannot believe that you wish to trans- 
 late me, glad and pleased as it would make me. Luckily you 
 can find no title for my pre-Adamite work. Alas ! you have 
 got some one in England whom you do not read, young 
 Darwin, who went with the expedition to the Straits of 
 Magellan. He has succeeded far better than myself with the 
 subject I took up. There are admirable descriptions of tropical 
 nature in his journal, which you do not read because the author 
 is a zoologist, which you imagine to be synonymous with bore. 
 Mr. Darwin has another merit, a very rare one in your country 
 — he has praised me. 
 
 " If I tell you that the 'tyrant of these parts ' never mentions 
 your name without an expression of attachment and high 
 esteem, you will think that I flatter my King, and that Bettina, 
 savagely treated as she has been in the Quarterly Review.^ has 
 every reason to call the chamberlains ' sneaking beasts.' 
 " Ever yours, with love and respect, 
 
 " Alex. v. Humboldt." 
 
 The following letter was written to Mrs. Austin in London. 
 As soon as she returned to Paris in August, she invited Comte 
 to come and see her, and, as will be seen by his answer and by 
 Mr. J. Stuart Mill's letter, did what she could to help him : — 
 
 Augusts Comte to Sarah Austin. 
 
 [Translation.] 
 
 " Paris, _/?</y 22, 1844, 
 " Dear Lady, — Although you have perhaps heard from Mr. 
 Austin, whom I immediately informed of the decision on my 
 case, or from our dear friend, John Mill, to whom I wrote a 
 detailed account, yet I take the opportunity to recall myself to 
 your memory. The Minister of War has exercised the admir- 
 able firmness he showed from the first, as I told you at Paris. 
 
2o8 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 In vain he has exhausted, in my favour, every possible resource 
 against the insufficient rules, which he had not time to change 
 in order to protect me. In addition to the personal goodwill 
 and esteem of the Marshal, whom I did not know before, I 
 shall eventually, thanks to this crisis evoked by abominable 
 malevolence, obtain the consolidation of my official position, 
 which there is even a talk of making permanent, in order to 
 preserve me from future cabals. But I do not conduct the 
 examinations this year, my place being filled as though I were 
 on the sick-list — although the Minister refused to dismiss me. 
 The pecuniary loss is the same, but the results are far different, 
 and everything points to the hope that in a few months I 
 shall be safe from all danger, save the loss of a year's income, 
 which will naturally go to my substitute who does the work. 
 
 " After having finished your business in London, I hope your 
 family affections will have left you leisure to realise your pro- 
 ject of translating the memorable ' Posthumous Discourse of 
 Sophie Germain,' which should, it seems to me, inspire all you 
 ladies with a strong fellow-feeling of interest, as being, I con- 
 ceive, one of the finest works that have ever been produced by 
 one of your sex, till now so little occupied by this elevated and 
 rational philosophy. 
 
 " I have every reason to believe that M. Guizot has spoken 
 to his colleague, the Marshal in my favour — I know that you 
 asked him to do so. The Marshal was already well-disposed 
 towards me, partly by his own appreciation of the iniquitous 
 persecution which obliged me to invoke his official aid, partly 
 by the unanimous declarations of my Polytechnical superiors, 
 who all testified in my favour. 
 
 " Count for ever, my dearest lady, on the affection and respect 
 of your most devoted, 
 
 "A. COMTE." 
 
 /. S. Mill to Sarah Austin. 
 
 "India House, /aw^^ry i8, 1845. 
 "... About poor Comte's affairs, he has himself written to 
 me very fully, and informed me of the final close of the whole 
 matter, so far as his restoration to the examinership is con- 
 
SARAH AUSTIN. 309 
 
 cerned. I am glad on every account that you interested your- 
 self with Guizot for him, and that you mentioned my name in 
 the manner you did, although it would hardly have been war- 
 rantable in me to take any direct measure of the same kind, as 
 my acquaintance with Guizot is so very slight. It may be 
 useful to Comte on future occasions to have given evidence to 
 Guizot of our interest in him. He himself seems to bear up 
 bravely against his misfortune. I perceive he has considerable 
 hope that when a vacancy occurs in any one of the several 
 other Polytechnic offices, the opportunity may be taken of 
 repairing the injustice done him ; and I hope the occasion may 
 occur soon, as I have much doubt about the success of his other 
 plans. The private lessons in mathematics may answer, not- 
 withstanding their high price, but not, I fear, if he relies at all 
 upon the rich English. What do you think of his Review 
 project ? To me it seems a very doubtful one ; and I fear, too, 
 he will be disappointed by the very little help I shall be able to 
 give him in writing for it, although I will do all I can. About 
 Comte himself I have formed very much the same opinion that 
 you have, both as to his good and bad points of character. He 
 is evidently (either from character or the tendencies of a 
 solitary thinker, little appreciated by the world), most obstinately 
 bent upon following his own course, regardless not only of giving 
 offence (which might be a virtue), but of compromising his 
 means of livelihood. He piques himself exceedingly upon 
 being the only Frenchman who speaks out his opinions without 
 any compromises or reserves, and he has gone so far in that 
 course that I think he would do himself more harm than good 
 now by swerving from it. At all events, I am certain he will 
 not abate one jot of his ' franchise philosophique,' and there- 
 fore there is not much use in advising him to do so. He is a 
 man one can only serve in his own way. 
 
 "What you say about Guizot and his family interests me 
 exceedingly. A man in such a position as his, acts under so 
 many difficulties, and is mixed up in so many questionable 
 transactions that one's favourable opinion is continually liable 
 to receive shocks, and I have for many years been oscillating in 
 Guizot's case between great esteem and considerable misgivings. 
 Nothing I ever heard of him tells so much in his favour as the 
 
210 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 feeling you express about him after familiar intercourse. If he 
 was an angel he would be sure to be misunderstood in the place 
 he is in. I do not know whether to wish or to deprecate his 
 being thrown out of it, which seems now so likely to happen. 
 
 " I have been chiefly occupied lately in writing an article for 
 the Edinburgh Review on the ' claims of labour.' I never 
 knew a time when so much nonsense, and mischievous non- 
 sense, too, was afloat on that subject, and I thought it a most 
 useful thing to enter a protest against the intolerable mass of 
 pseudo-philanthropy now getting into vogue, and to commit the 
 Edinburgh Review at the same time (if possible) to strong 
 things in favour of good popular education and just laws. I 
 am afraid, however, that some of the strong things I have said 
 on both sides will frighten so timid a man as Napier, and that 
 he will not dare to print them unmodified. He always, of him- 
 self, seems to like my articles, and evidently always hears so 
 much said against them afterwards, by the octogenarian clique, 
 Rogers, Sydney Smith, &c., whom he looks up to, that he has 
 now, I think, a constant terror lest I should get him into a 
 scrape. 
 
 " Is there any chance of the article on Prussia soon, or of a 
 book rather than an article, or of a reprint of your husband's 
 former book, with the second volume which he projected ? I 
 feel certain that a book with his name would be read by 
 numbers of people to whom it would do good, and nothing but 
 books seem to do good now. The time for writing books 
 seems to have come again, though unhappily not for living by 
 doing it. 
 
 "Ever aflFectionately yours, 
 
 "J. S. Mill." 
 
 The first two volumes of the translation of Ranke's 
 " History of the Reformation in Germany " had come out 
 in 1845, and Mrs. Austin was busily employed on the third. 
 
 Sarah Austin to her sister.^ Susan Reeved 
 
 "Paris, February, 1845. 
 " With a bad cold, and a head heavy and weary with proof- 
 
SARAH AUSTIN. 211 
 
 correcting, at past ten o'clock you will not expect much from 
 me. I hope you will not l&cher prise of the governess affair. 
 All the current notions are so insane, smatterings of this and 
 that. Do you, my dear Susan, stick hard to English grammar 
 and plain needle-work, two things now untaught, and the 
 intellectual and moral effects of which are not to be over-rated. 
 I think the taste for fancy-work very corrupting (to the exclu- 
 sion of wholesome sewing). Why doii't you write about these 
 things ? 'V\''hat is the use of sending your most excellent and 
 true remarks to me — the most convinced of all people ? Write, 
 write I would, if I had one minute to spare. I will as it is ; but 
 just think what I have to do — 500 pages still of Ranke ; then 
 things occur which I am obliged to vent on the Athenceum. 
 
 " On my last Thursday, Mrs. Hunter Blair, Madame de 
 Triqueti, Baroness de Peyronnet, and Baroness Stockhausen 
 (the three former English) walked in dressed for the Embassy 
 ball. Two or three men from Vienna and elsewhere were 
 absolutely confounded at their beauty ; and really I don't think 
 I ever saw four such handsome women together, and no other 
 there save myself. 
 
 " Pray don't cultivate Hopie too much. Janet, I hear, con- 
 tinues deaf to all suggestions about learning her letters and the 
 like. I must come and teach her, I think ; indeed, I am nowise 
 anxious about it — I mean the teaching ; about the coming, 
 anxious enough. I want to see my new grandchild and my 
 dear girl with her two babes." 
 
 T. B. {afterwards Lord) Macaulay to Sarah Austin. 
 
 " Albany, London, Feb. 27, 1846. 
 " My dear Mrs. Austin, — Many thanks for your kind letter. 
 I must beg you to convey to M. Cousin my acknowledgments 
 for his politeness. I have read his speech with great interest, 
 though with less interest than I should, rio doubt, have felt if I 
 had been well acquainted with the history and system of the 
 university. I am truly gratified to learn that so eminent a man 
 thinks well of me. But I am afraid that I should sink fast in 
 his estimation if he knew how little I have troubled myself 
 about "metaphysics since I was a lad at college, and how pro- 
 
212 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 foundly sceptical I am about all the great metaphysical ques- 
 tions. You must be mistaken, I think, in saying that he owes 
 me a grudge about Descartes. I could swear that I never 
 wrote a line either praising or blaming Descartes. It would 
 have been very foolish and presumptuous in me to do so. For 
 I know scarcely anything of Descartes except at second-hand. 
 
 " I should very much like to visit Paris during the full 
 season. I have often been there. But, as I could go only when 
 our Parliament was not sitting, my visits have been paid in 
 September and October. I therefore know the quays, boule- 
 vards, streets, churches, gardens, and coffee-houses extremely 
 well. I am acquainted with every picture in the Museum. I 
 have also a shamefully vivid recollection of the cookery and 
 wine at the Rocher de Cancale and the Freres Provencaux. 
 But of the society of Paris I know next to nothing. In general, 
 I have been as much alone there as if I had been in the Isle of 
 Skye. I used to put a book in my pocket and to sit reading 
 four or five hours together in the garden of the Tuileries or of 
 the Luxembourg. In fact, all my knowledge of good French 
 society has been acquired in London. Nothing would give me 
 more pleasure than to see, under your guidance, something of 
 the interior of agreeable Parisian houses. I fear, however, that 
 these are not times for such schemes. No English Member of 
 Parliament must dare to think of a holiday before August. 
 Again, thanks for your kindness. I need not tell you how 
 much you are missed here, and by how many. 
 
 " Believe me ever, dear Mrs. Austin, 
 
 " Yours most truly, 
 
 "T. B. Macaulay." 
 
CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 SARAH AUSTIN {continued). 
 
 Letter from Comte A. de Vigny to Mrs. Austin — Education in France — Small 
 Waists — Contempt for the King — Pope and Milton — -Political Probity — ■ 
 Letter from Sir Robert Peel to Mrs. Austin — An Article on Germany- 
 Belgium — Mrs. Hudson the ' ' Railway Queen. " 
 
 The author of " Cinq Mars," already mentioned, wrote to 
 Mrs. Austin, who had left her apartments near the Champs 
 Elysees for one in Rue Lavoisier : — 
 
 Comte A. de Vigny to Sarah Austin. 
 
 [Translation.] 
 
 '■^June 6, 1846. 
 
 " To begin with, your brother will not arrive to-day. Then, 
 music is far more heating than the serious conversation of my 
 friends, among whom is Barbier, who expects you. From all 
 this I conclude that you can do nothing wiser than come to me, 
 in those Elysian fields, which once you loved so well. I promise 
 you draughts as cold as you can desire, and ice of every descrip- 
 tion, even in our conversation, which shall be consecrated to rigid 
 Puritanism. If you desire it, we will believe you are eighty, and 
 destitute of all charm or attraction. To crown all, I will say as 
 many disagreeable things to you as you like. What can you 
 want more ? 
 
 " Should your brother by some extraordinary chance arrive, 
 be so kind as to take his arm and introduce us to him, so that 
 he may see whether we know how to love you. Mind you 
 remember that to pass along the quays and over the bridges, 
 
214 THREE GENERATIONS OE ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 even in a carriage to go to the Faubourg St. Germain is the 
 greatest danger you can encounter in such a torrid zone as 
 this. 
 
 " Watch over your existence, and for prudence' sake come 
 here at nine o'clock, and leave at four after midnight. 
 
 "Your slave waits. I am writing my wishes and my grave 
 advice standing. Meditate on them. 
 
 " Yours with all my heart, 
 
 " A. DE ViGNY." 
 
 BartMlemy Si. Hilaire to Sarah Austin. 
 
 [Translation.] 
 
 "Environs d'Agen, August lo, 1846. 
 " Dear Madam and Friend, — Since the 22nd July I have been 
 here, and shall remain until the end of the month. I am entirely 
 alone, save a visit twice a week from my friends at Agen. But 
 I have Aristotle, and hope to finish the translation of another 
 volume of Fyschology before returning to Paris ; I have also 
 Homer, Milton, and Pope, whom I admire for his excellent 
 common sense, his delicate criticism, and the beauty of his 
 language ; and Aristophanes, who sometimes makes me blush, 
 but to counterbalance his gaillardise I have some ponderous 
 volumes of St. Thomas. 
 
 " Alas ! among the people here, no one can write or read, 
 save the little shepherd of fourteen years old. This is unfor- 
 tunately the rule in France, in spite of the law of 1833. 
 England is, in this, infinitely more advanced ; statistics prove 
 it. You have results and no laws ; we have laws, but till now 
 no results. Our two countries have an immense deal to learn 
 from one another. All that has occurred during the last two 
 months has filled me with admiration and respect for your 
 statesmen and your political system. 
 
 "I am quite of your opinion about the stalwart Norman 
 women, and I cannot express the horror and terror (I assure 
 you the words are not too strong) with which I have always 
 regarded the small waists one can span with two hands. I 
 admire waists like the Venus of Milo and the huntress Diana, 
 
SARAH AUSTIN. 215 
 
 and women who resemble them. Real grace can never exist 
 without strength. One of the finest sights I ever saw was on a 
 market day at Barfleur, near Cherbourg. Four or five hundred 
 women were there, and certainly, without any exaggeration, 
 two hundred were magnificently handsome. Without any wish 
 to offend your patriotism, a great part of the beauty and strength 
 which distinguishes your race came from our Normandy. What 
 you tell me of the private life of M. Guizot is not new to me. 
 I know his private and domestic virtues, but his political 
 virtue ! I do not wish to annoy you, but with the late elections 
 he is continuing the career begun six years ago. I pity him 
 sincerely, and I suspect that in his own heart he pities himself. 
 The last assassination, real or pretended, is more deplorable 
 than the others. It has become a kind of pastime to shoot at 
 the King. The neglect to answer a letter is thus revenged, 
 like Lecomte, or a bankruptcy is averted, as in the case of 
 Joseph Henry. The royal person, if not the royal office, has 
 fallen into contempt ; this is what sixteen years of such govern- 
 ment has produced. You need not look for any other cause 
 for the horrible attempts on his life, which would soon cease 
 if public opinion really entertained for His Majesty those senti- 
 ments which the head of the State, the father of a great people 
 ought always to inspire. 
 
 " How long do you remain at Sandgate ? I need not say that 
 you may always count on 
 
 " Your most devoted 
 
 " B. St. Hilaire." 
 
 In 1846, Sir Robert Peel's Ministry was defeated on the 
 second reading of the Irish Coercion Bill by a majority of 295 
 to 219. On June 29th, Sir Robert Peel announced to the 
 House that he had resigned office, and that Lord John Russell 
 had undertaken to form a new Administration. Mrs. Austin 
 always considered the speech Sir Robert made on that occasion 
 one of his noblest efforts ; and when she sent him the third 
 volume of Ranke's "Reformation," she wrote and expressed 
 her admiration of his conduct about the Corn Laws. He 
 answered : — 
 
2i6 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 Sir Robert Peel to Sarah Austin. 
 
 " February 4., 1847. 
 
 " Madam, — I thank you for your kind attention in sending 
 for my acceptance the third volume of that valuable work for 
 which the great mass of the British public are indebted to your 
 labours. 
 
 " I thank you still more for the gratifying assurances that 
 you convey to me, that you rightly appreciate the motives 
 which induced me to sacrifice official power and to sever party 
 ties in' the firm belief that paramount considerations of the 
 public welfare demanded the imraediate and resolute disregard 
 of other and very subordinate ones. I ought indeed to take 
 little credit for any sacrifice, for the return to domestic life and 
 the enjoyment of political independence are more than ample 
 compensations for anything I have lost. 
 
 " Beyond this, the cordial approbation of hearts and in- 
 tellects like yours is a reward which no evasion of difficulties 
 or dextrous management of party could have ever secured. 
 
 " I have the honour to be, madam, with sincere esteem for 
 your character, and gratitude for your services to literature, 
 
 " Your faithful servant, 
 
 " Robert Peel." 
 
 Sarah Austin to M.- Guizot. 
 
 " Blankenberghe pres Bruges, 
 
 " August 6, 1847. 
 " Dear and most honoured Sir, — Why I have not written 
 before is a long story. The pith of it is a luckless article for 
 the Edinburgh Review, promised, and at length sent, for the 
 next number. I had had this long in hand, or in petto— too 
 long — have got too much material, and taken too much pains, 
 so that I rather think I have spoiled it. I grew weary and 
 discouraged ; and if I ever happen to fall short in my internal 
 supply of hope and cheerfulness, I get none from without. 
 My dearest partner has not, and never had, enough for home 
 consumption, much less to give to his neighbours. Another bad 
 thing is that the subject-matter (Germany from 1790 to i8o6) 
 
SARAH AUSTIN. 2i7 
 
 forces me into a sort of hostile attitude vis-a-vis of France. 
 Ah, now you are alarmed ! But let me dispel your fears by 
 saying that it is France warlike, invading, victorious, ergo 
 detestable, as all such countries are, with which I have to do — 
 the France of Napoleon. The more I read and think of that 
 man, the more execrable he appears to me, and the more I am 
 persuaded that he did France more mischief than one would 
 think it possible for a single man to do to so great a country. 
 I speak very boldly, for I don't know how ill you think of him ; 
 though I am sure, from necessary inference, not well. On the 
 other hand, everybody, I suppose, is agreed that the thrashing 
 of Germany was ' the making of her,' to use an excellent 
 vulgar phrase. 
 
 " This is a tolerable place enough — a beach without a pebble 
 between this and Holland ; but the Belgian Wesen does not 
 please me. One tries hard to be cosmopolitan, and not to 
 think oneself better than all the rest of the world ; but I have 
 heard you say, ' II n'y a que la France et I'Angleterre ' ; and 
 if you add Germany, I am afraid I shall be forced to say the 
 same. We have many great ladies here who seem to be afraid 
 of nothing so much as to be supposed to understand a word 
 of their own language ; my efforts to speak Flemish pass for 
 a sort of insanity. The truth is, my philological soul finds 
 great solace here in the study (if I may call it so) of this Mit- 
 teldiiig between German and English. It is very amusing ; 
 but the language is like the people ; only the people are a half- 
 way between French and German, and unluckily seem to me 
 to combine the coarseness of the latter with the impertinence 
 (what Madame Guizot once called the ' delire d''egalite ') of 
 the former. The French are insubordinate but d''egal en egal, 
 well-behaved and gracious ; the Germans are uncouth and 
 coarse, but give respect unto whom respect is due : take away 
 the two huts and you have a Belgian. I see two of their 
 newspapers and no other. They are, of course, extremely 
 discontented. The loudest complaints are respecting the great 
 and increasing pauperism, with which they reproach the 
 Government. It is curious, but melancholy, to observe every 
 country busied in solving the insoluble problem — how to have 
 a perfect government in the midst of a very imperfect people, 
 
21 8 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 that very people at the same time exercising a powerful control 
 over its government. How we all turn round and round upon 
 this like squirrels in a cage ! 
 
 "I heard from Lord Lansdowne two or three days ago. What 
 with Education and Ireland, he says he never had so much to 
 do in any year of his life. So much the better for us that 
 he can do it ; I think he is ce que nous avons de mieux. He 
 wants only the energy that great ambition gives. He says, 
 ' We shall have a parliament of railway kings.' And now, 
 I pray you, what can be worse than that ? — The deification 
 of money by a whole people. As Lord Brougham says, we 
 have no right to give ourselves pharisaical airs. I must give 
 you a story sent to me. Mrs. Hudson, the railway queen, was 
 shown a bust of Marcus Aurelius at Lord Westminster's, on 
 which she said, ' I suppose that is not the present Marquis.' 
 To goAter this, you must know that the extreme vulgar 
 (hackney coachmen, &c.) in England pronounce ' marquis ' 
 very like ' Marcus.' 
 
 "My husband has been working on an article on International 
 Law. I know you will read it with interest. 
 
 " Always yours, 
 
 "S. Austin." 
 
CHAPTER XX. 
 
 SARAH AUSTIN (foiitinued). 
 
 The French Revohttion of 1848— B. St. Hilaire on the Aspect of Paris- 
 Letter from Rev. Dr. Whewell to Mrs. Austin on the French Revolution 
 — Her Answer — B. St. Hilaire at the Luxembourg— Fighting in Paris — 
 Cavaignac and de la Villemarque— Cousin and B. St. Hilaire— A Working 
 Man's Library at Bow. 
 
 After passing some time at Rochefort in the Ardennes with 
 Sir Alexander and Lady DufF Gordon, the Austins returned to 
 Paris, only to be uprooted by the Revolution of 1848. The 
 letters of M. B. St. Hilaire to Mrs. Austin in London gave 
 a calm yet vivid picture of those events, in which he bore a 
 considerable part : — 
 
 BartMlemy St. Hilaire to Sarah Austin. 
 
 [Translation.] 
 
 " Paris, March 4, 1848. 
 " Madam, — Your letter gave me the greatest pleasure ; it 
 was delightful to see your writing once more. The aspect of 
 affairs here is more serious and sadder than during the first flush 
 of triumph. This arises from two reasons — the financial crisis, 
 and the electoral struggle which has already begun. The fall 
 in the funds, the suspension of several great industries, and 
 the straits of the unemployed operatives are causes for legiti- 
 mate anxiety, which need not, however, be exaggerated. The 
 good sense of the working classes raises hopes that the condition 
 of things will soon improve. The old Republican party are 
 
 219 
 
220 THkkE GENEkATtONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 committing a grave fault by showing their desire to control 
 the elections ; public opinion, though pretty tranquil, will 
 not submit to dictation, and this may prove a source of trouble. 
 Add to which, the electoral law is unfortunately most com- 
 plicated and difficult of application. 
 
 "The worst symptom is a feeling of anxiety, in which the 
 strongest minds cannot help sharing. I am not surprised at 
 the blindness of our last King. What a position he has lost ! 
 No one here even remembers him. A reign of seventeen years 
 has not left a trace. You may believe me when I speak thus 
 of him, for you know what I have told you for many years. 
 Write to me sometimes ; I pass nearly all my time at the Hotel 
 de Ville. 
 
 " Your ever devoted 
 
 " B. St. Hilaire." 
 
 Reu. Dr. W. Whewell to Sarah Austin. 
 
 " Trinity Lodge, Cambridge, 
 
 ''March 9, 1848. 
 " My dear Mrs. Austin, — I have just heard that you are in 
 England, and cannot refrain from sending you a line to express 
 my satisfaction at this among all the miserable events of the 
 last three weeks. We have been perpetually casting our 
 thoughts to you in the Rue Lavoisier, while all the sounds of 
 wreck and ruin have come to us day after day, and fervently 
 hoping that yow were safe and unmolested. We know well 
 the grief you would feel at the fall of some of the great 
 persons of this deplorable drama, and at the prostration of 
 so many years of labour in building up the edifice of peace 
 and order, and we hoped that you had no more special trouble 
 of your own to grieve for. The great kindness which you 
 showed us at Paris made us take to the place more than we 
 should otherwise have done ; and so we were better able to 
 follow the story from one part of the city to another, and 
 from one person to another, than we should otherwise have 
 been ; and all this was mixed with recollections of you, 
 because to you we owe so much it. I hope we shall hear 
 that all the Guizot family are well and tranquil under this 
 
SARAH AUSTIN. 221 
 
 change. M. Guizot must be supported by his knowledge 
 of the general respect in which he is held, and I am glad 
 to hope that Madame Guizot may find a tranquil haven after 
 the storms of her Paris life. I am puzzled how to write torny 
 Paris friends ; but I suppose one ought to take it for granted 
 that they have cordially accepted the Republic but that is so 
 new a tone that it is not easy to fall into at once. I suppose 
 we shall by degrees come to an understanding. Mrs. Whewell 
 joins me in kind regards. I hope Mr. Austin is well. 
 " Always most sincerely yours, 
 
 " W. Whewell." 
 
 Sarah Austin to Rev. Dr. W. Whewell. 
 
 " 8, Queen Square, Westminster, 
 
 '^ March 12, 1848. 
 
 " Dear Dr. Whewell, — Thank you cordially for thinking 
 of me amidst the havoc and ruin of a country. One felt one's 
 own nothingness in an earthquake that was overthrowing and 
 swallowing up, not only thrones, dominations, powers, but all 
 the best hopes and dearest interests of the good men and true 
 friends we had learned to love and esteem. And even these 
 seemed little compared to such a fearful triumph of the evil 
 principle — the complete abasement df moral and intellectual 
 under animal force. Never in the whole world, I think, were so 
 many men of supposed sense and talent so utterly and stupidly 
 and obstinately wrong. Nay, dear sir, let us say it to one 
 another, if not to the incredulous world, ' The Lord had har- 
 dened Pharaoh's heart.' Nothing else will account for such a 
 superhuman blindness and stubbornness. On the Monday 
 even, fourteen men — Lord Normanby for one — went to implore 
 him to give way, and were received with jokes ; but the Oppo- 
 sition were no better, and are rightly served. The torrent soon 
 dashed over them. 
 
 "I would never affect to congratulate anybody on the 
 Republic ; they would not believe you — they do not believe 
 in it themselves. One can only, I think, express deep regret 
 (which all feel, except, perhaps, a handful of reckless adventu- 
 rers) and fervent but not sanguine wishes that good may come 
 
222 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 out of the gigantic evil. I have written to poor M. de Lamar- 
 tine, and could truly say that we all admire his efforts and pray 
 for his success. But for him, God knows what might have been 
 done ! And still, who can predict ? 
 
 " M. Guizot is well, and I left his dear old mother firm, 
 resigned, and heroic. I am house-hunting for and with his 
 dear children, which occupies nearly all my time. Best regards 
 to Mrs. Whewell. 
 
 " Most truly yours, 
 
 "S. Austin. 
 
 " I positively dread letters from Paris. The Circourts are 
 gone without notice, and without saying whither. 
 
 " My husband says, ' I cannot think with patience of any 
 Englishman exulting in this awful ruin. It is worse than 
 foolish — implying gross insensibility to the sufferings of others. 
 I don't wonder at any perverseness in so insane a coxcomb as 
 Carlyle,' &c. I think these words are altogether to your taste, 
 as they are to mine. 
 
 "M. Guizot's present address is 46, Bryanston Square ; but 
 we are in hopes of housing him very soon." 
 
 BartMlemy St, Hilaire to Sarah Austin. 
 
 [Translation.] 
 
 " Commission du Pouvoir ExfcuTiF, Paris, 
 
 ^^Jime 5, 1848. 
 
 " Madam and true Friend, — You must have thought I was 
 dead ; and, indeed, this long silence is almost worse. To give 
 you an idea of the life we are leading, I will say that since we 
 have been at the Luxembourg, for nearly three weeks, I have 
 not yet found time to go to my own house, nearly next door, 
 Rue de I'Odeon, 35. We work night and day ; and I bless God 
 that He permits my health to resist the strain. 
 
 " I suspect that you do not much approve of our work. If I 
 had the time I would explain our situation, which is far from 
 being an easy one, and I hope I should induce you to share our 
 hopes. I am unofficially attached to the Governnient, dividing 
 
SARAH A USTIN. 223 
 
 the task with my friends Gamier-Pages and Daguerre. Write 
 to me soon ; the opinion of England is of great importance to 
 us. I have not seen Cousin for the same reason that I have not 
 written to you. 
 
 " Aristotle and philosophy are abandoned for Madame la 
 Republique. 
 
 ■' Your most devoted 
 
 " B. St. Hilaire." 
 
 Barthelemy St. Hilaire to Sarah Austin, 
 [Translation.] 
 
 " Paris, _/z^^ 2, 1848. 
 
 "Madam and dear Friend, — We are all safe and sound. 
 Cousin is pretty well ; I have not been wounded, although I 
 was under fire several times. The only one of our friends who 
 is hurt is Bixio, whose place I took at the Hotel de Ville. A 
 ball has gone through his right side ; it has been extracted, and 
 we hope to save him. 
 
 "The terrible crisis' we have just traversed had been 
 imminent for four months. All our efforts were directed 
 towards its prevention ; a month sooner the insurgents would 
 have been victorious. But we had time to prepare our forces ; 
 and although the struggle has been bloody, the issue was never 
 doubtful. 
 
 " My health has resisted the forced labour of the last four 
 months — days and nights passed without any rest ; even my 
 eyes have not given me any uneasiness. I have never had ten 
 minutes to myself ; philosophy, poetry, friendships, private 
 business — all has been neglected ; but the Republic and liberty 
 were well worth the sacrifice. 
 
 " I have refused to enter into a Ministerial combination as 
 Minister of Public Instruction ; my colleagues did not inspire 
 me with sufficient confidence. The Chamber was disappointed 
 at my refusal, but my friends and people of sense think I was 
 
 " The insurrection of the Red Republic in Paris, suppressed by the army 
 under Marshal Cavaignac, after immense slaughter on both sides. 
 
224 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 right. Forgive my long silence ; give me news of all your 
 family, and believe me, 
 
 " The most devoted of all your devoted friends, 
 
 " B. St. Hilaire." 
 
 Sarah Austin to Rev. Dr. W. Whewell. 
 
 " 8, Queen Square, Westminster, 
 
 " Augusi 4, 1848. 
 
 '* Dear Dr. Whewell, — It is quite clear to me that the 
 French are utterly without the moral force and the capacity 
 for corporate action which alone can enable a people to wtt/i- 
 stand^ 'Mes compatriotes ne valent rien excepte un fusil a la 
 main,' writes a lady to me. Now they submit quietly, or 
 rather gratefully, to martial law ; and as long as Cavaignac is 
 prudent enough not to call himself king or governor, they will 
 let him do as he pleases. 
 
 " I forget if you know my excellent, honourable, and pious 
 young friend, the Vicomte de la Villemarque, who published 
 the ' Chants Bretons.' I send you a letter of his. One from 
 Cousin — curious — I wrote to him in the first agonizing day of 
 terror, and said, ' Wherever we are, we shall have a nook for 
 you, if you will accept it.' He interprets this into asking him 
 to emigrate. The passage about the difficulty of his political 
 attitude in this country will make you smile. How little they 
 understand us ! You see what he says about St. Hilaire. I 
 cannot express my grief that he should have seen it to be his 
 duty to serve under or with such men — he whom I thought 
 the most honest man in all France. I made bold to write him 
 a letter of remonstrance. I told him I dreaded for him ' that 
 last infirmity of noble minds, the belief that some sacrifice of 
 principle on his part might be useful to his country.' I im- 
 plored him to think that God wanted not his help to govern 
 His universe, that the government of his own soul was the only 
 one absolutely confided to him, and a great deal more such vain 
 entreaty. Vain indeed ! I have heard from him twice, but 
 there is no more 'epanchement possible between us at present. 
 It is a second Spanish marriage. 
 
 " I suppose you, like everybody else, know the secret— X\iz.\. 
 
SARAH A USTIN. 225 
 
 M. Guizot wrote, and I translated, the article on the state of 
 Religion in France in the last Quarterly. I believe we shall 
 soon go to work again. 
 
 " Now I must talk to you of a very different letter — one of 
 which I am very proud. It comes from a number of hard- 
 handed men, earning from los. to ^^4 a week, in a manufactory 
 of railroad carriages at Bow. I went to see them and their 
 library, and, at my request, Mr. Murray was so kind as to send 
 them a munificent present of books. I asked only for any 
 rejected copies he might have. Now, dear Dr. Whewell, you 
 will not laugh at me when I say that this letter caused my eyes 
 to fill with tears. So much gratitude for so small a thing, and 
 after all not due to me — such a yearning for the sympathy and 
 approbation of their ' betters ' — such a sense of the value of 
 instruction ! How is it that those who have the power do not 
 draw near to these brave hearts and excellent heads, and win 
 them as they might ? What a true dignity and politeness is 
 there in their manner of addressing me ! 
 
 " Would it be too much to ask you, dear Dr. Whewell, to 
 send them a book — one of your own, I mean — and to descend 
 from the intellectual heights in which you dwell to give a word 
 of encouragement to these our less favoured brothers ? Think 
 of the effect of a word of approbation from the Master of 
 Trinity ! — a sign that the moral culture they aspire after will 
 be a bond of union between them and the highest philosopher ! 
 
 " These six hundred men have founded their own library, 
 without the least guidance. I looked it through, and there is 
 not an objectionable book. I found Locke and Reid, Shake- 
 peare and Milton, Walter Scott, and almost all our best classics. 
 Is not this cheering ? When we meet in London again, you 
 must go and see the poor fellows at their vulcanic work. 
 " With the greatest respect and regard, 
 " Yours, 
 
 " S. Austin." 
 
 16 
 
CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 SARAH AUSTIN {continued). 
 
 Decree against MM. Louis Blanc and Caussidiire — Mr. Hallam's forecast 
 about Prince Louis Napoleon — M. J. J. Ampere on the Republic-^ 
 Madame Recamier — Letter from Mrs. Austin to Ur. Sciortino — M. B. 
 St. Hilaire on M. Guizot and M. Thiers' Books — Letter from Mrs. Austin 
 to M. Victor Cousin on the Principles of the French Revolution. 
 
 Barthelemy St. Hilaire to Sarah Austin. 
 
 [Translation.] 
 
 "Paris, ^«<^.j/ 27, 1848. 
 "Madam, — I have heard about you from Cousin, but it would 
 be very kind of you to let me hear from yourself. The state 
 of affairs here is very strange, and we do not yet see how we 
 are to improve them. The necessary thing is to inspire confi- 
 dence, and the decree against Louis Blanc and Caussidiere is 
 a step in the right direction. A month ago we asked the 
 Government to make up its mind ; it has hesitated far too 
 long, and the public peace has suffered. Paris, in the midst of 
 these serious questions, is exactly as you left it, No one would 
 imagine that we are in a stage of siege, if from time to time the 
 most monstrous measures — transportations without trial, news- 
 papers suspended, &c. — did not recall it to our minds. We 
 have not yet had any serious discussion on foreign affairs, or 
 even internal questions. It is singular that public opinion has 
 not yet asserted itself The unhappy fate of Italy has not 
 awakened us ; events in Germany have taught us nothing. It 
 
SARAH A USTIN. 227 
 
 is incomprehensible. Let us hope that freedom of thought 
 will soon return to France. 
 
 " What do you think of us ? Do you believe the mediation 
 will be a success? Here we doubt it, although we wish it. 
 Cavaignac is a strong' supporter of peace ; that is all very well, 
 but I am not sure whether he realises its inevitable conditions. 
 We had an interview with him the other day, but obtained no 
 further information than we had gathered from his speech, so I 
 suspect that he had nothing more to say. 
 
 " I have been named President of the Commission on Primary 
 Instruction. The first thing is to extend the law of 1833, so 
 ably analysed by you. I am extremely preoccupied with my 
 work, which is of great importance, and I should be glad if I 
 had the chance of talking it over with you. I hope you are 
 well. How is Mr. Austin ? 
 
 " Yours ever, 
 
 " B. St. Hilaire." 
 
 Henry Hallam to Sarah Austin. 
 
 "Clifton, October 2, 1848. 
 
 " Dear Mrs. Austin, — It is so long since I have heard 
 anything about you, that I must trouble you with a few lines 
 of inquiry. Let me know your plans, and especially what hope 
 I may entertain of meeting you in the early part of the winter. 
 If you- have any idea of going to Bowood, I should much like 
 to fix the same time. 
 
 " I have had a letter from Guizot lately, who has, as you of 
 course know, been settled for some time in his old quarters at 
 Brompton. He takes a gloomy view of France ; but can a wise 
 man hope much, at least for the present ? I cannot but look 
 at the extraordinary favour shown everywhere to Louis Napo- 
 leon as a new element of revolution. It is easy to say, as we 
 have been told for many years, that there are no Bonapartists. 
 I believe this was true as to the superior classes ; but in the 
 people, and especially in the Departments, I suspect that the 
 attachment to the name and memory of Napoleon has been a 
 deep and enduring sentiment, not counterbalanced by any other, 
 except among the Legitimists, Neither the Orleans family nor 
 
228 THREE GENERA TIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 the Republic having any hold upon the peasantry or rather 
 small proprietors. The universal suffrage has brought into 
 importance this popular sentiment ; and though something 
 now may be ascribed to the notion that young Louis has been 
 persecuted, I shall consider that every vote given to- him for 
 President of the Republic as given to him for Emperor ; to 
 which, if he commits no great blunder by his own incapacity, 
 he will be pushed in a short time. On the other hand, we see 
 no element of strength either in the Republican or the Royalist 
 parties, except that where possession goes for a great deal, and 
 the apprehension of the red republic will lead men to rally 
 round that which exists. I beg my best regards to Mr. Austin. 
 
 " Very faithfully yours, 
 
 " H. Hallam." 
 
 Jean Jacques Ampere to Sarah Austin. 
 
 [Translation.] 
 
 '■ PariSj Oct. 13, 1848. 
 " Dear Madam, — Two absences from Paris and two illnesses 
 have alone prevented me from writing to you long ere this ; 
 since then, what events have happened in the world ! Where 
 is our poor Germany ? Where is Berlin, which we knew as so 
 philosophic and so literary ? — now given up to such hideous 
 disorder. What will become of Austria after this victory gained 
 in the cause of order by the natural friends of German-Austria ? 
 And we, where are we drifting to in this Bonapartist phantas- 
 magoria which has been evoked by universal suffrage ? The 
 only thing that seems certain is a universal disposition to be 
 rid of the Republic at any cost, and as quickly as possible. It 
 would, perhaps, have been wiser to have kept it as it already 
 existed — to have organised it on a reasonable basis, and not 
 again to play at the dangerous game of restorations. But, 
 wrongly or rightly, the great majority in France do not wish 
 for a republic — not even a reasonable republic. France does 
 not believe in such a one, which, since the 2nd of June, I have 
 always maintained to be possible and, I conceive, desirable. 
 However, the will of a nation is a thing to be considered ; only 
 
SARAH AUSTIN. 229 
 
 how is it to be carried out ? We can but guess at it, without 
 understanding the process by which the goal is to be reached. 
 There is a jump to be made in the dark ; let us hope that in 
 making it France will not break her neck. 
 
 I ought to have mentioned the subject before which lies far 
 nearer my heart than politics, and which you ask about — the 
 sorrows of Madame Recamier, and of her eyesight. Many 
 griefs, and cruel ones, have fallen on her, but this last has been 
 the worst, from which she has not yet recovered, and which 
 will leave an indelible trace.' We have hopes for her eyes, but 
 they are slow in being realised. She is extremely touched by 
 your sympathy and your remembrance of her, and has charged 
 me to thank you, and to send you, from her, a small volume 
 almost entirely composed of quotations. She has dedicated 
 herself to the memory of M. Ballanche, and thinks that you 
 will like to read the words of one whom you knew how to 
 appreciate. 
 
 " J. J. AMPfeRE." 
 
 Sarah Austin to Dr. Sciortmo, Malta. 
 
 " Weybridge, Feb. 18, 1849. 
 "... Though it is long indeed since I had the pleasure of hear- 
 ing from you, I reckon with the same serenity as ever on your 
 attachment to us, and I am sure you will wish to know what 
 has become of us in the mighty convulsion which has shaken 
 Europe. We were in Paris through the whole of that horrible 
 scene — infinitely more contemptible than horrible, when you 
 saw with your eyes, and heard with your ears, that nobody of 
 any class wished, approved, or even could endure the change, 
 except the small band of ruffians who were allowed to bring it 
 about. The French have no popular institutions, nor any wish 
 or taste for any. A great central power which is to be over- 
 thrown now and then, is what they understand and like. 
 
 " I came over to England in March, time enough to see a 
 very different scene ; where the people stood up like men, and 
 said at once what was their determination. 
 
 " Your affectionate friend, 
 
 " S. Austin." 
 ■ Death of Chateaubriand. 
 
230 THREE GENERA TIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 Barthelemy St. Hilaire to Sarah Austin. 
 
 [Translation.] 
 
 "Paris, Feb. 24, 1849. 
 
 " Madam, — I was most happy to receive your letter, I had 
 expected it so long ! M. Guizot ought to be very grateful to 
 you ; had any other hand undertaken to interpret him, I am 
 sure your compatriots would not welcome his book as they are 
 sure to do.' Here, I am sorry to say it has had no success ; I 
 do not speak of our democrats, but among the most sensible 
 and calmest men of his o^vn party. For my own part, I should 
 have been glad if from his exile he had been able to cure the 
 ills of an ungrateful country. But nothing of the sort. M. 
 Guizot was arbiter of our destinies for eight years. Alas ! what 
 has he done with them ? His book contains no advice, it is a 
 bitter criticism which proves that he despised the society ol 
 which he was the leader. We were also disappointed in the 
 style. 
 
 " Do not judge the book of Thiers by the two sheets you 
 have, they are the weakest. A quarter, at least, of the rest is 
 occupied in combating the Commissions and Socialism, and in 
 explaining taxation. The doctrine it teaches is sterling, and 
 the style, though careless, has inimitable qualities. I believe 
 that it is to be translated in Belgium and England and 
 published in a cheap edition. Here it is already on sale in 
 four diverse sizes, and is found most useful in combating the 
 anti-social doctrines which now afflict us. 
 
 " I assure you that the exiles ^ can return when they like ; 
 no one will trouble them, unless they provoke animosity. The 
 past is absolutely forgotten. It is not thoughtlessness on our 
 part, but indulgence and good-nature. 
 
 " Your devoted, 
 
 " B. St. Hilaire." 
 
 ■ " On the Causes of the Success of the English Revolution of 1640-1688," 
 &c., by M. Guizot. 
 
 ° M. Guizot and his family. 
 
SARAH AUSTIN. 231 
 
 Sarah Austin to Victor Cousin. 
 
 [Translation.] 
 
 - " Weybridge, March 8, 1849. 
 
 " Dear Friend, — In writing /or you, I have delayed writing 
 to you. On Tuesday I got your article, and wrote at once to 
 the editor of the Examiner to .say how glad I should be to 
 make an abridged translation, if he had no one more capable of 
 doing it. I have not yet heard from him, but my article is 
 nearly finished. If you have another, I will send it to the 
 Spectator. I suppose you have seen the notice in the Times ? 
 
 " But I warn you, my dear friend, that English readers will 
 not understand your expression, ' the principles of the French 
 Revolution!' If you mean the principles of constitutional 
 monarchy, of representative government, of responsible 
 ministers, &c., then they are rather the principles of 1688 
 which are under discussion, and which were triumphant and 
 adopted in England a century before the French Revolution. 
 If you mean more than that, people will tell you that the fault 
 committed by France was in not being contented with such 
 liberties. This will be a difficulty with English reviewers. I 
 point it out to you because I foresee the objections that will be 
 raised. 
 
 " It seems to me that you are perfectly right, as against the 
 three fallen dynasties ; but I do not think that you have 
 succeeded in justifying France. Surely, by firmness, constancy, 
 and union, some better way than revolution might have been 
 found of controlling them ! You will admit that William III. 
 was remarkably autocratic, and that our nation had no 
 particular reason to be pleased with the four Georges ? A 
 true friend of France will always say to her, Have patience 
 and determination, and you will obtain the triumph of true 
 principles, without overturning all government. 
 
 " There is my opinion ; I give it for what it is worth. Apart 
 from this, your paper is full of admirable matter, admirably 
 said, and unanswerable. 
 
 "The post is going. I shall do an article for a magazine 
 besides a review. " Yours ever affectionately, 
 
 " S. Austin." 
 
CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 SARAH AUSTIN {continued). 
 
 The President — Italy and Austria — M. J. W. Decaisne on Madame Recamier 
 and M. Lamartine — Rome and the Holy See — Public Instruction in 
 France — Mrs. Austin is given a Pension by the Queen — Visitors at Wey- 
 bridge — Madame de Maintenon — Letter from Miss Berry to Mrs. Austin 
 on Madame Recamier — England a suggestive Country — Letter from M. 
 B. St. Hilaire to Mrs. Austin — Letter from Mrs. Austin to M. Victor 
 Cousin comparing English and French writers. 
 
 BartMlemy Si. Hilaire to Sarah Austin. 
 
 [Translation.] 
 
 " Paris, April i,, 1849. 
 "Madam, — . . . Things here are improving. Our President 
 is judicious and firm, but he does not show himself enough, which 
 is a mistake, as he must gain by being known. What strikes 
 most people in him is his honesty, a rare quality among political 
 men. 
 
 " Poor Italy ! What a disgraceful spectacle ! How low she 
 has fallen, to die without striking a blow.^ It was expected 
 here, and so caused but little excitement. Austria appears to 
 act with moderation, and if she continues to be prudent, we 
 have nothing to say. It seems that Prussia refuses the Empire ; 
 she is right, her time has not yet come ; if she contents herself, 
 for the present, with moral ascendency material greatness will 
 be sure to fall to her share. 
 
 ■ Marshal Radetzky defeated the Sardinian army at Novara on March 23, 
 1849. Then came the abdication of Charles Albert, which deferred the 
 emancipation of Italy for ten years. 
 
SARAH AUSTIN. 233 
 
 " I do not know whether the Republic will improve us, but 
 you know my optimism, and I think that our morality, which 
 had sunk so low under the late government, is already improv- 
 ing. 
 
 " Your most devoted, 
 
 " B. St. Hilaire." 
 
 J. W. Decaisne to Sarah Austin. 
 
 [Translation.] 
 
 "Paris, 4;>rz7 8, 1849. 
 " Nothing, dear madam, could give me more pleasure than 
 your kind remembrance of me. If our dear friend, Madame 
 Recamier, has always appeared to me the most perfect type of 
 French grace and elegance, you always represented English 
 goodness, kindness, and sound sense. We are beginning to 
 settle down, confidence is returning, and will, I trust, bring 
 prosperity with it. I see indications of this, but I only say so 
 under my breath, for few people are hopeful, and I am called an 
 optimist when I hazard a prediction of renewed prosperity. 
 But I do believe in it and the future will prove whether I am 
 wrong. Our unfortunate and beloved Madame Recamier is 
 sinking. The death of M. de Chateaubriand was a fatal blow. 
 A second operation has succeeded no better than the first and 
 she is condemned to total blindness, her eyesight is irretrievably 
 lost. Amid all her misfortunes she has preserved her wonderful 
 grace and unfailing gentleness, but the inimitable charm of that 
 delightful salon is gone. M. de Lamartine has fallen, sadly 
 fallen, from the sublime height on which the Revolution placed 
 him ; his wife is ever the model of devotion and abnegation, 
 but there also it is as though a thunderbolt had fallen. M. 
 Leon Faucher desires to be remembered to you, and I beg you 
 will say many things to your beautiful . daughter, and to Sir 
 Alexander and to Mr. Austin. 
 
 " Ever your sincere friend, 
 
 " J. W. Decaisne." 
 
234 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 Barthelemy St. Hilaire to Sarah Austin. 
 
 [Translation.] 
 
 " ? KRIS, July 8, 1849. 
 
 "Madam and dear Friend, — . . . Since the victory of the 
 13th of June, and the taking of Rome,' everything is improving 
 here. Our ' Montagnards ' have been as ridiculous as they are 
 odious, and if we are moderate and calm, our triumph is assured. 
 I drew up the proclamation of the Legislative Assembly ; if it 
 has come under your notice, you will see what republican 
 language I have put into the mouths of our conservative 
 majority. I am beginning to believe that the Republic is 
 established, and that force- or stratagem would have hard work 
 to destroy it. The President appears to be sincere in support- 
 ing it, and in three years he -will probably be re-elected after 
 some necessary modifications of the constitution. The Roman 
 affair is by no means at an end, spite of our dubious conquest. 
 It is a serious thing to have 50,000 French troops in the heart 
 of Italy ; add to this that the Pope is inimical to our principles, 
 and I do not see how we can force him to accept them, as he 
 did not ask us to replace him on his throne. I believe that the 
 clerical power is at an end ; but is the Holy See enlightened 
 enough to resign itself to the loss of temporal power ? It seems 
 doubtful, according to what poor Rossi = told me. 
 
 " I am on the commission to examine the law of public 
 instruction. M. Thiers is our president ; but can you believe 
 that the object of the law is to again place instruction in the 
 hands of the clergy ? You, who know France, you can judge 
 of the wisdom of such an attempt. We have seen some queer 
 things under the Republic, but certainly none so extraordinary 
 
 ' By General Oudinot. 
 
 ° Pellegrino Rossi. Born at Carrara, 1787. Exiled l8lS- Was named 
 Professor of Civil Law at Geneva in :8ig ; afterwards went to Paris, where he 
 held the chair of Political Economy and then that of International Law at the 
 College de France. In 1829 he published his " Traite du Droit Penal," in 
 which he endeavoured to reconcile Bentham's utilitarianism with the principles 
 of justice. Was appointed French Ambassador to Gregory XVI. in 1845. 
 Became Prime Minister to Pius IX. in 1848, and was assassinated the same 
 year in Rome on November 15th. 
 
SARAH AUSTIN. 235 
 
 as this. Should this unlucky project succeed, it will pave the 
 way for an interminable series of revolutions. It is waste of 
 time to preach in the name of, and to advocate order, for the 
 sake of organising anarchy. 
 
 " I hope the Assembly will be prorogued in August, and the 
 first use I shall make of my liberty will be to pay you a visit. 
 
 "Your ever devoted, 
 
 " B. St. Hilaire." 
 
 Sarah Austin to M. Gmzot. 
 
 " WEYBRIDGE,y?</)' 27, 1849. 
 
 "... I received two days ago from Lord John an announce- 
 ment that Her Majesty had been pleased to grant me a pension 
 of ^100 a year on the Civil List. If I had been disposed to 
 faire effet^ I should have rejected it with disdain like Miss 
 Martineau, and called it robbing the people, &c., &c. But I 
 have done no such thing. On the contrary, I told Lord John 
 that though I could not have taken it on the score of want., I 
 accepted it with pride and satisfaction, as a proof that my 
 humble labours have been thought useful. I hope you will not 
 despise me for my baseness. 
 
 " Among all the false friends and pernicious teachers the 
 poor people are cursed with, I know none who do more to cut 
 at the root of improvement than those who persuade them that 
 money given to intellectual labour is taken from their necessi- 
 ties. Of course I do not speak of the value of mine, which 
 may be small enough ; but of the principle. I am quite sure 
 of your joy, and that of my dearest children, at this little 
 accession to my means, and compliment to my humble works. 
 
 " I fancy you all at dear Val Richer, tranquil and at home. 
 May God's blessing be upon that home. 
 
 " Every faithfully yours, 
 
 "S. Austin." 
 
 In August M. B. St. Hilaire went over to pay the Austins a 
 visit to Weybridge. Mrs. Austin wrote to her sister, Mrs. 
 Reeve : — 
 
236 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 " He saw in London baths and washhouses, model lodgings, 
 Blue Coat, City of London, and Borough Road Schools ; 
 Cymbeline at Sadler's Wells, and the annual fHe at Spicer 
 Street — all sights illustrative of the physical, moral, and intel- 
 lectual state of the people, and all very satisfactory. I think 
 in so few days it would have been difficult to do more." 
 
 Sarah Austin to M. Gutzot. 
 
 " Weybridge, August 31, 1849. 
 
 " Dear M. Guizot, — You must have been astonished at my 
 long silence — at least I flatter myself so. 
 
 "Weybridge has been a perfect tourbillon of visitors, coming 
 and going, and as all, or nearly all, were foreigners, my whole 
 time and existence has been in requisition as cicerone. M. St. 
 Hilaire, who leaves us to-morrow, has been here above a fort- 
 night. Each of our guests has brought us his contribution of 
 new ideas. M. de Haxthausen especially, one of the most 
 remarkable and interesting men I ever met with, and whose 
 knowledge of Russia and the East is, I think, unequalled in 
 extent and depth. He is the nobleman of uralt Westphalian 
 race, under whose protection young Paul Lieven travelled. 
 
 " I think M. St. Hilaire will carry home some useful notions. 
 He is so good and upright a man, that if he saw the truth, I 
 think he would act up to it. My husband's conversation has 
 been a kind of perpetual lecture on politics, political economy, 
 &c. I send by him to Madame Lenormant a copy I have just 
 received, of my little attempt to describe Madame Recamier. 
 You will find yourself quoted (anonymously), and will, I hope, 
 pardon an allusion to your dear mother. As to Madame de 
 Maintenon — one cause of my delay in writing has been that I 
 was myself waiting for an answer from Mr. Empson ; I have 
 received it, and it is to the effect that it is against the rules of 
 the review (as I suspected) to publish a critique of any incomplete 
 work, and that we must wait till the whole is published before 
 anything can be done. You will, dear sir, be so good as to 
 communicate this to the Duke de Noailles ? At the same time 
 let me repeat my misgivings as to my ability to do it justice. 
 
SARAH AUSTIN. 237 
 
 I find on talking with M. St. Hilaire, that his view of her 
 character is even more favourable than that given by M. de 
 Noailles, and I also find, to my own shame and regret, that I 
 cannot divest myself of sentiments and prejudices against her, 
 imbibed long ago, and which I feel I am not sufficiently ac- 
 quainted with all the points of the subject to defend. To 
 satisfy my own conscience, I must go into a thorough study of 
 her character. My husband's opinion of her is much like my 
 own. I need not say with what gratitude I should receive any 
 hints you would give me about this extraordinary person. I 
 wish to be just, and indeed I feel that any doubt of my own 
 justice would oppress me so that I could not write. Right or 
 wrong, I have always believed myself right. Pray don't laugh 
 at my pedantry. 
 
 '' I spent an hour tke-a-tete with the Duchess of Orleans. I 
 think I never came near a more perfectly balanced mind. Ottr 
 people are firmly persuaded that her son will reign ; why, they 
 can hardly tell, but so it is. Somebody had told her that the 
 English people felt a malignant joy at the misfortunes and 
 degradation of France. She asked me if this was true ; you 
 may guess my reply. Who is it that invents such calumnies ? 
 I take upon me to say, nothing can be more false. 
 
 " S. A." 
 
 Agnes M. Berry to Sarah Austin. 
 
 "Richmond, August 31, 1849. 
 
 " My dear Mrs. Austin, — I am very glad to see our poor 
 friend Madame Recamier in such good hands as yours. I am 
 only sorry that your acquaintance with her began so late in her 
 career, and that you had not seen her, like me, in all the 
 various phases of a life so varied in circumstances and situa- 
 tions, although so little in its character and disposition. 
 
 "I saw her first in Paris at the Peace of Amiens, and in the 
 strange hodge-podge of society which Paris then presented. 
 She was the beauty par excellence.^ and her house the show 
 house of Paris, fitted up in all the minute expense and bad 
 taste of the day. 
 
 "I am ashamed of having been so long expressing to you how 
 
238. THREE GENERA TIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 much we shall rejoice in your visit, and be pleased to receive 
 your French friends, provided only that they are made aware 
 of the two old sybils that they are to meet. 
 
 " You must let me know what day the end of this week or 
 the beginning of the next you are likely to come, and to 
 believe you will always be welcome to 
 
 " Your sincere friend and humble servant, 
 
 "A. M. Berry." 
 
 Sarah Austin to M. Giiizot. 
 
 " Weybridge, Sept. 7, 1849. 
 " Dear Monsieur Guizot, — I can only repeat what I have 
 told you — that there is nothing I shall not always be ready to 
 lay aside when you do me the honour to claim my help. I 
 shall have the greatest pleasure in translating anything you 
 write, and a peculiar satisfaction in giving to my country the 
 opinions of the man in all the world best qualified by the 
 natural bent of his mind and character, as well as by his 
 studies and his experience, to form a sound and useful judg- 
 ment of it. I am far from thinking that anything great is to 
 be achieved by mere imitation ; the project of imitating institu- 
 tions, which, like those of England, are almost all the offspring 
 of slowly developed circumstances, is peculiarly absurd and 
 hopeless ; but I am entirely convinced that no man can be 
 qualified to legislate for what is called a free country (or a 
 country aspiring to be so), without a very attentive and pro- 
 found study of England. England is the most suggestive of 
 all countries to a legislator ; but who knows that so well as my 
 dear M. Guizot ? I long to see what your residence among us 
 may have suggested to you. I have been made to think much 
 of these things lately, by seeing the effect produced by England 
 on M. St. Hilaire, who spent a fortnight with us, and has just 
 returned to France. Spite of all I had said and written to 
 him, I saw he was wholly unprepared for the absence of all 
 visible intervention of the government. The immense variety 
 of local powers ; the extent to which the people are acquainted 
 with and possessed of those powers ; the quiet and (as it seems) 
 self-regulating movement of the whole complex machine ; the 
 
SARAH AUSTIN. - 239. 
 
 almost unconstrained and rarely-abused individual liberty — he 
 was in constant amazement ; perhaps indeed these things are 
 more striking in a village than in London. My last words 
 were ' go, and tell what you have seen,' and indeed he is well- 
 inclined to do so ; but will anybody hear him ? 
 
 " Your most affectionate and faithful 
 
 " S. Austin." 
 
 Barth'elemy St. Hilaire to Sarah Austin. 
 [Translation.] 
 
 " Paris, Oct. i, 1849. 
 . " Madam and dear Friend, — On my return from Wey- 
 bridge I spent three weeks with my friends at Agen, and I can 
 assure you that the profound impression made upon me by all 
 I saw in England has been communicated to every one I have 
 seen. Cousin is so pleased with my letters to (/' Ordre) that he 
 wants me to collect and publish them. Thanks to you, to Mr. 
 Austin, and to Lady Lucie, I have been able to learn a great 
 deal in a short time. Some people thought my descriptions 
 exaggerated, but I soon brought them to reason. 
 
 " Thanks, a thousand thanks, for having been the cause of 
 my taking this journey. Remember me to all your family, 
 and tell little Janet she need not fear that I shall forget her. 
 
 " Your devoted friend, 
 
 "B. St. Hilaire." 
 
 Sarah Austm to Victor Cousin. 
 
 [Translation.] 
 
 "Weybridge, Oct. 13, 1849. 
 " Dear Friend,^ . . . Up to a certain point connoisseurs in 
 style would accord the supremacy you claim for your compat- 
 riots ; but you pretend too much, and your pretensions will be 
 questioned. Your list is too long, and contains names to which 
 we think we can find parallels. We shall cite you Swift against 
 Rabelais ; Addison is certainly superior to Labruyere in grace 
 
240 THREE GENERA TIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 and simplicity ; while Fielding is behind Lesage in nothing. 
 But enough, and only to show you what objections you will 
 raise. It will be asked whether you are really so intimately 
 acquainted with those great masters of prose, Defoe and 
 Bunyan ; whether you really understand the perfections of 
 the style of Hobbes and of Berkeley sufficiently that you should 
 place them below the French writers you mention. Again, 
 there are people, and I am one of them, who find a finish, a 
 variety, a wonderful harmony, and a power of description (all 
 accomplished with the simplest and most familiar means), in 
 the style of Goethe, which place him, in his line, on a level 
 with any writer that can be named. I leave aside all con- 
 siderations of matter, and only talk of style. 
 
 " You are quite right in saying that some of your writers are 
 incomparable for the mixture of grandeur and naivete which 
 you characterise so well, and had you stopped there, every one 
 would be of your opinion. But there are other merits ; who, 
 for instance, among your historians has a narrative style equal 
 to Hume ? I do not wish to enter into discussion, but I affirm 
 that it would be doing you an ill service to translate what you 
 have sent me. 
 
 " Ever, dear friend, your affectionate 
 
 "S. Austin.'' 
 
CHAPTEB XXIII 
 SARAH AUSTIN [continued). 
 
 Lettp- from Mr. H. Crabb Robinson to Mrs. Austin on Mrs. Opie's Memoirs 
 — Mrs. Austin to Dr. Wliewell on the " fatal facilities of the French 
 Language" — Letter from Mrs. Austin to M. Guizot on finishing the 
 Translation of his Book — Elections in Paris — Mrs. Austin's Estimate of 
 Lord Palmerston — Letter from M. B. St. Hilaire to Mrs. Austin on 
 Popular Education — Speeches by Mr. Cobden, Sir W. Molesworth, and 
 Sir R. Peel— Death of Sir R. Peel— Lord Palmerston, Prince Met.ter- 
 nich, Princess Lieven, and M. Guizot. 
 
 H. Crabb Robinson to Sarah Austin. 
 
 "30, Russell Square, Nov. 4, 1849. 
 " Mv DEAR Mrs. Austin, — . . . Carlyle has been led by 
 vanity to degrade himself more than any man of our age, by 
 the public defence of slavery as an institution. John Taylor 
 and your family generally are examples of quiet independence 
 and contempt of that yielding to gentility which is the great 
 disgrace of the age and the support of the Church. 
 
 " When I think of the French and the Americans, I am 
 humiliated at the variety of my frustrated hopes, and take 
 • consolation in Schiller's Worte des Wahns. 
 
 " At Bury I looked over Mrs. Opie's Memoirs — and that 
 with interest. The obviously unequalled attachment of Amelia 
 Alderson to Mrs. John Taylor — that was the name I always 
 heard pronounced with great reverence by Catherine Buck. 
 This was a few years before I heard Mrs. Barbauld speak of 
 Susan and Sally Taylor with such warmth ; the naked names 
 do not offend you, I daresay. In the Life there is a studied 
 
242 THRSlE GENERATIONS OE ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 omission of the name of Clarkson, who was really the great 
 figure at the anti-slavery congress or gathering. I do not 
 understand these things — they are not worth understanding, I 
 daresay. I have made a note to read a memoir by you in 
 Eraser of Madame Recamier, the most quiet, graceful old lady 
 I ever saw. If in advanced life she practised art, she effectually 
 concealed it. Best remembrances to Mr. Austin. 
 
 " Very truly yours, 
 
 "H. C. Robinson." 
 
 Sarah Austin to Rev. Dr. Whewell. 
 
 " Weybridge, y«;z. 8, 1850. 
 " Dear Dr. Whewell, — I should not have let one post 
 depart without my thanks and my husband's, and our answer- 
 ing good wishes, if I had not been in a state of almost breath- 
 less haste to finish my task for M. Guizot.' I had not a 
 moment's interval, as you will have imagined, between the 
 completion of the article for the Quarterly and the beginning 
 of the pamphlet. They are not long ; but I think nothing 
 ever cost me so much trouble. It is certainly more difficult to 
 translate French than German into good English — easier per- 
 haps into certain combinations of English words. The ' fatal 
 facilities ' of the French language, the many expedients for 
 giving an air of meaning to no meanings, are all laid bare 
 when one comes to translate — Cinderella's ball clothes drop off, 
 and leave her dirty and ragged. One finds to one's consterna- 
 tion that it is not only words, but ideas (that is, distinct ideas) 
 that one has to furnish ; this is the case with all modern 
 French. The constant use of large sweeping abstractions, as 
 active or passive in every conceivable event, gives an unutter- 
 able vagueness to thought. Suppose Mr. Macaulay talked of 
 what the Revolution of 1688 did and suffered ; the translator 
 has constantly to ask who ? which of the agents ? &c., &c. ; 
 but you know all this better than I. Then the article for the 
 Quarterly Review was not interesting, I thought, to the Eng- 
 
 ' Mrs. Austin was translating M. Guizot's book " On the Causes of the 
 Success of the English Revolution of 1640-88," which came out in 1850. 
 
SARAH AUSTIN. ■- 24i 
 
 lish public — only to us du metier ; and I had to dress it a little 
 ■ — as much as I dared. I felt as if you and my dear Mrs. 
 Whewell would be likely to guess one interpretation. My 
 head and heart were full of Cambridge, and a little of all the 
 mingled and delightful feelings I had experienced there seemed 
 naturally to flow through my pen. M. Guizot, however, 
 heartily approved. The pamphlet you will perhaps see in the 
 original, as well as the English, which I hope you will receive 
 from Mr. Murray. You will understand the labour it has cost 
 me. I wished to do it justice, and even more than justice ; I 
 wish I could have put into it a little more of practical utility, 
 for, you see, even he suggests nothing positive, nothing as even 
 a beginning of permanent institutions. Is it not pitiable to see 
 30,000,000 of people now occupied in ascertaining how much, 
 or rather how little, sense one trifling young man has ? lis en 
 sont toujours la. What M. G. says of the worship of demo- 
 cracy is true enough. 
 
 " All these things fill me with the deepest anxiety on one 
 point— the point on which the permanency of our institutions 
 and our salvation as a nation turn. Are our higher classes able 
 to keep the lead of the rest ? If they are, we are safe ; if not, 
 I agree with my pdOr dear Charles Buller — our turn must 
 come. 
 
 " Now Cambridge and Oxford must really look to this. The 
 recent deaths seeni to bring to view a great scarcity of men able 
 to lead. Why is this ? ; 
 
 " " Mr. Austin thanks ydu very much' f(3r your recollection of 
 liim and his- tastes ; he has read your paper with great interesti 
 You know, I believe, what a L'ockite he is, but that does not 
 lessen his admiration for the striking and elevated -tone of your 
 speculations. I have read the essay with great delight, though 
 you choose to assume that I shall not care for it. What 
 indeed can be so interesting ? All the other subjects that we 
 call serious, how small and transitory they seem when compared 
 to these which reach into infinity — a little beyond aristocracies 
 and democracies ! 
 
 "Yours ever, dear Dr. Whewell, with cordial respect and 
 regard, 
 
 "S. Austin." 
 
244 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 Sarah Austin to M. Guizot. 
 
 "WEYBRIDGEjJflW. 21, 185O. 
 
 " Before we start, I wish to let my dearest Monsieur Guizot 
 know that I have finished. I take for granted you have sent 
 me all, and that we conclude with the word ' success '—the 
 refrain of the beginning — as it ought to be. The last pages are 
 just gone, and, if the printer is expeditious, we shall exceed by 
 very little the day you appointed. I forgot to ask you and Mr. 
 Murray if you had any desire to put my name in the titlepage. 
 I have not the least objection — on the contrary, I shall feel it a 
 very high honour. On the other hand, you know I am not 
 anxious for it on any other ground. I never cared for renown, 
 and as people know that I can translate, there is no new glory 
 to be acquired, except from my humble alliance with you. 
 How shall I thank you enough, my kind and honoured friend, 
 for those few words, the purpose of which I understood so 
 well ? Would that I could tell you they had produced any 
 active result ! but the thing goes on in the same manner. My 
 husband gets books and exhausts their whole contents, turning 
 every part of his subject over a thousand times in his mind ; 
 but though the head works, the hand is absolutely inert. And 
 then he takes refuge in a sort of dkcouragement — as if there 
 were nothing to be done for mankind. 
 
 " He is greatly disquieted about France. He says things appear 
 to him blacker and morfe threatening than when there was 
 fighting in the streets. Our Protectionists are, as you see, 
 playing the same game as your Legitimists — only not in the 
 midst of such imminent perils. But people seem uneasy. 
 
 " I am eager to hear what you think of Mr. Senior's article 
 on the revolution. I have not yet seen it, my copy is lent to a 
 journeyman carpenter. 
 
 " I cannot conclude without thanking you most sincerely 
 and cordially for the great satisfaction I have had in translating 
 your admirable discourse. It is perfectly and throughout tref- 
 fend. I only wish I could do more justice to the eloquence of 
 it, but the march of our languages is as different as that of the 
 ideas which sway the two countries, and you must be resigned 
 to lose some of your vivacity and point. " Yours, 
 
 " S. Austin." 
 
SARAH AUSTIN. 245 
 
 Barthelemy St. Hilaire to Sarah Austin. 
 
 [Translation.] 
 
 "Paris, March 18, 1850. 
 
 " Madam, — Your letter has given me great pleasure, and the 
 violets were a sweet remembrance of Weybridge. They had 
 not lost their scent in the journey. 
 
 " The Paris elections have astounded the party, so called, of 
 order, which is not the party of courage. The unfortunate law 
 of public instruction, the uncalled-for destruction of the trees of 
 liberty, and a few other follies of our police have brought about 
 this result. The Parisian populace have replied to silly provo- 
 cations by still sillier elections. It is almost impossible to see 
 how we are to emerge from this chaos. It seems as though the 
 Government was obstinately bent on absolute resistance, in 
 which case it is lost. Meanwhile the principal actors keep 
 behind the curtain ; they hold the strings of the marionettes, 
 but do not even dare to assume the burden of affairs. We 
 shall have to return to the Odilon Barrot and Dufaure colour- 
 ing, perhaps laid on a little stronger. Nothing else will save 
 us ; the masses will not allow the Republic to be destroyed. 
 
 " Cousin is well ; he is preparing a third volume on public 
 instruction. I am finishing a pamphlet on the same question, 
 and shall then go back to philosophy with intense joy. Love 
 to little Janet. I hope Mr. Austin is well ? 
 
 " Your devoted 
 
 " B. St. Hilaire." 
 
 Sarah Austin to M. Guizot. 
 
 " Weybridge, Whitsunday, 
 
 ''May, 1850. 
 " Dearest Monsieur Guizot, — I cannot tell you the com- 
 fort I have in thinking of your tranquillity about your 
 daughters. One is ashamed, in days like these, when the 
 decomposition of society seems impending over us, when races 
 of men seem doomed to destruction, to talk of what happens 
 to ourselves as the special work of Providence. Yet there are 
 
246 THREE GENERA TIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 events in which the immediate finger of God seems visible; 
 and the marriage of these dear children at such a time, and 
 under such circumstances, strikes one as ■&. compensation. The 
 world owes you rnany a one, my dear M. Guizot, but it has 
 none to bestow that you would value like this. 
 
 " You may imagine the consternation into, which we are 
 thrown by the recall of your ambassador. My husband is 
 miserable about it, and is not gentle in his language about 
 Lord Palmerston. You know what I always said, ' He is the 
 evil genius of England.' I think that opinion is now becoming 
 pretty general. You see what a miserable figure he has forced 
 his colleagues to make. This is worse than all the rest, for 
 never had we such urgent need of the honour and reputation 
 of our public men, and these (one, at least) were so unspotted. 
 It is impossible to explain to any foreigner who does not under- 
 stand England as you do, how such men and such a people can 
 submit to the caprices and the unprincipled folly of an insolent 
 and malignant man. But you will see the terror of a pro- 
 tectionist ministry, and the immense difficulty of forming any 
 other. Still, I think, things cannot long go on thus. I quite 
 understand the indignation of the French ; but is it really true 
 that a war with England would be popular ? Most assuredly, 
 the feeling here is widely different. Nobody desires war ; most 
 people detest it. 
 
 " I wish I could look forward with any confidence to a visit 
 to Val Richer. I shall hardly be able to restrain my eagerness 
 to see you cnpatriarche. How joyous it would be to see the 
 five children around you ! Mine are talking under my window, 
 and baby's little voice me donne des distractions even while I 
 am writing to you. When I feel what these ties are, I take 
 heart for the human race. Let the bouleversement be ever so 
 complete, there are things which no sophistry and no violence 
 can ever destroy. Family affections are indestructible, and 
 while they subsist there remains always the nucleus around 
 which society must reconstitute itself on a sane and natural 
 footing. I am heartily glad you are going to resume your 
 history. 
 
 " I go to-morrow or the next day to spend a few days at Mr. 
 Hallam's, You know how I love aqd revere him, God bless 
 
SARAH A USTIN. 247 
 
 you, dearest sir and friend, and increase your happiness with 
 your days. 
 
 " Your most faithful 
 
 " S. Austin." 
 
 Barthelemy St. Hilaire to Sarah Austin. 
 [Translation.] 
 
 " Paris, _/z^;ze 18, 1850. 
 
 " Madam, — I hope to see you towards tKe middle of August. 
 I am very tired, and have great need of a little repose. The 
 aspect of our affairs contributes not a little to my lassitude. I 
 am deeply afflicted by all I see, and I fear an imminent catas- 
 trophe. The business of the three millions is dishonourable, 
 and the electoral law is a lie. Until we can get an honest 
 government my poor country will not be cured of its many ills. 
 . " I have heard that there is an article on the ' Vraie Demo- 
 cratic ' in the Athenceum ; have you been so good as to occupy 
 yourself with my little work ? I continue my translation of 
 ' Aristotle ' every morning before going to the Chambers ; and 
 Mr. Chase's, which you so kindly sent me, lies on my desk from 
 5 till 9.30. I have found him a learned, faithful, and intelligent 
 expositor, but he thinks too much of his contemporaries. I 
 had rather see him cite ' Plato ' by the side of ' Aristotle ' than 
 Butler and others. 
 
 " Cousin is well ; he is finishing some small things, and will 
 then, I hope, finish his great work on Plato. 
 
 " Your ever devoted 
 
 " B. St. Hilaire." 
 
 Sarah Austin to M. Guizot. 
 
 " Weybridge, July 3, 1850. 
 " Dearest Monsieur Guizot, — You have, I am sure, read 
 the two debates (Lords and Commons) with intense interest, 
 and with partial approbation and admiration. I am only now 
 reading the House of Commons debate, having been in London, 
 and extremely occupied while it was going on. I am struck 
 
248 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 with Cobden's speech. He is a man I do not like or esteem, 
 but he has a wonderful command of plain, direct language, and, 
 when he happens to be right, his speeches are admirable. Sir 
 William Molesworth spoke and acted excellently. Several men 
 went to ask his advice, and what he meant to do. He said, ' I 
 shall tell no one. I shall vote as my own conscience directs, but 
 the responsibility of each man's vote, in so critical a moment, 
 must rest with himself.' What do you think of his speech ? 
 My husband says by far the best was Sir Robert Peel's. Alas ! 
 and here we sit, not knowing whether he is still alive, or 
 whether our poor country is robbed of this most precious of 
 her sons. My husband is quite dejected. He says if Peel is 
 gone there remain only the Duke of Wellington and Lord 
 Lansdowne who have any authority in the country, and how 
 long can we hope to retain them ? My husband thinks Lord 
 John's speeches far worse than Lord Palmerston's, and calcu- 
 lated to do great mischief. Everybody speaks of Lord Palmer- 
 ston's as the most wonderful effort of oratory, considering his 
 age, the heat, and all there was to increase his difficulties. 
 During five hours he never faltered, never recalled a word, 
 never drank a drop of water, and left off with the very same 
 intonation of voice as he began with. How lamentable that 
 such powers are so employed ! People seem to think that, in 
 spite of the triumph of the government, the system of foreign 
 policy has received a severe and salutary check, and that even 
 he will not risk another such struggle. If there were any 
 bounds to human credulity, one might be amazed at hearing 
 sensible men (as I did) talk of ' all this being the result of a con- 
 spiracy.' I asked in vain what means you and M. de Metter- 
 nich and P^^°' Lieven and Co. possessed of influencing the 
 minds and opinions of the English public, for I maintain that 
 the public was against the Government. Nobody can answer, 
 yet they continue to assert it. We are very much ashamed of 
 the vulgar, blustering tone of the speeches on that side. I beg 
 you to believe so. 
 
 " I hope things go on tolerably in France. There is really 
 nothing amiss in the state of the country ; if there were but a 
 government that commanded confidence, all would soon come 
 right. Wonderful elasticity of France ! 
 
SARAH A US TIN. 249 
 
 " I hear you are in Paris. I shall be glad to think of you 
 with the spud in your hand in the garden, or engaged in the 
 sempiternal Patience in an evening. The intervals I permit 
 you to employ on history. How happy you must be in the 
 midst of all those dear children ! All here are as usual. Little 
 Maurice climbs the hill with rather more visible rapidity than 
 we descend it. The creature has attached himself with a sort 
 of passion to his grandfather, which is very charming. I have 
 no news, and can think of none but the saddest — the fatal 
 accident to Sir R. Peel. Mr. Hallam was greatly distressed, as 
 you may think. 
 
 " Adieu, dearest sir, 
 
 " Your most affectionate 
 
 " S. Austin." 
 
CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 SARAH AUSTIN (continued). 
 
 Mrs. Austin on John Locke's Tomb — Shakespeare and Locke — M. B, St. 
 Hilaire's admiration of England — A Critic's Pleasure — State of Ger- 
 many — The Durham Letter — Sir James Stephen — M. B. St. Hilaire on 
 the Protestant Demonstrations — Note of the i8th of January, 1851. 
 
 Sarah Austin to Victor Cousin. 
 
 [Translation.] 
 
 "MoRETON, Essex, Sept. 14, 1850. 
 " Dear Friend, — I write to you in the parlour of a small 
 inn, where we have passed the night to be neai- High Laver. 
 I feel an absolute necessity to write and tell you of our pilgri- 
 mage. How I wished for you when we first caught sight of 
 the tomb of Locke ! We passed two days at Stratford-on- 
 Avon ; I cannot describe it properly to you. The memory of 
 Shakespeare lives in every stone in the road, and fills every 
 corner. The room where he was born, the tomb where he 
 reposes, the old grammar school where he learnt to read, the 
 little path which he trod when going to see Anne Hathaway, 
 and the cottage in which she lived. 
 
 "Yesterday we were at Peterborough, and then passed two 
 hours at Ely, where the noble cathedral is being restored. We 
 saw it under the guidance of Dr. Peacock, whom you will know 
 as a great mathematician. At Harlow we left the railway and 
 came here in a carriage. We drove straight to the church, 
 and stood before John Locke's tomb, let into the south wall, 
 
 250 
 
SARAH AUSTIN. 251 
 
 In the churchyard there are several tombs of the Masham 
 family. 
 
 "Wishing to copy all the inscriptions, I went this morning 
 with a village lad across the fields, and we passed near the 
 rectory, an old-fashioned house surrounded by fine trees, with 
 a charming garden, and a rivulet meandering through it. I 
 asked my guide whether he thought that the rector would 
 object to my calling upon him. He said, ' Oh no, he was an 
 old and learned man.' We found him in the garden with his 
 young curate. The rector came forward with old-fashioned 
 courtesy, begging me to honour his manse by a visit. He was 
 singularly dressed, and his long white hair reached to his 
 shoulders. To cut my story short, this venerable and kindly 
 old man was mad — perfectly harmless, retaining his love of 
 reading and of philosophy, and with the manners of a gentle- 
 man of the old school. His one passion is Locke. You may 
 imagine how well he received me. While waiting for my 
 husband to join us he showed me all the editions of Locke's 
 works, the register of the death of John Locke, bachelor, and 
 told me his recollections as a child of Oates. The house was 
 pulled down about forty-five years ago. 
 
 " We heard divine service — the same that Locke and his illus- 
 trious friends once listened to. Opposite to us was their pew ; 
 nothing had been changed. Afterwards we drove to Oates ; 
 nothing is left but the laundry and two magnificent lime-trees. 
 There we found Mr. Ingersol, a young farmer, who inherited it 
 from his uncle, and who pointed out to us the locality of the 
 old house. Everything, as you see, was favourable, the weather 
 was beautiful, and, although not picturesque, the country round 
 is pretty. 
 
 " To return to the tombs. Sir Francis Masham, who died in 
 1722, is buried inside the church ; but his admirable wife, who 
 soothed the last moments of Locke, where does she lie ? There 
 is not a trace of her ; perhaps she left Oates after her husband's 
 death, and is buried near her father at Cambridge.' But we 
 
 ' Dame Damaris Masham (daughter of Ralph Cudworth, D.D.) is 
 buried at Bath, where there is an inscription to her memory in the abbey 
 church, 
 
252 THREE GENERA TIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 found the tomb of Damaris Cudworth, her mother, with an 
 inscription, which tradition assigns to Locke. It is beautiful, 
 and quite what he would have written. 
 
 " In the churchyard are the tombs of the first Lord Masham 
 and his wife Abigail, the favourite of Queen Anne ; of General 
 Hill her brother, and Mistress Alice Hill her sister, and of the 
 second Lord Masham and his two wives Henrietta and Char- 
 lotte. Against the south wall of the church is a square raised 
 tomb inscribed 'John Locke, ob. a.d. 1704.' Above is a 
 marble tablet bearing the Latin inscription written by Locke 
 himself (You shall have copies of all the inscriptions.) Be- 
 side the principal entrance to the church there is a small door 
 on the south side, close to which is a grass grave immediately 
 under and parallel with the wall. Here, village tradition says, 
 lies a faithful servant of the Masham family, now remembered 
 only as ' Luke.' He used to hold this door open for his 
 master and mistress, and when he died they buried him at his 
 post. A few steps only divided the tombs of the great philo- 
 sopher and the faithful Luke. 
 
 "Now I must go to bed ; to-morrow morning we return to 
 
 my dear cottage. 
 
 ' Ever your affectionate friend, 
 
 " S. Austin.' 
 
 Sarah Austin to M. Gut'zot. 
 
 " Weybridge, Sept. 17, 1850. 
 " Dearest Sir and Friend, — . . . We had never seen the 
 north of England, so on the 23rd of August we left home, and 
 have been to Gloucester, Worcester, Malvern, and Warwick. 
 We spent a Sunday quietly at Stratford-on-Avon, hallowed by 
 the greatest human manifestation of God's power. I forget if 
 you have seen the lowly roof under which Shakespeare was 
 born, or the stone under which his ashes lie. Few things in 
 my life have touched me more than the standing in the room 
 v/hich heard the first wail of that sweet and mighty voice that 
 echoes round the world. The church where he lies is singu- 
 larly harmonious and beautiful, and the service in it no less so ; 
 
SARAH AUSTIN. 253 
 
 and the thought that there he Hstened to the words I was 
 hearing gave them a new solemnity. In St. George's Chapel, 
 Windsor, there is a special prayer for ' the Knights of the most 
 Honourable Order of the Garter.' I think it would be more 
 to the purpose to have a form of thanksgiving for the creation 
 and inspiration of Shakespeare. In default of it I made one for 
 myself. 
 
 " Our little tour ended with a pilgrimage to the grave of 
 Locke. By the side of a humble, sequestered village church, 
 now attended only by rustics, there lies the man whose clear 
 and potent intelligence was second only to his spotless virtue. 
 His tomb is inscribed, 
 
 JOHN LOCKE. Ob. 1704. 
 
 Above it is the tablet with the Latin epitaph written by him- 
 self, and which I daresay you know. We heard service in 
 the church where he had sat by the side of his incomparable 
 friend Lady Masham, listening to the same words of hope and 
 peace. 
 
 " I cannot tell you how tranquillising and elevating all this 
 was. There lay the long mouldered ashes of the man ; but his 
 love of truth, his confidence in her power, his love of mankind, 
 his clear intelligence, his gentle piety, seemed to radiate from 
 his modest tomb, and the simplicity and serenity of his charac- 
 ter seemed to breathe in the whole place. I thought of you, 
 dear sir, and wished for you. You would have seen how 
 wisdom can move and attach the hearts of men through all 
 time, how they triumph over time and death. Is it not a 
 sublime thought that a few feet of obscure earth can be made 
 dear and holy to the good of all ages, by being the resting- 
 place of such a man as Locke ? It is true that, seeing what we 
 see, one is sometimes inclined to think he has thought and 
 written in vain, but we must hope as he hoped, and trust as he 
 trusted. 
 
 " Your faithful and attached, 
 
 " S. Austin." 
 
254 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 Barth'elemy St. Htlaire to Sarah Austin. 
 [Translation.] 
 
 "Bagneres de Bigorre, Sept. 17, 1850. 
 
 " Ah ! madam, how interesting your trip must have been, 
 and how I should have liked to join in your reverence for 
 Shakespeare. England does right to nourish admiration for 
 one of her greatest sons. In our poor country of revolution we 
 have no time for such pious and gentle creeds. The birthplace 
 of Moliere is barely known at Paris, and hardly a signature of 
 his has been kept. 
 
 " My admiration for England increases when I study your 
 history. When I read of Cromwell and Charles II., after 
 Elizabeth and Henry VIII., I am astonished at the rapid 
 growth of your progress and wisdom. France, alas ! has still 
 much to learn. I see nothing stable in the future. Instead of 
 serving his country, the President is begging for votes ; the 
 various hypocritical divisions of the Chamber, none of. whom 
 dare say what they really want ; the legal violence of the great 
 party of order ; the absurdities of the demagogues — all this 
 promises ill. Meanwhile the political morality of the nation 
 suffers. Your Revolution of 1688 bore good fruit; ours of 
 1830 has produced nothing, thanks to those into whose hands 
 its guidance fell. I can only look to Providence to deliver us 
 out of the mess we are in. The Republic is, however, better 
 "established than people think, and in spite of what our friend 
 Cousin says, every day increases my faith. He laughs at me--' 
 it would be easy to turn the tables against a monarchy of 
 eighteen years. For the moment we shall not have a coup 
 d^itat, and I hope that in 1852 the nation will be wise enough 
 to choose another President, perhaps the Prince de Joinville, 
 should he wish it. 
 
 " What do you, at a distance, think of the state of things 
 here ? Every one conspires against the Republic, at Wiesbaden, 
 at Claremont, at Cherbourg, and at Versailles. The Republic 
 laughs ; she is ' bonne fiUe,' but some day she might frown, 
 without, however, ceasing to be just. 
 
 "I have finished the eleventh canto of the ' Iliad,' and have 
 
SARAH AUSTIN. 255 
 
 begun the twelfth; you see I am getting on. I hope Mr. 
 Austin is well. 
 
 " Your ever devoted 
 
 "B. St. HiLAiRE." 
 
 Sarah Austin to Rev. Dr. Whewell. 
 
 "Weybridge, Sept. 24, 1850. 
 
 " Dear Dr. Whewell, — You will be able to tell me some- 
 thing about Mr. Dowe. My husband knows nothing of man 
 or book. The title is unpromising and sounds quackish and 
 prophetic, but the book may have merit. I have told Cousin 
 that, alas ! we abound in people who make theology, philo- 
 sophy, poetry, art, philanthropy, serve the cause of radicalism — 
 of that general tendency to sacrifice the superior to the inferior 
 elements of society- — which is the epidemy of our times. 
 
 " Jupiter nods. You directed my letter, Mrs. A., Wood- 
 bridge. A Mrs. Austin opened it, was perplexed, comme de 
 . raiso7i, thence it went to Brandeston Hall, my brother-in-law 
 ' Charles's house, where " Trin. Lodge" sufficed to put them on 
 the right scent. I write immediately, though I cannot answer. 
 But as the writing to my niece, Meta, for the book you want, 
 and receiving - her answer, will make a further dejay, I give 
 myself the pleasure of this little reproach, or triumph, or what- 
 ever you like that expresses the unlooked-for pleasure of finding 
 that a great man can make a small blunder — a thing which 
 critics especially relish. It is a long time since we, met, and 
 you may believe that a couple of days at Cambridge would be 
 an immense gain and pleasure to me. B. St. Hilaire comes to 
 us next month. He is as much out of heart as M. Guizot 
 about France. 
 
 " My German friends are not in better heart. I don't, know 
 how you found things. I am very glad Kreuznach answered 
 to Mrs. Whewell. My best love to her. 
 
 " I shall write again anon, and will now only say how truly 
 I am, dear Dr. Whewell, 
 
 " Yours,- 
 
 "S. Austin.'^ 
 
256 7HREM GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 Sarah Atistin to M. Guizot. 
 
 "Weybridge, A'bz'. 30, 1850. 
 " Dear M. Guizot, — You seem to have floated over another 
 of the whirlpools or falls that lie in your course. I wish I 
 could think it the last. T saw, however, that our good friend 
 B. St. Hilaire was just as far from any feeling of security this 
 year as the last, and I conclude he would think favourably of 
 things, if he could. I think his visits to England have done 
 him great good. He has both learned and unlearned a great 
 deal. Did he tell you that M. Cousin had resolved to accom- 
 pany him, and at the last moment retracted ? I suppose you 
 are much agitated by what is passing in Germany ; even we 
 are so. A witty Berliner wrote to me some time ago, ' Der 
 Konig ist schon lang nur ein Studium fiir Pathologen ' (' The 
 King for a long time has only been a subject for the study of 
 pathologists '). Did any one ever see such letters and such 
 speeches ? I never asked you, of course, what you thought of 
 M. de Radowitz. From the little I had seen and heard of him, 
 my impression was that he was somewhat of a humbug. Per- 
 haps I am wrong. I am curious to hear how he is judged. I 
 have had a very long and very interesting letter from my dear 
 and revered old friend, M. de Lindenau. He has been in South 
 Germany. His impressions about Austria are very favourable. 
 He tells me wonders of the total abandonment of the old 
 system, and says that Schwarzenberg aims at no less than to be 
 the Richelieu of the Austrian monarchy, in which, adds M. de 
 L., I heartily wish him success, supposing always that it is to 
 be a constitutional one. All that he says about the Slavonian 
 and Magyar populations corresponds with all that I saw, heard, 
 and thought when among them. But I will get the passage 
 copied and send it to you. You know how entirely unpreju- 
 diced, how calm, how experienced, and how sagacious he is ; 
 his opinions may therefore have value for you. I am thankful 
 to think of you with two more creatures to love — especially 
 babes : nothing is so completely delightful and refreshing as 
 their society. Even the germs of evil which appear in them, 
 their na:if selfishness, their little violences and tempers, have a 
 gentillesse that disguises the cloven foot. My Maurice is just 
 
SARAH AUSTIN. 257 
 
 in perfection, joyous and amusing, making every day fresh 
 acquisitions and displaying new talents. While I watch him 
 and listen to his little ramage, I want nothing else in the 
 world. 
 
 " My husband is tolerably well — as well as a body subjected 
 to the attrition of such a mind, revolving on itself, can be. 
 
 " I wanted to send you a little thing I wrote about Locke's 
 grave, but I have not a copy of the Athenceum containing it. 
 Cousin has, if you care to see such a trifle. There are two 
 parts, October 5th and 19th (I think). There are things in it 
 that will charm you, especially the epitaph on Mrs. Cudworth, 
 written by Locke. What would that serene and exalted soul 
 feel at the spectacle of the frenzy that rages in England now ? 
 Is there anything in France or Germany more absurd or more 
 unreasoning ? One would think the Pope were landing with 
 50,000 crusaders and a staff of inquisitors. Obviously he and 
 his bishops can act only by persuasion, and if that does not 
 succeed without a hierachy, neither will it with one. The 
 Pope and Cardinal Wiseman committed a foolish impertinence, 
 which ought to have been met with calm remonstrance. Lord 
 John Russell's letter ' is almost universally condemned, in spite 
 of all you may read in newspapers, and is indeed a most 
 wonderful production for a statesman. It comes most 
 opportunely at the moment the Irish constituencies are being 
 increased tenfold by the new Act. I heard a letter from 
 Ireland yesterday, saying that the present frenzy and Lord 
 John's letter would make it more difficult to govern Ireland 
 than it had ever been. This anybody might have foreseen ; 
 but his adherents call it ' a good party move ' — a sentiment as 
 wise as it is moral. 
 
 " Have you seen Sir James Stephen ? I am curious to Jiear 
 what he says to all this. He cannot approve it, I think. Sir 
 
 ■ The so-called " Durham Letter," written by Lord J. Russell on Nov. 4, 
 1850, to the Bishop of Durham, about "the late aggression of the Pope 
 upon our Protestantism." Dr. Wiseman had been created a Cardinal, and 
 appointed the first Archbishop of Westminster, in a document couched in 
 grandiloquent style. This manifesto was followed by the publication of a 
 pastoral from the new Cardinal, equally pretentions, which thoroughly aroused 
 the anti-popery feeling in England. 
 
 18 
 
2S8 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 James is a man about whom there are very diiferent opinions. 
 Ours is, as I think you know, very favourable ; but his manner 
 gives an impression of want of frankness ; and he was 
 unpopular in the Colonial Office, spite of his great and 
 acknowledged ability. You will find it worth while to 
 converse with him — I should say, a good deal. His official 
 experience must interest you, and his conversation is very 
 original. I am much attached to them both. She is a sweet, 
 noble, innocent creature. Some Englishwomen retain all their 
 lives a sort of naive innocence that makes me feel quite 
 corrupt by their side. But it is not given to all to ignore vice 
 when they see it, as you once said your sainted mother did. 
 She would have delighted in Lady Stephen. It is no want of 
 understanding in her ; she has great sense, but she cannot 
 believe the world is what it is. 
 
 " I am your most affectionate 
 
 " S. Austin." 
 " P.S. — Dr. Whewell cannot say enough of the merits of Sir 
 J. Stephen's lectures on Modern History given at Cambridge." 
 
 Barihklemy St. Hilaire to Sarah Austin. 
 
 [Translation.] 
 
 " Dec. 30, 1850. 
 
 " I cannot, dear madam and friend, let the year pass without 
 recalling myself to you and all your family. You see that 
 things here are not going on satisfactorily. The Assembly has 
 voted two measures which I. entirely approve, but which may 
 provoke a conflict ; it has asserted its authority, and it has 
 done right. But the executive power may consider that it has 
 been slighted, and commit some fresh blunder in attempting 
 revenge. 
 
 "Your Protestant demonstrations, I see, still continue ; an 
 insult is always resented, and the Pope's Bull was nothing less. 
 I can understand that you are tired of the anti-Papist agita- 
 tions, but the Pope has only got what he deserved ; I cannot 
 pity him when I see the grievous harm he and his party do to 
 us. With you public opinion is vigilant and energetic ; there 
 
SARAH AUSTIN. 259 
 
 lies your power and your force : public opinion does not exist 
 here, and that is one of our greatest evils, or rather it is the 
 source of all our evils. Until public opinion is educated and 
 disciplined, our governments will behave as they choose, and 
 new elements of disorder will be perpetually renewed. 
 
 " Your most devoted 
 
 " B. St. Hilaike." 
 
CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 SARAH AUSTIN {continued) 
 
 Letter from Mrs. Austin to Rev. Dr. Whewell on his Translation of Auerbach's 
 " Professorin " — His Answer — Letter from M. B. St. Hilaire on the 
 Accession of the Tories to Power — Letter from Mrs. Austin to M. 
 Guizot— M. B. St. Hilaire on the State of France— The Death of Mrs. 
 Taylor — M. B. St. Hilaire to Mrs. Austin on the policy of the President, 
 Louis Napoleon, and announcing his own imprisonment in Mazas. 
 
 Sarah Austin to Rev. Dr. W. Whewell. 
 
 " Weybridge,_/««. 23, 1851. 
 " Dear Dr. Whewell, — My silence must have seemed like 
 black ingratitude, and that is not a very comfortable thought 
 to me, who value your recollection of me — not to mention your 
 book — at so very high a rate. I was from home when your 
 charming ' Professorin ' ' arrived, and after my return I was 
 icrasee under a load of letters to answer, and an accumulation 
 of books to read which were to be restored on a given day. I 
 waited, absurdly, till I had read the book before I would 
 thank you for it, instead of despatching my thanks as heralds 
 to my opinion. I cannot tell you how captivating I find it. 
 There is a homely freshness, a genuine simplicity, mixed with 
 intimate and delicate touches of feeling far superior to anything 
 I ever read of Auerbach's. I suspect he owes a great deal to 
 you, for you are at ease in the most vernacular language, and 
 find wonderful equivalents for words and expressions that 
 others leave in despair. There's an English story founded on 
 
 ' " The Professor's Wife," by Auerbach, translated by Rev. Dr. Whewell. 
 
 260 
 
SARAH A USTIN. 261 
 
 the same dissonance — is it not by Mrs. Sullivan ? Of course 
 you know it. But it is far from having the charm of Lorlie. 
 
 "I send' you St. Hilaire's version of the present crisis. M. 
 Anisson thinks him quite wrong, and so does my husband ; 
 but he ought to be heard, for whatever he does is honestly 
 done. I suspect they want what they never will find — a 
 sincerely Republican governor. 
 
 " Since I began this note I have received also the enclosed 
 letters from M. de Circourt and M. Decaisne. I send them all. 
 Make out of them, if you can, the present state of things or of 
 minds in Paris. 
 
 " The whole thing seems to me utterly baseless, and, if I may 
 make an awkward word, cementless. 
 
 " Auerbach's sentiments about the English are, I fear, all but 
 universal in Germany. Let me thank you once more for poor 
 Lorlie, who is the type of so many a vain attempt to make 
 others happy by self-devotion. Do you know her more 
 vulgar and less amiable sister, Lenetfe, in Jean Paul's 
 ' Siebenkas ' ? 
 
 " Pray remember me most affectionately to Mrs. Whewell, 
 and believe me, dear Dr. Whewell, 
 
 " Most cordially yours, 
 
 " S. Austin." 
 
 Rev. Dr. W. Whewell to Sarah Austin. 
 
 " Trinity LoDGE,y««. 26, 1851. 
 " My dear Mrs. Austin, — I hoped that you would read the 
 ' Professorin ' before you wrote to me, or rather that you 
 would write to me after you had read it, that I might know what 
 you thought of it ; and certainly I have great reason to be 
 glad that you did so, when you can find such pleasant things 
 to say of the translation. Your praise on such a point is of 
 first-rate value. I am glad you like my Lorlie. She was my 
 companion all the summer, and part of her story was written 
 at every place where I stayed — several pages on the top of the 
 Faulhorn, 8,000 feet high. It is much the prettiest of 
 Auerbach's stories, and I think the greatest favourite in 
 Germany. They have made a play of it. I was somewhat 
 
262 THREE GENERA TIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 consoled for Auerbach's bad opinion of the English by seeing 
 how plainly he is quite ignorant of us, and takes his views 
 from our writers, coloured by his own notions aboiit religious 
 observances. Do you suppose that the work by a person of 
 great pretensions, which the collaborator attacks, alludes to 
 Bunsen's ' Church of the Future ' ? I was much amused with 
 the manner in which Auerbach makes it the summit of the 
 Englishman's insolence to criticise German philosophy ; about 
 which I suspect A. knows as little as he does of English life. 
 We English are as stupidly servile in looking with reverence 
 on all German philosophy, as we are stupidly conceited about 
 our social institutions and manners. I was much interested 
 with the letters you sent me — on account of their private as 
 well as public bearing. I am quite sorry for Circourt. I 
 do not see how the French are to get out of their present 
 difficulty, but it is one not peculiar to them, though aggra- 
 vated by the circumstance that their last revolution was the 
 most absurd of revolutions. It has always been hard for the 
 Assembly, and the Ruler of a Constitutional Government, to 
 settle into their positions of equilibrium. The Ruler has to 
 learn that he is no Ruler ; and the Assembly has to learn to 
 allow him to be something : hard lessons which neither 
 Germany nor France can yet learn. I think Germany a more 
 melancholy spectacle than France, for they have not only put 
 out the conflagration, but seem to be extinguishing all traces of 
 domestic fire. 
 
 " Mrs. Whewell values much your kind recollections of her ; 
 and I am, if you Avill allow me to be, 
 
 " Afi"ectionately yours, 
 
 "W. Whewell." 
 
 Barthelemy St. Hilaire to Sarah Austin. 
 
 [Translation.] 
 
 "Paris, Feh. 25, 1851. 
 " Madam and dear Friend, — The accession of the Tories is 
 most disastrous for France, and I hear on good authority that 
 the President is anxious. Latterly the English press has erred 
 
SARAH AUSTIN. 263 
 
 in taking his part so strongly, he does not merit sympathy, 
 and public opinion here resented such exaggerated praise. 
 In his dealings with the Assembly, as well as with the 
 Republic, the President is in the wrong, and he has been 
 frank with neither. His own reputation and the public peace 
 have suffered in consequence. He was a conspirator before 
 the nation elected him to the eminent position he now occupies, 
 and he retains the habit. The small riot of last Saturday 
 ought to show you what he is and who are his friends. It 
 is grievous to have such a government, which one is forced 
 to despise, and which will inevitably bring about a catastrophe. 
 
 " You, in your happy England, you change your Ministries, 
 but your national interests are always honestly and energeti- 
 cally guarded. Whigs or Tories, England knows that she can 
 trust her rulers ; if not always wise, they are always honest 
 and patriotic. The shame and the danger of our Ministries of 
 transition is a thing England will never experience. 
 
 " You see that to me things do not appear couleur de rosc^ 
 and although the Republic gains ground every day, I am very 
 uneasy lest your new Cabinet should attack the President. 
 He is capable of stirring up the maddest popular passions in 
 order to smooth the way for declaring the Empire, which is 
 his object. He is utterly wanting in principle ; in one word, 
 he is a knave. 
 
 "I think the Duchess of Orleans is very wise in asking your 
 advice, and I thank you for contributing to the amelioration of 
 those children who may one day be our salvation. Exile will 
 teach them much that they never would have learnt here. 
 
 " You may be sure that Weybridge will see me as soon as 
 I can escape from the fiery furnace of politics. Remember me 
 to Alexander and Lady Lucie, and tell little Janet I shall teach 
 her French. " Your devoted friend, 
 
 "B. St. HiLAiRE." 
 
 Sarah Austin to M. Guizot. 
 
 "Weybridge, March 23, 1851. 
 " Dear Monsieur Guizot, — Lucie has not been in good 
 health all the winter. The first time she returned to Wey- 
 
264 THREE GENERA TlONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 bridge after their departure, the whole village, where she is 
 much beloved, was struck by the alteration in her looks. For 
 nearly a fortnight she has been labouring under a fearful 
 attack of bronchitis — incessant cough, high fever, and all the 
 most terrible symptoms. Last Thursday I began to feel as if 
 in a black dream ; but, God be praised ! it is now dispersed. 
 For three days past her recovery has been steadily advancing. 
 She is permitted to speak and to take a little food, and nothing, 
 we are assured, remains but the necessity for extreme care. 
 
 "Alexander has let the house in Queen Square, and nearly 
 concluded an agreement for one at Esher. We have long been 
 trying in vain to find one for them nearer to us. This is a 
 great overthrow of my plans and hopes, and will make our life 
 here quite another thing. But I cannot complain. It is clear 
 that London does not suit them, and the house at Esher offers 
 many advantages. Indeed, I first discovered it in going to call 
 on a lady ' whom you know there. She and her two sons 
 have been suffering from grippe., but not seriously. I saw 
 them all three not long ago. The lady and I are engaged in 
 a correspondence on the difficulty of finding books on English 
 history, in which the matter of religion is treated ' avec 
 elevation et impartialite ' — in a manner fit for the young, and 
 especially for them. I fear, as I told her, she must not look for 
 those qualities of a historian here. 
 
 " I am sure you are shocked at what is passing. Dr. Wise- 
 man has played a very wicked and reckless part, and Lord 
 John Russell has been scarcely less mischievous to the country. 
 The Whigs are under a cloud. Everything turns against them. 
 Lord Holland has cruelly injured and diminished his father's 
 reputation. Mr. Macaulay is convicted of calumniating Penn 
 with extreme levity. All these things have a sinister effect. 
 If we had a rash or unpopular sovereign, I don't know what 
 would happen. She holds us all together at present, and if 
 ever life was precious, hers is. 
 
 Germany loudly threatens another revolution. And France, 
 your France^ my dear Monsieur Guizot, is she recovering from 
 her wounds ? God grant it. 
 
 ' Duchess of Orleans. 
 
SARAH AUSTIN. 265 
 
 " Give my love and heartfelt blessing to my two darlings, 
 and say that in my prayers for my own child I do not forget 
 them. My husband is well, and sends his most affectionate 
 respects. And for me, dearest sir and friend, 
 "I am, as ever, 
 
 " Your most affectionate 
 
 " S. Austin." 
 
 Barthelemy Si. Hilatre to Sarah Austin. 
 
 [Translation.] 
 
 " Paris, May 4, 1851. 
 " Madam and dear Friend, — I saw Cousin yesterday at 
 the Institute ; he had received your article, which pleased him 
 much, though he said you had become rather Tory, which 
 astonished me not a little. He is less likely than ever to come 
 to an understanding with the former adherents of Louis 
 Philippe ; and the fusion patronised by M. Guizot is, you may 
 be sure, politically speaking, the grossest error that can be 
 committed. I, as a Republican, am delighted, for when the 
 choice is limited between Legitimate Monarchy and the 
 Republic, France will not hesitate long in making her decision. 
 You complain of the state of things in England ; what can I 
 say of ours ? At the eve of an expected crisis, the President 
 insists on maintaining his fancy Ministry, and insists on im- 
 posing his choice for a permanent one. How right you are 
 in praising the honesty of your Queen. That is the great 
 quality ; and if we only had an honest man at the head of 
 affairs, everything would go on quietly. But Napoleon, like 
 his two predecessors, aims at personal government ; he will 
 cut his own throat, and poor France will be the sufferer ; 
 according to the well-known saying, ' Quiquid delirant reges,' 
 &c. The condition of our policy and our administration is 
 shameful, and a source of extreme danger ; our financial situa- 
 tion is deplorable, the floating debt will soon exceed 700 
 millions. Work diminishes daily, agriculture is in such a 
 disastrous condition that the farmers are praying for a bad 
 harvest. As yet the people are quiet, but this apparent tran- 
 
266 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 quillity is not to be trusted ; believe me, we shall not traverse 
 this crisis without a severe struggle, and our rulers are 
 wanting in the wisdom and firmness which might lessen if not 
 avert it. 
 
 " I very much fear that there will be no vacation, and that I 
 shall not be able to leave Paris. In the present condition of 
 the Chamber, the Revision ' will not be voted, and the only 
 alternative is violence. France will even be deprived of other 
 candidates or competitors, for the princes ^ will not be recalled. 
 Had my friends listened to me, the Republic would have been 
 magnanimous and wise. Berryer has behaved abominably, 
 and in spite of my defeat, I am glad to have spoken against a 
 measure which may be fatal to France.3 Remember me to 
 Mr. Austin. 
 
 " Your ever devoted, 
 
 " B. St. HiLAIRE." 
 
 Barthelemy St. Hilaire to Sarah Austin. 
 [Translation.] 
 
 " 'PARis,Juiie 9, 1851. 
 
 "Dear Madam and Friend, — What do you think of the 
 Great Exhibition, and particularly of our part of it ? By what 
 I hear on all sides, the idea of Prince Albert has been a splendid 
 success. I have a strong desire to see it, and should like to 
 induce Cousin to go with me. He is much struck by all the 
 accounts he has heard, particularly from Thiers. But you see 
 the state we are in. The speeches at Dijon must have en- 
 lightened you as to the President's character. If he has any 
 honesty left, he must be prepared to retire in 1852, unless he 
 intends to try a coup cfetat. If the party of order were wise, 
 they would begin to prepare the way for another candidate. 
 The most suitable man would certainly be General Cavaignac. 
 
 " Cousin has been very unwell lately. He is thinking of 
 taking up politics again. His last article produced such an 
 
 ' Of the law forbidding the re-election of the President. 
 
 ^ Of the House of Orleans. 
 
 3 Exile of the House of Orleans. 
 
SARAH A US TIN. 267 
 
 efFect here that his success encourages him to attempt another. 
 Had Barrot been in the Ministry, Cousin would have spoken 
 on the question of Revision, but with Faucher he will not 
 open his mouth, although Faucher's conduct lately has been 
 praiseworthy. 
 
 " I am hard at work at my Sanscrit Philosophy, and have 
 read a considerable portion to the Institute. 
 
 " Your ever devoted friend, 
 
 " B. St. Hilaire." 
 
 BartMlemy St. Hilaire to Sarah Austin. 
 [Translation.] 
 
 " Paris, Oct. 29, 1851. 
 
 " Madam and dear Friend, — I saw Cousin yesterday at 
 Bellevue, who is so ashamed at not having accompanied me to 
 England that he authorises me to use force next year. I 
 promise you that it shall not be my fault if you do not see him. 
 He is coming back to Paris, driven by the bad weather and 
 politics. The strange conversion of the President has alienated 
 from him the whole of the so-called party of order, without 
 procuring the adhesion of our side. The law of the 31st May 
 will be repealed if the Government insists on it, but the price 
 will be a heavy one — the contempt of the nation ; and after 
 the events of the last two years, it will be the last drop in the 
 President's cup. M. Louis Napoleon is playing the game of 
 the Prince de Joinville, who ought to be the sheet-anchor of 
 the party of order in less than six weeks. 
 
 " Do you see that Faucher, the new Cato, has named himself 
 at one jump Commander of the Legion of Honour? In his 
 electioneering rounds, this most modest of men orders his entry 
 into the towns to be saluted by the firing of cannon. What do 
 you say to all this in England ? What a figure we make in 
 Europe — to what depths we are fallen ! Do not laugh at us, 
 but pity us. Faucher little knew the knave he had to deal 
 with ; he thought to lead him, and he has become a blind 
 instrument. 
 
 "While at Agen, I took up a new trade, that of a master of 
 
268 THREE GENERA TIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 gymnastics. I gave daily lessons to five or six little girls and 
 to their fathers, and instructed a mistress, whom I left in my 
 place ; and what is a greater triumph, I introduced gymnastics 
 into two religious communities, the Sacre Coeur and the Filles 
 de Marie. This is indeed philosophy in action and movement. 
 I have the satisfaction of having done some good, and probably 
 straightened more than one weak spine which was inclined to 
 be crooked. 
 
 " Remember me to Mr. Austin, and tell little Janet to play 
 at ball every day. 
 
 "Your ever devoted, 
 
 " B. St. Hilaire." 
 
 BartMlemy St. Hilaire to Sarah Austin. 
 
 [Translation.] 
 
 "Paris, Dec. 4, 1851. 
 "Madam, — Your kind letter reached me at the moment 
 when I was leaving the prison of Mazas, where, with a good 
 number of my colleagues, I was imprisoned for signing the act 
 proclaiming the fall of the President. I have just left Cousin, 
 who is gone to the Sorbonne, after vainly attempting, with 
 me, to cross the bridges to go to Barrot. There is fighting in 
 all Paris. I am deeply touched by your offer, and I assure you 
 that Weybridge tempts me strongly, but I cannot leave my 
 country until it is tranquil ; I must suffer and, if necessary, die 
 for her. Remember me to every one. 
 
 " Your devoted friend, 
 
 "B. St. Hilaire." 
 
CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 SARAH AUSTIN {continued). 
 
 Letter from Mrs. Austin to M. Guizot on the state of affairs in France and 
 at Vienna — Mrs. Grote's visit to Paris — Letter from M. B. St. Ililaire 
 about the Paris University — Letter from Mrs. Austin to Rev. Dr. Whewell 
 on the threatened ' Expulsion of M. Cousin from the Sorbonne — His 
 answer. 
 
 Sarah Austin to M. Guizot. 
 
 "Z)<?c. 5, i8si. 
 "Dearest Monsieur Guizot, — My heart is so much with 
 you that I cannot help writing, though I know not what good 
 that can do you. I have long and deeply rejoiced that you 
 would not suffer yourself to be induced to enter a field on 
 which no honour was to be won — take what side you might. 
 I never for an instant doubted of the wisdom of your deter- 
 mination, now apparent to all men. You are in a region which 
 this new storm cannot reach, except through your patriotic 
 affections. ' That is my great consolation. 
 
 " The spectacle which France presents now is very painful, but 
 so it has been for a long time past. Going back to the Taiti 
 business, when the malignity and chicanery of your enemies 
 first became outrageous, I could never see anything encouraging. 
 Franchement, a country that will accept any government 
 and maintain none — what can be done for it ? It is now the 
 fashion to say that ' le gouvernement parlementaire ne vaut 
 rien pour la France.' If that is true, as it may be for aught 
 I know, it is because a loyal Opposition seems impossible. 
 
 269 
 
270 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 What would you not have done for the consoHdation of a 
 representative government if you had been fairly met and 
 faithfully supported ? I do not ask you to tell me if you are 
 satisfied with the new order of things, if order is the word. 
 Tell me that you are not unhappy nor alarmed, and I shall be 
 content. Let it be what it may, what it replaces is not to be 
 regretted. If it is to be only a rechauffee of what failed in the 
 hands of a giant, we may all easily turn prophets. My own 
 discouragement about France arises more from the political 
 character of the people (of all classes) than from anything else. 
 Every government seems a new toy, soon to be pulled in pieces 
 and broken. At all events, you, best and noblest of friends, 
 have not spared them constant and serious teachings. If they 
 will not hear, you, at least, have a clear conscience. 
 
 I have had a good deal of communication lately with Vienna. 
 There, another sort of madness seems to prevail. It is impos- 
 sible to divine what the Government intends. The m'ost 
 curious suspicions attach to people, especially Englishmen. 
 That they should hate us is natural ; that they should suspect 
 English gentlemen who bear the greatest names of being spies, 
 Sec, dishonours nobody but themselves. God knows no spying 
 is required to discover the pranks played ' before high Heaven ' 
 by our Spirit of Mischief ! What a moment to choose for 
 invoking the direct action of the mob on the government of 
 any country ! I feel that we have no right to talk of the tole- 
 ration of bad or incompetent rulers, while we tolerate such a 
 man as that. He is, of course, popular with the mob ; but to 
 what use does he mean to put this popularity ? I hear his 
 colleagues look grave — and well they may. 
 
 '■'■Per C07iira, if you seethe Times, take the trouble to read in 
 the number of the 3rd the account of the management of the 
 Duke of Bedford's estate. It is merely an agricultural letter, 
 but what a picture of the loftiest aristocracy lending itself to all 
 the details of the moral and material improvement of the 
 lowliest classes of men ! What habits of order ! What talents 
 for business ! These are the men who quietly preserve societies 
 from ruin. 
 
 "Mr. Senior has brought home one of his journals written 
 while at Naples. He seems to have conceived the lowest 
 
SARAH AUSTIN. 371 
 
 possible opinion of the people, and, as a consequence, of the 
 Government. He is pretty well. 
 
 " My dear daughter has made me uneasy, but she is much 
 better ; the children admirably well. My husband very well — 
 charmed ^vith the correspondence of Mirabeau and Comte de 
 la Mark. I have undertaken, after long and earnest entreaties 
 on Mrs. Sydney Smith's part, to arrange and edit Sydney's 
 letters and lesser writings. You know his faults, but he was 
 in the highest degree brave, sincere, loyal, generous, and a 
 lover of truth. These qualities in a Churchman deserve to be 
 recorded. 
 
 " Your most affectionate 
 
 " S. Austin." 
 
 George Grote to Sarah Austin. 
 
 ^'■December 10, 1851. 
 
 " Dear Mrs. Austin, — Mrs. Grote is still at Paris, and talks 
 of remaining there till the end of the month. She has been 
 in no way personally disturbed or alarmed by what has been 
 going on. Her lodging is 108, Champs Elysees. Very luckily 
 she was not on the Boulevard des Italiens, otherwise I do not 
 know what would have become of her on Tuesday the 4th, 
 when the soldiers killed people right and left, the peaceable 
 far more than the warlike. 
 
 " I have heard from her about every other day, but never at 
 any great leilgth, or with much detail. She has committed to 
 writing a sort of budget, which is to be sent home by Mrs. 
 Blackett, and she is too tired to be able to write the facts over 
 twice. She says generally that nothing can be conceived so 
 awful as the state of feeling in Paris, the stupefaction and 
 terror which reigns there. She has seen shoals of people (she 
 says) and heard copious details. One paper which I received 
 from her this morning I enclose for your perusal. It is drawn 
 up by some Frenchman whose name she dares not mention, 
 and describes certain feats of the soldiers in the ' Blutbad ' of 
 December 4th. Pray send it back to me when you have read 
 it. She mentions some facts (which I do not think have 
 passed into the newspapers) about the treatment of the Depu- 
 
272 THREE GENERA TIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 ties when they were arrested — about fifty in number, I believe, 
 und. not Republicans, th.etQiore,h.3.vvn.g some claim on English 
 sympathy — persons who, before the and of December, counted 
 as the most respected politicians in France. These men were 
 confined in the barrack all the afternoon of the 2nd, and all the 
 night. They had to sleep on the floor, or in chairs, in their 
 clothes. On the ensuing morning they were handed off to 
 Vincennes in the transport vans designed for criminals ; there 
 they were detained all that day, some of them longer. Their 
 wives did not know what had become of them for twenty-four 
 hours or more. Dufaure was one of these. 
 
 " I would not be at Paris, as Mrs. Grote is now, for any sum 
 which could be tendered to me. Not because of any personal 
 fear. To an Englishman of common prudence there is no 
 ground for fear, but from the perfect heart-sickening which 
 this tremendous event has given me, and against which I find 
 it hard to bear up, even here, with my books around me. I 
 did not expect to live to say anything so like the brutal setting 
 up of an ancient tyrant in a Grecian city. My best regards to 
 Austin. 
 
 " Yours sincerely, 
 
 "G. Grote." 
 
 George Grote to Sarah Austin. 
 
 ^^ December 13, 1851. 
 " Dear Mrs. Austin, — I am very sorry I cannot come to 
 you to-morrow, as I have already engaged myself. I return 
 St. Hilaire's letter, which is painfully interesting, and highly 
 honourable to his feelings about his country. If there be any 
 one portion of France more to be deplored than another in 
 regard to the rtgime now inaugurating, it is the writers and 
 thinkers of the country : men who, above all things, require 
 an atmosphere of freedom. I anticipate an enslavement of 
 speech and thought only paralleled by that of the Empire ; 
 and I farther anticipate, what even the Empire did not do, a 
 more complete surrender of all public education into the hands 
 of the priesthood than ever existed before. St. Hilaire, and 
 the Liberal men about the University Council, will feel this 
 
SARAH AUSTIN. 273 
 
 most painfully. What is now beginning is ' I'fere des Cesars,' 
 according to Romieu's language. 
 
 "The President's coup d^itat is exactly the parallel to the 
 insurrection of June, 1848 — equally brutal and guilty, only 
 having the means of maintaining itself afterwards, as being 
 the insurrection (for it is nothing less) of the chief man and 
 the organised force of the country. 
 
 " I had a letter from Mrs. . Grote yesterday, guarded in its 
 communications, but just in the same melancholy tone as to 
 passing events. She says that Horace Say has received a 
 warning that if he does not mind his doings it will be worse 
 for him. She says that for a whole day it was fully believed 
 that L6on Faucher, as well as Thiers, had been sent out of the 
 country. She says that she really does not dare, write all she 
 hears. The quantity of people she sees is greater than her 
 strength will sustain ; in fact, it seems that the English in 
 Paris are the only persons now exempt from personal terror, 
 and recipients of the breathings of Frenchmen who do not 
 dare to communicate with one another. If I have any informa- 
 tion to give, I will certainly communicate with Henry Reeve. 
 .1 think The Times has done itself great honour by what it has 
 said upon this late affair. I trust Austin is better. It is not 
 surprising that he has been struck down by so dreadful an 
 event. 
 
 " Yours very sincferely, 
 
 "G. Grote." 
 
 BartMlemy St. Hilaire to Sarah Austin. 
 
 [Translation.] 
 
 " Paris, yawMar/ 18, 1852. 
 "Madam and dear Friend, — I take advantage of Dozen's 
 departure for England to write a few lines which will not pass 
 utider the odious eyes of the police. I can tell you nothing of 
 our affairs, for you know more than we do, thanks to your 
 admirable newspapers, so unlike our poor rags, censured, cut, 
 and altered when they are not sequestered. I do not suppose 
 that any nation ever submitted to so extraordinary and, at the 
 
 19 
 
274 THREE GENERA TIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 same time, so shameful a regimen. But I repeat I have 
 nothing to tell ; all is said, and excellently said, by The 
 Times. 
 
 " Rdmusat told me before he left that his first visit in England 
 will be to you : he meant to wait for a time before going, but 
 I do not think our police will allow the poor exiles to stay in 
 Belgium. 
 
 " The University is to undergo important changes — some 
 say it is to be done away with altogether. Our positions are 
 all compromised, but till now we have not been molested. 
 Cousin's substitute, Jules Simon, has committed an imprudence, 
 which brought about his dismissal, and caused that of Cousin 
 to be talked of. The latter has implacable enemies among the 
 clergy, who to-day are all-powerful. The trap which is, to all 
 appearance, prepared for several of us is the oath exacted by 
 the Constitution. Of all the articles, that is the one which has 
 excited most opposition. These are terrible moments ; it is 
 not possible that things can go on like this, which is the only 
 comfort for cowards. Numerous as they are, the Government 
 has not yet succeeded in obtaining any allies, and its irritation 
 at being thus left solitary is shown by the proscriptions. What 
 do you say to this ghastly comedy ? What is the opinion in 
 England ? Blame our poor country, but pity her more than you 
 blame. To be so little able to manage her affairs after sixty 
 years of revolutions ! To what a depth of ignorance and in- 
 capacity have three centuries of absolute monarchy brought 
 us ! 
 
 " M. Guizot was at the ' Institut ' yesterday ; he looked 
 very well. I do not know what he thinks of the condition of 
 things. I hear various accounts, but I cannot believe that it 
 meets his approval. 
 
 " Cousin is well ; he is entirely absorbed by Madame de 
 Longueville, whose declared lover he is. In a few months he 
 hopes to take up ' Plato ' again, in which I try to encourage 
 him. He owes it to himself and to philosophy. 
 
 " Your ever devoted friend, 
 
 " B. St. Hilaire." 
 
SARAH AUSTIN. 275 
 
 Sarah Austin to Rev. Dr. W. Whewell. 
 
 "Weybridge, March 27, 1852. 
 
 " There's a philosopher (V. Cousin) for you ! You may- 
 suppose, best of masters, how I scolded and scorned him in 
 my answer. I said, ' Je vous trouve lache vis-a-vis de la 
 vieillesse,' and so I do. The truth is, my poor old friend has 
 a passion for making impressions of all sorts, upon ' les jolies 
 femmes^ above all. We all know that it is charming to be 
 admired, and more charming to be adored ; but what I can't 
 understand is, how a man lives to sixty without preparing 
 himself to relinquish the privileges of youth. However, to do 
 him justice, he has been the truest and most constant and 
 aifectionate of friends to me, who never adored him, and have 
 told him more disagreeable truths than most people. But do 
 we not burn with indignation at seeing him, after forty-two 
 years of such services to science and letters (I beg your pardon), 
 stripped ? His chief income was 10,000 francs as member of 
 the Conseil d'Instruction Publique — gone. The 6,000 francs 
 as Professor at the Sorbonne he will also lose {destituk par 
 ireterition), unless he lectures. 
 
 " I began my answer, ' Assurement que vous professerez et 
 mieux que qui que ce soit au monde ' ; and told him, what is 
 true, that I wish I could be there to see and hear his reappear- 
 ance, and to tie up his poor throat, and dorhter him a little. 
 
 " But now, our dear and honoured Master, this is a case for 
 your weightier hand. He honours you as he ought. It would 
 be ganz ausserordentlich schon if you would write him a few 
 lines of, not condolence, but sympathy, and such things as you 
 know how to say and to feel, and administer to him a cordial 
 that shall dispose him to rub up his armour and gird it on. 
 You know, too, that expulsion from the Sorbonne (building) 
 is hung over his head — all his beautiful library ! 
 
 " Yesterday, M. Alexandre Thomas came down to see me. 
 I was in bed all day, having had a kind of relapse the night 
 before, so did not see him. My husband says he is profoundly 
 desponding about France — thinks the people worn out. Only 
 M. Guizot preserves an equal mind, expects little, but does 
 
276 THREE GENERA TIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 not despair. I rather frightened my husband on Thursday, 
 and as nobody can find a cause, my doctor says it is excitement, 
 and that I see too many people — one a day on an average. 
 What a miserable state of the nerves and circulation ! To-day 
 I am better, and in very brave spirits ; but though these vary 
 extremely^ you will understand that the fonds remain the same. 
 I am under no illusion and no terror. I wish I felt sure that 
 my extreme serenity and cheerfulness about death rested on a 
 better ground. I feel so much love and trust., and so little fear 
 — and yet why ? Is this anything more than constitutional ? 
 For, as for merits or claims— oh ! as grounds for reliance— they 
 are out of the question, and I am not sure that my faith in any 
 scheme of Atonement would explain my serenity. It seems to 
 me rather a foundless trust in the Source of all good — such as 
 His Son reveals Him to us. I wish I could talk with you 
 about this. 
 
 " Yours most faithfully, 
 
 " S. Austin." 
 
 Rev. Dr. W. Whewell to Sarah Austin. 
 
 "Trinity College, 7l/«rc^ 30, 1852. 
 " It was very kind of you, my dear friend, to send me V. 
 Cousin's letter, even though the privilege brought with it the 
 task of reading the epistle — which is not a very easy matter. 
 But it was still more amiable of you to think that I might 
 gratify the dear old Eclectic by expressions of interest in his 
 future and labours. I dare say he will not derive much pleasure 
 from my doing so, but that you should try to procure him 
 such pleasure as my encouragement could give, was one of 
 those kind thoughts which make us love you. Accordingly, 
 inspired by your suggestion, I have sent such a letter to him. 
 It so happened that I had with me at the time a French man 
 of letters just about to return to Paris ; and to him I committed 
 my exhortation to Cousin to continue his speculations, pointing 
 out some questions on which we should all, in England and 
 France, listen to him with deference. I was glad to learn from 
 my friend that Cousin is supposed to be so rich as not to be 
 seriously distressed by his losses, even if they should come 
 
SARAH AUSTIN. 277 
 
 upon him as they threaten. With regard to his fear of age, 
 which is a more inevitable evil, if it be an evil, I hope your 
 exhortations will not be wasted on him. It is no doubt a 
 little mortifying to human conceit that we must leave the world 
 to a new generation ; but it appears to me more mortifying be- 
 cause it interrupts what we do than what we enjoy ; we have 
 done so little, and matters seem to be going on so ill. But we 
 must make up our minds to this, and ' trust the Ruler with 
 the skies," and with the earth, too ; and really trust Him — 
 believe that He is ruling well, and will do so when we are no 
 longer actors in the scene. Only I think there is nothing 
 presumptuous in hoping that we may know a little how it 
 does go on ; follow the later scenes of the drama, and see the 
 denouement to which it is tending. This is a kind of consola- 
 tion which cannot deceive us, for we shall have this, or we may 
 humbly hope, something better. I trust it will be long, my 
 dear friend, before you have to seek for the consolation which 
 belongs to the close ; but I must say that an entirely filial spirit 
 of resignation, hope, and love is what I have seen with most 
 satisfaction in the cases of others who were dear to me, and 
 what I most desire for myself. Any special view of the manner 
 of acceptance only leads to this. This seems to lead us beyond 
 the bourne directly. 
 
 " May God bless you and restore you, is the prayer of 
 
 " Your affectionate friend, 
 
 "W. Whewell." 
 
CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 SARAH AUSTIN (contiiiuecT). 
 
 Qualities of French and English men and women — M. B. St. Hilaire refuses 
 to take the Oath and withdraws from Paris — Letter from Mrs. Austin to 
 Mr. Senior describing Ventnor — Letter from Mrs. Austin to M. Guizot 
 on the Volunteer Movement — M. B. St. Hilaire a Gardener^Corre- 
 spondence with Mr. Gladstone on National Education. 
 
 M. Guizot to Sarah Austin. 
 
 [Translation.] 
 
 "Paris, April i%, 1852. 
 " Dear Mrs. Austin, — Thanks for sending M. Dozon to me ; 
 he found you decidedly better, and the tone of your note shows 
 me that you feel stronger. So I am content. For I send you 
 declaration for declaration ; you love me, I love you. You 
 must take care of yourself, avoid all fatigue, and get quite 
 well. When you can, without tiring yourself, do give me a 
 few lines just to say how you are, until we meet either at your 
 house or here. I shall be delighted to see you again. You 
 possess the great qualities of your nation, and, in addition, you 
 are sympathetic and expansive, which are rare qualities in your 
 country. Madame de Stael used to say that the best thing in 
 the world was a serious Frenchman. I turn the compliment, 
 and say that the best thing in the world is an affectionate 
 Englishman. How much more an Englishwoman ! Given 
 equal qualities, a woman is always more charming than a 
 man. 
 
 278 
 
SARAH AUSTIN. 279 
 
 " I intend going to Val Richer about the isth of June, and 
 passing five months there, to work and to rest. I am getting on 
 in life, and do not know how many more years may be granted 
 to me. I shall die with my head and my hands full of 
 projects and of works begun, but there are two or three I 
 really wish to finish. We pass away so rapidly that we hardly 
 have time to leave a mark on the sand of this earth : at all 
 events, let us leave as complete a one as possible. 
 
 " Remember me to Mr. Austin, to Lady Gordon, and to Sir 
 Alexander. 
 
 " Ever yours, with all my heart, 
 
 " GuizoT." 
 
 Barih'eleiny St. Hilaire to Sarah Austin. 
 
 [Translation.] 
 
 "Paris, May 15, 1852. 
 " Madam and dear Friend, — I shall have the pleasure of 
 seeing you sooner than I expected ; in three weeks, I shall be 
 with you. I have refused the oath, preferring anything to such 
 humiliation ; at the end of the month I sent in my resigna- 
 tion. It is rather hard after twenty-seven years of hard work, 
 and at my age ; but I assure you, my friends need not pity me 
 much, for I am not at all out of heart ; like Cousin, I am 
 unmarried and a philosopher. I shall leave Paris, but have 
 not yet settled where I am going ; I shall bring my new 
 address to you in person. Cousin tried to persuade me to take 
 the oath. I think my dear master was wrong, and consulted 
 my material good more than my honour, and, I may add, the 
 interests of philosophy. He, as you may have seen, has asked 
 to be put on the retired list, in order to avoid the oath ; but 
 as he has been named honorary Professor, it may still be 
 demanded of him, and he has decided to refuse it now, as he 
 did before. You may have seen the deplorable affair of M. 
 Arago ? He would have done better to take the oath in 
 
 silence. 
 
 " Your ever devoted, 
 
 "B. St. Hilaire." 
 
28o THREE GENERA TIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 Barthelemy St. Hilaire to Sarah Austin. 
 [Translation.] 
 
 " Les PEPiNiiRES, PRfes Meaux, Sept. 21, 1852. 
 
 " Madam and dear Friend, — I have settled myself here, and 
 all I regret are a few of my Paris friends, whom I shall now 
 see but seldom. Every fortnight I go to Paris to work for the 
 Journal des Savants. I am taking up gardening seriously, and 
 have more vegetables and fruit than I can use ; but I mean to 
 have some flowers too, and trust to you to send me some 
 seeds. We are evidently going to have the Empire ; it will be 
 proclaimed on some anniversary of December — either the 2nd 
 or the 20th. It is rapid work ; the uncle took four years. 
 But, in spite of what Victor Hugo said, it seems that people 
 are greater now.' All the better ; the faster the pages are 
 turned, the sooner the book will be finished. But what an 
 abominable book it will be ! I do not mean Hugo's ; he says 
 what every one thinks, but their mouths are closed by the 
 police. If the pamphlet that has been printed in London 
 could be introduced and circulated freely here, the President's 
 position would be made rather uncomfortable. My views on 
 all that is passing are even stronger than Victor Hugo's, and 
 I do not think I exaggerate. I cannot understand your 
 thinking my last letter was sad. If it were not for my poor eyes 
 I should be the happiest of men. . . . 
 
 " I am quite of your opinion as to Cousin's infatuation ; we 
 know but too well, out of the memoirs of those times, what 
 that famous aristocracy was. I do hope that Madame de 
 Longueville will soon come to an end, and make place for 
 Plato, the second edition of which will certainly take him five 
 or six years. 
 
 " Remember me to all your family. 
 
 " Ever your devoted friend, 
 
 "B. St. Hilaire." 
 
 ■ " Apres Napol&n le Grand, faut-il que nous ayons Napoleon le Petit?" 
 
SARAH A USTIN. 28 1 
 
 Sarah Austin to M. Guizot. 
 
 "Ventnor, Isle of Wight, Nov. 18, 1852. 
 " What an age has passed, dearest sir and friend, since I had 
 the comfort of beholding your handwriting ; what an age, too, 
 since I wrote to you ! The last circumstantial account I had 
 of you was from our dear Mr. Hallam, who returned, as I 
 knew he would, delighted with his visit ; and with his usual 
 goodness he came down to Weybridge to tell me about it. 
 Here, under the shelter of the huge wall of rock which 
 divides me from England, I look upon the sea and strain my 
 eyes to descry that France which lies beyond it, and in which 
 you and some few others are all that I could wish to behold 
 there you may well be assured, for who would not willingly 
 avert their eyes from the ruin and the shame of a great nation ? 
 Above all, the shame ! Even if one could believe that the 
 disgraceful bargain, in which honour and freedom have been 
 bartered for tranquillity, would succeed. I wish you would 
 empower me to silence impertinent people who insist to me 
 that you approve all that is going on, and are an adherent of 
 Louis Napoleon. Just before I left home I met at Mr. Hawes's 
 (who had a house at Weybridge) one of those hangers-on of 
 fine ladies who colportent their news, and I nearly horsewhipped 
 him (being in my chaise and armed) for asserting this. He 
 declared that he had seen full evidence of the fact in letters to 
 Lady Palmerston, with whom he had been staying. I have 
 not the least doubt that Lady Palmerston asserts this to every- 
 body, for you know how she loves you ; but I would not 
 allow Mr. Hawes to listen to the calumny — much to the 
 discomfiture of the dandy reporter. I can fully understand, 
 for that my husband and I also feel, that the objects of your 
 greatest indignation must be the men who undermined and 
 pulled down a government which, as Mr. Austin is always 
 repeating, ' had all the conditions of progress and amelioration, 
 and afforded not the slightest pretext for violent resistance, and 
 if they suffered alone, one would regard it as a piece of Divine 
 justice.' But there is something too ungentleman-like in the 
 actual proceedings to please you, I am sure. Even tyrannies are 
 
282 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 susceptible of a noble or of a ' blackguard ' tinge. Ah, how 
 noble were all the aristocratic or despotic leanings of him 
 whom they have now borne to his thrice-honoured grave ! ' 
 How full are all our hearts at the thought of his unswerving 
 devotion to this England of ours — how intense is the grief, the 
 gratitude, the reverence ! Yes, I will say it again, as I said 
 when Peel died. Blessed are they who live and die for 
 England, for there awaits them such a heart-homage as I think 
 no nation ever yet paid. When I think over this, and feel it, 
 as I do, I am half inclined to murmur at fate that did not give 
 you to England, and England to you. There you would have 
 had even your earthly reward. I hope you saw Lord Lansdowne's 
 speech, and remarked the solemnity of his exhortations to the 
 country to defend itself. This advice will at length be listened 
 to, spite of all the foolish paradoxes of Cobden and Co. The 
 Duke's voice will now be heard ' trumpet-tongued ' from his 
 grave. / was never inclined to believe in a danger of the 
 kind till now ; but all my French correspondents agree in 
 representing it as very real, if not imminent. People have 
 imagined it too great a mistake to be committed, but that is a 
 poor dependence ; you, who know us, will have no doubt as to 
 the ultimate result. But these thipgs ought to be impossible 
 on the face of it, and I daresay it soon will be. The young 
 men of the country have come forward with great alacrity, 
 and gone through their drill with great earnestness and 
 success — so I hear from all sides. I should not despair of 
 raising a very active, intrepid, and formidable regiment of 
 sharp-shooters of the gentle sex, if need were. Lamentable 
 that this spirit and these determinations should have to be 
 appealed to now ! and yet I declare to you I see no more of 
 the old antipathy than I did before, only as my maid, a blunt 
 North-country girl, says in a very resolute tone, ' No, they 
 sha'n't come here.' 
 
 " God bless you, ever dear and honoured friend, 
 
 " Yours faithfully, 
 
 "S. Austin." 
 
 ' Duke of Wellington, 
 
SARAH AUSTIN. 283 
 
 Barthelemy St. Hilaire to Sarah Austin. 
 [Translation.] 
 
 "Les Pepinieres, Dec. 22, 1852. 
 
 " Madam and dear Friend, — I have become an expert 
 gardener, and having always been used to hard work, I culti- 
 vate my acre of ground without any fatigue. I shall become a 
 peasant, but Aristotle and Philosophy will not be losers. 
 
 " In a fortnight, Cousin will publish his volume on Madame 
 de Longueville. You will like his preface ; he excuses himself 
 most charmingly for taking up such light studies, and as an 
 expiation he promises a work on Thdodicde,' a summing up of 
 his whole system of philosophy. He points out what there is to 
 admire and what to blame in the seventeenth century, and makes 
 a distinction between the reign of Louis XIV. and the century, 
 which was, I think, much needed, especially in these times. 
 He had an idea of suppressing this portion, but I insisted on 
 preserving it ; he must remember that he is not only a writer 
 and a man of letters, but a statesman and a philosopher. 
 
 " Remember me to Mr. Austin, and believe me 
 
 " Ever your devoted friend, 
 
 "B. St. Hilaire." 
 
 Sarah Austin to W. E. Gladstone. 
 
 " Ventnor, _/««. 4, 1853. 
 
 " Dear Mr. Gladstone, — It would be more becoming, 
 perhaps, if I were to begin this by presuming that you have 
 forgotten me, and by offering you all the apologies due from a 
 stranger ; but I cannot play the hypocrite even so far. The 
 cause which procured me the pleasure and honour of your visit 
 long ago has too strong a hold on your heart to allow you to 
 forget the humblest of your fellow-labourers. 
 
 " I must express the unspeakable satisfaction with which 
 Mr. Austin and I, in our distant winter quarters, have contem- 
 plated the formation of the present Administration. We, 
 
 ■ The exposition of the theory of Divine Providence. 
 
284 THREE GENERA TIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 though brought up in the intensest Whiggery, have lived too 
 long and too much out of the party warfare of England, and 
 have been too near witnesses of terrific political convulsions, 
 not to have modified many opinions and questioned many 
 axioms. Above all, my long and almost daily intimate inter- 
 course with M. Guizot, the spectacle of his combats and his 
 fall, could hardly fail to excite grave doubts of the expediency 
 of appeals to the people. ' La belle invention que le suffrage 
 universel, et comme les auteurs doivent etre contents et fiers,' 
 writes a friend of his. 
 
 " As I know what strong sympathy, respect, and regard he 
 feels for you, I take it for granted you feel no less for him — so 
 impossible does it seem to me that he should not attract those 
 whom he wishes to attract. You may therefore like to see a, 
 letter I had from him lately, giving a pretty complete view of 
 his opinions about his unfortunate country. Presuming that 
 it will interest you, I will take care that it is sent to you. 
 It is now in Lord Lansdowne's hands. 
 
 " I dare not begin to speak of Education, yet surely I may — 
 I must — congratulate you. Since we met, what a progress, 
 what indications of a growing appreciation of the value of self- 
 culture, of the dignity of self-control ! The old difficulty 
 indeed subsists, but I cannot believe that, with so sincere and 
 earnest a desire for the one great result, it will be insurmount- 
 able. I trust to you. Surely Christianity is broad enough to 
 furnish a basis on which to found the education of a nation 
 which, whatever be its diversity of opinions, certainly will not 
 consent to have that basis withdrawn. 
 
 " Poor France, poor Germany ! What is the result of their 
 so excellent-seeming systems ? You see it is of no use ' to give 
 the meat before you give the hunger.' An ounce of education 
 demanded is worth a pound imposed. This, you will observe, 
 is a voluntary recantation on the part of the zealous translator 
 of Cousin. I cannot say it costs me much, for it involves the 
 recognition of the unspeakable superiority of England. 
 
 "Yours, dear sir, with eyery sentiment of respect, 
 
 " Sarah Austin," 
 
SARAH AUSTIN. 285 
 
 W. E. Gladstone to Sarah Austin, 
 
 "Downing Street, _/«?z. 21, 1853. 
 " Dear Mrs. Austin, — I read with deep interest the letter 
 you were so good as to address to me. 
 
 " I am glad indeed that the present Government has your 
 sympathy. Its formation has at least been, I believe, an honest 
 work on the part of all who have contributed to it. The sub- 
 ject of Education, in which you feel so deep an interest, will, I 
 hope, make sensible and early progress under its auspices. 
 
 "I need not say that M. Guizot's letter will be full of interest 
 for me ; it shall be carefully returned. 
 
 " The scandalous delay of my answer may, I hope, be ex- 
 cused by the fifteen days' polling which have just filled up the 
 interval since I received your letter. 
 
 " I remain, dear Mrs. Austin, 
 
 " Very sincerely yours, 
 
 "W. E. Gladstone." 
 
 Sarah Austin to W. E. Gladstone. 
 
 " VENTNOR,y««. 22, 1853. 
 
 " Dear Mr. Gladstone, — I send you my dear, revered 
 friend's ' letter. It is one of the most valuable of the many he 
 has favoured me with. I take for granted you never believed, 
 if, indeed, you heard, the reports of his adhesion to the present 
 shameful order of things. I wish I could think the example of 
 English statesmen would have more effect upon the few in 
 France who deserve that name. But from what I hear, the 
 furious personal hates by which I saw them divided, subsist 
 still ; they cannot unite their forces even against such a 
 common danger. When I was in Paris, Cousin said to me 
 that he should be ' deshonore a tout jamais ' if he put his foot 
 in Guizot's house (his old friend and colleague), and would 
 hardly believe that I had met the Duke of Wellington and Sir 
 Robert Peel at Lansdowne House. Judge therefore whether I 
 am not sensible of the value of personal concessions for great 
 public ends. They are in all their motives and tendencies the 
 
 ■ M. Guizot. 
 
286 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 very reverse of compromises of important principles for private 
 ends, though it seems there are people stupid enough, or 
 wicked enough, to confound them. As to Education, we have 
 yet to find the right agent, or rather — for I believe it to be no 
 other than religion — how to apply it. The part of the child's 
 heart and reason accessible to its influence is not yet found, or 
 imperfectly. But an advance is made. I take for granted you 
 have read Mr. Wilson's report of the Vauxhall Factory, which 
 is full of valuable suggestions. There are several great social 
 problems which I should like to give to those men of his to 
 deliberate on. My belief is that even on such questions as 
 universal suffrage — the most dangerous one in our horizon — 
 much better sense would be elicited from them than from some 
 of your House of Commons declaimers. And this is the im- 
 mense superiority of England ! I think you rulers of Eng- 
 land must be penetrated with affectionate respect for the people 
 you govern. 
 
 " How often has poor M. Guizot expressed to me his envy of 
 English statesmen ! How deeply he felt the demonstrations of 
 attachment to Sir Robert Peel ! What a contrast to the re- 
 compense of his own labours ! Forgive my yielding to the 
 temptation of what seems to me like a faint shadow of a con- 
 versation with you ; and believe that few wishes for your 
 success in all that you wish to accomplish can be more sincere 
 and fervent than those of your faithful and obliged, 
 
 " Sarah Austin. 
 
 " I re-open my letter to add one word about Education. 
 There is a point to which I extremely wish to call your atten- 
 tion, and whenever you have ten minutes to spare, I will say 
 as briefly as I can what has struck me in consequence of some 
 very curious facts collected and communicated to me by one of 
 the Government Inspectors — Mr. Norris. I believe you will 
 find that there exists a great demand, as well as most unex- 
 pected resources, for a new and most valuable class of schools. 
 Under the same superintendence as the existing Primary 
 Schools, Mr. Norris finds the working people are actually 
 paying a million a year to private schools ; the rate of school- 
 ing being from /^d. to i.y. a week. They pay at this high rate, 
 partly from a sort of pride, partly because they fancy the in- 
 
SARAH AUSTIN. 287 
 
 struction must be better, though it is often much worse. 
 ' But,' said a man to Mr. Norris, ' you know, sir, they can't 
 teach much for 3d. a week.' 
 
 " Now is your time. The country is prosperous, the people 
 in good spirits, and alive to all sorts of schemes of improvement. 
 Now, dear Mr. Gladstone, give us a scheme for excellent 
 bttrgher schools, to which the people shall ' pay a good 
 price,' and have in return as much as their money can procure. 
 This matter has been on my mind a year, and if I had been 
 able, I should have written something about it ; but if you will 
 take it up, I shall be happy about it. — S. A.'' 
 
CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 SARAH AUSTIN {continued). 
 
 M. B. St. Hilaire on the new Ministry in England — Scene at M. Pasquier's — 
 M. Littr^ on M. Comte — M. Remusat on Burke — M. A. Thomas's Lec- 
 tures — Letter from Mrs. Austin to Rev. Dr. Whewell — " French Invasion " 
 of Weybridge — Mrs. Austin on Novels. 
 
 Barth'elemy St. Hilaire to Sarah Austin. 
 
 [Translation.] 
 
 " Les Pepinieres,_/««. 28, 1853. 
 " Madam and dear Friend, — I have been very busy, or 
 should have written to you before. I admire the composition 
 of your new Ministry as much as you do, and I agree with Mr. 
 Austin that it is one of the strongest you have had for some 
 time. England is quite right to prepare against the storm 
 with which this wretched creature (Louis Napoleon) threatens 
 her, and I recognise all the prudence and foresight of your 
 statesmen in all their acts. Common-sense, unfortunately, 
 does not exist here ; the present is the reign of incapacity and 
 meanness. The new order of things has not yet made many 
 converts, but I must tell you of one which is odious. The 
 other day, at M. Pasquier's, Dupin said that he considered 
 himself at liberty to accept a place under Government, the 
 Orleans having no further need of his services now that he had 
 saved their fortune. This is a falsehood, M. Dupin having had 
 nothing to do with the sales which have preserved a small part 
 of their wealth. He added, that after all no one could retort, 
 ' Fontaine, je ne bbirais pas de ton eau.' M. Guizot, who was 
 
SARAH AUSTIN. 289 
 
 present, rose, and turning his back on him, said, ' Speak for 
 yourself, sir.' The amusing, or I should say the infamous, 
 part of the affair is, that M. Dupin pays his visits to the Elysee 
 in the carriage provided for him by the Orleans family. The 
 Empire will, no doubt, be delighted to acquire his services. 
 The saying attributed to M. Berryer, when some one observed 
 that everything was preparing the way for Legitimacy and M. 
 de Chambord, ' In faith we do not want for clowns and jesters,' 
 might be applied to him. 
 
 " Your ever devoted 
 
 " B. St. Hilaire." 
 
 Barthelemy St. Hilaire to Sarah Austin. 
 [Translation.] 
 
 "Les PEPiNifeRES, March 25, 1853. 
 
 " Madam and dear Friend, — I fear I shall not be able to 
 come to you in the Isle of Wight, but you will see me at Wey- 
 bridge in the summer. To-morrow I shall probably see Littre, 
 and will ask him about Comte. I do not know what has 
 become of him, but I suspect that he must be, as he always has 
 been, in embarrassed circumstances. His doctrines I approve 
 of as little as you do, and I cannot understand his asking others 
 for help to diffuse them. I have always thought that he was 
 held in too high estimation in England ; there is nothing in 
 his books which merits aid or sympathy. With us they make 
 little impression. But the man is unfortunate, and although 
 much of his misfortune is entirely due to his own acts, he is 
 worthy of pity. 
 
 " March 28. 
 
 " I kept my letter to add the details I hoped to get from 
 Littre about M. Comte. He tells me that, in 1851, he lost the 
 very small place he filled at the Polytechnic School, and that 
 since then he is reduced to live on the subscriptions to his 
 works. This is a very small sum, and he is deserving of help, 
 like all who suffer. But really M. Comte provoked his mis- 
 fortunes, for, with all his theories about humanity, there does 
 not exist a more unsociable man. I doubt the justice, though 
 
 20 
 
290 THREE GENERA TJONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 I admit the charity, of providing him with the means of living 
 in order that he may elaborate his unreasonable system at 
 leisure. Do not think me hard. M. Comte may do, and has 
 done, a great deal of harm to a certain number of minds, which 
 he has warped ; witness my friend Littre. I cannot see that it 
 is a service to humanity to enable him to continue such an 
 
 unfortunate crusade. 
 
 " Your ever devoted 
 
 " B. St. Hilaire." 
 
 Sarah Attstin to M. Guizot. 
 
 "Weybridge, May 19, 1853. 
 
 " I have told you that I was full of the project of writing to 
 you — and why ? Because I had just read in the Assemblee 
 Nationale your admirable view of the relations between France 
 and the Bourbons. Voiis trouverez plaisant que je vous offre 
 moil approbation, mats elle est tellement intense qiCil me faut 
 Vexprimer. What is odd enough, is that not three days before 
 I had despatched to M. St. Hilaire an answer to his inquiry 
 how I liked M. de Remusat's article on Burke, and whether I 
 did not retract some of my severe condemnation of the earlier 
 revolutionists. I said that I was neither converted nor con- 
 vinced ; and in giving my reasons, I used almost the very words 
 I found in your essay. M. de Rfemusat's apology — that the 
 French had no traditions of free government — is not sufficient. 
 The project of the authors of the Revolution meant nothing 
 less than a change in all the conditions of social life (as you so 
 justly observe), and that project must ever be insane and 
 criminally presumptuous. No such idea ever prevailed here, 
 as you know better than anybody, except in the heads of a 
 handful of fanatics ; and I confess that I think the name of 
 ' the Great Rebellion ' better suits us than that of Revolu- 
 tion. 
 
 " You may be sure that I shall read every line you write on 
 that subject with twofold interest. 
 
 " I am sure you rejoice at the honourable and prosperous 
 course of the Ministry. My husband thinks it by far the best 
 that England ever possessed. It is consolatory to see so quiet, 
 
SA RAH A US TIN. 29 1 
 
 consistent, and dignified a course as that of Lord Aberdeen 
 crowned with such universal honour, without a single compro- 
 mise or a single clap-trap. Dear Lord Lansdowne looks old 
 and worn, but content. Now that the Duke is gone, he stands 
 first in the reverential affections of the people. I saw him 
 yesterday at M. Alexandre Thomas's lecture, who has a 
 numerous auditoire of fine ladies, and Avhat is more, he has 
 Hallam, Grote, and Macaulay. I think he may be content. I 
 have just written for him a letter of introduction to the Master 
 of Trinity. He has views on Cambridge ; I wish they may be 
 successful. I need not tell you that I have helped him to the 
 extent of my poor ability. 
 
 " God bless you and yours, dearest sir and friend, 
 
 " Your affectionate 
 
 "S.Austin." 
 
 Sarah Austin to Rev. Dr. W. Whewell. 
 
 ''July IS, 1853. 
 
 " Dear and Honoured Master, — I have just received notice 
 of the intended visit of Plato and Aristotle, alias Cousin and 
 ' dear St. Hilaire.' I think they will be here in little more 
 than a week. Cousin has been torn in twain by his terror of 
 the sea and his love for me ever since the year '48. At length 
 he has resolved to affront the perils of the Channel, and comes 
 with the fidissimus Achates. Cousin, always sublimely exag- 
 gerating, will go nowhere but to Weybridge, see nobody but 
 his beloved old friend. I accept as much of this as I ought ; 
 and, between you and me, I hope, trust, and believe he will see 
 Cambridge and Oxford. I write by this post to Mr. Chase 
 (Aristotle's alter), to inform Oxford, through him, of the advent 
 of the philosopher. 
 
 " Will you come to Weybridge, dear Dr. Whewell ? I can 
 give you a tidy room and simple fare, and I can;zo^ give you 
 other than the most affectionate welcome, and my husband and 
 you shall teitir tUe to the Frenchmen. You shall discuss under 
 the old nut-trees, and I will sit by and listen. If you cannot 
 come, and wish them to come to you, will you let them find 
 here words to that effect ? Their stay will not be long ; spite 
 
292 THREE GENERA TIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 of Cousin's vows of fidelity and reclusion, I foresee that he will 
 be seized and carried off. 
 
 " Is Mrs. Whewell at home ? What would you think if I 
 were to offer to come ? That I was mad — and so I should be ; 
 but I am better, and that puts such wild thoughts into my 
 head. 
 
 " Yours always, as you know, 
 
 " S. Austin." 
 
 Sarah Austin to M. Guizot. 
 
 " Weybridge, August i6, 1853. 
 " The dreaded French invasion has ' come off' this year, and 
 has taken the direction of Weybridge. We have had MM. de 
 Circourt, St. Hilaire, Lavergne, the Dunoyers, and last, not 
 least, the Philosopher Cousin. If we were seated under the 
 arbre vert or my old nut-trees, I would make you laugh with 
 the history of his demeanour and exploits. I thought I knew 
 him, but anything like his extravagance, his rudeness, and his 
 mendacity I could not have irnagined nor believed, if I had 
 heard it from others. It was so bad, that to say truth, I lost 
 all inclination to laugh, and surprised M. Thomas by the 
 serious shock which the discovery of positive lies gave me. 
 You know our English sense of the ineffable shame of lying, 
 and will understand how painful it was to me to connect that 
 with any one whom I had so much reason to admire for his 
 talents and to like for his kindness to me. M. Cousin would 
 see nobody, and made an immense cas of his incognito. He 
 refused all invitations, and would not even call with me on 
 Lord Lansdowne. The single exception he made was that of 
 Lord and Lady Holland, with whom he dined. He wrote to 
 me two days before his arrival, that he came ' en Angleterre 
 pour vous, et pour vous seule,' an absurdity twice repeated, 
 and which, though I did not believe it, caused me to clear my 
 house of other guests to receive him and St. Hilaire. He called 
 once the day after he arrived, and dined one Sunday, and all 
 the time talked like a madman about England and English 
 things. I think he must be amusing to you all with his his- 
 tories. I saw him no more. St. Hilaire is the same simple, 
 
SARAH AUSTIN. 293 
 
 upright, affectionate heart I have ever found him — profoundly 
 annoyed at his ' Master's ' freaks. 
 
 " I am tolerably well, and Mr. Austin is remarkably well. 
 " My kind and faithful love to all, ever dearest sir, 
 
 " Your most affectionate 
 
 " S. Austin." 
 
 Sarah Austin to M. Guizot. 
 
 "Cromer, Oct. 30, 1853. 
 
 " Your letter, dear sir and friend, has followed me to this 
 ultimate corner of my patrie — Norfolk, where I have been since 
 the middle of September. Now as to novels, you have not 
 applied to one very learned in the matter. Not that I affect to 
 scorn novels, or to be too wise or too good for them ; but some- 
 how they do not often come in my way, and I am not rich 
 enough to procure myself these luxuries. To say truth, too, I 
 am not in love with the Richtung (tendency) of our modern 
 novelists. There is abundance of talent ; but writing a pretty, 
 graceful, touching, yet pleasing story is the last thing our 
 writers nowadays think of. Their novels are party pamphlets 
 on political or social questions, like ' Sybil ' or ' Alton Lock,' or 
 ' Mary Barton ' or ' Uncle Tom ' ; or they are the most minute 
 and painful dissections of the least agreeable and beautiful 
 parts of our nature, like those of Miss Bronte — ' Jane Eyre ' 
 and ' Villette ' ; or they are a kind of martyrology, like Mrs. 
 Marsh's ' Emilia Wyndham,' which makes you almost doubt 
 whether any torments the heroine would have earned by being 
 naughty could exceed those she incurred by her virtue. 
 
 "Where, oh ! where is the charming, humane, gentle spirit 
 that dictated ' The Vicar of Wakefield ' — the spirit which 
 Goethe so justly calls versohnend (reconciling), with all the 
 weaknesses and woes of humanity ? I read a pretty little tale 
 lately, called ' Katie Stewart,' which pleased me much ; but it 
 is, I fear, too Scotch. I see another novel, also Scotch, much 
 praised, but I have not read it — ' Christie Johnstone.' Have 
 you read Thackeray's ' Esmond ' ? It is a curious and very 
 successful attempt to imitate the style of our old novelists. I 
 liked it, but I doubt if it would suit France. It would interest 
 
294 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 you from its subject. Which of Mrs. Gore's novels are trans- 
 lated ? They are very clever, lively, worldly, bitter, disagree- 
 able, and entertaining ; Mrs. Marsh's are clever, gloomy, but I 
 don't know them all. Miss Austen's — are they translated ? 
 They are not new, and are Dutch paintings of every-day people 
 — very clever, very true, very uncesthetic, but amusing. I have 
 not seen ' Ruth,' by Mrs. Gaskell. I hear it much admired — 
 and blamed. It is one of the many proofs of the desire women 
 now have to frtser questionable topics, and to poser insoluble 
 moral problems. George Sand has turned their heads in that 
 direction. I think a few broad scenes or hearty jokes a la 
 Fielding were very harmless in comparison. They confounded 
 nothing. The novels of G. Sand are far more dangerous than 
 those of Crebillon, which only appeal to the senses. The others 
 pervert heart and mind ; every affection, every thought is 
 sullied by them. What is worthy of remark is that Crebillon 
 dedicated his ' Roman des ]&garements ' to his extremely 
 respectable father ! That contains some admirable things, the 
 others not a line, as far as I can see. 
 
 " Yours most faithfully, 
 
 " S. Austin." 
 
 Sarah Austin to M. Giiizot. 
 
 " Weybridge, Dec. 7, 1853. 
 " Dear Monsieur Guizot, — What about the novel ? Je me 
 suis ahonnkc instantly to a library, that I might pronounce my 
 own judgment on those I mentioned to you. Now I must say 
 I find the ' School for Fathers ' a very pretty little book. It is 
 not exactly a school in which you or I want to learn ; but it 
 has pretty natural pictures of English country life in the last 
 century — a noble old squire, a fat, good, easy, kind-hearted and 
 unpolemical vicar, and so on. There are tears, but they are 
 wiped away, which is all one can ask of fiction or fact. The 
 style is easy and good, none of the emphase we abound in, no 
 politics, no metaphysics, no socialism, no Methodism — just a 
 pretty, kindly story. The ' Heir of RedclifFe ' I have not read. 
 It sounded too good for me. I am not worthy of superhuman 
 flights of virtue— in a novel. I want to see how people act and 
 
SARAH A USTIN. 295 
 
 suffer who are as good-for-nothing as I am myself. Then I 
 have the sinful pretension to be amused, whereas all our 
 novelists want to reform us, and to show us what a hideous 
 place this world is : Mafoi^je ne le sai's que /ro/, without their 
 help. 
 
 " The ' Head of the Family ' has some merits. The character 
 of the hero, ' the Head,' is striking and well drawn, very Scotch, 
 in the good sense. But there is too much affliction and misery 
 and frenzy. The heroine is one of those creatures now so 
 common (in novels), who remind me of a poor bird tied to a 
 stake (as was once the cruel sport of boys) to be ' shyed ' at (z".e., 
 pelted) till it died ; only our gentle lady-writers at the end of 
 all untie the poor battered bird, and assure us that it is never 
 the worse for all the blows it has had — nay, the better — and 
 that now, with its broken wings and torn feathers and bruised 
 body, it is going to be quite happy. No, fair ladies, you know 
 that is not so — resigned^ if you please, but make me no shams 
 of happiness out of such wrecks. Still, it is worth reading, and 
 if much abridged and softened, would make a good novel — as 
 times go. 
 
 "You have heard of Henry Reeve's successful journey. He 
 brings home a very strong conviction of the decrepitude of 
 Turkey and the energy and progress of Greece. You see we 
 are in one of our periodical fits of Russophobia — foolish enough, 
 but not more so than the extravagances that excited it. 
 
 " I am going on with my reprint.' Have you seen the last 
 Edinburgh and Quarterly Reviews f They are thought to be 
 very good on the whole. 
 
 " Farewell, dear Monsieur Guizot. You and my good St. 
 Hilaire are nearly all I regret in France. Would I could see 
 you once more ! 
 
 " Your affectionate and faithful 
 
 " S. Austin. 
 
 ' "Sydney Smith's Letters and Life." 
 
CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 SARAH AUSTIN {continued). 
 
 Letter from Mrs. Austin to M. B. St. Hilaire on the Emperor Napoleon — M. 
 Guizot's " History of the English Republic and of Cromwell " — Sydney 
 Smith's Oaths — "Germany from 1760-1814" — M. de Montalembert — 
 Union of England and France — Napoleon I. and the Queen of Prussia — 
 Letter from Mrs. Austin to Rev. Dr. Whewell — Lord Raglan's Despatches. 
 
 Sarah Austin to BartMlemy St. Hilaire. 
 
 [Translation.] 
 
 '■^February 15, 1854. 
 "As I am writing to my dear Arthur Russell, I cannot refrain 
 from adding a higliettino for my beloved Philosopher. I hope 
 you have made the acquaintance of Arthur's brother, who is a 
 secretary at our Embassy at Paris. Odo is very different from 
 Arthur, but charming — a poet — ^full of esprit, and entirely with- 
 out fatuity or pride. The mother who has brought up three 
 such sons may well be proud. Madame Scheifer writes that 
 she is astonished at the modesty and simplicity of our young 
 aristocrats. They are not all Russells — far from it — but it is a 
 fact that many among them are serious and simple-mannered. 
 Arthur tells me you take a despondent view of things. It does 
 not surprise me. Fortune has been pleased to give a good 
 hand to this gentleman.^ and he plays his cards cleverly. The 
 only thing that consoles me is the chance that our two nations 
 may get to understand each other a little, which would be a 
 permanent good. My sister-in-law has written me a Bona- 
 partist letter from Marseilles, reproaching me with want of 
 
 296 
 
SARAH AUSTIN. 297 
 
 confidence ! ! ! Justice is powerless against success. You will 
 read what we are doing here ; the preparations of the Govern- 
 ment do not impress me ; but where else could you find six 
 or seven fleets, belonging to private individuals, ready to 
 serve their country without any particular strain ? It is pro- 
 digious ! Good-bye, my dear friend, I am very busy, and 
 unfortunately my book is anything but Napoleonist.' You will 
 not be angry, as we both hate the whole race of conquerors. 
 
 " Yours affectionately, 
 
 "S. A." 
 
 M. Gutzot to Sarah Austin. 
 [Translation.] 
 
 " Paris, March 20, 1854. 
 
 " Dear Mrs. Austin, — Together with this letter you will 
 receive my ' History of the English Republic and of Cromwell.' 
 I hope that you and Mr. Austin will both read it with some 
 pleasure, for it has been written for England as much as for 
 France. I therefore wish it to be approved and liked in 
 England as well as here. I have kept so entirely clear of the 
 passions and traditions of English party spirit, and their habits 
 of thought and feeling, that I am not sure whether the judg- 
 ment and the impressions of a foreigner, sincere friend though 
 he be, will be understood and approved of in England. I have 
 my doubts. I suspect that I shall be accused of being at once 
 too severe and too indulgent, now for the Royalists, now for the 
 Republicans, now for Cromwell. Do help in making my work 
 understood by your public. I trust you are well enough now 
 to read and converse without too much fatigue, for I could never 
 forgive myself if you tired yourself for half an hour in main- 
 taining the correctness of my judgment and descriptions of 
 Cromwell, Vane, and their time. 
 
 " Yours ever, with all my heart, 
 
 " GuizoT. 
 
 " Pauline is amusing herself by translating the ' Head of the 
 Family.' " 
 
 ■ " Germany from 1760 to 1814 ; or, Sketches of German Life." 
 
298 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 Sarah Austin to Rev. Dr. W. Whewell. 
 
 " Weybridge, March 22, 1854. 
 
 " Dear Master, — It would be an insult to ask \i you are well. 
 I always regard you as the personification of strength ; indeed, 
 since you destroyed all those populations of planets, about 
 which we made ourselves so unhappy, you must be content to 
 pass for something more than Titanic. However, there is no 
 offence in wishing to hear that you are in your accustomed 
 vigour, and ready to confront all antagonists. I cannot but 
 admire in this controversy the facility with which men 
 se passionnent^ not only for ideas (since some ideas lie at the root 
 of all that is worth caring for), but for ideas which can have no 
 conceivable influence on their condition, or that of any living 
 being. 
 
 " Now I have a case of conscience for you. Lord Lytteleton 
 has detected in our Sydney's ' Letters ' ' two oaths,' or, to speak 
 more accurately (for there is no juration in the case), two 
 ' d — ns,' pp. 6 and 16. You see, Sydney is mimicking Jeffrey, 
 and most unquestionably Jeffrey did season his discourse with 
 that sort of condiment. I am no admirer of it, but I must say 
 that to strike out these two innocent little ' d — -ns ' seems to me 
 absurd. Lady Holland, who is anxious to make dear old 
 Sydney as decorous as possible, suggests, '■Hang the solar 
 system.' Is that an improvement ? It is not what Jeffrey 
 would have said — that is certain. If you think it better to 
 make the alteration, I will make it, but not for Lord Lyttelton. 
 He also raises a solemn protest against poor Sydney's red wafer 
 on the little boy's forehead. Surely on these terms we had 
 better let Sydney alone. He was a great and a good man, 
 and what he revered he revered sincerely, and acted upon faith- 
 fully, but these things formed no part of his code. 
 
 "I have had a great correspondence with my Lord of London, 
 and I can't tell you how gracious we are. I hope you will 
 think the better of me. 
 
 " I expect St. Hilaire in a month, but only for a few days. 
 He has never got over missing his visit last year, and means to 
 make two this year. The more the better ; but he missed 
 Cambridge — le malheureux I 
 
SARAH A US TIN. 299 
 
 " I am confined to my room by a bad cold, but otherwise 
 ziemlich (pretty well). Kindest regards to Mrs. Whewell. 
 " Yours, dear and honoured Master, 
 
 " Very affectionately, 
 
 " S. Austin." 
 
 Sarah Austin to Barthklemy St. Hilaire. 
 
 [Translation.] 
 
 "Weybridge, April 3, 1854. 
 " Occupied as I am, and pre-occupied as I feel, I cannot 
 refrain, dear friend, from writing to you ; but for pity's sake do 
 not reproach me for the shortness of my missives, as I am in 
 the agonies of producing my poor little book.' Mr. Longman 
 wants it by Easter, which is impossible, though I am near the 
 end. It will be the reverse of a /z2ce de circonstance, for I tell 
 of the great days and great deeds of Prussia, and God knows 
 she does not shine brightly at the present moment. I must say, 
 however, that I think we English are merciless about the diffi- 
 culties of other people. We have elbow-room (if I may use the 
 word), the poor Germans have a thousand hindrances. You, 
 who value honesty, are I am sure satisfied with our Government 
 and our Ambassador. But what lying ! I know but one man 
 who surpasses the Emperor Nicholas at that. Mrs. Grote tells 
 me that M. Cousin has sent me ' Madame de Sable ' and a thou- 
 sand tendresses. The first I have not received, and the second 
 I decline, as I could not reciprocate them. Expect no more 
 from me until I have done my work, but I am always 
 
 " Your very affectionate 
 
 "S. A." 
 
 BartMlemy St. Hilaire to Sarah Austin. 
 
 [Translation.] 
 
 "Les PitpiNiERES, _/?//)' 3, 1854. 
 "Madam and dear Friend, — I am looking forward to 
 reading your book,^ and hope to find it at Paris in a few days. 
 
 " " Germany from 1760 to 1 8 14; or, Sketches of German Life." 
 = Ibid. 
 
300 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 Like you, I hate conquerors, and I can promise you that fresh 
 light has been thrown on ours by the acts of his nephew and the 
 pubHcation of the 'Memoirs of Joseph.' The conduct of 
 Nicholas shows what is produced by the spirit of conquest. 
 The union of England and France will, I hope, be a source of 
 great good to us both, and if the two nations are wise, will lay 
 the foundation of an everlasting alliance ; but my patriotism 
 suffers when I see such good fortune fall to the share of such a 
 government as ours. With an honest man at the helm, what 
 lasting benefits for humanity at large might not arise from this 
 union. All I hope is that we shall lose the small remnant of 
 prejudice and hate which still lingers among us. This cordial 
 co-operation will efface all that completely and for ever. But 
 your gentlemen will have a good deal to bear in their personal 
 intercourse with Baraguay d'Hilliers, St. Arnaud, and others. 
 The ' entente cordiale ' will be more difficult than among the 
 troops. I believe that Lord Raglan has already experienced 
 something of this. 
 
 " I am very mucli afraid I shall not be able to come to Wey- 
 bridge this year, I am too busy. The work on Buddhism for 
 the Journal des Savants must be finished, and Aristotle's 
 ' Ethics.' This will occupy me until the winter ; but if you will 
 let me come and see you then, I shall be delighted. Many 
 remembrances to Mr. Austin and all your family. 
 
 '' Your devoted friend, 
 
 " B. St. Hilaire." 
 
 BartMlemy St. Hilaire to Sarah Austin. 
 
 [Translation.] 
 
 "Les P^pinieres, Sept. 27, 1854. 
 " Madam and dear Friend, — I have read your book with 
 the greatest pleasure and profit. You have not written a 
 history, but you have done better, by showing the moral 
 results which events brought about and the circumstances 
 arising from them — the humiliation of Prussia and her resur- 
 rection, our passing triumphs and our, alas ! well-merited 
 defeat. I do not think that you are at all too severe in your 
 
SARAH AUSTIN. 301 
 
 criticisms on Napoleon and his agents. He behaved shame- 
 fully to the unfortunate Queen of Prussia, and you do right to 
 denounce such conduct. I have always thought that the 
 different treatment accorded to the Grand Duchess of Saxe 
 Weimar was with the intent of making the reception of the 
 Queen at once more humiliating and more excusable in the 
 eyes of the world. By appearing to honour one woman, his 
 insults to the other were made more apparent. Your condem- 
 nation of the indifference and weakness shown by Goethe is 
 just and right ; I think you might have been even more 
 severe. His artistic impassiveness was a crime, his lordly 
 serenity was in reality only cowardice. T see with great satisfac- 
 tion that you have said a few words about our aristocracy of the 
 seventeenth century, who do not merit the admiration lavished 
 on them, and who were the cause of the greater part of our 
 misfortunes. Had they known, like your nobles, how to fulfil 
 the duties of their position, the Revolution and its consequences 
 would have probably been avoided. 
 
 " I hope to join you at Cromer, and should like to see that 
 part of England under your guidance. From there we can go 
 to Cambridge ; but I assure you that Weybridge is the place I 
 love best, and that I come to see you. 
 
 " Your ever devoted friend, 
 
 " B. St. Hilaire." 
 
 Sarah Austin to Rev. Dr. W. Whewell. 
 
 " Cromer, Oct. 27, 1854. 
 " Dear Master, — You are thinking now that Aristotle (B. 
 St. Hilaire) is here, and I would fain believe you are impatiently 
 looking for our arrival. No such thing. Some learned duties 
 detain him in Paris till the evening of the 28th ; consequently 
 he cannot be here before the 30th at night, so if, as I have 
 promised, I show him a little of this most East Anglican of 
 corners, and then a little of my old city, we can hardly be at 
 Cambridge before the end of next week, or even the beginning 
 of the week after. Will you tell me with all frankness 
 whether Sunday is a day on which it would be more or less 
 agreeable to you to have us than any other, and I will arrange 
 
302 THREE GENERA TIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 accordingly (regard being also had to the state of the weather 
 here, which will shorten or lengthen our stay here — selon). 
 
 " If you mean to invite people to meet Aristotle, I presume 
 Sunday will not do ; and in that case we should spend it with 
 our friends at Norwich. I wish St. Hilaire to see Norwich on 
 a Saturday. He has great rural tastes and knowledge, and the 
 corn and cattle markets, above all the rubicund and (now) 
 jovial-looking farmers, iwill interest him extremely, and are 
 utterly un-French. I will take him into the interior of a 
 provincial bourgeotse family that is more un-French still : the 
 books, the pictures, the fine engravings, the scientific culture 
 of the worthy Mr. Starke and his wife, will altogether astonish 
 him I know. If I keep him here till Saturday morning, our 
 progress to Cambridge must, of course, take place on Monday 
 the 6th. ' But the hare is not caught, Mrs. Glasse.' 
 
 " When it is, you shall know it ; till when I am really rather 
 too happy at the thought of finding myself once more at 
 Trinity Lodge. I am so afraid it cannot be. 
 
 " Yours most affectionately, 
 
 "S. Austin." 
 
 Barthtlemy St. Hilaire to Sarah Austin. 
 
 [Translation.] 
 
 Les P^pinieres, Dec. S, 1854. 
 " Madam and dear Friend, — The Evening Mail is, I assure 
 you, a great resource to me. Your aristocracy has shown the 
 world what it is made of. Perhaps, as The Times says, they have 
 even been foolhardy ; but very noble natures are capable of 
 behaving as they do. Lord Raglan's despatches excite my 
 admiration by their simplicity and their frankness. Until we 
 know what he has written, we have our doubts about the 
 accounts vouchsafed to us on what is passing. Your states- 
 men, your generals, and your newspapers, are absolutely 
 reliable ; even in the letters of the sergeants and corporals one 
 sees the English honesty ; and I feel a certain amount of pride 
 when I see that my friends who once laughed at my Anglo- 
 mania have come round to my opinions. 
 
SARAH A US TIN. 303 
 
 "In a letter on the actual state of parties in France, The 
 Times is wrong in stating that the Republicans have rallied to 
 the Empire on account of the Crimean War. None desire 
 more ardently to see our arms victorious than the Republican 
 party ; it would be false to all its traditions if it were not so, 
 but it hates the Government. Barbes's letter will show you 
 exactly how we stand. The 2nd December can never be atoned 
 for. The Times' letter is too Bonapartist, and betrays its 
 origin. 
 
 " Many remembrances to Mr. Austin and the young people. 
 " Your ever devoted friend, 
 
 " B. St. Hilaire." 
 
CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 SARAH AUSTIN {continued'). 
 
 " Memoirs of the Rev. Sydney Smith " — German Hatred of Russians — Miss 
 Nightingale — Ugo Foscolo — Letters from Mrs. Austin to M. Guizot. 
 
 Sarah Austin to M. Gutzot. 
 
 " WEYBRIDGE,_/a?Z. 7, 1855. 
 
 " Dear Monsieur Guizot, — I must go to France to see you 
 once more, and to refresh my spirit with your conversation, and 
 with the assurance that you have not forgotten all the good 
 and all the sad days we have passed together. Both are to me, 
 as I daresay to you, equally dream-like, and seem to belong to 
 another state of existence. And indeed we have, if not ' new 
 heavens,' at all events ' a new earth,' where it is difficult to 
 recognise the people and things we knew in that old earth of 
 which we were the inhabitants. I am always brooding over, 
 and shall perhaps in time hatch, the project of exchanging 
 Cromer for Trouville, and thus passing some time near you. 
 Will you give me any encouragement ? Is Trouville a place 
 in which I might find a humble lodging and lead my own 
 quiet life ? Is the air vif enough for an invalid of my stamp ? 
 How far is it from Val Richer ? 
 
 " I hope it is true that Lady Holland's book has pleased you, 
 and given you a more favourable impression of her father 
 than you had.' That is the effect it has produced here, I think 
 I may say universally. It is the effect which I ventured to 
 predict, My conviction that it would be produced led me 
 
 " A Memoir of the Rev. Sydney Smuh," edited by S. Austin, 
 304 
 
SARAH AUSTlM. 305 
 
 constantly to uphold dear Mrs. Smith's resolution, and since 
 her death, to encourage her daughter to persevere. He was 
 completely out of his place, which was the House of Commons 
 or the bar. But on the whole he was one of the best citizens 
 England has had — fearless and true, and, as you see, very 
 amiable in domestic life, and zealous in the discharge of his 
 duties as a parish priest. We are now going to work to correct 
 and enlarge the book for publication. Its success is so com- 
 plete that Lady Holland can no longer hesitate. 
 
 " I am continually receiving letters from Berlin, Dresden, 
 and other parts of Germany. I sent a bit from one to the 
 Examiner last week (30th December), bearing strong testimony 
 to the fact, which was sufficiently familiar to me, of the intense 
 hatred borne to the Russians by Germans. The whole time we 
 lived in Germany, I heard nothing else ; and the only pre- 
 judices I have against the Russians have been inspired by 
 Austrians and Prussians. How then is this to end ? Till the 
 war broke out, the English people could not be said to love or 
 to hate Russians. They never thought about them. Why 
 should they ? And now they are fighting them with acharne- 
 ment, while the Germans, who never spoke of them without 
 execration, remain at peace. This is one of the many incon- 
 sistencies of the present state of things. Another, and more 
 agreeable, is the wonderful cordiality (of which it is impossible 
 to doubt) of the English and French soldiers — a thing to be 
 welcomed with all one's soul, were the political conditions other 
 than they are. But nothing could ever reconcile me to them. 
 I have seen M. John Lemoine once. He is clever ; but I 
 should not at all trust his appreciations of what passes here. 
 My husband never ceases to repeat, ' I never knew but one 
 foreigner whose judgments on England were to be relied on, 
 Monsieur Guizot.' With what delight and regret he looks 
 back on his conversations with you. He said to me the other 
 day, ' The most charming companion I have met with in my 
 life is Monsieur Guizot — I never enjoyed any company so much 
 as his.' He is, on the whole, very well — better than I ever 
 knew him. I am certainly not worse. I think rather better. 
 But I must take my place permanently among the incapables. 
 I shall never recover my powers of action or endurance, and I 
 
 21 
 
3o6 THREE GENEkAflONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 only live by the aid of a thousand tedious menagements. God's 
 will be done ! One must say of one's faculties as of one's life, 
 He gave, and He hath taken away : blessed be His Nanie ! 
 
 " Lord Ellesmere was here yesterday ; he said the expedition 
 against Sevastopol was the work of The Times., reluctantly 
 engaged in by the Ministry because the people would have it. 
 Do you calLthat governing ? I trow not. Lord Ellesmere tells 
 me the indignation against The Times is very general, and that 
 excellent articles appear in some journals (I myself read an 
 admirable one in the Scotsman) ; but who reads them ? 
 
 " There is no help. The next despotism the world will have 
 to undergo is that of the Press. This might be foreseen as 
 soon as we get a reading populace. When the people have 
 read enough to become clear-sighted and reasonable, the 
 despotism will fall of itself. But when will that be ? Two 
 centuries hence ? I am sure you think with interest of your 
 favourite, Florence Nightingale. She writes, as I am told, ' I 
 have four miles of beds to visit, and I have not yet heard a 
 curse or an indecent word ! ' I hear from others of the wonder- 
 ful ' delicacy ' as well as patience of the poor dear fellows. 
 Well may the Queen call them ' her beloved troops ' ! If any- 
 thing could console me for this hideous war, and for the noble 
 blood that is shed, it would be the disclosure of ' qualities ' 
 (says one of my Berlin friends) ' not to be expected from 
 mortals, nor indeed from immortals,' in my dear countrymen. 
 And how generously and kindly are they treated by yours ! 
 one's heart warms in reading what the poor fellows say of their 
 ' French brothers.' Will it, can it last ? Let us pray that it 
 may. 
 
 "Yours ever, dearest Monsieur Guizot, 
 
 " Sarah Austin." 
 
 Sarah Austin to BartMlemy St. Hilaire. 
 
 [Translation.] 
 
 ^^ March I, 1855. 
 "Dear Friend, — M. de Remusat, in his charming article 
 on Lord Herbert of Cherbury, mentions George Herbert in a 
 
SARAH AUSTIN. 307 
 
 manner which leads me to suppose that he did not know him, 
 which is not surprising. Pray tell him that I beg him to get 
 a little book which is not much known, ' Biographies of Some 
 Illustrious Men,' by Izaak Walton, himself famous as a ' pis- 
 cator.' His book on the art and pleasure of fishing is cele- 
 brated, as it deserves to be. It is full of our English love for 
 nature. 
 
 " Izaak Walton's ' Lives ' contains among others that of the 
 poet George Herbert, whose verses breathe the purest and most 
 ardent piety. You remember the ante-chapel of Trinity 
 College, where Newton is studying the skies, and Bacon sits 
 meditating ('sic sedebat'). You know that the latter statue 
 was given by the dear and learned Master — he has also made a 
 present to his College of a fine painted window, in memory of 
 the afore-mentioned George Herbert, a Trinity man, like the 
 two others. 
 
 " Who is M. Etienne, who writes on Foscolo ? If you know 
 him, I beg you will tell him that (doubtless unwittingly) he 
 has given a very inexact impression of the relations of Foscolo 
 with English people. I knew him, and I lived near him, at 
 the period when Pozzo and Santa Rosa took a cottage near his. 
 I witnessed the disgust and shame his conduct caused to his 
 honourable and virtuous compatriots. At the time when he 
 was literally living on charity in Digamma Cottage, which he 
 built, he kept three maids, all handsome — in fact, a harem. 
 His whole life was scandalous, and fraudulent. No one can 
 imagine how much he begged, and received, from English 
 literary amateurs. One of my cousins, who not only gave him 
 large sums of money, but much precious time, told me that 
 Mr. Hudson Gurney alone gave Foscolo over £2fiOO. He 
 made poor young refugees work for him, promising to procure 
 them situations through his all-powerful protection. Not only 
 he never gave them a farthing, but he borrowed small sums 
 from them, which he never repaid. I translated two of his 
 articles for the Edinburgh Review^ and the editor did not 
 venture to entrust him with my share of the proceeds. He 
 would have pocketed it. What right has M. Etienne to say 
 that ' the eleven years Foscolo passed in England were only a 
 long experience of the unanimous condemnation of poverty' ? 
 
3o8 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 No one ever lived more scandalously upon the generosity of a 
 public to whom he was in reality nothing. 
 
 "While he wrote, ' Here poverty is a disgrace,' &c., &c., he 
 gave a breakfast where every lady received a nosegay worth 
 half-a-sovereign. He had begged this money for his necessities. 
 The guests were horrified. 
 
 " I charge you in the name of truth and of England whom 
 he has calumniated, to submit these facts to M. Etienne. This 
 deification of immorality, of dishonesty, of baseness, and of 
 ingratitude, because they are decked out with pompous phrases, 
 is odious and fatal to society at large. 
 
 " Foscolo did not possess the rudiments of honesty. His 
 immoral life and his ugliness caused his compatriots to nick- 
 name him ' the monkey.' In short, he was a detestable 
 character. 
 
 " M. Etienne talks of ' the mercenary hands which tortured 
 his thoughts.' My hands were among the number — then a 
 poor, unknown, and honest young woman who worked hard 
 to put his Italian (although M. Etienne says he was obliged to 
 write in French) into good English. And it is I whom he 
 would have robbed of the small reward of my labour, if the 
 editor (Jeffrey), who knew him well, and who in those days 
 did not know me, had not saved me from his dishonesty. I 
 should like to say all this to M. Etienne, not for myself, but I 
 choke when I hear my country calumniated by cowards who 
 lived upon her charity. 
 
 " Your affectionate 
 
 " S. A." 
 
 Sarah Austin to Barth'elemy St. Hilaire. 
 
 [Translation.] 
 
 " Weybridge, March 28, 1855. 
 "Here I am seriously deliberating whether I shall ask the 
 learned translator of Aristotle, the expositor of the gloomy 
 philosophy of the East, to buy me a bonnet, or whether I 
 nad better give this important commission to Madame de B. 
 What, dear Philosopher, is your opinion on the subject 
 
SARAH AUSTIN. 309 
 
 am rather afraid of the tyranny which fashion and milliners 
 always exercise over my sex. I do not want a bonnet for a 
 young girl — nor a bonnet flying off my head (fie !), nor a 
 dressy bonnet — nothing of the kind. A bonnet which will 
 frame my face, which will protect me from the sun, which 
 will not fade in the sun, as I cannot carry a parasol when I am 
 driving my pony. A grandmother's bonnet, fit for a person 
 who has undergone the amplification you know of, and whom 
 a small bonnet would not suit at all. In a few words, I long 
 for a plain white ' capote.' Do ask whether such a thing 
 would suit a respectable old woman like myself. Do not buy 
 anything expensive, for you know what risks the bonnet of 
 ' the coachman of everybody ' will have to run. If you hesitate, 
 say so, and I will write to Madame de B. ; but in that case I 
 shall not have it when you come, and I want to make myself 
 beautiful for you. I send the size of my head, which has been 
 celebrated by the great physiologist Carus as the biggest he 
 ever saw (so I am told, for I have not read his book). Probably 
 my milliner will think it enormous.' ■ 
 
 " Enough of this nonsense. 
 
 " I have just had a letter from dear Dr. Whewell — all about 
 you, and full of messages for you. Tell me your plans ? 
 
 " Will you come straight here (z^z« Southampton), and rest a 
 few days, and then go to London ? 
 
 " Your affectionate friend, 
 
 " S. A." 
 
 Sarah Austin to M. Guizot. 
 
 "■March 31, 1855. 
 " Thank you for the charming Memoir of Lady Rachel 
 Russell, dearest Monsieur Guizot. That is a subject which 702/ 
 can treat. How few men can ! They are eloquent enough on 
 the attractions of the forbidden — the unlicensed : they hardly 
 believe in the union of passion with duty. This is as stupid as 
 
 ' The bonnet was a great success, and served as a pattern for many others, 
 in spite of the objections raised by milliners as to its being " so very un- 
 fashionable." The bonnets always went by the name of "Aristotelian" in 
 the family. 
 
3IO THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 it is vicious, for how is the heart of a corrupt and faithless 
 woman to contain that exhaustless well of tenderness which 
 lay deep and untroubled in Lady Rachel's ? In reading it, I 
 pleased myself with thinking that you have this most heavenly 
 of all earthly spectacles always before you, and that you wrote 
 with the more emotion and fervour because you had two 
 loving young wives by your side. M. de Lavergne tells me 
 that you look remarkably well, and calls upon me to find that 
 merit in the Revolution of '48. If anything could bring it 
 into favour with me, this would ; but I would rather have had 
 you preserve Europe for all that. All that we see and all 
 that we suffer — the pretensions of Nicholas, the hesitations of 
 Austria, the alarms of Prussia, and last, but not least, our own 
 sotte attitude vis-a-vis of France (of France herself I say 
 nothing) — all these are fruits of 1848. 
 
 " I have a little brochure for you — a very humble affair, but 
 you will find in it a little bit of Nonconformist history — inter 
 alia, the wonderful chance which made my collateral ancestor, 
 Sir Phil. Meadows, the colleague of both Milton and Locke. 
 
 " I insinuated a little scrap for you into a letter to Madame 
 de Bourke. In it I mentioned a very small opus of mine, 
 which I now send by the hands of Mrs. Grote. 
 
 " I did not think it at all worth sending, till I recollected 
 your intimate acquaintance with and interest in our Puritans 
 and their descendants the Nonconformists. Adding to this 
 the interest which I always like to believe you are good enough 
 to take in me and mine, I make out a case which palliates the 
 impertinence of sending such a trifle to you. The Sarah 
 Fairfax, from whom I am lineally descended, gave her name 
 to a line of Sarahs, of whom I am, I think, the seventh. Two 
 I can recollect — my great-aunt, Mrs. Martineau, and my aunt. 
 My next successor died at Marseilles, and there is now just 
 born another, a step lower, the daughter of Philip Taylor and 
 Pauline Comte. My direct ancestor, Mr. John Meadows, and 
 his friend, Mr. Fairfax, were worthy specimens of that race of 
 Englishmen whom you so well understand, and with whom 
 you have so many sympathies. 
 
 " This little narrative is a cMtif return for your charming 
 Meirioir. Is it irideed the usual delusion of old age, or are 
 
SARAH AUSTIN. 311 
 
 such women and such men still to be found? When Alex- 
 andre Thomas reads to me his extracts from the letters and 
 journals of M. de Mornay and their friends, I feel as if I were 
 transported into another world — the mixture of simplicity and 
 elevation is so imposing. The usual mixture of our days is. 
 just the opposite — a varnish over dirt. 
 
 " My poor husband grows misanthropic. He cannot say, 
 with your indulgent smile, ' Ah, chfere amie, les hommes sont 
 si faibles ! ' He execrates them : II y a de quoi. But there 
 are also things which one may yet love and admire. You are 
 the true sage. Children, a garden, and books will make a 
 bright world anywhere, and in the worst times. Would I 
 could only see you among them ! 
 
 "Your most affectionate 
 
 " S. Austin." 
 
 Sarah Austin to M. Guizot. 
 
 Weybridge, July 3, 1855. 
 "As to Trouville, you know not all the pitiable difficulties 
 of this poor life of mine. I cannot walk — at least, I am for- 
 bidden to do that, or anything which puts any stress on the 
 heart ; so that my pony-chaise is my daily bread. As things 
 of this kind abound in every English watering-place, and cost 
 little, it did not occur to me, till I talked with Madame de 
 Bourke, that I should find no means of taking my daily drive 
 — nothing but chars-h-banc, far too expensive for me. This 
 objection is, I fear, fatal. The innumerable donkey-chaises, 
 &c., &c., of Cromer are the very inesquin ground of a pre- 
 ference which is forced upon my mind by my body. Pity me ! 
 However, as I am naturally speranzosa, I do not give up. 
 I have distant visions (distant at my time of life) of a short 
 sejour at Versailles. My faithful friend, St. Hilaire, is going 
 to inhabit a house there ; there will be rooms to spare, and I 
 could, without gene to him, set up a little manage for a few 
 weeks. T have an English friend there who offers me the use 
 of her carriage. Madame de Circourt is near. It looks as if I 
 might attempt it. Surely nobody is so well provided with 
 kind friends. But all this is for another year, and I am im- 
 
312 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 patient to see you, best of all friends, again. My husband 
 wants to hear your opinion of many things : he thinks you 
 and he would agree. But, oh ! with what bitterness does he 
 contemplate what is passing ! How I wish for him a little of 
 your equanimity— that quality of gods ! He, living out of the 
 world, is tossed by all its tempests. 
 
 "You see that a third victim has been offered up to the 
 Moloch of the Press — that most implacable of tyrants ! Poor 
 Captain Christie and Admiral Boxer were hunted to death, 
 and now the good and noble Lord Raglan. Flesh and blood 
 cannot endure the incessant baiting, and there stands Disease 
 always near, always ready to seize on the frame shaken by 
 mental sufferings. 
 
 " I saw our dear Mr. Hallam when I was in London. Alas, 
 how changed ! Not looking ill — I had rather have seen that — 
 but the light and meaning of his fine eye gone. He seemed 
 much pleased to see me, and said he had been thinking of 
 coming to Weybridge. His heart is not changed. 
 
 "Our book' has had great success, and is already come to 
 a second (published) edition. I am glad to have fulfilled my 
 duty to my two dear old friends — according to the measure of 
 my powers. 
 
 " Your very faithful and affectionate 
 
 " S. Austin." 
 
 ' "Sydney Smith." 
 
CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 SARAH AUSTIN {continued). 
 
 Letter from M. B. St. Hilaire to Mrs. Austin about the Secretaryship of the 
 Suez Canal — Mrs. Austin asks M. Guizot for Information about Lord 
 Raglan from French Soldiers — Education at Loz^re — Rev. Dr. .Whewell on 
 the Vice-Chancellorship — Letter from Mrs. Austin to Rev. Dr. Whewell 
 — Letter from Mrs. Austin to Mr. Hayward — Letter from Mrs. Austin to 
 M. B. St. Hilaire on the Suez Canal — His ansvifer — A Taylor Gathering. 
 
 Barthelemy St. Hilaire to Sarah Austin, 
 
 [Translation.] 
 
 "Les P£piNiERES,_/«/y 30, 1855. 
 " Dear Madam and Friend, — I am going with Odilon Barrot, 
 on the 28th of August, to his birthplace, La Lozere. It is an 
 old promise, and this year I must accompany him to his 
 beloved and desolate mountains. After that, my movements 
 are uncertain, for this reason : M. de Lesseps, some three or 
 four months ago, offered me the secretaryship of the Company 
 of the Suez Canal, and he still presses me to join him. All 
 my friends, with the exception of Cousin, advise me to accept, 
 and I am inclined to do so. It would not only be an assured 
 source of income, and enable me to return to Paris, as I should 
 live at the Company's offices, but also a matter for pride to 
 have one's name connected with so admirable a work. If I 
 accept, I shall be obliged to go to Egypt at the end of October ; 
 and we shall be absent about two months, at Alexandria, Cairo, 
 Suez, and Pelusium. In this case, I shall hardly have time 
 
 313 
 
314 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 to come over to Weybridge, although I do not like under- 
 taking even so easy a journey without saying good-bye to you. 
 " Your ever devoted friend, 
 
 " B. St. Hilaire." 
 
 Sarah Austin to M. Guizot. 
 
 " Weybridge, August 5, 1855. 
 
 " Dear Monsieur Guizot, — I have two favours to ask of 
 you, not for myself, but for persons whom you will be glad to 
 serve, and concerning things which will interest you. 
 
 " The iirst is this : Lord EUesmere, bound by a friendship of 
 forty years and by every tie of respect and affection to Lord 
 Raglan, has undertaken to write some sort of biographical 
 notice of him — probably an article in the Quarterly Review. 
 He is very anxious to collect the opinions and sentiments of 
 brave and honourable men concerning one so brave, so honour- 
 able, so gentle, and so infamously maligned. The Press has, 
 as you see, affected, now that the mischief is done, to bestow 
 upon its victim a praise far more odious than its censure. But 
 of course Lord Raglan's friends are little disposed to accept 
 this tardy and cowardly atonement ; and Lord EUesmere has it 
 at heart to show how little the Calumnies heaped upon him 
 were deserved. We have ample testimony from officers and 
 privates how beloved, revered, and regretted he was by our 
 army. I have been fortunate enough to get some letters 
 written to mothers.! ^^id without the slightest arriere pensie, 
 which are valuable. Will you aid him in his pious task ? for 
 you must have heard how ' our brave commander,' as the poor 
 soldiers call him in their letters, was regarded by Frenchmen. 
 Unhappily, the testimony of the Frenchmen who approached 
 him most nearly is not much worth having. 
 
 '' Lady Ellesmere's mother. Lady Charlotte Greville, the 
 charming and faithful friend of ' Le Prince Auguste,' as she 
 always calls the Comte de la Marck, and of the Duke of 
 Wellington, is so broken down by grief and misery at this fatal 
 war, that what her eighty years had not done will, I fear, soon 
 be accomplished by depression of mind. I am going this 
 
SARAH AUSTIN. 31 S 
 
 morning to Hatchford, to see how she is — with many fore- 
 bodings. 
 
 " My other petition is this : We were last week at Eton, and 
 partook of the ceremonies and festivities of Election-Saturday 
 speeches, boats, &c., &c. I met there the Dean of Windsor 
 (Hon. and Very Rev. Gerald Wellesley), to whom the religious 
 instruction of the Queen's children is principally entrusted. 
 He complained to me of the want of such books as he could 
 heartily approve for that purpose, and asked me if I could get 
 him any information about those used in Germany and France. 
 He is a very enlightened and liberal-minded man, and sincerely 
 anxious to acquit himself of this important duty. The Princess 
 Royal will soon be confirmed, and he wants all the aid he can 
 get from books which are earnest, devout, and instructive, 
 without exaggeration or bigotry. Will you tell me whether 
 you can recommend any of those your children used ? I shall 
 make a similar request to a dear and wise friend at Dresden ; 
 for, to use the words of the Bishop of Lichfield, who was at 
 Eton, and spoke, ' if ever Christian gentlemen (and women) 
 were wanted, it is now.' 
 
 " My kindest and most affectionate regards to all the young 
 ones, and to you, dear sir, every sentiment of respect and 
 attachment. 
 
 "S. Austin." 
 
 BartMlemy St. Hilatre to Sarah Austin. 
 
 [Translation.] 
 
 " Planchamp, LozfeRE, Sept. 12, 1855. 
 " Madam and dear Friend, — I have had a charming 
 journey with Barrot. From the Jura we went to Geneva, 
 then by Lyons, the Rhone, and the Department of Ardeche, 
 we came to these rugged mountains. You would be horrified 
 at the misery and ignorance still existing among our poor 
 country populations. The schoolmistress, an excellent woman, 
 does not know how to write ; she is old and infirm, but 
 it is difficult to find a substitute, as she only receives 50 frs. 
 a month. The boys are better off, as the master is an educated 
 
3i6 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 man ; but not one of them can write, because they come to 
 school so irregularly. Barrot and I visited the schools, and 
 drew up a little set of rules as to cleanliness, to try and induce 
 these children to wash their faces and hands every day : I 
 doubt their doing it once a month. The priest is a good sort 
 of man, but lacking initiative ; and those we have seen in the 
 villages near are as honest and lazy as he is. To do any good 
 in this backward province, one ought to live among the people, 
 as your country gentlemen do. Barrot comes every year, but 
 his occupations will not allow him to stay long. If it were less 
 difficult of access, it would be well worth your taking the 
 journey. The valleys are picturesque and extremely fertile ; 
 the mountains desolate, but very grand. In three days I shall 
 be at La Chesnaie, with M. de Lesseps ; thence I go to Paris, 
 and if you are still at Trouville, shall come and join you there 
 for a few days. 
 
 " Your devoted friend, 
 
 " B. St. Hilaire." 
 
 Rev. Dr. W. Whewell to Sarah Austin. 
 
 "Trinity Lodge, Oct. 20, 1855. 
 
 " How are you, my dear friend ? I have heard nothing of 
 you for a long time ; for I have not been in London, and have 
 not fallen in the way of any of our common friends. I was in 
 France for a few days — only eight, but there I saw neither 
 Cousin nor St. Hilaire. The former was at some baths, I 
 believe, and the latter was not at Paris ; and though within 
 reach of it by weekly visits, I missed him. I sent him some 
 Platonic dissertations, for I too venture to write about Plato, 
 and received in return a book about that Indian philosophy to 
 which he now gives so much attention. I cannot persuade 
 myself that the speculations of a quarter of the world, which 
 has produced so little effect upon European culture, are of 
 any great interest to us, though I quite believe that the Hindoos 
 are the most subtile and thoughtful race that ever lived, except 
 the Greeks. 
 
 " I the more want to recall myself to your recollection, and 
 to have a word of account of yourself, because I am, I fear. 
 
SARAH AUSTIN. 317 
 
 on the brink of a year, in which I shall be entirely absorbed in 
 that weary trifling which people call 'business.' Do you 
 recollect how heartily Cowley's Muse abuses it ? 
 
 " ' Business ! the grave impertinence ; 
 
 Business ! the thing which I of all things hate ; 
 Business ! the contradiction of thy fate.' 
 
 In short, I am threatened with the office of Vice-Chancellor 
 for the coming year, and shall have to put aside philosophy 
 and poetry and everything else for that time. For the occupa^ 
 tions are of a nature that never leave one sure of a moment, 
 and sure not to have many moments of leisure. 
 
 " I have been looking at your new edition, or rather your re- 
 print for publication, of Sydney Smith's ' Letters.' I am glad 
 it is published, though I must own I was one of those who 
 hesitated to recommend the publication. The picture of such 
 a noble, upright, cheery, vigorous character is something which 
 it cannot but do men good to look at ; and the book is to me 
 attractive beyond measure. I never take it up without reading 
 onwards as long as I have time. 
 
 " Adieu, my dear friend. You must give me your sympathy, 
 for I have the pain of seeing my wife in much pain, and in 
 considerable oppression. 
 
 " These alternations of ill are very distressing. 
 
 " Always affectionately yours, 
 
 " W. Whewell. 
 
 Sarah Austin to Rev. Dr. W. Whewell. 
 
 "WEYBRIDGE,yfl«. 9, 1856. 
 
 " My DEAR Dr. Whewell, — I think it is impossible that you 
 should have misunderstood my silence. Over and over again I 
 tried to write, and dared not. One mistrusts the power and 
 value of one's sympathy as soon as one tries to put it into words- 
 Yet, independently of sympathy, I feel great sorrow ; for one 
 is gone who was always kind to me, and who possessed that 
 reality and simplicity of character which seems to me every 
 day more rare, and which I, at all events, every day value and 
 
3i8 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 love more. I never saw a person who appeared to me more 
 genuine^ more entirely without pretension or disguise.' 
 
 " I shall not attempt to comfort you, dear friend, for the loss 
 of such a one, yet one consolation strikes me as peculiarly 
 yours. It always seemed to me that you contributed in a larger 
 degree, and more immediately than any man I know, to the 
 happiness of the woman who had committed herself to your 
 care and love. She expressed this to me more than once, in 
 her simple and sincere way, and if she had not, I should have 
 seen it. In general, the remark M. Guizot has often made to 
 me is too just. Englishmen do not recognise the obligation of 
 doing anything to make the lives dependent on their own, 
 cheerful or agreeable. Their utmost kindness does not go 
 beyond allowing their wives to be happy. How must every 
 white hour of her life come back to you now ! This is what / 
 have felt to be a comfort, in thinking of your loss. May this 
 and all higher consolations be yours ! 
 
 " My husband begs me to say something to you for him, 
 everything that can express respect and sympathy. 
 
 " God bless you, dear and honoured friend ! Whenever you 
 feel it not painful or burdensome to write to me, you will relieve 
 me from great anxiety. 
 
 " Most faithfully yours, 
 
 " Sarah Austin." 
 
 Sarah Austin to Abraham Hayward. 
 
 " WEYBRIDGE,yff«. 25, 1856. 
 
 " Dear Mr. Hayward, — I send you the event of the day — 
 my first snowdrop. If you knew the delight with which I saw 
 the cluster of pure white heads glittering just above the earth 
 in the morning sun, you would form some sort of estimate of 
 the life I lead, and would despair of seeing me again in any 
 circle, unless perhaps one traced by fairy steps on the grass. 
 
 " It is well for me, dear old friend, that when in the world 
 and drinking largely of its intoxications, I did not lose the love 
 of nature, which now stands me in stead of all that I have 
 
 ■ Mrs. Whewell died l8th December, 1855. 
 
SARAH Austin. 319 
 
 lost. I might make a struggle to partake of some social 
 pleasures, but, believe me, it would not answer. What can be 
 done with a woman who must go to bed at ten o'clock ? 
 Society produces either excitement or ennui, and I can bear 
 neither. My poor enfeebled heart can just get through, and 
 but just, its daily task ; if I venture to overtask it, it will break 
 down altogether. I am not the least gloomy. I have always 
 wished and intended rather to retire from life than to be torn 
 from it, and a merciful Hand has made this easy to me. You 
 will laugh, and I think I am (naturally) turned dhoie. No, I 
 have a very low opinion of myself, but I do not find myself 
 quite bad enough for that. 
 
 " You ought to collect your essays. They will form a very 
 valuable and entertaining volume. 
 
 " Always, dear Mr. Hay ward, 
 
 " Cordially yours, 
 
 " S. Austin." 
 
 Sarah Austin to BartMlemy St. Htlatre. 
 [Translation.] 
 
 " WEYBRIDGE,y<2;z. 30, 1856. 
 
 " You will see an article in the Edinburgh Review unfavour- 
 able to your project.' My nephew Reeve told me he feared 
 you would be angry, but he is persuaded that the author knew 
 his subject perfectly, and that it is his duty to publish an 
 opinion based on conscientious study. I do not know who 
 wrote the article. I think you exaggerate the political part of 
 the opposition ; it is more commercial ; and the undertaking 
 is regarded as a bad speculation. Lord Lansdowne told me 
 that he viewed it with indifference, politically speaking. For 
 the moment the subject awakens little attention here ; after 
 the peace men's minds will be freer. Tell dear Arthur Russell 
 that I thank him for his letter, and for his kindness to my 
 young friend Sterling, whom I recommend also to you. He is 
 
 " The Suez Canal. 
 
320 Tit RE ^ GEN^RAftONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 the eldest son of one of the most distinguished, high-minded, 
 and lovable men I ever knew. 
 
 " Good-bye, dear and excellent friend. 
 
 " I am, yours affectionately, 
 
 " S. A." 
 
 Barth'elemy St. Hilaire to Sarah Austin. 
 [Translation.] 
 
 "Rue Richepance, Paris, April']., 1856. 
 
 " Madam and dear Friend, — I saw Reeve here about three 
 weeks ago, and we had a conversation about the article (on the 
 Suez Canal) in the Edinburgh Review. I had already replied 
 to it in various papers, but as our Revue Britannique has 
 reproduced part of it which calls for a categorical answer, I am 
 writing one which will, I think, prove that the Edinburgh 
 Review is entirely in the wrong. Rest assured that your 
 Cabinet does not think it an ' idle question,' for they oppose 
 us so violently that they evidently consider it of importance. 
 To call the cutting of the Isthmus of Suez a piece of folly is 
 neither true nor intelligent. After a careful examination on 
 the spot, we are convinced that it is feasible ; and we have two 
 hundred millions of capital, without any appeal to the public. 
 I assure you that every one cannot have made a mistake simply 
 in order to be agreeable to us. Nothing I should dislike more 
 than to be forced into a polemic with the English Cabinet, for 
 I am a stronger partisan of our alliance than ever. But your 
 Cabinet is in the wrong, and they would do better to abandon . 
 their disloyal tactics, before the country and Europe oblige 
 them to do so. They will iind their cause impossible to defend, 
 because it is a bad one. 
 
 " Meanwhile I am correcting the proofs of my ' Letters on 
 Egypt,' which M. Levy is to publish, and I have two volumes 
 of Aristotle in the press, which have been ready for two years. 
 The possibility of printing them is one result of my joining 
 the Company. You will see what beauties are contained in 
 the ' Nicomachean Ethics.' I have been obliged to disagree 
 
SARAH AUSTIN. 321 
 
 with Aristotle, but do not admire him the less for combating 
 his Eudaemonism. 
 
 " Tell me your plans for this year ; I trust it will not pass 
 without my crossing the Channel. 
 
 " Ever your devoted friend, 
 
 " B. St. Hilaire." 
 
 Sarah Austin to Barth'elemy St. Hilaire. 
 [Translation.] 
 
 " Weybridge, May 5, 1856. 
 
 " To-morrow, dear friend, I am going to Chester Terrace, 
 and on Wednesday my brother and I go to Cambridge to see 
 our poor friend. Dr. Whewell. We remain at Trinity Lodge 
 till Friday, whence we go to Norwich, where there will be a 
 formidable gathering of the whole Taylor clan. The little 
 pamphlet I send you will interest you, and explain the reasons 
 for this meeting, and why, in spite of age and infirmities, my 
 dear and venerable brother and your poor old friend contem- 
 plate such a journey. 
 
 " Observe how my respected ancestor talks of the House of 
 Hanover and the two first Georges. They are the sentiments 
 of Locke. 
 
 " I think I do right to join the rest of my family, although 
 I am not a zealous Unitarian, but it concerns liberty of con- 
 science, so bravely proclaimed and defended by him from 
 whom I descend. We have all received invitations from the 
 present congregation of the Octagon chapel. We shall be at 
 least thirty. I think you will agree that the ' fete ' at all 
 events will be an original one, certainly not gay, but instructive 
 to the rising generation. The children will see and hear how 
 the name of their forefathers is still loved and honoured in 
 the town where they lived. They know that their ancestors 
 possessed neither riches, rank, nor titles, and they will under- 
 stand that it was by their virtues alone that they left the name 
 they have done. Let us hope that they will preserve it intact. 
 " Ever, dear friend, your affectionate 
 
 "S. A," 
 
 32 
 
CHAPTER XXXII. 
 
 SARAH AUSTIN {conttmced). 
 
 The State of Germany — Rev. Dr. Whewell named a Member of the Acad^mie 
 — Princess Lieven — Letter from Mrs. Austin to M. Guizot on the " Pro- 
 vince of Jurisprudence " — Mr. Gladstone on Sir R. Peel and Employment 
 for Women — Rev. Dr. Whewell lectures on Plato. 
 
 Sarah Austin to Barthelemy St. Hilaire. 
 
 [Translation.] 
 
 " Weybridge, July 7, 1856. 
 "Dear Friend,— I hardly dare mention public matters, 
 particularly with regard to poor Saxony and her excellent and 
 unhappy king. I have been reading over my letters from M. 
 de Lindenau, who, after serving his country for forty-five 
 years, has retired to his little native Altenburg, surrounded 
 by art and science, to wait patiently for death. He always 
 seemed to me unique among Ministers, z>., absolutely without 
 faults. There have been more brilliant men — perhaps cleverer ; 
 but I know no one who surpasses him in disinterestedness, 
 true philanthropy, and wise prudence. I have a half project 
 of publishing a translation of some of his letters, in order to 
 show how Saxony was ruled. It would be an elegy, I know ; 
 for these small kingdoms, so admirably governed, are destined 
 to disappear, and the reign of armed force inaugurated by the 
 French Revolution and the wars which followed will soon be 
 universal. Your pupil, Prussia, will beat you with your own 
 arms. M. de Bismarck will not hesitate at violence, fraud, or 
 baseness. He will be at least on a par with all you have. Our 
 
SARAH AUSTIN. 323 
 
 stupid Liberals insist on seeing liberty in Prussia, despotism in 
 Austria ; there is but one word— one name for such people. 
 
 "Alas! my predictions are being realised. The small 
 independent States will be annihilated and eaten up by the 
 monsters who only know the law of the strongest. Humanity 
 never appeared to me so brutal and at the same time so mean. 
 
 "Your affectionate, 
 
 "S. A." 
 
 Sarah Austin to Barthelemy St. Hilaire. 
 [Translation.] 
 
 " Weybridge, February 5, 1857. 
 
 " To-day, dear friend, I have received the reply from my 
 beloved Dr. Whewell, which T would send you if I thought 
 it possible that you could decipher his writing. But unless 
 you had an Englishman near you, it would be impossible. 
 
 " Nothing in the world could be more apropos than your 
 good news.' He received my letter on his return from a short 
 journey to Rome, when he felt ' more than ever that my home 
 was so desolate.' So you can understand how he appreciated 
 such a testimony of respect and friendship. I need not say 
 how delighted I was to announce it to him. Listen to what 
 he says : ' The honour of being so far selected is great, and, I 
 must frankly say, quite unexpected, for I did not think my 
 philosophy likely to please the French philosophers, though 
 certainly I have many views in common with some of their 
 most eminent men. ... I shall value the honour as much as 
 any honour which any body of men can give ; ... all the 
 more for your sympathy and regard, which will make it very 
 sweet to me, even if anything should prevent the result which 
 M. St. Hilaire considers certain. . . . The consolatory thought 
 of your friendship could not come at a time when it was more 
 needed. I was only two or three hours returned, and had 
 been to seek my welcome from the cold stone. I am glad I am 
 
 ■ M. St. Hilaire and M. V. Cousin had proposed Dr. Whewell as a Corre- 
 sponding Member of the Academie des Sciences Morales et Politiques. He 
 was named, February I, 1857, in the place of Sir W. Hamilton, deceased. 
 
324 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 nearer to you again. . . .' I have added the last words of 
 grief and affection, because you will appreciate such a heart as 
 his. Such tenderness in so strong and energetic a nature (said 
 by some to be hard, and even proud) is extremely touching, 
 and I rejoice to think that he has some regard for me. I 
 cannot pretend to judge of his philosophy ; but for elevation 
 of character, love of science and the great interests of humanity, 
 for moral courage and freedom of thought, I know no one to 
 surpass him. . . ." 
 
 Sarah Austin to Barth'elemy St. Hilaire. 
 [Translation.] 
 
 ^'■February 14, 1857. 
 
 " My dear Friend, — I have but a moment to give to you, 
 for I am launched in that terrible sea, ' Goethe.' Half is already 
 in the printer's hands, and I am most ' gespannt.' 
 
 " I should like to see M. Guizot's speech ; he has not sent 
 it to me. I hear he is overwhelmed with grief at the loss of 
 Madame de Lieven, and fear he may think I ought to condole 
 with him. Henry Reeve writes of her as one of the best of 
 women, and with great regret. Unfortunately I received such 
 a contrary impression that I did not know what to say. All 
 over Germany they can only talk of her perfidy, her intrigues, 
 and her insolence. What is one to believe ? 
 
 " I think that my opinion on ' Goethe ' will be hotly attacked. 
 I resign myself to that, and I am ever, dear friend, 
 
 " Your affectionate friend, 
 
 " S. A." 
 
 Sarah Austin to M. Guizot. 
 
 "Weybridge, March 17, 1857. 
 " The trials of my life have been numerous, various, and I 
 may say, some of them, hard to bear. But all the rest shrink 
 into insignificance compared to the despair of contemplating 
 day by day and. year by year my husband's resolute neglect or 
 suppression of the talents committed to his care, especially 
 
SARAH AUSTIN. 325 
 
 since he was one to whom the few talents were given. The 
 book in question is his. It consists mainly of the substance of 
 his first course of lectures at the London University, and was 
 published by Murray in 1833 or 1834. It was never intended, 
 as you may well believe, to be a popular book. Yet, in spite 
 of all he is constantly affirming to the contrary, it is evident 
 that great scientific acquirements, great sagacity and thought, 
 and perfect love of truth make their way, and keep it. The 
 edition has been exhausted for many years — years before old 
 Murray died. John Murray has applied to Mr. Austin several 
 times, though with great delicacy, to prepare a second edition. 
 His first reply (which he made me write) was that he would 
 not reprint it without considerable corrections and additions, 
 to which Murray gladly assented. So the matter rested — again 
 for years — but as he had bound himself by this notion of a 
 revised and altered edition and a second volume, the result is 
 that he has never touched it, and never will. I can give you 
 no idea of the flattering, and more than flattering, solicitations 
 from all quarters. The only effect of a fresh one is to make 
 him look as if anybody had hit him a blow. He never makes 
 the least answer or observation. How can he ? What reason 
 can he give to me or to himself ? Health ? But, to mg, he 
 can hardly urge that. The truth is, that many causes, and 
 among them some very sufficient ones, long ago conspired to 
 disgust him with men and their judgments and their affairs ; 
 and he, poor fellow, has made this an excuse to himself for 
 obeying his own reluctance to set about work. He says (and 
 truly) that time was when nobody worked harder, and that had 
 he then met with encouragement or even justice, he should 
 have accomplished great things. It is true that he was shame- 
 fully treated ; but you and I know that there is another way of 
 avenging oneself on the injustice of men. Well, the end is, 
 that I cannot tell where nor how to get a copy. I have heard 
 of fabulous prices given for one. If I can borrow one for M. 
 de Remusat, I will. Nothing that could be done for me, or 
 could happen to me, would give me such a joy as seeing that 
 book mentioned as it deserves. The Edinburgh Review (as 
 the then editor told me) never dared to grapple with it. 
 Indeed, it never was adequately reviewed. 
 
326 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 " You see, dear sir, how I talk to you of what is most sacred 
 to me on earth. My husband is, to me, the object of the pro- 
 foundest veneration and the tenderest pity. He is to me some- 
 times as a god, sometimes as a sick and wayward child — an 
 immense, powerful, and beautiful machine, without the balance- 
 wheel, which should keep it going constantly, evenly, and 
 justly. In my heart I continually commend him to God, and 
 pray that his great and noble soul may find a sphere more 
 fitted to its development. With this hope I am obliged to 
 console myself for my hitter disappointment — not, believe me, 
 that he has not coined his talents into gold or risen upon them 
 to power or greatness, but that he will depart out of the world 
 without having done for the great cause of Law and Order, of 
 Reason and Justice, what he might have done. To enable 
 him to do this I should have been proud and happy to share 
 a garret and a crust with him. But God knows our ambitions, 
 and checks them. 
 
 "I am busy, in my little way. I shall send Henriette a 
 humble offering of mine to the ' Household Gods.' ' It has 
 had great and unexpected success. 
 
 " I have written an article for the Edinburgh Review^ on 
 Goethe's ' Life and Works ' — not a critical nor aesthetical, but 
 an ethical view. It will not be popular among a large class of 
 litterateurs^ but I do not despair of your approbation, which is 
 worth a world of the others. 
 
 " Farewell, dear Monsieur Guizot, 
 
 " Your very faithful and affectionate 
 
 " S. Austin." 
 
 W. E. Gladstone to Sarah Austin. 
 
 " II, Carlton House Terrace, May 7, 1857. 
 " Dear Mrs. Austin, — I can only apologise for not having 
 long ago answered your kind note by mentioning another 
 circumstance which equally calls for your indulgence — it is 
 that I have not been able to find the publication which accom- 
 panied it, or by which (for I cannot say whether the post is 
 
 ' Two Letters on Girls' Schools and on the training of working women. 
 
SARAH AUSTIN. 327 
 
 to blame or not) it ought to have been accompanied. I need 
 hardly say that but for this misfortune I should long ago have 
 read it. 
 
 " When I read a note like yours, I feel that the small in- 
 justices of many are more than counterbalanced by the un- 
 founded indulgence and charity with which some of you among 
 them form their judgments of men, at least, of myself. 
 
 " You are right, and wholly right, in what you say of Sir 
 Robert Peel. The depth and reality, the wearing intensity 
 of his sense of public duty, was the noblest point in his whole 
 character, and to those who knew him, I think, the most marked. 
 I seem to have lived into other times and to breathe a different 
 atmosphere, by which I am stifled and exhausted. It is hard 
 for me to tell how much of these sensations are due to my own 
 morbid feelings. I am glad to think I see my way to a period 
 of inaction for myself which may improve my perceptions of 
 men and things. 
 
 " Should you come to London, pray do not forget my address, 
 and believe me, 
 
 " Very sincerely yours, 
 
 " W. E. Gladstone." 
 
 "Afajt-g, 1857. 
 
 "Dear Mrs. Austin, — It never rains but it pours, and I 
 have now your pamphlet both from Mr. Murray and yourself. 
 It is, however, one of the class of publications, unhappily 
 limited, of which it is better to have two copies than one or 
 none. 
 
 " My wife and I have both read it with much interest and 
 much concurrence. At Hawarden, where she goes a good deal, 
 she hopes to be able to give it some practical effect in pursuance 
 of ideas already entertained. 
 
 " I have also the impression that in this country we give 
 several classes of employment to men that might be better 
 discharged by women, and were I about to open a large shop 
 or found an hotel, I should try a different plan. 
 
 " Many thanks for all you say about the temper with which 
 I ought to regard the course of public affairs. It was already 
 
328 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 more or less my study to attain to the temper you recommend, 
 and you powerfully help me. I shall not wilfully act in any 
 other sense, and shall hope to bring feeling also into the same 
 tone. 
 
 " I have little hope of profiting by your kind invitation, but 
 I receive it not the less thankfully. 
 
 "Believe me, dear Mrs. Austin, 
 
 " Very sincerely yours, 
 
 " W. E. Gladstone." 
 
 Rev, Dr. W. Whewell to Sarah Austin. 
 
 " Wednesday, May 13, 1857. 
 
 " Thank you much, dear friend, for yoMx pencil note, though 
 I am very sorry to find that you are reduced to that, even for a 
 time. 
 
 " Thank you, too, sincerely — heartily, for the kind eye with 
 which you look upon my promise of lecturing the ladies about 
 Plato. Since I promised Lady Monteagle to do it, I have had 
 dire misgivings that our keen-witted London friends may fasten 
 their attention on some ridiculous side which it may have. I 
 mean it, as I think you will understand and know, in all sim- 
 plicity, believing that I can give to my hearers a truer and 
 simpler notion of what Plato really did say than they will get 
 from other sources — simple enough to be understood without 
 any difference depending on the audience being men or women, 
 if there be any difference of power of understanding in men or 
 women, which I do not believe ; though of kind and mode of 
 understanding there may be and is. I was not so pleasantly 
 taken with Mrs. Gaskell's account of Jane Eyre as most persons 
 appear to be. The poor lady appears as a sort of tempestuous 
 spirit in a dismal atmosphere, of which the gloom and storms are 
 partly her own making. Certainly it is very curious how much 
 of intellectual culture, generally self-acquired, may cohabit with 
 exceeding roughness and rudeness in surrounding circumstances. 
 This we north-country people do know, and I suppose it is a 
 characteristic of the north. The passage that you refer to is 
 that, I suppose, about the Eumenides and such bodies, and is 
 
SARAH AUSTIN. 329 
 
 certainly odd enough. But what won Sir J. Stephen to notice 
 this? 
 
 "I shall be in London shortly till next Wednesday, my 
 lecture day. I should like you to hear some of my Platonics. 
 I suppose I need not offer you tickets. I shall not be so much 
 at liberty during this month as I hoped to be, for the Cambridge 
 Act drives us to perpetual meetings — a dire waste of time, even 
 if no worse harm came of it. I should like to know when you 
 are coming to town — a note to the Athenaeum will always find 
 me, and always find me, 
 
 " Affectionately yours, 
 
 " W. Whewell." 
 
CHAPTER XXXIII. 
 
 SARAH AUSTIN [continued). 
 
 Mr. Hudson Gurney and French Society in 1802 — Trinity Lodge— The Deccan 
 — Parliamentary Debates on the East India Company — Lord Grey's Book 
 — Rev. Dr. Whewell to Mrs. Austin on Mr. Buckle's Lecture on the 
 Influence of Women, &c. — Letter from Mrs. Austin to M. Guizot Bn 
 his book and cheap newspapers — Rev. Dr. Whewell on Mr. Lewes as 
 a Critic, and Goethe. 
 
 Sarah Austin to M. Guizot. 
 
 "Weybridge, Nov. 23, 1857. 
 " Dear Sir and Friend, — Early in September I went, as 
 usual, to Cromer, and dawdled away a month there — glad of 
 rest, after the hard work (for me) I had been doing ; for besides 
 my remarks on Goethe, I had written several little things, and 
 corrected the proofs of two friends' books — no slight sacrifice 
 to friendship. 
 
 " I had the great pleasure of inducing Lord Lansdowne to 
 spend some days in the little fishing village, and of seeing him 
 revive in the fine air and enjoy humble pleasures with all the 
 freshness of youth. We had many long causeries on the aspects 
 and tendencies of things, which appear to me gloomy. He said, 
 ' So they do to me, but I struggle against the feeling.' This 
 appeared charming to me who live with Timon — especially at 
 seventy-eight. You too, dear sir, keep alive the sacred fire of 
 hope in humanity. You are always pitiful and indulgent. 
 From Cromer I went to visit Mr. Hudson Gurney, for fifty-five 
 years the intimate friend of Lord Aberdeen. Their intimacy 
 began at Paris in 1802, and it is evident that what Hudson 
 
SARAH AUSTIN. 33 r 
 
 Gurney cares for most on earth is Lord Aberdeen. He told 
 me many curious incidents of Paris life at that time. Madame 
 Fouche's balls, Madame Recamier's parties, and all the strange 
 contrasts of that society. He is eighty-three, and, when I left 
 him, full of animation and curiosity. But he is not one of the 
 hopeful — that spirit is not given to all. 
 
 " I made my usual halt at Trinity Lodge, and found the 
 energetic Master sorely annoyed by the revolutionary spirit 
 which has found its way into our universities — by others, of 
 course, qualified as zeal for reform ; and no doubt there is here, 
 as elsewhere, much of both — how much of each, others must 
 judge. I confess the prevalent clamour for submitting all sorts 
 of questions to the judgment of masses seems to me, in all its 
 forms, mischievous and menacing enough. But the country 
 must go through that. I wonder if H. Reeve will send you a 
 little brochure containing four letters from my cousin. Meadows 
 Taylor, deputy commissioner of the ceded districts in the Deccan. 
 They were written to Henry without the least view to publica- 
 tion, nor are they published, only printed. If I mistake not, 
 they will give you a high opinion of the writer, and a clearer 
 insight into this terrible mystery than anything you have seen 
 yet. Meadows has been in India from his boyhood, is well 
 acquainted with the natives and with several of the languages, 
 and took an active share in the suppression of Thuggee. On 
 the whole, his view is rather cheering than otherwise. He 
 regards this as the death-struggle of ' savagery ' against civili- 
 zation, which, he says, ' is pressing hard on Hinduism.' I wish 
 M. John Lemoine could see these letters. On some points they 
 would confirm, on others correct, his views, which are too candid 
 and just not to have great value. 
 
 " Your faithfully attached 
 
 " S. Austin." 
 
 Sarah Austin to M. Guizot. 
 
 " Weybridge, /^«3. 27, 1858. 
 " Dear Monsieur Guizot, — You will not fancy that I have 
 the pretension to give you news. You will have plenty from 
 other quarters. 
 
332 THREE GENERA TIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 " How much has occurred ! What blunders on both sides 
 of the Channel ! What strange turns and revulsions of 
 feeling ! 
 
 " I was in London all last week, at the house of my dear 
 young friends, Charles Buxton and his wife. He has all the 
 anxiety of a young and conscientious M.P., and of course we 
 debated his votes with great interest. I was in opposition — or 
 rather, I was the opposition. I did not feel at all satisfied or 
 convinced about India. I thought, and so does my husband, 
 that never was so grave and momentous a measure as the 
 abolition of the greatest corporation the world ever saw, 
 proposed with such a total absence of all argument and of all 
 seriousness. Lord Palmerston's speech was despicable and null. 
 Sir G. Lewis's speech was irrelevant and most mischievous. 
 Nobody gave any good and sufficient reason why the Company 
 should be abolished to give place to a Council, which must 
 either be a mere farce, or must be the Directors under another 
 name. There may be evils and inconveniences — I daresay there 
 are — but Mr. Austin said ' the Ministers have established no 
 case whatever.' Lord Palmerston treated it with his usual 
 indecent flippancy. I hope you read the debate on this 
 question as well as the other. I cannot but think they would 
 interest you. We were much struck with the excellent speech 
 of an old soldier and administrator. Colonel Sykes. Did you 
 read the Company's petition ? Is it not a very noble docu- 
 ment ? 
 
 " Then as to Lord Palmerston's other Bill (qui vous regarde) : 
 I am not given to political prophecy, but I said to C. Buxton, 
 as soon as the first reading passed by that large majority, ' This 
 will never go over quietly. If I know the English people, there 
 will be a great agitation about this. It is just the susceptible 
 point.' ' He did not believe me ; and on Friday we dined at 
 Lansdowne House, and we were all quietly talking in the 
 drawing-room while the explosion took place. Our neighbour, 
 
 ' The addresses to the Emperor Napoleon III., after Orsini's- attempt at 
 assassination, by the French colonels. Lord Palmerston brought in a measure 
 which was regarded as an unworthy concession to the bombastic threats of 
 " destroying the infamous haunt in which machinations sg infernal are 
 planned," &c. 
 
SARAH A USTJN. 333 
 
 Locke King, says that Milner Gibson's was the most effective . 
 speech he ever heard in the House. That is saying a great 
 deal. But it was certainly very dextrous — a work of art hardly 
 to be expected from the laziest man in England, who passes his 
 life in yachting. I am sure you read Gladstone's with interest. 
 And now what became of Lord Palmerston's boasted impertur- 
 bable temper ? Was there ever a more pitiable exhibition of 
 vulgar impotent rage and mortification ? Were not the conse- 
 quences so grave and so doubtful, one would be delighted ; 
 but the state of parties, which seems to make any other efficient 
 government impossible, renders it difficult to rejoice. 
 
 " My husband hopes you will read Lord Grey's book. He 
 says, ' The special parts more than make up for the defects in 
 the statement of the generalia. It is the work of a discerning 
 and experienced politician, and what is more, of a good and 
 great citizen.' I told Lord Shelburne, ' I like Lord Grey 
 because he is an aristocrat, which so few of you are. Real, true 
 aristocrats are what we most want. We have plenty of courtiers 
 of the mob.' God bless you and yours. 
 
 " Yours aifectionately, 
 
 " S. Austin." 
 
 Rev. Dr. W. Whewell to Sarah Austin. 
 
 " Trinity Lodge, April i, 1858. 
 
 " My dear Friend, — I found everybody in London talking 
 about Mr. Buckle's lecture on ' The Influence of Women upon 
 the progress of Knowledge.' We could get no intelligible 
 account of the substance of the Lecture ; in language and 
 manner all agreed that it was very fluent and taking. But 
 to-day I have read it in Fraser^s Magazine, and am amused at 
 the fallacy which it involves. He opposes to Induction, which 
 he says is the male habit of mind, what he calls Deduction, 
 which he says is a better thing which women have. But by 
 Deduction he means Induction, and such Induction as is a 
 necessary part of all Inductive discoveries. And so he practises 
 the common trick of changing the meaning of words, and then 
 startling you by a paradoxical assertion. 
 
 " So you see I am not going to admire women for his reasons, 
 thinking that I have better of my own for so doing. 
 
334 THREE GENERA TIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 " I forget whether I answered you about Kingsley's ' Andro- 
 meda.' I believe Milton has got the classical story as commonly 
 told ; but Kingsley, I suppose, thought it was dramatically 
 better to make the mother vain of her daughter rather than of 
 herself. I think the poem wanting in detail and circumstance. 
 
 " Always affectionately yours, 
 
 " W. WHEV7ELL." 
 
 Sarah Austin to M. Guizot. 
 
 " Weybridge, May 9, 1858. 
 
 " Dear Monsieur Guizot, — I received the book you were so 
 kind as to send me, and your letter, just before I was setting out 
 for a little visit to London. The former I could only effleurer 
 (as my husband would not let me carry it away with me), and 
 the latter I would not answer till I had seen some persons 
 concerning whom I might have something to report that might 
 interest you. 
 
 " I returned only three days ago, and I have not yet read the 
 whole of your book.' Yet already, if I were to write about it 
 all that I have thought and felt, I should send you a volume in 
 return. To everybody who cares for the serious concerns of 
 mankind it must be most interesting. To me it has another 
 interest and a superadded charm. I see you and hear you in 
 every page. 
 
 " This is a woman's judgment of a book which treats of such 
 large and grave matters. But you, like poor crazy Auguste 
 Comte (in that particular), value ' lesexe afFectif ' for what it is, 
 and not for what it is not. One is not precisely a fool because 
 one's opinions are greatly influenced by one's affections. The 
 opinions of men are often influenced by worse things. When 
 we meet, I shall tell you some of the things that have specially 
 struck me. In London I heard but one voice among those who 
 had read it — they all spoke of it as one of the most interesting 
 and important contributions to history, and (as a biography) 
 full of dignity and noble feeling. 
 
 " I hear the translation is not good. I have seen only passages 
 quoted in journals. I cannot say they struck me as bad English. 
 ' The first volume of M. Guizot's Memoirs. 
 
SARAH AUSTIN. 335 
 
 Whether they were faithful, I know not. I am afraid good 
 translation is incompatible with the time now generally allowed. 
 It is a sort of race, in which all is sacrificed to getting done. I 
 need not tell you how I deplore that your MSS. should ever go 
 into any hands but mine. But of all people living, I am now 
 the least fitted for a race. 
 
 "I saw Sir John Boileau in London, and repeated to him my 
 thanks for his invitation and my readiness to accept it. I saw 
 the Master of Trinity, who is delighted at the prospect of having 
 you at his palace, where, poor fellow, he feels his solitude the 
 more for its vastness and stateliness. I breakfasted with the 
 Dean of St. Paul's, where I met M. Van de Weyer, the Provost 
 of Eton, Sir H. Rawlinson, and other notables. 
 
 " I dined with Lord Lansdowne, met Lord Carlisle, who tells 
 charming and cheering things about Ireland ; Lord Macaulay, 
 who looks and seems frightfully ill ; the excellent Lord Glenelg, 
 and some others. Breakfasted with Lord Monteagle — met Van 
 de Weyer, Arthur Stanley, and many others. The former is 
 building a house in Windsor Park. He said, ' My wife draws 
 all the plans, and my father-in-law pays all the bills.' I ex- 
 claimed, ' Quelle combinaison charmante ! ' He seems to be 
 pitching his tent in England. I like him for showing some 
 attentions to persons who are in the shade, and whom his con- 
 freres diplomatiques do not in general perceive. Finally I went 
 to Richmond, to breakfast with Madame de Stael,' whom I was 
 most glad to see again, and to talk with her of you all and of 
 many things that interest us both. I did not see Lord Grey, 
 to my very great regret. He called. Lady Grey called, I called 
 on them — in vain. I hope I may soon see him here. 
 
 " What a strange political state we are in ! I should be 
 more uneasy about it but for certain unmistakable indications 
 of growing good sense in the people {e.g., the promptitude and, 
 one may say, contempt with which Manchester, Liverpool, &c., 
 repelled that attempt of Disraeli to cajole them ; and and, the 
 truly wonderful state of the lowest part of the Press, the id. and 
 
 ' Madame de Stael [nee Vernet) was of a good old Genevese family. She . 
 was a remarkable woman and a staunch Evangelical Protestant. She married 
 the brother of the Duchess de Broglie. 
 
336 THREE GENERA TIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 ^d. newspapers, which swarm in the Metropolis, and in which 
 ■ nobody can find an indecent, or blasphemous, or seditious word). 
 We are, I think, coming to the point at which this must be our 
 sheet-anchor. God grant it fail us not ! 
 
 " But I will detain you no longer ; we shall talk of all these 
 things in England. 
 
 " I am always, dear sir and friend, 
 
 " Your most affectionate and faithful 
 
 " S. Austin." 
 
 Rev. Dr. W. Whewell to Sarah Austin. 
 
 "Trinity Lodge, May 23, 1858. 
 " I was glad to hear of you, my dear friend, and to hear of 
 your being in harbour again. I hope you have as pleasant 
 recollections of the part of your voyage which lay through 
 Cambridge as I have. Your coming dispelled an almost intoler- 
 able gloom of solitude which was settling upon me ; and though 
 it may well be that such relief is only temporary, I am not the 
 less thankful for it. It seems to me at present at least doubtful 
 whether literary and intellectual occupations will ever supply 
 any large portion of such relief. I have been led to feel that 
 the main value of such employment is the point of sympathy 
 which it supplies with those with whom we live. Thinking 
 itself seems a very aimless and useless employment when there 
 is no one to whom one is in the habit of imparting one's 
 thoughts. As for the public and those who represent it, I feel 
 less and less care for its sympathy ; for the creature is very 
 stupid, and very often says, or is made to say, very spiteful as 
 well as silly things. But I must not weary you with my weari- 
 ness and waihng. I am very grateful for your kindness and 
 affection. I gladly think that I may write, and feel a pleasure 
 in all speculation and literature which may give me a sympathy 
 with you. Whether anything of the kind remains on my side, 
 must be seen hereafter. I shall read with great interest what 
 you say of Gothe. I really was partly won by what Mr. Lewes 
 says of him, though Mr. Lewes is a critic who has been absurdly 
 unjust to me. But I hold firm to my opinion that the ' Her- 
 mann and Dorothea ' is the best specimen, not only of his 
 
SARAH AUSTIN. 337 
 
 morals and heart, but of his genius. I forgot to ask you when 
 you were here whether you ever saw a long commentary on 
 that poem by Wilhelm v. Humboldt — another trait of the deep 
 vein of sentiment which ran through his mind under all his 
 learning and wisdom ; and indeed it is a part of the wisdom of 
 our dear Germans that they have such a vein. I send you your 
 pen, though I would more willingly give it you, but I fear 
 my memory. I hope my way of packing it will succeed. 
 Gothe once gave a book to a lady of my acquaintance, and in 
 wrapping it up for Her, said, ' If I can do anything., it is to fold a 
 packet.' I am afraid I cannot even do that. 
 " Dear friend, God bless you. 
 
 " I am always yours, with great affection, 
 
 "W. Whewell." 
 
 33 
 
CHAPTER XXXIV. 
 
 SARAH AUSTIN {continued). 
 
 Character of H.R.H. the Duchess of Orleans — Letter from Mrs. Austin to 
 the Duchess on her Sons' Education — Mrs. Austin to M. B. St. Hilaire 
 on her Death — Mrs. Austin to Rev. Dr. Whewell on his Marriage — 
 Ketteringham — Mr. Elwin at Botoon — Mrs. Austin to M. Guizot on the 
 Birth of a Grandchild — M. de Cavour and opening of French Chambers — 
 Mrs. Austin to M. B. St. Hilaire on the " Life of the Duchess of Orleans." 
 
 The following letter to H.R.H. the Duchess of Orleans was 
 written by Mrs. Austin at the request of the Duchess, who 
 had already consulted her at various times about books for her 
 sons. No one could approach the Duchess without being 
 struck by the extraordinary combination she presented of re- 
 fined feminine sweetness and grace, with masculine courage, sense, 
 and magnanimity. Mrs. Austin was devotedly attached to her, 
 as she says, in her touching preface to her translation of 
 Madame d'Harcourt's Memoir of the Duchess : " She inspired 
 me with such love, admiration, and reverence as I have rarely 
 felt for any human being. . . . Her character was always pre- 
 senting itself in new and harmonious lights ; her manners were 
 indescribably graceful, refined, and winning ; her conversation 
 never flagged ; it was never trifling, never pedantic, never 
 harsh ; it always kept you at an elevation which at once 
 soothed and invigorated the mind. Her topics were great and 
 high, and there was dignity and grace in her way of treating 
 them." 
 
 338 
 
SARAH A USTIN. 339 
 
 Sarah Austin to the Dtcchesi of Orleans. 
 
 "Weybridge, May c), 1858. 
 
 " May it Please Your Royal HiGHNESS,^Madam, not- 
 withstanding your great goodness I should not venture to 
 address you did I not feel that what I have to say has so near 
 and deep a concern for your maternal heart. 
 
 " I have thought of little else since I had the honour of seeing 
 you than your wishes and wants for your sons and the diflEculty 
 you find in getting them fulfilled. 
 
 " I will state as briefly as I can a few of the small steps towards 
 their fulfilment which have occurred to me, and which are 
 immediately accessible. The day after I had the honour to 
 visit your Royal Highness, I saw my old and valued friend. 
 Dr. Hawtrey, the Provost of Eton. I told him that I had 
 ventured to recommend the Comte de Paris to see the annual 
 festival on the 4th June at Eton. Upon which the Provost 
 replied, ' Nothing would give me greater pleasure or satisfaction 
 than to see the Comte de Paris and the Due de Chartres at 
 Eton. And if you will tell me how I can signify to them how 
 much I should feel honoured by their presence, I shall be 
 obliged to you.' Seeing no better means at hand, I ofi^red to 
 transmit Dr. Hawtrey's wishes to you. Madam, and shall even 
 have the temerity to advise them to accept the invitation. It 
 is almost ridiculous to add that I shall be staying in his house. 
 Yet you may like to know that one who watched every move- 
 ment regarding your sons with an interest caught. Madam, 
 from yourself, will be there. Dr. Hawtrey is a very learned 
 and accomplished man, and, in the best sense of the word, a 
 gentleman. 
 
 " Another suggestion which I would make is that the Princes 
 should attend the annual meeting of the British Association for 
 the advancement of Science. It will be held this year at Leeds, 
 on the 2nd of September. It is always attended by a number 
 of distinguished men. My brother, who has been Treasurer of 
 the Association since its first establishment, has received a 
 letter from Leeds, saying that if he should hear of any dis- 
 tinguished foreigners who intend to be present, the authorities 
 
340 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 of that city are desirous of receiving them and showing them 
 every kind of hospitality. They might proceed from Leeds (the 
 centre of the woollen cloth manufacture) to some other of the 
 great northern towns. It appears to me that the mode of 
 making such a tour most instructive and agreeable, would be 
 to find some well-bred and instructed young Englishman — not 
 too young — who would accompany the Princes. I think such 
 a one not impossible to find ; and if your Royal Highness 
 wishes it, I would write to Oxford or Cambridge to inquire. 
 
 " I should also suggest as a separate tour, a journey in the 
 mining districts, especially Cornwall, and a visit to the more 
 famous agricultural districts. 
 
 " While I was thinking over the subject this morning, a 
 note came from Mr. Charles Buxton, expressing his desire to 
 have the honour of being presented to you and your sons. If 
 it would be agreeable to them to see that wonderful English 
 sight — a great brewery — he would be delighted to welcome 
 them to his, which is curious, if only as returning three mem- 
 bers to Parliament — Sir E. Buxton, Mr. C. Buxton, and Mr. 
 Hanbury. 
 
 " Your Royal Highness, I trust, understands that I am always 
 at yoflr commands, and that you cannot oblige me so much as 
 by making me of any use. Were my power of serving you 
 as great as it is small, it would even then hardly enable me to 
 prove to you, Madam, with what reverence and attachment I 
 am 
 
 " Your faithful and devoted servant, 
 
 "S. Austin." 
 
 Sarah Austin to Barth'elemy St. Hilaire. 
 
 [Translation.] 
 
 " Weybridge, _/««« I, 1858. 
 
 " Dear Friend, — This is the second letter I write to you. 
 
 The first you will not get, as I have sent it to some one else. 
 
 After writing four pages on the sad tragedy that has occurred 
 
 here,' I received a letter from dear S. de B., begging so hard 
 
 ' Death of the Duchess of Orleans. 
 
SARAH AUSTIN. 341 
 
 and so feelingly for news, that I sent her the letter that was 
 intended for you. This will show you how entirely I was 
 possessed by one idea. There was nothing in the letter 
 specially for you, and there was much which would interest 
 her more. 
 
 " For, my dear friend, I know exactly how far your sympathy 
 goes. You have too tender and noble a heart not to feel the 
 sadness and the sorrow this death causes to individuals ; but 
 you will not look upon it as a national calamity, a sorrow, and 
 even a shame, to France. I say shame, for I shall never under- 
 stand how, having at her beck and call a person uniting every 
 heroic quality with the prudence and the sentiments which 
 would have induced her to engage for herself and her son to 
 govern the country honourably and reasonably, France can 
 have rejected this pearl placed by Providence in her crown, to 
 take up with a Ledru Rollin, a Lamartine, and all that follows 
 in their wake. The French people were then in a condition 
 to dictate their own terms with a Regency, and might have 
 awaited the result of the trial with perfect tranquillity. From 
 what I have seen of the heroic woman we are all now sorrowing 
 for, I am convinced that she would have dedicated herself with 
 absolute unselfishness and with rare intelligence to the happi- 
 ness of France. Everything in her was great and noble. All 
 her tastes, all her ideas, inclined her towards great things. By 
 this I do not mean showy or violent actions, fit only to dazzle 
 and cheat the world ; but deeds which aim at the good and the 
 improvement of mankind. But of what use is it to talk of 
 what is gone ? — of what can never be given back to us ? ' Hin 
 ist hin, verloren ist verloren ' (What is gone is gone, what is 
 lost is lost). But I who love France can only lament over her. 
 
 " I cannot tell you what a shock I received when I heard the 
 sad news at Esher. My husband and I are in great sorrow. 
 He feels it almost more than I do. You know how little he is 
 given to enthusiasm ; but he had had several long and serious 
 interviews with the dear Duchess, and his opinion of her 
 coincided with mine. His profound respect and tender pity 
 were mixed with an admiration he never before felt for any 
 woman. You can understand our profound pity for those 
 poor orphans. As long as I live I shall never forget the 
 
342 THREE GENERA TIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 sad sight — the coffin under a sky as pure and limpid as 
 her soul, covered with spring flowers and verdure, and the 
 two sons standing silently by its side. The eldest, whom I 
 had seen fifteen days ago — so young — almost a child, now 
 looked like a man of forty. Neither of them shed a tear. 
 After the service they went into Miss Taylor's house, 
 where they were quite alone, and then their sorrow was over- 
 whelming. After some time Prince Albert went in and 
 embraced them, saying the most consoling and sympathising 
 words he could find : afterwards the Duke de Nemours, who 
 was like a father to his nephews. 
 
 " Yesterday I went into the vault where she lies by the side 
 of her sister-in-law, the Duchess de Nemours. Only the poor 
 Queen is wanting to fill the narrow cell, where sleeps so much 
 that was great and happy — unfortunate and sorrowful. It is a 
 fresh tie to Weybridge. She is near us — and for ever. I can 
 write no more, dear friend. 
 
 " Yours affectionately, 
 
 "S. A." 
 
 Sarah Austin to Barthelemy St. Hilaire. 
 [Translation.] 
 
 " BooTON, Aug. I, 1858. 
 
 " Dear Friend, — You see I am no longer at Weybridge. 
 About fifteen days ago I went to Sir J. Boileau's to meet M. 
 Guizot. I found Mr. Elwin, Editor of the Quarterly .^ Dr. A. 
 P. Stanley, Lord John Russell, Mr. Senior, the Milmans, and 
 others. Here, as at London, M. Guizot has been treated with 
 all possible consideration ; I found him contented, even cheer- 
 ful. We talked of everything save the one subject nearest my 
 heart, of that angel ' whom I mourn with a persistence, and a 
 grief, of which I did not think 1 was still capable. I had been 
 told that the feelings of M. Guizot towards her were not the 
 same as mine. I regret it, for mine will never change, and 
 there will be a subject on which we cannot touch. 
 
 " From Ketteringham I went to spend a few days with Mr. 
 
 ■ Duchess of Orleans. 
 
SARAH AUSTIN. 343 
 
 Hudson Gurney. He is 84 years old, and passes his life in his 
 library, which is magnificent. He talked much of France in 
 1802, which interested me extremely. Then Mr. Elwin came 
 to fetch me, and took me to his house ten miles from Norwich. 
 His is an existence difficult to describe to a foreigner. Clergy- 
 man of a small parish, 130 miles from London, and at some 
 distance from any town, he edits one of the Reviews most read 
 by the higher classes in England, as important as the Edinburgh 
 Review, and more popular. He is a man of great wit and 
 sense, imbued with generous and humane ideas. His Review 
 is edited to perfection, and he fulfils all the duties of a village 
 clergyman. You would admire his wife. She has five 
 children, whom she educates and attends to. She does four 
 times as much as most active women without any fuss ; with 
 all this she is the companion of her husband, and to-day I 
 heard her discussing the translation of an Ode of Horace with 
 him. From here I go to Fakenham, and then for a few days 
 to Cambridge to see the dear Master. I shall be home by the 
 end of the month. Let Mr. Prevost Paradol know. We 
 shall be delighted to see him, and more delighted still to see 
 our dear friend, M. St. Hilaire, whom I love with all my heart. 
 
 "S. A." 
 
 Sarah Austin to Barthelemy St. Hilaire. 
 
 [Translation.] 
 
 " Weybridge, 2'^rd Sept., 1858. 
 " My dear Friend, — I have great — immense — news to tell 
 you. Guess, what would give me the most pleasure ? You 
 know what it is. My husband is writing. Do not mention it 
 yet, for I have hoped, and been disappointed so often, that I 
 am afraid to believe in my good fortune, or to communicate it 
 to others. But he is working — not laboriously and slowly, but 
 with more energy and rapidity than I ever saw in him. You 
 will ask what has caused the miracle ? I owe it chiefly to M. 
 Guizot, who reproached him in the most serious and severe, 
 and therefore in the most flattering manner, for his idleness ; 
 for forgetting all he owed to mankind, to his country, to him- 
 
344 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 self, and to God. I did not hear their conversation, but M. 
 Guizot repeated it to me at Ketteringham. He has done me the 
 greatest service that any man ever did. Another cause was 
 my visit to Booton, and all I wrote and told my husband about 
 the opinions and ideas of Mr. Elwin, which coincide with his 
 own ; and his wish to have an article from Mr. Austin's pen 
 for the Quarterly. I suggested a review of Lord Grey's book, 
 and to my intense joy my husband entered at once into the 
 idea, and allowed me to propose it to Mr. Elwin, who 
 consented with the greatest empressement. This will allow 
 Mr. Austin to state his opinions on many important subjects — 
 on the many advantages of our constitution, and the dangers 
 with which it is menaced — on the usefulness of a well- 
 constituted aristocracy and their duties and responsibility. In 
 short, on a thousand questions which you may imagine. 
 
 I hope you have seen the will of the unfortunate and much- 
 loved Princess.' It has made a great sensation, and yet some 
 people hope to hide it ! Good-bye, dear and excellent friend. 
 Be good and write to me. 
 
 "S.A." 
 
 Sarah Atistin to M. Guizot. 
 
 "Weybridge, Nov. 12, 1858. 
 
 " Dear Monsieur Guizot, — I must write to you to tell you 
 that Heaven has sent me a new grandchild — a grand-daughter, 
 a prodigy of size and beauty and vigour. 
 
 " This little creature comes late to us all — the ' last rose of 
 summer ' to her parents — the last flower of autumn to us. I 
 am full of thankfulness for it. 
 
 " My dear husband is advancing steadily and vigorously in 
 his work. I had a great fright a few days ago when, on my 
 return from my visit to my daughter and her babe, I found 
 him ill, nervous and sleepless, and beginning to be dejected 
 about himself. All my old terrors came over me, and I saw 
 in anticipation another failure, another breakdown^ and the 
 
 ' Duchess of Orleans. " Where did she learn to write French better than 
 anybody ? " was the exclamation of an eminent French writer and critic, when 
 M. Villemain read the will aloud at M. Odilon Barrot's. 
 
SARAH AUSTIN. 345 
 
 fatal consequences to him. I almost reproached myself with 
 having urged him to try once more to quit his inert ease, where, 
 attempting nothing, he could not have the bitterness of failure, 
 or I, hoping nothing, that of disappointment. However, God 
 be thanked, the cloud seems passing over. I have nursed and 
 watched him as a mother does her new-born babe, with such 
 anxious tenderness. Last night he got a long sleep, and he is 
 at work again with great vigour. It is remarkable that I 
 never in my life knew him to write with such rapidity, ease 
 and verve as he has this time. No doubt even if stopped, he 
 would complete his work ; but, as you say, the moment is 
 most opportune, and to have any effect the article must appear 
 in the next number of the Quarterly." 
 
 Barthelemy Si. Hilaire to Sarah Austin. 
 [Translation.] 
 
 "Versailles, Feb. 13, 1859. 
 
 " Madam and dear Friend, — I am exceedingly obliged to you 
 for sending me Lord Derby's speech. I had seen the extracts 
 in the French papers, but read it in exienso with great 
 pleasure. It is not often that one sees political prudence 
 allied with such resolute yet moderate language. The speech 
 is full of wisdom, and of true liberalism, and has produced 
 considerable eifect here. Piedmont richly deserves the 
 warnings she has received. M. de Cavour is playing a double 
 game, and his ambition is excessive. I do not know whether 
 he expects to raise the fifty millions voted by the Piedmontese 
 Chambers in France ; public opinion here is so contrary to 
 war that I doubt if even our own Government would be able 
 to borrow, save at very high interest. What a deplorable 
 condition we are in ! our dearest interests may be risked, and 
 our best blood spilt without our knowing why or wherefore. As 
 the press is gagged, we only hear vague rumours of warlike 
 preparations. 
 
 " It is perfectly true that, in spite of the presence of his 
 young bride, the reception on the third of this month of the 
 Prince Napoleon was glacial. I heard it from eye-witnesses at 
 
346 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 various points of the procession. At the opening of the 
 Chambers when it was asserted that it ' was to God, his 
 conscience, and posterity, that the Emperor was alone re- 
 sponsible,' an inspired voice exclaimed, ' and to the nation.' 
 A most constitutional addition to the speech of the man 
 elected by a plebiscite of eight millions of votes, but that did 
 not make it the more agreeable. It suffices to show you the 
 feeling of the Legislative body, coming from the departments 
 where the war is intensely unpopular. 
 
 "You of course know the biography of the Duchess of 
 Orleans by the Comtesse d'Harcourt. It is excellent, modest 
 and simple, no political bias, and containing long extracts from 
 the Princess's most admirable letters. It has already reached 
 a third edition. Her will is' given entire ; I am glad that the 
 French public should have an opportunity of knowing it. 
 
 " Forgive me for always talking politics to you, but I cannot 
 avoid doing so. I find some difficulty even in fixing my 
 thoughts on my philosophical works. 
 
 " Remember me to Mr. Austin and the young people, 
 " Ever your devoted friend 
 
 " B. St. Hilaire." 
 
 Sarah Austin to Barthelemy St. Hilaire. 
 
 [Translation.] 
 
 "Weybridge, March 8, 1859. 
 " Dear Friend, — I have searched in vain for a letter I began 
 to you ten days since. It told you what I was doing, and that 
 I was so hurried that literally I had not a moment to spare. 
 Then I thought of sending you a little notice which would 
 explain my silence ; I hope you found it inside the newspaper. 
 At the time you mentioned the book to me I was working at 
 it. For three weeks I saw no one except Countess d'Hausson- 
 ville, and I answered no letters. I should have broken down 
 had I not been sustained by considerable emotion, and an 
 ardent wish to render a last testimony of affection to the 
 beloved and angelic creature we have lost. Madame d'Hausson- 
 ville had unfortunately not told any one of her intentions 
 
SARAH AUSTIN. 347 
 
 until the last moment, so that the English publisher was in a 
 violent hurry to get out the translation. I could not permit any 
 one else to do it. You will understand that I looked upon the 
 work as my right, and at the same time my duty. But I am 
 sorry to have been obliged to do it too rapidly to satisfy myself. 
 However, it is done, and will be published to-day.' I have, 
 after some hesitation, added something of my own as a preface. 
 My scruples vanished before the wish to tell England (who 
 generally believes me) what I had myself seen and heard of so 
 noble and saintly a woman ; how truthful was the portrait of 
 her, and how justified are our tears. 
 
 "Mr. Murray has sent a copy of my husband's pamphlet to 
 M. P. Paradol.'' Has he received it ? I do not know whether 
 it will interest you, my dear friend, for it is very anti-demo- 
 cratic, and only treats of England. Here it has made a 
 considerable effect, and I hope Mr. Austin will be encouraged 
 by the success. 
 
 " Yours with the truest affection, 
 
 " S. A." 
 
 '" The Duchess of Orleans. A Memoir." Translated by Mrs. Austin, with 
 a preface by the translator, 
 = " A Plea for the Constitution." 
 
CHAPTER XXXV. 
 
 SARAH AUSTIN {continued). 
 
 Letters from Mrs. Austin to M. B. St. Hilaire on a French Monthly Review — 
 The New Ministry — Lord Howden, Lord Lyndhurst, and M. de Cavour — 
 Mrs. Austin to M. B. St. Hilaire on Italian Independence — Mrs. Austin 
 to M. Guizot on Madame Recamier's " Memoirs " and the late Duke of 
 Devonshire. 
 
 Sarah Austin to BartMlemy St. Hilaire. 
 
 [Translation.] 
 
 " Weybridge, March 29, 1859. 
 "My dear Friend, — Now, to what I was going to write to 
 you about — Jeffs,' whom you know, has a project of publish- 
 ing a small monthly review in French. First, to indicate to 
 the English public those new French books which may be 
 read in respectable houses ; and secondly (what is of far more 
 importance), he wishes to describe the actual literary, social, 
 and political condition of France. He is anxious to find some 
 well-known writers who, for the sake of France and so good a 
 cause, would aid him to launch the paper. At first he 
 would be unable to promise any remuneration to his contribu- 
 tors, but if it succeeds he will share his gains with the staff of 
 writers. I should suggest a review like the Saturday ; treat- 
 ing various questions quite independently ; in short, striking 
 articles. No long dissertations, nothing vague, and above all, 
 illustrative facts. You have no conception of the profound 
 
 ' A French bookseller in the Burlington Arcade who started a French 
 Review in London, which did not live long. 
 
 348 
 
SARAH AUSTIN. 349 
 
 ignorance existing among the mass of English people with 
 regard to France. Hence, as I have often told you, arise the 
 errors which occasionally appear like insults. 
 
 " I am delighted to hear from Madame d'Harcourt that she 
 is pleased with my translation,' and with my preface. But 
 what pleases me more is the affectionate approbation of the 
 dear youth,^ who becomes more worthy of love, and more 
 interesting, every day. You have no idea how truly great and 
 noble he is. Every one here is struck by it. Lord Grey had a 
 long talk with him the other day, and was delighted with him. 
 " Ever your affectionate friend, 
 
 "S. A." 
 
 Sarah Austin to BartMlemy St. Hilaire. 
 
 [Translation.] 
 
 " London, y2/7ze 17, 1859. 
 
 " So you think, most ungrateful friend, that I have been to 
 Oxford without you. Not at all. Mr. Chase told me that if I 
 would wait till autumn there would be a Mrs. Chase to receive 
 me, and I replied that as he was to be married in the course of 
 the month, he would be, or at any rate ought to be, very dull 
 company, and so I would wait. But the truth is, my dear 
 friend, that I did not feel courage enough to go without you ; 
 it would have been very sad. So I went to London instead, 
 where I have been for fifteen days. There I had the pleasure 
 of reading an article on your loans, which seemed to me 
 admirable. I mentioned it to Lord Monteagle (late Chancellor 
 of the Exchequer), who was delighted to be enabled at length 
 to understand this question, which is to us unintelligible. 
 
 The new Ministry is at once bad and absurd. Sir Charles 
 Wood takes India, when Providence sent us Lord Elgin on 
 purpose for the place, who becomes Postmaster-General. Lord 
 John, Foreign Affairs. It is worse than absurd — it is alarming. 
 Gladstone, with his thousand talents, his goodness, eloquence, 
 and knowledge, is, they say, a detestable financier. Lewis, who 
 
 ' Of "The Duchess of Orleans. A Memoir." 
 ' Comte de Paris. 
 
350 THREE GENERA TIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 was an admirable one, gives up to him the place which he 
 filled to perfection. Lord Campbell is eighty, and he begins 
 his career as Lord Chancellor ! All this appears to me folly, 
 and folly of a pernicious kind. 
 
 " As to you, you are winning battles. What do you want 
 more ? You say that the pity of which you tell me is a poor 
 compensation for the horrors of war. You are wrong. That 
 divine feeling is worth more than the lives of a hundred thou- 
 sand men, for it may procure a happier future for us. Good- 
 bye, dear friend. 
 
 " From my heart, 
 
 " You;rs affectionately, 
 
 "S. A." 
 
 Sarah Austin to BartMlemy St. Hilaire. 
 [Translation.] 
 
 " Weybridge, y«;ze 30, 1859. 
 
 "Dear Friend, — I am much occupied with Jeffs and his 
 proposed Review. Tell your friends that before it has been 
 advertised in any way his list of subscribers contains many of 
 our best-known names — Lords Lansdowne, Grey, Monteagle, 
 Clarendon ; Drs. Whewell and Milman, Mr. Senior ; — but it 
 is of no use copying out the list, which will be sent to you. 
 All I wish to be understood in France is, that we are quite 
 ready to listen ; if you will not speak, all the worse for us and 
 for you. The present state of mutual ignorance is disastrous. 
 The nonsense talked about the war, the liberation of Italy, &c., 
 is enough to make one lose all patience. Austria is rude, and 
 has acted badly — ergo.^ all law and justice are to be banished 
 the world. Austria will suffer, but she will not be crushed, 
 unless Russia comes to your aid, and that Germany would not 
 permit. 
 
 " To return to the Review. M. Jules Simon has written a 
 letter to Jeffs, full of excellent advice. I agree perfectly with 
 all he says. M. de Montalembert writes to say he has not time 
 to contribute. He complains, very justly, of the state of public 
 opinion here. But whose fault is that ? What has been done 
 
SARAH A USTIN. 35 1 
 
 to enlighten us ? Our middle classes see no French news- 
 papers, and if they did, what would they learn ? M. de 
 Lavergne's objections seem to me futile. Because people mis- 
 understand each other, are they to give up all attempts at try- 
 ing to come to a better understanding ? M. Simon has pro- 
 posed an admirable list of matters to be treated ; my husband 
 fully approves his idea of reviewing French newspapers and 
 reviews ; it will be new and interesting ; so will the articles on 
 religion. I have beeil at Twickenham with Lord Monteagle 
 for the last two days, which will explain the non-arrival of 
 your newspaper. Good-bye, my dear friend. I cannot forgive 
 you for not coming over to see us, in spite of which I am, with 
 all my heart, 
 
 " Yours affectionately, 
 
 " S. A." 
 
 Sarah Austin to Barthelemy St. Hilaire. 
 
 [Translation.] 
 
 " Weybridge, yz^/y 7, 1859. 
 " Dear Friend, — I hope M. de Guerle will see the extretae 
 importance of at once framing a strong and respectful denial of 
 the' statement, at once imprudent and false, made by Lord 
 Howden, ' that there is not a widow in France who would not 
 give her last son, or a beggar who would not give his last 
 penny, to effect the invasion of England.' Lord Brougham 
 has denied this unfortunate calumny in a most positive and 
 formal manner. But it is dangerous as coming from Lord 
 Howden, who has lived so long in France, and is supposed to 
 be well informed. The fact is that most English people court 
 the society of the very Frenchmen who are, and always will 
 be, sworn enemies of England. They hate us for the same 
 reason that men devoted to liberty and justice love, or at least 
 respect, us. If the next Saturday Review does not contain an 
 article on this subject I shall write one, for such injustice is to 
 me insupportable as an Englishwoman, and as a faithful and 
 warm friend of France — of all that is generous, enlightened, 
 . and reasonable in France. But what a pity that the Prince de 
 
352 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 Joinville should have chosen such a moment for pubHshing a 
 book in which it is impossible not to see many allusions which 
 apparently support Lord Howden's assertion ! Do not lose 
 time. Write, or make some one else write. Deny it in your 
 own name and in the name of your friends. Say that England 
 has friends and admirers in France, if she would only give her- 
 self the trouble to know them, and to understand that they are 
 the victims and the enemies of her own real enemies. Say 
 that their love of their constitutional government is the tie 
 which necessarily binds them to the only country in which 
 such a government exists. But what folly ; / am prompting 
 an article to you. 
 
 " The thought of seeing you in the autumn fills me with 
 delight. I assure you I need it. The future is most menacing. 
 Can you conceive Europe without Austria ? It is chaos. 
 What will you do with the Magyars ? with the Poles, with 
 the small republics ? I already see them tearing each other to 
 pieces, and their anarchy will affect us. I send you a packet 
 for M. Mignet. I have said what I think about Mr. Hallam. 
 I only speak of the man, my valued and dear friend ; I leave 
 M. Mignet to describe the author. Good-bye, my dear friend, 
 
 " Ever yours affectionately, 
 
 "S. A." 
 
 BartMlemy St. Hilaire to Sarah Austin. 
 
 [Translation.] 
 
 " Versailles, _/M/y 15, 1859. 
 " Madam and dear Friend,— I recognise your good heart 
 and your magnanimity in every line of your letter. As to the 
 article you suggest, I agree that Lord Howden has grossly 
 exaggerated, but it must be admitted that the evil passions he 
 alludes to are lying dormant, and that the slightest official 
 encouragement would fan them into a blaze. We are essen- 
 tially a military nation, as Cousin says, a people of Zouaves. 
 The proof is, that an absurd war which no one desired is now 
 most popular. Were England the target, the train of powder 
 would take fire at once ; you must not forget the medal of St. 
 
SARAH A USTIN. 353 
 
 Helena, created in the heyday of the alliance. Lord Howden 
 exaggerates, but the advice of Lord Lyndhurst is not the less 
 timely. Never did Nestor give better or more far-seeing 
 counsel to the Greeks. England has many and sincere friends 
 in France, and among them I may count myself. But nearly 
 every day I have to sustain an argument, even against some 
 of our most illustrious men, on account of my Anglomania. 
 
 "I am delighted at the peace, because it stops the shedding 
 of so much human blood in a wretched cause. The reason of 
 peace is not yet known, but it appears that the combatants 
 recoiled before the notion of a coalition. Italy is in a miser- 
 able condition. Mazzini is her real master at this moment. It 
 certainly seems futile to have sacrificed the lives of more than 
 100,000 men in order to give Lombardy to Piedmont, who is 
 furious, and whose ingratitude is boundless. I am not sorry 
 for the fall of M. de Cavour ; he will regain power, but I doubt 
 his mending his ways. Meanwhile my prediction has been 
 verified. I warned M. de Cavour last November, through a 
 mutual friend, that Italy would be deceived by her ally. I did 
 not think my prophecy would have been so speedily fulfilled. 
 
 "Remember me to Mr. Austin. 
 
 " Your ever devoted friend, 
 
 "B. St. Hilaire." 
 
 Sarah Austin to Barthelemy St. Hilaire. 
 [Translation.] 
 
 " Weybridge, _/z</v 17, 1859. 
 " Dear Friend, — Yesterday, on returning from Lady Elles- 
 mere's, at Hatchford, where I passed two days with Lord and 
 Lady Grey, I found your letter. I think you can guess the 
 chief subject of our conversation. Lord Grey is one of the few 
 who have always viewed the kgarements of public opinion in 
 England with disgust ; he judges the actual condition of affairs 
 as we do. The surprise and disappointment of the enthusiasts 
 for Italian independence, who are numerous in England, would 
 make one laugh, if the matter were not so serious. I have 
 been told that Italy ought to ally herself with the Devil in 
 
 34 
 
354 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 person, if he promised to deliver her from Austrian rule. 
 There is no accounting for tastes ! Are the Roman States, is 
 Naples, so much better governed than Tuscany or Parma ? I 
 trust that France is proud of having given birth to so ad- 
 mirable a woman as the Duchess of Parma ? Nothing can be 
 more sensible or more noble than her conduct. My husband 
 declares that the traditions of nobility and heroism are kept up 
 by women, and that they are now the only real gentlemen. 
 " Always, dear friend, from my heart, 
 
 " Yours affectionately, 
 
 "S. A." 
 
 Sarah Austin to M. Guizot. 
 
 "Weybridge, Oct. 27, 1859. 
 
 "Dear Monsieur Guizot, — I am in a perplexity which I 
 must refer to you. I know you will give me advice, both wise 
 and kind. 
 
 " When Madame Lenormant wrote to me about her book, of 
 which she requested me to write a notice, I willingly, nay 
 eagerly, undertook to do it, and immediately proposed it to 
 Reeve. I liked Madame Recamier, and respected certain sweet 
 and noble parts of her character ; I wished, and shall always 
 wish, to oblige the person who loved and sheltered your dear 
 mother. Above all, I wished to point out certain admirable 
 characteristics of French society (the old French society) and 
 of French women. 
 
 "These were my determining motives for undertaking the 
 work. I had not, of course, then read it. Now I have read it, 
 and there are things in it which I know not how to pass over 
 in silence, nor how to approve. Some of these appear to me to 
 the last degree inconvcnants. . Some place the principal per- 
 sonages of the narrative under a light either ridiculous or false. 
 There is a complete ignoratio of the grand lines of moral dis- 
 tinction (in speaking of such a — I will not write hard names^ 
 as B. Constant) and an insensibility equally great to the lofty 
 virtues and grand qualities which defy and disarm ridicule. The 
 attempt to make the Duke of Wellington ridiculous because he 
 was not ' amusant ' to Madame R., and wrote stupid billets and 
 
SARAH AUSTIN. 355 
 
 bad French, is a mistake of this kind ; and the reader naturally 
 asks what is the moral taste of the person who finds nothing 
 absurd in the ceaseless wailings, the monstrous conceit and 
 selfish exigencies of M. de Chateaubriand, and nothing im- 
 posing and respect-compelling in the despatches of the Duke of 
 Wellington. To say the writer did not know these, is only to 
 say she should have been silent about the man. But another 
 thing seems to me more grave. 
 
 " Madame Lenormant insinuates, or rather affirms, that the 
 late Duke of Devonshire, a man of no talents, but of unimpeach- 
 able goodness and honour, shut up his dying step-mother and 
 excluded her dear friends, for fear she should confess herself a 
 Catholic and receive ' les consolations de la religion.' 
 
 " This is a serious charge. There is no evidence that the 
 Duchess asked to see Madame R. and M. de Laval, and certainly, 
 in England at least, it is not usual to allow anybody to crowd 
 around a death-bed but the privileged, the nearest relatives. 
 This imputation on the Duke of Devonshire seems to me most 
 unpardonable. It is not at all unlikely that he had the very 
 natural fear that his mother's failing mind would be worked 
 upon by attempts at conversion, and that he wished to let her 
 die in peace. 
 
 " Altogether there is a certain air of victim given to the 
 Duchess, which seems to convey blame to somebody. Lady 
 Elizabeth Foster's life and history are notorious, and the reason 
 for her preferring Rome to England are explicable enough. I 
 point out things relating to my own country, simply because I 
 am familiar with them ; but they are not all. The terms in 
 which M. de Chateaubriand writes of his wife ' to Madame R. 
 are, to my feelings, indecent and ungentlemanlike in the highest 
 degree. No galant homme writes so of the woman who bears 
 his name : least of all to the woman he has put in her place. 
 I wish I had not to add, no woman of delicacy would for one 
 moment permit him to do so. I fear that I may be uttering 
 harsh judgments, but why, why, why publish such things ? 
 We all do foolish and wrong things — at least / ^o, but I hope 
 
 ■ See " Souvenirs et Correspondences de Madame Recamier," vol. i. pp. 343 
 and aliunde. 
 
356 THREE GENERA TIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 I am not a bad woman in the main, and why should my faults 
 and follies be printed ? Madame Recamier had so many 
 charming and excellent and really noble qualities. I want to 
 think of them. 
 
 " Now this is my case. Am I only to praise ? Am I to 
 object (gently, of course)? I would fain know what you mean 
 to do. Not that I can follow servilely, for I write in England 
 and for England. But at least, dearest sir and friend, advise 
 your always affectionate and grateful 
 
 " S. Austin. 
 
 " I have been in Scotland, at pleasant Kirklands. I have 
 been staying with Lord Grey and Lord Brougham ! Wonders 
 upon wonders ! We are tolerably well. Best wishes to you and 
 yours. I sent them to you from my very heart on the 3rd. 
 
 " Yours ever, 
 
 "S. A." 
 
CHAPTER XXXVI. 
 SARAH AUSTIN {continued). 
 
 Mr. Austin's Illness and Death — Letter from M. Guizot to Mrs. Austin — Her 
 Answer — Mrs. Austin returns to Weybridge — Letter from Mrs. Austin to 
 Rev. Dr. W. Whewell — Mrs. Groteand old Letters — Mrs. Austin's Illness. 
 
 Sarah Austin to Barthklemy St. Hilaire. 
 
 [Translation.] 
 
 "Weybridge, iVbi'. 14, 1859. 
 " You cannot imagine, my dear friend, what a condition I am 
 in ! For ten days I have not left my husband's bedside. His 
 sufferings are worse than I have ever seen. Day and night I 
 am in his room, or in the adjoining one, thanking God that He 
 has spared me to nurse my husband. Be so good as to write a 
 few lines to M. Guizot to tell him what has occurred. 
 
 " Lucie writes from Brighton that she is rather better, and 
 that her doctor is hopeful. What a cruel position for her and 
 for me ! She wants to come and help me to nurse her father ; 
 I am dying to see her and nurse her. But amid all these 
 sorrows I thank God that He has given me strength enough 
 to be always with my dear husband. You know what I suffer, 
 but at all events I live and nurse him, and he is so glad to have 
 me about him, and so thankful for any little service. Good- 
 bye, best of friends. 
 
 "S. A." 
 
358 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 Sarah Austin to BartMlemy St. Hilaire. 
 [Translation.] 
 
 "EsHER, Dec. 23, 1859. 
 
 " I expected no less from you, my friend. In my desolation 
 I thought of you as one of the few persons I could bear to see. 
 I knew I had only to call you. 
 
 " Till now I have been unable to think. I am crushed, and 
 I search in vain for resignation or the least calm. I pray God 
 to grant it to me. You know how my life was ordered, and 
 that all I lived for has been taken away from me. What I 
 feel can only be expressed by one word — le vide. I find myself 
 utterly alone, for children, dear as they are, belong necessarily 
 to another generation and another order of ideas and feelings. 
 My feelings, my ideas were his — I drew all from him — and now 
 I feel that I am nothing. I thought myself less dependent than 
 he was ; he had often told me so, imploring me to outlive him 
 and not leave him alone on earth. I know not if it would have 
 been possible for him to suffer more than I do. But I accept 
 this bitter sorrow, and thank God that it is to me and not to 
 him that the cup has been given to drink. 
 
 " I have no plans. Sometimes I say to myself I shall not be 
 able to bear this solitude — these long winter evenings by my 
 fireside, opposite the arm-chair which he always occupied during 
 our tetc-ct-tete of eleven years. Sometimes the idea of leaving 
 the beloved cottage appears to me most terrible of all. 
 
 " I think of going back on the 3rd or 4th of January to 
 arrange matters. He has left me everything, and I must do 
 my duty, for God may soon call me to join my beloved one. 
 Miracles have not ceased, otherwise I could never have had 
 strength to watch for seven weeks, and to bear without flinching 
 all the daggers which entered my heart. 
 
 " Good-bye, excellent friend. I will write to you as soon as I 
 feel that I can see you. But when you come you must arrange 
 to stay some time. You will be of the greatest help to me. 
 
 " Thank M. Dunoyer for his sympathy ; he complains that I 
 did not prepare him for such a blow. My God ! did I expect 
 it? 
 
SARAH A USTIN. 359 
 
 " People are very kind to me. It seems as if they guessed 
 how united we were — how great my loneliness is. Good-bye, 
 my dear and faithful friend. My daughter is only pretty well. 
 
 "S. A." 
 
 M. Guizot to Sarah Austin. 
 
 [Translation.] 
 
 " Val Richer, Dec. 23, 1859. 
 
 "Dear Mrs. Austin, — This instant I have heard of your 
 sorrow. I foresaw it but too plainly yesterday, when I wrote 
 to your good little Janet. Probably you also foresaw it, but the 
 blow has not been the less cruel. Expected or unexpected, real 
 grief remains the same. I feel the deepest sympathy for you. 
 Twice I have lost the companion of my life, and notwithstand- 
 ing the great consolations which surrounded me and still sur- 
 round rne, I am alone. Not to be solitary one must absolutely 
 possess, entirely to oneself, a human creature, and belong ex- 
 clusively to her (or him). This is the power of marriage, even 
 for those who meet with many imperfections. And your husband 
 was one of the most distinguished men, one of the rarest intel- 
 lects, and one of the noblest hearts I ever knew. 
 
 " Let this be a consolation to you, and at the same time 
 a regret. It is better to have lost much, very much ; the 
 recollection of a great good, enjoyed only in passing, is always 
 a treasure. Let Janet send me news of you, I thank her in 
 advance, and when you are more at peace with your sorrow, 
 when you feel the necessity of sharing it with a true friend, 
 write to me. Tell me if you wish me to continue writing to 
 you. The more solitary you are the more I desire to be of some 
 account in your life. 
 
 " Always your affectionate 
 
 " Guizot." 
 
 Sarah Atistin to M. Guizot. 
 
 "EsHER, Jan. I, i860. 
 " You, dearest sir, are one of the very few people whom I 
 wish to see, or from whom I expected a letter with any degree 
 
36o THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 of hope and desire. I knew you would say something to the 
 purpose — something that my poor heart would accept with 
 comfort and gratitude — something that would show me that 
 you knew what my wound is and could measure its depth and 
 extent. Yes, you understand that, in spite of dear and good 
 children, and grandchildren, and friends — warm and true 
 friends — I am alone. How entirely alone can only be guessed 
 by those who know how completely my dear husband's life and 
 mine were one., and how completely concentred and severed 
 from all other lives. The last eleven years of our life have 
 been spent in almost unbroken teie-h-tete. I went out each 
 autumn for a short time to lay in a store of health and spirits 
 and new ideas for the winter. But excepting these absences, 
 which he always urged upon me, there was hardly a day in the 
 year that we did not spend together, and alone. So far from 
 finding this dull or tedious, we both became more and more 
 fond of our retirement and of each other. I will confess it to 
 you. He had not always been a very tender husband to me, 
 nor easy to please. Ill-health, disappointment, and anxiety 
 had naturally enough made all things distasteful to him. But 
 since he had given up the conflict with fortune, and especially 
 since we settled down in our quiet retreat, he had gradually 
 come to a state of mind and temper which I can only call 
 heavenly ., so gentle and noble, so without all alloy of unsatisfied 
 cravings, or vain repinings, or harsh passions, or low desires 
 was it ! In this blessed frame of mind all his youthful and 
 passionate love for me seemed to return, mingled with a confi- 
 dence and intimacy which only a life passed together can pro- 
 duce. I was too happy ! It pleased God, after many years of 
 care and toil and suffering, to permit me to taste of this tranquil 
 happiness — only to lose it. Do not think me unthankful for the 
 blessing ; ^t present I can only feel that all is gone., that I have 
 no purpose or object in life, and that every thought and act of 
 mine, which had him for their true aim, will now wander pain- 
 fully in search of what they will never more find. 
 
 " But I must not grieve you with my grief Let me rather 
 thank my dear children, my beloved Henriette and Pauline, for 
 their sweet letters. Young as they are, they are true wives, and 
 c^n understand what my affliction is. Tell them I will seek 
 
SARAH AUSTIN. 361 
 
 comfort where I know I shall not fail to find it. Wherever 
 "the spirits of just men made perfect "dwell, there must be the 
 pure and noble soul that has departed, for just and true he was 
 in every word and thought. 
 
 " I wanted to say more, but I cannot now — except that I send 
 you the truest wishes for your happiness, though out of a sad 
 heart. God bless you all. 
 
 " Your most affectionate 
 
 "S. Austin." 
 
 Sarah Austin to BartMlemy St. Hilaire. 
 [Translation.] 
 
 " WEYBRIDGE,ya7Z. 3, i860. 
 
 " Dear Friend, — Only a few hours ago I returned to my 
 solitary fireside. I cannot yet believe it — I listen, I get up 
 every instant, and I seek for what I shall never find again. It 
 is impossible to tell you how desolate I am. You French people 
 are xaar^ pr'evoyants than we are. You live all together, so when 
 one goes many are left. But when a whole life is passed tete-a- 
 tHe, what is left to the one who outlives the other ? Good-bye ; 
 I hope to see you soon. You will come, will you not, when I 
 call you ? God bless you J 
 
 "S. A." 
 
 Sarah Austin to Rev. Dr. W. Whewell. 
 
 " Royal Hotel, Ventnor, March 24, i860. 
 
 " Dear Master, — I should have answered your kind letter 
 sooner, but I have really nothing to say but what would give 
 you pain. Everything is come to an end with me, and if I seek 
 for words to express the niant in which I drag on my existence, 
 I cannot find them. And why should I ? They could only 
 distress those who could understand them. 
 
 " My life has been one continual and anxious nursing, and 
 the thought that this might come has often enough presented 
 itself to my mind. But how far were my worst fears and 
 imaginations from approaching the reality ! How inadequate 
 my idea of the desolation that extends over everything ! 
 
362 THREE GENERA TIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 " I now discover that what I thought interested me for its 
 own sake had only a reflected interest, and that everything I 
 read, or heard, or saw, or thought, came from him or tended to 
 him as the centre of my inward being. Now, everything that 
 for a moment engages my attention becomes a pang. I fall 
 back into the dark and dreary void. 
 
 " Do not think me insensible to the consolations that lie 
 beyond all this suffering, but the suffering is not the less there. 
 " Believe me always, dear friend, 
 
 " Very affectionately yours, 
 
 "Sarah Austin." 
 
 Harriet Grote to Sarah Austin. 
 
 " Barrow Green, Oxtead, Jitne 8, i860. 
 
 " Dear Cummer, — I have been rusticating here for eight 
 days, in a solitude only equalled by your own. The weather 
 has kept me within doors, it is true, but I have found abundant 
 occupations within my spacious cage. Among the rest, that of 
 sorting old letters, destroying the larger portion, by way of 
 loosening the connection with this world. Among these Jiow 
 ancient treasures are some letters of J. A.'s, and many of your 
 own, for thirty years ! — records of a singular series of conflicts, 
 struggles, and chequered fate, such as, if woven into a history, 
 would thrust modern periodical fictions into the shade for 
 interest. Each of our lives in truth, dear Cummer, if put 
 on paper, would offer a deep and melancholy attraction for 
 thoughtful readers. We both came into the world endowed 
 with the choicest gifts of a ' fairy godmother ' — personal and 
 mental. 
 
 " How striking the lesson they (the lives) have both fur- 
 nished ! — that destiny, accident — what you will^mixes the 
 cup of life for us, strive as we may. Your struggle is over, 
 and you regret your exemption from all care for another. It 
 is well. The evening of my course is more serene than the 
 morning and noon thereof, and less agitated by the currents of 
 feeling, and by the torments which every sentimental and 
 vehement soul mnst be subjected to in the journey through 
 this life. 
 
SARAH AUSTIN. 363 
 
 "I feel thankful accordingly, and hope that I may spend 
 what few years are likely to be granted to me in the tranquillity 
 which is now my portion. 
 
 " When you come to Barrow Green you shall see whether 
 any of the letters adverted to in this letter would be acceptable 
 to you to regain. I have destroyed but few of yours or 
 Austin's. I go up to Savile Row on Thursday for Ella's music, 
 staying the week probably. Where are you ? 
 
 " Ever yours affectionately, 
 
 " H. Grote, 
 
 ' N.B. — I have ' done wi' London,' properly speaking. 
 Linen, plate, and servants, all here — a couple of women- 
 servants left for G. G.'s attendants in Savile Row." 
 
 Sarah Austin to Barth'elemy St. Hilaire. 
 [Translation.] 
 
 " Weybridge, _/«??« 27, i860. 
 
 " Dear Friend, — You have perhaps heard of my sudden 
 and dangerous illness. On the 13th, Dr. Harcourt did not 
 leave my bedside for four hours, and twice he thought all was 
 over. But God has thought fit to leave me a little longer on 
 earth, so that I may labour for my beloved husband. I am 
 now better, and the feeling that my life is so precarious will 
 make me work harder. 
 
 " On Monday Jeffs came to see me and tell me the result of 
 all his efforts.' I cannot tell you how deplorable and shameful 
 I think it. If one could conceive the possibility of the English 
 press being gagged, there is no corner of the globe, however 
 distant or uncivilised, to which we should not rush if we 
 had a hope of being heard. Here, there was everything !— a 
 respectable paper, a clientlle formed of the most distinguished 
 names in England, which would have doubled or trebled 
 rapidly. I withdraw my sympathy from the French (with the 
 exception of yourself and two others), who complain of being 
 
 ' The French Review started by Mr. Jeffs came to an end for want of 
 sufficient contributions from France. 
 
364 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 unable to speak openly. They do not care to do so, and it is 
 folly on our part to pity them. How much might have been 
 said to interest England in the good cause ! However, it is 
 finished, and will not be tried again. 
 
 " From M. d'Haussonville I have had a most touching letter. 
 I feel that he understands the elevation of my husband's 
 character, and that he sees a little what I have lost. But no 
 one can really enter into my feelings who has not known what 
 it is to marry solely for passionate love, who has not passed 
 fiye years feeding only on love, and severe study, in order to 
 . become worthy of being a wife. One must have known what 
 it is to fight for a lifetime by a husband's side against misfor- 
 tunes, and have felt the shadow, even of death, warmed and 
 illuminated by the passionate devotion, which age had no 
 power to dim. 
 
 " I have been reading my husband's letters to me before we 
 married. How you would admire them ! Full of love and of 
 reason, of wise and high-minded advice. He begs me to read 
 the books he is reading — Adam Smith, Matthews, Blackstone, 
 Bacon, Locke ; he exhorts me to study Latin, and read Tacitus 
 attentively, ' for I shall desire to talk with you on all subjects 
 which engage my attention.' It is the love of a great heart, 
 and greater soul, 
 
 " My sad and sacred work is advancing ; the first volume of 
 lectures will be printed immediately. I find the difficulties 
 increase as I proceed, but they will not prevent my finishing, 
 if God gives me health and strength. I think I shall remain 
 the whole summer at Weybridge, in order to work hard. My 
 daughter is not well ; she is ordered to pass the winter in the 
 south. The children are well. Good-bye, my dear and true 
 friend. 
 
 " Your affectionate 
 
 "S, A," 
 
; CHAPTER XXXVII. 
 
 SARAH AUSTIN (continued). 
 
 Letters from Mrs. Austin to Rev. Dr. W. Whewell on the "Province of Juris- 
 prudence" — Dr. Haw^trey at Mapledurham — Garibaldi and the Emperor 
 Napoleon — Accident to the Comte de Paris — Marriage of Miss Duff 
 Gordon — Lord Brougham on the Chair of Jurisprudence at Oxford — 
 Letter from Mrs. Austin to M. Guizot on Family Matters and Mr. Austin's 
 Books. 
 
 Sarah Austin to Rev. Dr. W. Whewell. 
 
 " Weybkidge, August 15, i860. 
 " Dear Master,— I know you will do me a kindness, if you 
 can ; and that you can, I am sure. Will you tell me where to 
 find the passage in Leibnitz in which he draws a comparison 
 between Law and Mathematics. It is referred to as intended 
 to be quoted in one of the precious and almost illegible scraps 
 which now occupy my life. You have seen perhaps in 
 Murray's list that my dear husband's Lectures are to be 
 r^-printed axiA printed, and perhaps you will have guessed that 
 I have the courage to attempt to put the MS. part into some 
 form. I hope you will not think it presumption. My best 
 excuse is that those of his friends who have seen the MSS. are 
 quite convinced that nobody else could or would decipher and 
 arrange them. 
 
 " Of the inestimable value of the materials there is no doubt, 
 and if I can but succeed in giving them a permanent form, 
 they will serve as a mine for future thinkers on these subjects. 
 His friends and hearers — Romilly, Lewis, Booth, and many 
 others — are unanimous in encouraging me to do this work. 
 
 365 
 
366 THREE GENERA TlONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 But oh ! sometimes the bitterness of seeing these noble ruins 
 fallen into my feeble hands almost makes me despair, and long 
 to bury myself with them in his grave. 
 
 " However, if God spares my life, and gives me some little 
 strength, I shall go on. I am entirely alone, and I live with 
 and for these beloved remains. 
 
 "The volume is to be ?-e-printed unaltered, except by the 
 insertion of some fragments which rather show what he meant 
 to do, than what he had done or could do. Among them is 
 one called ' Excursus on Analogy.' It consists in great part 
 of numerous scrawled scraps, without order or indication of 
 sequence. I am now upon these, having deciphered all but a 
 few words. 
 
 " But the arrangement is above me. My small knowledge 
 of logic, which I owe to him, has enabled me to do something 
 towards it, but I must get help. My friends are very kind — 
 Lewis especially ; it is now that his regard for my husband 
 comes out. 
 
 " Pray remember me kindly to Lady Affleck, and believe 
 me, dear Master and Friend, always your affectionate 
 
 " S. Austin." 
 
 Sarah Austin to Rev, Dr. W, Whewell, 
 
 " Weybridge, August 28, i860. 
 " Kind and ready help from you, dear Master, as I expected. 
 The quotation is all I wish, and I shall insert it in your own 
 admirable English. But now (see how the cheering warmth 
 of kindness fosters importunity) I am going to ask more, 
 much more. I am going to beg you to look over the whole 
 fragment, or rather collection of fragments, entitled (as I think 
 I told you) ' Excursus on Analogy,' and left by my poor 
 husband in a state which I think would have baffled any eye 
 but mine. They were, in fact, notes or memoranda scrawled 
 down for himself to work from ; and though I have succeeded 
 in deciphering all but a few words, I am still in doubt on two 
 essential points. Ought any of this matter to be published ? 
 If so, how much ? 
 
SARAH AUSTIN. 367 
 
 " The two or three friends who have seen it, or part of it (of 
 whom Lewis is one), are for publishing as much as can be put 
 into a coherent form ? How much is that ? 
 
 " Always sincerely and affectionately yours, 
 
 " S. Austin." 
 
 Sarah Austin to BartMlemy St. Hilaire. 
 
 [Translation.] 
 
 " Weybridge, Sept. 21, i860. 
 " I write little, dear friend, because my work absorbs and 
 tires me. From time to time I am forced to rest, so I have 
 been for a week with my excellent Provost, not at Eton, but 
 at his rectory of Mapledurham, on the banks of the beautiful 
 and silvery Thames. This incomparable brother passes his 
 life very sadly by the side of his sister, who has become 
 imbecile, though always affectionate and sweet-tempered. He 
 has the courage not to banish her from his society or his table, 
 and I admired with my whole heart the dignity with which he 
 surrounds her with every care and respect. There is real 
 heroism for you— a word so often profaned. Poor Lucie is not 
 well. The weather has been horriblcj and she is going to 
 Ventnor immediately. 
 
 " Ever your affectionate 
 
 " S. A." 
 
 BartMlemy St. Hilaire to Sarah Austin. 
 [Translation.] 
 
 "Rue de l'Empereur, Paris, Sept. 24, i860. 
 
 " Madam and dear Friend, — Have you or Lady Lucie 
 settled your plans ? Recollect that my present apartment is 
 at your service, for I can always stay at Barrot's house. 
 
 " Lamoriciere's defeat has distressed every one ; the perfidy 
 and cunning shown now as ever by Piedmont is worthy of her 
 august ally. The English papers are wise in preaching mode- 
 ration to Garibaldi, but he is launched on his course, and I 
 doubt his power of stopping, even if he had the prudence and 
 
368 THREE GENERA TIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 the wish to do so. He hates the French, and he and his 
 followers believe that they owe us nothing. If he has the 
 audacity to attack our soldiers at Rome, he will receive a severe 
 lesson. The confusion seems to me to become greater every 
 day, and I begin to doubt in an united Italy. You may be 
 sure, that should Italy be made, the Emperor will attack the 
 Rhine, as compensation for the aggrandisement of Piedmont. 
 Do not believe a word the official papers say about the popular 
 enthusiasm. The imperial government is not popular. There 
 are always a certain number of idle spectators ready to applaud 
 clever mountebanks ; and this so-called triumphant progress 
 is simply a show. Complaints would be loud and deep if the 
 Press were free, and the knowledge of this state of things 
 causes war to be considered a diversion. I repeat. Lord 
 Lyndhurst was right, let England continue her preparations, 
 costly though they may be. 
 
 " Your ever devoted friend, 
 
 " B. St. Hilaire." 
 
 Sarah Austin to Barthelemy St. Hilaire. 
 
 [Translation.] 
 
 "2, Princes Gardens, London, 
 
 Oct. 30, i860. 
 " Dear Friend, — ^I am here since the 24th. You will soon 
 see my dear Lady Wm. Russell at Paris ; she has been so good 
 as to ask me to accompany her, promising to deliver me sound 
 and safe into your keeping there. I hesitated for an instant^ 
 I wished so much to go ! I feel the need of seeing my friends 
 — you, M. Guizot and his daughters, Madame de Bourke, M. 
 Dunoyer ; but after due reflection I decided not to accept the 
 tempting offer. I know the pleasure and the interest I should 
 feel in again seeing you all, but I am sure that no sooner should 
 I be at Paris than I should want to come back, for my work is 
 not yet advanced enough to be able to leave it with tranquillity 
 to myself. A thousand questions arise. The fragment on 
 Analogy is reserved for another volume, in which I shall also 
 print a most precious fragment on Interpretation, and one on 
 
SARAH AUSTIN. 369 
 
 Codification. When the first volume is finished it will be easier 
 for me to take a little holiday. The more I do, the more I per- 
 ceive the immense difficulty and the value of the work. Then 
 my dear Lucie's health. She says she is better, but I am 
 terribly anxious. Her doctor wishes her to go to Egypt, but 
 dreads the journey. If you see M. Guizot, tell him that only a 
 feeling of duty prevents me from going to see him and his 
 children. Tell him that I find my only consolation in work. 
 
 "Janet showed great presence of mind and courage when 
 M. Le Comte de Paris broke his leg. She caught his horse, 
 and held him in spite of his kicking ; and then went off at a 
 gallop to the house of Dr. Izod (who was out hunting also), and 
 before the poor Prince reached Claremont everything was there 
 ready for setting the leg. When there was nothing more to be 
 done she burst into tears, like the child she still is. I have had 
 a charming letter from the dear patient. 
 
 "In a few days I shall be back at Weybridge. Good-bye, 
 my best of friends. Believe me I love you with all my heart. 
 
 " Your very affectionate 
 
 " S. A." 
 
 Sarah Austin to Barthelemy St. Hilaire. 
 [Translation.] 
 
 "Weybridge, Nov. 13, i860. 
 
 " Dear Friend, — How am I to tell you ? Our little Janet 
 is going to be married, and is to live at Alexandria ! In a month 
 you will see Mr. and Mrs. Ross at Paris, en route for their 
 Egyptian home. It is like a clap of thunder, and I feel quite 
 stunned. Mr. Ross is a banker, clever and agreeable, an 
 intimate friend of Mr. Layard, whom he aided in his excava- 
 tions at Nineveh. There is a little too much difference in their 
 ages, but Janet never liked young men. We are all charmed 
 with Mr. Ross, but less so with the notion of Alexandria. 
 However, he means to settle in England in the course of a few 
 years. She is too young, and had he resided here the marriage 
 would have been delayed. 
 
 " Mr. Ross wished Lucie to go out with them to Egypt, but 
 
 25 
 
370 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 her doctor opposes this strongly, and she will remain where 
 she is. 
 
 " I am going to Ventnor for the marriage, which will be as 
 quiet and simple as possible. I shall not intrude my sombre 
 figure among the joyous company, but I shall be there — near 
 my daughter. Good-bye, dear friend ; I know you will share 
 all my feelings, for you are in every sense of the word a friend. 
 I embrace you cordially. 
 
 " S. A." 
 
 Sarah Austin to Barth'elemy St. Hilaire. 
 [Translation.] 
 
 " Weybridge, Nov. 17, i860. 
 
 " I wrote you a few lines, dear friend, the other day, and now 
 let me thank you a thousand times for your good wishes for 
 the happiness of our little girl. As to the present you propose 
 sending her, we have unanimously decided that it is 'outrageous,' 
 which does not mean outrageant, but exag'ere. We have taken 
 the liberty to vote an amendment. She has bracelets enough 
 to cover her arms up to the shoulder, and she wishes for a good 
 edition of Moliere, which her father has seen and admired. I 
 shall get it for her, and she will take the first volume to Paris, 
 in order that you may write her name in it. I know you will 
 not be offended ; are you not our brother, our uncle, our 
 friend ? and we act as we should for ourselves. 
 
 " Janet begs me to thank you affectionately, and to say that 
 on the 7th or 8th of December she will be at Paris with her 
 husband. May I beg you to tell those who take interest in our 
 child, of her approaching marriage, MM. Cousin, Dunoyer, dear 
 Barbier, de Circourt, if it is not asking too much of you. I will 
 write to M. Guizot ; I am sure of his good wishes. M. Mignet 
 does not know her. People say she is very like me, perhaps 
 my friends would like to see this third edition. I am going to 
 Ventnor, as I told you. Pity me, my friend, every day brings 
 a sad memory to me, every night wrings my heart ; and during 
 these days I must take part in an event which we must try to 
 look upon as a joyful one. I must go because my daughter 
 
SARAH AUSTIN. 371 
 
 wishes it. It may perhaps be useful to the young people to see 
 what remains of a long and true love ; what past joys this deep 
 and endless sorrow reveals ! 
 
 " Ever yours, dear friend, from my heart, 
 
 "S. A." 
 
 Lord Brougham to Sarah Austin. 
 
 " Brougham, November 27, i860. 
 " My dear Mrs. Austin, — I greatly lamented not having 
 seen you while I was in town. There is a question at Oxford of 
 founding a chair of Jurisprudence, and the authorities of the 
 University have done me the great honour of asking my opinion, 
 and leave to print it. I gave it strongly in favour of such a 
 measure, and it gave me the greatest pleasure to take occasion 
 to mention the greatest of all professors of the science, and to 
 state how happy I was to find that his Lectures would soon be 
 given to the world as he had left them, and that they would 
 furnish the most valuable assistance to the plan proposed. I 
 daresay the letter will appear ; but in case it should not, I 
 thought it right that you should know what has passed. The 
 expression I used was, ' The most able and learned cultivator of 
 the science in our day, Professor Austin.' 
 
 " Yours ever, 
 
 " H. Brougham." 
 
 Sarah Austin to M. Guizot, 
 
 '■'■December 31, i860. 
 " Dear Monsieur Guizot, — The year must not go out with- 
 out my sending you some token that I think of and pray for 
 you and yours. May your life be spared to be, as it is, precious 
 —beneficent to the world, and may you see your children 
 virtuous, happy, united — such as you see them now. For my- 
 self,! have not courage to ask for anything but strength to endure. 
 I do not raise my prayers so high as happiness. That it may 
 please God, in His mercy, to spare me a second death-blow — 
 this is all I ask. You will ask it for me. I need not tell you 
 that no second blow can be like the first. Yet that loss makes 
 
372 THREE GENERA TIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 what remains more precious, and leaves me without earthly 
 refuge or solace if more grief should be in store for me. 
 
 " I cannot say that my dear daughter is worse. I am assured 
 not. But she is not better. She has had no return of hemor- 
 rhage, but then the bitter cold has brought on cough and 
 expectoration. In short, though, as I am assured, danger is not 
 present.^ it is always near ; and that is enough to keep me on 
 the rack. Alexander is now at Ventnor, and both the children. 
 Dear Maurice goes back to Eton on the 1 5th, and Alexander 
 makes his annual tournee in Ireland. Then, if Lucie will have 
 me, I shall go back to Ventnor. But one of the cruel things is, 
 that her doctor wishes her to be alone as much as possible, that 
 she may not be tempted to talk. While I was there, I was 
 seldom with her above an hour in the whole day. It was the 
 only way of keeping her silent. The baby is an enchanting 
 little creature, overflowing with health, spirits, and vivacity. 
 She is her poor mother's delight and amusement. 
 
 " You may think how terrible was the conflict of feelings at 
 Janet's marriage. But it is a great satisfaction to her mother. 
 M. St. Hilaire will tell you what impression Mr. Ross made on 
 him and on M. Cousin, who, on leaving them, exclaimed, ' Ah 
 voila un homme ! ' That strikes everybody, and the devoted 
 love of such a man is not only flattering, but, if I may say so, 
 zmpostng to a young girl. My people at Marseilles were charmed 
 Avith him. He and his wife are now in Malta. She will find 
 there an inheritance of love and veneration earned and be- 
 queathed by her dear grandfather. 
 
 " I came home before the 17th that I might keep the anni- 
 versary of my heavy loss here, in his room, surrounded by every 
 object that speaks of him, and entirely alone ; and so I have 
 remained. I have to do the most difficult and anxious thing I 
 ever did yet — to write about him. The book — the ' Province 
 of Jurisprudence '^s reprinted, with such small additions as T 
 could find, and is ready for publication. But it is necessary 
 that I should explain why it was not republished years ago, why 
 I edit it now, what other materials I have in my hands, and 
 what I mean to do with them. I must vindicate myself from 
 the appearance of presumption and irreverence, and (what I 
 care for infinitely more) him from the charge of indolence or 
 
SARAH AUSTIN. 373 
 
 indifiference to truth. I have written a good deal, but it is 
 written between bursts of grief, and interrupted by tears and 
 sobs. I must take time to meditate upon it. What a Hfe of 
 unbroken disappointment and failure ! 
 
 " I have during the last week been reading over all his letters 
 — from 1814 to his last tender letters written to me in Scotland. 
 He had always an Ahnung of misfortune and unhappiness. All 
 his love-letters, during our five years' engagement, speak,- not 
 of the happiness he hopes to enjoy or to give, but of his reliance 
 on me as his prop and comforter. And this tempted me. Thanks 
 be to God that I was strengthened for this dear and noble task ! 
 His last letters assure me of that., and in that I find my con- 
 solation. , ■ 
 
 " I must leave you ; the New Year is close at hand. May 
 it be blessed to you and yours, prays your very faithful and 
 affectionate 
 
 " S. Austin." 
 
CHAPTER XXXVIII. 
 
 SARAH AUSTIN (continued). 
 
 Completion of First Volume of the " Province of Jurisprudence " — M. A. 
 Barbier to Mrs. Austin on her Preface to her Husband's Book — Lady 
 Duff Gordon goes to the Cape of Good Hope — Lord Jeffrey — Baron v. 
 Humboldt — Lord Lansdowne's Munificence — Rome as Capital of Italy. 
 
 Sarah Austin to M. Guizot. 
 
 " Ventnor, Isle of Wight, February lo, 1861. 
 " Dear Monsieur Guizot, — Two lines to tell you that my 
 work is, for the present, done ; all the doubts and internal 
 debates of my poor heart and head are closed, and what I have 
 written is, if not good, irrevocable. I am not, indeed, satisfied, 
 but at least I have the sort of calmness given by the conscious- 
 ness of having done what I felt to be due to my honoured and 
 dear husband, and of having tried to do my best. Perhaps you 
 can imagine how constantly I paused and asked myself if he 
 would approve, and how my heart cried out to him to guide me, 
 and to check me if I was wrong. But for this most anxious 
 work of my life I had no guide. He whose word was my law, 
 whose judgment always convinced mine, whose few approving 
 words were my highest reward and glory, was no longer there. 
 Of course I feel assured of nothing. My narrative will give 
 oifence. For that I care not. If it does justice to him, I am 
 content. 
 
 " As soon as I was free, I came to be near my dear daughter. 
 I found her apparently much better, but I see that there is yet 
 no Jirm ground for confidence. On the whole, however, her 
 
SARAH AUSTIN. 375 
 
 doctor thinks better of her, and she of herself. I can now see 
 her daily, and her darling baby is a little sunbeam. The win- 
 dows of my two little rooms look straight upon the sea, and the 
 ceaseless melancholy noise suits me. 
 
 " I am not as well as usual, or I am rather more ill than 
 usual, but that is a small calamity. I am constantly thinking 
 of Val Richer. If all goes well^oh, yQS,pour sHr, I shall go. 
 
 " Yours ever 
 
 "S. A." 
 
 Auguste Barbier to Sarah Austin. 
 [Translation.] 
 
 Paris, April 17, 1861. 
 
 " Dearest Madam, — I have read your Preface ; it is 
 admirable. Impossible to describe better the eminent man 
 England has lost. In a few striking, simple, and eloquent 
 words you have depicted him physically and morally with a 
 master-hand : ' He was never sanguine. He was intolerant of 
 any imperfection. He was always under the control of severe 
 love of truth. He lived and died a poor man.' How true 
 is all this, but how sad are those last words, in spite of their 
 grandeur ! 
 
 " What touched me deeply is the picture you draw of the last 
 years of his life. They were, you say, tranquil, peaceable, and 
 just what he desired. Poor great intellect, at last he was able to 
 rest from the terrible struggle of life for some time ! This 
 repose was in great measure due to your tenderness and your 
 courage. If anything can soften the bitterness of your grief, it 
 must assuredly be the thought of the happiness you procured 
 him. There now remains the work of his life, which has 
 become yours. Alas ! how I regret that I am so ignorant of 
 the serious topics which will form the object of your studies ; 
 and how I should have liked to trace in his works the safe and 
 true foundation of our social condition delineated by so 
 powerful a hand as his ! But I am only a putter-together of 
 rhymes, a searcher after images, unfit to attain to the virile con- 
 ceptions of pure reason. My idea of the heart and the mind of 
 
3/6 THREE GENERA TIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 Mr. Austin was a very high one, but your writing has increased 
 and vivified it. Continue, dear friend, to publish the thoughts 
 of your eminent husband ; it is a service you render science. 
 Your Preface is a peristyle of Roman simplicity and beauty, 
 which decorates in the most worthy manner the monument left 
 by the great jurist to the glory of his country. Give me your 
 news, and 
 
 " Believe me, ever your devoted friend, 
 
 " AUGUSTE BarBIER." 
 
 Sarah Austin to Barthklemy St. Hilaire. 
 
 [Translation.] 
 
 "31, Chester Terrace, London, 
 
 June 23, 1861. 
 
 " Dear Friend, — Your kind heart never would admit how 
 great was my sorrow, and how imminent was the danger. 
 It is long since I wrote to you, for I have been devoured by an 
 anxiety too great for words. My poor Lucie comes to London 
 to-day for a last consultation before finally deciding her plans. 
 She has always wished to take a long sea voyage, and that is 
 what De Mussy and the other doctors recommend. She will 
 probably start immediately for the Cape. I need not tell you 
 what this means — a solitary home for Alexander and the chil- 
 dren ; for me h vide. But the doctors unanimously say that 
 another winter in England would be fatal. Poor Janet will be 
 in despair. She counted on seeing her mother. 
 
 " It appears to me that it is impossible to get at the truth 
 about climates. Now we are told that in Egypt, particularly in 
 Alexandria, the climate is changeable, damp, and stormy ; it 
 seems that it is only good on the Nile where you must live in a 
 good boat, which is only possible for rich people. At all events, 
 these reports have influenced Lucie, who says she will either 
 stay in England, or go where she may hope for a radical 
 cure. 
 
 "You may suppose that all this has not helped me in my 
 work, but that will help me to bear what would otherwise be 
 
SARAH AUSTIN. 377 
 
 unbearable. I live with and for my husband, and it is by that 
 alone that I do live. 
 
 " When are you coming ? Will you not come to see your 
 poor old friend, who will soon be doubly solitary ? But I ought 
 not to propose such a sad visit to you. 
 
 " Good-bye, my dearest friend, 
 
 "S. A. 
 
 " P.S. — There is something frightful in Cavour's death, and 
 in the thought that he was killed — bled six times in one day ! 
 It is inconceivable. 
 
 "My brother Philip's eldest son has been almost living in 
 his house at Turin. It is impossible to conjecture the conse- 
 quences of this death. Sir G. C. Lewis tells me that Louis 
 Napoleon is very glad ; so are Louis Napoleon's enemies. This 
 is strange." 
 
 Sarah Austin to BartMlemy St. Hilaire. 
 [Translation.] 
 
 " Weybridge, ^i^^za^ i6, 1861. 
 
 "Dear Friend, — I have received two more letters from Val 
 Richer. I think I must go. M. Guizot reminds me that he is 
 seventy-four, and his children write to me as if they were my 
 own. Besides this, my collaborateurs ' are leaving town, and I 
 would not willingly print a line without their imprimatur, so 
 that I 'am most undecided, torn by conflicting desires and 
 motives. I dread the long journey, I dread the heat of Paris 
 in August, and, above all, I dread every sort of hurry. Alas ! 
 how I am changed ! Formerly,inothing alarmed me ; now the 
 slightest agitation takes away my breath. But these are all 
 reasons for making this last effort, as time will not add to my 
 strength. 
 
 " This journey would also help me to pass the terribly long 
 period of suspense, for we can hope for no news of Lucie until 
 the end of October. Alas ! if you, dear friend, could take 
 wings, fly over to Weybridge and help me. Good-bye. The 
 children are well. I embrace you from my heart. 
 
 "S. Austin." 
 ' Messrs. Booth, Quain, and Stephen. 
 
37« THREE GENERA TIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 Sarah Austin to M. Guizot. 
 
 " Weybridge, November 27, 1861. 
 
 "Dearest Monsieur Guizot, — Did I know Jeifrey? One 
 of his qualites was to be always in love. Sydney Smith used 
 to talk about Jeffrey's seventy-two loves, and at that time put 
 me at the top of the list. He was certainly very adoring for a 
 time ; but he fell off in consequence of my taste for Germany 
 and German literature, which (being completely ignorant of 
 it) he could not bear. He wrote absurd criticisms on Goethe, 
 whom he treated as le dernier des ahsurdes. 
 
 " But Jeffrey was kind, generous, an excellent friend, and had 
 great talents. There is a Life of him which you should see ; I 
 will get it for you. 
 
 " Do you remember my saying to you at Madame Baud- 
 rand's house, with an air of surprise, ' Mais M. de Humboldt 
 est mechant ! ' To which you replied, ' Comment, ma chere 
 amie, vous ne saviez pas cela ? ' Everybody knows it. now at 
 least, thanks to Mademoiselle Assing. The good old Pro- 
 fessor Brandis calls the book ' dieses Schandbuch.'' 
 
 " The painful thing is to see such great faculties combined 
 with so mean and malignant a character. Ah ! dear sir, how 
 different a soul is revealed to me in every line from my dear 
 husband's hand. What elevation, what candour, what single- 
 ness of mind and purpose ! In the intervals of my study of 
 his works I read his letters to me — -forty-five years of love-letters, 
 the last as tender and passionate as the first. And how full of 
 noble sentiments ! The midday of our lives was clouded and 
 stormy, full of cares and disappointments ; but the sunset was 
 bright and serene — as bright as the morning, and more serene. 
 Now it is night with me, and must remain so till the dawn of 
 another day. I am always alone — that is, / live with him. 
 I don't see how I can begin a new sort of life. Oh, if I could 
 talk with you, dear sir, and hear you talk ! That would be 
 comfort ! 
 
 "Mr. Elwin has resigned the editorship of the Quarterly. 
 
 " The only fault I hear found with your third volume (and 
 generally with the book), is that there is too little about yourself 
 in it. 
 
SARAH A USTIN. 379 
 
 " I can write no more. There is much to say about Lord 
 Lansdowne. fray say it. He is the type of a great nobleman. 
 Dignity, munificence, liberal thoughts, delicate feelings, gracious 
 manners, considerate tgards — all. 
 
 " Farewell, dear sir and friend, 
 
 "S. A." 
 
 Sarah Austin to M. Guizot. 
 
 "Weybridge, December']^ 1861. 
 
 " Dear Monsieur Guizot, — I find it impossible to give you 
 any facts or details illustrative of Lord Lansdowne's relations to 
 literary men. His munificences were almost always as secret as 
 they were well timed. I do not know of one that could with 
 propriety be mentioned. As for the respectful and gracious 
 attention with which he has treated all persons of merit in Art, 
 Science, or Literature, it is a matter which does not admit of a 
 doubt nor require a proof. Not only he invited all such persons 
 when introduced to him to his house, and treated them with 
 distinction, but he went in search of them, especially if they 
 were foreigners, to whom he may be said to have done the 
 honours of England. If any particular instance of his truly 
 liberal love of Art and Letters should occur to me, I will send 
 it you ; but it is difficult to select one from so long and con- 
 sistent a course. His acts of delicate munificence to those in 
 want are innumerable ; not a quarter of them will ever be 
 known. 
 
 "I had a letter yesterday from the Master of Trinity; he 
 speaks with great admiration of the ' political wisdom ' con- 
 tained in your book. To-day I had a visit from my youngest 
 brother, and I was struck with the curious coincidence of his 
 views about Rome with yours, although he has not seen your 
 book. He formerly lived in Rome long enough thoroughly to 
 understand it, and he maintains that it is in every way dis- 
 qualified from being the political or social capital of a large 
 country. I cannot give you all the reasons he assigned for 
 this opinion, but I am quite sure you would admit the justice 
 of them. He is convinced that by any such attempt the Rome 
 which is, and ought to be, the school, museum, and study 
 
38o THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 of Europe, would be destroyed, while the life and activity of a 
 capital could never be imparted to it. Rome as a free city, the 
 Pope with lay Ministers, and the dependent cities with good 
 municipal institutions — such is his theory. You see it is not 
 far from your own. I dare hardly talk to you about America. 
 You know on how many subjects Mr. Austin and you agreed ; 
 but on that his opinions differed widely from yours. He had 
 long watched the gradual growth of fraud, lawlessness, and 
 brutality in that country, and he frequently predicted some 
 outrageous manifestation of depraved political morality. His 
 predictions are fulfilled. 
 
 "Now, dear, dear friends, I can conclude with good news. 
 We have had a second bulletin from my dear daughter. She 
 is better ; the spitting of blood has quite ceased. ' C'est la la 
 chose importante,' says De Mussy. She is cheerful, though 
 longing for home. God be praised ! You, dear friends, will all 
 say Amen. 
 
 " Your most affectionate, 
 
 "S. Austin." 
 
CHAPTER XXXIX. 
 
 SARAH AUSTIN {continued). 
 
 Mr. Benthani and his Friends — Mr. Austin's relation to Mr. Bentham — "Dis- 
 cours " on Mr. Hallam, by M. Mignet — Letter from Mrs. Austin to Dr. 
 Whewell on her own Work and M. Mignet — Modesty of Mr. Hallam. 
 
 Sarah Austin to M. Gtitzot. 
 
 "December i8, 1861. 
 " Dear Monsieur Guizot, — I have only thanks to give you 
 for your anxiety to understand perfectly what were my husband's 
 relations to Mr. Bentham, and his sentiments with regard to 
 the opinions of which that eminent man was the author or 
 the advocate. I must divide Mr. Bentham's life, / know it, 
 into two parts. When we married, my husband had just been 
 introduced to him, and was an enthusiastic admirer, almost a 
 worshipper, of him, in consequence of those great works which 
 remain, and will remain, monuments of his original genius and 
 acute mind — the ' Fragment on Government,' the ' Defence of 
 Usury,' and the ' Principle of Morals and Legislation,' more 
 especially. Concerning these, his opinion never altered. 
 As a politician, my husband, though reared in ultra-Liberal 
 opinions, early dissented from those held by Mr. Bentham, 
 which were founded on his extreme ignorance of the lower 
 classes, and his ardent, enthusiastic zeal for their welfare. At 
 the time we first knew Mr. Bentham, he lived secluded, and his 
 friends were few, but they were men of great eminence and 
 honour. Sir Samuel Romilly, Dumont, Brougham, Mill, and 
 Bickersteth (the late Lord Langdale) were the most considerable 
 
 381 
 
382 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 of them. All had been attracted to him by their admiration 
 for his learning, genius, and courage as a Law Reformer^ and 
 by their veneration for his ardent philanthropy and his entire 
 devotion to the cause he had espoused. Unfortunately, how- 
 ever, as he advanced in age, he became more and more im- 
 patient of contradiction, and he gradually surrounded himself 
 with very inferior men, who flattered his weakness and assented 
 to everything he said. You may imagine that my husband was 
 ill qualified to act this part : he had always expressed to Mr. 
 Bentham his respectful dissent from some of his opinions ; and 
 this gradually ended in Mr. Austin seeing less and less of him. 
 This state of things was very painful to us both, for we were 
 extremely attached to the dear old man. In spite of great pecu- 
 liarities and some weaknesses, he was not only venerable but 
 lovable. You ask me if Mr. Austin regarded himself as one of 
 Mr. Bentham's '■disciples! In politics and philosophy, certainly 
 not, though in both he found much to admire in his writings ; 
 but it was as a Jurist, or rather as the most original and inven- 
 tive of all writers on Law, that he looked up to him with pro- 
 found veneration. In this light he is now regarded by all the 
 leading Law Reformers of England ; or rather, I should say, 
 that all the law reforms that have been carried out of late years 
 were suggested by him, and that hundreds of those who are 
 ignorant of his writings and unconscious of the debt they owe 
 him, are, in fact, acting upon the principles he laid down. 
 Lord Brougham (to whom Mr. Bentham, under the bad influ- 
 ences I have alluded to, behaved very ill), much to his honour, 
 bore testimony in the House of Lords to the enormous obliga- 
 tions which the country and the cause of Law Reform owed to 
 Mr. Bentham. But the low Radicals who gathered about Mr. 
 Bentham in the last years of his life, and who used his munifi- 
 cent zeal for what he thought useful for their own purposes, 
 succeeded (as you may suppose) in alienating him from his best 
 and worthiest friends. You know pretty nearly what were the 
 opinions of the men I have named as Mr. Bentham's earlier 
 friends. Without being precisely Radicals, they were all some- 
 thing beyond Whigs ; but they passed, at the time of the 
 violent contests about Parliamentary reform, under the general 
 denomination of Radicals, and acted with such men as Grote, 
 
SARAH AUSTIM. 383 
 
 BuUer, Molesworth, and others, who certainly entertained the 
 most democratic opinions. All this is utterly changed since 
 the passing of the Reform Bill. No such party can be said to 
 exist. With the exception of Mr. Grote, who is inaccessible to 
 any new idea, I hardly think that one remains. The lessons 
 given to us by France and America have not been thrown away, 
 and Radicalism is now sunk into the ranks to which it properly 
 belongs. Mr. Bentham's fundamental error was the belief that 
 because the people can have no ' sinister interests ' hostile to 
 good government they would therefore always be in favour of 
 good government. My husband used vainly to represent to 
 him that the ignorance and wrong -headedness of the people 
 were fully as dangerous to good government as the ' sinister 
 interests ' of the governing classes. Upon this point they were 
 always at issue. I must add that the progress of my husband's 
 mind was in an opposite direction to that of his venerable friend ; 
 but also the circumstances under which they lived respectively 
 tended to this result. 
 
 " Farewell, and believe me always, 
 
 " Your faithfully attached 
 
 "S. Austin." 
 
 Sarah Austin to M. Gutzot. 
 
 '■''Jan. 3, 1862. 
 " Dear Monsieur Guizot, — On reflection, it seems to me 
 that I have misled you about my husband's relations to Ben- 
 thamism. I said that he dissented from Mr. Bentham's /Az7o- 
 sophy. Now from parts, he did. But as his exposition of the 
 doctrine of utility is by many regarded as his master-work, it 
 would be wrong to say that he differed wholly from Bentham's 
 philosophy, of which that must be regarded as a main feature. 
 Not, as he said, that Mr. Bentham invented a doctrine which 
 is necessarily as old as the idea of the common weal of man- 
 kind, but that it had never been distinctly enounced. He 
 thought that Mr. Bentham had not been fortunate in his way 
 of enouncing it, and had given occasion for much misunder- 
 standing and antipathy, which had been greatly increased by 
 the still more narrow and incomplete statements of some of 
 
384 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 Mr. Bentham's disciples ; their notions of what constitutes 
 ' the greatest good ' of mankind being of a kind to exclude 
 some things which are, in fact, the highest good of all. This 
 arose, not from any defect in the doctrine, but from want of 
 imagination, want of sensibility, want of largeness of mind in 
 those who so misapplied or so narrowed it. 
 
 " It is almost needless to say this, since Mr. Austin's whole 
 structure of jurisprudence is based upon the only sure test to 
 which the goodness or badness of laws can be brought. But I 
 thought I ought to explain my too general assertion. 
 
 " I send you, dearest sir and friend, my sincerest good 
 wishes ; they are from the bottom of a true but heavy heart. 
 Never did a sad year close so sadly, nor a new one begin so 
 gloomily. The woe of our Queen is a woe to each and all of 
 us ; and besides that we feel stunned by our loss, and have a 
 dim and dark presentiment that we have yet to learn what our 
 loss is. Sir G. C. Lewis (no indulgent judge) says, ' He is the 
 only man I ever saw who was never wrong.' The Queen's 
 grief seems quiet, natural, profound. ' Oh that I were 
 seventy ! ' was one of her exclamations. But you will hear 
 more of these things from Mrs. Clark. Lady Canning is a 
 grievous loss. She had the rarest qualities. When the 
 physicians announced to Lord Canning that she was sinking 
 fast, he fell flat down in such a swoon that for a time they 
 thought him dead. She was like a sister to Alexander (they 
 were related), and he feels it much. 
 
 " I h^ve delayed writing to you till the Cape mail came in. 
 To-day my letter is come ; and it does not tranquillise my 
 anxious heart. She is not worse, the blood spitting has not 
 returned, but she writes in a depressed tone, and seems to feel 
 her absence and privations very painfully. Her longing for 
 home is almost an illness. God help us through this miserable 
 time ! Now I have just learned that my dear, true, valued 
 friend. Dr. Hawtrey, is worse than dying : his mind is failing 
 — that noble, cultivated mind ! 
 
 " God bless you and yours, dear sir, prays 
 
 " Your ever affectionate and grateful 
 ^ "S.Austin."- 
 
SARAH AUSTIN. 385 
 
 Sarah Austin to Barth'elemy St. Hilaire. 
 [Translation.] 
 
 " WEYBRIDGE,y««. 1862. 
 
 " My dear Friend, — M. Migiiet has treated me very ill ; 
 pray tell him so from me. He allows me to see in The Times 
 a few extracts of his fine speech on my dear Mr. Hallam, and 
 never even tells me that it has been pronounced. I ask you, 
 what in France could interest me more ? 
 
 " I hope he has sent a copy to the daughter of Hallam, the 
 only representative left of that distinguished family. She 
 wished me to write a memoir of her father. I refused, feeling 
 incapable of doing him justice, and always said, ' Wait for M. 
 Mignet! I see by the extracts that I was right, and that she 
 will be satisfied. I should like to translate it, and publish it as 
 a pamphlet, or if I have not the time, have it translated and 
 correct the proofs. Pray, my dear friend, send me over a copy 
 of the ' Discours,' which must be a chef-cfceuvre. M. Mignet's 
 portraits are as if chiselled by Benvenuto Cellini. 
 
 " We are delivered from the terrible fear of war (which 
 idiots pretended we desired). I am glad, but one cannot be 
 sure of the future yet. A German who returned from America 
 the other day, speaks of the destruction of Charlestown as a 
 crime. He had been there. A long, fiat and dangerous coast, 
 of which Charlestown was the only safe harbour. It is terrible ! 
 
 " As I was closing my letter I received news of the death of 
 M. de Remusat. Another old friend gone. Nothing -but 
 sadness surrounds me now. 
 
 " Your aifectionate friend, 
 
 "S. A." 
 
 Sarah Austin to Rev. Dr. W. Whewell. 
 
 "Weybridge,_/«?z. 20, 1862. 
 " Your letter, dear Master, is an event in my solitary and 
 monotonous life. I say monotonous in its simple and literal 
 sense, and not as a complaint or a reproach — for it is my 
 choice. I live in and for my work. I rise in the morning 
 full of the thought of the labour before me, and I go to bed 
 
 36 
 
386 THREE GENERA TIOMS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 full of what has occupied my day. So, dear Master, if you 
 want a colloquy on the origin of the offices of PrcBtor urbanus 
 and PrcBtor peregrinus, and of their functions, you may come 
 to me. You will not smile at my presumption. I know you 
 respect my motives too much. I had a very able young lawyer 
 here last Sunday, and after much study of what I had been 
 doing, he said : ' Don't flatter yourself that anybody will ever 
 guess a hundredth part of your difficulties or your labour.' I 
 thought this the highest and most welcome praise, and only 
 hope it may prove true. 
 
 " Your letter, as I said, was an event ; it awoke in me what 
 I thought almost dead — a strong desire for that sort of converse 
 which was once my daily bread, and which I used to enjoy so 
 much with you and a few other teachers of arts, learning, and 
 wisdom. Many of those oracles are silent, and my power of 
 enjoyment is so diminished that I thought society was over for 
 me. But when I read your letter, something within me cried 
 out at every moment a loud and applauding ' Amen,' and I 
 longed to see you, and to tell you all the satisfaction it gave 
 me. 
 
 " I cannot account for St. Hilaire's remissness about Mignet. 
 Was Mignet in Paris ? If you go again, let me have the 
 honour and pleasure of making you acquainted with the most 
 engaging of Frenchmen. You see what he has been doing for 
 the memory of our dear Mr. Hallam. Mrs. Cator wrote to me, 
 long ago, to ask me to write a memoir of her father — a request 
 which touched and flattered me more than I can express, but 
 with which I could not think myself justified in complying. 
 It was quite above my hand. What I did was to write to 
 Mignet all that I knew, all that I felt and thought about that 
 noble, excellent, and dear friend, whose great acquirements 
 were even surpassed by his character. How beautifully has 
 he blended these few and slight materials with others of 
 greater value ! 
 
 "I think precisely as you do about the American quarrel. 
 But what is to be expected from a popular Press ? It may 
 be a little less ruffianlike in a country where a cultivated class 
 exists, but it can never do anything but express and excite 
 vulgar passions and stupid ignorance. The French would 
 
S ARAB A US TIN. 387 
 
 have it we were partisans of the South. I said, cannot you 
 imagine that one may hate two hateful things ? I have not 
 the least doubt you are right about the blacks. Look at 
 Lincoln's proposal of transporting them en masse ! I re- 
 member years ago you said (at Trinity Lodge) you had ob- 
 served the slavery party always gained by every contest. 
 
 " I shall not talk of my grief at our immense loss and at the 
 poor Queen's affliction. Her prosperity was something ideal, 
 and so is her calamity. 
 
 " Remember me most kindly to Lady Affleck, who is so 
 good as to take me upon trusty and believe me, as you know 
 me, 
 
 " Your very affectionate friend, 
 
 " S. Austin. 
 
 " Will you look at a translation of the Odyssey into Spen- 
 serian stanzas by a young man I am much interested in, Philip 
 Stanhope Worsley ? " 
 
 Sarah Austin to Barth'elemy St. Hilatre. 
 
 [Translation.] 
 
 "y««. 21, 1862. 
 
 " Dear Friend, — I have so many reasons for writing as little 
 as possible (among others my arm), that they must be strong 
 ones to make me send you another letter at so short an 
 interval. 
 
 " Imprimis., the ' Moniteur Universel ' has just arrived, sent, 
 T suppose, by M. Mignet. The eloge is beautiful, worthy of 
 him and of Mr. Hallam. I only regret two omissions : 
 Primum, that he has not mentioned the only surviving child, 
 who was her father's sole support and consolation after the 
 death of Henry, of whom M. Mignet speaks in so touching 
 a way. Julia never left her father, as even after her marriage 
 Mr. Hallam lived with her and her husband. When a son 
 was born to her, she wrote to me, ' At length there is a male 
 descendant of my father.' The little boy is alive : may he 
 inherit his grandfather's virtues ! 
 
 " Secundo, I should have wished M. Mignet to have men- 
 
388 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 tioned the quality which always impressed me as so remarkable 
 in Mr. Hallam — his extreme modesty, I had almost said 
 humility. I think I wrote this to M. Mignet. There was no 
 aflfectation about it — but it was extraordinary. I remember 
 one day he told nie how gracious the Queen and her husband 
 had been to him. He spoke of it with a kind of surprise, 
 mingled with pleasure — as an unexpected and uncalled-for 
 honour. I replied that I thought it quite natural in two 
 persons so capable of appreciating every sort of merit. He 
 would not admit this, putting it all down to their kindness. 
 Many other examples could I tell, but I should have wished 
 this one to be known, as not only characteristic of Mr. Hallam, 
 but of the Prince we are now mourning for, and of Her who 
 was worthy to be his wife. 
 
 "Alexander goes to Ireland to-morrow, and Maurice goes 
 back to Eton. Eton, which I loved so much, now contains 
 very sad memories of my good old friend. What a year of 
 mourning and grief! Lord Lansdowne says that during his 
 long life of eighty- two years he has never experienced any- 
 thing like it. Miss Courtenay writes to me from Cannes that 
 Cousin talked the other day without stopping for four hours. 
 Good-bye, my very dear friend. 
 
 "Yours from my heart, 
 
 "S. A." 
 
CHAPTER XL. 
 SARAH AUSTIN {continued). 
 
 Good News from the Cape— Dr. Milman, Dean of St. Paul's, to Mrs Austin 
 on the Inscription on Mr. Austin's Tomb — Illness of Dr. Hawtrey — 
 Climate of the Cape — The Exhibition — The Queen — Mrs. Austin to Miss 
 Senior on Reasonable Dress for Hot Weather— Lord Brougham's Speech 
 — M. B. St. Hilaire on M. Guizot's " Memoirs." 
 
 Sarah Austin to M. Guizot. 
 
 "Weybridge, Feb. 24, 1862. 
 " I WILL not defer sending you the good news for a single day 
 to my kind and dear, honoured friend. On Saturday came 
 another cheering letter from my dear child, and yesterday I drove 
 to Esher and read her long and most interesting letter to her 
 husband. I think the tone of her letters even more rassuran 
 than her account of her physical state. But she still coughs, 
 has irritation in the throat, and some expectoration. All this 
 she tells us, that we may not expect too much. So my happi- 
 ness and tranquillity still hang in the balance. Ah, dear 
 Monsieur Guizot, well may you say we hold our blessings by a 
 frail tenure ! I wish a fairy could take up Pauline and set her 
 down for a few weeks at Caledon. Lucie says she is convinced 
 thatK the climate of Paradise ; and indeed I never heard of any 
 earthly climate like it. All the gorgeous glories of an African 
 sun, yet fresh evenings and nights and mornings ; coups de 
 soleil unknown ; no oppressive langour, such as poor Janet has 
 suffered from at Alexandria ; vegetable, animal, human life 
 developed in the most beautiful forms (hideous ones also). This 
 
 389 
 
390 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 happy region seems to combine the regions of north and south. 
 The most interesting parts of her letters are the descriptions of 
 the various races, their manners, and habits, and characters. You 
 will not wonder to hear that there is a regularly descending scale 
 of insolence and oppression, from the Englishman, who looks 
 down upon all. The Dutch hate the Malays and despise the 
 ' Totties ' (Hottentots). The Malays, clean, sober, and adroit, 
 scorn the blacks ; and lastly the niggers (CafFre or Hottentot) 
 treat the Bosje men as beasts. I need not add that Lucie 
 constituted herself the protector of a poor old creature of this 
 miserable race, who looked at her with wondering and 
 imploring eyes. One thing struck me as pretty. The blacks 
 have settled it that ' Missis must be related to the Queen, 
 'cause she speak nice to everybody.' What a charming view 
 of royalty ! 
 
 " God bless you, dear sir and friend, 
 
 " S. Austin." 
 
 Dr. Milman] Dean of St. PauPs., to Sarah Austin. 
 
 ^'^ March lo, 1862. 
 
 " My dear Mrs. Austin, — Let me first express my sincere 
 admiration of the inscription over the remains of your excellent 
 husband. It is a most successful attempt in the most difficult 
 style of composition. Simple yet full, expressing in few 
 emphatic, well-chosen words (and this is the somewhat un- 
 accountable privilege of Latin over modern languages), all that 
 ought to be expressed, suggestive but not vague, strong but 
 neither forced nor laboured. It becomes the man, whose 
 character will live upon his gravestone as it lives in the 
 memories of those who had the happiness and honour of 
 knowing him intimately. 
 
 " And now for the other sad subject of our common sorrow. 
 With me it is a friendship of boyhood, kept up with more or 
 less hearty intercourse since our Eton days, with very many 
 common objects of interest. Little did I think, when I 
 accepted the offer of his Mapledurham home in the summer, 
 and had the enjoyment of his society every other Sunday, that 
 we were not to meet again in this world. ' I begin sadly to feel 
 
Sarah AUSTIN. 39 1 
 
 the inevitable lot of prolonged life ; my dearest friends are 
 dropping around me with frightful frequency. I cannot say 
 that I do not make new and younger friends ; but they are 
 not the old. I really think the Provost (of Eton) almost the 
 last whom I knew well, to the end of whose tether in reading, 
 especially in reading works of imaginative scholarship, and 
 what are called 'Les Belles Lettres,' in all languages, I do 
 not come ; men of the Hallam and Macaulay type. And this 
 dreary close, worse than removal ! Of all pathetic lines, none 
 move me so much, move me to tears than old Johnson's^- 
 
 "From Marlborough's eyes," &c., 
 " And Swift expires," &c. 
 
 " And it is a case iii which friendship must fold its hands 
 and be content to do nothing. My dear Mrs. Austin, now 
 that our ranks are so sadly thinned, we should draw closer to 
 each other ; we must love each other more as we feel that 
 we must soon part. With Mrs. Milman's aifectionate re- 
 membrances, 
 
 " Your most sincere friend, 
 
 " H. W. MiLMAN." 
 
 Sarah Austin to M. Guizot. 
 
 " Weybridge, May 3, 1862. 
 " In the first place, let me tell my good news to the dear 
 kind friends who will share in the joy it gives me. Yesterday 
 I received the last letter to be written from the Cape by my 
 beloved daughter. By this time she is on the sea, and hopes 
 to be in England in the middle or end of June. Her letter is 
 charming ; radiant (I could almost call it) with satisfaction at 
 the -immense effort she made, thankfulness for the mercy 
 which has blessed it, hope and joy at the thought of seeing all 
 her dear ones again, and last but not least, with the physical 
 sense of enjoyment in existence to which she had been so long 
 a stranger. No one, she says, who has not passed two years in 
 incessant pain, and languor, and depression, can tell what it was 
 to stand on the mountain top, and inhale the exquisite air, and 
 look around and feel once more the springs of life within. 
 
392 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 Her letters are most interesting, full of acute observation, and 
 original, courageous reflections on all around her. I hope she 
 will print, at least, some part of them. They will have great 
 value for all people who want to find a really perfect climate — 
 heat combined with the greatest freshness and salubrity — ' the 
 climate of Paradise,' as she says. 
 
 " Far different, I fear, is that of Egypt, judging from poor 
 little Janet's pale face. She says the summer is quite intoler- 
 able. As, however, I am in the way (I believe) to be a great- 
 grandmother, I am less dissatisfied with her looks than I 
 should otherwise be. I begin to feel that it is time for me to 
 leave a world where three generations are pressing on behind 
 me; but God's will be done in this and in all things ! 
 
 " My work advances. As the second volume would not 
 conveniently contain all the ' Lectures,' I am going on with 
 the third, which will consist of about lOO pages of ' Lectures,' 
 of the Tables, some papers on Codification, &c. Murray says it 
 would be utterly useless to publish anything now. This 
 detestable Exhibition overlays everything. To me the whole 
 appears a melancholy mockery ; and if I had been present, I 
 should have seen but two figures — the ' Silent Father of our 
 Kings to come ' in his grave, and the sorrowing, forlorn Queen 
 in her ' weeds of woe.' Then the state of the world. Instead 
 of the hopeful and peaceful spirit of '51, in one country distress, 
 in another the most savage of wars ; in all, alarm and distrust. 
 I was in London lately, and called on Miss Stanley. She had 
 spent two hours with the Queen, whose conduct about Dr. 
 Stanley was most considerate and touching. What struck 
 Miss Stanley most was her simplicity and her profound 
 humility. Her grief was the simple woman's grief ; and she 
 spoke of herself as owing everything to him. ' He taught me 
 everything, he guided me,' and so on. She never adverted to 
 her own position. The truth is, as one of her ministers said, 
 he was our King, and she his Consort. Women who have no 
 claims strive for power, and she was content to give her vast 
 power to him ; while he, on the other hand, effaced himself 
 that she might appear supreme. I think this is one of the 
 most beautiful triumphs of love. But oh ! the grief, the loss, 
 the void. 
 
SARAH AUSTIN. 393 
 
 " And now I must have done. So, with kindest love to all, 
 farewell, dearest sir. 
 
 " Yours, 
 
 " S'. A." 
 
 Sarah Austin to Minnie Senior {now Mrs. Simpson). 
 
 " Weybridge,^^'"^) 1862. 
 
 " Dearest Minnie, — I am just going to write to Mrs. Senior 
 to say that, albeit packed, or nearly so, and ready to start, the 
 heat of this day terrifies me, and I feel as if I ought rather to 
 make my will than attempt a visit. I really dare not answer 
 for myself ; I have had such giddiness from heat that I might 
 fall down or do some strange thing. It is most provoking. I 
 wish so much to see you all, and I have nothing else in the 
 world to prevent my going but the weather. One diflSculty is 
 the necessity of being dressed with decency. The costume 
 wish to adopt is that in which I found the Princess Villafranca — a 
 shift (of the simplest and most primitive cut), a large black lace 
 shawl, a pair of silk slippers (feet bare), and a huge fan. (N.B. 
 She was fatter than I am.) This I call a reasonable dress for 
 this weather ; but I fear your mother's drawing-room is not 
 the place for it. Even the most correct English ladies in Malta 
 contented themselves with a shift and a white peignoir. At 
 home, I make a very near approximation to this ; but, as Lady 
 W.Russell said, the English conclude if your dress is loose, that 
 your morals are so. In that case I am thoroughly dissolute, 
 but I will reform at Kensington. 
 
 " The more hyperborean the room the better. If you have 
 an icehouse, put me in that. Seriously, I could by no means 
 sleepy even were I to /z'e, in a south room, and I don't the 
 least mind the additional stairs ; that difficulty can be sur- 
 mounted by prudence and patience. This arrangement has 
 the additional advantage that your kind father is not dislodged, 
 which I know he was on my account before. Anything that 
 makes me feel less of a bore and a burden is a great comfort. 
 To conclude, I wish, hope, intend to be with you to-morrow 
 evening. If I do not arrive by half-past ten, pray conclude 
 
394 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 that I cannot, and in that case I shall continue to have the 
 same hopes and intentions for the following day. If that 
 degree of uncertainty puts you to any inconvenience, pray, 
 dear child, say so. Don't let me be a torment, if you love 
 me, as I hope you do ; for I am always with a great deal of 
 affection. 
 
 "Yours, 
 
 " S. Austin." 
 
 Sarah Austin to BartMlemy St. Hilaire. 
 
 ^^'WRY^RlTiG'E,June i"], 1862. 
 
 "Dear Friend, — It seems I only write to make you a 
 partner of my fears and sorrows. Forgive me. Lucie has 
 written from Cape Town that homeward-bound ships are rare, 
 and she was hesitating between a slow sailer and a screw steamer 
 the Jason^ which is due in a few days. If she comes by the 
 Campcrdown (the sailing vessel), she will not be here until the 
 middle of July. I have been anxiously expecting an answer 
 from Madame de Peyronnet, to tell me when she thinks of 
 coming. 
 
 "What do they say in France about the last volume of 
 M. Guizot's book ? Here, I am sorry to hear it blamed on all 
 sides. They say that he tells many things which had better have 
 been left unsaid. Did you see Lord Brougham's speech in the 
 Evening Mail? If you did, you will have pitied me for being 
 thus dragged before the public. His praise is bestowed with 
 the best intentions ; but nothing is less agreeable to me. I am 
 working hard. I have found sketches and fragments which 
 make me profoundly sad. But I must try and render them 
 useful to the ungrateful world, who did not know how to 
 appreciate him. That is the lot of the best and most remark- 
 able men. 
 
 " And you, most excellent friend, when are you coming ? 
 You know I shall not budge so long as my Lucie is at Esher. 
 In October she intends to go with Janet to Egypt for the 
 winter. 
 
SARAH A USTIN. 395 
 
 " Remember me to M. Cousin and to Madame de Circourt. 
 I have heard from Dozon, who is bored to death at Bucharest, 
 and proposes to throw up his post and come to Weybridge to 
 give French lessons ! You may imagine my answer. 
 
 " Ever your affectionate 
 
 "S. A." 
 
CHAPTER XLI. 
 
 SARAH AUSTIN {continued). 
 
 Lady Duff Gordon goes to Egypt — Illness of Mr. Ross — Birth of a Great- 
 Grandson — American policy of England according to M. P. Paradol — 
 Mrs. Austin's Illness— Letter to Mrs. Grote on " Domestic morals " — 
 "Province of Jurisprudence " used as an Examination Book at Oxford 
 and Cambridge. 
 
 Sarah Austin to Barthelemy St. Hilaire. 
 
 [Translation.] 
 
 " Weybridge, August 12, 1862. 
 " Dear and true Friend, — An hour since, I heard the 
 sentence which condemns me to another year's separation 
 from my dear Lucie ! Her doctors are much pleased with the 
 results of her sea-voyage, but decided that she must leave 
 England again. When Dr. Walsh and De Mussy advised her 
 to go at once to Eaux Bonnes and thence to Cairo, Lucie 
 asked them whether this kind of life was to continue ; they 
 declared that if she followed their orders there was every hope 
 that her health might be re-established in two years. To this 
 everything must give way, and I shall see her depart with quite 
 different feelings from those of last year. But, my friend, for 
 me, at my age, a year is long ; and when I received 
 Alexander's letter announcing the decision, I thought I should 
 die. 
 
 396 
 
SARAH AUSTIN. 397 
 
 " With what pleasure I had looked forward to your visit, to 
 your seeing Lucie, Janet, Alexander, and Ross ! That pleasing 
 picture has vanished. But you will come, will you not, to 
 console me ? I feel that all courage is ebbing from me. For- 
 give me, my poor friend, for making you participate in all my 
 sorrows. 
 
 " Yours from my heart, 
 
 " S. A." 
 
 Sarah Austin to BartMlemy St. Hilaire. 
 [Translation.] 
 
 "Weybridge, August 2*], 1862. 
 
 " I cannot even keep you informed, my dear friend, of all our 
 misfortunes ! I begin to say, ' My soul is weary of life,' and to 
 long for eternal repose. Hardly recovered from the agitation 
 of my daughter's return and the grief of her departure, I was 
 expecting Janet's confinement with intense anxiety, when her 
 husband falls desperately ill ! The day after Lucie's departure, 
 typhoid fever declared itself. Imagine, I beg of you, Janet, 
 within a few days of her confinement, standing by her husband's 
 bed, doing everything for him ! Maurice has been sent away, 
 and little Rainie also. Of all that happy group, none are left 
 save the poor old grandmother ; and Janet absolutely forbids 
 my remaining at Esher, declaring it would only add to her 
 anxieties. I have but one consolation, Janet is all I could wish. 
 This young woman, apparently so giddy, seemingly caring for 
 no one, only thinking of her own amusement, shows a devotion 
 and a courage which astonishes every one. Never a word of 
 complaint, never an allusion to her own condition. 
 
 " If my friends ask about me, tell them they had better forget 
 a person who can only talk of sorrow and sadness. This is not 
 addressed to you, dear friend ; I do not even ask your pardon 
 for the grief I know I shall cause you. 
 
 " Your affectionate 
 
 "S. A." 
 
398 THREE GENERA TIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 Sarah Austin to Barthelemy St. Hilaire. 
 
 [Translation.] 
 
 " Weybridge, September 9, 1862. 
 " Dear Friend, — At last I have good news to send you ! 
 Janet has a son ; Ross is so much better that he talks of driving 
 over to see me. God be thanked ! But this is not all ; my 
 daughter is slightly better, and she is, of course, nearest to my 
 heart. Tell my good Cousin that a great-gratidmother sends 
 him many greetings, I will not say embraces him, for he will 
 think my rank so dreadful that he would be shocked. As to 
 you, young or old, I send you my tenderest affection. 
 
 "S. A." 
 
 Sarah Austin to Barthelemy St. Hilaire. 
 [Translation.] 
 
 "Weybridge, November 27, 1862. 
 
 " Dear Friend, — I cannot give you a better proof of my 
 friendship than in writing to-day, for I feel inclined to work, 
 and I need not tell you how precious every moment is to me. 
 But I have so much to say, and it seems to me six months since 
 you left. 
 
 " Our Oxford friends were much pleased by our visit. I am 
 glad to have been the means of bringing together people made 
 to understand, help, and love one another. I have a letter from 
 Dr. Stanley, thanking me for the pleasure I had procured them, 
 and full of your praises. 
 
 " I must draw your attention to a sentence of M. P. Paradol's 
 in the paper, which will, I fear, have serious consequences if it 
 is accepted as the expression of a party. We are only too ac- 
 customed to hear all we do misrepresented in France, to be 
 astonished at anything. But what does astonish me, is to find 
 M. Paradol's opinion more foolish than ill-natured. What ! 
 England, shop-keeping, manufacturing England, not only de- 
 sires the destruction of her best market, but has a direct interest 
 in aiding in that ruin ! Every one knows that our commerce 
 
SA RAH AUS TIN. 399 
 
 with America was, before the war, larger than with all Europe 
 put together, and what the interruption of that commerce costs 
 us. Now we are supposed to desire its entire destruction, and 
 this is the key of our American policy ! Such silly paradoxes 
 can only be inspired by the bad passions which blind men's 
 understandings. Unfortunately, in France, the ignorance of 
 political economy is as great as the strength of political passion. 
 No one would dare to address such nonsense to a public who 
 knew the A B C of the science. The opinions of M. P. Paradol 
 would be indifferent to me ; only I fear that, in England, they 
 will pass as those of a party. Hence my taking it up so strongly. 
 Show this to M. de Lagardie. It would be worthy of him to 
 expose so unfortunate an error. 
 
 " I am working — my work progresses — and I am in better 
 spirits, for I meet with great encouragement. On Saturday I 
 expect a lawyer I have never seen, who wrote to my friend the 
 Lord Chief Justice, begging him to induce me to publish ' the 
 lightest indication ' left by my husband on criminal law. I 
 invited him to come and pass a day or two here, and to examine 
 the MSS. He accepted with evident pleasure. I must leave 
 you to go to Esher ; I have not told you that soon I shall be 
 entirely abandoned. Alexander is leaving Esher, and goes to 
 stay with his friends, the Tom Taylors, at Clapham, for a year. 
 Alas ! Lucie must be at Cairo by this time ; the last news were 
 better. 
 
 " Yours, dear friend, from my heart, 
 
 " S. A." 
 
 Sarah Austin to Harriet Grote. 
 
 "Weybridge, February 27, 1863. 
 " Dearest Cummer, — In the first place, come what may of 
 movements (which seem always difficult enough), it's a clear 
 gain to hear from you — even grievances, with which one may 
 fairly presume one's friend's life to be thickly sown. I can't 
 help wishing you would write a treatise — a book, on the present 
 taste of domestic morals. Contrasting the immense efforts and 
 pretensions of these our days as to the training of the classes out 
 
400 THREE GENERA TIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 of which servants are to come with the quality of the article 
 produced, there never was a more deplorable fiasco. One cause 
 I believe to be the general substitution of (so-called) religion for 
 morality in the schools. To be sure, the fright of the country 
 at the notion of ' secular teaching ' is, when the results of their 
 religious teaching are contemplated (in all our households), 
 profoundly ludicrous. 
 
 " But what strikes me even more is the way in which every 
 kind of immorality in servants is regarded by masters and 
 mistresses. They speak of being robbed and cheated as matters 
 of course, and, as you say, they give false descriptions of those 
 who leave them. A young barrister, who has been here several 
 times about my work, told me he had had to conduct an in- 
 vestigation into a long-practised system of robbery at his club 
 which had resulted in the dismissal of six servants. He had to 
 consult a detective from Scotland Yard, and had much talk with 
 him. This man treated as quite visionary the notion of an 
 honest servant : 'Lord, sir, these things are going on in every 
 private house in London ! ' This seems to me very melancholy, 
 yet I hear people treat it as a joke. 
 
 " You may well say these things poison life. I have just 
 heard from two young wives and mothers, happy in all other 
 respects, each compelled to send away all three maids^ — each 
 bewildered and worn with the torment. 
 
 " You will guess my sorrow at the loss of the dear old friend 
 who has left another chasm in my life.' I think, dearest 
 Cummer, my going to London is improbable. I am in the 
 last sheets of my book, and I can work nowhere so well as 
 here. I shall not stir till it is quite done, and then it does not 
 signify what becomes of me. I may die, the house may be 
 burned, and the MSS. and I in it ; my dear husband's labours 
 and thoughts are safe. Do you see, dear Cummer, that Cam- 
 bridge too has adopted his book as an examination book ? 
 Every day I receive some new encouragement. 
 
 " In a few days you will have a copy of a little brochure, the 
 object and nature of which you will see. It will be followed in 
 a week or two by the two volumes. If you will have me then 
 
 ' Marquess of Lansdowne. Died 1863. 
 
SARAH A USTIl^. 40t 
 
 at Barrow Green I will come. So good-night, dearest Cummer, 
 for I am tired, having driven to Hatchford. 
 
 " Your most affectionate 
 
 "S. Austin." 
 
 Sarah Austin to M. Gnizot. 
 
 " Weybridge, March 2, 1863. 
 
 " Dear Monsieur Guizot, — I cannot any longer defer writing 
 to you. I must say — lest you should doubt it — that my heart 
 is not changed or chilled towards you and yours. And when I 
 have said that, I feel as if I had nothing more to say. Till now, 
 I have lived for and in my work ; but now it will last but a few 
 days longer, and I feel as if my life were done. I have indeed 
 the constant pain of anxiety (which is a kind of life), but it has 
 nearly worn me out. We have not heard from my dear Lucie 
 since her letter of loth December, nor can we, quite yet. For 
 this Ross prepared us, or at least forewarned \x's,^prepared one 
 can never be for such lingering tortures. 
 
 " Mr. Senior, who goes to Paris in a few days, will, I trust, 
 be the bearer of a little extract from my book, which I have 
 reprinted as a pamphlet, for reasons you will see. I think it 
 will please you. I felt as if I ought to let my husband speak to 
 the class of men he thought so important to the state, and who 
 might not see his book. Yet I must tell you that his book is 
 daily rising into fame and authority to a degree which I never 
 hoped to live to witness, and which he would never have be- 
 lieved. It is become an examination book at both Oxford and 
 Cambridge, and I am assured by barristers that there is a perfect 
 enthusiasm about it among young lawyers — men among whom 
 it was unknown till since I published the second edition. So I 
 have lived for something. 
 
 " You will receive a copy of the second and third volumes as 
 soon as they are out. 
 
 " Your ever affectionate 
 
 " S. Austin." 
 
 27 
 
CHAPTER XLII. 
 
 SARAH AUSTIN {continued). 
 
 Marriage of H.R.H. the Prince of Wales — Death of Sir G. C. Lewis — Con- 
 dolences from M. Guizot — Mr. Bright at Woburn Abbey — O'Connell and 
 Repeal — Mrs. Austin to Mr. Gladstone on Italian Unity and Liberty in 
 France — The German Part of France. 
 
 Sarah Austin to Barthelemy St. Hilaire. 
 
 [Translation.] 
 
 " Weybridge, March 5, 1863. 
 " Dear Friend, — Mr. Senior will tell you about me — no 
 good ; I was very ill and troublesome in his house. I am 
 better now. Sir G. C. Lewis writes to me that nothing is 
 thought of but the Prince of Wales's marriage. The Queen 
 has contrived to make her children so popular that ' Friends of 
 the People,' &c., have no chance. You had formerly the phrase, 
 ' Les Enfans de France,' but we have now the sentiment. They 
 are our children, and we share all their joys and sorrows. What 
 do they say in France about us ? I suppose they think us 
 mad ? Nothing could be more striking than the warm affection, 
 mixed, as The Times rightly observes, with a deep political con- 
 viction. 
 
 "How are these two bright young people to repay such 
 sentiments ? I wonder if they understand what it means to 
 see the hearts of a whole nation — a self-contained, undemon- 
 strative, matter-of-fact nation — cast at their feet like garlands 
 of flowers. This is what one woman can accomplish by a 
 
 4QQ 
 
SA RA H A US TIN. 403 
 
 simple, pure, upright life, always dedicated to duty. It is the 
 greatest conquest and the finest triumph the world ever saw. 
 
 " Good-bye, my dear friend, 
 
 "S. A." 
 
 Sarah Austin to M. Gutzot. 
 
 "Weybridge, April 20, 1863. 
 " Dear Monsieur Guizot, — I began and half wrote a letter 
 to you immediately on the receipt of one from my dear Henriette. 
 But I could not get on. Blow upon blow has stunned me, and 
 made me incapable of writing to my friends. In little more than 
 three weeks I lost two brothers — both excellent — the eldest, 
 whom you remember at Kensington, a loss to be felt to the last 
 day I live. He was my second father, my dear, kind, indulgent, 
 generous friend, my refuge in all distresses and troubles — his 
 house and family an inexhaustible source of comfort and cheer- 
 ing to me. He was eighty-four, and his bodily health had be- 
 come feeble. We all said and felt that it would be a blessing to 
 him to depart ; even his loving children said so. But now he 
 is gone there is a chasm for which nobody seem prepared, for 
 feeble and helpless as he was, he was still the centre round 
 whom gathered so many recollections and so many cares. We 
 are thankful that God permitted His aged servant to depart in 
 peace, but we are all like sheep without a shepherd. 
 
 " I was writing to you on the 13th, after having made several 
 vain attempts to finish my letter, when Alexander came to tell 
 me that the news had just arrived by telegraph of George 
 Lewis's death. 
 
 "I was stunned then, and am still stupefied. The death of 
 my brothers was to be expected, and in many senses not to be 
 deplored. 
 
 "But besides that George Lewis was a brother in intimacy, 
 confidence, and affection, his untimely death is a calamity to 
 the country hardly to be calculated. If you continue to take 
 the Evening Mail, you have seen a very good notice of him 
 (some guess it to be by Lowe). Poor dear Alexander is gone 
 to his funeral (in Wales). What a loss to him ! 
 
 " Lucie is at Cairo ; she has been better, but was not quite 
 
4o4 THRSE GENERA TJONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 so well the last letter. Janet, poorly, compelled I fear to leave 
 Alexandria for the summer. The little children well, but oh ! 
 so far from poor grandma. My own health is bad enough. I 
 am ordered to Badenweiler, not far from Freiburg, and if I 
 can crawl there I will ; not that I care for life, but I dread 
 helplessness. For the last fortnight I have been suffering 
 terribly from gout in the hand — a weary, painful affair. 
 
 " My book is done, though not out. I hope you received the 
 small portion of it I published separately for lay readers. 
 People congratulate me that my work is done. This leaves 
 me nothing. But I am most thankful to have been permitted 
 to place my dear husband's remains beyond the reach of 
 destruction or of oblivion. 
 
 " Farewell, dear sir and friend. Think with compassion of 
 your affectionate and afflicted 
 
 " S. Austin." 
 
 M. Guizot to Sarah Austin. 
 
 [Translation.] 
 
 "il/«jy3, 1863. 
 
 " Dear Mrs. Austin, — I feel the profoundest sympathy 
 with your sorrows. There is no deep affection that I have 
 not known, no crushing loss that I have not experienced. 
 I well remember your eldest brother ; we passed a day 
 with him at Kensington in 1848. I know what Lord Lans- 
 downe was to you and to your family, and what England 
 and his friends have lost in Sir George Lewis. For you 
 he had, I know, a strong and sincere friendship, and took 
 an affectionate interest in your work. You will not be con- 
 soled for such losses, my dear Mrs. Austin ; your regret will 
 be lasting. But the memory of such friendships, and the joys 
 they shed over your life, will also remain. This is the only 
 comfort left when all present and palpable happiness has 
 vanished. 
 
 " But you have one affliction which I am spared — solitude ; 
 and I pity you the more because you are not formed to live 
 alone. Yours is an expansive and loving nature. Tell me of 
 your projects ; are you really thinking of Badenweiler ? Will 
 
SARAH A US TIN. 405 
 
 Lady Gordon return to England during the summer ? If your 
 little Janet cannot bear the heat of Alexandria, where will she 
 go to escape the worst months ? 
 
 I have received and read with much interest the detached 
 chapter you sent me, and await the whole work with great 
 impatience. As soon as it is out I shall propose an article in 
 the Revue des deux Mondcs. There are, unfortunately, few 
 men in France capable of appreciating the value and explaining 
 the ideas of Mr. Austin. I only wish that I could undertake 
 the task, but I will not, and I cannot, allow anything to take 
 me from working on my ' Memoirs.' I have still three 
 volumes to publish, and I am entering on my seventy-sixth 
 year. 
 
 " I hope you have received the translation Henriette has 
 made of the principal speeches of Prince Albert, with the 
 litde preface I added ? Your Queen sent me a message 
 expressing her wish that the work should be published under 
 my eye and with my name, and she sent me a copy of the 
 original, with a few lines written on the first page, which 
 touched me extremely by the depth and simplicity of their 
 emotion. Farewell. 
 
 " Yours, with all my heart, 
 
 " GuiZOT." 
 
 Sarah Austin to M. Guizot. 
 
 " Weybridge, ya/z. 4, 1864. 
 
 " It is long since I heard from you, dear Monsieur Guizot, 
 and I feel sensibly the privation. 
 
 "I have nothing new to tell you. My daughter is, I hope, 
 by this time at Thebes. Cairo is too cold for the winter ; but 
 it is some time since we heard from her, and I am looking 
 anxiously for a letter.' If you continue to take the Evening 
 Mail, you see Janet's letters from Egypt. She is ' Our own 
 Correspondent.' She and Ross are well and prosperous. 
 
 " Alexander and the dear young ones are well and, just now, 
 together. I have been absent from home, with the exception 
 of a few days, ever since the end of November, when I went 
 to visit my dear young friend, Hastings Russell, at Woburn 
 
4o6 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 Abbey. It is very interesting to me, who love him, to see 
 the care, the anxious thought and conscientiousness, with 
 which he administers the vast dominions confided to his 
 management. It is an oppressive charge. I met there 
 Mr. Bright, Lord Sidney Godolphin Osborne (' S. G. O.' 
 of The Times), and some others. I had a great deal of talk 
 with Bright, and told him exactly my opinion of his and 
 Cobden's speeches. He bore this patiently. I came to the 
 conclusion that he and Cobden have no scheme to propose. 
 They are profoundly ignorant, and can only destroy. But 
 their influence is greatly overrated. Crowds go to hear them, 
 and to make a noise. But men who know those populations 
 say they have no real power. But I must leave these topics. 
 
 " The immediate motive for my writing to you, dearest sir, 
 is to introduce to you the brother of my friend, Miss Courtenay 
 (whom I think you have seen in London). Mr. Courtenay 
 was private secretary to Lord Dalhousie during the whole of 
 his viceroyalty. If you talk to him of India, as I daresay you 
 will like to do, you will expect to find him a zealous champion 
 of the policy of his chief Mr. Courtenay possesses in the last 
 perfection one talent, which will, I hope, secure for him the 
 favour of my dear Pauline. He is a thorough musician, and 
 his singing is exquisite. 
 
 " Farewell, dear sir and friend. I send my cordial love and 
 greetings to all around you, and am always, with the truest 
 affection, 
 
 " Yours, 
 
 " Sarah Austin." 
 
 Sarah Austin to BartMlemy St. Hilaire. 
 
 [Translation.] 
 
 " Weybridge, y«7z. II, 1864. 
 "My dear Friend, — It is long since we have talked together, 
 and I feel the want of some words from your faithful and 
 kindly hand. This year begins darkly and sadly for me. My 
 sister is dying, and my daughter's last letter alarms me, from 
 the melancholy tone in which it is written. I cannot talk 
 
SARAH A USTIN. 407 
 
 politics to you. The spectacle in Europe is only surpassed by 
 that of America. It is all so odious that I should advise my 
 country to close her doors and her windows, and not occupy 
 herself with the affairs of her neighbours. The French writers 
 who have the face to deplore the oppression in Ireland amuse 
 me — Ireland, where the public press insults and abuses the 
 Government every day without let or hindrance. M. de 
 Lasteyrie has written a good article on the state of things 
 there ; tell him that in the thick of the ' Repeal ' cry, some 
 Members of Parliament belonging to the Liberal party advised 
 O'Connell to drop so foolish a cry, and seriously to attack the 
 Irish Anglican Church, promising him their support and co- 
 operation. O'Connell smiled and shrugged his shoulders ; that 
 was not at all what he wanted. Charles Buller, who made the 
 proposal to O'Connell, told me about it at the time. Such are 
 the idols of the masses. He stuck to Repeal because he knew 
 it would lead to nothing. The onjjy ray of sunshine in my life 
 is the success my book has had, but since its completion I feel 
 a thousand times more lonely. However, there is some idea 
 of publishing a second edition, in which case I shall have 
 more work before me. I must leave you. Adieu, best of 
 friends. 
 
 " Most affectionately yours, 
 
 "S. A." 
 
 Sarah Austin to W. E. Gladstone. 
 
 "Paris, J/fljv 9, 1864. 
 " Dear Mr. Gladstone, — It was not likely that I should 
 forget your kind invitation to your Thursday breakfasts ; and 
 when in March I left England, I thought I should not be long 
 in Paris without hearing something which would give me a 
 better reason for troubling you with a letter than the mere 
 apology for my absence. I did not expect that I should be 
 confined to my bed with a violent attack of gout. But let me 
 proceed to the immediate motive of this letter. Since I have 
 been here, a nephew of mine has arrived, whose long residence 
 in Italy and very peculiar acquaintance with the affairs of that 
 country render his conversation interesting to me, and to all 
 
4o8 THREE GENERA TIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 who care about Italy. In listening to him, it has often 
 occurred to me to think, ' Mr. Gladstone would be pleased to 
 hear that,' or, ' That is a fact I should like Mr. Gladstone to 
 know.' And so, dear sir, I take courage to give this nephew, 
 Philip Taylor of Marseilles, a letter to you. You will under- 
 stand that neither he, nor I for him, have the smallest request 
 to make to you. Born in England, educated in France, and 
 established for some time in Italy, he speaks, I think, without 
 prejudice. He enjoyed a good deal of the confidence of M. de 
 Cavour, and has had some insight into the political condition 
 of the country. But it is not as a politician that I introduce 
 him to you. He is an engineer, and in that capacity has been 
 brought into immediate contact with the Italian people. His 
 description of the tranquillity, the prosperity, and the high 
 cultivation of the beautiful and little-known shore of the 
 Adriatic, is very delightful, and will cheer the Italian portion 
 of your benevolent heart. The degree to which the people 
 have slid into the new regime^ and have silently and practically 
 adopted the unity of Italy, is, I think, one of the most 
 remarkable appearances of our day. 
 
 " Perhaps, dear sir, I, in my ignorance, exaggerate the 
 novelty and the interest of what my nephew has to tell ; if so, 
 you will forgive me, and will not lose your precious time in 
 listening to well-known facts. Another matter on which he 
 has ample information is curious enough, but so little agreeable 
 that you will hardly care to hear details of what is so shameful, 
 so afflicting. Are you aware that every postmaster in France 
 has to send to the ' Commissaire de Police ' a weekly return 
 of the newspapers taken by every individual in his district, 
 and that this return is forwarded to the Prefet of each Depart- 
 ment ? Perhaps you know this and a thousand other mes- 
 quines inquisitions and tyrannies. They will not be removed 
 by declamations about ' La Liberte,' and I see little that looks 
 like earnest attacks upon distinct practical grievances. There 
 is a small movement in the right direction in Lorraine, a 
 revival of local activity. 
 
 " Dear Mr. Gladstone, I am always most respectfully and 
 cordially yours, 
 
 " Sarah Austin," 
 
SARAH AUSTIN. 409 
 
 Sarah Austin to Barthelemy St. Htlatre. 
 
 [Translation.] 
 
 " NiEDERBRUNN, Bas Rhin, May 27, 1864. 
 " Dear Friend, — It is high time I should tell you where I 
 am. I do not think I shall get over my illness at Paris ; I 
 shudder when I think of the bother I caused my friends. At 
 Strasburg I was met by Madame Schneider, a remarkably 
 talented and original woman, taking a virile interest in all 
 great questions. I find this German part of France extremely 
 interesting^the mixture of the two natures — the leaven of 
 Protestantism, and above all the grand town of Strasburg, 
 which, compared with Paris, has the air of a great noble by 
 the side of a vulgar parvenu. Then the country is so rich and 
 well-tilled, and the forests so magnificent. No one is here, as 
 the season has not yet begun, but the people please me, 
 they are quiet and civil. I have made the acquaintance of 
 the Dietrichs and the Tiirckheims, influential manufacturing 
 families, whom I regret to see resigned to having no political 
 influence. They have immense workshops, employ thousands 
 of workpeople, and ought to be the natural representatives of 
 their country. Politically, they are nothing, and do not appear 
 to regret it. It is true that a man whose grandfather died on 
 the guillotine as a recompense for patriotism, may be excused 
 for holding aloof from all popular movements. I must confess 
 that the Protestants here seem to be superior in education. 
 How much there is to study wherever one goes ! Tell me 
 how your eyes are, and do not write me more than three 
 lines. 
 
 " Yours from my heart, 
 
 " S. Austin." 
 
CHAPTER XLIII. 
 
 SARAH AUSTIN {continued). 
 
 Death of Mr. N. Senior— Marriage of H.R.H. the Comte de Paris— Fourth 
 Edition of " Ranke," and new Edition of the " Province of Jurisprudence" 
 People no longer enjoy things — M. P. Paradol on Lady Duff Gordon — 
 Letter from Mrs. Austin to Mrs. Grote. 
 
 Sarah Austin to Mary Charlotte Senior. 
 
 " Neiderbrunn, Bas RHiN,Ju7te 12, 1864. 
 "My dear Friend, — I have now learned that your watch- 
 ings and cares, your hopes and fears are at an end. How I 
 know them a/t ! How I have felt for yours while they lasted, 
 and oh ! how I feel for you now, when all is over ! 
 
 "Nobody can know better what you felt and will feel. 
 For I will not mock grief like yours with any notion of its 
 wearing off. My dear friend, have I not seen that from the 
 first day to the last of your married life, you have lived for him 
 and in him, and how can you now begin another life ? No, 
 dearest Mrs. Senior, we must continue to the end as we are — 
 our husbands (now re-united) must still be our constant 
 ' thought, and if we have any earthly consolation, it must be 
 derived from the retrospect of the life we have passed with 
 them. 
 
 " Nobody living has a greater right to this consolation than 
 you ; for a more unselfish wife never existed. I feel sure that 
 you will thank God, as I do, that you were permitted to fulfil 
 your task to the end. The more I feel the unutterable dreari- 
 ness of my widowhood, the more thankful am I that it is I, 
 and not he, who ha<£i to bear it. 
 
SARAH AUSTIN. 411 
 
 " I say nothing of myself and my own loss, for how can I 
 mention it by the side of yours ? But this I must say, that 
 few greater losses can befall me in this world. Putting aside 
 my own nearest and dearest, there is really nobody for whom 
 I felt a more entire and warm regard, or upon whose friend- 
 ship I calculated with greater certainty. His life-long affection 
 for my husband would alone have sufficed to attach me to him 
 in no common degree ; but how many other reasons had I — I 
 who knew him — for respecting and loving him ! 
 
 "Well, my dear friend, he has passed a useful, happy, and 
 honourable life, and has left behind him a name that will be a 
 treasure to all who bear it. 
 
 " Give my kindest love to my dear Minnie. She too will 
 feel as if half her life were gone. But she is young, and will 
 in time find new interest in life. You never will, dear friend, 
 as I know by my own experience. We have only to await as 
 patiently as we can the welcome call to join those we have lost. 
 " Ever, dearest Mrs. Senior, 
 
 " Your true and attached friend, 
 
 "S. Austin." 
 
 Sarah Austin to H.R.H. the Comte de Paris. 
 
 " R6MERBORD, Badenweiler G. H. Baden, 
 
 ''July 3, 1864. 
 
 " MoNSEiGNEUR, — It is needless for me to try to express the 
 emotion with which I read the accounts of your marriage. It 
 appeared to me to take place under all blessed and favouring 
 auspices — not the least of which is, that you will have for the 
 present to seek your happiness in each other, undisturbed by 
 other interests. 
 
 " All my thoughts and wishes were with you. I question if 
 any of the assistants were more absorbed in the scene than I in 
 the thought. 
 
 " If your Royal Highness sees German papers, I need not 
 attempt to describe to you the universal exasperation against 
 us, of which you must hear enough from higher sources. It 
 far exceeds anything I remember in French or English jour- 
 
412 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 nals. Even /must admit that there is a little fond oi Grohheit 
 (coarseness) in the mass of Germans which comes out unplea- 
 santly when they are angry or exultant. My doctor here 
 evidently believes that Baden, single-handed, could beat Eng- 
 land. But I heartily forgive them all their nonsense and fan- 
 faronade, which is fully justified by Lord Russell's miserable 
 shufflings. For the first time in my life I am ashamed of my 
 country. However, German popular politics have seldom been 
 worth listening to. 
 
 "If you see (as I hope) Lord Grey, pray tell him, with my 
 regards, that I did not meet with a single man in Paris who 
 doubted for a moment that he was right — that a fleet sent to 
 the Baltic at the first moment would have stopped the war. 
 Unfortunately most of them added, ' Oui^ mais la dtfficulle 
 est ici^ In spite of the nature and magnitude of that diffi- 
 culty, I can hardly believe that it would not have been better 
 to risk it than suffer intolerable shame. 
 
 " Why make promises and hold out hopes ? that at any rate 
 might have been avoided. I am sure you feel generously to- 
 wards Englishmen who love their country's honour, and are 
 cut to the heart by this abdication of her great position and her 
 great duties. 
 
 " I know not how to recommend myself to the gracious 
 regard of the Comtesse de Paris. You will explain to her (if 
 you can) how it is that an obscure old woman ventures to 
 write to your Royal Highness as I do. Tell her, if you were 
 my King, I could not honour you more, and if you were my 
 son, I could hardly love you better. 
 
 " Your faithful servant, 
 
 " Sarah Austin." 
 
 Sarah Austin to Barth'elemy St. Hilairc. 
 
 [Translation.] 
 
 "Bolton Street, London, ya«. 22, 1865. 
 " Dear Friend, — Since I wrote to you, I have been very 
 anxious about Lucie. The last news were not good. At Alex- 
 andria she was delayed because her boat was not ready. You 
 
SAliAH A USTIN. 4 * 3 
 
 will be surprised at my being in London, but I was forced to 
 come, and here I am laden with honours and literary business. 
 A fourth edition of my ' Ranke ' is called for. In vain have 
 they published a cheap translation ; the few copies remaining 
 of mine are being sold at fancy prices. I cannot deny that I feel 
 gratified at such a recognition of my opus. It was done with 
 care and conscientiousness, and it is pleasant, before dying, to 
 know that my country appreciates those qualities. What in- 
 terests me still more is the new edition that I am preparing of 
 my husband's book, and I have come to consult some of my legal 
 friends. It is unlikely that I shall live to see another edition, 
 and I want to leave it as perfect as possible. The book is evi- 
 dently taking root. One of these days you will receive a 
 packet of M. Dunoyer's letters to my husband and to me ; his 
 widow wrote to ask me for anything I had, as M. Mignet was 
 preparing an Hoge of her husband. I have collected all his 
 letters, and beg you to hand them over to her or M. Mignet. 
 You have no idea how occupied I am, as the daughter of Felix 
 Mendelssohn has asked me to write down my recollections of 
 her father, for his memoir, which is in the press. I could not 
 refuse, for if ever a man was perfect, he was. Then I wish to 
 write every mail to my Lucie, whose published letters have 
 made quite a sensation — I am now preparing a fourth edition. 
 " My poor hand refuses any more work. Good-bye, my 
 excellent friend ; you know what my feelings are towards you, 
 nothing will ever change them. 
 
 " Yours affectionately, 
 
 "S. A." 
 
 BarthUemy St. Hilaire to Sarah Austin. 
 
 [Translation.] 
 
 "Paris, March 20, 1865, 
 "Madam and dear Friend, — I have just seen Prevost 
 Paradol on his return from Egypt. He is enchanted with 
 Lady Lucie, and exceedingly struck by her talents, her elo- 
 quence, and the extraordinary strength of her understanding. 
 Clever and witty as he is, he could not find words to express 
 
414 THkEE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 his admiration. She is the Queen of the Arabs at Thebes ; 
 the}' are taught, enHghtened, and improved in every way by 
 her example. Prevost Paradol spent three days with her on 
 his way up the Nile, and two on his return, when he saw Janet, 
 who was going to pay another visit to the Suez Canal with M. 
 de Lesseps. 
 
 " I have no doubt that the ' Letters from Egypt ' will have 
 as much success as those from the Cape, and probably more, as 
 having living among the Arabs so long. Lady Lucie's descrip- 
 tions must be perfect. 
 
 " When you know the date and the place of meeting, let me 
 know, and I will do my utmost to be ready to escort you ; it 
 will be delightful to see the whole family together. At the 
 end of this month ' Mohammed ' will be published, and then 
 I shall begin on the proofs of another volume of Aristotle. 
 
 " Your ever devoted friend, 
 
 "B. St. Hilaire." 
 
 • 
 Sarah Austin to Barthelemy St. Hilaire. 
 
 [Translation.] 
 
 " Weybridge, May 13, 1865. . 
 " Dear Friend, — -Your letter has caused me great pleasure ; 
 it remains for you to fix the place of meeting. I think I shall 
 go by Liege and Cologne. I dare say you would like to pass 
 a couple of days at Bonn ; if you are pressed for time, you 
 might meet me there. But I trust that you have not become 
 such a ' man of the present ' as to be bored whenever one is 
 not projected through space like a cannon-ball, or to calculate 
 in how many hours one can ' do ' the Rhine. Only to-day I 
 heard some young people complaining of the slowness of the 
 steamboats. I always found that the glorious scenery passed 
 but too quickly before my eyes. Why is this ? People no 
 longer enjoy things. Forward, ever forward 1 is the cry, not of 
 war, but of peace — ^peace which is not repose. ' In how many 
 hours ? ' is the question which has superseded all others. 
 Lucie hopes to be at Soden by the middle of June, but I await 
 a final letter from Luxor. Henry Reeve came to see me 
 
sA nAti A us fM. 4 i s 
 
 yesterday ; of his Parisian news what pleased me most was his 
 account of my old friend, Cousin. Remember me to him, and 
 tell him that I rejoice at his good health, and am delighted at 
 all the noble work he is doing for his child, Philosophy, and at 
 his remaining true to Italy and her liberty ; our dear Santa 
 Rosa would have blessed him. I look forward to meeting you 
 about the 12th of June. 
 
 " Ever from my heart, your affectionate 
 
 "S. A." 
 
 Sarah Austin to Harriet Grote, 
 
 " SoDEN, August 25, 1865. 
 
 " Dearest Cummer, — It is miserable work to be forced to 
 reply to a letter which moves one's inmost heart through a 
 stranger's hand ; but, alas ! I can do no otherwise. Imme- 
 diately on my arrival at this place I was attacked with gout, 
 which has finally settled in my right hand in such a degree as 
 to render it useless. You, who for forty years and more have 
 known the whole course of my inward and outward life, with 
 all its privations and toils and all its compensations, can esti- 
 mate better than anybody what this loss is to me. If it were 
 likely to be permanent, life would be scarcely tolerable ; and 
 you who, God be thanked ! enjoy the unspeakable comfort 
 afforded you by the tender cares of your life's companion, can 
 hardly imagine the dismay with which I contemplate any 
 diminution of that occupation which has always been so valu- 
 able to me, and is now almost the only remnant of my once 
 varied and active life. 
 
 Alexander and I were six weeks without news of Lucie, who 
 was dangerously ill ; and during that time I was in such a state 
 of mind that I really could not write to anybody. Nothing is 
 so intolerable to write about as suspense. I left Weybridge in 
 the middle of June, and did not find Lucie here till the 22nd of 
 July, just about the time of your arrival at Baden. It is an 
 additional grief to think that you and I have been so near and 
 yet so separated. The one bright spot in my history is — 
 what indeed brightens all the rest — the great improvement in 
 Lucie's health. 
 
4i6 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 The last sentence in your letter struck me much as to the 
 real nullity of what is called society, when you really want it ; 
 I cannot get you out of my mind. I have often seen you in 
 intense pain, but have always looked with confidence for the 
 return of that matchless activity and vivacity which were the 
 delight of all who knew you. It would be folly to hope for 
 the revival of youthful health or youthful ' spirits ; but I 
 earnestly hope that I may find you tranquilly cheerful, and 
 able to enjoy that best and dearest of all society which you 
 have by your side. May you never know what it is to want 
 all those watchful and tender cares which Love alone can or 
 will bestow ! Nearly the whole of my married life was passed, 
 as you know, in rendering such offices, and a very small 
 portion of it in receiving them : enough to know that it is 
 vain to look for any — the smallest compensation for the loss 
 of them. May God preserve them to you, my dearest friend ! 
 " Your most affectionate, 
 
 "S. A." 
 
CHAPTER XLIV. 
 
 SARAH AUSTIN {contimied). 
 
 Letter from Mrs. Austin to M. Guizot about her Daughter — Mr. Carlyle on 
 Letters of Condolence and Smollett's House — Mrs. Austin to M. B. 
 St. Hilaire on Prussia and Austria— Love of the Arabs for Lady Duff 
 Gordon— Absorption of Germany in Prussia — Letters on M. Cousin's 
 Death from M. B. St. Hilaire to Mrs. Austin— Her Answer— Last 
 Letters from Mrs. Austin to M. B. St. Hilaire— Her Death — The Times 
 on Mrs. Austin — Letter from M.. Guizot to Sir Alexander Duff Gordon 
 on the Death of Mrs. Austin. 
 
 Sarah Austin to M. Guizot. 
 
 "Weybridge, Dec. 20, 1865. 
 " Dear Monsieur Guizot, — Alexander has been to see his 
 poor wife, and has spent five weeks with her at Cairo. He is 
 now on his way home, and she on hers to her solitary home at 
 Thebes. He leaves her with the entire conviction that she will 
 never again be able to visit Europe. Even Cairo was too cold 
 for her, and she had a slight return of blood-spitting. It is 
 only at Thebes that she is comparatively well. That she can 
 live., and live with something like comfort anywhere., is a bless- 
 ing for which I am duly thankful. But enough of sorrow 
 remains. Her husband's broken life and broken home ; her 
 children motherless and homeless ; her poor mother — how can 
 I write it ? — I shall never see that beloved face again ; and so 
 vanishes the last ray of earthly hope out of my horizon. Nor 
 with this extinction of hope is there cessation of fear. The 
 anxiety, the corroding anxiety _/or fer' remains ; and after five 
 weary years of that torture, I find myself as far as ever from 
 repose. I keep out of the way of people ; I fear their indif- 
 
 28 • 417 
 
41 8 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 ference, and I fear yet more their condolences and consola- 
 tions. The comforters are always the happy. God forgive 
 them ! They know not what they say. 
 
 " If you have seen anything of her letters from the Cape, you 
 will see that my chief earthly comfort lies in the wonderful 
 trempe of her mind — so noble, brave, generous, unselfish. Her 
 letters from Egypt are still more interesting. They will be 
 published, and you shall see them. 
 
 " I have just passed my woful anniversary. Markby will tell 
 you how my husband's influence grows. 
 
 " Your most affectionate 
 
 "S. A." 
 
 T. Carlyle to Sarah Austin. 
 
 '■^ Chy-ISEa, June 28, 1866. 
 
 " Dear Mrs. Austin, — ^Thanks for your kind inquiry after 
 me ; I feel it all the kinder knowing too well that you are 
 yourself so weary and heavy-laden. 
 
 " In respect of bodily health I seem not to be worse than I 
 was six months ago, which, indeed, is not saying a great deal. 
 As to my instantaneous and incalculable loss, otherwise. I felt, 
 and more and more feel it to be, the sudden extinction of all 
 that remained of humanly cheerful in my sombre existence, 
 and had better not speak of it at present — much and continually 
 as it insists on being thought of, and thought to the bottom if I 
 can. How I understand what you say about letters of con- 
 dolence ! I have burnt some scores of them, unread except the 
 first line and the signature. 
 
 " Mr. Irving did not call even in passing — out of polite and 
 considerate motives. Please tell him, if you write, that I yes- 
 terday morning received his letter enclosing yours, and along 
 with it his Notes upon Tobias Smollett and the Smolletts, which 
 I read with interest and care, and will keep with thanks. 
 Smollett's house stood within a gunshot of me here, and only 
 vanished within the last twenty years. 
 
 " May peace more and more be with you, dear old friend ! 
 Accept my grateful remembrances and continuance of affec- 
 tionate wishes, " Yours faithfully, 
 
 " T. Carlyle," 
 
SARAH AUSTIN. 419 
 
 Sarah Austin to BartMlemy St. Hilatre, 
 
 [Translation.] 
 
 " Weybridge, October 3, 1866. 
 " Dear Friend, — You will have perceived my return by 
 receiving your papers regularly. I feel ill, and should not have 
 written this but for my habit (to borrow a phrase from M. 
 Cousin) of mixing myself up with what does not concern me — • 
 i.e.., public affairs. You are aware that I know Germany, and 
 that I love her. The misfortunes of Austria, the insolent 
 triumphs of Prussia, the destruction of that dear old Germany 
 who has given us so much that is beautiful and so many pro- 
 found thoughts, leave me no rest. The crowd of courtiers, 
 applauding success in the shape of Prussian violence and 
 cheatery, make me sick. I have published some facts in the 
 Examiner ., from a source above all suspicion, about the conduct 
 of the Prussians in Bohemia. Hardly had I despatched my 
 packet when I saw in the paper I send to-day the sentence I 
 have underlined. Now, dear friend, you are honesty and justice 
 personified. Go to M. Dufaure, tell him that I hold docu- 
 ments which will be precious to him for the defence of the 
 ' Memorial diplomatique.' ' You know what Count Leo Thun 
 is, and my opinion of him ; it is from him that I have these 
 documents, and he vouched for their truth. This I tell you, 
 for his name must not be mentioned. You can say I guarantee 
 the truth of all I send. The papers are of course in German, 
 which will probably make no difference to M. Dufaure. Tell 
 him, if he requires more proofs, that I undertake to put him in 
 communication with some of the most eminent men in Bohemia, 
 whom he can implicitly believe. You will laugh at my zeal ! 
 But it is too terrible to see men not only deceived, beaten, and 
 trodden under foot, but after their fall, maligned and calumniated 
 by their victors. What strikes me is the baseness of the Prus- 
 sian nobles. The common soldiers have, on the whole, behaved 
 well and with humanity. The officers (nobles), who open the 
 ladies' wardrobes, take their linen, and order the wine they 
 
 " Attacked by the Prussian Ambassador, M. de Goltz, in the French Courts, 
 
420 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 could not drink to be packed up to take away with them ! 
 The most brutal of Napoleon the First's officers did not behave 
 worse. In the Evening Mail they mention an accusation of 
 sheep-stealing. M. Dufaure should know that at Berlin 
 Austrian sheep were sold publicly before the battle of 
 Koniggratz. Lord Bloomfield saw them. In Prague the officers 
 ran races with the horses they had stolen from the stables of 
 Count Kinsky, in whose castle they were quartered. At his 
 brother's, Prince Kinsky, they broke open the private archives, 
 and threw about the carefully-arranged papers. Thus M. 
 Dufaure can say with perfect truth that the conduct of the 
 Prussian officers has not been exaggerated by his client or any 
 one else. I tried three papers before finding one which would 
 publish these facts. My so-called Liberal countrymen are 
 bewitched — deceived by words — by a name ! Austria stands 
 for despotism and darkness ; Prussia for liberty and light ! I 
 must say good-bye, and will tell you my adventures another 
 time. I enjoyed my visit to the Bishop of St. David's exceed- 
 ingly. Dear Lucie is better ; her last letters are delightful. 
 
 " Yours from my heart, 
 
 " S. A." 
 
 Sarah Austin to Barthelemy St. Hilaire. 
 
 [Translation.] 
 
 " November 2, 1866. 
 " Dear and true Friend, — I have been wishing to write to 
 you for a long time, but I have had much to do, and have done 
 little. The condition of Germany saddens me, and still more 
 the state of public opinion in England. People hardly venture 
 to express the horror felt for this mixtvire of falsity, fraud, and 
 violence called Prussian policy. Imagine that Mr. Froude, our 
 distinguished historian, refused to publish in his magazine 
 authentic facts sent me by L. T., on the ground that he was 
 glad to see a great Protestant Power established in the north 
 of Europe. What a reason ! As though there would be a 
 single additional Protestant ! However, the Examiner has 
 printed my extracts ; and I have added a few words about the 
 good and unfortunate King of Saxony. The way he is spoken 
 
SAkAH AUSTIN. 42 1 
 
 of makes me very angry. Prussian intrigues against him had 
 aheady begun when I was in Dresden. I shall be attacked in 
 the papers — never mind, no one now will care, and I shall at 
 least show the courage of gratitude and respect. Janet is at 
 Venice. She has no great admiration for the Venetians, but 
 she is struck by the moderation and dignity shown by the 
 Austrians. I conceive that Venice will sink into comparative 
 insignificance : she lived by her complaints. 
 
 " I hope you have seen in the paper the enlightened and 
 patriotic munificence of my dear friend, Whewell — _^7o,ooo 
 consecrated to so admirable and permanent an end. What a 
 contrast to his philosophical antagonist, John Mill, who shows 
 his attachment to the people by the artifices of a demagogue ! 
 His has been a fall indeed ! Our noble ' Master,' who despised 
 popularity, really loved his country, his university — in short, 
 the good and the true. 
 
 " Thank God ! the accounts of Lucie are better. 
 
 " Yours affectionately, 
 
 "S. A." 
 
 Sarah Austin to Lady William Russell. 
 
 " November 6, 1866. 
 " Curios ! Your charming letter, dear Lady William, comes 
 a punto. It treats of all the subjects that now occupy me. If 
 this meeting of one's thoughts gives me great pleasure, the regret 
 that I cannot talk with you is, on the other hand, very painful. 
 To say truth, I have seldom been more triste. I do not speak 
 of convulsions of sorrow or of fear, which I have had formerly, 
 but of that settled gloom which, I am afraid, must in the end 
 overpower me. The cause of this is (next to the separation 
 from my dear daughter) my continual and increasing ill-health. 
 Again I am incarcerated. I returned home the day after I saw 
 you, was attacked by bronchitis, and condemned to keep my bed 
 for four days, and my room ever since. It is not, however, the 
 bodily pain or malaise that depresses me ; I have had as much 
 of that before, and bore it cheerfully. The terrible thing is the 
 loss of energy. I have always in my mind a number of things 
 
422 THREE GENERA TIONS OP ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 that I want to do — that I ought to do — that torment me, not 
 being done. 
 
 "I can do nothing. I sit down to write, and I fall into a sort 
 of reverie ; the hours are gone and I have done nothing. I rise 
 up and put away my paper, and feel ready to cry. When I 
 think of the three winters, during which I worked with such 
 unflinching courage and industry, and achieved (I dare say it 
 to you) a really great work ; and now the second edition must 
 be prepared and I seem powerless to do it. If I die leaving 
 it undone, I shall die miserable. Dearest Lady William, do 
 pardon this out-pouring ! These constantly recurring fits of 
 illness will destroy my living soul before they put an end to my 
 body. 
 
 "I have been intensely excited, however, by all that is going 
 on — abroad and at home. The Prussomania is so violent that 
 one can't get a hearing on the other side. Leo Thun sent a 
 number of extracts from letters and papers describing the 
 behaviour of the Prussian officers in Bohemia. He sent them 
 first to Lord Clanwilliam, who took no trouble about them — 
 ' dared say they were all true, but h la guerre comme a la 
 guerrej and so turned them over to me. I translated them, 
 and after applying in vain to two journals, got them admitted 
 into the Examiner. Perhaps you saw them (Oct. 6th). Then 
 I wrote a little sketch of the Kings of Prussia and Saxony, as 
 typical or representative men, and added a few words about 
 states, ending with : ' Klein ist unter den Fiirsten Germaniens,' 
 &c., &c. Exquisite lines ! 
 
 " The AthencEum accepted and even printed it, but took 
 fright and suppressed it. Something I sent to the Pall Mall 
 Gazette has never appeared. Lastly, I wrote. to ask Froude 
 (editor of Eraser) if he would have an article about Saxony, for 
 which I have very interesting materials. He is so delighted 
 ' at the consolidation of a great Protestant power in North 
 Germany that,' &c., &c. 
 
 " N.B. that all these men are immensely civil to me personally, 
 full of respects and compliments. So this is the fairness of a 
 free press ! 
 
 " When your letter came I had just taken down from an 
 almost forgotten shelf my translation of Cousin's ' Report on 
 
SARAH AUSTIN. 4^3 
 
 Public Instruction in Prussia ; ' for it was I, meine Gnddigste, 
 and nobody else, who introduced that matter to the enlightened 
 English public. If I had a spare copy you should have it, but 
 I ha\'e only the one shabby original copy, which I am using. 
 It was published by Effingham Wilson in 1834. 
 
 " Poor George Lewis used to say to me : ' You will go down 
 to posterity upon that preface.' I was satisfied that he thought 
 so ; but otherwise this dry laborious work never brought me 
 one atom of either honour or profit. 
 
 " Of course you and I are not ignorant that Saxon civilisation 
 is much older than Prussian. Schulpfltchtigkeit is as old in 
 Saxe-Gotha as 1643. 
 
 "You'll see that even then I took the compulsory side (in said 
 preface). I remember Lord Brougham seized me by the arm 
 and shook me for being such ' a friend to despotism} I am 
 persuaded our mob is the most atrocious in the world. As to 
 the imbecility about the training of women, it is nauseous. I 
 read of a ' Working Women's College ; ' I am going to write to 
 the lady president to know what they teach. 
 
 " I am, and have always been, entirely of your mind about 
 the second ceto. I have always felt more at my ease with 
 Allerhochste people than with my peers, though, indeed, the 
 latter would not own me as an equal if they keep six servants 
 and I three. They always measure their dignity by material 
 things ; I have always avoided their society. My husband 
 hated it. 
 
 " As to my going to London, you see how it is, each visit 
 (even so short a one) followed by an illness ! We have good 
 news of my dear Lucie. She is on the Nile, her boat comfort- 
 able, and her three servants — two Arab and one negro — 
 obedient, devoted, and cheerful. I have just heard from B. St. 
 Hilaire ; he is going to Cannes. Cousin is there already. I 
 would go if it were not so far. 
 
 " But I can do nothing. The only thing about me unim- 
 paired, is my affection for you, which is not enfeebled like all 
 the rest of 
 
 " Your very devoted 
 
 "S. Austin." 
 
424 THREE GENERA TlONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 Sarah Austin to M. Guizot. 
 
 '■'■January I, 1867. 
 
 " I am very unwell, dear M. Guizot, and very unable to write 
 anything fit for you to read. 
 
 " I have long been wanting to tell you that my beloved 
 daughter is — as we dare to hope — rather better. She thinks she 
 may be able perhaps to come once more to Europe to meet 
 husband and children, and, once more, her poor old mother. 
 You may be sure I shall go if it is possible. They say it is a 
 great risk. Perhaps so. I can die anywhere — and how much 
 the happier if I have seen her dear face ! She was at Cairo 
 during the summer — at Cairo for coolness ! Now she is 
 returned to her old home at Thebes — alone, served by her 
 faithful and devoted Omar and a negro boy. I could tell you 
 curious things of the degree to which she is adored by the poor 
 Arabs. Why will not' those whose duty and business it is to 
 conciliate and attach ' natives,' learn from her how easy it is ? 
 These poor people would die for her. 
 
 " My friend Markby has married my niece Lucy, to whom 
 you were so kind. When he was appointed one of the Judges 
 of the Supreme Court at Calcutta, the first use he made of his 
 good fortune was to lay it at her feet, and she is, as she main- 
 tains, the happiest wife in the whole world. I have no doubt 
 Markby will do much good there ; he is so judicious and so 
 upright. I have just had a long Jetter from him, which I 
 thought so valuable that I sent it to Lord Cranborne, and 
 received his warm thanks for the perusal of it. 
 
 "I have endured already much pain for the calamities of 
 Germany. Perhaps, though, you do not think them calamities. 
 I am in a very small minority, but I think I know Germany, 
 and very few of my countrymen do. The absorption of 
 Germany in Prussia is, I am sure, a calamity for the country 
 and the world. Do you remember Goethe's exquisite lines, 
 ' Klein ist unter den Fiirsten Germaniens — freilich der meiner,' 
 and so on ? 
 
 " My letters from Saxony and Bohemia are heart-breaking. 
 
 " Now I must leave off, I am very weary, and besides the 
 
SARAH Austin. 42^ 
 
 New Year's Day will be gone without my letter. Accept, 
 dearest sir, my afFectionate wishes for the happiness of all your 
 dear circle. Be assured that I never forget any of them, and 
 that I am always 
 
 " Your faithful and grateful friend, 
 
 " Sarah Austin." 
 
 BartMlemy St. Hilaire to Sarah Austin. 
 [Translation.] 
 
 " Cannes, yawi^^rjc 14, 1867. 
 
 " Madam and dear Friend, — It is with the deepest sorrow 
 that I have to tell you that we have lost our dear friend. Cousin. 
 Yesterday he was seized at luncheon with invincible lethargy, 
 and, in spite of all the doctor's eiforts, he never regained con- 
 sciousness. He died this morning at five o'clock. During the 
 last few days we had talked njuch about you, and his 
 affection for you and yours was as great as ever. On Saturday 
 we dined with a friend, and Cousin was brilliant and amiable, 
 as was his wont, towards the ladies of the party. Next morn- 
 ing at eight we had breakfast, and at one he acknowledged that 
 he was hungry ; half an hour afterwards he was unconscious. 
 One of the finest and most remarkable minds of this century — 
 indeed, of all times — is no more. 
 
 " I accompany the body to Paris. 
 
 " Ever yours, 
 
 "B. St. Hilaire." 
 
 BartMlemy St. Hilaire to Sarah Austin. 
 
 [Translation.] 
 
 "'Paris, January 22, 1867. 
 " Madam and dear Friend, — Cousin has left Mignet and 
 myself sole legatees, with the notary Fremyn. He leaves us a 
 fortune, and has done it with the utmost delicacy ; we always 
 knew that we were to be his executors, instead of which we are 
 his heirs. He has named me keeper of his library for life. 
 " I write in haste, and am 
 
 " Ever your devoted 
 
 " B. St. Hilaire." 
 
426 THREE GENERA TIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 Sarah Austin to Barthelemy St. Hilaire. 
 
 [Translation.] 
 
 '■'■January 24, 1867. 
 
 " I think no one ever felt such a mixture of sorrow and joy 
 as your two letters have caused me— sorrow for the loss of an 
 affectionate and tried friend ; so few remain to me who could 
 compare with him ! But my sorrow is tempered by the mode 
 of his death ; he had such a horror of old age, his vanity re- 
 belled against it ; and then you were there to receive his last 
 breath. Joy at the way in which he has disposed of his fortune, 
 which does honour to him. I bless Cousin, I pardon all his 
 weaknesses, and I honour his memory. 
 
 " I am very solitary. Occasionally some one comes down to 
 talk jurisprudence, public instruction, the state of affairs in poor 
 Austria, or some such light matter. But this, my friend, is 
 what suits me best. Common gossip of society has no 
 attractions for me ; only the great interests of humanity have 
 the power of making me forget my troubles for a time. I do 
 not think Lucie will venture to come to Europe, and I cannot 
 wish her to do so, for it is evident that she cannot face the 
 change of climate. Her letters are extraordinary — full of 
 courage, love of humanity, and original ideas. Have you 
 ever met her friend, M. Brune ? He must live in the artistic 
 world. 
 
 " You must tell me what you would rather do — come to 
 Weybridge and run up to London occasionally to see your 
 friends, or make a little trip somewhere in England. For me 
 the principal thing is to be with you — ubicunquc. I am reading 
 over Cousin's letters, written during forty years of warm friend- 
 ship. Such a thing is rare to find, and one would not have 
 expected it of him. I live with the dead, and I think generally 
 they are superior to the living. I have translated and arranged 
 the letters of M. de Lindenau, so that people may see what the 
 government of Saxony was, and in what good hands. I hope 
 they may be published. 
 
 " Good excellentisstme, your well-being is a great joy to your 
 faithful friend, 
 
 i"S. A." 
 
^ARAH A USTIN. 427 
 
 Sarah Austin to Lady WtHiam Russell. 
 
 "51, Cumberland Street, Hyde Park, 
 
 ^^ April T, 1867. 
 
 " Dearest Lady William, — It is so ordered that I am to be 
 deprived, one by one, of every solace my sad case admitted of, 
 and now the sight of you, the delight and animation of your 
 conversation ! It really is curious how, to the two great woes 
 of my life, the two immense losses, have been added every kind 
 of lesser suffering and privation. Fate is inexorable. I write 
 in a dismal vein, for I feel faint and ill this morning. Pray 
 forgive me. 
 
 "The North British Review is not mine, nor do I know 
 anything about its management or contribuables ; I, too, am 
 very anxious to know who is the Runic scholar. The article 
 is very interesting — as any good one on that subject must be. 
 What a marked and quite peculiar nationality, and in many 
 respects how grand ! 
 
 " I entirely sympathise with you as to the joy of witnessing 
 the loves of a young couple so completely and tenderly united. 
 I remember M. Guizot telling me an incident which charmed 
 me. M. de Bourqueney came from his legation for a holiday, 
 and while in France fell in love with the girl he afterwards 
 married. She was living with a blind grandmother. One day 
 they were in the room with her, when she heard (you know 
 the blind have fine ears) a sound which she instantly recognised. 
 Instead of scolding or rebuking, the dear old granny said : ' Ne 
 vous genez pas, mes enfants, ne vous genez pas. J'ai beaucoup 
 d'amitie pour I'amour.' What an adorable old woman ! The 
 kiss which she heard gave her nothing but pleasure. I am 
 afraid all the actors in this pretty scene are gone, are they 
 not? ^ 
 
 " Encore an anecdote. A maid presents herself to Madame 
 Thiers to occupy the post cA femme de chambre. She begins : 
 ' Est-ce que Madame va beaucoup dans le monde ? Est-ce que 
 Madame se couche tard ? Est-ce que Madame fait beaucoup de 
 toilettes par jour ? ' &c., &c. ' Enfin,' Madame Thiers says, 
 ' Mademoiselle vous m'avez fait tant de questions, que je n'en 
 
428 THREie: GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH IVOJII^N. 
 
 ai pas une seule a vous faire. Je vous souhaite le bon jour.' Is 
 it not good ? Our ladies now, as I hear, ' se laissent question- 
 ner.' Send me word how you are to-day, my dear Lady 
 William. 
 
 " Your most affectionate 
 
 "S. Austin." 
 
 Sarah Austin to Barthelemy St Hilaire. 
 
 [Translation.] 
 
 ''July 3, 1867. 
 " I cannot write with my own hand to my dear friend, but I 
 must dictate a few words. You have heard I am ill. On the 
 2 Sth of May I fainted away, and for three hours and a half all the 
 attempts made by the doctor were ineffectual to recall me to life. 
 To tell you the truth, I am not sure that I rejoice at his having 
 succeeded, but God's will be done ! Among my many sufferings 
 the worst has been sleeplessness. The Sister of Mercy (French) 
 who nursed me, declares that for five nights I never closed my 
 eyes ; and all this time I could not lie down for more than a 
 few minutes, on account of the difficulty of breathing. Good 
 De Mussy came twice to see me, and took a bad view of my 
 case, as he told Mrs. Grote, who wrote me a farewell letter which 
 touched me extremely. She is also very ill. And thus we 
 separate after half a century of intimacy. One of my most 
 painful thoughts was that I should see you no more, and I sent 
 you a blessing from the depths of my heart. But now I had 
 rather you came, when I shall be more able to enjoy your visit, 
 and I do not know if I shall not even ask you to come and take 
 me to the seaside. I will write soon, and not by the hand of 
 another. 
 
 " S. A." 
 
 Sarah Austin to Barthelemy St. Hilaire. 
 
 [Translation.] 
 
 "■July 30, 1867. 
 "Very dear Friend, — To-day I discharged my nurse, and 
 I hope to be able to go to the seaside next week. Do as you 
 like, come at once to Weybridge, or meet me at Broadstairs ; 
 
SA RAH A US TIN. 429 
 
 but come^ do not delay, I have been too near never seeing you 
 again in this life. I have so much to say to you, and I want 
 to show you all Cousin's letters. Yesterday I had a visit from 
 Ross and my dear little great-grandson Alick ; they are going 
 to Homburg. I hope he may remember me, for I doubt his 
 seeing me again. I am impatient to see you. 
 
 ''July 31. 
 " Your letter interrupted me. Your arrangement is perfect : 
 after your visit to Trouville I shall hope to enjoy your society. 
 I am much changed, and I shall never again be what I was even 
 last year, when we made our excursion to Wales. But you come 
 because I am feeble, ill, and effaced. I hardly like you to make 
 such a sacriiice, but still I accept your offer to accompany me to 
 the sea with gratitude. My doctor says I must go to the pure 
 bracing air of my own county. So I have decided on Hunstanton, 
 a bathing-place I do not know : if I do not like it, I shall go on 
 to my well-beloved Cromer. Our little trip will be interesting 
 enough, as we shall sleep at Ely, and pass by Holkham, cele- 
 brated as the centre of agricultural knowledge, the type of a 
 great gentleman's house, containing fine pictures and valuable 
 manuscripts. But I do not like to take you so far from London , 
 where so many friends await you. I should not be alone, as I 
 shall have my maid and the faithful William, who is devoted 
 and intelligent. So arrange all this, and do not sacrifice your- 
 self too much. Come as soon as you like, it will be the greatest 
 pleasure you can give to 
 
 " Your ever affectionate 
 
 "S. A." 
 
 This is the last letter Sarah Austin wrote. On the 3rd of 
 August she had a severe fainting-fit, and she died on the 
 morning of the 8th. Her faithful and beloved friend, M. B. 
 St. Hilaire, arrived, alas ! a few hours after all was over. Mrs. 
 Austin lies in the churchyard of Weybridge, by the side of the 
 husband she loved so well, and to whose memory she raised 
 the noblest monument by editing and arranging his great work 
 on Jurisprudence. The Times truly said : — 
 
430 THREE GENERA TIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 " Mrs. Austin had a masculine intellect and a large heart. It 
 was not by the play of a vivid imagination, or by a habitual 
 display of what is termed wit, that she secured the affections 
 and the friendship of so many of the wisest and noblest of her 
 contemporaries. The power she exercised in society was due 
 to the sterling qualities of her judgment, her knowledge, her 
 literary style — which was one of great purity and excellence — 
 and above all, to her cordial readiness to promote all good 
 objects, to maintain high principles of action, and to confer 
 benefits on all who claimed her aid." 
 
 M. Guizot wrote to my father : — 
 
 [Translation.] 
 
 "Dear Sir Alexander, — The death of Mrs. Austin is a 
 real grief to me, for she was a trusty and intimate friend. I 
 knew her in the most prosperous and in the saddest periods of 
 my life, in the midst of my domestic joys and sorrows, of my 
 political successes and disasters. I always found her the same 
 — the same elevation of character, the same kindly sympathy, 
 the same energy of devotion to her friends. Hers was a rare 
 nature. I had given up all hope of seeing her again, and almost 
 told her so in the last letter I wrote to her. She said farewell 
 in her answer of the nth July." 
 
CHAPTER XLV. 
 
 LADY DUB'F GORDON. 
 
 Birth of Lucie Austin — Her Childhood — J. S. Mill her playmate — Goes to 
 Germany — Sydney Smith's Advice not to tear her Frock, to learn Arith- 
 metic — Meeting with Heinrich Heine at Boulogne — Lucie Austin sent to 
 School — HerFriends among the Fishermen at Boulogne — Visit of Miss 
 Shuttleworth to Bromley — Letters from Lucie Austin to Mrs. Grole. 
 
 Lucie Austin, the only child of John and Sarah Austin, was 
 born in Queen Square, Westminster, on June 24, 1821. At 
 first her life was despaired of, and only saved by th^; skill of the 
 surgeon Maudsley, who used to boast of his exploit, and always 
 called her his child. Her chief playfellows were her first cousin, 
 Henry Reeve, and her father's pupil in Roman Law, John 
 Stuart Mill, whom she called " Bun Don " (Brother John) 
 Jeremy Bentham's garden, next door, was the playground ; 
 his coach-house was converted into a gymnasium, and his 
 flower-beds were intersected by threads and tapes to represent 
 the passages of a panopticon prison. " Toodie," as she was 
 always called, was the pet of the remarkable circle who 
 frequented the house of her parents — the Grotes, the Carlyles, 
 Bullers, Sterlings, Mills, Romillys, Erie, Molesworth, Rogers, 
 Comte, Say, and many more. She grew in vigour and in sense, 
 with a strong tinge of originality and independence, and an 
 extreme love of animals. 
 
 In 1826, the Austins went to Germany for nearly two years 
 and Lucie came back transformed into a little German maiden 
 
432 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 with long braids of hair down her back, and speaking Ger- 
 man like her own language. Her childhood was singularly 
 lonely, days and days passed by without any companions of her 
 own age. She lived in a world of elves and fairies : and, as she 
 described, " Once standing in the garden at South Bank, 
 Regent's Park, gazing dreamily at some sunflowers, my face 
 must have been very sad, for a friend came up and asked me 
 what was the matter ? I answered, ' Nothing was the matter, 
 only I was wishing the sunflowers could talk to me.' " " Alone 
 by herself " she mused and roamed — unchecked, unquestioned, 
 and unamused by the usual occupations of girlish existence. 
 The only playfellow of her own age during their residence at 
 South Bank was Herbert Taylor, son of the lady who afterwards 
 became Mrs. J. Stuart Mill. The Taylors lived next door, and 
 he tells me how well he recollects the hole in the hedge through 
 which the two children used to creep in order to take off their 
 shoes and stockings and paddle in the Regent's Canal. He said 
 to me, " I remember how odd I thought your mother, and the 
 wonderful tales she used to tell me about the newts and toads." 
 She had little regular instruction save the Latin lessons her 
 mother gave her, and accomplishments were never attempted. 
 For a short time she went to a boys'-school at Hampstead, 
 kept by Dr. Biber, a German, where she showed more taste 
 for Greek than anything else, probably in obedience to her 
 father's strong desire that she should learn it. In 1834, Mrs. 
 Austin decided on leaving England, and Sydney Smith wrote 
 to the young girl : — 
 
 " Lucie, Lucie, my dear child, don't tear your frock : tearing 
 frocks is not of itself a proof of genius. But write as your 
 mother writes, act as your mother acts : be frank, loyal, affec- 
 tionate, simple, honest, and then integrity or laceration of 
 frock is of little import. And Lucie, dear child, mind your 
 arithmetic. You know in the first sum of yours I ever saw 
 there was a mistake. You h^d carried two (as a cab is licensed 
 
LADY DUFF GORDON. 453 
 
 to do), and you ought, dear Lucie, to have carried but one. Is 
 this a trifle ? What would life be without arithmetic but a 
 scene of horrors ? You are going to Boulogne, the city of 
 debts, peopled by men who have never understood arithmetic. 
 By the time you return, I shall probably have received my 
 first paralytic stroke, and shall have lost all recollection of you. 
 Therefore I now give you my parting advice — don't marry 
 anybody who has not a tolerable understanding and a thousand 
 a year. And God bless you, dear child." 
 
 At Boulogne, Lucie sat next Heinrich Heine at the table 
 cfhote. " He heard me speak German to my mother, and 
 soon began to talk to me, and then said, ' When you go back 
 to England, you can tell your friends that you have seen 
 Heinrich Heine.' I replied, 'And who is Heinrich Heine?' 
 He laughed heartily, and took no offence at my ignorance ; 
 and we used to lounge on the end of the pier together, where 
 he told me stories in which fish, mermaids, water-sprites, and a 
 very funny old French fiddler with a poodle were mixed up 
 in the most fanciful manner, sometimes humorous, and very 
 often pathetic, especially when the water-sprites brought him 
 greetings from the ' Nord See.' He was at Boulogne a month 
 or two, and I saw him often then, and always remembered 
 with great tenderness the poet who had told me the beautiful 
 stories, and been so kind to me and so sarcastic to every one 
 else. He afterwards told me that the poem, ' Wenn ich an 
 deinem Hause,' &c., was meant for me and my ' braune 
 Augen.' " ' 
 
 When in 1836 Mr. Austin was appointed a Commissioner to 
 the Island of Malta, it was thought undesirable to take a girl 
 of fifteen to a hot climate, so it was decided to send her to 
 school at Bromley. She writes to Miss Shuttleworth, step- 
 daughter of Mr. North, whose acquaintance she had made at 
 
 ' " Monographs," by Lord Houghton. Written by his request for his 
 article on " Heine," by Lady Duff Gordon. 
 
 29 
 
434 Three genera tiOns of enGlish women. 
 
 Hastings two years before, and who had a strong influence 
 over her : — 
 
 Lucie Austin to Janet Shuttleworth. 
 
 "London, Oct. 12, 1836. 
 
 " My dear Janet, — Thank you many, many times for your 
 kind letter which I would have answered directly had I not 
 been in such a state of worry and annoyance. I hear that I 
 am to be prodigiously dragooned at Miss Shepherd's ; I am 
 neither to receive nor write any letters whatever, except from 
 mamma, and all that I write or receive from her must be read 
 first by Miss Shepherd ; neither may I speak to any of my 
 friends except in her presence. Now this is annoying ; but 
 still more so is that I shall have to stay and dress in the same 
 room with several other girls, which I think excessively im- 
 proper. I don't know whether you do, but I am very prudish 
 about such things and do not like this at all. However I 
 think that my imperturbable insouciance will carry me through 
 anything. Whomever I offend, I shall quarrel with no one. 
 
 "I was very much distressed at parting with my matelot 
 friends at Boulogne, and they made such lamentations, and 
 begged me to go again and to write to them and not to forget 
 them, that I did not know what to say or do. I went over to 
 Pierre Henin's (the man who swam out to the Ampkitrite), at 
 about six in the morning on which we left Boulogne, to give 
 him my address. His wife was out ; and on going in I saw 
 Henin sitting there with his hands before his face crying 
 bitterly, so I went up to him; and laying my hand on his 
 shoulder, said, ' Mais done, Pierre, qu'est-ce que tu as ? ' He 
 seized both my hands, kissed them over and over again, and 
 said that he could not bear my going away, that I had been 
 ' si bonne ' to him, and that he loved me as much as his own 
 daughter, and wanted to know whether there was nothing in 
 the world he could do to serve me and to show me how much 
 he was attached to me. I was quite attendrie, and cried too, 
 promised to write to him, never to forget him, kissed him, his 
 wife and little girl ; and when I saw the last wave of his 
 
LADY DUFF GORDON. 435 
 
 bonnet rouge from the end of the pier through the wind and 
 pouring rain, I felt that I had just said adieu to as true a friend 
 as it would ever be my chance to meet with. I have been 
 very happy at Boulogne, and learnt to swim admirably of 
 Henin, and bathed every day in order to practise it. I went 
 occasionally to the matelot balls and to their houses, mending 
 their nets, playing with their children, learning their songs 
 and their manner of fishing and navigating, and speaking their 
 patois to perfection. Par consequent there was not a matelot 
 or a matelote in Boulogne or Partel (a fishing village twO miles 
 off) who was not delighted when Ma'mselle Lucie went into 
 their cottage. 
 
 " I wish to heavens, my dear friend, that I could see you ! 
 I have so much to say, and write with such abominable stiff- 
 ness and difficulty. A young cure at Boulogne tried to 
 convert -me to Catholicism ; it is useless to say that he did 
 not succeed, but I liked him very much, and he was very 
 tolerant and gentle and took a great liking and admiration for 
 me. His was not a very superior intellect, however, and I 
 rather frightened him by bringing up one or two unanswerable 
 reasonings of my father's which silenced him ; and he then 
 said no more about it, and we became very good friends, and I 
 gave some money and an engraving for his church, and went 
 to mass and to hear him preach. Pray write and tell me 
 whether Miss Shepherd is Evangelical, whether I shall have 
 to learn a catechism, whether there are prayers there, whether 
 she will persecute me about my religion (if I hien cntendu say 
 nothing about it), and so forth. 
 
 " Have you a liking for queer little ballads ? if you have, I 
 will send you one by Pierre Henin, one of the prettiest I know. 
 Many of the matelot songs are charming, especially the old 
 ones. I must be at Miss Shepherd's on the 21st, so please 
 write to me soon. I must say I rather dread going there. 
 Now, dearest Janet, good-bye, or rather ate revoir — it is less 
 sad. 
 
 " Your affectionate friend, 
 
 " Lucie Austin." 
 
436 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 Miss Shuttleworth went with her mother, Mrs. North, to 
 see Lucie at Bromley, and wrote in her diary : — ■ 
 
 " We found her looking ill and wretched, and Miss Shepherd 
 cross and not amiable about her. Harriet Stone, who is at 
 school there too, said Lucie had been crying violently. I, who 
 know her pride, know full well how very miserable she must 
 have been to have cried. When she embraced me at parting, 
 her eyes filled and her voice faltered. Dearest Lucie, she has 
 much misery in store, with her strong feelings, philosophical 
 pride, and lack of religion. Insouciance is nonsense, I have 
 plainly told her so ; it is even worse than nonsense, and it is 
 not her nature. By nature, Lucie's disposition is perfectly 
 good ; she is a splendid creature, full of genius, of talent and 
 honesty, simplicity and confidence in others and herself I 
 suspect Lucie may have shocked Miss Shepherd's ■ conven- 
 tionalism. I never saw a creature shrink so instinctively 
 from the least touch of vulgarity as Lucie ; she is so totally 
 without it herself — so above it — that it jars like discordant 
 sounds upon her mind." 
 
 The correct and vigorous style which afterwards distinguished 
 Lady Duff Gordon was apparent in her writing as a girl of 
 fifteen. One of her first letters from school was written to 
 Mrs. Grote :— 
 
 Lucie Austin to Harriet Grote. 
 
 "Nov. 6, 1836. 
 " My dearest Mrs. Grote, — As I have permission to write 
 (not without due inspection of all letters written and received, 
 however), I shall put you to the expense of twopence to tell 
 you how I am getting on. I like my convent very much. I 
 cannot give my opinion of Miss Shepherd, for I won't praise 
 her to her face, and I dare not abuse her if I would ; so we 
 must wait till Christmas, when I have a holiday of a fortnight. 
 I have written to mamma, and upbraided her for telling me 
 that Bromley was but four or five miles from London, whereas 
 
LADY DUFF GORDON. 437 
 
 I find myself twelve miles off, within a little at least. Janet 
 Shuttleworth was in London for a day before I came here, and 
 we had a long talk, and I liked her better than ever ; but she 
 brought up the old subject so well named by Mr. Bentham, 
 and I cannot reason with people who insist on such things. I 
 hope that when you have nothing better to do, you will come 
 down and see me. Between one and two is the best time, as 
 we go out afterwards to walk. Or, au pis aller, that you will 
 write me a note, letter, or what you will ; so long as it is from 
 you, I shall be delighted to receive it. I am dying to see you 
 or hear from you, and don't hope that you will escape my 
 quartering myself upon you for a day at Christmas ; for I will 
 hold a solemn palaver with you, which I could not accomplish 
 before coming here. I shall not be able to write to you again, 
 as I shall not have time to write to any one but mamma, and 
 not much to her ; as, if I do my Latin and Greek lessons 
 satisfactorily, I shall be rather hard-worked. 
 
 " Your most affectionate 
 
 " Lucie Austin." 
 
 Lucie Austin to Harriet Grote. 
 
 '■'■'Loi<iT>OT<i, January 10, 1837. 
 
 " Dearest Mrs. Grote, — As I shall be unable to come and 
 see you before my rettirn to Bromley, I write you my adieus. 
 I would ask you to write to me, but perhaps it is better not, as 
 it might cause some desagremcnts between Miss Shepherd and 
 me, which it must be my study to avoid as much as possible. 
 On this account do not tell any one that I find fault with any- 
 thing ; nothing makes her so angry as one's not being happier 
 with her than anywhere else. 
 
 " I cannot tell you how delighted I was at Mr. Grote's kind- 
 ness to me. I really quite cried for pleasure when I went away : 
 I felt so proud and happy that such a man should take an 
 interest in me and my concerns ; for, after my own dear father, 
 I do not respect and love any one better than Mr. Grote, or 
 indeed so much. Do you think that he could be prevailed 
 upon to write something in my album ? My best love to de^r 
 
438 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 Mr. Grote ; also to Henry Taylor, if you fall in with him ; to 
 dear Carl Buller and Pawnee Chief (Sir W. Molesworth) ; and, 
 above all, to yourself, my dearest friend. 
 
 " Yours ever, 
 
 "Lucie Austin." 
 
CHAPTER XL VI. 
 
 LADY DUFF GORDON {contiiwed). 
 
 Letters from Lucie Austin to Miss Shuttleworth — Death of Lady Nasmyth — 
 Consolation of Christian Religion — Letter from Lucie Austin to Mrs. 
 Grote on her Baptism — Reminiscences of Lucie Austin by Miss Marianne 
 North — Her Tame Snake. 
 
 Lucie Austin to Janet Shuttleworth. 
 
 " London, August 20, 1837. 
 " Dear Janet, — In a few days I start for Coed-dhu, my 
 aunt's house, near Mold, in Flintshire, where I shall remain 
 till the beginning of October. Miss Shepherd I now like ex- 
 ceedingly — nay, love her dearly, as must every one who knows 
 her ; her qualities are such as must strike all minds and opinions, 
 however different. I was deeply grieved at Lady Nasmyth's 
 death ; it is indeed a severe affliction and a dreadful loss. May 
 your religion enable you to bear it with that Christian patience 
 which is so deeply affecting and beautiful even to me ! Do not 
 ask or expect me to speak of my present opinions. I have been 
 lately disgusted with a great deal of illiberality, and am not 
 therefore in an unprejudiced state of mind. Be sure, however, 
 that I admire the doctrines and sentiments of Christianity above 
 all others, whatever my own feelings may be with regard to the 
 truths of your belief, or even of that of the Socinians, to which, 
 if to any modification of religion, I feel the greatest inclina- 
 tion. 
 
 " Ever your affectionate friend, 
 
 " Lucie Austin," 
 
440 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 Lucie Austin to Janet Shuttleworth. 
 
 " Coed-dhCt, September 27, 1837. 
 " Dearest Janet, — I must ask what you mean by refusing 
 to Unitarians the name of Christians. I never thought, and 
 never can think, you could be by nature intolerant, but certainly 
 I fear you are likely to become so if you do not take care. I 
 will give you the title of a little book on Unitarianism I should 
 like you to read. I do not give it to you as my opinions, not 
 being prepared to define them as yet ; and really, dear Janet, 
 our views are, and are likely to remain, so entirely opposite, 
 that it is but vanity and vexation of spirit to have any more 
 discussion on the subject. Depend upon it, that whatever my 
 views may be, I shall always be of opinion that one who follows 
 his own religion quelconque^ with a humble and conscientious 
 spirit, is sure of Divine mercy ; and my ideas of the importance 
 of doctrines are absolutely nothing. Can we not be friends just 
 as well if our opinions differ ? — or, rather, I should say, can you 
 not be my friend ? I should be sorry if that which ought to 
 promote kindness and goodwill and charity were to be a cause 
 of disagreement between us — no ! not disagreement, that is too 
 strong a word, but ehignement. Pray let us drop a subject on 
 which we never can agree, and be assured that I can never love 
 you less. So believe more than I can say of the affection of 
 your faithful friend, 
 
 " Lucie Austin." 
 
 Lucie Austin to Janet Shuttleworth. 
 
 "Bromley, November 9, 1837. 
 " Dear Janet, — I heard from mamma a fortnight ago ; the 
 Commissioners are coming home in the spring. Don't you 
 congratulate me ? You know I have not been with them at 
 all since June, 1836 — a long time for a spoilt child, n^est-ce pas? 
 I was very happy at Coed-dhu ; every one was very kind to me. 
 I had not my own way, but I had that of people I was fond of, 
 which is much more agreeable. You would like my cousin 
 John Taylor, if I know your taste ; he is too Utopian in his 
 notions for me, and thinks everybody much too good ; but I 
 
LADY DUFF GORDON. 441 
 
 am very fond of him. You remember my Londonomania ? 
 Eh hien fen sins revenue. I hate London most cordially, and 
 will live in Wales. Do you enjoy field-sports — hunting, racing, 
 shooting, &c. ? I have conceived a passion for them, more 
 especially for such as concern horses. I used to go with John 
 when he went shooting, till at last he used to call for his dogs, 
 gun, Peter (the keeper), and Lucie, as part of his train, quite as 
 much as the rest. You would have laughed at the torn, wet, 
 scratched figure I came home after a day's shooting over the 
 hills. You must expect to be bitten Wales-mad by me when I 
 arrive at Hastings to spend Christmas with you. Till then, 
 farewell. 
 
 " Yours ever, 
 
 " Thonys. 
 " P.S. — I think this way of spelling my name more distin- 
 guished, being Welsh." 
 
 During her visit to Mr. and Mrs. North, at Hastings, Lucie 
 Austin determined to be baptised as a member of the Church 
 of England at the same time with her friend Janet Shuttle- 
 worth's little half-sister, Catherine North (now Mrs. J. Addington 
 Symonds). Mr. Spring Rice (afterwards Lord Monteagle) was 
 her sponsor. 
 
 Liicie Austin to Harriet Grote. 
 
 ^^ February 20, 1838. 
 " Dear Mrs Grote, — Perhaps you have already heard of my 
 having, and I hope most conscientiously, sought to be admitted 
 by baptism into the Established Church, and you may think, 
 with many, I ought not to have taken so important a step solely 
 on my own responsibility ; but till you tell me so, I will not 
 attempt defence of that which does not appear to come under 
 the denomination ' optional.' I believe I have done my duty, 
 and acted in obedience to the Giver of the ' commandment 
 with promise,' and that in no way could I more honour my 
 parents than by confident trust they will sanction my conduct. 
 I hope they and I will be but of one heart and one niind ori 
 
442 THREE GENERA TIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 this important point. I am prepared for some slight crosses from 
 many excellent friends, whose creed I never could satisfactorily 
 adopt ; but with the ' fear of God ' before my eyes, I could not 
 be deterred by this difficulty, through which I know, if I place 
 but perfect trust in Him, and cultivate humility, His strength 
 will guide me. I expect to be pitied for that ignorance and 
 weakness which has made me an easy victim to other's rule ; 
 but my own heart tells me that I have no claims upon any such 
 commiseration. My sponsors were wholly unprepared for my 
 application to them to become such, and had not an unlooked- 
 for and quiet opportunity of attending an infant of Mrs. North's 
 to the baptismal font offered itself, I had probably yet remained 
 in the same painfully unsatisfied state of mind that had so long 
 been mine. I already experience happiness and advantage in and 
 from the views and hopes which from day to day seem to unfold 
 themselves more and more ; and I expect and pray, if I make 
 religion my guide, that even the most opposed to my present 
 opinions will ultimately rejoice in their influence upon my 
 character and conduct. Surely you, who have ever been to 
 me the best and dearest of friends, will be the last to disapprove 
 of anything which could attend to my improvement and happi- 
 ness, which I feel convinced must be the case with my present 
 faith and feelings. Do pray then, my dearest Mrs. Grote, 
 write me a few lines to assure me of your favour and that of 
 dear Mr. Grote, to whom my very best love, and accept the 
 same from 
 
 " Your ever attached and loving child, 
 
 " Lucie Austin." 
 
 In Miss Shuttleworth's diary I find an entry in February : 
 
 " I had a letter from dearest Lucie which makes my heart 
 ache. She is persecuted by some of her relations, and Mrs. 
 Grote is very severe upon her, and has written her a sarcastic, 
 cutting letter. This she will deeply feel, being so much 
 attached to Mrs. Grote, and having so high an opinion of her. 
 She says, ' I see I shall have a good deal to put up with, but I 
 incurred it with my eyes open ; and what I should sink under 
 if left only to the support of my own strength, God will support 
 
LADY DUFF GORDON. 443 
 
 me through, I trust, unshaken. I cannot be too grateful for 
 what I more and more find to be my greatest and only abiding 
 happiness, and owe inexpressible thanks to those who were the 
 means of affording it to me.' " 
 
 Miss Marianne North,' the half-sister of my mother's friend, 
 Janet Shuttleworth, has been kind enough to write me her 
 recollections, which I give in her own graphic words : — 
 
 " The person who made the strongest impression on me was 
 Lucie Austin, then at school with Miss Shepherd, at Bromley 
 Common. She spent many of her holidays with us while her 
 parents were abroad, and inspired me (then about seven years 
 old] with the most profound respect and admiration — as one 
 raised above ordinary mortals. Her grand eyes and deep-toned 
 voice, her entire fearlessness and contempt for what people 
 thought of her, charmed me. Then she had a tame snake, and 
 must surely have been something more than a woman to tame 
 a snake ! She used to carry her pet about with her, wound 
 round her arm (inside the large baggy sleeves which were then 
 the fashion), and it would put its slender head out at the wrist- 
 hole, and lap milk out of the palm of her hand with its little 
 forked tongue. It was as fond of glittering things as Lucie 
 herself, and when she took her many rings off her fingers and 
 placed them on different parts of the table, it would go about 
 collecting them, stringing them on its lithe body, and finally 
 tying itself into a tight knot, so that the rings could not be re- 
 covered till it chose to untie itself again. Sometimes Lucie 
 would twist the pretty bronze creature in the great plait of hair 
 she wore round her head, and once she threatened to come 
 down to a dinner party of rather stiff people thus decorated, 
 and only gave it up when my mother entreated her with tears 
 in her eyes not to do so. She used to sit for hours together in 
 a rocking-chair reading Shakespeare to us, and acting and de- 
 claiming her favourite parts over and over again, till I knew 
 them by heart myself, and Beatrice and Portia became my 
 
 ' Died in 1890, and left a charming autobiography, " Recollections of a 
 Happy Life," in which this account of my mother is published. 
 
444 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 personal friends. When my sister Catherine was to be 
 christened, Lucie thought she would like to be christened 
 at the same time. Her mother, who was one of the famous 
 Unitarian Taylors of Norwich, had of course never thought of 
 such a thing ; but when (at my father's suggestion) she wrote 
 to ask her parents' leave first, Mrs. Austin wrote back that she 
 was welcome to do as she liked in that matter ; and I remember 
 well the curious scene of our good old Rector, Mr. Foyster, in a 
 highly nervous state, performing the ceremony to the baby in 
 arms and the magnificent lady of eighteen in the ugly old 
 church of St. Clement, Lord Monteagle, Miss Shepherd, and 
 my mother being the sponsors. 
 
 " Soon after that, Lucie was engaged to be married to Sir 
 Alexander Duff Gordon, a very handsome man, who used to 
 come down for weeks at a time, and drew wonderful devils in 
 our scrapbooks, and walk about with her, wound up in one 
 plaid. They especially liked doing this on the flat roof at 
 Gawthorpe, to my mother's horror, who thought the neigh- 
 bours might think it was her daughter Janet, who was quite 
 innocent of everything but good works, schools, lending libraries, 
 church buildings, &c., which she used to plan in one of the bow 
 windows in the long gallery, while Lucie often employed her 
 time in illuminating beautiful floral arabesques round her 
 favourite poems in some book. The two were great friends, 
 and remained so until the end of their lives ; while I lost sight 
 of Lady Duff Gordon till I saw her in her old age at Luxor 
 amongst all her Arab friends, who looked upon her, as I had 
 done in my childhood, as a wise woman, with almost super- 
 natural powers. 
 
 '' I do not think I can give you much else ; the tone of her 
 voice still seems to ring in my ears as I think of her grand head 
 with its heavy roll of hair round it. She used to wear a brown 
 holland blouse and a red shawl — much as you do." 
 
CHAPTER XLVII. 
 
 LADY DUFF GORDON {continued). 
 
 Return of Mr. and Mrs. Austin from Malta — Sir Alexander Duff Gordon and 
 Lucie Austin — Their Marriage — 8, Queen Square, Westminster — M. 
 Guizot's first Dinner in England in 1848 — Visit to Atelier of Kaulbach in 
 Augsburg — Translation of "Amber Witch" and Mrs. Norton's 
 Criticisms — " The French in Algiers" — "Remarkable Criminal Trials" 
 — Sir A. Duff Gordon has Cholera — Letter from Lady Duff Gordon to 
 Mrs. Austin from Richmond — Eothen and Ford's " Spain " — Hassan el 
 Bakkeet— The Chartist Riots. 
 
 In June, the Austins returned from Malta, and Lucie began 
 to appear in the world. Mrs. Austin's old friends flocked 
 about her, and many new acquaintances mingled with them. 
 Lucie writes to her Italian master, Prandi, who was a devoted 
 friend of her family : — 
 
 " I have not seen you for three days, and shall be obliged to 
 get me a new father confessor if you perform your duties so 
 negligently. To-night I am going to Rogers, il rivale of Mr. 
 Wishaw. In good sooth it is not easy to choose between 
 such fascinating lovers, for though no longer in the first bloom 
 of youth, both are very charming." 
 
 Sir Alexander Duff Gordon met the Austins, I believe, first 
 at Lansdowne House ; he was at once attracted by the mother, 
 and became deeply attached to the daughter. They used to 
 
446 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 walk out together, as she was left much to herself, owing to 
 her mother's literary occupations and her father's bad health. 
 One day Sir Alexander said to her, " Miss Austin, do you 
 know people say we are going to be married ? " She was 
 annoyed at being talked about and hurt at his brusque way of 
 mentioning it, but just as she was going to give a sharp 
 .answer, he added, " Shall we make it true ? " She replied with 
 characteristic straightforwardness by the monosyllable " Yes," 
 and so they were engaged. They were married in Kensington 
 old church, on the i6th of May, 1840. Eye-witnesses still 
 remember the singular beauty of the young pair — tall, dark, 
 and stately. They took No. 8, Queen Square, Westminster, 
 an old house with a statue of Queen Anne at one end. 
 
 The talent associated with the beauty, sincerity and com- 
 plete unaffectedness of Lady Duff Gordon, and her husband's 
 remarkable charm of manner arid pleasant conversation, soon 
 attracted a remarkable circle of friends and acquaintances — 
 many of whom, alas ! have passed away. Lord Lansdowne, 
 Lord Monteagle, Dickens, Thackeray, Eliot Warburton (who 
 was lost in the "Amazon"), Tennyson, Henry Taylor, 
 Mrs. Norton, Kinglake, and Tom Taylor were hahitiih ; and 
 every foreigner of talent and renown looked upon the Duff- 
 Gordon house as a centre of interest. When M. Guizot escaped 
 from France in 1848, his first dinner and welcome was in Queen 
 Square ; and I remember as a little child to have been 
 much astonished at Leopold Ranke, who walked up and down 
 the drawing-room, talking vehemently in a kind of olla podrida 
 of English, French, German, Italian and Spanish. Now and 
 then a Latin quotation would come in. It was almost impos- 
 sible to understand him as he talked fast, and mixed up all the 
 languages into a compound of his own. Soon after their 
 marriage, my father and mother went abroad, and she wrote 
 from Munich to her mother : — 
 
LADV bU^F GOAdON. 44? 
 
 Lady Duff Gordon to Sarah Austin. 
 
 " Augsburg, _/?^/v 6, 1840. 
 
 " Dearest Mutter, — Alick left me to tell you that our 
 friend Magnus took us to Kaulbach's atelier, where we saw his 
 ' Hunnenschlacht,' his ' Tollhaus,' a great new picture he is 
 designing of the destruction of Jerusalem, and last but not 
 least, a set of drawings for a new edition of ' Reineke Fuchs,' 
 for which I could have worshipped him. The lion's court, the 
 cock accusing ' Reineke ' to the King, ' Reineke ' keeping 
 school for the rabbits, and lastly ' Reineke stellte sich fromm,' 
 over which Alick laughed till large tears ran down, were 
 finished ; but there will be forty or fifty. If you could see 
 ' Reineke's ' face and attitude, his shaven crown, his downcast 
 eye, and mouth down at the corners ! — in short, the drawings 
 are quite as good as the poem. Kaulbach is a wonderful 
 genius ; he had beautiful erhaben paintings, drawings which 
 might have been Hogarth's, and this ' Reineke,' in quite 
 another style of work, besides which he is a beautiful portrait 
 painter. Our friend Magnus showed us some beautiful 
 sketches he had made of some Italian peasants. Munich 
 disagreed with both of us excessively ; I never felt so depressing 
 and languid an air. We were amused by a bookseller here, 
 into whose shop we went to buy the Gospel of the Life of 
 Maria ; he had not got it, and wanted us to buy Sievert's 
 ' Leben Christi.' Alick, not h-earing the name of the author, 
 asked if it was Strauss's. The poor man looked shocked and 
 frightened, his being a pious shop ; and on our expressing 
 decorous sympathy with his feelings, he added in a most con- 
 fidential tone, ' Aber wissen Sie doch, gnadige Frau, es gibt 
 auch Freigeister hier in Augsburg ! ' (' But do you know, 
 ma'am, there are freethinkers even in Augsburg ! '). His face 
 was unutterable, and we only suppressed our laughter till the 
 door closed behind us. 
 
 " In the library at Munich we saw Albrecht Diirer's prayer- 
 book (exquisite beyond any of his works), and a missal illumi- 
 nated by Hemlingh, which I need not say was beautiful. 
 .Albrecht's Diirer's portrait of himself, with his beautiful curls, 
 pleased me, I believe, more than anything in the Pinacothek ; 
 
448 THREE GENEkATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 his face, so sweet and so sad, is quite riikrend (touching), and 
 so beautiful, no print could ever catch the life in the face and 
 in the very hair and beard. I should not like one, and as it is, 
 shall never forget his picture ; it was like seeing himself : I 
 never saw any portrait at all like it. I hope we shall hear 
 from you at Bonn, where we shall not stay long, fauie de temps. 
 How is Da ? " to whom best love. " Your own 
 
 " TOODIE." 
 
 Lady Duff Gordon continued after her marriage the trans- 
 lation she had begun of Niebuhr's " Stories of the Gods and 
 Heroes of Greece," which was published under Mrs. Austin's 
 name in 1842. In that year their eldest child was born ; and 
 in 1843, Lady Duff Gordon began the translation of the 
 " Amber Witch." Before doing it, Mrs. Norton says, " she 
 read through — in order, as she said, to familiarise her mind 
 with the subject — a mass of narratives relating to that bygone 
 superstition, and such trials as have survived in printed 
 records. One of these especially struck her. A woman aged 
 thirty-six or thereabouts, with a husband and many children, 
 was accused of witchcraft. It was the law of the time not to 
 execute till after confession. This woman was contumacious ; 
 not only she would not confess, but she declared that to the 
 best of her belief there was no such thing as witchcraft. She 
 was remanded again and again to torture and to prison. At 
 length she announced her confession, and was led to die with 
 others under a like sentence. She got leave to speak a few 
 words to the crowd of spectators, and suddenly reiterated to 
 them her utter disbelief in witchcraft and her innocence. 
 ' But,' said she, ' since even my husband and children hold 
 me to be a witch, I am content to die rather than to live this 
 day.' Lady Gordon laid down the book and said, ' I feel with 
 that woman.' " " 
 
 • Mr. Austin. 
 
 " " Lady Duff Gordon and her Works." Mac/nillan's Magazine, Septi 
 1869. 
 
LADY bVFF GOkbON. 449 
 
 The " Amber Witch " was followed by the " French in 
 Algiers," which came out in 184S, and "Remarkable Criminal 
 Trials " (Feuerbach) in the following year. My father nearly 
 died of an attack of cholera in 1846, and Lord Lansdowne, 
 ever kind and thoughtful, lent him his villa at Richmond for 
 the autumn. 
 
 Lady Duff Gordon to Sarah Austin. 
 
 "Richmond, August 16, 1846. 
 " Dearest Mutter, — Alick brought me your letter of the 
 8th inst. to-day, and a great relief it was to me to know where 
 you were, and where to write to you. I am furious about my 
 letters. I am sure at least two of them have never reached 
 you. Did you never get my account of poor Ahck's 
 dreadful illness, and afterwards a letter containing a com- 
 mission for black lace ? Here we are in the most perfect 
 of villas ; were the weather but tolerable it would be a 
 paradise ; but, alas ! November could not be more cold; 
 damp, and gloomy than this August. The Berrys are here in 
 Mrs. Lamb's house, and Lady Char. (Lady Charlotte Lindsay) 
 at Petersham, and all well and youthful. Mr. Senior is 
 vacation-master in London this year again, and finds us a god- 
 send for his Saturdays and Sundays. We have had various 
 people here, and many more have announced their intention 
 of coming. Aunt Reeve first, and the Gordons, Lord Lans- 
 downe himself for a day or two in passing through London, — 
 and he ' was so much obliged for our kind hospitality in 
 giving him a dinner and a bed,' — Dwarkanauth Tagore, the 
 clever Hindoo merchant, &c., &c., and Landseer and Eastlake. 
 Our faithful friend Eothen ' left us yesterday, having spent 
 Wednesday and Thursday here, for Algeria, where he hopes to 
 join Abd-el-Kader, if possible. I gave him several letters for 
 Paris, and bade him find you out and call on you in October 
 on his way back. I don't know whether you will make much 
 
 ' Mr. A. W. Kinglake. 
 30 
 
450 J^HREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 out of him, for he is both shy and reserved. But when the 
 ice is broken, he is very amusing, and he nursed Alick and 
 helped and cheered me with the gentleness and kindness of a 
 woman. Moreover, he has lent me a horse ever since, and been 
 constantly kind and good-natured. As to his book, I don't 
 believe it has been translated at all ; nor would it be easy to 
 translate — a lively, brilliant, and rather insolent style is very 
 hard to put into German above all. Why does no one 
 translate Dana's ' Two Years Before the Mast ' ? It is equal to 
 ' Robinson Crusoe,' though written by an American, and I 
 hear that it is perfectly true, every word of it. Or Madame 
 Calderon de la Barca's ' Life in Mexico ' ? She is a Scotch 
 woman, married to a Spaniard, a descendant of Calderon's and 
 ambassador to Mexico. Or Drummond Hay's ' Wild Tribes 
 and Savage Beasts in Morocco ' ? The most amusing book 
 this year is Ford's ' Handbook of Spain ' — one of the ' red 
 Hurrays.' It is written in a style between Burton's 
 ' Anatomy of Melancholy ' and any work by the immortal 
 Sancho Panza, had he ever written a book ; so quaint, so 
 lively, and such knowledge of the country. Alick and Cosmo 
 are in raptures with it. How I envy you Munich. If you see 
 Kaulbach, tell him how often we talk of him, his pictures, and 
 his beautiful little girl ; and look at Albrecht Diirer's beautiful 
 pale face in the gallery, and griiss him for me. Little Janet is 
 grown so tall, quite a girl and not a baby, and she asks 
 vernuTifttg (reasonable) questions, and is somebody. She always 
 quotes you as ' the danmama who let me play with ink.' 
 She has quite Alick's figure, and ' turns her round lichtly as 
 the Gordons does a'.' 
 
 " We shall be here till about the loth of October, I think, 
 and then home to London, unless we pay a few visits ; but 
 much depends on the weather, which is execrable. This house 
 is Bowood on a diminished scale as to comfort, and such a civil 
 old housemaid, all a la Lansdowne. Elise's amazement and 
 admiration were very amusing, and Hassan (a black boy) is an 
 inch taller for our grandeur^ez^ sen faut, he thinks me a 
 great lady, and himself a great butler. It sounds absurd to 
 say, but I have not yet recovered the. fright of AHck's cholera, 
 it has made me nervous about him in every way. He has 
 
LADY DUFP CORDON. 451 
 
 been stronger and better lately than ever, I think, and is 
 growing fat. 
 
 ' ' Ever your affectionate 
 
 "TOODIE." 
 
 Hassan el Bakkeet, the black boy mentioned in this letter, 
 was quite a feature in the establishment. Lady Duff Gordon 
 had found him crouching on the doorstep one night on her 
 return from a theatrical party at Charles Dickens's. His 
 master had turned him out of doors because he was going 
 blind, and having sometimes been to Queen Square with 
 notes and messages from Signor Prandi, who lived in the 
 same house with his master, he had come "to die," as he 
 said, " outside the house of the beautiful pale lady." My 
 mother took him in, put him under a good oculist, and he 
 became her devoted slave and servant and my playmate ; he 
 was about ten years old. 
 
 I perfectly recollect Mr. Hilliard, the American author, 
 being much shocked at seeing me in Hassan's arms, and my 
 rage at his asking how Lady Gordon could let a negro touch 
 her child ? whereupon she called us to her, and kissed me 
 first and Hassan afterwards. 
 
 He was probably a Nubian, and had come into the possession 
 of English missionaries when quite a baby, so that he not only 
 spoke English well and without foreign accent, but was always 
 ready with phrases in use amongst pious people, and liked, 
 when he could, to apply them as means of giving honour and 
 glory to his beloved master and mistress. So that if, for 
 example, it happened that, when they were not at home, a 
 visitor called on Sunday, he was sure to be told by Hassan, 
 that Sir Alexander and my Lady were at church, or even — for 
 his diction was equal to this — that they were " attending 
 Divine Service." 
 
 Lady Duff Gordon had the courage to practise true Christian 
 kindness under conditions from which many people might 
 
452 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 often shrink. A certain " Mary " known to the household had 
 brought herself into trouble by omitting the precaution of 
 marriage, and my mother determined to secure the girl a safe 
 refuge by taking her into her service. Before doing this, 
 however, she assembled the other servants, and warned them 
 that instant dismissal would be the penalty for saying a single 
 unkind word to Mary. Then small jet-black Hassan, possessed 
 with an idea of the dignity of his sex, conceived it his duty to 
 become the spokesman of the rest, and accordingly advancing 
 a little in front of the neat-aproned, tall maid-servants, he 
 promised in his and their name a full and careful obedience 
 to the mistress's orders ; but then, wringing his hands and 
 raising them over his head, he added, "What a lesson to us 
 all, my Lady ! " 
 
 The oculist who cured him offered to take him into his 
 service, and give him £\z a year and a fine scarlet dress, and 
 my mother advised him to accept the place ; when poor Hassan 
 fell on his knees in a passion of tears, and begged to be whipped 
 instead of being sent away. " Five pounds with you are far 
 sweeter than the ;^I2 he offers," said he. 
 
 On the birth of a son, Hassan announced triumphantly to 
 all callers, " We have got a boy ; " and one evening, when 
 Prince Louis Napoleon (the late Emperor of the French) came 
 in unexpectedly to dinner, he gravely said, " Please, my Lady, 
 I ran out and bought twopennyworth of sprats for the Prince, 
 for the honour of the house." 
 
 Lady Duff Gordon's old friend, William Bridges Adams, the 
 engineer, had a workshop, which she sometimes went to visit. 
 She was very popular with the men, and during the Chartist 
 riots in 1848, they came to protect their " Lady." She 
 describes the scene in a letter to her mother : — 
 
LADY D UFF GORDON. 453 
 
 Lady Duff Gordon to Sarah Austin. 
 
 ''April 10, 1848. 
 
 " Dearest Mutter, — I had only time to write once yester- 
 day, as all hands were full of bustle in entertaining our guests. 
 I never wish to see forty better gentlemen than we had here 
 last night. As all was quiet, we had supper, cold beef, bread, 
 and beer, with songs, sentiments, and toasts, such as ' Success 
 to the roof we are under,' ' Liberty, brotherhood, and order.' 
 Then they bivouacked in the different houses till five this 
 morning, when they started home. Among the party was a 
 stray policeman, who looked rather wonderstruck. Tom 
 Taylor was capital, made short speeches, told stories, and 
 kept all in high good-humour ; and Alick came home and 
 was received with great glee and affection. All agreed that 
 the fright, to us at least, was well made up by the kindly and 
 pleasant evening. As no one would take a penny, we shall 
 send books to the library, or a contribution to the school, all 
 our neighbours being quite anxious to pay, though not willing 
 to fraternise. I shall send cravats as a badge to the ' Gordon 
 Volunteers.' 
 
 " I enclose a letter from Eothen (Kinglake) about Paris, 
 which will interest you. My friends of yesterday unanimously 
 decided that Louis Blanc would ' just suit the " lazy set." ' 
 
 " We had one row, which, however, ceased on the appearance 
 of our stalwart troop — indeed, I think one Birmingham smith, 
 a handsome fellow six foot high, whose vehement disinterested- 
 ness would neither allow him to eat, drink, or sleep in the 
 house, would have scattered them. 
 
 " Your affectionate 
 
 " TOODIE." 
 
CHAPTER XL VIII. 
 
 LADY DUFF GORDON {continued). 
 
 ' ' Village Tales from Alsatia " — Ranke's " Memoirs of the House of Branden- 
 burg " — Residence at Weybridge — Mrs. Norton on Lisbon Society — ' ' Stella 
 and Vanessa"— Mr. C. J. Bayley, "The Thunderer of T/ie Times"— 
 Working Men's Library at Weybridge — Letters from Mr. Richard Doyle 
 to Lady Duff Gordon — Sir R. Peel — " Big Higgins" — Sir J. Graham — 
 The Italian Opera — The Whig Ministry and Madame Tussaud. 
 
 In 1848, Sir Alexander Duff Gordon translated "Village Tales 
 from Alsatia," by Weill, and the following year he and his wife 
 together, Ranke's " Memoirs of the House of Brandenburg." 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Austin having been driven out of Paris by the 
 Revolution of '48, had taken a long, low, rambling cottage at 
 Weybridge in Surrey ; and after the birth of their son Maurice, 
 in March, 1849, the Duff Gordons spent the summer there. 
 Mrs. Norton, to whom both Sir Alexander and his wife were 
 exceedingly attached, wrote to the former from Lisbon : — 
 
 Honhle. Caroline Norton to Sir Alex. Duff Gordon. 
 
 " Lisbon, y2«2« 9, 1849. 
 " Dear Semi - Hub, — I would have delighted in being 
 Maurice's godmother. I thought of asking Lucie, but then 
 I bethought me, ' Lo I 'tis a male child, and a hidalgo, and 
 there will be some family grandee who will be invited to the 
 dignity of being the fat darling's godmother,' so I desisted, 
 
 454 
 
LADY DUFF GORDON. 455 
 
 " I am most glad that Lucie goes on well. How often I 
 wish for you both, I cannot say ; sometimes selfishly, for we, 
 sometimes for your own sakes. Fletcher is too weak, Harry 
 Howard too lazy and dispirited to see any of the sights of 
 Lisbon, and Brownie (hear it, O Punch !) is too fine to like 
 walking with me and my donkey, and says, ' ladies in a foreign 
 capital ' ought not to ride donkeys. Often I am reduced to 
 converse with the faithful Childe,' who, after a pause, thus 
 renews the topics of the day : ' l beg your pardon, ma'am, but 
 is it true Her Majesty has been shot at ? ' ' I beg your pardon, 
 ma'am, but there is most astonishing shabby turn-outs among 
 the noblemen's carriages in this country,' — an observation 
 which chimes in with my own opinions, and which I therefore 
 receive with the more cordiality. ■ 
 
 " I had a woman friend, very intelligent, but what with her 
 constant rehearsals for private theatricals and performances of 
 love (already some years rehearsed) with a velvet-eyed Spanish 
 attache here, I see little of her. The Pope's nuncio is a great 
 friend, but he has bursts of absence (during which, I believe, 
 he does penance for our interviews — to no purpose), reappear- 
 ing gay, boyish, and sinful, like an otter coming up to breathe. 
 The Portuguese society is stiff and disjointed — indeed, it ain't 
 jointed at all ; only stiff. Every one civil, smiling, and appa- 
 rently anxious if they knew how to ' Her amiiie ' with you, but 
 never an inch nearer. A Portuguese gentleman told me, it 
 was not unusual to see a lady in the winter and dance with 
 her several nights, and never meet her again till the winter 
 after. They hardly ever visit, or receive visits — never men, at 
 least in very few Portuguese families. The women meet with 
 apparent cordiality, kiss each other, and then sit down in a 
 formal row, never stir afterwards the whole evening, and 
 seldom speak even to those they have just embraced. Nobody 
 reads or writes. They sing sometimes, and always look out of 
 the window. I am sure it is good for the eyes to be ignorant, 
 and to stare out of the window, for oh ! the pretty eyes I see 
 here among the women. The look of mingled laziness, curi- 
 osity and passion, which replaces the English intelligence and 
 
 ' Mrs. Norton's in^id. 
 
456 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 good behaviour of expression ! I think the Infanta's daughter, 
 Comtesse Quinares, has the most beautiful eyes that ever 
 opened on the world, like pools among the dead brown 
 autumn leaves on a warm summer night, with stars looking 
 down into them. 
 
 " Love to Lucie and the children. 
 
 " Your affectionate 
 
 " Carry." 
 
 Lady Duff Gordon translated " Stella and Vanessa," from 
 the French of Leon de Wailly, in 1850 ; it originally appeared 
 as z. feuilleton in a newspaper, and remained unnoticed until 
 the English version appeared. It was then published in 
 France as a separate volume with very great success, which 
 the author always declared he owed to his English translator. 
 
 For some years C. J. Bayley, who was, I believe, called the 
 " Thunderer of The Times" had lived with the Duff Gordons, 
 and, to their great sorrow, was appointed Secretary to the 
 Government of the island of Mauritius. Lady Duff Gordon 
 wrote often to him. 
 
 Lady Diiff Gordon to C J. Bayley. 
 
 " Weybridge, Oct. 17, 1850. 
 
 " Dear Bayley, — I have not left Weybridge this summer, 
 except to go to Sandgate for three weeks for Maurice's health. 
 I still like my caompagnarde existence of all things ; it just 
 suits my laziness and my children's health and happiness. 
 Alick, too, looks ten years younger than he ever did in 
 London. 
 
 " I have set up a working man's library and reading-room 
 here, and have forty subscribers at twopence a week. It 
 answers very well, I think ; they all like it much ; and I go 
 most Monday evenings and transact the business and talk over 
 the news. I hope it will do some good here ; at any rate, it 
 keeps a few out of the public-house. I don't know any news 
 
LADY DUFF GORDON. 457 
 
 to tell you of any one, as indeed how should I ? But I should 
 like to know the most sage reasons which lead you to become 
 a Protectionist. I fear the insular and colonial life has begun 
 to affect your intellect, and that you will want a good deal of 
 scouring when you come home. 
 
 " We shall soon be going back to Queen Square for the 
 winter. Would that your familiar face could greet me there ! 
 
 " Good-bye, dear Lodger. 
 
 " Your affectionate 
 
 " Padrona," 
 
 Richard Doyle to Lady Duff Gordon. 
 
 " 17, Cambridge Terrace, Hyde Park, 
 
 "■March 22, 1851. 
 
 " Dear Lady Gordon, — Many thanks for the illustrated 
 poem upon the ' aggression.' The lines are excellent, and the 
 drawings possess point and humour. 
 
 " I am very sorry to hear that you have been ill. It is too 
 bad that any one should be otherwise than well at Weybridge, 
 whatever we poor wretches in town may suffer in the ordinary 
 course of things. In the days of my early youth, it was the 
 custom among juveniles of tender years to remark in reply to 
 any accusation not deemed complimentary, 'You're another.' 
 Perhaps it may not be any substantial relief to your ' influenza'd ' 
 feelings, but nevertheless it would be strictly in accordance 
 with truth for you, addressing the inhabitants of London 
 generally, to say ' You're another ' ; for there can be no doubt 
 that that ' foreign potentate ' the epidemic has committed an 
 aggression upon the people of these realms temporal, I regret 
 to say, as well as spiritual, and not confined to any one class of 
 the British islanders. Ten days ago it was worse than now. 
 At about that period, one night at the Dowager Lady Moles- 
 worth's, I do assure you, in a couple of rooms densely packed 
 with the nobility and gentry, every lady was sneezing and 
 blowing her nose, every gentleman sighing and feeling feverish 
 and ' seedy ' (that was the expression), and there was a low 
 rnurmur on the surface of ' society ' of ' Let's go home,' 
 
458 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 " The conversation of the night was not brilliant, consisting 
 chiefly of the words ' Have you got it yet ? ' 
 
 " I do hope that by this time you are quite well again, and 
 
 am, 
 
 " Yours ever sincerely, 
 
 " Richard Doyle.' 
 
 Richard Doyle to Lady Dufi Gordon. 
 
 "17, Cambridge Terrace, Hyde Park, 
 
 '■'■March 27, 1851. 
 
 " My dear Lady Gordon, — Had I known that you were so 
 seriously ill, my last note would not have been written alto- 
 gether in so jocular a spirit. I fear it must have seemed 
 unfeeling. And yet it surely is better to amuse, if possible, 
 than to condole with an unfortunate invalid. Acting on this 
 last supposition I shall proceed to gossip till post hour, which 
 is half an hour off. 
 
 " Through the kindness of the Speaker I have been permitted 
 every evening almost during the ' Aggression ' debates to sit in 
 that part of the House of Commons devoted to the Peers and 
 Foreign Ministers. 
 
 " Under which of these denominations I passed it is im- 
 possible for me to decide, but we will suppose it was as a 
 diplomatic ' poor ' relation frorn Rorne. In this distinguishe4 
 
LADY DUFF GORDON. 459 
 
 position I heard the speeches of Sir James Graham with delight, 
 of Mr. Newdegate with drowsiness, of Mr. Drummond with 
 shame mingled with indignation, of the 
 new Sir Robert Peel with surprise and 
 contempt. This is what the last-named 
 gentleman is like. — ' How like his father ! ' 
 you will instantly say. His appearance 
 created in the ' House ' what Miss Talbot's 
 did in the fashionable world, according 
 to Bishop Hendren, — a ' sensation ; ' and 
 when he rose to speak, shouts of ' New 
 Member ! i' rose from every side, and ex- 
 pectation rose on tip-toe, while interest was visible in every 
 upturned and out-stretched countenance, and the buzz of eager 
 excitement prevailed in the ' first assembly of gentlemen in the 
 world.' There he stood, leaning upon a walking-stick, which 
 from its bulk you would have fancied he carried as a weapon of 
 defence, young and rather handsome, but with a somewhat 
 fierce and, I would say, truculent look about the eyes, hair 
 brown, plentiful and curly, shirt collar turned down, and, O 
 shade of his- father ! a large pair of moustaches upon his 
 republican-looking ' mug ' ! ! ! 
 
 " He has a manly voice and plenty of confidence, and his 
 speech made up by its originality what it wanted in common 
 sense, and was full of prejudice, bigotry, and illiberal Radicalism, 
 while it lacked largeness of view and was destitute of states- 
 manship. 
 
 " I perfectly sympathise with your natural wish that some 
 Irish member should administer personal chastisement upon 
 Henry Drummond, for it were difficult to say whether truth or 
 decorum was most outraged by him. Although the fact in- 
 crease his guilt, yet- he can plead it in mitigation of punish- 
 ment, like Fagin in ' Oliver Twist,' ' An old man, my lord, an 
 old man.' 
 
 " Mr. Moore, the Member for Mayo, is just the man, had it 
 been otherwise, to have taken upon himself the pleasurable 
 task of avenging the disgusting and cowardly attack upon the 
 woman-kind of the great majority of the Christian world. It 
 is true that he is so little ^ rnan that he would have to cUmb 
 
46o THREE GENERA TIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 up Mr. Drummond to kick him, but although he is little, he is 
 full of spirit and equally clever with his tongue and pen. 
 Perhaps you remember hearing of him as the man with whom, 
 a year or two ago, big Higgins, the CoUosus of ' Roads,' was 
 nearly fighting a duel. Higgins made some remarks about 
 Moore being absent from his Irish estates at the time of the 
 famine, and Moore proved that, by coming over for a week or 
 two to some steeplechase to which he was engaged, he was 
 enabled to send over to the starving people of his neighbour- 
 hood £iftoo more than he could otherwise have done. And 
 so he called on Mr. Higgins to make some apology, which 
 Higgins would not do ; seconds were appointed, letters written 
 and published, the upshot being that Higgins' second would 
 not let him fight, which caused Mr. Moore to terminate the 
 correspondence with ' regretting that he had ever looked upon 
 "Big" Higgins as a gentleman.' 
 
 " The disparity of size between the parties is so great, that 
 had the duel taken place, as was remarked at the time by an 
 eminent wit," and Mr. Moore taken it into his head to fire in 
 the air, his pistol would inevitably have ' taken effect ' upon 
 his antagonist. 
 
 " But to return to our muttons. 
 
 " Sir James Graham's speech was wonderfully able, so argu- 
 mentative and so convincing, and towards the end very elo- 
 quent. He was quite fine when he went through a list of 
 illustrious Whigs, the Foxes, the Grattans, the Greys, &c., &c., 
 and told Lord John they never would have voted for such a 
 Bill as this : and then turning from the dead to the living, 
 said, ' Does Plunket approve of this Bill, does Brougham ? 
 does Denman ? and, lastly, does Macaulay ? ' When he sat 
 down, the ' House ' cheered so long that it seemed as if they 
 would never let the next speaker begin. 
 
 " I don't know whether you saw the Bishop of Clifton's two 
 letters. Fault has been found with their ' smartness ; ' but, 
 after all, a bishop is a man, and falsehoods daily repeated and 
 circulated over the country will provoke any man, even a 
 bishop. 
 
 ' Mr. R d P ?, 
 
LAbY DUFF GORDON. 
 
 461 
 
 " At the time of the Dr. Hampden controversy, Lord John 
 Russell wrote one or two very ' smart ' letters, which were 
 found fault with at the time on the ground that a First 
 Minister ought to be above that kind of cleverness. I don't 
 like even sarcasm in a clergyman, but at the same time I must 
 say, and do say, that the Catholics have, throughout these 
 ' disturbances,' behaved with extraordinary moderation and 
 temper. 
 
 ■ m*0i^mif^ 
 
 " I went to the Italian ' Uproar ' — Opera, I mean — last night. 
 It opened on Saturday night, with Madame Dupres in ' Lucia.' 
 She is pretty, and very young, and very clever, and will no 
 doubt be a ' prima donna ' some day. Nevertheless I was in 
 an ill-humour the whole time, partly because I was wondering 
 if I would be happier listening to Gladstone in the House of 
 Commons, and partly because the whole business struck me as so 
 wanting in 'fine art,' The insipid, soft, effeminate, sentimental, 
 sweet, voluptuous Tommy-Moore's-poetry-like music, the con- 
 ventional attitudinising of the singers, the stiff-legged tenor 
 Calzolaio, the ' pride, pomp, and circumstance ' of the bass, 
 Signor Lorenzo, said to be a ' reduced ' nobleman in disguise, 
 the elderly dandies in their tight evening costumes in the 
 stalls, the unnecessarily boisterous applause given to the 
 dancers, the bad taste everywhere, and the absence of ' genius ' 
 anywhere, with the vanity of human (musical) wishes under 
 the present opera management — all combined to reduce me to 
 a state of dissatisfaction and wretchedness. 
 
 " ' Moral reflection.' — It is only two short years since I 
 thought that to be ' bored ' at the Opera was an impossibility 
 
462 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 — that such an idea could only be entertained by a ' savage 
 breast ' incapable of being ' soothed ' by the charms that music 
 hath. I must, however, say that the scenery of the new ballet 
 is very beautiful. In fact, I think there is infinitely more 
 poetical feeling and imagination displayed by some of our 
 painters in this department than by any of those ' picture 
 landscapes,' R.A. or otherwise, who decorate the walls of our 
 exhibitions with the same trees, brooks, meadows, lanes, year 
 after year^ — who master one aspect, and then go on painting it 
 ever afterwards, while Nature, with her infinite beauty and 
 never-ending variety, invites them to ' fresh fields and pastures 
 new.' Talking of pictures, I went on Sunday to pay a visit to 
 Mrs. Richards, the fair Italian who paints, sings, and talks 
 languages. I had never before been at her studio, and her 
 pictures really do astonish me, not more for the great clever- 
 ness and dexterity of the handling than for the very (for a 
 woman) remarkable vigour of the execution. For a foreigner, 
 the colour is very good, though not quite up to the English 
 mark, ' a good eye for colour ' being one of the undoubted 
 attributes of the Great Britons. Her drawing is capital, but 
 her taste not always. 
 
 " A portrait of herself, palette in hand, in her black velvet 
 painting jacket, is one of the best of her works. She is going 
 to send it to the Academy Exhibition. There are also three 
 pictures, ^ la Raffaelle, of Faith, Hope, and Charity, which 
 promise well. I confess that in paying this visit I stood in 
 some considerable dread of Mother C. That animated old lady 
 is in the habit of making ' aggressions ' upon me in ' society ; ' 
 and although she may be a most estimable female for aught I 
 know, yet my position is that of one who stands in bodily fear 
 in her presence. There was an eagerness and an energy about 
 the interest she seemed to take in every remark that fell from 
 my lips that quite oppressed me. She rushed from picture to 
 picture, and gabbled (if I might use without offence such a 
 part of speech) to her daughter in, to me, unknown tongues, 
 and in a state of much excitement. Now I think it will not be 
 thought an exaggerated statement on my part to say that 
 ' quietness ' is one of my peculiarities. Even in my most 
 enthusiastic moments I do not give a very boisterous vent 
 
LADY DUFF GORDON. 
 
 463 
 
 to my feelings. It cannot be said that I am what is called 
 ' demonstrative.' And so, although I was very much pleased 
 with the pictures, I felt that in the expression of my admiration 
 I must appear tame and slow. 
 
 " I could not keep up the steam to the high (Italian) pressure, 
 and the consequence was a sensation of being overpowered by 
 the volubility of the fair Signora and her Titanesque mother. 
 But the climax of my perplexity was reached when the mother 
 rushed from the room, ' tore ' upstairs, and presently returned 
 with the ' baby,' and called upon me, in the most vehement 
 Italian, to say ' whether it was not beautiful.' I confess with 
 some grief that, departing from that strict truth so desirable in 
 all communications between man and man, or between man 
 and woman, or between man • and — baby, I answered 'Yes,' 
 although in my secret soul a profound conviction possessed me 
 that it was the ugliest infant in the world. At the same time, 
 it is only right to say that I am not a judge of babies. 
 
 " Mrs. Richards told me that Mrs. Norton was suffering from 
 the influenza a few days ago ; I intend to call and ask how she 
 is to-day. Nor have I seen Tom Taylor, whose hand I regret 
 to recognise in Punch in subjects much better let alone. We 
 will most assuredly be having the ' Comic Prayer Book ' next, 
 or perhaps a series of jolly ' rollicking ' papers on the authen- 
 
 ticity of the New Testament. The public, like a great roaring 
 baby, will swallow anything that is put into its mouth, how- 
 ever sacred or awful the subject provided it is connected with 
 
464 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 abuse of the religion of the great majority of the Christian 
 world. 
 
 "John Bull reminds me of the man who said that all the 
 world was mad, and the world said he was mad, and locked 
 him up. I don't wish to see John Bull put in a strait waist- 
 coat, but I am certain that he will be sent to ' Coventry ' by 
 the whole civilised world. 
 
 " I have just seen an advertisement of Madame ' Tussaud 
 and Sons,' announcing the ' magnificent addition ' of Cardinal 
 Wiseman. Oh ! how I wish that she would put the whole 
 Whig Ministry into her Chamber of Horrors. 
 
 " Comforting myself with the reflection that although our 
 numbers are small, we have the ' intellect ' of Parliament on 
 our side, and hoping that you are much better, and will not be 
 bored by this long rigmarole, and with kind regards to Mrs. 
 Austin and Janet and Sir Alexander, 
 
 " I remain 
 
 " Ever sincerely yours, 
 
 " Richard Doyle." 
 
CHAPTER XLIX. 
 
 LADY DUFF GORDON [continued). 
 
 Lady Duff Gordon's Illness — Moves to Esher — Mrs. Norton on Red Pots and 
 Straight Noses — Letters from Lady Duff Gordon to Mr. C. J. Bayley — 
 Letter to Mrs. Grote. 
 
 Lady Duff Gordon to C. J. Bayley. 
 
 "Esher, May i8, 1851. 
 " My dearest Bayley, — The anniversary of our parting 
 shall continue to be celebrated with grief until your return to 
 your '■ penates ' — i.e. your landlady. When I received your 
 letter of 20th January, I was still in bed, having lain there six 
 weeks sick of bronchitis and intermittent fever, which seized 
 me at Weybridge immediately after nursing Janet through the 
 measles. I state this to account for my not writing either in 
 March or April. I am now nearly well again, but had a very 
 narrow escape for my life. If you looked at my date, it will 
 already have told you that we have left Weybridge. We have 
 also left Queen Square, and moved all our goods and ourselves 
 to a very nice, pretty, old-fashioned house on the very top of a 
 high hill close to Claremont, which indeed joins our garden 
 and field, and where bachelor beds can be given to our friends. 
 I only wish you were installed in one of them, dear Lodger, for 
 if a constant longing to see you and have your company again 
 constitutes being very much in love, as you seem to think, I 
 also must ' own the soft impeachment.' Tom Taylor and Fred 
 Elliot were the only friends who came to see me when I ^vas 
 
 31 465 
 
466 THREE GENERA TIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 ill, and accordingly I have seen no one else, as I am still very 
 weak, and very busy setting my house in order, and cannot go 
 to London yet, even to see the Exhibition. I will send you 
 many thanks for the sugar when it arrives, though it is not 
 needed to sweeten our remembrance of you. My library at 
 Weybridge was very successful ; I have left it with sixty 
 members, self-supporting, and very well self-governed. 
 
 " Evening. — Tom Taylor and Dicky Doyle came in just as I 
 was busy writing to you, and I handed over my pen (your gold 
 pen) to Tom to do the same, on his expressing contrition at 
 having so long neglected that duty. 
 
 " Your ever affectionate 
 
 " Landlady." 
 
 Honourable Caroline Norton to Lady Duff Gordon. 
 
 ''July, 1851. 
 
 " My dear Lucie, — We have never thanked you for the red 
 Pots, which no early Christian should be without, and which 
 add that finishing stroke to the splendour of our demesne, 
 which was supposed to depend on a roc's egg, in less intelligent 
 times. We have now a warm Pompeian appearance, and the 
 constant contemplation of these classical objects favours the 
 beauty of the facial line ; for what can be deduced from the 
 great fact, apparent in all the statues of antiquity, that straight 
 noses were the ancient custom, but the logical assumption that 
 the constant habit of turning up the nose at unsightly objects 
 — such as the National Gallery and other offensive and ob- 
 trusive things — has produced the modern divergence from the 
 true and proper line of profile ? I rejoice to think that we 
 ourselves are exempt. I attribute this to our love of Pompeian 
 Pots (on account of the beauty and distinction of this Pot's 
 shape I spell it with a big P), which has kept us straight in a 
 world of crookedness. The pursuit of profiles under difficulties 
 — how much more rare than a pursuit of knowledge ! Talk of 
 setting good examples before our children ! Bah ! let us set 
 Pompeian Pots before our children, and when they grow up 
 they will not depart from them. 
 
 " Stirling is gone to Scotland to look at his unfinished house. 
 
LADY DUFF GORDON. 467 
 
 I very much doubt its being fit to live in for two months ; 
 none of the grates are fixed. But he will report when he 
 returns, in a week's time. 
 
 " I called for you the wet day you departed, to carry you to 
 our den, and Lord Lansdowne came after his dinner, making 
 sure of finding you ; but you were gone. 
 
 " My family are all scattering abroad, but wait — some of 
 them — for the wedding of Mabel Graham on the 7th August. 
 It is a most satisfactory marriage in all respects. 
 
 " Brin continues very seedy. Fletcher pretty brisk. When 
 shall you again be seen in London? Food is there at five 
 every day on our table, but slumber is only to be had on the 
 house-steps. 
 
 " Your affectionate 
 
 " Carry." 
 
 Lady Duff Gordon to C. jf . Bayley. 
 
 "EsHEK, July 20, 1851. 
 
 "My dearest Lodger, — I will devote this solitary Sunday 
 evening to a gossip with you : how I wish it could be done 
 viva voce, instead of with these odious irriplements, pen, ink, 
 and paper 1 Imprimis, the sugar came quite safe, and is the 
 admiration of all coffee-drinkers. Many thanks for the same, 
 dear old boy, and for the kind remembrance of us which made 
 you send it. 
 
 " I am very sorry to hear that you have been so ill, and only 
 hope that your recovery has been more complete than mine. 
 I am by way of being well, but continue preternaturally weak, 
 languid, and nervous. 
 
 " To-day I ought to be dining in London with Lord Lans- 
 downe at Senior's (where Alexander also is spending some 
 days), but I feel too low, and exactly what is called ' not up ' 
 to anything. Our house is charming, on the top of a sandy 
 hill, so dry and healthy and warm and pretty. Ojala ! that 
 you were living in it too ! The Wigans were here the other 
 day. She is much better in health, and less nervous, and he 
 has got a good engagement. Tom Taylor is ill. I scarcely 
 ever see him now ; Esher is too far for him, Ellison I see not 
 
468 THREE GENERA TIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 at all ; I suppose for the same reason. Phillips the painter 
 comes here very often for a night's rest ; I forget whether 
 you know hmi. We have a kind of half-project of going to 
 Scotland this year, and of visiting Stirling at Keir, together 
 with Mrs. Norton and her son, with whom I am nearly as 
 much friends as with his mother. He has grown into a 
 delightful young man, and certainly twenty-one is a charming 
 age, when it is not odious. 
 
 "The Baronet is very well indeed — all the better for being 
 here instead of at Weybridge. We have got two ponies — one 
 we bought, and one Lord Lansdowne gave me (I call him 
 Lucy-fer) ; and Alexander rides, and is as happy as possible. 
 
 " I fear you would think me very much altered since my 
 illness ; I look thin, ill, and old, and my hair is growing grey. 
 This I consider hard upon a woman just over her thirtieth 
 birthday. I break the melancholy fact to you now lest some- 
 body should be beforehand with me. My poor father has been 
 very ill ; I cannot but fear that it was a sort of faint threaten- 
 ing of paralysis. He always asks tenderly after you, accom- 
 panying his inquiry by an emphatic remark that you are a 
 '■gentleman^ which I think is partly meant in commendation 
 of you, and partly as an indirect coup de patte or ' back-hander ' 
 at some of our other friends or acquaintances. Whether Da ' 
 and my mother will stay at Weybridge, I know not ; their 
 future plans are unknown, even to themselves. 
 
 " July 24. 
 
 " I now find to my infinite disgust, that I had mistaken the 
 day for your letters, and that you will think me a brute and 
 unnatural landlady ; but I am determined to finish my letter 
 and send it by next post, however stale as well as flat and 
 unprofitable it may have become. 
 
 " I continue to like Esher very much ; I don't think we 
 could have placed ourselves better. Eothen (Kinglake) has 
 given Alick a great, handsome chesnut mare, so he is well 
 mounted and we ride merrily. 
 
 " How are you, dear Bayley, and how are your eyes ? And 
 
 ■ Mr. Austin. 
 
■ LADY bt/FF GORDON. 469 
 
 has no fair damsel of the tropics yet made any impression on 
 your too susceptible heart ? Don't bring home a Creole wife 
 if you can help it. I don't think it answers. 
 
 " I only wish you were here, in occupation of the best spare 
 bed or closet. 
 
 " I don't find that I miss you a bit less than I did at first, if 
 that is any satisfaction to you. Alexander is going, so I must 
 conclude. 
 
 " Your ever aifectionate 
 
 " Landlady." 
 
 Lady Duff Gordon to C. J. Bayley. 
 
 "EsHER, August 18, 1851. 
 
 " My dearest Lodger, — 'Twill indeed be jolly if you get a 
 congi, and come over for six months ; but then there's the 
 going back again, which will be dreadful. We went over to 
 Paris for a lark, and 'twas so hot — 92° to 95°. Barthelemy St. 
 Hilaire lent us his rooms, and Phillips the painter lodged in the 
 same house with us, and we had a very merry time. 
 
 " I am far better than I thought I ever should be again ; the 
 heat of Paris did me a wonderful deal of good, and I now feel 
 able once more to use my lungs. 
 
 " How delightful it will be to be once more a landlady after 
 so long a degradation from that dignity, and to ride about our 
 pretty commons with a faithful lodger instead of in solitary 
 dignity as I do now ! My mother has been very ill, but is 
 better, and will winter at Torquay or somewhere. Da ' is 
 gloomy, I fear 'tis his normal state. I like my rural existence 
 better and better ; the garden, horses, and the health and 
 happiness for the children are better than all London life 
 whatever, and we are really very nicely lodged here and 
 altogether comfortable. It appears to me, indeed, that the one 
 roc's egg is your company here, and that when you are safely 
 lodged under my roof I shall feel as though that indispensable 
 ornament were suspended beneath it. I expressed such glee 
 and exultation at the idea of your return, that my friends, all 
 but Alick, refused to sympathise. Phillips talked of jealousy, 
 
 ' Mr. Austin. 
 
470 THREE GENERA TIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 and Tom Taylor muttered something about a 'hated rival.' 
 Meanwhile all send friendly greetings to you. Janet also 
 sends her love ; she is grown very tall. 
 
 "It is now very late, and I am very sleepy, and to-morrow 
 my letter must go, so farewell, dear Bayley, je t'embrasse mille 
 fois. 
 
 " Your Landlady.'' 
 
 Lady Duff Gordon to Harriet Grote. 
 
 "EsHER, Surrey, Nov. 8, 1854. 
 
 " Dear Mrs. GROTE,^Alexander brought me your review 
 last night, to my great delight. I have not seen the version 
 given by the Edinburgh. I suppose they suppressed all pokes 
 at Lord John ; and, indeed, to do anything hut butter him, in 
 the Edinburgh, is somewhat like setting a flunkey to thrash 
 his own master. I was infinitely amused with the article, and 
 as much gratified at seeing a good word said at last for poor 
 Tom Moore, whom everybody chose to abuse, because every- 
 body had done their best to spoil him. You have written of 
 him according to my own heart. 
 
 " I have just returned home from between two and three 
 months' bootlering an old friend. Lady Kay Shuttleworth, who 
 is very, very ill at Homburg. The air of Homburg disagreed 
 with me, and I came home very poorly. I am better now, a 
 great deal, but still weakish. I hope you are well, and I wish 
 you would some day ' look in ' at the Gordon Arms. 
 
 " My mother will be home in about a week with St. Hilaire ; 
 could not you and she rendez-vous here ? and Da,' who is 
 glorious in talk, being forced by a boil on his thigh to take all 
 needful exercise with his tongue. 
 
 " Please give my best and dutiful love to Mr. Grote. 
 " Your ever affectionate 
 
 " Lucie Duff Gordon." 
 
 ' Mr. Austin. 
 
CHAPTER L. 
 
 LADY DUFF GORDON {conttlltied). 
 
 The Old House at Esher, " Gordon Arms "—Boating on the Mole— The Due 
 d'Aumale's Harriers — The "Village Doctor" and Ranke's "Ferdinand 
 and Maximilian of Austria " — Paris — Reminiscences of and Letter from 
 Heinrich Heine. 
 
 Our dear old house at Esher, surnamed the " Gordon Arms," 
 was nothing very remarkable, having been, I believe, an inn, 
 with a cottage near. The space between the two had been 
 built over, and made the dining-room and drawing-room 
 L-shaped. But the house was full of quaint old furniture 
 and china ; and the old-fashioned garden, with a big mulberry- 
 tree and many standard roses and scarlet geraniums, sloped 
 upwards from the back of the house to the palings of Clare- 
 mont Park, whose magnificent beeches overhung the end of 
 the shrubbery. The view from the front windows was beautiful, 
 the "sluggish Mole" and Wolsey's tower in the foregroundj 
 and Windsor Castle in the far distance. Many a merry boat- 
 ing-party did we have on the Mole, with picnics in the woods, 
 varied by now and then knocking a hole in the bottom of our 
 boat on one of the many snags and hidden stumps of trees 
 with which the river abounds. Once we lost our wine and 
 gingerbeer, which was hung overboard to cool, and my father 
 and Henry Phillips had to dive for it in deep water, while Ary 
 SchefFer, who was staying at Esher to paint the portrait of 
 Queen Marie Amelie, and Richard Doyle, stood ready to assist 
 in the recovery of the lost bottles. 
 The rides were most beautiful, through large covers, green 
 
 471 
 
472 THREE GENERA TlONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 shady lanes, and over endless commons. In a little cottage 
 on one of these lived our friend- George Meredith ; he wrote 
 several of his delightful novels at Copsham Cottage, and in 
 " Evan Harrington," friends will recognise various inmates of 
 the " Gordon Arms." Behind Claremont Park was a large fir 
 wood with a small lake, called the Black Pool. It was near 
 this that the Comte de Paris broke his leg out hunting ; his 
 horse ran away and smashed his leg against a tree. It was 
 raining, and I gave my waterproof to put under the Prince, 
 and galloped off to announce the accident at Claremont, for 
 fear the Queen Marie Amelie should be alarmed at seeing her 
 grandson brought back in a litter. The Due d'Aumale always 
 let us know where his harriers met, and we had famous runs 
 in the cramped country near by — small fields, big fences, and 
 large water-jumps in the low-lying land near the river. The 
 Princes were most popular with everybody ; and they well- 
 deserved it, being kind, courteous, and amiable to all. 
 
 In 1853, Lady Duff Gordon translated that charming tale by 
 Comtesse d'Arbouville, " The Village Doctor ; " and she and 
 her husband together, Ranke's " Ferdinand and Maximilian of 
 Austria." In 1857, the house at Esher was let to Mr. Charles 
 Buxton, and we went to Paris for three months, chiefly in 
 order that I might learn French. MM. Cousin, St. Hilaire, 
 Comte, A. de Vigny, Mignet, Leon de Wailly, and others 
 were often in the Rue Chaillot. M. Cousin was very kind 
 to me, and made me go to see him at the Sorbonne twice a 
 week, to talk. I must confess the talking was all on one side, 
 and I used to sit entranced, listening to the old philosopher 
 holding forth about the beautiful ladies of the seventeenth 
 century. 
 
 My mother often went to see Heinrich Heine, and she wrote 
 her recollections of him for Lord Houghton : — 
 
 " I had not seen Heine since I was a child at Boulogne till I 
 went to Paris three years ago, when I heard he was very poor 
 
LADV DUFF CORDON. 473 
 
 and dying. I sent my name, and a message that if he chanced 
 to remember the little girl to whom he told ' Mahrchen ' years 
 ago at Boulogne, I should like to see him. He sent for me 
 directly, remembered every little incident and all the people 
 who were in the same inn ; a ballad I had sung, which re- 
 counted the tragical fate of Ladye Alice and her humble lover 
 Giles Collins, and ended by Ladye Alice taking only one 
 spoonful of the gruel, ' with sugar and spices so sweet,' while, 
 after her decease, ' the parson licked up the rest.' This diverted 
 Heine immensely, and he asked after the parson who drank the 
 gruel directly. 
 
 " I, for my part, could hardly speak to him, so shocked was 
 I by his appearance. He lay on a pile of mattresses, his body 
 wasted so that it seemed no bigger than a child under the 
 sheet that covered him, the eyes closed, and the face altogether 
 like the most painful and wasted Scce Homo ever painted by 
 some old German painter. His voice was very weak, and I 
 was astonished at the animation with which he talked ; evi- 
 dently his mind had wholly survived his body. He raised his 
 powerless eyelids with his thin white fingers, and exclaimed, 
 ' Gott ! die kleine Lucie ist gross geworden, und hat einen 
 Mann ; dass ist eigen ! ' (' God ! little Lucie has grown big, 
 and has a husband ; that is funny.') He then earnestly asked 
 if I was happy and contented, and begged me to bring my 
 husband to see him. He said again he hoped I was happy 
 now, as I had always been such a merry child. I answered 
 that I was no longer so merry as ' die kleine Lucie ' (the little 
 Lucie) had been, but very happy and contented ; and he said, 
 ' Dass ist schon ; es bekommt Einem gut eine Frau zu sehen , 
 die kein wundes Herz herum tragt, um es von allerlei Mannern 
 ausbessern zu lassen, wie die Weiber hier zu Lande, die es am 
 Ende nicht merken, dass was ihnen eigentlich fehlt ist gerade, 
 dass sie gar keine Herzen haben ' (' That is well ; it does one 
 good to see a woman who does not carry about a broken heart, 
 to be mended by all sorts of men, like the women here, who 
 do not see that a total want of heart is their real failing '). I 
 took my husband to see him, and we bid him good-bye. He 
 said that he hoped to see me again ; ill as he was, he should 
 not die yet. 
 
474 THREE GENERA TIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 " Last September I went to Paris again, and found Heine 
 removed and living in the same street as myself, in the Champs 
 Elysees. I sent him word I was come, and soon received a 
 note, painfully written by him in pencil, as follows : — 
 
 [Translation.] 
 " ' Highly honoured, Great-British Goddess Lucie, — I 
 sent back word by the servant, that with the exception of 
 last Wednesday, I was ready to receive your godship on any 
 day and at any hour. But I have waited till to-day in vain 
 for such a heavenly apparition. Do not delay any longer ! 
 Come to-day, come to-morrow, come often. You live so near 
 me, the poor sha'dow in the Elysian fields ! Do not let me 
 wait too long. I send you with this the four first volumes of 
 the French translation of my unhappy works. Meanwhile, I 
 remain of your godship 
 
 " ' The most humble and attached adorer, 
 
 " ' Heinrich Heine. 
 " ' N.B. The parson drank the gruel water.' " 
 
 " I went immediately, and climbed upstairs to a small room, 
 where I found him still on the pile of mattresses on which I 
 had left him three years before ; more ill he could not look, 
 for he looked dead already, and wasted to a shadow. When I 
 kissed him, his beard felt like swan's down or baby's hair, so 
 weak had it grown, and his face seemed to me to have gained 
 a certain beauty from pain and suffering. He was very affec- 
 tionate to me, and said, 'Ich habe jetzt mit der ganzen Welt 
 Frieden gemacht, und endlich auch mit dem lieben Gott, der 
 schickt mir dich nun als schoner Todesengel : gewiss sterb ich 
 bald ' (' I have now made peace with the whole world, and at 
 last also with God, who sends thee to me as a beautiful angel 
 of death : I shall certainly soon die '). I said, ' Armer Dichter, 
 bleiben Ihnen doch immer so viele herrliche Illusionen, dass 
 Sie eine reisende Englanderin fiir Azrael ansehen konnen ? 
 Dass war sonst nicht der Fall, Sie konnten uns ja nicht leiden ' 
 (' Poor Poet, do you still retain such splendid illusions, that you 
 transform a travelling Englishwoman into Azrael ? That used 
 not to be the case, for you always disliked us '). He answered. 
 
LADY DUFF GORDON. 47S 
 
 ' Ja, mein Gott, ich weiss doch gar nicht was ich gegen die 
 Englander hatte, dass ich immer so boshaft gegen sie war ; as 
 war aber wahrlich nur Muthwillen, eigentlich hasste ich sie 
 nie, und ich habe sie auch nicht gekannt. Ich war einmal in 
 England, kannte aber Niemand, und fand London recht traurig, 
 und die Leute auf der Strasse kamen mir unausstehUch vor. 
 Aber England hat sich schon geracht, sie schickte mir ganz 
 vorziiglich Freunde — dich, und Milnes, der gute Milnes, und 
 noch andere ' (' Yes, I do not know what possessed me to dislike 
 the English, and be so spiteful towards them ; but it really 
 was only petulance ; I never hated them, indeed, I never knew 
 them. I was only once in England, but knew no one, and 
 found London very dreary, and the people in the streets odious. 
 But England has revenged herself well ; she has sent me most 
 excellent friends — thyself, and Milnes, that good Milnes, and 
 others '). I saw him two or three times a week during a two 
 months' stay in Paris, and found him always full of lively con- 
 versation and interest in everything, and of his old undisguised 
 vanity, pleased to receive bad translations of his works, and 
 anxious beyond measure to be well translated into English, 
 He offered me the copyright of all his works as a gift, and said 
 he would give me carte blanche to cut out all I thought neces- 
 sary on my own account, or that of the English public, and 
 made out lists of how I had better arrange them, which he 
 gave me. He sent me all his books, and was boyishly eager 
 that I should set to work and read him some in English, es- 
 pecially a prose translation of his songs, which he pressed me 
 to undertake with the greatest vehemence, against my opinion 
 of its practicability. 
 
 " He talked a great deal about politics in the same tone as in 
 his later writings — a tone of vigorous protest and disgust of 
 mob-tyranny, past, present, and future ; told me a vast number 
 of stories about people of all parts, which I should not choose 
 to repeat ; and expressed the greatest wish that it were possible 
 to get well enough to come over and visit me, and effect a 
 reconciliation with England. On the whole, I never saw a 
 man bear such horrible pain and misery in so perfectly un- 
 affected a manner. He complained of his sufferings, and was 
 pleased to see tears in my eyes, and then at once set to work 
 
476 THREE GENERA TIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 to make me laugh heartily, which pleased him just as much. 
 He neither paraded his anguish nor tried to conceal it, or to 
 put on any stoical airs. I thought him far less sarcastic, more 
 hearty, more indulgent, and altogether pleasanter than ever. 
 After a few weeks he begged me not to tell him when I was 
 going, for that he could not bear to say ' Lebewohl auf ewig ' 
 (an eternal farewell), or to hear it, and repeated that I had 
 come as an ' ein schoner, giitiger Todesengel ' (beautiful, kind 
 angel of death), to bring nim greetings from youth and from 
 Germany, and to dispel all the ' bosen franzosischen Gedanken ' 
 (bad French thoughts). When he spoke German to me he 
 called me ' Du,' and used tne familiar expressions and terms of 
 language which Germans use to a child ; in French, I was 
 ' Madame,' and ' Vous.' 
 
 " It was evident that I recalled some happy time of his life 
 to his memory, and that it was a relief to him to talk German, 
 and to consider me still as a child. He said that what he liked 
 so much was that I laughed so heartily, which the French 
 could not do. I defended ' la vieille gaiete Francaise,' but he 
 said, ' Qui, c'est vrai, cela existait autrefois, mais avouez, ma 
 chere, que c'etait une gaiete un peu bete.' He had so little 
 feeling for what I liked best in the French character that I 
 could see he must have lived only with those of that nation 
 who ' sit in the scorner's seat ; ' whereas, while he laughed at 
 Germany, it was with ' des larmes dans la voix.' He also 
 talked a good deal about his religious feelings ; much dis- 
 pleased at the reports that he had turned Catholic. What he 
 said about his own belief,' hope and trust, would not be under- 
 stood in England, nor ought I, I think, to betray the deeper 
 feelings of a dying man. The impression he made on me was 
 so deep, that I had great difficulty to restrain my tears till I 
 had left the room the last few times I saw him, and shall never 
 forget the sad, pale face and eager manner of poor Heine." 
 
CHAPTER :l. 
 
 LADY DUFF GORDON {contimted) . 
 
 Illness of Lady Duff Gordon — Ventnor — Vrvage to the Cape — Life on board 
 Ship — A Collision and a Gale — Lands at Cape Town — A Mussulman 
 Burial — Simon's Bay — Caledon — Choslullah's Theory — Gnadenthal — The 
 Moravian Missionaries — The last Hottentot — Worcester — Returns to Cape 
 Town. 
 
 In the midst of her busy, intellectual life, varied by mingling 
 in the best and brightest of social cncles, and rendered precious 
 by many friendships firmly clung to and warmly reciprocated, 
 my mother's health became worse and worse. The death of 
 her father in December, 1859, afiected her terribly, and the 
 bitter cold of the cottage at Weybric'ge, and sitting up at night, 
 which I in vain implored her not to do, brought on a very bad 
 attack of hemorrhage. After spending two miserable winters 
 at Ventnor, where ,she edited mv translation of v. Sybel's 
 " History and Literature of the Crusades," she was advised to 
 try the climate of the Cape of Good Hope. Her invalided con- 
 dition neither altered the cheerfulness of her temper nor abated 
 her keen interest in all surrounding objects, and her " Letters 
 from the Cape " obtained universal popularity. Readers to 
 whom the dry subjects or difficult details of her German his- 
 torical and political translations were unknown or distasteful, 
 eagerly read the graphic pages, so full of life, earnestness, quick 
 observation, and playful humour. The letters were real letters, 
 written to her family, and without the slightest idea of publi- 
 cation, 
 
478 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 She describes life on board ship in July, 1861, to her hus- 
 band : — 
 
 " The ship's officers are very good fellows. The mizen is 
 entirely worked by the ' young gentlemen ; ' so we never see 
 the sailors, and, at present, are not allowed to go forward. All 
 lights are put out at half-past ten, and_ no food allowed in the 
 cabin ; but the latter article my friend Avery — the cuddy boy 
 — makes light of, and brings me anything when I am laid up. 
 The young soldier-officers bawl for him with expletives ; but 
 he says, with a snigger, to me, ' They'll just wait till their 
 betters, the ladies, is looked to.' I will write again some day 
 soon, and take the chance of meeting a ship ; you may be 
 amused by a little scrawl, though it will probably be very 
 ' stupid and ill-written, for it is not easy to see or to guide a pen 
 while I hold on to the table with both legs and one arm, and 
 am first on my back and then on my nose. Adieu, till next 
 time. I have had a good taste of the humours of the Channel. 
 
 " i']th Aug. — Since I wrote last, we got into the south-west 
 monsoon for one day, and I sat up by the steersman in intense 
 enjoyment — a bright sun and glittering blue sea ; and we tore 
 along, pitching and tossing the water up like mad. It was 
 glorious. At night, I was calmly reposing in my cot, in the 
 middle of the steerage, just behind the main hatchway, when I 
 heard a crashing of rigging and a violent noise and confusion 
 on deck. The captain screamed out orders which informed me 
 that we were in the thick of a collision — of course I lay still, 
 and waited till the row, or the ship, went down. I found 
 myself next day looked upon as no better than a heathen by 
 all the women, because I had been cool, and declined to get up 
 and make a noise. Presently the officers came and told me 
 that a big ship had borne down on us — we were on the star- 
 board tack, and all right — carried off our flying jib-boom and 
 whisker (the sort of yard to the bowsprit). The captain says 
 he was never in such imminent danger in his life, as she 
 threatened to swing round and to crush into our waist, which 
 would have been certain desfruction, The little dandy soldier- 
 
LADV DUFF GORDON. 479 
 
 officer behaved capitally ; he turned his men up in no time, 
 and had them all ready. He said, ' Why, you know, I must 
 see that my fellows go down decently.' Sally was as cool as 
 an icicle, offered me my pea-jacket, &c., which I declined, as it 
 would be of no use for me to go off in boats, even supposing 
 there were time, and I preferred going down comfortably in my 
 cot. Finding she was of no use to me, she took a yelling maid 
 in custody, and was thought a brute for begging her to hold 
 her noise. The first lieutenant, who looks on passengers as 
 odious cargo, has utterly mollified to me since this adventure. 
 I heard him report to the captain that I was ' among 'em all, 
 and never sung out, nor asked a question the while.' This he 
 called 'beautiful.' 
 
 " The gale in the Bay of Biscay was a little shaking up in a 
 puddle (a dirty one) compared to that glorious South Atlantic in 
 all its majestic fury. The intense blue waves, crowned with fan- 
 tastic crests of bright emeralds and with the spray blowing 
 about like wild dishevelled hair, came after us to swallow us up 
 at a mouthful, but took us up on their backs, and hurried us 
 along as if our ship were a cork. Then the gale slackened, and 
 we had a dead calm, during which the waves banged us about 
 frightfully, and our masts were in much jeopardy. Then a foul 
 wind, S.E., increased into a gale, lasting five days, during which 
 orders were given in dumb show, as no one's voice could be 
 heard ; through it we fought and laboured and dipped under 
 water, and T only had my dry corner by the wheel, where the 
 kind pleasant little third officer lashed me tight. I recommend 
 a fortnight's heavy gale in the South Atlantic as a cure for a 
 blast state of mind. It cannot be described ; the sound, the 
 sense of being hurled along without the smallest regard to 'this 
 side uppermost ; ' the beauty of the whole scene, and the occa- 
 sional crack and bear-away of sails and spars ; the officer trying 
 to ' sing out,' quite in vain, and the boatswain's whistle scarcely 
 audible. 
 
 " Then the mortal perils of eating, drinking, moving, sitting, 
 lying ; standing can't be done, even by the sailors, without 
 holding on. The night of the gale, my cot twice touched the 
 beams of the ship above me. I asked the captain if I had 
 dreamt it, but he said it was quite possible ; he had never seen 
 
48o THREE GENERA TIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 a ship so completely on her beam ends come up all right, masts 
 and yards all sound. 
 
 "There is a middy about half Maurice's size, a very tiny ten- 
 year-older, who has been my delight ; he is so completely ' the 
 officer and the gentleman.' My maternal entrails turned like 
 old Alvarez', when that baby lay out on the very end of the 
 cross-jack yard to reef, in the gale ; it was quite voluntary, and 
 the other new-comers all declined. I always called him ' Mr. 
 , sir,' and asked his leave gravely, or, on occasions, his pro- 
 tection and assistance ; and his little dignity was lovely. He 
 is polite to the ladies, and slightly distant to the passenger- 
 boys, bigger than himself, whom he orders off dangerous 
 places : ' Children, come out of that ; you'll be overboard.' " 
 
 "Cape Town, Sept. 19, 1861. 
 
 " Dear Janet, — I arrived yesterday and the mail goes 
 to-night, so I can only write a few lines. Sir B. Walker sent 
 me a most kind letter and a boat, and the port captain and all 
 quite ' pompos.' I am wild to get out as soon as my cold goes 
 to see the glorious scenery and the hideous people. The coolies 
 who brought my things were obviously slaves of the camp, so 
 hideous and so gentle. The Zulu CafFres are the Auvergnats 
 of Africa. Bankers give them ;^io,ooo in gold, which they 
 carry 120 miles by unknown tracks for two shillings. Mr. Ander- 
 son, a merchant who has been here thirty-five years, told me, 
 ' Oh, if it does not arrive the man's dead, but it has never been 
 delayed, even fire-arms are safe with them.' The pretty grace- 
 ful Malays are no honester than ourselves, but excellent work- 
 men. 
 
 " The vegetation is lovely, the freshness of spring and the 
 richness of summer. Enter ' Afrikander ' lad with a nosegay, 
 only one flower I know, heliotrope — a lovely acacia overpower- 
 ingly sweet of bitter almonds, and great scarlet bells. Oranges 
 are going out and are dear, two a penny. 
 
 " When I landed I felt tired and landsick, and lay down and 
 went to sleep. 
 
 " After an hour or so I woke, hearing a little gazomllement, 
 like that of chimney swallows. On opening my eyes I beheld 
 
LADY DUFF GORDON. 481 
 
 four demons, sons of the obedient Jinn, each bearing an article 
 of furniture, and holding converse over me in the language of 
 Nephelecoccygia. Why has no one ever mentioned the curious 
 little soft voices of these coolies ? — -you can't hear them with 
 the naked ear three feet off. The most hideous demon (whose 
 complexion had not only the colour, but the precise metallic 
 lustre of an ill black-leaded stove) at last chirruped a wish for 
 orders, which I gave. I asked the pert, active, cockney house- 
 maid what I ought to pay them, as, being a stranger, they 
 might overcharge me. Her scorn was sublime. ' Them nasty 
 blacks never asks more than their regular charge.' So I asked 
 the black-lead demon, who demanded ' two shilling each horse 
 in waggon,' and a dollar each ' coolie man.' He then glided 
 with fiendish noiselessness about the room, arranged the fur- 
 niture to his own taste, and finally said, ' Poor missus sick ; ' 
 then more chirruping among themselves, and finally a fearful 
 gesture of incantation, accompanied by 'God bless poor missus. 
 Soon well now.' The wrath of the cockney housemaid became 
 majestic : ' There, ma'am ; you see how saucy they have grown 
 — a nasty black heathen Mohammedan a blessing of a white 
 Christian ! ' Now I must finish this hurried scrawl." 
 
 " Cape Town, Oct. 3, 1861. 
 " We have had a fortnight of cold and damp such as the 
 ' oldest inhabitant ' never remembered, and I have had a very 
 bad attack of bronchitis and been in bed till yesterday. Then 
 the blessed sun shone out, the mountain threw off his cloak of 
 clouds and all was bright and warm. I sat in the verandah 
 over the ' stoep' (a kind of terrace in front of every house here), 
 and they brought me a tortoise as big as a half-crown and as 
 lively as a cricket, and a chameleon like a fairy dragon. A 
 green fellow five inches long with no claws on his feet, but 
 suckers like a fly. To-day I went a long drive with Capt. and 
 Mrs. Jamison. We went to Rondebosch and Wynberg — lovely 
 country rather like Herefordshire — red earth and oak trees. 
 Miles of the road were like the Gainsborough Lane' on a large 
 scale, and looked quite English ; till a hedge of prickly pear, 
 
 ■ A lane near Eshar, christened thus by Tom Taylor and H. W. Phillips. 
 
 32 
 
482 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 or a date palm, or big white arums in the ditches told a dif- 
 ferent tale." 
 
 "19/^ Oct. 
 
 " I have been coughing all this time ; of course the weather 
 has been ' unprecedented.' When it is fine here it is quite 
 celestial — so clear, so dry, so light. A few days ago I drove to 
 Mr. Van de Byl's farm and on to Newlands, which was Lord C. 
 Somerset's and now belongs to Mrs. Jamison's brother. Such 
 a beautiful place. Immense trenching and draining is going 
 on — the foreman is a Caffre, black as ink, six feet three inches 
 high, and broad in proportion, with a staid, dignified air, and 
 Englishmen working under him ! At the streamlets there are 
 the inevitable groups of Malay women washing clothes, and 
 brown babies sprawling about. Yesterday, I should have 
 bought a black woman for her beauty, had it been still pos- 
 sible. She was carrying an immense weight on her head, and 
 was far gone with child ; but such stupendous physical perfec- 
 tion I never even imagined. Her jet black face was like the 
 Sphinx, with the same mysterious smile ; her shape and walk 
 were goddess-like, and the lustre of her skin, teeth, and eyes 
 showed the fulness of health ; — Caffre of course. I walked 
 after her as far as her swift pace would let me, in envy and 
 adoration of such stately humanity. 
 
 " The ordinary blacks, or Mozambiques, as they call them, 
 are hideous. Malay here means Mohammedan. They were 
 Malays, but now they include every shade, from the blackest 
 nigger to the most blooming English woman. Yes, indeed, 
 the emigrant girls turn ' Malay ' pretty often, and get thereby 
 husbands who know not billiards and brandy — the two diseases 
 of Cape Town. They risk a plurality of wives, and profess 
 Islam, but they get fine clothes and industrious husbands. 
 They wear a very pretty dress, and all have a great air of inde- 
 pendence and self-respect ; and the real Malays are very hand- 
 some. I am going to see one of the Mollahs soon, and to look 
 at their schools and mosque ; which, to the distraction of the 
 Scotch, they call their " Kirk." 
 
 " Cape Town, Oct. zUh. 
 " Yesterday I sat in the full broil of the sun for an hour or 
 
LADV DUFF GORDON. 483 
 
 more in the Malay burial ground. They buried the head 
 butcher of the Mussulmans, and a most strange poetical scene 
 it was. The burial-ground is on the side of the Lion Moun- 
 tain — on the Lion's rump — and overlooks the whole bay, part 
 of the town, and the most superb mountain panorama beyond. 
 I never saw a view within miles of it for beauty and grandeur. 
 Far down a fussy English steamer came puffing and popping 
 into the deep blue bay, and the ' Hansom ' cabs went tearing 
 down to the landing-place ; and round me sat a crowd of grave 
 brown men chanting ' Allah il Allah ' to the most monotonous 
 but musical air, and with the most perfect voices. The chant 
 seemed to swell, and then fade, like the wind in the trees. 
 
 " A white-complexioned man spoke to me in excellent English 
 (which few of them speak), and was very communicative and 
 civil. He told me the dead man was his brother-in-law, and 
 he himself the barber. I hoped I had not taken a liberty. ' Oh, 
 no ; poor Malays were proud when noble English persons 
 showed such respect to their religion. The young Prince 
 had done so too, and Allah would not forget to protect him. 
 He also did not laugh at their prayers, praise be to God ! ' 
 I had already heard that Prince Alfred is quite the darling 
 of the Malays. He insisted on accepting their /^ie, which 
 the Cape Town people had snubbed. I have a friendship with 
 one Abdul Jemaalee and his wife Betsy, a couple of old folks 
 who were slaves to Dutch owners, and now keep a fruit-shop 
 of a; rough sort, with 'Betsy, Fruiterer,' painted on the back 
 of an old tin tray, and hung up by the door of the house. 
 Abdul first bought himself, and then his wife Betsy, whose 
 ' missus ' generously threw in her bed-ridden mother. He is 
 a fine handsome old man, and has confided to me that ^^5,000 
 would not buy what he is worth now. I have also read the 
 letters written by his son, young Abdul Rachman, now a 
 student at Cairo, who has been away five years — four at Mecca. 
 The young theologian writes to his ' Hoeg eerhare Moeder ' 
 a fond request for money, and promises to return soon. I am 
 invited to the feast wherewith he will be welcomed. Old 
 Abdul Jemaalee thinks it will divert my mind, and prove 
 to me that Allah will take me home safe to my children, 
 about whom he and his wife asked many questions. More- 
 
484 THREE GENERA TIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 over, he compelled me to drink herb tea, compounded by 
 a Malay doctor for my cough. I declined at first, and the 
 poor old man looked hurt, gravely assured me that it was 
 not true that Malays always poisoned Christians, and drank 
 some himself. Thereupon I was obliged, of course, to drink 
 up the rest ; it certainly did me good, and I have drunk it 
 since with good effect ; it is intensely bitter and rather sticky. 
 The white servants and the Dutch landlady where I lodge 
 shake their heads ominously, and hope it mayn't poison me 
 a year hence. ' Them nasty Malays can make it work months 
 after you take it.' They also possess the evil eye, and a talent 
 for love potions. As the men are very handsome and neat, 
 I incline to believe that part of it." 
 
 "Simon's Bay, November i<^th. 
 
 "I came to this hospitable house (Admiral Sir B. Walker's) 
 three days ago and enjoy the kindness with all my heart and 
 the comfort with a body much wearied with the manifold dis- 
 comforts of the colony. But I cough badly and feel worn with 
 it, so shall take the advice of the Naval Hospital doctor and 
 go Up to Caledon for warmth. I fear that up-country is very 
 ' hard lines ' as to comforts or even necessaries. You should 
 see a family arrive — what savages they look after ten days' 
 travel in a waggon. The climate here is decidedly too cold ; 
 the Sou'-Easter only leaves off now and then for half a day, 
 then all is heavenly — but the S.Er. is ice. , No one here seems 
 to mind it, and everybody has from eight to twenty-two 
 children except the coloured people. I fell in with such a 
 charmingiCanadian black and his Madagascar wife. He had 
 been a ' British seaman ' and was so pleased when I told him, 
 very truly, that he was the only 'real Englishman ' I had seen. 
 So neat, and well-mannered, and digging his ground with 
 a will. The ' won't you sit down, ma'am ? ' sounded quite 
 like home. The negroes here are very engaging ; they speak 
 and smile like Lalage, hideous as they are. The Malays are 
 polite and reserved, cleaner than any working people I ever 
 saw. 
 
 " Just as I write arrives a packet of my old Malay friend's 
 ' bosjes tee ' (herb tea), which will relieve my cough I know, as 
 
LADY DUFF GORDON. 485 
 
 it did before. But the Cape people assure me I am poisoned, 
 as ' it is part of their religion you know, to murder Christians.' 
 Being mixed by a Malay priest and doctor it must of course 
 be like the Borgia poison. N.B. — If I were younger it would 
 act as a love-potion, and I should become the second wife 
 of a Malay coolie. This may serve as a sample of colonial 
 ' intelligence.' " 
 
 " Caledon, December 9, 1861. 
 
 " Simon's Bay is decidedly colder than Cape Town. The 
 naval surgeon came to see me, very clever, and as kind 
 as a sailor and a doctor knocked into one. During the last 
 fortnight it blew a South-wester which cut off all communica- 
 tion with the flag-ship (whose captain was weather-bound 
 ashore), and kept us close prisoners indoors. Dr. Shea said 
 I should never get right if I remained on the coast, and 
 made a bargain for me with a Dutchman for a light Malay 
 cart. 
 
 " I was most lucky, had two beautiful days, and enjoyed the 
 journey immensely. It was most ' ahentheuerlich ; ' the light 
 two-wheeled cart, with four wild little horses, and the mar- 
 vellous brown driver, who seemed to be always going to 
 perdition, but made the horses do apparently impossible 
 things with absolute certainty ; and the pretty tiny boy who 
 came to help his uncle, and was so clever, and so preternaturally 
 quiet, and so very small : then the road through the mountain 
 passes, seven or eight feet wide, with a precipice above and 
 below, up which the little horses scrambled ; while big lizards, 
 with green heads and chocolate bodies, looked pertly at us, 
 and a big, bright amber-coloured cobra, as handsome as he 
 is deadly, wriggled across into a hole." 
 
 The climate at Caledon was far better, and Lady Duff 
 Gordon's descriptions of the country life, the horses and the 
 birds, make one long to go there. She was very popular with 
 the coloured people, which an old " Bastaard " woman married 
 to the Malay tailor explained, as set forth by " dat Malay boy, 
 Choslullah," h^r driver : — . 
 
486 THREE GENERA TIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 " Caledon, December 29, 1861. 
 
 "She told them he was sure I was a '■very great Missis,' 
 because of my ' plenty good behaviour ; ' that I spoke to him 
 just as to a white gentleman, and did not ' laugh and talk 
 nonsense talk.' Never say, ' Here, you black fellow, dat Missis.' 
 The English, when they mean to be good-natured, are generally 
 offensively familiar, and ' talk nonsense talk,' i.e. imitate the 
 Dutch-English of the Malays and blacks ; the latter feel it 
 the greatest compliment to be treated au seruux, and spoken 
 to in good English. Choslullah's theory was that I must be 
 related to the Queen, in consequence of my not ' knowing bad 
 behaviour.' The Malays, who are intelligent and proud, of 
 course feel the annoyance of vulgar familiarity more than the 
 blacks, who are rather awe-struck by civility, though they like 
 and admire it. 
 
 "I made friends here the other day with a lively dried-up 
 little old Irishman, who came out at seven years old a pauper 
 boy. He has made a fortune by ' going on Toch ' (Tausch= 
 barter) i.e. he charters two waggons with twelve oxen each, 
 and two Hottentots to each waggon, leader and driver. These 
 he fills with cotton, hardware, &c., &c., an ambulatory village 
 shop, and goes about fifteen miles a day on and on into the 
 far interior swapping Bafta's (calico), Punjums (loose trousers), 
 and Voerschitz, pronounced Foossy (cotton gown-pieces), against 
 oxen and sheep. When all is gone he swops his waggons 
 against more oxen and a horse ; and he and his four Totties 
 drive home the spoil, and he has doubled or trebled his venture. 
 En route home, each day they kill a sheep and eat it all. 
 ' What,' said I, 'the whole ? ' 'Every bit ; I always take one 
 leg and the liver for myself, and the Totties roast the rest, and 
 melt all the fat and entrails down in an iron pot, and eat it 
 with a wooden spoon.' Jc ii'ciirevenais pas. 'What, the whole 
 leg and liver at one meal ? ' ' Aye and you'd do the same, 
 ma'am, if you were there. No bread, no salt, no nothing — 
 mutton and water.' The old fellow was quite poetic and heroic 
 in describing the joys and perils of Toch. I said I should like 
 to go too, and he bewailed having settled a year ago in a store 
 at Swellendam, ' else he'd ha' fitted up a waggon all nice and 
 snug for me, and shown me what going on Toch was like. 
 
LADY DUFF GORDON. 487 
 
 Nothing like it for the health, ma'am, and beautiful shooting.' 
 My friend had ;^7oo in gold in a carpet bag without a lock, 
 lying about on the stoep. ' All right ; nobody steals money 
 or such like here ; I'm going to pay bills in Cape Town.' " 
 
 " CA-LTS.T)OH,Jaimary 19, 1862. 
 
 "... I hke my new life because I see all the ' neighbour- 
 hood ' — farmers and traders — whom I like far better than the 
 gentility of Cape Town. The Dutch are grob except when 
 they are very good-natured, like the postmaster, Heer Kleen, 
 and his old Pylades, Herr Ley. They are great cronies of 
 mine, and I sometimes go and sit on their stoep with the two 
 old bachelors, and they take it as a great compliment. One 
 day I found a handsome Malay there with a basket of ' Klipkos,' 
 a shellfish much esteemed here, which old Kleen told me were 
 sent him by a Malay who was born in his father's house, a 
 slave, who had been his ' boy ' and playfellow. Now the slave 
 is richer far than the old young master ; and no waggon comes 
 without some little gift for ' Wilhem.' When he goes to Cape- 
 Town the old Malay seats him in a grand chair, and sits on 
 a little wooden stool at his feet. Kleen begs him as ' Huisheer ' 
 to sit by his side, but ^ Ne Wilhem Ik soil m\ Ik Kan niet 
 vergeten^ ' Good boy ! ' said old Kleen, ' good people these 
 Malays.' I have heard other instances of the same fidelity, 
 but they were utterly unappreciated — 'only shows what a good 
 thing slavery was, and how well the rascals were treated.' 
 
 " I am going in a few days to Gnadenthal, the Moravian 
 missionary station founded in 1736. '■Die Blilhende Gemeinde 
 von Hottentoten j ' how little did I think to see it, when your 
 father and I laughed at the phrase in old Mr. Steinkopf's 
 sermon years ago. The missionarised Hottentots are not 
 thought well of at all, they are tipsier than the rest I hear." 
 
 " Caledo^, January 2?>th. 
 "I wish I could send you a pair of Cape horses, they are 
 wonderful ! We started early on Saturday for the ' blooming 
 parish,' and did the twenty-four rniles up and down the moun- 
 tain roads in two hours and a half. Nothing but & Cape cart. 
 Cape horses and a Hottentot driver, above all, could have ac- 
 
488 THREE GENERA TIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 complished it. I felt more like Burger's Lenore than anything 
 else when we arrived at a nice cottage on the hill-side belonging 
 to one Christian Rietz, a ci-devani slave. He was w^zife, with 
 brown woolly hair, sharp features, and grey eyes. He said he 
 was a ' Scotch Bastaard,' and ' h hon sang parlait ; ' for a more 
 shrewd, sensible fellow I never saw. His father (and master) 
 had to let him go when the slaves were emancipated, and 
 he came to Gnadenthal, and keeps an inn and a shop in the 
 village. 
 
 "I asked one of the Herrenhut brethren whether there were 
 any real Hottentots, and he told me ' Yes, one ;' and next morning, 
 as I sat waiting for early prayers under the big oak-trees in 
 the Plaats (square), he came up, followed by a tiny old man 
 hobbling along with a long stick to support him. ' Here,' said 
 he, ' is the last Hottentot ; he is a hundred and seven years old, 
 and lives all alone.' I looked on the litttle, wizened yellow 
 face, and was shocked that he should be dragged up like a wild 
 beast to be stared at. A feeling of pity which felt like remorse 
 fell upon me, and my eyes filled as I rose and stood before him, 
 so tall and like a tyrant and oppressor, while he uncovered his 
 poor old snow-white head, and peered up in my face. I led 
 him to the seat, and helped him to sit down, and said in 
 Dutch, ' Father, I hope you are not tired ; you are old.' He 
 saw and heard as well as ever, and spoke good Dutch in a firm 
 voice. ' Yes, I am above a hundred years old, and alone — quite 
 alone.' I sat beside him, and he put his head on one side, and 
 looked curiously up at me with his faded but still piercing little 
 wild eyes. Perhaps he had a perception of what I felt — yet 
 I hardly think so ; perhaps he thought I was in trouble, for he 
 crept close up to me, and put one tiny brown paw into my hand, 
 which he stroked with the other, and asked (like most coloured 
 people) if I had children. I said, ' Yes, at home in England ; ' 
 and he patted my hand again, and said, ' God bless them ! ' 
 It was a relief to feel that he was pleased, for I should have 
 felt like a murderer if my curiosity had added a moment's pain 
 to so tragic a fate. 
 
 " People would say, just like my nonsense, but you cannot 
 conceive the effect of looking on the last of a race once the 
 owners of all this land and now utterly wiped out. He had 
 
LADY D UFF GORDON. 489 
 
 travelled with one of the missionaries about the year 1790 and 
 remained with them ever since. Physically speaking, he was 
 not quite human — a good head ; small, wild-beast eyes, piercing 
 and restless ; strangely high and prominent cheek-bones and 
 nose quite flat ; rather a wide mouth with thin, shapeless lips, 
 and an extraordinarily small, long, pointed chin, with just a little 
 soft white wool on it. The very close short white wool on his 
 head ended round the poll in little, little ringlets. He was about 
 the size of a child of eleven, and had hands and feet like a child 
 of seven or eight. His teeth were all perfect, and though shrunk 
 to nothing was hardly wrinkled in the face and not at all in the 
 hands which were dark brown, while his face was yellow. 
 
 "I went into the church and heard a very good sort of 
 Litany. The organ was beautifully played by a ' Bastaard ' 
 lad. The Herrenhuters use very fine chants, like old Catholic 
 ones, and the perfect ear and heavenly voices of the coloured 
 congregation made music more beautiful than any chorus 
 singing I ever heard. Men and women sit separately, and 
 the women's side was like a bed of tulips. The girls wear net- 
 handkerchiefs tied round their heads like the ancient Greek 
 head-dress with a double fillet, and their gowns were of every 
 conceivable bright colour. The young men were very smart 
 with white, pink or blue muslin rolled round their hats, on 
 account of the sun. Hottentots, as they are called, i.e. Bas- 
 taards of mixed Dutch and Hottentot blood, have a blackguard 
 elegance in gait and figure peculiar to them — a mixture of 
 black blood alters that entirely. It often gives real beauty, 
 but takes off from the ' air ' and generally from the talent. 
 The girls have the elegance without the blackguard look. 
 Slender, tall and graceful, with good hands and feet ; some 
 few are handsome, and many very interesting looking. The 
 old women of this breed are the grandest hags I ever beheld. 
 They tie up their old faces in white handkerchiefs like corpses, 
 and have faces like Andrea del Sarto's old women ; also they 
 are clean and well dressed. 
 
 All Gnadenthal is wonderfully fruitful, being well supplied 
 with water. There are three or four thousand coloured people 
 under the control of the seven missionaries, who allow no 
 drinking-shops. We had to take our own wine for the three 
 
490 THREE SENERA TIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 days. It is not popular in the neighbourhood ; ' it makes the 
 
 d d niggers cheeky to have homes of their own,' and the 
 
 girls are said to be immoral. As to that, there are no so-called 
 ' morals ' among the coloured people, and how or why should 
 there be. It is an honour to have a child by a white man, 
 and it is a degradation to him to marry a dark girl. 
 
 " I wandered all over the village on Sunday afternoon, the 
 people nodded and said good day ; but no one took much 
 notice of me save the poor old Hottentot. He was sitting 
 on a door-step, and rose when he saw me coming, and took 
 my hand. He seemed to like being helped along and seated 
 down again carefully, and stroked my hand and shook it quite 
 hard when I said good-bye. On Monday morning I saw 
 all the schools. It was queer in the infant school to see the 
 prim, little, blonde German madels mixed up with jet black 
 niggerlings and yellow Bastaards. The latter are as clever 
 as whites, the rector told me, and all are intensely musical. 
 
 " I am persecuted by the ugliest and blackest Mozambiquer 
 I have yet seen, a bricklayer's labourer, who can speak English, 
 and says he was servant to an English captain — ' Oh, a good 
 fellow he was, only he's dead ! ' He now insists on my taking 
 him as a servant. ' I dessay your man at home is a good chap, 
 and I'll be a good boy, and cook very nice.' He is thick-set and 
 short and strong. Nature has adorned him with a cock-eye and 
 a yard of mouth, and art with a prodigiously tall white 
 chimney-pot hat with the crown out, a cotton nightcap, and a 
 wondrous congeries of rags. He professes to be cook, groom, 
 and ' walley,' and is sure your father would be pleased with his 
 attentions." 
 
 " Caledon, February 19, 1862. 
 " The post has but just come in and I must send off my 
 letters to-day. I feel much better and shall start in a few days 
 for my journey back to Cape Town where the South-Easters 
 may be expected to abate next month. A clergyman here tells 
 me he came with only one lung, and that a bad one, and went 
 through the same process of coughing in a far more violent 
 degree for six months and then found himself well and has re- 
 mained ?o ever since. The cHniate here is certainly wonderful. 
 
LADY D VFF GORDON. 49 1 
 
 it quite changes people's constitutions. The quantity of fruit 
 consumed by every man, woman and child, ripe and unripe 
 (chiefly the latter) is prodigious, and stomach-aches are 
 unknown. I think it has done me good. Heer Kleen sends 
 up ' just a leetle fruits ' for my breakfast — 3lbs. of grapes, thirty 
 peaches, figs, apples and pears — a large basketful as much as 
 his ' boy ' can carry. 
 
 " I have been most fortunate in my abode here and can say 
 truly that I have found ' my warmest welcome at an inn.' 
 Civility to strangers is by means of course here. I don't wonder 
 at it for the old Dutch families are gentlefolks of the good 
 dull old school and the English colonists can scarcely suit them. 
 In the very few instances where I have succeeded in thawing a 
 Dutchman I have found him good-natured and kindly. Then 
 the Boers are not so intelligent as the English and hate them 
 for their ' go ahead ' ways. As to drink I fancy it is six of one 
 and half a dozen of the other, only the Dutch are more addicted 
 to solemn drinking bouts while the English take perpetual 
 drams. I can't understand either in this stimulating climate. 
 Talking of wine reminds me of an old gentleman whose grounds 
 march with Constantia I believe, and who in a fit of sumptu- 
 osity sent to England for the ' most expensive ' wine that could 
 be had. He received by the next ship a large consignment of 
 choice Constantia ! " 
 
 "Worcester, Sunday.^ March 2, 1862. 
 " Oh, such a journey ! Such country ! Pearly mountains 
 and deep blue sky, and an impassable pass to walk down, and 
 baboons, and secretary birds, and tortoises ! I couldn't sleep 
 for it all last night, tired as I was with the unutterably bad 
 road, or track rather. The change of climate is complete — the 
 summer was over at Caledon, and here we are into it again — 
 the most delicious air one can conceive ; it must have been a 
 perfect oven six weeks ago. The birds are singing away merrily 
 still ; the approach of autumn does not silence them here. The 
 canaries have a very pretty song, like our linnet, only sweeter ; 
 the rest are very inferior to ours. The sugar-bird is delicious 
 when close by, but his pipe is too soft to be heard at any dis- 
 tance, 
 
492 THREE GENERA TIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 " I slept the first night at Filjee's-dorp, a tiny village in a 
 valley, and next morning went up-hill to the summit of a 
 pass. Sally ^ and I exclaimed together, ' How beautiful ! ' and 
 Sabaal, our driver, thought the exclamation was an ironical 
 remark on the road, which was excessively steep, barely wide 
 enough, and as slippery as a flagstone pavement,- being bare 
 rock. I walked down, holding on from time to time. 
 
 " How shall I describe the view from that pass ! In front 
 was a long, long level valley, at the extreme end in a little gap 
 between two low brown hills that crossed each other one could 
 just see Worcester five hours' drive off. Behind it and on each 
 side the flat, mountains of every conceivable shape and colour, 
 chiefly delicate pale, pale lilac and peach colour but varied 
 with red, brown, and Titian green, the strangest cliffs and peaks 
 and crags topling every way all the colour of opal. Water 
 sparkled on the mountain sides in little glittering threads, and 
 here and there in the plain, and pretty farms were dotted on 
 either side at the very bottom of the slopes toward the mountain 
 foot. The sky such a blue ! I never did see anything so beauti- 
 ful. 
 
 " On we went crossing drift after drift (the bed of a stream) 
 when Sabaal pulled up and said : ' There are the Baviaans 
 missis want to see,' and so they were. By the river was a great 
 brute bigger than a Newfoundland dog stalking along with the 
 hideous baboon walk, his tail vehemently cocked up. A troop 
 more followed at a distance hiding and dodging among the 
 palmiets. 
 
 " As we neared Worcester the road got more and more 
 beautiful, and the mountains grew higher and craggier. Pre- 
 sently a huge bird like a stork on the wing pounced down 
 close by us — it was a secretary bird and had caught sight of a 
 snake. Our inn is a nice old Dutch house, but the town is not 
 so pretty to my taste as the little villages. I wonder whether 
 my delight in the new birds and beasts and people seem very 
 stupid to you. 
 
 " I can't help it if it does, and am not ashamed to confess 
 that I feel the old sort of enchanted wonder with which I used 
 
 ' Lady Duff Gordon's maid, 
 
LADY D UFF GORDON. 493 
 
 to read Cook's voyages and the like as a child. It is very coarse 
 and unintellectual of me ; but I would rather see this wow, at 
 i^y ^S6, than Italy ; the fresh, new, beautiful nature is a second 
 youth — or childhood.^ si vous voulez. To-morrow we shall cross 
 the highest pass I have yet crossed, and sleep at Paarl — then 
 Stellenbosch, then Cape Town." 
 
 " Cape Town, March ^th. 
 
 " You must read my long yarn to your father about the glorious 
 drive, I cannot write it all over again. Here I am in my old 
 quarters, very comfortable ; but Cape Town looks murky after 
 Caledon, there is a haze over the mountains, and they look far 
 off and indistinct. At Paarl I saw four Hottentots, so they are 
 not quite extinct. They are very, very small but exquisitely 
 shaped ; hideous in face and quite light-yellow, not darker than 
 Europeans. There were two men and two women, all drunk — 
 too drunk to remember where they had left their child. Gest 
 assez dire that I should have had no scruple in buying it for a 
 bottle of ' smoke ' (spirit distilled from grape skins). A real 
 ' Hottentotje ' would have been a funny addition to the house- 
 hold at Esher. Every one agrees that when tamed they make 
 the best of servants, gentle, clever, and honest ; but the one 
 penny a glass spirit they can't resist unless when caught young. 
 
 " I hear that two Indiamen, the Barham and the Camper- 
 down touch here soon. I am told the Barham is the fastest, 
 and the Camperdown the most comfortable but mortal slow. 
 If I find this confirmed I shall take the latter and have all the 
 sea I can for my money. So don't be alarmed if I am three weeks 
 or so after the time that might reasonably be expected. You 
 will be home from Egypt before me, I daresay. I feel it would 
 be madness to risk arriving just a little too soon in the channel 
 after the glorious heat here now, I have a great idea that the 
 voyage will do me more good now than the voyage out did, 
 providing I time it well. 
 
 ''March 15, 1862. 
 " We have been amused by a naval captain and his wife who 
 are just come here, such absurdly disagreeable people, full of 
 airs and graces. They complained that the merchant service 
 
494 THREE GENERA TIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 officers spoke familiarly to their children on board ! quel 
 audace ! When I remember the excellent, modest, manly- 
 young fellows who spoke very familiarly and pleasantly to me 
 on board the St. Lawrence I longed to give a bit of mind to 
 the idiots. 
 
 "I am just come from prayer at the Mosque in Chiappini 
 Street, on the outskirts of the town. A most striking sight. A 
 large room like a county ball-room with glass chandeliers, 
 carpeted with common carpet all but a space at the entrance 
 railed off for shoes. The Caaba and pulpit at one end, over the 
 niche a crescent painted, and over the entrance door a crescent, 
 an Arabic inscription, and the Royal Arms of England ! A fat 
 jolly MoUah looked amazed as I ascended the steps, but when I 
 touched my forehead and said, ' Salaam aleykum,' he laughed 
 and said, ' Salaam, Salaam, come in.' The faithful poured in all 
 neatly dressed in loose drab trousers, blue jackets, and red hand- 
 kerchiefs on their heads. They left their wooden clogs in com- 
 pany with my shoes and proceeded, as it appeared, to strip. Off 
 went jackets, waistcoats, and trousers with the dexterity of a 
 ^pantomime transformation. The red handkerchief was replaced 
 by a white skull-cap, and a large white shirt and full white 
 drawers flowed around them — how it had all been stuffed into 
 the trim jacket and trousers'one could not conceive. Gay sashes 
 .and scarves were pulled out of a clean silk handkerchief tied up 
 as a bundle, and a towel served as prayer carpet. In a moment 
 the whole scene was as Oriental as if the hansom cab I had come 
 in existed no more. The chanting was very fine and the whole 
 ceremony very decorous and solemn. It lasted an hour, and 
 then the little heaps of garments were put on and the congrega- 
 tion dispersed, each man first laying a penny on a very curious 
 little old Dutch-looking, heavy, iron-bound chest standing in 
 the middle of the room. 
 
 " I am quite in a fever now to be under weigh for England." 
 
 "■March 20, 1862. 
 " I caught cold on returning to Cape Town, which I am sure 
 is not healthy, indeed it can't be, from its stench and dirt ; 
 indeed I believe the whole seashore is more or less bad, com- 
 pared to the upper plateaux, of which I only know the first. I 
 
LADY DUFF GORDON. 495 
 
 coughed furiously, but consider it a triumph that it was cured 
 by two bottles of mild mixture. Dr. Shea came all the way from 
 Simon's Bay to see me, he is another of the kind sea-doctors. 
 He says he fears I must not winter in England yet, but that I 
 am greatly improved, as indeed I could tell him. So I shall 
 come and see you in Egypt, dear Janet. When I look back 
 upon my dreary, lonely prison at Ventnor, I wonder I survived 
 it. And then people have the impudence to pity me for having 
 been ' so very dull ' up-country. Sie merkeit's nicht that it is 
 they who are dull. The people here are wimderlich. Mrs. 
 Jamison, born here, and with £'^f>oo a year, has never been 
 further than Stellenbosch — about twenty miles ; and I am asked 
 how I lived and what I ate as if I had been to Lake Ngami. If 
 only I had known how easy it all is I would have gone to East 
 London by sea, and seen the Kuysna and George district, and 
 the primaeval African forest, the yellow wood and other giant 
 trees. However, ' for that which I have received,' &c., &c. No 
 one can conceive what it is after two long years of prison and 
 utter languor to stand on the top of a mountain pass and 
 breathe, and enjoy physical existence. 
 
 "It is now Ramadan, and my Muslim friends are very thin 
 and look glum, old Abdool turns down the corners of his mouth 
 just like your father at an evening party." 
 
 '■^ April /\^th. 
 
 " I was going to have a photograph of my cart done to-day, 
 but when Choslullah (whom I sent for to complete the picture) 
 found out what I wanted he implored me to put it off till Mon- 
 day that he might be better dressed. He was so unhappy at 
 being immortalised in an old jacket that I agreed to the delay. 
 Such a handsome fellow may be allowed a little vanity. 
 
 " I went on the last evening of Ramadan to the Mosque, and 
 was civil, in my usual absurd way, to a priest in a red turban. 
 In a few minutes I found myself supplied by one Mollah with a 
 chair, and by another with a cup of tea. I was surrounded with 
 delighted faces as I sipped, and I saw that it was quite a 
 demonstration that I drank up the tea unhesitatingly. The 
 little boy who waits in this house had followed us, and was 
 horrified. He is still waiting to see the poison work. An un- 
 
496 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 precedented circumstance is that Choslullah is wild to go with 
 me as my servant to England, or ' anywhere,' as he says in his 
 tranquil way. It has never been possible to bribe a Malay out 
 of the colony, so I am proud of such a conquest." 
 
 " Cape Town, April 19, 1862. 
 
 " To-day is lovely, all April showers with such a sweetly clear 
 blue sky, and such a fragrance. But the winter has fairly set 
 in and I long to be off. A big ship came in yesterday, but 
 turned out to be a transport and not the old Camperdown as I 
 had hoped. This weather is beautiful in itself, but I feel it 
 from the suddenness of the change. We passed in one night 
 from hot summer to winter which is like Jine English October. 
 
 " I shall grieve to think I shall never see my Malay friends 
 again, they are the only people here who are really interesting. 
 The priest is a bit of a proselytiser, and amused me much with 
 an account of how he had converted the English girls from 
 their evil courses and made them good Mussulwomen. I would 
 have given pounds to have had Lord Shaftesbury or some one 
 of that ilk to hear him. I never heard a naif and sincere ac- 
 count of conversions from Christianity and its iniquities before 
 — and I must own it was much milder than the Exeter Hall 
 style. It is very difficult to see anything of the Malays as they . 
 want nothing of you, and expect nothing but dislike and con- 
 tempt." 
 
 "May 3, 1862. 
 " After five weeks of waiting and worry I have at last sent 
 my goods on board the Camperdown. I have been eating my 
 heart out at the delay. How glad I am to be homeward bound 
 at last ! I am very well and have every prospect of a pleasant 
 voyage. We are sure to be well found as the Attorney-General 
 goes by our ship ; he is a very great man, ' inspiring terror and 
 respect ' here, and I am told he is very agreeable." 
 
CHAPTER LII. 
 
 LADY DUFF GORDON (continued). 
 
 Lady Duff Gordon returns to England — Eaux Bonnes — Egypt — Hekekian Bey — 
 Omar — The Bazaar — Her Crew — Bibeh — Slave Merchants at Aswan — St. 
 Simon Stylites — Death of Marquis of Lansdowne — The Mahmal — Impres- 
 sions of Cairo — Muslim Piety — The Christian Dyer — Herodotus. 
 
 In July, 1 862, my mother returned from the Cape slightly better 
 in health, but was unfortunately persuaded to go to Eaux 
 Bonnes, which did her great injury. " I hear the drip, drip, 
 drip of Eaux Bonnes when I am chilly and oppressed in my 
 sleep," she wrote afterwards. In October she landed in Egypt, 
 and stayed at our house at Alexandria. But the climate did 
 not suit her, and she went to Cairo, whence she wrote to her 
 mother : — 
 
 Lady Duff Gordon to Sarah Austin. 
 
 " Tuesday.^ November 11, 1862. 
 
 " I write to you out of the real ' Arabian Nights.' Well may 
 the Prophet (upon whom be peace !) smile when he looks down 
 on Cairo. 
 
 "I went this morning with Hekekian Bey to the two earliest 
 mosques. We were accosted most politely by some Arab gentle- 
 men, who pointed out remarkable things, and echoed my lamen- 
 tations at the neglect and ruin of such noble buildings (which 
 Hekekian translated to them) most heartily. That of the 
 Tooloon is exquisite, noble, simple, and what ornament there is, 
 
 33 ■f97 
 
498 THREE GENERA TIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 is the most delicate lacework and embossing m stone and wood. 
 This Arab architecture is even more lovely than our Gothic. 
 The mosque of Sultan Hasan (early in our fourteenth century) 
 is, I think, the most majestic building I ever saw, and the 
 beauty of the details quite beyond belief to European eyes. No 
 one has said a tenth part enough of Arab architecture." 
 
 " Wednesday. 
 " My contract was drawn up and signed by the American 
 Vice- Consul to-day, and my Reyyis kissed my hand in due 
 form ; after which I went to the bazaar and sat on many a 
 divan to buy the needful pots and pans. The transaction lasted 
 an hour. The copper is so much per oka, the workmanship so 
 much. Every article is weighed by a sworn weigher, and a 
 ticket sent with it. More ' Arabian Nights.' The shopkeeper 
 compares notes with me about numerals, and is as much amused 
 as I. He treats me to coffee and pipes from a neighbouring 
 shop, while Omar eloquently depreciates the goods, and offers 
 half the value. A waterseller offers a brass cup of water ; I 
 drink, and give the huge sum of twopence, and he distributes 
 the contents of his skin to the crowd (there is always a crowd) 
 in my honour. It seems I have done a pious act. Finally, 
 a boy is called to carry the hatterie de cuisine^ while Omar 
 brandishes a gigantic kettle which he has picked up, a little 
 bruised, for four shillings. The boy has a donkey, which I 
 mount astride a PArabe, while the boy carries all the copper 
 things on his head. We are rather a grand procession, and 
 quite enjoy the fury of the dragomans and other leeches who 
 hang on the English, at such independent proceedings ; and 
 Omar gets reviled for spoiling the trade, by being cook and 
 dragoman and all in one. The young man of whom I bought 
 my fingans was so handsome, elegant, and melancholy, that I 
 knew he must be the lover of the Sultan's favourite slave." 
 
 My mother's faithful servant, Omar, surnamed Abu-1-Hala- 
 weh, " the Father of Sweets," had been recommended to her 
 by my friend Mr. Thayer, the American Consul-General, who 
 also gave her letters for all the consular agents depending on 
 
LADY DUFF GORDON. 499 
 
 him, so that she writes, " I rather think the agents, who are all 
 Copts, will think I am the Republic in person." 
 
 Lady Duff Gordon to Sir Alex. Duff Gordon. 
 
 "Boat off Embabeh, Nov. 21, 1862. 
 
 " Dearest Alick,— We embarked yesterday, and are abiding 
 to-day at a village opposite to Cairo. It is Friday, and there- 
 fore would be unlucky to get out on our journey. The scenes 
 on the river are wonderfully diverting and curious. But the 
 boatmen are sophisticated, my crew have all sported new white 
 dra'wers in honour of the Sitti Inkelezeh's supposed modesty. 
 Poor fellows, they are very well-mannered and quiet ; and 
 their queer humming song is rather pretty — ' Eyah Moham- 
 mad, Eyah Mohammad,' ad infinitum, save when an energetic 
 man cries ' Yallah ! ' i.e. ' Oh God ! ' which means ' Go it ' in 
 every-day life. 
 
 " Next winter I shall stay with you. If this voyage does me 
 as much good as it has done to others I shall be well enough 
 for anything. If not it is not worth while to drag on a sickly 
 life at such annoyance to others. My cough has been better 
 now for the last five days— the first reprieve for so long ! Don't 
 be uneasy if you don't get letters, for of course the communica- 
 tion is uncertain." 
 
 "Feshn, Nov. 30, 1862. 
 " My crew are a great amusement to me. They are mostly 
 men from the First Cataract about Aswan — sleek-skinned, 
 gentle, patient, merry black fellows. The little black Reyyis 
 is the very picture of good-nature, and full of fun, ' chaffing ' 
 the girls as we pass the villages, and always smiling. The 
 steersman is of lighter complexion, also very cheery, but 
 decidedly pious. He prays five times a day, and utters ejacula- 
 tions to the apostle 'Rasool' continually. The most important 
 person on board is the ' weled ' (boy), Ahmad — the most merry, 
 clever, omnipresent little rascal, with an ugly pug-nosed face, a 
 shape like an antique Cupid liberally displayed, and a skin of 
 dark-brown velvet. His voice, shrill and clear, is always heard 
 above the rest ; he cooks for the crew ; he jumps overboard 
 
500 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 with the rope, and gives advice on all occasions. My favourite 
 is Osman, a tall, long-limbed black, who seems to have stepped 
 out of a hieroglyphical drawing, shirt, skull-cap and all. He 
 has only those two garments, and how any one contrives to 
 look so inconceivably ' neat and respectable,' as Sally ' said, in 
 that costume is a mystery. He is always at work, always 
 cheerful, but rather silent ; in short, the able seaman and steady 
 respectable ' hand,' par excellence. Then we have Ez-Zanka- 
 lonee, from near Cairo — an old fellow of white complexion and 
 a valuable person ; an inexhaustible teller of stories at night, 
 and always ' en train ' ; full of jokes, and remarkable for dry 
 humour, much relished by the crew. I wish I understood the 
 stories, which sound delightful, all about Sultans and Efreets, 
 with effective ' points,' at which all hands exclaim, ' Masha- 
 allah ' or ' ah ! ' (as long as you can drawl it out). The jokes 
 perhaps I may as well be ignorant of. There is also a certain 
 Shereef, who does nothing but laugh and work and be obliging ; 
 helps Omar with one hand and Sally with the other, and looks 
 like a great innocent black child." 
 
 At Bibeh, near Feshn, Lady Duff Gordon went to a large 
 Coptic church, which was being restored by a staunch old 
 Muslim, 
 
 " Who told how the Sheykh buried in the church of 
 Bibeh had appeared to him three nights running at Cairo, and 
 ordered him to leave his work and go to Bibeh and mend his 
 church ; how he came, and offered to do so without pay, if the 
 Copts would find the materials. He spoke with evident pride, 
 as one who had received a divine command, and the Copts all 
 confirmed the story, and every one was highly gratified by the 
 miracle.'' 
 
 My mother passed Minyeh and beautiful Asyoot,^ and only 
 
 remained in Thebes to get letters. It was a very cold winter 
 
 (for Egypt), and she went straight up the Nile to Wady 
 
 Halfeh. On the way down she stopped at Thebes and wrote :— 
 
 ' The maid. 
 
 ' See " Letlers from Egypt," by Lady Duff Gordon, 
 
LADY- Dt/FF GORDON. 50! 
 
 Lady Duff Gordon to Sir Alex. Duff Gordon. 
 
 "Thebes, Feh. 11, 1863. 
 " We have had the coldest winter ever known in Nubia — 
 such bitter north-east winds ; but when the wind, by great 
 favour, did not blow, the weather was heavenly. If the millen- 
 nium does come, I shall take out a good deal of mine on the 
 Nile. At Aswan I had been strolling about, in that most 
 poetically melancholy spot, the granite quarry of old Egypt 
 and burying-place of Muslim martyrs ; and as I came home- 
 wards along the bank, a party of slave merchants, who had 
 just loaded their goods for Sennar out of the boat upon the 
 camels, were cooking, and asked me to dinner. And oh ! how 
 delicious it felt to sit on a mat among the camels and strange 
 bales of goods, and eat the hot, tough bread and sour milk and 
 dates, offered with such stately courtesy. We got quite inti- 
 mate over our leather cup of sherbet (brown sugar-and-water) ; 
 and the handsome jet-black men, with features as beautiful as 
 those of the young Bacchus, described the distant lands in a 
 way which would have charmed Herodotus. They proposed to 
 me to join them, ' they had food enough ' ; and Omar and I 
 were equally inclined to go. I have eaten many strange things 
 with strange people, in strange places ; dined with a respect- 
 able Nubian family (the castor-oil was trying) ; been to a 
 Nubian wedding (such a dance I saw !) ; made friends with a 
 man much looked up to in his place, Kalabsheh, inasmuch as 
 he had killed several intrusive tax-gatherers and recruiting- 
 ofHcers. He was very gentlemanlike and kind, and carried me 
 up a place so steep I could not have reached it without his 
 assistance." 
 
 Lady Duff Gordon to Janet Ross. 
 
 "Luxor, Feb. 17, 1863. 
 "My dear Janet, — . . . I got your letter two days ago, 
 and am glad to tell you that I am much better in spite of the 
 piercing cold we have endured for the last six or seven weeks 
 with only now and then a mild day. I shall stay here till it is 
 warm enough to venture down the river, but must be in Cairo 
 on the 20th March, on which day my lease of the Zeenet-el- 
 
S02 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 Bahreyn is up. To-day we had a ' fantasia ' on horseback for 
 General Parker. The jereed-throwing and lance business are 
 beautiful, and we both got quite excited over it. I hear that a 
 boat has been sunk in the cataract. Coming down it is certainly 
 ' fantasia khatir ' (iine fun) as my Nubian pilot said. But all 
 my crew prayed away manfully, and turned as pale as their 
 complexions permitted. It is queer to hear the crew invoking 
 Sally, ' Ya Sara,' for all sorts of things ; they are dear, good, 
 lazy fellows, or rather children, and are an infinite amusement 
 to me. 
 
 " Philffi is a bit of Paradise, and Aswan is beautiful ; the 
 old burial-ground there charmed me more than I can say. All 
 about Kalabshee is very fine, too. I won't talk about the 
 ruins — except Aboo Simbel, which is no ruin, and which is the 
 most imposing thing I ever saw. It is quite worth going to 
 Nubia to see the lovely little girls running about in a graceful 
 dress consisting of a leather fringe four inches wide — and the 
 women draped like Greek statues and more beautifully shaped. 
 But they are an unpleasant people, harsh and sly. Write to 
 me to Siout, dear." 
 
 When coming down the Nile in March, Omar eagerly asked 
 for leave to stop the boat, as a great sheykh had called to 
 .them. 
 
 " So we stopped, and Omar said, ' Come and see the sheykh, 
 ma'am.' I walked off, and presently found about thirty people, 
 including all my own men, sitting on the ground round St. 
 Simon Stylites, without the column. A hideous old man, like 
 Polyphemus, utterly naked, with the skin of a rhinoceros all 
 cracked with the weather, sat there, and had sat night and day, 
 summer and winter, motionless for twenty years. He never 
 prays, he never washes, he does not keep Ramadan, and yet he 
 is a saint. Of course I expected a good hearty curse from such 
 a man : but he was delighted with my visit, asked me to sit 
 down, ordered his servant to bring me sugar-cane, asked my 
 name, and tried to repeat it over and over again ; he was quite 
 talkative, and full of jokes and compliments, and took no notice 
 
LAnv DUFF GORDON. 503 
 
 of any one else. Omar and my crew smiled and nodded, and 
 all congratulated me heartily. Such a distinction proves my 
 own excellence (as the sheykh knows all people's thoughts), 
 and is sure to be followed by good fortune. Finally, Omar 
 proposed to say the Fat'hah, in which all joined except the 
 sheykh, who looked rather bored by the interruption, and who 
 desired us not to go so soon unless I were in a hurry. A party 
 of Bedaweescame up on camels, with presents for the holy man, 
 but he took no notice of them and went on questioning Omar 
 about me, and answering my questions. What struck me was 
 the total absence of any sanctimonious air about the old fellow ; 
 he was quite worldly and jocose. I suppose he knew that his 
 position was secure, and thought his dirt and nakedness were 
 sufficient proofs of his holiness. Omar then recited the Fat'hah 
 again, and we rose and gave the servant a few faddahs. The 
 saint takes no notice of this part of the proceedings, but he 
 asked me to send him twice my handful of rice for his dinner, 
 an honour so great that there was a murmur of congratulation 
 through the whole assembly." 
 
 A few days later, at Siout, my mother heard the sad news of 
 the death of Lord Lansdowne, " that kind, wise, steadfast man." 
 Unfortunately she caught cold and was very ill when she arrived 
 at Cairo in April. She went to see the sacred Camel bearing 
 the Holy Mahmal, rest for its first station outside the town. 
 
 Lady Duff Gordon to Sir Alex. Duff Gordon. 
 
 " Cairo, April 16, 1863. 
 
 " It is a deeply-affecfing sight, when one thinks of the hard- 
 ships all these men are prepared to endure. Omar's eyes were 
 full of tears and his voice husky with emotion as he talked about 
 it, and pointed out the Mahmal and the Sheykh-el-gemel, who 
 leads the sacred camel, naked to the waist, with flowing hair. 
 
 " I loitered about a long time admiring the glorious ' free 
 people.' The Bedawee and the Maghrabee and their noble- 
 looking women are magnificent, and the irregular Turkish and 
 Arab horsemen, so superior to the drilled cavalry, are wildly 
 picturesque. To see a Bedawee and his wife walk through the 
 
504 THREE GENERA TIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 streets of Cairo is superb. Her hand resting on his shoulder, 
 and scarcely deigning to cover her haughty face, she looks down 
 on the Egyptian veiled woman who carries the heavy burden 
 and walks behind her lord and master. 
 
 " Muslim piety is so unlike what Europeans think it : it is 
 so full of tender emotions, so much more sentimental than we 
 imagine, and it is wonderfully strong. I used to hear Omar 
 praying outside my door while I was so ill, ' O God, make her 
 better ! ' ' Oh, may God let her sleep ! ' as naturally as we 
 should say, ' I hope she will have a good night.' I found great 
 kindness here. Hekekian Bey came to see me every day, and 
 Deleo Bey, the doctor, attended me with the utmost care and 
 tenderness. It had an odd dreamy effect to hear old Hekekian 
 Bey and my doctor discoursing in Turkish at my bedside. I 
 shall always fancy the Good Samaritan in a tarboosh and white 
 beard and very long eyes. 
 
 " It would be delightful to have you at Cairo. Now I have 
 pots and pans, and all things needful for a house but a carpet 
 and a few mattresses, you could camp with me a PArabe. How 
 you would revel in old Masr-el-Kahirah, peep up at lattice- 
 windows, gape like a ' Ghasheem ' (green one) in the bazaar, go 
 wild in the mosques, laugh at portly Turks and dignified sheykhs 
 on their white donkeys, drink sherbet in the streets, ride wildly 
 about on a donkey, peer under black veils at beautiful eyes, and 
 feel generally intoxicated ! I am quite a good cicerone now tff 
 the glorious old city. Omar is in rapture at the idea that 
 ' Seedee-el-kebeer ' (the great Master) might come. Masha- 
 allah ! how our hearts would be dilated ! 
 
 " It may amuse you to see what impression Cairo makes. I 
 ride along on my valiant donkey, led by the stalwart Hasan, 
 and attended by Omar, and constantly say, ' Oh, if our master 
 were here, how pleased he would be ! ' (' Husband ' is not a 
 correct word.) 
 
 " Our street and our neighbours would divert you. Opposite 
 lives a Christian dyer, who must be a seventh brother of the 
 admirable Barber ; he has the same impertinence, loquacity, 
 and love of meddling with everybody's business. I long to see 
 him thrashed, though he is a constant comedy. The Arabs 
 next door, and the Levantines opposite, are quiet enough ; but 
 
LADY PUFF GORDON. 505 
 
 how do they eat all the cucumbers they buy of the man who 
 cries them every morning as ' fruit gathered by sweet girls in 
 the garden with the early dew ' ? 
 
 " Nothing is more striking to me than the way in which one 
 is constantly reminded of Herodotus. Both the Christianity 
 and the Islam of this country are full of the ancient practices 
 and superstitions of the old worship. The sacred animals have 
 all taken service with Muslim saints : at Minyeh, one of the 
 latter reigns over crocodiles. I saw the hole of .i^sculapius's 
 serpent at Gebel Sheykh Haradee ; and I fed the birds who 
 used to tear the cordage of the boats that refused to feed them, 
 and who are now the servants of Sheykh Nooneh, and still 
 come on board by scores for the bread which no Reyyis dares 
 to refuse them. Bubastis has not lost her influence, and cats 
 are as sacred as ever : they are still fed in the Kadee's court, at 
 Cairo, at public expense, and behave with singular decorum 
 when the ' servant of the cats ' serves their dinner. 
 
 " Among gods, Amun Ra, the god of the sun and great 
 serpent-slayer, calls himself Mar Girgis (St. George) ; and Osiris 
 holds his festival twice a year as notoriously as ever at Tanta, 
 in the Delta, under the name of Seyyid-el-Bedawee. In Cairo, 
 of course, one is more reminded of the beloved ' Arabian Nights,' 
 — indeed, Cairo ts the ' Arabian Nights.' I knew that Chris- 
 tian dyer who lives opposite to me, and is always wrangling, 
 from my infancy ; and my delightful servant Omar, Abu-1- 
 Halaweh (the father of sweets), is the type of all the amiable 
 ieunes premiers of the stories. I am privately of opinion that 
 he is Bedr-ed-Deen Hasan, — the more, as he can make cream 
 tarts, and there was no pepper in them. Cream tarts are not 
 very good, but lamb stuffed with pistachio-nuts fulfils all one's 
 dreams of excellence, — and dates with Nile water ! they are 
 excellent indeed, especially together, like olives and wine." 
 
 Lady Duff Gordon to Tom Taylor. 
 
 " Cairo, April 22, 1863. 
 " My dearest Tom, — Your letter and Laura's were a great 
 pleasure to me in this distant land. I could not answer it 
 at once as I have been very ill. But Samaritans came with 
 
So6 THREE GENERA TIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 oil and wine and comforted me. It had an odd dreamy effect 
 to hear my friend Hekekian Bey, a learned old Armenian, and 
 Deleo Bey, my doctor, discoursing Turkish at my bedside, 
 while my faithful Omar cried and prayed, ' Yah Robbeena ! 
 Yah Saatir ! ' 'Oh Lord ! oh Preserver ! don't let her die.' 
 Alick is quite right that I am in love with the Arab ways, and 
 I have contrived to see and know more of family life than many 
 Europeans who have lived here for years. When the Arabs 
 feel that one really cares for them they heartily return it. If I 
 could only speak the language well I could see anything. Cairo 
 is the ' Arabian Nights,' there is a little Prankish varnish here 
 and there, but the government, the people, all, is unchanged 
 since that most veracious book was written. No wor-ds can 
 describe the departure of the Holy Mahmal and the pilgrims 
 for Mecca. I spent half the day loitering about in the Beda- 
 ween tents, admiring the glorious free people. 
 
 " By no deed of my own I have become a slave-owner. The 
 American Consul-General turned over to me a black girl of 
 eight or nine who was sent as a present to him from Khartoum. 
 She thought we were going to eat her and was very sad and 
 timid at first, but now she is as merry as a blackbird, and sings 
 and laughs and has fits of ecstasy at her own good fortune. 
 Omar explained to her that I could not have slaves and that 
 she was free, but this produced such a dreadful wailing that we 
 were obliged to desist. Her fancy is to be a present to Rainie. 
 She is such a quaint little coal-black thing with the sweetest 
 voice. In consequence of her reports the poor little black boy 
 who is the slave and marmiton of the cook here has been 
 intreating Omar to beg me to buy him and take him with me. 
 It is touching to see the two poor little black things recounting 
 their woes and comparing notes. 
 
 " I went yesterday to deposit my cooking things and boat 
 furniture at my washerwomen's house. Seeing me arrive on 
 my donkey followed by a cargo of household goods, about eight 
 or ten Arab women thronged round delighted at the idea that 
 I was coming to live in their quarter. Of course all rushed up- 
 stairs, and my old washerwoman was put to a great expense of 
 pipes and coffee. I think, as you say, I must have the ' black 
 drop ' and that the Arabs see it, for I am always told that I am 
 
LADV BUFF GORDON. 507 
 
 like them, with praises of my former good looks, 'You were 
 beautiful Hareem once.' 
 
 " A very kind friend of mine, a Coptic merchant at Siout, 
 wishes to send his son to be educated in England. Can you 
 suggest anything ? Of course classical learning would be quite 
 out of place. Modern languages and engineering would be 
 useful here. The boy looks nice, but is dreadfully shy, I can't 
 get him to talk. He is now at school here with Lazarist French 
 monks and bad enough it seems. It is a great step for a Chris- 
 tian to think of such an innovation as even learning English. 
 They are far more close and reserved and backward than the 
 Arabs, and they have been so repudiated by Europeans that 
 they are doubly shy of us. The Europeans resent being called 
 ' Nazranee,' as a genteel Hebrew gentleman may shrink from 
 ' Jew.' But I said boldly, ' I am a Nazraneeh, Alhamdullillah ' 
 and found it was much approved by the Muslims as well as the 
 Copts. Curious things are to be seen here in religion — Muslims 
 praying at the tomb of Maree Girgis (St. George) and the resting 
 places of Sitti Mariam and Seyidna Issa (Lady Mary and Lord 
 Jesus), and miracles bran-new of an equally mixed description. 
 
 " If you have power over any artists send them to paint here. 
 No words can describe either the picturesque beauty of Cairo or 
 the splendid forms of the people, in Upper Egypt and above all 
 in Nubia. I was in raptures at seeing how superb an animal 
 man and woman really is. My donkey girl at Thebes, dressed 
 like a Greek statue, Werd es Sham (the rose of Syria), was a 
 feast to the eye. And here too what grace and sweetness — 
 and how good is a drink of Nile water out of an amphorae held 
 to your lips by a woman as graceful as she is kindly — ' May it 
 benefit thee,' she says, smiling with her beautiful teeth and 
 eyes. ' Alhamdullillah,' you reply, and it really is worth thank- 
 ing God for. 
 
 " The days of the beauty of Cairo are numbered. The superb 
 mosques are falling to decay, the exquisite lattice windows rot- 
 ting away and replaced by European glass and jalousies. Only 
 the people and the Government remain unchanged. While the 
 Sultan was here all hareem was ordered to remain indoors, and 
 I saw women beaten by the police. Read of all the pretty 
 paragraphs about civilisation here and say bosh ! 
 
5o8 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLrSH WOMEN. 
 
 " Omar has been my friend and companion as well as rhy 
 cook and general servant now for six months, and we are very 
 sad at our approaching separation at Alexandria, where I am 
 to spend a day in his house with his young wife and to eat his 
 bread. He sadly wants to go with me to England to see my 
 children. What a yarn I have made." 
 
CHAPTER LIII. 
 
 LADY DUFF GORDON {continued). 
 
 Lady Duff Gordon returns to England, but is compelled to go back to Egypt 
 — The " Maison de France " at Thebes — H.R.H. of Darfoor — Visit to 
 Tomb of Sheykh Abu-'l-Hajjaj — Life very Biblical — Character of Sheykh 
 Yoosuf — Letter from Lady Duff Gordon to Tom Taylor describing Life 
 at Luxor. 
 
 In June, 1863, Lady Duff Gordon came back to England, but 
 was forced to return to Egypt in October. 
 
 Lady Duff Gordon to Sarah Austin. 
 
 "Alexandria, Oct. 19, 1863. 
 
 " I am sorry my letter from Marseilles alarmed you. How- 
 ever I am very well now, and that after a horrid voyage, good as 
 to weather, but wretched as to ship and odious as to company. 
 I found that people in France are very angry at the move- 
 ment in Egypt against forced labour, and lay it all to English 
 intrigue against the Suez Canal. Libcrte, igah'te, fraternit'e 
 must sound well to the tune of the courbash cracked upon the 
 backs of the fellaheen ! They are convinced that carrying 
 earth in baskets for French masters is civilisation ! — la drole 
 dh'dee ! 
 
 " I found Janet in a boat to meet me as fresh and bright as 
 a spring day, and the faithful Omar radiant with joy and affec- 
 tion. He has refused excellent offers, as he conceives that his 
 God has given me to him to take care of, and has won golden 
 opinions of Ross by his behaviour. What exquisite gentlemen 
 
Sio THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 did he and Janet's old bowab (porter) Hamees appear after the 
 genteelest French on board ! 
 
 " The Nile is still over all the land, and eight miles of the 
 railway to Cairo gone, which renders the journey intolerable 
 and very costly. So Omar is gone to look for a dahabieh, that 
 we may go up like old-fashioned folk by water. My donkey- 
 driver Hassan has already sent me a message from Cairo 
 hoping I do not forget that he is my servant. Mustapha 
 Agha's son Seyd came on Saturday to say that his father was 
 repairing and cleaning a house at Thebes for me, and that there 
 were glass windows in two rooms. So you see I meet a kind 
 welcome at once." 
 
 She stayed a fortnight with us, but the damp ot Alexandria 
 again disagreed with her, and she went up to Cairo, hoping to 
 start almost immediately for Thebes. M. Tastu, the French 
 Consul-General, had kindly lent her the "Maison de France" 
 built over part of the great temple of Amenhoteb III. at Luxor. 
 Champollion and Rosellini lived there in 1829, and the French 
 naval officers in 1831, when sent out to remove the great 
 obelisk now in the Place de la Concorde at Paris. It was 
 demolished by Professor Maspero some years ago while exca- 
 vating the great temple of Luxor. 
 
 M. Mounier, Halim Pasha's agent at El-Mootaneh, had 
 offered my mother the steamer which was to tow his dahabieh 
 and she waited day after day at Cairo for it to start. On the 
 28th December they left Cairo and had a slow journey up the 
 Nile. 
 
 Lady Duff Gordon to Janet Ross. 
 
 " Luxor, _/«??. 14, 1864. 
 "Dearest Janet, — We had a queer voyage up the Nile. 
 Our poor little steamer was ordered at the last moment to do 
 the work of three, and we took in tow M. Mounier's boat and 
 that of the envoy and son of the Sultan of Darfoor. We took 
 on board a Turkish Pasha going to Rhoda, an EflFendi to Esneh, 
 seven women in the engine-room (among them a Bey's wife 
 
LADY D UFF GORDON. 511 
 
 who wanted to share my cabin, but our jolly old captain would 
 not let her), a heap of Arnaouts, three Greeks, a lot of Copts, 
 three prisoners in chains and their guard, and the 40,000 
 Imams know who besides. If the dear old captain had not 
 been the kindest and most attentive of men it would have been 
 a perfect Gehennum. As it was it did very well, only the close 
 confinement for seventeen days in the cabin was rather trying, 
 and on deck there was literally not standing room. The cap- 
 tain had been a seafaring man and had all the ways of an old 
 ' reg'lar-built ' tar. So funny in an Arab. We stopped at 
 Benisouef a whole day because there were no coals, whereupon 
 H.R.H. of Darfoor lost his temper and was brought to me, as I, 
 being English, could certify that a steamer could not go without 
 coals. The small nigger prince, about eleven, eyed me with 
 scorn and said, ' Why she's a woman, she can't talk to me.' 
 ' Wallah ! what a way to talk to English hareem ! ' exclaimed 
 the captain. A box of sweetmeats soon altered the boy's ideas 
 and we became quite friendly. At Keneh we stopped for busi- 
 ness, and there I dined with Seyd Achmet, the English Consul, 
 and went after dinner (at which our old captain would feed me 
 with his old brown fingers) to the French Consul's, Jesus 
 Buktoor, a Copt, where there were dancing-girls. At first I 
 did not care for the dancing, but when Lateefeh — an ugly, 
 clumsy-looking woman— sprang to her feet, I understood your 
 raving about Arab dancing. 
 
 " My house here is a palace. I never lived in a more beauti- 
 ful habitation, and so warm and nice. The thick walls keep 
 out the cold of night completely. I killed a whip -snake in the 
 hall last night, and Omar is rather uneasy lest it should be 
 ' the snake of the house,' and I have committed sacrilege on 
 our Dti Lares et tutelares whom Islam has not deposed. I 
 arrived here on Monday morning and breakfasted with sonie 
 nice kind people, who asked me into their boat and turned out 
 to be acquaintances of yours called Arrowsmith. 
 
 " Two tiny owls come and peep in at my window, walking 
 very tiptoeishly and bent forward like those in the hieroglyphics, 
 and bark at me like little puppies. My house rambles over the 
 top of the temple of Khem, you must come and pay me a 
 visit here," 
 
512 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 Lady Duff Gordon to Sir Alex. Duff Gordon. 
 
 "Luxor, y««. 22, 1864. 
 
 " . . . . Yesterday, I rode over to Karnac with Mustafa's ' 
 sais running by my side ; glorious hot sun and dehcious air. 
 To hear the sais chatter away, his tongue running as fast as 
 his feet, made me deeply envious of his lungs. Mustafa joined 
 me, and pressed me to go to visit the Sheykh's tomb for the 
 benefit of my health, as he and Sheykh Yoosuf wished to say a 
 Fat'hah for me ; but I must not drink wine that day. I made 
 a little difficulty on the score of difference of religion, but 
 Sheykh Yoosuf, who came up, said he presumed I worshipped 
 God and not stones, and that sincere prayers were good any- 
 where. Clearly the bigotry would have been on my side if I 
 had refused any longer, so in the evening I went with Mustafa. 
 
 " It was a very curious sight ; the little dome illuminated 
 with as much oil as the mosque could afford over the tombs of 
 Abu-1-Hajjaj and his three sons. A magnificent old man, like 
 Father Abraham himself, dressed in white, sat on a carpet at 
 the foot of the tomb ; he was the head of the family of Abu-1- 
 Hajjaj. He made me sit by him, and was extremely polite. 
 Then came the Nazir, the Cadi, a Turk travelling on govern- 
 ment business, and a few other gentlemen, who all sat down 
 round us, after kissing the hand of the old sheykh. Every one 
 talked ; in fact it was a soiree in honour of the dead sheykh. 
 Every now and then, one of our party left off talking and 
 prayed a little, or counted his beads. The old sheykh sent for 
 coffee, and gave me the first cup — a wonderful concession ; and 
 at last the Nazir proposed a Fat'hah for me, which the whole 
 group repeated aloud, and then each said to me : ' Our Lord 
 God bless thee and give tliee health and peace, to thee and thy 
 family, and take thee back safe to thy master and thy children ; ' 
 every one adding 'Ameen' and giving the salam with the hand. 
 I returned it and said, ' Our Lord reward thee and all people 
 of kindness to strangers,' which was considered a very proper 
 answer." 
 
 ' English Consul at Thebes, 
 
LADY D UFF GORDON. 5 1 3 
 
 Lady Duff Gordon to Janet Ross. 
 
 "Luxor, Feb. 8, 1864. 
 
 " Dearest Child, — I have been very lazy in writing, for it 
 has been cold (for Thebes) and I have been very seedy — no 
 severe attack, but no strength at all. The last three days the 
 weather is warm and I am beginning to feel better. 
 
 " I have been learning to write Arabic and Itnow my letters. 
 No trifle I assure you. My Sheykh is a perfect darling, the 
 most highbred, graceful young creature and a Seyyid. Poor 
 fellow, his brother died the other day, and he took measures 
 that I should not hear it because I had been kind to him, and 
 he told Mustafa Aga that he knew ' all the kindness in my 
 stomach towards his family,' and that I was not well and he 
 feared I should be so sorry it would make me worse. I had 
 been at Sheykh Yoosuf's desire to see the lad, who came home 
 from studying in El-Azhar at Cairo. I found him very ill and 
 gasping for breath, so gave him a little soothing medicine and 
 put mustard plasters on him. He lay in a dark little hut with 
 rpud walls and all the family and a lot of neighbours crowded 
 in to look on. I pulled the blankets up against the wall and 
 put my arm behind his back to make him rest while the plasters 
 were on him, whereupon he laid his head on my shoulder and 
 presently held up his delicate brown face for a kiss like an 
 affectionate child. As I kissed him a very pious old Mollah 
 said ' Bismillah ' (' in the name of God '), and Sheykh Yoosuf's 
 old father (a splendid old man in a green turban) thanked me 
 and in a broken voice prayed that my children might always 
 find help and kindness. So much for Mussulman bigotry, &c. 
 These Saeedees are much nicer than the Lower Egypt people, 
 they have good Arab blood in their veins, keep pedigrees, and 
 are more manly and independent and more liberal in religion. 
 My great friend is the Maohn (police magistrate) here, a very 
 kind, good man, much liked I hear by all except the Cadi 
 who was displeased at his giving the stick to a Mussulman for 
 some wrong to a Copt. 
 
 " The house here is delightful, rather cold now but will be 
 perfect in hot weather, so airy and cheerful. I think I shall 
 stay on here all the time, the expense is z«'/ and it is very com- 
 
 34 
 
514 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 fortable. I have a friend in a farm in a neighbouring village 
 and am much amused at seeing country life. It cannot be 
 rougher, as regards material comforts, in New Zealand or 
 Central Africa, but there is no barbarism or lack of refinement 
 in the manners of the people. I have written to M. Mounier 
 to beg him to buy me a donkey. I can't get one here, and the 
 hired ones can no longer stand on their legs. Mustafa lends 
 me his horse, but I don't Hke to ask for it too often. I think 
 it wonderful that Omar cooked the dinner without being cross. 
 I am sure I should swear if I had to cook for a heretic in 
 Ramadan. They all look miserable to-day. . . ." 
 
 Lady Duff Gordon to Sir Alex. Duff Gordon. 
 
 "Luxor, Fch. 26, 1864. 
 
 " .... It is impossible to say how exactly like the early 
 parts of the Bible every act of life is here ; and how totally 
 new it seems when one reads it on the spot here. Old Jacob's 
 speech to Pharaoh really made me laugh (don't be shocked), 
 because it is so exactly like what a Fellah says to a Pasha, 'Few 
 and evil have been my days,' &c. (Jacob being a most prosperous 
 man) ; but it is manners to say all that. I feel quite kindly 
 now towards Jacob, whom I used to think ungrateful and dis- 
 contented. And when I go to Seedee Omar's farm does he 
 not say, ' Take now fine meal and bake cakes quickly,' and 
 want to kill a kid ? Fateereh, with plenty of butter, is what 
 the ' three men ' who came to Abraham ate ; and the way in 
 which Abraham's chief memlook, acting as wekeel, manages 
 Isaac's marriage with Rebecca, is precisely what a man in his 
 position would do now. All the vulgarised associations with 
 Puritanism, and abominable little ' Scripture tales and pictures,' 
 peel off here, and the inimitably truthful representation of life 
 and character comes out ; as, for example, Joseph's tears, and 
 his love for the brother horn of the same motlier, which are per- 
 fectly lifelike. Leviticus and Deuteronomy are very heathenish 
 compared to the law of the Koran, or to the early days of 
 Abraham. 
 
 "I want to photograph Yoosuf for you ; the feelings and 
 
LADY D UFF GORDON. 5 1 5 
 
 prejudices and ideas of a cultivated Arab, as I get at them little 
 by little, are curious beyond compare. It won't do to generalise 
 from one man, of course, but even one gives some very new 
 ideas. The most striking thing is the sweetness and delicacy 
 of feehng, the horror of hurting any one (this must be indi- 
 vidual, of course ; it is too good to be general). I apologised 
 to him two days ago for inadvertently answering the ' Salam 
 aleykum,' which he of course said to Omar on coming in, and 
 which is sacramental to Muslims. Yoosuf blushed crimson, 
 touched my hand and kissed his own, and looked quite 
 unhappy. 
 
 " Yesterday evening he walked in, and startled me by a 
 ' Salam aleykee,' addressed to me ; he had evidently been think- 
 ing it over, whether he ought to say it to me, and came to the 
 conclusion that it was not wrong. ' Surely it is well for all the 
 creatures of God to speak peace {Saldm) to each other,' said he. 
 Now, no uneducated Muslim would have arrived at such a con- 
 clusion. Omar would pray, work, lie, do anything for me— 
 sacrifice money even ; but I doubt whether he could utter 
 ' Salam aleykum ' to any but a Muslim. I answered as I felt — 
 ' Peace, O my brother, and God bless thee ! ' It was almost as 
 if a Catholic priest had felt impelled by charity to offer the 
 Communion to a heretic. 
 
 " In answer to the invariable questions about all my family, 
 I once told him that my father had been a great Alim of the 
 law, and that my mother had got ready his written book, and 
 put his lectures in order, that they might be printed. He was 
 amazed first that I had a mother, as he told me he thought I 
 was fifty or sixty, and immensely delighted at the idea. ' God 
 has favoured your family with understanding and knowledge. 
 I wish I could kiss the Sheykhah your mother's hand. May 
 God favour her ! ' . . ." 
 
 Lady Duff Gordon to Sir Alex. Duff Gordon. 
 
 " Luxor, March ']th. 
 " Dearest Alick, — The real hot weather (speaking after 
 the manner of the English) has begun, and the fine sun and 
 
5i6 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 clear air are delicious and reviving. My cough fades away and 
 my strength increases slowly. One can no longer go out in the 
 middle of the day, and I mount my donkey early and late with 
 little Achmet trotting beside me. I am glad to say that 
 Ramadan ' dies ' to-morrow. Everybody is cross and Omar 
 very seedy from the fasting. In the evenings comes my dear 
 Sheykh Yoosuf, and I blunder through an hour's dictation and 
 reading of the story of the barber's fifth brother (he with the 
 basket of glass). I presume that Yoosuf likes me too, for I am 
 constantly greeted with immense cordiality by graceful men in 
 green turbans, belonging like him to the holy family of Sheykh 
 Abu-1-Hajjaj. They inquire tenderly after my health, and 
 pray for me and hope I am going to stay among them. The 
 magistrate here, ' el Maohn,' Seleem Effendi, visits me often ; 
 yesterday he came and immediately told me he had bought a 
 black slave girl ' for his bed ' as his wife will not leave Cairo. 
 He had to buy the mother too, as the girl refused to be sold 
 without her ; he gave _^35 los. for the two to a Copt. What 
 would a Southerner say to a slave with such a will of her own ? 
 Poor Seleem, how the old body will bully him if her daughter 
 is lucky enough to have a child ! Seleem was full of his 
 purchase and told it over again to Omar, who said afterwards 
 it was ' rude ' of him to talk to men so — to me it was quite 
 proper. You would be much struck here with the resemblance 
 to Spain I think. ' Cosas de Espana ' is exactly the ' Shorgli 
 el Arab ' and ' Don Fulano ' is the Arabic word ' foolan ' 
 (such a one), as ' Ojala ' is ' Inshallah ' (please God). The 
 music and dancing here too are Spanish, only more so — and 
 much more. 
 
 " The steamer is going at once, so I must say good-bye- 
 fancy the lady ' does not care to see Karnac ' and so goes at 
 once." 
 
 Lady Duff Gordon to Tom Taylor. 
 
 " Luxor, March i6, 1864. 
 " Dear Tom, — I cannot tell you how delighted I was to hear 
 that all had gone well with Laura and your little daughter. 
 Maashallah ! God bless her ! When I told Omar that a 
 
LADY DUFF GORDON. 517 
 
 friend ' like my brother,' as Arabs say, had got a baby, he pro- 
 posed to illuminate our house and fire off all the pistols on the 
 premises. Pray give my kind love and best wishes to Laura. 
 
 " I am living here a very quiet dreamy sort of life in hot 
 Thebes — visiting a little among my neighbours, and learning 
 a little Arabic from a most sweet gentle young Sheykh, who 
 preaches on Fridays in the mosque of Luxor. I wish I could 
 draw his soft brown face and graceful brown draped figure ; 
 but if I could, he is too devout, I believe, to allow it. The 
 police magistrate, el Maohn, Seleem EflFendi, is also a great 
 friend of mine, and the Cadi is civil, but a little scornful to 
 heretical hareem, I think. It is already very hot here (to-day 
 is the i6th of March), and I should go down soon to Cairo, 
 but I hear such terrible reports of the dearness of everything, 
 that I dare not venture upon the expense of a long stay there, 
 and my house here is excellent. The last few travellers' 
 dahabiehs are now here on their way down the river ; after 
 that I shall not see a white face for many months, except 
 Sally's. The same faithful Omar is with me, and more excel- 
 lent than ever, but suddenly grown from almost a boy into 
 quite a man, as people do here in a few months' time. I hear 
 Phillips is in Cairo. I have written to invite him to come and 
 see the glories of Thebes ; I wish he may. I hope he will paint 
 half-a-dozen pashas in Cairo, and get well paid, and come and 
 make studies of the brown Saeedees up here to please his eye. 
 Sheykh Yoosuf laughed so heartily over a print in an illustrated 
 paper from a picture of Hilton's of Rebekah at the well, 
 with the old ' wekeel ' of ' Sidi Ibraheem ' (Abraham's chief 
 servant) kneeling before the girl he was sent to fetch, like an 
 old fool without his turban, and Rebekah and the other girls 
 in queer fancy dresses, and the camels with snouts like pigs. 
 ' If the painter could not go into ' Es sham ' (Syria) ' to see 
 how the Arab ' (Bedaween) ' really look,' said Sheykh Yoosuf, 
 ' why did he not paint a well in England, with girls like 
 English peasants — at least it would have looked natural to 
 English people ? and the wekeel would not seem so much like 
 a Majnoon ' (a madman) ' if he had taken off a hat ! ' I cor- 
 dially agree with Yoosuf's art criticism. Fancy pictures of 
 Eastern things are hopelessly absurd, and fancy poems, too. 
 
5i8 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. , 
 
 I have got hold of a stray copy of Victor Hugo's ' Orientales,' 
 and I think I never laughed more in my life. 
 
 " The corn is now full-sized here, but still green ; in twenty 
 days will be harvest, and I am to go to the harvest home of a 
 fellah friend of mine in a village a mile or two off. The crop 
 is said to be unusually fine. Old Nile always pays back the 
 damage he does when he rises so very high. The real disaster 
 is the cattle disease, which still goes on, I hear, lower down. 
 It has not at present spread above Minyeh, but the destruction 
 has been fearful ; meat in Cairo and Alexandria is fifteen to 
 eighteen-pence a pound, and other food and necessaries of 
 course rise in proportion. Up here it is about the same as in 
 London, and rising every week. Last year, meat was three- 
 pence a pound here. I believe there is an impression that the 
 present Pasha has the evil eye, or is in some way unlucky and 
 the cause of calamities. I more and more feel the difficulty of 
 quite understanding a people so unlike ourselves — the more 
 I know them, I mean. One thing strikes me, that, like children, 
 they are not conscious of the great gulf which divides educated 
 Europeans from themselves, at least I believe it is so. We do 
 not attempt to explain our ideas to them, but I cannot discover 
 any such reticence in them. I wonder whether this has struck 
 people who can talk fluently, and know them better than I do ? 
 I find they appeal to my sympathy in trouble quite comfortably, 
 and talk of religious and other feelings apparently as freely 
 as to each other. In many respects they are more unprejudiced 
 than we are, and very intelligent, and very good in many 
 ways ; and yet they seem so strangely childish ; and I fancy 
 I detect that impression even in Lane's book, though he does 
 not say so. 
 
 Write to me, dear old Tom, please ; I shall be so glad to 
 hear of you and yours. Janet is going to England. I wish 
 I were going too, but it is useless to keep trying a hopeless 
 experiment. At present I am very comfortable in health, so 
 long as I do nothing and the weather is warm. I suffer little 
 pain and have little cough and blood-spitting — only I feel 
 nohow, weak and weary. I have extensive practice in the doc- 
 toring line, and think I must soon send to England for more 
 drugs. Bad eyes, of course, abound. If you see Layard, give 
 
LADY DVPF GORDON, 519 
 
 him my kind love, and beg him to get the English consular 
 agent here (one Mustafa Agha) paid ; he is the only man 
 of any use to the English in Egypt, and he don't get a penny, 
 which is a shame. Wish Watts joy for me of his new hareem, 
 and give greetings to any other of my friends. I grieve over 
 Thackeray much, and more over his girls' lonely position. 
 What news can I send from Luxor ? I can only beg for some. 
 If I should die in these regions, I bequeath the reputation of 
 my Omar Abu-'l-Halaweh of Alexandria to my friends, and 
 hope they will never fail to recommend him and befriend him 
 as far as possible, in consideration of his excellent and disin- 
 terested conduct to me, and of his general integrity and kindli- 
 ness. His whole behaviour to me has been truly filial. I think 
 you would enjoy, as I do, the peculiar sort of social equality 
 which prevails here ; it is the exact contrary of French egalitt. 
 There are great and powerful people, much honoured (out- 
 wardly, at all events), but nobody has inferiors. A man comes 
 in and kisses my hand, and sits down, ofi the carpet, out of 
 respect, but he smokes his pipe, drinks his coffee, laughs, talks, 
 and asks questions as freely as if he were an Effendi or I were 
 a Fellahah ; he is not my inferior, he is my poor brother. 
 The servants in my friends' houses receive me with profound 
 demonstrations of respect, and wait at dinner reverently, but 
 they mix freely in the conversation and take part in all amuse- 
 ment, music, dancing girls, or reading of the Koran. Even 
 the dancing girl is not an outcast ; she is free to talk to me 
 and it is highly irreligious to show any contempt or aversion. 
 The rules of politeness are the same for all. The passer-by 
 greets the one sitting still, or the one who comes into a room, 
 those who are already there, without distinction of rank. 
 When I have greeted the men, they always rise, but if I pass 
 without, they take no notice of me. 
 
 " All this is very pleasant and graceful, though it is con- 
 nected with much that is evil. The fact that any man may be 
 a Bey or a Pasha to-morrow, is not a good fact, for the pro- 
 motion is more likely to fall on a bad slave than on a good or 
 intelligent free man. Thus the only honourable class are those 
 who have nothing to hope from the great ; I won't say nothing 
 to fear, for all have cause for that. 
 
S20 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 " Hence the high respectability and gentility of the merchants, 
 who are most independent of the Government. The English 
 would be a Httle surprised at Arab judgments of them. They 
 admit our veracity and honesty, and like us on the whole, but 
 they blame the men for their conduct to women. They are 
 shocked at the way Englishmen talk about hareem among 
 themselves, and think the English hard and unkind to their 
 wives and to women in general. English hareemat is generally 
 highly approved, and an Arab thinks himself a happy man if 
 he can marry an English girl. I have had an offer for Sally 
 from the chief man here for his son, proposing to allow her 
 a free exercise of her religion and customs as a matter of 
 course. I think the influence of foreigners is much more real 
 and much more useful on the Arabs than on the Turks, though 
 the latter show it more in dress, &c. All the engineers and 
 physicians are Arabs, and very good ones, too. Not a Turk 
 has learnt anything practical ; and the dragomans and servants 
 employed by the English have learnt a strong appreciation of 
 the value of a character for honesty — deserved or no — but many 
 do deserve it. Compared to the couriers and laquais de place 
 of Europe, these men stand very high. 
 
 " Omar has just run in to say that Achmet's boat is going, 
 and he will post this letter for me in Cairo. 
 
 " So good-bye, and God bless you. 
 
 "L. D. G." 
 
CHAPTER LIV. 
 
 LADY DUFF GORDON {contiuiLcd'). 
 
 Arab Opinion of English Hareem — Harvesting — Sitti Noor-ala-Noor — Lady 
 Duff Gordon as Doctor — The words of Ruth in the Nineteenth Century — 
 Arab and Egyptian types — Christian and Muslim morality — Ill-treatment 
 of the fellaheen— An Arab Deborah — Patriarchal Feelings in the East — 
 Reception at Thebes — Death of the dragoman Mohammad Er-Rasheedee 
 — Gratitude of the People — Letters from M. P. Paradol to Lady Duff 
 Gordon — A fellah's blessing — " Sheykh " Stanley — Lady Duff Gordon 
 visits the Cadi at Keneh — Miss North's visit to Luxor — Mr. Gifford 
 Palgrave at Luxor — The Maohn's children at Benisouef. 
 
 Lady Duff Gordon to Sir Alex. Duff Gordon. 
 
 "Luxor, March 22, 1864. 
 "... I HEARD Seleem Effendi and Omar discussing English 
 ladies one day lately, while I was inside the curtain with 
 Seleem's slave-girl, and they did not know I heard them. 
 Omar described Janet, and was of opinion that a man who 
 was married to her could want nothing more. ' By my soul, 
 she rides like a Bedawee, she shoots with the gun and pistol, 
 rows the boat ; she speaks many languages and knows what is 
 in their books ; works with the needle like an Efreet ; and to 
 see her hands run over the teeth of the music-box (keys of the 
 piano) amazes the mind, while her singing gladdens the soul. 
 How, then, should her husband ever desire the coffee-shop ? 
 Wallahee ! she can always amuse him at home. And as to 
 my lady, the thing is not that she does not know. When 
 I feel my stomach tightened, I go to the divan and say to her, 
 ' Do you want anything — a pipe or sherbet or so-and-so ? ' 
 and I talk till she lays down her book and talks to me, and 
 
522 THREE GENERA TIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 I question her and amuse my mind ; and, by God ! if I were 
 a rich man and could marry one Enghsh hareem Hke these, 
 I would stand before her and serve her like her memlook. 
 You see I am only this lady's servant, and I have not once sat 
 in the coffee-shop, because of the sweetness of her tongue. Is 
 it not true, therefore, that the man who can marry such 
 hareem is rich more than with money ? ' 
 
 " I nearly laughed out at hearing Omar relate his manoeuvres 
 to make me ' amuse his mind.' It seems I am in no danger of 
 being discharged for being dull." 
 
 Lady Duff Gordon to Janet Ross. 
 
 " Luxor, April 7, 1864. 
 
 " Dearest Janet. — A boat goes down to-morrow, the very 
 last. I have continued very fairly well — we had great heat 
 ten days ago, now it is quite cool. Harvesting is going on, and 
 never did I see, in any dream, a sight so lovely as the whole 
 process — the brown reapers, the pretty little naked boys helping 
 and hanging on the stately bulls at the threshing floor. An 
 acquaintance of mine, one Abd-er-Rahman, is Boaz ; and as I 
 sat with him on the threshing-floor, I felt quite puzzled as to 
 whether I were really alive, or only existing in imagination in 
 the Book of Ruth. It is such a keyf one enjoys under palm- 
 trees with such a scene. The harvest is magnificent here ; I 
 never saw such heavy crops. There is no cattle disease, but a 
 good deal of sickness among the people ; I have to practice 
 very extensively, and often feel very anxious, as I cannot refuse 
 to go to the poor souls and give them medicine, though with 
 sore misgivings all the while. 
 
 " Fancy, that Hekekian Bey can't get me an Arabic dic- 
 tionary in Cairo ! I must send to London, I suppose, which 
 seems hardly worth while. I wish you could see my teacher 
 Shekyh Yoosuf. I never before saw a pious person amiable 
 and good like him. He is intensely devout and not at all 
 bigoted — a difficult combination ! and moreover he is lovely 
 to behold and has the prettiest and merriest laugh possible. 
 It is quite curious to see the mixture of a sort of learning 
 with utter ignorance and great superstition, and such perfect 
 
LADV DUFF GORDON. 523 
 
 high-breeding and beauty of character. It is exactly like 
 associating with St. John. 
 
 " Give my salaam to Madame Tastu,' and ask her whether 
 I may stay on here, or if I go down-stream during the heat, 
 whether I may return next winter. In which case I might 
 leave some of my goods here. There is a very nice Mohammed, 
 who takes care of the house, in whose charge I could leave 
 them. Hekekian strongly advises me to remain here and 
 thinks the heat will be good — I will try. Eighty-eight degrees 
 seemed to agree with me wonderfully. ..." 
 
 Lady -Duff Gordon to Sir Alex. Duf Gordon. 
 
 "Luxor, Aprtl 14, 1864. 
 
 " Dearest Alick, — I have but this moment received your 
 letter of 1 8th of March, which went after Janet, who was 
 hunting at Tel-el-Kebir. We have had a tremendous Kham- 
 seen wind, the thermometer was 92, but it did me no harm. 
 
 " Luckily I am very well, for I am worked hard, as a strange 
 epidemic has broken out, and I am the Hakeemeh of Luxor. 
 The Hakeem Bashi from Cairo came up and frightened the 
 people, telling them it was catching ; and Yoosuf forgot his 
 religion so far as to beg me not to be all day in the people's 
 huts. But Omar and I despised the danger, I feeling sure it 
 was not infectious, and Omar saying, ' Min Allah.' The people 
 have named me Sitti Noor-ala-Noor. A poor woman, whose 
 only child, a young man, I was happy enough to cure when 
 dreadfully ill, kissed my feet, and asked by what name to pray 
 for me. I told her my name meant ' noor ' (light, lux) ; but as 
 that was one of the names of God, I could not use it. ' Thy 
 name is Noor-ala-Noor,' said a man who was in the room ; that 
 means something like ' God is upon thy mind,' or ' Light from 
 the Light ' ; and ' Noor-ala-Noor ' it remains : a combination 
 of the names of God is quite proper, like Abdallah, Abd-er- 
 Rahman, &c., &c. ..." • 
 
 " Aprtl 22)rd. — Happily the sickness is going off. I have 
 just heard Suleyman's report as follows : — Hasan Aboo- Ahmad 
 kisses the Emeereh's feet, and the bullets have cleaned his 
 
 ' Mother of the French Consul-General and a well-known poetess. 
 
524 THREE GENERA TIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 stomach, and he has said the Fat'hah for the lady. The two 
 little girls who had diarrhcsa are well. The Christian dyer 
 has vomited his powder, and wants another. The mother of 
 the Christian cook who married the priest's sister has got 
 dysentery. The hareem of Mustafa Aboo-Obeyd has two 
 children with bad eyes. The Bishop had a quarrel, and scolded 
 and fell down, and cannot speak or move ; I must go to him. 
 The young deacon's jaundice is better. The slave girl of 
 Khursheed Agha is sick, and Khursheed is sitting at her head 
 in tears ; the women say I must go to her too. Khursheed is 
 a fine young Circassian, and very good to his hareem. That is 
 all. Suleyman has nothing on earth to do, and brings me a 
 daily report. 
 
 " To turn to something more amusing — such a joke against 
 my grey hairs. I have had a proposal or at least an attempt at 
 one. A very handsome Sheykh el Arab (Bedawee) was here 
 for a bit, and asked Omar whether I was a widow or divorced — 
 as in either case he would send a dellalleh (marriage brokeress) 
 to me. Omar told him that would never do. I had a husband 
 in England, besides, I was not young, had a married daughter, 
 my hair was grey, &c., &c. The Sheykh swore he didn't care. 
 I could dye my hair and get a divorce ; that I was not like 
 stupid modern women, but like an ancient Arab Ameereh, and 
 worthy of Antar or Abu-Zeyd (a woman for whom men killed 
 each other, or themselves), and he would pay all he could afford 
 as my dowry. Omar came in, in fits of laughter at the idea, 
 and the difficulty he had had in the stopping the dellalleh's 
 visit. He told the Sheykh I should certainly beat her, I should 
 be so offended. The disregard of differences of age here in 
 marriage is very strange. My adorer was not more than thirty, 
 I am sure. Don't tell people, it is so very absurd, I should be 
 ashamed before the people. . . .'' 
 
 Lady Duff Gordon to Sarah Austin. 
 
 "LuxoK, Monday.^ May 23, 1864. 
 " Dearest Mutter, — I meant to have written to you by 
 Arthur Taylor who left for Cairo yesterday morning, but the 
 simoon made me feel so stupid that I could barely finish a 
 
LADY DUFF GORDON. 525 
 
 letter to Alexander. So I begin one to-day to recount the 
 wonders of the season here. I went over to Mustafa's island 
 to spend the day in the tent, or rather the hut of dourra stalks 
 and palm branches which he has erected there for the thresh- 
 ing and winnowing. He had invited me and ' his worship ' 
 the Maohn to a picnic. Only imagine that it rained ! all 
 day a gentle slight rain, but enough to wet all the desert ! I 
 laughed and said I had brought English weather, but the 
 Maohn shook his head and opined that we were suffering the 
 anger of God. Rain in summer time was quite a terror. 
 However, we consoled ourselves, and Mustafa called a nice little 
 boy to recite the ' noble Koran ' for our amusement, and out 
 of compliment to me he selected the chapter of the family of 
 Amran (the history of Jesus), and recited it with marvellous 
 readiness and accuracy. A very pleasant mannered man of the 
 Shurafa of Goorneh came and joined us, and was delighted 
 because I sent away a pipe which Abdurrachman brought me 
 (it is highly improper to smoke while the Koran is being read 
 or recited). He thanked me for the respect, and I told him I 
 knew he would not smoke in a church or while I prayed, why 
 should I ? It rather annoys me to find that they always expect 
 from us irreverence to their religion which they would on no 
 account be guilty of to ours. The little boy was a fellah, the 
 child of my friend Omar, who has lost all his cattle, but who 
 came as pleasant and smiling as ever to kiss my hand and 
 wait upon me. After that the Maohn read the second chapter, 
 ' The Cow,' in a rather nasal quavering chant. I perceived 
 that no one present understood any of it except just a few words 
 here and there, not much more than I could follow myself 
 from having read the translation. I think it is not any nearer 
 spoken Arabic than Latin is to Italian. After this Mustafa, 
 the Maohn, Omar, Sally and I sat down round the dinner-tray 
 and had a very good dinner of lamb, fowls and vegetables, such 
 as bahmias and melocheech, both of the mallow order, and 
 both excellent, cooked with meat, rice, stewed apricots (mish- 
 mish), with nuts and raisins in it ; and cucumbers and water- 
 melons strewed the ground. One eats all ' durch einander ' 
 with bread and fingers, and a spoon for the rice, and green 
 limes to squeeze over one's own bits for sauce. We were very 
 
526 THREE GENERA TIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 merry if not very witty and the Maohn declared Wallahi the 
 English were fortunate in their customs and in the enjoyment 
 of the society of learned and excellent Hareemat ; and Omar 
 lying on the rushes said, ' This is the happiness of the Arab. 
 Green trees, sweet water, and a kind face makes the garden ' 
 (paradise), an Arab saying. The Maohn joked him as to how 
 ' a child of Cairo ' could endure fellah life. I was looking at 
 the heaps of wheat and thinking of Ruth, when I started to 
 hear the soft Egyptian lips utter the very words which the 
 Egyptian girl spake more than 2,000 years ago. ' Behold my 
 mother ! where she stays I stay, and where she goes I will go, 
 her family is my family, and if it pleased God nothing but the 
 separator of friends (death) should divide me from her.' I 
 really could not speak so I kissed the top of Omar's turban — 
 Arab fashion — and the Maohn blessed him quite solemnly and 
 said, ' God reward thee, my son, thou hast honoured thy Lady 
 greatly before thy people, and she has honoured thee — and ye 
 are an example of masters and servants and of kindness and 
 fidelity,' and the brown labourers who were lounging about 
 said, ' Verily it is true, and God be praised for people of ex- 
 cellent conduct.' I never expected to feel like Naomi, and 
 possibly many English people might only think Omar's uncon- 
 scious repetition of Ruth's words rather absurd, but to me they 
 sounded in perfect harmony with the life and ways of this 
 country and these people, who are full of tender and affection- 
 ate feelings when they have not been crushed out of them. It 
 is not humbug ; I have seen their actions. Because they use 
 grand compliments Europeans think they are never sincere, 
 but the compliments are not meant to deceive, they only pro- 
 fess to be forms. Why do the English talk about the beautiful 
 sentiment of the Bible and pretend to feel so much, and when 
 they come and see the same life before them they spit upon it ? 
 " Tuesday. — We have a family quarrel going on. Mohammed's 
 wife, a girl of eighteen or so, wanted to go home on Ramadan, 
 for her mother to wash her head, and unplaited her hair. 
 Mohammed told her not to leave him on that day and to 
 send for a woman to do it for her, whereupon she cut her hair 
 off and Mohammed in a passion told her to 'cover her face' 
 (that is equivalent to divorce), and take her baby and go home 
 
LADY D UFF GORDON. 527 
 
 to her father's house. Ever since he has been mooning about 
 the yard and in and out of the kitchen, very glum and silent. 
 This morning I went into the kitchen and found Omar cooking 
 with a little baby in his arms and giving it sugar. ' Why 
 what is that ? ' says I. ' Oh don't say anything, I sent 
 Achmet to fetch Mohammed's baby and when he comes here 
 he will see it, and then in talking I can say so and so, and how 
 the man must be good to the hareem, and what this poor small 
 girl do when she big enough to ask for her father,' in short, 
 Omar wants to exercise his diplomacy in making up the 
 quarrel. After writing this I heard Mohammed's low quiet 
 voice and Omar's boyish laugh, and then silence, and went to 
 see the baby and its father. My kitchen was a pretty scene, 
 Mohammed in his ample brown robes and white turban lay 
 asleep on the floor, with the baby's tiny pale face and little 
 eyelids ^stained with kohl against his coffee brown cheeks, 
 both fast asleep ; baby in her father's arm and wide brown 
 sleeve. Omar leant against the ' fournaise ' in his house dress 
 — -a white shirt open at the breast, and white drawers reaching 
 to the knees with the red tarbosh and red and yellow koofych 
 round it turban wise, contemplating them with his great soft 
 eyes. The two young men make an excellent contrast between 
 Upper and Lower Egypt. Mohammed is the true Arab type, 
 coffee brown, thin, spare, sharp-featured, elegant hands and 
 feet, bright glittering small eyes, and angular jaw — not a hand- 
 some Arab, but ' bien characterise.' Omar, the colour of new 
 boxwood or old ivory ; pale, with eyes like a cow, full lips, full 
 chin and short nose, not the least negroish, but perfectly 
 Egyptian ; the eyes wide apart — unlike the Arab — moustache 
 like a woman's eyebrows, curly brown hair, bad hands and feet 
 and not well made, but graceful in movement, and still more in 
 countenance, very inferior in beauty to the purer Arab blood 
 which prevails here, but most sweet in expression. He is a 
 true Achou-el-Benat (brother of girls). I never knew any one 
 so truly chivalrous to hareem in my life. How astonished 
 Europeans would be to hear Omar's real opinion of their con- 
 duct to women ! He mentioi:ied some Englishman who had 
 divorced his wife and made her frailty public. You should 
 have seen him spit on the floor in abhorrence. 
 
528 THREE GENERA TIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 " Friday. — We have had better weather again, easterly wind 
 and pretty cool, and I am losing the cough and langour which 
 the damp of the simoon brought me. Sheykh Yoosuf has just 
 come back from Keneh, whither he and the Cadi went on their 
 donkeys for some law business. Yoosuf acts for the Cadi a 
 great deal here, and is in fact more lawyer than curate. He 
 took our saddle bags, at Omar's request, and brought us back 
 a few pounds of sugar and some rice and tobacco. (Isn't it like 
 Fielding's novels) ? It is two days' journey, so they slept in 
 the mosque at Koos half way. I told Yoosuf how Suleyman's 
 child has the small-pox, and how Mohammed only said it was 
 ' Min Allah,' 'from God,' when I suggested that his baby 
 should be vaccinated at once. Yoosuf called him in and said, 
 ' O man, when thou wouldest build a house dost thou throw the 
 bricks in a heap on the ground and say the building thereof is 
 from God ; or dost thou use the brains and the hands which God 
 has given thee, and then pray to Him to bless thy work ? In 
 all things do to the best of thy understanding and means, and 
 then say, " Min Allah," for the end is with Him.' There is not 
 a pin to choose inya^fl/z'j'wz here between Muslim and Christian, 
 the lazy — like Mohammed and Suleyman (one Arab, the other 
 Copt), say ' Min Allah,' meaning ' poco a poco,' or ' nabochish,' 
 or any form of dawdle you please — but the true Muslim doc- 
 trine is just what Yoosuf laid down, ' do all you can and be 
 resigned to whatever be the result.' ' Fais cequedois advienne 
 que pourra,' is good doctrine. 
 
 " In fact I am very much puzzled to discover the slightest 
 difference between Christian and Muslim morality or belief — if 
 you exclude certain dogmas — and in fact very little is felt 
 here. No one attempts to apply different standards of morals 
 or of piety to a Muslim and a Copt. • East and West is the 
 difference, not Muslim and Christian. As to that difference I 
 could tell volumes. Are they worse, are they better ? both 
 and neither. I am perhaps not quite impartial because I am 
 ' sympathique ' to the Arabs and they to me, and I am in- 
 clined to be ' kind ' to their virtues if not ' blind ' to their faults 
 which are visible to the most inexperienced traveller. You 
 see all our own familiar ' bunkum ' (excuse the vulgarity) falls 
 so flat on their ears, ' brave words,' about ' honour,' ' veracity,' 
 
LADY DUFF GORDON. 529 
 
 &c., &c., they look blank and bored at. The schoolboy 
 morality — as set forth by Maurice — is current here among 
 grown men. Of course we tell lies to Bashas and Beys ' why 
 shouldn't we ? ' But shall I call in that ragged sailor and 
 give him an order to bring me up XSoo in cash from Cairo, 
 when he happens to come ? it would not be an unusual pro- 
 ceeding. I sleep every night in a makaah (sort of verandah), 
 open to all Luxor, and haven't a door that has a lock. They 
 bother me for backsheesh ; but oh, how poor they are, and 
 how rich must a woman be whose very servants drink sugar to 
 their coffee ; and who lives in the Kasr (palace), and is respect- 
 fully visited by Ali Bey — and come to that, Ali Bey would like 
 a present even better than the poorest fellah. 
 
 " When I know as I now do thoroughly all Omar's complete 
 integrity without any sort of mention of it, his self-denial in 
 going ragged and shabby to save his money for his wife and 
 child (a very great trial to a good-looking young Arab), and 
 the equally unostentatious love he has shown to me, and the 
 delicacy and real nobleness of feeling which come out so oddly 
 in the midst of sayings which to our ideas seem very shabby 
 and often time-serving. I wonder if there be anything as 
 good in the civilised West. And as Sally most justly says, 
 ' All their goodness is quite their own. God knows there is no 
 one to teach anything but harm ! ' 
 
 " Tuesday. — Two poor fellows have just come home from the 
 Suez Canal work with gastric fever I think. I hope it won't 
 spread. The wife of one said to me yesterday, ' Are there 
 more Sittat (ladies) like you in your village ? ' ' Wallah,' said 
 I, ' there are many better, and good doctors, Alhamdullillah.' 
 ' Alhamdullillah,' said she; 'then the people don't -want you 
 so much, and by God you must stay here, for we can't do 
 without you, so write to your family to say so, and don't go 
 away and leave us.' 
 
 " Thursday, June 2nd. — I have just received Alick's letter 
 and am so grieved to hear how ill you have been in Paris, and 
 at the same moment a steamer has arrived going down which 
 will take this letter directly. So I can only say good-bye, my 
 own dearest Mutter, and God bless you. I continue very fairly 
 well. The epidemic here is over, or all but. But my medical 
 
 35 
 
530 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 fame has spread so, that the poor souls come twenty miles 
 (from Koos) for physic. I have written to Izod to send me 
 medicines and a book or two. The constant phrase of ' Oh 
 our sister, God hath sent thee to look to us,' is so sad. Such 
 a little help is a wonder to my poor Fellaheen. I send this to 
 Alick for fear it should miss you somehow. It is not so hot 
 as it was, I think, except at night, and I now sleep half the 
 night outside the house. The cattle are all dead — perhaps five 
 are left in all Luxor. ' Allah Kereem ' (God is merciful), said 
 Fellah Omar, ' I have one left from fifty- four.' The grain is un- 
 threshed and butter 3s. a lb. here, and meat is. or I4d. We 
 get nothing here but by post ; no papers, no nothing. I 
 suppose the high Nile will bring up boats. Now the river is 
 down at his lowest — and now I really know how Egyptians live. 
 " The man waits for my letter, so good-bye again, dearest 
 Mutter, God bless you, 
 
 " Your ever affectionate, 
 
 "TOODIE." 
 
 In June and July the heat was intense, and the dust-storms 
 prevented my mother from going out of the house. In a letter 
 to my father' she says : — 
 
 " I am a ' stupid, lazy Arab ' now, having lain on a mat 
 in a dark passage for six weeks or so. I won't describe my 
 costume, it is two months since I have worn gloves or stockings, 
 and I think you would wonder at the ' Fellahah ' who owns 
 you ; so deep a brown are my face, hands, and feet." 
 
 In August she came down the river, and my father spent 
 the month of November with her at Cairo. To Mrs. Austin 
 she wrote : — 
 
 " Alick will tell you how curiously Omar illustrated the 
 patriarchal feelings of the East by entirely dethroning me, to 
 whom he is so devoted, in favour of the ' Master,' whom he had 
 never seen. ' That our Alastcr ; we all eat bread from his 
 hand and he work for us.'' Omar and I were equal before our 
 
 ' See " Letters from Egypt." 
 
LADY DUFF GORDON. 531 
 
 ' Seedee.' He can sit at his ease at my feet, but when the 
 Master comes in he must stand reverently, and gives me to 
 understand that I too must be respectful." 
 
 Her reception on her return to Thebes, in December, was 
 enthusiastic : — 
 
 " ' El-hamdu-lillah salameh ! ' (' Thank God, thou art in 
 peace ! '), and ' Ya Sitt, ya Emeereh ' (' O lady, O noble lady ! ') 
 till my head went round. To-morrow night is the great night 
 of Sheykh Abul-'l-Hajjaj's moolid, and I am desired to go to 
 the mosque for the benefit of my health, &c., and that my 
 friends may say a prayer for my children. The kind, hearty 
 welcome I found has been a real pleasure, and every one was 
 pleased because I was glad to come home to my ' Beled— 
 Beledee ' ; and they all thought it so nice of my ' master ' 
 to have come so far to see me, because I was sick ; all but 
 one Turk, who clearly looked with pitying contempt on so 
 much trouble taken after a sick old woman." 
 
 Lady Duff Gordon to Sarah Austin. 
 
 "Luxor, _/««. 9, 1865. 
 
 " Dear Mutter, — I wrote to Alexander a week ago such a 
 long yarn that I had not time or courage to write any more by 
 that day's post. Ross's agent arrived yesterday, and came to 
 me for information as he had discovered that mine of last 
 summer was correct. He is a Frenchman and seems intelli- 
 gent, and like almost every one that comes here and ' sees with 
 his eyes ' boiling with indignation at the state of things. I 
 brought a lantern of coloured glass to present to the Mosque 
 here ; it excited immense delight, no one here had ever seen 
 one so handsome. I also brought the Shereef the Psalms in 
 Arabic, to his great delight. The old man called on all ' our 
 family ' to say a Fat'hah for their sister after making us all 
 laugh by shouting out ' Alhamdullillah, here is our darling safe 
 back again.' 
 
 "I wish you could have seen me in the crowd at Keneh, 
 holding on to the Cadi's farageeyeh (a loose robe worn by the 
 
532 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 Ulema). He is the real original Cadi of the thousand and 
 one nights. Did ever Cadi tow an Englishwoman round a 
 Sheykh's tomb before ? I thought his determination to show 
 the people that he considered a Christian not out of place in a 
 Muslim holy place very edifying. I find an exceedingly 
 pleasant man here, Ababdeh, a very great Sheykh from beyond 
 Khartoum. He is fifty I suppose, with the manners of an 
 English nobleman, simple and polite and very intelligent. He 
 wants to take me to Khartoum for two months, having a tent 
 and atakhterawan (camel litter), and to show me the Bishareen 
 in the desert. But for the expense I would certainly go, 
 Sheykh Yoosuf and Mustafa are going. We traced the route 
 on my map which to my surprise he understood, and I found 
 he had travelled into Zanzibar, and knew of the existence of 
 the Cape of Good Hope, and the English colony there. He 
 had also travelled in the Dinka and Shurook country, where 
 the men are seven and eight feet high. (Alexander saw a 
 Dinka girl at Cairo three inches taller than himself.) You 
 may fancy that I find Sheykh Ali very good company. 
 
 " To-day the sand in front of the house is thronged with all the 
 poor people with their camels, of which the Government has 
 made a new levy of eight camels to every i ,000 feddans (a feddan 
 is not quite an acre). The poor beasts are sent oflf to transport 
 troops in the Soudan, and not being accustomed to the desert 
 they all die — at all events their owners never see them again. 
 The discontent is growing stronger every day. Last week the 
 people were cursing the Pasha in the streets at Aswan. 
 
 '■'■Jan. iiifi^.— The whole place is in desolation, the men are 
 being beaten ; one because his camel is not good enough, 
 another because the saddle is old and shabby, the rest because 
 they have not money enough to pay two months' food and the 
 wages of one man to every four camels to be paid for the use 
 of Government beforehand. The courbash has been going on 
 my neighbours backs and feet all the morning. It is a new 
 sensation too when a friend turns up his sleeve and shows the 
 marks of the wooden handcuffs and the gall of the chain on his 
 throat ! The system of wholesale extortion and spoliation has 
 reached a point beyond which it would be difficult to go. The 
 story of Naboth's vineyard is repeated daily on the largest scale. 
 
LAD Y DUFF GORDON. 533 
 
 I grieve for Abdallah-el-Habbashee, and men of high position 
 like him, sent to die by disease or murder in Fazoogloo, but I 
 grieve still more over the daily anguish of the fellaheen, who 
 are forced to take the bread from the mouths of their starving 
 families, and to eat it while toiling for the private profit of one 
 man. Egypt is one vast ' plantation,' where the master works 
 his slaves without even feeding them. From my window 
 now I see the men limping about among the poor camels that 
 are waiting for the Pasha's boats to take them, and the great 
 heaps of maize which they are forced to bring for their food. 
 I can tell you the tears such a sight bring to one's eyes are hot 
 and bitter. These are no sentimental grievances. Hunger, 
 and pain, and labour without hope and without reward — and 
 the constant bitterness of impotent resentment ! 
 
 " To you all this must sound remote and fabulous. But try 
 
 to imagine Farmer 's team driven off by the police, and 
 
 himself beaten till he delivered his hay and oats and his farm- 
 servant for the Lord-Lieutenant, and his two sons dragged in 
 chains to work at railway embankments, and you will have 
 some idea of my state of mind to-day. 
 
 " Sheykh Hassan dropped in and dined with me yesterday, 
 and described his mother and her high-handed rule over him. 
 It seems he had a 'jeunesse orageuse,' and she defended him 
 against his father's displeasure. But when the old Sheykh died 
 she informed her son that if he ever again behaved in a manner 
 unworthy of a Sheykh-el-Arab, she would not live to see it. 
 ' Now if my mother told me to jump into the river and drown, 
 I should say " Hader " (ready), for I fear her exceedingly, and 
 I love her above all people in the world and have left every- 
 thing in her hand.' He was good enough to tell me that I 
 was the only woman he knew like his mother, and that was 
 Avhy he loved me so much. I am to visit this Arab Deborah, 
 at the Ababdeh village, two days' ride from the first cataract. 
 She will come and meet me at the boat. Hassan was splendid 
 when he said how he feared his mother exceedingly. To my 
 amazement to-day in walked the tremendous Alim from Tunis, 
 Sheykh Abd-el-Mootooal, who used to look so black at me,' 
 
 • See " Letters from Egypt." 
 
534 THREE GENERA TIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 He was very civil and pleasant, and asked no end of questions 
 about steam engines and telegraphs and chemistry — especially 
 whether it was true that the Europeans still fancied they could 
 make gold. I said no one had believed that for nearly two 
 hundred years, and he said that the Arabs also knew it was ' a 
 lie,' and he had wondered to hear that Europeans, who were 
 so clever, believed it. He had just been across the Nile to see 
 the tombs of the Kings and of course ' improved the occasion,' 
 and uttered a number of the usual fine sayings about the vanity 
 of human things. He told me I was the only Frank he had 
 ever spoken to. I observed he did not say a word about 
 religion, or use the usual pious phrases. By the by, Sheykh 
 Yoosuf filled up my inkstand for me the other evening, and in 
 pouring the ink, said ' Bismillah-er-Rachman-er-Racheem ' 
 (' in the name of God the merciful, the compassionate '), 1 said, 
 ' I like that custom, it is good to remind us that ink may be a 
 cruel poison or a good medicine.' 
 
 " I am better. No blood-spitting since ten days and little 
 cough. The people here think it is owing to the intercession 
 of Abu-'l-Hajjaj, who specially protects me. I was obliged to 
 be wrapped in the green silk cover of his tomb when it was 
 taken off to be carried in procession, partly for my health 
 and general welfare, and as a sort of adoption into the family. 
 I made a feeble resistance on the score of being a Nazraneeyeh, 
 but was told ' Never fear, does not God know thee and the 
 Sheykh also ? no evil will come to thee on that account, but 
 good.' And I rather think that general goodwill and kindness 
 is wholesome. . . . 
 
 " Your ever affectionate 
 
 " TOODIE." 
 
 A young Jew, who was going up the Nile in state in one of 
 the Viceroy's steamers, turned out his dragoman at Thebes 
 because he fell ill, and my mother took him in, and nursed him 
 till he died. Two Prussian doctors who happened to be at 
 Thebes gave her help, but the French doctor who was with 
 the young Jew refused to come and see poor Mohammad er- 
 Rasheedee. She writes to my father ; — 
 
LADY DUFF GORDON. 535 
 
 '' Feh. 2, 1865. 
 
 "... The ' respectable men ' came in by degrees, took an 
 inventory of his property, which they delivered to me, and 
 washed the body ; and within an hour and a half we all went 
 out to the burial-place ; I following among a troop of women 
 who joined us, to wail for ' the brother who had died far from 
 his place.' The scene, as we turned in between the broken 
 colossi and pylones of the temple to go to the mosque, was 
 overpowering. After the prayer in the mosque we went out 
 to the graveyard — Muslims and Copts helping to carry the 
 dead, and my Prankish hat in the midst of the veiled women ; 
 all so familiar and yet so strange ! 
 
 After the burial, the Imam, Sheykh Abd-el-Waris, came and 
 kissed me on the shoulders ; and the Shereef, a man of eighty, 
 laid his hands on my shoulders and said ' Fear not, my daughter, 
 neither all the days of thy life, nor at the hour of thy death, 
 for God leadeth thee in the right way (sirat mustakeem).' I 
 kissed the old man's hand and turned to go, but numbers of 
 men came and said, ' A thousand thanks, O our sister, for 
 what thou hast done for one among us ! ' and a great deal 
 more." 
 
 Some months after my mother wrote :— 
 
 " I often feel quite hurt at the way in which the people 
 here thank me for what the poor at home would turn up their 
 noses at. I think hardly a dragoman has been up the river 
 since er-Rasheedee died, but has come to thank me as warmly 
 as if I had done himself some great service, and many to give 
 me some little present. While the man was ill, numbers of 
 the Fellaheen brought eggs, pigeons, &c.— even a turkey ; and 
 food is worth money now, not as it used to be {e.g. butter is 
 three shilUngs a pound). I am quite weary, too, of hearing, 
 ' Of all the Frangee, I never saw one like thee ! ' Was no 
 one ever at all humane before ? For, remember, I give no 
 money, only a little physic and civility. How the British 
 cottager would ' thank you for nothing ! ' and how I wish my 
 neighbours here could afford to do the same ! " 
 
536 THREE GENERA TIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 Lady DufF Gordon saw much that Europeans in general have 
 no chance of seeing, as the "cunning women " set up a theory 
 that her " eye was lucky," and her description of marriages, 
 where she had to " look at " the brides, and the stories told at 
 the marriage feasts are wonderfully interesting and vivid. She 
 had become " Sitti Betaana," " Our own Lady," and one corner 
 of her brown abbaieh (cloak) was faded with much kissing. In 
 March, 1865, she wrote sad and indignant letters' about the 
 massacres at Gow, when a certain Ahmad-et-Teiyib rose with 
 a few followers against the intolerable exactions and ill-treat- 
 ment of the Turks. She ends one of her letters : — 
 
 " You will think me a complete rebel, but I may say to you 
 Avhat most people would think ' like my nonsense ' — that one's 
 pity becomes a perfect passion when one sits among the people 
 as I do, and sees it all. Least of all can I forgive those among 
 Europeans and Christians who can help to break these bruised 
 reeds." 
 
 In February M. Prevost Paradol went up the Nile and my 
 mother enjoyed his company thoroughly, she wrote to say if 
 ever he visited Egypt again he must go up the river with her. 
 
 Prkvost Paradol to Lady Duff Gordon. 
 [Translation.] 
 
 " VARis^July 2, 1865. 
 " Dear Madam, — How kind of you to have remembered me 
 while descending the Nile, always beautiful in spite of the 
 horrible misery you describe. The name of the dahabieh, 
 Uraiita, recalls all my longing for dear Egypt. How much 
 better my trip on the Nile would have been in your company ! 
 I remember our two delightful evenings at Luxor ; and Sheykh 
 Yoosuf, and the good magistrate, and Omar ; and above all, 
 you, the fairy of those ruins, and the providence of the poor 
 people who inhabit them. I have often talked about you this 
 
 ■ " Letters from Egypt," p. 341 et seq. 
 
LADY DUFF GORDON. 537 
 
 winter with St. Hilaire, and asked about your book. When 
 am I to have it ? But if it is as eloquent and as plain-speaking 
 as your letter, it may close Egypt against you, and then what 
 would you do ? Could you ever descend to mere European 
 life ? God knows where this letter will find you ! it will only 
 feebly express the great pleasure yours gave me, and the 
 charming recollection I shall always retain of you. 
 
 " Yours ever, . 
 
 " PRitvosT Paradol." 
 
 Prevost Paradol to Lady Duff Gordon. 
 
 [Translation.] 
 
 " Paris, August 27, 1865. 
 " Dear Madam, — I have just received the charming volume 
 and your kind letter. I have only discovered one ' author's 
 mistake,' which I forgive with all my heart. It is on page 334, 
 where you say of M. P. P., 'He is a delightful person.' It 
 ought -evidently to have been, ' He is a delighted person ; ' for 
 if ever any one was ' delighted,' it was the Parisian who found 
 in that lovely but silent solitude such a person as yourself, and 
 who could there 'enjoy a great indulgence of talk' after long 
 abstinence. Your cordial invitation, the idea of the dahabieh 
 gliding over the tranquil river under the sun, and the ' sweet 
 home of Luxor ' shared with you, and surrounded with such 
 wonders, makes my heart beat. But destiny has promulgated 
 an inexorable decree against all this. My reception at the 
 Academie Fran^aise, which is fixed for February, will keep me 
 here all the winter. Pity me, excuse me, and do not forget. 
 " Your grateful guest and true friend, 
 
 " Provost Paradol." 
 
 Lady Diff Gordon to Sir Alex. Duff Gordon. 
 
 " Nile Boat Urania, May^ 1865. 
 
 " Dearest Alick, — It is so long since I have written that I 
 
 shall bore you with a long yarn. Happy as I was in the 
 
 prospect of seeing you all and miserable as poor Upper Egypt 
 
 h^s become, I could not leave without a pang. Our Bairam 
 
538 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 was not gay. There was horse-riding for Sheykh Gibreel (the 
 cousin of Abu-'l-Hajjaj), and the scene was prettier than ever 
 I saw. My old friend Yunis the Shereef insisted on showing 
 me that at 85 he could still handle a horse and throw a jereed 
 ' for Sheykh Gibreel and the Lady,' as he said. Then arrived 
 the Mufettish of Zenia with his gay attendants and filled the 
 little square in front of the Cadi's castellated house where we 
 were sitting. The young Sheykh of Salamieh rode beauti- 
 fully, and there was some excellent neboot play (very severe 
 quarterstaff peculiar to the fellaheen). Next day was the great 
 dinner given by Mohammed and Mustafa outside Mohammed's ' 
 house opposite Sheykh Gibreel's tomb. Two hundred men ate 
 at his gate. I sat to see it and was of course asked to eat, 
 ' Can one like thee eat the melocheea of the fellaheen ? ' So I 
 joined a party of five round a little wooden tray, tucked up my 
 sleeve and ate, dipping the bread into the melocheea which is 
 like very sloppy spinach but much nicer. Then came the 
 master and his servants to deal the pieces of meat out of a great 
 basket — sodden meat — and like Benjamin my piece was the 
 largest, so I tore off a bit and handed to each of my companions, 
 who said, ' God take thee safe and happy to thy place and 
 thy children and bring thee back to us in safety to eat the 
 meat of the festival together once more.' 
 
 " The moon rose clear and bright behind the one tall palm 
 tree that over-hangs the tomb of Sheykh Gibreel— he is a saint 
 of homely tastes and will not have a dome over him or a cover 
 for his tomb, which is only surrounded by a wall breast-high, 
 enclosing a small square bit of ground with the rough tomb 
 on one side. At each corner was set up a flag and a few dim 
 lanterns hung over-head. The two hundred men eating were 
 quite noiseless, and as they rose one by one, washed their hands, 
 and went, the crowd melted like a vision. But before all were 
 gone came the Bulook, or sub-magistrate, a Turkish jack-in- 
 office with the manners of a Zouave turned parish beadle. He 
 began to sneer at the melocheea of the fellaheen, and swore 
 he could not eat it if he sat before it 1,000 years — hereupon 
 Omar began to 'chaff' him. 'Eat, oh Bulook Pasha, and if 
 it swells in thy belly the Lady will give thee of the physic of 
 the English to clean thy stomach upwards and downwards of 
 
LADY D UFF G OR DON. 5 39 
 
 all thou hast eaten of the food of the fellaheen.' The Bulook 
 is notorious for his exactions — his ' eating the people ' — so 
 there was a great laugh. Poor Omar was very ill next day, 
 and every one thought the Bulook had given him the eye. 
 Then came the Mufettish in state to pay his devoirs to the 
 Sheykh in the tomb. He came and talked to Mustafa and 
 Yoosuf, and enumerated the people taken for the works. 
 200 from Luxor, 400 from Karnac, 310 from Zenia, 320 
 from Byadyeh, and 380 from Salamieh — a good deal more 
 than half the adult men to go for sixty days leaving their fields 
 uncultivated and their hareem and children hungry — for they 
 have to take all the food for themselves. 
 
 " I rose sick at heart from the Mufettish's harsh voice and 
 went down to listen to the Moonsheeds chanting at the tomb, 
 and the Zikheer's strange sobbing 'Allah- Allah.' I leaned on 
 the mud wall watching the slender figures swaying in the 
 moonlight when a tall handsome fellah in his brown shirt, felt 
 libdeh (skull-cap), and his blue cotton melaya tied up in a 
 bundle full of dried bread on his back. The type of an 
 Egyptian. He stood close beside me and prayed for his wife 
 and children. ' Ask our God to pity them, oh Sheykh, and to 
 feed them while I am away ; thou knowest how my wife worked 
 all night to bake all the wheat for me, and that there is none left 
 for her and the children.' He then turned to me and took my 
 hand and went on, ' Thou knowest this lady, oh Sheykh Gibreel, 
 take her happy and well to her place and bring her back to us, 
 el-Fat'hah yah Beshoosheh ! ' and we said it together. I could 
 have laid my head on Sheykh Gibreel's wall and howled. I 
 thanked him as well as I could for caring about one like me 
 while his own troubles were so heavy. I shall never forget 
 that tall athletic figure and the gentle brown face with the 
 eleven days' moon of Zulheggeh and the shadow of the palm tree. 
 That was my farewell. ' The voice of the miserable is with 
 thee, shall God not hear it ? ' 
 
 " In a few days arrived the boat Urania. She is very nice 
 indeed, dirty of course, but will be extremely comfortable when 
 cleaned and painted. On the isth we sailed. Sheykh Yoosuf 
 went with me to Keneh, Mustafa and Seyd going by land, and 
 one of Haggi Sultan's disciples and several Luxor men were 
 
540 THREE GENERA TIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 deck passengers. The Shereef gave me the bread and jars of 
 butter for his grandsons in Gama '1 Azhar and came to see 
 me off. We sat on the deck outside as there was a crowd to 
 say good-bye, and a lot of hareem in the cabin. The old 
 Shereef made me sit down on the carpet close by him and then 
 said, ' We sit here like two lovers,' at 85 even an Arab and a 
 Shereef may be 'gaillard.' So I cried, 'Oh, Shereef, what if 
 Omar tells my master the secret thou hast let out, it is not well 
 of thee.' There was a great laugh which ended in the Shereef 
 saying, ' No doubt thy master is of the best of the people, let us 
 say the Fat'hah for him.' And he called on all the people, 'El 
 Fat'hah for the master of the lady ! ' I hope it has benefited 
 you to be prayed for at Luxor. 
 
 ^'■June 12th. — I had written so far and passed Minyeh when I 
 fell ill with pleurisy. I've lots more to tell of my journey but 
 am too weak after two weeks in bed. But I am better and a 
 man from the Azhar is reading the Koran for me outside, while 
 another is gone with candles to Seydeedeh Zeyneb, ' the 
 fanatics ' ! . . . " 
 
 My mother had been far worse than she told my father. 
 She was not able to leave Egypt for Germany until July, where 
 we all met together at Soden — Mrs. Austin, faiy father, my 
 husband and myself, my brother, and my little sister Urania, 
 for whose company my poor mother had longed more than for 
 anything else in the world. 
 
 In October, Lady Duff Gordon returned to Egypt, con- 
 siderably worse, and wrote to her mother : — 
 
 Lady Duff Gordon to Sarah Austin. 
 
 "Cairo, December 5, 1865. 
 " Dearest Mutter, — Alexander will have told you I had 
 another attack of haemorrhage, but it seems inclined to pass off 
 without further mischief, only I must keep very quiet. I have 
 got all the boat in order, and my captain Reis Mohammed, is 
 very satisfactory. We sail to-day as soon as Omar comes back 
 with the meat, &c., from the market. The Pasha is beginning 
 
LADY DUFF GORDON. 541 
 
 to worry the Europeans I hear, in hopes of disgusting them 
 out of the country, especially out of Upper Egypt where they 
 see his iniquities. Mohammed Gayonee begs you to give his 
 best salaam to Sheykh Stanley whom he longs to see again. 
 He says that all his people said he was not a Christian for he 
 was not proud even towards them as Christians are, but a real 
 Sheykh, and that the Bedaween still talk of Sheykh Stanley 
 and of his piety and goodness. 
 
 " The old half-witted jester of Luxor has found me out — he 
 has wandered down here to see his eldest son who is serving in 
 the army. These licensed ' possenreisser ' are like our fools in 
 old times, but less witty than we fancy them to have been — 
 thanks to Shakespeare I suppose. Each district has one who 
 attends all moolids and other gatherings of the people, and 
 picks up a living. He tells me that the Turkish Nazir of Zenia 
 has begun some business against our Cadi Sheykh Ibraheen 
 and Sheykh Yoosuf — accused them of something, he does not 
 know what, perhaps of being friends of Haggi Sultan ' or of 
 stealing wood ! If all the friends of Haggi Sultan are to be 
 persecuted that will include the whole Saeed. Of course I am 
 anxious about my friends. The meneggets who picked and 
 made ten mattresses and fourteen cushions for me in half a day 
 were laughing and saying, ' for the Pasha's boat we work also, 
 at so much a day, and we should have done it in four days.' 
 ' And for me if I paid by the day instead of by the piece how 
 long ? ' ' One day instead of half, oh I-ady, for fear thou 
 shouldest say to us, you have finished in half a day and half 
 the wages is enough for you.' That is the way in which all 
 the work is done for ' Eifendina ' — no wonder his steamers 
 don't pay. ..." 
 
 At Benisouef my mother was too ill to leave her bed, but at 
 Keneh she was well enough to go to the Cadi's house to leave 
 
 a string of beads, 
 
 " December^ 1865. 
 "Just to show that I had not forgotten the worthy Cadi's 
 courtesy in bringing his little daughter to sit beside me at 
 ' For the story of Haggi Sultan see " Letters from Egppt." 
 
542 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 dinner when I went down the river last summer. He was 
 giving audience to several people, so I sent in the beads and my 
 salaam ; but the jolly Cadi sallied forth into the street, and ' fell 
 upon my neck' with such ardour, that my Prankish hat was 
 sent rolling by contact with the turban of Islam. The Cadi of 
 Keneh is the real original Cadi of our early days ; sleek, 
 rubicund, polite — a puisne judge and a dean rolled into one, 
 combining the amenities of the Law and the Church ; with an 
 orthodox stomach and an orthodox turban, both round and 
 stately. I was taken into the hareem, welcomed and regaled, 
 and invited to the festival of Seyd Abd-er-Racheem, the great 
 saint of Keneh. I hesitated, and said there were great crowds, 
 and some might be offended at my presence ; but the Cadi 
 declared ' by Him who separated us,' that if any such ignorant 
 persons were present, it was high time they learnt better, and 
 that it was by no means unlawful for virtuous Christians, 
 and such as neither hated nor scorned the Muslimeen, to profit 
 by, or share in, their prayers, and that I should sit before the 
 Sheykh's tomb with him and the Mufti ; and that, dii reste, 
 they wished to give thanks for my safe arrival. Such a demon- 
 stration of tolerance was not to be resisted. So after going 
 back to rest, and dining in the boat, I returned at nightfall into 
 the town and went to the burial-place. The whole way was 
 lighted up and thronged with the most motley crowd, and the 
 usual mixture of holy and profane, which we know at the 
 Catholic fetes also ; but more prononci here. Dancing girls, 
 glittering with gold brocade and coins, swaggered about among 
 the brown -shirted fellaheen, and the profane singing of the 
 Alateeheh mingled with the songs in honour of the Arab 
 prophet chanted by the Moonsheeds and the deep tones of the 
 ' Allah Allah ' of the zikr's. Rockets whizzed about and made 
 the women screech, and a merry-go-round was in full swing. 
 And now fancy me clinging to the skirts of the Cadi-ul-Islam 
 (who did not wear a spencer, as the Methodist parson threatened 
 his congregation he would do at the Day of Judgment), and 
 pushing into the tomb of the Seyd Abd-er-Racheem, through 
 such a throng ! No one seemed offended or even surprised. 
 (I suppose my face is so well known at Keneh.) When my 
 party had said a Fah'tah for me and another for my family, we 
 
LADY DUFF GORDON. 543 
 
 retired to another Kubbeh, where there was no tomb, and 
 where we found the Mufti, and sat there all the evening over 
 coffee and pipes and talk." 
 
 Lady Duff Gordon to Sarah Austin. 
 
 " Luxor, Fehrimry 15, 1866. 
 
 " Dearest Mutter, — I have only time for a short letter to 
 say that the cold weather is over, and that I continue to improve, 
 not very fast but still very sensibly. My young Frenchman 
 turns out to be a M. Brune, grand prix de Rome, an architect, 
 and a very nice fellow indeed, and a thorough gentleman. 
 His odd awkward manner proved to be mere vexation at iind- 
 iiig himself quartered nolens volens on a stranger and a woman. 
 But we have made great friends, and I have made him quite 
 happy by telling him that he shall pay his share of the food. 
 He was going to hurry off from shyness, though he had begun 
 a work here by which I fancy he hopes to get kd^oc. He goes 
 out to the temple at sunrise, and returns to dinner at dark and 
 works well. His drawings are very clever. In short I am as 
 much obliged to the French consul for sending me such an 
 intelligent guest as I was vexed at first. An ' homme sericux ' 
 with an absorbing pursuit is always good company in the long 
 run. 
 
 " To-morrow is the smaller Bairam, and I shall have all the 
 hareem to visit me. 
 
 " Two such nice young Englishmen called the other day and 
 told me they lived in Hertford Street, opposite No. 34, and saw 
 Alexander go in and out. It gave me a terrible twinge of 
 ' Heiniweh^ but I thought it so kind and pretty and ' herzlich ' 
 of them to come and tell me how Alexander looked as he went 
 along the street. I must leave off as a steamer is going. . . . 
 Fancy my surprise the other day just when I was dictating 
 letters of introduction for some of Ross's inspecting agents to 
 Sheykh Yoosuf, in walked Marianne North whom I had not 
 seen since she was a child. She and her father were going up 
 to the second cataract. She had done some sketches which, 
 though unskilful, were absolutely true in colour and effect, and 
 are the very first that I have seen that are so. Mr. North looked 
 
544 THREE GENERA TIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 rather horrified at the turbaned society in which he found him- 
 self. I suppose it did look odd to English eyes. . . ." 
 
 Mrs. Symonds has been good enough to send me the follow- 
 ing extracts from her sister's unpublished Egyptian journal. 
 Miss North often spoke to me about this visit to my mother, 
 and of the extraordinary influence she had over the Arabs and 
 
 thelove they bore her. 
 
 " February., 1866. 
 ". . . . The air was most delicious, but as the wind continued 
 contrary, and we were told it was ' about ' six miles only to 
 Thebes, we three English decided to walk with the distant 
 towers of Karnac as our guide across the fields. Achmet 
 persisting in slouching after us in his red slippers, as his bad 
 conscience made him think we were going to complain of him 
 and have him bastinadoed, and he would not believe our 
 assurances to the contrary. My father wished to leave him 
 behind, and put on his seven-leagued boots. The race was 
 terrible, over the roughest ground too, and of course, as usual, 
 it was much further than we expected, but we reached the 
 forest of pillars by 1 1 o'clock. We took a couple of hours' rest 
 on comfortable flat stones near the great obelisk of Karnac, 
 where I believe we all went to sleep. The air was fresh, but 
 the sun was the sun of Egypt, and we had gone at a most mad 
 pace for some hours, punishing ourselves quite as much as poor 
 Achmet, and the grandest ruin in all the world could not have 
 kept my eyes open. But we awoke refreshed, and able to take 
 in the enormous size of that temple, and the rich colouring of 
 its ornamentations, and to enjoy walking through an avenue of 
 sphinxes, who were apparently waiting for a surgeon to come 
 and set their broken bones and put the right heads on the right 
 beasts. That avenue led us to Luxor, which is spoilt by a 
 village taken out of it, sand and all, for at that time it was 
 difficult even to trace the temple amidst all its rubbish, and in 
 the middle of the finest group of columns nestled the house of 
 Mustafa Agha. Many people said he was a thief, but he was 
 a courteous friend to all Europeans on the Nile, and gave us 
 bundles of letters and newspapers, and entertained my father 
 
LADY DUFF GORDON. 545 
 
 and Mr. S with pipes and coffee ; while I was seized and 
 
 carried off by the faithful Omar to see Lady Duff Gordon, who 
 I had not seen for twenty-five years. She said she should 
 have known me anywhere. She herself was old and grey, but 
 had still the handsome face which had captivated me years ago. 
 In spite of having burst two blood vessels that year, she said 
 the air at Luxor did wonders for her. The natives all worshipped 
 her, and she doctored them, amused them, and even smoked 
 with them. They looked on her as something mysterious, and 
 even rather uncanny, and respected her accordingly. She 
 lived in some rooms raised up amongst the pillars of the old 
 temple like a second story. While I was there a native gentle- 
 man and his brother the Mollah came to pay her a visit, and 
 the latter iwrote a letter under her direction to a friend at Siout 
 on the palm of his hand, and rubbed his ring in the ink to sign 
 it with afterwards. From her balcony she could look across 
 the broad Nile, and the great green plain with its two sitting 
 colossi, many ruins, and the noble mountain with rosy shadows 
 even at mid-day. One native visitor held an opera glass to my 
 eye, and with his other hand pointed out the different objects 
 he named just in front of it, so that I had an uninterrupted view 
 of a very clean Turkish hand, for which kindness I thanked 
 him most humbly, and when he looked through my glass I let 
 him see my hand in the same way, and he expressed himself 
 perfectly satisfied with the view. 
 
 " Ramadan had begun the day before, and the talk was all 
 about the exhausted state every one was in, as they only eat by 
 moonlight. The moon was just then a mere thread of silver 
 with its ends turned up in a most unchristian way, but very 
 lovely. We hoped to have stayed a day at Thebes, but when 
 the boat came up the Frenchman (our fellow passenger) was in 
 such a fever to go on that my father indulged him, and fired a 
 salute under Lady Duff Gordon's window as we passed, promi- 
 sing to stay a week or more on our return. We went on drag, 
 drag, drag, again, eight miles only in thirty hours, and had 
 plenty of time to think of what we had seen the day before — a 
 hall with one hundred and thirty-three pillars, the centre ones 
 60 feet high, the outer ones 40 feet, all carved and coloured most 
 elaborately from top to bottom, with the obelisk of 93 feet high 
 
 36 
 
546 THREE GENERA TIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 made out of a single stone. Such things made one feel very small, 
 and the whole scene would have seemed as a dream to me had I 
 not still the two sketches I made there between sleeping and 
 waking to prove its reality. . . . On the return journey (April, 
 1866) we rested about five hours at Aswan, then came the great 
 Edfou with its stupendous portico, the fossils and limestone 
 mountains of El Kab, more sticking in the mud, more contrary 
 winds, and at last we found ourselves anchored amongst the 
 other dahabiehs and mosquitoes off Luxor, with a pile of letters 
 and papers from home. We took coffee with Lady Duff Gordon 
 who had a circle of admiring Arabs round her, and gave my 
 father a chibouk lighted by her own fair hand. At Aswan 
 we had lost our pet black sailor-boy, always so graceful and 
 good-humoured and strong. Karnac would have taken months 
 in itself to enjoy and study thoroughly, and was as hopeless to 
 sketch as Medinet Abou. ... I was trying to paint a bit of 
 this exquisite building, when Lucie Gordon came and sat by me 
 and talked in her old clever way, but soon got so tired I thought 
 she would have fainted as Omar and I helped her over the 
 stones back to her donkey ; however she could not have done 
 even this .when we saw her on our way up. She was idolised 
 by her faithful Omar and all the natives in Thebes, whom she 
 doctored and treated as friends, but it must have been a dreary 
 existence for a thinking person to live thus among people so 
 little removed from animals. • Once while painting and quite 
 absorbed in my work at Karnac, a man sat down close to me 
 and I said good morning without looking up, till Hassan pulled 
 my dress, and oh horror ! the man was holding a huge golden 
 snake by the tail, a yard of shining polished slippery snake 
 quite straight and looking at me ! I shouted and sprang away, 
 and Hassan drove off the two wretched brutes. They take out 
 the fangs of these tame snakes, but I hate even the sight of 
 them now ; though I used to like poor Lucie's pet when I was 
 a child. My father felt the heat so much (82° in his cabin after 
 dark) that he decided to leave Thebes after a week. ..." 
 
LADY DUFF GORDON. 547 , 
 
 Lady Duff Gordon to Janet Ross. 
 
 " Luxor, April., 1866. 
 
 " Dearest Janet,— I had not heard a word of Henry's illness 
 till Mr. Palgrave arrived and told me, and also that he was 
 better— Alhamdullillah ! What a clever fellow Mr. Palgrave 
 is ! I never knew such a hand at languages. The folk here 
 are in admiration at his Arabic and Sheykh Yoosuf says few 
 Ulema know as much of the literature and niceties of grammar 
 and composition. The last three days the great heat has begun 
 and I am accordingly better. I have just come home from the 
 Bairam early prayer out in the burial place at which Palgrave 
 also assisted. He is unwell and tells me he leaves Luxor to- 
 morrow morning, he fears his little black boy will die who is at 
 Mustafa's house. 
 
 " You have never told me your plans for this year or whether 
 I shall find you when I go down. I shall stay on till I am too 
 hot here as evidently the summer suits me. J hope you will 
 see M. Brune. I am sure you would like him. He is a very 
 accomplished and gentlemanly man. 
 
 " If you come here next winter Mustafa hopes you will bring a 
 saddle and ride ' all his horses.' I think I can get you a very 
 good horse from a certain Sheykh Abdallah here. There is no 
 sickness to speak of in Luxor now, only the usual chronic old 
 women, so old and ugly and achy that I don't know what to 
 do with them. To one old body I gave a powder wrapped up 
 in a fragment of the Saturday Review you sent me. She came 
 next day and declared that, ' Mashallah the hegah (charm) was 
 a powerful one for though she had not been able to wash off all 
 the fine writing from the paper, it had done her a deal of 
 good ! ' I'm so sorry I am unable to inform you what was the 
 subject of the article which had so drastic an effect. ..." 
 
 Lady Duff Gordon to Sarah Austin. 
 
 " BooLAK (Cairo), _/«/)' 17, 1866. 
 "Dearest Mutter,' — . . . The heat when I left Luxor was 
 prodigious. At Benisouef I went to see our Maohn's daughter 
 
548 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 married to another Maohn there. It was a pleasant visit. The 
 master of the house was out, and his mother and wife received 
 me Hke one of the family. Such a pretty house and such 
 darling children ! — a pale little slight girl of five, a sturdy boy 
 of four, and a baby boy of one year old. The eager hospitality 
 of the little creatures was quite touching. The little girl asked 
 to have on her best frock, and then she stood before me 
 seriously and diligently, and asked every now and then, ' Shall 
 I make thee a sherbet ? Shall I bring thee a coffee ? ' And 
 then questions about grandpapa and grandmamma, and Abd-el- 
 Hameed and Abd-el-Fettah : while the boy sat on his heels 
 before me and asked questions about my family in his baby 
 talk, and assured me it was a, good day to him, and wanted me 
 to stay three days, and to sleep with them. Their father came 
 in and gave each a small coin, which, after consulting together, 
 they tied in the corner of my handkerchief, ' to spend on my 
 journey.' The little girl took such care of my hat and gloves 
 and shoes, all very strange garments to her, but politeness was 
 stronger than curiosity with the little things. I breakfasted 
 with them all next day, and found much cookery going on for 
 me. I took a doll for my little friend Ayoosheh, and some 
 sugar-plums for Mohammed, but they laid them aside in order 
 to devote themselves to the stranger, and all quietly, and with 
 no sort of show-off or obtrusiveness. Even the baby seemed 
 to have the instinct of hospitality, and was full of smiles. It 
 was all of a piece with the good old lady their grandmother, at 
 Luxor, who wanted to wash my clothes for me herself, because 
 I said the black slave of Mohammed washed badly. Re- 
 member that to do ' menial offices ' for a guest is an honour 
 and pleasure, and not derogatory at all here. The ladies cook 
 for you, and say, ' I will cook my best for thee.' The worst 
 is that they stuff one so. Little Ayoosheh asked after my 
 children, and said, ' May God preserve them for thee ! Tell 
 thy little girl that Mohammed and I love her from afar off.' 
 Whereupon Mohammed declared that in a few years, please 
 God, when he should be halal (marriageable), he would marry 
 her and live with me." 
 
CHAPTER LV. 
 
 LADY DUFF GORDON {continued). 
 
 Lady Duff Gordon at Boolak — Her Popularity — Rebuilding her Boat — 
 Returns to Luxor — Inventory of Contents of Dahabieh — The Arabian 
 Sage — Sick brought from Edfou — Lady Duff Gordon " chaired " — A run- 
 away match — My Journey up the Nile to see my Mother — Our dinner 
 with Selim Effendi — Going to Philse — Nubian Trader offers his Boat — 
 Presents — Keneh — Lady Duff Gordon at Cairo and her Painter — She goes 
 up into Nubia with her son — Beyroot — Return to Luxor — Visit of Prince 
 and Princess of Wales — Lady Duff Gordon's last Letter — Her Death. 
 
 At Boolak, the port of Cairo, Lady Duff Gordon spent the 
 summer months of 1866, superintending the rebuilding of the 
 bottom of her dahabieh. She learnt many curious stories and 
 customs,' and her popularity was shoAvn by the way her boat 
 was saved one night when the Nile rose suddenly, just as the 
 ribs were finished and the planking and caulking were ready 
 to put on. A steersman called up all the Reises (captains) and 
 steersmen, saying : — 
 
 " ' O men of El Bostawee, this is ottr boat ' (that is, we are 
 the servants of her owner), ' and she is in our faces ; ' and then 
 he set the example, stripped, and carried dust, and hammered 
 in piles all night, and by morning she was surrounded by a 
 dyke breast high. The ' 'longshore ' men of Boolak were not 
 a little surprised to see dignified Reises working for nothing 
 like Fellaheen. Meanwhile my three Maallimeen, the chief 
 builder, caulker, and foreman, had also stayed all night with 
 
 ' " Last Letters from Egypt," Lady Duff Gordon, p. 48 et seq. 
 
 549 
 
550 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 Omar and my Reis, who worked like the rest ; and the Sheykh 
 of all the boatbuilders went to visit one of my Maallims, who 
 is his nephew, and hearing the case, came down too at one in 
 the morning, and stayed till dawn. Then, as the workmen 
 passed, going to their respective jobs, he called them, and said, 
 ' Come and finish this boat ; it must be done by to-morrow 
 night.' Some men who objected, and said they were going to 
 various places, got a beating pro formd, and the end of it was 
 that I found forty-six men under my boat working ' like 
 Afreets and Shaitans,' when I went to see how all was going 
 on in the morning. The old Sheykh marked a piece to each 
 four men, and then said, ' If that is not done to-night, O dogs ! 
 to-morrow I'll put on the hat '^that is, ' To-day I have beaten 
 moderately, like an Ai'ab, but to-morrow, please God, I'll beat 
 like a Frank, and be mad with the stick.' In short, the boat 
 which yesterday morning was a skeleton, is now, at 4 p.m. 
 to-day, finished, caulked^ pitched, and all capitally done ; so if 
 the. Nile carries off the dyke, she will float safe. The shore is 
 covered with debris of other people's half-finished boats. I 
 believe I owe the ardour of the Maallims and the Sheykh of 
 the builders to one of my absurd pieces of Arab civility. On 
 the day when Omar killed poor Ablook, my black sheep, over 
 the bows, and ' straked his blood ' upon them, the three Malli- 
 meen came on board this boat to eat their dish, and I followed 
 the old Arab fashion and ate out of the wooden dish with 
 them and the Reis ' for luck,' or rather ' for a blessing,' as we 
 say here ; and it seems that this gave immense satisfaction." 
 
 In November, Lady Duff Gordon was at Luxor again, and 
 sent back her boat to Cairo to let for the winter. Sheykh 
 Yoosuf made an inventory in Arabic, 
 
 " Over which we laughed hugely. How to express a sauce- 
 boat, a pie-dish, &c., in Arabic was a poser. A genteel Effendi, 
 who sat by, at last burst out in uncontrollable amazement, 
 ' There is no God but God : is it possible that four or five- 
 Franks can use all those things to eat, drink, and sleep on a 
 journey ? ' (N.B. — I fear the Franks will think the stock very 
 
LAD Y D UFF GORDON. 551 
 
 scanty.) Whereupon Master Achmet, with the swagger of one 
 who has seen cities and men, held forth, ' Oh, Effendim, that 
 is nothing ; our lady is almost like the children of the Arabs. 
 One dish or two, a piece of bread, a few dates, and peace ' (as 
 we say, there is an end of it). ' But thou shouldest see the 
 merchants of Scandareeh (Alexandria) — three tablecloths, forty 
 dishes ; to each soul seven plates of all sorts, seven knives and 
 seven forks, and seven spoons, large and small, and seven dif- 
 ferent glasses for wine and beer and water.' ' It is the will of 
 God,' replied the Effendi, rather put down ; ' but,' he added, 
 ' it must be a dreadful fatigue to them to eat their dinner.' " 
 
 Lady Duff Gordon to Janet Ross. 
 
 " Luxor, Dec. 12, 1866. 
 " Dearest Janet, — Your letter of the 19th of November 
 and the two parcels have just arrived all safe. How nice it 
 would be if you could come with the Consul-general. Only 
 please bring blankets and a looking-glass. Mahbrook broke the 
 only one I had. An eunuch here who is a holy man tells 
 me he saw my boat coming up heavily laden in his sleep, 
 which indicates a ' good let.' I hope my revered friend is 
 right. If my boat is let to a friendly dragoman he will supply 
 all deficiencies out of his own canteen, but if to one 'who 
 knows not Joseph ' I fear many things will be demanded by 
 right-minded British travellers — which must be left to the 
 Reis's discretion to buy for them. I hope all the Fat'hahs said 
 for the success of the UranMs voyage will produce a due effect ; 
 here we rely a good deal on the favour of Abu'-l-Hajjaj in such 
 matters. The naivete with which people pray here for money 
 is very amusing, though really I don't know why one shouldn't 
 ask for one's daily sixpence as well as one's daily bread. 
 
 " If you come you will have some sort of horse to ride, and 
 Sheykh Yoosuf is already trying to get some antiquities as a 
 present for you. A silly woman has written to me to get her 
 a place as ' a governess in an European or " Arabian " family 
 in the neighbourhood of Thebes ' ! Considering she has been 
 six years in Egypt she must be well fitted to teach ! She had 
 better learn to make gilleh and spin wool for zaboots and 
 
552 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 burdehs. The young Americans whom Mr. Hale sent up were 
 very nice. The Yankees are generally the best bred and best 
 educated travellers I see here. . . ." 
 
 All that winter was passed at Thebes, and Lady Duff Gor- 
 don's letters are full of descriptions ; ' among others of an 
 Arabian sage, Sheykh Abdurrachman, who 
 
 " Came over to visit me, and to doctor me according to the 
 science of Galen and Avicenna. Fancy a tall, thin, graceful 
 man, with a grey beard and liquid eyes, absorbed in studies of 
 the obsolete kind, a doctor of theology, law, medicine and 
 astronomy ! We spent three days in arguing and questioning, 
 I consented to swallow a potion or two, which he made up 
 before me, of very innocent materials. My friend is neither a 
 quack nor superstitious, and two hundred years ago would have 
 been a better physician than most in Europe. Indeed, I would 
 rather swallow his physic now than that of an Italian M.D. I 
 found him, like all the learned theologians I have known, ex- 
 tremely liberal and tolerant. You can conceive nothing more 
 interesting and curious than the conversation of a man learned 
 and intelligent, and yet utterly ignorant of all modern Western 
 science. If I was pleased with him, he was enchanted with me, 
 and swore by God that I was a Mufti indeed, and that a man 
 could nowhere spend time so delightfully as in conversation 
 with me. He said he had been acquainted with two or three 
 Englishmen who had pleased him much, but that if all English- 
 women were like me, the power must necessarily be in our 
 hands, for that my ' akl ' (intelligence) was far above that of the 
 men he had known. He objected to our medicine that it 
 seemed to consist in palliatives, which he rather scorned, and 
 aimed always at a radical cure. I told him that if he had 
 studied anatomy he would know that radical cures were diffi- 
 cult of performance ; and he ended by lamenting his ignorance 
 of English or some European language, and that he had not 
 learned our ' Elm ' (science) also. Then we plunged into sym- 
 pathies, mystic numbers, and the occult virtues of stones, &c. ; 
 ' See " Last Letters from Egypt." 
 
LADY DUFF GORDON. 553 
 
 and I swallowed my mixture (consisting of liquorice, cummin, 
 and soda) just as the sun entered a particular phase and the 
 moon was in some favourable aspect. I could have fancied 
 myself listening to Abu Suleyman of Cordova in the days 
 when we were barbarians and the Arabs were the learned race." 
 
 She writes again : — 
 
 " I have come to a curious honour — ' Ich bin bei lebendigem 
 Leibe besungen worden ' (' My praises have been sung in my 
 lifetime '). Several parties of real Arabs came with their sick on 
 camels from above Edfou. I asked at last what brought them, 
 and they told me that a Shaer (bard) had gone about singing 
 my praises, as how the daughter of the English was a flower on 
 the heads of the Arabs, and those who were sick should go and 
 smell the perfume of the flower and rejoice in the brightness of 
 the Light (Nooreen), my name. Rather a high-flown way of 
 mentioning the ' exhibition ' of a black dose ! '' 
 
 Lady Duff Gordon to Janet Ross. 
 
 "Jan. II, 1867. 
 " Dear Janet, — Where do my letters stick ? One from 
 your father dated September 17th, and the other November 
 loth, that is my latest news. I am very sorry Palgrave wants 
 Mahbrook back. I fear he will have trouble with the lad, who 
 for the first time expressed a decided opinion, ' I want to stay 
 with thee, 1 don't want to go back to the Nazarene.' A boy 
 who heard him said, ' But the lady is a Nazarene too,' whereon 
 Mahbrook slapped his face with great vigour. If he does turn 
 restive it will not be by halves — moreover, any severity would 
 make the cannibal show his teeth. If I could afford it I would 
 buy him of Palgrave, but I believe he cost as much as your 
 horse. I think it would be a pity to send him to Soukoum 
 Kaleh alone, he might get led astray to drink, or run away, and 
 now he is very good. I have had him vaccinated, and one 
 Ghefieh is teaching him to pray. I promised him a shilling 
 when he could say the Fat'hah to me without a fault. I hope 
 Palgrave won't have him forcibly baptised, for he is as stout a 
 Muslim as ignorant persons usually are. 
 
554 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 " It is some weeks since I have been out as I can't walk, and 
 my donkey has grown old and unsafe, and I am nervous about 
 his falling. The other day I dined with the English consul, 
 and was carried to the boat in state in an armchair on the 
 shoulders of four rnen, like one of the Pharaoh's in a bas-relief. 
 My procession was quite regal. You would have ' roared,' as 
 Maurice says, to see me ' chaired ' like the successful candidate 
 in an old-fashioned election. 
 
 " How I wish you were coming here directly to stay till 
 March ! I often think I shall give up the struggle and go 
 home and see what I can of you all before I die. My dahabieh 
 is not here yet, but I hear the gentlemen shoot, and tell the 
 crew not to tow, and in short to take it easy, and give them 
 £2 in every town. Imagine what luxury for my crew. I 
 shall have to dismiss the lot they'll be so spoilt. ..." 
 
 Lady Duff Gordon to Janet Ross. 
 
 ''Feb. 19, 1867. 
 
 "My dearest Janet, — My boat has gone up safe. The 
 Ababdeh sent a messenger to the cataract men (who are of 
 their own blood in partj ' to carry the Sitt's boat up on their 
 heads.' It is warm and fine here now, and I am a good deal 
 better. Mustafa has found me a milk camel at last — no easy 
 matter, as all our camels are now taken to work at the Pasha's 
 sugar mills, a private speculation of his. I am in great anxiety, 
 having heard that the soldiers of Omar's old regiment are being 
 called out, and he is in an agony of terror at the idea of going 
 away from me into that miserable life again. I need not tell 
 you what a sword of Damocles it is to think of being left with- 
 out his care among people who, kind as they are, know as much 
 of sickness or of our habits as their own camels. 
 
 " A young fellow here ran away with a girl he loved a short 
 time ago. Her parents wanted to marry her to another man, 
 and she told him she would go to such a spot for water, and he 
 must come on a horse, beat her, and carry her off (the beating 
 saves the damsel's blushes). Well, the lad did it, and carried 
 her to Salamieh, where, they were married, and then they came 
 
LAW DUFF GORDON. 555 
 
 to Sheykh Yoosuf to get him to conciliate the family, which he 
 did. He told me the affair and I saw he sympathised with the 
 runaways. ' Ah,' he said, ' lady, it is love ; and that is terrible, 
 as I can tell thee ; love is dreadful indeed to bear,' then he 
 hesitated and blushed, and went on : 'I felt it once, lady— it 
 was the will of God that I should love her who is now my wife.' 
 But I must not betray dear Yoosuf 's confidence as the things of 
 the harem are very sacred. 
 
 " I shall be so glad to see you and Henry, for I shall not 
 attempt to go to Europe this year, I don't feel up to the 
 journey. I shall meander on the Nile in the Urania (should 
 she get to Cairo before you leave you might tow her up). 
 Master Achmet was seized with ambition to return to city life, 
 and has ' skedaddled.' I must buy the cannibal off Palgrave, 
 for he just suits me and I suit him. It is humiliating to find 
 how much more I am to the taste of savages than of the ' polite 
 circles.' . . ." 
 
 In March, 1867, I went up the Nile with my husband in one 
 of the Viceroy's steamers to see my mother before leaving 
 Egypt for good. On our arrival at the different coaling stations 
 the villages seemed almost deserted, and it was difficult to pro- 
 cure food. Our servant Mohammed, a sharp lad of about six- 
 teen, at last solved the mystery by explaining that we, being in 
 a Government steamer, were supposed to be people who would 
 be more likely to distribute kicks than paras, and said he would 
 soon set that right. So tumbling over the side of the steamer 
 he swam ashore, and, cutting off a corner at a long bend of the 
 river, he proclaimed at the village where we were to coal, that 
 in the steamer was the daughter of the " Sitt-el-Kebeer " (the 
 great lady), as the Arabs called my mother, who, like the Sitt, 
 was just, and had a heart that loved the Arabs. Henceforward 
 our only difficulty about food was to make the people take pay- 
 ment. It is curious how fast news travels in Egypt ; in many 
 places we found people waiting with presents of milk, kishta 
 (cream), fowls and eggs. One had been cured by Sitti Noor- 
 
556 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 ala-Noor ; ' another had a cousin to whom she had been kind ; 
 to some one else she had given a lift in her boat, and so on all 
 the way up the Nile. At Thebes we were expected, a man 
 from Keneh having ridden on to announce the glad tidings ; 
 and we found her house decorated with palm leaves and lemon 
 branches, and with the holy flags, which the Ulema had actually 
 sent to show how they rejoiced with her, and that they wished 
 us every blessing from God. 
 
 The Sakkas (water-carriers) sprinkled a path for us from 
 the bank of the river to her house, and the little village 
 was en fete. We had endless salaaming to go through, as 
 all the notables of Luxor wanted to see the " Howagar " 
 (gentleman, really merchant) and the daughter of their 
 " Sitt " ; and the Bedaween came and did fantasia under the 
 balcony. 
 
 Then we had to dine with Seleem Effendi, the Maohn of 
 Luxor, a pleasant man, with a dear old wife, who would serve 
 us, in spite of my husband's presence. Our procession to dinner 
 was very funny, and at the same time touching. My mother 
 on her donkey, which I led, two servants in front with lanterns, 
 and the faithful Omar, dressed in his best, carrying a sweet dish 
 he had expended all his skill upon ; my husband on the other 
 side of my mother, and then more lantern-bearers. As we 
 passed, the people crowded round and called on Allah to bless 
 us ; some threw down their cloaks for my mother to ride over, 
 while the women lifted the hem of her dress to their lips and 
 foreheads. 
 
 Three days we remained at Luxor, and then went up to 
 Aswan, my mother accompanying us, and everywhere was the 
 same love and reverence shown her. We went to Philae, above 
 the first cataract, in a little boat, and spent a whole day in 
 that lovely island, sitting under the portico of an old temple 
 
 ' ' ' Light from the Light, " another name the Arabs gave my mother, see 
 P- 523- 
 
LADY DUFF GORDON. 557 
 
 and gazing far away into Nubia, tallying of him Avho sleeps in 
 Philae, and whom old Herodotus would not name. 
 
 On returning to Thebes, we were disappointed at not finding 
 my mother's boat, which was let to some friends. She had 
 hoped to borrow it for two days, to accompany us down to 
 Keneh and sail back. A Nubian trader, who had heard that the 
 " Sitt-el-Kebeer " wished for a boat, came to the house and 
 asked for an audience. He left his shoes outside the door, and 
 with many salaams said that he had turned out all his goods on 
 the bank, had cleaned his boat well, and had come to offer her 
 to the " Sitt," who, during the cholera, had saved a nephew of 
 his who had been taken ill at Luxor. My mother refused, 
 unless the man would take payment, saying it was not fair to 
 detain him on his journey, and perhaps spoil the sale of his 
 goods. He made a most eloquent speech, and ended by saying 
 that of course his boat was not worthy of the honour of har- 
 bouring " Noor-ala-Noor," but that he had hoped it might 
 have been accepted, and that he was very sad and mortified, 
 and, by Allah ! did not care for his goods one para. The 
 " Sitt " had often accepted a bad donkey to ride from a poor 
 man in order to do a courteous act, when she might have had 
 the Maohn's white one, but that he was a " meskeen " (poor 
 fellow), and his boat would certainly bring him ill luck hence- 
 forward. Then Omar stepped forward and spoke for the 
 Nubian, and the end was that my mother accepted the boat, 
 and Omar promised to make him accept a present ; so we 
 started for Keneh the following day, towing the boat behind 
 us. All Luxor came to say good-bye, and the poorest brought 
 a present. One had a chicken, another eggs, another milk and 
 butter, and two women had baked specially during the night 
 in order to bring us an offering of fresh bread. Teodoros, the 
 Copt, whose little boy my mother had taught to write and 
 read English, wanted me to accept an alabaster jar, out of a 
 tomb, worth certainly twenty napoleons. He had already given 
 
558 THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 me some scarabei, so I refused with many thanks, unless he 
 would let me pay for it. He went away, but sent me down 
 some other things by a friend some weeks afterwards, which 
 were worth double. One poor woman brought us the lamb 
 she had reared for the Bairam feast, and when we said that we 
 really could not take such a present, she ran away, leaving her 
 lamb on board, so I bought her another at Keneh and sent it 
 back by my mother. Dear Sheykh Yoosuf went with us to 
 Keneh, where the Maohn insisted on giving us an excellent but 
 endless dinner, and had the two famous dancing girls, Zeyneb 
 and Lateefeh, to sing and dance afterwards. Next day we left 
 for Cairo, and my mother sailed back to Luxor in the Nubian's 
 boat with Sheykh Yoosuf. 
 
 In the summer Lady Duff Gordon came down the Nile to 
 Cairo to meet my brother, who spent the winter with her. She 
 had her boat painted, and moved for a few days into another. 
 
 " But heavens ! " she writes, " I got hold of the Barber him- 
 self, turned painter. First it was a request for three pounds to 
 buy paint. ' None but the best of paint is fitting for a noble 
 person like thee, and-that thou knowest is costly, and I am thy 
 servant and would do thee honour.' ' Very well,' say I, ' take 
 the money, and see, O man, that the paint is of the best, or thy 
 backsheesh will be bad also.' Well, he begins, and then rushes 
 in to say : ' Come, O Bey, O Pasha, and behold the brilliancy 
 of the white paint, like milk, like glass, like the full moon ! ' I 
 go and say, ' Mashallah ! but now be so good as to work fast, 
 for my son will be here in a few days, and nothing is ready.' 
 Fatal remark ! ' Mashallah, Bismillah ! may the Lord spare 
 him, may God prolong thy days, let me advise thee how to 
 keep the eye from him, for doubtless thy son is beautiful as a 
 memlook of i,ooo purses. Remember to spit in his face when 
 he comes on board, and revile him aloud that all the people 
 may hear thee, and compel him to wear torn and dirty clothes 
 when he goes out. And how many children hadst thou, and 
 our master, thy master? ' &c., &c. ' Shukr Allah ! all is well 
 
LADV DUFF GORDON. 559 
 
 with us/ I say, < but, by the Prophet, paint, O Maalim, and do 
 not break my head any more.' " 
 
 With my brother, whose presence was " Hke a new Hfe" to 
 her, my mother went up the first cataract into Nubia ; and on 
 her return in April, 1868, to Luxor, found that the old house 
 was no longer habitable, half having fallen down ; so hence- 
 forwar-d she lived on her dahabieh the Urania. In July, she 
 was unfortunately persuaded to go to Syria, and the trip very 
 nearly killed her. At Beyroot the Sisters of Charity refused 
 to nurse a Protestant, and the Prussian sisters repudiated a 
 non-Lutheran ; but the faithful Omar was, as usual, a devoted 
 sick-nurse, and she got back to Cairo and her boat in October, 
 and went up the Nile immediately. She writes : — 
 
 " I have got a most excellent young Reis (captain), and one 
 of my sailors sings like a nightingale ; indeed he is not a sailor 
 at all, but a professional Cairo singer, who came with me for 
 fun. He draws crowds to hear him ; and at Esneh the congre- 
 gation prayed for me in the mosque that God might reward me 
 for the pleasure I had provided for them. Fancy desiring the 
 ' prayers of this congregation for the welfare of the lady who 
 gave me her opera-box last Saturday ' ! If prayers could avail 
 to cure, I ought to get well rapidly." 
 
 At Luxor, when the people heard how nearly they had lost 
 their " Sitt," the derweeshes held two great " zikrs " in a tent 
 pitched near her boat, and Mustafa Agha and Mohammed each 
 killed two sheep as thank-offerings for her life having been 
 spared. 
 
 When in February the Prince and Princess of Wales went 
 up the Nile, they went to see Lady Duff Gordon in her dahabieh 
 near Aswan. She says : — 
 
 " The Prince was most pleasant and kind, and the Princess 
 too. She is the most perfectly simple-mannered girl J ever saw. 
 She does not even try to be civil, like other great people, but 
 asks blunt questions, and looks at one so heartily with her 
 
S6o THREE GENERATIONS OF ENGLISH WOMEN. 
 
 clear, honest eyes, that she must win all hearts. They were 
 more considerate than any people I have seen, and the Prince, 
 instead of being gracious, was, if I may say so, quite respectful 
 in his manner ; he is very well-bred and pleasant, and I am 
 sure has a kind heart. My sailors were so proud at having the 
 honour of rowing him in our own boat and of singing to him." 
 
 In June, i86g, she wrote to my father from Cairo : — 
 
 " Dearest Alick, — Do not think of coming here, as you fear 
 the climate. Indeed it would be almost too painful to me to 
 part from you again ; and as it is, I can wait patiently for the 
 end among people who are kind and loving enough to be com- 
 fortable without too much feeling of the pain of parting. The 
 leaving Luxor was rather a distressing scene, as they did not 
 think to see me again. The kindness of all the people was 
 really touching, from the Cadi, who made ready my tomb among 
 his own family, to the poorest Fellaheen. 
 
 " Omar sends you most heartfelt thanks, and begs that the 
 boat may remain registered in your name at the Consulate, for 
 his use and benefit. The Prince of Wales has appointed him 
 his own dragoman. But he is sad enough, poor fellow ! all his 
 prosperity does not console him for the loss of ' the mother he 
 found in the world.' 
 
 " If I live till September I will go up to Esneh, where the air 
 is softest and I cough less ; I would rather die among my own 
 people in the sand than here." 
 
 One more letter, a last farewell, came to my father from Cairo, 
 and just as we were starting for Egypt he received the news of 
 her death on the 14th of July, 1869, by a telegram written by 
 herself the day before she died. 
 
 Those who remember her in her youth and beauty, before 
 disease had altered the pale, heroic face and bowed the slight, 
 stately figure, will not wonder at the Spartan firmness which 
 enabled her to pen that last farewell so firmly. 
 " She died, aged 48, and is buried in the cemetery at Cairo. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Aberdeen, Lord, his Ministry, 291, 
 
 330 
 
 Adams, W. B., 452 
 
 Aikin, Lucy, 21, 54 
 
 Albert, Prince, 342 ; a national loss, 
 384. 388 
 
 Albemarle, Lord, 45 ; his marriage, 49 
 
 -Alderson, Dr., 2 
 
 America, John Austin and M. Guizot's 
 opinions of, 380 
 
 Ampere, J. J., to Sarah Austin, 228 
 
 Amfhiirite, wreck of, 1 19 
 
 Amyot, Mr., 2 
 
 Arnim, Bettina v., her conversation, 
 189 
 
 Astley, Sir Jacob, 34 
 
 Aumale, Due d', 472 
 
 Austin, Charles, 60, 66, 81 
 
 John, described by his wife, 
 
 p. iv ; engagement to Sarah Taylor, 
 46, 55, 56,57 ; called to the bar, 58 ; 
 marriage, 58 ; character of, by J. S. 
 Mill, 6 1 ; Professor of Jurisprudence at 
 London University, 65 ; letter to G. 
 Grote from Bonn, 67 ; German in- 
 fluence on, 74 ; class at London Uni- 
 versity, 79 ; publishes " Province of 
 Jurisprudence Determined," 87; Cri- 
 minal Law Commission, sketch of, 87 ; 
 lectures at the Temple, 107 ; health 
 fails, 108, 115; goes to Boulogne, 
 116 ; appointed Royal Commissioner 
 to Malta, 123 ; leaves Malta, 141 ; 
 article on Dr. List's book, 172, 177 ; 
 elected a member of the Institute, 
 199 ; letter to Sir W. Erie, settles in 
 Paris, 201 ; a Lockite, 243 ; reluct- 
 ance to work, 324 ; admiration for 
 
 37 
 
 the Duchess of Orleans, 341 ; article 
 on Lord Grey's book, 344 ; "A Plea 
 for the Constitution," 347 ; illness, 
 357 ; and death, 358 ; letters of, 362 ; 
 Lord Brougham on, 371 ; A. Barbier 
 °^f 375 ; relations to J. Bentham, 
 381, 383 ; fame of book, 400, 401 
 Austin, Sarah, vigour of mind and 
 body, i ; described by B. St. 
 Hilaire, v ; her marriage, 48 ; 
 mentioned in diaries and letters of 
 the time, 60 ; birth of her only 
 daughter, 61 ; helps Italian refugees, 
 63 ; friendship with the Grotes and 
 Jeremy Bentham, 64 ; writes for 
 periodicals, 65 ; on German customs, 
 69-72 ; on the London University, 
 79, 82 ; translates Prince Piickler- 
 Muskau's book, 85 ; her small feet, 
 97 ; on Victor Cousin's reports, 99 ; 
 characteristics of Goethe by Falk, 
 102, 104; " Story without an End," 
 108, 112; "Reports on Public Instruc- 
 tion in Prussia," 112; translates Dr. 
 Hase at Dr. Hawtrey's suggestion, 
 114 ; goes to Boulogne, translates v. 
 Raumer's " England in 1835," 116; 
 matelote friends, wreck of the 
 Amphitrite, 119; goes to Malta, 
 123 ; Malta harbour, 126 ; English 
 intolerance, 128 ; destitution of the 
 Maltese, 130 ; cholera and its 
 ravages, 133; on the action of the 
 Government, 138 ; four languages of 
 Malta, 139 ; on education in 
 England, 142 jonNational Education, 
 144, 145; translates V. Ranke's" His- 
 tory of the Popes," 146 ; engagement 
 
 561 
 
562 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 of her daughter, 147 ; "On National 
 Education," 149 ; Poland and the 
 Greek Church, 154; "Fragments 
 from German Prose Writers " 
 published, petition to M. Guizot, 
 157; omission in the Queen's 
 Speech, 161 ; visit to Count Thun, 
 164 ; Diary in Dresden, 167 ; anti- 
 French enthusiasm, 171 ; articles on 
 German life and manners, 174 ; cost 
 of living in Dresden, 178 ; illustra- 
 tion of German manners, 184 ; Diary 
 in Berlin, 185 ; a busy year, 191 ; 
 insight into German character, 192 ; 
 sympathy with the people, 196 -; 
 undertakes translation of v. Kanke's 
 " Reformation," 199 ; settles in Paris, 
 201 ; uses her influence with M. 
 Guizot in favour of A. Comte, 203 ; 
 English grammar and plain needle- 
 work, 211; on the Belgians, 217; 
 on the French Revolution of 1848, 
 221, 224, .229; working-men's library 
 at Bow, 225 ; criticism on an article 
 by Victor Cousin, 231 ; receives a 
 pension from the Queen, 235 ; on 
 Mad. de Maintenon, 236 ; the 
 suggestiveness of England, 238 ; 
 comparison of French and English 
 writers, 239 ; ' ' fatal facilities of the 
 French language," 242; translates M. 
 Guizot's discourse, 244 ; on Lord 
 Palmerston, 246, 248 ; Shakespeare, 
 Locke's tomb, 250, 252 ; on events 
 in Germany, 256 ; the anti-Papist 
 agitation, 257 ; on the Rev. Dr. 
 Whewell's translation of the " Pro- 
 fessorin," 260; Whigs under a cloud, 
 264 ; state of affairs in France and 
 at Vienna, 269 ; threatened loss of 
 Victor Cousin's chair at the Sorbonne, 
 275 ; France and the Volunteer 
 movement, 281 ; universal suffrage 
 and national education, 283-285 ; on 
 M. de Remusat's article on Burke, 
 290 ; \'ictor Cousin at Weybridge, 
 292 ; on novels, 293-94 ; Odo and 
 Arthur Russell, 296 ; the Rev. 
 Sydney Smith's two oaths, 298 ; 
 publishes ' ' Sketches of German Life, " 
 299; "Memoir of Rev. Sydney 
 Smith," 304 ; George Herbert, Ugo 
 Foscolo, 307; "Aristotelian bon- 
 net," 309; Lady Rachel Russell, 309; 
 Fairfax and Meadows ancestors, 310; 
 
 Trouville and Cromer, 311; Lord 
 Raglan, 314 ; on the death of Mrs. 
 Whewell, 317; the Suez Canal, 319; 
 goes to Norwich to a meeting of the 
 Taylor clan, 321 ; on the state of 
 Germany, 322; Dr. Whewell's 
 nomination to the Academic, 323 ; 
 on Madame de Lieven, on her 
 husband and the " Province of 
 Jurisprudence," 324 ; Goethe's " Life 
 and Works," "Two letters on girls' 
 schools," 326; Hudson Gurney, 330; 
 the East India Company, Lord 
 Palmerston's Bill, 332 ; on M. 
 Guizot's "Memoirs," 334; sugges- 
 tions to H.R.H. the Duchess of 
 Orleans on the education of her sons, 
 339; death of H.R.H. the Duchess 
 of Orleans, 340; M. Guizot at 
 Ketteringham, Mr. and Mrs. Elwinj 
 342 ; John Austin's review of Lord 
 Grey's book, 343-345 ; translates 
 "Memoir of the Duchess of Orleans," 
 346; JefFs "French Review," .348, 
 350, 363 ; Lord Howden and French 
 feeling towards England, 351 ; 
 Italian Independence, 353 ; on 
 Madame Recamier, 354 ; on her 
 husband's illness and death, 357-59, 
 361 ; illness of, 363; on the "Pro- 
 vince of Jurisprudence," 365, 366; 
 Janet Duff-Gordon's marriage, 369, 
 370, 372 ; finishes first volume 
 and preface of " Province of Juris- 
 prudence," 374 ; illness of her 
 daughter, 376 ; Lord Jeffrey_'s 
 seventy-two loves, 373 ; Lord 
 Lansdowne's munificence, 379 '> ^"^ 
 Jeremy Bentham, 381 ; John 
 Austin's relations to Benthamism, 
 383 ; M. Mignet's eloge on Henry 
 Hallam, 385-87 ; on Lady Duff- 
 Gordon's letters, 389, 391 ; the 
 Queen's grief, 392 ; reasonable dress 
 for hot weather, 393 ; last volume of 
 M. Guizot's book, Lord Brougham's 
 speech, 394 ; illness of H. J. Ross, 
 397 ; on P. Paradol's opinion on 
 our American policy, 398 ; on 
 domestic morals, 399 ; John Austin's 
 book an examination book at Oxford 
 and Cambridge, 401 ; marriage ol 
 the Prince of Wales, 402 ; death of 
 Sir G. C. Lewis, 403 ; influence of 
 Bright and Cubden, 406 ; the 
 
INDEX. 
 
 563 
 
 "Repeal" cry, 407; the "Italian 
 portion" of W. E. Gladstone's 
 
 ■ heart, 408 ; the German part of 
 France, 409 ; death of N. Senior, 
 410; marriage of H.R.H the Comte 
 de Paris, 411 ; foui'th edition of v. 
 -Ranke's " History of the Popes," 
 413 ; on Austria and Prussia, 419, 
 420, 422, 424 ; anecdotes of M. de 
 IJourqueney and Madame Thiers, 
 427 ; illness of, 428 ; last letter and 
 death, 429 ; The Times on, 430 ; M. 
 Guizot on, 430 
 
 Austin, Sarah, letters to Victor Cousin : 
 on his Reports, 99, 100 ; schools at 
 Malta, 139, 14s ; on education and W. 
 E. Gladstone, 141 ; Dr. List's book, 
 177 ; " Principles of the French Re- 
 volution," 231 ; criticism of French 
 and English writers, 239 ; Locke's 
 tomb, 25Q 
 
 letters to W. E. Glad- 
 stone : on education, 144, 149 ; sym- 
 pathy with M. Guizot, education, 
 283 ; personal hatred between French 
 statesmen, education, 285 ; Italian 
 affairs, liberty in France, 407 
 
 - letters to Harriet Grote : 
 
 life at Bonn, 70 ; on Count Thun and 
 sons, 164 ; on lodgings at Dresden, 
 178 ; plans, 197 ; views of life, 199 ; 
 immorality of servants, death of 
 Marquis of Lansdowne, 399 ; illness 
 at Soden, 415 
 
 letters to M. Guizot 
 
 Boulogne fishermen, 157, 159; the 
 omission of France in the Queen's 
 Speech, 1841, 161; feeling in Ger- 
 many towards France and England, 
 170; state of Germany, 192; nation- 
 alities, 196 ; the Belgians, 2l5 ; 
 granted a pension, 235 ; visitors at 
 Weybridge, Mme. de Maintenon, 
 236 ; liberty in England, 238 ; trans- 
 lates M. Guizot's discourse, 244 ; the 
 recall of the French ambassador, 245 ; 
 parliamentary debates, 1850, 247 ; 
 Shakspeare and Locke, 252 ; Ger- 
 many, the Durham letter, Sir J. 
 Stephen, 256 ; Duchess of Orleans, 
 Whigs under a cloud, 263 ; political 
 character of the French people, 
 Austrian suspicions, 269 ; the volun- 
 teers, 281 ; France and the Bour- 
 bons, 290; Victor Cousin in England, 
 
 292 ; on novels, 293, 294 ; German 
 hatred of the Russians, the Crimean 
 War, 304 ; Lady Rachel Russell, 
 Sarah Austin's ancestors, 309 ; Trou- 
 ville and Cromer, the Press, 311 ; 
 Lord Raglan, books for the Princess 
 Royal, 314; on her husband, 324; 
 Lord Lansdowne, Hudson Gurney, 
 330 ; debates in Parliament, on East 
 India Company, on the addresses to 
 the Emperor Napoleon III., 331 ; on 
 his Memoirs, 334 ; birth of a grand- 
 child, John Austin, 344 ; Madame 
 Recamier's Memoirs, 354 ; death of 
 John Austin, 359 ; ill-health of Lady 
 Duff Gordon, preface to John Austin's 
 lectures, 371 ; completion of book, 
 374 ; Lord Jeffrey, John Austin's 
 letters, 378 ; Lord Lansdowne's mu- 
 nificence, Rome, 379 ; Jeremy Ben- 
 tham, his friends and followers, 381 ; 
 John Austin's relations to Jeremy 
 Bentham, the Queen's grief, 383 ; 
 her daughter's letters, 389 ; climate 
 of the Cape, the Queen, 391 ; fame 
 of John Austin's book rising, 401 ; 
 death of John Taylor and Sir G.C. 
 Lewis, 403 ; meets John Bright, 40S ; 
 Lady Duff Gordon's ill-health, 417 ; 
 love of the Arabs for Lady Duff 
 Gordon, marriage of Sir William 
 Markby, 424 
 
 Austin, Sarah, letter to Abraham Hay- 
 ward : society, 318 
 
 letter to John Murray, 
 
 174 
 
 letter to H.R.H. the 
 
 Duchess of Orleans on the education 
 of her sons, 339 
 
 letter to H.R.H. the 
 
 Comte de Paris, on his marriage, 411 
 letters to Susan Reeve ; 
 
 life at Bonn, 69 ; on her uncertain 
 prospects, the University of London, 
 78, 79, 82 ; from Malta, 126, 128, 
 133 ; grammar and plain needle- 
 work, 210 ; shows Barthelemy St. 
 Hilaire some sights in London, 235 
 
 ■ letters to Lady W. 
 
 Russell, 421, 427 
 
 letters to Dr. Sciortino, 
 
 147, 153 ; on the French Revolution, 
 229 
 
 letters to N. Senior and 
 
 his wife from Malta, 130, 137 ; to 
 
564 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Minnie Senior on " dress and morals," 
 393 ; death of N. Senior, 410 
 Austin, Sarah, letters to Barthelemy St. 
 Hilaire, Odo and Arthur Russell, 
 296; "Germany from 1760 to 1814," 
 299 ; George Herbert, Ugo Foscolo, 
 306 ; on a bonnet, 308 ; the Suez 
 Canal, 319 ; Taylor family meeting, 
 321 ; MM. de Lindenau and Bis- 
 marck, 322 ; Dr. Whewell, 323 ; 
 Goethe, 324; death of H.R.H. the 
 Duchess of Orleans, 340; M. Guizot, 
 H. Gumey, Mr. El win, 342 ; John 
 Austin reviews Lord Grey's book, 
 343 ; " Memoir " of the Duchess of 
 Orleans, 346 ; Mr. Jeffs' Review, 348 ; 
 the new Ministry, 349 ; French con- 
 tributors to Jeffs' Review, 350 ; Lord 
 Howden's statement, 351 ; Italian 
 independence, 353 ; death of John 
 Austin, 357, 358, 361 ; end of Mr. 
 Jeffs' Review, John Austin's letters, 
 363 ; the Provost of Eton, 367 ; on 
 her work, Comte de Paris breaks his 
 leg, 368 ; her granddaughter's mar- 
 riage, 369, 370, 376 ; journey to 
 France, 377 ; M. Mignet on Mr. 
 Hallam, 385 ; " ifeloge " by M. 
 Mignet on Mr. Hallam, anecdote of 
 the Queen, Prince Albert, and Mr. 
 Hallam, 387 ; M. Guizot's book. 
 Lord Broughnm's praise, 394 ; family 
 news, 396, 397, 398 ; M. Prevost 
 Paradol's opinions erroneous, 398 ; 
 marriage of Prince of Wales, 402 ; 
 O'Connell and "Repeal," 406; a 
 German part of France, 409 ; fourth 
 edition of Ranke, literary honours, 
 412; forward, ever forward, 414; 
 conduct of the Prussians in Bohemia, 
 419 ; condition of Germany, munifi- 
 cence of Dr. Whewell, 420 ; Victor 
 Cousin, 426 ; illness, last letter, 428 
 , letters to Rev. Dr. Whe- 
 well ; on the French Revolution, 221 ; 
 affairs in France, a working-man's 
 library at Bow, 224 ; on translating, 
 242, 255 ; his translation of the 
 " Professorin," 260; Victor Cousin, 
 275, 291 ; a "case of conscience," 
 298, 301 ; death of Mrs. Whewell, 
 317 ; her desolation, 361 ; reprint of 
 John Austin's Lectures, 365, 366 ; 
 on her difficult work, M. Mignet, 
 and Mr. Hallam, 385 
 
 Austin, Lucie, her birth, 431 ; the sun- 
 flowers, her education, advice from 
 the Rev. Sydney Smith, 432 ; re- 
 miniscences of Heinrich Heine, 433; 
 letters to Janet Shuttleworth, 434, 
 439, 440 ; at school, 436 ; letters 
 to Harriet Grote, 436, 437, 441 ; 
 her baptism, 441 ; recollections of, by 
 Marianne North, 443 ; marriage, 446 
 
 Babbage, Mr., 100 
 
 Baillie, Miss, 35 
 
 Barbauld, Dr. and Mrs., 15, 16, 17, 35 
 
 Mrs., 2, 19, 21 ; "A Tribute," 
 
 23. 28, 33, 35, 51, 54; to Sarah 
 Taylor on her engagement, 56 ; verses 
 to Sarah Taylor, 57 
 
 Barbier, Auguste, 213 ; letter to Sarah 
 Austin, 375 
 
 Barnes, Mr., 100 
 
 Barrot, Odilon, 313 
 
 Bastile, The fall of, excitement at Nor- 
 wich, 21 ; song by John Taylor, 22 
 
 Bayley, C. J., 456, 465, 467, 469 
 
 BeecroftjMr., marries Judith Dixon, 19 
 
 Beevor, Sir Thomas, 21 
 
 Berg, Mdlle., compared with Rachel,i7o 
 
 Bentham, Jeremy, 48, 49 ; a skit on, 
 60 ; mentioned, 64, 66 ; letter to 
 Sarah Austin, 81 ; death of, 84 ; his 
 friends and followers, 381, 383 ; his 
 garden, 431 
 
 Benthamites, The, 117 
 
 Bentinck, Lord W., 58, 90 
 
 Berlin, 173 ; Sarah Austin's diary in, 
 185 ; description of, 187, 193, 195 
 
 Berry, Miss, 159 ; recollections of 
 Madame Recamier, 237 
 
 Berryer, M., saying attributed to, 289 
 
 Beyle, Henri de, letter to Sarah Austin, 
 
 76 
 Bickersteth, Mr. (Lord Langdale), 100, 
 
 107 
 Bismarck, Prince, 322 
 Bixio, General N., wounded, 223 
 Blanc, Louis, 226, 453 
 Boulogne Fishermen, 119, 157 
 Buckle's, Mr., lecture, 333 
 BuUer, Charles, 60, 80," 86, 103 ; letter 
 
 to Sarah Austin, 115, 243, 407 
 Bunsen, Baron, 174 
 Burdett, Sir Francis, 8 
 Burke, Edward, 22 
 Butler, Fanny, 136 
 Buxton, Charles, 332, 340, 472 
 
INDEX. 
 
 56s 
 
 Bright, John, 406 
 
 Brougham, Mr. (Lord), 22, 25, loi, 
 138, 147, 218 ; letter to Sarah Austin 
 on her husband, 371 ; and Jeremy 
 Bentham, 382 
 
 Brunei, Mr., 53 
 
 Brunnow, M. de, 175 
 
 Byron, Lord and Lady, 59 
 
 Canning, Lady, death of, 384 
 
 Carlisle, Lord, 335 
 
 Carlyle, Thomas, 60 ; on politics and 
 literature, loi ; on Sarah Austin's 
 translation of Falk, 103 ; on British 
 leviewing, 108 ; on house-seeking, 
 no; mentioned, 222, 241 ; on letters 
 of condolence, 418 
 
 Carove, Professor F. W., letter to 
 Sarah Austin, " Story without an 
 End," III 
 
 Carus, Professor, size of Sarah Austin's 
 head, 309 
 
 Caussidiere, M., 226 
 
 Cavaignac, M. , supports peace, 227, 266 
 
 Cave, Otway, 8 1 
 
 Cavour, Comte de, 345, 353 ; his death, 
 
 377 
 Chateaubriand, M. de, anecdote of, 77 ; 
 
 and Mme. Recamier, 355 
 Chevalier, M., 60 ; letter from, 155 
 Circourt, Comte de, 222, 261 
 Cobden, Richard, 248, 282, 406 
 Coke, Mr., 34, 45 ; marriage, 50 
 Coleridge, 86; "Table Talk," 114 
 Comte, Auguste, on women and social 
 philosophy, 203 ; on Sophie Germain, 
 207 ; J. S. Mill on, 208, 289, 334 
 Comte, Charles, 64 
 
 Cook, Susannah (Mrs. John Taylor), 3 ; 
 visits London, Isle of Wight, Stour- 
 bridge, 4 ; Carisbrooke Castle, Bath, 
 gootl taste of Birmingham people, 8 ; 
 Scotland, ladies' head-dresses, 12 ; 
 announces her marriage, 14 
 Cowper, 24 
 
 Courtenay, F. , his singing, 406 
 Cousin, Victor, letters from Sarah 
 Austin to, 99, 1CH3, 139, 141, 145, 
 177, 231, 239, 250; mentioned, 79, 
 107, 112, 113, 179, 223, 224, 226, 
 245, 247, 257, 265, 266, 267, 268, 
 274; threatened expulsion from the 
 Sorbonne, 275, 276 ; named hono- 
 rary Professor, 279; love for Mad. 
 (le Longueville, 280, 283, 284, 285, 
 
 291, 292, 299, 316, 372, 398, 423 ; 
 death, 425 ; his old letters, 426, 429, 
 kindness to Janet Duff Gordon, 472 
 Crome, Mr., 49 
 
 Daguerre, M., 223 
 Darwin, Charles, 207 
 Decaisne, J. W., on Madame Recamier, 
 
 233 
 Descartes, M. , appreciated by women, 
 
 204, 212 
 Devonshire, Duke of, 355 
 Devrient, Emil, as Don Cesar, 170 
 Diary in Dresden, 167, 184 
 Diary in Berlin, 185 
 Dingli, Sir Adrian, 123 
 Dixon, Judith, 4, 8, 12, 14, 16, 18 
 Doyle, Richard, illustrated letters to 
 
 Lady Duff Gordon, 457, 458 
 Dresden, diary in, 167, 184; lodgings 
 
 in, 178 
 Dufaure, M., 272 
 Dupin, M., 288 
 Diirer, Albrecht, 447 
 
 Eady, Dr., 49 
 
 Edict of Nantes, 3 
 
 Edinburgh, 24, 44 
 
 Edinburgh Review, 25, 26, 76, 77, 
 172, 175, 177, 191 ; the octogenarian 
 clique of, 210, 307, 319, 320, 326, 343 
 
 Elgin, Lord, 349 
 
 EUesmere, Lord, 306, 314 
 
 Elwin, Mr., 342, 344, 378 
 
 Empson, Mr., 83, 100, 125, 236 
 
 Erlau, Archbishop of, 179 
 
 Erie, Sir W. , 201 
 
 Examiner, The, 83, 100, 305, 420, 422 
 
 " Eyre, Jane," 328 
 
 Faraday, Michael, 53 
 
 Faucher, Leon, 233, 267, 273 
 
 " Faust," 103, 112 
 
 Foscolo, Ugo, 63 ; his dishonesty, 307 
 
 Fox, Eliza, memoirs, 57 
 
 Fox, Mr., on the change in Sarah 
 
 Taylor, 57 
 Froude, Mr., 420 
 
 Garibaldi, G., 367 
 
 Gaskell, Mrs., " Ruth," 294, 328 
 
 Gibson, Milner, 333 
 
 Gladstone, W. E., letters from Sarah 
 
 Austin to, 144, 149. 283, 285, 407 ; 
 
 leader of the Tory party, 142 ; letters 
 
566 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 to Sarah Austin, 143 ; popular edu- 
 cation within the Isosom of the Church, 
 151 ; on the condition of English in- 
 dustry and trade, 180; on education, 
 285 ; on Sir Robert Peel, 326 ; on 
 employment of women, 327; men- 
 tioned, 333, 349, 461 
 Glenelg, Lord, 138, 141, 147, 335 
 Gordon, Sir Alexander C. Dutf, 147, 
 397i 4°3> 4J7.-430. 444; proposes, 
 marriage, 446 ; has cholera, 449 ; 
 special constable, 453 ; " Village Tales 
 from Alsatia," Wey bridge, 454, 467 
 
 : — Lady Duff, described by A. W. 
 
 Kinglalce, viii ; her ill-health, 376 ; 
 news from the Cape, 389 ; P. Para- 
 dol's admiration of, 413 ; solitary 
 home at Thebes, 417 ; marriage, 446 ; 
 Kaulbach, Albrecht Diirer,, 447 ; 
 translates Niebuhr's " Gods and 
 Heroes of Greece," birth of first 
 child, 448 ; translates " The Amber 
 Witch," " French in Algiers," " Re- 
 markable Criminal Trials," 449 ; 
 Lord Lansdowne's villa at Rich- 
 mond, new books, 449 ; Christian 
 kindness of, 451 ; the Chartist Riots, 
 453 ; translates "Stella and Vanessa," 
 letters to C. J. Bayley, 456, 465, 467, 
 469 ; to Harriet Grote, 470 ; translates 
 " The Village Doctor," " Ferdinand 
 and Maximilian of Austria," visits 
 Heinrich Heine at Paris, 472 ; illness 
 of, 477 ; voyage to the Cape, 478 ; 
 lands at Cape Town, 480 ; Mussul- 
 man burial at Cape Town, 483 ; 
 Caledon, 485 ; ChosluUah's opinion 
 of, 4S6 ; Moravian missionaries and 
 the last Hottentot, 487 ; beauty of 
 country, 491 ; mosque at Cape Town, 
 494 ; returns to England, lands in 
 Egypt', 497 ; shopping in the bazaars, 
 498 ; crew of boat, 499 ; slave-mer- 
 chants at Aswan, 501 ; St. Simon 
 Stylites, 502 ; the Mahmal, 503 ; 
 Muslim piety, 504 ; reminded of 
 Herodotus, letter to Tom Taylor, 
 505 ; returns to England, 509 ; 
 H.R.H. of Darfoor, 511 ; Fat'hahs 
 for her health, 512 ; death of Sheykh 
 Yoosuf's brother, 513 ; reminded of 
 the Bible, 514 ; is given the " Salara 
 Aleykee," 515 ; letter to Tom Taylor, 
 516 ; " sweetness of her tongue," 
 522 ; named " Noor-al^-Noor," doc- 
 
 tors the sick, 523 ; proposal of mar- 
 riage, 524 ; an Arab picnic, 525 ; 
 Arab and Egyptian types, 527 ; 
 Christian and Muslim morality, 528 ; 
 meets Sir Alexander Duff Gordon at 
 Cairo, 530 ; reception on returning 
 to Luxor, the Cadi of Keneh, 531 ; 
 grief at the ill-treatment of the Arabs, 
 532 ; an Arab Deborah, 533 ; nurses 
 the Jew's dragoman, 534 ; " eye 
 lucky," 535; blessing of a fellah, 
 539 ; festival of saint at Keneh, 
 542 ; Marianne North's visit to 
 Luxor, 543 ; Gifford Palgrave's 
 knowledge of Arabic, 547 ; hospi- 
 tality of Maohn's children at Beni- 
 souef, 548 ; popularity at Boolak, 
 549 ; inventory of dahabieh, 550.; 
 visit of an Arabian sage, 552 ; praises 
 s™g. SS3 ; is " chaired," 554 ; 
 Nubian trader lends his boat to, 
 557 ; the loquacious painter, 558 ; 
 voyage to Syria, visit of the Prince 
 and Princess of Wales, 559 ; last 
 letter, death, 560 
 Goethe, W. von, 86; "Characteristics 
 of," 99 ; Thomas Carlyle on, 104, 
 112, 324, 336, 337 
 Graham, Sir James, 460 
 Greeks, sympathy with, in France, 65 
 Greek tragedy, 170 
 Greville, Lady Charlotte, 314 
 Grey, Lord, 161, 333, 335, 349, 353, 
 
 412 
 Grimm, the brothers, 185 
 Grimm, W., his children think his fairy 
 
 tales "rubbish," 186 
 Grote, George, 67, 115 ; letter to John 
 Austin, 191 ; letters to Sarah Austin, 
 the Coup d itat, 271, 272, 291 
 
 , Harriet, letters from Sarah 
 
 Austin to, 70, 164, 178, 197, 199, 
 399, 415 ; visit to Paris in 1851, 
 271, 272; to Sarah Austin, "Re- 
 trospection," 362 ; letters from Lucie 
 Austin to, 436, 437, 441 ; from Lady 
 ^ Dnff-OiMil ya I III lyn "- 
 
 G1IIZ6I, IVlTTletters to, from Sarah 
 Austin, 157, 159, 161, 170, 192, 196, 
 216, 235, 236, 238, 244, 245, 247, 
 252, 256, 263, 269, 281, 290, 292, 
 293' 294. 304. 309> 3". 314. 324, 
 330. 331, 334. 344, 354, 3S9, 37 1. 
 374, 378, 379, 381, 383, 389, 391, 
 401, 403, 405, 417, 424 
 
INDEX. 
 
 S67 
 
 Guirot, M., Lord Langdale's message 
 to, l6i ; his ability, 202 ; interests 
 hitiiself for A. Comte, 208 ; J-. Si 
 Mill on, 209 ; B. St. Hilaire on, 
 215; flight from Paris,, 221, 222; 
 article on the state of religion in 
 France, 225 ; book on the-^nglish 
 Revolution of 1640-1688, 230; fu- 
 sion an error, 265 ; letter to Sarah 
 Austin on the qualities of French 
 and English men and women, 27S ; 
 personal hatred of Firench statesmen, 
 285 ; envies English statesmen, 286 ; 
 and M. Dupin, 288 ; letter to Sarah 
 Austin on his " History of the 
 English Republic," 297 ; grief at: 
 Mdme. de Lieven's death, 324 ; 
 reproaches John Austin for his idle- 
 ness, 343 ; letter to Sarah Austin on 
 her husband's death, 359 ; men- 
 tioned, 368, 369, 370, 377 ; letter 
 to Sarah Austin on friendships , 404 ; 
 letter to Sir A. Duff Gordon on 
 Sarah Austin's death, 430 ; first 
 dinner in London (in 1848), 446 
 
 Gurney, Bartlett, 22 
 
 Hudson, 307, 330, 343 
 
 Gurneysi the, 2, 21 
 
 Hallam, Henry, to Sarah Austin, pre- 
 dicts the Empire, 227, 249, 291, 312, 
 352 ; M. Mignet's speech on, 385, 
 386 ; his modesty, the Queen and 
 Prince Albert appreciate, 387, 391 
 
 Hamilton, Sir W., letter to Sarah 
 Austin, io5, 112 
 
 Hanover, King of, 188 
 
 Hase, Dr. Heinrich, 114 
 
 Hassan-el-Bakkeet, anecdotes of, 451, 
 452 
 
 Hawtrey, Dr. (Provost of Eton), letter 
 to Sarah Austin, 114, 339, 367 
 
 Haxthausen, M. de, 236 
 
 Hayward, Abraham, 112, 318 
 
 Head, Sir Francis, 136 
 
 Heine, Heinrich, reminiscences of, 
 433, 472 ; letter to Lady Duff Gor- 
 don, 474 
 
 Hekekian Bey, 497, 504 
 
 Herbert, George, 306 
 
 Higgins (Big), 460 
 
 Hilliard, Mr., 451 
 
 Holland, Lady, 298, 304, 305 
 
 Lord, 264 
 
 Hottentot, the last, 488 
 
 Houghton, Lord, on Norwich worthies, 2 
 
 Howden, Lord, 351, 352 
 
 Howes, Miss, 53 
 
 Hudson, Mrs., "the Railway Queen," 
 
 anecdote of, 218 
 Hugo, M. Victor, 280 
 Humboldt, Baron v., 53 ; letter to 
 
 Sarah Austin, 205, 378 
 Hutchinson, Lucy, 52 
 
 Irving, Mr., 418 
 
 Italian refugees, Sarah Austin's kind- 
 ness to, 63 
 Italy, defeat at Novara, 232 
 
 Jameson, Anna, letter to SarahAustin, 
 
 13s 
 Jeffrey, Lord, 25, 60, 99, letters to 
 
 Sarah Austin, 116, 123, 298, 308; 
 
 his sfeventy-two loves, 378 
 Jennings, Dr., 2 
 
 Joinville, Prince de, 254, 267, 352 
 "Juan, Don," Amelia Opie's opinion 
 
 on, 58 
 
 Kaolbach, 447 
 
 Kinglake, A. W., 446, 449, 453, 468. 
 
 Kingsley, Mr., 334 
 
 Lang, Ritter v., " Memoirs of," 191 
 Lansdowne, Marquis of, 218, 248, 291, 
 
 292, 319, 330 ; his munificence, 379 ; 
 
 death of, 400, 449, 468 
 Lamartine, M. de, 222, 233 
 Layard, Sir Henry A., 518 
 Lemoine, M. John, 305, 331 
 Lesseps, M. de, 313, 3:6 
 Lewes, G., 336 
 Lewis, Sir George C., 80, 123, 130, 
 
 131. 332, 349. 377. 384. 40Z; his 
 
 death, 403, 404 
 Lieven, Princess, 248,. 324 
 Lindenau, M. de, 177, 179, I95 
 Littre, M., 289 » 
 
 Locke, John, tomb of, 250, 252, 253 
 London and Westminster Revieit), 146 
 Longueville, Mme. de, 274, 283 
 Lyndhurst, Lord, 353 
 Lyttelton, Lord, 298 
 
 MacAdam, Mr., 53 
 Mackintosh, Sir James, 21, 22 
 Macaulay, T. B. (Lord), to Sarah 
 Austin, 146, 211, 335, 39t 
 
568 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Maintenon, Mme. de, Sarah Austin's 
 opinion of, 236 
 
 Malta, John Austin named Royal Com- 
 missioner to, 123 ; Lord Jeffrey on 
 Sarah Austin's departure for, 123 ; 
 letters from, by Sarah Austin, 126, 
 128, 130, 133, 137 ; four languages 
 of> 139 > John and Sarah Austin leave, 
 141 ; schools at, 145, 147 
 
 Marie Amelia, Queen, 472 
 
 Marie Antoinette, Queen, and second 
 sight, 168 
 
 Markby, Sir W., 424 
 
 Martineau, Harriet, 3, 86, 136, 235 
 
 David, 3 
 
 Mrs., tribute to, on her death, 
 
 by Mrs. Barbauld, 23 
 
 Dr. James, reminiscences of 
 
 Sarah Taylor, 38 
 
 Maspero, Professor, 510 
 
 Maudsley, Dr., 53, 431 
 
 Mazzini, G., 353 
 
 Melbourne, Lord, 107, 174 
 
 Mendelssohn, Felix, 52, 413 
 
 , Madame, 70 
 
 Meredith, George, 472 
 
 Metternich, Prince, 248 
 
 Mignet, M., 352, 370; " Discours " 
 on Henry Hallam, 385, 386, 387 
 
 Mill, James, 58, 60, 72, 78 
 
 — — J. S., 60; character of John 
 Austin by, 61 ; on the influences of 
 German literature and society on 
 John Austin, 74 ; on Charles Austin, 
 89 ; John Austin's influence on, 92 ; 
 mentioned, 80, 81, 83, 105, 109, 
 117, 132 ; a friend of Auguste 
 Comte, 205 ; letter to Sarah Austin 
 on Auguste Comte, the Edinburgh 
 Revieiv, 208 ; playfellow of Lucie 
 Austin, 431 
 
 Milman, Dr. , to Sarah Austin, 390 
 
 Molesworth, Sir William, loi, 138, 
 248 
 
 Moliire, 77, 254 
 
 Montalembert, Comte de, 350 
 
 Monteagle, Lord, 335, 349, 350, 351, 
 441,446 
 
 Moore, Mr. , M.P. for Mayo, 459 
 
 Morning Chronicle, John Taylor writes 
 
 in. 3 
 Morwel Down, first tunnel made in 
 
 England by John Taylor, 52 
 Murray, John, Sarah Austin to, 174 
 Muskau, Piickler-, Prince, 85 
 
 Napoleon L , Emperor, and the Queen- 
 
 of Prussia, 301 
 Prince Louis, prediction 
 
 about by Henry Hallam, 227 ; as 
 
 President, 232, 262, 265, 266, 267, 
 
 268, 288 
 
 : — Prince, 345 
 
 • in.. Emperor, 346, 377 
 
 Nemours, Due de, 342 
 
 New Monthly Magazine, 80, 85, 86 
 
 Niebuhr, Herr v., 69, 70, 71; his 
 meanness, does the honours of" 
 Rome badly, 189 ; " Stories of the 
 Gods and Heroes of Greece," 191, 
 448 
 
 Nightingale, Florence, and the English- 
 soldiers, 306 
 
 Noailles, Mme. de, anecdote of, 77 
 
 Norfolk, its inhabitants, I 
 
 North, Marianne, recollections of Lucie- 
 Austin, 443 ; of Lady Duff Gordon, 
 
 544 
 
 Norton, the Hon. Mrs., 446, 448 ; 
 letter to Sir Alex. Duff Gordon,. 
 454; letter to Lady Duff Gordon, 
 466 ; and her son, 468 
 
 Norwich, mental activity of, I ; Lord 
 Houghton on, 2 ; Dr. John Taylor 
 minister at, 2 ; John Taylor a yarn- 
 maker at, 3 ; Sir J. Mackintosh at, 
 21 ; the Duke of Sussex at, 22 ;. 
 Whig party of, 34; Dr. Reeve set- 
 tles at, 38 ; Martineau and Taylor 
 family meetings at, 38, 48, 321 ; a 
 " haven of rest " to Basil Montagu, 51 
 
 O'CoNNELL, Daniel, 81 ; and repeal, 
 407 
 
 Omar, 498, 501, 502, 503, 504, 506^ 
 508, 509, S14, 515, 517, 519; de- 
 scribes Janet Ross, 521 ; and the- 
 Sheykh-el-Arab, 524, 525 ; utters 
 the words of Ruth, 526 ; makes up 
 a quarrel, 527 ; his integrity, 529,. 
 530; "chaffs" the Bulook, 538, 
 539. 540, 546, 556. 557. 559. S^Q - 
 
 Orleans, H.R.H. the Duchess of, 237, 
 263 ; her character, 338 ; Sarah 
 Austin to, 339 ; her death, 340 
 
 Orleans, family, and M. Dupin, 288 
 
 Opie, Amelia, 2, 21, 35, 43, 50, 54^ 
 letter to Sarah Austin on her mar- 
 riage, 58, 63 ; " Memoirs " of, 241 
 
 Palgrave, Gifford, 547, 553 
 
INDEX. 
 
 569 
 
 Palmerston, Lord, note of 2nd Nov., 
 1840, 156, 174, 246 ; wonderful 
 effort of oratory, 248, 332, 333 
 
 Parr, Dr., dancing round the tree of 
 liberty, 21 
 
 Paradol, Prevost, 343, 347 ; erroneous 
 opinions dangerous, 398 ; opinion of 
 Lady Duff Gordon, 413 ; letters to 
 Lady Duff Gordon, 536, 537 
 
 Paris, H.R.H. the Comte de, 339 ; 
 breaks his leg, 369, 411, 472 
 
 Paul, Emperor, 168 
 
 Peel, Sir Robert, 115, 159, 176; 
 ministry defeated, 215 ; letter to 
 Sarah Austin, 216; fatal accident 
 to, 249, 282, 285 ; W. E. Gladstone 
 on, 327 ; portrait of (the present) by 
 R. Doyle, 459 
 
 Phillips, Henry W., 468, 469,471, 517 
 
 Poles, behaviour of Russia to the, 154, 
 
 174 
 " Province of Jurisprudence Deter- 
 mined," published, 87, 95 
 Prussia, Robert Southey on, 113 
 
 Queen of, and Napoleon, 301 
 
 • King of) interview with M. 
 
 Thiers, 171 ; popularity of, declined, 
 173 
 
 ■Quakers, 117 
 
 Quarterly Review, The, 207, 242, 314, 
 
 342, 344. 345 
 
 •Queen, H.M., the, 137, 147, 265, 306 ; 
 a widow, 384, 387, 392 ; marriage 
 of Prince of Wales, 402, 405 
 
 Quiddenham, 49 
 
 Raglan, Lord, 300; his despatches, 
 
 302; his death, 312, 314 
 Ranke, Professor L. v., Sarah Austin 
 
 translates " History of the Popes," 
 
 !43 ; badly done into French, 146 ; 
 
 Macaulay reviews the book, 146 ; 
 
 letters to Sarah Austin, 152, 163; 
 
 meeting with Sarah Austin, 185 ; 
 
 not so good as his books, 186, 206, 
 
 446 
 Raumer, Herr v., 116, 1:5. 206 
 Recamier, Mme. de, her sorrows, 229, 
 236; Miss Berry's recollections of, 
 237, 242 ; souvenirs and correspond- 
 ences, 354 ; and M. de Chateau- 
 briand, 355 
 Reeve, Dr., 2 ; Susannah Taylor's 
 letters to, 24, 25, 26 ; engaged to 
 
 Susan Taylor, 27, 30, 31 ; marriage 
 of, 38 ; death of, 46, 48 
 Reeve, Henry, 50, 78, 79, 192, 273, 
 
 29s. 319. 324. 414 
 Susan, 57 ; letters from Sarah 
 
 Austin to, 69, 77, 79, 82, 126, 128, 
 
 133, 210, 23s 
 Remusat, M. de, 274, 290, 306 ; death 
 
 of, 38s 
 Rigby, Dr., 2, 3, 21 
 Robinson, H. C, 21 ; to Sarah Austin, 
 
 241 
 Roebuck, 117 
 Rogers, S., 210, 445 
 Romilly, Ch., 81 
 John (Sir), pupil of Sarah 
 
 Austin, 79, 80, 100 
 Ross, H. I., marries Janet Duff Gor- 
 don, 369; his illness, 397, 398 
 Ross, Janet, Lady Duff Gordon to, 
 
 501, 510, 513, 522, 547, 551, 553, 554 
 Royal, H.R.H. , the Princess, 315 
 Russell, Lord John, 115, 146; the 
 
 "Durham Letter," 257, 264, 342, 
 
 412, 460, 461 
 
 Odo and Arthur, 296 
 
 Lady Rachel, 309 
 
 Lady William, 165, 179, 393 ; 
 
 Sarah Austin to, 421, 427 
 
 Sand, G., 294 
 
 Santa Rosa, Chev. de, letter to Sarah 
 
 Austin, 63, 307 
 Saturday Jieview, The, 351, 547 
 Savigny, Herr v., 69, 185 ; tells a fairy 
 
 tale, 187 ; on the Italians, 190, 193 
 Savoy, Charles Felix of, 63 
 Say, J. B., S3, 65 ; letters to Sarah 
 
 Austin, 66, 75 
 
 — Horace, 273 
 Sayers, Dr., 2, 21 
 
 Saxe-Weimar, Grand Duke of, anec- 
 dotes told by, 168 
 
 Saxony, King of, 173, 193, 420 
 
 Scheffer, Ary, 471 
 
 Schelling, Herr v., 185 
 
 Schlegel, W. v., 69, 70, 71 - 
 
 Schleiermacher, Dr., religious opinions 
 of, 190 
 
 Sciortino, Dr. P., 130, 138; letters 
 from Sarah Austin to, 147, 153 
 
 Scott, Sir Walter, made a poet by 
 William Taylor, 2 
 
 " Selections from the Old Testament " 
 by Sarah Austin, 99 
 
S70 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Senior, Nassau, letter from Sarah 
 Austin to, 130, 244, 270, 342 
 
 Mary C, letters from Sarah 
 
 Austin to, 137, 410 
 
 Minnie (Minnie Simpson), 
 
 from Sarah Austin to, 393 
 
 Sewards, The, 21 
 
 Shakespeare, W., 250, 253 
 
 Simon, Jules, 274, 350 
 
 Slave trade, abolition of, 33 
 
 Smith, Mr,, 21 
 
 Sir J. E., 21 
 
 — — Rev. Sydney, 25, 60 ; on Sir 
 J. Mackintosh and Abraham Hay- 
 ward, 118; praise of French living, 
 120 ; on Sarah Austin's reception^at 
 Malta, 129 ; on Maltese code of 
 laws, 134, 161 ; a philosophical 
 breakfast, 162 ; on Sarah Austin's 
 grandchild, 182 ; Sarah Austin's 
 French visitors, 202, 210, 271, 298, 
 3I7> 378 ; letter to Lucie Austin, 432 
 
 Smollett, T., 418 
 
 Southey Dr., 21 
 
 Robert, 26 ; letter to Sarah 
 
 Austin, 113 
 
 Spohr, L., 53 
 
 Stael, Mdme. de, 21 
 
 Stanley, Lord, 147 
 
 - — — Dr. A. P., 342, 392, 398 
 
 Steffens, Herr, 185 ; autobiography, 191 
 
 Stendhal (M. de Beyle), letter to Mrs. 
 
 Austin, 76 
 Stephen, Sir James, 60, 97, 141, 257, 
 
 258, 329 
 
 Mr., 131, 138 
 
 Sterling, John, 80, 81 ; letter to Sarah 
 Austin, 85 
 
 St. Hilaire, Barthelemy, letters from 
 Sarah Austin to, 296, 298, 306, 308, 
 319, 321, 322, 323, 324, 340, 342, 
 343. 346, 348. 349. 350. 35". 353. 
 357, 358, 361, 363. 367. 368, 369. 
 370, 376, 377. 385. 387. 394. 396, 
 397. 398, 402, 406, 409, 412, 414, 
 419, 420, 426, 428 
 
 ■ recollections 
 
 of John and Sarah Austin, p. v ; 
 letters to Sarah Austin : state of 
 public opinion in Paris in 1848, 219 ; 
 at the Luxembourg, 222 ; the Red 
 Republic, 223 ; aspect of Paris un- 
 changed, 226 ; MM. Guizot and 
 Thiers' books, 230, 232 ; the " Mon- 
 tagnards," 234, 239 ; on the elections, 
 
 245 ; foresees a catastrophe, 247 ; 
 admiration of England, 254 ; public 
 opinion, 258 ; deplorable state of 
 things in France, 262, 265, 266 ; the 
 President and Faucher, 267 ; fighting 
 in Paris, 268 ; the oath, 273 ; re- 
 fuses .to take the oath, 279 ; leaves 
 Paris, 280 ; Cousin's " Mme. de 
 Longueville," 283 ; meanness of 
 M. Dupin, 288 ; M. Comte, 289 ; 
 the " entente cordiale" 299 ; Na- 
 poleon L and the Queen of Prussia, 
 300 ; English honesty, 302 ; the 
 Suez Canal, 313, 320 ; ignorance of 
 French peasants, 315; public opinion 
 in France contrary to war, 345 ; Lord 
 Howden, I^ord Lyndhurst, France a 
 military nation, 352 ; prediction of 
 attack on the Rhine, 367 ; P. Para- 
 dol's opinion of Lady Duff Gordon, 
 pubHcation of " Mohammed," 413 ; 
 death of Victor Cousin, 425 ; arrives 
 after Sarah Austin's death, 429 
 
 Strutt, E., 100, 115 
 
 Suez Canal, the, 313, 319, 320 
 
 Sussex, Duke of, 22 ; saying of, 53 ; 
 lays first stone of London Univer- 
 sity, 67 
 
 Sykes, Colonel, 332 
 
 Taylor, William, 2, 51 
 
 Dr. John, 2, 3 
 
 Richard, 3 
 
 John, 3 ; marries Susannah 
 
 Cook, IS; a staunch Whig, 21; a 
 poet, 22, 38 ; last letter to his 
 daughter, Sarah Austin, 65 ; his 
 death, 66 
 
 . . Dr. Philip, address to the 
 
 family meeting, 48 
 
 Susannah, feelings of a parent, 
 
 16 ; on affectation, 18 ; character of 
 women, 19 ; on marriage, 20 ; called 
 " Madame Roland of Norwich," 21 ; 
 letters to Dr. Reeve, 24 ; on the 
 Edinburgh Review, anA R. Southey, 
 26 ; visit to Cambridge, 28 ; advice 
 to her daughter Susan, 30 ; on moral 
 conduct, 31 ; abolition of the slave 
 trade, 33 ; a birthday letter, 34 ; on 
 girls' behaviour, 36 ; recollections of, 
 by Dr. James Martineau, 38 ; on 
 reading, 39 ; on vanity, 40 ; London 
 sights and visiting, 41 ; recollections 
 of, by Mrs. Wilde, 45 ; en gossip, 46 ; 
 
INDEX. 
 
 571 
 
 on Jeremy Bentham, marriages of 
 Lord Albemarle and Mr. Coke, 49 ; 
 Italian refugees, 50 ; death, JVIrs. 
 Barbauld and Basil Montagu on, 
 SI 
 
 Taylor, Sarah, birth of, 22 ; visit to 
 Mrs. Barbauld, 31 ; letters from her 
 mother to, 31, 33, 34, 36, 39, 40, 41, 
 42. 43' 44. 46, 47 > engaged to John 
 Austin, 46; visit to John Austin's 
 parents, 46 ; education, 54 ; read- 
 ing as a girl, 55 ; her beauty, 55 ; 
 letter on her engagement, 56 ; verses 
 to her from Mrs. Barbauld, 57 ; 
 change in character, marriage, 58 
 
 Col. Meadows, 331 
 
 • Philip, friend of M. de 
 
 Cavour, 408 
 
 Herbert, Lucie Austin's play- 
 
 fellow, 432 
 
 Tom, 399, 446, 453, 463, 465, 
 
 467, 470 ; letter to, from Lady Duff 
 Gordon, 505 
 
 Thackeray, W. M., 446 
 
 Thiers, M., interview with the King of 
 Prussia, 171 ; President of the Com- 
 mittee on Public Instructions, 234, 
 
 273 
 Thomas, Alexandre, 275 ; his lecture, 
 
 291, 311 
 Thun, Count, 164 
 Tieck, L. v., 71 
 Tivies, The, 100, 138, 174, 274, 302, 
 
 303. 306, 385 
 Tocqueville, Alexis de, letter to Sarah 
 
 Austin, 121 
 Tooke, Eyton, 72 
 Tussaud, Madame, "Whig Ministry in 
 
 Chamber of Horrors," 464 
 
 University of London (now University 
 College), 65, 67, 79, 82, 94 
 
 Valletta, harbour of, 127 ; schools 
 
 of, 139 
 Vigny, Comte de, letters from, [63, 213 
 Villemarqu^, Vicomte de la, 224 
 Villiers, Charles, 80 
 Voltaire, anecdote of, 189 
 
 Wailly, LfeoN DE, 456 
 
 Wales, H.R.H. Prince of, marriage of, 
 
 402 
 Walton, Dr. Izaac, " Lives," 307 
 Watts, Dr., 2 
 Wellesley, Hon. and Very Rev. Gerald, 
 
 315 
 Wellington, Duke of, 248, 282, 285, 
 
 314. 354 
 
 Weyer, M. Van de, 335 
 
 Whewell, Rev. Dr. W., le'ters from 
 Sarah Austin to, 221, 224, 242, 255, 
 260,275, 291, 298, 301, 317, 361, 365, 
 366, 385 ; to Sarah Austin, the French 
 Republic, 220 ; Auerbach, France 
 and Germany, 261 ; Victor Cousin, 
 276, 309; "Business," 316, 321; 
 lecture on Plato, 328 ; Mr. Buclde's 
 lecture on the Influence of Women, 
 333 ; Goethe, 336 ; will of, 421 
 
 Wilberforce, Mr., 33 
 
 Wyndham, Mr., 21 ; and the slave- 
 trade, 34 
 
 Wiseman, Dr., 257 
 
 Wishaw, Mr., 81, 445 
 
 Wordswoith, Mr., 46 
 
 Worsley, P. Stanhope, 387 
 
 YoosuF, Sheykh, 512, 513 ; character 
 of, 515 ; amusement at Hilton's 
 "Rebekah," 517, 522, 528, 536, 539, 
 543 ; makes an inventory, 550, 551, 
 558 
 
■QCTje ©crstjam I3rcs3, 
 
 UNWIN BROTHERS, 
 ■CHILWORTH AND LONDON. 
 
m§