The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1879-05-27 00:00:00

SR WILWRID 14WSON. BART., MP.. AT
BRAY lON.

(From “Cekbrities at How." in TA* World.)

On the undulating etretch of upland, some twelve miles
Wood. that Copes from the northernmost of the Cumbrian
lake ntuunteut• to the annoy Osage of the Solway Frith,
about hall way between Skiddsw and the sea, in tha
centre of a well-wooded park. stands Br .ytoo. the
country mat of the woes unaasuming. as certainly one of
Lb. aisuggt. ,agn n fLogthod. o.ir thrre miles off Is
Whitehall. the hon..' the let. floors* More: and many
tune ha.• the cheery laugh and t-trong iaetiVe ert:vot of
the northo-ountry el:o.l.am red nancled co the hell at
By.van, whore the seutleaten sit, or out on the I aVIZI at
It,. hag. wl.ence on oue vole the ball church-tower of
Aspetns to M-411 etuollaig op over the Lake, • landistark to
all the country round ; on the other, through •
vista purposely cleared in the intervening tree., the
waters of the &lea, gleam In the distance, seemingly but
a salver thread of dinaton bettroen the coast ut Courbet-
land and you DI: Uautlot...l4 Cadet that OUtt4pe lb.
opposite rens* of Scottish hill..
- - ' -

_........_ ____
The existing house of Brayton was built in MOO, though
the Leridas have be.., settled at the place erica the
Restoration. In lOW Vie present Sir Wistrid, having •
year before eucceedet his father, einietimes known, from
• celebrated apeecti of bin, as the " King-killing Beagles"
restored and improved the house, uni skilful eye of Mr.
Cram superinteadlog the alterations and decorations.
Brayton is now • very large house, and presents a Mettles
as well as unusual appearance as the stranger drive' up
past use south front, with the Italian garden lying armlike
mitsulaiis below the wiodows of the morning-room and
library, throuth • projecting row of pillars, undulating!,
designated the name, into • court, the other three sides
of which are orcopied by the building. Prepare yearsell
to Laugh ; for from morning till evening, indoors and out
of doors, on subject. at every opportunity, you will
bear such an &erasing number of Jokes and witticisms
poured forth that altar a a sort time you will coons to the
oonclualoa, which every ono aim has is tans 0th5,..1 at,
that the fount wince supplier timm is 'negational....
There Is scarcely • titan of soy note in England, there is
soatosly • Agars in contemporaneous hstary, about whom
Sr Wilfrid Lawson h. bet •011.1 amusing anec.,ote to
relate • there is barely a story you can tall that will not
he capped by • better om on the same or • similar subject
trona your host. Is his con ersatiou there are the mum
simplicity and absence i f affected m as in his parliament-
ary ',reeking. Allied to his n...iva wit is a won ierful
facility for rhyming ; and tass few lino; hastily scrawled
on the back of an envelope and purled along the hmehes
at the Howie of Commons, create as much unwise., .it
among tue ti,it! i. senetn, a. du tile toupromptl V....
(al IA ..ut in toe crown.) which ore the sequel if aiy
sorgretempe t .at can possitsly Lear a ludic:Me& • p c,,,,.
oc,orr rig anion; the vintore mot to enjoy the Maio anted
borp.tality tit elute-tide at Braytoo.
A tamota ler himself, Sir Wilfrid Lawson is not the
caose of conpulciry total ebstintece in his [matt V. e-
and-twenty years ago • Lord Mayor of London—aud 01,5
shoild Le a hatter judge I—pronounced the str., e .4
Brayton to be the hest he had over drunk. For tom :ell
Sir Warta dank • Mestere., and will tem io ...If
produce certain extraordinary an I not alway• very
palatable beverage, welch are trequently sent, ' nit. .he
! ..rik ,rts ouoipiimauts- to the preaida lit of the Lotted
Ittnedon Alliatior. Sir W. Lawson is not only • meer
mei • ihymer. He ha,. a coer shrewd mind, asid a rare
aptitude for logical discussion on any point, li.,thing
pleases him more than when in fnendly argument he
erased* in dimming the disputed point of any ineaninit•
lees or unsteadies engrouinent of verbiage. and in
! reducing the Mat mace of upiulue, I Vie by little. al, it is
• found to refer miely to the application of a princ Ms
! whms utility bear. . call coaatatentlY rearm. ..
1 And this sagacity anodeet is the more remarkable
leca.'es it is entirely mlfnacquired. William Lbws di., his
neat brother, well known in England and America for
sxperiments in ferniing, say. in the first chapter of his
book called Tea Poen ql Gentleman Parmain y, 'I had the
Mealtime of Ming the eon of parenta woo Were snore
anxious that their children should he happy and gad
thus that they should be learned or great. lly fattier bad
my education conducted, in a religious manna, at borne,
where I acquirer • little Latin and Grows and • few
°seer thume ; and where, a• is the cam with n-any Maar
y„,uths, anything in the shape of lemons was not attractive
' to me, and I ieened •a little as possible. Toe same
, system was adopted • fib the elder brother. Ha never
! went to any school, he was at slather University. But in
I we first years of manhood, before he succeeded in getting
I it i Parlament as pint member for Carlisle with his
distinguished uncle, Sir James Graham, be read widely
and ...fully, and hae contained to do so seer slam
On a table in the centre window of the library at
B,ortoci. whence there is a grand new of the snow on the
distant hills, and where Sir Wslfrid does all his work, lie
a cut number of books of testy kind—taa speech. of
C 'bd., a beteg as mat favourites as the works of Byrom
or tlis novels uf Lord Beaconsfield. Each in Its turn is
carefully read, the salient passages are marked end
Parham coanaitted to memo., and the book goes to swell
the ever-increasing pile that not unfitly represents the
solid stonse of an active and practical mind. On other
tablet are piled whole busts of papers, documents,
palopideta, treatises and ',says on the groat drink
question—Sir Wilfrid Leeson's article on which in the
Much number of the If imagine.% Century is the first he
eve wrote in hi. lite. And • pat tee, arrives ta about
bringing in Papers containing reeolutioes of support or
thanks, summaries of meetings reports of agitations, and
very often adverse criticiaine, which are nowhere as
g nuinely appreciated as at Brayton, and by no one as
much laughed over aa by the amiable men who is their
object He is also all assiduous reader et the daily news-
paper., and beeps well abreast of both foreign sad
domestic history. At dm Crystal Palace • few years ago,
when one of a party who had gone there for a day's amuse-
meat, he disappeared, and wee subsequently found mated
on the steps peacefully perusing the reuses; whilst in
Switzerland be haa Men kens.' to esteem theplea•ure of
remalning at Lis hotel with the latest journal from
Zealand greeter than that of crossing an ice-field or
climbing • sum mit
Next to the libary at Braytos comes the morning-room,
hung round with portraits of ancestors, sad (mai with
flowers •nd plants, deftly for oi.fed ny the tasteful hand
01 Lady Lassie amid gavet and pretty as-liens of
furniture or ornament brought from Paris and Vallee. In
the hall, where the arms of the Lawson family and Hs
alliances are emblem:mod round be oaken cornice, stands
a marble bust of Sir Wilfrid by Adams Acton ; another,
an I perhaps a more (silica' likeness, by the same eculptor,
of j. ha Mot. long known as a personal friend, and
greatly respected as so oratnr sad a stableman. Is placed
in the idlllarr!-Crult. Sir W. Lawson is • country gentle-
-1
man R.* well MI • politician and an arelnent public
character ; and there is yet mother side of him vareatle
maid to he studied and appreciated in the koen interest
be takes in wetly spirts and agricultural concerns. Over
twenty year mo he bunted aloes with the immortal John
Peel in the Wort Csiati,risad dietnet, and be has •ince
that time been more than once ire! inn, and al amp, actual,
llast,r of the Careherlaad Hunt. Nor lithe interest he
takes in the farmyard inferi 4- to that he deplay• ta the
',unties-Add, and Use Brayton herd of shorthorn' has for
s me year. been known as -in,, of the tre•t in the north of
1 Zealand. Add to this that the coverts .t itr qt. ~,,d
. lel are well stated with game, sad afford several
' Brat-class days every year, when the gent .1 host himself
! is
his
b srlat
you behind
"e
litrate.
fairlyisii thec. dewv.
atrubction,.. list a
dealt by
is wbom s
the nails outdoor interests and occupations in which Sr
Wilfrid Lawson takes an equal and an equally prominent
Part In all his cheeriness and good-nature are unfailing.
le.ieed. • better Instance of the latter could not be given
then the fret adoilaill Is his Lark md gromids on two
...aeons during the hist few years of over ten thousand
Good Tempters and other societies lecen the whole country
round, sad his delicious levitation, whoa the papem
poked fen as the Templar'. to the Liaised Vigheallees to
pay him • similar slat, that he Wild moan Ibis
behaviour with that of the rival pereamanim„

WHAT THE WORLD SAT&
The ungthetted office which Lord Barrington fills, of
Special P.rharnenthry Et-porter to tier Majesty the Queen
is by no me.= • new Ems, though Mr. C hurtnega heavy
wit hss drawn special attention to it AU thrrugh the
; reign of the present B.vereign it has been the cu-toui of
ono of her Ministers to report to her the salient point, of
a sight's debate. During the 1.4 Ministry, Mr.
Gladstone, who left anything to his eubordinshes,
performed thai irksome duty. When the present pun.
Minister came icto office he gaily placed the labour on the
shoulder. of Lord Barrington, obeerviug that a. he never
made speeches he might write summanse of them The
task is no sinecure. It requires wares:ling attention,
and is performed without even that messes accom-
modation which is supplied to Led Bsrrington's brethren
in Lbt, press gallery. The Vice-Chambertion, having no
desk, Le on:applied to write hi, notes on his knee, and must
withal make them with eufficieot legbilthy to obviate
difficulty at the telegraph dila. The responsibility
necessitates his attenUon through the greeter part of the
evening, and the latenrsi of the boar at which an
Interesting or inportant speech is made is not bald an
excuse for non.l tof the duty. It of mum often
happens that the leaders of either side maks their
speeches after midnight It would I thought that here
Llrd Barrington s duty might be intermitted. Her
Wetly moat thrall' be in bed before the teiegram
reaches her; and she would find s fuller, though,_ of
course, not a better, report in the morning papers Bat
whatever the hour he, Lord Barrington is faithful to hls
painfully writing longhand on ilia knee, and
rirt:'ning the while last some plum of the debate should
escape his notice.
There in I hear, every probability of ths system of •
canal with lurk. 11,701 e the Isthmus of Panama being
adopted by the International C mmia.ion just convened
under the presidency of IL Ferdinand de Leisep.. Ti..
system of a level canal with mousier tunnel., advocated
by Lieutenants Wyse and Armand Riche., seems to strike
nearly every member so an absolute Utopia; and there LI
nod ,uns that it would neeeeeltela inonetsins of money.
The chairman bim.elf is secretly in favour of the former
scheme, although, he has athembled the International
Commiasion for the apparent purpose of debating on the
verbs. sweats proposed. He tells everLbody that the
quest( ,n is sure to have been decided, one way or the
other, within • week. According to his yiees, about
twenty raillione starling of capital would be suffictent to
carry out the schere, with &fair prospect of throe millions
sterling net profit per annum.

The 8 onersetshire ball at Willia's Rooms last week was
• great interest so far as dancing men and young ladies
could make it one. But to one could holy remarking the
absence of those personages, who from their position
the county are bound to support the society as a local
charity. Oil of the thirteen members sent to Parliament
from Soniersetshire only three were present—C..lonel
Hood, Ifai tr Paget, and Mr. Bur-Us. The Whig
magnstes ut the c only, such aa the Lird•Lieutenant the
Earl of C ok, L ri Cirlingford, and Lod Portman, were
compicuons by their absence, although in other counties
the great landowner. awl their famines make a poitit of
attending thud charitable balls as a matter of course, and
throw salts every other engagement for them.
Charitable socirtits ought not to be affected by politics
and pirty•ipirit : but it will nit help Mr. Arland at the
next election in his candidature fur West Sone-evt if the
county charities are allowed to become exclusively Cow

So I bear that Me engagement between • gallant Major
and a young lady of great wealth and personal attracilona,
which hao been so patent to the riders In Mutton Mow
this mason. how been broken off after all: and the Major
sailed on Thurelay for Zululand. It seems that when kw
Aimee was ordered on active service to South Africa, the
young lady's friends made inquiries at head-quarters it
some reprieve could not be granted to the gallant Major
to give him time to wind-np his courtship. They found,
however, to their sass-men?, that he was going out •• •
volunteer, and eru leaving him lady.lom of hisoens accord ;
so the engagement was abruptly broken QC Volunteer
ing for active service Is of course very praiseworthy, but it
must be allowed that it is not the Proper employment for
lately.marrisd Mtn, whose wives lies in shim of anxiety
duriag their absence.

THE FRENCH AND LORD BRACONBFIELD.
The French people are mystified like the rest of the
world at the drift and scope of Lord Beaconsfield's
foreign policy ; and the tone of the most infiuential of the
Paris journals 'eaves no doubt that the relations between
France and ourselves have of late considerably cooled.
The Romaligse Franosise, which speaks the sentiments of
the French Government, plainly says that mistrust of
gniland has arisen in France: alluding to the negative
attitude which Lord Beaconsfield persists in holding
towards the Greek question, expresses a hope that Naglish
statemen will not go further in a course which must lead
to the conviction that their policy will not allow others to
do anything in the East, simply because they are
Impotent to do anything themselves. The Paris cone-
spondent of the Deily Telegraph says thaficonversations he
has had with French politicians lead him to infer that the
grievances are—First. our occupation of Cyprus ;secondly,
our objection to join France in coercive measures against
Egypt ; and, thirdly, the cynical indifference with which
the English Government continues to regard the claims
of Greece.