, 1874-08-02
The Late Lx1uy a a11abeFleT.


There camp to Newport, nome yea1s since, in
the hight OF "the Season." = young married lady
% years old, or the1eabouts, who attracted good
deal Ct attention. She could not be directly
described us beautiful, though her face was fair
and thoughtful; nor us elegant, though her
manners we're. frank md winning; nor "a
brilliant. though ehe was full Of thought and
observation. There was so much OF the incon-
venient quality Of earnestness1 about her; she
seemed so much like Al Intelligent young school
teacher or normal schcol-gir that she would
have been very easily passed :, BY tie
circles Of fashion had she been an
American. But she being yisoountess
Amberley, tho daughter Of Lord Stanley OF Al
dcrley, and the daughter-iu-law OF Earl Russell,
it was not easy or agreeable to overlook her.
There is q fixed impression at our Watering
places that visiting-cnrls Which begin With = La
dy" instead OF "N1s" have an ornamental look
Oh card-plate; and indeed they are very apt,
like the larger Jumps Of sugar, to lie always near
the top. At any rate, those who had least SYM
pathy with the expressed opinions Of Lady AM
berley were still glad to attend to her; and those
who sought ler in spite OF her social position,
rather than because Of it, vera amused in watch
ing the uueasy efforts of society to fix the right
placo Of one who was at once foreigner, = Lady
of rank, and q radical.
She had too much Of the honest and almost
brusque quality OF English mau1ierh to know or
uluen for all this. Sometimes, indeed, her
indifference went almost too for. and q few gen.
1une instances OF pleoccupation or diBcourte6y
made her the object Of occasional attack and OF
absurd exaggeratiou,-n things being attrlb
11ted to her which eha never did or would haye
done. Those with whom sIe had spent an hour
we're sometimes offended at her but those in
whose houses she had stayed were almost always
her best friends; and this shows taat any faults
OF manner we're superficial. ard that the noble
qualities were the zeal Oues. 1nleod it seemed
to rpc that .good deal of the criticism made np-
on her WAS simply piece Of eef-defenae on tho
part OF those to whom bor rasolute courage and
her nuceasinB activity offered constant rebnke.
Sydney Smith said Of his clerical brethren in
England that they telt much in tins way about
Mrs. Elizabeth FRY. the Quaker 1eformer: t.she
distu1bs their minds and gives rise to distressing
comparisons J; they long to burn her alive
There was visible somcth1ngQf this epQtiQu, in
some quarters, about -1Lady AmberIy.
1t happened, also, that ahe was very fearless
in demanding OF people very different stand
ard from TINT which they were wont to recog-
nize. She asked 1ansuld young men what they
thought of Stuart Mills late address before the
University Of Glasgow. She asked fashionable
young ladies whether they had been at college,
and II not, why not There was nothing espa-
caallY cansorious In her way of putting tfege
things sha really wished to understand .abont
them Then she thought our young ladies i'll
educated aud she could not At first understand
what We trled to expiain-that thb sell:educated
girls in Amarica were not usually 10 be found at
watering places, nor, indeed, IN Bociety" it
self. but were more commonly the daughters
Of ministers and mechanics in small country
touus. -AfterVard, when she Ind Visited Vasaar
College and tho public schoo}s che understood
This for herself ahd admitted that It would have
boen unfair to judge OF the general education Of
American girls by Tint Of waterinE-p place bellies.
o1r = II.
At tile first bali she attended in America, she
said to me: ,"Never before did ! have the
slightest conception what Hawthorne meant by
his description Of English women. Now I un-
derstand them, for see that American women
after middle lie grow thin Instead Of stout
and English women must grow coarse, rs they
grow older, to IN American cYe." Thus quick
and frank-and sometimes, no doubt, hasty-
were all her observations and conclusions, She
came disposed to like America, and did like it,
think, very much. The Boston rutical circles
especially Interested her, aud she Erote me that
she had never, on the whole, been in any society
she liked so well.
Yet eho had met from childhood at her fathers
house the most cultivated men in England. Mr..
BILL especially had been Intimate there; and sho
reyered him beyond all others. She showed the
influence Of his school almost too fully, and WIS
rather reformatory than poetic in her tastes.
Taking her to SEQ LaEArse'a tine Illustrations
OF "Mcn and Women," was disappointed
to find that che cared little about them,
aud WAS wholly Indifferent to Drowning's poems,
though greatly enjoying his personal society.
Perhaps. in growing older, tho ideal side OF her
nature would bare been developed equally with
the intellectual and practical: and this is an
other rcason for mourning her carly death. ~
The woman-euhrRgo movement III England
will miss 1er ardent and daring advocacy; and;
though her example had less direct weight in
the United States, there ID yet q peculiar ground
OF loss for us- There arc now many cultivated
and influential Englishmen who have visited
America; but there are 1ery few snch English
women. American travellers in England are now
often surprised by the familiarity With the details
OF American life and history exhibited by the
men whom they meet; but amoug tho women OF
England there is 4 vast abyss Of ignorance in all
that relates to us. The loss OF slnge English
woman OF rank aud social influence who had per-
sonally bridged the barrier and seen uB as so
are, is Just source of deep regret, even were it
person less conspicuous for ra1k, courage, aud
virtues than Lady Anberlcy.