The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1879-05-01
land to stalk the deer, or to the races at
Ascot, or to the University boat race on
the Thames, thither he was certain to in
- 60

land to stalk the deer, or 10 the races at
Ascot, or to the University boat race on
the Thames, thither he was certain to in
vite General Taylor. He introduced
him at Windsor to the Queen, and the
Queen was so charmed with his company
that she prayed him to stay for a week
at the Castle. When the Prince went to
India he invited General Taylor to be
one of the party. But the General pre-.
ferred to stay in London. and many a
quiet rubber was played at the Marlbor-
ough House by the Princess, the Duke
of Cambridge and the American, while
the Prince was riding in an elpehant how
dab through the jungles of Nepaul. In
the royal box at Ascot his figure was IA
miliar to every jockey on the course,
though his means never allowed him to
own race horses and rarely to bet. One
wager he took, however, the issue of
which troubled him to the last. He was
on the Princes boat following the Uni
versity crews when the Earl Of Dudley,
spying some token of French imperial
ism on the lawn at Chiswick, suddenly
cried thathe would bet $4,000 to flO
twice over, that the Napoleonic dynasty
was never restored in France. The Prince
of Wales took one of these bets, and Cen
eral Taylor took the other, and he has
ever since regarded the metamorphoses
of French politics with an uncommonly
wistful eye. But despite this newborn
ardor for imperialism he was received
with much distinction in Paris by Mar
shall NacMahon, and even the rugged
Bismarck greeted him with warmth
that savored of personal friendship. In
deed, his passage across the continent
was one of unalloyed triumph, and the
first gentlemen in Europe were proud to
call him their friend.
SECRET OF HIS SOCIAL SUCCESS.
At the root of this prodigious success
lay his faculty for being all things to all
men. Whatever the topic of converse
ton might be, to that he would adapt
himself. To men of younger genera
tion he was particularly charming.
When the faster members of the Prince
of Wales set would meet at the Marl-
borough he would discuss coaches with
Lord Carington,. cock pheasants with
Lord Aylesford, and the latest horse race
with Lord Charles Beresford. In the
Park, with the Princess and children
his manner was redolent of antique chiv-
airy. At the Turf Club he would ar
range handicaps wilh Admiral Rous
and help Lord Roseberry make his book
for the. Newmarket meeting. AT the
Athenaum he would cross literary swords
with Sir Charles Dixie, and at the Uni
ted Services would discuss military tac-
tics with Sir Garnet Wolsely and Lord
Napier of -Magdala. Nothing came
amiss to him. George Otto Trevelyn,
nephew of Lord Macsulay, read his arti-
cles in the North american Reviey, and
said there was in him the stuff of
great military writer. Statesmen listen
ed with delight to his dissertations on
the American constitution. Won Moltke
which he met Prince Bismarck. Every
himself gave in his honor the dinner at
where he spread about him the charm
of his personality, and nothing distin-
guished him from the crowd ofraconteurs
more than this, that his conversation was
never forced or out of place, never Ia
bored or prepared beforehand, yelling
up naturally from the stores of a natural
ly rich mind.
General Taylor had Just before his
death published book, OBSTRUCTION and
Reconstruction" which is said to be pi-
quaint, elegant and even brilliant in style,
and in which he handles men without
gloves. His death will prevent recrimi-
nation on this account.
With pride which was possibly un-
wise he refused to take any measures
looking to the restoration of his confsca-
ted estate. He looked upon it as stake
lost in the great game ofwar, and to him
lost forever. But as the confscation was
only of a life estate, the property, now of
considerable value, will return to his
children, of whom three daughters, resi-
ding at Winchester, Va, survive him.
General Taylor's wife, who died in
1875, was Miss Myrth Bringier, of
New Orleans, and belonged to Creole
family of distinction and influence.