The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1882-09-22
An Odd English Gentleman.
Lord Dudley's Habit of Thinking Out Loud-othe
Eccentricitiss

| Eccentricities
'LOrd Dudley" SAYS Mr.. Moore, eli
Is we'll known, has u trick of rehearsins
| over to himself. in an undertone, The
good things he is about To deliver To the
company. so that the person who sits
next to him has generally the advantage
OF his wit before any of the rest of the
party. A man not very remarkable fol
agreeableness once proposed to walk
from the house of commons to the Tray
elers' club with Lord Dudley. who. dis
cuSsing the proposal mentally Gas he
thoughD with himself. said audibly. i
don't think it will bore me very much
to let him walk with me that distance.
On another occasion, when he gave
somebody a seat in his carriage from
some country-houSe. he was overheard
by his companions, after a lit ofthought
and silence. saying To himself: Now,
shall l ask this man to dine with me
when we arrive in town. II is said
that the fellow-traveler. not pretending
to hear him. muttcrcd out i'm the same
sort of tone: Now, if Lord Dudley
should ask me to dinner. shall accept
his invitation?
A happy specimen of his wit was this
retort to German lady ut Vienna who
had somewhat rudelv complained of the
bad French spoken by '.you English"
in London. True. madam" he said.
''we have not enjoyed the advantage of
having had the French twice in our
capital"
This recalls a retOrt about as good
made by an Englishman to the Due de
Broglie when ambassador in England,
who said. with equally lax manners,
that they Were right ia thinking the
English q native of shopkeepers. per
haps so," was his reply. Just as we al
ways thought you were nation of SOL
diers."
After his retirement his curious mania
and various oddities increased to an en-
travagant degree, and were the talk of
the town. which, however. soon came to
accept them as it does all kind of oddi-
ty. He would go to dinner parties and
sit without uttering q word excepting to
himself. During some brief CLASHES of
silence" Mr.. Raikes tells of a friend of
his whom he describes as good-natured
and very good-looking man, not over
flowing with intellect. 1T was at q
time when poor Dudley's mind was on
the wane, when his caustic humor would
still find vent through the cloud which
was gradually overShadowing his mas
terly intellect; he was sitting in his
room, unheeding those around him, and
soliloluizing aloud. as was SO often his
custom. His favorite Newfoundland
dog was at his side. who seemed to en-
gross his whole attention. At length,
patting his head. he exclaimed: .Fido
milo. they say dogs have no souls.
Humph! And still they say - has a
soul" Upon one occasion he found Mr..
Allen at Whites, about 7 o'clock, and
asked him TO dinner. On his arrival Mt
Park lane. he found it was tete-a-tete
with the host. When, in the evening.
he was asked how the dinner went off,
Allen said: Lord Dudley spoke little
to his servant and Il great deal to his
dog. but said nothing
In this state. too, he would invite
large companies to dinner, Who. Strang-
er still, would accept his invitations,
though when they came he would not
address them. MIR. Moore, who loved
cheerfulness and gayety, complained
mournfully of these festivities as damp
ing ard depressing. F"rthe host would
sit the whole time in sort of stupOr, or
converse with himself, orhave "A volume
of Hume open before him. which he
would read throughout his dinner. This
was the beginning of the end. A short
time afterward, in 1882, it was known
that the doctors had directed that he
should be nut undpr restraint and On
the 9th Of March, 1888. this brilliant
but excentric man expired. He was
only 81. A relation of his. the Rev. Mr.
Ward. succeeded to the title with "a, 900
year only. while ESQ, 900 year passed
to this clergyman's son, the present
holder of the title.-AHthc Year Round.