Morning journal and courier., 1884-11-17
The Late Duke of Wellington.

From the fOrInSnInL1y heyleW. During the last decade of his life the duke ceased to spend what is called the season, or even portion of it, in London. He re- sided almost entirely at Strathfeldsaye, pay
 ing occasional visits to his estate in Hert- fordshire, and to his friends in other counties.
 He was 8 preserver of game, but not rigid one, and went to considerable expense in breeding trout and stocking with them the river Loddon. And for while he yielded to none of the many guests whom at the proper seasons he gathered round him in love of field sports. Even after the symp- toms of glaucoma began to develop them selves he abated nothing of his desire tO af- ford amusement to others, and so far as might be to share it with them. But the in-
 irmities of premature old age grew upon him rapidly. In 1879 he submitted to the removal of one eye, in the hope that the spread of the malady to the other might be arrested. It was not arrested, and therefore under the skiIlful hands of Mr. Critchett an operation was performed which at least re- tarded the progress of the disease. Still there was constantly before him the prospect of total blindness at no remote period, while of deafness growing day by day more dense, he was perhaps too conscious. With extraor- dinary courage he faced these deepening evils. That they should have had the effect of rendering him occasionally irritable is not to be wondered at; the marvel would have been had they not 90 operated. And when the fit came upon him, all who were near at hand got the benefit of it, for in such cases the duke was no respecter of persons. But harsh words spoken under such circumstan- ces, though they might sting at the moment, were soon forgotten When the ability to take part in rougher sports failed him, and reading became next to impossible, the duke sought escape from ennui in whist. It was his well-nigh daily custom, especially when the sun set early, to repair to the house of friend and neighbor considerably older than himself and scarcely less blind, and there to spend the time between five and seven in the evening at the card table. Never surely was gambling more innocent. Bets were prohibited, and the stake fixed at 8 penny per point, in the effort to win which there was unfailing eagerness and as thorities on the game enabled the combatants to acquire. When the house was empty of guests, as during the London season it often happened to be, the duchess was his ire quent companion at the river side. She was also his reader in the evening, till growing deafness made it impossible for him. sentence by sentence, to follow her, and then the village schoolmaster was called in. These exercises he sometimes varied by din ing with one or two of his country neighbors, or entertaining them at his own table, when whist, with occasional concerts some of the latter of no mean order, took the place of reading. His correspondence likewise was by this time largely carried on, so to speak, at second hand. By far the greater number of his letters were written from dictation, be- cause every one who approached and all who surrounded him were eager to do him service. But why go on2 Gradually though surely the inevitable hour drew near. He never complained, except by denouncing at times, in forcible terms, bad night he had spent, while those who watched him more closely saw that these bad nights were by no means the accidents which he affected to regard them. He was now 77 years old, yet looking at his feeble frame and his countenance, pale and refined into absolute beauty, stranger would have guessed his age at ST more. He had lived his allotted time.