The Irish standard., 1892-07-30
LORD DUFFERIN.
An Irishman Who tsp roud of His
Birth and Hiss Literary
Ancestry.
HIS HONORABLE CAREER
A Diplomatic Life That has Been
Exceptionally Brilliant and
Fortunate.

~ASSE~oI~%AAJ
Fortunate.
Lord Byron once remarked that she
who surpasses and outstrips mankind
must look down on the hate of men be-
low" Lord Dutferin is signal instance
to the contrary, said the London Tele-
graph on the occasion Of his installation
as warden of the Cinque Ports. For
nearly forty years he has been ceaselessly
Surprising and outstripping" his con-
temporaries in every department of the
state, but it may confidently be asserted
that in none has he made single enemy.
In him every government, from the days
of Sir Robert Peel down to the present
hour, has found what Punch once called a
"maid of all work. and, although he has
received appoin ments from Conserva
tives and Liberals alike, it would be i'm
possible to say which of the two he has
served the best. His Memoirs" if they
could be written without concealment,
would be the most interesting and COM
prehensive that have seem the light since
the celebrated Lord Chesterfield wrote
his "Characters OF Eminent Personages
of His Own Time" Lord Macaulay has
left On record his opinion that there is
no more difficult task than to write the
epitaph of statesman, diplon1atist, vice.
roy, high commissioner or governor, who
in his time has filled as many parts as
Lord Metcalfe or Lord William Bentinck
did. In each Of these cases Lord Ma
caulay surmounte7 the difficulty by
writing two of the happiest epiuapbs that
can anywhere be found. Had he out
lived Lord Dufferin, the accomplished
essayist and historian, who was also one
of the most eloquent orators that ever
spoke in Parliament, would have
had his powers fully taxed TO do
justice to mot one, but ali mankind's
epitome."
Born on June 81, 1926, the only son of
the fourth Lord Dnfferin and of his wife,
Miss Helen Selma Sheridan, grand
daughter of the author of ''lhe School
for Scandal" the principal actor in the
stately ceremony which will take place
at Dover, started life with few other adj
vantages tina. that he was an Irishman.
a distinction upon which he has always
greatly prided himself, and that in his
veins ran the generous blood which
made his mother and her two sisters the
most gifted and beautiful women of their
day. How keenly Lord Dutferin appre-
ciated the fact that he was born in the
Emerald Isle may be inferred from his
last speech when taking leave Of Canada
at the end of his vice-royalty. than which
none was ever more successful. It will
be remembered that he was succeeded at
Ottawa by the Marquis of Lorne, and
when introducing the eldest son of the
Duke Of Argyll to the Canadians he re-
marked of him, after running through
the gamut of his many recommendations
and merits, that he had one disadvan-
tage-"he is not an Iriahman." The
supple, adroit and graceful qualities
which are generally found in Irishmen
have been of the greatest service to Lord
Duferin throughout his long and diver
sified career. His father died when he
was Is years old. and an Eton schoolboy.
From Eton he was transferred to Christ
Church, Oxford, where he took an ordin-
ary degree, and was for some time lord
in waiting to her majesty in Lord John
Russell's first administration. Before he
had attained his majority the Irish
famine, which ragged with intense severity
in 1861, gave him the first opportu-
nifty of his life. Accompanied by friend,
he saw much Of the tragic horrors
which, in his subsequently published
Narrative of a Journey from Oxford to
Skibbereen," he said, reminded him of
the terrible description Of the scenes
witnessed IN our troubled sister island
UJ Iuuuuu ASpCAS0I. AC uOudl1oA
in his ssHibernia Paeata." Young though
it's writer was, the literary skill of the
Sheridans was abundantly Disclosed in
the frst-born product Of his pen. Not,
however, until 1859 was the full measure
of his powers disclosed in his "Letters
from High Latitndes, perhaps the most
delightful book that he ever wrote. It
was the account of a yacht voyage which
he made to Iceland and the Arctic re-
gions, and the character Of Wilson, the
pessimistic steward, who saw the black
side OF everything, is as amusingly
touched off as that Of s.Mr. O B. in Dr..
Cheadle's book recounting his trip;
through the nortnw western provinces Of
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