New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1895-03-03
LADY STANLEY OF ALDERLEI
THE FRIEND OF CARLYLE AND OF MR.
GLADSTONE-HER HOUSE-HER PAR
TIES AND THE PEOPLE WHO
ATTENDED THEM-HER
PERSONAL FRIENDS.


A masterful woman was the Dowager Lady
Stanley IF Aderley who died on Saturday at
the age OF eghty-seven To the last she was
vigorous in mind and Will For sixty years
more she has been a very considerable figure in
London and in England II will indicate her
position and the range Of her sympathes II
say that she was during a great part Of the
life of each. the friend and comrade Of Carlyle
and Of Mr. Gladstone. Those are perhaps. the
two Englishmen who in !his modern England
stood farthest apart-apart in ideas in aims. in
beliefs. in their conceptions Of life and duty in
almost everything that goes 10 the formation Of
character. except pre-eminent intellectual gifts
1t is something to have been link between
those two. Yet | imagine that Lady Stanley
would have been scandalized had she known that
she was 10 be spoken Of In this secondary way;
in her relation to Others and not on her own
account Nor should | be speaking Of her at all
were It not in truth on her own account; for
what she was and not for her attitude to any
one. no matter how eminent.
With Carlyle's however the name Of Lady
Stanley Of Alderley is imperishably associated
The American lover Of Carlyle who performs
his pilgrimage to Chelsea 10 gaze upon the
bronze statue Of the great writer which was set
there in 1882 may may not know that but
for Lady Stanley there would have been no
statue But that believe is the truth. There
is, at any rate. no doubt that the statue Is due
in great measure TO her resolute and afectionate
energy She was Of the first TO promote
It, she was one OF the few who persevered to the
end. When the publication OF the "reminiscences
stopped the subscriptions. az II did, she refused
to abandon the project suspect there have
been few things on which this lady ever set her
IL hon, G,,al
complish She accomplished this Ny impress
sion Is that she gave largely herself in addition
10 what she had given before. and became re-
sponsibe for still further sums If needed She
would not be beaten. She more than a
match for the public: pubic which. In one Of
it's astonishing fits Of unaccOuntable change
fulness had suddenly become hostile to Carlyle.
1t was the beginning Of that reaction Of which
we have heard much since Lady SANKEY'S
loyalty TO her friend was not TO be shaken
Others might waver. She was firm. She had
wholesome contempt for small ways OF Judging
men. She not the woman to undervalue
Carlyle's genius because he and his wife did not
get on together. BY her judgment Of the writer
and Of the man she stood fast. Indeed. she
knew a good deal about the Carlyle household
long before the public was permitted an inside
view Of the little house in Cheyne Row. II is
a pleasure to know that one Of the last acts Of
her life was 10 send her subscription to the Me-
mortal Committee for the purchase Of Carlyle's
House.
II was. ! think. in the dIawing room Of Lady
Stanley's house in Dover-st that first met Mr.
Gladstonc-I know not how many years ago.
Dover-st used to be a street Of mansiors. The
mansions remain or some Of them do. but have
for the most part been turned into clubs. hotels
and lodging houses. Lady Stanley's was one
OF the last which remained 1t had been. and
she lived In IL to the last II had been built In
the days when houses were not sklmped and
turned out of moulds. This was large and had
character OF its own. Hall, staircase. recep-
tion-rooms. all were ample. and all furnished In
that comfortable and unpreteEtlous way in which
the well-to-do Briton delighted. and delights
no longer. 1t was long before the days Of deco
rative aestheticism. There were armchairs. easy
TO Sit down In, and sofas and a fender on which
you might II inclined put your feet: with an
honest open fire TO warm them. Until within the
last few years evening parties used to be given
there They were what the organs OF fashion
call numerously attended; a phrase used on &C.
cason instead Of fashionably attended. Ger