The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-07-22


Of large areas OF most beautiful and In
terestine country that has been the result
Of the now routes which trafio Ia now com
PEELED to follow. and the universal spirit D
haste which. has seized upon all wayfarers
have made travelling infinitely less enjoy
able and less improving than It used TO be
Tho author Of this autobiography, for, In
stance. points out that when he wa last
In Italy he traverssd almost the whole
length Of the peninsula In the dark. ~.
-. e., ."
III.
After his return to Scotland inthe SUMMER
Of is4s Lord Lorne, who wns then studying
modern history and metaphysics. stayec
for q while in Edinburgh. in order To- heai
two celebrated men, who. although In
advanced age, were still lecturing as pro-
fessoFs in. the university. Thess were
Prof. Wilson, the famous christopher
NORTH and Sir William Hamilton. We
need not say that Wilson In the chair oil
moral philosophy was singularly out OF
place. His reputation had not been won
In the field Of Psychology, much less In
that of morals. Rather a he, as our
author points out, "a poet, q ~rhapsodist.
Q brilliant essayist, q titanic man In o n
versaton over wine.' The lecture which
Lord Lorne heard him give had a char
aoteffsto exordium. we sat. down." he
recalls, ION the bench nearest the pro-
fessor's chair. Presently Wilson came
in with q rush. A moro singular looking
being 1t Is impossible to imagine. The
head was enormous, like the busts OF Jupiter.
Tho hair was long, hanging In dishevelled
masses upon the collar Of his coat. A
Wild foroe was still seen In his expression.
He sat down with q plump. and instantly
began his lecture with these words, uttered
with vehemenoe In q deep and still power
full voice: Gentlemen, ye must not get
drunk or course, q very different
impression was made by Sir William Hamil-
ton; 'His countenanoe was a noble one
full Of oalmness, dignity and interest. His
nose was slightly aquiline, his mouth had
thin lips, and his eyes were dark and
piercing
In the winter Of 1884 the young Scotch
man went to Greece. Like many another
visitor before and since, he was bitterly dis
appointed when bis eyes first lighted upon
the ~Peloponnesus. When he found him
self close to the southern points OF the
Morea, 1t seemed to him that barrenness
was too weak q word to describe the aspect
OF those promontories. He did not see q
green thing on which q goat might live.
Utter nakedness marked all he saw, and
the hills were not sven fine In form or grand
In size. Burnt by the sun and blasted by
the wind. they seemed to him the very
he passed up the gulf which separates the
Morea from Attioa, and rounded the Cape OF
Sunium, the elements OF n really attractive
landscape opened before him, though 1t
was o until he reached Athens that the
singular beauty Of the site burst upon him.
Lori Lorne's comment on the view that
one gots Of Athens seems worth quoting:
'Thero Is nothing else in Europe the least
like 1t. 1t Ia a beauty that curiously suits
the city's history. II Is not majestic. or
imperial. There Is nothing about It that
suggests the centre OF q wide dominion,
or even Of q considerable State. The plain
that Hes below 1t has nothing OF the vast
ness OF tho Campagna Of Rome. The
mountains are lovely. but not grand, and
are 10 near as to give a sense OF limitation
to the whole scene.' Not until one looks
forth from the Acropolis does. one realize
how small q section Of the Greek mainland
belonged to the Athenian Republic In its
most glorious day. Lord Lorne seems not
70 have visited the field Of Marathon,
though be could deecry it's monumental
mound from the sumn.it OF Mount Pentel-
icus. ..
On his way back to England be stopped
for o day ut Brussels to see that other memoir
able battlefield where the policy Of William
Pitt was to be at last triumphant nine years
after his death. It must have been, how
ever, with divided sympathies that the
from Scotland looked at Waterloo;
with Pitts splendid denuncia- |
lions Of the tyranny Of Napoleon, he had
Just stood on the Bridge Of Lodi. which
personally leading his men, |
had carried by assault. an almost miraculous
He was still under the
Of Napoleon's military genius.
q glamour not destroyed until much later
by a better knowledge Of the great mans
character. It Is convenient to reproduce
In this place some first hand testimony
given by our authors father, the seventh
Duke, as to B~onaparte's personal appear
ance in 1903. In March Of that year our
father had been In Paris, and
naturally desired to be presented to the
First Consul, who was to hold a levee after
reviewing his troops in front Of the Tuileries.
be presented to the Minister for Foreign
Affairs was a necessary preliminary. On
the previous day. therefore, the British
Ambassador at Paris took his compatriot
10 call on Talleyrand. The description Of
that celebrated man is short. but graphic:
M. Talleyrand Is the most disgusting
individual I ever saw. His COM
IL that Of a corpse considerably
advanced In q state of corruption. His
feet are distorted In every possible direction.
having learned to walk steadily with
suoh wretched materials Is a proof that
be IL q man Of considerable abilities" As
L happened at the levee on the following
day. our authors father stood close to
.Bonaparte while the latter was talking
the British Ambassador, and had a good
Of examining his countenance
rhe First Consul Is thus depicted: His
hair is straight, Of a dark brown color and
reaching the cape Of his coat,
mis- forehead straight, but the brow pro-
more than is common His nose is
and prominent, and forms a gentle
a,rve from the forehead to the point. The
upper lip is short. and it's edge rather turned
ID. The under lip does not projct nearly