New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1913-05-25

most AT home There her spirit If
careless mischief would have been con-
genial: as. indeed. ii was in the Nine
teenth and till the other day the Twen-
tieth. Yet she used to say she had out.
lived the period she really cared for
The society that has passed forever,
F., the society into which YOU had to be
born, was what she valued Sometimes
/ she would talk of the days she lad
( lived in that atmosphere. The names
that sparkle down the century were
often on her lips. They were takers,
she said.
You think Of Golden as great
Free Trader. TO me he was my neigh
Dor in Sussex and an agreeable man"
Perhaps that paints Lady Dorothy as
well as anything ] can quote. She did
not ask of man that he should be a
I Darwin-she just knew Darwin--or
Herbert Spencer-whom she did not
know nor care to. She asked him to be
agreeable. From Sam Rogers to Win
ston Churchill-she spanned that in
terval; and all the social history that
lay between was to her an open book.
OF course. she knew Lord Randolph.
They were kindred spirits.-outlaw
both Of them
II has been said that the Primrose
League in which Lady Dorothy, and
still more her daughter. Miss Theresa
Ncvill. played a conspicuous part was
Matched at her house. But Mr.. Win
ston Churchilrs Life of his father
expressly says. The Primrose League
sprane from the unveiling of Lord
Beaconsfeld's statue" in 1883; when
all the Conservatives went down 10 the
House Of Commons with primroses in
their buttonholes Sir Henry Drum
mond Wolf. one OF Lord Randolph's
closest allies. was the true author of
the suggestion and the theory Of that
mighty political engine, with its two
millions Of members, was worked out
between them: others coming in 20
help. Few party machines have been
more efficient. Lord Randolphs GER
tifcate Of membership as Knight Har-
binger was the first the League issued
He is No. ]. But if the house in
Charles street was not the birthplace
Of the Primrose League, as il certainly
was not IL was the scene Of many and
many a plot. Lady Dorothy's busy
brain supplied hints or details which
Lord Randolph's organizing mind with
its unerring perception of principles
absorbed and co-ordinated into CO.
herent scheme or policy.
Lady Dorothy's "Reminiscences" had
q large measure OF success. many
readers much friendly criticism, and
some rather indiscriminating panegy-
rio. II presented to the British public
that view Of social life from the in
side ever dear to those who are on
the outside. But in truth, II did her
no Justice II was nothing like 50
good as her talk. It was edited by
her son. Mr.. Ralph Nevill. a man OF
many gifts and of many books, excel
lent in their kind. but not man 10
whom the putting together or
printed volume presented itself neces-
sarilv as a problem OF literature. The
material was there. The arts of Sc
lection and other arts without which
there can be no literature were neg
lected He never mastered the chsm-
istry of style.
I think I had seeL all the Disraei
h
Ijshed in the "reminiscences" They
were interesting chiefly because they
were his. Yet ne was good letter
writer when he chose. and the letters
n his sister. of which VOLUME Is
IN existence. are among the raciest
Of such epstles. The letter liked
best of all those she showed mel
forget whether it has been printed
WAS from the second Dlke OF yelling
ton:
Dear Lady Dorothy; have done the
lob. God forgive me. Wellington
once knew what the job was.
Mace for somebody, but / cannot say
for whom. If it had been the first
Duke Of WelIington-but II could not
have been.
In her appearance there was during
all these years no noticeable chahse'
She was Of the stature Of the late
! Queen. who asked Lord Melbourne
whether her shortness was not a mis-
fortune and received true couruers
answer. The figure was carelessly
modelled: the face an expressive mask.
Her clothes were to the last mid-Nic-
| torian. and she wore strange orna-
ments. It must be more than thirty
wears ago that ] spent a week at In
vercauld. in Scotland. then tenanted by
Sir AIgernon Borthwick, with a com
many Of guests. Of whom Lady Dorothy
uas one. Her Mvacity was lneXhaust-
/ ihle She had originalities OF speech
and audacities and a fine contempt Tor
some Of the conventions to which
women Of less individuality PAID re-
srect She was absolutely fearless.
Her caprices laid kind of spell on the
rost You could depend on her for the
unexpected, and whether she hau
: charm or not she had an unfailing AT
traction. and supplied you win nov
/ o,,,oe ~ which the stock was mex
| haustible.
Extremes meet. and the last mousse