Year: 1874

like the poor fisherman, mad been


drowned in storm, and left nothing be-


hind but small boy, his son, who had


been sent to school at the expense of the
hotel company, with view of educating
( him for the onerous situation of page.


Considering Lord Lytton only occu-


pied himself in composition for four


hours every day, it is surprising the
amout of work he tried to get through.


He never had, at any time during my
acquaintance with him, anything like
good health; he was always placing him.
self under the care Of some physician,
and if he heard of any new remedy
which he thought might be applicable to
his own case he was sure to avail him
self of it. Like his brother, the distin-
guished diplomatist, he became in later
life nearly confirmed hypochondriac,
although his intellectual power did not
seem in any way diminished.


was on visit at Sudbrook Park,
near Richmond, about twenty years ago.
1t was then hypochondriac establish.
ment, presided over by a physician Of
eminence. To my surprise, met Lord
Lytton strolling up the avenue one morn
ing, carrying his pipe in one hand and
small traveling-bag in the other The
London season was at its hight, and Par
lament sitting; but he remained at least
month, taking his meals at the public
table, walking much in Richmond Park,
and occupying himself with his papers
and pipe. The tobacco he smoked was
not very strong, but the incessant use of
it must have been highly injurious to
nerves so iinely strung as his. He seemed
to me to have scarcely any appe-
tite for food; at breakfast he sell
dom ate more than mouthful
of toast, and having swallowed a cup of
tea, few off to the solace Of his beloved
pipe. There was, / remember,
space of tangled brushwood Immediately
behind the house, where / have seen him
sit and saunter for hours together, appa-
rently absorbed in thought; and no one,
although the house was full of people,
ever thought of interrupting his solitude.
He arrived without any servant, and
never had visitor during the whole
period of his sojourn. At Knebworth,
which is the hereditary seat of the Lyt-
tons, his mothers family, the novelist
did not, in his later life, reside much. A
friend of mine, the late Lady Murray,
lived at Andelbury, only few miles dis
tant, and while on visit there / had
frequent opportunities of hearing of her
famous neighbor He was extremely
popular and beloved by the lower orders
in all that part of the country, and his
hospitality was apparently without a
limit People came from all parts OF
the world especially from America, to
see him. The house at Kne6worth was
often full, bat / don't think the host
always knew who his guests were. |
recollect being struck by the appearance
of remarkable looking man, bearded
like the pardS and / inquired Of the late
Mr.. Tennyson D'Eyncourt if he could
inform me who he was. do not
know" he said. "but | will ask Edward
He made the inquiry, but neither Sir
Edward nor any one else in the house
could supply the required information.
1t appeared that many foreigners fre-
quently came with letters of introduc-
ton, a few from Baron Tauchnitz, of
Vienna; they were invited, as matter
Of course, to remain for a week or so;
and then the host, too often confined to
his own apartment by illness, would for
get all about them, and they departed as
mysteriously as they came, leaving in
some cases, and in this instance at least,
a strong odor of tobacco. After his de-
parture was moved into the room oc-
cupied by the distinguished foreigner
and found out the mauvais odor to my
cost.


1t is we'll known that in his early life
Lord Lytton wrote a novel called The
Last OF the Barons. He was the first
noble, the first baron, Of his own race,
and it was to me the most affecting part
of the melancholy ceremonial of his
funeral to see the coronet he had so
nobly won placed at the head of the
senseless clav. Vanitas vanitatem