Memoirs of the Life and Correspondence of Henry Reeve, C.B., D.C.L. Part 38

Dans ce cas, sur un avis de vous, je vous enverrais la voiture a neuf heures du matin, au lieu de deux heures apres midi.

So on July 21st, Reeve, with Mrs. Reeve, left London for Dieppe, whence they went on to the Chateau d'Eu. On the 26th they went on, through St.

Quentin, Namur, and Liege, to Aix, where, for the next fortnight, Reeve drank waters and took baths. They then returned through Brussels and London, reaching Foxholes on August 14th.

And there they stayed for nearly three months, during which time, beyond noting a few visits or visitors, the Journal is a blank. On November 6th they returned to London.

_To Mr. T. Norton Longman_

_C. O., November 26th_.--I have not for a long time read a book so fascinating to me as these Reminiscences of Carlyle; for though he calls them reminiscences of Irving &c., they are, in fact, essentially an autobiography. It is impossible to present the details of life with more attractive clearness and picturesque effect. The most curious thing is that the style, instead of being a ma.s.s of cloudy affectation, is simple, flowing, and natural. To me, especially, all this is most captivating. The account of Mrs. Montagu, Coleridge, the Bullers, the Stracheys, &c. revives a thousand recollections. It was through the Bullers that we first knew Carlyle, and I suppose in due time he will relate his intimacy with the Austins and Sterlings in the same manner.

It is right to say that there are many persons still alive who will not be pleased at having their portraits drawn by so strong a hand--Mrs. Procter, for instance.

Altogether, I think the book is eminently interesting and valuable, and will have a very large circulation indeed. It is the sort of book everybody likes to read, and in this case it is backed by names of great celebrity. I will send the MS. back to you on Monday. What a wonderful thing it is that Froude should have had the patience to copy all this out in his own handwriting!

I dined last night with the Chancellor, and found both him and the Home Secretary deep in 'Endymion.' Everybody abuses it more or less, but everybody reads it, so the abuse does not go for much. Only Lady Stanley (the dowager) declares she could not get through the first volume. Such is the strength of party feeling.

_From the Duc d'Aumale_

Chantilly, 2 decembre.

Mon cher Monsieur Reeve,--Je me fais une fete de vous revoir. J'ai vendu mon hotel de Paris et n'ai pas encore pu y reconst.i.tuer d'etabliss.e.m.e.nt.

Mais Chantilly [Footnote: During the next few years, before he was again exiled, the Duc d'Aumale restored Chantilly on a magnificent scale (see _post_, pp. 319, 320), making it a repository for his splendid collection of pictures, works of art, and library, which included many precious MSS.

By a will dated June 3,1884, he bequeathed the whole to the 'Inst.i.tut de France,' in trust for the nation.] est si pres! Des que vous pourrez, donnez-moi votre adresse de Paris, et indiquez-moi quels jours vous serez libre, afin que je puisse en choisir un et vous demander de venir a Chantilly. Dites-moi aussi quels jours il vous serait agreable d'avoir ma loge aux Francais.

J'espere bien avoir lu 'Endymion' d'ici la. Je vous serre la main.

H. D'ORLeANS.

Reeve was thus meditating a visit to Paris for Christmas, as soon as the Court rose. Its session ended in the death of one of its most esteemed members. Sir James Colvile, formerly Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Bengal, had a house in Rutland Gate, and a great intimacy had grown up between the two. On Friday, December 3rd, he had dined with the Reeves, 'in fair health and excellent spirits,' as Mrs. Reeve wrote a few days later.

'He, with Lady Colvile and his brother-in-law, Lord Blachford, sat on for quite half an hour after the other guests left' On Sat.u.r.day morning he went down to the office with Reeve. On the Monday he was dead. Sir Lawrence Peel,[Footnote: First cousin of Sir Robert Peel (the statesman), formerly Chief Justice of Calcutta, and since 1856 a member of the Judicial Committee. He died in 1884, in his 85th year.] one of his colleagues in the Judicial Committee, himself now old and feeble, wrote, apparently the same day:--

My dear Reeve,--A blow terrible indeed to all of us, to me most terrible. A man so close to death as I think myself feels more deeply the awe a sudden death causes. I know not the man to whom a sudden death could come and find more well prepared than he was. I thank you for your kind forethought. Say for me to his late colleagues that I feel his loss to them and to all of us irreparable. That he should go first! Oh G.o.d, preserve me and bless you all. Ever yours truly,

L. PEEL.

Could you say or write a line in season to Lady Colvile? They say I am better.

_To Mr. T. Norton Longman_

_Rutland Gate, December 7th_.--I have been and am horribly upset by the sudden death of Sir James Colvile, which took place yesterday morning. He was really my most intimate friend; for twenty-two years we have worked and lived together, and to all of us the loss is irreparable,

_From Sir Lawrence Peel_

_December 11th_,--One word about your 'resignation.' 'Don't.' The weaker the thing is, the more your value will be felt. Sir Montague [Footnote: Sir Montague Smith, one of the paid members of the Judicial Committee. He resigned the office on December 12th, 1881, and died, in his 82nd year, in 1891.] will go. He has as much as told me so, not very lately. It will be a new Court, not the old P. C., nor can it have the character of the House of Lords. It will have its entire way to make, and where is the stuff? It may in time win approval; but it will be a child at first. Of course if things are made unpleasant to you, Go; but my impression is the other way.

I think I do get better, but I am very bad. It [the death of Sir James Colvile] was a terrible shock; and I lie and think, yet cannot throw it off. To-day is the funeral. Alas! Alas! _Nulli flebilior quam mihi!_ When earth covers him, not a better man will be left on its face. _Tibi constabat_. Ever the servant of Duty and of his G.o.d, and letting no man note in him a sign that he thought himself better than the ruck.... G.o.d bless you! Don't resign--wait.

On December 15th Reeve went to Paris alone. His Journal notes:--

_17th_.--Opera 'Ada,' with the Comte de Paris and the Duc d'Aumale.

_18th_.--To the Francais, with the Duc d'Aumale.

_19th_.--Breakfasted at Chantilly; went all over the Chateau, rebuilt.

_24th_.--Dined alone with Lord Lyons.

But a few letters written at this time to his wife give the best description of his visit, and call more particular attention to what seems to have been in great measure the cause of it--the paper to be read before the Inst.i.tute.

_Paris, December 21st_.--I dined yesterday with Laugel to meet the De Witts, the young De Barantes and M. de Merode. The Duc de Broglie came in the evening. The eldest son of Cornelis de Witt is about to marry Mlle.

de Labruyere, a considerable heiress, dans l'Agenois. This is a capital marriage for the family. To-morrow I am going to a lecture by M. Caro at the Sorbonne. On Thursday there is the reception of M. Maxime du Camp (who wrote about the Commune) by M. Caro at the Academie Francaise, when I shall take my seat amongst the Forty Immortals. It will be interesting. On Wednesday 29th I shall probably make an address to the Inst.i.tute (simple enonce de faits) on the State of Landed Property in Ireland--a formidable undertaking!

I think now that the Radicals will break up the Government and break their own necks. I cannot conceive that the English people and Parliament will condone such monstrous conduct. I therefore now hope that they will play out their abominable game. Mr. Plunket's speech is admirable.

_December 23rd_.--I am just come back from the Inst.i.tute, where there has been a grand function--the reception of Maxime du Camp by M. Caro on behalf of the Academie Francaise. All Paris was mad to go, and I believe they expected the Communards would storm the sacred building. I sat aloft among the Immortals, with the Duc de Broglie, Haussonville, Lesseps, Vieil Castel, and next Alexandre Dumas, who was very pleasant. The Duc d'Aumale was on the other side.

Yesterday we had a very pleasant dinner at the De Broglies'--Gavard, Lambert de Ste.-Croix and Cornelis de Witt. They shot 1,250 pheasants at Ferrieres [Footnote: It was here that the celebrated meeting between Bismarck and Jules Favre (cf. _ante_, pp. 186-7) took place, on September 19th, 1870.] (Baron Rothschild's) on Sunday. The Comte de Paris brought down 300 himself.

I have written out my speech on Irish Land and read it to Gavard. It will take about fifteen or twenty minutes in the delivery. I breakfast tomorrow morning with St. Hilaire.

_December 27th_.--I went to the English Church in the Rue d'Aguesseau on Christmas Day--full congregation and nice service--but saw n.o.body I knew.

Mme. Faucher's dinner was dull, but Pa.s.sy and Leroy-Beaulieu were there, and there was some good music after dinner. I called yesterday on Feuillet de Conches and Mme. Mohl, each looking a thousand and older than the hills; and I spent some time in the galleries of the Louvre with my old favourites in their eternal youth. It is infinitely touching, when so much else is gone, to look at those pictures which I myself remember for sixty years in unchanging beauty. I perfectly remember the impression made on me when I was seven years old by the picture of the Entry of Henry IV into Paris.

I have copied out my whole oration to be read on Wednesday, and, in copying, enlarged it. It is chiefly taken from the Irish Land Pamphlet.

_December 30th_.--My discourse at the Inst.i.tute went off very well. I was told by the best French writer, Mignet, that it was well written, and by the best French speaker, Jules Simon, that it was well delivered, which is enough to satisfy a modest man. The MS. will be printed and published in several forms. Leon Say sat by my side. There were about thirty people present.

I went to the Due de Broglie's reception last night. Nothing can exceed the dulness of French society--ten or twelve men sitting in a circle to discuss miserable munic.i.p.al politics; not another subject, or a book, or an idea so much as mentioned. I am now going to breakfast with the Duc d'Aumale at Laugel's.

Gladstone seems to think that everything must go right since he is in power. It is a case of mental delusion, but I am curious to see how the House of Commons will deal with him.

_December 31st_.--We had a very pleasant breakfast with the Duc d'Aumale at Laugel's yesterday. He was most agreeable. He had a narrow escape on Monday from a stag at bay, which pursued him with fury, killed a hound and wounded a horse. He said, 'J'ai fui comme je n'ai jamais fui de ma vie.' The stags they hunt are wild red deer. He asked me to go in the evening with him to the Francais to see 'Hernani,' which I did; glad to see the old piece again, though I thought it not well acted.

I am now going to breakfast with St.-Hilaire.

_To Mr. T. Norton Longman_

_Paris, December 29th_.--I am very anxious to learn what the bulk of the Liberal party in England now think of the results of a Radical policy in Ireland and elsewhere. Unhappily our friends, the Whigs, are to a certain extent responsible for having a.s.sented to it, though reluctantly; but the real author of this Irish policy is Mr. Bright. The consequences of it appear so disastrous that I cannot conceive it will last. But we are on the eve of stormy times.

The Journal continues:--

1881, _January 2nd_.--Returned to London in 8 1/2 hours.

The Club met in January as Parliament was sitting.

_14th_.--Dinner at home. Prince Lobanow,[Footnote: The Russian Amba.s.sador.]

Acton, Burys, C. Villiers, Leckys.

_15th_.--Small dinner at Lord Derby's.