Fifty-One Years of Victorian Life Part 14

But Vishnu looked askance at him and said that he should be put out of caste unless he went to help his fellows. Back he flew to Kathiawar, and when the sea saw that the royal bird had joined the ranks of her opponents she succ.u.mbed and gave back the eggs.

"Hindu respect for animal life entails consequences which make one wonder how the earth can provide not only for the swarms of human inhabitants, including unproductive religious mendicants, but also for such numbers of mischievous beasts. Some castes will kill no animals at all, and all Hindus hold so many as sacred that peac.o.c.ks, monkeys, and pigeons may be seen everywhere, destroying crops and eating people out of house and home. The people of a town, driven to desperation, may be induced to catch the monkeys, fill a train with them, and dispatch it to discharge its cargo at some desolate spot; but woe betide a simicide! The monkeys in any given street will resent and lament the capture of a comrade, but do not care at all if a stranger is carried off. He is not of their caste."

[Sidenote: MEDITATIONS OF A WESTERN WANDERER]

In May 1889--_The National Review_ also published the following verses, which I wrote after reading Sir Alfred Lyall's "Meditations of a Hindu Prince." I called them "Meditations of a Western Wanderer":

"All the world over, meseemeth, wherever my footsteps have trod, The nations have builded them temples, and in them have imaged their G.o.d.

Of the temples the Nature around them has fashioned and moulded the plan, And the G.o.ds took their life and their being from the visions and longings of man.

"So the Greek bade his marble be instinct with curves of the rock-riven foam, Within it enshrining the Beauty and the Lore of his sunlitten home; And the Northman hewed deep in the mountain and reared his huge pillars on high, And drank to the strength of the thunder and the force flashing keen from the sky.

"But they knew, did those builders of old time, that wisdom and courage are vain, That Persephone rises in springtide to sink in the winter again, That the revelling halls of Walhalla shall crumble when ages have rolled O'er the deep-rooted stem of the World-ash and the hardly-won Treasure of gold.

"I turn to thee, mystical India, I ask ye, ye Dreamers of earth, Of the Whence and the Whither of spirit, of the tale of its birth and rebirth.

For the folks ye have temples and legends and dances to heroes and kings, But ye sages know more, would ye tell it, of the soul with her G.o.d-given wings.

"Ah, nations have broken your barriers; ah, empires have drunk of your stream, And each ere it pa.s.sed bore its witness, and left a new thought for your dream: The Moslem saith, 'One is the G.o.dhead,' the Brahmin 'Inspiring all,'

The Buddhist, 'The Law is Almighty, by which ye shall stand or shall fall.'

"Yea, verily One the All-Father; yea, Brahmin, all life is from Him, And Righteous the Law of the Buddha, but the path of attainment is dim.

Is G.o.d not afar from His creature--the Law over-hard to obey?

Wherein shall the Life be of profit to man seeing evil bear sway?

"Must I ask of the faith which to children and not to the wise is revealed?

By it shall the mist be uplifted? By it shall the shrine be unsealed?

Must I take it, the often-forgotten yet echoing answer of youth-- "Tis I,' saith the Word of the Father, 'am the Way and the Life and the Truth'?

"The Truth dwelleth ay with the peoples, let priests hide its light as they will; 'Tis spirit to spirit that speaketh, and spirit aspireth still; Wherever I seek I shall find it, that infinite longing of man To rise to the house of his Father, to end where his being began.

"And the secret that gives him the power, the message that shows him the way, Is the Light he will struggle to follow, the Word he perforce will obey.

It is not the voice of the whirlwind, nor bolt from the storm-kindled dome; 'Tis stillness that bringeth the tidings--the child knows the accents of home."

We had a calm voyage to Suez in the _Bengal_. It was fortunate that it was calm--for the _Bengal_ was quite an old-fashioned ship. I think only something over 3,000 tons--different from the _Arcadia_, then the show-ship of the P. and O. fleet. I was amused once to come across an account by Sir Richard Burton of a voyage which he took in the _Bengal_ years before, when he described the P. and O. as having done away with the terrors of ocean travel by having provided such a magnificent vessel.

We spent nine days at Cairo and Alexandria and saw the usual sights, then quite new to us; but it is generally a mistake to visit one great land with a history and antiquities of its own when the mind has just been captured by another. Anyhow, we were so full of the glories of India that Egypt failed to make the appeal to us which she would otherwise have done, and which she did on subsequent visits. The mosques in particular seemed to us inferior to the marble dreams of Delhi and Agra. Moreover on this occasion we did not ascend the Nile and see the wonderful temples. The one thing which really impressed me was the Sphinx, though I regret to say that my husband and son entirely declined to share my feelings. Lord Kitchener was then, as Adjutant to Sir Francis Grenfell, Colonel Kitchener. He afterwards became a great friend of ours, but we first made his acquaintance on this visit to Cairo. We had a most interesting inspection of the Barrage works under the guidance of Sir Colin Moncrieff and dined with the Khedive, and at the British Agency.

From Alexandria we went by an Egyptian steamer--at least a steamer belonging to an Egyptian line--to Athens, which we reached on March 15th, accompanied by Lady Galloway. On this voyage I performed the one heroic deed of my life, with which bad sailors like myself will sympathise. The crew of this ship was mainly Turkish--the native Egyptians being no good as seamen, but the captain, Los...o...b.. name, was a Maltese and exceedingly proud of being a British subject.

[Sidenote: AN ENGLISH PLUM-PUDDING]

The first day of our voyage on the _Behera_ was calm, and we sat cheerfully at dinner listening to his conversation. He was particularly emphatic in his a.s.sertions that he understood something of English cuisine, I believe taught by his mother, and above all he understood the concoction of an English plum-pudding and that it must be boiled for twenty-four hours. Said he, "You shall have a plum-pudding for dinner tomorrow." Then and there he sent for the steward and gave him full instructions. Next evening the plum-pudding duly appeared, but meantime the wind had freshened and the sea had risen. Under such conditions I am in the habit of retiring to my cabin and remaining prostrate until happier hours dawn--but was I to shake, if not shatter, the allegiance of this British subject by failing in my duty to a British pudding? I did not flinch. I sat through the courses until the pudding was on the table. I ate and praised, and then retired.

We reached Athens early on the following morning and forgot rough seas and plum-puddings in the pleasure of revisiting our former haunts and showing them to Jersey and Villiers. The King and Queen were again good enough to ask us to luncheon and dinner, and this time we also found the British Minister, Sir Edmund Monson, who had been absent on our previous visit. He kindly included Villiers, though barely sixteen years old, in an invitation to dinner, and much amus.e.m.e.nt was caused in diplomatic circles by the very pretty daughter of the American Minister, Clarice Fearn. She was about seventeen and had evidently been almost deprived of young companionship during her sojourn at Athens. She was seated at the British Legation between Villiers and a French Secretary no longer in his first youth, so she promptly turned to the latter and said, "I am not going to talk to you, I am going to talk to Lord Villiers"; result, an animated conversation between the youngsters throughout dinner. She at once acquired the nickname of "La belle-fille de l'avenir," and long afterwards a man who had been at the British Legation some time subsequent to our visit said that he had always heard her called this, though he had never known the reason. I need hardly add that "Society" at Athens was very small and easily amused. Poor "belle-fille de l'avenir," I saw her again when she and her sister stayed for a time at Somerville College at Oxford, but she died quite young. Her sister, Mrs. Barton French, still lives.

[Sidenote: THE GREEK ROYAL FAMILY]

For the rest I need not recapitulate Greek experiences beyond transcribing part of a letter to my mother which contains an account of the domestic life of the Greek Royal Family in those bygone days:

"Despite the weather we have been very comfortable here and found almost all our old friends. The Queen has a new baby since last year, to whom she is quite devoted. It is number seven, but you might think they had never had a baby before. The first time we had luncheon there we all migrated to the nursery, and the Duke of Sparta who is going to marry Princess Sophie of Germany, almost resented George's suggestion that some beautiful gold things of his might be moved out of the nursery cupboard, as he said 'they have always been there.' Last Sunday we had luncheon there again, and this time the baby was brought downstairs and his brothers and sisters competed for the honour of nursing him, the Queen and several of us finally seating ourselves on the floor in order that the infant prince might more conveniently play with the _head_ of his next youngest brother, who lay down with it on a cushion for the purpose. It makes one almost sad to see the eldest Princess, brought up like this--a perfectly innocent girl always in fits of laughter--going to be married to one of the Czar's brothers; she will find it so different in that Russian Court, poor thing."

Further on in the same letter I write:

"Everyone has a different story about the Rudolph-Stephanie affair. I have met several people who knew the Baroness and say she was very lovely. Some disbelieve suicide, as he was shot through the back of his head and she through the small of her back, but, as the Austrian Minister here says, no one knows or ever will know the real truth. I think the tragedies in those three imperial houses, Russia, Germany, and Austria, surpa.s.s any the world has ever seen," and I cite the wise man's prayer for "neither poverty nor riches" as "about right."

My mother sent the long letter of which this formed part to my aunt Theodora Guest, who made a characteristic comment. She allowed the wisdom of the prayer, but continued--"but in praying for neither poverty nor riches, I should be careful to add 'especially not the former,' for I don't see that poverty ensures peace, or security from murder--and it would be hard to be poor all one's life _and_ be murdered at the end!

Better be rich and comfortable if only for a time. Still I would not be Empress of _Russia_ for something, and that poor innocent Grecian princess _is_ to be pitied."

This was written April 1889. What would my mother, my aunt, or myself have said now?

The baby of our luncheon party was Christopher, now the husband of Mrs.

Leeds. The poor little Princess whose doom we feared had a more merciful one than many of her relations. She married the Grand Duke Paul later in 1889 and died in 1891 after the birth of her second child. Taken indeed from the evil to come. Her children were adopted by the Grand d.u.c.h.ess Serge, who I believe has been murdered in the late Terror--but I do not know what has happened to the children.

[Sidenote: ORIGINAL DERIVATIONS]

To turn to something more cheerful. A delightful woman, a real Mrs.

Malaprop, had lately been at Athens and much enlivened the British Legation both by her remarks and her credulity. With her the Parthenon was the "Parthian," the Odeum (an ancient theatre) the "Odium," Tanagra became "Tangiers," and so on. She told Mr. Haggard that she did not like the "Parthian," it was too big. "Oh," he said, "you ought to like it, for you have heard of the Parthian shafts--those" (pointing to the columns) "are the original Parthian shafts." "How very interesting!" said she. He then proceeded to inform her that the Odeum was used for music (which was true), but added that the music was so bad that they all hated it, and therefore the place was called the "Odium"--also "very interesting." She was taken for an excursion in Thessaly, where there were sheep-pens on the mountains, and one happened to be fenced in a shape something like an irregular figure 8. Another lady pointed this out and gravely informed her that that was how the Pelasgians _numbered their mountains_. "Oh, Charles," shouted the victim to her husband, "do look--the Pelasgians numbered their hills--one, two, three--there is number eight!"

CHAPTER X

WINDSOR--EGYPT AND SYRIA

After our return to London in the spring I was greatly surprised when on meeting Sir Henry Ponsonby one day at a party he desired me to send my article on India to the Queen. He was at that time her Private Secretary and knew her deep interest in all things concerning India, but I never imagined that anything which I had written was sufficiently important to be worth her notice. However, I could but do as I was ordered, and I was still more surprised a little later at the result, which was a command that Jersey and I should dine and sleep at Windsor. Jersey had been there before, but it was novel to me and very interesting.

We were taken on arrival to a very nice set of rooms overlooking the Long Walk, up which we presently saw the Queen returning from her afternoon drive. An excellent tea was brought us and Lord Edward Clinton came to look after us--also another member of the Household, I forget who it was, but I recollect that an animated discussion took place in our sitting-room as to an omission on the part of somebody to send to meet the Speaker (Arthur Peel) at the station! It is always rather a comfort to ordinary mortals to find that even in the most exalted establishments mistakes do sometimes occur. We were told that dinner would be at a nominal 8.30, and that a page would take us down when we were ready. Of course we were dressed in excellent time, but just as I had finished my toilet Jersey came into my room in great agitation. He was expected to wear what we called "the funny trousers"--not knee-breeches, but trousers fastened just below the calf of the leg and showing the socks. Unfortunately his black silk socks were marked in white, and he said I must pick out the marking--which was impossible all in a minute, and the rooms somewhat dimly lit. However, my maid suggested inking over the marks, to my immense relief--and all was well.

[Sidenote: DINNER AT WINDSOR]

When we went downstairs the Lady-in-Waiting, Lady Southampton, showed us a plan of the table, and it was explained that when the Queen went in to dinner we all followed--were not sent in with a man--and seated ourselves as directed. Then as time approached we were drawn up on either side of the door by which the Queen entered. She greeted each in turn kindly but quickly, and went straight in. It was not really stiff or formidable when we were once seated. After dinner the Queen established herself in a chair in the Long Gallery and each guest was called up in turn for a little conversation. She talked to me about India, and said that it was only her great age and the fact that she was a very bad sailor that prevented her going there. She was much interested in our having seen her Munshi at Agra, and he always formed a link between Her Majesty and ourselves. She had us to Windsor two or three times altogether, and always spoke of him and arranged that we should see him. He was quite a modest humble man to begin with, but I fear that his head was rather turned later on.

Two pieces of advice Her Majesty bestowed upon me, to keep a Journal, and wherever I travelled never to forget England.

This school term we were greatly pleased at Villiers winning the Junior Oppidan Exhibition at Eton. He had not even told us that he was going in for it, and we saw the first announcement in _The Times_. His master, Mr.

Donaldson, wrote that he took it "in his stride without quickening his s.p.a.ce at all or making any special preparation for it." It was certainly a creditable performance after missing a whole term while in India.

In February 1890 Lady Galloway and I set off on a fresh expedition. Jersey was anxious that I should escape the cold, and held out hopes--unfortunately not fulfilled--of joining us later. We went by a Messageries steamer--the _Congo_--to Alexandria, and thence to Cairo, where we found various friends, including Colonel Kitchener, who had meantime stayed at Osterley and who looked after us splendidly. He was very amusing, and when there was a difficulty about our cabins on the Nile boat he went off with us to Cook's Office and said that we _must_ have two cabins instead of two berths with which, despite our orders given in London, they tried to put us off. No one in Egypt could ever resist Kitchener's orders. He declared that we represented two aunts whom he expected. I do not mean that he told Cook this.

He told us how he and other officers had looked after Mr. Chamberlain on a late journey up the Nile and how he felt sure that they had enlightened him a good deal. It was very shortly after this that Mr. Chamberlain made a famous speech in Birmingham wherein he said that he had seen enough of Egypt to realise that England could not abandon the country in its present condition. I do not remember the words, but that was what they conveyed, quite different from former Radical p.r.o.nouncements. That was the great thing with Mr. Chamberlain. As I have already maintained, he had an open mind, and was ready to learn from facts and experience.

[Sidenote: VOYAGE UP THE NILE]

To return to our Egyptian experiences. We went to Luxor on the post boat, and spent about a week at the hotel there. We found all sorts of friends on dahabyahs and in other places, and were duly impressed by the mighty temples and tombs of the kings. I do not attempt any description of these marvels, never to be forgotten by those who have seen them.

While we were at Luxor the Sirdar, Sir Francis Grenfell, arrived on a tour of inspection with Lady Grenfell and others. We joined the same steamer, the _Rameses_, and having so many friends on board made the voyage as far as a.s.souan additionally pleasant. The direct military jurisdiction at that time began near Edfou, and a force of Ababdeh, or native guerilla police who were paid to guard the wells, came to receive the Sirdar on his reaching this territory. A number mounted on camels led by their Sheikh on horseback galloped along the bank as the ship steamed on. At Edfou itself there was a great reception of native infantry and others mounted on camels and horses.