2 but not so multa gracilis,' ' and also to 'Lydia, dic per omnes,' high as to 'Ulla si juris,' or to one not mentioned by Lord John or Mr. Fox, which I think quite perfect, 'Donec gratus eram tibi.' 3 Mr. Fox does not mention an ode from which he made a beautiful quotation towards the end of his life :— Lenit albescens animos capillus Litium et rixæ cupidos protervæ. Non ego hoc ferrem calidus juventa, I am forgetting, however, that this is the day on which the November sittings of the Cabinet begin, and that Lord John has other things to think of than the odes of Horace. We cannot give him the invitation to idleness which Horace gives to some one (Mæcenas, I believe) : Negligens, ne qua populus laboret, Believe me, my dear Duke, very faithfully yours, ROBERT PEEL. Four months afterwards, in the course of a conversation with Lord Hatherton at Drayton, Sir Robert spoke in the most respectful terms of Lord John Russell, praising his talents and the consistency of his character. He added I have great reliance on him, and have an earnest desire to support him.6 Is it not a fair presumption that Sir Robert, when he wrote the above letter, was conscious, as Mr. Fox had been before him, that the grey locks of advancing age had appeased his appetite for strife, and was anxious that Lord John should know that he was ready to play a different part from that which he had filled in the maturity of his powers during the reigns of the fourth William and the fourth George? In the following summer, however, Sir Robert Peel's life 1 Book I. ode v. Book III. ode ix. 5 Book III. ode viii. 2 Book I. ode viii. Lord Hatherton's unpublished diary. From a long extract in the Russell papers. was abruptly closed, and all that Lord John could do was to bear his testimony to that long and large experience of public affairs, that profound knowledge, that oratorical power, that copious yet exact memory, with which the House was wont to be enlightened, interested, and guided. Lord John went on to acknowledge 'the temper and forbearance' which Sir Robert had always displayed to those who held opinions opposite to his own; he declared that there was no doubt that, on the two great occasions when he proposed measures, which 'shook and afterwards subverted his power,' he did so from the motive of deep love to his country, and from that strong sense of duty which always distinguished him; he stated his conviction that Sir Robert Peel had prevented a war of classes after the passage of the Reform Act; he reminded the House that Sir Robert had given up a life which might have been one of culture and ease for Parliamentary labour; he expressed his hope that this example would not be lost on the people of the country; and he predicted that posterity would place the name of Sir Robert Peel among the names of the foremost statesmen who have adorned the annals of this country and have contributed to their lustre. In the speech from which these sentences have been extracted, Lord John stated his readiness, if the family should desire it, to pay the statesman's memory the tribute of a public funeral; and, when this mark of respect was refused in deference to the known wishes of Sir Robert Peel, and when for a similar reason Lady Peel declined the peerage which Lord John at once offered her, he proposed and carried a motion for the erection of a public monument in Westminster Abbey. Though, during the session, Lord John had not suffered from the constant ill-health which had so seriously interfered with his Parliamentary labours in 1848, he was frequently worn out by incessant attendance at the House of Commons. His family welcomed for him the intervals of repose which the short adjournments at Easter and Whitsuntide obtained. The former of them he spent with Sir Benjamin and Lady Heywood near Manchester; and the visit enabled him to renew the acquaintance which he had made as a mere boy, in Mr. Playfair's company, nearly forty years before, with the chief industries of what Lady John called smoky, toiling, prosperous Manchester. The latter of them, when he was suffering from a depressing cough, he spent, so far as business enabled him to do so, in the quiet of his own house at Richmond. There, indeed, a succession of visitors constantly broke in upon his repose; and, on Sunday afternoons especially -for Sunday, both in the session and in the recess, was usually spent at Pembroke Lodge-his London friends came to be refreshed with country air, and enriched by the conversation of the Prime Minister. His wife wrote of the summer of 1850 I think everybody liked seeing him and hearing him talk in the ease and quiet of the drawing-room or the garden. And the fresh air and beauty and repose of our blessed home always raised his spirits and gave a zest to his delightful powers of conversation. . . . He would stroll with his guests in the garden, and join, now one group, now another, and converse with equal ease on subjects as various as the flowers among which he wandered. His memory was excellent, and he abounded in historical and poetical illustrations and quotations. He had a vast store of anecdote, and was always alive to wit and pathos; his whole countenance kindling into laughter when he approached the point of a comical story; his eyes filling with tears when he told of an heroic deed, or a deep human grief. He listened as eagerly as he talked; he was absolutely free from affectation or a wish to shine; he was ready to talk, and enjoy doing so, with anybody-man or woman, young or old. Sincerity rang in every word he uttered. . . . With such materials in his mind and character, it is no wonder that his conversation was sought and valued. There were times, however, at Pembroke Lodge, which were still more pleasant for wife and family when, alone with her or alone with them, he would read aloud some such poem as the 'Task' or the 'Excursion,' or discuss the simple but fervent faith which they held in common. It was to such quiet as this that Lady John referred in the following lines, which were headed: To J. R.: Pembroke Lodge, June 30, 1850.' Here, statesman, rest! and, while thy ranging sigh Unbind the weary shackles of the week, And find the Sabbath thou art come to seek. Here hang on every rose a thorny care, Fill deep, from ancient stream and opening flower, At the close of the session Lord John secured a longer holiday. On the 19th of August, the day after his fifty-eighth birthday, he set out for Scotland, taking with him his wife and his four younger children. They slept at Carlisle and Glasgow, where he was much cheered by the people; passed two days on Loch Lomond; and subsequently paid visits to Lord Breadalbane at the Black Mount and to Mr. Fox Maule at Walking on the banks of Loch Lomond the family were caught by a heavy Drumour. Thence, sending the two younger children to Minto, Lord and Lady John proceeded with the two elder ones to the Dowager Duchess of Bedford at The Doune in Invernesshire. Lady John wrote— John had a very pretty reception here. A number of people ranged along both banks of the Spey at a ferry by which we cross to this place, who hurrahed with all their might, while bag-pipes played. An address was presented. We crossed, stepped out on a Gordon plaid, and were received by the Duchess and her sons and daughters in a most cordial way. Sir Edwin Landseer, who was very intimately acquainted with the Duchess, and who was staying at The Doune, availed himself of the opportunity to make the slight sketch of Lord John's two children (Lord Amberley and Lady Victoria Villiers) which still hangs on the walls of Pembroke Lodge. After staying a few days at The Doune, Lord and Lady John paid a series of visits to the Duke and Duchess of Leeds, General Duff, and others; passed a fortnight on their way South at Minto; and finally reached Pembroke Lodge on the 16th of October, in time to celebrate his step-daughter's (Miss Lister) birthday. Lord John had happily the capacity for enjoyment which almost always accompanies a capacity for work. He went North with the panoply of a sportsman and with the ardour of a boy. There are still carefully preserved, among his other more important papers, a note from the Speaker, no mean authority on such a subject, advising him not to waste his time by trying to shoot capercailzie with a rifle, but to use his gun and load it with cartridges; and a letter from his shower, and took refuge in a cottage. The good wife, to quote Lady Russell's account, gave the children some excellent milk. Her husband on his return home said nothing till the Russells were leaving, when he inquired of Lady John, 'Is that no Lord John Russell?' His old wife asked him what he was saying. "Why, it's Lord John Russell- the biggest man in the kingdom!' She did not seem as much impressed as he expected. My belief is that she knew nothing of Lord John Russell, but was surprised, as she looked at him, to hear her husband call him the biggest man in the kingdom.' History telleth not how the old man recognised Lord John. Perhaps, if he had been asked, he would have answered, as the Welsh postman is said to have answered Lord Palmerston, 'Seen your picture in Punch, my lord!' I do not know whether it is necessary to remind my younger readers that in I |