CHAPTER XVII

"LE BRAV' GENERAL"

Who _was_ Boulanger?

At the Cheshire Cheese, a year before the war, a young Fleet Streeter asked the question. He had heard some of us spinning yarns. But the name of Boulanger meant nothing to him. The world was created in the year he came to Fleet Street, say in 1908.

There are times when I feel it necessary to apologise for writing of the days of antiquity. There will certainly be some one to exclaim, when he sees the heading of this chapter, "Why drag Boulanger into _London Days_?"

One answer would be: Because I knew Boulanger in London.

"Was he ever here? How strange we should have forgotten it!"

Not in the least strange. Boulanger was forgotten soon after he arrived. He arrived at the Hotel Bristol, behind Burlington House, and was cheered by a few waiters and chambermaids. It was a murky afternoon in the summer of '89,--dark, damp, and dreary. I saw him alight from his carriage. Some of the papers next day told of "the enthusiastic {261} greeting" he had received. Thus history is made. A few waiters, a porter or two, half a dozen chambermaids, and, of course, a manager. These were the enthusiasts.

It was a little disappointing to those who love "scenes", or have to describe them. Nothing happened. Of course, it was not disappointing to realise that one was a prophet. I had prophesied a scene like this, months before, when quite another kind of scene was being played in Paris, when Boulanger had the ball at his feet, or the game in his hands, if you prefer a choice of metaphors. He did n't play. There was merely an escape of gas from the balloon. The gas was not inflammable.

"Le brav' General" they called him. Up to the twenty-eighth of January, 1889, he was the hope of France. He was to be Head of the Army, Prime Minister, or President, or King, or Emperor, or Dictator, whatever he chose. He was to save France. She needed saving. Politically, she was in the dismallest bog. She needed a MAN, thought she had found him in Boulanger, and on the twenty-seventh of January, Paris was to elect him to Parliament. Paris would give him a backing so enormous that he would "seize the reins of power." There would be a _coup d'etat_. That was what the papers said. There was quite a commotion, naturally.

Obviously I must go to Paris before the twenty-seventh; I must see the _coup d'etat_ whose approach was thundering from all the presses of Europe. There would be articles by the yard. In those {262} times, newspaper reproductions of photographs were even less satisfactory than they are now. I looked about for an artist who could go with me and illustrate my articles. He must know something about the trick of drawing for newspaper reproduction, he must be a quick worker, for there was no time to be lost, and he must not be too well known because the chances were that a well-known artist would n't be able to cast his work aside at a day's notice, and bolt with me for Paris. I sent my assistant to find the right man.

He returned to me with a dejected look. "I 've found only one man who can go," said he.

"One is enough," said I.

"Yes, but--will he do? I 've only these two specimens of his work to show you." And he laid two small drawings before me.

"Capital!" said I.

"He has been in Paris, studied art there. And he lives in Chelsea."

"Terms all right?" I asked.

"Yes."

"Then I 'll see him to-morrow. By the way, what is his name?

"L. Raven-Hill."

And so it came about that the young man--he was a very young man then, under twenty-two--who was to win fame as one of the principal cartoonists for Punch, went to Paris with me and illustrated the Boulanger election. He illustrated for me other subjects in and about Paris. And when I went to Ireland, to do a series of articles a little {263} later, he was the illustrator. And he drew London subjects for me. In fact, he was for about six months my chosen illustrator. Then somebody in authority on the other side of the Atlantic wanted the preference given to certain other artists. Authority, of course, had to be obeyed, since it was paymaster. And in this case it had in its eye one or two young men who had come abroad, and who had influence enough to pull strings at headquarters. They were cousins to the owner's aunts, or something like that. Their work was too careless, grotesque, and altogether weak. After allowing them sufficient opportunity to demonstrate this, even to the satisfaction of their proprietary relatives, they were released from service. And ever afterwards I insisted upon choosing my own illustrators. But meantime I had lost Raven-Hill, and some foreign mission calling me afield, there was no opportunity for renewing the connection. When I returned to London, Raven-Hill had found his feet, as I knew he would. The other day we compared our recollections of that time. They did not differ.

His work was admirable, even in those early days. It lent distinction to the text. I daresay that may have been the only distinction the text had. Raven-Hill entered into the spirit of the thing, and would go to any inconvenience to get what I wanted. And in the Boulanger campaign, that meant a good deal of inconvenience. We travelled by night trains because they were cheapest. If they were cheapest, they were also slowest. But all was grist that came to our mill.

{264}

Paris we reached two days before the election. We looked for excitement but found none. It is not every day that Paris elects a "Saviour of France." It was preparing to elect one, and it was certain that he was to save France. There was a frenzy of bill-posting, but that was all. All the electioneering was done by post and posters. Not a speech was made. Posters covered everything, inches deep. Paris was smothered by them. Boulanger posters were covered with Jacques posters. Jacques was the candidate opposing "Le brav' General." Jacques was a nobody with money. Only a nobody with money could have afforded to stand against "Le brav' General." Before he offered himself for the sacrifice, nobody had ever heard of Jacques. After election day nobody heard of him again. He had his little explosion of glory, and then happy obscurity. But his account for bill-posting and printing must have been heavy. So must have been Boulanger's.

Statuary was covered with bills, and so were cabs. A Boulangist would plaster a bill over the nose of a bronze lion. A Jacquesist would follow and cover the Boulangist bill. The lion in the Place de la Republique was hideous with bills from his snout to the tip of his tail, a great-coat of paper. Above the lion a stone shaft was inscribed:

A LA GLOIRE DE LA REPUBLIQUE FRANCAISE

{265}

The Glory of the French Republic seemed great enough to bear with equanimity the burden of Boulangist printing. The men who were posting Boulangist bills carried ladders. The Jacques men had no ladders. And so the Boulangists had the best of it. Wherever there was a smooth surface, and in numerous places where there was not, bills went up. They were manifestoes, proclamations, election cries. Nobody made a speech. The printer did all. Arches, facades, trees, cabs, even the Opera House itself, theatres, shops, were splashed with coloured bills, Boulanger over Jacques and Jacques over Boulanger. And only small boys took notice.

The papers said that large reserves of police were held in readiness; they said the military had been strengthened. One of them said that detachments of cavalry had been shod with rubber so they might come noiselessly upon rioters and smite them unawares. An editor applauded the ingenious device. He forgot that King Lear, long before, had thought it

"... a delicate stratagem To shoe a troop of horse with felt."

The London papers were even more excited than the French. In fact, it had been the alarmist reports of Paris correspondents and news bureaux that had incited me to the journey. I looked for the exciting scenes these gentlemen had witnessed and foretold. There was nothing visible to justify their fears. Where were the marching crowds that were singing "The Marseillaise"? They had not marched, they {266} had not assembled, they had not sung a note. It is not easy to describe an invisible demonstration.

We went wherever a demonstration was possible or probable; we covered Paris by cab, by bus, on foot. Excepting for the posters, Paris carried itself as usual.

"Go to the Fourth Arrondissement if you would see the fun," said a friendly councillor who knew the ropes. We went, but "the fun" did not come. We found three hundred persons at the _mairie_, half of them registering, and the other half looking on. They were as solemn as if they had been paying taxes. The next day, Sunday, the voting took place. There were 568,697 voters on the registries of Paris. Of these 32,837 did not vote at all, and 27,118 voted neither for Boulanger nor for Jacques. Boulanger won, hands down.

At eleven o'clock on the Sunday morning we were at Boulanger's house, expecting that the world would be there. The world was not there, nor was anybody but ourselves. The Rue Dumont d'Urville (Boulanger lived at Number 11) looked deserted. It was off the _Champs Elysees_, near the _Arc de Triomphe_. A thousand persons a day had, for weeks, been calling on "Le brav' General." In the preceding fortnight the number had doubled. "To-day the General receives no one," said the boy in buttons who was sweeping out the hall. So much the better; if he receives no one to-day, the more chance of seeing him. Besides, Raven-Hill wanted to draw Boulanger from the life. It would be a fine thing to have drawn the "Saviour of France" on the {267} day when he saved France; perhaps while he was in the very act of saving her.

"It is impossible," repeated the boy in buttons, "the General does not receive to-day."

But the General was a political candidate, and the boy in buttons was a Jew. Palm oil passed from one of us to the buttoned youth. Raven-Hill sketched him. Jointly we begged for his autograph. He wrote it underneath his portrait--"Joseph."

"Joseph," said I, "you are famous from this hour. Your portrait will appear in an American newspaper." Joseph grinned. He yielded. He disappeared with our cards. Returning presently, he said that the General would receive us, and he directed us up the stairs. On a landing above stood "Le brav' General." He bowed, he shook hands in the English fashion, he did not embrace us in the French; he smiled, he bade us enter his study. Monsieur l'artiste might sketch where he liked. And R-H. sat in a corner, which commanded the large room, and began to draw without losing a minute.

Would M. le General talk with me a little while the artist drew?

M. le General begged a thousand pardons, but he was too much occupied; moreover he was never interviewed. Would we smoke? We would. He passed cigarettes.

"But, M. le General, the election?"

"_C'est une chose faite!_"

That was all he would say. And then it was only eleven in the morning. But he declared that the {268} thing was done. And this with a calmly complacent air. I admired his "nerve", as we would say in America. But that was all he would say:

"_C'est une chose faite!_"

He repeated it. And I took it that France was saved. And so she was, but not in the way he had expected; and not by him.

Raven-Hill, whose French was at any rate in better working order than mine, tried questioning, but "Le brav' General," with great courtesy, begged a thousand pardons and deprecated "interviewing."

I begged ten thousand pardons, and R-H. resumed his sketching. "Le brav' General" handed me a small bundle of printed matter,--pamphlets, proclamations, manifestoes, announcements. I would find it all there, he said. I looked them over, thanking him, and saying that I had previously read them, which was the case.

"Ah," said he, "_c'est une chose faite._"

As a matter of fact, I was quite content. I was getting what I wanted, the drawings. I did not want political platitudes, and before election day I had formed the opinion that political platitudes were the General's stock-in-trade. He had not a single political idea. What he always said was what his backers wanted him to say.

He was "the man-on-horseback", and that was enough. France had been looking a long time for the man-on-horseback. He would ride in and conquer the internal foes of France; they were numerous enough and to spare. He would unite the country, bring it stability, cleanse the Augean {269} stables, win back Alsace-Lorraine, humble the Germans who had humiliated them, who had menaced them ever since 1870-1871. He would be a MAN, this man-on-horseback. And Boulanger had been riding a white horse these three years. Sometimes he rode a black horse.

At one end of the room, behind the chair where he sat at his writing table, was a large painting, a very large one, of General Boulanger on his horse.

The room in which we sat was large, too. It had been a studio and was now a study. A great fireplace occupied one end of it, and the General on horseback occupied the other end. The general himself sat below the portrait, at his writing table, while Raven-Hill drew and I smoked. He could not have better suited the artist's purpose. He was not quite like the photographs, engravings, paintings, "reproductions" of him that one had seen, and that filled France. His hair was not clear black, and brushed nattily; it was streaked with grey, and worn shoe-brush fashion. His beard was tawny, touched with grey. His face was a stronger one, his head a better one, than the conventional portraits prepared you for. He was between fifty-one and fifty-two at that time. A handsome man, but disappointing. He did n't impress one as being a man of authority, of decisions. What his mouth was like, and what his chin, I do not know. His beard concealed them. But I did not get from him the impression of strength. And yet he was the most popular man in France. And that day the eyes not only of France, but of Europe, were watching him.

{270}

His face was deeply lined; his eyes were grey; he was in fatigue dress. May I whisper in your ear? I do not believe that he was pressed with work; I believe that he was posing for us.

He was a vain creature. His vanity had been much indulged during the three years or more preceding. He was an ordinary man of showy gifts, an efficient general in a small way. He had been a favourite of fortune, and usually in trouble with his superior officers. He always came out of the trouble "at the top of the heap", as they say. Freycinet made him Minister of War in '86. The Ministry of War advertised him up and down the land. It may be said to have begun his popularity. He looked well after the lot of the private soldier. As the private soldier came from every home in France, Boulanger had advocates who carried his name and praises to every fireside. He understood that sort of thing. His star was rising fast. He glittered before the eyes of all men. He was an heroic figure at reviews, a much sought figure in drawing-rooms; the clericals were zealous in his favour, purses were at his disposal. He was the popular hero, without having done anything heroic. Powerful partisans played, even paid for his favour. His principal backer was the Duchesse D'Uzes. There was an abundance of money.

Well, when the artist had got what he wanted, had drawn the room and Boulanger, we took our leave and went forth for the melancholy Jacques and election scenes, saying _au revoir_ to Joseph at the door. Joseph said--I think he had been {271} instructed to say it--and he said it with an air of one who whispered confidences:

"The General will dine this evening at the Cafe Durand."

The Cafe Durand, of course, was opposite the Madeleine. We stopped there on our way about town. We lunched there, and made friends with the head waiter, Edmond, a portly personage of manner and renown. Edmond was enlisted, as Joseph had been. And he signed his portrait with a flourish quite royal--Edmond Ulray.

Could R-H. see the private room in which General Boulanger and his friends would dine that evening?

But certainly. And Monsieur could draw it if he chose.

Of course, that was what he chose to do. And when the evening came, it was quite a simple matter for Edmond to arrange that R-H., without being seen, should draw "Le brav' General", and Comte Dillon, and Paul de Cassagnac, Henri Rochefort, and Paul Deroulade, at the table, in the front room, up one flight, on the corner overlooking the Madeleine.

Here was the centre of interest that night,--that room in the Cafe Durand. Would "Le brav' General" press the button there, spring his _coup d'etat_, show himself to the crowd, and proceed triumphantly from there to the Elysees? That was what the crowd expected. That was what it wanted. I was outside with the crowd. R-H. was inside, sketching. It was marvellous how quickly he worked.

The crowd knew that Boulanger was in the Cafe {272} Durand; they knew that Jacques was in a cafe on the opposite side of the way; they knew which was the winner. And the thoroughfares were packed with people. They wanted to march, they wanted to sing, they wanted to cheer. But nobody started them. There was no demonstration. Neither side wished a demonstration to go the wrong way. Both sides knew that the government had determined to put down riots, revolutions, and disorders. But why did n't somebody _start something_? Jacques, being defeated, did not show himself. Boulanger was victorious, but he did not show himself. The crowd moved back and forth, packed within the boulevards. But nothing happened. No hero appeared at a window; nobody made a speech; not a curtain was drawn aside; not a flag fluttered. By midnight the crowd had gone home to bed.

And that is why I prophesied that night Boulanger's utter collapse and his probable flight for safety. Little wisdom was required to make the prophecy. A man who has the ball at his foot and doesn't kick it is not the "saviour" of a nation. Boulanger had lost his chance. The next day he was no longer the most popular of Frenchmen.

He "saved France" by his failure.

A little later he fled to Belgium. A little later still he turned up in London, as I have said. But he did not stay long at the Hotel Bristol. He took a furnished house, Number 51 Portland Place, brought his horses from Paris, and gave out that he would ride in the Park at the fashionable hour. But he did not ride. And as he did not keep his word {273} in so small a matter, London lost what small interest it had in him when he did ride, or when he received. One day "a grand Boulangist demonstration" was announced to take place at the Alexandra Palace. Proceedings, more or less elaborate, were advertised, and they were to end with a "banquet" at five shillings a head. Covers were to be laid for twenty-six hundred persons. Only six hundred persons appeared. Boulanger was to be "the lion of the season." I don't know who thought so besides himself. He issued an address "To the People; My Sole Judge", meaning the people of Paris. The address was nine columns long!

It fell to my lot to interview him on two or three occasions. I did not wish to do so, but there were requests from headquarters. Each time he sang the old songs. The interview that you had with him one week would do for another, with the change of a few words. He really liked to talk. He pretended that he disliked being interviewed on political subjects, but that was mere mock-modesty. He spoke English well enough. In fact, he had been a schoolboy at Brighton, and he had represented France at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia in 1876. He was merely "layin' low" that day in Paris, like Brer Fox, only he was not Brer Fox, his one desire being not to have anything said or done on the twenty-seventh of January that would give the Government an excuse for a raid on his designs. I think he was rather a pitiable object. Few others thought so before the twenty-eighth of January, 1889. He was merely a mechanism for the issue of {274} promissory notes. It was about two years after his arrival in London that he committed suicide on the continent.

How well he illustrated Lincoln's saying about "fooling the people"! But he did not fool himself. He was the tool of more designing persons.

"_C'est une chose faite._"

{277}

INDEX

Aberdeen University, 85

Acting, art of, 187, 188, 191

Admiralty, the, 11

Agassiz, Mrs., 128

_Alaska_ (steamer), 6

Albert Hall, 16

Aldrich, Thomas Bailey, anecdote of, 227-228; on Tennyson Memorial committee, 128

Aldworth, summer home of Tennyson, 125, 126

Aldwych, 11

Alhambra (music hall), 16

Alma-Tadema, Sir Laurens, 45, 52

_Alsatia_ (Anchor Line steamer), 1; description of, 3-4

"Altavona" (by Blackie), 87

Amiens, 24; cathedral of, 20

Anecdotes of Aldrich, 227-228; of Drummond, 181-182; of Gladstone, 232-233; of Tennyson, 121, 122-123, 129-130, 134, 136; of Whistler, 157-160, 162, 163, 164, 166-167

_Antiquary_ (magazine), 133

Architecture of London, 10-13

_Arizona_ (Guion Line steamer), 6, 39

Arnold, Sir Edwin, quoted, 124

Artistic sensibilities, author's comment on, 237-238

Atelier Gleyre, Paris, 45

Bancrofts, The, 16, 53, 186

Barbour, Robert W., description of Professor Blackie, 92-95

Barrie, Sir James, 17

Beaconsfield, Lord, quoted, 142

Bell, Alexander Graham, brings telephone instruments to Europe, 106

Besant, Sir Walter, 17

Betterton, fame of, 185

Bismarck, 139

Black, William, 17, 53

Blackie, John Stuart, 79-95; ancestry and early life, 84-85; as a teacher, 85-86, 90; Barbour's word picture of, 92-95; comments on pictures in home, 88-89; compiles anthology of Scottish songs, 87; conversation of, 83-84; description of, 79-80, 81, 91; endows a professorship at Edinburgh, 87; home of, 87; lecture in Glasgow, 91; lecturer in Scotland, 86; love for Greek, 82, 90; novel by, 87; patriotism of, 87; portraits of, 88; quoted, 79-80, 81, 82-83, 84, 85, 86-87, 89, 90, 91, 95; study of, 90; works of, 86-87

Blackwood, 53

Booth, Edwin, 186; art of, 192

_Boston Courier_, author's first copy published in, 28

_Boston Herald_, author's engagement with, 39-41; author's article published in, 248

Bottomley, Dr. J. T., assistant to Lord Kelvin, 106

Boulanger, General, 260-274; address of, 273; arrival in London, 260-261; as candidate for French Parliament, 261, 264-265; at cafe dinner, 271; author's impressions of, 268, 269, 270, 272, 273-274; collapse and flight, 272; committed suicide, 274; demonstration for, at Alexandra Palace, 273; description of, 269-270; drawn by Raven-Hill, 269, 271; elected to Parliament, 266; interviewed, 273; "man on horseback," 268-269; Minister of War, 270; represented France at Centennial Exposition, 273

Braddon, Miss, 17

Bridge, Sir Frederick, organist at Westminster Abbey, 53, 55, 56

Brixton (London), 2, 3

Browning, Mrs., quoted, 52, 54

Browning, Robert, burial in Westminster Abbey, 51-56; death of, 51; friendship with Moscheles, 42, 44, 47, 50; portrait of, 46

Bryce, Lord, 52

Buildings, discomfort of some English, 13; interiors of English, 12-13; London public, 11, 12; warming of English, 12-13

Burbage, fame of, 185

Burdett-Coutts, Baroness, welcoming Stanley, 206, 207

Burne-Jones, Sir Edward, 53

Burns, John, 222; agitator in "Dock Strike," 223, 229-234; anecdote of Gladstone, 232-233; day with Meredith, 224-234, 238; dress, 234, 239; hobbies of, 226-227; meetings with author, 223, 229-234, 238, 239

Busses, 13-14

Butler, Doctor (of Trinity College), 53

Cable, first Atlantic, 100; broke, 101; final success of, 102; first message over, 101; laid, 101; Lord Kelvin's connection with, 100; operated, 101

Cadogan Gardens, home of Moscheles in, 42, 47, 50

Cafe Royal, 16

Calais, 18

Cameron, Mrs., 115; anecdote of, 115-116; description of, 115, 116, 117; distributes her photographs, 122; encounter with Garibaldi, 116; energy of, 119; letter quoted, 123-124; photographs of Tennyson, 117-118

Canterbury, 18; Archbishop of, 54

Capel, Monsignor, 34-39; author's meeting with, 35; visit to, 37-38; death, 39; description of, 35-36, 37; goes to America, 39; home of, 36; hospitality of, 37; loss of standing, 38; pamphlet by, 38

Carlton, Hotel, 16

Carlyle, Thomas, 162; Whistler's portrait of, sold, 166-167

Carlyle Mansions, 165

Cecil, Hotel, 15

Cedar Villa (Kensington), tenants of, 36, 37

Cederstroem, Baroness, _see_ Patti

_Century Magazine_, 45

Chelsea Hospital bombed, 135

Cheshire Cheese, London, 260

Cheyne Walk, Whistler's house in, 161; author's home in, 49, 161, 164, 222

Cinema, limitations of, 186-187

Civil War, American, Gladstone's attitude toward, 143

Clemenceau, 139, 140

Cleveland, Grover, portrait of, 46

Coliseum the, 16

Colvin, Sir Sidney, 52

Committee Room Fifteen, 240, 241

Comparison of English and American heating, 12-13; of French and English, 19; of sea travel, 3, 4-5

Craig-y-Nos Castle (home of Patti), 57; beauty of, 61; description of, 71-72; entertainments at, 74; evenings at, 70; guests at, 58-59, 71; lantern show at, 77; life at, 71; meals at, 60, 61, 67; merriment at, 68; orchestrion at, 70; party at, 76-77; salute to author from, 78; theatre in, 72; treasures of, 75; view from, 60

Criterion (restaurant), 16

Davy, Sir Humphry, 110

De Keyser's Academy (Antwerp), 45

Deland, Margaret, on Tennyson Memorial Committee, 128

"Dimbola" (home of Watts, and later of Mrs. Cameron), 115, 119

Dollis Hill (Lord Aberdeen's home), 153, 154

"Dombey and Son", clothiers, 1

Drummond, Henry, 170-184; achievements of, 178, 182; anecdote of, 181-182; capacity for friendship, 171; death, 184; description of, 172, 174, 176; financial independence, 179; friendship with D. L. Moody, 171, 178; geologist, 174; home, 175; lecturer at Lowell Institute, Boston, 175; opinion of Gladstone, 184; optimism, 181; popularity of books, 171, 172, 174; professor in Free Church College, at Glasgow, 174; quoted, 171, 172, 177, 179-181, 182-183, 184

Drury Lane Theatre ("Old Drury"), 16, 90

Du Maurier, George, 53

Edinburth, 79, 80; University, 85

Electricity, first house in Britain lighted by, 105; transmission of, 102-103

Emerson, Ralph Waldo, quoted, 109

Emin Pasha, 205

Empire (theatre), 16

English discomforts, 13; ills, 13

"Essays on Social Subjects" (by Blackie), 86

Fame, length of an actor's, 186

Faraday, Michael, discovery of, 101

Farrar, Dean, 53

Farringford (home of Lord Tennyson), 114; description of, 119, 126; views from, 120

"Felix Mendelssohn's letters to Ignaz and Charlotte Moscheles", 44

Fenchurch Street Station (London), 1, 7

Field, Cyrus, connection with laying American cable, 101

Fields, James T. (publisher), 130, 131

Fields, Mrs. James T., on Tennyson Memorial Committee, 128

Fleet Street, 8, 15, 26

Flint Cottage, Box Hill (Meredith's home), 223-224

Floyth, Mrs., housekeeper to John Stuart Mill, 7-8

Foch, General, 139

Forbes-Robertson, Sir Johnston, 16, 187

Ford, Sheridan, pursuit of, by Whistler, 160-161

"Four Phases of Morals" (by Blackie), 86

France formerly considered England's potential enemy, 252

Free Church College, Glasgow, 174

French and English, comparison of, 19

Freshwater, Isle of Wight, 117, 118, 122; author's fondness for, 114, 115; description of, 114; Lady Ritchie's home at, 134-135; life at, 136; Tennyson's home at, 114; Walker's theory regarding its antiquity, 131-133; Watts' home at, 115

Froude J. A. (historian), 52

Garibaldi at Farringford, 116

Garrick, fame of, 185

"Gentle Art of Making Enemies" (by Whistler), 158, 159, 160, 161

Gladstone, Rt. Hon. W. E., 138-156; achievements of, 138; attitude toward American Civil War, 143, toward Irish question, 143; at Lord Aberdeen's house, 153-154; as an actor, 152; author's opinion of, 140, 141-142, 144, 145, 148, 150; Burns' story of, 232-233; Drummond's opinion of, 184; eloquence of, 138, 140, 141-142, 156; energy of, 145, 150; face of, 148, 151; influence of, 138, 151, 155; integrity of, 139; interest in causes, 143, 153; leadership, 141, 151, 153; letter to Patti, 62-63; object of adulation and hatred, 142-143; opinion of Turks, 138; power of concentration, 152, 153; quotation from Morley's "Life" of, 141; quoted, 146-147, 150; tribute at Manchester, 149-150; unsurpassed as a talker, 138

Glasgow University, 97, 99

Gordon, Gen. C. G., as a fighter, 147

Gounod, portrait of, 46

Grand Hotel, 15

"Great Britain and Rome" (pamphlet by Capel), 38

Great Central Hotel, 16

_Great Eastern_ (cable-laying ship), 112

Greeley, Horace, handwriting of, 188-189

Grove, Sir George, 53

Hambourg, Mark, description of, 47-48

Hanway, Jonas, 15

Hare, John, 16, 53, 186

Harrison, Frederic, 52

Harte, Bret, 53, 217

Hats, 15

Hay market Theatre, 16

Haythornthwaite, Father Peter, friend of Tennyson, 122, 126

Heating, comparison of English and American, 12-13

Helmholtz, quoted, 110

Heyermans (artist), 45

Hippodrome, 16

Holborn Restaurant, 16

Holborn Viaduct, lighting on, 9

Holmes, Doctor Oliver Wendell, on Tennyson Memorial Committee, 128

Holyoake, George Jacob, portrait of, 46

Home Rule cause (Ireland), 251, 252, 253, 256

"Homer and the Iliad" (by Blackie), 86

_Hooper_ (cable-laying ship), 112

Hotels, 15-16

Houghton, H. O., on Tennyson Memorial Committee, 128

Howe, Julia Ward, on Tennyson Memorial Committee, 128

Hughes-Stanton, H., R.A.; home of, 36

Hunt, Holman, 52, 216

"In Bohemia with George du Maurier" (by Moscheles), 44

Individuals and the masses, 197

Ireland, argument for majority rule in, 252-253; attitude in World War, 251; author's views on, 250-257; conditions in, 250; exempted from conscription, 251; Home Rule in, 251, 252; ideals of, 253; parties in, 254; racial differences with Great Britain, 252; vital part of England's political organism, 252

Irish question, 138, 143; ignorance of Americans concerning, 247, 249, 250, 254

Irving, Sir Henry, 16, 52, 185-204; air of authority, 201; achievements, 191; appeal to the eye, 192; as actor-manager, 193, 194; at Drury Lane, 190; author's opinion of acting, 191, 192, 193; burial at Westminster Abbey, 190; death, 188, 190, 204; delineation of character, 192; first-night customs, 204; first visit to America, 46; handwriting, 188, 189; hospitality, 202; in "Merchant of Venice", 193, 194, 195, 198; in private life, 201-202; limitations, 191; loss of popularity, 190; loyalty of public, 190-191, 197; management of Lyceum Theatre, 190; mannerisms, 188, 191, 194, 199-201; national figure, 188; place as an actor, 187-188, 204; signature, 189; supper parties, 203-204

Israels, portrait of, 46

Jefferson, Joseph, 186

Jephson (Stanley's officer), 209-211

Jewett, Sarah Orne, on Tennyson Memorial Committee, 128

Joachim, violinist, friend of Moscheles, 45

Joule, James Prescott, 110; appreciated by Kelvin, 111

Journalist, as a party man, 146

Jowett, Professor, 53

Kelvin, Lord, 96-113; achievements of, 99, 112; acquires White's business, 100; addresses Royal Society in London, 104-105; ancestry, 98; appointed professor of Natural Philosophy, at Glasgow University, 97; character of, 97, 98, 108, 112; chooses title, 99; early days, 98; energy of, 96-97, 113; enters university at ten, 97; fiftieth anniversary at Glasgow, 109; first published papers, 110; fondness for asking questions, 108-109; greatest master of natural science of 19th century, 97, 107; installs telephone in home, 106; introduces electric lighting in home, 105; inventions of, 100, 106; lameness of, 103, 108; made a peer, 99; method of conducting classes, 103-104, 108; outlines plan of boy's education, 97-98; practicality of, 99-100, 103-104, 105; prophecy regarding electricity, 102-103; quoted, 110, 112, regarding energy, 111; Sir William Ramsay's opinion of, 103-104; study of, 112; theory of existence of organic life, 107; typical day of, 113; work on Atlantic cables, 100; yachtsman and master navigator, 106

Kendals, the, 16, 186

Kinglake, A. W., 52

Kingsway, 11

Kipling, Rudyard, 17

Knight, Professor (of St. Andrews University), 53

Knowles, James, of Nineteenth Century, designer of Tennyson's home at Aldworth, 125

Lablache, singer, friend of Moscheles, 45

_Lalla Rookh_, Lord Kelvin's yacht, 106

"Language and Literature of the Scottish Highlands" (by Blackie), 87

Lathrop, George Parsons, Boston editor, 28

Law Courts, the, 15

Leadenhall Street (London), 1, 2

League of Nations, 140

Lecky (historian), 52

Leighton, Lord, 53

"Letters, Poems, and Pensees" (Barbour), 92

"Life" of Gladstone, Morley's, quoted, 141

Li Hung Chang, as a questioner, 108-109

London, architecture of, 10-13; charm of, 10, 13; description of, 1, 2, 10; drawbacks, 9; Esperanto Club of, 48; "finest site in Europe", 11; former leisure of travel in, 13-14; hats in, 15; hotels in, 15-16; improvements of, 11; interiors of buildings, 12-13; in the late seventies, 9-17; lighting of, 9; most livable place in world, 9; music halls, 16; public buildings of, 11; regiments in, 17; restaurants, 16; street cries in, 14; theatre crowds, 194, 195-196, 197; ugliness of modern, 11; views in, 12; writers in, 16-17

London Bridge, 17

"London Letters" of author, 29, 30

Lowell Institute, Boston, Drummond lectures at, 175

Lubbock, Sir John (Lord Avebury), 52

Lyceum Theatre, 187, 202; author's experiences in attending, 194, 195-196; great productions at, 193, 194, 200; management of Irving, 190

Mackenzie, Sir Morell, description of Patti's throat, 69

Macmillan (publisher), 53

Maiden's Croft, Farringford, Isle of Wight, 120

Malibran, singer, friend of Moscheles, 45

Mann, Tom, portrait of, 46

Manning, Cardinal, 39

Marchmont Street (London), 7

Maris (artist), 45

Martin, Sir Theodore, 53

Masson, Professor, 53

Mazzini, portrait of, 46

Memorial to Lord Tennyson, 127-129; American contributors to, 128; inscription on, 128, 129

Mendelssohn, friendship with Moscheles, 43, 45

Meredith, George, 16, 52, 222-239; conversation with John Burns and author, 229-234; day with, 224-234, 238; description of, 224-225, 234-236; publisher's reader, 227, 236-237; sensitiveness, 236; strength of perception, 235; tribute to Thomas Bailey Aldrich, 227; voice, 225, 234

Metropole (hotel), 15

Mifflin, George H., on Tennyson Memorial Committee, 128

Moody, D. L. (revivalist), 171; tour with Sankey and Drummond, 178

Morland, George, 118

Moscheles, Charlotte, portrait of, 46

Moscheles, Felix, 42-50; attainments of, 43, 46; birth, 43; celebrated friends of, 45; death, 43; fellow students, 45; friendship with Browning, 42, 44, 47, 50; godson of Mendelssohn, 43; home in Cadogan Gardens, 42, 46, in Elm Park Road, 47; hospitality of, 47, 50; interest in Esperanto, 48; literary work of, 44-45; meeting with Du Maurier, 45, with Stepniak, 49; moved to Leipzig, 45; "Pictures with a Purpose", 46-47; portraits painted by, 46; study in Antwerp, 45, in Paris, 45; Sunday afternoons with, 44, 49-50; visited America with Irving and Terry, 46; water colours of, 46

Moscheles, Ignaz, 43; friendship with Mendelssohn, 43, 45; moved to Leipzig, 45

Muller, Max, 52

Murray, Henry, disappointment of, 6; in London, 7, 39; on board the _Alsatia_, 5

Murray, John, 53

"Musa Burschicosa" (by Blackie), 87

National Gallery, 10

Nationalist Party, 250, 251, 253, 254; death of, 250; speeches of, 250

"Natural Law in the Spiritual World" (by Professor Drummond), 172, 173-174

Neilson, Adelaide, 16

Nelson (Stanley's officer), 209, 211

Newport (Isle of Wight), 114

_New York Tribune_, appeal for Tennyson Memorial in, 128; author's article in, 49

Niagara, plan to harness, 102

_Ninetetnth Century_, 125

Normandy, cottages of, 23; ducks of, 22-24; hospitality of, 21-22, 24, 25; peasants of, 23

Northumberland Ave., London, 15

Norton, Professor Charles Eliot, on Tennyson Memorial Committee, 128

Old Adelaide Gallery (Gatti's restaurant), 16

"On Beauty" (by Blackie), 87

"One of Our Conquerors" (Meredith), 227

O'Reilly, John Boyle, 247

Organic life, Kelvin's hypothesis concerning, 107

O'Shea, Captain (divorce case of), 240, 248, 256

"Ouida", 17

"Our Boys", run of, 16

Paget, Sir James, 53

Palazzo Rezzonico, Venice, 51

Paris, Election at, 261, 264-266, 271-272

Parke (Stanley's officer), 209, 211

Parliament Buildings, 10

Parnell, Charles Stewart, 138, 143, 240-274; characteristics, 257-258; eludes author, 242-245; elusiveness of, 242, 246; love affair, 256; "mystery" of, 241, 257; object of, 255; Parliamentary leader of Irish, 241, 252, 253; tastes, 258; wife's book about, 256-257

Parnell Commission, 240

Patti, Mme. Adelina (Baroness Cederstroem), 57-78; appreciation of Scalchi and Annie Louise Carey, 77; ancestry, 66; as a linguist, 61-62; care of voice, 69-70; collection of photographs, 75; description of, 58, 59, 64-65; first appearance before royalty, 65; generosity of, 76; gifts to, 75-76; illness, 67; letter from Gladstone, 62-63; London debut at Covent Garden in "La Somnambula", 65; love of theatre, 74; modesty of, 64, 66; proudest experience, 63-64; Rothschild's dinner to, 63, 66; singing of, 68, 70-71, 72, 73; tribute from Prince of Wales (Edward VII), 63-64

Pearson, J. L., designer of Tennyson Memorial, 128

Penwylt, Wales, 57

Phoenician remains at Weston Manor, 133-134; route to Cornwall through Freshwater, 132-133

"Pinafore", run of, 16

Pinero, Sir Arthur, 16

Plays and players, 16

Plunket, Baron, 186

"Poetical Tracts" (by Blackie), 87

Politics, author's views on, 139, 140, 145-146, 155

Portman Rooms, London, 216

Poynter, Sir E. J., 52

Prince of Wales' Theatre, 16

Prince of Wales (Edward VII), tribute to Patti, 63-64

_Punch_, 162, 262

Queen Square, London, author's rooms rear of, 7, 8

Queen's Hall, 16

"Quill Club", 8

Rachel, fame of, 185

Ramsay, Sir William, 107; opinion of Lord Kelvin, 103-104

Raven-Hill, L., cartoonist for _Punch_, 262; draws Boulanger, 267, 270, 271; illustrated author's articles, 262-263; work of, 263

Receptions, Irving's "first-night", 203-204

Redmond, John, on Ireland, 250; power of, 253

Regiments, dress of, 17

Restaurants, 16

Rice, James, 17

Ritchie, Lady, charm of, 136-137; death of, 134; escape from German bomb, 135; home in Isle of Wight, 134-135; quoted, 135; stories of Tennyson, 136

Ritz, Hotel, 16

Roche, Jeffrey, 247, 250; learns about Parnell from author, 247-249

Rochester, 18

Rodin, Auguste, 30; first article about, 31; gift to the author, 31

Rothschild, Alfred, dinner to Patti, 63, 66

Rouen, 24

Royal Academic Institute of Belfast, 99

Royal Academy, 30

Royal Society in London, Lord Kelvin's address to, 104-105

Rubinstein, portrait of, 46

Rumford, Count, 110

St. Ange, Raoul de, author's acquaintance with, 20-27; visit to Normandy with, 20-25

St. Boniface Down, Isle of Wight, 120

St. James Hall, 16

St. James Restaurant, 16

St. Paul's Cathedral, 10

Sala, George Augustus, 32, 33-34; conversation with author, 32-34

Salisbury, Lord, 143, 240; mistake of, 143-144; tribute to Lord Kelvin, 106-107

Sankey, Ira (revivalist), 178; tour with Moody and Drummond, 178

Sarasate, portrait of, 46

Savoy Hotel, 15

Scala (theatre), 16

Scarsdale Lodge (Kensington), famous tenants of, 36

"Scottish Songs" (by Blackie), 87

Separatist Cause (of Ireland), 253

Serpentine Bridge (Hyde Park), 12

Shaftsbury Ave., 11

Siddons, Mrs., fame of, 185

Sinn Feiners, 254

"Siphon Recorder", invented by Lord Kelvin, 100, 101

Smalley, George W., appeal for Tennyson Memorial, 128

Smith, George Murray (Browning's publisher), 53

"Songs and Legends of Ancient Greece" (by Blackie), 87

"Songs of Religion and Life" (by Blackie), 87

Sothern, E. A., 16; homes of, 36; hospitality of, 36, 37

Spottiswoode (publisher), 53

Stairs (Stanley's officer), 209, 211

Stanley, Sir Henry M., 205-221; address at St. James Hall, quoted, 209-210, 211-212; "American dinner" to, 212-220; character of, 205; experience with an election crowd, 220-221; famous march into Africa, 209, 210; member of Parliament, 220, 221; portrait of, 46; quoted, 217-219, 220-221; return to London, 205-207; temper of, 205; tribute to his officers, 211

Stephen, Sir James Fitzjames, 53

Stephen, Leslie, 53

Stephenson, Robert, 100

Stepniak, description of, 49; meeting with Moscheles, 49; portrait of, 46

Stoker, Bram (Irving's manager), 189; handwriting of, 189

Strand, 15

Street cries of London, 14

"Sublime Society of Beefsteaks", 202

Submarine telegraphy, 100, 101

Talma (actor), fame of, 185

Telephone brought to Europe, 106; installed in Lord Kelvin's house, 106

Temple Bar, 15

Tennyson, Hallam (second Lord), son of poet, 53, 126

Tennyson, Lord (the poet), anecdotes of, 121, 122-123, 129-130, 134, 136; brother of, 125; buried in Westminster Abbey, 126; description of, 121; devotion of son, 126; "Dirty Monk" photograph of, 117-118; family life, 126; letter in _Times_ regarding, 129-130; life at Farringford, 126; memorial to, 127-129; peculiarities of, 125; persons who resembled him, 125; photographs of, 117-118; proud of his fame, 124; sincerity of, 130; summer home of, 125

"Tennyson's Down", 127

Tennyson's Lane, 115, 119, 120

Terry, Ellen, achievements as actress, 198; art of, 187; at Irving's supper parties, 202; at Lyceum Theatre, 187; charm of, 197-198; first visit to America, 46

Thames Embankment, lighting on, 9

"The Artist's Mother" (Whistler), portrait sold to France, 167

"The Briary" (home of Watts), 115

"The Greatest Thing in the World" (Drummond), 172, 174

_The Pilot_, 247

"The Porch", Lady Ritchie's home, 135

"The Uniform Motion of Heat in Homogeneous Solid Bodies, and Its Connection With The Mathematical Theory of Electricity" (by Lord Kelvin), 110

Thomson, James, brother to Lord Kelvin, 98

Thomson, James, father of Lord Kelvin, 98; scholarship of, 98-99

Thomson, William, invented the "Siphon Recorder", 101; _see_ also Lord Kelvin

_Times_, London, quoted, 129-130

Tottenham Court Road, 16

Tower House, Chelsea (Whistler's home), 158, 161

Travel, comparison of sea, 3, 4-5; in London, 13-14

Tussaud, Madame, 216, 234

Ulster, ideals of, 253; problem of, 253

Van Lorino, Moscheles' teacher, 45

Vaudeville, the, 16

Vaughan, Dean, 53

Very's (restaurant), 16

Victoria (hotel), 15

Victoria Street (London), 11

Victoria Tower, 12

Walker, Robert, 131; theory regarding age of Freshwater, 132-133

Ward, "Ideal", in Freshwater, 122

Warren, Arthur, account of "American Dinner" given to Stanley, 212-220; acquaintances in Paris, 18-19; acquaintance with Henry Murray, 6, 7, with Moscheles, 43, 50; acts upon Whistler's advice, 164; appointed London correspondent to _Boston Herald_, 41; appreciation of Rodin, 30, 31; arrival in London, 1-2; becomes an amateur journalist, 26-27; brings Moscheles and Stepniak together, 49; comment on artistic sensibility, 237-238, on teetotalism, 202-203; day with Meredith, 223-238; day with John Stuart Blackie, 79-95; describes Browning's burial, 51-56; describes early career, 28-29; desire to write, 6; dinner with Whistler, 160; engaged as journalist by _Boston Herald_, 40-41; evenings with Henry Drummond, 170-173, 175-176, 177, 179-181; experiences attending Lyceum Theatre, 194-196; experience with Parnell, 242-245; first newspaper copy, 28-29, sees Browning, 47, sees Stanley, 206, sees Tennyson, 121, trip to Paris, 18, work in London, 6; friendship with Lady Ritchie, 134, 135, 136, with Lord Kelvin, 97, with Whistler, 157-164, 165-169; homes in London, 7, 8, 49, 157-158, 161, 164, 222; in France, 18-27; interview with Boulanger, 273, with Monsignor Capel, 35, 37-38; joins Committee on Tennyson Memorial, 127-128; last visit to Isle of Wight, 134-135; learning London, 7; "London Letters", 29, 30; makes a study of British municipal policy, 176-177; meeting with Irving, 200-201, with George Sala, 32, with John Burns, 223, 229-234, 238, 239, with Monsignor Capel, 35; memories of Lord Kelvin, 96-113, of father's burial, 56; native of Boston, 1; opinion of Boulanger, 268, 269, 270, 272, 273-274, of British character, 196-197, of Gladstone, 140, 141-142, 144, 145, 148, 150, of Irving's acting, 191, 192, 193, 194, 199, of Parnell, 255, 256, 257-259; plans articles for American papers, 31, 32; recollections of first three weeks in London, 3; seasickness, 4-5; sees Irving for first time, 192; sounds Whistler regarding American commission, 168-169; Sunday Smoke Talks at home, 162; trip to Paris to interview Boulanger, 261, 263-272; views on Irish question, 250-257, on politics, 139, 140, 145-146, 155; visits to America, 32, 39, 41, 160, 238, 247, to Freshwater, Isle of Wight, 114, 115, 118, 136, to Normandy, 20-25, to Patti's home, 57-78; voyage to England in 1878, 3-5

Waterloo Bridge, 12

Waterloo Place, 12

Watts, George Frederick, 115

Westminster Abbey, 10, 12; Browning's burial in, 51-56; Poets' Corner in, 55; Tennyson buried in, 126

Westminster Bridge, 12

Weston Manor, Freshwater, 122; Phoenician remains at, 133

Whistler, James A. McNeill, 52, 157-169; anecdotes of, 157-160, 162, 163, 164, 166-167; as a neighbour, 164, 165; called "butterfly with a sting", 165-166; champion of art, 164-165; characteristics of, 157, 163, 169; description of, 157, 163; dinner at house of, 160; goes to author's Sunday Smoke Talks, 161-162; homes of, 158, 161; is offered a commission for decoration of Boston Public Library, 168-169; moves to Paris, 169; portrait of Carlyle sold, 166-167; pursuit of Sheridan Ford, 160-161; suggests decoration of author's flat, 104; "The Artist's Mother", portrait, sold to France, 167

White, Henry, American Ambassador, 216-217

White, James, manufacturer of instruments of precision, 100

Whitehall, 11

Whitehouse, 101

Wilson, Woodrow, policy of, 138, 156

Wolseley, Lord, 52

Wood, Mrs. Henry, 17

Wores, Theodore, disciple of Whistler, 162

Writers in London, 16-17