Memoirs of the Life and Correspondence of Henry Reeve, C.B., D.C.L. Part 32

_November 17th_.--Dined at Lord Derby's with several of the ministers, and was introduced to Count Schouvaloff.

_20th_.--Dinner at home to the Jarnacs, Lady Derby, Lady Cowley, Lady Molesworth, Chief Justice c.o.c.kburn and A. Elliot. Several pleasant dinners through the winter.

_December 22nd_.--To Paris, with Christine and Hopie. Cold. On the 26th breakfasted with the Due d'Aumale, and went with him to the Inst.i.tute.

Evening, d.u.c.h.esse de Chartres. 27th, dined at Versailles with Thiers; Mignet, Barthelemy St.-Hilaire and Vacherot. It was on this occasion that Thiers related the story of the Duc d'Enghien.

_January 1st_, 1875.--We dined at the Emba.s.sy for the _Jour de l'an_. While there rain fell and the streets were covered with _verglas_. I walked with great difficulty to Thiers's at the Hotel Bagration, three doors off, where the scene was burlesque. Not a carriage could move; not a horse could stand; and the company walked home with napkins tied round their feet. [But Mrs. Reeve, who was at the dinner, wrote: Our _fiacre_ managed to crawl home with Hopie and me. Henry, who had gone to the Thiers's, returned safely on his feet tied up in dusters. M. Thiers suggested dusters on the hands also, so as to go _a quatre pattes_; but Henry did not become a quadruped. I was horribly uneasy till he came in, but his was the ludicrous side of the question; of the tragic, I heard next day plenty of instances.]

_January 3rd_.--Dined with the Duc de Nemours, and went to the d.u.c.h.esse Decazes's reception. Home on the 7th.

_From the Rev. G. W. c.o.x_ [Footnote: Now Sir George c.o.x, Bart.]

_February 5th_.--Nothing but lack of leisure has prevented me from expressing sooner the very hearty satisfaction and delight with which I have read and re-read your article on Mill's Essays. I suppose it is this article which has sent the 'Edinburgh' into a second edition. I am rejoiced to think that it is so. The ground which you take is, I feel sure, impregnable; but the force of your whole argument, which is much what I have tried to work out for years past, only makes me lament the more the folly of the line taken by most of the writers who shrink from the materialistic and atheistic philosophy of Mill and Tyndall--for the latter seems to put himself into the same boat. I believe that the thought of England is, on this subject, taking, or is likely to take, a very healthy turn, which such an article as yours must greatly promote.

_From M. B. St.-Hilaire_

Paris, February 5th.

My dear Reeve,--I have received your article on Mr. Stuart Mill, for which I thank you. I read it with the greatest interest, and congratulate you on your vigorous refutation of that supercilious and hollow materialism. I am glad, too, to see that you have profited by M. Dumas's last discourse on M.

de la Rive. You have done well to record these declarations of a permanent secretary of the Academy of Sciences. Unfortunately, M. Dumas's character has not the moral authority which is desirable in such serious matters.

His taking part in public business, far from increasing his credit, has lessened it; even his scientific standing has suffered; people doubt his sincerity; and his interested flattery of the Empire does not show that greatness and purity of soul which inspire confidence. He is, however, everywhere recognised as a man of great ability, and I am truly glad that he should be counted among the partisans of spiritualism. I believe the other permanent secretary of the Academy of Sciences is far from sharing these opinions; and it is, therefore, all the more important that M. Dumas should profess them publicly. With you, materialism is an exception and an eccentricity. With us, on the contrary, it is almost the rule of the learned world; and the Catholic clergy, given up to superst.i.tion and ultramontanism, do not in any way help us to combat it. It was an honour to the 'Edinburgh Review' to adhere so stoutly to the principles you uphold; and for this, it is indebted to you.

Agreez, mon cher Reeve, mes salutations bien cordiales, que je presente aussi a toute votre famille. Votre bien devoue,

B. ST.-HILAIRE.

The Journal continues:--

_March 6th_--Sir Arthur Helps died. [He caught a chill at the levee on the Monday, and died on the Sat.u.r.day.]

Charles Peel was appointed Clerk of the Council.

_22nd_.--Jarnac died--a great loss. I drove down with Lord Derby to the funeral.

_April 1st_.--Saw Salvini in 'Oth.e.l.lo' at Drury Lane. Very fine.

_2nd_.--To Christchurch. Roof on house at Foxholes. Garden beginning to be made. On the 6th, lunched with the Lord Chancellor at Bournemouth. Bought additional strip of land.

_From Professor Owen_

British Museum, May 13th.

My dear Reeve,--Two portraits would be famous and instructive and replete with interest to all ages; to wit: the one of Miss Reeve (?) [Footnote: Lady Smith. The (?) presumably is whether the portrait was taken before or after her marriage.] by Opie, showing the 'human face divine' in a female of the highest race of mankind, at her prime of beauty; and the second--could it but be got--by Millais, of Lady Smith, giving the characteristics of the same face, of the same individual, at a stage of human life never again likely to be a subject for art, under the same circ.u.mstances. For the 'Natural History of the Human Species,' such a pair of portraits would be notable in every work thereon, as well as in countless collateral works; and that to all time. The present opportunity is worth every exertion to availment; if lost, it is most improbable that it may ever again occur. Can you enlist your sympathy and aid in bringing this about? [Footnote: Sir Richard Owen succeeded in obtaining a pair of photographs, taken from the Ople and the life. His grandson, the Rev.

Richard Owen, has them now.]

Yours always truly,

RICHARD OWEN.

_From Lady Smith_

_Lowestoft, May 14th_.--Dear Mr. Reeve,--As we know not what the morning mail may bring forth, I look with impatient curiosity when I see letters on my breakfast table; so yesterday had the great pleasure of perceiving yours, knowing I should have something pleasant to hear, but little antic.i.p.ating what followed--the news of Arthur Stanley. To be remembered kindly by the Dean of Westminster, anywhere, is honour; but to be [so] in so distinguished a manner and in a place dedicated to [such] a name as Fox is an honour never to be forgotten. Besides the domestic blessings I enjoy, I also reckon that of living to witness the progress of a new Reformation, in which the Dean of Westminster is the brightest light; and who, like Shakespeare among the poets, stood on a higher pedestal than they--exalted and good men as they are. I always rejoice that the Dean of Christ Church, Oxford, and Stanley are good friends and worthy of each other. If I could write better, I would tell you what my friend Mr. Leson Smith said of the Greville Memoirs,, quite approving all of it. In a second letter he turns the shafts aimed at yourself upon the calumniator. The Dean of Oxford also approves. I am in better health than I was two years since, and have nothing to complain of but a failing sight, which hinders my expressions of grat.i.tude to you for your friends.h.i.+p to Pleasance Smith.

Oh that you were here to see the wild beauty of the heath and dunes--a cloth of gold far as the eye can reach!--what was the Field of Cloth of Gold to this!

Continuing the Journal:--

_May 20th_.--Went to Holland, by Harwich, to see the Queen. Dined with Her Majesty at the House in the Wood. On the 24th, breakfasted with the Queen in the boudoir at the end of the Gallery in the Wood. Charming spring morning. Went on to Aix. Home by Ostend on the 31st.

_June 15th_.--Helen Richardson was married to Sir Edward Blackett at Ottershaw. We went down the day before.

_22nd_.--The Queen of Holland came to London. Dined with Her Majesty at the Sandbachs' on July 1st. She came to see the statue of Lord Clarendon at the Foreign Office on July 2nd.

_July 6th._--I took the Queen of Holland to see the Novar pictures. Meadows Taylor stayed with us. Christine went to take the waters of St.-Honore in France.

Robert Lemon [Footnote: Son of Robert Lemon, a clerk in the State Paper Office, and editor of some of the Calendars of State Papers, who died in 1867.], my clerk for thirty-three years, died in a fit.

Reeve deeply felt the loss of one who had been for so long a.s.sociated with him; but, independently of this, Mr. Lemon's death at this particular time had an important influence on Reeve's immediate future. For some months he had been contemplating retiring from the office, which he had now held for close on forty years, in the view of devoting himself more exclusively to literary work--apparently to a task of some magnitude. He had also been in correspondence with Mr. Longman on a proposal from the firm that he should act as their literary adviser; and thus, after long consideration he had, on July 5th, mentioned, in a semi-official manner, his wish to retire in October. On July 6th he wrote to Mr. Longman, provisionally accepting the offer of the firm; but the next day had to write again--

What a world is this! On Monday I told the Duke [of Richmond] I would resign on October 25th. Yesterday evening, my chief clerk, Robert Lemon, had an apoplectic fit, and he died in the course of last night. He was a most excellent and valuable a.s.sistant to me, and I looked forward to him to drill in my successor. It may now become impossible for me to leave the office as soon as I meant to do, for poor Lemon and myself are the only two men who know the detail of the business, and I can't leave the department derelict.

It is a most melancholy and distressing occurrence.

_July 14th_.--It is clear that the vacancy which has occurred in this office will detain me here six months, and perhaps a year longer than I wished or intended. This being so, our arrangements must remain in abeyance, with entire liberty to you to renew or withdraw your offer. At this distance of time it is superfluous to discuss details, but if I accept the duties you propose to me, I should of course adapt my movements and residence to the exigency of the case. At present, I find my work here vastly increased, because I have to look more to the detail of the business.

The contemplated arrangement was thus postponed for the time, and was not again taken up in that form. Reeve continued--as he had long done--to act as confidential adviser to the firm; but he remained at the Council Office for another twelve years, and when he ultimately retired, it was not with the view of undertaking any heavy additional work. The Journal goes on:--

_August 2nd_.--To Paris. Met Christine at Dijon on the 3rd. Then by Dole to Vevay. Binet came. Met the Wodehouses. Visit to the Blumenthals at their _chalet_. 13th, to the Gorges du Trient, and so to Chamonix, with Binet and Christine. Splendid weather at Chamonix. 16th, St. Martin's; full moon rising behind Mont Blanc. 17th, to Chambery, St. Laurent du Pont, and the Grande Chartreuse--very interesting. Geneva on the 20th, and back to Vevay on the 21st. Thence to Besancon, Belfort, and Nancy. 27th, Metz. Drove round the fields of battle of Gravelotte and St. Privat. To Brussels, by Luxembourg. Bought furniture at Brussels for Foxholes. Home by Antwerp on September 1st.

_October 7th_.--To Bournemouth, to look over Foxholes. 26th, Timsbury.

_November 20th_.--House nearly finished. Christmas at Farnborough. The workmen left Foxholes on December 28th.

The Government bought the Khedive's shares in the Suez Ca.n.a.l. I attacked the bargain in the 'Edinburgh Review.'

But from the earliest inception of the Suez Ca.n.a.l, Reeve had strongly opposed it. He held, and in fact all history warranted him in holding, that the opening of a water-way through the isthmus would be more than prejudicial, would be destructive, to English interests. He was very far from being alone in this opinion; it was one which he shared with several of the most able and experienced men of the day, quite irrespective of party. France, on her side, indulged in golden dreams. The wealth and grandeur of mediaeval Venice was to find its counterpart in the commercial prosperity of Ma.r.s.eilles; and it is permitted us to believe that much of the enthusiasm which the scheme excited was due to the hope that it would irretrievably damage England. Hence, too, the ill will rising out of the disappointment, out of the conviction forced on the people of France that, far from injuring us, it has turned out altogether to our advantage. French skill constructed the ca.n.a.l, French capital paid for it. England stood aloof till success was achieved, and then hastened to reap the profit; then, by buying up the shares, doubled that profit; and since then, by the occupation of Egypt, has usurped the control of the whole. Never has there been such a case of the _Sic vos non vobis_; and the French are very angry. Reeve's constant and familiar intercourse with French society had necessarily taught him the opinions so universally held in France, and had persuaded him that the only safe plan for England was to have nothing to do with the pestilent thing. Disraeli, on the other hand, with a wider grasp of the situation, understood that, in this, at any rate, inactivity was not masterly, and that by boldness the enemy would be hoist with their own petard.

_From Lady Smith_

Lowestoft, December 5th.

Dear Mr. Reeve,--It gave me pleasure to see your handwriting again, and some surprise. In the first place, I must mention that I think you would prefer Opie's original portrait to that which I possess, which, though by Opie, is the copy of my portrait. When I last saw the original picture it was in the Royal Academy; where it is now, I do not know; but [that] may perhaps be ascertained. I must add that from its long residence in London it looked very dingy, and required a refreshment from some good picture-mender, and fresh varnish. If this picture is not come-at-able, I shall be happy to send that I have here, of which you will acquaint me, and send particular directions of the place and time it may be expected.

I am glad to hear you, and Mrs. Reeve, and my amiable young friend your daughter are well. I hear you are building a superb mansion at Bournemouth; a charming place, I have no doubt. My kind regards to you and them, from your attached friend, PLEASANCE SMITH.

Very sorry am I to hear of Lady Augusta Stanley's hopeless illness, and happy am I to observe the Dean's perpetual vigour. Long may he continue to illume the realm of mist in that Temple of Reconciliation where his light s.h.i.+nes in so brilliant a l.u.s.tre. In what a remarkable period do we live!

The picture by Opie was exhibited from Mr. Botfield's [Footnote: Beriah Botfield, of Deckel's Hill, s.h.i.+ffnal, Shrops.h.i.+re, and Grosvenor Square; died 1863.] collection (at one of the Old Masters' Exhibitions) about nine or ten years ago.