John Patrick, Third Marquess of Bute, K.T. (1847-1900) Part 15

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The late Lord Bute was a remarkable character to the world at large, whether they knew him well or did not. To some it may often have seemed that he was out of place in the nineteenth century. His mind, his thoughts, his studies were so entirely thrown back into a past more or less remote; and I think, had he had more incentive to make known the objects and subjects of his researches, he would have left no mean name in the republic of letters. And even as it is he has left behind him a rectorial address to the University of St. Andrews, which contains, I think, one of the strangest, most pathetic, most striking pa.s.sages of eloquence with which I am acquainted in any modern deliverance.

This is high praise; but to those who are familiar with the pa.s.sages to which Lord Rosebery refers, it will not seem exaggerated or misplaced.

They form the peroration to Bute's inaugural address delivered at St.

Andrews on the occasion of his election to the lord-rectors.h.i.+p of that University; and they run as follows:--

On the 5th of March, in this year, I took a walk with Professor Knight to Drumcarrow. It was a fine, sunny day. We stood among the remains of the prehistoric fort, and looked over the bright view, the glorious landscape enriched by so many memories, the city of St. Andrews enthroned upon her sea-girt promontory, the German Ocean stretching to the horizon, from where it chafes upon the cliffs which support her walls. And we remarked how G.o.d and man, how nature and history, had alike marked this place as an ideal home of learning and culture. And then the view and the name of the Apostle together carried my thoughts away to another land and a narrower and land-locked sea. I do not mean that where Patrai, the scene of Andrew's death, looks from the sh.o.r.es of Achaia towards the home of {145} Ulysses over waters rendered for ever glorious by the victory of Lepanto. I do not mean the City of Constantine, where the first Christian Emperor enshrined his body, and where the union of ineffably debased luxury and ineffably debased misery, which drains into the Sea of Marmora, excites a disgust which almost chokes grief and humiliation. Neither do I mean those sun-baked precipices which, by the sh.o.r.es of the Gulf of Salerno, beetle over the grave where lies the body that was conformed in death to the likeness of the death of the Lord. I mean the land of Andrew's birth--the hot, brown hills, which, far below the general sea-level of the world, gird in the Lake of Gennesareth--that strange landscape which also is not unknown to me, the environing circle of arid steeps, at whose feet, nevertheless, the occasional brakes of oleander raise above the line of the waters their ma.s.ses of pink blossom, and whence the eye can see the snows of Hermon glistering against the sky far away;--and I pray that some words which he heard uttered upon one of those hills may be realised here--that the physical situation of this place may be but a parable of its moral position--and that it may yet be said of the House of the Apostle that "the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not, for it was founded upon a rock."[8]

In 1888 Mr. Gardner of Paisley, publisher of the _Review_, was honoured with the appointment of publisher to the Queen. Bute, who was interested in every detail concerning the periodical, wrote to the editor with one of his quaint comments:

_September_ 30, 1888.

I think it would be just as well that Gardner should put his Royal t.i.tle at the foot of the t.i.tle-page, as in his other publications, and just in the same way. {146} I suppose H.M. will not consider that she is thus made responsible for all the opinions to be found within. If she does, it will be time for her to say so when it strikes her.

I have just attacked a great frequenter and pillar of the Athenaeum Club for not having us taken in there; and I hope he will succeed in wiping this reproach from the inst.i.tution.

Bute's control of the _Scottish Review_ was maintained until the end of his life. The seventy-second and final number appeared in October, 1900, the month in which he died. Occasional entries in his diaries show that he had incurred very heavy expenses in connection with the _Review_--perhaps, from first to last, almost as heavy as those entailed on him by the establishment and support, twenty years before, of a Conservative daily newspaper in the heart of Liberal Wales. As he had not grudged that outlay in what he believed to be a good cause, so he did not consider the money expended on this literary enterprise to have been expended in vain. If the _Scottish Review_ under his control had not proved precisely a commercial success--and perhaps he had never really expected that it would--its conduct and management had at least provided him with congenial work and occupation during a period extending over several years. It afforded him a convenient vehicle for the publication of his curious researches into some of the obscurer corners of ecclesiastical and general history: it brought him into contact, either personally or by correspondence, with many distinguished scholars and men of letters whom he might otherwise have had no opportunity of knowing: it led indirectly to the forming of at least one intimate friends.h.i.+p which was the source of pleasure and interest to him until the {147} end of his life; and it brought him opportunities which he valued of playing the part of an unostentatious Maecenas--in other words, of giving practical encouragement to literary beginners in whom he discerned actual ability or promise for the future, enabling them to make their first public appearance in a periodical of repute, and thus a.s.sisting them to mount at least the first slopes of the Parna.s.sus to which they aspired.

[Sidenote: 1889, Death of Bishop Grant]

Reserved, undemonstrative, and cold as Bute was often deemed, there is abundant evidence that his colleagues and collaborators on the _Scottish Review_ appreciated highly the uniform courtesy, consideration, and kindness which they received at his hands. His real warmth of heart and loyal affection to his friends are well shown in the touching letter which he wrote on hearing of the death of his old and dear friend Bishop Colin Grant, who had not only contributed to the _Review_, but had given him, for many years past, constant and very highly valued a.s.sistance in his researches into the early history of Scotland.

_September_ 28, 1889.

My own feelings are divided between grief for the loss of my old and esteemed personal friend, and a sense of desolation, almost amounting to despair, at the loss which Scottish historical science has sustained. There must be among his papers ma.s.ses of notes which ought not to be lost to the world. I have written to his nephew to implore him not to let a single sc.r.a.p of paper be destroyed. As for himself, if we can only put aside our grief at the loss to ourselves, and at the apparent loss to the Church upon earth, we can only feel a curious joy as we picture his admission, far beyond the sphere where time works, into the blessed company of the just made perfect (especially those of our own land, on whose {148} earthly lives he loved so much to dwell[9]) and above all, into the very presence of their Divine Head, the great Shepherd of the sheep, Whom to please he so humbly and cheerfully devoted a lifetime in striving to serve His flock.

[Sidenote: Scottish Home Rule]

A short time before writing this tribute to his old friend and fellow-worker, Bute had attended a meeting held at Dundee to advocate the claims of Scotland to Home Rule--a claim which he regarded with a great deal of interest and not a little sympathy, as is evident from the article he wrote for the _Scottish Review_ (October, 1889) on "Parliament in Scotland." He thus gives his impressions of the meeting:

The Home Rule meeting in Dundee seemed to me to be really a sort of battle between Dr. Clark and the Edinburgh Executive on the one hand, who gave me the impression of being well-informed, able, and educated people, either Tories or very moderate Liberals, with whom I get on perfectly; and on the other hand the great body of delegates, who seemed to me to be extreme Radicals unconscious of their own ignorance.

Mrs. Maxwell Scott has read the proof of my forthcoming article, and is exceedingly pleased with it. The Home Rule people all wanted to know whether the _Scottish Review_ could not be turned into their monthly organ! but I replied that such a change would be equivalent to annihilation of what the _S.R._ was designed to be, has always been, and is.

Bute had already accepted an engagement to preside this year (1889) at the St. Andrew's Day dinner of the Scottish Corporation in London, but {149} was extremely dubious as to what kind of reception he would have from a company of whom many were doubtless quite out of sympathy with the views on Scottish Home Rule set forth in this article. His letter on this subject, expressing his obvious relief at the manner in which things had turned out, makes amusing reading:

Chiswick House, _December_ 1, 1889.

The St. Andrew's Day dinner came off last night. I had been extremely nervous about it, so that I could really take up nothing else until it was over. This was folly, and really almost sinful folly, because the desire to be liked is only vanity at bottom, and vanity is a b.a.s.t.a.r.d cousin to pride. But I knew also (and there I was on fair enough ground) that, although politics were not to be mentioned, the thing was in fact to be a political demonstration, and that it was not yours truly, John M. of B., who was to be placed in the chair, but the author of "Parliament in Scotland"; and the question was, how the Scottish commercial colony in London would receive him. It had even been publicly suggested in print that the charity should be boycotted because I had been asked to take the chair, "although, no doubt," (the writer charitably added,) "that must have been done before the article appeared." Well, the festival duly came off, and I think I was never more cheered in my life. They cheered for quite long periods every time I had to come forward, from the time I entered the drawing-room before the dinner. And I will not quote the language which was used to me about the speech which I made.

The interest which Bute had always felt in St. Magnus of Orkney since his visit, or pilgrimage, to the scene of the saint's martyrdom in his under-graduate days,[10] was evinced by the new and careful {150} investigations which he undertook in 1886, in view of an article on the subject in his _Review_. His cautious, yet reverent, att.i.tude towards the supernatural is well shown in a pa.s.sage of a letter to his publisher, relating to the local tradition about a perennially green spot of ground said to mark the site of Magnus's death in the isle of Egilsay:

I own that, with such information as I have ever had, together with my own recollections of the place, I am inclined to think that the phenomenon is, if not strictly miraculous, in the strongest sense of the word, a special intervention of Divine Providence, which may be called a preternatural testimony of G.o.d's favour towards His martyred servant.

Bute later entered into negotiations for the purchase of the site above referred to, with a view to its preservation; but this was not carried out. He also wrote at considerable length to his correspondents in Orkney, throwing great doubts (as he had done nineteen years previously) on the supposed bones (or "reliques," as he calls them) of St. Magnus preserved at Kirkwall--chiefly on account of the degenerate type of the skull. "It may be," he characteristically says, "that this only indicates a triumph of grace over nature. But it seems to me to be incompatible, I will not say with holiness, but with the intellectual, high-minded, and beautiful character and tastes of the Martyr." On these and other grounds he urges that the local photographer of the skull must be strictly enjoined not to circulate the photograph under false pretences.

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[Sidenote: Relics of St. Magnus]

A letter which Bute addressed (in Latin) to the Cardinal Archbishop of Prague as to reputed "reliques" of St. Magnus preserved in the cathedral there elicited no response. "The reliques of St. Magnus themselves," Bute wrote in some displeasure, "could not be more voiceless than the Cardinal of Prague in regard to my (I hope) courteously-worded request." Through Cardinal Manning, however, information finally reached him that the relics at Prague (venerated there for several centuries) included a shoulder-blade. This was missing from the bones in Kirkwall Cathedral--so far satisfactory; but they also included a s.h.i.+n-bone (_crus_), whereas the s.h.i.+n-bones (_crura_) at Kirkwall were complete and intact.[11] Bute's final conclusion (and the incident is recorded as showing the curious interest with which he pursued such minute investigations) was that the bones at Kirkwall were not St. Magnus's at all, but probably those of Earl St. Rognwald, nephew to St. Magnus, another Norse saint and hero venerated in the same locality. He thought it worth while to insert in the _Review_ a letter from Orkney informing him that there was a tradition in Egilsay that one would always find an open flower on the site of the martyrdom, and that the writer had found there on December 10, after heavy snow and gales, several daisies in full bloom.[12]

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The first two years of Bute's connection with the _Scottish Review_ were perhaps among the busiest of his life, not only because of the a.s.siduous care which, as we have seen, he devoted to the conduct and control of that journal, but also by reason of the increasing duties which devolved on him in connection with his extensive estates. To the latter he made very considerable additions at this period, increasing his Butes.h.i.+re property in 1886 by the acquisition of the island of c.u.mbrae from the trustees of the sixth Earl of Glasgow, and also purchasing in the following year the important estate of Falkland in Fife, to which was annexed an office of the greatest interest to him, the hereditary keepers.h.i.+p of the ancient palace of Falkland. In Cardiff, also, there was a great increase of business connected with the reorganisation of the vast docks. The new Roath Dock was opened in 1887 by his six-year-old heir, Lord Dumfries (his first appearance in public), and on the same day his youthful daughter cut the first sod of Roath Park, for which he had made a free gift of land valued at 50,000. His generosity was further shown after the disastrous failure of the Cardiff Savings Bank, when it was sought to make him liable as honorary president of the inst.i.tution. As soon as it was judicially decided that there was no claim whatever against him, he voluntarily contributed 3,000 towards making up the deficiency. In the previous year he had manifested his liberality towards his Scottish tenants by obtaining (in view {153} of the prevalent agricultural depression) an independent valuation of his farms in Bute, and reducing the rents by a third. It was not without reason that the local Liberal newspaper, in many respects even vehemently hostile to him, described him as "a just and generous landowner"; whilst in Cardiff this handsome tribute was paid to him by one extremely well qualified to p.r.o.nounce an opinion: "As regarded his estates, he was, of course, a most excellent and liberal landlord, as all who had the privilege of being his tenants would certainly admit."

[Ill.u.s.tration: FALKLAND PALACE.]

[Sidenote: 1889, A cathedral foundation]

Much of Bute's correspondence at this period is taken up with a scheme which he had greatly at heart, namely, the establishment of the full liturgical service of the Church at Oban, where his diocesan (the Bishop of Argyll and the Isles) had his see, and where he himself had built a handsome church. He was concerned that the canonical office of the Roman Breviary, for which he had so high a veneration, should not be recited daily in a single cathedral church throughout Britain;[13]

and he incurred a great deal of trouble and expense in his efforts that this reproach should be wiped out at least in one church in Scotland.

He defrayed the whole cost of organ and organist, choirmen and chorister-boys, inst.i.tuted and supported a convent-school for the education of the last-named, and paid a chaplain for the exclusive work of presiding in choir and singing the daily Ma.s.s. The question of providing a chaplain {154} exercised him much, and he wrote to a friend in Italy on this point:

_May_ 8, 1886.

I imagined that, the duties being light and the remuneration (I venture to think) adequate, a chaplain could easily be found; but the difficulties seem endless. Whether the cause be chronic ill-health, const.i.tutional indolence, or an entire want of interest in the Liturgy, I know not; but so far no priest has been found in England or Scotland able or willing to celebrate the daily sung Ma.s.s. Kindly set on foot inquiries among the unattached clergy of Rome, popularly known as _preti di piazza_--many of them, I believe, estimable priests, unoccupied through no fault of their own--and see if one can be found to supply our needs. Unexceptionable references would be, of course, required.

This and other difficulties were in time overcome, and the daily choral office was duly carried out for a period extending over several years, and was much appreciated by the numerous Catholic visitors who frequented Oban during the summer and autumn. Unfortunately it was not found possible to continue the daily services for any long time after the death of the founder.

Bute expressed, with his usual frankness, his sentiments on the subject of the rather nondescript festivals commonly known as "church openings":

Chiswick House, _April_ 17, 1886.

I am suffering much at present from the persistent wish of my Lord of Argyll to have what he calls an "opening" of the tin temple[14] in August--_i.e._ {155} during the tourist and shooting season. This anomalous celebration is not designed in honour of the inauguration for public wors.h.i.+p, which was last Sunday; nor its ecclesiastical blessing, which is arranged for an earlier date, nor the inception of the Divine office--but something in the nature of the "opening" of the Westminster Aquarium, a new Dissenting Chapel, munic.i.p.al washhouses, or a fancy fair, with (I presume) tickets, placards, and posters, and probably excursion-trains. The bishop seems moved by a conviction that the local Protestants are antic.i.p.ating a junketing of this kind with even more eagerness than the Catholics. But he is a gentleman; and I am sure when he knows how I hate the whole thing he will give it up.

[Sidenote: 1886, Church building in Scotland]

Besides the pro-cathedral at Oban, Bute was interesting himself this year (1886) in building a church at a mining town in Ayrs.h.i.+re, near Loudoun Castle, the ancestral home of his mother's family. Discarding, as usual, conventional ideas, he chose for his model the great church of St. Sophia at Constantinople, of which the church at Galston was a carefully-executed miniature copy. One of the first solemn services held in it was a Requiem Ma.s.s celebrated for Lord Loudoun's sister, Flora d.u.c.h.ess of Norfolk, who died on April 11, 1887. Lord and Lady Bute attended her funeral at Arundel, and also that of Clara Lady Howard of Glossop, Lady Bute's sister-in-law, whose death occurred a few days later.