Chapter I: Front Matter

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FIFTY-ONE YEARS OF VICTORIAN LIFE

All Rights Reserved

FIFTY-ONE YEARS OF VICTORIAN LIFE

by

THE DOWAGER COUNTESS OF JERSEY

London John Murray, Albemarle Street, W. 1922

DEDICATED TO MY CHILDREN AND GRANDCHILDREN

Printed in Great Britain by Hazell, Watson & Viney, Ld., London and Aylesbury.

"What is this child of man that can conquer
Time and that is braver than Love?
Even Memory."
LORD DUNSANY.

Though "a Sorrow's Crown of Sorrow"
Be "remembering happier things,"
Present joy will shine the brighter
If our morn a radiance flings.

We perchance may thwart the future
If we will not look before,
And upon a past which pains us
We may fasten Memory's door.

But we will not, cannot, banish
Bygone pleasure from our side,
Nor will doubt, beyond the storm-cloud,
Shall be Light at Eventide.
M. E. J.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I

AN EARLY VICTORIAN CHILD

The Duke of Wellington--Travelling in the Fifties--
Governesses--"Mrs. Gailey"--Queen Victoria at
Stoneleigh--A narrow escape--Life at Stoneleigh--Rectors
and vicars--Theatricals pp. 1-22

CHAPTER II

A VICTORIAN GIRL

Mentone--Genoa--Trafalgar veterans--Lord Muncaster and
Greek brigands--The Grosvenor family--Uncles and aunts--
Confirmation--"Coming out"--Ireland--Killarney--The
O'Donoghue--Myths and legends--The giant Benadadda pp. 23-50

CHAPTER III

MARRIAGE

Fanny Kemble--An old-fashioned Christmas--A
pre-matrimonial party--Fonthill Abbey--Engagement--
Married to Lord Jersey pp. 51-64

CHAPTER IV

EARLY MARRIED LIFE

Lord Jersey's mother--In London--Isola Bella, Cannes--
Oxfordshire neighbours--Caversfield Church--Life at
Middleton--Mr. Disraeli--Froude and Kingsley--James
Russell Lowell--T. Hughes and J. R. Lowell--Mr. Gladstone
on Immortality--Thought-reading--Tom Hughes and Rugby,
Tennessee--Cardinal Newman pp. 65-93

CHAPTER V

BERLIN AND THE JUBILEE OF 1887

Sarah Bernhardt--Death of Gilbert Leigh--In Italy, 1884--
Court Ball in Berlin--The Crown Prince Frederick--Prince
Bismarck--Conversation with Bismarck--Bismarck and Lord
Salisbury--Thanksgiving Service--Trials of Court
Officials--The Naval Review--Knowsley--Apotheosis of the
Queen pp. 94-121

CHAPTER VI

GHOST STORIES AND TRAVELS IN GREECE

Lord Halsbury's ghost story--The ghostly reporter--A
Jubilee sermon--Marathon--Miss Tricoupi--Nauplia--The
Laurium Mines--Hadji Petros--Olympia--Zante pp. 122-140

CHAPTER VII

VOYAGE TO INDIA--HYDERABAD

Mr. Joseph Chamberlain--Departure for India--Colonel
Olcott and Professor Max Mueller--Sir Samuel Baker--
Mahableshwar--H.H. the Aga Khan--Races at Hyderabad--
H.H. the Nizam of Hyderabad--Purdah ladies--Breakfast in
a zenana pp. 141-161

CHAPTER VIII

MADRAS, CALCUTTA, AND BENARES

Brahmin philosophers--Faith of educated Hindus--
Theosophists at Adyar--The Ranees of Travancore--The
Princesses of Tanjore--"The Heart of Montrose"--The
Palace of Madura--Rous Peter's Sacred Door--Loyalty of
native Indians--Passengers on the _Pundua_--The Brahmo
Somaj--Maharajah of Benares--Marriages of infants and
widows pp. 162-187

CHAPTER IX

NORTHERN INDIA AND JOURNEY HOME

The Relief of Lucknow--View from the Kotab Minar--
Sekundra and Futtehpore Sekree--The legend of Krishna--
The Jains--The Maharajah of Bhownuggar--Baroda--English
as Lingua Franca--Meditations of a Western wanderer--An
English plum-pudding--The Greek Royal Family--Original
derivations pp. 188-211

CHAPTER X

WINDSOR--EGYPT AND SYRIA

Dinner at Windsor--Voyage up the Nile--Choucry Pasha,
Princess Nazli--The Pigmies--Inn of the Good Samaritan--
The Holy City--Balbec--Damascus, Lady Ellenborough--
Oriental methods of trade--Smyrna--Constantinople--The
Selamlik--The Orient Express--Story of a picture pp. 212-239

CHAPTER XI

FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF AUSTRALIA

War Office red tape--Balmoral--Farewell to England--
Voyage on the _Arcadia_--The Federation Convention--The
delegates--The Blue Mountains--Sir Alfred Stephen--
Domestic Conditions--Correspondence with Lord Derby--
Labour Legislation--The Ex-Kaiser--Lord Derby's poem pp. 240-265

CHAPTER XII

FURTHER IMPRESSIONS OF AUSTRALIA--NEW ZEALAND
AND NEW CALEDONIA

Yarrangobilly Caves--Dunedin--The New Zealand Sounds--
Hot Springs of New Zealand--Huia Onslow--Noumea--The
Governor of New Caledonia--The Convict Settlement--
Convicts in former days--Death of Lord Ancram pp. 266-286

CHAPTER XIII

TONGA AND SAMOA

Tongan ladies--Arrival at Apia--German plantations--R. L.
Stevenson--King Malietoa--The Enchanted Forest--King
Mataafa--The Kava Ceremony--A native dance--
Missionaries--Samoan mythology--Desire for English
protection--Visit from Tamasese--_An Object of Pity_--
Courage of R. L. Stevenson pp. 287-318

CHAPTER XIV

DEPARTURE FROM AUSTRALIA--CHINA AND JAPAN

Bushrangers--Circumstantial evidence--The Great Barrier
Reef--Coloured labour--Hong-Kong--Canton--The Viceroy of
Canton--Japanese scenery--Interview with the Empress--
The Sacred Mirror of the Sun Goddess--Christianity in
Japan--Daimios of old Japan--Japanese friends pp. 319-345

CHAPTER XV

JOURNEY HOME--THE NILE--LORD KITCHENER

The well-forged link of Empire--Columbus discovers
America--The Mayor cuts his hair--The pageant "America"--
Back at Osterley--The dahabyah _Herodotus_--Escape of
Slatin Pasha--How a King and an Arab evaded orders--The
Dervishes--Lord Kitchener pp. 346-368