chiffonier on which some books lay, he remarked, with a sigh, that many once-familiar faces had gone. "You have still some old friends at your back," observed Mr. Gage,* pointing behind Lever, who, turning rapidly round, found to his surprise "Harry Lorrequer," "Charles O'Malley," "Jack Hinton," and "Tom Burke." His fancy thus electrically touched, blazed into refulgence, and no more sighs were heard that night. His absence of vanity was, as usual, conspicuous. Mr. Gage having praised "Lorrequer," Lever merely said, "a poor thing-but how well Browne illustrated it"—and then restored the volume to its place. The tinge of sadness noticed by Dr. Shaw, Mr. Gage, and others, struck Dr. Nedley under circumstances which deserve to be described. At the Viceregal Lodge, it had so happened that as Lever entered the room filled by many persons, all chatting in groups, his name by some mistake was not announced, and nobody greeted the distinguished visitor or seemed to notice him. Lever retired to a corner, sat down, and as he placed his head on his hand, an expression of intense melancholy overspread his features. Dr. Nedley from the published portraits of Lever at once recognised him and took advantage of his position, * The father of Mr. Gage was a clergyman in Derry with whom Lever had been associated in early life. The parson's wife kept a medicine chest for the relief of local sufferers, and one of the bottles bore the then wellknown label of "Lever's Specific." This, which was quite original in its character and composition, enjoyed, Mr. Gage says, a wonderful reputation in Ulster. as one of the Household, to advance and make himself known. In a moment Lever was all animation, assured him that he had been urged by more than one mutual friend to meet the pleasant anecdotist, grasped him by the hand and compared notes. Touching an incident in one of Nedley's stories, Lever said, "It reminds me of my old friend Anster, the translator of Faust, who was called to the Bar, but after one successful circuit, cut it. An interesting looking man, with a previously good character was, on purely circumstantial evidence, tried for agrarian murder. Anster felt acutely for his position, defended him ably, and got him off. The man overwhelmed his deliverer with gratitude; Anster participated in his emotion. He left the country, but a knock at Anster's door when he was one night buried in his papers, led him to answer it himself. Anster, at all times very absent, now, on recognising his former client confounded his name with that of the murdered man, and exclaimed, 'What! Kelly?' 'No, your honour,' was the reply, 'I am the boy that shot him!' Anster was almost equally shot by the announcement, tottered back appalled, and with that womanly voice which his friends well remember, tremulously told the murderer to be off!" "Lever sat with me for a long while in my room," writes the Lord-Lieutenant's private secretary. “We talked about his last novel, then coming out, in which Viceregal life and diplomacy were brought in. And then we got on to Ireland generally. I remember being COURTNAY BOYLE'S RECOLLECTIONS. 299 struck with the affection he seemed to feel for the Irish people. I myself was then rather discontented with the want of gratitude shown in my opinion by the Irish for Mr. Gladstone's magnanimous and determined endeavours to remove their grievances: and I felt that unreal grievances were being clamorously put forward by certain section, while no section showed much satisfaction. I also looked upon the continued agrarian difficulties as showing a misconception of the principles of justice and fairplay which was not creditable. Lever however defended the nation loyally. He urged that the general belief in the generosity and warm-heartedness of the people was not misplaced. He dwelt strongly and affectionately upon the many good qualities they showed individually, and said that too much importance was not to be attached to the outbreaks of lawlessness. All this I am stating from my memory of an interview which made much impression on me, but of which I kept no formal memoranda. Lever seemed feeble in health, but he was most pleasant, and the time which he spent in my room passed most rapidly. Lord Spencer afterwards expressed to me the pleasure he had derived from meeting him. Shortly after our chat I received a copy of his novel, and, alas! within a very brief period, I heard of his death." Lever spent some time in London, but it lacked the charm for him which most people prize. "Just as I feel the roll of the Atlantic is the finest bathing in * Letter of Courtnay Boyle, Esq. to the author, April 22nd, 1879. the world, if you be a strong swimmer," he soliloquised, "so do I believe there is nowhere like London to live in if you be rich enough. It's very poor fun, though, if you can only scramble and struggle, hold on by another, or shout for a lifebelt. In such a sad plight as this, I fancy I am just as well in shallow water, stagnant though it be, and a little muddy at bottom." Whatever he may have inwardly felt, Lever took pains to seem in thorough enjoyment. Mr. Edward Dicey who saw a good deal of him during this last visit to London, writes, "there never lived a human being so antipatico -to use an Italian phrase-to cant of any kind. The rich joyous humour, the love of pleasant company, the taste for social enjoyment were as keen and bright in the old consul of Trieste as they had been in the young surgeon who walked the hospitals half a century ago." In addition to the usual expenses of London, he seems to have lost heavily at whist. Had the furrowed brow of calculation given place to the bright glow of the raconteur, his pocket would probably have made more gains. In his extremity he waited upon Mr. W. H. Smith, M.P., to whom he introduced himself, and asked as a favour that he would oblige him by a payment on account of the books in which the eminent firm of Smith and Son were pecuniarily interested. Mr. Smith, handing him a blank cheque, requested that he would fill for any amount most likely to convenience him. This privilege Lever declined; but he added, as he told what DUPED BY "THE CLAIMANT.” 301 passed, that Mr. Smith handsomely placed a large sum at his disposal. Cabi He now breathed more freely, and would derive real pleasure from a night spent at the Cosmopolitan Club, Berkeley Square. "This club," writes one who knows it, "is open only upon Wednesday and Sunday nights during the parliamentary session. The members stroll in from eleven o'clock at night to about three o'clock a.m. net Ministers, Ambassadors of all nations, members of the Legislature, eminent littérateurs, Royal Academicians repair thither for a gossip; and here, amidst the best talkers in the world, Charles Lever stood pre-eminent. As the wits and raconteurs at Wills' coffee-house were silent whilst Addison talked Spectator, so the members of the Cosmopolitan maintained a breathless attention when Lever talked Cornelius O'Dowd; and many a man has 'dined out considerably' upon a mot, and has, perhaps, established a reputation by the retailing of an anecdote recounted within the salons of the club by the fascinating Harry Lorrequer.' When I parted with Lever upon that evening, I felt justly elated at being enabled to amuse, if not astonish the most brilliant man of the day; but, upon a rigid self-examination, was somewhat disappointed upon discovering that instead of having been engaged in entertaining Lever, Lever had been entertaining me, and that I had not uttered a single sentence out of the veriest commonplace. Such was the charm of Lever's manner that he took you as it were from out yourself, and for the time infused his own |