Every prospect pleases and only man is vile, we murmured, as the shadow of a cloud floated across the bright yellow grass on the upper slopes of the island. CECIL F. PARR. From Blackwood's Magazine. IN THE DAYS OF THE DANDIES. sent, the island of Caprera, close to which we | public school and college education. Anpassed about half way on our passage. other most interesting combination of We saw it first mistily blue in the distance, college friends in the present century but ever growing sharper in outline as we resulted in the Oxford movement, when approached, and changing to a deep pur- we find, about the same period as Mr. ple. When abreast of the island, the col- Gladstone's, a galaxy of brilliant talent ors of the rocks were, simply marvellous fraught with the most important destinies in their variety and vividness of hue, grey, of the future. Newman, Manning, Faber, yellow, and red, and here and there a Pusey, Ward, Moseley, all imbued with deeper red where a landslip on the precip- the same earnestness of faith and sincerity itous edge of the cliff showed the soil. of purpose. Cambridge was never There was no beach, and these glorious strong in literary sets or scholastic parties rocks rose straight up into the sunshine as Oxford, notwithstanding the old verse: out of a dark sapphire sea. For a brief moment, one of our fellow passengers The King to Oxford sent a troop of horse, thought that here at last he had found the For Oxford knows no argument but force; Eden he had longed for. Alas, his dreams In place of troops, to Cambridge books were were short-lived, for on rounding the first For Cambridge knows no force but argument. headland we came abruptly on a convict settlement. There was at Cambridge a small reunion of men very highly esteemed, who preceded the Young England party. They were called the Apostles; Hallam, Tennyson, Doyle, Monteith (the same whom I have already mentioned as so intimately connected with Mr. Urquhart). The Apostles set was succeeded by the Young England party; it originated, as I have remarked, in early friendships and goodfellowship. Every one who has enjoyed the advantage of a public school education knows how strong those friendships are. Mr. Disraeli says in "Coningsby: loves in after-life can never bring their rapture; no bliss is so absorbing, no pangs of jealousy or despair so crushing or so keen. What tenderness, what devotion, what illimitable confidence, infinite revelations of inmost thoughts, what hopes in the present, what romance in the future, and melting recollections are confined in the simple phrase a schoolboy's friendship! It is these recollections that make gray-haired men mourn over the memory of their schoolboy days, and it is a spell that can soften the acerbity of political warfare." There was something also of the romantic poetic sentiment which existed at that time, when the memories of Byron and Shelley were still fresh. The air was still full of Byronism; the golden youth might be seen with their shirt-collars turned down, and living on biscuits and soda-water, à la Byron. This frame of mind quickened the susceptibilities and sympathies. Young politicians felt kindly towards the poor and suffering, and strove to improve their condition, not by giving them votes, but by ministering to their wants and their enjoyments. What Ruskin calls "the two essential instincts of humanity, the love of order and the love BY LORD LAMINGTON. III. THE YOUNG ENGLAND PARTY. Publisher of Maga. You promised to tell me your early political experiences. Were you in Parliament with the Young England party? Author. Yes; but I was an outsider. I joined them much later. Young England, so called, was a body of young men who had grown up together from Eton days. It is remarkable how much the public education of England influences the lives of public men. The associations of public schools, and then of college, survive even political rivalries; it would be curious to study the influence of college friendships on political life. The present century has seen many parties which have had their origin and gained their strength by the ties of college sympathies. Take our great political meteor, W. Gladstone; what a phalanx of young future legislators and statesmen were at college with him! Cardwell, Dalhousie, Canning, Sidney Herbert, Lord Elgin, Lord Lincoln, cum multis aliis. All these achieved eminence in Parliamentary and official life. Minister after minister, pro-consul after pro-consul, bear testimony to the merit of our of kindness," in their relations to the people, were the first principle of the Young England party. Radicals proposed to console the suffering by votes and speeches; the Philosophic School gave them tracts and essays. Young England desired to lighten their servitude and to add to their enjoyments - in fact, to restore "Merrie England." People smiled at some of the panaceas suggested, but the smile was one of kindness and approval. 66 Maga. Whom did the party consist of? A. Disraeli's novel of "Coningsby gives a great many. There were Coningsby, Lord Henry Sydney, Sir Charles Buckhurst, Oswald Millbank. A key to Coningsby " was published, which explains that the above names were supposed to represent respectively: Coningsby, Hon. George Smythe, afterwards Lord Strangford; Lord Henry Sydney, Lord John Manners, now Duke of Rutland; Sir Charles Buckhurst, Mr. Baillie-Cochrane, now Lord Lamington; Millbank, Mr. Walter; Lord Monmouth, the Marquis of Hertford; Rigby, Mr. Croker; Sidonia, Mr. Disraeli. There were a long list of others, but there were many of the members of Young England not included in "Coningsby." Mr. Borthwick, Mr. Beresford Hope, Augustus Stafford, Mr. Richard Monckton Milnes, afterwards Lord Houghton. There were some amusing lines on Young England, by Serjeant Murphy, which were shown me by that popular whip and favorite of the House of Commons, Colonel Taylor. They appeared at the time of "Jack Sheppard," when that admirable comedian, Paul Bedford, sang a song with a refrain of "Nix my dolly pals, fake away," which was the popular air of the barrel-organ and the ballad-singer for the next season. I never had a copy of the verses, so quote from memory. | On Palmerston Baillie makes attacks, ners; He will play you a game of pitch-and-toss, And Benjamin Dizzy, our Jew d'esprit, We have Smythe, and Hope with his opera- flat He is not yet tinctured with Puseyite leavening, But he may drop in in the "cool of the evening,"* Fake, Young England, fake away. It may seem strange that I have only slightly mentioned Mr. Disraeli, who was supposed to be the head of the party; but this I understood was not so. He had nothing to do with the original formation of this small but far from unimportant section. After it was fairly started he took his seat on the Young England bench, and by his genius attracted all the younger members, when Grosvenor Gate became the centre where the political topics of the day were discussed, and a generous hospitality was exercised. The politics of Young England may in part explain, if it does not justify, Mr. Disraeli's Household Suffrage Bill, for one of the principal tenets of Young England was perfect confidence in the people. There was an intense conviction that the conservative strata was to be found in the lower classes, and lately much had occurred to justify this view. The great object of the party was to relieve the working classes from In the city of Oxford I was born, Commons, Fake away. And then we have Benjamin Disraeli, Fake, Young England, fake away. Bridport's the seat that Baillie won, ployers. It was greatly by the energetic action of young England that the Factory Acts were passed. The effect which Mr. Busfeild Ferrand, one of the party, produced in the House when he made his first attack on the manufacturers, will live long in the Parliamentary memory. He had only recently taken his seat, and had not And Mitchell's his colleague, with face so attracted much attention except for his yellow, A Russia merchant what deals in tallow, Mr. Richard Milnes was known amongst his friends as "the cool of the evening." strenuous, bold, and burly appearance; | Lord Lyndhurst; no one certainly pos- Old age, what is it but a name Lady Lyndhurst's pleasant dinners and charming suppers we were always invited to. The great ladies mentioned in a former paper all welcomed us, and many others not mentioned there crowned us were invited to the Château Eleanor at with their sympathy and good wishes. We were never tired of hearing Mr. Townley, who with Lady Caroline added so much to the charm of society, speak of the days of the French Revolution when he was the frequent guest of Robespierre, whom he described as a very pleasant companion and admirable raconteur. Mr. Townley was in Paris during a part of the Reign of Terror, and was well known to the members of the Committee of Public Safety. When in a merry mood, Robespierre was in the habit of pulling him by the ears while he called him, "Ah, polisson! mauvais garçon !" This seems a peculiar habit of French rulers, for we read that Napoleon treated his favorite courtiers in the same caressing manner. Lord Brougham was another of the ultimi Romanorum who welcomed the youth of the time with kindly greeting, Many a lesson of political life we learned from him. I recall that on one occasion he laid down as the principle of the first element of success the power of concentrating the mind on one subject. We had been talking of the French Revolution. "Do you mean, Lord Brougham," I asked, "that if you had been sentenced to be guillotined at ten o'clock you would have forgotten it till the hour arrived?" "If I were sentenced to be guillotined at ten o'clock I would not think of it until eight o'clock," he replied. "On the occasion of my speech on the queen's trial, when all my reputation depended upon it, I determined to banish it from my mind. I slept so sound the night before, I only awoke in the morning in time to go to the court." A keen sense of the ridiculous he considered a proof of genius. He possessed an amusing sense of his own importance and his popular estimation. One day I went with him to dine at the Trafalgar, at Greenwich. We were a party of six; it was a picnic dinner, and we each of us paid our share. Lord Brougham called for writing materials and wrote a cheque. One of us suggested that if he had not any money we could lend it. "No, no," said Lord Brougham, "I have plenty of money; but, don't you see, the host may prefer my signature to the money." Lord Brougham's kind interest in us was not limited to London; it_extended to his charming residence, Brougham Hall, which is admirably restored, and a perfect specimen of Gothic architecture. There are few places commanding such wide and beautiful prospects. The most favored Cannes, which place, now grown into a great city, owes its existence as a winter residence to Lord Brougham. At the time when he first settled at Cannes the town consisted of one street and one small house, hardly worthy of the name of a hotel, kept by a man called Pinchinet, whom Lord Brougham called Pinch-'emhard. It was quite by accident that Lord Brougham ever purchased land and built at Cannes. He was on his road to Italy. When he arrived at the Italian frontier on the Var, he was told if he passed on to Nice he would have to perform quarantine on his return to France, the cholera being in Italy; so he returned to Cannes, and was compensated for the inconvenience of the delay by the beauty of the surrounding country. There was the wide, richly cultivated plain bounded on one side by the rippling waters of the dark-blue sea; on the land side by the long waving line of the blue Estérel, or by hills covered with the orange-tree, the vine, and olive; the ground carpeted with fragrant wild flowers; and the pine and the palm were not wanting for the perfection of scenes such as Claude loved to paint. Lord Brougham decided to make an immediate purchase of land, which the country people were only too anxious to dispose of. He bought several hundred acres, and built the Château Eleanor; and later Mr. Leader the Château Leader. To these were soon added Château St. George and a house built by Mr. Woolfield, the clergyman. At the present time, instead of four cha teaux, may be seen forty or fifty monster hotels, three or four hundred villas, interminable boulevards, and endless streets. No more rides in olive and orange glades, no wanderings through pine forests and palm grove, Qua pinus ingens albaque populus, used to invite the wanderer to a charming retirement and peaceful repose; there are now hideous stuccoed houses or vulgar æsthetic villas, while the publican, dealer, and trader have supplanted the simple, kind Provençal. Maga. You mentioned Mr. Leader, member for Westminster, was he the same Mr. Leader who played a not inconsiderable part in Parliament at one time? A. Yes. Talking of parties in the House, I wonder I omitted him and Sir William Molesworth. He and Sir William Molesworth did form a party and used to give Parliamentary dinners, inviting the members in their joint names. What were the exact tenets and opinions of their party (I think they numbered twenty or thirty) I am ignorant, but they were known by the general designation of "philosophical Radicals." You are aware that Molesworth was afterwards colonial secretary, and gained great credit in the post. Mr. Leader subsequently sold the Château Leader and settled in Florence. Maga. Is he still there? A. Yes; he resides there at the present time. He has made extensive purchases of land round Florence, especially at Fiesole, where a remarkable Castle Vincigliata has been rebuilt by him, representing precisely the old one which was nearly destroyed during the wars of the republic. He made a good exchange from the benches of the House of Commons to the City of the Lily, seated in all her beauty by the Arno. Maga. This brings me back to Young England, from which we have wandered. A. True, the memory is very discursive. Lord Brougham recalled the Riviera, the Riviera suggested Leader, Leader Florence; but I return to Young England, who may be said to have come to light at Cambridge. The Union of Cambridge was the vestibule of St. Stephen's. Young England brought to the House of Commons the fervid declamation which was the characteristic of undergraduate oratory, and which used to call forth the cheers of the Pitt and Canning Clubs. The young party started with one great advantage: they believed in themselves and in the power of sympathy. For them youth was rich in possibilities. Mr. Disraeli writes, "I do not say that youth is genius, only it is divine.' The history of heroes is the history of youth. The age thirty-seven is the old age of intellect. Byron died at thirty-seven; Raphael, Richelieu, died at that age. Was not Mr. Pitt prime minister at twenty-three? Lord Henry Petty, chancellor of the exchequer at twenty-one? Did not Napoleon, a sub-lieutenant, without any influence to aid him, command the armies of Italy at twenty-seven? Was he not first consul at thirty-one; emperor at thirty-three; had kings for his sentinels when he was thirty. five? All his marshals, Kleber, Massena, Jourdan, Hoche, were under thirty. Don John of Austria fought Lepanto at twentyfour. Thus, to Young England all life lay mapped out before them. It was not, like Columbus, the Old World seeking the New; it was the New World of ideas starting forth to influence, if not to renew, the Old. 3587 LIVING AGE. VOL. LXIX. All the Young Englanders were in some degree poetic. A few of them were poets, and wrote very graceful verses. Among them Monckton Milnes was most known and admired. Some of his poems will live as long as the English language. The "Brookside" and "They seemed to those who saw them meet" are dear to many a sympathizing heart. Mr. Beresford Hope is not so well known, but he wrote lines well worthy of record. But our great master of epigram and impromptu verse was one not exactly a member of Young England, but who al ways gave them his support, and was beloved by men of all parties and opinions. Augustus Stafford - the very name recalls all that is genial, kind, and true - at college or after college, in the House of Commons or in the lobby, he was a universal favorite. I think he was the author of the lines on the master of Trinity — Whewell, whom they were irreverently wont to call Billy Whistle. The master of Trinity had published the profoundest works on the deepest and most abstruse subjects; one of these was the "Plurality of Worlds." One morning he received the following: Through the realm of invention wherever you travel, And the secrets of worlds and of nature unravel, You will find when you've mastered the works of infinity, The greatest of all is the Master of Trinity. The master of Trinity had a very exalted opinion of his own importance, because the master's residence had been once a palace. He considered himself entitled to royal observances, and undergraduates were not permitted to sit in his presence. I have heard that some amusing incidents occurred when the queen visited Cambridge and resided at the master's house. The queen's visit I allude to was on the occasion of Prince Albert's installation as chancellor of the university, to that collegiate throne where — Villiers' grace of old, and Cecil's grandeur shone when the famous contest took place between the prince and the Earl of Powis. It was at the time when Lord Powis had been the defender of the Welsh bishoprics, and Prince Albert had just invented a new infantry uniform hat, which had not ob tained the approbation of the army. This was too tempting an opportunity for Augustus Stafford, and the following verses were widely circulated: |