Fifty-One Years of Victorian Life Part 9

[Sidenote: A JUBILEE SERMON]

The "nice little church" was that at Norwood Green, and the sermon, preached by a rather eccentric Irish clergyman, informed us that he had been studying history and found that in the days of George III's Jubilee "there was an old king and a ma-ad king. How would you have liked that?"

And he continued to tell us of the death at that period of Sir John Moore commemorated by an Irish clergyman who "two years later was translated to the Kingdom of Heaven, for which his Irish curacy had so well prepared him."

In addition to those above named by Mr. Ashley, we had staying with us Lord Rowton, Lord and Lady Galloway, Lady Lytton and her daughter Betty, Col. Charles Edgc.u.mbe, my sister Cordelia, and my brother-in-law Reginald Villiers, to whom my husband was greatly attached. It is very pleasant to recall those happy days, but sad to think how few that shared them are left!

I turn from our Osterley parties for the time being to record a most amusing journey which Lady Galloway and I made to Greece in 1888. Lord Jersey could not make up his mind to start with us, though we had hopes (which proved vain) that he might join us later. Our families were somewhat excited on learning our intention, as the recollection of the Marathon brigands who captured poor Mr. Vyner and the Muncasters still coloured the popular ideas of Greece.

Our husbands, however, were--fortunately--confident in our own powers of taking care of ourselves. Lord Jersey calmly remarked, "If you are captured Galloway and I will come with an army to rescue you." Mr. Ashley, less trustful of the future, insisted on presenting each of us with a small revolver and box of cartridges. I forget what Mary did with hers, but my one object was to conceal the weapon from possible brigands. I regarded them rather like wasps, who are supposed not to sting if you let them alone, but I was certain that if I tried to shoot I should miss, and then they might be annoyed and I should suffer. I had to take the revolver, but I hid the cartridges in my luggage and put the weapon where it would not be seen.

We were not absolutely certain till we reached Ma.r.s.eilles whether we should go to Greece after all, or to Algeria or elsewhere, but finding that we could get berths on a Messageries boat we ultimately carried out our original intention though we did not really mean to stay long in Athens or its neighbourhood, and imagined Marathon (the scene of the Vyner tragedy) to be quite "out of bounds."

However, when on March 31st we reached the Piraeus early in the morning we soon found that we were in the happiest possible abode. Our constant friend and protector Sir Thomas (now Lord) Sanderson had written from the Foreign Office to Mr. William Haggard, the British Charge d'Affaires, to look after us in the absence of the Minister, and it is impossible to speak too highly of his kindness. The Greek Ministers were deeply impressed by the fact that Lady Galloway was (half) sister to the English Prime Minister, Lord Salisbury, and laid themselves out to make everything pleasant and delightful. Greece was still almost unknown to Cook's tourists. I think there was a Cook's Office, but I do not recall seeing any of his clients about the place--anyhow, not outside Athens itself. Mr.

Haggard met us with a boat belonging to the Harbour Master's Office, and as soon as we had settled ourselves in the Hotel d'Angleterre at Athens (a very good hotel) he began to make all sorts of arrangements for us--so that instead of three days we stayed some three weeks in Athens and about a month altogether in Greece.

[Sidenote: MARATHON]

We told Mr. Haggard that our friends were very much afraid of our finding brigands at Marathon, or rather at their finding us. He a.s.sured us that after the tragedy--seventeen years previously--all the brigands had been killed and it was perfectly safe; anyhow, he took us to Marathon next day, and we were delighted with the scenery through which we pa.s.sed and with the silent, desolate field where the battle had been waged, with wild flowers growing on the hillock pointed out as the soldiers' grave. Whether it still keeps its impressive solitude I know not. It is useless to attempt description of Greece, so well known to all either from personal experience or from hundreds of accounts both in prose and poetry, but I may just say that as my mother (who saw it as a girl) told me, the colours of the mountains were like those of a dove's neck, and the clearness of the atmosphere such that one felt as if one could see through the hills.

An evening or two later we dined with Mr. Haggard and his wife, and we were soon introduced to the various notabilities, who from the King and Queen downwards were most kind and hospitable. To begin with their Majesties, who entertained us at breakfast at the Royal Kiosk at the Piraeus, and on more than one subsequent occasion at dinner, and whom we met on various other occasions: King George had much of the charm of his sister Queen Alexandra and was a distinctly astute monarch. As far as one could judge, he really liked his quaint little kingdom, and I remember his a.s.serting with energy that they were a good people. The Queen, a Russian, was a kindly, pious woman and apparently happy with her children, to whom she was devoted. She then had six, but there were only three at home at the time--Princess Alexandra, a pretty, merry girl just grown-up, and two younger children, Marie and Andrew. Andrew was a dear little boy about six or seven years old. When I asked Princess Marie about his birthday she gravely replied that he was too young to have a birthday!

Greece struck me as a singularly "democratic" country in the sense that there was really no "aristocracy" between the Sovereign and the people.

What in other countries is commonly called "Society" was in Athens mainly composed of the Ministers, the Corps Diplomatique, and one or two rich merchants--particularly one called Syngros, who spent large sums on public works. One of these was the Academy, a large building with, as far as we could ascertain, nothing as yet inside it.

The Mykenae Museum, which contained many of Schliemann's antiquities, discovered at Argos and elsewhere, was specially interesting; but the Greek newspaper which followed our movements and formulated our opinions for us said that when we visited the Academy "both ladies were enthusiastic at the sight of the building. They confessed that they never expected to find in Athens such a beautiful building; they speak with enthusiasm of Athens in general"--but evidently the Academy (of which I do not think we saw the inside) was "It."

M. Tricoupi was then Prime Minister, Minister of War, and practically Dictator. He was undoubtedly a man of great ability and judgment, and was devoted to England. We saw him constantly and also his sister Miss Tricoupi, a wonderful old lady.

[Sidenote: MISS TRICOUPI]

She gave up her life to promoting her brother's interests in all respects.

She appeared to me like a link with the past, as she had been with her brother in England early in the century, and then had taken to Sarah, Lady Jersey, as a present from King Otho, a water-colour drawing of a room in his Palace which always hung in my bedroom at Middleton. She also knew my grandmother and my mother's elder sisters. Whenever Parliament was sitting she sat at home from one o'clock in the afternoon till any hour of the night to which the debates happened to continue. Any of her brother's supporters, no matter of what rank, could come into the large room at one end of which she was seated. It did not appear to be necessary that she should speak to them, much less offer them refreshments. I saw some men who appeared to be sailors or fishermen enter and seat themselves at the far end of the room without speaking or apparently attracting any particular notice.

When we went to see her she gave us tea and delicious little rolled-up pieces of bread-and-b.u.t.ter--this we were a.s.sured was an especial favour.

Naturally she could not have fed the whole of Athens daily! Poor woman--I saw her again on our subsequent visit to Athens, and after that used to correspond for nearly thirty years. She wrote most interesting letters, though after her brother's death she lived mainly in retirement. During the war, however, her feelings became somewhat embittered towards the Allies; she ultimately died seated on her sofa--she never would give in to incapacity, though she must have been very old.

One of the most amusing members of the Ministry was Theotoki, Minister of Marine, who went with us on more than one excursion and was most kind in providing gunboats for any destination which had to be reached by sea. I rather think that he was of Venetian descent--he had a nice, lively wife, and I should say that he was not averse to a little innocent flirtation.

The bachelor Tricoupi embodied all his ideals of woman in his capable and devoted sister, and had very advanced Woman Suffrage views, more uncommon then than a quarter of a century later. He was all in favour of the appointment of women not only as Members of Parliament, but also as Ministers of the Crown. One day he and Theotoki were taking us somewhere by sea when a discussion arose on this point. Either Lady Galloway or I wickedly suggested that women, admitted to the Cabinet, might exercise undue influence on the minds of the male members. Tricoupi in perfect innocence thereupon replied that it might be arranged that only _married_ men should hold such office, apparently convinced that matrimony would make them woman-proof! I shall never forget Theotoki's expressive glance.

[Sidenote: NAUPLIA]

Dragoumi, Minister of Foreign Affairs, was one of those who gave a dinner-party in our honour, on which occasion he and M. Tricoupi and one of the other Ministers concocted an excellent programme to enable us to visit Nauplia and Argos and Mykenae. I wrote an account of this to my mother which she kept, so I may as well transcribe it, as it gives an account of places which have probably been much altered and brought up to date in the present day under the auspices of "Cook's Tours." I told my mother:

"We went with Bakhmeteff the Russian and Haggard the Englishman, who each had a Greek servant, and we having a German courier made up a tolerably mixed lot. You would have laughed to see the three Cabinet Ministers sitting in solemn conclave at a party the night before to settle all details of our expedition. Theotoki, the Minister of Marine, had a s.h.i.+p ready to send to meet us anywhere we liked, and Tricoupi ordered Dragoumis, the Foreign Minister, just to go down to send off some further telegram, which Dragoumis--a white-haired statesman--obediently trotted off to do. The Czar of all the Russias is not a greater autocrat than Tricoupi. When we arrived at Nauplia we found the M.P. for that district waiting for us at the station, and he had received orders to have the hotel thoroughly cleaned and prepared--no one had been allowed to inhabit it for four days before our arrival. The landlord, as far as we could make out, was locked up in a room, whence we heard coughs and groans, presumably because he had found a clean dwelling such a ghastly thing, and we were waited on by a very smart individual (who was a Parisian doctor of law!) and a small Greek girl. When we woke up next morning we found by way of variety that the ground was covered with snow and the coachman said he could not possibly go to Epidaurus--however, Bakhmeteff sent for the Prefect of Police, who told him he must, so with four horses in front and one trotting behind we went a perfectly lovely drive through splendid mountain country looking even more beautiful from the snow on the hills. Perhaps you don't know about Epidaurus--an ancient temple of aesculapius is there, and near it has lately been discovered the most perfect theatre in Greece, which could seat twenty-five thousand people. Hardly a stone is out of place--we went up to the top row, and an unfortunate 'Ephor of Antiquities' who had also been ordered up from Athens to do us the honours stood on the stage and talked to us--one could hear every word. The Ephor and all the inhabitants of Nauplia (who are stated by the papers to have received us 'with affection') thought us quite mad, not only for going in the snow, but for going in an open carriage, a circ.u.mstance also carefully recorded in the papers. A Greek would have shut up the carriage and both windows. Thursday we returned (i.e. to Athens) by Tiryns, Argos and Mykenae and saw Dr. Schliemann's excavations. The Treasury of Atreus is a marvellous thing--a great cone-shaped chamber in a hill with an inner chamber on one side and an enormous portal with projecting walls in front with a gigantic slab over it. Metal plates are said to have been fastened on the walls at one time, but how on earth the prehistoric people arranged these stones curving inwards so as to keep in place and how they lifted some of them at all pa.s.ses the wit of man to conceive."

I continue in this letter to explain how much of all this Dr. Schliemann and his wife did and did not find, and also to describe the "Lion Gate"

and the "Agora"--but all that is well-known and doubtless has been further explored since our visit.

Among other dissipations at Athens we attended two b.a.l.l.s--one at M.

Syngros', the other at the Austrian Legation. After the former a correspondent of one of the Greek papers wrote:

"It is a curious phenomenon the gaiety with which the Prime Minister is possessed this year. I have no doubt that he belongs to that fortunate circle which sees with affection the setting on each day of the Carnival. It appears that the presence of the two distinguished English ladies who are receiving the hospitality of our town for some days now has revived in him dormant feelings and reminiscences. M.

Tricoupi pa.s.sed the years of his youth in England, and it was with the English ladies that he enjoyed the sweet pleasure of dancing. This evening he dances also with Lady Jersey. He frequently accompanied the two distinguished ladies to the Buffet, and with very juvenile agility he hastens to find for them their _sorties de bal_ with which the n.o.ble English ladies are to protect their delicate bodies from the indiscretion of that cold night."

M. Bakhmeteff, who was one of our companions to Nauplia, was a typical Russian--very clever, knowing some eight or nine languages and all about Greece ancient and modern. We used to call him the "Courier," as he was invaluable on our various expeditions, and he seemed to enjoy his honorary post. Like many of his compatriots he had no real religious belief, but regarded religious observance as quite a good thing for women; he told me that a man looked rather ridiculous kneeling, but it was a becoming att.i.tude for women--the folds of her dress fell so nicely! But he a.s.sured me that if I saw him on duty in Russia I should see him kissing the ikons with all reverence. Poor man! If still alive, I wonder what has happened to him. He lent me a capital j.a.panese costume for the ball at the Austrian Legation. Lady Galloway went as "Dresden china" or a "_bouquetiere_."

[Sidenote: THE LAURIUM MINES]

We made a very interesting expedition to the Laurium mines, of which I subsequently ventured to give an account in _The National Review_, but again I think it unnecessary here to describe a well-known enterprise--the revival in modern days of lead mines worked in cla.s.sical times. We stayed the night at the house of the manager, M. Cordella. He and his wife were most kindly hosts, and everyone contributed to our enjoyment. One little domestic detail amused us. As we entered the substantial and comfortable house one of us exclaimed to the other, "Oh, there is a bath!"--a luxury not always found in our wanderings--but a second glance showed us that we should have to wait till our return to the hotel next day, as the bath was fixed in the well of the staircase!

As for our sentiments about the mines I cannot do better than quote the words of the _N ea Ephemeris_, one of the papers which knew so well what we thought on each occasion:

"The eminently English spirit of the most ingenious and n.o.ble ladies saw in all those works something like the positiveness of the spirit that prevails in their own country and were delighted at it in Greece which they loved so much. They had no words to express their satisfaction to the true man possessed with the spirit of our century whom they found in the person of M. Cordella, the director of the works, and to his worthy wife, who tendered to them so many nice attentions."

This, the _Hora_, and the _Acropolis_, seem to have been the chief Government papers, and occasionally one of them would hold up to contempt a wretched Delyannis organ which basely ignored the presence of the English Prime Minister's sister!

I cannot record all our excursions to Eleusis, aegina, and elsewhere, but I will add a few lines describing the general appearance of the people at that time, also written to my mother, as probably they have greatly changed in over thirty years:

"The Peloponnesian shepherds look remarkably picturesque, as they wear large white coats with peaked hoods over their heads. Further north the coats are more often blue--near Athens black and a different shape--near Eleusis the people are Albanians and wear Albanian costumes, which are very bright with many colours. Almost all the natives outside the towns wear costumes which make the villages look like places in plays, and every little inn is a regular picture--but the country is very thinly populated and you go for miles without seeing a soul. It is most beautiful."

[Sidenote: HADJI PETROS]

One rather interesting character was the Lord Chamberlain, an old gentleman called Hadji Petros, son of the original brigand who was one of the husbands of Lady Ellenborough, and is the thinly disguised "Hadji Stavros" of About's novel _Le Roi des Montagnes_. Hadji Petros was supposed to be quite illiterate, but he _could_ sign his name, as he did so on a case of chocolate which he gave me. Anyway, "by royal permission"

he took us over the Palace and down into the kitchens, where he showed us the correct method of making Turkish coffee. His son, we were told, was a very smart young officer who led cotillons at the Athenian b.a.l.l.s--two generations from the original brigand.

We left Athens on February 22nd, and were taken by s.h.i.+p from a port near Patras at the end of the Gulf of Corinth to Pyrgos. We went in a Government boat (the _Salaminia_, I believe), and it was arranged that we should stay with the Demarch (Mayor) and drive thence to see Olympia.

Fortunately for us M. Bakhmeteff accompanied us, and the whole thing was very entertaining. The officers on the s.h.i.+p thought it too absurd that we should want to take off even hand luggage for the night, as they said we should find everything we wanted at the Demarch's. Sure enough we found three elaborate sitting-rooms adorned with photographs and chairs tied up with ribbons, a bedroom with two comfortable beds and plenty of pin-cus.h.i.+ons, and a dressing-room provided with tooth-brushes, sponges, and dentifrice water, but as means of was.h.i.+ng one small green gla.s.s jug and basin between us. However, we managed to borrow two large, red earthenware pans from the kitchen and got on nicely. The Demarch was more than kind and hospitable, but as he knew no language save his native Greek it was lucky that Bakhmeteff was there to interpret. We landed too late for Olympia that evening, so we were taken down to a most romantic and desolate spot, where Alpheus runs into the sea in full view of the Acroceraunian mountains where "Arethusa arose from her couch of snows." In addition to one or two officials we were guarded by a delightful gendarme and were introduced to a bare-legged giant in an oil-skin coat whose duty was to look after the fish in a kind of stew or watercourse running out of a lake. Whether the poachers had been busy lately I know not, but the efforts of the custodian, the gendarme, and the rest of the party to give us a fis.h.i.+ng entertainment were singularly abortive. Their object appeared to be to capture a mullet, and at length a dead one was landed by the joint throwing of a small net and poking with Lady Galloway's parasol.

With dauntless courage they returned to the charge, and when another small fish was seen the gendarme drew his sword and vainly tried to stab it.

Ultimately the professional fishermen did catch it and gave it to the gendarme, who skipped about with glee. He had seen me put some sh.e.l.ls in my pocket, and apparently thought we should like to do the same with the fish, so proceeded to _wash_ it--and naturally let it escape. Next day the Demarch told M. Bakhmeteff that he had ordered an open carriage for the ladies (knowing our lunatic tendencies) and that he would take him (Bakhmeteff) in a shut one. Bakhmeteff came to us in a frantic state of mind and begged our authority to say that English ladies could not possibly go in a carriage alone--so ultimately we three proceeded in the open carriage with our gendarme on the box, and the Demarch followed with his servant. All went well till it began to rain, when our gallant defender jumped off the box and into the shut carriage with the Demarch and the other man. They put up both windows and I believe smoked, only leaving a little breathing-hole in front. Doubtless they enjoyed themselves immensely--so did we.

[Sidenote: OLYMPIA--ZANTE]

As with other well-known places, I omit all description of Olympia, reached by a road concerning which we decided that it would be a compliment to compare it to a ploughed field. The drive took four hours each way. I dare say there are hotels and chars-a-bancs if not trams now, but I am very glad to recall Olympia, as we saw it in the wilds with ruins of temples and the newly excavated Gymnasium undisturbed by eager tourists. The Museum, containing the beautiful statue of Hermes with the Infant Bacchus, had not long been erected on the lines of a Greek temple.

By way of an additional treat our hosts had roasted a lamb whole and brought it into the outer hall of the Museum on a stick regardless of the mess which it made. We made futile efforts to protect the floor with newspapers, but were obliged to eat some of the meat.

From Pyrgos we went to the Island of Zante, where we spent Sunday. I wrote to my mother that it was a most lovely place--and told her:

"We took some luncheon up into an olive grove on the hills and lay on cus.h.i.+ons there in the most perfect air and warmth you can imagine, with birds singing and the greenest gra.s.s thick with flowers just like the Pre-Raphaelite pictures. A little higher up you could see the sea on both sides. Cephalonia in one distance and the Acroceraunian mountains in the other. This island is, as you know, famous for flowers, and the nosegays the Consul sent us were so enormous that after filling all the vases, etc., we could we had to fill two large foot pans and put them on the balcony."

Of Cephalonia, where we spent a few hours on our way to Corfu, my chief recollection is of wild mountainous country. The Consul (or Vice-Consul) who took us for a drive told us a thrilling tale--as yet unconcluded--of two rival families. The father of one married his daughter to a young man, whereas the other family wanted her and attacked the bridal party on the wedding day. I forget exactly how many people they killed, but I think the bridegroom was among the victims, and anyhow they carried off the young lady to the mountains, and she was still there at the time of our visit.

Corfu was very delightful--but I recall no particular incident. There seemed to be a good many people who still regretted that Mr. Gladstone had handed it over to Greece.

Our gunboat and M. Bakhmeteff had left us at Zante, and from Corfu we went by an Austrian Lloyd steamer to Brindisi; thence by train to Naples. There we found Lord Rowton and dined with him and one or two friends. We also spent a day with him in Rome, where he was a good deal amused by our evident feeling that Roman were not to be compared to Greek antiquities.