Mrs. Stuart Menzies

“ Picture the hill-sides one blaze of rhododendrons, sheets of them leading down to green valleys, where after the rains maidenhair ferns and wild orchids cling lovingly to the branches of the trees, on the ground, carpets of little white flowers resembling our lily of the valley, but lacking its scent, in the distance blue mountains, behind these purple mountains, behind these again snow-clad peaks, a brilliant sun shining over all, framing pictures that remain in memory for life, and yet there are times when the very splendour of it seizes us with a limitless despair. ”

“ To the end of his days Lord William spoke of Curraghmore as “Home,” and of his devotion to his beautiful mother. She must have been a proud woman, having brought into the world five such splendid specimens of humanity, all handsome, having inherited the Beresford good looks, high spirits, and pluck, whilst happily imbued with the pride of race which is the making of great men.
There is nothing snobbish or vulgar in being proud of our ancestry, though it may seem so to those who are unacquainted with their own. ”

“ Children usually build mental universes round themselves, and at the age of twenty-eight hope has not died in the heart; that child of happiness still keeps it warm. Lord William, not being one of those who wear their heart on their sleeve, was of the merriest on board ship, full of courage and good resolutions, determined to map out his future on safer grounds than hitherto. ”

“ The two things in life which seem to cause the most unpleasantness are jealousy and class-hatred. Lord William disarmed both, it was not easy to be jealous of a man who asked nothing for himself, climbed over nobody, and who was so generous he would give away almost everything he possessed to anyone in need, whose pride of race only showed itself in honourable straightforwardness and unswerving singleness of purpose. ”

“ One of the refreshing things about Lord Bill was he was entirely devoid of any fish to fry for himself, he sought no high places, suffered from none of the discontents or scramblings after promotion or office that seem to have pervaded the lives of many great men, if we may judge by what we read of them, so he climbed no ladders at other people’s expense, pushing them down when arriving at the top, which gives such grave and not unnatural offence, leaving much bitterness in the minds and hearts of those who are feeling injured. ”

“ As soldier I cannot speak of him from personal knowledge. I have the satisfaction of being a member of society who, when war is abroad, is entitled to seclude himself from its ranks— (laughter) —but it is a consolation to feel that a good plucked one, like our friend Bill, is to the fore to protect me— (hear, hear, and laughter) . I recollect I first saw him as a soldier, gay and dapper, in 9th Lancers uniform, brown hair, sufficient of it, and a straight nose— (laughter) —escorting the Prince of Wales from Prinseps Ghât to Government House, but this is only the show side of a soldier’s life. ”

“ It is not as a soldier, it is not as a statesman that I claim applause for Lord William, though both may be owed, but for his thoroughness in whatever he undertook, his unfailing cheerfulness, his loyalty, energy, and marvellous pluck. ”

“ It was Louisa, Marchioness of Waterford, who designed the beautiful monument of a guardian angel which stands to-day over the fateful well at Cawnpore, where the unhappy English people were thrown in alive during the Mutiny. Anyone visiting that station in India cannot fail, when driving through that dusty, sun-dried place, to be deeply impressed by this beautiful white, calm-looking figure, spelling [77] pity and peace. ”

“ India appealed to Lord William, he liked it from the first. Perhaps he, more than some, felt the loneliness inseparable from landing in a strange country for the first time, with a career to make out of nothing; far from the help and glamour of home associations, feeling rather like goods on a market [48] stall, from which the ticket describing their merit and value has fallen, leaving the said goods to prove their own merit, and so create their own price.
Starting a life in any new country, individuals are only a number to begin with. ”

“ There are endless big parades all over India in honour of this occasion. At Calcutta there is always a most imposing military parade which everybody turns out to witness, putting on their best bibs and tuckers, as their share in its impressiveness.
It is a busy and anxious day for the Military Secretary, for in addition to all his other work he is wondering whether after all his training, the Viceroy’s charger will behave properly when the dreaded moment arrives for the firing of the feu-de-joie. ”

“ Lady Meux had bred Voly, being the only woman who has ever bred a Derby winner, and she was so excited at his winning that the moment he passed the winning-post she was out of her grand-stand box and claimed the right not usual to ladies of entering the weighing-in enclosure, and she then followed “Zee pet,” as she called him, down the course, through the crowd to the saddling paddock a good quarter of a mile away and then untied the little bit of blue and brown ribbon mixed up in the horse’s headgear, which he had carried throughout the race. ”

“ Among his friends, who were legion, Lord William was known as “Bill.” His brother, Lord Charles Beresford, is always called “Charlie” in the most affectionate way by even the crowd in the streets, who all love him and look upon him as their own.
Those were grand happy days when Lord William first joined the 9th. He and his young friends had the whole world before them, life and health then being a matter of no consequence, no consideration, for in the arrogance of youth who takes thought of the morrow? ”

“ Always when flat racing was over Lord William turned his attention to chasing, which he had liked from his earliest days. I remember standing with him once in a crowd at a big “jump” meeting, and saying to him, “I suppose you have always been too occupied to make a study of the faces round you at one of these meetings?” He replied, “No indeed, I have not been too occupied, but I do not like to look, sometimes a race means so much to a man.” ”

“ Some will no doubt think, and possibly say, that the affection we all had for Lord William has made me picture a faultless man; this is, of course, not so, and it is not difficult to recognise his failings, which he shared in common with the rest of mankind, but I do claim for him that they were none of them mean, little, or contemptible, and we do not always like people less on account of their faults. ”

“ People in India were beginning to be rather frightened of Lord William’s string of horses, saying it was no use entering theirs against him, that they had no chance. I remember hearing a good deal of this at Lucknow, but it was not quite a fact, as his lordship found out to his cost occasionally. He certainly had a formidable string of horses, and he wanted to be on top, where to a certain extent he was, but in racing there is always the element of chance to be reckoned with, horses going wrong, jockeys making mistakes, and no end of other things to be taken into consideration. ”

“ A military funeral is at all times impressive, indeed harrowing, to those who mourn the loss of one who has shared their lives, but it becomes doubly so when the circumstances have been so tragic. He was buried in the graveyard behind the ridge held so long by us during the Mutiny, and he lies with the 9th Lancers who fell at that time and are buried close by.
All the rest of the time Lord William was in India he used to go away by himself on the anniversary of that terrible accident and visit his friend’s grave. ”

“ It all comes about so imperceptibly, perhaps a few grey hairs first awaken us to the change, it suddenly dawns upon us, time is not standing still, that we have reached the top of the hill that looked so long and unending, and now behold we are slipping down the other side, and where are all the lovely views we expected to find on reaching the top of the hill? ”

“ Only those who understand racing know the amount of thought and care it requires to be successful, even with luck in their favour. To begin at the beginning, money is not made out of the stakes that are won, expenses generally throw the balance into the wrong side, therefore it is betting must do it, and we know Lord William did make a good deal of money over his racing, but it was thanks to his own cleverness. To be successful it must be studied as a business ”

“ To an impartial observer looking back over the lives and works of the different rulers in India, it appears to matter not what the views and policy of each may be, they cannot get away from the fact that they must, and do, reap the benefit to some extent of the work of their predecessors. This must be a consoling thought to the retiring Viceroy, who may feel on leaving India that he will be a thing of the past, but that at any rate his work will live after him, and, maybe, he will be spared to see it grow. ”

“ The poor man died in England while home for a holiday. Lord William felt much regret, for he had been closely associated with him, naturally, over racing matters.
Mr. Fitch was another of the many men his lordship had befriended; in fact had been set on his feet and owed all his success in life to him.
The season was jogging along much in the usual fashion, plunging from the sublime to the ridiculous and the ridiculous to the sublime all the time. In India we all become dual natured, whether it is the climate, the atmosphere we live in, or the desire to leave no time to think I do not know ”

“ It is not reassuring to know that the moment a man takes up racing his honour no longer remains [167] in his own hands, for now he has to take his trainer, his jockey, his syce, and his understudies into consideration, not forgetting his horse. On the face of it, it seems as if only a very philosophical person could bear the strain.
When things go wrong it is usually put down to either the jockey’s evil doing, or the owner’s sharp practice, while it by no means follows that either is to blame. ”

“ What is flirtation? Simply a social accomplishment, a little mutual sympathy beautifully expressed, and a little repartee. There are not a few who think it is pleasanter to be in sympathy with many than in bondage to one.
When at Calcutta Lord William was fond of spending week-ends at Barrackpore, which is a sort of country residence for the Viceregal people, standing on the banks of the Hugli, and has lovely gardens and grounds, with the advantage of being within a few miles of Calcutta, therefore not much packing up and journeyings required. ”