Sir Henry W. Lucy

“ It was an anxious moment, with the excited multitude spread round far as
the eye could reach, the car leaping under the swaying balloon, and the
anxious, hurried men straining at the ropes. But I remember quite well
sitting at the bottom of the car and wondering when the new-comer would
finish getting in. I dare say he was nimble enough, but his full arrival
seemed like the paying out of a ship's cable.
This was Fred Burnaby, only Captain then, unknown to fame, with Khiva
unapproached, and the wilds of Asia Minor untrodden by his horse's
hoofs. ”

“ Almost at our feet, it seems, is the Lake of Geneva, though
we remember the wearisome climb up the hill, and know it must be miles
away. On the other side are the snow-clad hills that reach down to
Savoy on the east, and are crowned by the heights of the Dent du Midi
on the west. On the left, flanking our own place of abode, rise up the
grim heights of the Roches de Naye, and, still farther back, the Dent
du Jaman--a terrible tooth this, which draws attention from all the
country round, and excites the wildest ambition of the tourist. ”

“ When news reached the tower of the church that down on the
beach there had risen a handsome hotel, fitted with all the
luxuries of modern life, it is no wonder that the skulls turned
on each other and--as Longfellow in the "Skeleton in Armour" puts
it--
"Then from those cavernous eyes
Pale flashes seem to rise,
As when the northern skies
Gleam In December."
This is surely the beginning of the end. Having been endowed with a
railway which brings passengers down from London in a little over
two hours, Hythe is now dowered with an hotel in which they may dine
and sleep. ”

“ At six o'clock the sun began to drop behind a broad belt of black
cloud that had settled over London. The mist following us ever since
we crossed the river had overtaken us, even passed us, and was
strewed out over the earth, the sky above our heads being yet a
beautiful pale blue. We were passing with increased rapidity over the
rich level land that stretches from the river bank to Chelmsford, and
there was time to look round at each other. Burnaby had come down from
the netting and disposed his vast person amongst us and the bags of
ballast. ”

“ At eleven o'clock when Mr. Spurgeon, gownless and
guiltless of white neck-tie, or other clerical insignia, unceremoniously
walked on to the platform which serves him for pulpit, there was not a
foot of vacant space in the vast area looked down upon from the
galleries, for even the aisles were thronged. The capacious galleries
that rise tier over tier to the roof were crowded in like manner, and
the preacher stood, faced and surrounded by a congregation, the sight of
which might well move to the utterance of words that burn a man who had
within him a fount of thoughts that breathe. ”

“ The wickerwork car now
secured to the balloon was half filled with ballast and crowded with
men, whilst others hung on to the ropes and to each other in the effort
to steady it.
But they could not do much more than keep it from mounting into mid-air.
Hither and thither it swung, parting in swift haste the curious throng
that encompassed it, and dragging the men about as if they were ounce
weights. The wind seemed to be rising and the faces of the experienced
aeronauts grew graver and graver, answers to the constantly repeated
question, "Where is it likely to come down?" ”

“ By swift degrees the little cluster of fishermen's cottages spread till
it became a town--of one street truly, but the street is a mile and a
half long, skirting the seashore and backed by the fir forests. Bordeaux
took Arcachon by storm. A railway was made, and all through the summer
months the population poured into the long street, filling it beyond
all moderate notions of capacity. ”

“ It has grown up slowly, as becomes an undertaking
connected with Hythe. But it is finished now, handsome without,
comfortable within, with views from the front stretching seawards
from Dungeness to Folkestone, and at the back across green pastures,
glimpses are caught through the trees of the red-tiled town.
Now that suitable accommodation is provided for stray visitors,
Hythe, with its clean beach, its parade that will presently join
hands with Sandgate, its excellent bathing, and its bracing air,
may look to take high rank among watering places suburban to
London. ”

“ The sun sets behind the Alps of the Valais
among which towers the Matterhorn and gleam the everlasting snows of
Monte Rosa.
These form the framework of a picture which contains all the softness
and richness of the beauty of a land where the grape and the fig
grow, and where in these October days roses are in full bloom, and
heliotropes sweeten every breath of air. Yesterday had opened
splendidly, the morning sun rising over the fair scene and bringing
out every point. But as we toiled up the hill this afternoon,
carrying the cutlets, the sun had capriciously disappeared. ”

“ A NIGHT ON A MOUNTAIN
There are not many English abroad this morning on the top of
the hill. In fact, unless they had passed the night here it
would not be easy for them to present themselves, seeing that
San Salvatore, though a very modest mound, standing as it does
in the neighbourhood of the Alps, is high enough to lift its
crest out of the curtain of mist that lies over the lower world.
Lugano, its lake, and its many small towns--as like each other
when seen from a distance as if they had been turned out of a
mould--are understood to lie at some uncertain depth beneath
the mist. ”

“ Seen at anchor from Arcachon
they look like boats laid up for the winter season; but every one is
tenanted night and day. They are the homes of the guardians of the
oyster beds, who keep watch and ward through the long winter.
Even more disastrous than possible visits from a male poacher are the
incursions of a large flat sea-fish, known at Arcachon as the thére,
with us the ray. This gentleman has a colossal appetite for oysters. ”

“ Yet how
he rouses the House, moving it to cheers and laughter, and to the rapid
interchange of volleys of "Hear, hear" from opposite sides of the House,
which Chiltern says is the most exhilarating sound that can reach the
ear of a speaker in the House of Commons. Mr. Lowe sits down with the
same abruptness that marked his rising, and rather gets into his hat
than puts it on, pushing his head so far into its depths that there is
nothing of him left on view save what extends below the line of his
white eyebrows. ”

“ The well-ordered garden by the Casino
is sweet with the breath of roses and heliotrope. The lawns have the
fresh green look that we islanders associate with earliest summer. The
palm-trees are at their best, and along the road leading down to the
bathing place one walks under the shadow of oleanders in full and
fragrant blossom. The warmth of the summer day is tempered by a
delicious breeze, which falls at night, lest peradventure visitors
should be incommoded by undue measure of cold.
If there is an easily accessible Paradise on earth, it seems to be
fixed at Monaco. ”

“ Amongst the crowd
struggling to obtain a footing within the pale of journalism, the
reiterated rebuffs they meet with naturally lead to the conviction
that it is a sort of close borough, those already in possession
jealously resenting the efforts of outsiders to breach its sacred
portals. Nothing could be further removed from the fact. A nugget of
gold is not more pleasing to the sight of the anxious miner than is
the discovery by the editor or manager of a newspaper of a new light
in the world of journalism. ”

“ Ten years before he started for Khiva, there was much talk at
the Rag of the wonderful feat of the young Guardsman, who undertook
for a small wager to hop a quarter of a mile, run a quarter of a mile,
ride a quarter of a mile, row a quarter of a mile, and walk a quarter of
a mile in a quarter of an hour, and who covered the mile and a quarter
of distance in ten minutes and twenty seconds.
Fred Burnaby had, whilst barely out of his teens, realised his boyish
dream, and become the strongest man in the world. ”

“ The next thing was to get to a railway station, wherever it might be,
and as the last train for town might leave early, the quicker we arrived
the better. Looking down the road, Burnaby espied a tumble-down cart
standing close into the hedge, and strode down to requisition it. The
cart was full of hampers and boxes, and sitting upon the shaft was an
elderly gentleman in corduroys intently gazing over the hedge at the
rapidly collapsing balloon, which still fitfully swayed about like a
drunken man awaking out of sleep.
"Will you drive us to the nearest railway station, old gentleman?" ”

“ He had got in the centre of the second party, and with two before him,
three behind, and a firm grip on the rope, he thought it safe to quote
poetry.
We had eight days at Les Avants, of which this devoted to the ascent of
the Roches was the only one the sun did not shine upon. Whether on
mountain or in valley, what time the sun was shining it was delightfully
warm. The narcissi were not yet out, but the fields were thick with
their buds. How the place would look when their glory had burst forth on
all the green Alps we could only imagine. ”

“ The first thing the youth who turns his face earnestly towards
journalism should convince himself of is, that the sole guiding
principle controlling admission to the Press or advance in its ranks
is merit. This, as your communications, my dear young friends, have
convinced me, is a statement in direct contravention of general
belief. You are convinced that it is all done by patronage, and that
if only some one in authority will interest himself in you, you
straightway enter upon a glorious career. There is, however, no
royal road to advancement on the Press. ”

“ This is as yet in the future. At present the landscape has all the
beauty that snow can give without the monotony of the unrelieved waste
of white. Mounds of brown earth, tufts of grass, bits of road, roofs of
houses, and belts of pine showing above the sprinkling of snow, give
colour to the landscape. One divines already why Canadians, in building
their houses, paint a door, or a side of a chimney, or a gable-end, red
or chocolate, whilst all the rest is white. ”

“ Deprived in the winter months of the flock of holiday makers, Arcachon
makes money in quite another way. Just as suddenly as it bloomed forth
a fashionable watering-place, it has grown into an oyster park of
world-wide renown. Last year the Arcachon oyster beds produced not
less than three hundred million oysters, the cultivators taking in
round figures a million francs. The oysters are distributed through
various markets, but the greatest customer is London, whither there
come every year fifty millions of the dainty bivalve. ”

“ We were all ready to
start, but it was thought desirable that Madame Duruof should show
herself in the car. So she was lifted in, and the balloon allowed to
mount some twenty feet, frantically held by ropes by the crowd below. It
descended again, Madame Duruof got out, and in her place came tumbling
in a splendid fellow, some six feet four high, broad-chested to boot,
who instantly made supererogatory the presence of half a dozen of the
bags of ballast that lay in the bottom of the car. ”

“ There are not many people outside, for it is hard to catch
even a passing glimpse of the occupant of the carriage as it drives
swiftly westward to Pimlico, finally pulling up in a broad street of
a severely respectable appearance, not to be marred even by the near
contiguity of Millbank convict prison.
Here also is a crowd, though only a small one, and select to wit,
being composed chiefly of well-dressed ladies, forming part of a
band of pilgrims who daily walked up and down the street, waiting
and watching the outgoing and incoming of "Sir Roger." ”

“ But there are greater charms even than these in the
immediate neighbourhood. With some knowledge of English watering
places, I solemnly declare that none is set in a country of such
beauty as is spread behind Hythe. Unlike the neighbourhood of
most watering places, the country immediately at the back of the
town is hilly and well wooded. Long shady roads lead past blooming
gardens or through rich farms, till they end in some sleepy village
or hamlet, the world forgetting, by the world forgot. In late July
the country is perfect in its loveliness. ”

“ The time is not far distant when this mighty river will be frozen to the
distance of fully a mile out, and men may skate where Atlantic steamers
sail. At present the river is free, but the frost comes like a thief in
the night, and the wary shipmasters have already gone into winter
quarters. The railway people are also preparing for the too familiar
terrors of the Canadian winter. As we steamed out of Quebec we saw the
snow-ploughs conveniently shunted, ready for use at a moment's notice. ”