Lord Reginald

“ Reginald blushed, and seemed doubting whether it were not well to make a precipitate retreat. The Lady Elfrida turned away her head, and let down her veil, with a gesture of affected horror at the indelicate sallies of her father. Nothing daunted, the old man continued his pertinacious system of annoyance, while the domestics applauded, by ill-repressed acclamations, the surprising jocularity of their lord.
“Thou art sparing of thy food, Sir Knight; but doubtless thou art used to other diet than this: the board of a Saxon thane hath but little to tempt the palate of the son of a Norman noble.” ”

“ Foster turned to Reggie.
'I can only say that, from your point of view, your brother might as well have continued an absentee as, under the present circumstances, die intestate.'
I struck in. 'That's absurd. Lord Reginald will succeed.'
'Will he? Don't be too sure. There will always be a probability of other claimants. Opposition may come from a dozen quarters. How can we tell what connections such a man as he has been may not have formed during fifteen years?'
As he propounded this delightful proposition an extraordinary thing took place. Once more the sleeper awoke. ”

“ The reconnoitring party were to make their way as best they could through the American lines, communicate with the Canadian commander, and return as soon as possible in an [Pg 275] air-cruiser. Each man carried with him an electric battery of intense force, by means of which he could either produce a strong light, or under certain conditions a very powerful offensive and defensive weapon.
Only fifty men were to compose the force, and Lord Reginald's offer to lead them was heartily accepted. His bravery, judgment, and coolness in action were undeniable. ”

“ Lord Ennerdale and his sons were all men of worth and talent, and firm encouragers of art and literature; but not themselves children of genius, they failed in the subtle penetration which could discover its embryo existence. Had Sir Edward lived he would have seen further; but still all his friends had dissuaded Reginald from entering on a military career, but he was firm; and in less than a week after his agitated parting with Annie, a fair wind was rapidly bearing him to the shores of Spain. ”

“ Sir Lawrence Dacre was just stepping out of Mr. Large’s house, his head erect, his eyes shining, his whole face transformed, looking as a man might who has just received some very joyful tidings, when he suddenly felt a heavy hand on his shoulder, and, turning, found himself face to face with Lord Teignmouth.
Sir Lawrence’s face changed again, and he drew a little away from his former friend. He could not forget Reginald’s cruel desertion of his young sister, and was not inclined to encourage his advances under the circumstances. ”

“ The letters, however, were written to be shown to the king's council (ib. vol. xiii. pt. ii. No. 822) ; by whom they were despatched to Reginald in Italy. Though the countess's alarm was quite genuine, her disapproval of Reginald's proceedings was not equally sincere. The king knew well that his policy was disliked by the whole family, and he privately told the French ambassador that he intended to destroy all of them (ib. vol. xiii. pt. ii. No. 753) . The blow fell in the autumn of 1538, when her sons Geoffrey and Lord Montague were arrested. ”

“ The chaplain, a great friend of Lord Rantremly's son, and, indeed, a former tutor of his, assisted me with the documents that were in Latin, and a friendship sprang up between us. He was an elderly man, and extremely unworldly. Lord Rantremly never concealed his scorn of this clergyman, but did not interfere with him because of the son.
'My work went on very pleasantly up to the time that Reginald, the heir of his lordship, came down from Oxford. Then began the happiest days of a life that has been otherwise full of hardships and distress. Reginald was as different as possible from his father. ”

“ Maurice and Reginald had agreed to defer their onslaught on the wasps till Lord Rotherwood’s arrival, and the war was now limited to attacks on foraging parties. Reginald most carefully marked every nest about the garden and farm, and, on his cousin’s arrival on Saturday evening, began eagerly to give him a list of their localities. Lord Rotherwood was as ardent in the cause as even Reginald could desire, and would have instantly set out with him to reconnoitre had not the evening been rainy. ”

“ All power is of the lord God: . . . the power of the prince is therefore in such wise of God that it is still his, though it be exercised through the hand of a deputy.
We might think John of Salisbury to be the most fervent of imperialists; yet in fact his exaltation of the nobility of kingship is but a means towards the erection of a higher dignity still for the spiritual power. For the king's authority is only mediately derived from God. The sword, the symbol of worldly power, the prince receives from the hand of the church. ”

“ Corry attended him at the Congress of Berlin in 1878, when he acted as secretary of the special embassy and was made on his return C.B. Although other private secretaries of Lord Beaconsfield fully shared his responsibilities, Corry enjoyed a far closer intimacy with the prime minister than they. He sought no political reputation for himself. On his fall from power in 1880 Lord Beaconsfield acknowledged Corry's personal devotion by recommending him for a peerage. On 6 May 1880 he was created Baron Rowton. ”

“ His interests were divided between public affairs and sport. Through life he championed the uncompromising principles of conservatism in which he was bred. In 1865 he stood for York city in the conservative interest, and was returned at the head of the poll. His maiden speech was delivered in opposition to the abortive reform bill brought in by Lord Russell's government in 1866. In the following year Lord Derby's government produced their reform bill. This also Lowther opposed, denouncing it as an extremely bad measure and speaking disrespectfully of Disraeli, its framer. ”

“ But the lesson has to be learnt, the road has to be trodden, and the pricks hurt their feet. The nobler the girl or the youth, the harder it is for them to lose their ideals.
Reginald was passing through this phase. He had built so much on this home-coming of his king, he had thought of him almost as a god, from his youth upwards; the son of that blessed saint and martyr, how should he be less than a hero! The disillusion was great, the sorrow was greater. ”

“ They hoot at us and call us fools and vain. The very children jeer at us, and even throw stones and potsherds at the priests. The sound of the church-going bell [6] never fails to evoke from Moslem hearers the foulest and most blasphemous language. They even deem it a pollution to touch a Christian's garment." Alvar adds that the Moslems would fall to cursing when they saw the cross; [7] and when they witnessed a burial according to Christian rites, would say aloud, "Shew them no mercy, O God," throwing stones withal at the Lord's people, and defiling their ears with the filthiest abuse. ”

“ When his father resigned in Feb. 1868 and Disraeli became prime minister, he received his first official appointment, as a civil lord of the admiralty. At the general election in November he successfully contested North Lancashire jointly with Colonel Wilson-Patten (afterwards Lord Winmarleigh) , displacing Lord Hartington, who had sat for the constituency as a liberal since 1857. ”

“ Of statesmanlike temper, he was brought up in an older political school, and was untrained in modern electioneering methods; on the mass of voters his intellectual ability and attainments made small impression. Although his active interest in county politics never declined, he made no further attempt to renew his parliamentary career. On the death in 1888 of his uncle, William Cowper-Temple, Lord Mount-Temple [q. v. Suppl. I] , Ashley succeeded to the properties bequeathed to Mount-Temple by Lord Palmerston, his stepfather Broadlands, Romsey and Classiebawn, co. Sligo. ”

“ His brother and Lord Carnarvon had left the government owing to differences with their colleagues on their anti-Russian policy in Eastern Europe,; and Gathorne-Hardy (created Viscounf^ Cranbrook) left the war^oflfice vacant on his transference to the India office. Stanley's appointment was popular in the army. The duke of Cambridge wrote to Gathorne-Hardy : 'No one that I could think of in political life would be equally acceptable to me' (ibid. ii. 60) . The crisis with Russia which had caused the schism in the cabinet soon ended, and Stanley's two years of office were not eventful. ”

“ In November 1889 he accepted the invitation of Sir Edward Cecil Guinness, afterwards Lord Iveagh, to become a trustee of the Guinness Trust Fund of 250,000l. for the provision of artisans' dwellings, 200,000l. ”

“ He has never been brought up to do anything; he is ill-read, ill-taught, and ignorant. He has never given his mind to anything but amusing himself; 79and now if he pays the ring what is justly owing to it he will be a beggar, with nothing to live on and nothing to look forward to but misery, and, in his eyes, disgrace.
Poor Sir Reginald! He feels his position acutely, it is burning itself into his brain. He feels that it is past endurance, that he cannot face it. ”

“ The ranee, no longer looked upon as a chief personage, sat concealed in a howdah on the back of an elephant towards the rear of the procession. The vast crowd assembled filled the air with their acclamations; and had not Reginald been well acquainted with the state of affairs, he might have supposed himself the popular ruler of a happy and loyal people. He very well knew, however, that any one of the nobles and guards surrounding him would be ready, at a convenient opportunity, to send a bullet through his head, or give him a cup of poison ”

“ On the death of his father in 1892 he became second Viscount Hampden and twenty-fourth Baron Dacre, and inherited the Dacre property of The Hoo, Hertfordshire. In 1895 Lord Hampden was appointed governor of New South Wales, where he arrived in Nov. He acted as a constitutional governor. At the same time questions which required the exercise of influence and discretion arose during his term of office. In Oct. 1896 a conference of colonial premiers at Sydney took the first effective step in the direction of union. In September 1897 the federal convention met at Sydney ”

“ Since he was seventeen years old Reginald had bought all the high-priced things that our fast civilization has to offer in exchange for “soul,” and now the ashes of that past were beginning to grit between his teeth; for he had a sweet memory of peace, purity and of an harmonious-purpose which glinted across his mind angelically as the remains of what had been his baby guesses at real manhood. But this dream, and the sainted mother who had inspired it, had both been devastated by the ignorant animalism of the elder Grove. ”

“ Reginald is utterly incapable of such an action, even granting that he possessed the terrible power of which you speak. A man of his splendid resources, a literary Midas at whose very touch every word turns into gold, is under no necessity to prey on the thoughts of others. ”

“ If Reginald worships his Penates Lares, I think the position of household goddess will be a very enjoyable one, for Reginald's devotion is not of an ephemeral nature; once given, it is given for ever. ”

“ To Reginald, the men of even his own class seemed travesties and parodies of a noble original, in that they were content to lead the dreadful lives they did--killing tame birds, knocking little balls about the place, watching other people ride races, rushing around in motors, sailing sunny seas in luxury and safety, seeing foreign lands only from their best hotels, poodle-faking and philandering, doing everything but anything--pampered, soft, useless; each a most exact and careful copy of his neighbour. ”

“ Hearing all these things, the grateful princess wept, and said,—
"Now I know that Prince Reginald is my own true friend."
The prince led Hilda to the palace, and presented her to the king and queen. Great was the wonder, and loud the rejoicing throughout the land.
The treacherous Zora was seen no more, but was changed into a slender green snake; and the king said she deserved her fate;" for, mark you," cried he, "there is no crime worse than to play false to those whom we pretend to love."
But Prince Reginald and Hildegarde were married, and lived in peace all the rest of their lives. ”

“ When the governor, looking up, saw Reginald and his father, he said shortly:
"When I heard your name, I wondered what Newbolt it was. How happens it that your father has let himself fall into this strait? I thought he was a cleverer man."
"There must be a traitor somewhere," said Reginald. "My father has taken the oath of allegiance; he went with General Monk to meet the king on his return. I, who have never drawn sword in any other cause, hold a commission from the king in his own Guards. But some traitor has informed his majesty of what, alas! ”

“ Reginald’s national prejudices began to rise high within him, and to overpower the want of energy which was his failing. “Sir Lothaire,” he replied doggedly, “methinks thou hast forgotten Hastings.”
“Sir Knight,” said his companion, in a melancholy voice, “it is not possible for thee or for me to forget Hastings. Thine ancestor did obtain there power, and title, and riches; mine did win nothing but honour and his grave. The chance may be ours in another field. If valour and desert in arms had had their meed the bastard of Normandy had never set foot upon the corpse of Harold.” ”