th a certain semblance
of life, and very often with a certain poetry also. In some respects she
was even more striking than her books. In her dress and in her manner of
life she was an attempted exaggeration of her own female characters. For
many years she occupied a large villa near Florence. During that time
she visited London once. There it was that I met her. She depicted
herself to herself as a personage of European influence, and imagined
herself charged with a mission to secure the appointment of Lord Lytton
as British Ambassador in Paris. With this purpose in view she called one
day on Lady Salisbury, who, never having seen her before, was much
amazed by her entrance, and was still more amazed when Ouida, in
confidential tones, said, "I have come to tell you that the one man for
Paris is Robert." Lady Salisbury's answer was not very encouraging. It
consisted of the question, "And pray, if you please, who is Robert?" In
a general way, however, she received considerable attention, and might
have received more if it had not been for her reckless ignorance of the
complexities of the London world. In whatever company she might be in,
her first anxiety was to ingratiate herself with the most important
members of it, but she was constantly making mistakes as to who the most
important members were. Thus, as one of her entertainers--"Violet
Fane"--told me, Ouida was sitting after dinner between Mrs. ----, the
mistress of one of the greatest houses in London, and a vulgar little
Irish peeress who was only present on sufferance. Ouida treated the
former with the coldest and most condescending inattention, and devoted
every smile in her possession to an intimate worship of the latter.
When, however, she was in companies so carefully chosen that everybody
present was worthy of her best attention, and so small that all were
willing to give their best attention to _her_, she showed herself, so I
was told, a most agreeable woman. Thus forewarned as to her ways, I
found that such was the fact. I gave for her benefit a little luncheon
party at the Bachelors' Club, the only guests whom I asked to meet her
being Philip Stanhope and Countess Tolstoy (now Lord and Lady Weardale),
Lord and Lady Blythswood, and Julia, Lady Jersey. Ouida arrived trimmed
with the most exuberant furs, which, when they were removed, revealed
a costume of primrose color--a costume so artfully cut that, the moment
she sat down, all eyes were dazzled by the spa