68

Early Youth at Oxford--Acquaintance with Browning, Swinburne,
and Ruskin--Dissipations of an Undergraduate--The Ferment of
Intellectual Revolution--_The New Republic_

CHAPTER VI

THE BASIS OF LONDON SOCIETY 92

Early Experiences of London Society--Society Thirty Years Ago
Relatively Small--Arts and Accomplishments Which Can Flourish in
Small Societies Only

CHAPTER VII

VIGNETTES OF LONDON LIFE 113

Byron's Grandson and Shelley's Son--The World of Balls--The
"Great Houses," and Their New Rivals--The Latter Criticized by
Some Ladies of the Old Noblesse--Types of More Serious
Society--Lady Marian Alford and Others--_Salons_ Exclusive and
Inclusive--A Clash of Two Rival Poets--The Poet
Laureate--Auberon Herbert and the Simple Life--Dean
Stanley--Whyte Melville--"Ouida"--"Violet Fane"--Catholic
Society--Lord Bute--Banquet to Cardinal Manning--Difficulties of
the Memoir-writer--Lord Wemyss and Lady P---- --Indiscretions of
Augustus Hare--Routine of a London Day--The Author's Life Out of
London

CHAPTER VIII

SOCIETY IN COUNTRY HOUSES 142

A Few Country Houses of Various Types--Castles and Manor Houses
from Cornwall to Sutherland

CHAPTER IX

FROM COUNTRY HOUSES TO POLITICS 168

First Treatise on Politics--Radical Propaganda--First Visit to
the Highlands--The Author Asked to Stand for a Scotch
Constituency

CHAPTER X

A FIVE MONTHS' INTERLUDE 194

A Venture on the Riviera--Monte Carlo--Life in a Villa at
Beaulieu--A Gambler's Suicide--A Gambler's Funeral

CHAPTER XI

"THE OLD ORDER CHANGES" 209

Intellectual Apathy of Conservatives--A Novel Which Attempts to
Harmonize Socialist Principles with Conservative

CHAPTER XII

CYPRUS, FLORENCE, HUNGARY 226

A Winter in Cyprus--Florence--Siena--Italian
Castles--Cannes--Some Foreign Royalties--Visit During the
Following Spring to Princess Batthyany in Hungary

CHAPTER XIII

TWO WORKS ON SOCIAL POLITICS 255

The Second Lord Lytton at Knebworth--"Ouida"--Conservative
Torpor as to Social Politi