se a field which
adjoined his garden, and constructed in it a sort of covered canal,
along which models of various designs were towed, the towing-machine
recording the various results by diagrams. The discoveries which Mr.
Froude thus made soon proved so remarkable that Edward, Duke of Somerset
(then First Lord of the Admiralty), secured for him a government grant,
in order that his operations might be extended, the whole of the earlier
expenses having been borne by Mr. Froude himself. The enterprise soon
attracted the attention of other governments also; Admiral Popoff, on
behalf of the Tsar, having come all the way from Russia to visit Mr.
Froude in connection with it. But the pilgrims to Chelston Cross were
not naval experts only. Torquay was at that time nearing its social
zenith, and the rumor that Mr. Froude was conducting a series of
mysterious experiments which bade fair to revolutionize the naval
architecture of the world stirred interest in many men of
mark--statesmen and others who were far from being naval experts, and
also of ladies, many of them with charming eyes whose attention alone
was, in my opinion at all events, sufficient to throw a halo of success
round any experiment which excited it.

All of these, masculine and feminine alike, were sensible of the charm
of Mr. William Froude and his family; and for many years, even in
London, it would have been difficult to find a house more frequented
than Chelston Cross by a society of well-known and entertaining persons,
not only English, but continental and American also. Thus, during the
years of my tutelage at Littlehampton and Oxford, which comprised but
occasional and brief visits to London, I acquired a considerable
acquaintance, and what may be called some knowledge of the world, before
I had entered the world as my own master and on my own account. Of the
persons with whom I became, during that period, familiar some idea may
be given by a mention of the names, or by brief sketches, of a few of
them--those being selected who, whether as types or otherwise, may still
have some meaning and interest for the social generation of to-day.

CHAPTER IV

WINTER SOCIETY AT TORQUAY

Early Acquaintance with Society--Byron's Grandson--Lord
Houghton--A Dandy of the Old School--Carlyle--Lord Lytton, and
Others--Memorable Ladies

Of the men--the noteworthy men--with whom I thus became acquainted
before I had escaped from the torture of my