ctionate intimacy with Freddy Leveson. Every year, and
more than once a year, they stayed with him at Holmbury; and one
at least of those visits was memorable. On the 19th of July, 1873,
Mr. Gladstone wrote in his diary:

"Off at 4.25 to Holmbury, We were enjoying that beautiful spot
and expecting Granville with the Bishop of Winchester,[*] when
the groom arrived with the message that the Bishop had had a bad
fall. An hour and a half later Granville entered, pale and sad:
'It's all over.' In an instant the thread of that precious life
was snapped, We were all in deep and silent grief."

[Footnote *: Samuel Wilberforce.]

And now, for the sake of those who never knew Freddy Leveson, a
word of personal description must be added. He was of middle height,
with a slight stoop, which began, I fancy from the fact that he was
short-sighted and was obliged to peer rather closely at objects
which he wished to see. His growing deafness, which in later years
was a marked infirmity--he had no others--tended to intensify the
stooping habit, as bringing him nearer to his companions voice. His
features were characteristically those of the House of Cavendish,
as may be seen by comparing his portrait with that of his mother.
His expression was placid, benign, but very far from inert; for
his half-closed eyes twinkled with quiet mirth. His voice was soft
and harmonious, with just a trace of a lisp, or rather of that
peculiar intonation which is commonly described as "short-tongued."
His bearing was the very perfection of courteous ease, equally
remote from stiffness and from familiarity. His manners it would be
impertinent to eulogize, and the only dislikes which I ever heard
him express were directed against rudeness, violence, indifference
to other people's feelings, and breaches of social decorum. If
by such offences as these it was easy to displease him, it was
no less easy to obtain his forgiveness, for he was as amiable as
he was refined. In old age he wrote, with reference to the wish
which some people express for sudden death: "It is a feeling I
cannot understand, as I myself shall feel anxious before I die
to take an affectionate leave of those I love." His desire was
granted, and there my story ends. I have never known a kinder heart;
I could not imagine a more perfect gentleman.

VI

_SAMUEL WHITBREAD_

The family of Whitbread enjoyed for several generations substantial
possessions in North Bedfordshire. They wer