r has left its mark upon him, a deeper mark
than most years ... but he is happy, even merry. Seventy or eighty of
our school children came up and sang in front of his window. They had
made a gay flag on which were written four lines of a little poem to
him. He was much pleased and moved with the pretty sight and pretty
sound. I may say the same of Lord Granville, who happened to be here at
the time.' Two months later occurs the following entry: 'Interesting
visit from the Bulgarian delegates, who called to thank John for the
part he has taken. They utterly deny the probability of civil war or
bloodshed between different Christian sects, or between Christian and
Mussulman, in case of Bulgaria and the other insurgent provinces
obtaining self-government. Their simple, heart-felt words of gratitude
to John were touching to us all.'

History repeats itself at Pembroke Lodge. On May 16, 1895, a party of
Armenian refugees went thither on the ground that 'the name of Lord John
Russell is honoured by every Christian under the rule of the Turk.' It
recalled to Lady Russell the incident just recorded, and the interview,
she states, was 'a heart-breaking one, although gratitude for British
sympathy seemed uppermost in what they wished to express. After they
were gone I thought, as I have often thought before, how right my
husband was in feeling and in saying, as he often did, that Goldsmith
was quite wrong in these two lines in "The Traveller":

'How small of all that human hearts endure
That part which laws or kings can cause or cure!

He often recited them with disapproval when any occurrence made him feel
how false they were.'

[Sidenote: KINGLAKE'S DESCRIPTION]

Lord John's manner of life, like his personal tastes, was simple. He
contrived to set the guests who gathered around him at his wife's
receptions perfectly at their ease, by his old-fashioned gallantry,
happy humour, and bright, vigorous talk. One room in Pembroke Lodge,
from the windows of which a glorious view of the wooded valley is
obtained, has been rendered famous by Kinglake's description[44] of a
certain drowsy summer evening in June 1854, when the Aberdeen Cabinet
assembled in it, at the very moment when they were drifting into war.
Other rooms in the house are full of memories of Garibaldi and
Livingstone, of statesmen, ambassadors, authors, and, indeed, of men
distinguished in every walk of life, but chiefly of Lord John himself,
in days of in