or tribulation of a certain little boy in
England who had just crossed the threshold of school-life. Probably
Lord John was thinking of his own harsh treatment at Westminster, more
than sixty years before, when he wrote: 'Poor Willy! He will find a
public school a rough place, and the tears will come into his eyes when
he thinks of the very soft nest he left at home.'

Ecclesiastical affairs never lost their interest to the author of the
Durham Letter, and the following comments show his attitude on Church
questions. The first is from a letter written on May 23, 1867: 'The
Church has been greatly disturbed. The Bishop of Salisbury has claimed
for the English clergy all the power of the Roman priests. The question
whether they are to wear white surplices, or blue, green, yellow, or
red, becomes a minor question in comparison. Of course the Bishop and
those who think with him throw off the authority of our excellent
Thirty-nine Articles altogether, and ought to leave the Church to the
Protestant clergy and laity.' England just then, in Carlyle's judgment,
was 'shooting Niagara,' and Disraeli's reform proposals were making a
stir in the opposite camp. In the letter above quoted Lord John says:
'Happily, we are about to get rid of the compound householder. I am told
Dizzy expects to be the first President of the British Republic.' Mr.
Gladstone, according to Lord Houghton, seemed at the same moment 'quite
awed with the diabolical cleverness of Dizzy.' The second bears date
Woburn Abbey, September 29, 1868: 'Dr. Temple is a man I greatly admire,
and he has become more valuable to his country since the death of our
admirable Dean of St. Paul's. If I had any voice in the appointment,
Temple is the man I should wish to see succeed to Milman; but I suppose
the "Essays and Reviews" will tell heavily against him.' 'We lead a very
quiet life here and a very happy one. I sometimes regret not seeing my
old political friends a little oftener.' 'In June [1869] I expect
Dickens to visit us. We went to see him last night in the murder of
Nancy by Sikes, and Mrs. Gamp. He acts like a great actor, and writes
like a great author. Irish Church is looming very near in the Commons,
and, in June, in the Lords. The Archbishops and Bishops do not wish to
oppose the second reading, but Lord Cairns is prepared to hack and hew
in committee.'

[Sidenote: LADY GEORGIANA PEEL]

The recollections of Lord John's children reveal, by incidents too
tri