82 REMINISCENCES. [ch. iv. 



was strong. I never heard him hum more than one tune, 

 the Welsh song " Ar hyd y nos," which he went through 

 correctly ; he used also, I believe, to hum a little Otaheitan 

 song. From his want of ear he was unable to recognise a 

 tune when he heard it again, but he remained constant to 

 what he liked, and would often say, when an old favourite 

 was played, " That's a fine thing ; what is it ? " He liked 

 especially parts of Beethoven's symphonies and bits of 

 Handel. He was sensitive to differences in style, and en- 

 joyed the late Mrs. Vernon Lushington's playing intensely, 

 and in June 1881, when Hans Kichter paid a visit at Down, 

 he was roused to strong enthusiasm by his magnificent per- 

 formance on the piano. He enjoyed good singing, and was 

 moved almost to tears by grand or pathetic songs. His 

 niece Lady Farrer's singing of Sullivan's " Will he come " 

 was a never-failing enjoyment to him. He was humble in 

 the extreme about his own taste, and correspondingly 

 pleased when he found that others agreed with him. 



He became much tired in the evenings, especially of 

 late years, and left the drawing-room about ten, going to 

 bed at half-j3ast ten. His nights were generally bad, and 

 he often lay awake or sat up in bed for hours, suffering 

 much discomfort. He was troubled at night by the activity 

 of his thoughts, and would become exhausted by his mind 

 working at some problem which he would willingly have 

 dismissed. At night, too, anything which had vexed or 

 troubled him in the day would haunt him, and I think it 

 was then that he suffered if he had not answered some 

 troublesome correspondent. 



The regular readings, which I have mentioned, con- 

 tinued for so many years, enabled him to get through a 

 great deal of the lighter kinds of literature. He was ex- 

 tremely fond of novels, and I remember well the way in 

 which he would anticipate the pleasure of having a novel 

 read to him as he lay down or lighted his cigarette. He 

 took a vivid interest both in plot and characters, and would 

 on no account know beforehand how a story finished ; he 

 considered looking at the end of a novel as a feminine vice. 

 He could not enjoy any story with a tragical end ; for this 

 reason he did not keenly appreciate George Eliot, though 

 he often spoke, warmly in praise of Silas Marner. Walter 

 Scott, Miss Austen, and Mrs. Gaskell were read and re-read 

 till they could be read no more. He had two or three 

 books in hand at the same time a novel and perhaps a 



