1893-1896] My Mother's Enjoyment of Life 307 



Under the date February, 1893, my mother copied these 

 lines from In Memoriam into her book of extracts : 



CXVI. 



Not all regret : the face will shine 

 Upon rne, while I muse alone; 

 And that dear voice, I once have known, 



Still speak to me of me and mine: 



Yet less of sorrow lives in me 



For days of happy commune dead; 

 Less yearning for the friendship fled, 



Than some strong bond which is to be. 



During the last year of my mother's life her health was 

 better than it had been for some years. Her letters show 

 how full of energy and enjoyment she was, and her power 

 of living in the lives of those she cared for made her really 

 enjoy their pleasures at secondhand, and kept many avenues 

 to life open that are often closed to the old. It was difficult 

 to remember that she would be eighty-eight on May 2nd of 

 this year. 



Jan. I5th, 1896. 



... I feel it pleasant to be silent and quiet for a bit. I 

 am flattered by the warm tone of Lady Derby's note; but 

 when she calls my letter charming, I feel a little like William 

 when Mrs Thorley called him a " sweet boy." 



Public affairs look better, especially since Lord Salisbury 

 has said that he will make any information public. 1 How 

 odious the Irish are, even Davitt, who one thought was a 

 decent man. Do they really think the downfall of England 

 would not ruin Ireland also ? 



Feb. 28th, 1896. 



Poor Hope ! about hunting. I wonder whether it would 

 at all console her to learn that I had the same trouble. 

 I should think that Godfrey would sympathise entirely 

 with her. Your father did not with me, as he thought 



1 The Jameson Raid on the Transvaal had taken place at the end 

 of December, 1895. 



