notes that had evidently been prepared by his secretary. I could not hear 

 the Frenchman and the Dutchman, nor understand the Italian; but 

 much the best speech of the evening, to my taste, was made by old 

 Waldeyer of Berlin, Unfortunately, he spoke in German, and it is to 

 be feared that most of his audience did not understand him. 



Wednesday morning was given over to sight-seeing parties, which, 

 needless to say, I avoided. In the afternoon I went with Hobbs and his 

 wife in a taxicab to the Duke of Northumberland's garden party at 

 Syon House, near Brentford, a drive of eight miles or more. . . . The 

 enormous house has many interesting portraits and the grounds are 

 most beautiful; the entertainment was on a very lavish scale and served 

 in a vast marquee. The so-called conversazione in the evening saved its 

 face by a few scientific exhibits, but was essentially a dense crush. So 

 far as costumes went, it was a very brilliant affair; not to mention the 

 ladies' dresses, there were hundreds of scarlet gowns, court suits, official, 

 diplomatic and military uniforms, quite a dazzling picture. 



Thursday's only affair was "Their Majesties' Afternoon Party" at 

 Windsor Castle, which was very well worth seeing. The delegates were 

 taken down in a special train and spent a couple of hours going over 

 the castle. Then we were marched to the East Terrace and arranged in 

 a double column, after which the King and Queen appeared, followed 

 by their train. We walked by them as our names were called and, greatly 

 to my surprise, they shook hands with each of us. This ceremony com- 

 pleted, we joined the vast crowd of guests, the newspaper estimates of 

 the number varying from seven to ten thousand. The view from the 

 terrace out over the wonderful lawns and the thousands of ladies was 

 one long to remember. Never having been the guest of royalty but once 

 before, 1 departed from my usual custom and partook freely of the 

 refreshments, which did credit to Their Majesties' hospitality. 



On Friday the delegates were pretty equally divided between Oxford 

 and Cambridge, I, of course, going to the former. On arrival, the can- 

 didates were taken to the hall of Brasenose College and presented to the 

 Vice-Chancellor, who "stayed us with flagons and comforted us with 

 apples," or, in less Scriptural language, oflfered fruit and wine. After 

 putting on scarlet robes, we marched in procession to the Sheldonian 

 Theatre and there the degrees were conferred in the usual manner, but 

 as the undergraduates were all "down," without the customary guying. 

 The other men honoured were Backlund, Brogger, Waldeyer and Zee- 

 man, a remarkable list, which made me feel that I was not "trotting in 

 my class" at all. 



C 294 ] 



