BIOGEAPHICAL SKETCH. xlvii 



had the honour to command in the Crimea ; but from that date for upwards of six years we met 

 nearly every day, and I enjoyed ample opportunity of judging his ability and character. Of 

 the first there could be no doubt. He always performed his duty with the earnestness he 

 subsequently pursued every subject that interested him. 



" I believe that the quality I prized most in him was his truthfulness. 



" I know that in discussing any question of difficulty which might arise in the course of our 

 service, he would certainly tell me exactly what he thought, whether it was likely to tally with 

 my opinion or not. 



" I do not recollect ever having seen him give way to temper, and I always found him most 

 considerate and just about others. 



" You may easily believe that these virtues generated and confii-med the feelings of respect 

 and afi"ection I entertained for him, and cause me most deej)ly to regret that his death should 

 have removed him from the high position he was so competent to fill to the advantage of all 

 connected with him. 



" I trust that you will not think me presuming, if I beg you to believe me, 



" Very sincerely yours, 

 (Signed) " ROKEBY." 



It may not bo out of place here to say that for the character of his General the greatest 

 respect was ever expressed by Arthur Hay. 



On June 12th, 1856, he wrote from Athens, where he had just arrived by the French 

 mail-boat, intending to go up the Adriatic by one of the Austrian steamers to Venice, 

 proceed to Verona, and then enter Switzerland. Athens did not please him — that is, " Modern 

 Athens," "a most filthy, dull, stupid, unwatered, dry, abandoned place;" but he was delighted 

 with the ruins and the scenery. A visit to the interior of Greece was impossible, as brigandage 

 was the order of the day ; and he was obliged to content himself with excursions to the objects 

 of interest in and around the capital. 



Leaving Athens in a few days, he coasted up the eastern shore of the Adriatic to Venice. He 

 writes with great enthusiasm of the beauty of the Dalmatian coast, with its thousand islands, deep 

 bays, rocky mountains, and old Venetian towns ; and draws the skeleton of a rapid tour which 

 he had planned taking through Croatia, with the intention of reaching England early in the 

 autumn of 1856 ; but it would seem that he was not enabled to carry it all out, and that he 

 arrived at home somewhat sooner than he anticipated, after a brief run through the north of 

 Italy and Switzerland on the Avay. 



When he reached England the controversies which had been aroused by the conduct of the 

 war had by no means died out, and the outspoken criticisms of the Guardsman were listened to 



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