1897] Afghan Troubles 283 



country of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, Caer- 

 philly, Caerleon, Chepstow, and the Forest of Dean, where I camped 

 close to what is called the Devil's Chapel, and thence by Berkeley Castle, 

 Easton Grey, Broad Hinton, and Savernake, Hurstbourne, Minley, and 

 so home. It had been a journey of 385 miles, made in nineteen days 

 with my four Arab mares, not one of which had tired or been off her 

 feed for a single day, and trotted in gamely, eager to be at home. The 

 journey had done me good. My journal of this tour is extremely in- 

 teresting, but once more it is impossible to give it a place here, as it 

 would lead me too far along the pleasant byways of social life and 

 away from the prescribed high road of public things. 



" 4th Sept. — For the last three weeks there have been high doings in 

 India on the Afghan frontier, and to-day expeditions on a large scale 

 are announced. This is closely connected with our absurd policy at 

 Constantinople. The position to-day with Russia protecting the Cali- 

 phate at Constantinople, France in alliance with Russia and Germany 

 also in the coalition against us, justifies all I wrote and did in Egypt 

 sixteen years ago. Dined at my club and had some talk with Nicholas 

 O'Conor who, heaven help us ! is now Her Majesty's ambassador to 

 the Emperor of all the Russias. 



" 25th Sept. — To Saighton, where I find a house full of friends and 

 acquaintance, Dick Grosvenor, Edward Clifford, Gatty, Henry Milner 

 and Lady Clifden, etc., with nothing for a vegetarian to eat [Lady 

 Windsor had persuaded me to become a vegetarian], and I dined off 

 two mushrooms and a raisin ; nevertheless a pleasant evening, George 

 laying down the law about Shakespeare, Ronsard, Brantome, and a 

 number more. 



" 2jth Sept. — At Saighton. Played lawn tennis with George. 

 Spent the evening with him, arguing with some heat the eternal ques- 

 tion of the right of savage nations to existence. George, who repre- 

 sents the general sense of modern Imperial England, denies them 

 any such right at all. I am sick of their arguments from Darwin and 

 the survival of the fittest. 



" 29th Sept. — Back to London and wrote going up in the train a 

 piece of verse for Gatty's translations, the hymn beginning : 



If this dark valley of distress and tears 

 So green appears. 



" 1st Oct. — Shooting at Newbuildings with Charles Wyndham, 

 Scrope, and Evershed. Scrope is a nice young Yorkshireman, very 

 understanding about horses, but in poor health. He gave us a naive 

 account of the Jameson raid as narrated to him by his brother, who 

 took part in it. It seems to have been a regular drunken frolic. 

 Jameson had up I forget how many wagon-loads of drink the week 



