308 Farewell Dinner to Curzon [1898 



retaries, at which, after the consumption of much champagne, they 

 toasted each other as ' the youth of the day and the future Cabinet of 

 19.10.' All were present except Austin Chamberlain, who had been run 

 over by a cab. 



" 8th Dec. — Basil Blackwood came to breakfast with me in Mount 

 Street, just back from a shooting expedition in East Africa. He gave 

 me an account of it, as well as of Hubert Howard's death. He and 

 Hubert had been very close friends. Basil is a nice youth, not a little 

 like what his father was when he was young. 



' 10th Dec. — I have been buying books with Cockerell's help at 

 Morris's sale, his ' Gerarde's Herbal,' a Berner's ' Froissart,' and Ma- 

 lory's ' King Arthur,' the Copland edition of 1557, the last a book to lie 

 always on one's table. 



" Last night there was given a great private dinner to George Curzon, 

 at which most of the ladies who are our friends were present. [This 

 was a farewell dinner to Lord Curzon of Kedlestone on his departure 

 for India as Viceroy. I have an amusing letter from Curzon of that 

 date, as member of the Crabbet Club, excusing himself for accepting 

 an office which, according to our Rules, entailed a resignation of mem- 

 bership, but I cannot print it here.] Both George Wyndham and 

 Sibell gave me an account of the feast. He, George Wyndham, recited 

 a poem he had written for the occasion. Hugo (Elcho) proposed 

 Curzon's health in a speech which George declared beat even his 

 (Hugo's) record, and Curzon's reply was also most amusing. No 

 pressmen were invited except Harry Cust, if he can still be called one. 

 It is described in the evening papers as a ' congregation of the Order of 

 the Souls.' 



" 16th Dec. — The event of the day is Harcourt's retirement from the 

 leadership of the Liberal party. The true reason of his retirement is 

 the conversion of the whole party, or at least the whole Liberal Press, 

 to Jingo Imperialism. I wrote yesterday to congratulate him on his 

 published letter. To-day I have a line from him in answer. He says : 

 ' Anchc io have escaped out of gaol and am a free man.' I hope now 

 that his tongue and Morley's will be let loose to attack the militarism of 

 the day, of which Rosebery is the most outrageous champion. They 

 will have plenty to say and will give dissentients heart. There must 

 be a few lovers of liberty left in England, but for the moment they 

 have no voice more powerful than Labouchere's. I consider Har- 

 court's retirement a distinct gain for liberty, if not for Liberalism. 



" iyth Dec. — To London on business, and dined at the ' Travellers,' 

 where I was introduced by d'Estournelles to his new Ambassador, 

 Cambon. I had a long talk with the latter about desert travelling, and 

 my adventure at Siwah. Having mentioned that I was at Paris at the 

 time of the late crisis they asked me ' which crisis,' and I without think- 



