106 Herbert Bismarck \_ l 9®4 



had been stringent because all the military men were furious against 

 him. As to Thibet, Lhassa is to be really evacuated, another triumph 

 of our joint influence. We also talked about Egypt. I gave him my 

 views of a new regime there based on Mohammed Abdu's letter. He 

 said they were quite aware that the present state of things at Cairo 

 was unsatisfactory, but the great obstacle to any change was Cromer, 

 who was entirely satisfied with all as it is. George had met the Khe- 

 dive Abbas at a dinner party in London, where the Khedive had treated 

 him with obsequious politeness. This had given him a contempt for 

 him. 



" 8th Sept. — George has left us, and with him the life of the party. 

 He is egotistical but not, I think, selfish, monopolizing attention to his 

 own talk and his own ideas. Some people resent this, but on me it has 

 a stimulating effect, rousing me to repartee; thus I am always happy 

 in his company, almost as his mother is who adores his self-glorifica- 

 tions, which are a schoolboy's in simplicity. 



" 10th Sept. — Left Clouds. On my way back through Wilton I 

 passed the statue which has been put up there to George Pembroke. 

 It is on a colossal scale but very like him. It feels strange that I 

 should have known him as a boy. 



" iyth Sept. — Chapel Street. To-day I signed the settlement, mak- 

 ing over Crabbet to Judith, thus ending my reign there after thirty-two 

 and a half years of it, though I still retain the Lordship of the Manors 

 of Worth and Oram, with Worth Forest, Springfield, and Newbuildings. 

 It is rather a leap in the dark but has not been taken without reflection. 

 George also signed the settlement and also Eddy Marsh, as witnesses. 

 George starts to-morrow, with his son Percy, for Frankfort in order 

 that he may learn German. He is a charming young man and George 

 is immensely proud of his good looks. For himself, his one thought 

 now is to get back to poetry. 



" 18th Sept. — Dined with old Philip Webb at Caxtons and dis- 

 cussed Tolstoy's ideas with him which I quarrel with on two points, 

 (i) His belief that the world is improving in the direction of justice 

 and (2) His view that religion of any kind makes people unselfish. 



" 23rd Sept. — Anne has left for Egypt. I am to follow in six 

 weeks. Herbert Bismarck is dead; his wife, Maggie Hoyos, was a 

 nice, simple girl when I used to go and see them at Paddockhurst, some 

 fourteen years ago. I see in the papers that she threw herself on 

 her husband's coffin at the funeral; their marriage had been a very 

 happy one. 



" 28th Sept. — Dined in Belgrave Square, George being with us, 

 having returned from Germany. He has just published a letter in 

 the ' Times ' repudiating a programme put out in his absence by 

 Dunraven of a kind of Home Rule for Ireland. I know this kind of 



