4 r 4 George Wynd ham's Sudden Death [ I 9 I 3 



pressly because I knew that it would be appreciated by George rather 

 than for any other reason. It was a fine old edition of " Ronsard," a 

 folio of 1609, a thing of all others I knew that George would delight in. 

 It is thus he had written : " Your wedding present to Percy is, in fact, 

 la most priceless gift to me. I know and love that ' Ronsard.' Percy has 

 been soldiering with his General all over the south-west of England, so 

 we only met to-day on the eve of his marriage. He had, as I had not, 

 opened the parcel, and will thank you. He proposes to put the ' Ron- 

 sard ' in my library. . . . These days have been tense. Rosebery, I 

 don't know why, asked me to dinner yesterday week, the 8th April. 

 He felt then that unless the Emperor of Russia could squash the King 

 of Montenegro there might be a mobilization here before Percy's wed- 

 ding. But those clouds are dispersed, so we have enjoyed the pre- 

 liminaries of Percy's nuptials. We had a display of gifts at Ribbles- 

 dale's house this afternoon, and a dinner of both families at Grosvenor 

 House this evening. We all feel that politics are a bore, and should be 

 quitted by honest men, and that soldiers are menaced. So, as you won't 

 come to Clouds, we (by which I mean Percy, Diana, and myself) hope 

 in the interval of peace to invade you at Newbuildings in the course of 

 the summer. I would like you to see Percy and Diana in the prime 

 of their mating. It is just possible that they have hit off an alliance 

 of heroic love, combined with matrimony. If this should prove to be 

 so they are lucky. In any case they are happy to exorbitance for the 

 moment. For the moment they are lovers, and they ought to visit your 

 shrine and lay a wreath at the feet of Proteus. As a rule, people do not 

 know how to love ; as an exception, they love now here, now there ; as 

 a rarity, almighty lovers find each other after both are married. It is 

 extravagant to suppose that Percy and Diana are going to be lovers and 

 also husband and wife, but it is pleasant to contemplate the hypothesis. 

 In any case I ought to take them in their youth and delight to see you. 

 Your affectionate, G. W." 



It is impossible for me to tell here all that George was to me and 

 what I lost by his death. He was my nearest male relation, and very 

 much my nearest friend. I had looked upon him as the inheritor after 

 me of our family traditions, and in some measure of my family pos- 

 sessions as trustee and knowing all. No thought had ever crossed my 

 mind that I could have the misfortune to survive him. Although on 

 politics we were a whole world apart, on all things else we were in 

 perfect unison of thought and taste and literary sympathy. I find this 

 in my diary : 



" 10th June. — I have thought of nothing else to-day but George. 

 Only yesterday, before I knew of his death, I had taken down from its 

 shelf his little book on Ronsard, and had begun reading it again. The 

 preface is one of the most brilliant pieces of writing I know and the 



