PRIVATE THEATRICALS AT LILFORD 89 



sure of a kindly welcome, and of one of the 

 prettily turned compliments which are amongst 

 the Cosas de Espana. Mr. Lowell, then American 

 Minister, more than once made his way to * the 

 den,' and my brother found he had much in 

 common with the author of ' The Biglow Papers.' 



During the winter months at Lilford, when 

 my brother was fortunate enough to be at home, 

 and free from gout, acting was one of the amuse- 

 ments of the long evenings. I must again lay 

 to the account of heredity, I suppose, the talent 

 for acting which my brother possessed. 



The sons of the first Lord Holland had been 

 taught to declaim from their earliest years, but 

 in the Greek and Latin tongues. These exer- 

 cises induced a turn for acting, which the old 

 statesman encouraged, and in which amuse- 

 ment Stephen Fox 1 particularly excelled. 



A generation later, on the banks of the Nene, 

 Moliere found interpreters in the elder members 

 of the second Lord Lilford' s large family, and 

 ' Les Precieuses Ridicules ' and other plays 

 were acted by them, their father supplying pro- 

 logues and epilogues. In my brother's case, it 



1 The second Lord Holland. 



