FIFTY YEARS OF A SHOWMAN'S LIFE 



he then expressed, respecting the relationship 

 that should exist between landlord and tenant, 

 were very much of a revelation to them, and 

 certainly not what they had been accustomed to. 

 I do not think this instance of his capacity, at 

 this early stage of his career, to grasp and utilize 

 information outside his ordinary sphere of know- 

 ledge is generally known, but it has always dwelt 

 in my memory as something very remarkable. 

 How highly this faculty was developed in after 

 years, the permanent officials at the India and 

 Inland Revenue Offices could testify. I after- 

 wards saw something of his lordship when I was 

 editing the Oxford Journal, and found him, as 

 most others did, a very attractive personality. 



I remember my last interview with him. We 

 were in the throes of a General Election, and 

 the campaign opened when he was out of England. 

 He hurried home to look after his seat at Wood- 

 stock, where he had a somewhat formidable 

 opponent in the person of the Hon. J. Brodrick, 

 who, curiously enough, was a Fellow, and in 

 after years was Head, of the very College, viz., 

 Merton, to which Lord Randolph belonged in his 

 undergraduate days. Easter fell in the midst 

 of the turmoil, and, so far as Oxford was concerned, 

 both sides suspended operations from the Thursday 

 before Easter until after Easter Monday. This 

 brief cessation and strain did not, however, apply 

 to newspapers, and so, after I had rendered my 

 dues to the church on Good Friday, " I held a 

 candle to " some one else, by going to my office, 

 where I felt I should be able to make some head- 

 way against the stream of work, without fear of 



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