314 LIFE OF SIR JOHN LUBBOCK ch. 



of England. She seems to have a very fair know- 

 ledge of wild flowers, and I tested her with some 

 of the less conspicuous species. She seems to 

 delight in flowers." 



On the 22nd he notes : " Home by Bonn and 

 Brussels. It was a beautiful sunset. Harold 

 noticed it of himself and said, ' How pretty ! Is it 

 ours ? ' " 



Almost his first act of any public importance 

 after his return was his resignation of the Chair- 

 manship of the London County Council, and 

 nearly all the papers had highly eulogistic 

 references to his conduct in the Chair of the 

 Council's business. The diary is a most curious 

 medley of entries which have a large public in- 

 terest and value, together with such details as 

 " golf — 69 and 71 " (this was at Cromer, where 

 he was staying at the beginning of October with 

 Mr. and Mrs. Sydney Buxton). It continues : 

 " Ursula caught a fine codling, which the children 

 had for breakfast." There is an entry of some 

 little interest, in the conversation about the Pope 

 which it records, on the following Sunday : 

 " Tricoupi, Sir J. Fergusson, Sir T. Sanderson, 

 Mundella, and Mrs. Stanley came for Sunday. 

 Sanderson said the Pope had personally a regard 

 for Victor Emmanuel. When he died they 

 brought the Pope the design for his tomb, which 

 the Pope approved, but said he could not sanction 

 it because the allegorical statues were all of 

 Pagan deities. There was nothing Christian 

 about it. So they took it away, altered Jupiter, 

 Apollo, etc., into Fortitude, Truth, etc., and 

 brought it back. The Pope was then satisfied." 



