62 ECHOES OF OLD COUNTY LIFE. 



the tables having been laid for five hundred, and the 

 galleries filled with more than four hundred ladies. 

 The Exchange stands at the bottom of the hill in the 

 Market Square, and it was intended that his lordship 

 should walk down, but when he came out of the hotel 

 his carriage was standing to take him there, the servants 

 thinking the crowd would be too great for their master 

 to go through on foot. So he got into the brougham, 

 and, turning round to me, he said, '' I must not go 

 alone ; you must come with me." As we were going 

 down the Square, he said, " Do they expect me to say 

 anything to-day ? " meaning politically, and I replied, 

 " Certainly ; we are all looking forward to what you 

 have to say about the Bulgarian atrocities." " I cannot 

 touch upon that ; you know how strictly forbidden 

 we are by our Society's rules to speak on political 

 questions." I answered, " Yes ; but this is not a political, 

 but a great National Question, and we shall give you such 

 a reception as you never before received in this county." 

 " Do you think so ?" he said. " But you know I can't, I 

 must not do it." I then replied, " I think, my lord, I 

 can take a liberty with you. What do you think the 

 public will say if you don't speak on this all-important 

 question .? " " What's that ? " he said. " Why, that you 

 are afraid of it." He waited a moment and then folded 

 his arms and leant back in the corner of the carriage^ 

 and then said, " If that's the case, I will speak." 



We then arrived amidst the cheering of the crowds 

 which was so dense at the entrance to the Corn 

 Exchange that we found it impossible to force our way 

 through into the hall. I then suggested he should enter 



