DUCHESS HARRIET. 95 



infirmity just referred to, life at Trentham, Stafford House, 

 and Dunrobin passed as smoothly and happily as possible, 

 until, rather suddenly, the end came at Trentham through 

 an attack of paralysis, to which the Duke succumbed early 

 in the year 1861. The second Duke, although never in 

 the least degree a sportsman, was nevertheless a good 

 friend and supporter of the North Staffordshire Hounds, 

 and it was in his time that the kennels were built, 

 though the hounds were not removed there till after his 

 death. 



His wife, Duchess Harriet, survived him for seven 

 years, and was so memorable a personage that she deserves 

 rather more than the passing notice we have already 

 given to her name. Lady Harriet Howard was the 

 daughter of the sixth Earl of Carlisle, and sister to the 

 seventh Earl of Carlisle, of whom Thackeray wrote that 

 he was " beloved as widely as he is known, a man most 

 kind, accomplished, gentle, friendly, and pure." Lord 

 Carlisle was homely in features and appearance, his sister 

 Harriet of remarkable beauty and dignity, but although 

 so difi'erent in appearance, it is evident that in character 

 and disposition the brother and sister were essentially 

 alike. As Lord Eonald Gower says of them with natural 

 enthusiasm, but with undoubted truth and sincerity, "Alike 

 in their power of attaching to them all that came within 

 the charm of their society ; alike in their love of all that 

 is good, and true, and just, and beautiful in this world ; 

 alike in their abhorrence of tyranny, meanness, and cruelty 

 — indeed, were there more like unto these two, the world 

 would be a brighter and a better one." 



The Duchess was a great admirer of Mr. Gladstone, 

 both as a public man and as a friend in private life, and 

 an intimate friendship existed between them until her 

 death, in 1868. A few days before the end, Mr. Gladstone 

 wrote thus with reference to the illness of the Duchess, 

 which was then known to be beyond any hope of recovery : 

 " I know enough to conceive with what feelings those who 

 stand much nearer to her must contemplate what is coming, 



