Louisa [85] writes in such warm admiration of Minto indoors and out, it did me good to read it, and such joy in meeting you. Shall I ever be there again, I wonder?--a foolish wonder, and foolisher still when let out! Dear old oak-room--to me too Granny Brydone is always present there. I _cannot_ think of it without her image rising before me. How perfect she was! How far above the common world she and Mama, and yet both spending their lives in the discharge of common, and what many would call, petty duties! How little it signifies what are the special duties to which we are called, how much the spirit in which we do them! I don"t think I ever longed so much for long talks day after day with you. Don"t say such hopes are visionary, though, alas! they have over and over again vanished before our eyes.
[85] Lady Louisa Howard, formerly Lady Louisa Fitzmaurice (daughter of Lord Lansdowne), one of Lady Russell"s earliest friends.
_Lady Russell to Lord Amberley_
PEMBROKE LODGE, _October_ 28, 1873
DEAREST JOHNNY,--... Rollo bought Mill"s autobiography, and I have read the greater part of it. Deeply interesting it is, and his lovableness comes out in it as much as his intellect--but deeply sad too, in more ways than one. I live in dread of the possible effect on you and Kate of the account of his education by his father--the principles right, the application so wofully wrong.
Mill was a learned scholar, a great thinker, a good man, partly in consequence, partly in spite of it.... Happily you have more Popes than one, as good for you as it was for the world in days of old.
Happily, too, there"s such a thing as love, _innate, intuitive, instinctive_ (oh, horrible!), which is wise in proportion to its depth, and will be your best and safest guide. How strange Mill"s utter silence about his mother I How beautiful and touching the pages about his wife! How melancholy to know that such high natures as his and hers generally fail to meet in close intimacy here below, and therefore live and die more than half unknown, waiting for the hereafter. G.o.d bless you, my very dear children.
Your loving MOTHER
PEMBROKE LODGE, _November_ 9, 1873
Visit from Mr. Herbert Spencer, who stayed to dinner. Long, deep, interesting conversation; all amounting to "we know nothing," he a.s.suring me that the prospect of annihilation has no terrors for him; I feeling that without immortality life is "all a cheat," and without a Father in heaven, right and wrong, love, conscience, joy, sorrow, are words without a meaning and the Universe, if governed at all, is governed by a malignant spirit who gives us hopes, and aspirations never to be fulfilled, affections to be wasted, a thirst for knowledge never to be quenched.
"1874 opened brightly and peacefully on our dear home," she writes; but it was to prove one of the saddest years in their lives. Only some of the heavy trials and sorrows that they were called upon to bear from this time onward will be touched upon here. They were borne by Lord and Lady Russell with heroic courage and unfaltering faith.
_Lady Russell to Lady Dunfermline_
PEMBROKE LODGE, _February_ 25, 1874
I am now just finishing the "Heart of Midlothian," and with more intense admiration for it than ever--the beauty and naturalness of every word spoken by Jeanie and Effie _before_ the last volume, of a great deal of Davie Deans, of many of the scenes scattered through the book are, I think, not to be surpa.s.sed. More tenderness and depth and heart-breakingness I should say than in any of Sir Walter"s.... I turned to Sir Walter from "The Parisians." I doubt whether I shall finish it, a false, glittering, disagreeable atmosphere.
_Lady Russell to Lord and Lady Amberley_
PEMBROKE LODGE, _March_ 2, 1874
MY DEAR CHILDREN,--... We had a charming visit from Sir Henry Taylor a few days ago, a long quiet real "crack" about many books and many authors, with a little touch of the events of the day-change of Ministry, causes of our utter defeat, which he thinks obscure, so do I--not creditable to the country, so do I--in so far as Disraeli can hardly be reckoned more trustworthy or consistent than Gladstone, and Gladstone"s untrustworthiness and inconsistency are supposed to have caused his overthrow. The Queen made Sir John Cowell write me a note to find out whether John would be disposed to go to the great banquet next Tuesday and sleep at Windsor.
Kindly done of her--of course he declines. I read Herbert Spencer on "The Bias of Patriotism," yesterday--much of it truly excellent.
To-day I am at "Progress" in the Essays ... of which I have read several here and there. Whenever I have the feeling that _I_, not Herbert Spencer, have written what I am reading, I have the delightful sensation of complete agreement and unqualified admiration of his (or _my_) wisdom. When I have _not_ that feeling, I stop to consider, but even then have sometimes the candour to come to his conclusions; while at some pa.s.sages, less frequent, I inwardly exclaim, "I never did, I do not now, and I never shall agree." The want of what Sir Henry Taylor calls "the spiritual instinct" is striking in him. It is strange to turn to him as I have done from "Memorials of a Quiet Life," which raises me into an atmosphere of heavenly calmness and joy, or ought to do so, although n.o.body ever felt the trials and sorrows of life more keenly than Mrs. Hare....
Good-bye, dearest children, your pets [86] are as well and as dear as pets can be.
Your loving, MOTHER.
[86] Rachel and Bertrand, who stayed for the winter at Pembroke Lodge while their parents were abroad.
In April Lady Russell lost her sister, Lady Dunfermline, who died in Rome.
In May, Lord and Lady Russell"s second son, who was dearly loved for his generous and n.o.ble nature, was seized with dangerous illness. He lived, but never recovered. In the summer, Lady Amberley and her little daughter Rachel, who was only six years old, died of diphtheria within a few days of each other.
There is a touching reference to Lord Russell in a letter, written many years after his death, from Miss Elliot, daughter of the Dean of Bristol, to Lady Russell.
One of the very last times I saw him you were out, and he sent word that he would see me when he knew I was at the door; when he literally bowed his head and said, "The hand of the Lord has been very heavy on us--very heavy," and spoke of little Rachel. I never remember being more touched and awed by the reverence I felt for him.
_Queen Victoria to Lady Russell_ [87]
WINDSOR CASTLE, _June_ 29, 1874
DEAR LADY RUSSELL,--I cannot remain silent without writing to express to you my deep and sincere sympathy with you both, and especially with your poor son on this most sad event, which has deprived him of his wife, and his little children (whom I saw so lately) of an affectionate mother, in the very prime of life! I saw the sad announcement in the papers this morning and could hardly believe it, never having heard even of her illness. This sad event will, I know, be a terrible blow to you, and to Lord Russell, and I know that _you have_ had much sorrow and anxiety lately. Dear Lady Russell, I have known you both too long not to feel the truest and deepest interest in all that concerns you and yours--in weal and woe--and I would not delay a moment in writing to express this to you. You will, I know, look for support and for comfort where _alone_ it can be found, and I pray that G.o.d may support and comfort you and your poor bereaved son.
Ever yours affectionately,
V.R.
I should be very grateful if you would let me have any details of poor Lady Amberley"s illness and death.
[87] On several occasions Lord Russell had been prevented by the state of his health from accepting invitations to Windsor. In April, 1874, he and Lady Russell were touched by the Queen"s kindness in coming to visit them at Pembroke Lodge, and she had then seen Lord Amberley"s children.
_Queen Victoria to Lady Russell_
WINDSOR CASTLE, _July_ 3, 1874
DEAREST LADY RUSSELL,--Your two sad and touching letters have affected me deeply, and I thank you much for writing to me. It is too dreadful that the dear little girl whose bright eyes and look of health I so well remember at Pembroke Lodge should also be taken. May G.o.d support your poor unhappy son, for whom your heart must bleed, and whose agony of grief and bereavement seems almost too much to bear. But if he will but trust our Father in Heaven, and feel all is sent in love, though he may have to go through months and years of the bitterest sufferings, and of anguish indescribable, he will find peace and resignation and comfort come at last--when it seems farthest. _I_ know this myself. For you, dear Lady Russell and dear Lord Russell, I do feel so deeply.
Your trials have been so great lately.... I shall be really grateful if you would write to me again to say how Lord Russell bears this new blow, and how your poor son Amberley is. Agatha, who is so devoted a daughter, will, I am sure, do all she can now to help and comfort you, but she will be deeply distressed herself.
And poor dear Lady Clarendon is dying I fear, and poor Emily Russell only just confined, and unable to go and see her. It is dreadful.
With fervent prayers that your health may not suffer, and that you may be mercifully supported.
Ever yours affectionately,
V.R.
_Lord Russell to Lady Minto_
PEMBROKE LODGE, _July_ 3, 1874
MY DEAR NINA,--We are struck down by the death of my dear pet, Rachel, who was taken from us to stay with her parents at Ravenscroft. It was but too natural that Kate should wish to have her child with her, but the event is heart-breaking--such a darling, so bright, so pretty.
"Elle a dure ce que durent les roses, L"es.p.a.ce d"un matin."
I am always touched by those French verses, and now I apply them tearfully.
Ever yours affectionately,
RUSSELL
In the summer of 1874 Lord Russell took Aldworth, Tennyson"s beautiful home near Haslemere, where they remained for some months.
_Lady Russell to Lord Amberley_