INCIDENTS IN THE CAREER OF THE EARL OF ROSEBEBY, K.G.

Otago Witness, Issue 2170, 26 September 1895, Page 46

INCIDENTS IN THE CAREER OF THE EARL OF ROSEBEBY, K.G.

(By A Parliamentary Hand, in the Woman at Homo.) There is a story current at Westminster that Lord Rosebery's two boys, home at the Durdane for the Easter vacation, surprised their father last Primrose Day by presenting themselves at breakfast each with a buttonhole of Lord B?i'consfield's favourite flower. A primrose is more to them than a yellow

flower or a political badge ; it is the family name, derived from lands in Fife. The family can trace descent from the brother of the principal surgeon to James the First, even if it does not care to go back to the blacksmith burgees o£ Culroes. It bas rieen gradually in rank; and although the present lord is the firut to hold the Garter, more than one of his predecessors hag worn tie national badge of Scotland, of which a witty minister has said t hat, unlike the rose and the shamrock, it does not lend itself conveniently to the buttonhole. Tbe family baa been Liberal for generations- Lord Rosebery'B grandfather being political manager for Earl Grey, and bis father being appointed a Lord of the Admiralty during the Melbourne Administration. Lord Rosebery was bom within a few dayß of the death of O'Connell, in May 1847, tbe year in which Lord Robert Cecil, now Marquis of Salisbury, went fioin E r on to Oxford. His father, who «•«<; outlived for many years by his grandfather, died in 1851 ; and three years later his mother went to a now home as wife of the future Dnke of Cleveland. She was of the family of the Stanhopes, and her grandfather was married to Hester Pitt, the eldest daughter of the great Chatham. Although a Londoner by birth, Lord Rosebery looks upon the northern capital as his home. " You made me," he said to the people of Edinburgh, " what I am. You have associated yourselves with every incident of my life. You have rejoiced with my joy; you have mourned with my grief." Oaecan imagine young Lord Dalmeny, a boy of grave demeanour, living with his grandfather close to tha Forth, and dreaming of the future as he wandered through the woods. The Qaeen, who vißited Dalmeny before his biith, described it as "beautiful, with treea growing down to the eea." The woods are flowery beyond the wont of Scottish woods. There is a charming walk, which the young lord may have taken, to the famGus H'.iWl-p, ivl-cu L ivcl made tho acquaintance tfJctiathun Oldbuck. Dttlmrny House itfitlf is as modern as the battle of Waterloo, but separated from it by only a few hundred yards of green sward, on a tongue-like projection from the deepestrccess of the crescent bay, stands Barnbougle Castle. It waß under the shadow of the ivycovered ruins of Barnbougle Castle that Lord ' Dalmeny made his first speech. The occasion was a volunteer review on September 5, 1861. { Lord Dalmeny, then H years old, replied to

the toast o! the heir with self-possession. A speech from a boy in his early teens always appears astonishing to Scotohmen, and so prominent a man as Dunda3 of Dandaa, the Vice-lieutenant of tho county, hazarded the prediction that in the young speaker at the volunteer luncheon they ha 3 heard one of Britain's future Prime Ministers. Of his Eton days there are faint memories. The late Lord Randolph Churchill, who was among his contemporaries, could tell how his grave demeanour obtained for him the name of Counsellor. From Elcn ho went; to Oxford, where he took claret at breakfast, and where he earned the reputation of being " clever enough." He was one of the last undergraduates of Christ Church who wore the gold tassel, known as "tuft," the mark of noblemen and their sons. In his time the dons aboliabed the "gaudies" or banquets in hall. But tbey did not give official intimation of the fact; and on All S -tin to' D*y Lord D^lmeny, in gown of violet and gold, entered the hall with a bottle of wine in each hand. The senior censor hurried down from the high table and protested ; but the champion of liberty was allowed the two bottles of wine. A story is told which, if true — ac it ought to be — would show that Lord Rooebery began early t-> be a courtier. Soon after he left Christ Church, being in the neighbourhood of Windsor Oastlo, he met the Queen, and her Majesty, recognising the young lord, accoßted him, and made a remark on the clemency of the weather. " Madame," said the flatterer, "it is always fine where you are." When Lord H >-V-"ry came of n^e, in 18G8, a few months atier liis yrtuidfathsi's death, he took his seal; as By.ron llosebery on tho Liberal side of the House of Lords. It is one of his characteristics that he is never in a hurry, and he was in no hurry to address tha peers. He did not speak till 1871. At the opening of the session, which was performed by tbe Qioen in person, he seconded the Address to tho Crown. Many matrimonial matches were made for the brilliant young peer. Nowadays whan Lord Rosebery goes to a birthday party at Sandringham, there are foolish whispers of a second marriagp, and even in those days of 20 years ago his name was connected with that of a m trilvr ; f tlu R'.ysl F.iusily. At Us-* he drove to a newspaper oflbe in Fleet s'.rost and gave the " straight tip " that he was to be raairied to Hannah de Rothschild, the

I heiress of the late B.iron Meyer de Rothschild, one of the richest men In the world. At him death, In 1874, his daughter inb«rit«d the whole of hi* immense fortune, including the great house at Mentmore, in Buokkig-hamf-hira, with its trcsisarea in furniture, j enamels, worries, and miniatures, the ' mantelpiece from Rnbens's house, the ! doge's chandelkrs, and the tapestries that had belonged to Mazariu. Her mother, a Cohen, died when she was little more than a child, but she had been well educated, and she took keen interest in philanthropic EChemes. The county council made the name of Itosebery a household word in London. JU'h'cil workmen spoke of him as "John Burns's pal." If the council did not give him the premiership, as an enthusiastic progressive has claimed, it certainly popularised his merits. The story has often been told, though scaicely ever correctly, of how my loid came to be addre.-sed as plain Mr Chairman. It was not Lord Rosebery himself who suggested the common name. The inoidont occurred ia this way. There was a meeting in committee to consider the standing orders ; an J Mi John Burns proposed that, in referring to each other, members should, as in the House of Commons, drop their personal ti'las, and that the occupant of tho chair bhould bo addressed as Mr Chairman. Lord Rosebery promptly caught at the suggestion. Surely, he said, It would not be necessary to second such a motion. Thus he dropped his title in the county council, and by taking rank as Citizen Eosebery he gare newimpetu3 to the tide of his popularity. The tragic event of Lord Rosebery's life occurred at the end of 18.00. From the blow inflicted by £he death of his wife he has never recovered. The Countess died of typhoid fever at Dalmeny. There lay at her side when she fell ill the Plebrew Prayerbook and the Enpli«h vsrsion of the O'd 'JV-t.'tnT.f-, v.*Uh a »mrk at; tbe 103 rd Psalm, v>;< '■ i i'-. hw •/ < U'- (1 iy> r.M a< grass. La'ly U (•• r, k ;y ■'„'.!; intyrrcl at V/iiloaden, so that &h r j roi<.'h( ie near her parents ia the cemetery of the United Synagogue. Very pathethic wero the messages of love " to the deare3t. of all mothers " attached to the children's wreaths, which they picked out of their own gardens ! and very touching ia the inscription on the tomb, which tells that Bhe waß The child of many hopes, The woman of rich f ulfilnient