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ticular sport or sports connected with his property, or the excellence of the shooting and hunting will inevitably degenerate.

However good the subordinates may be, it is well that the head of the house should be an Argus, should encourage the deserving, and admonish those less meritorious. If this is not the case, little abuses creep in. He must cultivate a habit of making himself pleasant all round; this must, indeed, become a second nature to him. His tenants must be conciliated, if it is desired to enjoy fair sport, and a feeling of good fellowship must be kept up; no just claims must ever be overlooked, yet discrimination must be exercised. The amount of physical labour and mental exertion gone through by a master of hounds, or a first-rate shot, during the course of a season, is great; and it is to be doubted whether many of those who denounce the idleness of the upper classes could endure the exposure to weather and the hard days that form the recreation of many a hard-worked politician, professional, or commercial man; or whether they would be content to tramp day after day, in all weathers, through turnip-fields or over stubble, or through coverts in search of pleasure-partridges and pheasants.

The conscientious possessor of large landed estates is often a magistrate, and sometimes an assiduous attendant at the Board of Guardians. He nearly always exercises much hospitality, making a rule of inviting all his neighbours, when he visits his country houses, to enjoy some form or other of entertainment. This is most important, as it cements the bonds of friendship that should exist between neighbours. He must exercise political influence, and this alone demands a large portion of time and thought; meetings must be attended; banquets, however distasteful, must be eaten with as good grace as can be mustered, and the mind must be always on the watch lest votes should be lost.

The possessor of a large stake in the country must read endless newspapers on both sides, English and Foreign, and struggle through miles of speeches, so as to be quite able to form an opinion on the various questions of the day. He ought to read the Quarterly, the Edinburgh Review, Blackwood, the Nineteenth Century, the Fortnightly, the Contemporary, the Revue des deux Mondes, and hosts of other reviews to keep himself up to the mark. Assuming that he is a Churchman, and a patron of many livings, he will probably wish to study various ecclesiastical questions, and be continually looking out for those best fitted to fill the livings he may have to give. If he is in the House of Commons, it is needless to say that when that assembly is sitting he will give but little trouble to his family and friends, for he will be chiefly invisible to them, frequently spending twelve or fifteen

consecutive hours in the House. Wednesdays and Saturdays, however, he will probably be expected to give or to attend great dinners and receptions. His medical attendant will most likely insist on his taking daily constitutionals; and some members, unable to secure time for exercise during the day, walk home from the House in the dead of night, or at dawn. Formerly, men used to rise very early and ride before breakfast, but now the hours are so prolonged many find that impossible. I believe it is too true that the Speaker's duties this year were so incessant that he was sometimes only able to snatch three hours sleep.

If this much-envied rich man is not in the House of Commons, if he is in the Lords, his life is comparatively easy. Still, if he is a man of mark, he will be expected to attend innumerable meetings, in addition to discharging his political and other public duties, and if he has the character of being a philanthropist, "Heaven help him" unless he has the strength of mind to say "No" very frequently.

As for applications, he must expect from thirty to forty a day; and I know people who always endeavour to answer all letters except those that are lithographed. If he is known to have made any particular subject his special study, letters will pour in on him from every quarter, asking for information on it. It is to be hoped this hunted Dives is fortunate in possessing a private secretary who is a consummate master of the art of conveying negative replies in the most agreeable manner; but he will probably wish to refer most matters to his chief, on whom the real trouble of deciding what answers are to be given will fall. I read that the late Mr. Samuel Morley, after taking a short holiday in America for the benefit of his health, when he returned home, found two thousand letters on his table, to each of which he gave his attention.

I am sure there are many men of influence who are really delighted to do kind acts, but they are compelled to decline great numbers of appeals. An enormous number of duties devolve on the wives of people possessing great wealth and position. To conduct large establishments properly demands much time and tact. The mistress of a household is bound to endeavour, to the utmost of her power, to see to the well-being of every member of that household: she ought to be a true house-mother, to borrow the German expression. When an establishment consists of thirty or forty persons under the roof, to say nothing of out-door servants, it is no light task to see that all are kindly cared for, that all are properly lodged, that their mental as well as bodily needs are supplied, and recreation provided, as a relief to the daily round of monotonous work. When the wives of great landed proprietors are wisely and practically benevolent, it is extraordi

nary what blessings they confer on the labourers and poor on their husbands' estates. For instance, in parts of the country where wages are from ten to twelve shillings a week, the judicious gift of clothes, nourishing food, and coals, are of enormous value to the struggling poor. There are very many women of all classes in every neighbourhood who gladly undertake good works; and sometimes, if the wife of the great man gives an impetus by her example, and takes a friendly interest in organizing societies to promote the cause of charity, or of mental improvement, or recreation, much brightness and comfort may be brought into many homes.

In the exercise of generous hospitality, a gracious wife, of course, is of great use to a busy man. I have sometimes looked with feelings of sympathy at the enormous lists that those who "receive" on a large scale have to prepare. It also falls to the lot of ladies in such positions to take leading parts in meetings for benevolent and other objects; and it is really the duty of some to go a great deal into society, which, in the present arrangement of hours, necessitates sitting up very late. The woman who wishes to be companionable ought to read much and systematically, and she certainly should cultivate accomplishments, for without music or drawing there are times when the prose of life is apt to press heavily. But she must not allow the study of either to make her forget that the art of rendering life pleasant depends much on careful supervision of the kitchen, in itself a most important function. The great social movements of the day must not be overlooked, for much good may be done by women. Above all, a woman must recollect that her province is to smooth the rough angles of life-to please, to soothe, and cheer. The great difficulty in lives so fully occupied would seem to be to maintain a sense of the due proportion of time, money, and attention that should be allotted to the proper fulfilment of the various duties pertaining to the possession of great wealth and extensive influence. Doubtless, most minds have a bias, either to social pleasures on the one hand, or to charitable undertakings on the other; while some prefer a life of domestic quiet, and others may lean to ascetic practices, incompatible with the beneficent expenditure that those of great wealth may exercise. It is, indeed, difficult to preserve the just balance. In fact, there are few intervals of rest for very rich men and women in the position described, who have a sense of responsibility. The clergy, more especially bishops, are often denounced by agitators, as eating the bread of idleness. Bishops are often described as passing their days in their palaces, surrounded by sycophants and attendants, drinking port wine, and spending princely revenues on luxury. But those who know the truth are aware that the

lives of most of our clergy are laborious and self-denying in the extreme, a bishop's life being one of incessant toil; while a large portion of the revenues are spent in charity, as a matter of course. Statesmen who attain to the highest posts may possess everything the world can bestow except leisure; in vain do they retreat to corners of the Continent, to Highland glens, to Irish loughs, or to Welsh mountains for a brief rest, they are pursued by despatches, sometimes even by suppliants, while reporters hover round their paths.

In order to obtain posts in any profession, those young men, who are popularly supposed to be born with silver spoons in their mouths, must pass examination after examination, often most severe; some break down altogether under the strain and anxiety involved in the competitions now considered necessary.

I have often heard those who have attained to considerable age, lament the absence of repose characteristic of these days. Entre chien et loup, the twilight hour, used, they say, to be a time of rest, of pleasant chat, and whispered confidences. Now, no sooner do the twilight shades darken, than the gas is turned on, or the electric light flashes forth, and all must be up to the mark. "Repose! Do not talk to me of repose," was the reply of Lord Beaconsfield, to one who urged him to take a sorely-needed interval of rest. And that answer would be given now, by some great statesmen, who appear to be on the pinnacle of earthly fame and happiness, but who work like galley slaves, impelled by a sense of duty, and sustained by the conscientious feeling that they are devoting their best energies to their work in life. Successful professional men all tell the same story: having gained the prizes of life, they have but little leisure, and it must be remembered what long severe study all must have undergone who are eminently successful in any career.

It is to be wished that those who condemn the rich and powerful could gain a truer insight into the manner in which their lives are often spent; they would then acknowledge that no class can exist, in honour, without realising that content in this world must be earned by hard, honest work.

JANETTA MANNERS.

TWO CENTENARIES.

I.

THE CENTENARY OF THE

66 TIMES."

THE centenary of the Times is an event not only of national interest, but of national concern. Englishmen have good reason to be proud of their great journal, and their pride has much that is personal in it. For the files of the Times are not only the comprehensive chronicle of a century of rapidly accelerated progress, and of unrivalled imperial expansion, but its successful career is the visible sign of the most sterling qualities in the national character. Starting from small beginnings, struggling against a succession of difficulties, always competing for public favour with formidable rivals, not unfrequently provoking the enmity of the men in power, who had many means besides criminal prosecutions of being revenged for the trouble and annoyance it caused them, the Times has made its way and established its ascendency by energy, enterprise, indomitable resolution, and, above all, by sturdy independence. In its early days, when its resources were limited, its independent action often cost it dear, directly and indirectly. Its proprietor was fined, sent to the prison and sentenced to the pillory for paragraphs on Princes of the Blood, which would now-a-days, as a matter of course, be regarded as statements of facts, or considered legitimate criticism. Its despatches were delayed in transmission, and it was frankly warned that it would only have fair treatment on the condition of unconditional subserviency. These were awkward and embarrassing dilemmas for a man of business, and the turning-point of the fortunes of the paper. The first Mr. Walter would have found ample precedents in his profession for coming to terms with the imperious dictators of the Cabinet, and consenting to buy their good will by giving them "an independent support." It does as much credit to his sagacity as to his conscience, that he declined to come to any compromise. He refused to give in, and he resolved to persevere. He spent money lavishly when his resources must have been limited; he organized his own service of continental expresses, and in that daringly speculative venture he struck the

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