A LIFETIME AT COURT.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VIII, Issue 655, 28 March 1914, Page 2

A LIFETIME AT COURT.

♦- LORD SUFFIELD'S "MEMORIES."

" 'My son haa for you,' her Majesty said to me, 'and you know I cannot refuse him an thing.' "Of course, tLere was nothing I could say, even had I wanted to, so simply kissed her hand and went away." It was to Lord Suffield that Queen Victoria thus simply gave the com mand that he was to leave her service for that of her son, King Edward VII- (then Prince of Wales. For 40 years Lord Suffield and King Edward were as devoted friends as men can be, and now the public are given the memoirs in which his lordship records the story of his life at Court. In these pagis, grave and gay, none wi'l haunt the memory longer tban that in which Lord Suffield describes that dismal night at Buckingham Palace when he clasped for the last time the hand of his dying sovereign and fr'end, while the crowds waited an xiouslly outside the palace walls. Here is a little pen picture of the scene in the Royal death chamber: —

"Hia Majesty sent for me directly he returned from abroad, and 1 was. with him to the end. Not when he was dying, but just before, when he could hardly aee, he sent the nurse into the next room for me, and tried to aay good-bye. He knew, and ao did the Queen, huw absolutely attached to him I was, so it did not matter that I, too, could not Bpeak any farewell. I loved him as much as one man can love another we had heen together so constantly during the last forty years of his life, for when ■he went anywhere without me he nearly always s'-nt for me to join him; and now that the end had cum* there was no need for words. Ditectly after he had passed away the nurse left rue by myself in the room with him, so that I was able to say my last farewell »lone. Then I just went away for after he had gone I wanted nothing more to do with the Court, unless it was something for the Queen." Lord Suffield had the art of winning the favour of high and low, and of re taining ft. With all the members of the Royal Family he was always per sor.a grata. He seems to have come a' d gone not only as a member of th? Royal Household, but in a still more intimate sense as a member of the Household itself. In 1880 a droll incident occurred of which Queen Mary was the heroine. "It was a deligfully cold winter," writes Lord Suffield, "but it beat all record! for big and delightful country houses parties. I went one cay to White Lodge, where I arrived just in time to see Princess Mary, now our Queen, sliding down the stairs on a tray. Her little Royal Highness looked much embarrassed when she saw me with her mother, fr-eling that ber progress downwards had been, perhaps, a little undignified, but the Duchess simply laughed at her and said, 'Never mind, dear child, it is only Lord Suffield.' " Lord S.iffieJd's discursive pages give some interesting glimpses into the social history of the last century. In his «arly days the most groteqsue superstitions were rife. This is shown by the following story concerning a bride and bridegroom who faced the world in the airy attire of Adam and Eve in ;heir happy days of existence in the Garden of Eden.

"Even in these days Norfolk people are. rather given to amazing beliefs and strange superstitions, but I scarcely think any could be found now quite so credulous as a bride and groom who w£>re married about the time I was borr.. The man was a Chelsea pensioner, the woman a widow, whosa first husband had left several debts behind him. Early in the morning tuty repaired to a crossway a short distance from the village accompanied by three witnesses The groom took up his position on one side of ihe road, the bride hers on the other. Then, assisted by the witnesses, the good woman proceeded to disrobe, afterwards crossing the road in puris naturalibus to the waiting bridegroom. How their belief arose I know not; but both were imbued with heaven-bom faith that by their due performance of this quaint ceremony they were freeing the new husband of all liabilities conntracted by the old one. History does not relate whether or not they were oisilluaioned."

"Ws East Angliana are shortlived." says Lord Suffietd, when referring to his native heath, and goes on to recite the fruitful record of an old lady of Seole who died at 92. "At 47," he says,, "she had married a youth of 17, ani had by him 18 chidren, 13 eons and five daughter, all of whom grew up. It was said of her that 'this remarkable woman seldom took more than two or three hours' deep of the twenty four,' which ia quite conceivable with so large a family. Th Q re was a Mrs Sarah Jessop, who reached one hundred and one years. She had 16 children 'who multiplied to the fourth generation in our lifetime, so that her children, grandchidren, and great-grandchildren at the time nf her death amounted to four hundred and forty-four. Upwards of two hundrej of her great-grand-children folllowed her to the grave, to which aha was carried by her four sons She was, until eighteen months before her death, employed as walking post between Diss and Winfartbing, a distance of four miles, which she constantly performed in all weathers!' Even more remakable was the ease of John Holmes, who died at th age of one hunded and four, having lived to see the sixth generation, of bis own

great-grandson become a grandfather. When he died his Bon was 87 and his grandßon 70." In the .early sixties the Prince of Wales purchased Sandringham Bouse and estate, paying £220,000, and Lord Suffield has much to say on the happy times in the Prince's Norfolk home.

"The Prince," he says, "began by rebuilding tne house on a much larger scale, and up to the last year of his life he was continually improving, building new cottages, repairing churches, spending money on the place in one way and another, until it is now an ideal estate, vastly different from the wind-swept, barren, moorland it was in 1862."

2 Lord Suffield otters some racy glimpses of life in Norfolk, where for a time he was in command of the Prince of Wales' Own Norfolk Artillery. These were the days wh*n volunteers wore whiskers, and o c ten artistically flowing locks. But Lord Suffield had a way with him. Here is a parade scene worthy of Harry Lorrequer—"Look here, men, to the devil with all this hair on your faces; it's got to come off. I want you to look smart and soldierle: and you can't while you're wearing all this hair. Now, you must all go and get shaved, and not a man of you shall leave the barracks until it has been done. Some of them objected that their women would not like it, but I was hard-hearted, and tnld them that I could not help what their women liked; it must come off. Then I saw that they had something to Bay, and I told them to out with it, and they said 'But, my lord, you're carrying a beard yourself!', I told them that that was a different matter altogether; I rode on horseback high above them, and they coud not compare me with themselves I gave the sentries orders to shut the gates, and not allow any man out until he was shaved. It was a pretty high-handed thing to do, but they were good fellows and did it without anotner murmur. I really think they must have been fond of me, and I was certainly proud of them. . I never heard what took place when their womenfolk saw them without beards." EARLY VICTORIAN SOCIETY. Speaking of society in the early Victorian days, Lord Suffield says:— "In the first thirty yearß of Queen Victoria's reign society was very different to what it is now. Boundaries were definitey drawn and rigidly adhered to; American and colonial millionaires were unknown, except in their own spheres of usefulness, and from the Court downwards conduct was governed by rules and regulations, both spoken and u spoken, which would be scouted with ridicule to-day. People used to intrude their religious beliefs upon all and sundry in a way t>at would neper be tolerated at present. 1 remember an occasion of this sort, which had a rather conical sequel. The then Earl of Cork was a very pious person, and extremely solicitous as to the future sal- ' vation of his fellow men. One day, finding himself in a crowded railway carriage, he seized the opportunity for improving the moment, and delivered a homily as earnest as it was undesired, exhorting everyone to im- | mediately set about ensuring his happiness in a future life. Presently one of the passengers, a man whohad been listening very attentvely to all that Cork said, arrived at his station. -When he got out on the platform he turned round, and, leaning throueh the carriage door, said: 'Thank you, sir. One good turn deserves another. You've put me up to a wrinkle in your profession, now let me give you one in return. I'm a hatter put a piece of blotting paper inside the lining of your hat, and it will last twice as long. Good-day.' As he walked off the occupants of the carriage broke into a shout of laughter, and Cork harangued ua no more on that journey." £250,000 FOR A PEERAGE. The most extraordinary requests were made at times to Lord Suffield to use his influence with Queen Victoria, and with the Prince, before and after he became King. "Some of the most amazing propositions were from the last people one might have expected to make them. One man, who wanted a peerage, tried to bribe me by offering to build a sea wall round Overstrand if I would persuade the Queen to honour him. Perhaps it would have been the right thing to go to the Queen with the offer, since her Majesty, after all, was more deeply concerned in the fact that the sea was making inroads on her kingdom even than the owners of the land affected. Sh° might have thought so gr«a£ a boon as a sea wall very cheap at the price, although in her days wealth was not quite s" powerful as now, and merit was a degree in advance of money in obtaining honours. In fact, the suggestion might have resulted, by a judicious creation of 'sea wall peers,' in surrounding the kindgom with a girdle of protection from the waves! I did not howevecr, consider it in that light at the time. Another man offered me £250,000 to induce the Queen to grant him a peerage, ana, in fact, I was constantly approached with requests of the same nature. But I should not have been so happy as I was with their Majesties for all the years I was with them had I worried them lor favours."

When the Prince was going'to India, Lord Suffield, of course, acompanied him. The Princess, in the midst of tears, begged his lordship to "look after him end never leave him." He kissed the august lady's hand, and right loyally c,Lcv:-ci her behest, for, like any mediaeval knight, he was his Royal master's shadow, and often through the long night sat by his side, wide awake and vigilaant. while his Royal Highness slept. Such Joving service had its reward, and to tha end Lord Suffield was King Edwrd'p most trusted and cherished and wellnigh inseparable friend. Therefore, the book, "My Memories" is probably the best of its kind yet published.