am so fearfully discouraged, and fear sinking, or rather
having nothing to help me to rise above the selfish life so
dismally easy to live in London. I don't think that I can
face living in the poor little house any more — or the domestic
fife which has now lost its raison d'etre. Possibly I may
take rooms with another man — but it would perhaps be
best to live alone,

L



162 ALFRED LYTTELTON

But it is well not to make up one's mind to anything at
first, and these things are still fluid, though events such
as dear Lucy going to Africa, and Charles resigning his
place in London, seem to point rather to her return to
No. 21.

The following letter to Mary Drew of August in

this year refers to the question of preparing a

memoir of Laura's short life :

I know none possessed of the combination of literary
power, comprehensive insight, and delicate and fine sym-
pathy which would be required to paint even the roughest
sketch of her. I doubt if even Ruskin could present those
fine gradations from grave to gay, from deep spirituality
to delicious human weakness, the darling little ways so
freely lavished around — the spirits and the melancholy —
the courage and the tremors, the charming little flirtations,
and the deep trustful loyalty and devotion to one. With all
the help of her personality, her manner, her unequalled
letters, no one in her lifetime quite understood the whole
of her, though you had as fine an observation and insight
and a better opportunity than almost any one. And I
myself was only able to, by the mystic and blessed light
cast round our blended lives by the grace and power of a
perfect marriage. When this is so, I may be forgiven the
view that it is far better that we should cherish the in-
tangible and golden memories deep in our hearts, than
break in on them by the crude fabrics which words compose.
And yet there is a feeling which is at the root of your desire,
I mean the reluctance to refuse to others some share in
our inheritance, and the fear that the vision, if left without
record, may fade. I doubt myself whether any thing could
be well done by extracting letters or journals ; let me hear
what you would suggest — at least there can be no harm
in trying some extracting, and seeing how far it is satis-
factory in result. I begin October somewhere or other in
a flat ; with or without a man companion is not yet settled.
Bless you, I am writing all day, and literally can't go on.



ALFRED CHRISTOPHER, 1886-1888 163

Thus in three short years Alfred had known the
greatest happiness and the greatest sorrows which
life can hold. He was not unworthy of these
experiences. As he himself wrote to Edward Talbot,
it was his ' unalterable conviction that there is
strength and beauty and glory to be won from these
awful events.'



CHAPTER VIII

THE BAR AND POLITICS

1888-1891

Piety is in the man, noble human valour, bright intelligence,
ardent proud veracity, light and fire in none of their many
senses wanting for him, but abundantly bestowed : a kingly
kind of man. — Carlyle's Life of Sterling.

After the autumn holidays Alfred went back to
London and to work, and started life alone in a
flat at 127 Mount Street. Charty Ribblesdale had
arranged it for him, and filled it full of all the
familiar furniture and pictures from Brook Street.
He writes to his sister Meriel (Mrs. John Talbot) on
November 22nd, 1888 :

The flat is very delightful to look at and a model of
comfort. It is better I should learn to be more alone. I
feel it at present ; but I do much more work and get more
thought.

His life for the next three or four years was
devoted mainly to his profession. His success, as
has been said, was rapid, and work poured in upon
him : charm of manner, quick appreciation of
character, intuitive sympathy, all helped him.
He handled one or two difficult cases requiring tact
with discretion and force, gradually building up a
reputation for judgment and courage. Alfred was
always able to call upon his fighting faculty; he
was never stronger either in games or work than
when the issue seemed doubtful or desperate.



164



THE BAR AND POLITICS, 1888-1891 165

There were two cases of which he felt especially
proud : in one he had to plead the cause of an
old and fiery client who was going to law for his
own satisfaction more than for justice. Alfred told
him that he had no chance of winning his suit, but
he contrived so to present the case that the old
man's heart was lightened. A large piece of silver
plate still testifies to the client's gratitude, which was
not, he felt, sufficiently expressed by the official fee.

Lord Midleton describes the other case for this book :

One of his earliest legal experiences was in 1889, when
the Parnell Special Commission was sitting, and he was
briefed on behalf of a friend, who had been dragged into
the case by a side issue. Mr. George Brodrick, the Warden
of Merton, was a great character, and although no two
people were probably so dissimilar, except in the bonhomie
of their dispositions and their broad interest in humanity
as such, as Alfred and the Warden, they had come together
years before in Surrey, and had a great mutual regard for
each other. The Warden, who had been a lifelong Liberal,
and had rejected the politics of his family, had been brought
up with a round turn in 1885 by the transfer of his Party
to Home Rule, and led the Unionist reaction in Oxford
with an incisiveness of speech which was not always palat-
able to his former associates. In particular, he was indignant
that an Undergraduate Society, which invited men of
very extreme opinions to address them, had included some
of those who were being charged before the Tribunal with
actual crime ; and on an occasion, after the Commission had
begun to sit, the Warden concluded a satirical speech on
this subject by observing that ' he noticed that Mr. Dillon
had recently addressed a meeting of Oxford undergraduates,
and that he had no doubt that if the Whitechapel murderer
could only be discovered, he also would be invited to lecture
at Oxford, in the presence of a society which he could
name if he thought proper.'



166 ALFRED LYTTELTON

This outburst was naturally seized upon by the Parnellites,
and the Warden was promptly cited to appear before the
Commission for contempt of Court. His indignation at
being placed in a position, as he phrased it, ' in which
one whose business it was to rebuke others, might find
himself rebuked,' was very great, and the fact that the
whole subject provided the newspapers with humorous
comments, or assumed indignation, according to their
political atmosphere, made the incident prey upon his
mind, and he was with difficulty dissuaded from appear-
ing on his own behalf before the Tribunal, and delivering
a speech in the tone of Strafford pleading for his life.

Finally, however, the Warden was induced to commit
his case to Counsel in the recognised way, and he chose
Alfred Lyttelton, although a junior, as one who would
more nearly enter into his feelings than anybody else.
When the great day came, Alfred set up the natural plea
that the whole speech was humorous, that nobody sup-
posed that the Warden meant to convey any comparison
between Mr. Dillon and a criminal of the deepest dye like
the Whitechapel murderer, but that the extravagance
which caused the society to desire to hear a man whom
only a few months before they had delighted to denounce,
might cause them to go to any depths, and that the attack
was not on Mr. Dillon but on the society. Alfred further
hinted that Mr. Reid, Q.C. (now Lord Loreburn), who had
conducted the case for Mr. Dillon, being a Scotchman,
suffered unfortunately from the characteristic of his race,
and could not appreciate a joke. He hoped the Tribunal
would make allowances for him on that account, and would
not allow their time to be further interrupted by so trivial
an incident.

Lord Hannen, who presided, expressed the opinion of the
Judges, that such explanations having been offered, it was
not necessary for them to pursue the matter further, and
Alfred received many congratulations from the crowded
Court on his deft handling of what might otherwise have
been a vexatious incident. The tribute paid by a leading



THE BAR AND POLITICS, 1888-1891 167

journal to the winning manner of the young counsel pleased
him exceedingly. It was not the only time by a good
many that his special advantages of bearing fortified his
frankness and eloquence.

Alfred's own comment on the. case was conveyed
in a letter to the Warden's nephew.

Brooks's, St. James's Street,
January 13, 1889.

My dear old Friend, — I was right pleased to see your
handwriting, for this vile autumn session has knocked you
out of all sight as far as I am concerned, and now I am
immersed again in work, some of which I am glad to say
will be of a profitable character. I do not despair of getting
old George through, though no doubt he has been indis-
creet — the curious thing is that he had really considered the
language that he was using and was not the least unmindful
that contempt of Court was a sword which might be drawn.
We have between us settled a very eloquent affidavit —
quite apart from its legal qualities it is the production of
a gentleman, and I think will carry conviction to Hannen's
mind that at any rate no offence was intended. My fear
is that the temptation to the Court to be impartial may
militate against us, for certainly it is difficult to see how
they can avoid dealing with O'Brien as contumacious. 1 . . .

In spite of the Warden's dissatisfaction at not
being allowed to speak in his own defence, the real
love and affection which the elder man had for the
younger lasted till his death, many years later. He
made a practice every few months of inviting himself
to breakfast, and the meal was adorned by his elabo-

1 The letter ends : ' I felt very lonely to-day — scarcely any one whom
I really care for is in London, and this club is like the tomb. It is all
very well for Lady Hilda to send her love — but she has consistently cut
me for about six months. — Ever your affectionate A. L.



168 ALFRED LYTTELTON

rate and dignified phraseology. Alfred also paid
many visits to Merton College.

Sir Charles Darling writes as follows :

It is difficult to appreciate exactly Alfred Lyttelton's
powers and position as a Barrister, for his career in the
Courts was neither long nor continuous. On the Oxford
Circuit he had a fair share of briefs in both the Crown and
the Civil Courts, but there were few of those commercial
cases to be had — such as used to be common on the more
Northern Circuits — cases which communicate something of
their own quality to those who conduct them. When he
joined the Circuit, Mr. Henry Matthews, Q.C. (Lord Llandaff),
was the Leader. To him the conduct of a case was a form
of sport — a game of skill — fencing for intellectual exercise
pure and simple, the duel d outrance, the stiletto not dis-
dained if the position of the client were a bad one. Naturally,
Henry Matthews, by far the most brilliant man on the
Circuit, set the fashion. Alfred as a Junior watched all
this with the keenest interest and enjoyment, as his com-
ment out of Court would prove. In Court or consulta-
tion he brought to the assistance of his leaders a sound
and more than sufficient knowledge of law — and he would
on occasion argue a point before the Judge for the advan-
tage of some Leader more apt in the convincing of a jury.
His arguments were always good — but his manner made
them seem better than they were, and it cannot be doubted
that many of his contentions found readier acceptance
because of the transparent fairness with which he con-
sidered those of his opponent. In him this was not artifice.
Perhaps he had not the gift of distortion in the same degree
as some of his fellows — for he did not consciously use it.
Of some of the tricks of advocacy then often employed he
certainly disapproved ; and he owed nothing to the prac-
tice of them. Although he could see a fine point as well
as another, he did not, as some do, value it for its tenuity
alone. The real right or wrong of it all was never altogether
absent from his mind — advocate though he was. Perhaps



THE BAR AND POLITICS, 1888-1891 169

he was less conspicuous as a Leader through being hardly
enough of a partisan — and in a silk gown his forensic
success was not remarkable. As a consequence, or of
choice, he was more occupied as an Arbitrator than as an
Advocate — and no one can doubt that, had he refused
political office, he would have excelled as a Judge.

His style had something of captivating even when his
subject was unattractive. His language was often more
recondite than the idea it was used to convey — and if he
was not obviously fastidious in the choice of his phrases,
it was evident that he had rejected some less elegant or
plainly appropriate words in favour of those which he
uttered. This alone — even had he been otherwise inclined
to it — would have saved him from that wearisome volubility
which goes by the name of eloquence among many of those
whose patronage is essential to the Barrister's advancement
at the Bar. His influence amongst his fellows was out of
all proportion to his practice.

Yet he was at this time already making a con-
siderable income, which increased year by year,
until he finally abandoned practice at the Bar.

The holidays Alfred spent chiefly hunting, shooting
and stalking, for the long confinement in Chambers
and the Law Courts made him crave for the open air
and the life of sport. He often went to The Glen,
which he loved, and once wrote from there to St.
John Brodrick :

It is very delightful here — but would be far more so if we
had a little more family life and were not always on our
company manners. Swain after swain comes, pays his
court, sighs, goes, and sends presents, leaving us all wonder-
ing at the exhaustless energy of Margot, which continues
them in due yoke and disciplined obedience.

Hilda left a trail of light at Hagley. It was very sweet
of her to come. You must be there next time. — Ever your
affectionate A. Lyttelton.



170 ALFRED LYTTELTON

The following letter, written from Easton Grey
on Christmas Day 1890, reflects some of the delight
he felt in being on the back of a horse in the
open air :

My dearest Lavinia, — Forgive the pencil. I took
rather a heavy fall yesterday over the last fence of the day
(and I don't think I ever hit the ground so hard in my life) ,
and the result has been a considerable stiffness to-day.
But we are having a delicious time. I did buy the four-
year-old at Scarboro' ; a lovely creature, quite thorough-
bred, with all his paces like elastic and a canter as smooth
as oil. But I can't hunt him at present, as he is so young
he is not up to weight, and though he jumps beautifully when
he likes, he is very apt to refuse, and rear, and play old
Harry, if there are any thorns about. And the move-
ments of a thoroughbred are as quick as lightning, very
apt to put one down. But I have one beautiful hunter
though he did fall yesterday, and one other borrowed, and
so we are having a glorious time. Tommy and Charty very
happy — he so well again, and enthusiastic over the hunting
which has made a different man of him. ... I have hunted
six times before the Christmas holidays, and if it only will
not freeze, shall get six days more before I have to go back
regularly to work. I was very lonely in November. No
relations — Lucy, Charles, Sybella, Meriel, all away, and no
Tennants : I felt very desolate, but December has been
much better, for I had lots of work, and when that comes
it makes up for very much — but I had a slack time in
November rather, and thought as one always does that I
was going to be ruined. . . . Now I must finish. . . .
My vision and memory of Leeds * are very sunny, despite
all the smoke ; it is quite impossible for your abode to be
otherwise. Tell all of them not to let me get selfish. It is
so bad for one to be alone, and well off, and in London,
with the great misfortune and calamity of a lifetime

1 Edward Talbot was then Vicar of Leeds.



THE BAR AND POLITICS, 1888-1891 171

always inspiring others to pity me, and not ask things
of me.

In the very same letter he confides to Lavinia
that he has just given £600 to a friend to get him
out of a difficulty.

In the autumn he always went north for shooting
and stalking, very often ending up with one of
the choral festivals. Music was his great joy and
refreshment. Nothing tempted him so much as
the promise of good music, and he had friends
who took him to concerts, and arranged for people
to come and sing to him. Never was any one a
better listener, his ready smile and warm applause,
and his instinctive understanding of good music,
made his praise valuable ; many people felt in-
spired to sing or play their best when they knew
his ear was within range.

Alfred went abroad several times in the holidays,
but it was almost always a sense of duty, rather
than pleasure, which influenced him. By nature
he cared little for the joys of travelling and sight-
seeing, they seemed tame to him compared with
those of sport. In 1890 he went for a cruise in
Lord Pembroke's yacht, the only other passengers
being Lady Pembroke, Lord and Lady Ribblesdale,
and Mr. Harry Cust.

' After four days of misery,' writes Alfred to his
sister Lucy, 'we had eight divine days in and out of
ports on the coast of Brittany in beautiful weather.'
He expresses his delight in all the talk and banter
that went on, his endless discussions with Harry
Cust generally ending in irresistible laughter.



172 ALFRED LYTTELTON

Charty Ribblesdale's sunny temperament and power
of enjoyment kept them all on the tip-toe of
interest. She was always ready for any enter-
prise or expedition. Alfred often described how
determined she was to imitate the others in
their diving and bathing exploits, and though
she could hardly swim at all, took a fearless
header from the deck of the yacht, trusting im-
plicitly to the rescuing powers of her friends in
the sea.

Thus he had many distractions and amusements,
but he had hours also for quiet reading and thought ;
and though his ambitions at this time were in
abeyance, and life seemed to him merely a task to
be gone through with, yet below, his mind was
always working; observing, commenting, learn-
ing. He watched politics with increasing interest,
and had been able, though with many misgivings,
to follow his uncle in the beginning of the Home
Rule struggle.

The course of political events must now be briefly
recorded. In 1885 Mr. Gladstone, after five years of
a stormy and difficult administration, was defeated
in the House on an amendment to his budget, and
tendered his resignation. No definite policy for
Ireland had then been pronounced by him. Lord
Salisbury, after many negotiations, took office. The
General Election was in November and December,
and resulted in leaving the Tories in a minority, but
no other party by itself had a majority. The Irish
party, greatly augmented in numbers, held the
balance. Negotiations had passed between Mr.



THE BAR AND POLITICS, 1888-1891 173

Parnell and Lord Carnarvon in the preceding
session, and Mr. Gladstone felt the moment had
now come for the two great parties to combine
and settle the Irish question. He offered his
services to the Conservative party for this purpose.
But Lord Salisbury decided that he could not accept
the offer.

On the 26th of January 1886 the Conservative
Government was defeated, and on the 29th Mr.
Gladstone, aged seventy-six, consented to take office.
He then pronounced in favour of some form of Home
Rule. Lord Hartington refused to join the Govern-
ment ; Mr. Chamberlain consented, hoping to be
able to approve such final shape as the project
might assume. But in March both he and Mr.
Trevelyan resigned, and on the 8th of April Mr.
Gladstone brought in his first Home Rule Bill.

Discussion raged fiercely over such questions as
the exclusion or inclusion of the Irish Members in
the Imperial Parliament, the compensation to be
paid to landlords, the amount of Ireland's contribu-
tion to the Imperial Exchequer, and so on.

Alfred, writing to Mary in September 1887,
comments :

I loved G. O. M.'s speech on the Jubilee, and wish enor-
mously that he could be doing this sort of thing instead of
' bearing the burden too heavy for a man who hopes for
heaven.'

He is winning all right in Home Rule, but the scheme
has lost terribly in my eyes, by the loss of the purchase out
of landlords, and by the continued presence of the Irish
in Parliament. The first is a sacrifice which we must make,
if we do not wish to do injustice, and if we hope to make



i 7 4 ALFRED LYTTELTON

the settlement acceptable. The second gives a leverage
for future intrigue by Labby and the more disreputable
English Radicals.

I hear that Dicey has been writing good letters in the
Spectator about these things, but have not seen them myself.

The Bill was defeated by the secession of Mr.
Chamberlain and his group, who formed the Liberal
Unionist party. Mr. Gladstone decided to appeal
to the country on his policy and was defeated at
the polls. It was six years before he again took
office, and during that time he remained still the
foremost figure in the arena.

In 1890 came the Parnell Commission and the
dramatic unmasking of the forger who had sold
letters purporting to come from Mr. Parnell to the
Times. Undoubtedly the finding of the Commission,
on the whole, helped Mr. Gladstone's policy, and
inclined the country to view his proposals with more
favour.

In 1891 Alfred might have stood for Parliament
on the Liberal side, but he writes of his decision,
against accepting, to Mary :

They have offered me about the best seat in the United
Kingdom. It is very kind of them, and I feel very much
complimented. On the whole, however, I have resolved
to wait three or four years more. It gives me a pang not
to be with Uncle W., but I am grievously at sea about
Home Rule, and think it dreadfully difficult now, to embark
in a boat without knowing definitely what course is going
to be set. The scheme, it seems to me, wants more than
ever to be unfolded and fully criticised.

Naturally for a man of his family, ties of affec-
tion and interest bound him to the Liberal party.



THE BAR AND POLITICS, 1888-1891 175

Some of his contemporaries were already Members
of Parliament, but his circumstances differed from
theirs. He had started life with hardly any money,
and, if he was to enter politics, had to earn for
himself a stable as well as a sufficient income.
In the same year he also writes :

I have read a fair lot lately, principally about socialism.
The Fabian Essays which Herbert was reading at Glen
impress me a great deal. The best I think are those by
Shaw and Webb, Clarke and Mrs. Besant — that by Webb
being I think extraordinarily clever, suggestive and tem-
perate. Many of their principles are worked out with
great ingenuity and clearness, but the dislocation of the
vast and complex machinery of industry seems almost an
impossibility — a dream, though in some ways rather a
noble dream. I read Dicey 's The Verdict. I think you
ought to read it also, though it is in some senses bad reading
for those who put their faith in the character of the Irish
M.P.'s.

During these years Alfred and the writer of this
book became intimate companions ; it so happened
that many of his and Laura's friends were also
mine, or became mine as the time went on. In
October 1888, Mary Drew invited me to visit her
at Hawarden, for though married she still lived
at home with her parents. She was summoned
to London on family business the very day I was
expected, and no one in the house except Alfred
even knew me by sight. I had met him before
his marriage at the first dinner party I ever went
to in London, aged eighteen, and had hardly seen
him since, though I had been in his house several
times ; — I had a girl's worship for Laura, who had



176 ALFRED LYTTELTON

been kind and responsive. For Alfred I cultivated
an awed reverence ; he seemed to me like some one
set apart, and dedicated to sacred memories.

It was daunting when I arrived at the famous
house, to find my one friend in the family away.
However, I summoned such social courage as I
possessed, and heard with relief that Alfred was a
fellow-guest. He always spent two or three weeks
every year at Hawarden ; he loved the atmosphere