Fifteen Chapters of Autobiography

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Fifteen Chapters of Autobiography, by

George William Erskine Russell This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
Title: Fifteen Chapters of Autobiography
Author: George William Erskine Russell
Release Date: May 27, 2007 [EBook #21624]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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FIFTEEN CHAPTERS OF AUTOBIOGRAPHY
* * * * *
UNIFORM WITH THIS VOLUME.
THE GREAT BOER WAR. Arthur Conan Doyle.
COLLECTIONS AND RECOLLECTIONS. G. W. E. Russell.
FROM THE CAPE TO CAIRO. E. S. Grogan.
SPURGEON'S SERMONS. Sir W. Robertson Nicoll, LL.D.
SIR FRANK LOCKWOOD. Augustine Birrell, K.C., M.P.
THE MAKING OF A FRONTIER. Colonel Durand.
LIFE OF RICHARD COBDEN. Lord Morley.
LIFE OF PARNELL. R. Barry O'Brien.
MEMORIES GRAVE AND GAY. Dr. John Kerr.
A BOOK ABOUT ROSES. S. Reynolds Hole.
RANDOM REMINISCENCES. Charles Brookfield.
AT THE WORKS. Lady Bell.
MEXICO AS I SAW IT. Mrs. Alec Tweedie.
PARIS TO NEW YORK BY LAND. Harry de Windt.
LIFE OF LEWIS CARROLL. Stuart Dodgson Collingwood.
THE MANTLE OF THE EAST. Edmund Candler.
LETTERS OF DR. JOHN BROWN.
JUBILEE BOOK OF CRICKET. Prince Ranjitsinhji.
BY DESERT WAYS TO BAGHDAD. Louisa Jebb.
SOME OLD LOVE STORIES. T. P. O'Connor.
FIELDS, FACTORIES, & WORKSHOPS. Prince Kropotkin.
PROBLEMS OF POVERTY. Dr. Chalmers.
THE BURDEN OF THE BALKANS. M. E. Durham.
LIFE AND LETTERS OF LORD MACAULAY.--I. & II. Sir George O. Trevelyan, Bart.
WHAT I SAW IN RUSSIA. Hon. Maurice Baring.
WILD ENGLAND OF TO-DAY. C. J. Cornish.
THROUGH FINLAND IN CARTS. Mrs. Alec Tweedie.
THE VOYAGE OF THE "DISCOVERY."--I. & II. Captain Scott.
FELICITY IN FRANCE. Constance E. Maud.
MY CLIMBS IN THE ALPS AND CAUCASUS. A. F. Mummery.
JOHN BRIGHT. R. Barry O'Brien.
POVERTY. B. Seebohm Rowntree.
SEA WOLVES OF THE MEDITERRANEAN. Commander E. Hamilton Currey, R.N.
FAMOUS MODERN BATTLES. A. Hilliard Atteridge.
THE CRUISE OF THE "FALCON." E. F. Knight.
A.K.H.B. (A Volume of Selections).
THE PEOPLE OF THE ABYSS. Jack London.
GRAIN OR CHAFF? A. Chichele Plowden.
LIFE AT THE ZOO. C. J. Cornish.
THE FOUR MEN. Hilaire Belloc.
CRUISE OF THE "ALERTE." E. F. Knight.
FOUR FRENCH ADVENTURERS. Stoddard Dewey.
A REAPING. E. F. Benson.
Etc., etc.
Others to follow.
* * * * *
Fifteen Chapters of Autobiography
BY THE RIGHT HON. GEORGE W. E. RUSSELL
[Illustration: Publisher's logo]
THOMAS NELSON AND SONS LONDON, EDINBURGH, DUBLIN AND NEW YORK
NOTE.
This book was originally published under the title of "One Look Back."
TO
HENRY SCOTT HOLLAND
IN HONOUR OF THE BEST GIFT WHICH OXFORD GAVE ME

CONTENTS
I. BEGINNINGS 9
II. HARROW 35
III. HARROVIANA 56
IV. OXFORD 82
V. OXONIANA 102
VI. HOME 125
VII. LONDON 143
VIII. HOSPITALITY 171
IX. ELECTIONEERING 195
X. PARLIAMENT 222
XI. POLITICS 246
XII. ORATORY 283
XIII. LITERATURE 309
XIV. SERVICE 338
XV. ECCLESIASTICA 365

FIFTEEN CHAPTERS OF AUTOBIOGRAPHY.

I
BEGINNINGS
One look back--as we hurry o'er the plain, Man's years speeding us along-- One look back! From the hollow past again, Youth, come flooding into song! Tell how once, in the breath of summer air, Winds blew fresher than they blow; Times long hid, with their triumph and their care, Yesterday--many years ago! E. E. BOWEN.
The wayfarer who crosses Lincoln's Inn Fields perceives in the midst of them a kind of wooden temple, and passes by it unmoved. But, if his curiosity tempts him to enter it, he sees, through an aperture in the boarded floor, a slab of stone bearing this inscription:
"On this spot was beheaded William Lord Russell, A lover of constitutional liberty, 21st July, A.D. 1683."[1]
Of the martyr thus temperately eulogized I am the great-great-great-great-grandson, and I agree with The Antiquary, that "it's a shame to the English language that we have not a less clumsy way of expressing a relationship of which we have occasion to think and speak so frequently."
Before we part company with my ill-fated ancestor, let me tell a story bearing on his historical position. When my father was a cornet in the Blues, he invited a brother-officer to spend some of his leave at Woburn Abbey. One day, when the weather was too bad for any kind of sport, the visitor was induced to have a look at the pictures. The Rembrandts, and Cuyps, and Van Dykes and Sir Joshuas bored him to extremity, but accidentally his eye lit on Hayter's famous picture of Lord Russell's trial, and, with a sudden gleam of intelligence, he exclaimed, "Hullo! What's this? It looks like a trial." My father answered, with modest pride--"It is a trial--the trial of my ancestor, William, Lord Russell." "Good heavens! my dear fellow--an ancestor of yours tried? What a shocking thing! I hope he got off."
So much for our Family Martyr.
In analysing one's nationality, it is natural to regard one's four grand-parents as one's component parts. Tried by this test, I am half an Englishman, one quarter a Highlander, and one quarter a Welshman, for my father's father was wholly English; my father's mother wholly Scotch; my mother's father wholly Welsh; and my mother's