Tracks of a Rolling Stone | Page 3

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Tracks of a Rolling Stone by Henry J. Coke Scanned and proofed by
David Price [email protected] Second proofing by Margaret
Price

Tracks of a Rolling Stone

PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION.
THE First Edition of this book was written, from beginning to end, in
the short space of five months, without the aid of diary or notes,
beyond those cited as such from a former work.
The Author, having no expectation that his reminiscences would be
received with the kind indulgence of which this Second Edition is the
proof, with diffidence ventured to tell so many tales connected with his
own unimportant life as he has done. Emboldened by the reception his
'Tracks' have met with, he now adds a few stories which he trusts may
further amuse its readers.
June 1905.

CHAPTER I

WE know more of the early days of the Pyramids or of ancient Babylon
than we do of our own. The Stone age, the dragons of the prime, are not
more remote from us than is our earliest childhood. It is not so long ago
for any of us; and yet, our memories of it are but veiled spectres
wandering in the mazes of some foregone existence.

Are we really trailing clouds of glory from afar? Or are our 'forgettings'
of the outer Eden only? Or, setting poetry aside, are they perhaps the
quickening germs of all past heredity - an epitome of our race and its
descent? At any rate THEN, if ever, our lives are such stuff as dreams
are made of. There is no connected story of events, thoughts, acts, or
feelings. We try in vain to re-collect; but the secrets of the grave are not
more inviolable, - for the beginnings, like the endings, of life are lost in
darkness.
It is very difficult to affix a date to any relic of that dim past. We may
have a distinct remembrance of some pleasure, some pain, some fright,
some accident, but the vivid does not help us to chronicle with
accuracy. A year or two makes a vast difference in our ability. We can
remember well enough when we donned the 'CAUDA VIRILIS,' but
not when we left off petticoats.
The first remembrance to which I can correctly tack a date is the death
of George IV. I was between three and four years old. My recollection
of the fact is perfectly distinct - distinct by its association with other
facts, then far more weighty to me than the death of a king.
I was watching with rapture, for the first time, the spinning of a peg-top
by one of the grooms in the stable yard, when the coachman, who had
just driven my mother home, announced the historic news. In a few
minutes four or five servants - maids and men - came running to the
stables to learn particulars, and the peg-top, to my sorrow, had to be
abandoned for gossip and flirtation. We were a long way from street
criers - indeed, quite out of town. My father's house was in Kensington,
a little further west than the present museum. It was completely
surrounded by fields and hedges. I mention the fact merely to show to
what age definite memory can be authentically assigned. Doubtless we
have much earlier remembrances, though we must reckon these by days,
or by months at the outside. The relativity of the reckoning would seem
to make Time indeed a 'Form of Thought.'
Two or three reminiscences of my childhood have stuck to me; some of
them on account of their comicality. I was taken to a children's ball at
St. James's Palace. In my mind's eye I have but one distinct vision of it.
I cannot see the crowd - there was nothing to distinguish that from what
I have so often seen since; nor the court dresses, nor the soldiers even,
who always attract a child's attention in the streets; but I see a raised

dais on which were two thrones. William IV. sat on one, Queen
Adelaide on the other.