Page:Eminent English liberals in and out of Parliament.djvu/280

 early for that. He was afloat in his thirteenth year, having previously attended successively good private schools at Brighton, Hampton, and Paris. In Paris he acquired a mastery of the French language, which he has since found of the greatest benefit. His interest in French politics is at least as keen as in those of his own country. He is on terms of intimacy with nearly all the great men of the Third Republic, with whom he has so much more in common than with the ruck of English Liberals.

Excellent busts of Hugo and Gambetta—the best I have seen—adorn his mantel-piece at The Chestnuts, Wimbledon, where all things bespeak the apple-pie order of the captain's cabin. One room is entirely hung with marine drawings, consisting chiefly of ships in which the owner had sailed. His first ship, which he joined on passing the examination then set to cadets, was "The Raleigh," Captain Sir Thomas Herbert. "The Raleigh" sailed for the South American station, where she remained for three years. There was a naval brigade on shore to protect the town of Montevideo; and "The Raleigh" lay lazily off the coast to succor the marines if need were, "as idle as a painted ship upon a painted ocean." These three years Maxse as good as completely lost. He was supposed to learn navigation; but the chaplain, who was his instructor, knew little or nothing about the subject which he was supposed to teach.

In his sixteenth year he returned to England, but was speedily again afloat as midshipman in H.M.S. "Frolic," Captain Vansittart. "The Frolic" went to the Mediterranean. In 1852 he served as lieutenant on board H,M. sloop "Espiègle " in the West Indies,