Page:My Life in Two Hemispheres, volume 2.djvu/140

 Lord Raglan's opinion, who mildly stated his objections; but St. Arnaud, who was half bandit, half playactor, repeated his rhodomontade. I inquired why Raglan, the Commander-in-Chief of an independent army, submitted to this gasconade. 'Because,' Tennant replied, 'he had a letter in his pocket from his Government commanding him to do so.' Baraguay d'Hilliers, according to Tennant, declared that the French fleet in the Baltic is commanded by a prosy old lady, and the English fleet by a vulgar old woman. The entente cordiale does not seem to grow.

"At the Ellenborough 'want of confidence' debate I took a last look at the House of Lords. There is as large a proportion of commonplace men as I have seen in any assembly of gentlemen—Lord Grey, far from inheriting the noble-domed forehead of his father, looks as he hobbles along shrewd and ordinary—an attorney or land agent; Lord Panmure, with his port wine complexion and costume of a ci-devant jeune homme, might be a retired stockbroker; the Duke of Newcastle, a wooden mediocrity without a ray of the divine light of intellect; Lord Derby looks like a Lord John Russell with a soul, but that make a profound difference; and the Duke of Argyle a Frederick Peel ditto; Lord Derby has the unsettled eye and mien which sometimes betokens genius, but never wisdom or discretion. He looks unreliable, not from falseness, for he is open and dashing, but from recklessness. Lord Ellenborough spoke without force or fire, Lord Aberdeen, like a Puritan preacher, he is highly respectable, solemn, and discontented. But in fronta nulla fides; Cabrera, the Spanish cutthroat, was pointed out to me under the gallery one evening, and he is one of the handsomest and most gentlemanly men I have seen. Compared to him Louis Napoleon is vulgar. Napoleon's complexion is reddish brown, Cabrera's a clear, colourless pallor, his head impressive and well set. Again, Sir De Lacy Evans, the commander of the not too reputable Spanish brigade, is a noble, soldierly-looking man, whose profession immediately suggests itself; whereas Lord Hardinge, a great soldier, is nothing short of mean and ugly, and might pass for a Common Council man; and the Duke of Cambridge, illustrious by birth and courtesy, is big, brawny, and resembles a sergeant of dragoons. By