Page:Pen, pencil, baton and mask; biographical sketches (IA penpencilbatonma00blaciala).pdf/90

70 gay with flower-beds. The approach is by a turfed lane, bordered on each side by trees, and on the left stands the Church of St. Stephen with its old-fashioned tower that forms a picturesque object in the foreground.

'The place has a musical reputation,' says Sir Augustus, as he leads the way out to the garden. "Grisi lived here many years ago, but it has been much enlarged since then. It is so quiet and retired we might be miles in the country, and I do a good deal of thinking out and planning on these lawns.'

Lady Harris's delightful garden parties in this peaceful spot have a great renown. A perfect hostess, she and Sir Augustus here gather around them the most distinguished in the world of fashion and of art, and their home is enlivened by the presence of an only child, a sweet little maiden of ten years, who is the idol of her parents' hearts.

'I have stuck to my guns,' says Sir Augustus with a kindly smile, even when I have been mauled about by the enemy, which reminds me of a little story told me by Sir Evelyn Wood. When he was going up the Nile he didn't know how to cross the rapids; he was advised not to attempt it, but Lord Charles Beresford said, "Get through, or leave the ship's bottom stranded." It was the spirit of a soldier, and should be the same of a theatri- cal manager. Do or die!'

And it is precisely this spirit that has animated Sir Augustus Harris in his gigantic undertakings, and has won for him unprecedented success and the undying gratitude of the public.

alike on each side from a race of artistic and talented families, of whom it might confidently have been predicted that, sooner or later, they would give to the world a poet, a painter, or an author of great note, Sarah