BOOKS.
ALFRED LYTTELTON.*
IN the introduction to the second part of this memoir Mrs. Lyttelton gives the best justification for its appearance, and at the same time accurately describes her aims. "Alfred's unique position among his contemporaries," she writes, " was due not so much to gifts of intellect as to gifts of character. His life was not full of adventure, nor, if measured by some standards, even of achievement. What be was, rather than what he did, needs to be portrayed. In trying to draw the picture of a man's character, his affections must be described, and as truthfully as possible." In other words, though his professional and political activities are dealt with in sufficient detail, this is an unusually intimate record of the man as he revealed himself to his family and friends. What his loss meant to his friends has already been declared by the tributes paid to his memory by Mr. Asquith in the House of Commons; by the address delivered by Mr. Balfour last August at the unveiling of the memorial tablet in St. Margaret's, Westminster ; and by the appreciations contributed by Lord Curzon and Lord Midleton to the Times at the time of his death. He made fresh friends all his life, but never lost his older ones. It has been the task of Mrs. Lyttelton, while illustrating these testimonies in a detailed narrative of his life, to lift the veil from the closer relationships in which a man's character is most truly tested—as son, brother, husband, and father.
Alfred Lyttelton was the eighth and youngest son of the fourth Lord Lyttclton. His mother and her sister and best friend, Catherine Glynne, daughters of the Squire of Hawarden, married on the same day two other great friends, George Lord Lyttelton and Mr. Gladstone, and "this double friendship was continued all their lives." Lord Lyttelton was a
• Alfred Lytlellon: an :Ie.-aunt of his Life. Dy Mtn Lyttelton. London : Long. mans and Co. [12s. 641. net-] remarkable man : a fine classical scholar, and full of sharp contrasts, "vigorous, tempestuous, deveut, and tender." When ho went for a holiday the first thing he did was " to find a church with a daily service, a place where he could play billiards, and an old woman to read to." There is a delightful picture of him at the playing -fields of Eton in 1872, " with a pocket Homer in hand, reading and murmuring the lines to himself, but as long as a son was batting, never missing a ball, and continuing to read between the balls." Of his eight sons, seven played in the Eton XL, and three were cricketers of the very first flight. Alfred, the youngest and physically the most richly endowed of them all, was beloved from the outset for his sunny nature and his radiant vitality. He inspired and returned the affection of his family, and his home life was singularly happy. His lifelong attachment to his brother Edward began in childhood—" We've got a cold," was a common form with either of them. All through their school and college days they hunted in couples—one of the prime considerations that decided him not to go to Oxford was the " horrible" prospect of having to play against his brother at Lord's—and " though life parted their ways, the love between them was never dimmed." School was a procession of triumphs. At Eton Alfred Lyttelton shone conspicuously at all games, was President of " Pep," and won the admiration and respect of boys and masters alike. William John- son compared him to " sunshine on running water " : he was, in short, a popular idol, but remained unspoilt by hero-worship ; " his strength was as the strength of ten because his heart was pure." He maintained the family reputation for clean and honourable conduct, battled against rowdyism, and was at all times jealous of the good name of the schooL Ceux qui snanqueni de in probile dans leurs plaisirs, says Vauvenargues, n'en oaf qu'une feinle dans les affaires. Alfred Lyttelton was no prig ; he took his pleasure freely in many forms, games and sport•, and even practical joking, but it was an honest pleasure ; and in public affairs he showed the same chivalry and straightforwardness that marked him in the cricket-field, in society, and in private life. Though he suffered from an hereditary incapacity for mathematics, and failed to inherit his father's taste for classical scholarship, he worked well, and gained the school history prizo against severe competition. With that self- criticism which sometimes amounted to positive diffidence, he recog- nized that he would never again reach a position of such pre-eminence as he enjoyed at Eton. But he came very near it at Cambridge, where he was a " quintuple Blue," a conspicuous figure in the strongest of all Cambridge Elevens, a member of that esoteric society known as the Apostles, and where, in spite of the conflicting claims of pastime and good-fellowship, he took a Second Class in the Historical Tripes. His failure to gain a First Class was the deepest disappointment that clouded his Cambridge career. Far deeper, however, was the grief which he felt at the tragic end of his father, and earlier at the loss of a beloved sister. As for his associates, he mingled with all classes, but saw perhaps most of the intellectuals, without sharing their interest in abstract specula. tions or being affected by their religious heterodoxy. He did not shirk serious discussion, but his faith was never shaken. While still at Cambiidge he acted as Marshal on circuit with Mr. Justice Brett, after- wards Lord Esher, and in comparing Brett's methods with those of FitzJames Stephen, observes : " I take myself in these matters as a specimen of the rather superior class of jurymen, knowing well enough that when I am puzzled as to how to give a verdict they will be too."
In 1879, when he accompanied his uncle on the famous Midlothian campaign, he was still under the spell of the enchanter. His divergence on the Home Rule question did not come till 1892. Meanwhile he had gone to London, where he had been called to the Bar in 1881, and lived for a few years with his stepmother, Sybella, Lady Lyttelton, to whom he was devotedly attached. These were in many ways the happiest years of his life, though 1882 was darkened by another tragedy—the murder of his brother-in-law, Lord Frederick Cavendish. The social side of his career at this time is happily summed up by Mrs. Lyttelton in a quotation from Carlyle's Life of John Sterling : " He makes visits to country houses . . . converses with established gentle. men, with honourable women not a few ; is gay and welcome with the young of his own age ; knows also religious, witty, and other distin- guished ladies and is admiringly known of them." After 1882 he played little first-class cricket, but he hunted occasionally, and, taking seriously to tennis, held the Amateur Championship for many years without a break till 1893. But, though he humorously admitted that the austerer members of his family looked upon him as a butterfly, evidence of his professional assiduity was forthcoming in a rapidly growing prac- tice. In 1883 he was asked by Sir Henry James, then Attorney-General, to assist him in official work. His practice at the Parliamentary Bar grew steadily in volume. On his merits and limitations as a barrister Sir Charles Darling has some admirable comments on pp. 163-169;-- "His arguments were always gocd—but his manner made them seem better than they were, and it cannot be doubted that many of his contentions found readier acceptance because of the transparent fairness with which he considered those of his opponent.... Perhaps he was less conspicuous as a Leader through being hardly enough of a partisan —and in a silk gown his forensic success was net remarkable. As a consequence, or of choice, he was more occupied as an Arbitrator than as an Advocate—and no one can doubt that had he refused political office he would have excelled as a Judge. . . . His influence among his fellows was out of all proportion to his practice."
These years of prosperous and happy early manhood culminated in his marriage in 1883 with Miss Laura Tennant, a singularly attractive girl of rare gifts and sympathy, who inspired the adoration of the young and the reverent admiration of the old. A year later she died giving birth to a son, who only lived for two years. The blow was overwhelming, but it was manfully faced ; as he wrote to his brother-in- law, it was his " unalterable conviction that strength and beauty and glory are to be won from these awful events." The Bar and a growing interest in politics provided him with a helpful anodyne, and in 1892 his second marriage brought him twenty years of companionship that
was " ardent, intimate, and intensely happy, unclouded by estrange- ment or weakened by custom. The conventional idea that a man with an eXperience such as Alfred's behind him could never love again, would be as untrue in his case as the equally conventional deduction, that when he did love again, ho had forgotten or changed."
It is interesting to learn that his abandonment of the legal for the political career was largely determined by the advice of the late Lord Bowen. He entered the House in 1893 as Member
for the boroughs of Warwick and Leamington, and held the seat till the dikicle of January, 1900. In 1900 he visited South Africa as Chairman of the Transvaal Concessions Commission ; in 190.1 he acted as arbitrator in the dispute between the Newfoundland Government and the Reid Company. His successful conduct of these negotiations, coupled with his character for capacity and good sense, led to his appointment to succeed Mr. Cherished in as Secretary for the Colonies in 1903. He had considerable misgivings in accepting office as Mr. Chamberlain's successor, and as the chief Parliamentary supporter of so unpopular a measure as the Chinese Labour Ordinance he was exposed to a great deal of bitter criticism, but the private testimony of his opponents showed that he never for- feited their regard. Sir Charles Lucas pays a remarkable tribute to his success as an administrator. His best and most fruitful work was a circular despatch to the self-governing Colonies in April, 1905, in which he pointed the way to the evolution of what is now the Imperial Confer- ence. In regard to most of the great questions that came before him he had to carry on ; when new questions arose ho was guided by " know- ledge of the world, good judgment, high courage, legal training, and a natural instinct as to what was at once right and practicable. He looke 1 upon himself at the Colonial Office as the Captain of an Eleven, and all of us who served under him as friends and colleagues." Ho was the most loyal and appreciative of chiefs, and ho " brought the human element into official relations with the happiest results." After the loss of his seat in January, 1906, he resolved not to return to the Bar, and henceforth was mainly employed as an arbitrator. He also became dire tor of two banks, and, returning to the House as Member for St. George's, Hanover Square, in June, 1900, he was busier than over before, what with boards and committees and arbitrations and endless engagements to speak on behalf of movements connected with philanthropy and social reform. In politics his hereditary Whig antecedents inclined him to moderation. He was a Balfourian in the Tariff controversy, and in the conflict that raged round the Parliament Bill he dissociated himself from the policy of tho " Die-Hands." The last controversy that really stirred him to the depths was the question of Welsh Dis- establishment, which ho vigorously opposed. He was often weary and jaded, but found an unfailing solace in music, in the good-comradeship of his friends, and the companionship of his wife and children. At first a reluctant convert to golf, he became in time a thoroughgoing devotee. His last holiday, spent in East Africa, was an immenss success, as it enabled him to fulfil a great ambition—that of shooting a lion. An accident while lie was playing cricket in 1913 brought on grave internal trouble, involving a serious operation, from the effects of which he died at the age of fifty-six. " He loved his life, though not of death afraid," and he met his end with the same intrepidity and unselfishness which he had shown in all the trials and troubles of his life. Indeed, it might well be said of him, in the words of the Latin epitaph, neminem trident feat. As Mr. Balfour said, after expressing his great sorrow that his friend was taken from us before the mighty struggle began, " his spirit is still among us, animating us, as of old, with some- thing of his own high and cheerful courage."
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