A.D. 1891.]

LAST CRUISE IN THE PANDORA.

353

resolution to transact with his secretary, Mr Pattisson, such business as came by post. Faithful to old habits, he wrote many letters to his friends, and settled several questions of patronage and other matters belonging to the office of First Lord of the Treasury.

On Thursday, October 1, he felt so much better that, at his special desire, those members of his family who had visiting engagements prepared to carry them out. Accordingly Mr Smith was left alone with his wife and Mrs Codrington, and by the doctor's advice a house was taken in Torquay for the winter months.

On Friday, October 2, there was a rough sea on, but he was carried down over the beach, and with some difficulty placed in the gig. "Ah! this is like life itself," he observed to Captain Blow, as he felt the motion of the boat; "your treatment is doing me good. I feel some hopes now." It was the last time he was on board his beloved yacht. The casket of Pandora did not fail to yield him hope, but it was a hope to be realised in another world: he had done with the hopes, loves, cares, and anxieties of this

one.

CHAPTER XXV.

1891.

On Monday, October 5, Smith was up and dressed in the drawing-room overlooking the Downs. He asked Mr Pattisson if there was anything in his letters requiring attention, who replied that there was one from Lord George Hamilton on a rather difficult question, and suggested deferring it to another day. Smith, however, desired that it

Ꮓ

should be read to him, and dictated a sentence bearing on the point raised; but, feeling unequal to the exertion, he

Drawing-room, Walmer Castle.

gave it up, saying, "No: tell George I am not well enough to deal with it."

He then gave instructions to prepare submissions to the Queen in regard to two vacant Crown livings, and, lastly,

A.D. 1891.]

HIS DEATH.

355

to get ready for his signature two cheques on his private account to pay his doctors' fees. Mr Pattisson, noticing that he was in great pain, suggested that they should be paid out of his (Mr Pattisson's) account, so as to save his chief the exertion of signing them. But he, smiling, said, "No; it is a little compliment to them if I sign my own cheques, and I should like to do so." The cheques were accordingly drawn on his own account, and thus the last occasion he ever put pen to paper was characteristic of his whole life, for it arose out of a desire to show consideration for others.

On the following morning, Tuesday, October 6, an alarming change took place. Dr Wethered, who had been called. in between 6 and 7 A.M., found that the heart's action was failing. Telegrams were sent to the absent members of the family, but they were too distant to be recalled in time to see their father alive.

Shortly after one o'clock Dr Douglas Powell and Mr Tom Smith (the well-known surgeon) arrived from London, but they could only confirm Dr Wethered's melancholy diagnosis.

Mr Smith's mind, even now, remained quite clear, and once more a kindly thought for another made him send a business instruction to Mr Pattisson. The doctors had withdrawn but a few minutes, leaving Mrs Smith alone with her husband, save for the presence of the nurse and a faithful valet, when they were called back.

Mr Smith passed away at ten minutes to three.

Newspapers of every section and shade of politics gave testimony next morning to the respect borne to the personal character of Mr Smith, and the admiration which his sterling qualities had secured from all classes of his fellowcountrymen,

From the Queen came a gracious telegram to Mrs. Smith:

I cannot find words to express my sorrow at the unexpected news of the loss of your beloved husband. The country and his Sovereign lose in him one of the wisest and best statesmen and kindest and best of men. To you the blow must be terrible and the loss irreparable.

V. R. I.

This was followed by a letter which conveyed more fully her Majesty's sympathy with her bereaved subject:—

BALMORAL CASTLE, Oct. 7, 1891.

DEAR MRS SMITH,─As I telegraphed, it is quite impossible for me to express how deeply grieved and shocked I was at the unexpected news of dear Mr Smith's suddenly increased illness, to be followed so soon by the very sad news that he had passed away. I feel most deeply for you, and fear that his unceasing devotion to his country and Sovereign has shortened his most valuable life! I cannot sufficiently express my sense of gratitude to him for his invaluable services, or how deeply I mourn his loss, which is so great to the country. He has left behind him a bright example, and will be deeply mourned and regretted by all.

But to you, dear Mrs Smith, the loss is the greatest and the blow is the heaviest, and I pray God to support you and enable you to submit to His dispensation; but it is very difficult to say, "Thy will be done."

Asking you to convey to your children the expression of my sympathy, pray believe me always,-Yours most sincerely,

VICTORIA R. I.

Other letters of condolence streamed in, and among the scores of telegrams there was one of extreme simplicity, in form and significance equally classical and Christian, consisting of three words only:

Beatus ille. GEORGE.

The funeral was extremely simple. The body was conveyed from Walmer Castle to Henley on the morning of Saturday, October 10, and thence by the Marlow road to Hambleden Church. Among other offerings of affection and respect there was a wreath sent by the Queen, bearing, in her Majesty's autograph, the inscription—

A.D. 1891.] PEERAGE CONFERRED ON MRS SMITH. 357

A mark of sincere regard and gratitude for devoted services to his Sovereign and country-from VICTORIA R. I.

It was a day of mournful rain, yet many followed the bier of their friend and benefactor to the new cemetery at Hambleden. There they laid him in the grave, and before it closed over him the clear voices of the choir raised a strain of confident hope in the hymn: "The saints of God, their conflict past."

More stately, though not more impressive, was the Memorial Service in Westminster Abbey, by which the nation did honour to the memory of its departed servant: of the vast number assembled there that day, none can have forgotten the hymn which closed the service-"Now the labourer's task is o'er."

On October 12 the Queen wrote once more :—

DEAR MRS SMITH,-I am most desirous, as you will easily believe, to give a public mark of my deep sense of the services your beloved Husband rendered to me and to his country-services which I fear shortened his valuable life.

I wish therefore to offer to you, his devoted wife, a Peerage-a Viscountcy-which I hope you will feel inclined to accept for his sake. Truly thankful am I to hear that you are able to bear up under your overwhelming affliction, and trust that the universal mourning for your dear Husband's loss, and the equally universal appreciation of his services and character, will be soothing to you.— Believe me always, yours most sincerely, VICTORIA R. 1.

Had Mrs Smith consulted her own inclinations, she would have preferred to continue to bear that name which was associated so closely with the happiness and pride of her life; but the Queen's offer, couched in language so gracious and warmly appreciative of the services of the departed, was one that could hardly be declined, and Mrs Smith, taking her title from the village and parish where her husband had been so well known and loved and where his mortal part had been laid, became Viscountess Hambleden.

Mr Smith's old constituents in the Strand also exerted