The English
officer seems to have been an unscrupulous fellow, jesting thus with the
fresh memory of his dead commander; for it is impossible to believe a
word of the story. Even if Lord Raglan had wished for death, he would
hardly have taken strychnine, when there were so many chances of being
honorably shot. In Wood's Narrative of the Campaign, it is stated that
he died surrounded by the members of his staff, after having been for
some time ill. It appears, however, by the same statement, that no
serious apprehensions had been entertained, until, one afternoon, he shut
himself in, desiring not to be disturbed till evening. After two or
three hours he called Lord Burghersh,--"Frank, Frank!" and was found to
be almost in a state of collapse, and died that evening. Mr. H------'s
story might very well have been a camp rumor.
It seems to me that the British Ministry, in its notion of a
life-peerage, shows an entire misunderstanding of what makes people
desire the peerage. It is not for the immediate personal distinction;
but because it removes the peer and his consanguinity from the common
rank of men, and makes a separate order of them, as if they should grow
angelic. A life-peer is but a mortal amid the angelic throng.
February 28th.--I went yesterday with Mrs. ------ and another lady, and
Mr. M------, to the West Derby Workhouse. . . . .
[Here comes in the visit to the West Derby Workhouse, which was made the
subject of a paper in Our Old Home, called "Outside Glimpses of English
Poverty.
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