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Multiple Criteria Decision Making

Gökhan Silahtaroğlu
Hasan Dinçer
Serhat Yüksel

Data Science and

Multiple Criteria
Decision Making
Approaches in
Finance
Applications and Methods
Multiple Criteria Decision Making

Series Editor
Constantin Zopounidis, School of Production Engineering and Management,
Technical University of Crete, Chania, Greece
This book series focuses on the publication of monographs and edited volumes of
wide interest for researchers and practitioners interested in the theory of multicriteria
analysis and its applications in management and engineering. The book series
publishes novel works related to the foundations and the methodological aspects
of multicriteria analysis, its applications in different areas in management and
engineering, as well as its connections with other quantitative and analytic disci-
plines. In recent years, multicriteria analysis has been widely used for decision
making purposes by institutions and enterprises. Research is also very active in the
field, with numerous publications in a wide range of publication outlets and different
domains such as operations management, environmental and energy planning,
finance and economics, marketing, engineering, and healthcare.

More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/13834

Gökhan Silahtaroğlu • Hasan Dinçer •
Serhat Yüksel

Data Science and Multiple

Criteria Decision Making
Approaches in Finance
Applications and Methods
Gökhan Silahtaroğlu Hasan Dinçer
Kavacık South Campus School of Business
Istanbul Medipol University Istanbul Medipol University
Istanbul, Turkey Istanbul, Turkey

Serhat Yüksel
Business and Management
Istanbul Medipol University
Istanbul, Turkey

ISSN 2366-0023 ISSN 2366-0031 (electronic)

Multiple Criteria Decision Making
ISBN 978-3-030-74175-4 ISBN 978-3-030-74176-1 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-74176-1

© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland
AG 2021
This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether
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The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication
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Preface

This book aims to evaluate different financial issues to reach sustainable economic
development. In this context, assessments were made on 6 different important issues.
In this way, it is aimed to identify the most important issues related to financial
issues. In this process, both data science and fuzzy multi-criteria decision-making
methods were considered. In this context, decision trees, artificial neural networks,
text mining, and methods such as AHP, ANP, DEMATEL, MOORA, TOPSIS, and
VIKOR were used. The most important contribution of the study is the use of these
methods, which are frequently preferred in the literature, in the same book.
This book aims to integrate data science applications, such as web mining, text
mining, and machine learning, with different significant majors like business, health,
economics, finance, and engineering. Within this framework, different perspectives
can be taken into consideration in this study. For example, machine learning
approach can be used to analyze financial performance or big data methodology
can be considered to evaluate the efficiency of the stock exchanges. Therefore, it can
be said that this study offers a novelty by focusing on various significant majors at
the same time. As a result, it is believed that this study makes a significant
contribution to the literature.
In this book, detailed analyses are made on 6 different issues related to financial
issues. In this context, financially important issues such as profitability in the
banking sector, the factors affecting economic development, the role of the state-
ments of the politicians on the financial system, and the factors affecting the
exchange rate risk are examined. As a result of detailed analyses, development
suggestions were made for each topic. Thanks to these suggestions, it will be
possible to reach a more effective financial system and sustainable economic growth.
Therefore, this book is intended to make an important contribution to the literature.

Istanbul, Turkey Gökhan Silahtaroğlu

Hasan Dinçer
Serhat Yüksel

v
Acknowledgments

The authors would like to acknowledge the help and patience of their families in this
book process. Without their support, this book would not have become a reality.
Second, the authors wish to acknowledge the valuable contributions of the
reviewers regarding the improvement of quality, coherence, and content presentation
of chapters.
In addition, the authors would also like to acknowledge the valuable help of
Mr. Serkan Eti for his significant support about machine learning system.

Gökhan Silahtaroğlu
Hasan Dinçer
Serhat Yüksel

vii
Introduction

In this book, analyses related to financial issues have been made. In this context,
assessments were made on 6 different important issues. In this way, it is aimed to
identify the most important issues related to financial issues. In this process, both
data science and fuzzy multi-criteria decision-making methods were considered. In
this context, decision trees, artificial neural networks, text mining, and methods such
as AHP, ANP, DEMATEL, MOORA, TOPSIS, and VIKOR were used. The most
important contribution of the study is the use of these methods, which are frequently
preferred in the literature, in the same book.
In the study, firstly, the factors causing crises in developing and developed
countries have been tried to be determined. In this framework, decision tree and
fuzzy DEMATEL approaches are taken into consideration. In addition, the second
chapter is related to identifying the influencing factors of economic growth for both
developing and developed economies. For this purpose, decision tree approach and
fuzzy TOPSIS methodology are considered at the same time.
On the other side, the third chapter aims to estimate the factors affecting the
profitability of the Turkish banking sector. For this purpose, 34 different variables
were firstly determined by literature review. In the first stage of the analysis, decision
trees method is applied to select the most important variables. After that, fuzzy ANP
approach is used to weight these variables. Similarly, the fourth chapter tries to
understand the role of the politicians on the macroeconomic situation of the coun-
tries. For this purpose, the tweets of Donald Trump are taken into consideration. Text
mining approach is used to evaluate these tweets and mostly used words are
identified. After that, these keywords are ranked with the help of fuzzy VIKOR
approach according to their impacts on macroeconomic performance.
In addition to them, the fifth chapter tries to understand the main influence of the
politicians’ disclosure on the stock exchange index. In this context, a machine
learning model is built in order to understand the hidden patterns behind the daily
changes (rises and falls) of Dow Jones index. Moreover, in the final chapter, it is
aimed to determine the factors affecting the exchange rate risk of companies. In this
context, firstly, articles in the ScienceDirect database that contain exchange rate risk

ix
x Introduction

in their titles, abstracts, and keywords are provided. Single, double, and triple words
were identified in 152 different studies that were published after 2018, which met the
relevant criteria. As a result of the analysis of these words, 4 different criteria that
could affect the exchange rate risk were determined. The relevant criteria were then
weighted with fuzzy AHP.
This book aims to integrate data science applications, such as web mining, text
mining, and machine learning, with different significant majors like business, health,
economics, finance, and engineering. Within this framework, different perspectives
can be taken into consideration in this study. For example, machine learning
approach can be used to analyze financial performance or big data methodology
can be considered to evaluate the efficiency of the stock exchanges. Therefore, it can
be said that this study offers a novelty by focusing on various significant majors at
the same time. As a result, it is believed that this study makes a significant
contribution to the literature.
Target audience and potential users of this book are defined below.
• Researchers
• Academicians
• Policy makers
• Government officials
• Upright students in the concerned fields
• Members of chambers of commerce and industry
• Top managers of the companies

Istanbul, Turkey Gökhan Silahtaroğlu

Hasan Dinçer
Serhat Yüksel
Contents

1 Introduction to Data Science and Machine Learning Algorithms . 1

1.1 Artificial Neural Networks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.1.1 A Few Concrete Examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.2 Neural Network Elements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.3 Hyper Parameters of Deep Neural Networks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.4 Support Vector Machine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.5 Kernel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
1.6 Regularization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
1.7 Gamma . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
1.8 Margin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
1.9 Decision Trees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
1.10 Sample Decision Tree . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
1.11 Testing Learning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
1.12 Text Mining . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Appendix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
2 Identifying Indicators of Global Financial Crisis with Fuzzy Logic
and Data Science: A Comparative Analysis Between Developing
and Developed Economies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
2.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
2.2 General Information About the Financial Crises and 2008
Global Mortgage Crisis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
2.2.1 Types of the Financial Crises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
2.2.2 2008 Global Financial Crisis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
2.3 Literature Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
2.4 An Application on Turkish Banking Industry . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
2.4.1 Data Set and Variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
2.4.2 Fuzzy DEMATEL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
2.4.3 Analysis Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
2.5 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
xi
xii Contents

Appendix 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Appendix 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
3 Determining the Ways to Increase Economic Growth of Developing
and Developed Economies: An Application with Data Mining
and Fuzzy TOPSIS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
3.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
3.2 Literature Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
3.3 An Application on Developing and Developed Economies . . . 58
3.3.1 Data Set and Variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
3.3.2 Fuzzy TOPSIS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
3.3.3 Analysis Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
3.4 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Appendix 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Appendix 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
4 Profitability Prediction of Turkish Banking Industry:
A Comparative Analysis with Data Science and Fuzzy ANP . . . . . 77
4.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
4.2 Literature Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
4.3 An Application on Turkish Banking Industry . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
4.3.1 Data Set and Variables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
4.3.2 Fuzzy ANP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
4.3.3 Analysis Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
4.4 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Appendix 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Appendix 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Analysis Details of Decision Tree Approach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
5 The Influence of the Politicians on Macroeconomic Performance:
An Analysis of Donald Trump’s Tweets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
5.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
5.2 Literature Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
5.3 An Application on Donald Trump’s Tweets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
5.3.1 Fuzzy VIKOR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
5.3.2 Analysis Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
5.4 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Appendix 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
Appendix 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
Contents xiii

6 How Is the Stock Exchange Index Affected by the Disclosures

of Politicians? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
6.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
6.2 Literature Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
6.3 The Analysis of the Impacts of Donald Trump’s Tweets
on Dow Jones Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
6.4 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
Appendix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
7 Defining the Significant Factors of Currency Exchange Rate
Risk by Considering Text Mining and Fuzzy AHP . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
7.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
7.2 Literature Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
7.3 Fuzzy AHP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
7.4 The Analysis on the Journals Reviewed in Sciencedirect . . . . . 150
7.5 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
Appendix 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
Appendix 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
8 Emerging Applications and the Future of Data Science . . . . . . . . . 169
8.1 Building an Effective Data Science Team . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
8.2 Examining Social Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
8.3 Data Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
8.4 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
Appendix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
About the Authors

Gökhan Silahtaroğlu is a professor of data science. He is Head of the Department

of Management Information Systems at Istanbul Medipol University, Faculty of
Economics and Administrative Sciences, Istanbul, Turkey. Dr. Silahtaroğlu received
PhD in management sciences and quantitative methods from İstanbul University in
2005. His PhD thesis is entitled “Clustering in data mining and an application on
students assessment.” His working areas are data analysis, data mining, artificial
intelligence, and machine learning. He has three different books related to text
mining and system analysis. In addition to them, he has lots of articles related to
data science, text mining, web mining, and machine learning.

Hasan Dinçer is a professor of finance at Istanbul Medipol University, Faculty of

Economics and Administrative Sciences, Istanbul, Turkey. Dr. Dincer has BAs in
financial markets and investment management at Marmara University. He received
his PhD in finance and banking with his thesis entitled “The Effect of Changes on the
Competitive Strategies of New Service Development in the Banking Sector.” He has
work experience in the finance sector as a portfolio specialist, and his major
academic studies focus on financial instruments, performance evaluation, and eco-
nomics. He is the executive editor of the International Journal of Finance and
Banking Studies (IJFBS) and the founder member of the Society for the Study of
Business and Finance (SSBF). His research interests lie in banking, finance, and
financial crisis. He has more than 200 scientific articles, and lots of them are indexed
in SSCI, Scopus, and Econlit. Also, he is the editor of many books that were
published by Springer and IGI Global.

Serhat Yüksel is an associate professor of finance in İstanbul Medipol University.

Before this position, he worked as a senior internal auditor for seven years in
Finansbank, Istanbul, Turkey, and 1 year in Konya Food and Agriculture University
as an assistant professor. Dr. Yüksel has a BS in business administration (in English)
from Yeditepe University (2006) with full scholarship. He got his master’s degree in
economics from Boğaziçi University (2008). He also has a PhD in banking from
Marmara University (2015). His research interests lie in banking, finance, and
xv
xvi About the Authors

financial crisis. He has more than 200 scientific articles, and lots of them are indexed
in SSCI, Scopus, and Econlit. Also, he is the editor of many books that were
published by Springer and IGI Global.
Chapter 1
Introduction to Data Science and Machine
Learning Algorithms

Abstract Data science has gained importance since available data and hardware
facilities have been ubiquitous. Algorithms to process a huge amount of data and
extract information were developed decades ago. However, due to the lack of high-
capacity computers, it was not possible to use them on real-life data and problems.
Today, from finance to medicine data science plays an important role to solve
problems. Suffice it to say, machine learning algorithms are the core of this new
phenomenon besides data itself. Artificial neural networks, deep learning, Support
Vector Machines, Decision Tree Learning Models, and related algorithms have been
used successfully and yielded very important results recently. On the other hand, text
data have also gained importance being the fuel of machine learning in data science.
Especially the emergence of social media and communication technology contrib-
uted to the popularity of texts in data science. In this chapter, concise introductions
have been given about the most popular and also successful machine learning
algorithms. This chapter will be helpful for those readers who do not have enough
information about machine learning and its algorithms.

Keywords Data science · Artificial neural networks · Deep learning · Decision

trees · Text mining · Support Vector Machines

1.1 Artificial Neural Networks

Neural networks are a set of algorithms designed to recognize patterns, inspired from
the human brain and biological neural networks (Glorot & Bengio, 2010). They
interpret raw input by labelling or clustering them by a kind of machine perception.
Data patterns that they perceive are numerical data stored in vectors such as pictures,
sounds, text or time series, and these data need to be converted into a certain data
structure to make sense.
Artificial neural networks help us cluster and classify data in a meaningful way
that directly solves real-life problems or help us solve those problems. You can think
of them as a clustering and classification layer of the data you store and manage.

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 1

G. Silahtaroğlu et al., Data Science and Multiple Criteria Decision Making
Approaches in Finance, Multiple Criteria Decision Making,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-74176-1_1
2 1 Introduction to Data Science and Machine Learning Algorithms

They help to group unlabelled data by similarities between sample inputs and
classify the data when there is a labelled data set to work on. Neural networks can
also extract features to feed other algorithms for clustering and classification; so, you
can think of deep neural networks as components of larger machine learning
applications that include algorithms for reinforcing learning, classification, and
regression.
What kind of problems does deep learning solve, and more importantly, can it
solve our problem? To know the answer, we need to ask some questions: What
outputs do I care about? Are these outputs the labels that can be applied to the data
available: For example, spam, clean user or fraud, unsatisfied customer or happy
customer. Are there any data to extract these labels? So, can I find data that has been
tagged before, or should I create a tagged dataset?

1.1.1 A Few Concrete Examples

Deep learning maps inputs over outputs and finds correlations between them. It is
known as “a universal function derivative and solver” because it can learn to use an
unknown function f (x) ¼ y between any input x and any output y, assuming that
they are all related (e.g., correlated). In the learning process, when the neural
network is fed with f (x) ¼ 3x + 12 or f (x) ¼ 9x  0.1, it finds the correct form
of the equation by converting f to work for any x to reach y.

1.2 Neural Network Elements

Deep learning is a term for “stacked neural networks,” i.e., networks of several
layers (Silahtaroğlu, 2008). Layers are made up of nodes that represent and act like
neurons. Node refers to the place where the calculation takes place, as a neuron
makes activations in the human brain, a node makes activations when it encounters
sufficient stimulus. A node combines input from data with a set of coefficients or
weights that increase or decrease the effect of this input, thus assigning importance
(value coefficient) to the task-related inputs that the algorithm is trying to learn.
Neural networks learn the answers of questions as follows:
Which input is most useful? How can I classify the data set without errors? How
can I calculate the final result? What is the best equation to solve the given problem
in order to achieve the task? To do all these, an activation function is used for each
node. According to the value of the activation function, it is calculated whether the
signal will pass through the network and how much information pass through that
layer (Silahtaroğlu, 2009). Figure 1.1 illustrates a node (artificial neuron) and its
activation function. As it is seen a neuron first sums all values it received from the
previous layers and then activates it.
1.2 Neural Network Elements 3

Fig. 1.1 Artificial neural network model

Fig. 1.2 Layers of a typical ANN

Basically, in a simple artificial neural network, x1, x2, x3, . . . xm inputs are given
and arbitrarily defined w weights compose an f (x) function. Inputs are simply the
dataset. Hidden layers are made up of many hidden layers each has got many nodes
or neurons. All hidden layers are interconnected via neurons. Each neuron has its
own SUM and ACTIVATION functions (Hambarde et al., 2020). Output layers are
the labels. A deep learning model tries to learn by creating a huge equation by the
help of the hidden layers in order to establish a rational among labels. The model
finds an equation to solve a nonlinear and sometimes chaotic correlation between
inputs (data) and outputs (labels) (Fig. 1.2).
4 1 Introduction to Data Science and Machine Learning Algorithms

1.3 Hyper Parameters of Deep Neural Networks

Besides the number of hidden layers, nodes, and type of activation functions there
are some other parameters to consider when establishing a deep learning model.
Loss Function: It is the main function to be solved. It may be maximization
or minimization problem. It may also be a certain value
approximation. A typical neural network uses a gradient
descent algorithm to update weights. There are many others
though. Typical loss functions used are Cross Entropy,
Cosine Proximity, Mean Squared Error, Sum of Squared
Errors, Cross Entropy, Negative Log likelihood.
Optimizer: In order to keep loss function at a minimum level, the
weights of all neurons should be streamlined. When the
algorithm is searching for the best solution, it has to find
the right direction for a fast and efficient downward
movement. Most common optimizer algorithms are Line
Gradient Decent, Conjugate Gradient Decent, and
Stochastic Gradient Decent. They employ the following
updaters: Nesterov accelerated gradient (NAG),
ADAGRAD, ADADELTASGD, ADAM, MOMENTUM,
and RMSPROP.
Learning Rate: It is also known as step-size and its value ranges between
0 and 1. Smaller learning rate takes a long time to reach the
minimum loss function because moves will be with smaller
steps.
Weight Initialization: Under normal circumstances and in the original model of
neural networks, initial weights are taken randomly. Recent
studies showed that taking initial values which are closer to
the final weights to found through the model dramatically
reduces the learning time. XAVIER (Glorot & Bengio,
2010), SIGMOID, RELU, Softsign are some of the
algorithms (functions), which are used to choose initial
weights.

1.4 Support Vector Machine

A Support Vector Machine (SVM) is a distinctive classifier normally defined by a

differential hyperplane. In other words, when labelled training data (for supervised
learning) is given, the algorithm extracts the most appropriate hyperplane that
categorizes the new samples (Amari & Wu, 1999). In the two-dimensional space,
this hyperplane is a line that divides a plane into two parts on each side of each class.
Let us assume that two classes are given in the graph, as shown in the Fig. 1.3. The
process of finding the most suitable line to separate classes is actually the essence of
1.4 Support Vector Machine 5

Fig. 1.3 Classes on a 2D

hyperplane

Fig. 1.4 Hyperplane linear

division

Fig. 1.5 Data set which

cannot be divided linearly

SVM. SVM performs this process in the form of linear, hyperbolic, cubic, etc. This is
also called KERNEL (Oreški & Oreški, 2014).
The line in the Fig. 1.4 separates the two classes. As it is clearly seen, one class is
on one side of the other class members are on the other side of the hyperplane.
However, in the real life, data are not separated so evenly as in the figure.
Please see Fig. 1.5 to image how data may be separated from one another in terms
of classes given. All representations are done in two-dimensional hyperplane, which
is the easiest one and can also be achieved by data visualization. SVM achieves it for
multidimensional hyperplanes (Bai et al., 2019).
When achieving the separations SVM exercises some conversions:
For conversion, another dimension is added, as we call the z-axis. Let us assume
the value of the points in the z plane, w ¼ x2 + y2. In this case, it can be arranged as
the distance from point z to all other points. Now if we draw on the z-axis, a clear
separation appears, and a line can be drawn (Fig. 1.6).
Another Random Scribd Document
with Unrelated Content
 THE VENETIAN WELL, HOLMHURST.

To Miss Leycester (æt. 94).

“Holmhurst, Sept. 2, 1891.—You will imagine how your birthday makes
me think of you, and how much I give thanks for the blessing which your
love and kindness has been to us for so many years. I like to think of you on
your peaceful sofa, and I know you are like John Wilson Croker, who, when
some one remarked in his presence that death was an awful thing, said, ‘I
do not feel it so. The same Hand which took care of me when I came into
this world will take care of me when I go out of it.’”

To W. H. Milligan, and Note-book.

“Holmhurst, Oct. 1891.—I have returned from my autumn visits, which
have been delightful. The Watsons, who live at Rockingham, the old royal
palace of the Midlands, are well worthy of its noble rooms and its brilliant
gardens, relieved against the quaintest of yew hedges.
“At Hovingham, in Yorkshire, I found Mrs. Lowther, and we sketched
together very happily. It is an unusual great house, approached through a
riding-school and a sculpture gallery, which contains a huge work of
Giovanni da Bologna and the loveliest little Greek statue in England. Genial
Sir William Worsley, the adopted uncle of all the nicest young ladies in the
county, is a centre of love and goodness, and his saint-like wife, crippled
and utterly motionless from chronic rheumatism, is the sunshine of all
around her. Most quaint are some of the old-fashioned dependants. The old
coachman seriously asked his master, ‘Is it true, Sir William, that Baron
Rothschild was refused when he offered to pay the whole of the natural debt
if he might drive eight horses like the Queen, instead of seven horses and a
mule?’
“We saw Gilling, the fine old Fairfax castle, and spent a delicious day at
Rievaulx. Sir William has oratorios(!) annually performed in his riding-
school.
“I arrived at Bishopthorpe the day before the Archbishop’s
enthronement, and found a large party of relations assembling; but it would
be difficult to crowd the house, as there are forty bedrooms and the dining-
room is huge. The palace lies low, and out of the dining-room window you
could very nearly fish in the Ouse, which often floods the cellars, the only
part remaining of the original house of Walter de Gray. The rococo gateway
is imposed by guidebooks upon the uninitiated as that of Wolsey’s palace at
Cawood: perhaps a few of its ornaments came from thence. The ceremony
in the Minster was very imposing, the more so as a military escort was
given to the Archbishop, as having been an old soldier. Most moving was
his address upon the responsibilities, and what he felt to be the duties, of his
office. The ebb and flow of processional music was beautiful, as the long
stream of choristers and clergy flowed in and out of the Minster. The
Archbishop’s brothers—one of them, Sir Douglas-Maclagan, being eighty
—made a very remarkable group.
“Most happy and interesting were my four succeeding days at Hickleton,
where I met one of the familiar circles of people I always connect with
Charlie Halifax—Lady Ernestine Edgecumbe, Lady Morton, Canon and
Lady Caroline Courtenay, the Haygarths. More characteristic still of the
host was the presence of a nun in full canonicals—Sister Caroline—‘this
religious,’ as Charlie called her—who appeared at meals, though only to
partake of a rabbit’s diet. In the churchyard a great crucifix, twelve feet
high, is being erected, and the people of Doncaster do not come out to stone
it; on the contrary, the crucifix and its adjuncts attract large congregations
of pitmen, who would not go to church at all otherwise; and the
neighbourhood is beginning to wonder how long the Church of England can
dare to deny its Lord by condemning the crucifix, the vacant cross being but
the frame of the picture with the portrait left out, and in itself an eloquent
protest against the omission. Another smaller crucifix commemorates the
three dear boys who have ‘gone home.’ The shadow of their great loss here
is ever present, but it is truly a sanctified grief: their memory is kept ever
fresh and the thought of them sunny, and thus they still seem to have their
part—invisible—in the daily life, upon which their beautiful pictured
semblances look down from the walls of their home. Only a deep sudden
sigh from the father now and then recalls all he has undergone. The short
morning services in the house-chapel, with its huge crucifix from Ober-
Ammergau, where the household sing in parts, are very touching. Still more
so are the Sunday services in the beautiful church, close to the house, the
low mass, then the full surpliced choir and the blazing lights, and the holy
rood above the reredos glittering through them in a golden glamour. In the
darker aisle where we sat were the sleeping alabaster figures of the late
Lord and Lady Halifax upon their great altar-tomb, and near me the dearest
friend of my long-ago was kneeling—a stainless knight—in a rapt devotion
which seemed to carry him far into the unseen. I could only feel, as
Inglesant at Little Gidding, the presence of a peace and glory utterly
unearthly, and as if there—as nowhere else—Heaven took possession of
one and entered into one’s soul.
“A journey through the Fen country took me to Campsea Ashe, where
the artistic party collected in the pleasant Lowther home spent a most
pleasant week in drawing—studying—by the silent moats of old-timbered
houses—Parham, Seckford, and Otley. We went also to the attractive old
town of Woodbridge, where Percy Fitzgerald lived, who wrote so many
capital articles. A characteristic story told of him is that he once spent the
evening in the company of a bore who buzzed on incessantly about this lord
and that till he could bear it no longer and left the room, but as he did so,
opened the door once more, and, putting in his head, said, ‘I knew a lord
once, but he’s dead!’
 BISHOP’S BRIDGE, NORWICH. [497]

“I was at Felixstowe for a day afterwards, and made acquaintance—

friends, I hope—with Felix Cobbold, a most attractive fellow, with a
delightful house, and a garden close above the sea, which truly makes ‘the
desert smile’ in that most hideous of all sea-places. Then I was a night at the
Palace at Norwich, full of childish reminiscence to me, and most stately and
beautiful it all looked—the smooth lawns and bright flowers, the grand grey
cathedral and soaring spire, the old chapel and ruin; only the palace itself
has had all the picturesqueness washed out of it. Its geography is entirely
altered, but it was delightful to recognise old nooks and corners, and I
almost seemed to see my Mother sitting by the old-fashioned chimney-
piece in the Abbey-room. I spent a delightful evening with the Bishop
(Pelham), who poured out a rich store of anecdote and recollection for
hours. He spoke much of Manning, whom he had known most intimately—
how his characteristic had always been his ambition. He wanted in early life
to have gone into Parliament; then, when that failed, he wished to have
entered diplomacy; then his father’s bank broke, and he was obliged to go
into the Church. ‘Your uncle Julius and he,’ said the Bishop, ‘were once
with my brother (Lord Chichester), and Manning had been holding forth
upon the celibacy of the clergy. “At least you will agree with me,” he said,
turning to my brother, “that celibacy is the holier state.” “Then of course
you think,” said my brother, “that matrimony is a less holy state than
celibacy.” And he started, with a reminiscence of his own happy married
life, and said, “Oh no!”’
 “The Bishop talked much of Jenny Lind’s visit to Norwich when he was
here with the Stanleys; how the Duke of Cambridge had spoken to her of
the wonderful enjoyment her noble gift of voice must be, and how she had
answered, ‘I do enjoy it, and I thank God for giving it to me, and I feel that
in return I ought to use it first for His glory, and then for the raising of my
profession.’ When her great concert took place, Mr. Thompson, a Norwich
doctor, who had the management of the town charities, ventured to put the
best of the workhouse school-girls under the orchestra, where no one could
see them, whilst they could hear everything. But Jenny was sometimes
greatly overcome at the end of one of her own songs, and it was so then,
and when her song was over, she retired to her own room; but, to reach it,
she had to pass under the orchestra, and there she saw a number of girls in
tears, and asked who they were. Mr. Thompson came to explain with some
diffidence, for he did not know how she would take it; but she was much
interested, and asked, ‘Is there any one of your charities especially to which
I could be of any use?’ And he thought a minute and said, ‘What we really
want is a children’s hospital; there has never been one in Norwich.’—‘Then
that is just what I will give a concert for,’ said Jenny Lind; and of course
every one was delighted, and so the hospital was started. Afterwards she
sent down some one incognito to see how it was managed, and the report
was so favourable that she said she would give another concert, and that set
it up altogether. It is now the ‘Jenny Lind Hospital.’
“Talking of the late event at York led to the Bishop’s saying, ‘I heard a
fine thing of Archbishop Musgrave. I was not meant to hear it, though. I
was at Bishopthorpe to preach a consecration sermon for the Bishop of
Ripon. It was before I was a bishop myself, and I knew nothing about
precedence, and did not take my proper place in the procession as was
intended, though I was all ready, and I let them all pass out before me. Only
the Archbishop and Mrs. Musgrave remained. The Archbishop had had a
stroke of apoplexy then, from which he was only just recovering, and it was
his first appearance since, and they were all very anxious about him. Just as
they were leaving the house, the Archbishop said to his wife, “My dear, take
this key: it will unlock that box, in which you will find a commission ready
signed and sealed for the three bishops present to take my place if anything
happens to me during the service: whatever happens to me, the service must
not be stopped.” And they went on quietly to the church. I did not know
which to admire most, the Archbishop for making the speech, or Mrs.
Musgrave’s perfect calmness in hearing it and in taking the key. I spoke of
it to Mrs. Bickersteth (the Bishop of Ripon’s wife) afterwards, and she said,
“That explains what the Archbishop said to me last night—‘I am afraid you
may be anxious about the service to-morrow: set yourself quite at rest:
everything is quite settled, so that, whatever happens to me, the ceremony
of to-morrow will be carried out.’”
“The Lowthers joined me at Norwich, and we went together to
Woodbastwick, and for a delightful visit to the Locker-Lampsons at
Cromer. What an enchanting place it is! All the society meets on the beach.
Two bathing-machines were drawn up side by side, and their inmates were
in the sea. ‘I hope you will kindly consider this as a visit,’ said one of them
to his neighbour, with his head just above the water. ‘Oh, certainly,’ said the
neighbour, ‘and I hope you will kindly consider this as a visit returned.’
“Mr. Locker is delightful. He says, ‘I suppose what makes a bore is a
man’s perpetually harping upon one subject, not knowing what details to
leave out, and insisting upon making his voice heard at unsuitable times.
But certainly a bore is a bore in accordance with what he is talking about:
if, for instance, a man went on talking for hours of my “Lyra
Elegantiarum,” I should never think him a bore.’ ‘My dear,’ he says to Mrs.
Locker-Lampson, ‘are you not sometimes of rather too rigid a disposition?
You know, at railway stations you often point out to me a man as eternally
damned because he wears trousers with rather a broad check, and has an
unusually large cigar in his mouth.’
“In Lady Buxton’s pretty house are a whole gallery of Richmond
portraits—a stately full-length of (her aunt) Mrs. Fry, most speaking
likenesses of her benignant father, her beautiful mother, of Sarah and Anna
Gurney, the ‘Cottage Ladies’—of her father-in-law, Sir Fowell of the Slave
Trade—of her sons and brothers-in-law. Yellow tulips, like those at
Florence, grow wild in her fields in abundance, and the cows eat them.”

To the Countess of Darnley.

“Hotel d’Italie, Rome, March 30, 1892.—I think you will have wondered
what has become of me, and that you will like to know.
“I have been abroad since November 16, beginning by a week at Paris
with George Jolliffe, who was very ill then, and a month spent at Cannes in
visits to the De Wesselows, old friends of my Hurstmonceaux childhood;
and to my old schoolfellow Fred Walker and his nice wife, one of the few
people I know who have seen two separate and undoubted ghosts with their
own eyes. How civilised and be-villa’d Cannes is now, almost the least
pretentious house remaining in it being the little Villa Nevada, where the
Duke of Albany died, which was close to us, and which was so often visited
by ‘Madame d’Angleterre,’ as the people of Cannes call our Queen. My
ever-kindest of hosts were more people-seeking than place-seeing. We had
one delightful picnic, however, at the old deserted villa of Castellaras,
looking upon the blue gorge of the Saut de Loup. A little suspicion of
earthquake remained in the air from the alarm of the last shock, when my
friends’ native housemaid had refused to leave the window, saying,
‘Puisque le dernier jour est arrivé, je veux avoir les yeux partout, pour voir
ce que se passe!’ Here at Rome there was a smart shock this spring. Our old
friend Miss Garden asked her ‘donna’ if she was frightened. ‘Oh yes,’ she
said; ‘I felt the two walls of my little room press in upon my bed. I knew
what it was. But I could not remember which was the right saint to pray to
in an earthquake. So I just prayed to my own grandmother, for she was the
best person I ever knew, and immediately I heard the voice of my
grandmother, who said, “Don’t be frightened; it will all pass; no harm will
come to you.” So then I was quite calm and satisfied.’ Might not this
incident account for many stories of Catholic saints?

SASSO.

“I spent a week at Bordighera. Such varied points for walks! villages like
Sasso, which are just bright bits of umber colour amongst the tender grey
olives; little painted towns amongst the orange-gardens, like Dolceacqua,
with its pointed bridge and blue river and great deserted palace of the
Dorias. George Macdonald, a most grand old patriarch to look upon, is king
of the place. He writes constantly, and never leaves the house, except to see
a neighbour in need of help or comfort. One after another of his delicate
daughters has faded away, but his sons seem strong and well, and there are
several adopted children in the house, half in and half out of the family, but
all calling Mrs. Macdonald ‘Mama.’ It is a very unusual household, but
ruled in a spirit of love which is most beautiful. I dined with them, the
dining-table placed across one end of the vast common sitting-room. On
Sunday evenings he gives a sort of Bible lecture, which all the sojourners in
Bordighera may attend.

AT BORDIGHERA. [498]
 AT REBEKAH’S WELL, NEAR S. REMO.

“Then I was a month in a palatial hotel at S. Remo, and greatly enjoyed

bright winter days of quiet drawing in its ravines with their high-striding
bridges, by its torrents full of Titanic boulders, or on its pathlets winding
through vine and fig gardens or along precipitous crags; most of all in a
delicious palm-shaded cove by the sea, where I spent whole days alone with
the great chrysoprase waves breaking over the rocks in showers of crystal
spray. With a charming Mrs. Rycroft and her pleasant Eton boys, I made
longer excursions to Ceriano and Badalucco, very curious places
surrounded by high mountains, with deep gorges, old bridges, and
waterfalls.
 AT S. REMO.

“But it is in changed, spoilt Rome that I have spent the last two months.
All picturesqueness is now washed out of the place, so that people who
have any interest about them now usually give it only a glance and pass on.
It has been delightful for me, however, that Miss Hosmer is settled in this
hotel, and that we dine together daily at a little round table, where she is a
constant coruscation of wit and wisdom. All day she is shut up in her studio,
which is closed to all the world, but she cannot have a dull time, by the
stories she has to tell of the workmen and models who are her only
companions. Here are a few of them, only they sound nothing without her
twinkling eyes and capital manner of telling:—

GLEN AT S. REMO.

“‘Minicuccia was an excellent model, but very jealous. “Have you seen
Rosa? What fine arms she has!” I said to her one day. “I have seen
Rosaccia” she replied, “and I should have thought, Signorina, that a lady of
your taste would have known better than to admire her arms. What are they
in comparison with really fine arms—with mine, for instance?”
“‘One day Minicuccia was at a café, and some one admired the legs of
another model. Forthwith she gathered up her petticoats, and danced with
her legs perfectly bare all about the place. She was not a bad woman; on the
contrary, she was a very moral one, and there was never a word against her,
but she wanted to show what fine legs were. The police, however, heard of
that escapade, and she was put in prison for a month afterwards for such an
offence against the decenza pubblica. Poor Minicuccia!
“‘Then there was Nana, whom Lady Marian (Alford) painted so often,
and whom she was so fond of. She was a magnificent woman. Dear Lady
Marian used to say, “I would give anything to be able to come into a room
with the grace and dignity of Nana.” Her dignity was natural to her. Another
model once said to me, “I met that Nanaccia; she was walking down the Via
Sistina as if it all belonged to her.”
“‘There was a very nice boy-model I had, Fortunato he was called. He is
dead now—died of consumption, for he was always delicate. One day he
said to me, “Last Sunday, Signorina, I went to the garden of the Cappuccini,
and it is such a garden!—quite full of fruit, the most beautiful fruit. And the
Fathers are so kind; they said I might eat as much as ever I liked; only think
of that, Signorina!”—“Well, that was kind indeed; but what sort of fruit was
it?”—“O, cipolle and lettuge,[499] Signorina—most delicious fruit.”
“‘Marietta was another model who came to me, a large handsome
woman. One day I said to her, “Now, Marietta, I want you to look sad—
tutta dolorosa.”—“What! lagrime, Signorina?”—“No,” I said, “only look
sad; but if I wanted lagrime, could I have them too?”—“Sì, Signora: basta
pensare a quel calzolajo chi m’a fatto pagare sette lire in vece di cinque, et
piango subito.”[500]
“‘Marietta had a brother who managed her little business for her. I asked
her if it would not be very easy for him to misappropriate a scudo now and
then. “Facile sì,” she said, “essendo fratello.”
“‘Mariuccia lived to be old, and many is the dinner and paolo I have
given her; but when she was fifteen or so, she was the model for Mr.
Gibson’s ‘Psyche borne by the Zephyrs.’ She was always a wonderful
model: no one could act or stand as she did.
“‘Then there was that woman who had the drunken husband, who used
to beat her. One night he came in late and fell down dead drunk across the
bed. She took her needle and thread, and sewed him up in the sheets so that
he could not move, and then she took a stick, and beat him so that he died
of it: she was imprisoned for some years for that, though.
“‘I asked one of the workmen what he did when every one was away.
“Why, Signorina, I have the studio to clean out.”—“Well, I suppose that
takes you half-an-hour; and what do you do then?”—“Ma, Signorina, sto a
sedere.”—“And after your dinner, what do you do then?”—“Sto ancora a
sedere, Signorina.”—“Well, and in the evening?”—“Ma, Signorina,
continuo di stare a sedere.”
“‘My man Gigi came to me the other day and said, “I went to the Acqua
Acetosa[501] last Sunday, Signorina, and I liked the water so much, I drank
no less than twenty fiaschi of it.”—“Well,” I said, “Gigi, that was a good
deal; I’ll get twenty fiaschi of it, and put twenty scudi down by them, and
then, if you can drink them all off, you shall have the scudi.”—“Well,
Signorina, perhaps I did exaggerate a little: now I come to think it over,
perhaps it was ten fiaschi I drank.”—“Well, do it again before me, and you
shall have ten scudi.” “Now, Signorina, you know I like to be precise,
perhaps it was six fiaschi I drank.”—“Well, do it again and you shall have
six scudi.”—“Well, I suppose it really was two fiaschi.”—“Oh, I could
drink that myself!”’
“You may imagine how entertaining stories like these—traits from the
life around one—make our little dinners, and afterwards we often go into
the Storys’ apartment close by, where the easy intellectual pleasant talk and
fun are always reviving. Besides, it amuses Mrs. Story, who is most sadly
ailing now, though her cheerfulness is an example. She says she comforts
her sleepless nights by the old distich—

‘For all the ills beneath the sun

There is a cure, or there is none:
If there is one, try to find it;
If there is none, never mind it.’

“Nothing can describe the charm of Mr. Story’s natural bubble of fun
and wit, or the merry twinkle which often comes into his eye, even now, at
moments when his wife’s illness does not make him too anxious.[502] He
and Miss Hosmer are capital together. It is difficult to say what are their
‘projecting peculiarities,’ as Dr. Chalmers would have called them, they
have so many; but they are all of a perfectly delightful kind.
“‘Well, what’s the news, Harriet?’ he said as we went in to-night. ‘Why,
that I am going to be married.’—‘What! to the Pope?’—‘Yes, only I didn’t
want it to get out till he announced it himself.’
 “‘An American was looking at my statue of Canidia the other day,’ said
Mr. Story, and exclaimed—“Ah! Dante, I suppose, or is it—Savonarola?”
Another man who came to my studio said, “Mr. Story, have you baptized
your statue?”—“Why, yes,” I said; “generally we think of the name first,
and then we set to work in accordance with it.”—“Well,” he said, “there’s
some as doos, and there’s some as doosn’t.”’
“Mrs Story was very amusing about an Italian who wanted a portrait of
his father very much, and came to an artist she knew and asked him to paint
it. The artist asked, ‘But when can I see your father?’—‘Oh, you can’t see
him: he’s dead.’—‘But how can I paint him, then?’—‘Well, I can describe
him, and he was very like me: I think you can paint him very well.’ So the
artist painted away, according to the description, as well as he could. When
he had finished the portrait he sent for the son, anxious to see if he would
find any likeness. The son rushed up to the picture, knelt down by it, was
bathed in tears, and sobbed out, ‘O padre mio, quanto avete sofferto, o
quanto siete cambiato: O non l’aveva mai riconosciuto.’

CLAUDIAN AQUEDUCT. [503]

“Mr. Story says that when Othello was performed at Rome, he saw it
with an Italian friend, who said afterwards, ‘Convengo che ci sono qualche
belle concette in questa dramma, ma fare tanto disturbo per un fazzoletto
non mi conviene.’
“Miss Hosmer told of a countryman who was asked what he thought of a
train, for he had just seen one for the first time—seen it as it was entering a
tunnel. ‘Well,’ he said, ‘it was just a black monster with a goggle eye, and
when it saw me, it gave a horrible shriek and ran into its hole.’
“I should like you to have heard Miss Hosmer’s recollections of Kestner,
whose name was so familiar to me in old Bunsen days. He died soon after
she first came to Rome, but she recollects him as always wearing his old red
studio cap. He knew he was dying, and when it was very near the end, he
said to those who were with him, ‘Now, my dear friends, it is a very sad
experience to see a person die: I must beg you to leave me: it is my great
wish to be alone, and you may come back in two hours.’ They came back in
two hours, and found him lying peacefully dead. That is a beautiful story, I
think. It was Kestner who, priding himself very much on his good English,
said to Lord Houghton, ‘Allow me to present to you my knee-pot (nipote).’
“Outside the charmed circle of Palazzo Barberini there is little now at
Rome but the most inferior American society. ‘We must stop at Milan, you
know, going back; there is a picture there by a man called Leonard Vinchey
we must be sure to see,’ said a neighbour at the hotel luncheon. And, ‘Mr.
Brown, sir, how’s Mrs. Brown’?—‘Well, she’s slim but round’ (meaning
weak but about): this is the sort of thing one hears.
“In this hotel is the intelligent Indian Princess Tanjore, with whom I
have spent several evenings very pleasantly. Her ‘lady’ is Miss Blyth, sister
of the Bishop of Jerusalem, and authoress of that capital novel ‘Antoinette.’
“Dear old Miss Garden, whom you will remember hearing of as the
kindest and most original of Scottish ladies, still lives at 64 Via Sistina.
‘How did you manage to boil the eggs so well, Maria, when you can’t tell
the clock?’ said Miss Garden to her old donna, ‘for the eggs are just
perfect.’—‘Why, I’ll tell you how it is,’ said Maria: ‘a lady I lived with
showed me how to do it. I just put them into the water, and then I say thirty-
three Credos, and then I know that they’re done.’
“With Miss Garden and Mrs. Ramsay I went one day to the curious little
early christian cemetery of S. Generosa, a lovely spot, where marble slabs
covering the graves of martyrs under Diocletian are still seen in a little
hollow surrounded by wild roses and fenochii.
“My room in this hotel looks out on the Barberini gardens, and the
splash of its fountain is an enjoyment. Its being lighted by electricity for the
King’s visit the other day was a type of the times, rather a contrast to twenty
years ago, when there were torches on every step of the great staircase to
welcome even a cardinal, and when not only the staircase, but the whole
street as far as S. Teresa, was hung with tapestries for the Prince’s funeral.
“On Ash-Wednesday I went, as I have always done here, to the ‘stations’
on the Aventine. It is still a thoroughly Roman scene. Before one reaches S.
Sabina, one is assailed by the chorus of old lady beggars seated in a double
avenue of armchairs leading up to the door, with ‘Datemi qualche cosa,
signore, per l’amore della Madonna, datemi qual’co;’ and behind them
kneel the old men—‘Poveri, poveretti cieci, signore,’ in brown gowns and
with arms stretched out alla maniera di S. Francesco. Spread with box is
the church itself, with its doors wide open to the cloistered porch and the
sacred orange-tree[504] seen in the sunny garden beyond. The Abbot is
standing there, and has his hand kissed by all the monks who arrive for the
stations, till a cardinal appears, after which he takes the lower place and is
quite deserted. Then we all hurry on to S. Alessio and its crypt, and then to
the Priorato garden, where, by old custom, we look through the keyhole of
the door, and see St. Peter’s down a beautiful avenue of bays.
“The passage of the Pope to the Sistine on his coronation anniversary
was a very fine sight. Borne along in his golden chair, with the white
peacock fans waving in front of him, and wearing his triple crown, Leo
XIII. looked dying, but gave his benediction with the most serene majesty,
sinking back between each effort upon his cushions, as if the end had
indeed come. Only his eyes lived, and lived only in his office; otherwise his
perfectly spiritualised countenance seemed utterly unconscious of the
thundering evvivas with which he was greeted, and which rose into a perfect
roar as he was carried into the Sala Regia. The potency of ‘Orders’ here is
so great, that my Swedish decoration not only gave me the best place, but I
took in two young men as my chaplain and equerry! After the Pope had
entered the Sistine, we sat in great comfort in the Sala Regia till he
returned, and then, as there was no one between us and the procession, we
saw all the individual faces of the old cardinals—how few of them the same
now as those I remember in the processions of Pius IX.
“There are no evvivas now for the comparatively young king with the
white hair and the ever-tragic countenance: the taxes are too great. I believe
that he can read, if no one else can, the handwriting on the wall which
foretells the doom of his southern kingdom. And yet personally no one
could be braver or more royal, and, where they detest the king, the people
honour the man. ‘Your king is at that house which has fallen down, helping
with his own hands to dig out that old man who is buried: he won’t leave till
the old man is safe,’ said Mrs. Story to her Italian maid Margherita. ‘Si,
Signora, casa di Savoia manca qualche volta di testa, mai di cuore;’ and it is
quite true. All one hears of the King’s self-abnegation is so fine. He used to
be quite devoted to smoking, but he was ill, and one day his physician told
him that it was extremely deleterious to him. He instantly took his cigar out
of his mouth, threw it into the back of the fire, and has never smoked again.
“The Pope’s secretary has just died of the influenza. Leo XIII. was much
attached to him, and is greatly distressed by his death. There is something
touching in the newspaper account of the Pope’s having refused to eat, and
his attendants having had to use qualche dolce violenze to make him do it.
“We have had two months of rain, only four fine days last week, in
which I went to the Crimera, to Fidenae, to Ostia, and to a touching and
beautiful Mass in the heart of the Catacomb of S. Praetextatus, where the
martyrs’ hymn was sung by a full choir upon their graves, its cadences
swelling through the subterranean church and dying away down the endless
rude passages, so long their refuge, and at last their place of death.
“And now I must stop. I am just come up from luncheon. ‘Wal, I guess
I’m stuffed, but I’m not appeased,’ said my neighbour as we came out; and
she was con rispetto parlando, as they say here—a lady.”

To Hugh Bryans.
“Rome, April 26, 1892.—How I wish you were here: how you would
enjoy it, though there is little to admire now in this much-changed Rome
beyond the extreme loveliness of the spring, with its Judas and May
flowers, and the golden broom of the Campagna. I have just been, with my
old friends Mrs. Ramsay and Miss Garden, to the Villa Doria to pick
anemones. There were thousands of them, and the ladies gathered them in
like a harvest. Their servant was told off to look after the violets. Their late
man, Francesco, said his was usually a very light place—‘ma nella
primavera, al tempo dei violette, e duro veramente.’
“I have seen little of the Easter ceremonies. On Holy Thursday I went to
St. Peter’s, and watched in the immense crowd for the extinction of the last
candle and beginning of the Miserere; but all the effect was lost and the
music inaudible from the incessant moving and talking. Afterwards there
was a fine scene at the blessing of the altar in the already dark church—the
procession, with lights, moving up and down the altar-steps, and then
kneeling all along the central aisle, whilst the relics were exhibited from the
brilliantly lighted gallery.
“Fifty-eight artisans and schoolmasters from the Toynbee Hall Institute,
with some of their wives, have been in Rome for the Easter holidays. On
Thursday I took them all over the Palatine, finding them most delightful
companions, and the most informed and interested audience I have ever
known. So since that I have been with them to the Appian Way, and Miss
Fleetwood Wilson kindly invited the whole party to tea at the old Palazzo
Mattei, unaltered through three hundred years. I made friends with many of
the party individually, and think that for really good, intelligent, high-
minded society, one should frequent the East End.
“What struck me most of all was the absence amongst them of the
scandal-talk which in our own society is so prevalent. ‘Consider how cheap
a kindness it is not to speak ill: it only requires silence,’ is an exhortation of
Bishop Tillotson. They remember this; we don’t.
“Do you recollect the pretty Miss Cators? With them and some pleasant
Americans, and Lanciani the famous archaeologist, I have been up Monte
Cavi. Lanciani was most delightful, and told us about everything in a way
which had all the enthusiasm and colour without the dry bones of
archaeology, and oh! what lilies, violets, cyclamen, narcissus, covered the
woods. Another day he lectured on old Fidenae, standing aloft on the
ancient citadel, with all his listeners in groups on the turf around him, and
afterwards they all had luncheon—still in scattered groups: it was like the
pictures of the miracle of the loaves and fishes.

REMAINS OF TEMPLE OF JUPITER LATIARIS, MONTE CAVI.

[505]
 “It has been a great pleasure to see a good deal of ‘Mark Twain’ (Mr.
Samuel Clemens) and his most charming wife. He is a wiry, thin old man,
with abundant grey hair, full round the head, like an Italian zazzara. He
speaks very slowly, dragging his words and sentences laboriously, and is
long in warming up, and when he does, he walks about the room whilst he
makes all his utterances, which have additional drollery from the slowness
with which they are given. He began life as a wharfinger, throwing parcels
into barges, and as he threw them the overseer called out ‘Mark one, Mark
twain,’ and the chime of the words struck him, and he took the name.
Speaking of the Catacombs he said, ‘I might have hooked the bone of a
saint and carried it off in my carpet-sack, but then I might get caught with it
at the frontier. I should not like to get caught with a thing like that; I would
rather it were something else.’ ‘That story by Symonds,’ he said, ‘of a
crucifix which contained a dagger, reminds me of the State of Maine.
Spirits were strictly forbidden there, but pocket-testaments became very
abundant. They contained two or three leaves, then there was a whisky
flask. Now with one of those crucifixes and one of these pocket-testaments,
one might cope with the worst society in the world.’
“‘My man George has made his fortune,’ said Mark Twain. ‘He used to
bet on revivals, then he took to betting on horses: he understands it all
round, and he has made a good thing of it.
“‘One night when I came home unawares, I found the house-door open.
After going in and poking round, I rang up George. “Well,” I said, “George,
you’ve been here probably some hours with the house-door
undone.”—“Good heavens!” he cried, striking his forehead, and rushed up
the stairs five steps at a time. When he came down I said, “Why, George,
what was the matter?”—“The matter! why, that the house-door was left
open, and that there were fifteen hundred dollars between my mattresses.”’
“Mrs. Clemens spoke to George one day about his answering ‘Not at
home’ when she did not want to see visitors. In England it is understood,
but in quiet places in America it is not: it is a lie. And Mrs. Clemens said,
‘George, you really should not say what you know is not true; you should
say I’m engaged or that I beg to be excused.’ George came close up to her
and said, ‘Mrs. Clemens, if I did not lie, you’d not be able to keep house a
month.’
 “A rival to Mark Twain, or rather one who draws him out capitally, is an
American Miss Page, a very handsome elderly woman like an ancient Juno.
She said yesterday, ‘I must be going home soon to see all the coloured
friends and relations. Aunt Maria was groaning very much one day, so I
asked her if she had found religion. She said, “No, but she was on the
anxious bench.” A few days after she had “found religion,” and I asked her
about it. “Why,” she said, “I got religion, and when I found that I’d got
religion, I just did make the chignots (chignons) fly. And so we did all; we
danced so hard that Uncle Adam had to be sent right away the next day to
bring them all home in a wheelbarrow.”
“‘My cousin was begged of by a woman one night,” said Miss Page.
‘She was very violent, and she said, “You must give me money, you shall,
or I’ll say you’re Jack the Ripper.” He went close up to her, and in
sepulchral accents whispered “I am!” and the woman ran off as hard as she
could.’
“There are other friends I must tell you about. At No. 38 Gregoriana, in a
delightfully home-like apartment with a view of St. Peter’s, live Miss Leigh
Smith and her friend Miss Blyth. The former is a sister of Madame
Bodichon, who was such an admirable artist, and is of a most serene, noble,
and beautiful countenance, but perhaps severe: the latter is gentleness and
sweetness itself, though she is less striking in appearance. Every one likes
them both, but every one loves Miss Blyth. They are known as ‘Justitia’ and
‘Misericordia.’
“Another person of interest, another American, who has come to Rome
to visit Miss Hosmer, is Mrs. Powers. She is charming. She said this to me
to-day: ‘I took a young lady with me on a Mississippi steamer. She was
very pretty and attractive. On the deck she sat by an old lady, who looked at
her and ejaculated “Married?”—“No.” “Engaged?”—“No.” Just then her
husband came up, and she said to him, “Here’s a young lady who says she’s
not married and not engaged: how’s that?” He looked her all over and said,
“Guess the pattern don’t take.”’
“And now, that you may be introduced to all my present society, Miss
Hosmer is going to give you one of her dinner enliveners. ‘An American
came in one day with, “Have you heard this extraordinary news from
England?”—“No; what?”—“Why, about the Archbishop of
Canterbury.”—“No; what about him?” “Why, about his having refused to
bury a waiter at the Langham Hotel.”—“No; what a proud contemptuous
priest he must be; but what possible reason could he give for refusing to
bury the waiter?”—“Why, that he was not dead.”
“‘That’s a good catch,’ says Miss Hosmer, who is talking to you; ‘and
now I’ll give you another. A young man—a very charming young man—
was engaged to be married, and he went down from London for the
wedding to the place where his bride lived, full of the brightest hopes and
expectations, and in his pocket he carried the ring with which he was going
to marry his love. But alas! when he reached his destination, his love had
changed her mind, thought better of it, would not marry him at all. So he
came away very miserable, and he thought he would go and hide his
sorrows in a little fishing-village, where he had often been in happier days;
he really could not face the world yet. And as soon as he arrived at the
village, he went out in a boat, and took the ring from his pocket, and threw
it far out to sea. Next day a remarkably fine fish was brought to table, and
when it was opened, what do you think they found?—“Why, the ring,” of
course you will say, as I did—No, a fishbone.’ A most provoking story!
“There are two Misses Feuchtwanger in the hotel, kindest of elderly
American ladies, full of funny reminiscence. ‘Mrs. Broadhurst,’ said one of
them, ‘liked nothing so much as going to dine with her old “Black
Mammy;” it was the thing she liked best: and so, through a long course of
years, she heard Black Mammy’s old husband say grace, and the words he
used were always the same. “Beautiful mansions, we thee redorable, many
sensations, Amen.” The sound meant a whole world to him.’
“But I shall send you too much anecdotage, so good-night.”

To the Hon. G. H. Jolliffe and Journal.

“Rome, April 27.—All the features of this Roman spring have been
American. Mrs. Lee was in this hotel. ‘I was just raised in the South,’ she
said, ‘and I’m a Southerner to the backbone. Some one wanted to be
complimentary, and wrote of me in a newspaper as one raised in the lap of
luxury, but I was just raised in the lap of an old nigger.’ She was very full of
having been to the masquerade ball at La Scala. ‘It was awfully indecent. I
could not have let my daughter go, but for me it did not matter; so I just
went, and stayed to the end, for I thought some one might come along and
say, “Ah! you don’t know about that, because it happened after you left,” so
I thought I’d just see what was indecent for once; it might be my only
chance; and I made quite sure nothing should happen after I left.’
“‘Don’t you know,’ she says, ‘that we call a story we have heard before
“a chestnut”? Why, in America the smart young men used to wear a little
bell on their watch-chains, and if they heard a story too often, they rung it to
show the story was stale. That was the chestnut-bell.’
“Perhaps the most interesting American here is the Bishop of Nova
Scotia. ‘“I’ve captured a church,” said a young American parson to me.
“Captured a church! what in the world do you mean?”—“Why, I went into
a church where the boys (soldiers) go, and I was asked to take the service.
Soon the boys came in, and I saw that there was going to be a row. A lot of
them sat down by the door, and as soon as I began to preach, one of them
crowed like a cock. I said, ‘Just crow again, will you; I’m not ready for you
yet.’ So he crowed again. Then I said, ‘Now, if you crow again, I’ll just fix
up your beak to the anvil of God’s righteousness, and I’ll beat out your
brains with the sledge-hammer of the wrath of God. Now, crow again, if
you dare,’ and he did not crow any more, so I captured the church.”
“‘I would not give five cents to hear what Bob Ingleson considers to be
the faults of Moses, but I’d give every cent I possess to know what Moses
thinks of the faults of Bob Ingleson.
“‘I asked somebody if he thought my sermon was too low or too high,
and he said “Neither, but I thought it was too long.”’
“I always dine at a little table with Miss Hosmer, where I am sure her
fun and wit are more nourishing than all the rest of the viands put together.
She says, ‘Our real name is Osmer, but our country people could never
manage a name like that, so we voluntarily added the H. Generally,
provided we are born somehow, we never care who our fathers and mothers
were; but I did, and I had an uncle who found out that we were descended
from a robber chieftain on the Rhine. Afterwards, in Turner’s “History of
the Anglo-Saxons,” I found that the robber chief Osmer was one of the sons
of Ida, king of Northumberland, and Ida claimed descent from Odin, so it is
from Odin that I descend.’
“‘I promised to tell you about the siege of Rome,’ said Miss Hosmer the
other day. ‘All that year we knew it was coming, and at last it came. The
Italians had 70,000 men, and the Pope had only 11,000, so of course all
effectual resistance was out of the question; but it was necessary to make a
semblance of defence, to show that the Romans only gave in to force.
September came, and the forestieri who remained in Rome were all urged to
leave, but Miss Brewster and I elected to stay. We were not likely to have
another chance of seeing a bombardment, so we just hung an American flag
out of our windows; that we were told we must do, as it might be necessary
to protect us from pillage. All the other forestieri left, and most of the
Roman aristocracy. In the last days, when the Sardinians were just going to
enter, there was a solemn Mass in St. Peter’s for the Pope, to implore
protection for him against his enemies. I went with Miss Brewster. It was
the most striking sight I ever saw. Every corner of the vast church was
filled. Every one was in black—every one except the Pope in his white
robes, and when he appeared, a universal wail echoed through the church. It
was not a silent cry; it was the wail of thousands. There was not a dry eye in
the church. The Pope passed close to me. His face was as white as his dress,
and down his face the large tears kept rolling, and all his clergy, in black,
were crying too. Oh, it was a terrible sight. I am not a Catholic, I am much
the contrary, but I sobbed; every one did. Well, the Pope passed into the
chapel where he was to say Mass, and he said it, and he walked back again;
but he was still crying. It was very piteous, and when we went out into the
piazza, there was Monte Mario white with the tents of the Italians, waiting,
like vultures, to descend. It was uncertain, for the last few days, by which
gate they would enter. It was thought it would be by the Porta Angelica,
then by the Porta del Popolo; finally, it was by the Porta Pia.
“‘We were told that there would be no bombardment, but at five in the
morning we were waked by the cannon, and they went on till ten. Shells
came flying over our house, and one of them struck the church near us, and
carried part of it away. At ten there seemed to be a cessation, so I sallied out
as far as the Quattro Fontane, with my man Pietro behind me. When I got
into the Via Pia (now Venti Settembre), I heard a cry of “In dietro! in
dietro!” and the people ran. I thought I might as well get out of the way too,
but indeed, any way, I was carried back by the crowd. I heard what I
thought was a scampering of feet behind me, and when I reached the
Quattro Fontane, I looked back, and seeing a man I knew, I said, “Why,
what is the matter with you?” for he was covered with blood, and he said,
“Why, Signorina, did not you know that a shell burst close behind you, and
it has carried off several of my fingers, Signorina?” So I just took him into
my house and gave him some wine, and bound his hand up as well as I
could, and then sent him on to a surgeon. Then I went up to Rossetti’s house
beyond the Cappuccini, because I thought from his loggia I should be able
to see all that was to be seen; but as soon as we reached the roof a musket-
ball grazed my face, and others were playing round us, so I said, “We had
better get out of this,” and we went down.
“‘After the firing finally stopped, we went to Porta Pia to see the
damage. The house which is now the British Embassy was completely
riddled. Six dead Zouaves were lying in the Villa Napoleone opposite, and
though the statues of S. Peter and S. Paul, which you will remember at the
gate, were otherwise intact, both their heads were lying at their feet.
“‘At four, we went out again to see the Italian troops march into the city.
There was no enthusiasm whatever. The troops divided, some going by S.
Niccola, others by the Quattro Fontane, to their different barracks.’
“No one who did not know the ‘has been’ can believe how the sights of
the Rome of our former days have dwindled away. All is now vulgarity and
tinsel: the calm majesty of the Rome of our former winters is gone for
ever.”

To Miss Leycester.
“Cadenabbia, May 13.—At Florence, I went with the Duchess of
Sermoneta and Lady Shrewsbury to spend an evening with the grand old
family of Torrigiani, in the palace where the four sons, their wives, and
children innumerable, live with their charming mother, the Marchesa
Elisabetta, in perfect harmony and love; and another day went out to Poggio
Gherardo, a grand fortified villa, approached through half-a-mile of roses,
where the Ross’s now live. Then I was half a day at Padua, visiting it as a
tourist after many years, with my own book as a guide, and a most
delightful book I thought it!
“At Venice, I went to see ‘Pen Browning’ at the Palazzo Rezzonico, his
most beautiful old palace, full of memorials of Pope Clement XIII. The son
Browning has no likeness to either father or mother: he has worked hard,
both as painter and sculptor, and has a good portrait as well as a bust of his
father, from his own hands. There were many relics of his parents and their
friends, amongst them a sketch by Rossetti of Tennyson reading one of his
own poems to them, with an inscription by Mrs. Browning. ‘Pen’ was going
off to his house at Asolo, a place which his father first brought into notice
when he walked there and wrote ‘Pippa Passes.’
“Calling on a Mrs. Bronson in a neighbouring house, I met a young lady
with fluffy hair, a Countess Mocenigo. ‘My dear, how many Doges had you
in your family?’ said Mrs. B. ‘Seven,’ she answered, and there really were
seven Doges of the name Mocenigo, besides all those from whom she was
descended by the different marriages of her ancestors.
“Venice is still as full of odd stories as when my sister went to a party
there, and was surprised because the oddly dressed old lady by her side
never answered when she spoke, and then found she was made of wax.
Most of the company were, being ancestors present thus in the family life of
the present. Recently a lady named Berthold has lived at Venice who was of
marvellous beauty and charm. All the society flocked to her parties. One
evening she invited all her friends as usual. They found the palace
splendidly lighted, and listened to the most exquisite music. At the close of
the evening, curtains which concealed a platform at the end of the principal
room were drawn aside, and within, the beautiful hostess was seen, seated
on a throne, and sparkling with jewels, in all her resplendent loveliness.
And then, as she waved a farewell to all present, the curtains were suddenly
drawn, and she disappeared for ever. No human eye has seen her since. She
had observed signs, unperceived by others, that her beauty was beginning to
wane!

VENETIAN POZZO. [506]

 “In the hotel was a charming old lady who had just come back from
Japan, and who was arrayed in a thick quilted and embroidered dress,
presented to her by a Japanese lady. Her name, American fashion, was Mrs.
Mary Ridge Perkins. Her husband had sent her abroad, as she said, ‘with a
big letter of credit.’ ‘Mary, you may just go and do the honours of the old
country alone.’ She hates English aristocrats, but was ameliorated towards
Lord Digby, with whom she travelled back from Japan. He pressed her to
come and see him in London—‘Not if you have your paint on.’ She has no
children of her own, but, in the war, she and her husband adopted no less
than thirty, who were rendered homeless. They all call her ‘Auntie Perkins,’
but their children call her grandmother. All the thirty are married now, and
Mrs. Perkins never intends to leave her own home again, except to visit
them. She came down to the gondola to see me off to the station with no
bonnet on her aureole of short white curls, and I was touched by her parting
benediction: ‘May your life always be happy, for you have always made
others happy.’
“Here, at pleasant Cadenabbia, I have been glad to fall in with Lord and
Lady Ripon. He said, ‘Do you know that you have been the cause of my
buying a property in Italy?’ It was in consequence of the sentence in my
‘Cities of Central Italy’ beseeching some Roman Catholic nobleman to save
such a sacred and historic place, that he had bought S. Chiara’s convent of
S. Damiano near Assisi, giving its use to the monks on the sole condition
that it was never to be ‘restored.’
“An odd thing has happened to me here, almost like a slight shadow on
the path. I met —— who lives here, and whom I used to know very well,
and went up to meet him with pleasure, and he cut me dead! I have not an
idea why, and he will give no explanation. ‘Il faut apprendre de la vie à
souffrir la vie.’
“The Archbishop of York and Augusta are at Cadenabbia, and have taken
me across the lake in their little boat to tea with Charlie Dalison on that
lovely terrace of Villa Serbelloni.”
 XXVIII

A KNOCKING AT THE DOOR

 “Let us try to see, try to do, better always and better. No honourable,
truly good and noble thing we do or have done for one another, but will
bear its good fruit. That is as true as truth itself, a faith that should never fail
us.”—Carlyle’s Letters.
“What I must do is all that concerns me, and not what the people think.
This rule, equally arduous in actual and in intellectual life, may serve for
the whole distinction between greatness and meanness.
“It is the harder because you will always find those who think they know
what your duty is better than you know it. It is easy in the world to live after
the world’s opinion: it is easy in solitude to live after your own; but the
great man is he who, in the midst of the crowd, keeps with perfect
sweetness the independence of solitude.”—Emerson.

“On parent knees, a naked new-born child,

Weeping thou sat’st, while all around thee smiled:
So live, that, sinking in thy last long sleep,
Calm thou may’st smile while all around thee weep.”
—Sir W. Jones, from the Persian.

THE summer of 1892 was full of quiet pleasures. Visits to Cobham,

Chevening, and to Mrs. Rycroft at Everlands, leave little to be remembered
except the pleasant parties and the extreme kindness of hosts and hostesses
everywhere. I am indeed glad that my visiting-lines are cast in such pleasant
places, that I so seldom have to consort with the drearier part of human
nature—the “Hem-haw, really, you don’t say so” sort of people. In these
houses, where the conversation is perfectly charming, yet where no evil is
spoken of any one or by any one, one sees truly how a christian spirit will
christianise everything it touches, and one learns—as, indeed, when does
one not learn?—that the best shield against slander is to live so that nobody
may believe it.
In September I was at gloriously picturesque Montacute in
Somersetshire, a noble house of yellow grey stone, where all the
surroundings, terraces, vases, flowers, chime into the most harmonious
whole. With its charming owner, Mrs. Phelips, I made an excursion to Ford,
a grand old abbey altered into a luxurious dwelling-house by Inigo Jones,
and where Time has blended the new work with the old, till they are equally
picturesque. The great hall has its gothic roof of abbatial times, and in the
stately saloon are noble Mortlake tapestries, said to have been presented by
Charles I. to his Chancellor, but more probably the gift of Anne. Then I was
with Lord Zouche, a pleasant friend of late times, at his fine old haunted
house and ferny deer-park at Parham, meeting, with others, Lord Robert
Bruce, called “the King of Hayling Island,” where he lives and brims over
with fun and anecdote. I saw from Parham the new castle at Arundel,
magnificently uncomfortable and containing little of interest. But there was
something touching in looking into the open grave in which Cardinal
Howard was to be laid in a few days, and remembering the different phases
in which I had known him well—as the smartest of young Guardsmen, as a
priest, where he seemed so unnatural, and finally as Cardinal. The
recollection came back of how, when the other cardinals were shuffling
along St. Peter’s, Cardinal Howard marched along in stately complacency,
holding back his train on one side as a lady does her dress. “E troppo
soldato,” said the other cardinals.
At Petworth I saw the magnificent Vandykes, Turners, and Reynoldses in
the waste of its dreary saloons. Then with Mary Hare I went to Woolbeding,
a drive through loveliest lanes, across an open common covered with fern
turned brown by the early frost, and then down an avenue of magnificent
Scotch firs, to where lines of gorgeous flowers led up to the house, like a
French château with high roof and dormer windows. I had always wished to
see its charming owner, Lady Lanerton, who was just what I expected—a
beautiful old lady, quite unable from rheumatism to move out of the chair in
which, put upon wheels, she can be taken to the services in the little church
in the garden, filled with memorials of those she has loved and outlived. In
her face was the satisfied and restful expression of one waiting in grateful
patience and humblest hope upon the borderland. She seemed to say, what I
have just read as amongst Mrs. Stowe’s last words, “I feel about all things
now as I do about the things that happen in a hotel after my trunk is packed
to go home. I may be vexed and annoyed—but what of it? I am going home
soon.” In the garden, amongst the splendid profusion of old-fashioned
flowers, I was glad to find Lady Bagot, linked with many memories of my
long ago.

To the Hon. G. H. Jolliffe.

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