MRS. ALFRED AUSTIN
[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.]
Sia,—The recent death of the widow of a Poet Laureate, should hardly be allowed to pass without comment, especially when as in this case her loss has left a gap in the large circle of her. friends which it will be hard indeed to fill.
Mrs. Alfred Austin was born eighty-six years ago, in Ireland. One of a family of fifteen, among a witty and charming group of brothers and sisters, she was a universal favourite. Her maiden name was Mulock, of Bellair, Kings Co., but during her childhood, their father, finding the question of education for such a number pressed rather heavily, transferred the whole family to Paris, where they lived for many years, and afterwards took them on to Florence, where she spent her girlhood. These migrations accounted for her cosmopolitan sympathies and outlook. She became a perfect Italian scholar, and numbered among her friends many well-known people in all three countries. For some years she and her sisters were under the tuition of an old governess, who brought them up almost entirely on the works of Machiavelli. To this rather unusual training may perhaps be attributed the touch of ironical humour, which, tempered by her own natural charm and intelligence, made her conversation so stimulating and delightful.
Her wit, her tolerance, and the wide cultivation of her mind, made up a personality such as is rarely met with, and leaves a memory not to be easily forgotten.
Though her later years of widowhood were passed in some- what straitened circumstances, she was never heard to regret past prosperity, nor present difficulty, but responded to all enquiries with her charming smile, and the words, " I have nothing to complain of, my dear."
No wonder that she numbered among her friends such men as the late Lord Salisbury, Lord Beaconsfield, Matthew Arnold. Anthony Trollope, and Sir Alfred Lyall, and that her correspon- dence comprised letters from George Eliot, Lady Paget, Ellen Terry, and " Ouida " among many others.
Her devotion to her husband was perfect, and he deeply appreciated the value of the companionship and wise counsel of a woman of such exceptional qualities and never-failing sympathy and charm.—I am, Sir, &e., A. W. F.
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