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SOCIAL LIFE   181

Norfolk, at that time residing as a widower in his house at Hastings, for which town he was Member of Parliament during many years. His two daughters were then with him, the eldest, Miss Marianne North (1830-1890), widely known for her travels after his death, in order to paint flowers in far distant lands with scientific accuracy. The building in Kew Gardens was devised by her friend J. Fergusson (18o8-1886), the writer on architecture, and built to hold her collection ; she presented it to the Gardens. The younger daughter became wife of John Addington Symonds (1840-1893), the well-known critic and writer. My wife and I spent very many happy visits to Hastings Lodge, where the heartiness of reception and the amplitude of real comfort without any attempt at display were remarkable. That valued friendship towards me still continues in the third generation of descent from Mr. North.

I owed to my wife a highly valued intimacy with Mr. and Mrs. Russell Gurney. The clock of the latter, which she left me in her Will, is within two yards of where I am writing this, and I look back to the lifelong friendships of her and her husband with no ordinary affection. The portrait of Mr. Russell Gurney (1804-1878) by Watts, which is in the National Gallery, is extremely like; it strikes me, if I may venture on any opinion connected with Art, as one of the very best in any of our three great national collections. The portrait of Mrs. Russell Gurney, also by Watts, which is now in the possession of her relatives, is rather forced in pose. It is much to be regretted that no adequate biography has been written of her. The one which is published dwells