{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_56412/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_56412","id":"gutenberg_56412","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/56412","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Biographies","Category: History - British","Category: History - European","Category: History - Modern (1750+)","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Church of England -- France -- Paris","English Church (Paris, France)"],"text":"Produced by MFR and the Online Distributed Proofreading\nTeam at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from\nimages generously made available by The Internet Archive)\n\n\n\n\n\nTranscriber\u2019s Note: During his time in Paris, the author didn\u2019t achieve a\nperfect command of the French language; many French words and place names\nare incorrectly spelt and/or accented. These errors have been preserved.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration: H. E. Noyes, D.D.]\n\n\n\n\n                             SEVENTEEN YEARS\n                                IN PARIS:\n\n                           A CHAPLAIN\u2019S STORY.\n\n                                   BY\n                            H. E. NOYES, D.D.\n\n             _(Late Hon. Chaplain to His Majesty\u2019s Embassy,\n                  and Incumbent of the Embassy Church,\n                        Rue d\u2019Aguesseau, Paris)._\n\n                         BAINES AND SCARSBROOK,\n                        PRINTERS AND PUBLISHERS,\n              75 FAIRFAX ROAD, SWISS COTTAGE, LONDON, N.W.\n                                  1910.\n\n\n\n\nDEDICATED TO THE BRITISH AND AMERICAN COLONIES IN PARIS, WITH WHOM I\nSPENT THESE HAPPY YEARS, 1891-1907.\n\n\n\n\nPREFACE.\n\n\nIn sending forth this brief account of my long chaplaincy in Paris, I\ndesire to say that I do so at the request of many friends, who were kind\nenough to express their interest. It is not intended to be an account of\nlife generally in Paris, or a description of the beauties and treasures\nof the City. There are many books which do this better than I could\nhope to do, for the life of a chaplain in Paris is a very strenuous\none\u2014every day bringing its work, and often much unexpected work, that it\nwas difficult to give much time to sight-seeing. My predecessor, Rev. T.\nHoward Gill, said to me when I accepted the position, \u201cDo not stay more\nthan seven years\u2014it is enough for any man.\u201d I stayed nearly seventeen. I\nhave not attempted either to give any full account here of the spiritual\nside of my work\u2014I would only say that I have every reason to thank God\nthat I went, both for the work He enabled me to do and the experience\nthat I have gained. There is an erroneous impression in some minds about\nContinental work, viz., that it unfits a man for Parochial work at home.\nI heard this expressed upon my appointment to my present sphere. The\nfact, however, is very different. The work is so varied, so constant, and\noften so unexpected, that one gains as much experience in six months in\na city like Paris as British Chaplain as one would gain in a much longer\ntime at home.\n\nIt may be true that in small chaplaincies in lonely places, with but few\nEnglish people in residence, men get out of touch with Church life and\nwork in England, but it is not the same in the permanent chaplaincies in\nthickly populated places.\n\nIn Paris we had our organisations much as at home. Daily Services, Sunday\nSchools, Mothers\u2019 Meetings, Visitors, etc., and although the numbers\nattending (owing to distance) were not so great as at home, the work was\nmuch the same.\n\nI have given several hints which I trust may be useful to parents\nintending to send their children abroad for education, and also to those\nwho may be purposing to reside in Paris.\n\nAs we are going to press the notice appears in the papers of the death of\nSir Edmund Monson, formerly Ambassador in Paris. The country loses in him\na distinguished and faithful servant, and all who knew him will regret a\nkind and generous friend.\n\n                                                        H. E. NOYES, D.D.\n\n    St. Mary\u2019s Vicarage,\n      Kilburn, N.W.\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS.\n\n\n                                              PAGE\n\n                   CHAPTER I.\n\n    ROYAL AND OTHER VISITS                       1\n\n                   CHAPTER II.\n\n    THE BRITISH EMBASSY                         25\n\n                  CHAPTER III.\n\n    MEMORABLE SERVICES                          48\n\n                   CHAPTER IV.\n\n    THE ENGLISHMAN ABROAD                       66\n\n                   CHAPTER V.\n\n    EDUCATION IN FRANCE                         74\n\n                   CHAPTER VI.\n\n    DIFFICULTIES OF ENGLISH PEOPLE ABROAD       79\n\n                  CHAPTER VII.\n\n    BRITISH CHARITIES IN PARIS                  94\n\n                  CHAPTER VIII.\n\n    BRITISH JOURNALISTS IN PARIS               105\n\n                   CHAPTER IX.\n\n    VARIA                                      112\n\n                   CHAPTER X.\n\n    PRESENT CONDITIONS OF RELIGIOUS LIFE ON\n      THE CONTINENT                            122\n\n                   CHAPTER XI.\n\n    THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND ON THE CONTINENT     135\n\n                  CHAPTER XII.\n\n    AMERICANS IN PARIS                         139\n\n                  CHAPTER XIII.\n\n    L\u2019ENVOI                                    144\n\n\n\n\nLIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.\n\n\n    REV. H. E. NOYES, D.D.                           _Frontispiece_\n\n    RUE DE RIVOLI                                  _To face page_ 2\n\n    HIS MAJESTY ENTERING THE CHURCH, FOLLOWED BY\n      SIR E. MONSON                                       \u201d       6\n\n    HIS MAJESTY LEAVING THE EMBASSY CHURCH                \u201d      14\n\n    SIR WALTER VAUGHAN-MORGAN, LORD MAYOR OF LONDON,\n      1905-1906                                           \u201d      22\n\n    MR. WRIGHT                                            \u201d      23\n\n    ENTRANCE TO BRITISH EMBASSY                           \u201d      24\n\n    THE EARL OF LYTTON                                    \u201d      26\n\n    THE COUNTESS OF LYTTON                                \u201d      28\n\n    THE MARQUIS OF DUFFERIN AND AVA                       \u201d      30\n\n    THE MARCHIONESS OF DUFFERIN AND AVA                   \u201d      32\n\n    TRAINBEARERS AT THE LADY PLUNKET\u2019S WEDDING            \u201d      34\n\n    COURT YARD, BRITISH EMBASSY                           \u201d      42\n\n    SIR HENRY AUSTIN LEE                                  \u201d      46\n\n    BRITISH EMBASSY CHURCH, FROM THE RUE D\u2019AGUESSEAU      \u201d      48\n\n    BRITISH EMBASSY CHURCH (INTERIOR)                     \u201d      54\n\n    PLACE DE LA CONCORDE                                  \u201d      66\n\n    A. PERCY INGLIS (BRITISH CONSUL-GENERAL)              \u201d      84\n\n    SIR JOHN PILTER                                       \u201d      94\n\n    HERTFORD BRITISH HOSPITAL                             \u201d      98\n\n    THE ELYS\u00c9E, FROM THE FAUBOURG ST. HONOR\u00c9              \u201d     112\n\n    PLACE DE LA CONCORDE                                  \u201d     118\n\n    THE HISTORIC FOUNTAIN, PLACE DE LA CONCORDE           \u201d     118\n\n_Photos of City by Leblanc, Paris._\n\n\n\n\nSEVENTEEN YEARS IN PARIS.\n\nBY H. E. NOYES, D.D.\n\n_Late Honorary Chaplain to His Majesty\u2019s Embassy._\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER I.\n\nROYAL AND OTHER VISITS.\n\n\nThe Daily Press has naturally recorded the visits of Royalty, Members of\nParliament, the Lord Mayor of London, etc., to Paris during the period\nof which I write, but as in each case there were services in the Embassy\nChurch, there are certain facts from the chaplain\u2019s point of view which\nwill, I hope, be of interest to my readers. A clerical friend once said\nto me, \u201cEverybody who is anybody has been to your Church in Paris.\u201d It\ncertainly was a fact that during my chaplaincy many distinguished people\nattended the ordinary Divine Service besides the crowds at special times\nwhen Royalty was present. I may mention the late Duke of Devonshire, the\nRight Hon. W. E. and Mrs. Gladstone\u2014who often came twice on the Sunday\nwhen visiting Paris\u2014H.R.H. the late Duke of Cambridge, who was many times\npresent. On one occasion the Duke arrived in Paris from a long journey\nearly on Sunday morning, but he was in the Embassy gallery at the 11\no\u2019clock service. Upon his late visits\u2014and he was in Paris not long before\nthe end\u2014he was unable to face the stairs to the gallery, and sat below\nwith the congregation. In the early days of my chaplaincy, the late\nSir Condie Stephen was an attach\u00e9 at the Embassy, and a most regular\nattendant at both morning and evening services. The late Archbishop\nof Canterbury was once at service in my time, and sent me a most kind\nmessage. Bishops, Home, Colonial, and American, were occasionally seen,\nand many clergy. I noticed on two or three occasions Mr. Pierpoint Morgan\namong the worshippers. On one occasion four English dukes were present\nat morning service. The late Sir G. Stokes, Sir W. Freemantle, Lord\nRathmore, and the other members of the Suez Canal Board were regular in\nattendance month by month, the former a devout worshipper and a kind,\ngenial friend.\n\nGreat interest was naturally excited in the English Colony when we had\nRoyal visitors. Her late Majesty was not in Paris during my Chaplaincy,\nalthough she was several times in the South of France, being usually\nmet at some convenient station by the President of the French Republic.\nWhatever may have been the feeling of the French people towards the\nEnglish before the \u201cEntente Cordiale,\u201d they always had the highest\nrespect and admiration for our beloved Queen, and I never heard that she\nmet with the least annoyance from \u201cthe most polite nation in the world.\u201d\n\n[Illustration: RUE DE RIVOLI.]\n\nBefore coming to the special subject of this chapter, I should like to\nsay a few words about the English Church in the Rue d\u2019Aguesseau, which\nhas always been known as, and is \u201cipso facto,\u201d the Embassy Church.\nIn former days the English services were held in the ballroom at the\nEmbassy itself, and there was a resident chaplain. I have heard that\nthere was sometimes rather a \u201crush\u201d after a Saturday night\u2019s ball to get\nthe room ready for divine service on Sunday. This \u201cChapel\u201d was also at\nthat time somewhat of a Gretna Green, where at twenty-four hours\u2019 notice\nyoung couples who had difficulties at home could be united according\nto English law by a resident chaplain. My friend, Dr. Morgan, of the\nAmerican Church, kindly sent me a volume of sermons he had picked up on\na bookstall, bearing the title \u201cSermons preached at the Chapel of the\nBritish Embassy, and at the Protestant Church of the Oratoire in Paris,\nby the late Rev. E. Forster, M.A., Chaplain to the British Embassy.\u201d This\nwas in the days when Lord Stuart de Rothesay was Ambassador to the court\nof France, and the volume bears the date 1828. I believe Lord Stuart de\nRothesay was twice Ambassador in Paris\u2014an unusual circumstance. Services\nare no longer held in the Embassy. The English Colony in Paris having\nlargely increased, it became necessary to provide a suitable building as\na church, and at the period when the late Lord Cowley was Ambassador, and\nlargely through his instrumentality, the present Church was purchased,\nand has from that time to the present been the Embassy Church, where\nall services of a public and diplomatic character have since been held.\nHere is a French description of the building, which, while not exactly\necclesiastical, is yet loved and valued by the English Colony.\n\n\u201cL\u2019\u00c8glise Anglicane est situ\u00e9e \u00e0 moins de 100 m\u00e8tres de la porte de\nl\u2019Ambassade. C\u2019est un petit monument de style Gothique, aux fen\u00e8tres\nogivales, aux fr\u00f9es colonnes fleuronn\u00e9es. A l\u2019int\u00e9rieur, la chapelle est\nmeubl\u00e9e de deux rang\u00e9es de bancs, plac\u00e9es face \u00e0 l\u2019autel. Devant celui-ci\nse trouve l\u2019aigle de bois dor\u00e9 dont les ailes \u00e9ploy\u00e9es portent les Livres\nSaints; \u00e0 gauche les orgues: \u00e0 droite, la chaire: une simple tribune de\npierre, de forme hexagonale l\u00e9g\u00e8rement sur\u00e9lev\u00e9e. Un balcon court sur les\ndeux c\u00f4tes de la chapelle, dont le fond est occup\u00e9 par une tribune.\u201d\n\nThe church is in a much better condition than formerly. The congregation\nduring my chaplaincy put a new roof upon it, and decorated it throughout,\nand constructed a handsome Mortuary Chapel underneath\u2014a sad necessity\nfor the English and American colonies in Paris. I conducted some\nremarkable services during my time in Paris, which I describe in another\nchapter\u2014scenes which will not soon be forgotten by those who witnessed\nthem. I was glad to leave behind some \u00a37,000 which had been subscribed\ntowards a Church House, a much-needed establishment, as there is no room\nfor Church purposes or residence for the chaplain. My successor, the\nRight Rev. Bishop Ormsby, will, I hope, reap the benefit of this effort.\n\nHis Gracious Majesty King Edward VII. was several times in Paris during\nthe earlier years of my chaplaincy, as Prince of Wales, but his first\nvisit to the French Republic as King and Emperor was in May, 1903. The\nvisit was official and unique. Those of us who had lived in Paris during\nthe Boer war\u2014when, to say the least, the English were not popular,\nand had so frequently heard \u201cVivent les Boers\u201d as we passed along the\nstreets, and even had newspapers flaunted before us which recorded\nreverses to our arms\u2014were very anxious that the visit should pass off\nquietly. The English colony was much concerned, and so were the French\npolice. I was advised by the latter to admit to the Church only by\nticket, and to take the names and addresses of each applicant for them\nwho might be unknown to me. The following was the text of the ticket I\nissued: \u201cEnglish Church, Rue d\u2019Aguesseau. Divine Service 11 a.m. It is\nrequested that all seat-holders will be in their places at 10 o\u2019clock.\nAfter 10.30 all unoccupied seats will be filled.\u201d The tickets were all\nnumbered and signed with a special stamp marked \u201cBasileus.\u201d The issuing\nof these tickets gave us considerable work, as we only had 1,000, and\nsome 1,500 to 2,000 people applied for them\u2014many by letter. Nearly the\nwhole of two days was occupied in the distribution.\n\nThe \u201cEntente Cordiale\u201d is now happily a \u201cfait accompli\u201d; but at the time\nof His Majesty\u2019s first official visit there was no thought of it in the\npublic mind, though we know now it was the gracious intention of our\npeace-loving King that it should come about. I give an excerpt from the\n\u201cPatrie,\u201d signed by M. L. Millevoye, which at this time gave us some\nconcern, for the \u201cPatrie,\u201d while not a high-class paper, is one that is\nlargely read by the man in the street:\n\n\u201cParisiens! Le Roi des Anglais n\u2019est pas votre h\u00f4te: ce n\u2019est pas vous\nqui l\u2019avez invit\u00e9. Cet \u00e9tranger, cet ennemi vous impose sa visite.\u2026\nParisiens, ce roi vous saluera, vous ne le saluerez pas.\n\n\u201cMais des cris bien fran\u00e7ais, esclusivement fran\u00e7ais, peuvent sortir,\nsans provocations, de vos poitrines. Crier \u2018Vive Marchand!\u2019 c\u2019est\ncondamner Fachoda, c\u2019est marquer la fl\u00e8trissure d\u2019une des plus\nhyprocrites d\u2019une des plus odieuses brutalit\u00e9s diplomatiques que la\nFrance aie subies, Crier Vivent les Boers.\u2026 Crier Vive la Russie.\u2026 Votre\nsilence m\u00eame, s\u2019il est g\u00e9n\u00e9ral, absolu, aura sa grandeur. Devant vos\nfronts couverts, devant vos regards implacables, ce roi comprendra qu\u2019on\nl\u2019atromp\u00e9 en lui parlant de votre soumission, &c., &c., &c.\u201d\n\nIt seemed, however, as if the very presence of His Majesty in Paris\nat once dissipated any cloud that might have appeared in the sky. The\nFrench are remarkable for their readiness to swing round to an opposite\nopinion when they find reason for so doing. This was very striking in\nthe Dreyfus affair, and, more recently, in the case of M. E. Zola, who,\nafter having been condemned to imprisonment and a heavy fine for his\ndefence of Dreyfus, received the \u201cpost mortem\u201d honour of being removed\nfrom the cemetery of Montmatre to the Panth\u00e9on, that resting place of the\nillustrious French dead.\n\n[Illustration: HIS MAJESTY ENTERING THE CHURCH, FOLLOWED BY SIR E.\nMONSON.]\n\nThe visit of His Majesty to Paris extended from May 1st to 4th, and\nalmost every hour was occupied with the usual official visits, lunches,\ndinners, and receptions. The English colony looked forward especially to\nthe Sunday when they expected to see and worship with the King in their\nown Church. There was some anxiety as to whether His Majesty would sit\nin the Embassy gallery, or in the body of the Church, as in the former\ncase he would hardly be seen by the congregation. I reported to our\nAmbassador, Sir E. Monson, the great desire that the King would sit with\nthe congregation, and late on Saturday evening I received a message that\nhe had kindly consented to do so. This gracious act gave much pleasure\nto the colony. There were many young people who had never seen their King\nbefore, and I fear his presence was rather distracting to their worship\non this occasion.\n\nThe police were considerably scared when it was announced that\nHis Majesty would not drive to the Church, but intended to walk.\nAlthough only a few yards it was felt to be more or less a danger;\nbut every precaution being taken, all passed off safely. As the\ncongregation was assembling, I was sent for to the door to interview a\ndistinguished-looking man who desired to enter the Church, but had no\nticket. I found, however, upon careful enquiry, that he was a detective\nfrom Scotland Yard, and required to examine the place where the King was\nto sit.\n\nThis quiet Sunday service, with the King-Emperor attending as an ordinary\nworshipper, very much impressed the French people. I will quote what was\nsaid by the \u201cFigaro\u201d and the \u201cDaily Telegraph\u201d at the time; the former\ngiving the general French feeling much more accurately than the \u201cPatrie,\u201d\nalthough even the latter paper soon changed its tone.\n\nThe \u201cFigaro\u201d thus describes the service:\u2014\n\n\u201cLes Parisiens sceptiques et volontiers gouailleurs, ont \u00e9t\u00e9 fortement\nimpressionn\u00e9s par la tr\u00e8s simple c\u00e9r\u00e9monie d\u2019hier matin, la plus grande\npeut-\u00eatre de ces trois jours de f\u00eate. De la rue Royale \u00e0 l\u2019avenue de\nMarigny dix mille curieux descendent tout endimanch\u00e9s des faubourgs, se\nmassent aux abords de l\u2019Ambassade d\u2019Angleterre, pour voir comment le\nroi de la Grande-Bretagne et d\u2019Irlande et des possessions britanniques\nd\u2019outre-mer, d\u00e9fenseur de la foi, empereur des Indes va faire-visite\n\u00e0 Dieu. C\u2019est \u00e0 pied que S. M. Edouard VII., en tenue de ville, se\nrend \u00e0 l\u2019Eglise. Et quand il le voit passer ainsi, tout ce peuple saisi\nd\u2019\u00e9motion, chapeau bas, s\u2019incline, dans un silence solennel. La petite\nEglise gothique de la rue d\u2019Aguesseau regorge de monde. On a lanc\u00e9\nneuf cent trente invitations. La nef, les galeries, les bas-cot\u00e9s, les\ntribunes, tout est bond\u00e9.\n\n\u201cLes deux premi\u00e8res trav\u00e9es de banquettes sont r\u00e9serv\u00e9es; et devant\nelles, \u00e0 gauche du ch\u0153ur un fauteuil recouvert de velours rouge, avec un\nprie-dieu sans appui, et un pupitre sur lequel sont depos\u00e9s une Bible,\net un livre de psaumes, marque la place du Roi.\u2026 Le Pasteur et ses\nassistants ont la soutane et le surplis garni de bandes de satin noir\net rouge. Les enfants de ch\u0153ur assis pr\u00e8s de la chaire, ont seulement\nla soutane noir et le surplis. Sur un signe du secr\u00e9taire qui guettait\n\u00e0 la porte l\u2019arriv\u00e9e du Roi, tout le clerg\u00e9, le Rev. Dr. Noyes en t\u00eate,\nse porte au-devant de sa Majest\u00e9 et l\u2019attend sur le seuil. Edouard\nVII. et le Pasteur se saluent en m\u00eame temps. Le Clerg\u00e9 remonte vers le\nch\u0153ur, pr\u00e9c\u00e9dent le Souverain, que suivent les membres de l\u2019Ambassade\nd\u2019Angleterre et tous les attach\u00e9s militaires. Et des que S. M. Edouard\nVII. a pris place devant son fauteuil\u2014et ouvert son livre de psaumes,\nl\u2019office divin commence. Les fid\u00e9les, dont un instant tr\u00e8s court de\ncuriosit\u00e9 n\u2019a pu troubler le recueillement, entument en anglais le Te\nDeum. Puis les hymnes, les versets de la Bible, les psaumes se succ\u00e8dent\nchant\u00e9s par toute l\u2019assistance. Les fid\u00e8les s\u2019agenouillent, et le Roi\ns\u2019agenouille comme eux; et sa voix se m\u00eale avec leurs voix. Il n\u2019y a\nplus un souverain et des sujets, \u2018Il n\u2019y a qu\u2019une famille dont tous les\nmembres s\u2019addressent, ensemble au P\u00e8re, \u2018Notre P\u00e8re qui \u00eates aux cieux.\u2019\nC\u2019est la pri\u00e8re que nous ne savons plus. Enfin les chants ayant cess\u00e9\nle Rev. Dr. Noyes se l\u00eave et prononce le sermon dominical. Pendant un\nquart d\u2019heure environ, il d\u00e9veloppe la th\u00e8se de la Divinite du Christ, et\nl\u2019office termine, selon l\u2019usage, par un dernier cantique, sans qu\u2019aucune\nallusion, ainsi qu\u2019il en avait exprim\u00e9 l\u00f9i-m\u00eame le d\u00e9sir, aie \u00e9t\u00e9 faite \u00e0\nla presence du Roi.\u201d\n\nI have given the above in full as it is an interesting French view of an\nEnglish church service.\n\n\u201cThe Daily Telegraph\u201d recorded this event of the day as follows:\n\n\u201cAt the morning service in the English Church, Rue d\u2019Aguesseau, the\nKing was attended by his suite, and accompanied by Sir E. Monson and\nthe staff of the Embassy. This sacred edifice is a building of great\ninterest to English residents in Paris. The Rev. H. E. Noyes, D.D., has\nbeen Chaplain to the Embassy since 1891, and during that incumbency has\nknown three eminent representatives of the Empire, Lord Lytton, the\nMarquis of Dufferin, and Sir Edmund Monson. Our compatriots in the French\ncapital do not forget their Church. It is surely a matter of pleasure\nto know that at the last Easter celebrations there were no fewer than\n930 communicants. To-day the Church was all too small. Though admission\nwas necessarily by ticket, a crowd besieged the doors more than an hour\nbefore the beginning of the service. Notre Dame or the Madeleine would\nhave been insufficient for the congregation anxious to be present.\nIndeed, one feels regret for the hundreds who failed to obtain a coveted\nticket of admission. Practically small room was left after seats had been\nfound for the regular congregation, among whom I was pleased to note a\nlarge number of English young ladies attending Parisian schools. Many\na year hence it will be a pleasant memory for those young persons who\nparticipated in this historic service. \u2018What a noble national possession\nis England\u2019s \u201csublime liturgy,\u201d\u2019 to quote George Borrow\u2019s description of\nit.\n\n\u201cWho has not felt its impress in a foreign land? I have heard it west of\nthe Rocky Mountains, under the Stars and Stripes, beneath the Southern\nCross, in the capital of China, on the Indian, the Atlantic, and the\nPacific Oceans, and in war time in South Africa, and the effect is\neverywhere the same\u2014a finer patriotic glow than almost anything else\ncan call up. It appeals to one as part of the heritage of the English\npeople, like their old Parish Church, or their very language itself. In\nthe Rue d\u2019Aguesseau the prayers for the King and the Royal Family of\nGreat Britain were followed, as they always are here, by petitions for\nthe Presidents of the United States and of the French Republic. The \u2018Te\nDeum\u2019 was finely rendered, as were the hymns \u2018Children of the Heavenly\nKing\u2019 and \u2018The King of Love my shepherd is.\u2019 Dr. Noyes founded a short,\neloquent discourse upon Matthew xiii. 54, 55.\u201d\n\nAs the King left the Church the congregation sang the National Anthem\nwith a fervour and emotion, which was natural upon such an occasion.\n\nAfter lunching at the Foreign Office with that eminent statesman, M.\nDelcasse, His Majesty returned to the Embassy. Here a most interesting\nceremony was held. The King had promised to plant a red chestnut tree\nin the Embassy garden, and the children of the British schools, to the\nnumber of fifty, and the inmates of the Victoria Home (an institution\nfor aged British women who have lived in France for thirty years) were\ninvited to be present. It was a memorable occasion. The King handled the\nspade as one accustomed to it, and the tree thus planted has flourished\nremarkably well ever since. It bears a plate stating the date, etc.,\nand will, no doubt, be an object of interest in the beautiful garden of\nthe Embassy for many years to come. The King has a wonderful memory for\nold friends. I heard him on this occasion asking kindly after the Hon.\nAlan Herbert, M.D., whom he had known in Paris many years ago. Another\ninteresting incident took place on this afternoon. Among those invited to\nthe Embassy garden was an old soldier, George Colman, nearly ninety years\nof age, who had been dispatch writer to Lord Raglan in the Crimean War.\nHe was presented to the King, who had a long chat with him, and asked\nhim \u201cWhere are your medals?\u201d Colman replied, \u201cYour Majesty, they were\nstolen from me at the time of the Paris Commune.\u201d \u201cWell,\u201d said the King,\n\u201cwe must see to that.\u201d Colman was not forgotten, and not long after the\nmedals were received at the Embassy. He brought them to shew to me in\ngreat delight.\n\nIn the evening a large official dinner was given at the British Embassy,\nwhich was attended by the President and Madame Loubet, members of the\nFrench Government, and many other distinguished guests. Three French\nartists had the honour of being invited, MM. Carolus-Duran, Detaille,\nand Bonnat. The City was brilliantly illuminated, and presented all the\ncharacteristics of a National f\u00eate.\n\nHis Majesty left Paris for Cherbourg the next morning, President Loubet\naccompanying him to the Gare des Invalids. There was a thankful sigh of\nrelief from the many loyal hearts in Paris that all had passed off so\nwell, and that our beloved Monarch was safe. It had been an anxious time,\nfor the happy change to more friendly relations between the two countries\nhad then only just commenced.\n\nThe next visit of His Majesty was in May, 1905, just two years after his\nfirst official visit. There had been a change at the Embassy. Much to\nthe regret of all who knew him, Sir Edmund Monson had retired, having\nreached the age limit, and had been succeeded by Sir Francis Bertie, the\npresent Ambassador. There was, moreover, a great change in the attitude\nof the people, and the \u201cEntente Cordiale\u201d was on the lips of all. The\nKing\u2019s previous visit, and the return visit of M. Loubet to London,\nresulted in the settling of several outstanding disputes which had long\nbeen an anxiety to diplomatists. There was much less ceremonial upon this\nvisit, and the King, instead of going to the Embassy, took his old suite\nof rooms at the Hotel Bristol in the Place Vendome, where he had often\nstayed as Prince of Wales. His Majesty came to Paris via Marseilles,\nwhere he had a very hearty reception, and arriving at the Gare de Lyon\nwas met by Sir Francis Bertie and the staff of the Embassy, and that\nall-important functionary, the Prefect of the Police. A good number of\npeople gathered in the Place Vendome in the hope of seeing the King, but\nthe weather was showery, and he drove in a closed carriage, and they\nwere disappointed. The Hotel Bristol in the Place Vendome\u2014formerly a\nmonastery\u2014is managed by an Englishman, Mr. Morlock, who is well known\nto many crowned heads. The Tsar of Russia stayed there before his\naccession to the throne; the late King and Queen of Portugal, and many\nothers. Mr. Morlock is a most genial host, and although he has been so\nlong in France is proud of his nationality, and always ready to join in\nany movement for the good of the British colony. I had been informed\nthat His Majesty would attend Divine Service on the Sunday morning, and\ntook the precaution to admit only by ticket, to prevent over-crowding.\nIt was well I did so, for a great crowd assembled outside the Church,\nand would have prevented the regular worshippers from entering. Owing to\nthis arrangement the Church was filled before the hour of service, and\nthere was no confusion. It was Eastertide, and the hymns \u201cJesus lives! no\nlonger now\u2014Can thy terrors, death, appal us\u201d and \u201cHosanna to the living\nLord\u201d were sung with great fervour. I had requested the congregation to\nremain in their seats during the singing of the National Anthem at the\nclose of the service\u2014the intention being that His Majesty and the staff\nof the Embassy would then leave and thus prevent crowding at the door.\nHowever, the King stayed until the end, and, I was told, joined heartily\nin the anthem. We always omitted the second verse having the words\n\u201cConfound their politics,\u201d as being guests in a foreign land.\n\nUpon this occasion His Majesty sat in the Embassy gallery with Sir\nFrancis Bertie and the staff. An amusing incident happened as the King\nleft the Church. A loud crash was heard and caused some excitement. It\ncame from a photographer who had perched himself upon a high ladder with\na large camera, hoping for a snapshot. He fell owing to the breaking\nof the ladder just as the King came out of the porch. He was very\ndisappointed at losing the photograph.\n\nUpon the return to the hotel the King received Admiral Fournier, who had\npresided over the enquiry relating to the North Sea firing incident, and\nconferred upon him the insignia of a Knight Grand Cross of the Victorian\nOrder.\n\nThe reception of His Majesty on the part of the people was in marked\ncontrast to that of his former visit. There were very few cries in the\nstreets on that occasion, but now one often heard \u201cVive le Roi\u201d and \u201cVive\nl\u2019Angleterre\u201d shouted with a hearty good will. The \u201cEntente Cordiale\u201d was\nan established fact.\n\n[Illustration: HIS MAJESTY LEAVING THE EMBASSY CHURCH.]\n\nThe third visit of the King during my chaplaincy took place in March,\n1906, when he travelled as the Duke of Lancaster, arriving in Paris from\nCherbourg on the Saturday evening. The Royal train was brought round to\nthe Gare des Invalides, where the King was met by Sir Francis Bertie and\nthe staff of the Embassy, M. Mollard representing the President of the\nRepublic, and M. Lepine, Prefect of Police. As His Majesty ascended the\nstairs a flashlight photograph of the scene was taken by an unauthorised\nperson\u2014much to the annoyance of all present, as the explosion caused a\ntemporary alarm. Next morning the King attended the Embassy Church, and\nsat in the Royal gallery with Sir Francis and Lady Feodorowna Bertie.\nLittle change was made in the service, except that I preached a short\nsermon in order to keep within the limited time. My text was \u201cBut the\nWord of God is not bound,\u201d and the collection was for the British and\nForeign Bible Society. H.R.H. Princess Henry of Battenberg and the\nPrincess Ena (now Queen of Spain) joined the King at the Embassy for\nlunch. His Majesty drove to and from the church in a closed carriage,\nand although there was a great crowd, his desire to be \u201cincognito\u201d was\nrespected. It was upon this occasion that His Majesty handed to M.\nFalli\u00e8res the missing leaves from the second volume of \u201cThe History of\nthe antiquities of the Jews\u201d for the Biblioth\u00e9que Nationale. M. Loubet,\nformer President of the Republic, was one of the many who called upon the\nKing, and it was characteristic of the kind feeling of His Majesty that\nhe returned the call at the private apartment of M. Loubet\u2014an act that\nwas much appreciated by the people generally. I often heard French people\nspeak of it. Upon this visit the Embassy in the Faubourg St. Honore was\nturned into a Royal Palace, the King and his suite staying there. I was\ntold of the following incident which indicates the change of feeling on\nthe part of the French. After dinner at a fashionable restaurant (while\nthe King was in Paris) the band was called upon to play the English\nNational Anthem by a party of Frenchmen. Then some Englishmen present\ncalled for the Marseillaise, which was received with the same honours and\nenthusiasm.\n\nBy a curious chance there was a party of Germans present, and these stood\nup and uncovered while both the National Anthems were being played.\nBeyond the various social functions there was no other special incident,\nand the short visit passed off very satisfactorily in every way.\n\nI have told of the enthusiasm evoked by the first official visit of\nHis Majesty to Paris, and the two subsequent visits, but when it\nwas reported early in 1907 that the King was coming, accompanied by\nthe Queen, enthusiasm knew little bounds. Many of the English Colony\nhad never seen the Queen, and were on tiptoe of expectation. Their\nMajesties arrived in Paris from London on Saturday evening, February\n2nd, at the Gare du Nord, where they received an enthusiastic\u2014though\nnon-official\u2014welcome, for they were travelling as the Duke and Duchess of\nLancaster. The photographic fiend was again in evidence, and Her Majesty\ngave a perceptible start as the magnesium light flashed, although she\nmust be accustomed to this annoyance. I was told that the crowd outside\nthe station was enormous, and the cries \u201cVive le Roi\u2014Vive la Reine\u201d were\nvery hearty, both there and along the route to the British Embassy, which\nwas to be the temporary home of their Majesties. Notwithstanding the\nfatigues of the journey the King and Queen paid a visit to the Nouveau\nCirque in the evening, much to the delight of those present.\n\nIt appeared to me that the Parisians were the more pleased at the\n\u201cincognito,\u201d as it was as if their Majesties came as friends, and not\nmerely as Royal visitors. The visit was thus less formal yet more\ncordial; everyone felt that it was not political, but just friendly, and\nParis was delighted. The British sovereigns were going to spend a week of\npleasure, visiting and entertaining their friends, shopping and motoring.\nThe Rue de la Paix is always attractive, but it seemed to surpass itself\non this occasion.\n\nI was naturally very busy preparing for the Sunday service. Tickets were\nquite necessary, and the demand for them very great. We issued 1,000\u2014our\nutmost limit\u2014and then came the pain of refusing the hundreds who also\ndesired to attend. I crave pardon for giving the report of the service,\nwritten by my friend Mr. Ozane, the well-known and valued correspondent\nof the \u201cDaily Telegraph.\u201d\n\nHe wrote: \u201cI have never seen a larger crowd in and near the church in the\nRue d\u2019Aguesseau than that which assembled there this morning. Admission\nto the sacred edifice was by cards, of which a liberal distribution was\nmade, but any number of persons who must have known that the chance of\nfinding a place was hopeless, had put in an appearance nevertheless.\nThe English colony had mustered in full force, and there was a big\ngathering of French friends as well. The footpaths close to the Embassy\nand along the street leading to the Church were crammed with well-dressed\npeople\u2014the fair sex being strongly represented; and there they stood\nin the brilliant sunshine, but bitterly cold wind, waiting for their\nMajesties to pass. The King and Queen drove to and from the Church in one\nof the Ambassador\u2019s carriages, and with Sir Francis Bertie and members\nof their suite were conducted to the Embassy Gallery. By the time they\nentered the Church was thronged to repletion, all the arrangements made\nfor the accommodation of the congregation being, however, excellent. The\nprayers were read by the curate, Rev. W. Harrison, the lessons being read\nand the sermon preached by the Rev. H. E. Noyes, D.D., who is chaplain\nto the Embassy. Doctor Noyes is well known as a very eloquent preacher,\nand taking for his text the 14th verse of the 8th chapter of St. Luke,\npart of the Gospel for the day, delivered an excellent discourse on\nthe parable of the sower. The choir, under the direction of Mr. Percy\nVincent, did itself full justice, and the congregation joined heartily\nin the service, as it invariably does at this Church, which has only\none defect, viz., that it is not large enough to accommodate all the\nworshippers who would attend it, especially at a season when so many\nEnglish visitors are passing through Paris. When the service was over it\nwas scarcely possible to make one\u2019s way along the street, so dense was\nthe crowd.\u201d\n\nIn the afternoon the King paid a visit to President Falli\u00e8res at the\nElys\u00e9e, which was returned later, Madame Falli\u00e8res accompanying the\nPresident to make the acquaintance of the Queen. In the evening their\nMajesties dined with their old friends Mr. and Mrs. Standish.\n\nThe following is an extract, giving the French impression of the Church\nservice:\n\n\u201cL\u2019Eglise \u00e9tait comble, bien qu\u2019on n\u2019y e\u00fbt \u00e8t\u00e9 adm\u00eds que sur la\npr\u00e9sentation de cartes imprim\u00e9es, sp\u00e9cialement. L\u2019Entr\u00e9e des souverains\ny fut salu\u00e9e par de nouveaux vivats. Ils prirent place dans la tribune\nde l\u2019ambassade, a gauche de la nef. Puis le service commen\u00e7a. C\u2019\u00e9tait\nl\u2019office ordinaire du dimanche et la seule modification qu\u2019on y apporta\nfut l\u2019ex\u00e9cution du \u2018God save the King\u2019\u2014jou\u00e9 par les orgues \u00e0 la fin\nde la c\u00e9r\u00e9monie, tandis que tous les assistants chantaient en ch\u0153ur.\nLe Reverend H. E. Noyes officie. Edouard VII. suit avec une attention\nsoutenue l\u2019office, ainsi d\u2019ailleurs que la reine Alexandra.\u201d\n\nAll through the week the liveliest interest was taken in the movements\nof the King and Queen, and there were some amusing incidents. There was\ngreat curiosity to see the King\u2019s automobile, the people apparently\nhaving forgotten that he had purchased it in Paris on a previous visit.\nWhat they expected to see I don\u2019t know\u2014perhaps some vehicle modelled\nafter the old Royal stage coaches? But the reality was a fine Merc\u00e9d\u00e9s\ncar, much the same in outward appearance as others in Paris, but with\nluxurious interior fittings. It was the rule in France at this time (as\nsince) to have a conspicuous number painted on each car, and this mark\nthe Royal Merc\u00e9d\u00e9s had not. It was consequently very soon stopped by a\npoliceman in the Champs Elys\u00e9es, and a crowd gathered. When, however, it\nwas found to have a Royal owner, it was allowed to pass on. But this was\nnot the end of the matter. Next day it was stopped by a more \u201cexigeant\u201d\npolice officer, who, having failed to get satisfactory answers from the\nEnglish chauffeur, obliged him to go to the police station. The crowd\nwas highly amused as the news soon spread \u201cC\u2019est l\u2019automobile du Roi,\u201d\nalthough the stern police officer continued to ignore it. I believe there\nwas another difficulty the following day. However, so soon as His Majesty\nheard of his chauffeur\u2019s adventures, he ordered a number to be at once\npainted on the car, to conform with the French law.\n\nHer Majesty the Queen received many begging and other letters during her\nshort stay, and I was struck by the careful enquiries she caused to be\nmade about each case. I was glad to be able to give, through one of the\nattach\u00e9s, information as to several of the applicants who were well known\nto me.\n\nThe consideration of the Parisians for the \u201cincognito\u201d of their Majesties\nwas very marked. It was reported that both the King and Queen expressed\ntheir satisfaction at this, and that the former said \u201cNothing could be\nnicer or more discreet. The Parisians are the most courteous people in\nthe world.\u201d The same attitude was maintained all through the visit,\nenabling their Majesties to go about in freedom and comfort, as they\nconstantly did, to the great delight of both nationalities in the gay\ncity.\n\nAfter the \u201cEntente Cordiale\u201d became an accomplished fact, we had several\nvisits of public bodies to Paris, and I always endeavoured to arrange\na special service for them as part of the programme of the visit. In\nNovember, 1903, we had a British Parliamentary visit. I had corresponded\nwith the secretary beforehand, and arranged for a special service at\n4 p.m. on the Sunday afternoon (29th). We had no room for them at the\nordinary morning service. I also consulted Sir E. and Lady Monson, who\nkindly arranged their reception for 5 o\u2019clock, so that the Members of\nParliament, their wives, and daughters could go across to the Embassy at\nthe close of the service. About 300 attended, and, I had reason to know,\nfully appreciated the arrangement that had been made for them. I preached\nupon the Great Charter of our Religious Liberty from the text \u201cRender\nunto C\u00e6sar the things that are C\u00e6sar\u2019s, and to God the things that are\nGod\u2019s.\u201d The National Anthem was very heartily sung at the close. Sir E.\nand Lady Monson received the guests with their usual kindness, and all\nthe magnificent rooms at the Embassy were thrown open to them. All the\nmembers of the British party were present, together with French Senators\nand Deputies, and the leading members of the British Colony in Paris.\n\nThis same year we had a visit from the present Bishop of London. I\nbelieve his first visit as Bishop. I had written to him to say that I\nhad a number of candidates for confirmation (about 50), but that our own\nBishop Wilkinson, coadjutor for London, could not come, and could he ask\nsome other Bishop who might be in London to take the office for us. He\nwrote: \u201cMy dear Noyes, I will come myself.\u201d The British Colony will not\nsoon forget his visit. After the Confirmation, at which he gave a most\nhelpful address, although curiously enough founded upon a misquotation,\nwe had a reception at my house, which was attended by the leading members\nof the Colony, and those confirmed, with their parents and friends. The\nBishop (as always) won the hearts of all by his kindness and geniality.\nI acted as His Lordship\u2019s chaplain while he was in Paris, and he kindly\nfell in with all the arrangements I had made, which were numerous.\n\nIn February, 1906, we had a visit from the London County Council, most of\nwhom attended the ordinary service in the Embassy Church on February 4th.\nOn Monday (5th), there was a grand reception at the Hotel de Ville. This\nmagnificent structure, erected on the site of the old historic building,\nis well worth a visit. The decorations and pictures are among the most\nbeautiful in Paris, and when it is lit up and specially decorated with\nflags, etc., as it was on this occasion, presents a striking scene. The\nsame week the \u201cMinister of the Interior,\u201d an office corresponding to\nthat of our Home Secretary, gave a grand reception in his superb mansion\nin the Place Beauveau. All the London County Council were invited,\ntogether with the leading members of the British Colony. The reception\nwas followed by a concert, in which some of the best known artists in\nParis took part. The programme was itself a thing of beauty, bearing in\nthe front a striking picture drawn for the occasion by L\u00e9vy, of a sailor\nlooking back over a tempestuous sea at a lighthouse on a pier.\n\n[Illustration: SIR WALTER VAUGHAN-MORGAN, LORD MAYOR OF LONDON\n1905-1906.]\n\n[Illustration: MR. WRIGHT.]\n\nThis was a year of visits. In October, the Right Hon. Sir Walter\nVaughan-Morgan, Lord Mayor of London, accompanied by many of the City\nFathers, came officially to Paris. There was considerable excitement\namong the citizens of Paris about this visit, for among other things it\nwas rumoured that the Lord Mayor would bring his state carriage, and\nalso Mr. Wright, his well-known coachman, whose fame had preceded him.\nAn enormous crowd gathered to welcome the party, many leaving off work\nearly in order to see them pass, and the streets from Gare du Nord to the\nRue Scribe were literally packed with people. The cheers were frequent\nand loud, and one often heard, \u201cVivent les Anglais,\u201d and the less common\n\u201cVive le lor Maire.\u201d Had this cry ever been heard before in Paris? Mr.\nWright, the coachman, had reached Paris the day before, and was soon\nrecognized on the box of the Lord Mayor\u2019s carriage. The crowd shouted,\n\u201cVive Monsieur Wright,\u201d and \u201cVive le cocher du lor Maire\u201d with vehemence,\nevidently delighted with his jolly appearance. I had corresponded with\nSir Joseph Savory with reference to a service in the Embassy Church on\nthe Sunday, and it was decided that a gallery (holding about 100) should\nbe placed at their disposal, although this caused the other parts of the\nbuilding to be very crowded. In front of the Embassy, which faces the\nRue d\u2019Aguesseau, and down the street, police were stationed in force.\nHad the King himself been coming there would hardly have been a stronger\ndetachment. The whole of the gallery in the Church was filled. The Lord\nMayor was invited to a seat in the Embassy gallery. I preached a special\nsermon to a very attentive congregation upon the labour question. After\nDivine Service the Lord Mayor and members of the party lunched at the\nEmbassy with Sir Francis and Lady Feodorowna Bertie. In the afternoon\nthe Lord Mayor, accompanied by Sir George Faudel Phillips, Sherriffs\nDunn and Crosby, Sir Joseph Savory, and Sir Vesey Strong, paid a visit\nto the Girls\u2019 Friendly Society. There is usually a large attendance of\ngirls on Sunday afternoon, but on this occasion the hall was crowded in\nevery part. In introducing the Lord Mayor, I explained the objects of\nthe Society, and told something of its good work in Paris. In reply Sir\nW. Vaughan-Morgan said \u201cHe had not expected to find the members of the\nSociety so numerous in Paris. He did not know if he were breaking the\nrules in paying them a visit, but as Dr. Noyes had brought him in, he\nalso hoped he would find some way of getting him out.\u201d Sir George Faudel\nPhillips also said some kind words to the ladies and members present.\nThe drives of the civic party in the City in the days that followed\nwere a great delight to the people crowding the streets. I was on the\nBoulevards on one occasion when the carriages passed, and the remarks of\nthe people at the unusual dresses, and especially the head gear of some\nof the party, were most amusing. I understand the principal carriage was\nnot brought as it was too large for the railway vans! The Lord Mayor and\nCorporation very kindly gave me 100 guineas as a memento of their visit,\ntowards the proposed Church House in connection with the Embassy Church\u2014a\nmuch-needed institution\u2014part of which will form a club for young British\nmen, and the whole be a centre for church work.\n\n[Illustration: ENTRANCE TO BRITISH EMBASSY.]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II.\n\nTHE BRITISH EMBASSY.\n\n\nI lived and worked in Paris during the \u201creign\u201d of five Presidents of the\nRepublic and four British Ambassadors. When I went abroad M. Sadi Carnot\nwas President. He was assassinated at Lyons in June, 1894, by the Italian\nAnarchist Caserio Santo. When I left Paris President Falli\u00e8res had lately\ncome to the Elys\u00e9e. The interest of the British Colony largely centres in\nthe British Embassy, and the residence of the Ambassador in the Faubourg\nSt. Honor\u00e9 has been the scene of many notable gatherings. The house\nitself is a very attractive one, with beautiful gardens extending at\nthe back to the Champs Elys\u00e9es. It is said to have been built after the\ndesign of Mazin, in the eighteenth century, and was originally inhabited\nby the Princess Pauline Borgh\u00e9se. It may be interesting to some to know\nthat pieces of the Borgh\u00e9se furniture still remain in the Embassy,\nnotably the handsome bedstead. His Majesty the King occupied this when\nstaying at the Embassy. Some beautiful Empire clocks are to be seen in\nthe reception rooms, and are, I understand, unique and very valuable.\n\nIt was in the time of the Duke of Wellington that the property was\npurchased for the English Government. The price said to have been paid\nwas 625,000 frs., a comparatively small sum. It has proved a profitable\ninvestment, as property in this part of Paris has greatly increased\nin value. It is estimated that the property is now worth six millions\nof francs (\u00a3240,000). The following is, I believe, a complete list of\nthe Ambassadors who have resided there:\u20141816, Sir Charles Stuart; 1825,\nViscount Granville; 1829, Lord Stuart de Rothesay. During the reign of\nLouis Phillipe, Henry, Lord Cowley, and then the Marquis of Normanby,\nwere at the Embassy. 1852, Lord Cowley (son of the former Ambassador);\n1868, Lord Lyons; 1887, The Earl of Lytton. Lord Lytton died in June,\n1891, and was succeeded by the Marquis of Dufferin and Ava, who retired\nupon the age limit of seventy in 1896. He was succeeded by Sir Edmund\nMonson, who also retired from age, and the present occupant is the Right\nHon. Sir Francis Bertie, whose wife is a daughter of Lord Cowley, the\nformer Ambassador. I had intended, with the permission of the Ambassador,\nto put a board in the Embassy Gallery in the Church, recording the above\nfacts and dates, which would be of great interest to many, but I put it\noff until too late. Perhaps my successor may wish to carry out this idea.\n\nThe success and comfort of the Chaplain in his varied work connected\nwith the Embassy Church, naturally depends largely upon the support and\nsympathy of the Ambassador and his family. I desire to place it on record\nthat during my sixteen years\u2019 work in Paris, nothing could exceed the\nkindness and consideration which I received.\n\n[Illustration: EARL OF LYTTON.]\n\nMy first introduction to the Embassy was when the offer of the chaplaincy\ncame to me. There was then a considerable debt upon the Church, which\nI was required to undertake, and which caused me to hesitate. I was\nuncertain how far the Colony would support me. I was advised to go over\nto Paris and consult with Lady Lytton before I finally decided. I did so,\nand was most kindly received. We talked the matter over, and I related my\ndifficulties, when Lady Lytton said: \u201cCome, and we will help you to pay\noff this debt\u201d (\u00a3600). Her Excellency promised that she would organise\na bazaar, which would no doubt be sufficient. Soon after my arrival a\nmeeting was called and the matter put in hand, but alas! before the sale\ncould be held, the Earl of Lytton died.\n\nIt fell to Lady Dufferin\u2014who kindly took the matter up\u2014to make her first\npublic appearance as Ambassadress, at the opening ceremony. The effort\nproved most successful, the debt was paid, and a balance remained which\nenabled me to put double doors to the Church, which in the winter time\nwere most necessary. The Earl of Lytton was not a regular Church goer.\nHe used jokingly to say to me: \u201cYou are so crowded I can\u2019t get in\u201d; but\nLady Lytton and her daughters were most regular, and generally at both\nmorning and afternoon services on Sundays. Her Excellency took a great\ninterest in the British poor and in the various charities, especially in\nthe Victoria Home\u2014paying frequent visits to the old ladies\u2014much to their\ndelight.\n\nIt was a sad time in the English Colony when the family left. Personally,\nwe missed them greatly, for we were frequently at the Embassy, our\nchildren often played there, and in every way the relationship had been\nmost happy. It was a real pleasure to us to receive several visits from\nLady Lytton subsequently in Paris, and to answer her kind enquiries about\nfriends in the Colony.\n\nA change at the Embassy is always, for many reasons, an anxious moment\nfor the English colony. It was with real pleasure that we heard the news\nthat the Earl of Lytton was to be succeeded by the Marquis of Dufferin\nand Ava, who had been as part of his memorable career both Governor of\nIndia and Canada, and whose name was well known to all English people.\nLord and Lady Dufferin arrived in Paris in March, 1892.\n\nA hearty welcome was accorded to the Marquis and his family, and it was\nsoon felt that we had in him, not only an Ambassador accredited to the\nFrench Republic, but also one who realized his responsibilities to the\nlarge Colony of British people always to be found in Paris; and that in\nthis attitude he would be in every way supported by his noble wife. As\nchaplain to the Embassy Church I was most grateful for the kind reception\nand encouragement I received from the day of their arrival until their\nmuch regretted departure. It was delightful to see the Embassy gallery\nin church crowded the Sunday after their arrival, and to find they took\na lively interest in all religious and philanthropic questions. I was at\ntimes during my chaplaincy saddened by the too frequent neglect of the\nordinary Church services by the Churchmen on the staff of the Embassy.\nWhy is it that the Diplomatic seems the exception, with respect to a\ngeneral rule in the public service of at least one attendance at their\nown Church on Sundays? I had, however, no reason to complain of the\nattendance during Lord and Lady Dufferin\u2019s time in Paris\u2014the gallery was\ninvariably well filled. I suppose that after all it is in this service,\nas in others, a matter of example. As is known, the Marquis of Dufferin\nsuffered from deafness in his later years. He used sometimes to bring a\nbook of sermons, which he read while I preached.\n\n[Illustration: COUNTESS OF LYTTON.]\n\nThe Embassy was practically an open house during this time, and the\nenthusiasm and devotion of the British Colony remarkable. In May this\nyear a banquet was given in honour of the Queen\u2019s birthday, and was most\nbrilliant. The leading members of the Colony were invited. The banqueting\nhall was decorated with trophies gathered from many lands, and the table\n(as always) beautifully arranged with flowers, and some of the many\ncurios the Marquis possessed from Canada, Burmah, India, etc. It was part\nof my duty to say the Grace on these occasions.\n\nIn November of the same year I received a visit from my lamented friend,\nLord Plunket, late Archbishop of Dublin, and their Excellencies the\nMarquis and Marchioness of Dufferin and Ava honoured us by coming to meet\nhim at dinner. The late Canon Meyrick, the Bishop of Clogher, and P\u00e8re\nHyacinthe Loyson were also with us. It was a gathering preliminary to a\nvisit to Spain by Lord Plunket for the consecration of a Reformed Church\nin Madrid. I have said that the first public act of Lady Dufferin was to\nopen the Bazaar on behalf of the debt on the Church, which she did in a\ntelling little speech, which made a most favourable impression upon all\npresent. But Her Excellency may be said to have been always before the\npublic in Paris. She found time amid the onerous duties of the Embassy\nto visit the various charitable institutions, and to organize help and\ngive advice wherever needed. I remember on one occasion she came to\nthe meeting of the British Charitable Fund, and sat for a considerable\ntime listening to the various tales of woe that came before us. The\napplications to Her Excellency from professional beggars were very\nnumerous, but she never gave help without careful enquiry, and I was\nglad to be of frequent assistance to her in this matter. The Victoria\nHome for Aged British Women was regularly visited by Lady Dufferin and\nher daughters, indeed, almost every week, and Her Excellency knew all\nthe inmates and the story of their long life in France. She had no\nmore devoted admirers in the Colony. The Ladies Hermione and Victoria\nBlackwood were ever welcome, and spared neither time nor trouble to\nbrighten and cheer their lives. Photographs of the Dufferin family hang\nin many of the rooms, and long after they left the old ladies would make\nanxious and loving enquiries about them. The Girls\u2019 Friendly Society, as\nI have stated elsewhere, owes its present prosperous condition to the\nefforts of Lady Dufferin.\n\n[Illustration: THE MARQUIS OF DUFFERIN AND AVA.]\n\nMy predecessor, Rev. Howard Gill, realizing the necessity of a central\nbuilding where the various Church works could be concentrated, and\nwhere also much-needed rest and recreation rooms for young men might be\nestablished, had ventilated the idea of a Church House. There is no house\nor room of any kind connected with the Embassy Church. An influential\nmeeting was held in the Mansion House in London in furtherance of the\nproject, but owing to the debt on the church nothing had been done. As\nthis debt had been paid I felt we might move forward, and consulted\nLord and Lady Dufferin on the subject. The difficulty was to commence\na fund when so large a sum (about \u00a312,000) would be required. Their\nExcellencies, however, advised me to go forward, and promised me all the\nassistance they could. Lord Dufferin kindly wrote me a letter which I\npublished with an appeal. A short time after I was told by Lady Dufferin\nthat they had decided to allow a public sale in the Embassy on behalf of\nthe scheme. This proved to be a great success. Lady Dufferin presided\nover a stall assisted by the ladies of the Embassy, and the Ladies\nBlackwood conducted a fish pond which was largely patronized. The \u201cclew\u201d\nof the sale was an exhibition in a private room of all the \u201ccurios\u201d\nbelonging to Lord Dufferin, including a gilt filagree stand and drinking\ncup, which had belonged originally to the King of Burma. His Excellency\ntook the most lively interest in his own \u201cshow,\u201d and never tired going\nround to explain the various objects to the visitors. The nett result of\nthe sale was over 27,000 francs, and the fund was now fairly started; it\namounted to between seven and eight thousand pounds when I left Paris.\nThe house can now be purchased, as the balance required can easily be\nborrowed.\n\nThe thoughtful personal kindness I and my wife received from Lord and\nLady Dufferin is beyond words to express. I may only give one or two\nexamples. There is no residence attached to the Church, and as I was\nliving some distance away it was very difficult to get back after the\neight o\u2019clock Communion Service on Sunday mornings for breakfast, and\nbe down again for Sunday School (held in the Church) at 9.30. Lady\nDufferin at once recognized this, and kindly offered me breakfast on\nSunday mornings at the Embassy. The rest was most helpful, and I used\nto look forward to my meal in the pleasant gallery looking out upon\nthe garden\u2014and an occasional chat with Nowell, who waited upon me\u2014as\na most pleasant break in the constant work of Sunday. Nowell was the\nconfidential servant of Lord Dufferin for many years, who went with him\nto Canada in 1872, and had been with him in all his different posts.\n\nA rather amusing incident once happened. The late Archbishop of York was\nstaying at the Embassy, and we were invited to meet him at dinner on the\nSaturday evening. While I was at breakfast on Sunday morning he sent his\nservant down to ask me the way to the other English church!\n\nIn 1893-4 my wife had a most serious illness, and was confined to the\nhouse for some months. I can truly say that scarcely a day passed\nwithout Lady Dufferin coming in to see her, and often to sit with her\nfor a considerable time. Even when His Majesty the King (then Prince of\nWales) was in Paris, and lunching at the Embassy, she did not omit this\nkind office, but apologized for being late. Such kindness can never be\nrewarded or forgotten.\n\nOur relations with the French were not at this time of the most cordial\ncharacter, and I often feared that His Excellency had a good deal\nof anxiety that we knew nothing of\u2014as, of course, we never spoke of\n\u201cpolitics\u201d at the Embassy. I once, however, ventured to say that I feared\nhe had been passing through a troublous time, and he took and held my\nhand in his kind way and said: \u201cMy dear Noyes, when one has been through\nthe anxieties of Canada and India, it is not so difficult to support the\ntrouble here.\u201d\n\n[Illustration: THE MARCHIONESS OF DUFFERIN AND AVA.]\n\nBut if the Embassy had its grave moments it had its gay ones too. One\nmorning, quite early, I received a visit from apparently an old lady\n(really a very young one), who told me she was in great trouble. She\nseemed, however, very reluctant to explain, and said she would like to\nsee my wife. As she was not down I proposed she could come later, or,\nif she preferred, see me in the Vestry, where I usually received such\nvisits. After some demur she promised she would. I learned later in the\nday that it was one of the ladies from the Embassy\u2014disguised.\n\nShe went from me to the Chancery, and equally deceived one of the\nAttach\u00e9s. The \u201cmake up\u201d was very clever, and I was quite deceived.\nWe were dining at the Embassy the same evening, and His Excellency\nsaid, \u201cI wish she had got a franc from you, I should have put it on my\nwatch-chain.\u201d\n\nWe had a very enjoyable Christmas party at the Embassy in (I think) 1894.\nLady Dufferin had arranged for a sort of magnified charade, in which the\nfamily and most of the Attach\u00e9s took part, and in which they \u201ctook off\u201d\none another. The scene representing the writing of a dispatch in the\nChancery was most amusing, the peculiarities of the different secretaries\nwere cleverly caricatured. I was brought into the play, with some other\nmembers of the Colony.\n\nIt was a happy coincidence that there were two weddings in the Dufferin\nfamily during their stay in Paris. These occasions were peculiarly\ninteresting to me, as I had been in the habit of giving religious\ninstruction to the younger members of the family every week at the\nEmbassy; and also that I had known the Hon. W. Lee Plunket, who married\nLady Victoria Blackwood, for some years. His father, the late Archbishop,\nwas an intimate friend, with whom I had travelled much in England,\nScotland, Ireland, Spain, and Portugal. The first marriage, that of Lord\nTerence Blackwood and Miss Flora Davis, took place on Oct. 16th, 1893.\nMiss Davis being an American, the wedding took place in the Church of\nthe Holy Trinity, Avenue de l\u2019Alma, Dr. Morgan and myself being the\nofficiating clergy. The church was beautifully decorated, and well\nfilled with guests, both the English and American Colonies being largely\nrepresented. In the seats reserved for distinguished guests were Lord\nand Lady Dufferin, the United States Ambassador (Mr. and Mrs. Eustis),\nthe Baron and Baroness de Morenheim from the Russian Embassy, Mrs. J. H.\nDavis (stepmother of the bride), with some other relations. After the\nceremony a reception was held at the British Embassy, very numerously\nattended by both French and English. The large number of handsome\npresents\u2014under the charge of Nowell\u2014had many admiring visitors. It was\naltogether a most interesting and brilliant gathering, and the first\nmarriage from the Embassy for several years.\n\n[Illustration: TRAINBEARERS AT THE LADY PLUNKET\u2019S WEDDING.]\n\nThe wedding bells were, however, heard again when the Hon. W. Lee Plunket\n(now Lord Plunket, Governor of New Zealand) was married in the Embassy\nChurch to Lady Victoria Blackwood, daughter of their Excellencies Lord\nand Lady Dufferin. The wedding took place on June 4th, 1894, and was a\nmost interesting event. It had been given out that the marriage would\nbe of a semi-private character. Notwithstanding, the church was full\nto the doors. It was an interesting gathering from both the family and\npublic point of view. Mrs. Rowan Hamilton, Lady Helen Ferguson, Lady\nTerence Blackwood, Lady Hermione Blackwood, and the Hon. Elizabeth and\nOlive Plunket (sisters of the bridegroom), were present, and Miss Muriel\nStephenson and the Hon. Cynthia Lyttelton were among the bridesmaids.\nIn describing the bridal procession, the \u201cNew York Herald\u201d said: \u201cThe\nnoble Marquis, who wore the conventional frock coat, appeared deeply\nmoved as he led his beloved daughter to the altar. In close order behind\ncame the eight bridesmaids in their light dresses and broad hats,\nforming a very gay cort\u00e8ge, the rear of which was brought up by a weeny\nmite of six years or so in an ample Greenaway white skirt and mob cap,\nand her brother equally diminutive, a jolly little \u2018shaver,\u2019 alert as\nhe could be, his big blue eyes taking in everything, dressed in white\nknickerbockers and three-cornered white cavalier hat. How sweet they\nwere. Let me introduce them to you\u2014Miss Dora Geraldine Noyes and Master\nClaude Noyes.\u201d The latter, who had imbibed the idea that this ceremony\ninvolved the departure of Lady Victoria from the Embassy, for whom he had\na great admiration, was very indignant with Mr. Plunket, and \u201cwent for\nhim\u201d later on in the Embassy garden. It was a great pleasure to me to\nstand on this occasion side by side with Lord Plunket (then Archbishop\nof Dublin) and to assist in the marriage of his son. The signatories of\nthe marriage contract were the Earl of Dufferin and Ava, Lord Plunket\n(Archbishop of Dublin), Mr. F. Rowan Hamilton, the Hon. David Plunket,\nand myself. The reception after the ceremony in the Embassy gardens\nwas a brilliant gathering of \u201cTout Paris.\u201d M. Hanotaux (the newly\nappointed Minister of Foreign Affairs) was among those present, and the\nDiplomatic Corps were \u201cau grand complet.\u201d Many American friends of the\nfamily came to wish Godspeed and happiness to the young couple. It was a\nhappy gathering, and the fine old garden\u2014the scene of so many memorable\ngatherings\u2014looked its best.\n\nIn the Diplomatic service Ambassadors retire at the age of seventy; there\nwas real sorrow in the English Colony in Paris when it was known that the\nMarquis of Dufferin and Ava was nearing this period. It being, however,\ninevitable, it was decided to render their departure as little sorrowful\nas possible, so far as the British Colony was concerned. A Committee\nwas formed to consider a presentation to Lord Dufferin, and also a\nCommittee of ladies, who were anxious to mark their appreciation of Her\nExcellency\u2019s kindness and untiring work in connection with the various\ncharities. It was agreed to present to the Ambassador a portrait of his\nson, Lord Ava, who was also very popular, and M. Benjamin Constant was\ncommissioned to paint it.\n\nIt was unfortunately not ready for the day when the presentation was\nmade, but the subscribers were invited to view it later. It is now, of\ncourse, of very special value, owing to the unfortunate death of Lord\nAva in South Africa. At the banquet, when the presentation was made,\nthe Earl made a most interesting speech, part of which is well worth\nrecording. He said: \u201cThat he felt he was not addressing an audience,\nbut was speaking to a few dear and intimate friends, and therefore would\nnot make a set speech. When one had something to say from one\u2019s heart\nwords came easily. Considering the almost minatory words in Scripture,\naddressed to those who, like himself, had reached their seventieth year,\nhe hardly knew whether he might consider himself as possessed of a\nfuture, or whether he ought not to regard his life as over, and himself\nas an uninvited guest at a crowded banquet. He consoled himself, however,\nwith the reflection that the words of Holy Scripture were addressed to\na people whose life began rather earlier\u2014who married, for instance,\nsometimes at the age of ten, and whose girls were occasionally mothers at\nthat age. As he had not married till he was thirty-six, he concluded that\nhe was only now beginning his life. Speaking as he did in the British\nEmbassy, he remembered what he felt at his first appearance there. It\nwas in that room that he had ventured upon his first waltz, having been\nordered to dance. The lady was, he feared, thoroughly disgusted with her\npartner. In this room, too, he remembered a performance of the \u2018School\nfor Scandal,\u2019 in which three of the characters had been taken by three\ndescendants of Sheridan\u2014the Duchess of Somerset, his mother, and Mr.\nR. Sheridan. Finally, the room would be after this associated with one\nof the most gratifying incidents of his life, the presentation of this\ngift by his friends in Paris. He would like to say a few words on his\nchoice of the present. He had desired something which might descend to\nhis heirs, and remain long afterwards as a memorial of the kind feelings\nwith which he had been regarded in Paris. He had not chosen, therefore,\na valuable picture or other object which squandering descendants\u2014such\npersons were occasionally found in families\u2014would at once sell, but\nhe had asked for a portrait of his son which would grow more valuable\nwith time, and be a long-lasting memorial of his Paris career. It would\nbe among the most treasured of the objects which he had collected at\nClandeboy from all parts of the world.\u201d\n\nThe speech was delivered in the Earl\u2019s happiest vein, and was listened to\nwith rapt attention, though not without emotion, it being his last public\naddress to the British Colony in Paris.\n\nThe Colony, however, were not satisfied with shewing their warm\nappreciation of the kindness of their Ambassador. Lady Dufferin had won\nall hearts during her stay by her consideration and goodness to rich and\npoor. Almost every charity in Paris had benefited from the indefatigable\nwork of Her Excellency, who had gone thoroughly into the affairs of the\nvarious agencies and then set herself to strengthen any that were weak.\nNever did she fail to respond to any appeal, taking a personal interest\nin every case, often at a sacrifice to the demands upon her diplomatic\nduties. It was both a glad and a sad gathering in the \u201cGalerie des Champs\nElys\u00e9es\u201d in June, 1896, when the presentation committee and a large\ngathering of friends met to say farewell to their Ambassadress. The gift\nwas a lovely Louis XVI. clock and candelabras, and was presented on\nbehalf of the donors by the Hon. Mrs. Gye.\n\nIn reply Lady Dufferin said: \u201cIt is really impossible for me to say\nwhat I feel on this occasion, for I am quite overwhelmed by your\nkindness and by your expressions of friendship and goodwill. However\nundeserving of such kindness I may feel, it is a very great pleasure\nto me to receive this assurance of your sympathy. I thank you with all\nmy heart for your generous words, your good wishes, and for this most\nlovely gift. I thank you also for the many occasions upon which during\nthe last three years you have shewn your sympathy with other members\nof my family, and for the loyal support you have ever given me in all\nmatters relating to British charities in Paris. It is the duty, and I am\nsure it is the pleasure, of every English Ambassadress here to interest\nherself in these institutions, but without the hearty co-operation of the\nBritish residents, her fellow subjects, her interest in them could have\nno practical result. If, therefore, I have been able to promote in the\nslightest degree the welfare of any British charity here, it is because\nof the unfailing help and support I have received from you.\u201d\n\nShortly after, the departure of Lord and Lady Dufferin took place.\nIt was a time and scene not easily forgotten. The whole Embassy\nstaff were gathered in the hall, my wife and myself among them. The\nAmbassador and Lady Dufferin came down and went round to everyone,\nshaking hands and saying goodbye. There were few dry eyes. No ceremony\nmarked their departure beyond this, and they drove away in an ordinary\n\u201cgrowler\u201d\u2014it was just like them. Lord and Lady Dufferin returned to Paris\nsubsequently\u2014for the Emperor and Empress of Russia\u2019s visit\u2014but stayed at\nan hotel. I rarely met Lord Dufferin afterwards. The last time was at the\ncemetery at Mount Jerome, Dublin, when we stood beside the grave of the\nlate Lord Plunket. He then laid his hand on my shoulder, saying: \u201cNoyes,\nthis is a great deal out of your life;\u201d and so it was, for I had been\nintimate for many years with the Archbishop. It has been our delight to\nwelcome Lady Dufferin on several occasions since.\n\nThe death of Lord Ava in South Africa, so deservedly loved, was a great\nblow to Lord Dufferin, and one of the sorrows which no doubt brought him\nto the grave.\n\nOn that occasion he wrote me the following letter:\u2014\n\n    \u201cMy dear Noyes,\u2014\n\n    \u201cI knew you would feel for us, and my wife and I are deeply\n    grateful to you and Mrs. Noyes for the sympathy you have shewn\n    us. We know no details except that the telegram told us that\n    our poor boy died without having ever recovered consciousness\n    from the time he was struck. It is God\u2019s will, and we must try\n    to submit in patience.\n\n                         \u201cYours very sincerely,\n\n                                                 \u201cDUFFERIN AND AVA.\u201d\n\nThe successor to the Marquis of Dufferin in Paris was Sir Edmund Monson,\nBart., who had held many and important posts in the public service. He\ncame to the Faubourg St. Honor\u00e9 in October, 1896, having been Ambassador\nExtraordinary, and Plenipotentiary to the Emperor of Austria since 1893.\nHe was appointed a Royal Commissioner for the Paris Exhibition of 1900,\nand was made an honorary D.C.L. of Oxford in 1898. He also received the\nGrand Cross of the Legion of Honour from the French Government.\n\nSir Edmund and Lady Monson received a hearty welcome from Parisians\ngenerally, and the Ambassador soon won his way with us all by his kindly\nmanner and warm interest in whatever concerned the British Colony. There\nwere many important events during the time Sir E. Monson was with us,\namong which was the celebration of the Jubilee of Queen Victoria, which\ntook place in June, 1897. A garden party was given at the Embassy, which\nwas very largely attended. The \u201cFigaro\u201d said there were about four\nthousand present. The entire Diplomatic Corps, artistic, political, and\nliterary celebrities, distinguished visitors to Paris, and the leading\nmembers of the British Colony were included. Madame Felix Faur\u00e9 and\nMlle. Lucie Faur\u00e9, wife and daughter of the President, M. Hanotaux, and\nmany others well known in French politics and society, were amongst the\nguests. General Horace Porter, the American Ambassador, was supported by\na large number of the American Colony. The following day a Children\u2019s\nF\u00eate was held at St. Cloud. Special boats conveyed the young Britishers\nto the rendezvous, and a most enjoyable day was spent. Between eight and\nnine hundred sat down to tea, when patriotic speeches were made amid\nhearty demonstrations of loyalty to the Throne. It is not an unimportant\npart of the chaplain\u2019s work to keep \u201cgreen\u201d in the hearts of the young\nliving in Paris the home feeling, and to prevent their slipping away from\nattachment to their Sovereign.\n\nThe following year was marked by the \u201cFashoda\u201d incident, which, it will\nbe remembered, caused much excitement in both countries. Relations were\nsomewhat strained, and all sorts of exaggerated rumours got abroad. I\nremember it being reported that Sir E. Monson had gone to the Elys\u00e9e with\nan \u201cUltimatum\u201d in his pocket; and again, that the Embassy had commenced\nto pack up with a view to removal! In December, 1898, the British\nChamber of Commerce gave a banquet, at which Sir Edmund Monson made a\nspeech which caused considerable excitement. On arrival, I found the\njournalists, who had seen a copy of the speech before it was delivered,\nin a considerable flutter, M. Blowitz of the \u201cTimes\u201d being especially\nactive. There was marked silence during the delivery of the speech by the\nAmbassador. The following is the most striking passage: \u201cI would entreat\nthe French Nation to resist the temptation to try to thwart British\nenterprise by petty man\u0153uvres; such as I grieve to see suggested by the\nproposal to set up educational establishments as rivals to our own in the\nnewly acquired provinces of the Soudan. Such ill-considered provocation,\nto which I confidently trust no official countenance will be given, might\nwell have the effect of converting that policy of forbearance from taking\nthe full advantage of our recent victories, and our present position,\nwhich has been enunciated by our highest authority into the adoption of\nmeasures, which, though they evidently find favour with no inconsiderable\nparty in England, are not, I presume, the object at which French\nsentiment is aiming.\u201d\n\n[Illustration: COURT YARD, BRITISH EMBASSY.]\n\nIn February of the next year, President Felix Faur\u00e9 died quite\nunexpectedly. There was a certain mystery about his death which has never\nbeen quite cleared up to the public satisfaction. The wildest rumours\nwere spread in Paris. I visited the Elys\u00e9e, and the salon where the dead\nPresident lay. He looked much as I had often seen him in life. He was\ndressed in evening clothes, the prevailing custom in France. The funeral\nwas most imposing. But \u201cLe Roi est mort, vive le Roi.\u201d Very soon the\nquestion of a successor came on, and the grand Salon at Versailles (where\nthe German Emperor was crowned in 1870) was filled with the deputies to\nelect their President. The choice fell upon M. Loubet\u2014contrary to the\nexpectation of many\u2014and the event showed that he was the right man, for\nduring his Presidency France had a comparatively quiet period.\n\nNext year (1900) came the great Exhibition, when we were flooded with\nvisitors from all parts of the world. Sir Edmund Monson kindly placed the\nballroom at the Embassy at my disposal for an overflow service on the\nSunday mornings, as the church proved too small.\n\nIndeed, nothing could exceed the interest and kindness of the Ambassador\nin all Church matters. During this year the Annual Conference of\nContinental Chaplains was held in Paris, as it gave them the opportunity\nto visit the Exhibition. Halls suitable for such a gathering were very\nexpensive, but again the Ambassador came to our aid, and we held the\nConference in the ballroom at the Embassy. He also gave a banquet to the\nchaplains, which was much appreciated. I unfortunately caught typhoid\nfever at the end of the year, and so was debarred from many of the\nclosing functions which were crowded into that time.\n\nIn 1901 came our great National loss in the death of England\u2019s greatest\nQueen. I have described elsewhere the deep feeling manifested in the\nBritish Colony in Paris, and the services held in connection with that\nsad event.\n\nI have spoken above of the kindness of Sir E. Monson in all Church\nmatters. When the time of his departure drew near, I wrote to tell him\nhow much the British Colony, and especially the congregation of the\nEmbassy Church, appreciated what he had done. He wrote me the following\nletter:\u2014\n\n    \u201cMy dear Dr. Noyes,\u2014\n\n    \u201cI am deeply touched by your kind letter of yesterday; and it\n    is a real gratification to me to think that our association\n    during the last eight years has been productive of such\n    relations of friendship as have constantly existed between\n    us, and that our steady co-operation in the interests of the\n    English community here has never failed to be advantageous.\n\n    \u201cIn the many posts which I have occupied in Her Majesty\u2019s\n    service, it has always been one of my chief pleasures to come\n    into contact with the English chaplains, and it has so happened\n    that wherever I have been I have had opportunities of making a\n    general acquaintance with all the accessible clergy. I have had\n    special experience of their devotion to their work, and though\n    differences of opinion are inevitable, I have never found that\n    such differences have seriously interfered with social liking\n    and harmony. It has consequently been always a real pleasure to\n    my wife and myself to welcome the chaplains whenever a general\n    meeting calls them together at the post we may be occupying.\n    It is not so easy at Paris as it is elsewhere to be in touch\n    with a large British community, but everyone with whom we\n    have made acquaintance has given us evidence of interest for\n    which we cannot but be very grateful. We hope to be from time\n    to time in Paris, and whether we have a sort of home here or\n    not, we shall at any rate look upon the Rue d\u2019Aguesseau Church\n    as a spot in which we have a vested interest, and where we\n    shall never be regarded as strangers. With my wife\u2019s very kind\n    regards to yourself and Mrs. Noyes, I remain, dear Dr. Noyes,\n\n                         \u201cMost sincerely yours,\n\n                                                    \u201cEDMUND MONSON.\u201d\n\nSir Edmund Monson left us at the close of 1904, to the sincere regret of\nall his friends. He was succeeded by the present Ambassador, the Right\nHon. Sir Francis Bertie, K.C.M.G., etc., who came into residence in\nJanuary, 1905.\n\nThe staff at the Embassy is continually changing, so that during my long\nchaplaincy in Paris I made the acquaintance of many, and the friendship\nof some now serving King and country in different parts of the world. It\nwould, I think, be difficult to find in the public service a finer body\nof men than those in Diplomacy.\n\nThe journalist has no doubt minimised to some extent the work formerly\ndone by the Diplomatist\u2014as Sir Edmund Monson pointed out in one of his\nspeeches. But the adjustment of international difficulties, and the\nsolving of delicate questions continually arising\u2014the \u201ckeeping of the\nbuttons tight\u201d\u2014leaves a vast amount of work with which Diplomacy only can\ndeal, and for which the careful technical training for that service alone\nsupplies the knowledge.\n\nOne of the best-known figures at the Embassy is Sir Henry Austin Lee,\nC.B., etc., who has been many years attached to the Embassy, and is\nuniversally loved and respected. He has had, as is well known, a very\ndistinguished career.\n\nAmong the many important appointments he has held, it will be remembered\nthat he was attached to the late Marquis of Salisbury\u2019s special Embassy\nto Constantinople in 1876, and the special Embassy during the Congress\nin Berlin in 1878, being assistant private secretary to the late Earl of\nBeaconsfield. He is now Commercial Attach\u00e9 in Paris, and Councillor of\nthe Embassy, and also Director and member of the Managing Committee of\nthe Suez Canal Company. Sir Henry Lee takes the warmest interest in the\nBritish charities in Paris, and is Chairman of the Schools and member of\nthe Committee of the British Charitable Fund. His marriage was the last\nheld in the Embassy. I officiated with his brother at the ceremony. Her\nRoyal Highness the Princess of Wales (then Princess May) was present on\nthe occasion, and H.R.H. the Duke of Teck one of the witnesses.\n\nSir Charles Ottley, Admiral Sir William May, and Capt. Morgan were Naval\nAttach\u00e9s during my sojourn, and Major-General the Hon. Sir Reginald\nTalbot, the late Lt.-Col. W. F. Bonham, and Lt.-Col. H. C. Lowther,\nMilitary Attach\u00e9s.\n\n[Illustration: SIR HENRY AUSTIN LEE, K.C.M.G., C.B.]\n\nSir E. Egerton (who has just left Rome), the late Sir Michael Herbert\n(who went from us to Washington), Sir Maurice de Bunsen (now Ambassador\nin Madrid), Sir Rennel Rodd (lately appointed to Rome), the Hon. Reginald\nLister (who has lately left for Morocco), Sir Charles Harding, Mr. H.\nJ. O. Beirne, Lord Berwick, the Earl of Sheffield, the present Lord\nMonson (whom I married), and many others, were at the Embassy during\nmy time, and with some of whom I was privileged to work in the various\nphilanthropic and other efforts in the British Colony.\n\nOne of my greatest regrets in leaving Paris was the necessary severance\nof my connection with the Embassy, and the parting from those who had\nshown me so much kindness.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER III.\n\nMEMORABLE SERVICES.\n\n\nDuring my chaplaincy there were several memorable services in the English\nEmbassy Church. The first of these was the funeral of the late Earl of\nLytton, Her Majesty\u2019s Ambassador of France.\n\nLord Lytton died in November, 1891, at the Embassy. His death was\nunexpected and sudden. Upon hearing the sad news I called at the Embassy\nand saw Lady Lytton, who was naturally very much affected. I remember\nthat she took me by the hand and led me into the chamber of death, and\nwe both knelt down, and I prayed with her. The Earl was very little\nchanged by death, and lay as if asleep. Each morning afterwards, until\nthe funeral, I went to the Embassy and conducted family prayers. The\nrelatives had gathered, and I had quite a large number. Several of the\nBalfour family were present, amongst whom was Lady Betty Balfour, the\neldest daughter of Lady Lytton, who has since, as is well known, edited\nher father\u2019s classic letters.\n\n[Illustration: BRITISH EMBASSY CHURCH, FROM THE RUE D\u2019AGUESSEAU.]\n\nThe funeral took place on Saturday, November 28th, and was most imposing.\nThe late Earl was very popular with the French, so much so that it\nhad been decided that the funeral must be public, and of the \u201cclass\u201d\nusually accorded to a Marshal of France. The scene in the church was\nvery remarkable. The Embassy had taken the body of the Church for the\nDiplomatic Corps and the high officials of state of the French Republic.\nOne gallery was reserved for the special and intimate friends of Lady\nLytton, and the other gallery was the only space available for members of\nthe English Colony generally. The body of the Church presented a striking\nappearance. All the Foreign Ambassadors and their suites were present\nin full diplomatic dress, and the Military and Naval Attach\u00e9s in their\nbrilliant uniforms. I remember that Colonel the Hon. R. Talbot (as he was\nthen) was especially remarked in his English scarlet dress. The French\nGovernment, the Political, Naval, Military, and Civil Administrations\nwere all represented, and many of the most distinguished men in art,\nscience, and literature had come to pay the last tribute to the deceased\nAmbassador.\n\nThe outer coffin was quite plain, in accordance with Lady Lytton\u2019s\ndesire, and bore the inscription \u201cEdward Robert, First Earl of Lytton,\nborn November 8th, 1831, died November 24th, 1891.\u201d\n\nThe British Chamber of Commerce and the Hon. Whitelaw Reid had sent\nflowers (evidently not knowing of the order \u201cNo flowers\u201d), but the only\nemblem in the Church was a simple wreath of laurel, which rested on the\ncoffin. The Church was draped from ceiling to floor in black and silver,\nand the effect was very striking.\n\nI have a record by me of some of those who were present, and it is an\ninteresting list of names. There was the Prince of Monaco, M. Ribot (with\nthe staff of the French Foreign Office), General Brug\u00e8re, M. Falli\u00e8res\n(then President of the Senate), MM. Jules Ferry, L\u00e9on Fay, Goblet, and\nFlourens. Then I saw Barons Alphonse Gustave and Edmund de Rothschild,\nComte Armaud, Prince de Sagan, the Marquis de Breteuil, Alexandre Dumas,\nthe Marquis de Jaucourt, and Comte de Portales. These are but a few of\nthe well-known French names. In the gallery amongst many others were\nthe Baroness Morenheim (wife of the Russian Ambassador at that time),\nthe Countess Hoyos, Madame and Mlle. de Freycinet. I heard that amongst\nothers a telegram of sympathy was received from Madame Sarah Bernhardt,\nwho was in America. The pall bearers were the Count von Munster (the\nGerman Ambassador), Mr. Egerton, C.B. (Minister Plenipotentiary at the\nBritish Embassy), Sir E. Blount (representing the English Colony). M.\nRibot (French Minister of Foreign Affairs), and MM. Jules Claretie and\nCamile Doucet, representing literature and science.\n\nI shall never forget the scene in the streets. It had been arranged\nthat the body of the late Earl should be taken from the Church in Rue\nd\u2019Aguesseau to the Gare St. Lazare, to be conveyed to England. All the\ntraffic was stopped between the Church and the railway station, and\nthe streets were lined with military and police, and many thousands of\nspectators. It was said that 3,000 soldiers were employed, and that the\nprocession took thirty minutes to pass any given spot. The demeanour of\nthe immense crowd in the streets was most respectful and sympathetic, and\nall heads were bared as the coffin passed.\n\nWhen we arrived at the railway, the hearse drew up at the entrance gate,\nand then followed a most impressive demonstration. I, with the other\nclergy and the sons of the deceased Ambassador, stood in front of the\nhearse; grouped round were the Ambassadors and State Officials, and\nnow the entire body of the French troops filed past in review order and\nsaluted the bier. I noticed that as the regimental flags were borne past,\nthe Military Attach\u00e9s saluted them and the civilians uncovered. The\ninterment took place at Knebworth. We had a memorial service in Paris,\nand I made reference in the sermon to the distinguished services of the\nlate Ambassador, and by request of Lady Lytton the sermon was published.\n\nIt was said at the time that the Earl of Lytton was the first Ambassador\nwho had died at his post in Paris, but this is, I believe, not quite\ncorrect, as James Beaton, Archbishop of Glasgow, was Ambassador for Queen\nMary and King James I. at the French Court, and he died in Paris in 1603.\nCuriously he was known as Jacques de Bethune de Balfour\u2014the name Balfour\nbeing thus common to both families.\n\nBut a few weeks afterwards, and a second impressive and public service\nfor the burial of the dead was held in the Embassy Chapel, this time as\na memorial to the Duke of Clarence and Avondale. His early death had\nevoked a world-wide sympathy, and Her Majesty\u2019s Charg\u00e9 d\u2019Affaires in\nParis, Mr., now Sir E. H. Egerton, requested a public service. Upon this\noccasion the gorgeous diplomatic and military uniforms were not worn, as\netiquette only prescribes the wearing of uniform at a funeral service in\nthe case of a reigning sovereign, or of an Envoy Plenipotentiary. This\nfact, however, did but add to the solemnity of the scene. As was the case\nat the funeral service for the Earl of Lytton, the body of the Church\nwas reserved for the French officials and the Corps Diplomatique, while\nthe unreserved part was filled with members of the British Colony, all\nthe ladies being dressed in mourning. The Church chancel and pulpit was\ndraped with black and silver hangings, the porch outside being similarly\ndecorated, the Royal arms being emblazoned in the centre. There was a\nlarge gathering of distinguished Frenchmen on this occasion: President\nCarnot was represented by Colonel Dalstein; the Prime Minister, M.\nde Freycinet, by Colonel Pamard; the Minister of Marine by Captain\nThomas, of the Navy; and General Saussier, Governor of Paris, by Colonel\nCourbebaisse. M. Ribot, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, was present,\nand among other Frenchmen of prominence were M. d\u2019Ormesson, Master of\nthe Ceremonies; M. de Mahy, Vice-President of the Chamber of Deputies;\nM. Poubelle, Prefect of the Seine; the Duc de Luynes, and the Duc de\nMouchy. Among the Diplomatic Corps I noticed Count Hoyos, the Austrian\nAmbassador; Colonel de Fr\u00e9ed\u00e9ricksz, Military Attach\u00e9 of the Russian\nEmbassy; M. de Sch\u00f6n, of the German Embassy; M. Delyanni, the Greek\nMinister; Missak-Effendi, who replaced his chief, Essad Pasha, kept at\nhome by influenza; the Baron de Almeda; M. Jusserand; Mr. Vignaud, of the\nUnited States Legation; General Meredith Read, and others. The members\nof the British Embassy were present \u201cau grand complet,\u201d headed by Mr. E.\nEgerton, Charg\u00e9 d\u2019Affaires, and Mr. Austin Lee.\n\nI conducted the service, assisted by my valued colleague Rev. J. C. Pyper\nand two other clergymen, and preached from the text \u201cWeep with them that\nweep.\u201d Before closing I took occasion to thank those of other Nations\nfor their kind expression of sympathy on the sad event. The guests were\nreceived at the Church door by Sir E. H. Egerton and Lt.-Col. the Hon.\nReginald Talbot, the British Military Attach\u00e9, as we had no Ambassador\nyet appointed to succeed the Earl of Lytton. Real sympathy was very\nmanifest through the whole service.\n\nThe following year (1893) there died in Paris a remarkable man, Rev.\nWhitaker McCall, the founder of the McCall Mission among the French\npeople, whom it was my privilege to know during the last four years of\nhis life. For twenty-three years this devoted man had worked in the\nlowest parts of Paris with remarkable success; so much so that in 1892 he\nwas accorded the Cross of the Legion d\u2019Honneur by the President of the\nFrench Republic as a mark of appreciation of the work he had done. He was\nalso given the medal of the \u201cSoci\u00e9t\u00e9 libre d\u2019Instruction et d\u2019Education\npopulaires,\u201d and that of the \u201cSoci\u00e9t\u00e9 Nationale d\u2019encouragement au Bien.\u201d\nI believe he was the only Englishman who has thus been honoured, and this\nis the more remarkable as his work was purely and altogether religious.\nThe Salles des Conferences scattered through Paris and the Provinces are\na lasting tribute to his memory, and remain centres in which the work is\nstill carried on. The funeral was held in the Church of the Oratoire in\nthe Rue de Rivoli. A vast crowd filled the large building in every part.\nThis church is remarkable from the fact that it was given to the French\nProtestants by Napoleon the Great, and at one time\u2014before the Church in\nthe Rue d\u2019Aguesseau was bought\u2014was used for English Church services on\nSunday evenings. My friend Dr. Pigou, the Dean of Bristol, tells me that\nhe frequently took services there when he was connected with the old Rue\nMarb\u0153uf Church.\n\nI was asked to take part in the funeral service of Mr. McCall, as\nrepresenting the English Colony. It was a scene not easily forgotten.\nThe immense crowd, the hymns sung in French, and the addresses\u2014of which\nI gave one, in both French and English\u2014were listened to with wrapt\nattention. It was the last and a loving tribute to one who has probably\ndone more than any other to place the Word of God in the hands of the\nFrench people.\n\n[Illustration: BRITISH EMBASSY CHURCH (INTERIOR).]\n\nThe following year was marked by public services of a different kind.\nIt was the Diamond Jubilee of our late Queen, of glorious memory,\nand the British Colony in Paris\u2014and there is none more loyal to the\nthrone\u2014determined to mark it in a special manner. Public meetings were\nheld in the Hotel Continental, kindly lent for the purpose, and it was\ndecided to raise a fund which, after deducting the expenses connected\nwith the f\u00eate, should be devoted to the various British charities of\nParis without distinction of creed. It was also decided to give a f\u00eate\nto the children of the Colony and a dinner to the working classes. I\nconsulted with Sir E. Monson, our Ambassador, who arranged with me that\nthere should be services held in the Embassy Church corresponding with\nthe services in London on Sunday, June 20th. An official service was also\narranged for the afternoon of the same day to which the Diplomatic Corps\nwere to be invited. The following is a description of the services:\u2014\n\n\u201cAt the Embassy Church, in the Rue d\u2019Aguesseau, there were two\nthanksgiving services, one at eleven a.m., at the close of which the\nRev. Dr. Noyes, who wore the scarlet cassock of a Doctor of Divinity,\ndelivered a touching and eloquent address. He stirred a deep chord in\nthe heart of those who heard him by reminding them that, though in a\nforeign land for the time being, they were in communion of thought with\nmillions of their countrymen at home, and many more millions of their\nfellow subjects in distant regions, even in the most remote corners of\nthe earth, in offering their thanksgivings for the blessings the Queen\u2019s\nreign had conferred on England and the British people.\n\n\u201cThe official thanksgiving service also took place at the Rue\nd\u2019Aguesseau, at three o\u2019clock in the afternoon. The admission to the\nchurch was by tickets, as a large portion of the nave had to be reserved\nfor the French officials and the members of the Corps Diplomatique; but\nthe English community was also present in large numbers, and the church\nwas densely crowded. The Corps Diplomatique, with the exception of the\nUnited States Ambassador, whom etiquette compels to wear evening dress\non State occasions, were all in full dress. Our Embassy received the\nvarious officials and Diplomatists, and showed them to their places.\nThere were present, representing England, Sir Edmund and Lady Monson (the\nlate), Mr. Gosselin, Colonel Dawson, Mr. Clarke Thornhill, Sir Brook\nBoothby, Mr. Marling, Mr. Barclay, Sir Berkeley Sheffield, the British\nConsul General and Vice Consul, Messrs. Percy Inglis, and Mr. Falconer\nAtlee. President Faure was represented by the captain of the frigate\nSerpette, and the French Government by M. Hanotaux and M. Mollard. The\nGerman Ambassador and Countess Marie de M\u00fcnster, the Russian Ambassador\nand some of his Attach\u00e9s two of whom wore the splendid uniform of\nthe Chevaliers Gardes; the Austrian Ambassador, in whose suite was a\nHungarian magnate in a splendid national dress, the Italian Ambassador,\none of whose Attach\u00e9s was attired in the picturesque garb of a Colonel\nof Bersaglieri; the Persian Ambassador, Munir Bey, and his Staff, decked\nin gorgeous uniforms, contrasting strangely with the unpretending fez,\nwhich, of course, they did not remove; the Chinese Ambassador and a\ncouple of quaintly dressed Mandarins, filled the nave of the unpretending\nlittle church with a glittering array of gold lace such as I think was\nnever before congregated within its walls. The rest of the nave and the\ngalleries were filled by the ticket-holders, and they were all obviously\nEnglish, ladies largely predominating. The service was shorter than that\nin the morning, but there was no sermon, and at the close the choir sang\nthe first and last verses of the National Anthem, in which the English\npart of the congregation joined. The Ambassador and his Staff then\ntook up places at the entrance of the nave, and shook hands with the\ndiplomatists and officials as they passed out.\u201d\n\nThere were some very striking testimonies in the French papers to the\nGreatness of the Queen, e.g., in the \u201cGaulois,\u201d M. Imbert de St. Amand\nwrote:\u2014\n\n\u201cQueen Victoria has not only been a model Sovereign, she has also been\nthe model of all wives, of all widows, of all mothers. She might be\ndescribed in a very few words\u2014virtue on the Throne. As a rule, long\nreigns generally end in sadness. Charlemagne wept at the sight of\nthe Northmen\u2019s galleys scouring the coasts. Charles V., weary and\ndisheartened, sought the living death of the cloister, and was present\nat his own funeral service. Louis XIV. remarked to Marshal Villars after\nhis last defeat, \u2018We cannot at our time of life hope for good luck.\u2019 None\nof these precedents holds good in the case of her Britannic Majesty. Her\nreign, after sixty years, seems to defy the efforts of time. There are\nno signs of decay, but of a permanent renewal of life. The popularity\nof the Queen grows with every year added to her reign, and the joy and\nenthusiasm with which her three hundred and fifty millions of subjects\nacclaim it are the crowning and most touching feature of her Diamond\nJubilee. The Queen fully merits this apotheosis, since she is the noblest\nincarnation of all the leading qualities of the Anglo-Saxon race\u2014love\nof her home, firmness of purpose, energy in effort, unswerving devotion\nto duty. England sees herself mirrored in her Sovereign, and takes just\npride in the presentment. She and her people are one.\u2026 Every class of\nFrench society, without any distinction of party and origin, unites in\nrespectful greeting of the Sovereign who stands out as the grandest\nwomanly figure of her century\u2014the heroine of duty, whom not only her\nchildren, but her whole people venerate as the most intelligent, the most\ndevoted, the best of mothers. Like our neighbours, we shall all say, \u2018God\nSave the Queen,\u2019 and with all our hearts take part in the Jubilee, which\nis at once the triumph of the woman and the triumph of the Queen.\u201d\n\nAnd again M. Comely in the \u201cMatin\u201d:\u2014\n\n\u201cIt is impossible for a civilized being to refrain from a feeling of\ndeep admiration at this splendid result of the past sixty years. But\nit is difficult for a Frenchman not to feel some bitterness when he\ncompares the situation of England with that of his own country. Queen\nVictoria has known one King of the French, one Emperor of the French,\nand six Presidents of the French Republic. From her steady, unchanging,\nRoyal observatory, she has beheld the rise and fall of eight Sovereigns!\nThis stability of England, compared with the instability of France,\nis sufficient in itself to account for the reason why France has been\ngrowing less while England has been growing greater; the one has been\nshrinking, the other has been expanding.\u201d\n\nThe f\u00eates were a great success, and a grand testimony\u2014if it were\nneeded\u2014to the loyalty of Britishers living in France. About fourteen\nhundred applied for tickets. St. Cloud, a favourite suburb of Paris\non the Seine, and the Restaurant du Parc\u2014the scene of many British\nf\u00eates\u2014were decided upon. Four of the \u201cHirondelles\u201d boats were chartered\nto convey the party down the river. As each boat reached the jetty,\nthe band of the Pavilion Bleu, a well-known restaurant, struck up the\nNational Anthem. After dessert the following telegram was read, which\nhad been sent by Sir E. Blount, then the \u201cdoyen\u201d of the Colony, to\nHer Majesty Queen Victoria: \u201cWe your Majesty\u2019s most loyal and loving\nsubjects, venture to offer our heartfelt congratulations on this\nauspicious day, and pray for the continuance to your Majesty of those\nblessings which have shed such a lustre on your Majesty\u2019s glorious\nreign.\u201d The following reply was received: \u201cThe Queen desires me to\nthank you and Her British subjects in Paris for your kind message and\ncongratulations. Bigge.\u201d\n\nMr. A. Percy Inglis, the highly-respected Consul-General in Paris, made\na patriotic speech. His proposal of a toast to the Queen was received\nwith the utmost enthusiasm. I also made a speech on the occasion, and\ntook the opportunity of explaining the history of the \u201cUnion Jack,\u201d at\nwhich the audience seemed greatly pleased. Paris joined heartily in the\ncelebrations, and the Rue de la Paix was a mass of flags, and parts of\nthe City were illuminated. The English business houses all displayed\nflags in profusion.\n\nIn January, 1900, there was a remarkable gathering in the Embassy Church\nat the funeral of an English governess. It was the time of the Boer\nWar, and it was said that the well-known firm of \u201cCreusot\u201d had supplied\nthe guns which had done such execution against us in South Africa. This\nlady had been a governess in the family at the head of the firm, and was\ngreatly respected. The firm paid all the expenses of the funeral, and\nattended in such large numbers that the body of the church was filled\nwith men. It was a remarkable coincidence that at such a time the English\nChurch in Paris should be filled with those who had, it was understood,\nsupplied the munitions of war used against us, to pay a tribute of\nrespect to a British subject, the service being conducted by an English\nclergyman.\n\nIn 1901 came that sad event which plunged the Nation into mourning\u2014the\ndeath of Her Majesty Queen Victoria. The sympathy of the French people\nwith us in our sorrow was very marked. I consulted with Sir Edmund\nMonson, our Ambassador, who desired that special and official services\nshould be held in the Embassy Church at the time of the funeral in\nEngland. The following account of what was done in Paris appeared in the\n\u201cGalignani Messenger\u201d of that date:\u2014\n\n\u201cRarely, if ever before, has the little church in the Rue d\u2019Aguesseau\nheld a more august assembly than it did yesterday morning, and the\nservice, in its grandeur and simplicity, was in every way suited to the\nsolemn occasion. It consisted of a few prayers; Psalms xc. and cxxx.; the\nfavourite hymns of the late Queen: \u2018Hark, hark my soul!\u2019 \u2018Lead, kindly\nlight,\u2019 and an anthem, \u2018All ye who weep,\u2019 with Gounod\u2019s music. No address\nwas given, but the two final prayers\u2014one in memory of the late Queen, the\nother invoking the Almighty\u2019s blessing on the new King\u2014were specially\nwritten for the occasion, and went home to the hearts of all present. The\nRev. Dr. Noyes conducted the service, assisted by several other clergymen\nresident in Paris, and the choir, consisting of about fifty voices, was\nheard to great advantage.\n\n\u201cThe church was sumptuously decorated in black drapery and silver,\nbut, possibly, the effect would have been more impressive if the large\nmonograms V.I.R., in bright yellow, and the Royal Arms in colours, had\nnot figured so prominently.\n\n\u201cLady Monson was early in attendance, and Sir Michael Herbert, assisted\nby Mr. Austin Lee, Commercial Attach\u00e9, and Mr. Colville Barclay received\nthe numerous and influential congregation.\n\n\u201cMme. Loubet, accompanied by Mmes. Dubois and Combarieu, was amongst\nthe early arrivals, Colonel Nicholas in attendance. The President was\nrepresented by M. Combarieu.\n\n\u201cMme. Loubet, upon her arrival, was conducted to a seat near the choir,\nby the side of Lady Monson.\n\n\u201cOne side of the church was reserved to the Diplomatic corps, every\nmember of which was present, save, of course, the Papal Nuncio, and the\nRussian Ambassador, who was unwell, and was represented by his First\nSecretary. On the other, all the members of the present Cabinet, who\nwithout exception were present in person, including M. Waldeck-Rousseau,\nPresident of the Council, MM. Dupuy, Delcass\u00e9, Pierre Baudin, General\nAndr\u00e9, etc., also M. Paul Deschanel, President of the Chamber of\nDeputies; M. Falli\u00e8res, President of the Senate; the Military Governor\nof Paris, the Prefect of the Seine, and a great number of Deputies, MM.\nHanotaux, Le Myre de Viliers, R. Bompard, etc.\n\n\u201cThe lower gallery at the back of the church was reserved for\nrepresentatives of Royalty: Prince Roland Bonaparte, Princesse Mathilde,\nPrincesse Marie of Mecklenburg, and the Baron Machiba, representing the\nCountess d\u2019Eu.\n\n\u201cAmongst other notabilities present were: Baronne Faverot de Kebrech (N\u00e9e\nSeymour), Marquis de Lau, Marquise de Peralt, Comte de Vettre, Comte de\nGanay, Baron Edouard de Rothschild, Baronne Decases Stackelberg, Comte\nand Comtesse Jean de Castellane, Vicomte L\u00e9on de Janze, Mr. John K.\nGowdy (American Consul), MM. Crozier (Chef du Protocol) and Mollard,\nMarquis d\u2019Harcourt, MM. Picard and F. Arago, Comte Greffulhe, Comte de\nClermont-Tonnerre, and M. and Mme. Benjamin Constant.\n\n\u201cThe English Colony was represented by: Sir Edward and Lady Sassoon,\nColonel Mapleson, Mr. Henry Blount, Mr. (now Sir) T. Barclay (President\nof the Chamber of Commerce), Mr. T. Hounsfield (Vice-President), Messrs.\nInglis (Consul,) J. (now Sir John) Pilter, W. C. Robertson, P. Lammin\nand Mrs. Lammin, Messrs. Spearman, Ablett, and C. E. Lord, Captain\nChurchward, and Messrs. Brigstocke and A. Coleman.\n\n\u201cAt the close the organ pealed forth the well-known Dead March in \u2018Saul,\u2019\nthe effect of which was marred by the departing congregation, who, after\nthe French fashion, shook hands with Sir Michael Herbert and the other\nattach\u00e9s to the Embassy, who stood in a row near the porch.\n\n\u201cThe afternoon service was of an equally simple character, in fact it\nwas like the one held in the morning. But instead of officials clad\nin their showy uniforms, it was composed of the English and American\nColonies\u2014those who felt that they had lost one who was very dear to\nthem. The service seemed far more solemn than that of the morning, and\nhandkerchiefs and tears were by no means scarce. The Rev. Dr. Noyes again\nconducted the service, and as the deep-toned sounds of the organ rolled\nout the Dead March, the faces of many of those present showed that, as\nthe laureate has so beautifully expressed it, \u2018She is dead; and the World\nis widowed.\u2019\u201d\n\nThe same evening I received the following letter from the Hon. Michael\nHerbert (now, alas, no more):\u2014\n\n                                                   \u201cBritish Embassy,\n                                                   \u201cSaturday Evening.\n\n    \u201cDear Dr. Noyes,\u2014\n\n    \u201cBefore the end of this memorable day I must write you a\n    line to express my appreciation and that of the Embassy of\n    the manner in which the two services in the Rue d\u2019Aguesseau\n    Church were conducted to-day. The music was excellent, and both\n    services seemed to me worthy of this sad and solemn occasion.\n\n    \u201cI fear many people were unable to find places at the afternoon\n    services, but I trust they will be able to secure room\n    to-morrow.\n\n                         \u201cYours very sincerely,\n\n                                                    \u201cM. H. HERBERT.\u201d\n\nThe late Hon. M. Herbert was first Secretary of the Embassy, highly\nrespected, and one who took a keen interest in all that concerned the\nBritish Colony. The services were continued on the following day. Sir\nEdmund Monson, our Ambassador in Paris, was not present at the services,\nowing to the fact that he had been summoned to London to attend the\nfuneral service. Services were also held in the Roman Catholic Church for\nEnglish members of that Communion, in the Russian Church, and in several\nother places of worship. Indeed, an atmosphere of sadness seemed to rest\nover the whole city. All the English houses of business were closed, many\nexhibiting draped flags. Groups of people would stand under these flags\nconversing in an undertone, and many were the kind remarks by the passing\ncrowds. I heard one say, \u201cShe was a good mother to all her people.\u201d I may\nmention that I asked the Rev. P. Beaton and Rev. J. Milne, Presbyterian\nclergy in Paris, to take part in the official service, and each read a\nlesson.\n\nIn 1902, the English Colony in Paris were looking forward with the\ngreatest interest to the all-important event fixed for the 26th of June,\nthe Coronation of His Majesty King Edward VII. It had been decided that\na service should be held and a f\u00eate given to all the British working\nclasses and poor resident in Paris, and extensive preparations were made.\nThen on June 24th came the startling news that the King was ill, and the\nCoronation ceremony had been postponed. The first intimation we had was\na telegram which was posted at the Bourse. The excitement was intense,\nand the sorrow and anxiety in the British Colony seemed intensified\nfrom the fact that we were residents abroad and far from the centre\nof interest\u2014the Palace where the King lay. As soon as I heard of the\ntelegram I called at the Embassy, and found that the news was only too\ntrue, and that all had been postponed. As is well known, instead of the\nCoronation Service in Westminster Abbey, an Intercession Service was held\nin St. Paul\u2019s Cathedral. We decided that a corresponding service should\nbe held in Paris, and I shall not soon forget the solemnity of that hour.\nThe church was well filled, all the staff of the British Embassy being\npresent. We all sang the National Anthem kneeling, and never, I believe,\nwas prayer more earnest that God would spare our beloved King. During\nthose anxious days every item of news was eagerly sought, and great was\nthe relief when we heard that the operation by Sir Frederick Treves had\nbeen successful, and that our prayers had been answered in the safety\nand then recovery of His Majesty. There was at that time no \u201cEntente\nCordiale,\u201d but the sympathy and anxiety of the French people was very\nmanifest. News was published hour by hour, and in the evenings, on the\nBoulevards, the latest bulletins were given in immense letters, shown\nby electric light from the office of the \u201cEcho de Paris.\u201d The month of\nAugust\u2014when happily the Coronation could take place\u2014is the holiday month\nin Paris, and the city is supposed to be empty. As a matter of fact\nalmost the whole of the British Colony is then away. In view of this it\nwas decided to postpone the f\u00eates until the close of this memorable year.\nWe held, however, special services in the church, when I took occasion to\ncomment upon the Coronation Service, and to explain parts of this solemn\nreligious ceremony. The f\u00eates came off in December, and were a great\nsuccess.\n\nIn 1903 we had a visit of Members of the British Parliament to Paris.\nAs they were staying over a Sunday, and many ladies\u2014wives and daughters\nof Members\u2014were in the party, I wrote to the Secretary proposing that\na special service should be held. Sir E. Monson very kindly fell in\nwith the suggestion, and arranged for the service at three p.m., with a\nreception at the Embassy, a few yards away, to follow the service. About\nthree hundred persons were present. I preached from the text: \u201cRender\ntherefore unto C\u00e6sar the things which are C\u00e6sar\u2019s, and unto God the\nthings which are God\u2019s.\u201d I never had a more attentive congregation. Many\nof the Members at the subsequent reception were kind enough to express to\nme their appreciation of the service.\n\nLater we had an official visit from the London County Council, which left\nvery pleasant memories; and in 1906 the City Fathers came over, headed by\nSir Walter Vaughan-Morgan, for whom also I held a special service. I have\ngiven some details of this visit in another chapter.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IV.\n\nTHE ENGLISHMAN ABROAD. PECULIAR CALLS UPON A CONTINENTAL CHAPLAIN.\n\n\nMore frequently than at home, the calls upon a chaplain abroad are\nvarious and sometimes peculiar. This applies especially to Paris, which,\nbeing comparatively near home and easy of access, is largely patronized\nby holiday makers, and has besides a considerable resident British\nColony. There are about 12,000 English (according to the last census)\nresident or travelling. I was sixteen-and-a-half years in Paris, during\nwhich period my experiences have been somewhat varied. It is proposed in\nthis article to give some extracts from letters received at different\ntimes and requests made, which illustrate the fact that a chaplain abroad\nis often expected to know some things besides those connected with his\ncalling.\n\n[Illustration: PLACE DE LA CONCORDE.]\n\nA lady writes:\n\n    \u201cI am an invalid now in F\u2e3a, and desire to come to Paris, and\n    would be obliged if you would take rooms for me. Would you\n    please see that the mattress in my bedroom is made of hair,\n    and not wool, as I cannot sleep on the latter.\u201d\n\nMy wife kindly arranged for this good lady.\n\nAnother lady writes:\n\n    \u201cSome time since I purchased some Panama Bonds, and am\n    receiving no dividend. Would you please make enquiries about\n    them and let me know if they are of any value, and if I can\n    sell them.\u201d\n\nI obtained and sent her the information she required.\n\nA gentleman writes:\n\n    \u201cA relative of mine (giving the name) died in Paris about the\n    year 18\u2014, and was I think buried in P\u00e8re-la-Chaise. Could you\n    find out if this were so, and whereabouts the grave is.\u201d\n\nThose who know P\u00e8re-la-Chaise and other cemeteries of Paris will realize\nwhat a difficult task was here given to the chaplain. The grave, however,\nwas found.\n\nA lady came to the Vestry one morning and asked to see me. She told me\nshe was leaving Paris, and had a pet monkey which she did not wish to\ntake with her, and would I find it a home. I was glad to be able to\narrange this for her.\n\nA clergyman writes:\n\n    \u201cI hope to bring a party of twelve to fifteen artisans over to\n    Paris.\u2026 We leave England on the evening of \u2e3a, and arrive in\n    Paris on Saturday. I do not know Paris, and venture to write to\n    you to ask if you will be so good as to secure rooms for us, as\n    cheaply as you can, and if you will just tell us where to go.\u201d\n    This request was granted.\n\nOn passing to the pulpit one Sunday a paper was handed to me by one\nof the congregation. It was to ask me to say from the pulpit that the\napplicant desired a wife about 25 to 30 years of age\u2014domesticated, etc.\nHe added that he was prepared to take the one I recommended, and that he\nhad means to support her. I need hardly say the notice was not given.\n\nA lady writes:\n\n    \u201cKindly excuse my asking your help in a little matter. Can you\n    kindly give me the names and addresses of anyone who would act\n    as my agent and try to sell a little \u2018scissors sharpener,\u2019\n    which I have lately brought out. I have patented it in France,\n    etc., etc.\u201d I was sorry not to be able to find anyone who would\n    undertake the commission.\n\nA Colonial clergyman wrote:\n\n    \u201cI make a great hobby of optics and lenses. I have a large\n    collection of optical instruments, etc., of French make. Now\n    I find there is a most unreasonable prejudice against French\n    glasses. I believe this prejudice could be removed if I could\n    get a few catalogues of reliable French firms. Could you get me\n    some and send them out, etc.\u201d I was glad to comply with this\n    request.\n\nThere were various \u201cscares\u201d of a revolution during my sojourn in Paris,\nand one was frequently called upon to calm the fears of the timid. The\nfollowing extract is an illustration.\n\nA well-known gentleman wrote:\n\n    \u201cA lady with whom we were dining last night is much alarmed,\n    and has frightened my wife about an impending revolution\n    arranged for May 1st in Paris. She said she had heard that\n    a Royalist Prince was hidden in Paris prepared to seize the\n    reins of Government backed by the aristocracy, and that arms,\n    bombs, and munitions are available. She also said that she had\n    it on good authority that at our Embassy the prospects of a\n    row were considered serious. She asked me to take her and my\n    wife out of Paris till the date should be passed.\u2026 I should\n    like to know what is your opinion, and also whether you propose\n    doing anything for your own family.\u201d I gave him my opinion, and\n    nothing happened, except that Paris was quieter than usual.\n\nThe following request was more difficult. A lady writes:\n\n    \u201cHaving seen in the London papers that Paris has a working\n    scheme for the improved feeding of babies, I am anxious to\n    learn more about it. As you so kindly offer to help visitors in\n    various ways, I thought perhaps I might venture to ask you for\n    the necessary information, etc., etc.\u201d\n\nThe request evidently referred to the system of \u201ccouveuses\u201d by which\nprematurely born children were saved, a system which has proved generally\nsuccessful.\n\nI referred her to the public exhibitions of these \u201cincubators,\u201d which\nwere being held in the Boulevards at that time.\n\nAnother request was as follows:\n\n    \u201cI am in a difficulty. Can you tell me where there are any\n    Poultry Farms in France. Also could you find out for me if the\n    Editor of \u2e3a got six francs 25 c. which I sent him through the\n    postman.\u2026 Can you tell me would it be possible for me to get\n    a post in connection with poultry farming in France, or in a\n    gentleman\u2019s family.\u2026 I am domesticated, and can make good jams,\n    marmalade, and cakes. What papers (French) do you advise me\n    to advertise in. I know nothing of French customs and hardly\n    anything of the language.\u201d\n\nThese are extracts from a long and rather rambling letter, which I was\nunable to answer to the writer\u2019s satisfaction.\n\nThe following letter relates to the subject of marriage, and is one of\nmany I received on the same question:\n\n    \u201cDear Sir,\u2014I have been asked by a French lady \u2026 whether an\n    Earl or Duke, or any titled man may legally marry under the\n    simple family name. For instance, if a Duke of Z\u2e3a, wishing to\n    conceal his identity, could marry as Mr. X\u2e3a, or whatever his\n    family name might be. Also could he elope with a young lady\n    and marry her in some out of the way village at once, or must\n    they both reside there for a certain length of time, and have\n    the Banns called three times. This is a lot of rubbish to\n    bother you with, but if you will be good enough to give me this\n    information it would certainly oblige my friend.\u201d\n\nTo this I replied giving both the French and English regulations as to\nmarriage, and I heard no more of the case. I am sorry to say that during\nmy chaplaincy there were several sad cases of desertion after mixed\nmarriages (French and English); but these will be more easily dealt with\nunder \u201cThe difficulties of English people abroad.\u201d\n\nThe calls of anxious parents to meet girls coming abroad to situations,\nand to look after them, and requests to find French families where young\nmen and maidens could be placed for education in the language, and\nenquiries as to schools, pensions, and hotels, were a pleasant though\nconstant part of every day\u2019s work. A list of reliable abodes was kept,\nand one had the satisfaction of being able to be of real service in this\nway to hundreds of one\u2019s fellow countrymen, who without good advice too\noften get into difficulties.\n\nOne rather frequent call upon the services of the chaplain, in the\nearlier part of my work in Paris, is happily no longer necessary. We\nfrequently got urgent letters and telegrams from India to look after\npeople who had been bitten by snakes, dogs, a jackal, etc., and were\nhastening to France to put themselves under the Pasteur treatment; and\nwith some the experiences were very painful, as they arrived too late for\nthe cure to be successful.\n\nNow happily our Government has provided a similar institution in India,\nso that those who need it can be immediately attended to. This splendid\ninstitution in Paris is, however, well worth the attention of visitors.\n\nThere were occasionally English people in Paris suffering from mental\ndisease\u2014not sufficiently insane to be placed under control, but yet ill\nenough to cause considerable trouble.\n\nUpon one occasion a man came to me and gave me a sealed packet, telling\nme it contained a most important document, and it was not to be opened\nunless I heard of his death.\n\nHis manner made me think it might be of real importance, and he did not\nstrike me as insane. Some years after I heard of his death, and opened\nthe packet, and found it contained only torn pieces of paper with no\nwriting upon them.\n\nOne poor lady who lived in Paris during the whole of my stay there,\nfrequently wrote me letters\u2014literally yards long\u2014some of them must have\ntaken her many hours to write. Yet on many points she was sane enough,\nand was engaged for years in teaching English to the French, both\nprivately and in classes.\n\nI had not been long in Paris before I was asked through the secretary\nof the \u201cSoci\u00e9t\u00e9 de Steeplechase\u201d to join a syndicate for the purpose\nof adjudicating upon any question that might arise connected with the\nriders. I was supposed to represent the English jockeys, being the only\nEnglishman on the board. I accepted the position, as it was represented\nthat I might often be of some service to my fellow countrymen, although\nI knew nothing of the race-course. I regularly received, up to the date\nof my departure from Paris, tickets for the reserved enclosure. Sometimes\nfriends visiting me appeared shocked at seeing these in my study, until\nI explained the reason. A copy of the card, which may be interesting,\nappears on the next page.\n\nThe syndicate met very rarely, and I never had any serious case upon\nwhich to pass judgment.\n\nA peculiar call was made upon me one day. I was passing the Arc de\nTriomphe when a gusty wind removed several hats. In front of me was\na nursemaid wheeling a perambulator. The wind took her hat, and all\nher hair, which fell at my feet. It was an embarrassing moment, but I\nfulfilled my duty, and handed it all to the blushing maiden.\n\n[Illustration: THE OBVERSE AND REVERSE SIDES OF THE TICKET REFERRED TO ON\nTHE PREVIOUS PAGE.]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER V.\n\nEDUCATION IN FRANCE.\n\n\nI was often asked by anxious parents as to the facilities for education\nin France, indeed it was part of one\u2019s daily work answering enquiries on\nthe subject. It may not be out of place to give here the result of my\nexperience. For English boys there are very few schools carried on as\nour public schools are in England. For parents living abroad, the best\nplan is to send their young boys to French \u201ccours\u201d or classes, of which\nthere are many, where they will readily pick up the language, and then to\nsend them over to England for further education. The instruction given in\nFrench schools is not of the character or sufficient for those who intend\nto enter professional life in England. When it is not convenient to\nsend boys to England, I would strongly advise parents to see the school\ncarried on by my friend, Mr. E. P. Denny, M.A. (Oxon.), at 55 Boulevard\nSuchet. He has been very successful, and parents may safely entrust their\nsons to his care. For older boys and young men entering the army or navy\nit is better to select one of the many French families where young men\nare received to learn the language. The resident chaplain can always\nsupply a list of thoroughly reliable homes. For mercantile life some of\nthe Lyc\u00e9es are very good. I may especially mention the Lyc\u00e9e Lakanal, at\nBourg la Reine, a short distance by rail or tram from Paris, where many\nEnglish boys have been received, and where every care is taken as to\nmoral training. I was appointed by the French Government as Religious\nInstructor for the English boys there, and occupied the position for\nsome years, so that I had every opportunity of knowing the merits of the\nschool.\n\nThe advantages for English girls in Paris are very great. There are a\nnumber of excellent schools, as well managed as any of our schools at\nhome. It is not usual to receive very young girls or day boarders in\nthe best schools. For the most part they are finishing schools, and the\ngirls do not usually stay more than one year. I need hardly say anything\nto commend the old-established school founded by Madame Yeatman in the\nBoulevard Victor Hugo, Neuilly. Her name is well known in England and\nAmerica, and other parts of the world. Some eight to nine hundred young\nladies passed through this school during my sojourn in Paris, and the\nclasses I held there will always be a pleasant memory. Madame Yeatman\nis now enjoying a well-earned rest, although she continues to take the\nkindliest interest in the school, and her charming house with access\nto it enables her to pay frequent visits. Madame Yeatman displayed her\nknowledge of character in the choice of Miss Easton to carry on the work,\na lady eminently suited to the position, who has already attained to a\nwell-merited success. An interesting gathering of old pupils is held\nevery year at the Grand Hotel in London, known as the \u201cYeatmanite tea.\u201d\n\nAnother school which I can speak of in equally commendatory words is that\ncarried on at \u201cThe Maronneries,\u201d Auteuil, by Mlles. Hogg and Guyomard.\nThis is quite an up-to-date establishment, and has largely increased of\nlate years. Two houses standing in extensive gardens, and a large field\nfor recreation, make one feel quite in the country. Nothing can exceed\nthe kindness and care of the principals\u2014the teaching is excellent, and\nmany of the pupils have gained high distinction in French examinations.\nThese two schools occupy the galleries in the Embassy Church every Sunday\nmorning, forming an important part of the congregation. I always felt the\nresponsibility of speaking to so many young people, who would so soon\noccupy important positions in English life.\n\nBesides these two large schools there are several excellent smaller ones\nwhere equal advantages may be obtained. Some of them take a certain\nnumber of French girls, who take their lessons with the English\u2014an\narrangement for and against which something may be said. The more\nimportant of these, and all of which I knew well, and can speak of\nin the highest terms, are Mlle. Lacarr\u00e8re, Rue St. James, Neuilly;\nMlle. Bourr\u00e9, Auteuil; Madame d\u2019Almaine, Passy; Madame Morel de Fos,\nBolougne-sur-Seine; Mlles. Expulson and Metherell, Auteuil. The Marquise\nde San Carlos has a successful school at Bornel, about two hours from\nParis, which is a delightful country home for girls, for whom it may be\nwell to add a country life to the advantages of education. There are\nother schools, French and partly French and English, which I do not\nmention, not because of any reason against them, but only that I was not\nbrought into contact with them in the way that I was with the above.\n\nSometimes parents have written to me asking if it was safe to send\nEnglish girls to France at all, and many have sent their daughters in\nfear and trembling. My answer was that if parents would only be careful\nin the choice of a school, and consult those on the spot, who had no\nobject to serve but to give the best advice they could to enquirers, no\nharm would result. Schools in Paris cannot be carried on cheaply\u2014the\nnecessaries of life are all taxed, and consequently living is dearer than\nin the country in England. Many mistakes have been made from choosing\na school where the fees were a few pounds less than others. Those who\ncannot afford a good school had better keep their daughters at home.\nConvents have been a temptation to some owing to cheapness, and I would\nwarn parents who are anxious (as all should be) about the religious\neducation of their children that they should avoid these establishments\nfor their daughters. The food is often insufficient for English girls,\nwho find it hard to work on the \u201cpetit d\u00e9je\u00fbner\u201d up to midday, and I\nhave known many become an\u00e6mic from this cause. But this is not the only\ndifficulty. While the promise is frequently made that there shall be no\ninterference with the religious belief of the pupil, it is rarely kept.\nParents should remember that it is after all the business of a convent\nto propagate the religion of the Church of Rome, and if parents, for\nthe sake of cheapness, allow their children to go, they must not be\nsurprised at the consequences. I had several most painful cases while in\nParis where the parent was inclined to blame the chaplain for what had\nhappened\u2014whereas his advice had not been asked in the first instance. I\ndo not as a rule recommend French families for girls. There are some most\nexcellent homes (French pastors and others) where every care is taken.\nBut I have known others where there was culpable laxity. English girls\ncannot go out alone in Paris as they do in England, it would not be safe,\nand in some families it is not easy to find a chaperon, and mischief\nfollows. In seeking a family for an English girl, it is well to ask if\nthere are any daughters about the age of the pupil, as if so the above\ndifficulty is lessened.\n\nOne further point about learning French. It is important for both sexes\nthat they should (if beginners) learn colloquial French from one who\nspeaks some English\u2014at least sufficient to explain the meaning of words.\nI have known some ludicrous mistakes arise from this cause.\n\nOn the whole I recommend Paris rather than the country parts of France\nfor the education of young people; it is the centre for music and art in\nall its branches, and the best professors congregate there. Moreover, in\ncase of illness or difficulty of any kind, it is better not to be too far\nfrom home, or an English doctor, and may I say, an English clergyman.\n\nThe children of the working classes in Paris are well provided for in the\nBritish schools, where they receive a good sound elementary education,\nboth in French and English. The children trained in these schools do\nremarkably well, as they are taught shorthand and typewriting in both\nlanguages, and are thus able to take positions in French commercial\nhouses, and earn good salaries. There are often more applications for\nboys than can be met. The schools are managed by a committee of which Sir\nHenry Austin Lee, C.B., is the chairman, who takes the warmest interest\nin their welfare. A small fee is collected from those able to pay, and\nthe very poor are paid for by the British Charitable Fund.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VI.\n\nDIFFICULTIES OF ENGLISH PEOPLE ABROAD.\n\n\nIt was part of my duty during a chaplaincy of sixteen years in Paris to\nhelp our fellow country people, who from one cause or another got into\ndifficulty.\n\nSometimes it was their own fault, and similar conduct would have brought\na like result at home. But often these difficulties arose from ignorance\nof the language, and from an extraordinary disregard of French law. Too\noften the Englishman not only expects his own language to be spoken, but\nalso the laws of his own country to prevail in a foreign land.\n\nNot long after I commenced work in Paris I received the following\ntelegram, addressed to\n\n    \u201cLe Pasteur Eglise Protestante.\u2014Please come as soon as\n    possible to the Depot\u2014Pr\u00e9fecture de Police\u2014to a member of your\n    congregation who seeks your help at once.\u201d\n\nI lost no time in going down, and found that the writer\u2014an English\ngoverness\u2014had, in a moment of temptation, stolen a pair of gloves at the\nMagasin du Louvre. I believe it was a first offence. I did all I could\nto console her, but was unable to get her off, and she had to undergo a\nterm of six days\u2019 imprisonment. I regret to say that this instance of\n\u201cKleptomania\u201d was by no means singular. The system at the larger shops\nin Paris lends itself to pilfering by the dishonest, as the goods are\ndisplayed in such a way that it seems easy to steal. The manager of the\nLouvre shop told me that they had on an average twelve arrests a day.\nIt is not generally known that a large number of detectives are always\nemployed, who are continually on the watch. There was one sad case of a\nlady who had come to Paris to place her daughter in a school, and who\nhad ample means, and yet took some gloves from the same establishment.\nWith considerable difficulty she was released upon the payment of 600\nfrancs (\u00a324), a good price for a pair of gloves. One other case in which\nI was successful in obtaining the release of a woman who was, I believe,\ninnocent, but in a moment of thoughtlessness, put over her arm a covering\nfor a child\u2019s bed. I had known her for a long time; she was the mother\nof a large family, all well brought up. She assured me she had intended\nto pay for it, but no attendant being near she went to another part of\nthe shop with the article in question, when she was arrested, and invited\nto appear in court to answer to the charge. I wrote to the Judge and\ntold him what I knew about her, and he kindly gave her the benefit of\nthe doubt. Her husband (a waiter) was away in Germany, and had she been\nimprisoned it would have been the ruin of her family.\n\nBy the kindness of the late Earl of Lytton, I obtained a pass enabling\nme to visit any of the prisons in Paris, where English people might be\nconfined. Many of the cases were very sad, and especially where the\nprisoners could not speak French, as this added to the misery of their\nlot. I recall one case, which interested me much. It was that of a young\nman who had come to visit Paris, and like so many others, had been led\nwhere he soon got into difficulty.\n\nHe came with a considerable sum of money and went one evening to the\n\u201cMoulin Rouge\u201d\u2014which at that time was of questionable repute. (It is said\nto be under better management now.)\n\nHe was relieved of his purse, which contained a 1,000 franc note, beside\nsome coins. He had left only a 100 franc note in his hotel, and went the\nnext morning to the bank to get it changed\u2014very much irritated, as he\nsaid, with the French for having stolen his money! At the bank he saw a\nFrench gentleman counting some notes, and he snatched a number of them\nand ran away. He was soon arrested and was sent to prison for some years.\nHe assured me it was his first offence, and that he had no intention of\nstealing when he went to the bank.\n\nOn another occasion I unwittingly broke the prison rules. An aged\nEnglishman had been imprisoned for picking pockets on the race course.\nHe said his wife did not know what had happened, and begged me to give\nhim something to buy paper and stamps. I gave him a franc, but as I was\nleaving the prison an official came up and handed me the franc, telling\nme I had broken the rule. They had been watching me while I was locked in\nthe cell, and made the poor man give up the money.\n\nIgnorance of the language was frequently the cause of difficulty. One\nmorning a nurse came to the vestry in the Rue d\u2019Aguesseau, and when I\nenquired her business, said, \u201cWhy, I am lost, and have been walking the\nstreets all night.\u201d She then told me she arrived at the Gare St. Lazare\nthe previous evening, and was driven by the cabman to an address near,\nwhich she had now forgotten. She went out to post a letter, and must have\ntaken a wrong turning, and so was soon lost. She walked about all night,\nand had only just found an English-speaking person, who had directed her\nto the Church. I gathered from her description where the Home was, and\nsent her up with my Vestry Clerk.\n\nOn another occasion a girl was brought to me in great distress. She told\nme she had started from England on the previous day to visit a French\nfriend of her mother\u2019s. She had the address written on a piece of paper,\nwhich she was instructed to give to the cabman, as she did not speak\nFrench.\n\nShe travelled by the night boat to Calais. When she arrived at the Gare\ndu Nord, she could not find the paper, and, staying to look among her\nparcels, the English travellers all left. She got out of the train and\ndid not know what to do; she spoke to a porter who did not understand\nher, and eventually left the station. This was about 7 a.m. She walked\nabout the streets until late in the afternoon, when she was heard near\nthe Madeleine trying to explain to a policeman. The Englishman who heard\nher brought her to me, and I sent her back the next day to England, as I\nfailed to discover her friend\u2019s name in any directory.\n\nOn another occasion I received a telegram from a lady in Ireland asking\nme to meet her daughter that evening at the Gare St. Lazare, who was\ngoing to a situation as governess, which she had obtained through an\nadvertisement. I met the girl, and took her to the address she gave. It\nwas a small wine shop, and altogether unsuited to her, and would, I fear,\nhave been a very dangerous position.\n\nI persuaded her to go to the excellent G.F.S. Lodge, where she was most\nkindly received, and eventually a good position was found for her.\n\nThe above are illustrations of many like cases which were brought before\nme.\n\nMore serious cases are illustrated by the following telegram:\n\n    \u201cPlease remove Miss X\u2e3a from 14 rue \u2e3a at once; very urgent,\n    letter follows.\u201d\u2e3a\n\nThese requests often involved considerable time and trouble, and the\nlaying aside for the time of all other work.\n\nOne morning I received a request from the manager of one of the leading\nhotels to call as soon as possible. I went down and was told that an\nEnglish girl had been left there by a \u201cgentleman,\u201d and was in great\ndistress.\n\nI found that she had left her home two or three days previously on the\npromise of marriage, and was now left without means, and was afraid to\ncommunicate with her parents.\n\nI placed her in a room in a smaller hotel, and in the meantime wrote to\nthe father. However, before he received my letter he had started for\nParis, having heard his daughter was there, and came to see me in great\nanxiety about his child. His relief and astonishment were remarkable when\nI told him I knew the whereabouts of his daughter. A reconciliation was\neffected, and the girl was taken home.\n\nOne of the most remarkable illustrations of the difficulties English\npeople sometimes get into abroad is the following:\n\nEarly one morning (6 a.m.) I was sent for to visit two young ladies in a\nsmall hotel, who were said to have become insane.\n\nI went down and found one of the sisters on the ground floor holding the\ndoor leading to the staircase, and not allowing anyone to pass. She would\nanswer no question, nor permit me to pass to see her sister. With some\ndifficulty I obtained access to the room where the sister was, by another\nway, but found her in a like state, and unwilling to answer any question,\nor to give the address of any relative. The difficulty was that the\nproprietor of the hotel wished to have them removed at once to an asylum,\nwhich I felt would only aggravate the malady from which they suffered. I\ncalled in an English doctor (since passed away) who most kindly helped,\nand forbade the proprietor to have them removed. By searching amongst the\npapers in their room I discovered an address in London, and telegraphed\nfor their relatives to come at once. My wife and I had a trying\nexperience all that night\u2014we sat up with the girls, one of whom had to be\nfastened to the bed, having become violent. She was shouting all night,\nand gave a great deal of trouble.\n\nThe relatives arrived the next morning, and the necessary steps were\ntaken for their removal. It turned out that these young ladies had been\ndabbling in hypnotism, and had spent the greater part of the day previous\nto their illness with some \u201cprofessor.\u201d One died and the other only\nrecovered after a long illness.\n\n[Illustration: BRITISH CONSUL-GENERAL.]\n\nWe frequently had to help English artists connected with circuses, shows,\netc., who got stranded in France. One morning a smart-looking person\ncalled at the house and told me she had a number of performing dogs held\nat the Gare de Lyon because of some payment demanded, which she could\nnot meet. If she could not get the dogs she would be ruined. By the kind\nhelp of the British Charitable Fund I was able to get the dogs set free.\nOn another occasion, when I went down to service, I found in the Church\nsome fifty ballet girls waiting to see me. They had been brought over to\nplay in an exhibition in Paris, but the proprietor having failed, the\nlight was cut off and the place closed. They had no means to get back to\nEngland. By the kindness of the British Consul, and again by the help of\nthe British Charitable Fund, these girls were all sent back, and very\ngrateful they were. Not knowing the language they were indeed \u201cstrangers\nin a strange land.\u201d Whenever companies of English girls came over to\nperform in theatre or music hall, I tried to get opportunities to address\nthem; but it was not an easy part of one\u2019s duty.\n\nDifficulties owing to mixed marriages frequently arose. It cannot be too\noften explained that there is no difficulty in two English people being\nmarried abroad, providing there is no impediment such as would prevent\nthe marriage at home. Civil marriage at the British Consulate should\nfirst take place, and the religious ceremony can follow. But in the\ncase of mixed marriages it is absolutely necessary that the contracting\nparties should satisfy French law, and first be civilly married at the\nMairie. A marriage (French and English) in England is not valid in France\nunless the French Consul in England has first performed the civil rite.\nMuch distress has been caused by not obeying the law. I will give but\none instance, though I might give many. It is an important one, as\nquestions were asked in the House of Commons about it, and a statement as\nto the law sent broadcast to the Clergy of England. The case is this:\n\nMadame X\u2e3a, an English woman, came to live in Paris. She was a widow\nwith children. She obtained, through my instrumentality, a position as\nsecretary. After a time her employer proposed marriage. He told her,\nhowever, that his parents would not give their consent (which in France\nis a bar to marriage), and proposed that they should go to England, and\nbe married in Church. They went, and after complying with the law as\nto residence, were married in London. When they returned to Paris the\nhusband refused to let his wife live in his house, but told her to remain\nin her own flat. When she pressed him on the subject his only reply was,\n\u201cI suppose you know that the English marriage is not valid in France.\u201d\n\nShe came to see me broken-hearted. I did all I could for her, but it\nwas useless. The husband only laughed at me. The case was put into the\nhand of a solicitor, and brought before the French courts, but the\njudgment was given against the wife. The Judge told her she ought to have\nbeen more careful to ascertain the law. Thus she is legally married in\nEngland, but not in France, while her husband is free to marry whom he\nmay choose without hindrance.\n\nIf, however, he came to England, he would be legally married to the woman\nhe now repudiates. I have stated this case in full as it may be a warning\nto others, though much more care is now taken than was formerly the case.\nI laid the whole case before the late Bishop of London (Dr. Creighton)\nwho wrote:\n\n    \u201cThe case you bring before me is a very sad one, but I do\n    not see what can be done either to obtain redress or to\n    prevent such cases occurring in the future. Marriage is a\n    contract regulated by law; if anyone marries a foreigner\n    they ought to take legal advice about the necessary steps\n    to legalize their marriage. I do not see who is to protect\n    them except themselves. Our Government cannot ask the French\n    Government to recognize as binding in France all marriages\n    solemnized in England. This would open a door to evasion of\n    the French law. The difficulty in these cases arises from\n    the belief that marriage is a purely ecclesiastical matter,\n    and that ecclesiastical procedure is universally recognized.\n    Really marriage is a civil contract which in England the\n    clergy are authorised to perform by the State. To this in\n    their ecclesiastical capacity they add a religious service.\n    People have mixed these two together in their own minds with\n    disastrous results.\u201d\n\nThe extraordinary tangles into which English people sometimes get from\nignorance\u2014wilful or otherwise\u2014of the marriage law, is illustrated by the\nfollowing remarkable case which came under my notice. A French working\nman living in London married an English woman in his Parish Church. He\ncould not legalise the marriage at the French Consulate because he had\nnot the consent of his parents. This consent is generally necessary for\nany legal marriage of French people, whatever their age may be. One can\neasily see the reason for this requirement when the law of inheritance is\ntaken into consideration.\n\nNo French father can \u201ccut his son off with a shilling,\u201d as in England.\nThey must leave their money to their children, and the younger benefit\nequally with the elder. This is the reason the realization of property\nmust take place on the death of anyone. It is, however, generally\narranged in the family, and does not necessarily come before the public.\nThe couple of our story did not possess any property, being working\npeople. The husband had lived in England from childhood, and consequently\nhad not done his military service. When the question arose as to the\nlegality of his marriage, he promised he would not return to France.\nWhile living in England the marriage was, of course, perfectly in order,\nbut the day came when the husband wished to go back to his own country,\nand he went to Paris with his wife and two children. Needless to say, the\nman was at once arrested for his military service. It is extraordinary to\nEnglish minds to see how quickly the arrival of any man in France who is\nliable for military service is noted by the Government officials, and he\nreceives a summons to join his regiment at once.\n\nWhile serving three years (or two as it is now) in the army, a soldier\nis not allowed to marry, and so X\u2019s wife was without a legal husband,\nand any means of subsistence. She took her two children and went to\nlive with her father and mother-in-law, who became very fond of her and\nthe grandchildren. We helped her for a time with money and work, and I\nexpect she provided her English made husband with the pocket money for\ntobacco, etc., so much needed by the French soldier. Towards the end of\nthe three years, preparations were made to legalize the marriage in\nFrance, the parents giving their consent willingly. When, however, the\ntime came, and it only remained to give notice at the Mairie of the\nintended marriage, X refused to re-marry his wife, and so legalize her\nclaim to the title in France. It was found that he had taken up with\nanother woman better looking than his wife, who had no claim to beauty,\nand whose hard work to support the children during this time had rendered\nless attractive. X\u2019s father and mother were furious with him and offered\nto adopt the children. Matters were in this condition, when another\nmisfortune fell upon this poor woman. She took smallpox. The hospital\nfor this terrible disease is one of the worst managed in Paris, and the\nhardships of the unfortunate patients are often very great. When the poor\nsoul came out she returned to the only home she had\u2014the tiny flat of her\nfather-in-law\u2014and was equal to very little work. The grandparents had\ncared for the children, but they were also poor, and found it difficult\nto make ends meet. We were almost in despair as to how to help her, as\nit was a large order to undertake the whole family. The solution of the\nwhole matter would hardly be imagined by one brought up in England. Mrs.\nX. one day came to me at the vestry in the Rue d\u2019Aguesseau, and said she\nwas going to marry a Frenchman, who was not only willing to support her\nand the children, but would adopt and legalize them as his own. This\ncan be done in France, and the real father has then no claim to them\nwhatever. I spoke to her very seriously, and told her that her lawful\nhusband being alive, she would be committing bigamy, and that I could\nhave nothing whatever to do with such an arrangement. I pointed out to\nher that she would be the legal wife of one man in England and another\nin France; that in England she would be the lawful wife of the first\nman, while English law would not only refuse to recognise this second\nso-called marriage, but could prosecute her for bigamy.\n\nNothing I could say had any effect upon her, the only thing she would say\nwas \u201cI will never go back to England.\u201d\n\nShe has now gone through the French \u201cmarriage\u201d at the Mairie, and\nis happy. It solved our difficulty as to the support of herself and\nchildren, but the complication in which she has involved herself and the\ntwo children is one of the most extraordinary I met with.\n\nOccasionally there were very sad circumstances attending the death of\nlonely English people in Paris. At the close of the Boer war, an English\nsoldier who had fought in South Africa died in the Beaujon Hospital. We\ncould not discover how he had wandered to Paris, or get from him any\ninformation as to relatives.\n\nThe only persons present at the grave were myself and the vestry clerk.\nJust as the body was being lowered into the grave the clerk placed upon\nthe coffin a small British flag.\n\nAnd here I should like to bear testimony to the devoted work of Mr.\nWicker. His father was Vestry Clerk before him for many years\u2014through\nnearly the whole of the long ministry of Dr. Forbes. When he died I\nappointed his son. Brought up in Paris and speaking both languages, and\nthoroughly in earnest in his work, his services are invaluable to the\nChaplain.\n\nAnother sad case was that of a girl named X\u2e3a, who had run away from home\nfour years before her death with the son of a ship builder, who deserted\nher two days before her end. The parents had lost sight of her, and were\ntoo late to see her alive. The funeral was most distressing. The number\nof English people \u201cunder a cloud\u201d who bury themselves in Paris is not\nsmall, and the chaplain has frequently very sad cases with which to deal.\n\nOf late years, since the French have taken so kindly to \u201cafternoon teas,\u201d\nEnglish people have been tempted to open tea shops, without having\ncarefully considered the difficulty and expense of carrying on a business\nin a foreign land. Several came to grief during my sojourn in Paris.\n\nOne of the saddest cases, which may prove a warning to others who have\nhad similar ideas, is the following:\n\nIn the year \u2e3a two ladies, daughters of an English clergyman, came to\nParis and opened a tea shop. For a time they did fairly well, and their\nbusiness fell off chiefly owing to a French shop being opened in the\nneighbourhood. Things got so bad that they suddenly closed the shop and\nleft for England.\n\nOn the way, under mental excitement, one of the sisters jumped from the\ntrain and was seriously injured. As a report was spread that only one\nof the sisters had left, I went down with the officials and forced the\nestablishment, expecting to find the other sister dead. The report,\nhowever, proved to be false, for both had left. It was a sad ending to a\nfoolish venture.\n\nOne Sunday evening as I was returning from Church, I was overheard\nspeaking English, and two young men stopped me. They said that being out\nof work in England, they had realized their savings and come to Paris,\nwith the idea of selling fruit in the streets. I asked them if they\nspoke the language, and they said \u201cnot a word,\u201d and they were in great\ndifficulty to know what to do, when they heard me speaking English and\nstopped me. We got them back to England the next day.\n\nIt was extraordinary the number of English working people that turned up\ntime after time, with no knowledge of French, expecting to get work, and\nhad to go\u2014or be sent\u2014back, wiser men.\n\nOwing to the great increase in motor cars, the streets of Paris are\nparticularly dangerous for pedestrians, and accidents are of almost daily\noccurrence. A peculiarly sad case was the following:\n\nTwo sisters, working girls (English), lived together in the Rue \u2e3a. They\nworked in different establishments, but generally met near the Madeleine\nafter working hours and went home together. On this occasion one sister\nwaited near the trysting place, but her sister did not meet her. She\nnoticed a crowd round a neighbouring chemist\u2019s, but did not enquire what\nhad happened, and went home.\n\nIt turned out that it was her sister who had been carried into the\npharmacy to die. Standing on the \u201cisland of safety\u201d opposite the\nMadeleine, her dress had been caught by a passing motor, and she had been\ndragged under it and killed. These two girls were supporting an aged\nmother in England.\n\nAnother fatal accident which gave me a curious experience was that of\nMadame J\u2e3a, who was run over by a cab and killed. In her pocket was\nfound a paper with my name and address written upon it. She was an\nEnglishwoman, widow of a Frenchman, and used to earn her living by\nselling lace on commission. After the accident she was taken to the\nMorgue. At that time this gruesome institution was partly open to the\npublic, and some of the bodies\u2014not identified\u2014were exposed upon slabs\nbehind glass, others were kept in boxes in another part until buried. The\nauthorities sent for me, to see if I could identify the body of this poor\nwoman, which I was able to do\u2014but I shall never forget the horror of the\nscene. The poor body was in a box without covering, and so disfigured\nthat I had some difficulty in convincing myself that it was the person I\nexpected. I was glad to arrange for her decent burial.\n\nOne of the most melancholy of English suicides, of which, alas, there are\nmany, was that of Colonel Hector Macdonald, in March, 1903.\n\nHe was staying at the Hotel Regina in the Rue de Rivoli, and apparently\nafter reading the \u201cNew York Herald,\u201d in which there was a paragraph\nstating that grave charges had been made public against him, he shot\nhimself. After the necessary formalities the body was removed to the\nEmbassy Church in the Rue d\u2019Aguesseau before removal to Scotland. Colonel\nMacdonald was a large man, and there being a double coffin, we were\nunable to lower the body into the mortuary, and this gave rise to a\nreport that sufficient reverence was not shown\u2014a report which was without\nany foundation.\n\nMany members of the Scotch colony in Paris visited the Church and placed\nflowers on the coffin, and someone unknown sent a bunch of heather from\nScotland for a like purpose. It was a sad ending to the life of a brave\nsoldier.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VII.\n\nBRITISH CHARITIES IN PARIS.\n\n\nThe British poor in Paris form no inconsiderable part of the Colony. This\narises largely from the fact that it has been the custom in France to\nemploy Englishmen as coachmen and stablemen, many of whom from one cause\nor another have fallen into poverty. Others have taken advantage of the\nsmall expense and gone to Paris in the hope of obtaining work, which is\nby no means easy to find. Some years ago many English were employed in\nvarious works, but lately it is not so. When first I went to Paris I held\nin the Montmartre district a weekly service for the families of those\nemployed in the gas works in that neighbourhood, and had an attendance of\nthirty to forty persons. But this gradually dwindled, until at last there\nwere none left\u2014one after another had been discharged and had taken their\nfamilies back to England.\n\nIn order to meet the need of the impecunious British, several excellent\ncharities have been established in Paris. One of the most important of\nthese is the \u201cBritish Charitable Fund.\u201d This is a fund which has existed\nmany years in Paris, and it is interesting to know that during the\nFranco-German war and the Siege of Paris, it still carried on its work,\ngiving out food to those poor English people who had been unable to leave\nthe beleaguered city.\n\n[Illustration: SIR JOHN PILTER.]\n\nIn former years it was a most difficult matter to raise sufficient funds\nto meet the various calls, and there were all sorts of expedients for\nraising money. Now, happily, the fund is in a healthy condition, owing\nto a generous legacy by the late Captain Briscoe, and very good work is\nbeing done. The fund is managed by a committee, of which His Majesty\u2019s\nAmbassador is President, and the British Consul-General the Chairman.\nThe executive is an undenominational body, and the members usually\nattending during my time were: the English Church clergyman, the Roman\nCatholic priest, and the Scotch clergyman, and one or two laymen\u2014Sir John\nPilter being a most regular and valued member. Sir John Pilter is one of\nthe best known members of the English Colony, and is always forward in\nevery good work both with means and personal effort. The secretary, Mr.\nReginald Gesling, is a well-known figure in the English colony, and an\ninvaluable presence at the weekly board. Being gifted with a remarkable\nmemory for faces, it is hard indeed for the would-be impostor to pass his\nscrutiny. I have known him recognise a man who had not been before the\ncommittee for thirty years.\n\nThe weekly meetings of the board, which I attended (with rare exceptions)\nduring my sixteen years in Paris, were full of interest and a curious\nstudy of human nature. All sorts and conditions of men came there, with\nall sorts of stories. We had clergymen and Roman Catholic priests,\nlawyers, soldiers and sailors, black and white, Boer and Briton, from all\nparts of the world. Sometimes it was a man sent as far as Paris by the\nConsul at Marseilles, whom we had to send on. At another, members of an\nEnglish circus which had failed asked to be sent home. Clowns and ballet\ngirls, in fact \u201cartists\u201d (as they call themselves) of all kinds were\nfrequently before the committee. The Home Government give some assistance\ntowards the repatriation of British people, or this would be a serious\ndrain upon the fund, and, moreover, the Western Railway of France conveys\nthese unfortunate people at a reduced rate. There are often curious\nscenes at the Gare St. Lazare on Wednesday evenings, when these people\nare being sent off. There is frequently a reluctance to go at the last\nminute on the part of those who have long resided in Paris, and all sorts\nof dodges have been resorted to to avoid the train. I knew of one case\nwhere a woman having a ticket to London left the train at Rouen, and in a\nshort time came up smiling before the committee again.\n\nThe distribution of charity is ever a difficult matter, and while every\ncare was taken, we were no doubt often imposed upon. We have an excellent\nlady visitor, Miss Beaton, who spares no time or energy in finding out\nthe merits of each case. Here is a curious instance:\n\nOn one occasion a woman came to the committee in widow\u2019s weeds, leading\na string of children, and in tears. She said her husband (a printer) was\ndead and buried. She would not return to England, and asked for help for\nherself and children. The committee were touched, and made a generous\nallowance, which went on for some weeks.\n\nOne day the Secretary (Mr. Gesling) met the husband (supposed to be dead)\nin the street. He went up to him and questioned him, and discovered that\nhe knew nothing of his wife\u2019s deception. I believe she is really a widow\nnow, and receives help from the committee.\n\nIt was astonishing how many English people lost their purses, either on\nthe journey over or soon after arriving in Paris. Almost every week we\nhad the same story, which, in many if not most cases, was only an excuse\neither for having given way to drink, or having been in bad company.\n\nThe committee is always desirous to get British people who are not doing\nwell to return to their own country, especially the younger people. Old\npeople who have lived most of their life in France and have lost all\ntheir relatives cannot well be sent home. The fascination of Paris is,\nhowever, so great, that it is often very difficult to persuade even the\npoorest to leave, and all sorts of excuses are given against leaving.\nUpon one occasion an old man came to the committee asking for relief. He\nwas asked \u201cHow long have you been in France?\u201d He replied \u201cOver twenty\nyears.\u201d \u201cDo you speak French?\u201d \u201cOnly a few words, sir.\u201d (This is quite\npossible. Englishmen working together in a stable will have little need\nto speak the language.) \u201cAre you in work?\u201d \u201cNo, sir.\u201d \u201cHave you any\nprospect of work?\u201d \u201cI think not.\u201d \u201cWill you return home?\u201d A decided\n\u201cNo, sir.\u201d He was then asked a number of questions in the endeavour\nto discover his reasons for wishing to stay, as he was getting old,\nwas unmarried, and had no relatives in France. At length, with some\nreluctance, he said, \u201cWell, sir, its the wine. We can\u2019t get the claret\nin England.\u201d And nothing would persuade him to return. He is probably\nstill there, ekeing out a miserable existence. I am glad to hear that\nthe committee are about to purchase or build more suitable premises in\nwhich to carry on this important work. This is a real necessity, as the\npresent rooms are too small and badly ventilated. Visitors are always\nwelcome on Wednesday afternoons when the committee meets, and the study\nof human nature at these gatherings is most interesting. There are\nusually between 90 and 120 applications for relief each week.\n\nNext in importance to the British Charitable Fund is the \u201cHertford\nBritish Hospital.\u201d This was the noble gift to the Colony of the late Sir\nRichard Wallace, Bart., and was partly the outcome of the Franco-German\nwar, and the Commune in 1870-1871. This philanthropic nobleman opened\na hospital in the Rue d\u2019Aguesseau for the reception of wounded, and in\nJanuary, 1871, added two wards for the \u201cSick British Poor,\u201d and also\na dispensary. At the end of the year only one soldier remained under\ntreatment, and upon his discharge it was closed. A few weeks subsequently\nSir Richard Wallace communicated to his friends his intention to found\nand endow a hospital in Paris for poor British subjects, to be called the\n\u201cHertford British Hospital,\u201d in memory of the late Marquis of Hertford.\nThe foundation stone of the present building was laid by Sir Richard and\nLady Wallace in August, 1877, and opened at a visit of the late Lord\nLyons in 1879. The hospital was visited in June, 1879, by their Majesties\nKing Edward VII. and Queen Alexandra (then Prince and Princess of Wales),\nwho named the principal wards \u201cAlbert Edward\u201d and \u201cAlexandra.\u201d In 1900\nLady Wallace made over the hospital by deed to the British Government,\nwho appointed the present management. This hospital is especially\nfortunate in having an endowment sufficient for its requirements, so that\nthe management have no need to apply for subscriptions. The hospital\ncontains 40 beds and cots, and has an average number of 350 in-patients,\nand some 2,000 out-patients.\n\n[Illustration: HERTFORD BRITISH HOSPITAL.]\n\nIt can hardly be realized, except by those resident abroad, what a boon\nan English hospital, with English doctors and nurses, is to the British\npoor.\n\nOne cannot speak too highly of the kindness of the French hospitals in\nreceiving English people for treatment, and I received many testimonies\nfrom grateful patients of the benefits obtained. I frequently, however,\nheard the poor say: \u201cWhen one is ill, it is such a blessing to be able\nto talk your own language to those about you,\u201d or \u201cI am afraid they did\nnot treat me properly because I could not explain to them the symptoms,\u201d\nand such sayings illustrate what I am sure all feel, viz.: that it is\nvery difficult in illness to explain as one would wish to one who is a\nstranger to our language. So that the English hospital for this reason\n(and it is only one of many) is a real boon to the British poor in Paris.\nYou no sooner pass the iron gate than you feel as if you were in England.\nThe porter speaks to you in your native tongue; the secretary (though a\nfirst-rate French scholar) greets you in the same language. The wards are\nbright, cheerful, and (especially) airy, and all the surroundings are\nsuch as we are accustomed to in our own land. The nurses are all English,\nand most of them have had experience in hospitals at home. All are under\nthe guidance of an experienced matron, chosen from among many applicants\nfor the post. I have known hundreds of the British poor who have been\ntreated there, and they often are in difficulty to find words to express\ntheir gratitude. Certainly the works of Sir Richard Wallace do follow him.\n\nIf there is any drawback in this splendid institution, it is the lack\nof a separate building for the treatment of infectious cases; and also\nof a pay ward. This want necessitates a poor Britisher with consumption,\nsmall pox, etc., being taken to a French hospital, which often is not\ndesirable, and sometimes a great hardship. The need of a pay ward is\nalso a real one. It often happens that an English person is taken ill\nin an hotel where it is difficult to get proper treatment, and where\nexpenses are apt to increase very materially under the circumstances.\nTo some hotels doctors are \u201cattached,\u201d who charge exorbitant fees, and,\nit is said, divide the proceeds with the proprietor. In such cases it\nwould be the greatest boon if the patients could avail themselves of a\nBritish hospital, and they would no doubt willingly pay for the necessary\ntreatment. But notwithstanding these omissions, the Hertford Hospital\nis doing a splendid work, and is an enduring monument to its generous\nfounder.\n\nAnother British charity in Paris is the \u201cVictoria Home for Aged Women,\u201d\nfounded by my predecessor, the Rev. Howard Gill, in the year 1888. He\nfound, as I did subsequently, that there were English women who had been\ngovernesses, ladies\u2019 maids, and domestic servants, living in loneliness\nand poverty, generally at the top of the great houses in Paris, where the\nrents\u2014and the ceilings\u2014are low. For the most part they had led honourable\nlives, and were respected and helped by the families where they had\nworked. But they were old, they had lived most of their lives in France,\nany friends they had in England were dead and gone, and they had no wish\nto return to their native land, indeed it would be cruel to compel them\nto do so. The idea of a home where such could be lodged, free of rent,\ntook shape in the year of the late Queen\u2019s Jubilee in 1887. It was then\ndecided that after the expenses of the Celebration, the fund collected\nshould be applied to the establishment of a Victoria Home for the Aged\nBritish Poor. However, the fund collected was not sufficient, so it was\neventually decided to apply the interest of it in Victoria pensions,\nuntil the necessary amount should be collected. However, Mr. Gill would\nnot allow his scheme to rest, and receiving generous help from a few\nfriends, he started a Home on a small scale. This was inaugurated by the\nDowager Lady Lytton in December, 1888, and has proved a real success.\nThe conditions of entry may seem rather \u201cstiff,\u201d but the fact that\nthere has never been a vacant room shows that they need not at present\nbe relaxed. The applicant must be a British subject, over 65 years of\nage, of good character, and have resided at least 30 years in France.\nIt was one of my most pleasing duties during sixteen years to visit\nthis \u201cHome,\u201d and to act as chairman of the committee. Most of the old\nladies had an interesting story to tell, and they never wearied relating\ntheir experiences. Those who had been governesses in French families\ndelighted to tell of the young ladies to whom they had taught English,\nand watched over until they had married. The kindness of some of these\nladies to their old teachers and nurses was most touching. The late Sir\nCondie Stephen, an attach\u00e9 at the Embassy, took a kind interest in one\nof these inmates, and regularly sent her a present until the time of her\ndeath. All these old ladies had passed through the siege of Paris and\nthe Commune, and had interesting stories to tell of that tragic time.\nI remember one of them shewed me some of the meal which was served\nout during the siege\u2014very coarse and dirty, and mixed with particles\nof wood. The Dowager Lady Lytton and her daughters, and afterwards the\nDowager Lady Dufferin and her daughters, the Ladies Blackwood, took the\nwarmest interest in the Home, and were constant visitors. Members of\nthe English and American Colonies constantly go out to see the inmates,\nforemost amongst whom I must mention Miss Thorndike, one of the oldest\nAmerican residents in Paris, who frequently gives a tea and presents of\nwarm clothing, which are much appreciated. Formerly we rented a house\nin the Rue Borgh\u00e8se, Neuilly, but lately a house has been purchased in\nthe Boulevard de la Saussais, and is now being enlarged and made more\nsuitable as a permanent home for this deserving class. Visitors to Paris\nwill always be welcomed by the excellent matron and her daughter, Mrs.\nand Miss Ffarmer.\n\nAnother institution in Paris which is doing an admirable work is the\nBritish Schools. These schools were established in 1832, in order to\nafford a sound education to English-speaking children of the working\nclasses resident in the city, and to enable them to retain their\nknowledge of the English language. A small fee is charged to those\nparents who are in a position to pay, and the fees of the poorer children\nare paid by the British Charitable Fund. I cannot speak too highly of the\ngood work done in these schools, under the mastership of Mr. R. Smith.\nThe children receive an education in both French and English\u2014a French\nmistress is always employed. They learn shorthand and typewriting in both\nlanguages, and thus are able to obtain good positions in French business\nhouses. Indeed it is often difficult to supply the demand for both boys\nand girls competent to take such posts. The children are taught patriotic\nsongs, and every endeavour is made to instil into their minds love and\nloyalty for their own country. This is very necessary, for I found\nthat children of English parents who did not avail themselves of the\nadvantages of the schools, had the tendency to forget their own tongue,\nand to gradually become French. The chairman of the schools is Sir H.\nAustin Lee, who takes the warmest interest in its welfare, while Mr. H.\nWebster is untiring in his work as secretary and treasurer.\n\nThe Girls\u2019 Friendly Society is a splendid institution in Paris, hardly\nperhaps to be designated as a charity. When I first commenced work in the\nCity it was doing but little, but of late years it has become a society\nof the first importance for looking after English girls abroad. It is,\nof course, a branch of the London G.F.S., which has its ramifications\nall over Europe. English girls come in very large numbers to Paris as\ntypists, governesses, nurses, etc., and it is very important that they\nshould be looked after in a city so full of temptations. The society took\na new lease of life during the time when the Dowager Lady Dufferin was\nat the Embassy. It was in debt and other difficulties, and the work was\ncomparatively small. Lady Dufferin seeing the possibilities took up the\nmatter with her usual energy. The debt was soon paid, the difficulties\nremoved, and the work placed on a firm basis. From that time to the\npresent the society has prospered, and when I left Paris had some 300\nEnglish girls under its care. The system of the G.F.S. is just what is\nneeded on the Continent. Each girl has a lady associate, who is her\nfriend to whom she can always apply. If she moves to another city she is\nrecommended to a Lady Associate there, and is met at the railway, and\nlooked after. I used frequently to visit the charming lodge in the Avenue\nd\u2019J\u00e9na, and often on Sunday afternoons (the great gathering time for a\nfree tea) gave an address to the girls. The work of the chaplains in\nParis is much lightened by the kind help of the excellent ladies at the\nhead of the lodge. Indeed, one may say that the need of English girls in\nParis is fully met by this society, and the Y.W.C.A., under the fostering\ncare of Mrs. Hoff. This excellent lady devotes a large portion of her\ntime and wealth to work among American and English girls, and meets their\nneed, and especially that of American artists, in the beautiful homes she\nhas established.\n\nThe \u201cAda Leigh\u201d homes have done a good work in the past. The Y.M.C.A. has\nfor years had a branch in Paris, and done a good work, under the devoted\npresidency of the late H. Skepper.\n\nThese are the principal British charities in Paris. There are other\nsmaller and more private charities which were less under my notice, but\nof which I would write, but for want of space.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VIII.\n\nBRITISH JOURNALISTS IN PARIS.\n\n\nIt was my privilege to know most of the journalists representing the\nleading English papers, frequently meeting them at the various public\nfunctions and on other occasions. They are truly a body of men of whom\nthe Nation may be proud. Most agreeable to meet and keen in their work,\nso much so that very little escapes their notice.\n\nThe \u201cTimes\u201d was represented during most of my chaplaincy by that truly\nremarkable man M. O. de Blowitz. It was said of him that on one occasion\nat least (in 1875) he saved France from war. His achievements during\nthe Franco-German war in 1870 are well known. He was not striking in\nappearance: small, nearly bald, rather insignificant looking, so that\nit was hard on first acquaintance to realize that he was the man whose\ndeeds had startled Europe on more than one occasion. He was, I believe,\nAustrian by birth, but French by naturalization. His communications to\nthe \u201cTimes\u201d were, I understand, always in French; indeed, he was latterly\nmore French than anything else.\n\nI once heard him try to make a speech in English, and it was evidently\nwith considerable difficulty. He was naturally a constant visitor at the\nEmbassy, and was an especial favourite with the late Earl of Lytton and\nhis family. I used often to see him driving in the Champs Elys\u00e9es, and\nto meet him at banquets and other occasions. In December, 1902, the\ncolleagues of M. de Blowitz joined in making him a presentation in token\nof their admiration and esteem. About a month after this, in January,\n1903, he passed away. His funeral was a very representative one, a large\nnumber of his friends joining in the last tribute. With the modern\nrestrictions upon war correspondents, can there ever be another Blowitz?\n\nM. de Blowitz was succeeded by M. Lavino, who had formerly been upon the\nstaff of the \u201cDaily Telegraph\u201d in their Paris office, and was afterwards\nin Vienna. I met M. Lavino soon after he came to Paris, and he made what\nstruck me then as a peculiar remark. After some moments conversation, he\nsaid, \u201cYou know, Dr. Noyes, you will have to bury me.\u201d Of course I said I\nhoped not, but he seemed to have a presentiment then that his days were\nnumbered.\n\nM. Lavino, though not so well known as M. de Blowitz, had had a\ndistinguished career. He was in Paris when the Franco-German War broke\nout as secretary to General Salazar, Minister of Ecuador in Chicago.\nWhen the ill-fated Marshal Bazaine was being condemned by the French\nfor supposed treachery, M. Lavino contrived to obtain a letter from him\nin his own defence. From this time his success was assured. Later he\nassisted Sir Campbell Clarke on the Paris staff of the \u201cDaily Telegraph,\u201d\nand subsequently went to Vienna to represent the same paper. In 1892\nhe was appointed to represent the \u201cTimes,\u201d and upon the death of M. de\nBlowitz was called to Paris. It was commonly said that M. Lavino did\nmuch to help on the \u201cEntente Cordiale,\u201d not so much by what he wrote as\nby bringing together leading men of both nations, and so encouraging\na better understanding between them. M. Lavino frequently expressed\nhimself as favouring the action of the French Government in its late\nstruggle with the Roman Catholic Church. M. Lavino struck me as a kindly\ngentleman, observant, not fond of society\u2014a man one could safely trust.\n\nHe died suddenly on the evening of August 4th of strangulated hernia and\ndiabetes, the latter being a disease from which he had long suffered.\n\nThe \u201cDaily Telegraph\u201d was represented almost all my time by Sir Campbell\nClarke. He was a man of large means, having married a daughter of a\nproprietor, and occupied a fine apartment in the Champs Elys\u00e9es. He was a\nmost genial, kind man. The late Lady Campbell Clarke was always ready to\nhelp the needy, and frequently assisted me in our charities by monetary\nhelp.\n\nSir Campbell Clarke was most ably assisted for many years by Mr. W. F.\nLonergan and Mr. Ozane. The former has left Paris, while Mr. Ozane still\nplies his busy pen in La Ville Lumi\u00e8re. I feel sure that readers of the\n\u201cDaily Telegraph\u201d always enjoy \u201cParis day by day,\u201d written in such a\n\u201cnewsy\u201d style, and giving all the salient (though sometimes unsavory)\npoints in passing events. I owe a large debt of gratitude to the Paris\nstaff of the \u201cDaily Telegraph\u201d on account of many kindnesses received.\n\nMr. Hely Bowes and Mr. Farman represented the \u201cStandard,\u201d succeeded\nby Messrs. Adkin Raphael and Pountney. Mr. Farman\u2019s son is very much\nbefore the public at the present time, having invented one of the most\nsuccessful of the Flying Machines. I knew Mr. Hely Bowes and his family\nvery well. They were regular members of my congregation in the Rue\nd\u2019Aguesseau. Mr. Bowes was a singularly good French scholar and very\nwitty. He was born and brought up in France. His father was, I believe,\nat one time upon the staff of the \u201cGalagnani Messenger.\u201d I remember upon\none occasion sitting near him at a banquet. He was pouring out stories\nand witticisms to his neighbour, a French Deputy. The Minister was heard\nto ask afterwards \u201cWho is that remarkable Englishman? He speaks and tell\nstories like a Frenchman.\u201d\n\nMr. Hely Bowes died during my chaplaincy. I visited him at the last, and\nwas the first to convey the sad news to Sir H. Austin Lee at the Embassy,\nwhere he was so well known.\n\nAs I passed the Lodge I told the Concierge what had happened, and raising\nhis hands he exclaimed \u201cpar exemple\u201d\u2014it seemed to me a curious expression\non such an occasion.\n\nThe \u201cDaily News\u201d and the \u201cMorning Post\u201d were represented by Mr. J.\nMacdonald and Mr. Raper, the latter of whom I knew very well.\n\nMr. Raper succeeded Mr. Arthur Gill (son of my predecessor, the Rev.\nHoward Gill), who for a short time represented the \u201cMorning Post.\u201d\n\nThe \u201cDaily Mail\u201d now occupies a unique and very important position among\nthe English papers obtainable abroad. Having, in addition to a special\nwire, a printing establishment in Paris, they can produce a fac-simile\nedition of the London issue every morning.\n\nIn times of National anxiety especially, it would be hard to\nover-estimate the boon of such a paper. We had no such advantage, e.g.,\nin the Boer War, and the anxious longing for the evening post was very\ntrying, especially when one had relatives or friends in the Army. The\nFrench papers gave short telegrams, but these were often misleading and\nsometimes untrue, and only added to the anxiety. But now this is changed,\nand one can get a fairly full account of English doings at the breakfast\ntable in Paris.\n\nAs the paper can be dispatched by the early morning trains, those in the\nSouth of France and other parts get their British news at least twelve\nhours earlier than heretofore.\n\nDuring most of the time Mr. McAlpin represented this paper, whom I well\nknew. Mr. Lane was also upon the staff, and some others. Mr. McAlpin is\nnow no longer on the Paris staff of the \u201cDaily Mail,\u201d and was succeeded\nby Mr. J. B. Brandreth, who is well known in the journalistic world. The\n\u201cDaily Mail\u201d has been the death of the \u201cGalagnani Messenger\u201d which used\nto be so well known upon the Continent.\n\nFor the American Colony in Paris there is no paper like the \u201cNew York\nHerald.\u201d This paper, owned by Mr. J. Gordon Bennett, is a remarkable\npublication, produced it is said at a loss, very chatty, and containing\ndaily current news from America. Before the \u201cDaily Mail\u201d came to the\nfront, most English people took the \u201cNew York Herald,\u201d as it gave a\ncertain amount of English news from the papers of the day, and whetted\nthe appetite for the London paper which arrives in the evening.\n\nMr. J. Gordon Bennett is a well-known figure in Paris. He is said to be\nseveral times over a millionaire\u2014spends freely, and is a great traveller\nand sportsman. He has the knack of getting the men he wants upon the\nstaff of his paper, and of getting the best out of them. But I am told\nthe tenure of office there is rather precarious. Many of the journalists\nof Paris have been at one time or another on the staff of his paper.\nI have also heard it said that the name of no person disliked by the\nproprietor is allowed to appear in the paper. The Editor publishes at\ntimes all letters, etc., even though they revile the paper and things\nAmerican. A letter from an \u201cold Philadelphian lady\u201d has been repeated\ndaily for some years!\n\nI received much kindness from the \u201cHerald\u201d during my chaplaincy. I was\nnever charged for any advertisement, and any communications I sent were\nalways inserted.\n\nAnother journalist whom I often met was Mr. Clifford Millage, who was\nthe Paris correspondent of the \u201cDaily Chronicle,\u201d and an ardent Roman\nCatholic. He was fond of discussing theological subjects\u2014an able man,\nand well thought of among his confr\u00e8res. He passed away in 1903. I may\nalso mention Mr. Strong, Mr. Longhurst, and Mr. Fullerton, among those\nfrom whom I received kindness from time to time. I was brought a good\ndeal into contact with the late Mr. Cuntz, who managed the \u201cAmerican\nRegister\u201d\u2014owing to serious illness in his family.\n\nBesides the journalists of the sterner sex, there are also ladies who are\nwell known as brilliant writers for various society and other papers.\nI may mention among those whom I was privileged to know, Mrs. Emily\nCrawford. This lady was in Paris during the war of 1870, and the almost\nmore terrible Commune that followed. She writes for the \u201cDaily News\u201d and\n\u201cTruth,\u201d and has published a memoir of our late beloved Queen, under the\ntitle \u201cVictoria, Queen and Ruler.\u201d Mrs. Crawford is well known in all\nliterary circles in Paris.\n\nMrs. Alison Robson I knew for almost the whole of my chaplaincy. She is\na clever writer for the \u201cQueen,\u201d under the nom de plume of E. de Campo\nBello. Mrs. Robson went as special correspondent to the Hague at the time\nof the wedding festivities of the Queen of Holland; and also Madrid, when\nthe King of Spain came of age. She gave us a most interesting account of\nthese visits.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IX.\n\nVARIA.\n\n\nMany of my readers who can recall the great \u201cTimes\u201d trial will remember\nthe names of Pigott, and Tynan (the famous No. 1, who it was said gave\nthe signal for the murder of Lord F. Cavendish). It was a curious\ncoincidence that both these men were living at one time in my Parish of\nChrist Church, Kingstown. I often made purchases at the little bookshop\nkept by Tynan, and sometimes spoke with him. During my stay in Paris I\nhad a visit from the famous le Carron, who for a long time was a member\nof the Clan-na-Gael in New York, and informed the Home Government of\ntheir proceedings. He told me that he was formerly a choir boy in the\nEmbassy Church, and he related to me some of his thrilling adventures. He\ndied of consumption soon after his visit to Paris.\n\n[Illustration: THE ELYS\u00c9E, FROM THE FAUBOURG ST. HONOR\u00c9.]\n\nSome of the yearly customs on f\u00eate days in Paris are peculiar, and those\noccurring in the winter season are less familiar than others\u2014to English\nvisitors. New Year\u2019s Day, the \u201cJour de l\u2019an,\u201d is kept as a National\nHoliday, and presents of flowers and \u201cobjets d\u2019art\u201d are sent amongst\nfriends. Christmas Day is not kept with the like solemnity and joyousness\nas with us\u2014though becoming more a f\u00eate than it formerly was. Upon New\nYear\u2019s Day beggars are allowed in the streets, and it is often a ghastly\nspectacle to see the poor creatures in all conditions of deformity\nasking alms. A good deal is distributed amongst them, as the French are\nvery charitable to the Poor. At this season \u201cbooths\u201d are allowed on the\nBoulevards, when all sorts of toys, etc., are exposed for sale, some of\nthem mechanical and very ingenious. They are supposed for the most part\nto have been made in the homes of the poor.\n\nShrove Tuesday (Mardi-gras) and Mid-Lent (Mi-car\u00eame) are also general\nholidays. On the former there is a procession of fat cattle, and a\nthrowing of confetti in the main streets and Boulevards, where vehicular\ntraffic is suspended. I have seen the Grand Boulevards literally\nsix inches deep in confetti on a fine day. Mi-car\u00eame is marked by a\nprocession of the washerwomen, and in many particulars resembles our Lord\nMayor\u2019s Show on November 9th, only it is more fantastic. The Grand Car\non these occasions is reserved for the Queen of the Laundries, who has\nbeen solemnly chosen for her beauty. She rides triumphant, surrounded by\nher \u201cCourt\u201d\u2014sometimes rather scantily dressed for the cold weather, and\nstops at the Elys\u00e9e, where she generally receives a present of a bracelet\nat the hands of the President of the Republic. These functions are well\nworth seeing\u2014once.\n\nThe National F\u00eate, to celebrate the declaration of the Republic, being\nin warmer weather (July), is usually more of a festival in the open-air,\nand is kept up late and early. Many families leave Paris for the country\nbefore it comes off. It is emphatically the people\u2019s f\u00eate, and one\nfeature of it is that dancing is allowed in the streets. Bandstands are\nerected, usually opposite a restaurant, and in the evenings people gather\nin large numbers. Inmates of flats near these bandstands suffer much (I\nwrite from experience), for being the hot weather windows must be open,\nand the noise is deafening.\n\n\u201cAll Souls\u2019\u201d and \u201cAll Saints\u2019\u201d Days are religiously kept by most\nParisians, and thousands go to the cemeteries to place flowers on the\ngraves of their relations. It is a very interesting sight, and visitors\nto Paris should not omit on these days to go to P\u00e8re-la-Chaise, Passy,\nBolougne-sur-Seine, or one of the other cemeteries.\n\nThe French pay great respect to the dead. No funeral cort\u00e8ge is allowed\nto trot in Paris whatever the distance to the cemetery, and most men\nraise their hats and women cross themselves as the body passes in the\nstreets. Soldiers and officials always salute.\n\nBurials are a monopoly in Paris. The Pompes fun\u00e8bres is a great company,\nwho have decorations arranged and always ready for every church in\nParis, and everyone is buried by them, and in the \u201cclass\u201d they choose\nto pay for. There are seven or eight \u201cclasses,\u201d and it is so arranged\nthat the rich pay for the poor. A first-class funeral is very rare, as\nit costs a very large sum. Officials attend the poor man\u2019s funeral\u2014only\nless gorgeously dressed\u2014equally with the rich, and all things are done\ndecently and in order. As a sign of the times, not long before I left\nParis, I was called upon to take a funeral of an American at St. Germain,\nsome miles outside the fortifications. The family and friends went down\nby train, and I went with the body, but in a motor-fourgon (hearse). When\nwe left the gates of the city we travelled very rapidly.\n\nI noticed a marked change during my life in Paris in the keeping of\nSunday. Twenty years ago many shops were open, and there was little\nto distinguish it from any other day. Now most places of business are\nclosed. Leagues were formed some years ago, advocating one day\u2019s rest\nin seven, and quite lately (1907) a law was passed requiring that all\nemploy\u00e9s should cease work on Sunday. Those compelled to work on that day\n(in restaurants, etc.) must have another day. Alas! the change is not due\nto a religious but a secular movement, and is solely to oblige one day\u2019s\nrest in the seven as a holiday. As far as it goes it is a good thing\nfor the people, and it is pleasant to see the orderly crowds enjoying\nthe open air in the Bois, the Parc Monceau, and other places, while one\nregrets the irreligion which is so characteristic of the nation at this\ntime.\n\nThe well-known Mark Twain (Mr. Clements) came to Paris to complete (so\nI understood) one of his books. No one knew of his presence amongst us\nfor some time. When I heard of it I went to see him in his hotel in the\nRue de Rivoli to ask him to give a public reading from his works for the\nbenefit of the proposed Church House. He put me off in his characteristic\nway. I then went to see the Marquis of Dufferin and Ava\u2014our Ambassador at\nthat time\u2014and asked him if he would give a room at the Embassy if I could\npersuade Mark Twain to read. He kindly agreed, and so did Mr. Clements.\nWe had a splendid success, the rooms were crowded. We obtained twenty\nfrancs a ticket, and cleared some \u00a3200. American humour is sometimes\ndifficult for English people to appreciate, but no one could resist Mark\nTwain. I shall always feel grateful to him for his kind help on that\noccasion.\n\nAmong the many artists it was our privilege to know in Paris was the\neminent sculptor, Mr. Bruce Joy. He had then a studio in the city. We\nstill possess a replica of his well-known bust of the late Archbishop\nBenson.\n\nParis is a city which might well be compared to the Adulamites Cave,\nwhere all in distress and difficulty congregate. Among the unfortunates\nwas the late Oscar Wilde. I had known him a little in Dublin as a\nstudent, and had also met him at Lady Wilde\u2019s receptions. He came to\nParis to die. When I heard of his serious illness I went down at once to\nenquire, but found he had passed away. The \u201cconcierge\u201d told me that he\nhad been visited by a Priest, and baptized into the Roman Church. As is\noften the case, the Baptism was administered when the patient was \u201cin\nextremis,\u201d and knew nothing about it. The Roman Church, however, claimed\nto take the funeral, and I could not object.\n\nCurious mistakes were sometimes made by the French Postal authorities,\nowing to the difficulty of language. Each Easter it was my custom to\nsend out a card to the members of the congregation giving notice of the\nservices, and at the foot a suitable quotation from the Scriptures. In\n1895, I sent out the card as usual, and the passage was \u201cThe Lord is\nRisen.\u201d One came back to me through the dead-letter office addressed to\n\u201cThe Lord is Risen, 5 Rue d\u2019Aguesseau.\u201d\n\nAll sorts of ideas and rumours were circulated when the French Church was\nseparated from the State. One morning a French gentleman called at the\nVestry and asked me if it was true that Sir Francis Bertie, our present\nAmbassador in Paris, had purchased the Madeleine Church, our own being\ntoo small! This is somewhat parallel to the story of an Irish clergyman,\nwho told me that the day after the bill passed to disestablish the Church\nin Ireland he heard in the early morning a scythe going in his field. A\nstranger was cutting his hay. Upon enquiry, the man said: \u201cSure, sir, the\nChurch is disestablished now, and I thought I would come early for my\nshare!\u201d\n\nThe French often make curious mistakes in their translations into\nEnglish, but the same may be said, and perhaps more so, with respect\nto our renderings into French, e.g., A young English girl was heard to\nexclaim \u201cJe suis cheval,\u201d desiring to say she was hoarse. And another,\nwho had a touch of the same complaint, \u201cJe ne peux pas hirond\u00e8le,\u201d\nmeaning she could not swallow. Upon another occasion, when called to\nplay in public, a girl said \u201cJe suis s\u00fbre de casser-en-bas,\u201d in her fear\nof coming to grief. It was rather a peculiar way to express hurry, when\none said \u201cJe suis dans une d\u00e9p\u00e8che.\u201d I suppose most have heard the story\ntold by Dean Pigou, of Bristol, of the lady (I believe an American) who,\ndesiring a cab, called out \u201cCochon \u00eates-vous fianc\u00e9.\u201d Another story,\nwhich was current in my time, is worth repeating. A girl who had been\nbut a few months in Paris learning French was taken out by her parents\nto a restaurant. Looking over the menu, she was asked to translate the\nsentence \u201cRis de Veau \u00e0 la financi\u00e8re,\u201d which she told her delighted\nparents was \u201cthe calf laughs at the Banker\u2019s wife.\u201d Many of such mistakes\narise when young people are placed in French families where no English is\nspoken at all, and so their errors pass uncorrected.\n\nAmong the remarkable men who lived and died in Paris during my\nchaplaincy was Mr. H. A. M. Butler-Johnstone. He had been for sixteen\nyears Member of Parliament for Canterbury, and as a youth was at Eton,\nat the same time as His Majesty King Edward. He was closely identified\nwith the young Turkey party in Paris. He was on his way to the Post\nOffice in October, 1902, when he died suddenly in the street near the\nPlace Vendome. He was staying with his wife at the Hotel Continental,\nbut there being no funds, his funeral was undertaken by the British\nCharitable Fund. I conducted his funeral, which was attended by quite a\nnumber of the Turkish Colony in Paris. It was said that his financial\nruin was caused by his having lent \u00a3200,000 to the Turkish Government in\n1877 to resist the encroachments of Russia. To raise this sum he sold his\npictures to the National Gallery, as well as his estates in England. It\nwas said that he gave great offence to the late Marquis of Salisbury by\nthe attitude he took up on the Russo-Turkish War.\n\nIn January, 1907, there was a remarkable gathering of eighty-six Prelates\nof the Roman Church in Paris to discuss the attitude of the Church\ntowards the recently passed \u201cLaw of Separation.\u201d What seemed the more\nremarkable was that the gathering was held at the Ch\u00e2teau de la Muette\nPassy, the residence of the Count and Countess de Francqueville, and that\nthe Countess presided at the lunch, she being a member of the Anglican\nCommunion. The Countess, as is well known, is the daughter of the Earl of\nSelbourne, and niece of the late Bishop of Southwell.\n\n[Illustration: PLACE DE LA CONCORDE.]\n\n[Illustration: THE HISTORIC FOUNTAIN, PLACE DE LA CONCORDE.]\n\nThe concierge or hall porter occupies a responsible position in the\nParis house. A common answer to the question \u201cIs life worth living?\u201d\nis\u2014it depends upon the concierge. There is no doubt that a disagreeable\nconcierge can make things very uncomfortable, and it is necessary when\ntaking an \u201cappartement\u201d to gain his goodwill by a good tip. Otherwise\nletters which are delivered at the lodge may not be brought up as soon as\nthey should be, and other little annoyances will frequently occur. It is\ncustomary to give 50 to 100 francs to the concierge on New Year\u2019s day,\naccording to the rent paid, to secure civility and good service through\nthe year. The concierge is the servant of the proprietor and not of the\ntenant. Every quarter the rent is paid to the concierge, and must be paid\nin cash. The cheque system as we have it in England is but little used in\nFrance.\n\nWhen I handed a cheque for my first quarter\u2019s rent to the concierge he\nlooked at it, and said \u201cWhat is this?\u201d I was compelled to go down to the\nBank and get the money for him!\n\nIn taking an appartement (or flat) in Paris, the greatest care is\nnecessary. The \u201cetat de lieu\u201d or state of the flat must be taken both by\nthe architect of the landlord and your own. A document is drawn up, and\nsigned by both parties. Unless this is done all sorts of charges may be\nmade when the tenant leaves the flat, as, e.g., for every nail in the\nwalls or floors, every scratch on the paint, etc. I bought my experience\nrather expensively in one of the flats I occupied.\n\nOwing, it is said, to the lack of population, the law as to nationality\npresses hard upon some foreigners in France. The law at present is that\n\u201call children of parents born in France are French,\u201d and male children\nthus born are liable for military service. I knew several young men who\nwere thoroughly English, and who had always kept up their connection\nwith England and the English Colony in France, who, nevertheless, owing\nto the fact that their parents were born in the country, were accounted\nFrench, and had to go through their military service, and were liable\nto be called up in time of war. It has naturally followed that when an\ninteresting event is expected in a British family, and where it can be\nmanaged, a temporary change to the English climate has become desirable.\nBut this law presses very hardly upon the poor.\n\nI am often asked as to whether it is more expensive to live in Paris than\nin London. My experience is that London is the dearer city. In Paris\nalmost everyone lives in a flat, where it is not necessary to keep so\nmany servants as a house requires. Wages are about the same; but servants\nin France are much more economical than in England. Food is dearer as\nit is mostly taxed\u2014the exception being fruit and vegetables, which come\ninto Paris free of duty. Wine of home culture is now exempt. Coal is\nvery expensive, being generally over \u00a32 a ton; but then less is used,\nas the houses in the best parts of the city are generally warmed. There\nis, however, no income tax in France, and the municipal taxes are much\nless\u2014about one-half what they are in London. But the days when people\nwould go to Paris to largely economise are past; both capitals are\nexpensive for the upper and middle classes.\n\nThe carte telegram or \u201cPetit bleu\u201d is an advantage in Paris which one\nmisses much in London. This is a system by which a letter written on a\nspecial form, which can be sealed and posted in a special box, with a\nthreepenny stamp, will be delivered in the city, by means of pneumatic\ntubes, within an hour. It is a great convenience, and largely used by\nParisians.\n\nThe post offices, however, often afford a trying experience. The\nofficials seem in no hurry to attend to the customers, and there is no\nappeal. They do not seem to consider themselves the servants of the\npublic in any way, and so the public suffer. The \u201cBureaux de Post\u201d\nare frequently badly ventilated, so that a long delay is not always\nagreeable.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER X.\n\nTHE PRESENT CONDITIONS OF RELIGIOUS LIFE ON THE CONTINENT OF EUROPE, AND\nTHEIR LESSONS FOR THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND TO-DAY.\n\nA Paper read at the Yarmouth Church Congress, October 2nd, 1907.\n\n\nI ventured to accept the proposal that I should speak to you to-day\nupon the ground that I had been for the past sixteen years chaplain in\nParis, with certain opportunities for gathering some information upon the\nsubject before us.\n\nWhat I have to say will naturally refer chiefly to France, which during\nthe past few years has been passing\u2014with somewhat grim silence\u2014through a\nbloodless Revolution.\n\nThe long story, of which the present condition of religious life in\nthat country is the sequel, has been as to its earlier stages so ably\ndealt with by the previous speaker that I will not occupy your time by a\nfurther reference to it.\n\nTo come to recent events. During the years 1897-1900 France was stirred\nto its depths over the Dreyfus \u201caffaire.\u201d It was in the air\u2014everyone\ntalked about it, and the controversy was full of bitterness. The policy\nof the Ultramontane party with respect to this question can only be\ndescribed as deplorable. At any cost this unfortunate Jew must be proved\nguilty, apparently with the hope that thus feeling would be stirred up\nin the country against all Jews, and non-Roman Catholics, and the Church\ncome again into the favour she was fast losing. The reaction that came\nwhen it was seen that a great blunder had been made was remarkable; and\nthere was considerable irritation against those who had, it was felt,\ndeceived the people. Yet there are some in France who still would have us\nbelieve that Dreyfus is guilty! The country had been steadily becoming\nindifferent to religion, but that indifference was largely changed into\nopen hostility in the reaction after the exposures which were made in\nthis \u201caffaire,\u201d which had indeed brought the country perilously near\ncivil war.\n\nIt was in the year 1900 that the French Government took action against\nthe Augustinians, or Assumptionists. Hitherto the \u201cOrders\u201d had been\ntreated with more or less of indifference, but at this time the country\nwoke up to the fact that this body was publishing a newspaper (\u201cThe\nCroix\u201d), which was acquiring a leading position so far as circulation\nwas concerned. In every caf\u00e9, in every village, it had its agents; and\nwhile acting under the cloak of religion\u2014the crucifix being printed\non the front page, with a representation of the \u201cflag of the Sacred\nHeart\u201d\u2014it was really a political organ\u2014its object was revolutionary\u2014and\naimed at the existing Government. It is only fair, however, to say that\nthis organ, while largely used, was never officially sanctioned by the\nChurch. The Government becoming aware of the danger promptly seized the\npress, suppressed the Order of the Assumptionists, and proceeded to\nfurther measures. M. Clemenceau showed, in an able speech, that in very\nmany cases these so-called religious orders were nothing else than huge\ntrading establishments, some of which had made great fortunes by the\nmanufacture of wines and liqueurs, and that a considerable amount of\n\u201csweating\u201d was practised by those in authority over them.\n\nIn 1901, M. Waldeck Rousseau being Prime Minister, the \u201cAssociations\nBill\u201d was brought into the Chamber of Deputies. This Bill required all\ncongregations to be authorized. Existing congregations were to obtain\nauthorization, and no new ones could be formed without this authority.\nThe Bill was no doubt aimed chiefly at the various \u201corders,\u201d several of\nwhich were not authorized, as, e.g., the Jesuits and the Dominicans.\nDesperate efforts were made in the Chamber to defeat the Government, but\nthe Bill was carried by 303 votes to 224. Soon after this, M. Waldeck\nRousseau retired, nominating M. Combes as his successor.\n\nIn 1902 the elections were held, and the Government \u201cwent to the\ncountry\u201d upon the Associations Bill. Contrary to the expectations of the\nUltramontane party, and showing how rapidly it was losing its hold upon\nthe people, the elections were decidedly in favour of the Government. M.\nCombes, in the same year, suppressed 127 establishments (monasteries and\nconvents) which were not authorized. Many thought he acted with undue\nseverity, and disturbances took place in various parts. It has, however,\nto be remembered that with the Government it was a struggle for life,\nand as a leading statesman expressed it, \u201cThe religious orders are a\nState within a State, and capable of undermining the most solid edifice\nraised by a most united people.\u201d M. Combes has frequently said that he\nhad no intention at this time of going so far as to propose the breaking\nof the Concordat\u2014not that he objected to it, but he did not believe that\nthe country was ripe for it. The somewhat extraordinary action of the\nVatican, and the support of the Government by the people, carried him on.\n\nAn event took place soon after which accentuated the friction between\nthe Government and the Vatican. M. Loubet (President of the Republic)\nhad decided to pay an official visit to the King of Italy. This\nwas considered an insult to the Vatican, which had for a long time\nendeavoured to keep France and Italy apart. Protest was made to the\nFrench Government, and every engine of diplomacy used to arrange a visit\nto the Pope before the audience with the King of Italy. M. Loubet and\nthe Government refused to be dictated to, and as M. Combes put it in a\nspeech subsequently made, \u201cWe will not allow the Papacy to intermeddle in\nour international relationships, and we intend to have done once for all\nwith the fiction of the Temporal Power.\u201d This sounds very much like the\nsentence in our own Constitution: \u201cThe Pope of Rome hath no jurisdiction\nin this realm of England.\u201d\n\nThe mass of the people\u2014with whom M. Loubet was popular\u2014sided with the\nGovernment, and the gulf was made a little wider.\n\nFollowing this incident came the case of the two Bishops, Mgr. le Nordez,\nBishop of Dijon, and Mgr. Geay, Bishop of Laval. These two ecclesiastics\nwere accused of certain crimes against morality, and of Freemasonry. The\nexcitement was widespread, and eventually the bishops were summoned to\nRome. In conformity with the terms of the Concordat, they informed the\nFrench Government of this order, who forbid them to leave the country,\nas the summons was irregular. From this time a battle began between\nthe Vatican and the French Government, until at length the two bishops\nyielded, and went to Rome to be tried, and eventually resigned their\nbishoprics. This was regarded as a great triumph for the Ultramontane\nparty.\n\nBut what followed caused considerable consternation, for on July 29th of\nthat year the Papal Nuncio was informed by M. Delcasse that there was\nno need for him to remain longer in France. I shall not soon forget the\nexcitement in Paris at this decided step. Parliament, however, approved\nof what had been done, and thus the way was prepared for the breaking\nof the \u201cgolden chain\u201d of the Concordat, and the final rupture with the\nVatican. Great events followed with striking rapidity.\n\nOn December 9th, 1905, the law was passed severing the connection between\nChurch and State, which was completed on March 16th, 1906, by the\n\u201cReglement d\u2019Administration publique.\u201d It was legislation for which the\ncountry had proved to be ripe.\n\nThe series of events which I have briefly referred to had hastened the\ncrisis. No greater mistake could be made than to imagine it was merely a\npolitical measure arising from irritation. It was inevitable\u2014it was but\nthe \u201cregistration of an existing fact.\u201d\n\nMoreover, the Bill itself was much more generous and favourable than it\nmight have been, and is not rightly described as \u201cpersecution.\u201d It is\nno doubt anti-clerical, but that does not mean that it is altogether\nanti-religious. In the Chamber of Deputies the other day the Abb\u00e9 Lemire\ncould say that \u201che believed in the sincerity of those who say they wished\nto make the law of separation a law of liberty and toleration, as well\nfor the Church as for the State.\u201d\n\nThe first article of the Bill reads thus: \u201cThe Republic assures liberty\nof conscience and guarantees the free practise of religion subject only\nto the restrictions hereinafter enacted, in the interest of public order.\u201d\n\nThe second article says: \u201cThe Republic neither recognises nor salaries\nnor subsidises any religion\u201d\u2014in future budgets \u201call expenses connected\nwith the practise of religions\u201d would be omitted, and public religious\nestablishments would be suppressed. Provision is, however, made for the\ncontinued services of chaplains in public institutions, a provision which\nshows an absence of an altogether anti-religious bias in the Bill.\n\nThe ceasing of grants for religious services means, of course, an\nenormous loss to the Roman Church, and a proportionate loss to the\nProtestant and Jewish Churches also. It is a credit to the Roman Church\nthat this financial loss has not been represented as the chief grievance.\n\nThe articles 3 and 4 in the Bill have been those most bitterly opposed\nby the Ultramontane party. The former required an \u201cinventory\u201d to be\nmade of all Church property, which was then to be transferred to\nthe \u201cAssociations Cultuelles,\u201d who were to hold it in the future as\n\u201crepresentatives of the religion which has now the use of it.\u201d The\ntaking of this \u201cinventory\u201d was made the occasion of considerable\ndisturbance. In Paris this was especially so at the Church of S.\nClothilde, where there was a free fight. The names of the arrested,\nhowever, clearly showed that the demonstration was political rather than\nreligious, and engineered mainly by the Royalist party. There is also\nanother fact not generally known, and that is, that the opportunity was\nbeing taken by dealers from Paris and London to purchase valuable plate\nand pictures from the Churches throughout the country, substituting for\nthem others of little value, and the Government was really protecting\nChurch property by taking these inventories.\n\nBy article 4 the \u201cAssociation Cultuelles\u201d were to receive the property as\nbeing representatives of the \u201cReligion that now has the use of it.\u201d These\nassociations were to be formed in every parish, the members forming it\nbeing proportionate to the population. The priests might be members, and\nwould in most cases nominate the other members.\n\nThus it would seem a door was open by which a \u201cmodus vivendi\u201d might have\nbeen arranged between the Vatican and the State. The French bishops\nrealized this, and at their first meeting decided to accommodate\nthemselves to the law. They were convinced by a majority of twenty-two\nthat it would be possible to form associations which, \u201cwithout violating\nthe separation law, would maintain the essential rights of the Church,\nher Divine constitution, and her hierarchy.\u201d But the Vatican would not\nconsent.\n\nLater, the Archbishop of Besancon proposed a scheme for the formation\nof \u201cAssociations Canonique,\u201d which, according to the Abb\u00e9 Houtin, was\napproved by the bishops by 56 votes against 18. This scheme was also\nrejected, the Pope declaring that he would not permit their trial\n\u201cso long as he had no certain and legal guarantee that the Divine\nconstitution of the Church, the immaculate rights of the Roman Pontiff\nand the Bishops, and their authority over the necessary property of the\nChurch (particularly over the sacred edifices) would be irrevocably and\nfully assured by the said associations.\u201d So came a deadlock\u2014on all points\nthe Vatican had refused compliance with the new law, and practically\ndeclared war against the Government. With apparently a real desire to\nmeet the difficulty, the Government fell back temporarily upon the law of\n1881, which required a simple declaration to be made of the intention to\nhold Divine service, this declaration being only necessary once a year.\nThis proposal was under discussion at the famous meeting of the French\nBishops at La Muette, Paris, in January of this year. We gather from\nreliable sources that there was a disposition on the part of the bishops\nto accept this solution of the difficulty, when a telegram was received\nfrom the Vatican forbidding it.\n\nThus we arrive at the present state of the religious question in France.\nThe Church is separated from the State\u2014the Papal Nuncio has been banished\nfrom France, the bulk of the people are only nominal adherents of the\nChurch, and they love to have it so.\n\nIt must be evident to most who have followed this controversy that Rome\nhas herself fledged the arrow which has brought her down. For a long time\nshe has been losing her hold upon the people, so that to-day, out of\nthirty-nine millions in the country, it is calculated that only four to\nfive millions are devout adherents of the Papacy. This fact it is that\naccounts for the absence of any serious uprising during this momentous\nchange which has so recently taken place.\n\nMr. F. Harrison relates his impressions during a late visit to France in\nthe \u201cNineteenth Century\u201d for August, and says:\u2014\u201cOf the great religious\nstruggle not a trace was to be seen.\u2026 I entered the churches and attended\nthe services at all hours, and was almost always alone. In Notre Dame, in\nParis, on Trinity Sunday last there were fifty-two women and twenty-five\nmen.\u201d He adds, \u201cThe State was only concerned with the overthrow of a\ngreat political conspiracy; there was no trace of a great religious\nstruggle, because none took place.\u201d\n\nVisitors to Paris during the season may get a very erroneous impression\nas to the true state of religious life. A few of the leading churches\nmay be filled, e.g., the Madeleine, S. Sulpice, S. Clothilde, and some\nothers, but one has to take into account the fact that Paris is much\nunder-churched for the population, and that many of those attending in\nthe season are from the provinces, and, I am sorry to say, some English\nChurchpeople. So with regard to Sunday. A great change has taken place\nin France. Visitors of twenty years ago will remember that the shops\nin Paris were for the most part open, but now they are very generally\nclosed. It would, however, be a mistake to suppose that this change arose\nfrom a religious feeling. It is rather that France had decided to keep\none day in seven for pure pleasure, and Sunday has been chosen as the\nmost convenient day. The theatres and other amusements are open, and\nthronged as before.\n\nDuring the last sixteen years\u2014with the exception of the monumental\nbuilding upon the hill of Montmartre, I never saw any important new\nchurch in building, or heard of one being erected.\n\nAnd what is the reason of this state of things, from which we as a\nChurch may gather some lessons? They are many. Rome in France, as in\nother countries, is rather a political than a religious system. She\nwas involved more than was generally known in the Dreyfus affair. The\nbanished Orders were sowing the seeds of disloyalty to the Republic.\nS. Cyr (the military school) was largely under the influence of the\nJesuits, who are not Republicans, and the struggle had to come. \u201cFrance\nis democratic and progressive. In spite of eminent exceptions, the\nRoman Catholic body has offered a sullen and stubborn opposition to\neconomic and social reform. It reaps what it has sown.\u201d And this is an\nobject-lesson to ourselves. Now the attitude of the nation towards Roman\nCatholicism is one of distrust and aversion. A Church\u2014a clergy\u2014these,\nthough he may not personally use them\u2014the average Frenchman will have.\nBut what he will not have at any price is a Government influenced by\npriests\u2014a Roman Catholic \u201cparty\u201d\u2014or the intervention of Rome, secret or\navowed, in French politics. The fact is that Rome has asked the people\nto believe too much, and they have ended by believing very little. It is\na sad spectacle. But what has the Church offered to combat the growing\nmaterialism of the country? Only the poor substitute of superstition,\nsuch as is manifested at Lourdes and other places. This and the Dreyfus\naffair, and the scandal connected with the name of Leo Taxil, have done\nmuch in late years to alienate thinking Frenchmen from religion.\n\nAgain, the selling of the offices and sacraments has in Paris at least\nbeen practised to an extraordinary extent. Before the separation, I\nhave known of as much as \u00a31,000 being paid for the services at a \u201crich\u201d\nfuneral. \u00a380 to \u00a3100 was a common fee for marriages and funerals, and\nlarge offerings were expected at baptisms. Since the passing of the\nBill the Archbishop of Paris has ordered that marriages and funerals\nshould only be taken in a low \u201cclass,\u201d where the fees are comparatively\nmoderate. But I am credibly informed that it is expected that an\n\u201coffering\u201d will be given to the officiating priest equal to what was\nformerly charged. This relates, of course, only to the wealthier class,\nfrom whom the complaints have been deep if not loud.\n\nAnd what is the outcome of all this? Here you have a dissatisfied\npriesthood, especially as to the younger men; it is calculated that some\ntwo hundred secede from the priesthood every year; a people who have\nthrown over their Church and practically banished religion from their\nschools. You have teachers who have a better chance of employment and\npromotion if they are free-thinkers. Consequently juvenile crime is\nincreasing, and immorality more or less rampant. Here are two facts.\nAccording to the official journal, during the year 1905, 3,805 boys of\nsixteen years of age passed through the police courts, and 566 girls of\nthe same age; and in the same year there were 468 cases of suicide of\nmen and women under twenty-one years of age. Again, in Paris alone the\nillegitimate births are over 12,000 a year, while in London, with its\nmuch greater population, the number for 1906 was 4,868.\n\nWhat is the remedy? Certainly a revival of religion will not come through\npolitics\u2014but will it come from the Church herself?\n\nThere is a Liberal school of Roman Catholic Theology in France from which\nsome hope much. M. Paul Sabatier (who has written so much and so well\nupon this subject) has great hopes that the Church in France will be\nsaved by this party. But it is a party which has no favour from Rome, and\ntime alone will show whether anything can be accomplished by it. Some,\nindeed, there are who think that the somewhat mysterious action of the\nPope in the late controversy with the Government arose from the existence\nand strength of this \u201cLiberal\u201d party, and the latest Papal pronouncement\nseems to favour this view. This school\u2014historical, liturgical, and\ncritical\u2014has broken down the intellectual conceptions on which Romish\ndoctrine rests; and if its views are accepted by Roman Catholics\ngenerally, then the Vatican sees clearly that it cannot sway the minds of\nthe people and bring them to obey implicitly.\n\nIt would appear that the Curia sees that the doctrines of Liberalism,\nonce adopted, will overthrow Romanism, and in its desire to save the\nChurch allows the French Catholics to be persecuted, knowing that\npersecution will confirm Conservatism, and drive the really attached\nUltramontanes closer to the Roman authority. The Pope\u2019s action is, in\nfact, the inevitable result of Ultramontanism, for nowadays no Romanist\ncan be anything but an Ultramontane if he is loyal to the Papacy. Thus\nthe action of the Pope may not be a diplomatic mistake so much as the\noutcome of a steady policy to maintain unity on the basis of the Vatican\ndecrees and the syllabus.\n\nThe lessons for the Church of England are obvious. It may be that France\nis in the van of a larger movement for good or for evil. Spain, Italy,\nGermany, are in the throes of the same struggle. Anti-clericalism is not\nunknown among ourselves. Surely we may learn the danger of a too close\nalliance with any political party. The Church, as her Divine Founder,\nshould be non-political. And should not every nerve be strained to\nkeep our people in close attachment to the Church, by active sympathy\nwith the masses, putting before them a manly Christianity and avoiding\nmedi\u00e6valism and superstition? And must we not fight for schools, that\ndefinite religious instruction be given to our children, which will equip\nthem as none other can for the responsibilities of national life, and for\nthe life to come? If we learn these lessons while the day lasteth, \u201cquis\nseparabit.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XI.\n\nTHE CHURCH OF ENGLAND ON THE CONTINENT.\n\n\nThe position and work of the Church of England upon the Continent is\nnot understood as it should be by British people in general. It is\ndifficult to overcome old prejudices, and there is no doubt but that\nin former times (now happily gone by) there was a distinct prejudice\nagainst the Continental Chaplain. It was generally thought that he must\neither be on the Bishop\u2019s \u201cblack list,\u201d or have been guilty of some\ngrievous fault to be found upon the Continent at all. And this prejudice\nwas hardly to be wondered at. It is not very many years ago since no\nBishop was found to be superintending the chaplains, and there were\nmen ministering abroad who had left their country for their country\u2019s\ngood. The history of Episcopal supervision is briefly this. In the year\n1663 \u201ccongregations of the Church of England in foreign countries\u201d were\nplaced under the jurisdiction of the Bishop of London. This was in the\nreign of Charles I., and by an order of the King in council. And this\norder held good for 200 years. During this period there are little or\nno traces of any effectual Episcopal supervision, neither is there any\nrecord of any Assistant Bishop aiding the Bishop of London in this work.\nWe may, however, assume that the number of British people travelling and\nresident upon the Continent was nothing like what it is now. In the old\ndays people often took their carriage over the Channel and travelled\nwith servants and Courier, so that trips abroad were only a luxury\nof the rich. And now the London Polytechnic, e.g., take people over\nby thousands, and offer a trip to \u201clovely Lucerne\u201d with all the best\nexcursions, etc., for \u00a35 5s.! When taking the chaplaincy at Lucerne three\nyears ago I was much interested in the arrival of these weekly parties,\nand in order to see how the excursions were managed went with a party to\nthe end of the Lake, and by Goschenen to Andermatt, a lovely excursion;\nand I was indeed surprised how well everything was done. The lunch was\nplain but substantial, and all included in the five guineas for a week\u2019s\ntrip.\n\nBut to return to Church matters. In 1825 Bishop Luscombe was appointed to\nthe Embassy Chaplaincy in Paris, and to superintend British congregations\non the Continent. This could have been no sinecure, when it is remembered\nthat there was then no Bishopric of Gibraltar, and that his appointment\nincluded superintendence of the Church of England congregations on the\nwhole Continent, in Asia, and the North of Africa.\n\nI endeavoured to ascertain if there were any records of Episcopal work\ndone in these lands, but could find no trace. The Embassy Chaplaincy was\nless important then than it has since become, but my experience has been\nthat the work in Paris is both onerous and constant, and that with all\nthe chaplain may be able to accomplish there is necessarily much left\nundone. Twelve thousand English people scattered over a large city must\ninvolve, as it does, heavy work.\n\nIn the year 1842, the Bishopric of Gibraltar was founded; in this\ncase a territorial title was available owing to our possession of the\nimpregnable rock. Forty-two years afterwards, in 1884, a most important\nstep was taken, and a Suffragan Bishop to the See of London appointed to\ntake jurisdiction over the congregations in Northern and Central Europe.\nThe first was Bishop Titcomb, a man greatly beloved by all who knew him,\nand one who never tired of doing all he could to help and cheer his\nchaplains, many of whom were in isolated posts and often very lonely.\nUnfortunately he was only a few years at work, when he was taken ill\nand died. His successor was the Right Rev. Bishop Wilkinson, formerly\nof Zululand, under whom I was privileged to serve during the whole of\nmy chaplaincy. I usually arranged for the Bishop\u2019s hospitality at the\nEmbassy when he visited us for Confirmations, and while I fear he does\nnot like Paris and big receptions, we were always pleased to see him and\nfully appreciated his work amongst us. The travelling in this (so-called)\ndiocese is very fatiguing, as it reaches from Calais to St. Petersburg,\nand embraces Belgium, the North of France, Germany, Norway, and Sweden,\netc.\n\nThus the work of the Church of England upon the Continent is within\nthese two Dioceses\u2014I use the term as being the most convenient\u2014and can,\nI believe, be favourably compared with that in any English or Colonial\nDiocese.\n\nIn both Dioceses there are permanent and temporary chaplaincies.\nPermanent chaplaincies are usually in towns, where there is a resident\nand commercial colony, and where similar work is carried on to that of an\nEnglish parish. The temporary chaplaincies are opened only in the season,\nand in places where the English congregate for health, holiday, and\npleasure.\n\nThe appointments to these chaplaincies are chiefly in the hands of the\ntwo well-known societies, the Colonial and Continental Church Society and\nthe Society for the Propagation of the Gospel. All licenses are issued by\nthe Bishops of London and Gibraltar. Since my removal from Paris I have\nbeen a member of the Committee of the former Society, and I can testify\nto the care which is taken to select men suitable to the vacant positions.\n\nIn the chaplains, and especially in the case of those permanent, English\ntravellers abroad will generally find a sympathetic friend, and one ready\nto give advice or help whenever needed.\n\nMay I, in closing this short notice of a very important and increasing\nwork, plead for greater liberality on the part of travellers. The\nchaplains are often but poorly paid, and are in a large measure\ndependent\u2014in some cases entirely\u2014upon the weekly offertory. The number\nof nickel coins in the plate week after week is a trying experience to\nthe chaplain, and seems to show but small appreciation on the part of\ntravellers of the advantage of a religious service when abroad, and of\nthe very great difficulty there often is in keeping a chaplaincy open for\nwant of funds.\n\nIn trouble and difficulty the chaplain is frequently the one applied to,\nand then gratitude is expressed, but it surely should not be left to such\ntimes; and the plea of home calls and the expense of a holiday abroad is\nnot satisfactory or quite reasonable. But what noble exceptions there are\nto the grudging giver! I had for some years a member of my congregation\nin Paris who regularly put a gold piece in the plate on Sundays, and if\naway for three or four weeks would, on her return, give for each Sunday\nof her absence; and \u201cGod loveth a cheerful giver.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XII.\n\nAMERICANS IN PARIS.\n\n\nThe American Colony is not nearly so large as the English in Paris, but\nit is important and influential. According to the last census there were\n5,000 Americans resident, or in hotels, while there were 12,000 English.\nThe reason for this difference in numbers is not far to seek. America is\ntoo distant, and the voyage too expensive for the poor to readily cross\nthe great Atlantic; while for a few shillings anyone can traverse the\nlittle \u201cManche\u201d between England and France and try their luck in the gay\nCity\u2014generally looked upon in England as one vast pleasure ground. Alas!\nthese poor people often find tears where they looked for laughter, and\npoverty where they looked for gold. An American in distress from poverty\nis a rarity. The few who are stranded in Paris find many liberal helpers\namong their own country people.\n\nThere is no doubt that Americans thoroughly appreciate the beauty and\ncomfort of living in the \u201cVille lumi\u00e8re,\u201d and there are many residents\nwho have chosen it as a place of residence when free to live anywhere.\nThen there are others who are married to French, and thirdly, those who\nare studying painting, singing, or architecture, or whose children are\nbeing educated in that thorough way we in England know so little of.\n\nThe English Chaplain comes into close contact with many Americans, both\nsocially and ministerially. Though the beautiful Church in the Avenue\nde l\u2019Alma was built for, and by, Americans, the English Embassy Church\ncounts among her faithful worshippers many an American cousin. Doctor\nMorgan, who has for many years ministered to the American Church, and is\nso much beloved by all, quite recognised that we must exchange many of\nour flock, and it would not be possible, nor desirable, to keep to the\nnationality of our congregation, especially as we are in communion one\nwith the other.\n\nSocially, the English Chaplain must necessarily meet many Americans.\nNaturally, those who speak the same language (or nearly so) must draw\ntogether in a strange country. But there is more than that, as everyone\nknows, in the relationship of English and Americans. Their outlook on\nlife from childhood for education, both in the home and school, is the\nsame. Until one has lived in a foreign country one hardly realizes how\nthis affects one.\n\nThe difference in the way a Frenchman regards the question of morality\nand religion makes a barrier which is not often bridged. The truly\nsympathetic friendship between the Anglo-Saxon and the Frenchman is the\nexception, and not the rule. In this way the American and English in a\nforeign land draw closer together, and consider themselves very much as\none family, with the same tastes and sympathies, while they regard in\nquite a different light those they call \u201cforeigners,\u201d though they may be\nliving in that \u201cforeigners\u2019\u201d land, and would be quite offended if the\nterm were applied to them.\n\nWe made many friends among the Americans, and we can never think of our\nlife in Paris as separate from those dear ones. Indeed, the house which\nmy family and I have come to regard as a second home, and where the\nwelcome is always that of a kind sister, belongs to an American who was,\nand is still, one of the most regular attendants at the English Church. I\ncannot too often testify to the liberality of the Americans in Paris in\nhelping the British poor. They were ready at all times to give of their\nmoney and time for this purpose, and I cannot remember a single instance\nwhen I appealed in vain for their aid. At a large working party formed\nfor making clothes for the British poor, we had not only the attendance\nof many Americans, but the beautiful and commodious rooms of the Hotel\nPowers were lent to us free of charge by their American owner.\n\nWhen we had bazaars for the Church, several stalls were taken by\nAmericans, and at concerts given for charitable purposes it was in many\ncases to the American Colony we owed both the talent which attracted the\nlarge attendance, and also the results we generally obtained.\n\nPerhaps one of the most notable of the American millionaires when I\nfirst went to Paris was Mrs. Ayer. She was almost mobbed when she went\nout on account of her wonderful jewels, which represented a large\nfortune. I have seen people standing on chairs in a drawing-room to get a\nbetter sight of her\u2014or of them! Indeed, royalty could hardly compete in\nnotoriety with this little old lady.\n\nMrs. Astor in her beautiful flat in the Champs Elys\u00e9es (which she called\nonly a little \u201cpied-\u00e0-terre\u201d) gave most enjoyable soir\u00e9es, and her\nbeautiful manners added not a little to the pleasure of her guests. She\nhad the great charm of making no difference in her welcome, whether\nthe guest was a prince or a poor curate, and one went away with the\ndelightful feeling that you were the person she had most wished to see,\nand you had given her much pleasure by your presence!\n\nThe late Mrs. Warden-Pell also entertained a good deal, and she often, at\nher afternoon receptions, when great artists delighted her audience, gave\nyoung students an opportunity of being heard\u2014an opportunity which was\nworth a great deal to them, and which they were not slow to appreciate.\n\nMrs. Whitelaw-Reed, who has since become so well known as the wife of\nthe Ambassador in London, did a great deal for the artists in the Latin\nquarter, and her work has borne much good fruit.\n\nI must also speak of Mr. and Mrs. Mason, the American Consul and his\nwife, who have for many years won the love and admiration of all\nnationalities and classes in the most cosmopolitan town\u2014Paris. Their\nhouse is always open to those who require aid or sympathy, and it is\nnot only Americans who seek it there. Mrs. Mason may be seen at all\ngatherings in any way connected with charity, and we English often\nforgot that we had no real claim upon her and, I fear, trespassed on her\nkindness.\n\nI have spoken elsewhere of Mrs. Hoff and the good work she helps so\nliberally. The annual banquets of the American Chamber of Commerce\nand the July celebrations were always important functions, and I have\nthus had the great pleasure of listening to some of the most eloquent\nspeakers in America and France. It was the usual custom to have present\na contingent of the \u201cGarde R\u00e9publicain,\u201d and their bright uniforms added\nmuch to the brilliancy of the scene. At one of these functions quite an\novation was given to General Horace Porter. He was the means of restoring\nto America all that was left of \u201cPaul Jones,\u201d the founder of the American\nNavy. General Porter paid all the expenses of transport, etc., which were\nenormous, and the body was taken through the streets with great pomp and\n\u201c\u00e9clat,\u201d\u2014both in Paris and New York.\n\nI cannot mention the many Americans whose kindness to me was\nunfailing, and can only add that without the Americans in Paris the\nEnglish Chaplain\u2019s life would be less agreeable, and his financial\nresponsibilities more difficult to maintain.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIII.\n\nL\u2019ENVOI.\n\n\nMy departure from Paris came about in rather a curious way. In April and\nMay, 1906, we had a visit from the late Dean Barlow (of Peterboro\u2019). For\nthe first of May (\u201cLabour Day\u201d) we had arranged a Drawing-room Meeting\nfor the Dean on behalf of the Colonial and Continental Church Society,\nwhose work in Canada was, and is, attracting so much attention in\nreligious circles. It turned out, however, to be one of those \u201cscares\u201d\nwith which Paris is sometimes afflicted, and the idea having got abroad\nthat something dreadful was about to happen, only three people turned up!\nThe Dean was very kind about it, and notwithstanding the small number\npresent, gave us a most interesting account of his recent visit to\nCanada. The next morning when he was leaving, he turned to me and said,\n\u201cNoyes, how long have you been here?\u201d I told him nearly sixteen years,\nand added, \u201cYou must not leave me here too long.\u201d The Dean had very\nconsiderable influence in Church patronage, and when he wrote to me in\nthe spring of 1907, he said, \u201cDo you remember what you said to me when\nI was leaving your house last year? Well, I have ventured to put your\nname forward for an important Church in London.\u201d So slight often are the\nincidents which bring about changes in our lives. I had never heard of\nSt. Mary\u2019s, Kilburn, or been in this part of London before I came over\nto see the Church.\n\nThe saying \u201cgood-bye\u201d is always trying, and especially after a long\nministry among such a devoted congregation as I had in Paris. I preached\na farewell sermon to a large congregation on Friday, June 9th, 1907, and\nalthough I struggled hard against it, completely broke down.\n\nThe next day I had to face a large gathering in the Washington Palace,\nto receive a most gratifying testimonial. The spacious room was crowded,\nand the kind expressions of regret almost overwhelming. It was here I was\nable to make the announcement that I had received a few days previously\nfrom a generous donor, who wished to remain anonymous, the magnificent\ngift of \u00a34,000 towards the Paris Church House.\n\nThe following account appeared in the papers of the succeeding day:\u2014\n\n\u201cAt the Washington Palace this afternoon took place the presentation\nby Mr. Percy Inglis, British Consul-General, to the Rev. H. E. Noyes,\nD.D., of the testimonial from the congregation of the church in the\nRue d\u2019Aguesseau, consisting of an illuminated address, a cheque, and\na flagon, in the presence of a large gathering, among whom were Sir\nHenry Austin Lee, Doctor Sewell, Mr. H. Millington Drake, the Very\nRev. Father McMullan, Mr. Lammin, Mr. Le Cocq, and Mr. Coleman. Mr.\nInglis read, amid great applause, the address, which is a tribute to\nthe excellent work performed by Doctor Noyes during his sixteen years\u2019\nresidence in Paris. In his reply Doctor Noyes related all that had been\ndone for the charitable and other institutions of the colony during\nthat period, and spoke very feelingly of the hearty support which he\nhad received throughout from the Embassy and all its members. He noted\nthis as especially interesting, that during that time he had seen four\nAmbassadors at the mansion in the Faubourg Saint Honor\u00e9, and no fewer\nthan five Presidents of the Republic. Great enthusiasm was displayed when\nthe reverend gentleman announced that he had received last week from a\ndonor whose name could not be revealed the magnificent sum of 100,000\nfrs. for the contemplated clergy house. Afterwards Doctor and Mrs. Noyes\ntook a hearty farewell of all their friends, with the expression of the\nhope that they would meet again in Paris and at their new home in London.\u201d\n\nMy successor, as is well known, is the Right Rev. Bishop Ormsby (late of\nHonduras), and it is a curious circumstance that when I was curate of St.\nMatthias\u2019s Church in Dublin, one of the congregation was Judge Ormsby,\nthe father of the Bishop.\n\nI left Paris with many regrets, and often have wondered since whether I\nhad not been there too long to leave it. But the die is cast, and I can\nonly now in quiet moments wander in thought over the familiar scenes, and\nthink of the many kind friends, the memory of whom will never fade.","title":"Seventeen Years in Paris: A Chaplain's Story","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":40503}