Gai, gai, mariez vous, Mettez vous la corde au cou!" There is generally a good reason for prolonged celibacy, a reason which the bachelor as generally does not betray: Kinglake remained single, by his own account, because he had observed that women always prefer other men to their own husbands. Yet, although unmarried, perhaps because unmarried, he heartily admired many clever women; formed with them sedate but genuine friendships, the L'AMOUR SANS AILES, sometimes called "Platonic" by persons who have not read Plato; found in their illogical clear-sightedness, in their [Greek word which cannot be reproduced], to use the master's own untranslatable phrase, a titillating stimulus which he missed in men. He thought that the Church should ordain priestesses as well as priests, the former to be the Egerias of men, as the latter are the Pontiffs of women. And Lady Gregory tells us, that when attacked by gout, he wished for the solace of a lady doctor, and wrote to one asking if gout were beyond her scope. She answered:
"Dear Sir, - Gout is not beyond my scope, but men are."In 1854 he accompanied Lord Raglan to the Crimea. "I had heard,"writes John Kenyon, "of Kinglake's chivalrous goings on. We were saying yesterday that though he might write a book, he was among the last men to go that he might write a book. He is wild about matters military, if so calm a man is ever wild." He had hoped to go in an official position as non-combatant, but this was refused by the authorities. His friend, Lord Raglan, whose acquaintance he had made while hunting with the Duke of Beaufort's hounds, took him as his private guest. Arrested for a time at Malta by an attack of fever, he joined our army before hostilities began, rode with Lord Raglan's staff at the Alma fight, likening the novel sensation to the excitement of fox-hunting; and accompanied the chief in his visit of tenderness to the wounded when the fight was over.
Throughout the campaign the two were much together, as we shall notice more fully later on. There are often slight but unmistakable signs of Kinglake's presence as spectator and auditor of Lord Raglan's deeds and words; his affection and reverence for the great general animate the whole; in outward composure and latent strength the two men resembled each other closely. The book is, in fact, a history of Lord Raglan's share in the campaign;begun in 1856 at the request of Lady Raglan, the narrative ends when the "Caradoc" with the general's body on board steams out of the bay, "Farewell" flying at her masthead, the Russian batteries, with generous recognition, ceasing to fire till the ship was out of sight. "Lord Raglan is dead," said Kinglake as vol. viii. was sent to press, "and my work is finished."Ten years were to elapse before the opening volumes should appear;and meanwhile he entered parliament for the borough of Bridgewater, which had rejected him in 1852. His colleague was Colonel Charles J. Kemyss Tynte, member of a family which local influence and lavish expenditure had secured in the representation of the town for nearly forty years. Catechized as to his political creed, he answered: "I call myself an advanced Liberal; but I decline to go into parliament as the pledged adherent of Lord Palmerston or any other Liberal." He adds, in response to a further question: "I am believed to be the author of 'Eothen.'" He broke down in his maiden speech; but recovered himself in a later effort, and spoke, not unfrequently, on subjects then important, now forgotten; on the outrage of the "Charles et George"; the capture of the Sardinian "Cagliari" by the Neapolitans on the high seas; our attitude towards the Paris Congress of 1857; while in 1858 he led the revolt against Lord Palmerston's proposal to amend the Conspiracy Laws in deference to Louis Napoleon; in 1860 vigorously denounced the annexation of Savoy and Nice; and in 1864 moved the amendment to Mr. Disraeli's motion in the debate on the Address, which was carried by 313 to 295. His feeble voice and unimpressive manner prevented him from becoming a power in the House; but his speeches when read are full, fluent, and graceful; the late Sir Robert Peel's remarkable harangue against the French Emperor in the course of an earlier debate was taken, as he is said to have owned, mainly from a speech by Kinglake, delivered so indistinctly that the reporters failed to catch it, but audible to Sir Robert who sate close beside him.
