Reminiscences of a Literary Life
CHAP. XVI
SIR ROBERT PEEL
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CHAPTER XVI
SIR ROBERT PEEL
It has been said by a late writer that this was one of the most
susceptible of men. “Sir Robert Peel was
extremely susceptible, and like most persons of that constitution, he concealed the
warmth, and even irritability, of his feelings under a cold and reserved exterior. But
those who knew him best understood how easily he could be moved, and observed that
tears would start to his eyes when his sympathies were strongly excited.”
This is fully confirmed by his friend Lord Hardinge.
“Peel had the sensibility of a woman,” says Lord
Hardinge, “and he was obliged to be on his guard when in public or
even when in society. It was nothing but this which made him appear stiff and formal to
those who did not know him intimately.”
The world will long remember his kindness and delicacy towards the dying
Thomas Hood and his family; nor will it soon
forget that, on repeated occasions, he was bountiful to Haydon, the painter, and that only a day or so before that unhappy man
committed suicide, he applied to Sir Robert for £50,
and got it. When Sir Robert heard of
Haydon’s catastrophe, he exclaimed, with streaming eyes:
“Thank God, I sent that cheque! Thank God, I sent it immediately! If
Haydon had not received it, I should have felt as if haunted
by his ghost.”
Sir Robert was fond of dumb animals, and was
especially fond of his friend Lord Hardinge’s
pet, the little white dog, with which he would play for ![]()
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[CHAP. XVI |
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ten minutes
at a time. Not long after his accident and death, Lord Hardinge said
to me: “The last time Sir Robert was here (South Park) I one
morning left him alone in the drawing-room with my favourite for about a quarter of an
hour. When I returned to him I found him playing with the dog, which he had put up on
that marble mantelpiece, there—just by that enamel portrait of the Duke. He turned his
head, and said: ‘Hardinge, I do like this little fellow; he
can’t solicit, he can’t ask for place or patronage, he can’t din me
with politics, he can’t be ungrateful! See how faithful and fond he is to you!
Now that you are come back, he won’t stay with me!’ He put down the dog,
who came leaping into my lap. Sir Robert mused and looked
melancholy for a minute or two, and then said: ‘But it is an old regret that men
should have less gratitude than dogs.’”
Henry Hardinge, first viscount Hardinge (1785-1856)
After a distinguished career in the Napoleonic wars (in which he lost his left hand) he
served as Tory MP for Durham (1820-30), Newport (1830-34), and Launceston (1834-44); he was
secretary-at-war (1838-30) and governor-general of India (1844-48).
Benjamin Robert Haydon (1786-1846)
English historical painter and diarist who recorded anecdotes of romantic writers and the
physiognomy of several in his paintings.
Thomas Hood (1799-1845)
English poet and humorist who wrote for the
London Magazine; he
published
Whims and Oddities (1826) and
Hood's
Magazine (1844-5).
