ward Verney, who fell at Edge Hill; and Sir Harry showed us the ring which Sir Edward's servant brought home from his dead hand.
Another visit was to Mr. and Mrs. Beresford at Hampton Court. Mr. Beresford was the warden of the tennis court, an honorary office that gave him a residence in the old palace where the Queen lodges her old servants. It was a picturesque home, and gave upon the garden of Anne Boleyn. Some strawberries from this sacred enclosure were added to our luncheon. Mr. Beresford had been a friend and admirer of George IV., and, I think, the Tory "whipper-in" during one session of Parliament. He had also been an under secretary of state, and was a line old prejudiced Englishman, of a type which Dickens would have worshipped — most gentlemanly, gouty, and hospitable. We saw Hampton Court under his auspices thoroughly, but he was very glad when he found that we did not wish him to take us to see the state apartments or the Sir Peter Lely beauties; that, indeed, we could do by ourselves. We returned to take tea with his wife, who was most agreeable.
So we got a glimpse of that life at Hampton Court which Dickens so funnily hits off in Our Mutual Friend as the home of Edgar's mother, and Mr. Beresford told us of the former days when the debtors could only come out on Sunday, and so on. Sir John Bowring took us to the clubs, to the British Museum, and to the National Gallery, where we found his wife and daughter copying pictures; and I learned then twice as much of these two great national institutions as I should have done with a less instructed cicerone.
Indeed, we saw much of that now far-off, lesser London, of which I was to see so much more later on, and we went to Marlborough House and Lambeth Palace,
