[^AMBERLEY, LORD AND LADY. THE AMBERLEY PAPERS: THE DIARIES AND LETTERS OF LORD AND LADY AMBERLEY, VOL II. THE HOGARTH PRESS. ED. RUSSELL, BERTRAND AND PATRICIA. LONDON, 1937. II, PP. 533 - 538 P. 543 PP. 557 - 559^]

[} [\Amberley's Journal.\] }] 30 Weymouth st., London, Sunday, Jan. 19, 1873. When we were at Ravenscroft, Mrs. Green of Whitebrook, spoke to us several times about Spiritualism, & promised us an introduction to her sister-in-law, Mrs. Acworth, who is a remarkable medium. Accordingly we went to see her by appointment today at Haywards Heath, where she & her

husband live. Dr. Acworth met us at the station. On arriving at the house, "Elfinsward," we found Mrs. Acworth a little lady of unprepossessing appearance, dark, large eyes which occasionally dilate & become round; black hair all curly over her head & projecting over her forehead, small delicate hands. Dr. Acworth told us how he had been converted. A medium had once told him that a spirit named "Ellen" was present, & that she had had an untold attachment to him in life. Dr. Acworth knew no Ellen & the spirit could give no further name. He puzzled long over this, till he met his present wife, who identified the spirit by mentioning things which could have only been known to him & the spirit. Dr. Acworth then recognized the lady, but her name had not been Ellen. This was the name of a sister whom she had wronged, which she was obliged to bear for a time as an atonement. Mrs. Acworth had never known the spirit, nor did she then know Dr. Acworth. Mrs. Acworth told us that once when putting up medicines for her husband's patients a number of little pearls fell around her. She prayed that two might fall stuck together, & this occurred. She showed us the pearls; very small, & two pairs stuck together. There were also curious spirit-drawings which she produced. After long conversation, we sat down round a small wooden table, no cloth; Dr. Acworth not touching it. Soon his arm shook convulsively, & he explained that a spirit wanted to speak through him. Having placed both hands on the table he repeated the alphabet, & at certain letters his hands were violently rapped on the table, the movement coming from the elbow. The first letter always gave him the whole word; e.g., if "Y" were rapped, he at once said "You" or "Your" & went on. The messages were uninteresting, "you very worthless unredeemed spirit" &c. At 5 we dined, & after dinner the s‚ance became more interesting. Even before dinner Mrs. Acworth had seen a male spirit standing by Kate, but foggy: after dinner the raps, almost inaudible before, became distinct, though never loud. Dr. Acworth rapped out "Your friends will return thoroughly convinced"

(this I think came before dinner too), & then after some time I was told a spirit belonging to me was there. Would it give its name? Three raps; the hands of both mediums being visible, full light, & no cloth. I went through the alphabet, Kate writing down. If anything I expected "J" to come first, to my surprise it was "T." Then raps came at E, N, N, E, J, S, R, E, B, M. This seemed nonsense; Kate had twice said it was nothing, & we need hardly go on; I had said it was certainly not a name I knew. But at this point I took up the paper, & to my amazement saw the very name I had expected spelt backwards, & the Christian name spelt wrongly. So I went on, & A. H. C. came next [\[Jennet Chambers]\]. We were both astonished. I asked a few simple questions, & the replies were right. One was, how many years ago did I first know you? (I did not remember) I counted to 11; raps came; then I thought & said to myself, it is 12, not 11, I went on to 12; louder raps; & I recollected now that it was between 11 & 12 years ago. I asked if she was happy, if her father had been a spiritualist, &c., & the affirmative replies came by raps. When asked to give my wife's name it rapped YLN (end of Stanly) & TAK, omitting the E. We did not pursue the Stanley to the end. After a few other question [^SIC EDN^], Mrs. A said the spirit was exhausted. Some things she did not answer, as in what month I last met her. Before (or after) this; (the order has escaped me) Kate had felt a peculiar sensation in her arm, a tingling from the elbow. Mrs. Acworth said she would be a writing medium. By a spirit's direction through Dr. Acworth a cedar pencil was brought, my silver pencil having been tried in vain. Mrs. Acworth said they could not write through metal. With the cedar pencil her hand moved without will, but no clear marks were made. All this time as well as before dinner Mrs. Acworth had declared that she saw the male spirit standing by her & that he wished to communicate (Mrs. Acworth had not seen Janet). However nothing came. At another period Dr. A rapped out as the name of a spirit "The late Lord William Russell." Mrs. Acworth

thought of the great Lord Russell. We asked if it was the father of the Duke of Bedford; yes. At this period Mrs. A read as if from a scroll in the air. "Tell him that he will become the Duke of Bedford let him regard my words." Evidently a false prophecy, from whomsoever emanating. Could it have been suggested to Mrs. Acworth's mind by the question just preceding? But I am sure she honestly read the words; & the effect was curious. About the figure of Kate's male friend, who asserted he was a lover dead not long ago, she had seen words, but one was not distinct, & as it made a serious blank I forget the first part. The end was - "blessing to home & country," blessing I believe being written large. We tried to get his name, but only W. was given. After that no more raps came. Twice over the spirits told Dr. Acworth "Give your wife some more wine," but the second time she refused to comply. One of the evil spirits he is troubled by gave his name as "James the second king of England" & said he was very worthless. We laughed, & said he was indeed worthless. Upon which Dr. Acworth very gravely remarked that he did not think we ought to say this of a spirit who announced himself as worthless. These bad spirits intercede with him for his prayers on their behalf, yet do him mischief. Last night he had found his bedclothes wet through. In one case a cancer which appeared incurable (on the neck) was suddenly cured, & Mrs. Acworth attributes this to the effect of a prayer of hers that a certain medicine might be blessed. We both came home perplexed, but not convinced. I must not omit to note a prophecy: that Germany will be Federal, & not Imperial - Another - that the peace between France & Germany is but an armed truce - is too common an opinion among men to be worth remarking as a prediction of the spirits. 30 Weymouth St. Sat. Feb. 1. Took the children to Babil & Bijou in the afternoon. About 7 p.m. there was a loud knock at the door & Mme. H‚lŠne Ezdziatowicz arrived.

She had been expected about this time but two telegrams she had sent from Brussels had never arrived. She was tired & went to bed at once after tea. Thought her agreeable but very foreign. Almost the moment after her arrival she told me that her aunt had told her it would be dangerous to know such men as me because of my (\"esprit"\) & the (\"coeur"\) shown in my article on War. I was much amused. Sunday Feb 2. To Westminster Abbey in the afternoon with Mme. Ezdziatowicz & heard Jowett preach on Lord Lytton & Dr. Lushington. Tu. Feb 4. Mr. Arnold, Mme Bodichon & T.J. Sanderson & Rollo were all who came to this first Tuesday evening. Mme was very lively & funny & sang heartily, her audience being myself & T. J. Sanderson. Sat. Feb. 8. A pleasant little dinner at Mrs. Goschen's to which we did not take Mme. who dined in Dover Street alone with Lady Stanley & Maude. London, Sat. March 1. Left Weymouth Street in the morning to take Mme H‚lŠne Ezdziatowicz to Woburn. A rather wet afternoon there. No one but Hastings & family. Woburn Abbey, Sunday March 2. I took Mme H‚lŠne Ezdziatowicz out in the morning, & we walked all over the garden for a long time. M. March 3. From Woburn to Oxford in the morning, early enough to have two hours before lunch to go over the colleges. We lunched with Jowett, & I met Max Mller for the first time. Had a very interesting talk with him on Herbert Spencer: M[\[ax]\] M[\[ller]\] thinks that in his Psychology Volume 2 he confirms Kant while thinking to confute him. M. M. is a complete Kantian. On to Dytchley after luncheon, where the Dillons received us & showed us the house. Dytchley. Tu. March 4. Kate, Mme. H‚lŠne Ezdziatowicz & I drove over in Lord Dillon's carriage to Blenheim, where we were admitted after some trouble to see the house &

gardens, the former is very interesting. Back to Dytchley for luncheon, & home in the afternoon, so as to be just in time for our Tuesday "at home." Mme H. E. appeared at supper in her lovely blue dressing gown which she had long been anxious to show me. London. S. March 15. Mme H.E. left us for Poland at 10.30 a.m., but returned to Dover Street in the afternoon, having found the Ostend boat on the Thames bad. She spent some hours here, & returned to Dover Street to dine & sleep. Sunday, March 23. This afternoon we had an interesting meeting at our house, 30, Weymouth Street. Max Mller at Oxford had expressed himself as anxious to make H. Spencer's acquaintance, & I had invited him to come to us for the purpose when he was in London for some lectures he was giving. To-day the meeting occurred. Herbert Spencer, J. S. Mill & Miss Taylor, Max Mller, Arthur & Laura, & T. J. Sanderson were present by invitation. Willy & Rollo came in unexpectedly for short times. It was very pleasant. London, Tuesday, April 15. This was our last Tuesday, & the most brilliant of all. Professor Fraser had been staying in our house a few days & had left us yesterday for lodgings. Present tonight were: J. S. Mill, Miss Taylor, R. W. Emerson, Rowland Hazard, Fraser, Freddy Fraser, Tyndall, Browning, Bain, Mrs. Bain, Douglas Spalding, Mrs. Procter, Miss Scheriff, A. Stanley, Lady A. Stanley, Lecky, Beesly, Sir F. Elliot, Mrs. Ponsonby, Dr. Hanna, Maude, T. J. Sanderson, Cooke, Mrs. Cooke (Aggie Mackenzie), Arthur Arnold, Addy Drummond, Maggie. We have never had so many great men together. The evening was a thoroughly good one. Rawlston of the British Museum was there too. W. 16. This morning at 10.20 I left London for Ravenscroft with Rachel & Bertrand, Lizzie & Miss Lewis of Beacon Cottage. Williams left us today a month's notice. Found Ravenscroft damp & uncomfortable. F. 18. Kate followed me. I drove her up from Chepstow. Frank was left at Pembroke Lodge.

[} [\Amberley's Journal.\] }] Ravenscroft, Thursday, June 12. At breakfast this morning I had an epileptic seizure of a slight kind, in consequence of which I went down to Tintern with Kate in the carriage to see Mr. Audland. He recommended less work, & from this day my way of life was much altered, as I was unable to go on reading & writing for the same length of time as I had previously done. It was a great disappointment to me to be interrupted in the composition of my book.

[} [\Amberley's Journal.\] }] London, Tu. Dec. 9. Left London (party composed of K., Spalding, Frank & sf.) by the tidal train at 10.15, & reached Paris at 8.15. Sir J. Lacaita was with us on the way, & we went together to the Hotel. Paris, W. Dec 10. 31 yrs old to-day. We went to the Versailles Assembly. W. 17. Left Florence at 8.30, & after a journey on which I was much tired, reached Rome at 1.25 p.m. After going to the Hotel de Russie, & having supper there, I went alone to the Barberini palace. I found the family at home, & my dear & good friend Edith [\[Story]\] received me very cordially with a warm squeeze of the hand. After a little general talk, two people came in, & the other Storys talked to them, Edith remained by me & we had some conversation by ourselves. I was much pleased to see her again. Tu. 23. The intervening days having been spent in sightseeing. I had to-day my first ride in the (\Campagna\), & enjoyed it much. I was rather tired after a ride of about 3 hours. I admired the Campagna immensely. Sun. 28. I was ill with neuralgia & stayed in bed in the morning till near luncheon time. Before I rose but after the pain in the eye had left me, Edith came in to see me & sat a few minutes by my bedside - a bright & cheering vision. In the afternoon at 4.30 I went to the palace & she sang me a few songs, but none of the old ones that I loved. She told me she had long been out of spirits & low, which had made her feel disinclined to sing anything. Albergo d'Italia, Rome. Thursday Jan 22, 1874. We spent a lovely afternoon at the palace of the C‘sars with Mr. & Mrs & Miss Ellis. Miss E. is very pretty.

F. 23. I stayed at home part of the morning & began writing on the historical Jesus but did not get beyond a page of MS. All work is difficult here. Went to the Story's Friday tea. Edith was sad & told Kate so. She had been with us in the morning towards Miss Hosmer's studio, but we were stopped by meeting Miss Hosmer on the way home from it. Edith is much troubled about something & finds life a burden. Sunday 25. Called on Edith in the morning, & saw her a few minutes. To Mme. Minghetti's in the afternoon, where Mrs. Story & Edith were, & then on to the German College, where I met Kate, & we heard the beautiful Gregorian service together. M. 26. The Ellises have come to stay in this hotel, & Miss Ellis turned up in the evening, but soon after she came in I went out to the Storys. Found Mrs. Story & the young men, Mr. Story & Edith being out at a concert of Rubinstein's - in the afternoon Kate went to see Antonelli at the Vatican, & found him amusing - Th. 29. I saw Edith a short time in the morning & talked to her about complete openness in marriage in which she entirely takes our views. After breakfast Spalding made his confession but I did not hear of it till the evening. F. 30. I went to see Edith & told her the whole story of my relations with Janet, as she had heard a false report. She had been told that I had been long engaged to Janet & had thrown her over & that she had died in consequence. Also that I had been very intimate with Mrs. Lehmann & that Lehmann had been angry about it. Monday, February 2. Some impromptu charades were acted in the Storys' little theatre, quite unexpectedly. Mr. Story & Edith were out, but they came in for the one I acted in. Kate & I got up "picnic" with Bice Trollope, Waldo & Julian. It was the same kind of thing we had done at Ravenscroft with Sanderson.

W. 11. We took Edith to a ball at the Quirinal & stayed for the Cotillon to please her. Rather a pretty ball. F. 13. Tea at the Storys. Kate came in in a pink domino & caused some fun. Bice guessed at once, & Mr. & Mrs. Story soon, some others were quite mystified. Kate & Spalding went to a masked ball in the evening which they did not enjoy much. S. 14. Dinner at Gallenga's. After this a dance at the Storys: I danced the first quadrille as Edith asked me to do so.