Not for such is the temple of Fame.
Fama di loro il mondo esser non lassa.
Whatever may be thought now, Mr. Gladstone is not the man
whom posterity will ennoble with the title of either 'great'
or 'good.'
My second reason for mentioning Frederick Thistlethwayte was
one which at first sight may seem trivial, and yet, when we
look into it, is of more importance than the renown of an ex-
Prime Minister. If these pages are ever read, what follows
will be as distasteful to some of my own friends as the above
remarks to Mr. Gladstone's.
Pardon a word about the writer himself - it is needed to
emphasise and justify these OBITER DICTA. I was brought up
as a sportsman: I cannot remember the days when I began to
shoot. I had a passion for all kinds of sport, and have had
opportunities of gratifying it such as fall to the lot of
few. After the shootings of Glenquoich and Invergarry were
lost to me through the death of Mr. Ellice, I became almost
the sole guest of Mr. Thistlethwayte for twelve years at his
Highland shooting of Kinlochmohr, not very far from Fort
William. He rented the splendid deer forest of Mamore,
extensive grouse moors, and a salmon river within ten
minutes' walk of the lodge. His marriage and his
eccentricities of mind and temper led him to shun all
society. We often lived in bothies at opposite ends of the
forest, returning to the lodge on Saturday till Monday
morning. For a sportsman, no life could be more enjoyable.
I was my own stalker, taking a couple of gillies for the
ponies, but finding the deer for myself - always the most
difficult part of the sport - and stalking them for myself.
I may here observe that, not very long after I married,
qualms of conscience smote me as to the justifiability of
killing, AND WOUNDING, animals for amusement's sake. The
more I thought of it, the less it bore thinking about.
Finally I gave it up altogether. But I went on several years
after this with the deer-stalking; the true explanation of
this inconsistency would, I fear, be that I had had enough of
the one, but would never have enough of the other - one's
conscience adapts itself without much difficulty to one's
inclinations.
Between my host and myself, there was a certain amount of
rivalry; and as the head forester was his stalker, the
rivalry between our men aroused rancorous jealousy. I think
the gillies on either side would have spoilt the others'
sport, could they have done so with impunity.
