he was always proud of his English extraction, and in later years, from 1873 to 1885, represented Lisburn (Ireland) in Parliament. All his early life he was, however, well known in French society, especially among art circles, and as long as his half-brother lived he was his devoted friend, adviser, and agent. When, in 1870, the fourth marquess died, the whole of his collection, his houses in London and Paris and estates in Ireland, which secured an income of £50,000 a year, were bequeathed to 'Monsieur Richard.' The titles and other estates belonging to the marquess went, in failure of heirs in the direct line, to his cousin and heir-male, Francis Hugh George Seymour, son and heir of Admiral Sir George Francis Seymour, son of Lord Hugh Seymour, and grandson of the first Marquess of Hertford.3 His son, Hugh de Grey Seymour, is the present marquess (see later).

2

'Monsieur Richard,' afterwards Sir Richard Wallace, may still remain within our horizon as the child of Mie Mie' (Lady Hertford), and as the possessor of the Hertford collection, to which he himself made very large additions. During the siege of Paris (1870-1), which took place immediately after the death of the fourth marquess, Wallace equipped an ambulance under the name of the Hertford Ambulance, attached to the 13th corps d'armée, and two others, one under English and another under French doctors, for service in Paris itself. He also founded and endowed the Hertford British Hospital for the use of British subjects, and subscribed 100,000 francs to the fund in aid of those whom the bombardment had ruined. His

1 He was buried at Père-Lachaise, as his mother had been before him, and as his half brother and friend, Sir Richard Wallace (Monsieur Richard), was to be twenty years after him.

• His only brother, Lord Henry Seymour, had died in 1859. Lord Hugh Seymour was fifth son of the first marquess. His three elder brothers had died without heirs.

• See La Guerre de 1870-1, Paris, 1908.

sympathy for Paris was not one of words but of deeds and gifts, and his name was and is both honoured and loved in France.1 At the close of the Franco-Prussian war he came to England, and bringing with him his wonderful collection, added it to the treasures already gathered in Hertford House. He was in 1871 made a baronet for his services in France, and in 1878 a Knight Commander of the Bath for his services as Commissioner to the Paris Exhibition. France had already given him the Legion d'honneur.

The death of his only son,2 about 1875, left him without an heir, and instead of turning to France and offering his valued possessions to the Louvre, he offered them before his death to the British Government, on condition that the collection should not be dispersed but retained in Hertford House in the surroundings he himself had devised. Government officials demurred, and received the offer so coldly that one less impersonal and less patriotic than Sir Richard would have turned to France. On his death in 1890 he left the whole of his possessions to his wife, Lady Wallace, who on her death finally conceded all the treasures of Hertford House to the British nation, on condition that the Government should house them in a central part of London, in a special museum built to contain The Wallace Collection' only, 'unmixed with other objects of art.' Finally, the original wish of Sir Richard was fulfilled. Hertford House itself was altered, arranged, and adapted to hold the collection for public view, and the Hertford treasures rest, as far as possible, in the atmosphere of their original surroundings.

1 Even to the naming of drinking fountains in Paris, 'Fontaines Wallace.'

• Wallace had, in 1871, married Julie Amelié Charlotte, daughter of Bernard Castelnau, a French officer.

CHAPTER XI

SOME OCEAN SWELLS' AND OTHERS: A CHAPTER OF PEOPLE AND FACTS

"The full sea rolls and thunders

In glory and in glee.

O bury me not in the senseless earth,
But in the living sea!

Ay, bury me where it surges

A thousand miles from shore,

And in its brotherly unrest

I'll range for evermore.'

W. E. HENLEY, 1876.

THE sea has made its call to many members of the Seymour family, from the time of Thomas Seymour of Sudeley, the Lord High Admiral, and his nephew Henry, the admiral of Spanish Armada fame, to the present day.

Hugh Seymour Conway, the fifth son of the first Marquess of Hertford, being born on 29th April 1759, entered the Navy in 1770 in hopes of becoming a lasting ornament and support to his country.' He was stationed on board The Pearl on the Newfoundland station, under the command of Captain John Leveson Gower. Six years later, after service in the Mediterranean and the West Indies, he was promoted to be lieutenant. In 1778 he was made commander, and in the next year captain. As Commander of The Ambuscade in the Channel in 1780, and of the Latona in 1782, when the latter vessel was attached to the fleet under Lord Howe for the relief of Gibraltar,1 he did good service at this critical period of England's imperial

1 His brother, George, was also present, and according to Walpole, was delighted to have tapped his warfare with the siege of Gibraltar, and was burning to stride to America' (Letters, xii. 5).

life. The relief of Gibraltar, following close upon West Indian victories, made France anxious for the peace which came in January 1783. Conway 1 retired to England, took a house in Conduit Street with his younger brother George, and his friend 'Jack' Payne (John Willet Payne), whose restless energy made him an excellent soldier, but a bad friend. The three men led an irregular and convivial life, and were soon on intimate terms with the Prince of Wales and his undesirable company. However, Captain Conway was more or less rescued from these surroundings by his marriage with Lady Horatia Waldegrave on 3rd April 1786. Horace Walpole, to whom both the bride and bridegroom were related, and who therefore could find no fault in either of them, wrote the news of the engagement to Sir Horace Mann, adding of bridegroom, he is one of the first marine characters, and has every quality that would adorn any profession, but the striking resemblance between the lovers are good-nature and beauty.' To another friend he wrote: 'It makes me very happy indeed, as she (Lady Horatia) has found one of the most amiable men in England, and of a character the most universally esteemed.' A few months later, Walpole was proudly writing that he had been presented to the Prince of Wales, and by my niece, Lady Horatia's marriage with Captain Conway, who is a principal favourite of his Royal Highness, I have dined with the Prince at Lord Hertford's, and since at his own palace, where he was pleased to give a dinner to the two families who in fact were one before.' 3

During the Spanish armament of 1790, Captain Conway commanded the Canada, and while at sea was accidentally

1 He should not, by rights, be called Seymour, until after 1794, as until the death of the first marquess, the whole family retained the surname of Conway.

• Lord Hugh's grandmother was sister to Lady Horatia's grandmother, who was Horace Walpole's mother.

Letters, xiii. 383.

struck on the head by the lead as soundings were being taken. He had to live in retirement in the country for some time after this, and in May 1791, Walpole wrote, 'Poor Hugh Conway, though his life has long been safe, still suffers at times from his dreadful blow, and has not yet been able to come to town, nor will Lord Chatham's humanity put his ship in commission.' However, in February 1793, he was appointed to the Leviathan, in which he accompanied Lord Hood to the Mediterranean.1 His active service then covered a long period, as, after being sent home with dispatches, he resumed his command of the Leviathan which, being attached to the fleet under Lord Howe, took distinguished part in the actions of May and June 1794. Early in 1795 he was moved to the Sanspareil, which he had captured in June 1794, and being promoted to flag rank, hoisted his flag on that ship, and in it took part in the action off Lorient on 23rd June of that year. In March 1798 he was appointed one of the Lords of the Admiralty, and in February 1799 became Vice-Admiral.

At

In the following summer he was appointed as Commander-in-chief of the Leeward Islands, and effected the capture of the Dutch settlement of Surinam. the beginning of 1800 he was removed to the Jamaica station, where he was seized with fever, and died on the 12th of September 1801. He was at sea at the time of his death on board the Tisiphone, having been ordered by his physicians to leave the island on account of his health.2 His wife, Lady Horatia, had already been obliged to return to England on account of her illhealth, and had died a few months before her husband. Their family consisted of seven children, four sons and

1 In this year, by the creation of his father as marquess, he became Lord Hugh Seymour Conway.

2 His body was brought to England, and buried in great state at Ragley.