Digitised Manuscripts and Books

induced our German nursemaid Anna , to whom I was much devoted, procure me some Frankfort sausages , which were justly ve) stillroom regardless of the retri- oO famous , and pilfered in th bution that awaited me when I was found out . I was not very strong , and consequently not an adept at the sports which my Mother encouraged me to pursue. We fen- ced , and practised gymnastics , we had our ponies, in the summer went swimming in the river , and in the winter we ska- ted with our friends on the low-lying meadows which had been flooded by the autumnal rains . For these friends , however, I cared much less than for the members of my own family , into whose games I brought an earnestness unequalled by most child- ren, I remember , though then quite a child , that in these sames , for which our gardens and courtyard afforded ample scope, we were often assisted by our Father's then rcreatest friend, General Ferning , a Spaniard - after whom I believe I was called. He once nearly led us into a severe scrape. He had given us a toy cannon , which small as it was could be fired. To amuse us he loaded it » but charged it so heavily that when it was set off it exploded in our midst » though fortunately without inflicting any injury . General Ferning accompanied my Father to Cairo one July , where my Father's excellent constitution enabled him to bear the heat ;"Whach<; however, proved too much for Old Ferning who succumbed to adys- entery . I shall never forset our excitement on unpacking and unrolling a mummy , which my Father had brought home from his visit to the land of the Pharaohs. We expected to find a treas- ire trove in the case » and were not alitosether disappointed.