T HE M A NNE RS OF M Y TIM E \ 8K c ; HA W K INS DE M PS TER “ A UTHOR OF T HE M ARITI M E ALPS AND THE I R ’ S E ABOA anf E Tc . é’ c /6\ Q LONDON GR NT RI CHA RD S L TD A . ’ S T M A RTI N S STR E ET M DCCCCXX PRI NT E D IN GRE A T B R IT A IN I V T H. RIVE RS IDE PR E SS L IMIT E D E D IN B URG H DEDI CAT ED MY S IS T E R HE LE N I d o not know how old Ulysses may have been “ wh e n he boaste d that h e had se e n the m ann ers ” s ha h s t a of his tim e . I s u pect t t t i s fir of gre t t a e e s st ha e b ee e an that he h ad r v ll r mu v n ld erly, d “ a s s ffe e a sea- ch an e as ch as he was l o u r d g , in mu on h e at as t ec s e b his d o . only, turn ing om l , r ogni d y g am se e t - e h ea s a e and th s I v n y ig t y r of g , in i t h e can la c a t o ha see wilig t of lif I y l im ving n , in ffe e at t u es a a a t th e a e s di r nt l i d , f ir moun of m nn r , and th e a t of a e s m t e . of w n m nn r , of y im I n th s b ha e t e e a S a t o a i ook I v ri d , lik undi l , m rk the b ht h s h ch tha God th e e only rig our , of w i , nk , r has be a e cat e t d a to m e n no l ck . I d di it o y y s s e H e e beca se s he it was wh o sha e th e i t r l n , u r d s t m e e e ces an d b cau se s he t her mo of y xp ri n , e , ill own hea th a e h e m t a th e b e l f il d , elp d e o be r urd n of s c ness i k . I fe e l that my we ight of ye ars mu st re nd er thi s b e t th s ss tha h to be . e e ook l vivid n it oug t I r gr i , bu t s ch as the b is de cate it t o her and u ook , I di , t o th e a e s e t e an s e a e m ny fri nd , g n l d im pl , liv and ea who ha e he ed a se a se d d , v lp , dvi d , mu d or c s e on ol d . THE AUTHOR . 24 PORTMAN S Q UARE , 1 9 1 2 . EDITOR’ S PREFA CE M iss C . L . H . Dempster died at Cannes on the 8 1 1 bu t w a r th of May 9 3 , owing to the European it has only now become possible to publish Tfi e “ M an ners of my Time. The Sister H elen to whom the volume is dedicated having died in 1 1 9 7 , the task of editing it has fallen to me , the ’ s s authores goddaughter . ’ T o all lovers of the Riviera M i s s Dempster s o Tfie M a ritime A l s a nd Meir S eaboa rd is b ok , p , well known . ‘ ’ s Tli e H oiel a u Pet it O f her earlier writing , S t ean Vera [sea /ie B lu e Roses j , , and were popular - f Vera o . with the novel readers her day , a story w a r o of the Crimean , was translated int Russian , and B lu e R oses was to be found on almos t every booksta ll in America . 1 8 1 e oined o I n 9 M iss D mpsterj the R man Church , and it was the wish of her s i s ter that the proceeds of this volume should be devoted to the Chapel of s e St Charle des Carri res , a little church between Cannes and Le Cannet which M iss Demps ter helped to build for the quarrymen living in that d neighbourhoo . A LICE K N OX. 2 CADOGAN G R S L . 3 A DEN , ONDON 1 1 9 9 . CONT EN T S CHAPT E R PAGE W G I G I . A PENNILESS LASS ITH A LON PED REE W II . ST ANDRE S I G D G B III . OUR POOR H HLAN NEI H OURS V D I . CASTLE LEO V . SOME SCOTCH COUNTRY HOUSES . V G P I I . A LIM SE OF PAR S UNDE R THE SECOND EM PI RE - V . T I 1 86 1 86 . II LE TERS FROM N CE , 4 5 T 1 86 6 - 1 86 V III . I ALY IN 7 LETTERS FROM CANNES X . PALMY DAYS OF CANNES C S 1 88 . D T OF T D K LB ANNE , 4 EA H HE U E A ANY FRENCH COUNTRY HOUSE S I A FLECHERE S . LE C H TEAU DE X F C III . REN H COUNTRY HOUS ES 2 . THE CASTLE O F ABONDANT XIV L TT RS FR M P RI S CA S . E E O A AND NNE XV. L POL PRI C F H Z LL R I EO D , N E O OHEN O E N ( ) XV P Z I . L L PRI C F H LL R z EO O D, N E O OHEN O E N ( ) ’ V XV II . L EN OY C H APT E R I A PENNI LESS LASS W ITH A LONG PEDI GRE E I t is to Scot land that one naturally turns to find c c s a w su h a person , and I a cordingly the light in Dunnichen H ouse , in the county of Forfar, on l o t h 1 8 Sunday morning , April 3 5 . My father , J ames Whitshed H awkins , lived on the family his M rs estates as administrator for mother , H elen a H wkins Dempster , who had fallen into second c o who hildho d , and could not enjoy what had descended to her from her mother , Mrs Burrington , s niece and heires in entail of the last laird , George Dempster of Dunnichen . w as o I the fourth child of my mother, Charl tte o Dempster of Skibo , daughter of William J hn — c Soper Dempster , and of his wife Harriet , only hild and heiress of J ohn H amilton Dempster , half o br ther to the aforesaid laird of Dunnichen . My s parents were therefore more or les cousins . T o o explain why, th ugh we were born at l Dunnichen , and though my on y brother succeeded to his grandmother, H elen, at her death , we all happened to be brought up in Sutherland it will be s s neces ary to go into some bits of family hi tory . I t “ s is , as Emerson ays , the Past that has baked our ” o l af, yet I will try to make that past as clear and s as little tiresome as po sible . The family of Dempster has always belonged to o - the n rth east province of Scotland , and I do not know how it may have been called before it obtained , o o c or to k the name of an ffi e , the Deemster , the I ! 1 2 TH E MANNERS OF MY TIME offi cer who proclaimed the decrees of the Parliament s and Court of J ustice . The first t ime that we hear 1 200 this word as a surname is in , when the King s K no ckle ith gave to Sir J . Demp ter the lands of s s and of Auchterles in Forfar hire . The family when settled by the King under the Grampians seems to have wearied of a position that offered no outlet either for their energies or their descendants . They migrated always nearer to the s e a Ca rrols t o n M inre s k , to and , to Brechin , and Re s t e nne t h finally to Dundee , Dunnichen and , at nearing the German Ocean Dundee , Arbroath and at Lundy Bay . There are extant wills and 1 2 00 t charters dating back to , but no interes attaches to any of the pers o ns named in them until we come M inre s k to Thomas Dempster of , the historian of u E tr ria . H e was a contemporary of the Admirable o Crichton , and was one of those profess rs who with a horse and saddlebag wandered from one university town to the other .