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INTRODUCTION XXXV
But the old house which he had intended to alter and to live in
was found to be tumbling to pieces and not safe to knock about.
After some demur it was pulled down, and the Queen Anne building
was erected, in which he took so much pleasure.
Sir John Millais used to laugh, and declare that my father first
sot the fashion for red brick, of which the crimson floods have
undoubtedly overflowed in every direction since those days ; on the
whole, embellishing the foggy streets of the grey, smoky city, to which
it is our pride to belong, and of which we love to complain.
Some time before this, in a letter to Mrs. Procter, my father
speaks of a play he had been writing :—
"Yes, I knew I had been to see you since my return from
Paris. I came the second day after my arrival. You were going out
in a fly, don't you recollect 1 And I squandered a cab at the door,
and you said you were waiting to go and see that comedy, don't you
remember, which wasn't written then, and now—Rrrejected? O
torture.
" I read it to the girls last night, who said—and they must know—
it was very good fun.—Always yours,
W. M. T.
Author of 'The Wolves and the Lamb,' a rejected
masterpiece in two Acts." .
A certain number of young actors, with Mr. Herman Merivale
for general manager, determined to try and produce this play of
" The Wolves and the Lamb." It had already been turned into the
story of " Lovel the Widower " for The Cornhill Magazine.
" The W. Empty (W. M. T.) House," as my father dubbed it,
lent itself to the occasion, for the rooms were all on the ground floor,
opening into one another. The place was large and empty, with
plenty of room for sports. It was a perfect housewarming; there
were fires in every chimney, and happy young people rehearsing
their parts. The play was a success, and went very well. Mr.
Horace Twiss played the hero, the heroine was Mrs. Caulfeild,
the parts of three old ladies were taken by three young ones—
my sister, a cousin (Miss Bayne), and Mrs. Charles Norman, the
daughter of Mrs. Cameron.