They were hung high, so as to get the light which was at the top of the
room. It was this arrangement, by the way, that made Sydney Smith say
that Rogers' dining-room was like Heaven and its opposite. There were
gods and angels in the upper part, but below was "gnashing of teeth."
While Rogers talked about his pictures, he would have them taken down by
his man-servant, Edmond, and placed upon a chair at his side, or almost
upon the lap of his guest, so that he might lecture about them at his
ease. Mrs. Simpson often told me of the horror she felt as a girl lest
she should throw a spoonful of soup over a Raphael or by an accident run
a knife or a fork into the immortal canvas! She had not learnt that
pictures are about the most indestructible things in the world.
[Illustration: J St. Loe Strachey. ?tat 32]
Through her father Mrs. Simpson also knew the great French statesmen of
her day, _i.e._, the middle period of the century, 1840 to 1870. He
was the friend of Alexis de Tocqueville, and of Thiers and Guizot, and
of most of the statesmen and men of letters who were their
contemporaries. The leading Italian statesmen, such as Cavour, were also
his friends.
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