" I am not going to indulge in any commonplace or other expressions of sympathy; coming from me, they would be more than unnecessary. You all know of my deep feeling of love for you all, from birth upwards [? too weir\, to require any such expression. What I do want to say is that you will, I hope, look upon me as your best friend and stand-by, and I hope and trust that I shall always prove so. I never can stand even in the shadow of him we have lost, but I may be of use, and I hope even of some comfort — try me. My dear Susy, what a truly noble character has passed away from us; in all my experience of life, I have never met one more deserving that title."
Sir F. C. A. Stephenson
Sir Benjamin Stephenson's youngest son, Frederick Charles Arthur, was born on July 17, 1821. He seems to have been a delightful child, brimful of fun and mischief, but never worrying his elders with his jokes and pranks. Lovableness is what stands out first in his character; gradually one realises the noble qualities that lay at the root of this characteristic, but at the first glance the fact is apparent that everybody loved him. The courtesy and consideration which were so strongly marked in his later years were there apparently from babyhood. So also his appreciation of beauty and kindness in women dates from very early days.
His eldest sister has told of his standing on the nursery table to be dressed and saying to his nurse as he looked up into her face and stroked it, " My Betty, you are a very pretty girl I " He must always have disarmed any harsh or severe judgment. In later days, when a child myself, I can well remember noticing with considerable surprise the look of tender indulgence on the face of my austere grandmother as she watched her much-loved Frederick playing some trick which would have been sharply reprimanded in anyone else. It seemed impossible to resent whatever he chose to do, the touch was so light, the intention so singleminded.
Like his brother William, he left home very early, going when only six years old to a small school at Turnham Green, whence he was removed a year or two later to Dr. Morris's at Brentford, where his brother had preceded him. At nine years old he was made page of honour to William iv., and was present at the coronation. He became a great favourite with the good-natured old King, who was so delighted with the way in which his page enjoyed the first play at which he attended His Majesty, and with his infectious laugh, that he always sent for him when going to see anything especially amusing. He used to tell us how the King one day " knighted " his little page, by calling jokingly down the dinner- table to him, " The pleasure of a glass of wine with you. Sir Frederick." This he always said he might have claimed as knighthood.
After leaving school, he was sent to Dieppe to learn French. One letter written then to his eldest sister is still preserved, and bears the postmark " Sp. 10. 1836." In it he says how happy he is with " M. and Mme Reville, who treat me like a spoilt child." He goes to the play every other night, " which I find improves me wonderful!}'', so that when I go to-night I expect to understand it perfectly." He is introduced to " an old lady named Mrs. Righton.... I often go and drink tea there, but then the company is all French, so that it does me no harm." Even at fifteen he wanted to do his work thoroughly. Then he tells how " last Sunday I saw what they call a review, but I never saw before, and never wish to see again, such another review. I would ten thousand times rather have seen half a hundred soldiers drilled in Hyde Park. The company itself consisted of about 200 men, and I may say one-third of them were dressed in plain clothes, with nothing military about them except their muskets and the crossbands with their cartridge-boxes; some with yellow, some with white gloves, some with none at all, and some of them even had spectacles; and when they began to be drilled it was horrid, and when they began to march it was enough to disgust ' Diabolum ipsum,' some of them laughing, talking, and looking round, some out of step, some shouldering their arms, some carrying their arms, and when they were commanded to halt I assure you several of them in the front were half a yard ahead of the rest; in short, it was the most abominable compound of ill discipline and bad management that ever was."
One wonders what this " review " can have been? Probably the youthful contempt expressed by the budding soldier was expended upon worthy patriots trying to fit themselves for service in the National Guard.