Coquelin was thus introduced:
'"CHAMBRE DES DÉPUTÉS, '"PRÉSIDENCE, '"31 Mai, 1879.
'"CHER AMI,
'"J'introduis auprès de vous mon ami Coquelin dont vous pourrez apprècier le charmant esprit, et je vous le recommande sans autrement faire de phrases, sachant que vous savez à premier vu reconnaître les vrais hommes.
'"C'est à l'ami que je confie l'ami,
'"À vous, LÉON GAMBETTA."
'About dined with me at the House of Commons on the day on which the House of Commons met after the Whitsuntide recess; but I did not at the moment know his peculiarity of being unable to touch any article of food which contained onion in any form or had been cooked with it, so that I am afraid I starved him. On June 13th I had prepared accordingly, and he dined with me, and met all the people who spoke good French—Leighton, Mitford, Fitzmaurice, Borthwick, Barrington, Bourke (the Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs), Chamberlain—and Montebello and La Ferronnays of his own Embassy, and Gennadius the Greek. It was hard to say whether Mitford, Leighton, or Borthwick spoke the best French. But certainly neither Fitzmaurice, who was a quarter French, nor the three Frenchmen, could venture to contest matters with such talkers. I never heard any fault found with Leighton's French except that it is too good, though I have heard people declare that his Italian and his German were yet better; but I myself could see no fault in Mitford's. About naturally came to the conclusion, not entirely justified by fact, that all Englishmen could speak French.
'On June 22nd I gave a dinner for Gambetta's friends, Coquelin and
Hecht, at which I had Lord Granville, Lord Lansdowne, Malet,
Montgélas, Lord Reay, Lord Arthur Russell, and Gavard. Lord Granville
was at his very best, shining as he always did when he could talk
French theatre anecdotes to a man playing up to him as could Coquelin.
'I think it was on Thursday night, June 19th (1879), that, about midnight, Pender brought me a telegram to the House of Commons telling me that Prince Louis Napoleon had been killed by the Zulus, in order that I might telegraph it to Gambetta. I did so; and in the morning received from Gambetta a telegram asking me to repeat my telegram if it really came from me, evidently thinking that he had been hoaxed in my name, for my news reached Paris long before the thing was known there. The Queen was not told till 10.30 a.m., and she then informed the Empress Eugénie, so that I knew it eleven hours before the poor mother.'
On Sunday, June 29th, Sir Charles had stayed at Strawberry Hill. Within the same week Lady Waldegrave died suddenly. He was among the friends who went down to see her buried at Chewton, near Chewton Priory, her place in Somersetshire.