strengthened the position of Baron von Hügel and harmonised with his tastes and views. He soon made an excellent position for himself in Brussels, and his house again became a social centre, although his increasing years, and the difference in the manners of the place, did not permit of social movement on such a scale as Florence had given scope for. He retained all his old active interest in science and literature, and above all in horticulture, a subject in which Belgium is conspicuous. As in old days he had been drawn to San Donato and Boboli, so now he was constantly in the Botanical Gardens. His beautiful house was near them, surrounded by fresh verdure.
In former days I had been from year's end to year's end in constant intercourse with him: at Brussels I visited him twice, in the springs of 1864 and 1866, and found in his house the hearty, friendly reception of earlier times. The second of my two visits was at a moment of painful agitation. It was the first half of May, shortly before the outbreak of the war which gave a new form to Germany. On the 8th of that month there was a diplomatic dinner at the Austrian Embassy. After the guests had gone I remained for a long while in solitary conversation with the master of the house. Heavy cares and anxieties were pressing upon him. At the age of seventy, after so many vicissitudes, he saw himself once again on the eve of events which, however the die might fall, foreboded another great change. I was deeply moved myself; a conflict between kindred had terrors greater than those of any ordinary war; and the question of right was not to be decided by considerations of statescraft, or conditions of political existence. Without prejudice to our patriotic attachments we parted with our old friendship unimpaired. It was our last meeting.
