Here is one amusing story in connection with the Fenian scare which, after all these years, it can do no harm to tell. The police had received intelligence that a certain rich Irish-American was starting from New York with the intention of blowing up the Albert Memorial in Kensington Gardens. Sir Edmund Henderson came to see me and told me all about it, and the steps which he considered ought to be taken. The man arrived at Liverpool and, I need hardly say, was met by his shadow. Reaching London, he drove to Long’s Hotel in Bond Street, and within an hour or two, drove straight to the Memorial, where he found a number of quiet, inoffensive-looking people absorbed in the contemplation of the various sculptures. This happened two or three days in succession, after which he changed his hotel. He had plenty of money and spent his evenings in amusing himself at theatres and music halls. But in the day-time the attraction of the Albert Memorial was irresistible. It was unfortunate for his schemes that so many other people should all of a sudden be equally fascinated by its charms. The whole thing came to an end in an unexpected way. One night, after the play, the would-be iconoclast was driving to St. John’s Wood with a lady, when the driver of his hansom cab became aware that another cab was following them. The driver of the hansom was a good-natured fellow, and, thinking that his fare was being watched for divorce proceedings, told him what he had seen. The game was up, and it was a case of stalemate. The Irishman knew that he was found out, and the police had nothing tangible upon which they could act. So there was disappointment for the one player, and a rapid return to America for the other. When the good-natured cabman, being questioned, told the detective how he had let the cat out of the bag and spoilt sport, he was perhaps the sorest of the three. In the month of November, 1883, I had a very interesting experience. There was a scheme on foot for uniting the north and south of western London by an underground railway, which would have been carried under a part of Hyde Park. It was essential that the Queen’s pleasure should be taken upon the subject, and I was instructed to go to Balmoral in order to explain to Her Majesty exactly what had been proposed.