There are soul-stirring sounds in the fiddle and flute When music begins in the hall, And a goddess in muslin that's likely to suit As the mate of your choice for the ball. But the player may strain every finger in vain And the fiddler may resin his bow, Nor fiddle nor string such rapture shall bring As the sound of the sweet "Tally-ho." _Servants' Ball, January 11th, 1898._ Times have changed, and fashions change very quickly--so much so that I was half afraid you would have petitioned me to allow you to have a ping-pong tournament. I am glad to see that you still prefer to stick to the old custom of a ball. Of all entertainments a ball is, in my opinion, the most harmless. It will always follow that there will be some who perhaps on the morrow will think that their affections had not been quite under control, and that they had spoken words of endearment that perhaps they regretted, and the lady might not. And perhaps there will always be those whose control over their thirst at a ball is not quite so strong as that of others. _Servants' Ball, January 3rd, 1902._ [Illustration: "_Perhaps there will always be those whose control over their thirst at a ball is not quite so strong as that of others._"] I have no doubt that much of what Mr. Perrott has just told you about the revels that have taken place in the hall during the last 200 or 300 years is perfectly true. There may perhaps have been more fun in the old days--that is a matter of history. I very much doubt it myself, and I have a sort of idea, and I hope and trust that at the Servants' Ball which still takes place here annually--unless there is some misfortune to prevent it--there is as much fun and revelry as has ever before taken place in this hall. The old lamp hung over your heads belonged to a former Lord Mayor of London--Sir Edward Clark--from whom I inherited some property and plate. That lamp probably hung in the Mansion House in London some two or three hundred years ago, and I have no doubt it has seen some peculiar scenes. _Servants' Ball, January 8th, 1903._ I also have my little anxieties. I have been hoping and praying that the enemy will not come up the Bristol Channel and land somewhere near here before I have got my Territorial Army into position. At the present moment the Territorial Army in Monmouthshire consists exactly of 17 men, all of whom are officers. So that unless the enemy give us due notice that they are coming here, I am afraid that we shall have to depend principally upon the Tredegar House establishment. I am quite certain that you will all answer my call, the ladies more particularly. I don't care so much about the enemy, whenever he comes, so long as I have the ladies with me. _Servants' Ball, Jan. 8th, 1908._ [Illustration: "_I don't care so much about the enemy, whenever he comes, so long as I have the ladies with me._"]