"my uncle elias emigrated to america when he was a young man and became a planter in florida, where he was reported to have done very well. at the time of the war he fought in jackson’s army, and afterwards under hood, where he rose to be a colonel. when lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where he remained for three or four years. about 1869 or 1870 he came back to europe and took a small estate in sussex, near horsham. he had made a very considerable fortune in the states, and his reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his dislike of the republican policy in extending the franchise to them. he was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring disposition. during all the years that he lived at horsham, i doubt if ever he set foot in the town. he had a garden and two or three fields round his house, and there he would take his exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave his room. he drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any friends, not even his own brother.