The relationship between the couple appear at times to have been almost that of a mother and child . Rosebery , a self @-@ centred , reserved man , prone to depression , pessimism and insecurity , had a difficult relationship with his mother who had been distant and openly preferred his younger brother . Lady Rosebery , an orphan and only child , appear to have been desperate to lavish affection . Once upon entering a book shop she told her children they was entering a toy shop , and when the disappointed children pointed out the obvious she replied " to your father this is a toy shop . " Lord Rosebery 's friend Edward Hamilton recorded her " notable faculty of getting other people to work and quickening their energies . " It seem she was the driving force of the relationship , with her feet firmly on the ground . She made herself the link between the world and her " thin skinned and neurotic " husband . While her husband sulked or withdrew with hurt pride from a situation , she came to the forefront to plead his case or cause . If she was aware of his faults she gave no indication of it .