 The relationship between the couple appears at times to have been almost that of a mother and child . Rosebery , a self @-@ centred , reserved man , prone to depression , <unk> and insecurity , had a difficult relationship with his mother who had been distant and openly preferred his younger brother . Lady Rosebery , an <unk> and only child , appears to have been desperate to lavish affection . Once upon entering a book shop she told her children they were 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 <unk> their <unk> . " It seems 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 <unk> 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 . 
