xxxviii OBITUARY NOTICES OF ^I EMBERS DECEASED. 



Vonnoh, painted eighteen years ago, and is regarded by those who 

 knew Mr. Lea best as an excellent picture of the man as he was. 

 But that responsive face could never be so put on canvas as to 

 recall for me the change from the grave scholarly look of attention 

 to the smile which welcomed a friend to the privilege of a social 

 hour ; alas ! — here the artist fails us — 



" For Painting mute and motionless 

 Steals but a glance of time." 



It is not a part of my function to speak at length of the work of 

 my friend, or of his personal character and the qualities which made 

 him both loved and respected. It is probable, however, that no one 

 of those who speak of him this evening has done full justice to a 

 characteristic which he possessed in a degree I have met with in no 

 other man of eminence. The brief contribution I shall here make is 

 a sufificient record of the extraordinary humility of Mr. Lea con- 

 cerning works which scholars regard as among the classics of his 

 time. I hesitated to speak of it because it involved mention of 

 myself and of a service I was so happy as to render my friend, and 

 through him to the art of the historian. 



About the year 1887, when Mr. Lea was half-way through the 

 first volume of his work on the Inquisition, he broke down in health 

 and consulted me. I was able to give him a schedule of life, to 

 which he adhered with extraortlinary fidelity, and with the result 

 at' last of allowing him to resume the task which he had for a 

 time given up. When the first volume of this great work was com- 

 pleted, he sent it to me with a letter. In it he said that he had held 

 back the printing of the introductory pages of his book for a week, 

 because it vVas his desire to dedicate to me a work which could not 

 have been carried thus far without the health which my counsels 

 had restored to him. He went on to say that he had felt, however, 

 so much doubt as to the reception of this book by scholars, that he 

 finally resolved not to connect m}- name with what might possibly 

 be considered a failure. 



The letter was perhaps a greater compliment than even the dedi- 

 cation would have been. I think of it with grateful remembrance, 

 and venture to offer it as m\- contribution to what has been said 



