Foreword xiii 



sombreness, at these times of letting himself go he was the cheeriest 

 of men and the best of bons camarades. 



Those who knew him as a friend will realize that, though friendship 

 came to him slowly, when once it was entered upon, it was extra- 

 ordinarily loyal and enduring. His affection, indeed, would tend to 

 make him exaggerate the friend's capacit}', whilst he invariabh' 

 failed to take a just measure of his own. Ostentation and brag, 

 in an}' shape or form, were so ahen to his nature, that not only did 

 he refuse to place his mental equipment " on view " for his own 

 advantage, but it was actually brought to light with difficulty, 

 and chiefly through the instrumentality of friends, who were aware 

 that his ability was much greater than any to which he himself 

 ever laid claim. Self-depreciation is not a common failing, but he 

 possessed it in a high degree, and to his own detriment. Yet, with 

 this depreciation, or want of appreciation, of his own work, there was 

 no tendency to detract from the merit of others. Rather were his 

 judgments generous to a fault. But generosity both in word and deed 

 was one of his essential characteristics ; and this quality, together 

 with his intellectual power, and his loyalty to a true friend, made 

 him a man whose friendship, once gained, was worthy to be 

 " grappled to the soul with hooks of steel." Those who have been 

 numbered in the company of these, his friends, feel life to be duller, 

 greyer and harder now that it is robbed of his presence. A straight 

 man he was and a true. Another will not easily fill his place. 



E. M. M. 



