220 Mr. Arthur C. Benson [Jan. 26, 



to them. There is hardly a recorded instance of his ever having said a 

 severe or a harsh thing. In his college life, for instance, if some serious 

 violation of discipline was being discussed on the part of an under- 

 graduate, Pater was always on the side of mercy, although naturally 

 disposed to a certain severity of code, both in questions of behaviour 

 and of conduct. He disliked responsibihty, and he was greatly 

 irritated by opposition ; indeed he was so well aware of this latter 

 characteristic, and of his tendency to anger, if subjects on which he 

 thought seriously were treated with levity, that he preferred to smile 

 and put a question by, rather than to express his own convictions. 

 One or two instances only are recorded when he spoke with a 

 vehemence of fiery indignation that almost appalled his hearers. 



He was a man of a very few friends, but of deep loyalty ; and he 

 clung with profound attachment to the tranquil affections of home 

 life. He had a deep sense of humour, was fond of inventing absurd 

 stories, had a minute eye for foibles of behaviour among his acquaint- 

 ances, and was even an admirable mimic. He had a great delight in 

 watching the ways of animals, and had a special devotion to cats, whose 

 mystery and delicacy possessed a great fascination for him ; but so far 

 from being a secluded and melancholy dreamer, he had a great taste 

 for the broadly farcical in drama, and would watch a play that 

 amused him, up to the end of his life, with childish ebulHtion of 

 merriment. 



He was a man about whom many amusing anecdotes are told, and 

 it is difficult to distinguish, in some of the stories, at what point his 

 ironical humour came in, and how far his solemnity was assumed. 

 He was supposed to have a great desire to discern the principle of 

 beauty in the most incongruous circumstances. Thus it is related 

 that he once looked over a paper at some college examination, but 

 when it came to deciding the merits of respective candidates, he had 

 put down no marks, and had no impression as to the value of the 

 papers. To assist his memory, the names were read over to him, but 

 at each name he is supposed to have said that it conveyed nothing to 

 him, until the name of Sanctuary occurred, when he visibly brightened, 

 and said that he was now sure that he had looked over the paper, 

 because he remembered that he Hked the name. Again it is recorded 

 that when a college meeting was summoned to consider how some 

 obstreperous undergraduates should be dealt with, who had lit a bonfire 

 in the college court on the previous evening. Pater said meditatively 

 that he did not altogether object to bonfires, because they Ughted up 

 the spire of St. Mary's so beautifully. 



My own belief is that he took a quiet pleasure in mystifying 

 people, and even in acting up to his supposed reputation. His 

 humour is as a rule kept out of his writings, though one occasionally 

 becomes aware, as by some sudden gesture or secret twinkling of an 

 eye, that the writer is not so serious as would appear. 



I suppose that there have been few artists who took so much paine 



