*Zhc Bruib' 315 



a bitter disappointment, and wished to go to the Bar 

 and try to retrieve it.' 



The spirit which prompted that refusal animated Henry 

 Hall Dixon all through his life. When, at the death of 

 Vincent Dowling, he was offered the editorship of 

 Be/Z's Life at a salary commencing with ^looo a year, 

 he declined the lucrative post because he could not see 

 his way to accepting it without sacrificing that freedom 

 of action which nothing could induce him to forego. 

 Only the sympathetic few who share ' The Druid's ' sub- 

 lime indifference to 'place and pelf can thoroughly 

 appreciate the true manliness and nobility of his char- 

 acter, or understand the nature of the man who deliber- 

 ately chose a life of honourable poverty, a life of constant 

 hardship and struggle, rather than sacrifice one iota of 

 that self-respect which he cherished as a greater pos- 

 session than wealth or fame or position. To ' The Druid's ' 

 sensitive nature, the idea of being paid in any form for 

 anything he did outside the scope of his professional 

 duties as a journalist was revolting. He rendered great 

 services to Rarey the horse-tamer — services for which 

 ninety-nine men out of a hundred would have felt no 

 qualm in accepting a handsome honorarium. But when 

 Rarey sought in the usual way to express his gratitude 

 and acknowledge his indebtedness to ' The Druid,' the 

 latter almost resented the offer as an insult, and declined 

 even to allow his wife to accept a present from the 

 grateful horse-tamer. 



Similarly, when professionally attending sales, or 

 making inspection of thoroughbreds, or hounds, or short- 

 horns, he would never accept the lavish hospitality 

 offered to the members of the press and other visitors, 

 but, with Spartan sternness, would turn his back on the 



