INTRODUCTION 



I am grateful that it does not fall on me to 

 assign to Lord Avebury his exact place in 

 any list of latter-day saints or heroes, to 

 apportion him the precise measure of his niche 

 in Fame's temple. Had I to make the attempt 

 it would certainly be too difficult for me, and 

 I think it is a difficulty that any who will 

 endeavour to estimate his qualities by the com- 

 parative method will quickly appreciate. It 

 is found at once that there is no common 

 measure to apply to him and to other men. 

 His mind was very singular, very individual 

 in its quality, and his variety of achievement 

 makes it well-nigh impossible to say that he 

 should take rank in advance of this, or behind 

 that other, distinguished man. Sir Algernon 

 West, whose fag Lord Avebury was at Eton, 

 informed me that he was attending a meeting 

 at which Lord Avebury, in the later years of 

 his life, should have been present, but was 

 prevented by illness. Mr. Asquith, who took 

 the chair in his stead, and who is gifted with 

 a faculty for finding the happy phrase, referred 

 to Lord Avebury, while making apology for 

 his absence, as " one of the most remarkable 

 men of our time," and it is an appreciation 

 which the very peculiar qualities of his intellect 



