70 LIFE OF SIR JOHN LUBBOCK oh. 



they should be to him. But on the contrary 

 he appears to have accepted their responsive 

 courtesy as an act of pure goodness and charity 

 on their part. And so it was, to the very 

 end of this long and full life, his gratitude for 

 the simplest services rendered, even for the 

 ordinary politeness of social intercourse, was 

 curiously touching. 



No doubt the death of his father, and his 

 accession to the baronetcy, and to the head 

 place in the banking-house, made a considerable 

 material difference in the position of the new 

 Sir John Lubbock. In the course of the year 

 he and Lady Lubbock moved from their house, 

 Lamas, at Chislehurst, and came to take up 

 their residence at High Elms. The traditional 

 patriarchal character of the house was main- 

 tained. His mother moved down to rooms at 

 the farm in the Park, close by, and some of the 

 younger brothers continued to live at High 

 Elms itself. There was strong fraternal attach- 

 ment between them all. In spite of the extreme 

 gentleness of his manner and character, Sir 

 John Lubbock had a firmness of will, and a 

 pertinacity in attaining his ends, which made 

 him perfectly competent to be the head of this 

 curiously associated family party. 



It is using no idle phrase to say that Sir John, 

 after his father's death, stood in a quasi -paternal 

 position towards the younger of his brothers. 

 The following letter from one of them will bear 

 witness both to this position and to the willing- 

 ness with which it was conceded and recognised. 

 It is the letter of a schoolboy, with a schoolboy's 



