114 LIFE OF SIR JOHN LUBBOCK 



CH. 



apart from the more general gifts of clear vision 

 and exceptional talent — first, to the high respect 

 in which he was personally held by all who knew 

 him in the House, whether on his own side or in 

 opposition, secondly, to his unwearied industry, 

 and thirdly to his unconquerable optimism. It 

 has always appeared to me singularly appropriate 

 that so much of his attention should have been 

 bestowed on the study of those social insects, 

 the bees and ants, which have been ever 

 accepted as types and models of industry. One 

 who was associated with him in a scheme which 

 he worked through to a triumphant conclusion 

 has spoken to me with amazement of the number 

 of letters that he wrote, of the various avenues 

 through which he made his approaches sure, of 

 the scrupulous care to leave no possible detail 

 untouched, no possible helper uncourted. His 

 campaigns were as complete as any ever planned 

 by Napoleon in regard to the care which he took 

 to leave nothing to chance. 



And his optimism gave him the courage, if 

 defeated at one point, at once to shift the direc- 

 tion of his attack, and with a rare dexterity and 

 suppleness begin to move on a new front towards 

 the end which he had proposed, and which his 

 tenacity of purpose would never abandon while 

 there was the most remote possibility of victory. 



As for the personal regard in which he was 

 held, that is a point which need not be insisted 

 on or elaborated. It was as inevitable as it was 

 universally accorded. Any personal advantage 

 or self-seeking was so transparently absent from 

 any of the measures which he advocated with 



