-THE PLEASURES OF LIFE" 237 



ing them out, if they were brief, or marking their 

 first and last words. Then those slips were 

 given to the secretary, who would collate and 

 type out the passages referred to, and in this 

 extremely easy manner a book like The Pleasures 

 of Life would be quickly compiled. There was 

 no originality — Sir John expressly disclaimed all 

 intention of producing an original work. The 

 flair that he displayed, however, both in this 

 and in later collections of the same time, showed 

 an original genius that would have made the 

 fortune of any journalist. I do not at all know 

 what the profits were of this, or his other books 

 of many editions ; but no doubt the fortunes of 

 the journalist and of the banker are reckoned 

 differently. What might seem a small matter 

 to the latter would be a sum of some importance 

 to the former. No importance whatever appears 

 to have been attached by Sir John to what must 

 surely have been the very considerable pecuniary 

 result of his various writings. 



The aim that Sir John had in the compilation 

 of this book is best given in his own words 

 prefatory to the first and second series of the 

 Pleasures. 



" Having been when young," he writes in the 

 preface to the first series, " rather prone to suffer 

 from low spirits, I have . . . taken the oppor- 

 tunity of dwelling on the privileges and blessings 

 we enjoy . . . and I reprint here the substance 

 of some of those addresses . . . hoping that the 

 thoughts and quotations in which I have myself 

 found most comfort, may perhaps be of use to 

 others also." 



