CHAPTER XXXIV 



PUBCHASE OF KINGSGATE CASTLE (1901) 



(Age 67) 



His passing to the Upper House, naturally, as 

 has been said, gave Lord Avebury much more 

 time that he was able to call his own. It is true 

 that he still, in his way of quiet industry, did a 

 sufficient daily task for three men of ordinary 

 habits, but at the same time it is to be noted that 

 a considerable measure of this remarkable in- 

 dustry was devoted to objects which cost him 

 exceedingly little intellectual effort. The prepara- 

 tion of such books as the Pleasures and the Use 

 of Life was almost incidental to the reading of the 

 great originals from which most of the high 

 thoughts embodied in them were taken. The 

 journeys which contributed to The Scenery of 

 Switzerland and of England were a delight and a 

 refreshment in themselves. They were rendered 

 only the more attractive by the special purpose 

 for which they were undertaken, and all the 

 geological knowledge which gave them a solid 

 basis of interest was ready stored for use in his 

 brain. 



Manifestly this is not a comment on the value 



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