164 THE EULOGY OF RICHARD JEFFERIES. 



desired seemed now lying at his feet ready to 

 be picked up. To use the old parlance, the 

 trumpet of fame was already resounding in the 

 heavens for him, and the crown of honour was 

 already being woven for his brows. 



Some men would have made of this splendid 

 commencement a golden ladder of fortune. 

 They would have come to town the first 

 step, whether one is to become a millionnaire 

 or a Laureate; they would have joined clubs; 

 they would have gone continually in and out 

 among their fellow-men, and especially those 

 of their own craft or mystery; they would 

 have been seen as much as possible in society; 

 they would have stood up to speak on plat- 

 forms; they would have sought to be men- 

 tioned in the papers ; they would have courted 

 popularity in the ways very well known to 

 all, and commonly practised without conceal- 

 ment. Such a man as Jefferies might have 

 made himself, without much trouble, a great 

 power in London. 



Well, Jefferies did not become a power in 

 London at all. He could not ; everything was 

 against him, except the main fact that the way 



