172 THE EULOGY OF RICHARD JEFFERIES. 



solid day to work. It is, I think, impossible 

 for a man to carry on literary work of any but 

 the humblest kind for more than five hours a 

 day ; three hours remained for exercise, and 

 the rest for food, rest, and reading. He took 

 a little supper at nine, of cold meat and bread, 

 with a glass of claret, and then read or con- 

 versed until eleven, when he went to bed. He 

 took tobacco very rarely. 



He had not a large library, because the 

 works which he most wished to procure were 

 generally beyond his means. For instance, 

 he was always desirous, but never able, to 

 purchase Sowerby's "English Wild-Flowers." 

 His favourite novelists were Scott and Charles 

 Keade. The conjunction of these two names 

 gives me singular pleasure, as to one who 

 admires the great qualities of Reade. He also 

 liked the works of Ouida and Miss Braddon. 

 He never cared greatly for Charles Dickens. I 

 think the reason why Dickens did not touch 

 him was that the kind of lower middle-class 

 life which Dickens knew so well, and loved to 

 portray, belonged exclusively to the town, 

 which Jefferies did not know, and not to the 



