142 ENGLISH MEN OF SCIENCE. [CHAP. 



ration. It has not unfrequenfcly happened to me 

 to hear a remark or statement, which I had made 

 to one of its members, alluded to by another, 

 in which case I have been usually astonished at 

 the precision with which it was repeated. The 

 repetition of the statement retained the precise 

 shade of sense that I originally intended to con- 

 vey, yet it was almost always presented in a 

 simpler and more striking form. The essentials 

 had been truthfully adhered to ; the non- 

 essentials were pruned off and the language 

 was improved. The rarity of a faculty like 

 this is easily tested by the experience of the 

 well-known game of " Russian Scandal," and has 

 probably been impressed on most of us when 

 we have discovered some misrepresentation of 

 what we did or said. Truthfulness of expres- 

 sion adds greatly to the charm of life ; it gives 

 a grateful sense of confidence towards those 

 who are distinguished for it and it makes con- 

 versation more real and far more interesting. 

 There is an exact parallel between truthfulness 

 of expression in speech and that of delineation 

 in drawing. In the earliest sketch it is far 



