i8o 



MEMORIES OF MY LIFE 



years of the Hon. George Brodrick, in his later years 

 Warden of Merton, whose memoirs are probably 

 known to most of my readers. When I first knew 

 him he was reputed one of the foremost of those rising 

 men at Oxford who were contemporaries with my 

 brother-in-law, Arthur Butler, and among whom was 

 Goschen. Brodrick became a distinguished journalist, 

 for many years on the staff of the Times. He had a 

 strong taste for geography, partly through being sent 

 in his youth on a long voyage to India and back, for 

 the sake of his health. Becoming a member of the 

 Council of the Royal Geographical Society, he gave 

 important help to the introduction of Geography into 

 the curriculum of his University. He was always 

 a warm friend to me, and I enjoyed not a few brief 

 visits to Merton College when he was established 

 there as its Warden. His eccentricities were all 

 amiable, and gave harmless amusement to his friends ; 

 especially his reluctance in accepting the preferred 

 Wardenship of Merton, for which his friends thought 

 he was exactly suited. He, however, considered it 

 to have a serious drawback in depriving him of the 

 possibility of a Parliamentary career, to which most 

 of them considered him unsuited. Moreover, he 

 had twice been an unsuccessful candidate for a seat 

 in Parliament. I do not attempt more in these few 

 lines than to express my grateful remembrance of him, 

 and my appreciation of his many great qualities, 

 including a large capacity for steadfast friendships 

 and a highly religious mind very tolerant of the 

 differing opinions of others. 



A grateful intimacy grew up between my wife and 

 myself and Mr. Frederick North of Rougham, in 



