120 REMINISCENCES. 



tone of his letters, they will speak for themselves. The un- 

 varying courtesy of them is very striking. I had a proof of 

 this quality in the feeling with which Mr. Hacon, his solicitor, 

 regarded him. He had never seen my father, yet had a 

 sincere feeling of friendship for him, and spoke especially of 

 his letters as being such as a man seldom receives in the way 

 of business : " Everything I did was right, and everything 

 was profusely thanked for." 



He had a printed form to be used in replying to troublesome 

 correspondents, but he hardly ever used it ; I suppose he never 

 found an occasion that seemed exactly suitable. I remember 

 an occasion on which it might have been used with advantage. 

 He received a letter from a stranger stating that the writer 

 had undertaken to uphold Evolution at a debating society, 

 and that being a busy young man, without time for reading, 

 he wished to have a sketch of my father's views. Even 

 this wonderful young man got a civil answer, though I 

 think he did not get much material for his speech. His rule 

 vas to thank the donors of books, but not of pamphlets. He 

 sometimes expressed surprise that so few people thanked him 

 for his books which he gave away liberally ; the letters that 

 he did receive gave him much pleasure, because he habitually 

 formed so humble an estimate of the value of all his works, 

 that he was genuinely surprised at the interest which they 

 excited. 



In money and business matters he was remarkably careful 

 and exact. He kept accounts with great care, classifying 

 them, and balancing at the end of the year like a merchant. 

 I remember the quick way in which he would reach out for 

 his account-book to enter each cheque paid, as though he were 

 in a hurry to get it entered before he had forgotten it. His 

 father must have allowed him to believe that he would be 

 poorer than he really was, for some of the difficulty experi- 

 enced in finding a house in the country must have arisen 

 from the modest sum he felt prepared to give. Yet he knew, 



