268 POT-POURRI FROM A SURREY GARDEN 



single man in his shirt.' A father cannot get the eleven 

 men, so he had better not try to govern in this spirit. His 

 only power, if he loses the affection and respect of his 

 children, is that base and ignoble one given by money, 

 which— in the case of men, at any rate — is powerless 

 against the noblest and best. AU people, both young and 

 old, should remember the wise saying that we never feel 

 so much at ease with our consciences as when we are 

 dwelling complacently on the faults of others. 



There will always be men and women, but perhaps 

 more men than women, who all through life believe in 

 luck — those who think when things go wrong that they 

 have been cheated and frustrated by others, whereas 

 nothing has happened but what was bound to happen. 

 Men of this stamp often endure life heroically and are 

 clever, inventive, interesting human beings ; but they are 

 ruled by circumstances, instead of ruling them : they 

 submit to Ufe, instead of making it. / 



I must not omit to mention a book, called ' Notes from 

 Life,' by Sir Henry Taylor. It is out of fashion and 

 forgotten now, but it made a very great impression upon 

 me in my youth. Sir Henry Taylor, as everyone knows, 

 was the author of ' Philip Van Artevelde : a Dramatic 

 Eomance.' This work made him famous at the time of 

 its pubUcation ; it is stiU read by students of EngUsh 

 literature, and there is no grander subject for a dramatist 

 than the moulding of tough natures. I believe it was 

 never put on the stage ; and, after aU, an unactable play 

 must always remain a kind of literary mule. Sir Henry- 

 Taylor bound himself to us most tenderly by writing a 

 poem in memory of my father, who died at Nice in 1843. 

 It was reprinted in Sir Henry's autobiography a few 

 years ago. One of the most distinguished of our Lord 

 Chancellors described it to me as the finest memorial 

 poem in the English language. What little worldly 



