Clarence King 



Coniston, and offered him his choice 

 of his two greatest water-colors by 

 Turner. " One good Turner," said 

 King, "deserves another," and took 

 both. 



Few men ever can have lived who 

 loved knowingly and ardently so many 

 things. All the arts gave him joy ; 

 his mind was hospitable to every in- 

 tellectual delight, the simplest as well 

 as the most complex. In music he 

 enjoyed Beethoven and the latest 

 rag-time ; in painting he revelled in 

 the masterpieces of all the schools ; 

 in poetry his taste was as keen as it 

 was catholic ; in literature he liked all 

 styles except the tiresome ; for years 

 he read a chapter of higher mathe- 

 matics every night before going to 

 bed. He had the passionate love 

 of nature which only the highest 

 culture gives — the sky, the rock, and 

 the river spoke to him as familiar 

 friends. 



130 



