Meetings with King 



was supposed to have by him the 

 beginning of a novel, and perhaps he 

 had, but it was rather something to 

 bluff his inquiring literary friends 

 with, to dream over and fancy finish- 

 ing, than ever really to expect or 

 intend finishing. 



There was doubtless something in 

 the exactness of science which formed 

 a pull on his poetic nature strong 

 enough to draw him to the perform- 

 ance from which the vagueness of 

 aesthetic motives and impulses relaxed 

 him. It was easy to put these off 

 with the self-promise of fulfilment 

 some other time when he should feel 

 more like it ; but with a scientific prob- 

 lem or task before him he had to act 

 promptly. In life, I believe, he was 

 much controlled by what we may call 

 the literary side of him. 



I next met him in London in the 

 crucial moment when he was trying 

 to go down to a friend's country 

 142 



