20 



OUR COLUMNS. 



June 20, 1891. 



a Dilettante's Dream. 



By H. M. Dymock, M.A. 



J^S^I-^ HAD taken my degree that morning. So I sat down in my arm-chair after Hall 

 ^^^v to consider what was next to be done. And as I mused I fell into a trance, and 

 y^^\^ methought I was standing on the verge of a spacious flowery meadow, and through 

 the midst of it ran a broad and gleaming river, and a skiff lay moored by the bank of the 

 river, out of the stream, and in the distance I could hear the plunge of waves. 



And looking round I beheld a multitude of men and women of all sorts and sizes and 

 ages, sitting or standing, singly and in groups, and the greater part of them chatting pleasantly 

 together, but others of them discoursing with much earnestness to small knots of eager 

 listeners, and here and there one of a pensive and even melancholy aspect. 



My presence was evidently not unobserved, for most of them straightway turned their 

 backs, which was fortunate for me, as among such a number of strange folk I was 

 beginning to feel anything but at my ease. Before I had time to notice further, a person, 

 as it appeared to me, of some quality among them, clad from head to foot in the oddest 

 suit of motley it is possible to conceive, yet withal of a countenance and figure somehow 

 not altogether strange to me, separated himself from the rest of the throng, and coming 

 politely towards me accosted me as follows : — 



" Gentle sir, the company you see around you are the goodly host of British literary 

 worthies. Yonder river, by which you have just arrived, is the river of Youth. You have 

 reached its mouth here, and must hence take ship upon the ocean of Manhood. Each 

 voyager, as he comes, is expected to secure for himself one of our number as his guide and 

 companion over those perilous seas, and had you previously (and intimately) known 

 any one of us, who could have performed that office of kindness for you, you would not 

 have been detained any longer here. Unhappily, this is not the case. It remains there- 

 fore for me, as the only one with whose works you are at all properly acquainted, to bring 

 you into their midst, that you may inform them of the extent of your knowledge of their 

 writings, and perchance induce one of them to attend you on your further journey. In 

 naming the Avorks you have read, you will of course be careful not to exceed the usual list 

 of one hundred books. For myself, as I daresay you have ere this discovered, I am the 

 compiler of Half Hours ivith the Best Authors, and an affiliated member of their body." 



Thus saying, he took me by the hand, and led me gently forward to the summit of a 

 grassy slope, whither presently came flocking round me, but without any appearance of 

 hurry, and with a general air of languid indifference, the entire assemblage of those 

 celebrated persons. 



Now, whether it was owing to the novelty of my situation, or to the invigorating fresh- 

 ness of the air, or to the confidence natural to ignorance, I cannot exactly say, but I 

 speedily recovered my self-possession, and applied myself to my task Avithout more ado. 



" Ladies and gentlemen," said I, " it was both kind and convenient of you to turn your 

 backs upon me as you did, for though your faces are rather strange to me, I have already 

 been able to recognise several of you from the other point of view. 



" My father was an Edinburgh physician. He possessed a library which not only 

 abounded in the lore of his profession, but contained, as one of his countrymen said 

 of a dish of calf's head, ' a deal o' fine confoosed feedin' about it ' as well. In his youth 

 he had lived next door to Sir Walter Scott, whose writmgs accordingly held a conspicuous 

 place on his shelves, but not, I fear, an equal one iu my own knowledge and esteem. 



