this time, Clerk to the House of Parliament, in
Melbourne. He was the kindest of friends to the two sons of Charles
Dickens, in Australia, from the time that the elder of the two first
went out there. And Charles Dickens had the most grateful regard for
him, and maintained a frequent correspondence with him--as a
friend--although they never saw each other.

[81] Anonymous.

1867.

[Sidenote: Hon. Robert Lytton.]

GAD'S HILL PLACE, HIGHAM BY ROCHESTER, KENT,
_Wednesday, 17th April, 1867._

MY DEAR ROBERT LYTTON,[82]

It would have been really painful to me, if I had seen you and yours at
a Reading of mine in right of any other credentials than my own. Your
appreciation has given me higher and purer gratification than your
modesty can readily believe. When I first entered on this interpretation
of myself (then quite strange in the public ear) I was sustained by the
hope that I could drop into some hearts, some new expression of the
meaning of my books, that would touch them in a new way. To this hour
that purpose is so strong in me, and so real are my fictions to myself,
that, after hundreds of nights, I come with a feeling of perfect
freshness to that little red table, and laugh and cry with my hearers,
as if I had never stood there before. You will know from this what a
delight it is to be delicately understood, and why your earnest words
cannot fail to move me.

We are delighted to be remembered by your charming wife, and I am
entrusted with more messages from this house to her, than you would care
to give or withhold, so I suppress them myself and absolve you from the
difficulty.

Affectionately yours.

[Sidenote: Mr. Henry W. Phillips.]

GAD'S HILL, _Thursday, 16th April, 1867._

MY DEAR MR. PHILLIPS,[83]

Although I think the scheme has many good points, I have this doubt:
Would boys so maintained at any one of our great public schools stand at
a decided disadvantage towards boys not so maintained? Foundation
Scholars, in many cases, win their way into public schools and so
enforce respect and even assert superiority. In many other cases their
patron is a remote and misty person, or Institution, sanctioned by Time
and custom. But the proposed position would be a very different one for
a student to hold, and boys are too often inconsiderate, proud, and
cruel. I s