uin of genial intercourse, unless he is a
good fellow whose pose is harmless. Some of the best talks I have ever
had have been in the company of sensible and good-natured men, of no
particular brilliance, but with a sense of justice in the matter of
talk and no taste for anecdote; just as some of the best meals I have
ever had have been of the plainest, when good digestion waited upon
appetite. And, on the other hand, some of the very saddest
entertainments I have ever taken a hand in have been those conducted by
a host bubbling with geniality, and with a stock of reminiscences, who
turned the hose in the face of guest after guest till they writhed with
boredom.

Bless me, it is midnight! The hour is pealed from innumerable towers;
then comes a holy silence, while I hear the drip of the fountain in the
court. This incomparable Oxford! I wish that fate or Providence would
turn my steps this way!--Ever yours,

T. B.

PELHAM HOUSE,
HAMMERSMITH,
Dec. 28, 1904.

DEAR HERBERT,--Since I left Oxford, I have been staying in town. I
can't remember if you ever came across my old friend Hardy--Augustus
Hardy, the art critic--at all events you will know whom I mean. I have
been very much interested and a good deal distressed by my visit. Hardy
is an elderly man now, nearly sixty. He went through Oxford with a good
deal of distinction, and his sketches were much admired. It was
supposed that he had only to present himself at the doors of the
Academy, and that it would surrender at discretion. His family were
rich, and Hardy went up to town to practise art. He was a friend of my
father's, and he was very kind to me as a boy. He was well off, and
lived in a pleasant house of his own in Half Moon Street. He was a
great hero of mine in those days; he had given up all idea of doing
anything great as a painter, but turned his attention to art-criticism.
He wrote an easy, interesting style, and he used to contribute to
magazines on all kinds of aesthetic subjects; he belonged to several
clubs, dined out a great deal, and used to give elaborate little
dinners himself. He was fond of lecturing and speechifying generally;
and he liked the society of young people, young men of an intelligent
and progressive type. He was very free with his money--I suppose he had
nearly three thousand a year--and spent it in a princely kind of way;
when he travelled he travelled like a great gentleman, generally took a
young artist or two with