as a rara avis, from first to last. The foible of
artificial, as distinguished from spontaneous, society is that it so
seldom achieves simple human relations.

Another chief friend of his was Francis Bennoch. England would never
have seemed "our old home" to my father, without the presence and
companionship of these two men. Both had literary leanings, both were
genial, true, and faithful; but in other respects they were widely
dissimilar. Bright was of the pure Saxon type; Bennoch represented Great
Britain at large; there were mingled in him English, Irish, and
Scotch ancestry. In himself he was a superb specimen of a human being;
broad-shouldered, straight, and vigorous, massive but active, with a
mellow, joyful voice, an inimitable brogue, sparkling black eyes full
of hearty sunshine and kindness, a broad and high forehead over bushy
brows, and black, wavy hair. He bubbled over with high spirits, humor,
and poetry, being, indeed, a poet in achievement, with a printed
and bound volume to show for it--songs, lyrics, and narrative poems,
composed in the spirit of Burns and Scott. He was at this time one
of the handsomest men in England, with a great heart, warmer than any
summer England ever knew, and a soul of ardor and courage, which sent
through his face continual flashes of sympathy and fellowship. One
naturally thought and spoke of him in superlatives; he was the kindest,
jolliest, most hospitable, most generous and chivalrous of men, and
his affection and admiration for my father were also of the superlative
kind. He had made a fortune in the wool business, and had an office
in Wood Street, London; but his affairs permitted him to make frequent
excursions to Liverpool, and to act as his American friend's guide
and cicerone to many places in England which would otherwise have been
unknown to him. My father enjoyed these trips immensely; Bennoch's
companionship gave the right keynote and atmosphere to the sights they
saw. A real Englishman owns his country, and does the honors of it to a
visitor as if it were his private estate. Discussions of politics and of
the principles of government never arose between these two, as they did
between my father and Bright; for Bennoch, though one of the most loyal
and enthusiastic of her Majesty's subjects, and full of traditional
respect for the British nobility, was by nature broadly democratic,
and met every man as an equal and a brother. One often finds this
contradiction in