ded in every competition for which
he really exerted himself; although, like his father, he was rather
indifferent to the regular course of academical instruction. Among his
contemporaries, however, he enjoyed the kind of fame which is perhaps of
still better augury for future success. King's College in his day, says
Mr. Browning, was only emerging slowly from the effects of its close
dependence upon Eton. It had been in former days chiefly a little clique
of older schoolboys. James helped much to change this, and distinctly
raised the intellectual tone of the place. He was a well-known speaker
at the Union, of which he was president in 1882. He was an 'Apostle'
too; and in May 1881 his father visited him in Cambridge, and attended a
meeting of the Society where James read a paper. Although, therefore, he
scarcely won such a share of academical honours as might have been
expected, James was regarded by his friends as the man of his time who
was most definitely marked out for distinction in later years. His
friends, indeed, were innumerable; and from all with whom I have
communicated there is a unanimous testimony not only to his intellectual
promise, but to his influence in promoting a high tone of thought and
feeling. His father's letters frequently refer to him. James, he says,
is a 'splendid young fellow'; he will surpass his father in due time,
and be the fourth distinguished man of his name. James, he says once,
using the epithet which in his mouth conveyed the highest praise, is a
'sturdier' fellow in many ways than I was, and writes better than I
could at his age. One achievement of the son rather extorted than
attracted his father's praise. He appeared in a Greek play as Ajax, a
part for which his massive frame and generally noble appearance fitted
him admirably. The father admitted that he had a certain dislike to a
man's exhibiting himself personally, but was reconciled by observing
that James acted more like a gentleman amusing himself than like a
professional performer.

How far these anticipations of success would ever have been fulfilled
must remain uncertain. James may not have had his father's extraordinary
vigour, but he undoubtedly had one quality in which his father was
defective. He had a surprising facility in making friendly alliances
with all sorts and conditions of men. His opinions partly resembled his
father's. In politics he was of the Conservative tendency, and he was
certainly not of the ort