the "chief mourner"--in touching emotion that
bore witness to the depth and susceptibility of the man's noble nature.
The other testimony, which kindled great comfort in the desolate
household, came from the scene of McNair's latest exploit, far away, at
and near Quetta, when his native companions and friends heard of his
death. The grief felt was so profound, that it seemed irreparable to
the men who mourned their beloved friend, as the leader who was also
their constant companion, and always cheerful with them under every
adversity. The Oriental may be unappreciated by the Saxon till the
latter knows the sentimental side of every Asiatic character, but then
the floodgates of human sympathy are opened, and the very counterpart
of characteristics and qualities exhibited by Saxon and Asiatic,
conduce and contribute to a closer and more romantic union between
them. It is on the principle which Bagehot so profoundly illustrated
when he said that no age is just to the age immediately preceding it,
because of their similarity and proximity. The appreciation of Colonel
Holdich for his valued coadjutor and the executant of many of his plans
was based on the contrary principle acutely observed on by George Henry
Lewes, when he remarked that surprise, like appreciation, can only have
for foundation of any worth, a background of close observation and
exact perception.

I state the simple truth when I record that the testimonies, received
in this way from the two extremes of highest knowledge and most diverse
social and national conditions, remain the most grateful and enduring
memorials of a life's work to those who must ever cherish the memory of
what this memoir is precluded from touching on, namely, the more sacred
domestic endearments of the life-long devotion to family ties of a son
and a brother. This much I may be permitted to reveal without any
intrusion on the hallowed reserves of the family circle. A more united
or more tenderly-knit family, of strong religious feeling, I have never
known. I had the privilege twenty-one years ago, of knowing a younger
brother of the deceased, named John, who in less than three years
attained to an honoured position in the Finance Department of the
Indian Government. He was preternaturally grave and philanthrophic, and
died at the age of a youth in England (I think he was not 23 years old)
of small-pox contracted at Lahore, in the Punjab, where he was
stationed at the time. He had for s