who practise two or more of the arts. Sands affected all the arts.
Enumerate: He played snatches of Bach on the violin, on the piano,
and on the organ; he composed fragments for all three instruments. He
painted little landscapes after (a long way after) the manner of
Corot, of whom he could talk until the small hours in the morning if
an occasional drink and cigar were forthcoming. He modelled little
statuettes in wax, cupids and nymphs, and he designed covers for
books. He could do all these things a little, and not stupidly,
although inefficiently. He had been a volunteer, and therefore wrote
on military subjects, and had on certain occasions been permitted to
criticize our naval defences and point out the vices and shortcomings
in our military system in the leading evening papers. He was
generally seen with a newspaper under his arm going towards Charing
Cross or Fleet Street. He never strayed further west than Charing
Cross, unless he was going to a "picture show," and there was no
reason why he should pass Ludgate Circus, for further east there were
neither newspapers nor restaurants. He was quite without vanity, and
therefore without ambition, Buddha was never more so, not even after
attaining the Nirvana. A picture show in Bond Street, a half-crown
dinner at Simpson's, or the Rainbow, coffee and cigars after, was all
that he desired; give him that, and he was a pleasant companion who
would remain with you until you turned him out, or in charity, for he
was often homeless, allowed him to sleep on your sofa.

Sands was not a member of the Temple, but Hall's rooms were ever a
refuge to the weary--there they might rest, and there was there ever
for them a drink and a mouthful of food. And there Sands had met the
decayed barrister who held the rooms opposite; which, although he had
long ceased to occupy, and had no use for, he still wished to own, if
he could do so without expense, and this might be done by letting two
rooms, and reserving one for himself.

The unwary barrister, believing in the solvency of whoever he met at
Hall's, intrusted his chambers to Sands, without demanding the rent
in advance. A roof to sleep under had been the chief difficulty in
Sands' life. He thought not at all of a change of clothes, and clean
linen troubled him only slightly. Now almost every want seemed
provided for. Coals he could get from Hall, also occasional
half-crowns; these sufficed to pay for his breakfast; a dinner he
co