almost a tradition. It is simply a natural trait in a modest
and rather retiring disposition. French simply will not be talked
about--and there is an end of the matter.

If one were asked to describe the man, one might best answer that he
is the Englishman to the _n_th. degree. It is usual to find that the
man of extraordinary merit is in some degree a contrast with and a
criticism of the mere average mortal of his set. The dour urbanity of
Kitchener, for instance, is Oriental rather than English, and
contrasts strangely with the choleric tradition of the army officer.
So the infinite alertness and constant good humour of Roberts has a
quality of Latin _esprit_ very foreign to the English temperament. But
there are no such peculiarities about French. He is the very essence
of healthy normality.

Yet, although of Celtic descent, he is essentially English. He has not
hacked his way to fame in the manner of the Scot, nor has he leapt
upon her pedestal with the boisterous humour of the Irishman. He has
got there in the dogged but sporting English way, taking Fortune's
gifts when they came, but never pushing or scrambling for them when
they were out of reach.

One catches the spirit of the man in the schoolboy. When he first went
to school at Harrow, the boys, knowing that sisters had been
responsible for his education, were prepared to take it out of him.
But as French was ready to fight at the slightest provocation, and
equally ready to swear eternal friendship when the fight was done, he
quickly won his way through respect to popularity.

[Page Heading: AN ADMIRER OF NAPOLEON]

Despite this quality, the steadfast object of his admiration has been
one of the most abnormal and theatrical figures in history--Napoleon.
It is, however, Napoleon the soldier and not the personality that has
attracted French, who, by the way, possesses a wonderful collection of
Napoleonic relics. He sees Napoleon as the greatest strategist the
world has known. As such the Corsican claims his unstinted admiration:
but there his admiration stops. For French is altogether humane. There
is nothing of the iron heel about either his methods or his manners.
His extreme parsimony of life we have seen as the cause of the only
criticism which has ever been levelled against him.

By a strange coincidence, however, his worship of Napoleon has proved
itself invaluable in an unexpected way. In following Napoleon's
campaigns out in detail, French had tra