incomparable conviction and sense of the reality and
dramaticness of the events. It is absurd, of course, but in that
respect he always seemed to me a little like Sir Walter Scott. {187}

The books he used to read to us when we were quite small, and which
we adored, were Percy's _Reliques_ and the _Prologue to the
__Canterbury Tales_. He used often to read Shakespeare to himself, I
think generally the historical plays; also Chaucer, _Don Quixote_ in
Spanish, and all kind of books like Joinville's _Life of St. Louis_
in the old French.

I remember the story of the death of Gordon told so that we all
cried, I think; and Gladstone could hardly be mentioned in
consequence. All kinds of wars and battles interested him, and I
think he liked archery more because it was romantic than because it
was a game.

During his last illness his interest in the Balkan war never failed.
Three weeks before his death he was so ill that the doctor thought
him dying. Suddenly he rallied from the half-unconscious state in
which he had been lying for many hours, and the first words he spoke
on opening his eyes were, "Have they got to Constantinople yet?"
This was very characteristic. I often wish he was alive now, because
his understanding and appreciation of the glory and tragedy of this
war would be like no one else's.

His daughter Margaret writes:

He was absolutely unselfconscious, and it never seemed to occur to
him to wonder what impression he was making on others. I think it
was this simplicity which made him so good with children. He seemed
to understand their point of view, and to enjoy with them in a way
that is not common with grown-up people. I shall never forget how
when our dog had to be killed he seemed to feel the horror of it just
as I did, and how this sense of his really sharing my grief made him
able to comfort me as nobody else could.

He took a transparent pleasure in the honours that came to him,
especially in his membership of foreign Academies, in which he and
Sir David Gill had a friendly rivalry or "race," as they called it.
I think this simplicity was one of his chief characteristics, though
most important of all was the great warmth and width of his
affections. He would take endless trouble about his friends,
especially in going to see them if they were lonel