dle with the Regatta. . . . And the
Day ended by vexing me more than it did him [Newson]. . . . Posh drove
in here the day before to tan his nets: could not help making one with
some old friends in a Boat-race on the Monday, and getting very fuddled
with them on the Suffolk Green (where I was) at night. After all the
pains I have taken, and all the real anxiety I have had. And worst of
all after the repeated promises he had made! I said there must be an end
of Confidence between us, so far as _that_ was concerned, and I would so
far trouble myself about him no more. But when I came to reflect that
this was but an outbreak among old friends, on an old occasion, after (I
do believe) months of sobriety; that there was no concealment about it;
and that though obstinate at first as to how little drunk, etc., he was
very repentant afterwards--I cannot let this one flaw weigh against the
general good of the man. I cannot if I would: what then is the use of
trying? But my confidence in that respect must be so far shaken, and it
vexes me to think that I can never be sure of his not being overtaken so.
I declare that it makes me feel ashamed very much to play the judge on
one who stands immeasurably above me in the scale, whose faults are
better than so many virtues. Was not this very outbreak that of a great
genial Boy among his old Fellows? True, a Promise was broken. Yes, but
if the Whole Man be of the Royal Blood of Humanity, and do Justice in the
Main, what are _the people_ to say? _He_ thought, if he thought at all,
that he kept his promise in the main. But there is no use talking,
unless I part company wholly, I suppose I must take the evil with the
good. . . ."

FitzGerald probably got to the very heart of the misunderstanding between
himself and Posh as to the merits and demerits of "bare" when he wrote
that Posh was a little obstinate as to "how little drunk," etc. Moreover
he understood the nature of the man--"a great genial boy"--but he did not
understand that these "great genial boys" have all the mischievous
tendencies, and all the irresponsibility of real boys. He was kind and
forbearing enough, God knows. But he had set up his Posh on such a
pinnacle of pre-eminence over all his fellow-men that it is possible that
his bitterness in discovering that after all his protege was merely a
well-built, handsome, ordinary longshoreman caused a greater revulsion
than would have occurred had his first estimate