series. Soon after I had left
him I received his last message and farewell from his deathbed. We
are told that all this is very natural and what we must be prepared
for--but what cold gaps it leaves. My thoughts often return to him, as
if he were still among the living, and then one feels one's own
loneliness and friendlessness again and again.

Palgrave roused great expectations among undergraduates at Oxford, but
he kept us waiting for some time. He took early to office life in the
Educational Department, and this seems to have ground him down and
unfitted him for other work. He had a wonderful gift of admiring, his
great hero being Tennyson, and he was more than disappointed if others
did not join in his unqualified panegyrics of the great poet. At last,
somewhat late in life, he was elected Professor of Poetry at Oxford,
and gave some most learned and instructive lectures. His knowledge of
English Literature, particularly poetry, was quite astounding. I
certainly never went to him to ask him a question that he did not
answer at once and with exhaustive fullness. Some of his friends
complained of his great command of language, and even Tennyson, I am
told, found it sometimes too much. All I can say is that to me it was
a pleasure to listen to him. I owe him particular thanks for having,
in the kindest manner, revised my first English compositions. He was
always ready and indefatigable, and I certainly owed a good deal to
his corrections and his unstinted advice. His _Golden Treasury_ has
become a national possession, and certainly speaks well both for his
extensive knowledge and for his good taste.

Lastly there was Morier, of whom certainly no one expected when he was
at Balliol that he would rise to be British Ambassador at St.
Petersburg. His early education had been somewhat neglected, but when
he came to Balliol he worked hard to pass a creditable examination. He
was a giant in size, very good-looking, and his manners, when he
liked, most charming and attractive. Being the son of a diplomatist
there was something both English and foreign in his manner, and he
certainly was a general favourite at Oxford. His great desire was to
enter the diplomatic service, but when that was impossible, he found
employment for a time in the Education Office. But society in London
was too much for him, he was made for society, and society was
delighted to receive him. But it was difficult for him at the same
time to fulfil his d