ance
in England, and the great influence which his name exercised. That
influence was not always exercised in the right way, so at least it
seemed to me, particularly when it was directed against such friends
of mine as Kingsley, Froude, or Jowett. Once, I remember, when he had
come to my house, I ventured to tell him that he could not have meant
what he had said in declaring that the God worshipped by Frederic
Maurice was not the same as his God. Curious to say, he relented, and
admitted that he had used too strong language. To me everything that
was said of God seemed imperfect, and never to apply to God Himself
but only to the idea which the human mind had formed of Him. To me
even the Hindu, if he spoke of Brahman or Krishna, seemed to have
aimed at the true God, in spite of the idolatrous epithets which he
used; then how could a man like Frederic Maurice be said to have
worshipped a different God, considering that we all can but feel after
Him in the dark, not being able to do more than exclude all that seems
to us unworthy of Deity?

A very important element in the ecclesiastical views of some of my
friends was, no doubt, the artistic. If Johnson leant towards Rome, it
was the more ornate and beautiful service that touched and attracted
him. I sat near to him in St. Giles' Church; he told me what to do and
what not to do during service. In spite of the Prayer-book, it is by
no means so easy as people imagine to do exactly the right thing in
church, and I had of course to learn a number of prayers and responses
by heart. To me the service, as it was in my parish church, seemed
already too ornate, accustomed as I had been to the somewhat bare and
cold service in the Lutheran Church at Dessau. But Johnson constantly
complained about the monotonous and mechanical performances of the
clergy. He had a strong feeling for all that was beautiful and
impressive in art, and he wanted to see the service of God in church
full both of reverence and beauty.

Johnson's private collection of artistic treasures was very
considerable, and I learnt much from the Italian engravings and Dutch
etchings which he possessed and delighted in showing. I often spent
happy hours with him examining his portfolios, and wondered how he
could afford to buy such treasures. But he knew when and where to buy,
and I believe when his collection was sold after his death, it brought
a good deal more than it had cost him. Another collection of art was