,
to be delicately pushed about where it suited him. We talked of other
matters; he held exactly the right political opinions, a mild and
cautious liberalism; he touched on the successes of certain politicians
and praised them appropriately; he deplored the failure of certain old
friends in political life. "A very good fellow," he said of Hughes,
"but just a little--what shall I say?--impracticable?" He had seen all
the right plays, heard the right music, read the right books. He
deplored the obscurity of George Meredith, but added that he was an
undoubted genius. He confessed himself to be an ardent admirer of
Wagner; he thought Elgar a man of great power; but he had not made up
his mind about Strauss. I found that "not making up his mind about" a
person was one of his favourite expressions. If he sees that some man
is showing signs of vigour and originality in any department of life,
he keeps his eye upon him; if he passes safely through the shallows, he
praises him, saying that he has watched his rise; if he fails, our
friend will be ready with the reasons for his failure, adding that he
always feared that so-and-so was a little unpractical.

I can't describe to you the dreariness and oppression that fell upon
me. The total absence of generosity, of independent interest, weighed
on my soul. The one quality that this equable and judicious critic was
on the look-out for was the power of being approved. Foster's view
seemed to knock the bottom out of life, to deprive everything equally
of charm and individuality.

The conversation turned on golf, and one of the guests, whom I am
shortly about to describe, said bluffly that he considered golf and
drink to be the two curses of the country. Our polite friend turned
courteously towards him, treated the remark as an excellent sally, and
then said that he feared he must himself plead guilty to a great
devotion to golf. "You see all kinds of pleasant people," he said, "in
such a pleasant way; and then it tempts one into the open air; and it
is such an excellent investment, in the way of exercise, for one's age;
a man can play a very decent game till he is sixty--though, of course,
it is no doubt a little overdone." We all felt that he was right; he
took the rational, the sensible view; but it tempted me, though I
successfully resisted the temptation, to express an exaggerated dislike
of golf which I do not feel.

The guest whose remark had occasioned this discourse is one o