tful host, discussing with the ease of an
educated gentleman all manner of topics, and displaying not the
slightest trace of that awkwardness and extreme diffidence which have
been attributed to him. The range and accuracy of his information
surprised them. "Of military history," said another English soldier,
"he knew more than any other man I met in America; and he was so far
from displaying the somewhat grim characteristics that have been
associated with his name, that one would have thought his tastes lay
in the direction of art and literature." "His chief delight," wrote
the Hon. Francis Lawley, who knew him well, "was in the cathedrals of
England, notably in York Minster and Westminster Abbey. He was never
tired of talking about them, or listening to details about the
chapels and cloisters of Oxford."* (* The Times, June 11, 1863.)

"General Jackson," writes Lord Wolseley, "had certainly very little
to say about military operations, although he was intensely proud of
his soldiers, and enthusiastic in his devotion to General Lee; and it
was impossible to make him talk of his own achievements. Nor can I
say that his speech betrayed his intellectual powers. But his manner,
which was modesty itself, was most attractive. He put you at your
ease at once, listening with marked courtesy and attention to
whatever you might say; and when the subject of conversation was
congenial, he was a most interesting companion. I quite endorse the
statement as to his love for beautiful things. He told me that in all
his travels he had seen nothing so beautiful as the lancet windows in
York Minster."

In his daily intercourse with his staff, however, in his office or in
the mess-room, he showed to less advantage than in the society of
strangers. His gravity of demeanour seldom wholly disappeared, his
intense earnestness was in itself oppressive, and he was often absent
and preoccupied. "Life at headquarters," says one of his staff
officers, "was decidedly dull. Our meals were often very dreary. The
general had no time for light or trivial conversation, and he
sometimes felt it his duty to rebuke our thoughtless and perhaps
foolish remarks. Nor was it always quite safe to approach him.
Sometimes he had a tired look in his eyes, and although he never
breathed a word to one or another, we knew that he was dissatisfied
with what was being done with the army."* (* Letter from Dr. Hunter
McGuire.)

Intense concentration of thought and purp