those outside which he had to meet; quarrels within the party were
frequent and bitter, though Morris himself, despite his impetuous
temper, showed a wonderful spirit of brotherliness and conciliation. For
two years his work lay with the Socialist Democratic Federation, till
differences of opinion with Mr. Hyndman drove him to resign; in 1885 he
founded the Socialist League, and for this he toiled, writing, speaking,
and attending committees, till 1889, when the control was captured by a
knot of anarchists, in spite of all his efforts. After this he ceased to
be a 'militant'; but in no way did he abandon his principles or despair
of the ultimate triumph of the cause. The result of his efforts must
remain unknown. If the numbers of his audiences were often
insignificant, and the visible outcome discouraging to a degree, yet in
estimating the value of personal example no outward test can satisfy us.
He gave of his best with the same thoroughness as in all his crafts, and
no man can do more. But, looking at the matter from a regard to his
special gifts and to his personal happiness, we may be glad that his
active connexion with Socialism ceased in 1889, and that he was granted
seven years of peace before the end.

These were the years that saw the birth and growth of the 'Kelmscott'
printing press, so called after his country house. Of illuminated
manuscripts[55] he had always been fond, but it was only in 1888 that
his attention was turned to details of typography. The mere study of old
and new founts did not satisfy him for long; the creative impulse
demanded that he should design types of his own and produce his own
books. As in the other arts, his lifelong friend Burne-Jones was called
in to supply figure drawings for the illustrated books which Morris was
himself to adorn with decorative borders and initials. Of his many
schemes, not all came to fruition; but after four years of planning, and
a year and a half given to the actual process of printing, his
masterpiece, the Kelmscott edition of Chaucer, was completed, and a copy
was in his hands a few months before his death.

[Note 55: Mr. Hyndman (_Story of an Adventurous Life_, p. 355)
describes a visit to the Bodleian Library at Oxford with Morris, and how
'quickly, carefully, and surely' he dated the illuminated manuscripts.]

The last seven years of his life were spent partly at Hammersmith and
partly at Kelmscott, the old manor house, lying on the banks of the