d so lavishly as to disappoint the hopes of a long life, for I always
looked to my brother as to a tower of strength, calculated to outlast
such comparative weaklings as myself; and regret, too, that so much
power was expended upon comparatively ephemeral objects or upon aims
destined to fail of complete fulfilment. Such regrets enable me to
understand why the work which he did in India made so deep an impression
upon his mind. And yet I feel that the regrets are unworthy of him. The
cases are rare indeed where a man's abilities have been directed
precisely into the right channel from early life. Almost all men have to
acknowledge that they have spent a great portion of their energy upon
tasks which have led to nothing, or led only to experience of failure. A
man who has succeeded in giving clear utterance to the thoughts that
were in him need care comparatively little whether they have been
concentrated in some great book or diffused through a number of
miscellaneous articles. Fitzjames's various labours came to a focus in
his labours upon the Criminal Law. During his short stay in India he
succeeded in actually achieving a great work; and I hope that, if his
hopes of achieving similar results in England were disappointed, he will
have successors who will find some help from the foundations which he
laid. But, as he said of his father, the opportunity of directing your
powers vigorously and in a worthy direction is its own reward. If to
have taken advantage of such opportunities be the true test of success,
whatever opinions may be held of you by others, and to whatever account
they may turn your labours, Fitzjames may be called eminently
successful. It often appears to me, indeed, that a man does good less by
his writings or by the mark which he may make upon public affairs than
by simply being himself. The impression made upon his contemporaries by
a man of strong and noble character is something which cannot be
precisely estimated, but which we often feel to be invaluable. The best
justification of biography in general is that it may strengthen and
diffuse that impression. That, at any rate, is the spirit in which I
have written this book. I have sought to show my brother as he was.
Little as he cared for popularity (and, indeed, he often rather rejected
than courted it), I hope that there will not be wanting readers who will
be attracted even by an indifference which is never too common. And
there is one thing which,