ething of the
kind ought to have been done, and in the absence of Handel and Dr. Morell
we determined to write an oratorio that should attempt to supply the
want. In order to make our libretto as plausible as possible, we adopted
the dictum of Monsieur Jourdain's Maitre a danser: "Lorsqu'on a des
personnes a faire parler en musique, il faut bien que, pour la
vraisemblance, on donne dans la bergerie." Narcissus is accordingly a
shepherd in love with Amaryllis; they come to London with other shepherds
and lose their money in imprudent speculations on the Stock Exchange. In
the second part the aunt and godmother of Narcissus, having died at an
advanced age worth one hundred thousand pounds, all of which she has
bequeathed to her nephew and godson, the obstacle to his union with
Amaryllis is removed. The money is invested in consols and all ends
happily.

In December, 1886, Butler's father died, and his financial difficulties
ceased. He engaged Alfred Emery Cathie as clerk, but made no other
change, except that he bought a pair of new hair brushes and a larger
wash-hand basin. Any change in his mode of life was an event. When in
London he got up at 6.30 in the summer and 7.30 in the winter, went into
his sitting-room, lighted the fire, put the kettle on and returned to
bed. In half an hour he got up again, fetched the kettle of hot water,
emptied it into the cold water that was already in his bath, refilled the
kettle and put it back on the fire. After dressing, he came into his
sitting-room, made tea and cooked, in his Dutch oven, something he had
bought the day before. His laundress was an elderly woman, and he could
not trouble her to come to his rooms so early in the morning; on the
other hand, he could not stay in bed until he thought it right for her to
go out; so it ended in his doing a great deal for himself. He then got
his breakfast and read the Times. At 9.30 Alfred came, with whom he
discussed anything requiring attention, and soon afterwards his laundress
arrived. Then he started to walk to the British Museum, where he arrived
about 10.30, every alternate morning calling at the butcher's in Fetter
Lane to order his meat. In the Reading Room at the Museum he sat at
Block B ("B for Butler") and spent an hour "posting his notes"--that is
reconsidering, rewriting, amplifying, shortening, and indexing the
contents of the little note-book he always carried in his pocket. After
the notes he went on till