John Leech and other papers

54 Horce Subseciva.
awaited, in my friend's drawing-room, the entrance of
my hero ! At last, with the gentleness and quietude
which, out of his beautiful humility, graced all he
did, he was with us. Appraising them at their own
valuation, the butler, who subsequently announced
the dinner, was infinitely superior to the guest, and
yet he was the man who, I verily believe, brought
more innocent gladness into our homes, and, far
beyond that, taught men to despise humbug and to
admire honesty, to ' ring out the false, ring in the
true,' more generally, more convincingly, than any
teacher alive. Well, he was very like my idea of him
— only ' more so.' A slim, elegant figure, over six feet
in height, with a grand head, ' on which Nature had
written Gentleman,' — with wonderful genius on his
ample forehead, wonderful penetration, observation,
humour in his blue-grey Irish eyes, and wonderful
sweetness, sympathy, and mirth about his lips, which
seemed to speak in silence. He was, as we gardeners
have it, ' rather short of foliage ;' and a vacant space at
the back of his head no doubt suggested his charming
sketch of the enfant terrible, climbing up the visitors'
chair, and proclaiming to his mamma that 'Mr.
Boker had got a double forehead.'' 1 His clothes were
Shakespearean (how Shakespeare would have loved
1 His own little boy, he told me, while under the scissors of
the haii-cutter, solemnly requested the performer ' not to leave
any on the top, as he wished to be like papa ! '