PREFACE THESE pages are only reflections mingled with reminiscences. I have written them without other thought than of recording frankly and honestly things as they were or, rather, as they seemed to me. There are things written here which touch on intimate parts of my life-which I shrank from recording, but which nevertheless the unappeasable gratitude of my heart urged me to write lest any should think that what is long past has been forgotten. Those who know me will understand. To those who do not, I would say that love is the supreme educator of souls, and life without love is destitute of meaning. Realizing this, I think that they, too, will understand. The chapter which speaks of the late much-loved King contains the substance of an article which appeared in the Nineteenth Century and Afterwards in 1910, and which I am allowed by the kindness of the Editor to make use of here. For the rest, I can only say that life, which for me is drawing to its close, has been, as I said in a previous volume, full of interest; and that which establishes its interest is the conviction that this life is but a schoolroom life, in which Love is teaching us how to love, that we may feel at home among those who have learnt to love. In Memoriam A. M. C. Una Donna soletta, che si gia Cantando ed iscegliendo fior da fiore, Ond'era pinta tutta la sua via. LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS THE RT. REV. W. BOYD CARPENTER From the painting by H. G. Riviere. Frontispiece HARRIET CHARLOTTE BOYD CARPENTER To face page 64 A "BEAU" DRAWN-AT A VENTURE. 218 220 222 224 The above four illustrations are reproduced from water-colour drawings by the Author. |