Page 7 (1/1)

Mr Alf had, moreover, discovered another fact Abuse from those who occasionally praise is considered to be personally offensive, and they who give personal offence will sometimes make the world too hot to hold thearded so much as a matter of course that it ceases to be objectionable The caricaturist, who draws only caricatures, is held to be justifiable, let him take what liberties he may with a man's face and person It is his trade, and his business calls upon him to vilify all that he touches But were an artist to publish a series of portraits, in which two out of a dozen were made to be hideous, he would certainly make two enemies, if not more Mr Alf never made enemies, for he praised no one, and, as far as the expression of his newspaper went, was satisfied with nothing

Personally, Mr Alf was a remarkable man No one knehence he came or what he had been He was supposed to have been born a Geruish in his tongue the slightest possible foreign accent Nevertheless it was conceded to hilish the last year or two he had 'cohly He had been blackballed at three or four clubs, but had effected an entrance at two or three others, and had learned aof those which had rejected him calculated to leave on the minds of hearers a conviction that the societies in question were antiquated, i that not to know Mr Alf, not to be on good terms with Mr Alf, not to understand that let Mr Alf have been born where he nized as a desirable acquaintance, was to be altogether out in the dark And that which he so constantly asserted, or ian at last to believe,--and Mr Alf beca in the different worlds of politics, letters, and fashion

He was a good-looking h he was ht, with dark brown hair which would have shown a tinge of grey but for the dyer's art, ell-cut features, with a smile constantly on his mouth the pleasantness of which was always belied by the sharp severity of his eyes He dressed with the utmost simplicity, but also with the utmost care He was unmarried, had a save remarkable dinner parties, kept four or five hunters in Northamptonshire, and was reputed to earn £6,000 a year out of the 'Evening Pulpit' and to spend about half of that income He also was intience inuseful friendships had been unwearied